F«='S^;m>o<at3.5G>cdKa>©<3K3r>c«<3JSi2;>o<a^ 
 
 H^- 
 
 ?<XMfiMtU'Milji'^V. 
 
 fe|:-^&-- 
 
 ^. 
 
 ■i-v^ 
 
 'lL_-ii 
 
 ^g^ 
 
 CAMDEN SOHODLS BRI&HT OM. 
 
 W^ 
 
 p'^iX- 
 
 tM 
 
 '^■m' 
 
 '^ 
 
 m 
 
 ^3. 
 
 i-^^'^b -.. .-.. 7*H.-^f >.ri'?sr>o<jsat>o<3sap>o<':Si>a<^^
 
 Kioni iIh' l/il>iary !j 
 
 of 
 JOCELYN BROOKE W\} 
 
 '"^'■k' 
 
 }./> 
 
 -*M. 
 
 m'ik 
 
 ■k- ■ -■■
 
 .^1
 
 
 uhw 
 
 c^^'^reo 
 
 L^ R'^
 
 f/} 
 
 
 f^A^ &n£^t^ ^^^^ 
 
 
 '\/\rx 
 
 i^ %^^^ y J-^ 
 
 
 a 

 
 ^ 
 
 m^ 
 
 € E € E
 
 II FE AWB 
 
 t 1 I V 
 
 ©T 
 
 ^'T A, K G 
 
 OS TWLLilJS CiCEUr 
 
 'TtfT/T^'' 
 
 JL, (U) .'^' Ji) o. ::s' ,
 
 CICERO'S 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS. 
 
 THE LIFE OF CICERO by DR. MIDDLETON. 
 
 CICERO'S LETTERS TO HIS FRIENDS, translated by WM. MELMOTIL 
 CICERO'S LETTERS TO ATTICUS, translated ly DR. HEBERDEN. 
 
 CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1875.
 
 BILLING AND SOXS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 TAGS 
 
 HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF CICERO . . .. , , ,^ . . 1 
 CICERO'S LETTERS TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS . . . , .331 
 CICERO'S LETTERS TO ATTICU3 . • ^ * ^ ^ .. ^ , 619
 
 •it> THE 
 
 RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD JOHN HERVEY, 
 
 LORD KEBPER OF HIS MAJKSTy's PRIVY PEAL. 
 
 My Lord, 
 The public will naturally expect, that in choosing a patron for the Liff of Cicero I should address myself to 
 iB«me person of illustrious rank, distinguished by his parts and eloquence, and bearing a principal share in the 
 great affairs of the nation ; who, according to the usual style of dedications, might be the proper subject of a 
 comparison with the hero of my piece. Your lordship's name will confirm that expectation, and your character 
 would justify me in running some length into the parallel ; but my experience of your good sense forbids me 
 the attempt. For your lordship knows what a disadvantage it would be to any character to be placed in the 
 fcame light with that of Cicero ; that all such comparisons must be invidious and adulatory ; and that the following 
 history will suggest a reason in every page, why no man now living can justly be compared with him. 
 
 I do not impute this to any superiority of parts or genius peculiar to the ancients ; for human nature has 
 ever been the same in all ages and nations, and owes the difference of its improvements to a difference only of 
 culture, and of the rewards proposed to its industry : where these are the most amply provided, there we shall 
 always find the most numerous and shining examples of human perfection. In old Rome, the public honouFB 
 were laid open to the virtue of every citizen ; which, hy raising them in their turns to the command of thait 
 mighty empire, produced a race of nobles superior even to kings. This was a prospect that filled the soul of 
 the ambitious, and roused every faculty of mind and hody to exert its utmost force : whereas in modem 
 states, men's views being usually confined to narrow bounds beyond which they cannot pass, and a partial 
 culture of their talents being sufficient to procure everything that their ambition can aspire to, a great genius 
 has seldom either room or invitation to stretch itself to its full size. 
 
 You see, my lord, how much I trust to your good-nature, as well as good sense, when in an epistle dedicatory 
 the proper place of panegyric, I am depreciating your abilities instead of extolling them ; but I remember that 
 it is a history which I am offering to your lordship, and it would ill become me, in the front of such a work, to 
 expose my veracity to any hazard : and my head, indeed, is now so full of antiquity that I could wish to see 
 the dedicatory style reduced to that classical simplicity with which the ancient writers used to present their 
 books to their friends or patrons, at whose desire they were written, or by whose authority they were published : 
 for this was the first use and the sole purpose of a dedication ; and as this also is the real ground of my present 
 address to your lordship, so it will be the best argument of my epistle, and the most agreeable to the character 
 of an historian, to acquaint the public with a plain fact, that it was your lordship who first advised me to 
 undertake the Life of Cicero ; and, when from a diffidence of my strength and a nearer view of the task, I 
 began to think myself unequal to the weight of it, your lordship still urged and exhorted me to persist, till I 
 had moulded it into the form in which it now appears. 
 
 Thus far yoiir lordship was carried by that love for Cicero, which, as one of the best critics of antiquity 
 assures us, is the undoubted proof of a true taste. I wish only that the favour which you have since shovra 
 to my English Cicero, may not detract from that praise which is due to your love of the Roman : but, 
 whatever censure it may draw upon your lordship, I cannot prevail with myself to conceal, what does so muck 
 honour to my work, that, before it went to the press, your lordship not only saw and approved, but. as the 
 ancerest mark of your approbation, corrected it. It adds no small credit to Mie history of Polybius that he
 
 DEDICATION. ^" 
 
 professes to have been assisted in it by Scipio and Laclius ; and even Terence's style was made the purer for its 
 being retouched by the same great hands. You must pardon me, therefore, my lord, if, after the example of 
 those excellent authors, I cannot forbear boasting, that some parts of my present work have been biightencd by 
 the strokes of your lordship's pencil. 
 
 It was the custom of those Roman nobles to spend their leisure, not in vicious pleasures or trifling diversions, 
 contrived, as we truly call it, to kill the time, but in conversing with the celebrated wits and scholars of the 
 age ; in encouraging other people's learning, and improving their own : and here your lordship imitates them 
 •with success, and for love of letters and politeness may be compared with the noblest of them. For your 
 house, like theirs, is open to men of parts and merit ; where I have admired your lordship's agi-eeable manner 
 of treating them all in their own way, by introducing questions of literature, and varying them so artfully, as to 
 give every one an opportunity, not only of bearing a part, but of leading the conversation in his turn. In 
 these liberal exercises you drop the cares of the statesman, relieve your fatigues in the senate, and strengthen 
 your mind while you relax it. 
 
 Encomiums of this kind, upon persons of your lordship's quality, commonly pass for words of course, or a 
 fashionable language to the great, and make little impression on men of sense, who know learning, not to be 
 the fruit of wit or parts, for there your lordship's title would be unquestionable, but an acquisition of much 
 labour and study, which tbe nobles of our days are apt to look upon as inconsistent with the ease and splendour 
 of an elevated fortune, and generally leave to men of professions and inferior life. But your lordship has a 
 different way of thinking, and by your education in a public school and university, has learned from your 
 earliest youth, that no fortune can exempt a man from pains, who desires to distinguish himself from the vulgar; 
 and that it is a folly, in any condition of life, to aspire to a superior character, without a superior virtue and 
 industry to support it. What time, therefore, others bestow upon their sports, or pleasures, or the lazy indo- 
 lence of a luxurious life, your lordship applies to the improvement of your knowledge ; and in those early 
 hours, when all around you are hushed in sleep, seize the opportunity of that quiet, as the most favourable 
 season of study, and frequently spend a useful day before others begin to enjoy it. 
 
 I am saying no more, my lord, than what I know, from my constant admission to your lordship in my 
 morning visits, before good manners would permit me to attempt a visit anywhere else ; where I have found 
 you commonly engaged with the classical writers of Greece or Rome, and conversing with those very dead 
 with whom Scipio and Laelius used to converse so familiarly when living. Nor does your lordship assume thi^ 
 part for ostentation or amusement only, but for the real benefit both of yourself and others ; for I have seen 
 the solid effects of your reading, in your judicious reflections on the policy of those ancient governments, and 
 have felt your weight even in controversy on some of the most delicate parts of their history. 
 
 There is another circumstance peculiar to your lordship which makes this task of study the easier to you, 
 by giving you, not only the greater health, but the greater leisure to pursue it ; I mean that singular temper- 
 ance in diet, in which your lordship perseveres with a constancy superior to every temptation that can excite 
 an appetite to rebel ; and shows a firmness of mind that subjects every gratification of sense to the rule of right 
 reason. Thus, with all the accomplishments of the nobleman, you lead the life of a philosopher ; and, while 
 you shine a principal ornament of the court, you practise the discipline of the college. 
 
 In old Rome there were no hereditary honours ; but when the virtue of a family was extinct, its honour 
 was extinguished too ; so that no man, how nobly soever bom, could arrive at any dignity, who did not win it 
 by his personal merit : and here, again, your lordship seems to have emulated that ancient spirit ; for, though 
 bom to the first honours of your country, yet disclaiming, as it were, your birthright, and putting yourself upon 
 the foot of a Roman, you were not content with inheriting, but resolved to import new dignities into your 
 family ; and, after the example of your noble father, to open your own way into the supreme council of the 
 kingdom. In this august assembly your lordship displays those shining talents by which you acquired a seat 
 in it, in the defence of our excellent establishment ; in maintaining the rights of the people, yet asserting the 
 prerogative of the crown ; measuring them both by the equal balance of the laws, which, by the provident care 
 of our ancestors, and the happy settlement at the Revolution, have so fixed their just limits, and moderated the 
 extent of their influence, that they mutually defend and preserve, but can never destroy each other without a 
 general ruin. 
 
 In a nation like ours, which, from the natural effect of freedom, is divided into opposite parties, though 
 particular attachments to certain principles, or friendships with certain men, will sometimes draw the best 
 dtizeni into measures of a subordinate kind which they cannot wholly approve ; yet, whatever envy your
 
 yii^ DEDICATION. 
 
 lordship uuy incur uii tliat account, you will be found, on all occasions of trial, a true friend tu our constitution 
 both in church and sliitc ; whicii I have heard you demonstrate with great force to bo the bulwark of our 
 comuion peace and prosperity. From tliis fundamental point no engagements will ever move or interest draw 
 you ; and though mi-n inllamcd by opposition are apt to cliarge each other with designs which were never 
 dreamt of perhaps by eiliii-r side, yet if there he any who know so little of you as to distrust your principles, 
 they may df pend at Iciist on your judgment, that it can never suffer a person of your lordship's rank, born to 
 80 large a share of the pro))erty as well as the honours of the nation, to think any private interest an equivalent 
 for consenting to the ruin of the pubUc. 
 
 I mention this, my lord, as an additional reason for presenting you with the Life of Cicero ; for, were I 
 not persuaded of your lordship's sincere love of liberty, and zeal for the happiness of your fellow-citizens, it 
 would be a reproach to you, to put into your hands the life of a man who, in all the variety of his admirable 
 talents, does not shine so glorious in any as in his constant attachment to the true interests of his country, and 
 the noble struggle that he sustained, at the expense even of his life, to avert the impending tyranny that finally 
 oppressed it. 
 
 But I ought to ask your lordship's pardon for dwelling so long upon a character which is known to the whole 
 kingdom as well as to myself; not only by the high office which you fill, and the eminent dignity that you 
 bear in it, but by the sprightly compositions of various kinds with ^vhich your lordship has often entertained it. 
 It would be a presumption to think of adding any honour to your lordship by my pen, after you have acquired 
 BO much by your own. The chief design of my epistle is, to give this public testimony of my thanks for the 
 signal mai-ks of friendship with which your lordship has long honoured me ; and to interest your name, as far 
 as I can, in the fate and success of my work, by letting the world know what a share you had in the production 
 of it ; that it owed its being to your encouragement ; correctness to your pencil ; and, what many will think 
 the most substantial benefit, its largo subscription to your authority. For, though in this way of publishing it, 
 I have had the pleasure to find myself supported by a noble list of generous friends, who, without being solicited, 
 or even asked by me, have promoted my subscription with an uncommon zeal, yet your lordship has distin- 
 guished yourself the most eminently of them in contributing, not only to the number but the splendour of the 
 names that adorn it. 
 
 Next to that little reputation with which the public has been pleased to favour me, the benefit of this 
 subscription is the chief fruit that I have ever reaped from my studies. I am indebted for the first to Cicero, 
 for the second to your lordship : it was Cicero who instructed me to write ; your lordship who rewards me for 
 writing : the same motive, therefore, which induced me to attempt the history of the one, engages me to dedicate 
 it to the other ; that I may express my gratitude to you both in the most effectual manner that I am able, 
 by celebrating the memory of the dead and acknowledging the generosity of my living benefactor. 
 
 I have received great civilities on several occasions from many noble persons, of which I shall ever retain a 
 most grateful sense ; but your lordship's accumulated favours have long ago risen up to the character of 
 obligations, and made it my perpetual duty, as it had always been my ambition, to profess myself, with thT 
 greatest truth and respect. 
 
 My lord, your lordship's most obliged and devoted servant, 
 - • CONYERS MIDDLETON.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 There is no part of history which seems capable of yielding either more instruction )r entertain- 
 ment, than that which offers to us the select lives of great and virtuous men who have made an eminent 
 figure on the public stage of the world. In these we see at one view what the annals of a whole age 
 can afford that is worthy of notice ; and in the wide field of universal history, skipping as it were 
 over the barren places, gather all its flowers, and possess ourselves at once of everything that is 
 good in it. 
 
 But there is one great fault which is commonly observed in the writers of particular lives, that they 
 are apt to be partial and prejudiced in favour of their subject, and to give us a panegyric, instead of 
 a history. They work up their characters as painters do their portraits ; taking the praise of their art 
 to consist, not in copying, but in adorning nature ; not in drawing a just resemblance, but giving a fine 
 picture ; or exalting the man into tlie hero : and this indeed seems to flow from the nature of the 
 thing itself, where the very inclination to write is generally grounded on prepossession, and an 
 affection already contracted for the person whose history we are attempting ; and when we sit down 
 to it with the disposition of a friend, it is natural for us to cast a shade over his failings, to give the 
 strongest colouring to his virtues ; and, out of a good character, to endeavour to draw a perfect one. 
 
 I am sensible that this is the common prejudice of bioffraphers, and have endeavoured tliere- 
 fore to divest myself of it as far as I was able ; yet dare not take upon me to affirm, that I have kept 
 myself wholly clear from it ; but shall leave the decision of that point to the judgment of the 
 reader : for I must be so ingenuous as to own, that when I formed the plan of this work, I was 
 previously possessed with a very favourable opinion of Cicero ; which, after the strictest scrutiny, has 
 been greatly confirmed and heightened in me ; and in the case of a shining character, such as 
 Cicero's I am persuaded will appear to be, it is certainly more pardonable to exceed rather in our 
 praises of it, out of a zeal for illustrious merit, than to be reserved in doing justice to it, through a 
 fear of being thought partial. But, that I might guard myself equally from both the extremes, I have 
 takt'n care always to leave the facts to speak for themselves, and to affirm nothing of any moment 
 without an authentic testimony to support it ; which yet, if consulted in the original at its full 
 length, will commonly add more light and strength to what is advanced, than the fragments quoted 
 in the text and the brevity of notes would admit. 
 
 But whatever prejudices may be suspected to adhere to the writer, it is certain that in a work of 
 this nature he will have many more to combat in the reader. The scene of it is laid in a place and age 
 which are familiar to us from our childhood : we learn the names of all the chief actors at school, and 
 choose our several favourites according to oiu* tempers or fancies ; and when we are least able to judge 
 of the merit of them, form distinct characters of each, which we frequently retain through life. Thus 
 Marius, Sylla, Csesar, Pompey, Cato, Cicero, Brutus, Antony, have all their several advocates, zealous for 
 their fame, and ready even to quarrel for the superiority of their virtues. But among the celebrated names 
 of antiquity, those of the great conquerors and generals attract our admiration always the mobt, and
 
 ^ niKFACE. 
 
 imprint a notion of nia^'iianiinity, and jiowcr, and capacity for dominion, superior to that 
 of other mortals : wo look upon such as destined by Heaven for emj)ire, and born to trample 
 upon their fellow-creatures ; without reflecting on the numerous evils which are necessary to 
 the acquisition of a glory that is built upon the subversion of nations, and the destruction 
 of the human species. Yet these are the only persons who are thought to shine in history, 
 or to merit the attention of the reader : dazzled with the splendour of their victories, and 
 the i)onip of tlieir triumphs, we consider them as the pride and ornament of the Roman 
 name ; while the i)aeiHc and civil character, though of all others the most beneficial to man- 
 kind, whose sole ambition is, to support the laws, the rights and lil)iMty of his citizens, is 
 looked upon as liumble and contemptible on the comparison, for being forced to truckle to 
 the power of these oppressors of their country. 
 
 In the following history therefore, if I have happened to affirm anything that contradicts 
 the common opinion and shocks the prejudices of the reader, I must desire him to attend 
 diligently to the autliorities on which it is grounded ; and if these do not give satisfaction, to 
 suspend his judgment still to the end of the work, in the progress of which many facts will 
 be cleared up that may appear at first perhaps micortain and precarious : and in everything 
 especially that relates to Cicero, I would recommend to him to contemplate the whole 
 character, before he thinks himself qualified to judge of its separate parts, on which the 
 whole will always be found the surest comment. 
 
 Quintilian has given its an excellent rule in the very case, — that we should be modest and 
 circumspect in passing a judgment on men so illustrious, lest, as it happens to the (jcnerality ofcensurers, 
 we he found at last to condemn wJiat tee do not understands There is another reflection likewise 
 very obvious, which yet seldom has its due weight, that a writer on any part of history which 
 he has made his particular study, may be presumed to be better acquainted with it than the 
 generality of his readers ; and' when he asserts a fact that does not seem to be well grounded, 
 it may fairly be imputed, till a good reason appears to the contrary, to a more extensive 
 view of his subject ; which, by making it clear to himself, is apt to jiersuade him, that it is 
 equally clear to everybody else, and that a fuller explication of it would consequently be 
 unnecessary. If these considerations, whicli are certainly reasonable, have but their proper 
 influence, I flatter myself that there will be no just cause to accuse me of any culj)able bias 
 in my accounts of things or persons, or of any other favour to the particular character of 
 Cicero, than what common humanity will naturally bestow upon every character that is found 
 upon the whole to be both great and good. 
 
 In drawing the characters of a number of persons who all lived in the same city at the same 
 time, trained by the same discipline, and engaged in the same pursuits ; as there must be 
 many similar strokes, and a general resemblance in them all, so the chief difficulty will be to 
 prevent them from running into too great an uniformity. This I have endeavoured to do, not 
 by forming ideal pictures, or such as would please or surprise ; but by attending to the 
 particular facts which history has delivered of the men, and tracing them to their source, or 
 to those correspondent affections from which they derived their birth ; for these are the 
 distinguishing features of the several persons, which, when duly represented, and placed in 
 their proper light, will not fail to exhibit that precise difference in which the peculiarity of 
 each character consists. 
 
 As to the nature of my work, though the title of it carries nothing more tlian the History 
 of Cicero's Life, yet it might properly enough be called the History of Cicero's Times .' since 
 from his first advancement to the public magistracies, there was not anything of moment 
 transacted in the state in which he did not bear an eminent part : so that, to make the 
 •wliole work of a piece, I have given a summary account of the Roman affairs during the 
 time even of his minority ; and agreeably to what I promised in my progosais, have carried 
 
 " Modeste tamen et circumspecto judicio de tantis damnent, quae non intclligunt. — Quintiirani Instit. 
 ^ris pronuaciandum est, ne, quod plerisque accidit, x. 1.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 XI 
 
 ■on a series of history through a period of above sixty years, which, for the importance of the 
 events, and the dignity of the persons concerned in them, is by far the most interesting of 
 any in the annals of Rome. 
 
 In the execution of this design, I have pursued as closely as I could that very plan 
 which Cicero himself had sketched out for the model of a complete history. Where he 
 lays it down as a fundamental law, " that the writer should not dare to affirm what was 
 false, or to suppress what was true ; nor give any suspicion either of favour or disaffection : 
 that in the relation of facts he should observe the order of time, and sometimes add the 
 description of places ; should first explain the counsels, then the acts, and lastly the events of 
 things : that in the counsels he should interpose his own judgment on the merit of them ; 
 in the acts relate not only what was done, but how it was done ; in the events show what 
 share chance or rashness or prudence had in them ;' that he should describe like\vise the 
 particular characters of all the great persons who bare any considerable part in the story ; 
 and should dress up the whole in a clear and equable style, without affecting any ornament 
 or seeking any other praise but of perspicuity." These were the rules that Cicero had 
 drawn up for himself when he was medita.ting a general history of his country, sls I have taken 
 occasion to mention more at large in its proper place. 
 
 But as I have borrowed my plan, so I have drawn my materials also, from Cicero ; whose 
 "works are the most authentic monuments that remain to us of all the great transactions of 
 that age ; being the original accounts of one, who himself was not only a spectator, but a 
 principal actor in tliem . There is not a single part of his writings which does not give some 
 light, as well into his own history as into that of the republic : but his Familiar Letters, and above 
 all, those to Atticus, may justly be called the memoirs of the times; for they contain, not only a 
 distinct account of every memorable event, but lay open the springs and motives whence each 
 of them proceeded ; so that, as a polite writer who lived in that very age, and perfectly knew 
 the merit of these letters, says, the man who reads them will have no occasion for any other history of 
 those times^. 
 
 My first business therefore, after I had undertaken this task, was to read over Cicero's 
 works, with no other view than to extract from them all the passages that seemed to have any 
 relation to my design : where the tediousness of collecting an infinite number of testimonies 
 scattered through many different volumes ; of sorting them into their classes, and ranging 
 them in proper order ; the necessity of overlooking many in the first search, and the trouble of 
 retrieving them in a second or third ; and the final omission of several through forgetfulness 
 or inadvertency ; have helped to abate that wonder which had often occurred to me, why no 
 man had ever attempted the same work before me, or at least in this enlarged and compre- 
 hensive form in which it is now offered to the public. 
 
 In my use of these materials, I have chosen to insert as many of them as I could into the 
 body of my work ; imagining that it would give both a lustre and authority to a sentiment, 
 to deliver it in the person and the very words of Cicero ; especially if they could be managed 
 60 as not to appear to be sewed on, like splendid patches, but woven originally into the text as 
 the genuine parts of it. With this view I have taken occasion to introduce several of his 
 letters, with large extracts from such of his orations as gave any particular light into the 
 facts, or customs, or characters described in the history, or which seemed on any other account 
 to be curious and entertaining. The frequent introduction of these may be charged perhaps 
 to laziness, and a design of shortening my pains, by filling up my story with Cicero's words 
 instead of my own : but that was not the case ; nor has this part of the task been the easiest 
 to me ; as those will readily believe who have ever attempted to translate the classical 
 
 •* Sexdecim volumina epistolarum ab con&ulatu studiis principum, vitiis ducum, ac mutationibus 
 
 ejus usque ad extremum tempus ad Atticum missa- reipublicse perscripta sunt, ut nihil in his non ap- 
 
 tum ; quae qui legat, non multum desideret hiBtoriam parcat. — Corn. Nep. in Vit. Attici, 16. 
 Conteztam eorum temporum. Sic euim omnia de
 
 xii PREFACE. 
 
 writers of Greece or Rome : where the difllculty is, not so mucli to givo their sense, ea to give 
 it in their language ; tliat is, in sucli as is analogous to it, or what they might bo supposed to 
 speak if they were living at this time ; since a splendour of style, as well as of sentiment, is 
 necessary to support the idea of a fine writer. While I am representing Cicero therefore as 
 the most eloquent of the ancients, flawing with a perpetual ease and delicacy, and fullness of 
 expression, it would be ridiculous to produce no other specimen of it but what was stiff 
 and forced, and ofl'ensivo to a polite reader : yet this is generally the case of our modern 
 versions ; where the first wits of antiquity are made to speak such English, as an Englishman 
 of taste would be ashamed to write on any original subject. Verbal translations are always 
 inelegant % and necessarily destroy all the beauty of language ; yet by departing too wantonly 
 from the letter, we are apt to vary the sense, and mingle somewhat of our own : translators 
 of low genius never reach beyond the first, but march from word to word, without making 
 the least excursion, for fear of losing themselves ; while men of spirit, who prefer the second, 
 usually contemn the mere task of translating, and are vain enough to think of improving 
 their author. I have endeavoured to take the middle way ; and made it my first care always 
 to preserve the sentiment ; and my next to adhere to the words, as far as I was able to express 
 them in an easy and natural style ; which I have varied still agreeably to the different subject, 
 or the kind of writing on which I was employed : and I persuade myself that the many 
 original pieces which I have translated from Cicero, as they are certainly the most shining, 
 so will they be found also the most useful parts of my work, by introducing the reader the oftener 
 into the company of one with whom no man ever convcised, as a very eminent writer tella 
 UB, without coming away the better for it^. 
 
 After I had gone through my review of Cicero's writings, my next recourse was to the 
 other ancients, both Greeks and Romans, who had touched upon the affairs of that age. 
 These served me chiefly to fill up the interstices of general history, and to illustrate several 
 passages which were but slightly mentioned by Cicero ; as well as to add some stories and 
 circumstances which tradition had preserved, concerning either Cicero himself or any of the 
 chief actors whose characters I had delineated. 
 
 But the Greek historians who treat professedly of these times, Plutarch, Appian, Dio, 
 though they are all very useful for illustrating many important facts of ancient history, which 
 woiild otherwise have been lost, or imperfectly transmitted to us, are not yet to be read 
 ■without some caution ; as being strangers to the language and customs of Rome, and liable 
 to frequent mistakes, as well as subject to prejudices in their relation of Roman affairs. 
 Plutarch lived from the reign of Claudius to that of Hadrian, in which he died very old, in 
 the possession of the priesthood of the Delphic Apollo ; and though he is supposed to have 
 resided in Rome near forty years at different times, yet he never seems to have acquired a 
 sufficient skill in the Roman language to qualify himself for the compiler of a Roman history. 
 But if we should allow him all the talents requisite to an historian, yet the attempt of writing 
 the lives of all the illustrious Greeks and Romans, was above the strength of any single man, of what 
 abilities and leisure soever ; much more of one, who, as he himself tells us, Avas so engaged in 
 public business, and in giving lectures of philosophy to the great men of Rome, that he had 
 not time to make himself master of the Latin tongue ; nor to acquire any other knowledge of its words, than 
 vhat he had gradually learnt by a previous use and experience of things^ ; his work therefore, from the 
 very nature of it, must needs be superficial and imperfect, and the sketch rather than the 
 completion of a great design. 
 
 This we find to be actually true in his account of Cicero's life, where, besides the particular 
 vistakes that have been charged upon him by other writers, we see all the marks of haste,. 
 
 ' Nee tamen exprimi verbum e verbo necease erit, surrexpiit animo sedatiore ? — Erasm. Ep. ad Jo. 
 
 at interpretes iudiscrti solent. — Cic. Dc Finib. iii. Ulatten. 
 
 ^' ' Plutarch, in Vit. Demostfaen. init. et Vit. Plutaicbi 
 
 Quit autem eumpeil hiijus libroa in manum. quin per Rualdum, e. 14.
 
 PREFACE. xiii 
 
 inaccuracy, and want of due information, from the poverty and perplexity of the whole 
 perfonnance. He huddles over Cicero's greatest acts in a summary and negligent manner, yet 
 dwells upon his dreams and his jests, which for the greatest part were probably spurious ; and 
 in the last scene of his life, which was of all the most glorious, when the whole councils of the 
 empire and the fate and liberty of Rome rested on his shoulders, there he is more particularly 
 trifling and empty, where he had the fairest opportunity of displaying his character to advantage 
 as well as of illustrating a curious part of history, which has not been well explained by any 
 writer, though there are the amplest materials for it in Cicero's Letters and Philippic Orations, of 
 which Plutarch appears to have made little or no use. 
 
 Appian flourished likewise in the reign of Hadrian', and came to Rome probably about the 
 time of Plutarch's death, while his works were in everybody's hands, which he has made great 
 use of, and seems to have copied very closely in the most considerable passages of his history. 
 
 Dio Cassius lived still later, from the time of the Antonines to that of Alexander Severus ; and 
 besides the exceptions that lie against him in common with the other two, is observed to have 
 conceived a particular prejudice against Cicero, whom he treats on all occasions with the utmost 
 malignity. The most obvious cause of it seems to be his envy to a man who for arts and 
 eloquence was thought to eclipse the fame of Greece ; and, by explaining all the parts of 
 philosophy to the Romans in their own language, had superseded in some measure the use of 
 the Greek learning and lectures at Rome, to Avhich the hungry wits of that nation owed both 
 their credit and their bread. Another reason not less probable may be drawn likewise from 
 Die's character and principles, which were wholly opposite to those of Cicero : he flourished 
 under the most tyrannical of the emperors, by whom he was advanced to great dignity ; and 
 being the creature of despotic power, thought it a proper compliment to it to depreciate a name 
 so highly revered for its patriotism, and whose writings tended to revive that ancient zeal and 
 spirit of liberty for which the people of Rome were once so celebrated ; for we find him taking 
 all occasions in his history to prefer an absolute and monarchical government to a free and democratical 
 one, as the most beneficial to the Roman state «. 
 
 These were the grounds of Die's malice to Cicero, which is exerted often so absurdly that 
 it betrays and confutes itself. Thus in the debates of the senate about Antony, he dresses up 
 a speech for Fufius Calenus, filled with all the obscene and brutal ribaldry against Cicero that 
 a profligate mind could invent : as if it were possible to persuade any man of sense that such 
 infamous stuff could be spoken in the senate at a time when Cicero had an entire ascendant in 
 it ! who at no time ever suffered the least insult upon his honour without chastising the aggressor 
 for it upon the spot 5 whereas Cicero's speeches in these very debates which are still extant, 
 show that though they were managed with great warmth of opposition, yet it was always with 
 decency of language between him and Calenus, whom, while he reprovesxand admonishes with 
 his usual freedom, yet he treats with civility, and sometimes even with compliments'*. 
 
 But a few passages from Dio himself will evince the justice of this censure upon him : He 
 calls Cicero's father a fuller, who yet got his livelihood (he says) by dressing other people's vines 
 and olives ; that Cicero was born and bred amidst the scourings of old clothes and the filth of 
 dunghills j that he was master of no liberal science, nor ever did a single thing in his life worthy 
 of a great man or an orator ; that he prostituted his wife ; trained up his son in drunkenness ; 
 committed incest with his daughter ; lived in adultery with Cerellia, whom he owns at the same 
 time to be seventy years old' ; all which palpable lies, with many more of the same sort that he 
 
 ' Vide App. De Bell. Civ. 1. ii. p. 481. sine odio omnia; nihil sine dolore. [lb. vi.] Qua- 
 
 S Vide Dio, 1. xliv. init. propter ut invitus saepe dissensi a Q. Fufio, ita sum 
 
 ' Nam quod me tecum iraeunde agere dixisti solere, libenter assensus ejus sententiae : ex quo judicare 
 
 non est ita. Velicmenter me agere fateor ; iracunde debetis me non cum homine solere, sed cum causa 
 
 nego : omnino irasci amicis non temere soleo, ne si dissidere. Itaque non assentior solum, Bed etiam 
 
 merentur quidem. Itaque sine verborum contumelia gratiasago Q. Fufio, &c. — Phil. xi. 6 
 a te dissentire possum, sine animi summo dolore non ' Vide Dio, 1. xlvi. p. 295, &c. 
 possum. [Phil. viij. 5.] Satis muha cum Fufio, ac
 
 xiv PREFACE. 
 
 tells of Cicero, are yet full aa credible as what he declares afterwards of himself, that hf. wcu 
 admonitlitd and commanded by a rision/rom /learen, against his own will and inclination, to under- 
 take the task of writing his history ''. 
 
 Upon these collections from Cicero and the other ancients I finished the first draught of my 
 history, before I began to inquire after the modern writers who had treated the same subject 
 before me eitlier in wiiolo or in part. I was unwilling to look into them sooner, lest tliey should 
 tix any prejudice insensibly upon me befonr I had formed a distinet judgnujnt on the real state 
 of llie facts, as they ai)pcarcd to me from their original records. I'or in writing history, as in 
 travels, instead of transcribing the relations of those who have trodden tiie same ground before 
 us, we should exhibit a series of observations peculiar to ourselves, such as the facts and places 
 suggested to our own minds from an attentive survey of them, without regard to what any one 
 else may have delivered about them ; and though, in a production of this kind, where the same 
 materials are common to all, many things must necessarily be said which had been observed 
 already by others ; yet, if the author has any genius, there will always be enough of what is new 
 to distinguish it as an original work, and to give him a riglit to call it his own, wliicli I flatter 
 myself will be allowed tome in the following history. In this inquiry after the modern pieces 
 which had any connexion with my argument, I got notice presently of a greater number than 
 I expected, which bore the title of Cicero's Life ; but, upon running over as many of them 
 as I could readily meet with, I was cured of my eagerness for hunting out the rest, since I 
 perceived them to be nothing else but either trifling panegyrics on Cicero's general character, or 
 imperfect abstracts of his principal acts, thrown together within the compass of a few pages in 
 duodecimo. 
 
 There are two books however which have been of real use to me, Sehastiani Corradi Quaestura 
 and M. T. Ciceronis Ilistoria a Francisco Fabricio : the first was the work of an Italian critic of 
 eminent learning, who Spent a great part of his life in explaining Cicero's writings, but it is 
 rather an apolorn/ for Cicero than the history of his life ; its chief end being to vindicate Cicero's 
 character from all the objections that have ever been made to it, and particularly from the 
 misrepresentations of Plutarch and the calumnies of Dio. The piece is learned and ingenious, 
 and Avritten in good Latin ; yet the dialogue is carried on with so harsh and forced an allegory 
 of a quoestor or treasurer producing the several testimonies of Cicero's acts under the form of 
 genuine money, in opposition to the s}>urious coins of the Greek historians, that none can read it with 
 pleasure, few with patience. The observations however are generally just and well-grounded, 
 except that the author's zeal for Cicero's honour gets the better sometimes of his judgment, and 
 draws him into a defence of his conduct where even Cicero himself has condemned it. 
 
 Fabricius's history is prefixed to several editions of Cicero's woi'ks, and is nothing more than 
 a bare detail of his acts and writings, digested into exact order and distinguished by the years of 
 Home and of Cicerd's life, without any explication or comment but what relates to the settlement 
 of the time, which is the sole end of the work. But as this is executed with diligence and 
 accuracy, so it has eased me of a great share of that trouble which I must otherwise have had in 
 ranging my materials into their proper places, in which task however I have always taken care 
 to consult also the Annals of Pighius. 
 
 I did not forget likewise to pay a due attention to the French authors whose works happened 
 to coincide with any part of mine, particularly the History oftlie two Triumvirates, of the Rewlutions of 
 the Roman Government, and of the Exile of Cicero, which are all of them ingenious and useful, and 
 have given a fair account of the general state of the facts which they profess to illustrate. But 
 as I had already been at the fountain-head whence they had all drawn their materials, so the 
 chief benefit that I received from them, was to make me review with stricter care the particular 
 passages in which I differed from them, as well as to remind me of some few things which I had 
 . omitted, or touched perhaps more slightly than they deserved. But the author of The Exile has 
 treated his argument the most accurately of them, by supporting his story as he goes along 
 
 •■ Dio, 1. ixxiii. p. 828.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 XV 
 
 with original testimonies from the old autliors ; Tvliich is the only way of writing history that 
 can give satisfaction or carry conviction along with it, by laying open the ground on which it 
 is built, without which history assumes the air of romance, and makes no other impression 
 than in proportion to our opinion of the judgment and integrity of the compiler. 
 
 There is a little piece also in our own language called. Observations on the Life of Cicero, which, 
 though it gives a very different account of Cicero from what I have done, yet I could not but 
 read with pleasure, for the elegance and spirit with which it is written by one who appears to 
 be animated with a warm love of virtue. But to form our notions of a great man from some 
 slight passages of his writings or separate points of conduct, without regarding their connexion 
 with the whole, or the figure that they make in his general character, is like examining 
 things in a microscope which were made to be surveyed In the gross ; every mole rises 
 into a mountain, and the least spot into a deformity : which vanish again into nothing when 
 we contemplate them through their proper medium and in their natural light. I persuade 
 myself therefore that a person of this writer's good sense and principles, when he has considered 
 Cicero's whole history, will conceive a more candid opinion of the man, who, after a life spent 
 in a perpetual struggle against vice, faction, and tyi-anny, fell a martyr at last to the liberty of 
 his country. 
 
 As I have had frequent occasion to recommend the use of Cicero's Letters to Atticus for their 
 giving the clearest light into the history of those times, so I must not forget to do justice to the 
 pains of one who, by an excellent translation and judicious comment upon them, has made that 
 use more obvious and accessible to all ; I mean the learned Mr. Mongault, who, not content 
 with retailing the remarks of other commentators, or out of the rubbish of their volumes with 
 selecting the best, enters upon his task with the spirit of a true critic, and by the force of his 
 own genius has happily Illustrated many passages which all the Interpreters before him had 
 given up as inexplicable. But since the obscurity of these letters Is now in great measure 
 removed by the labours of this gentleman, and especially to his own countrymen, for whose 
 particular benefit and In whose language he writes, one cannot help wondering that the Jesuits, 
 Catron and Rouille, should not think it worth while, by the benefit of his pains, to have made 
 themselves better acquainted with them ; whicli, as far as I am able to judge from the little part 
 of their history that I have had the curiosity to look Into, would have prevented several mistakes 
 which they have committed, with regard both to the facts and persons of the Ciceronian age. 
 
 But Instead of making free with other people's mistakes, it would become me perhaps better to 
 bespeak some favour for my own. "An historian" says Diodorus Siculus, "may easily he pardoned for 
 slips of ignorance, since all men are liable to them, and the truth hard to be traced from past and remote 
 ages ; but those who neglect to inform themeselves, and through flattery to some or hatred to others knowinglif 
 deviate from the truth, justly deserve to be censured.'^ For my part, I am far from pretending to be 
 exempt from errors : all that I can say is, that I have committed none wilfully, and used all 
 the means which occurred to me of defending myself against them. But since there Is not a 
 single history, either ancient or modern, that I have consulted on this occasion, in which I 
 cannot point out several, It would be arrogant in me to Imagine that the same inadvertency, or 
 negligence, or want of judgment, may not be discovered also In mine : if any man therefore 
 will admanish me of them with candour I shall think myself obliged to him, as a friend to my 
 work, for assisting me to make it more perfect, and consequently more useful ; for my chief 
 motive for undertaking It was, not to serve any particular cause, but to do a general good by 
 oflfering to the public the example of a character which, of all that I am acquainted with in 
 antiquity, is the most accomplished with every talent that can adorn civil life, and the best 
 fraught with lessons of prudence and duty for all conditions of men, from the prince to the 
 private scholar. 
 
 If my pains therefore should have the effect which I propose, of raising a greater attention 
 to the name and writings of Cicero, and making them better understood and more familiar to 
 our youth, I cannot fail of gaining my end ; for the next step to admiring Is to Imitate, and it
 
 ^yI pukface 
 
 is not possible to excito an affection for Cicero, witliout instilling an affection at the same time 
 for every thing that is laudable : since how much soever people may differ in their opinion of 
 his conduct, yet all have constantly agreed in their judgment of his works, that there are 
 none now remaining to us from the Heathen world tliat so beautifully display and so forcibly 
 recommend all those generous principles that tend to exalt and perfect human nature ; the 
 love of virtue, liberty, our country, and of all numkind. 
 
 I cannot support this reflection by a uetter authority than that of Erasmus, who, having 
 contracted some prejudices against Cicero when young, makes a recantation of them when old 
 in the following passage of a letter to his friend Ulattenus'. 
 
 " When I was a boy," says he, " I was fonder of Seneca than of Cicero, and till I was twenty 
 years old could not bear to spend any time in reading him ; while all the other writers of 
 antiquity generally pleased mc. Whether my judgment be improved by age, I know not ; but 
 am certain, that Cicero never pleased me so much when I was fond of those juvenile studies 
 as he does now when I am grown old ; not only for the divine felicity of his style, but the 
 sanctity of his heart and morals : in short, he has inspired my soul, and made me feel myself a 
 better man. I make no scruple, therefore, to exhort our youth to spend their hours in reading 
 and getting his books by heart, rather than in the vexatious squabbles and peevish controversies 
 with wliicii the world abounds. For my own part, though I am now in the decline of life, yet 
 as soon as I have finished what I have in hand, I shall think it no reproach to me to seek a 
 reconciliation with my Cicero, and renew an old acquaintance with him, which for many years 
 has been unhappily intermitted." 
 
 Before I conclude this preface it will not be improper to add a short abstract, or general idea 
 of the Roman (joternmeiit, from its first institution by Romulus to the time of Cicero's birth ; that 
 those who have not been conversant in the affairs of Rome, may not come entire strangers to 
 the subject of the following history. 
 
 The constitution of Rome is very often celebrated by Cicero and other writers, as the most 
 perfect of all governments ; being happily tempered and composed of the three different sorts that 
 are usually distinguished from each other ; the monarchical, the aristocratical, and the popular'". 
 Their king was elected by the people as the head of the republic ; to be their leader in war, 
 the guardian of the laws in peace : the senate was his council, chosen also by the people, by 
 whose advice he Avas obliged to govern himself in all his measures : but the sovereignty was 
 lodged in the body of the citizens, or the general society, whose prerogative it was to enact 
 laics, create magistrates, declare war" ; and to receive appeals in all cases, both from the king and 
 the senate. Some writers have denied this right of an appeal to the pieople: but Cicero 
 expressly mentions it among the regal constitutions, as old as the foundation of the city " ; which 
 he had demonstrated more at large in his treatise on the liepublic ; whence Seneca has quoted 
 a passage in confirmation of it ; and intimates, that the same right was declared likewise in 
 the pontifical booksv. Valerius Maximus gives us an instance of it, which is confirmed also by 
 Liivy, that Horatius being condemned to die by king Tullus for killing his sister, Kas acquitted upon 
 his appeal to the jyeoplei. 
 
 This was the original constitution of Rome even under their kings ; for in the foundation of 
 a state, where there was no force to compel, it Avas necessary to invite men into it by all 
 
 Erasm. Ep. aJ Jo. Ulatt. in Cic. Tuscul. Quscst. partim etiam legibns, auspicia, ca;ren)oniae, comitia, 
 
 " Statuo esse optima constitutam rempublicam quai provocationes — divinitus essent instituta. — Tusc. 
 
 ex tiibiis generibus illis, rcgali, optimo, et popular!, Quajst. iv. 1. 
 
 eonfusa modice — Fragm. de Rep. ii. p CumCiceronislibros de republicapichendit — notat 
 
 Cum in illis de republica libris persuadere videatur provocationem ad populum etiam a regibus fuisse. 
 
 Africamis, omnium rerum pubiicarum nostram vote- Id ita in poniificalibus libris aliqui putant et Fenes* 
 
 rem illam fuisse optimam.—De Legib. ii. 10 ; Poljb. tclla. — Senec. Ep. 108. 
 
 vi. p. 460 ; Dion. Hal. ii. 82. i M. Horatius interfectse sororis crimine a TuUo 
 
 " Dion. Hal. i. 87. rege damnatus, ad populum provoeato judicio abgolutu* 
 
 • Nam cum a primo urbis ortu, regiis instituils, est. — Val. Max. viii. 1 ; Liv. i, 26.
 
 PREFACE. xvii 
 
 proper encouragements ; and none could be so effectual as the assurance of liberty, and the 
 privilege of making their own laws^ But the kings, by gradual encroachments, liaving 
 usurped the whole administration to themselves, and by the violence of their government 
 being grown intolerable to a city trained to liberty and arms, were finally expelled by a general 
 insurrection of the senate and the people. This was the ground of that invincible fierceness 
 and love of their country in the old Romans by which they conquered the world ; for the 
 superiority of their civil rights, naturally inspired a superior virtue and courage to defend 
 them ; and made them of course the bravest, as long as they continued the freest, of all 
 nations. 
 
 By this revolution of the government their old constitution was not so much changed, as 
 restored to its primitive state : for thougli the name of king was abolished, yet the power was 
 retained ; with tnis only difference, that instead of a single person chosen for life, there were 
 two chosen annually, whom they called consuls, invested with all the prerogatives and ensigns 
 of royalty, and presiding in the same manner in all the affairs of the republic" ; when to 
 convince the citizens that nothing was sought by the change but to secure their common 
 liberty, and to establish their sovereignty again on a more solid basis, one of the first consuls, 
 P, Valerius Poplicola, confirmed by a new law their fundamental right of an appeal to them in 
 all cases ; and by a second law, made it capital for any man to exercise a magistracy in Rome, 
 without their special appointment ' : and as a public acknowledgment of their supreme authority, 
 the same consul never appeared in any assembly of the people, without bowing his fasces or 
 maces to them ; which was afterwards the constant practice of all succeeding consuls". Thus 
 the republic reaped all the benefit of a kingly government, without the danger of it ; since the 
 consuls, whose reign was but annual and accountable, could have no opportunity of invading 
 its liberty, and erecting themselves into tyrants. 
 
 By the expulsion of the kings, the city was divided into two great parties, the aristocratical 
 and the popular, or the senate and the p)lehcians^, naturally jealous of each other's power, and 
 desirous to extend their own ; but the nobles or patricians, of whom the senate was composed, 
 were the most immediate gainers by the change, and with the consuls at their head, being 
 now the first movers and administrators of all the deliberations of the state, had a great 
 advantage over the people ; and within tlie compass of sixteen years became so insolent and 
 oppressive, as to drive the body of the plebeians to that secession into the Sacred Mount whence they 
 would not consent to return, till they had extorted a right of creating a new order of 
 magistrates of their own body, called tribunes, invested with full powers to protect them ficm 
 all injuries, and whose persons were to be sacred and inviolable''. 
 
 The plebeian party had now got a head exactly suited to their purpose, subject to no control, 
 whose business it was to fight their battles with the nobility ; to watch over the liberties of the 
 citizens ; and to distinguish themselves in their annual oSice, by a zeal for the popular interest, 
 in opposition to the aristocratical, who, from their first number five, being increased afterwards 
 to ten, never left teazing the senate with fresh demands, till they had laid open to the plebeian 
 
 ' Romulus seems to have borrowed the plan of his manebit, si unus omnibus reliquis magistratibus ira- 
 
 new state from the old governme&t of Athens, as it penibit. — De Legib. iii. 7. 
 was instituted by Theseus ; who prevailed with the ' Dion. Hal. v. 292. 
 
 dispersed tribes and families of Attica to form them- " Vocato ad concilium populo, Bummissis fascibus in 
 
 selves into one city, and live within the same walls, concionem ascendit.— Liv. ii. 7. 
 under a free and popular government ; distributing its * Duo genera semper in hac civitatc fuerunt, — ex 
 
 rights and honours promiscuously to them all, and quibus alteri se populares, alteri optimates et habcri et 
 
 reserving no other prerogative to himself, but to be esse voluerunt. Qui ea, quae faciebant, quaequc dicebant» 
 
 their captain in war, and the guardian of their jucunda multitudini esse volebant, populares ; qui 
 
 laws, &c. — Plutarch, in Thes. p. 11. autem ita se gerebant, ut sua consilia optimo cuiquo 
 
 • Sed quoniam regale civitatis genus, prohatum probarent optimates habebantur. — Pro Sext. 45. 
 quondam, non tam regni, quam regis vitiis repudiatum J Dion, Hal. vi, 410. 
 e«t ; nomen tamen videbitur regis repudiatum, res
 
 xviii PREFACE. 
 
 fiimilies a promiscuous ri^lit to ull the magistracies of the rojiublic, and by tliat means a frco 
 admission into tho senate. 
 
 Thus far they were certainly in the right, and acted like true patriots ; and after many sharp 
 contests l»ad now brought tho government of Rome to its perfect state ; when its honours were 
 uo longer confined to particular families, but proposed equally and indifferently to every 
 citizen who by his virtue and services, either in war or peace, c(jiild recommend himself to 
 the notice and favour of hi:i countrymen ; while the true balance and temperament of power 
 between tho senate and people, which was generally observed in regular times, and which the 
 honest wished to establish in all times, was, that the senate should be the authors and advisers 
 of all the public counsels, but the people give them their sanction and legal force. 
 
 The tribunes, however, would not stop here, nor were content with securing the rights of the 
 commons, without destroying those of the senate ; and as oft as they were disappointed in their 
 private views, and obstructed in the course of their ambition, used to recur always to the 
 populace, whom they could easily inflame to what degree they thought fit, by the proposal of 
 factious laws for dividing tlie jmhlic lands to the poorer citizens ; or by the free distribution of com; 
 or the abolition of all debts; which are all contrary to the quiet, and discipline, and public faith 
 of societies. This abuse of the tribunitian power was carried to its greatest height by the two 
 Gracchi, who left nothing unattempted that could mortify the senate, or gratify the people* ; till 
 by their agrarian lairs, and other seditious acts, which were greedily received by the city, they 
 had in great measure overturned that equilibrium of power in the republic on which its peace 
 and prosperity depended. 
 
 But the violent deaths of these two tribunes, and of their principal adherents, put an end to 
 their sedition, and was the first civil blood that was spilt in the streets of Rome, in any of t^eir 
 public dissentions, which till this time had always been composed by the methods of patience 
 and mutual concessions. It must ^eem strange to observe how these two illustrious brothers, 
 ■who of all men were the dearest to the Roman people, yet upon the first resort to arms, were 
 severally deserted by the multitude in the very height of their authority, and suffered to be 
 cruelly massacred in the face of the whole city ; which shows what little stress is to be laid on 
 the assistance of the populace when the dispute comes to blows ; and that sedition, though it 
 may often shake, yet will never destroy a free state while it continues unarmed and unsupported 
 by a military force. But this vigorous conduct of the senate, though it seemed necessary to 
 the present quiet of the city, yet soon after proved fatal to it ; as it taught all the ambitious, by 
 a most sensible experiment, that there was no way of supporting an usurped authority but by 
 force ; so that from this time, as we shall find in the following story, all those who aspired to 
 extraordinary powers, and a dominion in the republic, seldom troubled themselves with what 
 the senate or people were voting at Rome, but came attended by armies to enforce their 
 pretensions, which were always decided by the longest sword. 
 
 The popularity of the Gracchi was grounded on the real affections of the people, gained by 
 many extraordinary privileges and substantial benefits conferred upon them ; but when force 
 was found necessary to control the authority of the senate, and to support that interest which 
 was falsely called popular, instead of courting the multitude by real services and beneficial 
 laws, it was found a much shorter way to cornipt them by money ; a method wholly unknown 
 in the times of the Gracchi, by which the men of power had always a number of mercenaries at 
 their devotion, ready to ill the forum at any warning ; avIio by clamour and violence carried 
 all before them in the public assemblies, and came prepared to ratify tchatever was proposed to 
 them'' : this kept up the form of a legal proceeding ; while by the terror of arms, and a superior 
 
 * Nihil immotum, nihil tranquillum, nihil quietum ferant, quse illi velint audire, qui in concione sunt ; 
 
 denique in eodem statu relin,quebat, ^c^ Veil. Pat. sed pretio ac mercede perRciunt, ut, quicquid dicaiif, 
 
 ii. 6, id illi velle audire videantnr. Num vos existimatis, 
 
 » Itaqu^ homines seditiosi ac turbulent! — conductas Gracchos, aut Saturninutn, aut quenquam ilIonin> 
 
 babent concionei, Neque id agunt, ut ea dicant et yeterum, qui populares habebantur, ullum uuquatu in
 
 PREFACE. ^^j^ 
 
 force, the great could easily support, and carry into execution, whatever votes they had once procured 
 in their favour by faction and bribery. 
 
 After the death of the younger Gracchus, the senate was perpetually labouring to rescind or to 
 moderate the laws that he had enacted to their prejudice ; especially one that affected them the most 
 sensibly, by taking from them the right of judicature, which they had exercised from the foundation of 
 Rome, and transferring it to the Tcnights. This act, however, was equitable ; for as the senators 
 possessed all the magistracies and governments of the empire, so they were the men whose oppressions 
 were most severely felt, and most frequently complamed of ; yet while the judgment of all causes 
 continued in their hands, it was their common practice to favour and absolve one another in their 
 turns, to the general scandal and injiu-y both of the subjects and allies, of which some late and 
 notorious instances had given a plausible pretext for Gracchus's law. But the senate could not bear 
 with patience to be subjected to the tribunal of an inferior order, which had always been jealous of 
 their power, and was sure to be severe upon their crimes ; so that, after many fruitless struggles to 
 get this law repealed, Q,. Servilius Csepio, who was consul about twenty-five years after, procured at 
 last a mitigation of it, by adding a certain number of senators to the three centuries of the Icnights or 
 equestrian judges ; with which the senate was so highly pleased that they honoured this consul with 
 tlie title of their patron^. Caepio's law was warmly recommended by L. Crassui, the most celebrated 
 orator of that age, who in a speech upon it to the people, defended the aiathority of the senate with all 
 the force of his eloquence, in which state of things and in this very year of Csepio^ consulship, Cicero 
 was bom ; and as Crassus's oration was published and much admired when he was a boy, so he took 
 it, as he afterwards tells us, for the pattern both of his eloquence and his politics '. 
 
 condone habuisse conductum ? Nemo habuit. — Pro annos, totidemque annis mihi aetate prsestabat. lis 
 
 Sext. 49. enim consulibus eam legem suasit, quibus nos nati 
 
 *" Is — consulatus decore, maximi pontificatus sacer- sumus. [Brut. p. 274.] Mihi quidem a puerltia, 
 
 dotio, ut senatus patronus diceretur, assecutus. — Val. quasi magistra fuit ilia in legem Caepionis oratio : in 
 
 Max. vi. 9. qua et auctoritas omatur senatus, pro quo ordine ilia 
 
 <= Su%8it Serviliam legem Crassus — sed haec Crassi dicuntur. — Ibid. 278. 
 turn edlta est oratio — quatuor et triginta turn habebat
 
 THE HISTORY 
 
 LIFE OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 coss. 
 
 q. SERVILIUS 
 
 riKPio, 
 
 C. ATILIUS 
 SERRANUS, 
 
 Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on the 
 third of January", in the six hundred and forty- 
 seventh year of Rome, about a hun- 
 dred and seven years before Christ^. 
 His birth, if we believe Phitarch, was 
 attended by prodigies, foretelling the 
 future eminence and lustre of his cha- 
 racter, which might have passed, he 
 says, for idle dreams, had not the event soon con- 
 firmed the truth of the prediction ; but since we 
 have no hint of these prodigies from Cicero himself, 
 or any author of that age, we may charge them to 
 the credulity, or the invention of a writer, who loves 
 to raise the solemnity of his story by the introduc- 
 tion of something miraculous. 
 
 His mother was called Helvia ; a name men- 
 tioned in history and old inscriptions among the 
 honourable families of Rome. She was rich, and 
 well descended, and had a sister married to a Roman 
 knight of distinguished merit, C. Aculeo, an inti- 
 mate friend of the orator, L. Crassus, and celebra- 
 ted for a singular knowledge of the law ; in which 
 his sons likewise, our Cicero's cousins-german, 
 were afterwards very eminent <^^. It is remarkable, 
 that Cicero never once speaks of his mother in any 
 pai't of his writings ; but his younger brother Quin- 
 tus has left a little story of her, which seems to 
 intimate her good management and housewifery ; 
 how she used to seal all her wine-casks, the empty 
 as well as the full, that when any of them were 
 found empty and unsealed, she might know them to 
 have been emptied by stealth ; it being the most 
 Usual theft among the slaves of great families, to 
 steal their master's wine out of the vessels''. 
 
 As to his father's family, nothing was delivered 
 
 « III Nonas Jan. natali meo.— Ep. ad Att. vii. 5 ; ib. xiii. 
 42. 
 
 b This computation follows the common xra of Christ's 
 birth, which is placed three years later than it ought to 
 be. Pompcy the Great was born also in the same year, on 
 the last of September.— Vld. Pigh. Ann.,l>lin. xxxvii. 2. 
 
 e DeOrat. i. 43; ii. 1. 
 
 * Siciit olim niatrem meam faeere memini, quae lagenas 
 etiam inanes obsjgnabat, no dicerentur inanes aliquEE 
 fulsse, quae furtim ossent cxsiccatas. — Ep. Fam. xvi. 26. 
 
 Posset qui iicnoscere servis, 
 
 £t ligno Ifso Don in^iamrc lagenx,— Hor. 
 
 of it, but in extremes " : which is not to be won- 
 dered at, in the history of a man, whose Ufe was so 
 exposed to envy as Cicero's, and who fell a victim 
 at last to the power of his enemies. Some derive 
 his descent from kings, others from mechanics'; 
 but the truth lay between both ; for his family, 
 though it had never borne any of the great offices 
 of the republic, was yet very ancient and honour- 
 able S; of principal distinction and nobility in that 
 part of Italy in which it resided ; and of equestrian 
 rank'', from its first admission to the freedom of 
 Rome. 
 
 Some have insinuated, that Cicero affected to say 
 but little of the splendour of his famUy, for the sake 
 of being considered as the founder of it ; and chose 
 to suppress the notion of his regal extraction, for 
 the aversion that the people of Rome had to the 
 name of king ; with which, however, he was some- 
 times reproached by his enemies'. But those spe- 
 culations are wholly imaginary ; for as oft as there 
 was occasion to mention the character and condition 
 of his ancestors, he speaks of them always with 
 great frankness, declaring them to have been con- 
 
 e See Plutarch's Life of Cicero. 
 
 f Regia progenies et TuUo sanguis ab alto. — Sil. Ital. 
 
 e Hinc enim orti stirpc antiquisslnia : hie sacra, hio 
 genus, hie majorum uuilta vestigia. — Do Leg. ii. I, 2. 
 
 h The equestrian dignity, or that order of the Roman 
 people which we commonly call knights, had nothing in 
 it analogous or similar to any order of modern knight- 
 hood, but depended entirely upon a census, or valuation 
 of their estates, which was usually made every five years 
 by the censors, in their lustrum, or general review of the 
 whole people, when all those citizens, whose entire for- 
 tunes amounted to the value of four hundred sestertia, 
 that is, of 3229^ of our money, were enrolled of course in 
 the list of cquitcs or knights, who were considered as 
 a middle order between the senators and the common 
 people, yet without any other distinction than the privi- 
 lege of wearing a gold ring, which was the peculiar badge 
 of their order. [Liv. xxiii. 12; Plin. Hist, xxxiii. I.] 
 The census, or estate necessary to a senator, was double 
 to that of a knight : and if ever they reduced their for- 
 tunes below that standard, they forfeited their rank, and 
 were struck out of the roll of their order by the censors. 
 Si quadringentis sex septem millia desint, 
 Plebs cris. IIoR. Ep. i. 1. 57. 
 
 The order of knights therefore included in it the Whole 
 provincial nobility .and gentry of the empire, which had 
 not yet obtained the honour of the Senate. 
 
 ' Vid. Sebast. Corrad. Qusestura, pp. 43, 44.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 tent with tluir jiiittrnal fortuiics, and the private 
 honours of their own city, witlumt Ihc ambition of 
 ai>i>t'iirin;,' on the public sta;,'i- of lionii;. Tims in 
 a spoc-ch to the ])coplc upon his aJvunccmi-nt to the 
 consulship, 1 linve no iirelenee, says he, to enlarge 
 before vou, upon the praises of my ancestors; not but 
 that they were all sueh as myself, who am descended 
 from their blood, and trained by their discipline ; 
 l)iit because they lived without this ajjplause of 
 i)0])ular fame, and the splendour of these honours, 
 ■which vou confer''. It is on this account therefore, 
 that we tind him so often called a new man ; not 
 that his family was new or ifjnoble, but because lie 
 was the first of it, who ever sought and obtained the 
 public magistracies of the state. 
 
 The place of his birth was Arpinum ; a city 
 anciently of the Samnites, now part of the kingdom 
 of Naples ; which, upon its submission to Rome, 
 accpdred the freedom of the city, and was inserted 
 into the Cornelian tribe. It had the honour also 
 of producing the great C. Marius ; which gave occa- 
 sion to Pompey to say in a public speech, that 
 Rome was indebted to this corporation for two 
 citizens, who had, each in his turn, preserved it 
 from ruin'. It may justly therefore claim a place 
 in the memory of posterity, for giving life to such 
 ■worthies, who exemi)lified the character which Pliny 
 gives of true glory, by doing what deserved to be 
 written, and writing what deserved to be read ; and 
 making the world the happier and the better for 
 their having lived in it'". 
 
 The territoiy of Arpinum was rude and mountain- 
 ous, to which Cicero applies Homer's description of 
 Ithaca, 
 
 — rprjX"' ^^^' ayaO)] KovpoTp6<pos, k. t. A. 
 Tis rough indeed, yet breeds a generous race". 
 
 The family seat was about three miles from the 
 town, in a situation extremely pleasant, and well 
 adapted to the nature of the climate. It was sur- 
 rounded with groves and shady walks, leading from 
 the house to a river called Fibrenus, which was 
 divided into two equal streams by a little island, 
 covered with trees, and a portico contrived both for 
 study and exercise, whither Cicero used to retire 
 when he had any particular work upon his hands. 
 The clearness and rapidity of the stream, murmur- 
 ing through a rocky channel ; the shade and verdure 
 of its banks, planted with tall poplars ; the remark- 
 able coldness of the water, and above all, its falling 
 by a cascade into the nobler river Liris, a little 
 below the island ; gives us the idea of a most beau- 
 tiful scene, as Cicero himself has described it. When 
 Atticus first saw it, he was charmed -with it, and 
 wondered that Cicero did not prefer it to all his 
 other houses ; declaring a contempt of the laboured 
 magnificence, marble pavements, artificial canals, 
 and forced streams of the celebrated villas of Italy, 
 compared with the natural beauties of this place °. 
 The house, as Cicero says, was but small and humble 
 in his grandfather's time, according to the ancient 
 frugality, like the Sabine farm of old Curius ; till his 
 father beautified and enlarged it into a handsome 
 and spacious habitation. 
 
 But there caiinotbe a better proof of the delight- 
 
 l' r>e Lege Agrar. con. Rull. ad Quirites, 1. 
 
 1 De Legib. ii. 3; VaJ. Maxim, ii. 2. 
 
 a Plin. Ep. 
 
 o Ad Att ii. ) 1 ; Odyss. ix. 27. 
 
 " De Legib. ii. 1, 2, 3. 
 
 fulness of the place, than that it is now possessed 
 by a convent of monks, and called the Villa of St. 
 Dominic''. Strange revolution I to see Cicero's 
 jiorticocs converted to monkish cloisters ! the seat 
 of the most refined reason, wit, and learning, to a 
 nursery of sujierstition, bigotry, and enthusiasm ! 
 What a jjleasure must it give to these Dominican 
 Inquisitors, to trample on the ruins of a man, whose 
 writings, by sjireading the light of reason and liberty 
 through the world, have been one great instrument 
 of obstructing their unwearied jjains to enslave it ! 
 
 Cicero, being the first-born of the family, re- 
 ceived, as usual, the name of his fatlier and grand- 
 father, Marcus. This name was properly personal, 
 equivalent to that of baptism with us, und imposed 
 with ceremonies somewhat analogous to it, on the 
 ninth day, called the lustrical.or dayof jjurification'; 
 when the child was carried to the temple by the 
 friends and, relations of the family, and, before the 
 altars of the gods, recommended to the protection of 
 some tutelar deity. 
 
 Tullius was the name of the family ; which, in old 
 language, signified flowins; streams, or ducts of water, 
 and was derived, therefore, probably from their 
 ancientsituation.at the confiuence of the two rivers'. 
 
 The third name was generally added on account 
 of some memorable action, quality, or accident, 
 which distinguished the founder, or chief person, of 
 the family. Plutarch says, that the surname of 
 Cicero was owdng to a wart or excrescence on the 
 nose of one of his ancestors, in the shape of a vetch, 
 which the Romans called cicer^ : but Pliny tells us, 
 more credibly, that all those names, which had a 
 reference to any species of grain, as the Fabii, Len- 
 tuli, &c. were acquired by a reputation of being the 
 best husbandmen or improvers of that species'. As 
 Tullius, therefore, the family name, was derived 
 from the situation of the farm, so Cicero, the sur- 
 name, from the culture ot it by vetches. This, I 
 say, is the most probable ; because agriculture was 
 held the most liberal employment in old Rome, and 
 those tribes, which resided on their farms in the 
 country, the most honouraijie ; and this very grain, 
 from which Cicero drew his name, was, in all ages 
 of the republic, in great request with the meaner 
 people ; being one of the usual largesses bestowed 
 upon them by the rich, and sold everywhere in the 
 theatres and streets ready parched or boiled for pre- 
 sent use". 
 
 Cicero's grandfather was living at the time of his 
 birth ; and from the few hints which are left of him, 
 
 P Appresso la Villa di S. Domenico ; bora cosi nominato 
 questo luogo, ove nacque Cicerone, oome dice Pietro 
 Marso, laquale Villa e discosta da Arpino da tre miglia. 
 — Vid. Leand. Alberti Descrittione d'ltalia, p. 267- 
 
 1 Est Nundlna Romanoi-um dea, a nono n.^scentium die 
 nuncupata, qui lustricus dicitur ; est autem dies lustricus, 
 quo infantes lustrantur et nomen accipiunt. — Macrob. 
 Sat. i. 16. 
 
 •■ Pompeius Festus in voce Tullius. 
 
 s Tliis has given rise to a blunder of some sculptors, 
 who, in the busts of Cicero, liave formed the resemblance 
 of this vetch on his nose ; not reflecting, that it was the 
 name only, and not the vetch itself , which was transmitted 
 to him by his ancestors. 
 
 t Hist. Nat. xviii. 3, 1. 
 
 n In cicere, atque faba, bona tu perdasque lupinis, 
 Iiatus ut in circo spatiere, aut aneus ut stes. 
 
 IIoR. Sat. 1. ii. 3. 182. 
 Nee, siquid fricti ciceris probat et nucis em tor. 
 
 Ars Poet. 24fl.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS C^ICERO. 
 
 «eems to have been a man of business and interest 
 in his country*. He was at the head of a party in 
 Arpinum, in opposition to a busy turbulent man, 
 M. Gratidius, wliose sister he had married, who 
 was pusliing forward a popular law, to oblige the 
 town to transact all their affairs by ballot. The 
 cause was brought before the Consul Scaurus ; in 
 which old Cicero behaved Inmself so well, that the 
 consul paid him the compliment to wish that a 
 man of his spirit and virtue would come and act with 
 them in the great theatre of the republic, and not 
 confine his talents to tlie narrow s])here of his own 
 corporation >'. There is a saying likewise recorded 
 of this old gentleman, That the men of those times 
 were like the Syrian slaves — the more Greek they 
 knew, the greater knaves they were^ ; which carries 
 with it the notion of an old patriot, severe on the 
 importation of foreign arts, as destructive of the 
 discipline and manners of his country. This grand- 
 father had two sons — Marcus the elder, the father 
 of our Cicero; and Lucius, a particular friend of 
 the celebrated orator M. Antonius, whom he ac- 
 companied to his government of Cilicia* ; and who 
 left a son of the same name, frequently mentioned 
 .by Cicero with great affection, as a youth of excel- 
 lent virtue and accomplishments''. 
 
 His father Marcus also was a wise and learned 
 man, whose merit recommended him to the fami- 
 liarity of the principal magistrates of the republic, 
 especially Cato, L. Crassus, and L. Csesar^ ; but 
 being of an infirm and tender constitution, he spent 
 'his life chiefly at Arpinum, in an elegant retreat 
 and the study of polite letters''. 
 
 But his chief employment, from the time of his 
 having sons, was to give them the best education 
 which Rome could afford, in hopes to excite in 
 them an ambition of breaking through the indo- 
 lence of the family, and aspiring to the honours of 
 the state. Tliey were bred up with their cousins, 
 the young Aculeos, in a method approved and 
 directed by L; Crassus ; a man of the tirst dignity, 
 as well as the first eloquence in Rome, and by tliose 
 very masters whom Crassus himself made use of*. 
 The Romans were of all people the most careful 
 and exact in the education of their children : their 
 
 « De Legib. ii. 1. 
 
 y Ac nostro quidem hiiic, cum res esset ad se delata, 
 Consul Scauius, utinam. inquit, 51. Cicero, isto animo 
 atque virtute, in siimma reimblica nobiscum versari, 
 quam in municipal! voluisse;-!— Ibid. iii. 16. 
 
 ^ Nostros homines similes esse Syrorum venalium ; ut 
 quisque optime Grsece sciret, ita esse nequissimum. — De 
 Orat. ii. G6. 
 
 N.B. — A great part of the slaves in Rome were Syrians 
 for the pirates of Cilicia, wlio used to infest the coasts oi 
 Syria, carried all their captives to the market of Delos, 
 and sold them there to tlie Greeks, through whose hands 
 they usually passed to Rome : those slaves, therefore, who 
 had lived tlie longest with their Grecian masters, and 
 consequently talked Greek the best, were the most prao- 
 ■tised in all the little tricks and craft that servitude natu- 
 rally teaches ; which old Cicero, like Cato the Censor, 
 imputed to the arts and manners of G.-cece itself. — Vid. 
 Adr. Tiu-neb. in jocos Ciceronis. 
 
 « De Orat. ii. 1. 
 
 b De Finib. v. 1 ; ad Att. i. 5. 
 
 « Ep. Fam. xv. 4; De Orat. ii. ]. 
 
 •• Qui cum os.set infirm.a valetudine, hie fere aitatem 
 egit in Uteris.— Do Legib. ii. 1. 
 
 e Cumque nos cum eonsobrinis nostris, Aoiileonis filiis, 
 ■et ea disceremus, quae Crasso placerent, et ab iis doctori- 
 •■ijus, quibus illo uteretur, eruoiicmiu-.— De Orat. ii. 1. 
 
 attention to it began from the moment of their 
 birth ; when they committed them to the care of 
 some prudent matron of reputable character and 
 condition, whose business it was to form their first 
 habits of acting and speaking ; to watch their 
 growing passions, and direct them to their proper 
 objects ; to superintend their sports, and suffer 
 nothing immodest or indecent to enter into them ; 
 that tlic mind preserved in its innocence, nor de- 
 praved by a taste of false pleasure, might be at 
 liberty to pursue whatever was laudable, and apply 
 its whole strength to that profession, in which it 
 desired to excel f. 
 
 It was the opinion of some of the old masters, 
 that children should not be instructed in letters 
 till they were seven years old ; but the best judges 
 advised, that no time of culture should be lost, and 
 that their literary instruction should keep pace with 
 their moral ; that three years only should be allowed 
 to the nurses, and when they first began to speak, 
 that they should begin also to learn p. It was 
 reckoned a matter likewise of great importance, 
 what kind of language they were first accustomed 
 to hear at home, and in what manner not only their 
 nurses, but their fathers and even mothei's, spoke ; 
 since their first habits were then necessarily formed, 
 either of a pure or corrupt elocution : tlius the two 
 Gracchi were thought to owe that elegance of 
 speaking, for which they were famous, to the 
 institution of their mother Cornelia ; a woman of 
 great politeness, whose epistles were read and 
 admired long after her death for the purity of their 
 language ''. 
 
 This probably was a part of that domestic disci- 
 pline, in which Cicero was trained, and of which 
 he often speaks ; but as soon as he was capable of 
 a more enlarged and liberal institution, his father 
 brought him to Rome, where he had a house of his 
 own', and placed him in a public school, under an 
 eminent Greek master, which was thought the best 
 way of educating one who was designed to appear 
 on the public stage, and who, as Quintilian ob- 
 serves, ought to be so bred as not to fear the sight 
 of men, since that can never be rightly learned in 
 solitude, which is to be produced before crowds''. 
 Here he gave the first specimen of those shining 
 abiUties, which rendered him afterwards so illus- 
 trious ; and his school-fellows carried home such 
 stories of his extraordinaiy parts and quickness in 
 learning, that their parents were often induced to 
 visit tlie school, for the sake of seeing a youth of 
 such surj^rising talents'. 
 
 About this time a celebrated rhetorician, PIo- 
 tius, first set up a Latin school of eloquence in 
 Rome, and had a great resort to him"'. Young 
 Cicero was very desirous to be his scholar, but was 
 
 f Eligebatur auteni aliqua uuijcjr natu propinqua, cujus 
 probatis speetatisquc nioribus, omnis cujuspiam faniiliae 
 soboles committeretur, &e. — qu£e disciplina et severitas 
 CO pertinebat, ut sincera et Integra et nullis pravitatibus 
 detorta uniuscuj usque natura, toto statim pectore arri- 
 peret artes honegtas, &o.— Tacit. Dial, de Oratorib. 28. 
 
 t; Quintil. i. 1. 
 
 1' Ibid. ; it. in Brut. p. 319, edit. Sebast. Corradi. 
 
 ' This is a farther proof of the wealth and flourishing 
 condition of liis family ; since the rent of a moderate house 
 in Rome, in a reputable part of the city, fit for one of 
 equestrian rank, was about two hundred pounds sterling 
 per annum. 
 
 ^ Quintil. i. 2. ' Plutarch, in hie Life, 
 
 ■n Bueton. de Claris Rhetoribus, c. 2. 
 B a
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 over-niU'il in it by tlie adviop of the It'arned, who 
 thought the tirock masters mure useful in forming 
 him to tlie liar, for which he was designed. This 
 metliod of l)e£!;inuing with Greek is approved 
 by Quintilian ; because the Latin would come of 
 itself, and it seemed most natural to begin from 
 the fountain, whence all the Roman learning was 
 derived : yet the rule, he says, must be jiractised 
 with some restriction, nor the use of a foreign lan- 
 guage pushed so far to the neglect of the native, 
 as to ac(|uire with it a foreign accent and vicious 
 pronunciation". 
 
 Cicero's father, encouraged by the promising 
 genius of his son, spared no cost nor pains to im- 
 prove it by the help of the ablest masters, and 
 among the other instructors of his early youth, 
 put him under the care of the poet Archias, who 
 came to Rome with a high reputation for learning 
 and jioetry, when Cicero was about five years old, 
 and lived in the family of LucuUus" : for it was the 
 custom of the great in those days to entertain in 
 their houses the principal scholars and philosophers 
 of Greece, with a liberty of opening a school, and 
 teaching, together with their own children, any of 
 the oit.er young nobility and gentry of Rome. 
 Under this master, Cicero a))plied himself chiefly 
 to poetry, to which he was naturally addicted ; and 
 made such a proficiency in it, that while he was 
 still a boy, he composed and published a poem, 
 called Glaucus Pontius, which was extant in Plu- 
 tarch's time''. 
 
 After finishing the course of these puerile stu- 
 dies, it was the custom to change the habit of the 
 boy for that of the man, and take what they called 
 the manly gown, or the ordinary robe of the citi- 
 zens : this was an occasion of great joy to the young 
 men ; who, by this change, passed into a state of 
 greater liberty and enlargement from the power of 
 their tutors i. They were introduced at the same 
 time into the forum, or the great square of the 
 city, where the assemblies of the people were held 
 and the magistrates used to harangue to them from 
 the rostra, and where all the public pleadings and 
 judicial proceedings were usually transacted : this 
 therefore was the grand school of business and 
 eloquence ; the scene on which all the affairs of 
 the empire were determined, and where the foun- 
 dation of their hopes and fortunes was to be laid : 
 so that they were introduced into it with much 
 solemnity, attended by all the friends and depend- 
 ants of the family; and after divine rites performed 
 in the capitol, were committed to the special pro- 
 tection of some eminent senator, distinguished for 
 his eloquence or knowledge of the laws, to be in- 
 structed by his advice in the management of civU 
 affairs, and to form themselves by his example 
 for useful members and magistrates of the republic. 
 
 Writers are divided about the precise time of 
 changing the puerile for the manly gown : what 
 seems the most probable is, that in the old re- 
 
 " Qumtil. i. 1. o Pro Archia, i. 3. 
 
 P Plutarch. This Glaucus was a fisherman of Anthe- 
 don, in Bceotia ; who, upon eating a certain herb, jumped 
 into the sea, and became a sea-god : the place was ever 
 after called Glaucus's Leap ; where there was an oracle of 
 tho god, in great vogue with all seamen ; and the story 
 furnished the argument to one of .^schylus's tragedies. 
 — Pausan. Bceot. c. '22. 
 
 9 Cum prhnum pa vide custos mihi purpura oessit. 
 
 Perb. Sat. V 
 
 Pers. Sat. V. 30. ' 
 
 public is was never done till the end of the seven* 
 teenth year ; but when the ancient discipline begaa. 
 to relax, parents, out of indulgence to their chil- 
 dren, advanced this fera of joy one year earlier, 
 and gave them tlie gown at sixteen, which was the 
 custom in Cicero's time. Under the emperors it 
 was graiiteil at pleasure, and at any age, to the 
 great or their own relations ; for Nero received it 
 from Claudius, when he just entered into his four- 
 teenth year, which, as Tacitus says, was given 
 before the regular season ^ 
 
 Cicero being thus introduced into the forum, 
 was placed under the care of Q. Mucins Scsevola 
 the augur, the princijial lawyer, as well as states- 
 man of that age ; who had passed through all the 
 offices of the republic, with a singular reputation of 
 integrity, and was now extremely old. Cicero never 
 stirred from his side ; but carefully treasured up in 
 his memory all the remarkable sayings which dropt 
 from him, as so many lessons of prudence for his 
 future conduct " ; and after his death applied him- 
 self to another of the same family, Scsevola the 
 high-priest, a person of equal character for probity 
 and skill in the law ; who, though he did not pro- 
 fess to teach, yet freely gave his advice to all the 
 young students who consulted him'. 
 
 Under these masters he acquired a complete 
 knowledge of the laws of his country ; a foundation 
 useful to all who design to enter into public affairs; 
 and thought to be of such consequence at Rome, 
 that it was the common exercise of boys at school, 
 to learn the laws of the Twelve Tables by heart, as 
 they did their poets and classic autliors". Cicero 
 particularly took such pains in this study, and was 
 so well acquainted with the most intricate parts of 
 it, as to be able to sustain a dispute on any question 
 with the greatest lawyers of his age " : so that in 
 pleading once against his friend S. Sulpicius, he 
 declared, by way of raillery, what he could have 
 made good likewise in fact, that if he provoked 
 him, he would profess himself a lawyer in three 
 days' timeJ". 
 
 The profession of the law, next to that of arms 
 and eloquence, was a sure recommendation to the 
 first honours of the republic^, and for that reason 
 was preserved as it were hereditary in some of the 
 noblest families of Rome''; who, by giving their 
 advice gratis to aU who wanted it, engaged the 
 favour and observance of their fellow citizens, and. 
 acquired great authority in all the affairs of state. 
 It was the custom of these old senators, eminent 
 for their wisdom and experience, to walk every 
 morning up and down the forum, as a signal of 
 their offering themselves freely to all, who had 
 occasion to consult them, not only in cases of law, 
 but in their private and domestic affairs'*. But in- 
 
 f Ann. xii. 41 ; Vid. Norris Cenotaph. ; Pisan. Disser. ii, 
 c. 4 ; It. Sueton. August. 8 ; et Notas Pitisci. 
 
 » De Amicit. 1. « Brut. p. 89. edit. Seb. Corradi. 
 
 " De Legib. ii. 23. ^ Ep. Fam. vii. 22. 
 
 7 Pro Murasna, 13. ^ Ibid. 14. 
 
 " Quorum vero patres .aut majores aliqua gloria praesti- 
 terunt, ii student plerumque in eodem genere laudis excel- 
 lere: utQ. Mucius P. filius, injurccivili.— Off. i. 32. ii. 19. 
 
 1> !M. vero Manilium nos ctlani vidimus trans^'crso am- 
 bulantem foro ; quod crat insigne, euni, qui id faceret^ 
 facere civibus omnibus consilii sui copiam. Ad quos olim 
 et ita ambulantes et in solio sedentes domi ita adibatur, 
 non solum ut de jure civili ad eos, verum etiam de filiak^ 
 coUocanda — de omni denique aut officio aut ncgotio refer- 
 retur.— De Orat. iii. 33,
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 later times they chose to sit at home \nt]\ their 
 doors open, in a kind of throne or raised seat, like 
 the confessors in foreign churches, giving access 
 and audience to all people. This was the case of 
 the two Scajvolas, esjiecially the augur, whose 
 house was called the oracle of the city '^; and who, 
 in the Marsic war, when worn out with age and 
 infirmities, gave free admission every day to all the 
 citizens, as soon as it was light, nor was ever seen 
 by any in his bed during that whole war''. 
 
 But this was not the pomt that Cicero aimed at, 
 to guard the estates only of the citizens : his views 
 were much larger ; and the knowledge of the law 
 ■was but one ingredient of many, in the character 
 which he aspired to, of a universal patron, not 
 only of the fortunes, but of the lives and liberties, of 
 his countrymen ; for that was the proper notion of 
 an orator, or pleader of causes, whose profession 
 it was to speak aptly, elegantly, and copiously, on 
 every subject which could be offered to liim, and 
 whose art therefore included in it all other arts of 
 the liberal kind, and could not be acquired, to any 
 perfection, without a competent knowledge of 
 whatever was great and laudable in the universe. 
 This was his own idea of what he had undertaken* ; 
 and his present business therefore was, to lay a 
 foundation fit to sustain the weight of this great 
 character : so that while he was studying the law 
 under the Scsevolas, he spent a large share of his 
 time in attending the pleadings at the bar, and the 
 public speeches of the magistrates, and never 
 passed one day without writing and reading some- 
 thing at home ; constantly taking notes, and making 
 comments on what he read. He was fond, when 
 very young, of an exercise, which had been recom- 
 mended by some of the great orators before him, of 
 reading over a number of verses of some esteemed 
 poet, or a part of an oration, so carefully as to 
 retain the substance of them in his memory, and 
 then deliver the same sentiments in different words, 
 the most elegant that occurred to him. But he 
 soon grew weary of this, upon reflecting, that his 
 authors had already employed the best words which 
 belonged to their subject ; so that if he used the 
 same, it would do him no good : and if different, 
 would even hurt him, by a habit of using worse. 
 He applied himself therefore to another task of 
 more certain benefit, to translate into Latin the 
 select speeches of the best Greek orators, which gave 
 him an opportunity of observing and employing 
 all the most elegant words of his own language, 
 and of enriching it at the same time with new ones, 
 borrowed or imitated from the Greek '^. Nor did 
 he yet neglect his poetical studies ; for he now 
 translated Aratus on the Phenomena of the Heavens, 
 into Latin verse, of which many fragments are 
 still extant ; and published also an original poem 
 of the heroic kind, in honour of his countryman 
 C INIarius. This was much admired, and often 
 read by Atticus ; and old Scaevola was so pleased 
 with it, that in an epigram, which he seems to have 
 made upon it, he declares, that it would live as long 
 
 « Est enini sine dubio domus jurisconsulti totius ora- 
 lulum civitatis. Testis est hujusce Q,. JNIucii janua et 
 vestibuliun, quod in ejus infirmiseima valetudine, affec- 
 taque jam aetate, maxima quolidie frequeiitia civium, ao 
 Bummoriun hominum splcndore culebratur. — De Orat. i. 
 45. 
 
 •' Philip, viii. 10. 
 
 < De Orat. i. 5, 6, 13, 18. f De Orator, i 34. 
 
 I as the Roman name and learning subsisted c. There 
 remains still a little specimen of it, describing a 
 memorable omen given to Marius from the oak of 
 Arpinum, which from the spirit and elegance of 
 the description shows, that his poetical genius was 
 scarce inferior to his oratorical, if it had been cul- 
 tivated with the same diligence''. He published 
 another poem also, called Limon ; of which Donatus 
 has preserved four lines in the life of Terence, in 
 praise of the elegance and purity of that poet's 
 style'. But while he was employing himself in 
 these juvenile exercises for the improvement of his 
 invention, he appUed himself with no less industry 
 to philosophy, for the enlargement of his mind and 
 understanding ; and, among his other masters, was 
 very fond at this age of Phaedrus the Epicurean : 
 but as soon as he had gained a little more experi- 
 ence and judgment of things, he wholly deserted 
 and constantly disliked the principles of that sect ; 
 yet always retained a particular esteem for the 
 man, on account of his learning, humanity, and 
 politene£s'\ 
 
 The peace of Rome was now disturbed by a 
 domestic war, which writers call the Italic, Social, 
 or Marsic. It was begun by a confederacy of the 
 principal towns of Italy, to support their demand 
 of the freedom of the city. The tribune Drusus 
 had made them a promise of it, but was assassin- 
 ated in the attempt of publishing a law to confer 
 it. This made them desperate, and resolve to extort 
 by force what they could not obtain by entreaty'. 
 They alleged it to be unjust to exclude them from 
 the rights of a city which they sustained by their 
 arms ; that in aU its wars they furnished twice the 
 number of troops which Rome itself did ; and had 
 raised it to all that height of j^ower, for which 
 it now despised them'". This war was carried oa 
 for above two years, with great fierceness on both 
 sides, and various success : two Roman consuls 
 were killed in it, and their armies often defeated ; 
 till the confederates, weakened also by frequent 
 losses, and the desertion of one ally after another, 
 were forced at last to submit to the superior fortune 
 of Rome". During the hurry of the war, the 
 
 s Eaque, ut ait Sca;vola de fratris mei Mario, — canescet 
 sscclis innumeiabilibus. — De Leg. i. 1. 
 h Hie Jovis altisoni subito pinnata satellee 
 Arboris e trunco, serpentis saucia morsu, 
 Subjugat ipsa feris ti-ansfigens unguibus anguem 
 Semianimum, et varia gi'aviter cervice micantem ; 
 Quem se intorquentem lanians rostroque cruentac-s, 
 Jam satiata animos, jam duros ulta dolores, 
 Abjicit efflantem, et laceratum adfligit in unda, 
 Seque obitu a solis, njtidos convertit ad ortus. 
 H;inc ubi prsepetibus pennis lapsuque volantem 
 Cduspexit JMarius, divini niiminis augur, 
 Faustaque signa suae laudis, reditusque notavit; 
 Partibus intonuit cceli Pater ipse sinistris. 
 Sic aquilffi clarum iirmavit Juppiter omen. 
 
 De Divin. i. 47. 
 ' We have no account of the argument of this piece, cr 
 of the meaning of its title ; it was probably nothing more 
 than the Greek word Keifidiv, to intimate that the poem, 
 like a meadow or garden, exhibited a variety of different 
 fancies and flowers. The Greeks, as Pliny says, were fond 
 of giving such titles to their books as nai'5eKTai,'E7xe»- 
 pidiov, \iif^div, &c., [Prjcf. Hist. Nat.,] and PamphUu* 
 the Grammarian, as Suidas tells us, published a AiifiiiVf 
 or a collection of various subjects. — Vid. in PampbiL 
 li Ep. Fam. xiii. 1. ' Philip, xii. 27. 
 
 m Veil. Pat. ii. 15. " Flor. iii. IB.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 business of the forum was intcrniitteil ; the greatest 
 part of the magistrates, as well as the pleaders, 
 being jHTSonally engaged in it : Hortensius, the 
 most flourishing young orator at the bar, was a 
 volunteer in it the tirst year, and commanded a 
 regiment the second". 
 
 Cicero likewise took the opportunicy to make a 
 ninipaign, along with the consul Cn. Ponipcius 
 Stralio, the fatiur of I'oinpcy the Great : this was 
 H constant jiart of the education of the young 
 nohility, to learn the art of war by personal service, 
 under some general of name and c.\))cricnce ; for, 
 in an empire raised and supported wholly by arms, 
 a reputation of martial virtue was the shortest and 
 surest way of rising to its highest honours ; and 
 the constitution of the government was such, tliat 
 ns their generals could not make a figure even in 
 camps, without some institution in the politer arts, 
 especially that of speaking gracefully p ; so those 
 wlio applied themselves to the peaceful studies, 
 and the management of civil affairs, were obliged 
 to acquire a competent share of military skill, for 
 the sake of governing provinces, and commanding 
 armies, to which they all succeeded of course from 
 the administration of the great offices of the 
 state. 
 
 In this expedition Cicero was present at a con- 
 ference between Pompeius the consul, and Vettius 
 the general of the Marsi, who had given the Romans 
 a cruel defeat the year before, in which fche Consul 
 Riitilius was killed''. It was held in sight of the 
 two camps, and managed with great decency : the 
 consul's brother Sextus, being an old acquaintance 
 of Vettius, came from Rome on purpose to assist 
 at it ; and at the first sight of each other, after 
 lamenting the unhappy circumstance of their meet- 
 ing at the head of opposite armies, he asked Vettius 
 by what title he should now salute him, of friend 
 or enemy.'' to which Vettius replied, " Call me friend 
 by inclination; enemy, by necessity'." Which shows, 
 that these old warriors had not less politeness in 
 their civU, than fierceness in their hostile, encounters. 
 
 Both Marius and Sylla served as lieutenants to 
 the consuls in this war, and commanded separate 
 armies in different parts of Italy : but Marius per- 
 formed nothing in it answerable to his great name 
 and former glory : his advanced age had increased 
 his caution ; and after so many triumphs and con- 
 sulships, he was jealous of a reverse of fortune ; so 
 that he kept himself wholly on the defensive, and, 
 like old Fabius, chose to tire out the enemy by 
 declinmg a battle ; content with snatching some 
 little advantages, that opportunity threw into his 
 hands, without suffering them however to gain any 
 against him». Sylla, on the other hand, was ever 
 active and enterprising : he had not yet obtained the 
 consulship, and was fighting for it, as it were, in the 
 sight of his fellow-citizens ; so that he was constantly 
 urging the enemy to a battle, and glad of every 
 occasion to signalise his military talents, and eclipse 
 the fame of Msurius ; in which he succeeded to his 
 wish, gained many considerable victories, and took 
 several of their cities by storm, particularly Stabise, 
 
 Brut. 425. 
 
 V Quantum dicendi gravitate et copia valeat, in quo ipso 
 inest qusedam dignitas imperatoria.— Pro Lege Manilla, 14. 
 
 1 Appian. Bell. Civ. p. 376. 
 
 «■ Quem te appellem, inquit ? at ille ; Voluntate hos- 
 pitem, necessitate hostem. — rhil. xii. 11. 
 • Plutar. in Mar, 
 
 a town of Campania, which he utterly demolished*', 
 Cicero, who seems to have followed his camp, as 
 the chief scene of the war, and the best school for 
 a young volunteer, gives an account of one action,, 
 of which he was eye-witness, executed with great 
 vigour and success ; that, as Sylla was sacrificing 
 before his tent in the fields of Nola, a snake hap- 
 l)encd to creep out from the bottom of the altar ; 
 upon which Postumius the liaruspcx, who attended 
 the sacrifice, proclaiming it to be a fortunate omen, 
 called out upon him to lead his army immediately 
 against the enemy. Sylla took the benefit of the 
 admonition ; and drawing out Ids troops without 
 delay, attacked and took the strong camp of the 
 Sanniites under the walls of Nola". This action 
 was thought so glorious, that Sylla got the story of 
 it painted afterwards in one of the rooms of his 
 Tusculan villa". Thus Cicero was not less diligent 
 in the army, than he was in the forum, to observe 
 everything that jiassed ; and contrived always to 
 be near the person of the general, that no action 
 of moment might escape his notice. 
 
 Upon the breaking out of this war, the Romans 
 gave the freedom of the city to all tlu^ towns which 
 continued firm to them ; and at the end of it, after 
 the destruction of three hundred thousand lives, 
 thought fit, for the sake of their future quiet, to 
 grant it to all the rest : but this step, which they 
 considered as the foundation of a perpetual peace, 
 was, as an ingenious writer has observed, one of 
 the causes that hastened their ruin ; for the enor- 
 mous bulk to which the city was swelled by it, gave' 
 birth to many new disorders, that gradually cor- 
 rupted and at last destroyed it ; and the discipUne 
 of the laws, calculated for a people whom the same 
 walls would contain, was too weak to keep in order 
 the vast body of Italy : so that from this time 
 chiefly, all affau's were decided by faction and vio- 
 lence, and the influence of the great, who could 
 bring whole towns into the forum from the remote 
 parts of Italy, or pour in a number of slaves and' 
 foreigners under the form of citizens ; for when the 
 names and persons of real citizens could no longer 
 be distinguished, it was not possible to know, whe- 
 ther any act had passed regularly by the genuine 
 suffrage of the peoples'. 
 
 The Italic war was no sooner ended, than another 
 broke out, which, though at a great distance from 
 Rome, was one of the most difficult and desperate 
 in which it ever was engaged, against Mithridates, 
 king of Pontus, a martial and powerful prince, of a 
 restless spirit and ambition, with a capacity equal 
 to the greatest designs ; who, disdaining to see all' 
 his hopes blasted by the overbearing power of Rome, 
 and confined to the narrow boundary of his heredi- 
 tary dominion, broke through his barrier at once, 
 and over-ran the lesser Asia like a torrent, and in 
 one day caused eighty thousand Roman citizens to 
 be massacred in cold blood^. His forces were 
 
 ' Plut. in Sylla. In Campano autem agro Stabise oppi- 
 dutn fuere usque ad Cn. Pompeiuni et L. Carbonem con- 
 sules, pridieKalendas Mail, quo dieli. Sylla, Icgatus bello 
 sociali, id delevit, quod nunc in viUas abiit. Intercidit 
 ibi et Taurania. — Plin. Hist N. iii. 5. 
 
 ^ In Sylla; scriptum historia videmus, quod te inspec- 
 tante factum est, ut quiun ille in agro Nolano immolaret 
 ante pra;torium, ab inflma ara subito anguis emergeret, 
 quuni quidem C. Postumius haruspex orabat ilium, &c.— 
 De Divin. i. 33 ; ii. 30. ^ Plin. Hist. N. xxii. 6. 
 
 >" Be la Grandeur des Remains, &c., c. 9. 
 
 • Pro Lege Manil. 3.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 answerable to the vastness of his attempt, and the 
 inexpiable war that he had now declared against 
 the republic : he had a fleet of above four hundred 
 ships, with an army of two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand foot, and fifty thousand horse ; all completely 
 armed, and provided with military stores, fit for 
 the use of so great a body *• 
 
 Sylla, who had now obtained the considship, as 
 the reward of his late services, had the pro\lnce of 
 Asia allotted to him, with the command of the war 
 against Mithridates'' : but old IMarius, envious of 
 his growing fame, and desirous to engross every 
 commission which offered either power or wealth, 
 engaged Sulpicius, an eloquent and popular tribune, 
 to get that allotment reversed, and the command 
 transferred from Sylla to himself, by the suffrage of 
 the people. This raised great tumults in the city 
 between the opposite parties, in which the son of 
 Q. Pompeius the consul, and the son-in-law of 
 SyUa, was killed. Sylla happened to be absent, 
 queUing the remains of the late commotions near 
 Nola ; but, upon the news of these disorders, he 
 hastened with his legions to Rome ; and having 
 entered it after some resistance, drove Marius and 
 his accomplices to the necessity of saving them- 
 selves by a precipitate flight. This was the begin- 
 ning of the first civil war, properly so called, which 
 Rome had ever seen, and what gave both the occa- 
 sion and the example to all the rest that followed. 
 The tribune Sulpicius was taken and slain; and 
 Marius so warmly pursued, that he was forced to 
 plunge himself into the marshes of Minturnum, up 
 to the chin in water ; in which condition he lay 
 concealed for some time, till being discovered and 
 dragged out, he was preserved by the compassion 
 of the inhabitants who, after refreshing him from 
 the cold and hunger which he had suffered in his 
 flight, furnished him with a vessel and all necessa- 
 ries to transport himself into Africa'^. 
 
 Sylla in the meanwhile having quieted the city, 
 and proscribed twelve of his chief adversaries, set 
 forward upon his expedition against Mithridates ; 
 but he was no sooner gone, than the civil broils 
 broke out afresh between the new consuls, Cinna 
 and Octavius, which Cicero calls the Octavian war'^. 
 For Cinna, attempting to reverse all that SyUa had 
 established, was driven out of the city by his col- 
 league, with six of the tribunes, and deposed from 
 the consulship. Upon this he gathered an army, 
 and recalled Marius, who, having joined his forces 
 with him, entered Rome in a hostUe manner, and, 
 with the most horrible cruelty, put all Sylla's friends 
 to the sword, without regard to age, dignity, or 
 former services. Among the rest fell the Consul 
 Cn. Octa^-ius, the two brothers L. Ctesar and C. 
 CjEsar, P. Crassus, and the orator, M. Antonius, 
 whose head, as Cicero says, was fixed upon that 
 rostra, where he had so strenuously defended the 
 republic when consul, and preserved the heads of 
 80 many citizens ; lamenting, as it were ominously, 
 the misery of that fate which happened afterwards 
 to himself, from the grandson of this very Anto- 
 
 • Appian. Bell. Mithridat., init. p. 171. 
 
 »> Id. Bell. Civ. 1. i. 383. 
 
 « Pro Plan. 10. This accoimt, that Cicero gives more 
 than once, of Marius's escape, makes it probable, that the 
 common story of the Gallic soldier, sent into the prison to 
 kill him, was forged by some of the later writers, to make 
 the relation more tragical and affecting. 
 
 <1 De DiF. i. 2 ; PhUip. siv. 8. 
 
 nius. Q. Catulus also, though he had been Marius's 
 colleague in the considship and his victory over the 
 Cimbri, was treated with the same cruelty ; for 
 when his friends were interceding for his life, Marius 
 made them no other answer but, " he must die, he 
 must die ;" so that he was obliged to kill himself"^. 
 
 Cicero saw this memorable entry of his country- 
 man Marius, who, in that advanced age, was so far 
 from being broken, he says, by his late calamity, 
 that he seemed to be more alert and \-igorous thau 
 ever ; when he heard him recountuig to the people, 
 in excuse for the cruelty of his return, the many 
 miseries which he had lately suffered ; when he was 
 driven from that countiy wluch he had saved from 
 destruction ; when all his estate was seized and 
 plundered by his enemies ; when he saw his young 
 son also the partner of his distress ; when he was 
 almost drowned in the marshes, and owed his life 
 to the mercy of the Minturnensians ; when he was 
 forced to fly into Africa in a small bark, and become 
 a suppUant to those to whom he had given king- 
 doms : but that since he had recovered his dignity, 
 and all the rest that he had lost, it should be his 
 care not to forfeit that virtue and courage which he 
 had never lost'. Marius and Cinna having thus 
 got the republic into their hands, declared them- 
 selves consuls : but Marius died unexpectedly, as 
 soon almost as he was inaugurated into his new 
 dignity, on the 13th of January, in the 70th year 
 of his age ; and, according to the most probable 
 account, of a pleuritic fever ?. 
 
 His birth was obscure, though some call it eques- 
 trian ; and his education wholly in camps, where 
 he learnt the first rudiments of war under the 
 greatest master of that age, the younger Scipio, 
 who destroyed Carthage ; tUl by long sendee, dis- 
 tinguished valour, and a peculiar hardiness and 
 patience of discipline, he advanced himself gra- 
 dually through all the steps of military honour, 
 with the reputation of a brave and complete sol- 
 dier. The obscurity of his extraction, which de- 
 pressed him with the nobility, made him the greater 
 favourite of the people, who, on aU occasions of 
 danger, thought kim the only man fit to be trusted 
 with their lives and fortimes, or to have the com- 
 mand of a difficult and desperate war: and in truth, 
 he twice delivered them from the most desperate with 
 which they had ever been threatened by a foreign 
 enemy. Scipio, from the observation of his mar- 
 tial talents, while he had yet but an inferior com- 
 mand in tlie army, gave a kind of prophetic testi- 
 mony of his future glory : for being asked by some 
 of his officers, who were supping with him at Nu- 
 mantia, what general the republic would have, in 
 case of any accident to himself ; That man ! replied 
 he, pointing to jNIarius, at the bottom of the table. 
 In the field he was cautious and provident ; and 
 while he was watching the most favourable oppor- 
 tunities of action, affected to take all his measvires 
 
 ' Cum necessariis Catnli deprecantibusnon semel respon- 
 dit, sed sa;pe, moriatnr.— Tusc. Disp. v. 19 ; DeOxai, iii. 3, 
 
 f Post Red. ad Quir. 8. 
 
 g Plutarch, in Mar. The celebrated orator L. Crassus 
 died not long before of the same disease, which might 
 probably be then, as I was told in Rome that it is now, 
 the peculiar distemper of the place. The modern Romans 
 call it puntura, which seems to carrj- the same notion, 
 that the old Romans expressed by percussus frigore ; 
 intimating the sudden stroke of cold, upon a body un- 
 usually heated.
 
 8 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 from autnirs and diviners ; nor ever gave battle, till, 
 P)y pretended omens and divine admonitions, he had 
 inspired his soldiers with a eonlidence of \nctory : so 
 that his enemies dreaded him, as something more 
 than mortal ; and botli friends and foes believed 
 him to act always by a ])e<-u!iar impulse and direc- 
 tion from the gods. His merit, however, was wholly 
 military, void of every accomplishment of learning, 
 which he ojteidy afl'ected to despise ; so that Arpi- 
 nam liad the singular felicity to produce the most 
 glorious contemner, as well as the most illustrious 
 improver, of the arts and eloquence of Rome. He 
 made no figure, therefore, in the gown, nor had any 
 other way of sustaining his authority in the city, 
 than by cherishing the natural jealousy between the 
 senate and tlie peoi)le ; that by his declared enmity 
 to the one, he might (vlways be at the head of the 
 other, whose favour ho managed, not with any 
 view to the public good, for he had nothing in him 
 of the statesman or the patriot, but to the advance- 
 ment of his private interest and glory. In short, 
 be was crafty, cruel, covetous, perfidious ; of a 
 temper and talents greatly serviceable abroad, but 
 turbulent and dangerous at home ; an implacable 
 enemy to the nobles, ever seeking occasions to mor- 
 tify them, and ready to sacrifice the republic, which 
 he had saved, to his ambition and revenge. After 
 a life spent in the perpetual toils of foreign or do- 
 mestic wars, he died at last in his bed, in a good 
 old age, and in his seventh consulship ; an honour 
 that no Roman before him ever attained ; which is 
 urged b} Cotta, the Academic, as one argument 
 amongst others, against the existence of a Provi- 
 dence *■. 
 
 The transactions of the forum were greatly inter- 
 rupted by these civU dissensions ; in which some of 
 the best orators were killed and others banished. 
 Cicero however attended the harangues of the ma- 
 gistrates, who possessed the rostra In their turns : 
 and being now about the age of twenty-one, drew 
 up probably those rhetorical pieces which were 
 published by him, as he tells us, when very young, 
 and are supposed to be the same that still remain, 
 on the subject of Invention ; but he condemned 
 and retracted them afterwards in his advanced age, 
 as unworthy of his maturer judgment, and the work 
 only of a boy, attempting to digest into order the 
 precepts, which he had brought away from school '. 
 In the meanwhile, Philo, a })hilosopher of the first 
 name in the academy, with many of the principal 
 Athenians, fled to Rome from the fury of Mithri- 
 dates, who had made himseJf master of Athens, and 
 
 h Natus equestri loco. [Veil. Pat. ii. 11.] Se P. African! 
 discipulum ac militcm. [pro Balb. 20 ; Val. Max. viii. 15.] 
 Populus Romanus non alium repellendis tantis hostibus 
 magis idoneum, quam Marium est ratus. [Veil. Pat. ii. 
 1:2.] Bis Italian! obsidionc ct motu libcravit servitutis. 
 [in Cat. iv. 10.] Onines sotii atque hostes credere, iUi.aut 
 mentem divinani esse, aut deorum niitu cuncta portendi. 
 [Sallust. Bell. Jug. 92.] Conspicua3 felicitatis Arpinum.sive 
 unicum literariim gloriosissimum contemptorem, sive 
 abundantissimum fontcm intucri velis. [Val. Max. ii. 2.] 
 Quantum bellnoptimustantum pace pessimus ; immodicus 
 filoriae insatiabilis, inipotens, sempcrque inquietus. [Veil. 
 Pat. ii. 11.] Cur omnium pertidiosissimus, C. Marius, Q. 
 Catulum, prsestantissiuia dignitate viruia, mori potuit 
 jubere ? — cur tarn feliciter, septinium consul, domi sua; 
 senex est mortiius? [De Nat. Deor. iii. 32.] 
 
 ' Qusc pueris aut adolescentulis nobis, ex commen- 
 tarinlis nostris inchoata ac riulia e.\ciderunt, vix liac 
 jBtate digna, et hoc usu, &c. — De Orat. i. 2; Quintil. 1. iii. 6. 
 
 all the neighbouring parts of Greece. Cioero im- 
 mediately became his scholar, and was exceedingly 
 taken with liis jjhilosophy ; and by the help of such 
 a professor, gave himself up to that study with the 
 grcate*' inclination, as there was cause to ap])rchend 
 that the laws ami judicial ])roceedings, which he hewl 
 designed for the ground of his fame and fortunes, 
 would be wholly overturned by the continuance of 
 the public disorders ^. 
 
 But Cinna's party having quelled all opposition 
 at home, while Sylla was engaged abroad in the 
 Mithridatic wai", there was a cessation of arms 
 within the city for about three years, so that the 
 course of i)ublic business began to flow again in its 
 usual channel; and Molo the Rhodian, one of the 
 principal orators of that age, and the most cele- 
 brated teacher of eloquence, happening to come to 
 Rome at the same time, Cicero presently took the 
 benefit of his lectures, and resumed his oratorical 
 studies with his former ardour '. Hut the greatest 
 s])ur to his industry was tlie fame and splendour of 
 Hortensius, who made the first figure at the bar, 
 and whose praises fired him with such an ambition 
 of acquiring the same glory, that he scarcely allowed 
 himself any rest from his studies either day or night. 
 He had in the house with him Diodotus the Stoic, as 
 his preceptor in various parts of learning, but more 
 particularly in logic, which Zeno, as he tells us, 
 used to call a close and contracted eloquence, as he 
 called eloquence an enlarged and dilated logic ; 
 comparing the one to the fist or hand doubled ; the 
 other, to the palm opened ". Yet with all his atten- 
 tion to logic, he never suffered a day to pass with- 
 out some exercise in oratory, chiefly that of de- 
 claiming, which he generally performed with his 
 fellow students, M. Piso and Q. Pompeius, two 
 young noblemen a little older than himself, with 
 whom he had contracted an intimate friendship. 
 They declaimed sometimes in Latin, but much oftener 
 in Greek ; because the Greek furnished a greater 
 variety of elegant expressions, and an opportunity 
 of imitating and introducing them into the Latin ; 
 and because the Greek masters, who were far the 
 best, could not correct and improve them, unless 
 they declaimed in that language ". 
 
 In this interval Sylla was performing great exploits 
 against Mithridates, whom he had driven out of 
 Greece and Asia, and confined once more to his 
 own territory ; yet at Rome, where Cinna was 
 master, he was declared a public enemy, and his 
 estate confiscated. This insult upon his honour and 
 fortunes made him very desirous to be at home 
 again, in order to take his revenge upon his adver- 
 saries : so that after all his success in the war, he 
 was glad to put an end to it by an honourable 
 peace ; the chief article of which was, that Mithri- 
 dates should defray the whole expense of it, and 
 content himself for the future with his hereditary 
 kingdom. On his return, he brought away with 
 
 ^ Eodem tempore, cum prineeps aoademiae Philo, cum 
 Atheniensimn optimatibus, Mithridatico hello dome pro- 
 fugissct, Romanique venisset, totum ei me tradidi, &c. — 
 Brut. 4.30. 
 
 ' Eodem anno Moloni dedimus operam. — Ibid. 
 
 '" Zeno quidem ille, a quo disciplina Stoicorum est manu 
 demonstrare solebat, quid inter has artes interesset. Nam 
 cum compresserat digitos, pugnimique fecerat, dialecticam 
 aiebat ejusmodi esse ; cum autem diduxerat, et manum 
 dilatavcrat, palms illius similem eloquentiam esse dicebat 
 — Orator. Z.'iy. edit. Lanit, 
 
 n Brut. pp. .137, 433.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 9 
 
 him from Athens the famous library of Apellicon, 
 the Teian, in which were the works of Aristotle and 
 Theophrastus, that were liartUy known before in 
 Italy, or to be found indeed entire anywhere else". 
 He wrote a letter at the same time to the senate, 
 setting forth his great services, and the ingratitude 
 with which he had been treated ; and acquainting 
 them, that he was coming to do justice to tlie re- 
 public and to himself upon the authors of those 
 violences. This raised great terrors in the dty, 
 •which, having lately felt the horrible effects of 
 Marius's entry, expected to see the same tragedy 
 acted over again by Sylla. 
 
 But while his enemies were busy in gatherhig 
 forces to oppose him, Cinna, the chief of them, was 
 killed in a mutiny of his own soldiers. Upon this 
 SyUa hastened his march, to take the benefit of 
 that disturbance, and landed at Brundisium with 
 about thirty thousand men. Hither many of the 
 nobility presently resorted to him, and among them 
 young Pompey, about twenty-three years old, who, 
 without any public character or commission, brought 
 along with him three legions which he had raised 
 by his own credit out of the veterans who had 
 served under his father. He was kindly received by 
 Sylla, to whom he did great service in the progress 
 of the war, and was ever after much favoured and 
 employed by him p. 
 
 Sylla now carried all before him : he defeated 
 one of the consuls, Norbanus, and by the pretence 
 of a treaty with the other consul, Scipio, found 
 means to corrupt his army, and draw it over to 
 himself' : he gave Scipio however his life, who 
 went into a voluntary exile at Marseilles''. The 
 Dew consuls chosen, in the mean time, at Rome 
 were Cn. Papirus Carbo and yovmg Marius ; the 
 first of whom, after several defeats, was driven 
 out of Italy, and the second besieged in Prseneste ; 
 where being reduced to extremity, and despairing 
 of relief, he wrote to Damasippus, then prsetor of 
 the city, to call a meeting of tlie senators, as if 
 ■upon business of importance, and put the principal 
 of them to the sword. In this massacre many of 
 the nobles perished, and old Scsevola, the high- 
 priest, the pattern of ancient temperance and pru- 
 dence, as Cicero calls him, was slain before the 
 altar of Vesta'* : after which sacrifice of noble 
 blood to the manes of his father, young Marius put 
 an end to his own life. 
 
 Pompey at the same time pursued Carbo into 
 Sicily ; and having taken him at Lilybeum, sent 
 ^ his head to Sylla, though he begged his life in an 
 abject manner at his feet: this drew some reproach 
 upon Pompey, for killing a man to whom he had 
 been highly obliged on an occasion where his 
 father's honour and his own fortunes were attacked. 
 But this is the constant effect of factions in states, 
 to make men prefer the interests of a party, to all 
 the considerations either of private or public 
 duty ; and it is not strange, that Pompey, young 
 and ambitious, should pay more regard to the 
 power of Sylla, than to a scruple of honour or 
 
 Pint. Life of Sylla. 
 
 P Appian. Bell. Civ. I. i. 397, 399. 
 
 1 Sylla cum Scipione inter Cales et Teanum — leges inter 
 80 et txinditiones contulcrunt ; non tenuit omnino collo- 
 quium illud fidem, a vi tamen et periculo abfuit.— Philip. 
 xlL 11. 
 
 » Pro Sextio, 3. 
 
 > De Nat. Deor, iii. 38. 
 
 gratitude'. Cicero, however, says of this Carbo, 
 that there never was a worse citizen, or more 
 wicked man" : which will go a great way towards 
 excusing Pompey's act. 
 
 Sylla having subdued all who were in arms 
 against him, was now at leisure to take his full 
 revenge on their friends and adherents ; in which, 
 by the detestable method of a proscription, of 
 which he was the first author and inventor, he exer- 
 cised a more infamous cruelty than had ever been 
 practised in cold blood in that, or perhaps in any 
 other city^. The proscription was not confined 
 to Rome, but carried through all the towns of 
 Italy ; where, besides the crime of party, wliich 
 was pardoned to none, it was fatal to be possessed 
 of money, lands, or a pleasant seat ; all manner 
 of licence being indulged to an insolent army, of 
 carving for themselves what fortunes they pleased y. 
 
 In this general destruction of the Marian faction, 
 J. Csesar, then about seventeen years old, had 
 much difficulty to escape with his life : he was 
 nearly alUed to old Marius, and had married Cin- 
 na's daughter ; whom he could not be induced 
 to put away, by all the threats of Sylla, who, con- 
 sidering him for that reason as irreconcileable to his 
 interests, deprived him of his wife's fortune and 
 the priesthood, which he had obtained. Csesar 
 tjierefore, apprehending still somewhat worse, 
 thought it prudent to retire and conceal himself in 
 the country, where, being discovered accidentally 
 by Sylla's soldiers, he was forced to redeem his 
 head by a very large sum : but the intercession 
 of the vestal virgins, and the authority of his 
 powerful relations, extorted a grant of his life very 
 unwillingly from Sylla, who bade them take notice, 
 that he, for whose safety they were so solicitous, 
 would one day be the ruin of that aristocracy, 
 which he was then establishing with so much 
 pains, for that he saw many Mariuses in one Csesar^. 
 The event confirmed Sylla's prediction ; for by the 
 experience of these times, young Csesar was in- 
 structed both how to form and to execute that 
 scheme, which was the grand purpose of his whole 
 life, of oppressing the liberty of his country. 
 
 ' Scd nobis tacentibus Cn. C';irbonis, a quo admodum 
 adolescens de paternis bonis in foro dimioans protectus 
 cs, jussu tuo interenipti mors animis hominum obver- 
 sabitur, non sine aliqua reprchcnsione : quia tarn ingrato 
 facto, plus L. Sylla; viribus, quam propria; indulsisti vere- 
 cundijE Val. Max. v. 3. 
 
 u Hoc vero, qui Lilybei a Pompeio nostro est interfec- 
 tus, improbiornemo, meo judicio, fuit. — Ep. Fam. ix. 21. 
 
 X Primus ille, et utinam ultimus, exemplum proscrip- 
 tionisinvenit, &c. — Veil. Pat. ii. 28. 
 
 N.B.— The manner of proscribing was, to write down the 
 names of those who were doomed to die, and expose them 
 on tables fixed up in the public places of the city, with the 
 promise of a certain reward for the head of each person so 
 proscribed. So that though Marius and Cinna massacred 
 their enemies with the same cruelty in cold blond, yet they 
 did not do it in the way of proscription, nor with the offer 
 of a reward to the muiderers. 
 
 7 Namque uti quisque domum aut villam, postremo aut 
 vas aut vestimentum alicujus concupiverat, dabat operam, 
 ut is in proscriptorum numero esset.— Ncque prius finis 
 jugulandi fuit, quam Sylla omnes suos divitiis explevit— 
 Sallust. Bell. Cat. c. 51 ; Plutar. in Syll. 
 
 z Scirent eum, quem incolumem tanto opere cuperent, 
 quandoque optimatium partibus, quas secum simul de- 
 fendissent, exitio futurum ; nam Ca;sari multos Marios 
 inesse. [Sueton. J. Ca;3. c. 1 ; Plutar. in C«8.] Cinns gener, 
 cujus filiam ut repudiaret, nuUo modo compelli potuit.— 
 Veil. Pat. ii. 42.
 
 10 
 
 TIIK HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 As soon as the proscriptions were over, and the 
 scene grown a little calm, L. Flacciis, being chosen 
 interrex, ilcclart-d Sylla dictator for settling tlie 
 state of the ri])ul)lic without any limitation of time, 
 and ratified whatever he had done, or shoidd do, 
 by a sjiecial law, that empoweircd him to put any 
 citizen to death without hearing or trial". This 
 office of dictator, which in early times had oft been 
 of singidar service to the repuljlic in cases of diffi- 
 culty and distress, was now grown odious and sus- 
 pected, in the present state of its wealth and ]iower, 
 as dangerous to the public liberty, and for that 
 reason had been wholly disused and laid aside for 
 one hundred and twenty years past**: so that 
 Flaccus's law was the pure effect of force and 
 terror ; and though pretended to be made by the 
 people, was utterly detested by tiicm. Sylla, how- 
 ever, being invested by it with absolute authority, 
 made many useful regulations for the better order 
 of the government ; and by the plenitude of his 
 power changed in a great measure the whole consti- 
 tution of it, from a democratical to an aristocratical 
 form, by advancing the prerogative of the senate, 
 and depressing that of the people. He took from 
 the equestrian order the judgment of all causes, 
 which they had enjoyed from the time of the 
 Gracchi, and restored it to the senate; deprived 
 the people of the right of choosing the priests, 
 and replaced it in the colleges of priests : but above 
 all, he abridged the immoderate power of the tri- 
 bunes, which had been the chief source of all their 
 civil dissensions ; for he made them incapable of 
 any other magistracy after tlie tribunate ; restrained 
 the liberty of appealing to them ; took from them 
 their capital privilege, of proposing laws to the 
 people ; and left them nothing but their negative ; 
 or, as Cicero says, the power only of helping, not 
 of hurting, any one*-'. But that he might not be 
 suspected of aiming at a perpetual tyranny, and a 
 total subversion of the republic, he suffered the 
 consuls to be chosen in the regular manner, and to 
 govern, as usual, in all the ordinary affairs of the 
 city ; whilst he employed himself particularly in 
 reforming the disorders of the state, by putting his 
 new laws in execution ; and in distributing the 
 confiscated lands of the adverse party among his 
 legions : so that the republic seemed to be once 
 more settled on a legal basis, and the laws and 
 judicial proceedings began to flourish in the forum. 
 About the same time Molo the Rhodian came again 
 to Rome, to sohcit the payment of what was due to 
 his country, for tlieir services in the Mithridatic 
 war ; which gave Cicero an opportunity of putting 
 himself a second time under his direction, and 
 perfecting his oratorical talents by tlie farther 
 instructions of so renowned a master '' : whose 
 abilities and character were so highly reverenced, 
 that he was the first of all foreigners, who was ever 
 allowed to speak to the senate in Greek without an 
 interpreter =. Which shows in what vogue the 
 Greek learning, and especially eloquence, flourished 
 at this time in Rome. 
 
 a Do Leg. Agrar. con. Rull. iii. 2. 
 
 b Cujus honoris usurpatio per annos cxx in+crniissa— ut 
 appareat populum Romanum usum dictatoris non lam 
 desidcrasse, quam timuisse potestatem imperii, quo priores 
 ad vinsfcicandam maximis pcriculis rempublicam usi 
 fuerant.— Veil. Pat. ii. 28. 
 
 « De Legib, iii. 10; It. vid. Piffh. AnnaJ. ad A. Urb. 
 Sja. d Brut. p. 4*1. 
 
 Cicero had now run through all that course of 
 discipline, which he lays down as necessary to form- 
 the com])lete orator : for, in his treati-^e on that 
 subject, he gires us his own sentiments in the per- 
 son of Crassus, on the institution requisite to that 
 character ; declaring, that no man ought to pretend 
 to it, without being ]>reviously acquainted with 
 everything wortli knowing in art or nature ; that 
 this is implied in the very name of an orator, whose 
 l)rofession it is to speak upon every subject which 
 can be proi)osed to liim ; and whose eloquence, 
 without the knowledge of what he speaks, would 
 be the prattle only and impertinence of children'. 
 He had learned the rudiments of grammar and lan- 
 guages from the ablest teachers ; gone through the 
 studies of humanity and the politer letters with the 
 poet Archias ; been instructed in jihilosophy by the 
 principal professors of each sect; Phaedrus the Epi- 
 curean, Philo the Academic, Diodotus the Stoic : 
 acquired a perfect knowledge of the law, from the 
 greatest lawyers, as well as the greatest statesmen, 
 of Rome, the two Sc;evolas : all which accomplish- 
 ments wei'e but ministerial and subservient to 
 that, on which his hopes and ambition were singly 
 placed, the reputation of an orator. To qualify 
 himselli therefore, particularly for this, he attended 
 the pleadings of all the speakers of his time ; heard 
 the daily lectures of the most eminent orators of 
 Greece, and was perpetually composing somewhat 
 at home, and declaiming under their correction : 
 and that he might neglect nothing, which could 
 help in any degree to improve and polish his style, 
 he spent the intervals of his leisure in the company 
 of the ladies ; especially of those who were re- 
 markable for a politeness of language, and whose 
 fathers had been distinguished by a fame and repu- 
 tation of their eloquence. While he studied the 
 law, therefore, under Scaevola the augur, he fre- 
 quently conversed with his wife Ltelia, whose 
 discourse, he says, was tinctured with all the 
 eleg-ance of her father Lselius, the politest speaker 
 of his ageS: he was acquainted likewise with her 
 daughter Mucia, who married the great orator 
 L. Crassus ; and with her grand-daughters, the two 
 Licinise ; one of them, the wife of L. Scipio ; the 
 other, of young Marius ; who all excelled in that 
 delicacy of the Latin tongue, which was peculiar 
 to their families, and valued themselves on pre- 
 serving and propagating it to their posterity. 
 
 Thus adorned and accomplished, he offered him- 
 self to the bar about the age of twenty-six ; not as 
 others generally did, raw and ignorant of their 
 business, and wanting to bo formed to it by use 
 and experience^; but finished and qualified at once 
 to sustain any cause which should be committed 
 to him. It has been controverted both by the 
 ancients and moderns, what was the first cause in 
 which he was engaged : some give it for that of 
 P. Quinctius ; others, for S. Roscius : but neither 
 of them are in the right ; for in his oration for 
 
 e Eum ante omnes exterarum gentium in senatu sine 
 iiitcrprete auditum constat. — Val. JIax. ii. 2. 
 
 f Ac mott quidem sententia, nemo poterit esse onuii 
 laude cumulatus orator, nisi erit omnium rorum magna- 
 rum atque artium scientiam consecutus. — De Orat. i. 6. 
 U.2. 
 
 e Legimus epistolas CorneliEe, matris Graochorum— 
 aiiditus est nobis Laslise, Caii filiae, sa;pe sermo : ergo Ulam 
 pati'is elegantia tinctani vidimus ; et filiaa ejus Mtroiaa 
 ambits, quarum sermo niilii fuit notus, &c. — Brut. 319.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 1* 
 
 Quinctius he expressly declares, that he had pleaded 
 other causes before it; and in that for Roscius, 
 says only, that it was the first public or criminal 
 cause, in which he was concerned : and it is rea- 
 sonable to imagine, that Le had tried his strength, 
 and acquired some credit in private causes, before 
 he would venture upon a public one of that im- 
 portance ; agreeably to the advice, which Quinc- 
 tilian gives to his young pleaders', whose rules 
 are generally drawn from the practice and example 
 of Cicero. 
 
 The cause of P. Quinctius was, to defend him 
 from an action of bankruptcy, brought against him 
 by a creditor who, on pretence of his having for- 
 feited his recognizance, and withdrawn himself from 
 justice, had obtained a decree to seize his estate, 
 and expose it to sale. The creditor was one of the 
 public criers who attended the magistrates, and, 
 by his interest among them, was likely to oppress 
 Quinctius, and had already gained an advantage 
 against him by the authority of Hortensius, who 
 was his advocate. Cicero entered into the cause, 
 at the earnest desire of the famed comedian, 
 Roscius, whose sister was Quinctius's wife'' : he 
 endeavoured at first to excuse himself; alleging, 
 that he should not be able to speak a word against 
 Hortensius, any more than the other players could 
 act with any spirit before Roscius ; but Roscius 
 would take no excuse, having formed such a judg- 
 ment of him as to think no man so capable of 
 supporting a desperate cause, against a crafty and 
 powerful adversary. 
 
 After he had given a specimen of himself to the 
 city in this, and several other private causes, he 
 undertook the celebrated defence of S. Roscius of 
 Ameria, in his 27th year ; the same age, as the 
 learned have observed, in which Demosthenes first 
 began to distinguish himself in Athens ; as if in 
 these geniuses of the first magnitude that was the 
 proper season of blooming towards maturity. The 
 case of Roscius was this : — His father was killed in 
 the late proscription of Sylla ; and his estate, worth 
 about 60,000/. sterling, was sold among the con- 
 fiscated estates of the proscribed, for a trifling sum 
 to L. CorneUus Chrysogonus, a young favourite 
 slave whom Sylla had made free, who, to secure 
 his possession of it, accused the son of the murder 
 of his father, and had provided evidence to convict 
 him ; so that the young man was likely to be de- 
 prived, not only of his fortune, but, by a more 
 villanous cruelty, of his honour also and his life. 
 All the old advocates refused to defend him, fearing 
 the power of the prosecutor, and the resentment of 
 Sylla' ; since Roscius's defence would necessarily 
 lead them into many complaints on the times, and 
 the oppressions of the great : but Cicero readily 
 undertook it, as a glorious opportunity of enlisting 
 himself into the service of his country, and giving 
 a public testimony of his principles and zeal for 
 that liberty, to which he had devoted the labours 
 of Ills life. Roscius was acquitted, to the great 
 honour of Cicero ; whose courage and address in 
 defending him was applauded by the whole city ; so 
 
 >> Brut. 433. i Quintil. xii. 6. ^ Pro Quinct. 24. 
 
 • Ita loqui homines ; — huic patronos propter C'lirysogoni 
 gratiam defuturos, — ipso nomine parricidii et atrocitate 
 criminis fore, ut hio nuUo negotio tolleretur, cum a nullo 
 defensussit. — Patronos huic defuturos putaverunt ; desunt. 
 Qui libere dicat, qui cum fide defendat, non deest profecto, 
 Judiccs. — Pro Roscio Amer. 10, 11, 
 
 that from this moment he was looked upon as an 
 advocate of the first class, and equal to the greatest 
 causes'". 
 
 Having occasion, iu the course of his pleading, 
 to mention that remarkable punishment which 
 their ancestors had contrived for the murder of a 
 parent, of sowing the criminal alive into a sack, 
 and throwing him into the river, he says, that the 
 meaning of it was, to strike him at once as it were 
 out of the system of nature, by taking from him the 
 air, the sun, the water, and the earth ; that he, 
 who had destroyed the author of his being, should 
 lose the benefit of those elements, whence all things 
 derive their being. They would not throw him to 
 the beasts, lest the contagion of such wickedness 
 should make the beasts themselves more furious : 
 they would not commit him naked to the stream, 
 lest he should pollute the very sea, which was the 
 purifier of all other pollutions ; they left him no 
 share of anything natural, how vile or common 
 soever ; for what is so common as breath to the 
 living, earth to the dead, the sea to those who 
 float, the shore to those who are cast up .' Yet 
 these wretches live so, as long as they can, as not 
 to draw breath from the air ; die so as not to touch 
 the ground ; are so tossed by the waves as not to 
 be washed by them ; so cast out upon the shore 
 as to find no rest even on the rocks". This passage 
 was received with acclamations of applause ; yet, 
 speaking of it afterwards himself, he calls it the 
 redundancy of a juvenile fancy, which wanted the 
 correction of his sounder judgment ; and, like all 
 the compositions of young men, was not applauded 
 so much for its own sake, as for the hopes which 
 it gave of his more improved and ripened talents "*. 
 
 The popularity of his cause, and the favour of 
 the audience, gave him such spirits, that he exposed 
 the insolence and villany of the favourite Chryso- 
 gonus with great gaiety ; and ventured even to 
 mingle several bold strokes at SyUa himself ; which 
 he took care, however, to palliate, by observing 
 that, through the multiplicity of Sylla's affairs, who 
 reigned as absolute on earth as Jupiter did in 
 heaven, it was not possible for him to know, and 
 necessaiy even to connive at, many things which 
 his favourites did against his will p. He would not 
 complain, he says, in times like those, that an 
 innocent man's estate was exposed to public sale ; 
 for were it allowed to him to speak freely on that 
 head, Roscius was not a person of such consequence 
 that he should make a particular complaint on his 
 account ; but he must insist upon it, that by the 
 law of the proscription itself, whether it was Flac- 
 cus's the interrex, or Sylla's the dictator, for he 
 knew not which to call it, Roscius's estate was not 
 forfeited, nor liable to be soldi. In the conclusion, 
 he puts the judges in mind, that nothing was so 
 much aimed at by the prosecutors in this trial, as, 
 by the condemnation of Roscius, to gain a prece- 
 dent for destroying the children of the proscribed: 
 he conjures them, therefore, by all the gods, not to 
 be the authors of reviving a second proscription, 
 more barbarous and cruel than the first ; that the 
 senate refused to bear any part in the first, lest it 
 should be thought to be authorised by the public 
 
 "' Prima causa publica, pro S. Roscio dicta, tantuiE com- 
 mendationis habuit, ut non ulla esset, quse non nostro 
 digna patrocinio videretur. Deinceps inde multffi.— 
 Brut. 434. " Pro Rose. 26. 
 
 " Orat. 258. ed. Lamb. P Pro Rose. 45. 1 Ibid. 43.
 
 12 
 
 TJIK IIISTOUV OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 council ; that it was their business by this sen- 
 tence to jmt a stop to that spirit of cruelty, which 
 then posscssi'il tlie city, so pernicious to tlie re- 
 public, nud so contrary to the temper and character 
 of their ancestors. 
 
 As by tliis defence he acquired a great reputation 
 in his youth, so he reflects upon it with pleasure 
 in old age, and reitoniinends it to his son, as the 
 surest wav to true glory and authority in his coun- 
 try, to defend the innocent in distress, especially 
 when they happen to be oppressed by the power of 
 the f^reat ; as 1 have often done, says he, in otiier 
 causes, but particularly in that of Roscius, against 
 Sylla himself in the height of his jiower''. A noble 
 lesson to all advocates, to apply their talents to (lie 
 protection of innocence and injured virtue ; and to 
 make justice, not profit, the rule and end of their 
 labours. 
 
 Plutarch says, that presently after this trial 
 Cicero took occasion to travel abroad, on pretence 
 of his health, but in reality to avoid the efl'ects of 
 Sylla's displeasure ; but there seems to be no 
 ground for this notion ; for Sylla's revenge was 
 now satiated, and his mind wholly bent on restoring 
 the public tranquillity ; and it is evident, that Cicero 
 continued a year after this in Rome without any 
 apprehension of danger, engaged, as before, in tlie 
 same task of pleading causes" ; and in one espe- 
 cially, more obnoxious to Sylla's resentment, even 
 than that of Roscius : for in the case of a woman 
 of Arretiuni, he defended the right of certain towns 
 of Italy to the freedom of Rome, though S'yila 
 himself had deprived them of it by an express law; 
 maintaining it to be one of those natural rights, 
 ■which no law or power on earth could take from 
 thera : in which also he carried his point, in oppo- 
 sition to Cotta, an orator of the first character and 
 abilities, who pleaded against him '. 
 
 But we have a clear account from himself of the 
 real motive of his journey : my body, says he, at 
 this time was exceedingly weak and emaciated ; my 
 neck long and small ; which is a habit thought 
 liable to great risk of life, if engaged in any fatigue 
 or labour of the lungs ; and it gave the greater 
 alarm to those who had a regard for me, that I 
 used to speak without any remission or variation, 
 •with the utmost stretch of my voice, and great 
 agitation of my body ; when my friends, therefore, 
 and physicians, advised me to meddle no more with 
 causes, I resolved to run any hazard, rather than 
 quit the hopes of glory which I proposed to myself 
 from pleading : but when I considered, that by 
 managing my voice, and changing my way of 
 speaking, I might both avoid all danger, and speak 
 with more ease, I took a resolution of travelling 
 into Asia, merely for an opportunity of correcting 
 my manner of speaking : so that after I had been 
 
 •■ TJt nos ct saepe alias et adolescentes, contra L. Sull» 
 dominantis opes pro S. Roscio Amerino feclmus : quse, ut 
 scis, extat oratio De Offic. ii, 14. 
 
 s Prima causa publioa pro S. Roscio dicta — deinceps 
 inde niultse — itaque cum essem biennium versatus in cau- 
 Bis.— Brut. pp. 434, 437. 
 
 t Populus Romanus, L. Sulla dictatore fcrente, comitiis 
 centuriatis, municipiis civitatem adeniit : adeniit iiBdcni 
 agros: de agris ratuin eet : fuit enini populi pot^stas : de 
 civjtate ne. tamdiu quidem valuit, (luanidiu ilia Sullani 
 temporis arma valuerunt. — Atque ego banc adoloseentulus 
 causam cum agerem, contra homin*m disertissimuiu, 
 contradicente Cotta, et Sulla vivo, judicatum est« — Pro 
 £)om. ad Pontif. 33 ; pro Csjoina, 33. 
 
 two years at the bar, and acquired a reputation la 
 tiic forum. I left Rome, &c." 
 
 He was twenty-eight years old, when he set for- 
 ward upon his travels to Greece and Asia — the 
 fashionaiile tour of all those, who travelled either 
 for curiosity or improvement : his first visit was to 
 Athens, the capital seat of arts and sciences, where 
 sonic writers tell us tliat lu; sjicnt three years", 
 though in truth it was but six months, lie took up 
 his quarters with Antiochus, the principal pliiloso- 
 ])her of the old Academy ; and under this excellent 
 master renewed, he says, those studies which he 
 liad been fond of from his earliest youth. Here he 
 met with his school-fellow T. Pomponius, who, 
 from his love to Athens, and Ids sjicnding a great 
 jiart of his days in it, obtained the surname of 
 Atticus-^ ; and here they revived and confirmed 
 that memorable friendship which subsisted between 
 them through life with so celebrated a constancy 
 and affection. Atticus, being an Epicurean, was 
 often drawing Cicero from his host Antiochus to 
 tlie conversation of Phccdrus and old Zeno, the 
 chief professors of that sect, in hopes of making 
 him a convert ; on which subject they used to have 
 many dis))utes between themselves : but Cicero's 
 view in these visits was but to convince himself 
 more effectually of the weakness of that doctrine, 
 by observing how easily it might be confuted, w-hen 
 explained even by the ablest teachers^. Yet he did 
 not give himself up so entirely to philosophy as 
 to neglect his rhetorical exercises, which he per- 
 formed still every day very diligently with Deme- 
 trius the Syrian, an experienced master of the art 
 of speaking '>. 
 
 It was in this first journey to Athens, that he was 
 initiated most probably into the Eleusinian myste- 
 ries : for, though we iiave no account of the time, 
 yet we cannot fix it better than in a voyage under- 
 taken both for the improvement of his mind and 
 body. The reverence v,ith which he always speaks 
 of these mysteries, and the hints that he has dropped 
 of their end and use, seem to confirm what a very 
 learned and ingenious writer has delivered of them, 
 that they were contrived to inculcate the unity of 
 God, and the immortality of the soul*". As for the 
 first, after obsei^ving to Atticus, who was one also 
 of the initiated, how the gods of the popular reli- 
 gions were all but deceased mortals advanced from 
 earth to heaven, he bids him remember the doctrine 
 of the mysteries, in order to recollect the univer- 
 sality of that truth : and as to the second, he declares 
 his initiation to be in fact, what the name itself 
 implied, a real beginning of life to him ; as it taught 
 the way, not only of living with greater pleasure, 
 but of dying also with a better hope"^. 
 
 « Brut. 437. ^ Eusebii Chron. 
 
 y Pomponius — ita enim so Atheniscollocavit, ut sitpaent 
 imus ex Atticis et id etiam cognomine videatur habiturus. 
 — De Fin. v. 2. * De Fin. i. 5 ; De Nat. Deor. i. 21. 
 
 a Eodem tamen tempore apud Demetrium Syrum, 
 vetercm ct non ignobilem dleendi magistrum studiose 
 exerccri solebam. — Brut. 437. 
 
 b See Mr. Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses, vol. I. 
 
 <: Ipsi, illi, majorum gentium dii qui habentur, hinc a 
 nobis in coelum profecti reperientur — reminiscere, quoniam 
 Gsinitiatus, quas traduntur mysteriis; turn denique quam 
 boc late pateat intelligcs. — Tusc. Qusest. i. 13. 
 
 Initiaque, ut appellautur, ita revera principia vitae cog- 
 novimus ; neque solum cum la^titia vivendi rationem a» 
 oepimus, Bed etiam cumspcmelioremoriendi, -De Leg. ii. 14. 
 
 N B. These mysteries were celebrated at Etated seasons
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 13 
 
 From Athens he passed into Asia, where he 
 gathered about him all the principal orators of the 
 country, who kept him company through the rest 
 of his voyage ; and with whom he constantly exer- 
 cised himself in every place, where he made any 
 stay. The chief of them, says he, was Menippus 
 of Stratonica, the most eloquent of all the Asiatics ; 
 and if to be neither tedious nor impertinent be the 
 characteristic of an Attic orator, he may justly be 
 ranked in that class. Dionysius also of Magnesia, 
 iEschylus of Cnidos, and Zenocles of Adramyttus, 
 were continually with me, who were reckoned the 
 first rhetoricians of Asia. Nor yet content with 
 these, I went to Rhodes, and a))plied myself again 
 to Molo, whom I had heard before at Rome ; who 
 was both an experienced pleader, and a fine writer, 
 and particularly expert in observing the faults of 
 his scholars, as well as in his method of teaching and 
 improving them : his greatest trouble with me was, 
 to restrain the exuberance of a juvenile imagina- 
 tion, always ready to overflow its banks, within its 
 due and proper channel"'. 
 
 But as at Athens, where he employed himself 
 chiefly in philosophy, he did not intermit his orato- 
 rical studies, so at Rhodes, where his chief study 
 was oratory, he gave some share also of his time 
 to philosophy, with Posidonius, the most esteemed 
 and learned Stoic of that age, whom he often speaks 
 of with honour, not only as his master, but as his 
 friend^. It was his constant care, that the progress 
 
 of the year, with solemn shows and a great pomp of machi- 
 nery, which drew a mighty concourse to them from all 
 countries. L. Crassus, the great orator, liappened to come 
 two days after they were over, and would gladly have per- 
 suaded the magistrates to renew them ; but not being able 
 to prevail, left the city in disgust i : which shows liow 
 cautious they were of making them too cheap, wlicn tliey 
 refused tlie sight of them out of the proper season, to one 
 of the first senators of Rome. The shows are supposed to 
 have exhibited a j;epresentation of Heaven, Hell, Elysium, 
 Purgatory, and all that related to tlie future state of the 
 dead ; being contrived to inculcate more sensibly, and ex- 
 emplify the doctrines delivered to the initiated : and as 
 they were a proper subject for poetry, so they are frequent- 
 ly alluded to by the ancient Poets. Cicero, in one of his 
 letters to Atticus, begs of him, at the request of Chilius, 
 an eminent poet of tliat age, to send them a relation of the 
 Eleusinian rites, which were designed probably for an 
 episode or embellishment to some of Chilius's works 2. 
 This confirms also the probability of that ingenious com- 
 ment, which the same excellent ^vriter has given on the 
 sixth book of tlie jEneid, where Virgil, as he observes, in 
 describing tlie descent into hell, is but tracing out in their 
 genuine order the several scenes of the Eleusinian shows 3. 
 
 d Brut. 437. 
 
 e He mentions a story of this Posidonius, which Pompey 
 often used to tell ; that after the Mithridatic war, as he 
 ■was returning from Syria towards Rome, he called at 
 Rhodes, on purpose to liear him ; but being informed, on 
 his arrival there, that he was extremely ill of the gout, he 
 had a mind however to see Iiim ; and in his visit, when, 
 after the first compliments, he began to express his concern 
 for finding him so ill, that he could not have the pleasure 
 to hear him : But you can hear me, replied Posidonius ; 
 nor shall it be said, that on the accoimt of any bodily pain, 
 I suflfered so great a man to come to me in vam ; upon 
 which he entered presently into an argument, as he lay 
 
 1 Diutius essem moratus, nisi Atheniensibus, quod 
 Tnysteria non referrent,adqua; biduo serius venerani, suc- 
 oensuissem. — De Orat. iii. 20. 
 
 * Chilius te rogat, et ego ejus rogatu 'EvfxoktriSiJiv 
 VCLTpia — Ad Att. i. 5. 
 
 ' See Divine Legation of Moses, p. 182. 
 
 of his knowledge shoidd keep pace with the improve- 
 ment of his eloquence ; he considered the one as 
 the foundation of the other, and thought it in vain 
 to acquire ornaments, before he had jjrovided neces- 
 sary furniture. He declaimed here in Greek, because 
 Molo did not understand Latin ; and upon ending 
 his declamation, while the rest of the company were 
 lavish of their praises, Molo, instead of paying any 
 compliment, sat silent aconsiderable time, till observ- 
 ing Cicero somewhat disturbed at it, he said, " Aa 
 for you, Cicero, I praise and admire you ; but pity 
 the fortune of Greece, to see arts and eloquence, the 
 only ornaments which were left to her, transplanted 
 by you to Rome^. Having thus finished the circuit 
 of his travels, he came back again to Italy, after an 
 excursion of two years, extremely improved, and 
 changed as it were into a new man : the vehe- 
 mence of his voice and action was moderated ; the 
 redundancy of his style and fancy corrected ; his 
 lungs strengthened, and his whole constitution 
 confirmed^. 
 
 This voyage of Cicero seems to be the only 
 scheme and pattern of travelling from which any 
 real benefit is to be expected : he did not stir abroad 
 till he had completed his education at home ; for 
 nothing can be more pernicious to a nation, than 
 the necessity of a foreign one ; and after he had 
 acquired in his own country whatever was proper 
 to form a worthy citizen and magistrate of Rome, 
 he went, confirmed by a maturity of age and reason 
 against the impressions of vice, not so much to 
 learn, as to polish what he had learned, by visiting 
 those places, where arts and sciences flourished in 
 their greatest perfection. In a tour, the most 
 dehghtful of the world, he saw everything that 
 could entertain a curious traveller, yet stayed no- 
 where any longer than his benefit, not his pleasure, 
 detained him. By his previous knowledge of the 
 laws of Rome, he was able to compare them with 
 those of other cities, and to bring back with him 
 whatever he found useful, either to his country or 
 to himself. He was lodged, wherever he came, in 
 the houses of the great and the eminent ; not so 
 much for their birth and wealth, as for their virtue, 
 knowledge, and learning ; men honoured and reve- 
 renced in their several cities, as the principal 
 patriots, orators and philosophers of the age. 
 These he made the constant companions of his tra- 
 vels, that he might not lose the opportunity, even 
 on the road, of profiting by their advice and expe- 
 rience ; and, from such a voyage, it is no wonder 
 that he brought back every accomplishment which 
 could improve and adorn a man of sense. 
 
 Pompey returned about this time victorious from 
 Africa, where he had greatly enlarged the bounds 
 
 upon his bed, and maintained with great eloquence, that 
 nothing was really good, but what was honest ; and being 
 all the while in exquisite torture, he often cried out, O pain, 
 thou shalt never gain thy point ; for be as vexatious as 
 thou wilt, I will never o\m thee to be an evil. This was 
 the perfection of Stoical heroism, to defy sense and nature 
 to the last : while another poor Stoic, Dionysius, a scholar 
 of Zeno, the founder of the sect, when by the torture of the 
 stone, he was forced to confess, that what his master had 
 taught him was false, and that he felt pain to bo an evil, 
 is treated by all their wTiters, as a poltroon and base 
 deserter. Which shows, that all their boasted firmness 
 was owing rather to a false notion of honour aad reputation, 
 than to any real principle, or conviction of reason,— Nat. 
 Deor. ii.24 ; De Finib. v. 31. 
 f Plutar. Lifepf Cic. f Brut. 438.
 
 14 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 of the empire, by the roiuiucst cind addition of 
 raaiiy new eountrits to tlie Uoman dominion. He 
 was received with jjreat marks of respect by the 
 <lietntor SyUa, who went out to meet him at the 
 head of tlie nobility, and sahitc.l liim by the title 
 of Macjnu.s, or the Great, wiiich from tiiat autiio- 
 rity was ever after given to him by all jx'ojile. 
 JJut his demand of a triumph distrusted both Sylla 
 and the senate, wiio thought it too aml)itious in 
 one who had passed through none of the i)ubhc 
 offices, nor was of age to be a senator, to aspire to 
 nu honour which had never been granted, excej)t 
 to consuls or prirtors : but Pomjiey, insisting on 
 his demand, extorted Sylla's consent, and was the 
 first whose triumplial ear is said to have been 
 drawn by elephants, and the only one of the eques- 
 trian order who had ever triumphed ; which gave 
 an unusual joy to the people, to see a man of their 
 own body obtain so signal an honour ; and much 
 more, to see him descend again from it to liis old 
 rank and jirivate condition among the knights'". 
 
 Wliilc Pom]iey, by his exploits in war, had ac- 
 quired the surname of the Great, J. Casar, about 
 six years younger, was giving proofs likewise of his 
 military genius, and serving as a volunteer at the 
 siege of Mitylene ; a splendid and flourishing city 
 of Lesbos, which had assisted IWithridates in the 
 late war, and perfidiously delivered up to him M. 
 Aquilias, a person of consular dignity, who had 
 been sent ambassador to that king, and after the 
 defeat of the Roman army had taken refuge in 
 Mitylene, as in a place of the greatest security. 
 Mithridates is said to have treated him with the 
 last indignity ; carrying him about in triumph, 
 inoimted upon an ass, and forcing him to proclaim 
 everywhere aloud, that he was Aquilius, who had 
 been the chief cause of the war. But the town 
 now paid dear for that treachery, being taken by 
 storm, and almost demolished by Q. Thermus ; 
 though Pompey restored it afterwards to its former 
 beauty and liberty, at the request of his favourite 
 freedman, Theophanes. In this siege Caesar ob- 
 tained the honour of a civic crown ; which, though 
 made only of oaken leaves, was esteemed the most 
 reputable badge of martial virtue ; and never be- 
 stowed, but for saving the life of a citizen, and 
 killing at the same time an enemy'. 
 
 SyUa died while Cicero was at Athens, after 
 he had laid down his dictatorship and restored 
 liberty to the republic, and, with an uncommon 
 greatness of mind, lived many months as a private 
 senator and with perfect security in that city 
 where he had exercised the most bloody tyranny : 
 but nothing was thought to be greater in his cha- 
 Tacter, than that during the three years, in which 
 
 ^ Bellum in Africa maximum confecit, victorem excrci- 
 tum deportavit. Quid vero tarn inauditum, qunm equitcm 
 Romanum triumpliai-e ? [Pro Lege Man. 21,] Africa vero 
 tola subacta — Magnique nomine, spolio inde capto, eques 
 Romanus, id quod antca nemo, curru triumphali invec- 
 tusest. [Plin. Hist Nat. vii. 26.] Roma; prijimm juncti 
 elephantes subierc currum Pompeii Magni Afiicano tri- 
 umpho. [lb. viii. 2; Plutar. in Pomp.] 
 
 > Quid Mitylenae ? quae certe vestra, Quirites, belli lege, 
 et victoriie jure facta; sunt: urbset natura et situ, et de- 
 ecriptionea'dificiorum et pulchritudine, imprimis nobilis. 
 [De Leg. Agrar. ii. 16.] A Therlno in expvgnatione Mi- 
 lylenarum corona civica donatus est. [Suet. J. Ca-s. 2.] 
 llinc civica: coronse.militum virtutisinsigneclarissimum. 
 [Plin. Hist. Nat., xvi. 4 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 18 ; Appian. BeU. 
 Withrid. p. ]t;4 ; Val. Max. ix. 13.] 
 
 the Marians were masters of Italy, lie neither dis- 
 sembled his resolution of pursuing them by arms, 
 nor neglected the war which he had u])on his 
 hands ; but thought it his duty, first to chastise a 
 foreign enemy, before he took his revenge upon 
 citizens'*. His family was noble and ])atrician, 
 which yet, through the indolency of his ancestors, 
 had mad<! no figure in the repuljlic for many gene- 
 rations, and was almost sunk into obscurity, till 
 he jiroduced it again into light, by aspiring to the 
 honours of the state. He was a lover and patron 
 of ])olite letters, having been carefully instituted 
 himself in all the learning of Greece and Rome; 
 but from a peiniliar gaiety of temper, and fondness 
 for the comjiany of mimics and jilayers, was 
 drawn, when young, into a life of luxury and plea- 
 sure ; so that when he was sent qufestor to Marius 
 in the Jugurthine war, Marius complained, that 
 in so rough and desperate a service, chance had 
 given him so soft and delicate a quaestor. But 
 whether roused by the example, or stung by the 
 reproach, of his general, he behaved himself in that 
 charge with the greatest vigour and courage, suf- 
 fering no man to outdo him in any part of military 
 duty or labour, making himself equal and familiar 
 even to tlie lowest of the soldiers, and obliging 
 them all by his good offices and his money ; so 
 that he soon acquired the favour of the army, with 
 the character of a brave and skilful commander ; 
 and lived to drive Marius himself, banished and 
 proscribed, into that very province where he had 
 been contemned by him at brst as his quaestor'. 
 He had a wonderful faculty of concealing his 
 passions and jnirposes, and was so different from 
 himself in different circumstances, that he seemed 
 as it were to be two men in one : no man was 
 ever more mild and moderate before victory ; none 
 more bloody and cruel after it™. In war he prac- 
 tised the same art, that he had seen so successful 
 to Marius, of raising a kind of enthusiasm and 
 contempt of danger in his army, by the forgery of 
 auspices and divine admonitions : for which end 
 he carried always about with him a little statue 
 of Apollo taken from the temple of Delphi ; and 
 whenever he had resolved to give battle, used 
 to embrace it in sight of the soldiers, and beg 
 the speedy confirmation of its promises to 
 him". From an uninterrupted course of success 
 
 k Vix quidquam in Sylla; opcribus clarius duxerim, 
 quMii quod, cum per triennium Cinnanae Marianseque 
 partes Italiam obsidcrent, neque illaturum se bellum eia 
 dissimulavit, nee quod erat in nianibus omisit ; existima- 
 vitque ante frangcndum hostem, quam ulcisoendum 
 civem. — Veil. Pat. ii. 24. 
 
 I Gentis Patricise nobilis fuit ; fiiniilia prope jam ex- 
 stincta majoruni ignavia : Uteris Graecis atque Latinis 
 juxta atque doctissimc eruditus. — [Sallust. Hell. Jug. 95.] 
 Usque ad quasstura; suae comitia, vitam libidinc, vino, 
 ludicTEE artis amore inquinatam perduxit. Quapropter C. 
 Marium consulem moleste tulisse traditur, quod sibi, aa- 
 perrimum in Africa bellum gerenti, tam delicatus quaestor 
 sortc obvenissct, &e. [Val. ^lax. vi. 9 ; Sallust. Bell. Jug. 
 &5.] 
 
 ™ Ad simulanda negotia altitude ingenii incrcdibilis. 
 [Sallust. Bell. Jugurth. 95.] quse tam diversa, tamque inter 
 se contraria, si quis apud animum suuni expcndere velit, 
 duos in uno homine Syllas fuisse crediderit. [Val. Max. 
 vi. 9.] Adeo enim Sylla fuit dissimilis bellator ac victor, 
 ut dum vincit justissimo lenior ; post victoriam aiidito 
 fuerit crudelior — ut in codem homine duplicis ac diversis- 
 tdmi animiconspiceretur cxemplum. — Veil. Pat. ii. 25. 
 
 " Q,uotie6 pra?lium committere d'.'stinabat, parvum
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 15 
 
 and prosperity he assumed the surname, unknown 
 before to the Romans, of Felix or the fortunate ; 
 and would have been fortunate indeed, says 
 Velleius, if his life had ended with his victories". 
 Pliny calls it a wicked title, drawn froTii the blood 
 and oppression of his country ; for which posterity 
 would think him more unfortunate, even than 
 those whom he had put to death i'. He had one 
 felicity, however, peculiar to himself, of being the 
 only man in history, in whom the odium of the 
 most barbarous cruelties was extinguished by the 
 glory of his great acts. Cicero, though he had a 
 good opinion of his cause, yet detested the inhu- 
 manity of his victory, and never speaks of him 
 •with respect, nor of his government but as a 
 proper tyranny ; calling him a master of three 
 most pestilent vices, luxury, avarice, cruelty''. 
 He was the first of his family, whose dead body 
 ■was burnt : for having ordered Marius's remains 
 to be taken out of his grave, and thrown into the 
 river Anio, he was apprehensive of the same insult 
 upon his own, if left to the usual way of burial''. 
 A little before his death, he made his own epitaph, 
 the sum of which w'as, that no man had ever gone 
 beyond him, in doing good to his friends, or hurt 
 to his enemies ^ 
 
 As soon as Sylla was dead, the old dissensions, 
 that had been smothered awhile by the terror of 
 his power, burst out again into a flame between 
 the two factions, supported severally by the two 
 consuls, Q. Catulus and M. Lepidus, who were 
 wholly opposite to each other in party and politics. 
 Lepidus resolved at all adventures to rescind the 
 acts of Sylla, and recall the exiled Marians ; and 
 began openly to solicit the people to support him 
 in that resolution : but his attempt, though plau- 
 sible, was factious and unseasonable, tending to 
 overturn the present settlement of the republic, 
 ■which, after its late wounds and loss of civil blood, 
 wanted nothing so much as rest and quiet to re- 
 cover a tolerable degree of strength. Catulus's 
 father, the ablest statesman of his time, and the 
 chief assertor of the aristocratical interest, had 
 been condemned to die by Marius : the son, there- 
 fore, who inherited his virtues, as well as principles, 
 and was confirmed in them by a resentment of 
 that injury, vigorously opposed and effectually 
 
 Apollinis signum Delphis siiblatum, in conspectu militum 
 complexus, orabat, uti promissa maturaret. — 'Val. Max. i. 
 2 ; De Div. i. 3;i. 
 
 ° Quod quidem usurpasset justissime, si eundem et vin- 
 cendi et vivendi fiuem habuisset. — Veil. Pat. ii. 27. 
 
 P Unus hominum ad hoc sevi Felicis sibi cognomen as- 
 scruit — civili nempe sanguine, ac patrije oppugnatione 
 adoptatus, &c. — Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 43. 
 
 1 Qui tiium pestiferormn vitiorum, luxuriae, avaritise, 
 crudelitatis, magisterfuit. — De Fin. iii. 22 ; De Offic. ii. 8. 
 
 r Quod hand scio an timens suo corpori, primus e 
 patriciis ComeUis igne voluit cremari. — De Leg. ii. 22 ; 
 Val. Max. ix. 2. 
 
 ' Plutarch, in SylL 
 
 The following votive inscription was found in Italy, in 
 the year 17-3, near Cicero's Arpinum, between Atina and 
 Sora, which had been dedicated probably by Sylla, about 
 the time of his assuming the suniame of Felix, soon after 
 his first success and defeat of the chiefs, who were in arms 
 against him at home :^ 
 
 lOVI 
 
 QUOD PERICVLVM 
 
 FELICITER EVASEUIT 
 
 L. SVLLA 
 
 V.S. LA. 
 
 disappointed all the designs of his colleague; who, 
 finding himself unable to gain his end without 
 recurring to arms, retired to liis government of 
 Gaul, with intent to raise a force sufficient to sub- 
 due all opposition ; where tlie fame of his levies 
 and military preparations gave such umbrage to 
 the senate, that they soon abrogated his command. 
 Upon tliis he came forward into Italy at the head 
 of a great army, and having possessed himself of 
 Etruria without opposition, marched in a hostile 
 manner towards the city, to the demand of a 
 second consulship. He had with him several of 
 the chief magistrates, and the good wishes of all 
 the tribunes, and lioped by the authority of the 
 INIarian cause, which was always favoured by the 
 pojjulace, to advance himself into Sylla's place, and 
 usurp the sovereign power of Rome. Catulus in 
 the mean time, upon the expiration of his office, 
 was invested with proconsular authority, and 
 charged with the defence of tl>3 government ; and 
 Pompey also, by a decree of the senate, was 
 joined with him in the same commission ; who, 
 having united their forces before Lepidus could 
 reach the city, came to an engagement with him 
 near the Milvian bridge, within a mile or two from 
 the walls, where they totally routed and dispersed 
 his whole army. But Cisalpine Gaul being still 
 in the possession Of his lieutenant, M. Brutus, 
 the father of him who afterwards killed Caesar, 
 Pompey marched forward to reduce that province : 
 ■where Brutus, after sustaining a siege in Modena, 
 surrendered himself into his hands ; but being 
 conducted, as he desired, by a guard of horse to a 
 certain village upon the Po, he was there killed by 
 Pompey's orders. This act was censured as cruel 
 and unjust, and Pompey generally blamed for 
 killing a man of the first quality, who had sur- 
 rendered himself voluntarily and on the condition 
 of his life : but he acted probably by the advice of 
 Catulus, in laying hold of the pretext of Brutus's 
 treason, to destroy a man who, from his rank and 
 authority, might have been a dangerous head to 
 the Marian party, and capable of disturbing that 
 aristocracy which Sylla had established, and which 
 the senate and all the better sort were very desirous 
 to maintain. Lepidus escaped into Sardinia, 
 where he died soon after of grief to see his hopes 
 and fortunes so miserably blasted : and thus ended 
 the civil war of Lepidus, as the Roman writers call 
 it, which, though but short-lived, was thought 
 considerable enough by Sallust to be made the 
 subject of a distinct history, of which several frag- 
 ments are still remaining'. 
 
 As Cicero was returning from his travels to- 
 wards Rome, full of hopes and aspiring thoughts, 
 his ambition was checked, as Plutarch tells us, by 
 the Delphic oracle ; for, upon consulting Apollo 
 by what means he might arrive at the height of 
 glory, he was answered, by making his own genius, 
 and not the opinion of the people, the guide of his 
 life ; upon which he carried himself after his re- 
 turn with great caution, and was very shy of pre- 
 
 ' M. Lepido, Q. Catulo consulibus, civile bellum psne 
 citias oppressum est qnam inciperet — fax illius iiiotus ab 
 ipso SyllEe rogo exarsit. Cupidus namque rerum novarum 
 per insolentiam Lepidus, acta tanti viri rescindere p.arabat, 
 ncc inimerito, si tamen posset sine magna clade reipublics, 
 &c.— Flor. iii. 27; Plutar. in Pomp.; Appian-. i. 416; 
 Sallust. Fragment. Iliet. ). i ; Val. Max. vi. 2 ; Pigh. 
 Annal. A. U. 676.
 
 10 
 
 Tin: HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 tending to public honours. But thou:;h the rule 
 be very good, Vft Cicero was certainly too wise, 
 and hud spent too much of his time with philoso- 
 phers, to fetcii it from an oracle which, according 
 to his own account, had been in the utmost con- 
 tempt for many ages, and was considered by all 
 men of sense as a mere imposture ". lUit if he 
 reullv went to Delphi, of which we have not the least 
 hint in any of his writings, we must impute it to 
 the same motive tliat draws so many travellers at 
 this day to the Holy House of Loretto ; the curio- 
 sity of seeing a place so celebrated through the 
 world for its sanctity and riches. After his re- 
 turn, however, he was so far from observing that 
 caution which Plutarch speaks of, that he freely 
 and forwardly resumed his former emi)loyment 
 of pleading ; and after one year more spent at 
 the bar, obtained in the next the dignity of 
 Qujestor. 
 
 Among the causes which he i)leaded before his 
 qutestorship was that of the famous comedian 
 Roscms, whom a singular merit in his art had re- 
 commended to the familiarity and friendship of the 
 freatest men in Rome ^. The cause was this : One 
 annius had made over to Roscius a young slave, 
 to be formed by him to the stage, on condition of 
 a partnership in the profits, which the slave should 
 acquire by acting. The slave was afterwards killed, 
 and Roscius prosecuted the murderer for damages, 
 and obtained, by a composition, a little farm worth 
 about eight hundred pounds, for his particular 
 share. Fahnius also sued separately, and was sup- 
 posed to have gained as much ; but pretending to 
 have recovered nothing, sued Roscius for the moiety 
 of what he had received. One cannot but observe 
 from Cicero's pleading the wonderful esteem and 
 reputation in which Roscius then flourished, of 
 ■whom he draws a very amiable picture. — Has 
 Roscius then, says he, defrauded his partner? Can 
 such a stain stick upon such a man r who, I speak 
 it with confidence, has more integrity than skill, 
 more veracity than experience : whom the people 
 of Rome know to be a better man than he is an 
 actor ; and while he makes the first figure on the 
 Stage for his art, is worthy of the senate for his 
 virtue y. In another place he says of him, that he 
 was such an artist, as to seem the only one fit to 
 come upon the stage ; yet such a man, as to seem 
 the only one unfit to come upon it at all^ : and that 
 his action was so perfect and admirable, that when 
 a man excelled in any other profession, it was 
 grown into a proverb to call him a Roscius". His 
 daily pay for acting is said to have been about thirty 
 pounds sterling.'' Pliny computes his yearly profit 
 
 » Pyrrhitemporibusjam Apollo versus facere desierat — 
 CUT isto niodo jam oracula non cduntur, non modo nostra 
 setate, sed jam din, ut modo niliil possit esse contemptius ? 
 Quiimodo autem ista vis cvanuit ? an postquam homines 
 minus creduli esse caperunt? — De Div. ii. 56, 57. 
 
 * Ncc vulgi tantum favorem, verunietiam principum 
 familiavitates amplexus est. — Val. JIax. viii. 7. 
 
 y Qiiem popuhis Romanus nicliorcm vlrum, quam his- 
 trionem esse arbitratur ; qui ita dignissimus est scena, 
 propter artificium ; ut dignissimus sit eittia;, propter abs- 
 tinentiaru. — Pro Q. Rose. 6. 
 
 ^ Pro Quinct. 25. 
 
 » Utin quo quisquc artificio excelleret, is in suo genere 
 Roscius diceretur. — De Orat. i. 28. 
 
 '' Ut mercedeni diumam de publico niille denaiios solus 
 fccceperit.— Macrob. Saturn, ii. 10. 
 
 at four thousand pounds "^ ; but Cicero seems to fate 
 it at five thousand. He was generous, benevolent, 
 and a contemner of money ; and after he had 
 raised an anijilc fortune from the stage, gave his 
 jiains to the jiublic for many years without any 
 ])ay : whence Cieero urges it as incredible, that he, 
 who in ten years past miglit honestly have gained 
 fifty thousand jiounds, which he refused, should be 
 tempted to commit a fraud for the paltry sum of 
 four hundred ''. 
 
 At the time of Cicero's return from Greece, there 
 reigned in the forum two orators of noble birth and 
 great authority, Cotta and liortensius, whose glory 
 inflamed him with an emulation of their virtues. 
 Cotta's way of speaking was calm and easy, flowing 
 with great elegance and propriety of diction ; Hor- 
 tensius's, sprightly, elevated, and warming both 
 by his words and action ; who being the nearer to 
 him in age, about eight years older, and excelling 
 in his own taste and manner, was considered by 
 him more particularly as his jiattern, or competitor 
 rather, in glory '^. The business of pleading, though 
 a profession of all others the most laborious, yet 
 was not mercenary, nor undertaken for any pay; 
 for it was illegal to take money, or to accept evea 
 a present for it : but the richest, the greatest, and 
 the noblest of Rome freely offered their talents to 
 the service of their citizens, as the common guar- 
 dians and protectors of the innocent and distressed'. 
 This was a constitution as old as Romulus, who 
 assigned the patronage of the people to the patri- 
 cians or senators, without fee or reward : but in 
 succeeding ages, when, through the avarice of the 
 nobles, it was become a custom for all clients to 
 make annual presents to their patrons, by which 
 the body of the citizens was made tributary as it 
 were to the senate, M. Cincius, a tribune, pub- 
 lished a law, prohibiting all senators to take money 
 or gifts on any account, and especially for pleading 
 causes. In the contest about this law, Cicero 
 mentions a smart reply made by the tribune to C. 
 Cento, one of the orators who opposed it; for when 
 Cento asked him with some scorn. What is it, my 
 little Cincius, that you are making all this stir 
 about ? Cincius replied, That you, Caius, may pay 
 for what you uses. We must not imagine, however, 
 that this generosity of the great was wholly disin- 
 terested, or without any expectation ol fruit ; for it 
 brought the noblest which a liberal mind could re- 
 
 >: H.S. quingenta annua mcritassc prodatur. — Plin. Hist. 
 Nat. vii. 39. 
 
 d Decern his annis proximis U.S. sexagies honestissime 
 conscqui potuit : noluit. — Pro Rosclo, 8. 
 
 <-' Duo turn cxccllebant oratores, qui me imitandi cu- 
 piditato incitarcnt, Cotta ct liortensius, &c. — Brut. 440. 
 
 f Diserti igitur honiinis, et facile laborantis, quodque in 
 patriis est moribus, multorum causas et non gravate et 
 Kratuito defendcntis, beneficia et patrocinia late patent. — 
 Dc Offic. ii. 19. 
 
 e Quid legem C'inciam de donis et muneribus, nisi quia 
 vcctigalis jam ct stipendiaria plebs esse Senatui eoeperat ? 
 [Liv. sxxiv. 4.] Consurgunt Patres legemque Cinciaiji 
 fiagitant, qua cavetur antiquitus, ne quis ob causam 
 orandam pecuniam donumve accipiat. [Tacit. Annal. xi. 
 5.] HI. Cincius, quo die legem de donis ct muneribus tulit, 
 cum C. Cento prodiisset, et satis contumeliose, Quid fers 
 Cinciole ? quEesisset ; Ut emas, inquit, Cai, si uti velis. 
 — Cic. de Orat. ii. 71. 
 
 This Cincian law was made in the year of Rome 549 ; 
 and recommended to the people, as Cicero tells us, by Q. 
 Fabius Jlaxinms, in the extremity of his age. De Sencct. 
 4.— Vid. Pigh. Annal. torn. ii. p. 218,
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 17 
 
 ceive, the fi-uit of praise and honour from the public 
 voice of their country : it was the proper instruuieat 
 of their ambition, and the sure means of advancing 
 them to the first dignities of the state : they gave 
 their labours to the people, and the people repaid 
 them with the honours and preferments which they 
 had the power to bestow : this was a wise and 
 happy constitution, where, by a necessary connexion 
 between virtue and honour, they served mutually to 
 produce and perpetuate each other ; where the re- 
 ward of honours excited merit, and merit never 
 failed to procure honours ; the only policy which 
 can make a nation great and prosperous. 
 
 Thus the three orators just mentioned, according 
 to the custom and constitution of Rome, were all 
 severally employed this summer in sueing for the 
 different offices, to which their different age and 
 rank gave them a right to pretend ; Cotta for the 
 consulship, Hortensius the sedileship, Cicero the 
 quEKstorship ; in which they all succeeded : and 
 Cicero especially had the honour to be chosen the 
 first of all his competitors by the unanimous suf- 
 frage of the tribes ; and in the first year in which 
 hewascapableof itbylaw,thethirty-firstof his age.'' 
 
 The quaestors were the general receivers or trea- 
 surers of the republic ; whose number had been 
 gradually enlarged with the bounds and revenues of 
 the empire from two to twenty, as it now stood 
 from the last regulation of Sylla. They were sent 
 annually into the several provinces, one with every 
 proconsul or governor, to whom they were the next 
 in authority, and had the proper equipage of ma- 
 gistrates, the lictors carrying the fasces before 
 them ; which was nor, however, allowed to them at 
 Rome. Besides the care of the revenues, it was 
 their business also to provide com and all sorts of 
 grain, for the use of the armies abroad and the 
 public consumption at home. 
 
 This was the first step in the legal ascent and 
 gradation of public honours, which gave an imme- 
 diate right to the senate, and after the expiration of 
 the office, an actual admission into it during life : 
 and though, strictly speaking, none were held to be 
 complete senators, till they were enrolled at the 
 next lustrum in the list of the censors ; yet that was 
 only a matter of form, and what could not be de- 
 nied to them, unless for the charge and notoriety of 
 some crime, for which every other senator was 
 equally liable to be degraded. These queestors, 
 therefore, chosen annually by the people, were the 
 regular and ordinary supply of the vacancies of the 
 senate, which consisted at this time of about five 
 hundred : by which excellent institution the way to 
 the highest order of the state was laid open to the 
 virtue and industry of every private citizen ; and the 
 dignity of this sovereign council maintained by a 
 succession of members, whose distinguished merit 
 had first recommended them to the notice and fa- 
 vour of their country'. 
 
 ^ Me cum qusestorem in primis — cunctis suffragiis po- 
 pulus Romanus faciebat.— In Pis. 1 ; Brut. 440. 
 
 ' Qujestiira, primus gradus honoris [in Verr. Act. i. 4.] 
 Populuni Romanum, cujus honoribus in amplissimo con- 
 cilio, et in altiasimogradu dignitatis, atque in hac omnium 
 terrarum arce coUocati sumus. [Post. red. ad Sen. 1.] Ita 
 xnagiatratus annuos creaverunt, ut coaciliimi senatus , 
 reipublicse proponerent sempitemuin ; deligerentur 
 autem In id concilium ab universo populo, aditusque in 
 ilium summum ordinem omnium civium industrise ac 
 virtuti pateret.— Pro Sext. C5. 
 
 The consuls of this year were Cn. Octavius and 
 C. Scribonius Curio ; the first was Cicero's par- 
 ticular friend, a person of singular humanity and 
 benevolence, but cruelly afflicted with the gout, 
 whom Cicero therefoi-e urges as an example against 
 the Epicureans, to show that a life supported by 
 innocence could not be made miserable by pain''. 
 The second wa.s a professed orator, or pleader at 
 the bar, where he sustained some credit, without 
 any other accomplishment of art or nature, than a 
 certain purity and splendour of language, derived 
 from the institution of a father who was esteemed 
 for his eloquence : his action was vehement, with 
 so absurd a manner of waving his body from one 
 side to the other, as to give occasion to a jest upon 
 him, that he had learnt to speak in a boat. They 
 were both of them, however, good magistrates ; such 
 as the present state of the republic required, firm 
 to the interests of the senate, and the late estab- 
 lishment made by Sylla, which the tribunes were 
 labouring by all their arts to overthrow. These 
 consuls, therefore, were called before the people by 
 Sicinius, a bold and factious tribune, to declare 
 their opinion about the revocation of Sylla's acts, 
 and the restoration of the tribunician power, which 
 was now the only question that engaged the zeal 
 and attention of the city : Curio spoke much 
 against it with his usual vehemence and agitation 
 of body ; while Octavius sat by, crippled with the 
 gout, and wrapt up in plasters and ointments : 
 when Curio had done, the tribune, a man of a 
 humorous wit, told Octavius, that he could never 
 make amends to his colleague for the service of that 
 day ; for if he had not taken such pains to beat 
 away the flies, they would certainly have devoured 
 him'. But while Sicinius was pursuing his sediti- 
 ous practices, and using all endeavours to excite 
 the people to some violence against the senate, he 
 was killed by the management of Curio, in a tumult 
 of his own raising"". 
 
 We have no account of the precise time of 
 Cicero's marriage ; which was celebrated most pro- 
 bably in the end of the preceding year, immediately 
 after his return to Rome, when he was about 
 
 This account of the manner of filling up the senate ia 
 confirmed by many otlier passages of Cicero's works: for 
 example; when Cicero was elected adile, the nest su- 
 perior magistrate to the qua;stor, and before his entrance! 
 into that olBce, he took a journey into Sicily .to collect 
 evidence against Verres ; in the account of which voyage 
 he says, that he went at his own charges, though a senator, 
 into that province, where he had before been quaestor. 
 [In Verr. i. 6.] Again; when the government of Cilicia 
 was allotted to him, he begged of young Curio, as he did of 
 all his friends in the senate, not to suffer it to he pro- 
 longed to him beyond the year. In his absence, Corio, 
 who before had been only quaestor, was elected tribune ; 
 upon which Cicero, in a congratulatory letter to him on 
 that promotion, taking occasion to renew his former re- 
 quest, says, that he asked it of him before, as of a senator 
 of the noblest birth, and a youth of the greatest interest ; 
 but now of a tribune of the people, who had the power to 
 grant him what he asked. — Ep. Fam. ii. 7. 
 
 It De Finib. ii. 28. 
 
 1 Curio copia nonnulla verborum, nuUo alio bono, tenuit 
 oratorum locum. [Brut. 350 ; it. 323.] Motus erat is, quem 
 C. Julius in perpetuum notavit, cum ex eo, in utramquo 
 partem toto corpore vaciUante, quaesivit, quis loqueretur 
 e lintre — Nunquam, inquit, Octavi, collegae tuo gratiam 
 referes : qui nisi se suo more jactavisset, bodic tc istip 
 muscfe comedissent. — Ibid. 324. 
 
 "> Vide Sallust. Fragm. Hist. 1. 3. Orat. Macri Pigh, 
 Ann. C77.
 
 18 
 
 TIIK HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 tliirty years old : it cannot be placed later, because 
 his daughter was married the year before his 
 consulship, at the age only of thirteen ; though we 
 suppose lier to be born this year on the fifth of 
 August, which is mentioned to be her birthday". 
 Nor is there any thing certain delivered of the 
 family and condition of his wifeTerentia ; yet from 
 her name, her great fortune, and her sister Fabia's 
 being (me of the vestal virgins", we may conclude 
 that she was nobly descended. This year, there- 
 fore, was jiarticularly fortunate to him, as it brought 
 an increase not only of issue, but of dignity into 
 his family, by raising it from the eiiuestrian to tlie 
 senatorian rank ; and by this early taste of popular 
 favour, gave him a sure presage of his future ad- 
 vancement to the superior honours of the republic. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 TnK provinces of the quaestors being distributed 
 to them always by lot, the island of Sicily happened 
 to fall to Cicero's share". This was the first 
 country which, after the reduction of Italy, became 
 a prey to the power of Rome'', and was then 
 thought considerable enough to be divided into 
 two provinces of Lilybeum and Syracuse ; the 
 former of which was allotted to Cicero : for though 
 they were both united at this time under one 
 prjetor or supreme governor, S. Peducseus, yet 
 they continued still to have each of them a dis- 
 tinct quaestor '^. He received this office not as a 
 gift, but a trust ; and considered it, he says, as a 
 public theatre, in which the eyes of the world 
 were turned upon him ; and that he might act his 
 part with the greater credit, resolved to devote his 
 whole attention to it ; and to deny himself every 
 pleasure, every gratification of his appetites, even 
 the most innocent and natural, which could 
 obstruct the laudable discharge of if*. 
 
 Sicily was usually called the granary of the 
 republic^ ; and the quaestor's chief employment in 
 it was to supply corn and provisions for the use of 
 the city : but there happening to be a peculiar 
 scarcity this year at Rome, it made the people very 
 clamorous, and gave the tribunes an opportunity of 
 inflaming them the more easily, by charging it to 
 the loss of the tribunician power, and their being 
 left a prey by that means to the oppressions of the 
 great'. It was necessary therefore to the public 
 quiet, to send out large and speedy supplies from 
 Sicily, by which the island was like to be drained ; 
 so that Cicero had a difficult task to furnish what 
 was sufficient for the demands of the city, without 
 being grievous at the same time to the poor natives : 
 
 " NonisSextil. — Ad Att. iv. I. 
 
 ° Ascon. Orat. in Tog. Cand. 
 
 a Me quaestorcm Siciliensis excepit annus. — Brut. 440. 
 
 •> Prima omnium, id quod ornamentum imperii est, 
 provincia est appellata. — In Verr. iii. 1. 
 
 c QuaDstorcs utriusque provinciae, qui isto prastore 
 luerunt. — lb. 4. 
 
 ^ Ita quaestor sum factus, ut mihi honorem ilium non 
 solum datum, sed ctiam creditum, ut me qusesturamque 
 meam quasi in aliquo terrarum orbis theatro versari 
 existimarem ; ut omnia semper, quae jucunda videntur 
 esse, non modo hisextraordiiiariis cupiditatibus, sed etiani 
 ipsi natlU'ffi ac necessitati denegarem. — In Verr. v. 14. 
 
 " llle M. Cato sapiens, cellam penariam reipublicae, 
 (/raricem plebis Romanas, Sicilian! nominavit. — lb. ii. 2. 
 
 ' Vid. Orat. Cotts in fragment. Sallust. 
 
 yet he managed the matter with so much prudence 
 and address, that he made very great exportations, 
 without any burthen upon the province ; showing 
 great courtesy all the while to the dealers, justice 
 to the merchants, generosity to the inhabitants, 
 humanity to the allies ; and in short, doing all 
 manner of good offices to everybody ; by which 
 he gained the love and admiration of all the Sicili- 
 ans, who decreed greater honours to him at his 
 departure, than they had ever decreed before to 
 any of their chief governors!?. During his resi- 
 dence in the country, several young Romans of 
 quality, who sen'ed in the army, having committed 
 some great disorder and offence against martial 
 discipline, ran away toRomefor fear of punishment; 
 where being seized by tlie magistrates, they were 
 sent back to be tried before the j)r<Etor in Sicily : 
 but Cicero undertook their defence, and pleaded 
 for them so well, that he got them all acquitted *" ; 
 imd by that means obliged many considerable 
 families of the city. 
 
 In the hours of leisure from his provincial affairs, 
 he employed himself very diligently, as he used to 
 do at Rome, in his rhetorical studies ; agreeably to 
 the rule which he constantly inculcates, never to 
 let one day pass without some exercise of that 
 kind : so that on his return from Sicily his orato- 
 rical talents were, according to his own judgment, 
 in their full perfection and maturity'. The coun- 
 try itself, famous of old for its school of eloquence, 
 might afford a particular invitation to the revival 
 of those studies : for the Sicilians, as he tells us, 
 being a sharp and litigious people, and after the 
 expulsion of their tyrants, having many contro- 
 versies among themselves about property, which 
 required much pleading, were the firstwho invented 
 rules and taught an art of speaking, of which Corax 
 and Tysias were the first professors : an art which, 
 above all others, owes its birth to liberty, and can 
 never flourish but in a free air''. 
 
 Before he left Sicily he made the tour of the island, 
 to see every thing in it that was curious, and 
 especially the city of Syracuse, which had always 
 made the principal figure in its history. Here his 
 first request to the magistrates, who were showing 
 him the curiosities of the place, was to let him see 
 the tomb of Archimedes, whose name had done so 
 much honour to it ; but to his surprise he perceived 
 that they knew nothing at all of the matter, and 
 even denied that there was any such tomb remain- 
 ing : yet as he was assured of it beyond all doubt by 
 the concurrent testimony of writers, and remem- 
 bered the verses mscribed, and that there was a 
 sphere with a cylinder engraved on some part of 
 it, he would not be dissuaded from the pains of 
 searching it out. When they had carried him 
 S Frumenti in summa caritato maximum numerum 
 miserani : negotiatoribus comis, mereatoribus Justus, mu- 
 nicipibus liberalis, sociis abstinens, omnibus eram visus 
 in omni officio diligentissimus : excogitati quidam erant a 
 Sieulis honores in me inauditi. — Pro Plane. 26". 
 •» Plutarch's Life of Cic. 
 
 i Jam videbatur illud in me, quicquid esset, esse per- 
 fectum, et habere maturitatem quandam suam. — Brut. 440. 
 k Cum sublatis in Sicilia tyrannis res privatae longo 
 intervallo judiciisrepetcrentur, turn primum, quod esset 
 acuta ilia gens et controversa natura, artem et praicepta 
 Sieulos Coracem et Tysiam conscripsisse. [Brut. 75-] Haec 
 una res in omni libero populo, maximeque in pacatis, 
 tranquillisque eivitatibus semper floruit, semperque do- 
 minata est. — De Orat. i. 8.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 19 
 
 therefore to the gate, where the greatest number of 
 their old sepulclares stood, he observed, in a spot 
 overgrown with shrubs and briars, a small column, 
 whose head just appeared above the bushes, with 
 the figure of a sphere and cylinder upon it : this, 
 he presently told the company, was the thing that 
 they were looking for ; and sending in some men 
 to clear the ground of the brambles and rubbish, 
 he found the inscription also which he expected, 
 though the latter part of all the verses was effaced. 
 Thus, says he, one of the noblest cities of Greece, 
 and once Ukewise the most learned, had known 
 nothing of the monument of its most deserving and 
 ingenious citizen, if it had not been discovered to 
 them by a native of Arpinum'. At the expiration 
 of his year he took leave of the Sicilians by a kind 
 and affectionate speecli, assuring them of his pro- 
 tection in all their affairs at Rome ; in which he 
 was as good as his word, and continued ever after 
 their constant patron, to the great benefit and 
 advantage of the province. 
 
 He came away extremely pleased with the success 
 of his administration ; and flattering himself that all 
 Rome was celebrating his praises, and that the peo- 
 ple would readily grant him everything that he de- 
 sired ; in which imagination he landed at Puteoli, a 
 considerable port adjoining to Baiae, the chief seat 
 of pleasure in Italy, where there v\as a perpetual 
 resort of all the rich and the great, as well for the 
 delights of its situation, as the use of its baths and 
 hot waters. But here, as he himself pleasantly tells 
 the story, he was not a little mortified by the first 
 friend whom he met, who asked him, how long he 
 had left Rome, and what news there ? When he 
 answered, that he came from the pro\dnces, " From 
 Africa, I suppose," says ano-ther; and, upon his reply- 
 ing with some indignation, "No, I come from Sicily," 
 a third who stood by, and had a mind to be thought 
 wiser, said presently, "How ! did you not know that 
 Cicero was qusestor of Syracuse .'" Upon which, 
 perceiving it in vain to be angry, he fell into the 
 humour of the place, and made himself one of the 
 company who came to the waters. This mortifica- 
 tion gave some little check to his ambition , or taught 
 him rather how to apply it more successfully; and did 
 him more good, he says, than if he had received all 
 the compliments that he expected ; for it made him 
 reflect, that the people of Rome had duU ears, but 
 quick eyes ; and that it was his business to keep him- 
 self always in their sight ; nor to be so solicitous 
 how to make them hear of him, as to make them 
 see him : so that from this moment he resolved to 
 stick close to the forum, and to live perpetually in 
 the view of the city ; nor to suffer either his porter 
 or his sleep to hinder any man's access to him". 
 
 At his return to Rome, he found the consul, L. 
 Lucullus, employing all his power to repel the at- 
 tempts of a turbulent tribune, L. Quinctius, who 
 had a manner of speaking peculiarly adapted to 
 inflame the multitude, and was perpetually exerting 
 it, to persuade them to reverse Sylla's acts". These 
 acts were odious to all who affected popularity, 
 especially to the tribunes, who could not brook, with 
 any patience, the diminution of their ancient power ; 
 yet all prudent men were desirous to support them, 
 as the best foundation of a lasting peace and firm 
 
 1 Tusc. Qusest. v. 3. m Pro Plancio, 26. 
 
 ° Homo cum summa potestate pra?ditus, turn ad in- 
 flammandos animos multitudinis accommodatus. — Pro 
 ■ «luent. 29 ; Plutarch, in LuculL 
 
 settlement of the republic. The tribune Sicinius 
 made the first attack upon them soon after Sylla's 
 death, but lost his life in the quarrel ; which, instead 
 of quenching, added fuel to the flame ; so that C. 
 Cotta, one of the next consuls, a man of moderate 
 principles and obnoxious to neither party, made it 
 his business to mitigate these heats, by mediating 
 between the senate and the tribunes, and remitting a 
 part of the restraint that Sylla had laid upon them, 
 so far as to restore them to a capacity of holding 
 the superior magistracies. But a partial restitution 
 could not satisfy them ; they were as clamorous 
 still as ever, and thought it a treachery to be quiet, 
 till they had recovered their whole rights : for which 
 purpose, Quinctius was now imitating his predeces- 
 sor Sicinius, and exciting the populace to do them- 
 selves justice against their oppressors, nor suffer 
 their power and liberties to be extorted from them 
 by the nobles. But the vigour of Lucullus pre- 
 vented him from gaining any farther advantage, or 
 making any impression this year to the disturbance 
 of the public peace". 
 
 C. Verres, of whom we shall have occasion to 
 say more hereafter, was now also praetor of the 
 city, or the supreme administrator of justice ; whose 
 decrees were not restrained to the strict letter of the 
 law, but formed usually upon the principles of com- 
 mon equity ; which, while it gives a greater liberty 
 of doing what is right, gives a greater latitude 
 withal of doing wrong ; and the power was never 
 in worse hands, or more corruptly administered, 
 than by Verres : for there was not a man in Italy, 
 says Cicero, who had a law-suit at Rome, but knew, 
 that the rights and properties of the Roman people 
 were determined by the wiU and pleasure of his 
 whore P. 
 
 There was a very extraordinary commission 
 granted this year to M. Antonius, the father of the 
 triumvir ; the inspection and command of all the 
 coasts of the Mediterranean : a boundless power, 
 as Cicero calls if, which gave him an opportunity 
 of plundering the provinces, and committing all 
 kinds of outrage on the allies. He invaded Crete 
 without any declaration of war, on purpose to en- 
 slave it ; and with such an assurance of victory, that 
 he carried more fetters with him than arms''. But 
 he met with the fate that he deserved : for the 
 Cretans totally routed him in a naval engagement, 
 and returned triumphant into their ports, with the 
 bodies of their enemies hanging on their masts. 
 Antonius died soon after this disgrace, infamous 
 in his character, nor in any respect a better man, 
 says Asconius, than his son^. But Metellus made 
 
 o Nisi forte C. Cotta, ex factione media consul, aliter 
 quam metu jura quaedam tribunis plebis restituit; et 
 quanquam L. Sicinius primus de potestate tribunicia loqui 
 ausus, mussitantibus vobis circumventus erat. — LucuIIub 
 superioreannoquantisanimis JeritinL. Quinctium, vidis- 
 tis.— Vide Sallust. Hist. Fragment. 1. 3. Orat. JIacri Li- 
 cinii; Plut. in Lucull. 
 
 p Ut nemo tarn rusticanus homo, Romam ex ullo muni- 
 cipio vadimonii causa venerit, quia sciret jura omnia 
 prsetoris m-bani nutu atque arbitrio Chelidonis meretri- 
 cula; gubernari. — In Verr. v. 13. 
 
 q M. Antonii infinitum illud imperium.— lb. ii. 3. 
 
 r Primus invasit insulam M. Antonius, ciun ingenti 
 quidem victoriae spe atque fiducia, adeo ut plures catenas 
 in navibus, quam arma portaret. — Flor. iii. 7- 
 
 s Antoniuin,cum multa contra sociorum salutem, mulf a 
 contra utilitatem provlnciarnm et faceret et cogitaret, in 
 mediis ejus injuriis et cupiditatibus mors oppressit, — In 
 Verr. iii. 91. 
 
 C 2
 
 20 
 
 THE HISTORY OF TJIE LIFE OF 
 
 the Cretans pay dear for their triumph, by the entire 
 eon(iuest of their eoiuitry ; in which war, as Florus 
 says, if the truth must he tohl, the Romans were 
 theagt^ressors; and though they charged the Cretans 
 with favouring Mithridates, yet their real motive 
 was the desire of conquering so noble an island'. 
 
 Mithridates also had now renewed the war against 
 Rome ; encouraged to it by the diversion which 
 Sertorius was giving at the same time in Spain to 
 their best troojjs and ablest generals, Metellus and 
 Pompey : so tliat LucuUus, who on the expiration 
 of his consulship had the province of Asia allotted 
 to him, obtained with it, of course, the command of 
 this war. But while their arms were thus em- 
 ployed in the different extremities of the empire, 
 an ugly disturbance broke out at home, which, 
 though contemptible enough in its origin, began in 
 a short time to spread terror and consternation 
 through all Italy. It took its rise from a few gla- 
 diators, scarce above thirty at the first, who broke 
 out of their school at Capua, and having seized a 
 quantity of arms, and drawn a number of slaves 
 after them, posted themselves on Mount Vesuvius ; 
 liere they were presently surrounded by the praetor 
 Clodius Glaber, with a good body of regular troops; 
 but forcing their way through them with sword in 
 hand, they assaulted and took his camp, and made 
 themselves masters of all Campania. From this 
 success their numbers presently increased to the size 
 of a just army of forty thousand fighting men : with 
 which they made head against the Roman legions, 
 and sustained a vigorous war for three years, in the 
 very bowels of Italy ; where they defeated several 
 commanders of consular and prcetorian rank ; and, 
 pufled up with their victories, began to talk of 
 attacking Rome. But M. Crassus the prsetor, to 
 whom the war was committed, having gathered 
 about him all the forces which were near home, 
 chastised their insolence, and drove them before him 
 to the extremity of Rhegium, where, for want of 
 vessels to make their escape, the greatest part was 
 destroyed, and among them, their general Sparta- 
 cus, fighting bravely to the last at the head of his 
 desperate troops". This was called the servile war, 
 for which Crassus had the honour of an ovation ; 
 it being thought beneath the dignity of the republic 
 to graut a full triumph for the conquest of slaves : 
 but to bring it as near as possible to a triumph, 
 Crassus procui'ed a special decree of the senate to 
 authorise him to wear the laurel crown, which was 
 the proper ornament of the triumph, as myrtle was 
 of the ovation". 
 
 The Sertorian war happened to be finished also, 
 fortunately near the same time. The author of it, 
 Sertorius, was bred under C. Marius, with whom 
 he had served in all his wars, with a singular repu- 
 tation, not only of martial virtue, but of justice 
 and clemency : for though he was firm to the Ma- 
 rian party, he always disliked and opposed their 
 cruelty, and advised a more temperate use of their 
 power. After the death of Cinna, he fell into Sylla's 
 hands, along with the consul Scipio, when the 
 army abandoned them : Sylla dismissed him with 
 life, on the account, perhaps, of his known mode- 
 
 ' Creticum bellum, si vera volumus noscere, nos fecimus 
 sola vincendi nobilem insulam cupiditate. — Flor.iii.7. 
 
 " Vide Flor. iii. 20. 
 
 » Pint, in Crass.— Crasse, quid est, quodconfeeto formi- 
 dolosissimo bello, coronam illam lauream tibi tantopere 
 decerni volueris ?— In Plson, 24. 
 
 ration ; yet taking him to be an utter enemy to his 
 cause, he soon after proscribed and drove him to 
 the necessity of seeking his safety in foreign coun- 
 tries. After several attempts on Africa and the 
 coasts of the Mediterranean, be found a settlement 
 in Spain, whither all who fled from Sylla's cruelty, 
 resorted to him, of whom he formed a senate, which 
 gave laws to the whole province. Here, by his great 
 credit and address, he raised a force sufficient to 
 sustain a war of eigh't years against the whole power 
 of the republic ; and to make it a question, whether 
 Rome or Spain should possess the empire of the 
 world. Q. Metellus, an old experienced commander, 
 was sent against him singly at first, but was so often 
 baffled and circumvented by his superior vigour and 
 dexterity, that the people of Rome were forced to • 
 send their favourite Pompey to his assistance, with 
 the best troops of the empire. Sertorius main- 
 tained his ground against them both ; and after 
 many engagements, in which he generally came off 
 equal, often superior, was basely murdered at a j)ri- 
 vate feast, by the treachery of Perperna ; who, being 
 the next to him in command, was envious of his 
 glory, and wanted to usurp his power. Perpenia 
 was of noble birth, and had been preetor of Rome, 
 where he took up arms with the consul Lepidus, to 
 reverse the acts of Sylla, and recall the proscribed 
 Marians, and after their defeat carried off the best 
 part of their troops to the support of Sertorius ^r 
 but instead of gaining what he expected from Ser- 
 torius's death, he ruined the cause, of which he had 
 made himself the chief, and put an end to a war 
 that was wholly supported by the reputation of the 
 general ; for the revolted provinces presently sub- 
 mitted ; and the army having no confidence in their 
 new leader, was easily broken and dispersed, and 
 Perperna himself taken prisoner. 
 
 Pompey is celebrated on this occasion for au 
 act of great prudence and generosity : for when 
 Perperna, in hopes of saving his life, offered to 
 make some important discoveries, and to put into- 
 his hands all Sertorius's papers, in which were 
 several letters from the principal senators of Rome, 
 pressing him to bring his army into Italy for the 
 sake of overturning the present government, he 
 ordered the papers to be burnt without reading 
 them, and Perperna to be kiUed without seeing 
 him^. He knew, that the best way of healing the 
 discontents of the city, where faction was perpe- 
 tually at work to disturb the pubUc quiet, was, to 
 ease people of those fears which a consciousness of 
 
 y Sylla et consulem, ut praediximus, exarmatumque 
 Sertorium, proh quanti mox belli facem ! et multos alios- 
 dimisit incolumes. — Veil. Pat. ii. 25. 29. 
 
 Jam AfricEE, jam Balearibus insulis fortunam expertus, 
 missusquc in oceanum — tandem Hispaniam annavit — 
 Satis tanto hostiuno imperatore resistere resRomananon 
 potuit: additus IMetello Cn. Pompeius. Hi copias viri 
 diu, et ancipiti semper acie attrivere : nee tamen priua 
 bello, quam suorum scelere, et insidiis, extinctus est. 
 —Flor. iii. 22. 
 
 nia in tantum Sertorium arm is extulit, ut per quinquen- 
 nium djjudicarl non potuerit, Hispanis, Romanisve ia. 
 arniis plus esset roboris, et uter populus alteri pariturua 
 foret.— Veil. Pat. ii. !)0. 
 
 A M. Perperna et aliis conjuratis convivio interfectus 
 est, octavo duoatus sui anno ; magnus dnx, et adversoa 
 duos imperatores, Pompeium et Jletellum, saepo par, . 
 frequentius victor. — Epit. Liv. 9(!. Vide etiam Plutarch, in 
 Sertorio et Pomp. ; Appian. p. 418. 
 
 ' Plutarch, in Pomp. ; Appian. 423.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 21 
 
 ■guilt would suggest, rather than push them to the 
 necessity of seeking their security from a change of 
 affairs, and the overthrow of the state". As he 
 returned into Italy at the head of his victorious 
 army, he happened to fall in luckily with the re- 
 mains of those fugitives who, after the destruc- 
 tion of Spartacus, had escaped from Crassus, and 
 were making their way in a body towards the Alps, 
 whom he intercepted and entirely cut off to the 
 number of five thousand ; and in a letter upon it 
 to the senate, said, that Crassus indeed had defeat- 
 ed the gladiators, but that he had plucked up the 
 war by the roots'". Cicero, likewise, from a par- 
 ticular dislike to Crassus, aflected in his public 
 speeches to give Pompey the honour of finishing 
 this war, declaring, that the very fame of his coming 
 had broken the force of it, and his presence extin- 
 guished if^. 
 
 For this victory in Spain, Pompey obtained a 
 second triumph, while he was still only a private 
 citizen, and of the equestrian rank : but the next 
 day he took possession of the consulship, to which 
 he had been elected in his absence ; and, as if he 
 had been born to command, made his first entry 
 into the senate in the proper post to preside in it. 
 He was not yet full thirty-six years old, but the 
 senate, by a decree, dispensed with the incapacity 
 of his age and absence ; and qualified him to hold the 
 highest magistracy, before he was capable by law of 
 pretending even to the lowest ; and, by his authority, 
 M. Crassus was elected also for his colleague''. 
 
 Crassus's father and elder brother lost their lives 
 in the massacres of Marius and Cinna ; but he 
 himself escaped into Spain, and lay there concealed 
 till Sylla's return to Italy, whither he presently 
 resorted to him, in hopes to revenge the ruin of 
 his fortunes and family on the opposite faction. 
 As he was attached to Sylla's cause both by interest 
 and inclination, so he was much considered in it ; 
 and being extremely greedy and rapacious, made 
 use of all his credit to enrich himself by the plun- 
 der of the enemy, and the purchase of confiscated 
 estates, which Cicero calls his harvest. By these 
 methods he raised an immense wealth, computed 
 at many millions, gathered from the spoils and 
 calamities of his country. He used to say, that 
 no man could be reckoned rich, who was not able 
 to maintain an army out of his own rents''. And 
 if the accounts of antiquity be true, the number 
 of his slaves was scarce inferior to that of a full 
 army ; which, instead of being a burthen, made 
 
 " In tanto civiiim numero, magna muUitudo est eoruna, 
 qui propter metum pcense peccatoruni suorum conscii, 
 novos motus conversionesque reipublicffi quaerunt. — Pro 
 Sext. 46. 
 
 b Plut. in Pomp. 
 
 <= Quod bellum expectatione Pompeii attenuatum atque 
 imminutum est ; adventu sublatum et sepultum. [Pro 
 Leg. Manil. 11.] — Qui etiam servitia virtute victoriaque 
 domuisset. — Pro Sext. 31. 
 
 ^ Pompeius lioo quoquo triumpho, adhuc Eques Ro- 
 manus, ante diem quam consulatum intret, curru urbem 
 invectus est. — Veil. Pat. ii. 30. 
 
 Quid tam singulare, quam ut ex S. C. legibus solutus, 
 consul ante fieret, quam iilhim alium magistratuin per 
 leges capere licuisset? Quid tam incredibile, quam ut 
 iterumEquesRomanusS. C. trimnpharet ? — Pro Leg. Man. 
 21 ; Vide Plutarch, m Pomp. 
 
 6 Illam Syllani temporis messem. — Parad. vi. 2. 
 
 Slulti ex te audierunt, cum diceres, nemincm esse divi- 
 tem, nisi qui exercitum alere posset suis fructibus. — lb. 1. 
 
 one part of his revenue ; being all trained to some 
 useful art or profession, which enabled them not 
 only to support themselves, but to bring a share of 
 profit to their master. Among the other trades in 
 his family, he is said to have had above five hun- 
 dred masons and architects constantly employed in 
 building or repairing the houses of the city'. He 
 had contracted an early envy to Pompey, for his 
 superior credit both with Sylla and the people ; 
 which was still aggravated by Pompey's late attempt 
 to rob him of the hononr of ending the servile war : 
 but finding himself wholly unequal to his rival in 
 military fame, he applied himself to the arts of 
 peace and eloquence, in which he obtained the 
 character of a good speaker ; and by his easy and 
 familiar address, and a readiness to assist all who 
 wanted either his protection or his money, acquired 
 a great authority in cdl the public affairs ; so that 
 Pompey was glad to embrace and oblige him, by 
 taking him for his partner in the consulship. 
 
 Five years were now almost elapsed, since Cicero's 
 election to the qusestorship ; which was the proper 
 interval prescribed by law, before he could hold 
 the next office of tribune or tedile ; and it was 
 necessary to pass through one of these in his way 
 to the superior dignities : he chose, therefore, to 
 drop the tribunate, as being stripped of its ancient 
 power by the late ordinance of Sylla, and began to 
 make interest for the aedileship, while Hortensius 
 at the same time was sueing for the consulship. 
 He had employed all this intenal in a close attend- 
 ance on the forum, and a perpetual course of 
 {)leadiugs, which greatly advanced his interest in 
 the city ; especially when it was obsen'ed that he 
 strictly complied with the law, by refusing not only 
 to take fees, but to accept even any presents, in 
 which the generality of patrons were less scrupu- 
 lous''. Yet all his orations within this period are 
 lost ; of which number were those for M. TiUlius 
 and L. Varenus, mentioned by Quintillian and 
 Priscian, as extant in their time. 
 
 Some writers tell us, that he improved and per- 
 fected his action by the instructions of Roscius and 
 .^sopus ; the two most accompHshed actors in 
 that, or perhaps in any other age, the one.in comedy, 
 the other in tragedy'. He had a great esteem in». 
 deed for them both, and admired the uncommon 
 perfection of their art: but though he conde- 
 scended to treat them as friends, he would have 
 disdained to use them as masters. He had formed 
 himself upon a nobler plan, drawn his rules of 
 action from nature and philosophy, and his prac- 
 tice from the most perfect speakers then living in 
 the world ; and declares tlie theatre to be an im- 
 proper school for the institution of an orator, as 
 teaching gestures too minute and unmanly, and 
 labouring more about the expression of words, than 
 of things''; nay, he laughs someti mes at Horten- 
 
 f Plutarch, in Crass. 
 
 g Cum igitur essem in plurimis causis, et in principibus 
 patronis quinquennium fere versatus. — Brut. p. 440. 
 
 h Plutarch, in Cicer. ' Ibid. 
 
 k Quis neget opus esse oratori in hoc oratorio motu, 
 statuquc Roscii gestmn .'— tamen nemo suaserit studiosia 
 dicendi adolescentibus in gestu discendo histrionum mora 
 elaborare.— De Orat. i. 59 ; Vide Tusc. Disp. iv. 25. 
 
 Omnes autem hos motus subsequi debet gestus ; non hie, 
 verba esprimens, scenicus, sed universam rem et sen- 
 tentiam : non demonstrationc, sed significatione dcclarans, 
 laterum infiectiono hac forti ac virili, non ab scena Ct 
 histrionibus.— lb. iii. o'J. ^
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Bins for an action too foppisli and tlicatrical', who 
 used to be rallied on tliat very account by tiic 
 other pleaders with the title of the player ; so that, 
 in the cause of 1'. Sylla, Toniuatus, a free speaker 
 on the other side, called him, by way of ridicule, 
 Diony.sia, an actress of those times, in great request 
 for her dancing'". Yet Horteusius himself was so 
 far from borrowing his manner from the stage, that 
 the stage borrowed from him ; and the two cele- 
 brated actors just mentioned, Rosciusand yEsopus, 
 are said to have attended all the trials in which he 
 pleaded, in order to perfect the action of the 
 theatre by that of the forum ; which seems indeed 
 to be the more natural method of the two, that 
 they who act in feigned life should take their 
 pattern from the true ; not those who represent 
 the true, copy from that which is feigned". We 
 are told, however, by others, what does not seem 
 wholly improbable, that Cicero used to divert him- 
 self sometimes with Roscius, and make it an ex- 
 ercise, or trial of skill between them, which could 
 express the same passion the most variously, the 
 one by words, the other by gestures". 
 
 As he had now devoted himself to a life of 
 business and ambition, so he omitted none of the 
 usual arts of recommending himself to popular 
 favour, and facilitating his advancement to the 
 superior honours. He thought it absurd, that 
 when every little artificer knew the name and 
 use of all his tools, a statesman should neglect 
 the knowledge of men, who were the proper in- 
 struments with which he was to work : he made 
 it his business therefore to learn the name, the 
 place, and the condition of every eminent citizen ; 
 what estate, what friends, what neighbours he 
 had ; and could readily point out their several 
 houses, as he travelled througli Italyc. This 
 knowledge, which is useful in all popular govern- 
 ments, was peculiarly necessary at Rome ; where 
 the people, having much to give, expected to be 
 much courted ; and where their high spirits and 
 privileges placed them as much above the rank 
 of all other citizens, as the grandeur of the re- 
 public exceeded that of all other states ; so that 
 every man, who aspired to any public dignity, 
 kept a slave or two in his family, whose sole busi- 
 ness it was to learn the names and know the per- 
 sons of every citizen at sight, so as to be able to 
 whisper them to his master, as he passed through 
 the streets, that he might be ready to salute them 
 all familiarly, and shake hands with them, as his 
 particular acquaintance i. 
 
 1 Putamus — Patronum tuum cerviculam jactaturuni. 
 — In Verr. iii. 19. 
 
 »> L. Torquatus, subagresti homo ingenio ot infestivo— 
 non jam histrionem ilium diceret, sed gesticulariam, 
 Dionysiamquc eum notissimce saltatricula; nomine apptl- 
 laret.— Aul. Gell. i. .';. 
 
 " Genus hoe totum oratores, qui sunt vcritatis ipsiiis 
 actores, reliquerunt ; imitatores autem veritatis, histri- 
 ones, oecupavcrunt. — At sine dubio in omni re vincit imi- 
 tationem Veritas.— De Orat. iii. 5G. 
 
 o Satis constat, contendere eum cum ipso liistrione so- 
 litum, utrmn ille sa^pius eandom sententiam variis ges- 
 tibus eflSceret, an ipse per eloquentiae copiara sermone 
 diverso pronunoiaret. — Maerob. Saturn, ii. 10. 
 P Plutarch, in Cie. l Vide De Petitione Consulat. xi. 
 Mercemur servum, qui dietet nomina: liEvum 
 Qui fodiat latus, et cogat trans pondera dextram 
 Porrigere. Hie multum in Fabia valet, ille Velina : 
 CuUibet hie fasces dabit, &c. — Hor. Epist. i. 6". 
 
 Plutarch says, that the use of these nomenclatora 
 was contrary to the laws ; and that Cato for that 
 reason, in sucing for the public ollices, would not 
 employ any of them, but took all that trouble upon 
 himself. But that notion is fully confuted by 
 Cicero, who, in his oration for Murena, rallies th« 
 absurd rigour of Cato's stoical principles, and their 
 inconsistency with common life, from the very cir- 
 cumstance of his having a nomenclator — " What 
 do you mean," says he, " by keeping a nomencla- 
 tor .' The thing itself is a mere cheat : for if it be 
 your duty to call the citizens by their names, it is 
 a shame for your slave to know them better than 
 
 yourself. Why do you not speak to them before 
 
 he has whispered you ? Or, after he has whis- 
 jjcred, why do you salute them, as if you knew 
 them yourself.' Or, when you have gained your 
 election, why do you grow careless about saluting 
 them at all .' All this, if examined by the rules ot 
 social life, is right ; but if by the precepts of your 
 philosopiiy, very wicked"." As for Cicero himself, 
 whatever pains he is said to have taken in this 
 way, it appears from several passages in his letters, 
 that he constantly had a nomenclator at his elbow 
 on all public occasions'. 
 
 He was now in his thirty-seventh year, the proper 
 age for holding the aidileship, which was the first 
 public preferment that was properly called a magis- 
 tracy, the qusestorship being an office only or place 
 of trust, without any jurisdiction in the city, as the 
 sediles had". These sediles, as well as all the infe- 
 rior officers, were chosen by the people voting in 
 their tribes ; a manner of electing of all the most 
 free and popular : in which Cicero was declared 
 tedile, as he was before elected quaestor by the 
 unanimous suffrage of all the tribes, and preferably 
 to all his competitors''. 
 
 There were originally but two sediles, chosen. 
 from the body of the people on pretence of easing 
 the tribunes of a share of their trouble, whose chief 
 duty, from which the name itself was derived, was- 
 te take care of the edifices of the city, and to inspect 
 the markets, weights, and measures, and regulate- 
 the shows and games, which were publicly exhibited 
 on the festivals of their gods'". The senate after- 
 wards, taking an opportunity when the people were 
 in good humour, prevailed to have two more created 
 from their order and of superior rank, called curule 
 ffidiles, from the arm-chair of ivory in which they 
 sat"' : but the tribunes presently repented of their 
 concession, and forced the senate to consent, that 
 these new jediles should be chosen indifferently from 
 
 ■■ Plutarch, in Cato. 
 ' Pro Murena, 36. 
 
 ' XJt nemo nuUius ordinis homo nornenclatori notus 
 fuerit, qui mihi obviam non venei'it. — Ad Att. iv. 1. 
 
 " This will explain what Cicero says above of Pompey's 
 entering upon the consulship, at an age, when he was in- 
 capable even of the lowest magistracy. — But though 
 strictly speaking, the Eedileship w.is the tirst which was 
 called a magistracy; yet Cicero himself, and all the old 
 writers, give the same title also to the tribunate and 
 quaestorship. 
 
 ^ Me cum quasstorem in primis, a-dilem priorem — cimcti* 
 suft'ragiis populus Romanus faciebat. — In Pison. 1. 
 w Dionys. Hal. vi. 411. 
 
 ^ dabit, eripietque curule 
 
 Cui volet importunus ebur. — lIoR. Ep. i. 6. 
 Signa quoque in sella nossem formata curuli, 
 Et totum Numidse sculptile dentis opus. 
 
 Ovid, de Pont. iv. 9
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 23 
 
 the patrician or plebeian families''. But whatever 
 difference there might he at first between the 
 curule and plebeian sediles, their province and 
 authority seem in later times to be the same, with- 
 out any distinction but what was nominal ; and the 
 two who were chosen the first, were probal)!y called 
 the curule sediles, as we find Cicero to be now 
 «tyled. This magistracy gave a precedence in 
 ihe senate, or a priority of voting and speaking, 
 next after the consuls and praetors ; and was the 
 first that qualified a man to have a picture or statue 
 of himself, and consequently ennobled his family': 
 for it was from the number of these statues of 
 ancestors, who had borne curule offices, that the 
 families of Rome were esteemed the more or less 
 noble. 
 
 After Cicero's election to the sedilesliip, but 
 before his entrance into the office, he undertook 
 the famed prosecution of C. Verres, the late praetor 
 of Sicily, charged with many flagrant acts of injus- 
 tice, rapine, and cruelty, during his triennial govern- 
 ment of that island. And since this was one of the 
 memorable transactions of his life, and for which 
 he is greatly celebrated by antiquity, it will be neces- 
 sary to give a distinct and particular relatiotf of it. 
 
 The public administration was at this time, in 
 every branch of it, most infamously corrupt : the 
 great, exhausted by their luxury and vices, made 
 no other use of their governments, than to enrich 
 themselves by the spoils of the foreign provinces : 
 their business was to extort money abroad, that 
 they might purchase offices at home, and to plun- 
 der the allies, in order to corrupt the citizens. 
 The oppressed in the meanwhile found it in vain 
 to seek relief at Rome, where there was none who 
 cared either to impeach or to condemn a noble 
 criminal ; the decision of all trials being in the hands 
 of men of the same condition, who were usually 
 involved in the same crimes, and openly prosti- 
 tuted their judgment on these occasions for favour 
 or a bribe. This had raised a general discontent 
 through the empire, with a particular disgust to 
 that change made by Sylla, of transferring the right 
 of judicature from the equestrian to the senatorian 
 order, which the people were now impatient to get 
 reversed : the prosecution therefore of Verres was 
 both seasonable and popular, as it was likely to 
 give some check to the oppressions of the nobi- 
 lity, as well as comfort and relief to the distressed 
 subjects. 
 
 All the cities of Sicily concurred in the impeach- 
 ment, excepting Syracuse and Messana ; for these 
 two being the most considerable of the province, 
 Verres had taken care to keep up a fair correspon- 
 dence with them. Syracuse was the place of his 
 residence, and Messana tlie repository of his plun- 
 der, whence he exported it all to Italy : and though 
 he would treat even these on certain occasions very 
 arbitrarily, yet in some flagrant instances of his 
 rapine, that he might ease himself of a part of the 
 envy, he used to oblige them with a share of the 
 spoil* : so that partly by fear, and partly by favour, 
 
 ■ y Liv. vi. ad fia. 
 
 * Antiquiorem in senatu sententiae dicendfe locum — jus 
 imaginis ad memoriam, posteritatemque prodendam. — In 
 Verr. v. 14. 
 
 » Ergo, inquiet aliquis, donavitpopuloSyracusanoistam 
 hereditatem, &c. — InVerr. ii. 18. 
 
 Messana tuorum adjutrix scelerum, libidinum testis, 
 prsdarumac furtorum receptrix,&c. — InVerr. iii. 8. it. 11 
 
 he held them generally at his devotion ; and at the 
 expiration of his government, procured ample testi- 
 monials from them both in praise of his administra- 
 tion. All the other towns were zealous and active 
 in the j)rosecution, and, by a common petition to 
 Cicero, implored him to undertake the management 
 of it ; to which he consented, out of regard to the 
 relation which he had borne to them as quaestor, 
 and his promise made at parting, of his protection 
 in all tJieir affairs. Verres, on the other hand, was 
 supported by the most powerful families of Rome, 
 the Scipios and the Metelli, and defended by Hor- 
 tensius, who was the reigning orator at the bar, and 
 usually styled the king of the forum'' ; yet the diffi- 
 culty of the cause, instead of discouraging, did but 
 animate Cicero the more, by the greater glory of 
 the victory. 
 
 He had no sooner agreed to undertake it, than 
 an unexpected rival started up, one Q. Csecilius, a 
 Sicilian by birth, who had been quaestor to Verres ; 
 and, by a pretence of personal injuries received from 
 him, and a particular knowledge of his crimes, 
 claimed a preference to Cicero in the task of accusing 
 him, or at least to bear a joint share in it. But 
 this pretended enemy was in reality a secret friend, 
 employed by Verres himself to get the cause into 
 his hands in order to betray it : his pretensions, 
 however, were to be previously decided by a kind 
 of process called divination, on account of its being 
 wholly conjectural, in which the judges, without 
 the help of witnesses, were to divine, as it were, 
 what was fit to be done ; but in the first hearing 
 Cicero easily shook off this weak antagonist, rallying 
 his character and pretensions with a great deal of 
 wit and humour, and showing, " that the proper 
 patron of such a cause could not be one who offered 
 himself forwardly, but who was drawn to it unwil- 
 lingly from the mere sense of his duty ; one whom 
 the prosecutors desired, and the criminal dreaded ; 
 one quahfied by his innocence, as well as experience, 
 to sustain it with credit ; and whom the custom of 
 their ancestors pointed out and preferred to it." 
 In this speech, after opening the reasons why, con- 
 trary to his former practice, and the rule which he 
 had laid down to himself, of dedicating his labours 
 to the defence of the distressed, he now appeared 
 as an accuser, he adds : " the provinces are utterly 
 undone ; the allies and tributaries so miserably 
 oppressed, that they have lost even the hopes of 
 redress, and seek only some comfort in their ruin : 
 those, who would have the trials remain in the 
 hands of the senate, complain, that there are no 
 men of reputation to undertake impeachments, no 
 severity in the judges : the people of Rome, in the 
 meanwhile, though labouring under many other 
 grievances, yet desire nothing so ardently, as the 
 ancient discipline and gravity of trials. For the 
 want of trials, the tribunician power is called for 
 again ; for the abuse of trials, a new order of judges 
 is demanded ; for the scandalous behaviour of 
 judges, the authority of the censnrs, hated before as 
 too rigid, is now desired and grown popular. In 
 this license of profligate criminals, in the daily com- 
 plaints of the Roman people, the infamy of trials, 
 the disgrace of the whole senatorian order, as I 
 thought it the only remedy to these mischiefs, for 
 men of abilities and integrity to undertake the cause 
 
 b In foro ob eloquentiam rege causarum. — Ascon. Ar- 
 gum. in Divinat.
 
 24 
 
 TUE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 of tbo roi)iibIic anil the laws, so I was induced the 
 more. reaiUly, out of regard to our common safety, 
 to oonicto the relief of that part of tlie udniinis- 
 tratiofi, which seemed tiie most to.staud in need 
 of,itf.;' 
 
 This previous yo'int being settled in favour of 
 Ciporp, a hundred and ten days were granted to 
 him by law for prejiaring the evid(;nce ; in wliich 
 he was obliged to make a voyage to Sicily, in order 
 to examiue witnesses, and collect facts to sni)|)ort 
 the indictment. He was aware, that all Verres's 
 art would be emidoyed to gain time, in hoj)es to 
 tire out the i)rosecutors, and allay the heat of the 
 public resentment : so that for the greater dispatch 
 'he took along with him his cousin, L. Cicero, to 
 ease him of a part of the trouble, and finished his 
 progress through the island in less than half the 
 time which was allowed to him ''. 
 
 In all the journeys of this kind, the prosecutor's 
 charges used to be publicly defrayed by the pro- 
 vince, or the cities concerned in the impeachment: 
 but Cicero, to show his contempt of money, and 
 disinterestedness in the cause, resolved to put the 
 island to no charge on his account ; and in all the 
 places to which he came, took up his quarters with 
 his particular friends and acquaintiMice in a private 
 manner, and at his own expensed 
 
 The Sicilians received him everywhere with all 
 the honours due to his uncommon generosity, and 
 the pains which he was taking in their service : 
 but at Syracuse he met with some little affronts 
 from the influence of the prsetor Metellus, who 
 employed all his power to obstruct his inquiries, 
 and discourage the people from giving him infor- 
 mation. He was invited hpwever by the magis- 
 trates with great resjyect in,to their senate, vifbere 
 after he had expostulated with them a little for the 
 gilt statue of Verres, which stood there before his 
 face, and the testimonial which they had sent to 
 Rome in his favour ; they excused themselves to 
 him in their speeches, and alleged, that what they 
 had been induced to do on that occasion was the 
 effect of force and fear, obtained by the intrigues 
 of a few, against the general inclination ; and to 
 convince him of their sincerity, delivered into his 
 hands the authentic accounts of many robberies 
 and injuries which their own city had suffered from 
 Verres in common with the rest of the province. 
 As soon as Cicero retired, they declared his cousin 
 Lucius the public guest and friend of the city, for 
 having signified the same good will towards them, 
 which Cicero himself had always done; and, by a 
 second decree, revoked the public praises which 
 they had before given to Verres. Here Cicero's 
 old antagonist, Cjecilius, appealed against them to 
 the prsetor ; which provoked the populace to such 
 a degree, that Cicero could hardly restrain them 
 from doing him violence : the prsetor dismissed 
 the senate, and declared their act to be irregular, 
 and would not suffer a copy of it to be given to 
 Cicero ; vvhom he reproached at the same time for 
 betraying the dignity of Rome, by submitting not 
 
 c Divinat. 3. 
 
 d Ego Siciliam totamquinquaginta diebus sic obii. — ^In 
 Verr. Act. i. 2. 
 
 e In Siciliam sum Inqulrendi causa profectus, quo in 
 negotlo — ad hospites meos, ac necessaries, causa; com- 
 munis defensor diverti potius, quam ad eos, qui a mo con- 
 BHium petivissent. Ncmini meus adventus labori aut 
 smnptui, nequc publicenequoprivatimfuit. — In Yerr. i. 6. 
 
 only to speak in a foreign senate, but in a foreign 
 language, and to talk Greek among Grecians'. 
 But Cicero answered him with such spirit and 
 resolution, urging the sanction of the laws, and the 
 penalty of contemning them, that the ])raitor was 
 forced at last to let him carry away all the vouchers 
 and records which he required e. 
 
 lint the city of Messana continued obstinate to 
 the last, and firm to its engagements with Verres : 
 so that when Cicero came thitlier, he received 
 no compliments from the magistrates, no offer 
 of refreshments or quarters ; but was left to shift 
 for himself, and to be taken care of by private 
 friends. An indignity, he says, which had never 
 been offered before to a senator of Rome ; whom 
 there was not a king or city upon earth, that was 
 not proud to invite and accommodate with a lodg- 
 ing. But he mortified them for it severely at the 
 trial, and threatened to call them to an account 
 before the senate, as for an affront to the whole 
 order'". After he had finished his business in 
 Sicily, having reason to apprehend some danger in 
 returning home by land, not only from the robbers, 
 who infested all those roads, but from the malice 
 and contrivance of Verres, he chose to come back 
 by sea, and arrived at Rome, to the surprise of his 
 adversaries, much sooner than he was expected', 
 and full charged with most manifest proofs of 
 Verres's guilt. 
 
 On his return he found, what he suspected, a 
 strong cabal formed to prolong the affair by all the 
 arts of delay which interest or money could pro- 
 cure''-, with design to throw it off at least to the 
 next year, when Hortebsius and Metellus were to 
 be consuls, and Metellus's brother a prsetor, by 
 whose united authority the prosecution might easily 
 be baffled : and they had already carried the matter 
 so far, that there was not time enough left within 
 the current year to go through the cause in the 
 ordinary forms. This put Cicero upon anew pro- 
 ject, of shortening the method of the proceeding', 
 so as to bring it to an issue at any rate before the 
 present prsetor M. Glabrio and his assessors, who 
 
 f Ait indignum faeinus esse, quod ego in senatu Graeca ' 
 verba fccissem : quod quidem apud Graecos Graece locutus 
 cssem, id ferri nuUo modo posse. — In Verr. iv. 06 ; Vide 
 ib. 62, 63, 64. 
 
 Valerius Maximus says, that the Roman magistrates 
 were anciently so jealous of the honour of the republic, 
 that they never gave an answer to foreigners but in Latin ; 
 and obliged the Greeks themselves to speak to them al- 
 ways by an interpreter, not only in Rome, but in Greece 
 and Asia ; in order to inculcate a reverence far the Latin 
 tongue through all nations. [Lib. ii. 2.] But this piece of 
 discipline had long been laid aside ; and the Greek lan- 
 guage had obtained such a vogue in Rome itself, that all 
 the great and noble were obliged not only to learn, but 
 ambitiovis everywhere to speak it. 
 
 e Vide in Verr. iv. 62, 63, 64, 65. 
 
 '' Ecqua; civitas est — Rex denique ecquis est, qui Sena- 
 torem populi Romani tecto ac dome non invitet ? &c. — In 
 Verr. iv. 11. 
 
 ' Non ego a Vibone Veliam parvulo navigio inter fugiti- 
 vorum prEedonum, ac tua tela venissem— .omnis ilia mea 
 festinatio fuit cum periculo capitis. — In Verr. ii. 40 ; Vido 
 Ascon. Argum. in Divinat. 
 
 ^ Repcrio, Judiccs, haec ab istis consilia inita et consti- 
 tuta, lit quacunque opus esset ratione res ita duceretur, ut 
 apud M. Metellum praetorem causa diceretur. — In Verr. i. 9. 
 
 1 Cicero summo consilio videtur in Verrem vel contra* 
 
 here tempora dicendi maluisse, quam in eum annum, quo 
 
 ' erat Q. Uortensius consul futurus, incidere.— Quintil. vi.S.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 2fi 
 
 were like to be equal judges'*. Instead therefore 
 of spending any time in speaking, or employing 
 Ms eloquence, as usual, in enforcing and aggra- 
 vating the several articles of the charge, he resolved 
 to do nothing more than produce his witnesses, 
 and offer them to be interrogated : where the 
 novelty of the tiling, and the notoriety of the 
 guilt, which appeared at once from the very recital 
 of the depositions, so confounded Hortensius, that 
 he had nothing to say for his client ; who, despair- 
 ing of all defence, submitted, without expecting the 
 sentence, to a voluntary exile". 
 
 From this account it appears, that of the seven 
 excellent orations, which now remain on the sub- 
 ject of this trial, the first two only were spoken, 
 the one called the Divination, the other the first 
 action, which is nothing more than a general preface 
 to the whole cause : the other five were published 
 afterwards, as they were prepared and intended to 
 be spoken, if Verres had made a regular defence : 
 for as this was the only cause in which Cicero had 
 yet been engaged, or ever designed to be engaged 
 as an accuser, so he was willing to leave these 
 orations as a specimen of his abilities in that way, 
 and the pattern of a just and diligent impeachment 
 of a great and corrupt magistrate". 
 
 In the first contest with Csecilius he estimates 
 the damages of the Sicilians at above eight hundred 
 thousand pounds P; but this was a computation 
 at large, before he was distinctly informed of the 
 facts : for after he had been in Sicily, and seen 
 what the proofs actually amounted to, he charges 
 them at somewhat less than half that sum i : and 
 though the law in these causes gave double damages, 
 yet no more seems to have been allowed in this 
 than the single sum ; which gave occasion, as 
 'Plutarch intimates, to a suspicion of some corrup- 
 tion or connivance in Cicero, for suffering so great 
 an abatement of the fine : but if there was any 
 abatement at all, it must needs have been made by 
 the consent of all parties, out of regard perhaps to 
 Verres's submission, and shortening the trouble of 
 the prosecutors : for it is certain, that so far from 
 leaving any imputation of that sort upon Cicero, 
 it highly raised the reputation both of liis abilities 
 and integrity, as of one, whom neither money could 
 bribe, nor power terrify from prosecuting a public 
 oppressor ; and the Sicilians ever after retained the 
 highest sense of his services, and on all occasions 
 testified the utmost zeal for his person and in- 
 terests. 
 
 From the conclusion of these orations we may 
 observe, that Cicero's vigour in this cause had 
 drawn upon him the envy and ill will of the no- 
 
 ™ Mihi cerium est non committere, ut in hac causa 
 praetor nobis consiliunique mutetur. — Act. i. 18. 
 
 ° Faciam hoc — ut utar testibus statim.— Ibid. — Sed 
 tantummodo citaret testes — et eosHortcnsiointerrogandos 
 daret : qua arte ita est fatigatus Ilortensius, ut nihil, 
 contra quod diceret, inveniret : ipse etiam Verres, despe- 
 rato patrocinio, suasponte discederet in exilium. — Argum. 
 Asconii in Act. i. 
 
 ° In CEeteris orationibus defensor futurus, accusationis 
 oiBeium his libris, qui Verrinarum nomine nuncupantur, 
 compensare decrevit ; et — in una causa vim hujus artis et 
 doquentia; demonstrare. — Ascon. Argum. in Lib. et in 
 Verr. 
 
 P Q,uo nomine abs te, C. Verres, sestertiuni millies ex 
 lege repeto. — Divin. in Cfpcil. 5. 
 
 1 Dicimus C. Verrem— quadringenties sestertium ex 
 fiicilia contra leges abstulissc. — Act. i. 18. 
 
 bility : which was BO far however from moving 
 him, that in open defiance of it he declares, " that 
 the nobles were natural enemies to the virtue and 
 industry of all new men ; and, as if they were of 
 another race and species, could never be reconciled 
 or induced to favour them, by any observance or 
 good offices whatsoever ; that for his part there- 
 fore, like many others before him, he would pursue 
 his own course, and make his way to the favour of 
 the people, and the honours of the state, by his 
 diligence and faithful services, without regarding 
 the quarrels to which he might expose himself. — 
 That if in this trial the judges did not answer the 
 good opinion which he had conceived of them, he 
 was resolved to prosecute, not only those who were 
 actually guilty of corruption, but those too who 
 were privy to it : and if any should be so audacious, 
 as to attempt by power or artifice to influence the 
 bench, and screen the criminal, he would call him 
 to answer for it before the people, and show himself 
 more vigorous in pursuing him, than he had been 
 even in prosecuting Verres''." 
 
 But before I dismiss the cause of Verres, it 
 will not be improper to add a short account of 
 some of his principal crimes, in order to give the 
 reader a clearer notion of the usual method of 
 governing provinces, and explain the grounds of 
 those frequent impeachments and public trials, 
 which he will meet with in the sequel of this his- 
 tory : for though few of their governors ever came 
 up to the full measure of Verres's iniquity, yet 
 the greatest part were guilty in some degree of 
 every kind of oppression with which Verres him- 
 self was charged. This Cicero frequently intimates 
 in his pleading, and urges the necessity of con- 
 demning him for the sake of the example, and to 
 prevent such practices from growing too general 
 to be controlled^. 
 
 The accusation was divided into four heads ; 1. 
 of corruption in judging causes ; 2. of extortion in 
 collecting the tithes and revenues of the republic ; 
 3. of plundering the subjects of their statues and 
 wrought plate, which was his peculiar taste ; 4. of 
 illegal and tyrannical punishments. I shall give a 
 specimen or two of each from the great number 
 that Cicero has collected, which yet, as he tells us, 
 was but a small extract from an infinitely greater, 
 of which Verres had been actually guilty. 
 
 There was not an estate in SicUy, of any con- 
 siderable value, which had been disposed of by wiU. 
 for twenty years past, where Verres had not his 
 emissaries at work to find some flaw in the title, or 
 some omission in executing the conditions of the 
 testator, as a ground of extorting money from the 
 heir. Dio of Halesa, a man of eminent quality, 
 was in quiet possession of a great inheritance, left 
 to him by the will of a relation, who had enjoined 
 him to erect certain statues in the square of the 
 city, on the penalty of forfeiting the estate to 
 the Erycinian Venus. The statues were erected 
 according to the will ; yet Verres, having found 
 
 •■ Proinde siqui sunt, qui in hoc rco aut potentes, aut 
 audaces, aut artifices ad corrunipcndum judicium velint 
 esse, ita sintparati.utdisceptante populo Romano mecum 
 sibi rem vidcant futuram, &c. — In Verr. v. 71- 
 
 s Quid igitur dicet ? fccisse alios.— Sunt quadam om- 
 nino inte siiigularia— qusdam tibi cummultiscommunia. 
 Ergo omittam tuos pcculatus, ut ob jus diccndum pecu- 
 nias acceptas— quae forsitan alii quoquc fecerint, 4:0.-11). 
 iii. 88.
 
 20 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 ■ome little pretence for cavilling, suborned an 
 obscure Sicilian, one of his own informers, to sue 
 for the estate in the name of Venus ; and when the 
 cause was brought before him, forced Dio to com- 
 pound with him for about nine thous-and pounds, 
 and to yield to him also a famous breed of mares, 
 with all the valuable plate and furniture of his 
 house '. 
 
 Sopater, an eminent citizen of IT.dicia;, had 
 been accused before the late praetor, C. Sacerdos, 
 of a capital crime, of which he was honourably 
 acquitted: but whenVerres succeeded to the govern- 
 ment, the prosecutors renewed their charge, and 
 brought him to a second trial before their new 
 praetor ; to which Sopater, trusting to his inno- 
 cence and the judgment of Sacerdos, readily sub- 
 mitted without any apprehension of danger. After 
 one hearing the cause was adjourned, when Timar- 
 chides, the freedman and principal agent of Verres, 
 came to Sopater, and admonished him as a friend, 
 not to depend too much on the goodness of his 
 cause and his former absolution, for that his 
 adversaries had resolved to offer money to the 
 praetor, who would rather take it for saving, than 
 destroying a criminal, and was unwilling hkewise 
 to reverse the judgment of his predecessor. Sopater, 
 surprised at this intimation, and not knowing what 
 answer to make, promised to consider of it ; but 
 declared himself unable to advance any large sum. 
 Upon consulting his friends, they all advised him 
 to take the hint, and make up the matter ; so that 
 in a second meeting with Timarchides, after 
 alleging his particular want of money, he com- 
 pounded the affair for about seven hundred pounds, 
 which he paid down upon the spot". He now 
 took all his trouble to be over : but after another 
 hearing, the cause was still adjourned; and Timar- 
 chides came again to let him know that his accusers 
 had offered a much larger sum than what he had 
 given, and advised him, if he was wise, to consider 
 well what he had to do. But Sopater, provoked 
 by a proceeding so impudent, had not the patience 
 even to hear Timarchides, but flatly told him that 
 they might do what they pleased, ifor he was deter- 
 mined to give no more. All his friends were of the 
 same mind, imagining, that whatever Verres himself 
 might intend to do, he would not be able to draw 
 the other judges into it, being all men of the first 
 figure in Syracuse, who had judged the same cause 
 already with the late praetor, and acquitted Sopater. 
 When the third hearing came on, Verres ordered 
 Petilius, a Roman knight, who was one of the 
 bench, to go and hear a private cause, which was 
 appointed for that day, and of which he was like- 
 wise the judge. Petilius refused, alleging that the 
 rest of his assessors would be engaged in the 
 present trial. But Verres declared, that they 
 might all go with him too if they pleased, for he 
 did not desire to detain them ; upon which they 
 all presently withdrew, some to sit as judges, and 
 
 t Hie est Dio — de quo multis primariis viris testibus 
 satisfactum est, H. S. undecies nnmeratuni esse, ut earn 
 causam, in qua ne tenuissima quidem suspicio posset esse, 
 isto cognoscente obtineret : prsterea grcges nobilissima- 
 rum cquarum abactos: argeriti vestisque stragulfe domi 
 quod fuerit esse direptum. — In Verr. ii. 7. 
 
 " Post ad amices retulit. Qui cum ei fuissent auctores 
 redimendae salutis, ad Timarchidem venit. Expositis 
 »uis difEcultatibus, homineni ad II. S. Ixxx. perducit, 
 eamque ei pecuniam numerat.— lb. ii. 28. 
 
 some to serve their friends in the oilier cause. 
 Minucius, Sopater's advocate, seeing the bench 
 thus cleared, took it for granted that N'erres would 
 not j)roceed in the trial that day, and was going 
 out of tiie court along with the rest ; when Verres 
 called him back, and ordered him to enter upoa 
 the defence of his client. "Defend him!" says 
 he; "before whom.'" "Before me," replied 
 Verres, " if you think me worthy to try a paltry 
 Greek and Sicilian." " I do not dispute your 
 worthiness," says Minucius, " but wish only that 
 your assessors were present, who are so well 
 acquainted with the merits of the cause." " Begin, 
 I tell you," says Verres, " for they cannot be 
 present." " No more can I," replied Minucius ; 
 " for Petilius begged of me also to go, and sit 
 with him upon the other trial." And when Verres 
 with many threats required him to stay, he abso- 
 lutely refused to act, since the bench was dismissed, 
 and so left the court together with all the rest of 
 Sopater's friends. This somewhat discomposed 
 Verres ; but after he had been whispered several 
 times by his clerk Timarchides, he commanded 
 Sopater to speak what he had to say in his own 
 defence. Sopater implored him by all the gods 
 not to proceed to sentence till the rest of the judges 
 could be present : but Verres called for the wit- 
 nesses, and after he had heard one or two of them 
 in a summary way, without their being interrogated 
 by any one, put an end to the trial, and condemned 
 the criminal^. 
 
 Among the various branches of Verres's illegal 
 gains, the sale of offices was a considerable article: 
 for there was not a magistracy of any kind to be 
 disposed of either by lot or a free vote, w^hich he 
 did not arbitrarily sell to the best bidder. The 
 priesthood of Jupiter at Syracuse was of all others 
 the most honourable : the method of electing into 
 it was to choose three by a general vote out of three 
 several classes of the citizens, w^hose names were 
 afterwards cast into an urn, and the first of them 
 that was drawn out obtained the priesthood. 
 Verres had sold it to Theomnastus, and procured 
 him to be named in the first instance among the 
 three ; but as the remaining part was to be decided 
 by lot, people were in great expectation to see how 
 he would manage that which was not so easily ia 
 his power. He commanded, therefore, in the first 
 place, that Theomnastus should be declared priest, 
 without casting lots ; but when the Syracusians 
 remonstrated against it as contrary to their religion 
 and the law, he called for the law, which ordered, 
 that as many lots should be made as there were 
 persons nominated, and that he whose name came 
 out the first, should be the priest. He asked 
 them, "howmanywere nominated;" they answered, 
 "three." " And what more then," saj-s he, "is' 
 required by the law, than that three lots should be 
 cast, and one of them drawn out?" They 
 answered, " Nothing :" upon which he presently- 
 ordered three lots, with Theomnastus's name upon 
 every one of them, to be cast into the urn, and so 
 by drawing out any one, the election was deter- 
 mined in his favour y. 
 
 ^ Turn repente iste testes citari jubet. Dicit unus et 
 alter breviter. Nihil interrogatiir. Prseco, dixisse pronim- 
 ciat. Iste, properans de sella, exiluit : hominem innocen- 
 tem, a C. Sacerdote absolutum, indicta causa, de sententia 
 scrib£e,medlci,haruspicisquecondenmavit. — In Verr. ii. 30. 
 
 y Numquid igitur oportet nisi tres sortesconjici, unam
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 27 
 
 The tenth of the corn of all the conquered towns 
 in Sicily belonged to the Romans, as it had for- 
 merly done to their own princes, and was always 
 gathered in kind and sent to Rome : but as this 
 was not sufficient for the pubhc use, the prtetors 
 had an appointment also of money from tlie trea- 
 sury to purchase such farther stores as were neces- 
 sary for the current year. Now the manner of 
 collecting and ascertaining the quantity of the 
 tithes was settled by an old law of King Hiero, 
 the most moderate and equitable of all their 
 ancient tyi'ants : but Verres, by a strange sort of 
 edict, ordered, that the owner should pay what- 
 ever the collector demanded ; but if he exacted 
 more than his due, that he shovdd be liable to a 
 fine of eight times the value ^. By this edict he 
 threw the property, as it were, of the island into 
 the power of his officers, to whom he had farmed 
 out the tithes ; who, in virtue of the new law, 
 seized into their hands the whole crop of every 
 town, and obhged the owners to give them whatever 
 share of it, or composition in money, they thought 
 fit ; and if any refused, they not only plundered 
 them of all their goods, but even tortured their per- 
 sons, till they had forced them to a compliance \ 
 By this means Verres, having gathered a sufficient 
 quantity of corn from the very tithes to supply the 
 full demands of Rome, put the whole money, that 
 he had received from the treasury, into his 
 own pocket'' ; and used to brag, that he had got 
 enough from this single article to screen him from 
 any impeachment : and not without reason ; since 
 one of his clerks, who had the management of this 
 corn-money, was proved to have got above ten 
 thousand pounds from the very fees which were 
 allowed for collecting it"^. The poor husbandmen, 
 in the mean time, having no remedy, were forced 
 to run away from their houses, and desert the 
 tillage of the ground ; so that from the registers, 
 which were punctually kept in every town, of all 
 the occupiers of arable lands in the island, it 
 appeared, that during the three years' government 
 of Verres, above two thirds of the whole number 
 had entirely deserted their farms, and left their 
 lands uncultivated''. 
 
 Apronius, a man of infamous hfe and character, 
 was the principal farmer of the tithes : who, when 
 reproached with the cruelty of his exactions, made 
 no scruple to own, that the chief share of the gain 
 was placed to the account of the praetor. These 
 words were charged upon him in the presence of 
 
 educi ' A'ihil. Conjici jubet tres, in quibus omnibus 
 scriptum esset nomen Theomnasti. Fit clamor masimus — 
 ita Jovis illud sacerdotium amplissimum per banc ratio- 
 nem Tkcomnasio datur. — In Verr. ii. 51. 
 
 ^ Tota Hieronica lege rejccta et repudiata — edictum, 
 Judices, audite praeclarum ; quantum decumanus edi- 
 disset aratorem sibi deeuma? dare oportere, ut tantum 
 arator decumano dare cogererur — &c. — lb. iii. 10. 
 
 " Apronius venit, onine instrumentum diripuit, fami- 
 liam abduxit, pecus abegit — bomLnem corripl et suspendi 
 jussit in oleastro, &c.— lb. -33. 
 
 ^ Jam vero ab isto omneni illam ex asrario pecuniam, 
 quam liis oportuit civitatibus pro frumento dari, luerifac- 
 tam videtis. — lb. 75, 4;c. 
 
 •^ Tu ex pecunia publica IT. S. tredecies scribam tuum 
 pemiissu tuo cum abstulisse fateare, reliquam tibi ullam 
 defensionem putas esse ? — lb. 80. 
 
 •• Agyrinensis ager — duceutos quinquaginta aratorea 
 habuit prime anno prsetura; tuae. Quid tertio anno ? Oo- 
 tagiata — hoc peraeque in omni agro decumano reperictis. 
 —lb. 51, 52, &c. 
 
 Verres and the magistrates of Syracuse, by one 
 Rubrius, who offered a wager and trial upon the 
 proof of them ; but Verres, without showing any 
 concern or emotion at it, privately took care to 
 hush up the matter, and prevent the dispute from 
 proceeding any farther'. 
 
 The same wager was offered a second time, and 
 in the same public manner, by one Scandilius, who 
 loudly demanded judges to decide it : to which 
 Verres, not being able to appease the clamour of 
 the man, was forced to consent, and named them 
 presently out of his own band, Cornelius his physi- 
 cian, Volusius his soothsayer, and Valerius his crier ; 
 to whom he usually referred all disputes, in which 
 he had any interest. ScandiUus insisted to have 
 them named out of the magistrates of Sicily, or that 
 the matter should be referred to Rome : but Verres 
 declared, that he would not trust a cause, in which 
 his own reputation was at stake, to any but his own 
 friends ; and when Scandilius refused to produce 
 his proofs before such arbitrators, Verres condemn- 
 ed him in the forfeiture of his wager, which was 
 forty pounds, to Apronius f. 
 
 C. Heius was the principal citizen of Messana, 
 where he lived very splendidly in the most magni- 
 ficent house of the city, and used to receive all the 
 Roman magistrates with great hospitality. He had 
 a chapel in his house, built by his ancestors, and 
 furnished with certain images of the gods, of ad- 
 mirable sculpture and inestimable value. On one 
 side stood a Cupid of marble, made by Praxiteles : 
 on the other, a Hercules of brass, by I^Iyron ; w-ith 
 a little altar before each god, to denote the religion 
 and sanctity of the place. There were likewise 
 two other figures of brass of two young women, 
 called Canephorse, with baskets on their heads, 
 carrying things proper for sacrifice after the man- 
 ner of the Athenians, the work of Polycletus. 
 These statues were an ornament not only to Heius, 
 but to aiessana itself, being known to evei7body 
 at Rome, and constantly \-isited by all strangers, to 
 whom Heius's house was always open. The Cupid 
 had been borrowed by C. Claudius, for the decora- 
 tion of the forum "n his sedileship, and was care- 
 fully sent back to Messana ; but Verres, while he 
 was Heius's guest, would never suffer him to rest, 
 till he had stripped his chapel of the gods and the 
 canephorse ; and to cover the act from an appear- 
 ance of robbery, forced Heius to enter them into 
 his accounts, as if they had been sold to him for 
 fifty pounds ; whereas at a pubhc auction in Rome, 
 as Cicero says, they had known one single statue of 
 brass, of a moderate size, sold a little before for a 
 thousand sf. Verres had seen likewise at Heius's 
 
 c Eorum omnium, qui decuraani voeabantur, princeps 
 erat Q,. ille Apronius, quern videtis : decujus improbitate 
 singulari gravissimarum legationum queiimonias audistis. 
 — In Verr. ii. 9. 
 
 Cum palam Syracusis, te audicnte, maximo conventu, 
 P. KubriusQ. Apronium sponsionelacessivit, ni Apronius 
 dictitaret, te sibi in decumis esse socium, &c. — lb. 5/. 
 
 f Hie tu medicum et haruspicem, et pra^conem timm 
 rccuperatores dabis ? [ib. (J().] Iste viros optinios recupe- 
 ratores dat, eimdeni ilium medicum Cornelium et harus- 
 picem Volusianum, et Valerium prseconem. — Ib. 21, it. 1 1. 
 
 Scandilius postulare de conventu rccuperatores. Turn 
 iste negat se de existimatione sua cuiquam, nisi suis, com- 
 missurum — cogit Scandiliuni quinque ilia niillia niunmum 
 dare atque adnumerare Apronio. — lb. 60. 
 
 g Erat apud Heium sacrarium magna cum dignitate ia 
 asdibus, a majoribus traditum, peraniiquum ; in quo signa
 
 28 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 house, a suit of curious tapestry, reckoned the best 
 in Sicily, beinjiof the kind which was called Atta- 
 lic, richly interwoven with gold ; this he resolved 
 also to extort from lleius, but iu>t till he had se- 
 cured the statues. As soon therefore as he left 
 Messan3, he began to urge Heius, by letters, to send 
 him the tapestry to Agrigentum,for some particular 
 service wiiich he pretended ; but when he had 
 once got it into his hands, lie never restored it''. 
 Now Messana, as it is said above, was the only city 
 of Sicily that persevered to the last in the interest 
 of Verres ; and at the time of the trial sent a pub- 
 lic testimonial in his jiraise by a deputation of its 
 eminent citizens, of which this very Heius was the 
 chief. Yet when he came to be interrogated and 
 cross-examined by Cicero, he frankly declared, 
 that though he was obliged to perform what the 
 autJiority of his city had imposed upon him, yet 
 that he had been plundered by Verres of his gods, 
 ■which were left to him by his ancestors, and which 
 he neve*' would have parted with on any conditions 
 whatsoever, if it had been in his power to keep 
 them '. 
 
 Verres had in his family two brothers of Cilicia, 
 the one a painter, the other a sculptor, on whose 
 judgment he chiefly relied in his choice of pictures 
 and statues, and all other pieces of art. They had 
 been forced to fly from their country for robbing a 
 temple of Apollo, and were now employed to hunt 
 out every thing that was curious and valuable in 
 Sicily, whether of public or p-rivate property. 
 Tliese brothers having given Verres notice of a 
 large silver ewer, belonging to Pamphilus of Lily- 
 baeum, of most elegant work, made by Boethus'', 
 Verres immediately sent for it, and seized it to his 
 own use ; and while Pamphilus was sitting pensive 
 at home, lamenting the loss of his rich vessel, the 
 chief ornament of his sideboard, and the pride of 
 his feasts, another messenger came running to him, 
 with orders to bring two silver cups also, which he 
 was known to have, adorned with figures in relief, 
 to be show-n to the praetor. Pamphilus, for fear of 
 greater mischief, took up his cups and carried them 
 away himself : when he came to the palace Verres 
 happened to be asleep, but the brothers were walk- 
 ing in the hall, and waiting to receive him ; who, as 
 soon as they saw him, asked for the cups, which he 
 accordingly produced. They commended the work ; 
 whilst he with a sorrowful face began to complain, 
 that if they took his cups from him, he should have 
 nothing of any value left in his house. The bro- 
 thers, seeing his concern, asked how much he 
 
 piiicherrima quatuor, sumnio artificio, suuima nobilitate, 
 &o. [In Verr. iv. 2.] C. Claudius, cujus Eedilitatem mag- 
 nificentissimam scinius fuisse, usus est lioc Cupidine tarn 
 diu, dum forum diis immortalibus, popyloque Romano 
 liabuit ornatum. — Haec omnia, quse dixi, signaab Heio de 
 sacrario Verres abstulit, &c. [ib. 3.] Ita jussisti, opinor, 
 ipsum in tabulas referre. [ib. 6.] In auctione signum 
 acneum non magnum H. S. cxx mlUibus venire non yidi- 
 mus ? — In Verr. iv. 7. 
 
 >> Quid ? ilia Attalica, tola Sicilia nominata, ab eodem 
 Heio peripetasmata emere oblitus es? — At quomodo abs- 
 tulit ? &c.— Ib. 12. 
 
 ' Quid enim poterat Heius respondere ?— Primo di.xit, 
 se ilium publico landare, quod sibi ita mandatum essct : 
 dcinde neque se ilia habuisse venal ia, nequo ulla condi- 
 tionc, si utrum vellct licoret, adduci unquam potuisse ut 
 vendcret ilia, &c. — In Verr. iv. 7. 
 
 ^ A cclobrated Carthaginian sculptor, who left many 
 famous works behind him.— Vid. Flin. Hist. Nat. xxxiii. 
 \2 ; it. xxxiv. 8. 
 
 would give to preserve them ; in a word, they dfr- 
 manded forty crowns ; he offered twenty : but while 
 they were debating, Verres awaked and called for 
 the cu])s, wliicli being jnesently shown to him, the 
 brothers took occasion to observe, that tliey did 
 not answer to the account that had been given of 
 them, and were but of jialtry work, not tit to be 
 seen among his i]late ; to whose authority Verres 
 readily submitted, and so Pamphilus saved his 
 cups'. 
 
 In the city of Tindaris there was a celebrated 
 image of Mercury, which had been restored to them 
 from Carthage by Scipio, and was worshipped by 
 the people with singular devotion, and an annual 
 fessival. This statue Verres resolved to have, and 
 commanded the cliief magistrate, Sopater, to see it 
 taken down and conveyed to Messana. But the 
 people were so inflamed and mutinous upon it, 
 that Verres did not persist in his demand at that 
 time ; but when he was leaving the place, renewed 
 his orders to Sopater, with severe threats, to see 
 his command executed. Sopater proposed the mat- 
 ter to the senate, who universally j)rotested against 
 it : in short, Verres returned to the town, and in- 
 quired for the statue ; but was told by Sopater, 
 that the senate would not suffer it to be taken 
 down, and had made it capital for any one to meddle 
 with it without their orders. " Do not tell me," says 
 Verres, ' ' of your senate and j'our orders ; if you do 
 not presently deliver the statue, you shall be 
 scourged to death with rods." Sopater with tears 
 moved tlie aff'air again to the senate, and related 
 the praetor's threats ; but in vain ; they broke up 
 in disorder, without giving any answer. This was 
 reported by Sopater to Verres, who was sitting 
 in his tribunal : it was the midst of winter, the 
 weather extremely cold, and it rained very heavily, 
 when Verres ordered Sopater to be stripped, and 
 carried into the market-place, and there to be tied 
 upon an equestrian statue of C. Marcellus, and 
 exposed, naked as he was, to the rain and the cold, 
 and stretched in a kind of torture upon the brazen 
 horse ; where he must necessarily have perished, if 
 the people of the town, out of compassion to him, 
 had not forced their senate to grant the Mercury 
 to Verres "\ 
 
 Young Antiochus, King of Syria, having been at 
 Rome to claim the kingdom of Egypt in right of 
 his mother, passed through Sicily at this time on 
 his return home, and came to Syracuse ; where 
 VerreSj who knew that he had a great treasure with 
 him, received him with a particular civility ; made 
 'him large presents of wine, and all refreshments 
 
 1 Cybirats sunt fratres — quorum alterum fingere opinor 
 e cera solituni esse, alterum esse pictorem. — Canes vena- 
 ticos diceres, ita odorabantiur omnia et pervestigabant. — In 
 Vorr. iv. 13. 
 
 Blemini Pamphilum Lilyboetanum mihi narrare, cum 
 iste ab scsc hydriam Boethi manu factam, prseclaro opere 
 et grand! pondere, per potestatem abstulisset ; se sane 
 tristem ct conturbatum domum revertisse, &c. — Ib. 14. 
 
 '" Turn iste : Quam mihi religionem narras ? quam poe- 
 nam ? quern senatum ? Vivum te non relinquam : moriere 
 virgis, nisi signum traditur — Erat hiems smnma, tem- 
 pestas, ut ipsum Sopatruin dicere audistis, perfrigida ; 
 imber maxim us, cum ipse imperat lictoribus, ut Sopatrum 
 — prjBcipitem in forum dcjiciant, nudumque constituant 
 — cum esset vinctus nudus in are, in imbri, in frigore. 
 Neque tamea finis huic injuriae crudelitatique fiebat, 
 donee populus atquo universa multitudo, atrocitate rei 
 commota, senatum cl.amore coegit, ut ei simulacrum 
 illud Mercurii polliceretur. — Ib. 39, 40.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 29 
 
 for his table, and entertained him most magnifi- 
 cently at supper. The king, pleased with this com- 
 pliment, invited Verres in his turn to sup with him ; 
 when his sideboard was dressed out in a royal man- 
 ner with his richest plate, and many vessels of solid 
 gold set with precious stones ; among which there 
 was a large jug for w-ine, made out of one entire 
 gem, with a handle of gold to it. Verres greedily 
 surveyed and admired every piece ; and the king 
 rejoiced to see the Roman praetor so well satisfied 
 with his entertainment. The next morning, Verres 
 sent to the king to borrow some of his choicest ves- 
 sels, and particularly the jug, for the sake of show- 
 ing them, as he pretended, to his ow-n workmen ; 
 all which, the king having no suspicion of him, 
 readily sent. But besides these vessels of domestic 
 use, the king had brought with him a large candle- 
 stick, or branch for several lights, of inestimable 
 value, all made of precious stones, and adorned with 
 the richest jewels, which he had designed for an 
 offering to Jupiter Capitolinus ; but finding the 
 repairs of the capitol not finished, and no place yet 
 ready for the reception of his offering, he resolved 
 to carry it back without showing it to anybody, 
 that the beauty of it might be new and the more 
 surprising when it came to be first seen in that tem- 
 ple. Verres, having got intelligence of this candle- 
 stick, sent again to the king, to beg by all means 
 that he would favour him with a sight of it, promis- 
 ing that he would not suffer any one else to see it. 
 The king sent it presently by his servants, who, 
 after they had uncovered and shown it to Verres, 
 expected to carry it back with them to the king ; 
 but Verres declared, that he could not sufficiently 
 admire the beauty of the work, and must have more 
 time to contemplate it ; and obliged them therefore 
 to go away and leave it with him. Several days 
 passed, and the king heard nothing from Verres : 
 so that he thought proper to remind him, by a civil 
 message, of sending back the vessels ; but Verres 
 ordered the servants to call again some other time. 
 In short, after a second message with no better suc- 
 cess, the king was forced to speak to Verres him- 
 self ; upon which Verres earnestly entreated him 
 to make him a present of the candlestick. The 
 king affirmed it to be impossible, on the account of 
 his vow to Jupiter, to virhich many nations were 
 witnesses. Verres then began to drop some threats, 
 but finding them of no more effect than his entreat- 
 ies, he commanded the king to depart instantly out 
 of his province : declaring, that he had received 
 intelligence of certain pirates, who were coming 
 from his kingdom to invade Sicily. The poor king, 
 finding himself thus abused and robbed of his trea- 
 sure, went into the great square of the city, and in 
 a public assembly of the people, calling upon the 
 gods and men to bear testimony to the injury, 
 made a solemn dedication to Jupiter of the candle- 
 stick, which he had vowed and designed for the 
 capitol, and which Verres had forcibly taken from 
 him ". 
 
 When any vessel, richly laden, happened to 
 arrive in the ports of Sicily, it was generally seized 
 
 n Rex niaximo conventu SyrScusis in foro flens, ao 
 deos hommesque contestans, clamare coepit, — candela- 
 brum factum e gemniis, quod in Capitoliuni missurus 
 eBset, id sibi C. Verreni abstulisse. — Id etsi antea jam 
 mente et cogitatione sua consecratum essot, tamen turn se 
 in illo conventu civluni Komanoruni dare, douare, dicare, 
 consccrare Jovi Optimo Maximo, &c. — In Verr. iv. 28, 29. 
 
 by his spies and informers, on pretence of its com- 
 ing from Spain, and being filled with Sertorius's 
 soldiers : and when the commanders exhibited their 
 bills of lading, with a sample of their goods, to 
 prove themselves to be fair traders, who came from 
 different quarters of the world, some producing 
 Tyrian purple, others Arabian spices, some jewels 
 and precious stones, others Greek wines and Asia- 
 tic slaves ; the very proof, by which they hoped to 
 save themselves, was their certain ruin : Verres 
 declared their goods to have been acquired by piracy, 
 and seizing the ships with their cargoes to his own 
 use, committed the whole crew to prison, though the 
 greatest part of them perhaps were Roman citizens. 
 There was a famous dungeon at Syracuse, called the 
 Latomiee, of a vast and horrible depth, dug out of 
 a solid rock, which, having originally been a quarry 
 of stone, was converted to a prison by Dionysius 
 the Tyrant. Here Verres kept great numbers of 
 Roman citizens in chains, whom he had first injured 
 to a degree that made it necessary to destroy them ; 
 whence few or none ever saw the light again, but 
 were commonly strangled by his orders". 
 
 One Gavins, however, a Roman citizen of the 
 town of Cosa, happened to escape from this dread- 
 ful place, and run away to Messana ; where, fancy- 
 ing himself out of danger, and being ready to 
 embark for Italy, he began to talk of the injuries 
 which he had received, and of going straight to 
 Rome, where Verres should be sure to hear of him. 
 But he might as well have said the words in the 
 prjetor's palace, as at Messana ; for he was pre- 
 sently seized and secured till Verres's arrival, who, 
 coming thither soon after, condemned him as a spy 
 of the fugitives, first to be scourged in the market- 
 place, and then nailed to a cross, erected for the 
 purpose, on a conspicuous part of the shore, and 
 looking towards Italy, that the poor wretch might 
 have the additional misery of suffering that cruel 
 death m sight as it were of his home p. 
 
 The coasts of Sicily being much infested by pi- 
 rates, it was the custom of all praetors to fit out a 
 fleet every year, for the protection of its trade and 
 navigation. This fleet was provided by a contribu- 
 tion of the maritime towns, each of which usually 
 furnished a ship, with a certain number of men and 
 pro\asions : but Verres for a valuable consideration 
 sometimes remitted the ship, and always discharged 
 as many of the men as were able to pay for it. A 
 fleet however was equipped of seven ships ; but for 
 show rather than service, without their complement 
 either of men or stores, and wholly unfit to act 
 against an enemy ; and the command of it was 
 
 o Qusccunque navis ex Asia veneret, statini certis indi- 
 cibus et custodibus tenebatur: vectores omnes in Lato- 
 mias conjicicbantm-: onera atque merces in praetoriam 
 domum deferebantiir — eos Sertorianos milites esse, atque 
 a Dianio fugere dicebat, &c. — In Verr. 1. 5. 56. 
 
 Latomias Syracusanas omnes audistis. Opus est ingens 
 magnificum repum ac tyrannorum. Totum est ex saxo 
 niirandam in altitudinem depresso — nihil tam clausum 
 ad cxitus, nihil tam tutum ad custodias, nee fieri nee 
 cogitari potest. [lb. 27.] Career ille, qui est a crudelissimo 
 tyranno Dionysio factus, quae Latomiic vocantur, in istiua 
 imperio domieilium civium Romanorum fuit. — lb. 55. 
 
 I' Gavius Lie quem dice, Cosanus, cum in illo nuniero 
 civium ab isto in vincla conjectus osset, et nescio qua ra- 
 tione clam e Latomiis profugissct— loqui Messana; ccepit, 
 et qiieri, se civem Romanum in vincla eonjectuin, sibi 
 recta iter esse Romam, Verri se prssto advenienti futu- 
 runi, i^c. — lb. 61.,
 
 30 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 given by him, not to his qua-stor, or one of his 
 lieutenants, as it was usual, but to Cleonienes a 
 Syracusian, wliose wife was his mistress, that he 
 might enjoy her comjiany the more freely at liome, 
 while the husband was employed abroa<l. For in- 
 stead of spending the summer, as other governors 
 used to do, in a progress tln-ougli liis province, he 
 quitted the jialaee of Syracuse, and retired to a lit- 
 tle island, adjoining to tlie city, to lodge in tents, or 
 rich pavilions, jiitehed closeby the fountain of Are- 
 thusa ; where, forbidding the approach of men or 
 business to disturb him, he passed two of the hot 
 montlis in the company of his favourite women, and 
 all the delicacy of pleasure that art and luxury could 
 invent 'i. 
 
 Tlie fleet, in the mean time, sailed out of Syra- 
 cuse in great pomp, and saluted Verres and his 
 company, as it passed ; when the Roman pra;tor, 
 says Cicero, who had not been seen before for many 
 days, showed himself at last to the sailors, standing 
 on the shore in slippers, with a j)urple cloak and 
 vest, flowing down to his heels, and leaning on the 
 shoulder of a girl, to view this formidable squad- 
 ron'': which, instead of scouring the seas, sailed 
 no farther after several days, than into the port of 
 Pachynus. Here, as they lay peaceably at anchor, 
 they were surprised with an account of a number 
 of pirate frigates, lying in another harbour very 
 near to them : upon which, the admiral Cleomenes 
 cut his cables in a great fright, and, with all the sail 
 that he could make, fled away towards Pelorus, 
 and escaped to land : the rest of the ships followed 
 him as fast as they could ; but two of them, which 
 sailed the slowest, were taken by the pirates, and one 
 of the captains killed : the other captains quitted 
 their ships, as Cleomenes had done, and got safe 
 to land. The pirates, iinding the ships deserted, 
 set fire to them all that evening, and the next day 
 sailed boldly into the port of Syracuse, which 
 reached into the very heart of the town ; where, after 
 they had satisfied their curiosity, and filled the 
 city with a general terror, they sailed out again at 
 leisure, and in good order, in a kind of triumph 
 over Verres and the authority of Rome*. 
 
 The news of a Roman fleet burnt, and Syracuse 
 insulted by pirates, made a great noise through all 
 
 1 Erat et Nice, facie eximia, uxor CleomenisSyracusani 
 — iste autem cum vir esset Syracusis, uxorem ejus parum 
 poterat animo soluto ac libero tot in acta dies secum ha- 
 bere. Itaque excogitat rem singularem. Naves, quibus 
 legatus praefuerat. Cleomeni tradit. Classi populi Ro- 
 mani Cleomencm Syracusami.-n prsecsse jubet. Hoc eo 
 facit, ut non solum ille abesset a domo— Nam estate 
 summa, quo tempore caeteri praetores obire provinciam, 
 et concursare consueverunt, eo tempore — ad luxuriem, 
 libidinesque suas — tabernacula, carbaseis intenta velis, 
 collocari jussit in littore, &c. — In Verr. v. 31. 
 
 "■ Ipse autem, qui visus multis diebus non esset, turn 
 se tamen in conspectum nautis pauUispcr dedit. Stetit 
 soleatus praetor populi Romani cum pallio purpureo, 
 tmiicaque talari, muliercula nixus in littore. — lb. 33. 
 
 Quintilian greatly admires this short description, as 
 placing the very scene and fact before our eyes, and sug- 
 gesting still much more than is expressed by it : [viii. 3.] 
 but the concise elegance and expressive brevity, in which 
 its beauty consists, cannot possibly be preserved in a 
 translation. 
 
 s Tunc prsedonum dux Heracleo repcnteprjEter spem, 
 non sua virtute — victor, classem pulcherrimam populi 
 Romani in littus expulsam et ejectam, cum primum ad- 
 vesperasceret, inflammari incendique jv.sai\, <kc. — lb. 35, 
 
 Sicily. The captains, in excuse of themselves, 
 were forced to tell the truth ; that their ships were 
 scandalously unprovided both with men and stores, 
 and in no condition to face an enemy ; each of 
 them relating how many of their sailors had been 
 discharged by Verres's ))articular orders, on whom 
 the whole blame was justly laid. When this came 
 to his ears, he sent for the captains, and after 
 threatening them very severely for talking in that 
 manner, forced them to declare, and to testify it 
 also in writing, that every one of their ships had 
 its full comi)lement of all things necessary ; but 
 finding, after all, that there was no way of stifling 
 the clamour, and that it would necessarily reach 
 to Rome, he resolved, for the extenuation of 
 his own crime, to sacrifice the poor captains, and 
 put them all to death, except the admiral Cleomenes, 
 the most criminal of them all, and at his request 
 the commander also of his ship. In consequence 
 of this resolution, the four remaining captains, 
 after fourteen days from the action, v/hen they 
 suspected no danger, were arrested and clapt into 
 irons. They were all young men, of the principal 
 families of Sicily, some of them the only sons of 
 aged parents, who came presently in great conster- 
 nation to Syracuse, to solicit the pra;tor for their 
 pardon. But Verres was inexorable ; and having 
 thrown them into his dungeon, where nobody was 
 suffered to speak with them, condemned them to 
 lose their heads : whilst all the service that their 
 unhappy parents could do for them, was to bribe 
 the executioner to dispatch them with one stroke, 
 instead of more, which he brutally refused to do, 
 unless he was paid for it, and to purchase of 
 Timarchides the liberty of giving them burial'. 
 
 It happened, however, before this loss of the fleet, 
 that a single pirate-ship was taken by Verres's 
 lieutenants, and brought into Syracuse ; which 
 proved to be a very rich prize, and had on board 
 a great number of handsome young fellows. There 
 was a band of musicians among them, whom Verres 
 sent away to Rome a present to a friend ; and the 
 rest, who had either youth, or beauty, or skill in 
 any art, were distributed to his clerks and depen- 
 dents, to be kept for his use ; but the few who were 
 old and deformed, were committed to the dungeon 
 and reserved for punishment". The captain of 
 these pirates had long been a terror to the Sicilians ; 
 so that they were all eager to see his person and to 
 feed their eyes with his execution : but being rich, 
 he found means to redeem his head, and was care- 
 fully kept out of sight, and conveyed to some 
 private custody, till Verres could make the best 
 market of him. The people in the mean time grew 
 impatient and clamorous for the death of the pirates, 
 
 t Cleomenem et navarchos ad se vocari jubet ; accusat 
 eop, quod hujusmodi de se sermones habuerint : rogat ut 
 id facere desistant, et in sua quisque navi dicat se tantuin 
 habuisse nautarum, quantum oportuerit. lUi so osten- 
 dunt quod vellet esse faoturos. Iste in tabulas refert ; ob- 
 signat signis amicorum. Iste hominibus miseris inno- 
 centibusque injici catenas jubet. Veniunt Syrapusas 
 parentes propinquique miserorum adolescontium, ifcc. — 
 In Verr. v. 3.q. 40, &c. 
 
 " Erat ea navis plena juventutis formosissimae, plena 
 argenti facti atque signati, multa cum stragula veste — 
 siqui scnes aut deformes erant, eos in hostimn numero 
 ducit, qui aliquid forms, setatis, artifioiique habebant, 
 abducit omnes, nonnullos scribis suis filio, cohortique 
 distribuit. Symphoniacos homines sex cuidam amico suo 
 Komam muneri misit, &c.— lb. 25, &c.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 31 
 
 ■whom all other praetors used to execute as soon as 
 taken ; and knowing the number of tliem to be 
 great, could not be satisfied with the few old and 
 decrepit, whom Verres willingly sacrificed to their 
 resentment. He took this opportunity, therefore, 
 to clear the dungeon of those Roman citizens, 
 ■whom he had reserved for such an occasion, and 
 now brought out to execution as a part of the pirati- 
 cal crew ; but to prevent the imprecations and 
 cries, which citizens used to make of their being 
 free Romans, and to hinder their being knovim also 
 to any other citizens there present, he produced 
 them all with their heads and faces so muffled up, 
 that they could neither be heard nor seen, and in 
 that cruel manner destroyed great numbers of 
 innocent men^. But to finish at last this whole 
 story of Verres : after he had lived many years in 
 a miserable exile, forgotten and deserted by all his 
 friends, he is said to have been relieved by the 
 generosity of Cicero y; yet was proscribed and 
 murdered after aU by Marc Antony, for the sake 
 of his fine statues and Corinthian vessels, which lie 
 refused to part with^ : happy only, as Lactantius 
 says, before his death, to have seen the more 
 deplorable end of his old enemy and accuser, 
 Cicero^. 
 
 But neither the condemnation of this criminal, 
 nor the concessions already made by the senate, 
 ■were able to pacify the discontents of the people : 
 they demanded still, as loudly as ever, the restora- 
 tion of the tribunician power, and the right of 
 judicature to the equestrian order ; till after various 
 contests and tumults, excited annually on tliat 
 account by the tribunes, they were gratified this 
 year in them both ; in the first by Pompey the 
 consul, in the second by L. Cotta the praetor''. 
 The tribunes were strenuously assisted in all this 
 struggle by J. Caesar*^, and as strenuously opposed 
 by all who wished well to the tranquillity of the 
 city : for long experience had shewn that they had 
 always been, not only the chief disturbers of the 
 publicpeace,by theabuse of their extravagant power, 
 but the constant tools of all the ambitious, who 
 had any designs of advancing themselves above the 
 laws'* : for by corrupting one or more of the tribunes, 
 which they were sure to effect by paying their full 
 price, they could either obtain from the people 
 whatever they wanted, or obstruct at least whatever 
 should be attempted against them .- so that this 
 act was generally disliked by the better sort, and 
 gave a suspicion of no good intentions in Pompey ; 
 ■who, to remove all jesdousies against him on this, 
 or any other account, voluntarily took an oath, 
 that on the expiration of his consulship he would 
 
 " Archipiratam ipsum vidit nemo — cum omnes, ut mos 
 est, concurrerent, quaererent, videre cuperent, kc. [In 
 Verr. v. 26.] Cum maximus numerus deesset, turn iste 
 iu eorum locum, quos domum suam de piratis abduxerat, 
 substituere coepit cives Romanes, quos in carcerem antea 
 conjecerat. Itaque alii cives Romani iic cognoscerentur, 
 capitibus obvolutis e careere ad pal inn atque necem 
 rapiebantur, &c. — lb. 28, &c. 
 
 Quid de multitudine dicemuseorimi, qui capitibus In- 
 volutis in piratarum captivorumque numero produceban- 
 tur, ut securi ferirentur. — lb. 6U. y Sencc. vi. Suasor. 6. 
 
 2 Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 2. a Lactan. ii. 4. 
 
 " Hoc consulatu Pompeius tribuniciam potestatem re- 
 6tituit, cujus imaginem Sylla sine re reliquerat. — Veil. 
 Pat. ii. 30. 
 
 *= Auctores restituenda tribunicfepotcstatis enixissime 
 juvit. — Sueton. in J. Cas- i. ^ De Legib. iii. 9. 
 
 accept no public command or government, but 
 content himself with the condition of a private 
 senator". 
 
 Plutarch speaks of this act as the effect of 
 Pompey's gratitude to the people for the extraor- 
 dinary honours which they had heaped upon him : 
 but Cicero makes the best excuse for it after 
 Pompey's death, which the thing itself would bear, 
 by observing that a statesman must always con- 
 sider not only what is best, but what is necessary 
 to the times ; that Pompey well knew the impatience 
 of the people ; and that they would not bear the 
 loss of the tribunician power much longer ; and it 
 was the part, therefore, of a good citizen not to 
 leave to a bad one the credit of doing what was too 
 popular to be withstood'. But whatever were 
 Pompey's views in the restitution of this power, 
 whether he wanted the skill or the inclination to 
 apply it to any bad purpose, it is certain that he 
 had cause to repent of it afterwards, when Caesar, 
 who had a better head with a worse heart, took the 
 advantage of it to his ruin ; and by the help of the 
 tribunes was supplied both with the power and the 
 pretext for overturning the republic s. 
 
 As to the other dispute, about restoring the 
 right of judging to the knights, it was thought the 
 best way of correcting the insolence of the nobles, 
 to subject them to the judicature of an inferior 
 order, who, from a natural jealousy and envy 
 towards them, would be sure to punish their 
 oppressions with proper severity. It was ended 
 however at last by a compromise, and a new law 
 was prepared by common consent, to vest this 
 power jointly in the senators and the knights ; 
 from each of which orders a certain number was to 
 be drawTQ annually by lot, to sit in judgment together 
 with the praetor upon aU causes •*. 
 
 But for the more effectual cure of that general 
 license and corruption of morals, which had in- 
 fected all orders, another remedy was also provided 
 this year, an election of censors : it ought regularly 
 to have been made every five years, but had now 
 been intermitted from the time of Sylla for about 
 seventeen. These censors were the guardians of 
 the discipline and manners of the city', and had a 
 power to punish vice and immorality by some mark 
 of infamy in aU ranks of men, from the highest 
 to the lowest. The persons now chosen were 
 L. GeUius and Cn. Lentulus ; both of them men- 
 tioned by Cicero as his particular acquaintance, 
 and the last as his intimate friend''. Their authority, 
 after so long an intermission, was exercised with 
 that severity which the libertinism of the times 
 required ; for they expelled above sixty-four from 
 the senate for notorious immoralities, the greatest 
 part for the detestable practice of taking moneyfor 
 
 6 Qui cum consul laudabiliter jurasset, se in nuUam 
 provinciam ex eo magistratu iturum. — Veil. Pat. ii. 31. 
 
 f De Legib. 3. 11. 
 
 S "Ore 5); Kai /uaAicrTO t&> nofj.irr]t^ iJ.ereiJ.4\r](re ttiv 
 57]/napxio.u — avayaySiiTt avdis e'jrl rb apxaiov. Ap- 
 pian. ii. p. 445. 
 
 '> Per idem teinpus Cotta judicandi munus, quod C. 
 Gracchus ercptum senatui, ad Equites, Sylla ab illis ad 
 senatum transtulerat, a;qualiter inter ucrumquc ordinem 
 partitus est. — Veil. Pat. ii. 32. 
 
 ' Tu es praefectus moribus, magister veteris disciplinte 
 ac severitatis. — Pro Clucntio, 46. 
 
 ^ Nam mihi cum ambobus est amicitia : cum altero 
 vero, magnus usus et summaneceasitudo.— ProClueutio, 
 42.
 
 32 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 iudginj; causes', and among them C. Antonius, 
 the uncle of the triumvir ; mibscribing their reasons 
 lor it, that he had idiiiidercd the allies, declined 
 a trial, mortgaged his lands, and was not master of 
 .Ids estate'": yet this very Antonius was elected 
 redile and prictor soon after in his proper course, 
 and within six years advanced to the consulship : 
 which confirms what Ciceio says of this censorian 
 animadversion, that it was become merely nominal, 
 and had uo other eft'ect than of putting a man to 
 the blush". 
 
 From the impeachment of Verres, Cicero entered 
 upon the ajdileship, and in one of his speeches gives 
 us a short account of the duty of it : "I am now 
 chosen redile, says he, and am sensible of what is 
 committed to me by the Roman people : I am to 
 exhibit with the greatest solemnity the most sacred 
 sports to Ceres, Liber, and Libera ; am to appease 
 and conciliate the mother Flora to the people and 
 city of Rome, by the celebration of the public 
 games ; am to furnish out those ancient shows, 
 the first which were called Roman, with all pos- 
 sible dignity and religion, in honour of Jupiter, 
 Juno, Minerva ; am to take care also of all the 
 sacred edifices, and indeed of the whole city, &c.° " 
 The people were passionately fond of all these 
 games and diversions ; and the public allowance 
 for them being but small, according to the frugality 
 of the old republic, the sediles supplied the rest at 
 their own cost, and were often ruined by it. For 
 every part of the empire was ransacked for what 
 was rare and curious, to adorn the splendour of 
 their shows: the Forum, in which they were ex- 
 hibited, was usually beautified with porticoes built 
 for the purpose, and filled with the choicest statues 
 and pictures which Rome and Italy afforded. 
 Cicero reproaches Appius for draining Greece and 
 the islands of all their furniture of this kind for 
 the ornament of his sedileshipP; and Verres is said 
 to have supplied his friends, Hortensius and Me- 
 tellus, with all the fine statues of which he had 
 plundered the provinces i. 
 
 Several of the greatest men of Cicero's time 
 had distinguished themselves by an extraordinary 
 expense and magnificence in this magistracy ; Lu- 
 cullus, Scaunis, Lentulus, Hortensius"', and C. 
 Antonius ; who, though expelled so lately from 
 the senate, entertained the city this year with 
 stage-plays, whose scenes were covered with silver; 
 in which he was followed afterwards by Murena' : 
 
 1 Quos autcm duo censores, clarissimi viii furti ct cap- 
 tarum pccuniarum nomine notaverunt ; ii non modo in 
 senatum redienmt, sed etiam illarum ipsaruin rerum 
 judiciis absoluti sunt. — Pro Cluent. 42 ; it. Pigh. Annal. 
 ad A. U. 683. ™ Asconius in Oi-at. in Tog. Cand. 
 
 " Censoris judicium niliil fere damnato affert prseter 
 ruboreni. Itaque quod omnis ea judicatio versatur tan- 
 tummodo in nomine, animadversio ilia ignominia dicta 
 est. — Fragment, e lib. iv. De Repub. ex Nonio. 
 
 In Verr. v. 14. 
 
 P Omnia signa, tabulas, omamentorum quod superfiiit 
 in fanU ct enmmunibus locis, tota e Graecia atquo insulis 
 omnibus, honoris populi Romanl causa, deportavit. — Pro 
 Dom. ad Pont. 43. 
 
 q Asconius. ' De Offic. ii. 16. 
 
 ' Ego qui trinos ludos jedilis fecerani, tamen Antonii 
 ludis commovebar. Tibi, qui casu nullos feceras, nihil 
 hujus istam ipsam, quam tu irrides, argenteam scenam 
 adverbatam putas? — Pro Muren. 20. 
 
 Mox, quod etiam in municipiis imitantur, C. Antonius 
 ludos soena argentea fecit : item L. Murena. — Plin. Hist. 
 Nat. xxsiii. 3. 
 
 yet J. Ctesar outdid them all : and in the sports 
 
 exhibited for his father's funeral, made the whole 
 furniture of the theatre of solid silver, so that wild 
 beasts were then first seen to tread on that metal*: 
 but the excess of his expense was but in proportion 
 to the excess of his ambition ; for the rest were 
 only purchasing the consulship, he the empire. 
 Cicero took the middle way, and observed the rule 
 which he prescribed afterwards to his son, of an 
 expense agreeable to his circumstances"; so as 
 neither to hurt his character by a sordid illibera- 
 lity, nor his fortunes by a vain ostentation of 
 magnificence ; since the one, by making a maa 
 odious, deprives him of the power of doing good ; 
 the other, by making him necessitous, puts him 
 under the temptation of doing ill: thus Mamercus, 
 by declining the sedileship through frugality, lost 
 the consulship": and Caesar, by his prodigality, 
 was forced to repair his own ruin by ruiniag the 
 republic. 
 
 But Cicero's popularity was built on a more 
 solid foundation, the affection of his citizens, from 
 a sense of his merit and services ; yet, in compli- 
 ance with, the custom and humour of the city, he 
 furnished the three solemn shows above mentioned, 
 to the entire satisfaction of the people : an expense 
 which he calls little, in respect to the great ho- 
 nours which he had received from them''. The 
 Sicilians, during his ledileship, gave liim.eflTectual 
 proofs of their gratitude, by supplying him largely 
 with all manner of provisions which their island 
 afforded, for the use of his table and the public 
 feasts, which he was obliged to provide in this 
 magistracy : but instead of making any private 
 advantage of their liberality, he applied the whole 
 to the benefit of the poor; and by the help of this 
 extraordinary supply contrived to reduce the price 
 of victuals in the markets.^ 
 
 Uortensius was one of the consuls of this year; 
 which produced nothing memorable but the dedi- 
 cation of the Capitol by Q. Lutatius Catulus. It 
 had been burnt down in Sylla's time, who under- 
 took the care of rebuilding it, but did not live to 
 see it finished, which he lamented in his last 
 illness, as the only thing wanting to complete his 
 felicity ». By his death that charge fell to Catulus, 
 as being consul at the time, who dedicated it this 
 summer with great pomp and solemnity, and had 
 the honour to have his name inscribed on the 
 front ''. 
 
 On the occasion of this festival, he is said to 
 
 ' Cssar, qui postea dictator fuit, prunus in zedilitate, 
 munere patris funebri, oinni apparatu arenas argentco 
 usus est, ferasque argenteis vasis incedere turn priinum 
 visum. — Plin. Hist Nat. xxxiii. 3. 
 
 ° Quare si postulatur a populo — faciendvun est, modo 
 pro facultatibus ; nos ipsi ut feoimus. — De OfBc. ii. 17. 
 
 't Ibid. 
 
 y Nam pro amplitudine honorum, quos cunctis sufFra- 
 giis adepti sumus, sane exiguus sumtus aedilitatis fuit. — 
 lb. 33. ^ Plutarch, in Cic. 
 
 '^ Hoc tamcn felicitati suae defuisse confossus est, quod 
 Capitolium non dedicavisset.— Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 43. 
 
 Curam victor Sylla suscepit, neque tamen dedicavit: 
 hoc unum felicitati negatum. — Tacit. Hist. iii. 73. 
 
 b The following inscription was found in the ruins of 
 the Capitol, and is supposed by some to be the very original 
 which Catulus put up ; where it remained, as Tacitus 
 says, to the time of Vitellius. — lb. 
 
 Q.. LVTATIVS Q. P. Q. N. CATVLVS. COS. 
 
 SVBSTRVCTIONEM. ET TABVLARIVM. EX. S. C. 
 FACIVNDVM. CVRAV.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 33 
 
 have introduced some instances of luxury not 
 known before in Rome, of covering the area, in 
 which the people sat, with a purple veil, imitating 
 the colour of the sky, and defending from the in- 
 juries of it ; and of gilding the tiles of this noble 
 fabric, which were made of copper : for though 
 the ceilings of temples had before been sometimes 
 gilt, yet this was the first use of gold on the out- 
 side of any building"^. Thus the Capitol, like all 
 ancient structures, rose the more beautiful from its 
 ruins ; which gave Cicero an opportunity of paying 
 a particular compliment to Catulus in Verres's 
 trial, where he was one of the judges : for Verres 
 having intercepted, as it is said above, the rich 
 candlestick of king Antiocbus, which was designed 
 for the Capitol, Cicero, after he had charged him 
 with it, takes occasion to say, " I address myself 
 here ta you, Catulus, for I am speaking of your 
 noble and beautiful monument : it is your part to 
 show not only the severity of a judge, but the 
 animosity of an accuser. Your honour is united 
 with that of this temple, and, by the favour of the 
 senate and people of Rome, your name is conse- 
 crated with it to all posterity : it must be your 
 care therefore that the Capitol, as it is now re- 
 stored more splendidly, may be furnished also 
 more richly than it was before ; as if the fire had 
 been sent on purpose from heaven, not to destroy 
 the temple of Jupiter, but to require from us one 
 more shining and magnificent than the former ''.'' 
 In this year Cicero is supposed to have defended 
 Fontfiius and Csecina. Fonteius had been praetor 
 of the Narbonese Gaul for three years, and was 
 afterwards accused by the people of the province, 
 and one of their princes, Induciomanis, of great 
 oppression and exactions in his government, and 
 especially of imposing an arbitrary tax on the 
 exportation of their wines. There were two hear- 
 ings in the cause, yet but one speech of Cicero's 
 remaining, and that so imperfect, that we can 
 hardly form a judgment either of the merit or 
 the issue of it. Cicero allows the charge of the 
 wines to be a heavy one, if true ^ ; and by his 
 method of defence one would suspect it to be so, 
 since his pains are chiefly employed in exciting an 
 aversion to the accusers, and a compassion to the 
 criminal. For, to destroy the credit of the wit- 
 nesses, he represents the whole nation, "as a 
 drunken, impious, faithless people ; natural ene- 
 mies to all religion, without any notion of the 
 sanctity of an oath, and polluting the altars of 
 their gods with human sacrifices : and what faith, 
 what piety," says he, " can you imagine to be in 
 
 « Quod primus omnium invenit Q. Catulus, cum Capi- 
 
 tolium dedicaret Plin. xis. 1. Cum sua aetas varie de 
 
 Catulo existimaTerit, quod tegulas aereas Capitolii inau- 
 rasset primus. — lb. xxxiii. 3. Though Pliny calls Catulus 
 the first inventor of these purple veils, yet Lucretius, who, 
 as some think, died in this year, or, as others more pro- 
 bably, about fiixteen years after, speaks of them as of 
 common use in all the theatres. 
 
 Carbasus ut quondam magnis intenta theatris. 
 
 Lib. vi. 108. 
 Et vulgo faoiunt id lutea, russaque vela, 
 Et ferrugina, cum magnis intenta theatris, 
 Per malos volgata, trabesque trementia flutant. 
 
 Lib. iv. 73. 
 J. Caesar covered the whole Forum with them, and the 
 later emperors the amphitheatres, in all their shows of 
 gladiators and other sports. — Dio, xliii. 
 •^ In Verr. iv. 31. f Pro Fonteio, 5. 
 
 those, who think that the gods are to be appeased 
 by cruelty and human bloodf .'" And to raise at 
 last the jjjty of the judges, he urges in a pathetic 
 peroration the intercession and tears of Fonteius' 
 sister, one of the vestal virgins, who was then 
 present; opposing the piety and prayers of this 
 holy suppliant, to tlie barbarity and perjuries of 
 the imjnous Gauls ; and admonisliiug the bench of 
 the danger and arrogance of slighting the suit of 
 one, whose petitions, if the gods should reject, 
 they themselves must be all undone, &c.e 
 
 The cause of Caecina was about the right of suc- 
 cession to a private estate, wliich depended on a 
 subtle point of law*", arising from the interpreta- 
 tion of the praetor's interdict : it shows, however, 
 his exact knowledge and skill in the civil law, and 
 that his public character and employment gave no 
 interruption to his usual diUgence in pleading 
 causes. 
 
 After the expiration of his aedileship he lost his 
 cousin Lucius Cicero, the late companion of his 
 journey to Sicily ; whose death he lauients with all 
 the marks of a tender affection, in the following 
 letter to Atticus. 
 
 " You, who of all men know me the best, will 
 easily conceive how much I have been afflicted, and 
 what a loss I have sustained both in ray public and 
 domestic life : for in him I had everything which 
 could be agreeable to a man, from the obliging tem- 
 per and behaviour of another. I make no doubt, 
 therefore, but that you also are affected with it, not 
 only for the share which you bear in my grief, but 
 for your own loss of a relation and a friend, accom- 
 plished with every virtue; who loved you, as well 
 from his o\vn inclination, as from what he used to 
 hear of you from me," &c.' 
 
 What made his kinsman's death the more unlucky 
 to him at this juncture, was the want of his help in 
 making interest for the prsetorship, for which he 
 now offered himself a candidate, after the usual 
 interval of two years '', from the time of his being 
 chosen Eedile : but the city was in such a ferment 
 all this summer, that there was like to be no elec- 
 tion at all : the occasion of it arose from the publi- 
 cation of some new laws, which were utterly disliked 
 and fiercely opposed by the senate. The first of 
 them was proposed in favour of Pompey, by A. 
 Gabinius, one of the tribunes, as a testimony of 
 their gratitude, and the first fruits, as it were, of 
 that power which he had restored to them. It was 
 to grant him an extraordinary commission for quell- 
 ing the pirates, who infested the coasts and navi- 
 gation of the Mediterranean , to the disgrace of the 
 empire, and the ruin of all commerce' ; by which 
 an absolute command was conferred upon him 
 through all the provinces bordering on that sea, as 
 far as fifty miles within land. These pirates were 
 grown so strong, and so audacious, that they had 
 taken several Roman magistrates and ambassadors 
 prisoners, made some successful descents on Italy 
 itself, and burnt the navy of Rome in the very port 
 
 f Pro Fonteio, 10. e Ibid. 17. 
 
 h Tota mihi cansa pro Caeeina, do verbis interdicti fait : 
 res involutas definiendo explicavimus. — Orator. 29. 
 
 ' Ad Attic, i. 
 
 k Ut si a;dilis fuisses, post biennium tuus annus esset. 
 — Ep. Fam. x. 25. 
 
 1 Quis navigavit, qui non se aut mortis aut servitutis 
 periculo coramitteret, cum aut hicme aut referto pr»do- 
 num mari navigaret ? — Pro Lege Manil. 11. 
 D
 
 34 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 of Ostia"". Yet the grant of a jiower so exorbitant 
 and unknown to tlic laws was strenuously opposed 
 by Catulus, Hortensius, and all the other chiefs of 
 the senate, as dangerous to the public liberty, nor 
 lit to be entrusted to any single person : they 
 alleged, " That these unusual grants were the cause 
 of all the misery that the re])ublie had suffered from 
 tiio proscriptions of Marius and Sylla, who, by a 
 ])erpet\ial succession of extraordinary commands, 
 were made too great to be controlled by the autho- 
 rity of the laws; that though the same abuse of 
 power was not to be apprehended from Pon)i)cy, 
 yet the thing itself was pernicious, and contrary to 
 the constitution of Rome ; that the equality of a 
 democracy required, that the jiublic honours should 
 be shared alike by all who were worthy of them ; 
 that there was no other way to make men worthy, 
 and to furnish the city with a number and choice 
 of experienced commanders : and if, as it was said 
 by some, there were really none at that time fit to 
 command but Pompey, the true reason was, because 
 they would suffer none to command but Pompey"." 
 All the friends of Lucullus were particularly active 
 in the opposition ; apprehending, that this new 
 commission would encroach upon his jirovince and 
 command in the Mithridatic war : so that Gabinius, 
 to turn the popular clamour on that side, got a plan 
 of the magnificent palace, which Lucullus was build- 
 ing, painted upon a banner, and carried about the 
 streets by his mob ; to intimate, that he was making 
 all that expense out of the spoils of the republic". 
 Catulus, in speaking to the people against this 
 law, demanded of them, if everything must needs 
 be committed to Pompey, what they would do if 
 any accident should befall him .' Upon which, as 
 Cicero says, he reaped the just fruit of his virtue, 
 when they all cried out with one voice, that their 
 dependence would then be upon him?. Pompey him- 
 self, who was naturally a great dissembler, affected 
 not only an indifference, but a dislike to the 
 employment, and begged of the people to confer 
 it on somebody else ; and, after all the fatigues 
 which he had undergone in their service, to give 
 him leave to retire to the care of his domestic 
 affairs, and spare him the trouble and odium of so 
 invidious a commission^. But this seeming self- 
 denial gave a handle only to his friends to extol his 
 modesty and integrity the more effectually ; and, 
 since there had been a precedent for the law a few 
 years before, in favour of a man much inferior both 
 in merit and interest, M. Antonius'', it was carried 
 
 " Qui ad vos ab exteris nationibus venirent, querar, 
 cum legati populi Romani redempti sint ? Mercatoribus 
 tutum marc non fuisse dicam, cum duodecim secures in 
 potestatom pra;donum pervenerint ? — Quid ego Ostiense 
 incommodum, atque illam labem et ignominiani reipub- 
 licEE querar, cum prope inspectantibus vobis, classis ea, 
 cui consul populi Romani propositus esset, a pradonibus 
 capta atque oppressa est ? — Pro Lege Man. 12. 
 
 ■> Dio, 1. xxxvi. p. 15. 
 
 o Tugurium ut jam videatur esse ilia villa, quam ipse 
 tribunus plebis pictam olim in concionibus explicabat, 
 quo fortissimum at; summum civem — in invidiam vocaret. 
 —Pro Sext. 43. 
 
 P Qui cum ex vobis quaereret, si in uno Cn. Pompeio 
 omnia poneretis, si quid eo factum esset, in quo spem 
 essetis habituri ? — Cepit rnagnum suae virtutis fructum, 
 cum omnes una prope voce, in eo ipso vos spem habituros 
 esse dixistis. — Pro Lege Man. 20. 
 , 1 Dio, 1. xxxvi. p. 01. 
 
 ' Sed idem hoc ante biennium in M. Antonii prEetura 
 decretum.— Veil. Pat. ii. 31. 
 
 against the united authority of all the magistrates, 
 but with the general inclination of the people : 
 when, from the greatest scarcity of provisions 
 which had been known for a long time in Rome, 
 the credit of Pompey's name sunk the price of them 
 at once, as if plenty had been actually restored', 
 Hut, though the senate could not hinder the law, 
 yet they had their revenge on Gabinius, the author 
 of it, by jireventing his being chosen one of Pom- 
 pey's lieutenants, which was what he chiefly aimed 
 at, and what Pompey himself solicited': though 
 Pompey jirobably made him amends for it in some 
 other way ; since, as Cicero says, he was so neces- 
 sitous at this time, and so jirotiigate, that, if he 
 had not carried his law, he must have turned pirate 
 himself". Pompey had a fleet of five hundred 
 sail allowed for tliis expedition, with twenty-four 
 lieutenants chosen out of the senate* ; whom he 
 distributed so skilfully through the several sta- 
 tions of the Mediterranean, that in less than fifty 
 days he drove the pirates out of all their lurking 
 holes, and in four months put an end to the whole 
 war : for he did not jirepare for it till the end of 
 winter, set out upon it in the beginning of spring, 
 and finished it in the middle of summer*'. 
 
 A second law was published by L. Otho, for the 
 assignment of distinct seats in the theatres to the 
 equestrian order, who used before to sit promis- 
 cuously with the populace : but by this law four- 
 teen rows of benches, next to those of the senators, 
 were to be appropriated to their use ; by which he 
 secured to them, as Cicero says, both their dignity 
 and their pleasure^. The senate obtained the same 
 privilege of separate seats about a hundred years 
 before, in the consulship of Scipio Africanus, which 
 highly disgusted the people, and gave occasion, 
 says Livy, as all innovations are apt to do, to much 
 debate and censure ; for many of the wiser sort 
 condemned all such distinctions in a free city, as 
 dangerous to the public peace : and Scipio himself 
 afterwards repented, and blamed himself for suf- 
 fering it*. Otho's law, we may imagine, gave still 
 greater offence, as it was a greater affront to the 
 people, to be removed yet farther from what of all 
 things they were fondest of, the sight of plays and 
 shows : it was carried however by the authority of 
 
 s Quo die a vobis maritimo bello praepositus est inipe- 
 rator, tanta repente vilitas annonae ex summa inopia et 
 caritate rei frumentariae consecuta est, uaius bominis spe 
 ct nomine, quantum vix ex summa ubertate agrorum 
 diuturna pas efficere potuisset. — Pro Lege Man. 15. 
 
 ' Ne legaretur A. Gabinius Cn. Pompeio expetenti ac 
 postulanti. — lb. 19. 
 
 " Nisi rogationem de piratico bello tulisset, profecto 
 egestate ac improbitate coactus piraticam ipse fecisset — 
 Post redit. in Senat. 5. 
 
 ^ Plutaicb. in Pomp. 
 
 y Ipse autem, ut a Brundisio profectus est, undequin- 
 quagesimo die totam ad imperium populi Romani Cili- 
 ciam adjunxit — itatantumbellum — Cn. Pompeiusextrema 
 hieme apparavit, ineunte vere suscepit, media estate con- 
 fecit. — Pro Lege Man. 12. 
 
 ^ L. Otho, vir fortis, mous necessarius, equestri ordini 
 restituit non solum dignitatem, sed etiam voluptatem. — 
 Pro Mur. 19. 
 
 " P. Africanus ille superior, ut dicitur, non solum a 
 sapientissimis liominibus, qui turn erant, verum etiam a 
 seipso sa!pe aecusatus est, quod cum consul esset — passus 
 esset turn prinium a populari consessu senatoria subsellia 
 separari. — Pro Cornel. 1. Fragment, ex Asconio. [Liv. 
 1. xxxiv. .'i4.] Ea res avertit vulgi animum et favorem 
 Scipionis vehementer quassavit. — Val. Max. ii. 4.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 36 
 
 the tribune, and is frequently referred to by the 
 classic writers, as an act very memorable'', and 
 what made much noise in its time. 
 
 C. Cornelius also, another tribune, was pushing 
 forward a third law, of a graver kind, to prohibit 
 bribery in elections by the sanction of the severest 
 penalties : the rigour of it highly displeased the 
 senate, whose warm opposition raised great dis- 
 orders in the city ; so that all other business was 
 interrupted, the elections of magistrates adjourned, 
 and the consuls forced to have a guard. The 
 matter however was compounded, by moderating 
 the severity of the penalties in a new law offered 
 by the consuls, which was accepted by Cornelius, 
 and enacted in proper form under the title of the 
 Calpurnian law, from the name of the consul C. 
 Calpurnius Piso'=. Cicero speaks of it still as 
 rigorously drawn "^ ; for besides a pecuniai-y fine, it 
 rendered the guilty incapable of any public office or 
 place in the senate. This Cornelius seems to have 
 been a brave and honest tribune, though somewhat 
 too fierce and impetuous in asserting the rights of 
 the citizens : he published another law, to prohibit 
 any man's being absolved from the obligation of 
 the laws, except by the authority of the people ; 
 which, though a part of the old constitution, had 
 long been usurped by the senate, who dispensed 
 with the laws by their own decrees, and those often 
 made clandestinely, when a few only were privy to 
 them. The senate being resolved not to part with 
 so valuable a privilege, prevailed with another 
 tribune to inhibit the publication of it, when it 
 came to be read ; upon which Cornelius took the 
 book from the clerk, and read it himself. This 
 was irregular, and much inveighed against, as a 
 violation of the rights of the tribunate ; so that 
 Cornelius was once more forced to compound the 
 matter by a milder law, forbidding tlie senate to 
 pass any such decrees, unless when two hundred 
 senators were present. These disturbances how- 
 ever proved the occasion of an unexpected honour 
 to Cicero, by giving him a more ample and public 
 testimony of the people's affection ; for in three 
 different assemblies convened for the choice of 
 praetors, two of which were dissolved without effect, 
 Le was declared every time the first praetor, by the 
 suffrages of all the centuries ^ 
 
 The prsetor was a magistrate next in dignity to 
 the consuls, created originally as a colleague or 
 assistant to them in the administration of justice, 
 and to supply their place also in absence?. At 
 first there was but one ; but as the dominion and 
 affairs of the republic increased, so the number of 
 praetors was gradually enlarged from one to eight. 
 They were chosen, not as the inferior magistrates, 
 by the people voting in their tribes, but in their 
 centuries, as the consuls and censors also were. 
 In the first method, the majority of votes in each 
 tribe determined the general vote of the tribe, and 
 
 b sedilibusque magnus in primis Eque3 
 
 Othone contempto sedec Hor. Ep. iv. 15. 
 
 Sic libitum vano, qui nos distinxit, Othoni. 
 
 Juv. iii. 159. 
 « Dio, 1. xxxvi. c. 18. 
 
 <• Erat enim severissime scriptaCalpumia. — ProMur.23. 
 e Asconii argument. — Pro Cornelio. 
 ' Kam cum proptey dilati&nem comitiorum ter prsetor 
 primus centuriis cunctis renuntiatus sum. — ^Pro Lege 
 ^lanil. 1 . 
 ,e Aul. Gell. xiii. 15. 
 
 a majority of tribes determined the election, in 
 which the meanest citizen had as good a vote as 
 the best : but in the second the balance of power 
 was thrown into the hands of the better sort, by a 
 wise contrivance of one of their kings, Servius 
 TuUius; who divided the whole body of the citizens 
 into a hundred and ninety-three centuries, accord- 
 ing to a census or valuation of their estates ; and 
 then reduced these centuries into six classes 
 according to the same rule, assigning to the first 
 or richest class ninety-seven of these centuries, or 
 a majority of the whole number : so that if the 
 centuries of the first class agreed, the affair was 
 over, and the votes of all the rest insignificant''. 
 
 The business of the praetors was to preside and 
 judge in all causes, especially of a public or crimi- 
 nal kind, where their several jurisdictions were 
 assigned to them by lot'; and it fell to Cicero's 
 to sit upon actions of extortion and rapine, brought 
 against magistrates and governors of provinces '' ; 
 in which, as he tells us himself, he had acted as an 
 accuser, sat as a judge, and presided as praetor'. 
 In this office he acquired a great reputation of in- 
 tegrity by the condemnation of Licinius Macer. a 
 person of praetorian dignity and great eloquence ; 
 who would have made an eminent figure at the bar, 
 if his abilities had not been sullied by the infamy 
 of a vicious life"". " This man," as Plutarch relates 
 it, " depending upon his interest, and the influence 
 of Crassus, who supported him with all his power, 
 was so confident of being acquitted, that without 
 waiting for sentence, he went home to dress him- 
 self, and, as if already absolved, was returning 
 towards the court in a white gown ; but being met 
 on his way by Crassus, and informed that he was 
 condemned by the unanimous suffrage of the bench, 
 he took his bed, and died immediately." The 
 story is told differently by other writers : " That 
 Macer was actually in the court expecting the 
 issue ; but perceiving Cicero ready to give judg- 
 ment against him, he sent one to let him know 
 that he was dead, and stopping his breath at the 
 same time with a handkerchief, instantly expired ; 
 so that Cicero did not proceed to sentence, by 
 which Macer's estate was saved to his son Licinius 
 Calvus, an orator afterwards of the first merit and 
 eminence"." But from Cicero's own account it 
 appears, that after treating Macer in the trial with 
 great candour and equity, he actually condemned 
 him, with the universal approbation of the people; 
 and did himself much more honour and service by 
 it, than he could have reaped, he says, by Macer's 
 friendship and interest, if he had acquitted him". 
 
 Manilius, one of the new tribunes, no sooner 
 entered into his office, than he raised a fresh dis- 
 turbance in the city, by the promulgation of a law 
 
 •> From this division of the people into classes, the word 
 classical, which we now apply to writers of the first rank, 
 is derived: for it signified originally persons of the first 
 class, all the rest being styled infra classcm.—A\ii. Gell. 
 vii. 13. ' In Verr. Act. i. 8. 
 
 ^ Postulatur apud me prjetorem primum de pecuniis 
 repetundis. — Pro Cornel. 1. fragm. 
 
 1 Accusavi de pecuniis repetundis, judex sedi, praetor 
 quaesivi, itc. — Pro Rabir. Post. 4. 
 
 >" Brutus, 353. » Plutarch, in Cic. ; Val. Max. ix. 12. 
 
 o Nos hie incredibili ac singular! populi vohmtate de 
 C. Macro transegimus : cui cum lequi fuissemus, tamen 
 multo majorem fructum ex populi exisfimatione, iUo 
 damnato, cepimus, quam ex ipsius, si absolutus eeset, 
 gratia cepissemus. — Ad Att. i. 4. 
 H 2
 
 SG 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 for granting to slaves set free a riglit of voting 
 among the tribes ; which gave so much scandal to 
 all, and was so vigorously opposed by the senate, 
 that he was presently obliged to drop it^: but 
 being always venal, as Velleius says, and the tool 
 of other men's jjower, that he might recover his 
 credit with the people, and engage the favour of 
 Poinpey, he proj)osed a second law, that Pompey, 
 who was then in Ciiicia extinguishing the remains 
 of the piratic war, should have the government of 
 Asia added to his commission, with the command 
 of the Mithridatic war, and of all the Roman 
 armies in those parts i. It was about eight years 
 since LucuUus was first sent to that war, in which, 
 by a series of many great and glorious acts, he had 
 acquired a reputation both of courage and conduct 
 equal to that of the greatest generals : he had 
 driven Mithridates out of his kingdom of Pontus, 
 and gained several memorable victories against 
 him, though supported by the whole force of 
 Tigranes, the most potent prince of Asia ; till his 
 army, harassed by perpetual fatigues, and debauched 
 by his factious officers, particularly by his brother- 
 in-law young Clodius'', began to grow impatient 
 of his discipline, and to demand their discharge. 
 Their disaffection was still increased by the un- 
 lucky defeat of one of his lieutenants, Triarius ; 
 who, in a rash engagement with Mithridates, was 
 destroyed with the loss of his camp, and the best 
 of his troops : -so that as soon as they heard that 
 Glabrio, the consul of the last year, was appointed 
 to succeed him, and actually arrived in Asia, they 
 broke out into an open mutiny, and refused to 
 follow him any further, declaring themselves to 
 be no longer his soldiers : but Glabrio, upon the 
 news of these disorders, having no inclination to 
 enter upon so troublesome a command, chose to stop 
 short in Bithynia, without ever going to the army '*. 
 This mutinous spirit in LucuUus's troops, and 
 the loss of nis authority with them, which Glabrio 
 was still less qualified to sustain, gave a reasonable 
 pretext to Manilius's law ; and Pompey's success 
 against the pirates, and his being upon the spot 
 with a great army, made it likewise the more plau- 
 sible : so that after a sharp contest and opposition 
 from some of the best and greatest of the senate, 
 the tribune carried his point, and got the law con- 
 firmed by the people. Cicero supported it with all 
 his eloquence, in a speech from the rostra, which 
 he had never mounted till this occasion : where, in 
 displaying the character of Pompey, he draws the 
 picture of a consummate general, with all the 
 strength and beauty of colours which words can 
 give. He was now in the career of his fortunes, 
 and in sight as it were of the consulship, the grand 
 object of his ambition ; so that his conduct was 
 suspected to flow from an interested view of facili- 
 tating his own advancement, by paying this court 
 to Pompey's power : but the reasons already inti- 
 mated, and Pompey's singular character of modesty 
 and abstinence, joined to the superiority of his 
 
 P Ascon. in Orat. pro Cornel. ; Dio, 1. xxxvi. 20. 
 
 q Semper venalis, et alienae minister potentis, legem 
 tulit, ut bellum Mithridaticum per Cn. Pompeium ad- 
 ministraretur. — Veil. Pat. IL 33. 
 
 r Post, exercitu L. Luculli sollicitato per nefandum 
 scelus, fugit illinc. — De Haruspicmn RespoHs. 20; Plu- 
 tarch, in Lucull. 
 
 ' Pro Lege Manil. 2, 9 ; Plutarch, ib. ; Dio, 1. xxxvi. 
 p. 7. 
 
 military fame, might probably convince him, that 
 it was not only safe, but necessary at this time, to 
 commit a war, which nobody else could finish, to 
 sucii a general ; and a ])ower, which nobody else 
 ought to be entrusted with, to s\ich a man. This 
 he himself solemnly affirms in the conclusion of his 
 speech: " I call the gods to witness," says he, 
 " and especially those who preside over this temple, 
 and inspect the minds of all who administer the 
 public afl'airs, that I neither do this at the desire 
 of any one, nor to conciliate Pompey's favour, nor 
 to procure from any man's greatness, either a sup- 
 port in dangers, or assistance in honours : for as to 
 dangers, I shall repel them, as a man ought to do, 
 by the protection of my innocence ; and for honours, 
 I shall obtain them, not from any single man, nor 
 from this i)lace, but from my usual laborious course 
 of life, and the continuance of your favour. What- 
 ever pains therefore I have taken in this cause, I 
 have taken it all, I assure you, for the sake of the 
 republic ; and so far from serving any interest of 
 my own by it, have gained the ill will and enmity 
 of many, partly secret, partly declared ; unneces- 
 sary to myself, yet not useless perhaps to you : but 
 after so many favours received from you, and this 
 very honour which I now enjoy, I have made it my 
 resolution, citizens, to prefer your will, the dignity 
 of the republic, and the safety of the provinces, to 
 all my own interests and advantages whatsoever'." 
 
 J. Caesar also was a zealous promoter of this law; 
 but from a different motive than the love either 
 of Pompey or the republic : his design was, to 
 recommend himself by it to the people, whose 
 favour, he foresaw, would be of more use to him 
 than the senate's, and to cast a fresh load of envy 
 on Pompey, which, by some accident, might be 
 improved afterwards to his hurt ; but his chief view 
 was to make the precedent familiar, that, whatever 
 use Pompey might make of it, he himself might 
 one day make a bad one". For this is the common 
 effect of breaking through the barrier of the laws, 
 by which many states have been ruined ; when, 
 from a confidence in the abilities and integrity of 
 some eminent citizen, they invest him, on pressing 
 occasions, with extraordinary powers, for the com- 
 mon benefit and defence of the society : for though 
 power so entrusted may in particular cases be of 
 singular service, and sometimes even necessary ; yet 
 the example is always dangerous, furnishing a per- 
 petual pretence to the ambitious and ill-designing, 
 to grasp at every prerogative which had been 
 granted at any time to the virtuous, till the same 
 jjower, which would save a country in good hands, 
 oppresses it at last in bad. 
 
 Though Cicero had now full employment as prae- 
 tor, both in the affairs of state and public trials : 
 yet he found time still to act the advocate, as well 
 as the judge, and not only to hear causes in his own 
 tribunal, but to plead them also at the tribunals 
 of the other praetors. He now defended A. Cluen- 
 tius, a Roman knight of splendid family and for- 
 tunes, accused before the praetor Q. Naso of poison 
 ing liis father in law Oppianicus, who a few years 
 before had been tried and banished for an attempt 
 to poison Cluentius. The oration, which is extant, 
 lays open a scene of such complicated villany, 
 by poisons, murder, incest, suborning witnesses, 
 corrupting judges, as the poets themselves have- 
 
 « Pro Lege Manil. 24. 
 
 Dio, 1. xxxyi. p. 21.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 37 
 
 never feigned ia any one family ; all contrived by 
 the mother of Cluentius against the life and fortunes 
 of her son : " But what a mother i " says Cicero ; 
 " one, who is hurried blindfold by the most cruel 
 and brutal passions ; whose lust, no sense of shame 
 restrains ; who by the viciousness of her mind per- 
 verts aU the laws of men to the worst ends ; who 
 acts with such folly, that none can take her for a 
 human creature ; with such violence, that none can 
 imagine her to be a woman ; with such cruelty, 
 that none can conceive her to be a mother ; one, 
 •who has confounded not only the name and the 
 rights of nature, but all the relations of it too: 
 the wife of her son-in-law 1 the stepmother of 
 her son ! the invader of her daughter's bed ! in 
 short, who has nothing left in her of the human 
 species but the mere form''." 
 
 He is supposed to have defended several other 
 criminals this year, though the pleadings are now 
 lost, and particularly M. Fundanius ; but what 
 gives the most remarkable proof of his industry, is 
 that during his prsetorship, as some of the ancient 
 ■writers teU us, though he was in full practice and 
 exercise of speaking, yet he frequented the school 
 of a celebrated rhetorician, Gnipho^'. We cannot 
 suppose that his design was to learn anything new, 
 but to preserve and confirm that perfection which 
 he had already acquired, and prevent any iU habit 
 from grovsdng insensibly upon him, by exercising 
 himself under the observation of so judicious a mas- 
 ter. Bvit his chief view certainly was, to give some 
 coimtenance and encouragement to Gnipho himself, 
 as well as to the art which he professed ; and by 
 the presence and authority of one of the first magis- 
 trates of Rome, to inspire the young nobles with an 
 ambition to excel in it. 
 
 When his magistracy was just at an end, Mani- 
 lius, whose tribunate expired a few days before, was 
 accused before him of rapine and extortion : and 
 though ten days were always allowed to the criminal 
 to prepare for his defence, he appointed the very 
 next day for the trial. This startled and offended 
 the citizens, who generally favoured Manilius, and 
 looked upon the prosecution as the effect of malice 
 and resentment on the part of the senate, for his 
 law in favour of Pompey. The tribunes therefore 
 called Cicero to an account before the people, for 
 treating Manilius so roughly ; who in defence of 
 himself said, that as it had been his practice to treat 
 all criminals with humanity, so he had no design of 
 acting otherwise with Manilius, but on the contrary, 
 had appointed that short day for the trial, because 
 it was the only one of which he was master ; and 
 that it was not the part of those who wished well 
 to Manilius, to throw off the cause to another judge. 
 This made a wonderful change in the minds of the 
 audience, who applauding his conduct, desired then 
 that he would undertake the defence of ]\laiiilius, 
 to which he consented ; and stepping up again into 
 the rostra, laid open the source of the whole affair, 
 with many severe reflections upon the enemies of 
 Pompey ^. The trial, however, was dropped, on ac- 
 Goimt of the tumults which arose immediately after 
 in the city, from some new incidents of much 
 greater importance. 
 
 ^ Pro Cluent. 70. 
 
 y Scholam ejus claros viros frcquentasse aiunt ; in his 
 M. Ciceronem, etiam cum prsetura fungeretur. — Sueton. 
 ^e clar. Grammat. 7 ; Macrot). Saturn, iii. 12. 
 Plutarch, in Cic. 
 
 At the consular election, which was held tnis 
 summer, P. Autronius Psetus and P. Cornelius 
 Sylla were declared consuls ; but their election was 
 no sooner published, than they were accused of 
 bribery and corruption by the Calpurnian law, and 
 being brought to trial, and found guilty before their 
 entrance into office, forfeited the consulship to 
 their accusers and competitors, L. Manlius Tor- 
 quatus and L. Aurelius Cotta. Catiline also, 
 who from his praetorship had obtained the pro- 
 vince of Afric, came to Rome this year to appear 
 a candidate at the election, but being accused 
 of extortion and rapine in that government, was 
 not permitted by the consuls to pursue his pre- 
 tensions". 
 
 This disgrace of men so powerful and desperate 
 engaged them presently in a conspiracy against the 
 state, in which it was resolved to kdl the new con- 
 suls, with several others of the senate, and share 
 the government among themselves : but the effect 
 of it was prevented by some information given of 
 the design, which was too precipitately laid to be 
 ripe for execution. Cn. Piso, an audacious, needy, 
 factious young nobleman, was privy to it *• ; and, 
 as Suetonius says, two more of much greater 
 weight, M. Crassus and J. Csesar; the first of 
 whom was to be created dictator, the second his 
 master of the horse : but Crassus's heart failing 
 him, either through fear or repentance, he did not 
 appear at the appointed time, so that Caesar would 
 not give the signal agreed upon, of letting his robe 
 drop from his shoulder'^. The senate was parti- 
 cularly jealous of Piso, and hoping to cure his dis- 
 affection by making him easy in his fortunes, or to 
 remove him at least from the cabals of his asso- 
 ciates, gave him the government of Spain, at the 
 instance of Crassus, who strenuously supported 
 him as a determined enemy to Pompey. But be- 
 fore his setting out, Caesar and he are said to have 
 entered into a new and separate engagement, that 
 the one shoidd begin some disturbance abroad, 
 while the other was to prepare and inflame matters 
 at home : but this plot also was defeated by the 
 unexpected death of Piso ; who was assassinated by 
 the Spaniards, as some say, for his cruelty, or, as 
 others, by Pompey's clients, and at the instigation 
 of Pompey himself. 
 
 Cicero, at the expiration of his prsetorship, 
 would not accept any foreign province *, the usual 
 
 a Qui tibi, cum L. Volcatius consul in consilio fuisset, 
 ne petendi quidem potcstatem esse voluerunt.— Orat. in 
 Tog. cand. 
 
 Catilina, pecuniarum repetundarum reus, prohibitus 
 erat petere consulatum. — Sail. Bell. Cat. 18. 
 
 b Cn. Piso, adolescens nobilis, summse audacise, egens, 
 factiosus— cum hoc Catilina et Autronius, consilio com- 
 municato, parabant in Capitolio L. Cottam et L. Torquar 
 turn consiiles interficere. Ea re cognita, nirsus in Nona* 
 Feb. consilium ca?dis transtulerant.— Ibid. 
 
 c Ut principio anni senatum adorirentur, et trucidatis, 
 quos placitum csset, dictan\r:im Crassus invadcret, ipse 
 ab 60 Magister Equitum diccrctur.— Crassum pcenitentia 
 vel motu diem csedi destinatura non obiisse, idcirco, ne 
 Caesarem quidem signuni, quod ab eo dari convenerat, 
 dedisse.— Sueton. in J. Caes. U. 
 
 d Pactumque, ut simul foris ille, ipse Romas, ad res 
 novas consurgerent. — Ibid. 
 
 Sunt, qui dicant, imperia ejus injusta barbaros nequi- 
 visse pati : alii autem, equitcs illos, Cn. Pompeii veteres 
 clientes, voluntate ejus Pisonem aggrcssos.— Sail. licU. 
 Cat. 19. 
 
 e Tu in provinciam ire noluisti: non possum lU m t«
 
 ns 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THK LIFE OF 
 
 reward of that iiiasistracy, and the chief fruit 
 which tlie generality i)roi)osed from it. lie had 
 no jiarticuhir love for money, nor genius for arms, 
 so that those governme!its had no charms for him : 
 the glory which lie pursued wiis to shine in the 
 eyes of the city, as the guardian of its laws, and to 
 teach the magistrates how to execute, the citizens 
 liow to obey them. But he was now preparing to 
 sue for the consulship, the great object of all his 
 hopes ; and liis whole attention was employed how 
 to obtain it in his ])roper year, and without a re- 
 ])ulse. There were two years necessarily to inter- 
 vene between the pra-torship and consulship ; the 
 first of which was usually spent in forming a gene- 
 ral interest, and soliciting for it as it were in a 
 private manner ; the second in suing for it opeidy 
 in the proper form and habit of a candidate. The 
 affection of the city, so signally declared for him 
 in all the inferior steps of honour, gave him a 
 strong presumption of success in his present pre- 
 tensions to the highest : but as he had reason to 
 apprehend a great opposition from the nobility, 
 who looked upon the public dignities as a kind of 
 birth-right, and could not brook their being inter- 
 cepted and snatched from them by new men ' ; so 
 he resolved to put it out of their })ower to hurt him, 
 by omitting no pains which could be required of a 
 candidate, of visiting and soliciting all the citizens 
 in person. At the election therefore of the tribunes 
 on the sixteenth of July, where the whole city was 
 assembled in the field of Mars, he chose to make 
 his first effort, and to mix himself with the crowd, 
 on purpose to caress and salute them familiarly by 
 name : and as soon as there was any vacation in the 
 forum, which happened usually in August, he in- 
 tended to make an excursion into the Cisalpine 
 Gaul, and in the character of a lieutenant to Piso, 
 the governor of it, to visit the towns and colonies 
 of that province, which was reckoned very strong 
 in the number of its votes, and so return to Rome 
 in January following s. While he was thus em- 
 ployed in suing for the consulship, L. Cotta, a 
 remarkable lover of wine, was one of the censors, 
 which gave occasion to one of Cicero's jokes, that 
 Plutarch has transmitted to us, that happening one 
 day to be dry with the fatigue of his task, he called 
 for a glass of water to quench his thirst', and when 
 his friends stood close around him as he was drink- 
 ing, You do well, says he, to cover me, lest Cotta 
 should censure me for drinking water. 
 
 He wrote about the same time to Atticus, then 
 at Athens, to desire him to engage all that band of 
 Pompey's dependants who were serving under him 
 in the Mithridatic war ; and by way of jest, bids 
 him tell Pompey himself, that he would not take it 
 ill of him, if he did not come in person to his 
 election ''. Atticus spent many years in this re- 
 sidence at Athens, which gave Cicero an opportu- 
 nity of employing him to buy a great number of 
 
 reprehendere, quod in meipso praetor— probavi. — Pro 
 Muren. 20. 
 
 f Non Idem mihi licet quod iis, qui nobili genore nati 
 sunt, quibus omnia populi llomani beneficia dormientibus 
 deferuntur. — In Verr. v. 70. 
 
 ? Qunniam videtur in suffragiis multum posse Gallia, 
 cumRomsea judiciis forum refrixerit, excurremus mouse 
 Septembri legati ad Pisonem. — Ad Att. i. 1. 
 
 h Illam manum tu niihi cura ut prsstes, Pompeii nostri 
 amici. Nega me ex iratum fore, si ad mea comitia non 
 venerit.— Ibid. 
 
 statues for the ornament of his several villas, espe- 
 cially that at Tusculum, in which he took the 
 greatest ])leasure ' ; for its delightful situation in 
 the neighbourhood of Rome, and the convenience 
 of an easy retreat from the hurry and fatigues of 
 the city : here he had built several rooms and gal- 
 leries, in imitation of the schools and jjorticoes of 
 Athens, which he called likewise by their Attic 
 names of the Academy and Gymnasium, and de- 
 signed for the same use of philosophical conferences 
 with Ills learned friends. He had given Atticus a 
 general commission to purchase for him any piece 
 of Grecian art or sculpture, which was elegant and 
 curious, especially of the literary kind, or proper 
 for the furniture of his academy '' ; which Atticus 
 executed to his great satisfaction, and sent him at 
 different times several cargoes of statues, which 
 arrived safe at the port of Cajeta, near to his 
 Formian villa' ; and pleased him always so well, 
 both in the choice and the price of them, that upon, 
 the receipt of each parcel he still renewed his 
 orders for more. 
 
 " I have paid (says he) a hundred and sixty.four 
 pounds, as you ordered, to your agent Cincius, for 
 the Megaric statues. The Mercuries, which you 
 mentioned, of Pentelician marble, with brazen 
 heads, give me already great pleasure ; wherefore I 
 would have you send me as many of them as you 
 can, and as soon as possible, with any other statues 
 and ornaments which you think proper for the 
 place, and in my taste, and good enough to please 
 yours ; but above all, such as will suit my gym- 
 nasium 'and portico : for I am grown so fond of 
 all things of that kind, that though- others pro- 
 bably may blame me, yet I depend on you to assist 
 me"." 
 
 Of all the pieces which Atticus sent, he seems 
 to have been the most pleased with a sort of com- 
 pound emblematical figures, representing Mercury 
 and Minerva, or Mercury and Hercules jointly 
 upon one base, called Hermathente and Herme- 
 raclae : for Hercules being the proper deity of the 
 Gymnasium, Minerva of the Academy, and Mercury 
 common to both, they exactly suited the purpose 
 for which he desired them". But he was so intent 
 on embellishing this Tusculan villa with all sorts 
 of Grecian work, that he sent over to Atticus the 
 
 • Qua; tibi mandavi, et quse tu convenLre intelliges 
 nostro Tusculano, velim, ut scribis, cures: nos ex omnibus 
 molestiis et laboribus uno illo in loco conquiescimus.— 
 Ad Att. i. 5. 
 
 ^ Quicquid ejusdem generis habebis, dignmn Academia 
 quod tibi videbitur, ne dubitaveris mittere, et arcae nos- 
 tra confidito.— Ad Att. i. ; vid. it. 5, 6, 10. 
 
 1 Signa, quae curasti, ea sunt ad Cajetam exposita.— 
 Ibid. 3. >n Ibid. 8. 
 
 n Hermatbenatuame valde delectat. — Ibid. 1. Quod ad 
 nie de Hermathena scribis, per mihi gratum est — quod et 
 Ilermos commune omnium, et Minerva singular© est 
 insigne ejus gymnasii. — Ibid. 4. Signa nostra et Henne- 
 raolas, cum commodissime poteris, velim imponas. — Ibid. 
 10. 
 
 The learned generally take these Hermeraclce and Her- 
 mathaice to be nothing more than a tall square pedestal of 
 stone, which was the emblem of Mercury with the head 
 of the other deity, Slinerva or Hercules, upon it, of which 
 sort there are several still extant, as we see them de- 
 scribed in the books of antiquities. But I am apt to 
 think, that the heads of both the deities were sometimes 
 also joined togotlier upon the same pedestal, looking dif- 
 ferent ways, as we see in those antique figures which are 
 now indiscriminately called Janus's.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 39 
 
 plans of his ceilings, which were of stucco-work, in 
 order to bespeak pieces of sculpture or painting to 
 be inserted in the compartments ; with the covers 
 01 two of his wells or fountains, which according to 
 the custom of those times they used to form after 
 some elegant pattern, and adorn with figures in 
 relief. 
 
 Nor was be less eager in making a collection of 
 Greek books, and forming a library, by the same 
 opportunity of Atticus's help. This was Atticus's 
 own passion, who having free access to all the 
 libraries of Athens, was employing his slaves in 
 copying the works of their best writers, not only 
 for his own use, but for sale also, and the common 
 profit both of the slave and the master : for Atticus 
 ■was remarkable above all men of his rank for a 
 family of learned slaves, having scarce a footboy 
 in his house who was not trained both to read and 
 write for himP. By tliis advantage he had made 
 a very large collection of choice and curious books, 
 and signified to Cicero his design of selling them ; 
 yet seems to have intimated withal, that he ex- 
 pected a larger sum for them than Cicero would 
 easUy spare : which gave occasion to Cicero to beg 
 of him in several letters to reserve the whole 
 number for him, till he could raise money enough 
 for the purchase. 
 
 " Pray keep your books," says he, " forme, and 
 do not despair of my being able to make them 
 mine ; which if I can compass, I shall think 
 myself richer than Crassus, and despise the fine 
 villas and gardens of them all")." Again: " Take 
 care that you do not part with your library to any 
 man, how eager soever he may be to buy it ; for I 
 am setting apart all my little rents to purchase that 
 relief for my old age''." In a third letter, he says, 
 '* That he had placed all his hopes of comfort and 
 pleasure, whenever he should retire from business, 
 on Atticus's reserving these books for him'." 
 
 But to return to the affairs of the city. Cicero 
 was now engaged in the defence of C. Cornelius, 
 who was accused and tried for practices against the 
 state in his late tribunate, before the praetor Q. 
 Gallius. This trial, which lasted four days, was 
 one of the most important in which he had ever 
 been concerned : the two consuls presided in it ; 
 and all the chiefs of the senate, Q. Catulus, L. 
 Lucullus, Hortensius, &c. appeared as witnesses 
 against the criminal'; whom Cicero defended, as 
 Quintilian says, not only with strong, but shining 
 arms, and with a force of eloquence that drew 
 acclamations from the people". He published two 
 
 Praeterca typos tibi mando, quos in tectorio atrioli 
 poesim includere, et putealia sigillata duo. — Ad Att. i. 10. 
 
 P In ea erant pueri literatissiiiii, anagnostse optinii, et 
 plurimi librarii ; ut ne pedissoquus quidem quisquam 
 esset, qui non utrumque horum pulchre facere posset. — 
 Corn. Nep. in vita Attici, 13. 
 
 1 Libros tuos conserva, et noli despcrarc, eos me meos 
 facere posse : quod si assequor, supero Crassum divitiis, 
 atque omnium vicos et prata contenmo. — Ad Attic, i. 4. 
 
 •■ Bibliothecam tuam cavecuiquam despondeas, quamvis 
 acrem amatorem inveneris. — Ibid. 10. 
 
 * Velim cogites, id quod mihi pollicitus es, qiiemadmo- 
 dum bibliothecam nobis conficere possis. Omnem spem 
 delectationis nostra;, quam cum in otium venerimus, 
 habere volumus, in tua humanitate positam habemus. — 
 Ibid. 7. 
 
 ' Ascon. Argum. 
 
 " Nee fortibus modo, sed etiam fulgentibiis prseliatus 
 eet Cicero in causa Cornelii. — Lib. viil. 3. 
 
 orations spoken in this cause, whose loss is a public 
 detriment to the literary world, since they were 
 reckoned among the most finished of his compo- 
 sitions : he himself refers to them as such" ; and 
 the old critics have drawn many examples from them 
 ot that genuine eloquence, which e.xtorts ai>plause 
 and excites admiration. 
 
 C. Papius, one of the tribunes, pubUshed a law 
 this year to oblige aU strangers to quit the city, as 
 one of his predecessors, Pennus, had done likewise 
 many years before him. The reason which they 
 alleged for it, was the confusion occasioned by the 
 multitude and insolence of foreigners, who assumed 
 the habit and usurped the rights of citizens : but 
 Cicero condemns all these laws as cruel and inlios- 
 pitable, and a violation of the laws of nature and 
 humanity''. 
 
 Catiline was now brought to a trial for his 
 oppressions in Africa : he had been soliciting Cicero 
 to undertake his defence ; who at one time was 
 much inclined, or determined rather to do it, for 
 the sake of obliging the nobles, especially Csesar 
 and Crassus, or of making Catiline at least his 
 friend, as he signifies in a letter to Atticus: " I 
 design," says he, " at present to defend my com- 
 petitor Catiline : we have judges to our mind, yet 
 such as the accuser himself is pleased with : I 
 hope, if he be acquitted, that he will be the more 
 ready to serve me in our common petition ; but 
 if it fall out otherwise, I shall bear it with patience. 
 It is of great importance to me to have you here 
 as soon as possible : for there is a general persua- 
 sion, that certain nobles of your acquaintance vrill 
 be against me ; and you, I know, could be of the 
 greatest service in gaining them over^." But 
 Cicero changed his mind, and did not defend 
 him*; upon a nearer view perhaps of his designs 
 and traitorous practices ; to which he seems to 
 allude when, describing the art and dissimulation 
 of Catiline, he declares, that he himself was once 
 almost deceived by him, so as to take him for a 
 good citizen, a lover of honest men, a firm and 
 faithful friend, &c.'' But it is not strange, that a 
 candidate for the consulship, in the career of his 
 ambition, should think of defending a man of the 
 first rank and interest in the city, when all the 
 consular senators, and even the consul himself, 
 Torquatus, appeared with him at the trial, and 
 gave testimony in his favour. Whom Cicero 
 excused, when they were afterwards reproached 
 with it, by observing, that they had no notion of 
 his treasons, nor suspicion at that time of his 
 conspiracy ; but out of mere humanity and com- 
 passion defended a friend in distress, and in that 
 crisis of his danger overlooked the infamy of his 
 life^ 
 
 His prosecutor was P. Clodius, a young noble- 
 man as profligate as himself ; so that it was not 
 difficult to make up matters with such an accuser, 
 who for a sum of money agreed to betray the 
 
 X Orator. 67, 70. 
 
 y Usu vero urbis prohibere peregrines sane inhumanum 
 est.— De Offic. iii. U. 
 
 I Ad Attic, i. 2. » Ascon. in Tog. cand. 
 
 b Moipsum, me, inquam, quondam ille paenc decepit. 
 cum ct civis mihi bonus, et optimi cuju.sque cupidus. et 
 firmus amicus et fidelis vidoretur.— Pro Caelio, 6- _ 
 
 c Accusati sunt uno nomine consiilarcs— affuerunt Cati- 
 lina;, eumque laudarunt. Nulla turn patcbat, nulla erat 
 cogiiita conjuratio, &c.— Pro Syll. 29.
 
 40 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 cause, and suffer hiai to escape* : which gave 
 occasion to what Cicero said afterwards in a speech 
 against him in the senate, while they were suing 
 together for the consulsliip : " Wretch ! not to see 
 that thou art not acquitted, but reserved only to 
 a severer trial and heavier punishment"." It was 
 in this year, as Cicero tells us, under the consuls 
 Cotta and Torquatus, that those prodigies hap- 
 pened, which were interi)reted to portend the great 
 dangers and jdots that were now hatching against 
 the state, and broke out two years after in Cicero's 
 consulship ; when the turrets of the Capitol, the 
 statues of the gods, and the brazen image of the 
 infant Romulus sucking the wolf, were struck down 
 by lightning'. 
 
 Cicero being now in his forty-third year, the 
 proper age required by law?, declared himself 
 a candidate for the consulship along with sk com- 
 petitors, P. Sulpicius Galba, L. Sergius Catilina, 
 C. Antonius, L. Cassius Longinus, Q. Cornificius, 
 C. Licinius Sacerdos. The two first were patri- 
 cians, the two next plebeians, yet noble ; the two 
 last the sons of fathers who had first imported the 
 public honours into their families : Cicero was the 
 only new man among them, or one born of eques- 
 trian rank". Galba and Cornificius were persons of 
 
 <* A Catilina pecuniam aecopit, ut turpisslmc prxvari- 
 carctur. — De Ilarusp. Resp. 20. 
 
 e O miser, qui non scntias illo judicio te non absolutum, 
 verum ad aliquod severius judicium, ac majus supplicium 
 reservatum. — Orat. in Tog. cand. 
 
 ' Tactus est ille etiam, qui hancurbem condidit, Romu- 
 lus : quem Inauratum in Capitolio parvum atque lactan- 
 tem, uberibus lupinis inliiantem fuisse nieniinistis. — In 
 Catil. iii. 8, 
 
 This same figure, as it is generally thought, formed in 
 brass, of the infants Romulus and Remus sucking the 
 wolf, is still preserved and shown in the Capitol, with the 
 marks of a liquefaction by a stroke of lightning on one 
 of the legs of the wolf. Cicero himself has described the 
 prodigy in the foUowing lines : 
 
 Hie silvestris erat Romani nominis altrix 
 Martia ; quse parvos Blavortis semine natos 
 Uberibus gravidis vitali rore rigabat. 
 Quae turn cum pueris flammato fulminis ictu 
 Concidit, atque avulsa pedum vestigia liquit 
 
 De Divinat. i. 12. 
 
 It was the same statue, most probably, whence Virgil 
 drew his elegant description : 
 
 Geminos huic ubera circum 
 
 liudere pcudcntes pueros, et l.ambere matrem 
 Impavidos. Illam tercti cervice reflexam 
 Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingua. 
 
 iEneid. viii. 631. 
 The martial twins beneath their mother lay. 
 And hanging on her dugs with wanton play 
 Securely suek'd : whilst she reclined her head 
 To lick their tender limbs, and form them as they fed. 
 e Nonne tcrtio et tricesimo anno mortem obiit ? q!:s 
 est a^tas, nostris legibus, decem annis minor, quam con- 
 salaris. — Philip, v. 17. 
 
 t The distinction of patrician, plebeian, and nohle, 
 may want a little explication. The title of patrician 
 belonged only, in a proper sense, to those families of which 
 the senate was composed in the earliest times, either of 
 the kings, or the first consuls, before the commons had 
 obtained a promiscuous admission to the public honours, 
 and by that means into the senate. All other families, 
 how considerable soever, were constantly styled plebeian. 
 Patrician then and plebeian are properly opposed to each 
 other ; but noble common to them both : for the character 
 of nobility was wholly derived from the curule magistra- 
 cies which any family had borne ; and those which could 
 
 great virtue and merit : Sacerdos without any 
 particular blemish upon him ; Cassius lazy and 
 weak, but not thought so wicked as he soon after 
 appeared to be ; Antonius and Catiline, though 
 infamous in their lives and characters, yet by 
 intrigue and faction had acquired a powerful in- 
 terest in the city, and joined all their forces against 
 Cicero, as their most formidable antagonist, in 
 which they were vigorously supported by Crassus 
 and Csesar'. 
 
 This was the state of the competition ; in which 
 the practice of bribing was carried on so openly 
 and sliamefully by Antonius and Catiline, that the 
 senate thought it necessary to give some check to 
 it by a new and more rigorous law ; but when they 
 were proceeding to publish it, L. Mucius Orestinus, 
 one of the tribunes, put his negative upon them. 
 This tribune had been Cicero's client, and de- 
 fended by him in an impeachment of plunder and 
 robbery ; but having now sold himself to his 
 enemies, made it the subject of all his harangues 
 to ridicule his birth and character, as unworthy of 
 the consulship : in the debate therefore which arose 
 in the senate upon the merit of his negative, Cicero, 
 provoked to find so desperate a confederacy against 
 him, rose up, and after some raillery and expos- 
 tulation with Mucius, made a most severe invec- 
 tive on the flagitious lives and practices of his two 
 competitors, in a speech usually called in Toga 
 Candida, because it was delivered in a white gown, 
 the proper habit of all candidates, and from which 
 the name itself was derived"*. 
 
 Though he had now business enough upon his 
 hands to engage his whole attention, yet we find 
 him employed in the defence of Q. Gallius, the 
 praetor of the last year, accused of corrupt practices 
 in procuring that magistracy. Gallius, it seems, 
 when chosen sedile, had disgusted the people by 
 not providing any wild beasts for their entertain- 
 ment in his public shows ; so that to put them into 
 good humour when he stood for the prjetorship, he 
 entertained them with gladiators, on pretence of 
 giving them in honour of his deceased father'. 
 This was his crime, of which he was accused by 
 M. Callidius, whose father had been impeached 
 before by Gallius. Callidius was one of the most 
 eloquent and accurate speakers of his time, of an 
 easy, flowing, copious style, always dehghting, 
 though seldom warming his audience ; which was 
 the only thing wanting to make him a complete 
 orator. Besides the public crime just mentioned, 
 he charged Gallius with a private one against him- 
 self, a design to poison him ; of which he pretended 
 to have manifest proofs, as well from the testimony 
 of witnesses, as of his own hand and letters : but 
 he told his story with so much temper and indo- 
 lence, that Cicero, from his coldness in opening a 
 fact so interesting, and where his life had been 
 attempted, formed an argument to prove that it 
 could not be true. " How is it possible," says he, 
 
 boast of the gi-eatest number, were always accoimted the 
 noblest ; so that many plebeians surpassed the patricians 
 themselves in the point of nobility. — Vid. Ascon. argum. 
 in Tog. cand. 
 
 ' Catilina ct Antonius, quanquam omnibus maxime 
 infamis eorum vita esset, tamen multum poterant. Coi- 
 erant enim ambo, ut Ciceronem consulatu dcjicerent, 
 adjutoribus usi firmissimis, il. Crasso et C. Cafsai'e. — 
 Ascon. argum. in Tog. cand. 
 
 k Ibid. 1 Ascon. not. ibid.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 41 
 
 '' Callidlus, for you to plead in such a manner, if 
 you did not know the thing to be forged ? How 
 could you, who act with such force of eloquence in 
 other men's dangers, be so indolent in your own ? 
 Where was that grief, that ardour, which was to 
 extort cries and lamentations from the most stupid ? 
 We saw no emotion of your mind, none of your 
 body; no striking your forehead, or your thigh; 
 no stamping with your foot : so that instead of 
 feeling ourselves inflamed, we could hardly forbear 
 sleeping, while you were urging all that part of 
 your charge "". " Cicero's speech is lost, but 
 Gallius was acquitted ; for we find him afterwards 
 revenging himself in the same kind on this very 
 Callidius, by accusing him of bribery in his suit for 
 the consulship". 
 
 J. Caesar was one of the assistant judges this 
 year to the prastor, whose province it was to sit 
 ■upon the sicarii, that is, those who were accused 
 of killing, or carrying a dagger with intent to kill. 
 This gave him an opportunity of citing before him 
 as criminals, and condemning by the law of assas- 
 sinate, all those, who in Sylla's proscription had 
 been known to kill, or receive money for killing a 
 proscribed citizen ; which money Cato also, when 
 he was quaestor the year before, had made them 
 refund to the treasury". Caesar's view was, to 
 mortify the senate and ingratiate himself with the 
 people, by revivmg the Marian cause, which had 
 always been popular, and of which he was naturally 
 the head, on account of his near relation to old 
 Marius : for which purpose he had the hardiness 
 likewise to replace in the Capitol the trophies and 
 statues of Marius, which Sylla had ordered to be 
 thrown down and broken to pieces?. But while he 
 was prosecuting with such severity the agents of 
 Sylla's cruelty, he not only spared, but favoured 
 Catiline, who was one of the most cruel in spilling 
 the blood of the proscribed ; having butchered with 
 his own hands, and in a manner the most brutal, 
 C. Marius Gratidianus, a favourite of the people, 
 nearly related both to Marius and Cicero ; whose 
 head he carried in triumph through the streets to 
 make a present of it to Syllai. But Caesar's zeal 
 provoked L. PauUus to bring Catiline also under 
 the lash of the same law, and to accuse him in 
 form, after his repulse from the consulship, of the 
 murder of many citizens in Sylla's proscription : 
 of which though he was notoriously guilty, yet, 
 contrary to all expectation, he was acquitted''. 
 
 Catiline was suspected also at the same time of 
 another heinous and capital crime, an incestuous 
 commerce with Fabia, one of the vestal virgins, 
 and sister to Cicero's wife. This was charged upon 
 him so loudly by common fame, and gave such 
 scandal to the city, that Fabia was brought to a 
 trial for it ; but either through her innocence, or 
 
 o' Brutus, pp. 402, 3. n Epist. Fam. viii. 4. 
 
 ° Plutarch, in Cato. ; Sueton. J. Cajs. 11. 
 
 P Quorum auctoritatem, ut, quibus posset niodis, di- 
 minueret, trophsa C. Marii, a Sylla olim disjecta, resti- 
 tuit. — Suet. ib. 
 
 '1 Qui hominem carissimum populo Romano — omni 
 cniciatu vivum lacerarit ; stanti collum gladio sua dex- 
 tcra secuerit ; cum sinistra capillum ejus a vertice teneret, 
 &c.— Vid. De Petitione Consulat. 3. 
 
 Quod caput etiam turn plenum animiB et spiritus, ad 
 Syllam, usque a Janiculo ad Eedera Apollinis, manibus 
 ipse suis detulit.— In Tog. caud. 
 
 "■ BisabsnlutumCatilinam.— Ad Att. i. 16; Sallust.Bell. 
 Cat. 31 ; Dio, 1. hi. p. 34. 
 
 the authority of her orother Cicero, she was readily 
 acquitted : which gave occasion to Cicero to tell 
 him, among the other reproaches on his flagitious 
 life, that there was no place so sacred, whither his 
 very visits did not carry jioUution, and leave the 
 imputation of guilt, where there was no real crime 
 subsisting". 
 
 As the election of consuls approached, Cicero's 
 interest appeared to be superior to that of all the 
 candidates : for the nobles themselves, though 
 always envious, and desirous to (Jppress him, yet 
 out of regard to the dangers which threatened the 
 city from many quarters, and seemed ready to burst 
 out into a flame, began to think him the only man 
 qualified to preserve the republic, and break the 
 cabals of the desperate, by the vigour and prudence 
 of his administration : for in cases of danger, as 
 Sallust observes, pride and envy naturally subside, 
 and yield the post of honour to virtue'. The 
 method of choosing consuls was not by an open 
 vote, but by a kind of ballot, or little tickets of 
 wood, distributed to the citizens with the names of 
 the candidates severally inscribed upon each : but 
 in Cicero's case, the people were not content with 
 this secret and silent way of testifying their incli- 
 nations ; but before they came to any scrutiny, 
 loudly and universally proclaimed Cicero the first 
 consul : so that, as he himself declared in his speech 
 to them after his election, he was not chosen by the 
 votes of particular citizens, but the common suf- 
 frage of the city ; nor declared by the voice of the 
 crier, but of the whole Roman people". He was 
 the only new man who had obtained this sovereign 
 dignity, or, as he expresses it, had forced the 
 entrenchments of the nobility for forty years past, 
 from the first consulship of C. Marius, and the 
 only one likewise who had ever obtained it in his 
 proper year, or without a repulse". Antonius was 
 chosen his colleague by the majority of a few cen- 
 turies above his friend and partner Catiline ; which 
 was eff'ected probably by Cicero's management, 
 who considered him as the less dangerous and more 
 tractable of the two. 
 
 Cicero's father died this year on the twenty- 
 fourth of November y, in a good old age, with the 
 comfort to have seen his son advanced to the 
 supreme honour of the city, and wanted nothing to 
 complete the happiness of his life, but the addition 
 of one year more, to have made him a witness of 
 the glory of his consulship. It was in this year 
 
 s Cum ita vixisti, ut non esset locus tarn sanctus, quo 
 non adventus tuus, etiam cum culpa nulla subcssct, 
 crimen afferret. — Orat. in Tog. cand. ; vid. Ascon. ad 
 locum. 
 
 t Sed ubi periculum advenit, invidia atquc supcrbia 
 post fuere.— Sallust. Bell. Cat. 23. 
 
 u Sed tamcn magnifiecntius esse iUo nihil pote.^t, quod 
 meis comitiis non tabellam vindicora tacita: libertafis, 
 sed vocem vivam prae vobis indiceiu vestrarum erga mo 
 voluntatum tulistis. — Itaque me non extrema tribus suf- 
 fragiorum, sed primi Uli vestri concursus, neque singuls 
 voces prasconum, sed ima voce imiversus populus l^mar 
 nus consulem declaravit.— De Leg. Agrar. con. Rull. ii. 2 ; 
 In Pison. 1. 
 
 X Eum locum, quem nobilitas pra'sidiis firm.ltum, atque 
 omni ratione obvallatum tenebat, me duce rcscidistis.— 
 Me esse unum, ex omnibus novis Iiominibus, de quibus 
 merainisse possumus, qui consulatum petierim, cum 
 primum licitum sit ; consul factus sim, cum primum 
 petierim. — Do Leg. Agrar. ib. i. 2. 
 
 y Pater nobis decessit ad diem viii. Kal. Decemb. — Ad 
 Att. i. 6.
 
 42 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 also most probably, though some critics seem to 
 lUspute it, that Cicero gave his daughter TuUia in 
 juarriacre at th(! age of thirteen to C. Piso Frugi, n 
 young niihlenian of great hoiH'S, and one of the 
 best families in Rome' : it is certain at least, that 
 his son was born in this same year, as he expressly 
 tells us, in the consul.ship of L. Julius Cicsar and 
 C. Marcius Fitrulus". So that %vith the highest 
 honour which the public could bestow, he received 
 the highest jileasure which private life ordinarily 
 admits, by tlic birth of a son and heir to his 
 family. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Cicero was now arrived through the usual gra- 
 dation of honours, at the highest which the people 
 could regularly give, or an honest citizen desire. 
 The offices which he had already borne had but a 
 partial jurisdiction, confined to particular branches 
 of the government ; but the consuls held the reins, 
 and directed the whole machine with an authority 
 as extensive as the empire itself''. The subordi- 
 nate magistracies, therefore, being the steps only 
 to this sovereign dignity, were not valued so much 
 for their own sake, as for bringing the candidates 
 still nearer to the principal object of their hopes, 
 who through this course of their ambition were 
 forced to practise all the arts of poj)u!arity ; to 
 court the little as well as the great, to espouse tlie 
 principles and politics in vogue, and to apply their 
 talents to conciliate friends, rather than to serve 
 the public"^. But the consulship put an end to this 
 subjection, and with the command of the state 
 gave them the command of themselves : so that the 
 only care left was, how to execute this high office 
 with credit and dignity, and employ the power 
 entrusted to them for the benefit and service of 
 their country. 
 
 We are now, therefore, to look upon Cicero in 
 a different light, in order to form a just idea of his 
 character: to consider him, not as an ambitious 
 courtier, applying all his thoughts and pains to his 
 own advancement ; but as a great magistrate and 
 statesman, administering the affairs and directing 
 the councils of a mighty empire. And according to 
 the accounts of all the ancient writers, Rome never 
 stood in greater need of the skill and vigilance of 
 an able consul than in this very year. For besides 
 the traitorous cabals and conspiracies of those who 
 were attempting to subvert the whole republic, the 
 new tribunes were also labouring to disturb the 
 
 ^ Tulliolam C. Pisoni, L. F. Frugi despondimus-. — Ad 
 Attic, i. 3. Is. Casaubon, rather than give up an hypo- 
 thesis which he had formed about the earlier date of this 
 letter, will hardlj' allow that TuUia was marriageable at 
 this time, though Cicero himself expressly declares it. — 
 Vid. not. varior. in locum. 
 
 =1 L. Julio Cicsarc et C. Blarcio Figulo Consulibus, filiolo 
 me auctuin scito, salva Terentia. — Ad Attic, i. 2. 
 
 b Omnes enim in ConKulis jure et imperio debent esse 
 
 provincis Philip, iv. 4. Tu summuni imperiuni — gu- 
 
 hemaeula reipublicae — orbis terrarum imperium. a populo 
 Komano petebas. — Pro Mur. 35. 
 
 <= Jam urbanam multitudinem, et eorum studia, qui 
 conciones tenent, adeptus es, in Porapeio orando, Manilii 
 causa recipienda, Comelio defendendo, &c. — Nee tamen 
 in petendo respublica capcssenda est, neque in senatu, 
 neque in concione : sed haec tlbi retinenda, <Sic. — De Peti- 
 tione Consulat. 13. 
 
 present quiet of it : some of them were pvihlishing/ 
 laws to abolish everything that remained of ISylla's 
 establishment, and to restore the sons of the pro- 
 scribed to their estates and honours : others, tO' 
 reverse the punishment of P. Sylla and Autronius, 
 condemned for bribery, and re])lace them in the 
 senate"^: some were for exp\nigiiig all debts, and 
 others, for dividing the lands of the jiuljlic to the 
 poorer citizens"' : so that, as Cicero declared both 
 to the senate and the people, the republic was 
 delivered into his hands full of terr<>i~ and alarms; 
 distracted by pestilent laws and sediti(jus harangues; 
 endangered, not by foreign wars, but intestine evils, 
 and the traitorous designs of profligate citizecs ; 
 and that there was no mischief incident to a state, 
 which the honest had not cause to apprehend, the 
 wicked to expect"^. 
 
 What gave the greater spirit to the authors of 
 these attempts, was Antonius's advancement to the 
 consulship : they knew him to be of the same prin- 
 ciples and embarked in the same designs with 
 themselves, which, by his authority, they now hoped 
 to carry into effect. Cicero was aware of this ; 
 and foresaw the mischief of a colleague equal to 
 him in power, yet opposite in views, and prejjared 
 to frustrate all his endeavours for the public ser- 
 vice ; so that his first care, after their election, was 
 to gain the confidence of Antonius, and to draw 
 him from his old engagements to the interests of 
 the republic ; being convinced that all the success 
 of his administration depended upon it. He began, 
 therefore, to tempt him by a kind of argument 
 which seldom fails of its effect with men of his 
 character, the offer of power to his ambition, and 
 of money to his pleasures : with these baits he 
 caught him ; and a bargain was presently agreed 
 upon between them, that Antonius should have the 
 choice of the best province which was to be assigned 
 to them at the expiration of their year^ It was 
 the custom for the senate to appoint what particular 
 provinces were to be distributed every year to the 
 several magistrates, who used afterwards to cast 
 lots for them among themselves ; the ])ra;tors for 
 the praetorian, the consuls for the consular pro- 
 vinces. In this partition, therefore, when Mace- 
 donia, one of the most desirable governments of 
 the empire, both for command and wealth, fell to 
 Cicero's lot, he exchanged it immediately with his 
 colleague for Cisalpine Gaul, which he resigned 
 also soon after in favour of Q. Metellus ; being 
 resolved, as he declared in his inauguration speech, 
 to administer the consulship in such a manner, as 
 to put it out of any man's power either to tempt 
 or terrify him from his duty : since he neither 
 sought, nor would accept, any province, honour, 
 or benefit, from it whatsoever ; the only way, says 
 he, by which a man can discharge it with gravity 
 and freedom ; so as to chastise those tribunes who 
 wish ill to the republic, or despise those who wish 
 ill to himselfg' : a noble declaration, and worthy to 
 
 c Pro Sylla, 22, 23. d Dio, 1, xxxvii. p. 41. 
 
 e De Lege Agrar. cont. RuU. i. 8, 9 ; ii. 3. 
 
 f Collegam suum Antonium pactione provincia; pepu- 
 lerat, ne contra rempublicam dissentiret. — Sail. Bell. 
 Cat. 26. 
 
 S Cimi mihi deliberatum et constitutum sit, itagerere 
 consulatum, quo uno mode gcri gravitor et libere potest, 
 ut neque provinciam, neque honorem, neque omamentum 
 aliquod, aut commoduni — appetiturus sini. — Sic megeram, 
 ut possim iribunum plebis rcipublica; iratum coercere, . 
 uiihi iratmm contemnere. — Contra RuU. i. 8.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 43 
 
 be transmitted to posterity for an example to all 
 magistrates in a free state. By this address he 
 entirely drew Antonius into his measures, and had 
 him ever after obsequious to liis will''; or, as he 
 himself expresses it, by his patience and complai- 
 sance he softened and calmed him, eagerly desirous 
 of a province, and projecting many things against 
 the state'. The establishment of this concord 
 between them was thought to be of such importance 
 to the public quiet, that in his first speech to the 
 people, he declared it to them from the rostra, 0S 
 an event the most likely to curb the insolence of 
 the factious, and raise the spirits of the honest, 
 and prevent the dangers with which the city was 
 then threatened''. 
 
 There was another project likewise which he had 
 much at heart, and made one of the capital points 
 of his administration, to unite the equestrian order 
 with the senate into one common party and interest. 
 This body of men, next to the senators, consisted 
 of the richest and most splendid families of Rome, 
 who, from the ease and affluence of their fortunes, 
 were naturally well-afFected to the prosperity of 
 the republic ; and being also the constant farmers 
 of all the revenues of the empire, had a great part 
 of the inferior people dependent upon them. 
 Cicero imagined, that the united weight of these 
 two orders would always be an over-balance to any 
 other power in the state, and a secure barrier 
 against any attempts of the popular and ambitious 
 upon the common liberty '. He was the only man 
 in the city capable of effecting such a coalition, 
 being now at the head of the senate, yet the dai ling 
 of the knights ; who considered him as the pride 
 and ornament of their order, whilst he, to ingratiate 
 himself the more with them, affected always in 
 public to boast of that extraction, and to call him- 
 self an equestrian ; and made it his special care to 
 protect them in all their affairs, and to advance 
 their credit and interest : so that, as some writers 
 tell us, it was the authority of his consulship that 
 first distinguished and established them into a third 
 order of the state'". The policy was certainly very 
 good, and the republic reaped great benefit from it 
 in this very year, through which he had the whole 
 body of knights at his devotion, who, with Atticus 
 at their head, constantly attended his orders, and 
 served as a guard to his person" : and if the same 
 maxim had been pursued by all succeeding consuls, 
 it might probably have preserved, or would cer- 
 
 ^ Plutarch in his life. 
 
 » In Pison. 2. 
 
 ^ Quod ego et concordia, quam mihi constitui cum 
 collega, invitissimis iis hominibus, quos in consulatu 
 inimicos esse et animis et corporis actibus providi, omni- 
 bus prospexi sane, &c. — Con. Bull. ii. 37. 
 
 1 Ut multitudincm cum principibus, equestrem ordinem 
 cum senatu conjunxerim. — In Pison. 3. Ncque uUa vis 
 tanta rcperietur, qua; conjunctionem vestram, equitumque 
 Romanorum, tantamque conspirationem bonorum om- 
 nium perfringere possit. — In Catil. iv. 10. 
 
 '" Cicero demum stabilivit equestre nomen in consulatu 
 Suo ; ei scnatum concilians, ex eo se ordine profectum 
 celebrans, et ejus vires peculiari popularitate quaercns: ab 
 illo tempore plane hoc tertium corpus in ropublica fac- 
 tum est, ccepitquo adjici senatui populoquc Romano 
 equester ordo.' — Plin. Hist. N. 1. xxxiii. 2. 
 
 n Vos, equites Romani, videte, scitis me ortum e vobis, 
 omnia semper sensisse pro vobis, &c. — Pro Rabir. Post. 6. 
 •—Nunc vero cum equitatus ille, quem ego in Clivo C'api- 
 tolino, te signifero ac principe, collocaram, scnatum dese- 
 ruerit. — Ad Att. ii. 1. 
 
 tainly at least have prolonged, the liberty of the 
 republic. 
 
 Having laid this foundation for the laudable 
 discharge of his consulship, he took possession of 
 it, as usual, on the first of January. A little before 
 his inauguration, P. Servilius Rullus, one of the 
 new tribunes, who entered always into their office 
 on the tenth of December, liad been alarming the 
 senate with the promulgation of an agrarian law. 
 These laws used to be greedily received by the 
 populace, and were proposed, therefore, by factious 
 magistrates, as oft as they had any point to carry 
 with the multitude against the public good : but 
 this law was of all others the most extravagant, 
 and, by a show of granting more to the people than 
 had ever been given before, seemed likely to be 
 accepted. The purpose of it was, to create a 
 decemvirate, or ten commissioners, with absolute 
 power for five years over all the revenues of the 
 republic ; to distribute them at pleasure to the 
 citizens ; to sell and buy what lands they thought 
 fit ; to determine the rights of the present pos- 
 sessors ; to require an account from all the generals 
 abroad, excepting Pompey, of the spoils taken in 
 their wars ; to settle colonies wheresoever they 
 judged proper, and particularly at Capua ; and in 
 short, to command all the money and forces of the 
 empire. 
 
 The publication of a law conferring powers so 
 excessive, gave a just alarm to all who wished well 
 to the public tranquillity : so that Cicero's first 
 business was to quiet the apprehensions of the city, 
 and to exert all his art and authority to baffle the 
 intrigues of the tribune. As soon, therefore, as he 
 was invested with his new dignity, he raised the 
 spirits of the senate, by assuring them of his reso- 
 lution to oppose the law, and all its abettors, to the 
 utmost of his power ; nor suffer the state to be hurt, 
 or its liberties to be impaired, while the adminis- 
 tration continued in his hands. From the senate 
 he pursued the tribune into his own dominion, the 
 forum ; where, in an artful and elegant speech from 
 the rostra, he gave such a turn to the inclination 
 of the people, that they rejected this agrarian law 
 with as much eagerness as they had ever before 
 received one". 
 
 He began, "by acknowledging the extraordinary 
 obligations which he had received from them, in 
 preference and opposition to the nobility ; declaring 
 himself the creature of their power, and of all men 
 the most engaged to promote their interests ; that 
 they were to look upon him as the truly popular 
 magistrate ; nay, that he had declared even in the 
 senate, that he would be the people's consul^." 
 He then fell into a commendation of the Gracchi, 
 whose name was extremely dear to them, professing, 
 " that he could not be against all agrarian laws, 
 when he recollected, that those two most excellent 
 men, who had the greatest love for the Roman 
 people, had divided the public lands to the citizens ; 
 that he was not one of those consuls, who thought 
 it a crime to praise the Gracchi ; on whose coun- 
 sels, wisdom, and laws, many parts of the present 
 government were founded i : that his quarrel was to 
 this particular law, which, instead of being popular, 
 or adapted to the true interests of the city, was in 
 reality the est ablishment of a ty r anny, and a creatroa 
 
 o Quis unquam tarn secunda concione legem Agrarian! 
 suasit, quam ego dissuasi? — Con. Rull. ii. 37. 
 
 p Ibid. 3. « Ibid. 5.
 
 44 
 
 THE HISTOKV OF THE LIFK OF 
 
 of ten kings to domineer over them." This lie dis- 
 plays at large, from the natural effect of that power 
 which was granted by it': and jjroceeds to insi- 
 nuate, that it was covertly levelled against their 
 favourite Ponii)ey, and particularly contrived to 
 retrench and insult his autliority : " Forgive me, 
 citizens, (says he,) for my calling so often upon so 
 great a name : you yourselves imposed the task 
 upon me, when I was prietor, to join with you in 
 defending his dignity as far as I was able : I have 
 hitherto done all that I could do ; not moved to it 
 by my jirivate friendship for the man, nor by any 
 liopes of honour, and of this supreme magistracy, 
 which I obtained from you, though with his appro- 
 bation, yet without his help. Since then I perceive 
 this law to be designed as a kind of engine to over- 
 turn his power, I will resist the attemjjts of these 
 men ; and as I myself clearly sec what they are 
 aiming at, so I will take care that you shall also 
 see, and be convinced of it too"." He then shows, 
 " how the law, though it excepted Pompey from 
 being accountable to the decemvirate, yet excluded 
 him from being one of the number, by limiting the 
 choice to those who were present at Rome ; that it 
 subjected likewise to tlieir jurisdiction the countries 
 just conquered by him, which had always been left 
 to the management of the general' : upon which 
 he draws a pleasant picture of the tribune RuUus, 
 ■with all his train of officers, guards, lictors, and 
 apparitors", swaggering in Mithridates's kingdom, 
 and ordering Pomjjey to attend him, by a manda- 
 tory letter, in the following strain : 
 
 "'P. Servilius llullus, tribune of the people, 
 decemvir, to Cnceus Pompey the son of Cnseus, 
 greeting.' 
 
 " He will not add (says he) the title of great, 
 when he has been labouring to take it from him by 
 law^ 
 
 " ' I require you not to fail to come presently to 
 Sinope, and bring me a sufficient guard with you, 
 while I sell those lands by my law, which you have 
 gained by your valour.' " 
 
 He observes, " that the reason of excepting 
 Pompey was not from any respect to him, but for 
 fear that he would not submit to the indignity of 
 being accountable to their will : but Pompey (says 
 he) is a man of that temper, that he thinks it his 
 duty to bear whatever you please to impose ; but if 
 there be«enything which you cannot bear yourselves, 
 lie will take care that you shall not bear it long 
 Jigainst your wills''." He proceeds to enlarge upon 
 " the dangers which this law threatened to their 
 liberties : that instead of any good intended by it to 
 the body of the citizens, its purpose was to erect a 
 power for the oppression of them ; and on pretence 
 of planting colonies in Italy and the provinces, to 
 settle their own creatures and dependants, like so 
 many garrisons, in all the convenient posts of the 
 empire, to be ready on all occasions to support 
 their tyranny : that Capua was to be their head- 
 quarters, their favourite colony ; of all cities the 
 proudest, as well as the most hostile and dangerous ; 
 in which the wisdom of their ancestors would not 
 suffer the shadow of any power or magistracy to 
 remain ; yet now it was to be cherished and advanced 
 to another Rome^ : that by this law the lands of 
 
 r Contra RuUum, ii. 6, 11, 13, 14. 
 
 s lb. 18. 
 
 t lb. 19. 
 
 >■ lb. 13. 
 
 » lb. 20. 
 
 y lb. 23. 
 
 ■ Ibid. 28. 32. 
 
 
 Campania were to be sold or given away; the most 
 fruitful of all Italy, the surest revenue of the 
 republic, and tlieir constant resource when all 
 other rents failed them ; which neither the Gracchi, 
 who of all men studied the people's benefit the 
 most, nor Sylla, who gave everything away without 
 scrui)le, durst venture to meddle with"." In the 
 conclusion he takes notice " of the great favour 
 and approbation with which they had heard him, 
 as a sure omen of their common peace and prospe- 
 rity ; and acquaints them with the concord that he 
 had established with his colleague, as a piece of 
 news of all others the most agreeable; and promises 
 all security to the republic, if they would but .show 
 the same good disposition on future occasions 
 which they had signified on that day ; and that he 
 would make those very men, who had been the 
 most envious and averse to his advancement, con- 
 fess, that the people had seen farther, and judged 
 better than they, in choosing him for their consul." 
 In the course of this contest he often called upon 
 the tribunes to come into the rostra, and debate the 
 matter with him before the people'' ; but they 
 thought it more prudent to decline the challenge, 
 and to attack him rather by fictitious stories and 
 calumnies, sedulously inculcated into the multi- 
 tude ; that his opposition to the law flowed from 
 no good will to them, but an affection to Sylla's 
 party, and to secure to them the lands which they 
 possessed by his grant; that he was making his 
 court by it to the seven tyrants, as they called 
 seven of the principal senators, who were known 
 to be the greatest favourers of Sylla's cause, and 
 the greatest gainers by it ; the two Luculluses, 
 Crassus, Catulus, Hortensius, MeteUus, Philippus. 
 These insinuations made so great an impression on 
 the city, that he found it necessary to defend him- 
 self against them in a second speech to the people <^, 
 in which he declared, " that he looked upon that 
 law, which ratified all Sylla's acts, to be of all laws 
 the most w'icked, and the most unlike to a true 
 law, as it established a tyranny in the city ; yet 
 that it had some excuse from the times, and, in 
 their present circumstances, seemed proper to be 
 supported ; especially by him who, for this year of 
 his consulship, professed himself the patron of 
 peace'' ; but that it was the height of impudence 
 in Rullus, to charge him with obstructing their 
 interests for the sake of Sylla's grants, when the 
 very law which that tribune was then urging, ac- 
 tually established and perpetuated those grants ; 
 and showed itself to be drawn by a son-in-law of 
 Valgius, who possessed more lands than any other 
 man by that invidious tenure, which were all by 
 this law to be partly confirmed, and partly pur- 
 chased of him<^." This he demonstrates from the 
 express words of the law, "which he had studiously 
 omitted, he says, to take notice of before, that he 
 might not revive old quarrels, or move any argu- 
 ment of new dissention in a season so improper' : 
 that Rullus, therefore, who accused him of defend- 
 ing Sylla's acts, was of all others the most impudent 
 
 » Contra lluUura, ii. 29. 
 
 l* Si vestruni commoduni spectat, veniat et coram me- 
 cum de agri Campani divibione disputet. — Con. RuU. 
 ii. 28. Commodius fecissent tribuni plcbis, Quiritcs, si, 
 quae apud vos de me deferunt, ea coram potius me prae- 
 sente dixissont.' — Con. Hull. iii. 1. 
 
 e Ibid. <i Ibid. iii. 2. 
 
 e Ibid. iii. 1, 4. ' Ibid. iii. 2.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 46 
 
 defender of them ; for none had ever aflSrmed them 
 to be good and legal, but to have some plea only 
 from possession and the public quiet ; but by this 
 law the estates that had been granted by them 
 ■were to be fixed upon a better foundation and title 
 than any other estates whatsoever." He concludes 
 by renewing his challenge to the tribunes " to 
 come and dispute with him to his face." But 
 after several fruitless attempts, finding themselves 
 •wholly unable to contend witli him, they were 
 forced at last to submit, and to let the affair drop, 
 to the great joy of the senate. 
 
 This alarm being over, another accident broke 
 out, which might have endangered the peace of the 
 city, if the effects of it had not been prevented by 
 the authority of Cicero. Otho's law, mentioned 
 above, for the assignment of separate seats to the 
 equestrian order, had highly offended the people, 
 who could not digest the indignity of being thrust 
 so far back from their diversions ; and while the 
 grudge was still fresh, Otho happening to come 
 into the theatre, was received by the populace with 
 an universal hiss, but by the knights with loud 
 applause and clapping. Both sides redoubled their 
 clamour with great fierceness, and from reproaches 
 were proceeding to blows, — till Cicero, informed 
 of the tumult, came immediately to the theatre, 
 and calling the people out into the temple of Bel- 
 lona, so tamed and stung them by the power of 
 his words, and made them so ashamed of their folly 
 and perverseness, that on their return to the theatre 
 they changed their hisses into applauses, and vied 
 with the knights themselves in demonstrations of 
 their respect to Othos. The speech was soon 
 after published ; though from the nature of the 
 thing it must have been made upon the spot, and 
 flowed extempore from the occasion : and as it was 
 much read and admired for several ages after, as a 
 memorable instance of Cicero's command over 
 men's passions, so some have imagined it to be 
 alluded to in that beautiful passage of Virgil'' : 
 
 Ac veluti magno in populo cum ssepe coorta est 
 
 Seditio, sEevitque animis jgnobile valgus ; 
 
 Jamque faces et sasa volant, furor arma ministrat : 
 
 Turn pietate gravem et meritis si forte virum queni 
 
 Aspesere, silent, arrectisque auiibus adstant ; 
 
 Ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet. 
 
 VrRG. ^n. i. I!i2, 
 
 As when sedition fires the ignoble crowd. 
 And the wild rabble storms and thirsts for blood ; 
 Of stones and brands a mingled tempest flies, 
 AVith all the sudden arms that rage supplies : 
 If some grave sire appears amidst the strife, 
 In morals strict and innocence of life, 
 All stand attentive, while the sage controls 
 Their wrath, and calms the tempest of their souls. 
 
 Pitt. 
 
 One topic, which Cicero touched in this speech, 
 and the only one of which we have any hint from 
 antiquity, was to reproach the rioters for their 
 want of taste and good sense, in making such a 
 disturbance while Roscius was acting'. 
 
 There happened about the same time a third 
 instance, not less remarkable, of Cicero's great 
 
 e Plutarch's Life of Cicero. 
 
 h Sebast. Corradi QucTstura, p. 133; ^neid. i. 152. 
 "What gives the greater colour to this imagination is, that 
 Quintilian applies these lines to his character of a com- 
 plete orator, which he professedly forms upon the model 
 of Cicero. — Lib. xii. 1. 
 
 • Macrob, Saturn, ii. 10 
 
 power of persuasion. Sylla had by an express law 
 excluded the children of the proscribed from the 
 senate and all public honours ; which was certainly 
 an act of great violence, and the decree rather of a 
 tyrant, than the law of a free state''. So that the 
 persons injured by it, who were many, and of great 
 families, were now making all their efforts to get 
 it reversed. Their petition was highly equitable, 
 but, from the condition of the times, as highly 
 unseasonable ; for in the present disorders of the 
 city, the restoration of an oppressed party must 
 needs have added strength to the old factions ; 
 since the first use that they would naturally make 
 of the recovery of their power, would be to revenge 
 themselves on their oppressors. It was Cicero's 
 business, therefore, to prevent that inconvenience, 
 and, as far as it was possible, with the consent of 
 the sufferers themselves : on which occasion this 
 great commander of the human affections, as Quin- 
 tilian calls him, found means to persuade those 
 unfortunate men, that to bear their injury was their 
 benefit ; and that the government itself could not 
 stand, if Sylla's laws were then repealed, on which 
 the quiet and order of the republic were established ; 
 acting herein the part of a wise statesman, who 
 will oft be forced to tolerate, and even maintain, 
 ■what he cannot approve, for the sake of the com- 
 mon good ; agreeably to what he lays down in his 
 book of Offices, that many things which are naturally 
 right and just, are yet, by certain circumstances and 
 conjunctures of times, made dishonest and unjust'. 
 As to the instance before us, he declared in a 
 speech made several years after, that he had ex- 
 cluded from honours a number of brave and honest 
 young men, whom fortune had thrown into so 
 unhappy a situation, that if they had obtained 
 power, they would probably have employed it to 
 the ruin of the state "^. The three cases just 
 mentioned make Pliny break out into a kind of 
 rapturous admiration of the man, who could per- 
 suade the people to give up their bread, their 
 pleasure, and their injuries, to the charms of his 
 eloquence". 
 
 The next transaction of moment in which he was 
 engaged was the defence of C. Rabirius, an aged 
 senator, accused by T. Labienus, one of the tri- 
 bunes, of treason or rebellion, for having killed 
 L. Saturninus, a tribune, about forty years before, 
 who had raised a dangerous sedition in the city. 
 The fact, if it had been true, was not only legal, 
 but laudable, being done in obedience to a decree 
 of the senate, by which all the citizens were re- 
 quired to take arms in aid of the consuls C. Marius 
 and L. Flaccus. 
 
 But the punishment of Rabirius was not the 
 thing aimed at, nor the life of an old man wortli 
 the pains of disturbing the peace of the city : the 
 design was to attack that prerogative of the senate 
 by which, in the case of a sudden tumult, they 
 could arm the city at once, by requiring the consuls 
 to take care that the repubUc received no detri- 
 
 k Exclusique patcmis opibus liberi, ctiam petcndorum 
 honorum jure prohiberentur. — Veil. Pat. ii. 28. 
 
 1 Sic multa, qua; honesta natura videntur esse, tempo- 
 ribus Sunt non honesta. — De Offic. iii. 2;'). 
 
 m Ego adolescentcs fortes et bonos, sed usos ca cnndi- 
 tione fortune, ut, si csscnt magistratus adcpti, reipublicffi 
 statum convulsuri vidcrentur, eomitioruni ratione pri- 
 vavi. — In Pison. 2. 
 
 n Quo te, M. Tulli, piaculo taccam ? &c.— Plin. Hist. 
 1. vii. 30.
 
 46 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 ment : which vote was supposed to give a sanction 
 to everything that was done in consequence of it ; 
 so that several traitorous magistrates had been cut 
 off by it, without the formalities of a trial, in the 
 act of stirring up sedition. This practice, though 
 in use from the earliest times, had always been 
 complained of by the tribunes, as an infringement 
 of the constitution, by giving to the senate an 
 arbitrary power over the lives of citizens, which 
 could not legally be taken away without a hearing 
 and judgment of the whole people. But the chief 
 grudge to it was, from its being a jierpetual check 
 to the designs of the ambitious and popular, who 
 aspired to any power not allowed by the laws : it 
 was not difficult for them to delude the multitude ; 
 but the senate was not so easily managed, who by 
 that single vote of committing the republic to the 
 consuls, could frustrate at once all the effects of 
 their popularity, when carried to a jioint which was 
 dangerous to the state : for since in virtue of it, 
 the tribunes themselves, whose persons were held 
 sacred, might be taken off without sentence or trial, 
 when engaged in any traitorous practices, all at- 
 tempts of that kind must necessarily be hazardous 
 and desperate. 
 
 This point therefore, was to be tried on the 
 person of Rabirius, in whose ruin the factious of 
 all ranks were interested. J. Csesar suborned La- 
 bienus to prosecute him ; and procured himself to 
 be appointed one of the Duumviri, or the two 
 judges allotted by the praetor to sit upon trials of 
 treason". Hortensius pleaded his cause, and 
 proved by many witnesses, that the whole accusa- 
 tion was false, and that Saturninus was actually 
 killed by the hand of a slave, who for that service 
 obtained his freedom from the publicP. Caesar, 
 however, eagerly condemned the old man, who 
 appealed from his sentence to the people ; where 
 nothing, says Suetonius, did him so much service, 
 as the partial and forward severity of bis judge i. 
 
 The tribunes in the mean while employed all 
 their power to destroy him ; and Labienus would 
 not suffer Cicero to exceed half an hour in his 
 defence' ; and, to raise the greater indignation 
 against the criminal, exposed the picture of Satur- 
 ninus in the rostra, as of one who fell a martyr to 
 the liberties of the people. Cicero opened the 
 defence with great gra\'ity, declaring, " that in the 
 memory of man there had not been a cause of such 
 importance, either undertaken by a tribune, or de- 
 fended by a consul : that nothing less was meant 
 b.y it, than that for the future there should be no 
 senate or public council in the city ; no consent or 
 concurrence of the honest against the rage and 
 rashness of the wicked ; no resource or refuge in 
 the extreme danjjers of the republic^. - He implores 
 the favour of all the gods, by whose providence 
 their city was more signally governed than by any 
 wisdom of man, to make that day propitious to the 
 security of the state, and to the life and fortunes 
 of an innocent man." — And having possessed the 
 minds of his audience with the sanctity of the 
 cause, he proceeds boldly to wish, " that he had 
 been at liberty to confess, what Hortensius indeed 
 had proved to be false, that Saturninus, the enemy 
 
 Sueton. J. Caes. 12; Dio, p. 42. 
 V Pro Rabir. 6, 1 1. 
 
 1 Ut ad populum provocanti nihil aeque ac judieis accr- 
 •bitas profiiit. — Sueton. ib. 12. 
 
 "• Pro Rabir. 2. ' Ibid. 
 
 of the Roman people, was killed by the hand of 
 Rabirius' — that he should have proclaimed and 
 bragged of it, as an act that merited rewards instead 
 of punishment." — Here he was interrupted by the 
 clamour of the ()p])Osite faction ; but he observes 
 it to l)e "the faint effort of a small ])art of the 
 assembly ; and that the body of the people, who 
 were silent, would never have made him consul if 
 they had thought him capable of being disturbed 
 by so feeble an insult ; wliich he advised them to 
 dro]), since it betrayed only their folly and the 
 inforiority of their numbers." — The assembly being 
 rpiictcd, he goes on to declare, " that though 
 Rabirius did not kill Saturninus, yet he took arms 
 with intent to kill him, together with the consuls 
 and all the best of the city, to which his honour, 
 virtue, and duty called him. — He puts Labienus in 
 mind, " that he was too young to be acquainted 
 with the merits of that cause ; that he was not born 
 when Saturninus was killed, and could not be 
 apprised how odious and detestable his name was 
 to all people : that some had been banished for 
 complaining only of his death ; others for having a 
 picture of him in their houses" : that he wondered 
 therefore where Labienus had procured that pic- 
 ture, which none durst venture to keep even at 
 home ; and much more, that he had the hardiness 
 to produce, before an assembly of the people, what 
 had been the ruin of other men's fortunes — that to 
 charge Rabirius with this crime was to condemn 
 the greatest and worthiest citizens whom Rome 
 had ever bred ; and though they were all dead, yet 
 the injury was the same, to rob them of the honour 
 due to their names and memories. — Would C. 
 Marius, says he, have lived in perpetual toils and 
 dangers, if he had conceived no hopes concerninGj 
 himself and his glory beyond the limits of this life ? 
 When he defeated those innumerable enemies in 
 Italy, and saved the republic, did he imagine that 
 everything which related to him would die with 
 him .' No, it is not so, citizens ; there is not one 
 of us who exerts himself with praise and virtue in 
 the dangers of the republic, but is induced to it by 
 the expectation of a futurity. As the minds of 
 men, therefore, seem to be divine and immortal for 
 many other reasons, so especially for this, that in 
 all the best and the wisest there is so strong a sense 
 of something hereafter, that they seem to relish 
 nothing but what is eternal. I appeal then to the 
 souls of C. Marius, and of all those wise and worthy 
 citizens, who, from this life of men, are translated 
 to the honours and sanctity of the gods ; I call 
 them, I say, to witness, that I think myself bound 
 to tight for their fame, glory, and memory, with as 
 much zeal as for the altars and temples of my 
 country ; and if it were necessary to take arms in 
 defence of their praise, I should take them as 
 strenuously as they themselves did for the defence 
 of our common safety," &c. " 
 
 After this speech the people were to pass judg- 
 ment on Rabirius, by the suffrages of all the 
 centuries ; but there being reason to apprehend 
 some violence and foul play from the intrigues of 
 the tribunes, Metellus, the augur and praetor of 
 that year, contrived to dissolve the assembly by a 
 stratagem before they came to a vote^ : and the 
 greater affairs that presently ensued, and engaged 
 
 t Pro Rabir. 6. 
 * Ibid. 10. 
 
 v> Ibid. 9. 
 y I>io, 1. xixvii. 42.
 
 MARCUS TULI. US CICERO. 
 
 47 
 
 the attention of the city, prevented the farther 
 prosecution and revival of the cause. 
 
 But Caesar was more successful in another case, 
 in which he was more interested, — his suit for the 
 high priesthood, a post of the first dignity m the 
 republic, vacant by the fleath of Metellus Pius. 
 Labienus opened his way to it by the publication 
 of a new law, for transferring the right of electing 
 from the college of priests to the people, agreeably 
 to the tenor of a former law, which had been 
 repealed by Sylla. Caesar's strength lay in the 
 favour of the populace, which, by immense bribes 
 and the profusion of his whole substance, he had 
 gained on this occasion so effectually, that he carried 
 this high oflfice before he had yet been praetor, 
 against two consular competitors of the first 
 authority in Rome, Q. Catulus and P. Sefvilius 
 Isauricus ; the one of whom had been censor, and 
 then bore the title of prince of the senate, and the 
 other been honoured with a triumph : yet he pro- 
 cured more votes against them, even in their own 
 tribes, than they both had out of the whole number 
 of the citizens^. 
 
 Catiline was now renewing his efforts for the 
 consulship with greater vigour than ever, and by 
 such open methods of bribery, that Cicero pub- 
 lished a new law against it, with the additional 
 penalty of a ten years' exile ; prohibiting likewise 
 all shows of gladiators within two years from the 
 time of suing for any magistracy, unless they were 
 ordered by the will of a person deceased, and on a 
 certain day therein specified*. Catiline, who knew 
 the law to be levelled at himself, formed a design 
 to kill Cicero, with some other chiefs of the senate '', 
 on the day of election, which was appointed for the 
 twentieth of October ; but Cicero gave information 
 of it to the senate the day before, upon which the 
 election was deferred, that they might have time to 
 deliberate on an affair of so great importance : and 
 the day following, in a full house, he called upon 
 Catiline to clear himself of this charge ; where, 
 •without denying or excusing it, he bluntly told 
 them that there were two bodies in the republic, 
 meaning the senate and the people, the one of them 
 infirm with a weak head, the other firm without a 
 head ; which last had so well deserved of him, that 
 it should never want a head while he lived. He 
 had made a declaration of the same kind and in 
 the same place a few days before, when upon Cato's 
 threatening him with an impeachment, he fiercely 
 replied, that if any flame should be excited in his 
 fortunes, he would extinguish it, not with water, 
 but a general ruin''. 
 
 These declarations startled the senate, and con- 
 vinced them that nothing but a desperate conspiracy, 
 ripe for execution, could inspire so daring an as- 
 surance : so that they proceeded immediately to 
 that decree which was the usual refuge in all cases 
 
 * Ita potentissimos duos competitorcs, multumque et 
 atate et dignitate antecedentes, superavit ; ut plura ipse 
 in eoruni tribubus suffragia, quam uterque in omnibus 
 tulerit.— Suet. J. Cscs. 13 ; vide Pigh. Annal. 
 
 a Pro Muren. 23 ; In Vatin. 15. 
 
 b Dio, 1. xxxvii. 43. 
 
 ' Tum en im dixit, duo corpora esse reipublics — unum 
 debile, infirmo capite ; alteram firmuni, sine capite : huic, 
 cum ita dc se meritum esset, caput, se vivo, non defutu- 
 rum.' — Cum idem illc paucis diebus ante Catoni, judicium 
 minitanti, respondisset, — Si quod esset in suas fortunas 
 incendium excitatum, id se non aqua, sed niina restinc- 
 turum. — Pro JIuren. 25, - 
 
 of imminent danger, of ordering the consuls to take 
 care that the republic received no harm**. Upon this 
 Cicero doubled his guard, and called some troops 
 into the city ; and when the election of consuls 
 came on, that he might imprint a sense of his own 
 and of the public danger the more strongly, he 
 took care to throw back his gown in the view of 
 the people, and discovered a shining breast-plate, 
 which he wore under it'' : by which precaution, as 
 he told Catiline afterwards to his face, he prevented 
 his design of killing both him and the competitors 
 for the consulship, of whom D. Junius Silanus and 
 L. Licinius Murena were declared consuls elect '- 
 
 Catiline, thus a second time repulsed, and breath- 
 ing nothing but revenge, was now eager and impa- 
 tient to execute his grand plot : he had no other 
 game left ; his schemes were not only suspected, 
 but actually discovered by the sagacity of the con- 
 sul, and himself shunned and detested by all honest 
 men ; so that he resolved without farther delay to 
 put all to the hazard of ruining either his country 
 or himself. He was singularly formed both by art 
 and nature for the head of a desperate conspiracy ; 
 of an illustrious family, ruined fortunes, proHigate 
 mind, undaunted courage, unwearied industry ; of 
 a capacity equal to the hardiest attempt, with a 
 tongue that could explain, and a hand that could 
 execute it?. Cicero gives us his just character in 
 many parts of his works, but in none a more lively 
 picture of him than in the following passage'' : 
 
 " He had in him," says he, " many, though not 
 express images, yet sketches of the greatest virtues ; 
 was acquainted with a great number of wicked men, 
 yet a pretended admirer of the virtuous. His house 
 was furnished with a variety of temptations to lust 
 and lewdness, yet with several incitements also to 
 industry and labour : it was a scene of vicious 
 pleasures, yet a school of martial exercises. There 
 never was such a monster on earth, compounded 
 of passions so contrary and opposite. Who was 
 ever more agreeable at one time to the best citizens ? 
 who more intimate at another with the worst ? who 
 a man of better principles ? who a fouler enemy to 
 this city .' who more intemperate in pleasure ? who 
 more patient in labour ? who more rapacious in 
 plundering .-' who more profuse in squandering ? 
 He had a wonderful faculty of engaging men to his 
 friendship, and obliging them by his observance ; 
 sharing with them in common whatever he was 
 master of; serving them with his money, his inter- 
 est, his pains, and, when there was occasion, by 
 the most daring acts of villany ; moulding his 
 nature to his purposes, and bending it every way 
 to his will. With the morose, he could live se- 
 verely ; with the free, gaily ; with the old, gravely ; 
 with the young, cheerfully ; with the enterprising, | 
 audaciously ; with the vicious, luxuriously. By a i 
 temper so various and pliable, he gathered about 
 him the profligate and the rash from all countries, , 
 yet h eld attached to him at the same time many j 
 
 d Sail. IJell. Cat. 29 ; Plutarch, in Cic. ! 
 
 <-■ Descend! in campum — cum ilia lata insignique lorica 
 — ut omnes boni animadverterent, ct cum in metu ct 
 periculo consulem viderent, id quod factum est, ad opem | 
 prsesidiumque meiun concurrerent. — Pro Muren. 26. j 
 
 f Cum proximis comitiis consularibus, me consulem in i 
 eampo et competitorcs tuos intcrficere voluisti. compress! i 
 conatus tuos nefarios amicorum prajsidio. — In Cat. i. 5. j 
 
 g Erat ei consilium ad facinus aptum : consiHo autemj 
 ncque lingua, neque manus deerat. — In Cat. iii. 7- 
 
 1- Pro Cil. 5, 6.
 
 18 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 brave and worthy inen, by the specious show of a 
 pretendfil virtue." 
 
 With these talents, if he had obtained the con- 
 sulship, and with it the command of the armies 
 and j)rovinces of the empire, lie would probably, 
 like another Cinna, have made himself the tyrant 
 of his country : but dcsjiair and im])atience, under 
 his repeated disa])pointmcnts, luuried him on to 
 the mad resolution, of extorting by force what he 
 could not i)ro(uire by address. His scheme how- 
 ever was not without a foundation of ))robability, 
 and there were several reasons for thinking the 
 present time the most seasonable for the execution 
 of it. Italy was drained in a manner of regular 
 troops ; Pompey at a great distance, with the best 
 army of the empire ; and his old friend Antonius, on 
 whose assistance he still depended', was to have the 
 command of all the forces that remained. But his 
 greatest hopes lay in Sylla's veteran soldiers, whose 
 cause he had always espoused, and among whom 
 he had been bred ; who, to the number of about a 
 hundred thousand, were settled in the several dis- 
 tricts and colonies of Italy, in the possession of 
 lands assigned to them by Sylla, which the gene- 
 rality had wasted by their vices and luxury, and 
 wanted another civil war to repair their shattered 
 fortunes. Among these he employed his agents 
 and officers in all parts, to debauch them to his 
 service ; and in Etruria, had actually enrolled a 
 considerable body, and formed them into a little 
 army under the command of Manlius, a bold and 
 experienced centurion, who waited only for his 
 orders to take the field''. We must add to this 
 what all writers mention, the universal disaffection 
 and discontent which possessed all ranks of the 
 city, but especially the meaner sort, who from the 
 uneasiness of their circumstances, and the pressure 
 of their debts, wished for a change of government : 
 so that if Catiline had gained any little advantage 
 at setting out, or come off but equal in the first 
 battle, there was reason to expect a general decla- 
 ration in his favour'. 
 
 He called a council therefore of all the conspira- 
 tors, to settle the plan of their work, and divide 
 the parts of it among themselves, and fix a proper 
 day for the execution. There were about thirty- 
 five, whose names are transmitted to us as princi- 
 pals in the plot, partly of the senatorian, partly of 
 the equestrian order, with many others from the 
 colonies and municipal towns of Italy, men of fa- 
 milies and interest in their several countries. The 
 senators were, P. Cornelius Lentulus, C. Cethegus, 
 P. Autronius, L. Cassius Longinus, P. Sylla, Serv. 
 Sylla, L. Vargunteius, Q. Curius, Q. Annius, M. 
 Po reins Lecca, L. Bestia". 
 
 Lentulus was descended from a patrician branch 
 of the Cornelian family, one of the most numerous 
 as well as the most splendid in Rome. His grand- 
 father had borne the title of prince of the senate, 
 and was the most active in the pursuit and 
 destruction of C. Gracchus, in which he received 
 
 * Inflatum tum spe militum, turn collegas mei, ut ipse 
 dicebat, promissis. — Pro Miiren. 23. 
 
 k Castra sunt in Italia eontra rempublicam in EtruriiE 
 faucibus coUocata. — In Cat. i. 2 ; it. ii. 6. 
 
 1 Sed omnino cuneta plebes, novarum rerum studio, 
 Catilinse incepta probabat — quod si primo prselio Catilina 
 superior, aut isqua manu discessisset, profecto magna 
 clades, &c.— Sallust. Bell. Cat. 27, 2<J. 
 
 " Ibid. 1/, 
 
 a dangerous wound". The grandson, by the favour 
 of his noble birth, had been advanced to the con- 
 sulslii]) about eight years before, but was turned 
 o>it of the senate soon aftiT by the censors, for 
 the notorious infamy ot his life, till by obtaining 
 the ])rijetorship a second time, which he now 
 actually enjoyed, he recovered his former place and 
 rank in that supreme council". His parts were 
 hut moderate, or rather slow; yet the comeliness 
 of his person, the gracefulness and propriety of his 
 action, the strength and sweetness of his voice, 
 procured him some reputation as a speaker?. He 
 was lazy, luxurious, and profligately wicked ; yet 
 so vain and ambitious, as to expect from the over- 
 throw of the government, to be the first man in the 
 repuWlic ; in which fancy he was strongly flattered 
 by some crafty soothsayers, who assured him from 
 the sibylline books, that there were three Corne- 
 liuses destined to the dominion of Rome ; that Cinna 
 and Sylla had already possessed it, and the pro- 
 phecy wanted to be completed in himi. W'ith these 
 views he entered freely into the conspiracy, trust- 
 ing to Catiline's vigour for the execution, and 
 hoping to reap the chief fruit from its success. 
 
 Cethegus was of an extraction equally noble, but 
 of a temper fierce, impetuous, and daring to a de- 
 gree even of fury. He had been warmly engaged 
 in the cause of Marius, with whom he was driven 
 out of Rome ; but when Sylla's affairs became 
 prosperous, he presently changed sides, and throw- 
 ing himself at Sylla's feet, and promising great 
 services, was restored to the city'. After Sylla's 
 death, by intrigues and faction, he acquired so great 
 an influence, that while Pompey was abroad, he 
 governed all things at home ; procured for Antonius, 
 that command over the coasts of the Mediterranean, 
 and for LucuUus, the management of the Mithri- 
 datic war^. In the height of this power, he made 
 an excursion into Spain, to raise contributions in 
 that province, where meeting with some opposi- 
 tion to his violences, he had the hardiness to insult, 
 and even wound, the proconsul Q. Metellus Pius'. 
 But the insolence of his conduct and the infamy 
 of his life gradually diminished, and at last de- 
 stroyed his credit ; when finding himself controlled 
 by the magistrates, and the particular vigilance of 
 Cicero, he entered eagerly into Catiline's plot, and 
 was entrusted with the most bloody and desperate 
 
 D Num P. Lentulum, principem scnatus? Complures 
 alios summos viros, qui cum L. Opimio Consulc armati 
 Gracchum in Aventinum persecuti sunt? quo in praelio 
 Lentulus grave vulnus acccpit. — Phil. viii. 4 ; In Cat. iv. b". 
 
 Lentulus quoque tunc maxime prtetor, &e. — Flor. 
 iv. 1 ; Die, p. 43 ; Plut. in Cic. 
 
 P P. Lentulus, cujus et escogitandi et loquendi tardi- 
 tatem tegebat formae dignitas, corporis niotus plenus et 
 artis et venustatis, vocis et suavitas et magnitudo. — Brut. 
 35(1. 
 
 1 Lentulum autem sibi confirmasse ex fatis sibyllinis, 
 lianispicumque responsis, se esse tertium ilium Corne- 
 liuni, ad quern regnum hujus urbis atque imperiiun per- 
 venixe esset necesse, &c. — In Cat. iii. 4 ; it. iv. 6. 
 
 r Quid Catilina tuis natalibus, atque Cethegl 
 Inveniet quisquam sublimius ? 
 
 Juv. Sat. viii. 231 ; Appian. 309. 
 s Hie est M. Antonius, qui gratia Cottae consulis et 
 Cethegi factione in senatu, curationem iniinitam nactus, 
 &c.— Ascon. in Verr. ii. 3 ; Plut. in LucuU. 
 
 t Quis de C. Cethego, atque ejus in Hispaniam profec- 
 tione, ac de vulnere Q,. Metelli Pii cositat, cui non ad 
 illius poenam career aedificatus esse videatur? — Pro SylL 
 25.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 49 
 
 part of it, the task of massacring their enemies 
 witiiin the city. The rest of the conspirators were 
 not less illustrious for their birth". The two Syllas 
 were nephews to the dictator of that name ; Autro- 
 nius had obtained the consulship, but was deprived 
 for bribery ; and Cassius was a competitor for it 
 with Cicero himself. In short, they were all of 
 the same stamp and character ; men whom disap- 
 pointments, ruiiied fortunes, and flagitious lives, 
 had prepared for any design against the state ; and 
 all whose hopes of ease and advancement depended 
 on a change of affairs, and the subversion of the 
 republic. 
 
 At this meeting it was resolved, that a general 
 insurrection should be raised through Italy, the 
 different parts of which were assigned to different 
 leaders ; that Catiline should put himself at the 
 head of the troops in Etruria ; that Rome should 
 be fired in many places at once, and a massacre 
 oegun at the same time of the whole senate, and 
 all their enemies ; of whom none were to be spared 
 except the sons of Pompey, who were to be kept as 
 hostages of their peace and reconciliation with the 
 father ; that in the consternation of the fire and 
 massacre, Catiline should be ready with his Tuscan 
 army, to take the benefit of the public confusion, 
 and make himself master of the city ; where Len- 
 tulus, in the meanwhile, as first in dignity, was to 
 preside in their general councils ; Cassius to ma- 
 nage the affair of firing it, Cethegus to direct the 
 massacred But the vigilance of Cicero being the 
 chief obstacle to all their hopes, Catiline was very 
 desirous to see him taken off before he left Rome ; 
 upon which two knights of the company undertook 
 to kill him the next moi-ning in his bed, in an early 
 visit on pretence of business y. They were both of 
 his acquaintance, and used to frequent his house ; 
 and knowing his custom of giving free access to all, 
 made no doubt of being readily admitted, as C. 
 Cornelius, one of the two, afterwards confessed*. 
 
 The meeting was no sooner over, than Cicero 
 had information of all that passed in it ; for by 
 the intrigues of a woman named Fulvia, he had 
 gained over Curius her gallant, one of the conspi- 
 rators of senatorian rank, to send him a punctual 
 account of all their deliberations. He presently 
 imparted his intelligence to some of the chiefs of 
 the city, who were assembled that evening, as usual, 
 at his house ; informing them not only of the design, 
 but naming the men who were to e.xecute it, and 
 the very hour when they would be at his gate : all 
 which fell out exactly as he foretold ; for the two 
 knights came before break of day, but had the mor- 
 tification to find the house well guarded, and all 
 admittance refused to them". 
 
 " Curii, Porcii, Syllje, Cethegi, Antonii, Vargunteii, 
 atque Longini : qua familise ? quae senatus insignia ? &c. 
 — Flor. iv. 1. 
 
 ^ Cum Catilina egrederetur ad esercitum, Lentulus in 
 urbe relinqueretur, Cassius inccndtis, Cethegus c£Edi prae- 
 poneretur.— Pro Syll. 19 ; Vid. Plut. in Ciccr. 
 
 7 Dixisti pauUulum tibi esse morse, quod ego viverem : 
 reperti sunt duo Equites Romani, qui te ista cura libera- 
 rent, et sese ilia ipsa nocte ante lucem me meo in lectulo 
 
 interfecturos pollicerentiu- In CatU. i. 4 ; it. Sallnst. Bell. 
 
 Cat. 28. 
 
 » Tunc tuus pater, Corneli, id quod tandem aliquando 
 confitetur, illam sibi officiosam provinciam depoposcit. — 
 Pro Syll. 18. 
 
 " Domum meani majoribus prasidiis munivi: exclusi 
 cos, quos tu mane ad me salutatiun misoras ; cum illi ipsi 
 
 Catiline was disappointed likewise in another 
 affair of no less moment before he quitted the city ; 
 a design to surprise the town of Prteneste, one of 
 the strongest fortresses of Itaiy, within twenty-five 
 miles of Rome ; which would have been of singular 
 use to him in the war, and a sure retreat in all 
 events : but Cicero was still beforehand with him, 
 and, from the a))prehension of such an attempt, had 
 previously sent orders to the place to keep a special 
 guard ; so that when Catiline came in the night to 
 make an assault, he found them so well provided, 
 that he durst not venture upon the experiments 
 
 This was the state of the conspiracy, when 
 Cicero dehvered the first of thoise four speeches, 
 which were spoken upon the occasion of it, and are 
 still extant. The meeting of the conspirators was 
 on the sixth of November, in the evening; and on 
 the eighth he summoned the senate to the temple 
 of Jupiter in the capitol, where it was not usually 
 held but in times of public alarm '^. There had 
 been several debates before this on the same sub- 
 ject of Catihne's treasons, and his design of killing 
 the consul ; and a decree had passed at the motion 
 of Cicero, to offer a public reward to the first dis- 
 coverer of the plot ; if a slave, his liberty, and eight 
 hundred pounds ; if a citizen, his pardon, and six- 
 teen hundred"*. Yet Catiline, by a profound dis- 
 simulation, and the constant professions of his 
 innocence, still deceived many of all ranks ; repre- 
 senting the whole as the fiction of his enemy 
 Cicero, and offering to give security for his beha- 
 viour, and to deliver himself to the custody of any 
 whom the senate would name ; of M. Lepidus, of 
 the prjetor Metellus, or of Cicero himself: but 
 none of them would receive him ; and Cicero 
 plainly told him, that he should never think himself 
 safe in the same house, when he was in danger by 
 living in the same city with him*^ : yet he still kept 
 on the mask, and had the confidence to come to 
 this very meeting in the capitol ; which so shocked 
 the whole assembly, thatn^e even of his acquaint- 
 ance durst venture to saluWyiim ; and the consular 
 senators quitted that part orKhe house in which he 
 sat, and left the whole bench clear to him'. Cicero 
 was so provoked by his impudence, that instead of 
 entering upon any business, as he designed, ad- 
 dressing himself directly to Catiline, he broke out 
 into a most severe invective against him ; and with 
 all the fire and force of an incensed eloquence, laid 
 open the whole course of his villanies, and the 
 notoriety of his treasons. 
 
 He put him in mind, " that there was a decree 
 already made against him, by which he could take 
 
 venissent, quos ego jam multis ac summi.s viris ad me id 
 temporis ventures esse pra?dixeram. — In Catil. i. 4. 
 
 ^ Quid ? eum tu Prteneste Kalendis ipsis Novembrlbus 
 occupaturum nocturno inipetu confideres ? Sensistine 
 illam coloniam meo jussu, meis prsBsidiis — esse munitam ? 
 —Ibid. i. 3. Prceneste — natura numitum. — Veil. Pat. ii. 26. 
 
 <: Niliil hie niunitissiinus habendi senatus locus — ^Ib. 
 i. 1. 
 
 <* Si quis indicasset do conjuratione, qu» contra rempub- 
 licam facta erat, premium, servo, libertatem et sestertia 
 centum ; Uberti), impunitatem et sestertia cc. — Sallust. 
 Bell. Cat. 30. 
 
 e Cum a me id responsum tulisses, me nuUo modo posse 
 iisdem parietibus tuto esse tecum, qui magno in periculo 
 essem, quod iisdem moenibus coatineremur. — In Catil. i. 8. 
 
 i Quis te ex hac tanta frequentia, tot ex tuis amicis ac 
 necessariis salutavit ? Quid, quod adventu tuo ista bu1>- 
 sellia vacuefacta sunt ? &C. — lb. i. 7-
 
 60 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 his life^'; and that he ought to have done it long 
 ago, since many, far inori'. eminent and less crimi- 
 nal, had been tai<(ii otl' by the same authority for 
 the suspicion only of treasonable designs ; that if 
 he should order him, therefore, to be killed up6n 
 the spot, there was cause to apprehend that it 
 ■would be thought rather too late than too cruel." — 
 But there was a certain reason which yet withheld 
 him : " Thou shaltthen be put to death," says he, 
 '' when there is not a man to be found so wicked, so 
 desperate, so like to thyself, who will deny it to be 
 done justly. — As long as there is one who dares to 
 defend thee, thou shalt live ; and live so as thou 
 now dost, surrounded by the guards which I have 
 placed about thee, so as not to suffer thee to stir a 
 foot against the republic ; whilst the eyes and ears 
 of many shall watch thee, as they have hitherto 
 done, when thou little thoughtest of it''." He 
 then goes on to give a detail of all that had been 
 concerted by the conspirators at their several 
 meetings, to let him see " that he was perfectly 
 informed of every step which he had taken, or 
 designed to take;" and observes, " that he saw 
 several, at that very time in the senate, who had 
 assisted at those meetings." He presses him, there- 
 fore, to quit the city ; and " since all his councils 
 were detected, to drop the thought of fires and 
 massacres ; — that the gates were open, and nobody 
 should stop him'." Then running over the flagi- 
 tious enormities of his life, and the series of his 
 traitorous practices, lie " exhorts, urges, com- 
 mands him to depart, and, if he would be advised 
 by him, to go into a voluntary exile, and free them 
 from their fears ; that, if they were just ones, they 
 might be safer ; if groundless, the quieter''. That 
 though he would not put the question to the house, 
 whether they would order him into banishment or 
 not, yet he would let him see their sense upon it by 
 their manner of behaving while he was urging him 
 to it ; for should he bid any other senator of credit, 
 P. Sextius, or M. Marcellus, to go into exile, they 
 •srould all rise up against him at once, and lay vio- 
 lent hands on their consul : yet when he said it to 
 him, by their silence they approved it ; by their 
 suffering it, decreed it ; by saying nothing, pro- 
 claimed their consent'. That he would answer 
 likewise for the knights, who were then guarding 
 the avenues of the senate, and were hardly restrained 
 from doing him violence ; that if he would consent 
 to go, they would all quietly attend him to the 
 gates. — Yet, after all, if in virtue of Lis command 
 he should really go into banishment, he foresaw 
 what a storm of envy he should draw by it upon 
 himself ; but he did not value that, if by his own 
 calamity he could avert the dangers of the republic : 
 but there was no hope that Catiline could ever be 
 induced to yield to the occasions of the state, or 
 moved with a sense of his crimes, or reclaimed by 
 shame, or fear, or reason, from his madness"'. He 
 exhorts him, therefore, if he would not go into 
 exile, to go at least, where he was expected, into 
 Manlius's camp, and begin the war ; provided 
 only, that he would carry out with him all the rest 
 of his icrew. — That there he might riot and exult at 
 his full ease, without the mortification of seeing one 
 
 S Ilabemus senatus consultiim in te, Catilina, veliemens 
 et grave.— In Catil,-i. 1. 
 ^ Ibid, 2. i Ibid. 5. 
 
 ^ Ibid. 7. » Ibid. 8. 
 
 «» Ibid. 9. 
 
 honest man about him ". — There he might practise 
 all that discipline to which he had been trained, of 
 lying upon the ground, not only in jiursuit of his 
 lewd amours, but of bold and liardy enterprises : 
 there he might exert all that boasted patience of 
 hunger, cold, and want, by which however he 
 would shortly find himself undone." He then 
 introduces an expostulation of the republic with 
 himself, " for his too great lenity, in suffering such 
 a traitor to escape, instead of hurrying him lo im- 
 mediate death ; that it was an instance of cowardice 
 and ingratitude to the Roman people, that he, a 
 new man, who, without any recommendation from 
 his ancestors, had been raised by them through all 
 the degrees of honour to sovereign dignity, should, 
 for the sake of any danger to himself, neglect the 
 care of the public safety". To this most sacred 
 voice of my country," says he, "and to all those who 
 blame me after the same manner, I shall make this 
 short answer : that if I had thought it the most 
 advisable to put Catiline to death, I would not 
 have allowed that gladiator the use of one mo- 
 ment's life : for if, in former days, our most 
 illustrious citizens, instead of sullying, have done 
 honour to their memories, by the destruction of 
 Satuminus, the Gracchi, Flaccus, and many others ; 
 there is no ground to fear, that, by killing this 
 parricide, any envy would lie upon me with jioste- 
 rity ; yet if the greatest was sure to befall me, it 
 was always my persuasion, that envy acquired by 
 virtue was really glory, not envy : but there are 
 some of this very order, who do not either see the 
 dangers which hang over us, or else dissemble what 
 they see, who, by the softness of their votes, cherish 
 Catiline's hopes, and add strength to the conspi- 
 racy by not believing it ; whose authority influences 
 many, not only of the wicked, but the weak ; who, 
 if I had punished this man as he deserved, would 
 not have faded to cry out upon me for acting the 
 tyrantP. Now I am persuaded, that when he is 
 once gone into Manlius's camp, whither he actu- 
 ally designs to go, none can be so silly as not to 
 see that there is a plot ; none so wicked, as not to 
 acknowledge it : whereas, by taking off him alone, 
 though this pestilence would be somewhat checked, 
 it could not be sujipressed ; but when he has thrown 
 himself into rebellion, and carried out his friends 
 along with him, and drawn together the profligate 
 and desperate from aU parts of the empire, not only 
 this ripened plague of the republic, but the very 
 root and seed of all our evils, wUl be extirpated 
 with him at once." Then applying himself again 
 to Catiline, he concludes with a short prayer to 
 Jupiter : " With these omens, Catiline, of all pros- 
 perity to the republic, but of destruction to thyself 
 and all those who have joined themselves with tliee 
 in all kinds of parricide, go thy way then to this 
 impious and abominable war; whUstthou, Jupiter, 
 whose religion was established with the foundation 
 of this city, whom we truly call Stator, the stay and 
 prop of this empire, witt drive this man and his 
 accomplices from thy altars and temples, from the 
 houses and walls of the city, from the lives and for- 
 tunes of us all ; and wilt destroy with eternal 
 punishments, both living and dead, all the haters 
 of good men, the enemies of their country, the 
 plunderers of Italy, now confederated in this detest- 
 able league and partnership of villany." 
 
 n In Catil. 1 10. 
 P Ibid. 12. 
 
 o Ibid. a.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 61 
 
 Catiline, astonished by the thunder of this speech, 
 had little to say for himself in answer to it ; yet, with 
 downcast looks and suppliant voice, he begged of 
 the fathers not to believe too hastily what was said 
 against him by an enemy ; that his birth and past 
 lii'e oifered everything to him that was hopeful ; and 
 it was not to be imagined that a man of patrician 
 family, whose ancestors, as well as himself, had 
 given many proofs of their affection to the Roman 
 people, should want to overturn the government ; 
 while Cicero, a stranger and late inhabitant of 
 Rome, was so zealous to preserve it. But as he 
 was going on to give foul language, the senate 
 interrupted him by a general outcry, calling him 
 traitor and pamcide : upon which, being furious 
 and desperate, he declared again aloud what he had 
 said before to Cato, that since he was circumvented 
 and driven headlong by his enemies, he would 
 quench the flame which was raised about him, by 
 the common ruin ; and so rushed out of the assem- 
 bly i. As soon as he was come to his house, and 
 began to reflect on what had passed, perceiving it 
 in vain to dissemble any longer, he resolved to 
 enter into action immediately, before the troops of 
 the republic were increased, or any new levies 
 made ; so that, after a short conference with Len- 
 tulus, Cethegus, and the rest, about what had been 
 concerted in the last meeting, having given fresh 
 orders and assurances of his speedy return at the 
 head of a strong army, he left Rome that very 
 night with a small retinue, to make the best of his 
 way towards Etruria''. 
 
 He no sooner disappeared, than his friends gave 
 out that he was gone into a voluntary exile at Mar- 
 seilles' ; which was industriously spread through 
 the city the next morning, to raise an odium upon 
 Cicero for driving an innocent man into banish- 
 ment without any previous trial or proof of his 
 guilt ; but Cicero was too well informed of his 
 motions to entertain any doubt about his going to 
 Manlius's camp, and into actual rebellion : he knew 
 that he had sent thither already a quantity of arms, 
 and all the ensigns of military command, with that 
 silver eagle which he used to keep with great super- 
 stition in his house, for its having belonged to C. 
 Marius in his expedition against the Cimbri'. But 
 lest the story should make an ill impression ou the 
 city, he called the people together into the forum, 
 to give them an account of what passed in the 
 senate the day before, and of Catiline's leaving 
 Rome upon it. 
 
 He began by congratulating with them on Cati- 
 line's flight, as on a certain victory; "since the 
 driving him from his secret plots and insidious 
 attempts on their lives and fortunes into open 
 rebellion, was in effect to conquer him : that Cati- 
 line himself was sensible of it, whose chief regret 
 in his retreat was not for leaving the city, but for 
 leaving it standing". — But if there be any here," 
 
 1 Turn iUe furibundus ; — Quoniam quidem circumven- 
 tus, inquit, ab inimiois prseceps agor, incendium meum 
 ruina extinguam.— Sallust. Bell. Cat. 31. 
 
 ' Ibid. 32. 
 
 ' At enim sunt, Quirltes, qui dicunt a me in exilium 
 
 ejectum esse Catilinam Ego vehemens ille consul, 
 
 qui vcrbo cives in exilium ejicio, &c. — In Catil. ii. 6. 
 
 ' Cum fasces, cum tubas, cum sigua militaria, cum 
 aquilam illam argentcara, cui ille etiam sacrarium scele- 
 rum domi suas fecerat, scirem esse prjemissam lb. ; Sal- 
 lust. Bell. Cat. 59. 
 
 u In Catil. ii. I. 
 
 says he, "who blame me for what I am boasting 
 of, as you all indeed justly may, that 1 did not 
 rather seize than send away so capital an enemy ; 
 that is not my fault, citizens, but the fault of the 
 times. Catiline ought long ago to have suffered 
 the last punishment ; the custom of our ancestors, 
 tlie discipline of the empire, and the republic 
 itself, required it. But how many would there 
 have been who would not have believed what I 
 charged him with ? How many, who, through 
 weakness, would never have imagined it, or through 
 wickedness would have defended it ? " He observes, 
 " that if he had put Catiline to death, he should 
 have drawn upon himself such an odium as would 
 have rendered him unable to prosecute his accom- 
 plices and extirpate the remains of the conspiracy; 
 but so far from being afraid of him now, he was 
 sorry only that he went off with so few to attend 
 him'': that his forces were contemptible, if com- 
 pared with those of the repubhc ; made up of a 
 miserable, needy crew, who had wasted their sub- 
 stance, forfeited their bails, and would run away 
 not only at the sight of an army, but of the prsetor's 
 edict. — That those who had deserted his army, and 
 staid behind, were more to be dreaded than the armv 
 itself ; and the more so, because they knew him to 
 be informed of all their designs, yet were not at all 
 moved by it : that he had laid open all their coun- 
 cils in the senate the day before, upon which Cati- 
 line was so disheartened that he immediately fled : 
 that he could not guess what these others meant ; 
 if they imagined that he should always use the same 
 lenity, they were much mistaken^; for he had now 
 gained what he had hitherto been waiting for, to 
 make all people see that there was a conspiracy : 
 that now, therefore, there was no more room for 
 clemency, the case itself required severity ; yet he 
 would still grant them one thing, to quit the city 
 and follow Catihne ; nay, would tell them the way ; 
 it was the Aurelian road ; and if they would make 
 haste, they might overtake him before night." 
 Then, after describing the profligate life and con- 
 versation of Catiline and his accomplices^, ha 
 declares it " insufferably impudent for such men 
 to pretend to plot ; the lazy against the active, the 
 foolish against the prudent, the drunken against 
 the sober, the drowsy against the vigilant ; who, 
 lolling at feasts, embracing mistresses, staggering 
 with wine, stuffed with victuals, crowned with gar- 
 lands, daubed with perfumes, belch in their con- 
 versations of massacring the honest and firing the 
 city. If my consulship," says he, " since it can 
 not cure, should cut off all these, it would add no 
 small period to the duration of the republic ; for 
 there is no nation which we have reason to fear, no 
 king who can make war upon the Roman people ; 
 all disturbances abroad, both by land and sea, are 
 quelled by the virtue of one man ; but a domestic 
 war still remains ; the treason, the danger, the 
 enemy is within ; we are to combat with luxury, 
 with madness, with villany. In this war I profess 
 myself your leader, and take upon myself all the 
 animosity of the desperate : whatever can possibly 
 be healed, I will heal ; but what ought to be cut 
 off, I wiU never suffer to spread to the ruin of the 
 city."" He then takes notice of the report of 
 CatiHne's being driven into exile, but ridicules the 
 weakness of it ; and says, " that he had put that 
 
 * In Catil. u. 2. 
 » Ibid. 4. 
 
 y Ibid. 3. 
 • Ibid. 5.
 
 ff2 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THP; LIFE OF 
 
 matter out of doubt, by exposing all his treasons 
 the day before in the senate''." He laments " the 
 wretched condition not only of Kovernins, but even 
 of preserving states: For if Catiline," says he, 
 " baffled by my pains and counsels, should really 
 change his mind, drop all thoughts of war, and 
 betake himself to exile, he would not be said to be 
 disarmed and terrified, or driven from his purpose 
 by my vigilance, but uncondemned and innocent to 
 be forced into banishment by the threats of the 
 consul ; and there would be numbers who would 
 think him not wicked, but unhappy, and me not a 
 diligent consul, but a cruel tyrant." He declares, 
 " that though, for the sake of his own ease or cha- 
 racter, he should never wish to hear of Catiline's 
 being at the head of an army, yet they would 
 certainly hear it in three days' time : that if men 
 were so perverse as to complain of his being driven 
 away, what wotild they have said if he had been 
 put to death ? Yet there was not one of those 
 who talked of his going to Marseilles, but would 
 be sorry for it, if it was true, and wished much 
 rather to see him in Manlius's camp""." He pro- 
 ceeds to describe at large the strength and forces of 
 Catiline, and the different sorts of men of which 
 they were composed ; and then displaying and 
 opposing to them the superior forces of the repub- 
 lic, he shows it to be " a contention of all sorts of 
 virtue against all sorts of vice ; in which, if all 
 human help should fail them, the gods themselves 
 would never suffer the best cause in the world to 
 be vanquished by the worst''." He requires them, 
 therefore, to " keep a watch only in their private 
 houses, for he had taken care to secure the public 
 without any tumult : that he had given notice to 
 all the colonies and great towns of Catiline's 
 retreat, so as to be upon their guard against him : 
 that as to the body of gladiators, whom Catiline 
 always depended upon as his best and surest band, 
 they were taken care of in such a manner as to be 
 in the power of the republic*; though, to say the 
 truth, even these were better affected than some 
 part of the patricians : that he had sent Q. Metel- 
 lus, the praetor, into Gaul and the district of Pice- 
 num, to oppose all Catiline's motions on that side ; 
 and, for settling all matters at home, had summoned 
 the senate to meet again that morning, which, as 
 they saw, was then assembling. As for those, 
 therefore, who were left behind in the city, though 
 they were now enemies, yet, since they were born 
 citizens, he admonished them again and again, that 
 his lenity had been waiting only for an opportunity 
 of demonstrating the certainty of the plot : that for 
 the rest, he should never forget that this was his 
 country, he their consul, who thought it his duty 
 either to live with them, or die for them. There 
 is no guard," says he, " upon the gates, none to 
 watch the roads ; if any one has a mind to with- 
 draw himself, he may go wherever he pleases ; but 
 if he makes the least stir within the city, so as to 
 be caught in any overt act against the republic, he 
 shall know that there are in it vigilant consuls, 
 excellent magistrates, a stout senate ; that there 
 are arms, and a prison, which our ancestors pro- 
 vided as the avenger of manifest crimes ; and all 
 
 l> In Catil. ii. 6. o Ibid. 7, 8. 9, 10. 
 
 d Ibid. 11. 
 
 * Ibid. 12. Decrevere uti familiae gladiatoria; Capuam 
 et in caetera municipia distribuerentur pro cujusque opi- 
 bus.— Salluat Bell. Cat. 30 
 
 this shall be transacted in such a manner, citizens, 
 that the greatest disorders shall be quelled without 
 the least hurry ; the greatest dangers, without any 
 tumult ; a domestic war, the most desperate of any 
 in our mcmoi-)', by me, your only leader and gene- 
 ral, in my gown ; which I will manage so, that, as 
 far as it is possible, not one even of the guilty shall 
 suffer jiunishment in the city. Hut if their auda- 
 ciousness, and my country's danger, should neces- 
 sarily drive me from this mild resolution, yet I will 
 effect, what in so cruel and treacherous a war could 
 hardly be hoped for, that not one honest man shall 
 fall, but all of you be safe by the punishment of a 
 few. This I promise, citizens, not from any con- 
 fidence in my own prudence, or from any human 
 councils, but from the many evident declarations of 
 the gods, by whose impulse I am led into this per- 
 suasion ; who assist us, not as they used to do, at a 
 distance, against foreign and remote enemies, but 
 by their present help and protection, defend their 
 temples and our houses. It is your part, there- 
 fore, to worship, imjdorc, and pray to them, that 
 since all our enemies are now subdued both by land 
 and sea, they would continue to preserve this city, 
 which was designed by them for the most beautiful, 
 the most flourishing, and most powerful on earth, 
 from the detestable treasons of its own desperate 
 citizens." 
 
 We have no account of this day's debate in the 
 senate, which met while Cicero was speaking to 
 the people, and were waiting his coming to them 
 from the rostra : but as to Catiline, after staying 
 a few days on the road to raise and arm the coun- 
 try through which he passed, and which his agents 
 had already been disposing to his interests, he 
 marched directly to Manlius's camp, with the fasces 
 and all the ensigns of military command displayed 
 before him. Upon this news, the senate declared 
 both him and Manlius public enemies, with offers 
 of pardon to all his followers who were not con- 
 demned of capital crimes, if they returned to their 
 duty by a certain day ; and ordered the consuls to 
 make new levies, and that Antonius should follow 
 Catiline with the army ; Cicero stay at home to 
 guard the city'. 
 
 It will seem strange to some, that Cicero, when 
 he had certain information of Catiline's treason, 
 instead of seizing him in the city, not only suf- 
 fered but urged his escape, and forced him as it 
 were to begin the war. But there was good reason 
 for what he did, as he frequently intimates in his 
 speeches ; he had many enemies among the nobility, 
 and Catiline many secret friends ; and though he 
 was perfectly informed of the whole progress and 
 extent of the plot, yet the proofs being not ready 
 to be laid before the public, Catiline's dissimu- 
 lation still prevailed, and persuaded great numbers 
 of his innocence ; so that if he had imprisoned and 
 punished him at this time, as he deserved, the 
 whole faction were prepared to raise a general 
 clamour against him, by representing his admi- 
 nistration as a tyranny, and the plot as a forgery 
 contrived to support it : whereas by driving Catiline 
 into rebellion, he made all men see the reality of 
 their danger ; while from an exact account of his 
 troops, he knew them to be so unequal to those of 
 the republic, that there was no doubt of his being 
 destroyed, if he could be pushed to the necessity of. 
 
 ' Sallust. Bell. Cat. 36.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 63 
 
 declaring himself, before his other projects were 
 ripe for execution. He knew also, that if Catiline 
 was once driven out of the city, and separated from 
 his accomplices, who were a lazy, drunken, thought- 
 less crew, they would ruin themselves by tlieir own 
 rashness, and be easily drawn into any trap which 
 he should lay for them : the event showed that he 
 judged right ; and by what happened afterwards 
 both to Catiline and to himself, it appeared, that, 
 as far as human caution comld reach, he acted with 
 the utmost prudence in regard as well to his own, 
 as to the public safety. 
 
 In the midst of all this hurry, and soon after 
 Catiline's flight, Cicero found leisure, according to 
 his custom, to defend L. Murena, one of the 
 consuls elect, who was now brought to a trial for 
 bribery and corruption. Cato liad declared in the 
 senate, that he would try the force of Cicero's late 
 law upon one of the consular candidates e : and since 
 Catiline, whom he chiefly aimed at, was out of his 
 reach, he resolved to fall upon Murena ; yet con- 
 nived at the same time at the other consul, Silanus, 
 who had married his sister, though equally guilty 
 with his colleague'' : he was joined in the accusa- 
 tion by one of the disappointed candidates, S. 
 Sulpicius, a person of distinguished worth and 
 character, and the most celebrated lawyer of the 
 age, for whose service, and at whose instance, 
 Cicero's law against bribery was chiefly provided'. 
 
 Murena was bred a soldier, and had acquired 
 great fame in the Mithridatic war, as lieutenant to 
 Lucullus''; and was now defended by three, the 
 greatest men, as well as the greatest orators of 
 Rome, Crassus, Hortensius, and Cicero : so that 
 there had seldom been a trial of more expectation, 
 on account of the dignity of all the parties con- 
 cerned. The character of the accusers makes it 
 reasonable to believe, that there was clear proof of 
 some illegal practices ; yet from Cicero's speech, 
 which, though imperfect, is tlie only remaining 
 monument of the transaction, it seems probable, 
 that they were such only as, though strictly 
 speaking irregular, were yet warranted by custom 
 and the example of all candidates ; and though 
 heinous in the eyes of a Cato, or an angry compe- 
 titor, were usually overlooked by the magistrates 
 and expected by the people. 
 
 The accusation consisted of three heads : the 
 scandal of Murena' s life ; the want of dignity in 
 his character and family ; and bribery in the late 
 election. As to the first, the greatest crime which 
 Cato charged him with was dancing ; to which 
 Cicero's defence is somewhat remarkable : " He 
 admonishes Cato not to throw out such a calumny 
 so inconsiderately, or to call the consul of Rome 
 a dancer ; but to consider how many other crimes 
 a man must needs be guilty of before that of 
 dancing could be truly objected to him ; since no- 
 body ever danced, even in solitude, or a private 
 meeting of friends, who was not either drunk or 
 mad ; for dancing was always the last act of 
 
 S Dixi in senatu, me nomen consularis candidati dela- 
 •turum.— Pro Muren. 30. Quod atrociter in senatu dixisti, 
 aut non dLxisses, aut seposuissos. — lb. 31 ; Plutar. in Cato. 
 
 •> Plutarch, in Cato. 
 
 » Legem ambitus flagitasti— gestus est mos at voluntati 
 et dignitati tuae..— Pro Muren. 23. 
 
 ^ Legatus L. LucuUo fuit : qua in legations duxit exer- 
 citmn — magnas copias hostium fudit, urbes partim vi, 
 partim obsidione cepit.^Pro Muren. 9. 
 
 riotous banquets, gay places, and much jollity : 
 that Cato charged him therefore with what was 
 the effect of many vices, yet with none of those, 
 without which that vice could not possibly subsist ; 
 with no scandalous feasts, no amours, no nightly 
 revels, no lewdness, no extravagant expense," 
 &c.- 
 
 As to the second article, the want of dignity, it 
 was urged chiefly by Sulpicius, who being noble 
 and a patrician, was the more mortified to be 
 defeated by a ]ilebeian, whose extraction he con- 
 temned : but Cicero " ridicules the vanity of 
 thinking no family good, but a patrician ; shows 
 that Murena's grandfather and great-grandfather 
 had been praetors ; and that his father also from 
 the same dignity had obtained the honour of a 
 triumph : that Sulpicius's nobiUty was better 
 known to the antiquaries than to the people ; 
 since his grandfather had never borne any of the 
 principal offices, nor his father ever mounted 
 higher than the equestrian rank : that being there- 
 fore the son of a Roman knight, he had always 
 reckoned him in the same class with himself, of 
 those who by their own industry had opened their 
 way to the highest honours ; that the Curiuses, 
 the Catos, the Pompeiuses, the Mariuses, the 
 Didiuses, the CseUuses were all of the same sort : 
 that when he had broken through that barricade 
 of nobility, and laid the consulship open to the 
 virtuous, as well as to the noble ; and when a 
 consul, of an ancient and illustrious descent, was 
 defended by a consul, the son of a knight ; he 
 never imagined, that the accusers would venture to 
 say a word about the novelty of a family : that he 
 himself had two patrician competitors, the one a 
 profligate and audacious, the other an excellent 
 and modest man ; yet that he outdid Catiline in 
 dignity, Galba in interest ; and if that had been a 
 crime in a new man, he should not have wanted 
 enemies to object it to him'"." He then shows 
 " that the science of arms, in which Murena 
 excelled, had much more dignity and splendour in 
 it than the science of the law, being that which 
 first gave a name to the Roman people, brought 
 glory to their city, and subdued the world to their 
 empire : that martial virtue had ever been the 
 means of conciliating the favour of the people, and 
 recommending to the honours of the state ; and 
 it was but reasonable that it should hold the first 
 place in that city, which was raised by it to be the 
 head of all other cities in the world"." 
 
 As to the last and heaviest part of the charge, 
 the crime of bribery, there was little or nothing 
 made out against him, but what was too common 
 to be thought criminal; the bribery of shows, 
 plays, and dinners given to the populace ; yet not 
 so much by himself, as by his friends and relations, 
 who were zealous to serve him ; so that Cicero 
 makes very slight of it, and declares himself " more 
 afraid of the authority, than the accusation of 
 Cato ; " and to obviate the influence which the 
 reputation of Cato's integrity might have in the 
 cause, he observes, " that the people in general, 
 and all wise judges, had ever been jealous of the 
 power and interest of an accuser ; lest the criminal 
 should be borne down, not by the weight of his 
 crimes, but the superior force of his adversary. 
 Let the authority of the great prevail," says he, 
 
 1 Pro Muren. 6. "Tbid. 7, 8. 
 
 n Ibid. 9, 10, 11.
 
 64 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 " for the safety of the innocent, the protection of 
 the helpless, the relief of the miserable ; but let its 
 inrtuence be rejjelled from the dangers and destruc- 
 tion of citizens : for if any one should say, that 
 Cato would not have taken the pains to accuse, if 
 lie had not been assured of the crime, he estab- 
 lishes a very unjust law to men in distress, by 
 makinn; the judgment of an accuser to be con- 
 sidered as a prejudice or previous condemnation nf 
 the criminal"." He exhorts " Cato not to be so 
 severe on what ancient custom and the republic 
 itself had found useful ; nor to deprive the people 
 of their plays, gladiators, and feasts, which their 
 ancestors had ajiproved ; nor to take from candi- 
 dates an o])i)ortunity of obliging by a method of 
 expense which indicated their generosity, rather 
 than an intention to corrupt?." 
 
 But whatever Murena's crime might be, the 
 circumstance which chiefly favoured him was, the 
 difficulty of the times, and a rebellion actually on 
 foot ; which made it neither safe nor prudent to 
 deprive the city of a consul, who by a military 
 education was the best qualified to defend it in so 
 dangerous a crisis. This point Cicero dwells much 
 upon, declaring, " that he undertook this cause, 
 not so much for the sake of Murena, as of the 
 peace, the liberty, the lives and safety of them all. 
 Hear, hear," says he, " your consul, wlio, not 
 to speak arrogantly, thinks of nothing day and 
 night but of the republic : Catiline does not 
 despise us so far, as to hope to subdue this city 
 •with the force which he has carried out with him : 
 the contagion is spread wider than you imagine ; 
 the Trojan horse is within our walls ; which, while 
 I am consul, shall never oppress you in your sleep. 
 If it be asked then, what reason I have to fear 
 Catiline .' none at all ; and I have taken care that 
 nobody else need fear him : yet I say, that we 
 have cause to fear those troops of his, which I see 
 in this very place. Nor is his army so much to be 
 dreaded, as those who are said to have deserted it : 
 for in truth they have not deserted, but are left by 
 him only as spies upon us, and placed as it were 
 in ambush, to destroy us the more securely : all 
 these want to see a worthy consul, an experienced 
 general, a man both by nature and fortunes attached 
 to the interests of the republic, driven by your 
 sentence from the guard and custody of the city "J." 
 After urging this topic with great warmth and 
 force, he adds; " We are now come to the crisis 
 and extremity of our danger ; there is no resource 
 or recovery for us, if we now miscarry ; it is no 
 time to throw away any of the helps which we 
 have, but by all means possible to acquire more. 
 The enemy is not on the banks of the Anio, which 
 was thought so terrible in the Punic war, but in 
 the city and the forum. Good gods ! (1 cannot speak 
 it without a sigh,) there are some enemies in the 
 very sanctuary ; some, I say, even in the senate ! 
 The gods grant, that my colleague may quell this 
 rebellion by our arms ; whilst I, in the gown, by 
 the assistance of all the honest, will dispel the 
 other dangers with which the city is now big. But 
 what wUl become of us, if they should slip through 
 our hands into the new year ; and find but one 
 consul in the republic, and him employed not in 
 prosecuting the war, but in providing a colleague .'' 
 Then this plague of Catiline will break out in all 
 
 o Pro Muren. 28. 
 9 Ibid. 37. 
 
 P Ibid. 30'. 
 
 its fury, spreading terror, confusion, fire, and 
 sword through the city," &C.'' This considera- 
 tif>n, so forcibly urged, of the necessity of having 
 two consuls for the guard of the city at the opening 
 of the new year, had such weight with the judges, 
 that without any deliberation they unanimously 
 acquitted IMurena, and would not, as Cicero says, 
 so much as hear the accusation of men, the most 
 eminent and illustrious'. 
 
 Cicero had a strict intimacy all this while with 
 Sulpicius, whom he had served with all his interest 
 in this very contest for the consulship'. He had 
 a great friendship also with Cato, and the highest 
 esteem of his integrity ; yet he not only defended 
 this cause against them botli, but to take off the 
 prejudice of their authority, laboured even to make 
 them ridiculous ; rallying the profession of Sul- 
 picius as trifling and contemptible, the principles 
 of Cato as absurd and impracticable, with so much 
 humour and wit, that he made the whole audience 
 very merry, and forced Cato to cry out. What a 
 facetious consul have we" ! But what is more- 
 observable, the opposition of these great men in an 
 affair so interesting gave no sort of interruption to 
 their friendship, which continued as firm as ever 
 to the end of their lives : and Cicero, who lived 
 the longest of them, showed the real value that 
 he had for them both after their deaths, by pro- 
 curing public honours for the one, and writing the 
 life and praises of the other. Murena too, though 
 exposed to so much danger by the prosecution, yet 
 seems to have retained no resentment of it ; but 
 during his consulship paid a great deference to the 
 counsels of Cato, and employed all his power to 
 support him against the violence of Metellus, bis 
 colleague in the tribunate. This was a greatness 
 of mind truly noble, and suitable to the dignity of 
 the persons ; not to be shocked by the particular 
 contradiction of their friends, when their genercil 
 views on both sides were laudable and virtuous : 
 yet this must not be wholly charged to the virtue 
 of the men, but to the discipline of the republic 
 itself, which by a wise policy imposed it as a duty 
 on its subjects to defend their fellow citizens in. 
 their dangers, without regard to any friendships or 
 engagements whatsoever^. The examples of this 
 kind will be more or less frequent in states, in pro- 
 portion as the public good happens to be the 
 ruling principle ; for that is a bond of union too 
 firm to be broken by any little differences about 
 the measures of pursuing it : but where private 
 ambition and party zeal have the ascendant, there 
 every opposition must necessarily create animosity, 
 as it obstructs the acquisition of that good, which 
 is considered as the chief end of life, private benefit 
 and advantage. 
 
 Before the trial of Murena, Cicero had pleaded 
 another cause of the same kind in the defence of 
 C. Piso, who had been consul four years before, 
 and acquired the character of a brave and vigorous 
 
 r Pro Muren. 39. 
 
 s Defendi consul L. Murenam — nemo illorum judicum, 
 clarissimis viris accusantibus, audiendum sibi de ambitu 
 curavit, cum bellum jam gerente Catillna, omnes, me 
 auctore, duos consules Kalendis Jan. scirent esse oportere. 
 —Ibid. 
 
 « Ibid. 3. " Plut. in Cato. 
 
 * Hanc nobis a majoribus esse traditani disciplinam, ut. 
 nuUius amicitia ad propulsanda pericula impcJiremur.— 
 Pro Sylla, 17.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 5B 
 
 magistrate : but we have no remains of the speech, 
 nor anything more said of it by Cicero, than that 
 Piso was acquitted on the account of his laudable 
 behaviour in his consulship''. We learn however 
 from Sallust, that he was accused of oppression 
 and extortion in his government; and that the 
 prosecution was promoted chiefly l)y J. Caesar, out 
 of revenge for Pise's having arl)itrarily punished 
 one of his friends or clients in Cisalpine Gaul'. 
 
 But to return to the affair of the conspiracy : 
 Lentulus and the rest, who were left in the city, 
 were preparing all things for the execution of their 
 grand design, and soliciting men of all ranks, who 
 seemed likely to favour their cause, or to be of any 
 use to it : among the rest, they agreed to make an 
 attempt on the ambassadors of tlie Allobroges ; a 
 warlike, mutinous, faithless people, inhabiting the 
 countries now called Savoy and Dauphiny, greatly 
 disaffected to the Roman power, and already ripe 
 for rebellion. These ambassadors, who were pre- 
 paring to return home, much out of humour with 
 the senate, and without any redress of the griev- 
 ances which they were sent to complain of, 
 received the proposal at first very greedily, and 
 promised to engage their nation to assist the con- 
 spirators with what they principally wanted", a 
 goodbody of horse, whenever they should begin the 
 war ; hut reflecting afterwards, in their cooler 
 thoughts, on the difficulty of the enterprise, and 
 the danger of involving themselves and their coun- 
 try in so des])erate a cause, they resolved to dis- 
 cover what they knew to Q. Fahius Sanga, the 
 patron of their city, who immediately gave intel- 
 ligence of it to the consul^. 
 
 Cicero's instructions upon it were, that the 
 ambassadors should continue to feign the same 
 zeal which they had hitherto shown, and promise 
 everything that was required of them, till they had 
 got a full insight into the extent of the plot, with 
 distinct proofs against the particular actors in it' : 
 upon which, at their next conference with the con- 
 spirators, they insisted on having some credentials 
 from them to show to their people at home, with- 
 out which they w-ould never be induced to enter 
 into an engagement so hazardous. This was thouglit 
 reasonable, and presently complied with ; and 
 Vulturcius was appointed to go along with the 
 ambassadors, and introduce them to Catiline on 
 their road, in order to confirm the agreement, and 
 exchange assurances also with him ; to whom Len- 
 tulus sent at the same time a particular letter under 
 his own hand and seal, though without his name. 
 Cicero, being punctually informed of all these facts, 
 concerted privately with the ambassadors the time 
 and manner of their leaving Rome in the night, 
 and that on the Milvian bridge, about a mile from 
 the city, they should be arrested with their papers 
 and letters about them, by two of the praetors, 
 L. Flaccus and C. Pontinius, whom he had in- 
 structed for that purpose, and ordered to lie in 
 
 7 Pro Flacco, 39. ^ Sallust. Bell. Cat. 49. 
 
 » Ut equitatum in Italiam quamprimum mitterent 
 
 In Catil. iii. 4. 
 
 b Allobroges diu incertum habuere, quidnam consilii 
 caperent — Itaque Q. Fabio Sangfe rem omnem, ut cogno- 
 Terunt, aperiunt.— Sail. Bell. Cat. 41. 
 
 <^ Cicero — legatis pra?cipit, ut studium conjurationis ve- 
 hementer simulant, casteros adeant, bene polliceantur, 
 dentque operam, ut eos quam maxime manifestos habeant. 
 —Ibid. 
 
 ambush near the place, with a strong guard of 
 friends and soldiers : all which was successfully 
 executed, and the whole company brouglit pri- 
 soners to Cicero's house by break of day''. 
 
 The rumour of this accident presently drew a 
 resort of Cicero's principal friends about him, who 
 advised him to open the letters before he produced 
 them in the senate, lest, if nothing of moment were 
 found in them, it might be thought rash and im- 
 ]irudcnt to raise an uimecessary terror ami alarm 
 through the city. But he was too well informed of 
 the contents to fear any censure of that kind ; and 
 declared, that in a case of public danger he thought 
 it his duty to lay the matter entire before the public 
 council"-'. He summoned the senate therefore to 
 meet immediately, and sent at the same time for 
 Gabinius, Statilius, Cethegus, and Lentulus, who 
 all came presently to his house, suspecting nothing 
 of the discovery ; and being informed also of a 
 quantity of arms provided by Cethegus for the use 
 of the conspiracy, he ordered C. Sulpicius, another 
 of the prsetors, to go and search his house, where 
 he foimd a great number of swords and daggers, 
 with other arms, all newly cleaned, and ready for 
 jjresent service'. 
 
 With this preparation he set out to meet the 
 senate in the temple of Concord, with a numerous 
 guard of citizens, carrying the ambassadors and 
 the conspirators with him in custody : and after 
 he had given the assembly an account of the whole 
 affair, Vulturcius was called in to be examined 
 separately ; to whom Cicero, by order of the house, 
 offered a pardon and reward, if he would faithfully 
 discover all that he knew : upon which, after some 
 hesitation, he confessed that he had letters and 
 instructions from Lentulus to Catiline, to press 
 him to accept the assistance of the slaves, and to 
 lead his army with all expedition towards Rome, 
 to the intent, that when it should be set on fire in 
 different places, and the general massacre begun, 
 he might be at hand to intercept those who escaped, 
 and join with his friends in the city?. 
 
 The ambassadors were examined next, who de- 
 clared, that they had received letters to their nation 
 from Lentulus, Cethegus, and Statilius ; that these 
 three, and L. Cassius also, required them to send 
 a body of horse as soon as possible into Italy, de- 
 claring that they had no occasion for any foot ; 
 that Lentulus had assured them from the Sibylline 
 books, and the answers of soothsayers, that he 
 was the third Cornelius, who was destined to be 
 master of Rome, as Cinna and Sylla had been be- 
 fore him ; and that this was the fatal year marked 
 for the destruction of the city and empire : that 
 there was some dispute between Cethegus and the 
 
 d L. Flaccum et C. Pontinium prsetores — ad me vocavi, 
 rem exposui ; quid fieri placerct ostendi — occulte ad pon- 
 tem Jlilvium pervenerunt — ipsi comprehensi ad me, cuui 
 jam dilucesceret, deducuntur. — In Catil. iii. 2. 
 
 e Cum siunmis et clarissimis hujus civitatis viris, qui, 
 audita re, frequentes ad me convenerant, literas a me 
 prius aperiri, quam ad scnatuni referrem, placeret, ne si 
 nihil esset inventum, tenure a mc tantus tumultus in- 
 jectus civitati videretur, me negavi esse facturum, ut do 
 periculo publico non ad publicum coricilium rem integram 
 deferrem. — lb. iii. 3. 
 
 { Admonitu Allobrogum— C. Sulpicium— raisi, qui ex 
 sdibus Cethegi, si quid telorum esset, efferret ; ex quibug 
 ille maximum sicarum nuinerum et gladiorum extuUt.— 
 Ibid. ; it. Plutarcb. ia Cic. 
 
 g In Cat. iii. 4.
 
 66 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE Of 
 
 rest about the lime of fiiii.g the city ; for wliile the 
 rest were for lixiiiK it "ii the feast of Saturn, or 
 the middle of Uccembir, CetheRus tliought that 
 day too remote and <hlatory. — Tiie Utters were 
 then produced and oi)ciied — first that from Cethe- 
 gus ; aud upon showing liim the seal, he allowed 
 it to be his ; it was written with his own hand, 
 and addressed to the senate and people of the 
 AUobroges, signifying, that he would njake good 
 what he had promised to their ambassadors, and 
 entreating them also to perform what the ambas- 
 sadors liad undertaken for them. He had been 
 interrogated just before about the arms that were 
 found at his house ; to which he answered, that 
 they were provided only for his curiosity, for he 
 liad always been particularly fond of neat arms : 
 but after his letter was read, he was so dejected 
 and confounded, that he had nothing at all to say 
 for himself. — Statilius was then brought in, and 
 acknowledged his liand and seal ; and when his 
 letter was read, to the same purpose with Cethegus's, 
 ke confessed it to be his own. Then Lentulus's 
 letter was produced, and his seal likewise owned 
 by hira ; whicn Cicero jierceiving to be the head of 
 his grandfather, could not help expostulating with 
 him, that the very image of such an ancestor, so 
 remarkable for a singular love of his country, had 
 not reclaimed him from his traitorous designs. 
 His letter was of the same import with the other 
 two ; but having leave to speak for himself, he at 
 first denied the whole charge, and began to question 
 the ambassadors and Vulturcius, what business 
 they ever had with him, and on what occasion 
 they came to his house ; to which they gave clear 
 and distinct answers, signifying by whom, and how 
 often, they had been introduced to him ; and then 
 asked him in their turn, whether he had never 
 mentioned anything to them about the Sibylline 
 oracles ; upon which being confounded, or infatu- 
 ated rather by the sense of his guilt, he gave a 
 remarkable proof, as Cicero says, of the great 
 force of conscience ; for not only his usual parts 
 and eloquence, but his impudence too, in which 
 he outdid all men, quite failed him, so that he 
 confessed his crime, to the surprise of the whole 
 assembly. Then Vulturcius desired that the letter 
 to Catiline, which Lentulus had sent by him, 
 might be opened , where Lentulus again, though 
 greatly disordered, acknowledged his hand and 
 seal : it was written without any name, but to this 
 effect : " You will know who I am, from him whom 
 I have sent to you. Take care to show yourself a 
 man ; and recollect in what a situation you are ; 
 and consider what is now necessary for you. Be 
 sure to make use of the assistance of all, even of 
 the lowest." — Gabinius was then introduced, and 
 behaved impudently for a while ; but at last 
 denied nothing of what the ambassadors charged 
 him with. 
 
 After the criminals and witnesses were with- 
 drawn, the senate went into a debate upon the 
 state of the republic, and came unanimously to 
 the following resolutions : That public thanks 
 should be decreed to Cicero in the amplest manner; 
 by whose virtue, counsel, and providence, the re- 
 public was delivered from the greatest dangers : 
 that Flaccus and Pontinius, the praetors, should 
 be thanked likewise for their vigorous and punctual 
 execution of Cicero's orders : that Antonius, the 
 other consul, should be praised for having removed 
 
 from his councils all those who were concerned in 
 the conspiracy. That Lentulus, after having abdi- 
 cated the i)ra;torshi]), and divested himself of his 
 robes — and Cethegus, Statilius, and Gabinius, with 
 their other accomplices also, when taken — Cassius, 
 Coejiarius, Furius, Chilo, Umbrenus, should be 
 committed to safe custody; and that a public 
 thanksgiving should be appointed in Cicero's name, 
 for his having preserved the city from a conflagra- 
 tion, the citizens from a massacre, and Italy from 
 a war''. 
 
 The senate being dismissed, Cicero went directly 
 into the rostra, and gave the people an account of 
 the whole proceeding, in the manner as it is just 
 related : where he observed to them, " That the 
 thanksgiving decreed in his name was the first 
 which had ever been decreed to any man in the 
 gown : that all other thanksgivings had been ap- 
 pointed for some particular services to the republic, 
 this alone for saving it' : that by the seizure of 
 these accomplices, all Catiline's hopes were blasted 
 at once ; for when he was driving Catiline out of 
 the city he foresaw, that if he was once removed, 
 there would be nothing to apprehend from the 
 drowsiness of Lentulus, the fat of Cassius, or the 
 rashness of Cethegus : that Catiline was the life 
 and soul of the conspiracy ; who never took a 
 thing to be done, because he had ordered it, but 
 always followed, solicited, and saw it done himself: 
 that if he had not driven him from his secret plots 
 into open rebellion, he could never have delivered 
 the republic from its dangers, or never, at least, 
 with so much ease and quiet : that Catiline would 
 not have named the fatal day for their destruction 
 so long beforehand ; nor ever suffered his hand 
 and seal to be brought against him, as the manifest 
 proof of his guilt ; all which was so managed in 
 his absence, that no theft in any private house was 
 ever more clearly detected than this whole con- 
 spiracy : that all this was the pure effect of a 
 divine influence ; not only for its being above the 
 reach of human counsel, but because the gods had 
 so remarkably interposed in it, as to show them- 
 selves almost visibly : for not to mention the 
 nightly streams of light from the western sky, the 
 blazing of the heavens, flashes of lightning, earth- 
 quakes, &c. he could not omit what happened two 
 years before, when the turrets of the capitol were 
 struck down with lightning ; how the soothsayers, 
 called together from all Etruria, declared, that fire, 
 slaughter, the overthrow of the laws, civil war, and 
 the ruin of the city, were portended, unless some 
 means were found out of appeasing the gods : for 
 which purpose they ordered a new and larger statue 
 of Jupiter to be made, and to be placed in a 
 position contrary to that of the former image, with 
 its face turned towards the east ; intimating, that 
 if it looked towards the rising sun, the forum, and 
 the senate-house, then all plots against the state 
 would be detected so evidently, that all the world 
 should see them. That upon this answer, the con- 
 suls of that year gave immediate orders for making 
 and placing the statue ; but from the slow progress 
 of the work, neither they, nor their successors, nor 
 he himself, could get it finished till that very day ; 
 
 •> In Cat. iii. 5, 6. 
 
 » Quod niihi primum post hanc urbem conditam togato 
 
 coiitigit qua; supplicatio, si cum ca:teris conferatur, 
 
 Quirites, hoc interest, quod csEtera ^ene gesta, haeo una 
 conservata Republica constituta est. — ^Ibid. 6.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 57 
 
 on which, by the special influence of Jupiter, while 
 the conEpirators and witnesses were carried through 
 the forum to the temple of Concord, in that very 
 moment the statue was fixed in its place ; and, 
 being turned to look upon them and the senate, 
 both they and the senate saw tlic whole conspiracy 
 detected. And can any man," says he, "be sucli 
 an enemy to truth, so rash, so mad, as to deny, 
 that all things which we see, and above all, tliat 
 this city, is governed by the jiower and providence 
 of the gods''?" He proceeds to observe, "that 
 the conspirators must needs be under a divine and 
 judicial infatuation, and could never have trusted 
 affairs and letters of such moment to men barbarous 
 and Tinknown to them, if the gods had not con- 
 founded their senses : and that the ambassadors of 
 a nation so disaffected, and so able and willing to 
 make war upon them, should slight the hopes of 
 dominion, and the advantageous offers of men of 
 patrician rank, must needs be the effect of a divine 
 interposition ; especially when they might have 
 gained their ends, not by fighting, but by holding 
 their tongues." He exhorts them, therefore, "to 
 celebrate that thanksgiving-day religiously with their 
 wives and children'. That for all his pains and 
 services he desired no other reward or honour, but 
 the perpetual remembrance of that day : in this 
 he placed all his triumphs and his glory, to have 
 the memory of tliat day eternally propagated to 
 the safety of the city, and the honour of his con- 
 sulship ; to have it remembered, that there were 
 two citizens living at the same time in the repub- 
 lic, the one of whom was terminating the extent of 
 the empire by the bounds of the horizon itself; 
 the other preserving the seat and centre of that 
 empire'". That his case, however, was different 
 from that of their generals abroad, who, as soon as 
 they had conquered their enemies, left them ; 
 whereas it was his lot to live still among those 
 whom he had subdued : that it ought to be their 
 care therefore to see, that the malice of those 
 enemies should not hurt him ; and that what he 
 had been doing for their good should uot redound 
 to his detriment ; though as to himself, he had no 
 cause to fear anything, since he should be protected 
 by the guard of all honest men, by the dignity of 
 the republic itself, by the power of conscience, 
 which all those must needs violate who should 
 attempt to injure him : that he would never yield, 
 therefore, to the audaciousness of any, but even 
 provoke and attack all the wicked and the profli- 
 gate : yet if all their rage at last, when repelled 
 from the people, should turn singly upon him, 
 they should consider what a discouragement it 
 would be hereafter to those who should expose 
 themselves to danger for their safety. That for 
 his part, he would ever support and defend in his 
 private condition what he had acted in his consul- 
 ship, and show, that what he had done was not 
 the effect of chance, but of virtue : that if any envy 
 should be stirred up against him, it might hurt 
 the envious, but advance his glory. — Lastly, since 
 it was now night, he bade them all go home, and 
 pray to Jupiter, the guardian of them and the city ; 
 and though the danger was now over, to keep the 
 same watch in their houses as before, for fear of 
 any surprise ; and he would take care, that they 
 should have no occasion to do it any longer." 
 
 ^ In Cat. iii. », 9. 
 «> Ibid. 11. 
 
 1 Ibid. 10. 
 
 While the prisoners were before the senate, 
 Cicero desired some of the senators, who could write 
 short-hand, to take notes of everything tliat was 
 said ; and when the whole examination was finished 
 and reduced into an act, he set all the clerks at 
 work to transcribe copies of it, which he dispersed 
 presently through Italy and all the provinces, to 
 prevent any invidious misrepresentation of what 
 was so clearly attested and confessed by the criminals 
 themselves", who for the present were committed 
 to the free custody of the magistrates and senators 
 of their acquaintance", till the senate should come 
 to a final resolution about them. All this passed 
 on the third of December, a day of no small 
 fatigue to Cicero, who, from break of day till the 
 evening, seems to have been engaged, without any 
 refreshment, in examining the witnesses and the 
 criminals, and procuring the decree which was 
 consequent upon it ; and when that was over, ia 
 giving a narrative of the whole transaction to the 
 people, who were waiting for that purpose in the 
 forum. The same night his wife Terentia, with 
 the vestal virgins and the principal matrons of 
 Rome, was performing at home, according to 
 annual custom, the mystic rites of the goddess 
 Bona, or the Good, to which no male creature was 
 ever admitted ; and till that function was over, he 
 was excluded also from his own house, and forced 
 to retire to a neighbour's ; where, with a select 
 council of friends, he began to deliberate about the 
 method of punishing the traitors ; when his wife 
 came in all haste to inform him of a prodigy, which 
 had just happened amongst them ; for the sacrifice 
 being over, and the fire of the altar seemingly 
 extinct, a bright flame issued suddenly from the 
 ashes, to the astonishment of the company ; upon 
 which the vestal virgins sent her away, to require 
 him to pursue what he had then in his thoughts 
 for tlie good of his country, since the goddess by 
 this sign had given great light to his safety and 
 glory P. 
 
 It is not improbable, that this jiretended prodigy 
 was projected between Cicero and Terentia ; whose 
 sister likewise being one of the vestal virgins, and 
 having the direction of the whole ceremony, might 
 help to effect without suspicion, what had been 
 privately concerted amongst them. For it was of 
 great use to Cicero, to possess the minds of the 
 people, as strongly as he could, with an apprehen- 
 sion of their danger, for the sake of disposing them 
 the more easily to approve the resolution that he 
 had already taken in his own mind, of putting the 
 conspirators to death. 
 
 The day following, the senate ordered public 
 rewards to the ambassadors and Vulturcius for 
 their faithful discoveries'! ; and by the vigour of 
 their proceedings seemed to shew an intention of 
 treating their prisoners with the last severity. The 
 city in the mean while was alarmed with the rumour 
 
 " Constitui senatores, qui omnium indicum dicta, 
 terrogata, responsa perscribercnt : describi ab omnibus 
 statim librariis, dividi passim ct peivulgari atque edi 
 
 populo Komano imperavi divisi toti Italic, emisi in 
 
 omnes provincias. — Pro Syll. 14, 15. 
 
 o Vt abdicate magistratu, Lcntulus, itemque caeteri in 
 liberis custodiis liabeantur. Itaque Lentulus, P. Lentulo 
 Spintheri, qui turn xdiliserat; Cetliegus Comificio, &C, 
 — Sallust. Bell. Cat. 47. 
 
 P Plutarch, in Cic. 
 
 q PrEcniia legatis AUobrogum, Titoque VuUurcfo d#- 
 distis aniplissima.— Ja Cat. iv. 3.
 
 68 
 
 \ 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 of fresh plots, formed by the slaves and dependants 
 
 of Lentulus and Cetlieijjus for the rescue of tlieir 
 mastfrs''; which ohlif^cd ('iccro to reinforce his 
 j^uards ; and for the prevention of all such attempts, 
 to put an end to the whole affair, by bringing the 
 question of their punishment, without farther delay, 
 before the senate ; which he summoned for that 
 purpose the next morning. 
 
 The debate was of great delicacy and importance ; 
 to decide upon the lives of citizens of the tirst rank. 
 Capital punishments were rare and ever odious in 
 Rome, whose laws were of all others the least san- 
 guinary ; banishment, with confiscation of goods, 
 being the ordinary j)unishment for the greatest 
 crimes. Tlie senate, indeed, as it has been said 
 above, in cases of sudden and dangerous tumults, 
 claimed the ])rerogativc of punishing the leaders 
 with death by the authority of their own decrees : 
 but this was looked upon as a stretch of power, 
 and an infringement of the rights of the people, 
 which nothing could excuse, but the necessity of 
 the times, and the extremity of danger. For there 
 was an old law of Porcius Lseca, a tribune, which 
 granted to all criminals capitally condemned, an 
 appeal to the people ; and a later one of C. Grac- 
 chus, to prohibit the taking away the life of any 
 citizen without a formal hearing before the people ^ : 
 so that some senators, who had concurred in all 
 the previous debates, withdrew themselves from 
 this, to show their dislike of what they expected to 
 be the issue of it, and to have no hand in putting 
 Roman citizens to death by a vote of the senate'. 
 Here, then, was ground enough for Cicero's enemies 
 to act upon, if extreme methods were pursued : he 
 himself was aware of it, and saw, that the public 
 interest called for the severest punishment, his 
 private interest the gentlest ; yet he came resolved 
 to sacrifice all regards for his own quiet to the con- 
 sideration of the public safety. 
 
 As soon therefore as he had moved the question, 
 what was to be done with the conspirators ; Silanus, 
 the consul elect, being called upon to speak the first, 
 advised, that those who were then in custody, with 
 the rest who should afterwards be taken, should 
 all be put to death". To this, all who spoke after 
 him, readily assented, till it came to J. Csesar, then 
 praetor elect, who in an elegant and elaborate 
 speech, " treated that opinion, not as cruel; since 
 death, he said, was not a punishment, but relief to 
 the miserable, and left no sense either of good or ill 
 beyond it ; but as new and illegal, and contrary to 
 the constitution of the repubHc : and though the 
 heinousness of the crime would justify any severity, 
 yet the example was dangerous in a free state ; and 
 the salutary use of arbitrary power in good hands, 
 had been the cause of fatal mischiefs when it fell 
 into bad ; of which he produced several instances, 
 both in other cities and their own : and though no 
 
 r Liberti et pauci ex clientibus Lentuli opifices atque 
 servitia in vicis ad eum eripiendum soUicitabant. — Cethe- 
 gus autem per nuncios familiam, atque libertos suos, 
 leotos et exercitatos in audaciam orabat, ut, grege facto, 
 cum telis ad sese irrumperent. — Sallust. Bell. Cat. ."iO. 
 
 s Porcia lex virgas ab omnium civium Romanorum 
 
 corpore amovit libertatem civium lictori eripuit — C. 
 
 Gracchus legem tulit, ne de capite civium Ilomanorum 
 injussu vestro judicaretur. — Pro Rabirio, 4. 
 
 • Video de istis, qui se populates haberi volunt, abesse 
 non neminem, ne de capite videlicet Romani civis senten- 
 tiam ferat.' — In Catil. iv. 5. 
 
 « SaUuet. Bell. Cat. 50. 
 
 danger could be apprehended from tjieee times, or 
 such a consul as Cicero ; yet in other times, and 
 under another consul, when the sword was once 
 drawn by a decree of the senate, no man could pro- 
 mise what mischief it might not do before it was 
 sheathed again : his opinion therefore was, that the 
 estates of the conspirators should be confiscated, 
 and their persons closely confined in the strong 
 towns of Italy ; and that it should be criminal for 
 any one to move the senate or the people for any 
 favour towards them''." 
 
 These two contrary opinions being proposed, the 
 next question was, which of'tlicm should take place : 
 Caesar's had made a great impression on the assem- 
 bly, and staggered even Silanus, who began to 
 excuse and mitigate the severity of his vote^ ; and 
 Cicero's friends were going forwardly into it, as 
 likely to create the least trouble to Cicero himself, 
 for whose future peace and safety they began to be 
 solicitous' : when Cicero, observing the inclination 
 of the house, and rising up to put the question, 
 made his fourth speech, which now remains, on 
 the subject of this transaction ; in which he deli- 
 vered his sentiments with all tlie skill both of the 
 orator and the statesman ; and while he seemed to 
 show a perfect neutrality, and to give equal com- 
 mendation to both the opinions, was artfully 
 labouring all the while to turn the scale in favour 
 of Silanus's, which he considered as a necessary 
 example of severity in the present circumstances 
 of the republic. 
 
 He declared, " That though it was a pleasure to 
 him to observe the concern and solicitude which 
 the senate had expressed on his account, yet he 
 begged of them to lay it all aside, and, without 
 any regard to him, to think only of themselves and 
 their families : that he was willing to suffer any 
 persecution, if by his labours he could secure their 
 dignity and safety : that his life had been oft at- 
 tempted in the forum, the field of Mars, the senate, 
 his own house, and in his very bed : that for their 
 quiet he had digested many things against his will 
 without speaking of them ; but if the gods would 
 grant that issue to his consulship, of saving them 
 from a massacre, the city from flames, all Italy 
 from war, let what fate soever attend himself, he 
 would be content with if." He presses them 
 therefore to " turn their whole care upon the state : 
 that it was not a Gracchus, or a Saturninus, who 
 was now in judgment before them ; but traitors, 
 whose design it was to destroy the city by fire, the 
 senate and people by a massacre ; who had soli- 
 cited the Gauls and the very slaves to join with 
 them in their treason, of which they had all been 
 convicted by letters, hands, seals, and their own 
 confessions'*. That the senate, by several previous 
 acts, had already condemned them ; by their pub- 
 lic thanks to him ; by deposing Lentulus from his 
 prastorship ; by committing them to custody ; by 
 decreeing a thanksgiving ; by rewarding the wit- 
 nesses : but as if nothing had yet been done, he 
 resolved to propose to them anew the question both 
 of the fact and the punishment : that whatever 
 they intended to do, it must be determined before 
 
 X SaUust. Bell. Cat. 51. 
 
 y TJt Silanum, consulem designatum non piguerit sen- 
 tentiam suam, quia mutare turpe erat, interpretationa 
 lenirc. — Suet. J. Cses. 14. 
 
 » I'luta-rch. in Cic. » In Catil. iv. 1. 
 
 t) Ibid. 2. 
 
 I
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 fia 
 
 night : for the mischief was spread wider than they 
 imagined ; had not only infected Italy, but crossed 
 the Alps, and seized the provinces : that it was not 
 to be suppressed by delay and irresolution, but by 
 quick and vigorous measures'^ : that there were two 
 opinions now before them; the first, of Silanus, for 
 putting the criminals to death; the second, of 
 Cffisar, who, excepting death, was for every other 
 way of punishing; each, agreeably to his dignity, 
 and the importance of the cause, was for treating 
 them with the last severity : the one thought, that 
 those, who had attempted to deprive them all of life 
 and to extinguish the very name of Rome, ought 
 not to enjoy the benefit of living a nioir>ent, and 
 he had showed withal, that this i)unishment had 
 often been inflicted on seditious citizens : the other 
 imagined, that death was not designed by the gods 
 for a punishment, but the cure of our miseries ; so 
 that the wise never suff'ered it unwillingly, the 
 brave often sought it voluntarily ; but that bonds 
 and imprisonment, especially if perpetual, were 
 contrived for the punishment of detestable crimes : 
 these therefore he ordered to be provided for them 
 in the great towns of Italy : yet in this proposal 
 there seemed to be some injustice, if the senate was 
 to impose that burthen upon tlie towns, or some 
 difficulty, if they were only to desire it : yet if they 
 thought fit to decree it, he would undertake to find 
 those, who would not refuse to comply wilh it for 
 the public good : that Cjesar, by adding a penalty 
 on the towns if auy of the criminals should escape, 
 and enjoining so horrible a confinement without a 
 possibility of being released from it, had deprived 
 them of all hope, the only comfort of unhappy mor- 
 tals : he had ordered their estates also to be con- 
 fiscated, and left them nothing but life ; which if 
 he had taken away, he would have eased them at 
 once of all farther pain, either of mind or body : for 
 it was on this account that the ancients invented 
 those infernal punishments of the dead, to keep 
 the wicked under some awe in this life, who with- 
 out them would have no dread of death itself*^. 
 That for his own part, he saw how much it was his 
 interest that they should follow Csesar's opinion, 
 who had always pursued popular measures ; and by 
 being the author of that vote, would secure him 
 from any attack of popular envy ; but if they fol- 
 lowed Silanus's, he did not know what trouble it 
 might create to himself; yet that the service of the 
 republic ought to supersede all considerations of his 
 danger : that Csesar, by this proposal, had given 
 them a perpetual pledge of his affection to the state ; 
 and showed the difference between the aftected 
 lenity of their daily deckimers, and a mind truly 
 popidar, which sought nothing but the real good of 
 the people : that he could not but observe, that 
 one of those, who valued themselves on being po- 
 pular, had absented himself from this day's debate, 
 that he might not give a vote upon the life of a 
 citizen ; yet by concurring with them in all their 
 previous votes, he had already passed a judgment 
 on the merits of the cause : that as to the objection 
 urged by Caesar, of Gracchus's law, forbidding to 
 put citizens to death, it should be remembered, that 
 
 e In Catil. iv. 3. 
 
 ^ Itaque ut aHqua in vita formfdo improbis esset posita, 
 apud inferos ejusniodi qua;dani illi antiqui suppUcia 
 impiis constituta esse volucrunt, quod videlicet intellite- 
 bant, his remotis, non esse mortem ipsani pertiniestm- 
 dam.— Ibid. 4. 
 
 those who were adjudged to be enemies, could no 
 longer be considered as citizens ; and tliat tiie 
 author of that law had himself suffered death by 
 the order of the people : that since Caesar, a man 
 of so mild and merciful a temper, had proposed so 
 severe a punishment, if they should pass it into aa 
 act, they would give him a i)artner andcomi)anion, 
 who would justify him to the people ; but if they 
 ])referred Silanus's opinion, it would be easy stiil 
 to defend both them and himself from any imputa- 
 tion of cruelty : for he wouM maintain it, after aU, 
 to be the gentler of the two ; and if he seemed to 
 be more eager than usual in this cause, it was not 
 from any severity of temper, for no man had less of 
 it, but out of pu»e humanity and clemency." — ■ — 
 Then after forming a most dreadful image of " the 
 city reduced to ashes, of heaps of slaughtered citi- 
 zens, of the cries of mothers and their infants, the 
 violation of the vestal virgins, and the conspirators 
 insulting over the ruins of their country ; " ho 
 affirms it to be " the greatest cruelty to the repub- 
 lic, to show any lenity to the authors of such hor- 
 rid wickedness ; unless they would call L. Caesar 
 cruel, for declaring the other day in the senate, 
 that Lentulus, who was his sister's husband, had 
 deserved to die : that they ought to be afraid rather 
 of being thought cruel for a remissness of punish- 
 ing, than for any severity which could be used 
 against such outrageous enemies : that he would 
 not conceal from them what he had heard to be 
 propagated through the city, that they had not 
 sufficient force to support and execute their sen- 
 tence^ : but he assured them, that all things of 
 that kind were fully provided ; that the whole body 
 of the people was assembled for their defence ; that 
 the forum, the temples, and all the avenues of the 
 senate were possessed by their friends ; that the 
 equestrian order vied with the senate itself in 
 their zeal for the republic ; whom, after a dis- 
 sention of many years, that day's cause had 
 entirely reconciled and united with them ; and if 
 that union, which his consulship had confirmed, was 
 preserved and perpetuated, he was confident that 
 no civil or domestic evil could ever again disturb 
 them'. That if auy of them were shocked by 
 the report of Lentulus's agents running up and 
 down the streets, and soliciting the needy and silly 
 to make some effort for his rescue, the fact indeed 
 was true, and the thing had been attempted ; but 
 not a man was found so desperate, who did not 
 prefer the possession of his shed, in which he 
 worked, his little hut and bed in which he slept, to 
 any hopes of change from the public confusion : for 
 all their subsistence depended on the peace and 
 fullness of the city ; and if their gain would be 
 interrupted by shutting up their shops, how much 
 more would it be so by burning them .' — Since the 
 people then were not wanting in their zeal and 
 duty towards them, it was their part not to be 
 wanting to the people^. That they had a consul 
 snatched from various dangers and the jaws of 
 death, not for the propagation of his own life, but 
 of their security ; such a consul as they would not 
 always have, watchful for them, regardless of him- 
 self : they had also, what was never known before, 
 the whole Roman people of one and the same 
 mind : that they should reflect how one night had 
 almost demoli shed the mighty fabric of their 
 ^^n Catil. iv. 6. ' IbW- 7. 
 
 K Ibid. 8.
 
 00 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 empire, raisnl by such pains and virtue of men, liy 
 such favour and kindness of the L-ods : that by their 
 behaviour on that day they were to provide, that 
 the same tliint,' shouki not only never be attempted, 
 but not so much as tliought of again by any citi- 
 zen ''. That as to himself, though he had now 
 drawn ujion him the enmity of the whole band of 
 conspirators, lie looked upon them as a base, abject, 
 contem])tible faction ; but if, through the madness 
 of any, it should ever rise again, so as to ])tevail 
 against the senate and the republic, yet he should 
 never be induced to repent of his present conduct ; 
 for death, with which perhaps they would threaten 
 him, was prepared for all men; but none ever 
 acquired that glory of life, which they had conferred 
 upon him by their decrees : for to all others they 
 decreed thanks for having served the republic suc- 
 cessfully ; to him alone for having saved it. He 
 hoped therefore, that there might be some place for 
 his name among the Scipios, Paulluses, Mariuses, 
 Pompeys ; unless it were thought a greater thing to 
 open their way into new provinces, than to provide 
 that their conquerors should have a home at last to 
 return to : that the condition however of a foreign 
 victory was much better than of a domestic one ; 
 since a foreign enemy, when conquered, was either 
 made a slave or a friend : but when citizens once 
 turn rebels, and are baffled in their plots, one can 
 neither keep them quiet by force, nor oblige them 
 by favours : that he had undertaken therefore an 
 eternal war with all traitorous citizens ; but was 
 contident, that it would never hurt either him or 
 his, while the memory of their past dangers sub- 
 sisted, or that there could be any force strong 
 enough to overpower the present union of the 
 senate and the knights' : That in lieu therefore 
 of the command of armies and provinces, which 
 he had declined ; of atriumphand all other honours, 
 ■which he had refused ; he required nothing more 
 from them, than the perpetual remembrance of his 
 consulship : while that continued fixed in their 
 minds, he should think himself impregnable: but 
 if the violence of the factious should ever defeat his 
 hopes, he recommended to them his infant son, and 
 trusted, that it would be a sufficient guard, not only 
 of his safety, but of his dignity, to have it remem- 
 bered, that he was the son of one who, at the 
 hazard of his own life, had preserved the lives of 
 them all." He concludes, by exhorting them to 
 *' act with the same courage which they had hi- 
 therto shown through all this affair, and to proceed 
 to some resolute and vigorous decree ; since their 
 lives and liberties, the safety of the city, of Italy, 
 and the wliole empire, depended upon it." 
 
 This speech had the desired effect ; and Cicero, 
 by discovering his own inclination, gave a turn to 
 the inclination of the senate ; when Cato, one of 
 the new tribunes, rose up, and after extolling 
 Cicero to the skies'', and recommending to the 
 assembly the authority of his example and judg- 
 ment, proceeded to declare, agreeably to his temper 
 and principles, "That he was surprised to see 
 any debate about the punishment of men, who 
 had begun an actual war against their country : 
 that their deliberation should be, how to secure 
 
 l> In Catil. iv. 9. » Ibid. 10. 
 
 k Quae omnia quia Cato laudibus extulerat in ccelum. — 
 [Ep. ad Att. xii. 21.] Ita consiilis virtutem amplificavit, 
 ut universus senatus in ejus sententiam transiret.— Veil. 
 i*at. ii. 35. 
 
 themselves against them, ratlier than how to punish 
 them r that other crimes might be jiunished after 
 commission, but unless this was ]irevented before 
 its effect, it would be vain to seek a remedy after : 
 that the debate was not about the public revenues, 
 or the oppressions of the allies, l)ut about their 
 own lives and liberties ; not about tlie discipline 
 or manners of the city, on which he had oft deli- 
 vered his mind in that place, nor about the greatness 
 or prosperity of their empire, l)ut whether they or 
 their enemies should jiossess that empire ; and in 
 such a case there could be no room for mercy. 
 That they had long since lost and confounded the 
 true names of things : to give away other people's 
 money was called generosity ; and to attempt what 
 was criminal, fortitude, liut if they must needs 
 be generous, let it be from the spoils of the allies ; 
 if merciful, to the jilunderers of the treasury : but 
 let them not be prodigal of the blood of citizens, 
 and by sparing a few bad destroy all the good. 
 That Caesar indeed had spoken well and gravely 
 concerning life and death ; taking all infernal 
 punishments for a fiction, and ordering the crimi- 
 nals therefore to be confined in the corporate 
 towns ; as if there was not more danger from them 
 in those towns, than in Rome itself, and more 
 encouragement to the attempts of the desperate, 
 where there was less strength to resist them ; so 
 that his proposal could be of no use, if he was 
 really afraid of them : but if in the general fear he 
 alone had none, there was the more reason for all 
 the rest to be afraid for themselves. That they 
 were not deliberating on the fate only of the con- 
 spirators, but of Catiline's whole army, which 
 would be animated or dejected in proportion to 
 the vigour or remissness of their decrees. That it 
 was not the arms of their ancestors which made 
 Rome so great, but their discipline and manners, 
 which were now depraved and corrupted : that in 
 the extremity of danger it was a shame to see them 
 so indolent and irresolute, waiting for each other 
 to speak first, and trusting, like women, to the 
 gods, without doing anything for themselves : that 
 the help of the gods was not to be obtained by idle 
 vows and supplications : that success attended the 
 vigilant, the active, the provident ; and when 
 people gave themselves up to sloth and laziness, it 
 was in vain for them to pray ; they would find the 
 gods angry with them : that the flagitious lives of 
 the criminals confuted every argument of mercy : 
 that Catiline was hovering over them with an 
 army, while his accomplices were within the walls, 
 and in the very heart of the city ; so that, whatever 
 they determined, it could not be kept secret, which 
 made it the more necessary to determine quickly. 
 Wherefore his opinion was, that since the criminaJs 
 had been convicted, both by testimony and their 
 own confession, of a detestable treason against the 
 republic, they should suffer the punishment of 
 death, according to the custom of their ancestors'." 
 Cato's authority, added to the impression which 
 Cicero had already made, put an end to the debate; 
 and the senate, applauding his vigour and resolu- 
 tion, resolved upon a decree in consequence of it". 
 And though Silanus had first proposed that opinion, 
 and was followed in it by all the consular senators, 
 yet they ordered the decree to be drawn in Cato's 
 words, because he had delivered himself more fully 
 
 1 Sallust. Bell. Cat. 62. 
 
 ■n Ibid. 53.
 
 MARCU6 TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 61 
 
 and explicitly upon it than any of them". The 
 ■vote was no sooner passed, than Cicero resolved to 
 put it in execution, lest the night, whiuh was 
 coming on, should produce any new disturbance : 
 he went directly therefore from the senate, attended 
 by a numerous guard of friends and citizens, and 
 took Lentulus from the custody of his kinsman 
 Lentulus Spinther, and conveyed him through the 
 forum to the common prison, where he delivered 
 him to the executioners, who presently strangled 
 him. The other conspirators, Cethegus, Statilius, 
 and Gabinius, were conducted to their execution 
 by the praetors, and put to death in the same man- 
 ner, together with Coeparius, the only one of their 
 accomplices who was taken after the examination". 
 When the affair was over, Cicero was conducted 
 home in a kind of triumph by the whole body of 
 the senate and the knights ; the streets being all 
 illuminated, and the women and children at the 
 windows and on the tops of houses, to see him 
 pass along, through infinite acclamations of the 
 multitude proclaiming him their saviour and de- 
 liverer p. 
 
 This was the fifth of December, those celebrated 
 nones, of which Cicero used to boast so much ever 
 after, as the most glorious day of his life : and it 
 is certain, that Rome was indebted to him on this 
 day for one of the greatest deliverances which it 
 had ever received since its foundation, and which 
 nothing perhaps but his vigilance and sagacity 
 could have so happily effected : for from the first 
 alarm of the plot, he never rested night or day, till 
 he had got full information of the cabals and 
 counsels of the conspirators'! ; by which he easily 
 baffled all their projects, and played with them as 
 he pleased ; and without any risk to the public 
 could draw them on just far enough to make their 
 guilt manifest, and their ruin inevitable. But his 
 masterpiece was the driving Catiline out of Rome, 
 and teasing him as it were into a rebellion before 
 it was ripe, in hopes that by carrying out with him 
 his accomplices, he would clear the city at once of 
 the whole faction, or by leaving them behind with- 
 out his head to manage them, would expose them 
 to sure destruction by their own folly : for Catiline's 
 chief trust was not on the open force which he had 
 provided in the field, but on the success of his 
 secret practices in Rome, and on making himself 
 master of the city ; the credit of which would have 
 engaged to him of course all the meaner sort, and 
 induced all others through Italy, who wished well 
 to his cause, to declare for him immediately : so 
 that when this apprehension was over, by the 
 seizure and punishment of his associates, the senate 
 thought the danger at an end, and that they had 
 nothing more to do but to vote thanksgivings and 
 festivals ; looking upon Catiline's army as a crew 
 only of fugitives, or banditti, whom their forces 
 were sure to destroy whenever they could meet 
 with them. 
 
 But Catiline was in condition still to make a 
 stouter resistance than they imagined : he had 
 filled up his troops to the number of two legions, 
 or about twelve thousand fighting men, of which a 
 fourth part only was completely armed, the rest 
 
 » Idcirco in ejus sententiam est facta discessio.— Ad 
 Att. xii. 21. 
 
 ° Sallust. Bell. Cat. 55. » Plutarch, in Cic. 
 
 1 In eo onines dies, roctesque consumsi, ut quid ugcrcnt, 
 quid molircntur, sentirem ac viderem. — In Catil. ili. '2. 
 
 furnished with what chance offered — darts, lances, 
 clubs. He refused at first to enlist slaves, who 
 flocked to him in great numbers, trusting to the 
 proper strength of the conspiracy, and knowing 
 that he should quickly have soldiers enough, if his 
 friends performed their part at home'. So that 
 when the consul Antonius approached towards him 
 with his army, he shifted his quarters, and made 
 frequent motions and marches through the moun- 
 tains, sometimes towards Gaul, sometimes towards 
 the city, in order to avoid an engagement till he 
 could hear lonie news from Rome : but when the 
 fatal account came, of the death of Lentulus and 
 the rest, the face of his affairs began presently to 
 change, and his army to dwindle apace, by the 
 desertion of those whom the hopes of victory and 
 plunder had invited to his camp. His first attempt, 
 therefore, was by long marches and private roads 
 til rough the Apennine, to make his escape into 
 Gaul ; but Q. Metellus, who had been sent thither 
 before by Cicero, imagining that he would take 
 that resolution, had secured all the passes, and 
 posted himself so advantageously with an army of 
 three legions, that it was impossible for him to 
 force his way on that side ; whilst on the other, 
 the consul Antonius with a much greater force 
 blocked him up behind, and enclosed him within 
 the mountains^. Antonius himself had no inclin- 
 ation to fight, or at least with (Catiline; but would 
 willingly have given him an opportunity to escape, 
 had not his queestor Sextius, who was Cicero's 
 creature, and his lieutenant Petreius, urged him 
 on against his will to force Catiline to the necessity 
 of a battle ', — who, seeing all things desperate, and 
 nothing left but either to die or conquer, resolved 
 to tiy his fortune against Antonius, though much 
 the stronger, rather than Metellus ; in hopes still, 
 that out of regard to their former engagements, he 
 might possibly contrive some way at last of throw- 
 ing the victory into his hands". But Antonius 
 happened to be seized at that very time with a fit 
 of the gout, or pretended at least to be so, that he 
 might have no share in the destruction of an old 
 friend, so that the command fell of course to a 
 much better soldier and honester man, Petreius, — 
 who, after a sharp and bloody action, in which he 
 lost a considerable part of his best troops, destroyed 
 Catiline and his whole army, fighting desperately 
 to the last man^. They all fell in the very ranks 
 in which they stood, and, as if inspired with the 
 genuine spirit of their leader, fought not so much 
 to conquer as to sell their lives as dear as they 
 could, and, as Catiline had threatened in the 
 senate, to mingle the public calamity with their 
 own ruin. 
 
 T Pperabat propediem niaprnas copias se habiturimi, si 
 RomK socli incepta patravissent — interea servitia repudi- 
 abat.— Sallust. Bell. Cat. 56. s ibid. 57. 
 
 ' Hoc breve dicam :— Si M. Potreii non exeellens aninio 
 et amore reipublicae virtus, non summa auctoritas apud 
 milites, non mirificus usus in re militari cxtitisset, neque 
 ailjutor ei P. Sextius ad excitanduni Antonium, cohortan- 
 dum, ac impellendum fuisset, datus illo in bello esset 
 hicmi locus, &c. 
 
 Sextius, cum sue exercitu, summa coleritate est Anto- 
 nium consecutus. Hie ego quid prsedicem, quibus rebus 
 consulem ad rem gerendam excitarit ; quot atimulos ad- 
 moverit, &c. — Pro Sext. 5. 
 
 " AItiov 5e, '6ti eAiriSo ainou Kara tJ) avvoiuorhv 
 (OfAoKaKriffeiv iffX^^ — Dio, 1. xxivii. p. 47. 
 
 "^ S.iUust. BcU. Cat. 59.
 
 62 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Thus ended this famed conspiracy, in which 
 some of the greatest men in Rome were suspected 
 to be privately engaged, particularly Crassus and 
 Csesar : they were both influenced by the same 
 motive, and might hope, perhajis, by their interest 
 in the city, to advance themselves, in the general 
 confusion, to that sovereign power which they 
 aimed at. Crassus, who had always been CiCero's 
 enemy, by an officiousness of bringing letters and 
 intelligence to him during the alarm of the plot, 
 seemed to betray a consciousness of some guilf ; 
 and CjEsar's whole life made it probable, that there 
 could hardlj- be any plot in which he had not some 
 share; and in tliis there was so general a suspicion 
 upon him, especially after his speech in favour of 
 the criminals, that he had some difficulty to escape 
 with life from the rage of the knights who guarded 
 tlie avenues of the senate ; where he durst not 
 venture to appear any more, till he entered upon 
 his prajtorship with the new year^. Crassus was 
 actually accused by one Tarquinius, who was taken 
 upon the road as he was going to Catiline, and, 
 upon promise of pardon, made a discovery of what 
 he knew ; where, after confirming what the other 
 •witnesses had deposed, he added, that he was sent 
 by Crassus to Catiline, with advice to him not to 
 be discouraged by the seizure of his accomplices, 
 but to make the greater haste for that reason to 
 the city, in order to rescue them, and revive the 
 spirits of his other friends. At the name of 
 Crassus the senate was so shocked, that they would 
 hear the man no farther ; but calling upon Cicero 
 to put the question, and take the sense of the 
 house upon it, they voted Tarquinius' s evidence to 
 be false, and ordered him to be kept in chains, nor 
 to be produced again before them, till he would 
 confess who it was that had suborned him*. 
 Crassus declared afterwards, in the hearing of Sal- 
 lust, that Cicero was the contriver of this affront 
 upon him''. But that does not seem probable ; 
 since it was Cicero's constant maxim, as he fre- 
 quently intimates in his speeches, to mitigate and 
 reclaim all men of credit by gentle methods, rather 
 than make them desperate by an unseasonable 
 severity, ^and in the general contagion of the city, 
 not to cut off, but to heal, every part that was 
 curable. So that when some information was given 
 likewise against Caesar, he chose to stifle it, and 
 could not be persuaded to charge him with the 
 plot, by the most pressing solicitations of Catulus 
 and Piso, who were both his particular enemies, — 
 the one for the loss of the high-priesthood, the 
 other for the impeachment above- mentioned ■=. 
 
 Whilst the sense of all these services was fresh, 
 Cicero was repaid for them to the full of his wishes, 
 and in the very way that he desired, by the warm 
 and grateful applauses of all orders of the city. 
 For besides the honours already mentioned, L. 
 Gellius, who had been consul and censor, said in 
 a speech to the senate, that the republic owed him 
 
 y Plutarch, in Cic. 
 
 ^ Uti nonnulli equites Romani, qui prassidii causa cum 
 telis erant circum ffidem ConenrdiEe — egredienti ex senatu 
 CfEsari gladio miuitarentur. — [Sallust. Bell. Cat. 49.] Vix 
 pauci complexu, togaque objecta protexerint. Tunc 
 plane deterritus non luodo cessit, sed etlani in reliquuni 
 anni tempus euria abstinuit. — Sueton. J. Cas. J 4. 
 
 a Sallust. Boll. Cat. 40. 
 
 •> Ipsum Crassum ego postea prsdicantem audiri, tan- 
 iam illam contumeliam sibi a Cicerone impositam. — Ibid. 
 
 «■ Ai>pian. Bell. Civ. 1. ii. p. 430 ; Sallust. BeU. Cat. 49. 
 
 a civic crown for having saved them all from 
 ruin'' : and Catulus in a full house declared him 
 the father of his country' ; as Cato likewise did 
 from the rostra, with the loud acclamations of 
 the whole people*^ : whence I'liny, in honour of his 
 memory, cries out, Hail thou, who wast first sa- 
 luted the parent of thy countryif. This title, the 
 most glorious which a mortal can wear, was from 
 this precedent usurped afterwards by those who of 
 all mortals deserved it the least, the emperors ; 
 jiroud to extort from slaves and flatterers what 
 Cicero obtained from the free vote of the senate and 
 people of Rome. 
 
 Rnma Pauentem, 
 
 Roma Patrkm 1'atri;e Ciccronem libera dixit. 
 
 Juv. viii. 
 Thee, Cicero, Rome while free, nor yet enthrall'd 
 To tyrants' will, thy Country's Parent call'd. 
 
 All the towns of Italy followed the example of 
 the metropolis, in decreeing extraordinary honours 
 to him ; and Capua in particular chose him their 
 patron, and erected a gilt statue to him''. 
 
 Sallust, who allows him the character of an 
 excellent consul, says not a word of any of these 
 honours, nor gives him any greater share of praise 
 than what could not be dissembled by an historian. 
 There are two obvious reasons for this reservedness ; 
 first, the personal enmity which, according to tra- 
 dition, subsisted between them ; secondly, the time 
 of publishing his history, in the reign of Augustus, 
 ■while the name of Cicero was still obnoxious to envy. 
 The other consul Antonius had but a small share 
 of the thanks and honours which were decreed 
 upon this occasion : he was known to have been 
 embarked in the same cause with Catiline, and 
 considered as acting only under a tutor, and doing 
 penance as it were for past offences ; so that all 
 the notice which was taken of him by the senate, 
 was to pay him the slight compliment above- 
 mentioned, for having removed his late profligate 
 companions from his friendship and councils'. 
 
 Cicero made two new laws this year ; the one, 
 as it has been said, against bribery in elections ; 
 the other, to correct the abuse of a privilege called 
 legatio libera, — that is, an honorary legation, or 
 embassy, granted arbitrarily by the senate to any 
 of its members, when they travelled abroad on 
 their private affairs, in order to give them a public 
 character, and a right to be treated as ambassadors 
 or magistrates ; which, by the insolence of these 
 great guests, was become a grievous burthen upon 
 all the states and cities through which they passed. 
 Cicero's design was to abolish it; but being driven 
 from that by one of the tribunes, he was content 
 to restrain the continuance of it, which before was 
 unlimited, to the term of one year''. 
 
 d L. Gellius, his audientibus, civioam coronam deberi a 
 republica dixit. — In Pison. 3 ; it. A. GeU. v. 6. 
 
 ^ SleQ. Catulus, princeps hujus ordinis, frequentissimo 
 senatu Parentem Patri.e nominavit. — In Pis. 3. 
 
 f Plutarch, in Cic— Kdrwyos o' uv-rhv Kot -Karipa rrfS 
 TTaTpiSos TTpocrayopevcTaUTOS, eireySt^Tjo'ej' 6 Stjixos. — 
 Appian. p. 431. 
 
 s Salve, primus omnium Parens Patri.^ appellate, &c. 
 — Plin. Hist. N. vu. .'50. 
 
 •> Me inaurata statua donarant: me patronum unum 
 adsciverant. — In Pis. 11. 
 
 ' Atque etiam collegae meo laus impertitur, quod eoa 
 qui hujus conjurationis participes fuissent, a suis et a 
 reipublicJE consiliis removissot. — In Catil. iii. 6. 
 
 '^ Jam iUud apertum est, nihil esse turpius, quam quen
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 03 
 
 At his first entrance into his office, L. Lucullus 
 was soliciting the demand of a triumph for his 
 victories over jNIithridates, in whicli he had heen 
 obstructed for three years successively by^the in- 
 trigues of some of the magistrates', who paid their 
 court to Pompey, by putting this aftront upon his 
 rival. By the law and custom of the republic, no 
 general, while he was in actual command, could 
 come within the gates of Rome without forfeiting 
 his commission, and consequently all pretensions 
 to a triumph ; so that Lucullus continued all this 
 time in the suburbs, till the affair was decided. 
 The senate favoured his suit, and were solicitors 
 for him™, but could not prevail, till Cicero's 
 authority at last helped to introduce his triumphal 
 car into the city"; making him some amends by 
 this service for the injury of the Manilian law, 
 ■which had deprived him of his government. After 
 his triumph he entertained the whole Roman people 
 •with a sumptuous feast, and was much caressed by 
 the nobility, as one whose authority would be a 
 proper check to the ambition and power of Pompey : 
 but having now obtained all the honours which he 
 could reasonably hope for in life, and observing 
 the turbulent and distracted state of the city, he 
 withdrew himself not long after from public affairs, 
 to spend the remainder of his days in a polite and 
 splendid retreat". He was a generous patron of 
 learning, and himself eminently learned ; so that 
 his house was the constant resort of the principal 
 scholars and wits of Greece and Rome, where he 
 had provided a well-furnished library, with porti- 
 coes and galleries annesed, for the convenience of 
 walks and literary conferences, at which he himself 
 used frecpiently to assist ; giving an example to the 
 world of a hfe truly noble and elegant, if it had 
 not been sullied by too great a tincture of Asiatic 
 softness and Epicurean luxury. 
 
 After this act of justice to Lucullus, Cicero had 
 an opportunity, before the expiration of his consul- 
 ship, to pay all due honour likewise to his friend 
 Pompey ; who, since he last left Rome, had glo- 
 riously finished the piratic and the Mithridatic war, 
 by the destruction of Mithridates himself: upon 
 the receipt of which news, the senate, at the motion 
 of Cicero, decreed a public thanksgiving in his 
 name of ten days ; which was twice as long as had 
 ever been decreed before to any general, even to 
 Marius himself, for his Cimbric victory?. 
 
 But before we close the account of the memo- 
 rable events of this year, we must not omit the 
 mention of one, which distinguished it afterwards 
 as a particular era in the annals of Rome, the birth 
 of Octavius, surnamed Augustus, which happened 
 on the twenty-third of September. Velleius calls 
 quam legari nisi reipublicoe causa — quod quideni genus 
 legationis ego consul, qiianquam ad commoduni senatus 
 pertinere videatur, tamcn adprobante senatu frequentis- 
 simo, nisi mibi levis tribunus plebis tum intcrcessisset, 
 Bustulissem : minui tamen tempus, et quod erat infini- 
 tum, annuum feci. — De Leg. iii. 8. 
 
 ' Plutarcb. in LucuU. 
 
 « Ibid. 
 
 " Cum victor a Slithridatico bello revertisset, ininiico- 
 nim calumnia triennio tardius, quam debuerat, triumph- 
 avit. Nos enim consules introduximus psene in urbem 
 currum clarissinii viri. — Academ. ii. 1. 
 
 o Plutarcb. in LucuU. 
 
 P Quo consule referente, primum decern dierum suppli- 
 catio decreta Cn. Pompeio Mitbridate interfecto ; cujus 
 Bententia primum duplicata est supplicatio consularis. — 
 De Provinc. Consular. 11. 
 
 it an accession of glory to Cicero's consulship': 
 but it excites speculations rather of a different sort ; 
 on the inscrutable methods of Providence, and the 
 short-sighted i)olicy of man : that in the moment 
 when Piome was preserved from destruction, and 
 its liberty thought to be established more firmly 
 tlian ever, an infant should be tlirown into the 
 world, who, within the cour.sc of twenty years, 
 effected what Catiline had attempted, and destroyed 
 both Cicero and the republic. If Rome could have 
 been saved by human counsel, it would have been 
 saved by the skill of Cicero : but its destiny was 
 now approaching : for governments, like natural 
 bodies, have, with the principles of their preserva- 
 tion, the seeds of ruin also essentially mixed in their 
 constitution, which, after a certain period, begin 
 to operate and exert themselves to the dissolution 
 of the vital fi-ame. These seeds had long been 
 fermenting in the bowels of the republic; when 
 Octavius came, peculiarly formed by nature and 
 instructed by art, to quicken their operation, and 
 exalt them to their maturity. 
 
 Cicero's administration was now at an end, and 
 nothing remained but to resign the consulship, 
 according to custom, in an assembly of the people, 
 and to take the usual oath, of his having discharged 
 it with fidelity. This was generally accompanied 
 with a speech from the expiring consul ; and after 
 such a year, and from such a speaker, the city was 
 in no small expectation of what Cicero would say 
 to them : but ISIetellus, one of the new tribunes, 
 who affected commonly to open their magistracy by 
 some remarkable act, as a specimen of the measures 
 which they intended to pursue, resolved to disap- 
 point both the orator and the audience : for when 
 Cicero had mounted the rostra, and was ready to 
 perform this last act of his office, the tribune would 
 not suffer him to speak, or to do anything more, 
 than barely take the oath ; declaring, that he, who 
 had put citizens to death unheard, ought not to be 
 permitted to speak for himself : upon which Cicero, 
 who was never at a loss, instead of pronouncing 
 the ordinary form of the oath, exalting the tone of 
 his voice, swore out aloud, so as all the people 
 might hear him, that he had saved the repubUc and 
 the city from ruin ; which the multitude below 
 confirmed with an universal shout, and with one 
 voice cried out, that what he had sworn was true''. 
 Thus the intended affront was turned, by his pre- 
 sence of mind, to his greater honour ; and he was 
 conducted from the forum to his house, with all pos- 
 sible demonstrations of respect by the whole city. 
 
 q Consulatui Ciceronis non mediocre adjocit decus, nalus 
 eo anno D. Augustus.— Veil. ii. 36 ; Suet. c. 5 ; Die, p. 590. 
 
 r Ego ciun in concione, abiens magistratu, dicere a tri- 
 buno plebis probiberer, quae constitueram : cumque is 
 mibi, tantummodo ut jurarem, permitteret, sine ulla 
 dubitatione juravi, rempublicam atque banc lu-bem mea 
 unius opera esse salvam. Mibi populus Romanus uni- 
 versus non unius diei gratulationeni, sed a;ternitatem 
 immortalifatemque donavit, cum meum juhjiu-andum tale 
 atque tantum" juratus ipse una voce et consensu approba- 
 vit. Quo quidem tempore is nieus domum fuit e foro 
 reditus, ut nemo, nisi qui mecum csset, civium esse in 
 nunicro videretur.— In Pison. 3. 
 
 Cum ille mibi nibil nisi ut jurarem permitteret, mapia 
 voce juravi verissimum pulcherrimumque jusjurandum : 
 quod populus item magna voce me vere jurassc juravi t.— 
 Ep. Fam. v. 2. 
 
 Etenim pauUo ante in concione dixerat, ei, qui m alios 
 animadvertisset indicta causa, dicendi ipsi potestatem 
 licii non oportere. — Ibid.
 
 64 
 
 THE HISTORY OF TIIK LIFK OF 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 (Cicero bcinR now reduced to the condition of 
 
 a private semilor, was to take his place on that 
 
 venerahh? bench ot'consulars, wlio were 
 
 A. URB. C!)l. justly reckoned the first citizens of the 
 
 cic. 45. republic. They delivered their opinions 
 
 ™^- the first always in the senate ; and 
 
 D. .niNius commonly determined the opinions of 
 
 L^iciNirs *^'^ ''^**' '• *^'" "^ *-'^^y '^"'^ passed 
 MUBKNA. through all the public offices, and been 
 
 conversant in every branch of the 
 administration, so their experience gave them great 
 authority in all debates ; and having little or nothing 
 farther to expect for themselves, they were esteemed 
 not only the most knowing, but, generally speaking, 
 the most disinterested, of all the other senators, 
 and to have no other view in their deliberations, 
 but the peace and prosperity of the rei)ublic. 
 
 This was a station exactly suited to Cicero's 
 temper and wishes ; he desired no foreign govern- 
 ments, or command of armies ; his province was 
 the senate and the forum ; to guard, as it were, the 
 vitals of the empire, and to direct all its councils 
 to their proper end, the general good ; and in this 
 advanced post of a consular senator, as in a watch- 
 tower of the state, to observe each threatening 
 cloud and rising storm, and give the alarm to his 
 fellow-citizens from what quarter it was coming, 
 and by what means its effects might be prevented*. 
 This, as he frequently intimates, was the only glory 
 that he sought, the comfort with which he flattered 
 himself, that after a life of ambition and fatigue, 
 and a course of faithful services to the republic, he 
 should enjoy a quiet and secure old age, beloved 
 and honoured by his countrymen, as the constant 
 champion and defender of all their rights and 
 liberties. But he soon found himself mistaken, 
 and before he had quitted his office, began to feel 
 the weight of that envy, which is the certain fruit 
 of illustrious merit : for the vigour of his consulship 
 had raised such a zeal and union of all the honesc 
 in the defence of the laws, that till this spirit could 
 be broken, or subside again, it was in vain for the 
 ambitious to aim at any power, but through the 
 ordinary forms of the constitution; especially while 
 he, who was the soul of that union, continued to 
 flourish in full credit at the head of the senate. 
 He was now, therefore, the common mark, not only 
 of all the factious, against whom he had declared 
 perpetual war, but of another party not less dan- 
 gerous, the envious too ; whose united spleen never 
 left pursuing him from this moment, till they had 
 driven him out of that city, which he had so lately 
 preserved. 
 
 The tribune Metellus began the attack : a fit 
 leader for the purpose ; who, from the nobility of 
 his birth, and the authority of his office, was the 
 most likely to stir up some ill humour against him, 
 by insulting and reviling him in all his harangues, 
 for putting citizens to death without a trial ; in all 
 which he was strenuously supported by Caesar, who 
 pushed him on likewise to the promulgation of 
 several pestilent laws, which gave great disturbance 
 to the senate. Cicero had no inclination to enter 
 
 » Idcirco in hac custodia et tanquam in specula collocati 
 Bumus, ut vacuum omni metu populum Romanum nostra 
 vigilia et prospicientia redderemus.— Phil. vii. 7. 
 
 into a contest with the tribune, but took some pains, 
 to make up the matter with him by the intcrpo- 
 .sition of the women ; particularly of Claudia, the 
 wife of his brother Metellus, and of their sister 
 Mucia, the wife of Pompcy : he enq)loycd also 
 several common friends to per.suade him to be 
 quiet, and desist from his rashness ; Ijut his answer 
 was, thiit he was too far engaged, and had put it 
 out of his ])owcr'' : so that Cicero had nothing left, 
 but to exert all his vigour and eloquence to repel 
 the insults of this petulant magistrate. 
 
 Ca;sar, at the same time, was attacking Catulus 
 with no less violence; and being now in ])ossession 
 of the pra;torship, made it the first act of his office 
 to call him to an account for embezzling the public 
 money in rebuilding the capitol ; and proposed also 
 a law, to efface his name from the fabric, and grant 
 the commission for finishing what remained to 
 l'om))ey : but the senate bestirred themselves so 
 warmly in tiie cause, that Caesar was obliged to 
 drop if^. This experiment convinced the two 
 magistrates, that it was not ])ossible for them to 
 make head against the authority of the senate, 
 without the help of Pompey, whom they resolved, 
 therefore, by all the arts of address and flattery, to 
 draw into their measures. With this view Metellus 
 published a law, to call him home with his army, 
 in order to settle the state, and quiet the public 
 disorders raised by the temerity of Cicero"* : for by 
 throwing all power into his hands, they lioped to 
 come in for a share of it with him, or to embroil 
 him at least with the senate, by exciting mutual 
 jealousies between them : but their law was thought 
 to be of so dangerous a tendency, that the senate 
 changed their habit upon it, as in the case of a 
 public calamity ; and by the help of some of the 
 tribunes, particularly of Cato, resolved to oppose 
 it to the utmost of their power : so that as soon as 
 Metellus began to read it to the people, Cato 
 snatched it away from him ; and when he proceeded 
 still to pronounce it by heart, Minucius, another 
 tribune, stopped his mouth with his hand. This 
 threw the assembly into confusion, and raised great 
 commotions in the city ; till the senate, finding 
 themselves supported by the better sort of all ranks, 
 came to a new and vigorous resolution, of suspend- 
 ing both Caesar and Metellus from the execution of 
 their offices^. 
 
 Caesar resolved at first to act in defiance of them ; 
 but finding a strong force prepared to control him, 
 thought it more advisable to retire, and reserve the 
 trial of arms, till he was better provided for it : he 
 shut himself up therefore in his house, where, by a 
 prudent and submissive behaviour, he soon made 
 his peace, and got the decree of their suspension 
 reversed f. But Metellus, as it was concerted pro- 
 bably between them, fled away to his brother 
 Pompey g, that by misrepresenting the state of 
 
 b Quibus ille respondit, sibi non esse integriimt — Ep. 
 Fam. V. 2. 
 
 <: Sueton. J. Cajs. 15; Dio, 1. xxxvii. p. 49. 
 
 d Uio, ib. ; Plutarch, in Cic, 
 
 e Donee ambo administratione reipublicae decreto pa- 
 trum summoverentur. — Sueton. J. Caes. IG. 
 
 f Ut comperit paratos, qui vi ac per arma prohiberent, 
 dimissis lictoribus, abjectaque prsete.xta, domum clam 
 rcfiigit, pro conditione teniporum quieturus — quod cum 
 praeter opinionem evenisset, senatus — accitum in curiam 
 et amplissimis verbis collaudatum, in intagrum restituit, 
 inducto priore decreto. — Sueton. ibid. 
 
 ( Plutarch, in Cicer.
 
 ISrARCUS TULLIUS CU'EIIO. 
 
 C5 
 
 things at home, and offering everything on tlie 
 part of the people, he might instil into him some 
 prejudices against the immoderate power of Cicero 
 and the senate, and engage him, if possible, to 
 declare for the popular interest. Cicero, in the 
 meanwhile, published an invective oration against 
 Metellus, which is mentioned in his epistles under 
 the title of Metellina'': it was sj)oken in the senate, 
 in answer to a speech which INIetellus had made to 
 the people, and is often cited by Quintilian and 
 others', as extant in their time. 
 
 The senate having gained this victory over Caesar 
 and Metellus, by obliging the one to submit, the 
 other to leave the city ; Q. Metellus Celer, who 
 commanded in Cisalpine Gaul, wrote a peevish and 
 complaining letter to his friend Cicero, upon their 
 treating his brother the tribune so severely : to 
 which Cicero answered with that freedom, which a 
 consciousness of integrity naturally dictates, yet 
 with all that humanity which the sincerest friendship 
 inspires ; as the reader will observe from the letter 
 itself, which affords many instructive hints both 
 historical and moral. 
 
 M. T. Cicero to Q. Metellus Celer, Proconsul, 
 " You write me word, that considering our mu- 
 tual affection and late reconciliation, you never 
 imagined, that you should be made the subject of 
 public jest and ridicule by me. I do not well under- 
 stand what you mean ; yet guess that you have 
 been told, that, when I was speaking one day in 
 the senate of many who were sorry for my having 
 preserved the republic, I said, that certain relations 
 of yours, to whom you could refuse nothing, had 
 prevailed with you to suppress what you had pre- 
 pared to say in the senate in praise of me : when I 
 said this, I added, that in the affair of saving the 
 state I had divided the task with you in such a 
 manner, that I was to secure the city from intestine 
 dangers, you to defend Italy from the open arms 
 and secret plots of our enemies ; but that this glo- 
 rious partnership had been broken by your friends, 
 who were afraid of your making me the least return 
 for the greatest honours and services which you 
 had received from me. In the same discourse, 
 when I was describing the expectation which I had 
 conceived of your speech, and how much I was 
 disappointed by it, it seemed to divert the house, 
 and a moderate laugh ensued ; not upon you, but 
 on my mistake, and the frank and ingenuous con- 
 fession of my desire to be praised by you. Now 
 in this, it must needs be owned, that nothing could 
 be said more honourably towards you, when, in the 
 most shining and illustrious part of my life, I 
 wanted still to have the testimony of your commen- 
 dation. As to what you say of our mutual affection, 
 I do not know what you reckon mutual in friend- 
 ship, but I take it to be this ; when we repay the 
 same good offices which we receive. Should I tell 
 you then, that I gave up my province for your sake, 
 you might justly suspect my sincerity : it suited 
 my temper and circumstances, and I find more and 
 more reason every day to be pleased with it : but 
 this I can tell you, that I no sooner resigned it in 
 an assembly of the people, than I began to contrive 
 how to throw it into your hands. I say nothing 
 
 ^ In illam orationem Mctellinain addidi quaedam ; liber 
 tibi mittetur.— Ad Att. 1. 13. 
 » Q,uint. 1. ix. 3 ; Aul. GcU. xviii. 7. 
 
 about the manner of drawing your lots ; but would 
 have you only believe, that there was notliing done 
 in it by my colleague without my privity. Fray 
 recollect what followed ; liow quickly I assembled 
 the senate after your allotment, how much I said 
 in favour of you, when you yourself told me, that 
 tny speech was not only honourable to you, but 
 even injurious to your colleagues. Then as to the 
 decree which passed that day in the senate, it is 
 drawn in such a strain, that as long as it subsists, 
 my good offices to you can never be a secret. 
 After your departure, I desire you also to recollect 
 what I did for you in tlie senate, what I said of 
 you to the people, what I wrote to you myself; 
 and when you have laid all these things together, 
 I leave it to you to judge, whether at your last 
 coming to Rome you made a suitable return to 
 them. You mention a reconciliation between us ; 
 but I do not comprehend how a friendship can be 
 said to be reconciled, which was never interrupted. 
 As to what you write, that your brother ought not 
 to have beeii treated by me so roiighly for a word : 
 in the first place, I beg of you to believe, that I 
 am exceedingly pleased with that affectionate and 
 fraternal disposition of yours, so full of humanity 
 and piety ; and in the second, to forgive me if in 
 any case I have acted against your brother, for the 
 service of the republic, to which no man can be a 
 warmer friend than myself : but if I have been 
 acting only on the defensive, against his most cruel 
 attacks, you may think yourself well used, that I 
 have never yet troubled you with any complaints 
 against him. As soon as I found that he was pre- 
 paring to turn the whole force of his tribunate to 
 my destruction, I applied myself to your wife 
 Claudia, and your sister Mucia, whose zeal for my 
 service I had often experienced, on the account of 
 my familiarity with Pompey, to dissuade him from 
 that outrage ; but he, as I am sure you have heard, 
 on the last day of the year put such an affront 
 upon me when consul, and after having saved 
 the state, as had never been offered to any magis- 
 trate the most traitorously affected, by depriving 
 me of the liberty of speaking to the people upon 
 laying down my office. But his insult turned only 
 to my greater honour : for when he would not suffer 
 me to do anything more than swear, I swore with 
 a loud voice the truest, as well as the noblest of all 
 oaths ; while the people with acclamations swore 
 likewise, that my oath was true. After so signal 
 an injury, I sent to him the very same day some of 
 our common friends, to press him to desist from 
 his resolution of pursuing me : but his answer was, 
 that it was not then in his power : for he had said 
 a few days before in a speech to the people, that 
 he who had punished others without a hearing, 
 ought not to be suffered to speak for himself. 
 Worthy patriot, and excellent citizen ! to adjudge 
 the man who had preserved the senate from a mas- 
 sacre, the city from fire, and Italy from a war, to 
 the same punishment which the senate, with the 
 consent of all honest men, had inflicted on the 
 authors of those horrid attempts. I withstood your 
 brother, therefore, to his face ; and on the first of 
 January, in a debate upon the republic, handled 
 him in such a manner, as to make him sensible, 
 that he had to do with a man of courage and con- 
 stancy. Two days after, when he began agam to 
 harangue, in every three words he named and 
 threatened me : nor had he anything so much at 
 F
 
 C6 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 heart, as to effect my ruin at any rate ; not by the 
 legal way of trial, or judicial proceedin;^, but by 
 dint of force and violence. If I had not resisted 
 his rashness with firmness and courage, who would 
 not have tlioujj;hf , that the vigour of my (;onsulshi]) 
 had been owing to chance, rather than to virtue ? 
 If you have not been informed, tliat your brother 
 attemjjted all this against me, be assured that he 
 concealed from you the most material j)art : l)ut if 
 he told you anything of it, you ought to coinnietid 
 my temper and patience, for not expostulating witii 
 you about it : but since you must now be sensible, 
 that my quarrel to your brother was not, as you 
 write, for a word, but a most determined and spite- 
 ful design to ruin me, pray observe my humanity, 
 if it may be called by that name, and is not rather, 
 after so flagrant an outrage, a base remissness and 
 abjection of mind. I never proposed anything 
 against your brother, when there was any question 
 about him in the senate ; but without rising from 
 my seat, assented always to those who were for 
 treating him the most favourably. I will add farther, 
 what I ought not indeed to have been concerned 
 about, yet I was not displeased to see it done, and 
 even assisted to get it done ; I mean, the procuring 
 a decree for the relief of my enemy, because he 
 was your brother. 1 did hot, therefore, attack 
 your brother, but defend myself only against him ; 
 nor has my friendship to you ever been variable, 
 as you write, but firm and constant, so as to remain 
 still the same when it was even deserted and sUghted 
 by you. And at this very time, when you almost 
 threaten me in your letter, I give you this answer, 
 that I not only forgive, but highly applaud your 
 grief ; for I know, from what I feel within myself, 
 how great the force is of fraternal love : but I beg 
 of you also to judge with the same equity of my 
 cause ; and if, without any ground, I have been 
 cruelly and barbarously attacked by your friends, 
 to allow that I ought not only not to yield to them, 
 but on such an occasion to expect the help even of 
 j'ou and your array also against them. I was 
 always desirous to have you for my friend, and have 
 taken pains to convince you how sincerely I am 
 yours : I am still of the same mind, and shall con- 
 tinue in it as long as you please ; and, for the love 
 of you, will sooner cease to hate your brother, 
 than, out of resentment to him, give any shock — 
 to the friendship which subsists between us. 
 Adieu i*." 
 
 Cicero, upon the expiration of his consulship, 
 took care to send a particular account of his whole 
 administration to Tompey ; in hopes to prevent 
 any wrong impression there from the calumnies of 
 his enemies, and to draw from him some public 
 declaration in praise of what he had been doing. 
 But Pompey, being informed by Metellus and 
 Csesar of the ill humour which was rising against 
 Cicero in Rome, answered him with great cold- 
 ness, and, instead of paying him any compli- 
 ment, took no notice at all of what had passed 
 in the affair of Catiline : upon which Cicero 
 expostulates with him in the following letter with 
 some little resentment, yet so as not to irritate 
 a man of the first authority in the republic, and 
 to whom all parties were forwardly paying their 
 court. 
 
 k Ep. Fam. V. 2. 
 
 AT. 
 
 T. Cicero to Cn. Pompciiis the Great, 
 Emperor K 
 
 " 1 had an incredible pleasure, in common with 
 all jieople, from the public letter which you sent : 
 for you gave us in it that assurance of peace 
 which, from my confidence in you alone, I had 
 always been ))romising. I must tell you, however, 
 that your old enemies, but new friends, are 
 extremely shocked and disappointed at it. As 
 to the particular letter which you sent to me, 
 though it brought me so slight an intimation of 
 your friendship, yet it was very agreeable : for 
 nothing is apt to give me so much satisfaction, 
 as the consciousness of my services to my friends ; 
 and if at any time tliey are not requited as they 
 ought to be, I am always content that the balance 
 of the account should rest on my side. I make 
 no doubt, however, but that, if the distinguished 
 zeal, which I have always shown for your interests, 
 has not yet sufficiently recommended me to you, 
 the public interest at least will conciliate and 
 xmite us. But that you may not be at a loss to 
 know what it was, which I expected to find in your 
 letter, I will tell it you frankly, as my own nature 
 and our friendship require. I expected, out of regard 
 both to the republic and to our familiarity, to have 
 had some compliment or congratulation from you 
 on what I lately acted in my consulship ; which 
 you omitted, I imagine, for fear of giving offence 
 to certain persons : but I would have you to know, 
 that the things, which I have been doing for the 
 safety of my country, are applauded by the testi- 
 mony and judgment of the whole earth ; and when 
 you come amongst us, you will find them done 
 with so much prudence and greatness of mind, 
 that you, who are much superior to Scipio, will 
 admit me, who am not much inferior to Laelius, to 
 a share both of your public councils and private 
 friendship. Adieu"". 
 
 Soon after Catiline's defeat, a fresh inquiry was 
 set on foot at Rome against the rest of his accom- 
 plices, upon the information of one L. Vettius, 
 who, among others, impeached J. Csesar before 
 Novius iNiger the quaestor, as Q. Curius also did 
 in the senate ; where, for the secret intelligence, 
 which he had given very early to Cicero, he claimed 
 the reward which had been offered to the first dis- 
 
 1 The word emperor signified nothing more in its original 
 use, than the general or chief commander oi an army: 
 [Cic. Ue Orat. i. 43.] in which sense it belonged equally to 
 all who had supreme command in any part of the empire, 
 and was never used as a peculiar title. But after a vic- 
 tory, in which some considerable advantage was gained, 
 and great numbers of the enemy slain, the soldiers, by a 
 universal acclamation, used to salute their general in the 
 field with the appellation of emperor ,- ascribing as it 
 were the sole merit of the action to his auspices and con- 
 duct. This became a title of honour, of which all com- 
 manders were proud, as being the effect of success and 
 victory, and won by their proper valour ; and it was 
 always the first and necessary step towards a triumph. 
 On these occasions, therefore, the title of emperor waa 
 constantly assumed, and given to generals in all acts and 
 letters, both public and private, but was enjoyed by them 
 no longer than the commission lasted, by which tlioy had 
 obtained it ; that is, to the time of their return and en- 
 trance into the city, from which moment their command 
 and title expired together of course, and thoy rufiUUlbd 
 their civil character, and became private citizens. 
 
 n» Ep. Fam. v. 7.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 67 
 
 coverer of the plot. He affirmed, that what he 
 deposed against Caesar, was told to him by Catiline 
 himself; and Vettius offered to produce a letter to 
 Catiline in Caesar's own hand. Caesar found some 
 difficulty to repel so bold an accusation, and was 
 forced to implore the aid and testimony of Cicero, 
 to prove that he also had given early information of 
 Catiline's designs : but by his vigour and interest 
 in the city, he obtained a full revenge at last upon 
 his accusers ; for he deprived Curius of the reward, 
 and got Vettius committed to prison, after he had 
 been miserably handled, and almost killed by the 
 mob ; nor content with this, he imprisoned the 
 quaestor Novius too, for suffering a superior magis- 
 trate 10 be arraigned before him". 
 
 Several others, however, of considerable i-ank 
 were found guilty and banished ; some of them not 
 appearing to their citation, others after a trial ; 
 viz. M. Porcius Lecca, C. Cornelius, L. Vargun- 
 teius, Servius Sylla, and P. Autronius, &c. The 
 last of these, who lost the consulship four years 
 before upon a conviction of bribery, had been 
 Cicero's school-fellow, and colleague in the quses- 
 torship ; and solicited him with many tears to 
 undertake his defence : but Cicero not only 
 refused to defend him, but, from the knowledge of 
 his guilt, appeared as a witness against him°. 
 
 P. Sylla also, Autronius's partner and fellow- 
 sufferer in the cause of bribery, was now tried for 
 conspiring twice with Catiline ; once, when the 
 plot proved abortive, soon after his former trial ; 
 and a second time, in Cicero's consulship : he was 
 defended in the first by Hortensius, in the last by 
 Cicero. The prosecutor was Torquatus, the son 
 of his former accuser, a young nobleman of great 
 prirts and spirit ; who ambitious of the triumph of 
 ruining an enemy, and fearing that Cicero would 
 snatch it from him, turned his raillery against 
 Cicero instead of Sylla ; and to take off the 
 influence of his authority, treated his character 
 with great petulance, and employed every topic 
 which could raise an odium and envy upon him : 
 he called him a king, who assumed a power to 
 save or destroy, just as he thought fit ; said, that 
 he was the third foreign king who had reigned in 
 Rome after Numa and Tarquinius ; and that Sylla 
 would have run away and never stood a trial, if he 
 had not undertaken his cause : whenever he men- 
 tioned the plot and the danger of it, it was with so low 
 and feeble a voice, that none but the judges covild 
 hear him ; but when he spoke of the prison and the 
 death of the conspirators, he uttered it iu so loud 
 and lamentable a strain, as to make the whole forum 
 ring with it p. 
 
 Cicero, therefore, in his reply, was put to the 
 trouble of defending himself, as well as his client. 
 " As to Torquatus's calling him foreigner, on the 
 account of his being born in one of the corporate 
 towns of Italy, he owns it; and in that town, he 
 
 n Cum implorato Ciceronis testimonio, quaedam se de 
 conjiiratione ultro detulisse docuisset, ne Curio praemia 
 liarentur, effecit. Vettium, pro rostris in concione paene 
 discerptuni, in oarcerem conjecit. Eodem Novium quae- 
 stcirem, quod compellari apud se niajorem potestatem 
 passus esset.— Sucton. Jul. Cees. 17. 
 
 ° Veniebat ad mo, et ssepe veniebat Autronius multis 
 cum lachrymis, supplex, ut se defendercm : — So nieum 
 condiscipulum in pueritia, familiarem in adolescentia, 
 coUcgam in quastura commemorabat fuis8C.>— Pro Sylla, 
 vi. 30. 
 
 P Ibid. vil. 10. 
 
 says, whence the republic had been twice preserved 
 from ruin ; and was glad that he had nothing to 
 reproach him with, but what affected not ouly the 
 greatest part, but the greatest men of the city ; 
 Curius, Coruncanius, Cato, Marius, &c. but since 
 he had a mind to be witty, and would needs make 
 him a foreigner, why did not he call him a foreign 
 consul, rather than a king; for that would have 
 been much more wonderful, since foreigners had 
 been kings, but never consuls, of Rome. He 
 admonishes him, who was now in the course of his 
 preferment, not to be so free of giving that title to 
 citizens, lest he should one day feel the resentment 
 and power of such foreigners : that if the patricians 
 were so proud, as to treat him and the judges upon 
 the bench as foreigners, yet Torquatus had no 
 right to do it, whose mother was of Asculumi. 
 Do not call me, then, foreigner any more, says he, 
 lest it turn upon yourself ; nor a king, lest you be 
 laughed at ; unless you think it kingly, to live so 
 as not to be a slave, not only to any man, but 
 even to any appetite ; to contemn all sensual 
 pleasures ; to covet no man's gold or silver, or 
 anything else ; to speak one's mind freely in the 
 senate ; to consult the good, rather than the 
 humour of the people ; to give way to none, but 
 to withstand many : if you take this to be kingly, 
 I confess myself a king : but if the insolence of 
 my power, if my dominion, if any proud or arrogant 
 saying of mine provokes you, why do not you urge 
 me with that, rather than the envy of a name, and 
 the contumely of a groundless calumny.'" — He 
 proceeds to show, " that his kingdom, if it must 
 be called so, was of so laborious a kind, that there 
 was not a man in Rome who would be content to 
 take his place. '^" He puts him in mind, " that 
 he was disposed to indulge and bear with his pert- 
 ness, out of regard to his youth and to his father — 
 though no man had ever thrown the slightest 
 aspersion upon him, without being chastised for 
 it — but that he had no mind to fall upon one whom 
 he could so easily vanquish ; who had neither 
 strength, nor age, nor experience enough for him 
 to contend with : he advised him however not to 
 abuse his patience much longer, lest he should be 
 tempted at last to draw out the stings of his speech 
 against him'." As to the merits of the cause, 
 though there was no positive proof, yet there were 
 many strong presumptions against Sylla, with 
 which his adversary hoped to oppress him : but 
 Cicero endeavoured to confute them, by appealing 
 " to the tenor and character of his life ; protesting 
 in the strongest terms, that he, who had been the 
 searcher and detector of the plot, and had taken 
 such pains to get intelligence of the whole extent 
 of it, had never met with the least hint or suspicion 
 of Sylla's name in it ; and that he had no other 
 motive for defending him, but a pure regard to 
 justice ; and as he had refused to defend others, 
 nay, had given evidence against them from the 
 knowledge of their guilt, so he had undertaken 
 Sylla's defence, through a persuasion of his inno- 
 cence'." Torquatus, for want of direct proof, 
 threatened to examine Sylla's slaves by torture : 
 this was sometimes practised upon the demand of 
 the prosecutor ; but Cicero observes upon it, 
 " that the effect of those torments was governed 
 always by the c onstitution of the patien t, and the 
 
 q Fro Sylla, vii. 8. ■• Ibid. ». 
 
 » Ibid. 16. ' Ibid. 3". 
 
 F 3
 
 C8 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 firmness of his mind and body ; by the will and 
 pleasure of the torturer, and tlie hopes and fears 
 of the tortured ; and that in moments of so much 
 anguish there eould be no room for truth :" he bids 
 them " put Sylla's life to the rack, and examine 
 that with rigour; whether there was any hidden lust, 
 any latent treason, any cruelty, any audaciousness 
 in it : that there coulil he no mistake in the cause, 
 if the voice of his per|)etual life, which ought to be 
 of the greatest weight, was but attended to"." 
 Sylla was acquitted ; but Cicero had no great joy 
 from his victory, or comfort in preserving such a 
 citizen, who lived afterwards in great confidence 
 with Ca;sar, and commanded his right wing in the 
 battle of Pharsalia'' ; and served him afterwards 
 in his power, as he had before served his Kinsman 
 Sylla, in managing his confiscations and the sale of 
 the forfeited estates. 
 
 About the time of this trial Cicero bought a 
 house of M. Crassus, on the Palatine hill, adjoin- 
 ing to that in which he had always lived with his 
 father, and which he is now supposed to have 
 given up to his brother Quintus. The house cost 
 him near thirty thousand pounds, and seems to 
 have been one of the noblest in Rome ; it was 
 built about thirty years before by the famous 
 tribune, M. Livius Drusus ; on which occasion we 
 are told, that when the architect promised to build 
 it for him iu such a manner, that none of his 
 neighbours should overlook him : but if you have 
 any skill, replied Drusus, contrive it rather so, 
 that all the world may see what I am doing y. It 
 was situated in the most conspicuous part of the 
 city, near to the centre of all business, overlooking 
 the forum and the rostra ; and what made it the 
 more splendid, was its being joined to a portico or 
 colonnade, called by the name of Catulus, who 
 built it out of the Cimbric spoils, on that area 
 where Flaccus formerly lived, whose house was 
 demolished by public authority for his seditious 
 practices with C. Gracchus^. In this purchase 
 he followed the rule which he recommends in his 
 Offices, with regard to the habitation of a principal 
 citizen ; that his dignity should be adorned by his 
 house, but not derived from it": where he men- 
 tions several instances of great men, who by the 
 splendour of their houses on this very hill, which 
 were constantly striking the eyes of the people, 
 and imprinting a notion of their magnificence, 
 made their way the more easily to the highest 
 honours of the republic. 
 
 A. Gellius tells us, that having resolved to buy 
 the house, and wanting money to pay for it, he 
 borrowed it privately of his client Sylla, when he 
 was under prosecution ; but the story taking wind, 
 and being charged upon him, he denied both the 
 borrowing and design of purchasing, yet soon after 
 bought the house ; and when he was reproached 
 
 " Pro Sylla, vii. 28. 
 
 ^ Vid. Caes. Comment, de Belle Civili. 
 
 Y Cum promitteret ei architectus, ita se fcdificaturum, 
 ut libera a conspoctu, immunis ab omnibus arbitris esset. 
 — Tu vero, inquit.sl quid in te artis est, ita compone 
 domum meam, ut quicquid agam ab omnibus perspici 
 possit.— Veil. Pat. ii. 14 ; Ep. Fam. v. 6. 
 
 ^ M. Flaccus, quia cum Graccho contra reipublicsc sa- 
 lutem fecerat, et senatus sententia est Interfectus, et 
 domua ejus eversa est : in qua porticum post aliquanto Q. 
 Catulus de manubiis Cimbricis fecit. — Pro Domo, 38. 
 
 » Omanda est enim dignitas domo, non ex domo tota 
 qusrcuda.— Dc Offic. i. 39. 
 
 with the denial of it, replied only laughing, that 
 they must be fools to imagine, that when he had 
 resolved to buy, he would raise competitors of the 
 purchase by proclaiming it ''. 
 
 The story was taken probably from some of the 
 spurious collections of Cicero's Jests ; which were 
 handed about not only after his death, but even 
 in his lifetime, as he often complains to his 
 friends'^ : for it is certain, that there could be 
 nothing dishonourable in the purchase, since it was 
 transacted so publicly, that before it was even con- 
 cluded, one of his friends congratulated him upon 
 it by letter from Macedonia"*. The truth is, and 
 what he himself does not dissemble, that he bor- 
 rowed part of the money to pay for it, at si.x per 
 cent. ; and says merrily upon it, that he was now 
 so plunged in debt, as to be ready for a plot, but 
 that the conspirators would not trust him". It 
 raised indeed some censure upon his vanity, for 
 purchasing so expensive a house with borrowed 
 money : but Messala, the consul, happening soon 
 after to buy Autronius's house at a greater price, 
 and with borrowed money too, it gave him some 
 l)leasure, that he could justify himself by the 
 example of so worthy a magistrate : by Messala's 
 purchase, says he, I am thought to have made a 
 good bargain ; and men begin to be convinced, 
 that we may use the wealth of our friends, in buy- 
 ing what contributes to our dignity'. 
 
 But the most remarkable event, which happened 
 in the end of this year, was the pollution of the 
 mysteries of the Bona Dea, or the Good Goddess, 
 by P. Clodius ; which, by an unhappy train of 
 consequences, not only involved Cicero in an 
 unexpected calamity, but seems to have given the 
 first blow towards the ruin of the republic. Clodius 
 was now quaestor, and by that means a senator ; 
 descended from the noblest family in Rome, in the 
 vigour of his age, of a graceful person, lively wit, 
 and flowing eloquence ; but with all the advantages 
 of nature, he had a mind incredibly vicious ; was 
 fierce, insolent, audacious, but above all, most 
 profligately wicked, and an open contemner of gods- 
 and men ; valuing nothing, that either nature or 
 the laws allowed ; nothing, but in proportion as it 
 was desperate and above the reach of other men ; 
 disdaining even honours in the common forms of 
 the republic ; nor relishing pleasures, but what 
 were impious, adiilterous, incestuous^. He had 
 
 b Aul. Gell. xii. 12. 
 
 c Ais enim, ut ego discesserim omnia omnium dicta, in 
 his etiam Sestiana in me conferri. Quid? tu id pateris? 
 nonne defendis ? nonne resistis ? &c. — Ep. Fam. vii. 32. 
 
 Sic audio Cassarem — si quod afferatur ad eum pro meo, 
 quod nieum non est, rejicere solere. — Ibid. ix. 16. 
 
 d Quod ad nie pridem scripseras, velle te bene evenire, 
 quod de Crasso domum cmeram — Enii earn ipsam domum 
 H. S. XXXV. aliquanto post tuam gratulationem. — Ep. 
 Fam. V. 6. 
 
 e Itaque scito, me nunc tantum liabere a-ris alieni, ut 
 cupiain conjurare, si quisquam recipiat. Sed partim me 
 cxcliidunt, &c. — Ibid. 
 
 f Ea emptione et nos bene emisse judicati siunus ; et 
 homines in telligere coeperunt, licere amicorum facultati* 
 bus in emendo ad dignitatem aliquam pervenire. — Ad 
 Att. i. 13. 
 
 S Exorta est ilia reipublicfe sacris, religionibus, aucto- 
 ritati vestra;, judiciis publicis funesta quaistura: in qua 
 idem iste deos, hominesque, pudorera, pudicitiam, sena- 
 tus auotoritatem, jus, fas, leges, judicia violavit, (Sec. — De- 
 Ilaruspic. Resp. 20. 
 
 Qui ita judicia poenamque contempserat, ut eum nihil'
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 G9 
 
 an intrigue with Caesar's wife Pompeia, who, 
 according to annual custom, was now celebrating 
 in her house those awful and mystic sacrifices of 
 the goddess, to which no male creature was ever 
 admitted, and where everything masculine was so 
 scrupulously excluded, that even pictures of that 
 sort were covered during the ceremony''. This 
 was a proper scene for Clodius's genius to act 
 upon ; an opportunity of daring, beyond what 
 man had ever dared before him : the thought of 
 mixing the impurity of his lusts with the sanctity 
 of these venerable rites flattered his imagination 
 so strongly, that he resolved to gain access to his 
 mistress in the very midst of her holy ministry. 
 With this view he dressed himself in a woman's 
 habit, and by the benefit of his smooth face, and 
 the introduction of one of the maids, who was 
 in the secret, hoped to pass without discovery : 
 but by some mistake between him and his guide, 
 he lost his way when he came within the house, 
 and fell in unluckily among the other female ser- 
 vants, who detecting him by his voice, alarmed 
 the whole company by their shrieks, to the great 
 amazement of the matrons, who presently threw a 
 veil over the sacred mysteries, while Clodius 
 found means to escape by the favour of some of 
 the damsels'. 
 
 The story was presently spread abroad, and 
 raised a general scandal and horror through the 
 •whole city : in the vulgar, for the profanation 
 of a religion held the most sacred of any in 
 Rome ; in the better sort, for its offence to good 
 manners, and the discipline of the republic. 
 Caesar put away his wife upon it ; and the honest 
 of all ranks were for pushing this advantage against 
 Clodius as far as it would go, in hopes to free 
 themselves by it of a citizen, who by this, as well 
 as other specimens of his audaciousness, seemed 
 born to create much disturbance to the state''. It 
 had been the constant belief of the populace, that 
 if a man should ever pry into these mysteries, he 
 would be instantly struck blind : but it was not 
 possible, as Cicero says, to know the truth of it 
 before, since no man, but Clodius, had ever ven- 
 tured upon the experiment : though it was now 
 found, as he tells him, that the blindness of the 
 eyes was converted to that of the mind'. 
 
 delectaret, quod aut per naturam fas esset, aut per leges 
 liceret.— Pro Mil. 16. 
 
 P. Clodius, homo nobilis, disertus, audax ; qui neque 
 dicendi, neque faciondi uUuni, nisi quern vellet, nosset 
 modum ; nialoruni propositorum executor accrrimus, in- 
 famis etiam sororis stupro, &c. — Veil. Pat. ii. 45. 
 
 •• ubi velari pictura jubetur, 
 
 Quaecunque alterius sexus imitata figurani est. 
 
 JuvEN. vi. 339. 
 Quod quidem sacrificium nemo ante P. Clodium in 
 
 omni memoria violavit quod fit per Virgines Vestales ; 
 
 fit pro populo Romano ; fit in ea domo, qure est in ira- 
 perio; fit incredibili ceremonia ; fit ei dea;, cujus ne 
 somen quidem viros scire fas est. — De Harusp. Resp. 17. 
 
 > P. Clodium, Appii filium, credo te audisse cum veste 
 xnuliebri deprehensum domi C. Ca;saris, cum pro populo 
 £eret, eumque per manus servulae servatum et eductuiu ; 
 rem esse insigni infamia. — AJ Att. i. 12. 
 
 '' Videbam, illud scelus tam jmportunum, audaciam 
 tarn immanem adolescentis, furentis, nobilis, vulnerati, 
 non posse arceri otii finibus: eruptunmi illud malum 
 aliquando, si impunitum fuisset, ad perniciem civitatis. — 
 De Harusp. Resp. 3. 
 
 ' Aut quod oculos, ut opinio illins relipionis est, ron 
 perdidisti. Q,uis enim ante te sacra ilia vii- iciens vidcrat, 
 
 coss. 
 M. puriu.s 
 
 The affair wjis soon brought before the senate, 
 where it was resolved to refer it to the college of 
 A. imn. m2. priests, who declared it to he an abo- 
 
 cic. 46. minable impiety ; upon which the 
 consuls were ordered to provide a law 
 for bringing Clodius to a trial for it 
 P'so. before the people"'. But Q. Fufius 
 
 M. VALERIAS Calenus, one of the tribunes, support- 
 MES.SALA. gj ^^ ^,j ^j^g Clodian faction, would 
 
 not permit the law to be offered to the suffrage of 
 the citizens. This raised a great ferment in the 
 city, while the senate adhered to their former reso- 
 lution, though the consul Piso used all his endea- 
 vours to divert them from it, and Clodius, in an 
 abject manner, threw liimself at the feet of every 
 senator ; yet, after a second debate in a full house, 
 there were fifteen only who voted on Clodius' side, 
 and four hundred directly against him ; so that a 
 fresh decree passed, to order the consuls to recom- 
 mend the law to the people with all their authority, 
 and that no other business should be done till it 
 was carried". But this being likely to produce 
 great disorders, Hortensius proposed an expedient, 
 which was accepted by both parties, that the tri- 
 bune Fufius should publish a law for the trial of 
 Clodius by the praetor, with a select bench of 
 judges. The only difference between the two laws 
 was, whether he should be tried by the people or 
 by particular judges : but this, says Cicero, was 
 everything. Hortensius was afraid lest he should 
 escape in the squabble without any trial, being 
 persuaded that no judges could absolve him, and 
 that a sword of lead, as he said, would destroy him ; 
 but the tribune knew that in such a trial there would 
 be room for intrigue, both in choosing and cor- 
 rupting the judges, which Cicero likewise foresaw 
 from the first ; and wished, therefore, to leave him 
 rather to the effect of that odium in which his cha- 
 racter then lay, than bring him to a trial where he 
 had any chance to escape". 
 
 Clodius's whole defence was, to prove himself 
 absent at the time of the fact ; for which purpose, 
 he produced men to swear that he was then at 
 ut quisquam poenam, quse sequeretur illud scelus, scire 
 posset ? — De Harusp. Resp. 18. 
 
 Poena omnis oculorum ad cscitatom mentis est con- 
 versa. — Pro Domo, 40. 
 
 «" Id sacrificium cum Virgines instaiuassent, mcn- 
 tionem a Q. Comificio in senatu factam — post rem ex 
 .S. C. ad Pontifices relatam ; idque ab eis nefas esse decre- 
 tum ; deinde ex S. C. consules rogationcm promulgasse : 
 uxori Casarem nimcium remisissc — In hac causa Piso, 
 amicitia P. Clodii ductus, operam dat, ut ea rogatio— 
 antiquetur, &c. — Ad Att. i. 13. 
 
 1 Senatus vocatur ; cum decornoretur frcquenti senatu, 
 contra pugnante Pisone, ad pedes omnium sigillatim 
 accedente Clodio, ut consules populum cohortarentur ad 
 rogationem accipiendam : homines ad xv. Curioni, nul- 
 lum S. C. facienti, assenserunt, ex altera parte facile cccc. 
 fuerunt.— Senatus decemebat, ut ante, quam rogatio lata 
 esset, ne quid ageretur. — Ibid. 14. 
 
 o Postea vero quam Hortensius excogitavit, ut legem de 
 religione Fufius tribunus plebis ferret : in qua nihil aliud 
 aconsulari rogatione differebat, nisi judicum genus, tin 
 eo autem erant omnia) pugn.avitque ut ita fierct ; quod ct 
 sibi et aliis persuaserat, nuUis ilium judicibus effugere 
 posse; contraxi vela, perspiciens inopi.-im judicum.— Hor- 
 tensius— non vidit illud, satius es.se ilium in infami.a ct 
 sordibus relinqui, quam infirmo judicio comniitti. Sed 
 ductus odio properavit rem deducerc in judicium, cum 
 ilium plumbeo gladio jugulatum iri tanicn diccret— A ma 
 tamen ab initio consilium Ilortensii repreheudcbatur.— Ad 
 Att. i. 10.
 
 70 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Interamna, about two or three days' journey from 
 the city. But Cicero being calhd upon to give his 
 testimony, deposed, that Clodius had been with 
 him that very mornins; at his liousc in Rome''. As 
 soon as Cicero ajipeared in tlic court, the Clodian 
 mob began to insult him with great rudeness ; but 
 the judges rose up, and received him with such 
 respect, that they j)rescntly secured liim from all 
 farther affronts''. Caesar, who was the most par- 
 tie\ilarly interested in the affair, being summoned 
 also to give evidence, declared, that he knew 
 nothing at all of the matter ; though his mother 
 Aurelia, and sister Julia, who were examined before 
 him, had given a jiunctual relation of the whole 
 fact : and being interrogated, how he came then to 
 part with his wife? he rej)lied, that all who belonged 
 to him ought to be free from suspicion as well as 
 guilt'. He saw very well how the thing was like 
 to turn, and had no mind to exasperate a man of 
 Clodius's character, who might be of good service 
 to him for the advancement of his future projects. 
 Plutarch says, that Cicero himself was urged on to 
 this act against his will, by the importunity of his 
 wife — a fierce, imperious dame, jealous of Clodius' 
 sister, whom she suspected of some design to get 
 Cicero from her, which by this step she hoped to 
 make desperate. The story does not seem impro- 
 bable ; for, before the trial, Cicero owns himself to 
 be growing every day more cool and indifferent 
 about it ; and in his railleries with Clodius after 
 it, touches upon the forward advances which his 
 sister had made towards him ; and at the very time 
 of giving his testimony, did it with no spirit, nor 
 said anything more, as he tells us, than what was 
 so well known that he could not avoid saying it^. 
 
 The judges seemed to act at first with great 
 gravity ; granted everything that was asked by the 
 prosecutors ; and demanded a guard to protect 
 them from the mob ; which the senate readily 
 ordered, with great commendation of their pru- 
 dence : but when it came to the issue, twenty-five 
 only condemned, while thirty-one absolved him. 
 Crassus is said to have been Clodius's chief mana- 
 ger in tampering with the judges, employing every 
 art and instrument of corruption as it suited the 
 different tempers of the men ;" and where money 
 would not do, offering even certain ladies and 
 young men of quality to their pleasure. Cicero 
 says, that a " more scandalous company of sharpers 
 never sat down at a gaming-table : infamous sena- 
 tors, beggarly knights, with a few honest men 
 among them, whom Clodius could not exclude ; 
 who, in a crew so unlike to themselves, sat with sad 
 and mournful faces, as if afraid of being infected 
 with the contagion of their infamy ; and that Catu- 
 lus, meeting one of them, asked him what they 
 meant by desiring a guard ; were they afraid of 
 
 P Plutarch, in Cic. ; Val. Max. viii. fl. 
 
 1 Me vero teste producto ; Credo te — audisse, qu£E con- 
 surrectiojudicum facta sit, nt me circumsteterint, &c. — 
 Ad Att. i. 16. 
 
 "■ Negavit se quidquam comperisse, quamvis et mater 
 Aurelia, et soror Julia, apud eosdem judices, omnia ex 
 fide retulissont : interrogatusque, cur igitur repudiassct 
 uxorem ? — Quoniam, inquit, meos tam suspicione quam 
 oriniine judico carere oportere. — Suet. J. Caes. 74. 
 
 s Nosmetipsi, qui Lycurgei a prineipio fuisscmus, quo- 
 tidie demitigamur. — Ad Att. i. 13. 
 
 Neque dixi quicquani pro testimonio, nisi quod erat ita 
 notura atque testatum, ut non poesem praeterire.— Ihid. 
 16. 
 
 being robbed of the money which Clodius had 
 given them ' .-' " 
 
 This transaction, however, gave a very serious 
 concern to Cicero, who laments " that the firm 
 and (juiet state of the republic which he had estab- 
 lished in his consulship, and which seemed to be 
 founded in the union of all good men, was now lost 
 and broken, if some deity did not interpose, by this 
 single judgment : if that,'' says he, " can be called 
 a judgment, for thirty of the most contemptible 
 scoundrels of Rome to violate all that is just and 
 sacred for the sake of money, and vote that to be 
 false which all the world knows to be true." As 
 he looked upon himself to be particidarly affronted 
 by a sentence given in flat contradiction to his tes- 
 timony, so he made it his business on all occasions 
 to display the iniquity of it, and to sting the several 
 actors in it with all the keenness of his raillery". 
 In a debate soon after in the senate, on the state of 
 tlie republic, taking occasion to fall ujjon this affair, 
 he " exhorted the fathers not to be discouraged for 
 having received one single wound, which was of 
 such a nature that it ought neither to be dissembled 
 nor to be feared ; for to fear it, was a meanness ; 
 and not to be sensible of it, a stupidity : that Len- 
 tulus was twice acquitted ; Catiline also twice; and 
 this man was the third, whom a bench of judges 
 had let loose upon the republic. But thou art 
 mistaken, Clodius," says he ; " the judges have not 
 reserved thee for the city, but for a prison : they 
 designed thee no kindness by keeping thee at 
 home, but to deprive thee of the benefit of an 
 exile. Wherefore, fathers, rouseyour usual vigour j 
 resume your dignity ; there subsists still the same 
 union among the honest : they have had, indeed, a 
 fresh subject of mortification, yet their courage is 
 not impaired by it : no new mischief has befallen 
 us ; but that only, which lay concealed, is now dis- 
 covered, and, by the trial of one desperate man, 
 many others are found to be as bad as he"." 
 
 Clodius, not caring to encounter Cicero by for- 
 mal speeches, chose to tease him with raillery, and 
 turn the debate into ridicule. " You are a fine 
 gentleman, indeed," says he, " and have been at 
 Baioe." " That's not so fine," replied Cicero, " as 
 to be caught at the mysteries of the goddess." 
 " But what," says he, " has a clown of Arpinum 
 to do at the hot wells.'" "Ask that friend of 
 yours," replied Cicero, " who had a month's mind 
 to your Arpinum clown ?." " You have bought a 
 
 ' Nosti Calvum — biduo per ununi servum, et eum ex 
 gladiatorio ludo, confecit totum negotium. Arcessivit ad 
 se, proniisit, intercessit, dedit. Jam vero (O dii boni, rem 
 perditani !) etiam noctus certarum mulierum, atque ado- 
 lescentulorum nobilium introductiones nonnullis judici- 
 bus pro mercedis cumulo fuerunt — xxv. judices ita fortes 
 fuerunt, ut summo proposito periculo vel perire malue- 
 rint, quam perdere omnia, xxxi. fuerunt, quos fames 
 magis quam fama commovcrit. Quorum Catulus cum 
 vidisset quendam ;— Quid vos, inquit, praesidium a nobis 
 postulabatis? an, ne nummi vobis eripercntur, timebatis ' 
 
 Maculosi senatores, nudi equitcs — pauci tanien boni 
 inerant, quos rcjectione fugaro ille non poterat; qui mcesti 
 inter sui dissimiles et moerentes scdebant, et contagiono 
 turpitudiuis vehementer permovebantur. — Ad Att. i. 16. 
 
 " Insectandis vero, exagitandisque nummariis judici- 
 bus, onmem omnibus studiosis ac fautoribus illius victo- 
 ria; 7ra/5prj(Tiai' eripui. — ^Ibid. ^ Ibid. 
 
 y This is supposed to refer to his sister Clodia, a lady 
 famous for her intrigues ; who had been trying all arts tO' 
 tempt Cicero to put away Terentia, and to take her for 
 his wife.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 house," sayshe^. "You should have said, judges," 
 replied Cicero. " Those judges," says he, " would 
 not believe you upon your oath." " Yes," replied 
 Cicero, " twenty-five of them gave credit to me ; 
 while the rest would not give any to you, but made 
 you pay your money beforcliand." This turned the 
 laugh so strongly ou Cicero's side, that Clodius was 
 confounded, and forced to sit down*. But being 
 now declared enemies, they never met without some 
 strokes of this kind upon each other ; which, as 
 Cicero observes, must needs appear flat in the nar- 
 ration, since all their force and beauty depended 
 on the smartness of the contention, and the spirit 
 with which they were delivered''. 
 
 The present consuls were M. Pupius Piso and 
 M. Messala ; the first of whom, as soon as he 
 entered into office, put a slight aftront upon Cicero : 
 for his opinion having been asked always the first 
 by the late consuls, Piso called upon him only the 
 second, on Catulus the third, Hortensius the fourth. 
 This, he says, did not displease him, since it left 
 him more at liberty in his voting, and freed him 
 from the obligation of any complaisance to a man 
 whom he despised"^. This consul was warmly in 
 the interest of Clodius ; not so much out of friend- 
 ship, as a natural inclination to the worst side; for, 
 according to Cicero's account of him, he was a man 
 " of a weak and wicked mind ; a churlish, captious 
 sneerer, without any turn of wit, and making men 
 laugh by his looks rather than jests ; favouring 
 neither the popular nor the aristocratical party ; 
 from whom no good was to be expected, because 
 he wished none, nor hurt to be feared, because he 
 durst do none ; who would have been more vicious, 
 by having one vice the less, sloth and laziness," 
 &C.'' Cicero frankly used the liberty which this 
 consul's behaviour allowed him, of delivering his 
 sentiments without any reserve ; giving Piso him- 
 self no quarter, but exposing everything that he 
 did and said in favour of Clodius, in such a manner 
 as to hinder the senate from decreeing to him the 
 province of Syria, which had been designed, and, 
 in a manner, promised to liim"^. The other consul, 
 Messala, was of a quite different character ; a firm 
 and excellent magistrate, in the true interests of his 
 country, and a constant admirer and imitator of 
 Cicero '^. 
 
 About this time, Cicero is supposed to have 
 made that elegant oration, still extant, in the de- 
 fence of his old preceptor, the poet Archias : he 
 
 ^ Though Clodius reproaches Cicero here for the extra- 
 vagant purchase of a house, yet he himself is said to have 
 given afterwards near four times as much for one, viz. 
 about 119,0(W. sterling.— Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. ssxvi. 15. 
 
 a Ad Att. i. 16. 
 
 ^ Nam caetera non possunt habere nequo vim, neque 
 venustatcm, remoto illo studio conteutionis. — Ibid. 
 
 c Ibid. 13. 
 
 •1 Nequc id magis amicitia Clodii ductus, quam studio 
 perditarum rerum, atque partlum. — Ibid. 14. 
 
 Consul autem ipse parvo animo et pravo ; tantum cavil- 
 lator genere illo moroso, quod etiani sine dicacitate ride- 
 tur ; facie magis, quam facetiis ridiculus : nihil agens 
 cum republica, sejunctus ab optimatibus: a quo nihil 
 speres boni rcipublica;, quia non vult ; nihil metuas mali, 
 quia non audet. — Ibid. 13. 
 
 Uno vitio minus vitiosus, quod iners, quod somni plenus. 
 —Ibid. 14. 
 
 * Consulem nulla in re consistere unquam sum passus : 
 desponsam homini jam SjTlam adcmi. — Ibid. IS. 
 
 f Messala consul est egregius, fortis, constans, diligeu*" 
 nostri laudator, amator, imitator. — Ibid. 14. 
 
 expected for his pains an immortality of fame from 
 the praise of Archias's muse ; but, by a contrary 
 fate of things, instead of deriving any addition of 
 glory from Archias's compositions, it is wholly 
 owing to his own that the name of Archias has not 
 long ago been buried in oblivion. From the great 
 character given by him of the talents and genius of 
 this poet, we cannot help regretting the entire loss 
 of his works : he had sung in Greek verse the tri- 
 umphs of Marius over the Cimbri, and of Lucullns 
 over Mithridates ; and was now attempting the 
 consulship of CiceroK: but this perished with the 
 rest, or was left rather unfinished and interrupted 
 by his death, since we find no farther mention of 
 it in any of Cicero's later writings. 
 
 Pompey the Great returned to Rome about the 
 beginning of this year, in the height of his fame 
 and fortunes, from the Mithridatic war. The city 
 had been much alarmed about him, by various 
 reports from abroad, and several tumults at home; 
 where a general apprehension prevailed of his 
 coming at the head of an army to take the govern- 
 ment into his hands ''. It is certain, that he had it 
 now in his power to make himself master of the 
 republic without the hazard even of a war, or any 
 opposition to controul him. Csesar, with the tri- 
 bune MeteUus, was inviting him to it, and had no 
 other ambition at present than to serve under him : 
 but Pompey was too phlegmatic to be easily induced 
 to so desperate a resolution ; or seems rather, in- 
 deed, to have had no thoughts at all of that sort, 
 but to have been content with the rank which he 
 then possessed, of the first citizen of Rome, with- 
 out a rival. He had lived in a perpetual course of 
 success and glory, without any slur, either from the 
 senate or the people, to inspire him with sentiments 
 of revenge, or to give him a pretence for violent 
 measures ; and he was persuaded tliat the growing 
 disorders of the city would soon force all parties tt: 
 create him Dictator, for the settlement of the state ; 
 and thought it of more honour to his character to 
 obtain that power by the consent of his citizens, 
 than to extort it from them by violence. But what- 
 ever apprehensions were conceived of him before 
 his coming, they all vanished at his arrival; for he 
 no sooner set foot in Italy, than he disbanded his 
 troops, giving them orders only to attend him in his 
 triumph ; and, with a private retinue, pursued his 
 journey to Rome, where the whole body of the 
 people came out to receive him with all imaginable 
 gratulations and expressions of joy for his happy 
 return'. 
 
 By his late victories he had greatly extended the 
 barrier of the empire into the continent of Asia, 
 having added to it three powerful kingdoms'', Pon- 
 tus, Syria, Bithynia, which he reduced to the con- 
 
 e Nam et Cimbricas res adolescens attigit, et ipsi illi 
 C. Mario, qui durior ad ha>c studia videbatur, Jucundus 
 fuit. 
 
 Mithridaticum vero bellum, magnum atquo diflScilc, 
 totum ab hoc expressum est ; qui libri non niodo L. Lu- 
 cullum, verum etiam populi Romani nomcn illustrant. — 
 Nam quas res in consulatu nostro vobiscum simul pro 
 salute urbis atque imperii gessimus, attigit hie verslbu3 
 atque inchoavit : quibus auditis, quod niihi m.agna res et 
 jucunda visa est, hunc ad perficiendum hortatus sum.— 
 Pro Arehia, 9, 11. 
 
 h Plutarch, in Pomp. ' Ibid. 
 
 ^ Vt Asia, qu.-c iuiperium antea nostrum terminabat, 
 nunc tribus novis provinciis ipsa cingatur.- De Provin. 
 Consular. 12.
 
 72 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 dition of Roman provinces ; leaving all the oilier 
 kings and nations of tlie East tributary to tlie 
 rt-public, as far as the Tigris. Auioiif; his other 
 coiitiuests, he took the city of Jerusalem, by the 
 opijortuuity of a contest about tlie crown between 
 the two brothers, liireanus and Aristobulus. The 
 lower town was surrendered to him with little or no 
 opposition, but the fortress of the temple cost him 
 a siege of three months ; nor would he have taken 
 it then so easily, as I)io tells us', had it not been 
 for the advantage that the besieged gave him by 
 the observance of their weekly sabbaths, on which 
 they abstained so religiously from all work as to 
 neglect even their necessary defence. He showed 
 great liumanity to the people, and touched no part 
 of the sacred treasure, or vessels of gold, which 
 were of an immense value"'; yet was drawn by his 
 curiosity into such a profanation of tlieir tenii)le, 
 as mortified them more than all that they had suf- 
 fered by the war : for, in taking a view of the 
 buildings, he entered with his officers not only into 
 the holy place, where none but the priests, but into 
 the holy of holies, where none but the high priest 
 was permitted by the law to enter : by which act, as 
 a very eminent writer, more piously perhaps than 
 judiciously, remarks, he drew upon himself the 
 curse of God, and never prospered afterwards". 
 He carried Aristobulus and his children prisoners 
 to Rome, for the ornament of his triumph, and 
 settled Hircanus in the government and the high 
 priesthood, but subject to a tribute. Upon the 
 receipt of the public letters which brought the 
 account of his success, the senate passed a decree, 
 that, on all festival days, he should have the privi- 
 lege to wear a laurel crown with his general's robe ; 
 and in the equestrian races of the Circus, his tri- 
 umphal habit ; an honour which, when he had once 
 used, to show his grateful sense of it, he ever after 
 prudently declined, since, without adding anything 
 to his power, it could serve only to increase the 
 envy which many were endeavouring to stir up 
 against liim". 
 
 On tat merit of these great services, he did many 
 acts abroad of a very extraordinary nature ; gave 
 what laws he pleased to the whole East ; distri- 
 buted the conquered countries at discretion to the 
 kings and princes who had served him in the wars ; 
 built twenty-nine new cities, or colonies ; and 
 divided to each private soldier about fifty pounds 
 sterling, and to his officers in proportion ; so that 
 the whole of his donative is computed to amount 
 to above three millions of our moneyP. 
 
 His first business, therefore, after his return, and 
 what he had much at heart, was to get these acts 
 ratified by public authority. The popular faction 
 promised him everything, and employed all their 
 skill to diver.t him from a union with Cicero and 
 the senate, and had made a considerable impression 
 upon him ; but he found the state of things very 
 different from their representations, saw Cicero still 
 in high credit, and, by his means, the authority of 
 the senate much respected ; whicli obliged him to 
 use great management, and made him so cautious 
 of offending any side that he pleased none. Cicero 
 
 , 1 Dio, 1. xxxvii. p. 36. 
 
 ™ At Cn. Pompeius, captis Tlierosolymis, victor ex illo 
 fano nihil attigit.— Pro Flacco 28. 
 I , n Pridoaux, Connect, part ii. p. 343. 
 S « Dio, 1. xxxvii. p. ,39. 
 \ V Plin. Hist. 1. xxxvii. 2 ; Appian. Dc liello Mithridat. 
 
 says of his first speech, that it was neither agree- 
 able to the jioor, nor relished by the rich ; disap- 
 jiointed the seditious, yet gave no satisfaction to 
 the honest'i. As he happened to come home in the 
 very heat of CloJius's affair, so he was presently 
 urged by both parties to declare for the one or the 
 other. Fufius, a busy factious tribune, demanded 
 of liitn, before the people, what he thought of Clo- 
 dius's being tried by the pnetor and a bench of 
 judges ? To which he answered, very aristocrati- 
 cally, as Cicero calls it, that he had ever taken the 
 authority of the senate to be of the greatest weight 
 in all cases. And when the consul Messala asked 
 him, in the senate, what his opinion was of that 
 profanation of religion, and the law proposed about 
 it ; he took occasion, without entering into parti- 
 culars, to applaud in general all that the senate had 
 done in it ; and upon sitting down, told Cicero, 
 who sat next to him, that he had now said enough, 
 he thought, to signify his sentiments of the matter'. 
 Crassus, observing Pom])ey's reserve, resolved to 
 push him to a more explicit declaration, or to get 
 the better of him at least in the good opinion 
 of the senate ; rising up, therefore, to speak, he 
 launched out, in a very high strain, into the praises 
 of Cicero's consulship ; declaring himself indebted 
 to it for his being at that time a senator and a citi- 
 zen, nay, for his very liberty and his life ; and that 
 as often as he saw his wife, his family, and his coun- 
 try, so often he saw his obligations to Cicero. This 
 discomposed Pompey, who was at a loss to under- 
 stand Crassus's motive ; whether it was to take the 
 benefit of an opportunity, which he had omitted, of 
 ingratiating himself with Cicero, or that he knew 
 Cicero's acts to be in high esteem, and the praise 
 of them very agreeable to the senate ; and it piqued 
 him the more, for its coming from a quarter whence 
 it was least to be expected ; from one whom Cicero, 
 out of regard to him, had always treated with a 
 particular slight. The incident, however, raised 
 Cicero's spirits, and made him exert himself before 
 his new hearer, Pompey, with all the pride of his 
 eloquence : his topics were, the firmness and gra- 
 vity of the senate ; the concord of the equestrian 
 order; the concurrence of all Italy ; the lifeless 
 remains of a baffled conspiracy ; the peace and 
 plenty which had since succeeded : nil which he 
 displayed with his utmost force, to let Pompey see 
 his ascendant stiU in that assembly, and how much 
 he had been imposed upon by the accounts of his 
 new friends*. Pompey likewise, on his side, began 
 presently to change his tone, and affected, on all 
 public occasions, to pay so great a court to Cicero, 
 that the other faction gave him the nickname of 
 Cnaeus Cicero : and their seeming union was so 
 generally agreeable to the city, that they were both 
 of them constantly clapped whenever they appeared 
 
 1 Prima concio Pompeii — non jucuuda miseris, inanis 
 improbis, beatis non grata, bonis non gravis. Itaque fri- 
 gcbat.— Ad Alt. i. 14. 
 
 r Mihique, ut assedit, dixit, se putare satis ab se etiam 
 de istis rebus esse responsuni. — Ibid. 
 
 s Proxime Pompeium sedebam: intellexi hominem 
 moveri ; utrum Crassum inii-o earn gratiam, quam ipse 
 prajtermisisset. 
 
 Ego autem, dii boni, quomodo eveirepTTepev(Td.iXTjv novo 
 auditori Pompeio ! — Ila^c erat vTr6de<ns, de gravitate or- 
 dinis, de equestri concordia, de consensione Italia;, de 
 iinmortuis reliquiis conjurationis, de vilitate, de otio. — Ad 
 Att i. 14.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 73 
 
 in the theatre, without a hiss from any quarter'. 
 Yet Cicero easily discovered that all this outward 
 civility was but feigned and artificial ; that he was 
 full of envy within, and had no good intentions 
 towards the public ; nothing candid or sincere ; 
 nothing great, generous, or free in him". 
 
 There was one point which Pompey resolved to 
 carry this summer against the universal inclination 
 of the city — the election of L. Afranius, one of his 
 creatures, to the consulship ; in which he fights, 
 says Cicero, " neither with authority nor interest, 
 but with what Philip of Macedon took every fort- 
 ress into which he could drive a loaded ass*^." 
 Plutarch says, that he himself distributed the money 
 openly in his own gardens ; but Cicero mentions it 
 as a current report, that the consul Piso had under- 
 taken to divide it at his house : which gave birth 
 to two new laws, drawn up by Cato and his bro- 
 ther-in-law Domitius Ahenobarbus, and sujiposed 
 to be levelled at the consul ; the one of which gave 
 a liberty to search the houses even of magistrates, 
 on informations of bribery ; the other declared all 
 those enemies to the state, at whose houses the 
 dividers of money were found s". Pompey, however, 
 obtruded Afranius upon the city, by which he dis- 
 gusted all the better sort both of the senate and 
 people^. 
 
 He had been making preparaction all tliis summer 
 for his triumph, which lie deferred to his birth-day, 
 the thirtieth of September, having resided in the 
 meanwhile, as usual, in the suburbs ; so that the 
 senate and people, in compliment to him, held 
 their assemblies generally, during that time, with- 
 out the walls ; some of which are mentioned to 
 have been in the flaminian Circus". His triumph 
 lasted two days, and was the most splendid which 
 had ever been seen in Rome. He built a temple to 
 Minerva out of the spoils, with an inscription giv- 
 ing a summary of his victories : that he had finished 
 a war of thirty years ; had vanquished, slain, and 
 taken two millions one hundred and eighty-three 
 thousand men ; sunk or taken eight hundred and 
 forty-six ships ; I'educed to the power of the empire 
 a thousand five hundred and thirty-eight towns and 
 fortresses ; and subdued all the countries between 
 the lake Mseotis and the Red Sea''. 
 
 Quintus Cicero, who, by the help and interest of 
 his brother, was following him at a proper distance, 
 through all the honours of the state, having been 
 praetor the last year, now obtained the government 
 
 ' Usque CO, ut nostri illi comissatores conjurationis, 
 barbatuli juvcnes, ilium insermonibus Cn.^um CirtRONE.M 
 iippellcnt. Itaquo et ludis ct gladiatoribus mirainlas 
 fmcrri/xacnas, sine ulla pastoricia fistula, aufcrebamus. — 
 AdAtt. i. 16. 
 
 " Nos, ut ostendit, admodum diligit, apertc laudat ; 
 occulte, scd ita ut perspicuum sit, invidet: nihil come, 
 nihil simplex, nihil iv TOif ro\iTiKo7s honcstum, nihil 
 illustre, nihil forte, nihil liberum. — Ibid. 13. 
 
 ^ In eo neque auctoritate, neque gratia pugnat ; scd 
 quibus Philippus omnia castella expugnari posse dicebat, 
 in qua? modo asellus onustus auro posset ascendere. — 
 Ibid. IG. 
 
 y Consul autem ille — siiscejiisse negotium dicitur, et 
 domi divisores habere: sed S. C. duo jam faeta sunt odiosa, 
 quod in consulem facta putantur, Catone ct Domitio pos- 
 tulante, &c.— Ibid. 16. 
 
 ^ Consul est impo.situs nobis, quem nemo prxter nos 
 philosophos aspicere sine suspiratu posset. — Ibid. 18. 
 
 " Fufius in concionem produxit Ponipeium ; res ageba- 
 tur in Circo Flaminio.— Ibid. 14. 
 
 of Asia ; a rich and noble province, comprehending 
 the greatest part of what is called Asia Minor. Be- 
 fore he went to take possession of it, he earnestly 
 pressed Atticus, whose sister he married, to go 
 along witli him as one of his lieutenants ; and re- 
 sented his refusal so heinously, that Cicero had no 
 small trouble to make them friends again. There 
 is an excellent letter on this subject from Cicero to 
 Atticus, which I cannot forbear inserting, for the 
 light which it gives us into the genuine characters 
 of all the three, as well as of other great men of 
 those times, with a short account also of the pre- 
 sent state of the republic. 
 
 Cicero to Atticus. 
 " I perceive from your letter, and the copy of my 
 brother's which you sent with it, a great alteration 
 in his affection and sentiments with regard to you ; 
 which affects me with all that concern which my 
 extreme love for you both ought to give me ; and 
 with wonder, at the same time, what could possibly 
 happen either to exasperate him so highly, or to 
 effect so great a change in him. I had observed, 
 indeed, before, what you also mistrusted at your 
 leaving us, that he had conceived some secret dis- 
 gust which shocked and filled his mind with odious 
 suspicions ; which, though I was often attempting 
 to heal, and especially after the allotment of his 
 province, yet I could neither discover that his re- 
 sentment was so great, as it appears to be from 
 your letter, nor find that what I said had so great 
 an effect upon him as I wished. I comforted my- 
 self, however, with a persuasion that he would 
 contrive to see you at Dyrrhachium, or some other 
 place in those parts ; and, in that case, made no 
 doubt but that all would be set right ; not only by 
 your discourse, and talking the matter over between 
 yourselves, but by the very sight and mutual em- 
 braces of each other. For I need not tell you, who 
 know it as well as myself, what a fund of good- 
 nature and sweetness of temper there is in my bro- 
 ther, and how apt he is both to take and to forgive 
 an offence. But it is very unlucky that you did not 
 see him, since, by that means, what others have 
 artfully inculcated has had more influence on his 
 mind than either his duty, or his relation to you, 
 or your old friendship, which ought to have had 
 the most. Where the blame of ail this lies, it is 
 easier for me to imagine than to write, being afraid 
 lest, while I am excusing my own people, I should 
 be too severe upon yours ; for, as I take the case 
 to be, if those of his own family did not make the 
 wound, they might at least have cured it. When 
 we see one another again, I shall explain to you 
 more easily the source of the whole evU, which is 
 spread somewhat wider than it seems to be. As to 
 the letter which he wrote to you from Thessalonica, 
 and what you suppose him to have said of you to 
 j'our friends at Rome, and on the road, I cannot 
 l* Cn. Pojipeius. C.v. F. wagnus. Imp. 
 
 BELLO. XXX. ANNOBUM. CONFECTO. 
 
 fljsis. fugatis. occisis. i.v deditionem 
 
 acceptjs. hominum. ce.vtif.s. vicies. 
 
 semel. centenis. lxxxiii.m. 
 
 Depressis ai;t capt. navibis. Dcccxlyi. 
 
 Oi'PiDis. Castellis. M.n.xxxviii. 
 
 ix fidem receitis. 
 
 Tekris. a JL^oti. Lacc. ad Rubrhm. 
 
 Mare, subactis. 
 
 votum. iishito. minerv.c 
 
 I'LLN*. Uist. Nat. vii. S6.
 
 74 
 
 THE HISTORY OK THE LIFE OF 
 
 conceive what could move liim to it. But all my 
 hopes of making this matter ea.sy, ilepfiul on your 
 humanlly ; for if you will but rrlKct, that the i)est 
 men an; often the most easy, hoth to be provoked 
 and to be ajipeased ; and that this quickness, if I 
 may so call it, or flexibility of temper, is generally 
 the proof of a good-nature ; and above all, that we 
 ought to bear with one another's infirmities or 
 faults, or even injuries ; this troublesome affair, I 
 hope, will soon be made up again. I beg of you 
 that it may be so. For it ought to be my special 
 care, from the singular affection which I bear to you, 
 to do everything in my power that all who belong to 
 me may both love and be beloved by you. There 
 was no occasion for that part of your letter, in 
 which you mention the opportunities which you 
 have omitted of employments, both in the city and 
 the provinces, as well at other times as in my con- 
 sulship. I am perfectly acquainted with the inge- 
 nuity and greatness of your mind, and never thought 
 that there was any other difference between you and 
 me, but in a different choice and method of life : 
 whilst I w^as drawn, by a sort of ambition, to the 
 desire and pursuit of honom-s, you, by other maxims, 
 in nowise blameable, to the enjoyment of an ho- 
 nourable retreat. But for the genuine character of 
 probity, diligence, exactness of behaviour, I neither 
 prefer myself, nor any man else, to you ; and as for 
 love to me, after my brother and my own family, I 
 give you always the first place. For I saw, and saw 
 it in a manner the most affecting, both your solici- 
 tude and your joy in all the various turns of my 
 affairs ; and was often pleased as well with the ap- 
 plause which you gave me in success, as the com- 
 fort which you administered in my fears ; and even 
 now, in the time of your absence, I feel and regret 
 the loss, not only of your advice, in which you 
 excel all, but of that familiar chat with you, in 
 which 1 used to take so much delight. "Where then 
 shall I tell you that I most want you ? in public 
 affairs ? where it can never be permitted to me to 
 sit idle ; or in my labours at the bar .' which I sus- 
 tained before through ambition, but now to preserve 
 my dignity ; or in my domestic concerns .' where, 
 though I always wanted your help before, yet, since 
 the departure of my brother, I now stand the more 
 in need of it. In short, neither in my labours nor 
 rest ; neither in business nor retirement ; neither 
 in the forum nor at home ; neither in public nor 
 in private affairs, can I live any longer without your 
 friendly counsel and endearing conversation. We 
 have often been restrained, on both sides, by a kind 
 of shame, from explaining ourselves on this article ; 
 but 1 was now forced to it by that part of your 
 letter, in which you thought fit to justify yourself 
 and your way of life to me. But to return to my 
 brother : in the present state of the ill humour 
 which he expresses towards you, it happens, how- 
 ever, conveniently, that your resolution of declining 
 all employments abroad was declared and known 
 long beforehand, both to me and your other friends ; 
 so that your not being now together cannot be 
 charged to any quarrel or rupture between you, 
 but to your judgment and choice of life. Where- 
 fore both this breach in your union will undoubt- 
 edly be healed again, and your friendship with me 
 remain for ever inviolable, as it has hitherto been. 
 We live here in an infirm, wretched, tottering re- 
 public : for you have heard, I guess, that our 
 knights are now almost disjoined again from the 
 
 senate. The first thing which they took amiss was 
 the decree for calling the judges to account, who 
 had taken money in Clodius's affair : I happened' 
 to be absent when it passed ; but hearing after- 
 wards that the whole order resented it, though 
 without complaining openly, I chid the senate, as 
 I thought, with great tffect ; and in a cause not 
 very modest, spoke forcibly and copiously. They 
 have now another curious petition, scarce fit to be 
 endured, which yet I not only bore with, but de- 
 fended. The company, who hired the Asiatic reve- 
 nues of the censors, complained to the senate that, 
 through too great an eagerness, they had given 
 more for them than they were worth, and begged 
 to be released from the bargain. I was their chief 
 advocate, or rather, indeed, the second ; for Cras 
 sus was the man who put them upon making this 
 request. The thing is odious and shameful, and a 
 j)ublic confession of their rashness ; but there was 
 great reason to apprehend, that if they should ob- 
 tain nothing, they would be wholly alienated from 
 the senate ; so that this point also was principally 
 managed by me. For, on the first and second of 
 December, I spoke a great deal on the dignity of 
 the two orders, and the advantages of the concord 
 between them, and was heard very favourably in a 
 full house. Nothing, however, is yet done, but 
 the senate appears well disposed ; for Metellus, the 
 consul elect, was the only one who spoke against 
 us ; though that hero of ours, Cato, was going also 
 to speak, if the shortness of the day had not pre- 
 vented him. Thus, in pursuit of my old measures, 
 I am supporting as well as I can that concord 
 wliich my consulship had cemented : but since no 
 great stress can now be laid upon it, I have pro- 
 vided myself another way, and a sure one, I hope, 
 of maintaining my authority ; which I cannot well 
 explain by letter, yet will give you a short hint of 
 it. I am in strict friendship with Pompey — 1 know 
 already what you say — and will be u])on my guard 
 as far as caution can serve me, and give you a far- 
 ther account some other time of my present conduct 
 in politics. You are to know, in the meanwhile, 
 that Lucceius designs to sue directly for the con- 
 sulship ; for he vrill have, it is said, but two com- 
 petitors : Caesar, by means of Arrius, proposes to 
 join with him ; and Bibulus, by Piso's mediation, 
 thinks of joining with Ceesar. Do you laugh at 
 this ? Take my word for it, it is no laughing 
 matter. What shall I write farther ? What ^ 
 There are many things ; but for another occasion. 
 If you would have us expect you, pray let me 
 know it : at present I shall beg only modestly what 
 I desire very earnestly, that you would come as 
 soon as possible. December the fifth '^." 
 
 As to the petition of the knights, mentioned ia 
 this letter, Cato, when he came afterwards to speak 
 to it, opposed it so resolutely, that he prevailed to 
 have it rejected, which Cicero often condemns as 
 contrary to all good policy ; and complains some- 
 times in his letters, that Cato, though he was the 
 only man who had any regard for the republic, yet 
 frequently did mischief by pursuing his maxims 
 absurdly, and without any regard to the times'*. 
 
 <: Ad Att. i. 17. 
 
 d Unus est, qui cm-et, constantia magis ct integritato, 
 quam, ut mihi videtur, consilio et ingenio, Cato ; qui 
 iiiiscros publicanos, quos habuit amantissimos sui, tertium 
 jam mensem vexat, neque eis a senatu responsum dari. 
 uatitiir. — Ad Att. i. 18 ; it. ii. 1.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 IS^ 
 
 A. URB. G93. 
 
 cic. 47. 
 
 COSS. 
 Q. C^CILIUS 
 
 METELLUS 
 
 CELER, 
 li. AFRANIUS, 
 
 And upon a review of the transactions wliich had 
 passed since his consulship, and the turn which 
 the public affairs were then taking, he seems to 
 foretell that the republic could not stand much 
 longer ; since this very year had overthrown the 
 two main pillars of it, which he had been erecting 
 with such pains — the authority of the senate, and 
 their union with the knights^. 
 
 Q. Csecilius Metellus and L. Afranius were now 
 consuls. The first had been prjetor in Cicero's 
 consulship, and commanded an army 
 against Catiline, and was an excellent 
 magistrate and true patriot ; a firm op- 
 poser of all the factious, and a professed 
 enemy also to Pompey ; in which he 
 was the more heated by a private re- 
 sentment of the affront offered to his 
 sister Mucia, whom Pompey had lately put away '. 
 His partner, Afranius, was the creature of Pom- 
 pey's power; but of no credit or service to him,- 
 on the account of his luxury and laziness, being 
 fonder of balls than of business. Cicero calls him 
 a consul whom none but a philosopher could look 
 upon without sighing ; a soldier without spirit, and 
 a proper but for the raillery of the senate, where 
 Palicanus abused him every day to his face ; and so 
 stupid, as not to know the value of what he had 
 purchased?. 
 
 By the help of this consul and some of the tri- 
 bunes, Pompey imagined that he should readily 
 obtain the ratification of his acts, together with an 
 Agrarian law, which he was pushing forward at the 
 same time, for the distribution of lands to his sol- 
 diers ; but he was vigorously opposed in them, 
 both by the other consul, Metellus, and the gene- 
 rality of the senate''. Lucullus declared, that they 
 ought not to confirm his acts in the gross, as if 
 they received them from a master, but to consider 
 them separately, and ratify those only which were 
 found to be reasonable'. But the tribune Flavius, 
 who was the promoter of the law, impatient of this 
 opposition, and animated by Pompey's power, had 
 the hardiness to commit Metellus to prison ; and 
 when all the senate followed, and resolved to go to 
 prison too, he clapped his chair at the prison-door 
 to keep them out : but this violence gave such a 
 general scandal to the city, that Pompey found it 
 
 « Nam ut ea breviter, quae post discessum tuum acta 
 sunt, colligam, jam exclamcs necesse est, res Romanas 
 diutius stare non posse. 
 
 Sic ille annus duo firmamenta reipublicae per mo unum 
 constituta, evertit : nam et scnatus auctoritatem abjecit, 
 et ordinum concordiam disjunxit. — Ad Att. i. 18, 
 
 ' JMetellus est consul egregius, et nos aniat, &c. — Ibid. 
 18, 19, 20 ; Dio, k xxxvii. p. 52. 
 
 S Q,uem nemo praeter nos philosoplios aspicere sine sus- 
 piratu posset. 
 
 AuU autem filius, O dii immortales ! quam ignavus et 
 sine animo miles ! quam dignus, qui Palic:uio, sicut facit, 
 OS ad male audiendum quotidio prsebeat ! 
 
 Ille alter ita nibil est, ut plane quid emerit, nesciat. 
 
 Auli filius vero ita se gerit, ut ejus consulatus non eon- 
 sulatus sit, sed magni nostri inrunriov. — Ad Att. ibid. ; 
 Dio, ibid. 
 
 ^ Agraria autem promulgata est a Flavio, sane levis, 
 &c.— Ad Att. i. l!i. 
 
 Agraria lex a Flavio tribune plebis vehementer agita- 
 batm', auctore Pompcio : — Nihil populare habebat propter 
 auotorem : — lluie toti rationi agrariae senatus adversaba- 
 tur, suspieans Pompeio novam quandam potentiam quairi. 
 —Ibid. 19. 
 
 ' Dio, !. xxxvii. 52, 
 
 advisable to draw off the tribune, and release (he 
 consul''. In order 10 allay these heats, Cicero 
 offered an amendment to the law, which satisfied 
 both parties, by securing the possessions of all pri- 
 vate j)roprietors, and hindering the public lands 
 from being given away. His proposal was, that 
 out of the new revenues which Pompey had ac- 
 quired to the empire, five years' rents should be 
 set apart to imrchase lands for the intended dis- 
 tribution'. But the progress of the affair was 
 suspended by the sudden alarm of a GaUic war, 
 which was always terrible to Rome ; and being now 
 actually commenced by several revolted nations, 
 called for the immediate care and attention of the 
 government"". 
 
 The senate decreed the two Gauls severally to 
 the two consuls ; and required them to make levies 
 without any regard to privilege or exemption from 
 service ; and that three senators should be chosen 
 by lot, one of them of consular rank, to be sent 
 with a public character to the other Gallic cities, 
 to dissuade them from joining in the war. In the 
 allotment of these ambassadors, the first lot hap- 
 pened to fall upon Cicero ; but the whole assembly 
 remonstrated against it, declaring his presence to 
 be necessary at Rome, and that he ought not to be 
 employed on such an errand. The same thing hap- 
 pened to Pornpey, on whom the next lot fell, who 
 was retained also with Cicero, as two pledges of the 
 public safety". The three at last chosen were Q. 
 Metellus Creticus, L. Flaccus, and Lentulus. The 
 Transalpine Gaul, which was the seat of the war, 
 fell to the lot of Metellus, who could not contain 
 his joy upon it for the prospect of glory which it 
 offered him. " Metellus" says Cicero, " is an ad- 
 mirable consul ; I blame him only in one thing : 
 for not seeming pleased with the news of peace 
 from Gaul. He longs, I suppose, to triumph. I 
 wish that he was as moderate in this as he is excel- 
 lent in all other respects"." 
 
 Cicero now finished in the Greek language, and 
 in the style and manner of Isocrates, what he calls 
 a Commentary or Memoirs of the transactions of 
 his Consulship ; and sent it to Atticus, with a 
 desire, if he approved it, to publish it in Athens 
 and the cities of Greece. He happened to receive 
 a piece at the same time, and on tiie same subject, 
 from Atticus, which he rallies as rough and un- 
 polished, and without any beauty, but its simpUcity. 
 
 ^ Dio, 1. xxxvii. 52. 
 
 1 Ex hac ego lege, secunda concionis voluntate, omnia 
 tollebam quae ad privatorum incommodum pertinebant. — 
 Unam rationem non rejiciebam, ut ager hac adventitia 
 pecunia emeretur, qu£E ex novis vectigalibus per quin- 
 quennium reciperetiu-. — Magna cum Agrariorum gratia 
 connrmabam omnium privatorum possessiones, (is eniui 
 est nnster exercitus, hominum, ut tute scis, locupletium) 
 populo autem et Pompeio (nam id quoque volebam) satis- 
 faciebam emptione. — Ad Att. i. 19. 
 
 n> Sod haec tota res interpellata bello refrixerat.— Ad 
 Att. i. 19. 
 
 " Senatus decrevit, ut consules duas Gallias sortirentur ; 
 delectus haberetur ; vacationes no valerent ; legati ciun 
 auctoritate mitterentur, qui adireat Galliae civitatcs. — 
 Cum de consularibus mea prima sors exisset, una voce 
 senatus frequens ma in urbe retinendum censuit. Uoo 
 idem post mc Pompcio accidit ; ut nos duo, quasi pi^nora 
 reipublicae retineri videremur. — Ibid. 
 
 o Metellus tuus est egregius consul : unum reprehenUo, 
 quod otium c Gallia nunciari non magnopere gaudet. 
 Cupit, credo, triuniphare. Hoc vellem mediocrius ; caetera 
 egregia. — Ibid. 20.
 
 76 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 He sent his own work also to Posidonius of Rhodes, 
 and begf^cd that he would uiulertake the same 
 argument in a more elegant and masterly manner. 
 But Posidonius answered liim with a compliment, 
 that instead of being encouraged to write by the 
 perusal of his j)iece, he was quite deterred from 
 attempting it. Upon which Cicero says jocosely, 
 that lie had confounded the whole Greek nation, 
 and freed himself from the importunity of tliose 
 little wits, who had been teasing him so long, to 
 be employed in writing the history of his acts''. 
 What he says in excuse for taking that task upon 
 himself, is, that it was not a jianegyric, but a 
 history ; which makes our loss of it the greater, 
 since it must have given a more exact account of 
 those times, than can now be possibly had, in an 
 entertaining work, finished with care and elegance ; 
 which not only pleased himself, as it seems to have 
 done very highly, but, as .he tells us, everybody 
 else : " If there be anything in it," says he, "which 
 does not soem to be good Greek, or j)olite enough 
 to please your taste, I will not say what LucuUus 
 told you of his own history at Panormus, that he 
 had scattered some barbarisms in it, on purpose 
 to make it appear to be the work of a Roman : 
 for if anything of that kind should be found in 
 mine, it is not with design, but contrary to my in- 
 tentioni." 
 
 Upon the plan of these memoirs, he composed 
 afterwards a Latin poem in three books, in which 
 he carried down the history to the end of his exile, 
 but did not venture to publish it till several years 
 after : not that he was afraid, he says, of the re- 
 sentment of those whom he had lashed in it, for he 
 had done that part very sparingly, but of those 
 rather whom he had not celebrated, it being end- 
 less to mention all who had been serviceable to 
 him"'. This piece is also lost, except a few frag- 
 ments scattered in different parts of his other 
 writings. The three books were severally inscribed 
 to three of the Muses ; of which his brother ex- 
 presses the highest approbation, and admonishes 
 him to bear in mind what Jupiter recommends in 
 the end of Urania, or the second book ; which 
 concluded probably with some moral lesson, not 
 unlike to what Calliope prescribes in the third*. 
 
 P Tua ilia — horridula mihi atque incompta visa sunt : 
 sed tamen erant ornata hoc ipso, quod ornamenta neglex- 
 erant : et ut mulieres, ideo bene olere, quia nihil olebant, 
 videbantur. — Ad me resoripsit jam Rhodo Posidonius, se 
 nostrum illud xnr6ixv7)fia cum legeret, non mode) non ex- 
 citatum ad scribendum, sed etiam plane perterrituni esse. 
 — Contmbavi Grjecam nationem : ita vulgo qui instabant, 
 ut darem sibi quod ornarent, jam exhibere mihi modes- 
 tiam destiterunt. — Ad Att. ii. 1. 
 
 q Commentariuni consulatus mei Grsece compositum ad 
 te misi : in quo si quid crit, quod honiini Attico minus 
 Grsecum, eruditiunque vidcatur, non dieam, quod tibi, ut 
 opinor, Panormi LucuUus de suis historiis dixerat, — se, 
 quo facilius illas probaret Romani honitnis esse, idcirco 
 barbara quaedam et (tSKoiku dispersisse. Apud me si quid 
 erit ejusmodi, me imprudente erit et invito ■ — Att. i. 19. 
 
 ■■ Scripsi etiam versibus ties libros dc teniporibus meis, 
 quos jam pridem ad teniisissem, si esse edendos putassem 
 —sed quia verebar non eos, qui se la;sos aibitrarentur, 
 etenim id feci parce et inoUiter ; sed eos, quos eiat infini- 
 tum bene de me meritos omnes nominare.— Ep. Fam. i. 9 
 
 * Quod me admones de nostra Urania, suadesque ut 
 meminerim Jovis orationem, quae est in extremo illo libro ; 
 ego vero memini, et ilia omnia mihi magis scripsi, quani 
 caeteris.— Ep, ad Quint. Frat. ii. 9. ; vid. Ad. Att. ii. 3. ; Ue 
 2)ivin. i, 11. 
 
 Tntcrca cursus, quos prima a parte juvcntae, 
 (iuos<iuc adco Consul virtuto auimoque petisti, 
 llos rctine ; atquc augc faniam laudobque bonorum. 
 
 That noble course, ii* which thy earliest youth 
 AVas tr.iin'd to virtue, liberty, and truth. 
 In which, when Consul, you such honour won, 
 \\hilc Konie with wonder and applause look'd on. 
 The same pursue ; and let each growing year 
 A fresh increase of fame and glory bear. 
 
 He publislied likewise at tliis time a collection 
 of the principal spceclu's wliich he had made in his 
 consulship, under the title of iiis Consular Orations : 
 he chose to make a separate volume of them, as 
 Demosthenes had done of his Philippics, in ordei 
 to give a specimen of his civil or political talents ; 
 being of a different manner, he says, from the dry 
 and crabbed style of the bar, and showing, not 
 only how he spoke, but hovir he acted. The two 
 tirst were against the Agrarian law of RuUus ; the 
 one to the senate, the other to the people : the 
 third on the tumult about Otho : the fourth, for 
 Rabirius : the fifth, to the sons of the proscribed : 
 the sixth, upon his resigning the province of Gaul : 
 the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth, on the affair 
 of Catiline : with two more short ones, as appen- 
 dixes to those on the Agrarian law. But of these 
 twelve, four are entirely lost ; the third, fifth, and 
 sixth, with one of the short ones; and some of 
 the rest left maimed and imperfect. He published 
 also at this time in Latin verse a translation of 
 the Prognostics of Aratus, which he promises to 
 send to Acticus with the volume of his orations' ; 
 of which work there are only two or three small 
 fragments now remaining. 
 
 Clodius, who had been contriving all this while 
 how to revenge himself on Cicero, began now to 
 give an opening to the scheme, which he bad 
 formed for that p'jrpose. His project was, to get 
 himself chosen tribune, and in chat office to drive 
 I him out of the city, by the publication of a law, 
 : which by some stratagem or other he hoped to 
 I obtrude upon the people". But as all patricians 
 I were incapable of the tribunate, by its original in- 
 stitution, so his first step was to make himself 
 a plebeian, by the pretence of an adoption into a 
 plebeian house, which could not yet be done with- 
 out the suffrage of the people. This case was 
 wholly new, and contrary to all the forms ; want- 
 ing every condition, and serving none of the ends, 
 which were required in regular adoptions ; so that 
 on the first proposal it seemed too extravagant to 
 be treated seriously, and would ,^oon have been 
 hissed off vC'ith scorn, had it not been concerted 
 and privately supported by persons of much more 
 weight than Clodius. Csesar was at the bottom 
 of it, and Pompey secretly favoured it : not that they 
 intended to ruin Cicero, but to keep him only 
 under the lash ; and if they could not draw him 
 
 ' Fuit enim mihi commodum, quod in eis orationibus, 
 quse PhUippicae notninantur, enituerat civis ille tuus De- 
 mosthenes, et quod se ab hoc refractariolo judiciali dicendi 
 genere abjunxerat, ut (Tefj.virip6s Tis et iroXiTiKwrepos 
 videretur, curare, ut meae quoque essent orationes, quae 
 consulavcs nominarcntur. — Hoc totum aoofjLa curabo ut 
 habeas: etquoniam tecum scripta, turn res mea? delectant, 
 iisdem libris perspicies, ct qua? gesserim, et quK dixerim. 
 —Ad Att. ii. 1. 
 
 Prognostica mea ciun oratiunculis propediem expecta. 
 —Ibid. 
 
 " Ille autem non simulat, sed plane tribunus plebis fieri 
 oupit.— Ad Att. ii. 1.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 rr 
 
 into their measures, or make him at least sit quiet, 
 to let Clodius loose upon him. The solicitor of 
 it was one Herennius, an obscure, hardy tribune, 
 who first moved it to the senate, and afterwards to 
 the people, but met with no encouragement from 
 either : for the consul Metcllus, though brother- 
 in-law to Clodius, warmly opposed it" ; and de- 
 clared, that he would strangle him sooner with his 
 own hands, than suffer him to bring such a dis- 
 grace upon his family y : yet Herennius persisted 
 to press it, but without any visible effect or success; 
 and so the matter hung through the remainder of 
 the year. 
 
 Cicero affected to treat it with the contempt 
 which it seemed to deserve ; sometimes rallying 
 Clodius with much pleasantry, sometimes ad- 
 monishing him with no less gravity : he told him 
 in the senate, that his attempt gave him no man- 
 ner of pain ; and that it should not be any more in 
 his power to overturn the state, when a plebeian, 
 than it was in the power of the patricians of the 
 same stamp in the time of his consulship ^ But 
 ■whatever face he put outwardly on this affair, it 
 gave him a real uneasiness within, and made him 
 unite himself more closely with Pompey, for the 
 benefit of his protection against a storm, which he 
 saw ready to break upon him ; while Pompey, 
 ruffled likewise by the opposition of the senate, 
 ■was as forward on his side to embrace Cicero, as 
 a person necessary to his interests. Cicero, how- 
 ever, imagining that this step would be censured 
 by many, as a desertion of his old principles, takes 
 frequent occasion to explain the motives of it to 
 his friend Atticus, declaring, " That the absolution 
 of Clodius, the alienation of the knights, the in- 
 dolence and luxury of the consular senators, who 
 minded nothing but their fish-ponds, their carps 
 and muUets, and yet were all envious of him, made 
 it necessary for him to seek some firmer support 
 
 and alliance -That in this new friendship he 
 
 should attend still to what the Sicilian wag, Ejn- 
 charmus, whispered, ' Be watchful and distrust, for 
 those are the nerves of the mind".' " On another 
 occasion he observes, " That his union with 
 Pompey, though useful to himself, was more useful 
 to the republic, by gaining a mcin of his power and 
 authority, who was wavering and irresolute, from 
 the hopes and intrigues of the factious : that if this 
 could not have been done without drawing upon 
 himself a charge of levity, he would not have pur- 
 chased that, or any other advantage, at such a price ; 
 but he had managed the matter so, as not to be 
 thought the worse citizen for joining ■with Pompey, 
 but Pompey himself the better, by declaring for 
 
 ^ Verura praeclai^e Metellus impedit et impediet.— Ad 
 An. ii. 1. 
 
 y Qui consul incipientem furere atque conantem, sua se 
 manu interfecturum, audiente senatu dixerit. — Pro Cae- 
 lio, 24. 
 
 ^ Sed neqiie magnopere dixi esse nobis laborandum, 
 quod nihilo magis ei liciturum esset plebeio rempublicam 
 peidere, qiiam similibus ejus mc consule patriciis esset 
 licitum. — Ad Att. ii. 1. 
 
 » Cum hoe ego me tanta familiaritate conjunsi, ut uter- 
 que nostrum in sua ratione munitior, et in republica 
 firmior hac conjimctione esse possit. 
 
 Et si iis novis amicitiis implicati sumus, ut crcbrn niihi 
 vafer ille Siculus, insusurret Epicharmus, cantilenam illam 
 Euam : 
 
 No0€ Kal ixfy.yaa' d'TKTTuy. &pdpa ravra twv (ppfvwv. 
 
 Ad Att. i. ly. 
 
 him. — That since Catulus's death, he stood single 
 and unsupported by the other consulars iu the 
 cause of the aristocracy; for, as the poet Rhinton 
 says, ' some of them were good for nothing, others 
 cared for nothing"''. But how mucli liiese fish- 
 mongers of ours envy me, says he, I will write you 
 word another time, or reserve it to our meeting. 
 Yet nothing shall ever draw me away from the 
 senate ; both because it is right, and most agree- 
 able to my interest, and that I have no reason to 
 be displeased with the marks of respect which they 
 give me^" In a third letter he says, " You chide 
 me gently for my union with Pompey : I would 
 not have you to think, that I sought it only for my 
 own sake ; but things were come to such a crisis, 
 that if any difference had happened between us, it 
 must have caused great disturbance in the republic ; 
 which I have guarded against in such a manner, 
 that without departing from my own maxims, I 
 have rendered him the better, and made him remit 
 somewhat of his popularity : for you must know, 
 that he now speaks of my acts, which many have 
 been incensing him against, much more gloriously 
 than he does of his own : and declares, that he 
 had only served the state successfully, but that I 
 had saved if". What good this will do to me, I 
 know not ; but it will certainly do much to the re- 
 public. ^\^lat if I could make Caesar also a better 
 citizen, whose ■winds are now very prosperous ; 
 should I do any great harm by it .' Nay, if there 
 were none who really envied me, but all were 
 encouraging me as they ought, it would yet be 
 more commendable to heal the vitiated parts of 
 the state, than to cut them off: but now, when 
 that body of knights, who were planted by nie in my 
 consulship, with you at their head, as our guard 
 in the capitol, have deserted the senate, and our 
 consulars place their chief happiness in training 
 the fish in their ponds to feed from their hands, 
 and mind nothing else ; do not you think, that I 
 am doing good service, by managing so, that those 
 who can do mischief, will not .' For as to our 
 friend Cato, you cannot love him more than I 
 do ; yet, with the best intentions and the greatest 
 integrity, he often hurts the republic ; for he de- 
 livers his opinion, as if it were in the polity of 
 Plato, not in the dregs of Romulus". What could 
 be more just, than to call those to an account who 
 had received money for judging .' Cato proposed, 
 the senate agreed to it ; the knights presently de- 
 clared war against the senate, not against me ; for 
 I was not of that opinion. Wliat more impudent, 
 than to demand a release from their contract .' yet 
 it was better to suffer that loss, than to alienate the 
 
 b lUnd tamen velim existimes, me lianc viam optima- 
 tium post Catuli mortem nee praesidio uUo nee comitatu 
 tenere. Nam ut ait Rhinton, ut opinor, 
 
 Oi fx.fv Trap' ovSfV flcrtv, oTs 6' ovSev fxe\ei. 
 
 Ad Att. i. 20. 
 
 c Mihi vero ut invideant piscinarii nostri, aut scribam 
 ad te alias, aut in congressiuu nostrum reservabo. A curia 
 autem nulla me res divellet. — Ibid. 
 
 d Quem de meis rebus, in qu;is multi eum incitarant, 
 multo scito gloriosius, quam de suis pradicarc. Sibi euim 
 bene gestae, mihi conservatae reipublica;, dat testimonium. 
 —Ibid. ii. 1. 
 
 e Nam Catonem nostrum non tu amas plus, quam ego. 
 Sed tamen ille optimo animo utens, et sunuiia tide, nocet 
 interduin reipublica; ; dicit enim tanquam in I'latonis 
 TToAirei'a.non tanquaminRomulifacce, sententiam.— Ad 
 .Att. ii. 1.'
 
 78 
 
 THE HISTORY OK THE LIFE OF 
 
 whole order : but Cato opposed it, and prevailed ; 
 so that now, when the consul was thrown into 
 prison, as well as in all the tunuilts wliich have lately 
 happened, not one of them would stir a foot ; 
 thoutjh, ui;der me, and the consuls who succeeded 
 me, tilt y had defended the republic so strenu- 
 ously." ike.'. 
 
 In the midst of these transactions, JuUus Caesar 
 returned from the government of Spain, which had 
 hc-en allotted to liim from his prietorship, with 
 great fame both for his military and pohtical acts. 
 He conquered the harharous nations by liis arms, 
 and civilized them by his laws ; and having sub- 
 dued the whole country as far as the ocean, and 
 been saluted emperor by the soldiers, came away 
 in idl haste to Rome, to sue at the same time for 
 the double honour of a triumph and the consulship ? . 
 But his demand of the first was, according to the 
 iisuid forms, incompatible with liis pretensions to 
 the second ; since the one obliged liirn to continue 
 ■without the city, the other made his presence 
 necessary within : so that finding an aversion in 
 the senate to dispense with the laws in his favour, 
 he preferred the solid to the specious, and dropped 
 the triumph, to lay hold on the consulship''. He 
 designed L. Lucceius for his colleague, and pri- 
 vately joined interests with him, on condition that 
 Lucceius, who w-as rich, should furnish money 
 sufficient to bribe the centuries. But the senate, 
 always jealous of his designs, and fearing the effects 
 of his power, when supported by a colleague sub- 
 servient to his will, espoused the other candidate, 
 Bibulus, with all their authority, and made a com- 
 mon purse, to enable him to bribe as high as his 
 competitors ; which Cato himself is said to have 
 approved'. By this means they got Bibulus 
 elected, to their great joy ; a man firm to their in- 
 terests, and determined to obstruct all the ambitious 
 attempts of Csesar. 
 
 Upon Caesar's going to Spain, he had engaged 
 Crassus to stand bound for him to his creditors, 
 who were clamorous and troublesome, as far as 
 two hundred thousand pounds sterling : so much 
 did he want to be worth nothing, as he merrily said 
 of himself K Crassus hoped, by the purchase of 
 his friendship, to be able to make head against 
 Pouipey in the administration of public affairs : 
 but Cresar, who had long been courting Pompey, 
 and labouring to disengage him from a union with 
 Cicero and the aristocratical interest, easily saw, 
 that as things then stood, their joint strength 
 
 ^ Restitit et pervicit Cato. Itaque nunc, consuls in car- 
 cere incluso, SEEpe item seditlone conimota, aspiravit nemo 
 eorum, quorum ego concursu, itenique consules, qui post 
 mc fuenint, rempubllcam defenderc solebant. — Ad Att. ii. 1. 
 
 S Jura ipsorum permissu statuerit ; inveteratam quan- 
 <lam barbaxiam ex Gaditanorum moribus et disciplina 
 delerit.— Pro Balbo, 19. 
 
 Paeataque provincia, pari festinatione, non cxpectato 
 succcssore, ad triumphuni simul consulatumque decessit. 
 — Sueton. J. Caes. 18 ; vid. it. Dio. 1. xxsvii. p. 54. 
 
 h Dio, ibid. 
 
 » Pactus ut is, quoniam inferior gratia esset, ptcuniaque 
 polleret, niunmos de suo, communi nomine per centurias 
 pronuntiaret. Qua cognita re, optimates, quos metus 
 ceperat, nihil non ausurum eum in summo magistratu, 
 concordi et consenticnte collega, auctores Bibulo fuerunt 
 tantundem pollicendi : ac plerique pecunias contulerunt ; 
 BO Catone quidem abnuente earn largitionem e republica 
 fieri — Sueton. J. Css. 19. 
 
 '' Plutarch, in J. C»s. ; Appian. De Belle Civ. ii p. 432 ; 
 SM#an. ib. 18. 
 
 would avail but little towards obtaining what they 
 aimed at, unless they could induce I'ompey also to 
 join with them : on pretence, therefore, of recon- 
 ciling Pompey and Crassus, who had been constant 
 enemies, he formed the project of a triple league 
 between the three ; by which they should mutually 
 o))lige themselves to promote each others' interest, 
 and to act nothing but by common agreement : to 
 this I'oin])ey easily consented, on account of the 
 disgust which the senate had impoliticly given him, 
 by their perverse opposition to everything which 
 he desired or attempted in the state. 
 
 This is commonly called the first triumvirate ; 
 which was nothing else in reality but a traitorous 
 conspiracy of three, the most powerful citizens of 
 Rome, to c.\tort from their country by violence 
 what they could not obtain by law. Pompey's 
 chief motive was, to get his acts confirmed by 
 Caesar in his consulship ; Caesar's, by giving way 
 to Pompey's glory, to advance liis own ; and 
 Crassus's, to gain that ascendant, which he could 
 not sustain alone, by the authority of Pompey and 
 the vigour of Caesar'. But Ciesar, who formed 
 the scheme, easily saw, that the chief advantage of 
 it would necessarily redound to himself : he knew 
 that the old enmity between the other two, though 
 it might be palliated, could never be healed with- 
 out leaving a secret jealousy between them ; and as 
 by their common help he was sure to make himself 
 superior to all others, so by managing the one 
 against the other, he hoped to gain at last a superi- 
 ority also over them both™. To cement this union 
 therefore the more strongly by the ties of blood, 
 as well as interest, he gave his daughter Julia, a 
 beautiful and accomplished young lady, in marriage 
 to Pompey : and from this era all the Roman 
 writers date the origin of the civil wars which 
 afterwards ensued, and the subversion of the re- 
 public in which they ended". 
 
 -tu causa malonim 
 
 Facta tribus dominis communis Roma^— 
 
 LucAN. i. 85. 
 
 Hence flow'd our ills, hence all that civil flame. 
 When Rome the common slave of three became. 
 
 Cicero might have made what terms he pleased 
 ■with the triumvirate ; been admitted even a part- 
 ner of their power, and a fourth in their league ; 
 which seemed to want a man of his character to 
 make it complete. For while the rest were engaged 
 in their governments, and the command of armies 
 abroad, his authority would have been of singular 
 use at home, to manage the affairs of the citj', and 
 solicit what they had to transact with the senate or 
 
 1 Hoc consilium Pompeius habuerat, ut tandem acta in 
 transmarinis provinclis per Casarem confinnarentur con- 
 sulem : Ca;sar autem, quod animadvertebat, se tcdendo 
 Pompeii glorias aucturum suam ; et invidia conimuuia 
 potentiEE in ilium relegata, confirmaturum vires suas: 
 Crassus, ut quern principatum solus assequi non poterat, 
 auctoritatc Pompeii, ■yiribus teneret Caesaris. — Veil. Pat. 
 ii. 44. 
 
 ™ Soiebat enim, se alios facile omnes ipsorum auxilio, 
 deinde ipsos etiam, unum per alterum, baud multo postea 
 Euperaturum esse.' — Dio, 1. xxxvii. 5.5. 
 
 o Inter eum et Cn. Pompeium et M. Crassum inita po- 
 tentiae societas, quae urbi orbiqne terrarum, nee minus 
 
 diverse quoque tempore, ctiam ipsis exitiabilis f nit. ■Veil. 
 
 Pat. ii. 44. 
 
 Jlotum ex Metello consule civicum, &c. 
 
 HoR. Carm. ii.l.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 ?J 
 
 people. Csesar therefore was extremely desirous 
 to add him to the party, or to engage him rather 
 in particular measures with himself ; and no 
 sooner entered into the consulship, than he sent 
 him word by their common friend Balbus, that he 
 •would be governed in every step by him and I'om- 
 pey, with whom he would endeavour to join Cras- 
 6US too". But Cicero would not enter into any 
 engagements jointly witli the three, whose union 
 he abhorred ; nor into private measures with Caesar, 
 •whose intentions he always suspected. He thought 
 Pompey the better citizen of the two ; took his 
 \4ews to be less dangerous, and his temper more 
 tractable ; and imagined, that a separate alliance 
 with him would be sufficient to screen him from 
 the malice of his enemies. Yet this put him under 
 no small difficulty : for if he opposed the trium- 
 virate, he could not expect to continue well with 
 Pompey ; or, if he served it, with the senate : in 
 the first, he saw his ruin ; in the second, the loss 
 of his credit. He chose, therefore, what the wise 
 will always choose in such circumstances, a middle 
 way; to temper his behaviour so, that with the con- 
 stancy of his duty to the republic, he might have 
 a .regard also to his safety, by remitting somewhat 
 of his old vigour and contention, without submit- 
 ting to the meanness of consent or approbation ; 
 and when his authority could be of no use to his 
 country, to manage their new masters so, as not 
 to irritate their power to his own destruction ; which 
 •was all that he desired?. This was the scheme of 
 politics, which, as he often laments, the weakness 
 of the honest, the perverseness of the envious, 
 and the hatred of the wicked, obliged him to 
 pursue. 
 
 One of his intimate friends, Papirius Paetus, 
 made him a present about this time of a collection 
 of books, which fell to him by the death of his 
 brother Ser\dus Claudius, a celebrated scholar and 
 critic of that age'. The books were all at Athens, 
 where Servius probably died ; and the manner in 
 which Cicero writes about them to Atticus, shows 
 what value he set upon the present, and what 
 pleasure he expected from the use of it. 
 
 " Papirius Psetus," says he, " an honest man, 
 •who loves me, has given me the books which his 
 brother Servius left ; and since your agent Cincius 
 tells me, that I may safely take them by the Cincian 
 law', I readily signified my acceptance of them. 
 Now if you love me, or know that I love you, I 
 
 Csesar consul egit eas res, quarum me participem esse 
 voluit — me in tribus sibi conjunctissimis consularibus esse 
 voluit. — De Provin. Consular. 17. 
 
 Nam f uit apud me Cornelius, hunc dioo Balbum, Cjesaris 
 familiarem. Is affirmabat, cum omnibus in rebus meo et 
 Pompeii consUio usio-imi, daturumque operam ut cum 
 Pompeio Crassum conjungeret. Hie sunt haec. Conjimctio 
 mihi summa cum Pompeio ; si placet etiam cum Ca;sare. 
 —Ad Att. ii. 3. 
 
 P Nihil jam a me asperum in quenquam fit, nee tamen 
 quidquam populare ac dissolutum ; sed ita tempcrata tola 
 ratio est, ut reipublieae constantiamprsestem, privatis rebus 
 meis, propter infirmitatem bonorum, iniquitatem malevo- 
 lorum, odium in me improborum ; adhibeam quandam 
 cautionem. — Att. i. 19. 
 
 1 Ut Servius, frater tuus, quem literatissimum fuisse 
 judico, facile diceret, hie versus Plauti non est.— Ep. Fam. 
 ix. 16. 
 
 ■■ The pleasantry which Cicero aims at, turns on the 
 name of Attieus's agent bemg the same with that of the 
 author of the law ; as if, by being of that family, his au- 
 thority was a good warrant for taking any present. 
 
 beg of you to take care by your friends, clients, 
 hosts, freedmen, slaves, that not a leaf of them be 
 lost. I am in extreme waut both of the Greek 
 books, which I guess, and tlie Latin, which I 
 know him to have left : for I find more and more 
 comfort every day, in giving all the time, which I 
 can steal from the bar, to those studies. You will 
 do me a great pleasure, a very great one, I assure 
 you, by showiug the same diligence in this, that 
 you usually do in all other affairs, which you take 
 me to have much at heart," &c.^ 
 
 While Cicero was in the country in the end of 
 the year, his architect Cyrus was finishing for him 
 at Rome some additional buildings to his house on 
 Mount Palatine: but Atticus, who was just returned 
 from Athens, found great fault with tlie smallness 
 of the windows ; to which Cicero gives a jocose 
 answer, bantering both the objection of Atticus, 
 and the way of reasoning of tlie architects : " You 
 little think, (says he,) that in finding fault with my 
 windows, you condemn the Institution of Cyrus' ; 
 for when I made the same objection, Cyrus told 
 me, that the prospect of the fields did not appear 
 to sucli advantage through larger lights. For let 
 the eye be A ; the object B, C ; the rays D, E ; 
 you see the rest. If vision indeed were performed, 
 as you Epicureans hold, by images fiying oft' from 
 the object, those images would be well crowded 
 in so strait a passage ; but if by the emission of 
 rays from the eye, it wUI be made commodiously 
 enough. If you find any other fault, you shall have 
 as good as you bring ; unless it can be mended 
 without any cost to me"." 
 
 Caesar and Bibulus entered now into the consul- 
 ship, with views and principles wholly opposite to 
 each other ; while the senate were 
 A. uRB. G94. pleasing themselves with their address, 
 
 cic. 48. j,^ procuring one consul of their own, 
 '^°*'^' to check the ambition of the other, 
 
 CESAR ^^^ expecting now to reap the fruit of 
 
 w. cALPiiR- ^^- ^^^ they presently found upon a 
 Nius BiBunTs. trial, that the balance and constitution 
 of the republic was quite changed by 
 the overbearing power of the three ; and that Csesar 
 was too strong to be controlled by any of the legal 
 and ordinary methods of opposition : he had gained 
 seven of the tribunes, of whom Vatinius was the 
 captain of his mercenaries ; whose task it was to 
 scour the streets, secure the avenues of the forum, 
 and clear it, by a superior force, of all who were 
 prepared to oppose them. 
 
 Clodius, in the mean time, was pushing on the 
 aff'air of his adoption ; and soliciting the people to 
 confirm the law, which he had provided for that 
 purpose. The triumvirate pretended to be against 
 it, or at least to stand neuter ; but were watching 
 Cicero's motions, in order to take their measures 
 from his conduct, which they did not find so obse- 
 quious as they expected. In this interval it hap- 
 pened, that C. Antonius, Cicero's colleague, who 
 had governed Macedonia from the time of his 
 consulship, was now impeached and brought to a 
 trial for the mal-administration of his province ; 
 and being found guilty, was condemned to perpetual 
 exile. Cicero was his advocate, and, in the course 
 of his jileading, happened to fall, with his usual 
 freedom, in to a complaint of the times and the 
 
 s Ad Att. i. 20. 
 
 t Referring to fhe celebrated piece of Xenophon, called 
 bv 'Uat name. " Ad Att. ii. 3.
 
 no 
 
 TUE HISTORY OF TIIK LiriC OF 
 
 oppression of tlic rcinil)li<:, in a style that was 
 intt"r|)reted to reflect severely nj)on their present 
 r\ilers. The story was carried directly to Ctesar, 
 and represented to him in snch colours, that he 
 resolved to revenge it presently on Cicero, by 
 brinciing on C'iodius's law ; and was so eager in it, 
 that he instantly called an assembly of the peoi)le, 
 and being assisted by Pompey, as augur, to make 
 the act legal and auspicious, got the adoption 
 ratified by the people through all the forms*, 
 within three hours from the time of Cicero's 
 speaking. 
 
 Bibulus, who was an augiir too, being advertised 
 of what was going forward, sent notice to Pompey, 
 that he was observing the heavens and taking the 
 auspices, during which function it was illegal to 
 transact any business with the people s". But 
 Pompey, instead of paying any regard to his mes- 
 sage, gave a sanction to the proceeding, by pre- 
 siding in it ; so that it was carried without any 
 opposition. And thus the bow, as Cicero calls 
 it, which had been kept bent against him and the 
 republic, was at last discharged^ ; and a plain 
 admonition given to him, what he had to expect, 
 if he would not be more complying. For his 
 danger was brought one step nearer, by laying the 
 tribunate open to Clodius, whose next attempt 
 would probably reach home to him. These laws 
 of adoption were drawn up in the style of a petition 
 to the people, after the following form : — 
 
 " May it please you, citizens, to ordain, that 
 P. Clodius be, to all intents and purposes of law, 
 as truly the son of Fonteius, as if he were begotten 
 of his body in lawful marriage ; and that Fonteius 
 have the power of life and death over him, as much 
 as a father has over a proper son : this, citizens, 
 I pray you to confirm in the manner in which it is 
 desired^." 
 
 There were three conditions absolutely necessary 
 to make an act of this kind regular : first, that the 
 adopter should be older than the adopted, and in- 
 capable of procreating children, after having endea- 
 voured it without success when he was capable : 
 secondly, that no injury or diminution should be 
 done to the dignity, or the religious rites of either 
 family : thirdly, that there should be no fraud or 
 collusion in it ; nor anything sought by it, but the 
 genuine effects of a real adoption. All these par- 
 ticulars were to be previously examined by the 
 college of priests ; and if after a due inquiry they 
 
 ^ Hora fortasse sexta Aiei questus sum in judicio, cum 
 C. Autonium defenderem, quasdam de republica quaeiiiihi 
 visa sunt ad causam miseri illius pertinere. Usee homines 
 improbi ad quosdam viros fortes longe aliter atque a me 
 dicta erant, detulerunt. Hora ncna, illo ipso die, tu es 
 adoptatus.—Pro Dome, 16 ; Vid. Sucton. J. Cies. 20. 
 
 y Negant fas esse agi cum populo cum de coelo servatum 
 sit. Q,uo die de te lex curiata lata esse dicatur, audes 
 negare de ccelo esse sei-vatum ? Adest praesens vir singulaii 
 
 virtute M. Bibulus : hunc consulom illo ipso die con- 
 
 tendo servasse de ccelo. — Pro Domo, 15. 
 
 ^ Fuerat ille annas tanquam intentus arcus in me 
 
 unum, sicut vulgo rerum ignari loquebautiu-, re quidem 
 vera in universam rempublicam traductione ad plebem 
 f uribundi hominis. — Pro Sext. 7. 
 
 * The la^vyers and all the later writers, from the autho- 
 rity of A. Gellius, call this kind of adoption, which was 
 confirmed by a law of the people, an adrorialion .- but it 
 does not appear that there was any such distinction in 
 Cicero's time, who, as oft as he speaks of this act, cither to 
 the senate or the people, never uses any other term than 
 that oi adoption,— Vide. A. Gell. I. v. 19. 
 
 approved the jietition, it was proposed to the 
 suffrage of the citizens living in Rome, who voted 
 according to their original division into thirty 
 ruriiK, or wards, which seem to have been analogous 
 to our parishes'' ; where no business however could 
 be transacted, when an augur or consul was ob- 
 serving the heavens. Now in this adoption of 
 Clodius, there was not one of these conditions 
 observed : the college of priests was not so much 
 as consulted ; the adopter Fonteius had a wife and 
 children ; was a man obscure and unknown, not 
 full twenty years old when Clodius was thirty-five, 
 and a senator of the noblest birth in Rome : nor 
 was there anything meant by it, but purely to 
 evade the laws, and procure the tribunate : for the 
 affair was no sooner over, than Clodius was eman- 
 cipated, or set free again by his new father from 
 all his obligations'^. But these obstacles signified 
 nothing to Ca-sar, who always took the shortest 
 way to what he aimed at, and valued neither forms 
 nor laws, when he had a power sufficient to con- 
 trol them. 
 
 But the main trial of strength between the two 
 consuls was about the promulgation of an agrarian 
 law, which Caesar had prepared, for distributing 
 the lands of Campania to twenty thousand poor 
 citizens, who had each three children or more. 
 Bibulus mustered all his forces to oppose it, and 
 came down to the forum full of courage and 
 resolution, guarded by three of the tribunes and 
 the whole body of the senate ; and as oft as Csesar 
 attempted to recommend it, he as often interrupted 
 him, and loudly remonstrated against it, declaring, 
 that it should never pass in his year. From words 
 they soon came to blows ; where Bibulus was 
 roughly handled, his fasces broken, pots of filth 
 thrown upon his head; his three tribunes wounded, 
 and the whole party driven out of the forum by 
 Vatinius, at the head of Caesar's mob"^. When the 
 tumult was over, and the forum cleared of their 
 adversaries, Caesar produced Pompey and Crassus 
 into the rostra, to signify their opinion of the law to 
 the people ; where Pompey, after speaking largely 
 in praise of it, declared in the conclusion, that if 
 any should be so hardy as to oppose it with the 
 sword, he would defend it with his shield. Crassus 
 applauded what Pompey said, and warmly pressed 
 the acceptance of it ; so that it passed upon the 
 spot without any farther contradiction''. Cicero 
 was in the country during this contest, but speaks 
 of it with great indignation in a letter to Atticus, 
 and wonders at Pompey's policy, in supporting 
 Ctesar in an act so odious, of alienating the best 
 revenues of the republic ; and says, that he must 
 
 b Comitiis curiatis. 
 
 c Quod jus est adoptionis, Pontifices? Nempe, ut ia 
 adoptet, qui neque procreare liberr)S jam possit, et cum 
 potuerit, sit expertus. Qua; deniqiic causa cuique adop- 
 tionis, qua- ratio genenmi ac dignitatis, quae sacrorum. 
 quEeri a pontificum coUegio solet. Quid est horum in ista 
 adoptione qusesitum ? Adoptat annus viginti natus, etiara 
 minor, senatorem. Libcrorumne causa ? at procreare 
 
 potest. Habet uxorem : suscepit etiam liberos. Quae 
 
 omnis notio pontificum cum adoptarere esse debuit, &c. 
 — Pro Domo, adPontif. 13. 
 
 <i Idenique tu — nomine C. Cfcsaris, clementissimi atquo 
 optimi viri, scelere vero atque audacia tua, M. Bibulunx 
 foro, curia, templis, locis publieis omnibus expuUsses, 
 inclusum domi continercs. — In Vatin. 9 ; Uio, xxKviii. 61 ; 
 Suet. J. Caes. 20 ; Plutarch, in Pomp, 
 
 « Dio, ibid.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 81 
 
 not think to make them amends by his rents on 
 mount Libanus, for the loss of those wliich he 
 had taken from them in Campania^ The senate 
 aijd all the magistrates were obliged, by a special 
 clause of this law, to take an oath to the observance 
 of it ; which Cato himself, though he had publicly 
 declared that he would never do it, was forced at 
 last to swallow?. 
 
 Bibulus made his com])laint the next day in the 
 senate, of the violence otTered to his person; but 
 finding the assembly so cold and intimidated, that 
 nobody cared to enter into the affair, or to move 
 anything about it, he retired to his house in despair, 
 with a resolution to shut himself up for the remain- 
 ing eight mouths of the year, and to act no more 
 in public but by his edicts''. This was a weak step 
 in a magistrate armed with sovereign authority; 
 for though it had one effect, which he proposed 
 by it, of turning the odium of the city upon his col- 
 league, yet it had another that overbalanced it, of 
 strengthening the hands and raising the spirits of 
 the adverse party, by leaving the field wholly clear 
 to them. 
 
 As Caesar's view in the agrarian law was to 
 oblige the populace, so he took the opportunity, 
 wliich the senate had thiown into his hands, of 
 obliging the knights too, by easing them of the 
 disadvantageous contract, which they had long in 
 vain complained of, and remitting a third part of 
 what they had stipulated to pay' ; and when Cato 
 still opposed it with his usual firmness, he ordered 
 him to be hurried away to prison. He imagined, 
 that Cato w ould have appealed to the tribunes ; 
 but seeing him go along patiently, without speaking 
 a word, and reflecting, that such a violence would 
 create a fresh odium, without serving any pur- 
 pose, he desired one of the tribunes to interpose 
 and release him''. He next procured a special 
 law, from the people, for the ratification of all 
 Pompey's acts in Asia; and in the struggle about 
 it, so terrified and humbled Lucullus, who was the 
 chief opposer, that he brought him to ask pardon 
 at his feet'. 
 
 He carried it still with great outward respect 
 towards Cicero ; and gave him to understand again 
 by Balbus, that he depended on his assistance in 
 the agrarian law : but Cicero contrived to be out 
 of the way, and spent the months of April and 
 May in his villa near Antium, where he had placed 
 his chief collection of books'" ; amusing himself 
 
 ' CnsEUs quidem uoster jam plane quid cogitet, nescio. — 
 Ad Att. ii. 16-. 
 
 Quid dices ? Vectigal te nobis in monte Antilibano con- 
 stituisse, agri Cainpani abstulisse. — Ibid. 
 
 S Dio, xxxviii. 61. 
 
 '' Ac postcro die in scnatu conqiiestnm, nee quoquam 
 reperto, qui super tali constematione referre, aut censere 
 aliquid auderet — in cam eoegit desperationem, ut quoad 
 potestatc abii-et, dome abditus nihil aliud quam per edicta 
 obnunciaret. — Suetou. J. Cees. 2i'i. 
 
 ' Dio, xxxviii. 62. 
 
 •' Plutarch, in CiEs. 
 
 1 L. Lucullo, liberius resistenti tantum calumniarum 
 metum injecit, ut ad genua ultro sibi accederet.— Sueton. 
 J. Ca;s. 20. 
 
 "' Nam aut fortiter resistendum est legi Agraris, in quo 
 est quadamdiiuicatio, sod plena laudis : autquiescendiun, 
 quod estnondissimile, atqueireinSolonium,aut Antium: 
 aut etiam adjuvandum, quod a me aiunt Csesarem sic 
 expectare, ut non dubitet— Ad Att. ii. 3, 
 
 Itaqne aut libris me delecto, quorum habeo Antii festi- 
 vam copiam, aut fluetus niunero. — Ibid. 6. 
 
 with his studies and his children, or as he says 
 jocosely, in counting the waves. He was pro- 
 jecting however a system of geography, at the 
 request of Atticus, but soon grew weary of it, as a 
 subject too dry and jejune to admit of any orna- 
 ment" ; and being desired also by Atticus to send 
 him the copies of two orations which he had 
 lately made, his answer was, that he had torn one 
 of them, and could not give a copy ; and did not 
 care to let the other go abroad, for the praises 
 which it bestowed on Pompcy; being disposed 
 rather to recant, than publish them, since the 
 adoption of Clodius". He seems indeed to have 
 been too splenetic at present to compose anything 
 but invectives ; of which kind he was now drawing 
 up certain anecdotes, as he calls them, or a secret 
 history of the times, to be shown to none but 
 Atticus, in the style of Theopompus, the most 
 satirical of all writers: for all his politics, he says, 
 were reduced to this one point, of hating bad 
 citizens, and pleasing himself with writing against 
 them : and since he was driven from the helm, he 
 had nothing to wish, but to see the wreck from the 
 shore ; or, as Sophocles says?, 
 
 Under the shelter of a good warm roof. 
 With mind serenely calm and prone to sleep. 
 Hear the loud storm and beating rain without. 
 
 Clodius, having got through the obstacle of his 
 adoption, began without loss of time to sue for the 
 tribunate ; whilst a report was industriously spread, 
 which amused the city for a while, of a breach 
 between him and Caesar. He declared everywhere 
 loudly, that his chief view in desiring that oflBce 
 was, to rescind all Caesar's acts ; and Csesar, on 
 his part, as openly disclaimed any share in his 
 adoption, and denied him to be a plebeian. This 
 was eagerly carried to Cicero by young Curio, who 
 assured him, that all the young nobles were as 
 much incensed against their proud kings as he 
 himself, and would not bear them much longer ; 
 and that Memmius and Metellus Nepos had de- 
 clared against them : which being confirmed also 
 by Atticus's letters, gave no small comfort to 
 Cicero ; all whose hopes of any good depended, he 
 says, upon their quarrelling among themselves"!. 
 
 " Etenim fewypacpiKa,, qua; constitueram, magnum 
 opus est,' — et hercule sunt res difficiles ad explicandum et 
 6/j.oft5eis ; nee tam possunt a.vdrjpoyoa'bucrdai, quam 
 videbatur. — Ad Att. ii. 6. 
 
 " Orationes me duas postulas, quarum alteram non 
 libebat mihi scribere, quia abscideram ; alteram, ne lau- 
 darem eum, quem non amabam. — Ibid. 7- 
 
 Ut sciat hie noster Hierosolymarius, traductor ad ple- 
 bem, quam bonam meis putissiniis orationibus gratiam. 
 retulerit ; quarum expecta divinam 'ra\ii'(ii5iav. — Ibid. 9. 
 
 p Itaque areKSora, qua; tibi uni leg.imus, Theopompino 
 genere, aut etiam asperiore multo, pangentur. Neque aliud 
 jam quicquam iro\iTevo/iai, nisi odisse iniprobos. — Ibid. 6. 
 
 Nunc vero cum oogar exire do navi, non abjectis sed 
 reeeptis gubernaculis, cupio istoruni naufragia ex terra 
 intueri ; cupio, ut ait tuus amicus Sophocles, 
 
 KtiV uirh CTTtyT) 
 
 Kvas aKOveiv \peKdSos ivSovav (ppevl. 
 
 Ibid. 7. 
 
 1 Scito Curionem adolescentem venisse me salutatiun. 
 V.alde ejus sermo de Publio cum tuis Uteris congruebat. 
 Ipse vero mirandum in modum reges odisse superbos. 
 Perjeque narrabat incensam esse juventutem, neque ferre 
 liEtc posse. — Ibid. 8. 
 
 Incurrit in me Roma vcniens Curio meus— Publius, in- 
 
 ouit, tribunatum plebis petit. Quid ais ? et inimicissimus 
 
 G
 
 ill 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Tlu; jirc-teiiJeil ground of tliis iu])turc', as it is 
 liiiited in CicLTo's letters, was Clodius' slighting 
 an ort'er, which tlie triumvirate made to him, of an 
 embassy to king Tigrancs ; for being weary of his 
 insolenee, and jealous of his growing jiower, tliey 
 had eonlrived tiiis employment as an honourable 
 way of getting rid of him : but in the j)resent 
 condition of the republic, Clodius knew his own 
 imjiortance too well, to quit his views at home, by 
 an offer of so little advantage abroad ; and was 
 disgusted, that Caisar had not named him among 
 the twenty commissioners appointed to divide the 
 Campanian lands ; and resolved not to stir from 
 the city till he had reaped the fruits of the tri- 
 bunate. Cicero mentioning this atTair to Atticus, 
 says, " I am much delighted with what you write 
 about Clodius : try all means to search into the 
 bottom of it ; and send or bring me word, whatever 
 you citlier learn or suspect ; and especially, what 
 he intends to do about the embassy. Before I 
 read your letter, I was wishing, that he would 
 accept it; not for the sake of declining a battle with 
 him, for I am in wonderful spirits for fighting ; 
 but I imagined, that he would lose by it all the 
 ])opularity which he has gained by going over to 
 the plebeians — What then did you mean by making 
 yourself a plebeian ? Was it only to pay a visit 
 to Tigranes ? Do not the kings of Armenia use 
 to take notice of patricians ? — You see how I had 
 been preparing myself to rally the embassy ; which 
 if he slights after all, and if this, as you say, 
 disgusts the authors and promoters of the law, we 
 shall have rare sport. Eut to say the truth, Publius 
 has been treated somewhat rudely by them ; since 
 he, who was lately the only man with Caesar, 
 cannot now find a place among the twenty ; and 
 after promising one embassy, they put him off 
 with another ; and while they bestow the rich ones 
 upon Drusus, or Vatinius, reserve this barren one 
 for him, whose tribunate was proposed to be of 
 such use to them. Warm him, I beg of you, on 
 this head, as much as you can ; all our hopes of 
 safety are placed on their falling out among them- 
 selves, of which, as I understand from Curio, some 
 symptoms begin already to appear ^" But all 
 this noise of a quarrel was found at last to be 
 a mere artifice, as the event quickly showed : or if 
 there was any real disgust among them, it pro- 
 ceeded no farther than to give the better colour to 
 a report, by which they hoped to impose upon 
 Cicero, and draw some unwary people into a hasty 
 declaration of themselves ; and above all, to weaken 
 the obstruction to Clodius's election from that 
 quarter, whence it was chiefly to be apprehended. 
 Cicero returned to Rome in May, after an 
 interview with Atticus, who went abroad at the 
 same time to his estate in Epirus : he resolved to 
 decline all public business, as much as he decently 
 could, and to give the greatest part of his time to 
 the bar, and to the defence of causes ; an employ- 
 ment always popular, which made many friends, 
 and few enemies, so that he was still much fre- 
 quented at home, and honourably attended abroad, 
 and maintained his dignity, he say s, not meanly, 
 
 quidem Caesaris, et ut omnia, inquit, ista rescindat. Quid 
 Csesiu: ? inquam. Negat se quicquam de illius adoptlone 
 tulisse. Deinde suum, Mcmniii, Metelli Nepotis expromi> 
 sit odium. Complexus juvcnem dimisi, properans ad 
 epistolas. — Ad Att. ii. 12. 
 ^ » Ad Att. ii. 7. 
 
 considering the general oppression ; nor yetgreatly, 
 considering the part which he had before acted*. 
 Among the other causes whicli he pleaded this 
 summer, he twice defended A. Thermus, and once 
 L. Flaccus ; men of jjrajtorian dignity, who were 
 both accjuitted. The sjieeches for Thermus are 
 lost ; but that for Flaccus remains, yet somewhat 
 imperfect ; in whi<:h, tiiough he had lately paid so 
 dear for speaking his mind too freely, we find seve- 
 ral bold reflections on the wretched state of sub- 
 jection to which the city was now reduced. 
 
 This L. Valerius Flaccus had been praetor in 
 Cicero's consulship, and received the thanks of 
 the senate for his zeal and vigour in the seizure of 
 Catiline's accomplices ; but was now accused by 
 P. Liclius of rapine and oppression in his province 
 of Asia, which was allotted to him from his prae- 
 torship. The defence consists chiefly in display- 
 ing the dignity of the criminal, and invalidating the 
 credit of the Asiatic witnesses. Cicero observes, 
 " That the judges, who had known and seen the 
 integrity of Flaccus's life through a series of great 
 employments, were themselves the best witnesses 
 of it, and could not want to learn it from others, 
 esijecially from Grecians : that for his part, he had 
 always been particularly addicted to that nation 
 and their studies, and knew many modest and 
 worthy men among them : that he allowed them 
 to have learning, the discipline of many arts, an 
 elegance of writing, a fluency of speaking, and an 
 acuteness of wit : but as to the sanctity of an oath, 
 they had no notion of it, knew nothing of the 
 force and the efficacy of it : that all their concern 
 in giving evidence was, not how to prove, but how 
 to express what they said : — that they never ap- 
 peared in a cause, but with a resolution to hurt ; 
 nor ever considered what words were proper for an 
 oath, but what were proper to do mischief ; taking 
 it for the last disgrace, to be baffled, confuted, and 
 outdone in swearing : so that they never chose the 
 best and worthiest men for witnesses, but the most 
 daring and loquacious : — in short, that the whole 
 nation looked upon an oath as a mere jest, and 
 placed all their credit, livelihood, and praise, on 
 the success of an impudent lie : — whereas of the 
 Roman witnesses, who were produced against Flac- 
 cus, though several of them came angry, fierce, 
 and willing to ruin him, yet one could not help 
 observing, with what caution and religion they 
 delivered what they had to say ; and though they 
 had the greatest desire to hurt, yet could not do it 
 for their scruples : — that a Roman, in giving his 
 testimony, was always jealous of himself, lest he 
 should go too far ; weighed all his words, and was 
 afraid to let anything drop from him too hastily 
 and passionately ; or to say a syllable more or less 
 than was necessary'." Then after showing, at 
 
 • Me tueor, ut oppressis omnibus, non demisse ; ut tantifi 
 rebus gestis, parum fortiter. — Ad Att. ii. 18. 
 
 ' Pro Flacco, 4. 5. This character of the Greek and 
 Roman witnesses is exactly agreeable to what Polybius, 
 though himself a Grecian, had long before observed ; that 
 those who managed the public money in Greece, though 
 they gave ever so many bonds and sureties for their beha- 
 viour, could not be induced to act honestly, or preserve 
 their faith, in the case even of a single talent : whereas 
 in Rome, out of pure reverence to the sanctity of an oath, 
 they were never known to violate their trust, though in the 
 management of the greatest sums. [Polyb. 1. vi. p. 498.] 
 This was certainly true of the old republic ; but we must 
 make great allowance for the language of the Bar, when
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 83 
 
 large, by what scandalous methods tliis accusation 
 ■was procured against Flaccus, and after exposing 
 the vanity of the crimes charged upon him, toge- 
 ther with the profligate characters of the particular 
 witnesses ; he declares, " that the true and genuine 
 Grecians were all on Flaccus' side, with public 
 testimonies and decrees in his favour. — Here, says 
 he, you see the Athenians, whence humanity, learn- 
 ing, religion, the fruits of the earth, the rights and 
 laws of mankind, are thought to have been first 
 propagated ; for the possession of whose city, the 
 gods themselves are said to have contended on the 
 account of its beauty ; which is of so great anti- 
 quity, that it is reported to have brouglit forth 
 its own citizens, and the same spot to have been 
 their parent, their nurse, and their country ; and 
 of so great authority, that the broken and shat- 
 tered fame of Greece depends now singly on the 
 credit of this city. — Here also are the Lacedemo- 
 ^nia'ns, whose tried and renowned virtue was con- 
 firmed not only by nature, but by discipline ; who 
 alone, of all the nati-ons upon earth, have subsisted 
 for above seven hundred years, without any change 
 in their laws and manners. — Nor can I pass over 
 the city of Marseilles, which knew Flaccus when 
 first a soldier, and afterwards qusestor; the gravity 
 of whose discipline, I think preferable, not only to 
 Greece, but to all other cities ; which, though se- 
 parated so far from the country, the customs, and 
 the language of all Grecians, surrounded by the 
 nations of Gaul, and washed by the waves of bar- 
 barism, is so wisely governed by the counsels of an 
 aristocracy, that it is easier to praise their constitu- 
 tion, than to imitate it"." One part of the charge 
 against Flaccus was, for prohibiting the Jews to 
 carry out of his province the gold, which they 
 used to collect annually through the empire for the 
 temple of Jerusalem ; all which he seized and re- 
 mitted to the treasury at Rome. The charge itself 
 seems to imply, that the Jews made no mean figure 
 at this time in the empire ; and Cicero's answer, 
 though it betrays a great contempt of their reli- 
 gion, through his ignorance of it, yet shows, that 
 their numbers and credit were very considerable 
 also in Rome. The trial was held near the Aure- 
 lian steps, a place of great resort for the populace, 
 and particularly for the Jews, who used it probably 
 as a kind of exchange, or general rendezvous of 
 their countrymen : Cicero therefore proceeds to say, 
 *' It was for this reason, Lselius, and for the sake 
 of this crime, that you have chosen this place and 
 all this crowd for the trial : you know what a nu- 
 merous band the Jews are ; what concord among 
 themselves ; what a bustle they make in our assem- 
 blies — I will speak softly, that the judges only may 
 hear me ; for there are people ready to incite them 
 against me and against every honest man ; and I 
 would not willingly lend any help to that design — 
 Since our gold then is annually carried out of Italy, 
 and all the provinces, in the name of the Jews, to 
 Jerusalem, Flaccus, by a public edict, prohibited 
 the exportation of it from Asia : and where is there 
 a man, judges, who does not truly applaud this 
 act .'' The senate, on several different occasions, 
 but more severely in my consulship, condemned 
 the exportation of gold. To withstand this barba- 
 rous s uperstition was a piece therefore of laudable 
 
 •we find Cicero applying the same integrity and regard to 
 «an oath to the character of his own times. 
 " Pro Flacco, 26, 
 
 discipline ; and, out of regard to the republic, to 
 contemn the multitude of Jews, who are so tumul- 
 tuous in all our assemblies, an act of the greatest 
 gravity : but I'ompey, it seems, when he took 
 Jerusalem, meddled with nothing in that temple : 
 in which, as on many other occasions, he acted 
 prudently, that in so suspicious and ill-tongued a 
 people, he would not give any handle for calumny; 
 for I can never believe, that it was the religion of 
 Jews and enemies, which hindered this excellent 
 general, but his own modesty." Then after show- 
 ing, that " Flaccus had not embezzled or seized 
 the gold to his own use, but transmitted it to the 
 public treasury," he observes, that itwas not there- 
 fore for the sake of the crime, but to raise an envy, 
 that this fact was mentioned ; and that the accuser's 
 speech was turned from the judges, and addressed 
 to the circle around them : "Every city," says he, 
 " LaeUus, has its religion ; we have ours : whUe 
 Jerusalem flourished, and Judea was at peace with 
 us, yet their religious rites were held inconsistent 
 with the splendour of this empire, the gravity of 
 the Roman name, and the institutions of our ances- 
 tors : but much more ought they to beheld so now ; 
 since they have let us see, by taking arms, what 
 opinion they have of us ; and by their being con- 
 quered, how dear they are to the gods\" He pro- 
 ceeds in the last place to show, what he had 
 initimated in the beginning, " that the real aim of 
 this trial was to sacrifice those, who had signalized 
 themselves against Catiline, to the malice and 
 revenge of the seditious : " and puts the judges in 
 mind, that " the fate of the city, and the safety of 
 all honest men, now rested on their shoulders : 
 that they saw in what an unsettled state things 
 were, and what a turn their affairs had taken : that 
 among many other acts, which certain men had done, 
 they were now contriving, that by the votes and 
 decisions of the judges every honest man might be 
 undone ; thatthesejudgesindeedhadgivenmanylau- 
 dable judgments in favour of the republic ; many, 
 against the wickedness of the conspirators : yet 
 some people thought the republic not yet suffi- 
 ciently changed, till the best citizens were involved 
 in the same punishment with the worst. C. 
 Antonius," says he, " is already oppressed ; letitbe 
 so : he had a peculiar infamy upon him : yet even 
 he, if I may be allowed to say it, would not have 
 been condemned by you : upon whose condemna- 
 tion a sepulchre was dressed up to Catiline, and 
 celebrated with a feast and concourse of our auda- 
 cious and domestic enemies, and funeral rites 
 performed to him : now the death of Lentulus is to 
 be revenged on Flaccus ; and what more agreeable 
 sacrifice can you offer to him, than by Flaccus's 
 blood to satiate his detestable hatred of us all .' Let 
 us then appease the manes of Lentulus ; pay the 
 last honours to Cethegus ; recall the banished ; nay, 
 let me also be punished for the excess of my love 
 to my country : I am already named and marked 
 out for a trial ; have crimes forged ; dangers pre- 
 pared for me ; which if they had attempted by any 
 other method ; or if, in the name of the people, 
 they had stirred up the unwary multitude against 
 me, I could better have borne it ; but it is not to be 
 endured, that they should think to drive out of the 
 city the authors, the leaders, the champions of our 
 common safety ; by the help of senators and 
 
 T Pro Flacco, 28. 
 G 2
 
 84 
 
 THE HISTORY OF IKE LIFE OF 
 
 knights, who, with one mind and consent, assisted 
 so greatly in the same cause. Tliey know the mind 
 and inclination of the Roman people : the people 
 themselves take all jiossible occasions of declaring 
 it : there is no variety in their sentiments, or their 
 language. If any one therefore call me thither, I 
 come : I do not only not refuse, but require, the 
 Roman people for my judge : let force only be 
 excluded ; let swords and stones be removed ; let 
 mercenaries be quiet ; let slaves be silent ; and 
 •when I come to be beard for myself, there will not 
 be a man so unjust, if he be free and a citizen, who 
 will not be of opinion, that they ought to vote me 
 rewards rather than punishment''." He concludes, 
 by applying himself, as usual, to move the pity 
 and clemency of the bench towards the person of 
 the criminal, by all the topics proper to excite com- 
 passion : " the merit of his former services ; the 
 lustre of his family ; the tears of his children ; the 
 discouragement of the honest ; and the hurt which 
 the republic would suffer in being deprived, at such 
 a time, of such a citizen." 
 
 Q. Cicero, who succeeded Flaccus in the pro- 
 vince of Asia, was now entering into the third 
 year of his government, when Cicero sent him a 
 most admirable letter of advice about the admi- 
 nistration of his province ; fraught with such 
 excellent precepts of moderation, humanity, jus- 
 tice, and laying dow.n rules of governing, so truly 
 calculated for the good of mankind, that it deserves 
 a place in the closets of all who govern ; and es- 
 pecially of those who are entrusted with the com- 
 mand of foreign provinces ; who by their distance 
 from any immediate control, are often tempted, by 
 the insolence of power, to acts of great oppression. 
 
 The triumvirate was now dreaded and detested 
 by all ranks of men : and Pompey, as the first of 
 the league, had the first share of the public hatred : 
 "so that these afi'ecters of popularity," says Cicero, 
 " have taught even modest men tohiss^." Bibulus 
 was continually teasing them by his edicts ; in 
 which he inveighed and protested against all their 
 acts. These edicts were greedily received by the 
 city ; all people got copies of them ; and where- 
 ever they were fixed up in the streets, it was scarce 
 possible to pass for the crowds which were reading 
 them ^. Bibulus was extolled to the skies ; " though I 
 know not why," says Cicero, " unless, like another 
 Fabius, he is thought to save the state by doing 
 nothing : for what is all his greatness of mind, but 
 a mere testimony of his sentiments, without any 
 service to the republic*? " His edicts however j.ro- 
 voked Caesar so far, that he attempted to escite the 
 mob to storm his house, and drag him out by force : 
 and Vatinius actually made an assault upon it, 
 
 ^ Pro Flacco, 38. 
 
 y Qui fremitus hominum ? qui Irati animi ? quanto in 
 odio noster amicus Magnus ?^Ad Att. JL 13. 
 
 Scito nihil imquam fuisse tarn infame, tam turpe, tam 
 perasque omnibus generibus, ordinibus, aetatibns offensum, 
 quam hunc statum, qui nunc est : magis mehercule quam 
 vdlem, non modo quam putaram. Populares isti jam etiam 
 modestos homines sibilare docuerunt. — Ibid. 19. 
 
 » Itaque archilochia in ilium edicta Bibuli populo ita 
 sunt jucimda, ut eum locum, ubi proponuntur, prs multi- 
 tudine eorum quilegimt.transirenequeunt.' — Ad Att. ii. 21. 
 
 = Bibulus in coelo est ; nee quare, scio. Sed ita laudatiu-, 
 quasi, unus homo nobis cunotando restituit rem. — Ibid. 19. 
 
 Bibuli autem ista magnitude animi in comitioruni dila- 
 tione, quid habet, nisi ipsius judicium sine uUa correctione 
 reipublicw.— Ibid. 15. 
 
 though without success''. But while all the world 
 disliked, lamented, and talked louilly against these 
 proceedings ; and above all, young Curio at the head 
 of the young nobility ; " yet we seek no remedy," 
 says " Cicero, through a persuasion, that there is 
 no resisting, but to our destruction'-'. 
 
 The inclinations of the people were shown 
 chiefly, as he tells us, in the theatres and public 
 shows ; where, when Ca;sar entered, he was re- 
 ceived only with a dead applause ; but when young 
 Curio, who followed him, appeared, he was clapped, 
 as Pompey used to be in the height of his glory. 
 And in the Apollinarian plays, Diphilus, the tra- 
 gedian, happening to have some passages in his 
 part which were thought to hit the character of 
 Pompey, he was forced to repeat them a thousand 
 times : 
 
 Thou by our miseries art great i 
 
 The time will come wlicn thou wilt wretchedly lament 
 that greatness ■ 
 
 If neither law nor custom can fCsti-ain thee 
 
 at each of which sentences, the whole theatre made 
 such a roaring and clapping, that they could hardly 
 be quieted''. Pompey was greatly shocked to find 
 himself fallen so low in the esteem of the city : he 
 had hitherto lived in the midst of glory, an utter 
 stranger to disgrace, which made him the more 
 impatient under so mortifying a change : " I could 
 scarce refrain from tears," says Cicero, " to see 
 what an abject, paltry figure, he made in the rostra, 
 where he never used to appear but with unrversal 
 applause and admiration ; meanly haranguing against 
 the edicts of Bibulus, and displeasing not only his 
 audience, but himself: a spectacle agreeable to 
 none so much as to Crassus ; to see him fallen so 
 low from such a height : — and as ApeUes or Pro- 
 togenes would have been grieved to see one of 
 their capital pieces besmeared with dirt ; so it was 
 a real grief to me, to see the man, whom I had 
 painted with all the colours of my art, become of 
 a sudden so deformed : for though nobody can 
 think, since the affair of Clodius, that I have any 
 reason to be his friend ; yet my love for him was 
 so great, that no injury could efface it*." 
 
 Caesar, on the other hand, began to reap some 
 
 ^ Putarat Cassar oratione sua posse impelli eoncionem, 
 ut iret ad Bibulum ; multa cum seditiosissime diceret, 
 vocem exprimere non potuit..— Ad Att. ii. 21. 
 
 Qui consulem morti objeceris, inclusum obsederis^ 
 extrahere ex suis tectis conatus sis. — In Vatin. 9. 
 
 c Ivtmc quidem novo quodam morbo eivitas moritur ; ut 
 cum omnes ea, quae sunt acta, improbent, querantur, do- 
 leant, varietas in re nulla sit, aperteque loquantur et jam 
 Clare gemant ; tamen medicina nulla afferatur, neque enim 
 resisti sine internecione posse arbi tram ur — Ad Att. ii. 20. 
 
 d Diphilus tragcedus in nostrum Pompeium petulanter 
 invectus est : Nostra miseria tu es magmis, millies coactua 
 est dicere. Tandem virtutcm istain I'enict tempiis cum ijra- 
 viter gemes, totius theatri clamore dixit, itemque cstera. 
 Nam et ejusmodi sunt ii versus, ut in tempus ab inimico 
 Pompeii script! esse videantur. iSi neque leges, neque 
 mores cogunt, et caetera magno cum fremitu et clamore 
 dicta sunt. — Ibid. 19. 
 
 Valerius Maximus, who tells the same story, says, that 
 Diphilus, in pronouncing those sentences, stretched out his 
 hands toivards Pompey, to point him out to the company. 
 But it appears from Cicero's account of it in this letter to 
 Atticus, that Pompey was then at Capua ; whither Caesar 
 sent an express to him in all haste to acquaint him witli 
 what had passed, and to call liim probably to Rome. — Val. 
 Max. vi. 2. 
 
 t Ut ills tum humilis, ut demissus erat : ut ipse etiam
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 8S 
 
 part of that fruit which he expected from their 
 union : he foresaw, from the first, that the odium 
 of it would fall upon Pompey ; the benefit accrue 
 to himself : till Pompey, gradually sinking under 
 the envy, and himself insensibly rising by the 
 power of it, they might come at last to act upon a 
 level : or, as Floras states the several views of the 
 three, Csesar wanted to acquire ; Crassus to in- 
 crease ; Pompey to preserve his dignity k^. So that 
 Pompey in reality was but the dupe of the other 
 two : whereas if he had united himself with Cicero, 
 and through him with the senate ; whither his own 
 and his country's interest called him, and where, 
 from the different talents of the men, there could 
 have been no contrast of glory or power ; he must 
 have preserved through life, what his utmost ambi- 
 tion seemed to aim at, the character not only of 
 the first, but of the best citizen in Rome : but by 
 his alliance with Caesar, he lent his authority to 
 the nursing up a rival, who gained upon him daily 
 in credit, and grew too strong for him at last in 
 power. The people's disaffection began to open 
 his eyes, and make him sensible of his error ; which 
 he frankly owned to Cicero, and seemed desirous 
 of entering into measures with him to retrieve it**. 
 He saw himself on the brink of a precipice, where 
 to proceed was ruinous, to retreat ignominious : the 
 honest were become his enemies, and the factious 
 had never been his friends : but though it was easy 
 to see his mistake, it was difficult to find a remedy. 
 Cicero pressed the only one which could be effec- 
 tual, an immediate breach with Csesar ; and used 
 all arguments to bring him to it ; but Caesar was 
 more successful, and drew Pompey quite away 
 from him' ; and having got possession, entangled 
 him so fast, that he could never disengage himself 
 till it was too late. 
 
 But to give a turn to the disposition of the peo- 
 ple, or to draw their attention at least another way, 
 Cassar contrived to amuse the city with the disco- 
 very of a new conspiracy to assassinate Pompey. 
 Vettius, who in Catiline's affair had impeached 
 Caesar, and smarted severely for it, was now in- 
 structed how to make amends for that step, by 
 swearing a plot upon the opposite party ; particu- 
 larly upon young ^urio, the briskest opposer of the 
 triumvirate. For this purpose, he insinuated him- 
 self into Curio's acquaintance, and when he was 
 grown familiar, opened to him a resolution, which 
 
 sibi, non iis soluin qui aderant, displicebat. O spectaculum 
 uni Crasso jucundum, &c. — Quanquam nemo putabat 
 propter Clodianum negotium me illi amicum esse debere : 
 tamen tantus fuit amor, ut exhaui-iri nulla posset injuria. 
 —Ad Att. 11. 21 
 
 fC<Esaranimadvertebatse— invidiacommunlspstentiaBin 
 ilium relegata, confirmaturum vires suas. — Veil. Pat. 11. 44. 
 
 e Sic igitur Caesare dignitatem comparare, Crasso augere, 
 Pompeio retlnere, cupientibus, onmibusque pariter poten- 
 tly cupidls, de Invadenda republica facile convenit. — Flor. 
 4. 2. 11. 
 
 l> Sed quod facile sentias, taedet ipsum Pompeium, vehe- 
 tnenterque poenitet, &c. — Ad Att. 11. 22. 
 
 Prlmuni igitur illud te scire volo, Sampsiceranum, nos- 
 trum amicum, vchementer sui status poenitere, restitui- 
 que in eum locum cupere, ex quo decidit, doloremque 
 Buum Impertire nobis, et medicinam interdum apertequiE- 
 rere ; quam ego possum invenire nullam. — Ibid. 23. 
 
 ' Ego M. Bibulo. praistantissimo cive, consulc, nihil 
 prstermisi, quantum faccre, nitique potui, quin Pom- 
 peium a Csesaris conjunctiono avocarem. In quo Cariar 
 felicior fuit : ipse enim Pompeium a mea familiaritate 
 .di^unxit — Phil. ii. 10. 
 
 he pretended to have-taken, of killing Pompe», »» 
 expectation of drawing some approbation of it from 
 him : but Curio carried the story to his fatner. 
 who gave immediate information of it to Pompey, 
 and so the matter, being made public, was brought 
 before the senate. This was a disappointment to 
 Vettius, who had laid his measures so, that "he 
 himself should have been seized in the forum with 
 a poniard, and his slaves taken also with pon- 
 iards ; and upon his examination, was to have made 
 the first discovery if Curio had not prevented him. 
 But being now examined before the senate, he 
 denied at first his having any such discourse with 
 Curio ; but presently recanted, and offered to dis- 
 cover what he knew, upon promise of pardon, 
 which was readily granted : he then told them, 
 that there was a plot formed by many of the young 
 nobility, of which Curio was the head : that Paul- 
 lus was engaged in it from the first, with Brutus 
 also and Lentulus, the son of the flamen, with the 
 privity of his father : that Septimius, the secretary 
 of Bibulus, had brought him a dagger from Bibu- 
 lus himself. — This was thought ridiculous, that 
 Vettius should not be able to procure a dagger, 
 unless the consul had given him one. — Young 
 Curio was called in to answer to Vettius' s infor- 
 mation, who soon confounded him, and showed 
 his narrative to be inconsistent and impossible : 
 for he had deposed, that the young nobles had 
 agreed to attack Pompey in the forum on the day 
 when Gabinius gave his show of gladiators, and 
 that Paullus was to be the leader in the attack ; but 
 it appeared, that Paullus was in Macedonia at that 
 very time. — The senate therefore ordered Vettius to 
 be clapped into irons, and that if any man released 
 him, he should be deemed a public enemy." 
 
 Caesar, however, unwilling to let the matter drop 
 so easily, brought him out again the next day, and 
 produced him to the people in the rostra ; and in 
 that place, where Bibulus, though consul, durst 
 not venture to show himself, exhibited this wretch, 
 as his puppet, to utter whatever he should think fit 
 to inspire. Vettius impeached several here, whom 
 he had not named before in the senate ; particularly 
 Lucullus and Domitius : he did not name Cicero, 
 but said, that a certain senator of great eloquence, 
 and consular rank, and a neighbour of the consul, 
 had told him, that the times wanted another Brutus 
 or Ahala. When he had done, and was going 
 down, being called back again and whispered by 
 Vatinius, and then asked aloud, whether he could 
 recollect nothing more, he farther declared, that 
 Piso, Cicero's son-in-law, and M. Laterensis, were 
 also privy to the design^ But it happened in this, 
 as it commonly does in all plots of the same kind, 
 that the too great eagerness of the managers 
 de&troyed its effect : for, by the extravagance to 
 which it was pushed, it confuted itself ; and was 
 entertained with so general a contempt by all orders, 
 that Cffisar was glad to get rid of it, by strangling 
 or poisoning Vettius privately in prison, and giving 
 it out, that it was done by the conspirators'. 
 
 The senate had still one expedient in reserve for 
 mortifying Caesar, by throwing some contemptible 
 
 k Ad Att. 11. 24 ; In Vatln. II ; Sueton. J. Cfcs. 20. 
 
 1 Fregerisnc in carcere cervices ipsl illi Vettio, ne quod 
 Indicium corrupti judicll extaret ? — In Vatin. 11 , 
 
 CjEsar— desperans tarn prEecipitis consilii eventum, in- 
 tercepisse veneno indiccm croditur.— Sueton. J, ClBS. 30 ; 
 Plutaixh. in LucuU.
 
 00 
 
 'llli: HISTORY OV THE LIFE Ot 
 
 province upon him nt the expiration of his consul- 
 ship ; as the cure of the wooils or the roads ; or 
 what shouhl give him at least no power to molest 
 them'". The distribution of the provinces was, 
 by ancient usage and exjiress law, their luidoubted 
 prerogative ; which had never been invaded or 
 attempted by the people"; so that this piece of 
 revenije, or rather self-defence, seemed to be clearly 
 in their jiower ; but (.'cesar, who valued no law or 
 custom which did not serve his purposes, without 
 any regard to the senate, ai)plied himself to his 
 better friends, the peojjle ; and by his agent Vati- 
 nius procured from them, by a new and extraordi- 
 nary law, the grant of Cisalpine Gaul, with the 
 addition of lllyricuin, for the term of five years. 
 This was a cruel blow to the power of the senate, 
 and a direct infringement of the old constitution ; 
 as it transferred to the people a right which they 
 had never exercised or pretended to before". It 
 convinced the senate, however, that all opposition 
 was vain ; so that when CcEsar soon after declared 
 a desire to have the Transalpine Gaul added to his 
 other provinces, they decreed it to him readily 
 themselves ; to prevent his recurring a second time 
 to the people, and establishing a precedent, so 
 fatal to their authorityP. 
 
 Clodius began now to threaten Cicero M'ith all 
 the terrors of his tribunate ; to which he was elected 
 without any opposition : and in proportion as the 
 danger approached, Cicero's apprehensions were 
 every day more and more alarmed. The absence 
 of his friend Atticus, who was lately gone to Epirus, 
 was an additional mortification to him : for Atticus, 
 having a great familiarity with all the Clodian 
 family, might have been of service, either in dis- 
 suading Clodius from any attempt, or in fishing 
 out of him at least what he really intended. Cicero 
 pressed him therefore, in every letter, to come back 
 again to Rome: '• If you love me, (says he,) as 
 much as I am persuaded you do, hold yourself 
 ready to run hither as soon as I call : though I am 
 doing and will do everything in my power to save 
 vou that trouble 1. — My wishes and my affairs 
 require you : I shall want neither counsel, nor 
 courage, nor forces, if I see you here at the time. 
 I have reason to be satisfied with Varro : Pompey 
 talks divinely"". — How much do I wish that you 
 had staid at Rome ! as you surely would have done, 
 if you had imagined how things would happen : 
 
 ™ Eandem ob causam opera optimatibus data est, ut 
 provinciae futuris consulibus minimi negotii, id est, sylvae 
 callesquc, deceruerentur. — Sueton. .J. Cass. 19. 
 
 " Tu proviiicias consulares, quas C. Gracclius, qui unus 
 maxime popularis fuit, non iiiodo non abstulit ab senatu : 
 sed etiam utnocesseesset, quotannis constitui per senatuni 
 decreta lege sanxit. — Pro Domo, 9. 
 
 Eripueras senatui provinciae decemendas potestateni ; 
 imperatoris deligendi judicium ; aerarii dispensationem ; 
 quK nunquam sibi populus Romanus appetivit, qui nun- 
 quam haec a surrmii cousilii gubernatione auferre conatus 
 est.— In Vatin. 15. 
 
 P Initio quidom Galliam Cisalpinam, adjecto Illyrioo, 
 lege Vatinia accepit: mox per senatuni Comatam quoque : 
 veritis Patribus, ne si ipsi negassent, populus etlianc daret. 
 .—Sueton. J. Cass. 22. 
 
 1 Tu, si me amas tantum, quantum profecto amas, expe- 
 ditus facito ut sis ; si inclamaro, ut accurras. Sed do 
 operam, et dabo, ne sit ncccsse. — Ad Att. ii. 20. 
 
 ■■ Te cum ego desidero, turn etiam res ad tempus illud 
 vocat. P'urinium consilii, animi, prassidii denique mihi, 
 si te ad tempus videro, accesserit. Varro milii satisfacit, 
 Ponxpeius loquitur divinitus. — Ibid. 21, 
 
 we should easily have managed Clodius, or learnt 
 at least for certain what he meant to do. At pre- 
 sent he flies about ; raves ; knows not what he 
 would be at ; threatens many ; and will take his 
 measures perhaps at last from chance. When he 
 reflects, in what a general odium the administration 
 of our affairs now is, he seems disposed to turn his 
 attacks upon the authors of it : but when he con- 
 siders their power, and their armies, he falls again 
 upon me ; and threatens me botii with violence and 
 a trial — Many things may be transacted by our 
 friend Varro, which, when urged also by you, 
 would have the greater weiglit ; many things may 
 be drawn from Clodius himself; many discovered, 
 whichcannotbc concealed from you ; but itisabsurd 
 to run into particulars, when I want you for all 
 things — the whole depends on your coming before 
 he enters into his magistracy". Wherefore, if this 
 finds you asleep, awake yourself ; if standing still, 
 come away ; if coming, run ; if running, fly ; itis in- 
 credible, what a stress I lay on your counsel and pru- 
 dence; but above all, on your love andfide]ity,"&c.' 
 Caesar's whole ayu in this atlair was to subdue 
 Cicero's spirit, and distress him so far, as to force 
 him to a dependence upon him : for which end, 
 while he was privately encouraging Clodius to pur- 
 sue him, he was proposing expedients to Cicero for 
 his security : he offered to put him into the com- 
 mission, for distributing the lands of Campania, 
 with which twenty of the principal senators were 
 charged : but as it was an invitation only into the 
 place of one deceased, and not an original desig- 
 nation, Cicero did not think it for his dignity to 
 accept it ; nor cared on any account to bear a part 
 in an affair so odious" ; he then offered, in the most 
 obliging manner, to make him one of his lieutenants 
 in Gaul, and pressed it earnestly upon him ; which, 
 was both a sure and honourable way of avoiding 
 the danger, and what he might have made use of 
 so far only as it served his purpose, without embar- 
 rassing himself with tlie duty of it^: yet Cicero, 
 after some hesitation, declined this also. He was 
 unwilling to owe the obligation of his safety to any 
 man, and much more to Caesar ; being desirous, if 
 possible, to defend himself by his own strength ; as 
 he could easily have done, if the triumvirate would 
 not have acted against him. But this stiffness so 
 exasperated Caesar, that he resolved immediately 
 to assist Clodius, with all his power, to oppress 
 him ; and in excuse for it afterwards, used to throw 
 the whole blame on Cicero himself, for slighting so 
 obstinately all the friendly offers which he made to 
 himy. Pompey all this while, to prevent his throw- 
 ing himself perhaps into Caesar's hands, was giving 
 him the strongest assurances, confirmed by oaths 
 
 s Ad Att. ii. 22. 
 
 ' Quamobrem, si dermis, expergiscere ; si stas, ingre- 
 dere ; si ingrederis, curre ; si curris, advola. Credibile non 
 est, quantum ego in consiliisetprudentiatua.et quod max- 
 imum est, quantum inamore etfideponam. — Ad Att. ii. 23. 
 
 " Cosooniomortuo, sum in ejus locum invitatus. Id erat 
 vocari in locum mortui. Nihil me turpiiis apud homines 
 fuisset: neque.vero ad istam ipsam a(r<J)aAe(a>' quicquam 
 alienius. Sunt enim illi apud bonos invidiosi.— Ibid. 19. 
 
 t A Csesarevaldeliberalitcriuvifor in legationcm illam, 
 sibi ut sini legatus. Ilia ct munitior est, et non impedit, 
 quo minus adsim, cum vellm. — Ibid. 18. 
 
 Caesar me sibi vult esse legatum. Honestior h»c docli- 
 natio periculi. Sed ego hoc nunc repudio. Ciuid ergo est ? 
 Pugnare malo : nihil tamen certi. — Ibid. 19. 
 
 y Ac aolet, cum se purgat, in me conferre omnem iato-
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 fff 
 
 and vows, that there was no danger ; and that he 
 irould sooner be killed himself, than suffer him to 
 be hurt ; that both Clodius and his brother Appius 
 had solemnly promised to act nothing against him, 
 but to be wholly at his disposal ; and if they did 
 not keep their word, that he would let all the world 
 see, how much he preferred Cicero's friendship to 
 all his other engagements. In Cicero's account of 
 this to Atticus, " Varro, (says he,) gives me full 
 satisfaction. Pompey loves me, and treats me with 
 great kindness. Do you believe him ? you'll say. 
 Yes, I do. He convinces me, that he is in earnest. 
 — Yet since all men of affairs, in their historical 
 reflections, and even poets too in their verses, 
 admonish us always to be upon our guard, nor to 
 believe too easily ; I comply with them in one 
 thing ; to use all proper caution, as far as I am 
 able ; but for the other, find it impossible for me 
 not to believe him^." 
 
 But whatever really passed between Clodius and 
 Pompey ; Cicero perceiving, that Clodius talked in 
 a different strain to everybody else, and denounced 
 nothing but war and ruin to him, began to be very 
 suspicious of Pompey; and prepared to defend 
 himself by his genuine forces, the senate and the 
 knights, with the honest of all ranks, who were 
 ready to fly to his assistance from all parts of 
 Italy*. This was the situation of affairs when 
 Clodius entered upon the tribunate ; where his first 
 act was, to put the same affront on Bibulus, which 
 had been offered before to Cicero, on laying down 
 that office, by not suffering him to speak to the 
 people, but only to take the accustomed oath. 
 
 Q. Metellus Celer, an excellent citizen and 
 patriot, who, from his consulship, obtained the 
 government of Gaul, to which Csesar now succeeded, 
 died suddenly this summer at Rome, in the vigour 
 of his health and flower of his age, not without 
 suspicion of violence. His wife, the sister of Clo- 
 dius, a lewd, intriguing woman, was commonly 
 thought to have poisoned him, as well to revenge 
 his opposition to all the attempts of her brother, 
 as to gain the greater liberty of pursuing her own 
 amours. Cicero does not scruple to charge her 
 
 rum temporum culpam : ita me sibi fuisse inimicum, ut 
 ne honorem quidem a se accipere vellem. — Ad Att. is. 2. 
 
 Non caruerunt suspiciono oppress! Ciceronis, Caesar et 
 Pompeius. Hoc sibi contraxisse videbatur Cicero, quod 
 inter xx. vires dividendo agro Campano esse noluisset. 
 —Veil. Pat. ii. 45. 
 
 * Pompeius omnia pollicetur et Caesar : quibus ego ita 
 credo, ut nihil de mea comparatione diminuam. — Ad 
 Quint. Frat. i. 2. 
 
 Pompeius amat nos, caroDque habet. Credis ? inquies, 
 Credo : Prorsus mihi pcrsuadet. Sed quia, ut video, prag- 
 matiei homines omnibus historicis prajceptis, versibus 
 denique cavore jubent, et vetant credere ; alterum facio, ut 
 caveam; alterum, ut non credam, facere nonpo:;sum. Clo- 
 dius adhuc mihidcnunciat periculum : Pompeius affirmat 
 non esse periculum ; adjurat, addit etiam, se prius occisum 
 iri ab eo, quani mc violatum iri. — Ad Att. ii. 20. 
 
 Fidem reeepisse sibi et Clodium et Appium deme: banc 
 si iUe non servraret, ita laturum, ut omncs iutelligerent, 
 nihil antiquius amicitia nostra fuisse, &c. Ibid. 22. 
 
 * Clodius est inimicus nobis. Pompeius confirmat cum 
 nihil facturum esse contra me. Mihi periculosum est cre- 
 dere : ad resistendum me paro. Studia spero me summa 
 habiturum omnium ordinum. — Ibid. 21. 
 
 Si diem Clodius dixerit, tota Italia concurret : sin au- 
 tcm vi agcre conabitur, omnes sc et suos liberos, amicos, 
 clientes, libertos, sei-vos, pecimias denique suas poUiccn- 
 tiir — Ad Quint. Frat. i, 2. 
 
 with it in his speech for Caelius, where he gives .<\ 
 moving account of the death of her husband, when, 
 he visited in his last moments ; when in broken, 
 faltering accents he foretold the storm which was 
 ready to break both upon Cicero and the republic; 
 and, in the midst of his agonies, signified it to be 
 his only concern in dying, that his friend and his 
 country should be deprived of his help at so critical 
 a conjuncture''. 
 
 By Metellus's death a place became vacant in 
 the college of augurs : and though Cicero was so 
 shy of accepting any favour from the trium\'irate, 
 yet he seems inclined to have accepted this, if it 
 had been offered to him, as he intimates in a letter 
 to Atticus. Tell me, says he, every tittle of news 
 that is stirring ; and since Nepos is leaving Rome, 
 who is to have his brother's augurate : it is the 
 only thing with which they could tempt me. Ob- 
 serve my weakness ! But what have I to do with 
 such things, to which I long to bid adieu, and turn 
 myself entirely to philosophy } I am now in 
 earnest to do it ; and wish that I had been so from 
 the beginning"^. But his inclination to the augu- 
 rate, at this time, was nothing else, we see, but a 
 sudden start of an un weighed thought ; no sooner 
 thrown out, than retracted ; and dropped only to 
 Atticus, to whom he used to open all his thoughts 
 with the same freedom with which they offered 
 themselves to his own mind'' : for it is certain, that 
 he might have had this very augurate, if he had 
 thought it worth asking for ; nay, in a letter to 
 Cato, who could not be ignorant of the fact, he 
 says, that he had actually slighted it ; which seems 
 indeed to have been the case^ : for though he was 
 
 b Cum iUe — tertio die post quam in curia, quam in ros- 
 tris, quam in republica floruisset, integerrima a;tate, 
 Optimo liabitu, maximis viribus, eripcretur bonis omni- 
 bus atque universae civitati. — Cum me intuens flcntem 
 significabatinterruptis atque morieutibus vocibus, quanta 
 impenderet procella urbi, quanta tempestas civitati — ut 
 non se eraori, quam spoliari suo praesidio cum patriam, 
 turn etiam me doleret. — Ex hac igitur domo progressa ilia 
 mulier de veneni ccleritate dicere audcbit ? — Pro Cselio, 24. 
 
 c Et numquid novi omnino : et quoniam Nepos proficis- 
 citur, euinam auguratus deforatur, quo quidem imo ego 
 ab istis capi possum. Vido Icvitatem meam ! Sed quid 
 ego hacc, qua^ cupio deponcre, et toto animo atque omni 
 cura (pi\o(FO(pilv ? Sic, inquam, in animo est ; vellem ab 
 initio. — Ad Att. ii. 5. 
 
 An ingenious French writer, and an English one also 
 not less ingenious, have taken occasion from this passage 
 to form a heavy charge against Cicero both in his civil and 
 moral character, The Frenchman descants with great 
 gravity on the foible o/hnman nature, and the astonishing 
 weakness of otcr Orator, in siifferiiipa thought to drop from 
 him, which must for ever ruin his credit with jiostcrit)/, 
 and destroy that high opinion of his virtue, ichich he labours 
 everywhere to inculcate. But a proper attention to the 
 general tenor of liis conduct woxild easily have convinced 
 him of the absurdity of so severe an interpretation ; and 
 the facts produced in this history .abundantly show, that 
 the passage itself cannot admit any otlier sense than what 
 I have given to it, as it is rendered also by Mr. Mongault, 
 the judicious translator of the Epistles to Atticus, viz. 
 that the auyurate teas the only bait that could tempt him ,• 
 not to go into the measures of the triumvirate, for that was 
 never in his thoughts, but to accept anything from them, 
 or suffer himself to be obliged to them.— See Hist, de 
 I'Exil de Cic^ron, p. 42 ; Considerations on the Life of 
 Cicero, p. 27. 
 
 •i Ego tecum, t.inquam niecum loquor. — Ad Att. viii. 14. 
 
 e Sacerdotiura denique, cum. quemadmodum te existi- 
 mare arbitror, non difficillinie consequi possem, non 
 appetivi.— Idem post injiu-iam acccptam— studui quam
 
 88 
 
 TilE HlSTOilY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 within twenty miles of Rome, yet he never stirred 
 from his retreat to solicit or offer himself for it, 
 which he must necessurily have done, if he had 
 any real desire to obtain it. 
 
 Cicero's fortunes seemed now to be in a tottering 
 condition : his enemies were gaining ground upon 
 him, and any addition of helj) from the new magis- 
 trates might turn tlie scale to his ruin. Catulus used 
 to tell him, that he had no cause to fear anything ; 
 for that one good consul was sufficient to j)rotect 
 him ; and Rome had never known two bad ones in 
 office together, except in Cinna's tyranny '. But 
 that day was now come ; and Rome saw in this 
 year, what it had never seen before in peaceful 
 times since its foundation, two profligate men 
 advanced to that high dignity. 
 
 These were L. Calpurnius Piso and A. Gabinius ; 
 the one, the father-in-law of Ceesar, the other, the 
 creature of I'ompey. Before their 
 A. uRB. fi95. entrance into office, Cicero had con- 
 ceived great hopes of them, and not 
 L. CALPUR- without reason ; for, by the marriage 
 Nius PISO, of his daughter, he was allied to Piso ; 
 A. GABi.vius. who continued to give him all the 
 marks of his confidence, and had 
 employed him, in his late election, to preside over 
 the votes of the leading century ; and when he 
 entered into his office, on the first of January, 
 asked his opinion the third in the senate, or the 
 next after Pompey and Crassus^^ : and he might 
 flatter himself also, probably, that on account of 
 the influence which they were under, they would 
 not be very forward to declare themselves against 
 him''. But he presently found himself deceived : 
 for Clodius had already secured them to his mea- 
 sures, by a private contract, to procure for them, 
 by a grant of the people, two of the best govern- 
 ments of the empire ; for Piso, Macedonia, with 
 Greece and Thessaly ; for Gabinius, Cilicia : and 
 when this last was not thought good enough, and 
 Gabinius seemed to be displeased with his bargain, 
 it was exchanged soon after for Syria, with a power 
 of making war upon the Parthians'. For this price 
 they agreed to serve him in all his designs, and 
 particularly in the oppression of Cicero ; who, on 
 
 ornatissima senatus populique Romani de me judicia inter- 
 ccdere. Itaque et augur postea fieri volui, quod antea 
 neglexeram. — Ep. Fam. xv. 4. 
 
 f Audieram ex sapientissimo homine, Q. Catulo, non 
 saspe unmn consulem improbum, duos veronunquam post 
 Romam conditam, excepto illo Cinnano tempore, fuisse. 
 Quare meamcausam semper fore firmissimani dicerc solc- 
 l)Ht,dnni vel unus in republica consul esset. — Post Red. in 
 Sen. 4. 
 
 g Consules se optime ostendunt.— Ad Quint. Frat. i. 2. 
 
 Tu misericors me affinem tuum, quem tuis comitiis prse- 
 rogativae primum custodem praefeceras ; quem kalendis 
 Januariis tertio loco sentontiam rogaras, constrictum inimi- 
 cis reipubUcae tradidisti. — Post Red. in Sen. 7 ; In Pis. 5, 6. 
 
 h The author of tlie Exile of Cicero, to aggravate the per- 
 fidy of Gabinius, tells us, that Cicero had defended him in 
 a capital cause, and produces a fragment of the oration : 
 but he mistakes the time of the fact ; for that defence was 
 not made till several years after this consulship ; as wo 
 shall see hereafter in its proper place. — Hist, de I'Exil de 
 Ciceron, p. 115. 
 
 ' Fcedus fecerunt cum tribuno plebis palam, ut ab eo 
 provincias acciperent, quas vellent — id autem fcpdus meo 
 sanguine ictum sanciri posse dicebant. — Pro Scxt. 10. 
 
 CuJ quidem cum Clliciam dedisses, mutasti pactionem 
 et Gabinio, pretio amplificato, Syriam nominatim dedisti. 
 —Pro Domo, 9. 
 
 that account, often calls them, not consuls, but 
 brokers of provinces, and sellers of their country''. 
 
 They were, both of them, efjually corrupt in their 
 morals, yet very dift'erent in their tempers. Piso 
 had been accused the year before, by P. Clodius, of 
 plundering and oppressing the allies : when by 
 throwing himself at the feet of his judges in the 
 most abject manner, and in the midst of a violent 
 rain, he is said to have moved the compassion of 
 the bench, who thought it punishment enough for 
 a man of his birth, to be reduced to the necessity 
 of prostrating himself so miserably, and rising so 
 deformed and besmeared with dirt'. But in truth, 
 it was Caesar's authority that saved him, and recon- 
 ciled him at the same time to Clodius. In his 
 outward carriage he affected the mien and garb of 
 a philosopher, and his aspect greatly contributed 
 to give him the credit of that character : he was 
 severe in his looks, squalid in his dress, slow in 
 his speech, morose in his manners, the very picture 
 of antiquity, and a pattern of the ancient republic; 
 ambitious to be thought a patriot, and a reviver of 
 the old discipline. But this garb of rigid virtue 
 covered a most lewd and vicious mind : he was 
 surrounded always with Greeks, to imprint a notion 
 of his learning : but while others entertained them 
 for the improvement of their knowledge, he, for 
 the gratification of his lusts, as his cooks, his 
 pimps, or his drunken companions. In short, he 
 was a dirty, sottish, stupid Epicurean; wallowing 
 in all the low and filthy pleasures of life ; till a false 
 opinion of Ids wisdom, the splendour ot his great 
 family, and the smoky images of ancestors, whom 
 he resembled in nothing but his complexion, re- 
 commended him to the consulship ; which exposed 
 the genuine temper and talents of the man". 
 
 His colleague Gabinius was no hy>)ocrite, but a 
 professed rake from the beginning ; gay, foppish, 
 luxurious ; always curled and perfumed, and living 
 in a perpetued debauch of gaming, wine, and women ; 
 void of every principle of virtue, honour, and pro- 
 bity ; and so desperate in his fortunes, through the 
 extravagance of his pleasures, that he had no other 
 resource, or hopes of subsistence, but from the 
 
 ^ Xon consules, sed mercatores provinciarum, ae vendi- 
 tores vestrae dignitatis.' — Post Red. in Sen. 4. 
 
 1 L. Piso, a P. Clodio accusatus, quod graves et intolera- 
 biles injurias sociis intulisset, haud dubiEe ruinae metum 
 fortuito auxilio vitavit — quia jam satis graves cum poenas 
 sociis dedisse arbitrati sunt hue deductuin necessitatis, ut 
 abjicere se tam suppliciter, aut attoUere tani deformiter 
 cogeretur. — Val. IMax. viii. 1 
 
 ™ Q,uam teter incedebat ? quam truculentus ? quam ter- 
 ribilis aspectu ? Aliquem te ex barbatis illis, cxeniplum 
 veteris imperii, imaginem antiquitatis,columen reipublicae, 
 diceres intueri. Vestitus asperc, nostra hac purpura ple- 
 beia, et pene fusca. Capillo ita horrido, ut — tanta erat 
 gravitas in oculo, tanta contractio frontis, ut illo super- 
 cilio respublica, tanquam Atlante coelum, niti videretur. 
 [Pro Sext. 8.] Quia tristem semper, quia tacitumum, quia 
 subhorridmn atque incultuni videbant, et quod erat eo no- 
 mine, ut ingenerata f amiliae f rugalitas videretur ; f avebant 
 — etenim animus ejus vultu, flagitia parietibus tegebantur 
 ■ — laudabat homo doctus phUosophos nescio quos. — [Ibid. 
 9.] Jacebat in suoGraecorum foe tore etvino — Grseci stipati, 
 quini in lectulis, saepe plures. — In Pis. 10, 2?. 
 
 His utitur quasi pra;fectis libidinum suarum : hi volup- 
 t.ates omnes vestigant atque odorantur : hi sunt conditoreg 
 instructoresque convivii, &c. — Post Red. in Sen. C. 
 
 Obrepisti ad honorcs errore honiinum, comniondationo 
 fumosarum imaginuni, quarum simile nihil habes praeter 
 colorem. — In Pis. 1.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 89 
 
 plunder of the republic. In liis tribunate, to pay 
 bis court to Pompej', be exposed to tbe mob the 
 plan of LucuUus's house, to show what an expen- 
 sive fabric one of the greatest subjects of Rome 
 was building, as he would intimate, out of the spoils 
 of the treasury : yet this vain man, oppressed with 
 debts, and scarce able to s-how his head, found 
 means, from the perquisites of his consulship, to 
 build a much more magniliceat palace than Lucullus 
 himself had done". No wonder then that two such 
 consuls, ready to sacrifice the empire itself to their 
 lusts and pleasures, should barter away the safety 
 and fortunes of a private senator, whose virtue was 
 a standing reproof to them, and whose very pre- 
 sence gave some check to the free indulgence of 
 their vices. 
 
 Clodius having gained the consuls, made his 
 next attempt upon the people, by obliging them 
 with several new laws, contrived chiefly for their 
 advantage, which he now promulgated. First, that 
 corn should be distributed gratis to the citizens. 
 Secondly, that no magistrates should take the 
 auspices, or observe the heavens, when the people 
 ■were actually assembled on public business. 
 Thirdly, that the old companies or fraternities of 
 the city, which the senate had abolished, should 
 be revived, and new ones instituted. Fourthly, to 
 please those also of higher rank, that the censors 
 should not expel from the senate, or inflict any 
 mark of infamy on any man, who was not first 
 openly accused and convicted of some crime by 
 their joint sentence". These laws, though generally 
 agreeable, were highly unseasonable ; tending to 
 relax the public discipline, at a time when it wanted 
 most to be reinforced : Cicero took them all to be 
 levelled at himself, and contrived to pave the way 
 to his ruin ; so that he provided his friend L. Nin- 
 nius, one of the tribunes, to put his negative upon 
 them, especially on the law of fraternities, which, 
 tinder colour of incorporating those societies, gave 
 Clodius an opportunity of gathering an armj', and 
 enlisting into his service all the scum and dregs of 
 the city P. Dion Cassius says, that Clodius, fearing 
 lest this opposition should retard the effect of his 
 other projects, persuaded Cicero, in an amicable 
 conference, to withdraw his tribune, and give no 
 interruption to his laws, upon a promise and con- 
 dition that he would not make any attempt against 
 himi: but we find from Cicero's account, that it 
 ■was the advice of his friends, which induced him 
 to be quiet against his own judgment ; because the 
 laws themselves were popular, and did not per- 
 sonally affect him : though he blamed himself soon 
 afterwards for his indolence, and expostulated with 
 Atticus for advising him to it ; when he felt to his 
 cost the advantage which Clodi us had gained by if. 
 
 " Alter unguentisafflucns, ealamistratacoma, despicions 
 conscios stuprorum — fefellit neminem — hominein emersum 
 subitn esdiuturnistenebrislustrorumac stuprorum — vino, 
 ganeis, lenociniis, adulteriisque Cdnfcctum. — Pro Sext. 9. 
 
 Cur ille gurges, heluatus tecum siniul reipublic a; sangui- 
 nem, ad ccelum tamen extruxitviliam inXusculano visce- 
 rlbus jerarii. — Pro Domo, 47. 
 
 ° Vid. Orat. in Pison. 4. ct notas Asconii.— Dio, 1. xxxviii. 
 p. 67. 
 
 P Collegia, non ea solum, qujB senatus sustulerat, resti- 
 tnta, sod iunumerabilia qua;datQ nova ex onmi fa'cc urbis 
 ac sen'itio concitata.— In Pison. 4. 
 
 1 Dio, 1. xxxviii. p. 67. 
 
 "■ Nunquam esses passus mihi persuaderi, utile nobis esse 
 legem de collegiis perferri.— Ad Att. iii. 15. 
 
 For the true design of all these laws was, to 
 introduce only with better grace the grand plot of 
 the play, the banishment of Cicero, which was now 
 directly attempted by a special law, importing, that 
 whoever had taken the life of a citizen uncondemned 
 and without a trial, should be prohibited from fire 
 and water''. Though Cicero was not named, yet 
 he was marked out by the law : his crime was, tlie 
 putting Catiline's accomplices to death ; which, 
 though not done by his single authority, but by a 
 general vote of the senate, and after a solemn hear- 
 ing and debate, was alleged to be illegal, and con- 
 trary to the liberties of the people. Cicero finding 
 himself thus reduced to the condition of a criminal, 
 changed his habit upon it, as it was usual in the 
 case of a public impeachment, and appeared about 
 the streets in a sordid or mourning gown, to excite 
 the compassion of his citizens ; whilst Clodius, at 
 the head of his mob, contrived to meet and insult 
 him at every turn ; reproaching him for his cow- 
 ardice and dejection, and throwing dirt and stones 
 at him'. But Cicero soon gathered friends enough 
 about him to secure him from such insults : " the 
 whole body of the knights and the young nobility, 
 to the number of twenty thousand", with young 
 Crassus at their head, who all changed their habit, 
 and perpetually attended him about the city, to 
 implore the protection and assistance of the people." 
 
 The city was now in great agitation, and every 
 part of it engaged on one side or the other. The 
 senate met in the temple of Concord, while Cicero's 
 friends assembled in the capitol ; whence all the 
 knights and the young nobles went in their habit 
 of mourning to throw themselves at the feet of the 
 consuls, and beg their interposition in Cicero's 
 favour. Piso kept his house that day on purpose 
 to avoid them ; but Gabinius received them with 
 intolerable rudeness, though their petition was 
 seconded by the intreaties and tears of the whole 
 senate : he treated Cicero's character and consul- 
 shiji with the utmost derision, and repulsed the 
 whole company with threats and insults for their 
 fruitless pains to support a sinking cause. This 
 raised great indignation in the assembly, — where 
 the tribune Ninnius, instead of being discouraged 
 by the violence of the consul, made a motion, that 
 the senate also should change their habit with the 
 rest of the city ; which was agreed to instantly 
 by a unanimous vote. Gabinius, enrsiged at this, 
 flew out of the senate into the forum, where he 
 declared to the people from the rostra, "that men 
 were mistaken to imagine that the senate had any 
 power in the republic ; that the knights should pay 
 dear for that day's work, when, in Cicero's con- 
 sulship, they kept guard in the capitol with their 
 drawn swords : and that the hour was now come 
 when those, who lived at that time in fear, should 
 revenge themselves on their enemies : and to con- 
 firm the truth of what he said, he banished L. 
 Lamia, a Roman knight, two hundred miles from 
 the city, for his distinguished zeal and activity in 
 Cicero's service^ ;" an act of power which no 
 
 ' Qui civem Romanum indemnatiun perimisset, ei aqua 
 ct igni interdiceretur.' — Veil. Pat. ii. 45. 
 
 ' Plutarch, in Cicero. 
 
 " Pro me praisente senatus, hominumque viginti mlllia 
 vestem mutaverunt. — Post Red. ad Quir. 3. 
 
 I Hie subito cum ineiedibilis in Capitolium multitude 
 ex tota urbe, cimctaque Italia convenissct, vestem mutan- 
 dam onines, meque etiam onini ratione, privato consilio,
 
 90 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 consul before him had ever presumed to exert on 
 any citizen ; which was followed ])resciitly " by an 
 edict from both the consuls, forbidding tiie senate 
 to put their late vote in execution, and enjoining 
 tliem to resume their ordinary dress''. Aiitl where 
 is there," says Cicero, " in all history, a more illus- 
 trious testimony to the honour of any man than 
 that all the honest by private inclination, and the 
 senate by a public decree, should cliange their 
 habit for the sake of a single citizen'' ?" 
 
 But the resolution of changing his gown was too 
 hasty and ituH)nsidcrate, and helped to precipitate 
 his ruin. He was not named in the law, nor ]ier- 
 sonally affected by it : the terms of it were general 
 and seemingly just, reaching only to those who had 
 taken the life of a citizen illegally. Whether this 
 was his case or not, was not yet the jioint in issue, 
 but to be the subject of another trial ; so that by 
 making himself a criminal before his time, he 
 shortened the trouble of his enemies, discouraged 
 his friends, and made his case more desperate than 
 he needed to have done ; whereas, if he had taken 
 the part of commending or slighting the law, as 
 being wholly unconcerned in it, and when he came 
 to be actually attacked by a second law, and 
 brought to a trial upon it, had stood resolutely 
 upon his defence, he might have baffled the malice 
 of his prosecutors. He was sensible of his error 
 when it was too late ; and oft reproaches Atticus, 
 that being a stander-by, and less heated in the 
 game than himself, he would suffer him to make 
 such blunders". 
 
 As the other consul, Piso, had not yet explicitly 
 declared himself, so Cicero, accompanied by his 
 son-in-law, who was his near kinsman, took occa- 
 sion to make him a visit, in hopes to move him to 
 espouse his cause, and support the authority of 
 the senate. They went to him about eleven in the 
 morning, and found him, as Cicero afterwards told 
 the senate, " coming out from a little dirty hovel, 
 fresh from the last night's debauch, with his slip- 
 
 quoniam publicis ducibus respublica careret, defendenduni 
 putarunt. Erat eodem tempore senatus in aede Concordia?, 
 — cum flens universus ordo cincinnatum consulem orabat, 
 nam alter ille horridus et severus domi se consulto tenebat. 
 Qua turn superbia ccenum illud aolabesamplissimi ordinis 
 preces et clarissimoruin civiuni lacrymas repudiavit ? We 
 ipsum ut contemsit helluo patriae? — Vcstris precibus a 
 latrone isto repudiatis, vir incrcdibili fide — L. Ninnius ad 
 senatunideropublica rctulit. Senatusque frequens vestom 
 pro mca salute mutandam censuit. — Exanimatus cvolat o 
 senatu — advocatconcionem — erraro homines, si etiam turn 
 
 senatum aliquid in republica posse arbitrarentur Venisse 
 
 tempus iis, qui in timore fiiissent, ulciscendi se. — L. La- 
 miam — in coneione rolcgavit, edixitque ut ab urbe abesset 
 milliapassuumduconta — [ProSext. 11, 1-2, l.T; it. Post Red. 
 in Sen. 5.] Quod ante id tempus civi Romano contigit ne- 
 mini. — Ep. Fam. xi. IC. 
 
 y Cum subito cdicunt duo consules, utadsuum vestitum 
 senatores rodirent.' — Ep. Fam. xi. 14. 
 
 ^ Quid enini quisquam potest ex omni memoria sumore 
 illustrius, quam pro uno cive et bones omnes ])rivato con- 
 sensu, et universum senatum publico consilio mutasse 
 vcstem ? — Ibid. 12. . 
 
 " Nam prior lex nos nihil lasdebat : quam si, ut est pro- 
 mulgata, laudare voluissemus, aut, ut erat negligenda, 
 negligere, nocere omnino nobis non potuisset. Hie mihi 
 primum mcum consilium defuit ; sed etiam obfuit. Caeci, 
 caeci, inquam, fuimus in vestitu mutando, in populo 
 rogando. Quod, nisi nominatim mecum agi coeptum esset, 
 pemiciosurc fuit. — Me, meos meis tradidi inimicis, in- 
 speotante ettacentete; qui, si nonplus ingenio valebas 
 quam ego, certe timebas minus. — Ad Att. iii. 15. 
 
 pers on, his head mufHed, and his breath so strong 
 of wine, that they could hardly bear tlie scent of 
 it : he excused his dress, and smell of wine, on the 
 account of his ill health, for which he was obliged, 
 he said, to take some vinous medicines ; but he 
 kept them standing all the while in that filthy place, 
 till they had finished their business." As soon as 
 Cicero entered into the affair, he frankly told them 
 that " Gabinius was so miserably poor as not to be 
 able to show his head, and must be utterly ruined 
 if he could not procure some rich province ; that 
 he had hopes of one from Clodius, but despaired 
 of anything from the senat:: ; that, for his own part 
 it was his business to humour him on this occasion, 
 as Cicero had humoured his colleague in his con- 
 sulship ; and that there was no reason to implore 
 the help of the consuls, since it was every man's 
 duty to look to himself*;" which was all that 
 they could get from him. 
 
 Clodius, all the while, was not idle, but pushed 
 on his law with great vigour ; and calling the 
 people into the Flarainian circus, summoned thither 
 also the young nobles and the knights who were 
 so busy in Cicero's cause, to give an account of 
 their conduct to that assembly : but as soon as 
 they appeared, he ordered his slaves and mer- 
 cenaries to fall upon them with drawn swords and 
 volleys of stones in so rude a manner, that Horten- 
 sius was almost killed, and A'ibienus, another 
 senator, so desperately hurt, that he died soon after 
 of his wounds •=. Here he produced the two con- 
 suls, to deliver their sentiments to the people on 
 the merit of Cicero's consulship ; when Gabinius 
 declared, with great gravity, that he utterly con- 
 demned the putting citizens to death without a 
 trial. Piso only said, that he had always been on 
 the merciful side, and had a great aversion to 
 cruelty''. The reason of holding this assembly in 
 the Flaminian circus, without the gates of Rome, 
 was to give Csesar an opportunity of assisting at 
 it, who, being now invested with a military com- 
 mand, could not appear within the walls. Caesar, 
 therefore, being called upon, after the consuls, to 
 deliver his mind on the same question, declared, 
 that " the proceedings against Lentulus and the 
 rest were irregular and illegal ; but that he could 
 not approve the design of punishing anybody for 
 them ; that all the world knew his sense of the 
 matter, and that he had given his vote against 
 taking away their lives, yet he did not think it 
 right to propound a law at this time about things 
 that were so long past^." This answer was artful, 
 
 b Egorc — Gabinium ; sine provincia stare non posse : 
 spem habere a tribuiio plebis — a senatu quidem despcrasse : 
 hujus te cupiditati obsequi, sieut ego fecissem in collega 
 meo : nihil esse quod praosidium consulum implorarem ; 
 sibi quemque consulere oportere, &c. — In Pison. 6. 
 
 ' Qui adcsse nobilissimos adolescentes, honpcstissimoa 
 cquites Romanos depreca tores mese salutisjussorit ; eosque 
 operarum suarum gladiis et lapidibus objecerit. — Pro 
 Sext. 12. 
 
 Vidi hunc ipsum Hortensium, lumen et ornamentimi 
 reipublicae pa?ne interfici servorum manu — qua in turba C. 
 Vibienus, senator, vir optimus, cum hoc cum esset ima, 
 itaest mulctatus, ut vitam amiserit. — Pro Mil. 14. 
 
 '' Pressa voce et temulenta, quod in cives indemnatos 
 esset animadversum, id sibi dixit gravis auctor vehemen- 
 tissimc displicere. — Post Red. in Sen. 6. 
 
 Cum esses interrogatus quid scntires de consulatu meo, 
 respondes, crudelitatcm tibi non placerc. [In Pis. 6.] To ■ 
 semper misericordem fviissc. — Post Red. in Sen. 7. 
 
 ' Dio, 1. xxxviii. p. CU.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 01 
 
 and agreeable to the part which he was then acting ; 
 for while it confirmed the foundation of Clodius's 
 law, it carried a show of moderation towards 
 Cicero, or, as an ingenious writer expresses it, left 
 appearances only to the one, but did real service 
 to the other'. 
 
 In this same assembly, Clodius got a new law 
 likewise enacted, that made a great alteration in 
 the constitution of the republic, viz. the repeal of 
 the jElian and Fusian laws, by which the people 
 were left at liberty to transact all public business, 
 even on the days called fasti, without being liable 
 to be obstructed by the magi?;trates on any pretence 
 whatsoever E. The two laws, now repealed, had 
 been in force about a hundred years'' ; and made 
 it unlawful to act anything with the people, while 
 the augurs or consuls were observing the heavens 
 and taking the auspices. This wise constitution 
 was the main support of the aristocratical interest, 
 and a perpetual curb to the petulance of factious 
 tribunes, whose chief opportunity of doing mischief 
 lay in their power of obtruding dangerous laws 
 upon the city, by their credit with the populace. 
 Cicero therefore frequently laments the loss of 
 these two laws, as fatal to the republic ; he calls 
 them " the most sacred and salutary laws of the 
 state, the fences of their civil peace and quiet, the 
 very walls and bulwarks of the republic, which had 
 held out against the fierceness of the Gracchi, the 
 audaciousness of Saturninus, the mobs of Drusus, 
 the bloodshed of Cinna, the arms of Sylla' ;" to be 
 abolished at last by the violence of this worthless 
 tribune. 
 
 Pompey, v/ho had hitherto been giving Cicero 
 the strongest assurances of his friendship, and been 
 frequent and open in his visits to him, began now, 
 as the plot ripened towards a crisis, to grow cool 
 and reserved ; while the Clodian faction, fearing 
 lest he might be induced at last to protect him, 
 were employing all their arts " to infuse jealousies 
 and suspicions into bim of a design against him 
 from Cicero. They posted some of their confidants 
 at Cicero's house, to watch bis coming thither, 
 and to admonish him, by whispers and billets put 
 into his hands, to be cautious of venturing himself 
 there, and to take better care of his life ; which 
 was inculcated to him likewise so strongly at home 
 by perpetual letters and messages from pretended 
 friends, that he thought fit to withdraw himself 
 
 f Exil de Cicdron, p. 133. 
 
 e lisdem consulibus sedentibus atque inspectantibus lata 
 lex est, ne auspicia valerent, ne quis obnunciarct, ne quis 
 legi intercederut ; ut omnibus fastis diebus legem ferre 
 Uceret : ut lex .lElia, lex Fusia ne valeret. Qua una roga- 
 tione quis non intelligat, univorsam rcmpublicara esse 
 deletam? [ProSext. 15.] Sustullt duas leges, jEliam et 
 Fusiam, maxiine reipublica; salutares. — De Ilarusp. Kesp. 
 27. 
 
 The dies fasti were the days on which the courts of law 
 vere open, and the praetors sat to hear causes, which were 
 marked for that purpose in the calendai's : but before this 
 Clodian law it was not allowed to transact any business 
 upon them with the people. 
 
 •> Centum prope annos legem iEliam et Fusiam tenue- 
 ramus. — In Pison. 5. 
 
 ' Deinde sanctissimas leges, jEliam et Fusiam, quse in 
 Graochorum ferocitatc, et in audaeia Saturnini ; et in col- 
 luvione Drusi, et in cruore Cinnano, etiani inter Syllana 
 arma vixerunt, solus conculcaris ac pronihiloputaris. [In 
 Vatin. !).] Propugnacula murique tranquilUtatis ct otii. 
 •—In Pison. 4. 
 
 from the city, to his house on the Alban hill''." 
 It cannot be imagined that he could entertain any 
 real apprehension of Cicero ; both Cicero's cha- 
 racter and his own make that incredible : but if he 
 had conceived any, it was not, as Cicero says, 
 against him, but against the common enemies of 
 them both, lest they might possibly attempt some- 
 what in Cicero's name, and, by the opportunity of 
 charging it upon Cicero, hope to get rid of them 
 both at the same time. But the most probable 
 conjecture is, that being obliged, by his engage- 
 ments with Caesar, to desert Cicero, and suffer him 
 to be driven out of the city, he was willing to 
 humour these insinuations, as giving the most 
 plausible pretext of excusing his perfidy. 
 
 But Cicero had still with him not only all the 
 best, but much the greatest part of the city, de- 
 termined to run all hazards, and expose their lives 
 for his safety' ; and was more than a match for all 
 the strength of Clodius and the consuls, if the 
 triumvirate only would stand neuter. Before things 
 came therefore to extremity, he thought it advis- 
 able to press Pompey in such a manner, as to 
 know for certain what he had to expect from him : 
 some of his chief friends undertook this task ; 
 Lucullus, Torquatus, Lentulus, &c., who, with a 
 numerous attendance of citizens, went to find him 
 at his Alban villa, and to intercede with him not 
 to desert the fortunes of his old friend. He re- 
 ceived them civilly, though coldly ; referring them 
 wholly to the consuls, and declaring, " that he, 
 being only a private .nan, could not pretend to 
 take the field against an armed tribune, without a 
 public authority ; bit if the consuls, by a decree 
 of the senate, woul i enter into the affair, he would 
 presently arm hiir^self in their defence"'." With 
 this answer they addressed themselves again to the 
 consuls ; but w,th no better success than before. 
 Gabinius trea'ed them rudely; but Piso calmly 
 told them, that he was not so stout a consul as 
 Torquatus and Cicero had been ; that there was no 
 need of arms, or fighting ; that Cicero might save 
 the republic a second time, if he pleased, by with- 
 drawing himself, for if he staid it would cost an 
 infinite quantity of civil blood ; and in short, that 
 neither he, nor his colleague, nor his son in-law 
 Caesar, would relinquish the party of the tribune". 
 
 '' Cum iidem ilium, utmemctueret, mecaveret, monu- 
 erunt ; iidem me, niihi ilium uni esse inimicissimum, 
 dicercnt. — Pro Domo, 11. 
 
 Quem — domi meas certi homines ad earn rem compositi 
 nionuorunt, ut esset cautior : ejusque vitje a me insidias 
 apud me domi positas esse dixerunt : atque hane ei suspi- 
 cionem alii Uteris mittendis, alii nimciis, alii coram ipsi 
 excitaverunt, ut ille, cum a me certe nihil timeret, ab 
 illis, ne quid meo nomine molirentur, cavendum putaret. 
 —Pro Sext. 18. 
 
 1 Si ego in causa tarn bona, tanto studio senatus, con- 
 sensu tarn incredibili bonorum onmium, tarn parato, tota 
 denique Italia ad omncm contentionem expedita.^Ibid. 16. 
 
 "> Nonne ad te L. Lentulus, L. Torquatus, M. Lucullus 
 venit ? Qui omnes .ad eum, multique mortales oratum in 
 Albanum obsecratunique venerant, nemeas fortunas dese- 
 reret, cum reipublica; fortunis conjunctas. — Secoutraar- 
 matmn tribmium plebis sine consilio publico dccertare- 
 nolle: consulibus ex senatus consultorempublicam defen- 
 dentibus, se arma sumpturuni. — In Pison. 31. 
 
 » Quid, infeiix, responderis ?— Te non esse tarn fortem, 
 quam ipse Torquatus in consulatu fuisset, aut ego : nihil 
 opus esse armis, nihil contcntione : me posse iterum rtm- 
 publicam servare, si cessissem ; infinitani ca:deni fore, si 
 restitissem. Deinde ad extremum, neque se, ncque gene-
 
 92 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LII'L OF 
 
 After this repulse, Cicero resolved to make liis 
 last effort on Ponipey, by throwiiiij himself ia per- 
 son at his feet. I'lutarch tells us, that Pompey 
 slii>iu'il out at a back door, ami wouli! not see him : 
 liut it is certain, from Cicero's account, that he was 
 admitted to an audience; " and when he began to 
 press and even supplicate him, in a manner the 
 most affecting, that Pompey flatly refused to help 
 him ; alleging in excuse of himself, the necessity 
 which he was under of acting nothing against the 
 will of Ciesar"." This experiment convinced 
 Cicero that he had a much greater power to con- 
 tend with than what had yet ajipeared in sight : he 
 called therefore a council of his friends, with intent 
 to take his final resolution, agreeably to their 
 advice. The question was, whether it was best to 
 stay and defend himself by force, or to save the 
 effusion of blood by retreating till the storm should 
 blow over. LucuUus advised the first ; but Cato, 
 and above all llortensius, warmly urged the last ; 
 which concurring also with Atticus's advice, as 
 well as the fears and entreaties of all his own 
 family, made him resolve to quit the field to his 
 enemies, and submit to a voluntary exileP. 
 
 A little before his retreat, he took a small statue 
 of Minerva, which had long been reverenced in his 
 family as a kind of tutelar deity, and carrying it to 
 the capitol, placed it in the temple of Jupiter, 
 under the title of IMiuerva, the guardian of the 
 city'i. His view might possibly be to signify, that 
 after he had done all which human prudence could 
 contrive for the defence of the republic, he was 
 now forced to give it up to the protection of the 
 gods, since nothing less than the interposition of 
 some deity could preserve it from ruin ; or rather, 
 as he himself seems to intimate, in the uncertain 
 issue of his flight, and the plunder of his goods 
 which was likely to ensue, he had a mind to pre- 
 serve this sacred image, in the most conspicuous 
 part of the city, as a monument of his services, 
 wliich would naturally excite an affectionate re- 
 membrance of him in the people, by letting them 
 see that his heart was still there, where he had 
 deposited his gods. After this act he withdrew 
 himself in the night, escorted by a numerous guard 
 of friends, who, after a day's journey or two, left 
 him, with great expressions of tenderness, to 
 pursue his way towards Sicily ; which he proposed 
 for the place of his residence, and where, for his 
 eminent services to the island, he assured himself 
 of a kind reception and safe retreat. 
 
 SECTION V 
 
 The wretched alternative to which Cicero was 
 reduced, of losing either his country or his life, is 
 sufficient to confute all the cavils of those wlao, 
 
 rum, ncque collegam suum tribuno plebis defuturum. — 
 In Pison. 31. 
 
 Is, qui nos sibi quondam ad pedes stratos ne subleva- 
 bat quidem, qui se nihil contra hujus voluntatem facere 
 posse aiebat. — Ad Att. x 4. 
 
 P Lacrymas meorum me ad mortem ire prohibuerunt. — 
 Ibid. 4 ; Plutarcb. in Cicero. 
 
 1 Nos, qui illam custodem urbis, omnibus ereptis nostris 
 rebus ac perditis, violari ab impiispassi non siimus, eamque 
 ex nostra dome in ipsius patris domum detulimus. — De 
 L^. ii. 17. 
 
 from a hint or two in his writings obscurely thrown 
 out and not well understood, are so forward to 
 charge him with the levity of temporizing, or sell- 
 ing himself for any bribe which could feed his 
 vanity : for nothing is more evident than that he 
 might not only have avoided this storm, but ob- 
 tained whatever honours he pleased, by entering 
 into the nuiasurcs of the triumvirate, and lending 
 his authority to the su]i])ort of their power ; and 
 that the only thing which provoked Csesar to bring 
 this calamity upon him, was to see all his offers 
 slighted, and his friendship utterly rejected by 
 him". This he expressly declares to the senate, 
 who were conscious of the truth of it, "that Caesar 
 had tried all means to induce liim to take part in 
 the acts of his consulship ; had offered him com- 
 missions and lieutenancies of what kind and with 
 what privileges he should desire ; to make him 
 even a fourth in the alliance of the three, and to 
 hold him in the same rank of friendship with 
 Pompey himself : all which I refused (says he), 
 not out of slight to Caesar, but constancy to my 
 principles, and because I thought the acceptance 
 of them unbecoming the character which I sus- 
 tained ; how wisely I will not dispute ; but I am 
 sure that it was firmly and bravely ; when, instead 
 of battling the malice of my enemies, as I could 
 easily have done by that help, I chose to suffer any 
 violence, rather than to desert your interest, and 
 descend from my own rank**." 
 
 Caesar continued at Rome till he saw Cicero 
 driven out of it ; but had no sooner laid down 
 his consulship than he began to be attacked and 
 affronted himself by two of the new preetors, L. 
 Domitius and C. Memmius, who called in question 
 the validity of his acts, and made several efforts in 
 the senate to get them annulled by public authority. 
 But the senate had no stomach to meddle with an 
 affair so delicate ; so that the whole ended in some 
 fruitless debates and altercations ; and Caesar, to 
 prevent all attempts of that kind in his absence, 
 took care always, by force of bribes, to secure the 
 leading magistrates to his interests, and so went 
 off to his province of Gaul'-'. But as this unex- 
 pected opposition gave some little ruffle to the 
 triumvirate, so it served them as an additional 
 excuse for their behaviour towards Cicero ; alleging, 
 that their own dangers were nearer to them than 
 other people's, and that they were obliged for their 
 own security not to irritate so popular a tribune as 
 Clodius"*. 
 
 * Hoc sibi contraxisse videbatur Cicero, quod inter zz. 
 viros dividendo agro Campano esse noluissct. — Veil. Pat. ii. 
 45; Ad Att. ix. 2. 
 
 b Consul egit eas res, quarum me participcm esse voluit. 
 • — Jle ille ut quinqueviratum aeciperem rogavit: me in 
 tribus sibi cunjunctissimis consularibus esse voluit ; mihi 
 legationera, quam vellcm, quanto cum Uonore vellem, 
 detulit. Qua; ego non ingrato animo, scd obstinatione 
 quadam sententiae repudiari, &c. — De Prov. Cons. 17. 
 
 c Functus consulatu, C. Menunio, L. Domitio praetori- 
 bus, de supcrioris anni aciis referentibus, cognitionem 
 senatui detulit : nee illo suscipicnte, triduoque per irritas 
 altercationes absumpto, in provinciam abiit — ad securita- 
 tcm igitur poster! temporis in magno negotio babuit obli- 
 gare semper armuos magistratus, et e petitoribus non alios 
 adjuvare, aut ad honorem pati pervenire, quam qui sibi 
 reeepissent propugnaturos absentiam suam. — Sueton. J. 
 Cjes. 23. 
 
 J Illi autem aliquo turn timoreperterriti, quod acta ilia, 
 atque omnes res anni superioris labefactari a praetoribus, 
 iniirmari a senatu, atque principibus civitatis putabant,
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 93 
 
 As soon as it was known that Cicero was gone, 
 Clodius filled the forum with his band of slaves and 
 incendiaries, and published a second law to the 
 Roman people, as he called them, though there 
 was not one honest citizen or man of credit amongst 
 them". The law, as we may gather from the scat- 
 tered passages of it, was conceived in the following 
 terms : — 
 
 "Whereas, M. T. Cicero has put Roman citizens 
 to death unheard and uncondemned ; and for that 
 end forged the authority and decree of the senate : 
 may it please you to ordain that he be interdicted 
 from fire and water ; that nobody presume to har- 
 bour or receive him, on pain of death; and that 
 whoever shall move, speak, vote, or take any step 
 towards recalling him, he shall be treated as a 
 public enemy, unless those should first be recalled 
 to life whom Cicero unlawfully put to deaths." 
 
 The law was drawn by Sext. Clodius, the kinsman 
 and prime minister of the tribune ; though Vatinius 
 also laid some claim to it, and was the only one of 
 senatorian rank who openly approved its. It was 
 essentially null and invalid, both for the matter 
 and the form : for in the first place it was not pro- 
 perly a law, but what they called a privilege, or an 
 act to inflict penalties on a particular citizen by 
 name, without any previous trial, which was 
 expressly prohibited by the most sacred and funda- 
 mental constitutions of the republic''. Secondly, 
 the terms of it were so absurd, that they annulled 
 themselves ; for it enacted, not that Cicero may or 
 should be, but that he be interdicted, — which was 
 impossible ; since no power on earth, says Cicero, 
 can make a thing to be done before it be done'. 
 Thirdly, the penal clause being grounded on a 
 suggestion notoriously false, that Cicero had forged 
 the decrees of the senate, it could not possibly 
 stand for want of a foundation"^. Lastly, though 
 it provided that nobody should harbour him, yet it 
 had not ordered him to be expelled, or enjoined 
 him to quit the city'. It was the custom, in all 
 
 tribunum popularem a sc alienare nolebant, suaque sibi 
 propiora pericula esse, quam mea, loquebantur. — Pro 
 Sext. 18. 
 
 « Non denique suffragii latorem in ista tua proscriptione 
 quenquam, nisi furem ac sicarium reperire potuisti. — Pro 
 Domo, 18. 
 
 * Vid. Pro Domo, 18, 19, 20 ; Post Red. in Sen. ii. 10. 
 
 S Hanc tibi legem S. Clodius scripsit — homini egentis- 
 simo ac facinorosissimo S. Clodio, socio tui sanguinis. — 
 Hoc tu scriptore, hoc consiliario, hoc ministro — rempubli- 
 cam pei-didisti. [Pro Domo, ii. 10, 18.] Ille unus ordinis 
 nostri discessu meo — palam exsultavit. — Pro Sext. 04. 
 
 •> Vetant leges sacratae, vetant XII. tabulse, leges piivatis 
 hominibusirrogari. Uest eniTaprivikrjiiim. — Pro Domo, 17- 
 
 * Non tulit ut interdicatursedut interdictum sit — Sexte 
 noster, bona venia, quoniam jam dialccticus es — quod fac- 
 tum, non est, sit factum, ferri ad populum, aut verbis 
 nllis sanciri, aut suffragiis confirmari potest ? [Ibid. 18.] 
 Quid si iis verbis scripta est ista proscriptio, ut se ipsa dis- 
 Bolvat ?— Ibid. 19. 
 
 N. B. The distinction here intimated between interdi- 
 cahir, and interdictum sit, deserves the attention of all 
 grammarians. They are commonly used indifferently, as 
 tenns wholly equivalent ; yet according to Cicero's criti- 
 cism, the one, we see, makes the sense absurd, where the 
 other is just and proper. 
 
 •' Est enim, quod 51. Tullius falsum senatus consultum 
 retulerit. si igitur retulit falsum senatus consultum, turn 
 est rogatio : si non retulit, nulla est.— Pro Domo, 19. 
 
 ' Tulisti de me ne reciperer, non ut exirem — poena est, 
 qui receperit ; quam omnes neglexerunt ; ejeetio nulla est. 
 —Ibid. 20. 
 
 laws made by the tribes, to insert the name of the 
 tribe which was first called to vote, and of the 
 man who first voted in it for the law, that he might 
 be transmitted down with the law itself, as the 
 principal espouser and promoter of it°. This 
 honour was given to one Sedulius, a mean obscure 
 fellow, without any settled habitation, who yet 
 afterwards declared that he was not in Rome at the 
 time, and knew nothing at all of the matter : which 
 gave Cicero occasion to observe, when he was re- 
 proaching Clodius with this act, that Sedulius might 
 easily be the first voter, who, for want of a lodging, 
 used to lie all night in the forum ; but it was 
 strange, that when he was driven to the necessity 
 of forging a leader, he should not be able to find a 
 more reputable one". 
 
 With this law against Cicero, there was another 
 published at the same time, which, according to 
 the stipulation already mentioned, was to be the 
 pay and price for it ; to grant to the two consuls 
 the provinces above specified, with a provision of 
 whatever troops and money they thought fit°. 
 Both the laws passed without opposition ; aix5 
 Clodius lost no time in putting the first of them in 
 execution, but fell to work immediately in plunder- 
 ing, burning, and demolishing Cicero's houses, 
 both in the city and the country. The best part 
 of his goods was divided between the two consuls ; 
 the marble columns of his Palatine house were 
 carried publicly to Piso's father-in-law, and the 
 ricli furniture of his Tusculan villa to his neighbour 
 Gabinius, who removed even the trees of his plan- 
 tations into his own grounds p : and to make the 
 loss of his house in Rome irretrievable, Clodius 
 consecrated the area on which it stood to the per- 
 petual service of religion, and built a temple upon 
 it to the goddess Liberty i. 
 
 While Cicero's house was in flames, the two 
 consuls, with all their seditious crew around them, 
 were publicly feasting and congratulating each 
 other for their victory, and for having revenged 
 the death of their old friends on the head of Cicero : 
 where, in the gaiety of their hearts, Gabinius 
 openly bragged that he had always been the fa- 
 
 n> Tribus Sergia principium fuit: pro tribu, Sextus L. 
 F. Varro primus scivit. This was the form, as appears 
 from fragments of the old laws. — Vid. Frontin. de Aquxd. ; 
 Fragment. Legis Thoriae, apud rei agrar. Scriptores ; 
 Liv. ix. 38. 
 
 " Sedulio principe, qui se illo die confirmat Romae non 
 fuisse. Quod si non fuit, quid te audacius, qui in ejus no- 
 men incideris ? Quid desperatius, qui ne cmentiendo 
 quidem potueris auctorem adumbrare meliorem ? Sin 
 autem is primus scivit, quod facile potuit, propter inopiam 
 tecti in foro pemoctans. [Pro Domo, 30.] Quam Sedulius 
 se negat scivisse. — Ibid. 31. 
 
 o Ut provincias«acciperent, quas ipsi vellent : exercitum 
 et pecuniam quantam vellent. [Pro Sext. 10. — In Pison. 
 16.] Illo ipso die — mihi reique publica; pernicies, Gabinio 
 et Pisoni provincia rogata est. — Pro Sext. 24. 
 
 p Uno eodemque tempore domusmea diripiebatur, arde- 
 bat : bona ad vicinimi consulem de Palatio ; de Tusculano 
 ad item alteriun vicinum consulem deferebantur. — Post 
 Red. in Sen. 7. 
 
 Cum domus in Palatro, villa in Tusculano. altera ad 
 alterum consulem transferebatur, columns? marmores ex 
 ffidibus meis, inspectanto populo Romano, ad socenmi 
 consulis portabantur: in fundum autem vicini consulis 
 non instrumentum, aut omamenta villx, sud etiam arbores 
 transfcrebantur. — Pro Domo, 24. 
 
 <! Cum suis dicat se manibus domum civis optimi ever* 
 tisse, et e.'im iisdem manibus consecrasse. — Ibid. 40.
 
 V4 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 vourile of Catiline : and Piso, tliiit he was cousin to 
 Cethegus'. Clodius, in tlie mean while, not con- 
 tent with exerting his vengeance only on Cicero's 
 houses, i)ursucd liiswift^ and children with the same 
 fury : and made several attciiiiits to get young 
 Cicero, the son, into his hands, then about six 
 years old, witli an intent to kill him'; but the 
 child was carefully guarded by the friends of the 
 family, and removed from the reach of his malice. 
 Terentia had taken sanctuary in the temple of 
 Vesta, but was dragged out of it forcibly, by his 
 orders, to the public office or tribunal, where he 
 ■was sitting, to be examined about the concealment 
 of lier husband's effects ; but being a woman of 
 singular spirit and resolution, she bore all his in- 
 sults with a masculine courage'. 
 
 But while Clodius seemed to aim at nothing 
 in this affair but the gratification of his revenge, 
 he was carrying on a jirivate interest at the same 
 time, which he had much at heart. The house, 
 in which he himself lived, was contiguous to a 
 part of Cicero's ground ; which, being now laid 
 open, made that side of the Palatine hiil the most 
 airy and desirable situation in Rome : his intention 
 therefore was, by the purchase of another house 
 ■which stood next to him, to make the whole area 
 his own, with the benefit of the fine portico and 
 temple annexed : so that he had no sooner de- 
 molished Cicero's house, than he began to treat 
 with the owner of the next, Q. Seius Postumus, a 
 Roman knight, who absolutely refused to sell it : 
 and declared, that Clodius, of all men, should 
 never have it, ■while he lived. Clodius threatened 
 to obstruct his windows ; but finding that neither 
 his threats nor offers availed anything, he con- 
 trived to get the knight poisoned ; and so bought 
 the house, after his death, at the sale of his effects, 
 by outbidding all who offered for it. His next 
 step was, to secure the remaining part of Cicero's 
 area, which was not included in the consecration, 
 and was now also exposed by his direction to a 
 public auction : but as it was not easy to find any 
 citizen ■who would bid for it, and he did not care 
 to buy it in his own name, he was forced to pro- 
 vide an obscure, needy fellow, called Scato, to pur- 
 chase it for him, and by that means became master 
 of the most spacious habitation in all the city". 
 
 r Domus ardebat in Palatio — Consules epulabantiu-, et 
 in conjuratorum gratulatione versabantur ; cum alter se 
 Cutilina; delicias, alter Cethegiconsobrinumfuissediceret. 
 —Pro Domo, 24 ; In Pison. 11 ; Pro Sext. 24. 
 
 ' Vexabatur uxor mea : liberi ad necem quserebantur. 
 —Pro Sext. 24. 
 
 Quid vos uxor mea misera violarat ? Quam vexavistis, 
 
 raptavistis quid meafilia ?■ — Quid parvus filius? — Quid 
 
 fecerat, quod eum totiesper insidias interficere voluistis? 
 —Pro Domo, 23. 
 
 ' A te quidem omnia fieri fortissime, atque amantissime 
 ■video : nee miror ; nam ad me P. Valerius scripsit id 
 quod ego maximo cum fletu legi, quemadmodum a Vestae 
 ad tabulam Valeriam ducta esses. — Ep. Fam xiv. 2. 
 
 " Ipse cum loci illius, cum a;dium cupiditate flagraret. 
 — Pro Domo, 41. 
 
 Monumentum iste, nunquam aut religionem uUam ex- 
 eogitavit : habitare laxe et magnifice voluit : duasque et 
 magnas et nobiles domos conjungere. Eodem puncto 
 temporis quo meus discessus isti causam csedis eripuit, a 
 Q. Seio contcndit, ut doinum sibi venderet. Cum illo id 
 negaret, primoseluminibusejus esse obstructurum mina- 
 batur. Affirmabat Postumus, se vivo, domum suam istius 
 mmqiiuTO futuram. Acutus adolescens ex istius sermonc 
 intL'llexit, quid fieri aporteret. Hominem veneno aper- 
 
 This desolation of Cicero's fortunes at home, 
 and the nii.sery which he suffered aijroad, in being 
 deprived of everything that was dear to him, soon 
 made him re|tent of the resolution of his flight ; 
 which he ascribes to the envy and treachery of his 
 counsellors, who, taking the advantage of his fears, 
 and the perj)lexity which lie was under, pushed 
 him to an act both ruinous and inglorious. This 
 he chiefly charges on IIort(?nsius ; and tiiough he 
 forbears to name him to Atticus, on account of 
 the strict friendship between them, yet he accuses 
 liim very freely to his brother Quintus, of coming 
 every day insidiously to his house, and with the 
 greatest professions of zeal and affection, perpetu- 
 ally insinuating to his hopes and fears that by 
 giving way to the present rage, lie could not fail of 
 being recalled with glory in three days' time ". Hor- 
 tensius was particularly intimate at this time 
 with Pompey ; and might possibly be employed to 
 urge Cicero to this step, in order to save Pompey 
 the disgrace of being forced to act against him with 
 a high hand. But let that be as it will, it was 
 Pompey's conduct which shocked Cicero the most; 
 not for its being contrary to his oaths, which the 
 ambitious can easily dispense with, but to his in- 
 terest, which they never neglect, but through 
 weakness. The consideration of what was useful 
 to Pompey made him depend on his assistance^ : 
 he could have guarded against his treachery, but 
 could not suspect him of the folly of giving himself 
 entirely up to Caesar, who was the principal mover 
 and director of the whole affair. 
 
 In this ruffled and querulous state of his mind, 
 stung with the recollection of his own mistakes, 
 and the perfidy of his friends, he frequently laments 
 that he had not tried the fate of arms, and resolved 
 either to conquer bravely or fall honourably ; which 
 he dwells so much upon in his letters, as to seem 
 persuaded that it would have been his wisest 
 course. But this is a problem not easy to be 
 solved : it is certain that his enemies were using 
 all arts to urge him to the resolution of retreating ; 
 as if they apprehended the consequences of his 
 stay : and that the real aim of the triumvirate 
 was, not to destroy, but to humble him ; yet it is 
 no less certain, that all resistance must have been 
 vain, if they had found it necessary to exert their 
 
 tissime sustulit. Emit domum, licitatoribus defatigatis. 
 in Palatio pulclierrimn prospectu porticum cum conclavi- 
 bus pavimentatam trecentiun pedum concupierat ; am- 
 plissimum peristylum, facile ut omnium domos et laxitate 
 et dignitate superaret : et homo religiosus, cum a?des meaa 
 idem emeret et venderet, tamen illis tantis tenebris, non 
 ausus est suum nomen emptioni ascribere. Posuit scilicet 
 Scatonem ilium. — Pro Domo, 44. 
 
 At in iis a>dibus, quas tu Q. Seio equito Romano— per 
 te apertissime interfecto, tenes. — De Harusp. Respon. 14. 
 
 -^ Me summa simulatione amoris, summaque assiduitate 
 quotidiana sceleratissime, insidiosissimeque tractavit, ad- 
 juncto etiam Arrio, quonun ego consiliis, promissis, pra:- 
 ecptis destitutus, in banc calamitatem incidi. — Ad Quint. 
 Frat. i. 3. 
 
 >Sa!pe triduo sumnia cum gloria dicebar esse reditiurus. — 
 Ibid. 4. 
 
 y Sed si quisquam fuisset, qui me Pompeii minus libe- 
 rali responso perterritum, a turpissimo consilio revocaret. 
 —Ad Att. iii. 15. 
 
 Miilta, quae mentem exturbarent meam : subita defectio 
 Pompeii. — Ad Quint. Frat. i. 4. 
 
 Nullum est meum peccatum, nisi quod iis credidi, a 
 quibus nefas putaram esse me decipi, aut etiam quibus ne 
 id expedire quidem arbitrabar. — Ibid.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 95 
 
 strength against him'; and that they had already 
 proceeded too far, to suffer him to reniaia ia the 
 city, in defiance of them ; and if their jiower had 
 been actually employed to drive him away, his re- 
 turn must have been the more desperate, and they the 
 more interested to keep him out ; so that it seems 
 to have been his most prudent j)art, and the most 
 agreeable to his character, to yield, as he did, to 
 the necessity of the times. 
 
 But we have a full account of the motives of 
 his retreat, in the speeches, which he made after 
 his return, both to the senate and the people. 
 "When I saw the senate," says he, " deprived of 
 its leaders ; myself partly pushed and partly be- 
 trayed by the magistrates ; the slaves enrolled by 
 name, under the colour of fraternities ; the remains 
 of Catiline's forces brought again into the field, 
 under their old chiefs ; the knights terrified with 
 proscriptions ; the corporate towns with military 
 execution ; and all with death and destruction ; I 
 coidd still have defended myself by arms ; and 
 was advised to it by many brave friends, nor did I 
 want that same courage, which you had all seen 
 me exert on other occasions ; but when I saw, at 
 the same time, that, if I conquered my present 
 enemy, there were many more behind, whom I had 
 still to conquer ; that, if I happened to be conquered, 
 many honest men would fall both with me and 
 after me ; that there were people enough ready to 
 revenge the tribune's blood, while the punishment 
 of mine would be left to the forms of a trial and 
 to posterity ; I resolved not to employ force in de- 
 fending my private safety, after I had defended 
 that of the public without it ; and was willing, 
 that honest men should rather lament the ruin of 
 my fortunes, than make their own desperate by 
 adhering to me ; and if after all I had fallen alone, 
 that would have been dishonourable to myself : if 
 amidst the slaughter of my citizens, fatal to the 
 republic^" 
 
 In another speech — " If in so good a cause," 
 says he, " supported with such zeal by the senate; 
 by the concurrence of all honest men ; by the 
 ready help of all Italy, I had given way to the 
 rage of a despicable tribune, or feared the levity of 
 two contemptible consuls, I must own myself to 
 have been a coward, without heart or head — but 
 there were other things which moved me. That 
 fury Clodius was perpetually proclaiming in his 
 harangues, that what he did against me was done 
 by the authority of Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar ; 
 that these three were his counsellors in the cabinet, 
 his leaders in the field — one of whom had an army 
 already in Italy, and the other two could raise one 
 whenever they pleased. What then .•' Was it my 
 part to regard the vain brags of an enemy, falsely 
 thrown out against those eminent men ? No ; it 
 was not his talking, but their silence, which shocked 
 me ; and, though they had other reasons for hold- 
 ing their tongues, yet to one in my circumstances 
 their saying nothing was a declaration ; their 
 silence a confession : they had cause indeed to be 
 alarmed on their own account, lest their acts of 
 the year before should be annulled by the praetors 
 and the senate ; many people ako were instilling 
 jealousies of me into Pompey, and perpetually 
 admonishing him to beware of me ; and as for 
 Csesar. whom some imagined to be angry with me, 
 
 » Post Red. in Sen. ]3, 14. 
 
 he was at the gates of the city with an army, the 
 command of which he had given to Aj)pius, my 
 enemy's brother. When I saw all this, which was 
 open and manifest to everybody, what could I do ? 
 When Clodius declared in a public speech, that I 
 must either conquer twice, or perish ; so that 
 neither my victory nor my fall would have restored 
 the peace of the repubUc"." 
 
 Clodius, having satiated his revenge upon Cicero, 
 proposed another law, not less violent and unjust, 
 against Ptolemy, king of Cyprus, to deprive hira 
 of his kingdom, and reduce it to a Roman province, 
 and confiscate his w'hole estate. This prince was 
 brother to the king of Egypt, and reigning by the 
 same right of hereditary succession, in full peace 
 and amity with Rome ; accused of no practice* 
 nor suspected of any atsigns ag&inst the republic, 
 whose only crime was to be rjrh and lovetous ; so 
 that the law was an unparalleled act of injustice, and 
 what Cicero, in a public speech, did rot scruple to 
 call a mere robbery''. But Clodius had an old 
 grudge to the king, for refusing to ransom him, 
 when he was taken by the pirates ; and sending 
 him only tlie contemptible sum of two talents'". 
 And what, says Cicero, must other kings think of 
 their security, to see their crowns and fortunes at 
 the disposal of a tribune, and six hundred mercena- 
 ries '' ? The law passed however without any 
 opposition ; and to sanctify it, as it were, and 
 give it the better face and colour of justice, Cato 
 was charged with the execution of it ; which gave 
 Clodius a double pleasure, by imposing so shame- 
 ful a task upon the gravest man in Rome. It was 
 a part likewise of the same law, as well as of Cato's 
 commission, to restore certain exUes of Byzantium, 
 whom their city had driven out for crimes against 
 the public peace ^. The engaging Cato in such 
 dirty work was a masterpiece, and served many 
 purposes of great use to Clodius : first, to get rid 
 of a troublesome adversary for the remainder of 
 his magistracy : secondly, to fix a blot on Cato 
 himself, and show, that the most rigid pretenders 
 to virtue might be caught by a proper bait : thirdly, 
 to stop his mouth for the future, as he openly 
 bragged, from clamouring against extraordinary 
 commissions : fourthly, to oblige him, above all, 
 to acknowledge the validity of his acts, by his sub- 
 mitting to bear a part in them'. The tribune had 
 
 » Pro Sext. 16, 18, 19. 
 
 b Qui cum lege nefaria PtolemEeuin, regem Cj-pri, fra- 
 trem regis Alexandrini, eodeni jure regnantem, cauaa 
 incognita, publicasses, populumque Romaniun scelero 
 obligasses : cum in ejus regnum, bona, fortunas, iatroci- 
 nium hujus imperii immisisses, cujus cum patre, avo, 
 majoribus, societasnobis et aniicitia fuisset. — Pro Domo, 8. 
 
 Rex amicus, nulla injuria commemorata, nullis repe- 
 titis rebus, cum bonis omnibus publicaretur. [Pro Sext. 
 26.] De quo nulla unquam suspicio durior. — Ibid. 27. 
 
 c Dio, xxsviii. p. 78; Appian. I. ii. 441. 
 
 '' En ! cur ca?teri reges stabilem esse fortimam suam 
 arbitrentur, cuui — videant, per tribunum aliquem et sex- 
 centas operas se fortunis spoliari, et regno omni posse 
 nudi'.ri ? — Pro Sext. 27. 
 
 <= IIujus pecunije dcportandrp, et si quis suum jus defen- 
 deret, belle gerendo Catoncm pra'fecisti. — Pro DOBio, 8. 
 
 At etiam eo negotio M. Catonis splcndorem maculare 
 voluerunt. — Pro Sext. 28. 
 
 Tu una lege tulisti, ut Cj-prius rex — ciun bonis omnibus 
 sub prscone subjiceretur, et exules Byzantium reduco- 
 rentur. Eidem, inquit, utraque de re negotium dedi.— 
 Pro Domo, 20. 
 
 f Sub honorificentissimo ministerii tltulo M. Catonem a
 
 96 
 
 Till; HISTORY OF THE Lft'E OF 
 
 the satisfaction to see Cato taken in liis trap ; and 
 reioived a congratulatory letter upon it from Cresar, 
 addressed to him in the familiar style of Ca;srir to 
 Clodius, which he read publicly to the peojilc, as a 
 proof of the singular intimacy between themB. 
 King Ptolemy, in the mean while, as soon as he 
 heard of the law, and of Cato's approach towards 
 Cyprus, j)ut an end to his life by poison, unable 
 to bear the disgrace of losing at once both his 
 crown and his wealth. Cato executed his com- 
 mission with great fidelity ; and returned the year 
 following in a kind of triumjih to Rome, with all 
 the king's effects reduced into money, amounting 
 to about a million and a half sterling, which he 
 delivered with great pomp into the public trea- 
 sury ''. 
 
 This proceeding was severely condemned by 
 Cicero, though he touches it in his public speeches 
 with some tenderness for the sake of Cato, whom 
 he labours to clear from any share of the iniquity. 
 " The commission," says he, " was contrived, not 
 to adorn, but to banish Cato ; not offered, but 
 imposed iipon him. Why did lie then obey it ? 
 Just as he has sworn to obey other laws, which he 
 knew to be unjust, that he might not expose him- 
 self to the fury of his enemies, and withoutdoing any 
 good, deprive the republic of such a citizen. If he 
 had not submitted to the law, he could not have 
 hindered it ; the stain of it would still have stuck 
 upon the republic, and he himself suffered violence 
 for rejecting it, since it would have been a pre- 
 cedent for invalidating all the other acts of that 
 year : he considered, therefore, that since the 
 scandal of it could not be avoided, he was the 
 person the best qualified to draw good out of evil, 
 and to serve his country well, though in a bad 
 cause'." But howsoever this may colour, it can- 
 not justify Cato's conduct, who valued himself 
 highly upon his Cyprian transactions, and for the 
 sake of that commission was drawn in, as Clodius 
 expected, to support the authority from which it 
 flowed, and to maintain the legaUty of Clodius's 
 tribunate, in some warm debates even with Cicero 
 himself''. 
 
 Among the other laws made by Clodius, there 
 was one likewise to give relief to the private mem- 
 bers of corporate towns, against the public injuries 
 of their communities. The purpose of it was 
 specious, but the real design, to screen a creature 
 of his own, one Merula, of Anagnia, who had 
 been punished or driven from his city for some 
 notorious villanies, and who, in return for this 
 service, erected a statue to his patron, on part of 
 the area of Cicero's house, and inscribed it to 
 Clodius, the author of so excellent a law. But as 
 
 republica relegavit. [Veil. Pat. il. 45.] Non illi omandum 
 M. Catonem, sod relegandum putaverunt : qui in eoncione 
 palam dixerint, linfriiam se evellisse C'atoni, qua; semper 
 contra extraordinarias potestates libera fuisset. — Quod si 
 ille repudiassot, dubitatis quin ci vis csset allata, cum 
 omnia acta illius anni per ilium unum labefactari vide- 
 rentur ?— Pro Sest. 28, 29. 
 
 Gratiilari tibi, quod idem in posterum M. Catonem, 
 tribimatu tuo removisses.— Pro Domo, !). 
 
 g Literas in condone recitasti, quas tibi a C. Caesare 
 missas esse diceres. C.'esar Pclchro. Cum etiam es argu- 
 mentatus, amoris esse hoc signum, cum nominibus tantum 
 uterctur. — Ibid. 
 
 •> Plutarch, in Catone; Flor. iii. 9. 
 
 * Pro Sext. 28, 29. 
 
 ^ Plutarch, in Catone; Dio, 1. xxxis. 100, 
 
 Cicero told him afterwards in one of his speeches, 
 the i)lace itself where the statue stood, the scene of 
 so memorable an injury, confuted both the excel- 
 lency of the law and the inscri])ti()n'. 
 
 But it is time for us to look after Cicero in his 
 flight, who left Rome about the end of March ; for 
 on the eighth of April wc find him at Vibo, a town 
 in tlie most southern part of Italy, where he spent 
 several days with a friend named Sica. Here he 
 received the copy of the law made against him, 
 which after some alteration and correction fixed 
 the limits of his exile to the distance of four 
 hundred miles from Italy'". His thoughts had 
 hitherto been wholly bent on Sicily ; but when he 
 was arrived in sight of it, tlie praetor, C. Virgilius, 
 sent him word that he must not set liis foot in it. 
 This was a cruel shock to him, and the first taste 
 of the misery of disgrace — that an old friend, who 
 had been highly obliged to him", of the same 
 party and principles, should refuse him shelter in 
 a calamity which he had drawn upon himself by 
 his services to the republic. Speaking of it after- 
 wards, when it was not his business to treat it 
 severely, " See," says he, " the horror of these 
 times ; when all Sicily was coming out to meet 
 me, the praetor, who had often felt the rage of the 
 same tribune, and in the same cause, would not 
 suffer me to come into the island. "What shall I 
 say ? That Virgilius, such a citizen, and such a 
 man, had lost all benevolence, all i-emembrance of 
 our common sufferings, all his piety, humanity, 
 and faith towards me ? No such thing : he was 
 afraid how he should singly sustain the weight of 
 that storm which had overpowered our joint 
 forces"." 
 
 This unexpected repulse from Sicily obliged him 
 to change his route, and turn back again towards 
 Brundisium, in order to pass into Greece : he left 
 Vibo, tlierefore, that he might not expose his host 
 Sica to any danger for entertaining him ; expect-- 
 ing to find no quiet till he could remove himself 
 beyond the bounds prescribed by the law. But in 
 this he found himself mistaken, for all the towns 
 on his road received him with the most public 
 marks of respect : inviting him to take up his 
 quarters with them, and guarding him as he passed 
 through their territories with all imaginable hon- 
 our and safety to his person. He avoided however 
 as much as possible all public places ; and when 
 he came to Brundisium, would not enter into the 
 city, though it expressed the warmest zeal for his 
 
 ' Legem de injuriis publicis tulisti, Anagnino nescio cui 
 Merulae per gratiam, qui tibi ob eam legem statuam tibi 
 in meis aedibus posuit ; ut locus ipse in tua tanta injuria 
 legem et inscriptionem statuac refclleret. Qux res Anag- 
 ninis multo majori dolori fuit, quam quae idem ille gladia- 
 tor scelera Anagniae fecerat. — Pro Domo, 30. 
 
 m Allata est nobis rogatio de pernicie mea, in qua quod 
 correctum est, audicramus esse cjusmodi, ut mihi ultra 
 quadringenta millia liceret esse — statim iter Brundisium 
 versus contuli — ne et Sica, apud quern eram, periret. — Ad 
 Alt. iii. 4. 
 
 " Plutarch, in Cic. 
 
 o Siciliam petivi animo, quae et ipsa erat mihi, sicut 
 domus una, conjuncta; et obtinebatur a Virgilio : quocum 
 me uno vel maxime tum vetusta amicitia, tum mei fratris 
 collegia, tum respublica sociarat. Vide nunc caligiiiem 
 temporum illorum. Cum ipsa pa?ne insula mihi sese 
 obviam ferre vellet, praetor ille ojiisdcm tribuni plebis 
 concionibus propter eandem reipublicac tausam saepe 
 vexatus, nihil amplius dico, nisi nic in Siciliam venire 
 noluit, &c. — Pro Cn. Plane. 40.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 97 
 
 service, and offered to run all hazards in his de- 
 fence p. 
 
 In this interval, he was pressing Atticus in every 
 letter, and in the most moving terms, to come to 
 him ; and when he removed from Vibo, gave him 
 daily intelligence of all his stages, that he might 
 still know where to find him, taking it for granted 
 that he would not fail to follow him*!. But Atticus 
 seems to have given him no answer on this head, 
 nor to have had any thoughts of stirring from 
 Rome. He was persuaded, perhaps, that his com- 
 pany abroad could be of no other use to him than 
 to give some little relief to his present chagrin ; 
 whereas his continuance in the city might be of 
 the greatest, not only in relieving, but removing 
 his calamity, and procuring his restoration : or 
 we may imagine, what his character seems to 
 suggest, that though he had a greater love for 
 Cicero than for any man, yet it was always with 
 an exception of not involving himself in the dis- 
 tress of his friend, or disturbing the tranquillity 
 of his life by taking any share of another's 
 misery ; and that he was following only the dic- 
 tates of his temper and principles in sparing him- 
 self a trouble which would have made him suffer 
 more than his philosophy could easily bear. But 
 whatever was the cause, it gave a fresh mortifica- 
 tion to Cicero, who, in a letter upon it, says, " I 
 made no doubt but that I should see you at Taren- 
 tum or Brundisium : it would have been convenient 
 for many reasons ; and above all, for my design of 
 spending some time with you in Epirus, and re- 
 gulating all my measures by your advice : but since 
 it has not hapjiened as I wished, I shall add this also 
 to the great number of my other afflictions'"." He 
 was now lodged in the villa of M. Lenius Flaccus, 
 not far from the walls of Brundisium, where he 
 arrived on the seventeenth of April, and on the 
 last of the same month embarked for Dyrrhachium. 
 In his account of himself to his wife — " I spent 
 thirteen days," says he, " with Flaccus, who for 
 my sake slighted the risk of his fortunes and life ; 
 nor was deterred by the penalty of the law from 
 performing towards me all the rights of friendship 
 and hospitality : I wish that it may ever be in my 
 power to make him a proper return ; I am sure 
 that I shall always think myself obliged to do it^." 
 
 During his stay with Flaccus, he was in no small 
 perplexity about the choice of a convenient place 
 
 P Cum omnia ilia municipia, qua? sunt a Vibonc Bnm- 
 disium, in fide niea essent, iter mihi tutum, multis mini- 
 tantibus, magno cum suo metu prfestitcrunt. Brundisium 
 veni, vel potius ad mcenia accessi. Urbem unam mihi 
 amicissimam declinavi, quae sevel potius exscindi.quame 
 sno complexii ut eriperer facile pateretur. — ProPlancio,41. 
 
 "J Sed te ore, ut ad me Vibonem statim vcnias. — Si id 
 non feoeris niirabor, sed confido te esse facturum. — Ad 
 Att. iii. 1. 
 
 Nunc, ut ad te antea scrips!, si ad nos veneris, consilium 
 totius rei capiemus. — Ibid. 2. 
 
 Iter Brundisium versus contuli — nunc tu propera, ut 
 nos consequare, si modo recipiemur. Adhuc invitamur 
 benicme. — Ibid. 3. 
 
 Nihil mihi optatius cadere posse, quam ut tu me quam 
 primum consequare. — Ibid. 4. 
 
 ' Non fuerat mihi dubium, quin te Tarenti aut Brun- 
 dSsil visurus essem : idquc ad multa pertinuit ; in eis, et 
 ut in Epiro consisteremus, et de reliquis rebus tuo consilio 
 nteremur. Quoniam id non contigit, erit hoc quoque in 
 magno numero nostrorum malorum. — Ibid. 6. 
 
 • tn hortos M. Lenii Flacci me contuli : cui cum omnis 
 mwus, publicatio bonoruni, esilium, mors proponeretur. 
 
 for his residence abroad : Atticus offered him his 
 house in Epirus ; which was a castle of some 
 strength, and likely to afford him a secure retreat. 
 But since Atticus could not attend him thither in 
 person, he dropi)ed all tlioughts of that, and was 
 inclined to go to Athens ; till he was informed, 
 that it would be dangerous for him to travel into 
 that part of Greece ; where all those who had been 
 banished for Catiline's conspiracy, and especially 
 Autronius, then resided ; who would have had some 
 comfort in their exile to revenge themselves on 
 the author of their misery, if they could have 
 caught him'. 
 
 Plutarch tells us, that in sailing out of Brundi- 
 sium, the wind, which was fair, changed of a 
 sudden, and drove him back again; and when he 
 passed over to Dyrrhachium in the second attempt, 
 that there happened an earthquake and a great 
 storm, immediately after his landing ; from which 
 the soothsayers foretold, that his stay abroad would 
 not be long. But it is strange, that a writer so 
 fond of prodigies, which nobody else takes notice 
 of, should omit the story of Cicero's dream, which 
 was more to his purpose, and is related by Cicero 
 himself: " That in one of the stages of his flight, 
 being lodged in the villa of a friend, after he had 
 lain restless and wakeful a great part of the night, 
 he fell into a sound sleep near break of day, and 
 when he awaked about eight in the morning, told 
 his dream to those round him : That as he seemed 
 to be wandering disconsolate in a lonely place, C. 
 Marius, with his fasces wreathed with laurel, ac- 
 costed him, and demanded, why he was so melan- 
 choly : and when he answered, that he was driven 
 out of his country by violence ; Marius took him 
 by the hand, and bidding him be of courage, ordered 
 the next lictor to conduct him into his monument ; 
 telling him, that there he should find safety : upon 
 this, the company presently cried out, that he 
 would have a quick and glorious return"." All 
 which was exactly fulfilled; for his restoration was 
 decreed in a certain temple built by Marius, and 
 for that reason called Marius's Monument ; where 
 the senate happened to be assembled on that oc- 
 casion ^. 
 
 This dream was much talked of in the family, 
 and Cicero himself, in that season of his dejection, 
 seemed to be pleased with it ; and on the first 
 news of the decree's passing in Marius's monu- 
 ment, declared, that nothing could be more divine ; 
 yet in disputing afterwards on the nature of dreams, 
 hsDc perpeti, si acciderent, nialuit, quam custodiam mei 
 capitis dimittere. — Pro Plancio, 41. 
 
 Nos Brundisii apud M. Lenium Flaccum dies xiir. 
 fuimus, virum optimum : qui periculum fortunarum et 
 capitis sui prse mea salute neglexit : neque legis improbis- 
 simje poena deductus est, quo minus hospitii et amicitia; 
 jus, otBciamque prasstaret. Huic utinam gratiam ali- 
 (juando referre possimus; habebimus quidem semper.— 
 Ep. Fam. xiv. 4. 
 
 t Quod me rogas et hortaris, ut apud te in Epiro sim ; 
 voluntas tua mihi valde grata est. — Sed itineris causa ut 
 diverterem, primum est devium ; deinde ab Autronio et 
 ca-teris quatridui ; deinde sine te. Nam castoUum muni- 
 tum habitanti mihi prodesset, transeunti non est necessa- 
 rium. Quod si auderem, Athcnas peterem : sane it.a 
 cadebat ut vellem. Nunc et nostri hostes ibi sunt, et to 
 non habemus.— Ad Att. iii. 7. 
 
 « De Divin. i. 28 ; Val. Max. i. 7- 
 
 3c Valerius Maximus calls this monument of Marius the 
 temple of Jupiter ; but it appears from Cicero's account to 
 have been the temple of Honour and Virtue. 
 H
 
 98 
 
 THH HISTORY OF THE LIFE OK 
 
 he asserts them all to he vain and fantastical, and 
 nothing else hut the imperfect traces and confused 
 impressions wliich our wakini? tlioughts leave ui)on 
 the mind ; that, in his flight tliereforc, as it was 
 natural for him to think much ujion his countryman 
 Marius, who had suilcred tlie same calamity ; so 
 that was the cause of his dreaming of him ; and 
 that no old woman could he so silly, as to give any 
 credit to dreams, if in the infinite number and 
 variety of them they did not sometimes happen 
 to hit rights. 
 
 When he came to nyrrhachium, he found con- 
 firmed, what he had heard before in Italy, that 
 Achaia and the neighbouring parts of Greece were 
 possessed by those rebels who had been driven 
 from Rome on Catiline's account. This deter- 
 mined him to go into Macedonia, before they could 
 be informed of his arrival, where his friend, Cn. 
 Plancius, was then quajstor ; who no sooner heard 
 of his landing, than he came to find him at Dyr- 
 rhachium ; where, out of regard to his present 
 circumstances, and the privacy which he affected, 
 dismissing his officers, and laying aside all the 
 pomp of magistracy, he conducted him with the 
 observance of a private companion to his head- 
 quarters at Thessalonica, about the twenty-first 
 of May. L. Appuleius was the j)rfetor or chief 
 governor of the province : but though he was aa 
 honest man and Cicero's friend, yet he durst not 
 venture to grant him his protection, or show him 
 any public civility, but contented himself with 
 conniving only at what his quaestor Plancius 
 did^ 
 
 While Cieero staid at Dyrrhachium, he received 
 two expresses from his brother Quintus, who was 
 now coming home from Asia, to inform him of his 
 intended route, and to settle the place of their 
 meeting : Quintus's design was, to pass from Ephe- 
 sus to Athens, and thence by land through Mace- 
 donia ; and to have an interview with his brother 
 at Thessalonica : but the news which he met with 
 at Athens obliged him to hasten his journey to- 
 wards Rome, where the faction were preparing to 
 receive him with an impeachment, for the mal- 
 administration of his province ; nor had Cicero at 
 last resolution enough to see him ; being unable to 
 bear the tenderness of such a meeting, and much 
 more the misery of parting ; and he was appre- 
 hensive, besides, that if they once met, they should 
 not be able to part at all, whilst Quintus's presence 
 at home was necessary to their common interests : 
 so' that to avoid one affliction, he was forced (he 
 
 y Maximeque reliquiae earum rerura moventiir in 
 animis, et agitantur, de quibus vigilantes aut cogitavimus 
 aut egimus. Ut mihi temporibus illis multum in animo 
 Marius versabatur, recordanti, quam ille gravem suum 
 ecsum magno animo, quam constanti tulisset. Hanc 
 credo c5,-isam dc illo somniandi fuisse. — De Divin. ii. 67. 
 
 An tu censes uUam anum tarn deliram futuram fuisse, 
 ut somniis crederet, nisi ista casu nonnunquam forte 
 temere concurrorent ? — Ibid. 68. 
 
 " () ' I o cimi venissem cognovi, id quod audierara, refertam 
 esse (JiiEciam sceleratissimorum liominum ac nefariorum. 
 — Qui antequam de meo adventu audire potuissent, in 
 
 Macedoniam ad Planciumque perrexi nam simul ac 
 
 me Dyrrhachium attigisse audivit, statim ad me liotoribus 
 dimissis, insignibus abjectis, veste mutata profectus est.— 
 Thessalonicam me in qugestoriumquo perduxit. — Pro 
 Plancio, 41 ; Post Red. in Sen. 14. 
 
 Hie ego nunc de prretore Macedonije nihil dicam amplius, 
 nisi eum etcivem optimum semper et mihi amicumfiiis.'-e. 
 Bed eadem timuisse quae casteros.— Pro Plancio, ibid. 
 
 says) to endure another most cruel one, that of 
 shunning the embraces of a brother". 
 
 L. Tubero, however, his kinsman, and one of 
 his brother's lieutenants, ])aid him a visit on his 
 return towards Italy, and ac(|uainled him with 
 what he had learned in passing through Greece, 
 that the banished conspirators who resided there 
 were actually forming a plot to seize and murder 
 him ; for which reason he advised him to go into 
 Asia ; where the zeal and affection of the province 
 would afford him the safest retreat, both on his 
 own and his brother's account'*. Cicero was dis- 
 posed to follow this advice and leave Macedonia ; 
 for the pra;tor Appuleius, though a friend, gave 
 him no encouragement to stay ; and the consul 
 Piso, his enemy, was coming to the command of 
 it the next winter: but all his friends at Rome 
 dissuaded his removal to any place more distant 
 from them; and Plancius treated him so affection- 
 ately, and contrived to make all things so easy to 
 him, that he dropped the thoughts of changing his 
 quarters. Plancius was in lioj)es that Cicero 
 would be recalled with the expiration of his quse- 
 storship, and that he should have the honour of 
 returning with him to Rome, to reap the fruit of 
 his fidelity, not only from Cicero's gratitude, but 
 the favour of the senate and people*-'. The only 
 inconvenience that Cicero found in his present 
 situation, was the number of soldiers and concourse 
 of people, who frequented the place on account of 
 business with the quajstor. For he was so shocked 
 and dejected by his misfortune, that, though the 
 cities of Greece were offering their services and 
 compliments, and striving to do him all imaginable 
 honours'^, yet he refused to see all company, and 
 was so shy of the public, that he could hardly 
 endure the light ^. 
 
 For it cannot be denied, that, in this calamity of 
 his exile, he did not behave himself with that firm- 
 ness which might reasonably be expected from 
 O'le who had borne so glm-ious apart in the re- 
 public ; conscious of his integrity, and suffering in 
 the cause of his country : for his letters are gene- 
 rally filled with such lamentable expressions of 
 grief and despair, that his best friends, and even 
 
 a Quintus frater cum ex Asia venisset ante kalend. 
 Mai. et Athenas venisset idib. valde fuit ei properandum, 
 ne quid absens acciperet calamitatis, si quis forte fuisset, 
 qui contentus nostris malis non csset. Itaque eum 
 malui properare Romam, quam ad me venire: et simul, 
 dicam enim quod verum est, — animum inducere non potui, 
 ut aut ilium amantissimum mei, moUissimo animo tanto 
 in moerore aspicercm — atque etiam illud timebam, quod 
 profecto aecidisset, ne a nie digredi non posset. — Hujus 
 aeerbitatis eventum altera acerbitate non videndi fratris 
 vitavi. — Ad Att. iii. 9 ; Ad Quint. Frat. i. 3. 
 
 b Cum ad me L. Tubero, raeus necessarius, qui fratri 
 meo legatus fuisset, decedens ex Asia venisset, easque 
 insidias, quas mihi paratas ab exulibus conjuratia 
 audierat, animo amicissimo detulisset. In Asiam me ire, 
 propter ejus provinciiE mecum et cum frati'e meo necessi- 
 tudinem. — Pro Plancio, 41. 
 
 c Plancius, homo officiosissimus, me cupit esse seeum 
 et adhuc retinef^ — sperat posse fieri, ut mecum in Italiam 
 decedat. — Ep. Fam. xiv. 1. 
 
 Longius, quum ita vobis placet, non discedam. — Ibid. 2. 
 
 Me adhuc Plancius liberalitate sua retinet — spes homini 
 est injecta, non eadem, quse mihi-, posse nos una decedere: 
 quan^ rem sibi magno honori sperat fore. — Ad Att. iii. 22. 
 
 'I Plutarch, in Cic. 
 
 <= Odi enim cclebritatem, fugio homines, lucem aspicero 
 vix possum. — Ad Att. iii. 7-
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 99 
 
 his wife, was forced to admonislihim sometimes, to 
 rouse his courage', and remember his former cha- 
 racter. Atticus was constantly putting him in 
 mind of it ; and sent him word of a report, that 
 was brought to Rome by one of Crassus's freed- 
 men, lliat his affliction had disordered his senses : 
 to which he answered, that his mind was still 
 sound, and wished only that it had been always so, 
 when he placed his confidence on those who per- 
 fidiously abused it to his ruin^. 
 
 But these remonstrances did not please him ; he 
 thought them unkind and unseasonable, as he in- 
 timates in several of his letters, where he expresses 
 himself very movingly on this subject. " As to 
 your chiding me (says he) so often and so severely, 
 for being too much dejected ; what misery is there, 
 I pray you, so grievous, which I do not feel in 
 my present calamity .' Did any man ever fall 
 from such a height of dignity, in so good a cause, 
 with the advantage of such talents, experience, 
 interest ; such support of all honest men ? Is it 
 possible for me to forget what I was ? Or not to 
 feel what I am ? From what honour, what glory 
 1 am driven .' From what children .' What for- 
 tunes ? What a brother? Whom, though I love 
 and have ever loved better than myself, yet (that 
 you may perceive what a new sort of affliction I 
 suffer) I refused to see ; that I might neither aug- 
 ment my own grief by the sight of his, nor ofier 
 myself to him thus ruined, whom he had left so 
 flourishing : I omit many other things intolerable 
 to me : for I am hindered by my tears : tell me 
 then, wliether I am still to be reproached for 
 grieving ; or for suffering myself rather to be de- 
 prived of what I ought never to have parted with 
 but with my life ; which I might easily have pre- 
 vented, if some perfidious friends had not urged 
 me to my ruin within my own walls," &c.'* In 
 •another leiter ; " Continue (says he) to assist me, 
 as you do, with your endeavours, your advice, and 
 your interest ; but spare yourself the pains of com- 
 forting, and much more of chiding me : for when 
 ■you do this, I cannot help charging it to your want 
 -of love and concern for me ; whom I imagine to 
 be so afflicted with my misfortune, as to be incon- 
 solable even yourself'." 
 
 He was now indeed attacked in his weakest part ; 
 the only place in which he was vulnerable : to have 
 been as great in affliction as he was in prosperity, 
 would have been a perfection not given to man : 
 yet this very weakness flowed from a source which 
 rendered him the more amiable in all the other 
 parts of life ; and the same tenderness of disposi- 
 tion which made him love his friends, his children, 
 his country, more passionately than other men, 
 
 ' Tu quod me hortaris, ut animo sim magno, &c. — ^Ep. 
 Faui. xiv. 14. 
 
 s Nam quod scribis te audire, me etiavn mentis errore 
 ex dolore affici : niihi vero mens Integra est, atque utinam 
 tarn in periculo fuisset, cum ego iis, quibiis saluteni meani 
 •carissiniam esse arbitrahar, inimicissimis, crudelissimis- 
 que usus sum.— Ad Att. iii. 13. 
 
 Accepi quatuor epistolas a te missas; unam, qua me 
 objurgas, ut sim firmior ; alteram, qua Crassi libertum ais 
 tibi de mea sollicitudine macieque narrassc. — Ibid. 15. 
 
 h Ad Att. iii. 10. 
 
 ' Tu me, ut facis, opera, consilio, gratia juva: consolarl 
 jamdesine: objurgare vero noli: quod cum facis, ego tuuni 
 amorem et dcloreui dcsidero ; quern ita afl'ectum luca 
 aerumna esse arbitror, ut te ipsum nemo cousolari potc&t. 
 — Ibid. 11. 
 
 made him feel the loss of them more sensibly : " 1 
 have twice (says he) saved the republic ; once 
 with glory ; a second time with misery : for I will 
 never deny myself to be a man ; or brag of bearing 
 the loss of a brother, children, wife, country, with- 
 out sorrow For what thanks had been due to me 
 
 for quitting what I did not value'' ?" In another 
 s])eech : " I own my grief to hs^ve been extremely 
 great; nor do I pretend to that wisdom, which 
 those expected from me, who gave out, that I was 
 too much broken by my affliction : for such a hard- 
 ness of mind, as of body, which does not feel pain, 
 is a stupidity, rather than a virtue. — I am not one 
 of those to whom all things are indifferent ; but 
 love myself and my friends as our common huma- 
 nity requires ; and he who, for the public good, 
 parts with what he holds the dearest, gives the 
 highest proof of love to his country'." 
 
 There was another consideration which added 
 no small sting to his affliction ; to reflect, as he 
 often does, not only on what he had lost, but how 
 he had lost it, by his own fault ; in suffering him- 
 self to be imposed upon and deluded by false and 
 envious friends. This he frequently touches upon 
 in a strain which shows that it galled him very 
 severely: "Though my grief (says he) is incre- 
 dible, yet I am not disturbed so much by the misery 
 of what I feel, as the recollection of my fault, — 
 Wherefore, when you hear how much I am afflicted, 
 imagine that I am suffering the punishment of my 
 folly, not of the event ; for having trusted too 
 much to one whom I did not take to be a rascal™." 
 It must needs be cruelly mortifying to one of his 
 temper ; nicely tender of his reputation, and pas- 
 sionately fond of glory ; to impute his calamity to 
 his own blunders, and fancy himself the dupe of 
 men not so wise as himself : yet after all, it may 
 reasonably be questioned, whether his inquietude 
 of this sort, was not owing rather to the jealous 
 and querulous nature of affliction itself, than to any 
 real foundation of truth : for Atticus would never 
 allow his suspicions to be just, not even against 
 Hortensius, where they seem to lie the heaviest". 
 This is the substance of what Cicero himself says, 
 
 ^ Unus bis rempublieam servavi, semel gloria, iterum 
 aerumna mea. Neque enini in hoc me hominem esse infi- 
 ciabor unquam ; ut me optimo fratre, carissiniis liberis, 
 fidelissima conjuge, vestro conspectu, patria, hoc honoris 
 gradu sine dolore caruisse glorier. Quod sifecissem, quod 
 a me benefieium haberetis, cum pro vobis ea, qua; mihi 
 essent yilia, reliquissem. — Pro Sext. 22. 
 
 ' Accepi magnum atque incredibilemdolorem: nnnnego: 
 neque istam mihi aseisco sapientiam, quam nonnulli in 
 me requlrebant, qui me animo nimis fracto et afflieto esse 
 loquebantur— eamque anlmi duritiem, sicut corporis, quod 
 cum uritur non sentit, stuporeni potius, quam virtutem 
 putarem— non tarn sapiens quam ii, qui nihil curant, ssd 
 tarn amans tuorum ac tui, quam communis humanitas 
 postulat — qui autem ea relinquit reipublicrecausa, a qui- 
 bus summo cum dolore divellitur ei patria cara est.— Pro 
 Bomo, 36, 37. 
 
 ■" Etsi ineredibili calamitate afflietus sum, tanicn non 
 tarn est ex miseria, quam ex culpie nostrae recqrdatinne 
 — quare cum me afflictum et confeotum luctu audies, exis- 
 timato me stultitiie mea; poenam ferre gravius, quam 
 event! ; quod ei crediderim, quern nefarium esse non piita- 
 rim.— Ad Att. iii. 8 ; vide 0, 14, 15, 19, &.O. 
 
 " Nam quod purgas eos, quos ego mihi scrips! invidisse, 
 et ineisCatonem: ego vero tantum ilhnu puto a scelere 
 isto af uisse, utmaxime dolcam plus apud me simulationeni 
 aliorum, quam istius fidemvaluisse. Cieteri, quos purgas, 
 debent mihi purgati esse, tibi si sunt.— tbid. 15. 
 H 2
 
 100 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THK LIFE OF 
 
 to excuse the excess of his grief; and the only ex- 
 cuse indeed which can be made tor him ; that lie 
 did not pretend to be a stoic, nor asjjire to tlie 
 character of a liero : yet we see some writers la- 
 bouring to defend him even against himself ; and 
 endeavouring to persuade us, that all this air of 
 dejection and desjiair was wholly feigned and as- 
 sumed, for the sake of moving compassion, and 
 engaging liis friends to exert themselves the more 
 warmly in soliciting his restoration ; lest his afflic- 
 tion should destroy him before they could effect it". 
 When he had been gone a little more than two 
 months, his friend Ninnius, the tribune, made a 
 motion in the senate to recal him, and repeal the 
 law of Clodius ; to which the whole house readily 
 agreed, with eight of the tribunes, till one of the 
 other two, /Elius Ligus, interposed his negative : 
 they proceeded however to a resolution, that no 
 other business should be transacted, till the consuls 
 had actually prepared a new law for that purpose''. 
 About the same time, Quintus Cicero, who left 
 Asia on the first of May, arrived at Rome ; and 
 was received with great demonstrations of respect, 
 by persons of all ranks, who flocked out to meet 
 himi. Cicero suffered an additional anxiety on 
 his account, lest the Clodian cabal, by means of the 
 impeachment, which they threatened, should be 
 able to expel him too : especially since Clodius's 
 brother Appius was the praetor whose lot it was 
 to sit on those trials ^ But Clodius was now 
 losing ground apace ; being grown so insolent on 
 his late success, that even his friends could not 
 bear him any longer : for having banished Cicero, 
 and sent Cato out of his way, he began to fancy 
 himself a match for Pompey ; by whose help, or 
 connivance at least, he had acquired all his power ; 
 and, in open defiance of him, seized by stratagem 
 into his hands the son of king Tigranes, whom 
 Pompey had brought with him from the East, and 
 kept a prisoner at Rome, in the custody of Flavius 
 the praetor ; and instead of delivering him up, 
 when Pompey demanded him, undertook, for a 
 large sum of money, to give him his liberty and 
 send him home. This however did not pass with- 
 out a sharp engagement between him and Flavius, 
 " who marched out of Rome, with a body of men 
 well armed, to recover Tigranes by force : but 
 Clodius proved too strong for him ; and killed a 
 great part of his company, and among them Pa- 
 pirius, a Roman knight of Pompey's intimate 
 acquaintance, while Flavius also himself had some 
 difficulty to escape with life^" 
 
 Absens potius se dolere simulavit, ut suos, quod dixi- 
 mus, magis commoveret : et praesens item se doluisse 
 simulavit, ut vir prudentissimus, scenae, quod aiunt, ser- 
 viret. — Corradi Questura, p. 291. 
 
 V Decrovit sonatus frequens de meo reditu Kal. Jun. 
 dissentiente nullo, referento L. Ninnio — intercessit Ligus 
 istenescioqui, additamentum inimicorum meorum. — Om- 
 nia senatus rejiciebat, nisi de me piimum consules retu- 
 lissent. — Pro Sext. 31. 
 
 Non multo post discessuni meuni me universi revoea- 
 vistis referente L. Ninnio. — Post Red. in Sen. 2. 
 
 1 Huic ad urbem venienti tota obviani civitas cum 
 lacrymis, gemituque processcrat. — Pro Sext. 31. 
 
 r Mihi etiam unum de malis in metu est, fratris miseri 
 negotium.' — Ad Att. iii. 8. 
 
 De Quinto fratre nuntii nobis tristes— sane sum in meo 
 infinito moerore soUicitus, et eo magis, quod Appii quaestio 
 sst Ibid. 17. 
 
 » Me expulso, Catone amandato, in eum ipsum se eon- 
 vertit, quo auctore, quo adjutore, in concionibus ea, quae 
 
 This affront roused Pompey to think of recalling^ 
 Cicero ; as well to correct the arrogance of Clodius, 
 as to retrieve his credit, and ingratiate himself with 1 
 the senate and people : he dropped some hints of • 
 his inclination to Cicero's friends, and particularly 
 to Atticus, who presently gave him part of the 
 agreeable news : upon which, Cicero, though he- 
 had no ojjinion of Pompey's sincerity, was encou- 
 raged to write to him ; and sent a copy of his 
 letter to Atticus, telling him at the same time, 
 that if Pomjjey could digest the affront, which he 
 had received in the case of Tigranes, he should 
 despair of his being moved by anything'. Varro 
 likewise, who had a particular intimacy with 
 Pompey, desired Atticus to let Cicero know, that 
 Pom])cy would certainly enter into his cause as 
 soon as he heard from Caesar, which he expected 
 to do every day. This intelligence, from so good 
 an author, raised Cicero's hopes, till finding no 
 effects of it for a considerable time, he began to 
 apprehend, that there was either nothing at all in^ 
 it, or that Caesar's answer was averse, and had put 
 an end to it". The fact however shows what aa 
 extraordinary deference Pompey paid to Caesar, 
 that he would not take a step in this affair at 
 Rome, without sending first to Gaul, to consult 
 him about it. 
 
 The city was alarmed at the same time by the 
 rumour of a second plot against Pompey's life, said 
 to be contrived by Clodius ; one of whose slaves 
 was seized at the door of the senate with a dagger, 
 which his master had given him, as he confessed, 
 to stab Pompey : which, being accompanied with 
 many daring attacks on Pompey's person by Clo- 
 dius's mob, made him resolve to retire from the 
 senate and the forum, till Clodius was out of his 
 tribunate, and shut himself up in his own house, 
 whither he was still pursued, and actually besieged 
 by one of Clodius's freedmen, Damio. An outrage 
 so audacious could not be overlooked by the ma- 
 gistrates, who came out with all their forces to seize 
 or drive away Damio ; upon which a general en- 
 gagement ensued, where Gabinius (as Cicero says) 
 " was forced to break his league with Clodius, and 
 
 gerebat, omnia, qiiacque gesserat, se fecisse et facere dicebat; 
 Cn. Pompelum — diutius furori suo veniam daturum non 
 arbitrabatur. Qui ex ejus custodia per insidias regia 
 amici fillum, hostem captivum surripuisset ; et ea injuria 
 virum fortissimum laccssisset. Spcravit iisdem se copiia 
 cum illo posse confligere, quibuscuni ego noluissem bono- 
 rum periculo dimicare.' — Pro Domo, 25. 
 
 Ad quartum ab urbo lapidem pugna facta est : in qua 
 multi ex utraque parte ceciderunt ; plures tamen ex 
 Flavii, inter quos M. Papirius, eques Romanus, publi- 
 canus, familiaris Pompeio. Flavius sine comite.Romam- 
 vix perfugit. — Ascon. in Milon. 14. 
 
 ' Sermoneni tuum et Pompeii cognovi ex tuis Uteris. 
 Motum in republica non tantum impendore video, quan- 
 tum tu aut vides, aut ad me consolandum affers. — Tigrane 
 enini neglecto sublata sunt omnia. — Literarum esemplum,. 
 quas ad Pompeium scripsi, misi tibi. — Ad Att. iii. 8. 
 
 Pompeium etiam simulatorem puto. — Ad Quint. Frat. 
 i. 3. 
 
 Ex Uteris tuis plenus sum expectatione de Pompeio, 
 quidnam de nobis velit, aut ostendat. — Si tibi stultus esse 
 videor, qui sperem, facio tuo jussu. — Ad Att. iii. 14. 
 
 " Expectationem nobis non parvam attuleras, cum 
 scripseras Varronem tibi pro amicitia confirmasse, causam 
 nostram Pompeium certe suscepturum ; et simul a Caesare 
 literae, quas expcctaret, remissa; essent, auctorem etiam 
 daturum. ITtrum id nihil fuit, an advcrsatae sunt CaesariS' ■ 
 liters; ?— Ibid. 18.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 101 
 
 fight for Pompey ; at first faintly and unwillingly, 
 but at last heartily ; while Piso, more religious, 
 stood firm to his contract, and fought on Clodius' 
 side, till his fasces were broken, and he himself 
 •wounded, and forced to run away^." 
 
 Whetlier any design was really formed against 
 Pompey's life, or the story was contrived to serve 
 his present views, it seems probable at least that 
 his fears were feigned, and the danger too con- 
 temptible to give him any just apprehension ; but 
 the shutting himself up at home made an impres- 
 sion upon the vulgar, and furnished a better pre- 
 tence for turning so quick upon Clodius, and 
 quelling that insolence which he himself had 
 raised : for this was the constant tenor of his 
 politics, to give a free course to the public dis- 
 orders, for the sake of displaying his own import- 
 ance to more advantage ; thatwhen the storm was at 
 the height, he might appear at last in the scene, like 
 a deity of the theatre, and reduce all again to order ; 
 expecting still, that the people, tired and harassed 
 by these perpetual tumults, would be forced to 
 create him dictator, for settling the quiet of the city. 
 
 The consuls elect were, P. Cornelius Lentulus, 
 and Q. Metellus Nepos : the first was Cicero's 
 warm friend, the second his old enemy ; the same 
 who put that affront upon him on laying down his 
 consulship : his promotion therefore was a great 
 discouragement to Cicero, who took it for granted 
 that he would employ all his power to obstruct his 
 return ; and reflected, as he tells us, " that, though 
 it was a great thing to drive him out, yet, as there 
 were many who hated, and more who envied him, 
 it would not be difficult to keep him out^." But 
 Metellus, perceiving which way Pompey's inclina- 
 tion and Caesar's also was turning, found reason 
 to change his mind, or at least to dissemble it ; 
 and promised, not only to give his consent, but 
 his assistance, to Cicero's restoration. His col- 
 league, Lentulus, in the mean while, was no sooner 
 elected, than he revived the late motion of NinniuSi 
 and proposed a vote to recal Cicero ; and when 
 Clodius interrupted him and recited that part of 
 his law which made it criminal to move anjthing 
 about it, Lentulus declared it to be no law, but a 
 mere proscription, and act of violence ^ This 
 alarmed Clodius, and obliged him to exert all his 
 arts to support the validity of the law ; he threat- 
 ened ruin and destruction to all who should dare 
 to oppose it ; and to imprint the greater terror, 
 fixed up on the doors of the senate-house, that 
 clause which prohibited all men to speak or act in 
 
 ^ Ciun hasc non possent diutius jam sustincre, initur 
 consilium de interitu Cn. Pompeii : quo patefacto, ferroque 
 deprehenso, ille inclusus domi tamdiu fuit, quamdiu 
 inimicus meus in tribunatu. — Pro Sext. 32. 
 
 Dcpieliensus denique cuni fcrro ad sonatuiii is, quern ad 
 Cn. Ponipeium interimendum eollocatum fuisse constabat. 
 •—In Pison. 12. 
 
 Cum tamen' — Gabinius collegit ipse se vix : et contra 
 Buum Clodium, primum simulate; deindc non libenter; 
 ad oxtremum tamen pro Cn. Pompeio vere, vehementerque 
 pugnavit. — Tu tamen homo religiosus et sanctus, foedus 
 frangere noluisti — itaqiie in illo tuniultu fracti fasces, ictus 
 ipso, quotidie tela, lapides, fuga;.— Ibid. 
 
 y Iniinici sunt multi, invidi paene omnes. Ejicere nos 
 magnum fuit, excludere facile est.' — Ep. Fam. xiv. 3. 
 
 ^ Cum a tribune plebis vetaretur, cum pra?clarum caput 
 rccitarotur, ne quis ad vos refcrret — totam illam, lit ante 
 dixi, proscriptionem, non legem putavit. — Post Red. in 
 Ben. 4. 
 
 any manner for Cicero's return, on pain of being 
 treated as enemies. This gave a farther disquiet 
 to Cicero, lest it should dishearten his active 
 friends, and furnish an excuse to the indolent for 
 doing nothing : he insinuates therefore to Atticus 
 what might be said to obviate it ; " that all such 
 clauses were only bugbears, without any real force ; 
 or otherwise no law could ever be abrogated ; and 
 whatever effect this was intended to have, that it 
 must needs fall of course with the law itself'." 
 
 In this anxious state of his mind, jealous of 
 everything that could hurt, and catching at every- 
 thing that could help him, another little incident 
 happened, which gave him a fresh cause of unea- 
 ness : for some of his enemies had published an 
 invective oration, drawn up by him for the enter- 
 tainment only of his intimate friends, against some 
 eminent senator, not named, but generally sup- 
 posed to be Curio, the father, who was now dis- 
 posed and engaged to serve him : he was surprised 
 and concerned, that the oration was made public ; 
 and his instructions upon it to Atticus are some- 
 what curious ; and show how much he was struck 
 with the apprehension of losing so powerful a 
 friend. " You have stunned me," says he, " with 
 the news of the oration's being published : heal 
 the wound, as you promise, if you possibly can : I 
 wrote it lonfj ago in anger, after he had first 
 written against me ; but had suppressed it so 
 carefully that I never dreamed of its getting abroad, 
 nor can imagine how it slipped out : but since, as 
 fortune would have it, I never had a word with 
 him in person, and it is wu-itten more negligently 
 than my other orations usually are ; I cannot but 
 think tluit you may disown it, and prove it not to 
 be mine : pray take care of this, if you see any 
 hopes for me ; if not, there is the less reason to 
 trouble myself about it**." 
 
 His principal agents and solicitors at Rome were, 
 his brother Quintus, his wife Terentia, his son-in- 
 law Piso, Atticus, and Sextius. But the brother 
 and the wife, being both of them naturally peevish, 
 seem to have given him some additional disquiet, 
 by their mutual complaints against each other ; 
 which obliged him to admonish them gently in his 
 letters, that since their friends were so few, they 
 ought to live more amicably among themselves '^. 
 
 Terentia however bore a very considerable part 
 of the whole affair ; and instead of being daunted 
 by the depression of the family, and the ruin of 
 their fortunes, seems to have been animated rather 
 the more to withstand the violences of their enemies, 
 and procure her husband's restoration. But one 
 
 a Tute seripsisti, quoddam caput legis Clodium in curiae 
 poste fixisse, ne referri, neve dici liceret — Ad Att. iii. 15. 
 
 Sed vides nunquam esse observatas sanetiones earum 
 legum, qua; abrogarentur. Nam si id esset, nulla fere abro- 
 gari posset : — sed cum lex abrogatur, illud ipsum abrogatur, 
 quo non earn abrogari oporteat.--Ibid. 23. 
 
 b Percussisti autem me deorationeprolata: cuivulneri, 
 ut scribis, medere, si quid potes. Seripsi equidcm olim 
 iratus, quod ille prior scripserat : seditacompresseram, ut 
 nunquam manaturam putarem. Quo modo exciderit ne- 
 scio. Sed quia nunquam accidit, ut cum eo verbo imo 
 concertarem ; et quia scripta mihi videtur negligcntius, 
 quam ca;terae, puto posse probari non esse meam. Id, si 
 putas me posse sanari, cures volim : sin plane perii, minus 
 laboro. — Ad Att. iii. 12. 
 
 c Dc Quinto fratre nihil ego te accusavi, sed vos, cum 
 pra-sertini tani pauci estis, volui esse quam conjuuctissi- 
 mos. — Ep. Fam. xiv. 1.
 
 102 
 
 THK IIISTOKY OF THE L1FI-: OF 
 
 of Cicero's letters to her in these unhappy circiim- 
 stiiuces will t;ive the clearest view of her character, 
 ami the spirit with which she acted. 
 
 " Cicero to Tercntia. 
 
 " Do not imagine that I write longer letters to 
 any one than to you, unless it be when I receive a 
 long one from somebody else, whicli I find myself 
 obliged to answer. For I have nothing either to 
 write, nor in my present situation employ myself 
 on anything that is more troublesome to me ; 
 and wlien it is to you and our dear Tulliola, 
 I cannot write without a flood of tears. For I 
 see you the most wretched of women, whom I 
 wished always to see the happiest, and ought to have 
 made so ; as I should have done, if I had not been 
 so gre.at a coward. I am extremely sensible of 
 Piso's services to us ; have exhorted him, as well 
 as I could, and thanked him as I ought. Your 
 hopes, I perceive, are in the new tribunes : that 
 ■will be effectual, if Pompey concur with them : 
 but I am afraid still of Crassus. You do every- 
 thing for me, I see, with the utmost courage and 
 affection : nor do I wonder at it ; but lament our 
 unhappy fate, that my miseries can only be 
 relieved by your suflTeiing still greater : for our 
 good friend P. Valerius wrote me word, what I 
 could not read without bursting into tears, how 
 you were dragged from the temple of Vesta to the 
 Valerian Bank. Alas, my light, my darling, to 
 whom all the world used to sue for help ! that you, 
 my dear Terentia, should be thus insulted ; thus 
 oppressed with grief and distress ! and that ' I 
 should be the cause of it ; I, who have preserved 
 so many others, that we ourselves should be 
 undone ! As to wliat you write about the house, 
 that is, about the area ; I shall then take myself 
 to be restored, when that shall be restored to us. 
 But those things are not in our power. What affects 
 me more nearly is, that when so great an expense 
 is necessary, it should all lie upon you, who are so 
 miserably stripped and plundered already. If we 
 live to see an end of these troubles, we shall repair 
 all the rest. But if the same fortune must ever 
 depress us, will you throw away the poor remains 
 that are left for your subsistence .' For God's sake, 
 my dear life, let others supply the money, who are 
 .able, if they are willing : and if you love me, do 
 nothing that can hurt your health, which is already 
 SD impaired. For j-ou are perpetually in my 
 thoughts both day and night. I see that you 
 decline no sort of trouble ; but am afraid, how 
 you will sustain it. Yet the whole affair depends 
 on you. Pay the first regard therefore to your 
 health, that we may attain the end of all your 
 wishes, and your labours. I know not whom to 
 write to, except to those who write to me, or of 
 whom you send me some good account. I will 
 not remove to a greater distance, since you are 
 against it ; but would have you write to me as 
 often as possible, especially if you have any hopes 
 that are well grounded. Adieu, my dear love, 
 adieu. The 5th of October from Thessalonica. " 
 
 Terentia had a particular estate of her own, not 
 obnoxious to Clodius's law, which she was now 
 offering to sale, for a supply of their present neces- 
 sities : this is what Cicero refers to, where he 
 entreats her, not to throw away the small remains 
 of her fortunes ; which he presses still more warmly 
 in another letter, putting her in mind, " that if 
 
 their friends did not fail in their duty, she coulif 
 not want money; and if they did, that her own 
 would do l)ut little towards making them easy : 
 he imj)lores her therefore not to ruin the boy; 
 who, if there was anything left to keep him froin 
 want, would, with a moderate share of virtue and 
 good fortune, easily recover the rest''." The son- 
 in-law, Piso, was extremely afli'ctionate and dutiful 
 in ])erforming all good offices both to his banished 
 father and the family ; and resigned the quaestor- 
 .>-hip of Pontus and Bithynia, on purpose to serve 
 them the more effectually by his presence ; 
 Rome : Cicero makes frecpient acknowledgment of 
 his kindness and generosity ; " Piso's humanity, 
 virtue and love for us ail is so great," says he, 
 " that nothing c;«i exceed it ; the gods grant that 
 it may one day be a pleasure, I am sure it will 
 always be an honour, to him"^." 
 
 Atticus likewise supplied them liberally with 
 money : he had already furnished Cicero, for the 
 exigences of his flight, with above 2000 pounds; 
 and upon succeeding to the great estate of his 
 uncle Csecilius, whose name he now assumed, made 
 him a fresh offer of his purse' : yet his conduct did 
 not wholly satisfy Cicero ; who thought him too 
 cold and remiss in his service ; and fancied, that 
 it flowed from some secret resentment, for having 
 never received from him, in his flourishing con- 
 dition, any beneficial proofs of his friendship : in 
 order therefore to rouse his zeal, he took occasioa 
 to promise him, in one of his letters, that whatever 
 reason he had to compbiin on that score, it should 
 all be made up to him, if he lived to return : " If 
 fortune," says he, " ever restore me to my country, 
 it shall be my special care, that you, above all my 
 friends, have cause to rejoice at it : and though 
 hitherto, I confess, you have reaped but little 
 
 d Tantum scribo, si erunt in officio amici, pecunia non 
 deerit, si non erunt, tu cfficere tua pecunia non potcris. 
 Per fortunas miseras nostras, vide ne puerum perditum 
 pcrdamus : cui si aliquid erit, ne egeat, mediocri virtut© 
 opus est, et mediocri fortuna, ut castera coesequatur.^ 
 Ibid. 
 
 <= Qui Pontmn ot Bithyniam quaestor pro mea salute 
 neglexit. — Post Red. in Sen. 15. 
 
 Pisonis humanitas, virtus, amor in nos omnes tantus 
 est, ut nihil supra esse possit. Utinam ea res el voluptati 
 sit, gloriae quidem video fore. — ^Ep. Fam. xiv. 1. 
 
 f Ciceroni, ex patria fugienti II S. ducenta et quinqua- 
 ginta millia donavit. — Corn. Nep. Vit. Att. 4. 
 
 Quod te in tanta hereditate ab omni occupatione expe^ 
 disti, valde mihi gratum est. Quod facultates tuas ad 
 nieam salutem poUiceris, ut omnibus rebus a te pra;ter 
 cEteros juver id quantum sit praesidium video. — Ad Att. 
 iii. 2(1. 
 
 This Caecilius, Atticus's uncle, was a famous churl and 
 usurer, sometimes mentioned in Cicero's letters, who- 
 .idopted Atticus by his will, and left him three-fourths of 
 his estate, which amounted to above 80,0110/. sterling. He 
 had raised this great fortune by the favour chieiiy of Lucul- 
 lus, whom he flattered to the last with a promise of making 
 him his heir, yet left the bulk of his estate to Atticus, who- 
 had been very observant of his humour : for which fraud, 
 added to his notorious avarice and extortion, the mob- 
 seized his dead body, and dragged it infamously about the 
 streets. [Val. Ma.\. vii. 8.] Cicero, congratulating Atticus 
 upon his adoption, addresses his letter to Q. Caecilius, Q. 
 F. Pomponianus, Atticus. For in assuming the name of 
 the Adopter, it was usual to add also their own family 
 name, though changed in its termination from Pomponius 
 to Pomponianus, to preserve the memory of their real 
 extraction : to which some added also the surname, aa- 
 Cicero does in the present ease. — Ad Att. iii. iO.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 103 
 
 benefit from my kindness ; I will manage so for 
 the future, that wlienever I am restored, you shall 
 find yourself as dear to me as my brother and my 
 children : if I have been wanting therefore in my 
 duty to you, or rather, since I have been wanting, 
 pray pardon me ; for I have been much more 
 wanting to myself?." But Atticus begged of him 
 to lay aside all such fancies, and assured him, that 
 there was not the least ground for them ; and that 
 he had never been disgusted by anything, which 
 he had either done, or neglected to do for him ; 
 entreating him to be perfectly easy on that head, 
 and to depend always on his best services, without 
 giving himself the trouble, even of reminding 
 him''. Yet after all, the suspicion itself, as it 
 comes from one who knew Atticus so perfectly, 
 seems to leave some little blot upon his character : 
 but whatever cause there might be for it, it is cer- 
 tain, that Cicero at least was as good as his word, 
 and by the care which he took after his return to 
 celebrate Atticus's name in aU his writings, has 
 left the most illustrious testimony to posterity of 
 his sincere esteem and affection for him. 
 
 Sextius was one of the tribunes elect ; and 
 being entirely devoted to Cicero, took the trouble 
 of a journey into Gaul, to solicit Caesar's consent to 
 his restoration ; which though he obtained, as well 
 by his own intercession as by Pompey's letters, 
 yet it seems to have been with certain limitations 
 not agreeable to Cicero : for on Sextius's return 
 to Rome, when he drew up the copy of a Jaw 
 which he intended to propose upon his entrance 
 into office ; conformable, as we may imagine, to 
 the conditions stipulated with Csesar ; Cicero 
 greatly disliked it ; as being too general, and 
 without the mention even of his name, nor pro- 
 viding sufficiently either for his dignity, or the 
 restitution of his estate ; so that he desires Atticus 
 to take care to get it amended by Sextius'. 
 
 The old tribunes, in the mean while, eight of 
 whom were Cicero's friends, resolved to make one 
 effort more to obtain a law in his favour, which 
 they jointly offered to the people on the twenty- 
 eighth of October : but Cicero was much more 
 displeased with this than with Sextius's : it con- 
 sisted of three articles ; the first of which restored 
 him only to his former rank, but not to his estate: 
 the second was only matter of form, to indemnify 
 the proposers of it : the third enacted, " that if 
 there was anything in it which was prohibited to 
 be promulgated by any former law, particularly by 
 that of Clodius, or which involved the author of 
 such promulgation in any fine or penalty, that in 
 
 S Ego, si me aliquando vestri et patriae compotem for- 
 tuna fecerit, certe efficiam, ut maxime laetere unus es 
 onmibus amicis : nieaque officia ac studia, quae parum 
 antea luserunt (fatendum est enim) sic exequar, ut me 
 aque tibi ac fratri et liberis nostris restitutum putes. Si 
 quid in te peccavi, ac potius quoniam peccavi, ignosce : in 
 me enim ipsum peccavi vehementiiis. — Ad Att. iii. 15. 
 
 '' Quod me vetas quicquam suspicari accidisse ad 
 animuru tuum, quod secus a me erga te commissum, aut 
 prajtemiissuni videretur, geram tibi morem et liberabor 
 ista cura. Tibi tamen eo plus debeo, quo tua in me 
 humanitas fuerit excelsior, quam in te mea. — Ibid. 20. 
 
 ' Hoc interim tempore, P. Sextius, designatus iter ad 
 C. Ca;sarem pro mea salute suscepit. Quid egerit, quantum 
 profecerit, nihil ad causam.— Pro Sext. 32. 
 
 Rogatio Sextii neque dignitatis satis habet nee cautionis. 
 Nam et nominatina ferre oportet, et de bonis diligcntius 
 •cribi : et id animadvertas velim.— Ad Att. iii. 20. 
 
 such case it should have no effect." Cicero was 
 surprised, that his friends could be induced to pro- 
 pose such an act, "which seemed to be against him, 
 and to confirm that clause of the Clodian law 
 which made it penal to move anything for him ; 
 whereas no clauses of that kind had ever been 
 regarded, or thought to have any special force, but 
 fell of course when the laws themselves were 
 repealed : he observes, " that it was an ugly pre- 
 cedent for the succeeding tribunes, if they should 
 happen to have any scruples ; and that Clodius 
 had already taken the advantage of it, when in a 
 speech to the people, on the third of November, he 
 declared, that this act of the tribunes was a proper 
 lesson to their successors, to let them see how far 
 their power extended." He desires Atticus therefore 
 " to find out who was the contriver of it, and how 
 Ninnius and the rest came to be so much overseen 
 as not to be aware of the consequences of it"*." 
 
 The most probable solution of it is, that these 
 tribunes hoped to carry their point with less diffi- 
 culty, by paying this deference to Clodius's law, 
 the validity of which was acknowledged by Cato, 
 and several others of the principal citizens' ; and 
 they were induced to make this push for it before 
 they quitted their office, from a persuasion, that 
 if Cicero was once restored, on any terms, or with 
 what restrictions soever, the rest would follow of 
 course ; and that the recovery of his dignity would 
 necessarily draw after it everything else that was 
 wanted. Cicero seems to have been sensible of it 
 himself on second thoughts, as he intimates, in 
 the conclusion of his letter : " I should be sorry," 
 says he, " to have the new tribunes insert such a 
 clause in their law ; yet let them insert what they 
 please : if it will but i)ass and call me home, I shall 
 be content with if"." But the only project of a 
 law which he approved, was drawn by his cousin 
 C. Visellius Aculeo, an eminent lawyer of that 
 age, for another of the new tribunes, T. Fadius, 
 vyho had been his qurestor when he was consul : 
 he advised his friends therefore, if there was any 
 prospect of success, to push forward that law, 
 which entirely pleased him ". 
 
 In this suspense of his affairs at Rome, the 
 troops, which Piso had provided for his govern- 
 ment of Macedonia, began to arrive in great num- 
 bers at Thessalonica" : this greatly alarmed him, 
 and made him resolve to quit the place without 
 delay : and as it was not advisable to move farther 
 from Italy, he ventured to come still nearer, and 
 turned back again to Dyrrhachium : for though 
 this was within the distance forbidden to him by 
 
 ^ Quo major est suspicio malitis alicujus, cum id, qnod 
 ad ipsos nihil pertinebat, erat auteni contra me, scrip- 
 serunt. Ut noyi tribuni plebis si esscnt timidiores, multo 
 niagis sibi eo capite utcndum putarent. Neque id a 
 Ciodio pra?termissum est, dixit enim in cnncione ad diem 
 III. Non. Novemb.hoc capite designatistribunis plebis prae- 
 scriptimi essequid liceret. Ut Ninnium et caeteros fugerit 
 investiges velim, et quis attulerit, &c. — Ad Att. iii. 23. 
 
 1 Video enim quosdam clarissimos vu'os, aliquot locis 
 judicasse, te cum plebe jurcagerepotuisse. — Pro Dome, 16. 
 
 »> Id caput sane nolim novos tribunos plebis ferre : sed 
 perferant modo quidlibet: uno capite quo revocabor, 
 mode res conficiatur, ero contentus. — Ibid. 23. 
 
 n Sed si est aliquid in spe, vide legem, quam T. Fadio 
 scripsit Visellius : ea niihi perplacet. — ibid. 
 
 o Me adhuc Plancius retinet.— Sed jam cum adventare 
 milites dicerentur, faciendum nobis erit, ut ab eo disce- 
 damus. — Ibid. 22
 
 104 
 
 THE IlISTORV OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 law, yet he had no renson to apprehend any dancer, 
 in n town p.irtieuhirly devoted to him, and which 
 liad always been under his sjieeial patronage and 
 protection. He came thither on the tweuty-iifth 
 of November, and gave notice of his removal to 
 his friends at Rome, by letters of the same date, 
 begun at Thessaloniea and linished at Dyrrhu- 
 chiumi": whicli shows the great haste which he 
 thought necessary in making this sudden eiiaiige 
 of his quarters. Here he received another piece 
 of news which displeased him ; " that with tiie 
 consent and assistance of his managers at Home, 
 the provinces of the consuls elect had been fur- 
 nished with money and troo])s by a decree of the 
 senate :" but in what manner it affected him, and 
 what reason he had to be uneasy at it, will be 
 explained by his own letter u))on it to Atticus. 
 
 " When you first sent me word," says he, " that 
 the consular provinces had been settled and i)ro- 
 vided for by your consent ; though I was afraid 
 lest it might be attended with some ill conse- 
 quence, yet I hoped that you had some special 
 reason for it whicli 1 could not penetrate : but 
 having since been informed, both by friends and 
 letters, that your conduct is universally con- 
 demned, I am extremely disturbed at it ; because 
 the little hopes, that were left, seem now to be 
 destroyed : for should the new tribunes quarrel 
 with us upon it, what farther hopes can there be ? 
 and they have reason to do so ; since they were 
 not consulted in it, though they had undertaken 
 my cause, and have lost by our concession all that 
 intiuence which they would otherwise have had 
 over it ; especially when they declare, that it was 
 for my sake only that they desired the power of 
 furnishing out the consuls ; not with design to 
 hinder them, but to secure them to my interest ; 
 whereas if the consuls have a mind to be perverse, 
 they may now be so without any risk ; yet let 
 them be never so well disposed, can do nothing 
 without the consent of the tribunes. As to what 
 you say, that, if you had not agreed to it, the 
 consuls would have carried their point with the 
 people ; that could never have been done against 
 the will of the tribunes : I am afraid, therefore, 
 that we have lost by it the affection of the tribunes ; 
 or if that still remains, have lost at least our hold 
 on the consuls. There is another inconvenience 
 still, not less considerable ; for that important 
 declaration, as it was represented to me, that the 
 senate would enter into nothing till my affair was 
 settled, is now at an end ; and in a case not only 
 unnecessary, but new and unprecedented ; for I 
 do not believe, that the provinces of the consuls 
 had ever before been provided for until their 
 entrance into office : but having now broken 
 through that resolution which they had taken in my 
 cause, they are at liberty to proceed to any other 
 business, as they please. It is not however to be 
 wondered at, that my friends, who were applied to, 
 should consent to it ; for it was hard for any one, 
 to declare openly against a motion so beneficial to 
 
 P Dyrrhacbium veni quod et libera civitas est, et in me 
 officiosa. — Ep. Fani. xiv. 1. 
 
 Nam ego eo nomino sum Dyrxhachii, ut quam celerrime 
 quid agatur, audiam, et sum tuto. Civitas enim h<EC 
 semper a me defensa est. — Ibid. 3. 
 
 Ciuod mei studicisos Iiabeo Dyrrhacbinos, ad eos perrexi, 
 cum ilia superiora Thessaloniea scripsissem.— Ad Att. iii. 
 22; Ep. Fam. xiv. i. 
 
 the two consuls; it was hard, I say, to refuse 
 anything to Lentulus, who has always been my 
 true friend ; or to INletellus, who has given up his 
 resentments with so mucii humanity ; yet 1 am 
 ap])rehensive that we have alienated the tribunes, 
 and cannot hold the consuls : write me word, I 
 desire you, what turn this has taken, and how the 
 whole afl'air stands ; and write with your usual 
 frankness ; for I love to know the trutii, though it 
 should hajjijcn to be disagreeable." The tenth of 
 December'!. 
 
 But Atticus, instead of answering this letter, or 
 rather indeed before he received it, having occasion 
 to visit his estate in Epirus, took his way thither 
 through Dyrrhacbium, on purpose to see Cicero, 
 and explain to him in person the motives of their 
 conduct. Their interview was but short ; and 
 after they parted, Cicero, upon some new intel- 
 ligence, which gave him fresh uneasiness, sent 
 another letter afler him into Epirus, to call him 
 back again : " After you left me," says he, " I 
 received letters from Rome, from which I perceive 
 that I must end my days in this calamity ; and to 
 speak the truth, (which you will take in good part,) 
 if there had been any hopes of my return, you, 
 who love me so well, would never have left the 
 city at such a conjuncture : but I say no more, 
 lest I be thought either ungrateful, or desirous 
 to involve my friends too in my ruin : one thing I 
 beg ; that you would not fail, as you have given 
 your word, to come to me, wherever I shall happen 
 to be, before the first of January''." 
 
 While he was thus perplexing himself with per- 
 petual fears and suspicions, his cause was proceeding 
 very prosperously at Rome, and seemed to be in 
 such a train, that it could not be obstructed much 
 longer : for the new magistrates, who were coming 
 on with the new year, were all, except the praetor 
 Appius, supposed to be his friends ; while his 
 enemy Clodius was soon to resign his office, on 
 which the greatest part of his power depended .- 
 Clodius himself was sensible of the daily decay of 
 his credit, through the superior influence of Pom- 
 pey, who had drawn Caesar away from him, and 
 forced even Gabinius to desert him : so that, out 
 of rage and despair, and the desire of revenging 
 himself on these new and more powerful enemies, 
 he would willingly have dropped the pursuit of 
 Cicero, or consented even to recal him, if he could 
 have persuaded Cicero's friends and the senate to 
 join their forces with him against the triumvirate. 
 For this end he produced Bibulus and the other 
 augurs in an assembly of the people, and demanded 
 of them, "whether it was not unlawful to transact 
 any public business, when any of thsm were taking 
 the auspices?" To which they all answered in 
 the affirmative. Then he asked Bibulus, " whether 
 he was not actually observing the heavens as oft as 
 any of Caesar's laws were proposed to the people.*" 
 To which he answered in the affirmative : but being 
 produced a second time by the praetor Appius, he 
 added, "that he took the auspices also in the same 
 manner at the time when Clodius' s act of adoption 
 was confirmed by the people :" but Clodius, while 
 he gratified his present revenge, little regarded how 
 much it turned against himself ; but insisted, 
 that " all Caesar's acts ought to be annulled by the 
 senate, as being contrary to the auspices ;" and on 
 
 q Ad Att. iii. 24. 
 
 r Ad Att. iu. 25,
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 105 
 
 that condition, declared publicly, that " he liimself 
 •would bring back Cicero, the guardian of the city, 
 on his own shoulders*." 
 
 In the same fit of revenge, he fell upon the con- 
 sul Gabinius ; and in an assembly of the people, 
 which he called for that purpose, with his head 
 veiled, and a little altar and fire before him, conse- 
 crated his whole estate. This had been sometimes 
 (lone against traitorous citizens, and, when legally 
 performed, had the effect of a confiscation, by 
 making the place and effects ever after sacred and 
 public : but in the present case, it was considered 
 only as an act of madness ; and the tribune Nin- 
 nius, in ridicule of it, consecrated Clodius"s estate 
 in the same form and manner, that whatever efficacy 
 was ascribed to the one, the other might justly chal- 
 lenge the same'. 
 
 But the expected hour was now come, which put 
 an end to his detestable tribunate : it had been 
 •uniform and of a piece from the first to tlie last ; 
 the most infamous and corrupt that Rome had ever 
 seen : there was scarce an office bestowed at home, 
 or any favour granted to a prince, state, or city 
 abroad, but what he openly sold to the best bidder: 
 "The poets (says Cicero) could not feign a Charyb- 
 dis so voracious as his rapine : he conferred the 
 title of king on those who had it not, and took it 
 away from who had";" and sold the rich priest- 
 hoods of Asia, as the Turks are said to sell the 
 Grecian bishoprics, without regarding whether 
 they \fere full or vacant, of which Cicero gives us 
 a remarkable instance : " There was a celebrated 
 temple of Cybele, at Pessinuns in Phrygia, where 
 that goddess was worshipped with singular devotion, 
 not only by all Asia, but Europe too ; and where 
 the Roman generals themselves often used to pay 
 their vows and make their offerings." Her priest 
 was in quiet possession, without any rival preten- 
 der, or any complaint against him ; yet Clodius, 
 ty a law of the people, granted this priesthood to 
 one Brogitarus, a petty sovereign in those parts, 
 to whom he had before given the title of king : "and 
 I shall think him a king indeed," says Cicero, "if 
 ever he be able to pay the purchase money •■" but 
 the spoils of the temple were destined to that use, 
 and would soon have been applied to it, if Deiota- 
 rus, king of Galatia, a prince of noble character, 
 and a true friend to Rome, had not defeated the 
 impious bargain, by taking the temple into his 
 protection, and maintaining the lawful priest 
 against the intruder, nor suffering Brogitarus, 
 
 ' Tu tuo pr<-pcipitante jam ct debilitato tribunatu, 
 auspiciorum patronus subito extitisti. Tu M. Bibulum in 
 ■concione, tu augures produxisti. Te interrogante augures 
 responderunt, cum de ccelo servatum sit, cum populo agi 
 Don posse — tua dcnique omnis actio posterioribus men- 
 sibusfuit, omnia, qua; C. Cfesar egisset, quae contra auspicia 
 «6sentacta, per senatum roscindi oportere. Quod si fieret, 
 dicebas, te tuis humeris me, custodem urbis, in urbem 
 relaturum. — Pro Domo, 15. 
 
 ' Tu, tu, inquam, capite velato, concione advocata, 
 foculo posito bona tui Gabinii conseerasti in — quid ? exem- 
 plo tuo bona tua nonne L. Ninnius — consecravit ? quod si, 
 quia ad te pertinet, ratum esse negas oportere; eajura 
 constituisti in prxclaro tribunatu tuo, quibus in te con- 
 Tersis, recusares, alios everteres. — Pro Domo, 47, 48. 
 
 " Reges, qui erant, vendidit; qui non erant, appellavit — 
 quam denique tam immanem Cbarybdim j)oeta; fingendo 
 exprimere potuerunt, qua- tantos cxhaurire gurgites pos- 
 set, qiwntas iste praedas — exsorbuit? — De Harus. Resp. 
 27. 
 
 METELLUS 
 NEPOS. 
 
 though his son-in-law, to pollute or touch anything 
 belonging to it*. 
 
 All the ten new tribunes had solemnly promised 
 to serve Cicero ; yet Clodius found means to cor- 
 rupt two of them, S. Atilius Serranus, and Nume- 
 rius Quinctius Gracchus, by whose help he was 
 enabled still to make head against Cicero's party, 
 and retard his restoration some time longer : but 
 Piso and Gabinius, perceiving the scene to be 
 opening apace in his favour, and his return to be 
 unavoidable, thought it time to get out of his way, 
 and retire to their several governments, to enjoy 
 the reward of their perfidy : so that they both left 
 Rome with the expiration of their year, and Piso 
 set out for Macedonia, Gabinius for Syria. 
 
 On the first of January the new consul Lentulus, 
 after the ceremony of his inauguration, and his 
 A. uan. CSG. ^^'^^ ^^^y V^^^> as usual, to religion, 
 
 cic. 50. entered directly into Cicero's affair, 
 coss. and moved the senate for his restora- 
 
 p. CORNELIUS tionS"; while his colleague Metellus 
 LENTULUS declared, with much seeming candour, 
 spiNTHER, " that though Cicero and he had been 
 Q. c.EciLius enemies, on account of tiieir different 
 sentiments in politics, yet he would 
 give up his resentments to the autho- 
 rity of the fathers, and the interests of the repub- 
 lic^." Upon which L. Cotta, a person of consular 
 and censorian rank, being asked his opinion the 
 first, said, " that nothing had been done against 
 Cicero agreeably to right or law, or the custom of 
 their ancestors : that no citizen could be driven out 
 of the city without a trial ; and that the people 
 could not condemn, nor even try a man capitally, 
 but in an assembly of their centuries : that the 
 whole was the effect of violence, turbulent times, 
 and an oppressed republic : that in so strange a 
 revolution and confusion of all things, Cicero had 
 only stepped aside, to provide for his future tranquil- 
 lity, by declining the impending storm ; and since 
 he had freed the republic from no less danger by 
 his absence, than he had dune before by his pre- 
 sence, that he ought not only to be restored, but 
 to be adorned -with new honours : that what his 
 mad enemy had published against him, was drawn 
 so absurdly both in words and sentiments, that, if 
 
 ^ Qui accepta pecunia Pessinuntem ipsum, sedem domi- 
 ciliumque INIatris Deorum vastaris, et Brogitaro, Gallo- 
 grxco, impuro Iioniini ac ncfario, totum ilium locum 
 fanunique vendideiis. Sacerdotem ab ipsis aris, pulvina- 
 ribusquo dctraxeris. — Qua; reges omnes, qui Asiam Euro- 
 pamque tenuerunt, semper summa religione coluerunt — 
 Qua; majores nostri tam sancta duxerunt, ut— nostri 
 imperatores maximis et pericnlosissimis bellis huic deae 
 vota facerent, eaque in ipso Pessinunte ad illam ipsam 
 prLncipem aram et in illo loco fanoque persolverent. — 
 Putabo regeni, si habuerit undo tibi solvat. — Nam cum 
 niulta regia sunt in Deiotaro, turn ilia niaxime, quod tibi 
 nummum nullum dedit. — Quod Pessinuntem per scelus 
 a te violatum, et sacerdote, sacrisque spoliatum recupe- 
 ravit. — Quod ca;renaonias ab omni vetustate acceptas a 
 Brogitaro poUui non sinit, mavultque generum suum 
 niuncrc tuo, quam illud fanum antiquitate religionis 
 carero.— Ibid. 13 ; Pro Sext. 26. 
 
 y Kalendis .Januariis. — P. Lentulus consul — simul ac 
 de sulemui religione retulit, nihil humanarum rerum 
 sibi i)rius, quam de me agendum judicavit. — Post Red. ad 
 Quir. 5. 
 
 ^ Qua; etiam eollega; ejus moderatio de me ? Qui ciun 
 jnimititias silji niecum ex reipublica; dissensione suscep- 
 tas esse dixisset, eas se Patribus conscriptis dixit et tem- 
 I^oribus reipublicae permissm'um. — Pro Sext. 32.
 
 106 
 
 TllK IIISTOIIV OF TlIK LIFE OF 
 
 jt had been enacted in proper form, it could ncvir 
 obtain the force of a law : that since Cicero there- 
 fore was expelled by no law, he covdd not want a 
 law to restore him, but ought to be recalled by a 
 vote of the senate." — I'nmpey, who spoke nc.vt, 
 having highly applauded what Cotta said, adiled, 
 " that for the sake of Cicero's future quiet, and to 
 prevent all farther trouble from tiie same quarter, 
 it was his oinuion, that the peoi)le should have a 
 share in conferring that grace, and their consent be 
 joined also to the authority of the senate." After 
 many others had spoken likewise with great warmth 
 in the defence and praise of Cicero, they all came 
 unanimously into Ponii)ey's opinion, and were pro- 
 ceeding to make a decree upon it, when Serranus 
 the tribune rose up and put a stop to it, not flatly 
 interposing his negative, for he had not the assur- 
 ance to do that, against such a spirit and unani- 
 mity of the senate, but desiring only a night's time 
 to consider of it. This unexpected interruption 
 incensed the whole assembly ; some reproached, 
 others entreated him ; and his father-in-law, Op- 
 pius, threw himself at his feet, to move him to 
 desist : but all that they could get from him was a 
 promise to give way to the decree the next morn- 
 ing; upon which they broke up. "But the tribune 
 (says Cicero) employed the night, not as people 
 fancied he would, in giving back the money which 
 he had taken, but in making a better bargain, and 
 doubling his price ; for the next morning, being 
 grown more hardy, he absolutely prohibited the 
 senate from proceeding to any act"." This conduct 
 of Serranus surprised Cicero's friends, being not 
 only perfidious and contrary to his engagements, 
 but highly ungrateful to Cicero ; who, in his con- 
 sulship, had been his special encourager and 
 benefactor''. 
 
 The senate, however, though hindered at present 
 from passing their decree, were too well united, 
 and too strongly supported, to be baffled much 
 longer by the artifices of a faction : they resolved, 
 therefore, without farther delay, to propound a 
 law to the people for Cicero's restoration ; and the 
 twenty-second of the month was appointed for the 
 promulgation of it. When the day came, Fabri- 
 cius, one of Cicero's tribunes, marched out with a 
 strong guard, before it was light, to get possession 
 of the rostra : but Clodius was too early for him : 
 and having seized all the posts and avenues of the 
 forum, was prepared to give him a warm reception: 
 
 a Turn princeps rogatus sententiam L. Cotta, dixit. — 
 Kihil de me actum esse jure, nihil more majorum, nihil 
 leglbus, &c. Quare me, qui nulla lege abesseui, non 
 restitui lege, sed senatus auctoritate oportere. — 
 
 Post eum rogatus sententiam Cn. Pompeius, approbata, 
 laudataque CottiE sententia, dixit, sese otii mei causa, ut 
 omni populari concertatione defungerer, censere ; ut ad 
 senatus auctoritatem populi quoque Roman! beneficium 
 adjungeretur. Cum omnes certatim, aliusque alio gravius 
 de mea salute dixisset, fieretque sine ulla varietate dis- 
 cessio : surrexit Atilius ; nee ausus est, eum esset emptus, 
 intercedere ; noctcm sibi ad deliberandum postulavit. 
 Clamor senatus, querela;, preoes, socer ad pedes abjectus. 
 Ille, se affirmare postero die moram nuUam esse factu- 
 rmn. Creditum est ; discessum est : illi interea delibe- 
 ratori merces, interposita nocte, duplicata est.'— Pro Sext. 
 34. 
 
 Deliberatio non in reddenda, quemadmodam nonnuUi 
 arbitrabantur, sed, ut patefactum est, in augenda mercede 
 consumtaest. — Post Red.adQuir. 5. 
 
 •> Is tribunus plebls quem ego maximis beneficiis qua;s- 
 torem consul omaveram. — Ibid. 
 
 he had ])urchased some gladiators, for the shows of 
 his ludileship, to which he was now pretending, 
 and borrowed another band of his brother .\ppius; 
 and with these well armed, at the head (jf his 
 slaves and depen<lauts, he attacked Fahricius, killed 
 several of his followers, wounded many more, and 
 drove him quite out of the place ; and happening 
 to fall in at the same time with Cispius, another 
 tribune, who was coming to the aid of his colleague, 
 he reimlsed hiin also with a great slaughter. The 
 gladiator.s, heated with this taste of blood, " opened 
 their way on .'ill sides with their swords, in quest 
 of Quiutus Cicero, whom they met with at last, 
 and would certainly liave murdered, if, by the 
 advantage of the confusion and darkness, he had 
 not hid himself under the bodies of his slaves and 
 frfiedmen, who were killed around him ; where he 
 lay concealed till the fray was over." The tribune 
 Sextius was treated still more roughly, " for being 
 particularly pursued and marked out for destruc- 
 tion, he was so desperately wounded, as to be left 
 for dead upon the spot, and escaped death only by 
 feigning it:" but while he lay in that condition, 
 supposed to be killed, Clodius reflecting, that the 
 murder of a tribune, whose person was sacred, 
 would raise such a storm, as might occasion his 
 ruin, " took a sudden resolution to kill one of his 
 own tribunes, in order to charge it upon his adver- 
 saries, and so balance the account by making both 
 sides equally obnoxious." The victim doomed to- 
 this sacrifice was Numerius Quinctius, an obscure 
 fellow, raised to this dignity by the caprice of the 
 multitude, who, to make himself the more popular, 
 had assumed the surname of Gracchus : " but the 
 crafty clown (says Cicero) having got some hint of 
 the design, and finding that his blood was to wipe 
 off the envy of Sextius's, disguised himself presently 
 in the habit of a muleteer, the same in which he ' 
 first came to Rome, and with a basket upon his 
 head, while some were caUing out for Numerius, 
 others for Quinctius, passed undiscovered by the 
 confusion of the two names : but he continued in 
 this danger till Sextius was known to be alive ; 
 and if that discovery had not been made sooner 
 than one would have wished, though they could 
 not have fixed the odium of killing their mercenary 
 w here they designed it ; yet they would have less- 
 ened the infamy of one villany, by committing 
 another, which all people would have been pleased 
 with." According to the account of this day's 
 tragedy, " the Tiber and all the common sewers 
 were filled with dead bodies, and the blood wiped 
 up with sponges in the forum, where such heaps of 
 slain had never before been seen but m the civil 
 dissensions of Cinna and Octavius'^." 
 
 c Princeps rogationis, vir mihi amicissimus. Q. Fabri- 
 
 cius templum aliquanto ante lucem occupavit. Cum 
 
 forum, comitium, curiam multa de nocte armatis liomi- 
 nibus, ac servis occupavissent, impetum faciunt in Fabri- 
 cium, manus afFerunt, occidunt nonnullos, vulnerant 
 multos : venientem in forum, virum optimum BI. Cispium 
 — vi depellunt ; caedem in foro maximam faciunt. Universi 
 districtis gladiis in omnibus fori partibus fratrem meuni 
 oculis quaerebant, voce poseebant. — Pulsus e rostris in comi- 
 tiojacuit, seque servorum et libertorumcorporibus obtexit. 
 
 Blultis vulneribus acccptis ac debilitate corpore contiu- 
 cidato, Sextius, se abjecit exanimatus : neque ulla alia re 
 ab se mortem, nisi mortis opinione, depulit. — At vcro illi 
 ipsi parricidae. — Adeo vim facinoris sui perhorruerant, ut 
 si pauUo longior opinio mortis Sextii fuisset, Gracchumi 
 illimi suum transfcrendi in nos criminis causa, occidere
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 107 
 
 Clodius, flushed with this victory, " set fire with 
 his own hands to the temple of the Nymphs, where 
 the books of the censors and the public registers of 
 the city were kept, which were all consumed with 
 the fabric itself." He then attacked the houses 
 of Milo the tribune, and Csecilius the praetor, with 
 fire and sword, but was repulsed in both attempts 
 with loss : " Milo took several of Appius's gla- 
 diators prisoners, who, being brought before the 
 senate, made a confession of what they knew, and 
 were sent to jail ; but were presently released by 
 Serranus'." Upon these outrages Milo impeached 
 Clodius in form, for the violation of the public 
 peace : but the consul Metellus, who had not yet 
 abandoned him, with the praetor Appius, and the 
 tribune Sevranus, resolved to prevent any process 
 upon it, " and by their edicts prohibited, either 
 the criminal himself to appear, or any one to cite 
 him'." Their pretence was, " that the quaestors 
 were not yet chosen, whose office it was to make 
 the allotment of the judges ; while they themselves 
 kept back the election," and were pushing Clodius 
 at the same time into the sedileship, which would 
 screen him, of course, for one year from any pro- 
 secution. Milo therefore, finding it impracticable 
 to bring him to justice in the legal method, resolved 
 to deal with him in bis own way, by opposing force 
 to force ; and for this end jjurchased a band of 
 gladiators, with which he had daily skirmishes with 
 him in the streets ; and acquired a great reputation 
 of courage and generosity, for being the first of all 
 the Romans who had ever bought gladiators for 
 the defence of the republics^. 
 
 This obstruction given to Cicero's retuni by an 
 obstinate and desperate faction, made the senate 
 only the more resolute to effect it : they jiassed a 
 second vote, therefore, that no other business 
 should be done till it was carried ; and to prevent 
 aU farther tumults, and insults upon the magistrates, 
 ordered the consuls to summon all the people of 
 Italy, who wished well to the state, to come to the 
 assistance and defence of Cicero ''. This gave new 
 
 cogitarint. — Sensit rusticulus, non iiicautus ; — mulioni- 
 cani penulam arriimit, cum qua primum Romaiu ad 
 comitia venerit : messoria se corbe contexit : cum qusere- 
 rent alii Numerium, alii Quinctium, gemini nominis 
 errore servatus est, atque hoc scitis omnes ; usque adeo 
 hominem in periculo fuisse, quoad scitum sit, Sextium 
 vivere. Quod nisi csset patefactum paullo citius, quern 
 vellem, &c. Meministis turn, Judices, corpoiibus ciyium 
 Tiberim compleri, cloacas referciri, e foro spongiis cffingi 
 sanguincm. — Lapidationes persjepe vidimus ; non ita sa;pe, 
 sed nimium tamcn s£epe gladios; csdem vero tantam, 
 tantos acervos corporum exstructos, nisi forte illo Cinnano 
 atque Octaviano die, quis unquam in foro vidit ? — Pro 
 Sext. 35, 36, 37, 38. 
 
 ^ Eum qui ccdem Nympharuni incendit, ut memoriam 
 publicam recensionis, tabulis publicis imjiressam, extin- 
 gueret.— Pro Mil. L'7 ; Parad. 4 ; Do Ilaruspic. Resp. 27. 
 
 <= Gladiatores — comprchciisi, in senatum introducti, con- 
 fess!, in vincula conjecti a JMilone, eniissi a Serrano. — Pro 
 Scxt. 39. 
 
 ' Ecce tibi consul, prsetor, tribunus plebis nova novi 
 generis edicta proponunt : ne reus adsit, ne citetm-. — Pro 
 Sext. 41. 
 
 e Sed honori summo Miloni nostro nuper fuit, quod 
 gladiatoribus emptis reipublicae causa, qua; salute nostra 
 continebatur, omnes P. Clodii conatus furoresque com- 
 pressit.— De Offic. ii. 17. 
 
 ^ Itaque postea nihil vos civibus, nihil sociis, nihil 
 regibus respondistis.— Post Red. in Sen. .3. 
 
 Quid mihi praeclarius accidere potuit, quam quod illo 
 refereute vos decrevistis, ut cuncti ex onini Italia, qui 
 
 spirits to the honest citizens, and drew a vast con- 
 course to Rome from all parts of Italy, where there 
 was not a corporate town of any note which did 
 not testify its respect to Cicero by some public 
 act or monument. " Pompey was at Capua, acting 
 as chief magistrate of his new colony ; where he 
 presided in person at their making a decree to 
 Cicero's honour, and took the trouble likewise of 
 visiting all the other colonies and chief towns in 
 those parts," to appoint them a day of general 
 rendezvous at Rome, to assist at the promulgation 
 of the law'. 
 
 Lentulus at the same time was entertaining the 
 city with shows and stage plays, in order to keep 
 the people in good humour, whom he had called 
 from their private affairs in tlie country to attend 
 the public business. The shows were exhibited in 
 Pompey's theatre, while the senate, for the conve- 
 nience of being near them, was held in the adjoining 
 temple of Honour and Virtue, built by Marius out 
 of the Cimbric spoils, and called for that reason 
 Marius's Monument : here, according to Cicero's 
 dream, a decree now passed in proper form for his 
 restoration; when, "under the joint influence of 
 those deities, honour (he says) was done to virtue ; 
 and the monument of Marius, the preserver of the 
 empire, gave safety to his countryman, the defender 
 ofitV 
 
 The news of this decree no sooner reached the 
 neighbouring theatre, than the whole assembly 
 expressed their satisfaction by claps and applauses, 
 which they renewed upon the entrance of every 
 senator ; but when the consul Lentulus took his 
 place, they all rose up, and, with acclamations, 
 stretched-out hands, and tears of joy, publicly 
 testified their thanks to him. But when Clodius 
 ventured to show himself, they were hardly re- 
 strained from doing him violence, throwing out 
 reproaches, threats and curses upon him : so that 
 in the shows of gladiators, which he could not 
 bear to be deprived of, he durst not go to his seat 
 in the common and open manner, but used to start 
 up into it at once from some obscure passage under 
 the benches, which on that account was jocosely 
 called "the Appian way," where he was no sooner 
 espied, than so " general a hiss ensued, that it 
 disturbed the gladiators, and frightened their very 
 horses. From these significations (says Cicero) he 
 might learn the difference between the genuine 
 citizens of Rome, and those packed assemblies of 
 the people where he used to domineer ; and that 
 the men who lord it in such assemblies, are the 
 real aversion of the city ; while those who dare not 
 show their heads in them, are received with all 
 demonstrations of honour by the whole people'." 
 rempubiicam salvam vellent, ad meunum — restitucndum, 
 et dcfendenduni venirent ? — Post Red. in Sen. 9. 
 
 In una mea causa factum est, ut Uteris consularibus ex 
 S. C. cuncta ex Italia, omnes, qui rempubiicam salvam 
 vellent, convocarentur. — Pro Sext. 60. 
 
 ' Qui in colonia nupor constituta, cum ipse gereret 
 magistratum, vim et crudelitatem privilegii auctoritate 
 honestissimorum hominum, et publicis Uteris consignavit : 
 princepsque Italia; totius prsesidium admeamsalutem im- 
 plorandam putavit. — Post Red. in Sen. 11. 
 
 Hie municipia, coloniasque adiit : hie ItaliiE totius 
 auxilium imploraarit. — Pro Domo, 12. 
 
 k Cum in templo Honoris et Virtutis, honos habitus 
 csset virtuti ; Caiique Marii, conservatoris hujus imperii, 
 monumentum, municipi ejus et reipublica; defensor! 
 sedem ad salutem pra;buisset. — Pro Sext. 54 ; it. 56. 
 
 1 Audito S. C. ore ipsi, atque absenti senatui plausus est
 
 108 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 When the ilecree passed, the famed tragedian, 
 ^.sopus, who acted, as Cicero says, tlie same good 
 part in the republic that lie did upon the stage, 
 was performing the jtart of Tclanion, banished from 
 liis country, in one of Accius's plays, where, by the 
 «niphasis of his voice, and the change of a word or 
 two in some of the lines, he contrived to turn the 
 thouglits of the audience on Cicero. " What he! 
 who always stood up for the republic ! who, in 
 doubtful times, spared neither life nor fortunes — 
 the greatest friend in the greatest danger — of such 
 jiarts and talents — O father — 1 saw his houses and 
 rich furniture all in flames — O ungrateful Greeks, 
 inconstant people ; forgetful of services ! — to see 
 such a man banished ; driven from his country ; 
 and suffer him to continue so ? " — At each of which 
 sentences there was no end of clapping. — In an- 
 other tragedy of the same ])oet, called Brutus, wlioii 
 instead of 13rutus he pronounced Tullius, who 
 established the liberty of his citi/.ens, the people 
 were so affected, that they called for it again a 
 thousand times. This was the constant practice 
 through the whole time of his exile : there was not 
 a passage in any play, which could possibly be 
 applied to his case, but the whole audience pre- 
 sently catched it up, and by their claps and 
 applauses loudly signified their zeal and good 
 wishes for him'". 
 
 Though a decree was regularly obtained for 
 Cicero's return, Clodius had the courage and ad- 
 dress still to hinder its passing into a law : he 
 took all occasions of haranguing the people against 
 it ; and when he had filled tlie forum with his 
 mercenaries, " used to demand of them aloud, 
 contrary to the custom of Rome, whether they 
 would have Cicero restored or not ; upon which his 
 emissaries raising a sort of dead cry in the negative, 
 he laid hold of it, as the voice of the Roman people, 
 and declared the proposal to be rejected"." But 
 
 ab universis datus : dfindc, cum senatoiibus singulis 
 Bpectatum e senatu redeuntibus: cum vcro ipso, qui ludos 
 faciebat, consul asscdit : stantes, et manibus passis gratias 
 agentcs, et lacrJ^nantes gaudio, suam erga nie benevolcn- 
 tiam ac misericordiam declararunt : at cum ille furibundus 
 venisset, vix se populus Romanus tcnuit.— Pro Sext. 55. 
 Is, cimi qnotidie gladiatores spectaret, nunquani est con- 
 spectus, cum vcniret : cmergcbat fiubito, cum sub tabnlas 
 subrepserat— itaque ilia via latebrosa, qua ille spectatum 
 veniebat, Appia jam vocabatur : qui tamen quo tempore 
 •conspectus erat, non modo gladiatores, sod cqui ipsi 
 gladiatorum repentinis sibilis extimescebant. Videtisne 
 igitur, quantum inter popuhun Romanum, et concionem 
 intersit ? Dominos concionum omni odio populi notari ? 
 Quibus autem consistere in operarum concionibus non 
 liceat, eos omni populi Romani significatione dccorari? — 
 Pro Sext. 59. 
 
 '" Recenti nuncio de illo S. C. ad ludos, scenamque 
 perlato, summus artifex, et mehercule semper partium 
 in republica tanquam in sccna, optimatium, flens et 
 i-ecenti Isetitia et misto dolore ac dcsiderio mei — sunimi 
 enim poeta; ingenium non solum arte sua sed etiani dolore 
 exprimebat. Qukl enim ? qui rempxMicam certo animo 
 ■ adjuverit, statuerit, stcterit cum Achivis—re dubia ncc 
 dubitarit vitam offcrrc, ticc capiti pepcrcerit,-^summum 
 amicum summo in bello — summo intienio praditiim — 
 Pater — h(PC omnia vidi ipjlammari — inpraiijlci An/ivi, 
 ■inanes Grail, immemores beneficii .'—ex^uUirc sinilis, sistis 
 pclli, piilsum palimini — quae significatio fuerit omnium, 
 quae declavatio voluntatis ab universo populo Romano ? 
 
 Nomuiatim sum appellatus in Bruto, Tullius, qui libcr- 
 talem civibus stabiliverat. Millies revocatum est. — Pro 
 Bext. 56, .57, 58. 
 
 " Ille tribunus plebis qui de me — non majorum suorum, 
 
 the senate, ashamed to see their authority tlius in- 
 sulted, when the whole city was on their side, re- 
 solved to take such measures in the support of 
 their decrees, that it should not be possible to 
 defeat them. Lentulus therefore summoned them 
 into the Capitol, on the twenty-fifth of May, where 
 l'omi)ey began the debate, and renewed the motion 
 for recalling Cicero ; and in a grave and elaborate 
 speech which he had prepared in writing, and 
 delivered from his notes, gave liim the honour of 
 having saved his country". All tlie leading men 
 of the senate spoke after him to the same effect ; 
 but the consul Metellus, notwithstanding his 
 jn-omises, had been acting hitherto a double part; 
 and was all along the chief eneourager and supporter 
 of Clodius. When Servilius therefore rose up, a 
 person of the first dignity, who had been honoured 
 with a triumph and the censorship, he addressed 
 himself to his kinsman Metellus, and, " calling up 
 from the dead all the family of the Metelli, laid 
 before him the glorious acts of his ancestors, with 
 the conduct and unhappy fate of his brother, in a 
 manner so moving, that Metellus could not hold 
 out any longer against the force of the speech, nor 
 the authority of the speaker, but with tears in his 
 eyes gave himself up to Servilius, and-^jrofessed all 
 future services to Cicero" — in which he proved 
 very sincere, and from this moment assisted his 
 colleague in promoting Cicero's restoration; "so 
 that in a very full house of four hundred and seven- 
 teen senators, when all the magistrates were pre- 
 sent, the decree passed, without one dissenting voice 
 but Clodius'sP," which gave occasion to Cicero 
 to write a particular letter of thanks to Metellus, 
 as he had done once before upon his first declara- 
 tion for him'. 
 
 Some may be apt to wonder why the two tribunes, 
 who were Cicero's enemies still as much as ever, 
 did not persevere to inhibit the decree, since the 
 negative of a single tribune had an indisputable 
 force to stop all proceedings ; but when that nega- 
 tive was wholly arbitrary and factious, contrary to 
 the apparent interest and general inclination of the 
 citizens, if the tribune could not be prevailed with 
 by gentle means to recal it, the senate used to 
 enter into a debate upon the merit of it, and pro- 
 ceed to some extraordinary resolution of declaring 
 
 sed GrEeeulorum instituto, concionem interrogare solebat, 
 velletne me redire : et cum erat reclamatum semivivis 
 mereenariorum voeibus ; populum Romanum negar© dice- 
 bat.— Pro Sext. 59. 
 
 " Idem ille consul cum ilia incredibilis multitudo Ro- 
 mani, et pasne Italia ipsa venisset, vos frequentissimos in 
 Capitolium convocavit. — [Post Red. in Sen. 10.] Cum vir 
 is, qui tripartitas orbis terrarum eras atque regiones tribus 
 triumphis huic imperio adjunctas notavit, de scripto 
 sententia dicta, milii uni testimonium patria; conservatse 
 dedit.— Ibid. Gl. 
 
 P Qu. Metellus, et inimicus et frater inimioi perspecta 
 vestra voluntate, omnia privata odia deposuit : quern P. 
 Servilius— et auetoritatis et orationis suae divina quadam 
 gravitate ad sui generis, eommunisque sanguinis facta, 
 virtutesquc revocavit, ut haberet in consilio et fratrem ab 
 inferis — et omnes Metellos, praestantissimos cives — itaque 
 extitit non modo salutis defensor, — verum etiam adscriptor 
 dignitatis meas. Quo quidem die, cum vos ccccxvn, ex 
 senatu essetis, magistratus autem hi omnes adessent, dis- 
 sensit unus.' — Post Red. in Sen. 10. 
 
 Collaerymavit vir egregius ae vere Metellus, totumque 
 se P. Sei'vilio dicenti etiam turn tradidit. Neo illam divi- 
 nam gravitatem, plenam antiquitatis, diutius — potuit sus- 
 tinere..— Pro Sext. 62. 1 Ep. Fam. v. 4.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 10» 
 
 the author of such an opposition an enemy to his 
 country, and answerable for all the mischief that 
 was likely to ensue, or of ordering the consuls to 
 take care that the republic received no detriment ; 
 which votes were thought to justify any methods, 
 how violent soever, of removing either the obstruc- 
 tion or the author of it, who seldom cared to ex- 
 pose himself to the rage of an inflamed city, headed 
 by the consuls and the senate, and to assert his 
 prerogative at the peril of his life. 
 
 This in effect was the case at present ; when the 
 consul Lentulus assembled the senate again the 
 next day to concert some effectual method for pre- 
 venting all further opposition, and getting the de- 
 cree enacted into a law : but before they met, he 
 called the people likewise to the rostra, where he, 
 and all the principal senators in their turns, re- 
 peated to them the substance of what they had 
 said before in the senate, in order to prepare them 
 for the reception of the law. Pompey particularly 
 exerted himself in extolling the praises of Cicero, 
 declaring " that the republic owed its preservation 
 to him, and that their common safety was involved 
 in his ;" exhorting them " to defend and support 
 the decree of the senate, the quiet of the city, and 
 the fortunes of a man who had deserved so well of 
 them ; that this was the general voice of the senate, 
 of the knights, of all Italy ; and, lastly, that it 
 was his own earnest and special request to them, 
 which he not only desired, but implored them to 
 grant "■." When the senate afterwards met, they 
 proceeded to several new and vigorous votes to 
 facilitate the success of the law : first, " That no 
 magistrate should presume to take the auspices, so 
 as to disturb the assembly of the people, when 
 Cicero's cause was to come before them ; and that 
 if any one attempted it, he should be treated as a 
 public enemy. 
 
 Secondly, " That, if through any violence or 
 odstruction, the law was not suffered to pass within 
 the five next legal days of assembly, Cicero should 
 then be at liberty to return, without any farther 
 authority. 
 
 Thirdly, " That public thanks should be given 
 to all the people of Italy who came to Rome for 
 Cicero's defence, and that they should be desired to 
 come again, on the day when the suffrages of the 
 people were to be taken. 
 
 Fourthly, "That thanks should be given like- 
 wise to all the states and cities which had received 
 and entertained Cicero ; and that the care of his 
 person should be recommended to all foreign 
 nations in alliance with them ; and that the Roman 
 generals, and all who had command abroad, should 
 be ordered to protect his life and safety^." 
 
 ' Quorum princeps ad rogandos et ad cohortandos vos 
 fuit Cn. Pompcius — primum vos docuit, meis consiliis 
 rempublicam esse servatam, causamque meani cum com- 
 muni salute conjiinxit ; hortatusquc est, ut auctoritatem 
 senatus, statum civitatis, fortunas civis bene merit! defen- 
 deretis: turn in perorando posuit, vos rogarl a senatu, 
 ropari ab equitibus, rogari ab Italia cimcta: denique ipse 
 adextremum pro mea vos salute non rogavit solum, vcrum 
 etiam obsecravit. — Post Ked. ad Quir. 7- 
 
 s Quod est postridie decretum in curia — ne quis de ccelo 
 Bervaret ; ne quis moram ullam aflferret ; si quis aliter 
 fecisset, eum plsme eversorem reipublica; fore. — 
 
 Addidit, si diebus quinque quibus agi de me potuisset, 
 non csset actum, redirem in patriam omni auctoritate 
 recuperata. 
 
 Ut iis, qui ex tota Italia salutis me» causa convenerant, 
 
 One cannot help pausing a while to reflect on 
 the great idea which these facts imprint of the 
 character and dignity of Cicero ; to see so vast an 
 empire in such a ferment on his account as to 
 postpone all their concerns and interests, for many 
 months successively, to the safety of a single 
 senator', who had no other means of exciting the 
 zeal or engaging the affections of his citizens but 
 the genuine force of his personal virtues, and the 
 merit of his eminent services : as if the republic 
 itself could not stand without him, but must fall 
 into ruins, if he, the main pillar of it, was removed, 
 whilst the greatest monarchs on earth, who had 
 any affairs with the people of Rome, were looking 
 on to expect the event, unable to procure any 
 answer or regard to what they were soliciting, till 
 this affair was decided. Ptolemy, the king of 
 Egypt, was particularly affected by it, who, being 
 driven out of his kingdom, came to Rome about 
 this time to beg help and protection against his re- 
 bellious subjects ; but though he was lodged in 
 Pompey's house, it was not possible for him to 
 get an audience till Cicero's cause was at an end. 
 
 The law, now prepared for his restoration, was to 
 be offered to the suffrage of the centuries : this was 
 the most solemn and honourable way of transacting 
 any public business where the best and gravest part 
 of the city had the chief influence, and where a de- 
 cree of the senate was previously necessary to make 
 the act valid ; but in the present case there seem 
 to have been four or five several decrees, provided 
 at different times, which had all been frustrated by 
 the intrigues of Clodius and his friends till these 
 last votes proved decisive and effectual". Cicero's 
 resolution upon them was, "to wait till the law 
 should be proposed to the people ; and, if by the 
 artifices of his enemies it should then be obstructed, 
 to come away directly upon the authority of the 
 senate, and rather hazard his life than bear the 
 loss of his country any longer"." But the vigour 
 of the late debates had so discouraged the chiefs of 
 the faction, that they left Clodius single in the 
 opposition. Metellus dropped him, and his brother 
 Appius was desirous to be quiet '' ; yet it was above 
 two months still from the last decree before Cicero's 
 friends could bring the affair to a general vote, 
 which they effected at last on the fourth of August. 
 
 There had never been known so numerous and 
 solemn an assembly of the Roman people as this — 
 all Italy was drawn together on the occasion ; it 
 was reckoned a kind of sin to be absent, and 
 neither age nor infirmity was thought a sufficient 
 
 agcrcntur gratis : atque iidem ad res redeuntes, ut veni- 
 rent, rogarentur. 
 
 Quern enini unquam senatus civcm, nisi me, nationibus 
 exteris eommendavit ? eujus unquam propter salutem, nisi 
 meam, senatus £)ublice sociis populi Romani gratias cgit? 
 De me uno P. C. decreverunt, ut qui provincias cum impe- 
 rio obtinerent, qui quaestores legatique essent, salutem et 
 vitam meam custodirent.— Pro Sext. 60, 61. 
 
 t Nihil vos civibus, nihil sociis, nihil regibus respondis- 
 tis. Nihil judices sententiis, nihil populus suffragiis, nihil 
 hie ordo auctoritate declaravit : mutum forum, elinguem 
 curiam, tacitametfractamcivitatemvidebatis.— Post Ked. 
 in Sen. 3. 
 
 " Vid, Pro Sext. 60, et Notas Manutii ad 61. 
 
 * Mihi in animo est legum lationem expectare, et si ob- 
 trectabitur, utar auctoritate senatus, et potius vita quam 
 patria carebo. — Ad Att. iii. 26. 
 
 }■ Redii cum maxima dignitate, fratre tuo altero consulo 
 reducente, altero praitore petente. — Pro Domo, 33,
 
 110 
 
 Tin: msroRV oi- the life of 
 
 excuse for not lundiiiu; a Iiilpins; hand to the resto- 
 ration of Cicero. All the ningistrates exerted 
 themselves in recommending the liiw, excepting 
 Ajipius and the two tribunes, who durst not venture 
 however to oppose it. The meeting was held in 
 the Field of Mars, for the more convenient recep- 
 tion o( so great a iiiullitude, where tiie senators 
 ■divided among tliemselves the task of presiding in 
 the several centuries and seeing the poll fairly 
 taken. The result was, that Cicero was recalled 
 from exile by the unanimous suffrage of all the 
 centuries, and to the infinite joy of the whole 
 city'. 
 
 C'lodius however had the liardiness not only to 
 appear, but to speak in this assembly against the 
 law, but nobody regarded or heard a word that lie 
 said. He now found the difference mentioned 
 above between a free convention of the Roman 
 people and those mercenary assemblies where a 
 few desperate citizens, headed by slaves and gladi- 
 ators, used to carry all before them. " Where now," 
 says Cicero, " were those tyrants of the forum, those 
 haranguers of the mob, those disposers of king- 
 doms ?" This was one of the last genuine acts of 
 free Rome, one of the last efforts of public liberty, 
 exerting itself to do honour to its patron and de- 
 fender; for the union of the triumvirate had already 
 given it a dangerous wound, and their dissention, 
 which not long after ensued, entirely destroyed it. 
 
 But it gave some damp to the joy of this glorious 
 day that Cicero's son-in-law Piso happened to die 
 not long before it, to the extreme grief of the 
 family, without reaping the fruits of his piety, and 
 sharing the pleasure and benefit of Cicero's return. 
 His praises however will be as immortal as Cicero's 
 writings, from whose repeated character of him 
 we learn " that for parts, probity, virtue, modesty, 
 and for every accomplishment of a fine gentleman 
 and fine speaker, he scarce left his equal behind 
 him among all the young nobles of that age^" 
 
 Cicero had resolved to come home in virtue of 
 the senate's decree, whether the law had passed 
 or not ; but perceiving from the accounts of all 
 his friends, that it could not be defeated any longer, 
 he embarked for Italy on the fourth of August, 
 the very day on which it was enacted, and landed 
 the next at Brundisium, where he found his daugh- 
 ter Tullia already arrived to receive him. The 
 ■day happened to be the annual festival of the 
 foundation of the town, as well as of the dedication 
 
 ^ Quo die quis civis fuit, qui non nefas esse putarct, 
 quacunque aut Ktate aut valetudine essct.non se de saluto 
 niea sententiam ferre? — Post Red. in Sen. 11. 
 
 Nemo slbi nee valetudinis excusationem nee senectutis 
 satis justam putavit. — Pro Sext. 52. 
 
 De me cum omnes magistratus promulgassent, prater 
 imum prsetorem, a quo non erat postulandum, fratrem 
 inimici mei, pra;terque duos de lapide emptos tribunos 
 plebis — nullis comitiis unquam multitudinem hominum, 
 tantaoi neque splendidiorem fuisse. — Vos rogatores, vo9 
 distn'outorcs, vos custodes fuisse tabularum. — In Pison. 15. 
 
 * Piso ille gener mens, cui pietatis suas fructum, neque 
 _ ex me, neque apopulo Romano ferre lieuit. — Pro Sext. 31. 
 
 Studio autem neminem nee industria majore cognovi ; 
 quanquam ne ingenio quidcm qui prsstiterit, faeile dixe- 
 rim, C. Pisoni, genero meo. Nullum illi tempus vacabat, 
 aut a forensl dictione, aut a commentatione doniestica, aut 
 a seribeudo aut a cogitando. Itaque tantos processus facie- 
 bat, ut evolare non excurrcre videbatur, &c. — alia de illo 
 majora dici possunt. Nam nee contincntia, nee pietate, 
 nee uUo genere virtutis, quenquam ejusdem astatis cum illo 
 confercndum puto.— Brut. pp. 397, 39a 
 
 of the tem])le of Safety at Rome, and the birth-day 
 likewise of Tullia: as if Providence had thrown all 
 these circiunstances together to enhance the joy 
 and solemnity of his landing, which was celebrated 
 by the ])eople with the most profuse expressions 
 of mirth and gaiety. Cicero took up his (|uarters 
 ai^aiu with his old host Lcnius Flaccus, who had 
 eutertaiiu'd him so honourably in his distress, a 
 ju'rson of great learning as well as generosity. Here 
 lie received the welcome news in four days from 
 Rome, that the law was actually ratified by the 
 peo])le with an incredil)le zeal and unanimity of 
 all the centuries'*. This obliged him to pursue his 
 journey in all haste, and take leave of the Brundi- 
 sians, who, by all the offices of private duty, as well 
 as publicdecrees, endeavoured to testify their sincere 
 respect for him. The fame of his landing and 
 progress towards the city drew infinite multitudes 
 from all parts to see him as he passed, and con- 
 gratulate him on his return ; "so that the whole 
 road was but one continued street from Brundisium 
 to Rome, lined on both sides with crowds of men, 
 women, and children ; nor was there a praefecture, 
 town or colony through Italy, which did not de- 
 cree him statues or public honours, and send a 
 deputation of their principal members to pay him 
 their compliments ; that it was rather less than 
 the truth, as Plutarch says, what Cicero liimself 
 tells us, that all Italy brought him back upon its 
 shoulders'^. But that one day, says he, was worth 
 an immortality, when on my approach towards the 
 city the senate came out to receive me, followed by 
 the whole body of the citizens, as if Rome itself 
 had left its foundations, and marched forward to 
 embrace its preserver''." 
 
 As soon as he entered the gates he saw " the 
 steps of all the temples, porticoes, and even the 
 tops of houses covered with people, who saluted 
 him with a universal acclamation as he marched 
 forward towards the Capitol, where fresh multitudes 
 were expecting his arrival ; yet in the midst of all 
 this joy he could not help grieving," he says, within 
 
 ^ Pridic Non. Sextil. Dyrrhachio sum profeetus, illo 
 ipso die quo lex est lata de nobis. Brundisium veni Nonis : 
 ibi milii TuUiola mea prsesto fuit, natali suo ipso die, qui 
 casu idem natalis erat Brundisinx colonias ; et tuae vicinae 
 salutis. Quae res animadversa a multitudine, summa 
 Brundisinorum gratulationo celebrata est. Ante diem 
 scxtum Id. Sext. cognovi, Uteris Quinti fratris, mirifico 
 studio omnium a;tatum atquc ordinum, incredibili con- 
 cursu Italise, legem comitiis centuriatis esse perlatum.— 
 All Att. iv. 1. 
 
 Cumque me domus eadem optimorum et doctissi'morum 
 virorum, Lcnii Flacci, et patris et fratris ejus laetissima 
 acecpisset, quae proximo ajmo moerens rcceperat, et suo 
 periculo prssidioque defenderat.^Pro Sext. 63. 
 
 « Meus quidem reditus is fuit, ut a Brundisio usque 
 Romam agmen perpetuum totius Italic viderem. Nequo 
 cnim rogio fuit ulla, neque pra'fectura, neque municipium 
 aut colonia, ox qua non publice ad me venerint gratulatum. 
 Quid dicam adventus meos? Quid effusioncs hominum ex 
 oppidis ? Quid concursum ex agris patrum familias cum 
 conjugibusac liberis? &o — In Pison. 22. 
 
 Italia cuneta paene suis humeris reportavit — Post Bed. 
 in Sen. 15. 
 
 Itinere toto urbes Italias festos dies agere adventus mei 
 videbantur. Via; multitudine legatorum undique missorum 
 celebrabantur. — Pro Sext. 63. 
 
 d Unus illo dies mihi quidem instar immortalitatis fuit 
 — cum senatum egressum vidi, populumque Romanum 
 universum, cum mihi ipsa Roma, propc convulsa sedibus 
 suis, ad complcotendum coaservatorcm suum procedero 
 visa est.— In Pison. 22.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 Ill 
 
 hiraself, " to reflect that a citj"- so grateful to the de- 
 fender of its liberty had been so miserably enslaved 
 and oppressed"^." The capitol was the proper seat 
 or throne, as it were, of the majesty of the empire, 
 ■where stood the most magnificent fabric of Rome, 
 the temple of Jupiter, or of that god whom they 
 styled the greatest and the best^ to whose shrine 
 all who entered the city in pomp or triumph used 
 always to make their first visit. Cicero, therefore, 
 before he had saluted his wife and family, was 
 obliged to discharge himself here of his vows and 
 thanks for his safe return ; where, in compliance 
 with the popular superstition, he paid his devotion 
 also to that tutelary Minerva, whom, at his quit- 
 ting Rome, he had placed in the temple of her 
 father. From this office of religion he was con- 
 ducted by the same company, and with the same 
 acclamations, to his brother's house, where this 
 great procession ended ; which, from one end of 
 it to the other, was so splendid and triumphant, 
 that he had reason, he says, to fear, lest people 
 should imagine that he himself had contrived his 
 late flight for the sake of so glorious a restoration?. 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 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, j'et so as not to 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 aristocra- 
 tical friends. Pompey had served him on this im- 
 portant occasion very sincerely, and with the con- 
 currence also of Caesar, so as to make it a point 
 of gratitude as well as prudence to be more ob- 
 servant of them than he had hitherto been. The 
 senate, on the other hand, with the magistrates 
 and the honest of all ranks, were zealous in his 
 cause ; and the consul Lentulus above all seemed 
 to make it the sole end and glory of his adminis- 
 tration''. This uncommon consent of opposite 
 Earties in promoting his restoration drew upon 
 im a variety of obligations 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 
 
 s Iter a porta, in Capitolium ascensus, domum reditus 
 erat ejusmodi, ut summa in laetitia illud dolerem, civita- 
 tem tarn gratam, tam miseram atque oppressam fuisse. — 
 Pro Sext. 63. 
 
 ' Quocirca te, Capitoline, quern propter benefieia , populus 
 Romanus Optimum, propter vim, Maximum, nominavit. 
 —Pro Domo. 57 
 
 K Ut tua milii conscelerata ilia vis non mode non 
 propulsanda, sed etiam emenda fuisse videatur. — Pro 
 J)omo, 28. 
 
 " Alterius vita; quoddam initium ordimiir. [Ad Att. iv. 
 1.] In anotlier place lie calls his restoration to his former 
 dignitj', TTOLXvyyivifflixv, [Ad Att. vi. G.] or a new birth ; 
 n word borrowed probably from the Pythagorean school, and 
 applied afterwards by the sacred writers to tlie renovation 
 of our nature by baptism, as well as our restoration to life 
 after death in the general resurrection. — Matt. xix. 29 ; 
 Tit. iii. 5. 
 
 •^ Hoc specimen virtutis, hoc indicium animi, hoc lumen 
 consulatus sui fore putavit, si me mihi, si meis, si reipub- 
 lica; reddidisset.— Post Red. in Sen. 4. 
 
 and his public duty : these were to be the springs 
 and motives of his new life — the hinges on which 
 his future conduct 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'^. 
 
 The day after his arrival, on the fifth of Sep- 
 tember, the consuls summoned the senate to give 
 him an opportunity of paj'ing his thanks to them 
 in public for their late services, where, after a 
 general profession of his obligations to them all, 
 he made his particular acknowledgments to each 
 magistrate by nurae — to the consuls, the tribunes, 
 the preetors ; he addressed himself to the tribunes 
 before the praetors, not for the dignity of their 
 office, for in that they were inferior, but for their 
 greater authority in making laws, and consequently 
 their greater merit in carrying his law into effect. 
 The number of his private friends was too great to 
 make it possible for him to enumerate or thank 
 them all ; so that he confined himself to the magis- 
 trates, with exception only to Pompey'^, whom, 
 for the eminence of his character, though at present 
 only a private man, he took care to distinguish by 
 a personal address and compliment. But as Len- 
 tulus was the first in office, and had served him 
 with the greatest affection, so he gives him the first 
 share of his praise, and in the overflowing of his 
 gratitude styles him the parent and the god of his 
 life and fortunes'^. The next day he paid his 
 thanks likewise to the people in a speech from the 
 rostra, where he dwelt chiefly on the same topics 
 which he had used in the senate, celebrating the 
 particular merits and services of his principal 
 friends, especially of Pompey, whom 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 owed more to him on this occa- 
 sion than it was even lawful almost for one man to 
 owe to another '^. 
 
 Both these speeches are still extant, and a pas- 
 sage or two from each will illustrate the temper 
 and disposition iu which he returned. In speaking 
 to the senate, after a particular recital of the 
 services 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 
 
 c Sed quia ssepe concurrit, propter aliquorum do me 
 meritonim inter ipsos contentiones, ut eodem tempore in 
 omnes verear ne vix possim gratus videri. Sed ego hoc 
 meis ponderibus examinabo, non solum quid cuique de- 
 beam, sed etiam quid cujusque intersit, et quid a me 
 cujusque tempus poscat. — Pro Plancio, 32. 
 
 <i Cum perpaucis nominatim gratiasegissem, quod omnes 
 enumerari nuUo niodo possent, scelus autem esset quen- 
 quam prasteriri. — Ibid. 30. 
 
 Ilodierno autem die nominatim a me magistratibus 
 statui gratias esse agendas, et de privatis uni, qui pro 
 salute mea municipia, coloniasque adiisset. — Post Ked. in 
 Sen. 12. 
 
 e Princeps P. Lentulus, parens ac deus nostra; vita;, 
 fortunse, &e.— Ibid. 4. It was a kind of maxim among the 
 ancients ; that to do good to a morlaU uas to be a god to a 
 mortal. Deus est mortali,juvare mortalcm. [Plin. Hist. 
 Nat. ii. 7.] Thus Cicero, as he calls Lentulus here his 
 god, so on other occasions gives the same appellation to 
 Plato, Deus tile noster Plato— \_A6.A.tt. iv. 16.] to express 
 the highest sense of the benefits received from them. 
 . f Cn. Pompeius, vir omnium qui sunt, fuerunt, erunt, 
 princeps virtute, sapientia, ac gloria.— Huic ego horaini, 
 Quirites, tautum debeo, quantum hominem homini debere 
 vix fas est.— Post Ued. ad Quir. 7.
 
 112 
 
 THE IIISTOIIV OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 nie. It is not my present business to remember 
 injuries, which, if it were in my jwwer to revenge, 
 I shouUl ehoose to forget ; my life shall he applied 
 to other purposes — to repay the good offices of 
 those who have deserved it of me ; to hold fast 
 the friendships which have been tried as it were 
 in the tire ; to waije war with declared enemies ; 
 to pardon my timorous, nor yet expose my 
 treacherous friends ; and to balance the misery of 
 my exile by the dignity of my return*-'." To the 
 people he observes, " that there were four sorts of 
 enemies who concurred to 0])prcss him — the first, 
 who, out of hatred to the republic, were mortal 
 enemies to him for having saved it ; tlic second, 
 who, under a false pretence of friendship, in- 
 famously betrayed him ; the third, who, through 
 their inability to obtain what he had acquired, 
 were envious of bis dignity ; the foiirth, who, 
 though by office they ought to have been the guar- 
 dians of the republic, bartered away his safety, the 
 peace of the city, and the dignity of the empire, 
 which were committed to their trust. I will take 
 my revenge, says he, on each of them, agreeably 
 to the different manner of their provocation, on 
 the bad citizens, by defending the republic strenu- 
 ously ; on my perfidious friends, by never trusting 
 them again ; on the envious, by continuing my 
 steady pursuit of virtue and glory ; on those mer 
 chants 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, aijd 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 public 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 increased by the late con- 
 course of people from all parts of Italy on Cicero'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 without the 
 other, they began to grow clamorous, and unable 
 to endure their hunger any longer. 
 
 Clodius could not let 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 night about the streets 
 making a lamentable outcry for bread, and calling 
 upon Cicero 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 prsetor Csecilius, Cicero's particular 
 
 g Post Red. in Sen. 9. h Post Red. ad Quir. !). 
 
 ' Q,ui facultate oblata, ad imperitorum animos incitan- 
 dos, renovaturum to ilia funesta latrocinia ob annonie 
 causam putavisti. — Pro Domo, 5. 
 
 Quid? piierorum ilia concursatio noctuma? num a te 
 ipso instituta me frumentum flagitabant? Quasi vcro 
 ego aut rei frumentariae prasfuissern aut compressum ali- 
 quod frumentum tenerem. — Ibid. 6. 
 
 friend, was exhibiting the Apollinarian shows, 
 where they raised such a terror, 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 ])resently attacked him with volleys 
 of stones, with some of which they wounded even 
 the consul himself, who, for the greater security, 
 immediately adjourned the senate into the capitol. 
 They were led on by two desperate ruffians, their 
 usual commanders, M. Lollius and M. Sergius ; 
 the first of whom had in Clodius's tribunate un- 
 dertaken the task of killing Pompey, the second 
 had been captain of the guard to Catiline, and was 
 probably of his family'' : but Clodius, encouraged 
 by this hopeful beginning, put himself at their 
 head in person, and pursued the senate into the 
 capitol, in order to disturb their debates, and pre- 
 vent their providing any relief for the present evil, 
 and above all to excite the meaner sort to some 
 violence against Cicero. But he soon found, to 
 his great disappointment, that Cicero was too 
 strong in the affections of the city to be hurt again 
 so soon : for the people themselves saw through 
 his design, and were so provoked at it that they 
 turned universally against him and drove him out 
 of the field with all his mercenaries ; when, per- 
 ceiving 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, 
 required by the consuls, the senate, and the whole 
 people, he came to the senate-house in the midst 
 of their debates, and being presently asked his 
 opinion, proposed that Pompey should be entreated 
 to undertake 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 public 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 
 the people'. All the consular senators were absent, 
 except Messala and Afranius : they pretended to 
 
 k Cum homines ad theatrum prime, deinde ad senatum 
 concurrissent impulsu Clodii. — Ad Alt. iv. 1. 
 
 Coneursus est ad templum Concordis factus, senatum 
 illuc vocante Metcllo — Qui sunt homines a Q. Mctello, in 
 senatu palam nominati, a quibus ille se lapidibus appeti- 
 tum, etiam pcrcussum esse dixit. — Quis est iste Lollius? 
 Qui te tribune plcbis. — Cn. Pompeium interficienduni 
 depoposcit. — Quis est Sergius ? armiger Catilina;, stipator 
 tui corporis, signifer seditionis — his atque hujusmodi duei- 
 bus, cum tu in annonse caritate in consules, in senatum — 
 repentinos impetus coniparares. — Pro Domo, 5. 
 
 1 Ego vero domi me tenui, quamdiu turbulentum tem- 
 pus f uit — cum servos tuos ad rapinam, ad bonorum casdem 
 paratos — annates etiam in Capitolium tecum venisse con- 
 stabat — scio me domi mansisso — posteaquammilii nuncia- 
 tuni est, populum Romanum in Capitolium — convenisse, 
 ministros autem scelerum tuorum perterritos, partim 
 amissis gladiis, partim ereptis diffugisso ; veni non solum 
 sine ullis copiis, ac manu, verum etiam cum paucis 
 amicis.— Ibid. 3. 
 
 Ego denique, a populo Romano universo, qui tiun in 
 Capitolium convenerat, cum illo die minus valerem, 
 nominatim in senatum vocabar. Veni exspectatus ; multis
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 im 
 
 be afraid of the mob ; but the reai cause was their 
 unwillingness to concur in granting this commission 
 to Pompey. The consuls carried the decree with 
 them into the rostra, and read it publicly to the 
 people, who, on the mention of Cicero's name, in 
 which it was drawn, gave a universal shout of 
 applause ; upon which, at the desire of all the ma- 
 gistrates, 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 vigilance 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 extorted by fear, and without the inter- 
 vention 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" ; and the 
 consuls were ordered to draw up a law conformable 
 to it, by which the whole administration of the 
 corn and provisions of the republic was to be 
 granted to Pompey for five years, with a power of 
 choosing fifteen lieutenants to assist him in it. 
 
 This furnished Clodius with fresh matter of 
 abuse upon Cicero : he charged hirn 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 they 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 decreeing this commission to Pom- 
 pey, he had discharged both his private obligations 
 to a friend and his public duty to the state ; that 
 those who grudged all extraordinary power to 
 Pompey, must grudge the victories, the triumphs, 
 the accession of dominion and revenue, which their 
 former grants of this sort had procured to the 
 empire ; that the success of those showed what 
 fruit they were to expect from this?." 
 
 But what authority soever this law conferred on 
 Pompey, his creatures were not yet satisfied with 
 
 jam sententii&dictis, rogatus sum sententiam ; dixi reipub- 
 licae saluherrimam, mihi neccssariam. — Pro Domo, 7- 
 
 Factum est S. C. in meam sententiam, ut cum Pompeio 
 ageretur, ut earn rem susciperet, lexque ferrctur. — Ad 
 Att. iv. 1. 
 
 ™ Cum abessent consulares, quod tuto se negarent posse 
 sententiam dicere, praeter Messalam et Afranium Ibid. 
 
 Quo S. C. recitato, cum continuo more hoc insulso et 
 novo plausum, meo nomine recitando dedisset, habui con- 
 cionem. — Ibid. 
 
 " At enim liberum senatus judicium propter metum 
 non fuit.— Pro Domo, 4. 
 
 Postridie senatus frequens, et omnes consulares nihil 
 Pompeio postulanti negarunt. — Ad Att. iv. 1. 
 
 Cum omnes adessent, cceptum est referri de inducendo 
 S. C. ; ab universo senatu rpclamatum est. — Pro Domo, 4. 
 
 " Tune es iUe, inquit, quo senatus carero non potuit ?— ' 
 quo restitute, senatus auctoritatemrestitutamputabamus' 
 quam primum adveniens prodidisti.^Ibid. 2. 
 
 Nescit quantum auctoritate valeat, quas res gesserit, 
 qua dignitate sic restitutus. Cur omat eum a quo desertus 
 est?— Ibid. 11. 
 
 P Desinant homines iisdem machinis sperare me rcstitu- 
 tum posse labefactari, quibus antea stantem perculerunt 
 
 it ; so that IVIessius, 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 provinces 
 than their projier governors had in each. Cicero's 
 law seemed modest in comjiarison of Messius's. 
 Pompey pretended to be content with the first, 
 whilst all his dependants 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 such a 
 state as obHged 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 ad- 
 vice"!. Cicero accepted the employment, on con- 
 dition that he might be at liberty to use or resign 
 it at pleasure, as he found it convenient to his 
 affairs'' : but he soon after quitted 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 Pompey's name imme- 
 diately reduced the price of victuals in the markets, 
 and his vigour and diligence in prosecuting the 
 affair soon established a general 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 resen'ed to his return ; which 
 came now before the senate to be considered and 
 settled by public authority, where it met still with 
 great obstruction. The chief Jifficulty was about 
 his Palatine house, which he valued above all the 
 rest, and which Clodius for that reason had con- 
 trived to aUenate, as he hoped, irretrievably, by 
 demolishing the fabric, 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 
 temple, and by blending the public 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 per- 
 formed, made the thing consecrated unapplicable 
 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 publicly demolished for the treason of 
 
 — data merces est erroris mei magna, ut me non solum 
 pigeat stultitiae mese, sed etiam pudeat. — Pro Domo, 11. 
 
 Cn. Pompeio — maxima terra marique bella extra ordi- 
 nem esse commissa : quarum rerum si quern poeniteat, 
 eum victoriae populi Romani necesse est poenitere. — Ibid. 8. 
 
 1 Legem consules conscripserunt — alteram Messius, qua 
 omnis pecuniae dat potestatem, et adjungit classem et 
 exercitum, et majus imperium in provinciis, quam sit 
 eorum, qui eas obtinent. Ilia nostra lex consularis nunc 
 modesta videtur, haec Messii non ferenda. Porapeius 
 illam velle se dicit ; familiares banc. Consulares duce 
 Favonio fremunt, nos tacemus ; et eo magis quod de domo 
 nostra nihil adhuc pontifices rosponderunt. 
 
 nie legatos quindecim cum postularet, me princii>em 
 nominavit, et ad omnia me alterum se foro dixit. — Ad 
 Att. iv. 1. 
 
 «■ Ego me a Pompeio legari ita sum passus, ut nulla ro 
 irapedirer, quod ne, si vellem, mihi esset integrum. — 
 Ibid. 2.
 
 114 
 
 THK HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 its master ; and it was Clodius's design to join 
 Cicero's to it under the same denomination, as the 
 pt- rpctual nu'morial of a disijruce and puiiishnuMit 
 inlliott'd by the people". Wiien he liad tiuished 
 the portico, tlierefore, and annexed his temple to 
 it, which took up hut a small part, scarce a tenth, 
 of Cicero's house, he left the rest of the area void, 
 in order to jjlant a throve or walks of pleasure uj)ou 
 it, as had been usual in such cases; where, as it has 
 been observed, he was prosecuting a particular 
 interest, as well as indulging his malice in obstruct- 
 ing the restitution of it to Cicero. 
 
 The affair was to be determined by the college 
 of priests, who were the judges in all cases relating 
 to religion ; for the senate could only make a pro- 
 •visional decree, that if the jjriests discharged the 
 ground from the service of religion, then the con- 
 suls should take an estimate of the damage, and 
 make a contract for rebuilding the whole at the 
 public charge, so as to restore it to Cicero in the 
 condition in which he left it'. The priests, there- 
 fore, of all orders, were called together on the last 
 of September to hear this cause, which Cicero 
 pleaded in person before them : they were men of 
 the first dignity and families in the republic ; and 
 there never was, as Cicero tells us, so full an ap- 
 pearance of them in any cause since the foundation 
 of the city : he reckons up nineteen by name, — a 
 great part of whom were of consular rank". His 
 first care, before 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 ex- 
 plaining the motives and showing the necessity of 
 it ; contriving at the same time to turn the odium 
 on the other side, by running over the liistory of 
 Clodius's tribunate, and painting all its violences 
 in the most lively colours ; but the question on 
 which the cause singly turned was about the efficacy 
 of the pretended consecration of the house and the 
 dedication of the temple. To show the nullity, 
 therefore, of this act, he endeavours to overthrow 
 the very foundation of it, " and prove Clodius's 
 tribunate to be originally null and void, from the 
 invalidity of his adoption, on which it was entirely 
 grounded:" he shows, "that the sole end of 
 adoption which the laws acknowledged was to sup- 
 ply the want of children, by borrowing them as it 
 were from other families ; that it was an essential 
 condition 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 circumstances of the families 
 interested in it, and the nature of their religious 
 rites ; that the priests might judge of the whole, 
 and see that there was no fraud or deceit in it, nor 
 any dishonour 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 years ohl when he adopted a senator who 
 
 ' Ut domus M. TuUii Ciceronis cum domo Fulvii Flacci 
 ad menioriam poenae publice constitutas conjuncta esse 
 videatur. — Pro Domo, 38. 
 
 ' Qui si sustulerint religionem, aream praeclaram habe- 
 bimus: superficiem consules ex S. C. aestimabunt.— Ad 
 Att. iv. 1. 
 
 " Nego unquam post sacra constituta, quorum eadem 
 est antiquitas, quae ipsius urbis, uUa de re, ne de capite 
 quidem Virginum Testalium, tarn frequens collegium 
 judicasse.— De Haiusp. Resp. 6, 7. 
 
 was old enough to be his father : that he had no 
 occasion to adopt, since he had a wife and children, 
 and would probably have more, which he must 
 necessarily disinherit by this adoption, if it was 
 real : that Clodius hud no other view than, by the 
 pretence of an ado])tion, 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 successively, 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 uj)on it : 
 but granting the tribunate after all to be valid, be- 
 cause some eminent men would have it so, yet the 
 act made afterwards for his banishment could not 
 jjossibly be considered as a law, but as a privilege 
 only, made Eigainst a particular person, which the 
 sacred laws and the laws of the twelve tables had 
 utterly prohibited : that it was contrary to the 
 very constitution of the republic to punish any 
 citizen, either in body or goods, till he had been 
 accused in proper form, and condemned of some 
 crime by competent judges : that privileges, or 
 laws to inflict penalties on single persons by name, 
 without a legal trial, were cruel and pernicious, 
 and nothing better than proscriptions, and of all 
 things not to be endured in their cityy." Then 
 in entering upon the question of his house, he de- 
 clares, "that the whole effect of his restoration 
 depended upon it ; that if it was not given back to 
 him, but suffered to remain a monument of triumph 
 to his enemy, of grief and calamity to himself, he 
 could not consider it as a restoration, but a per- 
 petual 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 
 endure to Uve in that city in which he must always 
 see trophies erected both against himself and the 
 republic: the house of Sp. jNIelius, (says he,) who 
 affected a tyranny, was levelled ; and by tlie name 
 of ^quimehum, given to the place, the people con- 
 firmed 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. Vaccus's 
 house was confiscated and levelled ; and, to per- 
 petuate the memory of his treason, the place is 
 still called Vaccus's meadows : M. Manlius, like- 
 wise, after he had repulsed the Gauls from the 
 capitol, not content with the glory of that service, 
 was adjudged to aim at dominion ; so that his 
 house was demohshed where you now see the two 
 groves planted. Must I, therefore, suffer that 
 punishment which our ancestors inflicted as the 
 greatest on wicked and traitorous citizens ; that 
 posterity may consider me, not as the oppressor, 
 but the author and captain of the conspiracy^?" 
 When he comes to speak to the dedication itself, 
 he observes, " that the goddess Liberty, to which 
 the temple was dedicated, was the known statue of 
 a celebrated strumpet, which Appius brought from 
 
 * Pro Domo, 13, 14, 15, 16. 
 
 y Ibid. 17- — In privos homines leges ferri noluerunt ; M 
 est enim privilegium : quo quid est injustius ? — De Legib 
 iii. IS). 
 
 Pro Domo, 37, 38.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 115 
 
 •Greece for the ornament of his aedileship ; and 
 upon dropping the thoughts of tliat magistracy, 
 gave to his brother Clodius to be advanced into a 
 deity" : that the ceremony was performed without 
 any licence or judgment obtained from the college 
 of priests, by tlie single ministry of a raw youn'j' 
 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'' : but 
 if all had been transacted regularly and in due 
 ■form, that it could not possibly have any force, as 
 being contrary to the standing laws of the republic: 
 for there was an old tribunitian law made by Q. 
 Papirius, which prohibited the consecration of 
 •houses, lands, or altars, without the express com- 
 mand 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, erected a statue of Concord in a public 
 part of the city, which C. Cassius afterwards, when 
 ■censor, removed into the senate-house, and con- 
 sulted the college of priests whether he might not 
 dedicate the statue and the house also itself to 
 Concord ; upon which M. jEmilius, the high- 
 priest, gave answer, in the name of the college, 
 that unless the people had deputed him by name, 
 and he acted 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 
 which S. Julius, the prsetor, by order of the senate, 
 consulted the college of priests ; for whom P. 
 Scsevola, the high-priest, gave answer, that what 
 'Licinia had dedicated in a public place, without 
 any order of the people, could not be considered 
 as sacred : so that the senate enjoined 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 mention 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, who directed him, that impure enemy of 
 all religion, who often acted the woman among 
 men, as well as the man among women, huddled 
 over the whole ceremony in a blundering precipitate 
 manner, faltering and confounded in mind, voice, 
 and speech, often recalling himself, doubting, 
 fearing, hesitating, and performing everything 
 quite contrary to what the sacred books prescribed : 
 nor is it strange (says he), that in an act so mad 
 and villanous, his audaciousness could not get the 
 better of his fears ; for what pirate, though ever 
 so barbarous, after he had been plundsring 
 temples, when pricked by a dream or scruple of 
 religion, 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 prayers whom 
 be had provoked by his sacrilege ? In what hor- 
 rors, then, think you, must this man needs be, the 
 plunderer of all temples, houses, and the whole 
 city, when for the expiation of so many impieties 
 Dejvas wickedly con secrating one single altar'' ? " 
 
 * Pro Domo, 43. iTlbid. 4.'). 
 
 <: Ibid. 49. d ibid. 51, 53. 
 
 '« Ibid. 54, 55. 
 
 Then, after a solemn invocation and appeal " to 
 all the gods who peculiarly favoured and protected 
 that city, to bear witness to the integrity of his 
 zeal and love to the republic," and that "in all his 
 labours and struggles he had constantly preferred 
 the public benefit to his own, he commits the 
 justice of his cause to the judgment of the venerable 
 bencli." 
 
 He was particularly pleased with the composition 
 of this speech, which he published immediately; 
 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'. The sentence of the priests turned 
 wholly on what Cicero had alleged about the force 
 of the Papirian law; viz. that if lie, who performed 
 the office of consecration, had not been specially 
 authorised and personally appointed to it by the 
 people, then the area in question might, without 
 any scruple of religion, be restored to Cicero. 
 This, though it seemed somewhat 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 him- 
 self, and being produced into the rostra by his 
 brother Appius, acquainted the people, that the 
 priests had given judgment for him, but that 
 Cicero was preparing to recover possession 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 impudence, 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 senate, had contracted for rebuilding 
 the portico of CatulusS. 
 
 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 
 meaning of their sentence : upon which Lucullus, 
 in the name of the rest, declared, that the priests 
 were indeed the judges of religion, but the senate 
 of the law ; that they therefore had determined 
 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 
 largejy after him in favour of Cicero's cause : when 
 Clodius rose afterwards to 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 
 
 f Acta res est accurate a nobis ; et si unquam in dicendo 
 fuimus aliquid, aut etiam si unquam alias fuimus, turn 
 profecto dolor et magnitude vim quandam nobis dicendi 
 dedit. Itaque oratio juventuti nostras deberi non potest. 
 —Ad Att. iv. 2. 
 
 e Cum pontifices decressent, ita, sineque populi jussu, 
 neque plebis scitn, is qui se dedicasse diceret, nominatiin 
 ei rei pracfectus esset ; neque populi jussu, neque plobis 
 scitu id facerejussus esset, videri posse sine religione cam 
 partem areas mihi restitui. Mihi facta statim est gratula- 
 tio : nemo enim dubitat, quin domus nobis esset adjudi- 
 cata. Tuni subito ille in concionem ascendit, quam 
 Appius ei dedit : nunciat jam populo, pontiiices secimdum 
 so decrevisse ; me autem vi conari in possessionem venire : 
 hortatur, ut se et Appium sequantur, et suam libertatom 
 utdefeudant. Ilic cum etiam illi infimipartim admiraren- 
 tur, partim irriderent hominis amcntiam. — Ad Att. iv. Z. 
 I 2
 
 116 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 hissing, that he was forced to give over : yet 
 wlifii they were going to pass a duoree, in tlie 
 words of Marcellinus, Seiraiius put his negative 
 upon it : tills raised a universal indignation ; aiul 
 a fresh debate Degan, at the motion of the two 
 consuls, on the merit of the tribune's intercession; 
 when, alter 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 magistrates ; and if any violence or 
 obstruction was offered to it, that the senate would 
 look upon it as offered by him who had inter- 
 posed his negative. This staggered Serranus, and 
 the late farce was played over again ; his father 
 threw himself at his feet, to beg him to desist ; he 
 desired a night's time ; which at first was refused, 
 but on Cicero's request granted ; and the next 
 day he revoked his negative, and without farther 
 opposition suffered the senate to pass a decree, 
 that Cicero's damage should be made good to him, 
 and his houses rebuilt at the public charge''. 
 
 The consuls began presently to put the decree 
 in execution ; and having contracted for the re- 
 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 buildings, 
 it was agreed to take an estimate of his damage, 
 and pay the amount of it to himself, to be laid 
 out according to his own fancy : in which his 
 Palatine house was valued at sixteen thousand 
 pounds ; hisTusculan at four thousand ; his Formian 
 only at two thousand. This was a very deficient 
 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 consuls 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 who had clipped 
 his wings, had no mind to let them grow again ; and 
 though they had been his advocates when absent, 
 began now to be secretly angry, and openly envious 
 of him when present'. 
 
 But as he was never covetous, this affair gave 
 him no great uneasiness ; though, 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 
 neighbourhood to the city, took more pleasure in 
 it ever after than in any other of his country- 
 seats. But he had some domestic grievances about 
 this time, which touched him more nearly ; and 
 which, as he signifies obscurely to Atticus, were of 
 
 i> Ad Att. iv. 2. 
 
 ' Nobis superficiem adium consules de consilii sententia 
 sestimarunt H. S. vicies ; castera valde illiberaliter : Tuscu- 
 lanani villain quingentis millibus ; Formianum ducentis 
 quinquaginta millibus ; quae SEstimatio non modo ab Optimo 
 quoque sed etiam a plebe reprehenditur. Dices, quid igi- 
 tui' causse fuit? Dicunt illi quidem pudorem meum, quod 
 nequc negarim, neque vehementius postularim. Sed non 
 est id ; nam hoe quidem etiani profuisset. Verum iidem, 
 mi Pomponi, iidem inqiiam illi, qui mihi pennas Incide- 
 runt, nolunt easdem renasci. — Ibid. 
 
 too delicate a nature to be explained by a letter'' v 
 they arose chiefly from the ])etulant humour of his 
 wife, which began to give him frequent occasions- 
 of chagrin ; and by a series of repeated provo- 
 cations 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 public monum<-iits of his late dis- 
 grace ; nor to suffer the law of his exile to remain, 
 with the other acts of Clodius's tribunate, hanging 
 up in the Cajjitol, engraved, as usual, on tables o£ 
 brass : watching therefore the opportunity 
 Clodius'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 
 occasioned a sharp contest in the senate between 
 him and Clodius about the validity of those acts | 
 and drew Cato also into the debate ; who, for the 
 sake of his Cyprian commission, thought himselt 
 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'. 
 
 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 public cha- 
 racter to private senators ; with intent to make 
 a progress through Italy, or a kind of religious 
 pilgrimage to all the temple?, groves and sacred 
 places, on pretence of a vow made in his exile. 
 This would give him an opportunity of showing 
 himself everywhere in a light which naturally 
 attracts the affection of the multitude, by testifying 
 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 vulgar, 
 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 meanwhile 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 rising 
 again apace, and carried up almost to the roof; 
 when Clodius, without any warning, attacked 
 them, on the second of November, with a band ol 
 armed men, who demolished the portico, and drove 
 the workmen out of Cicero's ground, and with the 
 stones and rubbish of the place began to batter 
 Quintus'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 
 Clodius for his former violences, and resolved, 
 if possible, to bring him to justice : Clodius, on 
 
 ^ Tusculanum proscripsi : suburbano non facile careo.— 
 Cstera, quae me soUicitant, iu.vcTTiKci)Tepa. sunt. Amamur- 
 a fratre et filia. — Ad Att. iv. 2. 
 
 1 Plutarch, in Cic. ; Dio, p. 100. 
 
 » Ut nulla re impedirer, quod ne si vellem, mihi asset, 
 integrum, aut si comitia censorum proximi consules hube- 
 rent, petere posse, aut votivam legationem sumsisse prope 
 omnium fanorum, luporum. — Ad Att. iv. 2.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 117 
 
 the other hand, was suing for the a;dileshi|), to 
 •secure himself, for one year more at least, from 
 any prosecution : he was sure of being condemned 
 if ever he was brought to trial, so that whatever 
 mischief 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 
 incendiaries, and threatening lire 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 November, 
 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 
 encounter, and took refuge in the vestibule of the 
 next house ; where his attendants rallying in his 
 defence, beat off the assailants, and could easily 
 Ixave killed their leader, but that Cicero was willing, 
 he says, to cure by diet, rather than surgery. The 
 day following Clodius attacked Milo's house, with 
 sword in hand and lighted flambeaus, with intent 
 to storm and burn it : but Milo was never unpro- 
 vided 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 net 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 him- 
 self probably from the suspicion of encouraginc^ 
 him in these violences, on account of the freedom 
 which he had taken with his house?. Many severe 
 speeches were made, and vigorous counsels pro- 
 posed ; Marcellinus'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, the consul 
 Metellus should make no election ; for he would 
 take the auspices every day on which an assembly 
 could be held ; but ]\Ietellus contrived to waste 
 the day in speaking, so that they were forced to 
 break up without making any decree. Milo was as 
 good as his word, and, having gathered a superior 
 force, took care to obstruct the election ; though 
 the consul 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, 
 
 " Armatis honiinibus ante diem in. Kon. Xovemb. 
 expulsi sunt fabri de area nostra, listurbata poiticus Ca- 
 tuli — Qus ad tectum psene pervencrat. Quinti fratris 
 domus primo fracta conjectu lapidum, ex area nostra, 
 deinde jussu Clodii inflammata, inspectante urbe, ccjnjectis 
 
 ignibus. Yidet, si omnes quos vult palam occiderit, 
 
 niliilo suam causam difficiliorem, quam adbuc sit, in 
 judicio futuram.— Ad Att. iv. 3. 
 
 " Ante diem 'ertium Id. Novemb. cum sacra via descen- 
 derem, insccutus est me cum suis. Clamor, lapides. fustcs, 
 ■gladii ; hsec improvisa omnia. Discessim\is in vestibulum 
 Tertii Damionis : qui erant mecum facile operas aditu 
 prohibuerunt. Ipse occidi potuit; sed ecro di£eta curare 
 incipio, cbirurgi^ ta^det— Milonis domum pridie Id. ex- 
 ■pugnare et incendero ita conatus est, ut palam hora quinta 
 cum scutis homines, eductis gladiis, alios cum accensis 
 facibus adduxerit. Ipse domum P. Sylla? pro castris ad 
 earn impugnationem sumpserat, &c. — Ad Att. iv. 3. 
 
 t Sylla se in senatu postridie Idus, domi Oodius.— Ibid. 
 
 sometimes in the forum ; but Milo was ever 
 beforehand with him ; and, keeping a constant 
 guard in the field from midnight to noon, was 
 always at hand to inhibit his proceedings, by 
 obnouncing, as it was called, or declaring, that he 
 was taking the auspices on that day ; so that the 
 three brothers were baffled and disappointed, 
 though they were perpetually haranguing and 
 labouring to inflame the people against those who 
 interrupted their assemblies and right of electing ; 
 where Metellus's speeches were turbulent, Appius's 
 rash, Clodius's furious. Cicero, who gives this 
 account to Atticus, was of opinion, that there would 
 be no election ; and that Clodius would be brought 
 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 perfidious 
 counsellors about him, nor any lazy nobles to 
 discourage him : it is commonly 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'i." 
 
 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, where by eating too freely of 
 some vegetables, which happened to please his 
 palate, he was seized with a violent pain of the 
 bowels, and diarrhoea : of which he sends the fol- 
 lowing account to his friend Gallus. 
 
 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 Tus- 
 culum ; having kept so strict a fast for two days 
 before, 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 Stoics abuse your Epicurus, 
 when he complains of the strangury and dysentery ; 
 
 q Egregius Marcellinus, omnes acres ; Metellus calumnia 
 dicendi tempus exemit : conciones turbulentse Metelli, 
 temerarias Appii, furiosissims Clodii ; hsec tamen summa, 
 nisi Milo in Campum obnunciasset, comitia futura. — 
 Comitia fore non arbitror ; reum Publium, nisi ante occisua 
 erit, fore a Milone puto. Si se inter viam obtulerit 
 occisum iri ab ipso Milone video. Non dubitat facere ; 
 pr;e se fert ; casum ilium nostrum non extimescit, &c. 
 
 3Ieo consilio omnia illi fieri querebantur, ignari quan 
 tum in illo heroe esset animi, quantum etiam consilii. — 
 Ad Att. iv. 3. 
 
 N.B. — From these facts it appears, that what is said 
 above, of Clodius's repealing the jElian and Fusian laws, 
 and prohibicmg the magistrates from obstructing the 
 assemblies of the people, is to be imderatood 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 actually convened and had entered upon 
 business ; for it was still imlawful, 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 pri- 
 textam poj.uli judicio togam dederit. — Fro Sext. 69 ; it. 
 Dio, 1. xxxix. J). !)!!.
 
 118 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 lue one of which they take to he tlie effect of ghit- 
 .ony ; tlic other of a more seaiiddous inteinper- 
 iiice. 1 was ajiprehcnsive inileed of a dysentery ; 
 hut seem to liave found benefit, either from the 
 change of air, or the rehixation of my mind, or the 
 remission of the disease itself : but that y(ui may 
 not be surprised liow this sliould happen, and 
 \vhat I have been doint; to brim; it upon me ; the 
 sumptuary law, which seems to introduce a sim- 
 jilicity of diet, did nic all this mischief. For since 
 our men of taste are grown so fond of coverinj^ 
 their tables with the productions of the eartli 
 which arc excepted by the law, they have found a 
 way of dressing mushrooms and all other vegetables 
 so palatably, that nothins; can be more delicious : 
 1 happened to fall upon these at Lentulus's 
 augural supper, and was taken with so violent a 
 tlux, 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 beet and mallows ; but I shall be 
 more cautious for the future : you however, who 
 must have heard of my illness from Anicius, for 
 he sav? 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 wiU be 
 easy, I hope, to recover the rest*." 
 
 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 Egypt 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 advis- 
 able 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 com- 
 mission of replacing him on his throne ; for which 
 he had already procured a vote of the senate : the 
 o)iportunity of a command, almost in sight of 
 Egypt, made him generally thought to have the 
 1 est pretensions to that charge ; and he was assured 
 of Cicero's warm assistance in soliciting the con- 
 firmation of it. 
 
 In this situation of affairs, the new tribunes 
 entered 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 better 
 side in politics. Before he had borne any public 
 
 » Ep. Fam. vii. 26. 
 
 X.15. Pliny says, that the colum, by which he Is sup- 
 posed to mean the colic, was not known at Rome lill the 
 reign of Tiberius: but the case described in this letter 
 seems to come so very near to it, that he must be under- 
 stood, rather of the name, than of the thing ; as the learned 
 Dr. Le Clerc has observed in his History of Medicine.' — 
 Plin. 1. xxvi. 1 ; Le Clcrc, Hist. par. ii. 1. 4. sect. ii. c. 4. 
 
 The mention likewise of the SvaovpiKa irddri, or the 
 strangury of Epicurus, and the censure which the Stoics 
 passed upon it, would make one apt to suspect, that some 
 disorders of a venereal kind were not unknown to the 
 »ncients. 
 
 office, lie attempted to impeach Gubinuis of bribery 
 and corruption ; but not being able to get an 
 audience of the praetors, he had the hardiness to 
 mount the rostra, which was never allowed to a 
 jirivate citizen, and, in a speech to the people, 
 declared Pompey dictator : but his presumption- 
 had like to have cost him dear ; for it raised suclk 
 an indignation in the audieuce, that he had much, 
 difficulty to escape with his life'. He ojiened 
 his present magistracy by deidaring loudly against 
 king Ptolemy, and all who favoured him ; espe-i 
 cially Lentulus ; whom he supposed to be under 
 some private engagement with him, and for that 
 reason was determined to baffle all their schemes. 
 
 Lupus likewise, one of his colleagues, summoned 
 the senate, and raised an expectation of somejun- 
 common proposal from him ; it was indeed of an 
 extraordinary nature; to revise and annul that 
 famed act of Ciesar'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, with severe reflections oa 
 Caesar, and expostulations witli Pomj)ey, who was 
 now abroad in the execution of his late commis- 
 sion ; in the 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 resentment and animosity of any ; but from 
 the ill humour, which he remembered, when that 
 act iir&t 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 
 must not conclude from their silence either what 
 they liked or disliked : that for his own part, and 
 he might answer too he believed for the rest, he 
 chose to say nothing on the subject at present, be- 
 cause he thought that the cause of the Campanian 
 lands ought not to be brought upon the stage in 
 Pompey's absence. 
 
 Tills affair being dropped, Racilius, another tri- 
 bune, rose up and renewed the debate about Milo's 
 impeachment of Clodius, and called upon Marcel- 
 linus, 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 allot- 
 ment of judges should be made for the trial ; and 
 after that, the election of eediles ; and if any one 
 attempted to hinder the trial, that he should be 
 deemed a public 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 called upon to speak, 
 he ran through the whole series of Clodius's ex- 
 travagances, as if he had been accusing him already 
 at the bar, to the great satisfaction of the as- 
 sembly : Antistius the tribune seconded him, and 
 declared that no business should be done before 
 the trial ; and when the house was going univer- 
 sally into that opinion, Clodius began to speak, 
 with intent to waste the rest of the day, while his 
 slaves and followers without, who had seized the 
 steps and avenues of the senate, raised so great a 
 noise of a sudden, in abusing some of Milo's 
 
 t Ut Cato, adolescens nuUius consilii, — vix vivus effu- 
 geret ; quod cum Gabinium de ambitu vellet postulare,. 
 neque praetores diebus aliquot adiri possent, vel potes- 
 tatem sui facerent, in concionem adscendit, et Pompeiuni. 
 privatus dictatorem appellavit. Propius nihil est factum, 
 quam ut occideretur. — Ep. ad Quint. Frat. i. 2.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 119 
 
 MARCELLI- 
 
 NUS, 
 L. MARCIUS 
 PHILIPPUS. 
 
 friends, that the senate broke up in no small hurry, 
 and with fresh indignation at this new insult". 
 
 There was no more business done through the 
 remaining part of December, ■which was taken up 
 chiefly with holy days. Lentulus and Metellus, 
 whose consulship expired with the year, set for- 
 ward for their several governments ; the one for 
 Cilicia, the other for Spain : Lentulus committed 
 the whole direction of liis affairs to Cicero ; and 
 Metellus, unwilling to leave him his enemy, made 
 up all matters with him before. his departure, and 
 wrote an affectionate letter to him afterwards from 
 Spain ; ii^ which he acknowledges his services, and 
 intimates, that he had given up his brother Clodius 
 in exchange for his friendship*. 
 
 Cicero's first concern, on the opening of the 
 new year, was to get the commission, for restoring 
 A uRB G07 ^^^S Ptolemy, confirmed to Lentulus ; 
 cic ;")i. ' 'W'hich came now under deliberation: 
 coss. the tribune, Cato, was fierce against 
 
 c.v.coKNELr- restoring him at all, with the greatest 
 I's LENTULUS part of the senate on his side ; when 
 taking occasion tc consult the Sibyl- 
 line books on the subject of some late 
 prodigies, he chanced to find in them 
 certain verses, forewarning the Roman 
 ])eople 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 publicly read and explained to the people : it 
 was laid also before the senate, who greedily re- 
 ceived it ; and after a grave debate on this scruple 
 of religion, came to a resolution, that it seemed 
 dangerous to the republic, that the king should be 
 restored by a multitude y. 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 visiting 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 '■. 
 
 This point being settled, the next question was, 
 in what manner the king should be restored : 
 various opinions were proposed ; Crassus moved, 
 that three ambassadors, chosen from those who had 
 some public command, should be sent on the 
 errand ; which did not exclude Pompey : Bibulus 
 
 " Tum Clodius rogatus diem dicendo eximere coepit — 
 deindo ejus operae repente a Graecostasl et gradibus cla- 
 morem satis magnum sustulerunt, opinor in Q,. Sextiliima 
 et amicos Milonis incitatae ; eo metu injecto repente 
 magna querimonia omnium discessimus. — ^Ad Quint. Frat. 
 ii. 1. 
 
 " Libenterque commutata persona, te mihi fratris loco 
 esse duco. — Ep. Fam. v. 3. 
 
 y Senatus religionis calumniam, non religione sed male- 
 volentia, et illius regiae largitionis invidia comprobat. — 
 Ep. Fam. i. 1. 
 
 De rege Alexandrine factum est S. G. cum muUitiidine 
 eum reduci, periculosum reipuhlicce videri. — Ad Quint. 
 Frat. ii. 2. 
 
 ^ Haec tamen opinio est populi Romani, a tuis invidis 
 atque obtrectatoribus nomen inductum Jictce religionis, 
 non tani ut te impedirent, quam lit nequis, propter 
 exercitus cupiditatem, Alexandriam vellet ire.-^Ep. Fam. 
 L4. 
 
 proposed that three private senators ; and Volca- 
 tius, that Pompey alone, should be charged with 
 it: but Cicero, Hortensius, and Lucullus urged, 
 that Lentulus, to whom the senate had already 
 decreed it, and who could execute it with most 
 convenience, should restore him without an army. 
 The two first opinions were soon overruled, and 
 the struggle lay between Lentulus and Pompey. 
 Cicero, though he had some reason to complain of 
 Lentulus since his return, particularly for the 
 contemptible valuation of his houses, yet for the 
 great part which he had borne in restoring him, 
 was very desirous to show his gratitude, and re- 
 solved to support him witli 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 Lentulus's 
 interest at heart ; yet by the conduct of all his 
 friends, seemed desirous to procure the employ- 
 ment for himself; while the king's agents and cre- 
 ditors, fancying that their business would be served 
 the most effectually by Pompey, began openly to 
 solicit, and even to bribe for him*. But the senate, 
 through Cicero's influence, stood generally inclined 
 to Lentulus ; and after a debate, which ended in 
 his favour, Cicero, who had been the manager of 
 it, happening to sup with Pompey that evening, 
 took occasion to press him with much freedom 
 not to suffer his name to be used in this competi- 
 tion ; nor give a handle to his enemies for re- 
 proaching him with the desertion of a friend, as 
 well as an ambition of engrossing all power to 
 himself. Pompey seemed touched with the re- 
 monstrance, and professed to have no other thought 
 but of serving Lentulus, while his dependants 
 still acted so as to convince everybody 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- 
 
 » Crassus tres legatos deccrnit, nee excludit Pompeium : 
 ccnset enini etiam ex iis, qui cum imperio sunt. M. 
 Bibulus tres legatos ex iis, qui privati stmt. Huic assen- 
 tiuntur reliqui consulares, praeter Servilium, qui omnino 
 reduci negat oportere, et Volcatium, qui decernit Pom- 
 peio.— 
 
 Hortensii et mea et Luculli sententia — Ex illo S. C. 
 quod te referente faetuna est, tibi decernit, ut reducas 
 regeni. — 
 
 Regis causa si qui sunt qui velint, qui pauci sunt, omnes 
 rem ad Pompeium defcrri volunt. — Ej). Fam. i. 1. 
 
 Reliqui cum esset in senatu contentio, Lentnh(sne an 
 Pompeius reduceret, obtinere causam Lentulus videbatur. 
 — In ea re Pompeius quid velit non despicio : familiares 
 ejus quid cupiant, omnes vident. Creditores vero regis 
 aperte peeunias suppeditant contra Lentulum. Sine dubio 
 res remota a Lentulo videtur, cum magno meo dolore : 
 quamquam multa fecit, quare si fas esset, jure ei suc- 
 censere possemus. — Ad Quint. Frat. ii. 2. 
 
 b Ego CO die casu apud Pompeium csenavi : nactusque 
 tompus hoc magis idoneum, quam unquam antea post 
 tuum discessum, is enim dies honestissinius nobis fucrat 
 in senatu, ita sum cum illo locutus, ut mihi viderer 
 animum hominis ab omni alia cogitatione ad tuam digni- 
 tatem tuendam traducere : quern ego ipsum cum audio, 
 prorsus eum libero omni suspicinne cupiditatis : cum 
 autem ejus famiiiares, omnium ordinum video, perspicio, 
 id quod jam omnibus est apertum, totam rem istam 
 jampridem a certis homiiiibus, non invito rege ipso.— 
 Esse corruptam. — Ep. Fam. i. 3.
 
 120 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 body ; the senate coiulemneJ it as factious; and 
 Lentulus' son changed his habit upon it, in order 
 to move the citizens, and hinder their offering such 
 an affront to his father. The tribune Caninius 
 proposed another law at the same time for sending 
 Ponipey to Egyjit : but this pleased no better than 
 the other ; and the consuls contrived, that neither 
 of tiiem should be brought to the suffrage of the 
 people c. Tliese new contests gave a fresh inter- 
 ruption to Ptolemy's cause ; in which Cicero's re- 
 solution was, if the commission could not be ob- 
 tained for Liiitulus, to prevent its being granted 
 at least to Pompey, and save themselves the dis- 
 grace of being baffled by a competitor <■ : but the 
 senate was grown so sick of the whole affair, that 
 they resolved to leave the king to shift for himself, 
 without interposing at all in his restoration ; and 
 so the matter hung ; whilst other affairs more in- 
 teresting were daily rising up at home, and en- 
 gaging the attention of the city. 
 
 The election of aidiles, 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 plays and shows with which they used to 
 entertain them ; and several also of the new tri- 
 bunes being zealous for an election, it was held at 
 last on the twentieth of January ; when Clodius 
 was chosen sedile, without any opposition ; so 
 that Cicero began once more to put himself upon 
 his guard, from the certain expectation of a furious 
 pedileship^. 
 
 It njay justly seem strange, how a man so pro- 
 fligate and criminal as Clodius, whose life was a 
 perpetual insult on all laws divine and human, 
 should be suffered not only to live without punish- 
 ment, 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 
 called 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 borne a principal share in all the tri- 
 umphs of the republic from the very foundation 
 of its liberty, was of great force to protect him in 
 all his extravagances : those who know anything 
 of Rome, know what a strong impression this 
 single circumstance of illustrious nobility would 
 necessarily make upon the people ; Cicero calls 
 the nobles of this class, preetors and consuls elect 
 from their cradles, by a kind of hereditary right ; 
 whose very names were sufficient to advance them 
 to all the dignities of the state f . Secondly, his per- 
 
 ' Nos cum maxime consilio, studio, labore, gratia, de 
 causa regia niteremur, subito exorta est nefaria Catonis 
 promulgatio, quae studia nostra impediret, et animos a mi- 
 nore curaad summum timorem traduceret. — Ep. Fani. i. 5. 
 
 Suspicor per vim rogatioiicm Caniuium perlaturum. — 
 Ad Quint, ii. 2. 
 
 ^ Sed vereor ne aut eripiatur nobis causa regia, aut 
 deseratur. — Sed si res coget, est quiddaia tertium, quod 
 non — mihi displiccbat ; ut ncque jacere regem pateremur, 
 nee nobis repugnantibus, ad euni deferri, ad quern prope 
 jam delatum videtur. — Ne, si quid non cbtinuerioius, 
 repulsi esse videamur. — Ep. Fam. i. 5. 
 
 « Sed omnia fiunt tardiora propter furiosae aedilitatis 
 expectationem. — Ad Quint, ii. 2. 
 
 * Non idem mihi licet, quod iis, qui nobili genera nati 
 
 sonal qualities were peculiarly adapted to endear 
 him to all the meaner sort : his bold and ready 
 wit; his talent at haranguing; his jirofuse expense; 
 and his being the first of his family who had 
 l)ursued jjopular measures against the maxims of his 
 ancestors, who were all stern assertors of the aristo- 
 cratical power. Thirdly, the contrast of ojiposite 
 factions, who had each their ends in supporting 
 him, contributed princijjally to his safety : the 
 triumvirate willingly permitted and privately en- 
 couraged his violences : to make their own power 
 not only the less odious, but even necessary, for 
 controlling the fury of such an incendiary ; and 
 though it was often turned against themselves, yet 
 they chose to bear it, and dissemble their ability of 
 repelling it, rather than destroy the man who was 
 playing their game for them, and by throwing the 
 republic 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 occasions ; or it 
 humoured their spleen at least, to see him often 
 insulting Pompey to his facet'. Lastly, all who 
 envied Cicero, and desired to lessen his authority, 
 privately cherished an enemy, who employed all 
 his force to drive him from the administration of 
 affairs : this accidental concurrence of circum- 
 stances, peculiar to the man and the times, was 
 the thing that preserved Clodius, whose insolence 
 could never have been endured in any quiet and 
 regular state of the city. 
 
 By his obtaining the sedileship, the tables were 
 turned between him and Milo : the one was armed 
 with the authority of a magistrate ; the other be- 
 come a private man : the oue freed from all appre- 
 hension of judge and a trial ; the other exposed 
 to all that danger from the power of his antagonist: 
 and it was not Clodius's custom, to neglect any 
 advantage against an enemy, so that he now ac- 
 cused Milo of the same crime of which Milo had 
 accused him ; of public violence and breach of the 
 laws, in maintaining a band of gladiators to the 
 terror of the city. Milo made his appearance to 
 this accusation on the second of February ; when 
 Pompey, Crassus, and Cicero appeared with him ; 
 and M. Marcellus, though Clodius's colleague ia 
 the sedileship, spoke for him at Cicero's desire ; 
 and the whole passed quietly and favourably for 
 him on that day. The second hearing was ap- 
 pointed on the ninth ; when Pomjiey 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 in- 
 vectives, endeavoured to hinder him from going 
 on, or at least from being heard : but Pompey was 
 
 stmt, quibus omnia populi Romani beneficia donnientibua 
 deferuntur. — In Verr. v. 70. 
 
 Erat nobilitate ipsa, blanda conciliatricula conimenda- 
 tus. Omnes semper boni nobilitati favemus, &c. — Pro 
 Sext. 9. 
 
 e Videtis igitur hominem per seipsum jam pridem 
 afflictum ac jacentem, perniciosis optimatium discordiis 
 cxcitari. — Nc a republica reipublicie pestis amoveretur, 
 restiterunt: etiam, ne causam diceret : etiam ne privatus 
 esset : etianine in sinu atque in deliciis quidam optiml 
 viri vipcram illam venenatam ac pestiferam habere potue- 
 nmt ? Quo tandem decepti munere ? Volo, inquiunt, 
 esse qui in concione detraliat de Pompeio. — De HaruspL 
 Kesp. 24.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 121 
 
 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 word ; while a number of epigrams 
 and lampoons upon him and his sister were thrown 
 about, and publicly rehearsed among the multitude 
 'jelow, so as to make him quite furious : till recol- 
 lecting himself a little, and finding it impossible to 
 proceed in his speech, he demanded aloud of his 
 mob, who it was that attempted to starve them by 
 famine ? 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 themselves 
 had a mind to send ? they answered, Crassus : for 
 the old jealousy was now breaking out again be- 
 tween 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 Clodians began the attack, but were repulsed 
 oy the Pompeians ; and Clodius himself driven out 
 of the rostra : Cicero, when he saw the affair pi'o- 
 ceed to blows, thought it high time to retreat and 
 make the best of his way towards home : but no 
 great harm was done, for Pompey, having cleared 
 the forum of his enemies, presently drew off his 
 forces, to prevent any farther mischief or scandal 
 from his side"". 
 
 The senate was presently summoned, to provide 
 some remedy for these disorders ; where Pompey, 
 who had drawn upon himself a fresh envy from 
 his behaviour in the Egyptian affair, was severely 
 handled by Bibulus, Curio, Favonius, and others ; 
 Cicero chose to be absent, since he must either 
 have ofl'ended Pompey, by saying 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 tribi;ne, 
 Cato ; who inveighed aigainst him with great 
 fierceness, and laid open his perfidy to Cicero, 
 to whom he paid the highest compliments, and 
 was heard with much attention by all Pompey's 
 enemies. 
 
 h Ad diem rnr. Non. Febr. Milo afifuit. Ei Ponipeius 
 advocatus venit. Dixit Marcellus a me rogatus. Honeste 
 discessimus. Productus dies est in nir. Id. Feb. — A. D. 
 till. Id. Milo affuit. Dixit Pompeius, sive voluit. Nam 
 ut surrexit, operte Clodiana? clamorem sustulerunt: idquo 
 cl perpetua orationc contigit, non mode iit acclamatione, 
 sed ut convicio et maledictis impediretur. Qui ut per- 
 oravit, nam in eo sane fortis fuit, non est deterritus, dixit 
 wnnia, atque interdum etiam silentio, cum auctoritate 
 peregerat ; sed ut peroravit, surrexit Clodius : el tantus 
 clamor a nostrls, placuerat enim referre gratiam, ut 
 i>eque mente, neque lingua, neque ore consisteret — Cum 
 omnia maledicta, turn versus etiam obscenissimi in 
 Clodium et Clodiam dicerentur. lUe fiircns et exsanguis 
 interrogabat suos in clamore ipso, quis essct, qui plebem 
 fame nccaret ? Respondebant operse, Pompeius. Quis 
 Alexandriam ire cuperet? Respondebant, Pompeius. 
 Quem ire vellent? Respondebant, Crassum. Is aderat 
 turn Miloni animo non amico 
 
 Hora fere nona, quasi signo dato, Clodiani nostros con- 
 sputare cceperunt Exarsit dolor, urgere illi ut loco nos 
 Hioverent. Factus est a nostris impetus, fuga opcrarum. 
 Ejectus at rostris Clodius. Ac nos quoque turn fugimus, 
 
 ne quid in turba Senatus vocatus in curiam, Pompeius 
 
 domum — Ad Quii»t. Fr. ii. a. 
 
 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 lifi- with more care than Scipio Africanus 
 did when Carbo murdered him These warm ex- 
 pressions seemed to open a prospect of some great 
 agitation likely to ensue : Pompey consulted with 
 Cicero on the proper means of his security ; and 
 acquainted liim with his apprehensions of a design 
 against his life ; that Cato was privately supported, 
 and Clodius furnished with money by Crassus ; 
 and both of them encouraged by Curio, Bibulus, 
 and the rest, who envied him ; that it was necer- 
 sary for him to look to himself, since the mean'^r 
 people were wholly alienated, the nobility and 
 senate generally disaffected, and the youth cor- 
 rupted. Cicero readily consented to join forces 
 with him, and to summon their clients and friends 
 from all parts of Italy : 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 
 less busy in mustering his friends against the next 
 hearing of Milo's cause : but as his strength was 
 much inferior to that of his adversary, so he had 
 no expectation of getting him condemned, nor any 
 other view but to tease and harass him'' : for 
 after two hearings, the affair was put off by seversil 
 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, except 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 attempting at 
 this time in favour of Cfesar. Cicero gives him 
 the character of one of the best consuls that he 
 had ever known, and blames him only in one thing, 
 for treating Pompey on all occasions too rudely ; 
 which made Cicero often absent himself from the 
 senate, to avoid taking part either on the one side 
 
 ' Neque ego in senatum, ne aut de tantis rebus tacerem, 
 aut in Pompeio defendendo, nam is carpebatur a Bibulo, 
 Cm-lone, Favonio, Servilio filio, animos bonorum offende- 
 rem. Res in posterum diem dilata est.— Eo die nihil 
 perfactum.— Ad diem u. Id.— Cato est vehementer in 
 Pompeium invectus et eum oratione perpetua tanquam 
 reum aceusavit. De me multa me invito, cum mea 
 summa laude dixit. Cum illius in me perfidiam incre- 
 pavit, auditus est magno silentio malevolorum. Re- 
 spondit ei vehementer Pompeius, Crassumque descripsit ; 
 dixitque aperte, se munitiorem ad custodiendam vltam 
 suam fore, quam Africanus fuisset, quem C. Carbo inter- 
 emisset. Itaque magnae milii res moveri videbantur. 
 Nam Pompeius haee intelligit, mecumque communicat 
 insidias vitse suae fieri : C. Catonem a Crasso sustentari ; 
 Clodio pecuniam suppeditari : utrumque et ab eo et a 
 Curione, Bibulo, caeterisque suis obtrectatoribus con- 
 firmari : vehementer esse providendum ne opprimatur, 
 concionario illo populo, a se prope alienato, nobilitate 
 inimica, non a-quo senatu, juventute improba ; itaque se 
 comparat, homines ex agris arcessit. Operas autem suas 
 Clodius confirmat. Manus ad Quirinalia paratiu-. In eO 
 multo sumus superiores, d:c. — Ad Quint, ii. 3. 
 
 k Vid. Dio, p. f»9.
 
 122 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 or the otlier'. 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 whicli he was sure to find 
 full enii)loynient. His first cause was the defence 
 of L. Bestia, on the tenth of February, who, after 
 the disgrace of a repulse from tiie prtctorship in 
 the last election, was accused of briijcry and cor- 
 ruption 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 seditious ; had always been 
 an enemy to Cicero ; and supposed to be deeply 
 engaged in Catiline's piot ; and is one instance of 
 the truth of what Cicero says, that he was often 
 forced, against his will, to defend certain persons, 
 who had not deser\'ed it of him, by the intercession 
 of those who had'". 
 
 Caesar, who was now in the career of his victories 
 in Gaul, sent a request to the senate, that money 
 might be decreed to him for the payment of his 
 army ; with a power of choosing ten lieutenants, 
 for the better management of the war, and the 
 conquered provinces ; and that his command should 
 be prolonged for five years more. The demand 
 was thought very exorbitant ; and it seemed strange, 
 that after all his boasted conquests, he should not 
 be able to maintain his army without money from 
 nome at a time when the treasury was greatly ex- 
 hausted ; 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 procured a decree to his satisfaction ; yet 
 not without disgusting the old patriots, who stood 
 firm to their maxim of opposing all extraordinary 
 grants : but Cicero alleged the extraordinary ser- 
 vices of Caesar; 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 
 w hose names had never been heard before at Rome : 
 and though it were possible for him to maintain 
 his troops without their help by the spoils of the 
 enemy, 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, 
 
 ' Consul est egre?ius Lentulus, non impediente coUega : 
 sic inquam bonus, ut meliorem non viderim. Dies conii- 
 tiales exemit omnes. — Sic legibus pemiciosissimis obsis- 
 titur, niaxime Catonis. — Nunc igitur Catonem Lentulus a 
 legibus removit, et cos, qui de Cassare monstra promul- 
 garunt. — Marcellinus autem hoc uno mihi minus satis- 
 facit, quod eum niiiiis aspere tractat, quanquam id senatu 
 non invito facit : quo ego me libentius a curia, et ab omnl 
 parte reipublicK subtraho. — Ad Quint. 26. 
 
 '" A. D. III. Id. dixi pro Bestia de ambitu apud prae- 
 torem Cn. Doniitium, in foro medio, maximo conventu. — 
 Ad Quint, ii. 3. 
 
 Cogor nonnunquam homines non optime de me meritos, 
 rogatu eorum qui bene meriti sunt, defendere. — ^Ep. Fam. 
 vii. 1 ; vid. Philip, xi. 5. ; Sallust. Bell. Cat. 1/, 43; Plutar. 
 in Cic 
 
 " Ilium enim arbitrabar etiam sine hoc subsidio pecuniaa 
 retinere exercitum prseda ante parta, et.bellum coniioere 
 IMsse : sed decus illud et omamentuni triumphi minuen- 
 dum nostra parsimonia non putavi. — 
 
 at quas regiones, quasque gentes nuUas nobis antea 
 liters, nulla vox, nulla fama notas fecerat, has noster 
 iniporator, nosterque exercitus, et pnpuli Komani arma 
 peragrarunt. — ^De Prov. Consul, xi. 13. 
 
 to call Cresar 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 mucli from the merits 
 of the cause, as a regard to the condition of the 
 times, and his own circumstances. For in his 
 ])rivate letters he owns, " that the malevolence and 
 envy of the aristocratical chiefs had almost driven 
 him from his old principles ; and though not so far 
 as to make him forget his dignity, yet so as to take 
 a projier 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 superior to 
 them in power, were become superior too in autho- 
 rity ; 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 learnt from exjjcri- 
 ence, what he could not learn so well from books, 
 that as no regard was to be had to our safety, with- 
 out a regard also to our dignity, so the consideration 
 of dignity ought not to exclude the care of our 
 safety"." In another 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, 
 who governed all; or weakly to oppose them, with- 
 out doing any good : that he had dropped therefore 
 all thoughts of that old consular gravity and cha- 
 racter of a resolute senator, and resolved to conform 
 himself to Pompey's will ; that his great affection 
 to Pompey made him begin to think all things right 
 which were useful to him ; and he comforted liim- 
 self with reflecting, that the greatness of his obli- 
 gations would make all the wbrld excuse him for 
 defending what I'ompey liked, or at least for not 
 opposing it : or else, what of all things he most 
 desired, if his friendship with Pompey would, per- 
 mit him, for retiring from public business, and 
 giving himself wholly up to his booksP." 
 
 But he was now engaged in a cause, in which he 
 was warmly and specially interested, the defence of 
 P. Sextius, the late tribune. Clodius, who gave 
 
 o Quorum malevolentissiniis obtrectatiouibus nos scito 
 de vetere ilia nostra, diuturnaque sententia prope jam esse 
 depulsos : non nos quidem ut nostra; dignitatis simus 
 obliti, sed ut habeamus rationem aliquimdo etiam salutis. 
 Poterat utrumque prsclare, si esset fides, si gravitas in 
 hominibus consularibus. — 
 
 Nam qui plus opibus, armis, potentia valent, profecisse 
 tajituni mihi videntur stultitia et inconstantia adver- 
 sariorum, ut etiam auctoritate jam plus valcrent. — Quod 
 ipse, Uteris omnibus a pueritia deditus, e.tperiundo tamen 
 magis, quam discendo cognovi ; — neque salutis nostras 
 rationem habendam nobis esse sine dignitate, neque digni- 
 tatis sine salute.' — Ep. Fam. i. 7. 
 
 p Tantum enim animi tnduotio et mehercule amor erga 
 Pompeium apud me valet, ut, quEE illi utilia sunt, et quje 
 ille vult, ea milii omnia jam et reoia et vera videantur — 
 Mo quide:n ilia res consolatur, quod ego is sum, cui vel 
 maxime concedant omnes, ut vel ea defendam, quje Pom- 
 peius velit, vel taceam, vel etiam, id quod mihi maxime 
 lubet, ad nostra me studia referana literarum ; quod pro- 
 fecto faciam, si mihi per ejusdem amioitiam licebit. — 
 
 Quae enim proposita fuerant nobis, cum et honoribua 
 amplisssimis, et laboribus maximis perfuncti essemus, 
 dignitas in sententiis dicendis, libertas in republica 
 capesseiida ; ea sublata tota : sed nee mihi niagis, quam 
 omnibus. Nam aut assentieadum est nulla cum gravitata • 
 paucis, aut frustra dissentiendum. — Ibid. 8.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 128» 
 
 Cicero's friends no respite, having himself under- 
 taken jVIilo, assi£;ned the prosecution of Sextius to 
 one of his confidants, M. Tulhus Albinovanus, who 
 accused him of public violence or breach of peace 
 in his tribunate'J. 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, fancying himself neg- 
 lected or not sufficiently requited by Cicero, had 
 behaved very churlishly towards him since his 
 return : but Cicero, who was never forgetful of 
 past kindnesses, instead of resenting his perverse- 
 ness, having heard that Sextius was indisposed, 
 went in person to his house, and cured him of all 
 his jealousies, by freely offering his assistance and 
 patronage in pleading his cause'. 
 
 This was a disappointment to the prosecutors ; 
 yho flattered themselves that Cicero was so much 
 <(isgusted, 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 eflect it really was, 
 his own'. In his speech, which is still extant, 
 after laying open the history of his exile, and the 
 motives of his own conduct through the whole pro- 
 gress of it, he shows, " that the only ground of 
 prosecuting Sextius was, his faithful adherence to 
 him, or rather to the republic ; that by condemning 
 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 accuse a man of 
 violence, who had been left for dead upon the spot 
 by the violence of those who accused him ; and 
 whose only crime it was, that he would not suffer 
 himself to be quite killed, but presumed to guard 
 his life against their future attempts." In short, 
 he managed the cause so well, that Sextius was 
 acquitted, and in a manner the most honourable, 
 by the unanimous suil'rages of all the judges ; and 
 with a universal applause of Cicero's humanity 
 and gratitude'. 
 
 Pompey attended this trial as a friend to Sextius ; 
 while Caesar's creature, Vatinius, appeared not only 
 as an adversary but a witness against him : which 
 gave Cicero an opportunity of lashing him, as Sex- 
 tius particularly desired, with all the keenness of 
 his raillery, to the great diversion of the audience ; 
 for instead of interrogating him in the ordinary way 
 about the facts deposed in the trial, he contrived to 
 tease him with a perpetual series of questions, 
 ■which revived and exposed the iniquity of his fac- 
 tious tribunate, and the whole course of his profli- 
 gate life, from his first appearance in public ; and, 
 
 1 Qui cum omnibus salutis mese defensoribus bollum 
 sibi esse gerendum judicaverunt. — Pro Sext. 2. 
 
 f Is erat a?ger : domum, ut debuimus, ad eum statim 
 venimus.; eique nos totos tradidimus : idque fecimus prae- 
 ter hominum opinionem, qui nos ei jure succensere puta- 
 bant, ut humanissimi giatissimique et ip^i et omnibus 
 videremur : itaque facitmus. — Ad Quint, ii. .i. 
 
 » '•P.'Sextius est reus non suo sed ineo nomine, &c. — Pro 
 Sext. 13'. . 
 
 ' Sextius noster absolutus est, a. d. 11. Id. Mart, et quod 
 vehementer interfuit reipublicae, nullam videri in cjus- 
 modi causa dissensionem esse, omnibus sententiis abso- 
 lutus est — Scito nos in eo judicio consecutos esse, ut om- 
 «>uin gratissimi judicareniur. Nam in defendendo honiine 
 morose cumulatissime satisfecimus. — Ad Quint, ii. 4. 
 
 in spite of all his impudence, quite daunted and 
 confounded him. Vatinius however made some 
 feeble effort to defend himself, and rally Cicero in 
 his turn ; and among other things, reproached him 
 with the baseness of changing sides, and becoming 
 Caesar's friend on account of the fortunate state of 
 his affairs : to which Cicero briskly replied, though 
 Pompey himself stood by, that he still preferred the 
 condition of Bibulus's consulship, which Vatinius 
 thought abject and miserable, to the victories and. 
 triumphs of all men whatsoever. This speech 
 against Vatinius is still remaining, under the title 
 of the Interrogation ; and is nothing else but what 
 Cicero himself calls it, a perpetual invective on the 
 magistracyof Vatinius, and the conduct of' those 
 who supported him". 
 
 In the beginning of April, the senate granted the 
 sum of three hundred thousand pounds to Po'mpey,. 
 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 mov- 
 ing a point so tender could not fail of raising some 
 ill-humour in the assembly ; when Cicero, 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 trea- 
 sury to purchase the Campanian lands, which by 
 Csesar's act were to be divided to the people, the 
 act itself should be reconsidered, and a day ap- 
 pointed for that deliberation : the motion was 
 received with a universal joy, and a kind of tumul- 
 tuary acclamation : the enemies of the triumvirate 
 were extremely pleased wuth it, in hopes that it 
 would make a breach between Cicero and Pompey ; 
 but it served only for a proof, of what Cicero him- 
 self observes, that it is very hard for a man to depart 
 from his old sentiments in politics when they are 
 right and jusf. 
 
 Pompey, whose nature was singularly reserved, 
 expressed no uneasiness upon it, nor took any notice 
 of it to Cicero, though they met and supped to- 
 gether familiarly as they used to do : but he set 
 forward soon after towards Africa, in order to pro- 
 vide corn ; and intending 10 call at Sardinia, 
 proposed to embark at Pisa or Leghorn, that he 
 might have an interview with Ctesar, who was now 
 at Luca, the utmost limit of his Gallic government. 
 He found Caesar exceedingly out of humour with 
 Cicero ; for Crassus had already been with him at 
 Ravenna, and greatly incensed him by his account 
 of Cicero's late motion ; which he complained of 
 
 " Vatinium, a quo palam oppugnabatui-, arbitratu 
 nostro concidimus, diis hoininibusque plaudentibus. — 
 Quid quaeris ? Homo petulans, et audax Vatinius valde 
 perturbatus, debilitatusque discessit. — Ad Quint, ii. 4. 
 
 Ego sedente Pompeio, cum ut laudaret P. Sextium in- 
 troiisset in urbeni, disissetque testis Vatinius, me fortuna 
 et felicitate C. C'aesaris conmiotum, illi amicum esse coe- 
 pisse ; dixi, me earn Bibuli fortunam, quani ille afflictam. 
 putiiret, omnium triumpliis victoriisque anteferre. — Tota 
 vero interrogatio mea nihil habuit, nisi reprehensionem 
 illius tribunatus : in quo omnia dicta sunt libertate, ani- 
 moque maximo. — Ep. Fam. i. 9. 
 
 ^ Pompeio pecunia decreta in rem frumentariam ad 
 II. S. cccc. sed eodem die vehementer actum de agro 
 Campano, clamore senatus prope concionali. Acriorem 
 causam inopia pecunise faciebat, et annona; caritas. — Ad 
 Quint, ii. 5. 
 
 Nonis April, mihi est senatus assensus-, ut de agro 
 Campano, idibus iVIaiis, frequenti senatu referretur. 
 Num potui magis in arcem illius causa: invaderc— Ep» 
 Fam. i. 9.
 
 124 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 so heavily, that Pompey promisea to use all his 
 authority 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 ahout it, "recounting all his services to 
 his brother, and that everything which he hail done 
 for him was done with Caesar's consent ; and re- 
 minding him of a former conversation between 
 themselves concerning Caesar's acts, and what 
 Quintus himself had undertaken for his brother on 
 that head ; and as he then made himself answerable 
 for him, so he was now obliged to call him to the 
 performance of those engagements : in short, he 
 begged of 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^." 
 
 This remonstrance from Pompey, enforced by 
 his brother Quintus, 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 public interest, he determined at 
 last to drop the affair rather than expose himself 
 again, in his present situation,' to the animosity of 
 Pompey and Caesar, for which he makes the fol- 
 lowing apology to his friend Lentulus : — "that 
 those who professed the same principles and were 
 embarked in the same cause with him, were perpe- 
 tually envying and thwarting him, and more dis- 
 gusted by the splendour of his life than pleased 
 with anything which he did for the public service ; 
 that their only pleasure, and what they could n<jt 
 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 into 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 in the 
 world, and from whom he had received the greatest 
 obligations, and who at that 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 
 differently from what he used to do, in complaisance 
 
 y Hoc S. C. in sententiam meam facto, Pompeius, cum 
 ■ mihi nihil ostendisset se esse offensum, in Sardinian! et in 
 Africam profectus est, eoque itinere Lucam ad Caesarem 
 venit. Ibi multa de mea sententia questus est Caesar, 
 (juippe qui etiam Ravonnae Crassum ante vidisset, ab 
 cnquo in me esset incensus. Sane moleste Pompeium id 
 ferre constabat: quod ego, cum audissem ex aliis,inaxime 
 ex fratre meo cognovi ; quern eum in Sardinia paucis post 
 diebus, quam Ltica discesserat, ronvenisset. Te, inquit, 
 ipsum cupio : nihil opportunius putuit accidere : nisi cum 
 Marco fratre diligenteregeris, dependendum tibi est, quod 
 mihi pro illo spopondisti : quid multa ? Questus est gra- 
 viter : sua merita commemoravit : quid egisset saepissinie 
 tie actis Cajsaris cum meo fratre, quidque sibi is dc me 
 recepisset, in memoriam redegit : scquc qua? de mea salute 
 egisset, voluntate Caesaris egisse, ipsum nieum fratrem 
 testatus est.— Ep. Fam. i. 9. 
 
 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 stand- 
 ing, which they were invited to renew by all 
 manner of civilities and good offices freely offered 
 on CiEsar's part : that, after Caesar's great exploits 
 and victories, the republic itself seemed to inter- 
 pose 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 Pompey, 
 and Pompey to Caesar, and he thought himself 
 obliged to make good those engagements'^." 
 
 This was the general state of his political be- 
 haviour : he had a much larger view and more 
 comprehensive knowledge both of men and things 
 than the other chiefs of the aristocracy, Bibulus, 
 Marcellinus, Cato, Favonius, &c., whose stiffiiess 
 had ruined their cause, and brought them into 
 tlieir present subjection, by alienating 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 un- 
 equal, 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 public liberty, unless he 
 were jjrovoked and driven to it by the perverse 
 opposition of his enemies''. These were the 
 grounds of that complaisance which he now 
 generally paid to him, for the sake both of his own 
 and the public quiet ; in consequence of which, 
 when the appointed day came for considering the 
 case of the Campanian lands, the debate dropped 
 of course, when it was understood that Cicero, the 
 mover of it, was absent and had changed his mind ; 
 though it was not, as he intimates, without some 
 struggle in his own breast that he submitted to 
 this step, which was likely to draw upon him an 
 imputation of levity'^. 
 
 ^ Qui cum ilia sentirent in republica qu^ ego agebam, 
 semperque sensissent ; me tamen non satisfacere Pompeio, 
 Caesaremque inimicissimum mihi futurum, gaudere se 
 aiebant : hoc mihi dolendum, sod illud multo magis, quod 
 inimicum meum. — Sic amplexabantur — Sic me prassente 
 osculabantur — Ego si ab iinprobis et perditis civibus rem- 
 publicam teneri videbaui — Nou modo pra;miis — Sed ae 
 periculis quidem uUis compulsus — Ad eorum causam me 
 adjungerem, ne si gumma quidem eorum in me merita 
 constarent. Cum autem in republica Cn. Pompeius prin- 
 ceps esset — meumque inimicum unum in civitate liaberet 
 inimicum, non putavi famam inoonstantia; mihi pertimes- 
 cendam, si quibusdam in sentontiis pauUum me immu- 
 tassem, meamque voluntatem ad summi viri, de meque 
 optimc meriti dignitatem aggregassem, &.C. Gravissime 
 autem me in hac mcnte impulit, et Pompeii fides, quam 
 de me Cssari dedcrat, et fratris mei, quam Pompeio. — 
 Ep. Fam. i. 9. 
 
 * Neque, ut ego arbitror, errarent, si cum pares esse non 
 possent, pugnare desisterent. — 
 
 Commutata toca ratio est senatus, judiciorum,rei totius 
 publica?. Otium nobis exoptandum est : quod ii, qui 
 potiuntur rerum, praastituri videntur, si quidam homines 
 patientius eorum potentiam lerre potuerint. Dignitatem 
 quidem illam consularem fortis et constantis sonatoris, 
 nihil est, quod cogitemus. Amissa est culpa eorum. qui a 
 senatu et ordinem conjunctissimum, et bomlnem clarissi- 
 mum abalienarmit. — Ibid. 8. 
 l> Ep. Fam. i. 9. 
 « Quod idibus et postridie fuerat dictum, de asxo Cam
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 125 
 
 His daughter Tullia, having now hved a widow 
 about a year, was married to a second husband, 
 Furius Crassipes, and the wedding feast hekl 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 
 dignity**. Atticus also, who was about a year 
 younger than Cicero, was married this spring to 
 Pilia, and invited him to the wedding^. As to his 
 domestic affairs, his chief care at present was about 
 rebuilding three of his houses which were de- 
 molished 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 inter- 
 ruption 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 ; his brother's wife and his own neither 
 agreed well with each other nor their own husbands. 
 Quintus's was displeased at her husband's staying 
 so long abroad, and Cicero's not disposed to make 
 hers the happier for staying at home. His nephew 
 also, young Quintus, 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 housed 
 
 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 joint 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 himself master of the thing and was assured 
 
 pano actum iri, non est actum. In hac causa mihi aqua 
 hsret. — Ad Quint, ii. 8. 
 
 d De nostra Tullia — spero nos cum Crassipede confecisse. 
 ^Ibid. 4. 
 
 Quod mihi de filia et de Crassipede gratularis— Speroque 
 et opto banc conjunetionem nobis voluptati fore. — Epist. 
 Fam. 1 7- 
 
 Viaticum Crassipes praeripit. — Ad Att. iv. 5. 
 
 8 Prid. Id. haec scripsi ante lucem. Eo die apudPompo- 
 nium in ejus nuptiis eram caenaturus. — Ad Quint, ii. 3. 
 
 f Domus utriusque nostrum acdificatur strenue. [Ibid. 
 4.] Longilium rc-demptorem cohortatus sum. Fldem 
 mihi faciebat, se velle nobis placere. Domus erit egregia. 
 —Ibid. 6. 
 
 Quintus tuus, puer optimus, eruditur egregie. Hoc 
 nunc magis animadverto, quod Tyrannio docet apud me. 
 —Ibid. 4. 
 
 A. D. vin. Id. Apr. sponsalia Crassipedi praebui. Huio 
 conviTio puer optimus, Quintus tuus, quod perleviter 
 commotus fuerat, defuit. — Multum is niecum sermonem 
 habuit et perhumanum de discordiis mulierum nostra- 
 rum. — Poniponia autem etiam de te questa est. — Ibid. 6. 
 
 ot success, he might leave the king at Ptolemais, 
 or .some other neighbouring city, and proceed 
 without him to Alexandria, wliere, if by the 
 influence of his fleet and troops he could appease 
 the public disseutions, and j)ersuade the inhabitants 
 to receive their king peaceably, he might then carry 
 him home, and so restore him according to the 
 first decree ; yet without a multitude, as our re- 
 ligious men (says he) tell us, the sibyl has enjoined; 
 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 carrying his point, 
 he should not defer it ; if doubtful, 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 religion^'." But Lentulus, 
 wisely judging the affair too hazardous for one of 
 his dignity and fortunes, left it to a man of more 
 desperate character, Gabinius, who ruined himself 
 soon after by embarking in it. 
 
 The tribune Cato, who was perpetually inveighing 
 against keeping gladiators, like so many standing 
 armies to the terror of the citizens, had lately 
 bought a band of them, but finding himself unable 
 to maintain them was contriving to part with them 
 again without noise or scandal. Milo got notice 
 of it, and privately employed a person, not one of 
 his own friends, to buy them ; and when they were 
 purchased, Racilius, another tribune, taking the 
 matter upon himself, and pretending that 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 
 cityK 
 
 Milo's trial being put off 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 Pompeii and Cumse ; and stopped 
 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 consider- 
 able than he expected from the late ruin. Atticus 
 lent him two 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 
 
 e Te perspicere posse, qui Ciliciam Cyprumque teneas, 
 quid eflScere et quid consequi possis, et, si res facultatem 
 habitura videatur, ut Alexandriam atque jEgyptum tenere 
 possis, esse et tuK et nostri imperii dignitatis, Ptolemaide, 
 aut aliquo propinquo loco rege collocato, te cum classe, 
 atque exercitu proficisci Alexandriam : ut cum earn pace, 
 praesidiisque firmaris, Ptolemseus rcdeat in regnum : ita 
 fore, ut per te restituatur, quemadnioduna senatus initio 
 censuit ; et sine multitudine reducatur, quemadmodum 
 homines religiosi sibyllae placere dixerunt. Sed ha;c scn- 
 tentia sic et illi et nobis piobabatur, ut ex eventu homines 
 de tuo consilio existimaturos videremiis — Nos quidera hoc 
 sentimus ; si exploratum tibi sit, posse te regni illius 
 potiri ; non esse cunctandum : si dubium, non esse conan- 
 dum, &c. — Ep. Fam. i. 7. 
 
 1> lUevindex gladiatorum et bestiariorum eraerat — bes- 
 tiarios — Hos alere non poterat. Itaque vix tenebat. Sensit 
 Milo, dcdit cuidam non familiari negotium, qui sine suspi- 
 cione emeret eaui familiam a Catone : qua; simulatque 
 abducta est, Racilius rem patefecit, eosque homines sibi 
 emptos esse dixit — et tabulam pro-scripsit, se familiam 
 Catonianam venditurum. In earn tabulam magni risus 
 coiisequebantur. — Ad Quint, ii. 6.
 
 12G 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 of his house'. During this tour, his old enemy 
 Gabinius, the proconsul of Syria, having gained 
 some advantage in Jiidca against Aristobuius, who 
 had been dethroned l)y Pompey, and on that ac- 
 count was raising troubles in the country, sent 
 public letters to tlie senate to give an account of 
 his victory, and to beg the decree of a thanksgiving 
 for it. Mis 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 
 bef(u-e to any proconsul. Cicero was infinitely de- 
 lighted witli it, calls the resolution divine, and was 
 doubly pleased for its being the free and genuine 
 judgment of the senate, without any struggle or 
 influence on his part; and reproaching Gabinius 
 with it afterwards, says that by this act the senate 
 had declared that they could not believe that he, 
 whom they liad always known to be a traitor at 
 home, could ever do anything abroad that was use- 
 ful to the republic''. 
 
 Many prodigies were reported to have happened 
 about this time in the neighbourhood of Rome : 
 horrible noises under ground, with clashing of 
 arms ; and on the Alban hill a little shrine of Juno, 
 which stood on a table facing the east, turned sud- 
 denly of itself towards the north. These terrors 
 alarmed the city, and the senate consulted the 
 haruspicesjwho were the public diviners or prophets 
 •of the state, skilled in all the Tuscan discipline of 
 interpreting portentous events, who gave the fol- 
 lowing answer in writing, — that supplications must 
 be made to Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and the 
 ■other gods ; that the solemn shows and plays had 
 been negligently exhibited and polluted ; sacred 
 and religious places made profane ; ambassadors 
 killed, contrary to right and law ; faith and oaths 
 disregarded ; ancient and hidden sacrifices care- 
 lessly performed and profaned ; — that the gods 
 gave this warning, lest, by the discord and dissen- 
 tion of the better sort, dangers and destruction 
 should fall upon the senate and the chiefs of the 
 city, by which means the provinces would fall 
 under the power of a single person, their armies 
 be beaten, great loss ensue, and honours be heaped 
 on the unworthy and disgraced'. 
 
 One may observe from this answer, that the 
 diviners were under the direction of those who 
 endeavoured to apply the influence of religion to 
 the cure of their civil disorders : each party inter- 
 
 ' Offendes designationem Tyrannionis mirificara in 
 librorum meorum bibliotheca ; quorum reliquiae multo 
 meliores sunt, quam putaram. Etiamvellem mihi mittas 
 de tuis librariolis duos aliquos, quibus Tyrannic utatur 
 glutinatoribus, et ad cstera administris. — Ad Att. iv. 4. 
 
 Postea vero quam Tyrannic mihi libros dispcsuit, mens 
 addita videtur meis sedibus : qua quidem in re, mirifica 
 opera Dionysii et Menophili tui fuit. — Ibid. 8. 
 
 ^ Id. Mails senatusfrequensdivinusfuit in supplicaticne 
 Gabinic dcneganda. Adjurat Procilius hoc nemini acci- 
 disse. Foris valde plauditur. Mihi cum sua sponto 
 jucundum, cum jucundius, quod me absente, est enim 
 eiAiKpii/es judicium, sine cppugnatione, sine gratia nostra. 
 ■ — Ad Quint, ii. 8 ; iv. 5. 
 
 Hoc statuit senatus, cum frequens supplicationem Gabi- 
 nic denegavit. — A proditore, atque eo, quern praesentem 
 hostem reipublica; cognosset, bene rempublicam geri ncn 
 pctuisse. — De Prov. Consul. 6. 
 
 1 Vid. Argum. Manutii in Orat. de Ilanisp. Eespons.— 
 t)Jo, 1. xxziz. p. 100. 
 
 preted it according to their own ^^ew.'^. Clodius 
 took a handle from it of venting his s]>leen afresh 
 against CHccro ; and calling the ]>eoi)le together for 
 that ]>urpose, attempted to persuade tlumi that this 
 divine admonition was designed ))articularly against 
 liini ; and that the article of the sacred and reli- 
 gious places referred to the case of his house, which, 
 after a solemn consecration to religion, was ren- 
 dered again profane ; charging all the displeasure 
 of the gods to Cicero's account, who affected no- 
 thing less than a tyranny, and the oppression of 
 their liberties'". 
 
 Cicero made a reply to Clodius the ne.xt 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 Car- 
 thage. He declares the prodigy to be one of the 
 most extraordinary which had ever been reported 
 to the senate ; but laughs at the absurdity of ap- 
 ))lying 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"." 
 Tiien running through the several articles of the 
 answer, he shows them " all to tally 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 neg- 
 ligently performed and polluted, it clearly denoted 
 the pollution of the Megalensian play, the most 
 venerable and religious of all other shows, which 
 Clodius himself, as sedile, exhibited in honour of 
 the Mother of the gods ; where, when the magis- 
 trates and citizens were seated to partake of the 
 diversions, and the usual proclamation was made, 
 to command all slaves to retire, a vast body of 
 them, gathered from all parts of the city by the 
 order of Clodius, forced their way upon the stage, 
 to the great terror of the assembly ; where much 
 mischief and bloodshed would have ensued, if the 
 consul Marcellinus, by his firmness and presence 
 of mind, had not quieted 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 company out of the theatre, and 
 possessed it entirely to themselves". That as to 
 the profanation of sacred and religious places, it 
 could not be interpreted of anything so aptly as of 
 what Clodius and his friends had done ; for that, 
 in the house of Q. Seius, which he had bought 
 after murdering the owner, there was a chapel and 
 altars, which he had lately demolished. That L. 
 Piso had destroyed a celebrated chapel of Diana, 
 where all that neighbourhood, and some even of 
 the senate, used annually to perform their family 
 sacrifices. That Serranus also had thrown down, 
 burnt, and profaned several consecrated chapels, 
 and raised other buildings upon them p. That as 
 to ambassadors killed contrary to law and right, 
 though it was commonly interpreted of those from 
 Alexandria, yet other ambassadors had been mur- 
 dered, whose death was no less offensive to the 
 gods : as Theodosius, killed with the privity and 
 permission of Clodius ; and Platoi , by the ordc of 
 
 "1 Dio, 1. xxxix. p. 100 " IJo Harusp. TtoBpObS. k. 
 
 o Ibid. 10, 11, 12, 13. P Ibid. 14, 15.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 127 
 
 •Piso'i. As to the violation of faith and oaths, that 
 it related evidently to those judges who had ab- 
 solved Clodius, as being one of the most memora- 
 ble 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 cf any in the city ; celebrated with incre- 
 dible 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 dissentions of the princi- 
 pal citizens ; that there was no man so particularly 
 active in promoting those dissentions as Clodius, 
 who was perpetually inflaming one side or the 
 other ; — now pursuing popular, now aristocratical 
 measures ; at one time a favourite of the triumvi- 
 rate, at another of the senate ; whose credit was 
 wholly supported by their quarrels and animosities." 
 He exhorts them, therefore, in the conclusion, " 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 republic was 
 not altered, since all civil contests between great 
 •and powerful citizens must necessarily end either 
 in a universal destruction, or a tyranny of the con- 
 queror : 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 Clodius remained unpunished ; and but one 
 ■degree left of being worse, by being wholly ruined 
 and enslaved : for the prevention of which the 
 gods had given them this remarkable admonition ; 
 lor they were not to believe, what was sometimes 
 represented on the stage, that any god ever de- 
 scended from heaven to converse familiarly with 
 men, but that these extraordinary sounds and agi- 
 tations 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 
 shown how easy it would be to pacify them by 
 pacifying only their own animosities and discords 
 among themselves." 
 
 About tlie middle of the summer, and before the 
 time of choosing new consuls, which was commonly 
 in August, the senate began to deliberate on the 
 provinces which were to be assigned to them at the 
 ■expiration of their office. The consular provinces, 
 about which the debate singly turned, were the two 
 Gauis which Csesar now held, Macedonia which 
 Piso, and Syria which Gabinius, possessed. All 
 •who spoke before Cicero, excepting Servilius, were 
 for taking one or both the Gauls from Csesar, 
 which was what the senate generally desired ; but 
 when it came to Cicero's turn, he gladly laid hold 
 on the occasion to revenge himself on Piso and 
 Gabinius, and exerted all his authority to get them 
 recalled, with some marks of disgrace, and their 
 governments assigned to the succeeding consuls : 
 but as for Ctesar, his opinion was, that his com- 
 mand should be continued to him till he had 
 finished the war which he was carrying on with 
 such success, and settled the conquered countries. 
 
 De Harusp. Respons. i5. 
 
 r Ib5d. 17, IS. 
 
 This gave no small offence ; and the consul Phi- 
 lippus could not forbear interrupting and remind- 
 ing him, that he had more reason to be angry with 
 Caesar than with Gabinius himself, since Caesar was 
 the author and raiser of all that storm which had 
 oppressed him. But Cicero replied, that, in this 
 vote, he was not pursuing his private resentment, 
 but the public good, which had reconciled him to 
 Csesar ; and that lie could not be an enemy to one 
 who was deserving so well of his country ; that a 
 year or two more would complete his conquests, 
 and reduce all Gaul to a state of peaceful subjec- 
 tion : that the cause was widely different between 
 Caesar and the other two ; that Cfesar's adminis- 
 tration was beneticial, prosperous, glorious to the 
 republic ; theirs scandalous, ignominious, hurtful 
 to their subjects, and contemptible to their ene- 
 mies. In short, he managed the debate so, that 
 the senate came fully into his sentiments, and de- 
 creed the revocation of Piso and Gabinius'. 
 
 He was now likewise engaged in pleading two 
 considerable causes at the bar ; the one in defence 
 of Cornelius Balbus, the other of M. Cajlius. Bal- 
 bus was a native of Gades, in Spain, of a splendid 
 family in that city, who, for his fidelity and ser- 
 vices to the Roman generals in that province, and 
 especially in the Sertorian war, had the freedom 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 relation to Rome 
 which rendered its citizens capable of that pri- 
 vilege. Pompey and Crassus were his advocates, 
 and, at their desire, Cicero also, who had the third 
 place or post of honour assigned 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 Csesar, by whose 
 favour he had acquired great wealth and power ; 
 being at this time general of the artillery to Csesar, 
 and the principal manager or steward of all his 
 affairs. The judges gave sentence for him, and 
 confirmed his right to the city ; from which foun- 
 dation 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 Pliny tells 
 us, they were the only instances of foreigners and 
 
 s Itaque ego idem, qui nunc eonsulibus iis, qui designati 
 erunt, Syriam, Macedoniamque decerno — Quod si essent 
 illi optinii viri, tamen ego mea sententia C. Caesari non- 
 dum succedendum putarem. Qua de re dicam, Patres 
 Conscript!, quod sentio, atque illam interpellationem 
 faniiliarissinii mei, qua pauilo ante interrupta est oratio 
 mea, non pertimescam. Negat me vir optimus iniinicio- 
 reni debere esse Gabinio, quam Caesari ; omnem enim 
 illam tempestatem, cui ccsserim, Csesaie impulsore atque 
 adjutore esse excitatam. Cui ,-i primum sic respondeam, 
 me communis utilitatisliabererationem, non doloris mei. — 
 II ic me meus in rcmpubl icam animus pri stinus ac perennis, 
 cum C. Caesare rcducit, reconciliat, restituit in gratia.ni. 
 Quod volent denique homines existiment, nemini ego 
 possum esse bene de republica merenti non amicus. — Vid. 
 Orat. ne Provin. Cons. 8, 9, &o. 
 
 ' Quo milii difficilior est hie extremus perorandi locus.— 
 Sod mos est gerendus, non niodo Cornelio,cujus ego volun- 
 tati in ejus periculis nullo modo deesse possum ; sed etiam 
 Cn. Pompeio. — Pro Balboi J, i, &c.
 
 128 
 
 THE HISTOKY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 ndoptea citizens wlio Iiaa ever advanced them- 
 selves to either of those lionours in Rome". 
 
 Cselius, wlioni he next defended, was a young 
 gentleman of equestrian rank, of great parts and 
 acconiiilishments, trained under the discipUne of 
 Cicero himself; to whose care he was committed 
 by his father upon his first introduction into tlie 
 forum. Before lie was of age to hold any magis- 
 tracy, he had distinguished himself by two public 
 impeachments ; the one of C. Antonius, Cicero's 
 colleague in the consulship, for conspiring against 
 the state ; the other of L. Atratiuus, for bribery 
 and corruption. Atratiuus' son was now reveng- 
 ing his father's (piarrel, and accused CseUus of 
 public violence, for being concerned in the assas- 
 sination of Dio, the cliief of the Alexandrian 
 embassy, and of an attempt to jioisou Clodia, the 
 sister of Clodius : he had been this lady's gallant, 
 wliose resentment for her favours, slighted by him, 
 was the real source of all his trouble. In this 
 speech, Cicero treats the character and gallantries 
 of Clodia, her commerce with Cselius, and the 
 gaieties and licentiousness of youth, with such a 
 vivacity of wit and humour, that makes it one of 
 the most entertaining which he has left to us. 
 Cpelius, 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- 
 gance, it was objected, that a young man in no 
 public employment should take a separate house 
 from his father, at the yearly rent of two hundred 
 and tifty jiounds. To which Cicero i-ejilied, that 
 Clodius, he ])erceived, 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". 
 Cffilius was acquitted ; and ever after professed 
 the highest regard for Cicero, with whom he held 
 a correspondence of letters, which will give us 
 occasion 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 Csesar ; and 
 excuses his not sending it to Atticus, "because 
 Csesar pressed to have it, and he had reserved no 
 copy ; though, to confess the truth, (he says,) he 
 found it very difficult to digest the meanness of 
 recanting his old principles. But adieu (says he) 
 to all right, true, honest counsels : it is incredible 
 what perfidy there is in those who want to be 
 leaders, and who really would be so, if there was 
 any faith iu 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, 1 came at last to a better 
 mind. You will tell me, that you advised me 
 indeed to act, but not to write ; 'tis true ; but I 
 was willing to put myself under a necessity of 
 
 " Fuit et Balbus Cornelius major consul — Primus exter- 
 norum, atque etiam in oceano genitorum usus iUo honore. 
 — Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 43. 
 
 Garama caput Garamantum : omnia annis Romani3 
 superata, et a Cornclio Balbo triuinphata, uno omnium 
 cxterno curru et Quiritium jure donato : quippe Gadibus 
 nato civitas Romana cum Balbo majore patruo data est. 
 —Ibid, V, 5. 
 
 « Sumptus unius generis objectus est, habitationis : 
 triginta millibus dixistis eum babitare. Nunc demum 
 intelligo P. Clodii insulum esse venalem, cujushicin aedi- 
 cu'.is habitet, decern, ut opinor, millibus. — Pro Ccelio, 7. 
 
 adliering to my new alliance, and preclude the pos- 
 sibility of returning to those who, instead of pitying 
 
 me, as they ought, never cease envying me But 
 
 since those who have no power will not love me, 
 my business is to acejuire the love of those who 
 have : you will say, I wish that you had done it 
 long ago ; I know you wished it ; and I was a mere ] 
 ass for not minding youy." ' 
 
 In this year also, Cicero wrote that celebrated 
 letter to Lucceius, in which he presses him to 
 attempt the history of his transactions. Lucceius 
 was a man of eminent learning and abilities, and 
 had just finished the history of the Italic and 
 Marian civil wars ; with intent to carry it down 
 through his own times, and, in the general rela- 
 tion, to include, as he had promised, a particular 
 account of Cicero's acts : but Cicero, who was 
 pleased with his style and manner of writing, 
 labours to engage him, in this letter, to postpone 
 the design of his continued history, and enter 
 directly on that separate period, " from the begin- 
 ning of his consulship to his restoration ; compre- 
 hending Catiline's cons()iracy and bis own exile." 
 He observes, " that this short interval was distin- 
 guished with such a variety of incidents, and 
 unexpected turns of fortune, as furnished the hap- 
 piest materials both to the skill of the writer and 
 the entertainment of the reader : that when an 
 author's attention was confined to a single and 
 select subject, he was more capable of adorning it, 
 and displaying his talents, than in the wide and 
 diffusive field of general history. But if he did 
 not think the facts themselves worth the pains of 
 adorning, that he would yet allow so mucli to 
 friendship, to affection, and even to that favour 
 which he had so laudably disclaimed in his pre- 
 faces, as not to confine himself scrupulously to the 
 strict laws of history and the rules of truth. That, 
 if he would undertake it, he would supply him 
 with some rouojh 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 restrained by modesty on the one 
 hand, or partiality on the other ; either from blam- 
 ing 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 predse -. but 
 we must consider it as written, not by a philoso- 
 
 y Urgebar ab eo, ad quem misi, et non liabebam exem- 
 plar. Quid ? etiam, (dudum circiunrodo, quod devorandum 
 est) subturpicula niihi videbatur ■KaAivcpSia ; sed valeant 
 recta, vera, honesta consilia. Non est credibile, quas sit 
 perfidia in istis principibus, ut volunt esse, et ut essent, si 
 quicquam haberent fidei. Senseram, noram, inductus, 
 relictus, projectus ab iis : tamen hoc erat in animo, ut cum 
 iis in republica consentireni. lidem erant, qui fuerant. 
 Vix aliquando te auctore resipivi. Dices, ea te monuisse, 
 qu£E facerein, non etiam ut scriberem. Ego mehercule 
 niihi necessitateni volui impoiiere hujus novae conjunc- 
 tionis, ne qua mihi licerct labi ad illos, qui etiam turn cum 
 misereri niei debent, non desinunt invidere. Sed tamen 
 modici fuimus iivoOifffi, ut scripsi — Sed quoniam qui 
 nihil possunt, ii me amare nolunt, demus operam, ut ab 
 iis, qui possunt, diliganmr. Dices, vellem jampridem. 
 Scio te voluisse, et me asinum germanum fuisse. — Ad Att. 
 iv. 5. 
 
 Scribis poema ab eo nostrum probari. — Ad Quint, ii. 1 5. 
 
 ^ Ep. Fam, 12.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 320 
 
 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 advantageous 
 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, wliere lie 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 im- 
 probable 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 elegance and 
 composition of the letter, w^hich is filled with a 
 variety of beautiful sentiments, illustrated by ex- 
 amples drawn from a perfect knowledge of history ; 
 so that it is justly ranked among the capital pieces 
 of the epistolary kind which remain to us from 
 antiquity. Cicero had employed more than ordi- 
 nary 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 effect of it was, 
 that Lucceius undertook what Cicero desired, and 
 probably made some progress in it, since Cicero 
 sent him the memoirs which he promised ; and 
 Lucceius lived many years after in an uninter- 
 rupted 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 victo- 
 ries seemed to rival the fame of Pompey himself, 
 and by his address and generosity gained ground 
 upon him daily in authority and influence in public 
 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 themselves 
 candidates within the usual time. L. Domitius 
 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 prtetor, 
 rescind Caesar's acts, and recal him from his 
 government'' ; which made them resolve at all 
 hazards to defeat him. What greatly favoured 
 their design was the obstinacy of the tribune C. 
 Cato, who, to revenge himself on Marcellinus, for 
 not suffering him to hold any assemblies of the 
 people, for promulgating his laws, would not suffer 
 the consuls to hold any, for the choice of the 
 magistrates'^. The triumvirate supported him in 
 this resolution till the year expired, and the govern- 
 
 " Epistolam, Lucceio qiiam misi — fac ut ab eo sumas: 
 valde bella est : ciimque ut adproperet adhorteris, et, 
 quod mihi se ita facturum rescripsit, agas gratias. — Ad 
 Att. iv. 6. 
 
 Tu Lucceio librum nostrum dabis. — Ibid. 1 1 . 
 
 •• Scd cum L. Domitius consulatus ciindidatus palam 
 minaretur, consulem se effecturum, quod praetor nequis- 
 set, adempturumque ei exercitus. Crassum Pompeiiun- 
 que in urbcm provincial sua; Lucam cstractos compulit, 
 ut detrudendi Domitii causa altcrum consulatum peterent. 
 — Sueton. J. Ca;s. 24. 
 
 <: Consul — dies comitiales exemit omnes — C. Cato con- 
 cionatus est, coniitia haberi non siturum, si sibi cum 
 populo agcndi dies essent exempli.— Ad Quint, ii. 6. 
 
 ment fell into an interregnum ; when by faction 
 and violence, and the terror of troops, poured into 
 the city, they extorted the consulship out of the 
 hands 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 
 adversaries, 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 
 encouraged by a general acclamation of the people, 
 "Cry out, citizens," says he, "cry out while you may, 
 for it will not be long in your power to do so with 
 safety"^." Cn. Piso also, a young nobleman, who 
 had impeached Manilius Crispus, a man of praeto- 
 rian 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, there- 
 fore, by Pompe}'^, why he did not choose to impeach 
 him rather than the criminal, 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'. 
 
 During the continuance of these tumults, occa- 
 sioned by the election of the new consuls, Cicero 
 retired into the country, where he 
 A. URB. 698. staid to the beginning of May, much 
 
 cic. 52. Qy(. Qf humour, and disgusted both 
 '^°^^" with the republic and himself. Atti- 
 
 CN.roMPEIUS , i ,. 1 • i I,- 1. 
 
 cus s constant advice to him was, to 
 M. hicisws consult his safety and interest, by 
 CRASSUS II. unitinghimself with the men of power; 
 
 and they, on their part, were as con- 
 stantly 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 different ; 
 that Atticus, having no peculiar character, suffered 
 no peculiar indignity, nothing but what was com- 
 mon to all the citizens ; whereas his own conditioix 
 was such, that if he spoke what he ought 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 uneasi- 
 ness was the greater, because he could not show 
 it without being thought ungrateful. — Shall I with- 
 draw 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 aP.er 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 resume 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 medi- 
 tating, to declare my dislike at least of what they 
 are doings^." 
 
 Such were the agitations of his mind at this 
 
 d Quid enim hoc miserius, quam eum, qui tot annos, 
 quod habet, designatus consul fuerit, consulem fieri non 
 posse? &c. — Ad Att. iv. 8 ; vide Dio, p. 103. 
 
 fi Acclamate,inquit,Quirites,acclaniate,duni licet: jam 
 enim vobis impune facere non licebit. — Val. Max. vi. 2. 
 
 f Da, inquit, prides reipublicae te, si postulatus fueris, 
 civile bellum non excitaturum ; etiam dc tuo prius, quam 
 de Manilii capite, in concilium judices mittain. — IbiJ. 
 
 C Tu quidem, etsi es natur.a ttoMtikSs, tamea nuiiam 
 K
 
 130 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 time, as he frequently signifies in ills letters : he 
 was now at one of his villas on tlie delightful shore 
 of BaiiP, till' chii'f j)lace of resort and pleasure for 
 the great and rich ; rompcy came thither in Ajuil, 
 and no sooner arrived tlian he sent him his eom- 
 jilimcnts, and spent his whole time with him : tliey 
 had much discourse on puhlic affairs, in wliich 
 Poinpey exj)ressed great uneasiness, and owned 
 himself dissatisfied with his own part in them ; hut 
 Cicero, in his account of the conversation, inti- 
 mates some suspicion of his sincerity''. In tl>e 
 midst of this company and diversion, Cicero's 
 entertainment was in his studies ; for he never 
 resided anywhere without securing to himself the 
 use of a good library : here he had the command 
 of Faustus's, the son of Sylla, and son-in-law of 
 Pomjiey, one of the best collections of Italy, 
 gathered from the spoils of Greece, and especially 
 of Athens, from which Sylla brought away many 
 thousand volumes. He had nobody in the house 
 vritlx him but Dionysius, a learned Greek slave, 
 whom Atticus had made free, and who was en- 
 trusted with the instruction of the two young 
 Ciceros, the son and the nephew : with this com- 
 panion he was devouring books, since the wretched 
 state of the public 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 desires to know what 
 account they had of it at Rome : the report was 
 very true, for Gabinius, tempted by Ptolemy's gold, 
 
 habes propriam servitutem : communi frueris nomine. 
 Ego vero, qui, si loquor do republica quod oportet, insanus, 
 si quod opus est, servus existimor, si taceo, oppressus et 
 captus ; quo dolore esse debeo ? quo suna scilicet hoc etiam 
 -vcriore, quod ne dolere quideni possum, nt non ingratus 
 *Idcar. Quid si cessare libeat et in otii portum confugere? 
 Sfequicquam. Immo etiam in belluni et incastra: ergo 
 erimus oiraSoi, qui rayol esse noluimus ? Sic faciendum 
 est ; tibi enim ipsi, cui utinam semper paruissem, sic 
 video placero. Reliqui est, 'Sirdprav eAa%€S, tout of 
 K6crj.iei ; non mehercule possum : et Pbiloxeno ignosco, 
 qui reduci in carcerem maluit. Veruntamen id ipsum 
 mecum in his locis commeotor, ut ista improbem.— Ad 
 Att. iv. 6. 
 
 The story of Dionysius the tyrant of Syracuse, and Phi- 
 loxenuB the poet, is told by Diodorus Sicvilus, lib. xv. p. 
 331. 
 
 •• Pompeius in Cumanum Parilihus venit : misit ad me 
 statim qui salutem nuntiaret: ad eum postridie mane 
 vadebam. — Ad Att. iv. 10. 
 
 Nos hie cum Pouipeio fuimns : sane sibi displicens ; ut 
 loqucbatiu-; sic est enim in hoc homine dicendum. — In nos 
 vero suavissime effusus ; venit etiam ad me in Cumanum 
 a se. — Ibid. 9. 
 
 > Ego hie pasoor bibliotheca Fausti. Fortasse tu puta- 
 bas his rebus Puteolanis et Lucrinensibus. Neista quidem 
 desunt. Sed mehercule a caeteris oblectationibus deseror 
 et voluptatibus propter rempublicam, sic Uteris sustentor 
 et recreor ; malnque in ilia tua sedecula, quam habes sub 
 imagine Aristotelis, sedere, quam in istorum sella curuli, 
 tecumque apud te ambulare, quam cum co, quocum video 
 esse ambulandum. Sed de ilia ambulatione furs videret, 
 aut si qui est, qui curet deus.— Ibid. 10. 
 
 Nos hie voramus literas cum homine mirifico, ita meher- 
 cme sentio, Bionysio.— Ibid. 11. 
 
 and the plunder of Egypt, and encouraged also, 
 as some write, by Pompey himself, undertook ta 
 rejilace him on the throne with his Syrian army ; 
 whicii he executed witii a high hand, and the 
 destruction of ail the king's enemies, 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 make him feel their displeasure 
 for it very severely at his return''. 
 
 His colleague Piso came home the first from 
 his nearer government of Macedonia, after an in- 
 glorious administration of a province, whence no 
 consular senator had ever returned but to a triumph. 
 For though, on the account of some trifling advan- 
 tage in the field, he liad procured himself to be 
 saluted emperor by his army, yet the occasion was 
 so contemptible, that he durst not send any letters 
 upon it to the senate ; but after oppressing the 
 subjects, plundering the alhes, and losing the best 
 part of his troops against the neighbouring barba- 
 rians, who invaded and laid waste the country, he 
 ran away in disguise from a mutiny of the soldiers, 
 wiiom he disbanded at last without their pay'. 
 When he arrived at Rome, he stripped his fasces 
 of their laurel, and entered the city obscurely and 
 ignominiously, without any other attendance thaa 
 his own retinue™. On his first appearance in 
 public, trusting to the authority of his son-in-law, 
 Caesar, he had the hardiness to attack Cicero, and 
 complain to the senate of his injurious treatment 
 of him : but when he began to reproach him with 
 the disgrace of his exile, the whole assembly inter- 
 rupted him by a loud and general 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 arma togs, concedat laurca linguae, 
 was the cause of all his calamity, by provoking 
 Pompey to make him feel, how much the power of 
 the general was superior 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 
 meddle with those who had more power, and where 
 his resentment was more due°. But it had been 
 
 ■" Vid. Dio, 1. xxxix. p. 116, &c. 
 
 1 Ex qua aliquot prastorio imperio, consulari quidem 
 nemo rediit, qui incolumis fuerit, qui non triumpharit. — 
 In Pison. Iti. 
 
 Ut ex ea provincia, quae fuit ex omnibus una maxime 
 triumphalis, nullas sit ad senatum literas mittere ausus. 
 — Nuntius ad senatum missus est nullas. — Ibid. 19. 
 
 Mitto de amissa maxima parte exercitus. — Ibid. 20. 
 
 Dyrrhachium ut venit decedens, obsessus est ab iis ipsis 
 militibus — Quibus cum juratus afi&rmassit, se, quse debe- 
 rentur, postero die persoluturum ; domum se abdidit : 
 inde nocte intempesta crepidatus, veste servili navem 
 conscendit. — Ibid. 38. 
 
 ■n Sic iste — Macedonicus imperator in urbem se intulit, 
 ut nullius negotiatoris obscurissimi reditus unquam fuerit 
 desertior.' — Ibid. 23. 
 
 Cum tu — detractam e cruentis fascibus lauream ad per- 
 tam Esquilinam abjecisti. — Ibid. 30. 
 
 ° Tune ausus es meum discessum ilium — maledicti et 
 contumelias loco ponere? Quo quidem tempore cepi, 
 Patres Conscripti. fructum immortalem vestri in me amo- 
 ris — qui non admurmiu-atione, sed voce et clamore abjecti 
 hominis — petulantiam frcgistis. — Ibid. 14. 
 
 o Non ulla tibi, inquit, invidia nocuit, sed versus tui.—
 
 MARCU? TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 131 
 
 better for him to liave stifleJ his complaints, and 
 suffered Cicero to be quiet ; who, exasiicrated by 
 his imprudent attack, made a reply to him upon 
 the spot in an invective speech, the severest 
 perhaps that was ever spoken by any man, on the 
 person, tlie parts, the whole life and conduct of 
 Piso ; whicli, as long as the Roman name subsists, 
 must deliver down a most detestable character of 
 him to all posterity. As to the verse with which 
 Le was urged, he ridicules the absurdity of Piso's 
 application of it, and tells him, "that he had con- 
 trived a very extraordinary punishment for poor 
 poets, if they were to be banished for every bad 
 line : that he was a critic of a new kind, not an 
 Aristarchus, but a grammatical Phalaris ; who, 
 instead of expunging the verse, was for destroying 
 the author : 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 
 «tyle ; and as the one was the emblem of peace, 
 the other 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 
 little 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 
 thouglit it inferior to every other kind of honour 
 
 that as for Pompey, it was silly 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 shown any 
 coldness towards him, it was all owing to the 
 perfidy and malice of such as Piso, who were con- 
 tinually infusing jealousies and suspicions into him, 
 till they had removed from his confidence all who 
 loved either him or the republicP." 
 
 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 
 theatre of Mytilene, but greatly enlarged, so as to 
 •receive commodiously forty thousand people. It 
 was surrounded by a portico, to shelter the company 
 in bad weather, and had a curia or senate-house 
 llaec res tibi fluctus illos excitavit — Tuae dicis, inquit, 
 toga», summum imperatorem esse cessurum,— 
 
 Paullo ante dixisti me cum iis confligere, quos despice- 
 rem ; non attingero eos, qui plus possent, quibus irutus 
 esse dcberem.^ln Pison. 2<), 3(t, 31. 
 
 P Quoniam tenon Aristarchum, sed gi-ammaticum Plia- 
 larim habemus, quinon notam apponas ad malum versuni, 
 sed poetani armis pioscquarc — Quid nunc te, asine, litcras 
 doceam ? Non dixi banc togani, qua sum amictus, nee 
 arma, scutum etgladium uniusimperatoris : sed quod pacis 
 est insigneet otii, toga; contra autem anna, tumultus ac 
 belli, more poetarum locutus, hoc intelligi volui, bclluni 
 ac tuniultum paci atquo otio concossurum — in altero — 
 liarerem, nisi tu expedisscs. Nam cum fu— detractam o 
 crucntis fascibuslauream ad portam Esquilinnni abjecisti, 
 indicasti, non modo aniplissinis, sed etiani minima; laudi 
 laiiream concossisse — Vis Ponipcium isto ver.sii inimicimi 
 mibi t«se factum — Prinio nonne compensabit cum uno 
 ver.siculo tot mea volumina laudum suarmn ? Vestr.-c 
 fraudes, — vestrae criniinationes insidiariuu mcariun — cfifc- 
 (cenmt ut ego cxcluderer— &c.— Ibid. .'iO.si. 
 
 annexed to it, with a basilica also, or grand hall, 
 proper for the sittings of judges, or any other 
 public business; which were all finished at Pompey's 
 cost, and adorned with a great number of images, 
 formed by the ablest masters, of men and women, 
 famed for something very remarkable or ])rodigious 
 in their lives and characters'!. Atticus undertook 
 the care of placing all these statues, for which 
 Pompey charged Cicero with his thanks to him' : 
 but what made this fabric the more surjirising and 
 splendid, was a beautiful tem|)le, erected at one 
 end of it, to Venus the conqueress, and so con- 
 trived 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 shows might 
 seem to come to worship the goddess'. 
 
 At the solemnity of this dedication, Pompey 
 entertained the people with the most magnificent 
 shows which had ever been exhibited in Rome : 
 in the theatre were stage plays, prizes of music, 
 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 wounded, 
 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 
 show, and drew curses on Pompey himself 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 lasting honour in 
 it ; that it satiates while it pleases, and is forgotten 
 as soon as it is over". It gives us, however, a 
 genuine idea of the wealth and grandeur of these 
 principal subjects of Rome, who, from their private 
 revenues, could raise such noble buildings, and 
 provide such shows, from the several quarters of 
 
 1 Ponipeius Magnus in ornamcntis theatri mirabiles 
 fama posuit imagines ; ob id diligentius magnoriun artifi- 
 cum ingeniis elaboratas : inter quas legitur Eutyche, a 
 viginti liberis rogo illata, enixa triginta partus ; Alcippc, 
 Elephantum — Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. .3. 
 
 r Tibi etiam gratias agebat, quod signa componenda 
 suscepisses. — Ad Att. iv. 9. 
 
 • Quum Pompeius, inquit, xdem Victoria; dedicaturus 
 esset, cujus gradus vieem theatri esscnt, «5cc. — Aul. Cell. 
 X. 1 ; Tertull. Da Spectaculis. 
 
 Dion Cassius mentions it, as a tradition that be had 
 met with, that this theatre was not really built by 
 Pompey, but by his freedmnn, Demetrius, who had mado 
 himself richer than his ni.isstcr, by attending him in his 
 wars ; and to take off the envy of raising so vast an estate, 
 laid out a considerable part of it upon the theatre, and 
 gave the honoiu- of it to Pompey.— Die, p. Id/ ; Seneca De 
 Tranq. Anim. c. 8. 
 
 ' JIagnificentissima vero Pompeii nostri munera in sc- 
 cundo consulatu. — Dc Off. ii. Ifi. 
 
 Pompeii quoque altero consulatu, dedicatione tcnipli 
 Veneris Victricis, pugnavcre in circo viginti clcphanies. 
 
 Aniissa fugte spe miscricordiam vulgi inenan.ibili 
 
 h.abitu quercntes supplieaverc, quaJam ,sese lamcntatuino 
 complorantes, tanto populi dolorc. ut oblitus impcratoris 
 — flens imiversus consurgorct, dirasque Pompeio, quas 
 ille niox luit, pocnas imprecaretur.— Plin. 1. viii. 7 ; l*'t>. 
 1. xxxix. p. ll>7 ; Plutarch, in Pomp. 
 
 " In his infinitis— sumptibus, nihil nos magnopero 
 mirari: cum ncc neccssitati subveniatur, ncc dignitas 
 augeatur : ipsaque ilia dckctatio multitudinis sit ad brevo 
 exiguumquc tempu&-in quo tamen ipso una cum satietato 
 memoria quoque moriatur voluptatis.— Dc Off. ii. 16. 
 K 2
 
 132 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 the world, which no monarch on earth is now able 
 to exhibit. 
 
 Cicero, contrary to his custom, was present at 
 these shows, out of compliment to Pompey, and 
 gives a particular account of them to his friend M. 
 Marius, who could not be drawn 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 to Pompey, but, for the sake of 
 their own honour, ought rather to have staid away : 
 our friend vEsopus appeared to be quite sunk and 
 ivorn out, so that all people seemed willing to grant 
 him his quietus ; for, in attempting to raise his 
 voice, where he had occasion to swear, his speech 
 
 faltered and failed him. In the other plays, the 
 
 vast apparatus, and crowded machinery, which 
 raised the admiration of the mob, spoiled the 
 entertainment : six hundred mules, infinite trea- 
 sures of plate, troops of horse and foot fighting on 
 the stage. The huntings, indeed, were magni- 
 ficent ; 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 show of elephants, instead of delight, 
 raised a general compassion, and an opinion of 
 some relation between that animal and man : but 
 lest you should think me wholly 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 ^sopus. 
 I would willingly quit the stage, to live with you, 
 and such as you, in a polite and liberal ease''." 
 
 The city continued, for a great part of this 
 summer, without its annual magistrates : for the 
 elections, which had been postponed from the last 
 year, were still kept o.ff by the consuls, till they 
 could settle them to their minds, and secure them 
 to their own creatures ; which they effected at last, 
 except iu the case of two tribunes, who slipped 
 into the office against their will : but the most 
 remarkable repulse was of M. Cato from the prse- 
 torship, which was given to Vatinius, from the best 
 citizen to the worst. Cato, upon his return from 
 the Cyprian voyage, was complimented by the 
 senate for that service with the offer of the prsetor- 
 ship in an extraordinary manner?. But he declined 
 the compliment, thinking it more agreeable 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 thought sure of success, 
 Pompey broke up the assembly, on pretence of 
 somewhat inauspicious in the heavens, and by 
 intrigue and management got Vatinius declared 
 praetor, who had been repulsed the year before with 
 disgrace, from the sedileship^: but this being car- 
 ried by force of money, and likely to produce an 
 impeachment of Vatinius, Afranius moved for a 
 decree, that the prsetors 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 con- 
 sidered as private men. The pretence for the 
 
 * Ep. Fam. vii. 1. 
 
 y Cujus ministerii gratia senatus relationem interponi 
 jubebat, ut prxtoriis comitiis extra ordinem ratio ejus 
 Jiaberetur. Sed ipse id fieri passus non est. — Val. JNIax. 
 iv. i ; Plutarch, in Caton. 
 
 * Proxiraa dementia; suffragia — quoniam quern honorcm 
 Catoiu negaverunt, Vatinio Caxx^ coacti sunt. — Val. Mas. 
 vii. 5 ; Plutarch, in Pomp. 
 
 decree was, that so much of the year being spent, 
 tUe whole would pass without any praetors at all, 
 if a liberty of impeaching was allowed : from this- 
 moment, says Cicero, they have given the exclusion 
 to Cato ; and, being masters of all, resolve that all' 
 the world .shall know it". 
 
 Cicero's Palatine house, and the adjoining portico 
 of Catulus, were now finished ; and as he and his 
 brother were the curators likewise of the repairs of 
 the temple of Tcllus'', so they seem to have pro- 
 vided some inscriptions for these buildings in honour 
 and memory of themselves ; but since no public 
 inscriptions could be set up unless by public autho- 
 rity, they were apjjrehensive 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 afair, and 
 told him that Clodius had a point to carry for him- 
 self 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 lieutenancies, that he 
 might go with a public 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, " I shall not concern 
 myself about it, whether I gain my own point or 
 not, though Pompey and Crassus have jointly 
 undertaken it." But he seems to have obtained 
 what he desired, since, besides the intended in- 
 scriptions, he mentions a statue also of his brother,, 
 which he had actually erected at the temple of 
 Tellus'^. 
 
 Trebonius, one of the tribunes in the interests of 
 the triumvirate, published a law for the assignment 
 of provinces to the consuls for the term of five 
 years — to Pompey Spain and Afric, to Crassus 
 Syria and the Parthian war, with a power 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 Cato, Favonius, and' 
 two of the tribunes, C.Ateius Capito,and P.Aqui- 
 lius Gallus. But the superior force of the consuls 
 and the other tribunes prevailed, and cleared the 
 forum by violence of all their opponents. 
 
 The law no sooner passed than Crassus began 
 
 ^ A. D. m. Id. Maii S. C factum est de ambitu in Afraniii 
 
 sententiam. Sed magno cum gomitu senatus. Consules 
 
 non sunt perseouti eorum sententias : qui Afranio cum 
 essent assensi addiderunt, ut pra?tores ita crearentur, ut 
 dies Lx. privati essent. EodieCatonem plane repudiarunt. 
 Quid multa ? Tenent omnia, idque ita omnes intelligero 
 volunt. — Ad Quint, ii. 9. 
 
 •> Quod sdes Telluris est ciu-ationis meae. — De Hanisp. 
 Respons. 14. 
 
 <^ Multa nocte cum VibuUio veni ad Pompeium. Cum- 
 que ego egissem de istis operibus et inscriptionibus, per 
 niihi benigne respondit. — Cum Crasso se dixit loqui velle, 
 mihique, ut idem facereni suaslt. Crassum consuleni 
 ex senatu domum reduxi : suscepit rem, dixitque esse 
 quod Clodius hoc tempore cuperet se, et per Pompeium- 
 consequi. Putare se, si ego euni non iinpedirom, posse mo 
 adipisci sine contentione qiiod vellem, &c. — Ad Quint. 
 ii. 9. 
 
 Reddita est mihi pervetus epistola in qua de sedo 
 
 Telluris, et de porticu Catuli me admones. Fit utrumque 
 diligenter. Ad Telluris etiam tuam statuam locavi — 
 Ibid. iii. 1. 
 
 I
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 133 
 
 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 republic in a desperate 
 war, for which the Parthians had given no j)retext, 
 was generally detested by the city. The tribune 
 Ateius declared it impious, and prohibited by all 
 the auspices, and denounced direful imprecations 
 against it ; but finding Crassus determined to 
 march 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, when he was 
 censor, for falsifying the auspices on this occasion ; 
 but tlie miserable fate of Crassus supported the 
 credit of them, and confirmed the vulgar 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 re- 
 ality 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 people; 
 for if the auspices, they said, were false, they 
 could not possibly have any effect, or be the cause 
 of that calamity '^. But though they were undoubt- 
 edly forged, it is certain however that they had a 
 real influence on the overthrow of Crassus ; for 
 the terror of them had deeply possessed the minds 
 of the soldiers, and made them turn everything 
 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 panic that they had 
 not courage or spirit enough left to make a tolera- 
 ble resistance. 
 
 Crassus was desirous before he left Rome to be 
 reconciled to Cicero. They had never been real 
 friends, but generally opposite in party ; and 
 Cicero's early engagements with Pompey kept him 
 of course at a distance from Crassus. Their cold- 
 ness 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 accidental debate in the senate blew 
 up their secret grudge into an open quarrel. The de- 
 bate was upon Gabinius, whom Crassus undertook 
 to defend, with many severe reflections upon 
 Cicero, who replied 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 extinguished , till, from this accident, it burst 
 
 ^ Dio, 1. xxxix. p. I(J9; Plutarch, in Crass. 
 
 ' M. Crasso quid acciderit, videmus, dirarum obnuncia- 
 tioneneglecta.— BeDivin. i. 16. 
 
 ' Solus enim multorinn annorum niemoiia, non decan- 
 iondi augurii, sed divinandi tenuit disciplinam : quem 
 jrridebant coUcgae tui, emiiqiie turn Pisidaiii, tuni Soramim 
 ■augurem esse dicebant. Quibiis nulla videbatur in augu- 
 riis aut auspiciis prarsensio. — Ibid. 4/. 
 
 In quo Appius, bonus augiu- — non satis scienter — civem 
 'Cgregium, Ateium, censor notavit, quod ementitum auspi- 
 cia subscripserit.— Qunc si falsa fuisset nuUam adferre 
 <|>otaisset causiun calaniitatis.— Ibid. 16. 
 
 out into a flame. The quarrel gave great joy to the 
 chiefs of the 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 reconciled 
 with Crassus ; so that he could not hold out 
 against an intercession so powerful, and so well 
 enforced by his affection to young Crassus. Their 
 reconciliation was confirmed by mutual i)rofessions 
 of a sincere friendship for the future ; and Crassus, 
 to give a public testimony of it to the city, invited 
 himself, just before his departure, to sup with 
 Cicero, who entertained him in the gardens of 
 his son-in-law, CrassipesB'. These gardens were 
 upon the banks of the Tiber, and seem to have 
 been famous for their beauty and situation'', and 
 are the only proof which we meet with of the 
 splendid fortunes 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 the 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'. In this retirement he put the 
 last hand to his piece on the Complete Orator, 
 which he sent to Attici'.s, and promises also to 
 send to Lentulus, telling him that he had inter- 
 mitted his old task of orations, and betaken him- 
 self to the milder and gentler studies, in which he 
 had finished 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 tlie ordinary 
 way of the schools and the dry method of precepts, 
 but comprehending all that the ancients, and 
 especially Aristotle and Isocrates, had taught on 
 the iustitution of an orator ''. 
 
 The three books contain as many dialogues, upon 
 the character and idea of the perfect orator. The 
 principal speakers were P. Crassus and M. Anto- 
 nius, persons of the first dignity in the republic, 
 and the greatest masters of eloquence which Rome 
 had then known ; they were near forty years 
 older than Cicero, and the first Romans who could 
 pretend to dispute the prize of oratory with the 
 
 e Repentinam ejus Gabinii defensioncni— Si sine ulla 
 mea contumelia suscepisset, tulissein : sod cum me dispu- 
 tantem, non lacessentem la;sisset, exarsi non solum prae- 
 senti, credo, iracundia (nam ea tarn velicnipns fortasse non 
 fuiaset) sed cum inclusum Ulud odium multarum ejus in 
 me injuriarum, quod ego cffudisse nie oiiine arbitrabar, 
 residuum tamen insciente me fuisset, onine rcponte appa- 
 ruit— CumquePompeiusitacontendisset, ut nihil unquam 
 magis, ut cum Crasso redirem in gratiam ; Ca.'sarque per 
 literas maxima se molestia ex ilia contentionc affectum 
 ostenderet : habui non temporum solum nieorum rationem, 
 sed etiam naturae. Crassusque, ut quasi testata populo 
 Romano esset nostra gratia, pa;ne a nieis laribus in provin- 
 ciam est profectus. Jvam cum mihi condixissct, cocnavit 
 apud me in nici generi Crassipcdis hortis.— Ep. Fam. i. 9. 
 
 1' Ad Quint, iii. 7 ; Ad Att. iv. 12. 
 
 i Ego afuissc me in altercationibus, quas in senatu factas 
 audio, fero non molestc ; nam aut defendissem quod non 
 placeret, aut defuissem cui non oporteret.— Ad Att. iv. 13. 
 
 k Scripsi etiam, (nam ab orationibus dijungo me fere, 
 referoqucadmansuetioresmusas,) scrips! igiturAristoteleo 
 more, quemadmodum quideni volui, tres libros in dispu- 
 tatione et dialogo dc uratorf, quos arbitror Lcntulo tuc 
 non fore inutilcs. Abhorrent cnim a communibus pricep- 
 tis : ae omncm antiquorum,et Aristotelcim ct Isocrateam 
 rationem oratoriam complectuntur.— Ep. l"ani. i. 9.
 
 134 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Greeks, and who carried the Latin tongue to a 
 degree of perfection wliicli left little or no room 
 for any further improvement'. The disputation 
 •was undertaken at the desire and for the instruc- 
 tion of two young orators of great hopes, C. Cotta 
 and P. Sulpicius, who were then beginning to 
 flourish at the bar. Cicero himself was not pre- 
 sent at it, but being informed by Cotta of the 
 principal heads and general argument of the 
 whole, supplied the rest from his own invention, 
 agreeably to the different style and manner which 
 those great men were known to pursue ; and with 
 design to do honour to the memory of them both, 
 but especially of Crassus, who had been the direc- 
 tor of his early studies, and to whom he assigns 
 the defence of that notion which he himself always 
 entertained of the character of a consummate 
 speaker"". 
 
 Atticus was exceedingly pleased with this treatise, 
 and commended it to the skies, but objected to 
 the propriety of dismissing Scsevola from the dis- 
 putation after he had once been introduced into 
 the first dialogue. Cicero defends himself by the 
 example of their god Plato, as he cadis him, in his 
 book on Government, where the scene, being laid 
 in the house of an old gentleman, Cephalus, the 
 old man, after bearing a part in the first conver- 
 sation, excuses himself that he must go to prayers, 
 and returns no more ; Plato not thinking it suit- 
 able to the character of his age to be detained in 
 the company through so long a discourse ; that, 
 with greater reason, therefore, he had used the 
 same caution in the case of Scsevola, since it was 
 not decent to suppose a person of his dignity, ex- 
 treme age, and infirm health, spending several 
 days successively in another man's house : that 
 the first day's dialogue related to his particular 
 profession, but the other two turned chiefly on the 
 rules and precepts of the art, where it was not 
 proper for one of Scsevola's temper and character 
 to assist only as a hearer". This admirable work 
 remains entire, a standing monument of Cicero's 
 parts and abilities, which, while it exhibits to us 
 the idea of a perfect orator, and marks out the 
 way by which Cicero formed himself to that cha- 
 racter, it explains the reason likewise why nobody 
 
 ' Crassus— quatuor et triginta turn babebat annos, tot- 
 jdemque annis mibi astate prsstabat — Triennioipso minor 
 quam Antonius, quod idcirco posui, ut dicendi latine 
 prima maturitas qua £Etate extitisset, posset notaii ; et 
 intelligeretur, jam ad summum psene esse perductam, ut 
 eo nihil fermc quisquani addere posset, nisi qui a philo- 
 sopbia, a jiu-e civili, ab historia fuisset instructior. — 
 Brut. 275. 
 
 Nunc ad Antonium, Crassumquo pervenimus. Nam ego 
 sic e.\istimo hos oratores fuisse maximos : et in his primum 
 cum Grascorum gloria latine dicendi copiam sequatam.' — 
 Ibid. 250. 
 
 ™ Nos enim, qui ipsi sennoni non interfuissemus, ct 
 quibus C. Cotta tantummodo locos ac sententias hujus 
 ditputationis tradidissct, quo in genere orationis utrum- 
 que oratorcm cognoveramus, id ipsum sumus in eoruni 
 sennone adumbrare conati. — De Orat. iii. 4. 
 
 Ut ei, (Crasso) et si nequaquam parem illius ingenio, at 
 pro nostro tameu studio meritam gratiam debitamque 
 referamus. — Ibid. 
 
 " Quod in iis libris, quos laudas, personam desideras 
 Sca;vol£E. Non earn temere dimovi, sed feci idem, quod in 
 iroXireia, deus ille noster, Plato. Cum in Pirfpeum 
 Socrates venisset ad Cephalum, locupletem et festivum 
 senem, quoad primus ille sermo haberetur adest in dispu- 
 tando Eenez, (Sco.~-Ad Att. iv. 16. 
 
 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", with whom, as some writers 
 say, he found Sallust the historian in bed not long 
 after, and had him soundly lashed before he dis- 
 missed him. The consuls, Pompey and Crassus, 
 having reaped all the fruit which they had proposed 
 from the consulship, of securing to themselves 
 the provinces which they wanted, were not much 
 concerned about the choice of their successors ; so 
 that after postponing the election to the end of 
 the year, they gave way at last to their enemy,. 
 L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, being content to have 
 joined with him their friend Appius Claudius- 
 Pulcher. 
 
 As soon as the new year came on, Crassus's 
 
 enemies began to attack him in the senate : their 
 
 design was to revoke his commission, 
 
 A. URB. 699. or abridge it at least of the power of 
 
 cic. o3. making war upon the Parthians ; but 
 Cicero exerted himself so strenuously 
 AHENo- ' ^^ ^'^ defence that he bafiJed their 
 BARBus attempts, after a warm contest witb 
 
 A. CLAUDIUS the consuls themselves and several of 
 PULCHER. the consular senators. He gave Cras- 
 sus an accomit of the debate by letter, 
 in which he tells him that he had given 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 aU 
 his pains, advice, authority, interest, in everything 
 great or small, which concerned himself, his friends, 
 or clients, and bids him look upon that letter as a 
 league of amity which on his part should be invio- 
 lably observed?. 
 
 The month of February being generally employed 
 in giving audience to foreign princes and ambas- 
 sadors, Antiochus, king of Comagene, a territory 
 on the banks of the Euphrates', preferred a peti- 
 tion to the senate for some new honour or privi- 
 lege, which was commonly decreed to princes ia 
 alliance with the republic : but Cicero, being in a 
 rallying humour, made the petition so ridiculous 
 that the house rejected it ; and, at his motion, re- 
 served likewise out of his jurisdiction one of his 
 principal towns. Zeugma, in vsdiich was the chief 
 bridge and passage over the Euphrates. Caesar, 
 in his consulship, had granted to this king the 
 honour of the prsetexta, or the robe of the Roman 
 magistrates, which was always disagreeable to the 
 nobility, who did not care to see these petty 
 princes put upon the same rank with themselves ; 
 so that Cicero, calling out upon the nobles, " Will 
 you," says he, " who refused the prsetexta to the 
 king of Bostra, "suff'er 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 recon- 
 ciled to Cicero, and paid a particular court to him 
 
 o Ad Att. iv. 13 ; v. 8. 
 
 p Has literas velim existimes foederis habituras esse vim,, 
 non epistolae ; mcque ea, quEe tibi promitto ac recipio,. 
 sanctissinie esse observaturum. — Ep. Fam. v. 0. 
 
 P Ep. Fam. xv. 1, 3, 4. 
 
 I
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 135 
 
 at tnis time, applied to him by Atticus and their 
 common 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 Cuman villa, began a treatise on politics, or 
 on the best state of a city, and the duties of a 
 citizen: he calls it "a great and laborious work, yet 
 worthy of his pains if he could succeed in it ; if 
 not, I shall throw 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 
 greatest persons of the old republic were intro- 
 duced, debating on the origin and best constitution 
 of government ; Scipio, Lselius, Philus, Manilius, 
 &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 intro- 
 duction of those ancients, instead of adding gravity, 
 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, or contemplative theorist, but of a con- 
 sular senator and statesman, conversant 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 republic which were 
 later than the period to which he confined himself: 
 but after some deliberation, being unwilling to 
 throw away the two books already finished, with 
 which he was much pleased, he resolved to stick 
 to the old plan, and as he had preferred it 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 published, and 
 survived him for several ages, though now unfor- 
 tunately lost'. 
 
 •■ De Comageno rege, quod rem totam dlscusseram, milii 
 et per se et per Pomponium blanditur Appius. Vadet enim, 
 si hoc genere dicendi utar in cseteris, Februarium sterilem 
 futurum. Eumque lusi jocose satis : neque solum illud 
 extorsi oppidulum, quod erat posituniin Euphrate, Zeug- 
 ma ; sed prjeterea togam ejus prastextam, quam erat 
 adeptus Caesare consule, magno hominum risu cavillatus. 
 — Vos autem homines nobiles, qui Bostrenum praetex- 
 tatuni non ferebatis, Comagenum feretis ? — Multa dixi in 
 ignobilem regem, quibus totus est explosus. Quo genere 
 commotus Appius totum me amplexatur. — Ad Quint. 
 ii. 12. 
 
 » Scribebam ilia, quae dixeram TroAtTiKd, spissum sane 
 opus et operosum : sed si ex sententia successerit, bene 
 erit opera posita ; sin minus, in illud ipsum mare dcji- 
 ciemus, quod scribentes spectamus ; aggrediemur alia, 
 quoniam quiescere non possumus. — Ibid. 14. 
 
 Banc ego, quam institui, de republica disputationem in 
 Aftiuani personam et Phili, et Laelii et Slanilii contuli, 
 *:c. — Rem, quod te non fugit, magnam complexus sum 
 et gravem, et plurimi otii, quod ego maxime egeo. — Ad 
 Att. iv. 16. 
 
 * Sermo autem in novem et dies et libros distributus de 
 
 From the fragments of this work, which still 
 remain, it appears to have been a noble perform- 
 ance, and one of his capital pieces, where all the 
 important questions in politics and morality were 
 discussed 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 of pubUc or private prosperity ; 
 so that he calls his six books so many pledges 
 given to the pubhc for the integrity of his conduct". 
 The younger Scipio was the principal speaker of 
 the dialogue, whose part it was to assert the ex- 
 cellence of the Roman constitution, preferably 
 to that of all other states^; who, in the sLxth 
 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 en- 
 tertaining that it has been the standing pattern 
 ever since to the wits of succeeding ages, for 
 attempting the same method of instilling moral 
 lessons in the form of dreams or visions. 
 
 He was now drawn at last into a particular in- 
 timacy 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 Quintus, to pay his court the better 
 to his general, joined heartily in pressing his 
 brother to a union with him, instead of adhering 
 so obstinately to Pompey, who, as he tells him, 
 was neither so sincere nor so generous a friend as 
 CsesarJ". Cicero did not dislike the advice, and 
 expressed 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 Csesar returned answer : — " I perceive that 
 you had written somewhat about Cicero, which I 
 could not make out ; but, as far as I can guess, it 
 was something rather to be wished than ho pedfor'." 
 Optimo statu civitatis et do optimo cive. — Hi libri, cum in 
 Tusculano mihi legerentur, audiente Sallustio, admonitua 
 sum ab illo, multo majoro auctoritate illis de rebus dici 
 posse, si ipse loquerer do republica ; pracsertim cum essem, 
 non Heraclides Ponticus, sed consularis, et is, qui in maxi- 
 mis versatus in republica rebus esscni : qus tam antiquis 
 hominibus attribuerem, ea visum iri ficta esse.— Commovit 
 me, et eo magis, quod maximos inotus nostra; civitatis 
 attingerenonpoteram, quoderantinferiores, quamillorum 
 a;tas qui loquebantur. Ego autem id ipsum turn eram 
 secutus, ne in nostra tempora incurrcns offenderem quem- 
 piam. — Ad Quint, iii. 5. 
 
 This will solve that variation -which we find in his own 
 aecoimtof this work, in different parts of hiswTitings: 
 and why Fannius, v.ho in some places is declared to be a 
 speaker in it, [Ad Att. iv. 16 ; Ad Quint, iii. 5,] is denied 
 to be so in others ; being dropped when the number of books 
 was contracted. 
 
 " Cum sex libris, tanquam praedibus me ipsum 
 cbstrinxerini, quos tibi tam valde probari gaudeo.— Ad 
 Att. vi. 1. 
 
 X- An censes, cum in illis de republica libris persuadero 
 videatur Afiicanus, omnium rerumpublicarum nostr.-im 
 veterem illam fuisse optimam. — Ve Leg. ii. 10; ibid. 
 i. «, 9. 
 
 y De Pompeio assentior tibi, vel tu potius mihi, nam, ut 
 scis, jampridem istum canto Ca;sarcm.— Ad Quint, ii. 13. 
 
 z Ille scripsit ad Balbum, fasciculum ilium epistolaruni, 
 in quo '■uerat et mea ct Balbi. totum i-ibi aqua madidum 
 es-o: ut ne illud quidom sciat, me.am fuisse aliquam epifl-
 
 13C 
 
 TlIK HISTOIIY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 But Cicero sent another cojiy of tlie same letter, 
 whicli came sate to his liaiids, written, as he says, 
 in the fatuiiiar style, yet without ili'parting from 
 liis dij^nity. Ciesar answered him with all imagin- 
 able kindness, and the offer of everything in 
 which his i)o\ver could serve him, telling liim how 
 agreeable 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 lawyer 
 Trebatius to him, and says upon it jocosely, that 
 there was not a man before in Lis army who knew 
 how to draw a recognizance. Cicero, in his ac- 
 count of this letter to his brother, says — " It is 
 kind in you, and like a brother, to i)ress 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 quickening their speed come sooner to their 
 journey's end than if they had set out earlier ; so 
 I, who have overslept 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 advan- 
 tage or personal benefit from this alliance, "believe 
 me," says he, "you who know me, I have from him 
 already what I most value, the assurance of his 
 affection, which I prefer to all the great things that 
 he offers me-'." In another letter he says, — " I lay 
 no great stress on his promises, want no further 
 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 expecting what I do not really desire''." 
 
 But though he made no use of Caesar's generosity 
 for himself, yet he used it freely for his friends : 
 for besides his brother, who was Csesar's lieutenant, 
 and Trebatius, who was his lawyer ; he procured 
 an eminent post for Orfius, and a regiment for 
 Curtius ; yet Ciesar was chiding him all the while 
 fo r his reserv edness in asking"-'. His recom- 
 tolam. Sed ex Balbi epistola pauca verba intellexerat, 
 ad quas rescripsit lijs verbis :— De Cicerone video te quid- 
 dam scripsisse, quod ego non intellexi ; quantum autem 
 conjectui-a consequebar, id erat Inijusmodi, ut magis optan- 
 dum, quam sperandum putarem.— Ad Quint, ii. 12. 
 
 a Cum Ca;s6ris literis, refertis omni officio, diligentia, 
 suavitate — Quarum initium est, quam suavis ei tuus 
 adventus fuerit, et recordatio veteris amoris ; deindo se 
 effecturum, ut ego in medio dolore ac desiderio tui, to, 
 
 cum a me abcsscs, potissimum secum esse laetarer. 
 
 Trebatium quod ad se miscrim, persalse et humaniter 
 etiam gratias niihi agit : negat enim in tanta multitudine 
 eorum, qui una essent, quempiam fuisse, qui vadimonium 
 concipere posset. — 
 
 Quare facis tu quidem fraterne, quod me hortaris, sed 
 meliereule currcntem nunc quidem, ut omnia mea studia 
 in istum imuni eonforam, &c. 
 
 Sed mihi crede, quern nosti, quod in istis rebus ego 
 plurimi Kstimo, jam habeo :— deinde CKsaris tantum in 
 me amorem, quem omnibus liis honoribus, quos me a se 
 expectare vult, antepono.— Ad Quint, ii. 15. 
 
 b Promissis iis, qu£e ostendit, non valde pendeo : nee 
 honores sitio, ncc desidero gloriam : magisque ejus volun- 
 tatis perpetuitatem, quam promissorum exitum expecto. 
 Vivo tamen in ea ambitione et labore, tanquam id, quod 
 non postulo, expectem.— Ibid. iii. 5. 
 
 « M. Curtjo tribunatum ab eo petivi. — Ibid. ii. 15 ; Ep. 
 Fam. vii. 5. 
 I, De tribunatu — mihi ipse Ca:sar noniinatini Curtio p.'ua- 
 
 mendatory letter of Trebatius, will show both 
 what a share he possessed at tliis time of Casar's 
 confidence, and with wiiat an affectionate zeal he 
 used to recommend his friends. 
 
 " Cicero to Cccsar emperor. 
 
 " See, how I have persuaded myself to consider 
 you as a second self; not only in what affects my 
 own interest, but in what concerns my friends : 
 I had resolved, whither.soever I went abroad, to 
 carry C. Trebatius along with me, that I might 
 bring him home adorned with the fruits of my 
 care and kindness : but since Pompey's stay in 
 Rome has been longer than I expected, 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 frankness of your good will, than I 
 used to do of my own : but a 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, I will make him even king 
 of Gaul, or lieutenant to Lepta; send me another 
 therefore, if you please, whom I may prefer.' We 
 hfted up our hands, both 1 and Balbus; theoccasiou 
 was so pat, that it seemed not to be accidental, 
 but divine. I send you therefore Trebatius ; and 
 send him so, as at first indeed I designed, of my 
 own accord, but now also by your invitation : 
 embrace him, my dear Csesar, with all your usual 
 courtesy ; and whatever 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 style, which you justly 
 rallied, when I wrote to you about Milo, but in 
 the true Roman phrase which men of sense use ; 
 that there is not an honester, worthier, modester 
 man living : I must add, what makes the principal 
 part of his character, that he has a singular memory 
 and perfect knowledge of the civil law. I ask for 
 him, neither a regiment nor government, nor any 
 certain piece of preferment ; I ask your bene- 
 volence 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 to 
 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 
 temper; a lover of books and good company; 
 eagerly fond of the pleasures of Rome ; and wholly 
 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 prefer 
 him so soon as he expected, he was 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, written not only 
 
 tuni esse rescripsit, meamque in rogando vcrecundiaBl 
 objurgavit. — Ad Quint, iii. 1. 
 ** Kp. I-'am. vii. 5.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 137 
 
 •with the disinterested affection of a friend, but the 
 solicitude even of a parent, employing all the arts 
 of insinuation, as well of the grave as of tlie 
 facetious kind, to hinder him from ruining his 
 Slopes and fortunes by his own imprudence. 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 pul)lic well 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 Ctesar, and thought that he had nothing 
 to do but to take his money and return home ; 
 not recollecting, that even those who followed 
 king Ptolemy with bonds to Alexandria, had not 
 yet brought back a penny of money ^ You write me 
 word," says he, " that Caesar now consults you; 
 ^ had rather hear that he consults your interest^. 
 l.et me die, if I do not believe, such is your vanity, 
 that you had rather be consulted than enriched by 
 him''." By these railleries and perpetual admo- 
 nitions he made Trebatius ashamed of his softness, 
 and content to stay with Caesar, by whose favour 
 and generosity he was cured at last of all his 
 uneasiness ; and having here laid the foundation of 
 Lis fortunes, flourished afterwards in the court of 
 Augustus, with the character of the most learned 
 lawyer of that age'. 
 
 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 informing 
 him, that there was nothing either to fear or to 
 hope from the attempt ; no danger from the 
 people, no spoils from the country'. In a letter 
 
 « Tu modo ineptias istas et dosidcria urbis et urbanitatis 
 depone : et quo consilio profectus es, id assiduitate et 
 virtute consequere. — 
 
 Nam multi suam rem bene gessere et poplicani, patria 
 procul. 
 
 IMulti, quoi domi »tatem agerent, propterea sunt im- 
 probati. 
 Quo in nuniero tu certe fuisses, nisi to extrusissemus — 
 et quando Medeam agere coepi, jUud semper mcuicnto, 
 qui ipse sibi sjipiens prodesse nonquit, nequicquam s;ipit. 
 — Ep. Fam. vii. 6. 
 
 f Subimprudens videbare ; tanquam cnim syngrapliam 
 ad imperatorcm, non epistolam attulisscs, sic, pecunia 
 ablata, domuiu redire properabas. Nee tibi in nicntem 
 veniebat, eos" ipsos, qui cum syngraphis venissent Alex- 
 andriam, nummum adhuc nullum aufcne potuisse. — Ibid. 
 17. 
 
 S Consuli quidem te a Ca?sare scribis ; sed ego tibi ab 
 illo consuli vellem. — Ibid. 11. 
 
 h Moriar, ni, qua: tua gloria est, puto te nialle a Csesare 
 consuli, quara uiaurari. — Ibid. l.S. 
 
 ' nisi quid tu, docte Trebati, 
 
 Dissentis. — HoR. Sat. u. i. "9. 
 
 ^ Ex Quinti fratris Uteris suspicor jam eum esse in 
 Britannia : suspense animo expecto quid agat. — Ad Att. 
 iv. l."). 
 
 ' Ojucundas mihi tuas de Britannia literas! Tiuiebam 
 
 to Atticus, " 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 
 anything else but slaves ; of whom you will scarce 
 expect any, I dare say, skilled in music 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"." 
 
 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 tyrants, 
 superstition and religious imposture : while this 
 remote country, anciently the jest and contempt of 
 the polite Romans, is become the happy seat of 
 libertj', plenty, and letters ; flourishing in all the 
 arts and refinements of civil life : yet running 
 perhaps the same course which Rome itself ha.d 
 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 a prey at last to 
 some hardy oppressor, and, with the loss of liberty, 
 losing everything else that is valuable, sinks gradu- 
 ally again into its original barbarism. 
 
 Cicero taking it for granted that Trebatius 
 followed 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 charioteers". 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 raillery ; 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 would 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 every show 
 of gladiators at Rome, had not the curiosity to see 
 the British charioteers :" he rejoices however, after 
 all, that he did not go ; " since they should not now 
 
 oceanum, timebam littus insula;. Reliqua non cquidcm 
 contcnuio. — Ad Quint, i. 1<>. 
 
 De Uritannieis rebus cognovi ex tuis Uteris, nihil esse 
 nee quod nietu.imus, nee quod gaudcamus. — Ibid. iii. 1. 
 
 ■n Britiuinici belli exitus cxpectatur. Constat enim 
 aditus insula: munitos esse mirificis molibus. Etiam illud 
 jam tognitum est, Bcquo argenti scripulum esse uUum in 
 ilia insula, nequc ullam spem pra-d.T, nisi ex nuincipiis ; 
 ex quibus nuUos puto te Uteris, aut musicis eruditos ex- 
 pectare. — Ad Att. iv. 16. 
 
 n In Uritannia nihil esse audio neque auri neque argentL 
 Id si ita est, essedum aliquod suadco capias, et ad nos quam 
 primum reeurras. — Ep. F.am. vii. 7- 
 
 o Mira enim persona induci potest Brifannici juris con- 
 sulti.— Ep. Fam. vii. 11. 
 
 Tu. qui ca!teris cavere didicisti, in Britannia ne ab ess* 
 dariis decipiaris caveto. — Ibid. 6.
 
 im 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 be troubled with the impertinence of his British 
 stories P." 
 
 Quiutvis Cicero, who had a genius for poetry, 
 was jirojccting the plan of a poem upon their 
 Britisli expedition, and begged his brother's assist- 
 ance in it : Cicero approved the design, and 
 observed 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 theTroades''. In other 
 letters he answers more seriously ; that it was 
 impossible to conceive how much he wanted 
 leisui'e for versifying : that to write verses required 
 an ease and cheerfulness of mind which the times 
 had taken from him ; and that his poetical flame 
 was quite extinguished by the sad prospect of 
 things before them"". 
 
 He had sent Casar 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 anything which he had ever 
 seen in that language, but that the following lines, 
 to a certain place, were not equal in accuracy and 
 spirit. Cicero desires therefore to know of his 
 brother, what Caesar really thought of the whole ; 
 
 P Est, quod gaudeas, te in ista loca venisse, ubi aliquid 
 sapere viderere : quod si in Britanniam quoque profectus 
 esses, profecto nemo in ilia tanta insula te peritior f uisset. 
 — Scd tu in re militari niulto es cautior quani in advoca- 
 tionibus : qui neque in oceano nafare voluisti, homo 
 stitdiosissimits natandi, ncque spectare essedarios, qucm 
 antea ne andabatam quidem defraudare poteramus. — Ep. 
 Fam. vii. 10. 
 
 In Britanniam te profectuni non esse gaudco, quod et 
 labore cai'uisti, et ego te de illis rebus non audiam. — Ilyd. 
 17. 
 
 The little here given of Trebatius's love o/swiiyimin/j, 
 adds a new light and beauty to that passage of Horace, 
 where the poet introduces him, advising, to fivim thrice 
 cross the Tiber, to cure the want of sleep ; the advice, it 
 seems, being peculiarly agreeable to his own practice and 
 character. 
 
 ter uncti 
 
 Transnanto Tiberim, sonino quibus est opus alto. 
 
 Sat. II. i. 8. 
 
 1 To vero inrSOeffiv scribendi egreglam habere video. 
 Quos tu situs, quas naturas rcrum et locorum, quos mores, 
 quas gentes, quas pugnas, quern vero ipsum imperatorem 
 habes? Ego tc libenter, ut rogas, quibus rebus vis, adju- 
 vabo, et tibi versus, quos rogas, yAavKa els 'Adyjvas 
 mittam. — Ad Quint, ii. IG. 
 
 Quatuor tragcedias, cum xvi diebus absolvisse scribas, 
 tu quidquam ab alio mutuaris? et k\4os quaeris, cum 
 Electram et Troadem scripseris ? — Ibid. iii. 6. 
 
 N.B. — Thc^e four tragedies, said to be written insijcleen 
 daps, cannot be supposed to have been original produc- 
 tions, but translations from some of the Greek poets, of 
 which Quintus was a great master ; finished by him in 
 haste for the entertainment of the camp : for the word 
 Troadem in the text, the name of one of them, should 
 most probably be Troades, the title of one of Euripidcs's 
 plays ; as the Electra also was. 
 
 >■ Quod me de faciendis versibus rogas, incredibUe est, 
 mi frater, quantum egeam tempore — Faeerem tanien ut 
 possem, scd — opus est ad poema quadam animi alacritate, 
 quam plane mihi tenipora eripiunt. — Ibid. iii. 5, 
 
 Dc versibus — dcest mihi opera, quae non modo tempus, 
 Bed etiam animum ab omni cura vacuum desiderat : sed 
 ftbest etiam fv6ov<Tiaau6s &c. — Ibid. 4. 
 
 whether the matter or the style displeased him , 
 and begs that he would tell him the truth freely ;. 
 since whether Caesar liked it or not, he should not, 
 he says, be a jot the less pleased with himself'. 
 He began 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 signi- 
 fying, that he had acquainted Casar with the 
 design, he was obliged to resume it, and actually 
 finished an epic 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 Quintus's tragedy of Erigone was 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 dissatis- 
 faction at the measures which his present situation 
 obliged him to pursue, Caesar was doing everything 
 in his power to make him easy : he treated his 
 brother with as much kindness as if Cicero himself 
 had been his general; gave him the choice of his 
 winter-quarters, and the legion which he best 
 liked^: and Clodius happening to write to hira 
 from Rome, he showed the letter to Quintus, and 
 declared that he would not answer it ; though 
 Quintus civilly pressed him not to put such aa 
 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 
 success, and at the instant of quitting the island 
 wrote to him from the very shore, of the embark- 
 ment of the troops, and his having taken hostages 
 and imposed a tribute : and lest he should be 
 surprised at having no letters at the same time 
 from his brother, 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 of one of them, that it 
 arrived on the twentieth day ; a despatch equal to 
 that of our present couriers by the post^. 
 
 s Sed heus tu, celari videor a te, quomodonam, mi 
 frater, de nostris versibus Caesar ? Nam primum librum 
 se legisse scripsit ad me ante : et prima sic, ut neget se ne 
 Gra;ca quidem meliora legisse ; reliqua ad quendam locum 
 padufidrepa. Hoc enim utitur verbo. Die mihi verum, 
 num aut res cum aut xapaKTr)p non delectat ? Nihil est 
 quod vercarc. Ego enim ne pilo quidem minus me amabo. 
 — Ad Quint, ii. 16. 
 
 t Poenia ad Caisarem, quod coniposucram, incidi. — Ibid, 
 iii. 1. s. 4. 
 
 " Quod me institutum ad ilium poenia jubes perficero ; 
 etsi distentus turn opera, turn animo sum multo magis, 
 quoniam ex cpistola, quam ad te miseram, cognovit 
 Caesar me aliquod esse exorsum ; revertar ad institutum. 
 —Ibid. 8. 
 
 Quod me hortaris, ut absolvam, habeo absolutum suave, 
 mihi quidem uti videtur, tiros ad Cacsarem. Sed quacro 
 locupletem tabellarium, ne accidat quod Erigona? tua;; 
 cui soli, Caesare imperatore, iter ex Gallia tutum non fuit. 
 —Ibid. 9. 
 
 ^ Quintum meum — Dii boni ! quemadmodum tractat, 
 honore, dignitate, gratia ? Non secus ac si ego cssem 
 imperator. Hibemam legionem eligendi optio delata 
 commodum, ut ad me scribit. — Ad Att. iv. 18. 
 
 y In qua primum est de Clodii ad Caesarem Uteris, in 
 quo Cacsaris consilium probo, quod tibi amantissima 
 petenti vcniam non dedit, ut ullum ad illam Furiam ver- 
 bum rescriberct. — Ad Quint, iii. 1. s. 4. 
 
 ^ Ab Quinto fratre et a Caesare accepi a. d. ix. KaL
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 ISd- 
 
 As to the news of the city this summer, Cicero 
 tells his brother, " 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, 
 seemed to be quieted rather by the effects of age 
 than of concord : that his own conduct, as well in 
 pubUc 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 does wTetched war and discord breed, 
 that bribery was never carried so high 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 eighty thousand pounds 
 was promised to the first tribe ; and money grown 
 so scarce by this profusion of it, that interest was 
 risen from four to eight per cent.*" 
 
 Memmius and Cn. Domitius, who joined their 
 interests, made a strange sort of contract with the 
 consuls, which was drawn up in writing, and 
 attested in proper form by many of their friends 
 on both sides; by which " 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 provinces they desired ; and gave a bond of 
 above 3000^. to provide three augurs who should 
 testify, 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 affirm, that they were present likewise 
 at passing a decree of the senate, for furnishing 
 the same provinces with arms and money, when 
 the senate had never been consulted about it.'' " 
 
 Nov. literas, confecta Britannia, obsidibus acceptis, nulla 
 pr^da, imperata tamen pecunia, datas a littoribus Britan- 
 nia, proximo a. d. vi. Kal. Octob. exercitum Britannia 
 peportabant. — Ad Att. iv. 17. 
 
 Ex Britannia Ca?sarad me Kal. Sept. dedit literas ; quas 
 ego accepi a. d. iv. Kal. Octob. satis commodas de Bri- 
 tannicis rebus : quibus, ne admirer, quod a te nullasaccep- 
 erim, scribit se sine te fuisse, cum ad mare accesserit.'^ 
 Ad Quint, iii. 1. s. 7 
 
 Cum banc jam epistolam complicarem, tabellariiavobis 
 Tenerunt a. d. xr. Kal. Sept. vicesimo die.— Ibid. iii. 1. s. 5. 
 
 => Bes Romans sic se habebant. Erat nonnulla spes 
 comitiorum, sed incerta: erat aliqua suspicio dictaturte, 
 ne ea quidem certa : summum otium forense ; sed senes- 
 centis niagis civitatis, quam adquiescentis. Sententia 
 autem nostra in senatu ejusmodi, magis ut alii nobis assen- 
 tiantur, quam nosmet ipsi. — 
 
 Totavff 6 tAij/uoji' ttSk^ixos i^ipyd^erai. 
 
 EuRip. Supplices. 
 Ambitus redit immanis, nunquam par fuit — Ad Quint. 
 ii. 15. 
 
 Sequere me nunc in Campum. Ardet ambitus : CTj/ua 
 Sf T0( epe'co ; foenus ex triente Idib. Quint, factum erat 
 bessibus — f^oxrj in nuUo est, pecunia omnium dignitatem 
 exffiquat.— Ad Att. iv. 15. 
 
 ■' Consules flagrant infamia, quod C. Memmijis candi- 
 datus pactinncm in senatu recitarit, quam ipse et suus 
 competitor Domitius cum consulibus fecissent, uti ambo 
 H. S. quadragena consulibus darent, si essent ipsi consules 
 facti, nisi tres augures dedissent, qui se adfuisse dicerent, 
 cum lex curiata ferretur, quae lata non esset ; ct duo con- 
 sulaies, qui se dicerent in ornandisprovinciisconsularibus 
 scribendo afifuisse, cum omnino ne senatus quidem fuisset. 
 Haec pactio non verbis sed nominibus et perscriptionibus ; 
 multorum tabulis cum esse facta dicerctiir, jirolata a 
 
 Memmius, who was strongly supported by Coesar"^, 
 finding some reason to dislike his bargain, resolved 
 to break it, and, by Pompey's advice, gave aa 
 account of it to the senate. Pompey was pleased 
 with the opportunity of mortifying the consul 
 Domitius ; and willing likewise to take some 
 revenge on Appius, who, though his near relation, 
 did not enter so fully as he expected into his 
 measures'* : but Caesar was much out of humour at 
 this step''; as it was likely to raise great scandal 
 in the city, and strengthen the interest of those 
 who were endeavouring to restrain that infamous 
 corruption, which was the main instrument of 
 advancing his power. Appius never changed 
 countenance, nor lost any credit by the discovery j 
 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 
 contract : but Cicero assures him that it was false, 
 and that the bargain was of such a nature, as 
 Memmius had opened it to the senate, that no 
 honest man could have been present at it?. 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 called a private, or silent judgment ; where 
 the sentence was not to be declared till after the 
 election, yet so as to make void the election of 
 those who should be found guuty : this they 
 resolved to execute with rigour, and made an 
 allotment of judges for that purpose : but some of 
 the tribunes were prevailed with to interpose their 
 negative, on pretence of hindering all inquisitions 
 not specially authorised by the people'*. 
 
 This detestable bargain of forging laws and 
 decrees at pleasure, in which so many of the first 
 rank were concerned, either as principals or wit- 
 nesses, is alleged by an ingenious French writer as 
 a flagrant instance of libertinism which hastened 
 the destruction of Rome'. So far are " private 
 vices" from being " public benefits," that this great 
 republic, of all others the most free and flourishing, 
 owed the loss of its liberty to nothing else but a 
 general defection of its citizens, from the probity 
 
 Memmio est nominibus inductis, auctore Pompeio. — Ad 
 Att. iv. 18. 
 
 <: Memmium Cacsaris omnes opes confinnant. — Ibid. 15. 
 17. 
 
 d Dio, xxxix. p. 118. 
 
 e Ut qui jam intelligcbamus enunciationem illam Mem- 
 mii valde Caesari displicere. — Ad Att. iv. 16. 
 
 f Hie Appius erat idem ; nihil sane jactura;. Corruerat 
 alter, et plane, inqu.im, jaccbat. Memmius autem — plane 
 refrixerat, et eo magis nunc cogitare dictaturam, tiun 
 favere justitio et omnium rcrum liccntia^. — Ibid. 18. 
 
 S Quodscribis te audisse, in candidatorum consularium 
 coitione me interfuisse, id falsum est. Ejusmodi cnim 
 pactiones in ista coitione factae sunt, quas postca Memmius 
 patefecit, ut nemo bonus interesse debuerit.— Ad Quint, 
 iii. 1. 3. 5. 
 
 l" At senatus decrevit ut tacitum judicium ante comitia. 
 fieret— Magnus timor candidatorum. Sedquidam judices— 
 tribunos plebis appellarunt, ne injussu populi judicaront. 
 Bes cedit, comitia dilata ex senatusconsulto dam lex d& 
 tacito judicio ferretur. Venit legi dies. Tercutius inter, 
 ceseit. — Ad Att. iv. 16. 
 
 ' Considerations sur les Causes de la Gr:tndeur, ic. de» 
 Bomains, chap. x.
 
 140 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 and discipline of their ancestors. Cicero often 
 foretells tlieir apjiroaching ruin from this very 
 cause ; and when he bewails the wretchedness of 
 the times, usually joins the wretchedness of their 
 morals as the genuine source of it"*. 
 
 But lest these corrupt candidates should escape 
 •without punishment, they were all publicly im- 
 peached by different prosecutors, and the city was 
 now in a great ferment about them, since, as 
 Cicero says, either the men or the laws must 
 necessarily perish : yet they will all, says he, be 
 acquitted; for trials are now managed so corruptly, 
 that no man will ever be condemned for the future 
 unless for murder'. But Q. Scaevola, one of tlie 
 tribunes, took a more effectual way to mortify 
 them, by resolving to hinder any election of 
 consuls during his magistracy ; in which he per- 
 severed, and by his authority dissolved all the 
 assemblies, convened for that purpose'". Tlie 
 tribunitian 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, 
 they would submit their conduct to the judgment 
 of Cato, and deposit four thousand pounds apiece 
 in his hands, to be forfeited by those whom he 
 should condemn of any irregular practice. 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 judges"." 
 
 A great part of this year was taken up in public 
 trials : Suffenas and C. Cato, who had been tribunes 
 two years before, were tried in the beginning of 
 July for violence and breach of peace in their 
 magistracy, and both acquitted : but Procilius, 
 one of their colleagues, " was condemned for 
 killing a citizen in his own house : whence we are 
 to collect," says Cicero, " that our Areopagites value 
 neither bribery, nor elections, nor interregnums, 
 Jior attempts against the state, nor the whole 
 republic, a rush: we must not murder a man 
 indeed in his own house, though that perhaps might 
 be done moderately, since twenty-two acquitted 
 Procilius when twenty-eight condemned him"." 
 Clodius was the accuser in these impeachments : 
 
 k His praesertim moribus atque temporibus, quibus ita 
 prolapsa respublica est, ut omnium opibus refrxnanda, ac 
 coercenda sit. — De Divin. ii. 2. 
 
 Qui sit rempublicam afflictam et oppressam miseris 
 temporibus, ac perditis moribus, in veterem dignitatem 
 et libertatem vindicaturus. — Ep. Fam. ii. 5. 
 
 1 De ambitu postulati sunt omnes, qui consulatum 
 petant — Magno res in motu est. Propterea quod aut 
 hominum aut legum interitus ostenditur.— Ad Quint. 
 iii. 2. 
 
 Sed omnes absolventur, nee posthae quisquam damna- 
 bitur, nisi qui hominem occidcrit. — Ad Att. iv. 16. 
 
 m Comitiorum qiiotidie singuli dies tolluntur obnun- 
 . ciationibus, magna voluntato bonorum. — Ad Quint, iii. 3. 
 
 Obnunciationibus per Scaevolam interpositis, singulis 
 diebus. — Ad Att. iv. 16. 
 
 •> Tribunitii candidati jurarunt se arbitrio Catonis peti- 
 turos: apud eum II. S. quingena deposuerunt; ut qui a 
 Catone damnatus esset, id perderet, et eonipetitoribus 
 tribueretur — Si comitia, ut putantur, gi-atuita fucrint, 
 plus imus Cato potuerit, quam omnes quidem jiidices.— 
 Ibid. 15 ; Ad Quint, ii. 15. 
 
 o HI. Non. Quint. Suffenas et Cato absoluti : Procilius 
 condemnatus. Ex quo intellectum est, Tpiaapetoirayirag, 
 ambitum, comitia, interregnum, majestatcm, totaui deni- 
 que rempublicam, flocci non facere. Dcbcmus patrem 
 familiat' domi Buae occidere nolle, neque tamcn id ipsum 
 
 which made Cato, as soon as he was acquitted, seek 
 a reconciliation with Cicero and Miloi'. 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 apj)roaching suit for the 
 consulship. But though Cicero had no concern 
 in these trials, he was continually 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 somei." 
 Besides his clients in the city, he had several 
 towns and colonies under his patronage, which 
 sometimes wanted his help abroad, as the corpora- 
 tion of Reate did now, to plead for them before 
 the consul Appius, and ten commissioners, in a 
 controversy with their neighbours of Interamna, 
 about draining the lakeVeliuus into the river Nar, 
 to the damage of their grounds. He returned 
 from this cause in the midst of the ApoUinarian 
 shows ; and to relieve himself from the fatigue of 
 his journey went directly to the theatre, where he 
 was received by a universal clap : in the account 
 of which to Atticus he adds, " but this you are not 
 to take notice of, and 1 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 prevari- 
 cating or betraying a cause, which he had under- 
 taken to defend ; of which he was acquitted by a 
 majority of only four voices : after that Vatinius, 
 the last year's praetor, and .^milius 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 en- 
 tertained him so generously in his exile, and being 
 now chosen a3dile, was accused by a disappointed 
 competitor, M. Laterensis, of bribery and corrup 
 tion. All these were acquitted, but the orations 
 for them are lost, except that for Plancius ; which 
 remains a perpetual monument of Cicero's grati- 
 tude : for Plancius having obtained the tribunate 
 from the people, as the reward of his fidelity to 
 Cicero, did not behave himself in that post with 
 the same affection to him as before, but seems stu- 
 diously to have slighted him ; while several of his 
 colleagues, and especially Racilius, were exerting 
 all their power in the defence of his person and 
 
 abunde. Nam absolverunt xxii ; condemnarunt xxviii. — 
 Ad Att. iv. 15. 
 
 p Is tamcn et mecum et cum Milone in gratiam rediit. — 
 Ibid. 16. 
 
 1 Sic enim habeto nunquam me a causis et judiciis dis- 
 trictiorem fuisse, atque id anni tempore gravissimo, et 
 caloribus maximis. — Ad Quint, ii. 16. 
 
 Diem scito esse nullum, quo non dico pro reo. — Ibid, 
 iii. 3. 
 
 f Reatini nie ad sua TffxiTT] duxcnnit, ut .agerem 
 causam contra Interamnates — Redii Romam — Veni in 
 spectaculum ; primum magno et asquabili plausu, (sed 
 hoc ne curaris ; ego ineptus qui scripserim.l— Ad Att. 
 iv. 15. 
 
 s Messius defendebatur a nobis, e legatione revocatus — 
 Deinde me expedio ad Drusum, indo ad Scaurum. — Ibid. 
 
 Drusus erat do praevaricationc — absolutus, in suniina 
 quatuor sententiisf— Eodeni die post meridiem Vatinium 
 aderam defensurus ; ea res facilis — Scauri judicium statim 
 exerccbitur, cui nos non deerimus. — Ad Quint, ii. 16. 
 
 Scaurum beneficio defensionis valde cbligavi. — Ibid, ill 
 1. s. £.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 141 
 
 dignity'. Yet Cicero freely undertook his cause, 
 and as if no coldness had intervened, displayed tlie 
 merit of his services in the most pathetic and 
 attecting 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 Vatinius'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 me- 
 ditating and composing, but when he was taking a 
 few turns in his gardens, for the exercise of his 
 body, and refreshment of his voice"." Vatinius 
 had been one of his fiercest enemies ; was in a 
 perpetual opposition to him in politics ; and, like 
 Bestia mentioned above, a seditious, profligate, 
 abandoned libertine ; so that the defence of him 
 gave a plausible handle for some censure upon 
 Cicero : but his engagements with Pompe}-, and 
 especially his new friendship with C'sesar, made it 
 necessary to embrace all Caesar's friends ; among 
 whom Vatinius was most warmly recommended to 
 him. 
 
 Gabinius being recalled, as has been said, from 
 his government, returned to Rome about the 
 end of September : he bragged everywhere on his 
 journey, that he was going to the demand of a 
 triumph ; 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 impeachments provided against him : the 
 first, for treasonable practices against the state ; 
 the second, for the plunder of his province ; the 
 third for bribery and corruption ; and so many 
 persons offered themselves to be prosecutors, that 
 there was a contest among them before the praetor, 
 how to adjust their several claims^. The first 
 indictment fell to L. Lentulus, who accused him 
 the day after he entered the city, " that, in defiance 
 of religion and the decree of the senate, he had 
 restored the king of Egypt with 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 provocation which one mein could receive from 
 another, had the pleasure to see his insolent adver- 
 sary at his feet ; and was prepared to give him 
 such a reception as he deserved : but Gabinius 
 durst not venture to sliow his head for the first ten 
 
 ' Negas tribimatum Plancii quioquam attulisse adju- 
 menti dignitati nieas. Atque hoc loco, quod verissime 
 facere potes. L. Racilii divina in me merita conimemoras, 
 &c.— Pro Plancio, 32. 
 
 " Ita quicquid conficio aut cogito in ambulationis fere 
 teinpus confcro.— Ad Quint, iii. 3. 
 
 ^ Ad urbem accessit a. d. xii. Kal. Oct. nihil tiirpius, 
 nee deseitius.— Ad Quint, iii. 1. sec. r>. 
 
 Cum Gabinius, quacunque veniebat, triumphum se 
 postulare dixisset, subitoquc bonus imperator noctu in 
 urbem, liostium plane, invasisset.— Ibid. 2. 
 
 y Gabinium tres adhuc factiones postulant : &c. — Ibid. 
 1. sec. 5. 
 
 Cum haec scribebam ante lucem, apud Catonem erat 
 divinatio in Gabinium futura, inter Memmium, et Ti. 
 Neronem, et C. et L. Antonios.— Ibid, 2. 
 
 days, till he was obliged to come to the senate, ia 
 order to give them an account, according to custom, 
 of the state of his province and the troops wliich 
 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 hira 
 by the publicans, or farmers of the revenues, who 
 were attending at the door to make it good. This 
 drew on a debate, in which Gabinius was so urged 
 and teased on all sides, but especially by Cicero, 
 that trembling with passion, and unable to contaia 
 himself, 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 clamor- 
 ous against him, and the whole company behaved 
 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 appear 
 only as a witness against him'' ; and when the trial 
 was over, gives the following account of it to his 
 brother. 
 
 " Gabinius is acquitted : nothing was ever so 
 stupid as his accuser Lentulus ; nothing so so'-did 
 as the bench : yet if Pompey had not taken incre- 
 dible 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 ; 
 especially that of plunder : but there's no republic, 
 no senate, no justice, no dignity in any of us : 
 what can I say more of the judges ? There were 
 but two of them of praetorian rank, Domitius Cal- 
 vinus, who acquitted him so forwardly that all the 
 world might see it ; and Cato, who, as soon as the 
 votes were declared, ran oflSciously from the bench 
 to carry the first news to Pompey. Some say, and 
 particularly Sallust, that I ought to have accused 
 him : but should I risk my credit with such judges.' 
 What a figure should I have made, if he had 
 escaped from me ! but there were other things 
 which influenced me : Pompey would have con- 
 sidered 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 gladiators ; as Pacidianus, with 
 J^^serninus the Samnite ; he would probably have 
 bit off one of my ears, or been reconciled at least 
 with Clodius — for after all the pains which I had 
 taken to serve him ; when I owed nothing to him, 
 he every thing to me ; yet he would not bear my 
 differing from him in public affairs, to say no worse 
 
 ^ Interim ipso decimo die, quo ipsum oportebat hostiuni 
 numerum et militum renunciare, in re haesit, summa in 
 frcquentia : cum vellet exiro, a consulibus retentus est ; 
 introducti public.-ini. Homo undiquc actus, cum a mo 
 maxime \'ulneraretur, non tulit, ct me trementi voce 
 exulem appellavit. Hie, o dii, nihil unquam honorificen- 
 tius nobis accidit. Consurrexit senatus cum clauiore ad 
 unum, sic ut ad corpus ejus accederct. Pari clamoro 
 atque impetu public.ini. Quid quisris ? Omnea, tanquam 
 si tu esses, ita fuerunt. — Ad Quint, iii. 2- 
 
 a Ego tamen me teneo ab accusando vis mehercule. Sed 
 tamcn teneo, vel quod nolo cum Pompeio pugnare ; satis 
 est, quod instat de Milone.— Ibid. iii. 2.
 
 142 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 of it ; and when he was less powerful than he is 
 at present, showed what power he had against me 
 in my flourishing condition ; why should I now. 
 when I have lost even all desire of power ; when 
 the republic 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 
 defended him ; who begged it of me indeed very 
 earnestly. — A special friend this Sallust ! to wish 
 me to involve myself either in a dangerous enmity, 
 or perpetual infamy. I am delighted with my 
 middle way ; and when I had given my testimony 
 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 were 
 persuaded that he prevaricated— and that Gabi- 
 iiius's escape was owing to the indefatigable in- 
 dustry of Pompey, and the corruption of the 
 bench '^." 
 
 About the time of this trial there happened a 
 terrible inundation of the Tiber, which did much 
 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 Homer''. 
 
 As when in autumn Jove his fury pours. 
 And earth is leaden with incessant showers ; 
 When guilty mortals break the eternal laws. 
 And judges bribed betray the righteous cause, 
 From their deep beds he bids the rivers rise, 
 And opens all the flood-gates of the skies. 
 
 PoPB, II. xvi. 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 tri- 
 bunes, was his accuser, and M. Cato his judge, 
 with whom he was not likely to find any favour : 
 Pompey pressed 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 Pompey's solicitation. Cicero stood firm 
 for a long time : " Pompey (says he) labours hard 
 with me, but has yet made no impression, nor, if 
 1 retain a grain of liberty, ever will^;" 
 
 Oh ! ere that dire disgrace shall blast my fame, 
 O'erwhelm me earth li. iv. 218. 
 
 b Ad Quint, iii. 4. 
 
 « Quomodo ergo absolutus ? — Accusatorum incredibilis 
 infamia, id est L. Lentuli, quern fremunt omnes prajvari- 
 catum ; deinde Pompeii mira contentio, judicum sordes. 
 —Ad Att. iv. 16. 
 
 d Roma;, et maxime Appia ad Martis, mira proluvics. 
 Crassipedis ambulatio ablata, horti, tabernse plurima;. 
 Magna vis aquas usque ad piscinani publicam. Viget illud 
 
 Ilomeri Cadit enim in absolutionem Gabinii. — Ad 
 
 Quint, iii. 7- 
 
 ^ Pompeius a me valde contendit de reditu in gratiam. 
 Bed adhvic nihil prnfecit : neo si nllam partem libertatis 
 tenebo, proficiet. — Ad Quint, iii. 1. s. 5. 
 
 De Gabinio nihil fuit faciendum istorum, &c. TcJre (j.oi 
 xdvot.~.ll. iv. 218. 
 
 but Pompey's incessant importunity, backed bj 
 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 
 service 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 
 published, but as it was his custom to keep the 
 minutes or rough draught of all his pleadings in 
 what he called his Commentaries, wliich were 
 extant many ages after hisdeath^; so St. Jerome 
 has j)reserved from them a small fragment of this 
 speech ; which seems to be a part of the a])ology 
 that he found himself obliged to make for it ; 
 wherein he observes, " that when Pompey's au- 
 thority 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 
 friendships should be maintained with a religious 
 exactness : 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 recon- 
 ciliation any new offence be given, it never passes 
 for negligent, but wilful ; and is not imputed to 
 imprudence, but to perfidy^." 
 
 The proconsul Lentulus, who resided still in 
 Cilicia, having liad an account from Rome, of 
 Cicero's change of conduct, and his defence of 
 Vatinius, wrote a sort of expostulatory letter to 
 him to know the reasons of it; telling him, that 
 he had heard of his reconciliation with Ceesar 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 what it was, that in- 
 duced him to defend Vatinius. This gave occasion 
 to that long and elaborate answer from Cicero, 
 already referred to, written before Gabinius's trial ; 
 which would otherwise 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 Vatinius (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 
 Csesar 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 pre- 
 sently 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 with all the marks of fa- 
 miliarity ; and since they had their Publius to give 
 me jealousy, I might be allowed to have my Pub- 
 lius also to tease 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 (says he) by my consulship, and revived 
 by yours, is now quite broken and deserted by 
 those who ought to have supported it, and were 
 looked upon as patriots ; for which reason the 
 
 f Quod fecisse M. Tullium commentariis ipsiw apparet. 
 —.Quint. X. 7. 
 e Vide Fragment. Orationum. 
 
 I
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 143 
 
 •Tnaxims and measures of all wise citizens, in which 
 class I always wish to be ranked, ought to be 
 changed too t for it is a precept of Plato, whose 
 authority has the greatest weight with me, to con- 
 tend in public 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 perpetual 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 business 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 intended ; so to us who manage public 
 affairs, the chief end proposed being dignity with 
 pubhc quiet, our business is not to be always 
 aiming at the same thing. Wherefore if all things, 
 as I said, were wholly free to me, I should be the 
 same man that I now am : but when I am invited 
 to this conduct on the one side by kindnesses, and 
 driven to it on the other by injuries, I easily suffer 
 myself to vote and act what 1 take to be useful 
 both to myself and the republic ; 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 eminent 
 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 des- 
 perate enemies, if to those forces which I 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 persuaded that I should have followed 
 the same measures: for I know your good-nature 
 and moderation ; 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 often 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 republic ; this is what I 
 have learned, 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, what- 
 ever they be, which the state of the republic, the 
 inclination of the times, the occasions of public 
 peace, require : this is what I am now doing and 
 shall always do — '." 
 
 The trial of C. Rabirius Postumus, a person of 
 
 •i Ep. Fam. i. 9. 
 
 ' Neque enim inconstantis puto, sententiam, tanquam 
 aliquod navigium atque cursum ex reipublicse tcnipestato 
 nioderari. Ego vero ha?c didici, bsc vidi, l)a?c scripta legi : 
 haeu de sapientissimis et clarissiinis viiis, et in hac repiib- 
 lica et in aliis civitatibus monumenta nobis et liters pro- 
 <liderunt : non semper easdem sententias ab iisdem, sed 
 quascunque reipublicas status, inclinatio temporum, ratio 
 
 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 restoring 
 king Ptolemy ; yet all his estate which was to be 
 found was not sufficient to answer the damages 
 in which he was condemned ; nor could he give 
 any security for the rest : in this case, the me- 
 thod was, to demand the deficiency from those 
 through whose hands the toanagement 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 undertake the restoration of the king, and ac- 
 com])anied him in it, and was employed to solicit 
 the payment of the money, and lived at Alex- 
 andria for that purpose, in the king's service, as 
 the public receiver of his taxes, and wearing the 
 pallium or habit of the country. 
 
 Cicero urged in defence of Rabirius, " that he 
 had borne no part in that transaction ; but that 
 his whole crime, or rather folly, was, 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 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 republic 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 car- 
 ried him to Alexandria ; his whole fortunes were 
 at stake'' ; which he was so far from improving by 
 his traffic 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 misfortunes 
 of an old friend, that he was enabled to support 
 his former rank and equestrian dignity.' " Gabi- 
 nius's trial had so near a relation to this, and was 
 so often referred to in it, that the prosecutors could 
 not om'it 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 I am not ashamed to own that my quar- 
 rels are mortal, my friendships immortal. And if 
 you imagine that I undertook that cause for fear of 
 Pompey, you neither know Pompey nor me ; for 
 Pompey would neither desire it of me against my 
 will, nor would I, after I had preserved the liberty 
 of my citizens, ever give up my own"." 
 
 coiicordis postularet, esse defendendas. Quod ego et faeio, 
 et semper faciam. — Pro Plancio, 39. 
 
 k Pro Rabu-. 8, 9. ' Ibid. 15. 
 
 m Ait etiam nieus f.imlli.'iris, eandem caiisam Alcxan- 
 dainis fuisse, cur laudarent Gabinium, qua.- mihi fuit, cur 
 cundcm defenderem. Mihi, C. Meninii, causa dcfendendi 
 Cabinii fuft reconciliato gratia?. Neque vero me poenitet, 
 moriales inimicitias iempiteriias amicitias habere, ^■am
 
 144 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Valerius Maximus reckons Cicero's defence of 
 Gabiiiius and Yatinius anions the great and laudable 
 examples of luimanity wliich the Roman liistory fur- 
 nished : as it is nobler, he says, to conquer inju- 
 ries with benefits, than to re))ay them in kind with 
 an obstinacy of hatred". This turn is agreeable to 
 tlie design of that writer, 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 style of an oration, it is 
 certain that he knew and felt it to be what it really 
 was, an indignity and dishonour to him, which he 
 was forced to submit to by the iniquity of the times 
 and his engagements with Pompey and CiEsar ; as 
 he often laments to his friends, in a very passionate 
 stram : " I am afflicted," says he, " my dearest bro- 
 ther ; I am afflicted, that there is no republic, no 
 justice in trials ; that this season of my life, which 
 ought to flourish in the authority of the senatorian 
 character, is either wasted in the drudgery of the 
 bar, or relieved only by domestic studies ; that 
 what I have ever been fond of from a boy, 
 
 In every virtuous act and glorious strife 
 
 To shine the fii'st and best 
 
 is wholly lost and gone ; that my enemies are partly 
 not opposed, partly even defended by mc ; and 
 neither what I love nor what I hate left free to 
 me°." 
 
 While Caesar was engaged in the British expedi- 
 tion, his daughter Julia, Pompey's wife, died in 
 child-bed at Rome, after she was delivered of a 
 son, which died also soon after hei'. 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 public 
 peace ; who considered it as a source of fresh dis- 
 turbance to the state, from the ambitious views and 
 clashing interests of the two chiefs, whom the life 
 of one so dear, and the relation of son and father, 
 seemed hitherto to have united by the ties both of 
 duty and affection p. Csesar is said to have borne 
 the news of her death with an ixncommon firm- 
 nessi : it is certain that she had lived long enough 
 
 si me invitum putas, ne Cn. Pompeii aninium offenderem, 
 defendisse causam, et illura et me vehementer ignoras. 
 Nequo enim Pompeius me sua causa quidquam facere 
 Yoluisset invitum ; neque ego, cui omnium civium libertas 
 carissima fuisset, meam projecissem,— Pro C. Rabir. Post. 
 ]2. 
 
 n Sed hiijusce generis humanitas etiam ;in M. Cicerone 
 praecipua apparuit, &c Val. Max. iv. 2. 
 
 Angor, mi siiavissime frater, angor, nullam esse rem- 
 publicam, nulla judicia, nostrumque hoc tempus astatis, 
 quod in ilia senatoria auctoritate florere debebat, aut 
 forensi labore jactari, aut domesticis Uteris sustentari. 
 lUud vero quod a pueio adamaram, 
 
 Allv apLcrreveiv, koI vtziipoxov (ix/xevm SaA.cui'. 
 
 II. t'- 208. 
 totum occidisse ; inimicos a mc partiiii non oppugnatos ; 
 partim etiam esse defenses ; meum non modo animum, sed 
 ne odium quidcm esse liberum. — Ad Quint, iii. 5. 
 
 P Cum medium jam, ex invidia potentiae male cohaeren- 
 tis inter Cn. Pompeium et C. Caesarem, concordiae pipnus, 
 
 Julia uxor Magni decessit Filius quoque parvus, Julia 
 
 natus, intra breve spatium obiit. — Veil. Pat. ii. 47 ; Val. 
 Max. iv. 6. 
 
 1 CiTsar — ciun audivit decessisse filiam — inter tertium 
 diem imperatoria obiit muncra.— Sonec. Consol. ad Ilelv. 
 p. 116. 
 
 to serve all the ends which he proposed from that 
 alliance, and to procure for him everything that 
 Pompey's power could give : for while Pompey, 
 forgetful of his honour and interest, was spending 
 his time ingloriously at home, in the caresses of a 
 young wife and the delights of Italy, and, as if be 
 had been only Caesar's agent, was continually de- 
 creeing 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, ani- 
 mating them by his courage, and rewarding 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 foresaw, could 
 not long be wanted, when Julia, the cement of 
 their union, was removed. For though the power 
 of the triumvirate had given a dangerous blow to 
 the liberty of Rome, yet the jealousies and separate 
 interests of the chiefs obliged them to manage it 
 with some decency, and to extend it but rarely 
 beyond the forms of the constitution : but when- 
 ever that league should happen to be dissolved 
 which had made them already too great for private 
 subjects, the next contest of course must be for 
 dominion, and the single mastery of the empire. 
 
 On the second of November, C. Pontinius tri- 
 umphed over the Allobroges : he had been praetor 
 when Cicero was consul ; and at the end of his 
 magistracy obtained the government of that part 
 of Gaul which, having been tampering with Cati- 
 line in his conspiracy, broke out soon afterwards 
 into open rebellion, but was reduced by the vigour 
 of this general. For this service he demanded a 
 triumph, but met with great opposition, which he 
 surmounted with incredible patience ; for he per- 
 severed 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 Pontinius should never tri- 
 umph while he lived : "Though this, (says Cicero,) 
 like many of his other threats, will end at last in 
 nothing." But the praetor Galba, who had been his 
 lieutenant, having 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 opposed inhis passage through the streets, that 
 he was forced to make his way with his sword and 
 the slaughter of many of his adversaries'^. 
 
 In the end of the year, Cicero consented to be 
 one of Pompey's lieutenants in Spain, which he 
 began 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 
 
 r Ea re non longius, quam vellem, quod Pontinio ad 
 triumphum volebam adesse : etenim erit nescio quid 
 ncgotioli, &c.— Ad Quint, iii. 5. ■ 
 
 Pontinius vult a. d. iv. Non. Novcmb. triumpliarc. ^ 
 Huic obviam Cato et Scrvilius prEctores aperto, et Q. 
 Mucins tribunus— Sed erit cum Pontinio Appius consul. 
 Cato tamen affirmat, se vivo ilium non triumphare: id ego 
 puto, ut multa ejusdem, ad nihil recasurum. — Ad Att. iv. 
 16 ; Dio, xxxix. p. 120. 
 
 » Sed heus tu, scripseramne tibl me esse legatum Pom*
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 145 
 
 seemed to give some umbrage to Casar, who, by 
 the help of Quintus, hoped to disengage him gra- 
 dually from Pompey, and to attach him to himself; 
 and with that view had begged of him in his letters 
 to continue at Rome ', for the sake of serving himself 
 with his authority in all affairs which he had occa- 
 sion to transact there ; so that, out of regard pro- 
 bably to Csesar's uneasiness, Cicero soon changed 
 his mind, and resigned his lieutenancy : to which 
 he seems to allude in a letter to his brother, where 
 he says, " that he had no second thoughts in what- 
 ever concerned Csesar ; that he would make good 
 his engagements to him ; and being entered into his 
 friendship ^with judgment, was now attached to him 
 by affection"." 
 
 He was employed, at Csesar's desire, along with 
 Oppius, in settling the plan of a most expensive 
 and magnificent work which Csesar was going to 
 execute at Rome out of the spoils of Gaul ; a new 
 forum, with many grand buildings annexed to it ; 
 for the area of wliich alone they had contracted to 
 pay to the several owners about five hundred thou- 
 sand pounds ; or, as Suetonius computes, near 
 double that sum^. Cicero calls it a glorious piece 
 of work ; and says, that the partitions, or inclo- 
 sures of the Campus Martius, 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 por- 
 tico carried round the whole, of a mile in circuit ; 
 to which a public hall or town-house was to be 
 joined''. While this building was going forward, 
 L. ,-EmiIius PauUns was employed in raising an- 
 otlier, not much inferior to it, at his own expense : 
 for he repaired and beautifieil an ancient basilica 
 in the old forum, and built 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 fabric of wonderful magnificence, 
 computed to have cost him three hundred thousand 
 pouuds^ 
 
 The new tribunes pursued the measures of their 
 predecessors,and would not suffer an election of con- 
 A. uiiB. 700. ^"'^ ' ^^ ^^^^^ when the new year came 
 
 cic. 54. on, the republic wanted its \> Oper 
 head. In this case, the administra- 
 tion fell into the hands of an interrex, a provisional 
 magistrate, who must necessarily be a patrician, 
 and chosen by the body of patricians, called toge- 
 
 peio ; et extra urbem quidem fore, ex Id. Jan. visimi est 
 hoc mihi ad multa quadrare.— Ad Att. iv. 18. 
 
 ' Quod mihi tempus, Rom« praesertim, ut istemerogat, 
 manenti, vacuum ostenditur ?— Ad Quint, ii. l.i. 
 
 " Ego vero nullas 3evTepai (ppovriSa; habere possum 
 in Cssaris rebus — Videor id judicio facere. Jam cnini 
 debeo : sed tamen amore sum incensus. — Ad Quint, ili. 1. 
 B. 5. 
 
 * Forum do manubiis inchoavit ; cujus area super II. S. 
 millies constitit.— Suet. J. Ca;s. 26. 
 
 y Itaque Caesaris amiei (nie dico et Oppium, dirumparis 
 licet) in monumentum illud, quod tutollere laudibus sole- 
 bas, ut forum laxarenius, et usque ad Libertatis atrium 
 explicaremus, consumsimus II. S. sexcenties : cum priva- 
 tis non poterat transigi niinnre pecunia. Efficiemus rem 
 gloriosissimam. Nam in Campo Martio septa tributis 
 comitiis mannorca sumus, et tccta facturi, eaque cingeraus 
 excelsaporticu, ut mille passuuin conficiatur. Simul ad- 
 jungetiu- huic operi, villa etiam publica — Ad Att. iv. 16. 
 
 ^ Paullus in medio foro basilicam jam pane texnit, 
 iisdem antiquis columnis: illam autem, quam locavit, 
 facit magnificentissimam. NiliU gratius iUo monumento, 
 nihil glorioBius.— Ibid. 
 
 ther for that purpose by tlie senate". His power, 
 however, was but short-lived, being transferred 
 every five days from one interrex to another, till an 
 election of consuls could be obtained ; but the tri- 
 bunes, whose authority was absolute while there 
 were no consuls to control them, continued fierce 
 against any election at all : some were for reviving 
 the ancient dignity of military tribunes ; but that 
 being unpopular, a more plausible scheme was 
 taken up and openly avowed, of declaring Pompey 
 dictator. This gave great apprehensions to the 
 city, for the memory of Sylla'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 
 country 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 dis- 
 claims it, though he never denied it to me before : 
 the tribune Hirrus will probably be the promoter. 
 Good gods ! how silly and fond of himself without 
 a rival I At Pompey's request, I have deterred 
 Crassus Junianus, who pays great regard to me, 
 from meddling 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 inter- 
 pose their negative. The people do not trouble 
 their heads about it ; the chiefs are against it ; I 
 keep myself quiet"^." 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 mak- 
 ing Pompey his enemy ; or if he should not help 
 the opponents, 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'*. 
 
 The tribunes in the mean time were growing 
 every day more and more insolent, and engrossing 
 all power to themselves ; till Q. Pompeius Rufus, 
 the grandson of Sylla, and the most factious 
 espouser 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 averse to his dicta- 
 torship, yielded at last, after an interregnum of six 
 months, that Cn. Domitius Calvinus, and M. Mes- 
 
 a Vide Ascon. argument, in Uliliin. 
 
 1) Rumor dictatoris injucundus bonis: mihi etiam magis 
 qua; loquuntur. Sed tota res et timetur et refrigescit. 
 Pompeius plane se negat velle: antea ipse mihi non nega- 
 bat. Hirrus auctor fore videtur. O dii, quain ineptus, et 
 quam se amans sine rivali ! Crassum Junianuni, homineni 
 mihi dcditum, per me deterruit. Velit, nolit, scire diffi- 
 cile est. Hirro tamen agente, nolle se non probabit. — Ad 
 Quint, iii. 8. 
 
 <^ De dictatore tamen actum nihil est. Pompeius abest : 
 Appius miscet : Hirrus parat : multi intercessores nunic- 
 r.antur : populus non curat : principes nolunt : ego quicsco. 
 —Ibid. 9. 
 
 d Hoc horret Milo— et si illc dictator factus sit, p»ne 
 diffidit. Intercessorem dictatura? si juverit manu ct pra- 
 sidio suo Pompeium nietuit inin\icum; si non juverit, 
 timet, nc per vim perferatur — Ibid. 8.
 
 146 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 sala, should be declared consuls". These were 
 agreeable likewise to Csesar : Cicero had particu- 
 larly reconimcuded JMessala to him ; of whom he 
 says, in a letter to hi.s brother, " As to your 
 reckoning Messala and (,'alvinus sure consuls, you 
 agree with what we think here ; for I will bo 
 answerable to C;esar for Messala'." 
 
 liut after all this bustle about a dictator, there 
 seems to have been no great reason for being much 
 
 A. uiiB "OC 'I'raid of it at this time ; for the 
 
 cic. 54. republic was in so great a disorder 
 
 coss. that nothing less than the dictatorial 
 
 cN. DoMiTifs power could reduce it to a tolerable 
 
 cAi.viM-s, state : some good of that kind might 
 M. VALERIUS reasonably be expected from Pompey, 
 
 MEssALA. -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 
 power, would have had the senate and all the 
 better sort on his side, by the specious pretence of 
 asserting the public liberty. Cicero, therefore, 
 judged 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 dicta- 
 torship. 
 
 There had scarce been so long an interregnum 
 in Rome since the expulsion of their kings ; during 
 wliich all pubUc business, and especially all judicial 
 proceedings, were wholly interrupted : which ex- 
 plains 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 advise all 
 my clients, if sued in any action, to move every 
 interrex twice for more time : do not you think 
 that I have learned the law of you to good pur- 
 posef ?" 
 
 He now began a correspondence of letters with 
 Curio, a young senator of distinguished birth and 
 parts ; who, 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 ambi- 
 tion, and that he was formed to do much good or 
 hurt to his country, was desirous to engage him 
 early in the interests of the republic, and, by instil- 
 ling 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 show of gladi- 
 ators 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 ex- 
 pense ''. He foresaw that nothing was more likely 
 to corrupt his virtue than the ruin of his fortunes ; 
 
 e Vide Dio, xl. p. 141. 
 
 f Mess-ilam quod cerium eonsulem cum Domitio nume- 
 ratis, nihil a nostra opinione dissentitis. Ego Messalam 
 Ceesari praestabo Ad Quint, iii. 8. 
 
 e Nisi ante Roma profectus esses, nunc earn certe relin- 
 queres. Quis enim tot interregnis jurisconsultum desi- 
 derat ? Ego omnibus, unde petitui-, hoc consUii dederim, 
 ut a singulis interregibus binas advocationes postulent. 
 Satisno tibi videor abs te jus civile didicisse ?—Ep. Fam. 
 vii. 11. 
 
 1" Rupae studium non defuit declarandorum munerum 
 tuo nomine: sed ncc milii i)kicuit, nee cuiquam tuurum, 
 quidquam te absence fieri, quod tibi, cum vcnisscs, non 
 esset integrum, 4cc.— Ep. Fam. ii. 3. 
 
 or to make him a dangerous citizen, than prodi- 
 gality, to which he was naturally inchned, and 
 which Cicero for that reason was the more de- 
 sirous to check at his first setting out : but all his 
 endeavours were to no purpose : Curio resolved to 
 give the show of gladiators ; and by a continual 
 profusion of his money, answerable to this begin- 
 ning, after he had acted the patriot for some time 
 with credit and applause, was reduced at last to 
 the necessity of selling himself to Caesar. 
 
 There is but little of politics in these letters 
 besides some general complaints of the lost and 
 desperate state of the republic : in one of them, 
 after reckoning up the various subjects of epistolary 
 writing, "Shall 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 Curio, unless it be on the 
 republic ? where my case at present is such, that I 
 have no inclination to write what I do not think'." 
 In another, after putting him in mind of the incre- 
 dible expectation which was entertained of him at 
 Rome, " Not that I am afraid (says he) that your 
 virtue should not come up to the opinion of the 
 pubUc, 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 pru- 
 dent 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 republic to its 
 ancient dignity''." 
 
 The first news from abroad after the inauguration 
 of the consuls, was of the miserable death of Cras- 
 sus 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 received from a 
 foreign enemy, and for which it was ever after 
 meditating revenge : the Roman writers 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 counsels of heaven, and to fathom those 
 depths which are declared to be unsearchable '. 
 The chief and immediate concern which the city 
 felt on this occasion, was for the detriment that 
 the republic had sufiPered, and the danger to which 
 it was exposed, by the loss of so great an army ; 
 yet the principal mischief lay in what they did not 
 at first regard, and seemed rather to rejoice at, the 
 loss of Crassus himself. For after the death of 
 
 » Joceme tecum per literas ? civem mehercule non puto 
 esse, qui temporibus his ridere possit. An gravius aliquid 
 Ecribam ? Quid est quod possit graviter a Cicerone seribi 
 ad Curionem, nisi de republica ? Atque in hoc genere haec 
 mea causa est, ut neque ea, quae non sentio, velim scri- 
 bere. — Ibid. 4. 
 
 k Non quo verear ne tua virtus opinioni hominum non 
 respondeat : sed mehercule, ne cum veneris, non habeas 
 jam quod cures : ita sunt omnia debilitata jam prope et 
 exstincta, &c. — Ibid. 5. 
 
 1 M. Crasso quid acciderit, videmua dirarum obmmcia- 
 tione neglecta. — De Dio, i. 16. 
 
 " Being for liis impious sacrilege at Jerusalem justly 
 destined to destruction, God did cast infatuations into all 
 his councils, for the leading him thereto."— Prideaux'8 
 Connect, part ii. p. 362.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 147 
 
 Julia, Crassus's authority was the only means left 
 of curbing the power of Pompey and the ambition 
 -of CjEsar ; being ready always to support the 
 weaker against the encroachments of the stronger, 
 and keep them both within the bounds of a dece«t 
 respect 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 showed, must necessarily end in the 
 subversion 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 republic : 
 by the force of his own judgment he had devoted 
 himself very early to the observance and imitation 
 of Cicero, whom he perpetually attended and 
 reverenced with a kind of filial piety. Cicero con- 
 ceived a mutual affection for him, and observing 
 his eager thirst of glory, was constantly instilling 
 into him the true notion of it, and exhorting 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 Cfesar in the Gallic wars, he had learnt, as 
 he fancied, a shorter way to fame and power than 
 what uicero had been inculcating ; and having 
 signalised 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 escape but what his high 
 spirit disdained, by the desertion of his troops and 
 a precipitate flight ; so that finding himself op- 
 pressed with numbers, cruelly wounded, and in 
 danger of falling aUve into the hands of the Par- 
 thians, 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 Alexander, he 
 fell short of that glory which many of his prede- 
 cessors had reaped from a succession of honours 
 conferred by their country as the reward of their 
 services'"." 
 
 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 
 iardy as to appear against him, except Hirrus, the 
 tribune, who, trusting to the popularity of his office 
 
 ™ Hoc magis Bum Piiblio deditiis, quod nie quanquam a 
 pueritia semper, tamen hoc tempore maxime, sicut alterum 
 parentem et observat et diligit.— Ep. Fam. v. 8. 
 
 P. Crassum ex omni nobilitate adolescentem dilexi 
 plurimum, &c.— Ibid. xiii. 16. 
 
 Cum P. Crasso, cum initio a!tatis ad amicitiam se meam 
 contulisset, saepe egisse me arbitror, cum eum vehementiu- 
 sime hortarer, ut eam laudis viam rectissimam esse duceret, 
 quam majores ejus ci tritam reliquissent. Erat enim cum 
 jnstitutus optime, turn plane perfecteque cruditus. In- 
 eratque et ingenium satis acre, et orationis non inelegans 
 «><'pia : prsctereaque sine arrogantia gravis esse videbatur, 
 et sine segnitie verecundus, &c. — Vide Brut. p. 407 ; it. 
 Plutarch, in Crass. 
 
 and Pompey 's favour, had the vanity to pretend to 
 it ; but a competition so unequal furnished matter 
 of raillery only to Cicero, who was chosen witliout 
 any difficulty or struggle with the unanimous appro- 
 bation 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 priesthood for life, of a character 
 indelible, which no crime or forfeiture could efface. 
 Tlie 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 well as civil affairs". This act was reversed 
 by Sylla, and the ancient right restored to the 
 colleges ; but Labienus, when tribune in Cicero's 
 consulship, recalled the law of Domitius, to facili- 
 tate 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 
 dignity 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 p. 
 
 As in the last year, so in this ; the factions of 
 the city prevented the choice of consuls : the can- 
 didates, 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 
 armsq. 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 the consulship he was sure to be eclipsed and 
 controlled in the exercise of his subordinate magis- 
 tracy''. Pompey was wholly averse to Milo, who 
 did not pay him that court which he expected, but 
 seemed to aff'ect an independency, and to trust to 
 his own strength ; while the other two competitors 
 were wholly at his devotion. Hypsaeus had been 
 his quaestor, and always his creature ; and he de- 
 signed to make Scipio his father-in-law, by marry- 
 ing his daughter Cornelia, a lady of celebrated 
 accomplishments, the widow of young Crassus. 
 
 Cicero, on the other hand, served Milo to the 
 utmost of his power, and ardently wished his suc- 
 cess : this he owed to Milo's constant attachment 
 to him, which, at all hazards, he now resolved to 
 repay. The affair, however, was likely to give him 
 much trouble, as well from the difficulty of the 
 opposition as from Milo's own conduct and un- 
 bounded prodigality, which threatened the ruin of 
 all his fortunes. In a letter to Ms brother, who 
 was still with Caesar, he says, " Nothing can be 
 more wretched than these men and these times : 
 
 n Quomodo Ilirrum putas auguratus tui competitoreni. 
 .— Ep. Fam. viii. 3. 
 
 o Atque hoc idem de ca?teris sacerdotiis Cn. Domitius 
 tribunus plebis tulit, &c.— De Leg. Ag. ii. 7- 
 
 V Quo enim tempore me augurem a toto coUegio expcti- 
 tum Cn. Pompeius et Q. Hortensius noniinaverunt ; neque 
 enim licebat a pluribus nominari. — Phil. ii. 2. 
 
 Cooptatum me ab co in collegium recordabar, in quo 
 juratus judicium dignitatis mea; feccrat : et inauguratum 
 ab eodem, ex quo, augurum institutis in parentis eum loco 
 colore debebam. — Brut. init. 
 
 <l Plutarch, in Caton. 
 
 r Occurrebat ei, niaucam ac debilem preturam suam 
 futuram coneule Milono— Pro Miloue, 9. 
 L 2
 
 148 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 wherefore, since no pleasure can now be had from 
 the republic, I know not why I should make my- 
 self uneasy. Books, study, quiet, my country- 
 houses, and, above all, my children, are my sole 
 delight. Milo is my only trouble : I wish his con- 
 sulship 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 defeat 
 us : I am afraid only how his money will hold out ; 
 for he is mad beyond all bounds in the magnificence 
 of his shows, which he is now preparing at the ex- 
 pense of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds ; 
 but it shall be my care to check his inconsiderate- 
 ness in this one article as far as I am ables," &c. 
 
 In the heat of this competition, Curio was coming 
 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 in- 
 terest. 
 
 M. T. Cicero to C. Curio. 
 " Before we had yet heard of your coming to- 
 wards Italy, I sent away S. Villius, Milo's friend, 
 
 with this letter to you ; but when your 
 '■"^^1, ■ 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 im- 
 portance of the subject left no room to fear that we 
 should be thought 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 anything 
 considerable of one whom he takes to be obliged to 
 him, lest he be thought to demand rather than to 
 ask, and to look upon it as a debt, not as a kind- 
 ness. 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 obliged to those to whom 
 we are already much obliged, — I made no scruple 
 to beg of you, by letter, what, of all things, is the 
 most important and necessary to me. For I am 
 not afraid lest I should not be able to sustain the 
 weight of all your favours, though ever so numer- 
 ous, 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 resolved with myself to expect from it not 
 
 ' Itaque ex republica quoniam nihil jam voluptatis 
 cap! potest ; cur stomacher, nescio. Litcree me et studia 
 nostra, et otium ; villaeque delectant, maximeque pucri 
 nostri. Angit iinus Milo. Sed velim finem afferat consu- 
 latus ; in quo enitar non minus quam sum enisus in nostro : 
 tuque istinc, quod facis, adjuvabis. De quo ca;tera (nisi 
 plane vis eripuerit) reote sunt : de re familiari timeo. 
 
 'O Se ixcuverat ovk er' avsKTus — 
 qui ludos H. S. ccc. comparet. Cujus in hoc uno inconsi- 
 derantiam et ego sustinebo, ut potero. — Ad Quint, iii. i). 
 
 Cicero had great reasons for the apprehensions which he 
 expresses on account of Milo's extravagance : for Milo had 
 already wasted three estates in giving plays and shows to 
 the people ; and when he went soon after into exile, was 
 found to owe still above half a million of our money. — 
 riin. xxxvi. 15; Ascon. Argum. in Milon. 
 
 only the common fruit of duty, but the praise even 
 of piety : nor was any man, I believe, ever so soli- 
 citous for his own safety and fortunes, as I am for 
 his honour, on which I have fixed all my views and 
 hopes. You, I perceive, can be of such service to 
 him, if you please, that we shall have no occasioa 
 for anything 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 populace and the 
 multitude, by the magnificence of his shows 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, though of little weight, yet being allowed by 
 all to be just and due to 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 the 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 benefits ; 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 help- 
 ing hand to my praise ; or, to speak more truly, 
 to my safety. 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 shown 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 fight 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 I 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 showing my gratitude will be agreeable to 
 me ; which, I am persuaded, I shall be able to effect 
 by your assistance. Adieu'." 
 
 The senate and the better sort were generally in 
 Milo's interest ; but three of the tribunes were vio- 
 lent against him, — Q. Pompeius Rufus, Munatius 
 Plancus Bursa, and Sallust the historian ; the other 
 seven were his fast friends ; but above all, M. Cse- 
 lius, who, out of regard to Cicero, served him with 
 a particular zeal. But while all things were pro- 
 ceeding very prosperously in his favour, and nothing 
 seemed wanting to crown his success but to bring 
 on the election, which his adversaries for that rea- 
 son were labouring to keep back, all his hopes and 
 fortunes were blasted at once by an unhappy ren- 
 contre 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 coming 
 home from the country towards Rome ; Milo going 
 out about three in the afternoon : the first on horse- 
 back, with three companions, and thirty servants 
 well armed ; the latter in a chariot, with his wife • 
 
 « Ep.Fam. ii. 6.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 149 
 
 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 threatening them 
 ■with his usual fierceness, received a wound in the 
 shoulder from one of the gladiators ; and after re- 
 ceiving several more in the general fray, which 
 instantly ensued, finding his life in danger, was 
 forced to fly for shelter into a neighbouring tavern. 
 Milo, heated by this success, and the thoughts of 
 revenge, and reflecting that he had already done 
 enough to give his enemy a great advantage against 
 him, if he was left alive to pursue it, resolved, what- 
 ever was the consequence, to have the pleasure of 
 destroying him ; and so ordered the house to be 
 stormed, and Clodius to be dragged out and mur- 
 dered. The master of the tavern was likewise killed, 
 with eleven of Clodius' servants, while the rest 
 saved themselves by flight : so that Clodius's body 
 was left in the road where it fell, till S. Tedius, a 
 senator, happening to come by, took it up into his 
 chaise, and brought it witli him to Rome ; where it 
 was exposed in that condition, all covered with blood 
 and wounds, to the view of the populace, who flock- 
 ed about it in crowds to lament the miserable fate 
 of their leader. The next day, the mob, headed by 
 S. Clodius, 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 of 
 fury, that, snatching up the body, they ran away 
 with it into the senate-house, and tearing up the 
 benches, tables, and everything combustible, dressed 
 up a funeral-pile upon the spot, and, together viith 
 the body, burnt the house itself, with a basilica also, 
 or public hall adjoining, called the Porcian ; and in 
 the same fit of madness proceeded to storm the 
 house of Milo, and of I\I. Lepidus, the interrex, 
 but were repulsed in both attacks with some loss ". 
 These extravagancies raised great indignation in 
 the city, and gave a turn in favour of Milo, who, 
 looking upon himself as undone, was meditating 
 nothing before but a voluntary exile ; but now tak- 
 ing courage, he ventured to appear in public, and 
 was introduced into the rostra by Cselius, 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 pur- 
 pose ; for the three tribunes employed all the arts 
 of party and faction to keep up the ill humour of 
 the populace ; and what was more fatal, Pompey 
 would not be brought into any measures of accom- 
 modating the matter ; so that the tumult still 
 increasing, the senate passed a decree, that the 
 
 " Quanquam re vera, fuerat pugna fortuita. — Quintil. 
 vi. 5. 
 
 E/VTritras — paou rov (p6vov TeXevrriffavros aurov, 
 rj Tov Tpav/xaros, el Trepiyiyvono, a:pe6rj<Te(rdai. — Dio, 
 xl. p. 143. 
 
 Milo, ut cognovit vulneratumClodium, cum sibi pericu- 
 losius illud etiam, vivo eo, futurum intelligeret, occiso 
 autem magnum solatium esset habiturus, etiam si sub- 
 eunda poena esset, exturbari tabernam jussit. — Ita Clodius 
 latcns extractus est, multisque vulneribus confectus, &c. 
 «-Asconii Argum. in Milon. 
 
 interrex, assisted by the tribunes and Pompey, 
 should take care that the rci)ublic received no de- 
 triment ; and that Pompey, in particular, should 
 raise a body of troops for the common security, 
 which he presently drew together from all parts of 
 Italy. In this confusion, the rumour of a dictator 
 was again industriously revived, and gave a fresh 
 alarm to the senate ; who, to avoid tlie greater 
 evil, resolved presently to create Pompey the single 
 consul : so that the interrex, .Servius Sulpicius, 
 declared his election accordingly, after an inter- 
 regnum of near two months'^. 
 
 Pompey applied himself immediately to calm the 
 
 public disorders, and published several new laws 
 
 prepared by him for that purpose. 
 
 A. iiRB. All. Qj^g qj- ji^g^ ^j^g (.jj appoint a special 
 
 CN.poMPETus commission to inquire into Clodius's 
 MAGNUS HI. death, the burning ut'the senate-house. 
 Sine CoUcr/a. and the attack on M. Lepidus, — and 
 to appoint an extraordinary judge, of 
 consular i-ank, to preside in it : a second was 
 against bribery and corruption in elections, with 
 the infliction of new and severer penalties. By 
 these laws the metliod of trials was altered and the 
 length of them limited : three days were allowed 
 for the examination 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 consider as the first step towards the ruin 
 of the ^oman eloquence, by imposing reins as it 
 were ^spon its free and ancient course^. Caelius 
 opposed his negative to these laws, as being i-ather 
 privileges than laws, and provided particularly 
 cigainst Milo ; but he was soon obliged to withdraw 
 it, upon Pompey's declaring that he would support 
 them by force of arms. The three tribunes all the 
 while were perpetually haranguing and terrifying 
 the city with forged stories of magazines of arms 
 prepared by Milo for massacring his enemies and 
 burning the city, and produced 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 for sacrifice, to declare that Milo's 
 servants had confessed it to him in their cups, and 
 then endeavoured to kill him lest he should dis- 
 cover it ; and to make his story the more credible, 
 showed 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 doubhng his guard, aifected 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 prosecutions, 
 giving it out everywhere that Clodius was killed 
 indeed by the hand of Milo, but by the advice and 
 contrivance o f a greater man ^'. Yet such was his 
 
 X Vide Dio, ibid. ; et Ascon. Argum, 
 
 y Ibid. 
 
 2 Primus tertio consulatu Cn. Pompeius astnnxit, 
 imposuitque veluti fraenos cloquentia;, &c.— Dialog, de 
 Orator. 38. 
 
 » Audiendus Popa Licinius, nescio qui de Circo inaximo, 
 servos Milonis apud se ebrios factos confesses esse, de inter- 
 ticiendo Cn. Pompeio conjurasse— de amicorum sententia 
 rem defert ad senatum.— Pro Slilone, 24. 
 
 b Scitis, Judices, fuissc, qui in hac rogatione suadonda 
 dicerent, Jlilonis nianu caedem esie factam, consUio ven>
 
 160 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 constancy to his friend, says Asconius, that neither 
 the loss of popuhir favour, nor Porapey's suspicions, 
 nor his own danger, nor the terror of arms, couhl 
 divert liim from the resolution of undertaking 
 Milo's defence'-'. 
 
 But it was Pompey's influence and authority 
 which ruined Milo''. He was the only man in 
 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 jileased rather that the republic 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 w^ould 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 
 answered that he would not concern himself with 
 any man's suing or desisting, nor give any obstruc- 
 tion to the power and inclination of the Roman 
 people. He attended the trial in person with a 
 strong guard, to preserve peace and prevent 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 vestal virgins deposed that a woman 
 unknown came to them in Milo's name to discharge 
 a vow said to be made by him on the account of 
 Clodius's death ^. 
 
 When the examination was over, Munatius 
 Plancus called the people together and exhorted 
 them to appear in a full body the next day, when 
 judgment was to be given, and to declare their 
 sentiments in so public a manner that the criminal 
 migh not be suffered to escape ; which Cicero 
 reflects upon in the defence as an insult on the 
 liberty of the bench ^ Early in the morning, on 
 the eleventh of April, the shops were all shut 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 hinder all disturbance. 
 The accusers were, young Appius, the nephew of 
 Clodius, M. Antonius, and P. Valerius, — who, 
 according to the new law, employed 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 delivered, though the copy of it now extant is 
 supposed to have been retouched and corrected by 
 him afterwards, for a present to Milo in his exiled. 
 
 majoris alicujus : videlicet me latronem et sicarium abjecti 
 homines desoribebant. — Pro Jlilone, 18. 
 
 <^ Tanta tamen constantia ac fides fuit Ciceronis, ut non 
 populi a se alicnatione, non Cn. Pompeii suspicionibus, 
 non periculi futuri metu, — non ai-mis, qua? palani in Milo- 
 nem Bumpta erant, deterreii potuerit a dofensione ejus. — 
 Ascon. Argum. in Milon. 
 
 d Miloneni reum non magis invidia facti, quani Pompeii 
 damnavit voluntas. — Veil. Pat. ii. 47. 
 
 e Ascon. Argum. in Milon. 
 
 ' Ut intelligatis contra hesternam illam concionem lieere 
 vobis, quod sentiatis, libere judicare. — Pro Milone, 2(i ; 
 Ascon. Argum. 
 
 e Cicero, cum inciperet dicere, acceptus est acclamatione 
 
 In the council of Milo's friends, several were of 
 opinion that he should defend himself by avowing 
 the death of Clodius to be an act of pubUc benefit : 
 but Cicero thought that defence too desperate, — as 
 it would disgust the grave, by opening so great a 
 door to licence, and offend the powerful, lest the 
 precedent should be extended to themselves. But 
 young Brutus was not so cautious ; who, in an 
 oration which he composed and published after- 
 wards in vindication of Milo, maintained the killing 
 of Clodius to be right and just, and of great service 
 to the repubhc''. It was notorious, that on both 
 sides they had often threatened death to each other. 
 Clodius especially had declared 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 FavoniAis 
 asked him once what hopes he could have of 
 playing his mad pranks while Milo was living, he 
 repUed, 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 Favo- 
 nius'. Since Milo then was charged with being 
 the contriver of their meeting and the aggressor in 
 it, and several testimonies v.ere produced 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 actually lay in wait for 
 Milo, and contrived the time and place ; and that 
 Milo's part was but a necessary act of self-defence. 
 This appeared plausible, from the nature of their 
 equipage and the circumstances in which they met: 
 for though Milo's company was the more numerous, 
 yet it was much more encumbered and unfit for au 
 engagement than his adversary's ; he himself being 
 in a chariot with his wife and all her women along 
 with him, while Clodius with his followers was oa 
 horseback, as if prepared and equipped for fight- 
 ing''. He did not preclude himself however by this 
 from the other plea, which he often takes occasion, 
 to insinuate, that if Milo had really designed and 
 contrived to kill C'odius, he would have deserved 
 honours instead of punishment, for cutting off" so- 
 desperate and dangerous an enemy to the peace 
 and liberty of Rome'. 
 
 Clodianorum — itaque non ea, qua solitus erat constantia 
 dixit. Manet autem ilia quoque excepta ejus oratio. — 
 Ascon. Argum. 
 
 1» Cum quibusdam placuisset, ita defend! crimen, inter- 
 fici Clodium pro republica fuisse, quani formam M. Brutua 
 secutus est in ca oratione, quam pro Jlilone composuit, et 
 edidit, quamvis non egisset. Ciceroni id non placuit.— 
 Ibid. 
 
 ' Etenim palam dictitabat, consulatum Mlloni eripi non. 
 posse, vitam posse. Significavit hoc sa?pe in senatu ; dixit 
 in concione. Quinetiam Favonio, quasrenti ex eo : — Qua 
 spe fureret, Milone vivo? Respondit, triduo ilium, ad 
 summum quatriduo periturum. — Pro Milone, 9. 
 
 Post diem tertium gesta res est, quam dixerat. — Ibid. 
 16. 
 
 '' Interim cum sciret Clodius — Iter solennc— necessarium 
 — Miloni esse Lanuvium— Roma ipse profectus pridie est, 
 ut ante suum fundum, quod re intellcctum est, insidias 
 Miloni coUocaret — Milo autem cum in senatu fuisset eo 
 die, quoad senatus dimissus est, domum venit, calci-^os et 
 vestimenta mutavit : paullisper, dum se uxor, ut fit, com- 
 parat, commoratus est — obviam fit ei Clodius expeditus in 
 equo, nulla rheda, nuUis impedimentis, nuUis Gra;cia 
 comitibus, sine uxore, quod nunquam fere ; cum hie insi- ■ 
 diatur, — (Milo) — cum uxore in rheda veheretm- penulatus, 
 magno et impedito et muliebri ac delicato ancillarum ei 
 puerorum comitatu. — Pro Milone, 10 ; it. 21. 
 
 1 Quamobrem si cruentum gladium tenens clamarfli T.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 161 
 
 In this speech for Milo, after he had sho\vii 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 
 conduct and pretended fears with a fine and 
 masterly raillery ; and from a kind of prophetic 
 foresight of what might one day happen, addresses 
 himself to him in a very pathetic manner. — " I 
 could not but applaud (says he) the wonderful 
 diUgence of Pompey in these inquiries : but to tell 
 you freely what I think, those who are charged 
 with the care of the whole republic are forced to 
 hear many things which they would contemn if they 
 were at hberty to do it. He could not refuse an 
 audience to that paltry fellow Licinius, who gave 
 the information about Milo's servants. I was sent 
 for among the first of those friends by whose ad- 
 vice he laid it before the senate, and was, I own, 
 in no small consternation to see the guardian both 
 of me and my country under so great an appre- 
 hension ; 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 
 side, which seemed to be the prick only of a needle, 
 could be taken for the stroke of a gladiator. But 
 Pompey was showing his caution ratlier than his 
 fear ; and disposed to be suspicious of everything, 
 that you might have reason to fear nothing. There 
 was a rumour also that Caesar's house was attacked 
 for several hours in the night : the neighbours, 
 though in so pubhc a place, heard nothing 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 timorous, nor yet think any 
 caution too great in one who has taken upon himself 
 the defence of the whole republic. A senator 
 likewise, in a full house, afiBrmed lately in the 
 capitol that Milo had a dagger under his gown at 
 that very time. Milo stripped himself presently in 
 that most sacred temple, that, since his lite 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 Milo must still 
 be feared, it is no longer the affair 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 voluntary 
 e.xile ; but at taking leave he would call upoa thee, 
 O thou great one ! as he now does, to consider how 
 uncertain and variable the condition of life is ; how 
 unsettled and inconstant a thing fortune ; what 
 unfaithfulness there is in friends ; what dissimula- 
 tion suited to times and circumstances ; what 
 desertion, what cowardice in our dangers, even of 
 those who are dearest to us. There will, there 
 will I say, be a time, and the day will certainly 
 come, when you, with safety still I hope to your 
 fortunes, though changed perhaps by some turn of 
 the common times, which, as experience shows, 
 
 Aimius, — Adeste, quaeso, atque audite cives : P. Clodiiun 
 interfeci : ejus furores, quos nuUis jam legibus, nuUis 
 judiciis frsnare poteramus, hoc ferro, atque liac dextra a 
 cervicibus vestris repuli, itc— Vos tanti sceleris ultorem 
 non modo honoribus nullis afEcietis, sed etiam ad suppli- 
 Cium rapi patiemini ?- -Pro Milone, 28, &c. 
 
 will often happen to us all, may want the affection 
 of the friendliest, the fidelity of the worthiest, the 
 courage of the bravest man living," Sec."' 
 
 Of one-and-fifty judges who sat upon Milo, 
 thirteen only acquitted and thirty-eight condemned 
 him. 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 
 Velleius), would have drawn others after him ; 
 since all were convinced that he who was killed 
 was of all who had ever Uved the most pernicious 
 enemy to his country and to all good men".". 
 Milo went into exile at Marseilles a few days after 
 his condemnation : his debts were so great that he 
 was glad to retire the sooner from the importunity 
 of his creditors, for whose satisfaction liis whole 
 estate was sold by public auction. Here Cicero 
 still continued his care for him, and in concert 
 with Milo's friends, ordered one of liis wife's 
 freedmen, 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 benefit of Milo and his wife Fausta, if anything 
 could be saved for them. But his intended service 
 was not so well relished by Milo as he expected, 
 for Philotimus was suspected of playing the knave 
 and secreting part of the effects to his own use ; 
 which gave Cicero great uneasiness, so that he 
 pressed Atticus and Cselius to inquire into the 
 matter very narrowly, and oblige Philotimus "to 
 give satisfaction to Milo's friends, and to see 
 especially that his own reputation did not suffer by 
 the management of his servant"." Through this 
 whole struggle 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 
 resenting what he did, would not suffer other 
 people's resentments to hurt himP." 
 
 The next trial before the same tribunal, and for 
 the same crime, was of M. Saufeius, one of Milo's 
 confidants, charged with being the ringleader in 
 storming the house and killing Clodius. He was 
 defended also by Cicero, and acquitted only by one 
 vote : but being accused a second time on the same 
 account, though for a different fact, and again 
 defended by Cicero, lie was acquitted by a great 
 majority. But Sex. Clodius, the captain of the 
 
 " Pro Milone, 24, 23, 20. 
 
 " 31. Cato palam lata absolvit scntentia, quam si matu 
 rius tuJisset, non defuissent, qui sequerentur excmplum, 
 probarentque eum civeni occisum, quo nemo pemiciosior 
 reipublicajneque bonis inimicior vixerat. — Veil. Pat. ii. 47- 
 
 o Consilium meum hoc fucrat, primum ut in potestate 
 nostra res esset, ne iUuni malus emptor et alienus manci- 
 piis, qua; pennulta secuni habet, spoliaret: deinde ut 
 P'austa;, cui cautum ille voluisset, raturu esset. Erat 
 etiara illud, ut ipsi nos, si quid servari posset, quam fa- 
 cillime servaremua Nunc rem totam perspicias velim— 
 Si ille queritur — Si idem Fausta vult, Philotimus, ut ego 
 ei coram dixeram, mihique ille receperat, ne sit invito 
 Milone in bonis. — Ad Att, v. H ; it. vi. 4. 
 
 Quod ad Philotiini liberti officium et bona Milonis at' 
 tinet, dedimus operam ut et Philotimus quam honestissme 
 Miloni absenti, ejusque necessariis satis faceret, et secun- 
 dum p'us fidem et sedulitatem existimatio tua conser- 
 varetur. — Ep. Fam. viii. 3. 
 
 P Qua humanitate tulit contentionem meam pro Milone, 
 adversante interdum actionibus suis? Quo studio pro- 
 vidit, ue quae me illius tempuris invidia attingcrct ? Cum 
 me consilio, turn auctoritate, cum armia denique texil 
 suis. — Ibid. iii. 10.
 
 152 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 other side, had not the luck to escape so well, but 
 was condemned and banished with several others 
 of that faction, to the great joy of the city, for 
 burning the senate-house, and the other violences 
 committed upon Clodius's death''. 
 
 Pompey no sooner publislied his new law against 
 bribery, than the late consular candidates Scipio 
 andllypsa;us were severally impeached 
 A. inn. 701. upon it, and being both of them no- 
 toriously guilty, were in great danger 
 of being condemned : but Pomj)ey, 
 
 CIC. 
 
 coss. 
 
 MAGNUS III. 
 Q. C.'ECILIUS 
 
 begged it of them as a favour, that, 
 MBTBLLus out of the great number of state 
 SCIPIO. 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 marry- 
 ing his daughter Cornelia. The other candidate, 
 HypsEeus, was left to the mercy of the law ; and 
 being likely to fare the worse for Scipio's escape, 
 and to be made a sacrifice to the popular odium, 
 he watched an opportunity of access to Pompey as 
 he was coming out of his bath, and throwing him- 
 self at his feet, implored his protection : but though 
 he had been his quaestor, and ever obsequious to 
 his will, yet Pompey is said to have thrust him 
 away with great liaughtiness and inhumanity, telling 
 him coldly that he would only spoil his supper by 
 detaining him^ 
 
 Before the end of the year, Cicero had some 
 amends for the loss of his friend Milo, by the con- 
 demnation and banishment of two of the tribunes, 
 the common enemies of them both, Q. Pompeius 
 Rufus and T. Munatius Plaucus Bursa, for the 
 violences of their tribunate, and burning the senate- 
 house. As soon as their office expired, Cselius 
 accused the first, and Cicero iiimself the second ; 
 the only cause, excepting that of Verres, in which 
 he ever acted the part of an accuser. But Bursa 
 had deserved it, both for his public 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 
 apprehension of danger, since Pompey undertook 
 to plead his cause before judges of his own appoint- 
 ing ; yet, by Cicero's vigour in managing the 
 prosecution, he was condemned by a unanimous 
 vote of the whole bench ^ Cicero was highly 
 pleased with this success, as he signifies in a letter 
 to his friend Marius, which will explain the motives 
 of his conduct in it. 
 
 " I know 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 pleasure in it ; but be- 
 lieve me I have more joy from this sentence than 
 from th e death of my enemy ; for in the first place 
 
 1 Ascon. Argum. in Jlilon. 
 
 ^ Cn. autem Pompeius quam insolenter? Qui balneo 
 egressus, ante pedes suos prostratum IIypsa;um ambitus 
 reum et nobilem virum et sibi amicum, jacentem reliquit, 
 contumeliosa voce proculcatum. Niliil enim eum aliud 
 agere, quam ut convivium suum morai'etur, respondit. — 
 Ille vero P. Scipionem, soccrum suum, legibus noxium, 
 quas ipse tulerat, in maxima quidem reorum et illustrium 
 ruina, niuneiisloco a judicibus deposcere. — Val. Max. ix. 
 6; it. Plutarcli. in Pomp. 
 
 ' }'lancum, qui omnibus sententiisniaximovcstroplausu 
 oondeiiinatus. — Phil. vi. 4. 
 
 I love to pursue rather by a trial than the sword, 
 rather with the glory than the ruin of a friend, and 
 it pleased me extremely to see so great an incli- 
 nation of all honest men on my side against the 
 incredible pains of one, the most eminent and 
 powerful : and lastly, wliat you will scarce think 
 possible, I hated this fellow worse than Clodius 
 himself; for I had attacked the one, but defended 
 the other ; and Clodius, when the safety of the 
 republic was risked upon my head, had something 
 great in view, not indeed from his own strength, 
 but the help of those who could not maintain their 
 ground whilst I stood firm : but this silly ape, out 
 of a gaiety of heart, chose me particularly for the 
 object of his invectives, and persuaded those who 
 envied me, that he would be always at their service 
 to insult me at any warning. Wherefore I charge 
 you to rejoice in good earnest ; for it is a great 
 victory which we have won. No citizens were 
 ever stouter than those wlio condemned him, 
 against so great a power of one by whom themselves 
 v/ere 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 laws, 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 laws'', after the example 
 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-^ — not by 
 translating Plato, but imitating his manner in the 
 explication of them. This work being designed 
 then as a supplement or second volume to his other 
 upon the republic, was distributed probably, as 
 that other was, into six books ; for we meet with 
 some quotations among the ancients from the 
 fourth and fifth, though there are but three 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 
 gives a body of laws conformable to his ovni plan 
 and idea of a well-ordered city^ : first, those which 
 relate to religion and the worship of the gods ; 
 secondly, those which prescribe the duties and 
 powers of the several magistrates from which the 
 peculiar form of each government is denominated. 
 
 t Ep. Fam. vii. 2. " De Legib. ii. I7. 
 
 ^ Sod ut vir doctissimus fecit Plato, atque idem gravis- 
 himus philosophorum omnium, qui princeps de republica 
 conscripsit, idemque separatim de legibus ejus, id mihi 
 credo esse faciundum. — 0e Legib. ii. 6. 
 
 y Ilanc igitur video sapientissimorum fuisse sententiam, 
 legem neque hominum ingeniis excogitatam, nee scitum 
 aliquod esse populorum, sed seternum quiddam, quod 
 universum mundum regeret, imperandi prohibendiqua 
 sapientia. Itaprincipem legem illam et ultimam mentcm 
 esse dicebant, omnia ratione aut cogentis aut vetantis Dei. 
 — Quamobrem lex vera atque priuceps — ratio est recta 
 summi Jovis. — Ibid. ii. 4. 
 
 ^ Nos autem quoniam — quEE dc optima republica sen- 
 tiremus, in sex libris ante diximus, acconimodabimus hoc 
 tempore leges ad ilium, quem probamus, civitatis statum. 
 —Ibid. iii. 2.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 153 
 
 These laws are generally taken from the old con- 
 stitution or custom of Rome", with some little 
 variation and temperament, contrived to obviate 
 the disorders to which that republic was liable, 
 and to give it a stronger turn towards the aristo- 
 cratical side'". In the other books which are lost, 
 lie had treated, as he tells us, of the particular 
 rights and privileges of the Roman people*-'. 
 
 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 critics 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 Varro among them, advised Pompey to 
 abbreviate the word in question and order tert. 
 only to be inscribed, which fully declared the thing 
 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 monuments and inscriptions ''. 
 
 Among the other acts of Pompey in this third 
 consulship, there was a new law against bribery 
 contrived to strengthen the old ones that were 
 already subsisting against it, " by disqualifying all 
 future consuls and praetors from holding any pro- 
 vince 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 distance <'. 
 But before the law passed, Pompey took care to 
 provide an exception for himself, " and to get the 
 government of Spain continued to him for five 
 years longer, with an appointment of money for 
 the payment of his troops ;" and lest this should 
 give offence to Csesar, if something also of an 
 extraordinary kind was not provided for him, he 
 proposed a law to dispense with Caesar's absence in 
 suing for the consulship, of which Caesar at that 
 time seemed very desirous. Caelius was the pro- 
 motor of this law, engaged to it by Cicero, at the 
 joint request of Pompey and Caesar', and it was 
 carried with the concurrence of all the tribunes, 
 though not without difficulty and obstruction from 
 the senate ; but this unusual favour, instead of 
 satisfying Caesar, served only, as Suetonius says, 
 to raise his hopes and demands still higher ?. 
 
 • Et si quae forte a me hodie rogabuutur, quae non sint 
 In nostra republica nee fuerint, tamon erunt fere in more 
 majorum, qui turn, ut lex, valebat. — Do Legib. ii. 10. 
 
 •> Nibil habui ; sane non raultum, quod putarem no- 
 vandum in legibus. — Ibid. iii. 5. P Ibid. iii. 20. 
 
 d Tliis story is told by Tiro, a favourite slave and freed- 
 man of Cicero, in a letter preserved by Aul. Gell. x. 1 . 
 
 e Dio, p. 142. 
 
 ' Rogatus ab ipso Ravennae de C»lio tribuno plebis ; ab 
 ipso autem ? Etiam a Cnieo nostro. — Ad Alt. vii. 1. 
 
 S Egit cum tribunis plebis ut absenti sibi petitio 
 
 seeuudi consulatus daretur Quod ut adeptusest, altiora 
 
 . jam mcditans et spei plenus, nullum largitionis, aut offici- 
 orum in quemquam genus publice privatimque omisit. — 
 Suet. J. Css. 26. 
 
 By Pompey's law just mentioned, it was pro- 
 vided that, for a supply of governors for the inter- 
 val "of five years, in which the consuls and praetors 
 were disquaUfied, 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 CiUcia, 
 now in 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 withheld 
 from others by law, to correct their inordinate 
 passion for them, was, contrary to his will and 
 expectation, obtruded at last upon Cicero, whose 
 business it had been through life to avoid them'. 
 
 The city began now to feel the unhappy effects 
 both of Julia's and Crassus's death, from the 
 mutual apprehensions and jealousies which dis- 
 covered themselves more and more every day be- 
 tween Pompey and Caesar. The senate was gene- 
 rally in Pompey's interest, and trusting to the 
 name and authority of so great a leader, were deter- 
 mined to humble the pride and ambition of Caesar 
 byrecalling him from hisgovernment; whilstCaesar, 
 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 Italic or Cisalpine Gaul, so as to be 
 ready at any warning to support his pretensions, 
 began to alarm all Italy with the melancholy pro- 
 spect of an approaching civil war ; and this was the 
 situation of affairs when Cicero set forward towards 
 his government of CUicia. 
 
 SECTION VII 
 
 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 governor 
 
 A.URB.702. of a province and general of an army. 
 
 cic. 56. These preferments were, of all others, 
 
 '^°^*- the most ardently desired by the great 
 
 SERV. suLPi- ^^^ ^j^g advantages which they afforded 
 
 II^Zl^vdws ^oth of acquiring power and amassing 
 
 MARCELLus. wcalth ; for their command, though 
 
 accountable to the Roman people, 
 was absolute and uncontrollable in the province, 
 where they kept up the state and pride of sovereign 
 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 
 rebellion, or the adjoining nations to acts of hosti- 
 lity by their oppressions and injuries, till from the 
 destruction of a number of innocent people they 
 had acquired the title of e mperor, and with it the 
 
 ii Ad Att. v. 15. 
 
 i Cum et contra voluntatem meam et prster opmionem 
 accidisset, ut raihi cum imperio in provinciam proficisci 
 necease esset. — Ep. Fam. iii. 2.
 
 i54 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 pretension to a triumph, without which scarce any 
 proconsul was ever known to return from a remote 
 and frontier province". Their opportunities of 
 raisinj^ money were as immense as tlieir power, 
 and bounded only l>y their own appetites ; the 
 ai)pointments from the treasury for their equipage, 
 plate, and necessary furniture, amounted, as it 
 appears from some instances, to near a hundred 
 and fifty thousand pounds'* ; and besides the 
 revenues of kingdoms and pay of armies, of which 
 they had the arbitrary management, they could 
 exact what contributions they pleased, not only 
 from the cities of their own jurisdiction, but i'roni 
 all the states and princes around them, who were 
 under the protection of- Rome. But while their 
 primary care was to enrich themselves, thoy carried 
 out with them always a band of hungry friends and 
 dependants as their lieutenants, tribunes, prefects, 
 with a crew of freedmen and favourite slaves, 
 who were all likewise to be enriched by the spoils 
 of the province, and the sale of their master's 
 favours. Hence flowed all those accusations and 
 trials for the plunder of the subjects of which we 
 read so much in the Roman writers ; for as few or 
 none of the proconsuls behaved themselves with 
 that exact justice as to leave no room for com- 
 plaint, so the factions of the city and the quarrels 
 of families subsisting from former impeachments, 
 generally excited some or other to revenge the 
 affront in kind by undertaking the cause of an in- 
 jured province, and dressing up an impeachment 
 against their enemy. 
 
 But whatever benefit or glory this government 
 seemed to offer, it had no charms for Cicero : the 
 thing 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 republic ; so that he considered it only as 
 an honom-able exile or a burden imposed by liis 
 country to which his duty obliged him to submit. 
 His first care, therefore, was to provide that this 
 command might not be prolonged to him beyond 
 the usual term of a year, which was frequently 
 
 a While the ancient discipline of the republic subsisted, 
 no general could pretend to a triumph who had not 
 enlarged the bounds of the empire by his conquests, and 
 killed at least five thousand enemies in battle, without 
 any considerable loss of his own soldiers. This was 
 expressly enacted by an old law : in support of which a 
 second was afterwards provided, that made it penal for 
 any of their triumphant 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 public trea- 
 surers, that the accounts which tl\ey had sent to the 
 senate, of each number, were true. [Val. Max. ii. 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 re- 
 pelled the incursions of the wild barbarians, who bordered 
 upon the distant provinces. 
 
 b Nonne H.S. centies et octagies— quasi vasarii nomine 
 —ex serario tibi attributum, Roma; in qiiastu reliquisti ? 
 —In Pison. 35. 
 
 c Totum negotium non est dignum viribus nostris. qui 
 
 majora onera in republica sustinereet possim et soleam 
 
 Ep. Fam. ii. 11. 
 
 O rem minime aptam meis moribus, &c Ad Att. v. 10. 
 
 Sed est incredibile, quam me negotii taedeat, non habet 
 satis magnum campum ille tibi non ignotus cursus animi 
 mei — Ibid. 15 
 
 done when the necessities of the province, tno- 
 character of the man, the intrigues of parties, or 
 the hurry of other business at home, left the senate 
 neither leisure nor inclination to think of changini' 
 the governor ; and this was the more likely to 
 happen at present, through the scarcity of magis- 
 trates who were now leit capable by the late law 
 of succeeding him. Before his departure, there- 
 fore, he solicited all his friends not to sufier such 
 a mortification to fall upon him, and after he was 
 gone, scarce wrote a single letter to Rome without 
 urging the same request in the most pressing tcnns. 
 In his first to Atticus, within three days from their 
 parting — " Do not imagine," says he, " that I have 
 any other consolation in this great trouble than the 
 hopes that it will not be continued 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 fii-st of May, attended 
 by his brother and their two sons, for Quintus 
 had quitted his commission under Csesar in order 
 to accompany him into Cilicia in the same capacity 
 of his lieutenant. Atticus had desired him, before 
 he left Italy, to admonish his brother to show 
 more complaisance and affection to his wife Pom- 
 ponia, 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 which 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 wajv 
 on you, which gave me an opportunity of falling 
 upon the affair of your sister, whioh you and I 
 had talked over together at Tusculum. I never 
 saAv anything so mild and moderate as my brother 
 was, without giving the least hint of his ever having 
 had any real cause of offence from her. The next 
 morning we left Arpinum, and that day being a 
 festival, Quintus was oljliged to spend it at Arca- 
 num, where I dined with him, but went on after- 
 wards to Aquinum. You know this villa of his : 
 as soon as we came thither, Quintus said to his 
 wife, in the civilest terms, Do you, Pomponia, in- 
 vite the women, and I will send to the men 
 (nothing, as far as I saw, could be said more 
 obligingly, eitlier 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 I 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 : m^ 
 
 d Noli putare mihi aliam consnlationem esse hujus 
 ingentis molestia?, nisi quod spero non longiorem annua 
 fore. Hoc me ita velle multi non credunt ex consuetudino 
 aliorum. Tu, qui scis, omnem diligentiani adhibebifi; tuni' 
 scilicet, cum id agi debebit. — Ep. Tam. ii. 2.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 165^ 
 
 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 
 Quintus himself. I went away to Aquinum ; he 
 staid at Arcanum : but when he came to me early 
 the next morning he told me that she refused to 
 lie with him that night, and at their parting con- 
 tinued in the same humour in which I had seen her. 
 In a word, you may let her know from me that, in 
 my opinion, the fault was all on her side that day. 
 I have been longer, perhaps, than was necessary 
 in my narrative, to let you see that there is occa- 
 sion also on your part for advice and admoni- 
 tion^." 
 
 One cannot help observing from this little inci- 
 dent what is confirmed by innumerable instances 
 in the Roman story, that the freedom of a divorce, 
 which was indulged without restraint at Rome, to 
 the caprice of either party, gave no advantage of 
 comfort to the matrimonial state, but, on the con- 
 trary, seems to have encouraged rather a mutual 
 perverseness and obstinacy ; since, upon any little 
 disgust or obstruction given to their folhes, 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 country where 
 there was so profligate a contempt and violation 
 of the nuptial bond, or so much lewdness and in- 
 fidelity 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 of little Rome about him. Hortensius 
 came among the rest, though much out of health, 
 to pay his compliments, and wish him a good voy- 
 age, 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 
 hinder his government from being prolonged to 
 him^ In sixteen days from Rome he arrived at 
 Tarentum, where he had promised to make a 
 visit to Pompey, who was taking the beneht 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 hira upon 
 his journey. They proposed great satisfaction on 
 both sides from this interview, for the opportunity 
 of conferring together with all freedom on the pre- 
 sent state of the republic, which was to be their 
 subject ; though Cicero expected also to get some 
 lessons of the military kind from this renowned 
 commander. He promised Atticus an account of 
 tiiis conference, but the particulars being too de- 
 licate 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?. 
 
 « Ad Att. V. r ' 
 
 ' In Cuniano cum essem, venit ad me, quod mihi per- 
 gratum fuit, noster Hortensius: cui, deposcenti mea 
 mandata, ctetera universe mandavi ; illud proprie, ne 
 pateretur, quantum esset in ipso, prorogari nobis piovin- 
 ciam. — Habuimus in Cumano quasi pusillam Romam : 
 tanta erat in his locis multitude.— Ibid. 2. 
 
 S Nos Tarenti, quoscum Pompeio StaXoyovs de repub- 
 lica habuerimus ad te perscribemus. — Ibid. 5. 
 
 Tarentum veni a. d. xv. Kal. Jan. quod Poniinium 
 statueram expectare, commodissimuni duxi dies eos — cum 
 Pompeio consumere : eoque magis, quod ei gratum esse id 
 videbam, qui etiam a me petierit, ut sccum et apud se 
 
 After three days' stay with Pompey he proceeded 
 to Brundisium, where he was detained for twelve 
 days by a slight indisposition, and the expectation 
 of his principal officers, particularly of his heute- 
 nant Pontinius, an experienced leader, the same 
 wiio had triumphed over the AUobroges, and on 
 whose skill he chiefly depended in his martial 
 affairs. From Brundisium he sailed to Actium, 
 on the fifteenth of June, whence partly by sea and 
 partly by land he arrived at Athens on the twenty- 
 si,xth''. Here he lodged in the house of Aristus, 
 the principal professor of the Academy, and his 
 brother not far from him, with Xeno, another 
 celebrated philosopher of Epicurus' 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 Cauinius, and 
 Patro, an eminent Epicurean, and intimate friend 
 of Atticus'. 
 
 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 Mitylene. 
 The figure which he had borne in Rome gave him 
 great authority in Athens, aud the councQ of Areo- 
 pagus had granted him a piece of ground to build 
 upon 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 remains of their master 
 in danger of being destroyed. They had written 
 to Cicero at Rome, to beg him to intercede witli 
 Memmius to consent to a revocation of it ; and 
 now at Athens, Xeno and Patro renewed their in- 
 stances, and prevailed with him to write about it 
 in the most effectual manner ; for though Memmius 
 had laid aside his design of buUding, the Areopa- 
 gites 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 con- 
 tracted through weakness, not wickedness ; and 
 though he professes an utter dishke of their philo- 
 sophy, yet he recommends them, as honest, agree- 
 able, friendly men, for whom he entertained the 
 highest esteem'. From this letter one may observe, 
 
 essem quotidie : quud concessi libenter niultos, enini ejus 
 pra^claros de republica sermonesaccipiam : instruar etiam 
 consiliis idoneis ad lioe nostriun negotium. — Ad Attic, v. 6. 
 
 Ego, cum triduum cum Pompeio et apud Pompeium f uis- 
 sem, proficiscebar Brundisium.^ — C'ivem ilium egregium 
 relinquebam, et ad ha;c, quje timentur, propulsanda par- 
 atissimum. — Ibid. 7. 
 
 h Ibid. 8, 9. 
 
 ' Valde me Athena; delectarimt : urbs duntaxat, et urbia 
 ornamentum, et hominum amores in te, et in nos quaedam 
 benevolentia ; sed multum et philosophia — si quid est, est 
 in Aristo apud quern eram, nam Xenonem tuum — Quinto 
 concesseram. — Ibid. 10; Ep. Fam. ii. 8. xiii. 1. 
 
 k Visum est Xenoni, et post, ipsi Patroni, me ad Mem- 
 mium scribere, qui pridie quam ego Athenas veni, Mityl©- 
 nas profectus erat, — non euini dubitabat Xeno, quin ab 
 Areopagitis invito Jlemmio impotrari non posset. Mem- 
 mius autem aidificandi consiliunx abjecisset, sed erat 
 Patroni iratus, itaque scrips! ad eum accurate— Ibid. 
 U. 
 
 ' Ep. Fam. xiii. 1.
 
 156 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 that the greatest difference in philosophy made no 
 difference of friendship among tlie great of these 
 times. There was not a more declared enemy to 
 Epicurus's doctrine than Cicero ; he thought it 
 destructive of morality and pernicious to society, 
 but he charged this consequence to the principles, 
 not the professors of them, with many of whom he 
 held the strictest intimacy, and found them to be 
 worthy, virtuous, generous friends, and lovers of 
 their country. There is a jocose letter to Trebatius, 
 when he was with Cccsar in Gaul, upon his turn- 
 ing Epicurean, which will help to confirm this re- 
 flection. 
 
 Cicero 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 Taren- 
 tum instead of Samarobriva ? I 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 everything for your own interest, and not for 
 your client's ? and what will become of that old 
 form and test of fidelity, As true men ought to act 
 truly, with one another ? What law 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 Jupiter, you know, can never 
 be angry with any man ? And what will become of 
 your people of Ulubrge ; since you do not allow a 
 wise man to meddle with politics ? Wherefore if you 
 are really 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 
 effect to a change of religion with us, made no 
 alteration 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 rashness of 
 those zealots who, with the light of a most divine 
 and benevolent religion, are perpetually insulting 
 and persecuting their fellow Christians for dif- 
 ferences 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 
 Ceelius 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 
 pohte and entertaining ; full of wit and spirit ; yet 
 not flowing with that easy turn and elegance of 
 expression which we always find in Cicero's. The 
 first of them, with Cicero's answer, will give us a 
 specimen of the rest. 
 
 M. CcbUus 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 punctually, 
 
 that I am afraid lest you should think my dili- 
 
 m Ep. Fam. vii. 12. 
 
 gence at last too minute : but I know how curious 
 you are, and how agreeable it is to all who are 
 abroad to be informed of everything that passes 
 at home, though ever so trifling. 1 beg of you, 
 however, not to condemn me of arrogance, for 
 deputing another to this task : since, as busy as I 
 now am, and as lazy as you know me to be in 
 writing, it would be the greatest pleasure to me to 
 be employed in anything that revives the remem- 
 brance of you : but the pacquet itself which I have 
 sent will I 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 anything important happens in the 
 republic 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 apprehended : at pre- 
 sent there is no great expectation of anything. As 
 to those rumours which were so warm at Cumae, 
 of assembling the colonies 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 
 conversation he had with you ; what inclination he 
 showed : for he is apt to think one thing and say 
 another, yet has not wit enough to conceal what 
 he really means. As for Csesar, 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 
 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 publicly 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 under 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 a large donative from Csesar; but is not 
 yet easy, nor well provided. Your books on 
 government are applauded by all people"." 
 
 M. T. Cicero, proconsul, to M. Ctslius. 
 " How ! was it this, think you, that I charged 
 you with ; to send me the matches of gladiators ; 
 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 
 
 n Ep. Fam. viii. I,
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 167 
 
 have never yet met with a better head for politics ; 
 I would not have you write what passes every day 
 in public, though ever so important, unless it 
 happen to affect myself: others will write it ; many 
 bring accounts of it ; and fame itself convey 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 repubUc, 
 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 conversing on nothing else but the 
 republic ; which it is neither possible nor proper 
 for me to explain by letter : take this only from 
 me ; that Pompey 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 ; this is everything to me ; which, when 
 and how, and by whom it is to be managed, you 
 will be the best able to contrive. Adieu". 
 
 He landed at Ephesus on the twenty-second of 
 July, after a slow but safe passage of fifteen days ; 
 the tediousness of which was agreeably relieved by 
 touching on the way at several of the islands of the 
 JEgean sea, of which he sends a kind of journal to 
 AtticusP. 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 testi. After reposing himself for 
 three days at Ephesus, he marched forward to- 
 wards his province ; and on the last of July, arrived 
 at Laodicea, one of the capital cities of his juris- 
 diction. From this moment the date of his 
 government commenced, which he bids Atticus 
 take notice of, that he might know how to compute 
 the precise extent of his annual term'. 
 
 It was Cicero's resolution, in this provincial 
 command, to practise those admirable rules which 
 he had drawn up formerly for his brother ; and 
 from an employment wholly tedious and disagree- 
 able to him to derive fresh glory upon his character, 
 by leaving the innocence and integrity of his ad- 
 ministration, as a pattern of governing to all 
 succeeding proconsuls. It had always been the 
 
 ° Ep. Pam. ii. 8. 
 
 P Ephesum venimus a. d. xi. Kal. Sext.— Ad Att. v. 13 ; 
 it. Ibid. 12. 
 
 •i De concursu legationum, privatorum, etde incrcdibili 
 multitudine.qufemihijam S.imi, sedmirabilcm in modum 
 
 Ephesi, praesto fuit, aut te audisso puto ex quo te intel- 
 
 ligere ccrto scio miiltorum annoruni ostentationes meas 
 nunc in discrimen esse adductas.— Ibid. J3. 
 
 *■ Laodiccam veniprid.Kal. Sextilee. Ex hoc die clavum 
 »nni movebis.— Ibid. 15. 
 
 custom, when any governors 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^ 
 public or ])rivate, to be made either upon himself 
 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 anything else but mere 
 house-room, with four beds ; which he remitted 
 also, as oft 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, wonder- 
 fully, in a jealous concern for his honour'. 
 
 Being desirous to put himself 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 Antiochus, king of Comagene, which 
 was confirmed from the other princes of those 
 parts, that the Parthians had passed the Euphrates 
 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 ac- 
 cess to it was difficult except on the side of Cap- 
 padocia, an open country, and not well provided, 
 he took his route through that kingdom, and 
 encamped in that part of it which bordered upon 
 Cilicia, 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 horse, 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 dej)end upon at any warn- 
 
 s Ego — quotidie meditor, pracipio meis ; faciam dcniqne 
 ut summa modestia et summa abstinentia inunus hoc 
 extraordinarium traducamus. — Ep. Fam. ii. 9. 
 
 Adhuc sumptus nee in me aut publice aut privatim, iiec 
 iu quemquam comitum. Nihil aceipitur lege Julia, nihil 
 ab hospite, persuasum est omnibus meis aerviendiim esse 
 famse mea?. Belle adhuc. Hoe animadversum Graecorum 
 laudo et multo sermone celebratur. — Ibid. 10. 
 
 Nos adhuc iter per Grseciam summa cum admiratione 
 feciinus.^ — Ibid. 11. 
 
 ' Levantur misers civitates, quod nullus sit sumptus in 
 nos, neque in Icgatos, neque in qutestorem, neque in quem- 
 quam. Scito, non modo nos fcenum, aut quod lege Julia 
 dari solet, non accipere, sed ne ligna quidem, nee prjetcr 
 quatuor lectos, et tectum, quemquam accipere quidquani : 
 niultis locis ne tectum quidem, ct in tabemaculo manere 
 plcrumquc. — Ad Att. v. 16. 
 
 Ut nullus tcrunciusinsumatur in quemquam ; idfifctiam 
 et legatorum et tribunorum et pra;fectorum Jiligentia. 
 Nam omnes mirifice avfjL<pi>.o5o^ov(nv glorias meae. — Ibid. 
 17. 
 
 " Erat milii in animo recta proficisci ad cxcrcitum, 
 aestivos menses reliquos rei militari dare, hiberuos juris- 
 dictioni. — Ibid. 14. 
 
 ^ In castra veni a. d. vii. Kal. Sep*, a. d. in, exercitum
 
 108 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 While he lay in this camp, he had an opportu- 
 nity of executing a special commission witli which 
 he was charged by the senate, to take Ariobar- 
 zanes, king of Cappadocia, under his particular 
 protection, and jjrovide for the security of his 
 person and government ; in honour of whom 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 fatlier had been killed by the treachery of his 
 subjects, and a conspiracy of the same kind was 
 apprehended against the son : Cicero, therefore, in 
 a council of his officers, gave 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 
 fheir 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 agednst his life 
 or crown : upon which Cicero, after congratulating 
 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 particu- 
 larly vigilant in the care of his person, and so they 
 parted. But the next morning the king returned 
 early to the camp, attended by his brother and 
 counsellors, and with many tears implored the pro- 
 tection of Cicero, and the benefit of the senate's 
 decree ; declaring, " that he had received undoubted 
 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 begged, therefore, that 
 some of Cicero's troops might be left with him for 
 his better guard and defence." Cicero told him, 
 ' ' that under the present alarm of the Parthian war, 
 he could not possibly lend him any part of his 
 army ; that since the conspiracy was detected, hia 
 own forces would be sufficient for preventing the 
 effects of it ; that he should learn to act the king, 
 by showing a proper 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 apprehend any farther danger, when his people 
 were acquainted witli 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 the king, he marched towards Cilicia, 
 and gave an account of this accident, and of the 
 motions of the Parthians, in two public letters to 
 the consuls and the senate : he added a private letter 
 also to Cato, who was a particular favourer and 
 lustravi. Ex his castris cam graves de Parthis nuncii 
 venirent, perrexi in Ciliciam, per Cappadociae partem earn, 
 qua: Ciliciam attlngit — 
 
 Regis Antiochi Comageni legati primi mihi nunciarunt 
 Parthorum magnas copias Euphratem transire coepisse. — 
 Cum exercitum in Ciliciam ducerem — mihi litera; reddita; 
 sunt aTarcondimoto, qui fidelissimussocius trans Taurum 
 populi Romani existimatur. Pacorum Orodis regis Partho- 
 rum filium, cum permagno cquitatu transisse Euphratem, 
 &c. — Ep. Fam. xv. 1. 
 
 Eodem die ab Jamblicho, Phylarcho Arabum — literae de 
 oisdem rebus &c. 
 
 patron of Ariobarzanes, in which he informed him, 
 " that he had not only secured the king's person 
 from any attempt, biii liad taken care that 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 malcontents, and 
 the next in power to the king himself, to quit the 
 country y. 
 
 This king Ariobarzanes seems to have been 
 poor even to a proverb : — 
 
 Maucipiis locuplcs egit seris Cappadocum rex. 
 
 HoR. Ep. i. 6. 
 
 for he had been miserably squeezed and drained by 
 the Roman generals and governors, to whom he 
 owed vast sums, either actually borrowed or stipu- 
 lated to be paid for particular services. It was a 
 common practice with the great of Rome to lend 
 money at an exorbitant interest to the princes and 
 cities dependent on the empire, which was thought 
 a useful piece of policy to both sides ; to the 
 princes, for the opportunity of engaging to their 
 interests the most powerful men of the republic, by 
 a kind of honoui-able pension ; to the Romans, for 
 the convenience of placing their money where it 
 was sure to bring the greatest return of profit. The 
 ordinary interest of these provincial loans was, one 
 per cent, by the month, with interest upon interest: 
 this was the lowest, but in extraordinary or ha- 
 zardous cases, it was frequently 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 '3 agents were so 
 pressing, and the king so needy, that though Cicero 
 solicited Brutus's affair very heartily, he had little 
 hopes of getting anything for hini : when Ariobar- 
 zanes came, therefore, to offer him the same present 
 of money, which he had usually made to every 
 other governor, he generously refused it, and de- 
 sired only, that instead of giving it to him, it might 
 be paid to Brutus : but the poor prince was so dis- 
 tressed that he excused himself, by the necessity 
 which he was under, of satisfying some other more 
 pressing demands ; so that Cicero gives a sad ac- 
 count of his negotiation, in a long letter to Atticus, 
 who had 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 recal myself, lest I offend you — do not think that 
 I ever entered into anything 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 exactly. In the first place I 
 pressed Ariobarzanes to give that money to Brutus 
 which he promised to me. As long as the king 
 continued with me, all things looked well ; but he 
 was afterwards teased by six hundred of Pompey's 
 agents, and 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 
 
 7 Ep. Fam. xv. 2, 3, 4. 
 
 1
 
 MARCUS TULLILS CICERO. 
 
 I5i) 
 
 to the Parthiaa war. They now pay Pompey 
 thirty-three Attic talents per month out of the 
 taxes, tliough this falls short of a month's interest; 
 but our friend Cnseus takes it. calmly, and is con- 
 tent to abate somewhat of the interest without 
 pressing for the principal. As for others, he 
 [leither does nor can pay any man ; for he has no 
 ireasury, no revenues ; he raises taxes by Appius's 
 nethod of capitation, but these are scarce sufficient 
 'or Pompey's monthly pay. Two or three of the 
 iing's friends are very rich, but they hold their 
 )wn as closely as either you or I. I do not forbear, 
 lowever, to ask, urge, and chide him by letters. 
 King Deiotarus also told me that he had sent people 
 :o him on purpose to solicit for Brutus, but they 
 )rought him word back that he had really no 
 noney ; which I take indeed to be the case, that 
 lothing is more drained than his kingdom, nothing 
 joorer than the king'-." 
 
 But Brutus had recommended another affair of 
 he same nature to Cicero, which gave him much 
 nore trouble. The city of Salamis in Cyprus 
 )wed to two of his friends, as he pretended, 
 Scaptius and Matinius, above twenty thousand 
 )Ounds sterling upon bond at a most extravagant 
 nterest ; and he begged of Cicero to take their 
 ;ersons and concerns under his s))ecial protection, 
 ^ppius, who was Brutus's father-in-law, had 
 [ranted everything which was asked to Scaptius ; 
 I preefecture in Cyprus, with some troops of horse, 
 nth which he miserably harassed the poor Sala- 
 ninians in order to force them to comply with his 
 mreasonable demands ; for he shut up their whole 
 enate in the council- room till five of them were 
 tarved to death with hunger*. Brutus laboured 
 o place him in the same degree of favour with 
 ];icero ; but Cicero being informed of this violence 
 .t Ephesus by a deputation from Salamis, made it 
 he first aet of his government to recal the troops 
 rom Cyprus, and put an end to Scaptius's praefec- 
 ure, having laid it down for a rule to grant no 
 iommand to any man who was concerned in trade 
 ir negotiating money in the province. To give 
 atisfaction, however, to Brutus, he enjoined the 
 salaminians to pay off Scaptius's bond, which they 
 eere ready to do according to the tenor of his 
 :dict, by which he bad ordered that no bonds in 
 ds province should carry above one per cent, by 
 he month. Scaptius refused to take the money 
 >n those terms, insisting on four per cent, as the 
 :ondition of his bond expressed, which by compu- 
 ation almost doubled the principal sum ; while the 
 salaminians, as they protested to Cicero, could not 
 lave paid the original debt if they bad not been 
 inabled to do it by his help, and out of his own 
 lues that he bad remitted to them, which amounted 
 o somewhat more than Scaptius's legal demand '•. 
 
 This extortion raised Cicero's indignation, — and 
 
 * Ad Att. vi. 1. 
 
 ' Futrat enim praefe&tus Appio, et quidem habuerat 
 iurmas tquitum, quibue inclusum in curia senatum Sa- 
 amine obi^derat, ut fame senatores quinque morerentur. 
 -Ibid. 
 
 " Itaqiie ego, quo die tetigi proyinciam, cum mihi Cyprii 
 egati Ephesum obviam venissent, literas misi, ut equites 
 !x insula statim dccederent.— Ad Att. vi. 1. 
 
 Confeceram, ut solverent eentesimis — at Scaptius qua- 
 »rnas postulabat.— Ibid. 
 
 Homines ncii modo non recusare, sed etiam dicere, so a 
 He solvere. Quod enim praetori dare consuessent, quoniani 
 igo non acceperam, &e a me quodam modo dare ; atque 
 
 notwithstandinEj the repeated instances of Bnitos 
 and Atticus, he was determined to overrule it ; 
 though Brutus, in order to move him the more 
 effectually, thought proper to confess what he had 
 all along dissembled, that the debt was really his 
 own, and Scaptius only his agent in it"^. This 
 surprised Cicero still more, and though he had a 
 warm inclination to oblige Brutus, yet he could not 
 consent to so flagrant an injustice, but makes fre- 
 quent 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 it I see no reason why we should love 
 him, but I am sure it will be approved by his 
 uncle Cato''." In another, " If Brutus thinks that 
 I ought to allow him four per cent, when by edict I 
 have decreed but one through all the province, and 
 that to the satisfaction of the keenest usurers ; if 
 he complains that 1 denied a prsefecture to one 
 concerned in trade which I denied for that reason 
 to your friend Lenius, and to Sex. Statins, though 
 Torquatus solicited for the one and Pompey himself 
 for the other, yet vrithout disgusting either of 
 them ; if he takes it ill that I recalled the troops 
 of horse out of Cyprus, I shall be sorry indeed 
 that he has any occasion to be angry with me, but 
 much more not to find him the man that I took 
 him to be. I would have you to know, however, 
 that I have not forgot what you intimated to me 
 in several of your letters, that if I brought back 
 nothing else from the province but Brutus's friend- 
 ship, that would be enough : let it be so since you 
 will have it so, — yet it must always be with this 
 exception, as far as it can be done without my 
 committinganywrong*^." In a third, " How, my dear 
 Atticus ! you who applaud 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 extort- 
 ing 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' ?" He tells him likewise in 
 
 etiam minus esse aliquanto in Scaptii nomine, quam in 
 vectigali praetorio. — Ad Att. v. 21. 
 
 c Atque hoe tempore ipso impingit mihi epistolam Scap- 
 tius liruti, rem illam suo periculo esse: quod nee mihi 
 unquam Brutus dixei-at nee tibi. — Ibid. 
 
 Nunquam ex illo audivi illam pecuniam esse suam.— 
 Ibid. 
 
 <* Ilabes meam causam : quae si Bruto non probatur, 
 nescio cur ilium amemus : sed avunculo ejus certe proba- 
 bitur.— Ibid. v. 21-. 
 
 e Si Brutus putabit me quatemas centesimas oportuisse 
 docemere, qui in tola provincia singulas observarem, 
 itaque edixisscm, idque etiam acerbissimis foeneratoribus 
 probaretur ; si praefecturam negotiatori denegatam quere- 
 tur, quod ego Torquato nostro in tuo Lenlo, Pompeio ipsi 
 in S. Static negavi, et iis probavi ; si equites deductoa 
 molesto feret ; accipiam equidem d(jlorem, mihi ilium 
 irasci, sed multo majorem, non esse euni talem, qualem 
 
 putiiisom Sed plane te intelligere volui, mihi nonexci- 
 
 disse illud, quod tu ad me quibusdam Uteris scripsisses, 
 si nihil allud de hac provincia nisi illius benevolentiam 
 deportassem, mihi id satis esse. Sit sane, quoniam ita tu 
 vis sed tamen cum eo credo, quod sine peocato meo fiat — 
 Ibid. 
 
 t Ain' tandem Attice, laudator integritatis et elegantia 
 nostr^-c ? ausus es hoc ex ore tuo, inquit Ennius, ut equites 
 Sc:;ptio ad pecuniam cogendam darcm, nie rogare? an tuj
 
 160 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 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- 
 tniued in that liumour, you may love him alone, 
 (says he) if you please, you shall have no rival of 
 me; but he will come I believe to a better miadK." 
 But to show after all what a real inclination he 
 had to oblige him, he never left urging king Ario- 
 barzanes till he liad 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''. 
 
 While he lay encamped in Cappadocia expecting 
 what way the Parthians would move, he received 
 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 them had actually penetrated into Cilicia, but 
 were routed and cut off by those troops which were 
 left to guard the country. Upon tliis he j^resently 
 decamped, and, by great journeys over Mount 
 Taurus, marched in all haste to possess himself of 
 the passes of Amanus, a great and strong mountain 
 lying between Syria and Cilicia, and the common 
 boundary of them both. By this march, and the 
 approach of his army to the neighbourhood of 
 Syria, the Parthians being discouraged retired from 
 Antioch, which gave Cassius an opportunity of 
 falling upon them in their retreat and gaining a 
 considerable advantage, in which one of their prin- 
 cipal commanders, Osaces, was mortally wounded'. 
 
 In the suspense of the Parthian war, which the 
 late disgrace of Crassus had made tei'rible 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 en- 
 gaged and pushed to the necessity of acting the 
 geiaeral, he seems to have wanted neither the 
 courage nor conduct of an experienced leader. In 
 a letter 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 ; ws 
 are securely encamped, with plenty of provisions, 
 and in sight almost of Cilicia ; with a small army, 
 indeed, but, as I have reason to believe, entirely 
 
 si mecum esses, qui scribis morderi te interdum quod non 
 
 simul sis, paterere me id facere, si vellem ? ot ego 
 
 audebo legcre unquam, ant attingere eos libros, quos tu 
 dilaudas ? si tale quid fecero ? — Ad Att. vi. 2. 
 
 S Ad me etiam, cum rogat aliquid, contumaoiter, arro- 
 ganter, aKOivccvi^Tais solet scribere — Ibid. vi. 1. 
 
 Omnino I soli cnim sumus) nullas imquam ad me litoraB 
 misit Brutus — in quibus non esset arrogans, aiioivcav^Tov 
 aliquid— in quo tamen ille milii risum magis quam stoma- 
 chum movere solet. Sed plane parum cogitat, quid scribat, 
 ant ad quem. — Ibid. vi. 3. 
 
 •> Bruti tui causa, ut sjepe ad te scrips!, feci omniai — 
 Ariobarzanes non in Pompeium prolixior per ipsum, 
 
 quam per me in Brutum pro rationo pecunise liberius 
 
 est Brutus tractatus, quam Pompeius. Bruto curata hoc 
 anno talenta circiter c. Pompcio in sex mensibus pro- 
 missa cc — Ibid. 
 
 ' Itaque confestim iter in Ciliciam feci per Tauri pylas. 
 Tarsum veni ad diem tii. Non. Oct. inde ad Amanum con- 
 tend!, qui Syriam a Cilicia in aquarum divortio dividit — 
 rumorc adventus nostri, ct Cassio, qui Antioohia teneba- 
 tur, animus accessit, et Parthis timor injectus est. Itaque 
 eos cedentes ab oppido Cassius inseeutus rem bene gessit. 
 Qua in fuga magna auctoritate Osaces, dux Parthorum, 
 vulniis accopit, eoquo interiit paucis post diebus.— Ad 
 Att. V. 20 
 
 well afTected to 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 governor ever had ; they are won- 
 derfully taken with my easiness and abstinence ; 
 we are making new levies of citizens and establish- 
 ing 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 something 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 im- 
 pregnable from the strength of their situation. He 
 thought it, therefore, of no small importance to 
 the empire to reduce them to a state of subjection; 
 and in order to conceal his design and take them 
 unprovided, he drew off his forces on pretence of 
 marching to the distant parts of Cilicia ; but after 
 a day's journey stopped short, and having refreshed 
 his army and left his baggage behind, turned back 
 again in the night with the utmost celex'ity, and 
 reached Amanus before day on the thirteenth of 
 October. He divided his troops among his four 
 lieutenants, and himself, accompanied by his bro- 
 ther, led up one part of them, and so coming upon 
 the natives by surprise, they easily killed or made 
 them all prisoners. 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 of day to four in the afternoon. 
 Upon this success Cicero was saluted emperor, and 
 sat down again at the foot of the hills, where he 
 spent five days in demolishing the other strongholds 
 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 
 remained three altars as the monument of his 
 victory, which bore his name to that day ; a 
 circumstance which furnished matter for some 
 pleasantry in his letters to his friends at Rome '. 
 
 k Ad Att. v. 18. 
 
 1 Qui naons erat hostium plenus sempiternorum. Hie 
 a. d. in. Id. Oct. magnum numeium hostium occidimus. 
 Castella munitissima, nocturno Pontinii adventu, nostro 
 matutino cepimus, incendimus. Imperatores appellati 
 sumus. Castra paucos dies habuimus, ea ipsa, quae contra 
 Darium habuerat apud Issum Alexander, imperator baud 
 pauUo melior, quam aut tu aut ego. Ibi dies quinque 
 morati, direpto et vastato Amano, inde discessimus. — AJ 
 Att. V. 20. 
 
 Expedito exercitu ita noctu iter feci, ut ad iii. Id Oct. 
 cum lucisceret, in Amanum ascenderem, distributisquo 
 cohortibus et auxiliis, cum aliis Quietus frater Icgatiis, 
 mecum simul, aliis C. Pontinius legatus, reliqais M. An- 
 neius, et M. TuUius Icgati pra;essent: pleropque nee cpin- 
 antes oppressimus — Erannm autem, qua? fuit non vici 
 instar, sed urbis, quod erat Amani caput — acriter et diu 
 repugnantibus, Pontinio illam partem Amani tcnente, ex 
 antelucano tempore usque ad horam diei decini am, magna 
 multitudine hostium occisa, cepimus. castellaque se.'c 
 capta : coniphira incendimus. His rebus ita gestis, castra 
 in radicibus Amani liabuimus ni>ud aras Alexandri qua 
 triduum : et in reliquiia Amani delendis, iig 'isque vastandi
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 IGl 
 
 From Amanus he led his army 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 kings 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 everything 
 necessary for defence. It was the constant refuge 
 of all deserters and the harbour of foreign enemies, 
 and at that very time was expecting and prepared 
 to receive the Parthians. Cicero, resolving, there- 
 fore, to chastise their insolence and bring them 
 under the Roman yoke, laid siege 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 in- 
 habitants 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 siege 
 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 J2tolia or Macedonia .' 
 Take this, however, for certain, that no man could 
 do more than I have done with such an army,"&c.™ 
 After this action, another neighbouring nation of 
 the same spirit 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, Papirius 
 Psetus, an eminent wit and Epicurean, with whom 
 he had a particular intimacy and correspondence of 
 facetious letters, sent him some military instructions 
 in the way of raillery, to which Cicero answered in 
 the same jocose manner: — "Your letter," says 
 he, "has made me a complete commander. I was 
 wholly ignorant before of your great skill in the 
 art of war; but perceive that you have read Pyrrhus 
 and Cineas. Wherefore I intend to follow your 
 
 —id tempus onine consumsimus. — Ep. Fam. xv. 4 ; Ibid, 
 ii. 10. 
 
 "^ Confectis his rebus ad oppidum Eleutherocilicum, 
 Pindenissum, exeroitum adduxi : quod cum essct altissimo 
 et munitissimo loco, ab iisque incoleretur, qui ne regibus 
 quidem imquam paruissent : cum ot fugitives reciperent, 
 et Parthnrum adventum aceriime expeotarent : ad existi- 
 mationem imperii pertinere arbitratus sum comprimere 
 
 eorum audaciam vallo et fossa circuuidedi, sex cas- 
 
 tellis, castrisque maximis sepsi, aggere, vineis, turribus 
 oppugnavi, ususque tormentis multis, multis sagittariis, 
 magno labore meo — septimo quadragesimo die rem confeci. 
 — Ep. Fam. xv. 4. 
 
 Qui (malum) istiPindenissEe? qui sunt? inquies: nomen 
 audivi nunquam. Quid ego faciam ? potui Ciliciam, JEto- 
 liam, aut Macedonian! reddere ? hoc jam sic habeto, nee 
 hoc exercitu hie tanta negotia geri potuisse, &c. — Ad 
 Att. V. 20. 
 
 Mancipia vaenibant Satumalibus tertiis, cum h£ec scribe- 
 bam in tribunal!, res erat ad H. S. cxx. — Ibid. 
 
 " His erant finitimi pari scelere et audacia Tiburani : ab 
 his, Pindenisso capto, obsides accepi, exercitum in hiberna 
 dimisi. Quintum fratrem negotio praeposui, ut in vicis 
 aut captis aut malo pacatis exercitus collocaretur.— £p. 
 Fam. xy. 4. 
 
 precepts, and withal, to have some ships in readi- 
 ness on the coast ; for they deny that there can be 
 any better defence against the Parthian 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 Institution of 
 Cyrus," &C.'' 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 envy of 
 Cicero's success and title of emperor made him 
 impatient to purchase the same honour by 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 itP. 
 
 Though Cicero had obtained what he calls a just 
 victory at Amanus, and in consequence of it the 
 appellation of emperor which he assumed from this 
 time, yet he sent no public 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 public letter 
 is lost, but that loss is supplied by a particular 
 narrative 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 decree of the "supplication ;" and by the pains 
 which he takes to obtain it, where he was sure of 
 gaining his point without it, shows the high opinioa 
 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 compliments or motives of friendship. He was 
 an enemy by principle to all decrees of this kind, 
 and thought them bestowed too cheaply and pros- 
 tituted to occasions unworthy of them : so that 
 when Cicero's letters came under deliberation, 
 though he spoke with all imaginable honour and 
 respect of Cicero, and highly extolled both his civil 
 and military administration, yet he voted against 
 the supplication, — which was decreed, however, 
 without any other dissenting voice except that of 
 Favonius, who loved always to mimic 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 ia whose favour it passed ■). But Cato's 
 
 Ep. Fam. ix. 25. 
 
 P Erat in Syria nostrum nomen in gratia. Venit interim 
 Bibulus. Credo voluit appellatione hac inani nobis esse 
 par. In eodem Amano coepit laureolam in mustaceo 
 
 quserere. At ille cohortem primam totam perdidit 
 
 sane plag.am odiosam acceperat turn re tum tempore. — Ad 
 Att. V. 20. 
 
 1 Nunc publice literas Romam mittere parabam. Ube- 
 riores erunt, quam si ex Amano misissem.' — Ibid. 
 
 Deinde de triumpho, quern video, nisi reipublica; tem- 
 pora impedient, einrSpicTTOV. — Ad Att. vii. 1. 
 
 Ei porro assensus est unus, familiaris meus Favonius ; 
 alter iratus Ilirrus. Cato autem et scribendo aft'uit. — 
 Ibid. 
 
 Res ipsa declarat, tibi ilium honorem supplicationia 
 jucunduuifuisse, quod scribendo affuisti. Hcec enim sena- 
 M
 
 102 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 answer to Cicero's letter will show the temper of 
 the man and the grounds on which he acted on this 
 occasion. 
 
 ]\r. Caio to At. T. Cicero, Emperor. 
 
 " In compliance with what both the republic 
 and our private friendship require of me, I rejoice 
 that your virtue, innocence, diligence, approved in 
 the greatest affairs, exerts itself everywhere with 
 equal vigour, — at home in the gown, abroad in 
 arms. ] did all, therefore, that I could do, agree- 
 ably to my own judgment, when in my vote and 
 speech I ascribed to your innocence and good 
 conduct the defence of your province, the safety of 
 the kingdom and person of Ariobarzanes, the 
 recovery of the allies to their duty and affection to 
 our empire. I am glad, however, that a supplica- 
 tion 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 
 should hold ourselves indebted to the gods than to 
 you. But if you think that a supplication will 
 pave the way to a triumph, and for that reason 
 choose that fortune should have the praise rather 
 than yourself, yet a triumph does not always follow 
 a supplication, and it is much more honourable 
 than any triumph for the senate to decree that a 
 province is preserved to the empire by the mildness 
 and innocence 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 em- 
 ployed 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 
 regard to your glory I had a mind to do what I 
 took to be the most honourable for you, yet rejoice 
 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 re- 
 public"'." 
 
 Caesar was delighted to hear of Cato's stiffness, 
 in ho.pes that it would create a coldness between 
 him and Cicero ; and in a congratulatory letter to 
 Cicero, upon the success of his arms, and the sup- 
 plication decreed to him, took care to aggravate 
 the rudeness and ingratitude of Cato^. Cicero 
 himself was highly disgusted 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 mali- 
 cious ; 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 supplica- 
 tion of twenty days to Bibulus : pardon me, if I 
 cannot bear this usage'." Yet 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 
 
 tus consulta non ignore ab amicissimis ejus, cujus de 
 honore agitur, scribi solcre. — Ep. Fam. xv. 6. 
 
 ' Ep. Fam. xv. 5. 
 
 » Itaque Caesar lis Uteris, quibus mihi gratulatur, et 
 omnia pollicetur, quo modo exultat Catonis iu me ingra- 
 tissimi injuria.— Ad Att. vii. 2. 
 
 ' Aveo scire — Cato quid agat : qui quidcm in me turpitor 
 fuit malevolus. Dedit integi-itatis, justitiaj, dementia;, 
 fidei testimonium, quod non quacicbam, quod postulabam, 
 
 negavit at hie idem Bibulo dierum viginti. Ignosce 
 
 mihi, non possum hsec ferre, Ibid. 
 
 him a civil answer, to signify his satisfaction and 
 thanks for what he had thought fit to do". 
 
 Cicero's campaign ended just so, as Cailius had 
 wished in one of his letters to him ; with fighting 
 enough to give a claim to the laurel ; yet without 
 the risk of a battle with the Parthians''. During 
 these months of action, he sent away the two 
 young Ciceros, the son and nephew, to king 
 Deiotarus's court, under the conduct of the king's 
 son, who came on purpose to invite tliem : they 
 were kept strictly to their books and exercises, and 
 made great proficiency in both, though the one of 
 them, as Cicero says, wanted the bit, the other the 
 spur: their tutor Dionysius attended them, a man 
 of great learning and probity, but, as his young 
 pupils complained, horribly passionate y. Deiota- 
 rus himself was setting forward to join Cicero with 
 all his forces, 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 domi- 
 nion^: the old king, however, seems to have 
 brought the children back again in person, for the 
 opportunity of paying his compliments, and spend- 
 ing some time with his friend ; for by what Cicero 
 intimates, they appear to have had an interview*. 
 
 The remaining part of Cicero's government was 
 employed in the civil affairs of the province : 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 governors 
 had involved them. He laid it down for the fixed 
 rule of his administration, not to suffer 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 humour, and 
 could not help complaining of it, as a stain upon 
 his government, since none of his people besides 
 had taken even a single farthing. All the wealthier 
 cities of the province used to pay to all their pro- 
 consuls large contributions for being exempted from 
 furnishing winter-quarters to the army ; Cyprus 
 alone paid yearly on this single account two hun- 
 
 " Ep. Fam. xv. 6. 
 
 ^ Ut optasti, ita est ; velles enim, ais, tantummodo ut 
 haberem negotii quod asset ad laureolam satis. Parthos 
 times, quia diffidis copiis nostris. — Ep. Fam. ii. 10; viii. 5. 
 
 y Cicerones nostros Deiotarus Alius, qui rex a senatu 
 appellatus est, secum in regnum. Dmn in sstivis nos 
 essemus, ilium pueris locum esse bellissimum duximus.— 
 Ad Att. V. 17. 
 
 Cicerones pueri amant inter se, discunt, exercentur: sed 
 alter — frsenis eget, alter calcaribus — Dionysius mihi qui- 
 dem in amoribus est. Pueri autem aiunt eum furenter 
 irasci. Sed homo nee doctior, neo sanctior fieri potest.— 
 Ibid. vi. 1. 
 
 ^ Mihi tamen cum Deiotaro convenit, ut ille in meii 
 castris esset cum omnibus suis copiis, habet autem co- 
 hortes quadringenarias nostra armatura triginta ; equitum 
 duo miUia. — Ibid. 
 
 Deiotarum confestim, jam ad me venientem cum magno 
 et fiimo equitatu et peditatu et cum omnibus suis copiis, 
 certiorcm feci, non videri esse causam cur abcsset a regno. 
 — Ep. Fam. xv. 4. 
 
 » Deiotarus mihi nai-ravit, &c.— Ad Att. vi. 1, 6, 21,
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 1G3 
 
 <3red talents, or about forty thousand pounds ; but 
 
 Cicero remitted this 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 aU his services and 
 generosity, which amazed the poor people, he would 
 accept no honours, but what were merely verbal ; 
 prohibiting all expensive monuments, as statues, 
 temples, brazen horses, &c., which, by the flattery of 
 Asia, used to be erected of course to all governors, 
 though ever so corrupt and oppressive. Wliile he 
 was upon his visitation of the Asiatic districts, 
 there happened to be a kind of famine in the coun- 
 try ; yet wherever he came, he not only provided 
 for his family at his own expense, but prevailed 
 •with the merchants and dealers, who had any quan- 
 tity of corn in their store-houses, to supply the 
 people with it on easy terms'* ; 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'^. 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 affairs of the dio- 
 ceses, from the thirteenth of February 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 into a capacity of freeing, 
 or of easing themselves, 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 
 16 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 ma- 
 gistrates 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 public conviction, 
 made restitution of the money which they had pil- 
 laged ; so that the people, who had paid nothing to 
 •our farmers for the present lustrum, have now paid 
 the arrears of the last, even without murmuring. 
 T his has placed me in high favour with the publi- 
 
 " Cave putes quicquam homines magis iinquam esse 
 niirat03, quam nullum teruncium, me obtinente provin- 
 ciam, sumtus factum esse, nee in rempublicam nee in 
 quemquam meorum, prsterquam in L. TuUium, legatum. 
 Is CKteroqui abstinens (sed Julia lege transitans, semel 
 tamcn in diem, non ut alii solebant omnibus vicis) facit 
 Ut mihi excipicndus sit, cum teruncium nego sumtus fac- 
 tum. Pra;ter eum accepit nemo. Has sordes a nostro Q. 
 Titinnio accepiniiis. — Ad Att. v. 21. 
 
 Civitatcs locupletes, ne in hibema milites reciperent, 
 magnas peounias dabant. Cyprii talenta Attica cc. Qua 
 ex insula (non VTrep0o\tKa>SsoA verissimeloquor) nummus 
 nuUus me obtinente erogabitur. Ob ha^c benefieia, quibus 
 obstupescunt, nullos honorcs mihi, nisi verborum, decorni 
 sino. Statuas, fana, reOpnnra, prohibeo.— Ibid. 
 
 Fames, quae erat in hac mea Asia, mihi optanda fnerit. 
 Quacunque iter feci, nulla vi,—auctoritate et coliortationc 
 perfeci, ut et GrEeci et cives Romani, qui fiumentum 
 eompresserant, magnum numerum populis pollicerentur. 
 ■—Ibid. 
 
 * Ita vivam, ut masimos sumptus facio. Mlrifice 
 -Selector hoc instituto.— Ad Att. v. 15. 
 
 cans : a grateful set of men ! you'll say; I have really 
 found them such — the rest of my jurisdiction shall 
 be managed 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 governors ; no introduction 
 by my chamberlain ; I 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 my old habit and discipline," &c.'* 
 
 This method of governing gave no small um- 
 brage to Appius, who considered it as a reproach 
 upon himself, and sent several querulous letters to 
 Cicero, because he had reversed some of his consti- 
 tutions : " 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 expenses and ex- 
 actions ; under me, not a penny levied for public or 
 private use. What shall I say of his prsefects, 
 attendants, lieutenants.' of their plunders, rapines, 
 injuries .' whereas 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 character, in order to depress his ; 
 and doing all' this, not for the sake of my own cre- 
 dit, but of his disgrace^." But the truth was, 
 that from the time of his reconciliation with Ap- 
 pius, 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 aUiances, for 
 one of his daughters was married to Pompey's son, 
 and another to Brutus ^ ; so that, though their prin- 
 ciples and maxims were totally different, yet he 
 took care to do every thing with the greatest pro- 
 fessions of honour and respect towards Appius, 
 even when he found it necessary to rescind his 
 decrees ; considering himself only, he says, as a 
 second physician 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 blood-letting, to apply all 
 kinds of lenitive and restoring medicines i-'. 
 
 As soon as the government of Cilicia was allot- 
 ted to him, he acquainted Appius with it by letter, 
 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 re- 
 ceive it from another'' ; in answer to which Appius, 
 
 d Ad Att. vi. 2. 
 
 "^ Quid enim potest esse tarn disslmile, quam illo imper- 
 ante, exhaustam esse sumptibus et jacturis provinciam, 
 nobis cam obtinentibus, nummum nullum esse erogatum 
 nee privatim nee publice, &c.' — Ibid. vi. 1. 
 
 f Ego Appium, ut tecum saepe locutus sum, valdediligo. 
 Meque ab eo diligi statim ca?ptum esse, ut simultatem de- 
 posuimus, sensi — ^jam me Pompeii totum esse scis : Brutum 
 a me amari intelligis. Quid est causa?, cur mihi non in 
 optatis est complecti hominem, florentem jetate, opibus, 
 honoribus, ingenio, liberis, propinquis, affinibus, amicis. 
 ^Ep. Fam. ii. 13. 
 
 E Ut si medicus, cum aegrotus alii medico traditus sit, 
 irasci velit ei medico, qui sibi successerit, si quse ipse in 
 curando constitucrit mutot ille. Sic Appius, cum f| 
 a(paipe(reeiis provinciam curarit, saiiguinem miserit, &c. 
 —Ad Att. vi. 1. 
 
 •' Cum contra voluntatem meam — accidisset, ut mihi 
 
 cum imperio in provinciam ire neccsse esset — hacc una 
 
 M 2
 
 1G4 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 having intimated some desire of an interview, 
 Cicero took occasion to press it with much earnest- 
 ness, as a thing of great service to them both ; 
 and, that it might not be defeated, gave him an ac- 
 count of all his stages and motions, and offered to 
 regulate them in such a manner as to make the 
 place of their meeting the most agreeable to Ap- 
 pius's convenience ; but Appius being disgusted 
 by the first edicts which Cicero published, 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 had not warn- 
 ing 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 '. 
 
 This 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 ; I despised you, 
 it seems, so as nothing could be prouder. When 
 your servant came to me near midnight 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 Varro 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 come out in person to meet you. Lepta 
 came running back presently in all haste to ac- 
 quaint me that you had already passed by the camp, 
 upon which I went directly to Iconium, where you 
 know the rest. Did I then refuse to come out 
 to you ? — to Appius Claudius, to an emperor ; 
 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 likewise, 
 that you said ' What I Appius went out to meet 
 Lentulus ; Lentulus to Appius, but Cicero would 
 not come out to Appius.' Can you then be guilty 
 of such impertinence ? A man, in my judg- 
 ment of the greatest prudence, learning, expe- 
 rience, and I may add politeness too, which the 
 Stoics rightly judge to be a virtue ? Do you ima- 
 gine, that yoMr Appiuses and Lentuluses are of more 
 weight with me than the ornaments of virtue ? Be- 
 fore I had obtained those honours, which in the 
 opinion of the world are thought to be the greatest, 
 I never fondly admired 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 
 indeed considered myself as your superior, 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 howeverare of a different opinion, 
 it will do you no harm to read with some attention 
 what Athenodorus says on this subject, that you 
 
 consolatio occurrebat, quod neque tibi amicior, quam ego 
 sum, quisquam pos3Ct succedere, neque ego ab uUo pro- 
 vinciam accipere, qui mallet eammihi quam maximc 
 aptain explicatamque tradere, &c. — Ep. Fam. iii. 2. 
 
 » ■ me libenter ad eam partemi provincia; primum esse 
 
 venturum, quo to maxime velle arbitrarer, &c. — Ibid. 5. 
 
 Appius noster, cum mc adventare videt, profectus est 
 Tarsum usque Laodicca. — Ad Att. v. 17. 
 
 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 t" 
 convince you that I am truly so, but if you have a 
 mind to let people see that you are less concerned 
 for my interests 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. 
 
 II. i. 174. 
 butif you are naturally querulous, you shallnot 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 consciousness of my 
 duty and affection, which being contracted by 
 choice and judgment, it will be in your power to 
 preserve as long as you think proper. Adieu''." 
 
 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 mu- 
 tual 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 TuUia, after parting from her second 
 husband Crassipes, as it is probably thought, by 
 divorce', was married in her father's absence to a 
 third, P. Cornelius Dolabella ; several parties had 
 been offered to her, and among them Ti. Clau- 
 dius Nero, who afterwards married Livia, whom 
 Augustus took away from him ; Nero made his 
 proposals to Cicero 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 Dolabella, 
 being mightily taken with his complaisant and ob- 
 sequious address '". He was a nobleman of patri- 
 cian 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", gave a proof of his enter- 
 prising genius, by impeaching Appius Claudius of 
 
 t Ep. Fam. iii. 7- 
 
 1 What confirms this notion is, that Crassipes appears 
 to have been alive at this time, and under Cicero's dis- 
 pleasure : who mentions him as the only senator, besides 
 Hirrus, to whom he did not think fit to write about the 
 a£Fair of his siipplicatiun. — Ad Att. vii. 1. 
 
 "' Ego dum in provincia omnibus rebus Appium orno, 
 subito sum factus accusatoris ejus socer — sed credo mihi 
 nihil minus putaram ego, qui de Ti. Nerone, qui mecum 
 egerat, certos homines ad mulieres miseram, qui Romam 
 vcnerunt factis sponsalibus. Sed hoe sporo melius. Mu- 
 lieres quidem valde intelligodelectariobsequio et comitate 
 adolescentis. — Ad Att. vi. 6. 
 
 " Gener est suavis — quantumvis vol ingenii, vel huma- 
 nitatis ; satis. Reliqua qua; nosti ferenda. — Ad Att. vii. 3. 
 
 Dolabellam a te gaudeo primum laudari, deinde etiam 
 amari. Nam ea quae speras Tullia; mea prudentia posse 
 temperari, scio cui tua; epistola; respondeant. — Ep. Fam. 
 ii. 15; viii. 13. 
 
 Hac oblectabar specula, Dolabellam meum fore ab iia- 
 molestiis, quas libertate sua contraxerat, liberum.— Ibid, 
 viii. 16. 
 
 o Illud mihi ocourrit, quod inter postulationeni, et no- 
 minis delationem uxor a Dolabella discessit.— Ibid, viii. 6.-
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 105 
 
 practices against the state, in his government of 
 Cilicia. and of bribery and corruption in his suit 
 for the consulship. This put a great difficulty upon 
 Cicero, and made it natural to suspect, that he 
 privately favoured the impeachment, where the 
 accuser vfas his son-in-law ; but, in clearing him- 
 self of it to Appius, though he dissembled 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 impeachment, and 
 ■was in truth greatly disturbed at it. But as, from 
 the circumstance of his succeeding to Appius in 
 his government, he was of all men the most capa- 
 ble of serving or hurting him at the trial ; so 
 Pompey, who took great pains to screen Appius, 
 was extremely desirous to engage iiim 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 everything 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 ailiauceP : 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 pretensions to a triumph, 
 entered the city, and offered himself to his judges 
 before his accuser was prepared for him, and was 
 acquitted without any difficulty of both the in- 
 dictments. 
 
 In a little time after his trial he was chosen cen- 
 sor, together with Piso, Caesar's father-in-law, the 
 last who bore that office during the freedom of the 
 republic. Claudius's law, mentioned above, which 
 had greatly restrained the power of these magis- 
 trates, was repealed the last year by Scipio, the 
 consul, and their ancient authority restored to 
 them'i, which was now exercised with great rigour 
 by Appius, who, though really a libertine, and re- 
 markable for indulging 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 celebrated. Cselius gives a pleasant 
 acount of him to Cicero. " Do you know, says he, 
 that the censor Appius is doing wonders amongst 
 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 
 liim the more intimately : run away to us by all 
 the Gods, to laugh at these things. Drusus sits 
 iudge upon adultery, by the Scantinian law"^, Ap- 
 
 P Pompeius dicitur valde pro Appio laborare, ut etiam 
 jputent alterutrum de filiis ad te missurum. — Ep. Fani. 
 viii. 6. 
 
 Post hoc negotiiim autem et temeritatem nostri Dola- 
 belise deprccatorem me pro illius periculo prsebeo. — Ibid. 
 :i. 13. 
 
 Tanien hac niilii affinitate nunciata, non majore eqiii- 
 ■dcm 'studio, sed acrius, apertius, significantius dignitatem 
 tuam defendisseiu — nam ut vetus nostra simultas antea 
 stiraulabat me, iit caverem ne cui suspicionem ficte recon- 
 «iliats gratiae darem : sic affinitas novam euram aflert 
 .cavendi.— Ibid. iii. 12. 
 
 1 Dio, p. 147. 
 
 ' Kcis Appium censorem hie ostenta facere ? de signis et 
 tabulis, de agri modo, et aere alieno acerrimc agere ? per- 
 
 pius on statues and pictures." But this vain and 
 unseasonable attempt at 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 sutler 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 re- 
 strained from putting the same affront upon Curio, 
 which added still more friends and strength to Caesar*. 
 
 As to the public news of the year, the grand 
 affair that engaged all people's thoughts, was 
 the expectation of a breach between Csesar and 
 Pompey, which seemed now unavoidable, and in 
 which all men were beginning to take part, and 
 ranging themselves on the one side or the other. 
 On Pompey's there was a great majority of the 
 senate and the magistrates, with the better sort of 
 all ranks : on Ctesar's all the criminal and ob- 
 noxious, all who had suffered punishment, or de- 
 served it ; the greatest 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 Ceelius's i^ 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 be- 
 tween their armies '." Caesar had put an end to the 
 Gallic 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, and returning 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 
 him for five years". The senate, in the meanwhile, 
 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 ene- 
 mies, moved them to abrogate his command di- 
 rectly, and appoint him a successor ; and since the 
 war was at au end, to oblige him to disband his 
 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 favourite colony which Caesar, 
 when consul, had settled at Comum, at the foot^ 
 suasum est ei, censuiam lomentum aut nitrum esse. Er- 
 rare mihi videtur. Nam sordcs eluere vult, venas sibi 
 omnes et viscera apcrit. C'urre per deos, et quam primum 
 hseo risuni veni. Legis Scantiniee judicium apud Drusum 
 fieri. Appium de tabulis et signis agere.~Ep. Fam. 
 viii. 14. 
 
 » Dio, xl. p. 150. 
 
 t Hoc video, cum homine audacissimo, paratissimoque 
 negotium esse : omnes damnatos, omnes ignominia affectos, 
 omnes damnatione ignominiaque dignos iliac facere. Om- 
 nem fere juventutem, omnem illam urbanam ac psrditam 
 plebem ; tribunos valentes — omnes, qui a;re alieno pre- 
 niantur — causam solam ilia causa non habet, csteris rebus 
 abundat. — Ad Att. vii. 3. 
 
 In hac discordia video, Cn. Pompeium senatum, quique 
 res judicant, secum habiturum : ad Ca?sarem omnes, qui 
 cum timore aut mala spo vivant ad Cicsarem accessuros. 
 Exercitum conferendum non esse. — Ep-. Fam. viik 14. 
 
 " C'sesari autem persuasum est, se salvum esse non posse, 
 si ab exercitu recesserit. Fert iltam tamen conditionem, 
 ut ambo exercitus tradant. — Ibid.
 
 1G6 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 the Alps, with the freedom of the city granted to it 
 by the Vatinian hiw". All the other colonies on 
 that side of the Po had before obtained from Pom- 
 pey's father the rights of Latium, that is, the free- 
 dom of Rome to those who had borne an annual 
 magistracy in them : but M. Marcellus, out of a 
 singular enmity to Csesar, would allow no such 
 right to his colony of Comum ; and having caught 
 a certain Comensian magistrate who was acting the 
 citizen at Rome, he ordered him to be seized, and 
 publicly whipped, an indignity from which all 
 citizens were exempted by law ; bidding the man 
 go and show those marks of his citizenship to 
 Csesary. 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 Pompey will not be less 
 shocked at it than Caesar himself^." 
 
 The other consul, Serv. Sulpicius, was of a more 
 candid and moderate temper ; and being unwilling 
 to give such a handle for a civil war, opposed and 
 overruled the motions of his colleague by the help 
 of some of the tribunes : nor was Pompey himself 
 disposed to proceed so violently, or to break with 
 Cassar on that foot, but thought it more plausible 
 to let his term run out, and his command expire of 
 itself, and so throw upon him the odium of turn- 
 ing his arms against his country, if he should re- 
 solve to act against the senate and the laws. This 
 counsel prevailed, after many warm contestations, 
 in which the summer vpas chieflyspent, and a decree 
 was offered on the last of September, " That the 
 consuls elect, L. Paullus and C. Marcellus, should 
 move the senate on the first of March, to settle the 
 consular provinces ; and if any magistrate should 
 interpose to hinder the effect of their decrees, that 
 he should be deemed an enemy to the republic ; 
 and if any one actually interposed, that this vote 
 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 tri- 
 bunes gave their joint negative to this decree, C. 
 Caelius, L. Vinicius, P. Cornelius, and C. Vibius 
 Pansa. In the course of these debates, Pompey, 
 who affected great moderation in whatever he said 
 of Caesar, was teased and urged on all sides to 
 make an explicit declaration of his sentiments. 
 When he called it unjust to determine anything 
 about Caesar's government before the first of 
 March, the term prescribed to it by law, being 
 asked, " What, if any one should then put a nega- 
 tive upon them ?" he said, " there was no difference 
 whether Caesar refused to obey the decrees of the 
 senate, or provided men to obstruct 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" .''" — iatimating 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 be- 
 tween them in their letters'". In this magistracy 
 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 province 
 famed for hunting, to catch them : " for it would be 
 a reflection upon you (says he) when Curio had tea 
 panthers from that countiy, not to let me have 
 many more." He recommends to him at the same 
 time M. Feridius, a Roman knight, who had an 
 estate in Cilicia, charged with some services or 
 quit-rent to the neighbouring cities, which he 
 begs of him to get discharged, so as to make the 
 lands free"^. He seems also to have desired Ci- 
 cero's consent to his levying certain contributions 
 upon the cities of his province, towards defray- 
 ing the expense of his shows at Rome ; a pre- 
 rogative which the aediles always claimed, and 
 sometimes practised ; though it was denied to them 
 by some governors, and particularly by Quintus 
 Cicero in Asia, upon the advice of his brother** ; 
 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 farthiug 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 designed 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 impose the charge of hunting 
 them upon the poor people''." But though he 
 would not break his rules for the sake of his 
 friend, yet he took care to provide panthers for 
 him at his ovin 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 crea- 
 ture but themselves f. 
 
 Curio likewise obtained the tribunate this sum- 
 m_er, which he sought with no other design, as 
 many imagined, than for the opportunity of mor- 
 tifying Caesar, against whom he had hitherto acted 
 with great fierceness f. But Cicero, who knew from 
 the temper and views of them both, how easy it 
 
 X Sueton. J. Caes. 28 ; Strabo, v. 326. 
 
 y Appian. ii. 443. 
 
 2 Marcellus foede do Comensi : etsi ille magistratum non 
 gesserit, erat tamen tianspadanus. Ita mihi videtur non 
 minus stomachi nostro, ac Cajsari movisse. — Ad Att. v. 11. 
 
 ^ Cum interrogaretur, si qui turn intercederent : dixit 
 lioc nihil interesse, utrum C. C'a;sar senatui dicto audiens 
 futurus non csset, an pararet, qui senatum dscernere non 
 pateretur. Quid si, inquit alius, et consul esse et exerci- 
 tum habere volet ? at ille quam clementer. Quid si filius 
 meus fustem mihi jinpingore voleti' — I'^p. Fam. viii. H. 
 
 b Ep. Fam. ii. 9, 10 ; it. viii. 2, 3, 9. 
 
 c Fere Uteris omnibus tibi de pantheris scrips!. Turpe 
 tibi erit, Patischum Curioni decern pantheras miaisse, te 
 non multispartibus plures, <fec. — Ep. Fam. viii. 9. 
 
 M. Feridium — tibi commendo. Agros, quos fructuarios 
 habcnt eivitates, vult tuo beneficio, quod tibi facile et 
 lionestum faotu est, iinniunes esse. — Ibid. 
 
 d Ad Quint, i. 1, s. 9. 
 
 e Kescripsi, me moleste ferre, si ego in tenebris laterem, 
 nee audiretur Eomae, nullum in mea provincia nummum: 
 nisi in ass alienum erogari ; docuique nee mihi conciliare 
 pecuniam licere, nee illi capere ; monuique eum, &c. — Ad 
 Att. vi. 1. 
 
 f Do pantheris, per eos, qui venari solent, agitur man- 
 dato meo diligcnter : sed mira paucitas est : et eas, quae 
 simt, valde aiunt qiieri, quod nihil cuiquam insidiarum in 
 mea provincia nisi sibi fiat. — Ep. Fam. ii. 11. 
 
 g Sed ut spero et volo, et ut se fcrt ipse Curio, bonos et 
 senatum malet. Totus ut nunc eot, hoc scaturit. — Ibid, 
 viii. 4.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 167 
 
 wo.uld be to make up matters between them, took 
 occasion to write a congratulatory letter to him 
 upon this advancement, in which he exhorts him, 
 ■with great gravity, " to consider into what a dan- 
 gerous crisis his tribunate had fallen, not by chance 
 but his own choice ; what violence of the times, 
 what variety of dangers hung over the republic, 
 how uncertain the events of things were, how 
 changeable men's minds, how much treachery and 
 falsehood in human life — he begs of him, therefore, 
 to beware of entering into any new counsels, but 
 to pursue and defend what he himself thought 
 right, and net suffer himself to be drawn away by 
 the advice of others" — referring, without doubt, to 
 M. Antony, the chief companion and corrupter of 
 his youth : in the conclusion, he conjures him to 
 " employ his present power to hinder his pro- 
 vincial trouble from being prolonged by any new 
 act of the senate."'" — Cicero's suspicions were soon 
 confirmed by letters from Rome, whence Cselius 
 sent him word of Curio's changing sides, and de- 
 claring himself for Csesar ; in answer 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 myself ? for let me die if 
 I did not expect it ! Good gods, how much do I 
 long to. be laughing with you at Rome ? ' " 
 
 The newconsuls being Cicero's particular friends, 
 he wrote congratulatory letters to them both upon 
 their election, in which he begged the 
 A. rRB.703. concurrence of their authority, to the 
 cic. 57. decree of his supjilication ; and what he 
 , J^°^/.'..„ had more at heart, that they would not 
 pj^uLLus. sutler any prolongation oi Ins annual 
 c. CLAUDIUS term ; inwhichtheyreadily obliged him, 
 MARCELLus. aud rcccived his thanks also by letter 
 for that favour''. It was expected that 
 something decisive would now be done in relation 
 to the two Gauls, and the appointment of a suc- 
 cessor to Caesar, since both the consuls were sup- 
 posed to be his enemies : but all attempts of that 
 kind were still frustrated by the intrigues of Caesar; 
 for when C. Marcellus began to renew the same 
 motion which his kinsman had made the year be- 
 fore, he was obstructed by his colleague Paullus 
 and the tribune Curio, whom Caesar had privately 
 gained by immense bribes, to sufter nothing preju- 
 dicial to his interest to pass during their magis- 
 tracy'. He is said to have given Paullus about 
 three hundred thousand pounds, and to Curio 
 much more™. The first wanted it to defray the 
 charges of those splendid buildings which he had 
 undertaken 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 war". These facts 
 are mentioned by all the Roman writers ; 
 
 '' Ep. Fam. ii. 7. 
 
 » Extrema pagella pupugit me tuo chirograplio. Quid 
 ais ? C'Ksarem nunc defendit Curio ? quishoc putaret pras- 
 ter me? nam ita vivam, putavi.— Ibid. 13. 
 
 '' Ep. Fam. xv. 7, 10, 11, 12, 13. 
 
 ' Sueton. J. Cass. 29. 
 
 ™ Appian. ii. p. 443. 
 
 " Sexcenties sestertium jeris alieni. — Val. Max. ix. 1. 
 
 ° Qui nihil in censu habuerit, praster discordiam priuci- 
 pum — Pljn. Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 15. 
 
 Momentumque fuit mutatus Curio rerum, 
 GaUorum captus spoliis et Cassaris auro — 
 
 LucAN. iv. 819. 
 Caught by the spoils of Gaul, and Caisar's gold. 
 Curio turn'd traitor, and his country sold. 
 
 and Servius applies that passage of Virgil, Vendidit 
 hie auro patriam, to the case of Curio's selling 
 Rome to Caesar. 
 
 Cicero in the mean time was expecting with im- 
 patience the expiration of his annual term ; but 
 before he could quit the province he was obliged 
 to see the account of all the money which had 
 passed through his own or his officers' hands, 
 stated and balanced ; and three fair copies pro- 
 vided, two to be deposited in two of the principal 
 cities of his jurisdiction, and a third in the trea- 
 sury at Rome. That his whole administration, 
 therefore, might be of a piece, he was very exact 
 and punctual in acquitting himself of this duty, 
 and would not indulge his officers in the use of any 
 public 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 province, he remitted to the treasury all 
 that he had not expended, to the amount of above 
 eight hundred thousand pounds. " This," says be, 
 " makes my whole company groan ; they imagined 
 that it should have beeen divided among them- 
 selves, 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 I have 
 not been wanting to do every thing in my power 
 that is honourable and generous to them alii". 
 
 His last concern was, to what hand he should 
 commit the government of his province upon his 
 leaving it, since there was no successor appointed 
 by the senate on account of the heats among them 
 about the case of Caesar, which disturbed all their 
 debates, and interrupted all other business. He 
 had no opinion of liis qurestor, C. Cselius, 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 great a trust in one of 
 his character, he should expose himself to some 
 censure. But he had nobody about him of superior 
 rank who was willing to accept it, and did not care 
 to force it upon his brother, lest that might give a 
 handle to suspect him of some interest or partiality 
 in the choice "■. He dropped the province, therefore, 
 
 p Laodicese me prsdes accepturum arbitror omnis pub- 
 licae pecunise — nihil est, quod in isto genere cuiquam 
 possini commodare, &c. — Ep. Fam. ii. 17- 
 
 lUud quidem certe factum est, quod lex jubebat, ut 
 apud duas civitates, Laodicensem, et Apameensem, quse 
 nobis maximae videbantur — rationes confectas et consoli- 
 datas deponeremus, &c Ibid. v. 20. 
 
 q Cum enim rectum et gloriosum putarem ex annuo 
 sinnptu, qui mihi deoretus esset. Me Ceelio quasstori 
 relinquere annuum, referre in Eerarium ad H. 9, ci3 inge- 
 muit nostra cohors, omne ilhid putans distribui sibi opor- 
 tere : ut ego amicior invenirer Plirygum aut Cilicum a;ra- 
 riis, quam nostro. Sed me non nioverunt ; nam mea laus 
 apud me plnrimum valuit. IS'ed tamen quicquam honori- 
 fice in quemquam fieri potuit, quod pra;termiserim. — Ad 
 Att. vii. 1. 
 
 f Ego de provinciadecedens quasstorem Caslium praeposui 
 provincijB. Puerum ? inquies. At quaDstorem ; at nobilem 
 adolescentem ; at omnium fere exemplo. Neque erat 
 superiore lionnre usus, quem praeficerem. Pontinius multo 
 ante discesserat. A Quinto frutre impetrari non poterat :
 
 ica 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LITE OF 
 
 after some deliberation, into Culiiis's liands, and 
 set forward immediately upon his journey towards 
 Italy. 
 
 liut before he quitted Asia he begged of Atticus 
 by letter to send him a partieular detail of all the 
 news of the eity. " Tiiere are odious reports," 
 iiys he, " about Curio ami I'aullus ; not that I see 
 any danger while Ponipey stands, or I may say, 
 indeed, while he sits, if he has but ids health ; but 
 in truth 1 am sorry for my friends Curio and I'aul- 
 lus. If you are now, tiierefore.at Rome, or as soon 
 as you eouie thither, I wouhl have you send me a 
 plan of the whole republic, which may meet me on 
 the road, that I may form myself ui)on it, and re- 
 solve what temper to assume on my coming to the 
 city ; for it is some advantage not to come thither 
 a mere stranger'." We see what a contidence he 
 placed in I'ompey, on whom indeed their whole 
 ju'ospeet either of peace with Ca;sar 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 ujjoii the life 
 of one man, who is attacked every year by a dan- 
 gerous tit of sickness'." His constitution seems to 
 have been jieculiarly subject to fevers, the frequent 
 returns of which, in the present situation of aflairs, 
 gave great apprehension to all his party. In one 
 of those fevers which threatened his life for many 
 days successively, all the towns of Italy jjut up 
 public prayers for his safety ; an honour which had 
 never before been paid to any man while Rome 
 was free". 
 
 Upon taking leave of Cilicia, Cicero paid a visit 
 to Rhodes, for the sake (he says) of the children^. 
 
 His design was to give them a view of that flou- 
 rishuig isle, and a little exercise, perhaps, in that 
 celebrated school of eloquence wJiere he himself 
 had studied with so much success under Molo. 
 Here he received the news of Hortensius's deaths, 
 ■which greatly affected him, by recalling to his mind 
 the many glorious struggles that they had sustained 
 together at the bar, in their competition for the 
 prize of eloquence. Hortensius reigned absolute 
 in the foruQi when Cicero first entered it ; and as 
 his superior 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 supe- 
 
 quem tamen si reliquissem, dicerent iniqui, non me plane 
 post annum, ut senatus voluisset, de provincia decessisse, 
 quoniain alteruni mc reliquissem. — Ep. Fam. ii. 15; Ad 
 Att. vi. 5, 6. 
 
 s Hue odiosa afferebantur de Curione, de Paullo : non 
 qao ullum periculum videam stante I'ompeio, vel etiam 
 sedente, valeat modo. Sed mehereulo C'urionis ct Paulli 
 meoruni familiarum vicem doleo. Formam igitur niibi 
 totius reipubliciE si jam es Komae, aut cum oris, velim 
 mittas, quas mihi obviam veniat. Ex qua me fingere pos- 
 sum, &o. — Ad Att. vi. 3. 
 
 ' In unius hominis, quntannis, periculose aegrotantis, 
 anima, positas omnes nostras spes habemus. — Ibid. viii. 2. 
 
 " Quo quidem tempore universa Italia vota pro salute 
 ejus, primo omnium civium, suscepit. — Veil. Pat. ii. 48 ; 
 Dio, p. 155. 
 
 '^ Rliodum volo pucrorum causa. — Ad Att. vi. 7. 
 
 y Cum Cilicia decedens Rliodum vcnissera, et eo mibi 
 de Q. Ilortcnsii morte esset allatnm ; opinione omnium 
 majorem animo cepi dolorem. — Brut. inii. 
 
 riority of his years, having first passed through the 
 usual gradation of public lionours, 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% 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 glory, nor was ever diverted by any tempta- 
 tion of pleasure frcmi his steady course and labo- 
 rious pursuit of virtue. 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 diderent talents of these two great 
 men ; but they are said to have owed a great part 
 of their credit to the advantage of his action, 
 which yet was thought to have more of art than 
 was necessary to an orator, so that his composi- 
 tions 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 consequently the less carefully 
 preserved. Hortensius, however, was generally 
 allowed by the ancients, and by Cicero himself, to 
 have possessed every accomplishment which could 
 adorn an orator : elegance of style, art of compo- 
 sition, fertility of invention, sweetness of elocution, 
 gracefulness of action ^. These two rivals lived, 
 liowever, always with great civility and respect 
 towards each other, and were usually in the same 
 way of thinking and acting in the affairs of the 
 republic, till Cicero, in the case of his exile, dis- 
 covered the ])lain marks of a lurking envy and infi- 
 delity in Hortensius ; yet his resentment carried 
 him no farther than to some free complaints of it 
 to their common friend Atticus, who made it his 
 business to mitigate this disgust, and hinder it 
 from proceeding to an open 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 vrith great 
 tenderness, not only as the private loss of a friend, 
 but a public misfortune to his country, in being 
 deprived of the service and authority of so ex- 
 perienced a statesman at so critical a conjunc- 
 ture'^. 
 
 From Rhodes he passed on to Ephesus, whence 
 he set sail on the first of October, and after a 
 tedious passage landed at Athens, on the four- 
 
 ^ Nam is post consulatum — summum illud suum stu- 
 dium remisit, quo a pncro fuerat incensus ; atque in 
 omnium rerum abundantia voluit beatius, ut ipse putabat, 
 remissius certe vivcre.— Brut. p. 443. 
 
 " Jlotus et gestus etiam plus artis habebat, quam erat 
 omtori satis. — Brut. 425. 
 
 Dicebat melius quam scripsit Hortensius. — Orator, p. 
 261. 
 
 Ejus scripta tantum intra famam sunt, quidiu princsps 
 oratorum — existimatus est, novissime quoad visit, secun- 
 dus ; ut app.areat placuisso aliquid eo dicente, quod 
 Icgcntes non invenimus. — Ad Quint, xi. 3. 
 
 l* Erat in vcrborum splendore eleg.ons, compositione 
 aptus, facultato cnpiosus : — nee pra^temiittebat fere quic- 
 qiiam, quod erat in causa — vox canora et suavis. — Brut. 
 425. 
 
 f^ Nam et amico amisso cum consuetudine jucunda, turn 
 multorum officiorum conjunctione me privatum videbam 
 ^augebat etiam molestiam, quod magna sapientium ci- 
 vium bonorumque penuria, vir egregius, conjiuictissimus- 
 que niecum consiliorum omnium societatc alienissimo 
 eipublicse tempore extinctus. — Brut, init.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICEIIO. 
 
 !(;& 
 
 teenth'^. Here he lodged again ia his old quarters, 
 at the house of his friend Aristus. His predecessor, 
 Appius, who passed also through Athens on his 
 return, had ordered a new portico or vestibule to 
 be built at his cost to the temple of the Eleusiniau 
 Ceres ; which suggested a thought likewise to 
 Cicero of adding some ornament of the same kind 
 to the Academy, as a public monument of his name, 
 as well as of his affection for the place : for he 
 hated, he says, those false inscriptions of other 
 people's statues'^ with which the Greeks used to 
 flatter their new masters, by effacing the old titles 
 and inscribing them anew to the great men of 
 Rome. He acquainted Atticus with his design, 
 and desired his opinion upon it : but in all proba- 
 bility 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 war, in which he 
 must necessarily bear a part, so he was impatient 
 to be at home, tiiat 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 inti- 
 mate 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 if. 
 
 In his voyage from Athens towards Italy, Tiro, 
 one of his slaves, whom he soon after made free, 
 happened to fall sick, and was left behind at Patrae 
 to the care of friends and a physician. The 
 mention of such an accident will seem trifling to 
 those who are not acquainted with the character 
 and excellent qualities of Tiro, and how much we 
 are indebted to him for preserving and transmitting 
 to posterity the precious collection of Cicero's 
 letters, of which a great part still remain, and one 
 entire book of them written to Tiro himself, seve- 
 ral of which relate to the subject of this very 
 illness. 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 emi- 
 nent scholar, and extremely serviceable to his 
 master in all his affairs both civil and domestic. 
 " As for Tiro," says he to Atticus, " I see you 
 
 "1 Prid. Id. Oct. Athenas veniraus, cum sane adversis 
 ventis usi essemus. — Ep. Fam. xiv. 5. 
 
 <^ Audio Appium TrpoirvKaiov, Eleusine facere. Num 
 
 inepti fuerinius, si nos quoque Academije fecerimus? 
 
 equidem valde ipsas Athenas amo. Volo esse aliquod 
 monumentuni. Odi falsas inscriptiones alienarum statu- 
 arum. Sed ut tibi placebit. — Ad Att. vi. 1. 
 
 f Cognovi ex miiltorum amicorum Uteris — ad anna rem 
 Bpeetare. Ut niihi cum venero, dissimulare non liceat, 
 quid sentiam. Sed quum subcunda fortuna est, eo citius 
 dabimus operani ut veniamus, quo facilius dc tuta re deli- 
 beiemus. — Ep. Fam. xiv. 5. 
 
 Sive eniiu ad concordiam res adduci potest, sive ad 
 bonorum Victorian! , utriiisvo rci me aut adjutorem esse 
 velim, aut certe non expcrtem, — Ad Att. vii. 3. 
 
 e Ipsum tamen Pompeiuni scparatim ad concordiam 
 hortabor. — Ibid. 
 
 Me autem uterquc numerat suum. Nisi forte simulat 
 
 - alter. Xani Pompeius non dubitat (vere enira judical) ea, 
 
 qus de republica nunc sentiat, mihi valde probari. Utri- 
 
 usqueaiitem acccpi literas cjiismodi — ut neuter queniquam 
 
 •milium pliiris facere quam me videretur. — Ibid. vii. 1. 
 
 have a concern for him : though he is wonderfully 
 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 liim''." But his 
 letter to Tiro himself will best show what an affec- 
 tionate master he was : for, from the time of 
 leaving him, he never failed writing to him by 
 every messenger or ship which passed that way, 
 though it were twice or thrice a day, and often 
 sent one of his servants express to bring an account 
 of his healtli : the first of these letters will give us 
 a notion of the rest. 
 
 Jl/. T. Cicero to Tiro. 
 
 " I thought tliat I should have been able tobeai" 
 the want of you more easily, but ia truth I cannot 
 bear it ; and though it is of great importance to my 
 expected honour to be at Rome as soon as possi- 
 ble, yet I seem to have committed a sin when I 
 left you. But since you were utterly against pro- 
 ceeding 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 overtake 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, how- 
 ever, 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 Patrse, that 
 I wish nothing more than to have you well. If you 
 sail immediately, you will overtake me at Leucas ; 
 but if you stay to establish your 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 INIario's coming, nor this 
 letter hurry you. By doing what is most condu- 
 cive 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 get well again : of all your innumerable services 
 to me, that will be the most acceptable. — The 
 third of November'." 
 
 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 
 Amanus 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 njy 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 Bibulus's 
 most impudent letters, by which he obtained an 
 
 h 1)0 Tirone video tibi cura; esse. Quem quidem ego, et 
 si iTiirabiles utilitatcs mihi pra^bet, cum valet, in omni 
 generc vel negotiorum velstudiorum mcorum, tamen prop- 
 ter humanitatem et modestiam nialo salvum, quam 
 propter usuin nieum. — Ad Att. vii. 5. 
 
 ' Ep. Fam. xvi. 1. ^ Ad Att. vi. 8.
 
 370 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 lionoural)lc supiilioation. If lie had really done all 
 that lie lias written, I should rejoice at it and wish 
 well to his suit : hut for him, who never stirred 
 beyond the walls while there was an enemy on this 
 side the Kuphrates, to have such an honour 
 decreed ; and for me, whose army inspired all their 
 hopes anil spirits into his, not to obtain the same, 
 will he a dis;,'race to us ; I say to us, joining; you 
 to myself: wherefore I am determined to push at 
 all, and hope to obtain all'." 
 
 After the contemjitihle account, wliich Ciciro 
 gives of Bibulus's conduct in Syria, it must ai)iiiMr 
 strange to see him honoured with a supjilication, 
 and aspiring even to a triumjih : l)ut this was not 
 for anything that he himself had done, but for 
 what his lieutenant Cassius had performed in his 
 absence against the I'arthians ; the success of the 
 lieutenants being ascribed always to the auspices 
 of the general, who reaped the reward and glory of 
 it : and as the Parthians were the most dangerous 
 enemies of the republic, and the more jiarticularly 
 dreaded at this time for their late defeat of Crassus, 
 so any advant;ig'-' 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 wreathed witli laurel . 
 witli this equipage Cicero landed at Brundisium 
 on the twenty-fifth of November, where his wife, 
 Terentia, arrived at the same moment to meet 
 him, 60 that their first salutation was in the great 
 square of the city. From Brundisium he marched 
 forward by slow stages towards Rome, making it 
 his business on the road to confer with all his 
 friends of both parties, 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, a universal dispo- 
 sition to war. But as he foresaw the consequences 
 of it more coolly and clearly than any of uhem, so 
 his first resolution was to apply all bis endeavours 
 and authority to the mediation of a peace. He had 
 not yet declared for either side, not that he was 
 irresolute which of them to choose, for he was de- 
 termined within himself to follow Pompey ; but the 
 difficulty was, how to act in the mean time to- 
 wards Csesar, so as to avoid taking part in the 
 previous 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 awhile, that 
 he might act the mediator with the better grace 
 and effect "'. 
 
 In this disposition he had an interview with 
 
 ' De triumpho, nulla me cupiditas unquam tenuit ante 
 Bibuli impudentissiinas literas, quas amplissima supplica- 
 tio consccuta est. A quo si ea gesta sunt, qua- scripsit, 
 gauderem et honori favcrem. Nunc ilium, qui pedem 
 porta, quoad hostis cis Euphrateni fuit, non extulerit, 
 honorc augeri, me, in cujus cxcrcitu spem illius excrcitus 
 habuit, idem non assequi, dedecus est nostrum ; nostrum, 
 inquam, to conjungens. Itaque omnia experiar, et ut 
 epero, assequar.' — Ad Att. vii. 2. 
 
 ™ Brundisium venimus vii Kal. Deo.' — Terentia vero, 
 quae quidem eodem tempore ad portam Biundisinam venit, 
 quo ego in portum, mihique obvia in foro fuit. — Ibid. 
 
 Slihi (TKacpos unum erit, quod a Pompeio gubernabitur 
 •—die M. Tulli (TiiVTOfia. Cn. Pompeio assentio. — Ibid. 3. 
 
 Nunc incido in discrimen ipsum, — dabunt operam, ut 
 eliciant sententiam meam— tu autem de nostro statu cogi- 
 
 Pompey on the 10th of Decemb.--, of which he 
 gives the following account : — '' We were toge- 
 ther," .says he, " about two hours. lie seemed to 
 be extremely pleased at my return ; he exhorted 
 me to demand a triumph ; iiromised to do his part 
 in it ; ad\ised me not to appear in the senate before 
 I had obtained it, lest I should disgust any of the 
 tribunes by declaring my mind : in a word, nothing 
 could be more obliging than his whole discourse ou 
 this subject. But as to public affairs, he talked in 
 such a strain as if a war was inevitable, without 
 giving the least iio]ies of aTi accommodation. He 
 said, that he had lung j)erceived Ca;sar to be alien- 
 ated from him, but had received a very late 
 instance of it; for that llirtius came from Ctesar a 
 few days before, and did not come to see him ; and 
 when Balbus promised to bring Scipio an account 
 of his business the next morning before day, 
 Hirtius was gone back again to Cxsar in the night* 
 this he takes for a clear jiroof of Csesar's resolution 
 to break with him. In short, I have no other com- 
 fort but in imagining that he, to whom even his 
 enemies have voted a second consulship, and 
 fortune given the greatest power, will not be so 
 mad as to put all this to hazard ; yet if he begins 
 to rush on, I see many more things to be appre- 
 hended than I dare venture to commit to writing : 
 at jiresent 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 sura of money to Csesar, which he imagined 
 might draw some reproach ujK)n him, since he 
 thought it dishonourable and indecent (he says) to 
 be a debtor to one against whom we were acting 
 in jjiiblic affairs : yet to pay it at that time woulcj 
 deprive him of a part of the money which he 
 had reserved for his triumph". He desires Atticus, 
 however, very earnestly to see it paid, which was 
 done without doubt accordingly, since we meet 
 with no farther mention of it : it does not appear, 
 nor is it easy to guess, for what occasion this debt 
 was contracted, unless it was to supply the extra- 
 ordinary expense of his buildings after his return 
 from exile, when he complained of being in a par- 
 ticular want of money from that general dissipation 
 of his fortunes. 
 
 Pompey, finding Cicero wholly bent on peace, 
 contrived to have a second conference with him be- 
 fore he reached the city, in hopes to allay his fears 
 and beat him off from that vain project of an ac- 
 commodation, which might helj) to cool the zeal of 
 his friends in the senate : he overtook him, there- 
 fore, at Lavernium, and came on with him to 
 Formiae, where they spent a whole afternoon in a 
 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 Csesar should disband his 
 army and take the consulship, he would throw the 
 
 tabis: primum quo artiiicio tueamur benevolcntiam 
 Ca^saris.— Ad Att. vii. 1. 
 
 n Ibid. vii. 4. 
 
 " lUud tamen non desinam, dum adesse te putiho, de 
 Caesaris nomine rogare, ut confectum relinquas. — Ibid. v. 6. 
 
 Mihi autem molestissimum est, quod solvendi sunt 
 nummi Csesari, et instrumentum triumphi eo confcreii- 
 dum. Est enim S/uop^oj'; avTirroXirevofievov XP^"'P^^' 
 \4t7]v esse. — Ibid. vii. 8.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 17f 
 
 republic into confusion : but he was of opinion, 
 that when he understood their preparations against 
 him, he would drop the consulship and hold fast 
 his army ; but if he was mad enough to come for- 
 ward and act offensively, he held him in utter 
 contempt from a confidence in his own troops and 
 those of the republic. 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 jierpetual invective on Pompey's conduct 
 from his first appearance in public, with great com- 
 plaints against the -violent and arbitrary condem- 
 nation of citizens and the terror of his arras. After 
 reading it over together, " What think you (says 
 Pompey) would Csesar himself do if in possession 
 of the republic, when this paltry, beggarly fellow, 
 his quiEstor, dares to talk at this rate ? on the 
 whole, Pompey seemed not only not to desire, but 
 even to dread a peace p." 
 
 Cicero, however, would not still be 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 nothing 
 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 differ- 
 ence was, that if their enemies conquered they 
 should be proscribed, if their friends, be slaves." 
 Though he had an abhorrence therefore of Caesar's 
 cause, yet his advice was to grant him his own 
 terms, rather than try the experiment of arms, "and 
 prefer the most unjust conditions to thejustest war ; 
 since, after they had been arming him against them- 
 selves for ten years past, it was too late to think of 
 fighting, when they had made him too strong for 
 themi." 
 
 This was the sum of his thoughts and counsels 
 
 when he arrived at Rome on the 4th of January ; 
 
 where he found the two new consuls 
 
 A. URB. 704. entirely devoted to Pompey's interests. 
 
 QIC. d8. Qjj j^jg approach towards the city 
 "**■ great multitudes came out to meet 
 
 C CLAUDIt'S 
 
 „,„r-c-,,,-^ him with all possible demonstrations 
 L. coRxELi- of honour : his last stage was from 
 vs LENTu- Pompey's villa near Alba, because his 
 Lus cRis. own at Tusculum lay out of the great 
 road, and was not commodious for a 
 public entry : on his arrival (as he says) he fell 
 into the very flame of civil discord, and found the 
 war in effect proclaimed ■■ ; for the senate, at 
 Scipio's motion, had just voted a decree, " that 
 
 P Ad Att. vii. 8. 
 
 1 De republica quotidie magis timeo. Non enim boni, 
 ut putant, consentiunt. Quos ego equites Romanos, quos 
 scnatores vidi, qui acerrinie turn castera, timi lioc iter Pom- 
 peii vitupcrarent. Pace opus est, ex victoria cum multa 
 ruala, turn certe tyrannus existet. — Ibid. vii. 5. 
 
 TJt si vietus eris, proscribare ; si viceris, tamen servias. 
 — Ibid. vii. 7- 
 
 Ad pacem hortari non desino, quae vel injustautiliorest, 
 quam justissimum bellum. — Ibid. vii. 14. 
 
 Mallem tantas ei vires non dedisset, quam nunc tarn 
 valenti resisteret. — Ibid. vii. 3. 
 
 Nisi forte hsee illi turn arma dedimus, ut nunc cum bene 
 parato pugnarenius. — Ibid. vii. 6. 
 
 ' Ego ad urbem accessi prid. non. Jan. obviam mihi sic 
 est proditum, ut nihil possit fieri ornatius. Sed incidi in 
 
 C£Esar should dismiss his army by a certain day, or 
 be declared an enemy ; and wl.*n M. Antony and 
 Q. Cassius, two of the tribunes, opposed their nega- 
 tive to it,'' as they had done to every decree 
 proposed against Csesar, and could not be per- 
 suaded 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, preetors, tribunes, and 
 all who were about the city with proconsular power, 
 should take care that the republic received no de- 
 triment." As this was supposed to arm the magis- 
 trates with an absolute power to treat all men as 
 they pleased whom they judged to be enemies, so 
 the two tribunes, together with Curio, immediately 
 withdrew themselves upon it, and fled in disguise 
 to Cssar's camp, on pretence of danger and vio- 
 lence to their 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 who lost his life in the massacres 
 of Marius and Cinna : his father, as it is already 
 related, had been honoured with one of the most 
 important commissions of the republic ; 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 before 
 he had put on the manly gown ; showing himself 
 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 present ne- 
 cessity urged him. His comely person, lively wit, 
 insinuating address, made young Curio infinitely 
 fond of him ; so that, in spite of the commands of 
 a severe father who had often turned Antony out 
 of doors and forbidden him his house, he could not 
 be prevailed with to forsake his company, but sup- 
 plied him with money for his frolics and amours, 
 till he had involved himself on his account in a 
 debt of fifty thousand pounds. This greatly afflicted 
 old Curio ; and Cicero was called in to heal the 
 distress of the family, whom the son entreated, with 
 tears in his eyes, to intercede for Antony as well 
 as for himself, and not suffer them to be parted ; 
 but Cicero having prevailed with the father to 
 make his son easy by discharging his debts, advised 
 him to insist upon it as a condition, and to enforce 
 it by his paternal power, that he should have no 
 farther commerce with Antony'. This laid the 
 
 ipsam flammam civilis discordias vel potius belli. — Ep. 
 Fam. xvi. 11. 
 
 Ego in Tusculanum nihil hoc tempore. Devium est 
 To7s airauTwcTi, &c. — Ad Att. vii. 5. 
 
 ' Antonius quidemnosteret Q,. Cassius, nulla vi expulsi, 
 ad Cacsarcm cum Curione profecti erant ; postea quam se- 
 natus consulibus, prsetoribus, tribunis plebis, et nobis, qui 
 proconsules sumus, negotium dederat, ut curaremus, ne 
 quid respublica detrimenti caperet. — Ep. Fam. xvi. U. 
 
 ' Tenesne memoria prsetextatum te decoxisse ? — nemo 
 unquam puer tmptus libidinus causa tarn fuit in dominr 
 potestate, quam tu in Curionis. Quoties te pater ejus 
 domo suo cjecit ? — scisne me de rebus mihi notissimi* 
 dicere? recordare tempus illud, cum pater Curio moerens. 
 jacebat in lecto ; filius se ad pedes meos prostemens, lacry- 
 mans te mihi commendabat, orabat, ut te contra patrem 
 suum, si H.S. sexagies peteret defenderem: tantum enim
 
 172 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE Lll-E OF 
 
 foundation of an early aversion in Antony toCicero, 
 increased still by the periietual course of Antony's 
 life, whicli fortune happened to throw among 
 Cicero's inveterate enemies : for, by tiie second 
 marriage of liis mother, he became son-in-law to 
 that Lentulus who was put to death for conspirint; 
 with Catiline, by whom he was initiated into all 
 the cabals of a traitorous faction, and infected with 
 principles pernicious tn the liberty of Rome. To 
 revenife the death of this father, he attached him- 
 self to Clodius, and during his tribunate was one 
 of the ministers of all his violences ; yet was de- 
 tected at the same time in some criminal intrigue 
 in 'his family injurious to the honour of his patron". 
 From this education in the city, he went abroad to 
 learn the art of war under Gabinius, the most ])ro- 
 fligate of all generals, who gave him the coinmaiid 
 of his horse in Syria, where he signalised his 
 courage in the restoration of king Ptolemy, and 
 acquired the first taste of martial glory in an expe- 
 dition undertaken 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 Cicsar into Gaul, the sure refuge 
 of all the needy, the desperate, and the audacious : 
 and after some stay in that province, being fur- 
 nished with money and credit by Caesar, he 
 returned to Rome to sue for the quaestorshipy. 
 Caesar recommended him in a pressing manner to 
 Cicero, " entreating him to accept Antony's sub- 
 mission and pardon him for v/hat was past, and to 
 assist him ia 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 certainly have killed if he 
 had not found means to hide himself under some 
 stairs." Antony openly gave out " that he owed 
 all this to Cicero's generosity, to whom he could 
 never make amends for former injuries, but by the 
 destruction of his enemy Clodius^." Being chosen 
 quaestor he went back immediately to Caesar, with- 
 out expecting his lot or a decree of the senate to 
 appoint him his province: where, though he had 
 all imaginable opportunities of acquiring money, 
 yet by squandering as fast as he got it, he came a 
 second time empty and beggarly to Rome, to put in 
 
 se pro te intercessisse: ipse autem amore ardens confirma- 
 bat, quod desiderium tui discidii ferre non posset — quo ego 
 tempore tanta mala florentissiniae faniilias sedavi vel potius 
 sustuli : patri persuasi, ut aes alienum filii dissolverct, &c. 
 — [Phil. ii. ](!. — ] M. Antonius, perdunda; pecuniao genl- 
 tus, vacuusque curis, nisi instantibus.' — Sallust. Histor. 
 Fragm. 1. lii. 
 
 " Te domi P. Lcntuli educatum [Phil. ii. 7.] Inti- 
 
 mus crat in tribunatu Clodio — ejus omnium incemliorum 
 fax — cujus etiani domi quiddam jam turn molitus est, &c. 
 —Ibid. 19. 
 
 ^ Inde iter Alexandrian!, contra senatus auctoritatem, 
 contra rempublicam et religiones : sed habebat ducem 
 Gabinium, &c. — Ibid. 
 
 y Prius in ultimam Galliam ex .35gypto quani domum — 
 venisti e Gallia ad quesluram petendam.' — Ibid. ; Plut. in 
 Anton. 
 
 2 Acceperam jam ante Csesaris literas, ut mihi satisfieri 
 paterer a te — postca custoditus sum a te, tu a me observa- 
 tus in petitionequaesturae, quoquidom tempore P. Clodium 
 — in foro es conatus occidere — ita pra?dicabas, te non exis- 
 tim.are, nisi ilium inteifecisses, unquam milii pro tuis in 
 me injuriis satis esse facturum. — Phil. ii. 20. 
 
 Cum se ille fugiens in scalarum tenebras abdidisset, &rc. 
 —Pro Mil. 15. 
 
 for the tribunate ; in whicli office, after the example 
 of his friend Curio, ha\'ing sold himself to Ca'sar, 
 he was (as Cicero says) as much the cause of the 
 ensuing war as Helen was of that of Troy*. 
 
 It is certain at least that Antony's flight gave 
 the immediate pretext to it, as Cicero had foretold. 
 " Cwsar," says he, " will betake himself to arms, 
 either from our want of preparation, or if no re- 
 gard be had to him at the election of consuls ; but 
 especially if any tribune, obstructing tlu' delibera- 
 tions ofthe senate, or exciting the people to sedition, 
 should happen to be censured or overruled, or taken 
 off, or expelled, or, pretending to be expelled, run 
 away to him^." In the same letter he gives a short, 
 but true state ofthe merit of his cause: "What, says 
 he, can be more impudent .' You have held your 
 government ten years, not granted to you by the 
 senate, but extorted by violence and faction. The full 
 term is expired, not of the law, but of your licen- 
 tious will : but allow it to be a law ; it is now de- 
 creed that you must have a successor. You refuse, 
 and say, have some regard to me : do you first 
 show your regard to us. \\"M you pretend to keep 
 an army longer than the people ordered, and con- 
 trary to the will of the senate"^.'" But Caesar's 
 strength lay not in the goodness of his cause, but 
 of his troops'', a considerable part of which he 
 was now drawing together towards the confines of 
 Italy, to be ready to enter into action at any warn- 
 ing. 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 Pompey was first 
 destroyed"^." Laying hold therefore of the occasion, 
 he presently passed the Rubicon, which was the 
 boundary of his province on that side of Italy, 
 and, marching forward in a hostile manner, 
 possessed himself without resistance of the next 
 great towns in his way — Ariminum, Pisaurum, 
 Ancona, Arctium, &cJ 
 
 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, de- 
 
 " Deinde sine senatus consulto, sine sorte, sine lege ad 
 Caesarem cucurristi. Id enim ununi in terris egestatis, 
 ffiris alicni, nei|uitiar?, perditis vitae rationibiis perfugium 
 esse ducebas — advolasti cgens ad Tribunatum. ut in eo 
 magistratu, si posses, viri tui similis esses — ut Helena Tro- 
 janis, sic iste liuic reipublicae causa belli, &c. — PhU. ii. 
 21, 22. 
 
 •> Aut addita causa, si forte tribunus plebis senatum 
 I impediens, aut populum incitans, notatus, aut senatus 
 consulto circumsoriptus, aut sublatus aut cxpulsus sit, 
 dicensve se expulsum ad se confugerit. — Ad Att. vii. 9. 
 
 c Ibid. ; Ep. Fam. xvi. II. 
 
 <• Alterius ducis causa melior videbatur, alterius erat 
 finiiior. Hie omnia speciosa, illic valentia. Pompeium 
 senatus auctoritas, Caesarem milituui armavit fiducia. — 
 Veil. Pat. ii. 49. 
 
 K Plut. in Anton. 
 
 f An ille id faciat, quod paullo ante decretutn est, ut 
 exercitum citraKubiconem, qui finis est Galliae, educeret ? 
 — Pliil. vi. 3. 
 
 Itaque cum Cxsar amentia quadam raperetur, et — 
 Ariminum, Pisaurum, Anconam, Arretium occupavisset, 
 urbem reliquimus. — Ep. Fam. xvi. 12.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 173 
 
 sired that it might be deferred for a while till the 
 public affairs were better settled, giving his word 
 that he would then be the mover of it himselft'." 
 But Csesar's sudden march towards Rome put an 
 end to all farther thoughts of it, and struck the 
 senate with such a panic, that, as if he had been 
 already at the gates, tliej' 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 Csesar. Cicero had Capua, with the 
 inspection of the sea-coast from Formi3e ; he 
 would not accept any greater charge, for the sake 
 of preserving his authority in the task of mediating 
 a peace*" : and for the same reason, when he per- 
 ceived his new province wholly unprovided against 
 an enemy, and that it was impossible to hold 
 Capua without a strong garrison, he resigned his 
 employment 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 Csesar had a famous school of 
 them at this time, which he had long maintained 
 under the best masters for the occasions of his 
 public shows in the city ; and as they were 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 republic, 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''. 
 
 While the Pompeian party was under no small 
 dejection on account of Pompey's quitting the 
 city, and retreating fi'om the approach of Ctesar, 
 T. Labienus, one of the chief commanders on the 
 
 g Nobis tamen inter has turbas senatus frequens flagi- 
 tavlt triumphum : sed Lentulus consul, quo majus suum 
 beneficium faceret, slmul atque expedisset quae cssent 
 necessaria de republica dixit se relaturum. — Ep. Fam. 
 xvi. 11. 
 
 " Ego negotio prssum non turbulento ; ^^^lt enim me 
 Pompeius esse, quem tota hsc Campana et maritinia ora 
 habeat iiritrKOTrov, ad quem delectus et summa negotii 
 referatur. — Ad Att. vii. 11. 
 
 Ego adhuo orse maritimas prajsum a Forniiis. Nullum 
 niajus negotium suscipere volui, quo plus apud illuni raea; 
 liters; cohortationesque ad pacem valerent. — Ep. Fam. 
 xvi. 12. 
 
 i Nam certe neque tum peccavi, cum imparatam jam 
 Capuam, non solimi ignavise delectus, sed etiam perfidia; 
 Buspicionem fugiens, accipere nolui. — Ad Att. viii. 12. 
 
 Quod tibi ostenderam, cum a me Capuam rejiciebam : 
 quod feci non vitandi oneris causa, sed quod videbam 
 teneri illam iirbem sine exercitu non posse. — Ep. Cic. ad 
 Pomp. ; Ad Att. viii. 11. 
 
 As Cicero, when proconsul of Cilicia, often mentions 
 the dioceses that were annexed to his government, [Ep. 
 Fam. xiii. 67,] so in this command of Capua he calls hmi- 
 self the episccpus of the Campanian coast : which shows, 
 that these names, which were appropriated afterwards in 
 the Christian church to characters and powers ecclesias- 
 tical, carried -nith them, in their original use, the notion of 
 a real authority and jurisdiction. 
 
 •^ Gladiatores Cassaris, qui Capuas sunt — sane commode 
 Pompeius distribuit, binos singulis patribus familiarum. 
 Scutorum in ludo c fuerunt cruptionem facturi fuisse 
 dicebantur— sane multum in eo reipublicae provisum est. 
 Ad Att. vii. 14. 
 
 other side, deserted Caesar and came over to them, 
 which added some new life to their cause, and 
 raised an expectation that many more would follow 
 his exami)le. Labienus had eminently distinguished 
 himself in the Gallic war, where, ne.xt to Caesar 
 himself, he had borne the principal part, and by 
 Ccesar's favour had raised an immense fortune ; so 
 that he was much caressed, and carried about 
 everywhere 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 councils : but his account 
 of things, like that of all deserters, was accommo- 
 dated rather to jjlease 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'. 
 
 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 pushing on the war with incredible 
 vigour, talked of nothing but peace, and endea- 
 voured particularly to persuade Cicero " that he 
 had no other view than to secure himself from the 
 insults 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." These terms were readily 
 embraced in a grand council of the chiefs at Capua, 
 and young L. Caesar, who brought them, was sent 
 back with letters from Pompey, and the addition 
 only of one preliminary article—" that Cajsar, in 
 the mean while, should recall his troops from the 
 towns which 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 "." Cicero was present at this council, of 
 
 1 jMaximam autem plagam accepit, quod is, qui sum- 
 mam auctoritatem in illius exercitu habebat, T. Labienus- 
 socius sceleris esse noluit: reliquit ilium, et nobiscum est : 
 multique idem facturi dicuntur. — Ep. Fam. xvi. 12. 
 
 Aliquantum animi videtur attulisse nobis Labienus.— 
 Ad Att. vii. 13. 
 
 Labienum secum habet (Pompeius) non dubitantem de 
 imbecillitate Caesaris copiarum : cujus adventu Cna:u» 
 noster multo animi plus habet. — Ibid. vii. 16. 
 
 Nam m Labieno parum est dignitatis. — Ibid. viii. 2. 
 
 fortis in armis 
 
 Cassareis Labienus erat : nup?transfuga vilis 
 
 LucAN. v. 345. 
 
 ■" Balbus major ad ir,^ gcribit, nihil malle Ca'sarem, 
 quam, principe Pompeio, sine metu vivere. Tu, puto, 
 h^c credis Ad Att. viii. •). 
 
 " Feruntur oninino conditiones ah lllo, ut Pompeius eat 
 in Hispaniam ; dilectus, qui sunt habiti, et pra?sidia nostrr 
 dimittantur: se ulteriorem Galliam Doinitio, citeriowm 
 Considio Noniano — traditurum. Ad consulatus petitionenj 
 se venturum : — neque se jam velle, absente se, rationem 
 sui haberi — Ep. Fam. xvi. 12 ; Ad Att. vii. 14. 
 
 Accepimus conditiones ; sed ita, ut removeat prxsidia
 
 574 
 
 THK HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 which he gave an account to Atticus : " I came to 
 Capua, (says he,) yesterday, the twenty-sixth of 
 January, where I met the consuls and many ofour 
 order : tliey all wished that Ca-sar would stand to 
 liis conditions, anil withdraw liis troops. Favonius 
 alone was against all conditions imposed by Ca?sar, 
 but was little regarded by the council : for Cato 
 himself would now ratlier live a slave than fight ; 
 and declares, that if Cicsar recall his garrisons 
 he will attend the senate when the conditions come 
 to be settled, and not go to Sicily, where his service 
 is more necessary, which 1 am afraid will he of ill 
 consequence. Tliere is a strange variety in our 
 sentiments ; the greatest part are of opinion, that 
 Cresar will not stand to his terms, and that these 
 ofters are made only to hinder our pre]iaratioiis : 
 but I am apt to think that he will \vitluliaw 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 pursuing, and we cannot possibly 
 come off without some loss ; for we are scan- 
 dalously unprovided both with soldiers and with 
 money, since all that whicli was either private in 
 the city or public in the treasury is left a prey to 
 him"." 
 
 During the suspense of this treaty and the ex- 
 pectation of CtBsar's answer, Cicero began to con- 
 ceive some hopes that both sides were relenting, 
 and disjiosed to make up the quarrel — Csesar, 
 from a reflection on his rashness, and the senate 
 on their want of preparation : but he still suspected 
 Caesar ; and the sending a message so important 
 by a person so insignificant as young Lucius Cicsar, 
 looked, he says, as if he had done it by way of 
 contempt, or with a view to disclaim it, especially 
 when, after offering conditions, which were likely 
 to be accepted, he would not sit still to wait an 
 answer, but continued his march with the same 
 diligence, and in the same hostile manner as be- 
 foreP. His suspicions proved true ; for, by letters, 
 which came soon after from Furnius and Curio, 
 he perceived that they made a mere jest of the 
 embassy*!. 
 
 It seems very evident that Csesar had no real 
 thoughts of peace, by his paying no regard to 
 Pompey's answer, and the trifling reasons which 
 he gave for slighting if. But he had a double 
 view in offering those conditions ; for, by Pom- 
 pey'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 
 embracing them, to slacken his preparations, and 
 retard his design of leaving Italy, whilst he himself 
 in the mean time, by following him with a celerity 
 
 ex lis locis, qua; ocjcupavit, ut sine mctu de iis ipsis con- 
 ditionibus Romse senatus haberi possit. — Ad Att. vii. 14. 
 
 o Ad Att. vii. 15. 
 
 P Spero in prsesentia pacem nos habere. Nam et ilium 
 furoris, et hunc nostrum copiaruin suppoenitet. — ^Ibid. 
 
 Tamen vereor ut his ipsis (Ca?sar) contentus sit. Nam 
 cum ista mandata dedissct L. Cssari, debuit esse paullo 
 quietior, dum rcsponsa rcferrentur. — Ibid. vii. 17. 
 
 Caesarem quidem, L. Csesaro cum mandatis de pace 
 misso, tamen aiunt acerrime loca occupare.' — Ibid. 18. 
 
 L. Cassarem vidi — ut id ipsum mibi ille videatur irri- 
 dendi causa fecisso, qui tantis de rebus huic mandata 
 dederit, nisi forte non dedit, ct bic sermone aliquo arrepto 
 pro mandatis abusus est. — Ibid. 13. 
 
 q Accepi literas tuas, Pliilotimi, Furnii, Curionis ad 
 Fiu-nium, quibus irridet L. Ca>saris Icgationem. — Ibid. 19. 
 
 » Ca;s, De Belle Civ. 1. i. 
 
 that amazed everybody", might chance to come 
 up with him before he could embark, and give a 
 decisive blow to the war, from which 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 anything 
 from the beginning, but Pompey's life'." 
 
 If wc consider this famous passage of the 
 Rubicon, abstractedly from the event, it seems to 
 have been so hazardous and desperate that Pompey 
 might reasonably contemn the thought of it, as of 
 an attempt too rash for any prudent man to venture 
 upon. If Cu-'sar's view, indeed, liad been to pos- 
 sess 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 overmatch for any which 
 could be brought against it into the field. But 
 this single army was all tiiat he had to trust to ; 
 he had no resource : the loss of one battle was 
 certain ruin to him, and yet he must necessarily 
 run the risk of many before he could gain his end, 
 for the whole empire was armed against him ; every 
 province ofTered a fresh enemy, and a fresh field 
 of action, where he was like to be exposed to the 
 same danger 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 superior fleet, 
 or of being starved at land by the difficulty of 
 conveying supplies and provisions to them. Pom- 
 pey relied chiefly on this single circumstance, and 
 was persuaded, that it must necessarily determine 
 the war in his favour" : so that it seems surprising 
 how such a superiority of advantage, in the hands 
 of so great a commander, could possibly fail of 
 success ; and we must admire rather the fortune 
 than the conduct of Csesar, for carrying him safe 
 through all these difficulties to the possession of 
 the empire. 
 
 Cicero seldom speaks of his attempt, but as a 
 kind of madness*, 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 
 condition to oppose him. Csesar on the other 
 hand might probably imagine, that their stifi'ness 
 proceeded from a vain conceit of their strength, 
 which would induce them to venture a battle with 
 him in Italy, in which case he was sure enough to 
 beat them : so that both sides were drawn farther 
 
 « O celeritatem incredibilem ! — Ad Att. vii. 22. 
 
 Cicero calls him a monster of vigilance and celerity — 
 [Ibid. viii. 9.] — for from his passage of the Rubicon, though 
 he was forced to take in all the great to^vns on his road, 
 and spent seven days before Corfinium, yet in less than 
 two montlis lie marched through the wliole length of Italy, 
 and came before the gates of Brundisium before Pompey 
 could embark on the 9th of March. — Ad Att. is. 
 
 ' Intelligo scrius equidem quam vellem, propter episto- 
 las sermonesque Balbi, scd video plane nihil aliud agi, 
 nihil actum ab initio, quam ut hunc occideret. — Ad Att. 
 ix. 5. 
 
 " Existimat, (Pompeius) qui mare teneat, eum necesse 
 rerum potiri — itaque navalis apparatus ei semper antiquis- 
 sima cura fuit. — Ibid. x. C. 
 
 ^ Cum Csesar amentia quadam raperetur. — Ep. Fam. 
 svi. 12.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 175 
 
 perhaps than they intended, by mistaking each 
 other's views. Csesar, I say, might well appre- 
 hend that they designed to try their strength with 
 him in Italy ; for that was the constant persuasion 
 of the whole party, who thought it the best schema 
 which could be pursued. I'ompey humoured 
 them in it, and always talked big to keep up their 
 spirits ; and though he saw from the first the 
 necessity of quittintr 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 Ca;sar 
 into Picenum, so as to give them an o])i)ortunity 
 of.retuming to the city>'. The plan of the war, as 
 it was commonly understood, was to possess them- 
 selves of the principal posts of Italy, and act 
 chiefly on the defensive, in order to distress Csesar 
 by their different armies, cut off" his opportunities 
 of forage, hinder his access to Rome, and hold 
 him continually employed till the veteran army from 
 Spain, under Pompey's lieutenants, Afranius, 
 Petreius, and Varro, 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 dis- 
 grace of flying before Csesar, and giving up Italy 
 a prey to his enemy. In this confidence Domitius, 
 with a very considerable force, and some of the 
 principal senators, threw himself into Corfinium, 
 a strong town at the foot of the Apennine, on the 
 Adriatic side, where he proposed to make a stand 
 against Ctesar, and stop the progress of his march ; 
 but he lost all his troops in the attempt, to the 
 number of three legions, for want of knowing 
 Pompey's secret. Pompey indeed, when he saw 
 what Domitius intended, pressed him earnestly, 
 by several letters, to come away and join with him, 
 telling him, " That it was impossible to make any 
 opposition to Caesar till their whole forces were 
 united ; and that as to himself, he had with him 
 only the two legions which were recalled from 
 Caesar, and were not to be trusted against him ; 
 and if Domitius should entangle himself in Cor- 
 finium, so as to be precluded by Cajsar 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 opinion, that Italy was to 
 
 y Omnes nos aTrporT0oiii'r]Tovs, expertes sui tanti et t*m 
 inusitati consilii lelinquebat. — Ad Att. viii. 8. 
 
 Ponipeius — ad me scribit, paucis dicbus se firmum exer- 
 cituni habiturum, spcmque afi'ert, si in Picenuiu agrum 
 ipse venerit, nos Romam redituros esse. — Ibid. vii. IC. 
 
 ^ Suscepto autem bello, aut tenenda sit urbs, aut ea 
 relicta, ille commeatu et reliquis copiis intercludendus. — 
 Ad Att. vii. 9. 
 
 Sin autem ille suis conditionibus stare noluerit, bellum 
 paratum est : — tantummodo ut cum intercludamus, ne ad 
 urbem possit accedere : quod spcrabamus fieri posse : di- 
 lectus enim magnos habebamus — ex Hispaniaque sex lesi- 
 ones et magna auxilia, Afranio et Petreio ducibus, habet 
 a tergo. Videtur, si insaniet, posse opprimi, mode ut urbc 
 salva. — Ep. Fani. xvi. 12. 
 
 Summa autem spes Afranium cum magnis copiis adven- 
 tare. — Ad Att. viii. 3. 
 
 " Nos disjecta manu pares adversariis esse non possu- 
 miis. — 
 
 Quamobrem nolito commoveri, si audieris nie regredi, 
 si forte Caesar ad me veniet, — etiam atque etiam te hortor, 
 ut cum onini copia quam prinium ad me venias. — Epist. 
 Pomp, ad Domit. ; Ad Att viii. 12. 
 
 be the seat of the war, and that Pompey would 
 never su'ffer so good a body of trooj)s, and so many 
 of his best friends to be lost, would not quit the 
 advantangeous post of Corfinium, but depended 
 still on being relieved; and when he was actually 
 besieged, sent Pompey word, how easily Csesar 
 might be intercepted between their two armies''. 
 
 Cicero was as much disappointed as any of the 
 rest ; he had never dreamt of their being obliged 
 to quit Italy till, by Pompey's motions, he per- 
 ceived 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 
 afl"airs ; and to enable Atticus to give it the more 
 clearly, he explains to hinl 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 republic 
 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 power 
 of a single person, who gives me many ])roofs 
 indeed of being my friend, and whom, as you know, 
 I had long ago 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 tliat I may trust him, whether it be con- 
 sistent 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 to be 
 attended with some danger, and perhaps with 
 some disgrace, if Pompey should ever restore the 
 republic. 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 stories ; how he 
 first nursed, raised, and armed this man against 
 the republic ; how he supported him in carrying 
 his laws by violence, and without 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 republic, how he insisted that 
 the ten tribunes should jointly propose a law to 
 dispense with his absence in suing for the consul- 
 ship, 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 dishonourable, or show a greater want 
 of conduct than this retreat, or rather shameful 
 flight from the city ? What conditions were not 
 preferable to the necessity of abandoning our 
 country .'' the conditions, I confess, were bad ; yet 
 
 •1' Domitius ad Pompeium — mittit, qui petant atque 
 orent, ut sibi subveniat : Ca-sarem duobus cxercitibus, 
 et locorum angustiis intercludi posse, frumentoque prohi- 
 bei'i, &c. 
 
 Caes. De Bello Civ. 1. i.
 
 iTG 
 
 THE HlSTOllY OF lllE LIFE OF 
 
 what can be worse than this ? But Pompey, you 
 will say, will recover the republic : when, or what 
 preparation is therefor it? Is not all Picenuin 
 lost ? Is not the way left open to the city? Is not 
 all our treasure, both public aud private, jjiven up 
 to the enemy ? In a woril, there is no i)arty, no 
 forces, no place of rendezvous, for the friends of 
 the republic to resort to. Aj)ulia is chosen for our 
 retreat, the weakest and remotest part of Italy, 
 which implies nothinjj; but despair, and a design of 
 flying by the opportunity of the sea," I'vc.'^ In 
 another letter, "There is I)ut 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 1 am not of that 
 mind. Will he then desert such a citizen, and the 
 rest, whom you know to be with him ? especially 
 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 ojiinion is, 
 think that 1 ought to follow this man. For my 
 part I easily know whom I ought to tly, not whom 
 I ought to follow. As to that saying of mine 
 which you extol, and think worthy to be cele- 
 brated, that I had rather be conquered with Pom- 
 pey, than conquer vvith Caesar, 'tis true, I still 
 say so ; but, with 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 con- 
 quered with him, tlie thing is over, I am con- 
 quered," &C.'' 
 
 There was a notion in the meanwhile, that uni- 
 versally prevailed through Italy, of Ceesar's cruel 
 and revengeful temper, from which horrible effects 
 were apprehended : Cicero himself was strongly 
 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 desperate ^. 
 It was affirmed likewise with great confidence, 
 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 caused 
 But there was no real ground for any of these 
 suspicions : for Csesar, 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 push for 
 
 c Ad Att. viii. 3. d Ibid. viii. 7. 
 
 * Istum cujus <paKapi(Tfi.6v times, omnia teterrime fac- 
 *urum puto. — Ad Att. vii. 12, 
 
 Incertum est Phalarimue an Pisistratum sit imitaturus. 
 —Ibid. 20. 
 
 Nam cjedem video si vicerit — et regnum non modo 
 
 Romano homini sed no Persae quideni tcilerabile Ibid. 
 
 X. 8. 
 
 Qui hie potest se gerere non perdite ? vita, mores ante 
 facta, ratio suscepti negotii, soeii. — Ibid. ix. 2 ; it. ix. 19. 
 
 f Atque cum loqui quidam avdtVTtKiis narrabant ; Cn. 
 Carbonis, M. Bruti se pocnas persequi, &c. — Ad Att. ix. li. 
 
 emjiire, had, from the observation of past timas, 
 and the fate of former tyrants, laid it down for a 
 maxim, that clemency in victory was the best means 
 of securing the stability of it^'. Upon the sur- 
 render therefore of Cortinium, where he had the first 
 opportunity of giving a public si)ecimcn of hinr.self, 
 he showed a noldc c.xanii)!!' of niodirition, by the 
 generous dismission of Domitius and all tiie other 
 senators who fell into his hands; among whom was 
 Lentulus Spinther, Cicero's jjarticular friend ''. 
 This made a great turn in his favour, by easing 
 ))eople of the terrors which they had before con- 
 ceived of him, and seemed to confirm what he 
 affected everywhere 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 despicable, by flying 
 before an enemy, whom his pride and ])erverseness 
 was said to have driven to tlie necessity of taking 
 arms. — " Tell me, I beg of you," says Cicero, 
 " what can be more wretched, than for the one to 
 be gathering a])j)lause from tlie worst of causes, 
 the other giving offence in the best ? the one to be 
 reckoned the preserver of his enemies, the other 
 the deserter of his friends .' and in truth, though 
 I have all the affection which I ought to have for 
 our friend Cna;us, 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, he thought to make his cause the more 
 jjopular by their destfuetioii, what can be more 
 unjust?" &c.' — From this first experiment of 
 Cjesar's clemency, Cicero took occasion to send 
 him a letter of compliment, and to thank him par- 
 ticularly for his gener()\is treatment of Lentulus, 
 who, when consul, had beea the chief author of his 
 restoration ; to which Ctesar returned the following 
 answer. 
 
 CcBsar Empcro)' to Cicnro Emperor. 
 " 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 plea- 
 sure from the thing itself, so 1 rejoice aud triumph 
 to find my act approved by you : nor does it at all 
 move me, that those who were dismissed by me, 
 are said to be gone away to renew 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 T 
 may use your counsel and assistance as I have 
 hitherto done in all things. Nothing, I assure you, 
 
 P T^v 6eoov fieylcTTTjv S>itt' exe"' TvpavviSa. — Ad 
 Att. vii. 11. 
 
 Tentenius lioo modo, si possumus, omnium voluntates 
 rccuperare, et diutuma victoria uti : quoniam reliqui 
 credulitate odium effugere non potuerunt, neque victo- 
 riam diutius tenere, praiter unum L. Syllain, quern imi- 
 taturus non sum. Usee nova sit ratio vincendi : ut 
 misericordia et liberalitate nos muniamus.— Ep. Caesaria 
 ad 0pp. Att. ix. 7. 
 
 h Caes. De Bello Civ. 1. i. ; Plutarch, in Ca-s. 
 
 ■ Sed obsccro te, quid hoc miserius, quam alterum 
 plausus in fcedissima causa quaercre ; alterum ofFensiones 
 in optima ? alterum existimari conscrvatorcin inimicorum, 
 alterum desertorem amicorum? et mehercule quamvis 
 amemus Cna;um nostrum, ut et faeimus ct dtbemus, tamen 
 hoc, quod talibus viris non subvenit, laudare non possum. 
 Nam sive timuit quid ignavius ? sive, ut quidam putant, 
 ineliorem suam causam illorum ca;de fore putavit, quid 
 ir.justius? — Ad Att. viii. 9.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 177 
 
 is dearer to me than Dolabella ; I will owe this 
 favour therefore to him :■ nor is it possible for him 
 indeed to behave otherwise, such is his humanity, 
 his good sense, and his affection to me. Adieu''." 
 When Pompey, after the unhappy affair of Cor- 
 finium, found himself obliged to retire to Brundi- 
 sium, and to declare, what he had never before 
 directly owned, his design of quitting Italy and 
 carrying the war abroad' ; he was very desirous to 
 draw Cicero along with him, and wrote two letters 
 to him at Formiie, to press him to come away di- 
 rectly ; 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"': the second of Pompey's letters, 
 with Cicero's answer, will explain the present state 
 of their atTairs, and Cicero's sentiments upon 
 them. 
 
 Cn. Pompeius Magnus Proconsul to M. Cicero 
 Emperor. 
 "If you are in good health, I rejoice : I read 
 your letter with pleasure: for I perceived in it 
 yoijr ancient virtue by your concern for the common 
 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 republic, to 
 come also to us, that by our joint advice we may 
 give help and relief to the afflicted state. I would 
 have you make the Appian way your road, and 
 come in all haste to Erundisium. Take care of 
 your health." 
 
 M. Cicero Emperor to Cn. Magnus Proconsul. 
 " When I sent that letter, which was delivered to 
 you atCanusium, I had no suspicion of your crossing 
 the sea for the service of the republic, 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 republic with the great- 
 est dignity in Italy. In the mean time, before my 
 letter reached you, being informed of your reso- 
 lution by the instructions 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 jEsernia : I was much disturbed at it, 
 because if it was true, I not only took my journey 
 to be precluded, but myself also to be certainly a 
 prisoner. I went on therefore to Cales with intent 
 to stay there till I could learn from ^sernia the 
 certainty 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 the eighteenth of February, and 
 signified, that it was of great importance to the 
 republic that all the troops should be drawn toge- 
 ther as soon as possible to one place ; yet so as to 
 leave a sufficient garrison in Capua. Upon reading 
 
 k Ad Att. ix. 16. 
 
 1 Qui amisso Corfinio denique me certiorem consilii sui 
 fecit. — Ibid. ix. 2. 
 
 'u Epistolaruin Pompeii duarum, quas ad me misit, ncgli- 
 gentiam, meanique in scribendo diligentiam volui tibi 
 Dotam esse : earum excmpla ad tc misi. — Ibid. viii. 11. 
 
 these letters I was of the same opinion with all the 
 rest, that you were resolved to march to Corfiniura 
 with all your forces, whither, when Caesar lay 
 before the town, I thought it impossible for me to 
 come. While this affair was in the utmost expec- 
 tation, we were informed at one and the same time 
 both of what had happened at Corfinium, and 
 that you were actually marching towards Brundi 
 sium : 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 Cffisai-'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 republic, by our rashness : 
 especially when we could not doubt, but that if the 
 journey had been safe to us, we should not then bti 
 able to overtake you. In the mean while I receive* 
 your letter dated from Canusium the twenty-first 
 of February, in which you exhort me to come in all 
 haste to Brundisium : but as I did not receive it 
 till the twenty-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 
 ourselves 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 inclosed within the quarters and 
 garrisons of their adversaries. Since this is our 
 case, I heartily wisli, in the first place, that I had 
 always been with you, as I then told you when I 
 reUnquished the command of Capua, which I did not 
 do forthe sake of avoiding trouble, but because I saw 
 that the town could not be held without an army, 
 and was unwilling that the same accident 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 I had been made privy to your counsels : for 
 I could not possibly suspect, and should sooner 
 have believed anything than that for the good of 
 the republic, under such a leader as you, we should 
 not be able to stand our ground in Italy : nor do I 
 now blame your conduct, but lament the fate of 
 the republic ; 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 fol- 
 lowed : I followed yours ; nor that for the sake of 
 the republic, of which I despaired, and which is 
 now overturned, so as not to be raised up again 
 without a civil and most pernicious war : I sought 
 you ; desired to be with you ; nor will I 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 I 
 made no scruple to own, that I wished for nothing 
 so much as peace ; not but that I had the samo 
 apprehensions from it as they ; but I thought theCi 
 more tolerable than a civil war : then after tht 
 war was begun, when I saw that conditions ol 
 N
 
 178 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 peace were offered to you, and a full and honour- 
 able answer given to them, I began to weigh 
 and deliberate well upon my own conduct, which, 
 considering your kindness to me, 1 fancied that I 
 shoulil easily explain to your satisfaction : 1 re- 
 collected that I was the only man who, for the 
 greatest services to the public, had suffered a most 
 wretched and cruel mniisliment : that I was the 
 only one who, if I ofl'ended him to whom at the 
 very time when we were in arms against him a 
 seeoiul consulship and most splendid triumph was 
 ofTered, should be involved again in all the same 
 struggles ; so that my person seemed to stand 
 always exposed as a jiublie mark to the insults of 
 profligate citizens : nor did I sus])eet any of these 
 things till I was openly threatened with them : 
 nor was I so much afraid of them, if they were 
 really to befal me, as 1 judged it jirudent to decline 
 them, if they could honestly be avoided. 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 anything: but to those whom 
 I do not please I can easily answer, that I never 
 was more a friend to C. Ca'sar than they, nor they 
 ever better friends to the republic 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 approved 
 also by you ; tlieirs by way of arms ; and since 
 this method has prevailed, it shall be my care to 
 behave myself so, that the republic may not want 
 in me the spirit of a true citizen, nor you of a 
 friend. Adieu"." 
 
 The disgust which Pompey's management 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 bo 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 anything, which 
 has not both a probable and prudent excuse — and 
 in tnith was willing to consider a little longer what 
 was right 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 
 Csesar any cause to be an enemy to him when he 
 was become a friend to Pompey. 
 
 While things were in this situation, Csesar sent 
 young Balbus after the consul Lentulus, to en- 
 deavour to persuade him to stay in Italy, and 
 return to the city, by the offer of everything that 
 could tempt him : he called upon Cicero on his 
 way, who gives the following account of it to 
 Atticus : " 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 Csesar, and the offer of any go- 
 vernment if he will return to Rome : but it will 
 have no effect unless they happen to meet : he 
 told me that Csesar desired nothing so much as to 
 overtake Pompey : which I believe ; and to be 
 friends with him again : which I do not believe ; 
 
 n Ad Att. viii. 11. 
 
 o Nihil prfctermlssum cat, quod non habeat sapientem 
 cxcusationcni — et plane quid rectum, et quid faciendum 
 mibj eeaet, diutius cogitai'e malui.— Ad Att. viii. 12. 
 
 and begin to fear, that all his clemency means 
 nothing else at last but to give that one cruel blow. 
 The elder Halbus writes me word, that Ctesar 
 wishes nothing more than to live in safety, and 
 yield the first rank to Pompey. Y'ou take him I 
 su])pose to be in earnestP." 
 
 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 tlie firmness of 
 these consuls, but says of them both on another 
 occasion, that they were more easily moved by 
 every wind than a feather or a leaf. He received 
 another letter soon after from Balbus, of which he 
 sent a c()]iy to Atticus, " tliat he might pity him," 
 he says, " to see what a dupe they thought to make 
 of himi." 
 
 Balbus to Cicero Emperor. 
 
 " I conjure you, Cicero, to think of some me- 
 thod of making Ccesar and Pomjiey friends again, 
 who by the i)erfidy of certain j)ersons are now 
 divided : it is a work highly worthy of your virtue : 
 take my word for it, Cajsar will not only be in 
 your power, but think himself infinitely obliged to 
 you if you would charge yourself with this affair. 
 1 should be glad if Pompey would do so too ; but 
 in the present circumstances, it is what I wish 
 rather than hope, that he m;iy be brought to any 
 terms : but whenever he gives over flying and 
 fearing Cassar, I shall not despair that your au- 
 thority 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 Csesar himself: if he had suffered 
 me to talk to him as freely as we used to do, and 
 not so often shunned the opportunities which I 
 sought of conferring with him, I should have been 
 less unhappy than 1 now am : for assure yourself 
 that no man can be more afflicted than 1, to see 
 one who is dearer to me than myself, acting his 
 part so ill in his consulship, that he seems to be 
 anything rather than a consul : but should he be 
 disposed 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 motion, Pompey 
 and Caesar may be made one again with the appro- 
 bation even of the senate. 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. 1 am ex- 
 tremely glad that my nephew's visit was agreeable 
 to you ; as to what he said on Caesar's part, and 
 what Ctesar himself wrote to you, I know Caesar to 
 be very sincere in it, whatever turn his affairs may 
 take''." 
 
 Caesar at the same time was extremely solicitous, 
 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 
 
 P Ad Att. viii. 9. 
 
 q Neo me consules movent, qui ipsi pluma aut folit 
 facilius moventur — ut vicem meam doleres, cum me derj 
 deri vidcres.' — Ibid. viii. 15. 
 
 « Ad Att. viii. 15.
 
 MARCUS TIILLIUS CICERO. 
 
 179 
 
 "ivith letters on that head^ : who, by his keeping 
 such a. distance at this time from Pompejs ima- 
 gining that they had made some impression, began 
 to attempt a second point with him, viz., to per- 
 suade 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: 
 
 CcBsar Emperor to Cicero Emperor. 
 " 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 hope to be in the city shortly, I may see 
 you there, and have the benefit 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 Emperor to CcBsar Emperor. 
 " Upon reading your letter, delivered to me by 
 Furnius, in which you pressed me to come to the 
 city, I 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 I flat- 
 tered myself into a persuasion, that out of your 
 admirable and singular wisdom you were desirous 
 to enter into some measures for establishing the 
 peace 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 of 
 our friend Pompey, and of reconciling him to your- 
 self, and to the republic, you will certainly find no 
 man more proper for such a work than I am, who 
 from the very first have always been tlie 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 in- 
 jured by it, while your enemies 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 dig- 
 nity, but an encourager also of others to assist you 
 in it ; so now the dignity of Pompey greatly affects 
 me, 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 prayers, that in the hurry of your 
 cares you would indulge a moment to this thought, 
 how by your generosity I maybe permitted to show 
 myself an honest, grateful, pious man, in remem- 
 bering an act of the greatest kindness to me. If 
 this related only to myself, I should hope still to 
 obtain it from you ; but it concerns, I think, both 
 your honour and the republic, that by your means 
 
 ^ Quod quaris quid Ca?sar ad me scripserit. Quod 
 soepe : gratissimiun sibi esse quod quierim : oratque ut in 
 CO perseverem. Balbus minor heec eadem niandata. — 
 j»Ld Att. ^-ili. ]1. 
 
 I should be allowed 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. Af- 
 ter 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 wliich he expresses tlie most grateful sense of 
 your liberality, I took myself to have received the 
 same grace from you which he had done, towards 
 whom, if by this you perceive me to be grateful, 
 let il; be your care, I beseech you, that I may be so 
 too towards Pompey'." 
 
 Cicero was censured for some passages of this 
 letter, which Ccesar took care to make public, viz., 
 the compliment on Caesar's admirable wisdom ; 
 and above all, the acknowledgment of his being 
 injured by his adversaries in the present war ; in 
 excuse of which, he says, " that he was not sorry 
 for the publication of it, for he himself had given 
 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 inclined to 
 peace, and that, in urging Caesar to save his coun- 
 try, he thought it his business to use such expres- 
 sions as were the most likely to gain authority with 
 him, without fearing to be tliought guilty of flat- 
 tery, 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 Balbus 
 and Oppius, two of Caesar's chief confidants. 
 
 Ballus and Oppius to M. Cicero. 
 " The advice, not onlv 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 himianitv, we will give you 
 what we take to be the best in the case about 
 which you wrote to us ; which, though it should 
 not be found prudent, yet certainly flows from th* 
 utmost fidelity and affection to you. If we did noi 
 know from Csesar himself that, as soon 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 delibe- 
 rations, that by your help, who have a strict friend- 
 ship with them both, the whole affair may be set- 
 tled with ease and dignity ; or if, on the contrary, 
 we believed that Caesar would not do it, and knew 
 that he was resolved upon a war with Porapey, we 
 should never try to persuade you to take arms 
 against a man to whom you have the greatest obli- 
 gations, in the same manner as we have always 
 entreated you, not to fight against Caesar. But 
 since at present we can only guess rather than 
 know, what Ciesar will do, we have nothing to offer 
 but this, that it does not seem agreeable to your 
 dignity, or your fidelity, so well known to all, when 
 
 t AdAtt. ix. 6, 11. 
 
 n Epistolam mcam quod pervfulgatam scribis esse non 
 fero moleste. Quin etiam ipse multis dedi dcscribendam. 
 Ea enim et acciderunt jam ct impendent, ut testatum esse 
 velim de pace quid senserini. Cum autem eum hortarer, 
 euni prsesertim hominem, non videbar ullo modo facilius 
 moturus, quam si id, quod eum hortarer, convenire ejus 
 sapientiae dicerem. Earn si admirabilem dixi, cum eum 
 ad salutem patria: hortarer, non sum veritus, ne viderer 
 assentiri, cui tali in re lubenter me ad pedes abjecissera, 
 &c.— Ibid. vili. 9. 
 
 N 3
 
 180 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE lAVK OF 
 
 you are intimate with them both, to take arms 
 against either ; and this we do not doubt but Cxsar, 
 according to his humanity, will highly apjjrove ; 
 yet if you judge lyroper we will write to him, to 
 let us know wliat he will really do about it ; and if 
 he returns us an answer, 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 (Ja;sar, out of his indul- 
 gence to his friends, will be pleased with it".'' 
 This joint letter was followed by a separate one 
 from Balbus. 
 
 Balbus to Cicero Emperor. 
 
 " Immediately after I had sent the common let- 
 ter from Oppius and myself, I received one from 
 Coesar, 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 cruelty. It gives me an ex- 
 treme 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, con- 
 sistently with your character and duty, bear arms 
 against a man to whom you declare yourself so 
 greatly obliged ; that Cfesar will approve this reso- 
 lution I certainly know from his singular huma- 
 nity, and that you will perfectly satisfy him, by 
 taking no part in the war against him, nor joining 
 yourself to his adversaries ; this he will think suf- 
 ficient, not only from you, a person of such dignity 
 and splendour, but has allowed it even to me, not 
 to be found in that camp, which is likely to be 
 formed against Lentulus and Pompey, from whom 
 I have received the greatest obligations. It was 
 enough, he said, if I performed my part to him in 
 the city and the gown, which I might perform also 
 to them if I thought fit ; wherefore I now manage 
 all Lentulus's affairs at Rome, and discharge my 
 duty, my fidelity, my piety, to them both ; yet in 
 truth I do not take the hopes of an accommoda- 
 tion, 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 proper, that you would write to him, and 
 desire a guard from him, as you did from Pom- 
 pey, at the time of Milo's trial, with my approba- 
 tion ; I 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 things I know not ; but this I cer- 
 tainly know, that whatever I write, I write out of 
 a singular 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 I am exceedingly solicitous that you should 
 discharge your duty to them both, which in truth 
 I am confident you will discharge. Take care of 
 your healthy." 
 
 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 
 
 » Ad Att. ix. 8. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 projicr, out of Italy. But he was too wise to be 
 caiiijlit l)y it, or to be moved in any manner by the 
 h-tters themseives, to entertain the least thought of 
 going to Home, since to assist in the senate, whea 
 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 Cfcsar himself, 
 who was now returning from Hrundisiuin by the 
 road of l'\)rini;L', where he then resided ; for though 
 he would gladly have avoided him, if he could have 
 contrived to do it decently, yet to leave the place 
 just when Citsar was coining to it, could not fail 
 of being interpreted as a particular affront; he 
 resolved therefore to wait for him, and to act oa 
 the occasion with a firmness and gravity which 
 became his rank and character. 
 
 They met as he expected, and he sent Atticus 
 the followingaccount 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 I never saw any one less so ; he was con- 
 demned, he said, by my judgment, and, if I did 
 not come, others would be the more backward ; 
 I told him that their case was very different from 
 mine. After many things said ou both sides, he 
 bade me come, however, and try to make peace. 
 Shall I do it, says I, in my own way? Do you 
 imagine, replied he, that I will i)rescribe to you ? 
 I will move the senate then, says I, for a decree 
 against your going to Spain, or transporting your 
 troops into Greece, and say a great deal besides in 
 bewailing the case of Pompey. I will not edlow, 
 re)ilied he, such things to be said. So I thought, 
 said 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 vv'ished 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 I am pleased 
 with myself, which 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 1 — what a deplorable affair ! what desperate 
 troops ! what a lamentable thing to see Servius' 
 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 Arpinum, 
 and there 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^ 
 
 While Caesar was on the road towards Rome, 
 
 z Ad Att. ix. 18. 
 
 a Ego meo Ciceroni, quoniain Roma caremus, Arpini' 
 potissimura togampuramdedi, idque municipibus nostris 
 fuit gratum. — Ibid. ix. 19.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 18J 
 
 "oung Quintus Cicero, the nephew, a fiery giddy 
 youth, privately wrote to him to offer his service, 
 ■with a promise of some iuformatioa concern- 
 ing his uncle ; upon which, heing sent for and 
 admitted to an audience, he assured Csesar that his 
 uncle was utterly disaffected to all his measures, 
 and determined to leave Italy and go to Pompey. 
 The boy was tempted to this rashness by the hopes 
 of a considerable present, and gave much uneasi- 
 ness by it both to the father and the uncle, who 
 had reason to fear some ill consequence from it'' ; 
 but Caesar desiring still to divert Cicero from de- 
 claring against him, and to quiet the apprehensions 
 which he might entertain for what was past, took 
 occasion to signify to him, in a kind letter from 
 Rome, that he retained no resentment of his refu- 
 sal to come to the city, though Tullus and Servius 
 complained that he had not shown the same indul- 
 gence to them ; ridiculous men, says Cicero, who 
 after sending their sons to besiege Pompey at 
 Brundisium, pretend to be scrupulous about going 
 to the senate •=. 
 
 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 Csesar sent him another pressing 
 letter to try, if possible, to dissuade him from 
 that step. 
 
 CcBsar Emperor to Cicero Emperor. 
 " Though I never imagined tliat you would do 
 anything rashly or imprudently, yet moved by 
 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, 
 and consult but ill for yourself, if you do not fol- 
 low 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 councils), 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 j'ou would not do. 
 Lastly, what is more agreeable to the character of 
 an honest, quiet man, and good citizen, 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 testi- 
 mony of my life, and trial of my friendship, will 
 find nothing more safe or more reputable than to 
 
 ^ Literas ejus ad Cajsarem missas ita graviter tulimus, 
 
 at te quidem celaremus tantum scito post Hirtiuni 
 
 conventum, arcessitum ab Cssare ; cum eo de meo animo 
 ab suis consUiis alienissimo, et consilio relinquendi Italiani. 
 —Ad Att. X. 4, 5, &c. 
 
 Quintum pucrum accepi vehementer. Avaritiam video 
 f uissc, et spem niagni congiarii. Magnum hoc malum est. 
 —Ibid. X. 7. 
 
 c Caesar mlhi ignoscit per literas, quod non Romam 
 venerim, se seque in optimam partem id accipere dicit. 
 Facile patior, quod scribit, secum Tullum et Servium 
 questos esse, quia non idem sibi, quod niihi reniisisset. 
 Homines ridicules, qui cum filios misissent ad Cn. Pom- 
 peiura circumsidendum, ipsi in senatuni venire dubitarent. 
 —Ibid. X. 3. 
 
 keep yourself clear from all this contention. The 
 16th of April, on the road*"." 
 
 Antony also, whom Ctesar left to guard Italy 
 in his absence, wrote to him to the same purpose, 
 and on the same day. 
 
 Antonius Tribune of the people and Propreetor to 
 Cicero Emperor. 
 
 " If I had not a great esteem for you, and much 
 greater indeed than you imagine, I 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 dissemble, 
 that even a report, though false, makes some im- 
 pression 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 dis- 
 course even of ill-designing men, and wrote this 
 with the greater inclination, as I 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 to me 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, yetwiU 
 always desire to see you in safety and splendour. 
 I have sent Calpurnius to you with this, the most 
 intimate of my friends, that you might perceive 
 the great concern which I have for your life and 
 dignity^." 
 
 Cselius also wrote to him on the same subject, 
 but finding, 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 pathetic, or, 
 as Cicero calls it, lamentable strain ^ in hopes to 
 work upon him by alarming all his fears. 
 
 CcbUus to Cicero. 
 " Being in a consternation at your letter, by 
 which you show 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 
 wrote 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 hov? 
 he resolved to act after his victory, I informed you 
 of what I had learned. If you imagine that his 
 conduct will always be the same, in dismissing his 
 enemies and offering conditions, you are mistaken. 
 He thinks and even talks of nothing 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 has met with, nor wiU 
 
 <i Ad Att. X. 8. e Ibid. 
 
 i M. Call epistolam scriptam miserabiliterv— Ibid. 3.
 
 1B2 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 there be any room for mercy. Wherefore, if you 
 jourself, your only son, your house, your rrmain- 
 l.ig hopes, be <!■ ir to you ; if I, if the wortliy man 
 your s()u-iii-l:m , have any weiglit with you, you 
 should not desire to overturn our fortunes and 
 force us to hate or to relinquisli that cause in whicli 
 our safety consists, or to entertain an impious wisli 
 against yours. Lastly, reflect on this, that you 
 have already given all the oll'ence which you can 
 give by staying so long behind; and now to declare 
 against a conqueror whom you would not olfeiul 
 wliile liis cause was douijtful, and to lly 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 determining what is the best. But 
 if I cannot wholly prevail tvith you, yet wait at 
 least till you know how we succeed in Spain, which 
 I now tell you will be ours as soon as Caesar comes 
 thither. What hojies they may have when Spain 
 is lost, I know not ; and what your view can be in 
 acceding to a desperate cause, by my faith 1 cannot 
 fnid out. As to the thing which you discover to 
 me by your silence about it, Caesar has been in- 
 formed of it, and after the first salutation told me 
 ))resently what he had heard of you. I denied that 
 1 knew anything of the matter, but begged of him 
 to write to you in a manner the most effectual to 
 make you stay. He carries me witli him into 
 Spain ; if he did not, I would run away to you 
 wherever you are before I came to Rome, to dis- 
 ■^ute this point with you in person and hold you 
 kst even by force. Consider, Cicero, again and 
 again, that you do not iitterly 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 re- 
 proaches 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 remote 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^'." 
 
 Cselius'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 public 
 dissention, as long as it was carried on by civil 
 methods one ought to take the honester side, but 
 when it came to arms the stronger, and to judge 
 that the best which was the safest ''. Cicero was 
 not of his opinion, but governed himself 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 we incur by it. 
 
 Curio paid Cicero a friendly visit of two days 
 about this time, on his way towards Sicily, the 
 command of which Caesar had committed to him. 
 Their conversation turned on the unhappy condition 
 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 
 
 e Ep. Fam. viii. 16. 
 
 •> Illud te non arbitror fugere ; quia homines in dissen- 
 Bione domestica debeant, quamdiu civiliter sine araiis 
 cernetur, lionestiorem sequi partem: ubi ad bellum at 
 castra ventum sit, firmiorem ; et id melius statuere, quod 
 tutms Bit. — Ibid. viii. U. 
 
 to choose some neutral place for his retreat, assiired 
 him that Cicsar would be jileased with it, offered 
 him all kind of accommodation and safe passage 
 through Sicily, made not the least doubt but that 
 Cccsar would soon be master of Si)aiu and then 
 follow Pom])ey with his whole force, and that 
 Pom|)cy'8 death would be the end of the war ; but 
 confessed withal that he saw no prospect or glim- 
 mering of hope for the republic ; said that Caesar 
 was so provoked by the tribune IMetellus 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 ; that his clemency 
 flowed, not from his natural disposition, but because 
 he thought it po])ular, and if he once lost the 
 affections of the people he would be cruel ; that he 
 was disturbed to see the people so disgusted by his 
 seizing the public treasure, and though he had 
 resolved to sjjcak 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 public treasure at Rome a prey 
 to Cajsar, is censured more than once by Cicero as 
 one of the blunders of his friends'* : but it is a 
 common case in civil disseutions for the honester 
 side, through the fear of discrediting their cause 
 by any irregular act, to ruin it by an unseasonable 
 moderation. The public money was kept in the 
 temple of Saturn, and the consuls contented them- 
 selves with carrying 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 terror of 
 a Gallic invasion'. Pompey was sensible of the 
 mistake when it was too late, and sent instructions 
 to the consuls to go back and fetch away this 
 sacred treasure ; but Caesar was then so far ad- 
 vanced that they durst not venture upon it, — and 
 Lentulus coldly sent him word that he himself 
 should first march against Caesar into Picenum, 
 that they might be able to do it with safety". 
 Csesar had none of these scruples, but as soon as 
 he came to Rome ordered the "doors of the tempte 
 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 Punic war ; for the republic (as Pliny says) 
 had never been richer than it was at this day"." 
 
 Cicero was now impatient to be gone, and the 
 more so on account of the inconvenient pomp of 
 his laurel, and lictors, and style of emperor, which 
 in a time of that jealousy and distraction exposed 
 him too much to the eyes of the public as well as 
 to the taunts and raillery of his enemies". He 
 resolved to cross the sea to Pompey, yet knowing 
 
 ' Ad Att. X. 4.' ^k"lbid7viiri27l5l^ 
 
 I Dio, p. 161. 
 
 '" C. Cassius attulit mandata ad consules, ut Romam 
 
 venirent, pecuniam de sanctiore jerario auferrent — Consul 
 rescripsit, ut prius ipse in Picenum. — Ad Att. vii. 21. 
 
 " Nee fuit aliis temporibus respublica locupletior.— 
 Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxiii. 3. 
 
 Accedit etiam molesta hsec pompa lictorum meorum. 
 nomenque imperii quo appellor, — sed incurrit base nostra 
 laurus non solum in oculos, sed jam etiam in voculas male- 
 volorum.— Ep. Fam. ii. 16.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 181 
 
 all his motions to be narrowly wixtched, took pains 
 to conceal his intention, especially from Antony, 
 who resided at this time in his neighbourhood, and 
 kept a strict eye upon him. He sent him word 
 therefore by letter, that he had "no design against 
 Caesar ; that he remembered his friendship, and his 
 son-in-law Dolabella ; tliat if he had other thoughts, 
 he could easily have been with Pompey ; that his 
 chief reason for retiring was to avoid the uneasiness 
 of appearing in public with the formality of his 
 lictorsP." But Antony wrote him a surly answer, 
 which Cicero calls a laconic mandate, and sent a 
 copy of it to Atticus, to let him see, he says, how 
 tyrannically it was drawn. 
 
 " How sincere is your way of acting ! for he 
 who has a mind to stand neuter stays at home ; he 
 who goes abroad seems to pass a judgment on the 
 one side or the other. But it does not belong to 
 me to determine whether a man may go abroad or 
 not. Caesar has imposed this task upon me, not 
 to suffer any man to go out of Italy. Wherefore 
 it signifies nothing for me to approve your resolu- 
 tion if I have no power to indulge you in it. I 
 would have you write to Ceesar, 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 friendship 1." 
 
 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 Trebatius, 
 that he had special orders to observe his motions''. 
 These letters give us the most sensible proof of 
 the high esteem and credit in which Cicero flourished 
 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 peculiar skill in arms or talents 
 for war ; but his name and authority 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 reso- 
 lution in all cases of difficulty, since no man could 
 show a greater than he did on the present occasion, 
 when, against the importunities of his friends and 
 all the invitations of a successful 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 
 himself without reserve in all the excess of lewdness 
 and luxury. Cicero, describing his usual equipage 
 in travelling about Italy, says, " He carries with 
 him in an open chaise the famed actress Cytheris, 
 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 
 
 P Cum ego sffipissime scripsissem, nihil me contra 
 Caesaris rationes cogitare; meminisse me generi mei, 
 meniinisse amicitiae, potuisse si aliter sentirem, esse cum 
 Ponipeio, me aatem, quia cum lictoribus invitus cursarem, 
 abesse velle.— Ad Att. x. 10. 
 
 1 Ad Att. X. iO. 
 
 r Nominatim de me sibi imperatum dicit Antonius, nee 
 me tamen ipse adhuc viderat, sed hoc Trebatio narravit. 
 i— Ibid. X. 12. 
 
 Antonius — ad me misit, se pudore deterritum ad me non 
 snisse, quod me sibi succensere putaret. — Ibid. x. 15. 
 
 Csesar, let him come vanquished or victorious, will 
 not make cruel work amongst us at his return. 
 For my part, if I cannot 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 
 witii Antony''." Among Antony's otlier extrava- 
 gances, he had the insolence to appear sometimes 
 in public with his mistress Cytlieris in a cliariot 
 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', for though the 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 understand 
 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 Phar- 
 salia, though it is evident from tliis hint of it given 
 by Cicero that it happened long before. 
 
 Whilst Cicero continued at Formise 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 his city on that account 
 was exposed to the utmost hazard. Whether there 
 was not cause to be afraid of the man who 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 stiil 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 his city, 
 and besiege it, when in the hands of a tyrant. 
 Whether a man, not approving the dissolution of 
 a tyranny by war, ought not to join himself how- 
 ever to lie best citizens. Whether one ought to 
 act with his benefactors and friends, though they 
 do not in his opinion take right measures for the 
 public interest. Whether a man who has done 
 great services to his country, and for that reason 
 has been envied and cruelly treated, is still bound 
 to expose himself to fresh dangers 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 exercising myself (says 
 he) in these questions, and examining them on 
 the one side and the other, I relieve my mind 
 from its present anxiety, and draw out something 
 which may be of use to me^." 
 
 ' Hie tamen Cytheridem secum lectica aperta portat, 
 altera uxorem : septem prxterea conjunctse lecticae sunt 
 amicarum, an amicorutn ? vide quam turpi leto pereamus : 
 et dubita, si potes, quin ille seu victus, seu victor redicrit, 
 caedem facturus sit. Ego vero vel lintriculo, si navis non 
 erit, eripiam me ex istorum parricidio. Sed plura scribam 
 cum ilium convenero.' — Ad Att. x. 10. 
 
 ' Tu Antonii leones pertimescas, cave. Nihil est illo 
 homine jucundius. — Ibid. x. 13. 
 
 u Jugo subdidit eos, primusqueUomaeadcurrum junxit 
 Antonius; et quidem civili bello cum dimicatum esset in 
 Pharsalicis campis ; non sine ostento quodam temponim, 
 generosos spiritus jugum subire illo prodigio significante : 
 nam quod ita vectus est cum mima Cj'theride, supra mon- 
 stra etiam illarum calamitatum fuit. — Plin. Hist. Nat. 
 viii. 16. 
 
 ■' In his ego me consultationibus exercens, dissereiis in
 
 181 
 
 THE lliSTOllY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 From the time of his leaving the city together 
 witii Pompey and tlie t^cnale, there passed not a 
 single day in whii-li he did not write one or more 
 letters to Atticiis>', the only friend wiiom he trusted 
 with the secret of iiis thoughts. From these letters 
 it appears, that the sum of Attieus's advice to him 
 agreed entirely with his own sentiments, that if 
 Pompey remained in Italy he ought to join with 
 him ; if not, should stay behind and exi)ect what 
 fresh accidents might produce^. This was what 
 Cicero had hitherto followed ; and as to his future 
 conduct, though he seems sometimes to be a little 
 •wavering and irresolute, yet the result of his deli- 
 berations constantly turned in favour of Pom])cy. 
 His personal aflection for tlie man, jn-eference 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 was 
 displeased with his management of the war and 
 without any hopes of his success", though he knew 
 him before to be no politician, and now perceived 
 him, he says, to be no general, yet witli all his 
 faults he could not endure the thought of deserting 
 him, nor hardly forgive himself for staying so long 
 behind him. " For as in love (says he), anything 
 dirty and indecent in a mistress will stitle 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 1 cannot bear his 
 absence," (kc.^ 
 
 What lield him still a while longer was the tears 
 of his family and the remonstrances of his daughter 
 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 accomplishments, with the utmost affection 
 and piety to him. Speaking of her to Atticus, 
 " how admirable (says he) is her virtue ! how does 
 she bear the public calamity ! how her domestic 
 disgusts ! what a greatness of mind did she show 
 at my parting from them ! in spite of the tender- 
 
 utramque partem, tum gra^ce turn latine, abduco parum- 
 per animum a molestiis et tov Ttpovpyov ri dclibero. — Ad 
 Att. ix. 4. 
 
 y IIujus autem cpistola? non solum ea causa est, ut nc 
 quis a nie dies intermittetur, quin dem ad te literas, sed, 
 &c.— Ibid. viii. 12. 
 
 Alteram tibi eodem die banc epistolam dictavi, et pridie 
 dederam mea nianu longiorem. — Ibid. x. 3. 
 
 ^ Ego quidem tibi non sim auctor, si Pompoius Italian! 
 relinquit, te quoque profugere, sunimo cnim periculo 
 facies, nee reipublica? proderis ; cui quidem posterius pote- 
 ris prodesse, si manseris. — Ibid. ix. 10. 
 
 » Ingrati animi crimen liorreo.— Ibid. ix. 2, 5, 7- 
 
 !Ncc meliercule hoc facie rcipublicse eausa, quam fundi- 
 tus delctam puto, scd nequis rae putet ingratum in eum, 
 qui me levavit iis incommodis, quibus ijjse affecerat — 
 Ibid. ix. 19. 
 
 Fortuna; sunt conimittenda omnia. Sine spe conamur 
 ulla. Si melius quid acciderit mirabimur. — Ibid. x. 2. 
 
 ^ Sieut if TOiS ipwTiKOL'i, alienant immunda?, insulsae, 
 indecora; : sic me illius fugjp, negligentiaeque deformitas 
 avertit ab amore — mmc emergit amor, nunc desiderium 
 ferre non possum.— Ibid. ix. 10. 
 
 c Sed cum ad me mea Tullia scribat, orans, ut quid in 
 Hispania geratur expcctem, et semper adscribat idem 
 videri tibi. — Ibid. x. 8. 
 
 Lacryma; meorum me interdum molliunt, precantium, 
 ut de Uispaniis expectemus.^lbid. x. 9, 
 
 ness of her love she wishes me to do nothing but 
 what is right and for my honour''." But as to the 
 affair of !si)ain, he answered, "that whatever was 
 the fate of it, it could not alter the case with 
 regard to himself; for if Cfesar should be driven 
 out of it, his journey to Pompey would be less wel- 
 come aiul reputable, since Curio himself would run 
 over to him ; or if the war was drawn into length, 
 there would be no end of waiting ; or lastly, if 
 Pompey's army should be beaten, instead of sitting 
 still, as they advised, he thought just tiie contrary, 
 and shoidd 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 Pympey as soon as he 
 could, in conformity to Solon's law, who made it 
 capital for a citizen not to take part in a civil dis- 
 sention*." 
 
 Before his going off, Servius Sulpicius 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 consented 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 anything of moment to communicate, he would 
 wait for his coming f. But at their meeting, he 
 found him so timorous and desponding, and so full 
 of scruples upon everything which was proposed, 
 that, instead of pressing him to the same conduct 
 with himself, he found it necessary 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, who laments his hav- 
 ing been consul ; and urges Antony to hinder 
 my going, that he himself may stay with a better 
 graced." 
 
 Cato, whom Pompey had sent to possess himself 
 of Sicily, thought fit to quit that post, and yield up 
 
 <i Cujus quidem virtus mirifiea. Quomodo ilia fert 
 publicam cladem ? quomodo domestieas trieas ? quantus 
 autem animus in discessu nostro ? sit CTopytj, sit summa 
 avvTn^is ; tamen nos recte facere et bene audire vult. — 
 Ad Att. x. 8. 
 
 ^ Si peUetur, quani gratus aut quam honestus tum erit 
 ad Pompeium noster adventus, cum ipsum Curionom ad 
 ipsum transiturum putem ? si trahitur bellum, quid 
 expectem, aut quam diu ? relinquitur, ut si vineimur in 
 Hispania, quiesoamus. Id ego contra puto : istum enim 
 victorem rclinquendum magis puto, quam victum. — Ibid. 
 
 Astute nihil sum acturus ; fiat in Hispania quidlibet. — 
 Ibid. X. 6. 
 
 Ego vero Solonis — ^legem ncgligam, qui capite sanxit, si 
 qui in seditione non alterius utrius partis fuisset. — Ibid. 
 X. 1. 
 
 ^ Sin autem tibi hominiprudentissimovidetur utile esse, 
 nos colloqui, quanquam longius etiam cogitabam ab urbe 
 discedere, cujus jam etiam nomen invitus audio, tamen 
 propius accedam.' — Ep. Fam. iv. 1. 
 
 Restat lit discedendum putem ; in quo reliqua videtur 
 esse deliberatio, quod consilium in discessu, quae loca 
 sequamur — si liabes jam statutum, quid tibi agendum 
 putes, in quo non sit conjunctum consilium tuum cum 
 meo, supersedeas hoc labore itineris. — Ibid. iv. 2. 
 
 K Servii consilio nihil expeditiu". Omnes captiones in 
 omni sententia occurrunt. Unum C. Maroello cognovi 
 timidiorem, quem consulcm fuisse poenitet — qui etiam 
 Antonium confirmasse dicitur, ut me impediret, quo ipse, 
 credo, lionestius. — Ad Att. x. 15.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 185 
 
 the island to Curio, who came likewise to seize it 
 on Caesar's part with a superior force. Cicero was 
 much scandalized at Cato's conduct, being per- 
 suaded that he might have held his possession 
 without 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 tlie coast, and begun to act, 
 Curio 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^ ! " 
 
 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 Pom- 
 peian villa, beyond Naples, which not being so 
 commodious for an embarkment, would help to 
 lessen the suspicion of his intended flight'. Here 
 he received a private message from the officers of 
 three cohorts 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 slipped 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''. 
 
 Thus pursuing at last the result of all his delibe- 
 rations, and preferring the consideration of duty to 
 that of his safety, he embarked to follow Pompey ; 
 and though, from the nature of the war, he plainly 
 saw and declared, " that it was a contention only 
 for rule ; yet he thought Pompey the modester, 
 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 
 feylla, with much cruelty and blood'." With these 
 melancholy reflections, he set sail on t'ne eleventh 
 of June", "rushing (as he tells us) knowingly and 
 
 •> Curio niecuni vixit — Siciliae diffidL-ns, si I'ompeius 
 navigare coepisset. — Ad Alt. x. 7- 
 
 Curio — Pompeii chisseni timebat : qua; si esset, se de 
 Sicilia abiturum. — Ibid. x. 4. 
 
 Cato qui Siciliani tcnere nullo negotio potuit, et si 
 tenuisset, omnes boni ad eiim se contulissent, Syracusis 
 profcetus est a. d. vni. Kal. Mail— utinam, quod alunt, 
 Cotta Sardiniam teneat. Est enim rumor. O, si id fuerit, 
 turpem Catonem ! — Ibid. x. 16. 
 
 ' Ego ut minuerem suspicionem profectionis, — profectus 
 sum in Pompeianum a. d. iv. Id. Ut ibi essem, dum quse 
 ad naviganduni opus essent, pararentur. — Ibid. 
 
 '' Cum ad villam venissem, ventutn est ad me, ccn- 
 tiiriones trium cohortium, quae Pompeiis sunt, nie veUe 
 postridie ; lia^c mecum N innius noster, velle eos milii se, 
 et oppidum tradere. At ego tibi jiostridie a villa ante 
 lucem, ut me onmiro illi non viderent. Quid enim erat 
 in tribus cohortibus ? quid si plures, quo appaiatu ? — et 
 simul fieri poterat, ut tentaremur. Onmem igitur suspi- 
 cionem sustuli. — Ibid. 
 
 ' Dominatio qu^sita ab utroque est. — Ibid. viii. II. 
 
 Regnandi contcntio est ; in qua pulsus est mudestior rex 
 et probioret integrior ; et is, qui nisi vincit, nomcn populi 
 Romani deleatur necesse est: sin autem vincit, SyUano 
 more, exeiiiploque vincet. — Ibid. x. 7. 
 
 >" A. D. III. Id. Jun. — Ep. Eani. xiv. 7. It is remark- 
 able, that among the reasons which detained Cicero in 
 Italy longer than ho intended, lie mentUmsthe tempestuous 
 weather of the Equinox, and the calms that succeeded it ; 
 yet this was about the end of May, [Ad Att. x. 17, l!i.] 
 which shows what a strange confusion there was at this 
 "time in the Roman Kalendar ; and what necessity for that 
 
 willingly into voluntary destruction, and doing just 
 what cattle do, when driven by any force, running 
 after those of his own kind : for as the o.x (says 
 he) follows the herd, so 1 follow the honest, or 
 those at least who are called so, though it be to 
 certain ruin"." As to his brother Quintus, he 
 was so far from desiring his company in this flight, 
 that he pressed him to stay in Italy on account of 
 his personal obligations to Ca;sar, and the relation 
 tiiat he had borne to liim : yet Quintus would not 
 be left behind ; but declared that he would follow 
 his brother whithersoever he should lead, and 
 think that party right which he should choose for 
 him °. 
 
 What gave Cicero a more particular abhorrence 
 of the war into which he was entering was, to see 
 Pompey on all occasions affecting to imitate Sylla, 
 and to hear him often say, with a superior air, 
 " Could .Sylla do such a thing, and cannot 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 conqueror 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 flattered himself with the same good for- 
 tune, so he was meditating the same kind of return, 
 and threatening ruin and proscription to all his 
 enemies. This frequently sliocked Cicero, as we 
 find from many of his letters, to consider with 
 what cruelty and effusion of civil blood the suc- 
 cess even of his own friends would certainly be 
 attended P. 
 
 We have no account of the manner and circum- 
 stances of his voyage, or by what course he steered 
 towards Dyrrhachium ; for after his leaving Italy, 
 all his correspondence with it was in great measure 
 cut oflf ; 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 continuance of 
 the wari. He arrived, however, safely in Pompey's 
 camp, with his son, his brother, and nephew, com- 
 mitting the fortunes of the whole family to the 
 issue of that cause : and that he might make some 
 amends for coming so late, and gain the greater 
 authority with his party, he furnished Pompey, 
 
 reformation of it which CaDsar soon after effected, in order 
 to reduce the computation of their months to the regular 
 course of the seasons from which they had se widely varied. 
 Some of the commentators, for want of attending to this 
 cause, are strangely puzzled to account for the difficulty ; 
 and one of them ridiculously imagines, that by the Equi- 
 nox, Ciceio covertly means Antony, who used to make 
 his days and niglits equal, by sleeping as much as he 
 waked I 
 
 n Ego priulcns ac sciens ad pestem ante oculos positam 
 turn profectus. — Ep. Fam. vi. 6. 
 
 Prudens et sciens tanquam ad interitum ruerem volun- 
 tarium. [Pro M. Marcel. 5.] quid ergo actunis es? idem, 
 quod pccudcs, quae dispulsae sui generis sequuntur greges. 
 Ut bos armenta, sic ego bonos viros, aut eos, quicunque 
 dicentur boni, seqnar, etiam si ruent.' — Ad Att. vii. 7- 
 
 o Fratrem — socimn hujus fortunae esse non erat a>qimm : 
 cui magis etiam Ca?sar irascetur. Sed iini)etrare non 
 possum, ut maneat. [Ibid. ix. 1.] frater, quicquid mihi 
 placeret, id rectum se putare aiebat. — Ibid. ix. 6. 
 
 P Quani crebro illud, Sylla po/uit, ego non potero ? — 
 
 Ita Syllaturit animus ejus, et proscripturit diu. [Ad 
 Att. ix. 10.] Cna;us noster Syllani rcgni similitudlrem 
 concupivit. el^ds ffoi Aeyu. [Ibid. 7.] ut non nominatim 
 sed generatim proscrlptio esset informata. — Ibid. xi. & 
 
 q Ad Att. xi. 1—4.
 
 186 
 
 THE HISTORY OF TIIK M FK OF 
 
 wlio was in ^reat wnnt of money, witl> a large sum 
 out of Ills own stock for tlii' puljlic st-rvicc'. 
 
 lint as In- t'ntfifil into tlui war witli ri'luctance, 
 so he found notliiiij? in it but wliat incri-used liis 
 disgust : he disliked everytliing which they liad 
 done, or desii^iu-d to do ; saw notliinggood amongst 
 tliem but tlieir cause ; and that tlieir own counsels 
 would ruin them. For all the chiefs of the party, 
 trusting to the superior fame and authority of I'oni- 
 pev, and dazzled with the splendour of the troops 
 which the princes of the J'2ast had sent to their 
 assistance, assured themselves of victory ; and 
 without reflecting on the ditrerent character of the 
 two armies, would he.ir of nothing but fighting. It 
 was Cicero's business therel'ore to discour.ige this 
 wild spirit, and to represent the hazard of the war, 
 the force of Caesar, and the j)robability of his beat- 
 ing them, if ever they ventured a battle with him : 
 but all his remonstrances were slighted, and he 
 himself reproached as timorous ami conarilly by 
 the other leaders ; though nothing afterwards haj)- 
 pened to them but what he had often foretold". 
 This soon made him re))ent of embarking 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 deserting that 
 neutral post wliicii might have given him the better 
 opportunity of bringing about an accommodation'. 
 
 In 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 ridic\ilous by his jests. This gave occa- 
 sion, aftern-ards, 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 momerits of relaxation which all men, who 
 had any humanity in them, were glad to lay hold 
 on : but while Antony reproached him both with 
 dejection and joking at the same time, it was a 
 sure proof that he had observed a proper temper 
 and moderation in them both"." 
 
 r Etsi egeo rebus omnibus, quod is quoque in angustiis 
 est, quicuna sumus, cui niagnani dedimus pecuniam mu- 
 tuam, opinantes nobis, constitutis rebus, earn rem etiam 
 honori fore. [Ibid. xi. 3.] si quas habuimus facultates, eas 
 Pompeio turn, cum id videbamur sapienter facere, detuli- 
 mus. — Ad Att. 13. 
 
 'i Quippe mihi nee quae accidunt, nee qua; aguntur, iillo 
 n-jodo probaiitur. [Ibid. xi. 4.] Nihil boni prseter causam. 
 [Ep. Fam. vii. 3.] Itaquo ego, quern turn fortes illi viri, 
 Domitii et Lentuli, timidum esse diccbant, &c. [Ibid. vi. 
 21.] quo quidcm in bello, nihil adversi accidit non praedi- 
 cente me. — Ibid. IJ. 
 
 ' C'lijus me mei facti poenituit, non tam propter peri- 
 culum meum, quam propter vitia multa, quae ibi offendi, 
 quo veneram. — Ibid. vii. 3 ; Plutarch, in Cic. 
 
 " Ipse fugi adhuc omne munvis, eo magis, quod ita nihil 
 poterat agi, ut mihi ct mcis rebus aptum esset. [Ad Att. 
 xi. 4.] Quod autem idem mcestitiam meam repreiicndit, 
 idem jocum ; magno argumento est, me In utroque fuisse 
 moderatum Phil. ii. 16. 
 
 Some of Cicero's sayings on this occasion are preserved 
 by different writers. AVhen Pompey put him in mind of 
 his coming so late to them : How can / cmne late, said 
 he, ivhen I find nothing in readiness among you? — and 
 upon Pompey's asking him sarcastically, wlierc his son- 
 in-lau! Xtolabella was ,■ He is with your father-in-laie. 
 
 Young IJrutus was also in Pompey's camp, where- 
 he distinguished himself by a peculiar zeal ; which 
 Cicero mentions as the more remarkable, because 
 he had always j)rofessed an irreconcilable hatred to 
 Pompey as to the murderer of his father*. But 
 he followed the cause, not the man ; sacrificing all 
 )iis resentments to the service of his country, and 
 looking now upon Pompey as the general of the 
 rcj)ublic and the defender of their common liberty. 
 
 During the course of this war, Cicero never 
 sjjcaks of Pompey's conduct but as a perpetual 
 succession of blunders. His first step, of leaving 
 Italy, was condemned indeed by all, but jiarticu- 
 larly by Atticus ; yet to us, at this di.staiice, it 
 seems not oidy to have been prudent, but neces- 
 sary''. What sl'iOcked jjcoplo so much at it, waij 
 the discovery that it made of his weakness and 
 want of preparation ; and after the security which 
 lie had all along aft'ected, and the defiance so oft 
 declared against his adversary, it made him appear 
 contemptible to run away at last on tiie first ap- 
 proach of Ca;sar. " Did you ever see," says 
 Cielius, " a more silly creature than this Pompey of 
 yours ; who, after raising nil this bustle, is found to 
 be such a trifler.^ or did you ever read or hear of 
 a man more vigorous in action, more temperate in 
 victory, than our Ciesar^ .■"' 
 
 Pomjiey had left Italy about a year before Cwsar 
 found it convenient to go after him ; during which 
 time he had gathered a vast fleet from all the ma- 
 ritime 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 Sar- 
 dinia to fall into Cfesar's hands without a blow ; 
 and the important town of Marseilles, after having 
 endured a long siege for its affection to his cause. 
 But his cajjital error was the giving up Spain, and. 
 neglecting to put himself at the head of the best 
 army that he had, in a country devoted to his in- 
 terests, and commodious for the operations of his 
 naval force. When Cicero first heard of this reso- 
 lution, he thought it monstrous" ; and, in truth, 
 the committing that war to his lieutenants, against 
 
 replied he. To a person newly arrived from Italy, and 
 informing them of a strong report at Rome, that Pompey 
 ivas blocked up by Ctesar ; And you sailed hither therefore, 
 said he, that you miiiht see it tvith 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 ivell, said he, if we were 
 to fight tvith jackdau-s. By the frequency of these sple- 
 netic jokes, he is said to have provoked Pompey so far as 
 to tell him, / wish that you would go over to the other side, 
 that you may begin to fear us. — JMacrob. Saturn, ii. 3 ; 
 Plutarch. in Cic. 
 
 -^ Brutus amicus in causa versatur acriter. — Ad Att. xi. 
 4 ; Plutarch, in Brut, et Pomp. 
 
 y Quorum dux quam aaTpaTT^yriTOS, tu quoque ani- 
 madvcrtis, cui ne Picena qiiidem Jiota sunt : quam autem 
 sine consilio, res testis. — Ad Att. vii. 1.3. 
 
 .Si istc Italian! relinquet, faciet omnino male, et ut ego 
 cxistimo aAoyiffrais, &c. — Ibid. ix. 10. 
 
 z Ecquando tu hominem incptiorern quam tuum Cn. 
 Pompeium vidisti? qui tantas turbas, qui tam nugax 
 esset, commorit ? ecqucm autem C*sare nostro acriorem 
 in rebus agendis, eodem in victoria temperatiorem, aut 
 legisti aut audisti? — Ep. Earn. viii. 15. 
 
 a Omnis haec classis Alexandria, Colchis, Tyro, Sidone, 
 Cypro, Paraphilia, Lycia, Rhode, &c. ad intercludendos ^ 
 Italia? commeatus — compai-atur. — Ad Att. ix. 9. 
 
 Nunciant .Egyptum — cogitare ; Hispaniam abjeclssi^. 
 Monstra narrant. — Ad Att. ix. 11.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 isr 
 
 the superior genius and ascendant of Caesar, was 
 the ruin of his best troops and hopes at once. 
 
 Some have been apt to wonder why Caesar, after 
 forcing Pompey out of Italy, instead of crossing the 
 sea after him, when he was in no condition to resist, 
 should leave him for the space of a year to gather 
 armies and fleets at his leisure, and strengthen him- 
 self with all the forces of the East. But Cfcsar 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 
 was possessed by a firm and veteran army ; which 
 it was Ccesar'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 Pompey himself was at 
 such a distance from it. This was the reason of 
 his marching back with so much expedition, " lo 
 find," as he said, " an army without a general, and 
 return to a general without an army''." The event 
 showed that he judged right ; for within forty days 
 from the first sight of his enemy in Spain, he made 
 himself master of the whole province'^. 
 
 After the reduction of Spain, he was created dic- 
 tator by M. Lepidus, then praetor at Rome ; and by 
 . ,.„„ -n- his dictatorial power declared himself 
 
 cic. .59. consul, with P. Servilius Isauricus ; 
 
 coss. but he was no sooner invested with 
 
 c. JULIUS this office, than he marched to Brun- 
 c.T.SAR It. disium, and embarked, on the fourth 
 p. SERVILIUS of January, in order to find out Pom- 
 vATiA isAU- pgy_ rphe carrying about in his person 
 Ricus. ^jjg supreme dignity 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 pre- 
 tence at least for opening their gates to the consul 
 of Rome''. Cicero all this while, despairing of any 
 good from the war, had been using all his endea- 
 vours to dispose his friends to peace, till Pompey 
 forbade any farther mention of it in council ; de- 
 claring, 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 present circumstances^. He was 
 sensible that he had hitherto been acting a con- 
 temptible part, and done nothing equal to the great 
 name which he had acquired in the world ; and was 
 determined, therefore, to retrieve his honour, before 
 he laid down his arms, by the destruction of his 
 adversary, or to perish in the attempt. 
 
 During the blockade of Dyrrhachium, it was a 
 current notion in Caesar's army that Pompey would 
 
 •> Ire se ad exercitum sine duce, et inde reversurum ad 
 ducem sine exercitu. — Sueton. J. Cses. 34. 
 
 c Caes. De Bello Civ. ii. 
 
 d lili se daturos negare, neque portas consuli praeclusu- 
 ros Ibid. iii. 590. 
 
 e Desperans victoriam, primuni coepi suadere pacem, 
 cujus fueram semper auctor ; deinde cum ab ea sententia 
 Pompeius valde abhoneret. — Ep. Fam. vii. 3. 
 
 Vibullius de Cscsaris mandatis agere instituit ; eum 
 
 ingressum in sermonem Pompeius interpellavit, et loqui 
 plura prohibuit. Quid mihi, inquit, aut vita aut civitate 
 opus est, quam beneficio Cassaris habere vidcbor? — Caes. 
 De Bello Civ. iii. 596. 
 
 draw off his troops into his ships, and remove the 
 war to some distant place. Upon this, DolabeUa, 
 who was with Caesar, sent a letter to Cicero, into 
 Pompey's carpp, exhorting him, " that if Pompey 
 shouhl 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 him- 
 self rather than to others : that he had now fully 
 satisfied his duty, his friendship, and his engage- 
 ments to that party which he had espoused in the 
 republic : that there was nothing left but to be 
 where the republic itself now was, rather than, by 
 following that ancient one, to be in none at all ; 
 and that Caesar would readily approve this con- 
 duct'." But the war took a quite diff"erent turn ; 
 and instead of Pompey's running away from Dyr- 
 rhachium, 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 flight 
 towards Macedonia. 
 
 While the two armies were thus employed, Caelius, 
 now praetor at Rome, trusting to his power and the 
 success of his party, began to publish several vio- 
 lent and odious laws, especially one for the cancel- 
 ling 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 aff"ront, he re- 
 called Milo from his exile at Marseilles, whom 
 Caesar had refused to restore ; and, in concert with 
 him, resolved to raise some public 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 
 liard, and to bear cold and hunger with ease''." 
 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 debauch. They had both at- 
 tached themselves very early to the interests and 
 the authority of Cicero, and were qualified by their 
 parts and fortunes to have made a principal figure 
 in the republic, if they had continued in those 
 sentiments, and adhered to his advice ; but their 
 passions, pleasures, and ambition, got the ascen- 
 dant, and, through a factious and turbulent life, 
 hurried them on to this wretched fate. 
 
 All thoughts of peace being now laid aside, 
 Cicero's next advice to Pompey was, to draw the 
 war into length, nor ever to give Caesar the oppor- 
 
 f Illud autem a te peto, ut, si jam ille evitaverit hoc 
 periculum, et se abdiderit in classem, tu tuis rebus consu- 
 las: et aliquando tibi potius quam cuivis sis amicus. Satis 
 factum est jam a te vel officio, vel familiaritati ; satisfac- 
 tum etiam partibus, et ei reipublica? quam tu probabas. 
 Reliquum est, ubi nunc est respublica ibi simus potius, 
 quam dum veterem illam sequamur, simus in nulla. — Ep. 
 Fam. ix. 9. 
 
 B Cass. De Bello Civ. iii. 600. 
 
 h Vos dormitis, nee haec adhuc mihi videmini intelligere, 
 quam nos pateamus, et quam simus imbecilli — quid istic 
 facitis? praelium expectatis, quod firmissimum est? vestraa 
 copias non novi. Nostri valde depugnare, et facile algere 
 et esurire consueverint.— Ep. Fam. viii. 17.
 
 108 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OP 
 
 •tunity of a battle. Potnpey approved tliis counsi'l, 
 and pursued it for some time, till lie {gained the 
 advantage above-mentioned before Dyrrhachium ; 
 which gave him such a confidence in his own 
 troops, and such a contempt of CsEsar's, " that 
 from this moment," says Cicero, " this great man 
 ceased to be a general ; opposed a raw, new-raised 
 army to the most robust and veteran legions ; was 
 shamefully beaten, and, with the loss of his camp, 
 forced to Hy away alone'." 
 
 Had Cicero's advice been followed, Cicsar must 
 inevitably have been ruined : for Pompey's fleet 
 would have cut off all su]iplies from him by sea, 
 and it was not possible for him to subsist long at 
 land while an enemy, sujjerior in number of troops, 
 was perpetually harassing him and wasting the 
 country : and the report everywhere spread of his 
 flying from Dyrrhachium before a victorious army 
 which was pursuing him, made bis march every 
 way the more difficult, and the people of the coun- 
 trv more shy of assisting him : till the despicable 
 figure that he seemed to make raised such an im- 
 •])atience for fighting, and assurance of victory in 
 the I'ompeian chiefs, as drew them to the fatal 
 resolution of giving him battle at Pharsalia. There 
 was another motive likewise suggested to us by 
 Cicero, which seems to have had no small influ- 
 ence in determining Pompey to this unhappy step ; 
 his superstitious regard to omens, and the admo- 
 nitions of diviners, to which his nature was strongly 
 addicted. Tlie haruspices were all on his side, 
 and flattered him with everything that was pros- 
 perous : and besides those in his own camp, the 
 whole fraternity of them at Rome were sending 
 him perpetual accounts of the fortunate and auspi- 
 cious significations which they had observed in the 
 entrails of their victims''. 
 
 But, after all, it must needs be owned, that 
 Pompey 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 
 engaged. In his wars against foreign enemies, his 
 power was 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 
 equal dignity with himself, who had commanded 
 armies, and obtained triumphs, and expected a 
 share in all his councils ; and that, in their com- 
 mon danger, no step should be taken but by their 
 common advice : and as they were under no en- 
 gagement to his cause but what was voluntary, so 
 they were necessarily to be humoured, lest through 
 disgust they should desert it. Now 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 
 
 ' Cum al) ea sentenlia Pompeius valde abhorreret, sua- 
 dere institui, ut bellum duceret ; hoc intcrdum probabat 
 et in ea sententia vidcbatur fore, ct fuibsct fortasse, nisi 
 ■quadam ex pugna cccpisset militibus suis confidere. Ex 
 «c tempore vir ille suimrius nuUus imperator fuit : victus 
 turpissime, amissis etiam castris, solus fugit.— Ep Fam. 
 vii. 3. 
 
 •t Hoc clvili belle, dii immortalcsl quse nobis in 
 
 Orseciam Roma responsa haruspicum niissa sunt? quse 
 
 •dicta Pompeio ? etenim ille admodum extis et ostentis 
 
 moTebatur, — ^De Div, ii, 24, 
 
 their leader, were ]>erpetually teasing Pompey to 
 the resolution of a battle, charging him with a de- 
 sign to protract the war for the sake of perpetuat- 
 ing his authority ; and calling him another Aga- 
 memnon, who was jiroud of holding so many kings 
 and generals under his comtnand'; till, being unable 
 to withstand their reproaches any longer, he was 
 driven, by a kind of shame, and against his judg- 
 ment, to the experiment of a decisive action. 
 
 Crcsar was sensible of Pomi)ey's diflicully, and 
 persuaded that he could not sujiport the indignity 
 of showing himself afraid of fighting ; and from 
 that assurance exposed himself often more rashly 
 than prudence would otherwise justify : for his be- 
 sieging Pom])ey at Dyrrhachium, who was master 
 of the sea which su])plied everything to him that 
 was wanted, while his ovs'n army was starving at 
 land ; and the attempt to block up intrenchments 
 so widely extended with much smaller numbers 
 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 ge- 
 neral engagement; for when he could not gain that 
 end, his perseverance in the siege 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 intrenchments 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 I5rundisium he could make no impression upon 
 the town, till Pompey at fuU leisure had secured 
 his retreat, and embarked his troops : and at Dyr- 
 rhachium, the only considerable action which hap- 
 pened between them, was not only disadvantageous, 
 but almost fatal to him. Thus far Pompey cer- 
 tainly showed 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 general. 
 By the help of intrenchments he knew how to 
 make his new-raised soldiers a match for Csesar's 
 veterans ; but when he was drawn to encounter 
 him on the open plain, he fought against insuperable 
 odds, by deserting his proper arms, as Cicero says, 
 of caution, counsel, and authority, in which he 
 was superior, and committing his fate to swords 
 and spears, and bodily strength, in which his ene- 
 mies far excelled him". 
 
 Cicero was not present at the battle of Pharsa- 
 lia, but was left behind at Dyrrhachium much out 
 
 ' Kol enl TaSe aurhv $a<n\ea Kotl 'Aya/j-ffivova 
 KaXovVTOiv, oTi KaKe7vos ^SactAeW Sta rhv ■7r6\efJ.ou 
 ^PX^''' (i,^<^Tri Twv o'lKiiuv Xoyta/xaiv, xal IviSwKiV 
 avTois. — App. p. 470. 
 
 Militcs otium, socii moram, principes ambitum ducis 
 increpabant.— Flor. iv. 2 ; l)io, p. 185 ; Plutarch, in Pomp. 
 
 m CKsar pro natura ferox, et conficiendaj rei cupidus, 
 ostentaro aciem, provocare, lacessere ; nunc obsidione 
 castrorum, qua? sedecim millium vallo obduxerat; (sed 
 quid his obesset obsidio, qui patente mari omnibus copiis 
 abundarent?) nunc expugnatione Dyrrhacliii irrita. Ace, 
 —Flor. iv. 2. 
 
 'niJ.o\6yei re ^^TuyivuffKeLV nrphs Av^paxif (rrpa.' 
 TOTreS(:V(Tas, &c. — App. p. 4G8. 
 
 n N<in iis rebus pugiiabamug, qufbus valcre poteramus, 
 oonsilio, auttoritate, causa, quae erant in nobis superiora ;
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 189 
 
 of humour, as well as out of order : his discontent 
 to see all things going wrong on that side, and 
 contrary to his advice, had brought upon him an 
 ill habit of body and weak state of health, which 
 made him decline all public command ; but he 
 promised Pompey to follow, and continue with 
 him, as soon as his health permitted" ; 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 ap- 
 plause by his dexterity of riding and throwing the 
 javelin, and performing every other part of military 
 discipline at the head of one of the wings of horse, 
 of which Pompey had given him the commandP. 
 Cato staid behind also in the camp at Dyrrhachium, 
 which he commanded with fifteen cohorts, when 
 Labienus brought them the news of Pomjiey's 
 defeat, upon which Cato offered the command to 
 Cicero, as the superior in dignity ; and upon his 
 refusal of it, as Plutarch tells us, young Pompey 
 was so enraged that he drew his sword, and would 
 have killed him upon the spot, if Cato had not 
 prevented it. This fact is not mentioned by 
 Cicero, yet seems to be referred to in his speech 
 for Marcellus, where he says, that in the very war 
 he had been a perpetual assertor of peace, to the 
 hazard even of his lifei. But the wretched news 
 from PharsaUa threw them all into such a conster- 
 nation, that they presently took shipping, and dis- 
 persed themselves severally, as their hopes or 
 inclinations led them, into the different provinces 
 of the empire^ The greatest part, who were deter- 
 mined to renew the war, went directly into Africa, 
 the general rendezvous of their scattered forces ; 
 whilst others, who were disposed to expect the 
 farther issue of things, and take such measures as 
 fortune offered, retired to Achaia : but Cicero was 
 resolved to make this the end of the war to himself, 
 and recommended the same conduct to his friends, 
 declaring, that 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. 
 
 sed lacertis et viribus, quibus pares non fuimus. — ^Ep. 
 3'^am. iv. 7. 
 
 Dolebatnque pilis et gladiis, non consiHis neque auctori- 
 tatibus nostris de jure publico disceptari. — Ep. Fam. vi. 1. 
 
 o Ipse fugi adhuc omne munus, eo magis, quod nihil ita 
 poterat agi, ut mihi et meis rebus aptum csset — me cnnficit 
 soUieitudo, ex qua etium summa infirmitas corporis ; qua 
 levata, ero cum eo, qui negotimn gerit, estque in magna 
 spe — Ad Att. si. 4. 
 
 P Quo tamen in bello cum te Pompeius alae alteri praefe- 
 cisset, magnani laudem et a summo viro et ab exercitu 
 consequebai'e, equitando, jaculando, omni militari labore 
 tolerando : atque ea quidem tua laus pariter cum repub- 
 lica cecidit De Offic. ii. 13. 
 
 ° IMulta de pace dixi, et in ipso bello, eadem etiam cum 
 capitis mei perieulo sensi. — Pro Maicell. 5. 
 
 "■ Paucis sane post diebus ex Pharsalica fuga venisse 
 Labienum : qui cum interitum exercitus nunciavisset — 
 naves subito perterriti conscendistis. — De Divin. i. 32. 
 
 s Himc ego belli mihi iinem feci ; nee putavi, cum 
 intcgri pares non fuissemus, fractos superiores fore. — Ep. 
 Fam. vii. 3. 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 Cicero no sooner returned to Italy than he 
 began to reflect that he had been too hasty in 
 coming home, before the war was de- 
 A. URB. /OG. tcrmined, and without any invitation 
 cic. 00. from the conqueror ; and in a time of 
 c JULIUS ^^^^ general licence, had reason to 
 
 c^sAR Die- apprehend some insult from the sol- 
 TATOR n. diers, if he ventured to appear in pub- 
 
 si. ANTONius lie with his fasces and laurel ; and 
 Maff. Equit. yet to drop them would be a dimi- 
 nution of that honour which he had 
 received from the Roman people, and the acknow- 
 ledgment of a power superior to the laws : he 
 condemned himself therefore for not continuing 
 abroad, in some convenient placeof retirement, till 
 he had been sent for, or things were better settled'. 
 What gave him the greater reason to repent of 
 this step was, a message that he received from 
 Antony, who governed all in Caesar's absence, and 
 with the same churlish spirit with which he would 
 have held him before in Italy against his will, 
 seemed now disposed to drive him out of it : for 
 he sent him the copy of a letter from Caesar, in 
 which Csesar signified, " that he had heard that 
 Cato and Metellus were at Rome, and appeared 
 openly there, which might occasion some dis- 
 turbance ; wherefore he strictly enjoined that none 
 should be suffered to come to Italy without a special 
 licence from himself." Antony therefore desired 
 Cicero to excuse him, since he could not help obey- 
 ing Caesar's commands : but Cicero sent L. Lamia 
 to assure him that Csesar 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, 
 excejited Cicero by name, which added still to his 
 mortification ; since all his desire was to be con- 
 nived at only, or tacitly permitted, without being 
 personally distinguished from the rest of his party". 
 But he had several other grievances of a domestic 
 kind, which concurred also to make him unhappy : 
 his brother Quintus, with his son, after their 
 escape from Pharsalia, followed Csesar into Asia, 
 to obtain their pardon from him in person. Quintus 
 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, where he 
 had been treated by him with great generosity ; so 
 that Cicero himself would have dissuaded him from 
 going over to Pompey, but could not prevail : yet 
 
 ' Ego vero et incaute, ut scribis, et celerius quam opor- 
 tuit, feci, &c.— AdAtt. xi. 9. 
 
 Quare voluntatis me me» nunquam poenitebit, consilii 
 pcenitet. In oppido aliquo mallem resedisse, quoad arces- 
 serer. Minus sermonis subiissem : minus aceepissem 
 doloris : ipsum hoc non me angeret. Brundisii jacere in 
 omneg partes est molestum. Propius accedere, ut suades, 
 quomodo sine lictoribus, quos populus dedit, possum ? qui 
 mihi incolumi adimi non possunt. — Ad Att. xi. 6. 
 
 ^ Sed quid ego de lictoribus, qui pa;ne ex Italia decedere 
 sim jussus? nam admemisit Antoniusexemplum Cssaris 
 ad se literarum ; in quibus erat, se audisse, Catonem et 
 L. Metellum in Italiam venisse, Romas ut essent palam, 
 &c. Tum ille edi.xit ita, ut me exoiperet et Larlium 
 nominatim. Quod sanr nollem. Poterat enim sine 
 nomine, re ipsa excipi. O multas graves oflfensiones '— 
 Ibid. 7.
 
 190 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 in this common calamity, Quintus, in order to 
 make his own peace tlie more easily, resolved to 
 throw all the hlame upon his brother, and for that 
 purpose made it tiie subject of all his letters and 
 Bpeeches to Cwsar's friends, to rail at him in a 
 maixner the most inhuman. 
 
 Cicero was informed of this from all quarters, 
 and that younji Quintus, who was sent before 
 towards (';i'sar, had read an oration to his friends, 
 which he liad prepared to speak to him against his 
 uncle. Nothing (as Cicero says) ever hap])ened 
 more shocking to him ; and though he had no 
 small difhdcnce of Coesar's inclination, and many 
 enemies labouring to do him ill offi<;es, yet his 
 greatest concern was, lest his brother and neiiiuw 
 should hurt themselves rather than him, by their 
 perfidy " : for under all the sense of this provoca- 
 tion, his behaviour was just the reverse of theirs ; 
 and having been informed that Ca;sar in a certain 
 conversation had charged his brother with being the 
 author of their going away to l'omi)ey, he took 
 occasion to write to him in the following terms : — 
 
 " As for my brother, I am not less solicitous for 
 his safety than my own ; but in my present situa- 
 tion 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 done anything 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 I leave it 
 to you to treat him as your own humanity and his 
 friendship with you require ; but I entreat you, in 
 tlie most pressing manner, that I may not be 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 public distraction it was very difficult to procure, 
 either by borrowing or selling : the sum which 
 he advanced to Pompey had drained him ; and 
 his wife, by her indulgence to stewards and fa- 
 vourite servants, had made great waste of what was 
 left at home ; and instead of saving anything 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^. 
 
 The conduct of Dolabella was a farther mortifi- 
 cation to him, who, by the fiction of an adoption 
 into a plebeian family, had obtained the tribunate 
 this year, and was raising great tumults and dis- 
 orders in Rome, by a law which he published, to 
 expunge all debts. Laws of that kind had been 
 
 * Quintus misit filium non solum sui deprecatoiem, sed 
 ctiam accusatorem mei — neque vero desistet, ubicunque 
 est omnia in me maledicta confcrrc. Nihil mihi unquam 
 tam incrcdibile accidit, nihil in his malis tarn acerbum.— 
 Ad Att. xi. 8. 
 
 Epistolas mihi legerunt plenas omnium in me probro- 
 rum — ipsi enim illi putavi perniciosum fore, si ejus hoc 
 tantiim seelus percrebuisset. — Ibid. 9. 
 
 Quintum filium — volunien sibi ostendisse orationis, 
 quam apud Csesarem contra mo esset habiturus — multa 
 postea patris, consimili scelere patrem esse locutum. — Ibid. 
 10. 
 
 .' Cum mihi literae a Balbo minore missae essent, Cse- 
 sarcm existimare, Quintum fratrcm litmtm ineee pro- 
 fcctionis fuisse, sic enim scripsit' — Ad Att. xi, 12. 
 
 '• Veliin consideres ut sit, unde nobis suppeditentm- 
 Kumtus necessarii. Si quas liabuimus facultates, eas 
 Pompeio, tum, cum id vidcbamur sapienter facere, detuli- 
 ;mus —Ibid. siii. 2, 22, &c. 
 
 often attemjited by desperate or ambitious magis- 
 tratcs, but were always detested by the better sort, 
 and particularly by Cicero, who treats them as per- 
 nicious to the peace and prosperity of states, and 
 sapping the very foundations of civil society, by 
 destroying all faith and credit among men". No 
 wonder, therefore, that we find him taking this 
 affair so much to heart, and complaining so heavily, 
 in many of jiis letters to Atticiis, of the famed acts 
 of his son-in-law, as an additional source of afflic- 
 tion and disgrace to him''. Dolabella was greatly 
 embarrassed in his fortunes, and while he was with 
 Cirsar abroad, seems to have left his wife destitute 
 of ne(X'ssaries at home, and forced to recur to her 
 father for iier subsistence. Cicero likewise, either 
 tiirough the difficulty of the times, or for want of a 
 sufficient settlement on Dolabella's jiart, 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 dis(;harged the two first, and was 
 now prejiaring to make the third payment, which 
 he frequently and pressingly recommends to the 
 care of Atticus^'. J5ut Dolabella's whole life and 
 character were so entirely contrary to the manners 
 and temper both of Cicero and Tullia, that a divorce 
 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 excel- 
 lent daughter, that I was exceedingly grieved to 
 see so deserving a creature in such an unhappy 
 condition, 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 will- 
 ing to send her back to her mother as soon as she 
 would consent to if*." 
 
 At Brundisium he received the news of Pompey's 
 death, which did not surprise him, as we find from 
 the short reflection that he makes upon it: " As 
 to Pompey's end (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 kings 
 and states abroad, that whithersoever he went I took 
 it for granted that this would be his fate : I can- 
 
 a Nee enim ulla res vehementius rempublicam continet, 
 quam fides ; qua; esse nulla potest, nisi erit necessaria 
 solutio rerum creditarum, etc. — Do Oflic. ii. 24, 
 
 ^ Quod me audis fractiorem esse animo ; quid putas, 
 cum videas accessisse ad superiores aigritudines praeclaras 
 generi actiones? — Ad Att. xi. 12. 
 
 Etsi omnium conspectum horreo, praesertim hoc genero. 
 —Ibid. 14, 15, &c. 
 
 c De dote, quod seribis, per omnes decs te obtestor, ut 
 totam rem suscipias, et illam miscram mca culpa— tueare 
 mcis opibus, si qua; siint ; tuis, quibus tibi non molestum 
 erit facultatibus. — Ibid. xi. 2, 
 
 De pensione altera, oro te, onmi cura considera quid 
 faciendum sit.' — Ibid, xi. 4. 
 
 d Tullia mea ad me venit prid. Id. Jun. — ^Ego autem 
 ex ipsius virtute, humanitate, pietate non modo earn vo- 
 luptateni non cepi, quam capcro ex singulari filia debui, 
 sed ctiam incredibili sum dolore afTectus, tale ingenium 
 in tam misera fortuna versari. — Ibid. xi. 17; Ep. Fam. 
 xiv. 11.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 191 
 
 not however help grieving at it; for I knew him 
 to be an honest, grave, and wortiiy maTi"^." 
 
 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 darker 
 strokes of his resentment. Pompey had early 
 acquired the surname of the Great, by that sort 
 of merit which, from the constitution of the re- 
 public, necessarily made him great ; a fame and 
 success in war superior to what Rome had ever 
 known in the most celebrated of her generals. lie 
 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 domi- 
 nion ; for as he declared to the people on his re- 
 turn from the Mithridatic war, he had found the 
 Lesser Asia the boundary, but left it the middle of 
 their empire. He was about six years older than 
 Csesar ; and while Caesar, immersed in pleasures, 
 oppressed with debts, and suspected by all honest 
 men, was hardly able to show his head, Pompey 
 was flourishing in the height of power and glory, 
 and by the consent of all parties placed at the head 
 of the republic. This was the post that his ambi- 
 tion seemed to aim at — to be the first man in Rome 
 — the leader, 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 re- 
 strained him ; but he lived in a perpetual expec- 
 tation of receiving from the gift of the people what 
 he did not care to seize by force ; and by foment- 
 ing the disorders of the city, hoped to drive them 
 to the necessity of creating him dictator. It is an 
 observation 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-w-ill of the governed. 
 What leisure he found from his wars he employed 
 in the study of polite letters, and especially of 
 eloquence, in which iie 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 defence 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 per- 
 petual modesty, temperance, and gravity of outward 
 behaviour, yet in the licence of camps the example 
 was more rare and striking. His person was 
 extremely graceful, and imprinting respect, yet 
 with an air of reserve and haughtiness which be- 
 came the general better than the citizen. His parts 
 were plausible rather than great, specious rather 
 than penetrating, and his view of politics but 
 narrow ; for his chief instrument of governing was 
 dissimulation ; yet he had not always the art to 
 conceal his real sentiments. As he was a better 
 
 e De Pompeii exitu mihi dubium nunquam fuit: tanta 
 enim dcsperatio rerum ejus omnium reguui et populoru'n 
 smimos occuparat, ut quocunque venisset, hoc putareni 
 futurum. Non possum ejus easuin non dolere : liominem 
 enim Integrum et castuni et gravem cognovi. — Ad Att xi. G. 
 
 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 republic. 
 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 reason 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 superior fame and experience in war, 
 with the militia of the empire at their devotion : 
 all this was purely his own, till by cherishing 
 Caesar, and throwing into his liands the only thing 
 which he wanted, arms and military command, he 
 made him at last too strong for himself, and never 
 began to fear him till it was too late. Cicero 
 warndy 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, Pompey had preserved 
 his life and honour, and the republic its liberty. 
 But he was urged to his fate by a natural supersti- 
 tion, and attention to those vain auguries with 
 which he was flattered by all the haruspices : 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 opportunity of fighting ; but he. 
 against all prudence and probability, was encou- 
 raged 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. Tiie 
 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 !ns 
 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 politics turned, 
 not on the honour of the king, but the establish- 
 ment of their own power, which was likely to be 
 eclipsed by the admission of Pompey. How happy 
 had it been for him to have died in that sickness, 
 when all Italy was putting up vows and prayers for 
 his safety ! or if he had fallen by the 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 great- 
 ness, he who a few days before commanded kings 
 and consuls, and all the noblest of Rome, was 
 sentenced to die by a council of slaves ; murdered 
 by a base deserter ; cast out naked and headless 
 on the Egyptian strand ; and when the whole earth 
 (as Velleius 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 fisliing-boat ; 
 and his ashes being conveyed to Rome, were de- 
 posited privately by his wife Cornelia in a vault of
 
 Id2 
 
 THE IIISTORV OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 his All)an villa. The Egyptians, however, raised 
 a monument to him on the place, and adorned it 
 with figures of brass, whicli being defaced after- 
 wards by time, and buried almost in sand and 
 rubbish, was sought out and restored by the 
 em])cror Hadrian ^ 
 
 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 things absolutely in 
 Italy. Cicero continued all the while at lirundi- 
 siuin, in a situation wholly disagreeable, and worse 
 to him (he says) than any punishment : fur the air 
 of the place began to afl'ect his healLh, and to the 
 uneasiness of mind added an ill state of bodyK : yet 
 to move nearer towards Rome without leave from 
 his new masters was not thought advisable, nor 
 
 f ITujus viri fastigium tantis auctibus fi)rtuna extulit, 
 ut primum ex Africa, itcrum ex Eurnpa, tcrtio ox Asia 
 triumpharct : ct quot partes tcrraruin orbis sunt, totidem 
 facerct monumonta victoria:. [Veil. Pat. ii. 40.] Ut ipse 
 in concionc dixit, — Asiam ultimam pnivinciaruni acce- 
 pisso, mediam patria: rcddidisse. [Plin. lli.st. Nat. vii. 2« ; 
 Flor. iii. 5 ] Potentix qu.-c honoris causa ad euin dcforre- 
 tur, non ut ab co occuparctur, cupidissimus. [Veil. Pat. 
 ii. 29 ; Dio, p. 17!i.] Mcus autem a^qualis Cn. Ponipcius, 
 vir ad omnia sumnia natus, niajorem diccndi sloriani 
 habuisset, nisi eum m.-ijoris gloria? cupiditas ad bellicas 
 laudes abstraxisset. Erat orationc satis amplus : rem pru- 
 dcntcr videbat : actio vcro ejushabcbat et in voce magnum 
 splendorem, et in motu summam dignitatem. [Brut. 354 ; 
 Pro IJalbo. 1, 2.] Forma excellens, non ea, qua flos com- 
 mendatur aetatis, sed ex dignitate constanti. [Veil. Pat. 
 ii. 2!).] Illud osprobum, ipsuniquc honorem eximia; frontis. 
 [Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 12.] Solet enim aliud sontircct loqui, 
 neque tantum valere ingenio, ut non appareat quid cupiat. 
 
 [Ep. Fam. viii. 1.] Illealuit, auxit.armavit illeGallite 
 
 ■ulterioris adjunctor — illo provincial propagator ; illeabsen- 
 tis in omnibus adjutor. [Ad Att. viii. 3.] aluerat Caesarem, 
 eundem ropente timero cceperat. [Ibid. 8] Egp nihil 
 prffitei-misi, quantum facere, nitique potui, quin Pompeium 
 a Cssaris conjunctiono avocarem— idem ego, cum jam 
 omnes opeset suas et populi Romani Pompeius ad Caesarem 
 detulissct, seroquo ea sentire ccepisset, quae ego antemulto 
 provideram — pacis, concordias, compositionis auctor esse 
 non destiti : meaque ilia vox est nota multis, Utinam, 
 Pompei, cum Caesare societatem aut nunquam coisses, aut 
 nunquam diremisses !— bac mea, Antoni, et de Pompeio 
 et de republica consilia fuerunt : quaesivaluissent, respub- 
 lica staret. [Phil. ii. 10.] Multi testes, me ct initio ne 
 conjungeret so cum Ca;sare, monuisse Pompeium, et postea, 
 ne sejungeret, &e. [Ep. Fam. vi. 6.] Q,uid vero siugularis 
 ille virac paene divinus de me sensorit, sciunt, qui eum de 
 Pharsalica fuga Paphum prosecuti sunt : nunquam ab eo 
 mentio do me nisi honorifica — cum me vidisse plus fatcre- 
 tur, se speravisse meliora. [Ibid, lo.] Qui, si mortem tum 
 obisset, in amplissimis fortunis occidisset ; is propagatione 
 vitae quot, quantas, quam incredibilcs hausit calamitates ? 
 [Tusc. Disp. i. 35.] In Pelusiaco littore, iniperio vilissimi 
 regis, consiliis spadonum, et no quid malis desit, Septimii 
 desertoris sui gladio trucidatur. [Flor. iv. 2, 52.] jEgyp- 
 tum petere proposuit, memor beneficiorum qua» in patrem 
 ejus Ptolema;i, — qui tum regnabat, contulerat — Princeps 
 Romani nominis, iniperio, arbitrjoque ^pyptii mancipii 
 jugulatus est — in tantum in illo viro a se discordante for- 
 tuna, ut cui modo ad victoriam terra defuerat, deesset ad 
 sepulturam. — Veil. Pat. ii. 54 ; Dio, p. 186 ; Appian. ii. 481 . 
 Provida Pompeio dederat Campania febres 
 Optandas. Sed multa; urbcs, et publica vota 
 Vicerunt. Igitur fortuna ipsius et urbis 
 Servatum victo caput abstulit. — Juv. x. 283. 
 
 E Quodvis enim supplicium levius esthac permansione. 
 —Ad Att. xi. 18. 
 
 Jam enim corpore vix sustinco gravitatem hujus coeli, 
 qui mihi laborem affert, in dolore. — Ibid. 22. 
 
 did Antony encourage it, being pleased rather, we 
 may believe, to see him well mortified: so tliat he 
 liad no hopes of any ease or comfort but in the 
 expectation of Caesar's return, wiiich made his 
 stay in that place the more necessary for the op- 
 portunity of paying his early compliments 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 
 Ccesar's disposition towards him : for though all 
 (^aisar's friends assured him not only of pardon, 
 but of all kind of favour ; yet he had received no 
 intimation of kindness from Ca;sar 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 gaiety as it were, involved 
 himself there in a most desperate war to the 
 hazard of all his fortunes, he was ashamed (as 
 Cicero says'") to write anything about it till he had 
 extricated himself out of that difficulty. 
 
 His enemies in the mean time had greatly 
 strengthened themselves in Africa, where P. Varus, 
 who first seized it on the part of the republic, was 
 supported by all the force of king Juba, Pompey's 
 fast friend, and had reduced the whole province to 
 his obedience ; for Curio, afte;- he had driven Cato 
 out of Sicily, being ambitious to drive Varus also 
 out of Africa, and having transported thither the 
 best part of four legions, which Ca;sar had com- 
 mitted to him, was, after some little success upon 
 his landing, entirely defeated and destroyed with 
 his whole army in an engagement with Sabura, 
 king Juba's general. 
 
 Curio was a young noblemen of shining parts ; 
 admirably formed by nature to adorn that character 
 in which his father and grandfather had flourished 
 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 natural 
 propension to pleasure, stimulated by the example 
 and counsels of his perpetual companion Antony, 
 hurried him into all the extravagance of expense 
 and debauchery ; for Antony, who always wanted 
 money, with which Curio abounded, was ever ob- 
 sequious to his will and ministering to his lust?, 
 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 Antony 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 letters, Miss Curio. 
 But when the father, by Cicero's advice, had 
 obliged him by his paternal authority to quit the 
 familiarity of Antony, he reformed his conduct, 
 and adhering to the instructions and maxims of 
 Cicero, became the favourite of the city, the leader 
 of the young nobility, and a warm assertor of the 
 authority of the senate against the power of the 
 triumvirate. After his father's death, upon his 
 first taste of public honours and admission into the 
 senate, his ambition and thirst of popularity en- 
 gaged him in so immense a prodigality, that to 
 supply the magnificence of his shows and plays 
 with which he entertained the city, he was soon 
 
 h Ille enim ita videtur Alexandriam tcnere, ut eum 
 scribere etiam pudeat de illis rebus. — Ad Att. xi. 15. 
 Nee post Id. Dec. ab illo datas uUas literas.— Ibid. 17<
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 193 
 
 driven to the necessity of selling himself to Ca;sar : 
 aavlng no revenue left (as Pliny says) but from the 
 discord of his citizens. For this he is considered 
 commonly, by the old writers, as the chief instru- 
 ment and the trumpet, as it were, of the c'vil war, 
 in which he justly fell the first victim : yei 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 show his face to him again ; and so 
 continued fighting till he was killed among the last 
 of his soldiers'. 
 
 Curio's death happened before the battle of 
 Pharsalia, while Csesar was engaged in Spain '^ ; by 
 which means Africa fell entirely into the hands of 
 the Pompeians, and became the general rendezvous 
 of all that party : hither Scipio, Cato, and La- 
 bienus, conveyed the remains of their scattered 
 troops from Greece, as Afranius and Petreius 
 likewise did from Spain, till, on the whole, they 
 had brought together again a more numerous army 
 than Caesar's, and were in such high spirits as to 
 talk of coming over with it into Italy before Csesar 
 could return from Alexandria'. This was confi- 
 dently given out and expected at Rome ; and in 
 that case, Cicero was 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 who submitted to his power ; it was 
 a declared law on the other side to consider all as 
 enemies who were not actually in tlieir camp"'' ; so 
 that Cicero had nothing now to wish, either for 
 himself or the republic, but in the first place a 
 peace, of which he had still some hopes" ; or else, 
 _' Huud aliuni tanta civem tulit indole Roma. 
 
 LucAN. iv. 814. 
 
 TJna familia Curionum, in qua tres continua serie ora- 
 torcs extiterunt — Plin. Hist. Nat vii. 41. 
 
 Naturam habuit admirabilcm ad dicendum. — Brut. 406. 
 
 Nemo unquam pucr, emptus libidinis causa, tam fuit in 
 domini potestate, quam tu in Curionis. [Phil. ii. 18.] Duce 
 filiola Curionis. — Ad Alt. i. 14. 
 
 Vir nobilis, eloquens, audax, sua? alienseque et fortuna; 
 et pudieitiae prodigus — cujus animo, voluptatibus vel libi- 
 dinibus, neque opes uUa; neque cupiditatcs sufficere pos- 
 sent — Veil. Pat. 248. 
 
 Nisi meis puer olim fidelissimis atque amantissimis 
 consiliis paruisses.^Ep. Fam. ii. 1. 
 
 Bello autem civili — non alius majorem quam C. Curio 
 subjecit facem.— Veil. Pat. ii. 48. 
 
 Quid nunc rostra tibi prosunt turbata, forumque 
 
 Unde tribunitia plebeius signifer arce 
 
 Arma dabas populis, &c. Lucan. iv. 81)0. 
 
 At Curio, nunquam amisso exercitu, quern a Ca;sare fidei 
 sua; commissum acceperat, se in ejus conspectum rever- 
 Burum, confirmat; atque ita prselians interficitur.— Caes. 
 De Bello Civ. ii. 
 
 ^ Ante jaces, quam dira duces Pharsalia confert, 
 Spectandumque tibi bellum civile negatum est. 
 
 Lucan. iv. 800. 
 
 • Ii autem ex Africa jam affuturi videntur.— Ad Att. 
 ■Xi. 15. 
 
 "> Te enim dicere audiebamus, nos omnes adversarios 
 putare, nisi qui nobiscum essent ; te omnes, qui contra te 
 non essent, tuos.— Pro Ligar. 11 ; Ad Att. xi 6. 
 
 ° Est autem, unum, quod mihi sit optandum, si quid 
 agi de pace possit : quod nulla equidem habeo in spe: sed 
 quia tu leviter interdum significas, oogia me eperaro quod 
 optandum vix est.— Ad Att. xi. 19: it. 12. 
 
 that Caesar might conquer, whose victory was like 
 to prove tlie more temperate of the two ; which 
 makes him often lament the unhappy situation 
 to which he was reduced, where nothing could be 
 of any service to him, but what he had always 
 abhorred". 
 
 Under this anxiety of mind, it was an additional 
 vexation to him to hear that his reputation was 
 attacked at Rome for submitting so hastily to the 
 conqueror, or putting himself rather at all into his 
 power. Some condemned him for not following 
 Pompey ; some more severely for not going to 
 Africa, as the greatest part had done ; others for 
 not retiring with many of his party to Achaia, till 
 they could see the farther progress of the war : as 
 he was always extremely sensible of what was said 
 of him by honest men, so he begs of Atticus 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 bra"e men to be in Africa, yet it was his 
 opinion that the republic neither could nor ought to 
 be defended by the help of so barbarous and trea- 
 cherous 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 condition than himself, 
 because they were many of them together ; 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 arrivedP. 
 
 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 9th of February, 
 from Alexandria, encouraging 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 sus- 
 pect 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 himi. All his accounts, however, confirmed to 
 him the report of Caesar's clemency and modera- 
 tion, and his granting pardon without exception to 
 all who asked it ; and with regard to himself, Caesar 
 sent Quintus's virulent letters to Balbus, with 
 orders to show them to him as a proof of his kind- 
 ness and dislike of Quintus's perfidy. But Cicero's 
 present despondency, which interpreted everything 
 " Mihi cum omnia sunt intolenabilia ad dolorem, turn 
 niaxime, quod in eam causam venisse me video, ut ea 
 sola utilia mihi esse videantur, quae semper nolui. — Ad 
 Att. xi. 13. 
 
 P Dicebar debuisse cum Pompeio proficisci. Exitus 
 illius minuit ejus officii prstermissi reprehensionem. — Sed 
 ex omnibus nihil magis desidpratur, quam quod in Africam 
 non ierim. Judicio hoc sum usus, non esse barbaris aux- 
 iliisfallacissima;gentis renipublicam defendendam — extre- 
 mnm est eorum, qui in Achaia sunt. Ii tamcn ipsi se hoc 
 melius liabent, quam nos, quod et multi sunt uno in loco, 
 et cum in Italiam venerint, domum statim venerint. Usee 
 tu perge, ut facis, mitigare et probare quam plurimis. — Ad 
 Att xi. 7. 
 
 q Ut me ista epistola nihil consoletiu- ; nam et exigue 
 scripta est et magnas suspiciones habet, non esse ab illo.— 
 Ad Att. xi. 16. 
 
 Ex quo intelligis, illud de Uteris a. d. v. Id. Feb. datis 
 (quod inane esset, etiam si verum esset) non verum esse. 
 —Ibid. 17. 
 
 O
 
 191 
 
 THE IIISrORY OF THK LIFE OF 
 
 by his fears, niaile liim susjiect Caesar the more for 
 refusing grace to none, as if such a clemency must 
 needs be atfected and his revenge deferred only to 
 ;i season more convenient ; and as to his brother's 
 letters, he fan(;ied that Ciesar did not send them 
 s to Italy iiecause he condemned them, but to make 
 his present misery and abj"ect condition the more 
 notorious and despicable to everybody''. 
 
 But after a long series of jjcrpetual mortifications 
 lie was refreshed at last by a very obliging letter 
 from C'ivsar, who confirmed to him the full enjoy- 
 ment of his former stale and dignity, and bade him 
 resume his fasces and style of emperor as before'. 
 CcTsar's mind was too great to listen to the tales 
 of the brother and nephew, and instead of approv- 
 ing their treachery, seems to have granted them 
 their pardon on Cicero's account rather than their 
 own ; so that Quintus, upon the trial of CiEsar's 
 inclination, began presently to change his note, and 
 to congratulate wiih his brother on Caesar's affec- 
 tion and esteem for him'. 
 
 Cicero was now preparing to send his son to wait 
 upon Cixsar, who was supposed to be ujion liis 
 journey towards home ; l)ut the uncertain accounts 
 of his coming diverted him awhile from that 
 thought", till Caesar himself prevented it, and re- 
 iieved him very agreeably from his tedious resi- 
 dence at Brundisiuni, by his sudden and unexpected 
 arrival in Italy ; where he landed at Tarentum in 
 the month of Septemlier, and on the first notice of 
 jiis coming forward towards Rome, Cicero set out 
 on foot to meet him. 
 
 We iiiay easily imagine, what we find indeed 
 from his letters, that he was not a little discom- 
 posed at the thoughts of this interview, and the 
 indignity of offering himself to a conqueror against 
 ■whom he had been in arms in the midst of a licen- 
 tious and insolent rabble ; for though he had 
 reason to expect a kind reception from Csesar, yet 
 he hardly thought his life (he says) worth begging, 
 since what was given by a master might always 
 be taken away again at pleasure". But, at their 
 meeting, he had no occasion to say or do anything 
 that was below his dignity ; for Caesar no sooner 
 saw him than he alighted and ran to embrace him, 
 and walked with him alone, conversing very fa- 
 miliarly for several furlongs'". 
 
 r Omnino dicitur nemici negare : quod ipsum est suspec- 
 tum, notionem ejus ditferri. — Ad Att. xi. 20. 
 
 Diligenter mihi fasciculum reddidit Balbi tabellarius — 
 quod ne Caesar quidem ad istos videtur naisisse. quasi quo 
 illius improbitate offen Jeretur, sed credo, uti notiora nostra 
 mala essent. — Ibid. 22. 
 
 » Redditae mihi tandem simt a Cassare literas satis libe- 
 rales. — Ep. Fam. xiv. 23. 
 
 Qui ad me ex yEgypto literas misit, ut essem idem, qui 
 fuissem : qui cum ipse imperator in toto imperlo populi 
 Romani unus esset, esse me alterum passus est : a quo — 
 (^oncessos fasces laureatos tenui, quoad tenendos putavi. — 
 I'ro Ligar. 3. 
 
 ' Sed milii valde Quintus gratulatur. — Ad Att. xi. 23. 
 
 " Ego cum Sallustio Ciceronem ad Caesarem mittere 
 cog'Mibam. — Ibid. 17. 
 
 i<e illius Alexandria discessu nihil adhuc rumoris, con- 
 ^raque opinio — itaque nee mitto, ut constitueram, Cicero- 
 nem. — Ibid. 18. 
 
 ^ Sed non adducor, quemquam bonum ullam salutem 
 mihi tanti fuisse putare, ut earn peterem ab illo. — Ad Att. 
 xi. 16. 
 
 Sed ,ab hoc ipso quiE dantur, ut a domino, rursus in 
 
 ejusdem sunt potestate. — Ibid. 20. 
 
 y Plutarch, in Cic. 
 
 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^ From Tusculum he came after- 
 wards to the city, with a resolution to spend his 
 time in study and retreat, till the republic should 
 be restored to some tolerable state; " having made 
 his peace again (as he writes to Varro) with his old 
 friends, his books, who had been out of humour 
 with him for not obeying their prece])ts, but instead 
 of living quietly with them, as Varro had done, 
 conmiitting himself to the turbulent counsels and 
 hazards of war, with faithless companions"." 
 
 On Ctesar's return to Rome, he appointed P. 
 Vatinius and Q. Fufius Calenus, consuls for the 
 three last months of the year : this was a very un- 
 popular use of his new power, which he continued 
 however to practise through the rest of his reign, 
 creating these first magistrates of the state without 
 any regard to the ancient forms, or recourse to the 
 peoj)le, and at any time of the year ; which gave a 
 sensible disgust to the city, and an early specimen 
 of the arbitrary manner in which he designed to 
 govern them. 
 
 About the end of the year, Caesar embarked for 
 Africa, to pursue the war against Scipio and the 
 ether 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 haruspex admonished 
 him not to sail before the winter solstice : but he 
 took ship directly in contempt of the admonition, 
 and by that means (as Cicero says) came upon bis 
 enemies unprepared, and before they had drawn 
 together all their forces'". Upon his leaving the 
 city, he declared himself consul, together with M. 
 Lepidus, for the year ensuing ; and gave the go- 
 vernment of the Hither Gaul to M. Brutus ; of 
 
 ^ IZp. Fam. xiv. 20. 
 
 => Scito enim me posteaquam in urbem venerim, redisse 
 cum veteribus amicis, id est, cum libris nostris in gratiam 
 — iguoscunt mihi, revocant in consuetudinem pristinam, 
 teque, quod in ea permanseris, sapientiorem, quam me 
 dicunt fuisse, &c. — Ep. Fam. ix. X. 
 
 l" Quid? ipso Csesar, cum a summo haruspiee raoneretur, 
 ne in Africam ante brumam transmitteret, nonne trans- 
 misit? quod ni fecisset, uno in loco omnes adversariorum 
 copiae convenissent. — De Divin. ii. 24. 
 
 Cum immolanti aufugisset hostia profectionera adversus 
 Seipionem et Jubam non distulit. — Sueton. J. Caes. 59. 
 
 Ilirtius, in his account of this war, says, that Ca?sar 
 embarked atLilybasum for Africa o>i the 60i of the Kalends 
 of Jan. [De Bello Afric. init.'] that is, o?i the 27fh of our 
 December: whereas Cicero, in the passage just cited, de- 
 clares him to have passed over before the solstice, or the 
 shortest day. But this seeming contradiction is entirely 
 owing to a cause already intimated, the great confusion 
 that was introduced at this time into the Roman Kalendar, 
 by which the months were all transposed from their stated 
 seasons, so that the 27 th of December, on which, according 
 to their computation, Caesar embarked, was in reality 
 coincident, or the same with our Slh of October, and con- 
 sequently above two months before the solstice, or shortest 
 day. All which is clearly and accurately explained in a 
 learned dissertation, published by a person of eminent 
 merit in the university of Cambridge, who rhoost'S to con- 
 ceal his name. — See Bibliothec. Literar. No. Vlil. Lond. 
 1724, 4to.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 195 
 
 'Greece, to Servius Sulpicius ; the first of whom 
 hau been in arms against him at Pharsalia, and 
 the second was a favourer likewise of tlie Pompeian 
 cause, and a great friend of Cicero, yet seems to 
 •bave taken no part in the \var'=. 
 
 The African war now held the whole empire in 
 
 suspense ; Scipio's name was thought ominous and 
 
 invincible on that ground ; but while 
 
 A. URB. 707. the general attention was employed on 
 
 crc. Gl. (-jjg expectation of some decisive blow, 
 
 Cicero, despairing of any good from 
 
 either side, chose to live retired and 
 
 coss. 
 
 C. JULIUS 
 
 ivf*EMiLius out of sight; and whether in the city 
 1.EP10US. 
 
 or the country, shut himself up with 
 his books; which (as he often says) 
 had hitherto been the diversion only, but were now 
 'become the support of bis life''. In this humour 
 of study he entered into a close friendship and 
 correspondence of letters with ^I. Terentius Varro, 
 a friendship equally valued on both sides, and at 
 Varro's desire immortalised by the mutual dedica- 
 tion of their learned works to each other ; of 
 Cicero's Academic Questions to Varro ; of Varro's 
 treatise on the Latin Tongue, to Cicero. Varro 
 •was a senator of the first distinction, both for birth 
 and merit ; esteemed the most learned man of 
 Rome, and though now above fourscore years old, 
 yet continued still writing and publishing books to 
 his eighty-eighth year''. He was Pompey's lieute- 
 nant in Spain in the beginning of the war ; but 
 after the defeat of Afranius and Petreius, quitted 
 bis 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, be- 
 wails with great freedom the utter ruin of the state ; 
 and proposes " that they should live together 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 to- 
 wards settling the republic, they should run with 
 pleasure and assist not only as architects but even 
 as masons to build it up again ; or if nobody would 
 employ them, should write and read the best forms 
 of government, 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 Oratorial 
 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 public. 
 
 c Brutum GalliiB pi'Ecfecit ; Sulpiciuui Grtecias. — Kp. 
 Fam. vi. 6. 
 
 <* A quilnis antea delectationem modo petebamus, nunc 
 vero etiam salutem. — Ep. Fam. ix. 2. 
 
 e Nisi M. Varroneni scirem octogesimo octavo vitae anno 
 prodidisse, &c. — Plin. Hist. Nat. xxix. 4. 
 
 f Non deesse si quis adhibere volet, non modo ut archi- 
 tectos, veruni etiam ut fabros, ad a;dificandam lenipubli- 
 cam, et potius libenter accurrere : si nemo iitetur opera, 
 tamen et .scribere et legere TroAireias ; et si minus in curia 
 atque in foro, at in literis et libris, ut doetissimi veteres 
 fecerunt, navare rempublicam et de moribus et Icjgibus 
 <iuaerere. Jlihi haec videntur. — Ep. Fam. ix. 2. 
 
 Another fruit of this leisure was his Dialogue on 
 famous Orators, called "Brutus," in which he gives a 
 short character of all who liad ever flourished either 
 in Greece or Rome, with any reputation of elo- 
 quence, down to his own times ; and as he gene- 
 rally touches the principal points of each man's 
 life, so an attentive reader may find in it an epi- 
 tome, 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 
 statue of Plato s, 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 Famous 
 Orators ; taken from the speaker and the subject, 
 as in Plato's piece, called Phtedon, or of the Soul. 
 This work was intended as a supplement, or a 
 fourth book to the three, which he had before 
 published on the complete orator. But though 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 public till the year following, after the death 
 of his daughter Tullia. 
 
 As at the opening of the war we found Cicero in 
 debt to Csesar, so we now meet with several hints 
 in his letters of Csesar's being indebted to him. It 
 arose probably from a mortgage that Cicero had 
 upon the confiscated estate of some Pompeian, 
 which Cfesar had seized ; but of what kind soever 
 it was, Cicero was in pain for his money : " he saw 
 but three ways," he says, " of getting it ; by pur- 
 chasing 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 lose his debt than touch anything 
 confiscated : the second he thought hazardous, and 
 that nobody would pay anything in such uncertain 
 times ; the third 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 ; tliis 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, andthe mother of two children, extremely 
 dear to him. But she was a woman of an impe- 
 rious and turbulent spirit ; expensive and negligent 
 in her private affairs, busy and intriguing in the 
 public ; and, in the height of her husband's power, 
 seems to have had the chief hand in the distribu- 
 tion of all his favours. He had easily borne her 
 perverseness in the vigour of health, and the 
 flourishing state of his fortunes ; but in a declin- 
 ing life, soured by a continual succession of mor- 
 tifications 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 diffi- 
 culties 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. 
 
 e Cum idem placuisset illis, turn in pratulo, propter 
 Platonis statuam consedimus. — Brut. 28. 
 
 1» Nomeii illud, quod a C'ssare, tres habct conditiones ; 
 aut emtionem ab hasta ; (perdere inalo :— ) aut delega- 
 tionem a mancipe, annua die: (quis crit, cui credam ?) — 
 autvecteni conditioncm, semisse, (TK(\f/ai igitur.— Ad Att. 
 xii. 3. 
 
 O 2
 
 1J)6 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 This made a second marriage necessary, in order 
 to repair the ill state oC his atl'airs, and his friends 
 of both sexes were busy in providing a tit niatcli 
 for him ; several ])arties were jiroijosed to him, 
 and among others, tiie daiigliter of I'ompey tlie 
 Great, for wlioni lie seems to liave had an inclina- 
 tion, but a jirudential regard to the times, and the 
 envy and ruin under wliieh that family tlien hiy, 
 inducetl liim probably to ib-oj) it'. Wliat gave his 
 enemies tiie greater iiaiidie to rally him was, his 
 marrying a handsome young woman, named I'ulj- 
 lilia, of an tige disproportionate to his own, to 
 whom he was guardian, but siie was well allied, 
 and rieh, circumstanees very convenient to him at 
 this time, as he intimates in a letter to a friend, 
 who congratulated witli liim on his marriage. 
 
 " As to your giving me joy, says he, for what I 
 hare 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; afi'airs 
 in no better condition tlian those of the rejiublic. 
 For when throu!;h the wickedness of tliose, who. 
 for my infinite kindness to them, ought to have 
 had the greatest concern for my welfare, I found 
 no safety or ease from their intrigues and ])ertidy 
 within my own walls ; 1 thought it necessary to 
 secure myself by the fidelity of new alliances 
 against the treachery of tiie olil''." 
 
 Ciesar returned victorious from Africa about the 
 end of July, by the way of Sardinia, where he 
 spent some days: upon which Cicero says plea- 
 santly in a letter to Varro, " he had never seen 
 that farm of his before, which, though one of the 
 worst that he has, he does not yet desi)ise '." The 
 uncertain event of tlie African war had kept the 
 senate under some reserve, but they now began to 
 push their flattery beyond all the bounds of de- 
 cency, and decreed more extravagant honours to 
 C'lesar than were ever given before to man, wliicli 
 Cicero often rallies with great spirit ; and being de- 
 termined to bear no partinthat servileadulation, 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 im- 
 patience under their present subjection, and the 
 free way of speaking which he was apt to in- 
 dulge, were in some pain lest he should forfeit 
 the good graces of Caesar and his favourites, and 
 
 ' De Pompeii Jlagni iilia tibi rescripsi, nihil me hoc 
 tempore eogitare. Alteram vero illam, quam tu scribis, 
 puto nosti. Nihil vidi fcedius— Ad Att. xii. 11. 
 
 '' Ep. Fam. iv. 14. 
 
 In cases of divorce, where there were children, it was 
 the custom for each party to make a settlement by will on 
 their common offspring, proportionable to their several 
 estates : which is the meaning of Cicero's pressing Atticus 
 so often in his letters to put Terentia 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 a hundred 
 and three years: [Val. Max. viii. 13; Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 
 48.] and took, as St. Jerome says, for her second husband, 
 Cicero's enemy, Sallust ; and Jlessiila for her third. Dio 
 Cassius gives her a fourth, Vibius Rufus, who was consul 
 in the reign of Tiberius, and valued himself for the pos- 
 soueion of two things, which had belonged to the two 
 gniatest men of the ago before him, Cicero's tvi/e, and 
 Ciesar's chair, in which he was killed. — Dio, p. 612 ; 
 Hieron. Op. to. iv. par. 2. p. 190. 
 
 ' Illud enim adhuc pra;dium suum non inspexit : nee 
 ulhim habet deterius, sed tamen non contemnit.— Ep. 
 Fam. ix. 7. 
 
 provoke tliem too far by tlie keenness of his rail 
 lery'". They pressed him to accommodate himseli. 
 to the times, and to use more caution in liik 
 discourse ; and to reside more at Rome, especially 
 when (;8Esar was there, who would interpret ttift 
 distance and retreat which he affected as a prooi 
 of his aversion to him. 
 
 liut his answers on this occasion will show 
 the real state of his sentiments and conduct to- 
 wards Ciusar, as well as of Cfcsar's towards him. 
 Writing on this subje(;t to Pajiirius Pietus, he 
 says, " You are of opinion, I perceive, that it will 
 not be allowed to me, as I thought it might be, 
 to (piit these affairs of tiie city ; you tell me of 
 Catulus, and tliose 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 wtirthy to work at the 
 liump ; 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 head, my name is set down, as 
 if present at drawing them, so that I hear from 
 Armenia and Syria of decrees, said to be made 
 at my motion, of which I had never heard a syllable 
 at home. \)o 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 
 fromknowingtiiat any such title had been decreed to 
 them, I knew not even that there were any such 
 men in being. WHiat is then to be done .' Why, 
 as long as our master of manners continues here, 
 I will follow your advice ; but as soon as he is 
 gone, 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 Pietus, that whatever can be done by 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 acquiring their 
 good graces, I have already done it with the great- 
 est care, nor, as 1 believe, without success ; for I am 
 
 "> Some of his jests on Caesar's administration are still 
 preserved ; which show, that his friends had reason 
 enough to admonish him to be more upon his guard. 
 CiEsar had advanced Laberius, a celebrated mimic actor, 
 to the order of knights: but when he stepped from the 
 stage into the theatre to take his place on the equestrian 
 benches, none of the knights would admit him to a seat 
 among them. As he was marching ofi' therefore with 
 disgrace, happening to pass near Cicero, / would make 
 room for you here, says Cicero, on our bench, if we were 
 not already loo rmich croivded ; alluding to C'a?s;ir's filling 
 up the senate also with the scum of his creatures, and 
 even with strangers and barbarians. At another time, 
 being desired by a friend, in a public company, to procure 
 for his son (Ac 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 be difficult at Pompeii. An acquaint- 
 ance likewise from Laodicea, coming to pay his respects 
 to him, and being asked, what business had brought him 
 to Rome, said, that he was sent upon an embassy to 
 Caesar, tu intercede ivith him for the liberty of his country ; 
 upon which Cicero replied. If you succeed, you shall be an 
 ambassador also/or us. — Macrob. Saturn, ii. 3 ; Sueton. 
 c. 76. 
 
 n Ep. Fam. ix. 15. — Prce/eeius morum, or Master o/tht 
 public ma7iners, was one of the new titles which the senate 
 had decreed to Ca;sax.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 197 
 
 EO much courted by all who are in any degree of favour 
 with Caesar, that I begin to fancy that they love 
 me ; and though real love is not easily distinguished 
 from false, except in the caseof danger, by which the 
 sincerity of it may be tried, as of gold by tire, for all 
 other marks are common to both ; yet I have one 
 argument to persuade me that they really love me, 
 because both my condition and theirs is such as 
 puts tliem under no temptation to dissemble ; and 
 as for him who has all power, I see 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 anything that depends on 
 the will, not to say the passion, of another. Yet 
 I have not in any instance particularly offended 
 tim, but behaved myself all along with the great- 
 est moderation ; for as once I took it to be my 
 duty to speak my mind freely in tliat city, which 
 owed its freedom to me, so now, since that is lost, 
 to speak nothing that may offend him, or his prin- 
 cipal friends ; but if I would avoid all offence, of 
 things said facetiously 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 Servius, whom I take to have 
 been an excellent critic, would readily say, ' This 
 Verse is not Plautus's — that verse is ;' having 
 formed his ears, by great use, to distinguish the 
 peculiar style and manner of different poets ; so 
 Ctesar, I hear, who has already collected some vo- 
 lumes of apophthegms, if any thing be brought to 
 liim for mine which is not so, presently rejects it, 
 which he now does the more easily, because his 
 friends live almost continually with me ; and in the 
 variety of discourse, when anything drops from 
 me wnich 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 anything besides of mine from 
 other persons, he does not regard it. I have no 
 occasion therefore for your example of CEnomaus, 
 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 every- 
 thing, it has been the constant opinion of philo- 
 sophers, the only men in my judgment who have 
 a right notion of virtue, that a wise man has no- 
 thing more to answer for, than to keep himself 
 free from guilt, of which I take myself to be clear, 
 on a double account ; because I both pursued 
 those measures which were the justest, and when 
 I saw that I had not strength enough to carry 
 them, did not think it my business to contend 
 ■by force with those who were too strong for me. 
 It is certain, therefore, that 1 cannot be blamed 
 in what concerns the part of a good citizen ; all 
 that is now left, is not to say or do anything 
 foolishly and rashly against the men in power, 
 which I take also to be the part of a wise man. 
 As for the j-est, 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 assi- 
 duously court me, it is not in my power to answer. 
 I comfort myself, therefore, with the conscious- 
 ness 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 offend the mind of any, nor hurt my own dig- 
 nity"?" &c. 
 
 Partus, having heard that Caesar was going to 
 divide some lands in his neighbourhood to the 
 soldiers, began to be afraid for his own estate, and 
 writes to Cicero to know how far that distribution 
 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 either I knew 
 anything that Balbus does not : or if at any time 
 I chance to know anything, 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 Partus, 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 
 republic. Secondly, because I 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 
 content with what is allowed to us : he who cannot 
 submit to this, ought to have chosen death. They 
 are now measuring the fields of Veise and Ca- 
 penae : this is not far from Tusculum. Yet I fear 
 nothing, I enjoy it whilst I may; wish that I always 
 may ; but if it should happen otherwise, yet since, 
 with all my courage and philosophy, I have thought 
 it best to live, I cannot but have an affection for him 
 by whose benefit I hold that life : who, if he has an 
 inclination to restore the republic, as he himself 
 perhaps may desire, and we all ought to wish, 
 yet he has linked himself so with others, that he 
 has not the power to do what he would. 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 him- 
 self does not know what 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, 
 Matins, Pansa, Hirtius, Dolabella ; they were 
 all in the first confidence with Caesar, yet pro- 
 fessed the utmost affection for Cicero : were every 
 morning at his levee, and perpetually engaging 
 iiim to sup with them ; and the last two employed 
 themselves in a daily exercise of declaiming at his 
 house, for the benefit of his instruction, of which 
 he gives the following account in his familiar way 
 to Paetus : " 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 Dionysius, when driven out of Syracuse, 
 turned schoolmaster at Corinth, so he, having 
 lost his kingdom of the forum, had now opened a 
 school," to which he merrily invites Paetus, with 
 
 o Ep. Fam. ix. 16. 
 
 P Ep. Fam. ix. 17.
 
 198 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 the offer of a " seat and cushion next to himself," 
 a» i.is uslieri." But to Varro, more seriously, " I 
 acquaiiitetl you (says he) before, that I am intimate 
 with tht-ni all, and assist at their councils ; I see 
 no reason why I sliould not — for it is not the 
 same thing to bear what must be borne, and to 
 ajiprove what oui^ht not to be approved." And 
 again ; " I do not forbear to su]) with tliose who now 
 rule. What can I do ? we must comply with the 
 times'." 
 
 The only use which he made of all this favour 
 was, to screen himself from any particular calamity 
 inthegeneral misery of the times, and to serve those 
 unhappy men who were driven from their country 
 and their families, for their adherence to that cause 
 which he himself had espoused. Cajsar was desi- 
 rous indeed to engage him in his measures, and 
 attach him insensibly to his interests, but he would 
 bear no part in an administration established on 
 the ruins of his country, nor ever cared to be ac- 
 quainted with their affairs, or to inquire what they 
 were doing ; so that whenever he entered into their 
 councils, as he signifies above to Varro, it was 
 only when the case of some exiled friend retjuired 
 it, for whose service he scrupled no pains of soli- 
 <uting, and attending even Caesar himself ; though 
 he was sometimes shocked, as he complains, by the 
 difficulty of access, and the indignity of waiting in 
 an antechamber : not indeed through Caesar's fault, 
 who was always ready to give him audience ; but 
 from the multijilicity of his affairs, by whose hands 
 all the favours of the empire were dispensed^. 
 Thus in a letter to Ampius, whose pardon he had 
 procured, " I have solicited your cause (says he) 
 more eagerly than my present situation would well 
 justify ; for my desire to see you, and my constant 
 love for you, most assiduously cultivated on your 
 part, overruled all regard to the present weak con- 
 dition of my power and interest. Every thing 
 that relates to your return and safety is promised, 
 confirmed, fixed, and ratified ; I saw, knew, was 
 present at every step : for by good luck I have all 
 Cfcsar's friends engaged to me by an old acquaint- 
 ance and friendship ; so that next to him they pay 
 the first regard to me : Pansa, Hirtius, Balbus, 
 Oppius, Matius, Postumius, take all occasions to 
 give me proof of their singular affection. If this 
 had been sought and procured by me, I should 
 have no reason, as things now stand, to repent of 
 my pains, but I have done notliing with the view 
 of serving the times ; I had an intimacy of long 
 standing with them all, and never gave over soli- 
 citing them on your behalf. I found Pansa, how- 
 ever, the readiest of them all to serve you, and 
 
 q Hirtium ego et Dolabellam dicendi discipulos habeo, 
 coenandi magistros : puto enim te audisse— illos apud me 
 declamitare, me apud eos coenitare. — Ep. Fam. ix. 16. 
 
 Ut Uionysius tyrannus, cum Syracusis pulsus esset, 
 Corinthi dicitur ludum apeniisse, sic ego — amisso regno 
 forensi, ludum quasi habere cceperim — sella tibi erit in 
 ludo, tanquam hypodidasculo, proxima : earn pulvinus 
 sequetur. — ^Ibid. 18. 
 
 r Ostentavi tibi, mo istis esse familiarem, et consiliis 
 eorum interesse. Quod ego cur nolim nihil video. >fon 
 enim est idem, ferre si quid ferendum est, et probare, si 
 quid probandum non est. — Ibid. 6. 
 
 Non desino apud istos, qui nunc dominantur, coenitare. 
 Quid faciam ? tempori serviendum est. — Ibid. 7. 
 
 ' Quod si tardius fit quam volumus, magnis occupa- 
 tionibus ejus, a quo omnia petuntiu-, aditus ad eum diffi- 
 ciliores fuerunt Ep. Fam. vi. 13. 
 
 oblige me ; who has not only an interest, but 
 autliority with Csesar'," &c. 
 
 But while lie was tluis caressed by Caesar's 
 friends, he was not less followed, we may imagine, 
 by the friends of the republic. These had always 
 looked upon him as the chief patron of their 
 liberty, whose counsels, if they had been followed, 
 would have preserved it ; and whose authority 
 gave them the only hopes that were left, of reco- 
 vering it : so that his house was as nmch fre- 
 quented, and his levee as much crowded, as ever ; 
 since " people now flocked (he says) 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 compliments 
 of many honest men, but melancholy ones, as well 
 as of these gay conquerors, who show indeed ar 
 very officious and affectionate regard to me. 
 When these visits are over, I shut myself up iir 
 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 r 
 the rest of my time I give to the care of my 
 body, for I have now bewailed my country longer, 
 and more heavily than any mother ever bewailed 
 her only son^." 
 
 It is certain, that there was not a man in the 
 republic 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 the foundation of its laws, he was- 
 undoubtedly the first citizen in it ; had the chief 
 influence in the senate, the chief authority with, 
 the 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 express- 
 ing 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 friendship to the 
 man, and a reverence for his character, was deter- 
 mined to treat him with the greatest humanity ^ 
 and by all the marks of personal favour to make 
 his lite 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 public liberty ;. 
 but exclusive of that hope, he never mentions his- 
 government but as a real tyranny, or his persoa 
 
 ' Ep. Fam. vi. 12. 
 
 " Cum salutationi nos dedimus amioorum ; quas fit 
 hoc etiam frequentius, quam solebat, quod quasi avent> 
 albam, videntur bene sentientem civem videre, abdo ma- 
 in bibliothecam. — Ibid. vii. 28. 
 
 ^ IIa;c igitur est nimc vita nostra. Mane salutamus- 
 domi et bonos viros multos, sed tristes, et hos Ijetos vic- 
 tores ; qui me quidem peroflRciose et peramanter observant. 
 Ubi salutatio defluxit. Uteris me involvo, aut scribo aut 
 lego. Veniunt etiam qui me audiunt, quasi doctum homi- 
 nem, quia paullo sum, quam ipsi, doctior. Inde corpori 
 omne tempus datur. Patriami eluxi jam gravius et diutius- 
 quam uUa mater unicum filium. — Ep. Fam. ix. 20.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 199 
 
 in any other style than as the oppressor of his 
 country. 
 
 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 Lucullus, Cato's nephew >" ; and this testi- 
 mony of Cato's friendship and judgment of him 
 might induce him the more readily to pay this 
 honour to his memory. It was a matter however 
 of no small deliberation in what manner he ought 
 to treat the subject. His friends advised him not 
 to be too explicit and particular in the detail 
 of Cato's praises, but to content himself with a 
 general encomium, for fear of irritating Caesar, 
 by pushing the argument too far. In a letter to 
 Atticus, he calls this " an Archimedean problem;" 
 " but I cannot hit upon anything," says he, " that 
 those friends of yours will read with pleasure, or 
 even with patience ; besides, if I should drop 
 the account 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 con- 
 stancy and gravity, even this may be more than 
 they will care to hear : but the man cannot be 
 praised as he deserves unless it be particularly ex- 
 plained how he foretold all that has happened to 
 us ; how he took arms to prevent its happening. 
 and parted with life rather than see it happen^." 
 
 These were the topics which he resolved to dis- 
 play with all his force ; and from the accounts 
 given of the work by antiquity, it appears that he 
 had spared no pains to adorn it, but extolled Cato's 
 virtue and character to the skies''. 
 
 The book was soon spread into all hands ; and 
 Csesar, instead of expressing any resentment, 
 affected to be much pleased with it, yet declared 
 that he would answer it ; and Hirtius, in the 
 meanwhile, drew up a little piece in the form of 
 a letter to Cicero, filled with objections to Cato's 
 character, but with high compliments to Cicero 
 himself, which Cicero took care to make public, 
 and calls it a specimen of what Cscsar'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"^ ; 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 
 
 7 Ad Alt. siii. 6.— De Fin. iii. 2. 
 
 » Sed de Catone irpAPArifxa apx^l^'fiSeioi' est. Non asse- 
 quor ut scribam, quod tui convivas non modo libenter. 
 Bed etiam sequo animo legere possint. Quin etiam si a 
 sententiis ejus dictis, si ab omni voluntate, consiliisque 
 qua de republica habuit, recedam ; \f/i\ws que velim 
 gravitatem constantiamque ejus laudare, hoc ipsum 
 &KOvariJ.a sit. Sed vere laudari ille vir non potest, nisi haec 
 ornata sint, quod ille ea, quae nunc sunt, et futura viderit, 
 et ne fierent contenderit, et facta ne videret, vitam reli- 
 querit. — Ad Att. sii. 4. 
 
 » M. Ciceronis libro, quo Catonem coelo aquavit, &c. — 
 Tacit. Ann. iv. ,34. 
 
 t» Qualis futura sit Csesaris vituperatio contra lauda- 
 tionem meam perspexi ex eo libro, quern Hirtius ad me 
 misit, in quo colligit vitia Catonis, sed cum maximis 
 laudibus meis. Itaquo misi librum ad Muscam, ut tuis 
 librariia daret. Volo eum divulgari, &c. — Ad Att. xii. 
 40. 41. 
 
 <: Catonem tuum mihi mitte. Cupio enim legere. — Ep. 
 Fam. vjj. £4. 
 
 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 ''. 
 
 Caesar's answer was not published till the next 
 year, upon his return from Spain, after the defeat 
 of Pompey's sons. It was a laboured invective, 
 answering Cicero's book jiaragraph by paragraph, 
 and accusing Cato with all the art and force of 
 his rhetoric, as if in a public trial before judges*, 
 yet with expressions of great respect towards 
 Cicero, whom, for his virtues and abilities, he 
 compared to Pericles and Theramenes of Athens' ; 
 and in a letter upon it to Balbus, which was shown 
 by his order to Cicero, he said, that by the frequent 
 reading of Cicero's Cato, he was grown more 
 copious, but after he had read Brutus's, thought 
 himself even eloquent^. 
 
 These two rival pieces were much celebrated in 
 r?ome, and had their several admirers, as different 
 parties and interests disposed men to favour the sub- 
 ject or the author of each; and it is certain, that they 
 were the principal cause of establishing and pro- 
 pagating that veneration which posterity has since 
 paid to the memory of Cato. For his name being 
 thrown into controversy in that critical 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, and a perpetual argument of dis- 
 pute between the friends of liberty and the flat- 
 terers 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 absurd rigour 
 of the stoical rule, he was generally disappointed 
 of the end which he sought by it — the happiness 
 both of his private and public life. In his private 
 conduct he was severe, morose, inexorable — banish- 
 ing all the softer affections as natural enemies to 
 justice, and as suggesting false motives of acting 
 from favour, clemency, and compassion ; in public 
 affairs he was the same — had but one rule of 
 policy — to adhere to what was right, without 
 regard to times or circumstances, or even to a 
 force that could control him ; for instead of 
 managing the power of the great, so as to mitigate 
 the ill, 6r extract any good from it, he was urging 
 it always to acts of violence by a perpetual defiance ; 
 so that, with the best intentions in the world, he 
 often did great harm to the republic. This was 
 his general behaviour ; yet, from some particular 
 facts explained above, it appears that his strength 
 of mind was not always impregnable, but had its 
 weak places of pride, ambition, and party zeal, 
 
 <* Catonem primum sententiam putat deanimadversione 
 dixisse, quam omnes ante dixcrant prater Casareni, ic. 
 —Ad Att. xii. 21. 
 
 From this and other particulars which are mentioned 
 in the same letter, we may observe, that Sallust had pro- 
 bably taken his account of tlie debates upon Catiline's 
 "accomplices," from Brutus's iZ/l- o/ Ca/o, and clioscn to 
 copy even his mistakes, rather than do justice to Cicero on 
 that occasion. 
 
 « Ciceronis libro— quid aliud dictator Cscsar, quam 
 rcscripta oratione, velut apud judices respoudit ? — Tacit. 
 Ann. iv. 34 ; Quintil. iii. 7. 
 
 f Plut. in Cic. 
 
 g Lcgi epistolam : multa de meo Catone, quo sapissime 
 lei;cndo se dieit copiosiorem factum ; Hruti Catene lecto, 
 se sibi visum disertum. — Ad Att. xiii. 46.
 
 200 
 
 THE HISTOKV OF TUK LIFE OF 
 
 which, when managed and flaftered to a certain 
 point, would betray him sometimes into measures 
 contrary to his ordinary rule of right and truth. 
 The last act of his life was agreeable to his nature 
 and philosophy : when he could no longor be what 
 he had been, or wlieu the ills of life overbalanced 
 the good, wliieli, by the principles of his sect, was 
 a just cause for dying'', he put an end to his life 
 with a sjiirit ami resolution which would make one 
 imagine that he was glad to have found an occasion 
 of dying in his proper character. On the whole, 
 his life was rather adn)irable than amiable — fit to 
 be ])raised rather than imitated'. 
 
 As soon as Cicero had published his "Cato," he 
 wrote his piece called "the Orator," at the request 
 of Urutus, containing the plan or delineation of 
 what hehimself esteemed the most perfect eloquence 
 or manner of speaking. He calls it the fifth part or 
 book, designed to cmnplote the argument of his 
 " Brutus," and the other three on the same subject. 
 It was received with great approbation ; and in a 
 letter to Lepta, who had comjdimented 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 liis reputation on the merit 
 of it"'. 
 
 He now likewise spoke tliat famous speech of 
 thanks to Ceesar for the pardon of M. Marcellus, 
 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, retired to Mitylene in Lesbos, where he 
 lived with so much ease and satisfaction to himself 
 in a philosophical retreat, that Cicero, as it apj>ears 
 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 labour- 
 ing to obtain for him'. But how the aflfair 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 cannot 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 advantage 
 of you however in one thing — in being acquainted 
 a httle sooner than you with the pardon of your 
 colleague Marcellus ; or rather, indeed, in seeing 
 
 ^ In quo enim plura sunt, qua: secundum naturam sunt, 
 hujus oflScium est in vita manere : in quo autem aut sunt 
 plura contraria, aut fore videntur, hujus officium est e vita 
 e-xcedere. — De Fin. iii. 18. 
 
 Vetus est enim ; ubi non sis, qui fueris, n<in esse cur 
 velis vivere. — Ep. Fam. vii. 3. 
 
 ' Cato sic abiit c vita, ut causam moriundi nactum sc 
 esse gauderet.^Cum vero causam justam deus ipse de- 
 derit, ut tunc Socrati, nunc Catoni, &c.— Tusc. Quaest. 
 i. 30. 
 
 Catoni — moriundum potius, quam tyranni vultus adspi- 
 ciendus fuit.— De Otfic. i. 31. 
 
 Non immaturus deeessit : vixit enim, quantum debuit 
 vivere. — Sencc. Consol. ad Marc. 20. 
 
 '' Ita tres erunt, De Oratorc : quartus Brutus : quintus, 
 Orator.— De Div. ii. 1. 
 
 Oratorem meum tantopere a te probari, vehementer 
 gaudeo : mihi quidem sic persuadeo, me quicquid habu- 
 erim judicii in dicendo, in ilium librum contulisse. — Ep. 
 Fam. vi. 18. 
 
 ' Ep. Fam. iv. 7, 8, 9. 
 
 how the whole affair passed ; for I would have yon 
 believe, that fronj the beginning of these miseries, 
 or ever since the public right has been decided by 
 arms, there has nothing been done besides this 
 with any dignity. For Caesar himself, after having 
 comjjlained of the morosene.ss of Marcellus, for so 
 he called it, and praised in the strongest terms the 
 equity and j)rudence of your conduct, presently 
 declared, beyond all our hopes, that whatever 
 offence he had received from the man, he could 
 refuse nothing to the intercession of the senate. 
 ^\'hat the senate did was this : upon the mention 
 of Marcellus by Piso, Iiis lirother Caius having 
 thrown himself at Car-sar's feet, they all rose up 
 and went forward in a supplicating manner towards 
 Ca>sar : in short, this day's work appeared to me 
 so decent, that I could not help fancying that I 
 saw the image of the old republic reviving : when 
 all, therefore, who were asked their opinions before 
 me, had returned thanks to Ciesar, excepting 
 Volcatius (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 ray former dignity ; but Caesar's greatness 
 of mind, and the laudable zeal of the senate, got 
 the better of my resolution. I gave thanks there- 
 fore to Ctcsar 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 
 unhappy times ; but since I have hitherto avoided 
 giving him offence, and if I had always continued 
 silent, lie would have interpreted it, perhaps, as a 
 proof of my taking the republic to be ruined, I 
 shall speak for the future not often, or rather 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 
 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, vivacity of senti- 
 ment, and politeness of compliment, is superior to 
 anything extant of the kind in all antiquity. The 
 many fine things which are said in it of Cjesar, 
 have given some handle indeed for a charge of 
 insincerity against Cicero : but it must be remem- 
 bered 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 republic, of 
 which he entertained no small hopes at this time, 
 as he signifies in a letter to one of Caesar's prin- 
 cipal friends". This therefore he recommends, 
 
 n» Ep. Fam. iv. 4. 
 
 " Spcrare tamen videor, Caesari, coUegae nostro, fora 
 curae et esse, ut habeamus aliquam rempublicam. — Ep. 
 ' Fam. xiii. 68,
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 201 
 
 enforces, and requires from him in his speech, 
 with the spirit of an old Roman ; and no reason- 
 able 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. Bu^ the following passage 
 from the oration itself ^ill justify the truth of 
 what I am saying. 
 
 " If this," says hi, ' Caesar, was to be the end 
 of your immortal arts, that after conquering all 
 your enemies, you mould leave the republic in the 
 condition in whicli it now is ; consider, I beseech 
 you, whetlier yoiu- 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 per- 
 formed by you, to establish the republic again, 
 that you may reap the benefit 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, 
 which posterity wiU 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 : but unless this 
 city be established again by your wisdom and coun- 
 cils, your name indeed will wander far and wide, 
 yet will 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 that has been 
 amongst us ; when some will 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 eff'ect 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 
 hatred or envy to you : and though this, as some 
 falsely imagine, should then have no relation to 
 you, yet it concerns you certainly at the present, 
 ■ to act in such a manner that no oblivion may ever 
 obscure the lustre of your praises. Various were 
 the inclinations of the citizens, and their opinions 
 whoUy divided ; nor did we differ only in sen- 
 timents 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 con- 
 venient ; many what was decent ; some also what 
 was lawful," &c.° 
 
 But though Caesar took no step towards re- 
 storing the republic, he employed himself this 
 summer in another work of general benefit to 
 mankind, the reformation of the calendar, by 
 accommodating 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. 
 
 Tlie 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 num.berodd, which was thought 
 the more fortunate ; and to fill up the deficiency 
 of his year to the measure of the solar course, 
 inserted likewise or intercalated, after the manner 
 of the Greeks, an e.xtraordinary month of twenty- 
 two days, every second year, and twenty-three every 
 fourth, between the twenty-third and twenty- 
 fourth day of February P : he committed the care 
 of intercalating this month and the supernumerary 
 day to the college of priests, who, in progress 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'. Thus 
 Cicero, when harassed by a perpetual course of 
 pleading, prayed, that there might be no inter, 
 calation to lengthen his fatigue ; and when pro- 
 consul of Cilicia, pressed Atticus to exert all hia 
 interest to prevent any intercalation within the 
 year, that it might not protract his government 
 and retard his return to Rome''. Curio, on the 
 contrary, when he could not persuade the priests 
 to prolong the year of his tribunate by an interca- 
 lation, made that a pretence for abandoning the 
 senate, and going over to Caesar^. 
 
 This licence of intercalating introduced the 
 confusion above-mentioned, in the computation of 
 their time : so that the order of all their months 
 was transposed from their stated seasons ; the 
 winter months carried back into autumn, the 
 autumnal into summer : till C«sar 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 measure of the sun's revolution in the zodiac, 
 or to that period of time in which it returns to 
 
 o Pro M. Marcell. 8, 9, 10. 
 
 p This was usually called inUrcalaris, though Plutarch 
 gives it the name of mercedonius, which none of the 
 Komau writers mention, except that Festus speaks of 
 some days under the title of mercedonice, because the 
 vierces or wages of workmen were commonly paid upon 
 them. 
 
 q Quod inslitutum perite a Numa posteriorum pontifi- 
 cuni negligentia dissolutum est. — De Leg. ii. 12 ; Censorin. 
 l)e Die Nat. c. 20 ; Macrob. Sat. i. 14. 
 
 r JVosliio in multitudine et celebritate judiciorum — ita 
 dcatinemiir, ut quotidie vota faciuiiius ne intercaletur.— 
 Ep. Fam. vii. 2. 
 
 Per fortunas primum illud prsefiilci atque prsniuni 
 qua-so, ut simus annul ; ne intercaletur quidem. — Ad Att. 
 V. 13. 9. 
 
 • Levissime enim, quia de intercalando noa obtinuerat, 
 trausfiigit ad popuVum et pro Caesare loqui coepit. — Ep. 
 Fam. viii. C; Dio, p. 148.
 
 202 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 the point from which it set out : and as tliis, ac- 
 cording to the astronomers of that a<?e, was su])- 
 posed to be three hundred and sixty-tive days and 
 six hours, so he divided the days into twelve arti- 
 ficial months ; and to supply tlie deficiency of tiie 
 six hours, by which tliey fell short of the sun's 
 complete course, he ordered a day to be inter- 
 calated after every four years, between the twenty- 
 third and twenty-fourth of February'. 
 
 But to make this new year begin and proceed 
 regularly, he was forced to insert into the current 
 year two extraordinary months between November 
 and December ; the one of thirty-three, the other 
 of thirty-four days ; besides the ordinary inter- 
 calary month of twenty-three days, which fell into 
 it of course ; wliich were all necessary to fill up 
 the number of days that were lost to the old year, 
 by the omission of intercalations, and to replace 
 the months in their proper seasons". All this was 
 effected by the care and skill of Sosigenes, a cele- 
 brated astronomer of Alexandria, whom Caesar had 
 brought to Rome for that purpose ■'' : and a new 
 calendar was formed upon it by Flavius a scribe, 
 digested according to the order of the Roman fes- 
 tivals, and the old manner of computing their days 
 by calends, ides, and nones ; which was published 
 and authorised by the dictator's edict, not long 
 after his return from Africa. This year therefore 
 was the longest that Rome had ever known, con- 
 sisting of fifteen months, or four hundred and 
 forty-five days, and is called the last of the con- 
 fusiony ; because it introduced the Julian or solar 
 year, with the commencement of the ensuing 
 January ; which continues in use to this day in all 
 Christian countries, without any other variation 
 than that of the old and new style'-. 
 
 Soon after the affair of Marcellus, Cicero had 
 another occasion of trying both his eloquence and 
 interest with Cresar, in the cause of Ligarius ; wlio 
 was now in exile on the account of his having been 
 in arms against Csesar in the African war, in which 
 he had borne a considerable command. His two 
 brothers however had always been on Csesar's side; 
 and being recommended by Pansa, and warmly 
 
 ' This day was called Bisscwtus, from its being a repeti- 
 tion or duplicate of the sixth of the kalends of March, 
 which fell always on the 24th ; and hence our intercalary 
 or leap year is still called Bissextile. 
 
 " Quo autem magis in posterum ex Kalendis Januariis 
 nobis temporum ratio congruerot, inter Novembrem et 
 Decembrem mensem adjecit duos alios : fuitque is annus 
 —XV. mensium cum intercalario, qui ex consuetudine eum 
 annum inciderat. — Suet. J. Cas. 40. 
 
 X Plin. Hist. Nat. xviii. 25. 
 
 y Adnitente sibi M. Flavio scriba, qui scriptos dies sin- 
 gulos ita ad dictatorem detulit, ut et ordo eorum inveniri 
 facillime posset, et invento certiis status perseveraret — 
 eaque re factum est, ut annus confusionis ultimus in quad- 
 ringentos quadraginta ties, dies tenderetur. — Macrob. Sat. 
 i. 14 ; Dio, 227. 
 
 Macrobius makes this year to consist of 443 days, but he 
 should have said 445, since, according to all accounts, 
 llinety days were added to the old year of 355. 
 
 ^ Tills difference of the old and new style was occasioned 
 by a regulation made by Pope Gregory, A. D. 1582, for it 
 having been observed, that the computation of the vernal 
 equinox was fallen back ten days from the time of the 
 council of Nice, when it was found to be on the 21st of 
 March ; according to which all the festivals of the church 
 were then solemnly settled ; Pope Gregorj', by the advice 
 of astronomers, caused ten days to be entirely sunk and 
 thrown out of the current year, between the 4th and 15th 
 of October. 
 
 supported by Cicero, had almost prevailed for hia 
 pardon ; of which Cicero gives tlie following ac 
 count in a letter to Ligarius himself. 
 
 Cicero to Ligarius. 
 
 " I would have you to be assured that I employ 
 my whole pains, labour, care, study, in procuring 
 your restoration : for as I have ever had the 
 greatest affection for you, so the singular piety and 
 love of your brothers, for whom as well as yourself 
 I liave always jirofessed the utmost esteem, never 
 sufi'er 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 myself: 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 No- 
 vember, when, at the desire of your brothers I had 
 been early with Ctesar, and gone through the 
 trouble and indignity of getting access and au- 
 dience ; 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 cer- 
 tain : which I collected not only from 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 turbulent 
 part prudently, to bear this calmer state of tilings 
 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 supplicate in 
 your behalf, as I have hitherto done, not only 
 Cuesar himself, but all his friends whom I have 
 ever found most affectionate to me. Adieus" 
 
 While Ligarius's affair was in this hopeful way, 
 Q. Tubero, who had an old quarrel with him, being 
 desirous to obstruct his pardon, and knowing 
 Coesar to be particularly exasperated against all 
 those who, through an obstinate aversion to him, 
 had renewed the war in Africa, accused him in the 
 usual forms of an uncommon zeal and violence in 
 prosecuting that war. Csesar privately encouraged 
 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 
 want to be enlarged upon here : those who read it 
 will find no reason to charge Cicero with flattery :. 
 but the free spirit which it breathes in the face of 
 that power to which it was suing for mercy, must 
 give a great idea of the art of the speaker who 
 could deliver such bold truths without offence ; as 
 well as of the generosity of the judge, who heard 
 them not only with patience but approbation. 
 
 " Observe, Csesar," says he, " with what fidelity 
 
 • Ep. Fam. yi. 14.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 20* 
 
 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, monu- 
 ments ! M. Cicero defends a criminal before you, 
 ■^ by proving him not to have been in those senti- 
 ments, 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 you. See with what a courage and gaiety of 
 speaking your generosity and wisdom inspire me. 
 I will raise my voice to such a pitch that the 
 ■wtole Roman people may hear me. After the war 
 was not only begun, Caesar, but in great measure 
 finished, when I was driven by no necessity, I went 
 by choice and judgment to join myself 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 republic, 
 *»efore he had even seen me ; who wrote to me 
 from Egypt, that I should be the same man that I 
 had always been ; and when he was the only em- 
 peror within 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 Ligarius's conduct wicked ? 
 for what reason ? since that cause has never yet 
 been called by that name : some indeed call it 
 mistake, others fear ; those who speak more se- 
 verely, hope, ambition, hatred, obstinacy ; or at 
 the worst, rashness ; but no man besides you has 
 ever called it wickedness. For my part were I to 
 invent a proper and genuine name for our calamity, 
 I should take it for a kind of fatality that had 
 possessed the unwary minds of men ; so that none 
 can think it strange that all human counsels were 
 overruled by a divine necessity. 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 those who fell ; let them be ambi- 
 tious ; let them be angry ; let them be obstinate ; 
 but let not the guilt of crime, of fury, of parri- 
 cide, ever be charged on Cn. Pompey, and on 
 many of those who died with him. When did we 
 ever hear any such thing from you, Caesar ? or 
 what other view had you in the war, than to defend 
 yourself from injury ? — you considered it, from the 
 first, not as a war, but a secession ; not as a 
 hostile but civil dissention : where both sides 
 wished well to the republic ; yet through a differ- 
 ence, partly of counsels, partly of inclinations, 
 deviated from the common good : the dignity of 
 the leaders was almost equal ; though not perhaps 
 of those who followed them : the cause was then 
 dubious, since there was something which one might 
 approve on either side.; but now, that must needs 
 be thought 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 public, and greedily 
 bought by all. Atticus was extremely pleased with 
 it, and very industrious in recommending it ; so 
 that Cicero says merrily to him by letter, — " Yon 
 have sold my Ligarian speech finely : whatever I 
 write for the future, I will make you the pub- 
 lisher :" and again, " your authority, I perceive, 
 has made my little oration famous : for Balbus and 
 
 b Pro Ligar. 3. « Ibid. 6. 
 
 Oppius write me word that they are wonderfully 
 taken with it, and have sent a copy to Ccesar''." 
 The success which it met with made Tubero 
 ashamed of the figure that he made in it, so that he 
 applied to Cicero to have something inserted in 
 his favour, with the mention of his wife, and some 
 of his family, who were Cicero's near relations ; 
 but Cicero excused himself, " because the speech 
 was got abroad : nor had he a mind," he says, 
 " to make any apology for Tubero's conduct''." 
 
 Ligarius was a man of distinguished zeal for the 
 liberty of his country, which 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 
 presently upon his elbow, and taking Brutus by 
 the hand, replied : " Yet still, Brutus, if you mean 
 to do anything worthy of yourself, I am well' ;" 
 nor did he disappoint Brutus's opinion of him, for 
 we find him afterwards in the list of the conspira- 
 tors. 
 
 In the end of the year, Caesar was called away in 
 great haste into Spain, to oppose the attempts of 
 Pompey's sons, who, by the credit of their father's 
 name, were become masters again of all that pro- 
 vince ; and with the reaiains of the troops which 
 Labienus, Varus, and the other chiefs who escaped, 
 had gathered up from Africa, were once more in 
 condition to try the fortune of the field with him : 
 where the great danger to which he was exposed, 
 from this last effort of a broken party, shows 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 
 war. 
 
 Cicero all this while passed his time with little 
 
 satisfaction at home, being disappointed of the 
 
 ease and comfort which he expected 
 
 ■*■ '^'^•708. £j.Qjjj j^jg jjg^ marriage: bis children, 
 
 c Julius' ^^ ^^ '^'^y imagine, while their own 
 
 CAESAR mother was living, would not easily 
 
 DICTATOR HI. bear witli a young mother-in-law in 
 
 ET the house with them. The son es- 
 
 co.vsuL IT pecially was pressing to get a par- 
 
 siNE COL- ticular appointment settled for his 
 
 maintenance, and to have leave also 
 
 to go to Spain, and make a campaign 
 
 under Caesar, whither his cousin Quin- 
 
 tus was already gone : Cicero did not 
 
 approve 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, unl'jss they fought against it too ; and that 
 
 he would not be pleased to see his cousin more 
 
 d Ligarianam prseclare vendidisti. Posthac quicquid 
 scripsero, tibi praeconium deferam. — Ad Att. xiii. 12. 
 
 Ligarianam, ut video, praeclare auctoritas tua coinnien- 
 davit. Scripsit enim ad me Balbus et Oppius, mirifice se 
 probare, ob eamquecausamadCaesarcm eam se oratiuncu- 
 1am misisse.' — Ibid. 19. 
 
 <= Ad Ligarianam de uxore Tuberonis, et privigna, nequa 
 possum jam addere, est enim res pervulgata, neque Tuber- 
 onem volo defendere. Mirifice est enim (piAairios.— Ibid.. 
 20. ' Plut. in Brut. 
 
 LEOA 
 
 W. JEMIUUS 
 
 LEPIDUS 
 
 Mag. JEquii.
 
 204 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 regarded there than himself ; and promising withal, 
 if he would consent to stay, to make him an ample 
 and liono\iral)le allowance *>'. This diverted him 
 from thi^ thoughts of Spain, though not iVom the 
 desire of removing from his fatlier, and taking a 
 separate house in the city, with a distinct family 
 of his own ; but Cicero thought it best to send 
 him to Atliens, in order to spend a fevv years in 
 the study of philosophy and polite letters ; and to 
 make the ))roposal agreeable, offered him an ap- 
 pointment that would enable liim to live as sjilen- 
 didly as any of tlie Roman nobility who then 
 resided there, Bibulus, Acidiiuis, or Messala''. 
 This scheme was accepted, and soon after executed, 
 and young Cicero was sent to Athens with two of 
 his father's freedmen, L. TuUius Montanus, and 
 Tullius Marcianus, astheintendants and counsellors 
 of liis general conduct, while the particular direc- 
 tion of his studies was left to the principal philo- 
 sophers of the place, and above all, to Cratippus, 
 the chief of the Peripatetic sect'. 
 
 In this uneasy state both of his private and 
 public life, he was oppressed by a new and most 
 cruel affliction — the deatli of his beloved daughter 
 TuUia, whicli ha))pened soon after her divorce 
 from Dolabeila, whose manners and humour were 
 entirely disagreeable to her. Cicero had long been 
 deliberating with himself and his friends, whether 
 TuUia should not first send the divorce, but a 
 prudential regard to Dolabella's power and interest 
 with Csesar, which was of use to him in these 
 times, seems to have withheld him. '' The case 
 ■was the same with Dolabeila ; he was willing 
 enougli to part with Tullia, but did not care to 
 break with Cicero, whose friendship was a credit 
 to him, and whom gratitude obliged him to obsei"\"e 
 and reverence, since Cicero had twice defended 
 and preserved him in capital causes' ; so that it 
 seems most probable 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 friendship between Cicero and Dolabeila, 
 ■which they carried on with the s^me show of 
 affection and professions of respect towards 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 
 
 g DeHispania duo attuli; primum idem, quod tibi, me 
 vcreri vituperationem : non satis esse si lisec arma rcliquis- 
 semus? etiam contraria ? deinde fore ut angeretiu', cum 
 a fratre famili;iritate et omni gratia vtnceretur. Velim 
 magis liberalitate uti mea quam sua libertiite. — Ad Att. 
 xii. 7- 
 
 ^ Prajstabo nen Bibulum, nee Acidinum.nec Messalam, 
 quos Athcnis futures audio, majores suniptus facturos, 
 quam quod ex eis mercedibus accipietur. — Ibid. 32. 
 
 i L. Tullium Montanum nosti, qui cum Cicerone profec- 
 tus est.— Ibid. .52, 5.3. 
 
 Quanquam te, Marce fili, annum jamaudientemCratip- 
 ipum, &c.— De Off, i. 1 ; ii. 2. 
 
 k Te oro ut de bac misera eogites — melius quidera in 
 pessimis nihil fuit discidio — nunc quidem ipse videtur 
 denunciare — placet mihi igitur, et idem tibi nuncium 
 remitti, &c.— Ad Att. xi. 23 ; ibid. 3. 
 
 Quod sciipsi de nuncio remittendo, quae sit istius vis hoc 
 tempore, et quae concitatio multitudinis, ignoro. Si me- 
 tuendus iratus est, quies tajnen ab illo fortasse nascetiu-. 
 — Ep. Fam. xiv. 13. 
 
 ' Cujus ego salutem duobus capitis judioiis summa cou- 
 .tentione defendi. — Ep. Fam. iii. U. 
 
 »» Plut. in Cic. 
 
 in Rome, where Cicero was detained (he SRy?) 
 by the expectation of the birth, and to receive the 
 first payment of her fortuiu; back again from 
 Dolabeila, who was then in Spain : she whs de- 
 livered, as it was thought, very happily, and sup- 
 posed to be out of danger, when an unexpected 
 turn in her case put an end to her life, to the 
 inexpressible grief of her father". 
 
 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 
 end of seven montiis of a puny male child ; but 
 whether it was from the first, or the second time 
 of her lying-in, it is evident that she left a son 
 by Dolabeila, who survived her, and whom Cicero 
 mentions morc^ than once in his letters to Atticus, 
 by the name of Lentulus" : desiring hini to visit 
 the child, and see a due care taken of him, and 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 
 affectionately 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 
 Atticus's house, where he lived chiefly in the 
 library, endeavouring to relieve his mind by turn- 
 ing over every book which he could meet with, on 
 the subject of moderating grief i ; but finding his 
 residence here too public, and a greater resort to 
 
 " MeRomae tcnuit omnino Tullia? mea; partus : sed cum 
 ea, qucmadmodum spcro, satis firma sit, teneor tamon, 
 dum a Dolabeila; procuratoribus exigam primam pen- 
 sionem. — Ep. Fam. vi. 18. 
 
 The father's names were Publius Cornelius LentuIuB 
 Dolabeila ; the two last being surnames acquired perhaps 
 by adoption, and distinguishing the different branches of 
 the Cornelian family. 
 
 p Velim aliquando, cum erit tuum commodiun, Lentu- 
 lum puerum visas, eique de mancipiis, qu£E tibi videbitur, 
 attribuas. — Ad Att. xii. 28. 
 
 Quod Lentulum invisis, valde gratum. — Ibid. 30 ; it. 18. 
 
 N.B. Mr. Bayle declares himself surprised, to find Asco- 
 niiix Peed, so ill-informed of the history of Tullia, as to tell 
 ns, that after Piso's death, shervas married to P. Lentxilus, 
 and died in child-bed at his house: in which short .accoimt 
 there is contained, he says, two or three lies. But Plutarch 
 confirms the same account: and the mistake will rest at 
 last, not on Asconius, but on Mr. Bayle himself, who did 
 not reflect, from the authority of those ancients, that Len- 
 tulus was one of Dolabella's names, by which he was called 
 indifferently, as well as by any of the rest. — Bayle Diction. 
 Artie. Tullia, notelc. 
 
 1 Memihi non defuisse tu testis es, nihil enimde moerore 
 minuendo ab uUo scriptum est, quod ego non domi tuas 
 legerim. — Ad Att. xii. 14,
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 20& 
 
 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 
 1 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 books, yet that is some- 
 times interru])ted by my tears, which I resist as 
 well as I can, but am not yet able to do much""." 
 
 Atticus urged him to quit this retirement, and 
 divert himself with business, and the company of 
 his friends ; and put him gently in mind, that, by 
 afflicting himself so immoderately, he would hurt 
 his character, and give people a handle to censure 
 his weakness ; to which he makes the following 
 answer : 
 
 "As to what you write, that you are afraid lest 
 the excess of my grief should lessen my credit and 
 authority ; I do not know what men vvould have 
 of me. Is it that I should not grieve .' 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 those 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 purpose ; 
 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 Baise chooses to be in this 
 part of the year. When I come to Rome, nobody 
 shall find anything amiss, either in my looks or 
 discourse. As to that cheerfulness witli which we 
 used to season the misery of these times, I have 
 lost it, indeed, for ever, but will never part with 
 my constancy and firmness, either of mind or 
 speech^," SiC. 
 
 All his other friends ■were very officious, like- 
 ■wise, in making their compliments of condolence, 
 and administering arguments of comfort to him : 
 among the rest, Cjesar himself, in the hurry of 
 his affairs in Spain, wrote him a letter on the 
 occasion, dated from Hispalis, the lasc of April'. 
 Brutus wrote another, so friendly and affectionate, 
 that it greatly moved him". Lucceius, also, one 
 
 ■■ In hac solitudine careo omnium colloquio, cumque 
 mane in silvam me abstrusi densam et asperam, non cxeo 
 inde ante vesperum. Secundum tc, niliil mihi amicius 
 solitudine. In ea milii omnis sormo est cum Uteris ; emu 
 tamen interpellat fletus ; cui repugno quoad possum, scd 
 adhuc pares non sumus. — ^Ad Att. 15. 
 
 » Ad Att. xii. 40. 
 
 * A Ctesare literas accepi consolatarias, datas prid. Kal. 
 Maii, Hispali.— Ad Att. xiii. 20. 
 
 " Bruti literae scriptje et prudenter et amice, multas 
 tamen mihi iacrymas attulerunt.— Ibid. xii. 13. 
 
 of the most esteemed writers of that age, sent him 
 two ; the first to condole, the second to expostu- 
 late with him, for persevering to cherish an un- 
 manly and useless grief : but the following letter 
 of Ser. Sulpicius is thought to be a masterpiece 
 of the consolatory kind. 
 
 Ser. Sulpicius to M. T. Cicero. 
 " I 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 common to 
 us both. If I had been with yovi, I would have 
 made it my business to convince you what a real 
 share I take in your grief. Though that kind of 
 consolation is but wretched and lamentable, as it is 
 to be performed by friends and relations, who are 
 overwhelmed with grief, and cannot enter upon, 
 their task without tears, and seem to want comfort 
 rather themselves, than to be in condition to ad- 
 minister it to others. I resolved, therefore, to write 
 you in short, what occurred upon it to my own 
 mind : not that I imagined that the same things 
 would not occur also to you, but that the force of 
 your grief might possibly hinder your attention to 
 them. What reason is there, then, to disturb 
 yourself so immoderately on this melancholy occa- 
 sion ? Consider how fortune has already treated 
 us : how it has deprived us of what ought to be as 
 dear to us as children ; our country, credit, dig- 
 nity, 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 a mind, 
 after being exercised in such trials, not grow cal- 
 lous, and think everything else of inferior value .'' 
 But is it for your daughter's sake that you grieve ? 
 Yet how often must you necessarily reflect, as I 
 myself frequently do, that those cannot 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 invi- 
 tation 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, 
 whom 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 their friends 
 and clients ? But what is there of all this which 
 was not taken away before it was even given to 
 her .'' But it is an evil, you'll say, to lose our 
 children. It is so ; yet it is much greater to suffer 
 what we now endure. I cannot help mentioning 
 one thing, which has given me no small comfort, 
 and may help also, perhaps, to mitigate your grief. 
 On my return from Asia, as I was sailing from 
 jEgina towards Megara, I began to contemplate 
 the prospect of the countries around me. ^gina 
 was behind, Megara before me ; — -Piraieus on the 
 right, Corinth on the left ; all which towns, once 
 famous and flourishing, now lie overturned, and 
 buried in their ruins. Upon this sight, I could not 
 
 > Ep. Fam. r. 13, 14.
 
 206 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 but think presently within myself, Alas ! how do 
 we poor mortals 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, 
 Servius, and remember that thou art born a man ? 
 Believe me, I 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 jjerished lately at once — 
 what destruction has been made in the empire — 
 what havoc in all the provinces — how can you be 
 so much shocked, to be deprived of the fleeting 
 breath of one little woman, who, if she had not 
 died at this time, must necessarily have died a few 
 years after, siiicj that was the condition of her 
 being born ? But recall your mind from reflections 
 of this kind to the consideration of yourself, and 
 think rather on what becomes your character and 
 dignity ; that your da<ighter lived as long as life 
 was worth enjoying, as long as the republic 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 republic i'ell, 
 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 
 physicians, who pretend to cure other people's 
 diseases, 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 wjiich length of time will not alle- 
 viate ; but it would be shameful in you to wait for 
 that time, and not to prevent it by your wisdom ; 
 besides, if there be any sense in the dead, such was 
 her love and piety to you, that she must be con- 
 cerned to see how much you afflict yourself. Give 
 this, therefore, to the deceased; give ir 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 our- 
 selves to our present situation, do not give any one 
 a handle to think that you are not so much bewail- 
 ing your daughter as the state of the times, and 
 the victory of certain persons. I am ashamed to 
 write any more, lest I should seem to distrust 
 your prudence, and will add, therefore, but one 
 thing farther, 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 y." 
 
 His answer to Sulpicius was the same it' effect 
 with what 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 
 
 y Ep. Fam. iv. 5. 
 
 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 comiiensate 
 their misfortune; but for me," says he, " after I 
 had lost all tiiose ornaments which you enumerate, 
 and which I had acquired with the utmost pains, I 
 have now lost the only comfort that was left to me. 
 In this ruin of the republic, my thoughts were 
 not diverted by serving either my friends or my 
 country : I had no inclination to the forum ; could 
 not bear the sight of the senate ; took myself, as 
 the case in truth was, to have lost all tlie fruit of 
 my industry and fortunes : yet when I reflected that 
 all this was common to you and to many others as 
 well as to myself, and was forcing myself therefore 
 to bear it tolerably, I had still in Tullia somewhat 
 always to recur to, in which I could actpiiesce, 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 
 again afresh : for as I then could relieve the uneasi- 
 ness which the republic 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 public grief, nor the 
 public my domestic 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 
 received 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 dis- 
 suades the application of any remedy to the first 
 assaults of grief *." In this work he chiefly imi- 
 tated Grantor, the academic, who had left a cele- 
 brated piece on the same subject ; yet he inserted 
 also whatever pleased him from any other author 
 who had written upon it** ; illustrating his precepts 
 all the way by examples from their own history, of 
 the most eminent Romans of both sexes who had 
 borne the same misfortune with a remarkable con- 
 stancy. 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 critics have long since observed, that 
 
 z Ep. Fam. iv. 6 ; Ad Att. xii. 2!i. 
 
 * Feci, quod ante me nemo, ut ipse me per literas conso- 
 
 larer affirmo tibi nunam consolationem esse talem. — 
 
 Ad Att. xii. 14; it. 28. 
 
 Quid ego de consolatione dicam ? qu£e mihi quidem ipsi 
 sane aliquantum medetur, caeteris item multum illam pro- 
 futurani puto. — De Div. ii. 1. 
 
 In conwilationis libro, quem in medio, (non enim sapion- 
 tes eranius) mcerore et dolore conscripsimus • quodque 
 vetat Chrysippus, ad recentes quasi tumores animi reme- 
 dlum adhibere, id nos fecimus, naturjeque vim adtulimus, 
 ut magnitudini medicina; doloris magnitudo concederet. — 
 Tufc. Disp. iv. 29. 
 
 b Crantorcm scquor.— Plin. Hist. Nat. Traef. 
 
 Neque tanien progredior longius, quam mihi doctissimi 
 homines conccdimt. quorum scripta omnia, quaecunque 
 sunt in earn sententiam non legi solum — seJl in mea etiam. 
 scripta transtuli. — Ad Att. xii. 2J, 22.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 207 
 
 .pisce ^hich we now see in the collection of his 
 writings under the title of Consolation, is un- 
 doubtedly spurious. 
 
 But the design of this treatise was not only to 
 relieve his own mind, but to consecrate the virtues 
 and memory of TuUia to aU posterity ; nor did his 
 fondness for her stop here, but suggested the pro- 
 ject of a more effectual consecration by building a 
 temple to her, and erecting her into a sort of deity. 
 It was an opinion of the philosophers, which he 
 himself constantly favoured, and in his present 
 circumstances particularly indulged, " that the 
 souls of men were of heavenly extraction, and that 
 the pure and chaste, at their dissolution from the 
 body, returned to the fountain from which they 
 were derived, to subsist eternally in the fruition and 
 participation of the divine nature ; whilst the im- 
 pure and corrupt were left to grovel below in the 
 dirt and darkness of these inferior regions." He 
 declares, therefore, " that as the wisdom of the 
 ancients had consecrated and deified many excellent 
 persons of both sexes, whose temples were then 
 remaining, the progeny of Cadmus, of Amphitryon, 
 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 it is not possible to divert me from it 
 — if it be not finished this summer, I shall not 
 think myself clear of guilt — I am more religiously 
 bound to the execution of it than any man ever was 
 to the performance of his vow"*." He seems to 
 have designed a fabric of great magnificence, for he 
 had settled the plan with his architect, and con- 
 tracted 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^. One 
 reason that determined him to a temple rather 
 
 c Non enim omnibus illi sapientes arhitrati sunt eundcm 
 eursum in coelum patere. Nam vitiis et sccleribus conta- 
 minatos deprimi in tenebras, atque in cceho jacere Jocue- 
 runt ; castos autem animos, puros, integros, incorruiitos, 
 ))onis etiaai studiis atque artibus expolitos leniquodam ac 
 facili lapsu ad deos, id est, ad naturam sui similem pervo- 
 lare. — Fragm. Consolat. ex Lactantio. 
 
 Cum veio et mares et foeminas complures ex hominibus 
 in dcorum numero esse videamus, et eorum in urbibus 
 atque agris augustissima templa veneremur, assentiamur 
 eorum sapicntis, quorum ingeniis et inventis oinneni 
 vitam le^bus et institutis excultam constitutamque habe- 
 luus. Quod si uUum unquam animal consecrandum fuit, 
 illud profecto fuit. Si Cadmi, aut Ampliitryonis progenies, 
 aut Tyndari in coelum tollendafama fuit, liuic idem honos 
 eerte dicandus est. Quod quidem faciam ; teque omnium 
 optimam doctissimamque, approbantibus diis ipsis, in 
 eorum ccetu locatam, ad opinionem omnium mortalium 
 consecrabo.— Ibid. ; Tusc. Disp. i. 11, 12, 30, 31. 
 
 •^ Fanum fieri voIo,nequemihi erui potest. [AdAtt. xii. 
 3C.] Redco ad fanum, nisi hae aestate absolutum crit — 
 scelere mo liberatum non putabo. [Ibid. 41.] Ego me ma- 
 jore religione, quam quisquani fuit uUius voti, obstrictum 
 puto. — Ibid. 43. 
 
 "^ De fano illo dicO' — neque de genere dubito, placet 
 enim mihi Cluatii. [Ibid. 18.] Tu tamen cum Apella 
 Chio eonfice de colunmis.— Ibid. 19 ; Plin. Hist. Nat. 
 xxxvi. 5, 6. I 
 
 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 forfeiture of the same sum 
 also to the public : yet this, as he tells us, was not 
 the chief motive, but a resolution that he had 
 taken of making a proper ajjotheosis'. The only 
 difficulty was, to find a place that suited his pur- 
 pose : his first thouglit was to purchase certain 
 gardens across the Tyber, which, lying near the 
 city and in the public view, were the most likely 
 to draw a resort of votaries to liis new temple : 
 he presses Atticus, therefore, " to buy them for 
 hirn at any rate without regard to his circum- 
 stances, since he would sell, or mortgage, or be 
 content to live on little, rather than be disap- 
 pointed : groves and remote places (he says) were 
 proper only for deities of an established name and 
 religion ; but for the deification of mortals public 
 and open situations were necessary to strike the 
 eyes and attract the notice of the people." But 
 he found so many obstructions in all his attempts 
 of purchasing, that to save trouble and expense, 
 Atticus advised him to build at last in one of his 
 own villas, to which he seemed inclined, lest the 
 summer should pass without doing anything ; yet 
 he was irresolute still which of his villas he should 
 choose, and discouraged by reflecting on the change 
 of masters, to which all private estates were ex- 
 posed 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?. 
 
 f Nunquam mihi venit in mentem, quo plus insumtum 
 in monumcntum esset, quam ne.scio quid, quod lege conce- 
 C.itur, tantundem populo dandum esse: quod non magno- 
 pere moveret, nisi nescio quomodo, aASycas fortasse. Nol- 
 lem illud uUo nomine nisi fani appellari. [Ad Att. xii. 
 35.] Sepulcri similitudinem effugere non tarn propter poe- 
 nam legis studeo, quam ut niaxime assequar airoQiwaiv. 
 —Ibid. 36. 
 
 This fact seems to confirm what the author of the Book 
 of Wisdom observes on the origin of idolatry ; that it was 
 owing to the fond affection of parents, seeking to do honour 
 to their deceased children. The father, says he, oppressed 
 with an unexpected grief/or the sudden drath of his child, 
 after making an image of him, began to worship him as a 
 gud, lltough he was but a dead man, and enjoined certain 
 rites and mysteries to his servants and dependants. [Wisd. 
 xiv. l.").] But it was not Cicero's real thought after all to 
 exalt his daughter into a deity: he knew it to be absurd, 
 as he often declares, topayrfiuiHe honours to dead mortals ; 
 and tells us, how their very publicans had decided that 
 question in Baotia : for when the lands of the immortal 
 gods were excepted out of their lease, 6y the law of the 
 censors, they denied that any one could be deemed an im- 
 mortal god, ivho had once been a man ; and so made the 
 lands of Atnphiaraus and Trophonius pay the same taxes 
 with the rest. [De Nat. Deor. iii. 19.] Yet in a political 
 view he sometimes recommends the worship of those sons 
 of men, whom their eminent services to mankind had 
 advanced to the rank of inferior gods, as it inculcated, in 
 a manner the most sensible, the doctrine of the soul's im- 
 morlnlily. [De Leg. ii. 11.] And since a temple was tho 
 most ancient way of doing honour to those dead who had 
 deserved it, [Plin. Hist. Nat. xxvii.] he considered it as 
 the most effectual method of perpetuating 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 civilised human life, 
 by consecrating such patterns of virtue to tho veneration 
 of their fellow-citizens. — Mongault, not. 1 ; AdAtt. xii. 18. 
 e .Sed ineunda nobis ratio est, quemadmodimi in omni 
 mutatione dominorum, qui ianiuiierabiles fieri possunt in
 
 208 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 But after all his eagerness ami solicitude about 
 this temple, it was never actually built by him, 
 since we find no mention of it ia any of the 
 ancient writers, which could not have been omitted 
 if a fabric so memorable had ever been erected''. 
 It is likely that as his grief evajjorated and his 
 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, 
 at least, that as he made no step towards building 
 it this summer, so Caesar's death, which hnppeiied 
 before the next, gave fresh obstruction to it, by 
 the hurry of aflairs in which it engaged him ; and 
 though he had not still wholly dropped the thoughts 
 of it, but continued to make prej)aration 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 l'-hilipj)us, the father-in-law of Octavius, 
 happened to come to his villa in that neighbour- 
 hood, he was not a little disturbed at it, from the 
 apprehension of being teased with his visits ; and 
 he tells Atticus, with some j)leasure, that he had 
 called upon him only to pay a short compli- 
 ment, and went back again to Rome without giving 
 him any trouble''. 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 
 begged in the most earnest and submissive terms 
 — but hi^ 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 avoid 
 them'. A denial so peremptory confirms what 
 
 infinita posteritate— illud quasi consecratuni reinanere 
 possit. EquideiTi jam nihil egeo vectigalibus, et parvo 
 contentus esse possum. Cogito interdum trans Tiberim 
 liortos aliquos parare, et quidem ob hanc causani maxiiiie ; 
 nihil enim video quod tarn celebre esse posset. [Ad Att. 
 xii. 19.] De hortis, etiam atque etiam te rogo. [Ibid. 22.] 
 Ut saepc locuti sumus, commutationes doniiiioruni refor- 
 mldo. [Ibid. 36.] Celebritatem require.— Ibid. 37. 
 
 •> C's»lius Ilhodiginus tells us, that in the time of Sixtus 
 IV. there was foimd near Rome, on the Appian-way, over 
 against the tomb of Cicero, the body of a woman, whose 
 hair was dressed up in net-work of gold, and which, from 
 the inscription, was thought to be the body of TuUia. It 
 was entire, and so well preserved by spices, as to have 
 siaffered no injury from time ; yet when it was removed 
 into the city, it mouldered away in three days. But this 
 was only the hasty conjecture of some learned of that time, 
 which, for want of authority to support it, soon vanished 
 of itself ; for no inscription was ever produced to confirm 
 it, nor has it been mentioned, that I know of, by any other 
 author, iftiat there was any sepulchre of Cicero on the 
 Appian-way. — Csl. Rhod. Lection. Antiq. iii. 24. 
 
 ' Q,Tiod ex istis fruetuosis rebus reccptum est, id ego ad 
 Illud I'anum sepositum putabam. — Ad Att. xv. 15. 
 
 ^ Mihi adhuc nihil prius fuit hao solitudine, quam 
 vereor, ne Philippus toUat : heri enim vesperi venerat. — 
 Ibid. xii. l(j. 
 
 Quod eram veritus, non obturbavit Philippus : nam 
 ut heri me salutavit, statim Romam profectus est. — Ibid. 
 18. 
 
 ' Publilia ad me seripsit, matrem suam cum Publilio 
 ad me venturam, et se una, si ego paterer : orat multis 
 et supplicibus verbis ut liceat, et ut sibi rescribam 
 
 Plutarch says, that his wife was now in disgrace 
 with him, on account of her carriage towards his 
 daughter, and for seeming to rejoice at lier 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 honour of TuUia'". 
 
 Brutus likewise about this time took a resolu- 
 tion of putting away his wife Claudia, for the sake 
 of taking Porcia, Bibulus's widow, and his uncle 
 {'ato's daugliter. 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 nearly allied to Pompey ; so that his 
 inother Servilia, though Cato's sister, seems to 
 have been averse to the divorce, and strongly in 
 the interests of Claudia against her niece. Cicero's 
 advice upon it was, that if Brutus was resolved 
 upon the thing, he should do it out of hand, as 
 the best way to put an end to pen])le's talking, by 
 showing that it was not done out of levity or com- 
 j)laisance to the times, but to take the daughter of 
 Cato, whose name was now highly popular", which 
 Brutus soon after complied with, and made Porcia 
 his wife. 
 
 There happened another accident this summer 
 which raised a great alarm in the city, the sur- 
 prising death of Marcellus, whom Caesar had lately 
 pardoned. He had left Mitylene and was come 
 as far as Piraus on his way towards Rome, 
 where he spent a day with his old friend and 
 colleague Serv. Sulj)icius, intending to pursue his 
 voyage the day following by sea ; but in the night, 
 after Sulpicius 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 poniard ; of which Sulpicius sent 
 the following account to Cicero. 
 
 Serv. Sulpicius to M. T. Cicero. 
 " Though I know that the news which I am 
 going 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 with the fact, 
 in what manner soever it happened. On the 
 twenty-second of May I came by sea from Epidau- 
 rus to Pirjeus to meet my colleague Marcellus, and 
 for the sake of his company spent that day with 
 him there. The next day, when I took my leave of 
 him, with design to go from Athens into Bceotia to 
 finish the remaining part of my jurisdiction, he, as 
 he told me, intended to set sail at tne same time 
 towards Italy. The day following, about four in 
 the morning, when I was preparing to set out from 
 
 rescripsi, me etiam gravius esse affectum, quam turn, 
 cum illi dixissem, me solum esse velle, quare nolle me 
 
 hoc tempore earn ad me venire te hoc nunc rogo ut 
 
 explores. — Ad Att. 32. 
 
 "> 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 witli 
 tlie brother, Publilius, the time and manner of paying back 
 the fortune. — Ad Att. xiii. 34, 47 ; xvi. 2. 
 
 " A te expecto si quid de Bruto : quanquara Nicias 
 confectum putabat, sed divortium non probari. — Ad Att. 
 xiii. 9. 
 
 Brutus si quid — curabis ut seiam. Cui quidem quam 
 primum agendum puto, pra;sertim si statuit ; sermun- 
 culum enim omnem aut restinxcrit aut sedarit. — Ibid. 10.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 209 
 
 Athens, his friend, P. Postumius, came to let me 
 know that Marcelhis 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 physicians to him. I got some together im- 
 mediately, and went away with them before break 
 of day : but when I was come near Pirseeus, Aci- 
 dinus's boy met me with a note from his master, 
 in which it was signified that Marcellus died a little 
 before day. Thus a great man was murdered 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 forward 
 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 master's murder. I was forced 
 to carry his body with me into the city in the same 
 Utter in which I came, and by my own servants ; 
 where I provided a funeral for 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 by their religion, and had never 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 public schools that I 
 pleased. I chose a place, therefore, the noblest in 
 the universe, the school of the Academy, 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 living and dead, 
 every duty, which our partnership in oflSce, 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 Pcome ; 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 himself in a particular manner for 
 the bar, where 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 everything 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 power, and 
 the most active to reduce it : his high spirit, and 
 the ancient glory of his house, made him impatient 
 under the thought of receiving a master ; and 
 when the battle of Pharsalia seemed at last to have 
 imposed one upon them, he retired to Mitylene, 
 the usual resort of men of learning, there to spend 
 the rest of his days in a studious retreat, remote 
 from arms and the hurry of war, and determined 
 neither to seek nor to accept any grace from the 
 
 o Ep. Fam. iv. 12. 
 
 conqueror. 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 condition of human life could bear, sur- 
 rounded with the principal scholars and philoso- 
 phers 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 which 
 had borne some of the public offices, and had him- 
 self been quaestor i ; and having attached himself 
 to the fortunes of Marcellus and followed him 
 through the wars and his exile, was now returning 
 with him to Italy. Sulpicius 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''. Others 
 assign a different reason, as the rage of jealousy 
 and the impatience of seeing others more favoured 
 by Marcellus than himself*. 
 
 As soon as the news reached Rome, it raised a 
 general consternation ; and from the suspicious 
 nature 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 parti- 
 cular care of himself, as being the only consular 
 senator left who stood exposed to any envy'. But 
 
 P Mihi, inquit, Marcellus satis est notus. Quid igitur de 
 illojudicas? — quod habiturus es similem tui — ita est, et 
 vehementer placet. Nametrtidicit, etomissiscaeterisstudiis 
 id egit unum, seseque quotidianis commentationibus acer- 
 rime exercuit. Itaque et lectis utitur verbis et frequctt'' 
 tibus ; et splendore vocis, dignitate motus fit speciosunl 
 ct illustre, quod dicitur ; omniaque sic suppetunt, ut ei 
 nuUam deesse virtutem oratoris putem. — Brut. 367. 
 
 Dolebam, PatresConscripti,— illosemuloatqueimitatore 
 studiorum meorum, quasi quodam socio a me et comite 
 distracto — quis enim est illo aut nobilitate, aut probitate, 
 aut optimarum artium studio, aut innocentia, aut ullo 
 genere laudis prsestantior? — Pro Marcel. 1. 
 
 Nostri enim sensus, ut in pace semper, sic tum etiam in 
 bello congruebant. — Ibid. 6. 
 
 Qui hoc tempore ipso — in hoc communi nostro et quasi 
 fatali nialo, consoletur se cum conscientia optimse mentis, 
 tum etiam usurpatione ac renovatione doctrinae. Vidi 
 enim Mitylenis nuper virum, atque ut dixi, vidi plane 
 virum. Itaque cum eum antea tui similem in dicendo 
 viderim ; tum vero nunc doctissimo viro, tibique ut 
 intellexi, amicissimo Cratippo, instructum omni copia, 
 multo videbam similiorem. — Brut. ibid. ; Senec. Consolat. 
 ad Helv. p. 79. 
 
 q Pigh. Annal. A. U. 691. 
 
 r Quanquam nihil habeo quod dubitera, nisi ipsi Magio 
 quae fuerit causa amentia-. Pro quo quidem etiam sponsor 
 Smiii factus est. Nimirum id fuit. Solvendo enim non 
 erat. Credo eum a Marcello petiisse aliquid, et ilium, ut 
 erat, constantius respondisse. — Ad Att. xiii. 10. 
 
 » Indignatus aliquem amicorum ab eo sibi praeferri — 
 Val. Max. ix. 11. 
 
 t Minirae miror te ct graviter ferre de :iIarcelIo, et 
 e
 
 210 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 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 figure in 
 Italy, by assuming the name and pretending to be 
 the grandson <if Caius Marius : but apprehending 
 that Ctesar would soon put an end to his preten- 
 sions and treat him as he deserved, he sent a 
 pathetic letter to Cicero by some young fellows of 
 ills company, to justify his claim and descent, and 
 to implore his jirotection against the enemies of 
 his family, — conjuring him by their relation, by 
 the poem which he had formerly written in praise 
 of Marius, by the eloquence of L. Crassns, his 
 mother's father, whom he had likewise celebrated, 
 that he would undertake the defence of his cause. 
 Cicero answered him very gravely that he could 
 not want a patron when his kinsman Ca;sar, so 
 excellent and generous a man, was now the master 
 of all, yet that he also should be ready to favour 
 him". But Cicsar, at his return, knowing him to 
 be a cheat, banished 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 Herophilus'^. 
 
 Ariarathes, the brother and presumptive heir of 
 Ariobarzanes, king of Cappadocia, came to Rome 
 this year, and as Cicero had a particular friendship 
 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 ser- 
 vant to meet him on the road and invite him to 
 his house : but he was already engaged by Sestius, 
 whose office it then was to receive foreign princes 
 and ambassadors at the public expense, which 
 Cicero was not displeased with in the present 
 state of bis domestic affairs. " He comes (says 
 he,) I guess, to purchase some kingdom of Ceesar, 
 for he has not at present a foot of land of his 
 owny." 
 
 Cicero's whole time during his solitude was 
 employed in reading and writing : this was the 
 business both of his days and nights. "It is in- 
 credible," 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 
 
 plura vereri periculi genera. Quis cnim hoc timerct, quod 
 neque acciderat antea, nee videbatur natura ferre, ut ac- 
 cidere posset. Omnia igitur metuenda, &ic. — Ad Att. xiii. 
 10. 
 
 " Heri — quidam urbani, ut videbantur, ad me mandata 
 et literas attulerunt, a C. Mario, C. P. C. N. multis verbis 
 agere mecura per cognationem, quae mihi soeum esset, 
 per eum Marium, quem scripsissem, per eloquentiam 
 1. Crassi avi sui, ut se defenderem — rescripsi nihil ei 
 patrono opus esse, quoniam C'xsaris, propinqui ejus, omnis 
 potestas esset, viri optimi et hominis liberalissimi : rue 
 tamen oi fauturum. — Ad Att. xii. 49. 
 
 * Herophilus equarius medicus, C. Marium septies con- 
 sulem avum sibi vendicando, ita se extulit, ut coloniae 
 veteranorum complurcs et municipia splendida, collegia- 
 que fere omnia patronum adoptarent — caeterum decreto 
 Caesaris extra Italiam relegatus, &c. — Val. Max. ix. 15. 
 
 y Ariarathes Ariobarzani filius Romam venit. Vult, 
 cpinor, regnum aliquod emere a Cjesare : nam, quo modo 
 nunc est, pedem ubi ponat in suo non habet. Omnino 
 eum Sestius noster paroehus publicus occupavit: quod 
 quidem facile patior. Verumtamen quod mihi, suninio 
 boneticio ineo, magna cum fratribus illius necessitudo est, 
 invito eum per literas, ut apud me diversetur. — Ad Att. 
 xiii. 2 
 
 known what to do with himself." His studies 
 were chielly philosophical, which he had been foad 
 of from his youth, and, after a long intcrmissiofl, 
 now resumed with great ardour, having taken a 
 resolution to explain to his countrymen in their 
 own language whatever the Greeks had taught on 
 every part of iihilosophy, whether speculative or 
 jiractical. " For being driven (as he tells us) 
 from the public administration, he knew no way so 
 eflfcctual of doing good as by instructing the mindg 
 and reforming the morals of the youth, which ia 
 the licence 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 was im- 
 possible for me to be idle, could 1 find anything 
 better on which to employ myself. My citizens 
 therefore will pardon or rather thank me, that 
 when the government was fallen into the power of 
 a single person I neither wholly hid nor afflicted 
 myself unnecessarily, nor acted in such a 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 learned 
 from Plato and philosophy, that these turns and 
 revolutions of states are natural, — sometimes into 
 the hands of a few, sometimes of the many, some- 
 times of one. As this was the case of our own 
 republic, so when I was deprived of my former 
 post in it, I betook myself to these studies in order 
 to relieve my mind from the sense of our common 
 miseries, and to serve my country at the same time 
 in the Dest manner that 1 was able ; for my books 
 supplied the place of my votes in the senate and of 
 my speeches to the people, and I took up philosophy 
 as a substitute for my management 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 con- 
 tests of the bar, undertake the defence of philosophy 
 against Hortensius, to whom he assigned the part 
 of arraigning it**. It was the reading of this book, 
 long since unfortunately lost, which first inflamed 
 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 Christ ■=. 
 
 He drew up also about this time, in four books, 
 
 ^ Credibile non est, quantum scribam die, quin etiam 
 noctibus. Nihil enim somni. — Ad Att. xiii. 26. 
 
 Nisi mihi hoc vonisset in nientem, scribere ista neecio 
 quae, quo verterem me non haberem. — Ibid. 10. 
 
 « De Divin. ii. 2 ; De Fin. i. 3. 
 
 ^ Cohortati sumus, ut maxima potuimus, ad philo- 
 sophia; studium eo libro, qui est inscriptus, Hortensius. — 
 De Div. ii. 1. 
 
 Nos autem universe philosophise vituperatoribus respon- 
 dimus in Hortensio. — Tusc. Disp. ii. 2. 
 
 c It is certain that all the Latin Fathers made great use 
 of Cicero'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 declin- 
 ing age, he endeavoured to discourage his disciples from 
 reading them at all; and declared, that he had not taken 
 either Cicero or Maro, or any heathen writer, into his 
 hands/or above fifleen years: for which his adversary 
 Ruffinus rallies him very severely. — Hieron. Op. tom. 4. 
 pars 2. p. 414 ; it. pars 1. p. 288. Edit. Benedict.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 211 
 
 ■a particular account and defence of the philosophy 
 of the Academy; the sect which he himself followed 
 being, as he says, of all others the most consistent 
 with itself, and the least arrogant as well as most 
 ■elegant''. He had before published a work on the 
 same subject in two books, — the one called " Catu- 
 lus," the other " LucuUus ;" but considering that the 
 argument was not suited to the characters of the 
 -speakers, who were not particularly remarkable for 
 any study of that sort, he was thinking to change 
 them to Cato and Brutus, when Atticus happening 
 to signify to him that Varro had expressed a desire 
 to be inserted in some of his writings, he presently 
 reformed his scheme and enlarged it into four 
 books, which he addressed to Varro, taking upon 
 himself the part of Philo of defending the principles 
 of the Academy, and assigning to Varro 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 
 ito make it a present worthy of Varro ; and if he 
 was not deceived, 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 of the first, 
 ■are now lost ; whilst the second book of the first 
 edition, which he took some pains to suppress, 
 iremains still entire, under its original title of 
 'iiucullus. 
 
 He published likewise this year one of the noblest 
 of his works and on the noblest subject in philo- 
 sophy, his treatise called De Finibus, or of the 
 chief good and ill of man, — written in Aristotle's 
 manner f ; in which he explained with great elegance 
 and perspicuity the several opinions of all the 
 ancient sects on that most important question. It 
 is there inquired, he tells us, what is the chief end 
 to which all the views of life ought to be referred 
 in order to make it lia])py ; or what it is which 
 nature pursues as the supreme good and shuns as 
 the worst of ills?. The work consists of five books ; 
 in the two first the Epicurean doctrine is largely 
 opened and discussed, being defended by Torquatus 
 and confuted by Cicero, in a conference supposed 
 to be held in his Cuman villa, in the presence of 
 Triarius, a young gentleman who came with Tor- 
 -quatus to visit him. The two next explain the 
 doctrine of the Stoics, asserted by Cato and op- 
 posed by Cicero in a friendly debate, upon their 
 meeting accidentally in Lucullus's library. The 
 
 d Quod genus philosophandi minime arrogans, maxi- 
 meque et constans, et elegans arbitraremur, quatuor 
 Academicis libris ostendimus. — De Divin. ii. 1. 
 
 « Ergo illam 'AKaSrj^iKijf , in qua homines, nobiles illi 
 quidem, sed nullo mode philologi, nimis acute loquimtur, 
 ad Varronem transferamus — Catulo et Lucullo alibi re- 
 ponemus. — Ad Att. xiii. 12. 
 
 Quod ad me de Varrone scripseras, totam Academiam 
 ab hominibus nobilissimis abstuli ; transtuli ad nostrum 
 sodalem, et ex duobus libris contuli in quatuor — libri 
 quidem ita exierunt, (nisi me forte commimis <pi\avria 
 decipit) ut in tali genere ne apud Grascos quidem quic- 
 quam simile. — Ibid. 13 ; it. 16, 19. 
 
 f Quae autem his temporibus scrips! 'ApiffroreXeiov 
 
 ■ morem habent — ita confeci quinque libros vepl reXcev. — 
 Ibid. 19. 
 
 g Turn id, quod his libris quacritur, quid sit finis, quid 
 extremum, quidultimum, quo sint omnia ')ene Vivendi, 
 recteque faciendi consilia referenda. Quid sequatur na- 
 tura, ut summum ex rebus expetendis; quid fugiat ut 
 
 ■ extremum malormn. — De Fin. L 4. 
 
 fifth contains the opinions of the old Academy, or 
 the Peripatetics, explained by Piso in a third 
 dialogue supposed to be held at Athens in the pr&. 
 sence of Cicero, his brother Quintus, cousin Lucius, 
 and Atticus. The critics have observed some im- 
 propriety 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 know ledge*". 
 But if any inaccuracy of that kind be really found 
 in this or any other of his works, it may reasonably 
 be excused by that multiplicity of affairs which 
 scarce allowed him time to write, much less to 
 revise what he wrote : and in dialogues of length, 
 composed by piecemeal 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 treatise upon virtue". 
 
 Not long after he had finished this work he pub- 
 lished another of equal gravity called his Tusculan 
 Disputations, in five books also, upon as many 
 different questions in philosophy, the most im- 
 portant and useful to the happiness of human life. 
 The first teaches us how to contemn the terrors of 
 death, and to look upon it as a blessing rather than 
 an evil ; the second, to support pain and afiliction. 
 with a manly fortitude ; the third, to appease all 
 our complaints and uneasinesses under the accidents 
 of life ; the fourth, to moderate all our other pas- 
 sions ; the fifth, 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 speculative, — tending to 
 improve the mind and enlarge the understanding. 
 In this manner he now spent five days at his Tus- 
 culan 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 afternoon into a gallery 
 called the Academy, which he had built for the 
 purpose of philosopliical conferences, where, after 
 the manner of the Greeks, he held a school, as they 
 called it, and invited the company to call for any 
 subject that they desired to hear explained ; which 
 being proposed accordingly 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 pub- 
 lished them under the title of his Tusculan Disputa- 
 tions, from the name of the villa in which they 
 were held''. 
 
 He wrote also a little piece in the way of a 
 funeral encomium in praise of Porcia, the sister of 
 
 h Praefat. Davis in Lib. De Fin. 
 
 i De Fin. i. 3. 
 
 k In Tusculano, cum essent complures mecum fami- 
 liares — ponere jubebam, de quo quis audire vellet ; ad id 
 aut sedens aut arobulans disputabam. Itaque dierum 
 quinque scholas, ut Gra;ci appellant, in totidem libros 
 contuli. — Tusc. Disp. i. 4. 
 
 Itaque cum ante meridiem dictioni operam dedissemus 
 — post meridiem in Academiam descendimus : in qua dis- 
 putationem habitam non quasi narrantes cxponiraus, sed 
 eisdem fere verbis ut actum disputatumque est.— Ibid. ii. 
 3 ; iii. 3?. 
 
 F2
 
 212 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Cato and wife of Domitius Ahenol)nrbiis, Caesar's 
 mortal enemy ; whieli shows how little he was still 
 disposed to court the times. Varro and LoUius 
 attempted the same subject, and Cicero desires 
 Atticus to send him their compositions; but all 
 the three arc now lost, — thouf^h C;icero took the 
 pains to revise and correct his, and sent copies of 
 it afterwards to Domitius the son, and Brutus the 
 nepliew of that Porcia'. 
 
 C'i;-~ar contiinied all this while in Spain jiursuing 
 the sons of Pompey, and providini^ for the future 
 j)eace and settlement of tlie jirovincc ; whence he 
 paid Cicero the compliment of sending him an ac- 
 count of his success with his own hand. Ilirtius 
 also gave him early intelligence of the defeat and 
 flight of the two brothers, which was not disagree- 
 able to him ; for though he was not much concerned 
 about the event of the war, and expected 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 
 Cuaeus, engasjed his wishes rather for Csesar. In 
 a letter to Atticus, " Hirtius (says he) wrote me 
 word that Sextus Pomjiey had withdrawn himself 
 from Corduba into the hither Spain, and that 
 Cuicus too was fled I know not whither, nor in 
 truth do I care"'." And this indeed seems to have 
 been the common sentiment of all the rejjublicans ; 
 as Cassius himself, writing to Cicero on the same 
 subject, declares still more explicitly : " May I 
 j)erish (says he,) if I be not solicitous about the 
 event of things in Spain, and would rather keep 
 our old and clement master than try a new and 
 cruel one. You know what a fool Cnseus is, — how- 
 he takes cruelty for a virtue, 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 rustic manner with the sword"." 
 
 Young Quintus Cicero, who made the campaign 
 along with Ciesar, 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 account 
 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 everything bad of me, and especially at 
 public 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 Csesar should trust neither of us, and 
 even beware of me : this would be terrible, did I 
 not see that our king is persuaded that I have no 
 spirit left"." 
 
 1 Laudationem Porciae tibi misi correctam : ac eo pro- 
 peravi ; ut si forte aut Domitio filio aut Bruto mltteretur, 
 haDC niitteretiir. Id si tibi erit commodum, luognopere 
 cares velim ; et velim M. Varronis, Lolliique mittas lauda- 
 tionem. — Ad Att. xiii. 48 ; it. 37. 
 
 ■n Hirtius ad me scripsit, Sex. Pompeium Corduba 
 exisse, et fugisae in Hispaniam citeriorem ; Cnseum 
 fugisse nescio quo, neque enim euro. — Ad Att. xii. .37. 
 
 n Peream, nisi soUicitus sum ; ac malo veterem ac 
 clementem dominum habere, quam novum et crudelem 
 experir:. Scis, Cnaeua quam sit fatuus ; scis quomodo 
 crudelitatem virtutem putet ; scis, quam se semper a 
 nobis derisuni putet. 
 
 Vereor, ne nos rustice gladio velit avTiuvKTTjpiiXai. — 
 Ep. Fam. xv. VJ. 
 
 o Novi sane nihil, nisi Hirtiuni cum Quinto accrrime 
 pro me litigasse; omnibus eum locis facers, maiimeque 
 
 Atticus was always endeavouring to moderate 
 Cicero's imjjatience under the present government, 
 and persuading him to comi)ly more cheerfully 
 with the times, nor to reject the friendship of 
 Cjesar, which was so forwardly offered to him ; and 
 upon his frequent complaints of the slavery and 
 indignity of his jjresent condition, he took occasioa 
 to ol>serve, what Cicero could not but own to be 
 true, that if to j)ay a j)articular court and observ- 
 ance to a man was the mark of slavery, those in. 
 ])()wer 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 appe- 
 tite to this task ; he saw how difficult it would be 
 to j)erform it without lessening his character and 
 descending to flattery, — yet being urged to it also 
 by other friends, he drew up a letter, which was 
 communicated to Hirtius and Balbus, for their 
 judgment ujion it whether it was proper to be sent 
 to Caisar. The subject seems to have been some 
 advice about restoring the peace and liberty of 
 the republic, and to dissuade him from the Parthian 
 war, which he intended for his next expedition, till 
 he had finished the more necessary work of settling 
 the state of things at home. " There was nothing 
 in it (he says) but what might come from the 
 best of citizens." It was drawn however w-ith so 
 much freedom, that though Atticus seemed pleased 
 with it, yet the other two durst not advise the 
 sending it unless some passages were altered and 
 softened, which disgusted Cicero so much that he 
 resolved not to write at all ; and when Atticus was 
 still urging him to be more complaisant, he an- 
 swered with great spirit in two or three letters''. 
 
 " As for the letter to Csesar (says he), I was 
 always very willing that they should first read it ; 
 for otherwise I had both been wanting in civility 
 to them, and if I had happened to give offence, 
 exposed myself also to danger. They have dealt 
 ingenuously and kindly with me in not concealing 
 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 flattery? 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, therefore, 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 
 in conviviis ; cum multa de me, turn redire ad patrem : 
 nihil autem ab eo tam a^ioTriaroos dici, quam alienis- 
 simos nos esse a Cassare ; fidcm nobis habendam non esse ; 
 me vero cavenduni. Kpo^ephf rjV, nisi vidercm scire re- 
 gem, me animi nihil habere. — Ad Att. xiii. 37. 
 
 P Et si mehercule, ut tu intelligis, mngis niihi isti ser- 
 vimit, si observare servire est. — Ad Att. xiii. 49. 
 
 1 Epistolam ad Ccesarem mitti video ILbi placere — ^mihi. 
 quidem hoc idem maxime placuit. et eo niagie, quod nihil 
 est in ea nisi optimi civis ; sed ita optimi, ut tempora, 
 quibus parere omnes ttoXitikoi praecipiunt. Sed scis ita 
 nobis esse visum, ut istl ante legerent. Tu igitur id 
 curabis. Sed nisi plane intelliges iis placere, mittenda 
 non est. — Ad Att. xii. .51. 
 
 De epistola ad Ceesarem, KeKpiKa. Atque id ipsum, 
 quod isti aiunt ilium scribere, se, nisi constitutis rebus, 
 non iturum in Parthos, .'demego suadebam in ilia epistola- 
 —Ibid. xiii. 31,
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 213 
 
 is natural for him to think that as I wrote nothing 
 to him before, so I should have written nothing 
 now, had not the war been wholly ended : besides I 
 am afraid lest he should imagine that I sent this 
 as a sweetener for my ' Cato.' In short, I was 
 heartily ashamed of what I had written ; and no- 
 thing could fall out more luckily than that it did 
 not please ■■." 
 
 Again, " as for writing to Caesar, I swear to you 
 I cannot do it : nor is it yet the shame of it that 
 deters me which ought to do it the most ; for how 
 mean would it be to flatter whea even to live is 
 "base in me ? But it is not, as I was saying, this 
 shame which hinders me, though I wish it did, for 
 I should then be what I ouglit to be ; but I can 
 think of nothing 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 glory and desiring 
 to be advised how to acquire it. On an occasion 
 of such dignity words can never be wanting ; but 
 what can I do on my subject? Yet I had scratched 
 as it were out of the block some faint resemblance 
 of an image ; but because there were some things 
 hinted in it a little better than what we see done 
 every day, it was disliked. 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 parts and the greatest modesty, after he 
 came to be called a king, grow proud, cruel, extra- 
 vagant ? Do you imagine that this man, ranked 
 in the processions of the gods and enshrined in the 
 same temple with Romulus, will be pleased with 
 the moderate style of my letters ? It is better that 
 he be disgusted at my not writing, than at wliat 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 effect of his resentment, be it what 
 it will, than I was before afraid of it^" " I beg 
 of you, therefore, (says he in another letter,) let us 
 have no more of this, but show ourselves at least 
 ihalf free, by our silence and retreat'." 
 
 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 necessarily lays on the free 
 course of good sense and truth among men. It 
 had yet scarce shown itself in Rome, when we see 
 one of the greatest men, as well as the greatest 
 wits which that repubhc 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 barbarism which we find in the pro- 
 ductions of the lower empire. 
 
 This was the present state of things between 
 Ca;sar 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 
 r Ad Att. xiii. 27. « Ad Att. xiii 28. 
 
 ' Obsecro, abjiciamus ista ; et semiliberi saltern simus ; 
 iquod assequemur et tacendo, et latendo.— Ibid. 31. 
 
 make Cicero easy under it ; he seems indeed to 
 have been somewhat afraid of him, not of his en- 
 gaging in any attempt against his life, but lest by 
 his insinuations, his railleries, and his authority, he 
 should excite others to some act of violence ; but 
 what he more especially desired and wanted was, to 
 draw from him some public testimony of his ap- 
 j)robation, and to be recommended by his writings 
 to the favour of posterity. 
 
 Cicero, on the other hand, perceiving no step 
 taken towards the establishment of the republic, 
 but more and more reason every day to despair of 
 it, grew still more indifferent to everything else ; 
 the restoration of public liberty was the only con- 
 dition on which he could entertain any friendship 
 with Csesar, 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 himself free. — Thus, in a letter 
 to Cassius, touching upon the misery of the times, 
 he adds, " What is become, then, you'll say, of 
 philosophy } why, yours is in the kitchen, but 
 mine is troublesome to me ; for I am ashamed to 
 live a slave, and feign 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 despatches 
 which obliged him to turn back inall haste to Rome. 
 This raised a new alarm in the city, and especially 
 among the Pompeians, who were afraid that Cfesar, 
 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 instrument 
 to execute some orders of that sort. Cicero him- 
 self 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"; which, 
 contrary to expectation, gave no uneasiness at last 
 to anybody 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, 
 never dreamt of being obliged to pay for them ; 
 but Caesar, being disgusted by the account of his 
 debauches and extravagances in Italy, and resolved 
 to show 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 according to the tenor of their bond. This 
 
 " Ubi igitur, inquies, philosophia ? Tua quidem in 
 culina ; inea molesta est. I'udet enim servire. Itaque 
 facio me alias res agere, ne convicium Platonis audiam. — 
 Ep. Fam. xv. 18. 
 
 ^ Heri cum ex aliorum litoris cognovissem de Antonii 
 adventu, admiratus sum nihil esse iii tuis. — Ad Att. xii. 18. 
 
 De Antonio Balbus quoquead me cum Oppio conscripsit, 
 idque tibi placuisse, ne perturbarer. IlUs egi gr.ittas,-- 
 Ibid. ]<).
 
 214 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 was the cause of his quick return, to prevent that 
 disgrace from falling upon him, and find some 
 m'?an8 of complying with Ciesar's commaiuls ; it 
 provoked liiin however to such a degree, that in 
 the height of his resentment lie is said to have 
 i?n*ered into a design of taking away Ca;sar's life ; 
 of which CiEsar liimself complained openly in the 
 senate''. 
 
 Tlie war heing ended in Spain by the death of 
 Cnieus Pomjiey and the flight of Sextus, Ca;sar 
 finished his answer to Cicero's " Cato,'' in two 
 •rooks, which he sent immeiliately to Rome in order 
 to he published. This gave Cicero at last the argu- 
 ment of a letter to him to return thanks for the great 
 <'ivility with which he had treated liiin in that 
 piece ; and to pay his compliments likewise in his 
 turn upon the elegance of the composition. Tiiis 
 letter was communicated again to Balbus and 
 Oppius, who declared themselves extremely pleased 
 with it, and forwarded it directly to Caesar. In 
 Cicero's account of it to Atticus, " 1 forgot," says 
 he, " to send you a copy of what I wrote to Cjesar ; 
 not for the reason which you suspect, that I was 
 ashamed to let you see how well I could flatter ; 
 for, in truth, I wrote to him no otherwise than as 
 if I was writing to an etjual, for I really have a 
 good opinion of his two books, as I told you when 
 we were together, and wrote, therefore, both with- 
 out flattering him ; and yet so that he will read 
 nothing, I believe, with more pleasure'." 
 
 Ceesar returned to Rome about the end of Sep- 
 tember, when, divesting himself of the consulsnip, 
 he conferred it on Q. Fabius Maximus 
 A. up.B. 700. and C. Treboaius for the three remain- 
 
 cic. 62. jjjg months of the year''. His first 
 care ^fter his arrival was to entertain 
 MAXIMUS ^'^^ '^''-y ^''"'^ ^^^ most splendid 
 
 c. TREDO-' triumph which Rome had ever seen ; 
 Nrus. but the people, instead of admiring 
 
 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 
 noblest families of the republic. 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 
 
 y Appellatus es de pecunia, quaui pro domo, pro hortis, 
 pro sectione debebas — et ad te et ad prsedes tuos milites 
 niisit. [Phil. ii. 29.] Idcirco urbem terrore nocturne, 
 Italiam multorumdierum metu pertuvbasti — neL. Plancus 
 pra^des tuos venderet — [ibid. 31.] Quin his ipsia temporibus 
 domi Caesaris percussor ab isto missus, deprehensiis dice- 
 batur esse cum sica. De quo Caesar in senatu, aperte in to 
 invehens, questus est. — Ibid. 29. 
 
 ^ Conscripsi de his libris epistolam Caesari, quae defcr- 
 retur ad Dolabellam: sed ejus exemplum niisi ad Balbuin 
 et Oppium, scripsique ad eos, ut turn deferri ad Dola- 
 bellam juberent nieas literas, si ipsi exemplum probas- 
 sent ; ita mihi rescripserunt, nihil unquam se legisse 
 melius. — Ad Att. xiii. 50. 
 
 Ad Caisarem quam inisi epistolam, ejus exemplum 
 fugit me turn tibi mittere ; nee id .'uit quod suspicaris, 
 ut me puderet tui — nee mehercule scrips! aliter, ac si 
 TTphs 'iaov H/MOiov que scriberem. Bene enim cxistimo de 
 ill is libris, ut tibi coram. Itaque scripsi et a.Ko\aK€vrws, 
 et taraen sic, ut nihil eum existimem lecturum libentius. 
 —Ibid. 51. 
 
 " Utroque anno bines consules substituit sibi in tcrr.os 
 novisBimos menaea. — Suet. J. Cks. 76. 
 
 passed, lest they should be thought to give them 
 to Cuesar. Atticus sent an account of it to Cicero, 
 who says in answer to him, " Your letter was 
 agreeable, though the show was so sad — the peo- 
 ple, however, bi-haved bravely, who would not clap 
 even the goddess Victory for the sake of so bad an 
 neighbour'*." Cicsar, however, to make amend* 
 for rlie unpopularity of his triumph, and to put the 
 jjcople into good humour, entertained the whole 
 city soon after with something more substantial 
 than shows ; two public dinners, with jilenty of the 
 most esteemed and costly wines of Chios and 
 Falernum'^. 
 
 Soon after Caesar's triumph, the consul FabiuB, 
 one of his lieutenants in Spain, was allowed to 
 triumph too, for tlie reduction of some parts of that 
 province which had revolted ; but the magnificence 
 of Caesar made Fabius's triumph aj)pear contem))- 
 tible, for his models of the conquered towns, which 
 were always a jiart of the show, being made only 
 of wood when Ciesar's were of silver or ivory, 
 Chrysijipus merrily called them, the cases only of 
 Caesar's towns''. 
 
 Cicero resided generally in the country, and 
 withdrew himself wholly from the senate'^ ; but on 
 Ctesar's approaeii towards Rome, Lepidus began 
 to press him by repeated letters to come and give 
 them his assistance, assuring him that both he and 
 Caisar would take it very kindly of him. He could 
 not guess for what ))articular service they wanted 
 him, except the dedication of some temple to which 
 the presence of three augurs was necessary'. 
 But whatever it was, as liis friends had long beea 
 urging the same advice and persuading him to 
 return to public 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, 
 la the service and defence of an old friend, king 
 Deiotarus. 
 
 This prince had already been deprived by CaesaLT. 
 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 
 formed by him against Caesar's life, when Caesar 
 was entertained at his house four years before, ou 
 his return from Egypt. The charge was groundless 
 and ridiculous ; but under his present disgrace any 
 charge was sufficient to ruin him, and Caesar's- 
 countenancing it so far as to receive and hear it, 
 
 •> Suaves tuas literas ! etsi acerba pompa — populum 
 veio praeclarum, quod propter tarn malum vicinum, ne 
 Victori.'E quidem x^lauditur. — Ad Att. xiii. 44. 
 
 c Quid non et Caesar dictator triumphi sui coena vini 
 Falerni amphoras, Chii cados in convivia distribuit? idem 
 in liispaniensi triumpho Chium et Falernuni' dedit — Flia. 
 Hist. Nat. xiv. 15. 
 
 Adjecit post Ilispanicnsem victoriam duo. prandia.— 
 Sueton. 38. 
 
 il Ut Chrysippus, cum in triumpho Caesaris eborea 
 oppida essent translata, et post dies paucos Fabii Maximi 
 lignea, thecas esse oppidorum Caesaris dixit. — Quint, vi. 3 ; 
 Dio, 234. 
 
 ^ Cum his temporibus non sane in senatum ventitarem. 
 Ep. Fam. xiii. 77- 
 
 I Ecce tibi, orat Lepidus, ut reniam. Opinor augurea 
 nil habere ad templum effandum. — Ad Att. xiii. 42. 
 
 Lepidus ad me heri — literas misit. Kogat magnopere ut 
 sim Kalend. in sonatu, me et sibi et Caesari vehementer 
 Kratum esse f£.(!t'jrM>»»^— Ibid. 47-
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO: 
 
 21fi 
 
 showed a strong prejudice against the king, and 
 that he wanted only a pretence for stripping him 
 of all that remained to him. Brutus likewise in- 
 terested himself very warmly in the same cause ; 
 and when he went to meet Cfesar on his road from 
 Spain, made an oration to him at NicEea, in favour 
 of Deiotarus, with a freedom which startled Ctesar, 
 and gave him occasion to reflect on what he had 
 not perceived so clearly before, the invincible fierce- 
 ness and vehemence of Brutus's temper *>'. The pre- 
 sent trial was held in Caesar's house, where Cicero 
 so manifestly exposed the malice of the accuser 
 and the innocence of the accused, thatCsesar, 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 inform himself of the whole affair 
 upon the spot. Cicero says that Deiotarus, neither 
 present nor absent, could ever obtain any favour or 
 equity from Csesar ; and that as oft as he pleaded 
 for him, which he was always ready to do, he 
 could never persuade Cfesar to think anything 
 reasonable 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 trans- 
 cribing ; " 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 presents usually are to 
 me'." 
 
 Some little time after this trial, Caesar, to show 
 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 
 amongst fiiends and relations''. Cicero gives 
 Atticus the following account of the entertainment, 
 and how the day passed between them. " O this 
 guest," says he, "whom I so much dreaded ! yet 
 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 Csesar 
 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 nine- 
 teenth, he staid at Philip's till one in the after- 
 
 S Ad Alt. xiv. ]. The Jesuits, Catrou and Rouille, take 
 Nioea, where Brutus made this speech, to be the capital 
 of Bithynia, Deiotarus'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 under- 
 take the cause as soon as Caesar came to Rome. — Hist. torn, 
 xvii. p. 91. uot. 
 
 •> Quis enim cuiquam inimicitior, quam Deiotnro 
 Cassar? — a quo neo praesers, nee absens rex Deiotarus 
 quidquam sequi boni impetravit — ille nunquam, semper 
 enini absenti affui Deiotaro, quioquam sibi, quod nos pro 
 illo postularemus, aequum dixit videri. — Phil. ii. 37. 
 
 • Oratiunculam pro Deiotaro, quam requirebas — tibi 
 misi. Quam velim sic legas, ut causam tenuem et inopem, 
 nee scriptione magno opere dignani. Sed ego hospiti veteri 
 et amico munuseujum mittere volui levidense, crasso filo, 
 cujugmodi ipsius Solent esse munera. — Ep. Fam. ix. 12. 
 
 ^ This festival, .after Csesar's reformation of the calen- 
 dar, began on the 17th of December, and lasted three days. 
 — Macrob. Saturn, i. 10. 
 
 noon, but saw nobody ; was settling accounts, I 
 guess, with Balbus ; then took a walk on the 
 shore; bathed after two; heard the verses on 
 Mamurra', at which he never clianged counte- 
 nance ; was rubbed, anointed, sat down to table. 
 Having taken a vomit just before, he ate and drank 
 freely, and was very cheerful™: the supper was 
 good and well served : 
 
 But our discourse at table, as we eat, 
 For taste and seasoning still exceU'd our meat". 
 Besides Cssar's table, his friends were plentifully 
 provided for in three other rooms ; nor was there 
 anything wanting to his freedinen of lower rank 
 and his slaves, but the better sort were elegantly 
 treated. In a word, I acquitted myself like a man ; 
 yet he is not a guest to whom one would say at 
 l)arting, ' Pray call upon me again as you return ;' 
 once is enough ; we had not a word on business, 
 but many on points of literature : in short, he was 
 delighted with his entertainment, and passed the 
 day agreeably. He talked of sjjending one day at 
 Puteoli, another at Baise ; thus yo)i see the manner 
 of my receiving him, somewhat troublesome indeed, 
 but not uneasy to me. I shall stay here a little 
 longer, and then to Tusculum. As he passed by 
 Dolabella's villa, his troops marched close by his 
 
 1 Mamurra was a Roman knight, and general of the 
 artillery to Csesar in Gaul ; where he raised an immense 
 fortune, and is said to have been the first man in Rome 
 who.incrusted his house with marble, and made all his pil- 
 lars of solid marble. [I'lin. Hist. Nat. xxxvi. C] He waa 
 severely lashed, together with Cfesar himself, for his 
 excessive luxury, and more infamous vices, by Catullus ; 
 whose verses are still extant, and the same probably that 
 Cicero here refers to, as being first read to Caisar at his 
 house.— Vide CatuU. 27, 55. 
 
 The reader perhaps will not readily understand the time 
 and manner of Caesar's passing from Philip's house to 
 Cicero's in this short account of it : but it must be remem- 
 bered, that their villas were adjoining to each other on 
 the Formian coast, near Cajeta ; so tliat when Csesar 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 bathing, he heard Catuilus'a 
 verses ; not produced by Cicero, for that would not have 
 been agreeable to good manners, but by some of his own 
 friends who attended him, and who knew his desire to see 
 everything that was published against him, as well as hia 
 easiness in slighting or forgiving it. 
 
 ™ The custom of takhig a vomit both immediately before 
 and after meals, which Cicero mentions Cfesar to have 
 done on different occasions, [Pro Deiot. 7-] was very com- 
 mon 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." [Consol. ad Ilelv. 9.] By this evacuation before 
 eating, they were prepared to eat more plentifully ; and 
 by emptying themselves presently after it, prevented any 
 luirt fron^ repletion. Thus Vitellius, wlio 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 : [Sueton. 12 ; Dio, Ixv. 734.] And the 
 practice was thought so effectual for strengthening the 
 constitution, that it was the constant regimen of all the 
 athletae, or the professed wrestlers trained for the public 
 shows, in order to make them more robust. So that Cssar's 
 vomiting before dinner was a sort of compliment to Cicero, 
 as it intimated a resolution to pass the day cheerfully and 
 to eat and drink freely with him. 
 
 n This is a citation from Lucilius, of an hexameter verse, 
 with part of a second, which is not distinguished from 
 the text, in the eaitions of Cicero's Letters, 
 sea bene cocto et 
 tVmdito sermone bono, et si quaeris libcnter.
 
 216 
 
 THE IIISTOIIY OV THE LIFE OF 
 
 horse's side on the right and left, wliich was done 
 nowhere else. I liad this from Nicias"." 
 
 On the last of December, when the consul Tre- 
 bonius was abroad, his coUeaijuc, Q. Fabius, died 
 suddenly ; and liis death l)iing declared in the 
 morning, C. Caninius Rebilus was named by 
 Ciesar to the vacancy at one in the afternoon, 
 whose office was to continue only through the re- 
 maining part of that day. Tiiis wanton j)rofanation 
 of the sovereitfu dignity of the eni])ire raised a 
 general indignation in the city, and a consulate 
 BO ridiculous gave birth to nuu'h raillery, and many 
 jokes which are transmitted to us by the ancientsi', 
 of which Cicero, who was the chief autlior 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 somewhitlier myself, 
 where I may liear 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 transac- 
 tions. You had surely an early foresight of what 
 was coming on when you ran away from this (jlace ; 
 for though it be vexatious to hear of such things, 
 yet that is more tolerable than to see them. It is 
 well that you were not in the field when, at seven 
 in the morning, as they were proceeding to an 
 election of quiestors, the chair of Q. Maxinius, 
 whom they called consul'', was set in its place, but 
 liis death being immediately proclaimed, it was 
 removed, and Caesar, though he had taken the 
 auspices for an assembly of the tribes, changed 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 morning. I 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 so much as slept. These things 
 seem ridiculous to you, who are absent, but were 
 you to see them you would hardly refrain from 
 tears. What if I should tell you the rest ? For 
 there are numberless 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 my studies," &c.'' 
 
 Caesar had so many creatures and dependants, 
 who expected the honour of the consulship from 
 him as the reward of their services, that it was 
 impossible to oblige them all in the regular way, 
 so that he ^as forced to contrive the expedient of 
 splitting it, as it were, into parcels, and conferring 
 it for a few months, or weeks, or even days, as it 
 happened to suit his convenience : and as the 
 thing itself was now but a name, without any real 
 power, it was of little moment for what term it was 
 granted, since the shortest gave the same privilege 
 
 ° Ad Alt. xiii. 52. 
 
 P Macrob. Saturn, ii. 3 ; Dio, p. 236. 
 
 <J Cicero would not allow a consul of throe months, so 
 irregularly chosen, to be properly called a consul : nor did 
 the people themselves acknowledge him : for, as Suetonius 
 tells us, [in J. Cacs. 80.] when, upon Fabius's entrance into 
 the theatre, his officers, according to custom, proclaimed 
 his presence, apd ordered the people lo make way fur the 
 consul, the wliole assembly cried out Jle is no consul, 
 
 * Ep. Fam. vii. 30. 
 
 cic. 03 
 
 C088. 
 C. JULIUS 
 CKSAR V. 
 
 with the longest, and a man once declared consul, 
 enjoyed ever after the rank and character of a con- 
 sular senator'. 
 
 On the opening of the new year, Ctesar entered 
 into his fifth consulship, in partnersiiip with M. 
 Antony : he had promised it all along 
 *• ;;«n;.,7<«- to Dolabtlla, but, contrary to expec- 
 tation, took it at last to himself. This 
 was contrived by Antony, who, jea- 
 lous of Dolaljella as a rival in Cu-'sar's 
 M. ANTo- favour, had been suggesting somewhat 
 
 NH)8. to his disadvantage, and labouring to 
 
 create a diftidenee of him in Ciesar ; 
 which seems to liave been the ground of what is 
 mentioned above, Csesar's guarding himself so 
 particularly when he passed l)y 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 
 assembly with a severe speech against Antony, 
 which drew on many warm and angry words be- 
 tween them ; till Cxsar, to end the dispute, pro- 
 mised to resign tlie consulship to Dolabella before 
 he went to the Parthian war : but Antony protested 
 that, by his authority as augur, he would disturb 
 that election wlienever it should be attempted'; 
 and declared, without 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''. He had received 
 from the senate the most extravagant honours, 
 both human and divine, which flattery could 
 invent, a temple, altar, priest ; his image carried 
 in procession with the gods ; his statue among the 
 kings ; one of the months called after his name, 
 and a perpetual dictatorship''. Cicero endeavoured 
 to restrain the excess of this complaisance withia 
 the bounds of reason^, but in vain, since Caesar 
 was more forward to receive than they to give ; 
 and out of the gaiety of his pride, and to try, as it 
 were, to what length their adulation would reach, 
 when he was actually possessed of everything which 
 carried with it any real power, was not content still 
 without a title, which could add nothing but envy 
 and popular odium, and wanted to be called a 
 king. Plutarch thinks it a strange instance of 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 
 
 » Dio, p. 240. 
 
 ' Cum Ceesar ostendisset, se, priusquam proficisceretur, 
 Dolabellam consulem essejussurum — hie bonus augur eo 
 sc sacerdotio praditum esse dixit, ut comitia auspiciis vel 
 impedire vel vitiare posset, idque se facturum asseveravit. 
 —Phil. ii. 32. 
 
 1 Prequentissimo senatu — banc tibi esse cum Dolabella 
 causam odii dicere ausus es, quod ab eo sorori et uxori 
 tuae stupruni oblatum esse comperisses. — Phil. ii. 38. 
 
 '^ Quae omnia, velut infute, in destinatani morti victi> 
 mam congerebantur. — Flor. iv. 2, 92. 
 
 y Flor. ibid ; Sueton. J. Cses. 76. 
 
 z Plut in CxB.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 217 
 
 to keep up that prejudice ; but it was unpardonable 
 in so great a man as Ccesar to lay so much stress 
 on a title which, so far from being an honour to 
 him, seemed to be a diminution rather of that 
 superior 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 
 Cicero 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 
 flattery, but an indecency, for a young man of 
 family, to be engaged in ceremonies so immodest, 
 of running naked and frantic about the streets*. 
 The festival was held 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 at- 
 tempted to 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 loudly testified their joy by a universal 
 shout. Antony, however, ordered it to be entered 
 in the public acts, that by the command of the 
 people he had offered the kingly name and power 
 to Caesar, and that Caesar would not accept it*". 
 
 While this affair of the kingly title amused and 
 alarmed the city, two of the tribunes, Marullus and 
 Caesetius, were particularly active in discouraging 
 ■ every step and attempt towards it : they took off 
 the diadem which certain persons had privately 
 put upon Caesar's statue in the rostra, and com- 
 mitted those to prison who were suspected to have 
 done it, and publicly punished others for daring 
 to salute him in the streets by the name of king, 
 declaring that Caesar himself refused and abhorred 
 that title. This provoked Caesar beyond 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 sentence upon them, he 
 was content with deposing them from their magis- 
 tracy, and expelling them from the senate '^, which 
 convinced people still the more of his real fondness 
 for a name that he pretended to despise. 
 
 He had now prepared all things for his expedition 
 against the Parthians, had sent his legions before 
 him into Macedonia, settled the succession of all 
 the magistrates for two years to come*^, appointed 
 Dolabella to take his own place as consul of the 
 current year, named A. Hirtius and C. Pansa for 
 
 » Quintus pater quartum vel potius niillesimum nihil 
 sapit, qui Ijetetur Luperco filio et Static, ut cernat du- 
 plici dedecore cumulatam domum. — Ad Att. xii. 5. 
 
 b Sedcbat in rostris collega tuus, amictus toga purpurea, 
 in sella aurea, coronatus : adscendis, acccdis ad sellam — 
 diadema ostendis : gemitus toto forci — tu diadema impone- 
 bas cum plangore populi, ille cum plausu rejieiebat — at 
 enim adseribi jussit in fastis ad Lupercalia, C. Caesari, 
 dictatori perpetuo M. Antonium consulem populi jussu 
 regnum dctulisse, C^sarem uti noluisso. [Phil. ii. 34.] 
 Quod ab eo ita repulsum erat, ut non offensus vidcretur. 
 —Veil. Pat. ii. 56. 
 
 e Sueton. J. Ca;s. 79 ; Dio, p. 245 ; App. 1. ii. p. 49G ; Veil. 
 Pat. ii. 68. 
 
 <^ Etiamne consules et tribunes plebis in biennium, quos 
 ille voluit ?— Ad Att. xiv. & 
 
 consuls of the next, and D. Brutus and Cn. Plancus 
 for the following year : but before his departure he 
 resolved to have the regal title conferred upon him 
 by the senate, who were too sensible of his power, 
 and obsequious to bis will, to deny him anything ; 
 and to make it the more palatable at the same time 
 to the people, he caused a report to be indus- 
 triously 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 guar- 
 dians of those books, was to move the senate at 
 their next meeting, to decree the title of king to 
 him"^. Cicero, speaking afterwards of this design, 
 says, "It was expected that some forged testi- 
 monies would be produced, to show 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 keepers of those oracles, 
 that they bring anything out of them rather than 
 a king, which neither the gods nor men will ever 
 endure again at Rome'." 
 
 One would naturally have expected, after all the 
 fatigues 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 woild 
 could bestow ; but in the midst 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 awhile with 
 the splendour of his shows and triumphs, yet 
 regretting severely in cool blood the price that they 
 had paid for them ; the 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 remov- 
 ing himself from the murmurs of the city, and 
 leavii^ 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 pushed on 
 the nobles, who had conspired against his life, to 
 the immediate execution of their plot, that they 
 might save themselves the shame of being forced 
 to concur in an act which they heartily detested s ; 
 and the two Brutuses in particular, the honour of 
 whose house was founded in the extirpation of 
 kingly government, could not but consider it as a 
 personal inf^imy, and a disgrace to their very 
 name, to suffer the restoration of it. 
 
 ' Proximo autein S3natu, L. C'ottam quindecimvirum 
 sontentiam dicturum ; utquoniam libris fatal ibus contine- 
 retur, Parthos non nisi a rege posse vinci, Cassar rex 
 appellaretur. — Sueton. J. Cas. 79 ; Dio, p. 247. 
 
 ' Quorum interpres nuper falsa qua^dam hominum fama 
 dicturus in senatu putabatur, eum, quem re vera regem 
 habebamus, appellandum quoquoesse regem, si galvi essa 
 vellemus — cum antistibus agamus, ut quidvis potius ex 
 illis libris, quam regem proferant, quem Romas posthac 
 nee dii nee homines esse patientiir. — Do Divin. ii. 54. 
 
 S Qua? causa conjuratis fuit maturandi destinata negofia. 
 no assentiri necesse esset— Suett J. Cass. 80 ; Dio, p. 247.
 
 218 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 There were above sixty persons said to be en- 
 gaged in this consjiirucy '" ; the greatest part of 
 them of the senatorian rank ; but M. Brutus and 
 C. Cassius were the chief in credit and autliority ; 
 the first contrivers and movers of the whole design. 
 
 M. Junius Brutus was about one-and-forty years 
 old, of the most illustrious family of the repubhc, 
 deriving liis name and descent in a direct line froui 
 that first consul, L. Brutus, who expelled Tarquin, 
 and gave freedom to the Roman people'. Having 
 lost his father wlicn very young, he was trained 
 with great care by his uncle Cato, in all the studies 
 of ))olite letters, especially of I'loquence and j)hilo- 
 soj)hy ; and under the discijiline of such a tutor, 
 imbibed a warm love for liberty and virtue. He 
 liad excellent parts, and e((ual industry, and ac- 
 quired an early fame at the bar, where he pleaded 
 several causes of great importance, and was 
 esteemed the most eloquent and learned of all the 
 young nobles of his age. His manner of .speaking 
 was correct, elegant, judicious, yet wanting that 
 force and copiousness which is required in a con- 
 summate 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 
 affected the severity of the Stoic, and to imitate 
 his uncle Cato, to which he was wholly unequal ; 
 for he was of a mild, merciful, and compassionate 
 disposition, averse to everything cruel, and was 
 often forced, by the tenderness of his nature, to 
 confute the rigour of his jirinciples. While his 
 mother lived in the greatest familiarity with Cfesar, 
 he was constantly attached to the opposite party, 
 and firm to the interests of liberty ; for the sake of 
 which he followed 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 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 Africa, he was mduced by Csesar's 
 generosity and his mother's prayers, to lay down 
 
 b Conspiratum est in eum a sexaginta amplius, C Cas- 
 sio, Marcoque et Decinio Bruto principibus conspirationis. 
 —Suet. ibid. 18. 
 
 > Some of the ancient writers call in question thisaccount 
 of Brutus's descent ; particularly Dionysius of Ilalicar- 
 nassus, the most judicious 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 public speeches, 
 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 Atti- 
 cus, who was peculiarly curious in the antiquities of the 
 Roman families, drew up Brutus's genealogy or him ; and 
 deduced his succession from that old hero, in a direct line 
 through all the intermediate ages, from father to son. — 
 Com. Nep. vit. Att. 18 ; Tuso. Disp. iv. 1. 
 
 He was bom in the consulship of L. Cornelius Cinna III. 
 and On. Papirius Carbo, A.U. 668, which fully confutes the 
 vulgar story of his being commonly believed to be Cirsar's 
 son ; since he was but fifteen years younger than Caesar 
 himself: whose familiarity with his mother Servilia can- 
 not be supposed to have commenced till many years after 
 Brutus was bom, or not till Caesar had lost his first wife 
 Cornelia, whom he married when he was very young, and 
 always tenderly loved ; and whose funeral oration he made 
 when he was quaestor, and consequently thirty years old. 
 — Sueton. J. Cjes. i. 6. 50 ; it. Brut. p. 343. 447, et Corradi 
 notas. 
 
 his arms, and return to Italy. Csesar endeavoured 
 to oblige him by 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 mucli more than 
 any honours could oblige ; and the ruin in which 
 he saw his friends involved by Cwsar's usurped 
 dominion, gave him a disgust which no favours 
 could comj)ensate. He observed, therefore, a dis- 
 tance and reserve through Csesar's reign ; aspired 
 to no share of his confidence, or part iu his coun- 
 sels, and by the uncourtly vehemence with which 
 he defended the rights of King Deiotarus, con- 
 vinced Ctesar 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 utterly averse to the 
 nu^-isures of the times, and in whose free conversa- 
 tion he used to mingle his own complaints on the 
 unhappy state of the republic, 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 
 Csesar. He had publicly defended Milo's act of 
 killing Clodius, by a maxim, which he maintained 
 to be universally true, that those who live iu 
 defiance of the law, and cannot be brought to a 
 trial, ought to be taken off without a trial. The 
 case was applicable to Ceesar in a much higher 
 degree than to Clodius ; 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 family 
 not less honourable or ancient, nor less zealous 
 for the public liberty, than Brutus's : whose ances- 
 tor, 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 domi- 
 nion. He showed 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 quarrel, he declared in his presence, that if 
 Faustus should dare to repeat the words, he would 
 repeat the blow. He was qujestor to Crassus in. 
 the Parthian war, wiiere he greatly signalised both 
 his courage and skill ; and if Crassus had followed 
 
 1< Natura admirabilis, ct exquisita doctrina, et singularis 
 industria. Cum enim in maximis causis versatus esses 
 — [Brut. 26.] quo magistuum, Brute, judicium probo, qui 
 eorum, id est, ex velcre acadcmia, philosophorum sectam 
 secutus es, quorum in doctrina et praeceptis disserendi 
 ratio conjungitur cum suavitate dicendi et copia. [Brut. 
 219.] Kam cum inambularem inXysto — M. ad me Brutus, 
 ut consueverat, cum T. Pomponio venerat — [Brut. 15.] turn 
 Brutus — itaque doleo etHlius consilioet tua voce populum 
 Itonianum carere tamdiu. Quod cum per se dolendum 
 est, turn multo magis consideranti, ad quosista non trana- 
 lata siat, sed nescio quo pacto devenerint. — [Brut. 269.] 
 
 'AXA.' ^hvTiavlovye x.al iroKAovi uKOVcrai \(yovTOS, 
 ws fwvou oioiTO BpovTOf eTTiSecrSai Kalaapi, irpoax^^"'^^ 
 TTJ AauTrpoTijTi Kal Tcf (pai.vofj.et'Cf) Ka\w t7)S irpa^eus. 
 i "Ipiut. in. Brut. p. 997 ; App. p. 498.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 219 
 
 his advice, would have preserved the whole army ; 
 but after their miserable defeat, he made good his 
 retreat into Syria with the remains of the broken 
 legions : and when the Parthians, flushed with 
 success, pursued him thither soon after, and 
 blocked him up in Antioch, he preserved that city 
 and province from falling into their hands, and, 
 watching his opportunity, gained a considerable 
 victory over them, with the destruction of their 
 general. In the civil war, after the battle of Phar- 
 salia, he sailed with seventy ships to the coast of 
 Asia, to raise fresh forces in that country, and 
 renew the war against Caesar ; but as the historians 
 tell us, happening to meet with Csesar crossing the 
 Hellespont, in a common passage-boat, instead of 
 destroying him, as he might have done, he was so 
 terrified by the sight of the conqueror, that he 
 begged his life in an abject manner, and delivered 
 up his fleet to him ; but Cicero gives us a hint of 
 a quite different story, which is much more pro- 
 bable, and worthy of Cassius ; that having got 
 intelligence where Csesar designed to land, he lay 
 in wait for him in a bay of Cilicia, at the mouth of 
 the river Cydnus, with a resolution to destroy him ; 
 but Caesar happened to land on the opposite shore, 
 before he was aware ; so that seeing his project 
 blasted, and Caesar secured in a country where all 
 people were declaring for 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 differing in temper and phi- 
 losophy, was strictly united with him in friendship 
 and politics, and the constant partner of all his 
 counsels. He was brave, witty, learned, yet pas- 
 sionate, fierce, and cruel ; so that Brutus was the 
 more amiable friend, he the more dangerous 
 enemy : in his later years he deserted the Stoics, 
 and became a convert to Epicurus, whose doctrine 
 he thought more natural and reasonable ; con- 
 stantly maintaining that the pleasure which their 
 master recommended was to be found only in the 
 habitual practice of justice and virtue. While he 
 professed himself, therefore, an Epicurean, he lived 
 like a Stoic ; was moderate in pleasures, temperate 
 in diet, and a water-drinker through life. He 
 attached himself very early to the obser^-ance of 
 Cicero, as all the young nobles did who had any- 
 thing great or laudable in view. This friendship 
 was confiiTned by a conformity of their sentiments 
 in the civil war, and in Csesar's reign ; during 
 which several letters passed between them, written 
 with a freedom and familiarity which is to be found 
 only 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 integrity ; 
 and pleasantly says, that he should begin to think 
 that sect to have more nerves than he imagined, 
 since Cassius had embraced it. The old writers 
 assign several frivolous reasons of disgust as the 
 motives of his killing Caesar ; that Caesar took a 
 number of lions from him, which he had provided 
 for a public show ; that he would not give him the 
 consulship ; that he gave Brutus the more honour- 
 able 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 
 singularly impetuous and violent ; impatient of 
 contradiction, and much more of subjection, and 
 passionately fond of glory, virtue, lioerty. It was 
 
 from these qualities that Caesar apprehended his 
 danger; and when admonished to beware of Antonys 
 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 leanj — 
 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 Cffisar, and were 
 singularly favoured, advanced, and entrusted by 
 him in all his wars ; so that when 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 greatest courage and ability, and reduced 
 that strong place to the necessity of surrendering 
 at discretion. Decimus was of the same family 
 vrith his namesake, Marcus ; and Ca;sar, as if 
 jealous of a name that inspired an aversion to 
 kings, was particularly solicitous to gain them both 
 to his interest, and seemed to have succeeded to 
 his wish in Decimus, who forwardly embraced his 
 friendship, 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 second heir even of his estate, in failure of the 
 first. He seems to have had no peculiar character 
 (if virtue or patriotism, nor any correspondence 
 with Cicero before the act of killing Caesar, so that 
 people, instead of expecting it from him, were 
 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 
 expense, for the diversion of the city ; and after 
 Caesar's death, spent about four hundred thousand 
 
 1 C Cassius in ea familia natus, quss non modo dumina- 
 tum, sed ne potentiam quidem cujusquam ferre potuit. 
 [Phil. ii. 11.] Quern ubi primuni magistratu abiit, dam- 
 natumque constat. Sunt qui patrem actorem ejus suppU- 
 cii fcrant. Eum cognita domi causa veiberasse ac necasse, 
 peculiumque filii Cereri consecravisse. [Liv. ii. 41.] Cuju» ■ 
 filium, Faustum, C. Cassius condiscipulura suum in 
 schola, prosciiptionem patemani laudantem — colapho 
 percussit. [Val. Max.iii. 1. vifi. ?lutar. in Brut.] Reliquias 
 legiimum C. Cassius — qua;stor conservavit, Syriamque adeo 
 in populi Romani potestate retinuit, ut transgresses in 
 eum Varthos, felici rerum eventu fugaret ao funderet. 
 [Yell. Pat. ii. 46 ; Phil. xi. 14.] OvSe epyov erepov riyov- 
 fj.ai rvxv^ <*' o-T^opcf! Kaipw yeveaOai fxaWov, ^ Kaff- 
 (jiuv rhv iroAffxiKwraTOV tTrt Tpn)pwv iffSofiriKOfTa 
 airapaaKivwKaio-api (rvvrvx^vra, jxriS' is x^^p^^ eA- 
 6e7v irKoinr\vai, b 5' oi/rajj kavrbv alcrxp^s vTrh <p6$ov 
 /xot'ov -jrapaTzXiOVTi TrapaSovs, vanpov iv Vdnj; Svy - 
 crevovTa ^Stj KareKTaftv. [App. ii. 483 ; Dio, xlii. 188 ; 
 Sueton. J. Css. 63.] C. Cassius — sine his clarissimis viris • 
 banc rem in Cilicia ad ostium fluminis Cydni confecisset, 
 si iUe ad eam ripam, quam constituerat, non ad contrariam 
 naves appulisset. [Phil. ii. 11.] E quibus Brutum aniicum 
 habere malles, inimicum magis timeres C'assium. [Veil. 
 Pat. ii. 72.] 'HSoyrju vero et arapa^lav virtute, justitia, 
 Ttfi Ka\ui parari, et verum et probabile est. Ipse enim 
 Epicurus — dicit, oi/K idjiv riSecDS avev tov kccXSiS koX 
 SiKalojSy^fju. [Ep. Fam. XV. 19.] Cassius tota vita aquani 
 bibit. [Sen'ec. 547.] Quanquam quicum loquor ? cum uno 
 fortissimo viro ; qui postea quam forum attigisti, nihiL 
 fecisti nisi plenissimum amplissims dignitatis. In ista 
 ipsa alpeffft metuo ne plus nervorum sit, quam ego puta- 
 rim, si modo eam tu probas. [Ep. Fam. xv. 16] Differends 
 consulatum Cassium oiTenderat. [Veil. Pat. ji. 56 ; Plut. 
 in Brut. ; App. 408
 
 220 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 pounds of hk own money in maintaining an army 
 against Antony'". 
 
 Trebonius had no family to boast of, but was 
 ■wholly a new man, and the creature of Ciesar's 
 power, who produced him through ail the honours 
 of the state to his late consulship of three months. 
 Antony calls him the son of a huffoon, hut Cicero 
 of a si)leiidid knight : he was a man of parts, 
 prudence, integrity, humanity ; was conversant also 
 in tilt'. politer arts, and had a peculiar turn to wit 
 and luimour ; for after Ciesar's death he published 
 a vohiiiie of Cicero's sayings, whii'h he had taken 
 the pains to collect : upon which Cicero compli- 
 ments 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 Decimus to the resolu- 
 tion of killing a man to whom they were infinitely 
 ■obliged ; so we may reasonably impute it, as 
 Cicero does, to a greatness of soul, and sui)erior 
 love of their country, which made them prefer the 
 liberty of Rome to the friendship of any man, and 
 choose rather to be tlie destroyers than the partners 
 of a tyranny". 
 
 The rest of the conspirators were partly young 
 men, of noble blood, eager to revenge the ruin of 
 their fortunes and families ; partly men obscure, 
 and unknown to the public °, 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 itP ; 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 mani. They took it also 
 for granted, that the city would be generally 
 
 "" Adjcctis ctiam consiliarlis csedis, familiarissimis 
 omnium, et fortuna partium ejus in summum evoctis fas- 
 tigium, D. Bruto et C. Trebonio, aliisque clari nominis 
 viris. [Veil. Pat. ii. 56.] Pluresque percussorum in tutori- 
 bus filii nominavit : Decimum Brutum etiam in secundis 
 heredibus. [Sueton. J. Cacs. 83.] Caes. De Bello Civ. 
 1. ii; Plut. in Brut.; App. p. 497, 511 ; Dio, xliv. 247. 
 &c.] D. Brutus — cum Caesaris primus omnium amicorum 
 'fuisset, interfector fuit. — Veil. Pat. ii. 64. 
 
 n Scurrse filium appellat Antonius. Quasi vero ignotus 
 nobis fuerit splcndidus eques Romanus Trebonii pater. 
 [Phil. xiii. 10.] Trebonii — consilium, ingenium, humani- 
 tatcm, innocentiam, magnitudincm animi in patria libe- 
 randa quis ignorat ? [Phil, xi, 4.] Liber iste, quem milii 
 misisti, quantam habet declarationem amoris tui? pri- 
 mum, quod tibi facetum videtuv quicquid ego dixi, quod 
 aliis fortaise non item : deinde, quod ilia, sive faccta sunt, 
 •sive sic sunt narrante tc venustissima. Quin etiam ante- 
 ■quam ad me veniatur, risus oninis p;pne consumitur, &c. 
 [Ep. Fam. xv. 21 ; ib. xii. 16.] Qui libertatcm populi 
 Eomani unius amicitiae pr.-cposuit, dcpulsorque domina- 
 tus, quam particeps esse maluit. — Phil. ii. 11. 
 
 ° In tot hominibus, partimobscuris, partim adolescenti- 
 bus, &c.— Phil. ii. 11. 
 
 P 'lis Tojf fiovKevrwu, (I Haltfj}] Trpofi.ddoiev, TipoQv- 
 fius, </T€ tSoiefrJ) ipyov, trweTrtATjif/Oyue'ccDf App. 499. 
 
 1 Postquam senatus Idibus Martiis in Pompeii curiam 
 ««dictus est, facile tempus et locam piietulerunt. — Sueton. 
 J. Case. 80. 
 
 on their side ; yet for their greater security, D. 
 Brutus gave orders to arm his gladiators that 
 morning, as if for some public show, 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 adjoined to 
 Ids senate-house, being the proj)erest place for the 
 exercise of the gladiators, would cover all susjiicion 
 that might otherwise arise from them. The only 
 deliberation that perplexed tlu-m, and on which 
 they were much divided, was, whether they ."-hould 
 not kill Antony also, and Lepidus, together with 
 Ca;sar ; esjieciaily Antony, the more ambitious of 
 the two, and the more likely to create fresh danger 
 to the commonwealth. Cassius, wiHi the majority 
 of the company, was warmly for killing him : but 
 the two Brutuses as warmly opposed, and finally 
 overnded 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 into their hands." But 
 what weighed witli them the most, was a vaia 
 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, defeated all the benefit of it, 
 as we find Cicero afterwards often reproaching 
 them in bis letters''. 
 
 Many prodigies are mentioned by the historians 
 to have given warning of Ca;sar's death*; which 
 having been forged by some and credulously re- 
 ceived by others, were copied as usual by all, to 
 strike the imagination of their readers and raise 
 an awful attention to an event in which the gods 
 were supposed to be interested. Cicero has related 
 one of the most remarkable of them, — " that as 
 Csesar was sacrificing a little before his death, with 
 great pomp and splendour, in his triumphal robes 
 and golden chair, the victim, which was a fat ox, 
 was found to be without a heart ; and when Csesar 
 seemed to be shocked at it, Spurinna the haru- 
 spex, admonished him to beware lest through a 
 failure of counsel his life should be cut off, since 
 the heart was the seat and source cf 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 
 
 r Plutar. in Ca^s. ; App. ii. 499, 502 ; Dio, 247, 248. 
 Quam vellem ad illas pulcherrimas epulas me Idibus Mar- 
 tiis invitasses. Reliquiarum nihil haberemus. — Ep. Fam. 
 X. 28 ; xii. 4 ; Ad Brut. ii. 7- 
 
 s Sed Cajsari futura casdes evidentibus prodigiis denun- 
 ciata est, &c. — Sueton. J. Ca^s. 81 ; Plut. in Csbs. 
 
 t De Divin. i. 52 ; ii. 16. These cases of victims found 
 sometimes tcithout a heart or liver, gave rise to a curious 
 question among those who believed the reality of this kind 
 of divination, as the Stoics generally did, how to account 
 for the cause of so strange a phenomenon. The common 
 solution was, that the gods made such changes instanta- 
 neously, in the moment of sacrificing, by annihilating or 
 altering the condition of the entrails, so as to make them 
 correspond with the circumstances of the sacrifieer, and 
 the admonition which they intended to give. [De Div. ib.] 
 But this was laughed at by the naturalists, as wholly 
 unphilosophical, who thought it absurd to imagine that 
 the deity could either annihilate or create, either reduce 
 anything to nothing, or form anything out of nothing. 
 What seems the most probable, is, that if the facts realljr
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 222 
 
 facts, though ridiculed by Cicero, were publicly 
 affirmed and believed at the time, and seem to have 
 raised a general rumour through the city of some 
 secret danger that threatened Csesar's life, so that 
 his friends, being alarmed at it, vcere endeavouring 
 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 ac- 
 tually assembled by his summons in Pompey's 
 senate-house, — till D. Brutus, by rallying those 
 fears as unmanly and unworthy of him, and al- 
 leging 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 
 daggers under their gowns, they sat with the same 
 calmness as if they had nothing upon their minds, 
 till the news of Csesar'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''. 
 
 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 fabric he had made 
 more desolation in the world than any man per- 
 haps who ever lived in it. He used to say that 
 his conquests in Gavd had cost about a million 
 and two hundred thousand lives ^ ; and if we add 
 the civil wars to the account, they could not cost 
 the republic much less in the more valuable blood 
 of its best citizens ; yet when, through a perpetual 
 course of faction, violence, rapine, slaughter, lie 
 had made his way at last to empire, 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, provident in counsel, fearless 
 in action, and executing what he had resolved with 
 an amazing celerity ; generous beyond measure to 
 his friends, placable to his enemies ; and for parts, 
 learning, eloquence, scarce inferior to any man. 
 His orations were admired for two qualities which 
 are seldom found together, — strength and elegance. 
 Cieero 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 rivalling Cicero. Nor was 
 he a master only of the politer arts, but conversant 
 also with the most abstruse and critical parts of 
 learning ; and among other works which he pub- 
 lished, addressed two books to Cicero on the analogy 
 
 happened, they were contrived by Caesar's friends, and 
 the heart conveyed away by some artifice, to give 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 pre- 
 tended denunciations of the gods. 
 
 K Plutarch, in J. Css. " Ibid, in Brut. ; App. ii. 505. 
 
 y Undecies centena et nonaginta duo hominum millia 
 occisa praeliis ab eo — quod ita esse confessus est ipse, bel- 
 lorum civUium stragem non prodendo. — Plin. Hist. Nat. 
 vii. 25. 
 
 ^ Neque illi tanto viro — plusquam quinque mensium 
 principalis quies contigit.— Veil. Pat. ii. 56. 
 
 of language, or the art of speaking and writing 
 CO" ectly*. He was a most liberal patron of wit 
 and learning wheresoever they were found, and out 
 of his love of those talents would readily pardoa 
 those who had employed them against himself; 
 rightly judging that by making such men his 
 friends he should draw praises from the same 
 fountain from which he had been aspersed. His 
 capital passions were ambition 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 sacrifice 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 frequently in his mouth a 
 verse of Euripides which expressed 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 sub- 
 version of the republic. He used to say, that 
 there were two things necessary to acquire and to 
 support power, — soldiers and money, which yet 
 depended mutually on each other. With money, 
 therefore, he provided soldiers, and with soldiers 
 extorted money ; and was of all men the most 
 
 rapacious in plundering both friends and foes, 
 
 sparing neither prince, nor state, nor temple, nor 
 even private persons who were known to possess 
 any share of treasure. His great abilities would 
 necessarily have made him one of the first citizens 
 of Rome ; but disdaining the condition of a subject, 
 he could never rest till he had made himself a 
 monarch. In acting this last part his usual pru- 
 dence 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 hving too fast, so by an intemperance of 
 reigning he brought his reign to a violent end**. 
 
 » It was in the dedication of this piece to Cicero, that 
 Csesar paid him the compliment, which Pliny mentions, 
 of his having acquired a laurel superior to that of all 
 triumphs, as it was more glorious to extend the bounds of 
 the Roman wit, than of their empire. — Plin. Hist Nat. 
 vii. 30. 
 
 •> De Caesare et ipse ita judico — ilium omnium fere ora- 
 torum latine loqui elegantissime — et id — multis Uteris, et 
 iis quidem reconditis et exquisitis, summoque studio ac 
 diligentia est consecutus. [Brut, 370.] C. vero Caesar si 
 foro tantum vacasset, non alius ex nostris 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 Analogia conscripsit. [Aul. Gell. xix. 8.] Quin etiam 
 in maximis occupationibus cum ad te ipsum, inquit, de 
 ratione latine loquendi accuratissime scripserit — [Brut, 
 370 ; Sueton. J. Cacs. 56.] — in Caesare haec sunt, mitis, cle- 
 mensque natura — accedit, quod mirifice ingeniis excellen- 
 tibus, quale tuum est, delectatur — eodem fonte se haustu- 
 rum intelligit laudes suas, e quo sit leviter aspersusi C£p. 
 Fam. vi. 6.] Tr;>/ Qeuv ixiyiarriv Uktt ex^"' Tvpa.vy'tSa. 
 [Ad Att. vii. 11.] Ipse autem in ore semper graecos versus 
 de Phoenissis habebat — 
 
 Nam si violandum est jus, regnandi gratia 
 Violandum est : aliis rebus pietatem colas. 
 
 Ue Offic. iii. 21. 
 
 Cato dixit, C. Cssarem ad evortendam rcmpublicam, 
 sobrium accessisse. ("Quintil. viii. 2.] Abstinentiam no-
 
 ^22 
 
 THE HISTORY OF TIIP: LIFE OF 
 
 it was a common question after his death, and 
 firoposed as a problem by Livy, whether it was of 
 service to the republic that he had ever been born"^. 
 The question did not turn on the simple merit of 
 his acts, for that would bear no dispute, but on 
 the accidental effects of them, — their producing 
 the settlement under Augustus, and the benefits of 
 that government, which was the consequence of 
 his tyranny. iSuetonius, who treats the characters 
 of the Caesars with that freedom which tiie happy 
 j-eigns in which he lived indulged, upon balancing 
 the exact sum of his virtues and vices, declares him 
 on the whole to have been justly killed'' ; which 
 appears to have been the general 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 was, whether it ought to have been com- 
 mitted by those who were the leaders in it"-', some 
 •of whom owed their lives to Caesar, and others had 
 been loaded by him with lionours to a degree that 
 helped to increase the popular odium, particularly 
 D. Brutus, who was the most cherished by him of 
 them all, and left by his will the second heir of 
 his estate'. For of the two Brutuses, it was not 
 Mai'cus, as it is commonly imagined, but Decimus, 
 who was the favourite, and whose part in the con- 
 spiracy surprised people the mostff. But this 
 circumstance served only for a different handle to 
 the different parties, for aggravating either their 
 crime or their merit. Caesar's friends charged 
 them with base ingratitude for killing their bene- 
 factor and abusing the power which he had given 
 to the 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 public benefit. 
 Cicero takes it always in this view, and says, "that 
 the republic 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 lives, 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 act they could 
 never have acquired so much glory by it, and 
 though be 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 show their regard to their country''." 
 
 Some of Caesar's friends, particularly Pansa and 
 
 que in imperiis neque in magistratibus praestitit — in Gallia 
 fana, templaque deum donis referta expilavit : urbes di- 
 ruit, Esepius ob praedam quam delictum — evidentissimis 
 rapinis, ac sacrilegiis onera bellorum civilium — sustLnuit. 
 — Sueton. J. Cffis. 54 : Dio, p. 208. 
 
 <= Senec. Natur. Quaest. v. 18. 
 
 d Praegravant tamen caetera facta, dictaque ejus, ut et 
 abusus dominatione et jure caesus existimetur. — Sueton. 
 J. Cc-es. 76. 
 
 e Disputari do lu. Bruto solet, an debuerit accipere a T>. 
 Julio vitam, cum occidendum eum judicaxet. — Senec. De 
 Benef. ii. 20. 
 
 f Appian. ii. 518. 
 
 •C Etsi est enim Brutorum commime factum et laudis 
 societas aqua, Decimo tamen iratiores erant ii, qui id fac- 
 tum dolebant, quo minus ab eo rem illam dicebant fieri 
 debuisse. — PhU. x. 7- 
 
 *> Quod est aliud bcneficium — ^latronum, nisi ut comme- 
 niorare possint, iis so dedisse vitam, quibusnonademerint? 
 'quud si esset beneficium, nunquam ii qui illxua iuterfece- 
 
 Ilirtius, advised him always to keep a standing 
 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'. lie used 
 to laugh at Sylla for restoring the liberty of the 
 republic, and to say in contempt of him that he 
 did not know his letters'*. But, as a judicious 
 writer has observed, " Sylla had learned a better 
 grammar than he, which fciught him to resign his 
 guards and liis government together ; whereas 
 Caesar, by dismissing the one yet retaining the 
 other, committed a dangerous solecism in politics" ', 
 for he strengthened the popular odium and con- 
 sequently his own danger while he weakened his 
 defence. 
 
 He made several good laws during his adminis- 
 tration, all tending to enforce the public discipline 
 and extend the j)enaltics of former laws. The 
 most considerable as well as the most useful of 
 them was, that no praetor should hold any provinoe 
 more than one year, nor a consul more than two"". 
 This was a regulation that had been often wished 
 for (as Cicero says) in the best of times, and what 
 one of the ablest dictators of the old republic had 
 eclared to be its chief security, not to suffer great 
 nd arbitrary commands to be of long duration, 
 but to limit them at least in time if it was not con- 
 venient to limit them in power". Caesar knew by 
 experience that the prolongation of these extraor- 
 dinary commands and the habit of ruling kingdoms, 
 was the readiest way not only to inspire a contempt 
 of the laws but to give 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 secure his own possession from 
 the attempts of all future invaders. 
 
 runt, a quo erant servati, — tantam essent gloriam conse- 
 cuti.— Phil. ii. 3. 
 
 Quo etiam majorem ci respublica gratiam debet, qui 
 libortatem populi Romani unius amicitia; pr^posuit, depul- 
 sorque dominatus quam particeps esse maluit — admiratu8 
 sum ob earn causam, quod immemor beneficiorum, memor 
 patriae fuisset. — Ibid. 11. 
 
 ' Laudandum experientia consilium est Pansa; atque 
 Hirtii : qui semper prsdixerant Caesari, ut priucipatum 
 ai-mis quaesitum armis teneret. lUe dictitans, mori se 
 quam timeri malle. — Veil. Pat. ii. 57- 
 
 Insidias undique imminentes subire semel confessum 
 satius esse, quam cavero semper. — Sueton. J. Caes. 86. 
 
 '' Nee minoris impotentiae voces propalam edebat — Syl- 
 1am nescisse literas, qui dictaturam deposuerit. — Sueton. 
 J. Caos. 77- 
 
 1 Sir H. Savile's " Dissertatio de Militia Romana," at the 
 end of his translation of Tacitus. 
 
 '" Phil. i. 8 ; Sueton. J. Caes. 42, 43. 
 
 " Quas lex melior, utilior, optima etiam republica, saepius 
 flagitata, quam ne praetoriae provinciae plus quam annum, 
 neve plus quam biennium consulares obtinercntur ?— 
 Phil. i. 8. 
 
 Jlamercus ^milius — ^maximam autem, ait, ejus custo- 
 dian! esse, si magna imperia diutuvna non essent, et tem- 
 poris modus imponeretur, quibus juris imponi non posset. 
 — Liv. iv. 24.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 223 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 Cicero was present at the death of Caesar in the 
 
 senate, where he had the pleasure (he tells us) to 
 
 see the tyrant perish as he deserved". 
 
 A. UBB. /09. By this accident he was freed at once 
 
 cic. 63. from all subjection to a superior, and 
 
 coss. gjj ^j^g uneasiness and indignity of 
 
 M. ANTONIUS. . 1 • T 
 
 managing a power which every mo- 
 
 P.CORNELIUS "•<*"°fa' f i •' 
 
 DOLABELLA. mcut could oppress him. He was 
 now without competition the first citi- 
 zen in Rome, the first in that credit and authority, 
 both with the senate and people, which illustrious 
 merit and services will necessarily give in a free 
 city. The conspirators considered him as such, 
 and reckoned upon him as their sure friend ; for 
 they had no sooner finished theirwork than Brutus, 
 lifting up his bloody dagger, called out upon him 
 by name, to congratulate with him on the recovery 
 of their liberty p ; and wlien they all ran out pre- 
 sently after into the forum with their daggers in 
 their hands, proclaiming liberty to the city, they 
 proclaimed at the same time the name of Cicero, 
 in hopes to recommend the justice of their act by 
 the credit of his approbation ■). 
 
 This gave Antony a pretence to charge him 
 afterwards in public with being privy to the con- 
 spiracy and the principal adviser of it'. But it is 
 certain that he was not at all acquainted with it ; 
 for though he had the strictest friendship with the 
 chief actors and they the greatest confidence in 
 him, yet his age, character, and dignity, rendered 
 him wholly unfit to bear a part in an attempt of 
 that nature, and to embark himself in an affair so 
 desperate with a number of men who, excepting a 
 few of their leaders, were all either too young to 
 be trusted or too obscure even to be known by 
 him^. He could have been of little or no service 
 to them in the execution of the act, yet of much 
 greater in justifying it afterwards to the city, for 
 having had no share in it nor any personal interest 
 to make his authority suspected. These were the 
 true reasons without douht why Brutus and Cassius 
 did not impart the design to him : had it been 
 from any other motive, as some writers have 
 suggested, or had it admitted any interpretation 
 injurious to his honour, he must have been often 
 reproached with it by Antony and his other adver- 
 saries of those times, who were so studious to invent 
 and propagate every calumny that could depress 
 his credit. I cannot, however, entirely acquit him 
 of being in some degree accessory to the death of 
 Csesar ; for it is evident from several of his letters 
 that he had an expectation of such an attempt and 
 from what quarter it would come, and not only 
 
 o Quid mihi attulerit ista domini mutatio, practer 
 iKtitiam, quam oculis cepi, justo interitu tyrannic' — Ad 
 Att. xiv. 14. 
 
 P C'assare interfecto — statim cruentum alte extollens 
 M. Brutus pugionem, Ciceronem nominatim exelamavit, 
 atque ei recuperatam libertatem est gr»tulatus. — Phil. 
 ii. 12. 
 
 q Dio, p. 249. 
 
 ' Caesaremmeo concilio interfectum. [Phil. iL 11.] Ves- 
 iri enim pulcherrimi facti ille furiosus me principem dicit 
 fuisse. Utinam quidem fuissem, molestus nobis nou esset. 
 — Ep. Fam. xii. 3 : it. 2. 
 
 s Quam verisimile porro est, in tot hominibus partim 
 obscuris, partim adolescentibus, neminem occultantibus, 
 meura nomen latere potuisse ?— Phil. ii. 11, 
 
 expected but wished it. He prophesied very early 
 that Csesar's reign could not last six months, but 
 must nex;essarily fall, either by violence or of itself, 
 and hoped to live to see it'. He knew the dis- 
 affection of the greatest and best of the city, which 
 they expressed with great freedom in their letters, 
 and with much more, we may imagine, in their 
 private conversation. He knew the fierce and 
 haughty spirit of Brutus and Cassius, and their 
 impatience of a master, and cultivated a strict 
 correspondence with them both at this time, as if 
 for the opportunity of exciting them to some act 
 of vigour. On the news that Atticus sent him of 
 Caesar's image being placed in the temple of 
 Quiritius, adjoining to that of the goddess Salus, — 
 " I had rather," says he, " have him the comrade 
 of Romulus than of the goddess Safety" " : referring 
 to Romulus's fate of being killed in the senate. 
 In another letter it seems to be intimated that 
 Atticus and he had been contriving, or talking at 
 least together, how Brutus might be spirited up to 
 some attempt of that kind, by setting before him 
 the fame and glory of his ancestors. "Does 
 Brutus then tell us (says he) that Ctesar brings 
 with him glad tidings to honest men ? where will 
 he find them, unless he hangs himself? But how 
 securely is he now intrenched on all sides ? What 
 use then of your fine invention ; the picture of old 
 Brutus and Ahala with the verses under, which 
 I saw in your gallery .' Yet what after all can he 
 do*?" One cannot help observing, likewise, in 
 his pieces addressed about this time to Brutus, 
 how artfully he falls into a lamentation of the 
 times, and of the particular unhappiness of Brutus 
 himself in being deprived by them of all the hopes 
 and use of his great talents, putting him in mind 
 at the same time of his double descent from ances- 
 tors who had acquired immortal glory by delivering 
 Rome from servitude. Thus he concludes his 
 treatise on Famous Orators : — 
 
 " When I look upon you, Brutus, I am grieved 
 to see your youth, running as it were in full career 
 
 ' Jam intelliges id regnum vix semestre esse posse — nos 
 tamen hoc confirmamus illo augurio, quo diximus ; nee 
 nos fallit, nee aliter accidet. Corruat iste necesse est, aut 
 per adversarios, aut ipse per se — id spero vivis nobis fore. 
 —Ad Att. X. 8. 
 
 n Eum (jvvvaov Quirino male, quam saluti. — Ad Att. 
 xii. l.";. 
 
 ^ Itane nunciat Brutus, ilium ad bonos viros evayye- 
 Xia} sed ubi eos? nisi forte se suspendit? hie autem ut 
 fultum est ! ubi igitur (^iA.0Tf'xc7);ua illud tuum quod 
 vidi in Parthenone, Ahalam et Brutum ? sed quid faciat? 
 —Ad Att. xiii. 40. 
 
 Pac»;t'/io«<; is supposed to denote some room or gallery 
 in Brutus's, or more probably in Attieus's house, adorned 
 with the images or portraits of the great men of Rome, 
 under each of which, as Cornelius Nepos tells us, [in Vit. 
 Att. 18,] Atticue had severally described their principal 
 acts and honours, in four or five verses of his o^ti com- 
 posing : where the contemplation of these figures of old 
 Brutus and Ahala, joined together in one picture, with 
 tlie verses under, had given a handle perhaps to a conver- 
 sation between Cicero and him, how Brutus might be 
 incited by the example of those great ancestors to dissolve 
 the tyranny of Ca;sar. It seems also very probable, that 
 this very picture of Attieus's invention, as Cicero calls it, 
 might give occasion to the thought and coinage of that- 
 silver medal or detiarius, which is still extant, with the 
 heads and names of those two old patriots ; Brutus on the 
 one side, Ahala on the other.— Vide Thesaur, Morell. in 
 Fam. Junia. Tab. i 1.
 
 224 
 
 THE IIISTOllY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 through the midst of glory, stopped stiort by the 
 wretched fate of your country. I'his grief sits 
 heavy upon me, €-»nd on our common friend Atticus, 
 the partner of my affection and good opinion of 
 you. We heartily wish you well ; wish to see you 
 rea]i the fruit of your virtue, and to live in a re- 
 j)ublie, that may give you the opportunity not only 
 to revive t)ut to inc-rease the honour and memory 
 of the two noble families from which you descend: 
 for the forum was wholly yours, — yours all that 
 course of glory. You, of all the young ])leadcrs, 
 brought tliither not only a tongue ready formed 
 by the exercise of speaking, but had enriched your 
 oratory by the furniture also of the severer arts, 
 and by the help of the same arts liad joined to a 
 perfection of eloquence the ornament of every 
 virtue. We aro doubly sorry therefore on your 
 account tliat you want the benefit of the rei)ublic, 
 the republic of you ; but though this odious ruin 
 of the city extinguishes the use of your abilities. 
 go on still, Brutus, to pursue vour usual studies,'' 
 &c. 
 
 These passages seem to give a reasonable ground 
 to believe that Cicero, though a stranger to the 
 particular councils of the conspirators, had yet a 
 general notion of their design, as well as some 
 Bhare in promoting it. In his reply to Antony's 
 charge, he does not deny his expectation of it, 
 freely owns his joy for it, and thanks him for giv- 
 ing him an honour, which he had not merited, of 
 bearing a part in it. He calls it "the most glorious 
 act which had ever been done, not only in that but 
 in any other city : in which men were more for- 
 ward to claim a share which they had not, than to 
 dissemble that which they had; that Brutus's rea- 
 son for calling out upon him, was to signify that he 
 was then emulating his praises by an act not unlike 
 to what he had done. That if to wish Caesar's 
 death was a crime, to rejoice at it was the same, — 
 there being no difference between the adviser and 
 the approver ; yet excepting Antony and a few 
 more, who were fond of having a king, that there 
 was not a man in Rome who did not desire to see 
 the fact committed ; that all honest men, as far as 
 it was in their power, concurred in it ; that some 
 indeed wanted the counsel, some the courage, some 
 the opportunity, but none the will to do it," &c.y 
 
 The news of this surprising fact raised a general 
 consternation through the city, so that the first 
 care of the conspirators was to quiet the minds of 
 the people by proclaiming peace and liberty to all, 
 and declaring that no farther violence was intended 
 to any. They marched out, therefore, in a body, 
 with a cap, as the ensign of liberty, carried before 
 them on a spear^ ; and in a calm and orderly 
 
 y Ecquis est igitur, qui te excepto, et iis, qui ilium 
 regnare gaudebant, qui illud ant fieri noluerit, aut factum 
 improbarit ? omnes enim in culpa. Etenim omnes boni, 
 quantum in ipsis fuit, Caesareni occiderunt. Aliis consi- 
 lium, aliis aninaus, occasio defuit ; volimtas nemini, &c. 
 Phil. ii. 12. 
 
 "^ A cap was always given to slaves, when they were 
 made free; whence it became tlie emblem of liberty : to 
 expose it therefore on a spear, was a public invitation to 
 the people to embrace the liberty that was offered to them 
 by the destruction of their tyrant. There was a medal 
 likewise struck on this occasion, with the same device, 
 which is still extant. The thought however was not new ; 
 for Saturninus, in his sedition, when he had possessed 
 himself of the capitol, exalted a cap also on the top of a 
 tpear, as a token of liberty to all the slaves who would 
 
 manner proceeded tnrough the forum, where, in the 
 first heat of joy for tlie death of the tyrant, several 
 of tlie young nobility who had borne no part in 
 the conspiracy joined themselves to the company 
 with swords in their liands, out of an ambition to 
 be thought partiu-rs in the act ; but they jiaid dear 
 afterwards for that vanity, and without m\y share 
 of the gU)ry were involved in the ruin which it 
 drew upon all tlie rest. Hrutus designed to have 
 sjioken to the citizens from the rostra, but per- 
 ceiving them to be in too great an agitation to 
 attend to speeches, and being uncertain what way 
 tiie popular humour might turn, and knowing that 
 there were great numbers of Ca:sar's old soldiers 
 in the city, who liad tjeeri summoned from all parts 
 to attend him to the I'arthian war, he thought 
 proper, with his accomplices, under the guard 
 of Decimus's gladiators, to take refuge in the 
 capitol". Being here secured from any immediate 
 violence, he summoned the people thither in the 
 afternoon, and in a speech to tliem, which he had 
 prepared, justified his act and explained the motives 
 of it, and in a pathetic manner exhorted them to 
 exert themselves in the defence of their country, 
 and maintain the liberty now offered to them 
 against all the abettors of the late tyranny. Cicero 
 presently followed them into the capitol with the 
 best and greatest part of the senate, to deliberate 
 on the proper means of improving this hopeful 
 beginning, and establishing their liberty on a solid 
 and lasting foundation. 
 
 Antony in the meanwhile, shocked by the har- 
 diness of the act, and apprehending some danger 
 to his own life, stripped himself of his consular 
 robes and fled home in disguise, where he began to 
 fortify his house, and kept himself close all that 
 day ''. till perceiving the jjacific conduct of the con- 
 spirators, he recovered his spirits, and appeared 
 again the next morning in public. 
 
 While things were in this situation, L. Cornelius 
 Cinna, one of the praetors, who was nearly allied 
 to Caesar, made a speech to the people in praise of 
 the conspirators ; extolling their act as highly 
 meritorious, and exhorting the multitude to invite 
 them down from the capitol, and reward them 
 with the honours due to the deliverers of their 
 country ; then throwing off his praetorian robe, he 
 declared that he would not wear it any longer, as 
 being bestowed upon him by a tyrant, and not by 
 the laws. But the next day, as he was going to 
 the senate, some of Csesar's veteran soldiers having 
 gathered a mob of the same party, attacked him in 
 the streets with volleys of stones and drove him 
 into a house, which they were going presently to 
 set on lire, with design to have burnt him in it, if 
 Lepidus had not come to his rescue with a body 
 of regular troops'^. 
 
 Lepidus was at this time in the suburbs of Rome, 
 at the head of an army, ready to depart for the 
 join ^vith him : and though Marius, in his sixth consul- 
 ship, destroyed him for tliat act, by a decree of the senate, 
 yet he himself used the same expedient afterwards to invite 
 the slaves to take arms with him against Sylla, who was 
 marching with his army into the city to attack him. — Val. 
 Max. viii. 6. 
 
 a App. ii. p. .503 ; Dio, p. 250 ; Plutarch, in Cses. et Brut. 
 
 b Qua; tua f uga ? quae formido prseclaro illo die ? quae 
 propter conscientiam scelerum despcratio vitas ? cum ex. 
 ilia fuga — clam te domum recepisti. — PhiL ii. 33 ; Dio, p« 
 259 ; App. 502, 503. 
 
 e Plutarch, in Brut. ; App. p. 504.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 225 
 
 government of Spain, which had been assigned to 
 liini by Caesar, with a part of Gaul. In the night 
 therefore, after Ctesar's death, he filled the forum 
 with his troops, and finding himself sujierior to any 
 man in power, began to think of making himself 
 master of the city, and taking immediate revenge 
 on the conspirators ; but being a weark and vain 
 man, Antony easily diverted him from that design, 
 and inanaged him to his own views ; " he repre- 
 sented the hazard and difficulty of the attempt, 
 while the senate, the city, and all Italy were against 
 them ; that the only way to effect what they wished 
 ■was to dissemble their real jiurpose ; to recommend 
 pacific counsels, and lull their adversaries asleep, 
 till they had provided a strength sufficient to op- 
 press them ; and that, as soon as things were ripe, 
 he would join with him very heartily in avenging 
 Caesar's death." With these remonstrances he 
 pacified him, and to render their union the firmer, 
 and to humour his vanity at the same time, gave 
 his daughter in marriage to Lepidus' son, and 
 assisted him to seize the high-priesthood, vacant 
 by Caesar's death, without any regard to the ordi- 
 nary forms of election''. Having thus gained 
 Lepidus into his measures, he made use of his 
 authority and his forces to harass and terrify the 
 opposite party, till he had driven the conspirators 
 out of the city ; and when he had served his pur- 
 poses with him at home, contrived to send him to 
 his government, to keep the provinces and the com- 
 manders abroad in proper respect to them ; and 
 that, by sitting down with his army in the nearest 
 part of Gaul, he might be ready for any event 
 which should require his help in Italy. 
 
 The conspirators in the meanwhile had formed 
 no scheme, beyond the death of Caesar ; but 
 seemed to be as much surprised and amazed at 
 what they had done, as the rest of the city. They 
 trusted entirely to the integrity of their cause, 
 fancying that it would be sufficient of itself to 
 effect all that they expected from it, and draw a 
 universal concurrence to the defence of their com- 
 mon liberty ; and taking it for granted that Caesar's 
 fate, in the height of all his greatness, would deter 
 any of his partisans from aiming at the same 
 power : they placed withal a great confidence in 
 Cicero's authority, of which they assured them- 
 selves as their own, and were not disappointed ; 
 for from this momenthe resolved at all adventures to 
 support the credit of the men, and their act, as the 
 only means left of recovering the republic. He 
 knew that the people were all on their side, and as 
 long as force was removed, that they were masters 
 of the city ; his advice therefore was, to use their 
 present advantage, and in the consternation of 
 Caesar's party, and the zeal and union of their 
 own, that Brutus and Cassius, as praetors, should 
 call the senate into the capitol, and proceed to 
 some vigorous decrees, for the security of the 
 public tranquillity''. But Brutus was for marching 
 calmly, and with all due respect to the authority 
 of the consul ; and having conceived hopes of 
 Antony, proposed the sending a deputation to him, 
 to exhort him to measures of peace ; Cicero 
 
 d Dio, p. 249, 250, 257, 269. 
 
 * Meministi me clamare, illo ipso primo capitolino 
 die, senatum in capitolium a praetoribus vocari ? Dii 
 immortalcs, qua; tuiii opera effici potucrunt, la;tantibu3 
 omnibus bonis, etiam eat bonis, fractis latronibus !— Ad 
 Att. xiv. 10. 
 
 remonstrated against it, nor would be prevailed 
 with to bear a part in it : he told them plainly, 
 "that there could be no safe treaty with him; 
 that as long as he was afraid of tliem, he would 
 promise every thing ; but, when his fears were over, 
 would be like himself, and perform nothing ; so 
 that while the other consular senators were going 
 forwards and l)ackwards in this office of media- 
 tion, he stuck to liis point, and staid with the rest 
 in the capitol, and did not see Antony for the two 
 first days'." 
 
 The event confirmed what Cicero foretold : 
 Antony had no thoughts of peace or of any good 
 to the republic ; his sole view was, to seize the 
 government to himself, as soon as he should be in 
 condition to do it ; and then, on pretence of 
 revenging Caesar's death, to destroy all those who 
 were likely to oppose him : as his business there- 
 fore was to gain time by dissembling and deceiving 
 the republican party into a good opinion of him, 
 so all his answers were mild aud moderate, pro- 
 feesing a sincere inclination to peace, and no other 
 desire than to see the republic settled again on its 
 old basis. Two days passed in mutual assurances 
 from both sides, of their disposition to concord and 
 amity ; and Antony summoned the senate on the 
 third to adjust the conditions of it, and confirm 
 them by some solemn act. Here Cicero, as the 
 best foundation of a lasting quiet, moved the 
 assembly in the first place, after the example of 
 Athens, to decree a general amnesty, or act of 
 oblivion, for all that was passed, to which they 
 unanimously agreed. Antony seemed to be all 
 goodnes.-, talked of nothing but healing measures, 
 and, for a proof of his sincerity, moved, that the 
 conspirators should be invited to take part in their 
 deliberations, and sent his son as a hostage for 
 their safety : upon which they all came down from 
 the capitol ; and Brutus supped with Lepidus, 
 Cassius with Antony, aud the day ended to the 
 universal joy of the city, who imagined that tl»eir 
 liberty was now crowned with certain peace?. 
 
 There were several things however very artfully 
 proposed and carried by Antony, on the pretence 
 of public concord, of which he afterwards made a 
 most pernicious use, particularly a decree for the 
 confirmation of all Caesar's acts. This motion was 
 suspected by many, who stuck upon it for some 
 time, and called upon Antony to explain it, and 
 specify how far it was to extend : he assured them, 
 " that no other acts were meant, than what were 
 known to every body, and entered publicly on 
 
 f Dicebain illis in capitollo liberatoribus nostris, cum 
 me ad tc ire vellent, ut ad defcndendam rempublicani te 
 adhortarer, quoad metueros, omnia te proniissurum, siniul 
 ac timere desiisses, similem te futurura tui. Itaque cum 
 caeteri consulares irent, redirent, in sentcntia mansi : ne- 
 que te illo die, neque postero vidi. — Phil. ii. 35. 
 
 g In quo templo, quantum in me fuit, jeci fimdamenta 
 pacis, Atbeniensiumque renovavi vetus exempluni : Gras- 
 cum etiam verbuin usurpavi, quo turn in sedandis discordiis 
 erat usa civitas ilia, atqiie omnem memoriam discordiarum 
 oblivione sempiterna delendam censui. Pra;clara turn 
 oratio M. Antonii, egregia etiam voluntas : pax denique 
 per euni et per Ilberos ejus cum praestantissimis civibus 
 confirmata est. — Phil. i. 1. 
 
 Quae fuit oratio de concordia? — tuus parvulus filius in 
 capitolium a te missus pacis obses fuit. Quo scnatus die 
 laetior? quo populus Homanus?— tuni denique liberati per 
 viros fortissimos videbamur, quia, ut illi voluerant, liber- 
 tatem pax sequebatur.— Ibid. 1,1 ; Plutarch, in Brut.
 
 226 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Caesar's register : they asked, if any jjcrsons were 
 to be restored from exile, lie said one only, and no 
 more; whether any immunities were granted to 
 cities or countries, he answered none ; and con- 
 sented, that it should pass with a restriction, 
 projjosed by Ser. Sulpicius, that no grant, wiiich 
 was to take place after the ides of March, should 
 be ratified''." This was generally thought so 
 reasonable, and Antony's seeming candour had 
 made such an impression, that those who saw the 
 mischief of it durst not venture to oppose it, espe- 
 cially as there was a j)rece(leiit for it in the case of 
 Sylla ; and as it was supposed to relate chiefly to 
 the veteran soldiers, whom it was not possible to 
 oblige, or keep in good humour, without confirming 
 the privileges and possessions which C;esar had 
 granted to them. 15ut Brutus and his friends had 
 private reasons for entertaining a better opinion of 
 Antony, than his outward conduct would justify ; 
 Ciusar had used him roughly on several occasions', 
 and they knew his resenlment of it; and that he 
 had been engaged with Tri'bonius, on Cfcsar's last 
 return from Spain, in a design against his life ; 
 and though he did not })erform that engagement, 
 yet they thought it an obligation, as well as a proof 
 of his continuing in the same mind, that he had 
 not discovered it, which was the reason of their 
 sparing him when Cssar was killed, and of Trebo- 
 nius's taking him aside on pretence of business, 
 lest his behaviour on that occasion might provoke 
 them to kill him too''. 
 
 But, as Cicero often laments, they had already 
 ruined their cause, by giving Antony leisure to 
 recollect himself, and gather troops about him, by 
 which he forced upon them several other decrees 
 against their will. One of them in favour of the 
 veteran soldiers, whom he had drawn up for that 
 purpose in arms about the senate' ; and another still 
 worse, for the allowance of a public funeral to Cffisar, 
 which Atticus had been remonstrating against both 
 to Cicero and Brutus, as pernicious to the peace 
 of the city. But it was too late to prevent it : 
 Antony was resolved upon it, and had provided 
 all things for it, as the best opportunity of inflam- 
 ing the soldiers and the populace, and raising 
 some commotions to the disadvantage of the re- 
 publican cause ; in which he succeeded so well, 
 that Brutus and Cassius had no small difficulty to 
 defend their lives and houses from the violence of 
 his mob™. In this tumult Helvius Cinna, one of 
 the tribunes, and a particular friend of Caesar, was 
 torn in pieces by the rabble, being mistaken un- 
 
 *• Summa constantia ad ea, qua™ quassita erant, respon- 
 debat : nihil tum, nisi quod erat notum omnibus, in C. 
 Cssaris oomnientariis reperiebatur : num qui exules resti- 
 tuti ? unum aicbat, prasterea neminom. Num iminuni- 
 tates datae ? nullae, respondtbat- Assentiri etiani nos Ser. 
 Bulpicio voluit, ne qua tabula post Idus Martias ullius 
 decrcti Cisaris aut beneficii figeretur. — Phil. i. I. 
 
 • Phil. ii. 29. 
 
 k Quanquam si intcrfici Caesarem voluisse crimen est, 
 vide qua;so, Antoni, quid tibi futurum sit, quem et Nar- 
 bone hoc consilium cum C. Trebonio cepisse notiseimum 
 est, et ob ejus consilii societatem, cum interliceretiir Caesar, 
 turn te a Trebonio vidimus sevocari. — Ibid. 14. 
 
 ' Nonne omni rationo veterani, qui armati aderant, cum 
 praesidii nos nihil haberemus, defendendi fuerunt ? — Ad 
 Att. xiv. 14. 
 
 J" Meministine te clamare, causam periisse, si funere 
 elatus esset ? at ille etiam in foro combustus, laudatusquc 
 miserabiliter ; servique et egentes in tecta nostra cum 
 facibus immissi. — Ad Att. xiv. 10, 14 ; Plutarch, in Brut. 
 
 luckily for the prator of that name, who, as it is 
 said above, had extolled the act of killing Caesar 
 in a speech from the rostra. This so alarmed all 
 those who had any similitude of name with any 
 of the conspirators, that Caius Casca, another se- 
 nator, thought fit by a public advertisement, to sig- 
 nify the distinction of his person and principles 
 from Publius Casca, who gave the first blow to 
 Ca;sar ". 
 
 We are not to imagine, however, as it is com- 
 monly believed, that these V'iolcnces were owing tc 
 the general indignation of the citizens, against the 
 murderers of Ciesar, excited either by the spec- 
 tacle of his body, or the elo(iuence of Antony, who 
 made the funeral oration ; for it is certain that 
 Cajsar, through his whole reign, could never draw 
 from the jieople any public signification of their 
 favour ; but on the contrary, was constantly mor- 
 tified by the jierpetual demonstrations of their 
 hatred and disaffection to him. The case was the 
 same after his death : the memory of his tyranny 
 was odious, and Brutus and Cassius the real fa- 
 vourites of the city ; as appeared on all occasions 
 wherever their free and genuine sense could be 
 declared, in the public shows and theatres"; which 
 Cicero frequently appeals to, as a proper encourage- 
 ment to all honest men, to act with spirit and vigour 
 in the defence of their common liberty. What hap- 
 pened therefore at the funeral was the effect of 
 artifice and faction, the work of a mercenary rab- 
 ble, the greatest part slaves and strangers, listed 
 and prepared for violence, against a party unarmed 
 and pursuing pacific counsels, and placing all their 
 trust and security in the justice of their cause. 
 Cicero calls it a conspiracy of Caesar's freedmenP, 
 who were the chief managers of the tumult, in 
 which the Jews seem to have borne a consider- 
 able part, who, out of hatred to Pompey, for his 
 affront to their city and temple, were zealously 
 attached to Caesar, and above all the other foreign- 
 ers in Rome, distinguished themselves by the 
 expressions of their grief for his death, so as to 
 spend whole nights at his monument, in a kind 
 of religious devotion to his memory i. 
 
 This first taste of Antony's perfidy was a clear 
 warning to the conspirators what little reason 
 they had to depend upon him, or to expect any 
 safety in the city where he had the sovereign 
 command, without a guard for their defence ; 
 which, though D. Brutus demanded for them, they 
 could not obtain : whilst Antony, to alarm them 
 still the moHe, took care to let them know that the 
 
 1 C. Helvius Cinna tribunus plebis ex funere C. Caesaris 
 domum suam pctens, populi nianibus discorptus est, pro 
 Cornelio Ciuna, in quem sasvire sc existimabat ; iratus ei, 
 quod cum affinis esset Caesaris, adversus cum nefarie 
 raptum, impiam pro rostris orationem habuisset.i — Val. 
 Max. ix. 9 ; Dio, p. 267, 268 ; Plutarch, in Cacs. et. Brut. 
 
 Omnes enim jam cives de reipublicae salute una et mente 
 et voce consentiunt. — Phil. 1. 9. 
 
 Quid enim gladiatoribus clamores innumerabilium 
 civium ? quid populi versus ? quid Pompeii statua plausus 
 infinitus ? quid iis tribunis plebis, qui vobis adversantur ? 
 parumne base significant, incredibiliter consentientem po- 
 puli Romani voluntatem ? &c.— Ibid. 15 ; Ad Att. xiv. 2. 
 
 p Nam ista quidem libertorum Caesaris conjuratio facile 
 opprimeretur, si recte saperet Antonius. — Ad Att. xiv. 5. 
 
 1 In summo publico luctu exterarum gentium, multi- 
 tude circulatim, suo qua^que more, lamentata est, prae- 
 cipueque Judaei, qui ctiam noctibus continuis bustum 
 frequcntarunt. — Sucton. in J. Ca>s. 84.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 227 
 
 soldiers and the populace were so enraged, that he 
 •did not think it possible for any of them to be 
 •safe*. They all therefore quitted Rome : Trebo- 
 nius stole away privately for Asia, to take posses- 
 sionof that province, which had before beenassigned 
 to him, being afraid of being prevented by the 
 ■intrigues of Antony. D. Brutus, forthe same reason, 
 possessed himself of the Cisalpine or Italic Gaul, 
 which had been conferred upon him likewise by 
 Caesar, in order to strengthen himself there against 
 all events, and by his neighbourhood to Rome, to 
 •encourage and protect all the friends of liberty. 
 M. Brutus, accompanied by Cassius, retired to one 
 of his villas near Lanuvium, to deliberate about 
 their future conduct, and to take such measures as 
 the accidents of the times and the motions of their 
 • enemies should make necessary. 
 
 But as soon as tlie conspirators were gone, 
 Antony resumed his mask, and as if the late 
 Tiolences had been accidental only, and the sudden 
 transport of a vile mob, professed the same mode- 
 ration as before, and affected to speak with the 
 greatest respect of Brutus and Cassius ; and by 
 several seasonable acts, proposed by him to the 
 senate, appeared to have nothing so much at heart 
 as the public concord. Among other decrees he 
 offered one, which was prepared and drawn up by 
 himself, to abolish for ever the name and office of 
 dictator. This seemed to be a sure pledge of his 
 good intentions, and gave a universal satisfaction 
 to the senate, who passed it, as it were, by accla- 
 mation, without putting it even to the vote; and 
 decreed the thanks of the house for it to Antony, 
 who, as Cicero afterwards told him, had fixed an 
 indelible infamy by it on Csesar, in declaring to 
 the world, that for the odium of his government, 
 such a decree was become both necessary and 
 : popular *. 
 
 Cicero also left Rome soon after Brutus and 
 •Cassius', not a little mortified to see things take 
 so wrong a turn, by the indolence of their friends ; 
 which gave him frequent occasion to say, that the 
 ides of March had produced nothing which pleased 
 him, but the fact of the day, which was executed 
 indeed with manly vigour, but supported by child- 
 ish counsels". As he passed through the country 
 he found nothing but mirlh and rejoicing in all the 
 great towns, on the account of Caesar's death : 
 "It is impossible to express (says he) what joy 
 there is everywhere ; how all people flock about 
 
 r Heri apud me Hirtius fuit ; qua mente Antonius esset, 
 demonstravit, pessima scilicet et infidelissima. Nam se 
 neque mihi provinciam dare posse aiebat, neque arbitrari, 
 tuto in iirbe esse quemquam nostrum, adeo esse militum 
 concitatos animos et plebis. Quorum utrumquc esse fal- 
 sum puto vos animadvertere — placitum est milii postulare, 
 ut liceret nobis esse Roma> publico presidio : quod illos 
 nobis concessuros non puto. — Ep. Fam. xi. I . 
 
 ' Dictaturam, quae vim jam regije potestatis obsederat, 
 funditus e republica sustulit. De qua ne sententias quidem 
 diximus — eique amplissimis verbis per senatus consultum 
 gratias egimus — maximum autem illud, quod dictaturae 
 nomen sustulisti : hacc inusta est a te — mortuo Cxsari 
 nota ad ignominiam sempitemam, &c. — Phil. i. 1, 13. 
 
 ' Itaque cum teneri urbem a parricidis viderera, nee te 
 in ea, nee Cassium tuto esse posse, eamque armis oppres- 
 9am ab Antonio, mihi quoque ipsi esse excedendum 
 putavi. — Ad Brut. 1.5. 
 
 " Sed tamen adhuc me niliil delectat praster Idus 
 Martias. [Ad Att. xiv. 6, 21.] Itaque stultajam Iduum 
 3Iartiarum est consoiatio. Animis enim usi sumus virili- 
 ► bus ; consiliis, mihi crede, puerilibus.— Ibid. xv. 4. 
 
 me ; how greedy they are to hear an account of it 
 from me : yet what strange politics do we pursue .' 
 What a solecism do we commit.' To be afraid of 
 those whom we have subdued ; to defend his acts, 
 for whose death we rejoice ; to suffer tyranny to 
 live, when the tyrant is killed ; and the republic 
 to be lost, when our liberty is recovered"." 
 
 Atticus sent him word of some remarkable 
 applause which was given to the famed come- 
 dian, Publius, for what he had said upon the stage, 
 in favour of the public liberty ; and that L. Cas- 
 sius, the brother of the conspirator, then one of 
 the tribunes, was received with infinite acclama- 
 tions upon his entrance into the theatre y ; which 
 convinced him only the more of the mistake of 
 their friends in sitting stilL, and trusting to the 
 merit of their cause, while their enemies were 
 using all arts to destroy them. This general incli- 
 nation, which declared itself so freely on the side 
 of liberty, obliged Antony to act with caution, and, 
 as far as possible, to persuade the city that he was 
 on the same side too : for which end he did 
 another thing at this time both prudent and 
 popular, in putting to death the impostor Marius, 
 who was now returned to Rome, to revenge, as he 
 gave out, the death of his kinsman Caesar ; where, 
 signalising himself at the head of the mob, he was 
 the cliief incendiary at the funeral and the sub- 
 sequent riots, and threatened nothing less than 
 destruction to the whole senate. But Antony, 
 having served his main purpose with him, of 
 driving Brutus and the rest out of the city, ordered 
 him to be seized and strangled, and his body 
 to be dragged through the streets ^ : which gave 
 him fresh credit with the republicans ; so that 
 Brutus, together with Cassius and other friends, 
 had a personal conference with him about this time, 
 which passed to mutual satisfaction *. 
 
 By these arts Antony hoped to amuse the con- 
 spirators, and induce them to lay aside all vigorous 
 counsels, especially what he most apprehended, 
 that of leaving Italy and seizing some provinces 
 abroad, furnished with troops and money, which 
 might put them into a condition to act offensively. 
 With the same view he wrote an artful letter to 
 Cicero, to desire his consent to the restoration 
 of S. Clodius, the chief agent of P. Clodius, who 
 had been several years in banishment, for outrages 
 committed in the city, chiefly against Cicero him- 
 self, on whose account he was condemned. Antony, 
 by his marriage with Fulvia, the widow of P. 
 Clodius, became the protector of all that family, 
 and the tutor of young PubUus, her son, which 
 gave him a decent pretence of interesting himself 
 in this affair. He assures Cicero, " that he had 
 procured a pardon for S. Clodius from Caesar, 
 
 » Dici enim non potest quantopere gaudeant, ut ad ma 
 concurrant, ut audire cupiant verba mea ea de re — sic 
 enim TreTToKiTev/xeB^a, ut victos metueremus — nihil enim 
 tarn (j6\oikov, quam TvpavvoKr6vovs. in cffilo esse, ty- 
 ranni facta defendi. — Ad Att. xiv. 6. 
 
 Odiiboni! vivit tyrannis, tyranniis occidit. Ejus inter- 
 fecti morte Istamur, cujus facta defendimus. — Ibid. 9. 
 
 y Ex priore theatrum, Publiumque cognovi, bona signa 
 consentientis multitudinis. Plausus vero, L. Cassio datus 
 facetus mihi quidem visus est. — Ad Att. xiv. 2. 
 
 Infinito fratris tui plausu dirumpitur. — Ep. Fam. xiL 2. 
 
 z Uncus impactus est fugitivo illi, qui €. M.irii nomen 
 in'vaserat.^PhiL i. 2. 
 
 " Antonii colloquium cum nostris heroibus pro fe nata 
 non incommodum. — Ad. Att. xiv. 6.
 
 228 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 but did not intend to have made use of it, till he 
 had obtained his consent ; and though he thought 
 himself now obliged to support all Caesar's acts, 
 yet he would not insist on this, against his leave ; 
 that it would be an obligation to young Publius, a 
 youth of the greatest hopes, to let him see that 
 Cicero did not extend his revenge to his father's 
 friends : permit me," says lie, "to instil these sen- 
 timents into the boy ; and to persuade his tender 
 luind, that (juanxls are not to be jjcrpetuated in 
 families ; and though your condition, I know, is 
 superior to all danger, yet you would choose, I 
 fancy, to enjoy a quiet and honourable, ratlier than 
 a turbulent old age. Lastly, I have a sort of right 
 to ask this favour of you, since 1 never refused 
 anything to you ; if I do not however prevail 
 ■with you, I will not grant it to Clodius : that 
 you may see how great your authority is with 
 me : show yourself the more placable on that ac- 
 count^." 
 
 Cicero never hesitated about giving his consent 
 to what Antony could and would have done with- 
 out it : " the thing itself, he knew, was scandalous, 
 and the pardon said to be granted by Caesar a 
 forgery, and that C;esar would never have done it, 
 or suHered it to be done ; and so many forgeries of 
 that kind began to be published every day from 
 Caesar's books, that he was almost tempted, (he 
 says,) to wish for Casar again '^." He answered 
 him, however, with great civility, and in a strain of 
 complaisance which corresponded but little with 
 his real opinion of the man : but Antony's public 
 behaviour had merited some compliments ; and 
 under the present state of his power, and the un- 
 certain condition of their own party, Cicero 
 resolved to observe all the forms of an old acquaint- 
 ance with him, till by some overt act against the 
 public interest, he should be forced to consider 
 him as an enemy"*. 
 
 Antony made him but a cold reply, having heard, 
 perhaps, in the mean time, of something which 
 did not please him in his conduct. He told him 
 only that his easiness and clemency were agreeable 
 to hira, and might hereafter be a great pleasure to 
 himself''. 
 
 Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, was in Rome 
 when Caesar was killed ; but being terrified by that 
 accident and the subsequent disorders of the city, 
 she ran away presently with great precipitation. 
 Her authority and credit with Csesar, in whose 
 house she was lodged, made her insolence intoler- 
 able to the Romans, whom she seems to have 
 
 b Ad Att. xiv. after letter the 13th. 
 
 c Antonius ad me seripsit de restitutione S. Clodii : 
 quani lionorifice quod ad me attinet, ex ipsius Uteris cog- 
 nosces — quam dissolute, quam turpiter, quamque ita per- 
 niciose, ut nonnunquam etiam Caesar desideranaus esse 
 videatur, facile existimabis : quse enim Cassar nunqiuuii 
 neque fecisset, neque passus esset, ea nimc ex falsis ejus 
 commentariis proferuntur. Ego autem Antonio facilli- 
 mum me prsebui. Etenim ille, quoniam seniel induxit 
 in animum sibi licere quod vellet, fecisset nibilo minus 
 me invito. — Ad Att. xiv. 13. 
 
 ■i Ego tamen Antonii inveteratam sine ulla offensione 
 amicitiam retinere sane volo. — Ep. Fam. xvi 23. 
 
 Cui quidem ego semper amicus fui, antequam ilium 
 intellexi non mode aperte, sed etiam libenter cum repub- 
 lica bellum gerere. — Ibid. xi. 5. 
 
 < Antonius ad me tantum de Clodio rescripsit, meam 
 lenitatem et clementiam et sibi esse gratami, et mihi 
 magnx voluptati fore. — Ad Att. xiv. 19. 
 
 treated on the same foot with her own Egyptians, 
 as the subjects of absolute power and the slaves of 
 a master whom she commanded. Cicero had a con- 
 ference with her in Casar's gardens, where the 
 haughtiness of her behaviour gave him no small 
 ofl'ence. Knowing his taste and character, she 
 made him the j)romise of some present very agree- 
 able, but disobliged him the more by not perform- 
 ing it: he does not tell us what it was, but from 
 the hints which he drops, it seems to have been 
 statues or curiosities from l'2gy|)t for the ornament 
 of liis library, a sort of furniture which he was 
 peculiarly fond of. 15ut her pride being mortified 
 by Cresar's fate, she was now forced to apply tO' 
 him by her ministers for his assistance in a parti- 
 cular suit that she was recommending to the 
 senate, in which he refused to be concerned. The 
 afl'air seems to have related to her infant son, 
 whom she pretended to be Caesar's, and called by 
 his name ; and was labouring to get him acknow- 
 ledged as such at Rome, and declared the heir of 
 her kingdom; as he was the year following, both by 
 Antony and Octavius ; though Caesar's friends were 
 generally scandalised at it, and ()i)i)ius thought it 
 worth w)iile to write a book to prove that the 
 child could not be Caesar's '. Cleojjatra had beea 
 waiting to accompany Caesar into the East, in order 
 to preserve her influence over him, which was very 
 great ; for after his death, Ilelvius Cinna, one of 
 the tribunes, owned that he had a law ready pre- 
 pared and delivered to him by Ca;sar, with orders 
 to publish it, as soon as he was gone, for granting 
 to him the liberty of taking what number of wives 
 and of what condition he thought fit, for the sake 
 of propagating children^. This was contrived 
 probably to save Cleopatra's honour, and to legiti- 
 mate his issue by her, since jiolygamy and the 
 marriage of a stranger were prohibited by the laws 
 of Rome. 
 
 Cicero touches these particulars in several 
 places, though darkly and abruptly, according tO' 
 the style of his letters to Atticus. " The flight of 
 the queen," says he, "gives me no pain. I should 
 be glad to hear what farther news there is of her, 
 and her young Ctesar. I hate the queen : her agent, 
 Ammonius, the witness and sponsor of her pro- 
 mises to me, knows that I have reason : they were- 
 things only proper for a man of letters, and suitable 
 to my character, so that I should not scruple tO' 
 proclaim them from the rostra. Her other agent, 
 Sara, is not only a rascal, but has been rude to me. 
 I never saw him at my house but once ; and when 
 I asked him civilly what commands he had for me, 
 he said that he came to look for Atticus. As to 
 the pride of the queen when I saw her in the gar- 
 dens, I can never think of it without resentment ; 
 I will have nothing therefore to do with them ; 
 they take me to have neither spirit nor even feel- 
 ing lefti"." 
 
 f Quorum C. Oppius, quasi plane defensione ac patro- 
 cinio res cgeret, librum edidit, non esse Caesaris filium, 
 quern Cleopatra dicat. — Sueton. in J. Cas. 52 ; Dio. pp. 
 227, 345. 
 
 S Helvius Cinna — confessus est, habuisse se scriptam 
 paratamque legem, quam Caesar ferre jussisset cum ipse 
 abesset, ut uxores liberorum quscrendoium causa, quas et 
 quot decere vellet, liceret. — Sueton. ib. ; Dio, p. 243. 
 
 •> Reginffi fuga mihi non molesta. [Ad Att. xiv. 8.] De 
 rcgina velim, atque etiam de Ca-sare illo. [Ibid. 20.] 
 Reginam odi. Me jure facere scit sponsor promissorunt' 
 ejus Ammonius ; quse quidam erant (plKSKoya, et dignlr
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 229 
 
 Antony having put his affairs into the best train 
 that he could, and appointed the first of June for a 
 meeting of the senate in order to deliberate on the 
 state of the republic, took the opportunity of that 
 interval to make a progress through Italy, for the 
 sake of visiting the quarters of the veteran soldiers, 
 and engaging them to his service by all sorts of 
 bribes and promises. He left the government of 
 the city to Dolabella, whom Cresar, upon his in- 
 tended expedition to Partliia, had designed and 
 nominated to the consulship : and though Antony 
 had protested against that designation, and resolved 
 to obstructits effect, yet after Ctesar's death, when 
 Dolabella, by the advantage of the general confu- 
 sion, seized the ensigns of the office and assumed 
 the habit and character of the consul, Antony 
 quietly received and acknowledged him as such at 
 the next meeting of the senate'. 
 
 Cicero had always kept up a fair correspondence 
 •with his son-in-law, though he had long known 
 him to be void of all virtue and good principles ; 
 but he had now greater reason than ever for insinu- 
 ating himself as far as he was able into his confi- 
 dence, in order to engage him, if possible, to the 
 interests of the republic, and use him as a check 
 upon the designs of his colleague Antony ; in 
 which he had the greater prospect of success on the 
 account of their declared enmity to each other. 
 Dolabella greatly confirmed these hopes ; and as 
 soon as Antony had left the city, made all honest 
 men think themselves sure of him by exerting a 
 most severe, as well as seasonable act of discipline, 
 upon the disturbers of the public tranquillity. For 
 the mob, headed by the impostor Marius, and the 
 freedmen of Csesar, had erected an altar in the 
 forum, on the spot where Caesar's body was burnt, 
 v?ith a pillar of Numidian marble twenty feet high, 
 inscribed TO the father of his country. Here 
 they performed daily sacrifices and divine rites ; 
 and the humour of worshipping at this new altar 
 began to spread itself so fast among the meaner 
 sort and the slaves, as to endanger the peace and 
 safety of the city ; for the multitudes which flocked 
 to the place, fired with a kind of enthusiastic rage. 
 Tan furious about the streets committing all sorts 
 of outrage and violence against the supposed friends 
 of liberty. But Dolabella put an end to the evil at 
 once by demolishing the pillar and the altar, and 
 seizing the authors of the disorders, and causing 
 such of them as were free to be thrown down the 
 Tarpeian rock, and the slaves to be crucified. This 
 gave a universal joy to the city : the whole body 
 of the people attended the consul to his house, and 
 in the theatres gave him the usual testimony of 
 their thanks by the loudest acclamations''. 
 
 Cicero was infinitely pleased with this act, and 
 
 talis meae, ut vel in concione dicere auderem. Sarani 
 autem, praeterquam quod nefarium hominem cognovi, 
 prjeterea in me contumacem. Semel cum oninino domi 
 mcae vidi. Cuuv (piXocppSvoiS ex eo qusrerem, quid opus 
 esset, Atticum se dixit qiixrere. Superbiani autem ipsius 
 reginae, cum esset trans Tiberim in hnrtis, commemorarc 
 sine magno dolore non possum. Nihil igitur cum istis : 
 nee tarn animum me, quam vix stomachum habere arbi- 
 ■trantur.— Ad Att. xv. 15. 
 
 ' Tuum coUegam, depositis inimicitiis, oblitus auspicia; 
 te ipso augure nunciante, illo primo die coUegam tibi esse 
 voluisti.— Phil. i. 13. 
 
 •' Plebs— postca solidam columnam prope viginti pedum 
 lapidis Numidici in foro statuit, scripsitque Pahenti 
 f ATiii.E, apud eandem longo tempore saciificiire, vota 
 
 enjoyed some share of the praise, since it was 
 generally imputed to the influence of his counsels : 
 in a letter upon it to Atticus ; " O my admirable 
 Dolabella! " says he, " I now call him mine, for, 
 believe me, I had some doubt of him before : the fact 
 affords matter of great speculation ; to throw them 
 down the rock ; to crucify ; demolish the pillar ; pave 
 the area ; in short, it is heroic. He has extinguished 
 all appearance of that regret for Ctesar which was 
 spreading every day so fast, that I began to appre- 
 hend some danger to our tyrant-killers ; but I now 
 agree with you and conceive better hopes," &c.' 
 Again : "O the brave act of Dolabella ! what a pro- 
 spect does it give us ? I never cease praising and 
 
 exhorting him Our Brutus, I dare say, might 
 
 now walk safely through the forum with a crown 
 of gold upon his head ; for who dares molest him, 
 when the rock or the cross is to be their fate ? and 
 when the very lowest of the people give such proofs 
 of their applause and approbation™ .'" He wrote 
 at the same time from Baise the following letter to 
 Dolabella himself. 
 
 Cicero to Dolabella Consul. 
 "Though I was content, my Dolabella, with 
 your glory, and reaped a sufficiency of pleasure 
 from it, yet I cannot but own that it gives me an 
 inexpressible joy, to find the world ascribing to me 
 also some share in your praises. I have met with 
 nobody here, though I see so much company every 
 day (for there are many worthy men now at this 
 place for the sake of their health, and many of my 
 acquaintance from the great towns,) who, after 
 extolling you to the skies, does not give thanks 
 presently to me ; not doubting, as they all say, but 
 it is by my precepts and advice, that you now show 
 yourself to be this admirable citizen and singular 
 consul : and though I could assure them, with great 
 truth, that what you are doing flows wholly from 
 yourself and your own judgment, and that you 
 want not the advice of any one ; yet I neither 
 wholly assent, lest I should derogate from your 
 merit, by making it seem to proceed from my 
 counsel ; nor do I strongly deny it, being myself 
 perhaps more greedy of glory than I ought to be. 
 But that can never be a diminution to you, which 
 was an honour even to Agamemnon, the king of 
 kings, to have a Nestor for his counsellor ; while 
 it will be glorious to me to see a young consul, the 
 scholar, as it were, of my discipline, flourishing in 
 the midst of applause. L. Ceesar, when I visited 
 him lately sick at Naples, though oppressed with 
 suscipere, controversias quasdam, interposito per Caesarcm 
 jurejurando, distrahere perseveiavit. — Sueton. J. Caes. 85. 
 
 Slanabat enim illud malum urbanum, et ita corrob.ira- 
 batur quotidie, ut ego quidem et urbi et otic diflBdeiem 
 urbaiio. — Ep. Fam. xii. 1. 
 
 Nam cum scrperet in urbe infinitum malum — et quoti- 
 die magis magisque perditi homines, cum sui similibus 
 servis, tectis et templis urbis minarentur ; talis animad- 
 versio fuit Dolabellae, cum in audaces sceleratosque servos, 
 turn in impuros et nefarios cives, talisque eversio illius 
 execratae columnae, «Scc. [Phil. i. 2.] Recordare, qua;80, 
 Dolabella, consensum ilium theatri. — Ibid. 12. 
 
 1 Ad Att. xiv. 15. 
 
 n> O Dolabellae nostri apia^Ttiav ! quanta est avoBew- 
 pr}ai; .' equidem laudare cum et hortari non desisto — milii 
 quidem videtur Brutus noster jam vel coronam auream 
 per forum ferre posse : quis enim audeat viofare, propoeita 
 cruce aut saxo ? praesertim tantis plausibus, tanta appro- 
 batione infimorum ? — Ibid. J6.
 
 S80 
 
 THE HISTORY OK THE LIFE OF 
 
 pain in every part of his body, yet before he had 
 even saluted me could not forbear crying out, ' O 
 my Cicero ! I congratulate with you on account of 
 the authority which you have with Dolabella, for 
 if I had the same credit with my sister's son, 
 Antony, we should all now be safe ; but as to your 
 Dolabella, I both congratulate with him and thank 
 him ; since, from the time of yo\ir consulship, he 
 is the only one whom wu can truly call a consul :' 
 he then enlarged upon your act and the manner of 
 it, and declared that nothing was ever greater, no- 
 thing nobler, notliing more salutary to the state ; 
 and this indeed is the common voice of all. Allow 
 itie, therefore, I beg of you, to take some share, 
 though it be a false one, in the jiosscssion of an- 
 other man's glory ; and admit nie in some degree 
 into a partnership of your ])raises. But to be 
 serious, my Dolabella, for hitherto 1 have been 
 joking, I would sooner transfer all the credit that 
 I have to you, if I really have any, than rob you 
 of any part of yours : for as 1 have always had that 
 sincere affection for you, to which you have been 
 no stranger, so now I am so charmetl by your late 
 conduct that no love was ever more ardent. For, 
 believe me, there is nothing after all more engag- 
 ing, nothing more beautiful, nothing more lovely 
 than virtue. I have ever loved M. Brutus, you 
 know, for his incomparable parts, sweet disposi- 
 tion, singular probity, and tirmness of mind ; yet 
 on the ides of March, such an accession was made 
 to my love, that I was surprised to find any room 
 for increase in that which I had long ago taken to 
 be full and perfect. Who could have thought it 
 possible that any addition could be made to my 
 love of you ? Yet so much has been added that I 
 seem but now at last to love, before to have only 
 esteemed you. What is it, therefore, that I must 
 now exhort you to ? Is i< to pursue the path of 
 dignity and glory ? And as those do, who use to 
 exhort, shall I propose to you the examples of 
 eminent men ? I can think of none more eminent 
 than yourself. You must imitate therefore your- 
 self; contend with yourself; for after such great 
 things done, it would be a disgrace to you not to 
 be like yourself. Since this then is the case, there 
 is no occasion to exhort but to congratulate with 
 you ; for that has happened to you which scarce 
 ever happened to any man, that by the utmost 
 severity of punishing, instead of acquiring odium, 
 you are become popular ; and not only with the 
 better sort, but the very meanest of the city. If 
 this was owing to fortune, I should congratulate 
 your felicity ; but it was owing to the greatness of 
 your courage, as well as of your parts and wisdom. 
 For I have read your speech to the people ; nothing 
 ■was ever more prudent ; you enter so deliberately 
 and gradually into the reason of your act, and 
 •■etire from it so artfully, that the case itself, in the 
 opinion of all, appears to be ripe for punishment. 
 You have freed us therefore both from our danger 
 and our fears, and have done an act of the greatest 
 service not only to the present times, but for the 
 example of it also to posterity. You are to con- 
 sider that the republic nosv rests upon your shoul- 
 ders, and that it is your part not only to protect 
 but to adorn those men, from whom we have 
 received this beginning of our liberty ; but of this 
 ■we shall talk more fully when we meet again, as I 
 hope we shall shortly : in the mean while, since 
 you are now the common guardian both of the 
 
 repubHc and of us all, take care, my dear Dola- 
 bella, that you guard more especially your own 
 safety"." 
 
 In this retreat from Rome he had a mind to 
 make an excursion to Greece, and pay a visit to his 
 son at Athens, whose conduct did not please him, 
 and seemed to require his jireseniie to reform and 
 set it right". But the news of Dolabella's beha- 
 viour, and the hopes which it gave of gaining the 
 only thing that was wanted, a head and leader of 
 their cause armed with the authority of the state, 
 made him resolve to stay at least till after the first 
 of June, lest his absence should be interpreted as a 
 kind of desertion ; nor did he ever intend indeed to 
 leave Italy, till he could do it without censure, and 
 to the full satisfaction of Brutus, whom he was 
 determined never to desert on any occasion^. 
 
 He had frequent meetings and conferences all 
 this while with his old friends of the opposite party, 
 the late ministers of Ca;sar'si)Owcr, Pansa, llirtius, 
 Balbus, Matius, &c. But Csesar's death, on which 
 their sentiments were very different from his, had 
 in great measure broken their former confidence : 
 and though the popularity of the act made them 
 somewhat shy of sjieaking their minds freely about 
 it, yet he easily perceived that they were utterly 
 displeased with it, and seemed to want an occasion 
 of revenging it. Pansa and llirtius, as has been 
 said, were nominated by Cajsar to the consulship 
 of the next year ; and as Ctesar's acts were ratified 
 by the senate, were to succeed to it of course. 
 This made Brutus and Cassius press Cicero ear- 
 nestly to gain them, if possible, to the republicaa 
 side, but especially llirtius, whom they most sus- 
 pected. But Cicero seems to have had little hopes 
 of success ; his account of them to Atticus is, 
 " That there was not one of them who did not 
 dread peace more than war ; that they were perpe- 
 tually lamenting the miserable end of so great a 
 man ; and declaring that the republic was ruined 
 by it ; that all his acts would be made void as soon 
 as people's fears were over, and that clemency was 
 his ruin, since, if it had not been for that, he could 
 not have perished in such a manner ; and of Hirtius 
 in particular, he warmly loves him (says he) whom 
 Brutus stabbed ; as to their desiring me to make 
 him better, I am doing my endeavour : he talks 
 very honestly, but lives with Balbus, who talks 
 honestly too ; how far they are to be trusted you 
 must consider"!." 
 
 But of all this set of men, Matius was the most 
 
 " Ep. Fam. ix. 14. 
 
 o (iuod sentio valdo esse utile ad confirmationem Cice- 
 ronis, tae illuc venire. [Ad Att. xiv. 13.] INIagni interest 
 Ciceronis, vol niea potius, vel mehercule utriusque, me 
 iutervenire discenti. — Ibid. 16, 
 
 P Nunc autem videmur habituri ducem, quod iinum 
 municipia, bonique desiderant. — Ibid. 20. 
 
 Nee yero discedam, nisi cum tu me id honeste putabis 
 facere posse. Bruto certe meo nullo loco deero. — ^Ibid. 15 ; 
 it. xvi. 13. 
 
 q Minime enim obscurum est, quid isti moliantur: 
 mcus vero discipulus, qui hodie apud me ccenat, valdo amat 
 ilium, quem Brutus nosier sauciavit, ct si quaeris, perspexi 
 enim plane, timent otium. virdQeaiv autem banc habent, 
 eamque prte se ferunt, virum cUuissimum interfectum, 
 totam rerapublieam illius intcritu perturbatam : irrita fore, 
 quae ille egisset, simul ac desistemus timero. Clementiam 
 illi male fuisse: qua si usus non esset, nihil illi tale 
 accidere potuisse. — Ad Att. xiv. 22. 
 
 Quod Hirtium per me meliorem fieri volunt, do equidem. 
 operam, et ille optima loquitur, sed vivit babitatque cuuv
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 231 
 
 open and explicit in condemning the act of the 
 conspirators, so as to put Cicero out of humour 
 with him, as a man irreconcileable to the liberty of 
 the republic. Cicero called upon him on his way 
 from Rome into the country, and found him sullen, 
 desponding, and foreboding nothing but wars and 
 desolation, as the certain consequence of Csesar's 
 death. Among other particulars of their conversa- 
 tion, Matius told him something which Caesar had 
 lately said both of him and Brutus ; that he used to 
 say of Brutus, " it was of great consequence which 
 way he stood inclined, since whatever he had a 
 mind to, he pursued with an impetuous eagerness ; 
 that he had remarked this of him more es])ecially 
 in his pleading for Deiotarus at Nicsea ; where he 
 spoke with a surprising vehemence and freedom : 
 and of Cicero, that when he was attending Cajsar 
 in the cause of Sestius, Caesar perceiving him 
 sitting in the room, and waiting till he was called, 
 said, ' Can I doubt of my being extremely odious, 
 when Cicero sits waiting and cannot get access to 
 me ?' yet if any man be easy enough to forgive it, it 
 is he, though I do not question but that he really 
 hates me''." 
 
 There were several reasons, however ,which made 
 it necessary to these men to court Cicero at this 
 time as much as ever ; for if the republic happened 
 to recover itself, he was of all men the most 
 capable to protect them on that side ; if not, the 
 most able to assist them against Antony, whose 
 designs and success they dreaded still more ; for if 
 they must have a new master, they were disposed, 
 for the sake of Caesar, to prefer his heir and 
 nephew, Octavius. We find Hirtius and Pansa, 
 therefore, very assiduous in their observance of 
 him. They spent a great part of the summer 
 with him at different times in his villas, giving 
 him the strongest assurances of their good inten- 
 tions, and disposition to peace, and that he should 
 be the arbiter of their future consulship ; and 
 though he continued still to have some distrust 
 of Hirtius, yet Pansa wholly persuaded him that 
 he was sincere ^ 
 
 Brutus and Cassius continued still near Lanu- 
 vium, in the neighbourhood of Cicero's villa at 
 Astura, of which, at Cicero's desire, they some- 
 times made use'; being yet irresolute what mea- 
 sures they should take, they kept themselves quiet 
 and retired, expecting what time and chance would 
 offer, and waiting particularly to see what humour 
 the consuls would be in at the next meeting of the 
 senate, with regard to themselves and the repub- 
 lic ; and since they were driven from the discharge 
 
 Balbo : qui item bene loquitur. Quid credas videris. — 
 Ad Att. XX. 21. 
 
 ^ De Bruto nostro — Caesarcm solitum dicere : — Magni 
 refert hie quid velit : sed quicquid vult, valde vult. 
 Idque eum animadvertisse cum pro Deiotaro Niceae 
 dixerit, valde vehementer eum visum, et libere dicere. 
 Atque etiam proxime cum Sestii rogatu apud eum fuis- 
 sem, expectaremque sedens quoad vocarer, dixisse eum : — 
 Ego dubitem quin summo in odio siin, cum M. Cicero 
 sedeat, nee suo commodo me convenire possit ? Atqui si 
 quisquam est facilis, hie est : tamen non duibto, quin me 
 male oderit.— Ad Att. xiv. 1. 
 
 " Cum Pansa vixi in Pompeiano. Is plane mihi pro- 
 babat, se bene sentire et cupere pacem &c.-»Ad Att. xiv. 
 20 ; it. XV. 1. 
 
 ' Velim mehercule Asturs Brutus. [Ad Att. xiv. II.] 
 Brutum apud me fuisse gaudeo : niodo et libenter fuerit 
 et sat diu.— Ibid. xv. a . 
 
 of their praetorship in the city, they contrived to 
 put the people in mind of them, from time to time, 
 by their edicts, in which they made the strongest 
 professions of their pacific disposition ; and de- 
 clared, " that their conduct should give no handle 
 for a civil war ; and that they would submit to 
 a perpetual exile, if it would contribute in any 
 manner to the public concord, being content with 
 the consciousness of their act, as the greatest 
 honour which they could enjoy"." Their present 
 design was to come to Rome on the first of June, 
 and take their places in the senate, if it should be 
 thought advisable ; or to present themselves at 
 least in the rostra, and try the affections of the 
 people, for whom Rrutus was preparing a speech. 
 They sent to know Cicero's opinion of this project, 
 with the copy also of that speech which Brutus 
 made in the capitol on the day of C^csar's death, 
 begging his revisal and correction of it, in order to 
 its being published. Cicero, in his account of it 
 to Atticus, says, "the oration is drawn with the 
 utmost elegance, both of sentiments and style ; 
 yet were I to handle the subject, I should work it 
 up with more fire. You know tlie character of the 
 speaker ; for which reason I could not correct it. 
 For in the style in which our friend would excel, 
 and according to the idea which he has formed of 
 the best manner of speaking, he has succeeded so 
 well, that nothing can be better : but whether I 
 am in tlie right or the wrong, I am of a quite 
 different taste. I wish, however, that you would 
 read it, if you have not already, and let me know 
 what you think of it ; though I am afraid, lest 
 through the prejudice of your name, you should 
 show too much of the Attic in your judgment : yet 
 if you remember the thunder of Demosthenes, you 
 will perceive that the greatest force may consist 
 with the perfection of Attic elegance"." 
 
 Atticus did not like the speech ; he thought the 
 manner too cold and spiritless for so great an 
 occasion ; and begged of Cicero to draw up another 
 to be published in Brutus's name : but Cicero 
 would not consent to it, thinking the thing itself 
 improper, and knowing that Brutus would take it 
 illy. In one of his letters on the subject, — 
 " Though you think me in the wrong," says he, 
 " to imagine that the republic depends on Brutus, 
 the fact is certainly so : there will either be none 
 at all, or it will be saved l)y him and his accom- t 
 plices. As to your urging me to write a speech for 
 him, take it from me, my Atticus, as a general 
 rule, which by long experience I have found to be 
 true, that there never was a poet or orator who 
 thought any one preferable to himself. This is the 
 case even with bad ones. What shall we think, 
 then, of Brutus, who has both wit and learning } 
 especially after the late experiment of him in the 
 case of the edict. I drew up one for him at your 
 desire. I liked mine ; he his. Besides, when at 
 his earnest solicitation I addressed to him my 
 treatise on the best manner of speaking, he wrote 
 word, not only to me, but to you too, that the 
 
 " Testati edictis, libenter se vel in pcrpctuo cxilio vic- 
 turos, dum reipublica? constaret cDnenrdia, nee ullam 
 belli civilis prjebituros materiam, plurimum sibi honoria 
 esse in conscientia facti sui, (fee. [Veil. I'at. ii. (J2.] Edic- 
 tum Bruti et Cassii probo. [Ad Att. xiv. 20.] De quibus 
 tu bonain spem tc habere significas propter edictorum 
 humanitatem. — Ibid. xv. 1. 
 
 ^ Ad Att. XV. 1, J Ibid. 3, 4.
 
 232 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 kind of eloquence which I recommended did not 
 please him. Let every one, therefore, compose 
 for himself — I wish only that it may be in his 
 power to make a speech at all ; for if ever he can 
 appear again with safety at Rome, we have gained 
 the victory'." 
 
 In this interval a new actor appeared on the 
 stage, who, though hitherto but little considered, 
 soon made the first figure upon it, and drew all 
 people's eyes towards him : the young Octavius, 
 who was left by his uncle Cicsar the heir of his 
 name and estate. He had been sent a few months 
 before to Apollonia, a celebrated academy or 
 school of learning in Macedonia, there to wait for 
 his uncle on his way to the Parthian war, in which 
 he was to attend him ; but the news of Caesar's 
 deatli soon brought liini back to Italy, to try what 
 fortunes he could carve for himself, by the credit 
 of his new name, and the help of his uncle's friends. 
 He arrived at Najiles on the eighteenth of April, 
 whither Balbus went the next morning to receive 
 him, and returned the same day to Cicero, near 
 Cumae, having first conducted Octavius to the 
 adjoining villa of his father-in-law Philip. Hirtius 
 and Pansa were with Cicero at the same time, to 
 whom they immediately presented Octavius, with 
 the strongest professions on the part of the young 
 man, that he would be governed entirely by his 
 direction". 
 
 The sole pretension which he avowed at present 
 was, to assert his right to the succession of his 
 uncle's estate, and to claim the possession of it ; 
 but this was thought an attempt too hardy and 
 dangerous for a mere boy, scarce yet above eighteen 
 years old ; for the republican party had great 
 reason to be jealous of him, lest with the inherit- 
 ance of the estate, he should grasp at the power 
 of his uncle ; and Antony still more, who had 
 destined that succession to himself, and already 
 seized the effects, lest by the advantage of all that 
 wealth, Octavius might be in a condition to make 
 head against him. The mother, therefore, and 
 her husband Philip, out of concern for his safety, 
 pressed him to suspend his claim for awhile, and 
 not assume an invidious name, before he could see 
 what turn the public affairs would take ; but he 
 was of too great a spirit to relish any suggestions 
 of caution, declaring it base and infamous to think 
 himself unworthy of a name, of which Csesar had 
 thought him worthy '' : and there were many about 
 him constantly pushing him on to throw himself 
 upon the affections of the city and the army, before 
 his enemies had made themselves too strong for 
 him ; so that he was on fire to be at Rome, and to 
 enter into action, being determined to risk all his 
 hopes on the credit of his name, and the friends 
 and troops of his uncle. 
 
 Before he left the country, Cicero, speaking of 
 him to Atticus, says, — " Octavius is still with us, 
 and treats me with the greatest respect and friend- 
 
 z Ad Att. xiv. 20. 
 
 a Octavius Neapolim venit a. d. xnii. Kal. ibi eum 
 Balbus mane postridie ; eodemque die meciim in Cumano. 
 [Ad Att. xiv. 10.] Hie mecum Balbus, Hirtius, Pansa. 
 Modo venit Octavius, et quidem in proximam villam 
 Philippi, mihi totus deditus. — Ibid. 11. 
 
 •> Non placebat Atije matri, Philippoque vitrico, adiri 
 nomen invidiosae fortunse Csesaris — sprevitcoelestis animus 
 humana consilia — dictitans nefas esse, quo nomine Catsari 
 dignus esset visus, sibimet ipsum videri indignum. — Veil. 
 Pat. ii. 6U. 
 
 ship. His domestics give him the name of Cffisar; 
 Philip does not ; nor for that reason do I. It is 
 not possible for him, in my opinion, to make a 
 good citizen, there are so many about him who 
 threaten the death of our friends : tliey declare that 
 what they have done can never be forgiven. What 
 will be the case, think you, when the boy comes 
 to Rome, where our deliverers cannot show their 
 heads .' who yet must ever be famous, nay, happy 
 too, in the consciousness of their act ; but as for 
 us, unless I am deceived, we shall be undone. I 
 long, therefore, to go abroad, where I may heai' 
 no more of these Pelopida;," &c.'= 
 
 As soon as Octavius came to Rome, he was 
 produced to the people by one of the tribunes, and 
 made a speech to them from the rostra, which was 
 now generally possessed by the enemies of Brutus, 
 who were perpetually making use of the advantage 
 to inflame the mob against him. " Remember," 
 says Cicero, " what I tell you : this custom of 
 seditious harangues is so much cherished, that 
 those heroes of ours, or rather gods, will live indeed 
 in immortal glory, yet not without envy, and even 
 danger : their great comfort, however, is, the 
 consciousness of a most glorious act ; but what 
 comfort for us, who, when our king is killed, are 
 not yet free ? But fortune must look to that, 
 since reason has no sway**." 
 
 Octavius seconded his speech by what was like 
 to please the inferior part of the city much better ; 
 the I'epresentation of public shows and plays, in 
 honour of his uncle's victories. Csesar had pro- 
 mised and prepared for them in his lifetime ; but 
 those whom he ha-d entrusted with the manage- 
 ment durst not venture to exhibit them after his 
 death, till Octavius, as his heir and representative, 
 undertook the affair, as devolved, of course, upon 
 himself"^. In these shows Octavius brought out 
 the golden chair which, among the other honours 
 decreed to Caesar when living, was ordered to be 
 placed in the theatres and circus, as to a deity, on 
 all solemn occasions ^ But the tribunes ordered 
 the chair to be taken away, upon which the body 
 of the k'nights testified their applause by a general 
 clap. Atticus sent an account of this to Cicero, 
 which was very agreeable to hims^ ; but he was 
 not at all pleased with Octavius's conduct, since it 
 indicated a spirit determined to revive the memory 
 and to avenge the death of Csesar ; and he was the 
 less pleased to hear, also, that Matius had taken 
 
 <: Nobiscum hie perhonorifice et amice Octavius ; quem 
 quidem sui Caesarem salutabant, Philippus non ; itaque 
 nc nos quidem : quem nego posse bonum civem, ita multi 
 circumstant, qui quidem nostris mortem minitantur. 
 Negant hieo fcrri posse. Quid censes, cum Romam puor 
 vencrit, ubi nostri liberatores tuti esse non possunt ? qui 
 quidem semper erunt clari ; conscientia vero facti sui 
 ctiam beati : sed nos, nisi me fallit, jacebimus. Itaquo 
 aveo exire, ubi nee Pelopidarum, &c. — Ad Att. xiv. 12. 
 
 '• Sed memento, sic alitur consuetudo perditarum con- 
 cionum, ut nostri illi non heroes, sed dii, futuri quidem in 
 gloria sompiterna sint, sed non sine Invidia, ne sine peri- 
 culo quidem : verum illis magna consolatio, conscientia 
 maximi et clarissimi facti : nobis quae, qui interfccto 
 rege liberi non sumus ? Sed haec fortuna viderit, quoniam 
 ratio non gubernat. — Ad Att. xiv. II. 
 
 = liUdos autem victoria Caesaris non audentibus facere, 
 quibusobtigerat id munus, ipse edidit. — Sueton. in Aug. 10 ; 
 Dio, p. 272. 
 
 ' Dio, xliv. 243. 
 
 g De sella Ca?saris, bene tribimL Pra;claro8 etiam xiv. 
 ordines. — Ad Att xv. 3.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 233 
 
 upon him the care of these shows'', since it con- 
 firmed the suspicion which he had before conceived 
 ef Matius, and made him apprehensive that lie 
 would be an ill counsellor to young Octavius, in 
 which light he seems to have represented him to 
 Brutus. Matius was informed of these suspicions, 
 and complained to their common friend Trebatius 
 of Cicero's unkind opinion and unfriendly treat- 
 ment of him, which gave occasion to the following 
 auology from Cicero, and the answer to it from 
 ]\Iatius, which is deservedly valued, not only for 
 the beauty of its sentiments and composition, but 
 for preserving to us a name and character, which 
 was almost lost to history, of a most esteemed 
 •and amiable person, who lived in the first degree 
 of confidence with Caesar, and for parts, learning, 
 and virtue, was scarce inferior to any of that age. 
 Cicero takes pains to persuade Matius that he 
 had said nothing of him but what was consistent 
 ■with the strictest friendship ; and to gain the easier 
 credit with him, prefaces his apology with a detail 
 and acknowledgment of Matius's perpetual civili- 
 ties and observance of him through life, even when 
 in the height of his power and credit with Csesar ; 
 but when he comes to the point of the complaint 
 he touches it very tenderly, and observes only in 
 general, " that as Matius's dignity exposed every- 
 thing which he did to public notice, so the malice 
 of the world interpreted some of his acts more 
 hardly than they deserved ; that it was his care 
 always to give the most favourable turn to them 
 — but you (says he), a man of the greatest learn- 
 ing, are not ignorant, that if Csesar was in fact a 
 king, as I indeed look upon him to have been, 
 there are two ways of considering the case of your 
 duty ; either that, which I commonly take, of 
 extolling your fidelity and humanity, in showing so 
 much affection even to a dead friend ; or the other, 
 which some people use, that the liberty of our 
 country ought to be preferred to the life of any 
 friend. I wish that you had heard with what zeal 
 I used to defend you in these conversations ; but 
 there are two things especially that make the prin- 
 cipal part of your praise, which no man speaks of 
 more frequently or more freely than I : that you, 
 of all Caesar's friends, were the most active, both 
 in dissuading the civil war, and in moderating the 
 victory ; in which I have met with nobody who 
 does not agree with me','' &c. 
 
 Matius to Cicero. 
 ■" Your letter gave me great pleasure, by letting 
 me see that you retain still that favourable opinion 
 of me, which I had always hoped and wished ; and 
 though I had never, indeed, any doubt of it, yet 
 for the high value that I set upon it, I was very 
 solicitous that it should remain always inviolable ; 
 I was conscious to myself that I had done nothing 
 which could reasonably give offence to any honest 
 man, and did not imagine, therefore, that a person 
 of your great and excellent accomplishments could 
 be induced to take any without reason, especially 
 against one who had always professed, and still 
 continued to profess, a sincere good-will to you. 
 Since all this, then, stands just as I wish it, I will 
 now give an answer to those accusations, from 
 
 ^ Ludorum ejus apparatus, et Matius ac Postumius pro- 
 cnratoresnon placent. — Ad Att. xv. 2. 
 > Ep. Fam. xi. 27. 
 
 which you, agreeably to your character, out of 
 your singular goodness and friendship, have so 
 often defended me. I am no stranger to what has 
 been said of me by certain persons, since Cesar's 
 death : they call it a crime in me, that I am con- 
 cerned for the loss of an intimate friend, and sorry 
 that the man whom I loved met with so unhappy 
 a fate : they say that our country ought to be pre- 
 ferred to any friendship, as if they had already 
 made it evident that his death was of service to 
 the republic ; but I will not deal craftily ; I own 
 myself not to be arrived at that degree of wisdom ; 
 nur did I yet follow Caesar in our late dissentions, 
 but my friend, whom, though displeased with the 
 thing, I could not desert ; for I never approved 
 the civil war, or the cause of it, but took all 
 possible pains to stifle it in its birth. Upon the 
 victory, therefore, of a familiar friend, I was not 
 eager either to advance or to enrich myself: an 
 advantage which others, who had less interest with 
 him than I, abused to great excess. Nay, my cir- 
 cumstances were even hurt by Caesar's law, to 
 whose kindness the greatest part of those who now 
 rejoice at his death, owed their very continuance in 
 the city. I solicited the pardon of the vancpiished 
 with the same zeal as if it had been for myself. Is 
 it possible, therefore, for me, who laboured to pro- 
 cure the safety of all, not to be concerned for the 
 death of him from whom I used to procure it ? 
 especially when the very same men who were the 
 cause of making him odious, were the authors also 
 of destroying him. But I shall have cause, they 
 say, to repent, for daring to condemn their act. 
 Unheard of insolence ! that it should be allowed 
 to some to glory in a wicked action, yet not to 
 others even to grieve at it, without punishment ! 
 But this was always free even to slaves, to fear, 
 rejoice, and grieve by their own wUl, not that of 
 another ; which yet these men, who call themselves 
 the authors of liberty, are endeavouring to extort 
 from us by the force of terror. But they may spare 
 their threats ; for no danger shall terrify me from 
 performing my duty and the offices of humanity, 
 since it was always my opinion, that an honest 
 death was never to be avoided, often even to be 
 sought. But why are they angry with me for 
 wishing only that they may repent of their act ? 
 I wish that all the world may regret Caesar's death. 
 But I ought, they say, as a member of civil society, 
 to wish the good and safety of the republic. If my 
 past life and future hopes do not already prove that 
 I wish it, without my saying so, I will not pretend 
 to evince it by argument. — I beg of you, therefore, 
 in the strongest terms, to attend to facts rather 
 than to words ; and if you think it the most useful 
 to one in my circumstances, that what is right 
 should take place, never imagine that I can have 
 any union or commerce with ill-designing men. I 
 acted the same part in my youth, where to mistake 
 would have been pardonable ; shall I then undo it 
 all again, and renounce my principles in my declin- 
 ing age } No ; it is my resolution to do nothing 
 that can give any offence, except it be when I lament 
 the cruel fate of a dear friend and illustrious man. 
 If I were in different sentiments, I would never 
 disown what I was doing, lest I should be thought 
 not only wicked for pursuing what was wrong, but 
 false and cowardly for dissembling it. But I 
 undertook the care of the shows which young 
 Cffisar exhibited for the victory of his uncle : this
 
 234 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 was an affair of private, not of public duty : it was 
 what I ought to have performed to the memory and 
 honour of my dear friend, and what I could not, 
 therefore, deny to ft youth of the greatest hopes, 
 and so highly worthy of Ca;sar. But I go often, 
 also, to the consul Antony's, to pay my compli- 
 ments : yet you will find those very men go oftener 
 to ask and receive favours, who reflect upon me for 
 it, as disaffected to my country. J3ut wliat arro- 
 gance is this ? When Cicsar never hindered me 
 from visiting wliom I would — even those wliom he 
 did not care for — that they, who had deprived me 
 of liim, should attempt, hy their cavils, to debar 
 mc from placing my esteem where I think ))r()pi'r. 
 But I am not ;itVaid tlmt eitluT the modesty ot my 
 life should not be sufficient to confute all false 
 reports of me for the future, or that they, wlio do 
 not love me for my constancy to Ctesar, would not 
 choose to have their friends resemt)le me ratiier 
 than themselves. For my own part, if I could liave 
 my wish, I would spend tlie remainder of my days 
 in quiet at Rhodes ; but if any accident prevent 
 me, will live in such a manner at Rome, as always 
 to desire that what is riglit may prevail. I am 
 greatly obliged to our friend Trebatius, for giving 
 me this assurance of your sincere and friendly re- 
 gard for me, and for making it ray duty to respect 
 and observe a man whom I had esteemed always 
 before with inclination. Take care of your health, 
 and preserve me in your aflection — ^." 
 
 Antony all tliis while was not idle, but pushed 
 on his designs witli great vigour and address : in 
 his progress through Italy, his business was to 
 gather up Ccesar's old soldiers from the several 
 colonies and quarters in which they were settled ; 
 and by large bribes, and larger promises, to attach 
 them to his interests, and draw great bodies of 
 them towards Rome, to be ready for any pur])ose 
 that his affairs should require. In the city like- 
 wise he neglected no means which his consular 
 authority offered, how unjust or violent soever, of 
 strengthening his power ; and let all people now 
 see for what ends he had provided that decree, to 
 which the senate had consented for the sake of 
 peace, of confirming Cscsar's acts ; for being the 
 master both of Caesar's papers and of his secretary 
 Faberius, by whose hand they were written', he 
 had an opportunity of forging and inserting at 
 pleasure whatever he found of use to him, which 
 he practised without any reserve or management ; 
 selling publicly fur money whatever immunities 
 were desired by countries, cities, princes, or private 
 men, on pretence that they had been granted by 
 
 ^ Ep. Fam. xi. 28. This Cn. Matius lived long after- 
 wards in such favour and familiarity with Augustus, as to 
 be distinguished by the title of Augustus's /rif?id. Yet he 
 seems to have declined all public honours and business, 
 and to have spent the remainder of his days in an elegant 
 and pleasurable retreat ; employing his time and studies 
 in the improvements of gardening and planting, as well as 
 in refining the delicacy of a splendid and luxurious life, 
 which was the general taste of that age. For he first 
 taught how to inoculate and propagate some of their 
 curious and foreign fruits; and introduced the way of 
 cutting trees and groves into regular forms: on which 
 subjects he published several books which are mentioned 
 by the later writers. — Columel. De Re Rust. xii. 44. init. ; 
 Plin. Hist. Nat. xii. 2; xv. 14. 
 
 ' Ta vTrofj.viif.iaT a rSiv ^e^ovXevfievwv 6 "'Avrdvtoi 
 ^X'^^'i '^"■^ 'T^J' jpafifiaTfa rod Kaicrapos ^a^iptoy, 
 is ndpTa dl irfiOiiufVov App. 1. 3. 520. 
 
 CsBsar and entered into his hooks. This alarmed' 
 and shocked all honest men wlio saw the mischief, 
 but knew no remedy : Antony had the power, and 
 their own decree had justified it. Cicero complains 
 of it heavily in many of his letters, and declares it 
 a thousand times better to die than to suffer it"". 
 " Is it so then .' " says he, " is all that our Brutus 
 has done come to this, tliat lie might live at last at 
 Lanuvium ? Tiiat Trebonius might steal away 
 through private roads to his province ? That all 
 the acts, writings, sayings, jjroniises, thoughts of 
 Coesar should have greater force now than when 
 he himself was living.'" All which he charges to 
 that mistake of the first day in not summoning the 
 senate into the cajjitol, where they might have 
 done wliat they pleased when their own party was 
 uppermost, and these robbers, as he calls them, 
 dis])ersed and dejected". 
 
 Among the other acts which Antony confirmed, 
 on the pretence of their being ordered by Caesar,, 
 he granted the freedom of the city to all Sicily, and 
 restored to king Deiotarus all his former domi- 
 nions. Cicero speaks of this with great indignation. 
 " O my Atticus," says he, " the ides of March 
 have given us nothing but the joy of revenging 
 
 ourselves on him whom we had reason to hate 
 
 it was a brave act, but left imperfect you know 
 
 what a kindness I have for the Sicilians ; that I 
 esteem it an honour to be tluir patron : Cajsar 
 granted them many privileges which I did not dis- 
 like, though his giving them the rights of Latium 
 was intolerable ; yet that was nothing to what 
 Antony has done, who for a large sum of money has 
 published a law, pretended to be made by the dic- 
 tator, in an assembly of the people, though we 
 never heard a syllable of it in his lifetime, which 
 makes them all citizens of Rome. Is not Deiota- 
 rus's case just the same ? He is worthy indeed of 
 any kingdom, but not by the grant of Fulvia ; 
 there are a thousand instances of the same sort"." 
 When this last act was hung up as usual in the 
 Capitol, among the public monuments of the city, 
 the forgery appeared so gross that the peoj)le, in 
 the midst of their concern, could not help laughing 
 at it ; knowing that Caesar liated no man so much 
 as Deiotarus. But the bargain was made in Fulvia's 
 apartments for the sum of eighty thousand pounds, 
 by the king's agents at Rome, without consulting 
 Cicero or any other of their master's friends : yet 
 the old king, it seems, was beforehand with them, 
 and no sooner heard of Caesar's death than he 
 seized upon his dominions again by force. " H§ 
 knew it," says Cicero, "to be a universal right, 
 that what tyrants had forcibly taken away, the 
 true owners might recover whenever they were 
 able : — he acted like a man, but we contemptibly, 
 who whilst we hate the author, yet maintain his 
 acts P." By these methods Antony presently 
 
 ™ Ep. Fam. xii. 1 ; Ad Att. xiv. 9. 
 
 " Itane vero ? hoc meus et tuus Brutus egit, ut Lanuvii 
 csset? ut Trebonius itineribus deviis proficisceretur in. 
 provinciam ? ut omnia facta, scripta, dicta, promissa,. 
 cogitata CasiU'is plus valerent, quam si ipse viveret ? &c 
 —Ad Att. xiv. 10. 
 
 o Ad Att. xiv. T2. 
 
 P Syngrapha II. S. centies per legates, — sine nostra, sine 
 reliquoruni hospitum regis sententia, facta in gynaeceo: 
 quo in loco plurimae res venierunt, et veneunt — Rex enun 
 ipse sua sponte, nuUis comrnsntariis Csesaris, sunul atque 
 audivit ejus interitum, suo marte res suas recuperavit. 
 Sciebat homo sapiens, jus semper hoc fuisse, ut, quoe-
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 235> 
 
 amassed infinite sums of money ; for thougli at the 
 time of Caesar's death he owed, as Cicero tohl 
 him, above three hundred thousand pounds, yet 
 within less than a fortnight after it he had paid off 
 
 the whole debti. 
 
 There was another instance of his violence which 
 gave still greater offence to the city ; his seizing the 
 public treasure which Ctesar had deposited for the 
 occasions of the government, in the temple of 
 Opis, amounting to above five millions and a half 
 of our money ; besides what Calpurnia, Caesar's 
 wife, from his private treasure had delivered into 
 his hands, computed at about another million. 
 This was no extraordinary sum if we consider the 
 vastness of the mine from which it was drawn, the 
 extent of the Roman empire, and that Caesar was 
 of all men the most rapacious in extorting it : 
 Cicero, alluding to the manner in which it was 
 raised, calls it a bloody and deadly treasure, ga- 
 thered from the spoils and ruin of the subjects ; 
 which, if it were not restored, as it ought to be, to 
 the true owners, might have been of great service 
 to the public towards easing them of their taxes'. 
 
 But Antony, who followed Caesar's maxims, 
 took care to secure it to himself, the use of it was 
 to purchase soldiers, and he was now in condition 
 to outbid any competitor ; but the first purchase 
 that he made with it was of his colleague Dolabella, 
 who had long been oppressed with the load of his 
 debts, and whom, by a part of this money, and the 
 promise of a farther share in the plunder of the 
 empire, he drew entirely from Cicero and the 
 republican party into his own measures. This was 
 an acquisition worth any price to him ; the gene- 
 ral inclination both of the city and the country was 
 clearly against him ; the town of Puteoli, one of 
 the most considerable of Italy, had lately chosen 
 the two Brutuses and Cassius for their patrons*, 
 and there wanted nothing but a leader to arm the 
 whole empire in that cause : Dolabella seemed to 
 be that very person, till bribed, as Cicero says, by 
 force of money, he not only deserted but overturned 
 the republic'. 
 
 These proceedings, which were preparatory to 
 the appointed meeting of the senate on the first of 
 June, began to open Brutus's eyes and convince 
 him of the mistake of his pacific measures and 
 favourable thoughts of Antony ; he now saw that 
 there was no good to be expected from him, or 
 from the senate itself under his influence, and 
 thought it time, therefore, in concert with Cassius, 
 to require an explicit account of his intentions, and 
 to expostulate with him gently in the following 
 letter. 
 
 tjranni eripuissent, ea tyrannis interfectis, ii quibus 
 erepta essent, recuperarent — Ille vir fuit, nos quidem 
 contemnendi, qui auctorem odinius, acta defendinms. — 
 Phil. ii. 37. 
 
 1 Tu autem quadringenties H.S. quod Idibus Martiis 
 debuisti, quonam modo ante Kalendas Aprilis debere 
 desisti ? — Ibid. 
 
 ' Ubi est septies millies H.S. quod in tabulis, quae sunt 
 ad Opis patebat ? funestie illius quidem pecuniaj, sed 
 tfjnen, si iis, quorum erat, non redderetur, quje nos a 
 tributis posset vindicare.— Phil. ii. 37 ; PhiL i. 7 ; Plutarch. 
 in Ant. 
 
 s Vexavit Puteolanos, quod Cassiuin et Brutos patronos 
 adoptassent. — Phil. ii. 41. 
 
 ' Ut ilium oderim, quod cum rempnblieam me auctore 
 defendere coepisset, non modo deseruerit, emptus pecunia, 
 nedetiam quantum in ipso fuit, everterit. — Ad Att. xvi. 15. 
 
 Brutus and Cassius, Preetors, to M. Antonius, 
 Consul. 
 
 " If we were not persuaded of your sincerity and 
 good-will to us we should not have written this to 
 you, which, out of the kind disposition that you bear 
 to us, you win take without doubt in good part. 
 We are informed that a great multitude of veteran 
 soldiers is already come to Rome, and a much 
 greater expected there on the first of June. If we 
 could harbour any suspicion or fear of you, we 
 should be unlike ourselves ; yet surely, after we had 
 put ourselves into your power, and by your advice 
 dismissed the friends whom we had about us from 
 the great towns, and that not only by public edict 
 but by private letters, we deserve to be made 
 acquainted with your designs, especially in an affair 
 which relates to ourselves. We beg of you, there- 
 fore, to let us know what your intentions are with 
 regard to us. Do you think that we can be safe 
 in such a crowd of veterans .' who have tlioughts, 
 we hear, even of rebuilding the altar, which no man 
 can desire or approve who wishes our safety and 
 honour. That we had no other view from the 
 first but peace, nor sought anything else but the 
 public liberty, the event shows. Nobody can 
 deceive us but you, which is not certainly agreeable 
 to your virtue and integrity ; but no man else has 
 it in his power to deceive us. We trusted, and 
 shall trust to you alone. Our friends are under the 
 greatest apprehensions for us ; for though they are- 
 persuaded of your integrity, yet they reflect that a 
 multitude of veterans may sooner be puslied on to 
 any violence by others than restrained by you. 
 We desire an explicit answer to all particulars, for 
 it is silly and trifling to tell us that the veterans 
 are called together because you intend to move the 
 senate in their favour in June ; for who do you 
 think will hinder it when it is certain that we shall 
 not } Nobody ought to think us too fond of life, 
 when notliing can happen to us but with the ruin 
 and confusion of all things"." 
 
 During Cicero's stay in the country, where he 
 had a perpetual resort of his friends to him, and 
 where his thoughts seemed to be always employed 
 on the republic, yet he found leisure to write 
 several of those philosophical pieces which still 
 subsist both to the pleasure and benefit of man- 
 kind. For he now composed his treatise on the- 
 Nature of the Gods, in three books, addressed to 
 Brutus, containing the opinions of all the philoso- 
 phers who had ever written anything on that 
 argument ; to which he bespeaks the attention of 
 his readers as to a subject of the last importance, 
 which would inform them what they ought to think 
 of religion, piety, sanctity, ceremonies, faith, oaths, 
 temples, &c., since all these were included in that 
 single question of the gods^. He drew up likewise his 
 Discourse on Divination, or the foreknowledge and 
 prediction of future events, and the several ways by 
 which it was supposed to be acquired or communi- 
 cated to man ; where he explains in two books 
 whatever could be said for and against the actual 
 existence of the thing itself. Both these pieces are 
 written in the way of dialogue, of which he gives 
 the following account. " Since Carneades," says 
 he, *' has argued both acutely and copiously against 
 divination, in answer to the Stoics, I am now 
 inquiring what judgment we ought to form con~ 
 u Ep. Fam. xi. 2. « De Nat. Deor. i. 6.
 
 236 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 cerninp; it ; and for fear of giving my assent raslily 
 to a thing, either false in itself or not sufficiently 
 •understood, I think it best to do what I have 
 already done in my three books on the Nature of 
 the Gods, weiijh and com|)are diligently all the 
 arguments with each other: for as rashness of assent 
 and error is in all cases shameful, so most of all 
 in that where we are to judge what stress is to be 
 laid on auspices and things of a divine and religious 
 nature ; for the danger is, lest cither by neglecting 
 them we involve ourselves in an impiety, or by 
 embracing them, in an old woman's superstition >'." 
 lie now also wrote his piece on the advantages of old 
 age, called " Cato," from the chief speaker in the 
 dialogue : lie addressed it to Atticus, as a lecture of 
 common comfort to them both, in that gloomy 
 scene of life on which they were entering ; " having 
 found so much pleasure (he says) in writing it that 
 it not only cased him of all the complaints of age, 
 but made age itself even agreeable and cheerful to 
 him'." lie added soon after another present of the 
 same kind to Atticus, a treatise on Friendship : " a 
 subject (he says) both worthy to be known to all, 
 and peculiarly adapted to the case of their particu- 
 lar intimacy ; for as I have already written of age, 
 an old man to an old man, so now in the person of 
 a sincere friend I write on friendship to my friend." 
 Tills is written also in dialogue, the chief speaker 
 of which is Lajlius ; who, in a conversation with his 
 two sons-in-law Fannius and Scaevola, upon the 
 death of P. Scipio and the memorable friendship 
 that had subsisted between them, took occasion, at 
 their desire, to explain to them the nature and be- 
 nefits of true friendship. Scoevola, who lived to a 
 great age, and loved to retail his old stories to his 
 scholars, used to relate to them with pleasure all the 
 particulars of this dialogue, which Cicero having 
 committed to his memory, dressed up afterwards 
 in his own manner into the present form". Thus 
 this agreeable book, -which when considered only 
 as an invention or essay, is one of the most enter- 
 taining pieces in antiquity, must needs affect us 
 more warmly when it is found at last to be a his- 
 tory, or a picture drawn from the life, exhibiting 
 the real characters and sentiments of the best and 
 greatest men of Rome. He now also wrote his 
 discourse on Fate ; which was the subject of a 
 conversation with Hirtius in his villa near Puteoli, 
 where they spent several days together in May ; 
 and he is supposed to have finished about the same 
 time a translation of Plato's famous dialogue called 
 Timseus, on the nature and origin of the universe. 
 But he was employing himself also upon a work 
 of a different sort which had been long upon his 
 hands ; a history of his own times, or rather of 
 his own conduct, full of free and severe reflections 
 on those who had abused their power to the op- 
 pression of the republic, especially Caesar and 
 Crassus. This he calls his Anecdote ; a work not 
 to be published, but to be shown only to a few 
 
 7 De Divin. i. 4. 
 
 ^ Mihi quidem Ita jucunda hujus libri confectio fuit, 
 •.lit non modo omnes absterserit senectutis molestias, sed 
 
 •effecerit moUem etiam et jucundam senectutem De 
 
 Senect. 1. 
 
 ^ Digna mihi res tum omnium cognitione, turn nostra 
 familiaritate visa est — sed ut turn ad senem senex de 
 senectute, sic hoe libro ad amicum amicissimus de ami- 
 citia scripsi— et cum Scsevola — exposuit nobis sermonem 
 Lxlii de amicitia, habitum ab illo secum, et cum altero 
 ^genero C, Fannio, dec. — De Amicit. 1. 
 
 friends, in the manner of Theopompus, an histo- 
 rian famed for his severe and invective style '*. 
 Atticus was urging him to put the last hand to it, 
 and to continue it down through Caesar's govern- 
 ment ; but he chose to reserve this last part for a 
 distinct history, in which he designed to vindicate 
 at large the justice of killing a tyrant. We meet 
 with several hints of this design in his letters : in 
 one to .\tticus he says, " I have not yet polished 
 my Anecdote to my mind ; as to what you would 
 have me add, it will require a separate volume, but 
 believe me, I could speak more freely and with less 
 danger against that detested party, whilst the tyrant 
 himself was alive than now when he is dead. For 
 he, I know not why, indulged me wonderfully : but 
 now, which way soever we stir, we are called back 
 not only to Crosar's acts but to his very thoughts. 
 Again, I do not well understand what you would 
 have me write ; is it that the tyrant was killed 
 according to the strict laws of justice .' Of that I 
 shall both speak and write my thoughts fully on 
 another occasion'^." His other friends also seem 
 to have had some notice of this work, for Trebo- 
 nius, in a letter to him from Athens, after remind- 
 ing him of his promise to give him a place in some 
 of his writings, adds, " I do not doubt but that if 
 you write anything on the death of Caesar, you will 
 give me not the least share both of that act and of 
 your affection''." Dion Cassius says, that he deli- 
 vered this book sealed up to his son, with strict 
 orders not to read or publish it till after his death ; 
 but from this time he never saw his son, and left 
 the piece probably unfinished : though some copies 
 of it afterwards got abroad, from which his com- 
 mentator, Asconius, has quoted several particu- 
 lars ''. 
 
 In the end of May he began to move towards 
 Rome, in order to assist at the senate on tlie first 
 of June, and proposed to be at Tusculum on the 
 twenty-sixth, of which he gave Atticus notice. 
 There passed all the while a constant commerce of 
 letters between him and Brutus, who desired a 
 personal conference with him at Lanuvium, in 
 which Cicero resolved to humour him, though he 
 did not think it prudent at that time, when without 
 any particular use it would only give jealousy to 
 Antony. But the nearer he came to the city, the 
 more he was discouraged from the thoughts of en- 
 tering it : he understood that it was filled with 
 soldiers ; that Antony came thither attended by a 
 strong body of them ; that all his views were bent 
 on war ; and that he designed to transfer the pro- 
 vince of Gaul from D. Brutus to himself, by a 
 vote of the peopled Hirtius dissuaded his going, 
 
 •> Ad Att. ii. 6 ; Dion. Hal. prooem. 1. 
 
 c Librum meum ilium olv^kSotou nondum, ut volui, 
 perpolivi. Ista vero, quae tu contexi vis, aliud quoddam 
 separatum volumen exspectant. Ego autem, credas mihi 
 velim, minore periculo existimo contra illas nefarias 
 partes vivo tyranno dici potuisse, quam mortuo. lUe 
 enim nescio quo pacto ferebat me quidem mirabiliter. 
 Is'unc quacunque nos commovimus, ad Caesaris non modo 
 acta, verum etiam cogitata revocamur. [Ad Att. xiv. 17.] 
 Sed parum intelligo quid me velis scribere — an sic ut in 
 tyrannum jure optima caesum ? multa dicentur, multa 
 scribentur a nobis, sed alio modo ac tempore. — Ibid. xv. .3. 
 
 ■l Namque illud non dubito, quin, si quid de interitu 
 CsEsaris scribas, non patiaris me micimam partem et roi 
 et amoris tui ferre. — Ep. Fani. xii. Iti. 
 
 « Dio, p. 96 ; it. Ascon. in Tog. Candid. 
 
 ' Puto enim nobis Lanuvium eundniib non sine multo
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 237 
 
 and resolved to stay away himself ; Yarro sent him 
 word that the veterans talked desperately against 
 all those who did not favour them : Graeceius also 
 admonished him, on the part of C. Cassius, to be 
 upon his guard, for that certain armed men were 
 provided for some attempt at Tusculum. All these 
 informations determined him at last not to venture 
 to the senate ; but to withdraw himself from that 
 city, where he had not only flourished (he says) 
 with the greatest, but lived even a slave with some 
 dignity ff. The major part of the senate followed 
 his example and fled out of the city for fear of 
 some violence, leaving the consuls, with a few of 
 their creatures, to make what decrees they thought 
 
 This turn of affairs made Cicero resolve to 
 prosecute what he had long been projecting, his 
 voyage to Greece, to spend a few months with his 
 son at Athens. He despaired of any good from 
 these consuls, and intended to see Rome no more 
 till their successors entered into office, in whose 
 administration he began to place all his hopes. He 
 wrote, therefore, to Dolabella to procure him the 
 grant of an honorary lieutenancy ; and lest Antony, 
 an angry man, as he calls him, should think him- 
 self slighted, he wrote to him too on the same sub- 
 ject. Dolabella immediately named him for one 
 of his own lieutenants, which answered his purpose 
 still better, for without obliging him to any service, 
 or limiting him to any time, it left him at full 
 liberty to go wherever he pleased ; so that he 
 readily accepted it and prepared for his journey'. 
 He htard in the meanwhile from Balbus that the 
 senate would be held again on the fifth, when com- 
 missions would be granted severally to Brutus and 
 Cassius to buy up corn in Asia and Sicily for the 
 use of the republic ; and that it would be decreed 
 also at the same time, that provinces should be 
 assigned to them with the other prsetors at the 
 expiration of the yearK 
 
 Their case at this time was very remarkable, it 
 being wholly new in Rome to see praetors driven 
 out of the city, where their residence was absolutely 
 sermone — ^Bruto enim placere, se a me conveniri. O rem 
 odiosani et inexplicabilem I puto me ergo iturum — An- 
 tonii consilia narras turbulcnta — sed mihi totum ejus con- 
 silium ad bellum spectare videtur, si quidem J). Bruto 
 provincia eripitur. — Ad Att. xv. 4. 
 
 ? Ilirtiiis jam in Tusculano est; miliique, ut absim, 
 vchcmonter auctor est ; et ille quidem periculi causa — 
 Varro autcm noster ad me epistolam misit — in qua scrip- 
 turn erat, veteranos eos, qui rejiciantur — improbissime 
 loqui ; ut magno periculo Romae sint futuri, qui ab eorum 
 partibus dissentire vidcantur. — Ibid. 5. 
 
 Grjeoeius ad me scripsit, C. Cassium ad se scripsisse, 
 liomiiies comparari, qui in Tusculanuni armati mitteren- 
 tiu-. — Id quidem milii non videbatur ; sed cavendum 
 tamen. — Ibid. xv. 8. 
 
 Slihi Tero deliberatum est, ut nunc quideni est, abesse 
 ex ea urbe, in qua non modo florui cum summa, verum 
 etiam servivi cum aliqua dignitate. — Ibid. 5. 
 
 ■> Kalendis Juniis cum in senatum, ut erat constitutum, 
 venire vellemus, metu perterriti repente difFugimus. — 
 Pliil. ii. 42. 
 
 ' Etiam scrips! ad Antonium de legatione, ne, si ad 
 Dolabellam solum scripsissem, iracundus homo commo- 
 veretur. [Ad Att. xv. 8.] Sed heus tu,— Dolabella me sibi 
 legavit, &:c.— Ibid. 1 1. 
 
 ^ A Balbo redditae mihi litera;, fore Is'onis senatum, ut 
 Brutus in -"isia, Cassius in Sicilia, frumentum emendum 
 et ad urbem mittendum ciuarent. O rem miseram '. ait, 
 eodem tempore decretum iri, uti is et reliquis praetoriis 
 provinciae decemantur. — Ibid. 9. 
 
 necessary, and could not legally be dispensed with 
 for above ten days in the year ; but Antony readily 
 procured a decree to absolve them from the laws' j 
 being glad to see them in a situation so contempti- 
 ble, stripped of their power and suffering a kind of 
 exile, and depending, as it were, upon him for their 
 protection : their friends, therefore, at Rome had 
 been soliciting the senate for some extraordinary 
 employment to be granted to them, to cover the ap- 
 pearance of a flight and the disgrace of living ia 
 banishment, when invested with one of the first 
 magistracies of the republic"". 
 
 This was the ground of the commission just 
 mentioned to buy corn, which seemed however to 
 be below their character, and contrived as an affront 
 to them by Antony, who affected still to speak of 
 them always with the greatest respect". But their 
 friends thought anything better for them than to 
 sit still in Italy, where their persons were exposed 
 to danger from the veteran soldiers, who were all 
 now in motion ; and that this employment would 
 be a security to them for the present, as well as an 
 opportunity of providing for their future safety, by 
 enabling them to execute what they were now me- 
 ditating, a design of seizing some provinces abroad 
 and arming themselves in defence of the republic, 
 which was what their enemies were most afraid of, 
 and charged them with publicly, in order to make 
 them odious. Cicero in the meantime, at their 
 desire, had again recommended their interests to 
 Hirtius, who gave him the following answer. 
 
 " 1 wish that Brutus and Cassius could be pre- 
 vailed with by you as easily to lay aside all crafty 
 councils, as they can obtain by you from me what- 
 ever they desire. They were leaving Italy, you 
 say, when they wrote to you ? Whither, or where- 
 fore .' do not let them go, I beseech you, my dear 
 Cicero, nor suffer the republic to be wholly lost ; 
 though overwhelmed indeed already by these ra- 
 pines, burnings, murders. If they are afraid of any- 
 thing, let them be upon their guard, but act nothing 
 offensively ; they will not, I am confident, gain a 
 tittle the more by the most vigorous, than the 
 most pacific measures, if they use but caution. 
 The things which are now stirring cannot last 
 long, but if made the subject of war, will acquire 
 present strength to hurt. Let me know your 
 opinion of what may be expected from them." 
 Cicero sent him word, that he would be answer- 
 able for their attempting nothing desperate ; and 
 was informed, at the same time by Balbus, that 
 Servilia, Brutus's mother, had undertaken that 
 hey should not leave Italy". 
 
 Servilia, though sister to Cato, had been one of 
 Cccsar's mistresses, and next to Cleopatra, the 
 msot beloved of them all. In the civil war he 
 gave her several rich farms out of his Pompeian 
 confiscations, and is said to have bought a single 
 
 1 Cur M. Brutus, te referente, legibus est solutus, si ab 
 urbe plusquam decern dies abfuisset ? — Phil, ii )3. 
 
 ■" Kal avTo7s fh evTrp4weiav f] /SouAtj a'tTov <ppov- 
 Ticrui ■Kpoairai,ev,'iva ij}) to (v fxeaco Sid<mifx.a tpivyeiv 
 vofxi'^oLVTo. — Appian. Bell. Civ. iv. 622 ; it. iii. 530. 
 
 n Frumentum imponere — quod munus in republica sordi- 
 dius ? [Ad Att. XV. 10.] Patiise liberatores urbe carebant 
 — quos tamcn ipsi consules et in concionibus et in omni 
 sermone laudabant. — PhiL i. 2. 
 
 ° Cui rescripsi nihil illos callidius cogitare, idque confir- 
 mavi — Balbus ad me — Seryiliam confirmare non disceasu- 
 ros. — Ad Att. XV. 6.
 
 *3S8 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 ijewel for her at the price of about 50,000/.i' She 
 was a woman of spirit and intrigue, in great credit 
 with the Cresarean party, and at this very time 
 possessed the estate and villa of Pontius Aquila, 
 one of the conspirators, which had been confis- 
 cated and granted to her by Caesar. Cicero reckons 
 it among the solecisms of the times, that the 
 mother of the tyrant-killer should hold the estate 
 of one of her son's accomplices'!; yet she; had 
 such a share in all the counsels of Brutus, that it 
 made Cicero the less inclined to enter into them, 
 or to be concerned with one whom he could not 
 trust. " When he is influenced so much," says he, 
 " by his mother's advice, or at least her entreaties, 
 why should I interpose myself "■ ?" 
 
 At their desire, however, he went over to them 
 at Antium, to assist at a select council of friends, 
 called to deliberate on what was proper for them 
 to do with regard to this new commission. There 
 were present among others, Favonius, Servilia, 
 Porcia, Brutus's wife, and his sister Tertulla, the 
 wife of Cassius. Brutus was much pleased at 
 his coming, and after the first compliments, begged 
 liim to deliver his opinion to the company on the 
 subje&t of their meeting. Upon which he pre- 
 sently advised, what he had been considering on 
 the road, " that Brutus should go to Asia, and 
 inidertake the affair of the corn : that the only 
 thing to be done at present was, to provide for 
 their safety ; that their safety was a certain benefit 
 to the republic. Here Cassius interrupted him, 
 and, with great fierceness in his looks, protested 
 that he would not go to Sicily, nor accept as a 
 favour what was intended as an affront, but would 
 go to Aohaia. Brutus said that he would go to 
 Rome, if Cicero thought it proper for him ; but 
 Cicero declared it impossible for him to be safe 
 there. But supposing, says he, that I could be 
 safe ? Why then, says Cicero, I should advise it 
 by all means, as the best thing which you could 
 do, and better than any province. After much 
 discourse and complaining for the loss of their 
 opportunities, for which Cassius laid all the blame 
 on D. Brutus, Cicero said, that though that was 
 true, yet it was in vain to talk of what was past ; 
 and as the case then stood, he saw nothing left but 
 to follow his advice, to which they all at last 
 seemed to agree, especially when Servilia under- 
 took by her mediation, to get the affair of the 
 corn left out of their commission ; and Brutus 
 consented that the plays and shows, with which 
 he was to entertain the city shortly as prsetor, 
 should be given by proxy in his absence. Cicero 
 took his leave, pleased with nothing in the con- 
 ference but the consciousness of having done his 
 duty : for as to the rest, he gave all, he says, for 
 lost ; found the vessel not only broken, but shat- 
 tered to pieces, and neither prudence, reason, or 
 design in what they were doing ; so that if he 
 had any doubt before, he had none now, but longed 
 to get abroad as soon as possible*." 
 
 P Ante alias dilexlt M. Bruti matrem Serviliam, — cui 
 jNjxagies II. S. margaritam mercatus est, &c.— Sueton. in 
 J. Cses. 50. 
 
 1 Quin etiam hoc ipso tempore multa xmo(j6\oiKa : 
 Pontii Neapolitanum a matre tyrannoctonl possideri. — Ad 
 .4.tt. xiv. 21. 
 
 r Matris cousilio cum ufatur, vel etiam precibus, quid 
 . jno intsrponani ? — Ad Att. xv. 10. 
 
 3 Ad Att. XV. n, 12. 
 
 Octavius, upon his coming to Rome, was very 
 roughly received by Antony : who, despising his 
 age and want of experieiice, was so far from treat- 
 ing him as Caesar's ^ir, or giving him possession 
 of his estate, that ne openly threatened and 
 thwarted liim in all his pretensions ; nor would 
 suffer him to be chose tribune, to wliich he 
 aspired, with the seeming favour of the people, in 
 the room of that Cinna who was killed at Caesar's 
 funeral'. This necessarily drew the regard of the 
 republican party towards him, and Cicero began 
 to take the more notice of him in proportion as 
 Antony grew more and more formiilable : at 
 present ^e gives the following account of him. 
 " Octavianus, I perceive, has parts and spirit, and 
 seems to be affected, as we could wish, towards 
 our heroes : but how far we may trust his age, 
 name, succession, education, is a matter of great 
 deliberation. His father-in-law, who came to see 
 me at Astura, thinks not at all. He must be che- 
 rished however, if for nothing else, yet to keep 
 him at a distance from Antony. Marcellus acts 
 nobly, if he instils into him a good disposition 
 towards our friends. He seemed to be much in- 
 fluenced by him, but to have no confidence in 
 Pansa and Ilirtius ; his natural disposition is good, 
 if it does but hold"." 
 
 In the midst of these affairs with which his 
 mind, as he complains, was much distracted, he 
 pursued his literary studies with his usual ardour ; 
 and to avoid the great resort of company, which 
 interrupted him, at his house near Baiae, he re- 
 moved to his Pompeian villa, on the south side of 
 Naples. Here he began his book of Offices, for 
 the use and instruction of his son, designed, he 
 says, to be the fruit of this excursion ; he com- 
 posed also an oration, adapted to the state of the 
 times, and sent it to Atticus, to be suppressed or 
 published at his discretion ; promising him withal 
 to finish and send him in a short time his Secret 
 History or Anecdote, in the manner of Heraclides, 
 to be kept close in his cabinet''. 
 
 Before he could leave Italy, he was obliged 
 to return to Tusculum to settle his private 
 affairs, and provide his equipage ; and wrote to 
 Dolabella, to give orders for the mules and other 
 necessaries, which the government used to furnish 
 to those who went abroad with a public character ?. 
 Here Atticus and he took leave of each other, 
 with all possible marks of the most sincere and 
 tender affection. The unsettled condition of the 
 times, and the uncertainty when, or in what cir- 
 cumstances they should meet again, raised several 
 melancholy reflections in ihem both, which, as 
 soon as they parted, drew many tears from Atticus, 
 
 t In locum tribunl plebis forte demortui candidatum 
 petitorem se ostendit — sed adversante conatibus suis M. 
 Antonio consule — Sueton. in August. 10 ; Dio, p. 272 ; 
 App. p. 506. 
 
 " Ad Att. XV. 12. 
 
 ^ Nos hie ^(A.ocro^oi5yueca (quidenimaliud?) etrct Trepl 
 tov KaOriKovTOS magnifice expHcamus, Trpoacpcavovfj.ei' 
 que Ciceroni ; qua de re enim potius pater filio ? Deinde 
 alia. Quid quseres? Extabit opera peregrinationis huj us. 
 —Ego autem in Pompeianum properabam, non quod hoc 
 loco quidquani pulchrius, sed interpellatores illic minus 
 molesti — 
 
 Orationem tibi misi. Ejus custodiendas et proferendae 
 arbitrium tuum — jam probo 'HpaK\ei5iov, prsesertim cum 
 tu tantopere delectero — enitar igitur. — Ad Att. xv. 13, 14. 
 
 7 Ibid. ]».
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 239 
 
 of which he gave Cicero an account in his next 
 letter, with a promise to follow him into Greece. 
 Cicero answered him with equal tenderness : "It 
 moved me," says he, "to hear of the tears which 
 you shed after you left me ; had you done it in my 
 presence, I should have dropt perhaps all thoughts 
 of my journey. That part however pleases me, 
 ■where you comfort yourself with the hopes of our 
 meeting again shortly, which expectation indeed is 
 what chiefly supports me ; I will write to you 
 perpetually, give you an account of everything 
 which relates to Brutus, send you very shortly my 
 treatise on Glory, and finish for you the other 
 work, to be locked up with your treasure, ^" &c. 
 
 These little passages from familiar letters, illus- 
 trate more effectually the real characters of men, 
 "than any of their more specious and public acts. It 
 is commonly thought the part of a statesman, to 
 divest himself of everything natural, and banish 
 •every passion that does not serve his interest or 
 ambition ; but here we see a quite different charac- 
 ter : one of the greatest statesmen of the world 
 cherishing and cultivating in himself the soft and 
 social affections of love and friendship, as knowing 
 them to be designed equally by nature for the com- 
 fort as well of public as private life. 
 
 Atticus likewise, whose philosophy was as incom- 
 patible as ambition with all affections that did not 
 terminate in himself, was frequently drawn by the 
 goodness of his nature to correct the viciousness 
 of his principle. He had often reproved Cicero 
 for an excess of love to his daughter Tullia, yet 
 he no sooner got a little Attica of his own than he 
 began to discover the same fondness, which gave 
 Cicero occasion to repay his raillery with great 
 politeness. " I rejoice," says he, " to perceive that 
 you take so much delight in your little girl. I 
 love her already myself, and know her to be 
 amiable, though I have never seen her. Adieu 
 then to Patro, and all your Epicurean school." In 
 
 * Te, ut a me discesseras, lacrymasse, moleste ferebam. 
 Quod si me praesente fecisses, consilium totius itineris 
 fortasse mutassem. Sed illud prseclare, quod te consolata 
 ■est spas brevi tempore congrediendi : quae quidem exspec- 
 tatio me maxiine sustentat. Jlese tibi literse non deerunt. 
 De Bruto sciibam ud te omnia. Librum tibi celeriter 
 jnittam Ae ploria. Excudam aliquid 'HpaKX^LBiOV. quod 
 lateat in tbcsauris tiiis. — Ad Att. xv. 27. 
 
 N. B. — Tlie treatise here mentioned on Glory, which he 
 sent soon after to Atticus, and published in two books, 
 was actually preserved, and subsisting, long after the in- 
 vention of printing, yet happened to perish unhappily for 
 want of being produced into public light, by the help of 
 that admirable art. — Kaimundus Superantius made a pre- 
 sent of it to Petrarch, who, as he tells the story in one of 
 his epistles, lent it to his schoolmaster, who, being old and 
 poor, pawned it for the relief of his necessities into some un- 
 known hand, wlience Petrarch could never recover it, upon 
 the old man's death. About two centuries after, it appeared 
 to have been in the possession of Bernardus Justinianus, 
 ■and was mentioned in the catalogue of his books, which 
 he bequeathed to a monastery of nuns ; but when it could 
 not be foimd in that monastery after the strictest search, 
 it was generally believed, that Petrus Alcyonius, who was 
 physician to that house, and had the free use of the library, 
 had stolen it ; and. after transcribing as much of it as he 
 could into his own writings, had destroyed the original for 
 fear of a discovery ; it being observed by the critics, that 
 in his book he Exilio, there were many bright passages, 
 not well connected with the rest of the work, which seemed 
 to be above his taste and genius. — Petrarch. Epist. xv. 1 ; 
 Eer. Senilium. Paull. Manut. Not. ; Ad Att. xv. 27 ; Bayle 
 Diet, in Alcionius ; Menagiana, v, iv. p. 80. 
 
 another letter, *' I am mightily pleased with the 
 fondness that you express for your little daughter, 
 and to see you feel at last, that the love of our 
 children does not flow from habit or fashion, but 
 from nature ; for if that be not so, there can be no 
 natural conjunction between one man and another, 
 without which all society must necessarily be dis- 
 solved*." 
 
 There was now great expectation of the shows 
 and plays which Brutus, as pra3tor of the city, 
 was going to exhibit, according to annual custom, 
 in honour of Apollo, on the third of July ; and 
 all people were attentive and impatient to see in 
 what manner they would be received. Brutus 
 wrote to Cicero, to beg that he would grace them 
 with his presence ; but Cicero thought the request 
 absurd, nor at all agreeable to Brutus's usual pru- 
 dence. His answer was, "that he was got loo far 
 upon his journey to have it now in his power, and 
 that itwould be very improper for him, who had not 
 been in Rome since it was filled with soldiers, not 
 so much out of regard to his danger as his dignity, 
 to run thither on a sudden to see plays ; that in 
 such times as these, though it was rejiutalile for 
 those to give plays whose office required it, yet 
 for his seeing them, as it was not necessary, so 
 neilher would it be thought decent''." He was 
 heartily solicitous, however, that they might meet 
 with all imaginable encouragement, and charged 
 Atticus to send him a particular account of what 
 passed on each day from their first opening. 
 
 The success of them answered all their hopes, 
 for they were received with an incredible applause 
 by all ranks, though Antony's brother, Caius, as 
 the next praetor in office, presided at them. One 
 of the plays was " Tereus," a tragedy of Aocius, 
 which having many strokes in it on the characters 
 and acts of tyrants, was infinitely clapped by the 
 people. Atticus performed his part to Cicero, 
 and sent him a punctual account of what passed 
 every day, which he constantly communicated to 
 Brutus, who was now in his neighbourhood ; in 
 Nesis, a little isle on the Campanian shore, the 
 seat of young Lucullus. In his answer to Atticus, 
 " Your letters," says he, " were very acceptable to 
 Brutus : I spent several hours with him, soon after 
 I received them ; he seemed to be delighted with 
 theaccount of ' Tereus,' and thought himself more 
 obliged to the poet Accius who made it, than to 
 the praetor Antony, who presided at it. But the 
 more joy you send us of this sort, the more indig- 
 nation it gives me to see the Roman people employ 
 their hands in clapping plays, not in defending the 
 republic. This perhaps may provoke our enemies 
 to discover themselves before they intended it, yet 
 if they be but mortified, I care not by what 
 
 » Filiolam tibi jam Romae jucundam esse gaudeo ; eam- 
 que, quam nunquam vidi, tamon et amo, et amabilemesse 
 certo scio. Etiam atque etiam valete Patron et tui condis- 
 cipuli.— Ad Att. V. 19; vii. 20. 
 
 ^ In quibus unum alienum summa sua prudentia, id 
 est illud, ut speetem ludos suos. Kescripsi scilicet, 
 prinium me jam profeetum, ut non integrum sit. Dein 
 aTOTTWTarov esse, me, qui Romam omnino post hasc arma 
 non accesserim, neque id tarn periculi mei causa fecerim, 
 quam dignitatis, subilo ad ludos venire. Tali enim tem- 
 pore ludos facere illi honestum est, cui necesse est : spec- 
 tare mihi, ut non est necesse, sic ne honestum quidem est. 
 Equidem illos celebrari, et esse quam gratissimos mirabi- 
 liter cupio. — Ad Att. xv. 26.
 
 240 
 
 Tllli: HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 means'^." In a .'!pee(;h made afterwards to the 
 senate, he urges this judgment of the city as a])ro- 
 per lesson to Antony, to teach liim the way to glory. 
 " O happy Brutus !'' says he, " who when driven 
 from Rome by force of arms, resided still in the 
 hearts and bowels of his citizens, who made them- 
 selves amends for the absence of their deliverer, 
 by their perpetual applauses and acclamations''." 
 
 l?ut there was one thing which, through tlie 
 inadvertency of lirutus's managers, or the contriv- 
 ance of the praetor Antony, gave Brutus some 
 uneasiness : that in the edict for proclaiming his 
 shows, the month, instead of Quintilis, was styled 
 July, by its new name lately given to it in honour 
 of Cfcsar ; for it raised great speculation, and 
 was thought strange, that Brutus by edict should 
 acknowledge and, confirm an act, contrived to 
 perpetuate the honour of tyranny. This little 
 circumstance greatly disturbed him, imagining, 
 that it would be reflected upon as a mean condes- 
 cension ; and since it could not be remedied as to 
 the plays, he resolved to correct it for the rest of 
 the shows ; and gave immediate orders, that the 
 huntings of the wild beasts, which were to follow, 
 should be proclaimed for the thirteenth of Quin- 
 tilis =. 
 
 While Cicero continued in these parts, he spent 
 the greatest share of his time with Brutus ; and 
 as they were one day together, L. Libo came to 
 them, with letters just received from young S. 
 Pompey, his son-in-law, with proposals of an ac- 
 commodation addressed to the consuls, on which 
 he desired their opinion. Cicero thought them 
 drawn with great gravity and propriety of expres- 
 sion, excepting a few inaccuracies, and advised 
 only to change the address ; and instead of the 
 consuls, to whom alone they were directed, to add 
 the other magistrates, with the senate and people 
 of Rome, lest the consuls should suppress them, 
 as belonging only to themselves. These letters 
 brought in substance, " that Pompey was now 
 master of seven legions : that as he had just 
 stormed a town called Borea, he received the news 
 of Caesar's death, which caused a wonderful joy, 
 and change of affairs through the province of 
 Spain, and a concourse of people to him from all 
 par-ts. The sum of his demands was, that all who 
 had the command of armies should dismiss them ; 
 but to Libo he signified, that unless his father's 
 estate and house at Rome, which Antony now pos- 
 sessed, were restored to him, he would agree to 
 nothing '." 
 
 « Bruto tuae literse gratas erant. Fui enim apud ilium 
 multas horas in Neside, cum paullo ante tuas literas acce- 
 pissem. Delectari mihl Tereo videbatur ; et habere majo- 
 rem Accio, quam Antonio, gratiam. Mihi autem quo 
 Isetiora sunt, eo plus stomacbi et molestias est, populum 
 Romanum manus suas, non in defendenda republica sod 
 in plaudendo consumore. Mihi quidem videntur, istorum 
 animi incendi etiam ad reprssentandam improbitatom 
 suam. Sed tamen dum modo doleant aliquid, doleant 
 quodlibet. — Ad Att. xvi. 2. 
 
 d Quid ? ApoUinarium ludorum plausus, vel testimonia 
 potius, et judicia pnpuli Romani parum magna videban- 
 tur ? O beatos illos, qui cum adesse ipsie propter vim 
 armorum non licebat, aderant tamen, et in medullis populi 
 Romani ac visceribus haerebant ! nisi forte Accio turn 
 plaudi— et non Bruto putatatis, &c. — Phil. i. 15. 
 
 = Quam ille doluit de Nonis Jnliis ! mirifice est contur- 
 batus. Itaque sese scripturum aiebat, ut venationem etiam , 
 qujB postridie ludos Apollinares futura est, proscribercnt, 
 lii. Id. Quint.— Ad. Att. xvi. 4. ' Ibid. 
 
 This overture from Pompey was procured chiefTy 
 by the management of Lcpidus s : who having the 
 province of S])ain assigned to him, where Pompey 
 was very strong, had no mind to be engaged in a 
 war at such a distance from Rome, and drawn off 
 from attending to the main point in view, the event 
 of affairs in Italy ; for which purpose, on pretence 
 of the public quiet, he made the otter of a treaty 
 on honourable terms to Pompey, and " that, on 
 condition of laying down his arms, and quitting 
 the province, he should be restored to all his 
 estates and honours, and have the command of 
 the whole naval power of Rome, in the same 
 manner as his father had it before him ; all which 
 was proposed and recommended to the senate by 
 Antony himself"." Where to preserve a due 
 respect to Csesar's acts, by which Pompey's estates 
 had been confiscated, it was decreed that the same 
 sum, for which they had been sold, should be given 
 to him by the public, to enable him to purchase 
 them again. This amounted to above five millions 
 and a-half of our money, exclusive of his jewels, 
 plate, and furniture ; which being wholly embez- 
 zled, he was content to lose'. On these terms, 
 ratified by the authority of the senate, Pompey 
 actually quitted Spain, and came to Marseilles. 
 The project was wisely concerted by Lepidus and 
 Antony ; for, while it carried a show of modera- 
 tion and disposition to peace, it disarmed a despe- 
 rate enemy, who was in condition to give a great 
 obstruction to their designs, and diversion to theii 
 arms, at a time when the necessity of their inte- 
 rests required their presence and whole attention 
 at home, to lay a firm foundation of their power in 
 the heart and centre of the empire. 
 
 There happened an incident at this time of a 
 domestic kind, which gave some ]ileasure both to 
 Cicero and Atticus : the unexpected conversion of 
 their nephew Quintus. He had long ago deserted 
 his father and uncle, and attached himself wholly 
 to Csesar, who supplied him liberally with money. 
 On Csesar's death he adhered still to the same 
 cause, and was in the utmost confidence vnth 
 Antony ; and, as Atticus calls him, his right 
 hand'', or the minister of all his projects in the 
 city ; but upon some late disgust, he began to make 
 overtures to his friends of coming over to Brutus, 
 pretending to have conceived an abhorrence of 
 Antony's designs, and signifying to his father that 
 Antony would have engaged him to seize some 
 strong post in the city, and declare him dic- 
 tator ; and upon his refusal, was become his 
 enemy'. The father, overjoyed at this change, 
 carried his son to Cicero, to persuade him of his 
 
 g PhU. V. 13, 14, &c. ; it. Phil. xiii. 4, 5, &c. 
 
 h App. p. 528 ; Dio, xlv. 275. 
 
 ' Salvis enim actis Csesaris, quse concordis causa defen- 
 dimus, Pompeio sua domus patebit, eamque non minoris, 
 
 quam Antonius emit, redimet docrevistis tantana pecu- 
 
 niam Pompeio, quantam ex bonis patriis in prasdae dissi- 
 patione inimicus victor redegisset — nam argentum, vestem, 
 supellectilem, vinum amittet jequo animo, quae ille helluo 
 dissipavit — atque illud septies millies, quod adolescent!, 
 Patres Conscripti, spopondistis, ita describetur, ut videatur 
 a vobis Cn. Pompeii filius in patrimonio suo collocatus. — 
 Phil. xiii. 5. 
 
 I* Quintus filius, ut scribis, Antonii est dextella. — Ad 
 Att xiv. 20. 
 
 ' Quintus pater exultat Isetitia. Scripsit enim filius, so 
 idcirco prcifugere ad Brutum voluisse, quod cum sibi nego- 
 t i um daret Antonius, ut cum dictatorem efficeret, praesidium
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 Ml 
 
 sincerity, and to beg his intercession also with 
 Atticus, to be reconciled to him ; but Cicero, who 
 knew the fickleness and perfidy of the youth, gave 
 little credit to him: taking the whole for a con- 
 trivance only to draw money from them ; yet in 
 compliance with their request, he wrote what they 
 desired to Atticus, but sent him another letter at 
 the same time with his real thoughts on the 
 matter. 
 
 " Our nephew Quintus," says he, •' promises to 
 be a very Cato. Both his father and he have been 
 pressing me, that I would undertake for him to 
 you ; yet so, that you should not believe him, till 
 you yourself had seen the effects of it. I shall 
 give him therefore such a letter to you as he would 
 have ; but let it not move you, for I have written 
 this lest you should imagine that I am moved my- 
 self. The gods grant that he may perform what 
 he promises, for it will be a common joy to us all. 
 I will say nothing more of it at present™," &c. 
 
 But young Quintus got the better, at last, of all 
 Cicero's suspicions ; and after spending several 
 days with him, convinced him, by iiis whole beha- 
 viour and conversation, that he was in earnest : 
 so that he not only recommended him very affec- 
 tionately to Atticus, but presented him also to 
 Brutus, to make the offer of his service to him in 
 person. " If he had not wholly persuaded me," 
 says he, " that what I am saying of him is certainly 
 true, I should not have done what I am going to 
 tell you, for I carried the youth with me to Bru- 
 tus, who was so well satisfied with him, that he 
 gave him full credit, without suffering me to be his 
 sponsor ; in commending him, he mentioned you 
 in the kindest manner, and at parting, embraced 
 and kissed him. Wherefore, though there is reason 
 rather to congratulate, than to entreat you, yet I 
 beg, that whatever he may have done hitherto, 
 through the weakness of age, with more levity than 
 became him, you would believe it all to be now 
 over"," &c. 
 
 Quintus kept his word with them ; and to give 
 proof of his zeal and sincerity, was so hardy, 
 before the end of the year, as to undertake to 
 accuse Antony to the people, for plundering the 
 temple of Opis°. But this accident of changing 
 his party, which gave so much joy at present to 
 the whole family, though owing rather to a giddi- 
 ness of temper than any good principle, proved 
 fatal not long after, both to the young man and his 
 father : as it seems to have been the most probable 
 cause of their being proscribed and murdered the 
 
 occuparet, id recusasset ; recusasse autem se, ne patris ani- 
 mum offenderet ; ex eo sibi ilium hostem. — Ad Att. xv. 21. 
 
 " Quintus filius mihipollicetur seCatonem. Egit autem 
 et pater et filius, ut tibi sponderem : sed ita, ut turn nre- 
 deres, cum ipse cognosces. Iluic ego literas ipsius arbitratu 
 dabo. Eae ne te nioverint ; has scripsi in eam partem, ne 
 me motmn putares. Dii faxint, ut faciat ea, quas promittit. 
 Commune enim gaudium. Sed ego nihil dice amplius. — 
 Ad Att. xvi. 1. 
 
 ° Quod nisi fidem mihi fecisset, judicassemquehoc quod 
 dice firmum fore, non fecissem id, quod dicturus sum. 
 Duxi enim niecura adolescentem ad Brutum : sic ei pro- 
 batimi est, quod ad te scribo, ut ipse crediderit, me spon- 
 sorem accipere nolueiit. Eumque laudans amicissime tui 
 mentioncm fecerlt. Complexus, osculatusque dimiserit. 
 —Ad Att. xvi. 5. 
 
 o Quintus scribit, se ex Nonis iis, quibus nos magna 
 gessimus, aedem Opis explicaturum, idque ad populmn. — 
 Ibid. 14. 
 
 year following, by Antony's order, together with 
 Cicero himself. 
 
 Cicero was now ready for his voyage, and had 
 provided three little yachts or galleys to transport 
 himself and his attendants ; but as there was a 
 report of legions arriving daily from abroad, and 
 of pirates also at sea, he thought it would be safer 
 to sail in company with Brutus and Cassius, who 
 had drawn together a fleet of good force, which 
 now lay upon the coast p. lie gave several hints 
 of this design to Brutus, who received it more 
 coldly than he expected, and seemed uncertain and 
 irresolute about the time of his own going. He 
 resolved, therefore, to embark without farther de- 
 lay, though in some perplexity to tlie last, about 
 the expediency of the voyage, and jealous of its 
 being censured, as a desertion of his country. But 
 Atticus kept up his spirits, by assuring him con- 
 stantly in his letters that all iieojde ajjproved it at 
 Rome, provided that he kept his word, of returning 
 by the first of the new year"). 
 
 He sailed slowly along the coast towards Rhe- 
 gium, going ashore every night to lodge with some 
 friend or client. He spent one day at Velia, the 
 native place of Trebatius ; whence he wrote a kind 
 letter to him, dated the nineteenth of July, advis- 
 ing him " by no means to sell that family estate," 
 as he then designed, " situated so healthfully and 
 agreeably, and affording a convenient retreat from 
 the confusion of the times, among a people who 
 entirely loved him"'." At this place he began his 
 treatise of "Topics," or the art of finding arguments 
 on any question : it was an abstract of Aristotle's 
 piece on the same subject, which Trebatius, hap- 
 pening once to meet with in Cicero's Tusculan 
 library, had begged of him to explain. But Cicero 
 never found leisure for it till this voyage, in which 
 he was reminded of the task by the sight of Velia ; 
 and though he had neither Arir.totle nor any other 
 book to help him, he drew it up from his memory, 
 and fimshed it as he sailed before he came to Rhe- 
 gium ; whence he sent it to Trebatius, with a letter 
 dated the twenty-seventh. He excuses the ob- 
 scurity of it from the nature of the argument, 
 requiring great attention to understand, and great 
 application to reduce it to practice : in which, 
 however, he promises to assist him, if he lived to 
 return, and found the republic subsisting*. 
 
 In the same voyage, happening to be looking 
 over his treatise on the Academic Philosophy, he 
 
 P Legiones enim adventare dicuntur. Hasc autem navi- 
 gatio habet quasdam suspiciones periculi. Itaque consti- 
 tuebam uti 6/j.OTT\oia. Paratiorcm ofFendi Brutum, quam 
 audiebam. — Nam Cassii classem, qua; plane bellaest, non 
 numero ultra fretum. — Ad Att. xvi. 4. 
 
 1 Bruto cum saspe injecissem de 6uoTr\oia, non 
 perinde atque ego putaram, arripere visus est — [Ibid. 5.] 
 Consilium meum quod ais quotidie magis laudari, non 
 moleste fero ; expectabamque, si quid ad me scriberes. 
 Ego enim in varies semiones incidebani. Quin etiam 
 idcirco trahebam, ut quam diutissime integrum esset. 
 [Ibid. 2 ; Ep. Fam. xi. 29.] Scribis enim in coelum ferri 
 profectionem meam, sed ita, si ante Kal. Jan. redeam. 
 Quod quidem certe enitar. [Ibid. 6.] Ea mente discessi, 
 ut adessem Kal. Jan. quod initiinu cogendi senatus fore 
 videbatur. — Phil. i. 2. 
 
 •■ Ep. Fam. vii. 20. 
 
 ' Itaque ut primum Velia navigare coepi, institui Topica 
 Aristotgleaconscribere, abipsaurbeconimonitus, amantis- 
 sima tui. Eum librum tibi misi Rhegio, scriptum quara 
 plenissime ilia res scribi potuit, dec. — Ep Fam. vii. 19. 
 R
 
 242 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 observed the preface of the third book to be the 
 same that lie luul prefixed to his book on Glory, 
 which lie had lately sent to Atticns. It was his 
 custom, it seems, to prepjirc at leisure a number of 
 different proems adajited to the general view of his 
 sttuUes, and ready to be ajiplied to any of his 
 works which he should afterwards publish ; so that 
 by mistake he had used this preface twice without 
 remembering it : he composed a new one therefore 
 on ship-board for the i)iece on Glory, and sent it 
 to Atticus, with orders to bind it up with his copy 
 in the place of the former preface'. So wonderful 
 was his industry and love of letters, that neither 
 the inconvenience of sailing, which he always hated, 
 nor the busy thoughts which must needs intrude 
 upon him on leaving Italy in such a conjuncture, 
 could disturb the calm and regular pursuit of his 
 studies. 
 
 From Rhegium, or rather Leucopetra, a promon- 
 tory close by it, he passed over to Syracuse on the 
 first of August, where he staid but one night, though 
 in a city particularly devoted to him, and under his 
 special protection : but he was unwilling to give um- 
 brage or suspicion to those at Rome of having any 
 views abroad which concerned the public"; he set 
 sail, tlierefore, again the next morning towards 
 Greece, but was driven back by contrary winds to 
 Leucopetra; and, after a second attempt with no 
 better success, was forced to repose himself in the 
 villa of his friend Valerius, and wait for the oppor- 
 tunity of a fair wind^. 
 
 ' Nunc negliqentiam meam cognosce. De Gloria librum 
 ad te misi, at in eo prooemium id est, quod in Academioo 
 tcrtio. Id evenit ob earn rem, quod liabco volumen pro- 
 ceniiorum : ex eo eligere soleo, cum aliquod axiyypap.fxa 
 institui. Itaquc jam in Tusculano, qui non meminissem 
 me abusum isto prooemio, conjeci id in cum librum, quem 
 tibi niisi. Cum auteni in navi legerem Academicos, 
 agnovi erratum meum, itaque statim novum prooemium 
 exaravi ; tibi misi. — Ad Att. xvi. G. 
 
 N.B. A collection of prefaces prepared beforehand, and 
 calculated indifferently for any treatise, will be thought 
 perhaps a strange and fantastical way of composing : but 
 though they had no necessary connection with the subject 
 of any particular work, they were yet adapted to the gene- 
 ral view of his writings, and contrived severally to serve 
 the different ends which he proposed by the publication of 
 them. Thus, in some he takes occasion to celebrate the 
 praises of his principal friends, to whom they were 
 addressed ; in others, to enter into a general defence of 
 Philosophy, in answer to those who censured him for 
 spending so much time upon it : in some, he represents 
 the miserable state of the times, and subversion of the 
 republic, in a manner proper to alarm his citizens, and 
 rouse them to assert their ancient liberty; in others, he 
 contrives to give a beautiful description of some of his 
 villas or gardens, where the scene of the dialogue was laid, 
 all which tlie reader will find very agreeably executed in 
 the prefaces of his philosophical pieces ; which are yet 
 connected so artfully with the treatises that follow them, 
 and lead us so naturally Into the argument, as if they had 
 been originally contrived for the sake of introducing it. — 
 Tusc. Disp. init.; DeDiv. ii. l;DeFin. i. 1; DeLegib. ii. 1. 
 
 " Kal. Sext. veni Syracusas — quae tamen urbs mihi con- 
 junctissima, plus ima me nocte cupiens retinere non potuit. 
 Veritus sum, ne meus repentinus ad meos necessarios 
 ad ventus suspicionis aliquid afferret, si essem commoratus. 
 —Phil. i. 3. 
 
 ^ Cum mo ex Sicilia ad Leucopetram, quod est promon- 
 torium agi-i Rhegini, venti detulissent ; ab eo loco con- 
 Bcendi, ut transmitterem ; nee ita multum provectus, 
 rejectus austro sum in cum ipsum locum — [Ibid.] ibi cum 
 ventum expectarem : erat enim villa Valorii nostri, ut 
 familial iter essem, et libenter. — Ad Att xvi 1. 
 
 Here the principal inhabitants of the country 
 came to pay him their compliments ; some of them 
 fresh from Rome, who brought great news of an 
 unexpected turn of affairs there towards a general 
 pacification: "That Antony seemed disposed to 
 listen to reason ; to desist from his pretensions to 
 Gaul, submit to the authority of the senate, and 
 make up matters with IJrutus and Cassius, who 
 had written circular letters to all the j)rincipal se- 
 nators to beg their attendance in the senate on the 
 first of September ; and that Cicero's absence was 
 particularly regretted, and even blamed at such a 
 crisis>'." This agreeable account of things made 
 him presently droj) all thoughts of pursuing his 
 voyage ; in which he was confirmed likewise by 
 letters from Atticus, who, contrary to his former 
 advice, pressed him now, in strong and pathetic 
 terms, to come back again to Rome. 
 
 He returned therefore by the same course which 
 he had before taken, and came back to Velia on the 
 seventeenth of August : Brutus lay within three 
 miles of it with his fleet, and hearing of his arrival, 
 came immediately on foot to salute him. " He de- 
 clared himself exceedingly pleased with Cicero's 
 return ; owned that he had never approved, though 
 he had not dissuaded the voyage, thinking it inde- 
 cent to give advice to a man of his experience ; but 
 now told him plainly that he had escaped two great 
 imputations on his character, — the one, of too hasty 
 a despair and desertion of the common cause ; the 
 other, of the vanity of going to see the Olympic 
 games. This last, (as Cicero says,) would have 
 been shameful for him in any state of the republic ; 
 but in the present, unpardonable ; and professes 
 himself therefore greatly obliged to the winds for 
 preserving him from such an infamy, and, like 
 good citizens, blowing him back to the service of 
 his country^." 
 
 Brutus informed him likewise of what had passed 
 in the senate on the first of August, and how Piso 
 had signalised himself by a brave and honest speech, 
 and some vigorous motions in favour of the public 
 liberty, in which nobody had the courage to second 
 him. He produced also Antony's edict, and their 
 answer to it, which pleased Cicero very much : but 
 on the whole, though he was still satisfied with his 
 resolution of returning, yet he found no such rea- 
 son for it as his first intelligence had suggested, nor 
 any hopes of doing much service at Rome ; where 
 there was not one senator who had the courage to 
 support Piso, nor Piso himself the resolution to 
 appear in the senate again the next day*. 
 
 This was the last conference that he ever had 
 with Brutus ; who, together with Cassius, left Italy 
 soon after it. They were both to succeed of course, 
 
 y Rhegini quidam, illustres homines eo venernnt, Roma 
 sane rcccntos — hasc afiferebant, edictum Bruti et Cassii ; ct 
 fore frequentcm scnatum Kal. a Bruto et Cassio literas 
 missas ad consulares et praetorios ; ut adessent, rogare. 
 Summam spem nunciabant, fore, ut Antoniuscederet, ros 
 conveniret, nostri Romam rednent. Addebant etiam mo 
 desiderari, subaccusari, &c. — Ad Att. xvL ?• 
 
 ^ Nam XVL Kal. Sept. cum venissom Veliam. Brutus 
 audivit, erat enim cum suis navibus apud Holetem tlu- 
 vium citra Veliam millia passuum iii. pedibus ad me 
 statim. Dii immortales, quam valde ille reditu, vol potius 
 reversione mea Ixtatus est? Effudit ilia omnia, quae 
 tacuerat — se autem laetari quod effugissem duas maximas 
 vituperationes, &c. — Ad Att. xvi. 7 ; Ep. Fam. xii. 25, it. 
 ad Brut. 15. 
 
 » -id Att. ibid. ; Phil, i 4, 5 ; Ep. Fam. xiL 2,
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 24U 
 
 as all praetors did at the expiration of their office, 
 to the government of some province, which was 
 assigned to them either by lot, or by an extraordi- 
 nary decree of the senate. Caesar had intended 
 Macedonia for the one, and Syria for the other ; 
 but as these were two of the most important com- 
 mands of the empire, and would throw a great 
 power into their hands at a time when their ene- 
 mies were taking measures to destroy them, so 
 Antony contrived to get two other provinces de- 
 creed to them of an inferior kind ; Crete to Brutus, 
 and Cyrene to Cassius ; and by a law of the people, 
 procured Macedonia and Syria to he conferred upon 
 himself and his colleague Dolabella. In consequence 
 of which, he sent his brother Caius in all haste to 
 possess himself of the first, and Dolabella to secure 
 the second, before their rivals could be in condition 
 to seize them by force, of which they were much 
 afraid ; taking it for granted that this was the pro- 
 ject which Brutus and Cassius were now meditating. 
 Cassius had acquired a great reputation in the East, 
 by his conduct in the Parthian war ; and Brutus was 
 highly honoured in Greece for his eminent virtue 
 and love of philosophy : they resolved therefore to 
 sUght the petty provinces which were granted to 
 them, and to try their fortunes in the more power- 
 ful ones that Ca;sar had promised them ; and with 
 that view had provided the fleets above-mentioned 
 to transport themselves to those countries whicli 
 they had destined for the scene of action : Brutus 
 to Macedonia, Cassius to Syria, where we sha ! 
 soon have occasion to give a farther account of 
 their success''. 
 
 Cicero in the mean while pursued his journey 
 towards Rome, where he arrived on the last of the 
 month. On his approach to the city, such multi- 
 tudes flocked out to meet him, that the whole day 
 was spent in receiving the compliments and con- 
 gratulations of his friends as he passed along to his 
 house <^. The senate met the next morning, to 
 ■which he was particularly summoned by Antony, 
 but excused himself by a civil message, as being 
 too much indisposed by the fatigue of his journey. 
 Antony took this as an afi'ront, and in great rage 
 threatened openly in the senate to order his house 
 to be pulled down, if he did not come immediately ; 
 till, by the interposition of the assembly, he was 
 dissuaded from using any violence''. 
 
 The business of the day was to decree some new 
 and extraordinary honours to the memory of Caesar, 
 with a religious supplication to him as to a divinity. 
 Cicero was determined not to concur in it, yet knew 
 that an opposition would not only be fruitless, but 
 dangerous ; and for that reason staid away. An- 
 tony, on the other hand, was desirous to have him 
 there, fancying that he would either be frightened 
 into a compliance, which would lessen him with his 
 own party, or, by opposing what was intended, make 
 himself odious to the soldiery ; but as he was ab- 
 sent, the decree passed without any contradiction. 
 
 The senate met again the next day, when Antony 
 thought fit to absent himself, and leave the stage 
 clear to Cicero*^ ; who accordingly appeared, and 
 
 i Plut. in Brut. ; App. 527, 533 ; Phil. ii. 13, 30. 
 
 e Plut. in Cic. 
 
 d Cumque de via languerem, miiiique displicirem, misi 
 pro amicitia qui hoc ei diceret, at ille, vobis audientibus, 
 cum fabris se domum meam veuturum esse dixit, i&c. — 
 PhU. i 5. 
 
 « Veni postridie, ipse non venit.— PhU. v. 7. 
 
 delivered the first of those speeches which, in imi- 
 tation of Demosthenes, were called afterwards his 
 Philippics. He opens it with a particular account 
 of the motives of his late voyage, and sudden re- 
 turn ; of his interview with Brutus, and his regret 
 at leaving him. " At Velia," says he, " I saw 
 Brutus : with what grief I saw him, I need not tell 
 you : I could not but think it scandalous for me to 
 return to a city from which he was forced to retire, 
 and to find myself safe in any j>lace where he could 
 not be so ; yet Brutus was not half so much moved 
 with it as I, but, supported by the consciousness of 
 his noble act, showed not the least concern for 
 his own case, while he expressed the greatest for 
 yours." He then declares, " that he came to se- 
 cond Piso ; and in case of any accidents, of which 
 many seemed to surround him, to leave that day's 
 speech as a monument of his perpetual fidelity to 
 his country f." Before he enters upon the state of 
 the republic, he takes occasion to complain of " the 
 unprecedented violence of Antony's treatment of 
 him the day before, who would not have been 
 better pleased with him had he been present ; for 
 he should never have consented to pollute the re- 
 public with so detestable a religion, and blend the 
 honours of the gods with those of a dead man." 
 He " prays the gods to forgive both the senate and 
 the people for their forced consent to it : that he 
 would never have decreed it, though it had been to 
 old Brutus himself, who first delivered Rome from 
 regal tyranny, and, at the distance of five centuries, 
 had propagated a race from the same stock to do 
 their country the same service^." He " returns 
 thanks to Piso for what he had said in that place 
 the month before ; wishes that he had been present 
 to second him ; and reproves the other consulars 
 for betraying their dignity by deserting him." As 
 to the public aff'airs, he dwells chiefly on Antony's 
 abuse of their decree to confirm Ceesar's acts : de- 
 clares himself " still for the confirmation of them ; 
 not that he liked them, but for the sake of peace ; 
 yet of the genuine acts only, such as Caesar himself 
 had completed ; not the imperfect notes and me- 
 morandums of his pocket-books ; not every scrap 
 of his writing, or what he had not even written, 
 but spoken only, and that without a voucher." He 
 charges Antony with " a strange inconsistency in 
 pretending such a zeal for Caesar's acts, yet vio- 
 lating the most solemn and authentic of them, his 
 laws (of which he gives several examples) : thinks 
 it intolerable to oblige them to the performance of 
 all Caesar's promises, yet annul so freely what 
 ought to be held the most sacred and inviolable of 
 anything that he had done." He addresses him- 
 self pathetically to both the consuls, though Dola- 
 bella only was present; tells them, " that they had 
 no reason to resent his speaking so freely on the 
 behalf of the republic : that he made no personal 
 reflections ; had not touched their characters, their 
 lives, and manners : that if he offended in that 
 way, he desired no quarter*" ; but if, according to 
 his custom, he delivered himself with all freedom 
 on jjublic affairs, he begged, in the first place, that 
 they would not be angry ; in the next, that if they 
 were, they would express their anger as became 
 citizens, by civil, not military metliods : that he 
 had been admonished, indeed, not to expect that 
 the same liberty would be allowed to him, the 
 
 f Phil. i. 4. 
 
 h Ibid. 7, n. 
 R 2 
 
 g Ibid. 5, 6.
 
 244 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIp-E OF 
 
 enemy of Csesar, which had been indulged to Piso, 
 his father-in-law ; that Antony would resent what- 
 ever was said against his will, though free from 
 "jiersonal injury; if so, he must bear it as well as 
 he could." Then, after touching on their plunder- 
 ing the temple of ()])is of those sums which might 
 liave been of great service to the state, he observes, 
 " that whatever the vulgar might think, money was 
 not the thing which they aimed at ; that their souls 
 were too noljle for that, and had greater designs in 
 view' : but they (juite mistook the road to glory, if 
 they thought it to consist in a single man's having 
 more power than a whole ])eo))le. That to be dear 
 to our citizens, to deserve well of our country, to 
 be praised, resi)ected, beloved, was truly glorious ; 
 to be feared and hated, always invidious, detestable, 
 veeak, and tottering. Tiiat Caesar's fate was a warn- 
 ing to them how much better it was to be loved 
 than to be feared : that no man could live happy 
 who held life on such terms that it might be taken 
 from him not only with impunity but witii praise''." 
 He puts them in mind of the many public demon- 
 strations of the ))eople's disaffection to them, and 
 their constant applauses and acclamations to those 
 who op])osed them ; to which he begs them " to 
 attend with more care, in order to learn the way 
 how to be truly great and glorious." He concludes 
 by declaring, " that he had now reaped the full fruit 
 of his return, by giving this public testimony of his 
 constant adherence to the interests of his country : 
 that he would use the same liberty oftener, if he 
 found that he could do it with safety ; if not, would 
 reserve himself as well as he could to better times, 
 not so much out of regard to himself as to the 
 republic." 
 
 In speaking afterwards of this day's debate, he 
 says, that " whilst the rest of the senate behaved 
 like slaves, he alone showed himself to be free ; and 
 though he spoke indeed with less freedom than it 
 had been his custom to do, yet it was with more 
 than the dangers with which he was threatened 
 seemed to allow'." Antony was greatly enraged 
 at his speech, and summoned another meeting of 
 the senate for the nineteenth, where he again re- 
 quired Cicero's attendance, being resolved to answer 
 him in person, and justify his own conduct : for 
 which end, he employed himself during the interval 
 in preparing the materials of a speech, and declaim- 
 ing against Cicero in his villa near Tibur. The 
 senate met on the appointed day in the Temple of 
 Concord, whither Antony came with a strong guard, 
 and in great expectation of meeting Cicero, whom 
 he had endeavoured by artifice to draw thither : but 
 though Cicero himself was ready and desirous to go, 
 yet his friends over-ruled and kept him at home, 
 being apprehensive of some design intended against 
 his life". 
 
 Antony's speech confirmed their apprehensions, 
 in which he poured out the overflowings of his spleen 
 with such fury against him, that Cicero, alluding to 
 
 ' Phil. i. 12. k Ibid. 14. 
 
 ' Locutus sum de republica minus equidem libere, quam 
 mea coneuetudo, liberius tarnen quam periculi mins pos- 
 tulabant. — Phil. v. 7. 
 
 In gumma reliquorum servitute liber unus fui. — Ep. 
 Fam. xii. 25. 
 
 "' Quo die , si per amicos mihi cupienti, in senatuni 
 venire licuisset, c^dis initium fecisset a me. — Phil. v. 7- 
 
 Moque cum eiiceie vellot in casdis causam, turn tentaret 
 nsidiis. — ^Ep. Tarn. xii. /!i. 
 
 what he had done a little before in public, says 
 " that he seemed once more rather to sj)ew tlian to 
 speak"." He produced Cicero's letter to him about 
 the restoration of S. Clodius, in which Cicero ac- 
 knowledged him not only for his friend, but a good 
 citizen ; as if the letter was a confutation of his 
 speech, and Cicero had other reasons for quarrel- 
 ling with him now than the pretended service of the 
 jiublic". But the chief thing with which he urged 
 him was, liis being not only privy to the murder of 
 Caesar, but the contriver of it, as well as the author 
 of every step which the conspirators had since 
 taken : by this he hoped to iutlamc the soldiers to 
 .some violence, whom he had jjlaiitt'd for that pur- 
 pose about the avenues of the temple, and wiUiiii 
 hearinf; oven of their debates. Cicero, in his ac- 
 count of it to CassiuH, says, " that he .should not 
 iicruplc to own a share in the act, if lie could have 
 a share in the glory : but that if ho had really been 
 concerned in it, they .should never have left the 
 work half finished i'." 
 
 He bad resided all this while in Rome or the 
 neighbourhood ; but as a bi'caeh with Antony 
 was now inevitable, he thought it necessary for his 
 security to remove to a greater distance, to some 
 of his villas near Naples. Here he eonipo.scd his 
 second Pliilip])ic, by way of reply to Antony ; 
 not delivered in the senate, as the tenor of it seems 
 to imply, but finished in the country, nor intended 
 to be published till things were actually come to 
 extremity, and the occasions of the republic made 
 it necessary to render Antony's character and 
 designs as odious as possible to the people. The 
 oration is a most bitter invective en his whole life, 
 describing it as a perpetual scene of lewdness, 
 faction, violence, rapine, heightened with all the 
 colours of wit and eloquence — it was greatly ad- 
 mired by the ancients, and shows, that in the 
 decline of life Cicero had lost no share of that fire 
 and spii'it with which his earlier productions are 
 animated : but he never had a cause more inte- 
 resting or where he had greater reason to exert 
 himself : he knew that in case of a rupture, for 
 which alone the piece was calculated, either Antony 
 or the republic must perish ; and he was deter- 
 mined to risk his own life upon the quarrel, nor 
 bear the indignity of outliving a second time the 
 liberty of his country. 
 
 He sent a copy of this speeeli to Brutus and 
 Cassius, who were infinitely pleased with it : they 
 now at last clearly saw that Antony meditated 
 nothing but war, and that their affairs were growing 
 daily more and more despei-ate ; and being re- 
 solved therefore to leave Italy, they took occasion 
 a little before their departure to write the following 
 letter in common to Antony. 
 
 Brutus and Cassius, Prcetors, to Antony, Consul. 
 
 " If you are in good health, it is a pleasure t» 
 us. We have read your letter, exactly of a piece 
 with your edict, abusive, threatening, wholly un- 
 worthy to be sent from you to us. For our part, 
 
 n Itaque omnibus est visus. ut ad te antea 8cripsi, vo- 
 mere suo more, non dicere. — Ep. Fam xii. 2. 
 
 o Atque etiam literas, quas me sibi misisse diceret, 
 recitavit, &c. — Phil. ii. 4. 
 
 p Nullam aliam ob causam me auctorem fuisse Cssaria 
 interficiendi criminatur, nisi ut in me veterani incitentur. 
 — Ep. Fam. xii. 2; iii. 4.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 245 
 
 -Antony, we have never done you any injury ; nor 
 imagined that you would think it strange, that 
 prsetors and men of our rank shoukl require any- 
 thing by edict of a consul : but if you are angry 
 that we have presumed to do it, give us leave to be 
 concerned that you would not indulge that privilege 
 at least to Brutus and Cassius : for as to our 
 raising troops, exacting contributions, soliciting 
 armies, sending expresses beyond sea; since you 
 deny that you ever complained of it, we believe 
 you ; and take it as a proof of your good intention : 
 we do not indeed own any such practices, yet 
 think it strange, when you objected nothing of 
 that kind, that you could not contain yourself 
 from reproaching us with the death of Csesar. 
 Consider with yourself whether it is to be endured, 
 that for the sake of the public quiet an<l liberty, 
 praetors cannot depart from their rights by edict, 
 but the consul must presently threaten them with 
 arms. Do not think to frighten us with such 
 threats : it is not agreeable to our character to 
 be moved by any danger : nor must Antony pre- 
 tend to command those by whose means he now 
 lives free. If there were other reasons to dispose 
 us to raise a civil war, your letter would have no 
 effect to hinder it ; for threats can have no in- 
 fluence on those who are free. But you know 
 very well that it is not possible for us to be driven 
 to anything against our will, and for that reason 
 perhaps you threaten that whatever we do it may 
 seem to be the effect of fear. These then are our 
 sentiments: we wish to see you live with honour 
 and splendour in a free republic : have no desire 
 to quarrel with you : yet value our liberty more 
 than your friendship. It is your business to con- 
 sider again and again what you attempt and what 
 you can maintain ; and to reflect, not how long 
 'Caesar lived, but how short a time he reigned : 
 ^■we pray the gods that your counsels may be salu- 
 vtary both to the republic and to yourself ; if not, 
 wish at least that they may hurt you as little as 
 may consist with the safety and dignity of the 
 irepublici." 
 
 Ootavius perceived by this time that there was 
 ■nothing to be done for him in the city against a 
 'Consul armed with supreme power both civil and 
 ■military ; and was so far provoked by the ill usage 
 ■which he had I'eceived, that in order to obtain by 
 •stratagem what he could not gain by force, he 
 rformed a design against Antony's life, and actually 
 (provided certain slaves to assassinate him, who 
 were discovered and seized with their poniards in 
 Antony's house, as they were watching an oppor- 
 tunity to execute their plot. The story was sup- 
 posed by many to be forged by Antony to justify 
 his treatment of Octavius, and his depriving him 
 of the estate of his uncle : but all men of sense, as 
 Cicero says, both believed and applauded it ; and 
 the greatest part of the old writers treat it as an 
 undoubted facf. 
 
 They were both of them equally suspected by the 
 
 f Ep. Fam. xi. 3. 
 
 " De quo muUitudini fietum ab Antonio crimen videtur, 
 nt in pecuniam adolescentis impetum faccret. Prudcntes 
 autem et boni viri et credunt factum et probant. [Ep. 
 Fam. xii. 23.] Insidiis M. Autonii consulis latus petiorat. 
 .— Senec. I)e Clem. i. 9. 
 
 Hortantibus itaque nonnuUis percussores ei subornavit. 
 Hac fraude deprehensa, &c.— Sueton. in August. 10 ; Plu- 
 larcli. in AutciL 
 
 senate ; but Antony more immediately dreaded on 
 the account of his superior jiower, and supposed 
 credit with the soldiers, whom he had served with 
 through all the late wars and on several occasions 
 commanded. Here liis chief strength lay ; and to 
 ingratiate himself the more with them, he began to 
 declare himself more and more openly every day 
 against the conspirators; threatening them in his 
 edicts, and discovering a resolution to revenge the 
 death of Cajsar, to whom he erected a statue in 
 the rostra, and inscribed it ' To the most worthy 
 parent of his country.' Cicero, speaking of this 
 in a letter to Cassius, says, " Your friend Antony 
 grows every day more furious, as you see from 
 the inscrij)tion of his statue ; by which he makes 
 you not only murderers but parricides. But why 
 do I say you and not rather us ? for the madman 
 affirms me to be the author of your noble act. I 
 wish that I had been, for if I had he would not 
 have been so troublesome to us at this time^." 
 
 Octavius was not less active in soliciting his 
 micle's soldiers, sparing neither pains nor money 
 that could tempt them to his service ; and by out- 
 bidding Antony in all his offers and bribes to them, 
 met with greater success than was expected, so as 
 to draw together in a short time a firm and regular 
 army of veterans, completely furnished with all 
 necessaries for present service. But as he had no 
 public character to justify this conduct, which in 
 regular times would have been deemed treasonable, 
 so he paid the greater court to the republican chiefs, 
 in hopes to get his proceedings authorised by the 
 senate ; and by the influence of his troops procure 
 the command of the war to himself : he now there- 
 fore was continually pressing Cicero by letters and 
 friends to come to Rome, and support him with 
 his authority against their common enemy Antony ; 
 promising to govern himself ia every step by his 
 advice. 
 
 But Cicero could not yet be persuaded to enter 
 into his affairs ; he suspected his youth and want 
 of experience, and that he had not strength enough 
 to deal with Antony ; and above all, that he had 
 no good disposition towards the conspirators : he 
 thought it impossible that he should ever be a 
 friend to them, and was persuaded rather, that if 
 ever he got the upper hand, his uncle's acts would 
 be more violently enforced, and his death more 
 cruelly revenged, than by Antony himself. These 
 considerations withheld him from a union with 
 him, till the exigences of the republic made it 
 absolutely necessary ; nor did he consent at last 
 without making it an express condition that Octa- 
 vius should employ all his forces in defence of the 
 common liberty, and particularly of Brutus and his 
 accomplices : where his chief care and caution 
 still was, to arm him only with a power sufficient 
 to oppress Antony, yet so checked and limited, 
 that he should not be able to oppress the republic. 
 
 « Auget tuus amicus furorem indies, primum in statua, 
 quam posuit in rostris, inscripsit, Parenti optime merito. 
 Ut non modo sicarii, sed jam etiam parricidae jiidicemini. 
 Quid dico judicemini? judicemur potius. Vestii enim 
 pulcherrimi facti ille furiosus me principem dicit fuisse. 
 Utinam quidem fuissem, molestus non asset. — Ep. Fam. 
 xii. 3. 
 
 t Valde tibi assentior, si multiun possit Octavianus, 
 multo firmius acta tyranni comprobatuin iri, quam in 
 Telluris, atque id contra Brutum foro — sed in isto jus 
 vene quanquam animi satis, auctoritatis parum est. — Ad 
 Att. xvi. 14.
 
 246 
 
 THE IIISTOIIY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Tliis is evident from many of his epistles to 
 Atticus : " I had a letter," says he, " from Oc- 
 tavianus on the first of November : his designs 
 are great : he has drawn over all the veterans of 
 Casilinum and C'al itia : and no wonder, he gives 
 sixteen pounds a m ai. He proposes to make the 
 tour of the other eolonies : his view plainly is, to 
 Jiave the command of the war against Antony ; so 
 tiiat we shall be in arms in a few days. But which 
 of them sludl we follow ? — Consider his name, his 
 age ; he begs to have a private conference with me 
 at Capua or near it : 'tis childish to imagine that 
 it could be private : I gave him to understand that 
 it was neither necessary nor practicable. He sent 
 to mc one Csccina of Volaterrsc, who brought word 
 that Antony was coming towards the city with the 
 legion of the Alaudse" : that he raised contribu- 
 tions from all the great towns, and marched with 
 colours displayed : he asked my advice whether he 
 should advance before liim to Rome with three 
 thousand veterans, or keep the post of Capua and 
 oppose his progress there, or go to ihe three 
 Macedonian legions, who were marching along the 
 upper coast, and are, as he hopes, in his interest 
 — they would not take Antony's money, as this 
 Caecina says, but even affronted and left him while 
 lie was speaking to them. In short he offers him- 
 self for our leader, and thinks that we ought to 
 support him. I advised him to march to Rome : 
 for he seems likely to have the meaner people on 
 his side ; and if he makes good what he promises, 
 the better sort too. O Brutus, where art thou ? 
 ^^^lat an opportunity dost thou lose ? I did not 
 indeed foresee this : yet thought that something 
 like it would happen. Give me your advice : shall 
 I come away to Rome ; stay where I am ; or 
 retire to Arpinum, where I shall be the safest ? I had 
 rather be at Rome, lest if anything should be done 
 I should be wanted : resolve therefore for me : I 
 never was in greater perplexity ='." 
 
 Again : " I bad two letters the same day from 
 Octavius : he presses me to come immediately to 
 Rome ; is resolved, he says, to do nothing without 
 the senate — I tell him that there can be no senate 
 till the first of January, which I take to be true : 
 he adds also, 'nor without my advice.' In a word, 
 he urges, I hang back : I cannot trust his age : 
 do not know his real intentions ; will do nothing 
 witliout Pansa ; am afraid that Antony may prove 
 too strong for him ; and unwilling to stir from the 
 sea ; yet would not have anything vigorous done 
 without me. Varro does not like the conduct of 
 the boy, but I do. He has firm troops and may 
 join with D. Brutus : what he does, he does 
 openly; musters his soldiers at Capua ; pays them: 
 we shall have a war I see instantly y." 
 
 " This legion ottheAlaudcewiisHTst raised by J. Caesar, 
 and composed of the natives of Gaul, armed and disciplined 
 after the Roman manner, to which he gave the freedom of 
 Rome. He called it by a Gallic name, Alaudee ; which 
 signified a kind of lark, or little bird with a tuft or crest 
 rising upon its head ; in imitation of which, this legion 
 wore a crest of feathers on the helmet ; from which origin 
 the word was adopted into the Latin tongue. Antony, out 
 of compliment to these troops, and to assure himself of 
 their fidelity, had lately made a judicLary law, by which he 
 erected a third class of judges, to be drawn from the oflBcers 
 of this legion, and added to the other two of the senators 
 and knights ; for which Cicero often reproaches him as a 
 most infamous prostitution of the dignity of the republic. 
 — PhU. i. a X Ad Att. xvi. 8. J Ibid. 9. 
 
 Again : " I have letters every day from Octa- 
 viauus ; to undertake his affairs ; to come to him 
 at Capua ; to save the state a second time : he 
 resolves to come directly to Rome. 
 
 Urged to the fight, 'lis slianiefiil tn refuse, 
 ^\'hilBt fear yet prompts the safer part to chuae.— 
 
 IIOM. II. 7J . 
 
 He has hitherto acted, and acts still with vigour, 
 and will come to Rome with a great force. Yet 
 he is but a boy : he thinks the senate may be called 
 immediately: but who will come? or if they do, 
 who, in this uncertainty of affairs, will declare- 
 against Antony .' he will be a good guard to us on 
 the first of January : or it may come perhaps to 
 blows before. The great towns favour the boy 
 strangely. They flock to him from all parts, and 
 e.xhorthim to proceed; could you ever have thought 
 it^ ?" Tiiere are many other passages of the same 
 kind, expressing a diffidence of Octavius, and in- 
 clination to sit still and let them fight it out between 
 themselves : till the exigency of affairs made their 
 union at last mutually, necessary to each other. 
 
 In the hurry of all these politics, he was pro- 
 secuting his studies still with his usual appli- 
 cation ; and besides the second Philippic already 
 mentioned, now finished his book of Offices, or the 
 duties of man, for the use of his son*. A work, 
 admired by all succeeding ages as the most perfect 
 system of heathen morality, and the noblest effort 
 and specimen of what mere reason could do towards 
 guiding man through life with innocence and liap- 
 piness. He now also drew up, as it is thought, 
 his Stoical Paradoxes, or an illustration of the 
 peculiar doctrines of that sect, from the examples 
 and characters of their own countrymen, which he 
 addressed to Binitus. 
 
 Antony left Rome about the end of September,^ 
 in order to meet and engage to his servive four 
 legions from Macedonia, which had been sent 
 thither by Caesar on their way towards Parthia, 
 and were now by his orders returning to Italy. 
 He thought himself sure of them, and by their help 
 to be master of the city ; but on his arrival at 
 Brundisium on the eighth of October, three of the 
 legions, to his great surprise, rejected all his offers 
 and refused to follow him. This affront so enraged 
 him, thatcalling together all the centurions whom he 
 suspected of being the authors of their disaftection,. 
 he ordered them tobemassacred in his own lodgings-, 
 to the number of three hundred, while he and his- 
 wife Fulvia stood calmly looking on, to satiate 
 their cruel revenge by the blood of these brave 
 men : after which he marched back towards Rome 
 by the Appian road at the head of the single legion 
 which submitted to him ; whilst the other three 
 took their route along the Adriatic coast without 
 declaiing yet for any side**. 
 2 Ad Att. xvi. 11. a Ibid. ' 
 
 •> A. d. vir. Id. Oct. Brundisium erat profectus. An- 
 tonius, obviam legionibus Macedonicis iiii. quas sibi con- 
 ciliare pecunia cogitabat, easque ad urbem adducere. — 
 Ep. Fam. xii. 23. 
 
 Uuippe qui in hospitis tectis Brundisii fortissimos viros, 
 cives optimos, jugulari jusserit : quorum ante pedes ejus 
 morientium sanguine os uxoris respersum esse constabat. 
 —Phil. iii. 2. 
 
 Cum ejus promissis legiones fortisslma; reclamassent, 
 domum ad se venire jussit centuriones, quos bene de 
 republica sentire cognoverat, eosque ante pedes suosv 
 uxorisque suae, quam secum gravis imperator ad exer» 
 citum duxerat, jugulari coegit. — FhiL v. 8.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 247 
 
 He returned full of rage both against Octavius 
 and the republicans, and determined to make what 
 use he could of the remainder of his consulship, in 
 wresting the provinces and military commands out 
 of the hands of his enemies, and distributing them 
 to his friends. He published at the same time 
 several fierce and threatening edicts, in which " he 
 gave Octavius the name of Spartacus, reproached 
 iiim with the ignobleness of his birth ; charged 
 Cicero with being the author of all his counsels ; 
 abused young Quintus as a perfidious wretch who 
 had offered to kill both his father and uncle ; 
 forbade three of the tribunes, on pain of death, to 
 appear in the senate, Q. Cassius, the brother of 
 the conspirator, Carfulenus, and Canutius '^." In 
 this humour he summoned the senate on the 
 twenty-fourth of October, with severe threats to 
 those who should absent themselves ; yet he him- 
 self neglected to come, and adjourned it by edict 
 to the twenty-eighth : but while all people were in 
 expectation of some extraordinary decrees from 
 him, and of one particularly which he had pre- 
 pared to declare young Csesar a public enemy''; 
 he happened to receive the news that two of the 
 legions from Brundisium, the fourth, and that 
 which was called the Martial, had actually declared 
 for Octavius, and posted themselves at Alba, in 
 the neighbourhood of Rome". This shocked him 
 so much, that instead of prosecuting what he had 
 projected, he only huddled over what nobody op- 
 posed, the decree of a supplication to Lepidus ; 
 and the same evening, after he had distributed to 
 his friends by a pretended allotment the several 
 provinces of the empire, which few or none of them 
 durst accept from so precarious a title, he changed 
 the habit of the consul for that of the general, and 
 left the city w-ith precipitation, to put himself at the 
 head of his army, and possess himself by force of 
 Cisalpine Gaul, assigned to him by a pretended 
 law of the people against the will of the senate'; 
 
 On the news of his retreat Cicero presently 
 quitted his books and the country and set out to- 
 wards Rome : he seemed to be called by the voije 
 of the republic to take the reins once more into 
 his hands. The field was now open to him ; 
 there was not a consul and scarce a single praetor 
 in the city, nor any troops from which he could 
 apprehend danger. He arrived on the ninth of 
 December, and immediately conferred with Pansa, 
 for Hirtius lay very ill, about the measures proper 
 
 « Primum in Cjesarem ut maledicta congessit — igno- 
 tilitatem objicit C. Cjtsaris filio [Phil. iii. 6.] quern in 
 edicti* Spartacum appellat. [Ibid. 8.] Q,. Ciceronem, fratris 
 mei filium compellat edicto — ausus est scribere, huno de 
 patris et patrui parricidio cogitasse, [Ibid. 7-] quid autem 
 attinuerit, Q. Cassio — mortem denunciare si in senatum 
 vcnisset. D. Carfulenum— e senatu vi et mortis minis 
 expellere : Tib. Canutium — non templo solum, sed aditu 
 priihibere capitolii. — Ibid. 9. 
 
 'i Cum senatum vocasset, adhibuissetque consularem, 
 qui sua .sententia C. Cassarena hostem judicaret. — Phil. v. 
 9 ; App. .556. 
 
 •= Postea vero quam legio Martia ducem prsestantis- 
 simum vidit, nihil egit aliud, nisi ut aliquando liberi 
 essemus: quam est imitata quarta legio.^ — Phil. v. 8. 
 
 Atque ea legio consedit Alba;, &c. — Phil. iii. 3. 
 
 ' Fugerc festinans senatusconsultum de supplicatione 
 per discessionem fecit — praeclara tamen senatusconsulta 
 eo ipso die vespertina, provinci.arum religiosa sortitio — 
 L. Lentulus et P. Naso — nullam se Iiabere prnvineiam, 
 nuUam Antonii sortitionem fuisse judicarunt. — Phil. iii. 
 9, 10. 
 
 to be taken on their approaching en».rance into the 
 consulship. 
 
 Before his leaving the country Oppius had been 
 with him, to press him again to undertake the 
 affairs of Octavius and the protection of his troops: 
 but his answer was, " that he could not consent to 
 it, unless he were first assured that Octavius would 
 not only be no enemy, but even a friend to Brutus : 
 tliat he could be of no service to Octavius till the 
 first of January, and there would be an opportu- 
 nity before that time of trying Octavius's dispo- 
 sition in the case of Casca, who had been named 
 by Ctesar to the tribunate, and was to enter upon 
 it on the tenth of December : for if Octavius did 
 not oppose or di.sturb his admission, that would be 
 a proof of his good intentions?." Oppius under- 
 took for all this on the part of Octavius, and 
 Octavius himself confirmed it, and suffered Casca, 
 who gave the first blow to Csesar, to enter quietly 
 into his office. 
 
 The new tribunes, in the mean time, in the 
 absence of the superior magistrates, called a meet- 
 ing of the senate on the nineteenth. Cicero had 
 resolved not to appear there any more, till he 
 should be supported by the new consuls ; but 
 happening to receive the day before the edict of 
 D. Brutus, by which he prohibited Antony the 
 entrance of his province, and declared that he 
 would defend it against him by force, and preserve 
 it in its duty to the senate, he thought it necessary 
 for the public service, and the present encourage- 
 ment of Brutus, to procure, as soon as possible, 
 some public declaration in his favour : he went, 
 therefore, to the senate very early, which being 
 observed by the other senators, presently drew 
 together a full house, in expectation of hearing his 
 sentiments in so nice and critical a situation of the 
 public affairs'"." 
 
 He saw the war actually commenced in the very 
 bowels of Italy, on the success of which depended 
 the fate of Rome : that Gaul would certainly be 
 lost, and with it probably the republic, if Brutus 
 was not supported against the superior force of 
 Antony : that there was no way of doing it so 
 ready and effectual, as by employing Octavius and 
 his troops ; and though the entrusting him with 
 that commission would throw a dangerous power 
 into his hands, yet it would be controlled by the 
 equal power and superior authority of the two 
 consuls, who were to be joined with him in the 
 same command. 
 
 The senate being assembled, the tribunes ac- 
 g Sed, ut scribis, certissimum esse video discrimea 
 Cascse nostri tribunatum : de quo quidem ipsi dixi Oppio, 
 cum me hortaretur, ut adolescentemque totamquo causam, 
 manumque veteranonmi compleoterer, rae nulln modo fa- 
 cere posse, ni mihi exploratum csset, eum non modo non 
 inimicum tyrannoetonis, verum etiam amicimi fore ; cum 
 ille diceret, ita f uturum. Quid igitur festinamus ? inquam. 
 lUi enim mea opera ante Kal. Jan. nihil opus est. Nos 
 autem ante Id. Dec. ejus voluntatem perspieiemus in 
 Casca. Mihi vahle assensus est. — Ad Att. xvi. 15. 
 
 •> Cum tribuni plebis edi.xissent, senatus adesset ad diem 
 siii. Kal. Jan. haberentque in animo de prsesidio eonsulum 
 designatorum refene, quanquam statucram in scnutum 
 ante Kal. Jan. non venire : tamen cum eo ipso die edietum 
 tuum propositum esset, nefas esse duxi, aut ita haberi 
 senatum, ut de tuis divinis in rempublicam meritis silere- 
 tur, quod factum esset, nisi ego venissem, aut etiam si 
 quid de te non honorifice diceretur, me non adesse. Itaquo 
 in senatum veni mane. Quod cum esset animadverium, 
 frequentissimi senatores convenerunt. — Ep. Fam. xi. 6.
 
 248 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 quainted tliem that the business of the meeting 
 was to proviile a guard for the security of the new 
 consuls, and the protection of the senate in the 
 freedom of their debates ; but that they gave a 
 liberty withal of taking tiie whole state of tiie re- 
 public into consideration. Upon this Cicero 
 opened tiie debate, " and rcjiresented to them the 
 danger of their present condition, and the necessity 
 of speedy and resolute counsels against an enemy 
 who lost no time in attempting their ruin. That 
 they had been ruined indeed before, had it not 
 been for tlie courage and virtue of young C';esar, 
 who, contrary to all expectation, and witiiout being 
 even desired to do what no man thought possible 
 for him to do, had, by his jirivate authority and 
 expense, raised a strong army of veterans, and 
 baffled the designs of Antony ; that if Antony had 
 succeeded at IJrundisium, and prevailed witli the 
 legions to follow him, he would have filled the city 
 at his return with blood and slaughter : that it was 
 their part to authorise and confirm what Cajsar 
 liad done, and to empower him to do more, by 
 employing his troops in the farther service of the 
 state, and to make a special provision, also, for 
 the two legions which had declared for him against 
 Antony". As to D. Brutus, who had promised by 
 edict to preserve Gaul in the obedience of the 
 senate, that he was a citizen, born for the good of 
 the republic — the imitator of his ancestors ; nay, 
 had even exceeded their merit; for the first Brutus 
 expelled a proud king, he a fellow-subject far more 
 proud and profligate : that Tarquin, at the time of 
 his expulsion, was actually making war for the 
 people of Rome ; but Antony, on the contrary, 
 had actually begun a war against them. That it was 
 necessary, therefore, to confirm by public autho- 
 rity what Brutus had done by private, in preserv- 
 ing the province of Gaul, the flower of Italy, and 
 the bulwark of the empire''." Then, after largely 
 inveighing against Antony's character, and enume- 
 rating particularly all his cruelties and violences, 
 he exhorts them in a pathetic manner to act with 
 courage in defence of the republic, or die bravely 
 in the attempt : that " now was ihetime either to 
 recover their liberty or to Uve for ever slaves : that 
 if the fatal day was come, and Rome was destined 
 to perish, it would be a shame for them, the 
 governors of the world, not to fall with as much 
 courage as gladiators were used to do, and die with 
 dignity, rather than live with disgrace." He puts 
 them in mind of "the many advantages which they 
 had towards encouraging their hopes and resolu- 
 tion ; the body of the people alert and eager in the 
 cause; young Csesar in the guard of the city; 
 Brutus, of Gaul ; two consuls of the greatest pru- 
 dence, virtue, concord between themselves ; who 
 had been meditating nothing else, for many months 
 past, but the public tranquillity ;" to all which he 
 promises his own attention and vigilance, both day 
 and night, for their safety'. On the whole, there- 
 fore, he gives his vote and opinion, " that the new 
 consuls, C. Pansa and A. Hirtius, should take care 
 that the senate may meet with security on the first 
 of January ; that D. Brutus, emperor, and consul 
 elect, had merited greatly of the republic, by de- 
 fending the authority and liberty of the senate and 
 people of Rome : that his army, the towns and 
 colonies of his province, should be publicly thanked 
 
 • Phil. iii. ], 2, 3. 
 1 Ibid. 14, &c. 
 
 k Ibid. 4, 6. 
 
 and praised for their fidelity to him : that it should 
 be declared to be of the last consequence to the 
 republic that D. Brutus and L. Plancus (who com- 
 manded the farther Gaul) emperor and consul 
 elect, as well as all others who had the command 
 of provinces, should keep them in their duty to 
 the senate, till successors were appointed by the 
 senate ; and since, by the pains, virtue, and con- 
 duct, of young Cuesar, and the assistance of the 
 veteran soldiers who followed him, the republic had 
 been delivered, and was still defended, from thn 
 greatest dangers ; and since the Martial and fourth 
 legions, under that excellent citizen and (juiiistor 
 Egnatuleius, had voluntarily declared for the autho- 
 rity of the senate, and the liberty of the people, 
 that the senate should take special care that due 
 honours and thanks be paid to them for their emi- 
 nent services ; and that the new consuls, on their 
 entrance into office, should make it their first 
 business to see all this executed in proper form :" 
 to all which the Innise unanimously agreed, and 
 ordered a decree to be drawn conformably to his 
 opinion. 
 
 From the senate he passed directly to the forum, 
 and in a speech to the people, gave an account of 
 what had passed : he begins, by signifying " his joy 
 to see so great a concourse about him, greater than 
 he had ever remembered, a sure omen of their good 
 inclinations, and an encouragement both to his 
 endeavours and his hopes of recovering the repub- 
 lic." Then he repeats with some variation what he 
 had delivered in the senate, of the ])raises of Crcsar 
 and Brutus, and the wicked designs of Antony : 
 that " the race of the Brutuses was given to them by 
 the special providence of the gods, for the perpe- 
 tual defenders and deliverers of the republic™ : that 
 by what the senate had decreed, they had in fact, 
 though not in express words, declared .Antony a pub- 
 lic enemy ; that they must consider him therefore 
 as such, and no longer as consul ; that they had to 
 deal with an enemy with whom no teinis of peace 
 could be made, who thirsted not so much after 
 their liberty as their blood, to whom no sport was 
 so agreeable as to see citizens butchered before his 
 eyes — That the gods, however, by jjortents and 
 prodigies, seemed to foretel his speedy downfall, 
 since such a consent and union of all ranks against 
 him could never have been effected but by a divine 
 influence," &c." 
 
 These speeches, which stand the third and fourth 
 in the order of his Philippics, were extremely well 
 received both by the senate and people. Speaking 
 afterwards of the latter of them to the same 
 people, he says : " If that day had put an end to 
 my life, I had reaped sufficient fruit from it, when 
 you all with one mind and voice cried out that I 
 had twice saved the republic"." As he had now 
 broken all measures with Antony beyond the pos- 
 sibility of a reconciliation, so he published pro- 
 bably about this time his second Philippic, which 
 had hitherto been communicated only to a few 
 friends, whose approbation it had received. 
 
 The short remainder of this turbulent year was 
 spent in preparing arms and troops for the guard 
 of the new consuls, and the defence of the state ; 
 
 m Phil. iv. 3. n Ibid. 4, &c. 
 
 o Quo quidem tempore, etiam si Ule dies vita; finem 
 mihi allaturus esset, satis magnum ceperam fructum, 
 cum vos universi una mente ac voce itcrum a me conaer- 
 Tatam esse rempublicam conclamastis. — Pbil. vi. 1.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 249 
 
 and the new levies were carried on with the greater 
 <liligence, for the certain news that was brought 
 to Rome, that Antony was actually besieging Mo- 
 dena, into which Brutus, unable to oppose him 
 in the field, had thrown himself with all his forces, 
 as the strongest town of his province, and the best 
 provided to sustain a siege. Young Cajsar, in the 
 meanwhile, without expecting the orders of the 
 senate, but with the advice of Cicero, by which he 
 now governed himself in every step, marched out 
 of Rome at the head of his troops, and followed 
 Antony into the province, in order to observe his 
 motions, and take all occasions of distressing him, 
 as well as to encourage Brutus to defend himself 
 with vigour, till the consuls could bring up the 
 grand army which they were preparing for his 
 relief. 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 coss 
 
 C VIBIUS 
 PANSA. 
 
 On the opening of the year, the city was in 
 great expectation to see what measures their new 
 consuls would pursue : they had been 
 A. uRB. 710. at school, as it were, all the summer 
 cic. 64. jQ Cicero, forming the plan of their 
 administration, and taking their les- 
 sons of governing from him, and seem 
 A H/RTius. to have been brought entirely into 
 his general view, of establishing the 
 peace and liberty of the republic on the founda- 
 tion of an amnesty. But their great obligations 
 to Caesar, and long engagements with that party, 
 to which they owed all their fortunes, had left 
 some scruples in them, which gave a check to 
 their zeal, and disposed them to act with more 
 moderation against old friends than the condition 
 of times would allow ; and before the experiment 
 of arms, to try the gentler method of a treaty. 
 With these sentiments, as soon as they were inau- 
 gurated, they entered into a deliberation with the 
 senate on the present state of the republic, in 
 order to perfect what had been resolved upon at 
 their last meeting, and to contrive some farther 
 means for the secuiity of the public tranquillity. 
 They both spoke with great spirit and firmness, 
 offering themselves as leaders in asserting the 
 liberty of their country, and exhorting the assembly 
 to courage and resolution in the defence of so good 
 a cause P ; and when they had done, they called upon 
 Q. Fusius Calenus, to deliver his sentiments the 
 first. He had been consul four years before by 
 Caesar's nomination, and was father-in-law to 
 Pansa, which by custom was a sufficient ground for 
 paying him that compliment. Cicero's opinion 
 was already well known ; he was for the shortest 
 and readiest way of coming at their end, by de- 
 claring Antony a public enemy, and without loss 
 of time acting against him by open force : but this 
 was not relished by the consuls, who called there- 
 fore upon Calenus to speak first ; that as he was a 
 fast friend to Antony, and sure to be on the mo- 
 derate side, he might instil some sentiments of that 
 sort into the senate, before Cicero had made a 
 contrary impression. Calenus's opinion therefore 
 
 P Ut oratio consulum animuin meum erexit, spemque 
 attulit non modo salutis conservanda», verum etiam dig- 
 nitatis pristinae rccuperandse. — PiiiL v. 1. 
 
 was, that before they proceeded to acts of hostility 
 they should send an embassy to Antony, to ad- 
 monish him to desist from his attempt upon Gaul, 
 and submit to the authority of the senate. Piso 
 and several others were of the same mind, alleging 
 it to be unjust and cruel to condemn a man till 
 they had first heard what he had to say for him- 
 self. 
 
 But Cicero opposed this motion with great 
 warmth, not only as " vain and foolish, but dan- 
 gerous and pernicious. He declared it dishonour- 
 able to treat with any one who was in arms against 
 his country, until he laid them down and sued for 
 peace ; in which case no man would be more 
 moderate or equitable than himself: that they had 
 in effect proclaimed him an enemy already, and 
 had nothing left but to confirm it by a decree, 
 when he was besieging one of the great towns of 
 Italy, a colony of Rome, and in it their consul- 
 elect and general, Brutus :" he observed from what 
 motives those other opinions proceeded ; " from 
 particular friendships, relations, private obligations ; 
 but that a regard to their country was superior to 
 them all : that the real point before them was, 
 whetlier Antony should be suffered to oppress the 
 republic ; to mark out whom he pleased to destruc- 
 tion ; to plunder the city, and enslavethe citizensi." 
 That this was his sole view, he showed from a long 
 detail not only of his acts, but of his express de- 
 clarations; for "he had said in the temple of Castor, 
 in the hearing of the people, that whenever it came 
 to blows no man should remain alive who did not 
 conquer ; and in another speech, that when he' 
 was out of his consulship, he would keep an army 
 still about the city, and enter it whenever he 
 thought fit : that in a letter (which Cicero himself 
 had seen) to one of his friends, he bade him to 
 mark out for himself what estate he would have, 
 and whatever it was he should certainly have if : 
 that to talk of sending ambassadors to such a one, 
 was to betray their ignorance of the constitution of 
 the republic, the majesty of the Roman people, 
 and the discipline of their ancestors^ : that what- 
 ever was the purpose of their message, it would 
 signify nothing : if to beg him to be quiet, he 
 would despise it ; if to command him, he would 
 not obey it : that without any possible good, it 
 would be a certain damage ; would necessarily 
 create delay and obstruction to the operations of 
 the war ; check the zeal of the army ; damp the 
 spirits of the people, whom they now saw so brisk 
 and eager in the cause : that the greatest revolutions 
 of affairs were effected often by trifling incidents ; 
 and above all in civil wars, which were generally 
 governed by popular rumour : that how vigorous 
 soever their instructions were to the ambassa- 
 dors, that they would be little regarded : the very 
 name of an embassy implied a diffidence and fear 
 which was sufficient to cool the ardour of their 
 friends': they might order him to retire from 
 Modena, to quit the province of Gaul ; but this 
 was not to be obtained by words, but extorted by 
 arras : that while the ambassadors were going and 
 coming, people would be in doubt and suspense 
 about the success of their negotiation ; and under 
 the expectation of a doubtful war, what progress 
 could they hope to make in their levies .' that his 
 opinion therefore was, to make no f arther men- 
 
 q Phil. V. 1, 2, 3. r Ibid. 8, 12. 
 
 » Ibid. 9. » Ibid. 10.
 
 26C 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 tion of an embassy, but to enter instantly into 
 action : that tliere should be a cessation of all 
 civil business ; a public tumult proclaimed ; the 
 shops shut up ; and that instead of their usual 
 gown they should all put on tlie sajjum, or habit of 
 war ; and that levies of soldiers should be made in 
 Rome, and through Italy, without any exception 
 of privilege or dismission from service ; that the 
 very fame of this vigour would restrain the mad- 
 ness of Antony, and let the world see that the case 
 was not, as he i)retendcd, a struggle only of con- 
 tending parties, but a real war against the coni- 
 nionwealth : that the w-hole republic should be 
 committed to the consuls, to take care that it 
 received no detriment : that pardon should be 
 offered to those of Antony's army who should re- 
 turn to their duty before the first of February ; 
 that if they did not come to this resolution now, 
 they would be forced to do it afterwards, when it 
 would be too late perhaps, or less effectual"." 
 
 Tliis was the sum of what he advised as to their 
 conduct towards Antony. He next proceeded to 
 the other subject of their debate, the honours 
 which were ordered to be decreed at their last 
 meeting ; and began with D. Brutus, as consul- 
 elect, in favour of whom, besides many high ex- 
 pressions of praise, he proposed a decree to this 
 effect : "Whereas D.Brutus, emperor and consul- 
 elect, now holds the province of Gaul in the power 
 of the senate and people of Rome, and, by the 
 cheerful assistance of the towns and colonies of 
 his province, has drawn together a great army in 
 a short time ; that he has done all this rightly and 
 regularly, and for the service of the state ; and 
 that it is the sense therefore of the senate and 
 people, that the republic has been relieved in a 
 most difficult conjuncture, by the pains, counsel, 
 •virtue of D. Brutus, emperor, consul-elect, and by 
 the incredible zeal and concurrence of the province 
 of Gaul." He moved also for an extraordinary 
 honour to M. Lepidus, who had no pretension to 
 it indeed from past services, but being now at the 
 head of the best army in the empire, was in con- 
 dition to do the most good or ill to them of any 
 man. This was the ground of the compliment ; 
 for his faith being suspected, and his union with 
 Antony dreaded, Cicero hoped, by this testimony 
 of their confidence, to confirm him in the interests 
 of the senate ; but he seems to be hard put to it 
 for a pretext of merit to ground his decree upon : 
 he takes notice, " that Lepidus was always mode- 
 rate in power, and a friend to liberty ; that he gave 
 a signal proof of it when Antony offered the dia- 
 dem to Csesar ; for, by turning away his face, he 
 publicly testified his aversion to slavery, and that 
 his compliance with the times was through neces- 
 sity, not choice ; — that since Caesar's death he had 
 practised the same moderation ; and when a bloody 
 war was revived in Spain, chose to put an end to it 
 by the methods of prudence and humanity, rather 
 than by arms and the sword, and consented to the 
 restoration of S. Pompey''." For which reason he 
 proposed the following decree: "Whereas the 
 republic has often been well and happily adminis- 
 tered by M. Lepidus the chief priest, and the 
 people of Rome have always found him to be an 
 enemy to kingly government ; and whereas by his 
 endeavours, virtue, wisdom, and his singular cle- 
 
 » PhiL V. 10, 12. ^ Ibid. 14. 
 
 mency and mildness, a most dreadful civil war ia 
 extinguished ; and S. Pompey the Grtat, the so:i 
 of CnsDus, out of respect to the autiiority of the 
 senate, has <|uitted his arms, and is restored to the 
 city ; that the senate and peojjle, out of regard to 
 the many and signal services of M. Lepidus, 
 emperor, and chief priest, place great hopes of 
 their peace, concord, liberty, in his virtue, autho- 
 rity, felicity ; and from a grateful sense of his 
 merits, decree that a gilt e(|uestrian statue shall be 
 erected to him by tlieir order in the rostra, or any 
 other part of the forum which he shall choose''." 
 He comes next to young Ctesar, and, after enlarg- 
 ing on his praises, proposes, " that they should 
 grant him a j)ropia' commission and command over 
 his troojjs, without which he could be of no use to 
 tliem ; and that he should have the rank and all 
 the riglits of a propra;tor, not only for the sake of 
 his dignity, but the necessary management of their 
 afl'airs, and the administration of the war." And 
 tlien offers tlie form of a decree : " Whereas C. 
 Cajsar, the son of Cains, priest, propraetor, has, in 
 the utmost distress of the republic, exciteti and 
 enlisted veteran troops to defend the liberty of the 
 Roman people ; and whereas the Martial and fourtiv 
 legions, under the leading and authority of C. 
 Caesar, have defended and now defend the repub- 
 lic, and the liberty of the Roman people ; and 
 whereas C. Caesar is gone at the head of his army 
 to protect the province of Gaul ; has drawn toge- 
 ther a body of horse, archers, elephants, under his 
 own and the people's power, and in the most dan- 
 gerous crisis of the republic has supported the 
 safety and dignity of the Roman people ; for these 
 reasons the senate decrees that C. Caesar, the son 
 of Caius, priest, propraetor, be henceforward a 
 senator, and vote in the rank and place of a pr?etor ; 
 and that in soliciting for any future magistracy, the 
 same regard be had to him as would have been had 
 by law if he had been quaestor the year before^." 
 As to those who thought these honours too great 
 for so young a man, and apprehended danger from 
 his abuse of them, he declares "their apprehensions 
 to be the effect of envy rnther than fear, since the 
 nature of things was such, that he who had once 
 got a taste of true glory, and found himself univer- 
 sally dear to the senate and people, could never 
 think any other acquisition equal to it :" he wishes- 
 that " J. Caesar had taken the same course when, 
 young of endearing himself to the senate and » 
 honest men ; but neglecting that, he spent the 
 force of his great genius in acquiring a vain popu- 
 larity, and having no regard to the senate and the 
 better sort, opened himself a way to power which , 
 the virtue of a free people could not bear : that ■ 
 there was nothing of this kind to be feared from, J 
 the son ; nor after the proof of such admirable 
 prudence in a boy, any ground to imagine that his- 
 riper age would be less prudent ; for what greater i 
 folly could there be, than to prefer a useless 1 
 power, an invidious greatness, the lust of reigning, * 
 always slippery and tottering, to true, weighty, 
 solid glory .' If they suspected him as an enemy to 
 some of their best and most valued citizens, they 
 might lay aside those fears ; he had given up alt 
 his resentments to the republic, made her the mo- 
 deratrix of all his acts ; that he knew the most inward 
 sentiments of the youth ; would pawn his credit for 
 
 T PhiL V. 15. 
 
 » Ibid. 17.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 251 
 
 him to the senate and people ; would promise, 
 engage, undertake, that he would always be the 
 same that he now was, such as they should wish 
 and desire to see him*." He proceeds also to give 
 a public testimonial of praise and thanks to L. 
 Egnatuleius, for his fidelity to the republic, in 
 bringing over the fourth legion from Antony to 
 Caesar, and moves that it might be granted to him 
 for that piece of service, to sue for and hold any ma- 
 gistracy three years before the legal time''. Lastly, 
 as to the veteran troops which had followed the au- 
 thority of Ctcsar and the senate, and especially the 
 Martial and fourth legions, he moved " that an 
 exemption from service should be decreed to them 
 and their children, except in the case of a Gallic or 
 domestic tumult ; and that the consuls C. Pansa 
 and A. Hirtius, or one of them, should ])rovide 
 lands in Campania, or elsewhere, to be divided to 
 them ; and that as soon as the present war was 
 over, they should all be discharged, and punctually 
 receive whatever sums of money C. CoBsarhad pro- 
 mised to them when they first declared for him." 
 
 This was the substance of his speech, in the 
 latter part of which, the proposal of honours, the 
 senate readily agreed with him ; and though those 
 which were decreed to Octavius seemed so extraor- 
 dinary to Cicero himself that he thought it proper 
 to make an apology for them, yet there were others 
 of the first rank who thought them not great 
 enough, so that Philippus added the honour of a 
 statue ; Ser. Sulpicius and Servilius the privilege 
 of suing for any magistracy still earlier than Cicero 
 had proposed •■■. But the assembly was much 
 divided about the main question of sending a depu- 
 tation to Antony : some of the principal senators 
 were warmly for it, and the consuls themselves 
 favoured it and artfuUy avoided to put it to the 
 vote'', which would otherwise have been carried by 
 Cicero, who had a clear majority on his side. The 
 debate being held on till night, was adjourned to the 
 next morning, and kept up with the same warmth 
 for three days successively, while the senate con- 
 tinued all the time in Cicero's opinion, and would 
 have passed a decree conformable to it, had not 
 Salvius the tribune put his negative upon them<". 
 This firmness of Antony's friends prevailed at last 
 for an embassy, and three consular senators were 
 presently nominated to it, S. Sulpicius, L. Piso, 
 and L. Philippus : but their commision was strictly 
 limited and drawn up by Cicero himself, giving 
 them no power to treat with Antony, but to carry 
 to him only the peremptory commands of the 
 senate, to quit the siege of Modena, and desist 
 from all hostilities in Gaul : they had instructions 
 likewise after the delivery of their message to speak 
 with D. Brutus in Modena, and signify to him and 
 his army that the senate and people had a grateful 
 sense of their services, which would one day be a 
 great honour to them'. 
 
 a Phil. V. 18. ^ Ibid. 19. 
 
 *= Statuam Philippus decrevit, celeritateni petitionis 
 primo Servius, post majorom etiam Servilius : nihil turn 
 nimium vidt'batur. — Ad Brut. 15. 
 
 •l Has in sentcntias meas si consules discessionem facore 
 voluisscnt, omnibus istis latronibus auctoritate ipsa se- 
 natus jampridem de manibus arnia cecidissent. — Phil, 
 xiv. 7. 
 
 * Itaque hare sententia per triduuni sic valiiit, ut quam- 
 quani discessio fact.a non est, tamen prater paucos, omnes 
 mihi assensuri vidcrentur. — Phil. vi. 1 ; App. p. 559. 
 
 ' Quamqiiam non est ilia legatio, sed denunciatio belli. 
 
 The unusual length of these debates greatly 
 raised the curiosity of the city, and drew the whole 
 body of the people into the forum to expect the 
 issue ; where, as they had done also not long be- 
 fore, they could not forbear calling out upon Cicero 
 with one voice to come and give them an account 
 of the deliberations^'. He went therefore directly 
 from the senate into the rostra, produced by Appu- 
 leius the tribune, and acquainted them in a speech 
 with the result of their debates : — " that the 
 senate, excepting a few, after they had stood firm 
 for three days to his opinion, had given it up at 
 last with less gravity indeed than became them, yet 
 not meanly or shamefully, having decreed not so 
 much an embassy as a denunciation of war to 
 Antony, if he did not obey it ; which carried indeed 
 an appearance of severity, and he wished only that 
 it had carried no delay : that Antony, he was sure, 
 would never obey it, nor ever submit to their 
 power, who had never been in his own : that he 
 would do, therefore, in that place what he had 
 been doing in the senate, testify, warn, and declare 
 to them beforehand, that Antony would perform 
 no part of what their ambassadors were sent to 
 require of him : that b.e would still waste the 
 country, besiege Modena, avid not suffer the am- 
 bassadors themselves to enter the town or speak 
 with Brutus, — believe me," says he, " I know the 
 violence, the impudence, the audaciousness of the 
 man ; let our ambassadors then make haste, which 
 I know they are resolved to do ; but do you pre- 
 pare your military habit, for it is a part also of our 
 decree that if he does not comply we must all put 
 on that garb ; we shall certainly put it on ; he will 
 never obey ; we shall lament the loss of so many 
 days which might have been employed in action''. 
 I am not afraid, when he comes to hear how I have 
 declared this beforehand, that for the sake of 
 confuting me he should change his mind and sub- 
 mit. He will never do it, wiU not envy me this 
 glory, will choose rather that you should think 
 me wise than him modest:" he observes, "that 
 though it would have been better to send no mes- 
 sage, yet some good would flow from it to the 
 republic ; for when the ambassadors shall make the ■ 
 report, which they surely will make, of Antony's 
 refusal to obey the people and senate, who can be 
 so perverse as to look upon him any longer as a 
 citizen ? Wherefore wait," says he, " with pa- 
 tience, citizens, the return of the ambassadors, 
 and digest the inconvenience of a few days ; if on 
 their return they bring peace, call me prejudiced ; 
 if war, provident'." Then after assuring them 
 " of his perpetual vigilance for their safety, and 
 applauding their wonderful alacrity in the cause, 
 and declaring that of all the assemblies which he 
 had seen, he had never known so full a one as the 
 present," he thus concludes : " The season of 
 liberty is now come, my citizens, much later indeed 
 than became the people of Rome, but so ripe now 
 that it cannot be deferred a moment. What we 
 
 nisi paruerit — mittuntur enim qui nuncient, ne oppugnet 
 consulem designatum, ne Mutinam obsideat, tfe pro- 
 vinoiam depopuletur. — Phil. vi. 2. 
 
 Dantur mandata legatis, ut D. Brutum, militesque ejus 
 adeant, &c. — tbid. 3. 
 
 g Quid ego de universo populo Romano dicam? qui 
 pleno ac referto foro bis me una mente atque voce in con- 
 cionem vocavit. — Phil. viL 8. 
 
 !> Phil. vi. 1, 2, 3. ' Ibid. 4. 6.
 
 252 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 have hitherto suffered was owing to a kind of 
 fatality which we have borne as well as we could ; 
 but if any such case should happen again, it must 
 be owing to ourselves ; it is not possible for the 
 peo{)le of Rome to be slaves, whom the gods have 
 destined to the command of all nations : the affair 
 is now reduced to the last extremity ; the struggle 
 is for liberty ; it is your part either to conquer, 
 which will surely be the fruit of your ])iety and 
 concord, or to suffer anything rather than live 
 slaves ; other nations may endure slavery, but the 
 proper end and business of the Roman people is 
 liberty." 
 
 The ambassadors prepared themselves imme- 
 diately to execute their commission, and the next 
 morning early set forward towards Antony, though 
 Ser. Sulpicius was in a very declining state of 
 health. Various were the speculations about the 
 success of this message ; but Antony gained one 
 certain advantage by it, of more time, either to 
 press the siege of Modena or to take such measures 
 as fresh accidents might offer ; nor were his friends 
 without hopes of drawing from it some pretence 
 for opening a treaty with him, so as to give room 
 to the chiefs of the Caesarian faction to unite them- 
 selves against the senate and republican party, 
 which seemed to be inspired by Cicero, with a 
 resolution of extinguishingall the remains of the late 
 tyranny. For this purpose the partisans of that 
 cause were endeavouring to obviate the offence 
 which might be given by Antony's refusal to com- 
 ply with what was enjoined ; contriving specious 
 answers for him, and representing them as a reason- 
 able ground of an accommodation, in hopes to cool 
 the ardour of the city for the prosecution of the 
 war : Calenus was at the head of this party, who kept 
 a constant correspondence with Antony, and took 
 care to publish such of his letters as were proper to 
 depress the hopes and courage of his adversaries, 
 and keep up the spirits of his friends'*. 
 
 Cicero, therefore, at a meeting of the senate 
 called in this interval about certain matters of ordi- 
 nary form, took occasion to rouse the zeal of the 
 assembly by warning them of the mischief of these 
 insinuations. He observed, " that the affairs then 
 proposed to their deliberation were of little conse- 
 quence, though necessary in the common course of 
 public business, about the Appian-way, the coin, 
 the Luperci, which would easily be adjusted ; but 
 that his mind was called off from the consideration 
 ■of them by the more important concerns of the 
 republic — that he had always been afraid of sending 
 the embassy — and now everybody saw what a 
 languor the expectation of it had caused in people's 
 minds, and what a handle it had given to the prac- 
 tices of those who grieved to see the senate reco- 
 vering its ancient authority ; the people united 
 •with them ; all Italy on the same side ; their armies 
 prepared ; their generals ready to take the field — 
 who feign answers for Antony and applaud them 
 as if they had sent ambassadors not to give, but 
 receive conditions from him." Then, after ex- 
 posing the danger and iniquity of such practices, 
 and rallying the principal adiettor of them, Calenus, 
 he adds, " that he who all his life had been the 
 author and promoter of civil peace ; who owed 
 
 l' lUe literas ad te mittat de spe sua secundarum rerum ? 
 eas tu lastus proferas ? — describendas etiam des improbis 
 clvibus ? eorum augeas animos ? bonorum spem, virtu- 
 temque debilites ? — PliiL viL 2. 
 
 whatever he was, whatever he had to it ; his ho- 
 nours, interest, dignity ; nay, even the talents 
 and abilities which he was master of; yet I, (says 
 he,) the perpetual adviser of peace, am for no 
 peace with Antony" — where, perceiving himself to 
 be heard with great attention, he proceeds to 
 explain at large through the rest of his speech, — 
 " that such a peace would be dishonourable, dan- 
 gerous, and could not jiossibly subsist :" he exhorts 
 the senate therefore to be "attentive, prepared 
 and armed beforehand, so as not to be caught by a 
 smooth or suppliant answer and the false appear- 
 ance of equity : that Antony must do everything 
 which was prescribed to him before he could pre- 
 tend to ask anything ; if not, that it was not the 
 senate which proclaimed war against him, but he 
 against the Roman people. But for you, fathers, 
 I give you warning, (says he,) the question before 
 you concerns the liberty of the people of Rome, 
 which is entrusted to your care ; it concerns the 
 lives and fortunes of every honest man ; it concerns 
 your own authority, which you will for ever lose, 
 if you do not retrieve it now — I admonish you too, 
 Pansa, for though you want no advice in which 
 you excel, yet the best pilots in great storms are 
 sometimes admonished by passengers : never suffer 
 that noble provision of arms and troops which you 
 have made to come to nothing ; you have such an 
 opportunity before you as no man ever had ; by 
 this firmness of the senate, this alacrity of the 
 equestrian order, this ardour of the people, you 
 have it in your power to free the republic for ever 
 from fear and danger'." 
 
 The consuls in the mean while were taking care 
 that the expectation of the effect of the embassy 
 should not supersede their preparations for war ; 
 and agreed between themselves that one of them 
 should march immediately to Gaul with the troops 
 which were already provided, and the other stay 
 behind to perfect the new levies which were carried 
 on with great success both in the city and the 
 country ; for all the capital towns of Italy were 
 vying with each other in voluntary contributions 
 of money and soldiers, and in decrees of infamy 
 and disgrace to those who refused to list them- 
 selves into the public service™. The first part fell 
 by lot to Hirtius", who, though but lately recovered 
 from a dangerous indisposition, marched away B 
 without loss of time at the head of a brave army ; I 
 and particularly of the two legions, the Martial ■ 
 and the fourth, which were esteemed the flower 
 and strength of the whole, and now put themselves 
 under the command and auspices of the consul. 
 With these, in conjunction with Octavius, he hoped 
 to obstruct all the designs of Antony, and prevent ■ 
 his gaining any advantage against Brutus till Pansa 1 
 could join them, which would make them superior in ■ 
 force and enable them to give him battle with good 
 assurarvce of victory. He contented himself in the 
 meanwhile with dispossessing Antony of some of 
 his posts, and distressing him by straitening his 
 quarters and opportunities of forage ; in which he 
 had some success, as he signified in a letter to his 
 
 1 Phil. vii. 
 
 m An cum municipiis pax erit, quorum tanta studia 
 cogndscuntur in decretis faciendis, militibus dandis, 
 pecuniis pollicendis — haec jam tota Italia fiunt — Phil. 
 7, 8, 9. 
 
 n Consul sortitu ad bellum profectus A. Ilirtiusi— PhlL 
 xiv. 2.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 253 
 
 colleague Pansa, ■which was communicated to the 
 senate : " I have possessed myself (says he) of Cla- 
 terna and driven out Antony's garrison ; his horse 
 were routed in tlie action and some of them slain":" 
 and in all his letters to Cicero he ass .red him that 
 he would undertake nothing without the greatest 
 caution ; in answer probably to what Cicero was 
 constantly inculcating, not to expose himself too 
 forwardly till Pansa could come up to him p. 
 
 The ambassadors returned about the beginning 
 of February, having been retarded somewhat longer 
 than they intended by the death of Ser. Sulpicius, 
 which happening when they were just arrived at 
 Antony's camp, left the embassy maimed and im- 
 perfect, as Cicero says, by the loss of the best and 
 ablest man of the three i. The report which they 
 made to the senate answered exactly in every point to 
 what Cicero had foretold ; that Antony would per- 
 form no part of what was required, nor suffer them 
 even to speak with Brutus, but continued to batter 
 the town with great fury in their presence : he 
 offered, however, some conditions of his own which, 
 contrary to their instructions, they were weak 
 enough to receive from him and lay before the senate : 
 the purport of them was, " that the senate should 
 assign lands and rewards to all his troops, and 
 confirm all the other grants which he and Dolabella 
 had made in their consulship : that all his decrees 
 from Caesar's books and papers should stand firm: 
 that no account should be demanded of the money 
 taken from the temple of Opis ; nor any inquiry 
 made into the conduct of the seven commissioners 
 created to divide the lands to the veteran soldiers ; 
 and that his judiciary law should not be repealed : 
 on these terms he offered to give up Cisalpine 
 Gaul, provided that he might have the greater 
 Gaul in exchange for five years with an army of 
 six legions, to be completed out of the troops of 
 D. Brutus'." 
 
 Pansa summoned the senate to consider the 
 report of the ambassadors, which raised a general 
 indignation through the city, and gave all possible 
 advantage to Cicero towards bringing the house 
 into his sentiments ; but contrary to expectation, 
 he found Calenus's party still strong enough to 
 give him much trouble, and even to carry some 
 points against him, all tending to soften the rigour 
 of his motions and give them a turn more favour- 
 able towards Antony. He moved the senate to 
 decree that a war or rebellion was actually com- 
 menced : tliey carried it for a tumult : he urged 
 them to declare Antony an enemy : they carried it 
 for the softer term of adversary*. He proposed that 
 all persons should be prohibited from going to 
 
 Dejeci praesidium, Clatema potitus sum, fusiati equites, 
 prslium commissum, occisi aliquot. — Phil. viii. 2. 
 
 P Hirtius nihil nisi considerate, ut mihi crebris Uteris 
 sigrnlficat, acturus videbatur.' — Ep. Fam. xii. 5. 
 
 1 Cum Scr. Sulpicius astate illos anteiiet, sapientia 
 omnes, subito ereptus e causa totam Icgationem orbam 
 et debilitatam reliquit. — Phil. ix. ]. 
 
 ■■ Ante- ciinsulis oculosque legatorum tormentis Mutinam 
 verberavit — no punctum quidem temporis, cum legati 
 adess nt, oppugnatio respiravit — cum llli conterapti ct 
 reject! revertissent, dtxissentque senatui, non modo ilium 
 e Gallia non discessisse, uti censuissemus, sod ne a Mutina 
 quidem recessisse, potestatem sibi D. Bruti couveniendi 
 non fuisse, &c. — Phil, viii 7, 8, 9. 
 
 » Ego princeps Sagorum : ego semper liostem appellavi, 
 cum alii adversarium : semper hoc belliun, ciun alii 
 tumultum, iVc— Phil. xii. 7. 
 
 Antony : they excepted Varius Cotyla, one of his 
 lieutenants, who was then in the senate taking 
 notes of everything which passed : in these votes 
 Pansa himself and all the consular senators con- 
 curred, even L. Caesar, who, though a true friend 
 to liberty, yet being Antony's uncle, thought him- 
 self obliged by decency to vote on the milder side'. 
 
 But Cicero in his turn easily threw out, what 
 was warmly pressed on the other side, the proposal 
 of a second embassy ; and carried likewise the 
 main question, of requiring the citizens to change 
 their ordinary gown for the sagum or habit of war ; 
 by which they decreed the thing while they rejected 
 the name. In all decrees of this kind, the consular 
 senators, on the account of their dignity, were 
 excused from changing' their habit ; but Cicero, to 
 inculcate more sensibly the distress of the repiiblic, 
 resolved to waive his privilege and wear the same 
 robe with the rest of the city". In a letter to 
 Cassius, he gives the following short account of the 
 state of things at this time : " We have excellent 
 consuls, but most shameful consulars : a brave 
 senate, but the lower they are in dignity the 
 braver : nothing firmer and better than the people, 
 and all Italy universally : but nothing more detest- 
 able and infamous than our ambassadors, Philip 
 and Piso ; who, when sent only to carry the orders 
 of the senate to Antony, none of which he would 
 comply with, brought back of their own accord 
 intolerable demands from him : wherefore all the 
 world now flock about me, and I am grown popu- 
 lar in a salutary cause," &c.^ 
 
 The senate met again the next day to draw into 
 form and perfect what had been resolved upon in 
 the preceding debate ; when Cicero in a pathetic 
 speech took occasion to expostulate with them for 
 their imprudent lenity the day before : " He 
 showed the absurdity of their scruples about voting 
 a civil war : that the word tumult, which they had 
 preferred, either carried in it no real difference, or 
 if any, implied a greater perturbation of all things 5" : 
 he proved from every step that Antony had taken, 
 and was taking ; from everything which the senate, 
 the people, the towns of Italy, were doing and de- 
 creeing against him, that they were truly and 
 properly in a state of civil war ; the fifth which had 
 happened in their memory, and the most desperate 
 of them all, being the first which was ever raised, 
 not by a dissention of parties contending for a 
 superiority in the republic, but against a union of 
 all parties, to enslave and oppress the republic^." 
 He proceeds to expostulate with Calenus for his 
 obstinate adherence to Antony, and exposes the 
 weakness of his pretended plea for it, a love of 
 peace and concern for the lives of the citizens : he 
 
 t Pliil. viii. 1, 10. 
 
 u Equidem, P. C. quamquam hoc honore usi togati solent 
 esse, cum est in sagis civitas ; statui tamen a vobis, caste- 
 risque civibus in tanta atrocitate temporis — non differre 
 vestitu. — Phil. viii. 11. 
 
 * Egregios consules habemus, sed turpissimos con- 
 sulares : senatum fortem, sed infimo quemque honore 
 fortissimnni. Populo vero nihil fortius, nihil melius, 
 Italiaque universa. Nihil autem foedius Pliilippo et 
 Pisone legatis, nihil flagitiosius : qui cum essent missi, ut 
 Antonio ex senatus consulto certas res nunciarent : cum 
 ille earum rerum nuUi paruissct, ultro ab illo ad nos 
 intolerabilia postulata retulerunt. Itaque ad nos concur- 
 ritur : factique jam in re salutari populares sumus.— Ep^ 
 Fam. xii. 4. 
 
 )• Pliii. vUL 1. » Ibid. 3.
 
 ^64 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 puts him in mind that " there was no juster cause 
 of taking arms than to repel slavery ; that several 
 otlier causes indeed were just, but this necessary; 
 unless he did not take himself ti) be affected by it, 
 for the hopes of sliaring the dominion with Antony : 
 if so, he was doulily mistaken ; first, for jn-eferring 
 a ])rivale interest to the public ; secondly, for 
 thinking anything secure or worth enjoying in a 
 tyranny — that a regard for the safety of citizens was 
 a laudable principle, if he meant tlie good, tiie use- 
 ful, the friends to their country : but if he meant 
 to save those who, tiiough citizens by nature, were 
 enemies by choice, what difference was there be- 
 tween him and such citizens ? — that their ancestors 
 had quite another notion of the care of citizens ; 
 and when Scipio Nasica slew Tiberius (ir;ic(;lius, 
 when Opimius slew Caius Gracchus, wlieu Marius 
 killed Saturninus, they were all followed by the 
 greatest and the best both of the senate and the 
 peoj)le : — that the difference between Calenus's 
 opinion and his was not trifling, or about a trifling 
 matter ; the wishing well only to this or that man : 
 that he wished well to Brutus ; Calenus to Antony ; 
 he wished to see a colony of Rome preserved ; 
 Calenus to see it stormed ; that Calenus could not 
 deny this, who was contriving aSl sorts of delay, 
 which could distress Brutus and strengthen An- 
 tony"." He then addressed himself to the other 
 consulars, and reproached them for their shame- 
 ful behaviour the day before, in voting for a second 
 embassy, and said, that " when the ambassadors 
 were sent against his judgment, he comforted him- 
 self with imagining that as soon as they should 
 return, despised and rejected by Antony, and 
 inform the senate that he would neither retire from 
 Gaul nor quit the siege of Modena, nor even suf- 
 fer them to speak with Brutus ; that out of indig- 
 nation they should all arm themselves immediately 
 in the defence of Brutus ; but on the contrary, they 
 were grown more dispirited to hear of Antony's 
 audaciousness ; and their ambassadors, instead of 
 courage, which they ought to have brought, had 
 brought back nothing but fear to them''. Good 
 gods ! " says be, " what is become of the virtue of 
 eur ancestors ? When Popilius was sent ambas- 
 sador to Antiochus, and ordered him, in the name 
 of the senate, to depart from Alexandria, which he 
 was then besieging ; upon the king's deferring to 
 answer and contriving delays, he drew a circle 
 round him with his staff, and bade him give his 
 answer instantly before he stirred out of that place 
 or he would return to the senate without it." He 
 then recites and ridicules the several demands 
 made by Antony ; their arrogance, stupidity, ab- 
 surdity : and reproves ■= Piso and Philip, men of 
 such dignity, for the meanness of bringing back 
 conditions, when they were sent only to carry 
 commands : he complains that " they paid more 
 respect to Antony's ambassador, Cotyla, than he 
 to theirs ; for instead of shutting the gates of the 
 city against him, as they ought to have done, they 
 admitted him into that very temple where the 
 senate then sat; where the day before he was 
 taking notes of what every man said, and was 
 caressed, invited and entertained by some of the 
 principal senators, who had too little regard to their 
 dignity, too much to their danger. But what after 
 all was the danger ? which must end either in 
 
 a Phil. viii. 4— €. b rWdTT. 
 
 « Ibid. 8, 9. 
 
 liberty or death : the one always desirable, the 
 other unavoidable : while to fly from death 
 basely was worse than death itself: — that it used 
 to be the character of consular senators, to be 
 vigilant, attentive, always thinking, doing, or 
 projjosing something for the good of the jnililic : 
 tliat he remembered old Scievola in the Marsic 
 war, how in tlie extremity of age oppressed with 
 years and infirmities, he gave free access to every- 
 body ; was never seen in his bed ; always the first 
 in the senate : he wished that tliey all would imi- 
 tate such industry, or at least not envy those who 
 did'' : that since tiiey had now suffered a six years' 
 slavery, a longer term than honest and industrious 
 slaves used to serve ; wliat watchings, what solici- 
 tude, wliat jjains ought they to refuse, fur the sake 
 of giving liberty to the Roman people ?" He con- 
 cludes by adding a clause to their last decree : " to 
 grant pardon and impunity to all who should 
 desert Antony and return to their duty by the 
 fifteenth of Marcli : or if any who continued with 
 him should do any service worthy of reward, that 
 one or both the consuls should take the first op- 
 l)ortunity to move the senate in their favour : but 
 if any person from this time should go over to An- 
 tony, except Cotyla, that the senate would consider 
 him as an enemy to his country." 
 
 Tlie public debates being thus adjusted, Pansa 
 called the senate together again the next day, to 
 deliberate on some proper honours to be decreed 
 to the memory of Ser. Sul))icius, who died upon 
 the embassy. He spoke largely in his praise, and 
 advised to pay him all the honours which had 
 ever been decreed to any who had lost their lives 
 in the service of their country : a public funeral, 
 sepulchre, and statue. Servilius, who spoke next, 
 agreed to a funeral and monument, but was against 
 a statue, as due only to those who had been killed 
 by violence in the discharge of their embassies. 
 Cicero was not content with tliis, but out of pri- 
 vate friendship to the man, as well as a regard to the 
 public service, resolved to have aU. the honours 
 paid J to him which the occasion could possibly 
 justify. In answer therefore to Servilius, he showed 
 with his usual eloquence, that " the case of Sul- 
 picius was the same with the case of those who 
 had been killed on the account of their embassies : 
 that the embassy itself had killed him ; that he 
 set out upon it in so weak a condition, that though 
 he had some hopes of coming to Antony, he had 
 none of returning ; and when he was just arrived 
 to the congress, expired in the very act of execut- 
 ing his commission " : that it was not the manner, 
 but the cause of the death, which their ancestors 
 regarded ; if it was caused by the embassy, they 
 granted a pubUc monument, to encourage their 
 fellow citizens, in dangerous wars, to undertake 
 that employment with cheerfulness : that several 
 statues had been erected on that account, which 
 none had ever merited better than Sulpicius ; that 
 there could be no doubt but that the embassy had 
 killed him, and that he had carried out death along 
 with him, which he might have escaped by staying 
 at home, under the care of his wife and children f. 
 But when he saw, that if he did not obey the 
 authority of the senate, he should be unlike to 
 himself ; and if he did obey, must necessarily lose 
 his life ; he chose, in so critical a state of the 
 d Phil. viii. 10. ' e phU. jx. 1. 
 
 f Ibid. 3.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 255 
 
 republic, rather to die than seem to decline any 
 service which he could possibly do ; that he had 
 many opportunities of refreshing and reposing 
 himself in the cities through which he passed, 
 and was pressed to it by his colleagues : but in 
 spite of his distemper, persevered to death in the 
 resolution of urging his journey, and hastening to 
 perform the commands of the senate. That, if 
 they recollected how he endeavoured to excuse 
 himself from the task when it was first moved 
 in the senate, they must needs think that this 
 honour to him when dead, was but a necessary 
 amends for the injury which they had done to 
 him when living ; for though it was harsh to be 
 said, yet he must say it, that it was they who 
 Iiad killed him, by overruling his excuse, when 
 they saw it grounded, not on a feigned, but a 
 real sickness ; and when, to their remonstrance, 
 the consul Pansa joined his exhortation with a 
 gravity and force of speech which his ears had 
 not learnt to bear:" then, says he, " he took his 
 son and me aside, and professed that he could not 
 help preferring your authority to his own life ; 
 we, through admiration of his virtue, durst not 
 venture to oppose his will. His son was tenderly 
 moved, nor was my concern much less, yet both 
 of us were obliged to give way to the greatness 
 of his mind ; and the force of his reasoning when, 
 to the joy of you all, he promised that he would 
 do whatever you prescribed, nor would decline 
 the danger of that vote of which he himself had 
 been the proposer. Restore life therefore to him, 
 from whom you have taken it, for the life of the 
 dead is in the memory of the living : take care 
 that he, whom you unwillingly sent to his death, 
 receive an immortality from you ; for if you decree 
 a statue to him in the rostra, the remembrance of 
 his embassy will remain to all posterity^." Then 
 after illustrating the great virtues, talents, and 
 excellent character of Sulpicius, he observes, 
 " that all these would be perpetuated by their own 
 merit and effects, and that the statue was the 
 monument rather of the gratitude of the senate, 
 than of the fame of the man ; of a public, rather 
 than of a private signification ; an eternal testi- 
 mony of Antony's audaciousness, of his waging 
 an impious war against his country : of his re- 
 jecting the embassy of the senate ''." For which 
 reasons he proposed a decree, " that a statue of 
 brass should be erected to him in the rostra by 
 order of the senate, and the cause inscribed on 
 the base : that he died in the service of the repub- 
 lic ; with an area of five feet on all sides of it, for 
 his children and posterity to see the shows of 
 gladiators ; that a magnificent funeral should be 
 made for him at the public charge, and the consul 
 Pansa should assign him a place of burial in the 
 Esquiline field, with an area of thirty feet every 
 way, to be granted publicly, as a sepulchre for 
 him, his children, and posterity." The senate 
 agreed to what Cicero desired : and the statue 
 itself, as we are told by a writer of the third 
 century, remained to his time in the rostra of 
 Augustus '. 
 
 JSulpicius was of a noble and patrician family, 
 of the same age, the same studies, and the same 
 j)rinciples with Cicero, with whom he kept up a 
 j)erpetual friendship. They went through their 
 
 g FhU. ix. 4, 5. 1» Ibid. 5, 6. 
 
 ' Pomponius de Origene Juris. 
 
 exercises together when young, both at Rome and 
 at Rhodes, in the celebrated school of Molo, 
 whence he became an eminent pleader of causes, 
 and passed through all the great offices of the 
 state, with a singular reputation of wisdom, learn- 
 ing, integrity ; a constant admirer of the modeaty 
 of the ancients, and a reprover of the insolence 
 of his own times. When he could not arrive at 
 the first degree of fame, as an orator, he resolved 
 to excel in what was next to it, the character of 
 a lawyer ; choosing rather to be the first in the 
 second art, than the second only in the first : 
 leaving therefore to his friend Cicero the field of 
 eloquence, he contented himself with such a share 
 of it as was sufficient to sustain and adorn the 
 profession of the law. In this he succeeded to his 
 wish, and was far superior to all who had ever 
 professed it in Rome : being the first who re- 
 duced it to a proper science, or rational system, 
 and added light and method to that, which all 
 others before him had taught darkly and con- 
 fusedly. Nor was his knowledge confined to the 
 external forms, or the effects, of the municipal 
 laws ; but enlarged by a comprehensive view of 
 universal equity, which he made the interpreter of 
 its sanctions, and the rule of all his decisions ; yet 
 he was always better pleased to put an amicable 
 end to a controversy, than to direct a process at 
 law. In his political behaviour he was always a 
 friend to peace and liberty ; moderating the vio- 
 lence of opposite parties, and discouraging every 
 step towards civil dissention ; and, in the late 
 war, was so busy in contriving projects of an ac- 
 commodation, that he gained the name of the 
 peace-maker. Through a natural timidity of 
 temper, confirmed by a profession and course of 
 life averse from arms, though he preferred Pom- 
 pey's cause as the best, he did not care to fight for 
 it ; but taking Ctesar's to be the strongest, suffered 
 his son to follow that camp, while he himself 
 continued quiet and neuter : for this he was 
 honoured by Csesar, yet could never be induced 
 to approve his government. From the time of 
 Caesar's death, he continued still to advise and 
 promote all measures which seemed likely to esta- 
 blish the public concord, and died at last as he 
 had lived, in the very act and office of peace- 
 making''. 
 
 k Non facile quem dixerim plus studii quam ilium ot 
 ad dicendum, et ad omnes bonarum rerum disciplinas 
 adhibuisse: nam et in iisdem exercitationibus ineunte 
 rotate fuimus ; et postea Rhodum una ille etiam profectus 
 est, quo melior esset et doctior : et inde ut rediit, videtur 
 mihi in secunda arte primus esee maluisse, quam in prima 
 secundus — sed fortasse maluit, id quod est adeptus, longe 
 omnium non ejusdem modo a;tatis, sed eorum etiam qui 
 fuisscnt, in jure civili esse princeps — ^juris civilis magnimi 
 usum ct apud Scsevolam et apud multos fuisse, artem in 
 hoc uno— hie enim attulit banc artem — quasi lucem ad ea, 
 qua? confuse ab aliis aut respondebantur aut agebantur. — 
 [Brut. 262, iSic] Neque ille magis juris consultus, quam 
 justitia; fuit : ita ea quae proficiscebantur a legibus et a 
 jure civili semper ad facilitatem aequitatemque referebat : 
 neque constituere litium actiones malcbat, quam contro- 
 versias toUere. [Phil. ix. 5.] Servius vero Pacificator cum 
 sue librariolo videtur obiissc legationem. [Ad Att. xv. 7-] 
 Cognoram enim jam absens, te ha!C mala multo ante pro- 
 videnteni, defensorem pacis tt in csnsulatu tuo et post 
 consulatuni fuisse. — Ep. Fam. iv. I. 
 
 N.B.— The old lawyers tcU a remarkable story of the 
 origin of Sulpicius's fame and skill in the law : that going 
 one day to consult Jlucius Sca'vola about some point, ha
 
 266 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Tlie senate had heard nothing of Brutus and 
 Cassius from the time of their leaving Italy, till 
 Brutus now sent j)ublic letters to the consuls, 
 giving a particular account of " his success against 
 Antony's brother Caius, in securing Macedonia, 
 lilyricum, and Greece, with all the several armies 
 in those countries, to the interests of the repub- 
 lic ; that C. Antony was retired to Apollonia, with 
 seven cohorts, where a good account would soon 
 be given of him ; that a legion under L. Piso had 
 surrendered itself to young Cicero, the commander 
 of his horse ; that Dolabella's horse, which was 
 inarching in two separate bodies towards Syria, 
 the one in Thcssaly, the other in Macedonia, had 
 deserted their leaders, and joined themselves to 
 him ; that Vatinius had opened the gates of Uyr- 
 rhachium to him, and given up the town with his 
 troops into his hands. That in all these transac- 
 tions Q. Hortensius, the proconsul of Macedonia, 
 had been particularly serviceable in disposing the 
 provinces and their armies to declare for the cause 
 of libefty'." 
 
 Pansa no sooner received the letters, than he 
 summoned the senate to acquaint them with the 
 contents, which raised an incredible joy through 
 the whole city™. After the letters were read, 
 Pansa spoke largely in the praises of Brutus, 
 extolled his conduct and services, and moved that 
 public honours and thanks should be decreed to 
 him ; and then, according to his custom, called 
 •.pon his father-in-law Calenus to declare his sen- 
 timents the first, who, in a premeditated speech 
 delivered from writing, " acknowledged Brutus's 
 letters to be well and properly drawn ; but since 
 what he had done was done without any commis- 
 sion and public authority, that he should be 
 required to deliver up his forces to the orders of 
 the senate, or the proper governors of the pro- 
 vinces"." Cicero spoke next, " and began with 
 giving the thanks of the house to Pansa, for 
 calling them together on that day, when they had 
 no expectation of it, and not deferring a moment 
 to give them a share of the joy which Brutus's 
 letters had brought. He observes that Pansa, 
 by speaking so largely in the praise of Brutus, 
 had shown that to be true which he had always 
 taken to be so, that no man ever envied another's 
 virtue who was conscious of his own. That he 
 had prevented him to whom, for his intimacy 
 
 was so dull in apprehending the meaning of JIucius's 
 answer, that after explaining it to him twice or thrice, 
 Mucins could not forbear saying. It is a shame for a 
 nobleman, and a patrician, and a pleader of causes, to he 
 ignorant of that law which he professes to vndcrstand. 
 The reproach stung him to the quick, and made him 
 apply himself to his studies with such industry, that he 
 became the ablest lawyer in Rome ; and left behind him 
 near a hundred and eighty books written by himself on 
 nice and diflScuit questions of law.— Digest. 1. 1. tit. 2. 
 parag. 43. 
 
 The Jesuits Catrou and Rouille have put this Sulpicius 
 into the list of the conspirators who killed Caesar : but a 
 moderate acquaintance with the character of the man, or 
 with Cicero's writings, would have shown them their 
 error, and that there was none of consular rank but 
 Trebonius concerned in that afiFair.— Hist. Rom. vol. 17. 
 p. 343, not. a. 
 
 1 Phil. X. 4, 5, 6. 
 
 "> Dil immort.ales: qui ille nuncius, quas illsE literse, 
 qusE Iffititia senatus, quae alacritas civitatis erat ? — Ad 
 Brut. ii. 7. 
 
 •> rhil. X. 1, 2, 3. 
 
 with Brutus, that task seemed particularly to be- 
 long, from saying so much as lie intended on that 
 subject." Then addressing himself to Calenus he 
 asks, " What could be tlie meaning of that perpe- 
 tual war which he declared against the Brutuses ? 
 Why he alone was always opposing, when every 
 one else was almost adoring them ? That to talk 
 of Brutus's letters being rightly drawn, was not 
 to praise Brutus, but his secretary. When did 
 he ever hear of a decree in tliat style, that letters 
 were projierly written ? yet the expression did not 
 fall from him by chance, but was designed, pre- 
 meditated, and brought in writing °." He exhorts 
 him '* to consult with his son-in-law Pansa, oftener 
 than with himself, if he would preserve his cha- 
 racter ; jirofesses that he could not help pitying 
 him, to hear it given out among the people that 
 there was not a second vote on the side of him 
 who gave the lirst, which would be the case, he 
 believed, in that day's debate. You would take 
 away (says he) the legions from Brutus, even 
 those which he lias drawn off from the traitorous 
 designs of C. Antony, and engaged by his own 
 authority in the public service ; you would have 
 him sent once more, as it were, into banishment, 
 naked and forlorn ; but for ycu, fathers ! if ever 
 you betray or desert Brutus, what citizen will you 
 honour ? Whom will you favour, unless you 
 think those who offer kingly diadems worthy 
 to be preserved ; those who abolish the name of 
 king, to be abandoned." He proceeds to display, 
 with great force the merit and praises of Brutus ; 
 " his moderation, mildness, patience of injuries : 
 how studiously he had avoided every step which 
 could give a handle to civil tumults ; quitting the 
 city, living retired in the country, forbidding the 
 resort of friends to him, and leaving Italy itself, 
 lest any cause of war should arise on his account ; 
 that as long as he saw the senate disposed to bear 
 everything, he was resolved to bear too : but when 
 be perceived them inspired with a spirit of liberty, 
 he then exerted himself to provide them succours 
 to defend itP; that if he had not defeated the 
 desperate attempts of C. Antony, they had lost 
 Macedonia, lilyricum, and Greece : the last of 
 which afforded either a commodious retreat to 
 Antony, when driven out of Italy, or the best 
 opportunity of invading it, which now, by Brutus's 
 management, being strongly provided with troops, 
 stretched out its arms as it were, and offered its 
 help to Italy i. That Caius's march through the 
 provinces was to plunder the allies, to scatter 
 waste and desolation wherever he passed, to em- 
 ploy the armies of the Roman people against the 
 people themselves ; whereas Brutus made it a law, 
 wheresoever he came, to dispense light, hope, and 
 security to all around him : in short, that the one 
 gathered forces to preserve, the other to overturn 
 the republic. That the soldiers themselves could 
 judge of this as well as the senate, as they had 
 declared by their desertion of C. Antony, who by 
 that time either was, or would soon be, Brutus's 
 prisoner' ; that there was no apprehension of 
 danger from Brutus's power : that his legions, his 
 mercenaries, his horse, and above all himself, was 
 wholly theirs. Formed for the service of the 
 republic, as well by his own excellent virtue as a 
 kind of fatality derived from his ancestors, both 
 
 o Phil. X. 2. 
 q Ibid. 5. 
 
 P Ibid. 3, 4. 
 r ibid. 6.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 on the father's and the mother's side ; that none 
 could ever blame him for anything, unless for too 
 great a backwardness and aversion to war, and his 
 not humouring the ardour of all Italy in their 
 eager thirst of liberty — that it was a vain fear, 
 which some pretended to entertain, that the vete- 
 rans would be disgusted to see Brutus at the head 
 of an army, as if there were any difference between 
 his army and the armies of Hirtius, Pansa, D. 
 Brutus, Octavius ; all which had severally received 
 public honours for their defence of the people 
 of Rome ; that M. Brutus could not be more 
 suspected by the veterans than Decimus, for 
 though the act of the Brutuses, and the praise of 
 it, was common to them both, yet those who dis- 
 approved it were more angry with Decimus, as 
 thinking him, of all others, the last who ought to 
 have done it : yet what were all their armies now 
 doing, but relieving Decimus from the siege * ? 
 That if there was any real danger from Brutus, 
 Pansa's sagacity would easily find it out : but as 
 they had just now heard from his own mouth, he 
 was so far from thinking his army to be dangerous, 
 that he looked upon it as the firmest support of 
 the commonwealth'; that it was the constant art 
 of the disaffected, to oppose the name of the vete- 
 rans to every good design ; that he was always 
 ready to encourage their valour, but would never 
 endure their arrogance. "Shall we," says he, "who 
 are now breaking off the shackles of our servitude, 
 be discouraged if any one tells us, that the veterans 
 will not have it so ? Let that then come out from 
 me at last which is true, and becoming my charac- 
 ter to speak : that if the resolutions of this body 
 must be governed by the will of the veterans, if 
 all our words and acts must be regulated by their 
 humour, then it is high time to wish for death, 
 which to Roman citizens was ever preferable to 
 slavery"; that since so many chances of death 
 surrounded them all both day and night, it was not 
 the part of a man, much less of a Roman, to scru- 
 ple the giving up that breath to his country, which 
 he must necessarily give up to nature". That An- 
 tony was the single and common enemy of them 
 all, though he had indeed his brother Lucius with 
 him, who seemed to be born on purpose, that 
 Marcus might not be the most infamous of all 
 mortals ; that he had a crew also of desperate vil- 
 lains, gaping after the spoils of the republic : that 
 the army of Brutus was provided against these, 
 whose sole will, thought, and purpose was, to pro- 
 tect the senate and the liberty of the people — who 
 after trying, in vain, what patience would do, 
 found it necessary at last to oppose force to force''. 
 That they ought, therefore, to grant the same pri- 
 vilege to M. Brutus, which they had granted before 
 to Decimus, and to Octavius, and confirm by public 
 authority what he had been doing for them by his 
 private counsel ;" for which purpose he proposed 
 the following decree: " Whereas by the pains, 
 counsel, industry, virtue of Q. Caepio Brutus^, 
 proconsul, in the utmost distress of the republic, 
 the province of Macedonia, Illyricum, and Greece, 
 
 » Phil. X. 7- « Ibid. 8. 
 
 " Ibid. 9. I Ibid. JO. 
 
 7 Ibid. 11. 
 
 » M. Brutus, ae appears from the style of this decree, 
 had been adopted lately by his mother's brother, Q. 
 Servilius Ca;pio, whose name, according to custom, he 
 now assumed with the possession of hia uncle's estate. 
 
 with all their legion.s, armies, horse, are now in 
 the power of the consuls, senate and people of 
 Rome ; that Q. Cspio Brutus, proconsul, ht-s acted 
 herein well, and for the good of the republic, 
 agreeably to his character, the dignity of his an- 
 cestors, and to his usual manner of serving the 
 commonwealtli, and that his conduct is and ever 
 will be acceptai)le to the senate and people of 
 Rome. That Q. Ca3])io Brutus, proconsul, be 
 ordered to protect, guard, and defend the province 
 of Macedonia, Illyricum, and all Greece: and 
 command that army which he himself has raised. 
 That whatever money he wants for military ser- 
 vice, he may use and take it from any part of 
 the public revenues, where it can best be raised, 
 or borrow it where he thinks proper ; and impose 
 contributions of grain and forage, and take care to 
 draw all his troops as near to Italy as possible : 
 and whereas it apjiears by the letters of Q. Ctepio 
 Brutus, proconsul, that the public service has been 
 greatly advanced by the endeavours and viitue of 
 Q. Hortensius, proconsul ; aud that he concerted 
 all his measures with Q. Crepio Brutus, proconsul, 
 to the great benefit of the commonwealth. That 
 Q,. Hortensius, proconsul, has acted therein rightly, 
 regularly, and for the public good, and that it is 
 the will of the senate, that Q. Hortensius, procon- 
 sul, with his quaestors, proqucestors, and lieute- 
 nants, hold the province of Macedonia, till a 
 successor be appointed by the senate." 
 
 Cicero sent this speech to Brutus, with that also 
 which he made on the first of January, of which 
 Brutus says, in answer to him : " I have read your 
 two orations, the one on the first of January, the 
 other on the subject of my letters against Calenus. 
 You expect now, without doubt, that I should 
 praise them. I am at a loss what to praise the 
 most in them ; your courage or your abilities : I 
 allow you now in earnest to call them Philippics, 
 as you intimated jocosf" y in a formi^r letter*." — 
 Thus the name of Philippics, which seems to have 
 been thrown out at first in gaiety ai-d jest only, 
 being taken up and propagated by his friends, 
 became at last the fixed and standing title of these 
 orations, which yet for several ages were called, 
 we find, indifferently either Philippics or Anto- 
 nians*". Brutus declared himself so well pleased 
 with these two which he had seen, that Cicero pro- 
 mised to send him afterwards all the rest'. 
 
 Brutus, when he first left Italy, sailed directly 
 for Athens, where he spent some time in concert- 
 ing measures how to make himself master of 
 Greece and Macedonia, which was the great design 
 that he had in view. Here he gathered about him 
 all the young nobility and gentry of Rome who, 
 for the opportunity of their education, had been 
 sent to this celebrated seat of learning ; but of 
 them all he took the most notice of young Cicero, 
 and after a little acquaintance grew very fond of 
 him, admiring his parts and virtue, and surprised 
 
 " Legi orationes tuas duas. quaruiu altera Kal. Jan. 
 usus es ; altera de Uteris nieis, quae habita est abs te 
 contra Calenum. Nunc scilicet hoc expectas, dum eas 
 laudem. Nescioanimi an ingenii tui major in illis libellis 
 laus contineatur. Jam concede, ut vel Philippics vocen- 
 tur, quod tu quadam epistola jocans scripsisti. — Ad Brut, 
 ii. 5. 
 
 b M. Cicero in prime Antonianarum ita scriptum relt 
 quit. — Aul. Gell. xiii. 1. 
 
 = Haec ad te oratio perferetur, quoniam te video d*» 
 Icctari Fhilippicis nostris. — Ad Brut. ii. 4.
 
 25fl 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 to find in one so young such a generosity and 
 greatness of mind, witli such an aversion to 
 tyranny'', lie made him, therefore, one of his lieu- 
 tenants, though he was but twenty years old ; gave 
 him the command of his horse, and employed him 
 in several commissions of great trust and import- 
 ance, in all which the young man signalised both 
 liis courage and conduct, and behaved with great 
 credit to himself, great satisfaction to his general, 
 and great benefit to the public service ; as Brutus 
 did him the j\istice to signify, both in his jirivate 
 and public letters to Rome. In writing to Cicero, 
 "Your son," says he, "recommends himself to 
 me so efiectually by his industry, patience, activity, 
 greatness of mind, and in short by every d>ity, that 
 he seems never to drop the remembrance of whose 
 son he is ; wherefore, since it is not jjossible for 
 |ne to make you love him more than you do already, 
 j'et allow thus much to my judgment as to persuade 
 yourself that he will have no occasion to borrow 
 any share of your glory in order to obtain his 
 father's honours.""^ This account, given by one 
 who was no llattcrer, may be considered as the real 
 character of the youth, — which is confirmed like- 
 wise by what Lentulus wrote of him about the 
 same time. " I could not see your son," says he, 
 "when I was last with Brutus, because he was gone 
 with the horse into winter-qimrters ; but, by my 
 faith, it gives me great joy for your sake, for his, 
 and especially my own, that he is in such esteem 
 and reputation ; for as he is your son, and worthy 
 of you, I cannot but look upon him as my bro- 
 ther, "f 
 
 Cicero was so full of the greater affairs, which 
 were the subject of his letters to Brutus, that he 
 had scarce leisure to take notice of what was said 
 about his son. He just touches it, however, in 
 one or two letters : " As to my son, if his merit be 
 as great as you write, I rejoice at it as much as I 
 ought to do ; or if j^ou magnify it out of love to 
 him, even that gives me an incredible joy to per- 
 ceive that he is beloved by yous. Again, I desire 
 you, my dear Brutus, to keep my son with you as 
 much as possible : he will find no better school of 
 virtue than in the contemplation and imitation of 
 you." ^ 
 
 Though Brutus intimated nothing in his public 
 letters but what was prosperous and encouraging, 
 yet in his private accounts to Cicero he signified a 
 
 d Plut. in Brut. 
 
 « Cicero filius tuus sic mihi se probat, industria, pa- 
 tientia, labore, animi niagnitudine, omni denique officio, 
 ut prorsus nunquam dimittere videtiu- cogitationem, 
 cujus sit filius. Quare quoniam efficeie non possimi, ut 
 pluris facias eum, qui tibi est carissimus, illud tribue 
 judicio meo, xit tibi persuadeas, non fore illi abutendum 
 gloria tua, ut adipiscatur honores paternos. KaL Apr. — 
 Ad Brut. ii. 3. 
 
 f Filiuni tuum, ad Brutum cum veni, videre non potui, 
 ideo quod jam in hiberna, cum equitibus erat profectus. 
 Sed niedius fidius ea esse eum opinione, et tua et ipslus, et 
 in primis mea causa gaudeo. Fratris enim loco mihi est, 
 qui ex te natus, tcque dignus est. Vale. iiii. Kal. Jun. — 
 Ep. Fam. xii. 14. 
 
 e De Cicerone meo, et si tantum est in eo, quantum 
 scribis, tantum scilicet quantum debeo, gaudeo : et si, 
 quod amas eum, eo majora facis ; id ipsuni incredibiliter 
 gaudeo, a te eum diligi. — Ad Brut. ii. (J. 
 
 l" Ciceronem nicum, mi Brute, vclini qiiam plurimum 
 tecum habeas. Virtutis disciplinam meliorem reperiet 
 nuUam, quam contemplationem atque iniitationem tui. 
 Kin. Kal. Mali. — ^Ibid. 7. 
 
 great want of money and recruits, and begged to 
 be supplied with both from Italy, especially with 
 recruits, either by a vote of the senate, or if that 
 could not be had, by some secret management, 
 without the j)rivity of I'ansa. To whicii Cicero 
 answered, " You tell mc that you want two ne- 
 cessary things, recruits ami money : it is difficult 
 to help you. I know no other way of raising 
 money which can be of use to you but what 
 the senate has decreed, of borrowing it from the 
 cities. As to recruits, I do not see what can 
 be done ; for Pansa is so far from granting any 
 share of his army or recruits to you, that he is evea 
 uneasy to see so many volunteers going over to 
 you. His reason I take it is, that he thinks no 
 forces too great for the demands of our affairs in 
 Italy: for as to what many suspect, that he has no 
 mind to see you too strong, 1 have no suspicion 
 of it."' Pansa seems to have been much in the 
 right for refusing to part with any troops out of 
 Italy, where the stress of the war now lay, on the 
 success of which the fate of the whole republic 
 depended. 
 
 But there came news of a different kind about 
 the same time to Rome, of Dolabella's successful 
 exploits in Asia. He left the city, as it is said 
 above, before the expiration of his consulship, to 
 possess himself of Syria, which had been allotted 
 to him by Antony's management, and taking his 
 way through Greece and Macedonia, to gather what 
 money and troops he could raise in those countries, 
 he passed over into Asia in hopes of inducing that 
 province to abandon Trebonius and declare for 
 him. Having sent his emissaries therefore before 
 him to prepare for his reception, he arrived before 
 Smyrna, where Trebonius resided, without any 
 show of hostility, or forces sufficient to give any 
 great alarm, pretending to desire nothing mope 
 than a free passage through the country to his own 
 province. Trebonius refused to admit him into 
 the town, but consented to supply him with re- 
 freshments without the gates : where many civilities 
 passed between thern, with great professions on 
 Dolabella's part of amity and friendship to Tre- 
 bonius, who promised in liis turn that if Dolabella 
 would depart quietly from Smyrna, he should be 
 received into Ephesus in order to pass forward 
 towards Syria. To this Dolabella seemingly agreed ; 
 and finding it impracticable to take Smyrna by 
 open force, contrived to surprise it by stratagem. 
 Embracing, therefore, Trebonius's offer, he set for- 
 ward towards Ephesus ; but after he had marched 
 several miles, and Trebonius's men, who were 
 sent after to observe him, were retired, he turned 
 back instantly in the night, and arriving again at 
 Smyrna before day, found it as he expected negli- 
 gently guarded and without any apprehension of 
 an assault, so that his soldiers, by the help of 
 ladders, presently mounting the walls, possessed 
 
 ' Quod egere te duabus necessariis rebus scribis, supple- 
 mento et pecunia, difficile consilium est. Non enim mihi 
 oocurrunt facuUates, quibus uti te posse videam, priEter 
 illas, quas senatus decrevit, ut peciuiias a civitatibus 
 niutuas sumeres. De supplemento autem non video, quid 
 fieri possit. Tantum enim abest ut Pansa de exercitu suo 
 aut delectu tibi aliquid tribuat, ut etiam moleste ferat, 
 tarn multos ad te ire voluntaiios : quomodo equidem credo, 
 quod his rebus quae in Italia decernuntur, nullas copias 
 nimis magnas arbitretur : quomodo autem nuilti suspi- 
 cantur, quod ne te quidem nimis firmum esse velit ; quod 
 ego non suspicor. — Ad Brut. ii. 6.
 
 MARCUS lULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 259 
 
 themselves of it without opposition, and seized 
 Trebonius himself in his bed before he knew any- 
 thing of his danger''. 
 
 DolabcUa treated him with the utmost cruelty ; 
 Jcept him two days under torture to extort a dis- 
 covery of all the money iti his custody, then 
 ordered his head to be cut off and carried about on 
 a spear, and his body to be dragged about the 
 streets and thrown into the sea'. This was the 
 first blood that was spilt on the account of C;t>sar's 
 death, which was now revenged in kind upon one 
 of the principal conspirators, and the only one who 
 was of consular -ank. It had been projected with- 
 out doubt in concert with Antony, to make the 
 revenge of Ca;sar's death the avowed cause of their 
 arms, in order to draw the veterans to their side, 
 or make them unwilling at least to act against 
 them ; and it gave a clear warning to Brutus and 
 his associates what they were to expect if their 
 enemies prevailed, as well as a sad presage to all 
 honest men of the cruel effects and merciless fury 
 of the impending war. 
 
 On the news of Trebonius's death the senate 
 was summoned by the consul, where Dolabella was 
 unanimously declared a public enemy, and his 
 estate confiscated. Calenus himself first proposed 
 the vote, and said that if anything more severe 
 could be thought of, he would be for it. The in- 
 dignation of the city was so inflamed that he was 
 forced to comply with the popular humour, and 
 hoped perhaps to put some difficulty upon Cicero, 
 who, for his relation to Dolabella, would as he 
 imagined be for moderating the punishment. But 
 though Calenus was mistaken in this, he was con- 
 cerned in moving another question which greatly 
 perplexed Cicero, about the choice of a general to 
 manage this new war against Dolabella. Two 
 opinions were proposed ; the one that P. Servilius 
 ehould be sent with an extraordinary commission, 
 the other that the two consuls should jointly pro- 
 secute that war, with the provinces of Syria and 
 Asia allotted to them. This was very agreeable to 
 Pansa ; and pushed therefore not only by his 
 friends but by all Antony's party, who fancied that 
 it- would take off the attention of the consuls from 
 the war of Italy, give Dolabella time to strengthen 
 himself in Asia, raise a coldness between the con- 
 suls and Cicero if he ventured to oppose it, and 
 above all put a public affront upon Cassius, who 
 by his presence in those parts seemed to have the 
 best pretension to that commission. The debate 
 continued through the first day without coming to 
 any issue, and was adjourned to the next. In the 
 meanwhile Cassius's mother-in-law Servilia, and 
 other friends, were endeavouring to prevail with 
 Cicero to drop the opposition for fear of alienating 
 Pansa, — but in vain ; for he resolved at all hazards 
 to defend the honour of Cassius ; and when the 
 debate was resumed the next morning, exerted all 
 his interest and eloquence to procure a decree in 
 his favour. 
 
 ^ Appian. iii. p. 542. 
 
 ' Consecutus est Dolabella, nulla suspicione telli. — 
 Secutie ooUocutiones familiares cum Trebonio ; complex- 
 usque sunimse benevolentiae — noctui-nus introitus in Smyr- 
 iiam, quasi in hostium urbem : oppressus Trebonius — 
 intcrficere captum statim noluit, ne nimis, credo, in 
 victoria liberalis videretur. Cum verborum contumeliis 
 optimum virum incesto ore lacerasset, turn verberibus ac 
 tormentis qucestionem hatuit pecunia? publiea?, idrjue per 
 
 He began his speech by observing, " that in 
 their present grief for the lamentable fate of 
 Trebonius, the re|mblic however would reap some 
 good from it, since they now saw the barbarous 
 cruelty of those who had taken .rms against their 
 country ; for of the two chiefs ot the present war, 
 the one by effecting what he wishea had discovered 
 what the other aimed at'". That they both meant 
 nothing less than the death and destruction of all 
 honest men, nor would be satisfied il seemed with 
 simple death, for that was the punishment of 
 nature, but thought the rack and tortures due to 
 their revenge ; that what Dolabella had executed 
 was the picture of what Antony intended ; that 
 they were a true pair, exactly matched, marching 
 by concert and equal paces in the execution of 
 their wicked purposes." This he illustrates by 
 jjarallel instances from the conduct of each ; and 
 after displaying the inhumanity of Dolabella and 
 the unhappy fate of Trebonius, in a manner proper 
 to excite indignation against the one and compassion 
 for the other, he shows, " that Dolabella was still 
 the more unhappy of the two, and must needs 
 suffer more from the guilt of his mind than Tre- 
 bonius from the tortures of his body. What doubt 
 (says he) can there be which of them is the most 
 miserable ? — he whose death the senate and people 
 are eager to revenge, or he who is adjudged to be 
 a traitor by the unanimous vote of the senate ? 
 For in all other respects it is the greatest injury to 
 Trebonius to compare his life with Dolabella's. 
 As to the one, everybody knows his wisdom, wit, 
 humanity, innocence, greatness of mind in freeing 
 his country ; but as to the other, cruelty was his 
 delight from a boy, with a lewdness so shameless 
 and abandoned, that he used to value himself for 
 doing what his very adversaries could not object to 
 him with modesty. Yet this man, good gods ! was 
 once mine ; for I was not very curious to inquire 
 into his vices, — nor should I now perhaps have 
 been his enemy had he not shown hinr.self an enemy 
 to you, to his country, to the domestic gods and 
 altars of us all, — nay, even to nature and humanity 
 itself."" He exhorts them, " from this warning 
 given by Dolabella, to act with the greater vigour 
 against Antony ; for if he, who had about him but 
 a few of those capital incendiaries, the ringleaders 
 of rapine and rebellion, durst attempt an act so 
 abominable, what barbarity were they not to ex- 
 pect from Antony, who had the whole crew of them 
 in his camp ? " — the principal of whom he describes 
 by name and character ; and adds, " that as he 
 had often dissented unwillingly from Calenus, so 
 now at last he had the pleasure to agree with him, 
 and to let them see that he had no dislike to the 
 man but to the cause ; that in this case he not only 
 concurred with him, but thanked him for pro- 
 pounding a vote so severe and worthy of the 
 republic, in decreeing Dolabella an enemy and his 
 estate to be confiscated. " ° Then as to the second 
 point, which was of greater delicacy, the nomina- 
 tion of a geneial to be sent against Dolabella, he 
 proceeds to give his reasons for rejecting the two 
 opinions proposed, — the one for sending Servilius, 
 the other for the two consuls. Of the first, he 
 
 biduum. Post cervicibus fractis caput abscidit, idque ad- 
 fixum gesLari jussit in pilo ; rcliquum corpus tractum ac 
 laniatum abjecit in mare, &c. — I'hil. xi. 2, 3. 
 
 m Phil. xi. 1. " Ibid. 4. 
 
 o Ibid. 5, a 
 
 S
 
 260 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 says, "that extraordinary commissions were always 
 odious where they were not necessary ; and where- 
 ever they had been granted, it was in cases very 
 different from this. That if the commission in 
 debate should be decreed to Servilius, it would 
 seem an affront to all the rest of the same rank, 
 that being equal in dignity they should be thought 
 unworthy of the same honour. That he himself 
 indeed had voted an extraordinary commission to 
 young Cijesar, but Ca;sar had first given an extra- 
 ordinary protection and deliverance to them. That 
 they must either have taken his army from him or 
 decreed the command of it to him, which could 
 not therefore be so properly said to be given as not 
 taken away ; but that no such commission had 
 ever been granted to any one who was wholly idle 
 and unemployedP. As to the second opinion, of 
 decreeing that province to the consuls, he .shows it 
 to be both against the dignity of the consuls them- 
 selves and against the public service. That when 
 D. Brutus, a consul elect, was actually besieged, 
 on the preservation of whom their common safety 
 depended, and when a dreadful war was on foot, 
 already entrusted to the two consuls, the very 
 mention of Asia and Syria would give a handle to 
 jealousy and envy ; and though the decree was not 
 to take place till D. Brutus should fir.st be relieved, 
 yet a new commission would necessarily take off 
 some part of their thoughts and attention from the 
 old." Then addressing himself to Pansa, he says, 
 " that though his mind, he knew, was intent on 
 delivering D. Brutus, yet the nature of things 
 vvould force him to turn it sometimes towards 
 Dolabella, and that if he had more minds than one 
 they should all be directed and wholly fixed on 
 Modenai. That for his own part he had resigned 
 in his consulship a rich and well-furnished province, 
 that nothing might interrupt his endeavours to 
 quench that flame which was then raised in his 
 country. He wished that Pansa would imitate 
 him whom he used to commend ; that if the con- 
 suls, however, desired to have provinces, as other 
 great men had usually done, let them first bring 
 D. Brutus safe home to them, — who ought to be 
 guarded with the same care as the image that fell 
 from heaven and was kept in the temple of Vesta, 
 in the safety of which they were all safe. That 
 this decree would create great delay and obstruction 
 to the war against Dolabella, which required a 
 general prepared, equipped, and already invested 
 with command, — one who had authority, reputa- 
 tion, an army, and a resolution tried in the service 
 of his country"'. That it must, therefore, either 
 be Brutus or Cassius, or both of them. Tnai 
 Brutus could not be spared from Macedonia, where 
 he was quelling the last efforts of the faction, and 
 oppressing C. Antony, who, with the remains of a 
 broken army, was still in possession of some con- 
 siderable places. That when he had finished that 
 work, if he found it of use to the commonwealth 
 to pursue Dolabella he would do it of himself, as 
 he had hitherto done, without waiting for their 
 orders ; for both he and Cassius had on many oc- 
 casions been a senate to themselves. That in such 
 a season of general confusion, it was necessary tm 
 be governed by the times rather than by rules. 
 That Brutus and Cassius ever held the safety and 
 Jberty of their country to be the most sacred rule 
 
 P Phil. xi. 7, a. q ibid. i). 
 
 ' Ibid. lU 
 
 of acting'. For by what law (says he) by what 
 right have they hitherto been acting, the one in 
 Greece the other in Syria, but by that which Jupiter 
 himself ordained, that all things beneficial to the 
 community should be esteemed lawful and just ? — 
 for law is nothing else but right reason derived to 
 us from the gods, enjoining what is honest, pro- 
 hibiting the contrary. Tiiis was the law which 
 Cassius obeyed when he went into Syria ; another 
 man's jirovince, if we judge by written law, but 
 when these are overturned, his own by the law of 
 nature." But that Cassius's acts might be confirmed 
 also by the authority of the senace, he proposed a 
 decree to tliis effect, "that whereas the senate has 
 declared P. Dolabella to be an enemy of the Roman 
 people, and ordered him to be pursued by open., 
 war, to the intent that he may suffer the punish- 
 ment due to him both from gods and men ; it is 
 the will of the senate that C. Cassius, proconsul, 
 shall hold the province of Syria in the same man- 
 ner as if he had obtained it by right of law ; and 
 that he receive the several armies from Q. Marcius 
 Crispus, proconsul, L. Statins Murcus, proconsul, 
 A. Allienus, lieutenant, which they are hereby 
 required to deliver to him. That with these and 
 what other forces he can procure he shall pursue 
 Dolabella both by land and sea. That for the 
 occasions of the war he shall have a power to de- 
 mand ships, seamen, money, and all things useful 
 to him, from whomsoever he thinks fit, in Syria, 
 Asia, Bithynia, Pontus ; and that whatever pro- 
 vince he comes into in prosecuting the war he shall 
 have an authority superior to that of the proper 
 governor. That if king Deiotarus, the father or 
 the son, shall assist C. Cassius, proconsul, with 
 their troops, as they have oft assisted the Roman 
 people in other wars, their conduct will be accept- 
 able to the senate and people. That if any of the 
 other kings, tetrarchs, and potentates, shall do the 
 like, the senate and people will not be unmindful 
 of their services. That as soon as the public affairs 
 were settled, C. Pansa and A. Hirtius, the consuls,, 
 one or both of them, should take the first oppor- 
 tunity of moving the senate about the disposal of 
 the consular and praetorian provinces ; and that in 
 the meanwhile they should all continue in the 
 hands of those who now held them, till successors 
 were appointed by the senate.'" 
 
 From the senate, Cicero went directly into the- 
 forum, to give the people an account of the debate, 
 and recommend to them the interests of Cassius : 
 hither Pansa followed him ; and, to weaken the in- 
 fluence of his authority, declared to the citizens 
 ;hat what Cicero contended for was against the will 
 and advice of Cassius's nearest friends and rela- 
 tions : of which Cicero gives the following account 
 in a letter to Cassius. 
 
 M. T. Cicero to C. Cassius. 
 
 " With what zeal I defended your dignity, both 
 in the senate and with the people, I would have 
 you learn rather from your other friends than from 
 me. My opinion would easily have prevailed in 
 the senate, had not Pansa eagerly opposed it. 
 After I had proposed that vote, I was produced to 
 the people by Servilius. the tribune, and said 
 everything which I could of you with a strength 
 of voice that filled the forum ; and with such a 
 
 » Phil. li. II. 
 
 ' Ibid. 12, (Sic.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 261 
 
 clamour and approbation of the people, that I had 
 never seen the like before. You will pardon me, 
 I hope, for doing it against the will of your mother- 
 in-law. The timorous woman was afraid that Pansa 
 would be disgusted. Pansa indeed declared to the 
 assembly that both your mother and brother were 
 against it ; but that did not move me — I had other 
 considerations more at heart : my regard was to the 
 republic, to wliich I have always wished well, and 
 to your dignity and glory. But there is one thing 
 which I enlarged upon in the senate, and mentioned 
 also to the people, in which I must desire you to 
 make my words good ; for I promised, and in a 
 manner assured them, that you neither had nor 
 w'ould wait for our decrees, but would defend the 
 republic yourself in your own way : and though we 
 had heard nothing, either where you were or what 
 forces you had, yet I took it for granted that all 
 the forces in those parts were yours ; and was con- 
 fident that you had already recovered the province 
 of Asia to the republic. Let it be your care to 
 outdo yourself, in endeavouring still to advance 
 your own glory. Adieu"." 
 
 As to the issue of the contest, some writers tell 
 us that it ended as Cicero desired : but it is evi- 
 dent, from the letter just recited, and more clearly 
 still from other letters, that Pansa's authority pre- 
 vailed against him for granting the commission to 
 the consuls'^. Cassius, however, as Cicero advised 
 and declared, had little regard to what they were 
 decreeing at Rome ; but undertook the whole affair 
 himself, and soon put an end to Dolabella's tri- 
 umphs, as will be mentioned hereafter in its proper 
 place. 
 
 The statue of Minerva, which Cicero, upon his 
 going into exile, had dedicated in the capitol by 
 the title of the Guardian of the City, was, about 
 the end of the last year, thrown down and shattered 
 to pieces by a tempest of thunder and lightning. 
 This the later writers take notice of as ominou."; 
 and portending the fall of Cicero himself : thouffh 
 neither Cicero nor any of that time made any such 
 reflection upon it. The senate, however, out of 
 xespect to him, passed a decree, in a full house, on 
 the eighteenth of March, that the statue should be 
 repaired and restored to its place''. So that it was 
 •now made by public authority what he himself had 
 designed it to be — a standing monument to pos- 
 terity that the safety of the repubUc had been the 
 constant object of his counsels. 
 
 D. Brutus was reduced by this time to such 
 straits in Modena, that his friends began to be 
 greatly alarmed for him ; taking it for granted, 
 that if he fell into Antony's hands, he would be 
 treated no better than Trebonius. The mention 
 therefore of a pacification being revived in the se- 
 nate, and recommended by Pansa himself, upon an 
 intimation given by Antony's friends that he was 
 now in a disposition to submit to reason, Cicero, 
 out of a concern for Brutus' safety, consented to 
 the decree of a second embassy, to be executed by 
 himself and ServiJius, together with three other 
 consular senators : but finding upon recollection 
 
 " Ep. Fam. xii. 7. 
 
 * Q,uum consulibus decreta est Asia, et pennissum est 
 UB, ut dum ipsi venirent ; darent negotium qui ipsam ob- 
 tineant, &c.— Ep. Fam. xii. 14. 
 
 y Eo die senatus decrevit, ut Jlinerva nostra, Ciistos 
 TJrbis, quam turbo dejecerat, restitueretiir. — Ep. Fam. xii. 
 25; Dio. xlv. p. £;& 
 
 that there appeared no symptoms of any change in 
 Antony, and that his friends produced no proofs of 
 it, nor anything new in his conduct, he was con- 
 vinced that he had made a false step, and that 
 nothing more was intended than to gain time ; 
 which was of great use to Antony, as it would 
 retard the attempts of relieving Modena, and give 
 an opportunity to Ventidius to join him, who was 
 marching towards him at that time with three 
 legions. At tlie next meeting therefore of the se- 
 nate, he retracted his opinion, and declared against 
 the late decree as dangerous and insidious ; and in 
 a warm and pathetic speech pressed them to rescind 
 it. He owns, " that it was indecent for one, whose 
 authority they had so often followed in the most 
 important debates, to declare himself mistaken and 
 deceived ; yet his comfort was, that it was in com- 
 mon with them all, and with a consul of the greatest 
 wisdom : that when Piso and Calenus, who knew 
 Antony's secret — the one of whom entertained his 
 wife and children at his house, the other was per- 
 petually sending and receiving letters from him, — 
 began to renew what they had .ong intermitted, 
 their exhortations to peace; and- when the consul 
 thought fit to exhort the same thing, a man whose 
 prudence could not easily be imposed upon, whose 
 virtue approved no peace but on Antony's submis- 
 sion ; whose greatness of mind preferred death to 
 slavery ; it was natural to imagine that there was 
 some special reason for all this ; some secret 
 wound in Antony's affairs which the public was un- 
 acquainted with: especially when it was reported 
 that Antony's family were under some unusual afflic- 
 tion, and his friends in the senate betrayed a dejec- 
 tion in their looks : for if there was nothing in it, 
 why should Piso and Calenus above all others — 
 why at that time — why so unexpectedly, so sud- 
 denly, move for peace .'' Yet now, when they had 
 entangled the senate in a pacific embassy, they both 
 denied that there was anything new or particular 
 which induced them to it^ : that there could be no 
 occasion therefore for new measures when there 
 was nothing new in the case itself; that they were 
 drawn in and deceived by Antony's friends, who 
 were serving his private, not the public interest: 
 that he had seen it from the first, though but 
 darkly, his concern for Brutus having dazzled his 
 eyes ; for whose liberty, if a substitute could be 
 accepted, he would freely offer himself to be shut 
 up in his place : that if Antony would humble 
 himself, and sue to them for anything, he should 
 perhaps be for hearing him ; but while he stood to 
 his arms, and acted offensively, their business was 
 to resist force by force. But they would tell him, 
 perhaps, that the thing was not in their power, 
 since an embassy was actually decreed : but what 
 is it (says he,) that is not free to the wise, which 
 it is possible to retrieve ? It is the case of every 
 man to err, but the part only of a fool to persevere 
 in error. If we have been drawn away by false 
 and fallacious hopes, let us turn again into the 
 way ; for the surest harbour to a penitent is a 
 change of his conduct"." He then shows how 
 " the embassy, so far from being of service, would 
 certainly hurt, nay, had already hurt the republic, 
 by checking the zeal of the towns and colonies of 
 Italy, and the courage of the legions which had de- 
 clared for them, who could never be eager to fight 
 
 Phil. xiL 1. 
 
 • IbicL i
 
 262 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 while the senate was sounding a retreat''. That 
 nothing was more unjust than to determine any- 
 thing about peace without the consent of those 
 who were carrying on the war ; and not only with- 
 out, but against their consent: that Hirtius and 
 Caesar had no thoughts of peace ; from whom he 
 had letters then in his hands, declaring their hopes 
 of victory : for their desire was to conquer, and to 
 acquire peace, not by treaty, but by victory*^. That 
 tliere could not possibly be any i)eace with one to 
 whom nothing could be granted : they had voted 
 him to have forged several decrees of the senate ; 
 would they vote them again to be genuine? They 
 had annulled his laws, as made by violence ; would 
 they now consent to restore them ? They had de- 
 creed him to have embezzled five millions of money : 
 could such a waste be absolved from a charge of 
 fraud ? That immunities, priesthoods, kingdoms, 
 had been sold by him ; could those bargains be 
 confirmed which their decrees had made void "^ ? 
 That if they should grant him the farther Gaul and 
 an army, what would it be else but to defer the 
 war, not to make peace ? nay, not only to prolong 
 the war, but to yield him the victory''. Was it foV 
 this (says he) that we have put on the robe of war, 
 taken arms, sent out all the youth of Italy, that, 
 with a most flourishing and numerous army, we 
 should send an embassy at last for peace ? and 
 must I bear a part in that embassy, or assist in 
 that council, where, if I differ from the rest, the 
 people of Rome can never know it .' so that what- 
 ever concessions are made to Antony, or whatever 
 mischief he may do hereafter, it must be at the 
 hazard of my credit." He then shows, " that it 
 an embassy must needs be sent, he, of all men, 
 was the most improper to be employed in it : that 
 he had ever been against any embassy ; was the 
 mover of their taking the habit of war ; was always 
 for the severest proceedings both against Antony 
 and his associates : that all that party looked upon 
 him as prejudiced ; and Antony would be offended 
 at the sight of him'. That if they did not trouble 
 themselves how Antony might take it, he begged 
 them at least to spare him the pain of seeing Antony, 
 which he should never be able to bear : who, in a 
 speech lately to his parricides, when he was distri- 
 buting rewards to the boldest of them, had promised 
 Cicero's estate to Petissius : that he should never 
 endure the sight of L. Antony, whose cruelty he 
 could not have escaped, but by the defence of his 
 walls and gates, and the zeal of his native town : 
 that though he might be able to command himself, 
 and dissemble his uneasiness at the sight of Antony 
 and his crew, yet some regard should be had to his 
 life, — not that he set any value upon it himself, but 
 it ought not to be thought despicable by the senate 
 and people of Rome : since, if he did not deceive 
 himself, it was he who, by his watchings, cares, and 
 votes, had managed matters so that all the attempts 
 of their enemies had not hitherto been able to do 
 them any harm^. That if his life had been oft 
 attempted at home, where the fidelity of his friends 
 and the eyes of all Rome were his guard, what might 
 he not apprehend from so long a journey ? that there 
 were three roads from Rome to Modena, — the Fla- 
 minian, along the upper sea; the Aurelian, along 
 the lower ; the Cassian, in the middle : that they 
 
 b Phil. xii. 3. 
 <i Ibid. 8. 
 ' Ibid. 7 
 
 c Ibid. 4. 
 e Ibid. 6. 
 g Ibid.& 
 
 were all of them beset by Antony's allies, his own, 
 utter enemies ; the Cassian, by Lento ; the Flanu 
 nian, by Ventidius ; the Aurehan, by the whole 
 Clodian family ••. That he would stay therefore iu' 
 the city, if the senate would give leave, which was 
 his proper seat, his watch, and station : that others 
 might enjoy camps, kingdoms, military commands ; 
 he would take care of the city and the affairs at 
 home, in partnership with them ; that he did not 
 refuse the charge, but it was the people who refused 
 it for him : for no man was less timorous, though 
 none more cautious than he. That a statesmaa 
 ought to leave behind liim a reputation of glory in 
 dying ; not the rei^roach of error and folly. Who 
 (says he) does not bewail the death of Treboaius .-' 
 yet there are some who say, though it is hard indeed 
 to say it, that he is the less to be pitied for not 
 keeping a better guard against a base and detestable 
 villain : for wise men tell us, that he who professes 
 to guard the lives of others ought, in the first place, 
 to keep a guard upon his own'. That if he should 
 happen to escape all the snares of the road, that 
 Antony's rage was so furious that he would never 
 suffer him to return alive from the congress. That 
 when he was a young volunteer in the wars of Italy, 
 he was present at a conference of Cn. Pompey, the 
 consul, and P. Vettius, the general of the Marsi, 
 held between the two camps ; there was no fear, no 
 suspicion, nor any violent hatred on either side : 
 that there was an interview likewise between Sylla 
 and Scipio, in their civil wars, where, though faith 
 was not strictly observed, yet no violence was 
 offered''. But the case was different in treating 
 with Antony, where, if others could be safe, he at 
 least could not : that Antony would never come 
 into their camp, much less they into his : that if 
 they transacted affairs by letter, his opinion wo\ild 
 always be one and the same, — to reduce everything 
 to the will of the senate ; that this would be misre- 
 presented to the veterans as severe and perverse, 
 and might excite them perhaps to some violence. 
 Let my life, therefore, (says he,) be reserved to the 
 service of my country as long as either dignity or 
 nature will allow : let my death fall by the necessary 
 course of fate ; or, if I must meet it sooner, let me 
 meet it with glory. Since the republic then, to 
 speak the most moderately, has no occasion for this 
 embassy, yet, if I can undertake it with safety, I 
 will go ; and in this whole affair will govern myself 
 entirely, fathers, not by a regard to my own danger, 
 but to the service of the state ; and, after the most 
 mature deliberation, will resolve to do that which I 
 shall judge to be most useful to the public interest." 
 
 Though he did not absolutely refuse the employ- 
 ment, yet he dissuaded it so strongly that the thing 
 was wholly dropped ; and Pansa, about the end of 
 the month, marched away towards Gaul, at the head 
 of his new-raised army, in order to join Hirtius and 
 Octavius, and without farther delay to attempt a 
 decisive battle with Antony for the delivery of D. 
 Brutus. 
 
 Antony, at the same time, while he was perplex- 
 ing the counsels of the senate by the intrigues of 
 his friends, was endeavouring also by his letters to 
 shake the resolution of Hirtius and Octavius, and 
 draw them off from the cause which they were now 
 serving ; but their answers seem to have been short 
 and firm, referring him constantly to the authority 
 
 >» PhU. xii. 9. 
 l< Ibid. 11. 
 
 i Ibid. 10.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 2-33 
 
 o: i\e senate : yet, as things were now drawing 
 towards a crisis, he made one effort more upon 
 them ; and in the following ex))ostulatory letter 
 reproached them with great freedom for deserting 
 their true interest, and suffering themselves to be 
 duped and drawn in by Cicero to revive the Pom- 
 peian cause, and establish a power which in the 
 end would destroy them. 
 
 Antonius to Hirtius and Cccsar. 
 
 •' Upon the news of Trebonius's death, I was 
 equally affected both with joy and with grief. It 
 was matter of real joy to me to see a villain suffer 
 the vengeance due to the ashes of the most illus- 
 trious of men ; and that within the circle of the cur- 
 rent year the divine providence has displayed itself 
 by the punishment of parricide, inflicted already on 
 some, and ready to fall upon the rest. But on the 
 other hand, it is a subject of just grief to me that 
 Dolabella should be declared an enemy because he 
 has killed a murderer ; and that the son of a buffoon 
 should be dearer to the people of Rome than Caisar, 
 the father of his country : but the cruellest reflec- 
 tion of all is, that you, Hirtius, covered with Coesar's 
 favours, and left by him in a condition which you 
 yourself wonder at, and you too, young man, who 
 owe everything to his name, are doing all which is 
 in your power that Dolabella may be thought justly 
 condemned ; that this wretch be delivered from the 
 siege ; and Cassius and Brutus be invested with all 
 power. You look upon the present state of things 
 as people did upon the past, call Pompey's camp 
 the senate ; have made the vanquished Cicero your 
 captain ; are strengthening Macedonia with armies ; 
 have given Africa to Varus, twice a prisoner ; have 
 sent Cassius into Syria ; suffered Casca to act as 
 tribune ; suppressed the revenues of the Julian 
 Luperci ; abolished the colonies of veterans, estab- 
 lished by law and the decree of the senate; promise 
 to restore to the people of Marseilles what was taken 
 from them by right of war ; forget that a Pompeian 
 was made incapable of any dignity by Hirtius's 
 law; have supplied Brutus with Apnu'°'ns's money ; 
 applauded the putting to death Poetus ind Mene- 
 demus, Caesar's friends, whom he made free of the 
 city ; took no notice of Theopompus, when stripped 
 and banished by Trebonius he fled to Alexandria : 
 you see Ser. Galba in your camp, armed with the 
 same poniard with which he stabbed Caesar ; have 
 enlisted my soldiers and other veterans on pretence 
 of destroying those who killed Caesar, and then em- 
 ploy them, before they know what they are doing, 
 against their quaestor, or their general, or their 
 comrades. What have you not done which Pompey 
 himself, were he alive, or his son, if he could, would 
 not do ? In short, you deny that any peace can be 
 made, unless I set Brutus at liberty, or supply him 
 with provisions : can this please those veterans who 
 have not yet declared themselves ? for as to your 
 part, you have sold yourselves to the flatteries and 
 poisoned honours of the senate. But you come, 
 you say, to preserve the troops which are besieged. 
 I am not against their being saved, or going wherever 
 you please, if they will but leave him to perish who 
 has deserved it. You write me word, that the men- 
 tion of concord has been revived in the senate, and 
 five consular ambassadors appointed : it is hard to 
 believe that those who have driven me to this extre- 
 mity, when I offered the fairest conditions, and was 
 
 willing to remit some part of them, should do 
 anything with moderation or humanity : nor is it 
 probable that the same men, who voted Dolabella 
 an enemy for a most laudable act, can ever forgive 
 me, who am in the same sentiments with him. 
 Wherefore it is your business to reflect which of the 
 two is the more eligible or more useful to our com- 
 mon interest ; to revenge the death of Trebonius, or 
 of Coesar : and which the more equitable ; for us to 
 act against each other, that the Pompeian cause, so 
 often defeated, may recover itself; or to join our 
 forces, lest we become at last the sport of our ene- 
 mies ; who, which of us soever may happen to fall, 
 are sure to be the gainers. But fortune has hitherto 
 prevented that spectacle ; unwilling to see two 
 armies, like members of the same body, lighting 
 against each other, and Cicero all the while, like a 
 master of gladiators, matching us, and ordering the 
 combat ; wiio is so far happy, as to have caught 
 you with the same bait with which he brags to have 
 caught Cfesar. For my part, I am resolved to suffer 
 no affront either to myself or my friends ; nor to 
 desert the party which Pompey hated ; nor to see 
 the veterans driven out of their possessions, and 
 dragged one by one to the rack ; nor to break my 
 word with Dolabella ; nor to violate my league with 
 Lepidus,a most religious man; norto betray Plaucus, 
 the partner of all my counsels. If the immortal 
 gods support me, as 1 hope they will, in the pursuit 
 of so good a cause, I shall live with pleasure ; but 
 if any other fate expects me, I taste a joy however 
 beforehand in the sure foresight of your punish- 
 ment : for if the Pompeians are so insolent when 
 conquered, how much more they will be so whea 
 conquerors, it will be your lot to feel. In a word, 
 this is the sum of my resolution : I can forgive the 
 injuries of my friends, if they themselves are dis- 
 posed either to forget them, or prepared in conjunc- 
 tion with me to revenge the death of Caesar. I 
 cannot believe that any ambassadors will come ; 
 when they do, I shall knov? what they have to de- 
 mand'." Hirtius and Caesar, instead of answering 
 this letter, sent it directly to Cicero at Rome, to 
 make what use of it he thought fit with the senate 
 or tlie people. 
 
 In tliis interval Lejii.V?? wrote a public letter to 
 the senate, to exhort thtu. "^o measures of peace 
 and to save the effusion of cuil blood, by contriv- 
 ing some way of reconciling Antony and his friends ^ 
 to the service of their country, without giving the ;" 
 least intimation of his thanks for the public honours 
 which they had lately decreed to him. This was 
 not at all agreeable to the senate, and confirmed 
 their former jealousy of his disaffection to the 
 republic and good understanding with Antony. 
 They agreed, however, to a vote proposed by 
 Servilius, " that Lepidus should be thanked for 
 his love of peace and care of the citizens, yet should 
 be desired not to trouble himself any further about 
 it, but to leave that aff'air to them, who thought 
 that there could be no peace vinless Antony should 
 lay down his arms and sue for it." This letter 
 gave Antony's friends a fresh handle to renew their 
 instances for a treaty, for the sake of obliging 
 Lepidus, who had it in his power, they said, to 
 force them to it ; which put Cicero once more to 
 the trouble of confuting and exposing all their 
 arguments. He told them, " that he was ever 
 
 ' Phil. xiii. 10, ic.
 
 2(54 
 
 TIIK IIISTORV OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 afr.xid from the first lest aii insidious ofler of peace 
 should damp the coniinoii zeal for the recovery of 
 their liberty. Tliat whoever delighted in discord, 
 and the blood of citizens, ought to be expelled 
 from the society of human-kind ; yet it was to be 
 considered wliether there were not some wars 
 wholly inexpiable, where no peace could he made, 
 and where a treaty of peace was but a stipulation 
 of slavery'". Th.at the war now on foot was of 
 this sort, undertaken against a set of men who 
 were natural enemies to society, whose only plea- 
 sure it was to oppress, plunder, and murder tlieir 
 fellow-creatures, — and to restore such to the city 
 was to destroy the city itself". That they ought 
 to remember what decrees they had already made 
 against them, such as had never been made against 
 a foreign enemy or any with whom there could be 
 peace. That since wisdom as well as fortitude 
 was expected fi'om men of their rank, though tlicse 
 indeed could hardly be separated, yet he was wil- 
 ling to consider tliem sejjarately and follow what 
 wisdom the more cautious and guarded of the two 
 prescribed. If wisdom chen (says he) should com- 
 mand me to hold nothing*.50 dear as life, to decree 
 nothing at the hazard of my head, to avoid all 
 danger, though slavery was sure to be the conse- 
 quence, I would reject that wisdom be it ever so 
 learned ; but if it teaches us to preserve our lives, 
 our fortunes, our families, yet so as to think them 
 inferior to liberty, to wish to enjoy them no longer 
 than we can do it in a free republic, not to part 
 with our liberty for them, but to throw them all 
 away for liberty, as exposing us only to greater 
 mischief without it, I would then listen to her 
 voice and obey her as a god". That no man had 
 a greater respect for Lepidus than himself; and 
 though there had been an old friendship between 
 them, yet he valued him not so much for that as 
 his services to the public, in prevailing with young 
 Pompey to lay down his arms and free his country 
 from the misery of a cruel war. That the republic 
 had many pledges of fidelity from Lepidus, — his 
 great nobility, great honours, hi^-h priesthood ; 
 many parts of the city adorned by him and his 
 ancestors ; his wife, children, great fortunes, pure 
 from any taint of civil blood ; no citizen ever hurt, 
 many preserved by him, — that such a man might 
 err in judgment, but could never wilfully be an 
 enemy to his country. That his desire of peace 
 was laudable if he could make such a peace for 
 them now as when he restored Pompey to them. 
 That for this they had decreed him greater honours 
 than had been given before to any man, — a statue 
 with a splendid inscription, and a triumph even in 
 absence P. That by good fortune they had managed 
 matters so that Pompey's return might consist 
 with the validity of Ciesar's acts, which for the 
 sake of peace they had confirmed ; since they had 
 decreed to Pompey the five millions and half which 
 •was raised by the sale of his estates, to enable him 
 to buy them again. He desired that the task of 
 replacing him in the possessions of his ancestors 
 might be committed to him for his old friendship 
 with his father. That it should be his first care 
 to nominate him an augur, and repay the same 
 favour to the son which he himself received from 
 the fatheri. That those who had seen him lately 
 
 " Phil, xiii, 1, 
 
 • Ibi(L 3. 
 
 * 'ibid, 6. 
 
 n Ibid. 2. 
 f Ibid. 4. 
 
 at Marseilles brought word that he was ready to 
 come with liis troops to the relief of Modena, but 
 that he was afraid of giving offence to the veterans ; 
 which showed him to be the true son of that father 
 who used to act with as much prudence as courage. 
 That it was Lepidus's business to take care not to 
 Ije thought to act with more arrogance than became 
 him : tliat if he meant to frighten them with his 
 army, he should remember that it was the army of 
 the senate and people of Rome, not his own'. 
 That if he interposed his autliority without arms, 
 that was indeed the more laudable, but would 
 hardly be thought necessary. For though his 
 authority was as great witii them as that of the 
 noblest citizen ought to be, yet the senate was not 
 unmindful of their own dignity ; and there never 
 was a graver, firmer, stouter senate than the pre- 
 sent. That they were all so incensed against the 
 enemies of their liberty, that no man's authority 
 could repress their ardour or extort their arms 
 from them. That they liojied the best, but would 
 rather suffer the worst than live slaves*. That 
 there was no danger to be apprehended from Le- 
 pidus, since he could not enjoy the splendour of 
 his own fortunes but with the safety of all honest 
 men. That nature first makes men honest, but 
 fortune confirms them ; for though it was the 
 common interest of all to promote the safety of 
 the public, yet it was more particularly of those 
 who were hap])y in their fortunes. That nobody 
 was more so than Lepidus, and nobody therefore 
 better disposed ; of which the people saw a re- 
 markable instance, in the concern which he ex- 
 pressed when Antony offered a diadem to Caesar, 
 and chose to be his slave rather than his colleague; 
 for which single act, if he had been guilty of 
 nothing else, he had richly deserved the worst 
 punishment."' Then after inveighing, as usual, 
 against Antony through several pages, he declared 
 all thoughts of peace with him to be vain, and for 
 a fresh proof of it produced his last letter to 
 Hirtius and Octavius, and read it publicly to the 
 assembly. " Not that he thought it worth reading," 
 he says, "but to let them see his traitorous views 
 openly avowed and confessed by himself." He 
 read it to them paragraph by paragraph, with his 
 own comment and remarks upon it ; rallying all 
 along, with great wit and spirit, ' ' the rage, the 
 extravagance, the inconsistency, the folly, and the 
 inaccuracy of each sentence." On the whole, he 
 says, " that if Lepidus had seen it he would nei- 
 ther have advised or thought any peace with him 
 possible. That fire and water would sooner unite 
 than the Antonys be reconciled to the republic. 
 That the first and best thing therefore was to con- 
 quer, — the second to decline no danger for the 
 liberty of their country ; that there was no third 
 thing, — but the last and worst of all, to submit to 
 the utmost baseness through a desire of living." 
 For which reasons he declared his concurrence 
 with Servilius in the vote upon Lepidus's letters, 
 and proposed an additional decree, either to be 
 joined to the other or published separately, "That 
 Pompey the Great, the son of Cnasus, in offering 
 his service and his troops to the senate and people 
 of Rome, had acted agreeably to the courage and 
 zeal of his father and ancestors, and to his own 
 virtue, industry, and good disposition to the re- 
 
 ' PhiL xiii.6! » Ibid. ?. 
 
 ' Ibid. 8.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 265 
 
 public ; and tliat the tiling was grateful and 
 acceptable to the senate and people, and would 
 hereafter be an honour to himself." 
 
 After the debate, which ended as Cicero wished, 
 he sent the following short letter to Lepidus, which, 
 by the coldness and negligence with which it is 
 ■ drawn, seems to be designed to let Lepidus see 
 that they were perfectly easy and secure at Rome, 
 whatever measures he might think fi.t to take. 
 
 Cicero to Lepidus. 
 
 " Willie, out of Uie great respect which I bear to 
 you, 1 am making it my particular care to advance 
 your dignity us much as possible, it was a concern 
 to me to see that you did not think it worth while 
 to return your thanks to the senate for the extraor- 
 dinary honours which they have lately conferred 
 upon you. I rejoice, however, that you are so 
 desirous of making peace among citizens. If you 
 can separate that peace from slavery, you will con- 
 sult both the good of the republic and your own 
 dignity ; but if the effect of it be to restore a des- 
 perate man to an arbitrary dominion, I would have 
 you to know that all men of sense have taken a 
 resolution to prefer death to servitude. You will 
 act more wisely, therefore, in my judgment, if you 
 meddle no farther with that affair of peace, — which 
 is not agreeable either to the senate or the people, 
 or to any honest man : but you will hear enough 
 of this from others or be informed of it by letters, 
 and will be directed by your own prudence what is 
 the best for you to do. "" 
 
 Plancus too, who commanded in Gaul, and now 
 resided near Lyons, at the head of a brave army, 
 enforced Lepidus's advice by a letter likewise to 
 the senate on the same subject of peace, — to which 
 Cicero wrote the following answer : — 
 
 Cicero to Plancus. 
 
 " The account which our friend Fumius brought 
 of your affection to the republic was highly agree- 
 able both to the senate and people of Rome ; but 
 your letter, when read in the senate, did not seem 
 to agree with Furnius's report : for you advised 
 us to peace, when your colleague, a man of the 
 greatest eminence, was besieged by most infamous 
 plunderers, who ought either to sue for peace by 
 laying down their arms, or if they demand it with 
 sword in hand, it must be procured by victory, not 
 treaty. But in what manner your letters, as well 
 as Lepidus's also, were received, you will under- 
 stand from that excellent man your brother, and 
 from Furnius," &c. * 
 
 C. Antony, whom we mentioned above to have 
 retreated with seven cohorts to ApoUonia, not 
 daring to wait for Brutus's arrival, who was now 
 advancing towards him, marched out to Buthrotura 
 to seek his fortune elsewhere, in quarters more 
 .secure and remote : but being overtaken and at- 
 tacked on his march by a part of Brutus's army, 
 he lost three of his cohorts in the action, — and in 
 a second engagement with another body of troops, 
 which young Cicero commanded, was entirely 
 routed and taken prisoner ; which made Brutus 
 absolute master of the country without any farther 
 opposition''. This fresh success gave occasion for 
 a second letter from Brutus to the senate, of which 
 
 " Ep. Fani. x. 27. 
 7 Plut. in Brut. 
 
 » Ibid. 6. 
 
 Cicero makes the following mention : " Your 
 letter," says he, " which was read in the senate, 
 shows the counsel of the general, the virtue of your 
 soldiers, the industry of your officers, and in par- 
 ticular of my Cicero. If your friends had been 
 willing to move the senate upon it, and if it had 
 not fallen into most turbulent times, since the de- 
 parture of I'ansa, some just and proper honour 
 would have been decreed for it to the gods. "^ 
 
 The taking C. Antony prisoner put Brutus under 
 some difficulty in what manner he should treat 
 him. If he set him at liberty, to which he was 
 inclined, he had reason to apprehend "fresh trouble 
 from him, both to himself and the republic ; if he 
 kept him prisoner in his camp, he was afraid lest 
 some sedition might be raised, on his account and 
 by his intrigues, in his own army, or if he put him 
 to death that it would be thought an act of cruelty, 
 which his nature abhorred, lie consulted Cicero, 
 therefore, u))on it by letter, " C. Antony," says 
 he, " is still with me ; but in truth I am moved 
 with the prayers of the man, and afraid lest the 
 madness of some should make him the occasion of 
 mischief to me. I am wholly at a loss what to do 
 with him. If I knew your mind I should be at 
 ease ; for I should think that the best which you 
 advised. "" Cicero's advice was to keep him under 
 a safe guard till they knew the fate of D. Brutus 
 in Modena. '' Brutus, however, treated him with 
 great lenity, and seemed much disposed to give 
 him his liberty ; for which purpose he not only 
 wrote to the senate about it himself, but permitted 
 Antony to write too, and with the style of procon- 
 sul, which surprised and shocked all his friends at 
 Rome, and especially Cicero, who expostulates 
 with him for it in the following terms : — 
 
 " On the thirteenth of April (says he) your 
 messenger Pilus brought us two letters, the one in 
 your name the other in Antony's, and gave them 
 to Servilius the tribune, he to Cornutus the praetor. 
 They were read in the senate. Antony proconsul 
 raised as much wonder as if it had been Dolabella 
 emperor, from whom also there came an express, 
 but nobody, like your Pilus, was so hardy as to 
 produce the letters or deliver them to the magis- 
 trates. Your letter was read ; short indeed, but 
 extremely mild towards Antony : the senate was 
 amazed at it. For my part I did not know how 
 to act. Should I affirm it to be forged.' What if 
 you should own it .' Should I admit it to be 
 genuine .' that was not for your honour. I chose 
 therefore to be silent that day. On the next, 
 when the affair had made some noise, and Pilus's 
 carriage had given offence, I began the debate, said 
 much of proconsul Antony ; Sextius performed 
 his part, and observed to me afterwards in private 
 what danger his son and mine would be liable to 
 
 ^ Tuffi literal, qua; in senatu recitatse sunt, et impe- 
 latoris consilium et niilitum virtutem, et industriam 
 tuorum, in quibus Ciccronis incl declarant. Quod si tuis 
 placuisset de his literis referri, et nisi in tempus tur- 
 bulentissimuni post discessum Pansas incidissent, honos 
 quoque Justus ac debitus diis immortalibus decretus esset. 
 —Ad Brut. ii. 7. 
 
 " Aritonius adhuc est nobisoum : sed medius fidius et 
 moveor hominis precibus, et timeo ne ilium aliquorum 
 furor excipiat. Plane a!Stuo. Quod si scirem quid tibi 
 plaeeret, ."ine sollioitudine es.sem. Id enim optimum esse 
 persuasuni csset milii. — Ad Brut. ii. 5. 
 
 b Quod me de Antonio consulis ; quoad Bruti exitum 
 cognorinius, custodiendum puto. — Ibid. 4.
 
 26G 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 if they had really taken up arms against a proconsul. 
 You know the man ; he did justice to the cause. 
 Others also spoke ; but our friend Labeo took 
 notice that your seal was not put to the letter, nor 
 any date added, nor had you written about it, as 
 usual, to your friends, — from which he maintained 
 the letter to be forged; and, in short, convinced 
 the house of it. It is now your part, Brutus, to 
 consider the whole state and nature uf the war : 
 you are delighted, I perceive, with lenity, and think 
 it the best way of proceeding. This indeed is 
 generally right, but the proper place of t'lenienoy 
 is in cases and seasons very different from tiie 
 present : for what are we doing now, Brutus ? 
 we see a needy and desperate crew threatening the 
 very temples of the gods, and that the war must 
 necessarily decide whether we are to live or not. 
 Who is it then whom we are sparing, or what is it 
 that we mean ? Are we consulting the safety of 
 those who, if they get the better, are sure not to 
 leave the least remains of us .' For what difference 
 is there between Dolabella and any one of tlie 
 three Antonys ? If we spare any of these, we have 
 been too severe to Dolabella. It v^as owing chiefly 
 to my advice and authority that the senate and 
 people are in this way of thinking, though the 
 thing itself indeed also obliged them to it. If you 
 do not approve this policy I shall defend your 
 opinion, but cannot depart from my own : the 
 world expects from you nothing either remiss or 
 cruel. It is easy to moderate the matter by se- 
 verity to the leaders, generosity to the soldiers. "•= 
 
 Cicero had now done everything that human 
 prudence could do, towards the recovery of the 
 republic ; for all that vigour with which it was 
 making this last effort for itself was entirely owing 
 to his counsels and authority. As Antony was the 
 most immediate and desperate enemy who threat- 
 ened it, so he had armed against him the whole 
 strength of Italy, and raised up a force sufficient 
 to oppress him. Young Octavius, next to Antony, 
 was the most formidable to the friends of liberty ; 
 but from the contrast of their personal interests, 
 and their jealousy of each other's views, Cicero 
 managed the opportunity to employ the one to the 
 ruin of the other ; yet so as to provide at the same 
 time against any present danger from Octavius, by 
 throwing a superiority of power into the hands of 
 the consuls, whom, from being the late ministers 
 of Caesar's tyranny, he had gained over to the 
 interests of liberty. But besides the difficulties 
 ■which he had to struggle with at home, in bringing 
 matters to this point, he had greater discourage- 
 ments abroad, from the commanders of the several 
 provinces : they were all promoted to those go- 
 vernments by Csesar, the proper creatures of his 
 power, and the abettors of his tyranny"^, and were 
 now full of hopes, either of advancing themselves 
 to dominion, or to a share of it at least, by espous- 
 ing the cause of some more powerful pretender. 
 Men of this turn, at the head of great and veteran 
 ;irmies, could not easily be persuaded to submit to 
 a senate which they had been taught to despise, or 
 to reduce the military power, which had long 
 governed all, to a dependence on the civil. Yet 
 Cicero omitted no pains of exhorting them by 
 letters, and inviting them by honours, to prefer 
 
 c Ad Brut. ii. 7- 
 
 d Vides tyranni satellites in imperils : v'ldes ejusdem 
 exeroitus in latere veteranos. — Ad Att. xiv. .5. 
 
 the glory of saving their country to all other views 
 whatsoever. Those whom he most distrusted, and 
 for that reason most particularly pressed, were 
 Lepidus, PoUio, and Plancus, who, by the strength 
 of their armies, and their possession of Gaul and 
 Spain, were the best qualified to serve or distress 
 the republican cause. He had little hopes of the 
 two first, yet managed them so well, by represent- 
 ing the strengtli of the honest party, the unanimity 
 of the senate, of the consuls, and all Italy, that he 
 forced them at least to dissemble their disaffection, 
 and make great professions of their duty ; and 
 above all, to stand neuter till the affairs of Italy 
 were decided, on which the fate of the republic 
 seemed chiefly to depend. Nay, he seems to have 
 drawn Plancus entirely into his measures — as 
 api)ears from his account of him to Brutus*, and 
 from Plancus's own letters, in which he gives the 
 strongest assurances of his fidelity, and offers to 
 lead his troops to the relief of Modena, and was 
 actually upon his march towai;^ls it, when he heard 
 \ipon the road of Antony's defeat. — Not long before 
 which, Cicero sent him the following letter 
 
 Cicero to Plancus. 
 " Though I understood, from the account of 
 our friend Furnius, what your design and resolution 
 was, with regard to the republic, yet, after reading 
 your letters, I was able to form a clearer judgment 
 of your whole purpose. Wherefore, though the 
 fate of the commonwealth depends wholly on one 
 battle, which will be decided, I believe, when you 
 are reading this letter, yet you have acquired great 
 applause by the very fame, which was everywhere 
 spread, of your good intentions ; and if there had 
 been a consul at Rome, the senate, by decreeing 
 some considerable honour to you, would have de- 
 clared how acceptable your endeavours and prepa- 
 rations were. But that time is not only not yet 
 past, but was not in my judgment even ripe ; for 
 after all, that alone passes with me for honour 
 which is conferred on great men, not for the hopes 
 of future, but the experience of past services. If, 
 then, there be any republic in which honour can 
 have its proper lustre, take my word for it, you 
 shall have your share of the greatest ; though that 
 which can truly be called honour is not an invita- 
 tion to a temporary, but the reward of an habitual 
 virtue. Wherefore, my dear Plancus, turn your 
 whole thoughts towards glory — help your country 
 — fly to the relief of your colleague — support this 
 wonderful consent and concurrence of all nations : 
 you will ever find me the promoter of your coun- 
 sels, the favourer of your dignity, and on all occa- 
 sions most friendly and faithful to you : for to aU 
 the other motives of our union, our mutual affec- 
 tion, good offices, old acquaintance, the love of 
 om" country, which is now added, makes me prefer 
 your life to my own. — Mar. 29th'." 
 
 Plancus in the mean time sent a second letter to 
 the senate, to assure them of his zeal and resolu- 
 tion to adhere to them, and to acquaint them with 
 the steps which he had already taken for their 
 service ; upon which they decreed him some extra- 
 ordinary honours, at the motion of Cicero, who 
 sent him the following account of it. 
 
 e Planci animum in rerapublicam egregium, legioneg, 
 aiixilia, copias ex Uteris ejus, quarum exemplum tibi 
 missuin arbitror, perspicere potuisti. — Ad Brut. ii. 2. 
 
 « Ep. Fam. x. 10.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 2GT 
 
 Cicero to Plancus. 
 •'Though, out of regard to the republic, my 
 greatest joy ought to be for your bringing such 
 relief and help to it, in a time almost of extremity, 
 yet may I so embrace you after victory and the 
 recovery of our liberty, as it is your dignity that 
 gives me the chief jiart of my pleasure, which 
 already is, and ever will be, I perceive, as great as 
 possible. For I would not have you think that 
 any letters were ever read in the senate of greater 
 weight than yours, both for the eminent merit of 
 your services, and the gravity of your words and 
 sentiments, which was not at all new to me, who 
 was so well acquainted with you, and remembered 
 the promises of your letters to me, and understood 
 the whole purpose of your counsels from our 
 Furnius; but they appeared greater to the senate 
 than was expected ; not that theyever had any doubt 
 of your inclinations, but did not fully understand 
 how much you were able to do, or how far you 
 would expose yourself in the cause. When M. 
 Yarisidius, therefore, brought me your letters very 
 early, on the 7th of April, I was transported with 
 joy upon reading them; and as a great multitude 
 ot excellent citizens were then waiting to attend 
 my going abroad, I instantly gave them all a part 
 of mv jileasure. In the mean while our friend 
 Munatius, according to custom, came to join me : 1 
 jiiesently showed him your letter, of which he 
 knew nothing before; for Varisidius came first to 
 nie, as you, he said, had ordered him : soon after, 
 tlie same Munatius returned to me with the other 
 two letters; that which you had sent to him, and 
 that to the senate : we resolved to carry the last 
 directly to the praetor, Cornutus.who, by the custom 
 of our ancestors, supplies the place of the consuls 
 in their absence. The senate was immediately 
 called ; and, uj)on the fame and expectation of 
 your letters, made up a full house. After they 
 were read, a scruple of religion was objected to 
 Cornutus, from the report of the guardians of the 
 chickens, that he had not duly consulted the 
 auspices, which was confirmed likewise by our 
 college ; so that the affair was adjourned to the 
 next day. On that day I had a great contest about 
 your dignity with Servilius, who procured by his 
 interest to have his opinion declared the first ; but 
 the senate left him, and all went the contrary way : 
 but when they were coming into my opinion, 
 which was delivered the second, the tribune Titius, 
 at his request, interposed his negative ; and so the 
 debate was put off again to the day following. 
 Servilius came prepared to support his opposition, 
 though against Jupiter himself, in whose temple 
 the thing passed. In what manner I handled him, 
 and what a struggle I had to throw oft' Titius's 
 negative, I would have you learn rather from 
 other people's letters : take this, however, from 
 mine, that the senate could not possibly act with 
 more gravity, firmness, aud regard to your honour, 
 than it did on this occasion ; nor is the senate 
 more friendly to you than the whole city ; for the 
 body of the people, and all ranks and orders of 
 men, are wonderfully united in the defence of the 
 republic. Go on, therefore, as you have begun, 
 and recommend your name to immortality ; and 
 for all these things, which, from the vain badges of 
 outward splendour, carry a show of glory, despise 
 them : look upon them as trifling, transitory, 
 
 perishing. True honour is placed singly in virtue, 
 which is illustrated with most advantage by great 
 services to our country. You have the best oppor- 
 tunity for this in the world ; which, since you have 
 embraced, persevere, and go through with it, that 
 the republic may not owe less to you than you to 
 the republic. You will find me not only the 
 favourer, but the advancer of your dignity : this I 
 take myself to owe, both to the republic, which is 
 dearer to me than my life, and to our friendship, 
 &c. — April the eleventh?." 
 
 Plancus answered him, not long after, to the 
 following effect. 
 
 Plancus to Cicero. 
 
 " It is a pleasure to me to reflect that I have 
 never promised anything rashly of myself to you ; 
 nor you, for me to others. In this you have the 
 clearer proof of my love, that I desire to make you 
 acquainted with my designs before any man else. 
 You already see, I hope, that my services to the 
 public will grow greater every day : I promise that 
 you shall soon be convinced of it. As for me, my 
 dear Cicero, may the republic be so delivered by 
 my help from its present dangers, as I esteem your 
 honours and rewards equal to an immortality ; yet 
 were I still without them, I would remit nothing 
 of my present zeal and perseverance. If, in the 
 multitude of excellent citizens, I do not distinguish 
 myself by a singular vigour and industry, I desire 
 no accession to my dignity from your favour ; but, 
 in truth, I desire nothing at all for myself at pre- 
 sent ; nay, am even against it, and willingly make 
 you the arbiter both of the time and the thing 
 itself: a citizen can think nothing late or little, 
 which is given by his country. I passed the Rhone 
 with my army by great journeys, on the 2Gth of 
 April ; sent a thousand horse before me by a 
 shorter way from Vienna. As for myself, if I am 
 not hindered by Lepidus, none shall complain of 
 my want of expedition. If he opposes me on my 
 road, I shall take my measures from the occasion. 
 The troops, which I bring are, for number, kind, 
 and fidelity, extremely firm. I beg the continuance 
 of your affection, as long as you find yourself 
 assured of mine. Adieu*"." 
 
 Pollio likewise, who now commanded the farther 
 Spain, with three good legions, though he was An- 
 tony's particular friend, yet made the strongest pro- 
 fessions to Cicero of his resolution to defend the 
 republic against all invaders. In one of his letters, 
 after excusing himself for not having written earlier 
 and oftener, he says : " Both my nature and studies 
 draw me to the desire of peace and liberty ; for 
 which reason I always lamented the occasion of the 
 late war : but as it was not possible for me to be of 
 no party, because I had great enemies everywhere, 
 I ran from that camp where I could not be safe 
 from the treachery of an enemy, and being drivea 
 whither I least desired, freely exposed myself to- 
 dangers, that I might not make a contemptible 
 figure among those of my rank. As for Caesar 
 himself, I loved him with the utmost piety and 
 fidelity, because he treated me on the foot of his 
 oldest friends, though known to him only in the 
 height of his fortunes. When I was at liberty to 
 act after my own mind, I acted so that the best 
 men should most applaud me : what I was cora- 
 
 8 Ep. Fam. x. 12. 
 
 l» Ep. F-am. x. <»
 
 2G8 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 manded to do, I did so as to show that it was done 
 by command, and not by inclination. The unjust 
 odium which I suffered on that account has suffi- 
 ciently convinced me how sweet a thing liberty is, 
 and how wretched is life under the dominion of 
 another. If the contest then be, to bring us all 
 again under the j)ower of one : whoever that one 
 be, I jjrofi'ss myself his enemy ; nor is there any 
 danger which I would decline, or wish to avoid, 
 for the sake of liberty. But the consuls have not, 
 either by decree or letters, given me any orders 
 what to do. I have had but one letter from 
 Pansa since the ides of March, in which he exhorts 
 me to signify to the senate that I and my army 
 would be in their power ; but when Lepidus was 
 declaring openly to his army, and writing to every- 
 body, that he was in the same sentiments with 
 Antony, that step would have been wholly absurd 
 and improper for me ; for how could I get forage 
 for my troops against his will, in marching through 
 his province .' or if I had surmounted all other 
 difficulties, could I fly over the Alps, which were 
 possessed by his garrisons ? Nobody will deny 
 that I declared publicly to my soldiers, atCorduba, 
 that I would not deliver the province to any man, 
 unless he were commissioned by the senate. — 
 Wherefore you are to look upon me as one, who, 
 in the first place, am extremely desirous of peace, 
 and the safety of all the citizens ; in the second, 
 prepared to assert my own and my country's 
 liberty. I am more pleased than you can imagine 
 that my friend Gallus is so dear to you : I envy 
 him for walking and joking with you : you will ask, 
 perhaps, at what rate I value that privilege : you 
 shall know by experience, if ever it be in our power 
 to live in quiet ; for I will never stir one step 
 from you. I am surprised that you never signified 
 in your letters how I should be able to do the most 
 service, by staying in the province, or bringing my 
 aimy into Italy. For my part, though to stay be 
 ■more safe, and less troublesome, yet, since I see, 
 that in such a time as this there is more want of 
 legions than of provinces, which may easily be 
 recovered, I am resolved, as things now stand, to 
 come away with my army. — From Corduba, the 
 ■fifteenth of March'." 
 
 There are several letters, also still extant, writ- 
 ten at this time from Cicero to Cornificius, who 
 governed Africa, exhorting him in the same man- 
 ner to firmness in the defence of the republic, and 
 to guard his province from all invaders who should 
 attempt to extort it from him ; and this man, after 
 all, was the only commander who kept his word 
 with him, and performed his part to his country, 
 and lost his life at last in maintaining that province 
 in its allegiance to the republic''. 
 
 P. Servilius, who has often been mentioned in 
 the debates of the senate, was a person of great 
 rank and nobility ; had been consul with J. Caesar, 
 in the beginning of the civil war ; the son of that 
 Servilius, who, by his conquests near mount Taurus, 
 obtained the surname of Isauricus. He affected 
 the character of a patriot ; but having had a par- 
 ticular friendship with Antony, was much courted 
 by that party, who took the advantage of his 
 vanity, to set him up as a rival to Cicero in the 
 management of pubUc affairs, in which he frequently 
 obstructed Cicero's measures, and took a pride to 
 ~T Ep. Fam. x. ,31. 
 , k Ep. Fam. xii. 24, &c. ; App. iv. 621 : Dio, xlviii. .307. 
 
 thwart and disappoint whatever he proposed : 
 Cicero had long suffered this with patience, out of 
 regard to the public service, till, provoked by his 
 late o|)position in the affair of Plancus, he could 
 not forl)ear treating him with an unusual severity 
 and resentment, of which he gives an account in a 
 letter to Brutus. 
 
 Cicero to Brutus. 
 
 " From Plancus's letters, of which a copy, I 
 imagine, has been sent to you, you will ))erceive 
 his excellent disposition towards the republic, with 
 the condition of his legions, aiuxiliaries, and whole 
 forces. Your own people have informed you, I 
 guess, by this time, of the levity, inconstancy, and 
 jierpctual disaffection of your friend Lepidus ; who, 
 next to his own brother, hates you, his near rela- 
 tions, the most. We are anxious with an expec- 
 tation which is now reduced to the last crisis ; all 
 our hopes are fixed on the delivery of D. Brutus ; 
 for whom we have been in great apprehension. 
 For my part, I have business enough on my hands 
 at home with the madman Servilius, whom I have 
 endured longer than became my dignity ; but I did 
 it for the sake of the republic, lest I should give 
 the disaffected a leader not well affected indeed 
 himself, yet noble to resort to, wliich nevertheless 
 they still do. But I was not for alienating him 
 wholly from the republic ; I have now put an end 
 to my forbearance of him, for he began to be so 
 insolent that he looked upon no man as free. But 
 in Plancus's debate he was strangely mortified ; 
 and after two days' contest was so roughly handled 
 by me, that he will be the modester, I dare say, 
 for the future. In the midst of our contention on 
 the nineteenth of April. I had letters delivered to 
 me in the senate from our friend Lentulus in Asia, 
 with an account of Cassius, the legions, and Syria, 
 which when I read presently in public, Servilius 
 sunk, and many more besides ; for there are some 
 of eminent rank who think most wickedly : but 
 Servilius was most sensibly chagrined, for the 
 senate's agreeing to my motion about Plancus. The 
 part which he acts is monstrous'." 
 
 The news wliich is mentioned in this letter to 
 have been sent by Lentulus, of Cassius' success, 
 was soon after confirmed by particular letters to 
 Cicero, from Brutus and Cassius themselves ; sig- 
 nifying, " that Cassius had possessed himself of 
 Syria before Dolabella had arrived there : that the 
 generals, L. Marcus and Q. Crispus had given up 
 their armies to him : that a separate legion under 
 Csecilius Bassus had submitted to him against the 
 will of their leader : that four other legions, sent 
 by Cleopatra from Egypt, to the assistance of 
 Dolabella, under his lieutenant Allienus, had all 
 declared for him :" and lest the first letter should 
 miscarry, as they often did, from such a distance, 
 by passing through the enemy's quarters, Cassius 
 sent him a second, with a more fall and distinct 
 account of aU particulars. 
 
 Cassius, Proconsul, to his friend AI. Cicero. 
 
 " If you are in health, it is a pleasure to me ; I 
 am also very well. I have read your letter in which 
 I perceived your wonderful affection for me ; for 
 you not only wish me well, which indeed you have 
 always done, both for my own sake and the 
 > Xd Brut. ii. 2.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 2GS 
 
 republic's, but entertain an uncommon concern and 
 solicitude for me. Wherefore, as I imagined, in 
 the first place, that you -would think it impossible 
 for lue to sit still and see the republic op])ressed ; 
 and in the second, that whenever you supposed me 
 to be in action, you would be solicitous about my 
 safety and success ; so, as soon as I was master of 
 the legions which Allienus brought from Egypt, I 
 immediately wrote to you, and sent several ex- 
 presses to Rome : I wrote letters also to the senate, 
 but forbade the delivery of them till they had been 
 first shown to you. If these letters have not 
 reached you, I make no doubt but that Dolabella, 
 who, by the wicked murder of Trebonius, is mas- 
 ter of Asia, has seized my messengers and inter- 
 cepted them. I have all the armies which were in 
 Syria under my command ; and having been forced 
 to sit still awhile, till I had discharged my pro- 
 mises to them, am now ready to take the field. I 
 beg of you to take my honour and interests under 
 your especial care : for you know that I have never 
 refused any danger or labour for the service of my 
 country : that by your advice and authority I took 
 arms against these infamous robbers . that I have 
 not only raised armies for the defence of the repub- 
 lic and our liberty, but have snatched them from 
 the hands of the most cruel tyrants ; which if Do- 
 labella had seized before me, he would have given 
 fresh spirit to Antony's cause, not only by the 
 approach, but by the very fame and expectation of 
 his troops : for which reasons take my soldiers, I 
 beseech you, under your protection, if you think 
 them to have deserved well of the state ; and let 
 none of them have reason to repent that they have 
 preferred the cause of the republic to the hopes of 
 plunder and rapine. Take care, also, as far as it 
 is in your power, that due honour be paid to the 
 emperors Murcus and Crispus : for Bassus was 
 miserably unwilling to deliver up his legion ; and 
 if his soldiers had not sent a deputation to nie in 
 spite of him, would have held out Apamea against 
 me, till it could be taken by force. I beg this of 
 you, not only for the sake of the republic, which of 
 all things was ever the dearest to you, but of our 
 friendship also, which I am confident has a great 
 weight with you. Take my word for it, the army 
 which I have is the senate's, and every honest 
 man's, and above all, yours : for by hearing perpe- 
 tually of your good disposition, they have conceived 
 a wonderful affection for you ; and when they come 
 >3 understand that you make their interests your 
 special care, they will think themselves indebted 
 to you for everything. Since I wrote this, I have 
 heard that Dolabella is come into Cilicia with all 
 his forces : I will follow him thither, and take care 
 That you shall soon be informed of what I have 
 ione. I wish only that my success may be answer- 
 able to my good intentions. Continue the care of 
 ^our health and your love to me™.'' 
 
 Brutus, who had sent this good news before to 
 Cicero, as well as to his mother and sister Tertia, 
 charged the latter not to make it public till they 
 nad first consulted Cicero, whether it was proper 
 to do so or not". He was afraid lest the great 
 prosperity of Cassius might give umbrage to the 
 Caesarian party, and raise a jealousy in the leaders 
 
 " Ep. Fam. xii. 12 ; it. ibid. 11. 
 
 " Ego scripsi ad Tertiam sororem et matrem, no prius 
 ederent hoc, quod optime ac felicissime gessit Cassius, 
 quam tuum consilium cognovissent. — Ad Brut. ii. 5. 
 
 who were acting against Antony, that the repub- 
 lican interest would grow too strong for them. 
 But Cicero sent him word, that the news waa 
 already known at Rome before his letters arrived ; 
 and though there was some ground for his appre- 
 hensions, yet on the whole they thought it more 
 advisable to publish than to suppress it°. 
 
 Thus Cicero, as he declared to the senate by his 
 letters, e.xpresses, and exhortations, was perpe- 
 tually exciting all who had power or command in 
 any part of the empire, to the common defence of 
 their libertyP ; and for his pains, had all the rage 
 and malice of the factious to struggle with at home. 
 These were particularly troublesome to him at this 
 time, by spreading false reports every day from 
 Modena, of Antony's success, or what was more 
 to be apprehended, of his union with the consuls 
 against D. Brutus ; which raised such a terror 
 through the city, that all honest men were prepar- 
 ing to run away to Brutus or (Cassius i. Cicero 
 however was not disheartened at it, but in the gene- 
 ral consternation appeared cheerful and easy ; and^ 
 as he sends word to Brutus, had a perfect confidence 
 in the consuls, while the majority of his friends 
 distrusted them ; and from the number and firm- 
 ness of their troops, had but little doubt of their 
 victory, if ever they came to a battle with Antony'. 
 But what touched him more sensibly was a story, 
 kept up for some days with great industry, that 
 he had formed a design to make himself master of 
 the city and declare himself dictator ; and would 
 appear publicly with the fasces within a day or 
 two. The report, as groundless as it was, seems 
 to have disturbed him ; but when Appuleius, the 
 tribune, one of his warm friends, was taking pains 
 to confute it, and justify him in a speech to the 
 people, they all cried out with one voice, that 
 Cicero had never done, nor designed to do any- 
 thing, but what was the best and most beneficial to 
 the republic*: this gave him some comfort; but 
 what brought him much greater was, the certain 
 news of a victory gained over Antony at Modena, 
 which arrived within a few hours after Appuleius's 
 speech'. 
 
 The siege of Modena, which lasted near four 
 months, was one of the most memorable in all 
 antiquity, for the vigour both of the attack and 
 the defence. Antony had invested it so closely and 
 posted himself so advantageously, that no succours 
 
 ° Video te veritum esse, id quod vorenduni fuit, ne 
 animi partium Csesaris — vehementer commoverentur. Sed 
 antequam tuas literas accepimus, audita res erat et per- 
 vulgata. — Ad Brut. ii. (>. 
 
 p Meis literis, meis nunciis, meis cohortationibus, omnes, 
 qui ubique essent, ad patriae praesidiuni excitatos. — Phil, 
 xiv. 7- 
 
 q Triduo vero aut quatriduo — timore quodam pcrculsa 
 civitas tota ad te se cum conjugibus et liberis eifundebat. 
 —Ad Brut. 3 ; Ep. Fam. xii. 8. 
 
 r Tristes enim de Bruto nostro liters, nunciique affere- 
 bantur, me quidem non maxime conturbabant. His enim 
 exercitibus, ducibusque quos habemus, nullo modo pote- 
 ram diffidere. Neque assentiebar majori parti hominum. 
 Fidcm enim consulum non condemnabam, quae suspecta 
 vehementer erat. Desiderabam nonnullis in rebus pru- 
 dentiam et celeritatem. — Ad Brut. ii. 1. 
 
 » Itaque P. Appuleius — doloris mei concionem babuit 
 maximam — in qua, cum me — liberare suspicione /ascium 
 vellet ; una voce cuncta concio declaravit, nihil esse a ma 
 unqunni derepublica nisi optime cogitatum. — Phil. xiv. 6. 
 
 ' Post hanc concionem duabus tribusve boris optatia- 
 simi nuntii et literx venerunt. — Ibid.
 
 270 
 
 THE HISTORV OF IHE LIFE OF 
 
 could be thrown into it ; and Brutus, though 
 reduced to the utmost straits, defended it still with 
 the greatest resolution. The old writers have 
 recorded some stratagems which are said to have 
 been put in practice on tiiis occasion : " how Hir- 
 tius provided men skilled in diving, with letters 
 written on lead, to pass into the tower under the 
 river which runs through it ; till Antony obstructed 
 that passage by nets and straps i)laced under water ; 
 which gave occasion to another contrivance, of 
 sending their intelligence backwards and forwards 
 by pigeons"." 
 
 Pansa was now upon the point of joining Hirtius 
 ■with four legions of new levies, which he brought 
 from Rome ; but when he was advanced within a 
 few miles of Hirtius's camp, Antony privately 
 drew out some of his best troops, with design to 
 surprise him on the road before that union, and to 
 draw him, if possible, to an engagement against 
 his will. We have a particular account of the 
 action, in a letter to Cicero from Ser. Galba, one 
 of the conspirators against CiEsar, who bore a 
 principal part and command in it. 
 
 Galba to Cicero. 
 " On the fifteenth of April, the day on which 
 Pansa was to arrive in Hirtius's camp, (in whose 
 company I was, for I went a hundred miles to 
 meet him, on purpose to hasten his march) Antony 
 drew out two of his legions, the second and thirty- 
 fifth, and two prsetorian cohorts ; the one liis own, 
 the other Silanus's, with part of the Evocati'', and 
 came forward towards us, imagining that we had 
 nothing but four legions of new levies. But in the 
 night, to secure our march to the camp, Hirtius 
 had sent us the Martial legion which I used to 
 command, and two prsetorian cohorts. As soon as 
 Antony's horse appeared in sight, neither the 
 ^Martial legion nor the praetorian cohorts could be 
 restrained from attacking them ; so that when we 
 could not hold them in, we were obliged to follow 
 them against our wills. Antony kept his forces 
 within Castel-Francoy ; and being unwilling to have 
 it known that he had his legions with him, showed 
 only his horse and light-armed foot. When Pansa 
 saw the Martial legion running forward against 
 his orders, he commanded two of the new-raised 
 legions to follow him. As soon as we got through 
 the straits of the morass and the woods, we drew 
 up the twelve cohorts in order of battle. The 
 other two legions were not yet come up. Antony 
 immediately brought all his troops out of the village 
 ranged likewise in order of battle, and without 
 delay engaged us. At first they fought so briskly 
 on both sides, that nothing could possibly be 
 fiercer : though the right wing, in which I was, 
 with eight cohorts of the Martial legion, put An- 
 tony's thirty-fifth legion to flight at the first onset, 
 and pursued it above five hundred paces from the 
 place where the acti on began : wherefore observing 
 
 « Frontin. De Stratagem, iii. 13 ; Plin. Hist. Nat. x. 37 
 Dio, p. 315. 
 
 ^ The evocati were a choice body of veteran soldiers, 
 who, after their dismission from service, being yet vigorous 
 and fit for war, were invited to it again, as a sort of volun- 
 teers, by the consul or general, and distinguished from the 
 rest by peculiar privileges. 
 
 TAdForum Gallorum: now calledCashl-Franco, asmM 
 village on theJEmilian-way between ModenaandBologiia. 
 — Cluver. Ital. Ant. 1. i. c. 28. 
 
 the enemy's horse attempting to surround our 
 wing, I began to retreat, and ordered the light- 
 armed troops to make head against the Moorish 
 Iiorse, and prevent their coming upon us behind. 
 In the meanwhile I perceived myself in the midst 
 of Antony's men, and Antony himself but a little 
 way behind me : upon which, with my shield thrown 
 over my shoulder, I pushed on my horse with all 
 speed towards the new legion that was coming to- 
 wards us from the camp : and whilst Antony's men 
 were pursuing me, and ours by mistake throwing 
 javelins at me, 1 was preserved, I know not how, 
 by being presently known to our soldiers. Caesar's 
 l>raetorian coliort sustained the fight a long time 
 on the yEmilian road : but our left wing, which 
 was the weaker, consisting of two cohorts of the 
 Martial legion, and the praetorian of Hirtius, began 
 to give ground, being surrounded by Antony's 
 horse, in which he is very strong. When all our 
 ranks had made good their retreat, I retreated 
 myself the last to our camp. Antony, as the con- 
 queror, fancied that he could take it; but upon 
 trial lost many of his men in the attempt, without 
 being able to do us any hurt. Hirtius in the mean 
 time, hearing of the engagement, marched out 
 with twenty veteran cohorts, and meeting Antony 
 on his return, entirely routed and put to flight his 
 whole army, in the very same place where they 
 had fought before at Castel- Franco. About ten 
 at night Antony regained his camp at Modena, 
 with all his horse. Hirtius retired to that camp 
 which Pansa had quitted in the morning, and where 
 he left the two legions which Antony attacked. 
 Thus Antony has lost the greater part of his 
 veteran troops, yet not without some loss of our 
 prajtorian cohorts and the Martial legion : we took 
 two of Antony's eagles and sixty standards, and 
 have gained a considerable advantage^." 
 
 Besides this letter from Galba, there came letters 
 also severally, from the two consuls and Octavius, 
 confirming the other account, with the addition 
 of some farther particulars : that Pansa, fighting 
 bravely at the head of his troops, had received two 
 dangerous wounds, and was carried off the field to 
 Bologna: that Hirtius had scarce lost a single man: 
 and that to animate his soldiers the better, he took 
 up the eagle of the fourth legion and carried it 
 forward himself : that Ctesar was left to the guard 
 of their camp ; where he was attacked likewise by 
 another body of the enemy, whom he repulsed 
 with great loss^ Antony reproached him after- 
 wards with running away from this engagement in 
 such a fright, that he did not appear again till two 
 days after, and without hi^ horse or general's 
 habit : but the account just^bientioned was given 
 by Cicero from letters that were read to the senate, 
 in which Hirtius declared him to have acted with 
 the greatest courage ''. 
 
 « Ep. Fam. x. 30. 
 
 » Cum— ipse in primis Pansa pugnaret, duobus pericu- 
 losis vulneribus acoeptis, sublatus e prselio.— Phil. xiv. 9. 
 
 Hirtius ipse, aquilam quarts? legionis cum inferret, qua 
 nullius pulchriorem speciem imperatoris accepimus, cum 
 tribus Antonii legionibus, equitatuque conflixit Ibid. 10. 
 
 Cajsar — adolescens maximi animi, ut verissime scribit 
 Hirtius, castra multarum legionum paucis cohortibua 
 tutatus est, secundumque pra^lium fecit. — Ibid. ; Appian. 
 iii. .i71. 
 
 b Priore praelio Antonius eum fugisse scribit, ac sine 
 paludamento equoque post biduum demum apparuisse.— 
 Suet. in. Aug. 10.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 'I 
 
 The news reached Rome on the twentieth of 
 April, where it raised an incredible joy ; and the 
 greater, we may imagine, for the late terrors which 
 they had suffered from contrary reports. The 
 whole body of the people assembled presently 
 about Cicero's house, and carried him in a kind of 
 triumph to the capitol, whence, on their return, 
 they placed him in the rostra to give them an 
 account of the victory ; and then conducted him 
 home with infinite acclamations : so that in a letter 
 upon it to 15rutus, he says, that he reaped on that 
 day the fad fruit of all his toils, if there be any 
 fruit in true and solid glory i^. 
 
 The day following the senate was summoned 
 by M. Cornutus, the praetor, to deliberate on the 
 letters of the consuls and Octavius. Servilius's 
 opinion was, " that the city should now quit the 
 sagum, and take the common gown again ; and 
 that a public thanksgiving should be decreed jointly 
 to the honour of the consuls and Octavius. Cicero 
 spoke next, and declared strongly against quitting 
 the sagum, till D. Brutus was first delivered from 
 the siege ; that it would be ridiculous to jiut it off 
 till they should see him in safety, for whose sake 
 they had put it on ; that the motion for quitting it 
 flowed from envy to D. Brutus : to deprive him of 
 the glory that it would be to his name, to have it 
 delivered to posterity that the people of Rome 
 had put on the sagum for the danger, and resumed 
 the gown for the preservation of one citizen. He 
 advised them therefore to continue in their former 
 mind, of thinking the whole danger and stress of 
 the war to depend on D. Brutus, and though there 
 •was reason to hope that he was already safe, or 
 •would shortly be so, yet they should reserve the 
 fruit of that hope to fact and the event, lest they 
 should be found too hasty in snatching the favour 
 of the gods, or fooHsh in contemning the power 
 of fortune''." Then as to the decree of the thanks- 
 giving, he urges Servilius with omitting two things 
 in his vote, which ought necessarily to have accom- 
 panied it : the giving Antony the title of enemy, 
 and their own generals, of emperors. " The swords 
 of our soldiers are dyed," says he, " or rather 
 moistened oidy as yet, with blood ; if it was the 
 blood of enemies, it was an act of the utmost piety : 
 if of citizens, the most detestable wickedness ; how 
 long then shall he, who has outdone all enemies 
 in villany, go without the name of enemy .' He 
 is now waging an inexpiable war with four consuls, 
 with the senate and people of Rome ; denounces, 
 plagues, devastation, the rack and tortures to us 
 all : confesses that Dolabella's horrid act, which 
 no barbarians would own, was done by his advice : 
 declares what he would have done to this city, by 
 the calamity of the people of Parma; honest and 
 excellent men, firm to the interests of the senate 
 and people, whom L. Antony, the portent and dis- 
 grace of his species, put to death by all the methods 
 of cruelty"^." That Hannibal was never so barba- 
 rous to any city, as Antony to Parma. He conjures 
 them to remember how much they had all been 
 terrified for two days past by villanous reports 
 
 c Cum hestcrno die me ovantem ac prope triumphantera 
 popuhis Ilomanus in Capitolium domo tulerit ? domum 
 inde reduxerit. — Phil. xiv. 5. 
 
 Quo quidem die magnorum meorunilaborum, — fructum 
 cepi maximum ; si modo est aliquis fruetus ox solida 
 veraque gloria, &c. — Ad Brut. 3. 
 
 d PhiL xiv. I, 2. e Ibid. 3. 
 
 spread about the city, and were expecting either a 
 wretched death or lamentable flight, and could 
 they scruple to call those men enemies, from whom 
 they feared such dreadful things .' He then jiro- 
 posed to enlarge the number of days of the thanks- 
 giving, since it was not to be decreed to one, but 
 to three generals jointly ; to whom, in the first 
 place, he would give the title of emperors, since 
 there had not been a supplication decreed without 
 it for twenty years past, so that Servilius should 
 not either have decreed it at all, or allowed the 
 usual honour to those, to whom even new and 
 unusual honours were due '. That if, according 
 to the present custom, the title of emperor was 
 commonly given for killing a thousand or two of 
 Spaniards, Gauls, or Thracians, how could they 
 refuse it now when so many legions were routed, 
 and such a multitude slain .' for with what honours, 
 (says he) and congratulations, should our deliverers 
 themselves be received into this temple, when yes- 
 terday, on the account of what they have done, 
 the people of Rome carried me into the capitol in 
 a kind of triumjjh ? for that, after all, is a just 
 and real triumph, when, by the general voice of 
 the city, a public testimony is given to those who 
 have deserved well of the commonwealth. For if, 
 in the common joy of the whole city, they congra- 
 tulated me singly, it is a great declaration of their 
 judgment : if they thanked me, still greater : if 
 both, nothing can be imagined more glorious ; 
 that he was forced to say so much of himself 
 against his will, by the strange envy and injuries 
 which he had lately suffered : that the insolence 
 of the factious, as they all knew, had raised a 
 report and suspicion upon him, of his aiming at a 
 tyranny, though his whole life had been spent in 
 defending the republic from it ; as if he, who had 
 destroyed Catiline for that very crime, was of a 
 sudden become a Catiline himself^'. That if the 
 report had found credit in the city, their design 
 was, by a sudden assault upon his person, as upon 
 a tyrant, to have taken away his life. That the 
 thing itself was manifest, and the whole affair 
 should be laid open in proper time. That he had 
 said all this not to purge himself to them, to 
 whom he should be sorry to Want an apology, but 
 to admonish certain persons of jejune and narrow 
 minds, to look upon the virtue of excellent citi- 
 zens as the object of their imitation, not of their 
 envy, since the republic was a wide field, where 
 the course of glory was open to many*". That if 
 any man contested with him the first place in the 
 government, he acted foolishly, if he meant to do 
 it by opposing vice to virtue : that as the race was 
 gained by running the fastest, so virtue was only 
 to be conquered by a superior virtue ; that they 
 could never get the better of him by bad votes — 
 by good ones perhaps they might — and he himself 
 should be glad of it : that the people of Rome 
 were perpetually inquiring, how men of their 
 rank voted and acted } and formed their judg- 
 ment of them accordingly. That they all remem- 
 bered, how in December last he was the author 
 of the first step towards recovering their liberty; 
 how from the 1st of January he had been conti- 
 nually watching over the safety of the common- 
 wealth : how his house and his ears were open 
 day and night to the advices and informations of 
 
 f PhiL xiT. 4. 
 
 e Ibid. 5. 
 
 l> Ibid. 6.
 
 272 
 
 THK HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 all who came to liim. How his opinion always 
 was, against an embassy to Antony : how he had 
 always voted him an enemy, and their present 
 state, a war, but as oft as he mentioned an enemy or 
 a war, the consuls had always dropped his motion, 
 from the number of those that were proposed ', 
 which could not however be done in the present 
 case, because he, who had already voted a thanks- 
 giving, had imwarily voted Antony an enemy, 
 since a thanksgiving had never been decreed but 
 against enemies, and never asked or granted in 
 ■what was properly a civil war : that they should 
 either have denied it, or must of course decree 
 those to be enemies, for whose defeat it was 
 granted." Then after flourishing on the particular 
 merit of the three generals, Pansa, Ilirtriis, Octa- 
 vius ; and showing how well they had each 
 deserved the name of emperor, he decrees a 
 thanksgiving of fifty days in the name of the three 
 jointly ''. In the last place, he proceeds to 
 speak of the rewards due to the soldiers, and 
 especially of the honours to be paid to those who 
 liad lost their lives in the defence of their country. 
 For these he proposes " a splendid monument to 
 be erected in common to them all, at the public 
 charge, with their names and services inscribed;" 
 and in recommending it, breaks out into a kind 
 of funeral eulogium upon them : — " O haj)py 
 death," says he, " which when due to nature, was 
 paid to your country ! for I cannot but look upon 
 you as born for your country, whose name is even 
 derived from Mars : as if the same god who gave 
 birth to this city, for the good of nations, had 
 given birth also to you, for the good of this city. 
 Death in flight is scandalous : in victory, glorious ; 
 wherefore whilst those impious wretches, whom 
 you slew, will suffer the puaishment of their par- 
 ricide in the infernal regions ; you, who breathed 
 your last in victory, have obtained the place and 
 seat of the pious. The life given to us by nature 
 is short, but the memory of a life well spent, 
 everlasting. If it were not longer than this life, 
 ■who would be so mad, at the expense of the 
 greatest pains and dangers, to contend for the 
 prize of glory ? Your lot therefore is happy, O 
 you, while you lived, the bravest, now the holiest 
 of soldiers ; for the fame of your virtue can never 
 be lost, either by the forgetfulness of those who 
 are now alive, or the silence of those who shall 
 come hereafter ; since the senate and people of 
 Rome have raised to you, as it were with their own 
 hands, an immortal monument. There have been 
 many great and famous armies in the Punic, 
 Gallic, Italic wars ; yet no such honour was ever 
 done to any of them. I wish that we could still 
 do greater, since you have done the greatest ser- 
 ices to us ; you drove Antony mad with rage, 
 from the city : you repulsed him, when he 
 attempted to return. A fabric therefore shall 
 be erected of magnificent work, and letters 
 engraved upon it, the eternal witnesses of your 
 divine virtue ; nor will those who see or hear of 
 your monument, ever cease talking of you : so 
 that, instead of this frail and mortal condition of 
 life, you have now acquired an immortality'." He 
 then renews their former assurances to the old 
 legions, " of the full and punctual payment of aU 
 •which had been promised to them, as soon as the 
 
 • Phil. xiv. 7. 
 » Ibid. 12. 
 
 k lbi(1.8, 9, 10, 11. 
 
 war should be over ;" and for those, in the mean 
 time, who had lost their lives for their country, 
 he proposes that " the same rewards which would 
 have been given to them if they had lived, sliould 
 be given immediately to their parents, children, 
 wives or brothers." All which he includes, as 
 usual, in the form of a decree, which was ratified 
 by the senate. 
 
 Antony being cruelly mortified by this defeat, 
 kept himself close within his camp, and resolved 
 to hazard nothing farther, but to act only on the 
 defensive ; except by harassing the enemy with his 
 horse, in which he was far superior. Me still hoped 
 to make himself master of Modena, which was 
 reduced to extremity, and, by the strength of his 
 works, to prevent their throwing any relief into it. 
 Hirtiusand Octavius, on the other hand, elate with 
 victory, were determined at all hazards to rt-lieve it : 
 and after two or three days spent in finding the 
 most likely place of breaking through the entrench- 
 ments, they made their attack with such vigour, 
 that Antony, rather than suffer the town to be 
 snatched at last out of his hands, chose to draw 
 out his legions, and come to a general battle. The 
 fight was bloody and obstinate, and Antony's men, 
 though obliged to give ground, bravely disputed 
 every inch of it : till D. Brutus, taking the oppor- 
 tunity at the same time to sally out of the town at 
 the head of his garrison, helped greatly to deter- 
 mine and complete the victory. Hirtius pushed 
 his advantage with great spirit, and forced his 
 way into Antony's camp ; but when he had gained 
 the middle of it, was unfortunately killed near 
 the general's tent. Pontius Aquila, one of the 
 consjjirators, was killed likewise in the same 
 place : but Octavius, who followed to support 
 them, made good their attempt, and kept pos- 
 session of the camp, with the entire defeat and 
 destruction of Antony's best troops : while Antony 
 himself, with all his horse, fled with great precipi- 
 tation towards the Alps. Some writers give a 
 different relation of this action, but from the facts 
 and circumstances of it delivered by Cicero, this 
 appears to be the genuine account. The consul 
 Pansa died the day following of his wounds at 
 Bologna"". 
 
 SECTION XI. 
 
 The entire defeat of Antony's army made all 
 people presently imagine, that the war was at an 
 
 end, and the liberty of Rome esta- 
 *• "*"*• ?''^' blished, which would probably have 
 
 been the case, if Antony had cither 
 perished in the action, or the consuls survived it. 
 But the death of the consuls, though not felt so 
 sensibly at first, in the midst of their joy for the 
 victory, gave the fatal blow to all Cicero's schemes, 
 and was the immediate cause of the ruin of the 
 republic*. Hirtius was a man of letters and polite- 
 
 ™ Cum alia laudo, et gaudeo accidisse, turn quod Bruti 
 eruptio non solum ipsi salutaris fuit, sed etiam maximo 
 ad viptori;im adjumento. — Ad Brut. 4. 
 
 Ibi Hirtium quoque perilsse et Pentium Aquilatn, &c. — 
 Ep. Fam. x. 33 ; it. Ep. Fam. xi. 13 ; Appian. 1. 3. p. 372. 
 
 a Hirtium quidem et Pansam — In consulatu reipublicas 
 salutares, alieno sane tempore amisimus. — Ep.Fara. xii. 2i 
 
 Pansa amisso, quantum detrinienti respublica acceperit, 
 non te praeterit. TEp. Fam. xi. 9.] Quanto sit in pericul*
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 273 
 
 Tiess, intima'Lely entrusted with Caesar's counsels, 
 and employed to write his acts ; but as he was the 
 proper creature of Caesar, and strongly infected with 
 party, so his views were all bent on supporting the 
 power that had raised him, and serving his patron, 
 not the public. In the beginning therefore of the 
 civil war, when he was tribune of the people, lie 
 jiublished a law to exclude all who were in arms with 
 Pompey from any employment or office in the 
 state'' ; which made him particularly obnoxious to 
 the Pompeians, who considered him as their most 
 inveterate enemy. Pansa, whose father had been 
 proscribed by Sylla"^, was attached v/ith e(iual zeal 
 to Cnesar, as to the head and reviver of the Marian 
 cause, and served him in all his wars with singular 
 affection and fidelity : he was a gruve, sincere, and 
 worthy man ; and being naturally more moderate 
 and benevolent than Hirtius, was touched with the 
 ruin of his countr)-, and the miseries of the op- 
 pressed Pompeians ; many of whom he relieved 
 by his humanity, and restored by his interest to 
 the city and their estates ''. This made him very 
 popular, and gained him the esteem of all the 
 honest : so that Cassius, in defending his Epicu- 
 rism to Cicero, alleges Pansa as an example of 
 those genuine Epicureans, who placed their 
 pleasure or chief good in virtuous acts '^. Be- 
 fore their entrance into the consulshij), Quintus 
 Cicero gave a most wretched account of them 
 both ; " as of a lewd, luxurious pair, not fit to be 
 trusted with the command of a paltry tovra, much 
 less of the empire ;" and says, that " if tliey were 
 not removed from the helm, the republic would 
 certainly be lost ; since Antony would easily draw 
 them into a partnership of his crimes ; for when he 
 served with them in Gavd, he had seen incredible 
 instances of their effeminacy and debauchery, in 
 the face even of the enemy ^." But we must 
 charge a great part of this character to the peevish- 
 ness and envy of Quintus : for whatever they had 
 heen before, they were certainly good consuls ; 
 and out of their affection to Cicero, and regard to 
 his authority, governed themselves generally in all 
 great affairs by his maxims. They were persuaded 
 that the design of revenging Caesar's death would 
 throw the republic again into convulsions, and 
 flowed from no other motive than the ambition of 
 possessing Caesar's place, and resolved therefore 
 to quell by open force all attempts against the 
 public peace. From their long adherence to 
 Caesar, they retained indeed some prejudices in 
 favour of that party, and were loath to proceed to 
 extremities, till pacific measures v.'ere found inef- 
 fectual. This gave Cicero some reason to blame, 
 but never to distrust them ; to complain of their 
 
 respublica quani potero brevissime exponam. Primum 
 oninium, quantom pertiirbationem rerum urbanarum 
 afFerat obitiis consulum, &;c. — Ep. Fam. x. 
 
 •> Neminem Pompeianum qui vivat tenere lege Hirtia 
 dignitates.' — Phil. xiii. 16. 
 
 <•■ Rio, 1. xlv. 278. 
 
 'I Pansa, gravis homo et certus. — Ep. Fam. vi. 12. 
 
 Quod multos miseriis levavit, et quod se in his malis 
 houiinem pra>buit, mirabilis eum virorum bonorum bene- 
 volentia prosecuta est. — Ep.Facn. xv. 17. 
 
 <^ It.ique et Pansa, qui riSovrjv sequitur, virtutem reti- 
 net, ic.— Ibid. 19. 
 
 ' Quos ego penitus novi libldinum et languoris effemina- 
 tissimi animi plcnos : qui nisi a gubernaculis recesserint, 
 maximum ab universo naufragio periculum est, &c. — Ep. 
 Fam. xvi. 27- 
 
 phlegm and want of vigour, as detrimental to the 
 common cause : yet while they were generally 
 suspected by others, he always thought them 
 sincere, though they did not in all cases act up 
 to his wi.shes. The event confirmed his judgment 
 of tliem : for they both not only exposed, but lost 
 their lives with the greatest courage in the defence 
 of the republic ; and showed themselves to be the 
 very men which Cicero had constantly affirmed 
 them to be ; and though he imputes some little 
 blame to Hirtius, yet of Pansa he declares, " that 
 he wanted neither courage from the first, nor 
 fidelity to the last?." 
 
 If they had lived to reap the fruits of their vic- 
 tory, their power and authority would have been 
 sufficient to restrain Octavius within the bounds of 
 his duty, and sustain the tottering republic till 
 Brutus and Cassius could arrive to their assist- 
 ance ; and Plancus and I). Brutus unite themselves 
 in the same cause, and give it a firm establishment 
 in their consulship of the next year ; all whose 
 armies, together with the African legions, were 
 far superior to any force that could have been 
 brought against them. But the death of the two 
 consuls placed Octavius at once above control, 
 by leaving him the master of both their armies ; 
 especially of all the veterans, who were disaffected 
 to D. Brutus, and could not be induced to follow 
 him ; and it fell out so lucky and apposite to all 
 Octavius's views, as to give birth to a general per- 
 suasion, that they had received foul play, and were 
 both of them killed by his contrivance : for he was 
 observed to be the first man who took up Hirtius's 
 body in the camp, where some imagined him to 
 have been killed by his own soldiers ; and Pansa's 
 physician, Glyco, was actually thrown into prison 
 by Torquatus, Pansa's quaestor, upon a suspicion 
 of having poisoned his wounds''. But the chief 
 ground of that notion seems to have lain in the 
 fortunate coincidence of the fact with the interests 
 of Octavius : for M. Brutus thought it incredible, 
 and in the most pressing manner begged of Cicero 
 to procure Glyco's enlargement, and protect him 
 from any harm, as being a worthy, modest man, 
 incapable of such a villa ny ; and who, of all others, 
 suffered the greatest loss by Pansa's death'. 
 
 g Quales tibi ssepe scripsi consules, tales cxtiterunt. 
 [Ad Brut. 3.] Erat in senatu satis vehemens et acer 
 Pansa; cum in caeteros hujus generis, turn maxima in 
 soceruni ; cui consul! non animus ab initio, nou fides ad 
 extremum defuit. Bellum ad JIutinain gerebatur ; nihil 
 ut in Ccesare reprehenderes, nonnulla in llirtio. — Ibid. 10. 
 
 N.B. Several medals were struck by the senate on the 
 occasion of this victory ; particularly one in iionour of 
 Pansa, exhibiting the head of the Goddess Liberty, crowned 
 witli laurel, and the inscription, Libert atis ; and on the 
 reverse, Rome sitting upon the spoils of enemies, holding 
 a spear in her right hand, and a dagger in her left, witli 
 her foot upon the globe, and victoi-y flying towards her to 
 crown her with laurel ; and the inscription, — C. Pansa. 
 C.F.C.N.— See Blorel. Fam. Rom. 
 
 h Rumor increbuit, ambos opera ejus occisos : ut Anto- 
 nio fiigato, republiea consulibus orbata, solus victores 
 exercitus occuparet. Pansae quidem adeo suspecta mors 
 fuit, ut Glyco medicus custoditus sit, quasi venenum vul- 
 neri indidisset. — Suet, in Aug. 11; Die, 1. xlrl. 317: 
 Appian. p. 57^. 
 
 » Tibi Glycona medicum Pansse— diligentissime com- 
 mendo ; audimus eumvenisse in siispicioncr.i Torquato de 
 morte Pansre, custodirique ut parricidani. Nihil minus 
 
 credendum, ie Rogo te et quidem valde rogo, eripias 
 
 eum ex custodia. — Ad Brut. 6. 
 T
 
 274 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Cicoro was soon aware of the dangerous turn 
 which this event was likely to give to their affairs ; 
 and within a day or two after the news, intimates 
 his apprehension of it to Brutus : " Young Caesar," 
 says he, " has a wonderful disposition to virtue ; I 
 •wish that I may govern him as easily, in all this 
 lieight of honour and power, as I have hitherto 
 done : the thing is now much harder ; yet I do 
 not despair of it : for the youth is persuaded, and 
 chiefly by me, that we owe our present safety to 
 liim : and in truth, if he had not at first driven 
 Antony from the city, all had been lost''." Hut 
 iis he found Octavius grow daily more and more 
 untractable, so he began to exhort and implore 
 Brutus, in every letter, to bring his army into 
 Italy, as the only thing which could save them in 
 their present circumstances : and to enforce his 
 own authority, he procured a vote also of the 
 senate, to call him home with his legions to the 
 defence of the republic'. 
 
 At Rome, however, the general rejoicings stifled 
 all present attention to the loss of their consuls ; 
 and Antony's friends were so dejected for some 
 time, that they gave Cicero no more opposition in 
 the senate ; where he poured out all imaginable 
 honours on the deceased, Hirtius, Pansa, and 
 Aquila, decreed an ovation to Caesar, and added a 
 i\umber of days to their thanksgiving in honour of 
 D. Brutus ; whose deliverance happening to fall upon 
 his birth-day, he decreed likewise that his name 
 should be ascribed ever after to that day in the fasti 
 or public calendars, for a perpetual memorial of 
 the victory. Antony's adherents were also declared 
 enemies : in which number Servilius himself in- 
 cluded Ventidius ; and moved, to give Cassius the 
 command of the war against Dolabella ; to whom 
 Cicero joined Brutus, in case that he should find it 
 useful to the republic"'. 
 
 The decree of an ovation to Octavius was blamed 
 by Brutus and his friends"; yet seems to have 
 been wisely and artfully designed : for while it 
 carried an appearance of honour, it would regularly 
 have stripped him of his power if he had made use 
 of it : since his commission was to expire of course, 
 and his army to be dissolved upon his first entrance 
 into the city : but the confusion of the times made 
 laws and customs of little efl"ect with those who had 
 the power to dispense with them. 
 
 The commanders abroad were so struck with 
 Antony's defeat, that they redoubled their assur- 
 ances to Cicero of their firmness and zeal for the 
 common cause. Lepidus especially, who had 
 
 k Caesaris vero pueri mirifica indoles virtutis. Ulinam 
 tani facile eum florentem et honoribus et gratia regere ac 
 tenere possimus, ut adliuc tenuimus ! est omnino illud 
 diffieilius : sed non diffidimus. Persuasuni est cnini ado- 
 lescenti, et maxima per me, ejus opera nos esse salvos : et 
 certe, nisi is Antonium ab urbe avertisset, periissent 
 omnia. — Ad Brut. 3. 
 
 ' Te, cognita senatus auctoritate, in Italiam adducere 
 exercitum : quod ut faceres, idque inaturares, magnoperc 
 desiderabat respublica. — Ad Brut. 10. 
 
 "^ A.D. V. Kalend. Maias cum de lis, qui liostes judicati 
 sunt, bello persequendis, sententiae dieerentur, dixit 
 Servilius etiam de Ventidio, et ut Cassius persequeretur 
 Dolabellam. Cui cum essem assensus, decrevi hoc amplius, 
 ut tu, si arbitrarere utile — persequerere bello Dolabellam, 
 &c.— Ad Brut, a ; it. 15. 
 
 " Suspicor illud minus tibi probari, quod ab tuis famili- 
 aribus — non probatur, quod ut ovanti introire Cffsari lice- 
 ret, decreverim.— Ad Brut. 15. 
 
 auff'ered two of his lieutenants, Silanus and Culleo. 
 to carry succours to Antony at Modena, labours 
 to excuse it in a civil and humble strain, and to 
 persuade Cicero, " That they had done it against 
 his orders ; and though, for their former relation 
 to him, he was unwilling to ])unish them with the 
 last severity, yet he had not since employed them, 
 or received them even into his cam)). He acquaints 
 him that Antony was arrived in his province with 
 one legion, and a great multitude of men unarmed, 
 but with all his horse, which was very strong ; and 
 that Ventidius had joined him with three legions : 
 that he was marching out against him with all his 
 forces ; and that many of Antony's horse and foot 
 daily deserted him : that for himself, he would 
 never be wanting in his duty to the senate and the 
 republic ; thanks him for not giving credit to 
 the false reports which were spread of him : and 
 above all, for the late honours that he had decreed 
 to him ; begs him to expect everything from him 
 which could be expected from an honest man, and 
 to take him under his special protection"." 
 
 PoUio still more explicitly, " That there was no 
 time now for loitering, or expecting the orders of 
 the senate ; that all who wished to ])reserve the 
 empire, and the very name of the Roman people, 
 ought to lend their present help ; that nothing 
 was more dangerous than to give Antony leisure to- 
 recollect himself; that for his part, he would 
 neither desert nor survive the republic ; was grieved 
 only for his being at such a distance that he could 
 not come so soon as he wished to its reliefs," &c. 
 
 Plancus sent word, " That he was taking all 
 possible care to oppress Antony, if he came into 
 that country ; that if he came without any con- 
 siderable body of troops, he should be able to give 
 a good account of him, though he should be re- 
 ceived by Lepidus ; or if he brought any force with 
 him, would undertake that he should do no harm 
 in those parts till they could send him succours 
 sufficient to destroy him ; that he was then in a 
 treaty with Lepidus, about uniting their forces in 
 the same cause, by the mediation of Laterensis 
 and Furnius ; nor would be hindered by his private 
 quarrel to the man, from concurring with his 
 greatest enemy in the service of the common- 
 wealth i." In another letter he speaks with great 
 contempt of "Antony's shattered forces, though 
 joined with those of Ventidius, the mule-driver (as 
 he calls him) ; and is confident, that if he could 
 have met with them, they would not have stood an 
 hour before him'." 
 
 The conquerors at Modena were much censured 
 in the mean time for giving Antony leisure to 
 escape : but Octavius, from the beginning, had no 
 tlioughts of pursuing him : he had already gained 
 what he aimed at ; had reduced Antony's power so 
 low, and raised his own so high, as to be in con- 
 dition to make his own terms with him in the 
 partition of the empire, of which he seems to have 
 formed the plan from this moment : whereas if 
 Antony had been wholly destroyed, together with 
 the consuls, the republican party would have pro- 
 bably been too strong for him and Lepidus, who, 
 though master of a good army, was certainly a 
 
 o Ep. Fam. x. 34. P Ibid. 33. 1 Ibid. xi. 
 
 ^ Mihi enim si contigissot, ut prior occurrerem Antonio, 
 non mehercule horam constitisset : tantum ego et mihi ■ 
 contido, et sicperculsas illius copias, Ventidiique mulionis- 
 castra despicio. — Ibid. 18.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 275 
 
 weak general* : when he was pressed therefore to 
 pursue Antony, he contrived still to delay it, till it 
 was too late, taking himself to be more usefully 
 employed in securing to his interests the troops of 
 the consuls. 
 
 Cicero was particularly disgusted at Antony's 
 escape ; and often expostulates upon it with 
 D. Brutus : he tells him, " That if Antony should 
 ever re-jover strength again, all his great services 
 to the republic would come to nothing. It was 
 reported (says he) at Rome, and all people believed 
 it, that he was fled with a few unarmed, dispirited 
 men, and himself almost brokenhearted : but if it 
 he so with him, as I hear it is, that you cannot 
 fight him again without danger ; he does not seem 
 to have fled from Modena, hut to have changed 
 only the seat of the war. Wherefore men are now 
 quite different from what they were : some even 
 complain that you did not pursue him, and think 
 that he might have been destroyed if dihgence had 
 been used : such is the temper of people, and, 
 above all, of ours, to abuse their liberty against 
 those by whom they obtained it : it is your part, 
 however, to take care that there be no real ground 
 of complaint. The truth of the case is, he who 
 oppresses Antony, puts an end to the war. What 
 the force of that is it is better for you to consider, 
 than for me to write more explicitly'." 
 
 D. Brutus in his ansv^er gives him the reasons 
 why he could not follow Antony so soon as he 
 wished: " I had no horse," says he; "no car- 
 riages ; did not know that Hirtius was killed ; had 
 no confidence in Caesar before I met and talked 
 with him ; thus the first day passed. The next 
 morning early I was sent for by Pansa to Bologna, 
 but on the road met with an account of his death : 
 I ran back to my little army, for so I may truly 
 call it ; it is extremely reduced, and in sad con- 
 dition for want of all things : so that Antony- 
 gained two days of me, and made much greater 
 journeys in flying than I could in pursuing ; for 
 his troops went straggHng, mine in order. Wherever 
 he passed, he opened all the prisons, carried away 
 the men, and stopped nowhere till he came to the 
 Fords. This place lies between the Apennine and 
 the Alps, a most difficult country to march 
 through. When I was thirty miles from him, and 
 Ventidius had already joined him, a copy of his 
 speech was brought to me, in which he begs of his 
 soldiers to follow him across the Alps ; and declares 
 that he acted in concert with Lepidus : but the 
 soldiers cried out, especially those of Ventidius, 
 for he has very few of his own, that they wo'jJd 
 either conquer or perish in Italy ; and began to 
 Deg that he would go to PoUentia : when he could 
 not overrule thera, he put off his march to the next 
 day. Upon this intelligence, I presently sent five 
 cohorts before me to Pollentia, and followed them 
 myself with the army : my detachment came to 
 the place an hour before Trebellius, with Antony's 
 horse : this gave me an exceeding joy, for I esteem 
 it equal to a victory,"" &c. 
 
 In another letter he says, " That if Caesar would 
 have been persuaded by him to cross the Apen- 
 nine, he could have reduced Antony to such straits 
 that he must have been destroyed by want rather 
 th an the sw ord : but that they could neither com- 
 ' Cum et Lepido omncs imperatores forent meliores, et 
 niultis Antonius, dum crat sobiiiis —Veil. Pat. ii. 63. 
 ' Ep, Fam. xi. 12. u ibid. 13. 
 
 mand Caesar, nor Caesar his own troops ; both 
 which circumstances were very bad^," &c. This 
 authentic account from D. Brutus confutes two 
 facts, which are delivered by an old historian, and 
 generally received by all the moderns ; first, that 
 Octavius, after the victory, refused to have any 
 conference with D. Brutus ; and that Brutus, for 
 that reason, forbade him to enter his province, or 
 to pursue Antony : secondly, that Pansa, in his 
 last moments, sent for Octavius, and advised him 
 to a union with Antony against the .senate''. Fov 
 it is evident, that on the very day of the victory, 
 there was actually a conference between the two 
 first, which passed in so amicable a manner as to 
 ease Brutus of the jealousy whicli he had before 
 conceived of Octavius : and Pansa's death hap- 
 pened so early the next morning, that it left no 
 room for the pretended advice and speech which 
 is made for him to Octavius; especially since it 
 appears on the contrary, that instead of Octavius, 
 Pansa really sent for D. Brutus, when he found 
 himself dying, as if dis])osed rather to communi 
 cate something for the service of that cause in 
 which he had lost his life. But botli the stories 
 were undoubtedly forged afterwards, to save 
 Octavius's honour, and give a better colour to that 
 sudden change of measures which from this hour 
 he was determined to pursue*. 
 
 C. Antony was still a prisoner with M. Brutus, 
 whose indulgence gave him an opportunity of 
 practising upon the soldiers, and raising a sedition 
 in the camp, which created no small trouble to 
 Brutus. The soldiers, however, soon repented of 
 their rashness, and killed the authors of it ; and 
 would have killed Antony too, if Brutus would 
 have delivered him into their hands : but he could 
 not be induced to take his life, though this was 
 the second offence of the same kind ; but pie- 
 tending that he would order him to be thrown 
 into the sea, sent him to be secured on ship-board 
 either from doing or suffering any farther mischief"; 
 of which he wrote an account to Cicero, who i e- 
 turned the following answer. 
 
 " As to the sedition in the fourth legion about 
 C. Antony, you will take what I say in good part; 
 I am better pleased with the severity of the soldiers 
 than with yours. I am extremely glad that you 
 have had a trial of the affection of your legions 
 and the horse. As to what you write, that I am 
 pursuing the Antonys much at my ease, and praise 
 me for it — I suppose you really think so : but I 
 do not by any means approve your distinction , 
 
 * Quod si me Caesar audisset, atque Apenninum transis- 
 set, in tantas angustias Antonium compulissem, ut inopia 
 potius quam ferro conficeretur. Sed neque Csesari inperaii 
 potest, nee Csesar cxezcitui suo : quod utrumquepessimuin 
 est. — Ep. Fam. x. 
 
 r Appian. 1. iii. 573 ; it. Hist. Rom. par Catrou et 
 EouiU(5, t. xvii. 1. iv. p. 433, &c. 
 
 * There is an original medal still remaining that gives 
 no small confirmation to this notion ; and was struck pro- 
 bably at Konio, either by Pansa himself, upon his march- 
 ing out towards Modena, or by the senate soon after P.insa's 
 death, in testimony of the strict union that subsisted 
 between liim and D. Brutus Albinus. For on the one side 
 there is the head of a Silenus, as it is called, or rather of 
 Pan, which is frequent on Pansa's coins, with the inscrip- 
 tion also of his name, C. Pansa: and on the other, Aubinvs., 
 Brtti F. with two right hands joined, holding a caduceus. 
 as an emblem of the strictest amity and concord. — Sea 
 Farail. Vibia. in Vaillant or Morel.. 
 
 » Dio, 1. xlvii. p. 340. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 when you say, that our animosity ought to be 
 exerted rather in preventing civil wars, than in 
 revenging ourselves on the vanquished. I differ 
 widely from you, Brutus ; not that I yield to you in 
 clemency, but a salutary severity is always pre- 
 ferable to a specious show of mercy. If we are so 
 fond of pardoning, there will be no end of civil 
 wars : but you are to look to that ; for I can say 
 of myself, what Plautus's old man says in the 
 Triuummus, Life is almost over with me ; it is you 
 who are the most interested in it. You will be 
 \indone, Brutus, believe me, if you do not take 
 care : for you will not always have tlie ])eople, nor 
 the senate, nor a leader t)f the senate, the same as 
 now. Take this, as from the I'ythian oracle ; 
 nothing can be more true''." 
 
 Brutus's wife, Porcia, notwithstanding thetragi- 
 tal story which the old writers have dressed up, 
 of the manner of her killing herself upon the news 
 of her husband's unhajipyfate"^, died most probably 
 about this time at Rome, of a lingering illness. 
 She seems to have been in a bad state of health 
 when Brutus left Italy, where she is said to have 
 parted from him with the utmost grief and floods 
 of tears, as if conscious that she was taking her 
 last leave of him : and Plutarch says, " that there 
 was a letter of Brutus extant iti his days, if it was 
 genuine, in which he lamented her death, and 
 complained of his friends for neglecting her in 
 her last sickness:" this however is certain, that 
 in a letter to Atticus, he gives a hint of Porcia's 
 indisposition, with a slight compliment to Atticus 
 for his care of her"* : and the following letter of 
 condolence to him from Cicero, can hardly be 
 applied to any other occasion but that of her 
 death. 
 
 Cicero to Brutus- 
 " I should perform the same office which you 
 formerly did in my loss, of comforting you by 
 letter, did I not know that you cannot want those 
 remedies in your grief, with which }ou relieved 
 mine. I wish only that you may now cure yourself 
 more easily than at that time you cured me : for 
 it would be strange in so great a man as you, not 
 to be able to practise what he had prescribed to 
 another. As for me, not only the reasons which 
 you then collected, but your very authority, deterred 
 me from indulging my sorrow to excess. For 
 when you thought me to behave myself with greater 
 softness than became a man, especially one who 
 'tsed to comfort others, you chid me with more 
 severity than it was nsual for you to express : so 
 that, out of a reverence to your judgment, I 
 roused myself ; and by the accession of your 
 authority, took everything that I had learned or 
 read, or heard on that subject, to have the greater 
 weight. Yet my part, Brutus, at that time, was 
 only to act agreeably to duty and to nature : but 
 yours, as we say, is to be acted on the stage, and 
 before the people. For when the eyes, not only 
 of your army, but of all the city, nay, of all the 
 world, are upon you, it is wholly indecent for one, 
 by whom we other mortals are made the stouter, 
 to betray any dejection or want of courage. You 
 have suffered indeed a great loss (for you have lost 
 
 b Ad Brut. 2. 
 
 c App. 1. iv. G69 ; Dio, 1. xlvii. 356 ; Vat. Mas. iv. 6. 
 J Valetudinem Porcice meas tibi curae esse, non miror. 
 ^Ad Brut. 37. 
 
 that which has not left its fellow on earth), and 
 must be allowed to grieve under so cruel a blow, 
 lest to want all sense of grief should be thought 
 more wretched than grief itself : but to do it with 
 moderation, is both useful to others and necessary 
 to yourself. I would write more if this was not 
 already too much : we expect you and your army ; 
 without which, though all other things succeed to 
 our wishes, we shall hardly ever be free'." 
 
 As the time of choosing magistrates now drew 
 on, and particularly of filling up the colleges of 
 priests, in which there were many vacancies, so 
 Brutus was sending home many of his young nobles 
 to appear as candidates at the election ; the two 
 Bibuluses, Domitius, Cato, Lentulus, whom he 
 severally recommends to Cicero's protection. 
 Cicero was desirous that his son also should come 
 with them, to be elected a priest ; and wrote to 
 Brutus to know his mind about it, and, if he 
 thought proper, to send him away immediately ; 
 for though he might be chosen in absence, yet his 
 success would be much easier if he was present^ 
 He touches this little affair in several of his letters ; 
 but finding the public disorders increase still every 
 day, he procured the election of priests to be 
 thrown off to the next year : and Brutus having 
 sent him word in the mean while that his son had 
 actually left him, and was coming towards Rome, 
 he instantly despatched a messenger to meet him 
 on the road, with orders to send him back again, 
 though he found him landed in Italy : " since 
 nothing," he says, " could be more agreeable either 
 to himself, or more honourable to his son, than 
 his continuance with Brutus b." 
 
 Kot long after the battle of Modena, the news 
 of Dolabella's defeat, and death, from Asia, brought 
 a fresh occasion of joy to Cicero, and his friends 
 at Rome. Dolabella, after his success against 
 Trebonius, having pillaged that province of its 
 money, and of all things useful for war, marched 
 forward to execute his grand design upon Syria ; 
 for which he had been making all this preparation : 
 but Cassius was beforehand with him, and having 
 got possession of that country, and of all the armies 
 in it, was much superior to him in force. Dola- 
 bella, however, made his way with some success 
 through Cilicia, and came before Antioch in Syria, 
 but was denied admittance into it ; and after some 
 vain attempts to take it, being repulsed with loss, 
 marched to Laodicea, which had before invited, 
 and now opened its gates to him. Here Cassius 
 came up with him, and presently invested the 
 place, where, after he had destroyed Dolabella's 
 fleet, in two or three naval engagements, he shut 
 him up closely by sea, as well as land ; till 
 Dolabella, seeing no way to escape, and the town 
 unable to hold out any longer, killed himself, to 
 prevent his falling aUve into Cassius's hands, and 
 suffering the same treatment which he had shown 
 to Trebonius ; but Cassius generously ordered his 
 
 c Ad Brut. 9. 
 
 f Sed quamvis liceat absentis rationem haberi, tameu 
 omnia sunt prsesentibus facUiora. — Ad Brut. 5. 
 
 £ Ego autem, cum ad me de Ciceronis abs te discessu 
 scripsisscs, statim extiusi tabellarios, literasque ad Cicc- 
 roneiii ; ut etiam si in Italian! venisset, ad te rediret. Nihil 
 cnim mihi jucundius, illi honestius. Quamquani aliquo- 
 ties ei scripseram, sacerdotum comitia. mca summa con- 
 tentione in alterum annum esse rejecta, &c. — Ad Brut. 
 J4; it. 5. 6, 7.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 177 
 
 body to be buried, with that of his lieutenant 
 Octavius, who itilled himself also with him''. 
 
 D. Brutus was now at last pursuing Antony, or 
 rather observing the motions of his flight : he had 
 ipith him, besides his own forces, the new legions 
 pf the late consuls, while all the veterans put 
 themselves under the command of Octavius : so 
 that after Antony was joined by Ventidius with 
 three legions, Brutus was hardly strong enough 
 either to fight with him, or, what he rather aimed 
 at, to hinder his crossing the Alps to Lejiidus. 
 He desired Cicero, therefore, to write to Lepidus 
 not to recdve him, " though he was sure," he 
 says, " that Lepidus woidd never do anything that 
 was right ;" and wishes likewise that Cicero would 
 confirm Plancus ; since by some of Antony's 
 pnjiers whicli fell into his hands he perceived 
 that Antony had not lost all hopes of him, and 
 thought himself sure of Lepidus and Pollio ; of 
 which he gave Plancus immediate notice, and 
 signified, that he was coming forward with all 
 expedition to join with him". But he complains 
 much in all his letters of his want of money, and 
 the sad condition of his array ; which was not 
 contemptible for the number, but the kind of his 
 troops, being for the most part new-raised men, 
 bare and needy of all things ''. " I cannot," says 
 he, " maintain my soldiers any longer. When I 
 first xindertook to free the republic, I had above 
 three hundred thousand jiounds of my own in 
 money ; but am now so far from having anything, 
 that I have involved all my friends in debt for me. 
 I have seven legions to provide for : consider with 
 what difficulty. Had I the treasures of Varro, I 
 could not support the expense'." He desired 
 therefore a present supply of money, and some 
 veteran legions, especially the fourth and Martial, 
 which continued still with Octavius. This was de- 
 creed to him readily by the senate, at the motion 
 of Drusus and PauUus, Lepidus's brother"": but 
 Cicero wrote him word, " that all who knew those 
 legions the best, affirmed, that they would not be 
 induced by any terms to serve under him : that 
 money, however, should certainly be provided for 
 him :" and concludes by observing, " that if Le- 
 pidus should receive Antony, it would throw them 
 again into great difficulties : but that it was Brutus's 
 part to take care that they should have no cause 
 to fear the event : for as to himself, that he could 
 not possibly do more than he had already done ; 
 but wished to see D. Brutus the greatest and most 
 illustrious of men"." 
 
 t Ep. Fam. 1?, 13, 15 ; Appian. 1. iv.625 ; Dio, 1. xlvii.344. 
 
 ' In priniis rogo te, ad hominem ventosissimum Lepidum 
 mittas, ne bellum nobis redintegrare possit, Antonio sibi 
 conjuncto. — Mihi persuasissimum est, Lepidum recto fac- 
 turum nunquam — Plancum quoque coniirmetis, ore; quem 
 spero, pulso Antonio, reipublicffi non defuturum. — Ep. 
 Fam. xi. 9. 
 
 Antonius ad Lepidum proficiscitur, ne de Planco quidem 
 spem adliuc abjecit, ut ex libellis suis animadvert!, qui in 
 me incideruut — Ibid. 11. 
 
 '' Cum sim cum tironibus egentissimis. — Ibid. 19. 
 
 I Alere jam milites non possum. Cum ad rempublicam 
 liberandam accessi, U.S. mihi fuit pecuniae cccc amplius. 
 Tantum abest ut meae rei familiaris liberum sit quidquam, 
 ut omnes jam meos amicos sere alieno obstrinxerim. Sep- 
 tcnuni numeruni nunc legionum alo, qua difficultate, tu 
 arbitrare. Non, si Varronis thesauros liaberem, subsistcre 
 Bumptui possem.— Ibid. 10. 
 
 "< Ep. Fam. -xi. )!). 
 
 " Legiouem Martiam et quartam negant, qui illas noruiit. 
 
 Plancus, as it is hinted above, was carrying oa 
 a negotiation with Lepidus to unite their forces 
 against Antony : it was managed on Plancus' side 
 by Furnius ; on Lepidus's by Laterensis, one of his 
 lieutenants, a true friend to the republic, and 
 zealous to engage his general to its interests ; and 
 Lepidus him.self dissembled so well as to persuade 
 them of his sincerity ; so that Plancus was march- 
 ing forward in great haste to join with him, of 
 which he gave Cicero a particular account. 
 
 Plancus to Cicero. 
 " After I had written my letters, I thought it of 
 service to the public that you should be informed 
 of what has since happened. My diligence, I hope, 
 has been of use both to myself and to the com- 
 monwealth : for 1 have been treating with Lepidus 
 by perpetual messages ; that laying aside all 
 former quarrels, he would be reconciled, and 
 succour the republic in common with me, and 
 show more regard to himself, his children, and 
 the city, than to a desperate abandoned robber ; 
 in which case he might depend on my service and 
 assistance for all occasions : I transacted the affair 
 by Laterensis. He pawned his faith, that if he 
 could not keep Antony out of his province, he 
 would pursue him by open war ; begged that I 
 would come and join forces with him, and so much 
 the more, because Antony was said to be strong 
 in horse ; whereas Lepidus's could hardly be called 
 indifferent : for not many days before, even out of 
 his small number, ten, who were reckoned his best, 
 came over to me. As soon as I was informed of 
 this, I resolved without delay to support Lepidus 
 in the execution of his good intentions : I saw of 
 what benefit my joining him would be, either for 
 pursuing and destroying Antony's horse with mine, 
 or for correcting and restraining, by the presence of 
 my army, the corrupt and disaftected part of 
 Lepidus's. Having made a bridge therefore in 
 one day over the Isere, a very great river in the 
 territory of the AUobroges, I passed with my army 
 on the twelfth of May : but having been informed 
 that L. Antony was sent before with some horse 
 and cohorts to Forum Julii, I had sent my brother 
 the day before with four thousand horse to meet 
 with him, intending to follow myself by great 
 journeys with four legions and the rest of my horse, 
 without the heavybaggage. If we have any tolerable 
 fortune foi- the republic, we shall here put an end 
 to the audaciousness of the desperate, and to all 
 our own trouble : but if the robber, upon hearing 
 of my arrival, should run back again into Italy, it 
 will be Brutus's part to meet with him there : who 
 will not be wanting, I know, either in counsel or 
 courage : but if that should happen, I will send 
 my brother also with the horse, to follow and pre- 
 serve Italy from being ravaged by him. Take care 
 of your health, and love me as I love you"." 
 
 But Lepidus was acting all the while a treache- 
 rous part, being determined at all hazards to sup- 
 port Antony ; and though he kept him at a 
 distance for some time, and seemed to be con- 
 strained at last by his own soldiers to receive him, 
 yet that was only to save appearan ces, till he could 
 ulla conditionc ad te posse porduci. Pecunias, qunm desl- 
 deras, ratio potest haberi. eaque habebitur— ego plusquam 
 feci, facere non possum. Te tamen, id quod spero, omnium 
 maximum et clarissimum videre cupio.— Ep. Fam. xi. 14. 
 e Ep. Fam. x. it.
 
 278 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 do it witli advantage and security to them both : his 
 view in treating with Plancus was probably to amuse 
 and draw him so near to them, that when he and 
 Antony were actually joined, they might force him 
 into the same measures, without his being able to 
 help it, or to retreat from them. When he was upon 
 the point therefore of joining camps with Antony, 
 he sent word to Plancus, who was within forty miles 
 of him, to stay where he then was till he .should 
 come up to him : but Plancus, suspecting nothing, 
 thought it better still to march on ; till Laterensis, 
 perceiving how things were turning, wrote him 
 word in all haste that neither Lepidus nor liis army 
 were to be trusted, and that he himself was de- 
 serted ; " exhorting Plancus to look to himself, 
 lest he should be drawn into a snare, and to jier- 
 formhis duty to the republic ; for that he had dis- 
 charged his faith by giving him this warning i".'' &c. 
 
 Plancus gave Cicero a particular account of all 
 tliese transactions : lie acquaints him "that Lepidus 
 and Antony joined their camps on the twenty-eighth 
 of May, and the same day marched forward towards 
 him : of all which he knew nothing till they were 
 come within twenty miles of him : that upon the 
 first intelligence of it he retreated in all haste, re- 
 passed the Isere, and broke down the bridges which 
 he had built upon it, that he might have leisure to 
 draw all his forces togetlua-, and join them with his 
 colleague D. Brutus, whom he expected in three 
 days : that Laterensis, whose singular fidelity he 
 should ever acknowledge, when he found himself 
 duped by Lepidus, laid violent hands upon himself; 
 but being interrupted in the act, was thought likely 
 to live. He desires that Octavius might be sent to 
 him with his forces ; or if he could not come in 
 person, that his army however might be sent, since 
 his interest wa« so much concerned in it : that as 
 the whole body of the rebels was now drawn into 
 one camp, they ought to act against them with the 
 ■whole force of the republic," &c.i 
 
 The day after his union with Antony, Lepidus 
 ■wrote a short letter to the senate, wherein " he 
 calls the gods and men to witness, that he had 
 nothing so much at heart as the public safety and 
 liberty ; of which he should shortly have given 
 them proofs, had not fortune prevented him : for 
 that his soldiers, by a general mutiny and sedition, 
 had plainly forced him to take so great a multitude 
 of citizens under his protection." He beseeches 
 them, " that laying aside all their private grudges, 
 they would consult the good of the whole republic ; 
 nor in a time of civil dissention treat Ids clemency, 
 and that of his army, as criminal and traitorous'." 
 
 D. Brutus on the other hand joined his army 
 ■with Plancus, who acted with him for some time 
 with great concord, and the affection of the whole 
 province on their side : which being signified m 
 theii- common letters to Rome, gave great hopes 
 still and courage to all the honest there. In a 
 letter of Plancas to Cicero, — " You know," says 
 he, *' I imagine, the state of our forces : in my 
 camp there are three veteran legions, with one 
 new, but the best of all others of that sort : in 
 Brutus's one veteran legion, another of two years' 
 
 P At,Laterensis, vir sanctissimus, suo chirographo mittit 
 mihl literas, in eisque desperans de se, de exercitu, de 
 Lepidi fide, qucrensque se destitutum : in quibus aperte 
 denuntiat, videam ne fallar : suam fideiu solutam esse, 
 reipublica; ne desim. — Ep. Fam. x. '21. 
 
 9 Ibid. 23. ' Ibid. 35. 
 
 standing, eight of new levies : so that our whole 
 army is great in number, little in strength : for 
 what small dependence there is on a fresh soldier 
 we have oft experienced to our cost. If the 
 African troops, which are veteran, or Ctesar's, 
 should join us, we should willingly j)ut all to 
 the hazard of a battle : as I saw Ciesar's to be the 
 nearest, so I have never ceased to press him, nor 
 he to assure me, that he would come instantly, 
 though I perceive that he had no such thought, 
 and is quite gone off into other measures : yet I 
 have .sent our friend Furnius again to him, with 
 letters and instructions, if he can possibly do any 
 good with him. You know, my dear Cicero, that 
 as to the love of young Ca;sar, it belongs to me in 
 common with you : for on the account either of 
 my intimacy with his uncle when alive, it was 
 necessary for me to protect and cherish him ; or 
 because he himself, as far as I have been able to 
 observe, is of a most moderate and gentle disposi- 
 tion ; or that after so remarkable a friendship 
 with C. Csesar, it would be a sliame for me not to 
 love him, even as my own child, whom he had 
 adopted for his son. But what I now write, I 
 write out of grief, rather than ill-will : that Antony 
 now lives ; that Lepidus is joined with him ; that 
 they have no contemptible army ; that they have 
 hopes, and dare pursue them ; is all entirely 
 owing to Csesar. I will not recall what is long 
 since passed : but if he had come at the timt? 
 when he himself declared that he would, the war 
 would have been either now ended, or removed, 
 to their great disadvantage, into Spain, a province 
 utterly averse to them. What motive or whose 
 counsels drew him off from a part so glorious, nay, 
 so necessary too, and salutary to himself, and 
 turned him so absurdly to the thouglits of a two 
 months' consulship, to the terror of all people, I 
 cannot possibly comprehend. His friends seem 
 capable of doing much good on this occasion, both 
 to himself and the republic ; and, above all others, 
 you, to whom he has greater obligations than any 
 man living, except myself ; for I shall never forget 
 that I am indebted to you for the greatest. I 
 have given orders to Furnius to treat witli him on 
 these affairs ; and if I had as much authority with 
 him as I ought, should do him great service. 
 We in the mean time have a very hard part to 
 sustain in the war : for we neither think it safe to 
 venture a battle, nor yet, by turning our backs, to 
 give the enemy an opportunity of doing greater 
 mischief to the republic : but if either Csesar would 
 regard his honour, or the African legions come 
 quickly, we shall make you all easy from this 
 quarter. I beg you to continue your affection to 
 me, and assure yourself that I am strictly yours'." 
 Upon the news of Lepidus's union with Antony, 
 the senate, after some little time spent in con- 
 sidering the effects of it, being encouraged by the 
 concord of D. Brutus and Plancus, and depending 
 on the fidelity of their united forces, voted Lepidus 
 an enemy, on the thirtieth of June ; and de- 
 molished the gilt statue which they had lately 
 erected to him ; reserving still a liberty to him 
 and his adherents of returning to their duty by 
 the first of Septem ber'. Lepidus's wife was 
 • Ep. Fam. x. 24. 
 
 ' Lepidus tuns affinis, tneus familiaris, prid. Kal. Quint, 
 sententiis omnibus hostis a senatu judicatus est ; caeterique 
 qui una cum illo a republica defecerunt : quibus tamen ad
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 279 
 
 M. Brutus' sister, by whom he had sons, whose 
 fortunes were necessarily ruined by this vote, 
 ■which confiscated the lather's estate ; for which 
 reason Servilia, their grandmother, and Cassius's 
 wife, their aunt, solicited Cicero very earnestly 
 either that the decree itself might not pass, or 
 that the children should be excepted out of it : 
 but Cicero could not consent to oblige them : for 
 since the first was thouglit necessary, the second 
 followed of course. He gave Brutus, however, a 
 particular account of the case by letter. 
 
 Cicero to Brutus. 
 
 " Though I was just going to write to you 
 by Messala Corvinus, yet I would not let our 
 friend \'etus come without a letter. The republic, 
 Brutus, is now in the utmost danger : and after 
 we had conquered, we are forced again to fight, by 
 the ))erlidy and madness of M. Lepidus. On 
 which occasion, when for the care with which I 
 have charged myself of the republic, I had many 
 things to make me uneasy, yet nothing vexed me 
 more than that I could not yield to the prayers of 
 your mother and sister ; for I imagined that I 
 should easily satisfy you, on which I lay the great- 
 est stress. For Lepidus's case could not by any 
 means be distinguished from Antony's ; nay, in all 
 people's judgment was even worse, since after he 
 had received the highest honours from the senate, 
 and but a few days before had sent an excellent 
 letter to them, on a sudden he not only received 
 the broken remains of our enemies, but now wages 
 a most cruel war against us by land and sea, the 
 event of which is wholly uncertain. When we are 
 desired therefore to extend mercy to his children, 
 not a word is said why, if their father should 
 conquer (which the gods forbid), we are not to 
 expect tlie last punishment from him. I am not 
 ignorant how hard it is, that children should suffer 
 for the crimes of their parents : but it was wisely 
 contrived by the laws, that the love of their chil- 
 dren should make parents more affectionate to their 
 country. Wherefore it is Lepidus who is cruel to 
 his children, not he who adjudges Lepidus an 
 enemy ; for if, laying down his arms, he were to be 
 condemned only of violence, in which no defence 
 could be made for him, his children would suffer 
 the same calamity by the confiscation of his estate. 
 Yet what your mother and sister are now soliciting 
 against, in favour of the children, the very same 
 and much worse Lepidus, Antony, and our other 
 enemies, are at this very moment threatening to us 
 all. W^herefore, our greatest hope is in you and 
 your army. It is of the utmost consequence both 
 to the republic in general, and to your honour and 
 glory in particular, that, as I wrote to you before, 
 you come as soon as possible into Italy ; for the 
 republic is in great want n^'t only of your forces, 
 but of your counsels. 1 served Vetus with plea- 
 sure as you desired me, for bis singular benevolence 
 and duty to you : I found him extremely zealous 
 and affectionate both to you and the republic : I 
 shall see my son, 1 hope very soon, for I depend 
 •on his coming with you quickly to Italy"." 
 
 Brutus, before he had rpi^eived this letter, having 
 heard from other friends "that they were designing 
 at Rome against Lepidu«, wrote about the same 
 time, and on the same subject, to Cicero, 
 sanitatem redeundi ante Ka) Sept. potestas facta est.— Ep. 
 Fam. xii. 10. u Ad Biiit. 12. 
 
 Brutus to Cicero. 
 
 " Other people's fears oblige me to entertaip 
 some a])prchensions myself on Lepidus's account : 
 if he should withdraw himself from us (which 
 will prove, I hope, a rash and injurious suspicion 
 of him), I beg and beseech you, C^icero, conjuring 
 you by our friendship and your affection to me, to 
 forget that my sister's children are Lepidus' sons, 
 and to consider me in the place of their father. 
 If I obtain this of you, you will not scruple, I am 
 sure, to do whatever you can for them. Other 
 people live differently with their friends, but I can 
 never do enough for my sister's children, to satisfy 
 either my inclination or my duty. But what is 
 there in which honest men can oblige me (if in 
 reality I have deserved to be obli'^^ed in anything), 
 or in which I can be of service to my mother, 
 sister, and the boys, if their uncle Brutus has not 
 as much weight with you and the senate to pro- 
 tect, as their father Lepidus to hurt them ? I 
 feel so much uneasiness and indignation, that I 
 neither can nor ought to write more fully to you ; 
 for if, in a case so important and so necessary, 
 there could be any occasion for words to excite 
 and confirm you, there is no hope that you will do 
 what I wish, and what is proper. Do not expect 
 therefore any long prayers from me : consider only 
 what I am ; and that I ought to obtain it either 
 from Cicero, a man the most intimately united 
 with me ; or without regard to our private friend- 
 ship, from a consular senator of such eminence. 
 Pray send me word as soon as you can what you 
 resolve to do. July the Ist^." 
 
 Cicero perceiving from this letter, what he had 
 no notion of before, how great a stress Brutus laid 
 on procuring this favour for his nephews, prevailed 
 with the senate to suspend the execution of their 
 act, as far as it related to them, till the times were 
 more settled y. 
 
 Lepidus and Antony were no sooner joined, 
 than a correspondence was set on foot between 
 them and Octavius, who, from the death of the 
 consuls, showed but little regard to the authority 
 of Cicero or the senate ; and wanted only a pre- 
 tence for breaking with them. He waited however 
 a while to see what became of Antony ; till finding 
 him received and supported by Lepidus, he began 
 to think it his best scheme to enter into the league 
 with them, and to concur in what seemed to be 
 more peculiarly his own part, the design of reveng- 
 ing the death of his uncle. Instead therefore of 
 prosecuting the war any farther, he was persuaded 
 by his friends to make a demand of the consulship, 
 though he was not yet above twenty years old. 
 This step shocked and terrified the city ; not that 
 the consulship could give him any power which 
 his army had not already given, but as it indicated 
 a dangerous and unseasonable ambition, grounded 
 on a contempt of the laws and the senate ; and 
 above all, raised a just apprehension of some 
 attempt against the public liberty : since, instead 
 of leading his army where it was wanted and de- 
 sired, against their enemies abroad, he chose to 
 march with it towards Rome, as if lie intended to 
 subdue the republic itself. 
 
 X Ad Brut. 13. 
 
 y Saroris tuse filiis quam diligenter eonsulam, spero te 
 ex matris et ex sororis Uteris cogniturum, i&c. — Ibid. 15 ;
 
 280 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 There was a report spread in tne mean wliile 
 tUrougii the empire, that Cicero was cliosen consul. 
 Brutus mentioning it in a letter to him, says, " If I 
 should ever see that day, I shall then hegia to figure 
 to myself tlie true form of a repuhlic subsisting by 
 its own strength'." It is certain that he might have 
 been declared consul by the unanimous suffrage of 
 the people, if he had desired it ; but in times of 
 sucli violence, the title of supreme magistrate, with- 
 out a real jiower to support it, would have exposed 
 him only to more immediate danger and insults 
 from the soldiers ; whose fastidious insolence in 
 their demands was grown, as he complains, insup- 
 portable". Some old writers say, what the moderns 
 take implicitly from them, that he vfas duped, and 
 drawn in by Oetavius to favour his pretensions to 
 tlie consulship, by the liopes of being made his 
 colleague, and governing him in the ofhce''. But 
 the contrary is evident from several of his letters : 
 and that of all men he was tlie most averse to 
 Octavius's design, and the most active in dissuad- 
 ing him from pursuing it. Writing upon it to 
 Urutus : "As to Ca;sar, (says he) who has been 
 governed hitherto by my advice, and is indeed of 
 an excellent disposition and wonderful firmness, 
 some people, by most wicked letters, messages, 
 and fallacious accounts of things, have pushed him 
 to an assured hope of the consulship. As soon as 
 I perceived it, I never ceased admonishing him in 
 absence, nor reproaching his friends who aj-s 
 present, and who seem to encourage his ambition ; 
 nor did I scruple to lay open the source of those 
 traitorous counsels in the senate : nor do I ever 
 remember the senate or the magistrates to have 
 behaved better on any occasion ; for it never liap- 
 pened before, in voting an extraordinary honour to 
 a powerful or rather most powerful man (since 
 power is now measured by force and arms), that 
 no tribune, or any other magistrate, nor so much 
 as a private senator, would move for it : yet in 
 the midst of all this firmness and virtue the city is 
 greatly alarmed ; for we are abused, Brutus, both 
 by the licentiousness of the soldiers, and the inso- 
 lence of the general. Every one demands to have as 
 much power in the state as he has means to extort 
 it ; no reason, no moderation, no law, no custom, 
 no duty, is at all regarded ; no judgment or opinion 
 of the citizens, no shame of posterity,"^" &c. 
 
 What Cicero says in this letter is very remark- 
 able : that in all this height of young Ciesar's 
 A. iiRB. 710. power, there was not a magistrate, 
 
 cic. 64. I'O'' so much as a single senator, who 
 coss. would move for the decree of his con- 
 
 c. CESAR sulship : the demand of it therefore 
 
 ocTAviANus. -ft'as made by a deputation of his offi- 
 (j. PKDius. (,g,.g . 3j^(j -^yhgii the senate received 
 it more coldly than they expected, Cornelius, a 
 centurion, throwing back his robe and showing 
 them his sword, boldly declared that if they would 
 not make him consul, that should. But Oetavius 
 himself soon put an end to their scruples, by 
 marching with his legions in a hostile manner to 
 the city **, where he was chosen consul with Q. 
 
 * His Uteris scriptis, te consulem factum audivimus ; 
 turn vero incipiam proponere mihi rempublicam justam 
 et jam suis nitentem viribus, si isthuc videro. — Ad Brut. 4. 
 
 * Illudimur, Brute, cum militum deliciis, turn impera- 
 toris insolentia. — Ibid. 10. 
 
 ^ Plut. in Cic. c Ad Brut. 10. 
 
 Ccmaulatum vigecimo tetatis anno invasit, admotls 
 
 Pedius, his kinsman and co-heir, in part of Iii» 
 uncle's estate, in the month of Sextilis ; which, 
 on the account of this fortunate beginning of hia 
 honours, was called afterwards, from his own 
 surname, Augustus *•■. 
 
 The first act of his magistracy was to secure 
 all the public money which he found in Rome, 
 and make a dividend of it to his soldiers. He 
 complained loudly of the senate, " that instead 
 of paying his army the rewards whicli they had 
 decreed to them, they were contriving to harass 
 them with jierpetual toils, and to engage them in 
 fresii wars against Lepidus and Antony ; and like- 
 wise, that in the commission granted to ten 
 senators to provide lands for the legions after 
 the war, they liad not named him^." But there 
 was no just ground for any sucli complaints ; for 
 those rewards were not decreed, nor intended to 
 be distributed, till the war was quite ended ; and 
 the leaving Ca;sar out of the commission, was not 
 from any particular slight, but a general exception 
 of all who had the command of armies, as impro- 
 per to be employed in such a charge : though Ci- 
 cero indeed was of a different opinion, and pressed 
 for their being taken in. D. Brutus and Plancus 
 were excluded as well as Cajsar, and both of them 
 seem likewise to have been disgusted at it, so that 
 Cicero, who was one of the number, in order to 
 retrieve the imprudence of a step which gave such. 
 o.f3nee, would not suffer his colleagues to do any- 
 thing of moment, but reserved the whole affair 
 to the arrival of Ciesar and the rest s. 
 
 But Ccesar, being now wholly bent on changing 
 sides and measures, was glad to catch at every 
 occasion of quarrelling with the senate ; he 
 charged them with calling him a boy, and treat- 
 ing him as such*" : and found a pretext also against 
 Cicero himself, whom, after all the services received 
 from him, his present views obliged him to aban- 
 don ; for some busy informers had told him, that 
 Cicero had spoken of him in certain ambiguous 
 terms which carried a double meaning, either of 
 advancing or taking him off, which Oetavius was 
 desirous to have reported everywhere, and believed 
 in the worst sense. D. Brutus gave Cicero the. 
 first notice of it in the following letter : 
 
 D. Brutus, Emperor, Consul elect, to M. T. 
 Cicero. 
 " What I do not feel on my own account, my- 
 love and obligations to you make me feel on yours : 
 that is, fear. For after I had been often told what 
 I did not wholly slight, Labeo Segulius, a man 
 always like himself, just now informs me that he 
 has been with Caesar, where there was much dis- 
 
 hostiliter ad urbem Icgionibus, missisque, qui sibi exerci- 
 tus nomine deposcerent. Cum quidem cunctante senatu, 
 Cornelius oenturio, princeps Icgationis, rejccto sagulo, 
 ostendens gladii capulum, non dubitasset in curia dicere; 
 bic faciei, si vos non feceritis. — Sueton. in Aug. 26. 
 
 e Sextilom mensem e suo cognomine nominavit, magia 
 quam Septembrem, in quo erat natus, quia hoc sibi et 
 primus consulatus, &c. — Sueton. in Aug. 31. 
 
 f Appian. iii. 581. 
 
 s Cum ego sensisseni, de iis qui exercitus haberent, sen- 
 tentiani ferri oportere, iidem illi, qui solent, reclamarunt. 
 Itaque excepti etiam estis, me vehementer repugriante— 
 itaque cum quidani de collegis nostris agrariam curationem. 
 ligurirent, disturbavi rem, totamque integram vobisreseri^ 
 vavi.— Ep. Fam. xi. 21 ; it. 20, 23. 
 
 I' Dio, 1. xlvi. 318 ; Sueton. in Aug. 12..
 
 MARCUS TULL1U5 CICERO. 
 
 281 
 
 course on you ; that Caesar himself had no other 
 Comj)laint against you but for a certain saying 
 which he declared to have been spoken by you : 
 ' that the young man was to be praised, adorned, 
 taken oft" ' ;' but he would not be so silly, he said, 
 as to put it into any man's power to take him off. 
 This, I dare say, was first carried to him, or forged 
 by Segulius himself, and did not come from the 
 young man. Segulius had a mind likewise to per- 
 suade me, that the veterans talk most angrily 
 against you, and that you are in danger from them : 
 and that the chief cause of their anger is, because 
 neither Caesar nor I am in the commission of the 
 ten, but all things transacted by your will and 
 pleasure. Upon hearing this, though I was then 
 V upon my march, I did not think it proper to pass 
 the Alps, till I could hrst learn how matters were 
 going amongst you," ^ Sec. 
 
 To this Cicero answered : 
 
 " The gods confound that Segulius, the greatest 
 knave that is, or was, or ever will be. What ! 
 do you imagine that he told his story only to you 
 and to Caesar.' he told the same to every soul 
 that he could speak with. I love you however, 
 my Brutus, as I ought, for acquainting me with 
 it, how trifling soever it be : 'tis a sure sign of 
 your affection ; for as to what Segulius says 
 of the complaint of the veterans, because you 
 and Caesar were not in the commission, I wish 
 that I was not in it myself ; for what can be more 
 troublesome .' But when I proposed that those 
 who had the command of armies should be 
 included in it, the same men who used to 
 oppose everything remonstrated against it ; so 
 that you were e.xcepted, wholly against my vote 
 and opinion ','' Sec, 
 
 As for the story of the words, he treats it, we 
 see, as too contemptible to deserve an apology, 
 or the pains of disclaiming it ; and it seems indeed 
 incredible that a man of his prudence could ever 
 say them. If he had harboured such a thought, 
 or had been tempted on any occasion to throw out 
 such a liint, we might have expected to tind it in 
 his letters to Brutus ; yet on the contrary, he 
 speaks always of Octavius in terms highly advan- 
 tageous, even where he was likely to give disgust 
 by it. But nothing was more common than to 
 have sayings forged for his, w-hich he had never 
 spoken : and this was one of that sort, contrived 
 to instil a jealousy into Octavius, or to give him a 
 handle at least for breaking with Cicero, which in 
 his present circumstances he was glad to lay hold 
 of: and when the story was once become public, 
 and supposed to have gained credit with Octavius, 
 it is not strange to find it taken up by the writers 
 of the following ages, Velleius and Suetonius ; 
 though not without an intimation from the latter 
 of its suspected credit '". 
 
 While the city was in the utmost consternation 
 on Caesar's approach with his army, two veteran 
 legions from Africa happened to arrive in the 
 Tiber, and were received as a succour sent to them 
 from heaven. But this joy lasted not long : for 
 presently after their landing, being corrupted by 
 the other soldiers, they deserted the senate, who 
 
 ' Laudandum, adoloscentem, ornandum, tollendum. 
 Which last word signifies, either to raise to honours, or 
 take invai/ life. 
 
 k Kp. Fam. xi. 20. I Ibid. 21. 
 
 ■»'cll. Pat. ii. 62 ; Sueton. in Aug. 12. 
 
 sent for them, and joined themselves to Caesar. 
 PoUio likewise, about the same time, with two 
 of his best legions from Spain, came to the 
 assistance of Antony and Lepidus, so that all the 
 veterans of the western part of the empire were 
 now j)lainly forming themselves into one body, to 
 revenge the death of their old general. The con- 
 sent of all these armies, and the unexpected turn 
 of Antony's affairs, staggered the fidelity of Plan- 
 cus, and induced him also at last to deseit his 
 colleague D. Brutus, with whom he had hitherto^ 
 acted with much seeming concord ; Pollio made 
 his peace and good terms for him with Antony and 
 Lepidus, and soon after brought him over to their 
 camp with all his troops. 
 
 D. Brutus, being thus abandoned and left to shift 
 for himself, with a needy, mutinous army, eager to 
 desert, and ready to give him uj) to his enemies, had 
 no other way to save himself than by flying to his 
 namesake in Macedonia ; but the distance was so 
 great, and the country so guarded, that he was often 
 forced to change his road, for fear of being taken, 
 till having dismissed all his attendants, and wan- 
 dered for some time alone in disguise and distress, 
 he committed himself to the protection of an old 
 acquaintance and host whom he had formerly 
 obliged ; where, either through treachery or acci- 
 dent, he was surprised by Antony's soldiers, who 
 immediately killed him, and returned with his head 
 to their general ". 
 
 Several of the old writers have reproached his 
 memory with a shameful cowardice in the manner 
 of suffering his death : unworthy of the man who 
 had killed Caesar, and commanded armies. But 
 their accounts are so various, and so inconsistent 
 with the character of his former life, that we may 
 reasonably suspect them to be forged by those who 
 were disposed to throw all kinds of contumely on 
 the murderers of Caesar". 
 
 But what gave the greatest shock to the whole 
 republican party, was a law contrived by Caesar, 
 and published by his colleague Pedius, to bring to 
 trial and justice all those who had been concerned 
 either in advising or effecting Caesar's death ; in 
 consequence of which all the conspirators were 
 presently impeached in form by different accusers, 
 and as none of them ventured to appear to their 
 citations, they were all condemned of course ; and 
 by a second law interdicted from fire and water. 
 Pompey also, though he had borne no part in that 
 act, was added to the number, "as an irreconcilable 
 enemy to the Caesarian cause : after which Caesar, 
 to make amends for the unpopularity of his law, 
 distributed to the citizens the legacies which his 
 uncle had left them by wiUp. 
 
 Cicero foresaw that things might possibly take 
 this turn, and Plancus himself prove treacherous ; 
 and for that reason was constantly pressing Brutus 
 and Cassius to hasten to Italy as the most effectual 
 means to prevent it : every step that Caesar took 
 confirmed his apprehensions, and made him more 
 importunate with them to come, especially after 
 the union of Antony and Lepidus. In his letters 
 to Brutus, " Fly to us," says he, " I beseech you^ 
 and exhort Cassius to the same, for there is no 
 hope of liberty but from your troopsi. If yoii: 
 
 n Veil. Pat. ii. 64 ; Appian. 1. iii. 588. 
 
 Senec. Ep. 82. 543 ; Dio, 1. xlvi. 325 ; VaL Max. ix. 13. 
 P Appian. 1. iii. 586 ; Dio, xlvi. 322. 
 
 1 Quamobrem advola, obsecro— hortare idem per lite733'
 
 202 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 have any regard for the republic, for -which you 
 ■were born, yoii must do it instantly ; for the war is 
 renewed by the inconstancy of Lepidus ; and 
 Ctesar's army, which was the best, is not only of 
 no service to us, but even obliges us to call for 
 yours : as soon as ever you touch Italy, there is 
 not a man wiiom we can call a citi/en who will not 
 immediately be in your camp. We have D. Brutus 
 indeed hapjiily united with Plancus : but you are 
 not ignorant !iow changeable men's minds are, and 
 how infected with party, and how uncertain the 
 ■events of war : nay, should we conquer, as I hoj)e 
 we shall, there will be a want of your advice and 
 authority to settle all affairs. Help us, therefore, 
 for God's sake, and as soon as possible ; and assure 
 yourself that you did not do a greater service to 
 your country on the ides of March, when you 
 freed it from s.avery, than you will do by coming 
 quickly ■■." 
 
 After many remonstrances of the same kind, he 
 wrote also the following letter. 
 
 Cicero to Brutus. 
 " After I had often exhorted you by letters to 
 come as soon as possible to the relief of the repub- 
 lic, and bring your army into Italy, and never 
 imagined that your own people had any scruples 
 about it ; I was desired by that most prudent and 
 diligent woman your mother, all whose thoughts 
 and cares are employed on you, that I would come 
 to her on the twenty-fourth of July ; which I did, 
 as I ought, without delay. When I came, I found 
 Casoa, Labeo, and Scaptius, with her. She pre- 
 sently entered into the affair, and asked my opinion 
 whether we should send for you to Italy ; and 
 whether I thought it best for you to come or to 
 continue abroad. I declared, what I took to bs (he 
 most for your honour and reputation, that without 
 loss of time you should bring present help to the 
 tottering and declining state. For what mischief 
 may not one expect from that war, where the con- 
 quering armies refused to pursue a flying enemy ? 
 where a general unhurt, unprovoked, possessed of 
 the highest honours, and the greatest fortunes, 
 with a wife, children, and near relation to you, has 
 declared war against the commonwealth .' 1 may 
 add, where, in so great a concord of the senate and 
 people, there resides still so much disorder within 
 the walls ? but the greatest grief which I feel, 
 while 1 am now writing, is to reflect that when the 
 republic had taken my word for a youth, or rather 
 a boy, I shall hardly have it in my power to make 
 good what I promised for him. For it is a thing 
 of much greater delicacy and moment, to engage 
 oneself for another'.s sentiments and principles, 
 especially in affairs of importance, than for money ; 
 for money may be paid, and the loss itself be 
 tolerable ; but how can you pay what you are 
 engaged for to the republic, unless he for whom 
 you stand engaged will suffer it to be paid .' yet I 
 am still in hopes to hold him, though many are 
 plucking him away from me : for his disposition 
 seems good, though his age be flexible, and many 
 always at hand to corrupt him ; who, by throwing 
 
 ■Cassium. Spes libertatis nusquam nisi in vestrorum cas- 
 trorum principiis est. — Ad Brut. 10. 
 
 "■ Subveni igitur, per deos, idque quam primum ; tibique 
 persuade, non te Idibus Mnrtiis, quibus servitutem a tuis 
 civibus repulisti, plus profuisse patriae, quam, si mature 
 -veneris, profuturum. — Ibid. 14. 
 
 in his way the splendour of false honour, think 
 themselves sure of dazzling his good sense and 
 understanding. Wherefore to all my other labours 
 this new one is added, of setting all engines at 
 work to hold fast the young man, lest I incur the 
 im])utati()n of rashness. Though what rashness is 
 it after all ? for, in reality, I bound him for whom 
 I was engaged more strongly than myself; nor has 
 the republic as yet any cause to repent that I was 
 his sponsor, since he has hitherto been the more 
 firm and constant in acting for us, as well from his 
 own temjier as for my jiromise. The greatest diffi- 
 culty in the rejiublic, if I mistake not, is the want 
 of money ; for honest men grow every day more 
 and more averse to the name of tribute, and what 
 was gathered from the hundredth penny, where 
 the rich are shamefully rated, is all spent in reward- 
 ing the two legions. There is an infinite expense 
 upon us to support the armies which now defend 
 us, and also yours, for our Cassius seems likely to 
 come sufficiently provided. But I long to talk 
 over this, and many other things with you in per- 
 son, and that quickly. As to your sister's children, 
 I did not wait, Brutus, for your writing to me : 
 the times themselves, since the war will be drawn 
 into length, reserve the whole affair to you ; but from 
 the first, when I could not foresee the continuance 
 of the war, I ideaded the cause of the children in 
 the senate, in a manner which you have been 
 informed of, I guess, by your mother's letters : 
 nor can there ever be any case where I will not 
 both say and do, even at the hazard of my life, 
 whatever I think agreeable either to your inclina- 
 tion or to your interest. The twenty-sixth of 
 July'." 
 
 In a letter likewise to Cassius, he says, " We 
 wish to see you in Italy as soon as possible, and 
 shall imagine that we have recovered the republic 
 when we have you with us. We had conquered 
 nobly if I/epidus had not received the routed, dis- 
 armed, fugitive, Antony; wherefore Antony himself 
 was never so odious to the city as Lepidus is now ; 
 for he began a war upon us from a turbulent state 
 of things, this man from peace and victory. We 
 have the consuls-elect to oppose him, in whom 
 indeed we have great hopes, yet not without an 
 anxious care for the uncertain events of battles. 
 Assure yourself, therefore, that all our dependence 
 is on you and your Brutus ; that you are both 
 expected, but Brutus immediately," &c. ' 
 
 But after all these repeated remonstrances of 
 Cicero, neither Brutus nor Cassius seems to have 
 entertained the least thought of coming with their 
 armies to Italy. Cassius, indeed, by being more 
 remote, could not come so readily, and was not so 
 much expected as Brutus ; who, before the battle of 
 Modena, had drawn down all his legions to the sea- 
 coast, and kept them at ApoUonia and Dyrrhachium 
 waiting the event of that action, and ready to 
 embark for Italy, if any accident had made his 
 assistance necessary, for which Cicero highly com- 
 mends him". But upon the news of Antony's 
 defeat, taking all the danger to be over, he marched 
 away directly to the remotest parts of Greece and 
 Macedonia, to oppose the attempts of Dolabella ; 
 
 s Ad Brut. 18. ' Ep. Fam. xii. 10. 
 
 « Tuum consilium vehementer laudo, quod non priuB 
 exercitum ApoUonia Djrrliachioque movisti, quam do 
 Antonii fuga audisti, Bruti eruptione, populi Romani vic- 
 toria. — Ad Brut. 2.
 
 MARCUS TULLTUS CICERO. 
 
 205 
 
 and from that time seemed deaf to the call of the 
 -sena'e, and to all Cicero's letters, which urged hiiu 
 so strongly to come to their relief. It is difficult 
 at this distance to penetrate the motives of his 
 conduct : he had a better opinion of Lepidus than 
 the rest of his party had ; and being naturally 
 positive, might affect to slight the apprehensions of 
 Lepidus's treachery, which was the chief ground 
 of their calling so earnestly for him. But he had 
 other reasons also which were thought to be good ; 
 since some of his friends at Rome, as we may 
 collect from Cicero's letter, were of a different 
 mind from Cicero, on the subject of his coming. 
 They might susj)ect the fidelity of his troops ; and 
 that they were not sufficiently confirmed and 
 attached to him to be trusted in the field against 
 the veterans in Italy ; whose example and invita- 
 tion, when they came to face each other, might 
 possibly induce them to desert as the other armies 
 had done, and betray their commanders. But 
 whatever was their real motive, D. Brutus, who 
 was the best judge of the state of things at home, 
 was entirely of Cicero's opinion : he saw himself 
 surrounded with veteran armies, disaffected to the 
 cause of liberty ; knew the perfidy of Lepidus ; the 
 ambition of young Caesar ; and the irresolution of 
 his colleague Plancus ; and admonished Cicero, 
 therefore, in all his letters, to urge his namesake 
 to hasten his march to them''. So that, on the 
 whole, it seems reasonable to believe, that if Brutus 
 and Cassius had marched with their armies to- 
 wards Italy at the time when Cicero first pressed 
 it, before the defection of Plancus and the death of 
 Decimus, it must have prevented the immediate 
 ruin of the republic. 
 
 The want of money of which Cicero complains 
 at this time, as the greatest evil that they had 
 to struggle with, is expressed also very strongly 
 in another letter to Cornificius, the proconsul of 
 Africa, who was urging him to provide a fund for 
 the support of the legions : " As to the expense," 
 says he, " which you have made, and are making 
 in your military preparations, it is not in my power 
 to help you ; because the senate is now without a 
 head, by the death of the consuls, and there is an 
 incredible scarcity of money in the treasury, which 
 we are gathering however from all quarters, to 
 make good our promises to the troops that have 
 deserved it of us, which cannot be done, in my 
 opinion, without a tribute >'," This tribute was a 
 sort of capitation-tax, proportioned to each man's 
 substance, but had been wholly disused in Rome 
 from the conquest of Macedonia by Paulus jEmilius, 
 which furnished money and rents sufficient to ease 
 the city ever after of that burden, till the neces- 
 sity of the present times obliged them to renew 
 it'-. But from what Cicero intimates of the gene- 
 ral aversion to the revival of it, one cannot help 
 observing the fatal effects of that indolence and 
 ^^ De Bruto autem nihil adhuc certi. Quem ego, quem- 
 admodum pra-cipis, privatis Uteris ad bellum commune 
 
 ■ vocare non desino. — Ep. Fam. xi. 25 ; it. 26. 
 
 y De sumtu, quem te in rem militarem faoere et fecisse 
 dicls, nihil sane possum tibi opitulari, propterea quod et 
 orbus senatus, consulibus amissis, et ineredibiles angustia; 
 pecuniae publicse, &c. — Ep. Fam. xii. 30. 
 
 * At Perse rege devicto PauUus, cum Macedonicis opi- 
 bus veterem atque hereditariam urbis nostra? paiipertateni 
 
 ■ eo usque satiasset, ut illo tempore primuni populusKoma- 
 nus tributi prsestandi onerc e.e liberarct. — Val. Slax. iv. 3; 
 
 ^it Plin. Hibt. Nat. xxxiii. 3. 
 
 luxury whi('h had infected even the honest part of 
 Rome ; who, in this utmost exigency of the 
 republic, were shocked at the very mention of an 
 extraordinary tax, and would not part with the 
 least share of their money for the defence even of 
 their liberty ; the consequence of which was, what 
 it must always be in the like case, that by starving 
 the cause, they found not only their fortunes, but 
 their lives also soon after, at the mercy of their 
 enemies. Cicero has a reflection in one of his 
 speeches that seems applicable also to the present 
 case, and to be verified by the example of these 
 times. "The republic (says he) is attacked always 
 with greater \igour than it is defended ; for the 
 audacious and jirofligate, prompted by their natural 
 enmity to it, are easily impelled to act upon the 
 least nod of their leaders : whereas the honest, I 
 know not why, are generally slow and unwilling to 
 stir ; and neglecting always the beginnings of 
 things, are never roused to exert themselves but 
 by the last necessity : so that through irresolution 
 and delay, when they would be glad to compound 
 at last for their quiet, at the expense even of their 
 honour, they commonly lose them both"." 
 
 This observation will serve to vindicate the con- 
 duct of Cassius from that charge of violence and 
 cruelty which he is said to have practised, in 
 exacting money and other necessaries from the 
 cities of Asia. He was engaged in an inexpiable 
 war, where he must either conquer or perish with 
 the republic itself, and where his legions were not 
 only to be supported but rewarded : the revenues 
 of the empire were exhausted ; contributions came 
 in sparingly ; and the states abroad were all desirous 
 to stand neuter ; as doubtful of the issue, and 
 unwilling to offend either side. Under these diffi- 
 culties, where money was necessary, and no way of 
 procuring it but force, extortion became lawful ; 
 the necessity of the end justified the means ; and 
 when the safety of the empire and the liberty of 
 Rome were at stake, it was no time to listen to 
 scruples. This was Cassius's way of reasoning, 
 and the ground of his acting ; who applied all his 
 thoughts to support the cause that he had under- 
 taken ; and kept his eyes (as Appian says) wholly 
 fixed upon the war, as a gladiator upon his anta- 
 gonist''. 
 
 Brutus, on the other hand, being of a temper 
 more mild and scrupulous, contented himself gene- 
 rally with the regular methods of raising money ; 
 and from his love of philosophy and the politer 
 studies, having contracted an affection for the 
 cities of Greece, instead of levying contributions, 
 used to divert himself, wherever he passed, with 
 seeing their games and exercises, and presiding at 
 their philosophical disputations, as if travelhng 
 rather for curiosity than to provide materials for a 
 bloody war"^. When he and Cassius, therefore, 
 met, the difference of their circumstances showed 
 the different effects of their conduct. Cassius, 
 without receiving a penny from Rome, came rich 
 and amply furnished with all the stores of war ; 
 Brutus, who had received large remittances from 
 
 1 Pro Sextii), 47. 
 
 '' 'O fj-ev Kdacrios afneTaffTpenrl, Kaddwep is "rhv 
 aywincrriif ol /jLOfOfia^ovvres, fS u6vov thv TroKtfiov 
 a.(pic!!pa.- — Appian. 1. iv. 6(i7- 
 
 •-' 'O Se BpovTOS, liirri yiyvotro, Koi <pi\oO(afioiv ijv 
 Kol (pi\-i}Koos, ore Koi <pi\o<To(pi)aa<: ovk ayefyws.— 
 Ibid.
 
 284 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Italy, came empty and poor, and unable to sup- 
 port himself without the lielp of Cassias, who was 
 forced to give him a third part of that treasure 
 which he had been gathering with so much envy 
 to himself for the common service''. 
 
 While Cicero was taking all this pains, and 
 struggling thus gloriously in tlie supjiort of their 
 expiring liberty, Brutus, wbo was naturally peevish 
 and (pierulous, being particularly chagrined by the 
 unhajjpy turn of aft'airs in Italy, and judging of 
 counsels by events, was disposed at last to throw 
 all the blame upon liim ; charging him chiefly, 
 that, by a profusion of honours on young Ciesar, 
 he had inspired him with an anibiiion incomjiatible 
 with the safety of the republic, and armed him 
 with that power which lie was now employing to 
 oppress it : whereas the truth is, that by tiiose 
 honours Cicero did not intend to give Ca;sar any 
 new power, but to apply tliat which he had acquired 
 by his own vigour to the public service and the 
 ruin of Antony ; in whicli he succeeded even be- 
 yond expectation, and would certainly have gained 
 iais end, had lie not been prevented by accidents 
 which could not be foreseen. For it is evident 
 from the facts above-mentioned, that he was always 
 jealous of Caesar, and instead of increasing, was 
 contriving some check to his authority, till by the 
 death of the consuls, he slipped out of his hands 
 and became too strong to be managed by liim any 
 longer. Brutus, by being at such a distance, was 
 not well apprised of the particular grounds of 
 granting those honours ; but Decimus, who was all 
 the while in Italy, saw the use and necessity of 
 them, and seems to hint in some of his letters that 
 they ought to have decreed still greater^. 
 
 But whatever Brutus or any one else may have 
 said, if we reflect on Cicero's conduct from the 
 time of Caesar's death to his own, we shall find it 
 in all respects uniform, great, and glorious ; never 
 deviating from the grand point which he had in 
 view, the liberty of his country : whereas, if we 
 attend to Brutus's, we cannot help observing in it 
 something strangely various and inconsistent with 
 itself. In his outward manners and behaviour, he 
 affected the rigour of a Stoic, and the severity of 
 an old Roman ; yet by a natural tenderness and 
 compassion, was oft betrayed into acts of an 
 effeminate weakness. To restore the liberty of his 
 country, he killed his friend and benefactor ; and 
 declares, that for the same cause he would have 
 killed even his father' : yet he would not take 
 Antony's life, though it was a necessary sacrifice 
 to the same cause. When DolabeUa had basely 
 murdered Trebonius, and Antony openly approved 
 the act, he could not be persuaded to make repri- 
 sals on C. Antony : but through a vain ostentation 
 of clemency, suffered him to live, though with 
 danger to himself. When his brother-in-law, 
 Lepidus, was declared an enemy, he expressed an 
 absurd and peevish resentment of it for the sake 
 of his nephews, as if it would not have been in 
 his power to have repaired their fortunes if the 
 
 d Plutarch, in Brut. 
 
 e Mirabiliter, mi Brute, lastor, mea consilia, measque 
 sententias a te probari, de decenivh'is, de ornando adoles- 
 cente— Ep. Fam. xi. 14 ; it. 20. 
 
 f Non concesserim, quod in illo non tuli, sed ne patri 
 
 quidem meo, si reviviscat, ut, patiente me, plus legibus ac 
 Bcnatu possit. [Ad Brut. 16.] Sed dorainum, ne parentem 
 u idem, majores nostri voluerunt esse, — Ibid. 17. 
 
 republic was ever restored ; or if not, in their 
 father's. How contrary is this to the spirit of that 
 old Brutus from whom he derived his descent, 
 and whom in his general conduct lie pretended to 
 imitate ! He blames Cicero for dispensing honours, 
 too largely, yet claims an infinite share of them to 
 himself; and when he had seized by his private 
 autliority what the senate at Cicero's motion 
 confirmed to him, the most extraordinary com- 
 mand wiiich had been granted to any man, he 
 ileclares himself an enemy to all extraordinary 
 commissions, in what hands soever they were 
 lodged*"'; this iiiconsisteni-y in his character would 
 tempt us to believe that he was governed in many ■ 
 cases by the pride and haughtiness of his temper, ^ 
 rather than by any constant and settled principles 
 of jihilosophy, of which he is commonly thought 
 so strict an observer. ■ 
 
 Cicero, however, notwithstanding the peevish- I 
 ness of Brutus, omitted no opportunity of serving 1 
 and supporting him to the very last : as soon as he 
 perceived Caisar's intention of revenging his uncle's 
 death, he took all imaginable pains to dissuade him 
 from it, and never ceased from exhorting him by 
 letters to a reconciliatioD with Brutus, and the 
 observance of that amnesty which the senate had 
 decreed as the foundation of the public peace. 
 This was certainly the best service which he could 
 do, either to Brutus or the republic : and Atticus, 
 imagining that Brutus would be pleased with it. 
 sent him a copy of what Cicero had written on that 
 subject ; but instead of pleasing, it provoked Ikutus 
 only the more : he treated it as base and dishonour- 
 able to ask anything of a boy, or to imagine the 
 safety of Brutus to depend on any one but himself; 
 and signified his mind upon it, both to Cicero 
 and Atticus, in such a style as confirms what 
 Cicero had long before observed, and more than 
 once declared of him, that his letters were gene- 
 rally churlish, unmannerly, and arrogant ; and that 
 he regarded neither what, nor to whom he was 
 w-riting''. But their own letters to each other will 
 be the best vouchers of what I have been remark- 
 ing, and enable us to form the surest judgment of 
 the different spirit and conduct of the men. After 
 Brutus, therefore, had frequently intimated his 
 dissatisfaction and dislike of Cicero's management, 
 Cicero took occasion, in the following letter, to idv 
 open the whole progress of it from the time or 
 Caesar's death, in order to show the reasonableness 
 and necessity of each step. 
 
 Cicero to Brutus. 
 
 " You have Messala now with you. It is no6 
 possible, therefore, for me to explain by letter, 
 though ever so accurately drawn, the present state- 
 of our affairs so exactly as he, who not only knows 
 them all more perfectly, but can describe them, 
 more elegantly than any man : for I would not 
 have you imagine, Brutus (though there is no occa- 
 sion to tell you what you know already yourself, 
 but that I cannot pass over in silence such an 
 excellence of all good qualities) ; I would not have 
 you imagine, I say, that for probity, constancy,, 
 and zeal for the republic, there is any one equal to 
 him : so that eloquence, in which he wonderfully 
 
 e Ego certe— cum ipsa re belluni geram, lioc est cum 
 regno, et imperiis ex traordinariis et doininatione et poten!> 
 tia.— Ad Brut. 17. 
 
 t Ad Att. vi. 1, 3.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 286 
 
 «xcels, scarce finds a place among his other praises ; 
 since even in that his wisdom shines the most 
 eminent, by his having formed himself with so 
 much judgment and skill to the truest manner of 
 speaking. Yet his industry all the while is so 
 remarkable, and he spends so much of his time in 
 study, that he seems to owe but little to his parts, 
 wliich still are the greatest. But I am carried too 
 far by my love for him : for it is not the purpose 
 of this epistle to praise Messala, especially to 
 Brutus, to whom his virtue is not less known than 
 to myself, and these very studies which 1 am ])rais- 
 ing still more ; whom, when I could not \r,\rt with 
 without regret, I comforted myself with reflecting, 
 that by his going away to you, as it were to my 
 second self, he both discharged his duty, and 
 pursued the surest path to glory. But so much 
 for that'. I come now, after a long interval, to 
 consider a certain letter of yours, in which, wliile 
 you allow me to have done well in many things, 
 you find fault with me for one ; that in conferring 
 honours I was too free, and even prodigal. You 
 charge me with this ; others probably with being 
 too severe in punishing, or you yourself perhaps 
 with both. If so, I desire that my judgment and 
 sentiments on each may be clearly explained to 
 you : not that I mean to justify myself by the 
 authority of Solon, the wisest of the seven, and 
 the only legislator of them all, who used to say 
 that the public weal was comprised in two things, 
 
 ' Publius Valerius Mcssala Corvinus, of wliom Cicero 
 here gives so fi-ne a character, was one of the noblest as 
 well as the most accomplished persons of his age, who lived 
 Ions afterwards the general favourite of all parties, and a 
 principal ornament of Augustus's court. Being in arms 
 with Brutus, he was proscribed of course by the triumvi- 
 rate, yet was excepted soon after by a special edict, but 
 refused the benefit of that grace, and adhered to the cause 
 of liberty, till he saw it expire with his friend. After the 
 battle of Philippi, the troops that remained freely offered 
 themselves to his command ; but he chose to accept peace, 
 to which ho was invited by the conquerors, and surren- 
 dered himself to Antony, with whom he bad a particular 
 acquaintance. When Caesar was defeated not long after 
 by S. Pompey. on the coast of Sicily, being in the utmost 
 distress and danger of life, he committed himself with one 
 domestic to the fidelity of Messala ; who, instead of reveng- 
 ing himself on one who had so lately proscribed and set a 
 price upon his head, generously protected and preserved 
 him. He continued still in the friendship of Antony, till 
 the scandal of Antony's life, and slavish obsequiousness to 
 Cleopatra, threw him wholly into the interests of Ca;sar, 
 by whom ho was declared consul in Antony's place, greatly 
 entrusted in the battle of Actium, and honoured at last 
 with a triumph, for reducing the rebellious Gauls to their 
 obedience. He is celebrated by all writers as one of the 
 first orators of Rome ; and having been the disciple of 
 Cicero, was thought by some to excel even his master in 
 the sweetness and correctness of his style ; preserving 
 always a dignity, and demonstrating his nobility, by the 
 very manner of his speaking. To the perfection of his 
 eloquence he had added all the accomplishments of the 
 other liberal arts ; was a great admirer of Socrates, and the 
 eeverer studies of philosophy, j-et an eminent patron of all 
 the wits and poets of those times. Tibullus was the con- 
 stant companion of all his foreign expeditions, which lie 
 celebrates in his Elegies ; and Horace, in one of his odes, 
 calls for his choicest wines, for the entertainment of so 
 noble a guest. Yet this polite and amiable man, impaired 
 by sickness, and worn out at last by age, is said to have 
 outlived his senses and memory, till he had forgotten even 
 his very name. — See Appian. p. 611, 736; Tacit. Dial. IH ; 
 Quintil. X. 1 ; Tibull. Eleg. i. 7 ; Hor. Carni. iii. 21 ; i'lin. 
 Hist. Nat. rii 24. 
 
 rewards and punishments ; in which, however, as 
 in everything else, a certain medium and tempera- 
 ment is to be observed. But it is not my design at 
 this time to discuss so great a subject. I think it 
 proper only to open the reasons of my votes and 
 opinions in the senate from the beginning of this 
 war. After tlie death of Ciesar, and those your 
 memorable 'des of March, you cannot forget, 
 Brutus, what I declared to have been omitted by 
 you, and what a tcnijii-st I foresaw hanging over 
 the republic. You had freed us from a great 
 plague, wijied off a great stain from the Roman 
 people, acquired to yourselves divine glory, yet ail 
 the equijiage and furniture of kingly power was left 
 still to Lepidus and Antony — the one inconstant, 
 the other vicious ; both of them afraid of peace, 
 and enemies to the jiublic quiet. Wliile these men 
 were eager to raise fresh disturbances in the 
 republic, we had no guard about us to oppose them, 
 though the whole city was eager and unanimous in 
 asserting its liberty : I was then thought too vio- 
 lent, while you, perhaps more wisely, withdrew 
 yourselves from that city which you had delivered, 
 and refused the help of all Italy, which offered to 
 arm itself in your cause. Wherefore, when I saw 
 the city in the hands of traitors, oppressed by the 
 arms of Antony, and that neither you nor Cassius 
 could be safe in it, I thought it time for me to quit 
 it too : for a city overpowered by traitors, without 
 the means of relieving itself, is a wretched spectacle. 
 Yet my mind, always the same, and ever fixed on 
 the love of my country, could not bear the thought 
 of leaving it in its distress. In the midst, there- 
 fore, of my voyage to Greece, and in the very 
 season of the Etesian winds, when an uncommon 
 south wind, as if displeased with my resolution, had 
 driven me back to Italy, I found you at Yelia, and 
 was greatly concerned at it ; for you were retreat- 
 ing, Brutus — were retreating, I say, since your 
 Stoics will not allow their wise man to fly. As 
 soon as I came to Rome, I exposed myself to the 
 wickedness and rage of Antony ; and when I had 
 exasperated him against me, began to enter into 
 measures in the very manner of the Brutuses (for 
 such are peculiar to your blood), for delivering the 
 republic. I shall omit the long recital of what 
 followed, since it all relates to myself, and observe 
 only, that young Caesar, by whom, if we will confess 
 the truth, we subsist at this day, flowed from the 
 source of my counsels. I decreed him no honours, 
 Brutus, but what were due, none but what were 
 necessary ; for as soon as we began to recover any 
 liberty, and before the virtue of D. Brutus had yet 
 shown itself so far that we could know its divine 
 force, and while our whole defence was in the boy, 
 wlio repelled Antony fBom our necks, what honour 
 was not really due to him ! though I gave him 
 nothing yet but the praise of w-ords, and that but 
 moderate. I decreed him indeed a legal command, 
 which, though it seemed honourable to one of that 
 age, was yet necessary to one who had an army ; for 
 what is an army without the command of it .' Philip 
 voted him a statue, Servius the privilege of suing 
 for offices before the legal time, which was short- 
 ened still by Servilius ; nothing was then thought 
 too much; but we are apt, I know not how, to be 
 more liberal in fear than grateful in success. When 
 D. Brutus was delivered from the siege, a day of 
 all others the most joyous to the city, which hap- 
 pened also to be his birth-day, I decreed that hia
 
 28fi 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 name should be asc^ribcil for ever to tiiat day in 
 the public calendars : in wliich I followed the 
 example of our ancestors, who paid the same honour 
 to a woman, Larentia, at whose altar you priests 
 perform sacred rites in the velabrum. By giving 
 this to D. Brutus, my design was to fix in the 
 calendars a perpetual memorial of a most acceptable 
 victory ; but I perceived on that day that there 
 was more malevolence than gratitude in many of 
 the senate. During these same days I poured out 
 honours (since you will have it so) on the deceased 
 Hirtius, i'ansa, and Aquila : and who can fi'id 
 fault with it but those who, when fear is once 
 over, forget their i)ast danger ? But besides the 
 grateful remembrance of services, there was a use 
 in it which reached to posterity ; for I was desirous 
 that there should remain an eternal monument of 
 the public hatred to our most cruel enemies. There 
 is one thing, I doubt, which does not please you — 
 for it does not please your friends here, who, though 
 excellent men, have but little experience in public 
 affairs — that I decreed an ovation to Caesar ; but 
 for my part (though I may jierhaps be mistaken, 
 for I am not one of those who approve nothing 
 but what is my own), I cannot but think that I 
 have advised nothing more prudent during this 
 ■war. Why it is so, is not proper to be explained, 
 lest I be thought to have been more provident in 
 it than grateful. But even this is too much. Let 
 ns pass, therefore, to other things. I decreed 
 honours to D. Brutus — decreed them to Plancus. 
 They must be men of great souls who are attracted 
 by glory. But the senate also is certainly wise in 
 trying every art that is honest by which it can 
 engage any one to the service of the republic. But 
 I am blamed in the case of Lepidus, to whom, 
 after I had raised a statue in the rostra, I pre- 
 sently threw it down. My view in that honour 
 was, to reclaim him from desperate measures ;. but 
 the madness of an inconstant man got the better 
 of my prudence ; nor was there yet so much harm 
 in erecting, as good in demolishing, the statue. 
 But I have said enough coucerning honours, and 
 must say a word or two about punishments ; for I 
 have often observed, from your letters, that you 
 are fond of acquiring a reputation of clemency, 
 by your treatment of those whom you have con- 
 quered in war. I can imagine nothing to be done by 
 you but what is wisely done : but to omit the punish- 
 ing of wickedness (which we call pardoning) though 
 it be tolerable in other cases, I hold to be perni- 
 cious in this war. Of all the civil wars that have 
 been in my memory, there was not one in which, 
 what side soever got the better, there would not 
 have remained some form of a commonwealth ; yet 
 in this, what sort of a republic we are like to have, 
 if we conquer, I would not easily affirm ; but if we 
 are conquered, we are sure to have none. My 
 votes therefore were severe against Antony, severe 
 against Lepidus, not from any spirit of revenge, 
 but to deter wicked citizens at present from making 
 war against their country, and to leave an example 
 to posterity, that none hereafter should imitate 
 such rashness. Yet this very vote was not more 
 mine than it was everybody's ; in which there 
 seems, I own, to be something cruel, that the 
 punishment should reach to children, who have 
 done nothing to deserve it : but the constitution is 
 both ancient and of all cities ; for even Themis- 
 tocles's children were reduced to want ; and since 
 
 the same punishment falls upon citizens con- 
 demned of public crimes, how was it possible for 
 us to be more gentle towards enemies .•' But how 
 can that man complain of me, who, if he had 
 conquered, must needs confess that he would have 
 treated me even with more severity ? You have 
 now the motives of my o)nnions in the case of 
 rewards and punishments ; for as to other points, 
 you have heard, I imagine, what my sentiments 
 and votes have been. But to talk of these things 
 now is not necessary : what I am going to say is 
 extremely so, Brutus : — that you come to Italy 
 with your army as soon as possible. We are in 
 the utmost expectation of you : whenever you set 
 foot in Italy, all the world will fly to you ; for 
 whether it be our lot to conquer (as we had already 
 done, if Lepidus had not been desirous to overturn 
 all, and perish himself with his friends), there will 
 be a great want of your authority, for the settling 
 some state of a city amongst us ; or, if there be 
 any danger and struggle still behind, hasten to us, 
 for God's sake ; for you know how much depends 
 on opportunity, how much on despatch. What 
 diligence I shall use in the care of your sister's 
 children you will soon know, I hope, from your 
 mother's and sister's letters, in whose cause I have 
 more regard to your will, which is ever most dear 
 to me, than, as some think, to my own constancy. 
 But it is my desire both to be and to appear con- 
 stant in nothing so much as in loving you''." 
 
 Brutus to Cicero. 
 " I have read a part of your letter, which you 
 sent to Octavius, transmitted to me by Atticus. 
 Your zeal and concern for my safety gave me no 
 new pleasure ; for it is not only common, but 
 our daily news, to hear something, which you have 
 said or done with your usual fidelity, in the support 
 of my honour and dignity. Yet that same part of 
 your letter affected me with the most sensible grief 
 which my mind could possibly receive. For you 
 compliment him so highly for his services to the 
 republic ; and in a strain so suppliant and abject 
 that — what shall I say ? — I am ashamed of the 
 wretched state to which we are reduced, — yet it 
 must be said, — you recommend my safety to him, 
 to which what death is not preferable .' and plainly 
 show, that our servitude is not yet abolished, but 
 our master only changed. Recollect your words, 
 and deny them, if you dare, to be the prayers of a 
 slave to his king. There is one thing you say 
 which is required and expected from him, — that he 
 would allow those citizens to live in safety, of 
 whom all honest men and the people of Rome 
 think well. But what if he will not allow it ? 
 Shall we be the less safe for that ? It is better 
 not to be safe, than to be saved by him. For my 
 part, I can never think all the gods so averse to 
 the preservation of the Roman people, that 
 Octavius must be entreated for the life of any one 
 citizen, much less for the deliverers of the world. 
 It is a pleasure to me to talk thus magnificently ; 
 and it even becomes me to those, who know not 
 either what to fear for any one, or what to ask of 
 any one. Can you allow Octavius to have this 
 power, and yet be his friend ? or if you have any 
 value for me, would you wish to see me at Rome, 
 when I must first be recommended to the boy, 
 
 k Ad Brut. 15.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 287 
 
 that he would permit me to be there ? 'vhat 
 reason can you have to thank him, if you think it 
 necessary to be? of him tliat he would grant and 
 suffer us to live with safety ? or is it to be reckoned 
 a kindness, that he chooses to see himself rather 
 than Antony in the condition to have such 
 petitions addressed to him ; one may supplicate 
 indeed the successor, but never the abolisher of a 
 tyranny, that those who have deserved well of the 
 republic may be safe. It was this weakness and 
 despair, not more blamable indeed in you than in 
 all, which first pushed Csesar to the ambition of 
 reigning, and, after his death, encouraged Antony 
 to think of seizing his place ; and has now raised 
 this boy so high that you judge it necessary to 
 address your prayers to iiim for the preservation of 
 men of our rank ; and that we can be saved only 
 by the mercy of one scarce yet a man, and by no 
 other means. But if we had remembered ourselves 
 to be Romans, these infamous men would not be 
 more daring to aim at dominion, than we to repel 
 it : nor would Antony be more encouraged by 
 Cfesar's reign, than deterred by his fate. How 
 can you, a consular senator, and the avenger of so 
 many treasons (by suppressing' which you have 
 but postponed our ruin I fear for a time), reflect 
 on what you have done, and yet approve these 
 things, or bear them so tamely, as to seem at least 
 to approve them .' for what particular grudge had 
 you to Antony ? no other, but that he assumed 
 all this to himself; that our lives should be begged 
 of him ; our safety be precarious, from -^hom he 
 had received his liberty ; and the republic depend 
 on his will and pleasure. You thought it neces- 
 sary to take arms, to prevent him from tyran- 
 nizing at this rate : but was it your intent, 
 that by preventing him, we might sue to another 
 who would suffer himself to be advanced into his 
 place, or that the republic might be free and 
 mistress of itself .' as if our quarrel was not perhaps 
 to slavery, but to the conditions of it. But we 
 might have had, not only an easy master in Antony, 
 if we would have been content with that, but 
 whatever share with him we pleased of favours 
 and honours. For what could he deny to those 
 whose patience he saw was the best support of his 
 government? but nothing was of such value to us, 
 that we would sell our faith and our liberty for it. 
 This very boy, whom the name of Csesar seems 
 to incite against the destroyers of Ccesar, at what 
 rate would he value it (if there was any room to 
 traffic with him), to be enabled by our help to 
 maintain his present power, since we have a mind 
 to live, and to be rich, and to be called consulars ? 
 but then Csesar must have perished in vain : for 
 what reason had we to rejoice at his death, if after 
 it we were still to continue slaves .' Let other 
 people be as indolent as they please ; but may the 
 gods and goddesses deprive me sooner of every- 
 thing than the resolution, not to allow to the heir 
 of him whom I killed what I did not allow to the 
 man himself — nor would suffer, even in my father, 
 were he living — to have more power than the laws 
 and the senate. How can you imagine, that any 
 one can be free under him, without whose leave 
 there is no place for us in that city .' or how is it 
 possible for you, after all, to obtain what you ask ? 
 You ask, that he would allow us to be safe. Shall 
 we then receive safety, think you, when we re- 
 ceive life ? ±5ut how can we receive it, if we first 
 
 part with our honour and our liberty ? Do you 
 fancy, that to live at Rome is to be safe ? It is 
 the thing, and not the place, which must secure 
 tliat to me ; for I was never safe while Cfesar 
 lived, till I had resolved on that attempt ; nor can 
 I in any place live in exile, as long as I hate slavery 
 and affronts above all other evils. Is not this to 
 fall back again into the same state of darkness ; 
 when he, who has taken upon him the name of 
 the tyrant (though in the cities of Greece, when 
 the tyrants are destroyed, their children also perish 
 with them), must be entreated, that the avengers 
 of tyranny may be safe .' Can I ever wish to see 
 that city, or tiiink it a city, which would not accept 
 liberty when offered, and even forced upon it, but 
 has more dread of the name of their late king, in 
 the person of a boy, than confidence in itself; 
 though it has seen that very king taken off in the 
 height of all his power by the virtue of a few ? 
 As for me, do not recommend me any more to 
 your Csesar, nor indeed yourself, if you will liearken 
 to me. You set a very high value on tiie few 
 years which remain to you at that age, if for the 
 sake of them you can supplicate that boy. But 
 take care after all, lest what you have done and are 
 doing so laudably against Antony, instead of being 
 praised, as the effect of a great mind, be charged 
 to the account of your fear. For if you are so 
 pleased with Octavius as to petition him for our 
 safety, you will be thought not to have disliked a 
 master, but to have wanted a more friendly one. 
 As to your praising him for the things that he has 
 hitherto done, I entirely approve it : for they 
 deserve to be praised, provided that he undertook 
 them to repel other men's power, not to advance 
 his own. But when you adjudge him not only to 
 have this power, but that you ought to submit to 
 it so far as to entreat him that he would not 
 destroy us, you pay him too great a recompense : 
 for you ascribe that very thing to him which the 
 republic seemed to enjoy through him : nor does 
 it ever enter iuto your thoughts, that if Octavius be 
 worthy of any honours, because he wages war with 
 Antony ; that those who extirpated the very evil 
 of which these are but the relics, can never be 
 sufficiently requited by the Roman people; though 
 they were to heap upon them everything which 
 they could bestow : but see how much stronger 
 people's fears are than their memories, because 
 Antony still lives, and is in arms. As to Cresar, 
 all that could and ought to be done is past, and 
 cannot be recalled : is Octavius then a person of 
 so great importance, that the people of Rome are 
 to expect from him what he will determine upon 
 us .' or are we of so little, that any single man is to 
 be entreated for our safety.' As for me, may I never 
 return to you if ever 1 either supplicate any man, 
 or do not restrain those who are disposed to do it, 
 from supplicating for themselves : or I will remove 
 to a distance from all such who can be slaves, 
 and fancy myself at Rome, wherever I can live 
 free ; and shall pity you, whose fond desire of 
 life neither age, nor honours, nor the example of 
 other men's virtue, can moderate. For my part, 
 I shall ever think myself happy as long as I can 
 please myself with the persuasion that my piety 
 has been fully requited. For what can be happier, 
 than for a man, conscious of virtuous acts, and 
 content with liberty, to despise all human affairs ? 
 Yet I will never yield to those who are fond of
 
 288 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 yielding, or be conquered by those who are willing 
 to be conquered themselves, but will first try and 
 attempt everytliing, nor ever desist from dragging 
 our city out of slavery. If such fortune attends 
 me as I ought to have, we shall all rejoice ; if not, 
 I shall rejoice myself. For how could this life be 
 spent better than in acts and thoughts which tend 
 to make my countrymen free ? 1 beg and beseech 
 you, Cicero, not to desert the cause through wea- 
 riness or diffidence : in repelling present evils, 
 have your eye always on the future, lest they in- 
 sinuate themselves before you are aware. Con- 
 sider, that tlie fortitude and courage with which 
 you delivered the republic when consul, and now 
 again when consular, are nothing without con- 
 stancy and equability. The case of tried virtue, 
 I own, is harder than of untried : we rccjuire 
 services from it, as debts ; and if anything dis- 
 appoints us, we blame with resentment, as if we 
 had been deceived. Wherefore for Cicero to with- 
 stand Antony, though it be a part highly com- 
 mendable, yet because such a consul seemed of 
 course to promise us such a consular, nobody 
 wonders at it : but if the same Cicero, in the case 
 of others, should waver at last in that resolution, 
 which he exerted with such firmness and great- 
 ness of mind against Antony, he would deprive 
 himself not only of the hopes of future glory, but 
 forfeit even that which is past : for nothing is 
 great in itself but what flows from the result of 
 our judgment : nor does it become any man more 
 than you to love the republic, and to be the patron 
 of liberty, on the account either of your natural 
 talents or your former acts, or the wishes and 
 expectation of all men. Octavius, therefore, must 
 not be entreated to suffer us to live in safety. Do 
 you rather rouse yourself so far as to think that 
 city, in which you have acted the noblest part, free 
 and flourishing, as long as there are leaders still 
 to the people, to resist the designs of traitors'." 
 
 1 Ad Brut. 16. 
 
 N.B. There is a passage indeed in Brutus's letter to Atti 
 cus, where lie intimates a reason of his ccniplaint against 
 Cicero, which was certainly a just one, if the fact of which 
 he complains had been true — that Cicero had reproached 
 "asca with the murder of Ccesar, and called him an 
 assassin. "I do not know," says lie, " what I can write 
 to you but this, that the ambition and licentiousness of 
 the boy has been inflamed rather than restrained by 
 Cicero, who carries his indulgence of him to sucli a length, 
 as not to refrain from abuses upon Casca, and such as must 
 return doubly upon himself, who has put to death more 
 citizens than one, and must first own himself to be an 
 assassin before he can reproach Casca with what he 
 objects to him." [Ep. ad Brut. 17.] Manutius professes 
 himself unable to conceive how Cicero should ever call 
 Casca a murderer : yet cannot collect anything less from 
 Brutus's words. But the thing is impossible, and incon- 
 sistent with every word that Cicero had been saying, and 
 overy act tliat he had been doing from the time of Csesar's 
 death : and in relation particularly to Casca, we have seen 
 above, how he refused to enter into any measures with 
 Octavius, but upon the express condition of his suffering 
 Casca to take quiet possession of the tribunate : it is certain 
 therefore, that Brutus had either been misinformed, or 
 was charging Cicero with the consequential meaning of 
 some saying which was never intended by him ; in advis- 
 ing Casca perhaps to manage Octavius, in that height of 
 his power, with more temper and moderation, lest he 
 shoul.l otherwise be provoked to consider him as an assas- 
 sin, and treat him as such : for an intimation of that kind 
 would have been sufficient to the fierce spirit of Brutus, 
 for taking it as a direct condemnation of Casca's act of 
 
 If we compare these two letters, we shall per- 
 ceive in Cicero's an extensive view and true judg- 
 ment of things, tempered with the greatest polite- 
 ness and affection for his friend, and an unwilling- 
 ness to disgust where he thought it necessary even to 
 blame. InBrutus'sachurlishand morose arrogance, 
 claiming infinite honours to himself, yet allowing 
 none to anybody else ; insolently chiding and 
 dictating to one, as much superior to him in 
 wisdom as he was in years ; the whole turning 
 u])on that romantic maxim of the Stoics, enforced 
 witliout any regard to times ani circumstances : 
 that a wise man has a sufficiency of all things 
 within himself. There are indeed many noble 
 sentiments in it worthy of old Kome, which Cicero 
 in a proper season would have recommended as 
 warmly as he ; yet they were not i)riiici])lcs to 
 act upon in a conjuncture so critical ; and the 
 rigid application of them is the less excusable ia 
 Brutus, because he himself did not always practise 
 what he professed ; but was too apt to forget both 
 the Stoic and the Roman. 
 
 Octavius had no sooner settled the affairs of 
 the city, and subdued the senate to his mind, tlian 
 he marched back towards Gaul to meet Antony 
 and Lepidus, who had already passed the Alps, 
 and brought their armies into Italy, in order to 
 have a personal interview with him, whicli had 
 been privately concerted for settling the terms of 
 a triple league, and dividing the power and pro- 
 vinces of the empire among themselves. All the 
 three were natural enemies to each other ; com- 
 petitors for empire, and aiming severally to possess 
 what could not be obtained but with the ruin of 
 the rest : their meeting therefore was not to 
 establish any real amity or lasting concord, for 
 that was impossible, but to suspend their own 
 quarrels for the present, and with common forces 
 to oppress their common enemies, the friends of 
 liberty and the republic : without which all their 
 several hopes and ambitious views must inevitably 
 be blasted. 
 
 The place appointed for the interview was a 
 small island, about two miles from Bononia, formed 
 by the river Rhenus, which runs near to that city° : 
 here they met, as men of their character must 
 necessarily meet, not without jealousy and sus- 
 picion of danger from each other, being aU attended 
 by their choicest troops, each with five legions, 
 disposed in separate camps within sight of the 
 island. Lepidus entered it the first, as an equal 
 friend to the other two, to see that the place was 
 clear and free from treachery ; and when he had 
 given the signal agreed upon, Antony and Octavius 
 advanced from the opposite banks of the river, 
 and passed into the island by bridges, which they 
 left guarded on each side by three hundred of 
 their own men. Their first care, instead of 
 embracing, was to search one another, whether 
 they had not brought daggers concealed under 
 their clothes ; and when that ceremony was over, 
 Octavius took his seat betwixt the other two, in 
 the most honourable place, on the account of his 
 being consul. 
 
 In this situation they spent three daj^s in a close 
 conference, to adjust the plan of their accommo- 
 dation ; the substance of which was, that the 
 
 stabbing Csesar, to which Cicero had always given the 
 highest applause. 
 
 » Vide. Cluver, Ital. Antiq. 1. i. c. xxviii. p. 1U7.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 SKI) 
 
 three should be invested jointly with supreme 
 power for the term of live years, with the title of 
 Triumvirs, for setthng the state of the republic : 
 that they should act in all cases by common con- 
 sent, nominate the magistrates and governors 
 both at home and abroad, and determine all affairs 
 relating to the public by their sole will and plea- 
 sure : that Octavius should have for his peculiar 
 province, Africa, with Sicily, Sardinia, and the other 
 islands of the Mediterranean ; Lepidus, Spain, 
 with the Narbonese Gaul ; Antony, the other two 
 Gauls on both sides of the Alps : and to ])ut them 
 all upon a level, both in title and authority, that 
 Octavius should resign the consulship to Ventidius 
 for the remainder of the year : that Antony and 
 Octavius should prosecute the war against Brutus 
 and Cassius, each of them at the head of twenty 
 legions ; and LepLtlus, with three legions, be left 
 to guard the city : and at the end of the war, that 
 eighteen cities or colonies, the best and richest 
 of Italy, together with their lands and districts, 
 should be taken from their owners, and assigned 
 to the perpetual possession of the soldiers, as the 
 reward of their faithful services. These conditions 
 ■were published to their several armies, and received 
 ■by them with acclamations of joy, and mutual 
 ■gratulations for this happy union of their chiefs ; 
 which, at the desire of the soldiers, was ratified 
 'likewise by a marriage, agreed to be consummated 
 between Octavius and Claudia, the daughter of 
 Antonv's wife, Fulvia, by her first husband, 
 P. Clodius. 
 
 The last thing that they adjusted was the list of 
 a proscription, which thej"^ were determined to 
 make of their enemies. This, as the writers tell 
 lis. occasioned much difficulty and warm contests 
 ■amongst them, till each of them in his turn con- 
 sented to sacrifice some of his best friends to the 
 revenge and resentment of his colleagues. The 
 whole list is said to have consisted of three hundred 
 senators and two thousand knights, all doomed to 
 die for a crime the most unpardonable to tyrants, 
 their adherence to the cause of liberty. They 
 reserved the publication of the general list to their 
 arrival at Rome, excepting only a few of the most 
 obnoxious ; the heads of the republican party, 
 about seventeen in all, the chief of whom was 
 Cicero. These they marked out for immediate 
 destruction ; and sent their emissaries away 
 directly to surprise and murder them, before any 
 notice could reach them of their danger : four of 
 this number were presently taken and killed in 
 the company of their friends, and the rest hunted 
 out by the soldiers in private houses and temples, 
 "which presently filled the city with a universal 
 terror and consternation, as if it had been taken 
 by an enemy : so that the consul Pedius was 
 forced to run about the streets all the night, to 
 quiet the minds and appease the fears of the 
 people ; and, as soon as it was light, published 
 the names of the seventeen who were principally 
 sought for, with an assurance of safety and in- 
 demnity to all others : but he himself was so 
 shocked and fatigued by the horror of this night's 
 w-ork, that he died the day following". 
 
 We have no hint from any of Cicero's letters 
 (for none remain to us of so low a date), what his 
 sentiments were on this interview of the three 
 
 •» Appian. 1. iv. init. ; Dio, p. 3iG ; Plut. in Anton, ct Vic. ; 
 vVeU. Pat. ii. 6S. 
 
 chiefs, or what resolution he had taken in con- 
 sequence of it. He could not but foresee that it 
 must needs be fatal to him, if it passed to the 
 satisfaction of Antony and Lepidus ; for he had 
 several times declared, that he expected the last 
 severity from tliem if ever they got the better. 
 But whatever he had c;iuse to apprehend, it is 
 certain that it was still in his power to avoid it, 
 by going over to Brutus in Macedonia : but he 
 seems to have thouglit that remedy worse than 
 the evil ; and h«id so great an abhorrence of enter- 
 ing again, in his advanced age, into a civil war, 
 and so little value for the few years of life which 
 remained to him, that he declares it a thousand 
 times better to die than to seek his safety from 
 camps I" : and he was the more indifferent about 
 what might hapj)ea to himself, since his son was 
 removed from all immediate danger by being 
 already with Brutus. 
 
 The old historians endeavour to persuade us that 
 CfEsar did not give him up to the revenge of his col- 
 leagues without the greatest reluctance, and after a 
 struggle of two days to preserve himi: but all that 
 tenderness was artificial, and a part assumed, to 
 give the better colour to his desertion of him. For 
 Cicero's death was the natural effect of their union, 
 and a necessary sacrifice to the common interest ot 
 the three : those who met to destroy liberty must 
 come determined to destroy him, since his authority 
 was too great to be suffered in an enemy ; and ex- 
 perience had shown that nothing could make him a 
 friend to the oppressors of his country. 
 
 Csesar therefore was pleased with it undoubt- 
 edly as much as the rest ; and when his pretended 
 squeamishness was overruled, showed himself more 
 cruel and bloody in urging the proscription than 
 either of the other two^ " Nothing," says Vel- 
 leius, " was so shameful on this occasion as that 
 Csesar should be forced to proscribe any man, or 
 that Cicero especially should be proscribed by 
 him*.'' But there was no force in the case : for 
 though, to save Csesar's honour, and to extort as 
 it were Cicero from him, Lepidus gave up his owl: 
 brother, Paullus, and Antony his uncle, L. Caesar, 
 who were both actually put into the list, yet neither 
 of them lost their lives, but were protected from 
 any harm by the power of their relations '. 
 
 If we look back a little, to take a general view of 
 the conduct of these triumvirs, we shall see Antony, 
 roused at once by Coesar's death from the midst of 
 pleasure and debauch, and a most abject obsequi- 
 ousness to Csesar's power, forming the true plan of 
 his interest, and pursuing it with a surprising vigour 
 and address ; till, after many and almost insupera- 
 ble difficulties, he obtained the sovereign dominion 
 which he aimed at. Lepidus was the chief instru- 
 ment that he made use of, whom he employed very 
 successfully at home till he found himself in condij- 
 
 P Reipublicje viceni dolebo, qu£e immortalis esse debet ; 
 niihi quideni quantuluni reliqui est? [Ad. Brut. 10.] Irtou 
 ergo in castra? millies mori melius, huic praesertim astati : 
 [Ad Att. xiv. 22.] sed abesse banc aetatem longe a sepuJ- 
 chro ncgant oportere. — Ibid. xvi. 7. 
 
 q Plut. in Cic. ; Veil. Pat. ii. 6G. 
 
 >■ Restitit aliquandiii collegis, ne qua fieret proscriptin, 
 sed icceptam utroque acerbius exercuit, itc. — Suet, in Aug. 
 27. 
 
 s Nihil tam indignum illo tempore fuit, quam quod aut 
 Ca^ear aliquem proscribere eoactus est, aut ab illo Cicerp 
 proscriptus est. — Veil. Pat. ii. GO. 
 
 ' Appian. 1. iv. 610; Dio, 1. xlvii. 330. 
 XI
 
 29C 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 tion to support liis pretensions alone, and then sent 
 to the otlier side of the Alps, that, in case of any 
 disaster in Italy, he mif^ht be provided with a 
 secure resource in his army. I5y this management, 
 he had ordered his affairs so artfully, that, by con- 
 quering at Modena, he would have made liimself 
 ))robabIy the sole master of Rome ; while the only 
 diflerence of being conquered was, to admit two 
 partners with him into the empire ; the one of 
 whom at least he was sure always to govern. 
 
 Octavius's conduct was not less politic or vigor- 
 ous : he had great parts, and an admirable genius, 
 with a dissimulation sufficient to persuade that he 
 had good inclinations too. As his want of years 
 and authority made it impossible for him to succeed 
 immediately to his uncle's power, so his first busi- 
 ness was to keep the place vacant till he should be 
 more ripe for it, and to give the excludon in the 
 mean while to everybody else. With this view, he 
 acted the republican with great gravity ; put himself 
 uiuler the direction of Cicero ; and was wholly 
 governed by his advice as far as his interest carried 
 him — that is, to depress Antony, and drive him out 
 of Italy ; who was his immediate and most danger- 
 ous rival. Here he stopped short, and paused 
 awhile to consider what new measures this new 
 state of things would suggest : when, by the unex- 
 pected death of the two consuls, finding himself at 
 once the master of everything at home, and Antony, 
 by the help of Lepidus, rising again the stronger 
 from his fall, he saw presently that his best chance 
 for empire was to content himself with a share of 
 it till he should be in condition to seize the whole ; 
 and from the same policy with which he joined 
 himself with the republic to destroy Antony, he 
 now joined with Antony to oppress the republic as 
 the best means of securing and advancing his own 
 power. 
 
 Lepidus was the dupe of them both ; a vain, 
 weak, inconstant man, incapable of empire, yet 
 aspiring to the possession of it, and abusing the 
 most glorious opportunity of serving his country, 
 to the ruin both of his country and himself. His 
 wife was the sister of M. Brutus, and his true 
 interest lay in adhering to that alliance : for if, by 
 the advice of Laterensis, he had joined with Plancus 
 and D. Brutus to oppress Antony, and give liberty 
 to Rome, the merit of that service, added to the 
 dignity of his family and fortunes, would necessa- 
 rily have made him the first citizen of a free re- 
 public. But his weakness deprived him of that 
 glory : he flattered himself that the first share of 
 power which he seemed at present to possess would 
 give him likewise the first share of empire, not 
 considering that military power depends on the 
 reputation and abilities of him who possesses it : 
 in which, as his colleagues far excelled him, so 
 they would be sure always to eclipse, and, when- 
 ever they thought it proper, to destroy him. This 
 he found afterwards to be the case ; wlien Ctesar 
 forced him to beg his life upon his knees, though 
 at the head of twenty legions, and deposed him from 
 that dignity which he knew not how to sustain". 
 
 Cicero was at his Tusculan villa, with his brother 
 and nephew, when he first received the news of the 
 proscription, and of their being included in it. It 
 was the design of the triumvirate to keep it a secret 
 if possible to the moment of execution, in order to 
 
 •» Spoliata, quam tueri non poterat, dignitas. — Veil. Pat. 
 ii. 8. 
 
 surprise those whom they had destined to destruc- 
 tion before they were aware of the danger, or had 
 time to escape. But some of Cicero's friends found 
 means to give him early notice of it ; upon which 
 he set forward presently with his brother and 
 nephew towards Astura, the nearest villa which he 
 hadu])onthe sea, with intent to transport themselves 
 directly out of the reach of their enemies. But 
 Quintus being wholly unprepared for so sudden a 
 voyage, resolved to turn back with his son to Rome, 
 in confidence of lying concealed there till they could 
 provide money and necessaries for their support 
 abroad. Cicero in the mean while found a vessel 
 ready for him at Astura, in wliich he presently 
 embarked : but the winds being cross and turbu- 
 lent, and the sea wholly uneasy to him, after he 
 had sailed about two leagues along the coast, he 
 landed at Circaium, and spent a night near that 
 place in great anxiety and irresolution : the ques- 
 tion was, wliat course he should steer, and whether 
 he should fly to Brutus, or to Cassius, or to S. Pom- 
 peius ; but after all his deliberations, none of theta 
 pleased him so much as the expedient of dying" : 
 so that, as Plutarch says, he had some thoughts of 
 returning to the city, and killing himself in Casar's 
 house, in order to leave the guilt and curse of his 
 blood upon Cffisar's perfidy and ingratitude : but 
 the importunity of his servants prevailed vrith him 
 to sail forwards to Cajeta, where he went again on 
 shore to repose himself in his Formian villa, about 
 a mile from the coast, weary of life and the sea ; 
 and declaring that he would die in that country 
 which he had so often saved >■. Here he slept 
 soundly for several hours ; though, as some writers 
 tell us, " a great number of crows were fluttering 
 all the wliile, and making a strange noise about his 
 windows, as if to rouse and warn him of his ap- 
 proaching fate ; and that one of them made its way 
 into the chamber, and pulled away his very bed- 
 clothes ; till his slaves, admonished by this prodigy, 
 and ashamed to see brute creatures more solicitous 
 for his safety than themselves, forced him into his 
 litter, or portable chair," and carried him away 
 towards the ship, through the private ways and 
 walks of his woods ; having just heard that soldiers- 
 were already come into the country in quest of him, 
 and not far from the villa. As soon as they were 
 gone, the soldiers arrived at the house ; and per- 
 ceiving him to be fled, pursued immediately towards 
 the sea, and overtook him in the wood. Their 
 leader was one Popilius Lsenas, a tribune, or colonel 
 of the army, whom Cicero had formerly defended 
 and preserved in a capital cause. As soon as the 
 soldiers appeared, the servants prepared themselves 
 to fight, being resolved to defend their master's life 
 at the hazard of their own ; but Cicero commanded 
 them to set him down, and to make no resistance^ : 
 then looking upon his executioners with a presence 
 and firmness which almost daunted them, and 
 thrusting his neck as forwardly as he could out of 
 
 X Cremutius Cordus ait. Ciceroni, cum cogitasset, 
 unumne Brutum, an Cassium, an S. Pompeium peteret, 
 omnia displicuisse praeter mortem. — Senec. Suasor. 6. 
 
 y Toedium tandem eum et fugae ct vitae cepit : regressus- 
 que ad superiorem villam, qua; pauUo plus mille passibua 
 a mari abest, mortar inquit in patria, scepe servata. — 
 Liv. Fragm. apud Senec. Suasor. 1 ; it. Plut. in Cic. 
 
 2 Satis constat servos fortlter fideliterque paratos f uissa 
 ad dimicandum : ipsum deponi lecticam, et quietos pati^ 
 quod sors iniqua cogeret, jussisse. — Liv. Fragm. ibid.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 291 
 
 the litter, he bade them do their work, and take 
 what they wanted. Upon which they presently cut 
 off his head and both his hands, and returned with 
 them in all haste and great joy towards Rome, as 
 the most agreeable present which they could possi- 
 bly carry to Antony. Popilius charged himself with 
 the conveyance, without reflecting on the infamy 
 of carrying that head which had saved his own*. 
 He found Antony in the forum, surrounded with 
 guards and crowds of people ; but upon showing 
 from a distance the spoils which he brought, he 
 was rewarded upon the spot with the honour of a 
 crown and about eight thousand pounds sterling. 
 Antony ordered the head to be fixed upon the 
 rostra, between the two hands : a sad spectacle to 
 the city, and what drew tears from every eye ; to 
 see those mangled members, which used to exert 
 themselves so gloriously from that place in defence 
 of the lives, the fortunes, and the liberties of the 
 Roman people, so lamentably exposed to the scorn 
 of sycophants and traitors. " The deaths of the 
 rest," says an historian of that age, " caused only 
 a private and particular sorrow ; but Cicero's, a 
 universal ones'." It was a triumph over the repub- 
 lic itself ; and seemed to confirm and establish the 
 perpetual slavery of Rome. Antony considered it 
 as such ; and, satiated with Cicero's blood, de- 
 clared the proscription at an end. 
 
 He was killed on the seventh of December, about 
 ten days from the settlement of the triumvirate ; 
 aftecihe had lived sixty-three years, eleven months, 
 and five days ^. 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 
 The story of Cicero's death continued fresh on 
 the minds of the Romans for many ages after it ; 
 and was delivered down to posterity, with all its 
 circumstances, as one of the most affecting and 
 memorable events of their history : so that the 
 spot on which it happened seems to have been 
 visited by travellers with a kind of religious rever- 
 ence*. The odium of it fell chiefly on Antony ; yet 
 it left a stain of perfidy and ingratitude also on 
 Augustus : which explains the reason of that silence 
 which is observed about him by the writers of that 
 age ; and why his name is not so much as men- 
 tioned either by Horace or Virgil. For though his 
 character would have furnished a glorious subject 
 for many noble lines, yet it was no subject for 
 court poets ; since the very mention of him must 
 have been a satire on the prince, especially while 
 Antony lived, among the sycophants of whose court 
 it was fashionable to insult his memory by all the 
 
 » E.a sarcina, tanquam opimis spoliis, alacer in urbem 
 revereus est. >Jeque ei scelestum portanti onus succurrit, 
 illud sc caput ferre, quod pro capite ejus quondam perora- 
 verat. — Val. Max. v. 3. 
 
 y Caetercrumque csedcs privates luctus excitaveruut : ilia 
 una cornmunem. — [Cremutius Cordus, apud Senec] C'ivi- 
 tas lacrymas tenerc non potuit, quum recisum Ciceronis 
 caput in illis suis rostris videretur. — Flor. iv. 6. 
 
 * Phit. in Cic. ; Veil. Pat. ii. 64 ; Liv. Fragm. apud Senec. ; 
 Appian. 1. iv. 601 ; Die, 1. xlvii. p. 330 ; Pighii Annal. ad 
 A.U. 710. 
 
 » Ssepe Clodio Ciceronem cxpellenti et Antonio occidenti, 
 vidcmur irasci. — Sen. De Ira. ii. 2. 
 
 KiKepuu — (ptvywv els 'tSiov \a)pioi/, t Kaff icrropiav 
 I3vde rod irddovi tl5or.— App. p. GOO. 
 
 methods of calumny that wit and malice could in- 
 vent : nay Virgil, on an occasion that could hardly 
 fail of bringing him to his mind, instead of doing 
 justice to his merit, chose to do an injustice rather 
 to liome itself, by yielding the superiority of elo- 
 quence to the Greeks, which they themselves had 
 been forced to yield to Cicero '*. 
 
 Livy however, whose candour made Augustus 
 call him a Pompeian'^, while, out of complaisance 
 to the times, he seems to extenuate the crime of 
 Cicero's murder, yet, after a high encomium of his 
 virtues, declares, " that to praise him as he de- 
 served, required the eloquence of Cicero himself"*." 
 Augustus too, as Plutarch tells us, happening one 
 day to catch his grandson reading one of Cicero's 
 books, which, for fear of the emperor's displeasure, 
 the boy endeavoured to hide under his gown, took 
 the book into his hands, and turning over a great 
 part of it gave it back again, and said, " This was 
 a learned man, my child, and a lover of his 
 country"^." 
 
 In the succeeding generation, as the particular 
 envy to Cicero subsided by the death of those 
 whom private interests and personal quarrels had 
 engaged to hate him when living, and defame him 
 when dead, so his name and memory began t(t 
 shine out in its proper lustre : and in the reigu 
 even of Tiberius, when an eminent senator and 
 historian, Cremutius Cordus, was condemned to 
 die for praising Brutus, yet Paterculus could noS 
 forbear breaking out into the following warm ex- 
 postulation with Antony on the subject of Cicero's 
 death: "Thou hast done nothing, Antony ; hast 
 done nothing, I say, by setting a price on that 
 divine and illustrious head, and, by a detestable 
 reward, procuring the death of so great a consul 
 and preserver of the republic. Thou hast snatched 
 from Cicero a troublesome being ; a declining age ; 
 a life more miserable under thy dominion than 
 death itself ; but so far from diminishing the glory 
 of his deeds and sayings, thou hast increased it. 
 He lives, and will live, in the memory of all ages ; 
 and as long as this system of nature, whether by 
 chance or providence, or what way soever formed, 
 which he alone of all the Romans comprehended 
 in his mind and illustrated by his eloquence, shall 
 remain entire, it will draw the praises of Cicero 
 along with it ; and all posterity will admire his 
 writings against thee, curse thy act against him^" 
 
 From this period all the Roman writers, whether 
 poets or historians, seem to vie with each other 
 in celebrating the praises of Cicero as the most 
 
 1> — Orabunt causas melius, &c. — Mn. vi. 849. 
 
 c — T. Livius Cn. — Pompeium tantis, laudibus tulit, ut 
 Pompeianwn eum Augustus appellaret. — Tae. Ann. iv. .34. 
 
 d Si quis tamen virtutibus vitia pensarit, vir magnus, 
 acer, memorabilis fuit, et in cujus landcs sequendas Cice- 
 rone laudatoxe opus fuerit. — Liv. Fragm. apud Senec. 
 Suasor. 6. 
 
 e Plut. in Cic. — There is another story of the same kind 
 recorded by Macrobius, to show Augustus's moderation 
 with regard also to Cato : that Augustus being one day in 
 the house which had belonged to Cato, where the master 
 of it, out of compliment to his great guest, took occaeii a 
 to reflect on Cato's perverseness, he stopped him short by 
 saying, tliat he tvho would suffer no change in the conslitii' 
 tion of his city, was a good citizen, and honest man: but 
 by this character of Cato's honesty, he gave a severe wound 
 to his own, who not only changed but usurped the govern- 
 ment of his country. — Macrob. Saturn, ii. 4. 
 
 * Veil. Pat. ii. 66. 
 
 U 2
 
 292 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 illustrious of all their i)atriots, and the parent of 
 thu Kuniau wit ami t-loquencc ; who had doni^ more 
 honour to his country by his writings than all their 
 conquerors by their arms ; and extended the bounds 
 of their learning beyond those of their empire^. So 
 that their very emperors, near three centuries after 
 his death, began to reverence him in the class of 
 their inferior deities'" : a rank which he would have 
 preserved to this day, if he had hajipcned to live iu 
 papal Rome, where he could not have failed, as 
 Erasmus says, from " the innocence of his life, of 
 obtaining the honour and title of a saint'." 
 
 As to his person, he was tall and slender, with a 
 neck particularly lung ; yet his features were regu- 
 lar and manly, jireserving a comeliness and dignity 
 to the last, with a certain air of cheerfulness and 
 serenity that imprinted both affection and resjiect''. 
 His constitution was naturally weak, yet was so 
 confirmed by his management of it as to enable 
 him to support all the fatigues of the most active 
 as well as the most studious life with perpetual 
 health and vigour. The care that he employed 
 upon his body consisted chiefly in bathing and rub- 
 bing, with a few turns every day in his gardens for 
 the refreshment of his voice from the labour of the 
 bar' : yet, in the summer, he generally gave him- 
 self the exercise of a journey, to visit his several 
 estates and villas in different ])arts of Italy. But 
 his principal instrument of health was diet and 
 temperance : by these he ])reserved himself from 
 all violent distempers ; and when he happened to 
 be attacked by any slight indisposition, used to 
 enforce the severity of his abstinence, and starve it 
 presently by fasting™. 
 
 In his clothes and dress, which tlie wise have 
 usually considered as an index of the mind, he ob- 
 served what he prescribes in his book of " Offices," 
 a modesty and decency adapted to his rank and 
 character ; a perpetual cleanliness, without the 
 appearance of pains ; free from the affectation of 
 singularity ; and avoiding the extremes of a rustic 
 negligence and foppish delicacy": both of which 
 are equally contrary to true dignity — the one im- 
 plying an ignorance, or illiberal contempt of it — 
 the other, a childish pride and ostentation of pro- 
 claiming our pretensions to it. 
 
 In his domestic and social life, his behaviour 
 was very amiable : he was a most indulgent parent, 
 a sincere and zealous friend, a kind and generous 
 master. His letters are full of the tenderest ex- 
 
 S Facundiae, latiarumque literaruni parens — atque — 
 omnium triumphoruni lauream adepte majoreni, quanto 
 plus est ingenii Romani terininos in tantuni promovisse, 
 quam imperiL — Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 30. 
 
 Qui effecit, ne quorum arma victramus, corum ijigenio 
 Vinceremur. — Veil. Pat. ii. 34. 
 
 •> Lamprid. vit. Alex. Sever, c. xxxi. 
 
 • Quern arbitror, si C'hristianaiii pliilosophiam didicisset, 
 in eorum numcro ccusendum fuisse, qui nunc ob vitam 
 Innocenter picque transactam, pro Divis lionorantur.—- 
 Erasni. Ciceronian, vcrs.fincm. 
 
 k Ei quidem facies decora ad seucctutem, prosperaque- 
 permansit valetudo. — Asin. Poll, apud Senec. Suasor. 6. 
 
 1 Cum recreauda; voculas causa, milii necesse esset ambu- 
 lare.— Ad Att. ii. 23 ; Plut. in Cic. 
 
 m Cum quidem biduum ita jejunus fuissem, ut ne aquam 
 quidem gustaram. — Ep. l-"am. vii. :26 ; Plut. in Cic. 
 
 n Adhibenda munditia non odiosa, neque exquisita 
 nimis ; tantum qua; fugiat agrestem et inhumanani negli- 
 gentiam. Eadem ratio est habenda vestitus : in quo, sicut 
 in pkrisque rebus, mediocritas optima est. — De Offic. i. 
 3& 
 
 l)ressi()ns of liis love for Ids children ; in whose 
 endearing conversation, as he often tells us, he 
 used to drop all his cares, and relieve himself from 
 all his struggles in the senate and the forum "- 
 The same affection, in an inferior degree, was 
 extended also to his slaves, when by their fidelity 
 and services they had recommended themselves to 
 his favour. We have seen a remarkable instance 
 of it in Tiro, whose case was no otherwise different 
 from the rest than as it was distingnished by the 
 superiority of his merit. In one of his letters to 
 Atticus, " I have nothing more (says he,) to write ; 
 and my mind, indeed, is somewhat rufHed at pre- 
 sent, for Sositheus my reader is dead — a hopeful 
 youth, — which has afflicted me more than one 
 would imagine tlie death of a slave ought to do''." 
 
 He entertained very high notions of friendship, 
 and of its excellent use and benefit to human life, 
 vsrhich he has beautifully illustrated in his entertain- 
 ing treatise on that subject ; where he lays down no 
 other rules than what he exemplified by his prac- 
 tice. For in all the variety of friendships in which 
 his eminent rank engaged him, he was never charged 
 with deceiving, deserting, or even slighting any one 
 whom he had once called his friend, or esteemed an 
 honest man. It was his delight to advance their 
 prosperity, to relieve their adversity ; the same 
 friend to both fortunes ; but more zealous only in 
 the bad, where his help was the most wanted, and 
 his services the most disinterested ; looking upon 
 it not as a friendship, but a sordid traffic and tier- 
 chandise of benefits, where good offices are to be 
 weighed by a nice estimate of gain and lossi. He 
 calls gratitude the mother of virtues ; reckons it 
 the most capital of all duties ; and uses the words 
 grateful and good as terms synonymous, and inse- 
 jiarably united in the same character. His writings 
 abound with sentiments of this sort, as his life did 
 with the examples of them''; so that one of his 
 friends, in apologising for the importunity of a 
 request, observes to him with great truth, that 
 " the tenor of his life would be a sufficient excuse 
 for it, since he had established such a custom of 
 doing everything for his friends, that they no 
 longer requested, but claimed a right to command 
 him'." 
 
 Yet he was not more generous to his friends 
 than placable to his enemies, — readily pardoning 
 the greatest injuries upon the slightest submission; 
 and though no man ever had "greater abilities or 
 opportunities of revenging himself, yet when it was 
 in his power to hurt he sought out reasons to 
 
 o Ut tantum requietis habeam, quantum cum uxore, 
 et filiola, et mellito Cicerone consumitur. — Ad Att. i. 18. 
 
 V Nam puer festivus, anagnostes noster, Sositlieua 
 dccesserat, meque plus quam servimors debere videbatur, 
 commoverat. — Ad Att. i. 12. 
 
 q Ubi ilia sancta amicitia ? si non ipse amicus per se 
 amatur toto pectore. [De Leg. i. 18.] quam si ad fructum 
 nostrum referemus, non ad illius commoda, quern diligi- 
 mus, non erit ista amicitia, sed mercatura quaedam utili- 
 tatum Buarum. — De Nat. Deor. i. 44. 
 
 •• Cum omnibus virtutibus me affectum esse cupiam, 
 tamen nihil est quod malim, quam me et gratum esse et 
 videri. Est enira base una virtus non solum maxima, sed 
 etiam mater virtutum omnium — qua; potest esse jucundi- 
 tas vitffi sublatis amicitiis ? quae porro amicitia potest esse 
 inter ingratos? — Pro Plane. 33 ; Dc Fin. ii. 22. 
 
 s Nam quod ita consueris pro amicis laborare, non jam 
 sic sperant abs te, sed etiam sic imperant tibi familiarea. 
 — Ep. Pam. vi. 7.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 293 
 
 forgive, and whenever he was invited to it never 
 declined a reconciliation with his most inveterate 
 enemies, of which there are numerous instances in 
 liis history. He declared nothing to be more 
 laudable and worthy of a great man than placa- 
 bility ; and laid it down for a natural duty to 
 moderate our revenge and observe a temper in 
 punishing, and held repentance to be a sufficient 
 ground for remittinij it : and it was one of his 
 sayings, delivered to a public assembly, that his 
 enmities were mortal, his friendships immortal'. 
 
 His manner of living was agreeable to the dignity 
 of his character, — splendid and noble ; his house 
 was open to all the learned strangers and philoso- 
 phers of Greece and Asia, several of whom were 
 constantly entertained in it as part of his famUy, 
 and spent their whole lives witli him". His levee 
 was perpetually crowded with multitudes of all 
 ranks ; even Porapey himself not disdaining to 
 frequent it. The greatest part came, not only to 
 pay their compliments, but to attend him on days 
 of business to the senate or the forum, where upon 
 any debate or transaction of moment they constantly 
 waited to conduct him home again ; but on ordinary 
 days when these morning visits were over, as they 
 usually were before ten, he retired to his books 
 and shut himself up in his library, without seeking 
 any other diversion but what his children afforded 
 to the short intervals of his leisure'^. His supper 
 was his greatest meal, and the usual season with 
 all the great of enjoying their friends at table, 
 which was frequently prolonged to a late hour of 
 the night; yet he was out of his bed every morning 
 before it was light, and never used to sleep again 
 at noon as all others generally did, and as it is 
 commonly practised in Rome to this day^. 
 
 Bat though he was so temperate and studious, 
 yet when he was engaged to sup with others, either 
 at home or abroad, he laid aside his rules and 
 forgot the invalid, and was gay and sprightly, and 
 the very soul of the company. When friends were 
 met together, to heighten the comforts of social 
 life, he thought it inhospitable not to contribute his 
 share to their common mirth, or to damp it by a 
 churlish reservedness. But he was really a lover 
 
 ' Est enim ulciscendi et puniendi modus. Atquc haud 
 stio, an satis sit, euni, qui lacessierit, injuriac sua; pcenl- 
 tere. [De Offic. i. 11.] nihil enim laudabilius, nihil niagno 
 viro dignius, placabilitate et dementia. — Ibid. 25. 
 
 Cum parcerevel la;derepotuissem, ignoscendi quasrebam 
 causas, non puniendi occasiones. — Fragm. Cic. ex Marcel- 
 lino. 
 
 Ncque voro me pcenitet mortales inimicitias, sempiter- 
 nas amicitias habere. — Pro C. Rabir. Post. 12. 
 
 " Doctissimorum hominum familiaritates, quibus sem- 
 per domus nostrafloruit, et principes illi, Diodotus, Philo, 
 Antiochus, Posidonius, a quibus instituti sumus. — De Nat. 
 Deor. i. 3. 
 
 Eram cum Diodoto Stoico ; qui cum habitavisset apud 
 me, niecumque vixisset, nuper est domi meae mortuus. — 
 Brut. 4.33. 
 
 ^ Cum bene completa domus est tempore matutino, cum 
 ad forum stipati gregibus, amicorum descendimus. — Ad 
 Att. i. 18. 
 
 IMane salutamus domi bonos vii-os multos — ubi salutatio 
 defluxit Uteris me involvo. [Ep. Fani. ix. 20.] Cum salu- 
 tationi nos dedimus amicorum — abdo me in bibliothecam. 
 — Ep. Fam. vii. 28. 
 
 Post horam quartam molesti caeteri non sunt. — Ad Att. 
 ii. 14. 
 
 T Nunc quidem propter intermissionem forensis opera?, 
 et lucubrationes detraxi et meridiationes addidi, quibus 
 liti antea non solebam. — L)e Div. ii. 58. 
 
 of cheerful entertainments, being of a nature 
 remarkably facetious, and singularly turned to \ 
 raillery^, a talent which was of great service to him 
 at the bar, to correct the petulance of an adversary, 
 relieve the satiety of a tedious cause, divert the 
 minds of the judges, and mitigate the rigour of 
 a sentence, by making both the bench and audience 
 merry at the expense of the accuser". 
 
 This use of it was always thought fair, and 
 greatly applauded in public trials ; but in private 
 conversations he was charged sometimes with 
 pushing his raillery too far, and, through a con- 
 sciousness of his superior wit, exerting it often 
 intemperately, without reflecting what cruel wounds 
 his lashes inflicted''. Yet of all his sarcastical 
 jokes, which are transmitted to us by antiquity, we 
 shall not observe any but what were pointed against 
 characters either ridiculous or profligate, such as 
 he despised for their follies or hated for their vices ; 
 and though he might provoke the spleen and 
 quicken the malice of enemies more than was con- 
 sistent with a regard to his own ease, yet he never 
 appears to have hurt or lost a friend, or any one 
 whom he valued, by the levity of jesting. 
 
 It is certain that the fame of his wit was as 
 celebrated as that of his eloquence, and that several 
 spurious collections of his sayings were handed 
 about in Rome in his lifetime'^; till his friend 
 Trebcnius, after he had been consul, thought it 
 worth while to publish an authentic edition of 
 tliem in a volume which he addressed to Cicero 
 himself''. Cjesar likewise, in the height of his 
 power, having taken a fancy to collect the 
 apophthegms or memorable sayings of eminent 
 men, gave strict orders to all his friends who used 
 to frequent Cicero, to bring him everything of that 
 sort which happened to drop from him in their 
 company''. But Tiro, Cicero's freedman, who 
 served him chiefly in his studies and literary affairs, 
 publislied after his death the most perfect collection 
 of his sayings, in three books ; where Q\iintiliaa 
 however wishes that he had been more sparing in 
 the number and judicious in the choice of them'. 
 
 ^ Effo autem, existimes quod lubet, mirifice capior 
 faeetiis, maxime nostratibus. [Ep. Fam. ix. 15.] Nee id 
 ad voluptatem refero, sed ad commimitatem vita; atque 
 vietus, rcmissionenique animorum, qua' maxime sermono 
 efficitur familiari, qui est in conviviis dulcissimus [Ibid. 
 24.] convivio delector. Ibi loquor quod in solum, ut dicitur, 
 et gemitum etiam in risus maxiraos tiansfero. — Ibid. 26. 
 
 » — Suavis est et veliementer s»pe utilis jucus et facetiae 
 — multum in causis perssepe lepore et faeetiis profici vidi. 
 — De Orat. ii. 54. 
 
 Quae risum judicis movendo et iilos tristes solvit affectus, 
 et animum ab intentione rerum frequenter avertit, et 
 aliquando etiam reficit, et a satietate vel a fatigationo 
 renovat. — Quint, vi. 3. 
 
 b Noster vero non solum extra judicia, sed in ipsis etiam 
 orationibus habitus est nimius risus affectator. — Ibid. ; 
 Plut, in Cic. 
 
 c Ais enim, ut ego discesserim, omnia omnium dicta—* 
 in me conferri. — Ep. Fam. vii. .32 ; it. ix. 16. 
 
 d Liber iste, quem mihi misisti, quantum habet dccla- 
 rationem amoris tui ? primum, quod tibi facetum videtur 
 quicquid ego dixi, quod aliis fortasse non item : deinde, 
 quod ilia, sive faceta sunt, sive sic fiunt, narrante te, 
 venustissima. — Ep. F:mi. xv. 21. 
 
 e Audio Caesarem, cum volumina jam confecerit OTro- 
 cpdeyfidruv, si quod afferatur pro meo, quod meum non 
 sit, rcjicere solere — hacc ad ilium cum reliquis actis per- 
 feruntur ; ita enim ipse mandavit. — Ep. Fam. ix. 16. 
 
 f Utinam libertus ejus Tiro, aut alius quisquis fuit, qui
 
 '294 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 None of these books are now remaining, nor any 
 other specimen of the jests but what are incidentally 
 scattered ia different parts of his own and other 
 people's writings, which, as the same judicious 
 critic observes, through the change of taste in 
 different ages, and the want of that action or gesture 
 v/hich gave the chief spirit to many of them, could 
 never be explained to advantage, though several 
 had attempted it. How much more cold then and 
 insipid must they needs appear to us, who arc 
 unacquainted with the j)articular characters and 
 stories to which they relate, as well as the peculiar 
 fashions, humour, and taste of wit in that age ? 
 \et even in these, as Quintiliaa also tells us, as 
 well as in his other compositions, people would 
 sooner find what they might reject than what they 
 could add to them P. 
 
 He had a great number of fine houses in different 
 /tarts of Italy ; some writers reckon up eighteen, — 
 which, excepting the family-seat at Arpinum, seem 
 to have been all purchased or built by himself. 
 They were situated generally near to the sea, and 
 placed at proper distances along the lower coast 
 between Rome and Pompeii, which was about four 
 leagues beyond Naples ; and for the elegance of 
 structure and the delights of their situation, are 
 called by him the eyes, or the beauties, of Italy''. 
 Those in which he took the most jileasure and 
 usually spent some part of every year, were his 
 Tusculum, Antium, Astura, Arpinum; hisFormian, 
 Cuman, Puteolan, and Pompeian villas, all of them 
 large enough for the reception not only of his own 
 family but of his friends and numerous guests, 
 many of whom of the first quality used to pass 
 several days with him in their excursions from 
 Rome. But besides these that may properly be 
 reckoned seats, with large plantations and gardens 
 around them, he had several little inns, as he calls 
 them, or baiting-places on the road, built for his 
 accommodation in passing from one house to an- 
 other . 
 
 His Tusculan house had been Sylla's the dictator, 
 and in one of its apartments had a painting of 
 his memorable victory near Nola, in the Marsic 
 war, in which Cicero had served under him as a 
 volunteer''. It was about four leagues from Rome, 
 on the top of a beautiful hill, covered with the 
 villas of the nobility, and aflbrding an agreeable 
 prospect of the city and the country around it; 
 with plenty of water flowing through his grounds 
 in a large stream or canal, for which he paid a rent 
 to the corporation of Tusculum'. Its neighbour- 
 hood to Rome gave him the opportunity of a retreat 
 at any hour from the fatigues of the bar or the 
 senate, to breathe a little fresh air and divert him- 
 
 tres hac de re libros edidit, parcius dictorum numero 
 indulsisset — et plus judicii in eligendis, quam in congc- 
 rendis studii adhibuisset. — Quint, vi. 3. 
 
 S Q,ui tamen nunc quoque, ut in omni ejus ingonio, 
 facilius quid rejici, quam quid adjici possit, inveaient. — 
 Ibid. ; vide otiam Macrob. Sat. ii. 1. 
 
 •> Quodquc tenipoiis in prasdiolis nostris, et belle aedifi- 
 catis, et satis amoenis consumi potuit, in peregrinatione 
 consumimus [Ad Att. xvi. 3.] cur ocellos Italia*, viUulas 
 nieas non video ? — Ibid. 6. 
 
 > Ego accept in diversoriolo Sinuessano, tuas llteras. — 
 Ad Att. xiv. 8. 
 
 '' Idque etiam in villa sua Tusculana, quae postea fuit 
 CicKRONis, Sylla pinxit. — Plin. Hist. Nat. xxii. 6. 
 
 ' EgoTusculanis pro Aqua Crahra vectigal pendam, quia 
 a municipio fundum accepi. — Con. RuH. iii. 2. 
 
 self with his friends or family; so that this was the 
 place in which he took the most delight and spent 
 the greatest share of his leisure, and for that reason 
 improved and adorned it beyond all his other 
 houses'". 
 
 When a greater satiety of the city or a longer 
 vacation in the forum disposed him to seek a calmer 
 scene and more undisturbed retirement, he used 
 to remove to Antium or Astura. At Antium he 
 placed his best collection of books, and as it was 
 not above thirty miles from Rome, he could have 
 daily intelligence there of everything that ])assed in 
 the city. Astura was a little island at the mouth 
 of a river of the same name about two leagues 
 farther towards the south, between the promontories 
 of Antium and Circseum, and in the view of them 
 both ; a place peculiarly adapted to the purposes 
 of solitude and a severe retreat, covered with a 
 thick wood cut out into shady walks, in which he 
 used to spend the gloomy and splenetic moments 
 of his life. 
 
 In the height of summer the mansion-house at 
 Arpinum and the little island adjoining, by the 
 advantage of its groves and cascades, afforded the 
 best defence against the inconvenience of the heats; 
 where, in the greatest that he had ever remembered, 
 we find him refreshing himself, as he writes to his 
 brother, with the utmost pleasure, in the cool 
 stream of his Fibrenus". 
 
 His other villas were situated in the more public 
 parts of Italy, where all the best company of Rome 
 had their houses of pleasure. He had two at 
 Formise, a lower and upper villa, the one near to 
 the port of Cajeta, the other upon the mountains 
 adjoining ; he had a third on the shore of Baiae, 
 between the lake Avernus and Puteoli, which he calls 
 his Puteolan ; a fourth on the hills of old Cumse, 
 called his Cuman villa ; and a fifth at Pompeii, 
 four leagues beyond Naples, in a country famed 
 for the purity of its air, fertility of its soil, and 
 delicacy of its fruits. His Puteolan house was 
 built after the plan of the Academy at Athens, and 
 called by that name, being adorned with a portico 
 and a grove, for the same use of philosophical 
 conferences. Some time after his death it fell into 
 the hands of Antistius Vetus, who repaired and 
 improved it, when a spring of warm water, which 
 happened to burst out in one part of it, gave occa- 
 sion to the following epigram, made by Laurea 
 Tullius, one of Cicero's freed men. 
 
 Quo tua Romanse vindex clarissime linguae 
 Sylva loco melius surgere jussa viret, 
 
 >" Quae mihi an tea signa misisti, — ea omnia in Tuscu- 
 lanum deportabo. [Ad Att. i. 4.] Nos ex omnibus labo- 
 ribus et molestiis uno illo in loco conquiescimus. [Ibid. 6.] 
 Nos Tusculano ita delectamur, ut nobismet ipsis turn 
 dcnique, cum illo veninius, placeamus. — Ibid. 6. 
 
 The situation of this Tusculan house, which had been 
 built perhaps by Sylla, confirms what Seneca has observed 
 of the villas of all the other great captains of Rome, 
 Marius, Pompey, Cnesar ; that they were placed always 
 on hills, or the highest ground that they could find ; it 
 being thought more military to command the view of the 
 country beneath them, and that houses so situated had 
 the appearance of a camp rather than a villa. [Senec, 
 Epibt. 51.] But this delightful spot is now possessed by a 
 convent of monks, called Grotla Ferrata, where they still 
 show the remains of Cicero's columns and fine buildings, 
 and the ducts of water that flowed through his gardens. 
 
 " Ego ex magnis caloribus, non enim meminimus ma- 
 joros, in Arpinati, summa cum amoenitate fluminis, me 
 refeci ludorum diebus. — Ad Quint. Frat. il. 1. 
 
 1
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 295 
 
 Atque Acadernix celcbratam nomine villam 
 
 Nunc repaiat cultu sub potiore Vetus, 
 Hie etiam apparent lymphs; non ante ix'pertae, 
 
 Languida qua; infuso lumina roro levant. 
 Nimirum locus ipso sui Ciceronis honori 
 
 Hoc dedit, liae fontcs euni patcfecit ope. 
 XJt quoniam totuni legitur sine fine per orbeni, 
 
 Sint plures, oculis qua; nicdeantur, aquae o. 
 
 Where groves, onee thine, now with fresh verdure bloom, 
 
 Great parent of the eloquence of Rome, 
 
 And where tliy Academy, favourite seat, 
 
 Now to Anti^tius yields its sweet retreat, 
 
 A gushing stream bursts out, of wondrous power. 
 
 To heal tlie eyes, and weaken'd sisht restore. 
 
 The place, which all its pride from Cicero drew. 
 
 Repays this honour to his memory due, 
 
 Tliat since his works throughout the world are spread, 
 
 And with such eagerness by all are read. 
 
 New springs of healing quality should rise. 
 
 To ease the increase of labour to the eyes. 
 
 The furniture of his houses was suitable to tlie 
 elegance of his taste and the magnificence of his 
 buildings ; his galleries were adorned with statues 
 and paintings of the best Grecian masters, and his 
 vessels and moveables were of the best work and 
 choicest materials. There was a cedar table of his 
 remaining in Pliny's time, said to be the first which 
 was ever seen in Rome, and to have cost him eighty 
 pounds P. He thought it the part of an eminent 
 citizen to preserve a uniformity of character in 
 every article of his conduct, and to illustrate his 
 dignity by the splendour of his life. This was the 
 reason of the great variety of his houses, and of 
 their situation in the most conspicuous parts of 
 Italy, along the course of the Appian road, that 
 they might occur at every stage to the observation 
 of travellers, and lie commodious for the reception 
 and entertainment of his friends. 
 
 The reader, perhaps, when he reflects on whnt 
 the old writers have said of the mediocrity of his 
 paternal estate, will be at a loss to conceive whence 
 all his revenues flowed that enabled him to sustain 
 the vast expense of building and maintaining such 
 a number of noble houses ; but the solution will be 
 easy when we recollect the great opportunities that 
 lie had of improving his original fortunes. The 
 two principal funds of wealth to the leading men 
 of Rome were, first, the public magistracies and 
 
 o Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxi. 2. 
 
 This villa was afterwards an imperial palace, possessed 
 Tjy the emperor Hadrian, who died and was buried in it ; 
 where he is supposed to have breathed out tliat last and 
 celebrated adieu to his liltle pallid, /nyhtened,Jlulteriniy 
 soul ' ; which would have left him with less regret, if, 
 from Cicero's habitation on earth, it had known the way 
 to those regions above, where Cicero probably still lives in 
 the fruition of endless happiness 2. 
 
 p Extat hodie M. Ciceronis, in ilia paupertate, et quod 
 magis mlrunoi est, lllo aevo empta H. S. x. [Plin. Hist. Nat. 
 xiil. 15.] nullius ante Ciceronianam vetustior memoria est. 
 —Ibid. 16. 
 
 1 Animula vagula, blandula, 
 Hospes, coniesque corporis. 
 Qua- nunc abibis in loca, 
 Pallidula, rigida, nudula, 
 Nee, ut soles, dabis jocos. . 
 
 3 JEUi Spartian. Vita Hadr. 25. 
 2 TJbi nunc agat anima Ciceronis, fortasse non est 
 bumani judicii pronunoiare : me certe non admodum 
 -adversuni habituri sint in ferendis calculis, qui sperant 
 ilium apudsuperos quietam vitam agere. — Erasm. Prooem. 
 in Tusc. QiMEst. ad Joh. Ulatten. 
 
 provincial commands ; secondly, the presents of 
 kings, princes, and foreign states, whom tliey had 
 obliged by their services and protection : and though 
 no man was more moderate in the use of tliese 
 advantages than Cicero, yet to one of his prudence, 
 economy, and contempt of vicious pleasures, these 
 were abundantly sufficient to answer all his ex- 
 penses'). For in his province of Cilicia, after all 
 tlie memorable instances of his generosity, by which 
 he saved to the public a full million sterling, which 
 all otlicr governors had applied to their private 
 use, yet at the expiration of his year he loft in the 
 hands of the publicans in Asia near twenty thousand 
 pounds, reserved from the strict dues of his govern- 
 ment, and remitted to him afterwards at Rome'. 
 But there was another way of acquiring money 
 esteemed the most reputable of any, which brought 
 large and frequent supplies to him, the legacies of 
 deceased friends. It was the peculiar custom of 
 Rome for the clients and dependants of famiUes to 
 bequeath at their death to their patrons some con- 
 siderable part of their estates, as the most effectual 
 testimony of their respect and gratitude ; and the 
 more a man received in this way the more it re- 
 dounded to his credit. Thus Cicero mentions it 
 to the honour of LucuUus, that while he governed 
 Asia as proconsul many great estates were left to 
 him by will' ; and Nepos tells us, in praise of 
 Atticus, that he succeeded to many inheritances of 
 the same kind, bequeathed to him on no other 
 account than of his friendly and amiable temper'. 
 Cicero had his full share of these testamentary 
 donations, as we see from the many instances of 
 them mentioned in his letters"; and when he was 
 falsely reproached by Antony with being neglected 
 on these occasions, he declared in his reply, "that 
 he had gained from this single article about two 
 hundred thousand pounds, by the free and volun- 
 tary gifts of dying friends, — not the forged wills of 
 persons unknown to him, with which he charged 
 Antony."* 
 
 His moral character was never blemished by the 
 stain of any habitual vice ; but was a shining 
 pattern of virtue to an age of all others the most 
 licentious and profligate^'. His mind was superior 
 to all the sordid passions which engross little souls; 
 avarice, envy, malice, lust. If we sift his familiar 
 letters we cannot discover in them the least hint 
 of anything base, immodest, spiteful, or perfidious ; 
 but a uniform principle of benevolence, justice, 
 love of his friends and country, flowing through 
 the whole, and inspiring all his thoughts and 
 actions. Though no man ever felt the effects of 
 
 1 Parva sunt, quae desunt nostris quidem moribus, et ea 
 sunt ad explicanduin expeditissima, modo valeamus. — 
 Ad Quint. Frat, ii. 15. 
 
 r Ego in cistophoro in Asia habeo ad H. S. bis et vicies, 
 hujus pecunis permutatione fideni nostram facile tuebere. 
 —Ad Att. xi. 1. 
 
 s Maximas audio tibi, L. LucuUe, pro tua eximia libe- 
 ralitate, maximisque beneficiis in tuos, venisse hereditates. 
 —Pro Flacco, 34. 
 
 ' Multes enim hereditates nulla alia re, quam bonitate 
 est consecutus. — Corn. Nep. in vit. Attic. 21. 
 
 u Ad Att. ii. 20 ; xi. 2. Pro Milone, 18. 
 
 ^ Hereditates mihi negasti venire — ego enim amplius 
 H. S. dueenties aceeptum hereditatibus retuli — me nemo 
 nisi amicus, fecit heredera — te is, quern tu vidisti nun 
 quam. — Phil. ii. 16. 
 
 7 Cum vita fuerit Integra, ncc integra solum sod etiam 
 casta, — Erasm. Epist. ad Job, Ulatten.
 
 Ii06 
 
 THE HISTOKV OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 Otl.cr people's envy more severely than he, yet no 
 man was ever more free from it. This is allowed 
 to him by all the old writers, and is evident indeed 
 from his works, where we find him perpetually 
 praising and reeoinmending whatever was laudable, 
 even in a rival or an adversary ; celebrating merit 
 wherever it was found, — whether in tlie ancients 
 or his contenijioraries, whether in Greeks or 
 Romans, — and verifying a maxim whi(;h he had 
 declared in a speech to the senate, that no man 
 could be envious of anotlier's virtue, who was 
 conscious of his own'-. 
 
 His sprightly wit would naturally have recom- 
 mended him to the fav;iur of the ladies, whose 
 company he used to freiiueut when young, and with 
 many of whom of the first quality he was oft 
 engaged in his rijier years, to confer about tlie 
 interests of their husbands, brothers, or relations, 
 who were absent from Rome : yet we meet with no 
 trace of any criminal gallantry, or intrigue with 
 any of th(;m. In a letter to Pielus, towards the end 
 of his life, he gives a jocose account of his supping 
 with their friend Volumnius, an Epicurean wit of 
 the first class, when the famed courtesan, Cytheris, 
 who had been Volumnius' slave, and was then his 
 mistress, made one of the company at table : 
 where, after several jokes on that incident, he says, 
 that he never suspected that she would have been 
 of the party ; and though he was always a lover of 
 cheerful entertainments, yet nothing of that sort 
 had ever pleased him when young, much less now, 
 when he was old". There was one lady, however, 
 called Ca;rellia, with whom he kept up a particular 
 familiarity and correspondence of letters ; on which 
 Dio, as it has been already hinted, absurdly grounds 
 some little scandal, though he owns her to have 
 been seventy years old. She is frequently men- 
 tioned in Cicero's letters as a lover of books and 
 philosophy ; and on that account, as fond of his 
 company and writings : but while, out of com- 
 plaisance to her sex and a regard to her uncommon 
 talents, he treated her always with respect ; yet by 
 the hints which he drops of her to Atticus, it 
 appears that she had no share of his affections, or 
 any real authority with him''. 
 
 His failings were as few as were ever found in 
 any eminent genius ; such as flowed from his con- 
 stitution, not his will ; and were chargeable rather 
 to the condition of his humanity than to the fault 
 of the man. He was thought to be too sanguine 
 in prosperity, too desponding in adversity ; and apt 
 to persuade himself, in each fortune, that it would 
 never have an end*^. This is Pollio's account 
 of him, which seems in general to be true : Brutus 
 touches the first part of it in one of his letters to 
 him, and when things were going prosperously 
 against Antony, puts him gently in mind that he 
 
 » Declarasti varum esse id, quod ego semper sen si, 
 ncminem alterius, qui suce conjideret, virtuti inviderc. — 
 Phil. X. 1 ; Plut. in Cic. 
 
 " Me vero nihil istorum ne juvenem quidem niovit un- 
 quam, ne nunc senem. — Ep. Fani. ix. 26. 
 
 •> Mirifice Cserellia, studio videlicet philosophiae flagrans, 
 describit a tuis: istos ipsos de finibus habet. [Ad Att. 
 xiii. 21.] Caerelliae facile satisfeci ; nee valde laborare visa 
 est : et si ilia, ego certe non laborarem, — Ibid. xv. 1 ; it. 
 xii. 51. 14. 19 ; Ep. Fam. xiii. 72 ; Quint, vl. 3; Dio, 3()3. 
 
 c Utinam moderatius secundas res, et fortius adversas 
 ferre potuisset ! namque utraeque cum venerant ei, mutari 
 eas non posse rebatur.— Asia. Poll, apud Sen. Suasor.'6> 
 
 seemed to trust too much to his hopes'* : and he 
 himself allows the second, and says, that if any 
 one was timorous in great and dangerous events, 
 apjirehending always the worst, rather than hoping 
 the best, he was the man ; and if that was a fault, 
 confesses himself not to be free from li^ : yet in 
 explaining afterwards the nature of thi.s timidity, it 
 was such (he tells us) as showed itself rather in 
 foreseeing dangers than in encountering them ; an 
 explication which the latter part of his life fully 
 confirmed, and above all his death, which no man 
 could sustain with greater courage and resolution'. 
 
 Hut the most conspicuous and glaring passion 
 of his sold was, the love of glory and thirst of 
 praise : a passion that he not only avowed, but 
 freely indulged ; and sometimes, as lie himself 
 confesses, to a degree even of vanity k. This often 
 gave his enemies a plausible handle of ridiculing 
 his pride and arrogance'' ; while the forwardness 
 that he showed to celebrate his own merits in all 
 his public speeches, seemed to justify their cen- 
 sures : and since this is generally considered as the 
 grand foible of his life, and lias been handed down 
 implicitly from age to age, without ever being 
 fairly examined, or rightly understood, it will be 
 proper to lay open the source from which the 
 passion itself flowed, and explain the nature of 
 that glory, of which he professes himself so fond. 
 
 True glory, then, according to his own definition 
 of it, is a wide and illustrious fame of many and 
 great benefits conferred upon our frends, our 
 country, or the whole race of mankind'. " It is- 
 not (he says) the empty blast of popular favour, or 
 the applause of a giddy multitude, which all wise 
 men had ever despised, and none more than himself, 
 but the consenting praise of all honest men, and 
 the incorrupt testimony of those who can judge of 
 excellent merit, which resounds always to virtue 
 as the echo to the voice ; and since it is the general 
 companion of good actions, ought not to be rejected 
 by good men. That those who aspired to this glory 
 were net to expect ease or pleasure, or tranquillity 
 of life for their pains, but must give up their own 
 peace to secure the peace of others ; must expose 
 themselves to storms and dangers for the public 
 good, sustain many battles with the audacious and 
 the wicked, and some even with the powerful : in 
 short, must behave themselves so as to give their 
 citizens cause to rejoice that they had ever been 
 born''." This is the notion which he inculcates 
 
 '^ Qua in re, Cicero, vir optime ac fortissime, niihiquo 
 merlto et meo nomine et reipublieae carissime, nimis cre- 
 dere vidcris spei tuse. — Brut, ad Cic. 4. 
 
 e Nam si quisquani est timidus in magnis periculo- 
 sisque rebus, semperque magis adversos rerum exitua 
 metuens, quam speraus secundos, is ego sum : et si hoc 
 vitium est, eo me non carere confiteor. — Ep. Fam. vi. 14. 
 
 f Parum fortis videbatur quibusdam : quibus optime 
 rcspondit ipse, non se timidum in suscipiendis, sf.d in 
 providendis periculis : quod probavit morte quoque ipsa, 
 quam prjestantissimo suscepit animo. — Quint, xii. 1 . 
 
 S Nunc quoniam laudis avidissimi semper fuimus. [Aa 
 Att. i. 15.] Quin etiani quod est subinane in nobis, et 
 non a.(pi\6Zo^ov, bellum est cnim sua vitia nosse. [Ibid, 
 ii. 17-] Sum etiam avidior etiam, quam satis est, gloriae. 
 — Ep. Fam. ix. 14. 
 
 '' Et quoniam hoc reprehendis, quod solere me dicas do 
 me ipso gloriosus prasdicare. — Pro Domo, 35. 
 
 ' Si quidem gloria est illustris ae pervagata multoruni et 
 magnorum vel in sues, vel in patriam, vel in omne genua 
 hominum fama meritorum. — Pro Marcello, 8. 
 
 ^ Si quisquam fuit imquam remotus et natura, et magis.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 297 
 
 everywhere of tnie glory, which is surely one of 
 the noblest jirinciples that can inspire a human 
 breast ; implanted by God in our nature to dignify 
 and exalt it, and always found the strongest in 
 tb.e best and most elevated minds ; and to which 
 we owe everything great and laudable that history 
 Ii.is to offer to us, through all the ages of the 
 heathen world. " There is not an instance (says 
 Cicero) of a man's exertinghimself ever with praise 
 and virtue in the dangers of his country, who was 
 not drawn to it by the hopes of glory, and a regard 
 to posterity'." " Give me a boy (says Quintilian) 
 whom praise excites, whom glory warms ;" for sucii 
 a scholar was sure to answer all his hopes, and do 
 credit to his discipline'". " "Whether posterity will 
 have any respect for me (says Pliny), I know not ; 
 but am sure that 1 have deserved some from it : 1 
 will not say by my wit, for that would be arrogant ; 
 but by the zeal, by the pains, by the reverence, 
 which I liave always paid to it"." 
 
 ■It will not seem strange to observe the wisest 
 of the ancients pushing this principle to so great a 
 length, and considering glory as the amplest re- 
 ward of a well-spent life" ; when we retlect that 
 the greatest part of them had no notion of any 
 other rev»ard or futurity ; and even those who 
 believed a state of hajipiness to the good, yet 
 entertained it with so much diffidence, that they 
 indulged it rather as a wish, than a well-grounded 
 hope, and were glad, therefore, to lay hold on that 
 which seemed to be within their reach, a futurity 
 of their own creating ; an immortality of fame and 
 glory from the applause of posterity. This, by a 
 pleasing fiction, they looked upon as a propagation 
 of life, and an eternity of existence ; and had no 
 small comfort in imagining, that though the sense 
 of it should not reach to themselves, it would extend 
 at least to others ; and that they should be doing 
 good still when dead, by leaving the example of 
 their virtues to the imitation of mankind. Thus 
 
 etiam, iit mihi quidem sentire yideor, ratione atque doc- 
 trina, ab inani laude et sermonibus viilgi, ego profeeto is 
 sura. — Ep. Fam. xv. 4. 
 
 Est enim glouia — consentiens laus bonorum ; inojrrnpta 
 vox bene judicantium de excellente virtute: ea viituti 
 resonat tanquam imago : qu£e quia rccte factorum ple- 
 rumque comes est, non est bonis viiis repudianda. — Tusc. 
 Quajst. iii. 2. 
 
 Qui autem bonam famam bonorum, quae sola vera 
 gloria nominari potest, expetunt, aliis otium quarere 
 debent et voluptates, non sibi. Sudanduni est his pro 
 communibus eommodis, adeundas inimicitias, subeunda; 
 sajpe pro republica tempestates. Cum multis audacibus, 
 improbis, nonnunquam etiam potentibus, dimicandum. — 
 Pro Sext. 66. 
 
 Carum esse civem, bene de republica mereri, laudari, 
 eoli, diligi, gloriosum est — quare ita guberna renipublicam 
 ut natuni esse te cives tui gaudeant : sine quo nee bcatus, 
 nee elarus quisquam esse potest. — Phil. i. J 4. 
 
 ' Neque quisquam nostrum in reipublica; periculis, cum 
 laude ac virtute versatur, quin spa posteritatis, fructuque 
 ducatur.— Pro C. Rabir. 10. 
 
 '" Mihi detur ille puer, quem laus excitet, quem gloria 
 juvet. Hie erit alendusambitu — in hoc desidiam nunquam 
 verebor. — Quint, i. 3. 
 
 " — Posteris an aliqua cura nostri, nescio. Nos certe 
 meremur. ut sit aliqua : non dico, ingenio ; id enim super- 
 bum ; sed studio, sed labore, sed reverentia posterum. — 
 Plin. Ep. 
 
 ° Sed tamen ex omnibus prsemiis virtutis, si asset 
 habenda ratio praemioruni, amplissimuni esse pra;mium 
 gloriam. Esse banc unam, qua? brevitatem vita- postcri- 
 iatis memoria consolaretur. — Pro JNIilone, 35. 
 
 Cicero, as he often declares, never looked upon 
 that to be bis life which was confined to this nar- 
 row circle on earth, but considered his acts as 
 seeds sown in the immense field of the universe, to 
 raise up the fruit of glory and immortality to him 
 through a succession of infinite ages : nor has he 
 been frustrated of his hope, or disappointed of his 
 end ; but as long as the name of Rome subsists, or 
 as long as learning, virtue, and liberty preserve any 
 credit in the world, he will be great and glorious 
 in the memory of all posterity. 
 
 As to the other part of the charge, or the proof 
 of his vanity, drawn from his boasting so frequently 
 of himself in his speeches both to the senate and 
 the people, though it may appear to a common 
 reader to be abundantly confirmed by his writings, 
 yet if we attend to the circumstances of the times, 
 and the part which he acted in them, we shall find 
 it not only excusable, but in some degree evea 
 necessary. The fate of Rome was now brought 
 to a crisis, and the contending parties were making 
 their last efforts either to oppress or preserve it. 
 Cicero was the head of those who stood up for its 
 liberty, which entirely depended on the influence 
 of his counsels : he had many years, therefore, 
 been the common mark of the rage and malice of 
 all who were aiming at illegal powers, or a tyranny 
 in the state ; and while these were generally sup- 
 ported by the military power of the empire, he had 
 no other arms or means of defeating them but his 
 authority with the senate and people, grounded on 
 the experience of his services and the persuasion 
 of his integrity, so that, to obviate the perpetual 
 calumnies of the factious, he was obliged to incul- 
 cate the merit and good effects of his counsels, in 
 order to confirm people in their union and ad- 
 herence to them, against the intrigues of those 
 who were employing all arts to subvert them. 
 "The frequent commemoration of his acts," says 
 Quintilian, " was not made so much for glory as 
 for defence ; to repel calumny, and vindicate his 
 measures when they were attacked p." And this is 
 what Cicero himself declared in all his speeches : 
 " that no man ever heard him speak of himself 
 but when he was forced to it : that when he was 
 urged with fictitious crimes, it was his custom to 
 answer them with his real services : and if ever he 
 said anything glorious of himself, it was not through 
 a fondness of praise, but to repel an accusation"! : 
 that no man who had been conversant in great 
 affairs, and treated with particular envy, could refute 
 the contumely of an enemy, without touching upon 
 his own praises ; and after all his labours for the 
 common safety, if a just indignation had drawn from 
 him at anytimewhat might seem to be vainglorious, 
 it might reasonably be forgiven to him "■ : that 
 when others were silent about him, if he could not 
 
 P Vigesimus annus est, cum omnes scelerati me unum 
 petunt.— Phil. xii. 10 ; vi. 6. 
 
 At plerumque illud quoqua non sina aliqua ratione fecit. 
 — Ut illorum, quae egerat in consulatu frequens comme- 
 moratio, possit videri non gloria; magis quam dcfensioni 
 data — plerumque contra inimicos atque obtrectatores plus 
 vendicat sibi ; erant enim tuenda, cum objicerentur. — 
 Quint, xi. 1. 
 
 1 Quis unquam audivit, cum ego de me nisi coactus ac 
 necessario dicerem ? — dicendum igitur est id, quod non 
 dicerem nisi coactus: nihil enim unquam de me dixi 
 sublatius asciscenda; laudis causa potius, quam criminis 
 depclleiidi. — Pro Dorao, 36, 36. 
 
 '' Potest quisquam vir in rebus magnls cum invidiiki
 
 298 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 then forbear to speak of himself, that indeed would 
 be shamel'ul ; but when he was injured, accused, 
 exposed to jiojiuiar odium, he must certainly be 
 ■allowed to assert his liljcrty, ii' they wi)uld not 
 suffer him to retain his dignity'." Tliis, then, was 
 the true state of the case, as it is evident from the 
 facts of his history : he had an ardent love of glory, 
 and an ea:;er thirst of praise : was pleased, wiien 
 living, to bear his acts applauded ; yet more still 
 vvilb imagining that they would ever be celebrated 
 when he was dead : a passion which, for the reasons 
 already hinted, had always the greatest force on the 
 greatest souls : but it must needs raise our con- 
 tempt and indignation to see every conceited 
 pedant and trifling complainer, who know little of 
 Cicero's real character, and less still of their own, 
 presuming to call him the vainest of mortals. 
 
 But there is no point of light in which we can 
 •view him with more advantage or satisfaction to 
 ourselves, than in the contemjilation of his learn- 
 ing, and the surprising extent of his knowledge. 
 This shines so conspicuous in all the monuments 
 which remain of him, that it even lessens the dig- 
 nity of his general character, while the idea of the 
 scholar absorbs that of the senator, and by con- 
 sidering him as the greatest writer, we are apt to 
 forget that he was the greatest magistrate also of 
 Rome. We learn our Latin from him at school ; 
 our style and sentiments at the college : here 
 the generality take their leave of him, and sel- 
 dom think of him more, but as of an orator, a 
 moralist, or philosopher of antiquity. But it is 
 witli characters as with pictures ; we cannot judge 
 well of a single part, without surveying the whole, 
 since the perfection of each depends on its pro- 
 portion and relation to the rest ; while in viewing 
 them altogether, they mutually reflect an additional 
 grace upon each other. His learning, considered 
 separately, will appear admirable, yet much more 
 so, when it is found in the possession of the first 
 statesman of a mighty empire : his abilities as a 
 statesman are glorious ; yet surprise us still more, 
 •when they are observed in the ablest scholar and 
 philosopher of his age : but a union of both these 
 characters exhibits that sublime specimen of per- 
 fection, to which the best parts with the best 
 ■culture can exalt human nature*. 
 
 No man, whose life had been wholly spent in 
 study, ever left more numerous or more valuable 
 fruits of his learning, in every branch of science 
 and the politer arts ; in oratory, poetry, philosophy, 
 law, history, criticism, politics, ethics ; in each of 
 which he equalled the greatest masters of his 
 time ; in some of them, excelled all men of all 
 times". His remaining works, as voluminous as 
 
 ■versatus, satis graviter contra inimici coutumeliam, sine 
 sua laude rt-spondere ? — 
 
 Quanquam si me tantis laboribus pro communi salute 
 perfunetum efferret aliquando ad gloriam in refutandis 
 maledictis improborum hominum animi quidam dolor, 
 iiuis non ignosceret ?— De Ilarus. Resp. 8. 
 
 s Si, cum ca;teri de nobis silent, non etiam nosmet ipsi 
 •tacemus, grave. Sed si la^dimur, si accusamur, si in 
 -invidiam vocamur, profecto concedetis, ut nobis libertatem 
 retinei-e liceat, si minus liceat dignitatem.— Pro Syll. 29. 
 
 ' Cum ad naturam eximiam atque illustrem accesserit 
 Tatio qua«dam, conformatioque doctriuse, tiun illud nescio 
 quid prasclarum ac singulare solere cxistere. — Pro Arch. 7. 
 
 " M. Cicero in libro, qui inscriptus est de jure civili in 
 artem ledigendo, verba ha;cpusuit — [Aul. Gell. i. 22.] M. 
 Tullius non modo inter agendum nunquam est deiititutus 
 
 they ajipear, are but a small part of what he really 
 published ; and though many of these are come 
 down to us maimed by time and the barbariiy of 
 the intermediate ages, yet they are justly estecnu-d 
 the most ])rccious remains of all anticjuity ; and 
 like the Sibylline books, if more of them had 
 perished, would have been etjual still to any price. 
 His industry was incredible, beyond the example 
 or even conception of our days : this was the secret 
 by which he performed such wonders, and recon- 
 ciled ])erpetuul study witli j>eri)etual affairs. He 
 suffered no part of his leisure to be idle, or the 
 least interval of it to be lost ; but what other 
 j)eoi)le gave to the public shows, to pleasures, to 
 feasts, nay, even to sleep, and the ordinary refresh- 
 ments of nature, he generally gave to his books, 
 and the enlargement of his knowledge^. On days 
 of business, when he had anything particular to 
 compose, he had no other time for meditating, but 
 when he was taking a few turns in his walks, where 
 he used to dictate his thoughts to his scribes, who 
 attended him >■. We find many of his letters dated 
 before day-light ; some from the senate, others 
 from his meals, and the crowd of his morning 
 levee^. 
 
 No compositions afford more pleasure than the 
 epistles of great men : they touch the heart of the 
 reader, by laying open that of the writer. The 
 letters of eminent wits, eminent scholars, eminent 
 statesmen, are all esteemed in their several kinds ; 
 but there never was a collection that excelled so 
 much in every kind as Cicero's, for the purity of 
 style, the importance of the matter, or the dignity 
 of the persons concerned in them. We have about 
 a thousand still remaining, all written after he was 
 forty years old ; which are but a small part, not 
 only of what he wrote, but of what were actually 
 published after his death by his servant Tiro. For 
 we see many volumes of them quoted by the 
 ancients, which are utterly lost ; as the first book 
 of his letters to Licinius Calvus ; the first, also, to 
 Q. Axius ; a second book to his son ; a second, 
 also, to Corn. Nepos ; a third book to J. Caesar ; 
 a third to Octavius ; and a third, also, to Pansa ; 
 an eighth book to M. Brutus ; and a ninth to 
 scientia juris, sed etiam componere aliqua de eo coeperat. 
 [Quint, xii. 3.] At M. TuUium, non ilium habemus 
 Euphranorem, circa plurium artium species praestantem, 
 sed in omnibus, quae in quoque laudantur, eminentissi- 
 mum. — Ibid. 10. 
 
 * Quantum casteris ad suas res obeundas, quantum ad 
 festos dies ludorum celebrandos, quantum ad alias volup- 
 tates, et ipsam requiem animi et corporis conceditur teni- 
 porum : quantum alii tribuunt tempestivis conviviis: 
 quantum denique alese. quantum pilas, tantum mihi ego- 
 met ad hac studia recolenda sumsero. — Pro Arch. 6. 
 
 Cui fuerit ne otium quidem imquam otiosum. Nam 
 quas tu commemoras legere te solere orationes, cum oti- 
 osus sis, has ego scripsi ludis et feriis, ne omnino unquam 
 essem otiosus. — Pro Plancio, 27. 
 
 y Ita quicquid conficio aut cogito, in ambulationis fere 
 tempus confcro. [AdQuint. Frat. iii. 3.] Nam cum vacui 
 temporis nihil haberem, et cum recreanda; voculae causa 
 mihi necesse esset ambulare, base dictavi ambulans. — ^Ad 
 Att. ii. 23. 
 
 » Cum haec scribebam antelucem. [Ad Quint. Frat. iii. 2. 
 7.] Ante lucem cum scriberem contra Epicureos, de eodem 
 oleo et opera exaravi nescio quid ad te, et ante lucem dedi. 
 Beinde cum, somno repetito, simul cum sole experrectus 
 essem. [Ad Att. xiii. 38.] Ha;c ad te scripsi apposita 
 secunda mensa. [Ibid. 14. 6. 21. 15. 13.] Hoc paullulum 
 exaravi ipsa in turba matutln^e salutationis. — Ad Brut, 
 ii. 4.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 299 
 
 A.Hirtius. Of all which, excepting a few to J. Caesar 
 and Brutus, we have nothing more left than some 
 scattered phrases and sentences, gathered from the 
 citations of the old critics and grammarians*. 
 What makes these letters still more estimable is, 
 that he had never designed them for the public, 
 nor kspt any copies of them ; for the year before 
 his death, when Atttcus was making some inquiry 
 about them, he sent him word that he had made 
 no collection, and that Tiro had preserved only 
 about seventy''. Here, then, we may expect to see 
 the genuine man, without disguise or affectation ; 
 especially in his letters to Atticus, to whom he 
 talked with the same frankness as to himself ; 
 opened the rise and progress of each thought ; and 
 never entered into any affair without his particular 
 advice : so that these may be considered as the 
 memoirs of his times ; containing the most authen- 
 tic materials for the history of that age, and laying 
 open the grounds and motives of aU the great 
 events that happened in it"^ : and it is the want of 
 attention to them that makes the generality of 
 writers on these times so superficial, as welt as 
 erroneous, while they choose to transcribe the dry 
 and imperfect relations of the later Greek his- 
 torians, rather than take the pains to extract the 
 original account of facts from one who was a 
 principal actor in tliem. 
 
 In his familiar letters he affected no particular 
 elegance or choice of words, but took the first that 
 occurred from common use and the language of 
 conversation''. Whenever he was disposed to joke, 
 his wit was easy and natural, flowing always from 
 the subject, and throwing out what came upper- 
 most ; nor disdaining even a pun, when it served 
 to make his friends laugh ". In letters of compli- 
 ment, some of which were addressed to the greatest 
 men who ever lived, his inclination to please is 
 expressed in a manner agreeable to nature and 
 reason, with the utmost delicacy, both of sentiment 
 and diction, yet without any of those pompous 
 titles and lofty epithets which modern custom has 
 introduced into our commerce with the great, and 
 falsely stamped with the name of politeness, though 
 they are the real offspring of barbarism, and the 
 effect of our degeneracy both in taste and manners. 
 In his political letters, all his maxims are drawn 
 from an intimate knowledge of men and things ; he 
 always touches the point on which the affair turns ; 
 foresees the danger, and foretells the mischief; — 
 which never failed to follow upon the neglect of his 
 counsels ; of which there were so many instances, 
 that, as an eminent writer of his own time observed 
 of him, "his prudence seemed to be a kind of 
 divination, which foretold everything that after- 
 
 » See the fragments of his letters in the editions of his 
 works. 
 
 1> Mearum epistnlarum nulla est avvaycayii. Sed hahet 
 Tiro instar septuaginta. — Ad Att. xvl. 5. 
 
 <: QuEe qui legat non multuni desideret historiam con- 
 textam eorurn temporum ; sic enim omnia de studiis 
 principum, vitiis ducum, ac mutationibus reipublica? per- 
 scripta sunt, ut nihil in his non appareat. — Corn. Nep. in 
 vit. Attic. 16. 
 
 ^ Epistolaa vero quotidianis verbis texere solemus. — Ep. 
 Fam. ix. 21. 
 
 « Quicquid in buccam vencrit. [Ad Att. vii. 10; xiv. 
 7.] In reproaching Antony for publishing one of his 
 letters to him, " How many jests (says he) are often fotuid 
 in private letters, which, if made public, might be thought 
 foaJjcb and impertinent ! "—Phil. ii. 4. 
 
 wards happened, with the veracity of a prophet^." 
 But none of his letters do him more credit than 
 those of the recommendatory kind : the others 
 show his wit and his parts, these his benevolence 
 and his probity : he solicits the interests of his 
 friends with all the warmth and force of words of 
 which he was master, and alleges generally some 
 personal reason for his peculiar zeal in the cause, 
 and that his own honour was concerned in the 
 success of it?. 
 
 But his letters are not more valuable on any 
 account than for their being the only monuments 
 of that sort which remain to us from free Rome. 
 They breathe the last words of expiring liberty ; a 
 great part of them having been written in the very 
 crisis of its ruin, to rouse up all the virtue that was 
 left in the honest and the brave, to the defence of 
 their country. The advantage which they derive 
 from this circumstance will easily be observed, by 
 comparing them with the epistles of the best and 
 greatest who flourished afterwards in imperial 
 Rome. Pliny's letters are justly admired by men 
 of taste : they show the scholar, the wit, the fine 
 gentleman : yet we cannot but observe a poverty 
 and barrenness through the whole, that betrays 
 the awe of a master. All his stories and reflections 
 terminate in private life ; there is nothing import- 
 ant in politics ; no great affairs explained ; no 
 account of the motives of public counsels : he had 
 borne all the same oflSces with Cicero, whom in all 
 points he affected to emulate'' ; yet his honours 
 were in effect but nominal, conferred by a superior 
 power, and administered by a superior will ; and 
 with the old titles of consul and proconsul, we 
 want still the statesman, the politician, and the 
 magistrate. In his provincial command, where 
 
 f Ut facile existimari possit prudentiam quodammodo 
 esse divinationem. Non enim Cicero ea solum, quae vivo 
 se acciderunt, futura praedixit, sed etiam, quae nunc usu 
 veniunt, cecinit, ut vates.— Corn. Nep. in Vit. Attic. 16. 
 
 S An objection may possibly be made to my character 
 of these letters, from a certain passage in one of them, 
 addressed to a proconsul of Africa, wherein he intimates, 
 that there was a private mark agreed upon between them, 
 which, when affixed to his letters, would signify, what 
 real stress he himself laid upon them, and what degree of 
 influence he desired them to have with his friend. [Ep. 
 Fam. xiii. 6.] But that seems to relate only to the parti- 
 cular case of one man, who having great affairs in Africa, 
 was likely to be particularly troublesome both to Cicero 
 and the proconsul, whose general concerns, however, he 
 recommends in that letter with the utmost warmth and 
 aflFection. But if he had used the same method with all 
 the other proconsuls and foreign commanders, it seems 
 not only reasonable, but necessary, that a man of his cha- 
 racter and authority, whose favour was perpetually soli- 
 cited by persons of all ranks, should make some distinction 
 between his real friends, wlioni he recommended for 
 their own sake, and tliose, whose recommendations were 
 extorted from him by the importunity of others : which 
 was frequently the case, as he himself declares in these 
 very letters. " Your regard for me," says he, " is so 
 publicly known, that I am importuned by many for recom- 
 mendations to you. But though I give them sometimes 
 to men of no consequence, yet for the most part, it is to 
 my real friends." Again, " Our friendship, and your 
 affection to me, is so illustrious, that I am under a 
 necessity of recommending many people to you : but 
 though it is my duty to wish well to all whom I recom- 
 mend ; yet I do not live upon the same foot of friendship 
 with them all," &c.— Ep. Fam. xiii. 70, 71- 
 
 t LjEtiiris, quod honoribus ejus insistam, quern smulari 
 in studiis cupio. — Plin. Ep. iv. 8.
 
 noo 
 
 THE HISTORY OP THE LIFE OF 
 
 Cicero governed all things with a supreme autho- 
 rity, and liad kings atteuilimt on his orders ; Pliny 
 durst not vt-nture to repair a bath, or punish a 
 fugitive slave, or incorporate a company of masons, 
 till he had first consulted and obtained the leave 
 of Trajan'. 
 
 His historical works are all lost: the comment- 
 aries of his consulship in Greek ; the history of 
 his own affairs, to his return from exile, in Latin 
 verse ; and his Anecdotes ; as well as the ])iece.s 
 that he ])ublis]ied on natural history, of wliich 
 Pliny quotes one, upon the wonders of nature, and 
 another on perfumes''. He was meditating, like- 
 wise, a general history of Rome, to which he was 
 frccjuently urged by his friends, as the only man 
 capable of adding that glory also to his country, of 
 excelling the Greeks in a species of writing which 
 of all others was at that time the least cultivated by 
 the Romans'. But he never found leisure to execute 
 so great a task ; yet has sketched out a ))lan of it, 
 which, short as it is, seems to be the best that can 
 be formed for the design of a perfect history. 
 
 He declares it to be " the first and fundamental 
 law of history, that it should neither dare to say 
 anything that was false, or fear to say anything 
 that was true, nor give any just suspicion either of 
 favour or disaffection : that in the relation of things 
 the writer should observe the order of time, and 
 add also the description of places : that in all great 
 and memorable transactions, he should first explain 
 the counsels, then the acts, lastly the events : that 
 in the counsels he should interpose his own judg- 
 ment on the merit of them : in the acts, should 
 relate not only what was done, but how it was 
 done ; in the events, should show what share 
 chance, or rashness, or prudence, had in them : 
 that in regard to persons, he should describe, not 
 only their particular actions, but the lives and 
 characters of all those who bear an eminent part 
 in the story : that he should illustrate the whole 
 in a clear, easy, natural style ; flowing with a per- 
 petual smoothness and equability ; free from the 
 affectation of points and sentences, or the rough- 
 ness of judicial pleadings'"." 
 
 We have no remains, likewise, of his poetry, 
 except some fragments occasionally interspersed 
 through his other writings ; yet these, as I have 
 before observed, are sufficient to convince us that 
 his poetical genius, if it had been cultivated with 
 the same care, would not have been inferior to his 
 oratorial. The two arts are so nearly allied, that 
 an excellency in the one seems to imply a capacity 
 for the other ; the same qualities being essential 
 
 ' Prusenses, Domiue, balneum liabent et sordidum et 
 vetus, id itaquc indulgciitia tua restituere desiderant. — 
 Plin. Ep. X. 34. 
 
 Quorum ego supplicium distuli, ut te conditorem dis- 
 ciplinas niilitaris, firmatoremquo, consulerem do modo 
 pcEnje. — -Ibid. 3tt. 
 
 Tu, Domine, dcspice an instituendum putes collegium 
 Fabrorum, duntaxat hominuin CL. — Ibid. 42. 
 
 1' Cicero in " Admirandis" posuit, &c. [Plin. Hist. Nat. 
 xxxi. 2.] Quod " Admirandis" suis inseruit M. Cicero. 
 [Ibid. 4.] In monumcntis M. Cioeronis invenitur ; Un- 
 guenta gratiora esse, quae terram, quam quae crocum 
 sapiant.— Ibid. xiii. 3 ; xvii. 5. 
 
 ' Postulatur a te jamdiu, vel flagitatur potius historia: 
 6ic enim putant, te illam tractante, effici posse, ut in hoc 
 etiam genere Grseciae nihil cedamus — abest enim historia 
 Uteris nostris. — De Leg. i. 2, 3. 
 
 n> De Oratore, ii. 15. 
 
 to them both ; a sprightly fancy, fertile invention, 
 flowing and numerous diction. It was in Cicero's 
 lime that the old rusticity of the Latin muse first 
 began to be jiolished by the ornaments of dress 
 and the harmony of numbers ; but the height of 
 perfection to which it was carried after his death 
 by the succeeding generation, as it left no room for 
 a mediocrity in ])oetry, so it quite eclipsed the fame 
 of Cicero. For the world always judges of things 
 by comparison ; and because he was not so groat a 
 poet as Virgil and Horace, he was decried as none 
 at all ; esj)ecially in the courts of Antony aud 
 Augustus, where it was a compliment to the sove- 
 reign, and a fashion consequently among their 
 flatterers ", to make his character ridiculous, 
 wherever it lay open to them : hence flowed that 
 l)eri)ctual raillery, which subsists to this day, on 
 his famous verses ; 
 
 Cedaut arnia togs, concedat laurea lingua?. 
 
 O fortunatam natam ree consulo Komam. 
 
 And two bad lines, picked out by the malice of 
 enemies and transmitted to posterity, as a speci- 
 men of the rest, have served to damn many thou- 
 sands of good ones : for Plutarch reckons him 
 among the most eminent of the Roman poets : 
 and Pliny the younger was proud of emulating 
 him in his poetic character" ; and Quintilian 
 seems to charge the cavils of his censurers to a 
 ))rinciple of malignityP. But his own verses carry 
 the surest proof of their merit: being written in 
 the best manner of that age in which he lived, 
 and in the style of Lucretius, whose poem he 
 is said to have revised and corrected for its pub- 
 lication, after Lucretius's death i. This however 
 is certain, that he was the constant friend and 
 generous patron of all the celebrated poets of his 
 time "■ : of Accius, Archias, Chilius, Lucretius, 
 Catullus : who pays his thanks to him in the fol- 
 lowing lines, for some favour that he had received 
 from him : 
 
 Tully, most eloquent by far 
 
 Of all, who have been or who are, 
 
 Or who in ages still to come 
 
 Shall rise of all the sons of Rome, 
 
 To thee Catullus grateful sends 
 
 His warmest thanks, and recommends 
 
 His humble muse, as much below 
 
 All other poets he, as thou 
 
 All otlier patrons dost excel, 
 
 In power of words and speaking well '. 
 
 ° Postca vero quam triumvirali proscriptione con- 
 snmptus est, passim qui oderant, qui invidebant, qui 
 jEmulabantur, adulatores etiam prassentis potentiae, non 
 responsurum invaserunt. — Quint, xii. 10, 
 
 ° Sed ego verear, ne me non satis deceat, quod dccuit 
 M. TuUiura.— Plin. Ep. v. 3. 
 
 P In carminibus utinam pepercisset, qua; non desierunt 
 carperc maligni. — Quint, xi. 1. 
 1 Euseb. Chronic. 
 
 r Adjicis M. Tullium mira benignitate poetarum ingenia 
 fovisse. [Plin. Ep. iii. 15.] Ut ex familiar! ejus L. Accio 
 poeta audire sum solitus. [Brut. 197.] Lueretii poemata, 
 ut scribis, lita sunt multis luminibus ingenii, multts- 
 tamen artis.— Ad Quint. Frat. ii. 11 ; Ad Att. i. 9.16. 
 s Discrtissime Romuli nepotum, 
 Quot sunt, quotque fuere, Marce TuUi, 
 Quotque post aliis erunt in annis ; 
 Gratias tibi maximas Catullus 
 Agit, pessimus omnium poeta, 
 Tanto pessimus omnium poeta 
 Quanta tu optimus omnium patronus. 
 
 Catuli. 47o .
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 301 
 
 But poetry was the amusement only, and relief 
 of bis other studies. Eloquence was his distin- 
 guishing talent — his sovereign attribute. To this 
 he devoted all the faculties of his soul, and attained 
 to a degree of perfection in it, that no mortal ever 
 surpassed : so that, as a polite historian observes, 
 " Rome had but few orators before him whom it 
 could praise : none whom it could admire'." De- 
 mosthenes was the pattern, by which he formed 
 himself: whom he emulated with such success as 
 to merit, what St. Jerome calls that beautiful 
 eloge : " Demosthenes has snatched from thee the 
 glory of being the first : thou from Demosthenes 
 that of being the only orator"." The genius, the 
 capacity, the style and manner of them both, were 
 much the same ; their eloquence of that great, 
 sublime and comprehensive kind, which dignified 
 every subject, and gave it all the force and beauty 
 of which it was capable ; it was that roundness of 
 speaking, as the ancients call it, where there was 
 nothing either redundant or deficient : nothing 
 either to be added or retrenched ; their perfections 
 were in all points so transcendent, and yet so simi- 
 lar, that the critics are not agreed on which side 
 to give the preference. Quintilian indeed, the 
 most judicious of them, has given it on the whole 
 to Cicero ; but if, as others have thought, Cicero 
 had not all the nerves, the energy, or, as he him- 
 self calls it, the thunder of Demosthenes, he 
 excelled him in the copiousness and elegance of 
 his diction, the variety of his sentiments, and 
 above all, in the vivacity of his wit, and smartness 
 of his raillery. Demosthenes had nothing jocose 
 or facetious in hiai, yet by attempting sometimes 
 to jest, showed that the thing itself did not dis- 
 please, but did not belong to him : for (as Longinus 
 says) whenever he affected to be pleasant, he made 
 himself ridiculous ; and if he happened to raise a 
 laugh, it was chiefly upon himself. Whereas 
 Cicero, from a perpetual fund of wit and ridicule, 
 had the power always to please, when he found 
 himself unable to convince : and could put his 
 judges into good humour when he had cause to be 
 afraid of their severity ; so that, by the opportu- 
 nity of a vveli-timed joke, he is said to have 
 preserved many of his clients from manifest ruin*^. 
 
 Yet in all this height and fame of his eloquence, 
 there was another set of orators at the same time 
 in Rome : men of parts and learning, and of the 
 first quality ; who, while they acknowledged the 
 superiority of his genius, yet censured his diction 
 as not truly Atlic or classical ; some calling it 
 
 ' At oratio — ita universa sub principe operis sui erupit 
 Tullio ; ut delectari ante eum paucissimis, mirari vero ne 
 minem possis. — Veil. Pat. i. 17. 
 
 " Derr.osthenem igitur imitemur. O dii boni ! quid 
 quasi nos aliud agimus, aut quid atlud optamus. — Brut. 
 417. 
 
 M. Tullius, in quem pulcherrimum illiid elogium est ; 
 Demosthenes tibi praeripuit, ne esses primus orator ; tu 
 illi, ne solus. — Ad Nepotian. de Vita Clerlcor. torn. iv. 
 Edit. Cened. 
 
 ^ Iluic diversa virtus, qua; risuni judicis movondo — 
 plerique Demostheni facultatem hujus rei defuisse credunt, 
 Ciceroni modum — nee videri potest noluisse Demostlienes, 
 cujus pauca admodum dicta — ostendunt non displicuisse 
 JUi jocos, sed non contigisse — mihi vero — mira qujedam 
 vidctur in Cicerone fuisse urbanitas — [Quintil. vi. 3 ; Ibid. 
 X. 1 ; Longin. de Sublim. c. 34.] Ut pro L. Flacco, quern 
 repetundarum ream joci opportunitate de manifestisbmiis 
 criminibus exemit, &c Macrob. Sat. ii. 1. 
 
 loose and languid : others tumid and exuberant t. 
 These men affected a minute and fastidious correct- 
 ness, pointed sentences, short and concise periods 
 without a syllable to spare in them, as if the per- 
 fection of oratory consisted in a frugality of v.-ords, 
 and in crowding our sentiments into the narrowest 
 compass^! The chief patrons of this taste were 
 M. Brutus,- Licinius Calvus, Asinius PoUio, and 
 Sallust, whom Seneca seems to treat as the author 
 of the obscure, abrupt, and sententious style". 
 Cicero often ridicules these pretenders to Attic 
 elegance, as judging of eloquence, not by the 
 force of the art, but their own weakness ; and 
 resolving to decry what they could not attain, and 
 to admire nothing but what they could imitate '' ; 
 and though their way of speaking, he says, might 
 please the ear of a critic or a scholar, yet it was not 
 of that sublime and sonorous kind whose end was not 
 only to instruct but to move an audience ; an elo- 
 quence born for the multitude, whose merit was 
 always shown by its effects of exciting admiration, 
 and extorting shouts of applause, and on which there 
 never was any difterence of judgment between the 
 learned and the populace '^. 
 
 This was the genuine eloquence that prevailed 
 in Rome as long as Cicero lived. His were the 
 only speeches that were relished or admired by the 
 city ; while those Attic orators, as they called them- 
 selves, were generally despised and frequently 
 deserted by the audience in the midst of their 
 harangues'*. But after Cicero's death and the 
 ruin of the republic, the Roman oratory sunk of 
 course with its liberty, and a false species univer- 
 sally prevailed : when instead of that elate, copious, 
 and flowing eloquence which launched out freely 
 into every subject, there succeeded a guarded, dry, 
 sententious kind, full of laboured turns and stu- 
 died points, and proper only for the occasion on 
 which it was employed : the making panegyrics, 
 and servile compliments to their tyrants. This 
 change of style may be observed in all their writers 
 from Cicero's time to the younger Pliny, who car- 
 ried it to its utmost perfection in his celebrated 
 panegyric on the emperor Trajan, which as it is 
 justly admired for the elegance of diction, the 
 
 y Constat nee Ciceroni quidem obtrectatores defuisse, 
 quibus inflatus et tumens, nee satis pressus, supra modum 
 exultans, et superfluens, et parum Atticus videretur, &c. 
 —Tacit. Dialog. 18; Quintil. xii. 1. 
 
 z Mihi falli niultum videntur, qui solos esse Atticos cre- 
 dunt, tenues et lucidos et significantes, sed quadam elo- 
 quentiffi frugalitate contentos, ac manum semper intra 
 pallium continentes. — Quintil. xii. 10. 
 
 a Sic Sallustio vigente. amputata sententias, et verba 
 ante expectatum cadentia, et obscura brevitas, fuere pro 
 cultu. — L. Sen Epist. 114. 
 
 b Itaque nobis monendi sunt ii,' — qui aut dici se deside- 
 rant Atticos, aut ipsi Attice volunt dicere, ut mirentur 
 Demosthenem maxime — eloquentiamque ipsius viribus, 
 non imbecilitate sua, metiantur. Kunc enim tantum 
 quisque laudat, quantum se posse sperat imrtari. — Orator, 
 i!48; Tusc. QuKst. ii. 1. 
 
 '^ Sed adCalvumrevertamur: qui — metuens ne vitiosnm 
 colligeret, etiam verum sanguinem deperdebat. Itaque 
 ejus oratio nimia religione attenuata, doctis et attento 
 audientibus erat illustris ; a multitudine auteni et a foro, 
 cui nata eloquentia est, devorabatur. — Brut. 419. 
 
 Itaque nunquam de bono nratore et non bono docfia 
 hominibus cum populo dissensio fuit, &c. — Ibid. 297. 
 
 d At cum isti Attici dicnnt. non modo a corona, quod 
 est ipsum miserabile, sed etiam ab advocatis rclinquuntur. 
 —Ibid. 417.
 
 302 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 beauty of sentiments, and the delicacy of its com. 
 pliments, so is become in a manner the standard 
 of fine speaking to modern times : where it is 
 common to hear the pretenders to criticism des- 
 canting on the tedious length and spiritless exuber- 
 ance of the Ciceronian periods. Yiut the superiority 
 of Cicero's eloquence, as it was acknowled^jed by 
 the politest age of free Rome, so it lias received 
 the mi)st authentic confirmation that the nature of 
 things can admit, from the concurrent sense of 
 nations ; which, neglecting the productions of his 
 rivals and contemporaries, have preserved to us 
 his inestimable remains, as a specimen of the most 
 perfect manner of speaking, to which the language 
 of mortals can be exalted ; so that, as Quintilian 
 declared of him even in that early age, he has 
 acquired such fame with posterity, that Cicero is 
 not reckoned so much the name of a man as of 
 eloquence itself''. 
 
 But we have hitherto been considering chiefly 
 the exterior part of Cicero's character, and shall 
 now attempt to penetrate the recesses of his mind, 
 and discover the real source and principle of his 
 actions, from a view of that philosophy which he 
 professed to follow, as the general rule of his life. 
 This, as he often declares, was drawn from the 
 Academic sect, which derived its origin from So- 
 crates, and its name from a celebrated gymnasium 
 or place of exercise, in the suburbs of Atliens, 
 called the Academy, where the j)rofessors of that 
 school used to hold their lectures and philoso- 
 phical disputations '. Socrates was the first who 
 banished physics out of philosophy, which till his 
 time had been the sole object of it, and drew it off 
 from the obscure and intricate inquiries into nature 
 and the constitution of the heavenly bodies, to 
 questions of morality, of more immediate use and 
 importance to the happiness of man, concerning 
 the true notions of virtue and vice, and the natural 
 difference of good and ills'; and as he found the 
 world generally prepossessed with false notions on 
 those subjects, so his method was, not to assert 
 any opinion of his own, but to refute the opinions 
 of others and attack the errors in vogue, as the 
 first step towards preparing men for the reception 
 of truth or what came the nearest to it, proba- 
 
 e Apud posteros vero Id consecutus, ut Cicero jam non 
 hominis, sed eloquentiae nomen habeatur. — Quintil. x. J. 
 
 * lUi autem, qui Platonis instituto in Academia, quod 
 est alteram gj-mnasium, coetus erant et sermones habere 
 soliti, e loci vocabulo nomen liabuerunt. — Academ. i. 4. 
 
 N.B. This celebrated place, which Serv. Sulpicius calls 
 the noblest riinnnashun of the world, took its name from 
 one Ecademiis, an ancient hero, who possessed it in the 
 time of the Tyndarids. But famous as it was, it was 
 purchased afterwards for about one hundred pounds, and 
 dedicated to the public, for the convenience of walks and 
 exercises for the citizens of Athens ; and was gradually 
 improved and adorned by the rich, who ifad received 
 benefit or pleasure from it, with plantations of groves, 
 stately porticos, and commodious apartments, for the par- 
 ticular use of the professors or masters of the Academic 
 School, where several of them are said to have spent their 
 lives, and to have resided so strictly, as scarce ever to have 
 come within the city.— Ep. Fam. iv. 12 ; Plutarch, in 
 Thes. 15 ; Diog. Laert. in Plato. §. 7 ; Plutarch. De Exil. 
 603. 
 
 S Socrates id quod constat inter omnes, primus a 
 
 rebus occultis, et ab ipsa natura involutis — avocavisse 
 philosophiam et ad vitam communem adduxisse, ut de 
 virtutibus ct vitiis, omninoque de bonis rebus et malis 
 qucereret, &c.— Ibid. ; it. Tusc. Quaest. v. 4. 
 
 bility •". WTiile he himself therefore professed to 
 know nothing, he used to sift out the several doc- 
 trines of all the pretenders to science, and then 
 teaze them with a series of questions so contrived 
 as to reduce them, by the course of their answers, 
 to an evident absurdity and the impossibility of 
 defending what they had at first affirmed'. 
 
 Hut Plato did not strictly adhere to the method 
 of his master .Socrates, and his followers wholly 
 deserted it : for instead of the Socratic modesty 
 of uSirming nothing, and examining every thing, 
 they turned j)hilosophy as it were into an art, and 
 formed a system of opinions, which they delivered 
 to their disciples as the peculiar tenets of their 
 sect''. Plato's nephew, Speusipjius, who was left 
 the heir of his school, continued liis lectures as his 
 successors also did in the Academy, and preserved 
 the name of Academics ; whilst Aristotle, the 
 most eminent of Plato's scholars, retired to an- 
 other gymnasium called the Lyceum, where from a 
 custom which he and his followers observed, of 
 teaching and disputing as they walked in the por- 
 ticos of the place, ihey obtained the name of 
 Peripatetics, or the walking philosophers. These 
 two sects, though differing in name, agreed gene- 
 rally in things, or in all the principal points of 
 their ])hilosophy : they placed the chief happiness 
 of man in virtue, with a competency of external 
 goods ; taught the existence of a God, a Provi- 
 dence, the immortality of the soul, and a future 
 state of rewards and punishments'. 
 
 This was the state of the Academic school under 
 five successive masters, who governed it after 
 Plato : Speusippus, Xenocrates, Polemo, Crates, 
 Crantor ; till Arcesilas the Sixth discarded at once 
 all the systems of his predecessors, and revived 
 the Socratic way of affirming nothing, doubting of 
 all things, and exposing the vanity of the reigning 
 opinions'". He alleged the necessity of making 
 this reformation, from that obscurity of things 
 which had reduced Socrates and all the ancients 
 before him, to a confession of their ignorance ; he 
 observed, as they had all likewise done, that the sen- 
 ses were narrow, reason infirm, life short, truth 
 immersed in the deep, opinion and custom every- 
 where predominant, and all things involved in 
 darkness". He taught therefore, " that there 
 
 •> E quibus nos id potissimum consocuti sumus, quo So- 
 cratem usum arbitrabamur ; ut nostram ipsi sententiam 
 tegeremus, errore alios levaremus ; et in omni disputationo, 
 quid esset simillunium veri quaereremus. — Tusc. Qusst. v. 
 4 ; it. i. 4. 
 
 ' Socrates enim percunctando atque interrogando elicere 
 solebat opiniones eorum, quibuscum disserebat. — De Fin. 
 ii. 1. 
 
 k Illam autem Socraticam dubitationem de omnibus 
 rebus, et nulla adfinnatione adhibita consuetudinem disser- 
 endi reliquerunt. Ita facta est, quod minime Socrates 
 probabat, ars quaedam philosophic, et rei"um ordo et de- 
 scriptio disciplina;. — Academ. i. 4. 
 
 ' Sed idem fons erat utrisque, et eadem rerum expeten- 
 darum, fugiendarumque partitio. [Academ. i. 4, 6, 8.j 
 Peripateticos et Academicos, nominibus differentes, re 
 congruentes. — Ibid. ii. 5. 
 
 ■a Arcesilas primum, ex variis Platonis libris, sermoni- 
 busque Socraticis hoc maxime arripuit, nihil esse certi, 
 quod aut sensibus aut animo percipi possit. — De Orat. 
 iii. 18. 
 
 " Non pertinacia sed earum rerum obscuritate, quse ad 
 confessionem ignorantise adduxerant Socratem, et — omnes 
 pa;ne veteres ; qui nihil cognosci, nihil percipi, nihil sciri 
 posse dixerunt ; angustos sensus ; imbecillos animos ; bre- 
 
 I
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 3oa 
 
 was no certain knowledge or perception of any- 
 thing in nature, nor any infallible criterion of 
 truth and falsi>hood ; that nothing was so detest- 
 able as rashness : nothing so scandalous to a 
 philosopher as to profess what was either false or 
 unknown to him ; that we ought to assert nothing 
 dogmatically, but iu all cases to suspend our 
 assent, and instead of pretending to certainty, 
 content ourselves with opinion grounded on proba- 
 bilit)', which was all that a rational mind had to 
 acquiesce in." This was called the new Academy, 
 in distinction from the Platonic, or the old, which 
 maintained its credit down to Cicero's time, by a 
 succession of able masters, the chief of whom 
 was Carneades, the fourth from Arcesilas, who 
 carried it to its utmost height of glory, and is 
 greatly celebrated by antiquity for the vivacity of 
 his wit and force of his eloquence <>. 
 
 We must not however imagine, that these Acade- 
 mics continued doubting and fluctuating all their 
 lives in scepticism and irresolution, without any 
 precise opinions, or settled principle of judging 
 and actingP ; no, their rule was as certain and 
 consistent as that of any other sect, as it is fre- 
 quently explained by Cicero in many parts of his 
 works. " We are not of that sort (says he) whose 
 mind is perpetually wandering in error, without 
 any particular end or object of its pursuit : for 
 what would such a mind or such a life indeed be 
 W'Orth which had no determinate rule or method of 
 thinking and acting ? But the difference between 
 us and the rest is, that whereas they call some 
 things certain, and others uncertain ; we caU the 
 one probable, the other improbable. For what 
 reason then should not I pursue the probable, 
 reject the contrary, and declining the arrogance of 
 affirming, avoid the imputation of rashness, which 
 of all things is the farthest removed from wis- 
 dom^ ?" Again : " we do notpretend to say, that 
 there is no such thing as truth, but that all truths 
 have some falsehoods annexed to them, of so near 
 a resemblance and similitude, as to afford no 
 certain note of distinction whereby to determine 
 our judgment and assent : whence it follows also 
 of course, that there are many things probable, 
 which tliough not perfectly comprehended, yet on 
 account of their attractive and specious appear- 
 ance, are sufficient to govern the life of a wise 
 man ".'^ In another place, " there is no difference" 
 (says he) " between us and those who pretend to 
 know things, but that they never doubt of the 
 truth of what they maintain ; whereas we have 
 many probabilities which we readily embrace, but 
 dare not affirm. By this we preserve our judgment 
 free and unprejudiced, and are under no necessity 
 
 via curricula vitse ; in profundo veritatem demersam ; 
 opinionibus et institutis omnia teneri ; nihil vcritati relin- 
 qui : deinceps omnia tenebris circumfusa esse dixerunt. — 
 Acadcm. i. 13. 
 
 o Hanc Academiam novam appellant ; — que usque ad 
 Carneadem perducta, qui quartus ab Arcesila fuit, in eadem 
 Arcesilae latione permansit. [Academ. i. 13.] Ut hsec in 
 philosophia ratio contra omnia disserendi, nullauique rem 
 aperte judicandi, profecta a Socrate, repetita ab Arcesila, 
 confirmata a C'arneade, usque ad nostram viguit a;tatem. 
 [De Tsat. Deor. i. 5.] Ilinc haec recentior Academia eniana- 
 vit, in qua exstititdivina quadam celeritate Ingenii, dicen- 
 dique copia Carneades. — De Orat. iii. 18. 
 
 P Neque enini Academiei, cum in utramque disserunt 
 partem, non secundum alteram vivunt.— Quintil. xii. 1. 
 
 i De Offic. it 2. r De Nat. Deor. 1. 5. 
 
 of defending what is prescribed and enjoined to 
 us : whereas in the other sects men are tied down 
 to certain doctrines, before they are capable of 
 judging what is the best ; and in the most infirm 
 part of life, drawn either by the authority of a 
 friend, or charmed with the first master whom 
 they happen to hear, they form a judgment of 
 things unknown to them : and to whatever scliool 
 they chance to be driven by the tide, cleave to it 
 as fast as the oyster to the rock"." 
 
 Thus the Academy held the proper medium 
 between the rigoin- of the Stoic and the indifference 
 of the sceptic. The Stoics embraced all their doc- 
 trines as so many fixed and immutable truths, from 
 which it was infamous to depart, and by making 
 this their point of honour, held all their disciples 
 in an inviolable attachment to them. The sceptics 
 on the other hand observed a perfect neutrality 
 towards all opinions, maintaining all of them to 
 be equally uncertain : and that we could not affirm 
 of anything that it was this or that, since there 
 was as much reason to take it for the one as for 
 the other, or for neither of them, and wholly 
 indifferent which of them we thought it to be ; 
 thus they lived without ever engaging themselves 
 on any side of a question, directing their lives ia 
 the mean time by natural affections and the laws 
 and customs of their country '. But the Acade- 
 mics, by adopting the probable instead of the 
 certain, kept the balance in an equal poise between 
 the two extremes, making it their general principle 
 to observe a moderation in all their opinions ; 
 and as Plutarch, who was one of them, tells us, 
 paying a great regard always to that old maxim : 
 
 MijSei' ^70:' ; ne quid nimis". 
 
 As this school then was in no particular opposi- 
 tion to any, but an equal adversary to aU, or leather 
 
 » Academ. ii. 3. 
 
 N.B. This sketch of the principles of the Academy may 
 enable us to decide that famous contest among the critics, 
 about the reading of the following passage in Cicero's trea- 
 tise, " On the Nature of the Oods." [1. i. I." De qua tam 
 varies sunt doctissimortnn hominum, tamque discrepaiites 
 sentenlice, ut magno argumento esse debeat, caicsam, id est, 
 principium philosophice esse, scientiam; [inscientiam ;] 
 jirudenterque Academicos a rebus incerlis assensionem 
 cohibuisse. The question is, whether we should read 
 scientiam or inscientiam : the greatest part of the editions 
 and MSS. give us the first, but Aldus Manutius and Dr. 
 Davies prefer the second, which I take to be the true 
 reading. For Cicero's meaning in this place is, from the 
 dissentions of the learned on a subject of so great import- 
 ance, to illustrate a fundamental maxim of his sect, that 
 the natural obscurity 0/ things, and man's consciousness of 
 his ignorance, tvas the first cause or incitement to the study 
 0/ philosophy. Plato had expressed the same sentiment 
 before him, where he says, that to wonder at things ivas 
 the common affection of a philosopher, andivhat alone gave 
 rise, or a beginning, to philosophy itself; [In Theaetet. p. 
 155, edit. Serr.'] whence Cicero draws this inference, which 
 he frequently inculcates in other parts of his works, that 
 the Academy therefore acted prudently, in withhohUng its 
 assent, and maintaining, that there was no such thing as 
 science, or absolute certainty, Vr-ithin the reach of man. If 
 this then be the sense of the passage, as it appears evidently 
 to be, it necessarily requires inscientiam to make it con- 
 sistent. — See the translation of L'Abb(5 d'Olivet, and his 
 notes on the place, and edit. Davis. Cantab. 
 
 ' Sext. Empirici, Pyrrhon. Hypotyp. ; A. Gell. xi. 5. 
 
 " — fj.eWaii' els irdvTa, TLfxriUdv rh fir] Si f liyav, 
 eV 'AKaSv/iii} yev6fJ.evos, elirov. — In lib. de EI apud 
 Delph. 387 ; it', lib. de Primo Frigido./n.
 
 004 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 to dogmatical pliiloso))!:} in general, so every other 
 ■sect next to itself readily gave it the preference to 
 the rest, which universal concession of the second 
 place is commonly thought to infer a right to the 
 lirst •■* ; and if we reflect en the state of the heathen 
 world, and what they themselves so often complain 
 of, the darkness that surrounded them, and the 
 infinite dissentions of the best and wisest on the 
 fundamental qyestions of religion and morality y ; 
 •we must necessarily allow, that the Academic man- 
 ner of jiliilosophising was of all others the most 
 rational and modest, and the best adapted to the 
 discovery of truth, whose peculiar character it was 
 to encourage inquiry, to sift every question to the 
 bottom, to try the force of every argument till it 
 had found its real moment, or the precise quantity 
 of its weight'- This it was that induced Cicero 
 in his advanced life and ripened judgment to desert 
 the old Academy, and declaie for the new : when 
 from a long experience of the vanity of those sects 
 ■who called themselves the proprietors of truth and 
 the sole guides of life, and through a despair of 
 finding anything certain, he was glad, after all his 
 pains, to take up with the probable". But the 
 genius and general character of both the Academies 
 -was in some measure still the same : for the old, 
 though it professed to teach a peculiar system of 
 doctrines, yet was ever diffident and cautious of 
 affirming, and the new only the more scrupulous 
 and sce^jtical of the two ; this appears from the 
 writings of Plato, the first master of the old, in 
 which, as Cicero observes, " nothing is absolutely 
 affirmed, nothing delivered for certain, but all 
 things freely inquired into, and both sides of the 
 question impartially discussed''." Yet there was 
 another reason that recommended this plui'-sophy 
 in a peculiar manner to Cicero : its being of all 
 others the best suited to the profession of an 
 orator, since by its practice of disputing for and 
 against every opinion of the other sects, it gave 
 him the best opportunity of perfecting his orato- 
 rial faculty, and acquiring a habit of speaking 
 readily upon all subjects. He calls it therefore the 
 parent of elegance and copiousness, and declares 
 that he owed all the fame of his eloquence not to 
 the mechanic rules of the rhetoricians, but to the 
 enlarged and generous principles of the Academy "^^ 
 
 -"^ Academico sapienti ab omnibus caeterarum sectarum 
 ^secundae partes dantur — ex quo potest probabiliter eon- 
 fici, eum recte primum esse suo judicio, qui omnium 
 ciEterorum judicio sit secundus. — Fragment. Academ. ex 
 Augustin. 
 
 y De Nat. Deor. i. 1 , 3 ; Academ. ii. 3 ; i. 13. 
 
 2 Neque nostra disputationes quicquani aliud agunt, 
 ■nisi lit, in utramquo partem disserendo, eliciant et tan- 
 quam exprimant aliquid, quod aut verum sit, aut ad id 
 quam proxime accedat. — Academ. ii. 3. 
 
 " Relictam a te, inquit, veterem jam, tractari autem 
 novam. [Ibid. 4.] Ultra enim quo progrediar, quam ut 
 -verisimilia videam, non habeo : certa dicent hi, qui et 
 percipi ea posse dicunt, ct so sapientes profitentur. [Tusc. 
 ■Quasst. i. 9.] Sed no in niaximis quidem rebus, quidquam 
 adhuc inveni firmius, quod tcnerem, aut quo judicium 
 meum dirigerem, quam id, quodcumque mibi simillimum 
 veri videretur, cum ijosum illud verum in occalto lateret. 
 — Or&tov, fin. ' 
 
 b Cujus in libris nihil affiimatur, et in utramque partem 
 multa disseruntur, de omnibus quscritur, nihil ceiti dici- 
 tur. — Academ. i. 1.3. 
 
 c Itaque mihi semper Acadcmi® consuetudo, de omnibus 
 berus in eontrarias partes disstrendi, non ob eam causam 
 •eolum placuit, quod aliter non posset quid in quaque re 
 
 This school however was almost deserted in 
 Greece and had but few disciples at Rome, when 
 Cicero undertook its patronage, and endeavoured 
 to revive its drooping credit. The reason is 
 obvious : it imposed a hard task upon its scholars 
 of disjiuting against every sect and on every ques- 
 tion in philosophy ; and " if it was difficult," (as 
 (Cicero says) " to be master of any one, how much 
 more of them all!-'" which was incumbent on those 
 who professed themselves .Academics'*. No wonder 
 then that it lost ground everywhere, in jiropor- 
 tion as ease and luxury prevailed, which naturally 
 disposed jieoplc to the doctrine of Epicurus, in 
 relation to which there is a smart saying recorded 
 of Ar(;esilas : who being asked why so many of all 
 sects went over to the Epicureans, but none ever 
 came back from them, replied, " that men might 
 be made eunuclis, but eunuchs could never become 
 men .again *." 
 
 This general view of Cicero's philosophy, will 
 help us to account in some measure for that 
 difficulty which people frequently complain of, 
 in discovering his real sentiments, as well as for 
 the mistakes which they are apt to fall into in that 
 search ; since it vnis. the distinguishing principle of 
 the Academy to refute the opinions of others, rather 
 than declare any of their own. Yet the cliief 
 difficulty does not He here, for Cicero was not scru- 
 pulous on that head, nor affected any obscurity in 
 the delivery of his thoughts, when it was his busi- 
 ness to explain them ; but it is the variety and 
 different character of his several writings that per- 
 jilexes the generality of his readers, for wherever 
 they dip into his works, they are apt to fancy 
 themselves possessed of his sentiments, and to 
 quoce them indifferently as such : whether from 
 his orations, his dialogues, or his letters, without 
 attending to the peculiar nature of the -work, or 
 the different person that he assumes in it. 
 
 His orations are generally of the judicial kind ; 
 or the pleadings of an advocate whose business it 
 was to make the best of his cause ; and to deliver, 
 verisimile sit inveniri, sed etiam quod essct ea maxim* 
 
 dicendi exercitatio [Tusc. Quaest. ii. 3; Quintil. xii. 2.] 
 
 Ego autem fateor ; me oratorem, si modo sim, aut ctiam 
 quicumque sim, non ex rhetorum offieinis, sed ex Acade- 
 mia? spatiis extitisse. [Orator. «i«6 init.'] Nos ea philoso- 
 phia plus utimur, qus pcperit dicendi copiam. — Prooem. 
 Paradox.' 
 
 d Quam nunc propemodum orbam esse in Grsecia intel- 
 ligo — nam si singulas disciplinas percipere magnum est, 
 quanto majus omnes? quod facere iis nocesse est, quibus 
 propositum est, veri reperiendi causa, et contra omnes 
 philosophos, et pro omnibus dicere. — De Nat. Deor. i. 5. 
 ' Diog. Laert. de Arcesila. — 
 
 Diogenes Laertius, and some later ■writers, speak of a 
 third or Middle Academy between the Old and the New, 
 in which they are commonly followed by the modems, who 
 make Plalo the founder of the Old ; Arcesilas of the Mid- 
 dle ; Carneades of the New. [See Stanley's Lives of Phi- 
 losoph. in Carneades.] But there was no real ground for 
 such a distinction : since Cicero never mentions any other 
 but the Old and the New : and expressly declares the last 
 to have subsisted under that denomination, down to his 
 own days, as well under Carneades, as Arcesilas : and so 
 far from splitting them into three Academies, Cicero's 
 master, Philo, maintained constantly in his books, that 
 there never was in reality any more than one ; grounding 
 his argument on what I have observed above : the similar 
 nature and genius of the two. [Academ. i. 4.] Perturbatri- 
 cem autem harum omnium rerum Academiam, lianc ab 
 Arcesila et Carneade recentem, cxoremus ut sileat — Pe 
 Leg. i. 13.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 305 
 
 not so much what was true as what was useful to 
 his client ; the patronage of truth belonging in such 
 cases to the judge and not to the pleader ^ It 
 would be absurd therefore to require a scrupulous 
 veracity or strict declaration of his sentiments in 
 them : the thing does not admit of it ; and he him- 
 self forbids us to expect it ; and in one of those 
 orations frankly declares the true nature of them 
 all — "That man," says he, " is much mistaken who 
 thinks, that in these judicial pleadings he has an 
 authentic specimen of our opinions : they are the 
 speeches of the causes and the times ; not of the 
 men or the advocates : if the causes could speak 
 for themselves, nobody would employ an orator ; 
 •but we are employed to speak, not what we would 
 undertake to affirm upon our authority, but what 
 is suggested by the cause and the thing itself K." 
 Agreeably to this notion, Quintilian tells us, "that 
 those who are truly wise and have spent their time 
 in public affairs, and not in idle disputes, though 
 they have resolved with themselves to be strictly 
 honest in all their actions, yet will not scruple to 
 use every argument that can be of service to the 
 cause which they have undertaken to defend ''." 
 In his orations therefore, where we often meet with 
 the sentences and maxims of philosophy, we cannot 
 •always take them for his own, but as topics applied 
 to move his audience, or to add an air of gravity 
 and probability to bis speech'. 
 
 His letters indeed to familiar friends, and espe- 
 cially those to Atticus, place the real man before 
 us, and lay open his very heart : yet in these some 
 distinction must necessarily be observed ; for in 
 letters of compliment, condolence, or recommen- 
 dation, or where he is soliciting any point of 
 importance, he adapts his arguments to the occa- 
 sion, and uses such as would induce his friend the 
 most readily to grant what he desired. But as his 
 letters in general seldom touch upon any questions 
 of philosophy, except slightly and incidentally, so 
 they will afford very little help to us in the dis- 
 covery of his jihilosophical opinions, which are the 
 subject of the present inquiry, and for which we 
 must wholly recur to his philosophical work.s. 
 
 Now the general purpose of these works was, to 
 give a history rather of the ancient philosophy than 
 any account of his own ; and to explain to his 
 feilow-citizens in their own language, whatever the 
 philosophers of all sects, and in all ages, had 
 taught on every important question, in order to 
 enlarge their minds and reform their morals ; and 
 to employ himself the most usefuUy to his country 
 at a time when arms and a superior force had 
 deprived him of the power of serving it in any 
 
 ' Judicis est semper in causis varum sequi ; patroni, 
 nonnunquam verisimilo, etiam si minus sit verum, de- 
 fendere : quod scribere, prsesertim cum de philosophia 
 scriberem, noii aviderem, nisi idem placeret gravissimo 
 Stoicorum Pana;tio.' — De Offie. ii. 14. 
 
 S Sed errat vehementer, si quis in orationibus nostris, 
 quas in judiciis habuimus, auctoritatcs nostras consignatas 
 66 habere, arbitratur. — Pro A. Cluent. 5U. 
 
 *> Quint, xi. 1. 
 
 ' Though his orations are not always the proper vouch- 
 ers of liis opinions, yet tliey are the best testimonies that 
 can be alleged for the truth of facts: especially those 
 which were spoken to the senate or the people ; wiiei-e he 
 refers to the acts and characters of persons then living, 
 before an audience that was generally as well acquainted 
 with them as himself ; and it is in such cases chiefly that 
 ■I lay any great stress upon them. 
 
 otner way\ This he declares in his treatise called 
 De Finibus, or on the chief good or ill of man ; in 
 that upon the Nature of the Gods ; in his Tusculan 
 Disputations ; and in his book on the Academic 
 Philosophy : in all which he sometimes takes upon 
 himself the part of a Stoic ; sometimes of an Epi- 
 curean ; sometimes of the Peripatetic ; for the sake 
 of explaining with more authority the different 
 doctrines of each sect : and as he assumes the 
 person of the one to confute the other, so in his 
 proper character of an Academic, he sometimes 
 disputes against them all : while the unwary reader, 
 not reflecting on the nature of dialogues, takes 
 Cicero still for the perpetual speaker ; and under 
 that mistake, often quotes a sentiment for his that 
 was delivered by him only in order to be confuted. 
 But in these dialogues as in all his other works, 
 wherever he treats any subject professedly, orgivts 
 a judgment upon it deliberately, either in his own 
 person or that of an Academic, there he delivers 
 his own opinions : and where lie himself does not 
 appear in the scene, he takes care usually to inform 
 us to which of the characters he has assigned the 
 patronage of his own sentiments ; who was gene- 
 rally the principal speaker of the dialogue ; as 
 Crassus in his treatise on the Orator ; Scipio, in 
 that on the Republic ; Cato in his piece on old age. 
 This key will let us into his real thoughts, and 
 enable us to trace his genuine notions through 
 every part of his writings ; from which I shall now 
 proceed to give a short abstract of them. 
 
 As to physics or natural philosophy, beseems to 
 have had the same notion with Socrates, that a 
 minute and particular attention to it, And the 
 making it the sole end and object of our inquiries, 
 was a study rather curious than profitable, and 
 contributing but little to the improvement of human 
 life'. For though he was perfectly acquainted 
 with the various systems of all the philosophers of 
 any name from the earliest antiquity, and has 
 explained them all in his works ; yet he did not 
 think it worth while, either to form any distinct 
 opinions of his own, or at least to declare them. 
 From his account however of those systems we 
 may observe, that several of the fundamental prin- 
 ciples of the modern philosophy which pass for the 
 original discoveries of these later times, are the 
 revival rather of ancient notions maintained by 
 some of the first philosophers of whom we have 
 any notice in history : as the motion of the earth; 
 the antipodes ; a vacuum ; and a universal gravi- 
 tation, or attractive quality of matter ; which holds 
 the world in its present form and order™. 
 
 But in all the great points of religion and mo- 
 rality which are of more immediate relation to 
 the happiness of man, the being of a God ; a Pro- 
 vidence ; the immortality of the soul ; a future 
 state of rewards and punishments ; and the eternal 
 difference of good and ill ; he has largely and 
 
 '' Nam cum otio langueremus, et is esset reipublicas 
 status, ut cam unius consilio atque cura gubernari necesse 
 esset, primum ipsius reipublica; causa philosophiam nos- 
 tris hominibus explicandam putavi ; magni existimans 
 interesse ad decus et ad laudem civitatis, res tarn graves, 
 tamquo prseclaras latiuis etiam Uteris continori. — De Nat. 
 Deor. i. 4 ; it. Academ. i. 5 ; Tusc. Q,ua;st. i. 1 ; De Finib. 
 i. 3, 4. 
 
 • Ut enim mode dixi, omnibus fere in rebus, et maxime 
 in physicis, quid non sit, citius, quam quid sit, dizerim. 
 — De Nat. Deor. i. 21 ; Academ. ii. 39. 
 
 1' De Nat. Deor. u. 45 ; Acadom. ii. 38, 39. 
 X
 
 306 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 clearly declared liis mind in many i)!irts of his 
 writings, lie mainti\ineJ, that thi.e was one God 
 or supreme Beinj^ ; incorporeal, eternal, self- 
 existent ; wiio created tlie world by Iiis j)Ower, and 
 sustained it by his jirovidence. 'I'his he inferred 
 from the consent of all nations; the order and 
 beauty of the heavenly bodies ; the evident marks 
 of counsel, wisdom, and a fitness to certain ends, 
 observable in the whole and in every part of tlie 
 visible world ; and declares that person unworthy 
 of the name of man who can lielieve all this to have 
 been made by chance, when with the utmost stretch 
 of human wisdom we cannot penetrate the depth 
 of that wisdom whicli contrived it". 
 
 He believed also a divine Providence constantly 
 presiding over the whole system, and extending its 
 care to all the principal members of it, with a 
 peculiar attention to the conduct and actions of 
 men, but leaving the minute and inferior parts to 
 the course of his general laws. This he collected 
 from the nature and attributes of the Deity ; his 
 omniscience, omnijiresence, and infinite goodness; 
 that could never desert or neglect what he had 
 once produced into being : and declares, that 
 witiiout this belief there could be no such thing as 
 piety or religion in the world". 
 
 He held likewise the immortality of the soul, 
 and its separate existence after death in a state of 
 ha|>piness or misery. This he inferred from that 
 ardent thirst of immortality which was always the 
 most conspicuous in the best and most exalted 
 minds, from which the truest specimen of their 
 nature must needs be drawn : from its unmixed 
 and indivisible essence, which had nothing sepa- 
 rable or perishable in it : from its wonderful 
 powers and faculties ; its principle of self-motion ; 
 its memory, iavention, wit, comprehension ; which 
 vyere all incompatible with sluggish matter p. 
 
 n Nee Deus ipse — alio modo intelligi potest, nisi mens 
 soluta qujedam et libera, segregata ab omni concretione 
 niovtali, omnia sentiens et movens, ipsaque prasdita motu 
 sempitcrno. [Tuso. Quasst. i. 27-] Sed nmnes gentcs, una 
 lex Gt sempitema et imniortalis continebit, unusque erit 
 quasi magister, et imperator omnium Deus. — Fragm. lib. 
 iii. de Repub. — 
 
 Ut porro firmissimum hoc adferri videtur, cur deos esse 
 credamus, quod nulla gens tarn fera,' — cujus mentem nun 
 imbuerit deorum opinio — omni autem in re consensio 
 omnium gentium lex natura? putanda est.' — [Tusc. Quaest. 
 i. 14.] Ilasc igitur et talia innumerabilia cum cemimus ; 
 possumusne dubitare, quin his prassit aliquis vel effector, 
 (si hxo nata sunt, ut Platoni videtur,) vel, (si semper fue- 
 runt, ut Aristoteli placet) moderator tanti operis et 
 muneris. [Ibid. 28.] Id est primum, quod inter omnes, nisi 
 admodum impios, convenit, mihi quidom ex animo exuri 
 non potest, esse deos. [Nat. Door. iii. 3.] Esse prastantem 
 aliquam, seternamquc naturam, et earn suspiciendam, 
 admirandaniquo hominum generi, pulchritudo mundi, 
 ordoque rerum coelestium cogit confiteri. [De Divin. ii. 72.] 
 Qua) quanto consilio gerantur, nullo consilio assequi pos- 
 Bumus. — De Nat. Door. ii. 38. 
 
 o De maxima autem re, eodem modo ; divinn mente 
 atque natura mundum universum atque maximas ejus 
 partes administrari — [De Fin. iv. 5.] Quam vim animum 
 esse dicunt mundi, eandemque esse mentem sapientiam- 
 que peifectam ; quem Deum appellant, omniumque rerum, 
 quae sunt ei subjectao, quasi prudentiam quandam, procu- 
 rantemccelestia maxime, delude in terrisea, quae pertinent 
 ad homines. — Academ.i.8; Nat. Deor.i. 2,44 ; ii. 66; iii. 36. 
 
 P Quod quidem ni ita se haberet, ut aiiimi immortales 
 essent, hand optuni cujusque animus maxime ad immor- 
 talitatem niteretur. [Cato. 2-3.] Num dubitas, quin speci- 
 men natura; capi debeat ex optima quaque natura? — 
 
 Tlie Stoics fancied that the soul was a subtiHsec^ 
 ftery substance, which survived the body after 
 death and subsisted a Ion? time, yet not eternally; 
 but was to jierish at last in the general confla- 
 gration. In which they allowed, as Cicero says, 
 the only thing that was hard to conceive, its separate 
 existence from the Ijody ; yet denied what was not 
 only easy to imagine, but a consequence of the 
 other, its eternal, duratioTii. Aristotle taught, that 
 besides the four elements of the material world, 
 whentre all other things were supposed to draw 
 their being, there was a fifth essence or nature, 
 peculiar to God and the soul, which had nothing- 
 in it that was common to any of the resf. This 
 oj)inion Cicero followed and illustrated with bis- 
 usual perspicuity in the following passage. 
 
 "The origin of the human soul," says he, "is 
 not to be found anywhere on earth ; there is nothing 
 mixed, concrete, or earthly ; nothing of water, 
 air, or fire in it. For these natures are not sus- 
 ceptible of memory, intelligence, or thought ; have 
 nothing that can retain the past, foresee the future, 
 lay hold on the present ; which faculties are purely 
 divine, and could not possibly be derived to man 
 except from God. The nature of the soul therefore 
 is of a singular kind ; distinct from these known 
 and obvious natures : and whatever it be that feels 
 and tastes, that lives and moves in us, it must be 
 heavenly and divine, and for that reason eternal. 
 Nor is God indeed himself, whose existence we 
 clearly discover, to be comprehended by us in any 
 other manner, but as a free and pure mind, clear 
 from all mortal concretion ; ob.serving and moving 
 all things ; and indued with an eternal principle of 
 self-motion : of this kind, and of the same nature, 
 is the human soul^." 
 
 As to a future state of rewards and punishments, 
 he considered it as a consequence of the soul's im- 
 mortality ; deducible ft'om the attributes of God, 
 and the condition of man's life on earth ; and 
 thought it so highly probable, " that we could 
 hardly doubt of it," he says, "unless it should 
 happen to our minds, when they look into them- 
 selves, as it does to our eyes, when they look toa 
 intensely at the sun, that finding their sight dazzled 
 they give over looking at all'. In this opinion he 
 followed Socrates and Plato, for whose judgment 
 he professes so great a reverence, that if they had 
 given no reasons, where yet they had given many, 
 he should have been persuaded (he says) by their 
 sole authority". Socrates therefore (as he tells us)' 
 [Tusc. Qusest. i. 14] Sic mihi persuasi, sic sontio, cum 
 tanta celeritas animorum sit, tanta memoria prasterito- 
 rum, futurorumque prudentia, tot artcs, tot scientise, tot 
 inventa, non posse earn naturam, quas res eas contineat, 
 esse mortalem : cumque semper agitetur animus, &c.— 
 Cato. 21. Tusc. Quaest. i. 23, 25, 26, &c.— De Amicit. 4. 
 
 1 Zenoni Stoico animus ignis videtur. [Tusc. Qua;&t. i. 
 9.] Stoici autem usuram nobis largiuntur, tanquam corni- 
 cibus; diu mansuros aiunt animos, semper nogant — qui, 
 quod in tota liac causa difRcillimum est, suscipiunt, posse 
 animum manere corpore vacantem : illud autem, quod 
 non modo facile ad credendum est, scd, eo concesso quod 
 volunt, consequens idcirco, non dant, ut cum diu pennan- 
 serit ne intereat. — Ibid. i. 31 , .'i2. 
 
 r Ibid. 10. s jbid. 27. 
 
 ' Nee vero de hoc quisquam dubitare posset, nisi idem 
 nobis accideret diligenter de animo cogitantibus, quod hir 
 sojpe usu venit, qui acriter oculis deficientem solem intue- 
 rentur, ut aspectum omnino amitterent, &c. — Tu8C. Quaest.- 
 i. 30 
 
 " Ibid. 21 ; De Amicit. 4.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, 
 
 so- 
 
 declared in his dying speech, " that there were two 
 ways appointed to human souls at their departure 
 from the body : that those who had been immersed 
 in sensual pleasures and lusts, and had polluted 
 themselves with private vices or public crimes 
 against their country, took an obscure and devious 
 road, remote from the seat and assembly of the 
 gods ; whilst those who had preserved their integrity 
 and received little or no contagion from the body, 
 from which they had constantly abstracted them- 
 selves, and in the bodies of men imitated the life 
 of the gods, had an easy ascent lying open before 
 them to those gods from whom they derived their 
 being"." 
 
 From what has already been said, the reader will 
 easily imagine what Cicero's opinion must have 
 been concerning the religion of his country : for a 
 mind enlightened by the noble principles just 
 stated, could not possibly harbour a thought of 
 the truth or divinity of so absurd a worship : and 
 the liberty, which not only he, but all the old 
 writers take, in ridiculing the characters of their 
 gods, and the fictions of their infernal torments'', 
 shows that there was not a man of liberal education, 
 who did not consider it as an engine of state or 
 political system, contrived for the uses of govern- 
 ment, and to keep the people in order : in this 
 light Cicero always commends it as a wise insti- 
 tution, singularly adapted to the genius of Rome ; 
 and constantly inculcates an adherence to its rites 
 as the duty of all good citizens^. 
 
 Their religion consisted of two principal branches; 
 the observation of the auspices, and the worship of 
 the gods : the first was instituted by Romulus, the 
 second by his successor Numa : who drew up a 
 ritual or order of ceremonies to be observed in the 
 different sacrifices of their several deities : to these 
 a third part was afterwards added ; relating to 
 divine admonitions from portents, monstrous births, 
 the entrails of beasts in sacrifice, and the pro- 
 
 X De Amicit. 30. 
 
 >■ Die, qu^so, num te ilia terrent? triceps apud inferos 
 Cerberus ? Cocyti fremitus ? transveetio Aclierontis ? — 
 adeone me delirare censes ut ista credam ? — [Ibid. i. 5, 6, 
 21.] Quae anus tam excors inveniri potest, quas ilia, quae 
 quondam credebantur, apud inferos portenta extimescat ? 
 — De Nat. Deor. ii. 2. 
 
 ^ Ordiar ab baruspicina, quam ego rcipublica causa, 
 couimunisquc religionis, colendam censeo. [De Divin. ii. 
 12.] Nam et majorum instituta tueri sacris caeremoniisque 
 retinendis sapieutis est. — Ibid. 72 ; De Leg. ii. 12, 13. 
 
 JV.ZJ. There is a reflection in Polybius, exactly conform- 
 able to Cicero's sentiments on this subject. " The greatest 
 advantage," says he, "which the Roman government 
 seems to have over other states, is in the opinion publicly 
 entertained by them about the gods ; and that very thing, 
 which is so generally decried by other mortals, sustained 
 the republic of Rome ; I mean, superstition. For this was 
 carried by them to such a height, and introduced so effec- 
 tually both into the private lives of the citizens, and the 
 public affairs of the city, that one cannot help being sur- 
 prised at it. But I take it all to have been contrived for 
 the sake of the populace. For if a society could be formed 
 of wise men only, such a scheme would not be necessary ; 
 but since the multitude is always giddy, and agitated by 
 illicit desires, wild resentments, violent passions, there 
 was no way left of restraining them but by tlie help of such 
 secret terrors and tragical fictians. It was not therefore 
 without great prudence and foresight that the ancients 
 took care to instil into them these notions of the gods and 
 infernal punishments, wliich the moderns, on the other 
 hand, are now raslily and absurdly endeavouring to 
 extirpate."— Folyb. vi. p. 497» 
 
 phecies of the Sibyls'. The college of augura 
 presided over the auspices, as the supreme inter- 
 preters of the will of Jove, and determined what 
 signs were propitious and what not : the other 
 priests were the judges of all the other cases 
 relating to religion ; as well of what concerned the 
 public worship as that of private families''. 
 
 Now the priests of all denominations were of the 
 first no^iility of Rome ; and the augurs especially 
 were i'_v "^monly senators of consular rank who had 
 passed th. ~ugh all the dignities of the republic, 
 and by their power over the auspices, could put aa 
 immediate stop to all proceedings, and dissolve at 
 once all the assemblies of the people convened for 
 public business. The interpretation of the Sibyls' 
 prophecies was vested in the decemviri, or guardians 
 of the Sibylline books; ten persons of distinguished 
 rank, chosen usually from the priests : and the 
 province of interpreting prodigies and inspecting 
 the entrails, belonged to the haruspices, who were 
 the servants of the public, hired to attend the 
 magistrates in all their sacrifices, and who never 
 failed to accommodate their answers to the views 
 of those who employed them, and to whose pro- 
 tection they owed their credit and their livelihood. 
 
 This constitution of a religion among a people 
 naturally superstitious, necessarily threw the chief 
 influence in affairs into the hands of the senate, 
 and the better sort ; who by this advantage fre- 
 quently checked the violences of the populace, and 
 the factious attempts of the tribunes'^ ; so that it 
 is perpetually applauded by Cicero as the main 
 bulwark of the republic, though considered all the 
 wliile by men of sense as merely political, and of 
 human invention. The only part that admitted 
 any dispute concerning its origin was augury, or 
 their method of divining by auspices. The Stoics 
 held that God, out of his goodness to man, had 
 imprinted on the nature of things certain marks or 
 notices of future events ; as on the entrails of 
 beasts, the flight of birds, thunder, and other celes- 
 tial signs, which, by long observation, and the 
 experience of ages, were reduced to an art, by 
 which the meaning of each sign might be deter- 
 mined, and applied to the event that was signified 
 by it. This they called artificial divination, in 
 distinction from the natural, which they supposed 
 to flow from an instinct or native power implanted 
 in the soul, which it exerted always with the 
 greatest efficacy when it was the most free and 
 disengaged from the body, as in dreams fnd mad- 
 ness"*. But this notion was generally ridiculed by 
 the other philosophers ; and of all the college of 
 
 a Cum omnis populi Romani religio in sacra et in auspi- 
 cia divisa sit, tertium adjunctum sit, si quid praediotionia 
 causa ex portentis et monstris Sibyllae interprete"s, haru- 
 spicesve monuerunt. — De Nat. Deor. iii. 2. 
 
 b — Cur sacris pontitices, cur auspiciis augures prajsunt ? 
 [Ibid. i. 44.] Est autem boni auguris, meminisse maximis 
 reipublica; temporibus praesto esse debere, Jovique optimo 
 maxiino se consiliarium atque administrum datum. — Da 
 Leg. iii. 19. 
 
 c Omnibus magistratibus auspicia — dantur, ut multos 
 inutiles comitiatus, probabiles impedirent mora; : s£epe 
 enim populi impetum injustum auspiciis dii immortales 
 represserunt. — De Leg. iii. 12. 
 
 d Duo sunt enim divinandi genera, quorum alterum 
 artis est, alterum naturae— est enim vis et natura quondam, 
 quas cum observatis longo tempore significationibus, turn 
 aliquo instinctu, inflatuque divino futura pracnunciat.— 
 De Div. i. 6 ; it. ib. 18. ' 
 
 X 2
 
 308 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 augurs, there was but one at this time wlio main- 
 tained it, Apjiius Claudius ; who was bushed at 
 for his jiains by the rest, and called the Pisidian"^ : 
 it occasioned however a smart controversy between 
 him and his colleague Marcelius, who severally 
 published books on each side of the question ; 
 •wherein Marcelius asserted the whole affair to be 
 the contrivance of statesmen ; Apjiius, on the 
 contrary, that there was a real art and jiower in 
 divining, subsisting in the augural discipline, and 
 taught by the augural books'. Appius dedicated 
 this treatise to (Cicero b ; who, though he preferred 
 Marcellus's notion, yet did not wlioUy agree with 
 either, but believed that augury might jirobably 
 be instituted at first upon a jn-rsuasioii of its 
 divinity ; and when, by the improvement of arts 
 and learning, tliat 0])inion was exploded in suc- 
 ceeding ages, yet the thing itself was wisely retained 
 for the sake of its use to the republic''. 
 
 But whatever was the origin of the religion of 
 Rome, Cicero's religion was undoubtedly of hea- 
 venly extraction, built, as we have seen, on the 
 foundation of a God, a Providence, an immortality. 
 He considered this short period of our life on earth 
 as a state of trial, or a kind of school ; in which 
 ■we were to improve and jirepare ourselves for that 
 eternity of existence which was provided for us 
 hereafter : that we were placed therefore here by 
 the Creator, not so much to inhabit the earth as to 
 contemplate tue heavens ; on which were imprinted 
 in legible characters all the duties of that nature 
 which was given to us. He observed, that this 
 spectacle belonged to no other animal but man, to 
 whom God, for that reason, had given an erect and 
 upright form, with eyes not prone or fixed upon 
 the ground, like those of other animals, but placed 
 on high and sublime, in a situation the most proper 
 for this celestial contemplation ; to remind him 
 perpetually of his task, and to acquaint him with 
 the place from which he sprung, and for which he 
 was finally designed'. He took the system of the 
 world, or the visible works of God, to be the pro- 
 mulgation of God's law, or the declaration of his 
 will to mankind ; whence, as we might collect his 
 being, nature, and attributes, so we could trace 
 
 e QueiTi irridebant collegae tui, eumque turn Pisidam, 
 turn Soranum augunmi esse dicebant. — Ibid. 47. 
 
 The Pisidians were a barbarcius people of the lesser 
 Asia; famous for their superstitious observation of the 
 auspices, or their divination by the flight of birds. — De Di- 
 vin. 1. 41, 42. 
 
 f Sed est in collegio vostro inter Marcellvun et Appium, 
 optimos augures, magna dissensio : — cum alteri placeat, 
 auspicia ista ad utilitatem reipublicae composita ; alteri 
 disciplina vestra quasi diyinare prorsus posse videatur. — 
 DeLeg. ii. 13. 
 
 S Illo libro augurali, quern ad me amantissime scrip- 
 turn, suavissimmn misisti. — Ep. Fam. iii. 4. 
 
 ^ Non enim sumus ii nos augiires, qui avium, reliquo- 
 runique signoruai observatione fiitura dicamus : et tamen 
 credo Romulum, qui urbem auspieato condidit, habuisse 
 cpinionem, esse inprovidendis rebus augurandiscientiaiu. 
 Erni'iat multis in rebus antiquitas, &c. — De Divin. ii. 33. 
 
 i bed credo deos sparsisse animos in corpora humana, 
 ut essent qui terras tuercntur. quique coelestiura ordinem 
 contemplantes, iniitarentur euni vitas modo et constantia, 
 &c. [Cato. 21.] Num. cum ca^teras animantes abjecisset 
 ad pastuin, solum liominem erexit, ad cceliquo quasi cog- 
 nationis, domiciliiquc pristiui conspectum excitavit. [De 
 Leg. i. 9.] Ipse autem homo ortus est admunduni contem- 
 plandum et imitauduni, nullo modo perfectus, sed est quje- 
 dam particula perfecti. — IS'at. Deor. ii. 14, 56. 
 
 the reasons also and motives of his acting ; till by 
 observing what he had done, we might learn what 
 we ought to do, and, by the operations of the 
 divine reason, be instructed how to perfect our 
 own, since the ])erfection of man consisted in the 
 imitation of God. 
 
 From this source he deduced the origin of all 
 duty or moral obligation ; from the will of God, 
 manifested in his works ; or from that eternal rea- 
 son, fitness, and relation of things, which is dis- 
 played in every part oF the creation. This he calls 
 the original, immutable law ; the criterion of good 
 and ill ; of just and unjust ; imprinted on the 
 nature of things, as the rule by which all human 
 laws are to be formed ; which, whenever they 
 deviate from this ))attern, ought (he says) to be 
 called anything rather than laws ; and are in effect 
 notliing but acts of force, violence, and tyranny : 
 that to imagine the distinction of good and ill not 
 to be founded in nature but in custom, opinion, or 
 human institution, is mere folly and madness; 
 which would overthrow all society, and confound 
 all right and justice amongst men'' : that this was 
 the constant opinion of the wisest of all ages ; who 
 held that the mind of God, governing all things by 
 eternal reason, was the principal and sovereign law ; 
 whose substitute on eartii was the reason or mind 
 of the wise : to which purpose there are many 
 strong and beautiful passages scattered occasionally 
 through every part of his vv^orks'. 
 
 " The true law," says he, "is right reason, con- 
 formable to the nature of things ; constant, eternal, 
 difl'used through all ; which calls us to duty by 
 commanding, deters us from sin by forbidding ; 
 which never loses its influence with the good ; nor 
 ever preserves it with the wicked. This cannot 
 possibly be overruled by any other law, nor abro- 
 gated in the whole or in part ; nor can we be 
 absolved from it either by the senate or the people : 
 nor are we to seek any other comment or inter- 
 preter of it but itself; nor can there be one law at 
 Rome, another at Athens ; one now, another here- 
 after ; but the same eternal, immutable law, com- 
 prehends all nations at all times under one common 
 Master and Governor of all, God. He is the 
 inventor, propounder, enactor of this law ; and 
 
 ^ Sed etiam modestiam quandam cognitio rerum cocles- 
 tium adfert iis, qui videant, quanta sit etiam apud deos 
 moderatio, quantus ordo ; et magnitudinem animi, deo- 
 rum opera et facta cernentibus ; justitiam etiam, cum 
 cognitum habeas, quid sit summi rectoris et domini 
 numcn, quod consilium, qua; voluntas ; cujusad naturam 
 apta ratio vera ilia et summa lex a philosophis dicitur.— 
 De Fin. iv. 5. 
 
 Nos legem bonam a mala, nulla alia nisi natura; norma 
 dividere possumus. Nee solum jus et injuria natura diju- 
 dicantur, sed omnino omnia honesta ac turpia ; nam et 
 communis intelligentia nobis notas res cfficit, easque in 
 animis nostris inchoat, ut honesta in virtute ponantur, in 
 vitiis turpia. Ea autem in opinione existimare, non in 
 natura posita, dementis est. [De Leg. i. 16.] Erat enim 
 ratio profecta a rerum natura ; et ad recte faciendum im- 
 pellens, et a delicto avocans ; quae non turn demum incipit 
 lex esse, cum scripta est, sed turn, cum orta est : orta 
 autem simul est cum mente divina: quamobrem lex vera, 
 atque ]irinceps, apta ad jubenduna et ad vetandum, recta 
 est ratio summi Jovis, cSio — De Leg. ii. 4, 5, &c. 
 
 ' Ilanc igitur video sapientissimorum fiiisse sontentiam, 
 legem neque hominum ingeniis e-Kcogitatam, ncc scitum 
 aliquod esse populorum, sed a;ternum quiddam, quod uni- 
 versum mundum regeret, imperandi, prohibc?)dique sapi- 
 entia, &c. — Ibid. ikc.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 309 
 
 whosoever will not ooey it, must first renounce 
 himself and throw off the nature of man ; by doing 
 ■wliich, he will suffer the greatest punishment, 
 though he should escape all the other torments 
 ■which are commonly believed to be prepared for 
 the wicked'"." 
 
 In another place he tells us, that the study of 
 this law was the only thing which could teach us 
 that most important of all lessons, said to be pre- 
 scribed by the Pythiap oracle, to know ourselves ; 
 that is, to know our true nature and rank in the 
 universal system ; the relation that we bear to all 
 other beings ; and the purposes for which we were 
 sent into the world. " When a man," says he, " has 
 attentively surveyed the heavens, the earth, the 
 sea, and all things in them ; observed whence they 
 sprung, and whither they all tend ; when and how 
 they are to end ; what part is mortal and perish- 
 able, ?7hat divine and eternal ; when he has almost 
 reached and touched, as it were, the governor and 
 ruler of them all, and discovered himself not to be 
 confined to the walls of any certain place, but a 
 citizen of the world, as of one common city ; in tliis 
 magnificent view of things, in this enlarged prospect 
 and knowledge of nature, good gods ! how will he 
 learn to know himself! How will he contemn, 
 despise, and set at nought all those things which the 
 vulgar esteem the most splendid and glorious" ! " 
 
 These were the principles on which Cicero built 
 his religion and morality, which shine indeed 
 through all his writings, but were largely and 
 explicitly illustrated by him in his treatises on 
 Government, and on Laws ; to which he added after- 
 wards his book of Offices, to make the scheme 
 complete : volumes, which, as the elder Pliny 
 says to the emperor Titus, ought not only to be 
 read, but to be got by heart". The first and 
 greatest of these works is lost, excepting a few- 
 fragments, in which he had delivered his real 
 thoughts so professedly, that in a letter to Atticus, 
 he calls those six books on the Republic so many 
 pledges given to his country for the integrity of 
 his life, from which, if ever he swerved, he could 
 never have the face to look into them again p. In 
 his book of Laws, he pursued the same argument, 
 and deduced the origin of law from the will of the 
 supreme God. These two pieces therefore contain 
 his belief, and the book of Offices his practice : 
 ■where he has traced out all the duties of man, or a 
 rule of life conformable to the divine principles, 
 ■which he had established in the other two ; to 
 ■which he often refers, as to the foundation of his 
 ■whole system''. This work was one of the last 
 that he finished for the use of his son, to whom he 
 addressed it ; being desirous, in the decline of a 
 glorious life, to explain to him the maxims by 
 ■which he had governed it ; and teach him the way 
 of passing through the ■world with innocence, 
 ■virtue, and true glory, to an immortality of happi- 
 ness : where the strictness of his morals, adapted 
 to all the various cases and circumstances of human 
 
 "> Fragm. lib. iii. De Repub. ex Lactantio. 
 
 >' De Leg. i. 23. 
 
 " Qu£E volumina ejus ediscenda non modo in manibus 
 faabenda quotidie, nosti. — Plin. Hist. Nat. praf. 
 
 f PrzESertJm cum sex libris, tanquam praidibus, meip- 
 sum obstrinxerim ; quos tibi tain valde probari gaudeo. 
 [Ad Att. vi. 1.] Ego audebo Icgerc unquam, aut attingere 
 eos libros, quos tu dilaudas, si tale quid fecero? — Ibid. 2. 
 
 <i De Offic. iii. 5, 6, 17. 
 
 life, will serve, if not to instruct, yet to reproach 
 the practice of most Christians. This was that 
 law, which is mentioned by St. Paul to be taught 
 by nature, and written on the hearts of the Gen 
 tiles, to guide them through tliat state of ignorance 
 and darkness of which tliey themselves complained, 
 till they should be blessed with a more perfect 
 revelation of the divine will ; and this scheme of it 
 professed by Cicero was certainly the most complete 
 that the Gentile world had ever been acquainted 
 with ; the utmost effort that human nature could 
 make towards attaining its proper end ; or that 
 supreme good for wliich the Creator had designed 
 it: upon the contemplation of which sublime truths, 
 as delivered by a heathen, Erasmus could not help 
 persuading himself that the breast from which they 
 fiowed must needs have been inspired by the 
 Deity ■•. 
 
 But after all these glorious sentiments that we 
 have been ascribing to Cicero, and collecting from 
 his writings, some have been apt to consider them 
 as the flourishes rather of his eloquence than the 
 conclusions of his reason ; since in other parts of 
 his works he seems to intimate not only a diffi- 
 dence, but a disbelief of the immortality of the 
 soul, and a future state of rewards and punish- 
 ments ; and especially in his letters, where he is 
 supposed to declare his mind with the greatest 
 frankness'. But in all the passages brought tc 
 support this objection, where he is imagined to 
 speak of death as the end of all things to man, as 
 they are addressed to friends in distress by way of 
 consolation, so some commentators take them to 
 mean nothing more than that death is the end of 
 all things here below, and without any farther sense 
 of what is done upon earth : yet should they be 
 understood to relate, as perhaps they may, to aa 
 utter extinction of our being; it must be observed, 
 
 •■ Quid aliis accidat nescio ; mo legentem sic afficere solet 
 M. TuUius, praesertim ubi de bene vivendo disserit, lit 
 dubitare non possim, quin illud pectus, unde ista pro- 
 dierunt, aliqua divinitas occuparit. — Erasm. Ep. ad Joli. 
 Ulattenum. 
 
 s Saepissime et legi et audivi, nihil mali esse in morte ; 
 in qua si resideat sensiis, imniortalitas ilia potius, quam 
 mors ducenda est : sin sit amissus, nulla videri niiseria 
 debeat, quie non sentiatur. [Ep. Fain. v. i6.] Ut hoc 
 saltern in maximis malis boni consequamur, ut mortem, 
 quam etiani beati contemnere debeamus, propterea quod 
 nullum sensum esset habitura, nunc sic affecti, non niodo 
 contemnere debeamus, sed etiam optare. [Ibid. 21.] Sed 
 haec consolatio levis ; ilia gravior, qua te uti spero, ego 
 certe utor : ncc enini duni ero, angar ulla re, cum onini 
 vacem culpa; et si non ero, sensu omnino caiebo. [Ibid. 
 vi. 3.] Deinde— si jam vocem ad cxitum vita", non ab ea 
 rcpublica avellar, qua carendum esse doleam, prsesertim 
 cum id sine uUo sensu futuruni sit. [Ibid. 4.] Una ratio 
 vidotur, quicquid evencrit, ferrc moderate, pra'seitim cum 
 omnium rerum mors sit extremum. [Ibid. 21 ] Sed de 
 ilia — fors viderit, aut si quis est, qui curet deus. — Ad Att. 
 iv. 10. 
 
 iV'.i?. By tliis illustration of Cicero's moral principles we 
 learn the force of that rule, wliich lie frequently prescribes, 
 of follo-»ving nature, as the sure and unerring guide of life: 
 [Do Leg. i. 6; De Senect. 2 ; De Amic. 5:] by which he 
 means that law or -ivill of God displayed in the nature of 
 things '; not, as some are apt to interpret him, the dictates 
 of our unruly passions, which are falsely called natural, 
 being tlie motions only of vitiated appetites, and the crea- 
 tures of habit not of nature ; the gratification of which, aa 
 lie tells us, is more contrary to nature, and consequently 
 more to bo avoided, tlian poverty, pain, or even death 
 itself.— De Offic. iii. 5, (i.
 
 310 
 
 THE IIISTOIIY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 that he was writing in all probability to Epicureans', 
 and accomniodatiiif; his arf^unients to the men, by 
 offcrinK such topics of comfort to them from their 
 own philosophy as they themselves held to be the 
 most efl'ectual. But if this also should seem pre- 
 carious, we must remember always that Cicero was 
 an Acadeniic ; and thougli he believed a future- 
 State, was fond of the opinion, and declares himself 
 resolved never to part with it ; yet lie believed it 
 as probable only, not as certain" : and as proba- 
 bility implies some mixture of doubt, and admits 
 the degrees of more and less, so it admits also 
 some variety in the stability of our persuasion : 
 tlius in a melancholy hour, when his spirits were 
 depressed, the same argument woidd not a])pcar to 
 liim with the same force, but doubts and diUiculties 
 get the ascendant, and what humoured his present 
 chagrin, find the readiest admission. The passages 
 alleged were all of this kind, written in the season 
 of his dejection, when all things were going wrong 
 with him, in the height of Cresar's power; and 
 though we allow them to have all the force that 
 they can possibly bear, and to express what Cicero 
 really meant at that time, yet they prove at last 
 nothing more than that, agreeably to the character 
 and principles of the Academy, he sometimes 
 doubted of what he generally believed. But after 
 all, whateverbe the sense of them, it cannot surely 
 be thought reasonable to oppose a few scattered 
 hints, accidentally thrown out, when he was not 
 considering the subject, to the volumes that he had 
 deliberately written on the other side of the ques- 
 tion ". 
 
 As to his political conduct, no man was ever a 
 more determined patriot, or a warmer lover of his 
 country than he : his whole character, natural 
 
 ' This will appear to be a very probable supposition, 
 when we recollect that the generality of the Roman nobi- 
 lity and of Cicero's friends wore of the Epicurean sect ; 
 and particularly the family of Torquatus, to whom two of 
 these very letters are addressed. — Accurate quondam a 
 L. Torquato, homine omni doctrina erudito, defensa est 
 Epicuri sententia de voluptate, a meque ei responsum. — 
 De Fin. i. 5. 
 
 " Quod si in hoc erro, quodanimos hominum immortales 
 esse credam, lubenter erro. Nee mihi hunc errorem, quo 
 Selector, duni vivo, extorqucri volo. [Cato. 23.] Gcram 
 tibi morem, ct ea, qua; vis, ut potero, explicabo : nee tamen 
 quasi Pythius Apollo, certa ut sint et fixa quse dixero: sed 
 lit homunculiis imus e niultis, probabilia conjectura se- 
 quens. — Tusc. Quasst. i. 9. 
 
 5= From this general view of Cicero's religion, one cannot 
 help observing, tliat the most exalted state of human rea- 
 son is so far from superseding the use, that it demonstrates 
 the benefit of a more explicit revelation ; for tliough the 
 natural law, in the perfection to which it was carried by 
 Cicero, might serve for a sufficient guide to the few, such 
 as himself, of enlarged minds and happy dispositions, yet 
 it had been so long depraved and adulterated by the pre- 
 vailing errors and vices of mankind, that it was not disco- 
 verable even to those few, without great pains and study ; 
 and could not produce in them at last anything more than 
 a hope, never a full persuasion ; whilst the greatest part of 
 mankind, even of the virtuous and inquisitive, lived with- 
 out the knowledge of a God, or the expectation of a futu- 
 rity ; and the multitude in every country was left to the 
 gross idolatry of the popular worship. AVhen we reflect 
 on all this, we must needs see abundant reason to be thank- 
 ful to God for the divine light of his Gospel, which has 
 revealed at last to babes what was hidden from the wise ; 
 and without the pains of searching, or danger of mistaking, 
 has given us not only the hope, but the assurance of hap- 
 piness ; and made us not only the believers, but the heirs 
 ©f unmortality. 
 
 temper, choice of life and principles, made its true 
 interest inseparable from his own. His general 
 view, therefore, was always one and the same ; to 
 support the peace and liberty of tlip rejniblic ia 
 that form and constitution of it which tlieir ances- 
 tors had delivered down to them''. He looked 
 ui)on tliat as the only fouiulatioii on which it could 
 be supported, and used to quote a verse of old 
 Ennius, as the dictate of an oracle, which derived 
 all the glory of Rome from an adherence to its 
 ancient manners and discipline. 
 
 Moribus antiquis stat res Romana virisque*. 
 It is one of his ma.xims which he inculcates in his 
 writings, that as the end of a jjilot is a prosperous 
 voyage ; of a j)hysician, the health of his patient ; 
 of a general, victory ; so that of a statesman is, to 
 make his citizens happy ; to make them firm in 
 power, rich in wealth, splendid in glory, eminent 
 ia virtue ; which he declares to be the greatest and 
 best of all works among men' : and as this cannot 
 be effected but by the concord and harmony of the 
 constituent members of a city''; so it was his 
 constant aim to unite the different orders of the 
 state into one common interest, and to inspire 
 them with a mutual confidence in each other ; so 
 as to balance the supremacy of the people by the 
 authority of the senate : that the one should enact, 
 but the other advise ; the one have the last resort, 
 the other the chief influence •=. This was the old 
 constitution of Rome, by which it had raised itself 
 to all its grandeur ; whilst all its misfortunes were 
 owing to the contrary principle, of distrust and 
 dissention between these two rival powers : it was 
 the great object therefore of his policy to throw 
 the ascendant in all affairs into the hands of the 
 senate and the magistrates, as far as it was consist- 
 ent with the rights and liberties of the people : 
 which will always be the general view of the wise 
 and honest in all popular governments. 
 
 This was the principle which he espoused from 
 the beginning, and pursued to the end of his life : 
 and though in some passages of his history, he may 
 be thought perhaps to have deviated from it, yet 
 upon an impartial review of the case, we shall find 
 that his end was always the same, though he had 
 changed his measures of pursuing it ; when com- 
 pelled to it by the violence of the times, and an 
 overruling force, and a necessary regard to his 
 own safety ; so that he might say with great truth, 
 what an Athenian orator once said, in excuse of his 
 inconstancy, that he had acted indeed on some 
 occasions contrary to himself, but never to the 
 republic'' : and here also his Academic philosophy 
 seems to have showed its superior use in practical, 
 
 y Sic tibi, mi Psete, persuade, me dies et noctes nihil 
 aliud agere, nihil curare, nisi ut mei cives salvi liberique 
 sint.' — Ep. Fam. i. 24. 
 
 z Quern quidem ille versum vel brevitate vol veritate, 
 tanquam ex oraculo mihi quodam eflatus videtur, &c. — 
 Fragm. de Repub. v. 
 
 " Ut gubematori c"arsus secundus — sic huic moderator! 
 roipublicae beata civium vita proposita est, &c. — Ibid. 
 
 ^ QuEe harmonia a musicis dicitur in cantu, ea est in 
 civitate concordia, arctissimum atque optimum omni in 
 republica vinculum incolumitati.s, &c. — Ibid. ii. 
 
 •^ Nam — si senatus dominus sit publiei consilii — possit, 
 ex temperatione juris, cum potestas in populo, auctoritas 
 in senatu sit, teneri ille raoderatus et concors civitatis sta- 
 tus.— De Leg. iii. 12 ; it. Ibid. 17. 
 
 <! Plutarch, de Demade. iu Vit. Demosth. p. 351. Edit, 
 Par
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 311 
 
 as well as in speculative life ; by indulging that 
 liberty of acting which nature and reason require ; 
 and when the times and things themselves are 
 changed, allowing a change of conduct, and a 
 recourse to new means, for the attainment of the 
 same end. 
 
 The three sects which at this time chiefly en- 
 grossed the philosophical part of Rome were, the 
 Stoic, the Epicurean, and the Academic ; and the 
 chief ornaments of each were, Cato, Atticus, and 
 Cicero, who lived together in strict friendship, and 
 a mutual esteem of each other's virtue ; but the 
 different behaviour of these three will show, by fact 
 and example, the different merit of their several 
 principles, and which of them was the 'best adapted 
 to promote the good of society. 
 
 The Stoics were the bigots or enthusiasts in 
 philosophy, who held none to be truly wise or good 
 but themselves ; placed perfect happiness in virtue, 
 though stripped of every other good ; affirmed all 
 sins to be equal ; all deviations from right equally 
 wicked ; to kill a dunghill-cock without reason, the 
 same crime as to kill a parent ; that a wise man 
 could never forgive ; never be moved by anger, 
 favour, or pity ; never be deceived ; never repent ; 
 never change his mind^. With these principles 
 Cato entered into public life ; and acted in it (as 
 Cicero says) as if he had lived in the polity of Plato, 
 not in the dregs of Romulus'. He made no distinc- 
 tion of times or things ; no allowance for the 
 weakness of the republic, and the power of those 
 who oppressed it ; it was his maxim to combat all 
 power not built upon the laws, or to defy it at 
 least, if he could not control it : he knew no way 
 to his end but the direct, and whatever obstruc- 
 tions he met with, resolved still to rush on, and 
 either to surmount them or perish in the attempt : 
 taking it for a baseness and confession of being 
 conquered, to decline a tittle from the true road. 
 In an age, therefore, of the utmost libertinism, 
 when the public discipline was lost, and the govern- 
 ment itself tottering, he struggled with the same 
 zeal against all corruption, and waged a perpetual 
 war with a superior force ; whilst the rigour of his 
 principles tended rather to alienate friends than 
 reconcile enemies ; and by provoking the power 
 that he could not subdue, helped to hasten that 
 ruin which he was striving to averts : so that after 
 a perpetual course of disappointments and repulses, 
 finding himself unable to pursue his old way any 
 farther, instead of taking a new one, he was driven 
 by his philosophy to put an end to his life. 
 
 But as the Stoics exalted human nature too 
 high, so the Epicureans depressed it too low ; as 
 those raised it to the heroic, these debased it to 
 the brutal state : they held pleasure to be the chief 
 good of man, death the extinction of his being ; 
 and placed their happiness consequently in the 
 
 e Sapicntem gratia nunquam inoveri, nunquani cujus- 
 quam delicto ignoscere : neminem niisericordem esse, nisi 
 stultum ; viri non esse, neque exorari, neque placari ; om- 
 nia peccata esse paria — nee minus delinquere euni, qui 
 gallum gallinaceum, cum opus non fuerit, quani eum, qui 
 patreu? suifoeaverit : sapicntem nihil opinari, nuUius rei 
 poenitere, nulla in re falli, sententiam mutare nunquam. 
 '-Pro Jluren. 29. 
 
 f Dicit enim tanquam in Platonis iroXireia, non tan- 
 quam in Romuli faece, sententiam. — Ad Att. ii. 1, p. 178. 
 
 g Pompeium et C^sarem, quorum nemo alterum offen- 
 dere audebat, nisi ut alterum demeretur, [Cato] simul pro- 
 Yocavit. — Son. Ep. 104, 
 
 secure enjoyment of a pleasurable life ; esteeming 
 virtue on no other account than as it was a hand- 
 maid to pleasure, and helped to ensure the posses- 
 sion of it, by preserving health and conciliating 
 friends. Their wise man therefore had no other 
 duty but to provide for his own ease ; to decline all 
 struggles ; to retire from ])ublic affairs ; and to 
 imitate the life of their gods ; by passing his days 
 in a calm, contemplative, undisturbed repose ; in 
 the midst of rural shades and pleasant gardens. 
 This was the scheme that Atticus followed : he had 
 all the talents that could qualify a man to be useful 
 to society ; great parts, learning, judgment, can- 
 dour, benevolence, generosity ; the same love of 
 his country, and the same sentiments in politics 
 with Cicero''; whom he wa« always advising ani 
 urging to act, yet determined never to act himself, 
 or never at least so far as to disturb his ease, or 
 endanger his safety. For though he was so strictly 
 united with Cicero, and valued him above all men, 
 yet he managed an interest all the while with the 
 opposite faction, and a friendship even with his 
 mortal enemies, Clodius and Antony, that he might 
 secure against all events the grand point which he 
 had in view, the peace and tranquillity of his life. 
 Thus two excellent men, by their mistaken notions 
 of virtue, drawn from the principles of their philo- 
 sophy, were made useless in a manner to their 
 country; each in a different extreme of life ; the one 
 always acting and exposing himself to dangers, with- 
 out the prospect of doing good ; the other, without 
 attempting to do any, resolving never to act at all. 
 Cicero chose the middle way between the 
 obstinacy of Cato and the indolence of Atticus : 
 he preferred always the readiest road to what was 
 right, if it lay open to him ; if not, took the next, 
 that seemed likely to bring him to the same end ; 
 and in politics, as in morality, when he could not 
 arrive at the true, contented himself with the 
 probable. He oft compares the statesman to the 
 pilot, whose art consists in managing every turn 
 of the winds, and applying even the most perverse 
 to the progress of his voyage ; so as by changing 
 his course, and enlarging his circuit of sailing, to 
 arrive with safety, though later, at his destined 
 port'. He mentions likewise an observation, which 
 long experience had confirmed to him, that none 
 of the popular and ambitious, who aspired to 
 extraordinary commands, and to be leaders in the 
 republic, ever chose to obtain their ends from the 
 people till they had first been repulsed by the 
 senate J. This was verified by all their civil 
 dissentions, from the Gracchi down to Caesar : so 
 that when he saw men of this spirit at the head of 
 the government, who, by the splendour of their 
 lives and actions, had acquired an ascendant over 
 
 h In republica ita est versatus, ut semper optimarum 
 partium et esset, et existimaretiu- ; neque tamen se civili- 
 bus fiuctibus committeret.— Corn. Nep. in Vit. Att. 6. 
 
 ' Nunquam enim praestantibus in republica gubernanda 
 viris laudata est in una sententiaperpetuapermansio : sed 
 ut in navigando tempestati obsequi artis est, etiamsi pur- 
 tum tcnere non queas : cum vero id possis mutata velifica- 
 tione assequi, stultum est eum tenere cursum cum periculo 
 quem ceperis, potius quam, eo commutato, quo velis tan- 
 dem pervenire, &c. — Ep. Fani. i. 9 
 
 J Jscminem unquam est hie ordo amplexus honoribuset 
 beneficiis suis, qui uUam dignitatem praestabiliorem ea, 
 quam per vos esset adeptus, putarit. Kemo unquam hio 
 potuit esse princcps, qui malucrit esse popularis. — De Pro- 
 vin. Consular. IG ; it. Phil. v. 18.
 
 312 
 
 THE HISTORY OK IHE LIFE OF 
 
 the populace, it was his constant ailvice to the 
 senate to pain them by penile coni])liance8, and 
 to gratify tlieir tliirst of i)ower by voluntary grants 
 of it, as the best way to moderate their ambition, 
 and reclaim them from desj)erate counsels, lie 
 declared contention to be no longer prudent than 
 while it either did service, or, at least, no hurt ; 
 but when faction was grown too strong to be 
 withstood, that it was time to give over fighting ; 
 and nothing left but to extract some good out of 
 the ill, by mitigating that power by jiatience which 
 they could not reduce by force, and conciliating 
 it, if possible, to the interests of the state ''. This 
 was what he advised, and what he jiractised ; and 
 it will account in a great measure for those parts 
 of his conduct which are the most liable to 
 exception, on the account of that complaisance 
 which he is supposed to have paid at different 
 times to the several usurpers of illegal j)Ower. 
 
 He made a just distinction between bearing 
 what we cannot help, and ajjproving what we 
 ought to condemn'; and submitted therefore, 
 yet never consented, to those usurpations ; and 
 when he was forced to comply with them, did it 
 always with a reluctance that he expresses very 
 keenly in his letters to his friends. Hut whenever 
 that force was removed, and he was at liberty 
 to j)ursue his principles, and act without control, 
 as in his consulship, in his province, and after 
 Caesar's death, (the only periods of his life in which 
 he was truly master of himself,) there we see 
 him shining out in his genuine character of an 
 excellent citizen, a great magistrate, a glorious 
 patriot : there we see the man who could declare 
 of himself with truth, in an appeal to Atticus, as 
 to the best witness of his conscience, that " he had 
 always done the greatest services to his country 
 when it was in his power ; or when it was not, had 
 never harboured a thought of it but what was 
 divine™." If we must needs compare him, there- 
 fore, with Cato, as some writers affect to do, it is 
 certain, that if Cato's virtues seem more splendid 
 in theory, Cicero's will be found superior in prac- 
 tice : the one was romantic, the other rational ; 
 the one drawn from the refinements of the schools, 
 the other from nature and social life ; the one 
 always unsuccessful, often hurtful; the other always 
 beneficial, often salutary, to the republic. 
 
 To conclude : Cicero's death, though violent, 
 cannot be called untimely, but was the proper end 
 of such a life, which must have been rendered less 
 glorious, if it had owed its preservation to Antony. 
 It was therefore what he not only expected, but in 
 the circumstances to which he was reduced, what 
 he seems even to have wished". For he who before 
 
 •< Sed contentio tamdiu sapiens est, quamdiu aut jiroficit 
 aliquid, aut si non profieit, non obest civitati : voluimus 
 quaedam, contendimus, experti sumus, non obtenta sunt. 
 —Pro Corn. Balbo, 27. 
 
 Sic ab hominibus doctis accepimus, non solum ex malis 
 eligore minima oportere ; sed etiam excerpere ex liis ipsis 
 si quid incsset boni. — De Offic. i. 1 . 
 
 ' Non enim est idem, ferre si quid ferendum est, et pro- 
 bare si quid probandum non est. — Ep. Fam. ix. 6. 
 
 ™ Praeclara igitur conscientia siistentor, cum cogito me 
 de republica aut meruisse optimc cum potuerim ; aut certe 
 nunquam nisi divine cogitasse. — Ad Att. x. 4. 
 
 n Nullum locum prsetermitto nionendi, agendi, provi- 
 dendi ; hoc denique aiiimo sum, ut si in hac cura atque 
 administratione, vita milii poiicnda sit, praeclarc actum 
 mecum putem. — I'^p. Fam. ix. 24. 
 
 had been timid in dangers and desponding in dis- 
 tress, yet, from the time of (,'iusar's death, roused 
 by the desperate state of the republic ", assumed 
 the fortitude of a hero, discarded all fear, despised 
 all danger ; and when he could not free his country 
 from a tyranny, provoked the tyrants to take that 
 life which he no longer cared to preserve. Thus, 
 like a great actor on the stage, he reserved himself 
 as it were for the last act, and, after he had played 
 bis part with dignity, resolved to finish it with 
 glory. 
 
 The character of his son Marcus has been de- 
 livered down to US in a very disadvantageous light : 
 for he is represented generally, both by the"ancients 
 and moderns, as stupid and vicious, and a j)roverb 
 even of degeneracy p : yet, when we come to inquire 
 into the real state of the fact, we shall find but 
 little ground for so scandalous a tradition. 
 
 In his early youth, while he continued under the 
 eye and discipline of his father, he gave all imagin- 
 able proofs both of an excellent temper and genius ; 
 was modest, tractable, dutiful ; diligent in his 
 studies, and expert in his exercises ; so that in the 
 Pharsalic war, at the age of seventeen, he acquired 
 a great reputation in Pomjiey's camp, by his dex- 
 terity of riding, throwing the javelin, and all the 
 other accomi)lishments of a young soldieri. Not 
 long after Pompey's death, he was sent to Athens, 
 to spend a few years in the study of philosophy 
 and polite letters, under Cratippus, the most cele- 
 brated philosopher of that time, for whom Cicero 
 afterwards procured the freedom of Rome'. Here,^ 
 indeed, upon his first sally into the world, he was 
 guilty of some irregularity of conduct, and extrava- 
 gance of expense, that made his father uneasy ; into 
 which he was supposed to have been drawn by Gorgias ^ 
 his masterof rhetoric, a lover of wine and pleasure, 
 whom Cicero for that reason expostulated with 
 severely by letter, and discharged from his attend- 
 ance upon him. But the young man was soon 
 made sensible of his folly, and recalled to his duty 
 by the remonstrances of his friends, and particu- 
 larly of Atticus, so that his father readily paid his 
 debts and enlarged his allowance, which seems 
 to have been about seven hundred pounds per 
 annum*. 
 
 From this time, all the accounts of him from 
 the principal men of the place, as well as his 
 Roman friends who had occasion to visit Athens, 
 are constant and uniform in their praises of him, 
 and in terms so particular and explicit, that they 
 could not proceed from mere compliment, or a 
 desire of flattering Cicero, as he often signifies with 
 pleasure to Atticus'. Thus Trebonius, as he was 
 
 o Sod plane animus, qui dubiis rebus forsitan fuerit 
 infirmior, dcsperatis, confirmatus est multum. — Ep. Fam. 
 V. 21. 
 
 P Ciceronem filium quae res consulem fecit, nisi pater ? 
 [Senec. De Benef. iv. 30.] Nam virtutes omnes aberant ; 
 stupor et vitia aderant. — Lipsii Not. aii locum. 
 
 q Quo in bello cum te, Pompeius alae alteri prsefecisset, 
 magnam laudem et a sunimo viro, et ab exercitu conseque- 
 bare, equitando, jaculando, omni militari labore tolerando. 
 — De Offic. ii. 13. 
 
 ' Plutarch, in Vit. Cic. 
 
 s — Ad Ciceronem ita scripsisti, ulli ut neque severius, 
 neque temperatius scribi potuerit, nee magis quam quem- 
 adnindum ego maximc vellem. — Ad Att. xiii. 1 ; it. Ibid. 
 xvi. 1, !.'> ; Plutarch, in Vit. Cic. 
 
 • Oteri praeclara scribunt. Leoaida-s tamea retinek
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 318i 
 
 passing into Asia, writes to him from Athens: " I 
 came hither on the twenty-first of May, where I saw 
 your son, and saw him, to my great joy, pursuing 
 everything that was good, and in the highest credit 
 for the modesty of his behaviour. — Do not imagine, 
 my Cicero, that I say this to flatter you ; for 
 nothing can be more beloved than your young man 
 is by all who are at Athens ; nor more studious of 
 all those arts which you yourself delight in, that is, 
 the best. I congratulate with you, therefore, very 
 heartily, which I can do witli great truth, and not 
 less also with myself; that he whom we were 
 obliged to love, of what temper soever he had hap- 
 pened to be, proves to be such a one as we should 
 choose to love"." 
 
 But tne son s own letters gave tne most solid 
 comfort to his father, as they were vrritten not 
 only with great duty and affection, but with such 
 elegance also and propriety, " that they were fit," 
 he says, " to be read to a learned audience ; and 
 though in other points he might possibly be de- 
 ceived, yet, in these he saw a real improvement 
 both of his taste and learning''." None of these 
 letters are now extant, nor any other monument of 
 young Cicero's talents, but two letters to Tiro, one 
 of which I have chosen to transcribe, as the surest 
 specimen both of his parts and temper, written, as 
 we may imagine, to one of Tiro's rank, without 
 any particular care, and in the utmost familiarity, 
 from his residence at Athens, when he was about 
 nineteen years old. 
 
 Cicero the son to Tiro. 
 " While I was expecting every day with im- 
 patience your messengers from Rome, they came 
 at last on the forty-sixth day after they left you. 
 Their arrival was extremely agreeable to me ; for 
 my father's most indulgent and affectionate letter 
 gave me an exceeding joy, which was still highly 
 increased by the receipt also of yours ; so that, 
 instead of being sorry for my late omission of 
 writing, I was rather pleased that my silence had 
 afforded me so particular a proof of your humanity. 
 It is a great pleasure, therefore, to me, that you 
 accepted my excuse so readily. I do not doubt, 
 my dearest Tiro, but that the reports which are 
 now brought of me give you a real satisfaction. It 
 shall be my care and endeavour that this growing 
 fame of me shall every day come more and more 
 confirmed to you : and since you promise to be the 
 trumpeter of my praises, you may venture to do it 
 with assurance ; for the past errors of my youth have 
 mortified me so sensibly, that my mind does not 
 only abhor the facts themselves, but my ears can- 
 not even endure the mention of them. I am 
 perfectly assured, that in all this regret and solici- 
 tude you have borne no small share with me : nor 
 is it to be wondered at ; for though you wish me 
 all success for my sake, you are engaged also to do 
 
 illud suum adhuc, summis vero laudibus Herodes. [Ad 
 Att. XV. 16.J Gratissimum, quod polUceris Ciceroni nihil 
 defuturum ; de quo mirabilia Messala. — Ibid. 17. 
 
 " Ep. Fam. xii. 16 ; it. 14. 
 
 ^ A Cicerone mihi literse sa.iieireirivufj.(vai, et bene longae. 
 £;setera autem vel fingi possunt : irivos literarum signiflcat 
 doctidiem. [Ad Att. xiv. 7-] Mehercule ipsius literae sic et 
 <pt\o(Tr6pyQ)S, et evTrivaiS scripta;, ut eas vel in acroasi 
 audeam legere : quo niagis illi indulgcndum puto.— Ibid. 
 XV. 17 ; Ibid. IS. 
 
 it for your own : since it was always my resolution 
 to make you the partner of every good that may 
 befal me. As I have before, therefore, been the 
 occasion of sorrow to you, so it shall now be my 
 business to double your joy on my account. You 
 must know that I live in the utmost intimacy with 
 Cratippus, and like a son rather than a scholar ; 
 for I not only hear his lectures with pleasure, but 
 am infinitely delighted with his conversation. I 
 spend whole days with him, and frequently also 
 a part of the night ; for I prevail with him as often 
 as I can to sup with me ; and in our familiar chat, 
 as we sit at table, the night steals upon us without 
 thinking of it, whilst he lays aside the severity of 
 his philosophy, and jokes amongst us with all the 
 good humour imaginable. Contrive, therefore, to 
 come to us as soon as possible, and see this agree- 
 able and excellent man. For what need I tell you 
 of Bruttius .' whom I never part with out of my 
 sight. His life is regular and exemplary, and his- 
 company the most entertaining : he has the art of 
 introducing questions of literature into conversa- 
 tion, and seasoning philosophy with mirth. I have 
 hired a lodging for him in the next house to me, 
 and support his poverty as well as I am able, out 
 of my narrow income. I have begun also to 
 declaim in Greek under Cassius, but choose to 
 exercise myself in Latin with Bruttius. I live, 
 likewise, in great familiarity, and the perpetual 
 company of those whom Cratippus brought with 
 him from Mitylene, who are men of learning, and 
 highly esteemed by him. Epicrates also, the lead- 
 ing man at Athens, and Leonidas, spend much of 
 their time with me, and many others of the same 
 rank. This is the manner of my life at present. 
 As to what you write about Gorgias, he was useful- 
 to me indeed in my daily exercise of declaiming ; 
 but 1 gave up aU considerations for the sake of 
 obeying my father, who wrote peremptorily that I 
 should dismiss him instantly. I complied, there- 
 fore, without hesitation, lest by showing any reluc- 
 tance, I might raise in him some suspicion of me. 
 Besides, I reflected that it would seem indecent in 
 me to deliberate upon the judgment of a father. 
 Your zeal, however, and advice upon it, are very 
 agreeable to me. I admit your excuse of want of 
 leisure, for I know how much your time is com- 
 monly taken up. I am mightily pleased with your 
 purchase of a farm, and heartily wish you joy of it. 
 Do not wonder at my congratulating you in thia 
 part of my letter ; for it was the same part of 
 yours in which you informed me of the purchase. 
 You have now a place where you may drop all the 
 forms of the city, and are become a Roman of the 
 old rustic stamp. I pleasemyself with placing your 
 figure before my eyes, and imagining that I see yoa 
 bartering for your country wares, or consulting 
 with your bailiff", or carrying ofif from your table, 
 in a corner of your vest, the seeds of your fruits 
 and melons for your garden. But to be serious : 
 I am as much coneerned as you are that I happened 
 to be out of the way, and could not assist you on 
 that occasion : but depend upon it, ray Tiro, I will 
 make you easy one time or other, if fortune does 
 not disappoint me : especially since I know that 
 you have bought this farm for the common use of 
 us both. I am obliged to you for your care in 
 executing my orders ; but beg of you that a libra- 
 rian may be sent to me in all haste, and especially 
 a Greek one ; for I wast" much of my time iut
 
 314 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 transcribing the lectures and books that are of use 
 to me. Above all thiui^s, take care of your health, 
 that we may live to hold many learned conferences 
 tot^ether. I recommend Antherus to you. Adieus." 
 
 This was the situation of young Cicero when 
 Brutus arrived at Athens, who, as it has been 
 already said, was exceedingly taken with his virtue 
 and good principles, of which he sent a high enco- 
 mium to his father, and entrusted him, though but 
 twenty years old, with a jiriru-ipHl command in his 
 army ; in which he acquitted himself with a singu- 
 lar reputation, both of courage and conduct ; and 
 in several expeditions and encounters with the 
 enemy, where lie commanded in chief, always came 
 off victorious. After the battle of Phili])pi, and 
 the death of Brutus, he escaped to Pompey, who 
 had taken possession of Sicily with a great army, 
 and fleet superior to any in the empire. This was 
 the last refuge of the poor republicans : where 
 young Cicero was received again with particular 
 honours, and continued fighting still in the defence 
 of his country's liberty, till Pompey, by a treaty of 
 peace with the triumvirate, obtained, as one of the 
 conditions of it, the pardon and restoration of all 
 •the proscribed and exiled Romans who were tlien 
 in arms with him^. 
 
 Cicero therefore took his leave of Pompey, and 
 returned to Rome with the rest of his party, where 
 he lived for some time in the condition of a private 
 nobleman, remote from affairs and the court of the 
 emperor ; partly through the envy of the times, 
 averse to his name and principles ; partly through 
 choice, and his old zeal for the republican cause, 
 which he retained still to the last. In this uneasy 
 state, where he had nothing to rouse his virtue or 
 «xcite his ambition, it is not strange that he sunk 
 into a life of indolence and pleasure, and the 
 intemperate love of wine, which began to be the 
 fashionable vice of this age, from the example of 
 Antony, who had lately published a volume on the 
 triumphs of his drinking. Young Cicero is said 
 to have practised it likewise to great excess, and to 
 have been famous for the quantity that he used to 
 swallow at a draught, " as if he had resolved," says 
 Pliny, " to deprive Antony, the murderer of his 
 father, of the glory of being the first drunkard of 
 the empire"." 
 
 Augustus, however, paid him the compliment in 
 the meanwhile to make liim a priest or augur'', as 
 well as one of those magistrates who presided over 
 the coinage of the public money ; in regard to 
 which there is a medal still extant, with the name 
 of Cicero on the one side, and Appius Claudius on 
 the other, who was one of his colleagues in this 
 office"^. But upon the last breach with Antony, 
 
 y Ep. Fam. xvi. 21. 
 
 ' Appian. p. 619, 713. 
 
 » Nimirum hanc gloriam auferre Cicero voluit intcrfec- 
 tori patris sul, Antonio. Is enim ante eum avidissime 
 apprchenderat hanc palmam ; edito etiam volumine de sua 
 cbrietate. — Plin. Hist. Nat. xiv. 22. 
 
 l* Appian. p. 619. 
 
 c And. Jlorell. Thesaur. Numism. inter Numm. Consul. 
 Goltzii. Tab. xxxiii. 4. 
 
 These superintendants of the public coinage were called 
 Treviri, or Triumviri Monelalcs j and in med.als and old 
 inscriptions are described thus: III. VIR. A.A.A.F.F., that 
 is, Auro, Art/ento, Mre Flando, Feriundo. Their number 
 liad always been tRree, till J. CaDs.ar, as it appears from 
 several medals, enlarged it to four ; whence in the coin of 
 Cicero, just mentioned, we find him called IIII. VIH, 
 
 Augustus no sooner became the sole master of 
 Rome, than he took him for his partner in the 
 consulship ; so that his letters which brought the 
 news of the victory at Actium, and conquest of 
 Egyjjt, were addres.scd to Cicero the consul, who 
 had the pleasure of publishing them to the senate 
 and people, as well as of making and executing 
 that decree, which ordcreil all the statues and 
 monuments of Antony to be demolished, and that 
 no person of his family should ever after bear the 
 name of Marcus. By paying this honour to the 
 son, Augustus made some atonement for his trea- 
 chery to the father ; and by giving the family this 
 opportunity of revenging his deatii upon Antony, 
 fixed the blame of it also there ; while the people 
 looked upon it as divine and providential, that the 
 final overthrow of Antony's name and fortunes 
 should, by a strange revolution of affairs, be reserved 
 for the triumph of young Cicero"^. Some honours 
 are mentioned likewise to have been decreed by 
 Cicero, in this consulship, to his partner Augustus ; 
 particularly an obsidional crown, which though 
 made only of the common grass that happened to 
 be found upon the scene of action, yet in the times 
 of ancient disci]>line, was esteemed the noblest 
 reward of military glory, and never bestowed but 
 for tiie deliverance of an army, when reduced to 
 the last distress"^. This crown, therefore, had not 
 been given above eight times from the foundation 
 of Rome ; but with the oppression of its liberty, 
 all its honours were servilely pros,tituted at the will 
 of the reigning monarch. 
 
 Soon after Cicero's consulship, he was made 
 proconsul of Asia, or as Appian says, of Syria, 
 one of the most considerable provinces of the 
 empire, from which time we find no farther men- 
 tion of him in history. He died probably soon 
 after, before a maturity of age and experience 
 had given him the opportunity of retrieving the 
 reproach of his intemperance, and distinguishing 
 himself in the counsels of the state ; but from the 
 honours already mentioned, it is evident that his 
 life, though blemislied by some scandal, yet was 
 not void of dignity ; and amidst all the vices with 
 which he is charged, be is allowed to have retained 
 his father's wit and politeness '. 
 
 There are two stories related of him, which show 
 that his natural courage and high spirit were far 
 from being subdued by the ruin of his party and 
 fortunes : for being in company with some friends 
 where he had drunk very hard, in the heat of wine 
 
 There was another magistrate also of lower rank at Rome, 
 called Treviri Capilales, who tried and judged all capital 
 crimes among foreigners and slaves, or even citizens of in- 
 ferior condition : in allusion to which Cicero has a pleasant 
 joke, in one of his letters to Trebatius, when he was attend- 
 ing Cssar in his wars against the Treviri, one of the most 
 fierce and warlike nations of Gaul: "I admonish you," 
 says he, ' ' to keep out of the way of those Treviri : they are 
 of the capital kind, I hear : I wish rather that they were 
 the coiners of gold and silver." — Ep. Fam. vii. 1.3. 
 
 d Plutarch, in Cic. ; Dio, p. 456 ; Appian. p. 619, 672. 
 
 ' Corona quidem nulla fuitgramineanobilior — nunqnnni 
 nisi in desperatione suprema contigit uUi ; nisi ab univcrho 
 exercitu servato decreta — eadem vocatur obsidionalis — da- 
 batur liKC viridi e gramine, decerpto inde ubi obsessos 
 servasset aliquis — Ipsum Augustum cum M. Cicerone con- 
 sulem, idibus Septembribus senatus obsidionali donavit, 
 &c.— Plin. Hist. Nat. xxii. 3, 4, 5, 6. 
 
 f Qui nihil ex paterno ingenio habuit, praeter urbaaita 
 tern. — >I. Senec. Suasor. 6.
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 315 
 
 and passion he threw a cup at the head of Agrippa 
 who next to Augustus bore the chief sway in Rome c. 
 He was provoked to it probably by some dispute in 
 politics, or insult on the late champions and van- 
 quished cause of the republic. At another time, 
 during his government of Asia, one Cestius, who 
 was afterwards prtetor, a flatterer of the times and 
 a reviler of his father, having the assurance to come 
 one day to his table, Cicero, after he had inquired 
 his name, and understood that it was the man who 
 used to insult the memory of his father, and declare 
 that he knew nothing of polite letters, ordered him 
 to be taken away and publicly whipped *■. 
 
 His nature seems to have been gay, frank, and 
 generous : peculiarly turned to arms and martial 
 glory ; to which, by the unhappy fate of his coun- 
 try, he had been trained very young ; and at an 
 age, that is commonly dedicated to the arts of 
 peace and studies of learning, had served, with 
 much honour to himself, in three successive wars, 
 the most considerable in all history ; of Pharsalia, 
 Philippi, and Sicily. If his life, therefore, did not 
 correspond with the splendour of his father's, it 
 seems chargeable to his misfortune rather than his 
 fault ; and to the miserable state of the times, 
 which allowed no room for the attainment of his 
 father's honours, or the imitation of his virtues : 
 but if he had lived in better times and a free re- 
 public, though he would not have been so eminent 
 a scholar, or orator, or statesman as his father, yet 
 he would have excelled him probably in that cha- 
 racter which conferred a more substantial power 
 and dazzling glory, the fame of a brave and accom- 
 plished general. 
 
 The characters of Q. Cicero, the brother, of his 
 son Quintus, and of Atticus, have been so fre- 
 quently touched in the course of this history, that 
 there is but little occasion to add anything more 
 about them. The two first, as we have already 
 said, upon the news of their being proscribed, took 
 their leave of Cicero in his flight towards the sea, 
 and returned to Rome ; in order to furnish them- 
 selves with money and other necessaries for a voy- 
 age to Macedonia. They hoped to have executed 
 this before the proscription could take effect, or to 
 lie concealed, at least, for a short time in the city, 
 without the danger of a discovery : but the diligence 
 of Antony's emissaries, and the particular instruc- 
 tions that they had received to make sure of the 
 Ciceros, eluded all their caution and hopes of con- 
 cealment. The son was found out the first ; who 
 is said to have been more solicitous for the preserv- 
 ation of his father than to provide for his own safety : 
 upon his refusal to discover where his father lay 
 hid, he was put to the rack by the soldiers ; till 
 the father, to rescue his son from torture, came 
 out from his hiding-place, and voluntarily surren- 
 dered himself; making no other request to his 
 executioners, than that they would despatch him 
 the first of the two. The son urged the same peti- 
 tion, to spare him the misery of being the spectator 
 of his father's murder ; so that the assassins, to 
 satisfy them both, taking each of them apart, killed 
 them by agreement at the same time'. 
 
 As to Atticus, the difficulty of the times in which 
 
 S Marcoque Agrippae a temulento scyphum impactum. 
 — Plin. Hist. Nat. xiv. 22. 
 •" M. Senec. Suasor. 6. 
 > Dio, p 333; Afpian. 601 ; Plutarch, in Cic. 
 
 he lived, and the perpetual quiet that he enjoyed 
 in them, confirmed what has already been observed 
 of him, that he was a perfect master of the prin- 
 ciples of his sect, and knew how to secure that 
 chief good of an Epicurean life, his private ease 
 and safety. One would naturally imagine that his 
 union with Cicero and Brutus, added to the fame 
 of his wealth, would have involved him of course 
 in the ruin of the proscription : he himself was 
 afraid of it, and kept himself concealed for some 
 time ; but without any great reason ; for, as if he 
 had foreseen such an event and turn of things, he 
 had always paid a particular court to Antony ; and, 
 in the time even of his disgrace, when he was driven 
 out of Italy, and his affairs thought desperate, did 
 many eminent services to his friends at Rome ; 
 and, above all, to his wife and children, whom he 
 assisted, not only with his advice, but with his 
 money also, on all occasions of their distress : so 
 that, when Antony came to Rome, in the midst 
 of the massacre, he made it his first care to find 
 out Atticus ; and no sooner learned where he was, 
 than he wrote him word with his own hand, to lay 
 aside all fears, and come to him immediately ; and 
 assigned him a guard, to protect him from anj' insult 
 or violence of the soldiers''. 
 
 It must be imputed likewise to the same prin- 
 ciple of Atticus's caution, and a regard to his 
 safety, that, after so long and intimate a corre- 
 spondence of letters with Cicero, on the most im- 
 portant transactions of that age, of which there are 
 sixteen books of Cicero's still remaining, yet not a 
 single letter of Atticus's was ever published : which 
 can hardly be charged to any other cause but his 
 having withdrawn them from Tiro, after Cicero's 
 death, and suppressed them with a singular care ; 
 lest, in that revolution of affairs and extinction of 
 the public liberty, they should ever be produced to 
 his hurt, or the diminution of his credit with their 
 new masters. 
 
 But his interest with the reigning powers was 
 soon established on a more solid foundation than 
 that of his personal merit, by the marriage of his 
 only daughter with M. Agrippa ; which was first 
 proposed and brought about by Antony. This 
 introduced him into the friendship and familiarity 
 of Augustus, whose minister and favourite Agrippa 
 was ; and to whom he himself became afterwards 
 nearly allied, by the marriage of his grand-daughter 
 with his successor Tiberius'. Thus he added dig- 
 nity to his quiet ; and lived to a good old age, in 
 the very manner in which he wished ; happy and 
 honourable ; and remote from all trouble, or the 
 apprehension of danger. But that he still lives, 
 in the fame and memory of ages, is entirely owing 
 
 ^ Atticus, cum Ciceronis intima familiaritate iiteretur, 
 amicissimus esse Bruto ; non modo nihil iis indulsit ad 
 Antonium violandum, sed e contrario familiares ejus ex 
 urbe profugientes, quantum potuit, texit — ipsi autem 
 FulvisE, cum litibus distineretur — sponsor omnium remm 
 fuerit — itaque ad adventum imperatorum de foro decesse- 
 rat, timens proscriptionem — Antonius autem — ei, cum 
 requisisset, ublnam esset, sua manu scripsit, ne timeret, 
 statimque ad se veniret — ac ne quid periculiim incideret— 
 praesidium ei misit Com. Nep. in Vit. Attici, lu. 
 
 ' Atque harum nuptiarum, non enim est, celandum, 
 conciliator fuit Antonius. [Ibid. 12.] Kata est autem 
 Attico neptis ex Agrippa. Hanc Caesar vix anniculam, 
 Tibero Claudio Xeroni, Drusilla nato, privigno suo despon 
 dit. Q,use conjuuctio necessitudinem eorum sanxlt.— 
 Ibid. 19.
 
 31G 
 
 HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 to the circumstance of his having been Cicero's 
 friend : for this, after all, was the chief honour of 
 his life : and, as Seneca truly observed, " it was 
 the epistles of Cicero which preserved him from 
 oblivion ; and neither his son Agrippa, nor grand- 
 Bon Tiberius, nor great-grandson Drusus, would 
 have been of any service to him, if Cicero's name, 
 
 by drawing Atticus's along with it, had not given 
 him an immortality". 
 
 n Nomen Attici pcriro Ciceronis epistolsc non sinunt.. 
 Nihil Uli profuisset gcner Agrippa, ct Tiberius progcncr, 
 et Drusus pronepos : inter tiim inafniu noniina tuceretuj; 
 nisi Cicero ilium appUcuisset. — Scnoc. Ep. 21.
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 A. 
 
 Academy, a school of philosophy at Athens : an account 
 of its name, origin, and situation, n. ', p. 302 ; its 
 doctrines, ib. ; New Academy, its distinction from the 
 old, 303 ; its principles and method of philosophising, 
 ib. ; kept the proper medium between the Stoic and 
 the Sceptic, ib. ; the most rational of all sects, 304; 
 best adapted to the profession of an orator, ib. ; 
 almost deserted in Cicero's time ; — why; ib. ; the 
 notion of a third or jNliddlc Academy groundless, 
 n. *, ib. ; the Academic principles the best calculated 
 for practical life ; compared with those of the Stoics 
 and the Epicureans, 311 
 
 Aculeo, C, married Cicero's aunt, 1 ; his two sons bred 
 up with Cicero, 3 
 
 Adoption, the conditions and effects of it, 80 
 
 .ffidiles, the nature and duties of their office, 32 ; often 
 ruined themselves by the expense of their shows, ib. 
 
 .ffidileship or tribunate, a necessary step to the superior 
 dignities, 21 
 
 j55schylus of Cnidos, an eminent rhetorician, attended 
 Cicero in his travels, 13 
 
 .ffisopus, the tragedian, applies several passages of his 
 parts, in acting, to tlie case of Cicero, 108 
 
 Afranius, L. cons, his character, 75 
 
 Agi-arian laws, some account of them, 43 
 
 Agriculture, the most liberal employment in old 
 Rome, 2 
 
 Alienobarbus, L. Domitius, repulsed from the consul- 
 ship by the triumvirate, 129 
 
 AlaudfE, the name of a legion raised by Caesar ; an ac- 
 count of it, n. ", 246 
 
 Albinovanus, M. TuUius, a friend of Clodius, accuses 
 P. Sextius of public violence, 123 
 
 AHobroges, their ambassadors solicited to enter into 
 Catiline's plot, 55 ; are examined in the senate, ib. 
 
 Amanus, a mountainous part of Cilicia, subdued by 
 Cicero, 160 
 
 Antiochus, a philosopher of the Old Academy, with 
 whom Cicero lodged at Athens, 12 
 
 Antiochus, king of Comagene, his petition to the 
 senate rejected by Cicero's influence, 134 ; sends 
 notice to Cicero that the Parthians had passed the 
 Euphrates, 157 
 
 Antonius, C, candidate for the consulship ; guilty of 
 open bribery — supported by Crassus and Caesar, 40; 
 chosen consul with Cicero, and wholly managed by 
 him, 42; sent out with an army against Catiline, 
 52 ; is unwilling to fight, 61 ; condemned to exile 
 for his oppressions in Macedonia, 79 ; defeated and 
 taken prisoner by young Cicero, 265 ; raises a sedi- 
 tion in Brutus's camp, confined by him on sbi])- 
 board, 275 
 
 Antonius, M., grandfather of the triumvir, his head 
 fixed upon the rostra by C. Marius, 7 
 
 Antonius, M., father of the triumvir, invades Crete 
 but is defeated, and <iics witli disgrace, 19 
 
 Antonius, M., tribune, makes an invective oration 
 against Pompey, 171 ; opposes all decrees against 
 Caesar, ib. ; flies to Cassar's camp, ib. ; his character, 
 ib. ; his flight the pretext of the war, 172 ; excludes 
 all the Pompeians from Italy, except Cicero, 189 ; 
 declared master of the horse to Ca;sar, ] 92 ; his 
 luxurious manner of living ; — compelled by Caesar 
 to pay for his purchase of Pompey's houses, 213 ; 
 made consul with Caesar ; quarrels with Dolabella, 
 216 ; offers a regal diadem to Caesar, 217 ; preserved 
 by the two Brutuses, when Caesar was killed, 220 ; 
 dissembles his real views, manages Lepidus to his 
 interests, deludes the conspirators, 225 ; contrives 
 the tumult at Caesar's funeral, 22G ; makes a pro- 
 gress through Italy, to solicit the veteran soldiers, 
 229 ; his pernicious use of the decree for confirming 
 Caesar's acts, 234 ; seizes the public treasure, 235 ; 
 bribes Dolabella to his interests, treats Octavius with 
 contempt, 238 ; recommends an accommodation with 
 S. Pompey to the senate, 240 ; endeavours to extort 
 the provinces of Macedonia and Syria from Brutus 
 and Cassius, 243 ; threatens Cicero, ib. ; answers 
 his first Philippic, 244 ; erects a statue to Caesar, 
 245 ; puts three hundred centurions to death, 246 ; 
 is enraged against Octavius, and Q. Cicero the son, 
 247 ; resolves to possess himself of Cisalpine Gaul, 
 and make war against D. Brutus, ib. ; besieges De- 
 cimus in Modena, 249 ; receives an embassy from 
 the senate, 251 ; refuses to comply with their de- 
 mands, 253 ; reduces Modena to great straits, 261 ; 
 tries to bring over Hirtius and Octavius to his mea- 
 sures, 262 ; gains an advantage against Pansa, but 
 is defeated by Hirtius, 270 ; entirely routed in a 
 second battle by Octavius and Hirtius, flies to the 
 Alps, 272 ; is received by Lepidus, 278 ; forms the 
 league of the second triumvirate with Caesar and 
 Lepidus; proscribes his uncle, 289 ; a summary view 
 of his conduct from Caesar's death, ib. ; gives 8,000/. 
 for Cicero's head, and orders it to be fixed upon the 
 rostra, 291 
 
 Appian, a copier of Plutarch, pref. xiii. 
 
 Appius, Cicero's predecessor in his government, dis- 
 pleased with Cicero's proceedings in it, 163; im- 
 peached by Dolabella and .acquitted, 164 ; exercises 
 the censorship with rigour, 165 ; asserted the reality of 
 divination as an augur, and was lauglied at for it, 308 
 
 Apuleius, tribune, makes a speech in defence of Cicero's 
 measures, 369 
 
 Aquilius, M., delivered up to Mithridates by the city 
 of jMitylene, 14 
 
 Aratus's Phaenomena, translated by Cicero, 5 ; and 
 also his Prognostics, 76 
 
 Arcesilas, the sixth successor of Plato in the Academic 
 school, founded the New Academy, 302
 
 S18 
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 Arcliias, an cniiiirnt poet, tlie master of Cicero, lived 
 ■with Lucullus, 4 ; licfcnded by Cicero, 71 
 
 Ariobarzancs, king of CappaJocia, recommended to 
 Cicero ; begs his assistance upon the discovery of a 
 plot, ir)8; drained of liis money by the Uomau 
 governors, ib. 
 
 Aristotle, his works first brought into Italy by Sylla, 
 9 ; tiie scholai- of Plato, and founder of tlie Peripa- 
 tetic sect, 302 ; held the nature offlod, and the 
 soul to be a fifth essence, 306 
 Arpininn, the native city of Cicero and C. Marius, 
 aiiiiiittcd to the freedom of Rome ; its territory rude 
 anil mountainous, 2 
 
 Atcius, tribune, declares the expedition of Crassus 
 prohibited by the auspices, 133 ; turned out of the 
 senate for it by Appius, ib. 
 
 Atticus, a surname given to T. Pomponius, of the 
 Epicurean sect, 12 ; purchases for Cicero at Athens 
 several statues and cniiositics of Grecian sculpture, 
 38 ; employs his slaves in copying all the best 
 Greek writers, 39 ; refuses to follow Cicero in his 
 exile, 97 ; chides him f(!r his dejection, 99 ; supplies 
 him with money, is tliouglit too cold by him, 10"2; 
 visits him at Dyrrhachium, 104 ; marries Pilia, 125; 
 complains to Cicero of Quintus's usage of his sister 
 Pom|)ouia, 154 ; labours to reconcile Cicero to 
 Caesar's administration, 212 ; liis tenderness at part- 
 ing from Cicero, 238 ; his good nature sometimes 
 got the better of his philosophy, 239 ; his political 
 conduct and principles compared with Cicero's and 
 Cato's, 311; his life a true pattern of the Epicurean 
 scheme, 315; why none of his letters to Cicero 
 were ever published, ih. ; his daughter married to 
 Agrippa, his grand-daiigiiter to Tiberius; but" his 
 chief glory was Cicero's triendship, ib. 
 
 Augurs, their college, an account of it, 147 ; presided 
 over the auspices, as the interpreters of the will of 
 Jove, 307 ; their dignity and powers, ib. 
 
 Auspices, often forged by Marius and Sylla to animate 
 their soldiers, 14 
 
 Autronius, P. Poutus, convicted of bribery, forfeits the 
 consulship, 37 ; banished for conspiring with Cati- 
 line, 67 
 
 B. 
 
 Balhus, Corn., defended by Cicero, his character, 
 127 ; begs of Cicero to act the mediator betvveen 
 Caisar and Potnpey, 178 ; and to stand neuter, 180 
 Bayle, IMr,, a mistake of his corrected ; n. p, 204 
 Bestia, L., his character ; defended by Cicero, 122 
 Bibulus, chosen consul with Csesar, 78 ; opposes 
 Ciodius's adoption, 80 ; injuriously treated by 
 Caesar, ib. ; shuts himself up in his house, 81 ; pro- 
 vokes the triumvirate by his edicts, 84 ; attacks 
 Amanus, and is repulsed with loss, 161 ; obtains 
 the decree of a supplication, 162 ; aspires to a 
 triumph, 169 
 Bona Dea, her mysteries polluted by P. Clodius, 68 
 Brutus, D., one of the conspirators against Cassar, his 
 character, 219; seizes the province of Cisalpine 
 Gaul, 227 ; forbids Antony the entrance of it, 247 ; 
 defends Modena against him with great vigour, 270 ; 
 assists in the defeat of Antony, 272 ; pursues him, 
 277 ; joins his army with Plancus, 278 ; is deserted 
 by Plancus, 281 ; and killed by Antony's soldiers, ib. 
 Brutus, M., father of him who stabbed Caesar, surren- 
 ders himself to Pompey, and is killed by his order, 
 13 
 Brutus, M,, one of the conspirators against Caesar, 
 
 lends money to king Ariobarzanes, and to the Sala- 
 minians, at an exorbitant interest; presses Cicero to 
 solicit the i)ayn)ent of it, 158 ; joins with Pompey 
 against Caesar, and acts with a particular zeal, 180' ; 
 writes the life of Cato, 199 ; puts away his wife 
 Claudia and mariies Porcia, Cato's daugliter, 208 ; 
 makes an oration to Ca'sar in favour of king Deio- 
 tarus, 215; chief of tlio conspiracy against Caesar, 
 his charactei, 218 ; his descent from old L. Brutus 
 asserted, and the story of his being Cxsar's son con- 
 futed, il>. n. ' ; speaks to the people in the capitol 
 after Cffisar's death, 224 ; driven out of the city by 
 Antony's management, retires with Cassius to Lauu- 
 vium, 227 ; expostulates witli Antony by letter, 
 235 ; invites Cicero to a conference, 2.^8 ; his 
 shows and plays received with applause by the city, 
 239 ; prepares to seize Macedonia by force, 243 ; 
 sends an account of his success in that e.\i)cdition, 
 25f^) ; takes C. Anion}' ])risouer, 265 ; treats him 
 with lenity, ib. ; displeased with the ovation decreed 
 to Octavius, 274 ; secures C. Antony on shipboard, 
 275 ; cannot be ])ersua<lcd to come to Italy, 282 ; 
 his behaviour in Greece, 283 ; displeased with 
 Cicero's measures, 284 ; his conduct compared with 
 Cicero's, inconsistent with itself, ib. 
 
 Brutus, L,, a medal, with his head on one side and 
 AiiALA on the other, a conjecture on the reason of 
 it, n. ^ 223 
 
 Bursa, T. Munatius Plancus, accused by Cicero, and 
 condemned to banishment, 152 
 
 C. 
 
 C.ELius, M., his character ; defended by Cicero, 128 ; 
 sends the news of Rome to Cicero, 156 ; chosen 
 a;dile, and desiics Cicero to supply him with wild 
 beasts for his shows, 166 ; presses Cicero to remain 
 neuter in the civil war, 181 ; his death and cha- 
 racter, 187 
 
 Caerellia, a learned lady, and correspondent of Cicero, 
 296 
 
 Caesar, J., nearly allied to C. Marius; marries Cor- 
 nelia, Cinna's daughter, refuses to put her away, 
 is deprived of her fortune and the priesthood by 
 Sylla. 9 ; retires into the country ; is discovered hy 
 Sylla's soldiers, obtains his life with difficulty, 
 Sylla's prediction of him, ib. ; gains a civic crown 
 at the siege of Mitylene, 14 ; zealous to restore the 
 power of the tribunes, 31 ; made use of them to 
 overturn the republic, ib. ; excelled all men in the 
 magnificence of his shows, 32 ; a zealous promoter 
 of the Manilian law, 36 ; suspected of a conspiracy 
 against the state, 37 ; revives the Marian cause ; 
 prosecutes the agents of Sylla's cruelty, but spares 
 Catiline, 41 ; suborns T. Labicnus to accuse C. 
 Rabirius, 46 ; whom he condemns, ib. ; elected 
 high priest, 47 ; votes for saving the lives of Cati- 
 line's accomplices, 58 ; in danger of being killed 
 for it, 62 ; supports Metellus against Cicero ; his 
 attempts against Catnlus, 64 ; suspended from h^ 
 office, ib. ; his suspension reversed, ib. ; impeached 
 by L. Vettius and Q. Curios of Catiline's plot, 66 ; 
 takes his revenge on them both, 67 ; puts away his 
 ■wife, 69 ; his behaviour in the trial of Clodius, 70 ; 
 invites Pompey to make himself master of the re- 
 public, 71 ; supports Clodius against Cicero, 76 ; 
 returns with gloiy from Spain, 78 ; chosen consul 
 ■with Bibulus, ib. ; forms a triple league between 
 Pompey, Crassus, and himself, ftt. ; procures Clo-
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 319 
 
 diue's iidoption, 80 ; carries an agrarian law by vio- 
 lence, 81 ; gains the favour of the knights; sends 
 Cato to prison, ib. ; ratifies Pompey's acts in Asia, 
 and humbles Lucullus, ib. ; feigns a quarrel with 
 Clodius, ib. ; provoked by the edicts of Bibulus, 84 ; 
 suborns Vcttius to swear a plot upon young Curio, 
 and the nobles of the opposite party, 85 ; strangles 
 Vettius in prison, ib. ; endeavours to force Cicero to 
 a dependence upon him ; offers to make him his 
 lieutenant in Gaul, 86 ; provoked by Cicero's re- 
 fusal, assists Clodius, and throws the blame on 
 Cicero, ib. ; reconciles Piso to Clodius, 88; con- 
 demns the proceedings of Cicero against Lentulus, 
 and the rest, 90 ; the legality of bis acts questioned 
 in the senate, 92 ; goes to his province of Gaul, ib.; 
 congratulates Clodius upon his management of Cato, 
 96; consents to Cicero's restoration, 103; has his 
 province prolonged to him by Cicero's assistance, 
 122 ; has an interview with Pompey at Luca, 1"23 ; 
 reconciles Pompey and Crassus, 129; his second 
 expedition into Britain, 137; extremely kind to 
 Q. Cicero, 138 ; presses Cicero to defend Vatinius, 
 140 ; and also Gabinius, 141 ; bears the loss of his 
 daughter Julia with firmness, and prepares himself 
 for a breach with Pompey, 144 ; .alarms the city 
 ■with the prospect of a civil war, 153 ; ple.ised with 
 the coldness between Cicero and Cato ; Labours to 
 increase it, 162; puts an end to the Gallic w.ar, 
 165 ; bribes Paullus and Curio to his interests, 
 167 ; ordered by the senate to dismiss his army, 
 171 ; passes the Rubicon, 172; offers terms of 
 peace, 173; is not sincere in it, 174 ; the nature 
 of his attempt considered, ib. ; takes Corfinium, 
 and treats his prisoners with generosity, 176 ; 
 presses Cicero to stand neuter, 178, 181; seizes upon 
 the public trer>6ure, 182 ; marches into Spain, and 
 defeats Pompey's lieutenants, 187 ; created dictator, 
 makes liimself consul, goes after Pompey, ib. ; 
 besieges him at Dyrrhachium without success, quits 
 the siege, ib. ; gains a complete victory at Pharsalia, 
 188; his conduct and Pompey's compared, 191 ; 
 declared dictator a second time, 192 ; writes kindly 
 to Cicero, 194; has an interview with him, ib. ; 
 disgusts the city by his manner of creating consuls, 
 ib. ; embarks for Africa, ib. ; the time of his 
 embarkmcnt cleared from a seeming contradiction 
 between Cicero and Hirtius, ib. , w. ** ; he returns 
 victorious, is extravagantly flattered by the senate, 
 196 ; his regard for Cicero, 198 ; answers Cicero's 
 Cato, 199 ; pardons M. Marcellus, 200 ; reforms 
 the calendar, 201 ; pardons Ligarius, 202 ; goes 
 into Spain against Pompey's sons, 203 ; sends Cicero 
 an account of his success, 212 ; publishes his Anti- 
 Cato, 213 ; triumphs, ib. ; inclined to ruin king 
 Deiotarus, whom Cicero and Brutus defend, 214 ; 
 shocked by Brutus's freedom in that cause, 215 ; 
 shortens the term of the consulship to oblige the 
 more friends with it, 216 ; open to all kinds of 
 flattery, and desirous of the title of king, ib. ; his 
 death and character. 221 ; worshipped as a deity by 
 the meaner sort, 229 
 
 Calenus, tlic head of Antony's party, 252 ; carries 
 several points against Cicero, 253 
 
 Capitol, burnt down in Sylla's time, and rebuilt by 
 Q. Ltitatius Catulus, 32 
 
 Carbo, Cn. Papirius, driven out of Italy by Sylla, 
 killed by Pompey, 9 
 
 Carneades, a professor of the New Academy, which 
 he carried to its highest glory, 303 
 
 Cassius, C, blocked up in Antioch by the Parthiaas, 
 
 gains .an advantage over them, 160; conspires against 
 Cffisar's life, his character, 218; retires with M. 
 Brutus to Lanuvium, 227 ; chosen patron of Pute- 
 oli with the two Brutuses, 23.5 ; expostulates by 
 letter witii Antony, ib. ; prepares for an attempt 
 upon Syria, 243 ; his success in Syria, 276 ; defeats 
 Dolabclla, ib. ; his preparations for the war, and 
 conduct vindicated, 283; compared with Brutus's, ib. 
 
 Cassius, Q., the tribune, opposes all motions against 
 Cccsar, 171 ; flies to Carsar's camj), ib. 
 
 Catiline, disappointed of the consulship, enters into a 
 conspiracy against the state, 37 ; accused for iiia 
 oppressions in Africa ; solicits Cicero to undertake 
 his cause, 39 ; bribes his accuser, P. Clodius, to 
 betray it, ib. ; bribes openly for the consulship, 
 su])ported by Crassus and Caesar, 40; cuts off the 
 he.ad of C. Marius Gratidianus, and presents it to 
 Sylla; accused by L. Paullus of murdering citizens 
 in Sylla's proscription ; suspected of an incestuous- 
 commerce with Fabia, the vestal, 41 ; sues for the 
 consulship a second time, 47 ; forms a design against 
 Cicero's life, ib. ; his character, ib. ; the plan of his 
 conspiracy, 48 ; fails in a design against Preeneste, 
 49 ; leaves the city, 51 ; is declared a public enemy, 
 52 ; blocked up by Q. Metellus and C. Antonius, 
 61 ; defeated and killed, ib. 
 
 Cato, C. Trib., his character, 118; declares himself 
 against the restoration of king Ptolemy, ib. ; treats 
 Pompey roughly, 121; makes liimself ridiciilcus by 
 the sale of his gladiators, 125 ; hinders the consuls 
 from choosing magistrates, 129 
 
 Cato, M. Porcius, his speech for putting Catiline's 
 accomplices to death, 60; obtains a decree for that 
 purpose in his own words, ib. ; declares Cicero the 
 Father of his Country, 62 ; accepts the commission 
 granted by Clodins"s law to depose Ptolemy, king of 
 Cyprus, 95 ; maintains the legality of Clodius's 
 tribunate, 96 ; repulsed from the praetorship, 132; 
 Augustus's moderation with regard to his character, 
 n. 291 ; his political principles and conduct com- 
 pared with Cicero's, 311, 312 
 
 Censors, an account of them, 31 ; their office restored 
 after an intermission of seventeen years, and exer- 
 cised with severity, ib. 
 
 Centuries, the division of the people into, 35 
 
 Cethegus, one of Catiline's conspirators ; his character, 
 48 ; put to death, 61 
 
 Characters of persons, in what manner to be drawn, 
 Pre/. X 
 
 Character of Mithridates, 6 ; of C. Marius, 7 ; of 
 Sylla, 14; of Roscius, the comedian, 16; of Ser- 
 torius, 20 ; ofM. Crassus, 21 ; of Catiline, 47 ; of 
 Lentulus, 48 ; of Cetliegus, ib. ; of Lucullus, 63 ; of 
 P. Clodius, 68 ; of M. Pup. Piso, 71 ; of L. Calp. 
 Piso, 88 ; of A. Gabinius, ib. ; of Piso, Cicero's son, 
 110; of Trebatius, 136 ; of P. Cr.assus, 147; of Q. 
 Hortensius, 168 ; of M. Antony, 171 ; of Pompey, 
 191 ; of Curio, 192; of Cato, 311, 312 ; of Liga- 
 rius, 203 ; of Tullia, 204 ; of M. Marcellus, 209 ; 
 of Mamnrra, n. ', 215; of M. Brutus, 218; of 
 C. Cassius, ib. ; of D. Brutus, 219; of Trebonius, 
 220; of J. Ca;sar, 221 ; of Matins, 233, 7i. ^ 234 ; 
 of Servilia, 237 ; of Sulpicius, 255, n.^; of Hir- 
 tius, 272 ; of Pansa, 273 ; of Messala, n. \ 285 ; 
 of Octavius, 290 ; of Lepidus, ib. ; of Aiticus, 239, 
 311,315 
 
 Cicero, M. the grandfather, some account of him ; hai 
 two sons, Marcus and Lucius, 2 
 
 Oicero, M. the father, a man of letters and politeness, 
 educates his children with great care under the
 
 320 
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 direction of L. Crassus, 3 ; liad a liouse in Rome, 
 on Mo\int I'alulinc, ib. ; saw his sou consul, 41 
 Cicero, L. the cousin of Cicero, an account of him, 33 
 Cicero, Q. the brother, obtains the government of Asia 
 and quarrels with Alliens for refusing to bo his lieu- 
 tenant, 73 ; proposes to visit his brother at Thcssa- 
 lonica in liis return from Asia, but is disappointed, 
 D8 ; arrives at Rome, 100 ; saves his life in a tumult 
 by hiding himself imdor the bodies of the dead, I OG ; 
 driven from his house by Clodius, llCi ; made one 
 of Caisar's lieutenants in Gaul and Biitain, 135, 
 137 ; projects a poem on Ca;8ar''6 British expedition, 
 138 
 Cicero, M. T. when born, 1 ; an account of his family, 
 ib. ; called a New man, and why ; his family seat, 
 2; now possessed by Dominican friars, ih. ; received 
 tlic name of his father and grandfather, Maiciis, the 
 name of Cicero, whence dciived, ib. ; educated with 
 liis cousins, the young Aculco's, \inder the direction 
 of L. Crassus, 3 ; placed in a public school under a 
 Greek master, ib. ; committed to the poet Arcliias, 
 much addicted to poetry, publislies a |)ocm while a 
 boy, takes the manly gown, 4 ; put under the care 
 of Q. Muc. Scivola the augur, afterwards of Scac- 
 vola the high-priest, acquires a complete knowledge 
 of the laws, 4 ; his m.'jnner of improving himself, 5 ; 
 he translates Aratus's Phaenomena into Latin verse, 
 publishes a poem in honour of C. Marius, another 
 called Limon, his poetical genius scarce inferior to 
 his oratorical, ib. ; studies philosophy, is fond of 
 Phicdrus the Epicurean, deserts the principles of 
 that sect, ib. ; makes a campaign with the consul 
 Cn. Pompeius Strabo in the Marsic war, was pre- 
 sent at a conference between the consul and the 
 general of the Marsi, 6 ; serves as a volunteer under 
 Sylla, relates a remarkable action at which he was 
 present, ib. ; saw the entry of C. Marius into Rome, 
 7 ; writes his rhetoric.il pieces, 8 ; scholar to Philo, 
 the Academic ; resumes his oratorical studies under 
 Molo, the Rhodian, ib. ; studies logic with Diodo- 
 tus the Stoic, declaims in Latin and Greek with M. 
 Piso and Q. Pompeius, ib. ; puts himself a second 
 time under Molo, 10 : improves his language by the 
 conversation of the ladies, ib. ; offers himself to the 
 bar, ib. ; undertakes the cause of P. Quiuctius, ib. ; 
 defends S. Roscius of Ameria, 1 1 ; is applauded for 
 it by the whole city, ib. ; defends the rights of cer- 
 tain tog»ns of Italy to the freedom of Rome, which 
 Sylla had taken from them, 12 ; travels into Greece 
 and Asia, ib. ; lodges at Athens with Antiochus, ib. ; 
 meets there with Atticus, is initiated into the Eleu- 
 ■sinian mysteries, pursues his rhetorical studies under 
 Demetrius the Syrian, ib. ; goes over into Asia, 
 where he is attended by the principal orators of that 
 country, 13 ; visits Rhodes on his return, where he 
 studies philosophy with Posidonius, and declaims in 
 Greek with Molo, ib. ; comes back to Rome after 
 an excursion of two years, ib. ; his travels the only 
 scheme of travelling with credit, ib. ; the story of 
 his journey to the Delphic Oracle suspected,15 ; he 
 marries Terentia, 17 ; is made qutestor, pleads the 
 cause of Roscius the comedian, 16 ; enters upon the 
 quaestorship of Sicily, 18 ; greatly horusured by the 
 Sicilians, pleads for som; young officers of quality, 
 ib. ; finds out the tomb of Archimedes, unknown 
 to the Syracusians, ib. ; his return to Italy, 19 ; 
 resolves to reside constantly in Rome, ib. ; strictly 
 observes the Cincian law, 21 ; takes all the usual 
 ways of recommending himself to the people, 22; 
 ii elected curule aedile, undertakes the prosecution 
 
 of Verrcs, 23 ; goes to Sicily in search, of facts and 
 evidence against him, his reception at Syracuse, 24 ; 
 and at Messana, ib. ; defeats all the projects of 
 Verrcs by a new way of proceeding, and forces him 
 into exile, 25 ; offends the nobility by it, ib. ; se- 
 cures the affection of the citizens, is supplied with 
 provisions during his aedilcsliij) by the Sicilians, 32; 
 iicfcnds Caeeina and Fontcius, 33 ; declared praetor 
 in three dilfercnt assemblies, 35 ; condemns Licinius 
 Macer, ib. ; ascends llie rostra the first time, in 
 defence of the Manilian law, 36 ; defends A. 
 Clucntius, ib. ; frequents tlic school of Gnipho, 
 37 ; defends Manilius, ib. ; refuses to accept any 
 province, ib. ; takes great pains in suing for the 
 consulship, 38 ; employs Atticus to purchase statues 
 and other curiosities for him at Athens, ib. ; defends 
 C. Cornelius, 3f) ; iixdined to defend Catiline, ib. ; 
 changes his mind, ib. ; appears a candidate for the 
 consulship, 40 ; delivers his speech called In Toga 
 Candida, defends Q. Gallius, ib. ; proclaimed consul 
 by the acclamation of the whole people, 41 ; has a 
 son born to him, 42; draws his colleague, C. An- 
 tonius, from his old engagements to the interest of 
 the republic, ib. ; unites the equestrian order with 
 the senate, 43 ; opposes Rullus's agrarian law, ib. ; 
 appeases the people in a tumult against Otho, 45 ; 
 persuades the sons of the proscribed to bear their 
 condition with patience, ib. ; defends C. Rabirius, 
 ib. ; publishes a new law against briberv, 47 ; 
 charges Catiline with traitorous designs, ib. ; is or- 
 dered to take care that the republic receive no harm, 
 ib. ; is informed by Curius of all Catiline's measures, 
 49 ; summons the senate to the temple of Jupiter, 
 decrees a reward to the first discoverer of the plot, 
 ib. ; drives Catiline out of the city by a resolute 
 speech, ib. ; his second speech against Catiline, 52; 
 defends L. Murena, 53 ; and C. Piso, 54 ; instructs 
 the ambassadors of the Allobroges how to convict 
 the conspirators, 55 ; has public thanks and a sup- 
 plication decreed to him for preserving the city, 56 ; 
 his third speech against Catiline, ib. ; publishes 
 copies of the trial and confession of the conspirators, 
 57 ; his fourth speech against Catiline, 58 ; €tifles 
 the information against Caesar, 62 ; declared the 
 Father of his Country, receives honours from all the 
 towus of Italy, ib. ; makes a law to limit the legatio 
 libera, ib. ; helps to procure a triumph for L. Lu- 
 cullus, 63 ; decrees a thanksgiving of ten days to 
 Pompey, ib. ; not suffered by the tribune Metellus 
 to speak to the people at the expiration of his con- 
 sulship, ib. ; publishes an oration against Metellus, 
 writes to Q. Metellus about his brother's treatment 
 of him, 65 ; his letter to Pompey, 66; gives evi- 
 dence against Autronius, 67 ; defends P. Sylla, ib.; 
 buys a house on the Palatine hill with borrowed 
 money, 68 ; giv^s testimony against Clodius, 70 ; 
 defends the poet Archias, 71 ; his judgment of 
 Cato, 74 ; moderates Pompey's agrarian law to the 
 satisfaction of both parties, 75 ; not permitted to 
 leave Rome when chosen by lot an ambassador to 
 the Gallic cities, ib. ; publishes the memoirs of his 
 consulship in Greek, ib. ; writes a Latin poem on 
 his own history, 76 ; publishes his consular orations, 
 and Aratus's Prognostics translated by him into 
 Latin verse, ib. ; unites himself with Pompey, jus- 
 tifies this step, 77 ; his conduct with regard to Casar 
 and the triumvirate, 78 ; defends C. Antonius, his 
 colleague, 79 ; employs himself in pleading causes, 
 82 ; defends L. Valerius Flaccus, ib. ; advisei 
 Pompey to a breach with Caesar, 85 ; is alarmed by
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 321 
 
 ■Clodius's tribunate, presses Atticus to return to 
 Rome, 86 ; refuses the honours offered by Cscsar, 
 ib. ; depends on Pompey, but finds reason to distrust 
 him, 87 ; expresses an inclination to the augurate, 
 but drops it, ib. ; is vindicated from an unjust cen- 
 sure on that account, n. ib. ; conceives liopes of 
 Piso and Gahinius, but is soon convinced of his 
 mistake, 88 ; provides L. Ninnius, tribune, to op- 
 pose Clodius's laws, but consents to let them pass, 
 89 ; is reduced to the condition of a criminal, and 
 changes his habit upon it, ib. ; is defended by the 
 knis;hts and young nobility, who perpetually attend 
 him, ib. ; is deserted by Pompey, 91 ; submits to 
 a voluntary exile, and consecrates a statue of Minerva 
 in the temple of Jupiter, 92; repents his quitting 
 (he city, charges the advisers of it with perfidy, 94 ; 
 explains the motives of his retreat, 95 ; spends 
 several days at Vibo, not suffered to enter into 
 Sicily by C. Virgilius the praetor, 9C ; honourably 
 ■received by all the towns through which he passed, 
 ib. ; presses Atticus to come to him, 97; lodges 
 with INI. Lenius near Brundisium, ib. ; his dream, 
 ib. ; arrives at D}rrhachium, is conducted to Thes- 
 ■salonica by Cn. Plancius, 98 ; declines an interview 
 with his brother, ib. ; his dejection in his exile, ib. ; 
 uneasy for the publication of one of his invective 
 orations, 101 ; returns to Dyrrhachium, 103 ; dis- 
 pleased with the management of his friends at Rome, 
 ib. ; his restoration decreed in Marius's monument, 
 107 ; and confirmed by all the centuries, 110 ; his 
 progress from Bnmdisium to Rome, ib. &c. ; returns 
 thanks to the senate and people, 111; proposes a 
 law for granting to Pompey tiie administration of all 
 the corn and provisions of the republic, 112; pleads 
 for the restitution of his palatine house, 113; re- 
 builds his Tusculan villa, 116 ; takes down the acts 
 of his banishment from the capitol, ib. ; is assaulted 
 in the streets by Clodius, 117 ; labours to get the 
 commission of restoring king Ptolemy granted to 
 Lentulus, 119 ; unites himself with Pompey, J21 ; 
 defends L. Bestia, 122; promotes a decree for pro- 
 longing Caesar's command, ib. ; defends P. Sextius, 
 ib. ; moves for reconsidering Caesar's act, for the 
 di\'ision of the Campanian lands, but drops that 
 motion, 123 ; the grounds of his conduct towards 
 the triumvirate, &c. 124; rebuilds his houses, 125; 
 made uneasy in his domestic affairs, ib. ; applies the 
 answer of the haraspires to the violences of Clo- 
 dius, 126; persuades the senate to recal Piso and 
 Gahinius from their provinces, 127 ; defends Corn. 
 Balbus and M. Calius, ib. ; writes a poem in com- 
 pliment to Caesar, 128 ; engages Lucceius to write 
 the histor)' of his acts, ib. ; speaks his invective ora- 
 tion ag.ainst Piso, 131 ; is present at Pompey's shows, 
 and defends Gallus Caninius, 132 ; finishes his Pala- 
 tine house, and prepares an inscription for it, and for 
 the temple of Tellus, ib. ; his quarrel and reconci- 
 liation with Ciassus, 133 ; finishes his piece on the 
 Complete Orator,ib.; composes a treatise on Politics, 
 135 ; enters into an intimacy with Caesar, ib. ; writes 
 a series of letters to Trebatius in Gaul, 136 ; sends 
 a Greek poem on his consulship to Caesar, and writes 
 an epic poem in honour of him, 138 ; defends Plan- 
 cius, 140 ; and Vatinius, ib. ; gives evidence against 
 Gahinius, 141 ; defends him in a second trial, 142; 
 apologises for that conduct, ib. ; defends C. Rabirius, 
 143; accepts Pompey's lieutenancy in Spain, but 
 resigns it, 144 ; begins a correspondence of letters 
 "with Curio, 146; elected into the college of augurs, 
 >147 ; uses his utmost endeavours in promoting Milo 
 
 to the consulship, 147; not deterred from undertak- 
 ing Milo's defence, 149; accuses the tribune Bursa, 
 152 ; writes his treatise on Laws, ib. ; decides a dis- 
 pute about the inscription prepared by Pompey for 
 his new temple, 153 ; succeeds to the government of 
 Cilicia against his will, ib.; not pleased with his provin- 
 cial government, 1.54 ; sets forward towards it, ib. ; 
 sends an account to Atticus of Pomponia's behaviour 
 to bis brother, ib. ; has an interview with Pompey 
 at Taientum, 155 ; arrives at Athens, and lodges 
 with Aristus, ib. ; writes to C. Memmius, in favour 
 of the Epicureans, ib. ; rallies Trebatius on his 
 turning Epicurean, 156 ; sets forward towards Asia, 
 ib. , hinds at Ephesus, 157; arrives at Ijnodicca, and 
 enters upon his command, ib. ; forbids all expense 
 to be made upon himself or company, by tlie cities 
 through which he passed, ib. ; secures his province 
 from the inroads of the Parthians, ib. ; takee king 
 Ariobai-zanes under bis protection, 158 ; refuses to 
 accept any present from him, ib. ; solicits him to 
 pay his debt to Brutus with the money offered to 
 himself, ib. ; frees the Salaminians from the oppres- 
 sions of Scaptius, Brutus's agent, 159 ; complains of 
 Brutus to Atticus, ib. ; saluted emperor by his army, 
 160; takes Pindenissum, 161; receives hostages 
 from the Tiburani, ib. ; entertains thoughts of 3 
 triumph, sends an account of his e.\'pedition to Cato, 
 ib. ; has a public thanksgiving decreed to him, ib. ; 
 is displeased with Cato, for refusing his vote to it, 
 162 ; sends his son and nepliew to king Deiotarus's 
 court, ib. ; governs his province with singular mode- 
 ration and probity, ib. ; disgusts his predecessor 
 Appius by it, 163; resolves to assist Appius when 
 impeached by his son-inlavv Dolabella, 165 ; begs 
 of the consuls by letter not to prolong his govern- 
 ment, 167 ; commits his province to his quwstor, 
 ib. ; calls at Rhodes on his return, 168; is much 
 affected with the news of Hortensius's death, ib. ; 
 arrives at Athens, ib. ; resolves to sue for a triumph, 
 169 ; has an interview witb Pompey, 170 ; solicits 
 an accommodation between him and Caesar, 171 ; 
 arrives at Rome, ib. ; has the command of Capua 
 committed to him. but resigns it, 173 ; has an inter- 
 view with Caesar, IbU ; prt>>c' ^'' C'ae^ar, Antony, 
 &c. , not to follow Pompey, 181 ; resolves to go after 
 him, 182 ; has a conference with Servius Siilpicius, 
 184 ; goes to Pompey, 185 ; his behaviour in that 
 camp, and sentiments of the war, 186 ; some of his 
 jokes upon the management of it, n. ", ib. ; he 
 refuses the command of it after the battle of Phar- 
 salia, 189 ; had like to have been killed for it by 
 ypung Pompey, ib. ; returns to Italy, ib.; finds his 
 domestic affairs in great disorder, ib. ; uneasy in his 
 residence at Brundisium, 192 ; received kindly by 
 Ca;sar, returns to Rome, 194 ; resumes his studies, 
 and enters into a strict friendship with Varro, 195; 
 puts aw.ay his wife Terentia, ib. ; marries Publilia, 
 196 ; his railleries on C.Tsar's administration, 11. '", 
 ib. ; caressed by Caesar and his friends, 197 ; writes 
 a book in praiseof Cato, 199 ; publishes his Orator, 
 200 ; returns thanks to Caesar for the pardon of M. 
 Jlarcellus, ib. ; defends Ligarius, 202 ; sends his 
 son to Athens, 204; exceedingly afflicted by the 
 death of his daughter, ib. ; resolves to build a temple 
 to her, 207 ; his reasons for it, n. ', ib. ; applies 
 himself closely to the study of philosophy, 210 ; 
 publishes a piece called Hortensius, another on 
 the Philosophy of the Academy, ib. ; his treatise 
 De Finibus, 211 ; his Tusculan Disputations, ib. ; 
 writes a funeral encomium on Porcia, Cato's sister, 
 Y
 
 322 
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CIC:ERO. 
 
 211 ; is pressed to wiite sniiu-tliinfj to Cocsar, but 
 <liscouraf,'ed by the dirtlciilty of it, 212 ; defends king 
 Deiotiirus, 214 ; cntertuins Caisar at liis house, 215 ; 
 how fur ac-ccssory to Cxsar's duatii, 223 ; urges the 
 conspirators to support tiiat act by vigorous measures, 
 225 ; leaves Rome, dissatisfied witli the indolence 
 of his friends, 227 ; disgusted with Cleopatra, in an 
 interview with her, 228 ; endeavonrs to draw 
 Hirtius and Pansa to the interests of the republic, 
 230 ; writes his treatise on tiie Nature of the Ciods, 
 on Divination, 235 ; on tiie advantages of Old Age, 
 on Friendship, 23G ; on Fate, his Anecdote, 23G ; 
 approaches towards Rome, but is dissuaded from 
 entering it, ib. ; obtains an honorary lieutenancy, 
 and resolves to visit his son at Athens, 237 ; libours 
 to reconcile Hirtius to the rons])irat(irs, ib. ; assists 
 at a conference with Brutus and his friends, 238 ; 
 begins to cherish Octavins as a check to Antony, ib.; 
 begins his Book of Otfiiics, ib. ; and an oration 
 adapted to the times, ib. ; takes iiis leave of Atticus 
 ■uith great tenderness, ib. ; sends him his piece on 
 Glorv, 23!) ; some accovint of that ]iiccc, n ^, ib. ; 
 sets forward towards Athens, 211 ; writes hisTreatisc 
 of Topics at sea, ib. ; his manner of writing prefaces, 
 n. ', 212 ; encouraged by good news from Rome, 
 lie drops the pursuit of his voyage, ib. ; has an inter- 
 view with Brutus, ib. ; and arrives at Rome, ib. ; 
 delivers tho first of his Philippics, 243 ; retires to 
 Najjles, composes his second Philippic, 244 ; consents 
 to support Octavins, on certain conditions, 245 ; 
 finishes his Book of Offices, 24G ; writes his Stoical 
 Paradoxes, ib. ; comes back to Rome upon Antony's 
 leaving it, 247 ; speaks his third Philippic, 248 ; 
 his fourth, ib. ; publishes his second Philippic, ib. ; 
 speaks his fifth, 249 ; called for by tho people to give 
 them an account of the deliberations of the senate, 
 
 251 ; speaks his sixth Philippic, ib. ; his seventh, 
 
 252 ; opposed by Calenus in all his motions against 
 Antony, procures a decree to put on the sagum, or 
 habit of war, 253 ; speaks his eighth Philippic, ib. ; 
 his ninth, 254 ; his tenth, 256 ; his eleventh, 259 ; 
 his statue of Minerva dedicated in the capitol, struck 
 by lightning, and repaired by the senate, 261 ; speaks 
 his twelfth Philippic, ib. ; his thirteenth, 263 ; his 
 noble struggle in defence of the republic's liberty, 
 266 ; his pains to engage Lepidus, Pollio, and Plan- 
 cus, in the same cause, ib. ; mortifies Servilins in 
 the senate, 268 ; disturbed by a report of his design- 
 ing to make himself master of the city, 269 ; carried 
 in triumph to the capitol, on the news of Antony's 
 defeat, 271 ; speaks his fourteenth Philippic, ib. ; 
 presses Brutus to come into Italy, 274 ; decrees an 
 ovation to Octavius, with public honours to Hirtius, 
 Pansa, Aquila, &c.,ib. ; expostulates with D. Brutus, 
 on Antony's escape, 275 ; blames M. Brutus's cle- 
 mency to C. Antony, ib. ; utterly averse to the 
 consulship of Octavius, 280 ; presses Brutus and 
 Cassius to hasten to Italy, 281 ; his conduct from 
 the time of Ccesar's death vindicated, and com- 
 pared with Brutus's, 283, 288 ; his own account 
 of it in a letter to Brutus, 284 ; cleared from 
 a calumny, intimated in a letter of Brutus, n. ^, 
 288 ; proscribed by the triumvirate, 289 ; might 
 have escaped into Macedonia, ib, ; had early notice 
 of his danger, embarks at Asturia, 290 ; preferred 
 death to the fatigues of camps and the sea, forced 
 by his slaves to attempt a flight, overtaken by 
 Jiis pursuers, ib. ; orders his slaves not to resist, 
 ib. ; meets his death with the greatest firmness ; 
 bis head and hands cut ofT and placed upon the 
 
 rostra, 291 ; the spot where he fell visited by tra- 
 vellcLS, ib. ; why Virgil and Horace make no men- 
 tion of him, ib, ; Livy's character of him, and 
 Augustus's, ib. ; Paterculus's encomium of him, ib. ; 
 all the succeeding writers vie with each other ia 
 praising him, ib. ; of his person, and care of his 
 health, 292 ; his clothes and dress, ib. ; his domestic 
 and social character, ib. ; his high notions of friend- 
 ship; of irratitnde, 28!i ; of placability to enemies, 
 ib. ; his splenilid manner of living, 293; his gay 
 and S])rightly temper, ib. ; thought to affect raillery 
 too mucli, ib. ; as famous for wit as for eloquence, 
 il). ; a collection of his sayings published by Trebo- 
 nius, ib. ; a more coi)ion8 one by Tiro after his 
 death, ib. ; an account of the number, situation, and 
 conditii>n of his several villas, 294 ; an epigram on 
 his academy or Putcolan Villa, ib. ; his furnituro 
 rich and elegant ; a cedar tabic of his remaining 
 in Pliny's timc,295 ; the source of his great wealthy 
 ib, ; his moral character unblemished ; he had no 
 intrigues with the ladies, 295, 296 ; was thought 
 too sanguine in prosperity, desponding in adversity, 
 2U() ; the love of glory his chief passion, ib. ; tho 
 nature of that passiim explained and vindicated, ib. ; 
 his great learning in every branch of science, 298 ; 
 his works the most precious remains of antiquity, ib, ; 
 his industry incredible, ib. ; a character of liis let- 
 ters, familiar, jocose, political, reconmiendatory, ib. ; 
 preferable to the letters of all who lived after him ; 
 compared particularly with Pliny's, 299 ; his histo- 
 rical works lost, 300 ; his plan for a general history, 
 ib. ; no remains of his poetry but some scattered 
 fragments, ib. ; these show a genius, ib. ; a character 
 of his eloquence, 301 ; compared with that of De- 
 mosthenes, ib. •; and that of his contemporaries who 
 pretended to an Attic taste, ib. ; his philosophy- 
 drawn from the Academy, 302 ; an account of it as 
 explained by himself, 303 ; a judgment on a va- 
 rious reading in his treatise on the Nature of the Gods, 
 n. ', 303 ; he became a convert to the New Academy, 
 304 ; the difficulty of discovering his real sentiments 
 stated, ib. ; why they are not to be sought in his 
 orations, ib. ; which yet are good testimonies of 
 facts, n. ', 305 ; his letters lay open his heart, but 
 with some exceptions, ib. ; his philosophiciil works 
 give a history of the ancient philosophy, ib. ; the 
 key to his proper sentiments, ib, ; he has declared 
 no precise opinions in natural philosophy, ib. ; yet 
 •was acquainted with some of the fundamental prin- 
 ciples of it, which pass for the discoveries of modern 
 ages, 305 ; he believed a God, a providence, the 
 immortality of the soul, and a future state of rewards 
 and punishments, 305, 306 ; his opinion of the reli- 
 gion of Rome considered, 307 ; an observation of 
 Polybius upon it, n, ^, ib. ; his own religion divine, 
 308 ; he deduced the origin of duty, moral obliga- 
 tion, and the eternal difference of good and ill, from 
 the will of God, ib. &c. ; his system of religion and 
 morality, contained in his books on Government, on 
 Laws, and on Offices, 309 ; the noblest system ever 
 published to the heathen world, ib, ; an objection to 
 his belief of it stated and answered, ib., &c. ; his 
 rule of following nature explained, n. ', ib, ; his 
 political principles and conduct illustrated, 310, &c. ;. 
 compared with Cato's, 311, 312; with Atticus's, 
 311 ; his rule of managing the men of power, ib.,^ 
 &c, ; his true principles always displayed themselves- 
 when he was at liberty to exert them, 312 ; hii 
 death violent but not untimely, ib. ; what he seemedl 
 to have wished, ib. ; the last act of his life glorious, ib.
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 023 
 
 Cicero, the son, invested with the "manly gown" at 
 Arpinum, 180 ; cairitd by his father to Pon.pey's 
 camp, 185; commands a wing of Pompey's horse, 
 189 ; sent to Athens to study under Cratippus, 204 ; 
 much commended and beloved by Brutus, 257 ; en- 
 trusted with the command of bis hoisc in Macedonia, 
 258 ; defeats C. Antony and takes him prisoner, 
 2G5 ; his character injuriously treated by posterity, 
 ib. ; a true account of it, and a summary view of 
 his life, 312, &c. 
 
 Cicero, Q-, attends his brother into Cilicia, as one of 
 his lieutenants, 154 ; resolves to follow him into 
 Pompey's camp, 185 ; obtains pardon from Caesar, 
 189 ; reviles bis brother in his letters and speeches 
 to Caesar's friends, 190 ; gives a disadvantageous 
 character of tlie consuls, Pansa and Hirtius, 273 ; 
 is proscribed by the triumvirate, 290 ; conceals 
 himself in Rome, but is discovered and killed, toge- 
 ther with his son, 315 
 
 Cicero, Q., the son, gives information to Caesar of his 
 uncle's disaffection to him, 181 ; makes an oration 
 against his uncle, 190; abuses both the uncle and 
 his father to please Caesar's friends, 212 ; deserts 
 Antony and is reconciled to his father and uncle, 
 240 ; is presented to Brutus, 241 ; undertakes to 
 accuse Antony to the people, ib. ; is abused by 
 Antony in his edicts, 247 ; is proscribed, taken in 
 Rome, and killed with his father, 315 
 
 Cincius, M. Trib., his law prohibiting patrons to take 
 money or presents from their clients, 16 
 
 Cinna, the consul, driven out of Rome and deposed by 
 his colleague Octavius, recalls Marius, enters Rome 
 with a superior force and puts all his enemies to the 
 sword, 7 ; killed in a mutiny of his soldiers, 9 
 
 Cinna, L. Cornelius, prsetor, applauds the act of killing 
 Caesar in a speech to the people, 224 ; in danger of 
 Lis life from Casar's veteran soldiers, ib. 
 
 Cinna, Helvius, tribune, mistiiken for L. Cornelius 
 Cinna, and torn to pieces by the rabble, 226 
 
 Cispius, tribune, beaten by Clodius, 106 
 
 Civic crown, what, &c., 14 
 
 Classical writers, why so called, 35 n. 
 
 Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, flies from Rome upon the 
 death of Caosar, 228 ; her conference there with 
 Cicero, ib. 
 
 Clodius, P., his character, 68 ; profanes the mysteries 
 of the Bona Dea, ib. ; his trial for it, 69 ; becomes 
 a declared enemy to Cicero, 71 ; his project to get 
 himself chosen tribune by the means of an adoption, 
 76 ; the law of his adoption carried by the assistance 
 of Csesar and Pompey, 80 ; his pretended quarrel 
 ■with Caesar, 81 ; is elected a tribune, and threatens 
 Cicero, 86 ; promises Pompey to be at his devotion, 
 ib. ; does not suffer Bibulus to speak to the people 
 on laying down his consulship, 87 ; bargains with 
 Piso and Gabinius to oppress Cicero, 88 ; endeavours 
 to gain the people by popular laws, 89 ; insults 
 Cicero, ib. ; produces the consuls to give their opi- 
 nion on Cicero's consulship, 90 ; repeals the ^lian 
 and Fusian laws, 91 ; publishes a law for Cicero's 
 oanishment, 93 ; demolishes Cicero's houses, ib. ; 
 persecutes his wife and children, 94 ; poisons Q. Seius 
 Posthumus for refusing to sell his house to him, ib. ; 
 procures a law to depose Ptolemy, king of Cyprus, 
 charges Cato with the execution of it, 95 ; is con- 
 gratulated upon it by Caesar, 96 ; affronts Pompey 
 by seizing Tigranes his prisoner, 100 ; forms a plot 
 against Pompey's life, ib. ; attacks the triumvirate 
 and Gabinius, 104 ; drives Fabricius and Cispius 
 the tribunes out of the forum with great slaughter, 
 
 106 ; impeached by Milo, screened by Metellus, 
 
 107 ; endeavours to raise fresh tumults against 
 Cicero, 112: opposes the restitution of his Palatinu 
 house, 115; couiuiits great outrages against Cicero 
 and Milo, 116 ; chosen tcdile, 120 ; impeaches Milo, 
 ib. ; apjdies the answer of the haruspiccs to tiie 
 case of Cicero, 126; impeaches the tribunes Snffe- 
 nas, C. Cato, and Procilius, 140 ; killed by Milo, 
 148 
 
 Clodius, Se.xt., tried and banished for his violences at 
 Clodius's funeral, 151 
 
 Consuls, the metlioii of choosing them, 41 
 
 Cornelius, C, tribune, raises great disorders in the city 
 by the publication of new laws, .35 ; accused for 
 practices against the state, defended by Cicero, 39 
 
 Cornificius, proconsul of Africa, continued firm to the 
 cause of liberty, 268 
 
 Corradus, Seb., his Life of Cicero, what, pref. siv 
 
 Cotta, an orator of the first character, 16 ; his way of 
 speaking, ib. ; obtains the consulship, 17; moves 
 the senate to recall Cicero, 105 
 
 Crassus, L. the first orator of his time, directed the 
 method of Cicero's education, 3 
 
 Crassus, M. obtains the decree of an ovation and laurel 
 crown for putting an end to the Servile war, 20 ; his 
 riches and manner of raising them, 21 ; chosen con- 
 sul with Pompey. ib, ; supposed to be iu <i conspiracy 
 with Catiline, Cajsar, &c. , supports Piso against 
 Pompey, 37 ; accused of a correspondence with 
 Catiline, 62 ; corrupts the judges in Clodius's trial, 
 70 ; discomposes Pompey by praising Cicero's acts, 
 72 ; prepares for his Eastern expedition in dcfianca 
 of the auspices, 133 ; reconciled to Cicero, ib.; his 
 death, 146 
 
 Crassus, P., the son, his death and character, 147 
 
 Cratippus, the Peripatetic, prxceptor to young Cicero 
 at Athens, 204, 312, 313 
 
 Crcmutius, Cordus, put to death by Tiberius for prais- 
 ing Brutus, 291 
 
 Crete, subjected to the Romans, 20 
 
 Crown, laurel, the ornament of a triumph, 20 
 
 Crown, myrtle, of an ovation, 20 
 
 Curio, C. Scribonius, consul, an orator of a neculiar 
 action and manner of speaking, 17 
 
 Curio, the son, the most active opposer of the trium- 
 virate, 84 ; clears himself from the charge of a plot, 
 85 ; enters into a correspondence of letters with 
 Cicero; his character, 146. 
 
 Curio obtains the tribunate, changes his party and de- 
 clares for Caesar, 167; flies to Caesar's camp, 171 ; 
 drives Cato out of Sicily ; is destroyed with his 
 whole army in Africa, 1 92 ; his character, ib. 
 
 Curius, one of Catiline's conspirators, discovers their 
 counsels to Cicero by Fulvia his mistress, 49 ; ac- 
 cuses Caesar, and claims the reward decreed to tlio 
 first discoverer of the plot, 66 
 
 D. 
 
 Damasippus, praetor of the city, kills the principal se- 
 nators by order of young Marius, 9 
 
 Decemviri, the guardians of the Sibylline hooks, 
 who, 307 
 
 Deiotarus, king of Galatia ; a faithful ally of Rome: 
 prepares to join with Cicero against the Parthiang, 
 157; deprived of part of his dominions by Caesar, 
 214 ; accused of a design .against Caesar's life, ib. ; 
 defended by Brutus and by Cicero, 215 ; purchased 
 his dominions again of Antony, 234 
 Y 2
 
 324 
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 Demetrius, master of rnetoiic to Cicero at Athens, 12 
 
 Dictatorship, some account of that office, 10 
 
 Dion Cassias ; tlic grounds of liis malignity to Cicero, 
 
 Jiref. xiii 
 Dioilotus, a Stoic, lived with Cicero, U 
 Dionjsius, of Magnesia, a famed rhetorician, attended 
 
 Cicero in liis travels, 13 
 Dionysiiis, tutor to the two young Cicoros, 162 
 Divination, artificial and natural; what, 1507 
 Divination, a spcccli of Cicero so called; wliy, 235 
 Divorce, a custom mentioned on that occasion, 196, 
 
 Dohihella, P. Cornelius, his character; marries Cicero's 
 (laiiglilcr, 1G4 ; impeaches Appius, ih. ; solicits 
 Cicero to desert I'ompey, 109; raises great tumults 
 in Rome, 190; is divorced from Tullia, ib. ; makes 
 a speech in the senate against Antony, 21 G ; assumes 
 the consnlsliip upon Ctesar's death, 22'.) ; demolishes 
 tlic altar erected to Caesar, and acts vigorously on 
 tlio side of liberty, ib. ; bribed by Antony to sub- 
 vert the republic, 235 ; leaves the city to get pos- 
 session of Syria against Cassius, 258 ; surjirises 
 Smyrna by stratagem, and puts Trebonius to death, 
 ib. ; is declared a public enemy, 259 ; pursued and 
 defeated by Cassius ; kills liimself, 276 
 
 Domitius, taken and dismissed by Caisar at Corfinium, 
 175 
 
 Drusus, the tribune, assassinated, 5 
 
 K. 
 
 Eleusiniin Mysteries, 12; some account of them, 
 n. '^^ ib. 
 
 Emperor, the signification of that title, 7i ' "iP 
 
 Epicureans, their reverence for the ruins of Epicurus's 
 walls, 155; many of them highly esteemed by 
 Cicero, 156; the greatest part of the nobility and 
 of Cicero's friends of that sect, n. ', 310 
 
 Episcopus, a remark on the use of that name, n. ', 173 
 
 Equestrian dignity, or the order of knights, what it 
 was, n. ^, 1 ; the judgment of causes taken from 
 them and restored to the senate, 10 ; recover their 
 right of judicature, 31 ; obtain distinct seats in the 
 theatres by Otho's law, 34 
 
 Eraua, the capital of Amanus, makes a stout defence 
 against Cicero, 160 
 
 Evocati, what they were, n. "^f 270 
 
 F. 
 
 Fabu, sister to Cicero's wife Terentia, one of the 
 
 vestal virgins, tried for incest with Catiline and 
 
 acquitted, 41 
 Fabius, Q., cliosen consul by Caesar, 214 ; triumphs, 
 
 ib.; his death, 216 
 Fabricius, Franc, his Life of Cicero what, pref. xiv 
 Fabricius, the tribune, driven out of the forum by 
 
 Clodius, 106 
 Fathers, Latin, made great use of Cicero's writings, 
 
 n. S 210 
 Favonius, tlic mimic of Cato, 161 
 Fever, pleuritic, the common distemper of ancient 
 
 and modern Rome, n. s, 7 
 Fibrenus, a little river running through Cicero's 
 
 estate, 2 
 Flaccus, L. Valerius, accused of mal-administration, 
 
 defondwl by Cicero, 82 
 Flaccus, M. Lenius, entertains Cicero in his exile, 97 
 
 Flavins, the tribune, commits the consnl Metellus to 
 
 prison, 7.5 
 Forum, tlie great square of Rome, 4 
 
 G. 
 
 Gabinius, a., tribune, proposes a law to grant an ex 
 tiaordinary commission to I'ompey, 33 ; is chosen 
 consul, 88 ; combines with Clodius to opjiress 
 Cicero, ib. ; his character, ib. ; rejects the petition 
 of thekniglits in favour of Cicero, banishes L. Lamia 
 for his 7.eal in Cicero's service, 89 ; brags of liaving 
 been the favourite of Catiline, 93 ; fights for Poin- 
 jiey against Clodius, 100; goes to liis province of 
 Syria, 105 ; sends an account of liis victory over 
 Aristobulus, but is refused tlie lionour of a tlianks- 
 giving, 126; recalled from his province by the 
 senate, 127 ; restores king Ptolemy, 130; returns 
 to Rome, is impeached of treason, &c., 141; is de- 
 fended by Cicero, 142 
 
 Oallius, Q., defended by Cicero, 40 
 
 Gaul, Narbonese, the general eliaracter of its people 
 by Cicero, 33 
 
 Gellius, L. and Cn. Lentulus, exercise the office of 
 censors with rigour, 31 
 
 Gnipho, a celebrated rhetorician, kept a school in 
 Rome, 37 
 
 Gracchi, said to derive their eloquence from their 
 mother Cornelia, 3 
 
 Greeks, the best masters of eloquence, 3 
 
 Greek learning, in great vogue at Rome, 10 
 
 Greek writers, to be read witii caution on Roman 
 affairs, pref. xii 
 
 H. 
 
 IT/vDRiAN died in Cicero's Puteolan villa, n. 295 
 
 Ilaruspices, their answer concerning certain prodigies, 
 126; tlieir office and character, 307 
 
 Helvia, Cicero's mother, rich and well descended, 
 never once mentioned by Cicero, a story told of her 
 by Quintus, 1 
 
 Hermathenae and Hermeraclse, what sort of figures, 38 
 
 Herophilus, an impostor, pretending to be the grandson 
 of C. Maiius, banished by Caesar, 210 ; put to death 
 by Anton}-, 227 
 
 Hirtius writes against Cicero's Cato, 199 ; sends 
 Cicero an account of Caesars success in Spain, 212; 
 defends Cicero against his nephew Quintus, ib. ; 
 marches with his army against Antony, 252 ; gains 
 a considerable victory over him, 270 ; totally routs 
 him in a second engagement, in which he himself 
 was killed, 272 ; his character, 273 
 
 History of the lives of great men, the most entertain- 
 ing, pref. X.; a plan for a general history drawn 
 by Cicero, pref. xi. ; the author's method of com- 
 piling the present history, pref. xii. ; a general rule 
 of writing it, ib. xiii 
 
 Horace, a passage in him illustrated, n. P, 138 
 
 Hortensius, the reigning orator at the bar, a volunteer 
 in the Marsic war, commands a regiment, 6; raises 
 Cicero's emulation, 8; his way of speaking, 16; 
 called the Player for his theatrical action, 22 ; the 
 king of the forum, 23 ; opposes the Gabinian law, 
 34 ; suspected by Cicero of treachery towards him, 
 94 ; his death and character, 168 
 
 Hypsaeus, impeached of bribery and treated with in- 
 humanity by Pompcy, 152
 
 indp:x to the life of cicero. 
 
 325 
 
 Idolatuy, one of its sources intimated, n. ', 207 ; 
 
 Jerusalem besieged and taken by Pompey, 72 
 
 Jews, their number and credit at Rome, 83 ; zealously 
 
 attached to Csesar, hated Pompey for his affront to 
 
 their temple, 226 
 Interrex, what sort of magistrate, 145 
 Interregnum, the longest ever known in Rome, 14G 
 Juha, king, supports the Pompeians in Africa, 192 
 Julia, Ca-sar's daughter and Pompey's wife, dies in 
 
 childbed ; the unhappy consequences of her death, 
 
 144 
 
 K. 
 
 Kalendar, Roman, reformed by Csesar, n. •", IRd 
 
 L. 
 
 Labienus, T., tribune, suborned by Cossar to accuse 
 C. Rabirius, 46 ; opens Caesar's way to the liigh 
 priesthood, 47 ; one of Caesar's lieutenants, revolts 
 to Pompey, 173 
 
 Laslia, the wife of Scxvola the augur, eminent fojr her 
 elegance of speaking, 10 
 
 Laterensis, lieutenant to Lepidus, informs Plancus of 
 his treachery, 278 ; lays violent hands upon him- 
 self, ib. 
 
 Law, raised its professors to the highest honours, 4 ; 
 Cincian, 16 ; Gabinian, 33 ; of L. Otho, 34 ; Cal- 
 purnian, 35 ; Manilian, ib. ; Papian, 39 ; jElian 
 and Fusian, 91 
 
 Laws, some new ones occasion disturbances in the city, 
 33 ; two proposed by Cicero, 62 
 
 Legacies usually bequeathed by clients to their patrons, 
 295 
 
 Legatio libera, what, 62 
 
 Lentulus, one of Catiline's conspirators, 40; his cha- 
 racter, ib. ; strangled in prison, 61 
 
 Lentulus, P. Cornelius, consul, moves the senate fir 
 the restoration of Cicero, 101 ; the chief promoter 
 of Cicero's return. 111; ambitious of the commission 
 of replacing king Ptolemy, 118; leaves his affairs 
 to Cicero and sets out for Cilicia, 119 ; lays aside 
 the thoughts of restoring Ptolemy, ib. ; taken at 
 Corfinium and dismissed by Caesar, 176 
 
 Lepidus, M., enters into a civil war against his col- 
 league Q. Catulus, 15; managed by Antony; seizes 
 the high-priesthood after Caesar's death, 225 ; offers 
 honourable terms to S. Pompey, ib. ; writes to the 
 senate to exhort them to a peace with Antony, 263; 
 suspected of a secret understanding witli him, ib. ; 
 excuses his sending succours to him, 274 ; acts a 
 treacherous part wth Plancus, and joins camps with 
 Antony, 277 ; declared a public enemy, 278 ; forms 
 the league of the second triumvirate with Ceesar and 
 Antony, 288 ; proscribes his own brother in ex- 
 change for Cicero, 289 ; a weak man, the dupe of 
 his two colleagues, deserted his true interest, stripped 
 of his dignity by Octavius, 290 
 
 Letters of Cicero to Atticus,33, 38, 39, 73, 104, 154, 
 158, 159,160,161,162, 163, 167,168,169, 170, 
 171, 172,173,175, 176,178,179, 180, 183,184, 
 190, 193, 195, 199, 204, 205, 207, 212, 213, 214, 
 215, 223, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 234, 236, 230, 
 239, 241, 242, 246, 247 ; to Q. Metdlus Celer, 
 65 ; to Pompey, 66; to Terentia, 102 ; to Gallus, 
 
 117; to Lentulus, 124, 142 ; to Lucceius, 128; to 
 M. Marius, 132; to J. Cwsar, 136 ; to Q. Cicero, 
 141 ; to Curio, 146, 148; to Marius, 152; to 
 Jlcmmius, 155 ; to Trebatius, 156 ; to M. Caelius, 
 15G, 166; to Cato, 158; to P.apirius Patus, 161, 
 196, 197, 198; to Appius, 164; to Curio, 167; 
 to Tiro, 169; to Pompey, 177; to Ca;sar, 179; 
 190; to Varro, 194, 195, 198; to Plancus, 196; 
 to Ampins, 198; to Serv. Sulpicius, 200, 206; 
 to Ligarius, 202; to Cassius, 213, 244, 253, 
 260, 282; to Curius, 216; to Dolabella, 229; 
 to ISIatius, 233 ; to Lepidus, 265 ; to Plancus, ib. 
 266, 267 ; to M. Brutus, 258, 265, 268, 274, 
 275, 276, 279, 281, 284 ; to D. Brutus, 275,277, 
 280 ; to Cornificius, 283; of M. Caelius to Cicero, 
 156, 165. 181, 187; of Cato to Cicero, 162; of 
 Pompey to Domitius, 175; to Cicero, 177; of 
 Caesar to Cicero, 176, 179, 181; of Balbus to 
 Cicero, 178, 180 ; of Balbus and Oppius to Cicero, 
 179 ; of Antony to Cicero, 181, 183, 227 ; to Hir- 
 tius and Octavius, 263 ; of Dolabella to Cicero, 
 187; of Serv. Sulpicius to Cicero, 205,208; of 
 Cassius to Cicero, 212, 268 ; of Matins to Cicero, 
 233 ; of Brutus and Cassius to M. Antony, 235, 
 244 ; of Hirtius to Cicero, 237 ; of M. Brutus to 
 the consuls, 256; to Cicero, 257, 279, 286; of 
 Plancus to Cicero, 267, 274, 277, 278 ; of Pollio 
 to Cicero. 267, 274 ; of Galba to Cicero, 270 ; of 
 Lepidus to Cicero, 274 ; and to the senate, 278 ; 
 of D. Brutus to Cicero, 275, 277, 280 ; of Tre- 
 bonius to Cicero, 236, 313 ; of Cicero, the son, to 
 Tiro, 313 
 Letters of Cicero to Atticus, the memoirs of those 
 
 times, pref. xv 
 Ligarius, pardoned by Caesar, 202 ; his character, 203 
 Livy, called a Pompeian by Augustus, 291 
 Lollius, M., one of the chiefs in Clodius's mob, 112 
 Lucceius, Cicero's friend, a celebrated writer, 128; 
 
 undertakes the life of Cicero, ib. 
 LucuUus, L., defeats the violences of the tribune L. 
 Quinctius, 19 ; obtains the command of the Mithri- 
 datic war, 20 ; drives Mithridates out of the king- 
 dom of Pontus, and gains many glorious victories, 
 36 ; his soldiers mutiny against him, ib. ; he tri- 
 umphs, retires from public affairs, his character, 63 
 Luperci, instituted in honour of Caesar, 217 
 Lupus, tribune, proposes the annulling of Caesar's act 
 
 for the division of the Campaniau lands, 118 
 Lustrieal day, what it was, 2 
 
 Lyceum, a gj-mnasiuni at Athens, where Aristotle 
 opened his school, 302 
 
 M. 
 
 Macer, L., accused of oppression, and condemned by 
 Cicero, the story of his death, 35 
 
 Mamurra, commander of Caesar's artillery, his cha- 
 racter, n. ', 215 
 
 Manilius, tribune, raises disturbances in the city by a 
 new law, publishes a law to transfer the command 
 of the Mithridatic war from Lucullus to Pompey, 
 35; accused of corruption, and defended by Cicero, 
 37 
 
 Manlius, raises an army for tlie service of Catiline, 48 ; 
 declared a public enemy, 52 
 
 Manly gown, at what age given, &c. 4 
 
 Marcellinus, consul, a firm opposer of the triumviratCj 
 treats Pompey roughly, 121 ; endeavours to alarm 
 the city with the danger of his power, ]29
 
 326 
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 Marcellus, M., consul, Casar's great eiicuiy, moves 
 the senate for several decrees against liiu), 1G5; 
 ])arcloneii by Cocsar after the battle of Pliarsalia, 
 :200; stabbed by liis friend and client Magius, 208 ; 
 bis cliaracter, 209 
 
 JIaieellus, C, ronsul, moves for a successor to Caesar, 
 o]>|)oscd by Paullus, his colleague, and Curio, the 
 tiil)unc, 107 
 
 Mariiis, his behaviour in the Marsic war, 6; endea- 
 vours to get tiie command of tiic Mitliridatic war 
 transferred from Sylla to himself, forced to fly, 
 plunges himself into the marshes, where ho is dis- 
 coveiied and preserved by the ))coplo of Minturnum, 
 transports himself to Africa, 7 ; the story of the 
 Gallic soldier sent to kill him thought fabulous, n. 
 ib. ; is recalled and enters Kome, exercises great 
 cruelties, ib.; his death and cliaracter, ib. ; his 
 remains thrown into the river Anio by Sylla, 15 
 
 Jlarius, the son, besieged in Pra;ucste, puts an end to 
 his own life, 9 
 
 Marsic war, called the Italic and Social, some account 
 of it, 5 
 
 Marullus and Ca;sctius, deposed the tribunate by 
 Ca-sar, 217 
 
 Jiatins, an intimate friend of Ca;sar, laments his death, 
 "230 ; undertakes the management of Octavius' 
 shows in honour of Ca;sar, 23'J ; vindicates his con- 
 duct in a letter to Cicero, 233 ; his character, n. \ 
 234 
 
 Jlemmius, C, informs the senate of a strange contract 
 among the consular candidates, 139 
 
 ^lenippus, of Stratonica, an Asiatic orator, accompanies 
 Cicero in his travels, 13 
 
 Mcrula, of Anagnia, erects a statue to Clodius, 96 
 
 Messala, P. Valerius, his character, n. ', 285 
 
 Mctellus, subdues Crete, 20 ; baffled by Sertorius, ib. ; 
 hinders the people from passing judgment on Rabi- 
 rius, 46 
 
 Mctellus, Q. Nepos, tribune, will not suffer Cicero to 
 speak to the people on laying down the consulship, 
 03 ; supported by Caesar against Cicero, 64 ; sus- 
 ]>ended from his office, ib. ; flies to Pompey, ib. ; 
 elected consul, promises to promote Cicero's resto- 
 ration, 101 ; .nets a double part, 108; consents at 
 last to Cicero's return, ib. ; attacked by Clodius's 
 mob, 112; endeavours to screen Clodius from a 
 trial, 117 ; makes his peace with Cicero, and sets 
 out for Spain, 119; endeavours to hinder Caesar 
 from seizing the public treasure, 182 
 
 Metellus, Q. Cacilius, consul, his character, 75 ; com- 
 mitted to prison by Flavins the tribune, ib. ; declares 
 his abhorrence of Clodius's adoption, 77 ; dies sud- 
 denly, supposed to be poisoned, 87 
 
 Milo, tribune, impeaches Clodius, 107 ; buys gladiators 
 to defend himself against him, ib. ; endeavours to 
 bring him to a trial, 117; is impeached by hi-m, 
 120 ; marries Fausta, the daughter of Sylla. 134 ; 
 kills Clodius, 148; is defended by Cicero, 150; 
 banished, 151 ; his death and character, 187 
 
 Mithiidates, king of Pontus, his character, makes war 
 upon the Romans, 6 ; conquers Athens, 8 ; treats M. 
 Aquilius with cruelty, 14; renews the war against 
 Rome, 20 ; driven out of his kingdom of Pontus, 
 36 ; his death, 63 
 
 Mitylene, a city of Lesbos, destroyed by Q. Thurmus, 
 restored by Pompey, 14 
 
 Modena, sustained a memorable siege against Antonv, 
 272 
 
 Molo, the Rhodian, a celebrated teacher of eloquence, 
 gives lectures to Cicero, 8; the first who was ever 
 
 permitted to speak to the Roman senate in Greek, 
 
 10 
 Mongault, Mr., his translation of the letters to Atti- 
 
 cus commended, pref. xv 
 Mucia, the wife of L. Crassus, famous for a delicacy in 
 
 the Latin tongue, 10 
 Murcna, L., consul elect, accused of bribery, defended 
 
 by Cicero, 53 
 
 N. 
 
 Names of Roman families, an account of their oiigin, 2 
 Ninnius, L., tribune, moves tiic senate to change their 
 
 habit on Cicero's account, 89 ; makes a motion to 
 
 recal him, 100 
 Nomenclators, tiicir office, 22 
 
 o. 
 
 Obsidional crown, what, 314 
 
 Octavius, called afterwards Augustus, born in Cicero's 
 consulship, G3 ; presented to Cicero by llirtius and 
 Pansa, 232 ; resolves to assert his rights against the 
 advice of his mother, ib. ; makes a speech to the 
 people from the rostra, ib. ; exhibits public shows 
 in honour of his uncle, ib. ; thwarted in his preten- 
 sions by Antony, 238 ; forms a design against 
 Antony's life, 245 ; raises forces, and promises to 
 be governed by Cicero, ib. ; espoused by the senate 
 upon the recommendation of Cicero, 25 1 ; marches 
 out at the head of his army against Antony, 252 ; 
 gains a complete victory over him, 272; suspected 
 of the deaths of Hirtius and Pansa, 273 ; has an 
 ovation decreed to him, 274 ; forms the design of 
 seizing the empire, ib. ; demands the consulship, 
 280 ; chosen consul with Q. Pedius, ib. ; seeks 
 occasions of quarrelling with the senate and Cicero, 
 ib. ; provides a law to bring to justice all the con- 
 spirators against Caesar, 281 ; forms the league of 
 the second triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus, 
 289 ; his reluctance to saciifice Cicero feigned and 
 artificial, ib. ; more cruel than his colleagues, a sum- 
 mary view of his conduct from the time of CiBsar's 
 death, 290 
 
 Octavius, Cn., deposes Cinna, and is killed, 7 
 
 Orator, his profession what, 5 ; not mercenary, paid 
 with the public honours and preferments, 16 
 
 Oratory of Rome sank with its liberty, 301 ; a false 
 species of it supported by the authority of Pliny, ib. 
 
 Oratory and poetry nearlj' allied, 300 
 
 Orestmus, L. Mucius, the tribune, hinders the pro- 
 mulgation of a law against bribery, 40 ; joins with 
 the enemies of Cicero after having been defended 
 by him, ib. 
 
 Osaces, the Parthian leader, mortally wounded, 160 
 
 Otho, L., publishes a law for assigning separate seats 
 in the theatres to the knights, 34 ; his appearance 
 in the theatre occasions a riot, 45 
 
 Pansa, consul, brought entirely into Cicero's views, 
 249 ; lays Brutus's letters before the senate, 256 ; 
 opposes Cicero's motion in favour of C. Cassius, 
 260 ; recommends pacific measures, and a second 
 embassy to Antony, "261 ; marches with his army 
 ag.ainst Antony, 262 ; engages with him, 270 ; bis 
 death and character, 273
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 327 
 
 Papirius PaetuB, an eminent wit, and correspondent of 
 Cicero, 161 
 
 Papius, C, publishes a law to oblige all strangers to 
 quit the city, 39 
 
 I'lirthians pass the Euphrates, 157; block up C. Cassius 
 in Antioch,butare routed by liim in their retreat, IGO 
 
 Patricians, the proper notions of tliera, n. '', 40 
 
 Paullus L. ^niilius, consul, bribed by Caesar, 107 
 
 Pcdius, Q., consul, shocked by the terrors of the pro- 
 scription, dies suddenly, 289 
 
 Peripatetics, why so called; their doctrines the same 
 with those of the Old Academy, 302 
 
 Pcrperna, Lieutenant to Sertorius, whom he kills by 
 treachery, and usurps his place, is taken prisoner, 
 and put to death by Pompey, 20 
 
 Petreius urges Antony to tight with Catiline, destroys 
 Catiline and his whole ai'my, 61 
 
 Phsedrus, the Epicurean, one of Cicero's first masters 
 in philosophy, 5 
 
 Pliilippus, sent ambassador to Antony, 251 ; returns 
 with Antony's answer, 20 3 
 
 Philo, an eminent Academic, master to Cicero, 8. 
 
 Pindenissum, besieged and taken by Cicero, 161 
 
 Pisidians, famous for divining by auspices, n. ^, 303 
 
 Piso, Cn., obtains the government of Spain, enters into 
 an engaarement against the state with Ca'sar, is killed, 
 37 
 
 Piso, C., defended by Cicero, and acquitted, 54 
 
 Piso, M. Pupius, consul, a favourer of P. Clodius, his 
 character, 71 
 
 Piso, L. Calpurnius, elected consul, father-in-law to 
 Caesar, gives Cicero marks of his confidence, 88 ; 
 joins with Clodius against him, his character, ib. ; 
 is solicited by Cicero to espouse his cause, but 
 «xcuses himself, 89 ; declares his resolution to sup- 
 port Clodius, 91 ; boasts that he was cousin to 
 Cethegus, 94 ; fights for Clodius against Pompey, 
 
 101 ; obtains the province of Macedonia, 105; re- 
 called from it by the senate, 127 ; returns to Rome, 
 130; roughly treated by Cicero in an invective 
 speech, 131 ; chosen censor with Appius, 165 ; sent 
 ambassador to Antony, 251 ; returns, 2o3 
 
 Piso, Cicero's son-in-law, zealously devoted to him, 
 
 102 ; his death and character, 110 
 
 Piso, Cn., a young nobleman, charges Pompey with 
 many crimes against the state, 129 
 
 Piancius, Cn., quaestor of Macedonia, receives Cicero 
 at Dynhachium, and conducts him to Thessalonica, 
 98; is defended by him. 140 
 
 Plaricus, proconsul of Gaul, recommends a peace with 
 Antony, 265 ; makes strong professions of his fidelity 
 to tlie republic, 266 ; passes tlie Rhone with his 
 army, 267 ; sends repeated assurances to Cicero of 
 Ills resolution to oppress Antony, 274 ; receives intel- 
 ligence of Lepidus's treachery, 278 ; joins with D. 
 Brutus, ib. ; deserts him, and goes over to Lepidus 
 and Antony, 281 
 
 Plato, the first master of the Academy, did not adhere to 
 tiieSocratic method, which hisfollowersdeserted,302 
 
 Pliny, liis letters compared with Cicero's, 299 ; his pane- 
 gyric falsely reckoned the standard of eloquence, 301 
 
 Plotius, first opened a Latin school at Rome, 3 
 
 Plutarch mentions some prodigies at Cicero's birth, 1 ; 
 loves to introduce them into history, ib. ; a charac- 
 ter of him as a writer on Roman aflrairs, pref. xii 
 
 Pollio promises Cicero to defend the liberty of the 
 republic, 267 ; repeats the same promises, 274 ; joins 
 with Antony and Lepidus, 281 
 
 Pompeius, Cn. Strabo, consul, father of Pompey the 
 Great, 6 
 
 Pompeius, Cn., joins Sylla with three legions, 9 ; sends 
 Carbo's head to Sylla, ib. ; returns victorious from 
 Africa, saluted by Sylla with the title of Magnus, 
 demands a triumph against Sylla's will, triumphs to 
 the joy of the people, the first of the equestrian 
 order who had received that honour, his triumphal 
 car drawn by elephants, 14 ; joins with Q. Catulus 
 in the war against M. Lepidus, orders M. Brutus 
 to be killed, 15 ; joined with Q. Metellus in the 
 war against Sertorius, 20 ; orders Perperna to be 
 killed, and his papers to be burnt, triumplis a second 
 time, though still a private citizen, is elected consul 
 in his absence, and before the consular age, 21 ; 
 restores the tribunitian power, 31 ; a great dissem- 
 bler, 34 ; finishes the war against the pLiates in four 
 months, ib. ; obtains the command of the Mithri- 
 datic war by the Manilian law, 36 ; finishes the 
 piratic and Mithridatic wars, and obtains a thanks- 
 giving of ten days, 63 ; returns to Rome, slights 
 the opportunity of making himself master of the 
 republic, 71 ; an account of his conquests and 
 honours, ib. ; his cautious behaviour, 72 ; called ia 
 raillery Cnaeus Cicero, makes L, Afranius consul 
 against the inclination of the cit)', ib. ; his triumph, 
 73 ; solicits the ratification of his acts and an agra- 
 rian law, 75; secretly assists Clodius against Cicero, 
 76 ; enters into a league with Caesar and Crassus, 
 78 ; presides at the ratification of Clodius's adop- 
 tion, 80 ; loses the affections of the public, 84 ; his 
 mistaken policy in entering into the triumvirate, 85; 
 gives Cicero the strongest assurances of his protec- 
 tion, 87 ; is admonished to guard against Cicero, 
 retires to his Alban villa, 91 ; receives Cicero's 
 friends coldly, who came to implore his protection, 
 ib. ; refuses his assistance to Cicero himself, ib. ; 
 is insulted by Clodius, thinks of recalling Cicero, 
 100 ; shuts himself up in his house, ib. ; is besieged 
 by Damio, one of Clodius's freedmen,ib. ; proposes 
 to recal Cicero by a law of the people, 106 ; renews 
 the same motion in the senate, 108 ; recommends 
 it to the people, 109 ; has the administration of 
 the corn and provisions of the empire granted to him 
 at Cicero's motion, 112; is desirous to obtain the 
 commis.sion lor restoring king Ptolemy, 119 ; speaks 
 in defence of Milo, 121 ; is roughly handled by 
 Bibulus, Curio, Favonius, and C. Cato, joins with 
 Cicero against them, ib. ; reconciled to Crassus by 
 Casar, and extorts the consulship from L. Domitius 
 Ahenobarbus, 129 ; opens his new theatre, 131 ; 
 and exhibits most magnificent shows in it, ib. ; urges 
 Cicero to defend Gabinius, 142 ; concerned for the 
 death of his wife Julia, 144 ; declared the single 
 consul, and publishes several new laws, 149 ; ruins 
 Milo, 150; marries Cornelia, preserves Scipio from 
 an impeachment, treats Hypsasus with inhumanity, 
 152 ; defends Bursa, ib. ; prepares an inscription 
 for his temple of Venus, 153 ; ready to break with 
 Caesar, ib. ; extorts large sums from king Ario- 
 barzanes, 159; his constitution peculiarly subject 
 to fevers, 168 ; was publicly prayed for by all the 
 towns of Italy, ib. ; confers with Cicero, ] 70 ; averse 
 to an accommodation with Caesar, ib. ; secures 
 Caesar's gladiators at Capua, 173; dissembles his 
 design of quitting Italy, 175 ; his mistake in leaving 
 the public treasure at Rome a prey to Caesar, 182 
 his management censured by Cicero, 185, 186 ; the 
 difficult part which he had to act, 79 ; his conduct 
 compared with Caesar's, 188 ; is defeated at Pharsalia.- 
 189 ; his death and character, 190 
 
 PoQipcy the son^ -*tempts to kill Cicero. 189 ; Sextui
 
 S28 
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 anil Cnacusput to flight by Ca>sar, 212 ; Sextiis sends 
 proposals of an accoinmodution to the consuls, 210 
 
 Poiitinius, C, triumphs over the Allobroges, 144 
 
 Popilius, Lseuas, ]iicsc'rvc(l by Cicero in a capital cause, 
 is sent by Antony to kill hiui, 290 ; lie cuts off his 
 head and hands, carries them to Antony, and is re- 
 warded for it, 291 
 
 Porcia, Cato's daughter, Bibulus's widow, mavriej to 
 Krutus, 208 ; dies before him of a lingering illness, 
 27G 
 
 Posidonius, a leaiaicd Stoic, master and friend of Cicero, 
 13; a reflection on the story of his stoical fortitude, 
 71. ", ib. 
 
 Prii'torship, some account of it, oS 
 
 Priests, called together to determine the affair of 
 Cicero's house, 1 14 ; the judges in all cases relating 
 to religion, of the first nobility, ;-i07 
 
 Prociliiis, tribune, condeuined for killing a titi/.en, 140 
 
 Prodigies, tiiat preceded Catiline's conspiracj', 40 ; a 
 statue of Romulus and Remus struck with lightning, 
 Cicero's and Virgil's description of it, n. ib. ; tiie 
 story of a prodigy contrived by Cicero and Terentia, 
 57 ; prodigies preceding the death of Ca'sar, 220 
 
 Proscription of citizens, first invented bySylla, 9 
 
 Provinces, the government of them eagerly desired by 
 tlie nobility, IfiS ; tlieiropprcssive manner of govern- 
 ing them, ib. 
 
 Ptolemy, king of Cyprus, deposed by Clodius's law, 
 puts an end to his life, 95 
 
 Ptolemy, king of Egypt, solicits to be restored to his 
 kingdom by a Roman army, 119 
 
 Puteoli, the most celebrated port of Italy, 19 
 
 Q. 
 
 Qu^STORS, the nature of the office, the first step to 
 the public honours, gives an admission into the 
 senate, 17, 22 
 
 Quinctius, L. a turbulent tribune, endeavours to get tho 
 actsof Sylla reversed, 1.9 
 
 Quinctius, P., defended by Cicero, 11 
 
 R. 
 
 Rabirius, C. accused by T. Labienus, 45 ; defended 
 by Cicero, 46 
 
 Rabirins, Posthumus, defended by Cicero, 143 
 
 Racilius, tribune, movesfortheimpeachmentofClodius, 
 118 
 
 Rebilus, C. Caninius, named consul by Caesar for a 
 few hours, 216 
 
 Religion of old Rome, an engine of state, a summary 
 account of it, 307 ; its constitution contrived to sup- 
 port the interests of the senate, ib. 
 
 Religion, natural, the most perfect scheme of it does 
 not supersede, but demonstrate the benefit of a divine 
 revelation, 310, n. ^ 
 
 Romans, exact in the education of their children, 3 ; a 
 summar)' account of their constitution and govern- 
 ment, jore/. xvi. ; free from bribery, till after tlie 
 times of the Gracchi, pref. xviii. ; their corruption 
 in the government of provinces, 23; used to give 
 answers to foreigners in Latin, it. f, 24 ; seldom used 
 capital punishments, 58 
 
 Roscius, a famed comedian, 11 ; his cause defended by 
 Cicero, 16; a character of him by Cicero, his daily 
 pay for acting, ib. 
 
 Roscius, S. of Ameria, accused of tho murder of hU 
 father, defended by Cicero, and acquitted, 1 1 
 
 Rufns, Q. Pompeius, banished for the disorders of hij 
 tribunate, 152 
 
 RuUus, P. Scrvilius, tribune, publishes an agrarian 
 law, 43 ; ojiposcd by Cicero, ib. 
 
 Rutilius, consul, killed in tho Marsic war, 6 
 
 Sallust. the historian, turned out of tho senate by 
 Appuis the censor, 105 ; his account of Catiline's 
 ninspiracv taken from Brutus's Life of Cato, n. <•, 
 199 
 
 Sanga, Q. Fabius, informs Cicero of tho practices of 
 Catiline's confederates with the Allobroges, 55 
 
 Sauffcins, M., one of Milo's confidants, twice defended 
 by Cicero, and acquitted, 151 
 
 Scaptius, Brutus's agent in Cyprus ; treated the Sala- 
 minians with great cruelty, 159 ; deprived of his 
 command theie by Cicero, ib. 
 
 Scajvola, C|), Mucins, augur, the best lawyer and states- 
 man of his time, takes Cicero under his protection, 
 4 ; his house tho oracle of the city, 5 ; wrote an 
 ei>igram in praise of Cicero's poem on C. Marius, ib. 
 
 Scaevola, the high-priest, his singular probity, and skill 
 in the law, 4 ; killed by Damasippus, 9 
 
 Sci|)io, accused of bribery, but preserved from a trial 
 by Pom])ey, 152 ; procures a decree for the dismis- 
 sion of CoDsar's army, 171 
 
 Senators not held complete till enrolled in the list of 
 the censors, 17; the vacancies supplied yearly by 
 the quiEstors, ib. 
 
 Sergius, M., a leader of the mob under Clodius, 112 
 
 Scrranus, tribune, hinders the decree for Cicero's 
 restoration, opposes the decree for restoring Cicero's- 
 house, 1 16 
 
 Sertorius maintains a war of eight years against the 
 whole force of Rome, 20 ; his character and death, 
 ib. 
 
 Servilia, Brutus's mother, her character, 237 
 
 Servilius prevails with Metellus to drop his oppositiott 
 to Cicero's return, 108 
 
 Servilius, P. an affected rival of Cicero, his character,. 
 268 
 
 Sextins, P., quaestor, joins with Petreiusin urging C. 
 Antony to a battle with Catiline, 01 ; when tribune, 
 procures Csesar's consent to Cicero's restoration, 
 103 ; left for dead in the forum by Clodius, 106 ; 
 accused by M. Tullius Albinovanus, and defended 
 by Cicero, 1 23 
 
 Shows and public games, magnificent and expensive, 32 
 
 Sica entertains Cicero in his exile, 96 
 
 Sicilians made citizens of Rome by Antony, 234 
 
 Sicily, tne first province of Rome, 18 ; the granary of 
 the republic, ib. ; famous tor its school of eloquence, 
 ib. 
 
 Sicinius, a factious tribune, his jest upon the consuls. 
 Cn. Octavius and C. Scribonius Curio, raises a sedi- 
 tion, is slain by the contrivance of Curio, 17 
 
 Silanus, consul elect, gives the first vote for putting 
 Catiline's accomplices to death, 58 
 
 Socrates, banished physics out of philosophy, and 
 applied it to morality, his method of inculcating his 
 notions, 302 
 
 Sosigenes, an astronomer, employed by Csesar to reform 
 the calendar, 202 
 
 Spartacus, general of the gladiators in the Servile War, 
 killed at the head of his troops, 20
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 Speech of J. Caesar on Catiline's accomplices, 58 ; of 
 
 M. Cato, GO 
 Speeches of Cicero : forRosciusAmerinus,] 1 ; for R03- 
 cius the comedian, 16 ; against Csecilius and Verres, 
 23 ; for Fonteius, 33 ; for the Manilian law, 36 ; 
 for Cluentius, 37 ; for Gallius, 40 ; against the 
 Agiarian law, 43 ; on tho tumult about Otho, 45 ; 
 to the sons of the prosciibed, ib. ; for Rabirius, 46 ; 
 against Catiline, first, 49 ; second, 50 ; tliird, 56 ; 
 fourth, 58 ; for Murena, 53 ; for Sylla, 67 ; for 
 Flaccus, 82 ; to the senate upon his restoration, HI; 
 to the people, ib. ; for the restitution of his house, 
 1 14 ; for Sextius, 123 ; for Balbus, 127 ; for Caelius, 
 128; against Piso, 131 ; for Plancius, 140; for 
 Rabirius Posthumus, 143 ; forMilo, 151 ; for Mar- 
 cellus, "201 ; for Ligariu?, 202 ; for kiug Deiotarus, 
 215 ; iiis first Philippic, 243 ; the second, 244 ; the 
 third, 248; the fourth, ib. ; the fifth, 249 ; tlie sixth, 
 251 ; the seventh, 252 ; the eighth, ib. ; the nintli, 
 254 ; the tenth, 256; the eleventh, 259; the twelfth, 
 261 ; the thirteenth, 264 ; the fourteenth, 271 
 Speusippus, Plato's nephew and successor in the Aca- 
 demy, 302 
 Stoics, held the soul to be a subtle fiery substance, 
 subsisting after the body, but not eternally, 306 ; 
 believed the reality of divination, 307 
 Sulpicius, Servius, desires a conference wth Cicero, 
 184 ; sent ambassador to Antony, 251 ; dies on his 
 journey, 253 ; has a statue, &c. decreed to him by 
 Cicero, 255 ; his character, ib. ; a story of his skill 
 in the law, erroneously reckoned among Caesar's 
 conspirators by Catrou and Rouille, n. ''■, 255 
 Supper, the great meal of the Romans, 293 
 Sylla, P. Corn., convicted of bribery, and forfeits the 
 consulship ; accused of conspiring with Catiline, de- 
 fended by Cicero, and acquitted, 67 
 Sylla, L. Cornelius, his behaviour in the Marsic war, 
 6 ; olitains the consulsliip, the province of Asia, the 
 command of the Mithridatic war, 7 ; drives C. Ma- 
 rius out of Rome, ib. ; recovers Greece and Asia 
 from IMithridates, declared a public enemy, makes 
 peace with Mithridates, 8 ; brings the works of Aris- 
 totle into Italy, lands at Brundisium, is joined by 
 young Pompey, defeats Norbanus, draws Scipio's 
 army from him, 9 ; gives Scipio his life, ib. ; the 
 inventor of a proscription, deprives J. Caesar of the 
 priesthood, ib. ; unwillingly grants him his life, his 
 prediction concerning him, declared dictator, 10; 
 makes great alterations in the state, distributes tho 
 confiscated lands among his soldiers, ib. ; gives Pom- 
 pey the title of Magnus, is disgusted at Pompey's 
 demand of a triumph, 14 ; his death and charac- 
 ter, ib. 
 S)Tacuse and Messana refuse to join with the other 
 
 cities of Sicily in the impeachment of Verres, 23 
 Senate, had the sole prerogative of distributing the 
 provinces, tillCasar obtaJned them by agrant of the 
 people, 86 
 
 T. 
 
 Tarqdinius, his evidence against Crassus, voted to be 
 false, 62 
 
 Terentia, wife of Cicero, rich and noble, 18 ; jealous 
 of Clodius' sister, urges Cicero to give evidence 
 against him, 70 ; dragged from the temple of Vesta 
 by Clodius's order, 94 ; bears the misfortunes of her 
 family with great spirit, 101 ; offers her estate to 
 sale to supply their necessities, 102 ; meets Cicero at 
 Brundisium^ 170 : divorced fconi him, 195 ; her 
 
 character, 195 ; lived to a remarkable age, n. ^, 
 196 
 
 Theophrastus, his works brought into Italy by Sylla, 9 
 
 Thermus, Q., demolishes Mitylene, 14 
 
 Tiburani, gives hostages to Cicero, 161 
 
 Tiro, Cicero's favourite slave, some accotmt of him, 
 169 
 
 Torquatus accuses P. Corn. Sylla of conspiring with 
 Catiline, 67 
 
 Translations of the classic writers, how to be per- 
 formed, "pref. xii 
 
 Tr.avels of Cicero, the pattern of beneficial travel • 
 ling. 13 
 
 Trebatius recommended to Caesar by Cicero, 130 ; 
 his character, ib. ; rallied by Cicero for turning 
 Epicurean, 156 
 
 Trebonius, tribune, publishes a law for the assign- 
 ment of provinces for five years to tlie consuls, 132 ; 
 one of tlie conspirators against Caesar, his charac- 
 ter, 220 ; goes to his government of Asia, 227 ; 
 is taken by surprise, and cruelly murdered by Dola- 
 bella, 259 
 
 Tribunes, their power carried to the greatest excess 
 by the Gracclii, ■pref. xviii. ; abridged by Sylla, 
 10 ; restored by Pompey, 31 ; the common tools of 
 the ambitious, ib. 
 
 Triumphs, the nature and conditions of them, n. *, 
 154 
 
 Triumvirate, the first, by whom formed, and with 
 what views, 78 ; second, the place and manner, in 
 which the three chiefs met, 288 ; the conditions of 
 their union, they proscribe Cicero, with sixteen more, 
 and afterwards three hundred senators, and two 
 thousand knights, 289 
 
 Triumviri, or Treviri Monetales, what they were, n. % 
 314 
 
 Tubero, Q., persecutes Ligarius, 202 
 
 TuUia, Cicero's daughter, when bom, 18 ; meets her 
 father at Brundisium, 110; marries Crassipes, 125; 
 separated from him by divorce, and marries Dola- 
 bella, 164; divorced from Dolabella, 190; her death 
 and character, 204 ; a story of her body being found 
 on tlie Appian-way, n. '', 208 
 
 Tullius, the name of Cicero's familj', its derivation, 2 
 
 Tusculan villa, preferred by Cicero to the r«sc of bis 
 villas, 38 
 
 Tyranoio. a learned Greek entertained by Cicero, 125 
 
 V. 
 
 Varro, M. Terentius, enters into a strict union with 
 Cicero, his character, 195 
 
 Varrus, P., seizes Africa on the part of the republic, 
 192 
 
 Vatiniiis, the tribune, Caesar's creature, 79 ; heads 
 Cafcsar's mob against Bibulus, 80 ; attacks the house 
 of Bibulus, 84 ; appears a witness against P. Sextius, 
 and is severely lashed by Cicero, 1 23 ; made praetor, 
 to the exclusion of M. Cato, 132; defended by 
 Cicero, 141 ; his character, ib. 
 
 Verres, C., praetor of Sicily, accused by Cicero of 
 great oppression and cruelty, 23; is convicted and 
 banished, 25 ; a specimen of his crimes, ib. ; his 
 death, 31 
 
 Vettius, the general of the Marsi, holds a conference 
 with the Roman consul, Cn. Pompeius, 6 
 
 Vettius, L., accuses Cassar of Catiline's plot, 66 ; it 
 imprisoned and miserably used by him, 67 ; em- 
 ployed by him to charge Curio, &c., with a design
 
 330 
 
 INDEX TO THE LIFE OF CICERO. 
 
 against Pompey'a life, 85 ; strangled by liiin in 
 prison, ib. 
 
 Victims iu sacrificiiij; found sonietiines without a heart 
 or liver, liow aecountcd for, n. ', 220 
 
 Villas of the Rouian generala used to bo on liiUs, n. 
 294 
 
 Viri.'iliu8, C, refuses to admit Cicero into Sicily, 96 
 
 Vomiting, immediately before and after dinner, a cus- 
 tom among the Koinans, n. '", 215 
 
 Vultureius, one of Catalino's conspirators, 55 ; gives 
 evidence to the senate against his accomplices, ib. 
 
 W 
 
 surest way to the iiiglicst honours, G; the first civil 
 war among the Romans properly so called, 7 ; Octa- 
 vian, ib. ; Servile, 20; Scrtorian, ib. : Mithridatic, 
 36 ; Gallic, 75 
 "Witnesses in trials, a character of the Gallic, 33 ; and 
 of the (ircciau and Human, 71. 82 
 
 Xknoclrs of Adnimyttus, a rhetorician of Asia, attended 
 Cicero iu his trawls, 13 
 
 Y. 
 
 War, Mareic, otherwise called Italic, Social, 5 ; part 
 
 of the cdueation of tiie nobility, a fame iu it the | Yeah, Roman, an account of it, 201
 
 THE 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 TO SEVERAL OF IIIS FRIENDS- 
 
 WITH REMARKS 
 
 BY WILLIAM MELMOTH. 
 
 Qno fit ut omnis 
 
 Totiva pateat yeluti descripta tabella 
 Vita aeniB.— HoR.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The principal design of the following attempt, is to trace the conduct and inquire into the character- 
 •f Cicoro. For this purpose the present Letters were preferred to those which are written to Atticus, a»- 
 they show the author of tliem iii a greater variety of connexions, and afford an opportunity of considering 
 him in almost every possible point of view. 
 
 This correspondence includes a period of about twenty years; commencing immediately after Cicero's- 
 eonsulate, and ending a few months before his death.
 
 THE 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 OP 
 
 JMARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 BOOK 1. 
 
 LETTER I." 
 
 To Pompeij the Great, Imperator^. 
 Your letter to the senate afforded inexpressible 
 satisfaction, not only to myself, but to the public 
 fiQi ^^ general ; as the hopes it brought us of 
 'a peace are agreeable to those expecta- 
 tions which, in full confidence of your superior 
 abilities, I had always encouraged the world to 
 entertain''. I must acquaint you, however, that it 
 entirely sunk the spirits of that party, who, from 
 
 » These letters are placed according to their supposed 
 dates. The reader will find at the end an index, referring 
 t9.the order in which they stand in the common editions. 
 
 ^ Tlie title of Imperator, during the times of the repub- 
 lic, did not bear the least relation to that idea which is 
 affixed to it in modem language; but was merely honorary 
 and occasional. It was conferred on the Roman generals 
 by the acclamations of their army in the field, after some 
 signal advantage gained by their courage and conduct ; and 
 it was immediately dropped again as soon as they entered 
 into Rome. # 
 
 c I'ompey was at this time carrying on the war in Asia 
 against Mithridates, king of Pontiis; and the letter to 
 which Cicero alludes, probably brought an account of the 
 progress of the campaign. Mithridates was a cruel but 
 brave prince, who had given emplojTncnt to the Roman 
 arms for more than forty j-ears. Pompcy, however, had 
 the good fortune to complete what Sylla and LucuUus, his 
 predecessors in this command, were obliged to leave unfi- 
 nished : and he not only defeated JMithridates, but annexed 
 to the Roman dominions all that part of Asia which is 
 between the Rod, the Caspian, and the Arabian seas. — 
 Flor. hi. 6. 
 
 being formerly your declared enemies, have lately 
 become your pretended friends ; as it utterly 
 disappointed their most sanguine hopes ^. 
 
 Notwithstanding the letter which you wrote to 
 me by the same express discovered but very slight 
 marks of your affection, yet I read it with pleasure. 
 The truth is, I am always abundantly satisfied with 
 the consciousness of having exerted my best 
 offices towards my friends ; and if they do not 
 think proper to make me an equal return, I am 
 well contented that the superiority should remain 
 on my side. But if my utmost zeal for your 
 interests has not been sufficient to unite you to 
 mine, I doubt not that our co-operating together 
 upon the same patriot-principles, will be a means 
 of cementing us more strongly hereafter. In the 
 mean time, it would neither be agreeable to the 
 openness of my temper, nor to the freedom of that 
 mutual friendship we profess, to conceal what I 
 thought wanting in your letter. I will acknow- 
 
 d It is doubtful to whom Cicero here alludes. Some of 
 the commentators suppose that he points at LucuUiis, who, 
 as he had been recalled from the commarni in >Wiich Pom- 
 pcy was now employed, would not, it may well be imagined, 
 be greatly pleased with the success of his rival. — Others 
 think that he had Ca?sar in view : and what renders this 
 conjecture extremely probable is, that Cassarand Pompey, 
 who had been long opposite in politics, were now, oppa- 
 rciith/, reconciled ; tlie former (for purposes which sliall 
 hereafter be explained) falling in with that party who were 
 for conferring the liighest and most uncoustil utiona* 
 honours on the latter.
 
 tiM 
 
 THE LETTLRS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 ledge, then, that the ])ubhc services I performed 
 during my late consulship, gave me reason to 
 expect, from your attachment both to myself and 
 to the commonwealth, that you would liave sent 
 me your congratulations ; and I am persuaded you 
 ■would not have omitted them but from a tender- 
 ness to certain persons'-'. Let me assure you, 
 however, that what I have performed for the pre- 
 servation of my country, has received the concurrent 
 applauses of the whole world. You will find when 
 you return hither, I conducted that important 
 scene with so much spirit and policy, that you, 
 like another Scipio, though far superior, indeed, to 
 that hero in glory, will not refuse to admit me, 
 like a second Lielius'^, and not much behind him, 
 I trust, in wisdom, as the friend and associate of 
 your private and public transactions. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Quinlus Melcllus Celer^, Proconsul, to Cicero. 
 As I persuaded myself that our reconciliation 
 and friendship was mutually sincere, I never ima- 
 6Q1 giiG'l I should have had occasion to com- 
 plain of being marked out in my absence 
 as the object of your ridicule''. For the same 
 reason I was equally far from supposing that you 
 would have acted with so much bitterness against 
 
 e Cicero was advanced to the consular office tlie year 
 before the date of this letter ; that is, An. Urb. 690. lie 
 particularly alludes to the part he acted during his admi- 
 nistration, with regard to the suppressing of Catiline's 
 conspiracy. [See rem. P. p. 336, and rem. ». p, 338.] And ho 
 had undoubtedly cause to complain of Pompoy's unex- 
 pected coolness in the present instance : the occasion 'of 
 which seems to have been this. A very powerful party 
 was now forming against Cicero by Csesar and Metellus 
 the tribune ; and Pompey was considered as a proper per- 
 son to support their designs of destroying the great autho- 
 rity which Cicero had lately acquired. It is highly 
 probable, therefore, from Pompey's reserve to om- author, 
 that he had received some overtures of tliis sort : and as 
 he was jealous of every power that might obstruct his own, 
 he was by no means disposed, it should seem, to advance 
 Cicero's credit by gratifying him with those applauses 
 which his conduct deserved.— Plut. in Vit. Ciccr. 
 
 f Scipio Africanus the younger, to whom Cicero hero 
 alludes, was consul in the year of Rome 605 ; as Laslius was 
 in the year 612. The strict intimacy which subsisted 
 between these distinguished Romans, is celebrated by seve- 
 ralof theclassic ^vriters : but Cicero has paid it the highest 
 honours in his Dialogue upon Friendship, Scipio and 
 Laelius used to retire together from the business of the 
 state, to a villa situated on the sea-shore, near Laurentura ; 
 •where these illustrious friends did not think it beneath 
 their characters to descend to the humblest recreations. 
 The virtus Scipiadce et mitis saplentia La-li, the heroism 
 ofScipio and the wisdom of LkIIus could unbend ingather- 
 ing shells and pebbles on the coast ; and perhaps it is some 
 evidence of their merit, that they were capable of being 
 thus easily diverted. Less virtuous minds generally have 
 recourse to more agitated relaxations, and are seldom 
 entertained without carrying their passions into their 
 amusements.^Orat. pro Mvu-cen. 36 ; Hor. Sat. ii. 1. ver. 
 72 ; Cic. De Orat. ii. 6. 
 
 ss Quintus Metellus Celer exercised the office of praetor, 
 the same year that Cicero was consul. Two years after the 
 date of this letter, he was himself elected to that supreme 
 dignity: and Cicero speaks of his administration with 
 applause. He was at this time governor of Cisalpine Gaul. 
 — Ad Att. ii. 1. 
 
 1« The reader Avill find this explained by Cicero's answer 
 in the following letter. 
 
 my relation Metellus', as to persecute him even to 
 the loss of his fortunes and his dignities, merely 
 for a single word. If the regard which is due to 
 his own character could not protect him from the 
 unjust resentment of the senate, at least the zeal I 
 have ever shown for the interests of that illustrious 
 order, the services I have rendered the common- 
 wealth, and the consideration which is owing to 
 our birth J, should have powerfully pleaded in his 
 favour. But it has been his fate to be oppressed, 
 as well as mine to be deserted, by those who ought 
 to have treated us in a very different manner ; and 
 the honour of that important command with which 
 I am invested, cannot secure me, it seems, from 
 having cause to lament the indignities which are 
 offered both to myself and to ray family. Since 
 the senate have shown themselves to be so little 
 influenced by the dictates of equity, or those 
 principles of moderation whicli distinguished our 
 ancestors, it will be no wonder if they should find 
 reason to repent of their conduct. But as to your- 
 self, I repeat it again, I never had the least suspi- 
 cion that you were capable of acting with so much 
 inconstancy to me and mine. However, neither this 
 dishonour which has been cast upon my family, 
 nor any injuries which can be done to me in my 
 own person, shall ever .alienate my affections from 
 the republic. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER in. 
 
 To Quintus Metellus Celer, Proconsul. 
 I HAVE received your letter, wherein you tell me 
 that, " you had persuaded yourself, you should 
 A V «0i never have had occasion to complain of 
 being marked out as the subject of my 
 railleries." I must assure you, in return, that I 
 do not well understand to what you allude. I 
 suspect, however, you may have been informed of 
 a speech I lately made in the senate, wherein I 
 took notice there was a considerable party amongst 
 
 ' The person here alluded to, is Quintus Jletellus Cseci- 
 lius Nepos, at this time a tribune of the people. He had 
 lately attempted to procure a law for recalling Pompey 
 out of Asia ; pretending that his presence was necessary 
 in order to quiet the commotions in the republic. IJut his 
 real view was to destroy the great credit and authority 
 which Cicero now possessed, by throwing the whole power 
 into Pompey's hands. Cato, who was likewise tribune at 
 the same time, most strenuously opposed this design of his 
 colleague ; and the contests that arose between them, upon 
 this occasion, were attended with great and dangerous 
 distui'bances. Metellus, however, being at length obliged 
 to desist, retired in disgust with his complaints to Pompey. 
 After he had thus withdrawn himself, it was proposed, 
 that the censure of the senate should be passed upon his 
 turbulent conduct, as also that he should be deposed from 
 his office ; and it was these proceedings, together with the 
 part that Metellus Celer supposed Cicero to have borne in 
 them, which occasioned the warm remonstrances of the 
 letter before us. Plutarch asserts it was owing to the pru- 
 dence and moderation of Cato, that the motion against 
 Metellus Nepos was not carried. Suetonius, on the other 
 hand, expressly says that he was actually suspended ; and 
 indeed the following answer of Cicero renders it extremely 
 probable that some decree of that kind had been voted, and 
 afterwards repealed.— Plut. in Vit. Caton. ; Suet, in Vit. 
 Jul. Ca!S. 16. 
 
 J Within the space of twelve years, there had been no 
 less than twelve of this family who were either consuls, 
 censors, or distinguished with the honours of a triumph.— 
 Veil. Pat. ii.ll.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 336 
 
 us, who regretted that the commonwealth should 
 have owed its preservation to my hands. I added, 
 I confess, that, in compliance with the request 
 " of some of your relations, whose desires you 
 coukl by no means refuse, you suppressed the 
 applause with which you intended to have honoured 
 me in that illustrious assembly." I mentioned, at 
 the same time, that "we had shared between us the 
 glory of having saved the republic : and that whilst 
 I was protecting Rome from the wicked designs 
 of her intestine enemies, you were defending Italy 
 from the open attacks and secret conspiracies of 
 those who had meditated our general ruin. But 
 that some of your family, nevertheless, had endea- 
 voured to weaken this our illustrious association, 
 and were unwilling you should make any return on 
 jour part, for those high honours with which you 
 had been distinguished on mine." As this was an 
 open confession how much I was mortified in not 
 receiving the applause I expected, it raised a 
 general smile in the house : not indeed at you, but 
 at myself, for ingenuously acknowledging my disap- 
 pointment. And surely what I thus said cannot 
 but be considered as highly to your credit ; since 
 it was an evidence that, amidst the highest honours, 
 I still thought my glory incomplete, without the 
 concurrence of your approbation. 
 
 As to what you mention concerning a mutual 
 affection, I know not what you may esteem as a 
 mark of that disposition. I3ut, according to my 
 apprehension, it consists in an equal return of those 
 good offices which one friend receives from another. 
 If, as a proof of this gratitude on my part, I were 
 to tell you that 1 gave up my pretensions to your 
 present government, you might well suspect my 
 veracity. The truth is, I renounced it as being 
 inconsistent with that plan of conduct I had laid 
 down to myself* : and I find every day more and 
 more reason to be satisfied with having taken this 
 resolution. But this, with strict sincerity, I can 
 affirm, that I no sooner relinquished my claim to 
 your province than I considered how to throw it 
 into your hands. I need not mention the manage- 
 ment which was employed in order to secure the 
 lot in your favour ; but this much I will say, that 
 I hope you do not imagine the part my colleague 
 acted in that affair was, in any of its circumstances, 
 without my privity and consent. Let me desire 
 you to recollect with what expedition I assembled 
 the senate immediately after the balloting was 
 over, and how fully I spoke upon that occasion in 
 your applause. Accordingly you then told me that 
 I had not only paid a high compliment to yourself, 
 but at the same time cast a very severe reproach 
 
 ■' Cicero here alludes to the resolution he took of not 
 accepting any government at the expiration of his consu- 
 lar office ; a resolution, it must be owned, worthy of a 
 generous and disinterested patriot. Accordingly, in a 
 speech which he made in the senate on the day of his 
 inauguration, he declared he would receive no honours at 
 the close of his ministry which it was in the power of the 
 tribunes to obstruct ; and indeed it was in their power 
 to obstruct every honour the senate could decree. As the 
 authority of these popular magistrates could thus disap- 
 point the ambition of the consuls, it had often influenced 
 them in the exercise of their functions. But by this self- 
 denying renunciation which Cicero made, he had nothing 
 to hope from their favour, or to fear from their resentment : 
 and consequently divested himself of every motive that 
 could check a vigorous opposition to their factious mea- 
 sures.— Orat. cent. RuU. i. 8. 
 
 upon your colleagues. I will add, that so long as 
 the decree shall subsist, which the senate passed 
 at that juncture, there will not be wanting a public 
 and conspicuous monument of my good offices 
 towards you. Remember likewise the zeal with 
 which I supported your interest in the senate ; the 
 encomiums with which I mentioned you in the 
 assemblies of the people; and the affectionate letters 
 I wrote to you after your departure. And when 
 you have laid these several circumstances together, 
 I may safely leave it to your own determination, 
 whether your behaviour to me, upon your last 
 return to Rome, was suitable to these instances of 
 my friendship. However, I know not what you 
 mean by our " reconcilement : " au expression, it 
 should seem, which cannot, with any propriety, be 
 applied where there never was any formal rupture. 
 With respect to your relation, whom I ought 
 not, you tell me, to have persecuted so severely in 
 resentment of a single expression, I have this to 
 say : In the first place, I most highly applaud the 
 affectionate disposition you discover towards him : 
 and, in the next, I hope you would pardon me, if 
 that duty which I owe my country, and to which 
 no man is more strongly devoted, had, at any time, 
 obliged me to oppose his measures. But if I have 
 only defended myself against his most cruel attacks, 
 have you not reason to be satisfied that I never 
 once troubled you with my complaints ? On the 
 contrary, when I perceived he was collecting the 
 whole force of his tribunitial power in order to 
 oppress me, I contented myself with endeavouring 
 to divert him from his unjust purpose, by applying 
 to your wife' and sister" ; as the latter had ofteu 
 indeed, in consideration of my connexions with 
 Pompey, exerted her good offices in my behalf. 
 Nevertheless (and I am sure you are no stranger 
 to the truth of what I am going to say) upon 
 laying down my consular office, he prevented me 
 from making the usual speech to the people : and 
 thus, what had never been denied to the lowest and 
 most worthless of our magistrates, he most injuri- 
 ously refused to a consul who had preserved the 
 liberties of his country. This insult, however, 
 proved greatly to my honour ; for, as he would 
 only suffer me to take the oath", I pronounced the 
 sincerest and most glorious of asseverations with 
 an uncommon exertion of voice ; and the whole 
 assembly of the people as loudly called the gods to 
 witness, that what I had sworn was most religi- 
 ously true". But though I received this signal 
 affront from your cousin, yet I had the very same 
 day sent an amicable message to him by our com- 
 
 1 Sister to Clodius : a woman of most abandoned lewd- 
 ness, and suspected of having poisoned Metellus, who died 
 in 694, a few years after this letter was written. — Cicero, 
 who attended him in his last moments, represents them as 
 truly heroic. Metellus saw the approaches of death with- 
 out the least concern upon his own account, and only 
 lamented that he should lose his life at a time when his 
 friend and his country would have most occasion for his 
 services.— Pro Coelio, 24. 
 
 >» Mucia : she was married to Pompey, but aftewards 
 divorcedfrom him on occasion of her gallantries with Cssar. 
 —Ad Att. i. 12 ; Plut. in Vit. Pomp. 
 
 ° The consuls, at the expiration of their office, took an 
 oath that they had faithfully and zealously discharged 
 their trust Manutius. 
 
 o Cicero did not confine fcianself to the usual terms of 
 the oath ; but swore that he had preserved Rome and Use 
 republic from destruction.— Plut. in Vit. Cicer.
 
 S3G 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 man friends, with the hopes of persuading him 
 into a better temper. The answer he returned was, 
 that all applications of this kind were now too late. 
 He had, indeed, asserted, some days before, in a 
 speech which he made in a general assembly of the 
 people, " that the man who had punished others 
 ■without suffering them to be heard'', ought to be 
 denied the privilege of being heard in his turn." 
 Excellent and judicious jiatriot indeed ! to main- 
 tain that the same punishment which had been 
 decreed, and with the approbation too of every 
 honest man in Rome, to those rebels and incen- 
 diaries who had attempted to involve their country 
 in the most dreadful calamities, was due to him 
 •who had preserved the senate, the city, and all 
 Italy in general from destruction. These were the 
 provocations that induced me to oppose your 
 cousin openly and before his face : and accordingly 
 in a debate on the first of January concerning tlie 
 State of the republic, I thought jM-o])er to lit him 
 see that he had declared war against a man who 
 did not want resolution to return his attack. In a 
 speech which he made a few days afterwards, he 
 ■was pleased to throw out several menacing expres- 
 sions against me ; and it was evidently his deter- 
 mined purpose to effect my ruin, not by bringing 
 my actions to a fair and impartial trial, but by the 
 most illegal methods of violence. Had I not acted 
 then with sjiirit in opposition to his ill-considered 
 measures, would not the world have thought (and 
 thought too with reason) that the courage I exerted 
 in my consulate was merely accidental, and not the 
 result of a steady and rational fortitude.' If you 
 are ignorant of these instances of your cousin's 
 deportment, he has concealed a very material 
 article of his conduct. On the other hand, if he 
 apprised you of them, you have reason to look 
 upon me as having acted with great temper and 
 forbearance in never interrupting you with my 
 expostulations. In a word, you will find my com- 
 plaint against him was not founded on a single 
 expression, as you call it, but on a continued series 
 of malevolence. Let me now, therefore, show you 
 that my conduct in return was influenced by prin- 
 ciples of the greatest good-nature : if good-nature 
 it may be deemed, not to exert a proper resent- 
 ment against injuries of so atrocious a kind. The 
 truth is, I never once made a motion in the senate 
 to his prejudice ; on the contrary, as often as any 
 question arose in which he was concerned, I always 
 voted on the most favourable side. I will add 
 P The principal conspirators concerned with Catiline 
 ■being taken into custody, Cicero convened the senate ; when 
 it was debated in what manner to proceed against the pri- 
 soners, Silanus, the consul-elect, advised that they should 
 all be put to death. But this was against an express law, 
 ivbich prohibited the taking away the life of any citizen 
 without a formal process. The proposal of Silanus was 
 opposed by Csesar, as being a stretch of the senate's power 
 which might beproductiveof very dangerous consequences 
 in a free state. It was his opinion, therefore, that the 
 estates of the conspirators should be confiscated, and tlieir 
 persons closely imprisoned. Cicero, as Dr. INIiddleton 
 observes, delivered his sentiments with all the skill both 
 of the orator and the statesman ; and while be seemed to 
 show a perfect neutrality, and to giveequal commendation 
 to both the opinions, was artfully labouring to turn the 
 scale in favour of Silanus's, which he considered as a ne- 
 cessary example of severity in the present circumstances 
 of the republic. A vote accordingly passed that the con- 
 spirators should suffer death ; which Cicero immediately 
 put in execution.— Life of Cic. p. 59 — 61 ; see rem. », p. 338. 
 
 (though it is a circumstance, indeed, in which I 
 ought not to have concerned myself) that I was so 
 far from being displeased with the decree which 
 |)assed in his favour, that, in consideration of his 
 Ix'ing related to you, I actually promoted it to the 
 utmost of my power. 
 
 Thus you see that, far from being the aggressor, 
 I have only acted a defensive part. Nor have I, 
 as you accuse me, betrayed a capricious disposition 
 with regard to yourself: on the contrary, notwith- 
 standing your failure in some amicable oflices on 
 your side, I have still ))reserved the same unvaria- 
 bie sentiments of friendshi]) on mine. Even at this 
 very instant when I have before me, 1 had almost 
 called it your threatening letter, yet I will tell you 
 tiiat I not only excuse, but highly applaud the 
 generous warmth you express in your cousin's 
 behalf; as 1 know, by what passes in my own 
 breast, the wonderful force of family affection. I 
 hope then you will judge of my resentment with 
 the same candour, and acknowledge that if, with- 
 out the least provocation on my part, I have been 
 most cruelly and outrageously treated, by any of 
 your relations, I had a right, I will not only say to 
 defend myself, but to be supported in that defence 
 if it were necessary, even by your whole army. 
 Believe me, I have ever been desirous of making 
 you my friend ; as I have endeavoured to convince 
 you, upon all occasions, that I was entirely yours ; 
 sentiments which 1 still retain, and shall conti^^ue 
 to retain just as long as you desire. To say ail in 
 one word. I am much more disposed to sacrifice 
 my resentment against your cousin to ray friend- 
 ship towards yourself, than to suffer the former, 
 in any degree, to impair our mutual affection. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 To Cuius Antonius, Imperafort. 
 
 I HAD determined not to trouble you with my 
 letters, unless of the recommendatory kind : not 
 (ill ^^''*' ^ ^^^ reason to expect my solicita- 
 tions would have much weight with you ; 
 but as being unwilling it should appear to those 
 who might apply for them, that any coolness had 
 arisen between us. However, as our common 
 friend Atticus, who has been a particular witness 
 of the warmth with which I have ever promoted 
 your interest, is coming into your province, I can- 
 not forbear conveying a letter to you by his hand ; 
 especially as he very strongly importuned me for 
 that purpose. 
 
 Were I to claim even your highest services, the 
 demand could by no means be thought unreason- 
 able, after having contributed everything on my 
 part for the advancement of your ease, your inte- 
 rest, and your honours''. But I may safely appeal 
 to your own conscience, whether you have ever 
 made me the least return : so far from it, indeed, 
 that I have heard (for I dare not say I have been 
 
 1 The person to whom this letter is addreased, was 
 uncle to the celebrated Slark Antony. He had been consul 
 the year before with Cicero, and was now governor of 
 Macedonia. 
 
 r The consuls, at the expiration of their office, used to 
 draw lots to which of the provinces they should respect- 
 ively succeed as governors. This which Antonius possessed, 
 one of the most desirable in all the Roman empire, having 
 fallen to Cicero, lie resigned it to his colleague.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 337 
 
 informed', as it is an expression, it seems, which 
 you frequently, though, I am sure, injuriously, 
 object to me,) I have heard then that you have 
 in-.imated something as if — but I leave it to Atticus 
 to tell you the rest : as the report' has given him 
 no less concern than it gave myself. In the mean 
 time, 1 will only say, that the senate and the whole 
 Roman peo])le have been witnesses of that uncom- 
 mon zeal with which I have entered into your 
 interest. What sentiments of gratitude this has 
 impressed upon your mind, you yourself are the 
 best judge ; how much you owe me in consequence 
 of it, let others determine. It was friendship that 
 lirst engaged my good offices in your favour ; and 
 I afterwards was induced to continue them merely 
 from a principle of constancy. But, believe me, 
 your present" affairs require a much larger propor- 
 tion of my zeal and pains : the utmost exertion of 
 •which shall not be wanting, provided I may have 
 reason to think that they are not entirely thrown 
 away. For I shall never be so absurdly officious, 
 as to employ them where they are not acceptable. 
 Atci JUS will inform you in what particular instances 
 you may, probably, have occasion for my good 
 offices : in the meanwhile, I very warmly recom- 
 
 s This alludes to an expression which Cicero had often 
 occasion to employ in the atfair of Catiline's conspiracy. 
 As his principal intelligence arose from some of the con- 
 spirators themselves, who communicated to him, from time 
 to time, the designs of their associates, he was obliged to 
 conceal the authors of these discoveries : and, therefore, 
 in laying his allegations before the senate or the people, he 
 was under the necessity of speaking only in general terms, 
 and of assuring them that he had been informed of the 
 particular articles he mentioned. But though the event 
 proved that his informations were true : yet, in genei'al, 
 this method of accusation was extremely odious, and of 
 •dangerous example. Cicero's enemies, therefore, did not 
 fail to take advantage of this popular objection, and were 
 perpetually repeating the phrase, / am informed, when- 
 ever they were disposed to reproach his conduct in this 
 transaction. — See JVIongault, rem. 19, on the 19th letter 
 of the first book to Atticus; Plut. in Vit. Cicer. ; Sallust ; 
 Declam. in Cicer. 2. 
 
 ' This report was of a very unfavourable kind indeed : 
 for it charged Cicero with having a share in the money 
 which Antonius raised by his exactions on the unhappy 
 people of his province. The very judicious French trans- 
 lator of the epistles to Atticus, seems to imagine there was 
 some foundation for this report ; as he thinks it probable 
 that Antonius had agreed to pay Cicero a certain sum in 
 consideration of his having relinquished to him the govern- 
 ment of Macedonia : but this is a conjecture altogether 
 unsupported by any evidence. Thus much, however, is 
 certain ; in the first place, that Cicero had some demands 
 upon Antonius, of a nature which he did not choose should 
 be known ; as, whenever he hints at them to Atticus, it is 
 -always in a very dark and enigmatical manner: and, in 
 the next place, that he sacrificed his own judgment and 
 the good opinion of the world, in order to support Anto- 
 nius in his present government. From which facts the 
 reader is left to draw the conclusion that he shall judge 
 reasonable. — Ad Att. xii. 13, 14. See the following remark. 
 
 " Pompey had declared his intentions of very strenu- 
 ously insisting that Antonius should be recalled from his 
 government, in order to give an account of his administra- 
 tion : which, it seems, had been extremely oppressive. It 
 was upon this occasion that Cicero prom.ised him his ser- 
 vice : and it seems, by the following letter, that he kept 
 his word. But if he had not, his honour, perhaps, would 
 not have been the more questionable : for it appears, from 
 a letter to Atticus, that Cicero could not undertake the 
 ■defence of Antonius without suffering in the opinion, not 
 only of the populace, but of every worthy man in Rome. — 
 Ad Att. i. 12. See rem. » on the following letter. 
 
 mend him to yours. I am well persuaded, indeed. 
 that his own interest with you is his best advocate : 
 however, if you have any remaining affection for 
 me, let me entreat you to show it (and it is the 
 most obliging manner in which you can show it) 
 by your services to my friend. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 To Publius Sestius, QucBstor\ 
 
 I COULD scarce credit your freedman Deciuii. 
 as highly as I think of his fidelity and attachment 
 602 '" y°^^ interest, when he requested me, 
 in your name, to use my endeavours that 
 you may not at present be recalled. Remembering, 
 indeed, the very different strain in which all the 
 letters I had before received from you were written, 
 I could not easily be induced to think that you had 
 so greatly altered your mind. But after Cornelia's 
 visit to my wife, and the discourse which I had my- 
 self with Cornelius, 1 could no longer doubt of this 
 change in your inclinations : and accordingly I 
 never failed to attend in your behalf, at every sub- 
 sequent meeting of the senate. The question, 
 however, did not come on till January last, when 
 we carried it without much opposition ; though 
 I found some difficulty in persuading Quintus 
 Fusius^'', and the rest of your friends, to whom you 
 had written upon this subject, to believe me rather 
 than your own letters. 
 
 I had not agreed with Crassus for his house, 
 when you wished me joy of the purchase ; but I 
 was so much encouraged by your congratulations, 
 that I soon afterwards bought it at thirty-five hun- 
 dred thousand sesterces^. I am now, therefore, so 
 
 T Every proconsul, or governor of a province, had s 
 quaestor under him, who acted as a sort of paymaster- 
 general to the provincial forces, and as superintendant 
 likewise of the public revenues. Sestius was at this time 
 exercising that office under Antonius, in Macedonia. Some 
 further account will be occasionally given of him in the 
 progress of these remarks. 
 
 w One of the tribunes of the people. 
 
 I About 28,000Z. Cicero, it is said, borrowed a consi- 
 derable part of this sum from a man whose cause he had 
 undertaken to defend. But eloquence was not as yet pro- 
 fessedly Tenal in Rome ; and it was looked upon as highly 
 dishonourable for an advocate, not only to receive any 
 reward, but even a loan of his client. Cicero, therefore, 
 being publicly reproached with this transaction, most con- 
 fidently denied the charge ; declaring at the same time 
 that he had not the least intention of making this purchase. 
 However, he soon afterwards completed his bargain : when 
 being taxed in the senate with this unworthy falsehood, he 
 endeavoured to laugh it off, by telling his censurers that, 
 " they must know very little of the world indeed, if they 
 Imagined any prudent man would raise the price of a com- 
 modit}', by publicly avowing his intentions of becoming a 
 purchaser." It is Aulus Gellius who gives us this story, 
 which Dr. Jliddleton supposes he might have picked up 
 from some spurious collection of Cicero's jokes : and many 
 such, it is certain, were handed about, even in Cicero's 
 life-time. As every reader of taste and learning must wish 
 well to the moral character of so invaluable an author as 
 Cicero, one cannot but regret that neither his own general 
 regard to truth, nor the plea of his ingenious advocate, 
 seem sufficient to discredit this piece of secret history. 
 That Cicero was capable of denying facts, where it was not 
 for his advantage they should be discovered, will appear, 
 perhaps, beyond controversy in the progress of these re- 
 marks. In the meantime a very strong instance of this 
 may be produced from one of his letters to Atticug. Cicero 
 Z
 
 3r>o 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 deeply involved in debt as to be full ripe, you must 
 know, for a jilot, if any malcontent will be so cha- 
 ritable as to admit me into one. But the misfor- 
 tune is, this sort of patriots are all disposed to 
 exclude me from their society : and whilst I am 
 the aversion of some of them, as the avowed avenger 
 of conspiracies; others suspect that I only plead 
 poverty with a view of gaining their confidence, in 
 order tt) betray them. They think it incredible, 
 indeed, that the man who rescued the bags of all 
 the usurers in Rome from a general attack, should 
 ever be in distress for money >'. The truth of the 
 matter is, there is enough to be raised at six per 
 cent., and I have gained this much, by the services 
 I have done my country, tliat I am considered by 
 your money-lenders as a good man. 
 
 I must not forget to mention that 1 have lately 
 looked over your house and buildings, and am much 
 pleased with the im])rovements you arc making. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the world is sensible that 
 Antonius has, by no means, acted towards me with 
 the gratitude he ought, yet it did not prevent me 
 from being his advocate lately in the senate : when, 
 by the iniluence of my authority, and the force of 
 what I said, I greatly disposed the house in his 
 •favour'. I will only add my wishes that you would 
 write to me oftener. Farewell. 
 
 had written an invective against some person wliose inter- 
 est lie had occasion to make use of in tlie affair of his 
 restoration. This piece of satire had stolen into the world, 
 it seems, without his knowledge ; but as he never had any 
 formal quarrel with the man against whom it was levelled, 
 and as it was drawn up in a style by no means equal to 
 the usual correctness of his performances, it might easily, 
 he tells Atticus, be proved not to have come from his hand: 
 puio posse probari non esse meam. The truth of it is, sin- 
 cerity does not seem to have been the virtue upon whicli 
 Cicero was very solicitous of establishing his character. 
 Thus, Plutarch assures us, that our author having made a 
 speech in public, full of the highest encomiums on Cras- 
 sus, he did not scruple a few days afterwards to reverse 
 the panegyric, and represent him before the same audience 
 in all the darkest colours of his invective. Cicero being 
 reminded, upon this occasion, of his former harangue, 
 very gravely replied, " it was only by way of an oratorical 
 exercise, and in order to try the force of his eloquence upon 
 so bad a subject." — Aul. Oell. xii. 12; Life of Cicero, p. 68; 
 Ad Att. iii. 12 ; Plut. in Vit. Cicer. 
 
 y The chief of those who engaged in Catiline's rebellion, 
 were men of the same desperate fortunes as himself: Qid- 
 cunque bona patria laceraverat, says the historian of this 
 conspiracy, quieiinqiie aliermm ces grande conjlavcrat, 
 were the worthy associates of Catiline in this infamous 
 enterprise : and though liberty was, as usual, the pretence, 
 the true motive of their taking up arms was, in order to 
 make war upon their creditors. — Sallust. Bell. Cat. 14. 
 
 ^ The question in this debate probably turned on the 
 recal of Antonius — a question which seems either to have 
 been carried in his favour, or to have been dropped during 
 a considerable time. For it appears, by a letter to Atticus, 
 written two years after the date of the present, that Anto- 
 nius was still in his government : and Dion Cassius assures 
 us, that he was not brought upon his trial till the consu- 
 late of Csesar ; that is, not till the Year of Rome 694. He 
 was then arraigned for his ill-conduct in Macedonia, and 
 as being concerned likewise in Catiline's conspiracy. This 
 last article of the impeachment could not be proved, but 
 the truth of it, nevertheless, was generally believed ; how- 
 ever, he was convicted of the former, and condemned to 
 perpetual banishment. Cicero appeared as his advocate 
 upon this occasion ; and it was an occasion which contri- 
 buted more, perhaps, than any other, to his future misfor- 
 tunes. For, in the warmth of his speech, he indiscreetly 
 throw out some reflections upon Csesar, which, although 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 To Terenl'ui, to my dearest Ttillia, and to my Son*. 
 
 If you do not hear from luo so frequently as you 
 might, it is because I can neither write to you, nor 
 ^ i, ^yy^ read your letter.-;, without falling into a 
 greater passion of tears than I am able to 
 support ; for though I am at all times, indeed, 
 completely miserable, yet I feel my misfortunes 
 with a j)articular sensibility upon those tender 
 oi'casions. 
 
 Oh ! that I had been more indifferent to life ! 
 Our days would then have been, if not wholly 
 unacquainted with sorrow, yet by no means thus 
 wretched. However, if any hopes are still reserved 
 to us of recovering some part, at least, of what we 
 have lost, I shall not think that I have made alto- 
 gether so imprudent a choice. liut, if our present 
 fate is unalterably fixed — ah ! my dearest Tercntia, 
 if we are utterly and for ever abandoned by those 
 gods whom you have so religiously adored, and by 
 those men whom I have so faithfully served ; let 
 me see you as soon as possible, that 1 may have 
 the satisfaction of breathing out my last departing 
 sigh in your arms. 
 
 I have spent about a fortnight at this place'', 
 with my friend Marcus Flaccus. This worthy man 
 did not scruple to exercise the rites of friendship 
 and hospitality towards me, notwithstanding the 
 severe penalties of that iniquitous law against those 
 who should venture to give me reception*^. May 
 that gi'eat master of his passions did not think proper at 
 that time openly to resent, it is probable he never forgave. 
 Dion Cassius, at least, informs us, that it was upon this 
 account he secretly instigated Clodius to those violent 
 measures wliich soon afterw.ords terminated in Cicero's 
 exile. — Ad Att. ii. 2 ; Dio, xxxvii. See rem. " on the pro- 
 ceding letter. 
 
 » Theie is an interval of two years between the date of 
 this and the foregoing letter ; tlie correspondence which 
 Cicero carried on during the intermediate period being 
 entirely lost, except that which he held with Atticus. The 
 following letters to Terentia, were written in our author's 
 exile, and will prove, either that Cicero was a philosopher 
 only in speculation, or that philosophy itself pretends tO' 
 more than it has power to perform. Perhaps, they will 
 prove both ; for, as on the one hand they discover the most- 
 unmanly dejection of spirit ; so it is certain, on the other, 
 tha,t much weaker minds have been able, with the assist- 
 ance of better principles, to support with fortitude far 
 severer trials. Those in which Cicero was at present exer- 
 cised, were occasioned by Clodius, who procured himself 
 to be elected tribune with the single view of destroying 
 this his avowed adversary. It has already been observed 
 in rem. P, on the third letter of this book, that Cicero, 
 in his consulate, had put to death some of the con- 
 spirators concerned with Catiline, without any formal 
 trial, and upon no other authority than a decree of the 
 senate. And it was upon this charge that Clodius founded 
 his impeachment. Cicero's conduct upon this occasion, 
 has also been arraigned by a late very accurate and judicious 
 historian ; and it must be acknowledged that, as far as wo 
 can be competent judges of it at this distance from the 
 time and scene of action, it seems to have been attended 
 with some circumstances not easily reconcilable to the 
 principles either of justice or good policy. — Hooke's Romaa 
 History, vol. iii. p. 316. 
 
 b Brundisium : a maritime town in the kingdom of 
 Naples, now called Brindisi. Cicero, when he first with- 
 drew from Rome, intended to have retired into Sicily, but 
 being denied entrance by the governor of that island, he 
 changed his direction, and came to Brundisium, in his 
 way to Greece. — Pro Plane. 40, 41. 
 
 = As soon as Cicero had withdrawn from Rome, Clodius*
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 330 
 
 I one day have it in my power to make him a 
 return to those generous services, which I shall 
 ever most gratefully remember. 
 
 I am just going to embark, and purpose to pass 
 through Macedonia, in my way to Cyzicum''. And 
 now, my Terentia, thus wretched and ruined as I 
 am, can I entreat you, under all that weight of pain 
 atul sorrow with which, I too well know, you are 
 oppressed, can I entreat you to be the partner and 
 companion of my exile ? But must I then live 
 without you ? I know not how to reconcile myself 
 to that hard condition ; unless your presence at 
 Rome may be a mean of forwarding ray return ; if 
 any hopes of that kind should indeed subsist. But 
 should there, as I sadly suspect, be absolutely 
 none, come to me, I conjure you, if it be possible : 
 for never can I think myself completely ruined, 
 whilst I shall enjoy my Terentia's company. But 
 how will my dearest daughter dispose of herself? 
 A question which you yourselves must consider : 
 for, as to my own part, I am utterly at a loss what 
 to advise. At all events, however, that dear im- 
 happy girl must not take any measures that may 
 injure her conjugal repose"^, or affect her in the 
 good opinion of the world. As for my son — let 
 me not, at least, be deprived of the consolation of 
 holding him for ever in my arms. But I must lay 
 down my pen a few moments : my tears flow too 
 fast to suffer me to proceed. 
 
 I am under the utmost solicitude, as I know not 
 whether you have been able to preserve any part of 
 your estate, or (what I sadly fear) are cruelly robbed 
 of your whole fortune. I hope Piso^ will always 
 continue, wliat you represent him to be, entirely 
 ours. As to the manumission of the slaves, I think 
 you have no occasion to be uneasy. For, with re- 
 gard to your own, you only promised them their 
 liberty as they should deserve it : but, excepting 
 Orpheus, there are none of them that have any 
 great claim to this favour. As to mine, I told 
 them, if my estate should be forfeited, I would give 
 them their freedom, provided I could obtain the 
 confirmation of that grant : but, if I preserved my 
 estate, that they should all of them, excepting only 
 a few whom I particularly named, remain in their 
 present condition. But this is a matter of little 
 consequence. 
 
 With regard to the advice you give me of keep- 
 ing up my spirits, in the belief that I shall again 
 be restored to my country, I only wish that I 
 may have reason to encourage so desirable an ex- 
 pectation. In the mean time, I am greatly miser- 
 able, in the uncertainty when I shall hear from you, 
 or what hand you will find to convey your letters. 
 I would have waited for them at this place, but the 
 master of the ship on which I am going to embark, 
 could not be prevailed upon to lose the present 
 opportunity of saihng. 
 
 For the rest, let me conjure you, in my turn, to 
 bear up under the pressure of our afflictions with 
 
 procured a law, which, among other articles, enacted, that 
 " no person should presmne to harbour or receive him on 
 pain of death."— Life of Cicero, p. 93. 
 
 '^ A considerable tovra in an island of the Propontis, 
 which lay ao close to the continent of Asia, as to be joined 
 with it by a bridge. 
 
 •= TuUia was at this time married to Caius Piso Frugi ; a 
 young nobleman of one of the best families in Rome. See 
 rem. » on letter 9 of this book. 
 
 ' Cicero's son-in-law, mentioned in the last note. 
 
 as much resolution as possible. Remember that 
 my days have all been honourable ; and that I now 
 suft'er not for my crimes, but my virtues. No, my 
 Terentia, nothing can justly be imputed to me, but 
 that I survived the loss of my dignities. However, 
 if it was more agreeable to our children that I 
 should thus live, let that reflection teach us to 
 submit to our misfortunes with cheerfulness ; 
 insupportable as upon all other considerations they 
 would undoubtedly be. But, alas ! whilst I am 
 endeavouring to keep up your spirits, I am utterly 
 unable to preserve my own ! 
 
 I have sent back the faithful Philetserus, as the 
 weakness of his eyes made him incapable of render- 
 ing me any service. Nothing can equal the good 
 offices I receive from Sallustius. Pescennius, like- 
 wise, has given me strong marks of his affection : 
 and I hope he will not fail in his respect also to 
 you, Sica promised to attend me in my exile, but 
 he changed his mind, and has left me at this place. 
 
 I entreat you to take all possible care of your 
 health, and be assured, your misfortunes more 
 sensibly affect me than my own. Adieu, my Te- 
 rentia, thou most faithful and best of wives ! adieu. 
 And thou, my dearest daughter, together with that 
 other consolation of my life, my dear son, I bid you 
 both most tenderly farewell. 
 Brundisium, April the 3llth. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 To Terentia, to my dearest Tullia, and to my Son. 
 
 Imagine not, my Terentia, that I write longer 
 letters to others than to yourself : be assured, at 
 fO" l^ast, if ever I do, it is merely because 
 those I receive from them require a m.ore 
 particular answer. The truth of it is, I am always 
 at a loss what to write ; and, as there is nothing in 
 the present dejection of my mind that I perform 
 with greater reluctance in general, so I never 
 attempt it with regard to you and my dearest 
 daughter, that it does not cost me a flood of tears. 
 For how can I think of you without being pierced 
 with grief, in the reflection, that I have made those 
 completely miserable whom I ought, and wished, 
 to have rendered perfectly happy .' And I should 
 have rendered them so, if I had acted with less 
 timidity. 
 
 Piso's behaviour towards us in this season of our 
 afflictions, has greatly endeared him to my heart ; 
 and I have, as well as I was able in the present 
 discomposure of my mind, both acknowledged his 
 good offices and exhorted him to continue them. 
 
 I perceive you depend much upon the new 
 tribunes ; and if Pompey perseveres in his present 
 disposition, I am inclined to think that your hopes 
 will not be disappointed ; though I must confess I 
 have some fears with respect to Crassus. In the 
 meanwhile I have the satisfaction to find, what 
 indeed I had reason to expect, that you act with 
 great spirit and tenderness in all my concerns. 
 But I lament it should be my cruel fate to exposa 
 you to so many calamities, whilst yoa are thui 
 generously endeavouring to ease the weight of 
 mine. Be assured it was with the utmost grief I 
 read the account which Publius sent me, of the 
 opprobrious manner in which you were dragged 
 from the temple of Vesta to the office of Valerius «. 
 
 K Terentia had taken sanctuary in the temple of Vesta, 
 Z 1
 
 •MO 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 Sad reserve indeed! that thou, the dearest object 
 of my fondest desires, that my Terentia, to whom 
 such numbers were wont to look up for relief, 
 shouUl be herself a sjiectaele of the most affectinj^ 
 distress ! and that I, who have saved so many 
 otluTS from ruin, should haye ruined both myself 
 and my family by my own indiscretion ! 
 
 As to what you mention with regard to the area 
 ?)elonf;ing to my house, 1 shall never look u|)on 
 myself as restored to my country, till that spot of 
 ground is again in my i)ossession''. Hut this is a 
 point that does not depend upon ourselves. Let 
 me rather express my concern for what does, and 
 lament that, distressed as your circumstances 
 already are, you should engage yourself in a share 
 of those expenses which are incurred upon my 
 •locount. He assured if ever I should return to 
 Rome, I shall easily recover my estate : but should 
 fortune continue to persecute me, will you, thou 
 dear unhappy woman, will you fondly throw away, 
 in gaining friends to a desperate cause, the last 
 scanty remains of your broken fortunes ! I conjure 
 you then, my dearest Terentia, not to involve 
 yourself in any charges of that kind : let them 
 be borne by those who are able, if tliey are willing, 
 to support the weight. In a word, if you have 
 any affection for me, let not your anxiety upon my 
 account injure your health : which, alas! is already 
 but too much iinpaired. Believe me you are the 
 perpetual subject of my waking and sleeping 
 thoughts ; and as I know the assiduity you exert 
 in my behalf, I have a thousand fears lest your 
 strength should not be equal to so continued a 
 fatigue. I am sensible at the same time that my 
 affairs depend entirely upon your assistance : and 
 therefore that they may be attended with the success 
 you hope and so zealously endeavour to obtain, 
 let me earnestly entreat you to take care of your 
 health. 
 
 I know not whom to write to unless to those 
 who first write to me, or whom you particularly 
 mention in your letters. As you and TuUia are of 
 opinion that I should not retreat farther from 
 Italy, I have laid aside that design. Let me hear 
 from you both as often as possible, particularly if 
 there should be any fairer prospect of my return. 
 Farewell, ye dearest objects of my most tender 
 affection, Farewell! 
 
 Thessalonica', Oct. the 5tli. 
 
 LETTER Vin. 
 
 To Terentia, to my dearest TuUia, and to my Son. 
 I LEARN, by the letters of several of my friends 
 as well as from general report, that you discover 
 the greatest fortitude of mind, and that 
 you solicit my affairs with unwearied ap- 
 plication. Oh, my Terentia, how truly wretched 
 am I to be the occasion of such severe misfortunes 
 to so faithful, so generous, and so excellent a 
 
 but was forcibly dragged out from thence hy the directions 
 of Clodius, in order to be examined at a public office; con- 
 «eming her husband's effects. — Ross. 
 
 •> After Clodius had procured the law against Cicero 
 already taken notice of, he consecrated the area where his 
 house in Rome stood, to the perpetual service of religion, 
 and erected a temple upon it to the goddess Liberty. — 
 Life of Cicero, p. 9."!. 
 
 • A city in Macedonia, now called Salonichi. 
 
 A. u. 695. 
 
 woman ! And my dearest TuUia too ! — That she 
 who was once so happy in her father, should now 
 derive from him such bitter sorrows ! Hut how 
 shall I express the anguish 1 feel for ray little boy! 
 who became acquainted with grief as soon as he 
 was capable of any reflection^. Had these afftictions 
 happened, as you tenderly represent them, by an 
 unavoidable fate, they would have sat less heavy on 
 my heart. Hut they are altogether owing to my 
 own folly in imagining I was loved where I was 
 secretly envied'', and in not joining wilii those 
 who were siiu'.erely desirous of my friendship'. 
 Had I been governed indeed by my own sentiments, 
 withotit relying so much on those of my weak or 
 wicked advisers, we might still, my Terentia, have 
 been hajjpy "'. However, since my friends encourage 
 
 J Cicero's son was at this time about eight years of age. 
 ^Manutius. 
 
 ^ The persons to whom ho alludes are, Ilortcnsius, 
 Arriiis, and otliers of that i)arty, who (if we m.iy believe 
 Cicero's complaints to Attieus) took advantage of his fears, 
 and advised him to withdraw from Rome on purpose to 
 ruin him. Hut persons under misfortunes are apt to Ik: 
 suspicious, and .are frequently therefore unjust: as Cicero 
 seems to have been with respect to Ilortensius at least, 
 who does not .appear to have merited his reproaches. — 
 Ad Att. iii.!), 14; Ad Quint. Frat. i. 3. See Mongault, 
 remarks, vol. ii. p. 44. 
 
 • Cajsar and Crassus frequently solicited Cicero to unite 
 himself to their party, promising to protect him from the 
 outrages of Clodius, provided he would fall in witli their 
 measures. — Life of Cicero, p. "!'.). iKi. 
 
 "> Cicero is perpetually reproaching himself in these 
 letters to Terentia, and in those which he wrote at the 
 same time to Atticus, for not having taken up arms and 
 resolutely withstood the violences of Clodius. He after- 
 wards, however, in several of his speeches, made a merit 
 of what he here so strongly condemns, and particularly in 
 that for Scxtius, he appeals to Heaven, in the most sfilemn 
 manner, that ho submitted to a voluntary exile in order 
 to spare the blood uf his fellow-citizens, and preserve tho 
 public tr.anquillity. " Tc, te, patria, tester, (says he) et 
 vos penates patriique Dii, me vestrarum, sedum teniplo- 
 rumque causa, me propter salutem meorum civium, qujE 
 mihi semper fuit mea carior vita, dimicationemcEedenique 
 fugisse." But Cicero's veracity, in this solemn asseve- 
 ration, seems liable to be justly questioned. It is certain 
 that he once entertained a design of taking up arms in his 
 own defence : and the single motive that appears to have 
 determined him in the change of this resoli^tion was, his 
 finding himself most perfidiously deserted by Pompey ; — 
 " Si — quisquam fuisset (says he, in a letter to Atticus) 
 qui me Pompeii minus liberali responso perterritum, a 
 lurpissimo consilio revocaret ; — aut occubuissem honeste, 
 aut victores hodie viveremus." — [Ad Att. iii. 15.] Dion 
 Cassius asserts, that Cicero, notwithstanding this unex- 
 pected desertion of Pompey, was preparing to put himself 
 in a posture of defence; but that Cato and Hortensius 
 would not suffer him to execute his purpose : iirex^'^PV^^ 
 fihy (iirXa apacrdat, KioXvdils Se vir6 re too Kotocoj 
 Kol roxj 'OpTT](Tlov, &c. 1. xxxviii. Perhaps this author 
 may be mistaken as to his having actually made any 
 formal preparations of this kind : but that he had it in his 
 intentions seems clear beyond all reasonable contradiction. 
 The French historian of our author's banishment has 
 relied, therefore, too much upon Cicero's pompous profes- 
 sions after his return, when he maintains that nothing 
 could be farther from his thoughts than a serious oppo- 
 sition, [Hist, de I'Exil de Ciodr. p. 148.] The contrary 
 appears most evidently to have been the case ; and that 
 tho patriot-motive which he so often assigns in his sub- 
 sequent orations for leaving his country, was merely an 
 after-thought, and the plausible colouring of artful elo- 
 quence. AVliy else, it may be asked, is there not the least 
 hint of any such generous principle of his conduct, in aU
 
 TO SEVERAL OF IIIS FRIENDS. 
 
 341 
 
 me to hope, I will endeavour to restrain my grief, 
 lest the effect it may have upon my health should 
 flisappoint your tender efforts for my restoration. 
 I am sensible, at the same time, of the many diffi- 
 culties that must be conquered ere that point can 
 be effected ; and that it vfould have been much 
 easier to have maintained my post than it is to 
 recover it. Nevertheless, if all the tribunes are in 
 my interest ; if Lentulus is really as zealous in my 
 cause as he appears ; and if Pompcy and Ciesar 
 likewise concur with him in the same views, I ought 
 not, most certainly, to despair. 
 
 With regard to our slaves, I am willing to act 
 as our friends, you tell me, advise. As to your 
 concern in respect to the plague which broke out 
 here, it is entirely ceased : and I had the good 
 fortune to escape all infection. However, it was 
 my desire to have changed my present situation 
 for some more retired place in Epirus, where I 
 might be secure from Piso and his soldiers". But 
 the obliging Plancius was unwilling to part with 
 me ; and still indeed detains me here in the hope 
 that we may return together to Rome". If ever I 
 should live to see that happy day ; if ever I should 
 be restored to my Terentia, to my children, and to 
 myself, I shall think all the tender solicitudes we 
 have suffered, during this sad separation, abun- 
 dantly repaid. 
 
 Nothing can exceed the affection and humanity 
 of Piso'sP behaviour towards everyone of us : and 
 I wish he may receive from it as much satisfaction, 
 as I am persuaded he will honour. — I was far from 
 intending to blame you with respect to my brother : 
 but it is much my desire, especially as there are so 
 few of you, that you should live together in the most 
 perfect harmony. — I have made my acknowledg- 
 
 the letters he wrote during this period ? AVhy else is he 
 perpetually reproaching his friends for having suffered 
 him to take that measure ? And why, in a word, does ho 
 call it, as in the passage above-cited, iu7-pissi»iiim con- 
 silium, the effect of a most ignominious resolution ? But 
 were it to be admitted that a regard to his country deter- 
 mined him to withdraw from it; still, however, he could 
 not, witli any degree of truth, boast of his patriotism upon 
 tliat occasion ; for the most partial of his advocates must 
 acknowledge, that he no sooner executed this resolution, 
 than he heartily repented of it. The truth is, how unwil- 
 ling soever he might be to hazard the peace of his country 
 in maintaining his post, he was ready to renounce all ten- 
 derness of that kind in recovering it ; and he expressly 
 desires Atticus to raise the mob in his favoiu, if there were 
 any hopes of making a successful push for his restoration : 
 — " Oro te ut, si qus spes crit posse stndiis bonorum, 
 auctoritate, multitudine comparata, rem confici, des ope- 
 ram ut uno impetu perfring.atur." — Ad Att. iii. 23. 
 
 " Lucius Calphumius Piso, who was consul this year 
 with Gabinius: They were both the professed enemies of 
 Cicero, and supported Clodius in his violent measures. 
 The province of Macedonia had fallen to the former, and 
 he was now preparing to set out for his government, where 
 his troops were daily arriving. Cicero has delineated the 
 characters at large of these consuls in several of his ora- 
 tions: but he has, in two words, given the most odious 
 picture of them that exasperated eloquence, perhaps, ever 
 drew, where he calls them dvo reipuhlicce portcnta ac 
 jxene funera : an expression for which modem language 
 can furnish no equivalent. De Prov. Consul. — See rem. 
 1 on letter 17, book ii, and rem. ' on letter 3, book vii. 
 
 ° Plancius was, at this time, qua;stor in Blacedonia, 
 and distingui.shed himself by many generous offices to 
 Cicero in his exile.' — Pro Plane, passim. See rem. ' on 
 letter 2, book viii. 
 
 P Cicero's son-in-law. 
 
 ments where you desired, and acquainted the 
 persons you mention that you had informed me 
 of their services. 
 
 As to the estate you propose to sell ; alas ! my 
 dear Terentia, think well of the consequence : 
 think what wouhl become of our unhappy boy, 
 should fortune still continue to persecute us. But 
 my eyes stream too fast to suffer me to add more: 
 nor would I draw the same tender flood from 
 yours. I will only say, that if my friends should 
 not desert me, I shall be in no distress for money: 
 and if they should, the money you can raise by the 
 sale of this estate will little avail. I conjure you 
 then, by all our misfortunes, let us not absolutely 
 ruin our pom- boy, who is well nigh totally undone 
 already. If we can but raise him above indigence, 
 a moderate share of good-fortune and merit will be 
 sufficient to open his way to whatever else we can 
 wish him to obtain. Take care of your health, 
 and let me know by an express how your nego- 
 ciations proceed, and how affairs in general stand. 
 — My fate must now be soon determined. I ten- 
 derly salute my son and daughter, and bid you aU 
 farewell. 
 Dyrrachium'l, November 26. 
 
 P.S. — I came hither, not only as it is a free 
 city'' and much in my interest, but as it is situated 
 likewise near Italy'. But if I should find any 
 inconvenience from its being a town of such great 
 resort, I shall remove elsewhere, and give you due 
 notice. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 To Terentia. 
 I RECEIVED three letters from you by the hands 
 of Aristocritus, and have wept over them till they 
 are almost defaced with my tears. Ah ! 
 A. u. 0J3. j^y 'j'pj.gi^tja^ J am worn out with grief : 
 nor do ray own personal misfortunes more severely 
 torture my mind, than those with which you and 
 my children are oppressed. Unhappy indeed as 
 you are, I am still infinitely more so ; as our 
 common afflictions are attended with this aggra- 
 vating circumstance to myself, that they are justly 
 to be imputed to my imprudence alone. I ought 
 most undoubtedly either to have avoided the danger 
 by accepting the commission' which was offered 
 me ; or to have repelled force by force ; or bravely 
 to have perished in the attempt. Whereas nothing 
 
 1 A city in Macedonia, now called Durazzo, in the 
 Turkish dominions. This letter, though dated from 
 Dyrrachium, appears to have been wholly written, except 
 the iK)stscript, at Thessalonica. 
 
 ■• That is, a city whicli had tlie privilege, though in the 
 dominions of the Roman republic, to be governed by its 
 own laws. 
 
 s Besides the reasons here mentioned, there was another 
 and mucJi stronger, which induced Cicero to leave Thes- 
 salonica : for he had received intelligence that Piso's troops 
 were approaching towards that city. — Ad Att. iii. 22. 
 
 t As it answered Cajsar's purposes either to gain Cicero, 
 or to ruin him, he artfully laid his measures for both. 
 And accordingly, after having inbtigated Clodius to pursue 
 Cicero, he offered to take him into Gaul in the quality of 
 his lieutenant, as a means of protecting him from that 
 vengeance he had secretly inflamed. But Cicero, being 
 more disposed to try his strength with his adversary, im- 
 prudently declined the proposal.— Dio, xxxvii. ; Ad Att. 
 ii. liJ, 19.'
 
 342 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 could have been more utiworthy ot my character, 
 or more pregnant with misery, than the scheme I 
 have pursued". I am overwhehiicd, therefore, 
 not only with sorrow hut with shame : yes, my 
 Terentia, 1 blush to reflect that I did not exert 
 that spirit I ouplit for llie sake of so excellent a 
 wife and sucli amiable ciiildren. The distress in 
 which you are all ecjually involved, and your own 
 ill state of health in particular, arc ever in my 
 thoughts; as 1 have the mortification, at the same 
 time, to observe, that there appear but slender 
 hopes of my being recalled. My enemies are many ; 
 while those who are jealous of me are almost innu- 
 merable : and though they found great difficulty in 
 driving me from my country, it will be extremely 
 easy for them to prevent my return. However, 
 as long as you have any hopes that my restoration 
 may be effected, I will not cease to co-operate 
 with your endeavours for that ])urpose ; lest my 
 weakness should seem, upon all occasions, to 
 frustrate every measure in my favour. In the 
 meanwhile, my person (for which you are so ten- 
 derly concerned) is secure from all danger: as, in 
 tnitli, I am so completely wretched, that even my 
 enemies themselves must wish in mere malice to 
 preserve my life. Nevertheless I shall not fail to 
 observe the caution you kindly give me. 
 
 I have sent my acknowledgments by Dexippus 
 to the persons you desired me, and mentioned, at 
 the same time, that you had informed me of their 
 good offices. I am perfectly sensible of those 
 which Piso exerts towards us with so uncommon a 
 zeal : and indeed it is a circumstance which all the 
 world speaks of to his honour. Heaven grant I 
 may live to enjoy, with you and our children, the 
 common happiness of so valuable a relation" ! 
 
 The only hope I have now left arises from the 
 new tribunes ; and tliat too depends upon the steps 
 they shall take in the commencement of their office : 
 for if they should postpone my affair, I shall give 
 up all expectations of its ever being effected. 
 Accordingly I have despatched Aristocritus, that 
 you may send me immediate notice of the first 
 measures they shall pursue, together with the 
 general plan upon which they propose to conduct 
 themselves. 1 have likewise ordered Dexippus to 
 return to me with all expedition, and have written 
 to my brother to request he would give me frequent 
 information in what manner affairs proceed. It is 
 with a view of receiving the earliest intelligence 
 from Rome, that I continue at Dyrrachium : a 
 place where I can remain in perfect security, as I 
 have, upon all occasions, distinguished this city by 
 my particular patronage. However, as soon as I 
 shall receive intimation that my enemies"' are 
 approaching, it is my resolution to retire into 
 Epirus. 
 
 " See rem. "' on the preceding letter. 
 
 ' He had the great misfortune to be disappointed of this 
 ■wish : for Piso died soon after this letter was written. 
 Cicero mentions him in several parts of his writings, with 
 the highest gratitude and esteem. He represents him as a 
 young nobleman of the greatest talents and application, 
 who devoted his whole time to the improvement of his 
 mind, and the exercise of eloquence : as one whose moral 
 qualifications were no less extraordinary than his intel- 
 lectual, and, in short, as possessed of every accomplish- 
 ment and every virtue that could endear him to his friends, 
 to his family, and to the public. — Pro Sext. 31 ; De Clar. 
 Orator. 271 ; Ad Quirites, 3. 
 
 * The troops of Piso. See rem. " on the former letter. 
 
 In answer to your tender proposal of accompa- 
 nying me in my exile, I rather cl;oose you should 
 continue in Rome ; as I am sensible it is upon you 
 that the principal burthen of my affairs must rest. 
 If your generous negociations should succeed, my 
 return will prevent the necessity of that journey : 
 if otherwise — Hut I need not add tlie rest. The 
 next letter I shall receive from you, or at most the 
 subseiiuent one, will determine me in what manner 
 to act. In the meantime I desire you would give 
 me a full and faithful information how things go 
 on : though indeed 1 liave now more reason to 
 expect the final result of this affair than an account 
 of its progress. 
 
 Take care of your health I conjure you ; assuring 
 yourself that you are, as you ever have been, the 
 object of my fondest wishes. Farewell, my dear 
 Terentia ! I see you so strongly before me whilst I 
 am writing, that I am utterly spent with the tears 
 I have shed. Once more, farewill". 
 
 Dyrrachium, Nov. the 3(ith. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To Quintiis Aletelias Nepos, the Consul^. 
 The letters I received both from my brother and 
 my friend Atlieus, strongly encouraged me to hope 
 
 „„„ that you were not less disposed than your 
 A. u. 696. II .. 4- II 1 
 
 colleague to favour my recall. In conse- 
 quence of this persuasion, I immediately wrote to 
 you in terms suitable to my present unfortunate 
 circumstances ; acknowledging my grateful sense 
 of your generous intentions, and entreating your 
 future assistance. But I afterwards learned, not 
 indeed so much by any hint of this kind from my 
 friends, as from the report of those who passed 
 this way, that you did not continue in the same 
 favourable sentiments^ : for which reason I would 
 
 ^ " This great man, who had been the saviour of his 
 country, who had feared, in the support of that cause, 
 neither the insults of a desperate party, nor the daggers of 
 assassins ; when he camo to suffer for the same cause, sunk 
 under the weight. He dishonoured that banisliment which 
 indulgent Providence meant to be the means of rendering 
 his glory complete. Uncertain where he should go, or 
 what he should do, fearful as a woman, and froward as a 
 child, he lamented the loss of his rank, of his riches, and 
 of his splendid popularity. His eloquence served only to 
 paint his misery in stronger colours. He wept over the 
 ruins of his fine house, which Clodius had demolished ; 
 and his separation from Terentia, whom he repudiated not 
 long afterwards, was, perhaps, an afHiction to him at this 
 time. Everything becomes intolerable to the man who 
 is once subdued by grief. He regrets what he took no 
 pleasure in enjoying, and, overloaded already, he shrinks 
 at the weight of a feather. Cicero's behaviom', in short, 
 was such, that his friends, as well as his enemies, believed 
 him to have lost his senses. Csesar beheld, with a secret 
 satisfaction, the man, who had refused to be his lieutenant, 
 weeping under the rod of Clodius. Pompey hoped to find 
 some excuse for his own ingratitude in the contempt which 
 the friend, whom he had abandoned, exposed himself to. 
 Nay, Atticus judged him too nearly attached to his former 
 fortune, and reproached him for it. Atticus, even Atticus 
 blushed for TuUy, and the most plausible man alive 
 assumed the style of Cato." — Bolingbroke, Reflections on 
 Exile, p. 253. 
 
 y This is the same person, who, when he was tribune, 
 gave occasion, by his ill-treatment of Cicero, to the second 
 and third letters of this book. He was now consul with 
 Publius Cornelius Lentulus. 
 
 » Whilst the friends of Cicero were exerting their endea-
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 843 
 
 not venture to importune you any farther. My 
 orother, however, having transmitted me a copy of 
 the speech you lately made in the senate, I found 
 it animated with such a spirit of candour and mo- 
 deration, that I was induced to write to you once 
 more. Let me earnestly request you then to con- 
 sider rather the interests than the passions of your 
 family", lest, by falling in with their unjust and 
 cruel opposition to me, you should open a way by 
 which they themselves may be oppressed in their 
 turn. Is it possible, indeed, that you, who gained 
 such a glorious conquest over yourself, as to sacri- 
 fice your own private enmities'* to the welfare of 
 the republic, should be prevailed upon to add 
 strength to a resentment inotliers, which evidently 
 tends to its destruction ? If you think proper then 
 to afford me your assistance in this conjuncture, 
 you may, upon all occasions, depend on my utmost 
 services in return. On the other hand, should that 
 lawless violence, which has wounded the common- 
 wealth through my side, be suffered still to prevail, 
 it imports you to reflect, whether, if you should 
 hereafter be inclined to recal the opportunity of 
 preserving our general liberties, you will not have 
 the misfortune of finding it much too late*^. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 To Fabius Gallus'^. 
 
 I HAVE been attacked with a disorder in my 
 bowels, which continued with great violence during 
 ten days ; but as it was not attended with 
 ■*■■'■ a fever, I could not persuade those who 
 had occasion for my services, that I was really 
 indisposed. In order, therefore, to avoid their 
 vours to procure his restoration, Clodiuswas opposing their 
 tiesigns by every nietliod of artifice and violence : in whicli 
 he was protected by Metcllus, notwithstanding he liad 
 given intimations of a disposition to favour Cicero's inte- 
 rest. — Life of Cicero, p. 108. 
 
 '>■ Clodius was cousin to Jletellus. — Post Ked. in Sen. 10. 
 
 b The first step that Lentulus took when he entered 
 upon the administration of his oflSce, was to move the 
 senate that Cicero might be recalled. Upon which occa- 
 sion, his colleague Metellus made the concession to which 
 Cicero seems here to allude, declaring that he was willing 
 ^o sacrifice his private resentment against Cicero to the 
 ■general inclinations of the senate and the people. Never- 
 theless, he still continued to support Clodius, as has been 
 already observed in the note above. — Pro Sext. 32 ; Post 
 Red. in Sen. 4. See rem. '' on letter 17, book ii. 
 
 c Notwithstanding that Pompey, Caesar, and indeed all 
 the principal persons of the republic now concurred in 
 favouring Cicero's return, yet the practices of Clodius pre- 
 vented a decree for that purpose, till the first of June. 
 Nor was it till the 4th of August following, that this decree 
 pas.sed into a general law : in consequence of wliich, Cicero 
 soon afterwards made liis triumpliant entry into Rome. 
 Metellus joined in procuring this decree ; a change of sen- 
 timents which Cicero imputed to a most pathetic speech 
 which Servilius Isauricus delivered in the senate upon this 
 occasion, and which .so softened Metellus, it seems, that he 
 melted into tears. But the true cause is mere probably to 
 1)6 ascribed to the influence of Citsar and Pompey: who, 
 in order to mortify Clodius, whose power now began to be 
 troublesome to them, thought it convenient, for their pur- 
 poses, that Cicero should be restored. — Pro Sext. 31. 62 ; 
 Ad Quirites, 7- 
 
 ** Gallus is only known by three or four letters which 
 Cicero has addressed to him : from which, however, nothing 
 particular can be collected concerning his history or cha- 
 racter. 
 
 importunities, I retired to Tusculanum ; having 
 observed so strict an abstinence for two days 
 before, as not to have tasted even a drop of water. 
 Reduced then, as I am, by my illness and my 
 fasting, I had more reason to hope for a visit from 
 you, than to imagine you expected one from me. 
 
 Distempers of every kind I greatly dread, but 
 particularly of that sort for which the Stoics have 
 censured your favourite Epicurus, where he com- 
 jdains*^ of being violently afHicted with the dysentery 
 and tlie strangury ; as the former, they assert, is 
 the consequence of table indulgences, and the 
 latter of a more shameful intemperance. I had, 
 indeed, great reason to apprehend a dysentery; but 
 whether it be from change of air, or a relaxation 
 from business, or that the distemper had almost 
 spent itself, I know not, but I am somewhat better 
 since I came hither. You will wonder, perhaps, 
 what excesses I have been guilty of, to bring upon 
 myself this disorder. I must inform you then, that 
 I owe it to the frugal reguhitions of the sumptuary 
 law^ The products of the eartli being excepted 
 out of the restrictions of that act ; our elegant 
 eaters, in order to bring vegetables into fashion, 
 have found out a method of dressing them in sc 
 high a taste, that nothing can be more palatable. 
 It was immediately after having eaten very freely 
 of a dish of this sort, at the inauguration feast of 
 Lentulus E, that I was seized with a diarrhoea, which 
 has never ceased till this day. Thus you see, that 
 I, who have withstood all the temptations that the 
 noblest lampreys and oysters could throw in my 
 way, have at last been overpowered by paltry beets 
 and mallows : but it has taught me, however, to be 
 more cautious for the future. As Anicius found 
 me in one of my sick fits, you must undoubtedly 
 have heard of my illness : I was in hopes, therefore, 
 you would not have contented yourself with inquir- 
 ing after my welfare, but would have given me the 
 satisfaction of a visit. I purpose to continiie here 
 till I shall have re-established my health, for I am 
 extremely weakened and emaciated. But if I can 
 once get the better of my disorder, I hope I shaL 
 find no difficulty in recovering all the rest. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 To Publius Lentulus, Proconsul^. 
 I FIND it much easier to satisfy the world than 
 myself, in those sacred offices of friendship I exert in 
 _ vour behalf. Numberless, indeed, are the 
 
 ■ ■ obligations you have conferred upon me, 
 
 and as you persevered with unwearied zeal till you 
 
 <^ Ina. letter which he wrote during his last sickness ; a 
 translation of which is given us by Cicero, in his treatise 
 De Pinibus, ii. 31. 
 
 f Manutius conjectures, that the law alluded to is one 
 which is ascribed by Aulus GcUius to Marcus Liciniua 
 Crassus, and which passed in the year of Rome (i43. By 
 this law the expenses of the table were regulated both in 
 regard to ordinary and extraordinary occasions, with the 
 express exception mentioned by Cicero in tlie next sen- 
 tence, concerning the article of vegetables. — Aul. Gell. 
 ii. 24. 
 
 e He was son of Publius Cornelius Lentulus, one of the 
 consuls of the present year, to whom the next letter .ind 
 several of the following ones in this .ind the subsequent 
 book Jire written. He gave this entertainment on occa- 
 sion of Lis being chosen a member of the college of augurs. 
 — Alanutius. 
 
 ^ Publius Lentulus was consul together with Quintus
 
 .')44 
 
 THE LKTrERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 had effected my rec;d from exile, I esteem it the 
 greatest mortHicatiou of my life, that I cannot act 
 in your affairs witli the same success. The truth 
 is, Aiumonius, who resides here as ambassador 
 from Ptolemy', defeats all my schemes by the must 
 shameless and avowed bribery, and he is su])[)lied 
 with money for this purpose, from the same ([uarter 
 as when you were in Rome. The party in the 
 king's interest (though their number, it muit be 
 owned, is inconsiderable) are all desirous that 
 
 MctcUus Ncpos, A. U. 696, the year before this letter was 
 written. During his administration of tliat office, he dis- 
 tinguiahed liiniself by liis zi';il in proniotinR Cicero's rccal 
 from banishnient ; which, after nianj- dilficultics thrown 
 in the way by Clodius, ho at length effected. At the expi- 
 ration of liis consulate, ho succeeded to the government of 
 Cilieia, one of tlie most considerable provinces in Asia 
 Minor, now called Carmania ; and the following correspon- 
 dence was carried on with him whilst he continued in that 
 province. Ca;sar had, upon many important occasions, 
 given linn very signal instances of his friendship, particu- 
 larly in gaining him an entnmco into tlie pontifical col- 
 lege : in procuring him the province of Lower Sjiain, .after 
 he had passed through the office of pra;tor ; and by assist- 
 ing him in obtaining the consulship. Yet these obligations 
 were not so powerful in the sentiments of Lentulus, as to 
 supersede those more important ones which he owecUto his 
 country. Accordingly he opposed the illegal and dangerous 
 demands of Ca!sar, with great warmth and indignation, in 
 the senate ; and, upon the breaking out of the civil war, 
 joined himself with Ponipey. lie steadily persevered in 
 foUowing the cause and the fortune of that unhappy chief, 
 notwithstanding Ca-sar generously gave him his life and 
 his liberty, when he fell into his hands upon the surrender 
 of Corfiniura. For it appears, by a letter in this collection, 
 that he was afterwards at the battle of Pharsalia, from 
 whence he fled with Ponipey to Rhodes, and tliis is the 
 farthest we can trace him. He is mentioned by Cicero 
 among the celebrated orators of his age ; though his merit 
 of this kind was, it seems, more owing to his acquired than 
 his natural talents. — Cts. De Bell. Civ. i. ; Plut. in Vit. 
 Jul. Ca;s.; Cic. Ep. Fam. xii. 14 ; Cie. De Opt. Gen. Die. 
 
 ' King of Egypt, and father of the celebrated Cleopatra. 
 He was surn.amed Auletes, in allusion to his skill in play- 
 ing upon a certain musical instrument called by the Greeks 
 Aitlos. The title of this prince to his throne being preca- 
 rious, he found means, by the interest of Ctesar and Pom- 
 pey, to be declared an .ally of the Roman republic, about 
 two years before the date of this letter, for wliich piece of 
 service tl;ey were to receive no less a reward than one mil- 
 lion one hmidred sixty-two thousand five hundred pounds. 
 The heavy taxes Ptolemy was obliged to impose in order 
 to raise this immense tribute, together with other acts of 
 tyranny and oppression, occasioned such a general discon- 
 tent among his people, that they took up arms and drove 
 him out of Egypt. In this exigency he had recourse to the 
 republic, in virtue of the alliance just mentioned. His 
 subjects likewise sent an embassy to Rome, composed of 
 an hundred of their principal citizens, to plead their cause 
 before the senate ; but Ptolemy having notice of this depu- 
 tation, procured part of them to be assassinated on their 
 way thither ; others as soon as they arrived ; and the rest 
 he silenced by proper applications to their fears and their 
 avarice. This, together with his immense and open pro- 
 fusions among the venal part of the republic, rendered him 
 generally detested at Rome ; inscmmch, that notwithst.and- 
 iug he was zealously supported by Pompey, who actually 
 obtained ,a decree in his favoiir, yet the opposition was so 
 strong, that the senate, after various debates, thought pro- 
 per to let the affair wholly drop. His last resource, there- 
 fore, was to apply himself to Gabinius, proconsul of Syria. 
 Accordingly, Gabinius, upon the promise of 10,000 talents, 
 and at the recommendation of Pompey, boldly imdertook, 
 and effected his restoration, without being authorised by 
 any legal commission for that purpose. — Dio, xxxix. ; Liv. 
 Epit. 105 ; Cic. Orat. in Pison. See rem. «', y. 353. 
 
 Pompey may be employed to reinstate him in his 
 dominions. The senate, on the other hand, fall in 
 with the pretended oracleJ, not, indeed, as giving 
 any credit to its predictions, but as being in general 
 ill-inclined to this prince, and detesting his most 
 corrupt jnactices. In the meauwliile, 1 omit no 
 opportunity of admonishing Pompey with great 
 freedom, and conjuring him not to act such a part 
 in this aflair, as would cast the deepest stain u|)oa 
 his character. I must do hini tiie justice, at the 
 same time, to acknowledge, that so far as his own 
 conduct is concerned, there does not appear the 
 least foundation for any remonstrances of this sort. 
 On the contrary, he is per])etually exjiressing the 
 highest zeal for your intert^st : and he lately sup- 
 l)orted it in the senate, with the utmost forci; of 
 eloquence, and the strongest professions of friend- 
 ship. Marcellinus'', I need not tell you, is a good 
 deal displeased at your soliciting this commission ; 
 in all other respects, 1 dare venture to say he will 
 very strenuously promote your interest. We must 
 be content to take him in his own way, for I per • 
 ceive it is impossible to dissuade him from proposing 
 that the injunctions of the oracle shall be complied 
 with. And, in fact, he has already made several 
 motions to that purpose. 
 
 I wrote this early on the 13th, and I will now 
 give you an account of what has hitherto passed in 
 the senate. Both Hortensius and Lucullus agreed, 
 with me in moving, that the prohibition of the 
 oracle should be obeyed ; and, indeed, it does not 
 seem possible to bring this matter to bear upon 
 any other terms. But we proposed, at the same 
 time, that in pursuance of the decree' which was 
 
 J Caius Cato, a relation of the celebrated M. Porcius Cato, 
 who killed himself at Utica, was in the number of thos» 
 who most strenuously opposed the restoration of Ptolemy. 
 He was a young man of a turbulent and enterprising dis- 
 position, which he supported witli some degree of eloqueneo. 
 This, at least, is the character which Fenestella gives of 
 him, as that annalist is cited by Nonius; but if he was 
 never engaged in an opposition less rea.sonable than tlio 
 present, history has not done him justice. Among other 
 expedients which he employed to obstruct the designs of 
 those who favoured Ptolemy, he had recourse to a prophecy 
 which he pretended to have found in the Sibylline books, 
 and which contained a severe denunciation against tho 
 state, if the Romans assisted a king of Egypt witli their 
 troops in recovering his throne. This had, in some mea- 
 sure, its desired effect ; for the senate (which in general was 
 in the same sentiments, as to this point, with Cato) voted 
 it dangerous to the interests of the republic, to employ any 
 force in favour of Ptolemy. 
 
 The Sibyls were certain supposed prophetesses, coneern 
 ing whom there is a great variety of opinions, historian* 
 being by no means agreed as to their number, their country, 
 or the age in which they lived. Those who are inclined to 
 read a very ridiculous story, may find an account in Auiu» 
 Gellius, of the manner by which the Romans are said t> 
 have possessed themselves of these oracular writings. 
 These prophecies were carefully deposited in the capitol, 
 and consulted upon certain extraordinary occasions. There 
 are some ancient writings still extant which pass under 
 the name of the Sibylline oracles ; but these oracles " seem 
 to have been all, from first to last, and without any excep- 
 tion, mere impostures." — Ad Quint. Frat. ii. 2 ; Aul. Gell. 
 i. 19; Jortin, Remarks onEccles. Hist. p. 284. 
 
 ^ One of the present consuls. 
 
 ' Before Lentulus set out for his government, the senato 
 had come to a resolution of assisting Ptolemy with a body 
 of troops; and (as has already been observedi a decree had 
 actually passed for that purpose. It was voted at the samo 
 time that the consul, whose lot it should prove to adminis- 
 ter the province of Cilieia, should be charged with thifr
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 345 
 
 made on your own motion, you should be appointed 
 to re-establish Ptolemy in his kingdom ; the situa- 
 tion of your province lying so conveniently for that 
 - purpose. In a word, we consented that the army 
 should be given up, in deference to the oracle ; but 
 insisted, nevertheless, that you should be employed 
 in effecting this restoration. Crassus, on the other 
 side, was for having this commission executed by 
 three persons, to be chosen from among our gene- 
 rals, and consequently he did not mean to exclude 
 Poiupey. Marcus Bibulus joined with him as to 
 the number, but thought that the persons to be 
 nominated should not bear any military command. 
 All the rest of the consulars were in the same 
 sentiments, except Servilius, Afranius, and Volca- 
 tius. The first absolutely opposed our engaging in 
 Ptolemy's restoration upon any terms whatsoever : 
 but the two last were of opinion, that agreeably to 
 the motion of Lupus, this commission should be 
 given to Pompey. This circumstance has increased 
 the suspicion concerning the real inclinations of the 
 latter, as his most particular friends were observed 
 to concur with Volcatius. They are labouring this 
 point with great assiduity, and I fear it will be 
 carried against us. Libo and Hypsitus are openly 
 soliciting for Pompey ; and, in truth, the conduct 
 of all his friends at this juncture makes it generally 
 believed that he is desirous of the office. Yet the 
 misfortune is, that those who are unwilling it should 
 fall into his hands, are not the more inclined to 
 place it in yours, as they are much displeased at 
 your having contributed to the late advancement of 
 his power'". For myself, I find I have the less 
 influence in your cause, as it is supposed that I am 
 solely governed by aprinciple of gratitude ; at the 
 
 commission ; and accordingly fortune decided it in favour 
 of Lentulus. But the artifices of Cuius Cato, taken notice 
 of in the note above, prevented this decree from being car- 
 ried into execution. — Orat. pro Rabir. 
 
 ™ Lentuhis, during his consulate, proposed and carried 
 a law in favour of Pompey, which, in effect, invested him 
 with the whole power of the Roman empire. For, under 
 a pretended scarcity of corn (as some of the historians 
 seem to represent it, though Dion Cassias, indeed, speaks 
 of it as real) he was commissioned to provide the republic 
 with that commoditj-, by which means all those who were 
 concerned in the naval, the commercial, and landed inte- 
 rest, either in Italy or the provinces, became his tributaries 
 and dependants. By another law, Pompey was authorised, 
 during the space of five years, to exercise proconsular 
 power throughout all the Roman dominions ; and it is to 
 these extravagant grants that Cicero seems to allude. 
 The former, indeed, of these two laws, Cicero himself very 
 zealously promoted, in return to the services he had lately 
 received from Pompey in the affair of his restoration. 
 And though the latter invested that aspiring chief with a 
 power much too exorbitant (as is intimated in a letter to 
 Atticus) to be endured in a free state, yet Cicero suffered 
 it to pass without the least opposition, ^^'c learn, from 
 his o^vn confession, the mean motive of this unworthy 
 , silence. As the pontifical college, it seems, had not yet 
 made their report concerning the validity of Clodius's 
 consecration of his ai-ea, (see rem. 1», p. 340.) he thought it 
 unsafe to withstand any of Pompey's demands, lest he 
 might influence their decision to his prejudice: — ■" Nos 
 tacemus, et eo magis, quod de domo nostra nihil adhuc 
 pontifices responderunt." Lentulus, on the other hand, 
 was suspected of procuring these laws in view of his own 
 designs, and in order to divert Pompey from the thoughts 
 of being emploj'ed in re-establishing Ptolemy on his throne. 
 Thus were the liberties of Rome sacrificed to the private 
 purposes of her pretended patriots I — Plut. in Vit. I'omp. ; 
 Dio, xxxix. ; Ad Att. iv. I. 
 
 same time, the notion which prevails that this affair 
 affords an opportunity of obliging Pompey, renders 
 my applications likewise not altogether so effectual 
 as they might otherwise prove. It is thus I am 
 labouring in this perple.xed business, which the king 
 himself, long before you left Rome, as well as the 
 friends and dependants of Pompey, had artfully 
 embarrassed. To this I must add the avowed 
 opposition I meet with from the consulars, who 
 represent our assisting Ptolemy with an army, as a 
 measure that would highly reflect upon the dignity 
 of the senate. Be assured, however, I shall employ 
 every means in my power of testifying both to the 
 world in general, and to your friends in particular, 
 the sincerity of that affection I hear you. And, 
 were there any honour in those wlio ought to have 
 shown themselves influenced by its highest and 
 most refined principles, I should not have so many 
 difficulties to encounter. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIIL 
 
 To Quintus Valerius Orca^, 
 You remember, I doubt not, that when I attended 
 you on your way towards your province, I took 
 occasion, in the presence of Publius Cus- 
 '■ pius, to desire you would consider every 
 friend of his whom I should recommend to you, as 
 in the number of my own ; and that I afterwards 
 repeated tliis request in the strongest manner. You 
 then assured me, with great generosity and polite- 
 ness, and agreeably to that aftectioaate regard with 
 which you have ever distinguished me, that you 
 would comply with my request. I am to inform 
 you, then, that Cuspius, having been twice in Africa 
 during the time that he had the direction of the 
 affairs of the company which farms the revenues of 
 that province, contracted some acquaintance in that 
 part of the world whom he greatly loves : and, as 
 no man is more zealous to serve his friends, he 
 very warmly espouses their interest. I am always 
 ready to assist him for that purpose, to the utmost 
 of my credit and influence : which I mention as a 
 reason for my recommending his African friends in 
 general to your protection. For the future, there- 
 fore, I shall only acquaint you that the person in 
 whose behalf I may happen to write, is a friend of 
 Cuspius ; and then add the distinguishing mark we 
 agreed upon". But my present recommendation 
 is of the strongest kind : as it is in compliance with 
 the most earnest desire of Cuspius, that I entreat 
 your good offices to Lucius Julius. If I were to 
 request them in the terms that are usually employed 
 in the sincerest solicitations of this nature, I should 
 scarce satisfy, I believe, the zeal of my friend. He 
 requires something more new and singular in the 
 manner of my present address, and imagines I am 
 master of a certain art that renders me extremely 
 well qualified for the task. I promised, therefore, 
 
 n lie had been prastor the year before, and very instru- 
 mental in procuring Cicero's recal from exile. At tho 
 expiration of his praetorship, he obtained the government 
 of Africa ; and this letter seems to have been written to 
 him soon after his arrival in that province. — Pigh. Annal. 
 ii. 384. 
 
 o To distinguish those recommendations which were 
 written merely in compliance with solicitations he could, 
 not refuse, from others that were the sincere dictates of 
 his heart.
 
 34G 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 to recommend his friends to you, by all the most 
 skilful and insinuating methods of jiersuasion. 
 IJut as 1 find myself incapable of executing; this 
 promise, I can only entreat you to f^ive him reason 
 to imai^ine, that there was something wonderfully 
 eflicacioiis in tliis letter. Now this he will cer- 
 tainly sujiposc if you exercise towariis Julius every 
 generous act that your politeness and your station 
 enable you to confer ; not only by distant services, 
 but by your personal notice and distinction ; for 
 you cannot imagine, as you have not been long 
 enougli in your post to know it by your own obser- 
 vation, how great an advantage it is to a man to 
 have the countenance of the governor of his pro- 
 vince. 1 am jiersuaded that Julius well deserves 
 every mark of your friendship upon his own 
 account ; not only because ('us])ius has assured 
 me that he does, (which of itself, indeed, would Ije 
 a very sufficient reason for my thinking so) but 
 because I know the great judgment of the latter in 
 the choice of his friends. 
 
 Time will soon discover the effects which this 
 letter shall jiroduce ; and they will be such, 1 con- 
 fidently trust, as to demand my acknowledgments. 
 In the mean while, you may depend upon my best 
 services here, in every instance wherein 1 shall 
 imagine you would desire them. Farewell. 
 
 P.S. — Publius Cornelius, the bearer of this letter, 
 is one whom 1 likewise recommend to you at the 
 request of Cuspius ; and how much I am bound, 
 both by inclination and gratitude to do everything 
 for his sake that is in my power, is a circumstance 
 of which I have already sufficitntly informed you. 
 Let me entreat you, therefore, that he may very 
 soon and very frequently have the strongest reasons 
 to thank me for this my recommendation of his 
 friend. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 To Publius Lentulus, Proconsul. 
 The senate met on the 13th of January, but 
 -cajne to no resolution ; the greatest part of that 
 A u. 697. *^^y having been spent in some warm con- 
 tests which arose between MarcellinusP, 
 the consul, and Caninius, one of the tribunes of the 
 people. I had myself also a very considerable share 
 in the debates ; and I represented the zeal you have 
 always shown towards the senate in terms that 
 influenced them, I am persuaded, much to your ad- 
 vantage. The next day, therefore, we thought it 
 sufficient briefly to deliver our opinions ; as I per- 
 ceived, not only by the favourable manner in which 
 I was heard the day before, but also by inquiring into 
 the sentiments of each particular member, that the 
 majority was clearly on our side. The business of 
 the day opened with reporting to the house the 
 several opinions of Bibulus, Hortensius, and Vol- 
 ■catius. The respective questions therefore were, in 
 the first place, whether three commissioners should 
 be nominated for restoring the king, agreeably to 
 the sentiments of Bibulus ; in the next, whether, 
 according to those of Hortensius, the office should 
 ■be conferred upon you, but without employing any 
 forces ; or, lastly, whether, in conformity to the ad- 
 vice of Volcatius, this honour should be assigned 
 
 P Cnelus Lentulus Marcellinus, who was consul this year 
 with L. Jlarcius Philippus. 
 
 to Pompey. The points being thus stated, it was 
 moved that the opinion of Hibulus might be refer- 
 red to the deliberation of the house in two separate 
 questions'!. Ac(;ordingly, as it was now in vain to 
 oppose his motion, so far as it related to paying 
 obedience to the declaration of the oracle, the 
 senate in general came into his sentiments : but as 
 to his proposal of deputing three commissioners, it 
 was rejected by a very considerable majority. The 
 0])inion next in order was that of Hortensius : but 
 when we were going to divide upon it. Lupus, a 
 tribune of the people, insisted that, in virtue of his 
 office, he had the privilege of dividing the house 
 prior to the consuls, and therefore demanded that 
 the voices should be first taken upon the motion he 
 had made in favour of Ponijiey. This claim was 
 generally and strongly opposed ; as, indeed, it was 
 both unprecedented and unreasonable. The consuls 
 themselves, however, did not greatly contest that 
 point, nor did they absolutely give it up : their 
 view wais to ])rotract the debates, and they suc- 
 ceeded accordingly. They i>erceived, indeed, that 
 notwithstanding the majority affected to appear on 
 the side of Volcatius, yet, upon a division, they 
 would certainly vote with Hortensius. Neverthe- 
 less, several of the members were called upon to de- 
 liver their o])inioiis, though, in truth, much against 
 the inclinations of the consuls, who were desirous 
 
 that the sentiments of Bibulus should prevail 
 
 These debates continuing till night, the senate broke 
 up without coming to any resolution. I happened 
 to pass the same evening with Pompey ; and as I 
 had that day supported your cause in the senate with 
 more than ordinary success, 1 thought it afforded 
 me the most favourable opportunity of speaking to 
 him in your behalf. And what I said seemed to 
 make so strong an impression, that 1 am persuaded 
 I have brought him wholly over to your interest. 
 To say the trutli, whenever I hear him mention this 
 affair liiraself, I entirely acquit him of being secretly 
 desirous of this commission. On the other hand, 
 when I observe the conduct of his friends of every 
 rank, I am well convinced (and indeed it is now- 
 evident likewise to the whole world) that they have 
 been gained by the corrupt measures which a cer- 
 tain party, with the consent of Ptolemy and his 
 advisers, have employed. I write this before sun- 
 rise on the 16th of January, and the senate is to 
 meet Eigain on this very A&y. I hope to preserve 
 my authority in that assembly, as far at least as is 
 possible amidst such general treachery and corrup- 
 tion which has discovered itself upon this occasion. 
 As to what concerns the bringing this matter before 
 the people, I think we have taken such precautions 
 as will render it impracticable, unless by actual vio- 
 lence, or in direct and open contempt both of our 
 civil and religious institutions. For this purpose, 
 a very severe order of the senate'' (which I imagine 
 
 q " When an opinion was proposed to the senate whicit 
 was thought too general, and to include several distinct 
 articles, it was usual to require that each part might be 
 propounded and voted separately. Thus Bibulus moved, 
 that they might submit to the Sibylline oracle, and appoint 
 throe private senators to restore the king. But the house 
 required that they miglit vote separately upon these two 
 questions : and tlie event was, they unanimously agreed to 
 the former, but rejected the latter." — Koss, Remarks on 
 Cic. Famil. Epist. vol. i. p. 348. 
 
 r When an act passed the senate in a full house, held 
 according to the prescribed forms, and without any oppo- 
 sition from the tribunes, (who had the privilege of putting
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 047 
 
 was imnoediately transmitted to you) was entered 
 yesterday in our journals, notwithstanding the tri- 
 bunes, Cato^ and Caninius, interposed their nega- 
 tives. 
 
 You may depend upon my sending you a faithful 
 account of every other occurrence which may arise 
 in this affair : and be assured I shall exert the 
 utmost of my vigilance and my credit to cotuluct it 
 in the most advantageous manner for your interest. 
 iFarewell. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To the same. 
 AuLUS Trebonius, who is an old and intimate friend 
 of mine, has some important affairs in your province 
 .„» which require immediate despatch. His 
 own illustrious character, together with the 
 recommendations of myself and others, have, upon 
 former occasions of this kind, obtained for him the 
 indulgence of your predecessors. He is strongly 
 persuaded, therefore, from that affection and those 
 mutual good offices which subsist between you and 
 me, that this letter wUl not prove a less effectual 
 solicitor in his behalf : and let me earnestly entreat 
 you not to disappoint him in this his expectation. 
 Accordingly I recommend his servants, his freed- 
 men, his agents, and in short his concerns of every 
 kind, to your patronage : but particularly I beg you 
 would confirm the decree which Titus Ampius' 
 passed in his favour. In one word, I hope you will 
 take all opportunities of convincing him that you 
 do not consider this recommendation as a matter of 
 common and unmeaning form. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 To the same. 
 
 Whex the senate met on the 1 Gth of this month", 
 your affair stood in a very advantageous posture. We 
 A V 6T ^^^ succeeded the day before against the 
 motion of Bibulus for appointing three 
 commissioners, and had now only to contend with 
 Volcatius ; when our adversaries prevented the ques- 
 tion from being put, by artfully protracting the de- 
 bates. For they saw we had, in a very full house, 
 and amidst great contrariety of opinions, carried our 
 point, to the considerable mortification of those who 
 were for taking the king's affairs out of your direc- 
 tion, and transferring them to another hand. Curio 
 opposed us upon this occasion with extreme warmth, 
 while Bibulus spoke with more temper, and indeed 
 seemed almost inclined to favour our cause. But 
 Cato and Caninius absolutely refused to suffer any 
 decree to pass till a general assembly of the people 
 should be convened. 
 
 By the Pupian law, as you well know, there can- 
 not be another meeting of the senate till the first 
 of February ; nor, indeed, throughout that whole 
 
 a negative upon all proceedings in the senate,) it was called 
 a scnatus consrdtum, a decree of the senate. But if any of 
 these essentials were wanting, or a tribune interposed, it 
 was then only styled a scnatus auctoritas, an order of the 
 senate, and considered as of less authority. — Manutius. 
 
 » See rem. J, p. 344. 
 
 ' The predecessor of Lentulus in this government. — Pigh. 
 Annal. U. C. 696. 
 
 " Janu.'u'y. 
 
 month, unless all the foreign ambassadors should 
 have received, or be refused, audience. In the 
 mean while, a notion prevails among the people, 
 that your adversaries have insisted upon this pre- 
 tended oracle, not so much with an intent of 
 obstructing your particular views, as in order to 
 disappoint the hopes of those who may be desirous 
 of this expedition to Alexandria merely from the 
 ambition of commanding an army. The whole 
 world is sensible, indeed, of the regard which the 
 senate has shown to your character : and it is 
 notoriously owing to the artifices of your enemies, 
 that the house did not divide upon the question 
 proposed in your favour. But should the same 
 persons, under a pretended zeal for the public, 
 (though, in fact, from the most infamous motives,) 
 attempt to bring this affair before a general assem- 
 bly of the people, we have concerted our measures 
 so well, that they cannot possibly effect their de- 
 signs without having recourse to violence, or at 
 least without setting the ordinances of our country, 
 both civil and religious, at avowed defiance^. — But 
 I will neither ostentatiously display my own endea- 
 vours to assist you in this conjuncture, nor dwell 
 upon the unworthy treatment you have received 
 from others. What merit, indeed, can I thence 
 claim to myself, who could not acquit half the 
 obligations I owe you, were I even to sacrifice my 
 life to your service.' On the other hand, what 
 avails it to disquiet my mind with complaining of 
 those injuries which I cannot reflect upon without 
 the deepest concern ? I will therefore only add, 
 if methods of violence should be employed, I can- 
 not pretend, in this general contempt of all legal 
 authority, to answer for the event. In every other 
 respect, I will venture to assure you that both the 
 senate and the people will pay the highest attention 
 to your dignity and character. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIL 
 
 To the same. 
 There is nothing I more ardently wish than to 
 convince both yourself and the world with how 
 cf,., much gratitude I retain the remembrance 
 of your services. I cannot, however, but 
 e.ttremely regret that your affairs should have taken 
 such a turn since your absence, as to give you occa- 
 sion of trying the affection and fidelity of your 
 friends. You are sensible, as I perceive by your 
 last letter, that you have been treated with the 
 same insincerity by those who ought to have con- 
 curred in supporting your dignities, as I formerly 
 
 T It was no very difficult matter for the contending par- 
 ties in the republic, when they were disposed to obstruct 
 the designs of an opposite faction, to find an expedient for 
 that purpose. One cannot but wonder, indeed, that any 
 public business could be carried on, when nothing more 
 was necessary to embarrass the proceedings, than to pro- 
 cure some tribune to interpose his negative, or any magis- 
 trate to observe the heavens. This latter was a species of 
 divination practised among the Romans, in order to deter- 
 mine whether any scheme under deliberation would be 
 prejudicial or advantageous to the state. It consisted in 
 remarking certain appearances in the heavens, or par- 
 ticular modes in the voice or flight of birds, wliich were 
 supposed intimations of good or ill success. AVTiile this 
 ceremony was performing, no assembly of the people could 
 be legally held, nor any act pass into a law. To both theae 
 methods, it is probable, Cicero here alludes.
 
 348 
 
 TIIK LETTERS OF MARCUS TLLLIUS CICERO 
 
 experienced from some of my i)retended friends in 
 the afTuir of my banishment. Tlius, whilst I was 
 exerting the utmost efforts of my vigilance, my 
 policy, and my interest, in order to serve you in 
 the article relating to Ftolemy, I was unexpectedly 
 alarmed in a point of much more important con- 
 cern, by the infamous law which Cato has lately 
 proposed to your jjrejudice". Where affairs are 
 thus embroiled, everything is undoubtedly to be 
 feared : yet my principal apprehension, I confess, 
 arises from the treachery of your false friends. Hut 
 however that may be, I am earnestly endeavouring 
 to counteract the malevolent designs of Cato. 
 
 As to the Alexandrian commission, both your- 
 self and your friends will, I trust, have abundant 
 reason to be satisfied with my conduct. But at the 
 same time I must say, I greatly fear it will either 
 be taken out of your hands, or entirely dropped ; 
 and I know not which of these alternatives I should 
 least choose. However, we have another expedient 
 in reserve, which (should we be driven to it i neither 
 Selicius nor myself disapjjrove. By this scheme 
 we shall, on the one hand, prevent the senate from 
 refusing to assist Ptolemy, and, on the other, remove 
 all appearance of our being disappointed, if that 
 person should be employed, who, it is more than 
 probable, will now obtain this commission. To he 
 short, I shall take such precautions that, should 
 our designs fail, you may not seem to have suffered 
 the disgrace of a repulse : yet, at the same time, I 
 shall remit nothing of my best efforts to support 
 your claim so long as there shall be the least pro- 
 spect of success. But which ever way this point 
 may finally be determined, it will be agreeable to 
 ihose wise and elevated sentiments you possess, to 
 consider the true glory of your character as result- 
 ing entirely from the dignity of your actions and 
 the virtues of your heart. And should the perfidi- 
 ousness of a certain party deprive you of some of 
 those honours which fortune has conferred upon 
 you, be assured it will cast a much darker sliade 
 on their characters than on yours. In the mean- 
 while, your affairs are the constant subject of my 
 thoughts ; and I neglect no opportunity of acting 
 in them for your best advantage. I concert all my 
 measures for this purpose with Selicius ; as indeed 
 I know not any one of your friends who has a 
 greater share of good sense, or a more affectionate 
 zeal for your service. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIIL 
 To the same^. 
 You are informed, I imagine, by many hands, of 
 what passes here : I will leave it therefore to your 
 A. u. 697 '^^^^'^ friends to supply you with an ac- 
 count of our transactions, and content 
 myself with only sending you my conjectures. To 
 this end I must previously acquaint you, that, on 
 the 6th of February, Pompey made a speech in a 
 general assembly of the people in favour of Milo, 
 
 w Caius Cato, in order to cut off all hopes at once from 
 Lentulus of being employed in this contested commission, 
 proposed a law to the people for recalling him from his 
 government. — Ad Quint. Frat. i. 3. 
 
 * This and the foregoing letter are blended together in 
 the common editions, but they are here separated upon the 
 authority of Manutius and Gronovius. 
 
 during which he was insulted with much clamoui. 
 and abuse. Cato afterwards inveighed in the senate 
 against Pompey with great acrimony, and was lieardi 
 with the most profound silence and attention : both 
 which circumstances seem to have affected him very 
 sensibly. Now from hence I surmise, that he has 
 entirely laid aside all ihuughts of being employed 
 in the Alexandrian expedition. That affair remains 
 as yet entirely open to us ; for the senate has 
 hitherto determined nothing to your prejudice but 
 what they are obliged, in deference to the oracle, 
 to refuse to every other candidate for this office. 
 It is my present liope, therefore, as well as endea- 
 vour, tliat the king may throw himself into your 
 hands, when he shall find that he cannot, as he 
 expected, be restored by Pompey ; and that unless 
 he is replaced upon his throne by your assistance, 
 his affair will be entirely drojiped. And this step 
 he will undoubtedly take, if Pompey should give 
 the least intimation of its being agreeable to him. 
 But I need not tell you of the difficulty of discover- 
 ing the sentiments of a man of his reserve. How- 
 ever, I shall omit no method in ray power to effect 
 this scheme, as I shall easily, I trust, be able tO' 
 prevent the injurious designs of Cato. 
 
 I do not find that any of the consulars are in 
 your interest, except Hortensius and Lucullus : all 
 the rest of that rank either openly, or in a more 
 concealed maimer, oppose your views. Neverthe- 
 less, my friend, be not discouraged ; on the con- 
 trary, let it be still your hope, notwithstanding 
 the attempts of the worthless Cato, that you will 
 again shine out in all your former lustre^. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 You will receive a full account from Pollio of 
 all that has been transacted in your affair ; as he 
 A V 697 ^^^ "°'' °"^y present, but a principal 
 manager. Believe me, I am much con- 
 cerned at the unfavourable aspect of this business. 
 However, it affords me a very sensible consolatiou 
 that there is strong reason to hope the prudence 
 of your friends will be able to elude the force of 
 those iniquitous schemes which have been pro- 
 jected to your prejudice. Even time itself will, 
 probably, contribute to this end ; as it often wears 
 out the malevolence of those who, either profess- 
 edly, or in a disguised manner, mean one ill. I am. 
 yet farther confirmed in these pleasing hopes, 
 whenever I reflect upon the faction that was for- 
 merly raised against myself ; of which I see a very 
 lively image in the present opposition to you. In 
 the latter instance, indeed, the attack is by no- 
 means so extensive, or so dangerous, as that which 
 was made upon me; nevertheless, there is, in 
 general, a strong similitude between the two eases : 
 and you must pardon me, if I cannot fear, upon, 
 your account, what you never thought reasonable 
 to be apprehensive of on mine. But whatever may 
 be the event, convince the world that you are 
 influenced by those principles for which 1 have 
 admired you from your earliest youth : and believe 
 me, my friend, the malice of your enemies will: 
 only serve to render your character so much the- 
 
 y See rem. "', on the preceding letter.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 349 
 
 more illustrious. In the mean time, do me the 
 justice to hope, from my affection, whatever the 
 warmest friendship can effect ; and be assured, I 
 sli;ili not disappoint your expectations. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 To Lucius Lucceius^. 
 I HAVE frequently had it in my intentions to 
 talk with you upon the subject of this letter ; but 
 pq,^ a certain awkward modesty has always 
 restrained me from proposing in person, 
 what I can, with less scruple, request at this dis- 
 tance ; for a letter, you know, spares the confusion 
 of a blush. I will own, then, that I have a very 
 strong, and, I trust, a very pardonable passion of 
 being celebrated in your writings ; and though you 
 have more than once given me assurance of your 
 intending me that honour, yet, I hope you will 
 excuse my impatience of seeing your design exe- 
 •c'J^ed. T had always, indeed, conceived a high 
 expectation of your performances in this kind : but 
 the specimen I have lately seen of them, is so far 
 superior to all I had figured in my imagination, 
 that it has fired me with the most ardent desire of 
 being immediately distinguished in your glorious 
 annals. It is my ambition, I confess, not only to 
 live for ever in the praises of future ages, but to 
 have the present satisfaction, likewise, of seeing 
 myself stand approved in the authoritative records 
 of my ingenious friend. I am sensible, at the 
 same time, that your thoughts are already deeply 
 engaged in the prosecution of your original design. 
 But, as I perceive you have almost completed 
 your account of the Italic and Marian civil wars*, 
 
 ^ It is very little that is kno\ra of Lucceius, more than 
 whiit the following letter informs us. Cicero, in one of his 
 orations, speaks of his moral character with the highest 
 applause, representing him as a man of the greatest huma- 
 nity, and of the most unblemished honour. All that has 
 been transmitted down to us of his public transactions is, 
 that he was joint candidate with Caesar in soliciting the 
 consulship, in opposition to Bibulus: in which, however, 
 he did not succeed. In the civil war which afterwards 
 broke out, he took part with Pompey, if not actively, at 
 least by his good wishes and advice : for it appears, by a 
 passage in Caesar's Commentaries, that the former was 
 wholly giiided by his counsels. It is unnecessary to men- 
 tion the high reputation he had gained by his literary abi- 
 lities, as this part of his character ivill he suflSciently laid 
 open to the reader in the present letter. — Orat. pro Coelio ; 
 Suet, in Vit. Jul. Cecs. 19 ; Cass. De Bell. Civ. iii. 
 
 » The Italic war, which broke out An. Urb. 663, owed its 
 rise to a rejected claim of the Italian provinces to be admit- 
 ted into the freedom of the city. It employed the arms of 
 the republic for more than two years, and occasioned greater 
 bloodshed and devastation than those wars in which she 
 had been engaged with Hannibal and Pyrrhus. Towards 
 the close of it, Cicero, who was at that time about eighteen 
 years of age, served as a volunteer under the father of 
 Pompey the Great. [Flor. iii. 18; Philip, xii.] The Ma- 
 rian civil war immediately succeeded the Italic, and was 
 occasioned by the insatiable ambition of IMarius. Tliis 
 haughty Roman, envying Sylla the honour of leading the 
 army of the republic against Mithridates, to which he had 
 been appointed by the senate, procured a law for divesting 
 him of that command, and transferring it into his own 
 hands. This war was carried on between the two contend- 
 ing chiefs and their adherents, with various success, and 
 the most unparalleled cruelty on both sides, till it termi- 
 nated in the perpetual dictatorship of Sylla. — Flor. iii. ?1 ; 
 Hut in Vit. Mar. et Syll. 
 
 and remember you proposed to carry on the re- 
 mainder of our history in a regular series, I cannot 
 forbear recommending it to your consideration, 
 whether it would be best to weave the relation of 
 Catiline's conspiracy into the general texture of 
 your performance, or cast it into a distinct work. 
 It is certain, several of the Greek historians will 
 justify you in this latter method. Thus Calli- 
 sthenes wrote a narrative of the siege of Troy, as 
 both Timaeus and Polybius did of the Pyrrhic and 
 Numantine wars, in so many detached pieces from 
 their larger histories'". As to the honour that will 
 arise to me, it will be much the same, I must own, 
 upon whichever scheme you may determine to 
 proceed : but I shall receive so much the earlier 
 gratification of my wishes, if, instead of waiting till 
 you regularly advance to that period of our annals, 
 you should enter upon it by this method of antici- 
 pation. Besides, by keeping your mind attentive 
 to one principal scene and cliaracter, you will treat 
 your subjert, I am persuaded, so much the more 
 in detail, as well as embellish it with higher graces. 
 I must acknowledge, it is not extremely modest 
 thus to impose a task upon you which your occu- 
 pations may well justify you in refusing ; and then 
 to add a further request that you would honour my 
 actions with your applause : an honour, after all, 
 which you may not think perhaps they greatly 
 deserve. However, when a man has once trans- 
 gressed the bounds of decency, it is in vain to 
 recede ; and his wisest way is to push on boldly in 
 the same confident course, to the end of his pur- 
 pose. I will venture, then, earnestly to entreat 
 you not to confine yourself to the strict laws of 
 history, but to give a greater latitude to your 
 encomiums than, possibly, you may think my 
 actions can claim. I remember, indeed, you de- 
 clare, in one of your very elegant prefaces, that 
 you are as inflexible to all the pleas of affection as 
 Xenophon represents Hercules to have been to 
 those of pleasure '^. Let me hope, nevertheless, if 
 friendship should too strongly recommend my 
 
 b Callisthenes lived in the times of Alexander the Great, 
 and attended that illustrious commander in his expedition 
 into Persia. Timaeus was, by birth, a Sicilian, and flou- 
 rished about the year of Rome 471 : he appears, by the 
 character which Cicero gives of him in another part of his 
 \\ritings, to have been a very learned and elegant historian : 
 and he was an author in great esteem with Atticus. Plu- 
 tarch, however, speaks of him with much contempt, for 
 having affected to rival Thucydides ; and he is noted by 
 Longinus as a \VTiter that abounded \vith cold and puerile 
 conceits. He acknowledges, nevertheless, that Timaeus 
 had a flowing imagination, and, upon some occasions, rose 
 up to the true sublime. Polybius, who died about seven- 
 teen years before Cicero came into the world, wrote a 
 general history in forty books : only five of which have 
 reached these times. But he is not more distinguished by 
 his composition, than by the friendship he enjoyed with 
 Scipio and LebUus. — Be Orat. ii. 5, 8 ; Ad Att. vi. 1 ; Plut. 
 in Vit. Niciae ; Longin. sect. 4 ; Voss. de Hist. Gra»c. i. 9, 
 12, 19. 
 
 c The story to which Cicero here alludes is this: Her- 
 cules, when he was yet a youth, as Prodicus relates the 
 fable, retired into a place of undisturbed solitude, in order 
 to determine, with himself, what course of life he should 
 pursue. Whilst he was in the midst of his contemplations. 
 Pleasure and Virtue appeared to him under the figures of 
 two beautiful women, and each accosted him in her turn. 
 He heard their respective pleas with great attention : but 
 Virtue gained her cause, and entirely won the hearf of the 
 future hero. If the English reader is disposed to know this 
 story in all its circumstances, he will find it wrought up
 
 fWO 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 actions to your ap)ir(ib!ition, you will not reject 
 her ijeiuTOus juirtiality ; l)iit u:ive somewhat more 
 to affection than rigorous trutii pcrhai)^ can justly 
 demand. 
 
 If I should prevail upon you to fall in with my 
 proposal, you will find the subject, I persuade 
 myself, not \inworthy of your genius and your 
 eIo(|ueiu'e. The entire ])(>riod from the rise of 
 Catiline's cons|)iracy to my return from banish- 
 ment, will furnish, I should iina:j;ine, a moderate 
 volume. It will supply you lik(;wise with a. noble 
 occasion of displaying your judgment in politics, 
 l)y laying open the source of those civil disorders, 
 and pointing out their proper remedies, as well as 
 by giving your reasons for ajiproving or condemn- 
 ing the several transactions which you relate. 
 And should you be disposed to indulge your usual 
 spirit of freedom, you will have an o]i])ortunity of 
 pointing out, at the same time, with all the severity 
 of your indignation, the treachery and perfidious- 
 ness of those who laid tlKiir ungenerous snares for 
 my destruction. I will add, too, that this period 
 of my life will furnish you with numberless inci- 
 dents which cannot but draw the reader's attention 
 in a very agreeable manner : as nothing is more 
 amusing to the mind than to contemplate the 
 various vicissitudes of fortune. And though they 
 were far, it is true, from being acceptable in expe- 
 rience, they cannot fail of giving me much enter- 
 tainment in description : as there is an inexjiressible 
 satisfaction in reflecting, at one's ease, on distresses 
 we have formerly suflered. There is something 
 likewise in that compassion, which arises from 
 reading an account of the misfortunes which have 
 attended others, that casts a most agreeable melan- 
 choly upon the mind. Who can peruse the relation 
 of the last moments of Epaminondas at the battle 
 of Mantinea, without finding himself touched with 
 a pleasing commiseration ? That glorious chief, 
 you may remember, would not suffer the dart to 
 be drawn out of his side till he was informed that 
 his shield was safe from the hands of his enemies : 
 and all his concern amidst the anguish of his wound 
 was, to die with glory''. What can be more inter- 
 esting, also, than the account of the flight and 
 death of Themistocles^ ! The truth of it is, a mere 
 narrative of general facts affords little more enter- 
 tainment to the reader than he might find in 
 
 into a very beautiful poem by the Rev. Mr. Lowth, and 
 inserted in Polymetis, p. 135. 
 
 d Epaminondas headed the forces of the Thebans in a 
 battle which they fought with the Lacedemonians at Man- 
 tinea, a town in Arcadia. Tlie Thobans gained the victory, 
 but lost their invaluable commander : whose death was 
 attended with the circumstances which Cicero here men- 
 tions.— Justin, vi. 7, 8. 
 
 « Themistocles.afterhaving distinguished himself among 
 his countrymen, the Athenians, by his military virtues, 
 particularly in the wars in which they were engaged with 
 Xerxes, had rendered himself so popular, that it was 
 thought necessary to remove him : and accordingly he was 
 obliged to withdraw from Athens. As the historians men- 
 tion nothing of his return, Mimutius proposes an emenda- 
 tion, suggested to him by one of his friends, who imagined, 
 that instead of reditu it should be read interitu. This 
 would agree very well with the account which is giTen of 
 his death : for having been received in his exile b}' Arta- 
 xerxes, he was appointed to command a body of forces in 
 an expedition which that prince was preparing against the 
 Grecians. Hut Themistocles, rather tlian turn his arms 
 against his country, chose to put an end to his life by a 
 draught of poison.— Plut. in Vit. Themist. 
 
 ])erusing one of our ])ublic registers'. Whereas, 
 in the history of any c.vtraordinary person, our fear 
 and hope, our joy and sorrow, our astonishment 
 aTid expectation, are each of them engaged by turns. 
 And if the final rcsidt of all should be concluded 
 with some remarkable catastroj)he, the mind of the 
 reader is filled with the highe.st possible gratifica- 
 tion. For these reasons I am the more desirous 
 of persuading you to separate my story from the 
 general thread of your narration, and work it up 
 into a detached ))erformance ; as, indeed, it will 
 exhibit a great variety of the most interesting and 
 affecting scenes. 
 
 When I tell you il is my ambition to be cele- 
 brated by your pen, I am by no means apprehensive 
 you will susjiect me of flattery. The consciousness 
 of your merit must always incline you to believe, 
 it is envy alone that can be silent in your praise : 
 as, on the other side, you cannot imagine me so 
 weak as to desire to be transmitted to posterity by 
 any hand, which could not secure to itself the same 
 glory it bestowed. When Alexander chose to have 
 his picture drawn by Apelles *•', and his statue 
 formed by Lysippus'', it was not in order to ingra- 
 tiate himself with those distinguished artists ; it 
 was from a firm persuasion that the works of these 
 admired geniuses would do e(iual credit both to his 
 reputation and their own. The utmost, however, 
 that their art could perform, was to perpetuate 
 the persons only of their celebrated contempora- 
 ries : but merit needs not any such visible exhibi- 
 tions to immortalise its fame. Accordingly, the 
 Spartan Agesilaus, who would never suffer any 
 picture or statue of him to be taken ', is not less 
 universally known than those who have been most 
 fond of having their persons copied out for pos- 
 terity. The single treatise which Xenophon has 
 written in praise of that renowned general, is more 
 to his glory than all the pictures and statues of all 
 the artists in the imiverse. It would be a much 
 higher satisfaction to me, therefore, as it would be 
 a far greater honour, to be recorded by your hand 
 than that of any other ; not only because your 
 
 f These originally were books preserved in tlie pontifical 
 college, wherein the several divisions of the Roman year 
 were marked out as they were regulated by Numa, and the 
 particular festivals noted upon wliich it was unlawful to 
 transact any public atfairs. These registers, in the later 
 ages of the republic, were much enlarged, and contained a 
 sort of journal of the most memorable events, both civil 
 and religious, that happened in every year. — Liv. i. 19, 20; 
 Dissert, sur les Pastes par Coulure, dans les Mfem. de Lit. 
 de I'Acad^m. de Bel. Let. i. 67- 
 
 s See an account of this celebrated Grecian painter, in 
 rem. f, on letter 17, book ii. 
 
 h A famous statuary, of whom Demetrius, as cited by 
 Quintilian, remarks, that he was more celebrated for 
 taking a strong than an agreeable likeness. — Quint. Inst. 
 Orat. xii. 10. 
 
 ' Agesilaus, king of Sparta, was one of the most consider- 
 able persons of his age, both for civil and military virtues ; 
 insomuch that he justly acquired the appellation of Agesi- 
 laus the great. But though nature had been uncommonly 
 liberal to him in the nobler endowments of the mind, she 
 had treated him very unfavourably in those of the body, 
 lie was remarkably low of stature, had one leg shorter 
 than the other, and so very despicable a countenance, 
 that he never failed of raising contempt in those who were 
 unacquainted with his moral and intellectual excellences. 
 It is no wonder, therefore, that he was unwilling to bo 
 ; delivered down to posterity, imder the disadvantages of so 
 ' unpro nising a figure. — Plut in Vit. Agesil. ; Corn. Nep. in 
 I Vit. A,'csil. 8.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 351 
 
 genius would rise and adorn my actions with the 
 same advantage as TimreusJ has displayed those of 
 Timoleon'', or Herodotus' those of Themistocles'" ; 
 but because of the additional credit I shall receive 
 from the applause of so illustrious, so experienced, 
 and so approved a patriot. By this means I shall 
 enjoy, not only the same glorious privilege which, 
 as Alexander observed when he was at Sigeum, 
 Achilles received from Homer" ; but what is still 
 more important, the powerful testimony of a man 
 who is himself distinguished by the noblest and 
 most uncommon virtues. Accordingly, I have 
 been always wonderfully pleased with the sentiment 
 which Nsevius" puts into the mouth of Hector, 
 where that hero, speaking of the approbation he 
 had received from his illustrious father, adds, that 
 it gave him so much the more satisfaction, as 
 coming from one who was, himself, the great object 
 of universal applause. But should want of leisure, 
 (for it would be an injustice to our friendship to 
 suppose it can be want of inclination,) should your 
 occupations then prevent your compliance with 
 this my request ; I may, perhaps, be obliged to 
 take a method, which, though often condemned, 
 is supported, nevertheless, by several considerable 
 examples : I mean, to be the historian of my own 
 transactions. But you are sensible there are two 
 inconveniences which attend this scheme ; for a 
 man must necessarily be more reserved in setting 
 forth those parts of his conduct which merit 
 approbation, as he will be inclined entirely to pass 
 over others which may deserve reproach. I must 
 add, likewise, that what a writer says to his own 
 advantage always carries with it a less degree of 
 force and authority than when it comes from any 
 other pen. In a word, the world in general is 
 
 3 The works of Timjeus are lost. 
 
 k Timoleon is one of the noblest characters in all anti- 
 quity, and distinguished not only by his private virtuefl, 
 but by approving himself, upon every occasion, the great 
 asserter of public liberty. He was employed by the Corin- 
 thians as general of those forces which they sent to tho 
 relief of the Syracusans, against the execrable tyranny of 
 Dionysius. He executed this commission with great 
 honour and success ; for having driven Dionysius out of 
 Sicily, and restored the inhabitants to their rights and 
 privileges, he resigned the supreme command. He con- 
 tinued, however, to live among the Syracusans as a private 
 man, enjoying, as Plutarch observes, the glorious satisfac- 
 tion of seeing so many cities owe their ease and happiness 
 to his generous and heroic labours. — Plut. in Vit. Timol. 
 
 1 Herodotus flourished about 440 years before the birth 
 of Christ, imder the reigns of Xerxes and Artaxerxes, kings 
 of Persia. 
 
 ™ See above, rem. ^, p. 350. 
 
 •> Alexander being elected commander-in-chief of the 
 confederate troops which the Grecians sent against Xerxes, 
 crossed the Hellespont with his army, and landed at 
 Sigeum, a promontory near Troy, where he visited the 
 tomb of Achilles. Upon this occasion, he is said to have 
 broken out into the following exclamation: "O happy 
 youth : in having found a Homer to celebrate thy vir- 
 tues."— Plut. in Vit. Alex. ; Cic. pro Arch. Poet. 
 
 ° A dramatic poet who died at Rome An. Urb. 550, about 
 203 years before the Christian era : some fragments of his 
 works still remain. The sentiment here quoted from him 
 is truly noble ; as there is not, perhaps, a more certain 
 indication of a low and little mind, than to be elevated by 
 undistinguishing applause, or depressed by vulgar censure. 
 Trophies of honour, or monuments of disgrace, are not the 
 works of every hand. Some men are incapable of blasting 
 a reput.ation, but by approving it ; .and are never satirists, 
 but when they mean to be panegyrists. 
 
 little disposed to approve any attempt of this kind. 
 On the contrary, one often hears the more modest 
 method of the poets at the Olympic games recom- 
 mended upon such occasions, who, after they have 
 crowned the several victors, and publicly called 
 over their names, always employ some other per- 
 son to perform the same office to themselves, that 
 they may not be the heralds of their own applause. 
 This imputation, therefore, I would wilhngly 
 avoid ; as I certainly shall, if you should comply 
 with my request, and take this employment out of 
 my hands. 
 
 You will be surprised, perhaps, that I spend so 
 much time and pains in soliciting you for this 
 purpose, after having so often heard you declare 
 your intentions of giving the world a very accurate 
 history of my administration. But you must 
 remember the natural warmth of my temper, and 
 that I am fired, as I told you in the beginning of 
 my letter, with an impatient desire of seeing this 
 your design carried into execution. To own the 
 whole truth, I am ambitious of being known to the 
 present generation by your writings, and to enjoy, 
 in my lifetime, a fore-taste of that little share of 
 glory which I may expect from future ages. If it 
 be not too much trouble, therefore, I should be 
 glad you would immediately let me know your 
 resolution. And should it prove agreeable to my 
 request, I will draw up some general memoirs of 
 my transactions for your use : if otherwise, I will 
 take an opportunity of discoursing further with you 
 upon this affair in person. In the mean time, 
 continue to polish the work you have begun, and 
 to love me as usualP. Farewell. 
 
 P Pliny has made a request to Tacitus, of the same nature 
 with that which is the subject of the letter before us ; and 
 though it is by no means enlivened with so much spirit, it 
 is dictated however, by a far less extravagant passion. He 
 confesses himself fond, indeed, of being transmitted to 
 posterity, by the pencil of that celebrated historian : but 
 adds, at the same time, that he is far from desiring him to 
 paint his actions in colours more strong than fact will jus- 
 tify. [Plin. Let. vol. ii. p. 432, rem. c] This exprcBS 
 restriction seems to glance at that most extraordinarj' pas- 
 sage in the present epistle, where Cicero entreats his friend 
 " not to confine himself to the strict laws of history, but 
 to give a greater latitude to his encomiums than Lucceius 
 might possibly think his actions could claim." And never 
 did vanity, it must be acknowledged, utter or conceive a 
 more ridiculous and contemptible wish ! The voice of 
 praise can alone be justly pleasing, when it harmonises 
 with conscious merit : and the applause that does not 
 accord with truth, must, of all dissonances, surelj- prove 
 the most offensive to a well-formed ear. But it is extremely 
 observable how much Cicero's judgment was at variance 
 with his practice : for he has himself slwivn, in very strong 
 terms, the absurdity of claiming more reputation than a 
 man has merit to support. It is solid worth alone, he 
 justly remarks, that can secure a lasting fame ; for nothing 
 can be durable that is fictitious. The former, says he, 
 strikes its root deep, and spreads far ; while the latter soon 
 withers and dies away, like the beauties of a transient 
 flower. "Vera gloria radices agit, et propagatur : ficta 
 omnia celeriter, tanquam flosculi, decidant ; nee simula- 
 tum potest esse quidquam diutumiun." — De Oflfic ii. J2.
 
 ^2 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 Quinttts MctcUns Nepos'i to Cicero. 
 TnosK calumnies witli which the most virulent, 
 surely, of the human race' is perpetually loading 
 gg_ me in his public harangues, are well com- 
 pensated by the satisfaction I receive 
 from your obliging offices. When I consider, 
 indeed, the worthless hand from whence these ar- 
 
 l It is impossible to determino exactly when this letter 
 was written, as it carries no internal marks sufficient to 
 point (lilt its Jato with precision. R.igazonius, who has 
 taki'ii the pains to settle the order of these epistles, places 
 it under tho present year, and suj)poses it to have been 
 written by JMotellus, when he was governor in S))ain : to 
 whieli province hu went as proconsul after the expiration 
 of his consulsliip. 
 
 " The coiimu'iitators suppose that the person here alhided 
 to is t'lodiuB, who was now a^dilc, and employing the power 
 which that otlice gave him. to the same facticuis purposes 
 as he had exercised liis late tribimoship. liut this conjec- 
 ture appears altogether groundless. I'or t'iccro taking 
 notice to Atticus of the deatli of Metellus, which seems to 
 have happened soon after this letter was written, tells him 
 
 rows take their flight, I look ujit^.i them with the 
 contempt they deserve ; and am very willing he 
 should cease to act as a relation, since I have the 
 pleasure to see you assume that character in his 
 stead. To say the trutii, notwithstanding 1 had 
 formerly so much regard for him as to have twice 
 jireservcd him, even in spite of himself, I should 
 now i)e glad to forget there is such a person in the 
 world. 
 
 That I might not trouble you too frequently 
 with my letters, I have written to LoUius concern- 
 ing my affairs, who will let you know what mea- 
 sures I am desirous may be taken in regard to the 
 accounts of this jirovince". If it be possible, let 
 me still enjoy a place in your affection. Farewell. 
 
 it was probable that he had appointed Clodius his heir — a 
 circumstance utterly inconsistent with tho supposition 
 above-mentioned. The s.ame letter may be produced as an 
 evidence, likewise, that, whatever were tho good offices 
 which Metellus here acknowledges, they did not proceed 
 from tho suggestions of Cicero's heart ; for he speaks of 
 him to Atticus as of one whose character and conduct ho 
 greatly disapproved. — Ad Att. iv. 7- 
 » Spain. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 To Quintus Ancharius^, Proconsul. 
 
 I RECOMMEND the two sons of my very excellent 
 
 friend Aurelius as well deserving your esteem. 
 
 „ /-no They are adorned, indeed, with every 
 
 A. u. 69a. ,.• , , , , ,.„ ,. , ■' 
 
 polite and valuable qualification : as they 
 
 are in the number, likewise, of those with whom I 
 most intimately converse. If ever then my re- 
 commendation had any weight with you (and 
 much, I am sensible, it ever had), let it prevail, I 
 conjure you, in the present instance. And be 
 assured, the honours with which you shall distin- 
 g'lish these, my friends, will not only indissolubly 
 unite to you two excellent and grateful young men, 
 but, at the same time, confer a very singular 
 obligation upon myself. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 To Publius Lentulus, Proconsul. 
 I HAVE received your letter, wherein you assure 
 me, that the frequent accounts I send you of your 
 A V 698 affairs, togetherwith the convincing proofs 
 I have given you of my friendship, are 
 «ircumstances extremely agreeable to you. I should 
 ill deserve, indeed, those singular favours you have 
 conferred upon me, if I were capable of refusing 
 you my best services : and nothing is more pleasing 
 to me, in this long and very distant separation, 
 
 ' Quintus Ancharius was tribune An. Urb. 694, when he 
 ■distinguished himself by his resolute opposition to tlie fac- 
 tious measures of his colleague Vatinius. In tlie year 697 
 he was chosen praetor ; and, at tho expiration of that office, 
 he succeeded Piso in the government of ]\Iaccdonia, in 
 which jirovince this letter is addressed to him. — Orat. pro 
 Sest. 53 ; in Pison. 36 ; Ross, Remarks on the Epist. of 
 Cic. 
 
 than thus to converse with you as often as possible. 
 If you do not hear from me as frequently as you 
 wish, it is solely because I dare not trust my letters 
 to every conveyance. But whenever I shall be 
 able to put them into hands upon which I may 
 safely rely, be assured I shall not suffer the oppor- 
 tunity to slip by me. 
 
 It is not easy to give a satisfactory answer to 
 your inquiry concerning the sincerity of your pro- 
 fessed friends, and the disposition of others in 
 general towards you. This only I will venture to 
 say, that a certain party, and particularly those 
 who have the strongest obligations, as well as the 
 greatest abilities, to distinguish themselves in your 
 service, look upon you with envy : that (agreeably 
 to what I have mvself experienced upon a different 
 occasion) those whom, in justice to your country, 
 you have necessarily offended, are your avowed 
 opposers ; as others, whose interests and honours 
 you have generously supported, are much less 
 inclined to remember your favours than to oppose 
 your glory. These are circumstances, indeed, which 
 I long suspected, and have often intimated to you, 
 but of which I am now most thoroughly convinced. 
 I observed upon the same occasion (and I believe 
 I told you so in a former letter), both Hortensius 
 and Lucullus to be extremely in your interests ; 
 as among those who were in the magistracy, Lucius 
 Racilius appeared very sincerely and affectionately 
 to espouse your cause: but, excepting the two 
 former, I cannot name any of the consulars who 
 discovered the least degree of friendship towards 
 you when your affair was before the senate. As 
 for my own endeavours, they might, perhaps, be 
 generally considered as flowing rather from those 
 singular favours I have received at your hands, 
 than from the uninfluenced dictates of my real 
 sentiments. With regard to Pompey, he seldom 
 I attended the house at that season : but I must do
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 368 
 
 him the justice to say, he often takes an oppor- 
 tunity, without my previously leading him into 
 the subject, of discoursing with me concerning 
 your affair, as well as very willingly enters into 
 the conversation whenever I start it myself. Your 
 last letter, I perceived, was extremely agreeable to 
 him ; and I could not but observe, with equal 
 admiration and pleasure, the polite and most 
 judicious manner in which you addressed him. 
 Before he received this letter, he seemed a little 
 inclined to suspect, that the notion which some had 
 ■entertained of his inclination to be your competitor, 
 had alienated you from him. But you have now 
 •wholly fixed that excellent man in your interest ; 
 ■who, in truth, had all the antecedent reasons for 
 being so, that an uninterrupted series of the 
 highest services could possibly give him". I must 
 confess he always appeared to me, even when the 
 conduct of Caninius had raised the strongest suspi- 
 cions of the contrary', to favour your views. But 
 1 can now assure you, that I found him, after 
 he had perused your letter, entirely disposed to 
 promote whatever may contribute either to your 
 interest or your honours. You may consider then 
 what I am going to offer as his immediate senti- 
 ments and advice, as indeed it is the result of 
 frequent consultations which we have held together. 
 Accordingly we are of opinion that it may be proper 
 for you to consider whether any advantages may be 
 derived from your being in possession of Cilicia 
 and Cyprus. For if there should appear a sufficient 
 probability of being able to make yourself master 
 of Alexandria and Egypt, we think it equally for 
 your own honour and that of the republic^'' to 
 
 » See rem. '", p. 345. 
 
 » It was a usual artifice with Pompey to employ his 
 friends in soliciting those honours in his behalf, to wliich 
 he affected to appear himself perfectly indifferent, or even 
 averse. This was his policy in the present instance ; and 
 at the same time that he pretended to serve Lentulus in 
 this affair, hia creature Caninius, a tribune of the people, 
 was practising every stratagem in order to procure tliis 
 ■commission for Pompey. "And though Cicero," as Mr. 
 Iloss observes, "either out of a tenderness for Lentulus, or 
 out of an apprehension of displeasing Pompey, to -wliom he 
 was at this time making hig court, represents him in this 
 place as acting an honest and friendly part, yet, in a letter 
 to his brother, where he may be supposed to deliver his 
 real sentiments, he speaks quite differently : — ' nam quod 
 -dePompeio Caninius agit, sanequamrefrixit: nequeenim 
 res probatur ; et Pompeius noster in amicitia P. Lentuli 
 vituperatur, et hercule non est idem.' [Ep. vi. L. 2.] The 
 truth of the case is this, when Pompey fornid it was impos- 
 sible for him to procure this commission, he pretended a 
 friendship for Lentulus, and joined with Cicero in giving 
 the advice which makes a great part of this letter." 
 
 '"' A general sketch of Ptolemy's character has already 
 been given in the notes on the preceding book ; and it ap- 
 pears from thence, that nothing could be less to the honour 
 of the commonwealth, than to interpose in the behalf of 
 this justly-rejected monarch. OIclto liimself represents 
 him, in one of his orations, as unworthy of the crown he 
 wore : — ' ' Emn," says he, ' ' neque genere neque animo regis 
 esse, inter omnes fere video convenirc." [In RuU. ii.] IJut 
 what is still more extraordinary, Cicero makes the very 
 measures which he here so strongly recommends to Len- 
 tulus, an article of his charge against Antony. It was 
 hy the persuasion of the latter that Gabinius undertook 
 (as has already been observed) the restoration of Ptolemy ; 
 and Antony commanded the Roman cavalry in that 
 expedition. This affords a topic of great indignation in 
 one of the Philippics; and Cicero there speaks of this 
 transaction (as he ought always to have spoken of it) as a 
 most impudent violation of all authority both sacred and 
 
 march thither with your army, supported by your 
 fleet ; having first left the king at Ptolemais, or 
 some other convenient place in that neighbour- 
 hood. By these means, when you shall have 
 quieted the disturbances in Alexandria, and secured 
 it by a proper number of forces, Ptolemy may 
 safi^iy take possession of his kingdom. Thus he 
 will be restored by you, as the senate had once* 
 decreed ; and restored too without an army, agree- 
 ably to the sentiments of those who insist upon 
 observing the injunctions of the oracle. We are 
 the rather confirmed in recommending this measure, 
 as there is no decree of the senate subsisting which 
 particularly prohibits you from replacing Ptolemy 
 on liis throne. As to the order which absolutely 
 forbids all assistance whatsoever to be given to 
 him, you know it was not only protested against 
 when it was voted, but is generally looked upon 
 rather as the warm dictates of an exasperated 
 faction, than as having the full authority of a 
 decree of the senate. However, we deem it neces- 
 sary to add, that we are sensible the world will 
 judge of the propriety of this scheme entirely by 
 the event. Should it succeed as we wish, your 
 policy and resolution will universally be applauded; 
 on the other hand, should it miscarry, it will 
 undoubtedly be condemned as an action of ill- 
 considered and unwarrantable ambition. How far 
 this enterprise may be practicable you, who are 
 situated almost within view of Egypt, are the most 
 competent judge. If, therefore, you are well 
 satisfied of being able to render yourself master of 
 that kingdom, we are clearly of opinion you should 
 not delay your march one moment ; but, if you 
 are doubtful of the success, it is our advice that 
 you by no means make the attempt. This I will 
 venture to assure you, that, should you execute 
 this project in the manner we wish, there will be 
 a very considerable party to give it applause, even 
 during your absence, as all Rome will unite in the 
 same approbation the moment you shall return 
 amongst us. Nevertheless I am persuaded if this 
 scheme should not take the desired effect, it may 
 be attended with very disagreeable consequences 
 to yourself, not only on account of that order of 
 the senate which I just now mentioned, but like- 
 wise in regard to the oracle. When, therefore, I 
 recommend such measures as you shall have full 
 assurance will terminate in your glory, I must at 
 the same time strongly dissuade you from engaging 
 in them, if you should have the least reason to 
 apprehend an opposition. For (I repeat it again) 
 the world will be determined in their opinion of 
 this whole transaction, not as it is reasonable, 
 but as it shall prove successful. If the method 
 here proposed should appear too dangerous to be 
 hazarded in your own person, we think it may at 
 least be advisable to assist the king with a number of 
 your forces, provided he shall give sufficient security 
 to your friends in the province, for repaying them 
 the money they have advanced in support of his 
 
 civil:— "Inde iter," says he, "ad Alexandriam contra 
 senatus auctoritatem, contra rempublicam et religiones." 
 [Philip. iL 19.] But what opinion must every unpreju- 
 diced reader conceive of oiir autlior, when he thus finds 
 him condemning and approving the same transaction, and 
 advising his friend to pursue a step which he afterwards 
 publicly and justly reproached in his adversary ?— See 
 rem. ', p. 344. 
 * See rem. i, p. 344. 
 
 A A
 
 35^. 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLlUS CICERO 
 
 cacsf . And, imleeJ, tlie circumstances and situation 
 of your fjovernmcnt leader it extremely easy titlier 
 to proniuto or obstruct his restoration as you sliall 
 see proper. After all, you are the best judge 
 what method will be most expedient to pursue ; I 
 thought it my part, however, to inform you of 
 these our concurrent sentiments. 
 
 You congratulate me on the prosperous situa- 
 tion of my affairs in general, and particularly on 
 the friendship of Milo, together wilii the vain and 
 ineffectual schemes of the worthless Clodius. It is 
 no wonder you should rejoice in these the generous 
 effects of your own amicable offices. But to say 
 truth, such an incredible perverseness (not to give 
 it a more severe appellation) prevails amongst a 
 certain party, that they rather choose to alienate 
 me by their jealousies from the common cause, 
 than to retain me in that interest by their favour 
 and encouragement. I will own to you, their 
 malice has almost driven me from those principles 
 which I have so long and so invariably pursued. 
 At least, if they have not j)rovoked me so far as to 
 make me forget the dignity of my character, they 
 have taught me that it is high time I should act 
 with a view likewise to my own security. I might, 
 consistently with the strictest duties of patriotism, 
 reconcile both these distinct ends, were there any 
 honour or fortitude in those of consular rank. 
 But such a meanness of spirit prevails in general 
 among them, that, instead of applauding the re- 
 solution with which my actions have been ever 
 uniformly directed in the cause of the common- 
 wealth, they look with envy upon those dignities 
 to which my public services have advanced me. 
 I the rather mention this as it is to you that I am 
 principally indebted, not only for the happiness of 
 being restored to my country, but almost for my 
 very first successful steps in the paths of patriot- 
 ism and of glory. I perceive this opposition does 
 not proceed (as I formerly suspected) from my 
 not being of noble birth ^, since they were actuated, 
 I have observed, by the same malignant spirit against 
 yourself, who are confessedly descended from one 
 of the first families in Rome. Accordingly, though 
 your enemies are contented to see you among those 
 of principal rank in the republic, they will by no 
 means suffer you to soar higher. I rejoice that 
 the parallel between us extends no farther ; and 
 though we have met with an equal degree of malice 
 from the world, that the respective consequences, 
 however, have proved extremely different. For a 
 wide difference there surely is between suffering 
 some diminution in point of honours, and being 
 abandoned to total ruin. If I have not greater 
 reason to lament this cruel outrage of my adver- 
 saries it must be attributed to your generous 
 interposition, as it was by your means it proved, 
 
 y Cicero was, at this time, acting a part which gave great 
 and just offence to those who were in the true interest of 
 their country, for he was falling in with the measures of 
 Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. He endeavours, therefore, 
 to palliate this unworthy conduct as well as he can ; but 
 as he enters more fully into the motives of this step, in 
 the 17th letter of this book, the reader is referred to the 
 observations upon that epistle. 
 
 ^ Nobility among the Romans was considered (as Manu- 
 tius observes upon this passage) not in opposition to the 
 plebeian rank, for many plebeian families were noble, but 
 in contradistinction to those whose ancestors had not borne 
 any of the honourable magistracies in Rome. ^Vnd of this 
 number was Cicero. 
 
 in the final event, of far more advantage to my 
 reputation than of prejudice to my fortunes. Suffer 
 me, then, from a principle of gratitude as well a* 
 affection, to exhort you earnestly to pursue the 
 dictates of that well-regulated ambition with which, 
 you were inflamed from your earliest youth ; nor 
 let any injurious treatment depress that heroism 
 of your mind which 1 have ever admired and 
 valued. The world, believe me, entertains the 
 highest opinion of your merit, and loudly pro- 
 claims tluit eidargeil and generous spirit which 
 distinguishes alt your actions ; and it particularly 
 remembers, to your immortal honour, the pariot- 
 ismof your illustrious consulship. You are sensible, 
 therefore, how much the least additional glory, 
 which sliall accrue to you fronj your civil and) 
 military conduct in the government of your pro- 
 vince, will increase and strengthen this general 
 lustre of your reputation. But let me express my 
 wishes at the same time, in the first place, that 
 you would not engage in any enterprise with your 
 army without having long and maturely examined 
 it in all its consequences, nor without being suffici- 
 ently prepared to carry it into execution ; and in the 
 next, that you would be persuaded, of what I doubt 
 not you are already sensible, that you will find it 
 extremely easy to continue in the possession of 
 that pre-eminence amongst your fellow-citizens to 
 which you have always aspired. That you may 
 not imagine, however, I am offering the idle tribute 
 of unnecessary advice, I must add, that I could not 
 reflect upon the treatment we have both received, 
 without thinking it proper to exhort you well tO' 
 consider, for the future, on whom you repose your 
 confidence. 
 
 As to your inquiry concerning the situation of 
 public aft'airs, there are great divisions amongst: 
 us ; but the zeal and prudence of the several 
 parties are by no means equal. Those who enjoy 
 the largest share of wealth and power", have gained 
 a superiority of credit likewise, by the folly and 
 instability of their antagonists ; for they have 
 obtained from the senate, with very little opposi- 
 tion, what they had no hopes of receiving, even 
 from the people, without raising great disturbances. 
 Accordingly the House has voted Caesar a sum of 
 money for the payment of his army, together with' 
 a power of nominating ten lieutenants : as they 
 have also, without the least difficulty, dispensed 
 with the Sempronian law for appointing him a 
 successor^. I do but slightly touch upon these 
 
 a Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. 
 
 •> These immoderate and fatal concessions to Caesar'a 
 ambition, were absolutely unconstitutional, and most evi- 
 dently tended to the subversion of the republic. But if 
 the reader is surprised at so mean and so impolitic a com- 
 pliance on the part of the senate, how much higher will 
 his wonder rise, when he is informed that Cicero himself 
 was the chief adviser and promoter of these very measures 
 which he here condemns ? If this were a fact which stood 
 upon the credit of historians, the passage before us would 
 strongly incline one to suspect that they had misrepre- 
 sented the truth. But we have a testimony to produce, 
 whieh, though of undoubted authority, is the last one 
 should have expected in the caae, for it is> the testimony, 
 of Cicero himself. In a speech which he pronounced at 
 the bar either a little before, or soon after the date of this, 
 letter, he mentions each of these particuls^" grants, which 
 he enumerates to Lentulus, and then ados: — " Harunv 
 ego sententiarum et Pi-inceps et Auctor fai"— Or.ut. pr» 
 Balbo, 27. 
 
 The Sempronian law here spoken of, was procured by C.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 855 
 
 particulars, as I cannot reflect on our affairs with 
 any satisfaction. However, I mention them as 
 suggesting a useful caution to both of us, to pre- 
 serve a proper poise between our interest and our 
 honour, and not to advance one by an undue de- 
 pression of the other. A maxim this which I have 
 learned, not so much from my favourite philosophy 
 as from sad experience, and which I would recom- 
 mend to you, ere you are taught it by the same 
 unjileasing method of conviction. 
 
 Your congratulations on my daughter's marriage 
 with Crassipes"^ are agreeable to your usual polite- 
 ness : I hope and believe this alliance will yield 
 me great satisfaction. — Your son is a youth of so 
 promising a turn, that I cannot forbear conjuring 
 you to train him up in those refined arts which 
 have ever been your peculiar taste and study ; but 
 chiefly in that best and noblest discipline, tlie imi- 
 tation of your exalted virtues. Beheve me, I greatly 
 love and esteem him, not only in return to the 
 singular affection he has ever shown me, but par- 
 ticularly as he is the son, and the worthy son, too, 
 of my valuable friend. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 To Fahius Gallus^. 
 I RECEIVED your letter immediately upon my 
 return from Arpinum, together with one likewise 
 A rof! ^^''^'^ Avianus^, in which he very gene- 
 rously offers to give me credit as long as 
 I shall require. Now, let me desire you to imagine 
 yourself in my situation, and then tell me whether 
 I can, with a good grace, ask him to allow me 
 even the least time for the payment of this money, 
 much less above a year ? Indeed, my dear friend, 
 I should not have been in this difficulty, if you had 
 not exceeded the limits of my commission, both in 
 the particulars and the sum. However, I am not 
 only willing to ratify the agreement you have made 
 for the statues you mention, but am likewise much 
 obliged to you. I am sensible, indeed, that in the 
 zeal of your friendship you have purchased for me 
 ■what pleased your own eye, and what you imagined 
 would be worthy of mine ; and I always considered 
 you as a man of the most judicious and elegant 
 taste in every kind. Nevertheless, I shaU be 
 extremely glad if Damasippus^ should continue in 
 the resolution of taking these figures off my hands ; 
 for, to own the plain truth, I have no sort of 
 
 Sempronius Gracchus a tribune of the people, A. U. 631, 
 and enacted that the senate should annually appoint suc- 
 cessors to the consular provinces. 
 
 c Tullia, when she maiTied Crassipes, was the widow of 
 Piso, sumamed Frugi, of whom an account has been given 
 ia the notes on the former book. This second match did 
 not prove so satisfactory as Cicero here promises himself ; 
 for Crassipes soon took a disgust to Tullia, which ended in 
 a divorce. As he is very seldom and but slightly mentioned 
 in Cicero's writings, aU that we know of him is, that ho 
 was a nobleman of the first rank. 
 
 d The same person to whom the 11th letter of the fore- 
 going book is written. 
 
 s He seems to have been the proprietor of the statues 
 mentioned below. 
 
 f Damaeippus was a celebrated virtuoso of these times, 
 who, after having ruined his fortunes by his extravagant 
 passion for antiques, turned Stoic. Horace has ridiculed 
 his character and his conversation with great humour, in 
 one of hia satires. — Horat. Sat. iL a 
 
 inclination to them myself. As you were not 
 apprised of my intentions, you have actually con- 
 sented to pay more for tliese four or five pieces of 
 sculpture ff, than I would have given for all the 
 statues in the universe. You compare the images 
 of the priestesses of Bacchus to those of the Muses, 
 which Iboughtof Metellus. But surely, my friend, 
 the two instances are by no means parallel. For, 
 in the first place, the Muses themselves would have 
 condemned me, if I h-ad ever rated them at so 
 extravagant a price : and in the next, I purchased 
 the figures you mention as bearing an allusion to 
 my studies, and affording a suitable ornament to 
 my library. But where can 1, witli any propriety, 
 place these Bacchanals .' That they are, as you 
 assure me, extremely beautiful, I know full well ; 
 for I have frequently seen them, and, therefore, I 
 should particularly have named them to you, if 
 they had suited my purpose. The purchases which 
 I usually make of this kind are such only as are 
 proper to embellish my Palaestra'' in the same 
 manner as the public gymnasia are generally deco- 
 rated. But would it not bs absurd enough, my 
 good friend, if I, who upon all occasions, you 
 know, have distinguished myself as the friend of 
 peace, should erect a statue of the god of war ? It 
 is well there was not a Saturn, too ; for how could 
 I have expected to have been out of debt, whilst I 
 had lived under the aspect of two such unlucky 
 divinities' ? Mercury would have been a much more 
 welcome guest ; for I should have hoped, by his 
 influence, to have made a more advantageous bar- 
 gainJ with Avianus. As to the figure designed for 
 the support of a table, which you intended to 
 reserve for your own use, you shall have it, if you 
 still remain in the same mind ; if not, I am ready 
 to take it myself. Upon the whole, however, I had 
 much rather have employed this money in the 
 purchase of a little lodge at Tarracina'', that I 
 might not always trouble my friend and host. But 
 this mistake is partly owing to the carelessness of 
 my freedman, in not observing the instructions I 
 gave him, and partly also to Junius, whom I sup- 
 pose you know, as he is a particular friend of 
 Avianus. As I have lately built some additional 
 apartments to my little portico at Tusculanum', I 
 
 S These statues appear, by what follows, to have been 
 three Bacchanals, a Mars, and Some figure designed for the 
 support of a table. 
 
 •» The Palestra was properly a part of those public build- 
 ings which the Grecians (from whom the Bomans took 
 them) called Gymnasia, which were originally designed 
 for exercises of various kinds, and in which, in after-timoe, 
 the philosophers, likewise, hell their schools. What Cicero 
 here calls his Polcestra, seems to be the same building 
 which, in a letter to Atticus, he terms his Academia, and 
 which appeai-3 to have been some apartments, or, perhaps, 
 a distinct building, of his Tusculan villa, appropriated 
 principally to the purposes of study, but adapted also to 
 those bodily exercises which the ancients seldom passed a 
 day without practising. — Ad Att. i. ,5, 6, 9. 
 
 ' Alluding (as Manutius observes) to the notions of the 
 judicial astrologers, who pretended that Mars and Saturn 
 were unlucky planets. 
 
 J Mercury was supposed to preside over commerce, from 
 wlience it is probable that the Mercur tales, mentioned in 
 a letter of Cicero to his brotlier, were a company of mer- 
 chants. — Ad Quint. Frat. ii. 5. 
 
 ^ It is now called Terracina, a town in the C-vmpagna 
 di Roma. It lay in the road from Rome to Cicero's vilU 
 at Formiae. 
 
 ' Cicero, if we may credit the invective abcribel to Sal 
 A A 2
 
 360 
 
 IMIF: letters of MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 vfHA desirous of adorning them with a few pictures ; 
 for if I take pleasure in anything of tliis kind, it is 
 in ])aititings. However, if I must have these 
 statues, U't n-.e know where they are, when they 
 will arri\e,and by what conveyance you pro])ose to 
 Bend thcni. I'or, if Datnusippus should change his 
 intentions of buying them, I shall find, jierhajis, 
 «ome pretender to his taste who may be glad of the 
 purchase, and 1 should be willing to part with them 
 even at a loss. 
 
 When I received your first le4ter concerning the 
 house you want to take, belonging to Cassius, I 
 •was just setting out from itonie, and therefore I 
 left your commission with my daughter. However, 
 I took an opportunity myst-lf of talking upon this 
 affair with your friend Nicia, who, you know, is 
 very intimate with Cassius. At my return hither, 
 and before I had opened your last letter, I inquired 
 of Tullia wliat she had done in this matter. She 
 told me she had applied to Licinia to speak to her 
 brother Cassius ; but 1 believe he is not upon very 
 good terms with his sister. The answer which 
 Licinia gave my daughter was, that her liusband 
 being gone into Sjiain, slie durst not remove'" in 
 his absence and without his knowledge. I am 
 greatly obliged to you for being so desirous of my 
 company as to be impatient to get into a house 
 •where you may not only be near me, but actually 
 under the same roof. Be assured I am no less 
 desirous of having you for my neighbour ; and as 
 I am sensible how much it will contribute to our 
 mutual satisfaction, I shall try every expedient for 
 that purpose. If I should have any success, I will 
 let you know ; in the mean while, I beg you would 
 return me a particular answer to this letter, and 
 tell me, at the same time, when I may expect to 
 see you. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Publius Lentufiis, Proconsul. 
 Marcus Pl^torius will fully inform you of 
 the promises we have received from Pompey, 
 A u C98 together with every other circumstance 
 that has been either attempted or effected 
 in your favour. He was not only present, but, 
 indeed, a principal agent throughout the whole 
 proceedings, and he acted in every article of your 
 concerns agreeably to what might be expected from 
 a judicious, a vigilant, and an affectionate friend. 
 To him, likewise, I must refer you for an account 
 of public affairs, not well knowing what to say of 
 them myself. This much, however, I can assure 
 you, that they are in the hands (and in the hands 
 they are likely to remain ) of our professed friends ". 
 As for myself, both gratitude and prudence, together 
 with your particular advice, have determined me, 
 as they ought, to join in >iis° interest, whom you 
 "were formerly desirous of associating with you in 
 
 lust, expended immense sums in this his favourite villa, 
 •>^'1neh, probably, was a very fine one when it came into 
 his possession, as it originally belonged to Sylla the dicta- 
 tor. Some considerable remains of it are still shown at 
 Grotta Ferrata.— Sallust. Declam. in Cicer. 63 ; Plin. liist. 
 Nat. xxii. 
 
 "" This lady seems to have been the tenant of the house 
 wMch Gallus wanted either to buy or hire. 
 
 n Csesar, Pompey, and Crassus. 
 
 » Pompey. 
 
 mine. You are sensible, nevertheless, how difficult 
 it is to renounce our old and habitual notions of 
 politics, especially under a full persuasion of their 
 rectitude. However, I conform myself to his 
 system, since I cannot, with any decency, opj)ose 
 him ; and, whatever some may perhaps imagine, I 
 am by no means acting in this a counterfeit part. 
 The truth of it is, Pompey has gained such an 
 absolute possession of my esteem, that I begin to 
 look upon everything as just and reasonable which 
 falls in with his interest or inclination!'. I should 
 think, too, it would be no imprudent resolution, 
 even in his adversaries themselves, to desist from 
 an opposition to which they are evidently unequaL 
 In the mean time, I have the satisfaction to find 
 the world in general agreed that my character 
 rc(iuires I should su])port, or at least not obstruct, 
 the measures of Pompey, while some are even 
 of opinion I may reasonably retire from all public 
 business, to my favourite pursuits of a literary 
 kind. And, indeed, were I not j)revented by my 
 fricndsliip to Pompey, I should most certainly 
 adopt this latter scheme, as of all others the most 
 suitable to my inclinations. For I can now no 
 longer maintain that dignity in the senate, and 
 that freedom in the commonwealth, which was the 
 single motive of my ambition, and the sole end I 
 proposed to myself in all my labours : a misfortune, 
 however, which is not peculiar to myself, but 
 extends to every Roman in general. In a word, I 
 am under the sad necessity either of tamely sub- 
 mitting to the sentiments of those few who lead the 
 republic, or of imprudently joining in a weak and 
 fruitless opposition i. I the rather mention this, 
 that you may deliberate, before you return amongst 
 us, what part it may be advisable for you to act 
 in the present conjuncture. To speak freely, the 
 measures, both of those of senatorian and eques- 
 trian rank, and indeed the whole system of the 
 commonwealth in general, are totally changed. 
 All, therefore, that 1 have now to wish is, the pre- 
 servation of the public tranquillity, which tliose 
 who are in the administration seem to give us a 
 prospect of enjoying, if a certain party could be 
 prevailed upon to submit with less impatience to 
 their power. As to any hopes of supporting in the 
 senate that true consular character of a firm and 
 inflexible patriot, it is in vain now to expect it ; 
 every mean for that purpose is totally lost, by the 
 mistaken conduct of those who disobliged Pompey'', 
 
 P See rem. "> on letter 17 hook ii. 
 
 1 A determined patriot could not have been reduced to 
 the alternative wliicli Cicero here mentions ; as there was 
 a third expedient which every man of strict political 
 integrity, who dared to act up to his principles, would 
 undoubtedly have embraced. " An honest physician," says 
 Sir William Temple, " is excused for leaving his patient, 
 when he finds the disease growing desperate, and can, by 
 his attendance, expect only to receive his own fees, with- 
 out any hopes or appearance of deserving them." Our 
 author, in one of his orations, mentions it to the immortal 
 honovu- of the celebrated Metellus, that de civilale decedere 
 quam de setttentia mahiit: and he who is actuated by the 
 same sublime patriotism, will never find himself under 
 the poor necessity of justifying wrong measures by the 
 impossibility of enforcing right ones. See rem. ^, on letter 
 17. book ii. 
 
 r Pompey was very desirous of having the several grants 
 which he had made to the cities of Asia, after his defeat of 
 Mithridates, confirmed by the senate, in which he wa3 
 strongly opposed by Cato, Metellus Celer, LucuUus, and 
 Others. This occasioned a breach between Pompey and
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 367 
 
 and dissolved that strong union which subsisted 
 between the senate and the equestrian order'. 
 
 But to return to -what more immediately relates 
 to your own private affairs ; — Pompey is extremely 
 your friend ; and, by all that I can observe, you 
 may obtain anything you shall desire during his 
 consulship'. At least I shall solicit him very 
 strenuously for that purpose ; and you may rely 
 upon my most active offices in evt-ry instance 
 where you are concerned. I am well persuaded 
 my assiduity upon this occasion will not be dis- 
 agreeable to him : on the contrary, he will receive 
 it with pleasure, were it for no other reason than 
 as affording him a proof of my grateful disposition. 
 In the mean time, I entreat you to believe, that 
 whatever bears the least connexion with your 
 interests is of more importance to me than my 
 own. From these sentiments it is, that I despair 
 not only of being able to return, but even suffi- 
 ciently to acknowledge, the infinite obligations I 
 owe you ; though, at the same time, I am conscious 
 of having exerted upon all occasions the most un- 
 wearied endeavours in your service. 
 
 It is rumoured here that you have obtained a 
 complete victory, and we impatiently expect an 
 express with the confirmation of this agreeable 
 news. I have already talked with Pompey upon 
 this subject, and as soon as your courier arrives, I 
 shall employ my utmost diligence in convening the 
 senate. In fine, were I to perform much more 
 for your interest than lies within the compass of 
 my present power, I should still think I had 
 fallen far short of what you have a right to expect. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 /%•> 
 
 To Marcus Manns'^. 
 If your general valetudinary disposition pre- 
 vented you from being a spectator of our late public 
 . ., ciiQ entertainments,^ it is more to fortune 
 
 A. U. D^'o. 1 -I 1 1 X 
 
 than to philosophy chat 1 am to impute 
 your absence. But if you declined our party for 
 
 the senate, and gave Caesar an opportunity of establishing 
 an interest with the former, which, at that juncture, he 
 found necessary for his purposes. Accordingly, being soon 
 after elected consul, he procured a law from the people to 
 ratify these acts. — Suet, in Vit. Jul. Cses. 19. 
 
 8 The farmers of the public revenues, who were com- 
 posed of the principal persons among the equestrian order, 
 having, as they pretended, rented some branch of the 
 finances at too high a rate, applied to the senate for relief. 
 Their demands, it seems, were unreasonable : however, in 
 the situation wherein public affairs then stood, it was 
 thought prudent by the more moderate party not to dis- 
 oblige so considerable a body of mpn. But Cato obstinately 
 opposed their demands ; and, by his means, the senate, 
 after keeping them in suspense for several nionilis, at 
 length rejected their petition. But Csesar, who knew 
 how to turn every incident to his advantage, took up the 
 interests of these knights ; and, in his consulship, obtained 
 from the people a remission of one-third part of the stipu- 
 lated rent. This single piece of policy (as one of the Greek 
 historians observes) gave him a more considerable accession 
 of power, even than he had before acquired by means of 
 the people, as it gained over a much more important order 
 to his party — Ad Att. U. 1 ; Suet, in Vit. Jul. Caes. 20 ; 
 Appian. De Bell. Civ. ii. 
 
 ' Pompey and Crassus were at this time consuls. 
 
 " The person to whom this letter is addressed, seems to 
 have been of a temper and constitution, that placed him 
 far below tlie ambition of being known to nosterity. But 
 
 no other reason than as holding in just contempt 
 what the generality of the world so absurdly 
 admire, I must at once congratulate you both on 
 your health and your judgment. I say this upon 
 a sup])osition, however, that you were enjoying 
 the philosopliical advantages of that delightful 
 scene, in which I imagine you were almost wholly 
 deserted. At the same time that your neighbours 
 probably were nodding over the dull humour of 
 our trite farces, my friend, I dare say, was indulg- 
 ing his morning meditations in that elegant apart- 
 ment, from whence you have opened a prospect to 
 Sejanum, through the Stabian hills'^. And whilst 
 you are employing the rest of the day in those 
 various polite amusements which you have the 
 happy privilege to plan out for yourself, we, alas ! 
 had the mortification of tamely enduring those 
 dramatical representations to which Msetius-^, it 
 
 a private letter from Cicero's hand has been sufficient to 
 dispel the obscurity he appears to have loved, and to ren- 
 der his retirement conspicuous. 
 
 ■» Tlii-y were exhibited by Pompey, at the opening of 
 his theatre, one of the most magnificent structures of 
 ancient Home, and so extensive as to contain no less than 
 !10.n(jO spectators. It was built after the model of one 
 wliich he saw at Mitylene, in his return from the Mithri- 
 datie war ; and adorned with the noblest ornaments of 
 statuary and painting. Some remains of this immense 
 building still subsist. — Liv. xxxix. ; Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 
 3 ; Plut. in Vit. Pomp. 
 
 "' Sejanum (if that be the true reading, for the MSS. dif- 
 fer extremely) is found in no other ancient author. Stabiae 
 was a maritime town in Campania, situated upon the bay 
 of jS'aples, from whence the adjoining hills here mentioned 
 took their name. One may figure the philosophical Marius 
 as looking douTi upon the world from this his delightful 
 retirement, with reflections of the same kind as those which 
 the poet has so exquisitely imaged, in the following beau- 
 tiful lines : 
 
 Here, on a single plank, thrown safe on shore, 
 
 I hear the tumult of the distant throng, 
 
 As that of seas remote, or dying storms. 
 
 And meditate on scenes more silent still. 
 
 Here, like a shepherd gazing from his hut, 
 
 Touching his reed, or leaning on his staff, 
 
 Eager anibition's fiery chase I see : 
 
 I see the circling hunt of noisy men 
 
 Burst law's inclosure, leap the mounds of right. 
 
 Pursuing and pursued ; each other's prey ; 
 
 As wolves for rapine, as the fox for wiles : 
 
 Till death, that mighty hunter, earths them all ! 
 
 YOUNO. 
 
 ^ This person is supposed, by the commentators, to be 
 the same to whose judgment Horace advises the Pisus to 
 refer their poetical compositions : 
 
 Si quid tamen olim 
 
 Scripseris, in Mseti descendat judicis aures. 
 
 De Arte Poet. 386. 
 But the compliment paid in these lines to the taste of 
 Mactius, ill agrees with the contemptuous manner in which 
 Cicero here speaks of Pompey's Dramatic Censor. 
 
 It appears by an ancient scholiast on Horace, that A ugus- 
 tus instituted a kind of poetical court of judicature, con- 
 sisting of five judges, the chief of wliich was Ma;tius Tarpa, 
 mentioned in the verses above quoted. They held their 
 assemblies in the temple of Apollo, and no poet was per- 
 mitted to bring his play upon the stage without tlitir ap- 
 probation. Domitian seems to have improved upon this 
 establishment, and extended it into an academy that dis- 
 tributed prizes to those who excelled, not only in poetical, 
 but prose compositions. "We have seen societies of this 
 sort formed among our neighbour nations, with good efl'ect : 
 and, peehaps, if. in this instance, as well as in some others, 
 we were to follow their example, it might prove a mean, 
 not only of refining our language, and encouraging a spirit
 
 .•!5» 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 seems, our professed critic, had given his infallible 
 sanction ! but as you will have the curiosity, per- 
 haps, to require a more particular account, I must 
 tell you, that though our entertainments were 
 extremely magnificent indeed, yet they were by no 
 means such as you would have relished : at least if 
 I may judge of your taste by my own. Some of 
 those actors who had formerly distinguished them- 
 selves with great applause, but had long since 
 retired, 1 imagined, in order to preserve the reput- 
 ation they had raised, were now again introduced 
 tipon the stage, as in honour, it seems, of the 
 festival. Among these was my old friend /I'-sopus'', 
 but so different from what we once knew him, tliat 
 the whole audience agreed he ought to be excused 
 from acting any more ; for when he was pro- 
 nouncing the celebrated oath — 
 
 " If I ik'ccive, bo Jove's drcail vengeance hurl'J," Sec. 
 
 the poor old man's voice failed him, and he had not 
 strength to go through with the speech. As to the 
 other parts of our theatrical entertainments, you 
 know the nature of them so well, that it is scarcely 
 necessary to mention them. They had less, indeed, 
 to plead in their favour than even the most ordinary 
 representations of this kind can usually claim. The 
 enormous parade with which they were attended, 
 and which, I dare say, you woidd very willingly 
 have spared, destroyed all the grace of the perform- 
 ance. What pleasure could it afford to a judicious 
 spectator, to see a thousand mules prancing about 
 the stage, in the tragedy of " Clyt^emuestra ;" or 
 ■whole regiments accoutred in foreign armour in 
 that of the "Trojan Horse?" In a word, what 
 man of sense could be entertained with viewing a 
 mock army drawn up on the stage in battle array ? 
 These, I confess, are spectacles extremely well 
 adapted to captivate vulgar eyes ; but undoubtedly 
 would have had no charm in yours. In plain truth, 
 my friend, you would have received more amuse- 
 ment from the dullest piece that Protogenes could 
 
 of polite literature, but of calling off our minds from those 
 political speculations, which, though the privilege, in- 
 deed, are not always the happiness of every idle Briton. — 
 Dacier, Remarques sur la x. Sat. du 1. liv. d'Horace; 
 Suet, in Vit. Domit. 4. 
 
 y He excelled in tragedy, and was the most celebrated 
 actor that had ever appeared upon the Roman stage. 
 Cicero experienced the advantage of his friendship and 
 his talents during his exile ; for jEsopus being engaged in 
 a part upon the stage, wherein there were several passages 
 that might be applied to our author's misfortunes, this 
 excellent tragedian pronounced them with so peculiar and 
 affecting an emphasis, that the whole audience immediately 
 took the allusion: and it had a better effect, as Cicero 
 acknowledges, than anything his own eloquence could 
 have expressed for the same purpose. But it is not in this 
 instance alone that Cicero was obliged to ^sopus, as it 
 ■was by the advantage of his precepts and example, that he 
 laid the foundation of his oiatorical fame, and improved 
 himself in the art of elocution. The high value which the 
 Romans set upon the talents of this pathetic actor, appears 
 by the immense estate which he acquired in his profession, 
 for he died worth almost amfiWl. sterling. He left a son 
 ■behind him, whose remarkable extravagance is recorded 
 by the Roman satirist. This youth having received a 
 present from a favourite lady of a pearl out of her ear, 
 ■worth a million of sesterces, or about S,00()l. of our money, 
 di.ssolved it in a liquid, and gallantly drank it ofiF: to the 
 health, we may suppose, of his generous mistress. PHny 
 the naturalist, ■who likewise mentions this story, adds, 
 that ho presented, at the same time, to each of his guests, 
 a CUD of the same valuable ingredient. — Orat pro Sext. 50 ; 
 
 possibly have read to you* (my own orations, how- 
 ever, let me always except) than we met with at 
 these ridiculous shows. I am well persuaded, at 
 least, you could not regret the loss of our Oscian 
 and Grecian farces". Your own noble senate will 
 always furnish you with drollery sufficient q£ the 
 former kind'' ; and as to the latter, I know you 
 have such an utter aversion to everything that 
 bears the name of Greek, that you will not even 
 travel the Grecian road to your villa '^. As 1 re- 
 member you once despised our formidable gladia- 
 tors'', I cannot suppose you would have looked 
 
 Plut. in Vit Cicer. ; Macrob. Saturn, ii. 10 ; Hor. Sat. ii. 3, 
 vor. 2.1!) ; I'lin. Hist. Nat. x. r,]. 
 
 ^ It was usual with pcr.v)n» of distinction among the 
 Romans to keep a slave in tlicir family, whoso sole business 
 it was to read to them. Protogenes seems to have attended 
 Marius in that capacity. 
 
 » The Oscian farces were so called from the Osci, an 
 ancient people of Campania, froni whom the Romans 
 received them. They seem to liavc been of the same kind 
 with our Bartholomew drolls, and to have consisted of 
 low and obscene humour. As to the nature of the Greek 
 farces, the critics are not agreed. JManutius supposes they 
 differed only from the former, as being written in the 
 Greek language. But it docs not appear that Greek plays 
 were ever represented upon the Roman stage : and the 
 most probable account of them is, that they wore a sort 
 of pantomimes in imitation of those on the Grecian theatre. 
 — Liv. vii. 2 ; Mong. R^m. sur les Lett, k Att. vi. 449. 
 
 1* The municipal or corporate towns in Italy were 
 governed by magistrates of their own, who probably made 
 much the same sort of figure in their rural senate, aa 
 our burgesses in their town-hall. This, at least, seems to 
 have been the case in that corporation to which IMariu* 
 belonged, and to have given occasion to our author's 
 raillery, 
 
 c Perhaps the Grecian road might be much out of 
 repair, and little frequented at the time when this letter 
 was written: and on that circumstance Cicero, it is pos- 
 sible, may have founded his witticism. Among the many 
 instances of Roman magnificence, that of their public 
 roads is particularly observable. They were formed at an 
 immense cost, and extended to a great distance from all 
 sides of the city. Lipsius computes the Appian way at 
 350 miles, some part of which still remains as entire as 
 when it was first made ; though it has now subsisted above 
 1800 years. It is twelve feet broad, and chiefly composed 
 of blue stones, about a foot and a half square. Criminal* 
 of a less atrocious sort were generally employed in those 
 useful works: and, perhaps, it might be well worthy the 
 consideration of the legislature, whether punishments of 
 this kind in delinquencies of the same nature, might not, 
 in all respects, be of more advantage to the public, than 
 that which seems to have so little effect in restraining the 
 violences that are daily committed among us. — Lips, de 
 lilagnif. Rom. ; Burnet's Trav. let. iv. ; Plin. Epist. x. 33. 
 
 d GrjEvius supposes (and it is a conjecture extremely 
 probable) that this alludes to some services which Cicero 
 had received from JIarius, in defending him against the 
 outrages of Clodius's mob. 
 
 The first show of gladiators exhibited in Rome was 
 given by the Bruti, in honour of their father's obsequies: 
 about 200 years before the date of this letter. Originally 
 the unhappy wretches who were exposed in this manner 
 were either prisoners taken in war, or public criminals : but 
 in process of time it grew into a profession, and there were 
 men who hired themselves out for this purpose. Atticus, 
 who seems to have omitted no opportunity of improving 
 his finances, had a band of gladiators which he let out on 
 public occasions, to those who were not rich enough to 
 maintain them at their own expense. The passion for 
 these combats became at length so immoderate, that it was 
 usual to exhibit matches of gladiators at their private 
 entertainments : and not only men of the first quality, 
 but even women, entered these lists. Reason, must an*
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 359 
 
 with less contempt on our athletic^ performers: 
 and, indeed, Pompey himself acknowledges, that 
 they did not answer the pains and expense they had 
 cost him. The remainder of our diversions con- 
 sisted in combats of wild beasts '^, which were ex- 
 hibited every morning and afternoon during five 
 days successively ; and, it must be owned, they 
 were magnificent. Yet, after all, what entertain- 
 ment can possibly arise to an elegant and human- 
 ised mind, from seeing a noble beast struck to the 
 heart by its merciless hunter, or one of our own 
 weak species cruelly mangled by an animal of much 
 •superior strength ? But were there anything really 
 ■worth observing in spectacles of this savage kind, 
 they are spectacles extremely familiar to you, and 
 those I am speaking of had not any peculiar novelty 
 to recommend them. The last day's sport was 
 composed entirely of elephants, which, though they 
 made the common people stare, indeed, did not; 
 seem, however, to afford them any great satisfac- 
 tion. On the contrary, the terrible slaughter of, 
 these poor animals, created a general commisera- 
 tion : as it is a prevailing notion that these creatures, 
 in some degree, participate of our rational faculties^. 
 That you may not imagine I had the happiness 
 of being perfectly at my ease during the whole of, 
 this pompous festival, I must acquaint you, that 
 ■while the people were amusing themselves at the 
 plays, I was almost killed with the fatigue of plead, 
 ing for your friend Gallus Caninius. Were the 
 world as much inclined to favour my retreat as 
 they showed themselves in the case of ^sopus, 
 believe me, I would for ever renounce my art, and 
 spend the remainder of my days with you and some 
 others of the same philosophical turn. The truth 
 
 doubtedly, cannot but rise up against spectacles of this 
 sanguinary kind. It is observable, however, that they 
 ■were not introduced among the Romans till they began to 
 be civilised : and their passion for these cruel combat3 
 seems to have gathered strength in proportion as their 
 manners, in all other respects, became more refined. There 
 IS, indeed, a wonderful disposition in human nature, to 
 be pleased with sights of horror : .which e^'cn the most 
 polite nations, in their highest periods of improvement, 
 have not been able entirely to subdue. A very mgenious 
 French writer imagines, that if we did not profess a 
 jeligion which absolutely forbids the wanton destruction 
 of our species, we should soon convert our prize-fightero 
 into gladiators, and be as sanguinary in our diversions as 
 the Romans themselves. — Liv. xxxix. i2 ; Ad Att. iv. 8 ; 
 •Strab. v. p. 173 ; Stat. Sylv. i. 6. ver. 53; Suet. in.Vit. Jul. 
 •Caes. 39 ; R(5flex. sur la Poes. et sur la Peint. L 18. 
 
 e The athletic games were of a less cruel kind than those 
 described in the preceding note, as they principally con- 
 sisted of nmning, wrestling, and boxing-matches. It 
 Bometimes happened, indeed, that one of the combatants 
 lost his life ; but this was contrary to the laws of the 
 sport : and if it appeared to have been the effect of design 
 in his adversary, though he was not punished with death, 
 he was punished in a way still more dreaded, by being 
 deprived of the crown that would otherwise have been 
 due to his victory. Pausanias mentions an athletic com- 
 batant, who, having incurred this penalty, was so affected 
 by the disgrace, that he lost his senses. 
 
 ' Beasts of the wildest and most uncommon kinds were 
 sent for, upon these occasions, from every comer of the 
 known world ; and Dion Cassius relates, that no less than 
 500 lions were killed at these hunting-matches, with which 
 Pompey entertained the people. — Dio, xxxix. 
 
 e This was not merely a vulgar opinion, but entertained 
 by some of the learned among the ancients, as appears from 
 the last cited historian ; who likewise takes notice how 
 much the spectators of Pompey's shows were affected by 
 •ihe mournful cries of these poor animals. — Dio, xxxix. 
 
 of it is, I began to grow ■weary of this employment, 
 even at a time when youth and ambition prompted 
 my perseverance : and I will add, too, when I was 
 at full liberty to exercise it in defence of those only 
 whom I was inclined to assist. But, in my present 
 circumstances, it is absolute slavery. For, on the 
 one side, I never expect to reap any advantage 
 from my labours of this kind ; and, on the other, 
 in compliance with solicitations which I cannot 
 refuse, I am sometimes under the disasrreeable 
 necessity of appearing as an advocate in behalf of 
 those who ill deserve that favour at my liands*". 
 For these reasons I am framing every possible pre- 
 tence for living hereafter according to my own 
 taste and sentiments : as I highly both approve 
 and applaud that retired scene of life which you 
 have so judiciously chosen. I am sensible, at the 
 same thne, that this is the reason you so seldom 
 visit Ronoe. However, I the less regret that you 
 do not see,it oftener, as the numberless unpleasing 
 occupations- in which I am engaged would prevent 
 me from enjoying the entertainment of your con- 
 versation, or giving you that of mine : if mine, 
 indeed, can afford you any. But if ever I should 
 be so, fortunate as to disentangle myself, in some 
 d^ree at least, (for I am contented not to be wholly 
 released,) from these perplexing embarrassments, I 
 will undertake to show, even my elegant friends, 
 wherein the truest refinements of life consist. In 
 the meanwhile, continue to take care of your 
 health, that you may be able, when that happy 
 time shall arrive, to accompany me in my litter to 
 my several villas. 
 
 You must impute it to the excess of my friend- 
 ship, and not to the abundance of my leisure, that 
 I have lengthened this letter beyond my usual 
 extent. It was merely in compliance wifh a request 
 in one of yours, where you intimate a desire that I 
 would compensate in this manner what you lost by 
 not being present at our public diversions. I shall 
 be extremely glad' if I have succeeded; if not, I 
 shall have the satisfaction, however, to think that 
 you will for the future be more inclined to give us 
 your company on these occasions than to rely on 
 my letters for your amusement. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 To Quintus Philippus, Proconsul'. 
 Though I am too well convinced of your friend- 
 ship and esteem, to suspect that you are unmindful 
 608 ^^ ™y former application in behalf of my 
 friends Oppius and Egnatius ; yet, I can- 
 not forbear again recommending their joint affairs 
 
 ^ Cicero was now wholly under the influence of Pompey 
 and Caesar : but the particular instances of his unworthy 
 submission to which he here only alludes, are mentioned 
 more fully in a subsequent letter to Lentulus, and will be 
 considered in the remarks on that epistle. 'See letter 17 of 
 this book, rem. ^, '^, and i. 
 
 > The person to whom this letter is addressed, and the 
 time when it was written, are equally unknown. Pighius 
 supposes he was governor of Asia, in the year of Rome 708. 
 But, in this instance, the usual accuracy of that laborious 
 annalist seems to have failed him. For it appears, by a 
 letter of congratulation which Cicero -writes to Philippus 
 upon his return from the province, that he must have 
 been proconsul at some period previous to the civil war ; 
 " Gratulor tibi (says he) quod ex provincia salvum te ad 
 tuoB reccpisti incolumi fama et republioa."—^^. Fiun. xiii, 
 7a See letter 22 of this book.
 
 3G0 
 
 THE LETTERS OP MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 to your protection. My connexion, indeed, with 
 the latter, is of so powerful a kind, that I could not 
 he more solicitous for my own personal concerns. 
 I entreat you, therefore, to give him proofs of my 
 enjoying tWat share of your affection, which 1 per- 
 suade nijself 1 possess ; and be assured you cannot 
 sliow me a more ai^reeable instance of your friend- 
 ship. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 To JM/trciis Liciiiius CrassusK 
 I AM persuaded that all your friends have in- 
 formed you of tlie zeal with which I lately both 
 ir C'Y) 'i^f^nded and promoted your dignities'* : 
 as, indeed, it was too warm and too con- 
 spicuous to have been passed over in silence. The 
 opposition I met with from the consuls', as well 
 as from several others of consular rank, was the 
 strongest I ever encountered, and you must now 
 look upon me as your declared advocate upon all 
 occasions where your glory is concerned. Thus 
 have I abundantly compensated for the intermis- 
 sion of those good offices which the friendship 
 between us had long given you a right to claim ; 
 but which, by a variety of accidents, have lately 
 been somewhat interrupted. There never was a 
 time, believe me, when I wanted an inclination to 
 cultivate your esteem, or promote your interest. 
 Though, it must be owned, a certain set of men, 
 •who are the bane of all amicable intercourse, and 
 who envied us the mutual honour that resulted 
 from ours, have, upon some occasions, been so 
 unhappily successful as to create a coolness be- 
 tween us™. It has happened, however, (what I 
 
 J He had been twice cousul in conjunction with Pompey, 
 and was at this time governor of Syria : to which province 
 lie succeeded at the expiration of his second consulate, the 
 year preceding the date of this letter. He was esteemed 
 among the considerable orators of his age : but his prin- 
 cipal distinction seems to have been his immense wealth, 
 tl\e greatest part of which he acquired by sharing in the 
 confiscated estates of those unhappy victims who fell a 
 saciifice to the cruel ambition of Sylla. In his first con- 
 sulate he gave a general treat to the people upon ten thou- 
 sand tables, and, at the same time, distributed to them a 
 largess of three months' provision of corn. — Plut. in Vit. 
 Crassi ; Dio, xxxbc. 
 
 ^ Crassus accepted the province of Syria merely with a 
 design of making war upon the Parthians : for which, 
 however, there was no other pretence than what his 
 boundless avarice and ambition suggested. Accordingly, 
 some of the tribunes endeavoured to obstruct his levies 
 for this expedition : and when that attempt failed, Ateius, 
 (ine of their number, had recourse to certain superstitious 
 ceremonies of their religion, and devoted him in form to 
 destruction. It was a general persuasion that none ever 
 escaped the effect of those mysterious execrations: and. 
 in the present instance, the event happened to correspond 
 with this popular belief. For Crassus, together with his 
 army, perished in this enterprise. The judicious Manutius 
 conjectures, that after Crassus had left Home, some motion 
 was made in the senate for recalling him, which gave 
 occasion to Cicero's services and to the present letter. 
 This supposition, however, though indeed highly probable, 
 is not supported by any of the historians. — Plut. in Vit. 
 Crassi; Dio, xxxix. ; Vol. Pat. ii. 46. 
 
 ' The consuls of this year were L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, 
 and Appius Claudius Pulcher. 
 
 ™ How effectually soever Cicero might have served 
 Crassus upon the occasion to which this letter relates ; it 
 
 ratlu-r wished than expected) that I have found atr 
 ojiportunity, even when your affairs were in the 
 most pros])erous train, of giving a public testimony 
 by my services to you, that I always most sincerely 
 jireserved the rtjnembrance of our former amity. 
 The truth is, I have ajijiroved myself your friend, not 
 only to the full conviction of your family in par- 
 ticular, but of all Konu' in general. In conse- 
 ([uence of which, that most vahuilile of women, your 
 excellent wife", together with those illustrious models 
 of virtue aiul filial piety, your two amiable sons, 
 have perpetual recourse to my assistance and ad- 
 vice ; and the whole world is sensible that no one 
 is imiiczi'alously dis])0scd to serve you than tnyself. 
 Your family correspondents have iuforuicd you, 
 I imagine, of what has hitherto passed in your 
 affair, as well as of what is at present in agitation. 
 As for myself, I entreat you to do me the justice 
 to believe, that it was not any sudden start of 
 inclination, which disposed me to embrace this 
 opportunity of vindicating your honour ; on the 
 contrary, it was my ambition, from the first mo- 
 ment I entered the forum, to be ranked in the- 
 number of your friends". I have the satisfaction 
 to reflect that I have never, from that time to this- 
 hour, failed in the highest sentiments of esteem for 
 you ; and, I doubt not, you have always retained 
 the same affectionate regard towards me. If the 
 effects of this mutual disjiosition have been inter- 
 rupted by any little suspicions, (for suspicions only 
 I am sure they were,) be the remembrance of them 
 for ever blotted out of our hearts. I am persuaded, 
 indeed, from those virtues which form your cha- 
 racter, and from those which I am desirous should 
 distinguish mine, that our friendly union, in the 
 present conjuncture, cannot but be attended with 
 is most certain his good offices did not proceed from a prin - 
 ciple of friendship. It is extremely probable, indeed, that 
 his supporting the cause of Crassus in the senate is one of 
 those instances of our author's subjection, of which ho 
 complains in the preceding letter: and that it was entirely 
 in compliance with the inclinations of Cffisar and Pompey, 
 with whom Crassus was now united. The coolness, hero 
 mentioned, seems to have subsisted ever since the affair 
 of Catiline ; in whose conspiracy, as one of the witnesses 
 examined upon that occasion deposed, Crassus was con- 
 cerned. There were few, indeed, who gave credit to this 
 evidence, and the senate, upon the motion of Cicero, 
 voted it false and malicious. Crassus, nevertheless, assured' 
 Sallust (as that historian declares) that this affront was 
 thro^vn upon hina by the artifices of Cicero himself. But 
 whether Crassus had any just ground for this suspicion, or 
 whether it was suggested to him by the false insinuations 
 of those to whom Cicero here alludes, is a question by no 
 means capable of being determined by any circurastanca 
 in the history or character of the two men. It is cer- 
 tain that Crassus, from this time, conceived a strong and 
 lasting aversion to our author ; as on the other hand, that 
 Cicero, after the death of Crassus, published an oration in 
 which he expressly charged him with being engaged in tliis 
 conspiracy. However, a formal reconciliation had lately 
 passed between them, and when Crassus set out for his 
 Eastern expedition, they parted with all the exterior 
 marks of a sincere friendship. — AdAtt. iv. 13; Sallust. 
 Boll. Cat. 49; Plut. in Vit. Cr.assi ; Ep. Fam. i. 9. 
 
 " This lady's name was Tertulla ; and, if Suetonius may 
 be credited, she was better acquainted with some of Cje-ar's- 
 talents than was altogether consistent with her being ; what 
 Cicero here calls her) the most valuable of all women. — Suet, 
 in Vit. J. Cacs. 50. 
 
 o Crassus was almost ten years older than Cicero ; so- 
 that when the latter first appeared at the bar, the former- 
 had already established a character by his oratoricaii 
 abilities.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 sets 
 
 equal honour to us both. What instances you may 
 be willing to give me of your esteem, must be left 
 to your own determination ; but they will he such, 
 I flatter myself, as may tend most to advance my 
 dignities. For my own part, I faithfully promise 
 the utmost exertion of my best services, in every 
 article wherein I can contribute to increase yours. 
 Many, I know, will be my rivals in these amicable 
 offices, but it is a contention in which ail the world, 
 I question not, and particularly your two sons, will 
 acknowledge my superiority. Be assured I love 
 them both in a very uncommon degree ; though I 
 will own that PubliusP is my favourite. From his 
 infancy, indeed, he discovered a singular regard to 
 me, as he particularly distinguishes me at this time 
 with all the marks even of filial respect and affection. 
 Let me desire you to consider this letter, not as 
 a strain of unmeaning compliment, but as a sacred 
 and solemn covenant of friendship, which I shall 
 most sincerely and religiously observei. I shall now 
 persevere in being the advocate of your honours, 
 not only from a motive of affection, but from a 
 principle of constancy, and without any application 
 on your part, you may depend on my embracing 
 every opportunity, wherein I shall think my ser- 
 vices may prove agreeable to your interest, or your 
 inclinations. Can you once doubt, then, that any 
 request to me for this purpose, either by yourself 
 or your family, will meet with a most punctual 
 observance ? I hope, therefore, you will not scruple 
 to employ me in all your concerns, of what nature 
 or importance soever, as one who is most faithfully 
 your friend : and that you will direct your family 
 to apply to me in all their affairs of every kind, 
 whether relating to you or to themselves, to their 
 friends or their dependants. And be assured, I 
 shall spare no pains to render your absence as little 
 uneasy to them as possible. Farewell. 
 
 P Whatever sincerity miglit be wanting in our author's 
 professions of friendship to the father, it is certain he liad 
 a. very unfeigned affection for the son ; as, indeed, Cicero 
 had been greatly obliged to liis zealous services when he 
 was persecuted by Clodius. Soon after this letter was 
 written, Publius followed his father with a body of Gallic 
 cavalry into Parthia, where he behaved with uncommon 
 bravery, but perished in that unfortunate expedition. 
 He fell not, indeed, by the enemy, but by the hand of one 
 of his attendants, who stabbed him by his own orders, 
 as scorning to survive so shameful a defeat. — Cic. in Brut. ; 
 Plut. in Vit. Crassi. 
 
 1 It has been asserted in these remarks, that Cicero 
 acted a counterfeit part in his professions of friendship to 
 Crassus, but as he here very strongly afifirms the contrary, 
 it will be proper to produce the evidence. This, indeed, is 
 Cicero himself, who, in a letter to Atticus, written not 
 long before the present, and wherein he gives an account 
 of the departure of Crassus, for his Parthian expedition, 
 Bpeaks of him in a style utterly irreconcileable with the 
 sentiments he here professes, and in terms of the utmost 
 contempt. " Crassum nostrum, (says he) minore dignitate 
 atunt profectum paludatuni, quam olim — L. Pauliun. O 
 hominem nequam! " It must be owned, at the same time, 
 that it is highly probable the heart of Crassus was as little 
 concerned in their pretended reconcilement as that of 
 Cicero ; for Crassus generally regulated his attachments 
 by his interest, and was no farther a friend or an enemy 
 than as it suited with his avarice and ambition. — Ad Att 
 Iv. 13; Plut. in Vit. Crassi. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 To Julius Ccesaf', 
 I AM going to give you an instance how much 
 I rely upon your affectionate services, not only 
 A u 6t>9 towards myself, but in favour also of my 
 friends. It was my intention, if I had 
 gone abroad in any foreign employment, that Tre- 
 batius^ should have accompanied me ; and he would 
 not have returned without receiving the highest and 
 most advantageous honours I should have been able 
 to have conferred upon him. But as Pompey, I 
 find, defers setting out upon his commission longer 
 than 1 imagined', and I am apprehensive likewise 
 that the doubts you know I entertain in regard to 
 my attending him, may possibly prevent, as they 
 will certainly at least delay, my journey, I take the 
 liberty to refer Trebatius to your good offices, for 
 those benefits he expected to have received from 
 mine. I have ventured, indeed, to promise that 
 he will find you full as well-disposed to advance 
 his interest, as I have always assured him he would 
 find me ; and a very extraordinary circumstance 
 occurred, which seemed to confirm this opinion I 
 entertained of your generosity. For, in the very 
 instant I was talking with Balbus upon this subject, 
 your letter was delivered to me ; in the close of 
 which you pleasantly tell me, that " in compliance 
 with my request, you will make Orfius king of Gaul, 
 or assign him over to Lepta, and advance any other 
 person whom I should be inclined to recommend." 
 This had so remarkable a coincidence with our 
 discourse, that it struck both Balbus and myself as 
 a sort of a happy omen, that had something in it 
 more than accidental". As it was my intention, 
 therefore, before I received your letter, to have 
 
 ' Caesar was at this time in Gaul, preparing for his first 
 expedition into Britain, which, as Tacitus observes, he 
 rather discovered than conquered. 
 
 s See an account of him in the following letter. 
 
 ' A law had lately passed, by which Pompey was in- 
 vested with the government of Spain during five years ; 
 and it was upon this occasion that Cicero had thoughts of 
 attending him as his lieutenant. Pompey, however, instead 
 of going to his province, chose to continue in Italy ; though 
 he seems to have amused Cicero with a notion of his in- 
 tending the contrary. For it appears, by a letter to Attieus 
 written towards the latter end of this year, that our 
 author had fixed the day for his departure. — Plut. in Vit. 
 Pomp.; Ad Att. iv. 18. 
 
 " Among the various kinds of omens observed with, 
 much superstition by the Romans, that of words hap- 
 pening to coincide with any particular subject under con- 
 sideration, was esteemed of singular regard. A remarkable 
 instance of this sort is recorded by Livy. After the burning 
 of Rome by the Gauls, it was debated whether the capital 
 city should not be removed into the country of the Veil. 
 This point was long and warmly discussed, till, at length 
 the question was decided by an officer of the guards, who, 
 accidentally passing by the senate-house with his company, 
 called out to the ensign, Signi/er, statue siriiutm : hie mane- 
 bimus optime. These words being heard by the fathers in 
 council, were considered as a divine intimation : and it 
 was immediately and unanimously agreed to rebuild the 
 city on its former site. Csesar, of all the Roman his- 
 torians, has most avoided the marvellous of this kind : and 
 it is observable, that he does not mention a single prodigy 
 throughout his whole Commentaries, except in his relation 
 of the battle of Pharsalia. Upon that occasion, indeed, 
 he very artfully falls in with this popular superstition, 
 and gives an account of many predictive intimations of 
 that day's important event. And nothing, in truth, could 
 be more to his purpose than this indirect manner of per-
 
 35: 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 transmitted Trebatius to you, so I now consign 
 him to your i)atronage, as upon your own invita- 
 tion. Receive him then, my dear Caesar, with 
 your usual generosity, and distiiiguish liiin with 
 every honour tiiat my solicitations can induce you 
 to confer. I do not recommend him in the manner 
 you so justly rallied when I wrote to you in favour 
 of Ortius : but T will take upon me to assure you, 
 in true Roman sincerity, that there lives not a man 
 of greater modesty and merit. I must not forget 
 to mention also (what, indeeil, is his distiiigiiisliing 
 qualification) that he is eminently skilled in the 
 laws of his country", and happy in an uncommon 
 strength of memory. I will' not point out any j)ar- 
 ticular piece of preferment widch 1 wish you to 
 bestow upon him : I will only, in gi'neral, entreat 
 you to admit him into a share of your friendship. 
 Nevertheless, if you should think proper to distin- 
 guish him with the tribunate or prefecture"', or 
 any other little honours of that nature, I shall have 
 no manner of objection. In good earnest, I entirely 
 resign him out of my hands into yours, which never 
 •were lifted up in battle, or jdcdged in friendship, 
 without effect. But I fear I have pressed you 
 farther upon this occasion tlian was necessary ; 
 however, I know you will excuse my warmth in 
 the cause of a friend. Take care of your health, 
 and continue to love me. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To Trelatius\ 
 1 NEVER write to Caesar or Balbus without taking 
 occasion to mention you in the advantageous terms 
 A u 699 y°" deserve ; and this in a style that evi- 
 dently distinguishes me for your sincere 
 ■well-wisher. I hope, therefore, you will cheek this 
 idle passion for the elegancies of Rome, and reso- 
 lutely persevere in the purpose of your journey, till 
 
 Buading his countrymen that the gods were parties in his 
 cause. — Liv. v. 55 ; Cts. De Bell. Civ. iii. 85. 
 
 " The profession of the law was held among the Romans, 
 as it is with us, in great esteem ; but this body of men 
 seem in general to have acted rather in the nature of our 
 chamber counsel, than as advocates at the bar. The law 
 was properly the province of those whom thej' called their 
 ■orators : and for which every man of good sense, a ready 
 ■utterance, and a general knowledge of the constitutions of 
 his coimtry, was thought qualified. — Cic. De Off. iL 19 ; De 
 Orat. 55, &c. 
 
 w The military tribunes were next in rank to the 
 lieutenants or commanders-in-ehief under the general ; as 
 the prff/iClus legionis was the most honourable post in 
 the Roman armies after that of the military tribunes. 
 The business of the former was, among other articles, to 
 • decide all controversies that arose among the soldiers ; 
 and that of the latter was to carry the chief standard of 
 the legion. 
 
 J' This is the same person in whose behalf the foregoing 
 letter to C^sar is \vritten, and which seems to have had so 
 good an effect, that we find him mentioned by Suetonius 
 as in the number of Csesar's particular favourites. He 
 appears, in this earlier part of his life, to have been of .1 
 more gay and indolent disposition than is consistent with 
 making a figure in business ; but he afterwards, however, 
 became a very celebrated la^vyer : and one of the most 
 agreeable satires of Horace is addressed to him under that 
 honourable character. If the English reader is desirous 
 cf being acquainted with the spirit of that performance, 
 ihe will find it preserved, and even improved, among Mr. 
 •Pope's excellent imitations of Horace. — Suet, in Vit. Jul. 
 Caes. ; Hor. Sat ii. 1 ; Pope's Poems, voL ii. p. Ili9. 
 
 your merit and assiduity shall have obtained the 
 desired effect. In the mean time, your friends here 
 will e-xcuse your absence, no less than the ladies of 
 Corinth did that of Medea in the play T, when she 
 artfully persuades them not to impute it to her as 
 a crime that she had forsaken her country. For 
 as she tells them, 
 
 " There are who distant from their native soil. 
 Still for their own and country's glory toil : 
 A\hilo Romo, fast rooted to their ])arent hpot. 
 In life are useless, and in death forgot." 
 
 In this last inglorious class you would most cer- 
 tainly have been numbered, had not your friends 
 all conspired in forcing you from Rome. But 
 more of this another time : in the meanwhile, let 
 me advise you, who know so well how to manage 
 securities for others, to secure yourself from the 
 British charioteers'. And since 1 have been playing 
 the Medea, let me make my exit with the following 
 lines of the same tragedy, which are well worth 
 your constant remembrance : 
 
 " His wi.sdom, sure, on folly's confines lies, 
 Who, wise for others, for himself 's unwise." 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To the same. 
 I TAKE all opportunities of writing in your 
 favour ; a-nd 1 sliall be glad you would let me know 
 with what success. My chief reliance is 
 on Balbus : in my letters to whom I fre- 
 quently and warmly recommend your interest. But 
 why do you not let me hear from you every time 
 my brother despatches a courier ? 
 
 I am informed there is neither gold nor silver in 
 all Britain". If that should be the case, I would 
 
 y Medea being enamoured of Jason, aasisted him in 
 obtaining the golden fleece, and then fled with him fronx 
 her father's court. He afterwards, however, deserted her 
 for Creusa, the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth, whom 
 Jledea destroyed by certain magical arts. Ennius, a 
 Roman poet, who flourished about a century before the 
 date of this letter, formed a play upon this story ; from 
 which performance the following lines are quoted. 
 
 " The armies of the ancient Britons were partly com- 
 posed of troops who fought in open chariots, to the axle- 
 trees of which were fixed a kind of short scythe. — Caes, 
 De Bell. Gall. iv. 29; Sir William Temple's Introduction 
 to the Hist, of England. 
 
 a A notion had prevailed among the Romans, that 
 Britain abounded in gold and silver mines : and this re- 
 port, it is probable, first suggested to Cfcsar the design of 
 conquering our island. It was soon discovered, however, 
 that these sources of wealth existed only in their own 
 imaginations : and all their hopes of plunder ended in the 
 little advantage they could make by the sale of their 
 prisoners. Cicero, taking notice of this circumstance to 
 Atticus, ridicules the poverty and ignorance of our British 
 ancestors ; which gives occasion to the ingenious historian 
 of his life, to breakout into the following pertinent and 
 useful observations: " From their railleries of this kind 
 (says Dr. Middleton) 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 con- 
 temptible of tyrants, superstition and religious imposture. : 
 while this remote country, anciently the jest and contempt 
 of the polite Romans, is become the happy seat of liberty, 
 plenty, and letters, flourishing in all the arts and refine- 
 ments of civil life ; yet running perhaps the sam« courst
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 863 
 
 advise you to seize one of the enemy's military 
 cars, and drive back to us with all expedition. But 
 if you think you shall be able to make your fortune 
 without the assistance of British spoils, by all 
 means establish yourself in Csesar's friendship. 
 To be serious; both my brother and Balbus will 
 be of great service to you for that purpose : but, 
 believe me, your own merit and assiduity will 
 jirove your best recommendation. You have every 
 favourable circumstance indeed for your advance- 
 ment that can be wished. On the one hand, you 
 are in the prime and vigour of your years ; as on 
 the other, you are serving under a commander 
 distinguished for the generosity of his disposition, 
 and to whom you have been recommended in the 
 strongest terms. In a word, there is not the least 
 fear of your success, if your own concurrence be 
 Bot wanting. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 To the same. 
 I HAVE received a very obliging letter from Csesar, 
 wherein he tells me, that though his numberless 
 
 ,.o« occupations have hitherto prevented him 
 A. u. 099. f ^ . I'l 1, ■ V 
 
 rrom seemg you so often as he wishes, 
 
 he will certainly find an oppoi-tunity of being better 
 
 acquainted with you. I have assured him in return, 
 
 how extremely acceptable his generous services to 
 
 you would prove to myself. But surely you are 
 
 much too precipitate in your determinations : and 
 
 I could not but wonder that you should have 
 
 refused the advantages of a tribune's commission, 
 
 especially as you might have been excused it seems 
 
 from the functions of that post. If you continue 
 
 to act thus indiscreetly, I shall certainly exhibit 
 
 an informn tion against you to your friends Vacerra 
 
 and Maiiilius. I dare not venture, however, to 
 
 lay the case before Cornelius : for as you profess to 
 
 have learned all your wisdom from his instructions, 
 
 to arraign the pupil of imprudence would be a 
 
 tacit reflection, you know, upon the tutor. But 
 
 in good earnest, I conjure you not to lose the 
 
 fairest opportunity of making your fortune, that 
 
 probably will ever fall again in your way. 
 
 I frequently recommend your interests to Pre- 
 
 cianus whom you mention ; and he writes me word 
 
 that he has done you some good offices. Let me 
 
 know of what kind they are. I expect a letter 
 
 \rpon your arrival in Britain. FarewelL 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 
 To the same. 
 I HAVE made your acknowledgments to my 
 brother, in pursuance of your request : and am glad 
 . fioq ^^ have an occasion of applauding you for 
 ■ being fixed at last in some settled reso- 
 lution. The style of your former letters, I will 
 own, gave me a good deal of uneasiness. And 
 
 which Rome itself had run before it ; from virtuous 
 industry to wealth ; from wealth to luxury ; from luxury 
 to an impatience of discipline, and corruption of morals ; 
 till, by a total degeneracy and loss of virtue, being grown 
 ripe for destruction, it falls a prey at last to some hardy 
 oppressor, and, with the loss cf liberty, losing everything 
 else that is valuable, sinks gradually again into its original 
 torbarism."— Ad Att. iv. ; Life of Cicero, p. 137. 
 
 allow me to say, that in some of them you disco- 
 vered an impatience to return to the polite refine- 
 ments of Rome, which had the appearance of much 
 levity : that in some I regretted your indolence, 
 and in others your timidity. They frequently, 
 likewise, gave me occasion to think that you were 
 not altogether so reasonable in your expectations 
 as is agreeable to your usual modesty. One would 
 have imagined indeed you liad carried a biU of 
 exchange upon Csesar, instead of a letter of recom- 
 mendation : for you seemed to think you had 
 nothing more to do than to receive your money 
 and hasten home again. But money, my friend, 
 is not so easily acquired : and I could name some 
 of our acquaintance who have been obliged to 
 travel as far as Alexandria in pursuit of it, without 
 having yet been able to obtain even their just 
 demands **. If my inclinations were governed solely 
 by my interest, I should certainly choose to have 
 you here : as nothing affords me more pleasure thaa 
 your company, or more advantage than your advice 
 and assistance. But as you sought my friendship 
 and patronage from your earliest youth, I always 
 thought it incumbent upon me to act with a disin- 
 terested view to your welfare ; and not only to 
 give you my protection, but to advance, by every 
 means in my power, both your fortunes and your 
 dignities. In consequence of which I dare say 
 you have not forgotten those unsolicited offers I 
 made you, when I had thoughts of being employed 
 abroad •=. I no sooner gave up my intentions of 
 this kind, and perceived that Caesar treated me 
 with great distinction and friendship, than I recom- 
 mended you in the strongest and warmest terms to 
 his favour, perfectly well knowing the singular 
 probity and benevolence of his heart. Accordingly 
 he showed, not only by his letters to me, but by 
 his conduct towards you, the great regard he paid 
 to my recommendation. If you have any opinion 
 therefore of my judgment, or imagine that I sin- 
 cerely wish you well, let me persuade you to 
 continue with him. And notwithstanding you 
 should meet with some things to disgust you ; as 
 business perhaps, or other obstructions, may render 
 hi 111 less expeditious in gratifying your views thaa 
 you had reason to expect ; still however persevere, 
 and trust me, you wUl find it prove in the end both 
 for your interest and your honour. To exhort you 
 any farther might look like impertinence : let me 
 only remind you, that if you lose this opportunity 
 of improving your fortunes you will never meet 
 again with so generous a patron, so rich a province, 
 or so convenient a season for this purpose. And 
 (to express myself in the style of you lawyers) 
 Cornelius has given his opinion to the same effect. 
 I am glad, for my sake as well as yours, that you 
 did not attend Caesar into Britain, as it has not 
 only saved you the fatigue of a very disagreeable 
 expedition, but me likewise that of being the per- 
 petual auditor of your wonderful exploits. Let me 
 know in what part of the world you are likely to 
 take up your winter-quarters, and in what post 
 you are, or expect to be, employed. Farewell. 
 
 o This alludes to those who supplied Ptolemy with 
 money when he was soliciting his affairs in Rome ; ar 
 account of which has already been given in the notes or. 
 the foregoing book. — See rem. *, p. 344. 
 
 <: See rem. ', p. 361.
 
 S64 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XIU. 
 To the same. 
 It is a considerable time since I have heard any 
 thing from you. As for myself, if I have not 
 written these three months, it was because, 
 A. V. (i!)i. jjftoryou were separated from my brother, 
 I neither knew where to address my letters, nor by 
 what hand to convey them. I much wish to be 
 informed how your aflairs go on, and in what part 
 of the world your winter-quarters are likely to be 
 fixed. I should be glad tiiey might be with CiEsar : 
 but as I wouldnot venture, in his present affliction'', 
 to trouble him with a letter, I havo written ujjon 
 that subject to Balbus. In the meanwhile, let me 
 entreat you not to be wanting to yourself : and for 
 my own part, I am contented to give up so much 
 more of your company, ])rovided the longer you 
 stay abroad the richer you should return. There 
 is nothing I think particularly to hasten you home, 
 now that Vacerra is dead. However you are the 
 best judge, and I should be glad to know what you 
 have determined. 
 
 There is a queer fellow of your acquaintance, 
 one Octavius or Cornelius (I do not perfectly 
 recollect his name) who is perpetually inviting me, 
 as a friend of yours, to sup with him. He has not 
 yet prevailed with me to accept his compliment : 
 however, I am obliged to the man. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 To Munatius^. 
 Lucius LiviNEius Trypho is the freedman of 
 my very intimate friend Regulus : and though the 
 misfortunes of the latter cannot raise him 
 A. V. hJj. jjjgjjgr in my affection, they have, however, 
 rendered me more assiduous to testify it in every 
 instance wherein he is the least concerned. But I 
 have still a farther reason to interest myself in 
 behalf of his freedman, as I experienced his services 
 at a season when I had the best opportunity of 
 proving the sincerity of my friends. I recommend 
 him therefore to your protection with all the warmth 
 of the most sensible gratitude ; and I shall be 
 extremely obliged to you for showing him that you 
 place to your own account those many dangerous 
 winter voyages he formerly undertook upon mine. 
 Farewell. 
 
 •i Caesar about this time lost his daughter Julia, who 
 died in child-bed. She was married to Pompey, who was 
 BO passionately fond of her, that she seems, during the 
 short time they lived together, to have taken entire pos- 
 session of his whole heart, and to have turned all his 
 ambition into the single desire of appearing amiable in 
 her eye. The death of this young lady proved a public 
 calamity, as it dissolved the only forcible bond of union 
 between her father and her husband, and hastened that 
 rupture which ended in the destruction of the common- 
 wealth. It is in allusion to this that the elegant Pater- 
 culus calls her medium male coharentis inter Pompeium 
 et Ccesarem concordice pignus. — Plut. in Vit. Pomp, et 
 Ca?s. ; Veil. Pat. i. 47. 
 
 « The person to whom this letter is addressed is un- 
 known, as is the precise time, likewise, when it was 
 written. It seems probable, however, not to have been 
 very long after Cicero's return from banishment. For by 
 the expression, his nostris temporibus, he undoubtedly 
 alludes (as Mr. Ross observes) to the misfortimes which 
 were brought upon him by ClodiuB. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To Trebatius. 
 
 I PERCEIVE by your letter, that my friend Csesai 
 
 looks upon you as a most wonderful lawyer ; and 
 
 A u C'« ^^*^ ^°" ^°^ hap])y in being thus jjlaced 
 
 * ■ ■ ■ in a country where you make so consider- 
 able a figure ujion so small a stcxrk'? Hut with 
 how mueii greater advantage would your noi)lt^ 
 talents have appeared had you gone into Britain .' 
 Undoubtedly there would not have been so pro- 
 found a sage in the law throughout all that extensive 
 island. 
 
 Since your epistle has provoked me to be thus 
 jocose, I will proceed in the same strain, and tell 
 you there was one part of it I could not read without 
 some envy ; and how indeed could it be otherwise, 
 when I found that, wliilst much greater men were 
 in vain attempting to get admittance to Ca;sar, you 
 were singled out from the crowd, and even sum- 
 moned to an audience^? But after giving me aa 
 account of affairs which concern others, why were 
 you silent as to your own, assured as you are that 
 I interest myself in them with as much zeal as if 
 they immediately related to myself. Accordingly, 
 as I am extremely afraid you will have no employ- 
 ment to keep you warm in your winter-quarters, I 
 would by all means advise you to lay in a sufficient 
 quantity of fuel. Both Mucins and Manilius'' have 
 given their opinions to the same purpose ; espe- 
 cially as your regimentals, they apprehend, will 
 scarce be ready soon enough to secure you against 
 the approaching cold. We hear, however, there 
 has been hot work in your part of the world, which 
 somewhat alarmed me for your safety ; but I com- 
 forted myself with considering that you are not 
 altogether so desperate a soldier as you are a lawyer. 
 It is a wonderful consolation indeed to your friends 
 to be assured that your passions are not an over- 
 match for your prudence. Thus, as much as I 
 know you love the water, you would not venture', 
 
 f The ludicrous author of the " Tale of a Tub" has 
 applied this passage with more humour, perhaps, than it 
 was first conceived. He is accounting for the propagation 
 of tie several absurd doctrines of philosophy and religion 
 that have prevailed in the world, by supposing that every 
 system-maker is always sure of finding a set of disciples 
 whose tone of understanding is exactly pitched to the 
 absurdity or extravagance of his teuets. " And in this one 
 circumstance," says he, " lies all the skill or luck of the 
 matter. Cicero understood this very well, when writing 
 to a friend in England, with a caution, among other 
 matters, to beware of being cheated by our hackney- 
 coachmen, (who, it seems, in those days, were as errant 
 rascals as they are now) has these remarkable words : 
 est quod gaudcas te in isla loca venisse, ubi aliquid sapere 
 viderere. For, to speak a bold truth, it is a fatal mis- 
 carriage, so ill to order affairs, as to pass for a fool in one 
 company, when in another you might be treated as a 
 philosopher ; which I desire some certain gentlemen of 
 my acquaintance to lay up in their hearts as a very sea- 
 sonable innuendo." — Tale of a Tub, p. 164. 
 
 S Trebatius, it is probable, had informed Cicero, in the 
 letter to which this is an answer, that he had been sum- 
 moned by Ca>sar to attend him as his assessor upon some 
 trial ; which seems to have led our author into the railleries 
 of this and the preceding passages. 
 
 •> Mucius and Manilius, it must be supposed, were two 
 lawyers, and particular friends of Trebatius, as the humour 
 of this witticism evidently consists in an allusion to tbak 
 profession. 
 
 > In the original it is sludiotissimus horno natandi, 0»
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 365 
 
 I find, to cross it with Ccesar ; and thougii nothing 
 coukl keep you from the combats' in Rome, you 
 were much too wise I perceive to attend them in 
 Britain''. 
 
 But pleasantry apart : you know without my 
 telling you with what zeal I have recommended 
 you to Caesar ; though perhaps you may not be 
 apprised, that I have fiequently as well as warmly 
 written to him upon that subject. I had for some 
 time indeed intermitted my solicitations, as I would 
 not seem to distrust his friendship and generosity ; 
 however, I thought proper in my last to remind 
 him once more of his promise. I desire you would 
 let me know what effect my letter has produced, 
 and at the same time give me a full account of 
 every thing that concerns you. For I am exceed- 
 ingly anxious to be informed of the prospect and 
 situation of your affairs, as well as how long you 
 imagine your absence is likely to continue. Be 
 persuaded that nothing could reconcile me to this 
 separation, but the hopes of its proving to your 
 advantage. In any other view, I should not be so 
 impolitic as not to insist on your return ; as you 
 would be too prudent I dare say to delay it. The 
 truth is, one hour's gay or serious conversation 
 
 ambiguity of which cnuM not have been preserved in a 
 more literal translation. The art of swimming was among 
 the number of polite exercises in ancient Rome, and 
 esteemed a necessary qualification for every gentleman. 
 Thus we find Cato the elder himself instructing his son in 
 this accomplishment ; as Augustus likewise performed 
 the same ofiBce in the education of his two grandsons, 
 Caius and Lucius. It was, indeed, one of the essential arts 
 in military discipline, as both the soldiers and officers had 
 frequently no other means of pursuing or retreating from 
 the enemy. Accordingly the Campus Martins, a place 
 where the Roman youth were taught the science of arras, 
 was situated on the banks of the Tiber; and they con- 
 stantly finished their exercises of this kind by throwing 
 themselves into the river. — This shows the wonderful pro- 
 priety of those noble linos which Shakspeare puts into the 
 mouth of Cassius, in that masterly scene where he is 
 endeavouring to sound the sentiments, and fire the indig- 
 nation of Brutus towards Caesar. 
 
 We can both 
 Endure the winter's cold as well as he. 
 For once upon a raw and gusty day, 
 The troubled Tiber chafing with his shores, 
 CiEsar say.s to me, " Barest thou, Cassius, now 
 Leap in with me into this angry flood. 
 And swim to yonder point ? " Upon the word. 
 Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, 
 And bade him follow : so indeed he did. 
 The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it 
 With lusty sinews, throwing it aside. 
 And stemming it with hearts of controversy. 
 But ere we could arrive the point proposed, 
 Cajsar cried, " Ilelp me, Cassius, or I sink I " 
 I, as ^neas, our great ancestor. 
 Did from the flames of Troy, upon his shoulder. 
 The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber 
 Did I the tired Ca-sar : and this man 
 Is now become a God, &e. 
 Monsieur Dacier observes, that this passage of Cicero dis- 
 covers the justness of those verses in Horace, where 
 Trebatius is represented as advising the Roman satirist to 
 Bwim across the Tiber, as an excellent remedy against his 
 poetical propensity : since, like other physicians, he pre- 
 scribed a regimen, it seems, most agreeable to his own 
 taste and practice— Plut. in Vit. Cato. Censor. ; Suet, in 
 Vit. August. 64 ; Veget. de Re Milit. i. 10 ; Dacier, Rem. 
 BUT la Sat. i du liv. ii. d'Horace. 
 i Alluding to his fondiiess of the gladiatorial games. 
 ^ See rem. '.p. 361. 
 
 together is of more importance to us than all the 
 foes and all the friends that the whole nation of 
 Gaul can produce. I intreat you therefore to send 
 me an immediate account in what posture your 
 affairs stand ; and be assured, as honest Chremea 
 says to his neighbour in the play', 
 " Whatever cares thy lab'ring bosom grieve, 
 My tongue shall soothe tlieni, or my hand relieve." 
 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 To the same. 
 
 You remember the character given of the Phry- 
 gians in the play'", " that their vrisdom ever came 
 too late :" but you are resolved, my dear 
 
 ■ "■ ' ■ cautious old gentleman", that no impu- 
 tation of this kind shall be fixed upon you. Thank 
 heaven, indeed, you wisely subdued the romantic 
 spirit of your first letters, as you were not so obsti- 
 nately bent upon new adventures, as to hazard a 
 voyage for that purpose into Britain ; and who, in 
 troth, can blame you .' It is the same disposition, I 
 imagine, that has immovably fixed you in your win- 
 ter-quarters, and certainly there isnothing like acting 
 with circumspection upon all occasions. Take my 
 word for it, prudence is the safest shield. 
 
 If it were usual with me to sup from home, most 
 undoubtedly I could not refuse your gallant friend 
 Octavius. I will own, however, I love to mortify 
 the man's vanity ; and whenever he invites me I 
 always affect to look with some surprise, as not 
 seeming to recollect his person. Seriously, he is a 
 wondrous pretty fellow ; what pity it is that you 
 did not take him abroad with you°. 
 
 Let me know how you are employed, and whether 
 there is any probability of seeing you in Italy this 
 winter. Balbus assures me, that you will certainly 
 return immensely rich ; but whether he means in 
 the vulgar sense, or agreeably to the maxim of his 
 friends the Stoics, who maintain, you know, "that 
 every man is rich who has the free enjoyment of 
 earth and air," is a doubt which time will clear 
 up. 
 
 1 find, by those who come from your part of the 
 world, that you are grown wonderfully reserved ; 
 for they tell me you answer no queries^. However, 
 it is on all hands a settled point, (and you have 
 
 1 In Terence's play called the " Self-tormentor." 
 
 "> A tragedy called the " Trojan Horse," which seems, 
 by Cicero's frequent quotations from it, to have been in 
 great esteem. 
 
 n The celebrated Monsieur Dacier produces this passage 
 as a proof that Trebatius must have been more than four- 
 score years of age, when Horace addressed the satire to 
 him mentioned in the remarks on the preceding letter. 
 But that learned critic has been led into this error by 
 taking in a. serious sense, what Cicero most evidently 
 meant in a ludicrous one. 
 
 o See the conclusion of let. xiii. p. 304. 
 
 P The witticism of this passage consists in the double 
 sense of the verb respondere, which, besides its common 
 acceptation, signifies likewise the giving an opinion as a 
 lawyer. This conceit, such as it is, seems to have been a 
 favourite one with oiu' atithor, for he repeats it in a sub- 
 sequent letter, where he is rallying another of his friends 
 upon an occasion of the same nature. — See rem. t o.u letter 
 23 of this book. But — 
 
 Antoni gladios potuit contemnere, si sic 
 Omnia dixisset ! Juv.
 
 3G6 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 reason, certainly, to congratulate yourself upon it,) 
 that you are the most profound sage in the law 
 throughout the whole city of Samarobriva''. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER XVH. 
 
 To Lentulus. 
 It is with singular pleasure I perceive, by your 
 letter, that you are sensible, I will not say of my 
 afl'ectiou only, but of my devotion towards 
 you. Even that sacred term, indeed, can 
 but ill express the sentiments you merit from me ; 
 and if you esteem yourself (as you would persuade 
 me) obliged by my endeavours to serve you, it is 
 your friendship alone which can make you think 
 so. I am sure, at least, I could not refuse you my 
 best good offices without being guilty of the most 
 unpardonable ingratitude. You would have ex- 
 perienced, however, much stronger and more 
 powerful instances of my friendship if, instead of 
 being thus long separated from each other, we had 
 passed this interval together at Rome. It is not 
 only ia the particular article you mention, and in 
 which no man is more qualified to shine, that I 
 impatiently wish to receive you as my coadjutor ; ft 
 is not, I say, in the senate alone that our amicable 
 concurrence would have been distinguished, — it 
 would have appeared conspicuous, my friend, in 
 ev.ery act of public concernment. Suffer me then 
 to add, previously to the information you request 
 me to give you of my political sentiments and 
 situation, that if fortune had not thus divided us I 
 should have enjoyed in you a wise and faithful 
 guide, as you would have found in me a kind, a 
 friendly, and, perhaps, no unexperienced associate. 
 However, I rejoice (as undoubtedly I ought) at 
 the honourable occasion of your absence, and in 
 which your military conduct and success has 
 procured you the illustrious title of imperator^ . 
 Nevertheless, I must repeat it again, it is owing to 
 this circumstance that you have not received far 
 more abundant and efficacious fruits of that friend- 
 ship to which you have so undisputed a claim. 
 In particular, I should most strenuously have 
 united with you in taking just vengeance on those 
 whose ill offices you have experienced, partly in 
 resentment of your having supported and protected 
 me in my adversity, and partly as they envy you 
 the glory of so generous an action. One of them, 
 however, has sufficiently anticipated our revenge, 
 and drawn down by his own hands the chastisement 
 he merits from ours. The person I mean is that 
 man who has ever distinguished himself by oppos- 
 ing his benefactors, and who, after having received 
 from you the highest services, singled you out as 
 the object of his impotent malice. This man, in 
 consequence of being detected in his late infamous 
 attempts, has entirely and irretrievably lost at once 
 both his honour and his liberty". As to yourself, 
 
 1 A principal town in Gaul, now called Amiens, and 
 where Trebatius seems to have had his winter-quarters. 
 
 >■ History Is altogether silent as to the occasion upon 
 •which Lentulus was saluted by his army with this title. 
 
 * The conjecture of Manutius seems highly probable, 
 that the person to whom Cicero alludes is Caius Cato, 
 whose ill offices to Lentulus have been often mentioned in 
 tlie preceding letters. But what the secret practices were 
 which had been discovered so much to his disgrace, is a 
 point in which history does not afford any light. 
 
 though I had much rather you should gain ex- 
 perience by my misfortunes than your own, yet it 
 affords me some consolation, under your present 
 disappointment', that you have not paid so severo 
 a fine as I did for being taught the little dependence 
 there is upon the professions of the world : a 
 retlectiou this which may very j)roperly serve as 
 an introduction to the account you require of the 
 motives of my late transactions. 
 
 You are informed then, it seems, that I am 
 reconciled with Cfcsar and Appius"; a step, you 
 assure me, which you do not disapprove. 15ut you 
 are at a loss to guess what reasons could induce 
 me to appear at the trial of Vatinius, not only as 
 an advocate but as a witness in his favour'. To 
 set this matter in the clearest light, it will be 
 necessary to trace back the motives of my conduct 
 to tiieir original source. Let me observe then, my 
 Lentulus, that when I was recalled from exile by 
 your generous offices, I considered myself as restored 
 not only to my friends and to my family but to the 
 commonwealth in general. And as you had a right 
 to the best returns of my affection and gratitude 
 for the distinguished part you acted in that affair, 
 so I thought there was something more thau 
 ordinary due from me to my country, which had so 
 singularly co-operated with you upon this occasion. 
 I often took an opportunity during your consulate 
 of publicly declaring these my sentiments in the 
 senate, as I always, you well know, expressed 
 myself to the same purpose in our private conver- 
 sations. Nevertheless, I had many reasons at that 
 time to be highly disgusted. I could not in truth 
 but observe the disguised malice of some, and the 
 coolness of others, when you were endeavouring to 
 procure a decree for restoring the inscription of 
 that honourable monument of my public services 
 which had been erected by the senate^. But it 
 
 ' In not obtaining the commission to replace Ptolemy on 
 his throne. 
 
 " He was embroiled with Appius, as being the brother of 
 his inveterate enemy, Clodius. 
 
 ' It was customary at trials for the person arraigned to 
 produce witnesses to his character, who were called lainla- 
 lores, and ten was the number requisite for this purpose. 
 Vatinius was tribune of the people in the consulate of 
 CaDSar, and had been in the number of Cicero's most invet- 
 erate enemies, as he was his constant opposer likewise in 
 politics. He was a man of a most abandoned character, 
 and whose person (as Paterculus assures us) was not less 
 deformed than his mind. A very learned and polite author, 
 wliose just esteem for Cicero's writings has betrayed him, 
 perhaps, into some partiality towards his actions, acknow- 
 ledges that " the defence of Vatinius gave a plausible 
 handle for some censure upon Cicero." The truth of it is, 
 the censure was more than plausible, for nothing certainly 
 could discover more meanness of spirit than thus, in com- 
 pliance with those in power, not only to defend Vatinius 
 as an advocate, but to bear public testimony likewise to 
 his general good conduct. Some colourable excuse, 
 indeed, may be given for the former, by considering it in 
 the light which Valerius Maximus has placed it, as an 
 instance of Cicero's generosity towards his enemies ; but 
 the latter seems to stand beyond the reach even of a 
 j)?aM.s;We justification.— Veil. Pat. ii. 69; Val. Max. iv. 2. 
 
 ^^ The expression which Cicero makes use of in this 
 place is ambiguous : — " neque de monumentis meis ab lis 
 adjutus, es," &c. The commentators have supposed that 
 this relates to Cicero's house : but Mr. Ross, with much 
 greater probability, imagines it alludes to the Atrium 
 Libertatis, which had been erected by order of the senate, 
 as a memorial of Cicero's services in rescuing the common- 
 wealth from the dangerous conspiracy of Catiline. For
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 3n7 
 
 Teas not only in this instance that those who had 
 mftiiy obligations to concur in your good offices 
 towards me, acted a part I had little reason to 
 expect. They looked indeed with much ungener- 
 ous indifference on the cruel outrage which was 
 offered to my brother and myself under our own 
 roof''', and the estimate they made, in pursuance of 
 the senate's order, of the damages I had sustained 
 by these acts of violence, was far unequal to my 
 real loss^. This last article of their injustice, 
 though least indeed in my concern, I could not but 
 very sensibly feel amidst the general wreck of my 
 fortunes. But though these mortifying marks of 
 their disposition towards me were much too notor- 
 ious to escape my observation, they could not 
 efface the more agreeable impressions of their 
 former friendship. For this reason, notwithstand- 
 ing those high obligations T had to Pompey, of 
 which you yourself were witness and have often 
 mentioned, notwithstanding also the affection and 
 esteem which I always entertained for him, yet I 
 still firmly adhered to my political principles, nor 
 suffered these considerations of private amity to 
 influence me in favour of his public measures. 
 Accordingly, when Vatinius (who at the trial of P. 
 Sextius'' was examined as a witness against iiim) 
 intimated that Ctesar's successes had reconciled 
 me to his party, I told him, in the presence of 
 Pompey, that I preferred the fate of Bibulus, un- 
 happy as he might esteem it, to all the splendid 
 triumphs of the most victorious general^. I 
 
 Clodius had erased the original inscription, and placed his 
 own name in its stead. — See rem. "' on this letter, p. 370. 
 
 ^ Clodius, after having procured a laNv which declared 
 it treason to vote or take any step towards recalling Cicero 
 from liis banishment, proceeded to pillage and hurn all his 
 houses both in town and country. Cicern, liowever, being 
 restored in the manner which lie liimsclf will relate, in a 
 subsequent part of this letter, the senate decreed that his 
 houses should be rebuilt at the public expense. But while 
 the workmen were employed on his Palatine house, and 
 had carried it up almost to the roof, Clodius made a 
 second attack, and after driving them off, set fire to the 
 adjoining edifice, which belonged to Cicero's brother, and 
 wherein he himself likewise at that time was ; so that 
 they were both obliged to make their escape witli the 
 utmost precipitation. — Ad Att. iv. ; Orat. post. Red. 
 
 7 His house upon the Palatine hill in Rome, together 
 with his Tusculan and Formian villas, were jointly esti- 
 mated at 22,O00Z. a valuation universally condemned as 
 extremely unequitable. But "those who had dipt his 
 wmgs (as he expresses himself in a letter to Atticus upon 
 this occasion) were not disposed they should grow again." 
 It seems highly probable that Lentulus himself w.is in this 
 number ; as it appears, by a letter of our author to his 
 brother, that he had reasons to be dissatisfied with his 
 conduct towards him. But though, in the passage before 
 us, he speaks of the injustice that had been done him, as 
 arising solely from those who were concerned witli Len- 
 tulus in taking an estimate of his losses ; yet, at the same 
 time, he expresses himself in such a manner, as to throw 
 a very artful reproach upon the latter.— Ad Att. iv. 2 ; Ad 
 Quint. Frat. ii. 2. 
 
 * " P. Sextiug was a tribune of the people A. U. 696 in 
 the consulship of Lentulus, and a sreat instrument in 
 restoring Cicero. He resisted the faction of Clodius by 
 force of arms, and was upon that account. In the following 
 year.accused of public violence by ."M. Tullius Albinovanus. 
 Cicero defended him in an excellent oration, which is still 
 extant, and he was acquitted by the suffrages of all the 
 judges." — Ross. 
 
 » 5L Calpumius Bibulus was joint consul with J. Caesar 
 A. U. 694. The senate secured the election of the former, 
 in order to his being a check to the ambitious designs of 
 
 asserted, likewise, upon another occasion (and 
 asserted too in the hearing of Pompey,) that the 
 same persons v;ho confined Bibulus to his house- 
 had driven me from mine. Indeed, the whole 
 series of those interrogatories'', which I put to 
 Vatinius at this trial, was entirely designed as an 
 invective against his tribunate ; and I particularly 
 exposed, with much freedom and indignation, his 
 contempt of the auspices, his corrupt disposal of 
 foreign kingdoms p, together with the rest of his 
 violent and illegal proceedings. But it was not 
 only upon this occasion that I spoke thus unre- 
 servedly, I frequently avowed my sentiments with 
 the same resolute spirit in the senate. Tims, when 
 Marcellinus and Philippus were** consuls, I carried 
 a motion that the affair of the Campanian lands' 
 should be referred to the re-consideration of a full 
 housed on the 15th of May following. Now tell 
 
 his colleague ; and it was thought of so much importance 
 to the republic that he should be chosen, that even Cato 
 did not scruple upon this occasion to employ methods of 
 bribery for that purpose. But Bibulus, after many vain 
 efforts of patriotism, and being grossly insulted in the 
 forum by Csesar's mob, at length withdrew from the func- 
 tions of his office, and voluntarily confined himself (as 
 Suetonius relates) to his o^vn house; though by the expres- 
 sion which Tully her^vusej, it rather seems as if Csesar 
 had employed some Iflrce in keeping him there. After 
 which, as the same historian informs us, Caesar governed 
 the republic without control. — Suet. inVit. Jul. Cees. c. 20. 
 
 ^ " Cicero, instead of examining Vatinius upon the 
 facts in his evidence against Sextius, put to him a series 
 of questions in such an artful manner, that he exposed all 
 the intrigues and iniquity of his tribunate. This exami- 
 nation is still extant, under the title of Jnterrogatio in 
 Valinhim," — Ross. 
 
 c It is wholly imcertain to what particular facts Cicero 
 alludes, when he imputes to Vatinius what he calls the 
 donatio regnoriim: however, by comparing this exjiression 
 with the oration to which it refers, and with a passage in 
 a letter to Atticus, it seems probable that Vatinius, when 
 he was tribune, had been bribed to procure a confirmation 
 from the people of some disputed regal title, or perhaps 
 to obtain assistance from the republic, in transferring a 
 contested crown froji its rightful possessor into the hands 
 of a usurper. It is certain at least that such unworthy 
 methods were frequently practised at this time, in order 
 to gratify the insatiable avarice and profusion of these 
 degenerate Romans. — Orat. in Vatin. ; Ad Att. ii. 9. 
 
 <• They were consuls, A. IT. 697. 
 
 « The lands in Campania, a district in Italy, now called 
 the Terra di Lavoro, in the kingdom of Naples, were partly 
 appropriated to the use of the republic, and partly in 
 private hands. Caesar had procured a law for dividing 
 the former among 25,000 poor citizens, and for purchasing 
 the latter in order to distribute them in the same man- 
 ner. Both these designs seem to have been very artfully 
 calculated by Ca;sar to promote and facilitate his grand 
 purpose of usurping the supreme power. For by parcel- 
 ling out these lands among the common people which 
 belonged to the republic, he secured the populace to his 
 interest, and, at the same time, deprived the government of 
 those very considerable supplies, both of money and corn, 
 which it derived from its demesnes in Campania ; as on 
 the other side, by purchasing the remainder of these 
 estates, he must necessarily have weakened those publio 
 treasures which were already much impoverished, and 
 consequently rendered the commonwealth less capable of 
 opposing his ambitious measures. — Suet, in Vit. Jul. Caes. 
 20 ; Cic. Agrar. ii. 29. 
 
 i A decree of the senate had not its complete force, 
 unless it passed in a full house ; that is, when a com- 
 petent number of the members were present. It seems, 
 by a passage which Manutius quotes from Dio, 1. 54, that 
 before the times of Augustus, who made some alteration
 
 ^368 
 
 THK LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 me, my friend, could I possibly have made a 
 bolder or more formidable attack upon this 
 party ? Could I ])ossibIy have given a more 
 convincing evidence that I had not departed from 
 my old principles, notwithstandinjj all I had for- 
 merly sutlered for their sake? The truth of it is, 
 this motion greatly exasperated not only those 
 whom it was reasonable to expect it would offend, 
 but others ujion whom I did not imagine it would 
 liave had any such effect. Pompey, soon after 
 this decree had passed, set forward upon his expe- 
 dition into Sardinia and Africa f, without giving 
 me the least intimation of his being disgusted. In 
 his way thither he liad a conference with Cxsar at 
 Lucca'', who made great complaints of this motion. 
 He had before, it seems, been informed of it by 
 'Crassus at Ravenna', who took that o|iportunity of 
 incensing him against me : and it appeared after- 
 wards that Pompey was likewise much dissatisfied 
 upon the same account. This I learned from 
 several hands, but particularly from my brother, 
 •who met him in Sardinia a few days after he had 
 left Lucca. Pompey told him he was extremely 
 glad of that accidental interview, as he wanted 
 much to talk with him. He began with saying, 
 that as my brother stood engagedJ for my conduct 
 he should expect him to exert all his endeavours 
 to influence me accordingly. Pompey then pro- 
 ceeded very warmly to remonstrate against my late 
 motion in the senate; reminding my brother of his 
 services to us both, and particularly of what had 
 passed between them concerning Ccesar's edicts, 
 and of those assurances, he said, my brother had 
 given him of the measures I would pursue with 
 respect to that article. He added, that my brother 
 himself was a witness that the steps he had formerly 
 taken for procuring my recal were with the full 
 ■consent and approbation of Caesar. Upon the 
 whole, therefore, he entreated him, if it were either 
 
 •therein, the number requisite to make an act valid was 
 400. 
 
 K This expedition of Pompey into Sardinia and Africa, 
 was in pursuance of the commission with which he liad 
 been invested for supplying the public magazines with 
 corn. See rtin. ™, p. 345. 
 
 •i Lucca was a frontier town in Ca;sar's province of 
 ■Cisalpine Gaul, adjoining to Italy : it still subsists under 
 Ihe same name, and is a celebrated republic. It was 
 Cffisar's policy, at the end of every campaign, to fix his 
 winter-quarters as near Italy as possible, in order to bo 
 within observation of what passed at Rome. A numerous 
 -court was immediately formed around him in these places 
 of his residence, consisting of the most distinguished per- 
 sons in Rome, and the neighbouring provinces, and no less 
 than 200 senators have been observed among the attend- 
 ants upon these occasions. Candidates for oflBces ; young 
 men who had run out their estates ; and, in a word, all 
 whose affairs of any kind were embarrassed, flocked to 
 him in these cities ; and by liberal concessions to their 
 respective wants and interests, he strengthened his fac- 
 tion, and forwarded his grand enterprise. It was thus 
 (as the judicious Plutarch observes) he had the address to 
 employ the forces of the republic against Gaul, and the 
 spoils of Gaul against the republic. — Plut. in Vit. Jul. Cjes. 
 et Pomp. ; Suet, in Vit. Jul. Caes. 
 
 ' A city in Cisalpine Gaul, still subsisting under the 
 same name, in the Pope's dominions. 
 
 J This alludes to those engagements which Quintus 
 Cicero entered into in behalf of his brother, in order to 
 induce Pompey to favour his recal from banishment. 
 And it appears by what follows, that he promised, on the 
 part of Cicero, an unlimited resignation to the measm-es 
 oi that ambitious chief. 
 
 not in my power or my inclination to support the 
 interest and dignity of the latter, that he would at 
 least prevail with me not to oppose them. The 
 account which my brother gave me of this conver- 
 sation, together with a message I had before 
 received from Pompey by Vibullius, to request 
 that 1 would not proceed any farther in the affair 
 of the Campanian lands till his return, threw me 
 into a very serious train of reflections. I could 
 not but think, after having performed and suffered 
 so much for my country, that I might now at least 
 be permitted to consider what was due to gratitude 
 and to the honour of my brother ; and as I had 
 ever conducted myself with integrity towards the 
 public, I might be allowed, I hoped, to act the 
 same honest part in my more private connexions''. 
 
 During the time I was engaged in these votes 
 and other proceedings with which Pompey appeared 
 thus dissatisfied, I was informed of what passed in 
 the conversations of a set of men whom you will 
 now guess without my naming. This party, though 
 they approved of my public measures as being 
 agreeable to what had ever been their professed 
 sentiments, were yet so ungenerous as to express 
 great satisfaction in believing that my conduct 
 would by no means oblige Pompey, at the same 
 time that it would highly exasperate Csesar. Well 
 might I resent, indeed, so injurious a treatment, — 
 but much more when I saw them, even before my 
 face, maliciously encouraging and caressing my 
 avowed enemy'. Mine do I call him .' Rather 
 let me say an enemy to the laws and tranquillity 
 of his country, and to every character of worth and 
 virtue amongst us. 
 
 Their malevolence, however, had not the effect 
 they intended, and it could not warm me into those 
 transports of indignation of which my heart is now, 
 indeed, no longer susceptible. On the contrary, 
 it only induced me to examine my situation in all 
 its various circumstances and relations with the 
 greatest coolness and impartiality ; the process and 
 result of which 1 will lay before you in as few 
 words as I am able. 
 
 There have been times, as experience no less 
 
 •t The destructive views of Csesar, in procuring the law 
 in question, have been already considored in these notes • 
 weak, therefore, undoubtedly, is the reason which Cicero 
 here assigns, for renouncing an opposition so evidently 
 important to the true interest of his country. Had Caesar 
 and Pompey, indeed, been ever so much his real friends, 
 no considerations of amity ought to have prevailed with 
 him, to have acquiesced in a scheme which was contrary to 
 the sentiments of all the real patriots of the republic, 
 and contrary likewise to his own ; a scheme which he 
 himself tells Atticus was formed for the destruction of the 
 commonwealth. [Ad Att, ii. 17.] Had he attended to the 
 indisputable maxim which he himself lays down in one 
 of his philosophical treatises, it would have decided at 
 once the conduct which became him to observe upon an 
 occasion where private friendship interfered with more 
 extensive obligations: — "Usee prima lex in amicitia 
 sanciatur (says he) ut ncque rogemus res turpes ; nee 
 faciamus rogati." But the truth of it is, private friend- 
 ship was not concerned in the case ; for he well knew that 
 neither Pompey nor Coesar had any attachments to him 
 of that kind. It was fear alone that determined his reso- 
 lution ; and, having once already suffered in the cause of 
 liberty, he did not find himself disposed to be twice a 
 martyr. The awkward manner, however, in which he 
 attempts to justify himself throughout this letter, very 
 evidently shows how impossible it is to bid farewell to 
 integrity with a good grace. ' Clodius.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 309 
 
 than history has taught me, when the power of 
 the commonwealth was in worthless and wicked 
 hands. In such a conjuncture, no hope of interest 
 (wliicli I have at all times most heartily contemned) 
 nor fear of danger (which upon some occasions, 
 however, has influenced the greatest minds) should 
 prevail with me to co-operate in their measures ; 
 no, not though I were attached to them by the 
 strongest ties of friendship and gratitude. But 
 when a man of Pompey's distinguished character 
 presides over the republic ; a man who has ac- 
 quired that eminence of power and honour by the 
 most heroic actions and the most signal services ; I 
 could not imagine it would be imputed to me as a 
 levity of disposition if, in some few instances, I 
 declined a little from my general maxims and 
 complied with his inclinations™. But my justifi- 
 cation, I thought, would still rise in strength when 
 it should be remembered that I favoured his credit 
 and dignity even from the earliest part of my life, as 
 I particularly promoted them in my prsetorship and 
 consulate ; when it should be remembered that he 
 not only assisted me with his vote and his influence 
 in the senate during my adversity, but joined his 
 counsels and his efforts with yours for the same 
 generous purpose ; in a word, when it should be 
 remembered that he has no other enemy in the 
 whole commonwealth, except the man who is my 
 professed adversary". In consequence of these 
 sentiments, it was absolutely necessary for me, you 
 see, to unite with Caesar, as one who was joined in 
 the same views and the same interest. His friend- 
 ship, likewise, which 3fOu are sensible my brother 
 and I have long shared, together with his humane 
 and generous disposition, which I have abundantly 
 experienced both by his late letters and his good 
 offices towards me, contributed greatly to confirm 
 me in these resolutions. To which I must add, 
 that the commonwealth in general seemed to be 
 most strongly averse from giving any opposition to 
 these extraordinary men ; more especially after 
 Caesar had performed such great and glorious 
 exploits for the honour of his country. But what 
 had still a farther and very powerful weight in my 
 deliberations, was Pompey's having engaged his 
 word for me to Caesar, as my brother had given 
 the same assurances to Pompey. 
 
 Plato, I remembered, lays it down as a maxim, 
 in his divine writings, that " the people generally 
 model their manners and their sentiments by those 
 of the great ;" a maxim which, at this juncture, I 
 
 n> It appears by what has already been remarked, that 
 Cicero's compliance can by no means be considered in the 
 favourable light in which he liere represents it ; but was 
 in reality a concession most injurious to his honour and 
 fatal to the liberties of Rome. It is certain, likewise, that 
 it was not from any advantageous opinion of Pompey's 
 political character and designs, that he was induced to 
 fall in with his measures. On the contrary, Cicero most 
 undoubtedly had no esteem for him ; and, as to his poli- 
 tical views, he saw and acknowledged, long before the date 
 of this letter, that they were turned on the destruction of 
 the republic ; 'O/xoKoyovixevws (says he in one of the 
 epistles to Atticus) rvpavplSa crvaKevd^eTai : as in 
 another, written upon the breaking out of the ciril war, 
 he calls him hominem airoXiTiKuiTaTov, a man utterly 
 unacquainted with the artsof government.— Ad Att. iisl7; 
 viii, 16. 
 
 ■> Clodius, after having driven Cicero out of Rome, 
 entered most strenuously into the opposition against 
 Pompey and Cssar.— Manutius. See below, rem. '. 
 
 thought merited my particular attention. I was 
 convinced, indeed, of its truth when I reflected on 
 the vigorous resolutions which were taken in the 
 senate on the memorable" nones of December; 
 and it seemed no wonder so noble a spirit should 
 appear in that assembly, after the animating exam- 
 ple I had given them upon my first entering on 
 the consular office. I reflected, also, that, during 
 the whole time which intervened between the 
 expiration of my consulship and that of Csesar and 
 BibulusP, when I still retained a very considerable 
 authority in the senate, all the better part of the 
 republic were united in their sentiments. On the 
 other hand, about the time you took possession of 
 your government in Spain, the commonwealth 
 could not so properly be said to be under the ad- 
 ministration of consuls as of infamous barterers of 
 provinces'!, and the mean vassals and ministers of 
 sedition. It was then that discord and faction 
 spread through all ranks amongst us ; and I was 
 marked out as the victim of party rage. In this 
 critical season, however, not only every man of 
 worth, but the greater part of the senators, and 
 indeed all Italy in general, rose up with remarkable 
 unanimity in my cause'. What the event proved, 
 I forbear to mention ; as, in truth, it is to be 
 imputed to a complication of errors and artifices. 
 But this I will say, it was not forces, so much as 
 leaders to conduct them, that were wanting to me 
 at this crisis. I must add, that whatever censure 
 
 " The fifth. It was on this day, in the consulship of 
 Cicero and Antonius, A. U. 690, that the senate came to a 
 resolution of inflicting capital punishment on all those 
 who were concerned in Catiline's conspiracy : " And it is 
 certain (as the learned and polite historian of Cicero's life 
 observes), that Rome was indebted to him on this day fur 
 one of the greatest deliverances which it had ever received 
 since its foundation ; and which nothing, perhaps, but his 
 vigilance and sagacity could have so happily eflected." — 
 Life of Cicero, p 61. 
 
 p Cicero was chosen consul in the year of Rome 690. 
 Cssar and Bibulus in the year 694. 
 
 <! The consuls to whom Cicero alludes, are Lucius Cal- 
 purnius Piso, whose daughter Caesar had married, and 
 Aulus Gabinius, a dependant and favourite of Pompey. 
 They succeeded Caesar and Bibulus in this oflBce in 695, 
 the year when Cicero went into exile. " Clodius secured 
 them to his measures by a private contract to procure for 
 them, by a grant from the people, two of the best govern- 
 ments of the empire: Piso was to have Macedonia, with 
 Greece and Thessaly ; Gabinius, Cilicia. For this price 
 they agreed to serve him in all his designs, particularly in 
 the oppression of Cicero." — Life of Cicero, p. 88. 
 
 r " Clodius procured a law, importing, 'that whoever 
 had taken the life of a citizen uncondcmned, and without a 
 trial, should be prohibited from fire and water.' Though 
 Cicero was not named, yet he was marked out by this law. 
 His crime was, the putting Catiline's accomplices to death ; 
 which, though not done by his single authority, but by a 
 general vote of the senate, and, after a solemn hearing and 
 debate, was alleged to be illegal, and contrary to the liber- 
 ties of the people. Cicero, finding himself thus reduced to 
 the condition of a criminal, changed his habit upon it, as 
 was usual in the case of a public impeachment, and ap- 
 peared about the streets in a mourning go^vn, to excite the 
 compassion of his fellow-citizens ; whilst Clodius, at the 
 head of his mob, contrived to meet and insult him at every 
 turn. But Cicero soon gathered friends enough to secure 
 him from such insults ; and the whole body of the knights, 
 together with the young nobility, to the-number of 20,000, 
 headed by Crassus the son, all changed their habit, and 
 perpetually attended him about the city to implore the 
 protection and assistance of the people." — Plut. in Vit, 
 Cieer. ; Orat. post Red. ; Life of Cicero, p. 89. 
 B B
 
 370 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 may justly fall on tliose who refused nie tlieir 
 assistance, most certainly they who first promised 
 it and then deserted me are not less to be blamed '. 
 In a word, if some of my friends may well be 
 reproached for the timid, though sincere, counsels 
 tlu-v crave me, how much more severe must their 
 coiiiiemnation prove, who artfully alarmed me with 
 their pretended fears ? Let it be noted at the 
 same time to my honour, that zealous as my fellow- 
 citizens showed theruselves to rise up in the defence 
 of a man who had formerly stood forth in theirs, 
 yet I would not suffer them to be exposed (unsup- 
 ported as they were by those who ought to have 
 been their protectors) to the barbarous insults of 
 a lawless banditti. On the contrary, I rather chose 
 the world should judge by the power of my friends 
 in recalling me from my exile, what their honest 
 unanimity could have effected, had I permitted 
 them to have drawn their swords to prevent it. 
 
 You were sensible of this general zeal in my 
 favour, when you undertook my cause, and you 
 not only encouraged, but confirmed it, by your 
 influence and authority. I shall always most wil- 
 lingly acknowledge, that you were assisted upon 
 this occasion by some of the most considerable 
 persons in Rome' ; who, it must be owned, exerted 
 themselves with much greater vigour in procuring 
 my return, than in preventing my banishment. 
 And had they persisted in the same resolute 
 disposition, they might have recovered their own 
 authority at the same time that they obtained my 
 restoration. The spirits, in truth, of the aristo- 
 cratical part of the republic were, at this juncture, 
 greatly raised and animated by the inflexible pa- 
 triotism of your conduct during your consulship, 
 together with Pompey's concurrence in the same 
 measures. Csesar, likewise, when he saw the senate 
 distinguishing his glorious actions by the most 
 singular and unprecedented honours, joined in 
 adding weight to the authority of that assembly. 
 Had these happy circumstances, therefore, been 
 rightly improved, it would have been impossible 
 for any ill-designing citizen to have violated the 
 laws and liberties of the commonwealth. But let 
 me entreat you to reflect a moment on the subse- 
 quent conduct of my political associates. In the 
 first place, they screened from punishment that 
 infamous intruder on the matron-mysteries, who 
 showed no more reverence for the awful ceremonies 
 
 s In this number was Pompey himself, who, though he 
 had given Cicero the most solemn assurances that he 
 would, at the hazard of his life, protect him against Clo- 
 dius ; yet, when afterwards our author solicited the execu- 
 tion of this promise, he treated him with much rudeness, 
 as well as great treachery, and absolutely refused to con- 
 cern himself in the affair. [Ad Att. ii. 20 ; x. 4.] It seems 
 altogether unaccountable, that Cicero should be so inju- 
 dicious as to touch upon a circumstance that destroys the 
 whole force of his apology, so far, I mean, as he intended 
 to justify his conduct by his friendship to Pompey. For 
 it exceeds all power of credulity to imagine, that he could 
 really be influenced by a motive of that kind with respect 
 to a man, whose insincerity he had so lately and so severely 
 experienced. 
 
 ' Clodius was so elated with his success against Cicero, 
 that he had no sooner driven him out of Rome, than he 
 conceived hopes of rendering himself no less formidable to 
 Caesar and Pompey. Accordingly, he entered Into an open 
 opposition against them both ; which he carried on ^vith 
 80 much warmth and petulance, that at length they found 
 it expedient for their purposes to mortify him by recalling 
 Cicero. 
 
 of the goddess in whose honour these sacred 
 solemnities are celebrated, tiian for the chastity of 
 his three sisters". And thus, by preventing a 
 worthy tribune of the jieople from obtaining that 
 justice upon Clodius which he endeavoured to pro- 
 cure, they deprived future times of a most salutary 
 example of chastised sedition '■'. Did not they suffer, 
 likewise, that monument, that glorious monument, 
 which was erected, not indeed with the spoils I 
 had gained in foreign wars, but by the generosity 
 of the senate for my civil serviires ; did they not 
 most shamefully suffer it to be inscribed with the 
 name of the cruel and avowed enemy of his coun- 
 try''? Obliged most certainly 1 am to them for 
 having restored me to the commonwealth ; but I 
 could wish they had conducted themselves, not 
 only like physicians, whose views terminate merely 
 in the health of their patients, but like the Aliptse* 
 
 " Clodius (as Plutarch relates the story) had an intriguo 
 with Pompoia, Ca;sar's wife; but as lie could not easily gain 
 access to her, he took the opportunity, while she was cele- 
 brating the mysteries of the bona J)fa at her own house, 
 to enter disguised in a woman's habit. While he was 
 waiting in one of the apartments for Pompeia, he was dis- 
 covered by a maid-servant of Caesar's mother, who imme- 
 diately giving the alarm, he was driven out of this female 
 assembly with great indignation. Tlic bona Dea, as the 
 same author informs us, was supposed to have been a 
 dryad with whom the god Faunus had an amour. These 
 rites were held in the highest veneration, and conducted 
 with the most profound secrecy. They were celebrated 
 annually by women, at the house of the consul or prsetor, 
 and it was not lawful for any male to be present. Seneca 
 tells us, they carried this precaution so far, that if there 
 happened to be a picture of any male animal in the room 
 whore these mystic ceremonies were performing, it wa» 
 thought necessary it should be veiled — Plut. in Vit. C'a?s. ; 
 Sen. Ep. 97. 
 
 Clodius was suspected of having a criminal commerce 
 with his three sisters. 
 
 ^ Lentulus, immediately upon entering on his consular 
 office, A. U. 696, moved the senate that Cicero might be 
 restored ; in which he was seconded by Pompey witli much 
 zeal, and the whole house unanimously concurred in the 
 motion. Serranus, however, a tribune of the people, in- 
 terposing his negative, no decree could pass at that tim.e : 
 nevertheless, it was with one consent resolved, that, on 
 the 22d of the same month, a law should be proposed to 
 the people for Cicero's recal. When the appointed day 
 arrived, the friends of Cicero found the forum in the 
 possession of Clodius, who had planted his mob there 
 over-night, in order to prevent the promulgation of this 
 law. A very bloody skirmish ensued, in which several 
 lives were lost, and many other outrages committed ; in 
 consequence of which, Clodius was impeached by Milo as 
 a disturber of the public peace. But Metellus, the col- 
 league of Lentulus, together with Appius the praetor, and 
 Serranus the tribune, determined to screen Clodius ; and 
 accordinglj', by a most dangerous exercise of their autho- 
 rity, they published their several edicts, commanding all 
 farther proceedings in this prosecution to be discontinued. 
 It was a very impolitic power (as a late ingenious writer ■ 
 upon government observes) which was lodged in the tri- 
 bimes, of thus preventing the execution of the laws as well 
 as the passing of them, and which caused infinite mischiefs 
 to the republic— -Orat. pro Sext. 34, 35, 41 ; L'Esprit des 
 Loix, i. 223. 
 
 w " After the suppression of Catiline's conspiracy, the 
 senate decreed that a temple should be erected to Liberty, 
 as a public monument of their late happy deliverance. 
 This temple was raised at the foot of Mount Palatine, 
 near Cicero's house. And as the inscription fixed thereon 
 undoubtedly mentioned Cicero with honour, Clodius erased 
 those words, and placed his own name in their stead."— 
 Manutius. 
 
 < The Aliptee were persons who prepared the bodies of*
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 371 
 
 also, who endeavour to establish the spirits and 
 vigour of those under their care. Whereas they 
 have acted with regard to me, as Apelles did in 
 relation to his celebrated picture of Venus^ : they 
 have finished one part of their work with great skill 
 and accuracy, but left all the rest a mere rude and 
 imperfect sketch. 
 
 In one article, however, I had the satisfaction to 
 disappoint my enemies. They imagined my banish- 
 ment would have wrought the same effect on me, 
 which they falsely supposed a calamity of a like 
 kind produced formerly in Quintus Metellus. This 
 excellent person (whom I look upon to have been 
 a man of the greatest fortitude and magnanimity 
 of any in his times) they represented as broken 
 and dispirited after his return from exile'. But if 
 
 the athletic combatants, by unctions and other proper 
 methods, for rendering them vigorous and active in their 
 gymnastic exercises. 
 
 y Apelles, one of the greatest masters of painting in 
 ancient Greece, was a native of Coos, and flourished in the 
 ]12th Olymp. or about 332 years before Christ. Ilis prin- 
 cipal excellency consisted in the inimitable grace which 
 distinguished all his performances. Pliny the elder has, 
 by a very strong expression, informed us of the amazing 
 force of his pencil ; pinxit (says that author) guce pinyi 
 non posswnt, tonitrua, fiiJgura et /ulpetra. He could even 
 convey ideas which seemed impossible to be raised by 
 colours, and animate his sublime pieces with all the ter- 
 rors of thunder and lightning. His capital performance 
 was a figure of Venus, which appears to have been at Rome 
 in the times of Augustus. The lower parts of this picture 
 being damaged, no painter would venture to retouch it. 
 Something of the same kind is mentioned to the honour of 
 Raphael, whose paintings in the little Farnese, at Rome, 
 being somewhat spoiled, it was with the greatest difficulty 
 that even Carlo Maratti was prevailed upon to restore 
 them. Apelles began a second figure of Venus, which he 
 intended should excel his first : but he died before he had 
 proceeded any farther in that design than the head and 
 shoulders. — Quintil. xii. 10; Plin. Hist. Nat. sxxv. 10; 
 Reflex, sur la Poes. et sur la Point. 
 
 z Q. Csecilius Metellus was in the number of those who 
 opposed the faction of Caius Marius; in consequence of 
 which he was at length driven into exile. The immediate 
 occasion, however, of his sentence was this : Satuminus, a 
 tribune of the people, and creature of Marius, proposed a 
 law in the year 653, which, among other things enacted, 
 that " the senators should swear to ratify whatever tlie 
 people ordained." This oath, Metellus, with the true spi- 
 rit of ancient Rome, resolutely refused to take, and when 
 his friends represented to him the dangerous consequences 
 •which would probably attend his persevering in that honest 
 resolution, he nobly replied, " It is the characteristic of a 
 man of virtue and honour to act rightly, whatever conse- 
 quences may ensue." Accordingly, a decree passed in an 
 assembly of the people for his banishment ; and when his 
 friends ofiered him their assistance to withstand this piece 
 of public injustice, he generously refused thei-r aid : — 
 " For," said he, " either public measures will be changed, 
 and the people will repent of the injury they have done 
 me; and then I shall be recalled with honour: or they will 
 continue in the same sentiments; and in that case banish- 
 ment will be a happiness." He greatly chose, therefore, 
 to withdraw himself from the destructive politics of his 
 country ; and, retiring to Rhodes, he calmly spent his time 
 in philosophical studies. His virtues, however, prevailed 
 at last over the iniquity of his persecutors, and he was 
 restored to the republic, notwithstanding all the opposition 
 of Marius. Cicero has recorded a circumstance relating 
 to Metellus, that gives one the highest idea of the character 
 he enjoyed amongst his countrymen. He was accused, it 
 seems, by the Marian faction, of having been guilty of 
 public extortion ; but when he entered upon his defence, 
 and produced his accounts, the judges refused to inspect 
 them, as being well convinced that Metellus had a soul 
 
 broken he really were, it could not be the effect of 
 his adversity ; as it is certain he submitted to his 
 sentence without the least reluctance, and lived 
 under it, not only with indifference, but with 
 cheerfulness. The truth is, no man ever equalled 
 him |in the strength and heroism of his mind ; no, 
 not even the celebrated Marcus Scaurus*. Never- 
 theless, such as they had heard, or, at least, chose 
 to imagine Metejlus to have been, they figured me 
 to themselves, pr, if pos.sible, indeed, even yet more 
 abject. The revprse, however, proved to be the 
 case, and that general concern which the whole 
 republic expressed at my absence, inspired me with 
 more vigorous spirits than I had ever before enjoyed. 
 The fact is, that the sentence of banishment against 
 Metellus was repealed by a law proposed only by 
 a single tribune of the people ; whereas, I was 
 recalled from mine upon the motion of the consul 
 himself'', and by a law in which every magistrate of 
 Rome concurred. Let me add, likewise, that each 
 order and degree in the commonwealth, headed by 
 the senate, and supported by all Italy, zealously 
 
 much too enlarged to be capable of anything so mean as 
 injustice. I cannot forbear mentioning likewise a noble 
 expression of this great man, in a letter written during his 
 banishment, as it shows the spirit with which he bore hia 
 misfortune. Illi (inimici sc.) Jure et honcstate interdicti ; 
 ego neqiie aqua neqiieigni careo,etsumma gloria fruniscor. 
 " Whilst my enemies," says he, " vainly hoped to banish 
 me from the common benefits of society, which, however, 
 I still enjoy, together with the highest glory, they have 
 much more severely banished from their own breasts all 
 sentiments of justice and honour." One cannot but ac- 
 knowledge with regret, that neither the enemies nor the 
 friends of Cicero did him justice, w hen tliey compared him 
 to Jletellus ; for, besides the great superiority of the latter 
 in the present instance, he, upon all occasions, acted con- 
 sistently with his avowed political principles, and pre- 
 served a uniform and unsullied reputation to the end of 
 his days.— Plut. in Vit. C. Mar. ; Ad Att. i. 16 ; Orat. pro 
 Balbo, in princip. ; Aul. Gel. xvii. 2 ; Sallust. Bell. Ju» 
 gurth. 47. 
 
 a M. jEmilius Scaurus was advanced a second time to 
 the honour of the consular office, in the year of Rome 646, 
 having enjoyed that dignity eight years before. He is men- 
 tioned by Cicero among the orators of that age ; but there 
 was more of force and authority in what he delivered, than 
 of grace in his manner, or elegance in his expression. 
 He was accused, in his latter days, of having carried on a 
 traitcuous correspondence with Mithridates. The short 
 speech which he made in his defence is extremely remark- 
 able, and gives one a lively image of that manly contempt 
 with which a mind, conscious of its integrity, ought ever 
 to treat the calumnies of an accuser, whose knovm charac- 
 ter aflbrds the best and most expeditious antidote against 
 his malice. The venerable old man stood forth in the 
 midst of the assembly, and addressing himself to the whole 
 audience, spake to this effect : " It is somewhat hard, my 
 countrymen, that I should be obliged to give an account 
 to the present generation, of what I transacted before they 
 were born. But, notwithstanding the greater part of this 
 assembly are too young to have been witnesses of the ser- 
 vices and honours of my former life, I will venture to rest 
 the whole of my defence upon a single question. Varius, 
 then, asserts, that Scaurus was bribed to betray his coun- 
 try ; Scaurus, on the other hand, utterly denies that Lo 
 ever was tainted with a crime of this nature. Now lay 
 your hands upon your hearts, and tell me, my fellow-citi- 
 zens, to which of these two men you will give credit ? " 
 The people were so struck with the honest simplicity of 
 this speech, that Scaurus was dismissed with honour, and 
 his infamous aecuser hissed out of the assembly. — ^De Clar. 
 Orat. J 10, 1 1 1 ; VaL Max. iiL 7 ; SaUust. Bell. Jugurth. ; 
 Orat. pro Fonteio ; In Verr. i. 
 
 b Lentulus, the person to whom this letter is addressecU 
 B B 2
 
 372 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 united in one common effort for recovering me to 
 my country. Yet, high as these unexamjileJ ho- 
 nours were, they have never elated my lieart with 
 pride, or tempted me to assume an air 'viiicli could 
 give just offence even to the most malevolent of 
 my enemies. Tlie whole of my ambition is, not to 
 be w:inting either in advice or assistance to my 
 friends ; or even to those whom I have no great 
 reason to rank in that number. It is this, ])crhaps, 
 which has given the real ground of complaint to 
 those who view only the lustre of my actions, but 
 cannot be sensible of the pains and solicitude they 
 cost me. But whatever the true cause may be, the 
 pretended one is, my having promoted the honours 
 of Civsar ; a circumstance wiiicli tliey interpret, it 
 seems, as a renunciation of my old maxims. The 
 genuine motives, however, of my conduct, in this 
 instance, are not only what I just before mentioned, 
 but particularly what I hinted in the beginning of 
 my letter, and will now more fully explain. 
 
 You will not find then, my friend, the aristocra- 
 tical jiart of the republic disposed to pursue the 
 same system as wlien you left them. That system, 
 1 mean, which I endeavoured to establish when I 
 •was consul, and which, though afterwards occasion- 
 ally interrupted, and at, len^th entirely overtlirown, 
 was again fully restored during your administration. 
 It is now, however, totally abandoned by those 
 who ought most strenuously to have supported it. 
 I do not assert this upon the credit only of appear- 
 ances, in which it is exceedingly easy to dissemble ; 
 I speak it upon I he unquestionable evidence of 
 facts, and the public proceedings of those who were 
 styled patriots in my consulate. The general 
 scheme of politics, therefore, being thus changed, 
 it is time, most certainly, for every man of pru- 
 dence (in which number I have the ambition to be 
 justly accounted) to vary likewise his particular 
 plan. Accordingly that chief and favourite guide 
 of my principles, whom I have already quoted, the 
 divine Plato himself, advises not to press any 
 political point farther than is consonant with the 
 general sense of the community ; for methods of 
 violence, he maintains, are no more to be used to- 
 wards one's country than one's parent. Upon this 
 maxim, he tells us, he declined engaging in public 
 affairs ; and, as he found the people of Athens 
 confirmed, by long habit, in their mistaken notions 
 of government, he did not think it lawful to attempt 
 by force what he despaired of effecting by persua- 
 sion. My situation, however, is, in this respect, 
 different from Plato's ; for, on the one hand, as I 
 have already embarked iu public affairs, it is too 
 late to deliberate whether I should now enter upon 
 them or not : so, on the other, the Roman people 
 are by no means so incapable of judging of their 
 true interest, as he represents the Athenians. It 
 is my happiness, indeed, to be able by the same 
 measures, to con>sult at once both my own and my 
 country's welfare"^. To these considerations I 
 
 <= If Cicero was sincere in wliat he here asserted, and 
 really imagined that by falling in with the schemes of 
 Caesar and Pompey, he could more effectually serve his 
 country as well as himself, his policy, as far as we can 
 judge of it at this distance, seems to have been very extra- 
 ordinary. — To have supported the one in opposition to the 
 other, might perhaps have been a probable method of 
 defeating the designs of both, as they could neither of 
 them have advanced to so formidable a height, if they had 
 not mutually assisted iu raising -.>ach other. But to join 
 in their coalition, was in effect to ho accessary in cement- 
 
 must add those uncommon acts of generosity which 
 Caesar has exerted both towards my brother and 
 myself; so much, indeed, beyond all examjde, that, 
 even whatever had been his success, I should have 
 th(mght it incumbent upon me at least to have 
 defended him. But now, distinguished as he is by 
 such a wonderful series of prosperity, and crowned 
 with so many glorious victories, I cannot but 
 esteem it a duty which I owe the republic, al)- 
 stracted from all personal obligations to himself, 
 to promote his honours as far as lies in my power. 
 And believe me, it is at once my confession and 
 my glory, that, next to you, together with the other 
 generous authors of my restoration, there is not a 
 man in the world from whom I have received such 
 amicable offices. 
 
 And now, having laid before you the princip;il 
 motives of my conduct in general, I shall be the 
 Ijetter able to satisfy you concerning my behaviour 
 with respect to Crassus and Vatiaius in particular: 
 for as to Appius and Caesar, I have the pleasure to 
 find that you acquit me of all reproach. 
 
 My reconciliation then with Vatinius'' was ef- 
 fected by the mediation of Pompey, soon after the 
 former was elected praitor. I must confess, when 
 he petitioned to be admitted a candidate for that 
 office, I very warmly opposed him in the"^ senate ; 
 
 ing an union most evidently calculated for the ruin of the 
 commonwealth. This reasoning is not built merely upon 
 distant speculation, but is supported by the express testi- 
 mony of one wlio was not only an actor in this important 
 scene, but well undcrstond tlie plot that was carrying on. 
 " You are mistaken," said Cato, to those who were lament- 
 ing the breach that a/terwards happened between Pompey 
 and Caesar, " you are mistaken in charging our calamitiea 
 on that event ; tliey owe their rise to another cause, and 
 began, not when I'ompL-y .and Cjesar became enemies, but 
 when they were made friends." The difficulty of justify- 
 ing Cicero in this measure, grows still stronger, when it ia 
 remembered that he must have been sensible at this very 
 time how much was to be dreaded from the pov/er of these 
 his pretended friends. For heassines Atticus, in a letter 
 which was written at the breaking out of the civil war, 
 that he foresaw the storm that had been gathering to 
 destroy the republic, fourteen years before it fell, and calls 
 the union of these ambitious chiefs, sctleratce consensionit 
 fides, SL wicked confederacy. To which he adds, that they 
 had upon all occasions preferred the ijiterest of their fami- 
 lies and the advancement of their power to the honour 
 and welfare of their country. — Plut. in Vit. Pomp. ; Ad 
 Att. X. 4. 
 
 d Some observations have already been made upon 
 Cicero's conduct with regard to Vatinius : see above, rLin. 
 », p 366. 
 
 e The passage in the original, it is acknowledged, does 
 not absolutely imply the sense which is given to it iu the 
 translation. It runs thus : — " cum quidem ego ejii- pcti- 
 tionem gravissimis in senatu sententiis oppugna-n ni." 
 But it is not easy to conceive in what manner the cinnpe- 
 tition between Cato and Vatinius, in relation to tlio ■ ffice 
 of praetor, could come before the senate, imless the autho- 
 rity of that assembly were some way necessary in nomi- 
 nating or recommending the candidates to the people. 
 This interpretation seems to be favoured bj' a passage in 
 one of Pliny's letters, — " Meo suffragio," says he, speak- 
 ing of a friend, for whom, not being legally qualified to sue 
 for the tribunate, he had obtained a dispensation from the 
 emperor for that purpose, " Meo suffragio pervenit ad 
 justribunatnm petendi, quern nisi obtinet in senatu, vereor 
 ne decepisse Cxsareni videar." — ii. 9. That the senate ori- 
 ginally claimed this prerogative with respect to the election 
 of kings, is indisputable. " Patres decreverunt," as Livy 
 informs us, " ut cum populus regem jussisset, id sic ratum 
 esset, si patres auctores fierent." — i. I/. It is equally clear 
 likewise, that the senate exercised a privilege of the samo
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 373 
 
 out it was much less from my resentment to the 
 man himself, than in order to support the honour 
 and interest of Cato'. Soon after this he was im- 
 peached, and it was in compliance with the earnest 
 solicitation of CiL'sar that I undertook his defence. 
 But you must not inquire why I appeared at this 
 trial, or, indeed, at any other of the same kind, as 
 a witness in favour of the accused, lest I should 
 hereafter have an opportunity of retorting the ques- 
 tion upon you. Though, to say truth, I may fairly 
 ask it even now ; for do you not remember, my 
 friend, in whose behalf it was that you formerly 
 transmitted certain honourable testimonials, even 
 from the utmost limits of the Roman empire ? You 
 need not scruple, however, to acknowledge the fact, 
 for I have acted, and shall continue to act, the same 
 part towards those very persons. But to return to 
 Vatinius : besides the reasons I have already 
 assigned, I was provoked to engage in his defence, 
 by an opposition of the same sort which the para- 
 site recommends to the amorous soldier in the 
 playSf. The obsequious Gnatho, you know, advises 
 his friend, the captain, whenever his mistress en- 
 deavours to pique his jealousy, by mentioning his 
 rival Phsedria, to play off Pamphila upon her 
 in return. Thus, as I told the judges at this trial, 
 since certain honourable persons, who were for- 
 merly much in my interest, had thought proper, 
 by many little mortifying instances in the senate, 
 to caress my avowed enemy before my face, I 
 thought it but equitable to have a Clodius on my 
 part, in opposition to the Clodius on theirs. Ac- 
 cordingly, I have upon many occasions acted 
 suitably to this declaration, and all the world ac- 
 knowledges I have reason'^ 
 
 kind, after the republican government was established; 
 for Cicero, taking notice in one of his orations of an unsuc- 
 cessful attempt that had been formerly made by that 
 august assembly in order to extend their power, adds, 
 "turn cnim magistratum non gerebat is qui eeperat, si 
 patres auctoresnon erant facti."— [Orat. pro Plane. 3.] But 
 the difficulty is, this speech wasdelivered in the very same 
 year in which the present letter was written ; so that the 
 passage quoted from it seems to imply that no such right 
 subsisted at the time under consideration, and indeed Dr. 
 Chapman produces it in confirmation of this notion. 
 [Essay on R. S. p. 317.] The difi&culty, however, may per- 
 haps be solved by supposing that Cicero's meaning is to be 
 taken restrictively, and that the prerogative of the senate 
 in the nomination of candidates for the several magistra- 
 cies, or at least in confirming their election, was abolished 
 only with respect to the election of a;diles, which it is cer- 
 tain he had principally in view, but remained nevertheless 
 in its usual force as to all others. Conjectures are allow- 
 able in points of so much obscurity, and in which neither 
 critics nor commentators afford any light ; but what 
 solidity there may be in that which rims through the 
 present remark, is submitted to the judgment of more suc- 
 cessful inquirers, 
 
 f Cato, the year before the date of this letter, had solicited 
 the praetorship in order to arm himself with the authority 
 of that important office against the dangerous designs of 
 Crassus and Pompey, who were at that time consuls. But 
 they were too well aware of the honest purposes of this 
 inflexible patriot, not to obstruct his election, and accord- 
 ingly they carried it against him in favour of the pliant 
 and worthless Vatinius, whose pretensions they supported 
 by every infamous method of artifice, oorruption, and vio- 
 lence. — Plut. in Vit. Caton. 
 
 f " The Eunuch " of Terence. 
 
 •• The conduct of Cicero with regard to Vatinius, appears 
 by no micans parallel with that of the aristocratical party 
 towards Clodius. The latter was now at variance with 
 CsEsar and Pompey, and it was undoubtedly a just and 
 
 Havir\g thus explained my conduct with regard 
 to Vatinius, I will now lay before you those motives 
 which determined me in respect to Crassus'. I 
 was willing, for the sake of the common cause, to 
 bury in oblivion the many and great injuries I had 
 formerly received from him. Agreeably to this 
 disposition, as we were then upon good terms, I 
 should have borne his une.xpected defence of Ga- 
 biniusJ, (whom he had very lately with so much 
 warmth opposed) if he had avoided all personal 
 reflections on myself. But when, with the most 
 unprovoked violence, he broke in upon me whilst 
 I was in the midst of my speech, I must confess 
 it raised my indignation ; and, perhaps, I took fire 
 so much the sooner, as possibly there still remained 
 in my heart some latent sparks of my former re- 
 sentment. However, my behaviour in the senate 
 upon this occasion was much end generally ap- 
 plauded. Among the rest, I was complimented 
 likewise by the same men whom I have often 
 hinted at in this letter, and who acknowledged I 
 had rendered a very essential service to their cause, 
 by that spirit which I had thus exerted. In short, 
 they affected to speak of me in public, as being 
 now, indeed, restored to the commonwealth in the 
 best and most glorious sense. Nevertheless, they 
 had the malice in their private conversations (as 
 I was informed by persons of undoub ted honou r) 
 rational policy to take advantage of that dissention and 
 endeavour by an artful management to gain him over to 
 the cause of liberty. But Cicero's engaging in the support 
 of Vatinius cannot be justified by any political reasons of 
 this nature, and to speak truth it seems to be altogether 
 without excuse. For Vatinius was actually in league with 
 the enemies of his country ; to espouse his cause, therefore, 
 was to strengthen their faction, and sacrifice public inter- 
 est to private pique. 
 
 ' See the remarks on the 7th letter of this book, particu- 
 larly 7-ems. J, and ™. 
 
 J Aulus Gabinius was consul the same year in which. 
 Cicero was so outrageously persecuted by Clodius, with, 
 whom (as has been observed in the notes above) Gabinius 
 most zealously concurred. To give his character as Cicero 
 himself has drawn it in several of his orations, he was effe- 
 minate in his mien, dissolute hi his principles, and a pro- 
 fessed libertine in every kind. After the expiration of his 
 consulate in (J96, he went governor into Syria, from whence 
 he was recalled the following year by a decree of the senate. 
 Cicero spoke very warmly in favour of the decree, and it 
 is probable that the dispute here mentioned between him 
 and Crassus happened in the debates which arose upon 
 this occasion. Not many months after the date of this 
 letter, Gabinius was impeached for malpractices during 
 the administration of his proconsular government, and 
 Cicero was now so entirely at the disposal of Caesar and 
 I'ompey, that in compliance with their request he meanly 
 undertook his defence. But it was not without great 
 struggles with himself, that he submitted to an office so 
 unworthy of his principles and his character. Ilowever, 
 he- endeavoured to represent it to the world as an act of 
 pure generosity ; and, indeed, the sentiment with which 
 he defended himself from the censure that passed upoa 
 him on this occasion, is truly noble : " Nequc me vero 
 poenitet mortales inimicitias, sempiternas amicitias ha- 
 bere." But Gabinius was by no means entitled to the 
 benefit of this generous maxim, nor was it true (as will 
 incontestably appear by a passage I shall presently have 
 occasion to produce) that Cicero was governed by it in the 
 case under consideration. Cicero's conduct, indeed, upon 
 this occasion, is so utterly indefensible, that his very inge- 
 nious and learned advocate, Dr. Middleton himself, is 
 obliged to confess, that it was " contrary to his judgment. 
 his resolution, and his dignity."— Orat. pro Sext. ; In 
 I'ison. ; De Prov. C^onsular. ; Pro Rabir. ; Plut. in Vit. 
 Caton. Uticui. ; Life of Cicero, p. 144. See rtm. " below.
 
 374 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 to express singular satisfaction in tlie new variance 
 tliat had thus happened between Crassus and my- 
 self; as they jjleased themselves with imagining it 
 would for ever throw me at a distance from those 
 who were joined with him in the same interest''. 
 Pompey, in the mean time, employed incredible 
 pains to close this breach ; and Ciesar also men- 
 tioned it in his letters as an incident that gave him 
 much concern. Upon these considerations, there- 
 fore, I thoui^ht it expedient to act agreeably both 
 to the dictates of my natural temper, and to that 
 experience which I had gained by my former mis- 
 fortunes. In pursuance of these sentiments, 1 
 consented to a reconcilement ; and, in order to 
 render it more conspicuous to the world, Crassus 
 set out for his government' almost from under my 
 roof; for, having invited himself to spend the pre- 
 ceding night with me, we supjied together in the 
 gardens of my soniii-law C^rassipcs"". It was for 
 these reasons that I thought my honour obliged 
 me 'to defend his cause in the senate", and 1 con- 
 fess, I mentioned him with that high applause of 
 which, it seems, you have been informed. 
 
 Thus I have given you a full detail of the several 
 views and motives by wliich I am governed in the 
 present conjuncture, as well as of the particular 
 disposition in which I stand with respect to the 
 slender part I can pretend to claim in the adminis- 
 tration of public affairs. And, believe me, I should 
 have judged and acted entirely in the same manner 
 had I been totally free from every sort of amicable 
 bias. For, on the one hand, I should have esteemed 
 it the most absurd folly to have attempted to oppose 
 so superior a force ; and, on the other, supposing 
 it possible, I should yet have deemed it imprudent 
 to weaken the authority of persons so eminently 
 and so justly distinguished in the commonwealth". 
 
 k CsEsar and Pompey. The former (who was undoubt- 
 edly as much superior to the rest of his contemporaries in 
 genius as in fortune), finding it necessary for his piuposcs 
 that Crassus and Pompey should act in concert, procured 
 a reconciliation between them ; and by this means, says 
 Plutarch, formed that invincible triumvirate which ruined 
 the authority both of the senate and the people ; and of 
 which he alone received the advantage. — Plut. in Vit. Crass. 
 
 1 The province of Syria was allotted to Crassus, for which 
 he set out a month or two before the expiration of his con- 
 sulate, in the year 69f, and from whence he never returned, 
 as has already been observed in the notes on the 7th letter 
 of this book. See p. 36(1. 
 
 ™ These gardens were situated a small distance from 
 Rome, on the banks of the Tiber. — Ad Att. iv. 12 ; Ad 
 Quint. Frat. iii. 7- " See rem. ^ on letter 7, of this book. 
 
 o It will appear very evident, perliaps, from the fore- 
 going observations, that what Cicero here asserts could not 
 possibly be his real sentiments. That it was not practica- 
 ble to bring dn%vn Ca;s:ir and Pompey from that height of 
 power to which they were now arrived, will not, probably, 
 be disputed ; thougli, at the same time, it is very diflficult 
 to set limits to what prudence and perseverance may effect. 
 This, at least, seems undeniable, that if their power were 
 absolutely immoveable, Ciceio's conduct was in the num- 
 ber of those causes wliich contributed to render it so. 
 However, one cannot but be astonished to find our author 
 seriously maintain, that, granting it had not been impos- 
 Bible, it would yet have been impolitic, to have checked 
 these towering chiefs in their ambitious flight. For it is 
 plain, from a, passage already cited, out of his letters to 
 Atticus, (see above, rem. <:,) tliat he long foresaw their 
 immoderate growtli of power would at last overturn the 
 liberties of the commonwealth. It had already, indeed, 
 destroyed his own ; and this, too, by the confession of him- 
 •el£ For, in a letter which he writes to his brother, taking 
 
 Besides, it appears to me to be the dictates of 
 sound policy to act in accommodation to particular 
 conjunctures, and not inflexibly pursue the same 
 unalterable scheme when public circumstances, 
 together with the sentiments of the best and wisest 
 members of the community, are evidently changed. 
 In conformity to this notion, the most judicious 
 reasoners on the great art of government have 
 universally condemned an obstinate perseverance in 
 oneuniformtenorof measures. The skill of the pilot 
 is shown in weathering the storm at least, though 
 he should not gain his i)ort; but if shifting his sails 
 and changing his direction will infallibly carry him 
 with security into the intended harbour, would it 
 not be an instance of most unreasonable tenacious- 
 ness to continue in the more hazardous course 
 wherein he began his voyage .' Thus (and it is a 
 maxim I have often had occasion to inculcate) the 
 point we ought all of us to keep in view in our 
 administration of the commonwealth is the final 
 enjoyment of an honourable repose; but the method 
 of securing to ourselves this dignity of retreat is, 
 by having been invariable in our intentions for the 
 public welfare, and not by a positive perseverance 
 in certain favourite modes of obtaining itP. To 
 repeat therefore what I just now declared, had 
 I been absolutely uninfluenced by every motive of 
 friendship, I should still have pursued the same 
 public measures in which I am now engaged. But 
 when gratitude and resentment both conspire in 
 recommending this scheme of action to me, I can- 
 not hesitate a moment in adopting it, especially 
 since it appears most conducive to the interests of 
 the republic in general as well as to my own in 
 particular. To speak freely, I act upon this princi- 
 ple so much the more frequently and with the less 
 reserve, not only as my brother is lieutenant under 
 Caesar, but as the latter receives the slightest 
 action or even word of mine in his favour, with 
 an air that evidently shows he considers them as 
 obligations of the most sensible kind ; and in fact 
 I derive the same benefit from that popularity and 
 power which you know he possesses, as if they 
 were so many advantages of my own. The sum 
 of the whole in short is this : I imagined that I 
 had no other method of counteracting those per- 
 fidious designs with which a certain party were 
 secretly contriving to undermine me, than by thus 
 uniting the friendship and protection of the men 
 in power, with those internal aids which have 
 never yet been wanting to my support"*, 
 notice of the strong applications that Pompey had made 
 to him to defend Gabinius, he declares he never will com- 
 ply with that unworthy request, so long as be retained the 
 least spark of liberty. But comply, however, he actually 
 did ; equally, in truth, to his own disgrace, and to the con- 
 futation of the doctrine he here advances. — Ad Quint. 
 Frat. iii. 1. See above, rem. i, p. 373. 
 
 P The reasoning whicli Cicero here employs is certainly 
 just, considered abstractedly, but by no means applicable 
 to the present case. The question between the aristocra- 
 tical party, and those who were favourers of Csesar and 
 Pompey, was, not what road should be taken to the same 
 end, but whether Rome should be free or enslaved. Let 
 who would then have changed their sentiments on this 
 point, it became not the Father of his Country to increase 
 the number. But as Cicero acquired that most honourable 
 of all appellations, by Catiline, he lost it again by Clodius; 
 or, to express the same thing in his own words, — " Non 
 recordor (as he tonfesses to Atticus) unde ceciderim, sed 
 unde surreierim. — Ad Att. iv. 16. 
 
 S There is no character in all antiquity, perhaps, that
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS, 
 
 375 
 
 I am well persuaded had you been in Rome you 
 •would have concurred with me in these sentiments. 
 I know indeed the candour and moderation of 
 your temper ; and I know too that your heart not 
 only glows with friendship towards me, but is wholly 
 untainted with malevolence towards others ; in a 
 word, I know that as you possess every sublime and 
 generous affection, you are incapable of anything 
 so mean as artifice and disguise. Nevertheless, 
 even this elevated disposition has not secured you 
 from the same unprovoked malice which I have 
 experienced in my own affairs. I doubt not there- 
 fore if you had been an actor in this scene, the same 
 motives would have swayed your conduct which 
 have governed mine. But however that may be, 
 I shall most certainly submit all my actions to 
 your guidance and advice whenever I shall again 
 enjoy your company ; and I am sure you will not 
 be less attentive to the preser-vation of my honour 
 than you formerly were to that of my person. Of 
 this at least you may be persuaded, that you will 
 find me a faithful friend and associate in all your 
 counsels and measures, as it will be the first and 
 daily purpose of my life, to supply you with ad- 
 ditional and more powerful reasons for rejoicing 
 in those obligations you have conferred upon me. 
 
 As you desire me to send you those compositions 
 which I have written since you left Rome, I shall 
 deliver some orations into the hands of Menocrates 
 for that purpose. However, not to alarm you, 
 their number is but inconsiderable ; for I withdraw 
 as much as possible from the contention of the 
 bar, in order to join those more gentle Muses which 
 ■were always my delight, and are particularly so at 
 this juncture. Accordingly I have drawn up three 
 •dialogues upon oratory, wherein I have endeavoured 
 to imitate the manner of Aristotle. I trust they 
 ■will not prove altogether useless to your son, as I 
 have rejected the modern precepts of rhetoric and 
 adopted the ancient Aristotelian and Isocratic rules. 
 To this catalogue of my writings I must also add 
 an historical poem which I have lately'composed in 
 three cantos, upon the subject of my banishment ■■, 
 ■and as a lasting memorial likewise of your friendship 
 and my gratitude. This I should long since have 
 transmitted to you had it been my immediate in- 
 tention to make it public. But 1 am discouraged 
 
 lies so open to discovery as that of Cicero ; and j-et there is 
 none, at the same time, which seems to be less generally 
 understood. Had there been no other of his writings ex- 
 tant, however, but this single letter, the patriot character, 
 one sliould have imagined, would have been the last that 
 the world v/ould ever have ascribed to our autUnr. It is 
 observable, (and it is an observation for which I am obliged 
 to a gentleman, who, amidst far more important occupa- 
 tions, did not refuse to be the censurer of these papers) 
 that " the principles by which Cicero attempts to justify 
 iimself in this epistle, are such as will equally defend the 
 most abandoned prostitution and desertion in political con- 
 -duct. Personal gratitude a'nd resentment ; an eye to private 
 and particular interest, mixed with a pretended regard to 
 public good ; an attention to a brother's ad\'ancement and 
 farther favour ; a sensibility in being caressed by a great 
 man in power ; a calculation of the advantages derived 
 from the popularity and credit of that great man to one's 
 «wn personal self, are very weak foundations indeed, to 
 support the superstructure of a true patriot's character. 
 Yet these are the principles which Cicero here expressly 
 avows and defends ! " 
 
 *■ This poem Cicero delivered, sealed up, to his son ; 
 enjoining him, at the same time, not to publish or read it 
 till after bis death.— Iilauutiua. 
 
 from this design at present, not indeed as fearing 
 the resentment of those who may imagine them- 
 selves the objects of my satire (for in this respect 
 I have been extremely tender), but as finding it 
 impossible to make particular mention of every 
 one from whom I received obligations at that 
 season. However, when I shall meet with a proper 
 opportunity, I will send it to you ; submitting my 
 writings as well as my actions entirely to your 
 judgment. I know indeed these literary medita- 
 tions have ever been the favourite employment of 
 your thoughts no less than of mine'. 
 
 Your family concerns, which you recommend to 
 me, are so much a part of my own that I am sorry 
 you should think it necessary even to remind me 
 of them. I could not therefore read your solicita- 
 tions for that purpose without some uneasiness. 
 
 I find you were prevented by an indisposition 
 from going the last summer into Cilicia, which 
 was the occasion it seems of your not settling my 
 brother's affairs in that province. However, yott 
 give me assurance that you will now take all 
 possible methods of adjusting them. You cannot 
 indeed oblige him more ; and he will think himself 
 as much indebted to you for procuring him this 
 additional farm, as if you had settled him in the 
 possession of his patrimony. In the meantime I 
 entreat you to inform me frequently and freely of 
 all your affairs, and particularly give me an account 
 of the studies and exercises in which your son is 
 engaged. For be well persuaded, never friend was 
 more agreeable or more endeared to another than 
 you are to me ; and of this truth I hope to render 
 not only you but all the world, and even posterity 
 itself, thoroughly sensible. 
 
 Appius' has lately declared in the senate (what 
 he had before indeed often intimated in conver- 
 sation) that if he could get his proconsular com- 
 mission confirmed in an assembly of the Curiae", 
 he would cast lots with his colleague for the par- 
 ticular province to which they should respectively 
 succeed ; if not, that by an amicable agreement 
 between themselves, he had resolved upon yours'. 
 He added, that in the case of a consul it was not 
 
 « To turn from the actions of Cicero to his writings, is 
 changing our point of view, it must be acknowledged, 
 extremely to his advantage. It is on this side, indeed, 
 that his character can never be too warmly admired ; and 
 admired it will undoubtedly be, so long as manly eloquence 
 and genuine philosophy have any friends. Perhaps there 
 is something in that natural mechanism of the human 
 frame necessary to constitute a fine genius, which is not 
 altogether favourable to the excellencies of the heart. It 
 is certain, at least, (and let it abate our envy of uncommon 
 parts) that great superiority of intellectual qualifications, 
 has not often been found in conjunction with the much 
 nobler advantages of a moral kind. 
 
 t Appius Claudius Pulcher, one of the present consuls. 
 See rem. " on letter 3, book iii. 
 
 o Romulus divided the city into a certain number (k 
 districts called curiae, which somewhat resembled our 
 parishes. When the people were summoned together, to 
 transact any business agreeably to this division, it was 
 called an assembly of the curije : where the most votes in 
 every curias was considered as the voice of the whole dis- 
 trict, and the most curis as the general consent of the 
 people. — Kennett, Rom. Antiq. 
 
 ^ The senate annually nominated the two provinces to 
 wb.ich the consuls should succeed at the expiration of their 
 office ; but it was left to the consuls themselves to deter- 
 mine, cither by casting lots, or by private agreement, which 
 of the particular provinces so assigned they should respec- 
 tively administer. — ^lanutius, De Leg. c. s..
 
 THE I.pyi'TERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 absolutely necessary, though jjcrhaps it might be 
 expedient, to jjrocure a law of this kind ; and as a 
 government liad been appointed him by a decree of 
 the senate, lie was entitled, he said, in conscfpience 
 of the Cornelian law, to a military command till 
 the time of his entrance into Rome"'. I know not 
 what accounts you may have received of this matter 
 from your other friends ; but I find the sentiments 
 of the world are much divided. Some are of ojiiiiion 
 that you are not obliged to resign your government 
 if your successor should not be authorised by an 
 assembly of the Curia; ; whilst others maintain 
 that notwithstanding you should think proper to 
 leave the province, you may nevertheless depute a 
 person to preside in your absence. As to myself, 
 I am not altogether so clear with respect to the law 
 in question ; though I must own at the same time 
 that my doubts are by no means considerable. Of 
 this however I am jjerfectly sure, that it is agree- 
 able to your honour, and to that generosity of 
 conduct in which I know you place your highest 
 gratification, quietly to yield up your province to 
 your successor, especially as you cannot in this 
 instance oppose his ambitious views without in- 
 curring the suspicion of being influenced by the 
 same motives yourself. But be that as it will, I 
 thought it incumbent upon me to inform you of 
 my sentiments, as I shaM certainly defend yours 
 whichever way they may determine you to act. 
 
 After I had finished my letter, I received your 
 last concerning the farmers of the revenues". Your 
 decision appears to me, I must own, perfectly 
 equitable ; yet, at the same time, I cannot but 
 wish you might be so happy as not to disgust a 
 body of men whose interest you have hitherto 
 always favoured. However, you may be assured I 
 shall support the decrees you have made upon this 
 occasion, though you well know the temper and 
 disposition of these people, and what formidable 
 enemies they proved to the excellent Quintus 
 ScsevolaJ". I would recommend it to you therefore 
 
 "■ Though the nomination of the proconsular provinces 
 was a privilege reserved to the senate, yet it was the pre- 
 rogative nf the people to confer on the proconsuls the power 
 of executing the mOitary functions, and likewise, it should 
 seera, to grant the necessary appointments for conveying 
 them to their respective governments. By a law, however, 
 which was made by Cornelius Sylla, during his dictator- 
 ship, in the year 672, it was enacted, that, whatever 
 magistrate, at the expiration of his office, should obtain a 
 province by a decree of the senate, he should be invested 
 with the full power of a proconsul, notwithstanding his 
 commission were not confirmed by an assembly of the 
 curia;. But Sylla's dictatorship being considered as a 
 usurpation, it is probable, from the passage before us, that 
 this law was not generally esteemed valid. Appius, never- 
 theless, endeavoured to avail himself of it, from an appre- 
 hension that he might meet with some obstruction in tlic 
 usual method of applying for a ratification of his powers: 
 and. indeed, it may be collected from a letter to Atticus, 
 that he at last set forward to his government without the 
 sanction of the people.— INIanutius, De Leg. ; Grsev. pra?f. 
 in Antiq. 1 ; Ad Att. iv. IG. 
 
 ^ The society of farmers of the public revenues, among 
 the Romans, was a body of men in high repute, as being 
 composed of the principal persons of the equestrian order: 
 "Flos equitum Romanorum, (says Cicero,) ornamentum 
 civitatis, tirmamentum reipublicK, publicanorum ordine 
 continetur." [Pro Plane.] Disputes frequently arose be- 
 tween these and the tributary provinces : and it is to some 
 difference of this kind wherein Lentulus had given judg- 
 ment against them, that Cicero seems to allude. 
 
 T There were two very eminent persons of this name in 
 
 if possible, to recover their good graces, or at 
 least to soften them. The task, I confess, is 
 difficult ; but pru.lencp, 1 think, requires you 
 should use your best endeavours for that purpose. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVlir. 
 
 To f.iirii/s Cullcolits, Proconsul'. 
 
 It was with the warmest expressions of grati- 
 tude that my friend Lucceius" acquainted me you 
 A. u. 6.0!). ^*'*'^ generously assured his agents of your 
 assistance, as indeed I know not a maa 
 in the world who has a heart more sensible ot 
 obligations. But if your promises only were thus^ 
 acceptable to him, how mucii more will he think 
 himself indebted to you when you shall have- 
 performed (as I am well persuaded you will most 
 faithfully perform) these your obliging engage- 
 ments .' 
 
 The people of Bullis'' have intimated a disposi- 
 tion to refer the demands in question betweea 
 Lucceius and themselves to Pompey's arbitration ; 
 but as the concurrence of your influence and 
 authority will be necessary, I very strongly entreat 
 you to exert both for this purpose. 
 
 It affords me great satisfaction to find that your 
 letter to Lucceius, together with your promises to- 
 his agents, have convincid them that no man has 
 more credit with you than myself ; and I earnestly 
 conjure you to confirm them in these sentiments 
 by every real and substantial service in your power. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 You could never have disposed of your favours 
 
 where they would be more gratefully remembered 
 
 A u 699. ^^^^ °" "'y friend Lucceius. But the 
 
 obligation is not confined to him only ; 
 
 Pompey likewise takes a share in it : and whenever 
 
 Cicero's time. Tlie first, the most celebrated la%vyer and 
 politician of his age, is distinguished by the title cf augur. 
 Tlie other, who w;is high-priest, was slain at the entrance 
 of the temple of Vesta, as he was endeavouring to make 
 his escape from that general massacre of the senators 
 which was perpetrated by the orders of the young Marius. 
 To which of these TuUy alludes is tmcertain. Manutius- 
 supposes to the former, but without assigning his reasons. 
 It seems not imlikely, however, to bo the latter, as there 
 is a passage in Valerius JIaximus, by which we find tliat 
 he exercised his Asiatic government with so much honour 
 and integrity, that the senate, in their subsequent decrees 
 for nominating the proconsuls to that province, always 
 recommended him as an example worthy of their imita- 
 tion. It appears, by a fragment of Diodorus Siculus, that 
 he endeavoured, during his administration in Asia, to 
 reform the great abuses which were committed by the 
 farmers of the revenues in his province, and imprisoned 
 many of them for their cruel oppressions of the people. 
 This drew upon him their indignation : but in what par 
 ticular instance he was a sufferer by it, history does not 
 mention. — Liv. epit. 86 ; Val. Blax. viii. 15. 
 
 ^ The person to whom this letter is addressed, and the 
 province of which he was proconsul, are equally unknoy^-n. 
 
 " An account of Lucceius has already been given in 
 rem. ^ on letter 20, book i. 
 
 •> Geographers are not agreed as to the situation of this, 
 city, some plaoing it in lUyria, others in Macedonia.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 37r 
 
 I see him (as I often do) he never fails to express 
 in very strong terms how much he thinks himself 
 indebted to you. To which I will add (what 1 
 Know will give you great satisfaction) that it 
 afforded me also a very sensible pleasure. As you 
 cannot now discontinue these obliging offices with- 
 out forfeiting your character of constancy, I doubt 
 not of your persevering in the same friendly services 
 for your own sake, which you at first engaged in 
 for ours. I cannot forbear, nevertheless, most 
 earnestly entreating you to proceed in what you 
 have thus generously begun, till you shall have 
 perfectly completed the purposes for which we 
 requested your assistance. You will by these means 
 greatly oblige not only Lucceius but Pompey ; and 
 never, I will venture to assure you, can you lay out 
 your services to more advantage. I have nothing 
 further to add, having given you my full sentiments 
 of public affairs in a letter which I wrote to you a 
 few days ago by one of your domestics. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 To Curius, Proconsul'^. 
 I HAVE long been intimately connected with 
 Quintus Pompeius by a variety of repeated good 
 g(,„ oflSces. As he has upon many former oc- 
 casions supported his interests, his credit, 
 and his authority in your province by my influence, 
 so, now the administration is in your hands, he ought 
 undoubtedly to find, by the effects of this letter, that 
 none of your predecessors have ever paid a greater 
 regard to my recommendations. The strict union 
 indeed that subsists between you and myself gives 
 me a .'ight to expect that you will look upon every 
 friend of mine as your own. But I most earnestly 
 entreat you to receive Pompeius in so particular a 
 manner into your protection and favour, as to con- 
 vince him that nothing could have proved more to 
 his advantage and his honour than my applications 
 to you in his behalf. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 To Basiliiis^. 
 I CONGRATULATE both you and myself on the 
 present joyful occasion. All your affairs here are 
 A. u 699. ^^'^"^^ '^y concern, as your person is infi- 
 nitely dear to me. Love me in return, 
 and let me know what you are doing, and what is 
 going forward in your part of the world. Farewell. 
 
 c The person to whom this letter is addressed, and the 
 time when it was ■\vTitten, are unknown. 
 
 <* If Basilius be the true name of the person to whom 
 this letter is inscribed, (and, indeed, all the editions agree 
 in calling him so,) no account can be given concerning 
 him. But, if we may be allowed to suppose the genuine 
 reading to be Bacilus, he was praetor in the year 708 : and 
 Cffisar not having given him a province, as was usual, at 
 the expiration of his office, he was so mortified with the 
 affront, that he put an end to his life.— Dio, xliii. p. 237. 
 
 LETTER XXn. 
 
 To Quintiin Philippus, Proconsul'^. 
 
 I coNGRATULATK vour Safe return from your 
 province, in the fidness of your fame, and amidst 
 A u 699 ^^^ general tranquillity of the republic. 
 ' If I were in Rome, 1 should have waited 
 upon you for this purpose in person, and in order, 
 likewise, to make my acknowledgments to you for 
 your favours to my friends Egnatius and Oppius. 
 
 I am extremely sorry to hear that you have taken 
 great offence against my friend and host, Antipater. 
 I cannot pretend to judge of the merits of the case ; 
 but I know your character too well not to be per- 
 suaded that you are incapable of indulging an 
 unreasonable resentment. I conjure you, however, 
 by our long friendship, to pardon, for my sake, his 
 sons, who lie entirely at your mercy. If I imagined 
 you could not grant this favour consistently with 
 your honour, I should be far from making the re- 
 quest ; as my regard for your reputation is much 
 superior to all considerations of friendship which I 
 owe to this family. But, if 1 am not mistaken, 
 (and, indeed, I very possibly may) your clemency 
 towards them will rather add to your character than 
 derogate from it. If it be not too much trouble, 
 therefore, I should be glad you would let me know 
 how far a compliance with my request is in your 
 power ; for that it is in your inclination, I have not 
 the least reason to doubt. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 
 To Lucius Valerius', the Lawyer: 
 
 Fork, why should I not gratify your vanity with 
 
 that honourable appellation ? Since, as the times 
 
 A u en oO> ™y friend, confidence will readily pass 
 
 upon the world for skill. 
 
 I have executed the commission you sent me, 
 
 and made your acknowledgments to Lentulus. But 
 
 I wish you would render my offices of this kind 
 
 unnecessary, b/ putting an end to your tedious 
 
 absence. Is it not more worthy of your mighty 
 
 ambition to be blended with your learned brethren 
 
 at Rome, than to stand the sole great wonder of 
 
 wisdom, amidst a parcel of paltry provincials'"? 
 
 But I long to rally you in person, for which merry 
 
 e See rem. • on letter 6, of this book. 
 
 f Valerius is only kno>vn by this letter and another, 
 wlierein Cicero recommends him to Appius as a person 
 who lived in his family, and for whom he entertained a 
 very singular affection. By the air of this epistle he seems 
 to have been one of that sort of lawyers who may more 
 properly be said to be of the profession than the science. 
 But, as the vein of humour which runs through this letter 
 partly consists in playing upon words, it is not very easy, 
 perhaps it is impossible, to be preserved in a translation ; 
 and, as it alludes to circumstances which are now alto- 
 gether unkno'vvn, it must necessarily lose much of its 
 original spirit. 
 
 S The abrupt beginning of this letter has induced some 
 (if the commentators to suspect that it is not entire. But 
 Manutius has very justly observed, that it evidently refers 
 to the inscription : and he produces an instance of the 
 same kind from one of the epistles to Atticus, — Ad Att 
 iii. 20. 
 
 l" After this passage in the original, Cicero goes on in 
 the following strain: — " Quanquam qui istine veniunt, 
 partim te superbum esse dicunt, quod «?7ip7 respondens. 
 partim eontumeliosum, quod male respondeas." The trana-
 
 378 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 purpose I desire you would liasten hitlier as expe- 
 ditiously as possible. I would by no means, how- 
 ever, advise you to take Apulia in the way, lest 
 sonu' disastrous adventure in those unlucky regions 
 should i)revent our welcoming your safe arrival. 
 And, in truth, to what purpose should you visit 
 this your native province'? For, like Ulysses, 
 
 lator, however, has ventured to omit tliis wittieism, upon 
 tlio advice of Horace. 
 
 " Quae 
 
 Dcspcrat tentata nitosccrc jxisse, relinquit." 
 It is a pun, indeed, wliich has alieady occurred in one of 
 the preceding letters to Trebatius, wliere our autlior pluys 
 in the same manner upon the equivocal sense of the verb 
 respondcrc. [See rem. P on letter 16 of this book.] Voiture 
 has manap^ed an allusion of this kind much more success- 
 fully. " Si vous prdtendcz (says that agreeable writer to 
 his friend the plenipotentiary at MUnstor) quo la (lignite 
 do plenipotentiaro vous dispense do respondre, Tapiiiian 
 avoit a sa charge toutes les affaires do I'empiro remain, 
 et jevous monstrcrai en cent lieux dans do gros livres, 
 Papinlanus rcspondit, et respondil Papinianus. Lea plus 
 sages et Ics plus prudens (5toiont ceux qui avoient accous- 
 tumi; do respondre, et de li rcsponsa sapientum, et pni- 
 dentum rcsponsa. Les oracles memos, quand vous en 
 seriez un, rcspondoient ; et il n'est pas qu'aux clioscs 
 inanim(5es, qui no se mettent quelquefois en devoii' de 
 respondre: — 
 
 ' Les eaux et les rochers et les bois lui respondent.' " 
 Let. do Voit. i. 165. 
 > Manutius imagines that Cicero means to rally the 
 obscurity of his friend's birth. Perhaps it would be nearer 
 the truth to acknowledge that it is impossible to know 
 what he moans : yet, as this sense is as consistent with the 
 original as any other, it is adopted in the translation. 
 But if tliis very learned commentator be right in his 
 general notion of this passage, he is certainly deceived in 
 his interpretation of tanqiiam Ulysses, cognosces tuorum 
 ncminem, with which the letter concludes. For he takes 
 the verb copnosco in its usual acceptation : by which means 
 he makes Cicero mistake so well known a story as that of 
 the behaviour of Ulysses upon his first return to Ithaca. 
 However, he is persuaded that this is a designed misre- 
 presentation in his author : and discovers I know not 
 what improvement of the humour by this very perversion 
 of the fable. The labours of this penetrating commentator 
 have cast such a light upon the writings of Cicero, that 
 ■ even his errors deserve to be treated with respect, other- 
 wise one might justly laugh at a notion so exactly in the 
 true spirit of a fanciful critic, who refines upon his own 
 
 when he first returned to his Ithaca, you will be 
 much too prudent, undoubtedly, to lay claim to 
 your noble kindred. Farewell. 
 
 mistakes. It is a mistake, nevertheless, in which all the 
 succeeding commentators concur with him, except Jlr. 
 Itoss, who has removed the whole difficulty of the passage, 
 by explaining copnosco in the sense of agnoseo. Thia 
 sense (in which indeed it is not unfrcquently used) recon- 
 ciles the allusion to the truth of tlio fact: and whore a 
 word luis several significations, it would be out of all rule 
 of criticism to understand it in an application the least 
 favourable to an author's meaning. It is not always so 
 easy liowcvcr to justify Cicero with respect to Homer ; 
 and he has, in one instance at least, been betrayed into an 
 error in quoting that poet. The instance occurs in his 
 Tusculan disjiutations, where ho takes notice of that 
 passage in the seventh Iliad, in which Ajax is described 
 as going forth to accept the challenge of Hector. " Vide- 
 nius (s;iys he) progredientem apud Homerum, Ajacem 
 nmlta cum hilaritato cum depugnaturus esset cum Ileo- 
 tore ; cujus, ut arma sumpsit, ingressio la^titiara attulit 
 sociis, terrorem autcm hostibus : ut ipsum Hectorem, 
 quemadmodum est apud Homerum, lolo pectore tremen- 
 tem, provocasse ad pugnam poenitcret." — [Tusc. Disp. iv. 
 22.] Ilut Homer by no means rejjresents Hector thus 
 totally dismayed at the approach of his adversary : and, 
 indeed, it would liave been inconsistent with the general 
 character of that hero to have described him luider such 
 circumstances of terror. 
 
 tov 5e Kol 'Apyflot fxiy iyriSeoi' ilffopSaivrts' 
 T^oas 5€ rp6fJios alvhs uK-i^\u9e yv7a eKaarov, 
 "EKTopi t' avT^ Ov/jibs ifl aTr]6ia'cri iruTaacrev. 
 
 Vcr. 214. 
 But there is a great difference (as Dr. Clarke observes, in 
 his remarks upon these lines) between Ovfjchi ivl arriQQffffiv 
 TraTaacrev, and KapSirj e|a> ffrTjOeoov idpdxTKei, or TpSfios 
 alvhi vTrrjKvOe yvia. The Trojans, says Homer, trembled 
 at the sight of Ajax ; and even Hector himself felt some 
 emotion in his breast ; or to express it in the same spirit 
 of poetry which distinguishes the original. 
 
 Thro' ev'ry Argive heart new transport ran : 
 All Troy stood trembling at the mighty man. 
 E'en Hector paused ; and, with new doubt opprest. 
 Felt his great heart suspended in his breast. — Pope. 
 Perhaps this slip of attention in so great an author may 
 not be improperly pointed out, as engaging the candour 
 of the reader towards those errors of the same nature, 
 which he will too probably meet with in the course of 
 this attempt. 
 
 BOOK III 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 To Cuius CurioK 
 
 Though I am sorry you should suspect me of 
 
 neglecting you, I will acknowledge that I am not 
 
 A, u. 700. ^'^ much concerned at your reproaches for 
 
 my not writing, as I am pleased to find 
 
 that you are desirous of hearing from me. Con- 
 
 j Curio was a young nobleman of great parts, spirit, and 
 eloquence ; hut addicted, beyond all modesty or measure, 
 to the prevailing luxury and gallantries of a most dissolute 
 age. After having dissipated his fortune by extravagant 
 indulgences, for which no estate could suffice, he fell an 
 easy prey to corruption. Accordingly, Caes.ar paid his debts, 
 amounting to almost 500,000/., and by that means gained 
 ^im over from the cause ot liberty, to become one of the 
 
 scious, indeed, of not meriting your friendly 
 accusation, the instance it afforded me that my 
 letters were acceptable to you, was a very agreeable 
 proof of the continuance of that afifection which I 
 have already so frequently experienced. Believe 
 me, I have never omitted writing whenever any 
 person offered whom I imagined likely to convey 
 my letters into your hands ; and, which of your 
 acquaintance, I will venture to ask, is a more punc- 
 
 warmest and most active of his partisans. It is generally 
 imagined that Virgil glances at him in those well-known 
 lines, vendidit hie auro pair iam, ie. though, indeed, they 
 are applicable to so many others of his contemporaries, 
 that there seems no great reason to imagine the poet had 
 Curio particularly in his view. Lucan mentions him as 
 one whose talents would probably have been of the highest
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 079 
 
 tual correspondent than myself? In return, how- 
 ever, I have scarcely received more than one or 
 two letters from you since you left Rome, and 
 ■those two extremely concise. Thus, you see, I can 
 justly retort your charge , you must not, therefore, 
 pass too severe a sentence on your part, if you hope 
 to receive a favourable one on mine. But I will dwell 
 no longer on this article than to assure you, that 
 since you are disposed to accept these memorials 
 of my friendship, I doubt not of acquitting myself 
 to your full satisfaction. 
 
 Though I regret extremely the being thus long'' 
 deprived of your very agreeable company, yet I 
 cannot but rejoice at an absence which has contri- 
 buted so much to your honour ; as fortune indeed 
 has, in all that concerns you, answered my warmest 
 wishes. I have only to offer you one short piece 
 of advice, and I offer it in compliance with the 
 sincere dictates of that singular affection I bear 
 you. Let me earnestly, then, entreat you to come 
 well-prepared at your return, to act up to those 
 great ideas which the world has, with so much 
 reason, conceived of your spirit and talents. And 
 as nothing can ever wear out the deep impressions 
 your good offices have stamped upon my mind', so, 
 1 hope you will not forget, on your side, that you 
 could not have attained those honours or advan- 
 tages that attend you, if you had not, in the 
 earlier part of your life, complied with my faithful 
 and affectionate admonitions™. Have I not reason, 
 then, to expect in return, that as the weight of old 
 age now begins to bend me down", you will suffer 
 me to repose my declining years upon your youth 
 and friendship ? Farewell. 
 
 honour and benefit to his country, if he had lived in times 
 of less contagious depravation : 
 
 " Haud alium tanta civem tuUt indole Koma, 
 Aut ciii plus leges deberent, recta sequenti. 
 Perdita tunc urbi nocuerunt secula, postquam 
 Ambitus et luxus, et opum metuenda facultas, 
 Transverso mentem dubiam torrente tulerunt." 
 "A soul more form'd to aid his country's cause. 
 Avenge her insults, and support her laws, 
 Rome never knew ; but ah ! in evil liour. 
 Fate bade thee live when virtue was no more ! 
 When lawless lust of power, and avarice dread. 
 And baneful luxury the land o'erspread. 
 Thy wav'ring mind the torrent ill withstood. 
 Borne, scarce resisting, down the impetuous flood.* 
 'He distinguished himself with great bravery in support of 
 ■Ca!sar's cause in Africa, where Varus commanded on the 
 part of the republic. But, after some successful engage- 
 ments, he lost his life before the battle of Pharsalia, in an 
 action against the troops of Juba, near XJtica. At the 
 time when this letter, and the rest that are addressed to 
 him in the present book, were \vritten, he resided in Asia, 
 where, as Manutius conjectures, he was employed in 
 quality of qu»stor to Caius Clodius. — Veil. Pat. ii. 48 ; Pint, 
 in Vit. Cscs. ; Val. Max. ix. 6 ; Virg. Mn. vi. 620 ; Luc. iv. 
 814; Liv. epit. 110. 
 
 '' " Curio had been most probably absent from Rome 
 about two years ; for Caius Clodius, to whom he is sup- 
 posed to have been qusestor, obtained the government of 
 Asia A. u. 698 ; Pigh. Annal." — Ross. 
 ' Curio assisted him in his contest with Clodius. 
 ™ Curio, when he was a very young man, had entered 
 into a commerce of the most criminal and detestable kind 
 with Antony. His father, in order to break off this in- 
 famous intercourse, was obliged to call in Cicero to his 
 assistance ; who, by his prudent and friendly advice, 
 weaned the son from a passion not less expensive it seems 
 than it was execrable ; and, by this means, (as Cicero 
 •reproaches ^Uitony in one of his Philippics) he saved an 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 To Trebatiiis. 
 
 If you were not already in the number of our 
 absentees, undoubtedly you would be tempted to 
 ^ jj »oy leave us at tliis juncture ; for what busi- 
 ness can a lawyer expect in Rome during 
 this long and general suspension of all juridical 
 proceedings" ! Accordingly, I advise my friends, 
 who have any actions commenced against them, to 
 petition each successive interrexP for a double en- 
 largement of the usual time for putting in their 
 pleas : and is not this a proof how wonderfully I 
 have profited by your sage instructions in the law i .' 
 But tell me, my friend, since your letters, I observe, 
 have lately run in a more enlivened strain than 
 usual, what is it that has elevated you into so gay 
 a humour.' This air of pleasantry I like well ; it 
 looks as if the world went successfully with you, 
 and I am all impatience to know what it is that has 
 thus raised your spirits. You inform me, indeed-, 
 that Caesar does you the honour to advise with you. 
 For my own part, however, I had rather hear that 
 he consulttd your interest than your judgment. 
 But, seriously, if the former is really the case, or 
 there is any probabiUty of its proving so, let me 
 entreat you to continue in your present situation, 
 and patiently submit to the inconveniences of a 
 military life ; as, on my part, I shall support my- 
 self under your absence with the hopes of its turning 
 to your advantage. But, if all expectations of this 
 kind are at an end, let us see you as soon as pos- 
 sible ; and, perhaps, some method may be found 
 here of improving your fortunes. If not, we shall 
 at least have the satisfaction of enjoying each 
 other's company, and one hour's conversation toge- 
 ther is of more value to us, my friend, than the 
 whole city of Samarobriva'. Besides, if you return 
 illustrious family from utter ruin. — Plut. in Vit. Anton. ; 
 Cic. Phil. ii. 18. 
 
 n Cicero was at this time in the 54th year of his age. — 
 Manutius. 
 
 o The feuds in the republic were raised to so great a 
 height towards the latter end of the preceding year and 
 the beginning of the present, that the office of the lato 
 consuls had expired several months before new ones could 
 be elected. In exigencies of this kind, the constitution 
 had provided a magistrate called an Interrex, to whom 
 the consular power was provisionally delegated. But 
 public business, however, was at a stand, and the courta 
 of judicature, in particular, were shut up during this 
 interregnum : a circumstance from which Cicero takes 
 occasion to enter into his usual vein of pleasantry with 
 Trebatius, and to rally him in perpetual allusions to hia 
 profession. — Dio, xl. 
 
 P This office of Interrex continued only five days; at 
 the expiration of which, if consuls were not chosen, a new 
 Interrex w&s appointed for tbe same short period. And 
 in this manner the succession of these occasional magis- 
 trates was carried on, till the elections were determined. 
 
 q The minute forms of law-proceedings among the 
 Romans, arc not sufficiently known to distinguish pre- 
 cisely the exact point on which Cicero's humour in thia 
 passage turns ; and, accordingly, the explanations which 
 the commentators have offered, are by no means satis- 
 factory. It would be foreign to the purpose of these 
 remarks to lay before the reader their several conjectm-es ; 
 it will be sufficient in general to observe, that there was 
 some notorious impropriety in the advice which Cicero 
 here represents himself as having given to his friends, and 
 in which the whole force of his pleasantry consists. 
 
 f A city in Belgic Gaul, and probably the place wherein 
 Trebatius had his present quarters.
 
 380 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 soon, the disappointment you' have suffered may 
 pass unremarked ; wliereas, a longer pursuit to no 
 purpose would be so ridiculous a circumstance, 
 that I am terribly afraid it would scarcely escape 
 the drollery of those very arch fellows", Laberius, 
 and my comjianion Valerius'. And what a bur- 
 lesque character would a IJritish lawyer furnish out 
 for the Roman stage ! You may smile, perhaps, 
 at this notion ; but though I mention it in my 
 usual style of pleasantry, let me tell you it is no 
 jesting matter. In pood earnest, if tiiere is any 
 prospect that my recommendations will avail in 
 obtaining the honours you deserve, I cannot but 
 exhort you, in all the sincerity of the warmest 
 friendship, to make yourself easy under this ab- 
 sence, as a means of increasing both your fortunes 
 and your fame : if not I would strongly advise 
 your return. I have no doubt, however, that your 
 own merit, in conjunction with my most zealous 
 services, will procure you every advantage you can 
 reasonably desire. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER in. 
 
 To jippiiis Pulcher^. 
 
 If the Genius of Rome were himself to give you 
 
 an account of the commonwealth, you could not be 
 
 A n 700 more fully apprised of public affairs, than 
 
 by the information y.ou will receive from 
 
 Phanias : a person, let me tell you, not only of 
 
 s Laberius was a Roman knight, who distinguished 
 himself by his comic humour, and he had written several 
 farces which were acted with great applause. He was pre- 
 vailed upon by Cjesar to take a part himself in one of his 
 own performances, and the prologue which he spoke upon 
 that occasion is still extant. The whole composition is 
 extremely spirited, and affords a very advantageous speci- 
 men of his genius ; but there is something so peculiarly 
 just and beautiful in the thought of the concluding lines, 
 that the reader perhaps will not regret the being carried 
 out of his way in order to obser\-e it. Laberius was sixty 
 years of age, when, in complaisance to Caesar, he thus mado 
 his first entrance upon tho stage ; and, in allusion to a 
 circmnstance so little favourable to his appearing \vith 
 success, he tells the audience, 
 
 " Ut hedera serpens vires arboreas necat ; 
 
 Ita me vetustas amplexu annorum enecat; 
 
 Sepulchri similis, nihil nisi nomen retineo !" 
 " While round tho oak the fraudful ivy twines, 
 
 Robb'd of its strength, the sapless tree declines, 
 
 Thus envious age, advanced with stealing pace, 
 
 Clasps my chill'd limbs, and kills with cold embrace. 
 
 Like empty monuments to heroes' fame. 
 
 Of all I was retaining but the name ! 
 
 Macrob. Saturn, ii. ?• 
 ' This Valerius is supposed by some of the commentators 
 to be Quintus Valerius Catullus, a celebrated poet, who, 
 as appears by his works, which are still extant, was 
 patronised by Cicero. But the opinion of Manutius is 
 much more probable, that the person here meant is the 
 same to whom the 13th letter of the first book in this 
 collection is addressed, and who is likewise mentioned in 
 the following epistle. 
 
 ^ Appius Clodius Pulcher had been consul the preceding 
 year, and was at this time governor of Cilicia. The parti- 
 •«ular traits of his character will be occasionally marked 
 «ut in the observations on the several letters addressed to 
 him in this and the subsequent books. In the mean time 
 it may be sufficient to observe that Cicero very zealously 
 cultivated his friendship, not from any real opinion of 
 his merit, but as one whose powerful alliances rendered 
 him too considerable to be despised as an enemy. For one 
 
 consummate politics, but of infinite curiosity. I 
 refer you, tlierefore, to him, as to the shortest and 
 safest means of being acquainted with our situation, 
 I might trust liim likewise with assuring you, at 
 the same time, of the friendly disposition of my 
 heart towards you ; but that is an office which I 
 must claim the privilege of executing with my own 
 liand. Be persuaded, then, tliat 1 think of you 
 with the highest affection : as, indeed, you have a 
 full right to these sentiments, not only from the 
 many generous and amiable (pialities of your mind, 
 but from that grateful sensibility, witli which, as I 
 am informed, both by your own letters and the 
 general account of others, you receive my best ser- 
 vices. I sliall endeavour, therefore, by my future 
 good offices, to compensate for tliat long intermis- 
 sion which unhappily suspended our former inter- 
 course*. And, since you seem willing to renew 
 our amicable commerce, I doubt not of engaging 
 in it with the general approbation of the world*. 
 
 Your freedman Cilix, was very little known to 
 me before he delivered your obliging letter into my 
 hands : the friendly puq)ort of which he confirmed 
 with great politeness. The account, indeed, he 
 gave me of your sentiments, as well as of the fre- 
 quent and favourable mention you are pleased to 
 make of my name, were circumstances which I 
 heard with much pleasure. In short, during our 
 two days' conversation together, he entirely won 
 my heart : not to the exclusion, however, of my 
 old friend Phanias, whose return I impatiently 
 e.xpect. I imagine you will speedily order him 
 back to Rome ; and I hope you will not dismiss- 
 him without sending me, at the same time, your 
 full and unreserved commands. 
 
 I very strongly recommend to your patronage 
 Valerius the lawyer'^, even though you should 
 discover that he has but a slender claim to that 
 appellation. I mention this, as being more cau- 
 tious in obviating the flaws ia his title than he 
 usually is in guarding against those of his clients. 
 But, seriously, I have a great affection for the man : 
 as, indeed, he is my particular friend and compa- 
 nion. I must do him the justice to say, that he is 
 extremely sensible of the favours you have already 
 conferred upon him. Nevertheless, he is desirous 
 of my recommendation, as he is persuaded it will 
 have much weight with you. I entreat you to 
 convince him that he is not mistaken. Farewell. 
 
 of Appius's daughters was married to Pompey's son, and 
 the other to Brutus. — See Life of Cicero, p. 1G3 ; Ep. Fam. 
 ii. 13. 
 
 T Appius was brother to Cicero's declared enemy, tho 
 tm-bulent Clodius, which occasioned that interruption of 
 their friendship to which he here alludes. It appears by 
 a passage in the oration for Milo, that Clodius, in the 
 absence of his brother, had forcibly taken possession of an. 
 estate belonging to Appius ; and the indignation which. 
 this piece of injustice must necessarily raise in the latter, 
 rendered him, it is probable, so much the more disposed 
 to a re-union with Cicero. — Orat. pro Mil. 27. 
 
 ^v The whole passage in the original stands thus:— » 
 " Idquc me, quoniam tu ita vis, puto non invita Minerva 
 facturum : qucun quidem ego, si forte de tuis sumpsero, 
 nun solum Pallada, sed etiam Appiada nominabo." Tho 
 former part of this sentence is translated agreeably to the 
 interpretation of the learned Gronovius : but the latter is 
 wholly omitted. For notwithstanding all the pains of the 
 commentators to explain its difficulties, it is utterly 
 imintelligible : at least I do not scruple to confess it ia- 
 so to me. 
 
 " See rem. f on letter 23, book ii.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 081 
 
 LETTER IV. ■ 
 
 To Caius Memmius'^ . 
 Your tenant, Caius Evander, is a person with 
 whom I am very intimate : as his patron, INIarcus 
 . „ -jOQ .^milius, is in the number of my most 
 particular friends. I entreat your per- 
 mission, therefore, that he may continue some 
 time longer in your house, if it be not inconve- 
 nient to you : for, as he has a great deal of work 
 upon his hands, he cannot remove so soon as the 
 first of July, without being extremely hurried. I 
 should be ashamed to use many words in soliciting 
 a favour of this nature at your hands ; and I am 
 persuaded that, if it is not very much to your pre- 
 judice, you will be as well inclined to grant uie this 
 request as I should be to comply with any of yours. 
 I will only add, therefore, that your indulgence 
 •will greatly oblige me. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To Trebatius. 
 I WAS wondering at the long intermission of 
 your letters, when my friend Pansa accounted for 
 ^,„ your insolence, by assuring me that you 
 were turned an Epicurean. Glorious 
 effect, indeed, of camp-conversation ! But, if a 
 metamorphosis so extraordinary has been wrought 
 in you amidst the martial air of Samarobriva, what 
 would have been the consequence had I sent you 
 to the softer regions of Tarentum^ ? I have been 
 in some pain for your principles, I confess, ever 
 since your intimacy vrith my friend Seius. But 
 how will you reconcile your tenets to your profes- 
 sion, and act for the interest of your chent, now 
 that you have adopted the maxim of doing nothing 
 but for your own .' With what grace can you insert 
 the usual clause in your deeds of agreement : " The 
 parties to these presents as becomes good men and 
 true," &c. .' For neither truth nor trust can there 
 be in those who professedly govern themselves upon 
 motives of absolute selfishness .' I am in some 
 pain, likewise, how you will settle the law con- 
 cerning the partition of " rights in common :" as 
 there can be nothing in common between those who 
 make their own private gratification the sole crite- 
 rion of right and wrong. Or can you think it 
 proper to administer an oath, while you maintain 
 that Jupiter is incapable of all resentment ? In a 
 word, what wiU become of the good people of 
 Ulubrse^ who have placed themselves under your 
 protection, if you hold the maxim of your sect, 
 " that a wise man ought not to engage himself in 
 public affairs?" In good earnest I shall be ex- 
 tremely sorry, if it is true that you have really 
 
 y See an account of him in rem. ^ on the 27th letter of 
 this book. 
 
 » Tarentum was a city in Italy distinguished fur tlie 
 softness and luxury of its inhabitants. Geographers inform 
 ■UR that the greatest part of their year was consumed in the 
 celebration of stated festivals. — Bunon. Comment, in Clu- 
 Terii Geograph. 
 
 * " Cicero jocosely speaks of this people, as if they 
 belonged to the most considerable town in Italy ; whereas 
 it was so mean and contemptible a place, that Horace, in 
 order to show the power of contentment, says, that a 
 person possessed of that excellent temper of mind, may be 
 happy even at Ulubrs : 
 
 • Est Vlubris, animus si te non deficit aquus.' " — Koss. 
 
 deserted us. But if your conversion is nothing 
 more than a convenient compliment to the opinions 
 of Pansa, I will forgive your dissimulation, pro- 
 vided you let me know soon how your affairs go 
 on, and in what manner I can be of any service in 
 them. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 To Caius Curio. 
 Our friendship, I trust, needs not any other 
 evidence to confirm its sincerity than what arises 
 « „ T^n from the testimony of our own hearts. I 
 
 A. U. /OU. \ . 1 » 1 , 
 
 cannot, however, but consider the death 
 of your illustrious father as depriving me of a most 
 venerable witness to that singular affection I bear 
 you"". I regret that he had not the satisfaction of 
 taking a last farewell of you before he closed his 
 eyes : it was the only circumstance wanting to 
 render him as much superior to the rest of the 
 world in his domestic happiness as in his public 
 fame ■=. 
 
 I sincerely wish you the happy enjoyment of 
 your estate : and, be assured, you will find in me 
 a friend who loves and values you with the same 
 tenderness as your father himself conceived for 
 you. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 To Trebatius. 
 Cak you seriously suppose me so unreasonable 
 as to be angry, because I thought you discovered 
 "00 ^°° inconstant a disposition in your im- 
 patience to leave Gaul ? And can you 
 possibly beheve it was for that reason I have thus 
 long omitted writing ? The truth is, I was only 
 concerned at the uneasiness which seemed to have 
 overcast your mind : and I forbore to write upon 
 no other account, but as being entirely ignorant 
 where to direct my letters. I suppose, however, 
 that this is a plea which your loftiness will scarcely 
 condescend to admit. But tell me then, is it the 
 weight of your purse, or the honour of being the 
 counsellor of Coesar, that most disposes you to be 
 thus insufferably arrogant .' Let me perish if I 
 do not believe that thy vanity is so immoderate, as 
 to choose rather to share in his councils than his 
 coffers. But should he admit you into a participa- 
 tion of both, you will undoubtedly swell into such 
 intolerable airs, that no mortal will be able to en- 
 dure you : or none, at least, except myself, who 
 am philosopher enough, you know, to endure any- 
 thing. But I was going to tell you, that as I 
 regretted the uneasiness you formerly expressed, 
 so I rejoice to hear that you are better reconciled 
 to your situation. My only fear is, that your 
 wonderful skill in the law will Uttle avail you in 
 your present quarters ; for I am told, that the 
 })eop!e you have to deal with. 
 
 ^ See rem. '" on the first letter of this book. 
 
 c lie was consul in the year of Rome 676, when ho acted 
 with great spirit in opposition to the attempts of Sicinius, 
 for restoring the tribunitial power, which had been much 
 abridged by Sylla. In the following year he went governor 
 into Macedonia, and by his military conduct in that pro- 
 vince obtained the honour of a triumph. He distinguished 
 himself among the friends of Cicero when he was attacked 
 by Clodius. — Freinshem. Supplem. in Liv. xci. ciii.
 
 382 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 •' Rest the strength of their cause on the force of their 
 miglit. 
 And tlic sword is supreme arbitrator of riglifi." 
 
 As I know you do not choose to be concerned in 
 forcible eulries, and are much too peaceably dis- 
 posed to be fond of making assaults, let me leave a 
 piece of advice with my lawyer, and by all means 
 recommend it to you to avoid the Treviri*-' ; for I 
 hear they arc most formidable fellows. I wish 
 from my heart they were as harmless as their name- 
 sakes round the edges of our coin^ But I must 
 reserve the rest of my jokes to another opportunity : 
 in the mean time let me desire you would send me 
 a full account of whatever is going forward in your 
 province. Farewell. 
 March the 4th. 
 
 LETTER Vin. 
 
 To CorniJtciusS. 
 
 Your letter was extremely agreeable to me in 
 
 all respects, except that I was sorry to find by it, 
 
 you had slighted my lodge at Sinuessa. 
 
 " I shall not excuse the affront you have 
 
 thus passed upon my little hovel, unless you give 
 me double satisfaction by making use both of my 
 Cuman and Pompeian villas. Let me entreat you 
 then to do so, and to preserve me likewise in your 
 affection. I hope you will provoke me to enter 
 into a literary contest with you, by some of your 
 writings ; as I find it much easier to answer a 
 challenge of this kind, than to send one. However, 
 if you should persevere in your usual indolence, I 
 shall v.enture to lead the way myself, in order to 
 show you that your idleness has not infected me. 
 
 I steal a moment to write this whilst I am in the 
 senate ; but you shall have a longer letter from me 
 when I shall be less engaged. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To Trehatius. 
 
 I AM giving you an instance, that those who 
 love are not easily to be pleased, when I assure you, 
 700 ^^^'^^ though I was very much concerned 
 when you told me that you continued in 
 Gaul with reluctance, yet I am no less mortified 
 now your letter informs me, that you like your 
 situation extremely well. To say the truth, as 1 
 regretted you should not approve a scheme which 
 you pursued upon my recommendation ; so I can 
 ill bear that any place should be agreeable to you 
 where I am not. Nevertheless, I had much rather 
 endure the uneasiness of your absence, than suffer 
 you to forego the advantages with which I hope 
 it will be attended. It is impossible, therefore, to 
 express how much I rejoice in your having made a 
 friendship with a man of so improved an under- 
 standing and so amiable a disposition as Matius : 
 
 ^ Ennius. 
 
 e The Treviri were a most warlike people, bordering on 
 Germany. They were defeated about this time by La- 
 bienus, one of Caesar's lieutenants in GauL — Cses. De Bell. 
 GaU. viii. 
 
 ' The public coin was under the inspection of three 
 ofl5cers called Treviri monetales: and several pieces of 
 money are still extant in the cabinets of the curious, 
 inscribed with the names of these magistrates. — Petri 
 Bembi Epist. apud Manut. 
 
 S See an account of him in letter 24, book xi. rem. b. 
 
 whose esteem, I hope, you will endeavour to culti- 
 vate by every means in your power. For believe 
 me, you cannot bring home a more valuable 
 acquisition. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 To Cains Curio. 
 You must not impute it to any neglect in Rupa, 
 that he has not executed your commission; as he 
 
 „-. omitted it merely in compliance with the 
 A. u. 700. . . „ ir 1 i.1. i. r 
 
 opinion of myself and the rest of your 
 
 friends. We thought it most prudent that no 
 steps should be taken during your absence which 
 might preclude you from a change of measures after 
 your return ; and therefore that it would be best 
 he should not sii^nify your intentions of entertain- 
 ing the people with public games'". I may perhaps, 
 in some future letter, give you my reasons at large 
 against your executing that design ; or rather, that 
 you may not come prepared to answer my objec- 
 tions, I believe it will be the wisest way to reserve 
 them till we meet. If I should not bring you over 
 to my sentiments, I shall have the satisfaction at 
 least, of discharging the part of a friend ; and 
 should it happen (which I hope, however, it will 
 not) that you should hereafter have occasion to 
 repent of your scheme, you may then remember 
 that I endeavoured to dissuade you from it. But 
 tliis much I will now say, that those advantages 
 which fortune, in conjunction with your own indus- 
 try and natural endowments, have put into your 
 possession, supply a far surer method of opening 
 your way to the highest dignities than any ostenta- 
 tious display of the most splendid spectacles. The 
 truth of it is, exhibitions of this kind, as they are 
 instances of wealth only, not of merit, are by no 
 means considered as reflecting any honour on the 
 authors of them ; not to mention that the public 
 
 is quite satiated with their frequent returns But 
 
 I am fallen unawares into what I designed to have 
 avoided, and pointing out my particular reasons 
 against your scheme. I will waive all farther dis- 
 cussions therefore of this matter, till we meet, and 
 in the mean time inform you that the world enter- 
 tains the highest opinion of your virtues. Whatever 
 advantages may be hoped from the most exalted 
 patriotism united with the greatest abilities, the 
 public, believe me, expects from you. And should 
 you come prepared (as I am sure you ought and I 
 trust you will) to act up to these its glorious 
 expectations, then indeed you will exhibit to your 
 friends and to the commonwealth in general, a 
 spectacle of the noblest and most affecting kind'. 
 In the meanwhile, be assured no man has a greater 
 share of my affection and esteem than yourself. 
 Farewell. 
 
 •» Curio's pretence for exhibiting these games, was to 
 pay an honour to the memory of his father, lately deceased : 
 but his principal motive was to ingratiate himself with the 
 people, who were passiV)nately attached to entertainments 
 of this kind. As Cicero well knew the profusion of Curio's 
 temper, and that the scheme he was meditating could not 
 be executed without great expense, he acted a very judi- 
 cious and honest part, in labouring to turn him aside from 
 a project that would contribute to embarrass his finances, 
 and most probably therefore impair the foundation of his 
 integrity. 
 
 ' Curio was not of a disposition to listen to this prudent 
 counsel of his friend ; but in opposition to all the grave
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 383: 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 To Trebatius. 
 
 Two or three of your letters which lately came 
 
 to my hands at the same time, though of different 
 
 dates, have afforded me great pleasure ; 
 
 ■ 'as they were proofs that you have recon- 
 
 ciled yourself, with much spirit and resolution, to 
 the inconveniences of a military life. I liad some 
 little suspicion, I confess, of the contrary ; not that 
 I questioned your courage, but as imputing your 
 unensiness to the regret of our separation. Let me 
 entreat you then to persevere in your present tem- 
 per of mind, and believe me, you will derive many 
 and considerable advantages from the service in 
 which you are engaged. In the mean while I shall 
 not fail to renew my solicitations to Caesar in your 
 favour upon all proper occasions, and have herewith 
 sent you a Greek letter to deliver to him for that 
 purpose ; for in truth you cannot be more anxious 
 than I am that this expedition may prove to your 
 benefit. In return, I desire you would send me a 
 full relation of the Gallic war, for you must know 
 I always depend most upon the accounts of those 
 who are least engaged in the action. 
 
 As I do not imagine you are altogether so consi- 
 derable a person as to retain a secretary in your 
 service, I could not but wonder you should trouble 
 yourself with the precaution of sending me several 
 copies of the same letter. Your parsimony, how- 
 ever, deserves to be applauded, as one of them, I 
 observed, was written upon a tablet that had been 
 used before. I cannot conceive what unhappy 
 composition could be so very miserable as to deserve 
 to give place upon this occasion, unless it were one 
 of your own conveyances. I flatter myself at least, 
 it was not any sprightly epistle of mine that you 
 thus disgraced, in order to scribble over it a dull 
 one of your own. Or was it your intention to 
 intimate affairs go so ill with you, that you could 
 not afford any better materials ? If that should be 
 your case you must even thank yourself for not 
 leaving your modesty behind you. 
 
 I shall recommend you in very strong terms to 
 Balbus when he returns into Gaul. But you must 
 not be surprised if you should not hear from me 
 again so soon as usual, as I shall be absent from 
 Rome during all this month. I write this from 
 Pomptinus, at the villa of Metrihus Philemon, 
 where i am placed within hearing of those croak- 
 ing clients whom you recommended to my protec- 
 tion ; for a prodigious number it seems of yourJ 
 Ulubrean frogs are assembled in order to compli- 
 ment my arrival among them. Farewell. 
 
 April the 8th. 
 
 P.S — I have destroyed the letter I received from 
 you by the hands of Lucius Aruntius, though it was 
 much too innocent to deserve so severe a treatment : 
 for it contained nothing that might not have been 
 
 advice of Cicero, he persevered in his resolution, and 
 executed it with great magnificence. The consequence 
 was just what Cicero foresaw and dreaded : he contracted 
 •lubts which he was incapable of discharging, and then sold 
 himself to Caesar, in order to satisfy the clamours of his 
 creditors.— See rem. i on the first letter of this book. 
 
 J Cicero ludicrously gives the inhabitants of Ulubr» this 
 appellation, in allusion to the low and marshy situation of 
 their town.— fiee rem, «, p. 381. 
 
 proclaimed before a general assembly of the people. 
 However, it was your express desire I should de- 
 stroy it, and I have complied accordingly. I will 
 only add, that 1 wonder much at not having heard 
 from you since, especially as so many extraordinary 
 events have lately happened in your province. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 To Cuius Curio. 
 
 Numberless are the subjects which may enter 
 into a correspondence of the epistolary kind ; but 
 A u 700 ^^^ most usual, and wliich indeed gave 
 the first rise to this amicable commerce 
 is, to inform an absent friend of those private affairs 
 which it may be necessary, either for his interest 
 or our own, that he should know. You must not 
 however expect anything of the latter sort from me, 
 as your family correspondents, I am sensible, com- 
 municate to you what relates to your own concerns, 
 and nothing new has happened in mine. There 
 are two other species of letters with which I am 
 particularly pleased ; those I mean that are written 
 in the freedom and pleasantry of common conver- 
 sation, and those which turn upon grave and moral 
 topics. But in which of these it would be least 
 improper for me to address you at this juncture, is 
 a question not easily determined. Ill indeed would 
 it become me to entertain you with letters of 
 humour, at a season when every man of common 
 sensibility has bidden adieu to mirth''. And what 
 can Cicero write that shall deserve the serious 
 thoughts of Curio, unless it be on public affairs ? 
 My situation, however, is such, that I dare not 
 trust my real sentiments of those points in a letter': 
 and none other will I ever send you™. Thus pre- 
 cluded as I am from every other topic, I must 
 content myself with repeating what I have often 
 urged, and earnestly exhort you to the pursuit of 
 true and solid glory. Believe me, it will require 
 the utmost efforts of your care and resolution, to 
 act up to those high and uncommon expectations 
 which the world has conceived of your merit. There 
 is indeed but one possible method that can enable 
 you to surmount this arduous task. The method 
 I mean is, by diligently cultivating those qualities 
 which are the foundation of a just applause ; of that 
 applause, my friend, which I know is the constant 
 object of your warmest ambition. I might add 
 
 k Affairs at Kome were at this time in the utmost con- 
 fusion, occasioned (as has already been observed in the 
 notes above) by the factious interruption that was given 
 to the usual election of the magistrates. [See rem. °, p. 
 379.] This state of tmnuU, or indeed to speak more pro- 
 perly of almost absolute anarchy, was however somewhat 
 composed towards the latter end of the present year, by 
 the election of Domitlus Calvinus and Valerius Messala to 
 the consular oflSce. — Dio, xl. p. 141. 
 
 1 The disturbances mentioned in the preceding note, 
 were artfully fomented by CsEsar and Pompey, in order to 
 turn them to the advantage of their ambitious purposes. 
 But this was too delicate a circumstance for Cicero to 
 explain himself upon : especially as he was now culti- 
 vating a friendship with both. 
 
 ™ The text in the original is evidently defective : " atquo 
 in hoc genere hac mea causa est, ut neqne ea quse non 
 sentio velini scribere." The sense is supplied in the trans- 
 lation, in a way that seemed to coincide best with thia 
 mutilated sentence.
 
 .384 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 much more to this purpose, but I am sensible you 
 stand not in need of any incitements ; and indeed 
 I have thrown out these general hints far less with 
 a view of inflaming your heart, than of testifying 
 the ardency with which I give you mine. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 A. u. 700. 
 
 LETTER Xin. 
 
 To Memmius. 
 1 CLAIM the promise you gave me when we met 
 last, and desire you to treat my very intimate and 
 zealous friend Aulus Fusius, in the man- 
 ner you assured me you would. He is a 
 man of letters as well as great politeness, and 
 indeed in every view of his character he is liighly 
 deserving your friendship. The civilities you shall 
 show him will be extremely agreeable to me, as 
 they will at the same time for ever attach to your 
 interest a person of a most obliging and friendly 
 disposition. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 To Caius Curio. 
 Public affairs are so circumstanced that I dare 
 not communicate my sentiments of them in a letter. 
 ^ This however I will venture in general to 
 
 ' ■ ' ■ say, that I have reason to congratulate 
 you on your removal from the scene in which we 
 are engaged. But I must add, that in whatever 
 part of the world you might be placed, you would 
 still (as I told you in my last ") be embarked in the 
 same common bottom with your friends here. I 
 Lave another reason likew»ise for rejoicing in your 
 absence, as it has placed your merit in full \iew of 
 so considerable a number of the most illustrious 
 citizens and allies of Rome, and indeed the reputa- 
 lion you have acquired is universally and without 
 the least exception, confirmed to us on all hands. 
 But there is one circumstance attending you, upon 
 which I know not whether I ought to send you my 
 congratulations or not ; I mean with respect to 
 those high and singular advantages which the com- 
 monwealth promises itself from your return amongst 
 us. Not that I suspect your proving unequal to 
 the opinion which the world entertains of your 
 virtues, but as fearing that whatever is most worthy 
 of your care will be irrecoverably lost ere your 
 arrival to prevent it ; such, alas, is the weak and 
 well-nigh expiring condition of our unhappy repub- 
 lic ! But prudence, perhaps, wiU scarce justify 
 me in trusting even this to a letter ; for the rest, 
 therefore, I must refer you to others : in the 
 meanwhile, whatever your fears or your hopes of 
 public affairs may be, think, my friend, incessantly 
 think on those virtues which that generous patriot 
 must possess, who in these evil times, and amidst 
 such a general depravation of manners, gloriously 
 purposes to vindicate the ancient dignity and liber- 
 ties of his oppressed country. Farewell. 
 
 " The letter to which Cicero refers is not extant. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 To Trehatius. 
 Ik it were not for the compliments you sent mo 
 by Chrysippus, the freedman of Cyrus the architect, 
 A. V. 700. ' should have imagined I no longer ))os- 
 sessed a place in your thoughts. But 
 surely you are become a most intolerable tine 
 gentleman, that you could not bear the fatigue of 
 writing to me, when you had the opportunity of 
 doing so, by a man whom you know 1 look ui)on 
 as one almost of my own family. Perhaps, how- 
 ever, you may have forgotten the use of your pen ; 
 and so much the better, let me tell you, for your 
 clients, as they will lose no more causes by its 
 blunders. But if it is myself only that has escaped 
 your remembrance, I must endeavour to refresh it 
 by a visit, before I am worn out of your mind 
 beyond all power of recollection. After all, is it 
 not the apprehensions of the next summer's cam- 
 paign that has rendered your hand too unsteady 
 to perform its office .' If so, you must e'en j)lay 
 over again the same gallant stratagem you practised 
 last year, in relation to your British expedition, 
 and frame some heroic excuse for your absence. 
 However, I was extremely glad to liear, by Ciiry- 
 sippus, that you are much in Ccesar's good graces. 
 But it would be more like a man of equity, me- 
 thinks, as well as more agreeable to my inclinations, 
 if you were to give me frequent notice of what 
 concerns you by your own hand : a satisfaction 
 I should undoubtedly enjoy, if you had chosen to 
 study the laws of good fellowship rather than those 
 of contention. You see I rally you as usual in your 
 own way, not to say a little in mine. But to end 
 seriously : be assured, as I greatly love you, I am 
 no less confident than desirous of your affection in 
 return. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 To Puhlius Sexlius°. 
 
 I HOPE you will not imagine by my long silence 
 
 that I have been unmindful of our friendship, or 
 
 A V "00 ^'^*'' ^ ^'^^'^ ^'^y intention of dropping my 
 
 usual correspondence with you. The 
 
 sincere truth is, I was prevented from writing 
 
 during the former part of our separation, by those 
 
 calamities in which the general confusion of the 
 
 times had involved me : as I afterwards delayed it, 
 
 from an unwillingness to break in upon you, whilst 
 
 your own severe and unmerited injuries were yet 
 
 fresh upon your mind. But when I reflect that a 
 
 o The commentators are greatly dividcil as to the time 
 when this letter was written, and the person to whom it 
 is addressed. To examine the several reasons upon which 
 they support their respectiTe opinions, would be leading 
 the English reader into a field of criticism, which could 
 afford him neither amusement nor instruction. The sub- 
 ject, indeed, of this letter, which is merely consolatory, to 
 a friend in exile, is not of consequence enough to merit 
 any pains in ascertaining (if it were possible to ascertain) 
 its precise date : and it is sufficient to observe, that it con- 
 tains nothing but what perfectly coincides with the circum- 
 stances both of Cicero's affairs and those of the republic in 
 the present year. As to the person to whom this letter is 
 written, it is impossible to determine anything concerning 
 him ; for the MSS. and printed copies are by no means 
 agreed as to his name, some calling him Titius. others 
 i^itius, and others Scxtius.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 nR.5 
 
 sufficient time has elapsed to wear off the first 
 impressions of your misfortunes : and consider, 
 likewise, the virtues and magnanimity of your 
 heart ; I think I may now write to you consist- 
 ently with my general caution of avoiding an un- 
 seasonable officiousncss. 
 
 You are sensible, my dear Sextius, that I warmly 
 stood forth your advocate, when a prosecution was 
 formerly commenced against you in your absence ; 
 as afterwards, when you were involved in that 
 accusation which was brought against your friend, 
 I exerted every means in my power for your 
 defence. Thus, likewise, upon my return into 
 Italy I', though I found your atTairs had been 
 managed in a very different manner tlian I should 
 have advised, yet I omitted no opportunity of 
 rendering you my utmost services. And upon this 
 ■occasion, when the clamour that was raised against 
 you on account of the corn"', by those that were 
 the enemies, not only of yourself, but of all who 
 endeavoured to assist you : wiien the general cor- 
 ruption of the judges, and, in short, when many 
 other public iniquities had prevailed to your con- 
 demnation against all truth and justice, I was not 
 wanting in my best good offices of every kind 
 towards your son. Having, tlieref'ore, thus faithfully 
 performed every other sacred duty of friendship, I 
 would not omit this likewise of entreating and 
 exhorting you to bear your afflictions as becomes a 
 man of your distinguished spirit and fortitude. 
 In other words, let me conjure you to support with 
 resolution those common vicissitudes of fortune 
 which no prudence can prevent, and for which no 
 mortal is answerable ; remembering that in all 
 popular governments, as well as in our own, it has 
 been the f.ite of many of the best and greatest men 
 to fall a sacrifice to tlie injustice of their country. 
 I will add (and I wish I could, with truth, be con- 
 tradicted) that the injurious sentence you lament 
 has only banished you from a commonwealth in 
 ■which no rational mind can receive the least satis- 
 faction. 
 
 If I were to say nothing of your son, it would 
 look as if 1 were inattentive to that general applause 
 which his virtues so justly receive : on the other 
 hand, were I to tell you all that I hear and think 
 of him, I am afraid I should only renew your 
 grief for being thus separated from his company. 
 However, you should wisely consider his uncommon 
 virtues as a possession which inseparably attends 
 you, in whatever part of the world you may be 
 placed. For surely the objects of the mind are not 
 less intimately present with us than those of the 
 eye. The reflection, therefore, on his singular 
 merit and filial piety, the fidelity of myself and the 
 rest of those friends whom y(m have found, and 
 will ever And, to be the followers, not of your 
 fortune, but of your virtue ; and, above all, the 
 consciousness of not having deserved your suffer- 
 ings, are circumstances which ought to administer 
 the highest consolation to you. And they will 
 more effectually do so, if you consider that it is 
 guilt, and not misfortune; one's own crimes, and 
 
 V Probably, when he returned from exile, in the year 
 €96. 
 
 'i It was the business of the aediles, amongst other parts 
 ot their duty, to superintend the markets and public niaga- 
 sines of corn. It seems probable, therefore, fioni this pas- 
 sage, that Sextius was banished for some real or pretended 
 anisconduct in the administration of that oflBce. 
 
 not the injustice of others, which ought to disturb 
 the serenity of a well-regulated mind. In the mean 
 time be assured, that in compliance with the dic- 
 tates of tliat friendship I have long entertained for 
 you, and of that esteem which I bear for your son, 
 I shall neglect no opportunity, both of alleviating 
 your afflictions, and of contributing all I can to 
 supi)ort you under them. In a word, if, upoii any 
 occasion, you should think it necessary to write to 
 me, you shall find that your apj)lication was not 
 made in vain. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 To Curio. 
 
 I DESPATCH Sextus Villius, a domestic of my 
 friend Milo, to meet you with this letter, notvvith- 
 A. u 700 standing we have received no account of 
 your being yet advanced near Italy. 
 However, we are assured that you are set forward 
 from Asia'' ; and as it is generally believed it will 
 not be long ere you arrive in Rome, I persuade 
 myself that the importance of the affair wiiich 
 occasions you this application wi!» justify my 
 desire of making it as early as possible. 
 
 If I estimated my services towards you by the 
 same eidarged standard that you gratefully measure 
 them yourself, I should be extremely reserved in 
 requesting any considerable favour at your hands. 
 It is painful indeed to a man of a modest and 
 generous mind to solicit great obligations from 
 those whom he has greatly obliged, lest he should 
 seem to claim the price of his good offices, and ask 
 a matter of riglit rather than of grace. But I caa 
 have no scruples of this sort with respect to you ; 
 as the services you have conferred upon me, and 
 particularly in my late troubles, are not only of the 
 highest, but most conspicuous nature. An ingenu- 
 ous disposition, where it already owes much, is 
 willing to owe more ; and it is upon this principle 
 that I make no difficulty of requesting your assist- 
 ance in an article of the last importance to me. I 
 have no reason, indeed, to fear tlmt I should sink 
 under the weight of your favours, even if they were 
 to rise beyond all number, as I trust there is none 
 so considerable that I should not only receive with 
 gratitude, but return with advantage. 
 
 I am exerting the utmost efforts of my care, my 
 industry, and my talents, in order to secure the 
 election of Milo to the consulate ; and I think 
 myself hound upon this occasion to give a proof to 
 the world of the more than common affection with 
 which I enter into his interest. I am persuaded 
 no man ever was so anxious for the preservation of 
 his own person and fortunes, as I am that Milo 
 may obtain this honour : an event upon which the 
 security of my own dignities, I am sensible, depends. 
 Now, the assistance which it is in your power to 
 give my friend is. so very considerable, that it is all 
 we want to be assured of victory ; for thus our 
 forces stand. In the first place, Milo's conduct 
 towards me in his tribunate^ has gained him (as I 
 hope you perfectly well know) the affections of all 
 our patriots, as the liberality of his temper and the 
 
 >■ See rem. i, p. 37H, towards tlie end. 
 
 s Milo was tribune in the year of Rome C.06 : at which 
 time he conferred very singular obligations on Cicero, by 
 most zealously exerting all his power and credit in pro- 
 moting his recal from exile. — (»rat. pro Mil. 
 C C
 
 386 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLir.S CICERO 
 
 magnificence of his shows have secured to him the 
 favour of the poi)uIace'. lii the next place, all the 
 young part of the republic, together with those who 
 liiive the most influence in elections, are wholly in 
 his interest, as having received, or expecting to 
 receive, the benefit of his own jjopularity and a(;tive 
 offices upon occasions of a like nature. I will add, 
 likewise, that he has my suffrage ; which, though 
 it may not draw after it any considerable effects, is, 
 Jiowever, universally ajiproved as a tribute which 
 is justly his due ; and so far ])erhaps it may be 
 considered as of some weight with the public. All, 
 therefore, that we fartlier require is, a jjcrson to 
 appear as the leader of these our rude forces, and 
 to unite them together uiulcr one head ; and had 
 ■we the choice of the whole world, we could not fix 
 upon a man so well (|ualified for this purpose as 
 yourself. If you beheve, then, that 1 have any 
 ■worth or gratitude, or can even infer it from these 
 my earnest endeavours to serve Milo ; in a word, 
 if you esteem me deserving of your favours, I 
 entreat you to co-operate with me in this affair, 
 upon which my character or (to come still nearer to 
 the truth) upon which almost my very preservation 
 depends". With regard to Milo himself, I will 
 only assure you that you never can oblige a man 
 of a more solid turn of mind, of a more resolute 
 spirit, or one who, if you should embrace his in- 
 terest, will receive your good offices with a more 
 affectionate gratitude. You will at tlie same time 
 also confer so singular an honour upon myself, as 
 to convince me that you have no less regard for the 
 support of my credit than you formerly showed for 
 the safety of my person. 1 should enlarge much 
 farther upon this subject, if I were not persuaikd 
 that you are perfectly sensible of the infinite obli- 
 gations I have received from Milo, and that it is 
 incumbent upon me to promote his election with 
 my utmost zeal, and even at the hazard of my life^. 
 
 ' Milo had dissipated three very considerable estates in 
 the extravagant shows which, upon different occasions, he 
 had exhibited to the people ; as he was likewise at this time 
 proposing to entertain them in tlie same magnificent man- 
 ner, at the expense of 250,000;.— Orat. pro Mil. 25 ; Ad 
 Quint. Frat. lii. 9. 
 
 " Cicero was particularly concerned to secure Milo's 
 election, not only from a principle of gratitude, but of 
 Belf-preservation. For Clodius, our author's implacable 
 enemy, was now soliciting the office of praetor : and if Milo 
 were rejected from the consulship, it would fall into the 
 hands of Plautus Hypsaeus and Metellus Scipio, who were 
 both under the influence of Clodius. By these means, tlie 
 latter would once again have been armed with the princi- 
 pal authority of the commonwealth ; and Cicero knew, by 
 sad and recent experience, that he had everything to fear 
 from such an enemy when he could add power to malice. 
 His interest, therefore, conspired with his friendship in 
 supporting the pretensions of Milo, who had, upon all 
 occa.sions, opposed the designs uf Clodius with great warmth 
 and spirit ; and who, in the present instance, would have 
 proved a counter-balance, if Clodius should have attempted 
 a second time to fall with his whole weight upon Cicero. — 
 Orat. pro Mil. passim. 
 
 T In this declining state of the republic, the elections 
 were carried on, not only by the most shameful and 
 avowed bribery, but by the several mobs of the respective 
 candidates. These, it may well be imagined, were both 
 disposed and prepared to commit every outrage that the 
 cause of their leaders should require. Accordingly, the 
 party of IMilo, and that of his competitors, had such fre- 
 quent and bloody ongagonients with each other, as to 
 raise a general apprehension of a civil war. — I'lut. in Vit. 
 Caton. 
 
 I will only, then, in one word, recommend thiB 
 affair, and llierein the most im])ortant of my con- 
 cerns, to your favour and j)rotection : and be 
 assured I shall esteem your compliance with my 
 request as an obligation superior, I had almost 
 said, even to that for which I am so greatly indebted 
 to Milo. The truth of it is, it woukl give me more 
 pleasure to make him an ellVctual return for the 
 very considerable part he bore in my restoration, 
 than I received even from the benefit of his good 
 offices themselves. And this, I am confident, your 
 single concurrence will fully enable me to per- 
 form *. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 To Titus Fadius''. 
 I KNOW not any event whiirh has latelyhappenedv 
 tliat more sensibly affects me than your disgrace. 
 . ., -.111 Far, therefore, from being capable of 
 
 A. U. /UU. . . , 1 ■ T ■ 1 T 
 
 giving you the consolation 1 wish, 1 
 greatly stand in need of the same good office my- 
 self. Nevertheless, I cannot forbear not only to 
 exhort, but to conjure you likewise by our friend- 
 ship, to collect your whole strength of reason, in 
 order to support your afflictions with a firm and 
 maidy fortitude. Remember, my friend, that cala- 
 mities are incident to all mankind, but particularly 
 to us who live in these miserable and distracted 
 times. Let it be your consolation, however, to 
 reflect, that you have lost far less by fortune than 
 you have acquired by merit : as there are few under 
 the circumstances of yoUr birth who ever raised 
 themselves to the same dignities ; though there are 
 numbers of the highest quality who have sunk into 
 the same disgrace. To say truth, so wretched is 
 the fate which threatens our laws, our liberties, 
 and our constitution in general, that well may he 
 esteem himself happily dealt with who is dismissed 
 from such a distempered government upon the least 
 injurious terms. As to your own case in particular, 
 when you reflect that you are still undeprived of 
 
 ■^ Soon after this letter was written, an unfortunate 
 adventure disconcerted all Cicero's measures in behalf o£ 
 his friend, and obliged him, instead of soliciting any longer 
 for Milo as a candidate, to defend him as a criminal. It 
 happened that Milo and Clodius having met, as they were- 
 travelling the Appian road, a rencounter ensued, in which 
 the latter was killed. Milo was arraigned for this murder; 
 and, being convicted, was sentenced to banishment. Cicero, 
 in his defence, laboured to prove, by a variety of circum- 
 stances, that this meeting could not have been premeditated/ 
 on the part of his client : and, indeed, it seems probablo 
 that it was not. But, however casual that particular inci- 
 dent might have been, Milo, it is certain, had long before 
 determined to assassinate Clodius: and it appears, too, 
 that Cicero Himself was apprised of the design. This ia 
 evident from a letter to Attieus, written about four years- 
 antecedent to the fact of which I am speaking:—" Reum 
 Publium (nisi ante occisus erit) fore a Milone puto. Si sa 
 inter viam obtulerit, occisum iri ab ipso Milone video. 
 Non dubitat facere ; pras se fert."— Dio, xl. p. 143, 146 ; 
 Orat. pro Mil. ; Ad Att. iv. 3. 
 
 * It is altogether uncertain to whom this letter is ad- 
 dressed ; as there is great variety in the several readings of 
 its inscription. If the title adopted in the translation be 
 the true one, (and it is that which has the greatest number 
 of commentators on its side,) the person to whom it ia 
 written was quajstor to Cicero in his consulate ; and after- 
 wards one of those tribunes who, in the year of IlomeC!*",. 
 promoted the law by which he was restored to his country,. 
 —Ad Att. iii. 23.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 387 
 
 your estate ; that you are happy in the affections 
 of your children, your family, and your friends; 
 and that in all probability you are only separated 
 from them for a short interval : when you reflect, 
 that among the great number of impeachments 
 ■which have lately been carried on>', yours is the 
 only one that was considered as entirely groundless ; 
 that you were condemned by a majority only of 
 one single vote ; and that, too, universally supposed 
 to have been given in compliance with some power- 
 ful influence. These, undoubtedly, are considera- 
 tions whicli ouijht greatly to alleviate the weight 
 of your misfortune. I will only add, that you may 
 always depend upon finding in me that disposition 
 both towards yourself and your family, as is agree- 
 able to your wishes, as well as to what you have a 
 right to expect. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 To Titus Titius\ 
 It is by no means as suspecting that my former 
 recommendation was not sufficient, that I give you 
 •'00 *'"^ second trouble, but merely in com- 
 ' ' ' ' pliance with the request of my friend 
 AvianusFlaccus; to whom I neither can nor indeed 
 ought to refuse anything. The truth is, notwith- 
 standing your very obliging answer, when I men- 
 tioned his affair to you in person, and that I have 
 already written to you in strong terms upon the 
 same subject, yet he imagines I cannot too often 
 apply to you in his behalf. I hope, therefore, you 
 •will e::cuse me, if in thus yielding to his inclina- 
 tions I should seem to forget that you are incapable 
 of receding from your word ; and again entreat you 
 to allow him a convenient port, and sufficient time 
 for the exportation of his corn. Both these favours 
 I obtained for him when Pompey had the com- 
 mission in which you are now employed ; and the 
 term he granted him was three years. To say all 
 in one word, you will very sensibly oblige me by 
 convincing Avian us that I enjoy the same share 
 in your affection which he justly imagines he pos- 
 sesses of mine. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 To Trebatius. 
 
 I AcauAiNTED you with the affair of Silius. 
 
 lie has since been with me, when I informed him 
 
 , yjj^ that it was your opinion we might safely 
 
 enter into the usual recognizance. But 
 
 he has consulted, he tells me, with Servius, who 
 
 assures him, that where a testator has no power to 
 
 make a will, it must be considered, to all intents 
 
 y The circumstance here mentioned renders it probable 
 that the letter before us was written in the present year. 
 For Pompey being at this time appointed sole consul, 
 made several salutary regulations with respect to the 
 method of trials, and encouraged prosecutions against 
 those who had been guilty of illegal practices in order to 
 secure their elections. Accordingly, many persons of the 
 first rank in Rome were arraigned and convicted : and 
 Fadius seems to have been one of that niunber. — Plut. in 
 Vit. Pomp, et Caton. 
 
 * The person to whom this letter is inscribed, is wholly 
 unknown : and the occasion upon which it was written is 
 not of importance enough to deserve any animadversions. 
 
 and purposes, as if it had never snbsisted ; and 
 Offilius, it seems, agrees in this ojtinion. He told 
 me, at the same time, that he had not applied to 
 you u]H)n this subject ; but desired I would recom- 
 mend both himself and his cause to your protection. 
 I do not know a worthier man than .Silius, nor any 
 one, excepting yourself, who is more my friend. 
 You will extremely oblige me, therefore, my dear 
 Trebatius, by calling u])on him in order to give him 
 the promise of your assistance : and I earnestly 
 entreat you, if you have any regard for me, to pay 
 this visit as soon as possible. Fare veil. 
 
 LETTER XXI. ,, 
 
 To Marcus Mar'uis. 
 
 I SHALL punctually (■xr(Mite your commission. 
 But is it not a most wonderful specimen of your 
 . „ -nn sagacity, thus to employ a man in making: 
 a purchase for you, whose interest it is 
 to advance the price as high as possible .' Above 
 all, I most admire the wisdom of your restriction, 
 in confining me to a particular sum. For had you 
 trusted me with an unlimited order, I should have 
 thought myself obliged, in point of friendship, to 
 have settled this affair with my coheirs upon the 
 most advantageous terms in your behalf: whereas, 
 now I know your price, you may depend upon it, 
 I shall rather set up a fictitious bidder than suffer 
 the estate to be sold for less than the money you 
 mention. But, jesting apart, be assured I shall 
 discharge the commission you have assigned me, 
 with all the care I ought. 
 
 I know you are well pleased with my victory over 
 Bursa", but why then did you not more warmly 
 congratulate me upon the occasion .' You were 
 mistaken in imagining the character of the man to 
 be much too despicable to render this event a 
 matter of any great exultation. On the contrary, 
 the defeat of Bursa has afforded me a more pleas- 
 ing triumph even than the fall of Clodius. Much 
 rather, indeed, would I see my adversaries van- 
 quished by the hand of justice than of violence : 
 as I would choose it should be in a way that does 
 honour to the friends of my cause, without exposing 
 them, at the same time, to any uneasy consequences. 
 But the principal satisfaction I derive from this 
 affair, is in that honest and undaunted zeal with 
 
 a jVIunatius Plancus Bursa was tribune the year before 
 this letter was written, and had distinguished himself by 
 inflaming those disturbances in Rome, which were occa- 
 sioned by the assassination of Clodius. The body of Clodius 
 being produced before the people in the forum, Bursa, 
 together with one of his colleagues, infused such a spirit of 
 riot into the populace, that, snatching up tlie corpse, they 
 instantly conveyed it to the curia kostilia, (a place in 
 which the senate sometimes assembled,) where they paid 
 it the funeral honours. This they executed in the most 
 insolent and tumultuous manner, by erecting a funeral 
 pile with the benches, and setting fire to the senate-hou^a 
 itself. Bursa, not satisfied with these licentious outrages, 
 endeavoured likewise to instigate the mob to fall upon 
 Cicero, the avowed friend and advocate of Milo, by whom 
 Clodius had been killed. Cicero, therefore, as soon as 
 Bursa was out of his office, (for no magistrate could be 
 Impeached during his ministry,) exhibited an information 
 against him, for this violation of the public peace; and 
 Bursa, being found guilty, was sentenced to suffer banish-- 
 ment— Dio, xl. p. 143, 146 ; Ascon. Argument, in Orat. pro 
 Mil. 
 
 C C 2
 
 388 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 which I was supported against all the incredible 
 efforts of a very great man'', who most warmly 
 exerted his ])ower in favour of my antagonist, I 
 will meiilion another circumstance, likewise, that 
 recomuiemis this victory to me, and which, though 
 perhaps you will scarcely think it a probable one, 
 is, nevertheless, most assuredly the case. 1 have 
 conceived a much stronger aversion to this man, 
 than I ever entertained even against Clodius him- 
 self. To speak truth, I had (>])eiily declared war 
 against the latter : wliereas, 1 have been the advo- 
 cate and protector of the former. Besides, there 
 was something enlarged, at least, in the views of 
 Clodius, as he aimed, by my destruction, at over- 
 turning the whole commonwealth: and, even in 
 ■jnis, he acted less from the motions of his own 
 Dreast, than by the instigations of a ])arty who 
 were sensible they could never be secure whilst I 
 had any remaining credit. But the contem()tihle 
 Bursa, on the contrary, singled me out for the 
 object of his malice, in mere gaiety of heart ; and, 
 without the least provocation, offered himself to 
 some of my enemies as one who was entirely at 
 their service upon any occasion wherein they could 
 employ him to my ])reiudice. Upon these con- 
 siderations, my fiiend, I expect that you warmly 
 congratulate my success, as, indeed, I esteem it an 
 event of very considerable importance. Never, in 
 truth, did Rome i)roduce a set of more inflexible 
 patriots than the judges who presided at this trial : 
 for they had the honest courage to pass sentence 
 against him, in opposition to all the power and 
 influence of the very person by whom they were 
 appointed'^ to this honourable office. And, un- 
 doubtedly, they would not have acted v.ith such 
 uncommon spirit, had they not considered the 
 insults I suffered from this man as so many indig- 
 nities offered to themselves. 
 
 I have at present a great deal of troublesome 
 business upon my hands ; as several considerable 
 impeachments are going forward, and many new 
 laws are in agitation. It is my daily wish, there- 
 fore, that no intercalation* may protract these 
 affairs beyond the usual period, and prevent the 
 pleasure 1 propose to myself, of paying you a visit 
 very soon. Farewell. 
 
 b Pompey. — DJo, p. 146. 
 
 ••' Pompey, in his late consulship, made some alterations 
 with respect to the method of choosing the judg;es, and 
 elected a certain numher out of the three orders of the state, 
 for the cognizance of civil and criminal causes. — Manut. 
 De Leg. p. 122 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 76. 
 
 •^ The Roman months being lunar, a proper number of 
 supplemental days were added every two years, in order 
 to adjust their reckoning to the course of the sun. This 
 was called an iiUerca'ation, and was performed by the 
 pontifical college at their own discretion. Accordingly 
 they often exercised this important trust as interest or 
 ambition dictated ; and by their arbitrary intercalations, 
 either advanced or retarded the stated times for transacting 
 civil or religious affairs, as best suited tlie private pur- 
 poses of themselves or their friends. By these means, 
 these unworthy observers of the heavenly motions had 
 introduced so great a confusion into their calendar, that, 
 when Caesar undertook its reformation, all the seasons 
 were misplaced ; and the appointed festivals for harvest 
 and vintage were no longer found in the summer and 
 autumn quarters.— Suet, in Vit. JuL Cses. 40 ; Macrob. 
 Batum. 1. 
 
 LETTER XXIL 
 To Trchatius. 
 
 You laughed at me yesterday when I asserted, 
 over our wine, that it was a question among the 
 
 u 700 ^^wy^'"''' whether an action of theft could 
 'be brought by an heir for goods stolen 
 before he came into possession. Though it was 
 late when I returned home, aud I had drunk pretty 
 freely, I turned to the place where this question is 
 discussed, and have sent you an extract of the 
 passage, in order to convince you, that a point 
 which you imagined had never been maintained by 
 any man, was actually holdeu by Sextus /Elius, 
 Marcus Manlius, and Marcus Brutus'^. But, not- 
 witlistanding these great names, I agree in opinion 
 with Scuevola and Trebatius'. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 
 To Appius Fulcher. 
 I FIND myself obliged, contrary, indeed, to my 
 expectation, as well as my wishes, to accept the 
 A u "00 government of your province c. Amidst 
 the numberless uneasy thoughts and occu- 
 pations which this circumstance occasions me, it 
 is my single consolation, that I could not have 
 succeeded any man in this employment who would 
 be more disposed than yourself to deliver it up to 
 me as little embarrassed as possible. I hope you 
 entertain the same opinion of my disposition with 
 regard to you : and, be assured, I shall never dis- 
 appoint you in this expectation. I most earnestly 
 
 <= These were all of them lawyers of great note in their 
 respective generations, and whoso writings in the science 
 they professed were in niiicli esteem. The two former 
 flourished about the year of Rome .545, and 6U0 : the latter 
 about the year 630. — Pompon. ))e Orig. Juris. 
 
 f Sca;vola was one of the names of Trebatius, as appears 
 by a letter to Atticus wherein he is so called. There was 
 likewise a Quintus Mucins Sca;vola, a lawyer of very con- 
 siderable eminence, who lived about fifty years before the 
 present date, and who compiled a body of laws in eighteen 
 volumes. Manutius imagines, therefore, that in allusion 
 to this person, Cicero jocularly separates the names Sca- 
 vola and Trebatius by an intervening copulative, as if he 
 were speaking of two ditferent men, though he only means 
 his friend to whom he is writing. 
 
 e The great commotions that had been raised the last 
 year in Rome, on account of the elections, have already 
 been mentioned in tlie notes above. In order, therefore, 
 to remedy these evils for the futiu-e, by abating the intem- 
 perate ardour with which the magistracies were pursued, 
 it was thought expedient to deprive the pra?torship and 
 consulate of one of their principal and most tempting 
 advantages. This consisted in the government of pro- 
 vinces ; to which those magistrates, of course, succeeded 
 at the expiration of their respective administrations. For 
 these governments not only secured them from any im- 
 peachments during the time they continued in them, but 
 were likewise inexhaustible sources of wealth to those 
 who were not scrupulous in the means of obtaining it. 
 Accordingly a law passed, by which it was enacted, that 
 no future praitor or consul should be capable of a provincial 
 charge, till five years after the expiration of his otfico : and, 
 in the meantime, that the provinces should be supplied 
 from among those of prastorian and consular rank, who 
 had laid down their offices without succeeding to any 
 government. Cicero was of this number : and it is proba- 
 ble, there were so few of them, that he was not at liberty 
 to refuse, what it is very certain he had no inclination to 
 accept. — Dio, xl. p. 142.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 300 
 
 then entreat you, by all the ties of our friendship 
 in particular, as well as by that uncotnmon gene- 
 rosity which distinguishes your actions in general, 
 to render me, upon this occasion, every good office 
 in your power ; as undoubtedly there are many. 
 
 You will observe, from the decree of the senate, 
 that I was under a necessity of accepting the 
 government of some province : and, 1 must repeat 
 it once more, the ease with which 1 shall pass 
 through the functions of my ministry depends 
 upon your smoothing, as far as in you lies, the 
 difficulties at my first entrance. You are the best 
 judge in what particular instances you can contri- 
 bute to this end : I will only, in general, beseech 
 you to do so in every article wherein you imagine 
 your services may avail me. I might enlarge ou 
 this subject, if either your own generous temper, 
 or our mutual friendship, would suffer me to dwell 
 upon it any longer ; and I may add, too, if the 
 nature of my request did not sufficiently speak for 
 itself. I will only, therefore, assure you, that if I 
 should not make this application in vain, you may 
 depend upon receiving a strong and lasting satis- 
 faction from the faithful returns of my gratitude. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 To the same. 
 I ARRIVED on the 22nd of May at Brundisium, 
 where I found your lieutenant'' Quintus Fabius ; 
 ..jj^ who, agreeably to your orders, informed 
 me, that itishighly expedientCiliciashould 
 be strengthened with an additional number of forces. 
 This was conformable, not only to my own senti- 
 ments, who am more immediately concerned in the 
 security of that province, but to the opinion like- 
 wise of the senate ; who thought it reasonable that 
 both Bibulus' and myself should reinforce our 
 respective legions with recruits from Italy. But it 
 was strongly opposed by Sulpicius-i the consul ; 
 though not without very warm remonstrances on 
 our parts. However, as it seemed to be the general 
 inclination of the senate that we should hasten our 
 departure, we were obliged to submit : and we set 
 forward accordingly. 
 
 Let me now repeat the request I made in my 
 last from Rome, and again entreat you to favour 
 me in all those instances wherein one friend can 
 oblige another who succeeds to his government. 
 In short, let it be your care to convince the world 
 that I could not have followed a more affectionate 
 predecessor ; as it shall be mine to give conspi- 
 cuous proofs, that you could not have resigned 
 your province to one more sincerely devoted to 
 youf interest. 
 
 '' Every proconsul, or governor of a province, was accom- 
 panied with a certain number of lieutenants, in proportion 
 to his rank and quality. These officers served him as a 
 kind of first ministers in civil affairs ; and they commanded 
 in chief under him when he took the field. 
 
 » Some account has already been given of Bibulus in the 
 notes on the preceding , book. [See ?-t»(. ", p. 367.] He 
 was appointed governor of Syria, a province bordering on 
 that of Cilicia ; to which Cicero was on his way when he 
 wrote the gresent letter, and all the subsequent ones in 
 this book. 
 
 J Servius Sulpicius Rufus was consul this year, together 
 with Marcus Claudius Marcellus. For a more particular 
 account of the former, see letter 1-2, book vii., rem. )', and 
 of the latter, rem. ", letter 3o, of this book. 
 
 I understood, by the co-py which you communi- 
 cated to me of those dispatches you sent to the 
 senate, that you had actually disbanded a consi- 
 derable part of your army. But Fabius assures 
 me, this was a point which you only had in your 
 intention ; and that, when he left you, tiie whole 
 number of your legions was complete. If this be 
 the case, you will greatly oblige me by keeping the 
 few forces under your command entire ; as I sup- 
 pose the decree of the senate which passed in rela- 
 tion to this article has already been transmitted 
 to you. To comprise all in one word, I ])ay so 
 great a deference to your judgment, that, whatever 
 measures you may think proper to pursue, I shall, 
 undoubtedly, believe them reasonable ; though I 
 am persuaded, at the same time, you will pursue 
 such only as shall appear to be for my benefit. 
 
 I am waiting at Brundisium for my lieutenant 
 Caius Pontinius, wliom I expect here on the 1st of 
 June; and I shall take the earliest opportunity, 
 after his arrival, of proceeding on my voyage. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 Ccelins^ to Cicero. 
 Agreeably to my pi'omise when we parted, I 
 have sent you a full account of every event that has 
 . „ -n, happened since you left Rome. For this 
 purpose 1 employed a person to collect 
 the news of the town : and am only afraid you will 
 think he has executed his office much too punctu- 
 ally. I am sensible, at the same time, that you 
 are a man of infinite curiosity ; and that travellers 
 take pleasure in being informed of every little cir- 
 cumstance transacted at home. But, I hope, you 
 will not impute it to any want of respect, tiiat I 
 assigned over this employment to another hand. 
 On the contrary, as much engaged as I really am, 
 and as little fond of writing as you know me to be, 
 I should with great pleasure execute my commis- 
 sion, which gave me occasion to think of you. I 
 
 k iNIanutius has, with great industry, drawn together the 
 several scattered passages in the ancient historians, relating 
 to Coelius : and it is but a piece of justice due to that learned 
 critic to acknowledge, that the following account is ex- 
 tracted from those materials, which his labours spared me 
 the trouble of collecting. 
 
 Marcus Coelius was tribune of the people the year before 
 this letter was written. He distinguished himself in that 
 office by zealously and boldly supporting the claims of the 
 senate and the interests of the aristocratical party, against 
 the attacks of the opposite faction. 'When the civil war 
 broke out between Ponipey and Caisar, he affected at first 
 to stand neuter : he afterwards, however, thought proper 
 to join with the latter. But Ca?sar not gratifying liis am- 
 bition in the manner he expected, he changed sides, and 
 raised great disturbances in Rome in favour of Pompey. 
 
 Ccelius applied himself early to the art of oratory ; and, 
 for that purpose, was introduced by his father to the 
 acquaintance of Cicero, under whose direction he formed 
 his eloquence. His parts and genius soon distinguished 
 him in the forum : but, though his speeches were conceived 
 with peculiar spirit and vivacity, his language was tliought 
 forced, and the harmony of his periods too much neg- 
 lected. His morals were suitable to the degenerate age 
 in which he lived, luxurious and dissolute ; as his temper 
 was remarkably inflammable, and apt to kindle into tna 
 most implacable resentment.s. — Cic. Orat. pio Coelio; Ca?s. 
 Do Bell. Civ. iii.; Veil. Pat. ii. ; Dialog, de Cans, corrupt 
 Eloquent. ; Senec. De Ii-a, iii. See letter 17, book vii 
 rents. " and ''
 
 S90 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 trust, however, when you cast your eye upon this 
 volume of news, you will very readily admit my 
 excuse ; as I know not, indeed, who else, except 
 the compiler, could find leisure, I will not say to 
 transcribe, but even to peruse, such a strange 
 medley. It contains a collection of decrees of tlie 
 senate and rumours of the people ; of private tales 
 and public edicts. Should it hapi)en, neverthekss, 
 to attbrd you no sort of entertainment, f^ive me due 
 notice, that 1 may not put myself to this prodigious 
 exjiense only to be impertinent. If any events of 
 more importance should arise, and which are above 
 the force of these hackney-news writers, I will 
 take the relation upon myself, aiul give you a full 
 account of the sentiments and si)eculations of the 
 world concerning it : but, at present, there is little 
 of this kind stirring. 
 
 As to the report which was so current when we 
 were at Cum£e', of enfranchising the colonies on 
 the other side the Po™, it does not seem to have 
 travelled beyond that city : at least, 1 have heard 
 no mention of this affair since my return to Rome. 
 
 Mareellus not having yet moved that Ca;sar may 
 be recalled from his government in Gaul, and 
 intending to defer it, as he told me himself, to tlie 
 1st of June, it has occasioned the revival of those 
 suspicions to his disadvantage, which so strongly 
 prevailed when you were here". 
 
 If you had an interview" with Pompey (as I 
 remember it was your intention) let me know the 
 conversation that passed between you, and what 
 you could discover of his designs : for, though he 
 seldom speaks his real sentiments, he has not arti- 
 fice enough to conceal them p. As to Caesar, we 
 have frequent, and no very favourable, reports con- 
 cerning him : however, they are at present nothing 
 more than rumours. Some say he has lost all his 
 cavalry ; and I believe this is the truth of the case : 
 others, that the seventl) legion has been entirely 
 defeated, and that he himself is so surrounded by 
 
 1 A city in Campania, situated upon the sea-coast ; near 
 which Cicero had a villa. 
 
 >" Cisalpine Gaul was divided into two parts by the river 
 Po ; and, accordingly, as the inhabitants were situated 
 with respect to Italy, either on one side or the other of 
 that river, they were called Cispadani, or Transpadani. 
 CEBsar had a scheme of putting tlie latter on the same foot 
 with the municipal towns of Italy ; the chief magistrates 
 whereof had a right of suffrage in the assemblies of the 
 Koman people, and were capable of being elected to the 
 offices of the republic. This seems to bo the circumstance 
 to which Ccelius here alludes ; as Cicero obscurely hints 
 at it likewise in one of his letters to Atticus.— Ad Att. v. 
 2; and the remark of Blongault upon that passage. 
 
 " Jlarcellus, the present consul, distinguished himself 
 throughout his whole administration by a warm opposition 
 to Cassar ; as he afterwards actually made the motion of 
 which Coelius here speaks. He was not, however, so for- 
 tunate as to succeed in it, being opposed by his colleague 
 Sulpicius, in conjunction with some of the tribunes.— Dio, 
 xli. p. 148. See his character in rem. » on the 35th letter 
 of this book. 
 
 o Pompey was at this time at Tarentum, a maritime 
 city of Calabria, where Cicero spent a few days with him 
 in his way to Cilicia, while he waited the arrival of his 
 lieutenant Pontinius. — Ad Att. v. 6. 
 
 P Cicero in his letters to Atticus often mentions the 
 ditficulty of penetrating into Pompey's real designs : but 
 if Coelius may bo credited, he was, it seems, one of those 
 over-refined dissemblers, who, as our British Horace 
 observes, are 
 
 So very close, they're hid from none.— Pope. 
 
 the Bellovacii, that he cannot possibly receive any 
 succours from the main body of his army. But 
 this news is not [lubUcly known : on the contrary, 
 it is only the whisper of a party which I need not 
 name, and who mention it with great caution ; 
 particularly Domitius'', who tells it in your ear 
 with a most important air of secrecy. 
 
 A strong report prevailed here that you were 
 assassinated ujjon tlie road on the '24th of May, 
 by Quintus Pompeius^ I heartily cursed the idle 
 authors of this alarm : however, it did not give me 
 any great disturbance, as I knew Pompeius to be 
 then at Baulis', where the poor man is reduced to 
 exercise tlie miserable ottice of a pilot, to keep 
 liiinself from starving. May you ever be as secure 
 from all other dangers as you were from this ! 
 
 Your friend" Plancus is at Ravenna; and, not- 
 withstanding the very considerable benefaction he 
 has lately received from Ca.-sar'', the man is still 
 in distress. 
 
 Your political treatise'" is universally read and 
 much admired. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVL 
 To Appius Pulcher. 
 I RECEIVED your letter at this place* on the 
 4th of June, by which I am informed that you 
 ^ ^ „^, have charged Lucius Clodius with a mes- 
 sage to me. I am, therefore, waiting for 
 his arrival, that I may hear as early as possible 
 whatever he has to say on your part. In the mean 
 time, notwithstanding I have already by many 
 instances convinced you, I hope, of my friendship ; 
 yet, let me assure you, that I shall particularly 
 endeavour to show it upon every occasion, by the 
 most tender regard for your character. I have the 
 satisfaction in return to be informed, not only by 
 Fabius and Flaccus, but particularly by Octavius, 
 of the share you allow me in your esteem. I had 
 before, indeed, many reasons for believing I en- 
 joyed that privilege ; but chiefly by that very agree- 
 able present of your treatise upon augury, which 
 
 1 A most martial and powerful people in lielgic Gaul, 
 against whom Cassar was at this time making war. 
 
 f Lucius Domitius iEnobarbus, one of Caesar's avowed 
 enemies. A {jarticular account will be given of him in 
 the remarks on the letter addressed to him in this col- 
 lection. 
 
 " Quintus Pompeius Ruf us was tribune the last year, and 
 a principal author of those disturbances which ensued upon 
 the death of Clodius. [See revi. », p. 387.] At the expi- 
 ration of his office, therefore, being convicted of these 
 misdemeanours, he was banished from Rome. — Dio, xl. 
 p. 146. ' A city in Campania. 
 
 » Munatius Plancus Bursa: of whom an account has been 
 given in rem. ^,p. 387. Ccelius speaks ironically, when he 
 calls him Cicero's friend. 
 
 ^ See rem. •>, on letter 17, book iL 
 
 '" " It was drawn up in the form of a dialogue, in which 
 the greatest persons of the republic were introduced. From 
 the fragments of this work which still remain, it appears 
 to have been a noble performance, and one of his capital 
 pieces : where all the important questions in politics and 
 morality were discussed with the greatest elegance and 
 accuracy." — Life of Cicero, p. 135. 
 
 " Brundisium. This letter was written but a few days 
 after the last addressed to Appius, which is likewise dated 
 from this place, where Cicero continued about a fortnight. 
 He was prevented from embarking sooner, not only as ho 
 waited the arrival of his lieutenant Pontinius, but also by 
 a slight iudisposition. — Ad Att. v. 8,
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 .'i91 
 
 you have so affectionately addressed to me^. No 
 testimony shall be wanting on my part, likewise, 
 of the singular friendship I bear you. The truth 
 is, you have continually risen in my atTection ever 
 since you first distinguished me with yours : but 
 you are now still more endeared to me from that 
 regard I entertain (or those illustrious persons with 
 whom you liave formed a family alliance'. For 
 Pompey and Brutus, though so distant from each 
 other in point of age, have both of them the same 
 high rank in my esteem. I must add, that the 
 connexion between us as fellow-members of the 
 same sacred college", especially after the lionour- 
 able applause I liave lately received from you**, is 
 a very powerful cement of our mutual friendship. 
 
 If I should have an interview with Clodius, 
 whom I shall endeavour to see as soon as possible, 
 I shall have occasion to write to you more fully. 
 I will at this time, therefore, only farther assure 
 you, that I read with great jileasure that part of 
 your letter where you tell me, your single reason 
 for continuing in the province is, in order to give 
 me a meeting. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVIL 
 
 To Caius Memmius'^. 
 
 I AM doubtful whether I have more reason to 
 
 regret or rejoice that I did not find you, as I 
 
 ^„2 expected, in Athens'*. On tlie one hand, 
 
 ' ' ' 'if that meeting would have renewed my 
 
 y This treatise was drawn up in vindication of the auga- 
 tal science, or the art of foretelling events, from certain 
 signs which Providence was supposed to have intended as 
 intimations of futurity. This science was generally ex- 
 ploded by the wiser part of their philosophers, as having 
 no foundation in reason or experience : hut Appius was so 
 weakly credulous, it seems, as seriously to heliere and 
 maintain the contrary. — Life of Cicero, p. .'lOS. 
 
 » See the latter end of rem. ", on letter 3, of this book. 
 
 a The college of augurs, of which Cicero and Appius 
 were members, consisted at this time of fiileen fellows, (if 
 that term may be allowed,) who were all of them persons 
 of the first distinction in Rome. Their office was to 
 determine whether the omens, which were alwaj-s con- 
 eulted previously to the transacting of any public business, 
 were favourable for that purpose, or observed in a proper 
 jnanner. This gave theni a very considerable authority 
 in the commonwealth ; as it was in their power to obstruct 
 the most important affairs of the state, by declaring that 
 they were unwarranted by the auspices. Cicero, about 
 two j'ears before the date of the present letter, was elected 
 into this college, in the place of young Crassus, who 
 perished (as has already been observed) in tlie unfor- 
 tunate expedition which his father midertook against the 
 Parthians. 
 
 b This alludes to the treatise mentioned above, which 
 Appius inscribed to Cicero. 
 
 ■-■ The family of Caius Memmius was esteemed one of 
 the most ancient in all Rome ; being descended, it was 
 said, from Mnestheus, a companion of yEneas in his 
 expedition into Italy. Memmius, having passed through 
 the ofBces of tribune and prstor, offered himself as a 
 candidate for the consulship, in the year of Rome 699: 
 and the iniquitous engagement into which he entered, in 
 order to secure his election, affords a very remarkable 
 specimen, not only of his own character, but of the mi- 
 paralleled degeneracy of the age in which he lived. The 
 consuls of that year were Domitius iEnobarbus, and 
 Appius PulcUer, the person to whom the preceding letter, 
 and several others in this book, are addressed. It was 
 stipulated between these worthy magistrates, and the two 
 associates who were joint-candidates to succeed them, that 
 
 concern for the injustice' wliich has been done you, 
 I should have had the satisfaction, on the other, of 
 being a witness of your supporting it with the 
 
 they should mutually assist each other in their respective 
 views. On the part of the consuls it was agreed, that 
 they should promote the election of Memmius and his 
 friend Calvinus, with all their credit and power. These, 
 in return, entered into a bond in the penalty of somewhat 
 more than .3,000^ by which they obliged themselves to 
 procure three augurs, who should attest, that they were 
 present in the comitia when a law passed to invest these 
 consuls with the military command in their provinces. 
 The contract farther added, that they would also produce 
 three persons of consular rank, who should likewise depose, 
 that they were not only present in the senate, but actually 
 iu the number of those who signed a decree, by which the 
 usual proconsular appointments were granted to Appius and 
 .-Hnobarbus. The truth, however, was, that so far from 
 any law or decree of this nature ever having passed, it had 
 not even been proposed either to the people or the senate. 
 
 '• En 
 
 Romanes rerum dominos, genteiirque togatam ! 
 Extraordinary as this infamous association was, it is still 
 more surprising that Memmius should have had the front 
 publicly to avow it, by becoming himself the informer of 
 the whole transaction. Yet so the fact is : and, in com- 
 pliance with the persuasions of Pompey, he laid open the 
 whole of this shameful agreement to the senate. It is 
 difficult to imagine the motive that could induce Memmius 
 to make a discovery which must show him to the world, 
 in every view, so completely abandoned. But Pomjiey, 
 it is highly probable, instigated him to this resolution, 
 with the hope that the rendering public so unexampled a 
 violation of all that ought to bo held most sacred in 
 society, would add strength to those flames which now 
 raged in the commonwealth. For most of the historians 
 agree, that Pompey secretly fomented the present tumults, 
 in order to reduce the republic to the necessity of investing 
 him with the supreme authority. AVhat resolutions were 
 taken in the senate, upon this occasion, do not clearly 
 appear: for those passages in the letters to Atticuswheiein 
 their proceedings in relation to this affair seem to be hinted 
 at, are extremely dark ; and rendered still more obscure 
 bj' the negligence of the transcribers, in blending epistles 
 together of different and distant dates. It is certain, 
 however, that Memmius lost his election : some time after 
 which, being impeached, and sentenced to banishment, 
 he retired to Athens ; where he seems to have spent the 
 remainder of his days. He was a man of greater parts 
 than application, and would have proved an excellent 
 orator, if he had trusted less to the strength of his natural 
 genius: or rather, indeed, if he had not been too indolent 
 to improve his faculties of this kind, by an habitual exer- 
 cise. He was not too lazy, however, to employ them with 
 the ladies : in which he was extremely successful : parti- 
 cularly with the wife of Marcus LucuUus, brother to the 
 celebrated Lucius LucuUus, so well known to every reader 
 of the Roman story. He seems, in truth, to have been 
 one of that sort of men, who, in the language of Shak- 
 speare, is/ormed to make woman false ; at lea.-t if a poet 
 may be supposed no flatterer in the picture he draws of 
 his patron. For Lucretius, who inscribed his poem to 
 Memmius, represents Venus, in his invocation to that 
 goddess, as having bestowed upon this her favourite, every 
 charm that could render him the most graceful and accom- 
 plished of the sons of men : — 
 
 " Te sociam studeo scribundis versibus esse, 
 Quos ego de Herum Natura pangere conor 
 JNIemmiada; nostro : quam tu, Dea, tempore in omne 
 Omnibus ornatum voluisti excellere rebus." 
 " Thy aid. nelestial Queen of beauty, bring, 
 WTiUe Nature's laws in vent'rous verse I sing; 
 To Menmiius sing : the man by thee designed. 
 With ev'ry grace and ev'ry art refined. 
 To shine the first and fairest of his kind." 
 Gifanii Prolegom. in Lucret. de Gent. Memmia; Ad Att
 
 ^'.)2 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 most philosophical mas^naniinity. Upon the whole, 
 however, I cannot but lament that I did not see 
 you : for the uneasiness I feel at your unmerited 
 sufferings is too great to have admitted of inucli 
 increase by that interview ; and, in all other re- 
 spects, it would have added very considerably to 
 my pleasure. It is a pleasure, therefore, in which 
 I shall, without scrujde, indulge myself the first 
 convenient opportunity. In the mean time, so 
 much of the purpose of my intended visit as may 
 be explained, and, I should hope, settled too, in a 
 letter I will now lay before you. The favour I am 
 going to request, though of little consequence to 
 you, is of much imi)ortance to me : however, ere I 
 enter upon the subject, let me previously assure 
 you, that I do not desire you to comply with my 
 inclinations any farther than it shall be agreeable 
 to your own. I must inform you, then, in the 
 first place, that I am most intimately united with 
 Patro, the Epicurean, in every article I mean 
 except his philosophy : for there, indeed, we are at 
 a great distance. I received the first marks of his 
 esteem so long ago as when he distinguished him- 
 self at Rome by his singular attachment to you and 
 your family ; and in tlie cause which he lately 
 gained in our courts, I was a principal advocate 
 both for him and his associates. 1 must add, that 
 he was recommended to me by my very vi'orthy 
 friend '^ Phaedrus ; a man whom, long before I be- 
 came acquainted with Philof, and indeed from my 
 childhood, I always highly valued. The first quality 
 that recommended him to my esteem was his 
 philosophical abilities ; as I afterwards had reason 
 to admire him for his moral and social virtues. 
 Before I left Rome, I received a letter from Patro 
 requesting me, in the first place, to intercede with 
 you to be reconciled to him ; and in the next, that 
 you would make him a grant of an old ruinous 
 edifice which belongs, it seems, to the college of 
 Epicurus'". I forbore writing to you, however, 
 upon this subject, as being unwilling to interrupt 
 you in the design which I then thought you enter- 
 iv. 18 ; Suet, in Vit. Aug. 40 ; Virgil. JEn. i. 286 ; l>e Clar. 
 Orat. 70 ; Ad Att. i. 18 ; Lucrct. i. 25. 
 
 "i Cicero took Athens in liis way to Cilicia: and Memmiiis 
 left that city the day before liis arrival. Manutius suiiposcs 
 that he withdrew on purpose to avoid our author, with 
 whom, he imagines, Memmius was disgusted for not having 
 given him his assistance at his trial. But this is merely 
 conjecture ; and has so much the less foundation, as there 
 is not the least hint of this kind in the letter to Atticus, 
 wherein Cicero acquaints him with the circumstance of 
 his not meeting with Memmius. — Ad Att. v. 10. 
 
 •^ It is by no means certain upon wliat occasion IMenimius 
 was banished. The principiil commentators, indeed, are 
 of opinion, that it was in consequence of a prosecution 
 that \>'a3 commenced against him for those corrupt 
 practices mentioned in the first remark on this letter. 
 But it seems to appear from Cicero's epistles to his brother, 
 either that Memmius and his associates were all acquitted 
 of that impeachment, or that their several prosecutions 
 were dropped.— Ad Quint. Frat. iii. 2, 3. 8. 
 
 f Pha?drus, it is supposed, was the predecessor of Patro 
 in the Epicurean college. 
 
 S Cicero, in another part of his writings, mentions an 
 Academic philosopher of this name, whose lectures he 
 attended. If the same person be meant in both places, as 
 indeed is highly probable, Mr. Ross is undoubtedly right 
 in charging the learned Manutius with a mistake, in 
 imagining Philo to have been an Epicurean, and prede- 
 cessor to Phaedrus. 
 
 '" Memmius had obtained a grant 5f this edifice from the 
 Athenians, in order to build a house for his own use. 
 
 tamed, of buildinc: upon that spot. But I now 
 comply witli his solicitation, as he has assured me, 
 since my arrival in Athens, that it is the general 
 opinion of your friends, that you have totally laid 
 aside this scheme. Should this prove to be the 
 real case, and your particular interest sliould no 
 longer interfere, let me ju-evail with you to grant 
 his petition. And if you should have taken any 
 little i)rejudice against my friend by the ill offices 
 of his countrymen, (whose capricious tempers I am 
 well ac(piainted with,) I entreat you to renounce 
 your resentment, not only for my sake, but in 
 compliance also with the suggestions of your own 
 generous nature. Shall I freely own to you my 
 real sentiments .-' To confess the truth, then, there 
 does not a])i)ear any just reason either for his being 
 so earnest in pressing this affair of the edifice, or 
 for your persisting in your refusal. This, at least, 
 is most evuleut, lh:it it is much more suitable to a 
 man of his character than of yours, to be obstinate 
 in trifles. You are well apprised, I know, of the 
 plea which Patro alleges, to justify his warmth 
 u])on this occasion. I need not mention, there- 
 fore, that he urges the honour and reverence which 
 is due to the last injunctions of Epicurus'; the 
 jiarticular regard he owes to the earnest request of 
 Phaedrus, together with that veneration which, 
 ought to be paid to a mansion impressed with, 
 the footsteps of so many celebrated j)lalosophers. 
 One cannot, indeed, condemn his zeal in this in- 
 stance, without deriding, at the same time, the 
 whole system of his philosophy. But neither you 
 nor I are such enemies to those of his sect as not 
 to be inclined to pardon an enthusiasm of this sort, 
 especially as it is a prejudice (if it be a prejudice) 
 that arises from the weakness, not the wickedness,, 
 of his heart. But I must not forget to mention 
 another inducement which engaged me to apjjly 
 to you in his favour. I will introduce it by assuring 
 you that I look upon Atticus as my brother : and 
 indeed there is no man who has a more consider- 
 able share of my heart, or from whose friendship 
 I derive greater satisfaction^. It is in pursuance 
 of his most earnest entreaty, as well as of Patro's, 
 that I make the present application. And though 
 Atticus is by no means of a temper to be importu- 
 nate, nor has any ambitious purposes of his own 
 to gratify ; yet he has desired me, with all the 
 ardour imaginable, to exert my utmost interest 
 with you in this affair. Not that he is influenced 
 by his particular attachment to this sect, for he has- 
 too muchlearning,as well asjudgment,to be a bigot 
 to their unphilosophical tenets : but he is swayed 
 entirely by his friendship for Patro, and the esteem 
 he entertained for his predecessor in this college, 
 the worthy Phtedrus. He is persuaded that my 
 influence with you is so great, that the slightest 
 
 i " Diogenes Laertius hath preserved, in liis life of 
 Epicurus, the will of that great philosopher. In the first 
 article, the schools and gardens, and everytliing belonging 
 to them, are entailed upon his successors in that sect of 
 philosophy, which should be called after his name." — 
 Ross. 
 
 J The friendship which subsisted between Cicero and 
 Atticus is so well kno^vn, even to the most common reader, 
 that it would be impertinent to make it the subject of a 
 note ; as it would bo foreign to the purpose of these re- 
 marks, to enter into the character of that celebrated 
 Roman, who is onlj' mentioned incidentally in this place, 
 and bears no part in the correspondence contained ia tha 
 present collection.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 39» 
 
 intimation from me would prevail with you to re- 
 linquish your right to this edifice, even tlioiigh 
 you had intended to make use of it for your own 
 purposes. It he shoukl liear, therefore, that not- 
 witlistanding you have no such design, I liave, 
 nevertheless, proved unsuccessful in my applica- 
 tion ; he will have a worse opinion oi mt/ friendshi]) 
 than of you7-s, and imagine I did not sufficiently 
 enforce his request. 1 entreat you then to signify 
 to your agents at Athens your consent to the 
 repeal of tlie decree of the Areopagites'', whicli 
 has been made in relation to this structure. Never- 
 theless, I will end as I began, and again assure 
 you, that although nothing will be more acceptable 
 to me than your coni))liance in the present in- 
 stance, yet I press it; no farther than as it may 
 coincide with your own inclinations. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVIIL 
 To Marcus Caelius^. 
 
 Could you seriously then imagine, my friend, 
 that I commissioned you to send me the idle news 
 _ .-, of the town ; matches of gladiators, ad- 
 ■ ' " journments of causes, robberies, and the 
 rest of those uninteresting occurrences which no 
 one ventures to mention to me, even when I am in 
 the midst of them at Rome } Far other are the 
 accounts which I expect from your hand, as I 
 know not any man whose judgment in politics I 
 have more reason to value. I should esteem it a 
 misemployment of your talents, even were you to 
 transmit to me those more important transactions 
 that daily arise in the republic, unless they should 
 happen to relate immediately to myself. There are 
 other less penetrating politicians who will send me 
 intelligence of this sort, and I shall be abundantly 
 supplied with it liivewise by common fame. In 
 short, it is not an account either of what has lately 
 been transacted, or is in present agitation, that I 
 require in your letters : I expect, as from one whose 
 discernment is capable of looking far into futurity, 
 your opinion of what is likely to happen. Thus, 
 by seeing a plan, as it were, of the republic, I shall 
 be enabled to judge what kind of structure will 
 probably arise. Hitherto, however, I have no 
 reason to chai-ge you with having been negligent in 
 communicating to me your prophetic conjectures. 
 For the events which have lately happened in the 
 commonwealth were much beyond any man's pene- 
 tration : I am sure, at least, they were beyond 
 mine. 
 
 I passed several days with Pompey™ in conver- 
 sation upon public affairs ; but it is neither prudent 
 nor possible to give you the particulars in a letter. 
 In general, however, I will assure you, that lie is 
 animated with the most patriot sentiments", and is 
 
 ^ The Areopagites were magistrates who presided in the 
 supreme council and coiut of judicature at Atliens, called 
 the Areopagus. 
 
 ' This letter, as well as the preceding one, was written 
 from Athens, and is an answer to the 2.5th of this book. 
 
 '" See rem. ° on letter 25 of this book. 
 
 o Cicero so often changed his opinion, or, at least, his 
 language, in regard to Pompey, that it is difficult to deter- 
 mine what his true sentiments of him were. It is pro- 
 bable, however, that lie here speaks the dictates of his 
 real tlioughts, not only as he gives the same accoimt to 
 Atticus, but because Pomjicy received bini with particular 
 
 prudently prepared as well as resolutely determined 
 to act as the interest of the republic shall require. 
 I would advise you, therefore, wholly to attach 
 yourself to him ; and, believe me, he will rejoice- 
 to embrace you as his friend. He now, indeed, 
 entertains the same ojjinion both with you and my- 
 self, of the good and ill intentions of the different 
 parties in the republic. 
 
 I have spent these last ten days at Athens, from 
 whence I am this moment setting out. During 
 my continuance in this city, I have frequently en- 
 joyed the company of our friend Gallus Caninius". 
 
 I recommend all my aflairs to your care and 
 protection, but particularly (what indeed is my 
 principal concern) that my residence in the province 
 may not be prolonged?. I will not prescribe the 
 methods you should employ for that purpose, as 
 you are the most competent judge by what means 
 and by whose intervention it may be best effected. 
 Farewell. 
 July the Cth. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 Marcus Caliusi to Cicero. 
 Yes, my friend, Messala' is most certainly ac- 
 quitted, and acquitted, too, not only by a majority 
 ,^„, in the several orders'* which compose the 
 bench of judges, but by every individual 
 member of each respective class. I give you this 
 
 civility ; a circumstance which .seems at all times to have 
 had a very considerable influence upon Cicero's judgment, 
 concerning the characters and designs of men. — Ad Att. v. 
 6,7. 
 
 It appears, by the fifth letter of the preceding book, 
 that when Pompey was exhibiting liis entertainments at 
 the opening of his celebrated tlieatre, Cicero was engaged 
 in the defence of one Gallus Caninius. Manatius con- 
 jectures, that this is the same person who, in consequence 
 of that impeachment, was now, he supposes, an exile at 
 Athens. 
 
 l> Tlie succession to the several provinces was usually 
 annual. As Cicero entered upon his government much 
 against his inclinations, he was extremely uneasy, lest, by 
 any accidental circumstances of the republic, he should 
 be continued in it beyond the expiration of his year. The 
 province was a scene by no means suitable to his temper 
 or talents ; and he was impatient to return to the forum, 
 and the senate, where he imagined lie could shine with a 
 much more advantageous lustre. His conduct, however, 
 was in no part of his life so unquestionably laudable, as 
 in his administration of Cilicia, as will appear, perhaps, 
 from the lumailcs on the following book. — Ad Att. T. 10. 15. 
 
 1 It seems probable, from one of the epistles to Atticus, 
 that Cicero received this letter at Gyarus, a little island 
 in the jEgean sea, at which he touched in his voyage to 
 Cilicia. — Ad Att. v. 12. 
 
 ■■ Marcus Valerius Messala was consul in the year of 
 Rome 700. The corrupt measures which lie, as well as 
 the rest of those who were joint-candidates with him, 
 pursued, in order to secure their election, were so extra- 
 vagantly profuse, as to occasion the interest of money to 
 advance to double tlie usual rate. It was for those illegal 
 practices that he was this year brought upon his trial. — 
 Ad Att. iv. 15. 
 
 s The bench of judges, by a late regulation of Pompey, 
 was composed of senators, knights, and certain officers 
 always chosen from among t)ie jilebeians, called Tribuni 
 (erarii, who, in modern language, might, perhaps, be- 
 styled auditori? of tlie treasury. These judges (somewhat 
 in the nature of our juries) were divided into three classes, 
 agreeably to their respective orders, and gave their verdict 
 by ballots.
 
 ,'^94 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 as a fact within my own knowleilt^e, for I was pre- 
 sent wln-n their vcnlict was dfiivcred. You must 
 not imagine, however, that the world is convinced 
 of his innocence : on the contrary, never was there 
 an event more unexpected, or which raised so uni- 
 versal an indignation. For my own part, even 
 with all my prejudices in his favour, I was under 
 th'! utmost astonishment when I heard him pro- 
 nounced not Kuilty ; and indeed it was a circum- 
 stance I so little expected, that I was actually 
 jireparins? to condole with him on the reverse. 
 Wiiat must have heen the surprise, then, of others 
 less hiassed in his behalf! The whole assemMy, 
 in truth, warmly exclaimed against the judges, and 
 very strongly intimated, that they looked upon 
 them as guilty of the most insufferable corrui)tion. 
 My friend, in the mean time, is in much greater 
 danger than he was before, as he will now most 
 assuredly be indicted on the Licinian law '. I must 
 not forget to add, that the day after his trial, his 
 advocate Hortensius" appeared in Curio's theatre", 
 •with a view, as I suppose, of receiving the general 
 congratulations. But he no sooner entered than, lo ! 
 " The hiss contemptuous, and indignant roar, 
 With thunder harsh the rending concave tore." 
 
 This circumstance is so much the more observable, 
 as Hortensius has passed on to a good old age 
 ■without ever having before been thus insulted. 
 But it broke out upon him with so much violence 
 in the present instance, that it might well suffice 
 for a whole life ; as I am persuaded, indeed, it 
 occasioned him heartily to repent of the victory he 
 had obtained. 
 
 I have no political news to send you. Marcellus 
 has dropped the design^", upon which he was lately 
 so intent ; but not so much from indolence, I 
 believe, as prudence. It is wholly uncertain who 
 ■will be our succeeding consuls. As to my own 
 pursuits, there are two competitors with me for 
 the ffidileship; the one really is, and the other 
 ■would fain be thought, a man of quality. In short, 
 Marcus Octavius" and Cains Hirrusy are candi- 
 
 dates with me for that office^. I mention this, as 
 1 know your contempt for the latter will raise 
 your impatience to be informed of the event of 
 this election. I entreat you, as soon as you siiall 
 hear that I am chosen, to give proper directions 
 about the iianthers"; and, in the mean time, that 
 you would endeavour to procure the sifm of money 
 which is due to me on the bond of Sittius. 
 
 I sent my first collection of domestic news by 
 Lucius Castrinius Pffitus, and I have given the 
 suljsequent part to the bearer of this letter. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 ' The author of this law was M. Licinius Crassus, when 
 lie was consul with Pompey, A. v. 698. It was called De 
 Soilalitiis, by which seems to have been understood an 
 unlawful making of parties at elections.— Kennett, Rom. 
 Antiq., p. 177. 
 
 ^ Hortensius was uncle to Messala, and the only orator 
 of this age whose eloquence stood in any degree of com- 
 petition with Cicero's.— See book vi., letter 8, rem. e. 
 
 T This theatre was erected by Curio on occasion of those 
 games which he exhibited in honour of his father's memory. 
 — See rem. l> on letter 10 of this book. 
 
 ■* Coelius in this instance was not so happy in his con- 
 jectures, as Cicero represents him in the foregoing letter. 
 For Marcellus had not dropped the design to which Coelius 
 here alludes; as appears, not only from the authority 
 cited in rem. ", p. 390, but also from one of his own sub- 
 sequent epistles. See the 7th letter of the follo^sving book. 
 » No particular accoimt can be given of the person here 
 Tucntioned. It is certain, however, he was not the same 
 Octavius who was father of Augustus Cssar. For it 
 appears by the epistles to Atticus that the latter was 
 governor of Macedonia long before the time when this 
 letter was \vritten, and consequently could not now be a 
 candidate for the office of aedile. 
 
 7 llirrus was a warm partisan of Pompey ; but if Cicero, 
 who was his declared enemy, may be credited, he was of a 
 character more likely to prejudice than advance any cause 
 he should espouse, for he represents him as an empty 
 •conceited coxcomb, who had the mortification to stand 
 unrivalled in the good opinion he entertained of his own 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 From the same. 
 
 Own the truth, my friend : have I not verified 
 
 what I could not persuade you to believe when you 
 
 ^,„ left Rome, and written to you as fre- 
 
 A. u. 702. , T ■ 1 ^ T <. 
 
 quently as I promised ? i am sure, at 
 
 least, if all my letters have reached your hands, 
 
 you must acknowledge that I have been a more 
 
 punctual correspondent than yourself. I am the 
 
 more regular in my commerce of this kind, as it is 
 
 the only method I have of amusing those few vacant 
 
 hours I can steal from business, and which 1 used 
 
 to take so much pleasure in passing with you. I 
 
 greatly, indeed, lament your absence, and look 
 
 upon it not only as having reduced me, but all 
 
 Rome in general, to a state of total solitude. 
 
 When you were within my reach, I was careless 
 
 enough to let whole days slip by me without seeing 
 
 you : but now you are absent, I am every moment 
 
 regretting the loss of your company. Thanks to 
 
 my noble competitor, Hirrus, for giving me an 
 
 additional reason thus frequently to wish for you. 
 
 It would afford you high diversion, in truth, to 
 
 observe with what a ridiculous awkwardness this 
 
 formidable rival of yours*" endeavours to conceal 
 
 his mortification, in finding that my interest in 
 
 the approaching election"^ is much stronger than 
 
 his own. Believe me, however, it is more for your 
 
 gratification than mine that I am desirous you 
 
 may soon receive such an account of his success 
 
 in this pursuit as I know you wish. For, as to 
 
 merit and importance. " O Dii ! (says he, speaking of 
 llirrus in a letter to his brother) O Dii! quam ineptus; 
 quani se ipse amans sine rivali !" Yet a time came when 
 Cicero did not scruple to court the friendship of this man, 
 whom he so much affected to despise ; and when he was 
 making interest to obtain the honour of a triumph for his 
 exploits in Cilicia, we find him applying to Atticus for 
 his good offices, in order to close the breach between 
 llirrus and himself. Cicero seems, indeed, upon many 
 occasions, to have recollected too late, that in popular 
 governments, a man who is not superior to the ambition 
 and interests of the world, can scarcely make a con- 
 temptible enemy.— Ad Quint. Frat. iii. H ; Ad Att. vii. 1. 
 
 z The a;diles were of two kinds, plebeian and curule ; 
 and it was the latter office that Coelius was at this time 
 soliciting. They had the care of the temples, theatres, and 
 other public structures; they were the judges, likewise, in 
 all causes relative to the selling or exchanging estates.— 
 Rosin. Antiq. 
 
 a It was customary for the aj-diles to entertain the people 
 with public shows twice, during their office. The principal 
 part of these entertainments consisted in combats of wUd 
 beasts of the most uncommon kind.— Manutius. 
 
 b Hirrus stood in competition with Cicero for the office 
 of augur, when the latter, was chosen. 
 
 c See the preceding letter.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FIUENDS. 
 
 395 
 
 myself, his disappointment may possibly prove a 
 means of my being chosen in conjunction with a 
 colleague, whose superior finances will draw me, 1 
 fear, into much inconvenient expense. But, liow- 
 ■ever that may be, I shall rejoice if Hirrus shoukl 
 be thrown out, as it will supply us with an inex- 
 haustible fund of mirth. And this appears liktly 
 enough to prove the case; for the disgust wliicli 
 the people have conceived against the other candi- 
 date, Marcus Octavius, does not seem to have any 
 great effect in lessening their many objections to 
 Hirrus. 
 
 As to what concerns the behaviour of Philotimus, 
 in relation to Milo's estate'', I have endeavoured 
 that he shall act in such a manner as to give full 
 satisfaction to Milo and his friends, and at the 
 same time clear your character from all imputation. 
 
 And now I have a favour to beg in my turn : 
 let me entreat you, when your leisure shall permit 
 (as I hope it soon will), to give me an instance of 
 your regard, by inscribing to me, some of your 
 literary performances. You will wonder, perhaps, 
 at the oddness of this request ; but 1 am very de- 
 sirous, I confess, that posterity should see, among 
 the many ingenious monuments you have erected 
 to friendship, some memorial likewise of the amity 
 which subsisted between us. You, who possess the 
 ■whole circle of science, will best judge what would 
 be the most proper subject for this j>urj)0se ; but I 
 should be glad it might be of a kind that will take 
 in the greatest number of readers, and at the same 
 time bear a proper relation to my own studies and 
 character. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXI. . 
 
 To Appius Pulcher. 
 1 ARRIVED at Tralles ^ on the 27th of July, 
 where I found Lucilius waiting for me with your 
 ^ , letter, which he delivered, together with 
 ■ ■ ' "■ your message. You could not have em- 
 ployed upon this occasion a more friendly hand, or 
 one who is better qualified to give me light into 
 those affairs concerning which I was so desirous of 
 being informed. Accordingly I listened to his 
 account with great attention, as I read your letter 
 with much pleasure. I will not remind you of the 
 numerous good offices which have passed between 
 
 d Milo having been sentenced to banishment, (see rem. ^'', 
 p. 386,) his estate was sold for the benefit of his creditors. 
 Philotimus, a freedman of Cicero, boutiht this estate, in 
 partnership with some others, at an undervalue. It was 
 thought strange that Cicero should suffer Philotimus, who 
 acted as a sort of steward in his family, to engage in a 
 purchase of this kind, which was always looked upon as 
 odious, and was particularly so in the present case: for 
 Cicero had received great obligations from Milo. Accord- 
 ingly the latter complained of it, in the letters he wrote to 
 his friends at Rome. This alarmed Cicero for his reputa- 
 tion, and he seems to have written to Coclius, as he did to 
 several others of his correspondents, to accommodate this 
 affair in the way that would be most to his Iionour. It 
 was not easy, however, entirely to vindicate him upon this 
 article: for though he pleaded in his justification an intent 
 of serving Milo, yet it appears very evidently, from his 
 letters to Atticus upon this subject, that he shared with 
 Philotimus in the advantages of the purchase. — Ascon. in 
 Oral, pro Mil. , Ad Att. v. 8. vi. 4, 3. See also Mong. R^m. 
 Bor les Let. a. Att. vol. iiL p. 4.'!. 
 
 « A city in Asia Minor. 
 
 us ; since that part of my last, you tell me, though 
 extremely agreeable to you, was by no means neces- 
 sary. 1 entirely agree with you, indeed, that a well- 
 confirmed fricndshij) needs not to be animated with 
 any memorials of this nature. You must allow me, 
 however, to return those acknowledgments I so 
 justly owe you, for the obliging jirecautions which 
 I find by your letter you have taken, in order to 
 ease me in the future functions of my government. 
 Highly acceptable to me as these your generous 
 services arc, can I fail of being desirous to con- 
 vince both you and the world that I am most 
 warmly your friend .' If there be any who pretend 
 to doubt of this truth, it is rather because they wish 
 it otherwise, than because it is not sufficiently evi- 
 dent. If they do not yet perceive it, however, they 
 certainly shall ; as we are neither of us so obscure 
 that our actions can pass unregarded ; and the proofs 
 I purpose to give will be too conspicuous not to 
 force themselves Mpon their observation. But I 
 will not indulge myself any farther on this subject, 
 choosing to refer you to my actions rather than my 
 professions. 
 
 As I find the route I proposed to take has raised 
 some doubt in you whether you shall be able to 
 give me a meeting, I think it necessary to e.xi)lain 
 that matter. In the conversation which I had with 
 your freedman, Phanias, at Brundisium, I told him 
 I would land in any part of the province that should 
 be most convenient to you. Accordingly he men- 
 tioned Sida, as being the port, he said, where you 
 intended to embark. It was my resolution, there- 
 fore, to have sailed thither ; but meeting afterwards 
 with our friend Clodius at Corcyra', he dissuaded 
 me from that design, assuring me that you would 
 be at Laodicea on my arrival. I should have pre- 
 ferred the former, as being much the nearest port, 
 and indeed the most agreeable to me, especially as 
 I imagined it would be so to you. But you have 
 since, it seems, jiltered your plan, and therefore 
 you now can best settle the measures for our inter- 
 view. As for myself, I propose to be at Laodicea £ 
 about the first of August, where I shall continue a 
 few days, in order to get my bills exchanged. From 
 thence I intend to go to the army ; so that I hope 
 to reach Iconium"" towards the 13th of the same 
 month. But if any accident should prevent or 
 retard these designs, (as, indeed, I am at present 
 far distant both from the places and the purposes 
 of my destination,) I will take care to give you as 
 frequent and as expeditious notice as possible of 
 the several times and stages of my journey. I 
 neither ought, nor in truth desire, to lay you under 
 any difficulties : however, if it might be effected 
 without inconvenience to yourself, it seems greatly 
 for our mutual interest that we should have a con- 
 ference before you leave the province. Nevertheless, 
 if any disappointment should obstruct our interview, 
 you may still rely upon my best services, and with 
 the same security as if we had met. In the mean 
 while I shall forbear to enter upon the subject of 
 our affairs by letter till I despair of talking them 
 over with you in person. 
 
 t An island in the Ionian sea, at which Cicero touched 
 in his voyage to Cilicia. It is now called Cor/ou, and 
 belongs to the republic of Venice. 
 
 « A city in Phrygia, situated on the river Lycus. 
 
 h A principal city in the province of Cilicia. It still sub- 
 sists under the name of Cogni, and belongs to the Turkiab 
 dominions.
 
 3'JC 
 
 TFE LETTERS OF MAllCT^S TI'LLIUS CICERO 
 
 T spent the three days I coutinuetl at Ejjhesus ' 
 with ScicvolaJ. But thoiif^h we entered very freely 
 into conversation, he did not mention the h-ast 
 word of your liaving desired him to talce upon him- 
 self tlie government of the jjrovinee during the 
 interval between your leavinjj it and my ariival. 
 I wish, however, it had been in his jxiwer (for I 
 cannot persuade myself it was not in liis inelina- 
 tion) to have complied with your request. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER XXXIL 
 
 I\f(ircits Cculius to Cicero. 
 You are certainly to he envied, who have every 
 day some new wonder to enjoy ; as your admira- 
 A u 70'' ^'°° receives constant supplies in the 
 accounts of tliose strange events that 
 happen amongst us. Thus, with what astonishment 
 will you hear that Messalai*, after having been 
 acquitted of his first impearhment, was condemned 
 on a second ; that Marci'Uus ' is chosen consul ; 
 that Calidius '", after having lost his election, was 
 immediately impeached by the two Galli ; and that 
 Dolabella" is ap|)ointed one of the quindecimvirs" ! 
 In one article, however, you are a loser by your 
 absence ; as it deprived you of a most diverting 
 spectacle in the rueful countenance wliich Lentu- 
 lusP exhibited when he found himself disappointed 
 
 ■ A very celebrated city in Ionia, situated not far from 
 Bmyrna. 
 
 J He was probably either quaestor, or lieutenant, to 
 Appius. 
 
 ^ Heiwas cousin to tlie present eonsul, Marcus Marcellus. 
 The reader will find an account of him in the farther pro- 
 gress of these remarks. 
 
 ' In the text lie is called Marcus Claudius: butManutius 
 and Corradus both agree in the reading here adopted, 
 which is likewise confirmed by Pighius. He was competitor 
 for the consulate with Marcellus, mentioned in the pre- 
 ceding note. The wonder, therefore, in these two instances, 
 was, (as Mr. Ross observes,) that Marcellus should be 
 chosen consul, who was an avowed enemy to Csesar ; while 
 Calidius, though supported by the Csesarian party, lost his 
 election. 
 
 ■^ Calidius was one of the most agreeable orators of his 
 age, as Cicero, wlio has dra\vn his character at large, 
 informs us. His sentiments were conceived with uncom- 
 mon delicacy, as they were delivered in the most correct, 
 perspicuous, and elegant expression. His words were so 
 happily combined together, and accorded with each other 
 in such a well-adjusted arrangement, that Cicero, by a 
 very strong image, compares his style to a piece of beau- 
 tiful inlaid-work. His metaphors were so justly imagined 
 and so properly introduced, that they rather seemed to 
 arise spontaneously out of his subject, than to have been 
 transplanted from a foreign soil. His periods, at the same 
 time, were exquisitely musical. They did not, however, 
 lull the ear with one uniform cadence; but were artfully 
 diversified with all the various modulations of the most 
 skilful liarmony. In short, if to instruct and to please had 
 been the single excellences of an orator, Calidius would have 
 merited the first rank in the Roman forum. But he forgot 
 that the principal business of his profession »vas to animate 
 and to inflame. — Cic. do C'lar. Orat. 274. 
 
 " A particular account will be given of him in the notes 
 on the following book. 
 
 ° They were the presiding magistrates at the Apol- 
 linarian and secular games, and entrusted likewise with 
 the care of the Sibylline oracles. See Ross on this epistle. 
 
 V There is some variation amongst the BISS. in the read- 
 ing of this name. The best commentators, however, sup- 
 pose, that this person is the same who was advanced to the 
 consulship two years after the date of this letter : that is, 
 
 of his election. It was an event for which he was. 
 so little prepared, that he entered the field in all 
 the gay confidence of victory ; whilst his competitor 
 Dolabella, on the contrary, was so ditfident of suc- 
 cess, that if our friends of the equestrian order had 
 not been too wise to have sullcred him, he would 
 have tamely retreated without the least contest. 
 Hut as much disposed as you may be to wonder at 
 our transactions, you will not be surprised, I dare 
 say, when I inform you that Servius, the tribune 
 elect, has been tried and (-otivicted; and that CurioS 
 is a candidate to suc:ceed him. This last circ^um- 
 stance greatly alarms those who are unacquainted 
 with the real good qualities of Curio's heart. I 
 ho])e, and indeed believe, he will act agreeably to 
 his professions, and join with the senate in suj)- 
 l)orting the fricnd.s of the republic. I am sure, at 
 least, he is full of these designs at present : m 
 which Ciesar's conduct has been the jirincipal 
 occasion of engaging him. For Caesar, though he 
 spares no pains or expense to gain over even the 
 lowest of the peojjle to his interest', has thought 
 fit to treat Curio with singular contempt. 'I'he 
 latter has behaved with so much temper u|)on this 
 occasion, that he, who never acted with artifice in 
 all his life', is suspected to have dissembled his 
 resentment in order the more effectually to defeat 
 the schemes of those who oppose his election : I 
 mean the La;lii and the Antonii, together witli the 
 rest of tliat wonderful party. 
 
 I have been so much engaged by the difficulties 
 which have retarded the several elections, that I 
 could not find leisure to write to you sooner : and, 
 indeed, as I every day expected they would be 
 determined, I waited their conclusion that I might 
 give you at once an account of the whole. But it 
 is now the first of August, and they are not yet 
 over, the elections of prtetors having met with 
 some unexpected delays. As to that in which I 
 am candirlate, I can give you no account which 
 way it is likely to be decided ; only it is generally 
 thought that Hirrus will not be chosen. This is 
 collected from the fate that has attended Vinici- 
 anus, who was a candidate for the office of plebeian 
 sedile'. That foolish project of his for the nomina- 
 tion of a dictator" (which we formerly, you may 
 
 in the year of Rome 704. It appears he was a competitor 
 with Dolabella for the office of qiiindecimvir. 
 
 q See rem. J, p. 378. 
 
 ' The account wliioh Dion Cassius gives of Caesar, exactly 
 corresponds with what Coelius here asserts. For it appears, 
 from this historian, that Ca?sar, when he could not by 
 direct means secure the master in his interest, insinuated 
 himself by proper applications into the good graces of the 
 favourite slave : and, by condescensions of this pi)litical 
 kind, ho gained over many persons of principal rank in 
 Rome. — Dio, xl. p. 149. 
 
 s If Curio did not act with artifice in the present in- 
 stance, lof which, however, there is great reason to doubt,' 
 it is certain, at least, that he was far from being so inca- 
 pable of assuming that character, as Ccelius here re])rosents • 
 him. On the contrary, it appears by the concurrent testi- 
 mony of the ancient historians, that he secretly favoured 
 the cause of Ca>sar, long before he avowed his party And 
 Dion Cassius, in partioular, assures us, that Curio, at the 
 same time that he pretended to act in concert with the 
 enemies of Ca>sar, was only gaining their confidence, in 
 order to betray them.— Veil. Pat. ii. 48 ; Dio, xl. p. 149. 
 
 •■ The plebeian sediles were chosen out of tlie commons, 
 and were, in some respects, a sort of coadjutors to th» 
 tribunes. 
 
 u The dictator was a magistrate invested with supreme -
 
 TO SEVERAL OF IIIS FRIENDS. 
 
 397 
 
 remember, exposed to so much ridicule,) suddenly 
 turned the election against him ; and tlie peojile 
 expressed the loudest acclamations of joy at his 
 repulse : at the same time, Uirrus was universally 
 called upon by the populace to give up his jireten- 
 sions at' the ensuing election. I luipe, therefore, 
 you will very soon hear that this affair is determined 
 in the manner you wish with respect to me, and 
 which you scarce dare promise yourself*', I know, 
 with regard to Hirrus. 
 
 As to the state of the common wealth, we begin 
 to give up all expectation that the face of public 
 affairs will be changed. However, at a meeting of 
 the senate, holden on the 'i'id of the last month in 
 the temple of Apollo, upon a debate relating to the 
 payment of the forces commanded by I'ompey*', 
 mention was made of that legion, which, as appeared 
 by his accounts, had been lent to Cfesar : and he 
 •was asked, of what number of men it c insisted, 
 and for what purposes it was borrowed. In short, 
 Pompey was pushed so strongly upon this article, 
 that he found himself under a necessity of pro- 
 mising to recal this legion out of Gaul : but he 
 added at the same time, that the clamours of his 
 enemies should not force him to take this step too 
 precipitately. It was afterwards moved, that the 
 question might be put concerning the election of a 
 successor to Csesar. Accordingly the senate came 
 to a resolution that Pompey (who was just going 
 to the army at Ariminum''', and is now actually 
 set out for that purpose,) should be ordered to 
 return to Rome with all expedition, that the affair 
 relating to a general election of new governors for 
 all the provinces might be debated in his presence. 
 This point, I imagine, will be brought before the 
 senate on the 13th of this month; when, if no 
 infamous obstacles should be thrown in the way by 
 the tribunes ?', the house will certainly come to 
 some resolution : for Pompey, in the course of the 
 debate, let fall an intimation that he •' thought 
 every man owed obedience to the authority of that 
 assembly." However, I am impatient to hear what 
 Paulas, the senior consul elect, will say when he 
 delivers his opinion upon this question, 
 and absolute power ; but \\as never created unless on 
 emergencies of great and sudden danger, wbicli required 
 the exertion of an extraordinary authority. Accordingly, 
 it was on occasion of the disturbances that happened at 
 Rome in the year 7l"l, [see rem. ^, p. 38fi, and rem. », p. 
 387,] that some of the friends and flatterers of Pompey 
 proposed him for this office. Vinicianus and Hirrus were 
 the principal promoters of this scheme : but it was so 
 unacceptable to the people in general, that this single 
 circumstance, it appears, turned the election against the 
 former; and, probably, was the chief reason that the 
 latter was likewise disappointed of the Ecdileship. See 
 letter 29 of this book, p. 393 ; Ad Quint. Frat. iii. 8. 
 
 ^ Because Hirrus was supported by Pompey. 
 
 ■"■ Pompey, though he remained in Rome, was at this 
 time governor of Spain : which had been continued to him 
 for four years at tlie end of his late consulship. It was the 
 payment of his troops in that province, which was under 
 the consideration of the senate. — Pint, in A'it. Pomp. 
 
 "■ Kow called Rimini, situated upon the Rubicon: a 
 river which divided Italy from that part of the Roman 
 province called Cisalpine Gaul. The army here mentioned, 
 is supposed to be part of those four legions which were 
 decreed to Pompey for the support of his government in 
 Spain.— Plut. ibid. 
 
 y Some of the tribunes, together with Sulpicius, one of 
 the present consuls, were wholly in Caesar's interest. — 
 They tliought, or pretended to think, that it was highly 
 unjust to divest C^sar of his government, before tlie time 
 
 I repeat my former request in relation to the 
 money due to me on the bond of .Sittius ; and I do 
 so that you may see it is an article in which I am 
 greatly interested. I must again likewise entreat 
 you to employ the Cybiratie', in order to procure 
 me some panthers. I have, only to add, that we 
 have received certain accounts of tlie death of 
 Ptolemy". Let me know, therefore, what measures 
 you would advise me to take upon this occasion ; 
 in what condition he has left his kingdom ; and 
 in whose hands the administration is placed. — 
 Farewell. 
 August the first. 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 From the same. 
 How far you may be alarmed at the invasion** 
 which threatens your province and the neighbour- 
 ^,.-, ing countries, I know not ; but for myself, 
 ■ ■ ' -• J confess, I am extremely anxious for the 
 consequence. Could we contrive indeed that the 
 enemy's forces should be only in proportion to the 
 number of yours, and just sufficient to entitle you 
 to the honour of a triumph'^, there could not be a 
 more desirable circumstance. But the misfortune 
 is, if the Parthians should make any attempt, I 
 well know it will be a very powerful one : and I 
 am sensible, at the same time, that you are so little 
 in a condition to oppose their march, that you have 
 scarce troops to defend a single defile. But the 
 world in general will not be so reasonable as to 
 make the proper allowances for this circumstance. 
 On the contrary, it is expected from a man in your 
 station, that he should be prepared for every occur- 
 rence that may arise, without once considering 
 whether he is furnished with the necessary supplies 
 for that purpose. I am still the more uneasy upon 
 your account, as I foresee the contests concerning 
 affairs in Gaul will retard the nominition of your 
 successor : and though I dare say you have already 
 had this contingency in your view, yet I thought 
 proper to apprise you of its probability, that you 
 might be so much the more early in adjusting your 
 measures accordingly. I need not tell you that 
 the usual artifices will undoubtedly be played off. 
 
 was completed for which it had been decreed, and of which 
 there now remained about two years unexpired.— Dio, xl. 
 p. 148. 
 
 z " Cibyra was a city of Phrygia Major, situated upon 
 the banks of the river Meander, and gave name to one of 
 the three Asiatic dioceses, which were under the jurisdic- 
 tion of the governor of Cilicia." — Koss. 
 
 » Ptolemy Auletes, of whom an account has been given 
 in the notes on the first book. By the following inquiries 
 which Coelius makes, it is probable he was one of those 
 who had lent money to that king when he was at Rome, 
 soliciting the senate to assist him with troops for the reco- 
 very of his dominions. See rem. ', p. 344. 
 
 I' The Parthians, having lately obtained a most signal 
 victory over Crassus, (an account fif whose imfortunate 
 expedition has already been given in tlie course of these 
 notes,) were preparing to make an incursion in the Roman 
 provinces that lay contiguous to their dominions. — Accord- 
 inglj' they soon afterwards executed this design bj' invading 
 Syria and Cilicia ; as will be related at large in the letters 
 of the following book. 
 
 The kingdom of Parthia is now included in the empire 
 of Persia, of which it makes a very consider.able province. 
 
 i; No general could legally claim this honour, unless ha 
 had destroyed 5,000 of the enemy in one engagement — 
 Val. :!\Iax. ii 8.
 
 5'Jii 
 
 THE LKTTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 A (lay will be appoiiit^jd for considering of a 
 successor to Citsar : upon which some trihunc"* 
 will interi)o.sc hisncfiative ; and then a second will 
 jirobably declare, that unless the senate shall be at 
 liberty to put the (pu'stiou freely concerning all 
 the provinces in general, he will not suffer it to 
 be debated with regard to any in particular. And 
 thus we shall be trilled with for a considerable 
 time : possibly, indeed, two or tliree years may be 
 Slum out by these contemptible artifices. 
 
 If anvtliiug new had occurred in public afl'airs I 
 should, as usual, have sent you the accoiuit, toi!;ether 
 with my sentiments thereupon : but at present the 
 wheels of our i)olitical machine seem to be altogether 
 motioidess. Marcellus is still jjursuing his former 
 designs concerning the jnovinces ; but he has not 
 yet been able to assemble a competent number of 
 senators. Had* this motion been brought on the 
 preceding year, and had Curio at the same time 
 been tribune, j7 would pro/xtlth/ havr succeeded: 
 but as affairs are now circumstanced, you are sensible 
 how easy it will be for Caesar, regardless as he is 
 of the public interest when it stands in comi)etition 
 with his own, to obstruct all our proceedings. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 From the same. 
 
 Will you not be surj)rised when I tell you of 
 the victory I have gained over Hirrus' ? But if 
 „„, you knew liovv easy a conquest he i)roved, 
 you would blush to think that so power- 
 less a competitor once ventured to stand forth as 
 your rival'''. His behaviour since this repulse 
 aiTords us much diversion, as he now aflects upon 
 all occasions to act the patriot and vote against 
 Cresar. Accordingly, he insists upon Cccsar's being 
 immediately recalled; and most unmercifully in- 
 veighs against the conduct of Curio. In a word, 
 as little conversant as he is in the business of the 
 Forum, he is now become an advocate professed, 
 and most magnanimously pleads the cause of 
 liberty''. You are to observe, however, that it is 
 only in a morning he is seized with these violent 
 fits cf patriotism ; for he is generally much too 
 elevated in an afternoon to descend into so grave 
 a character. 
 
 I mentioned in one of my former, that the affair 
 of the provinces would come before the senate on 
 the 13th of the last month: nevertheless, by the 
 ^intervention of MarceUus, the consul elect, it was 
 put off to the first of this instant. But when the 
 day arrived, they could not procure, a sufficient 
 
 d See rrm. 7, on the foregoing letter. 
 
 e There is an obscurity in the original, which the com- 
 mentators have endeavoured to dissipate by various read- 
 ings. None of their conjectures, however, appear so much 
 to the purpose as that of an ingenious gentleman, to whose 
 animadversions 1 have already acknowledged myself in- 
 debted. [See rem. q, p. 374.] My judicious friend supposes 
 that some words of the same import with those which are 
 distinguished by italics in the translation, have been 
 omitted by the carelessness of transcribers ; a suppositi(m 
 extremely probable, and which solves the principal diffi- 
 culty (if tlie text. 
 
 ' At the election for curule aedileg. See letter 29 of this 
 book. 
 
 K As a candidate with Cicero for the office of aiigur. 
 
 h Instead of agit causas liberalis, as in the common edi- 
 Mona, I read with Gronovius, agit causam Ubertotis. 
 
 number of senators to be present. It is now the 
 second of September, and nothing has yet been 
 done in this business : and 1 am jiersuailed it will 
 be adjourned to the following year. As far as I 
 can foresee, therefore, you must be contented to 
 leave the administration of your jjrovince in the 
 hands of some jierson whom you shall think proper 
 to a])])oint for that ]iurpose, as I am well convinced 
 you will not soim be relieved by a successor. For 
 as Gaul must take the same fate with the rest of the 
 ))r()vinces, any attcmj)t that shall be made for 
 .>iettling the general succession will certainly be 
 obstructed by Ctcsar's jjarty. Of this I have not 
 the least doubt, and therefore I thought it neces- 
 sary to give you notice, that you may be prepared 
 to act accordingly. 
 
 1 believe I have reminded you of tlie panthers in 
 almost everyone of njy letters; and surely you will 
 not suffer Fatiscus to be more liberal in this article 
 than yourself He has made Curio a present of no 
 less than half a score : great therefore will be your 
 disgrace if you should not send me a much larger 
 number. In the mean time, Curio has given me 
 those he received from I'atiscus, together with as 
 many more from Africa : for you are to know it is 
 not only in granting away the lands of the' ])ublic 
 that the generous Curio displays his liberality. As 
 to yourself, if you can but charge your memory 
 with my retjuest, you may easily jjrocure me as 
 many of these animals as you ])lease : it is only 
 sending for some of the Cybirata; to hunt them, 
 and issuing forth your orders likewise into Fam- 
 jiiiylia, where I am told they are taken in great; 
 abundance. 1 am the more solicitous upon this 
 article, as I believe my colleague and I shall exhibit 
 ourgames se])arately ; so that the whole preparation 
 for them must lie singly upon myself. I know 
 you love ease as well as I do ; but I should be glad 
 if you could by any means prevail with yourself to 
 part with a little of it upon the present occasion. 
 In good earnest, you will have no other trouble 
 than merely to give your commands ; as my people, 
 whom I have sent into your province in order to 
 recover the money due to me from Sittius, will be 
 ready to receive the panthers and convey them into 
 Italy. It is probable likewise, if you should give 
 me any hopes of succeeding in my request, that I 
 may send a reinforcement to assist them. 
 
 I recommend Marcus Feridius, a Roman knight, 
 to your protection and friendship, who comes into 
 Cilicia to transact some business relating to his 
 private affairs. He is a young man of great worth 
 and spirit ; and his father is my very particular 
 friend. He holds an estate under certain cities in 
 your government, of which he is desirous to procure 
 the enfranchisement ; and I am persuaded he may 
 easily obtain his point by the intervention of your 
 good offices. Your employing them upon this oc- 
 casion will indeed be doing an honour to yourself, 
 as it will oblige two men of great merit, who, 1 will 
 venture to assure you, are not capable of proving 
 ungrateful. 
 
 You were mistaken when you imagined that 
 FavoniusJ was opposed by the more contemptible 
 
 ■ Tliis seems to allude to some attempts which Curio 
 had lately made to revive the Agrarian law. See rem. ', 
 p. ;i67. 
 
 J He was a great admirer and imitator of the virtues 
 and manners of Cato, as he was also in the number of 
 those who assassinated Ca;sar. Manutius conjectures that
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 399 
 
 part of the people : on the contrary, it was all the 
 better sort that voted against him. Your friend 
 Pompey openly declares that Ctesar ought not to 
 be a(imitted as a candidate for the consulship while 
 he retains his command in the province''. He 
 voted, however, against passing a decree for this 
 purpose at preseiit. Scipio' moved that the first 
 of March next might be appointed for taking into 
 consideration the nominating a successor in the 
 Gallic provinces ; and that this matter should be 
 proposed to the liouse separately, and without 
 blending it with any other question. Balbus 
 Cornelius'" was much discomposed at this motion ; 
 and I am well assured he has complained of it to 
 Scipio in very strong terms. 
 
 Canidius defended himself upon his trial with 
 much eloquence ; but in the impeachment which 
 he afterwards exhibited he supported his charge 
 with little force or spirit. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 To Marcus 3farcellus", Consul. 
 I VERY warmly congratulate you on your re- 
 lation, Caius JNIarcellus, being elected to succeed 
 ^„, you, as I sincerely rejoice in your having 
 received this happy fruit of your pious 
 affection to your family, of your patriot zeal to 
 
 he was at this time chosen pr/ctor. — Plut. in Vit. Pomp. ; 
 Dio, xlvii. p. 356. 
 
 ^ Pompey, who contributed more than any man to the 
 advancement of Caesar's power, had lately procured a law, 
 by which the personal appearance of the latter was dis- 
 pensed with in soliciting the consular office. But Pompey 
 now began to repent of a concession so entirely unconsti- 
 tutional : not that his own designs were more favourable 
 to the liberties of Rome than those of Caesar, but as disco- 
 vering at last that they could not both subsist together. 
 His present opposition, however, was as impotent as his 
 former compliances were impolitic, and only tended to 
 bring on so much the sooner his ovm destruction, together 
 with that of the republic. — Ad Att. viii. 3. 
 
 1 Metellus Scipio : he was chosen consul by Pompey the 
 latter end of the last year, agreeably to a power with 
 which he was invested by the senate, for nominating his 
 colleague. Pompey likewise married his daughter, the 
 amiable Cornelia, who added to the charms of her person 
 every moral and intellectual qualification that could render 
 her the most estimable and accomplished of her sex. And 
 yet, with all these extraordinary endowments, she was 
 still more distinguished by that singular mcidesty and hu- 
 nii' y with which they were accompanied. It is Plutarch 
 who gives her this character ; upon which Monsieur Dacier 
 remarks: — " Je dois etre plus persuade qu'un autre, que 
 Peloge que Plutarque donne a Cornelie peut n'etre point 
 flatty. J'ai un excmple domestique, qui prouve que beau- 
 coup d'esprit et de savoir, et de grands talens, peuvent se 
 trouver dans une femme, et etre accompagnes d'une modes- 
 tie aussi grande et plus estim.iblo encore que ses talens." 
 May I add my sufi'rage to that of this celebrated critic, by 
 declaring, from the same domestic experience, that un- 
 common knowledge and a superior understanding are 
 perfectly consistent with those more valuable qualities of 
 the heart, which constitute the principal grace and orna- 
 ment of the female character. — Plut. in Vit. Pomp. ; Les 
 Vies dePlut. par Dae. vol. v. p. 498, rem. 89. 
 
 »> He was inviolably attached to Cxsar, and seems to 
 have been the principal manager of his affairs at Rome. 
 
 " He was distinguished by a long line of ancestors-, who 
 had borne the most honourable ofBces in the republic ; as 
 he himself was advanced to the consular dignity this year, 
 in conjunction with Servius Sulpicius Rufus. It is men- 
 tioned to the credit of both these illustrious magistrates. 
 
 your country, and of your illustrious deportment 
 in the cons\dar office. 1 can easily imagine the 
 sentiments which your address upon this occasion 
 has created in Rome : and as to myself, whooi you 
 have sent to these far distant parts of the globe, 
 believe me I s])eak of it with the liighest and most 
 unfeigned a))plause. I can with strict truth assure 
 you, that 1 liuve ever had a particular attachment 
 to you from your earliest youth ; and I am sensible 
 you have always shown, by your generous offices 
 in promoting my dignities, that you deemed me 
 wortliy of the most distinguished honours. But 
 this late iiistance of your judicioiis management ia 
 procuring the consulship for Marcellus, together 
 with tlie proof it affords of the favour in which you 
 stand with the republic, has raised you still higher 
 in my esteem. It is with great complacency, there- 
 fore, that I hear it observed, by men of the first 
 distinction for sense and merit, tliat,in all our words 
 and actions, our tastes and studies, our principles 
 and pursuits, we bear a strong resembhince to each 
 other. The only circumstance that can render 
 your glorious consulate still more agreeable to me, 
 will be your procuring a successor to be nominated 
 to this province as soon as possible. But if this 
 cannot be obtained, let me entreat you, at least, 
 not to suffer my continuance here to be prolonged 
 beyond the time limited by your decree and the 
 law which passed for that purpose. In a word, I 
 hope upon all occasions to experience in my ab- 
 sence the benefit of your friendship and protection. 
 Farewell. 
 
 P. S. — I have received some intelligence con- 
 cerning the Parthians, but as it is not at present 
 sufficiently confirmed, I forbear to communicate 
 the particulars to you ; for, as I am writing to a 
 consul, my letter perhaps might be considered as 
 an information to the senate. 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 To Caius MarceUus°, Consul elect. 
 I RECEIVED great pleasure in hearing of your 
 advancement to the consulate. May the gods give 
 '0' ^^^ success in the enjoyment of this 
 honour, and may you discharge its im- 
 portant duties in a manner worthy of your owu 
 that they were chosen without having employed those cor- 
 rupt and violent measures which were at this period so 
 generally practised : and JMarcellus, in particular, had 
 recommended himself to the people by the superior grace 
 and energy of his eloquence. It has already been observed 
 in these remarks, that he was extremely zealous in pro- 
 moting the decree by which C^sar was recalled from his 
 province, and which forwarded the flames of that unhappy 
 civil war, which soon afterwards broke out to the destruc- 
 tion of the commonwealth. Upon that occasion Marcellus 
 took the part of Pompey. But after the battle of Pharsa- 
 lia, he threw down his arms, and withdrew to Mitylenae, 
 the capital of Lesbos, where he purposed to devote the 
 remainder of his days to a philosophical retirement. But 
 being persuaded by his friends, and particularly by Cicero, 
 to accept the clemency of the victor, he, at length, yielded 
 to their solicitation, and was preparing to return home, 
 when he was cruelly assassinated by a man who had been 
 in the number of his clients. The reader will find a 
 particular account of this murder, together with some 
 other circumstances concerning Marcellus, in the farther 
 progress of these letters and remarks. — Suet, in Vit. Tiber. 
 1 ; Dio, xl. p. 148 ; Cicer. de Clar. Orat. 250 ; Ep. Fam. 
 iv. 12. 
 « He was cousin-german to Marcus Marcellus, to whom
 
 400 
 
 THE LHTTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 illustrious character and that of your excellent 
 father! You iiave my best wishes indeed upon 
 this occasion, not only from affection, butgratitude, 
 and in return to those warmest instances of your 
 friendship which I have ever experienced in all the 
 ■various inciileiits of my life. Many and important 
 are the oblii^itions likewise which I have received 
 from your father, both as my protector in adversity 
 and as having contributed to adorn my prosperity. 
 I must add also to this family-list of my benefac- 
 tors your worthy mother, whose zealous services 
 in behalf both of my i)erson and dignities have 
 risen much higher than could have been expected 
 from one of the tender sex. Being then, as I most 
 certainly ought, entirely devoted to your family, 
 let me earnestly entieat your friendship and pro- 
 tectioa in my absence. Farewell. 
 
 , u. 702 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 To Caiu.i Afarcellus^. 
 The advancement of your son to the consular 
 dignity, and your enjoying a pleasure you so much 
 ■wished to obtain, are circumstances which 
 afford me a very uncommon satisfaction. 
 They do so not only ujion his account, but yours, 
 whom I esteem as highly deserving of every advan- 
 tage that Fortune can bestow. Let me acknowledge 
 at the same time that I have experienced your 
 singular good-will towards me, both in the adverse 
 and prosperous seasons of my life ; and, indeed, my 
 welfare and honours have been the zealous concern 
 of your whole family. I shall be extremely obliged 
 
 the jjreceding letter is addressed, and by whose interest, 
 in conjunction witli that of Pompey, he was elected to 
 Ruccoed him in the consular office. lie pursued the poli- 
 tics of his illustrious relation and predecessor, by firmly 
 opposing the views of Ciesar. — Dio, xl. 
 
 P Father of Caius Jlarcellus, to whom the foregoing letter 
 is written. 
 
 to you, therefore, for making my sincere and par- 
 ticular congratulations upon this occasion to that 
 excellent woman, your wife. To which request I 
 will only add, that I entreat the continuance of 
 your friend.ship and protection in my absence. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 To Lucius Pmditst, Consul elect. 
 Though I never once doubted, that in consi- 
 deration of your most illustrious family, and of those 
 A u "(I-' ''"portant services you have yourself like- 
 wise rendered to the commonwealth, you 
 would l)e unanimously elected consul ; yet, the con- 
 firmation of this desirable news afforded me an 
 inexi)ressible satisfaction. It is my sincere wish 
 that the gods may give success to your adminis- 
 tration, and that you may acquit yourself of this 
 honourable and important trust as becomes your 
 own character and that of your distinguished family. 
 I should have thought myself extremely happy to 
 have been present at your election, and to have 
 contributed those services which your extraordinary 
 favours to me require. But, as the unexpected 
 government of this provinie has deprived me of 
 that pleasure, I hope I shall have the satisfaction of 
 seeing you at least in the worthy exercise of your 
 consular office. For this purjiosc, I most earnestly 
 entreat you not to suffer me to be injuriously con- 
 tinued in this province beyond the expiration of my 
 year ; a favour which I shall esteem as a very con- 
 ' siderable addition to those instances of friendship 
 I have already received at your hands. Farewell. 
 1 He was colleague with Caius Marcellus, mentioned in 
 the last note. He set out in his administration, it was 
 j thought, with principles agreeable to tliose of his associate. 
 ! But C-Bsar peifectly well knew how to make him change 
 I his sentiments ; and, by proper applications to his avarice 
 ' and profusion, he added him to the number of his supple 
 I mercenaries. — Plut. in Vit. Pomp. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 To the Consuls, the Prcetors, the Tribunes of the 
 
 People, and the Senate. 
 
 The many obstructions I met with in my ■way 
 
 to this province ■■, both by sea and land, prevented 
 
 me from reaching it sooner than the last 
 
 '' ' of July. I thought it my first duty, on 
 
 my arrival, to see that the militia and garrisons 
 
 were in good order ; being articles in which the 
 
 interest of the republic is principally concerned. 
 
 Accordingly, I have taken all proper measures to 
 
 that end ; though I cannot forbear adding, that I 
 
 have been enabled to effect this more by my own 
 
 care and diligence than from any supplies I was 
 
 furnished with for that purpose. Having thus 
 
 adjusted my military preparations, and receiving 
 
 - Cicero's province comprehended not only Cilicia, but 
 Pamphylia, Lycaonia, part of Phrj-gia, and the island of 
 Cyprus, together with some other less considerable appen- 
 dages. Cilicia was first added to the Roman provinces by 
 PubliusServilius, surnamedlsauricus, in the year of Rome 
 <3(ia— Ad Att. v. 21 ; Ammian. Marcellin. xiv. 8. 
 
 daily intelligence that the Parthians had actually 
 invaded Syria, I thought it advisable.to move with 
 my forces through Lycaonia, Isaurica, and Cappa- 
 docia. It seemed highly probable, indeed, if the 
 enemy had any design of attempting an irruption 
 into my province, that they would direct their 
 route through Cappadocia, as being a country that 
 could give them the least opposition. I marched, 
 therefore, into that part of Cappadocia which lies 
 contiguous to Cilicia, and encamped at Cybistra, a 
 town at the foot of Mount Taurus. I had a doubhi 
 view in leading my troops to this place. The first 
 was, that in whatever disposition Artuasdes, king 
 of Armenia, stood towards us, he might be sensible 
 that a Roman army was not far from his frontiers 
 and in the next place that I might be as near as 
 possible to DeiotarusS — a prince, I well knew, 
 
 s He was prince of Galatia, a country bordering on 
 Phrygia. He distinguished his zeal for the republic in all 
 the Asiatic wars in which the Romans were engaged during 
 hio reign, and was particularly serviceable to Pompey in 
 his expedition against Mithridates ; for which he was ho- 
 noured by the senate with the title of king. Some time
 
 TO Si:VEIlAL OF His FRIENDS. 
 
 401. 
 
 extremely our friend, and wliose counsel and 
 assistance might prove of great advantage in the 
 present conjuncture. As soon as I had finished 
 my encampment, I detached my cavalry before me 
 into Cilicia. This I did in order to confirm the 
 several cities in that part of my province in their 
 allegit;nce, by giving them notice of my arrival, and 
 likewise that I might have the earliest intelligence 
 of what was transacting in Syria. During the 
 three days that I continued in this camp, I was 
 engaged in discharging a commission equally ne- 
 cessary and important. I had received your express 
 commands to take the worthy and faithful Ario- 
 barzanes' under my particular protection, and to 
 defend both his person and his kingdom to the 
 utmost of my power. In your decree, which passed 
 for this purpose, a clause was inserted declaring 
 that " the welfare of this province was much the 
 concern of the people and senate of Rome ;" an 
 honour which was never before paid to any poten- 
 tate. For this reason I thought it became me to 
 signify to him in person the distinction which you 
 had conferred upon him. I acquainted him, there- 
 fore, in the presence of my council, with the 
 instructions you had given me in his behalf ; and 
 called upon him to let me know if there was any 
 instance in which he had occasion for my service. 
 I assured iiim at the same time, on my own part, 
 that I offered him my protection with the utmost 
 zeal and fidelity. He began his speech with ex- 
 pressing a proper sense of the high honour thus 
 conferred upon h'Pi by the people and senate of 
 Rome. He then addressed his acknowledgments 
 to me in particular, for having executed my com- 
 mission in such a manner as to convince him both 
 of the sincerity with which I proffered him my 
 good offices, and of the strong injunctions I had 
 received from the republic for that purpose. 
 
 It gave me great satisfaction to hear him say, in 
 4his our first internew, that he neither knew, nor 
 indeed suspected, any designs to be carrying on 
 •either against his life or his crown. After I had 
 
 after the battle of Pliarsalia, (in which he joined with 
 Pompey,) his own grandson came to Rome witli an im- 
 peachment against him. lie pretended that Deiotarns 
 formed a design, when Cjpsar was his guest, as he lately 
 passed through his dominions, of assassinating that gene- 
 ral. This cause seems to have been pleaded in Caesar's 
 own house, where both Cicero and Brutus appeared as 
 advocates for Deiotarns. The speech which the former 
 made upon this occasion is still extiuit: and if an orator 
 may be credited in the character he gives of his client, 
 this prince was endowed with every royal virtue. — Orat. 
 ,pro Deiot. 
 
 ' The kingdom of Cappadocia^, of which Ariobarzanes 
 was monarch, was of a very large extent, comprehending 
 the gi-eater part of those countries, at present under the 
 Ottoman dominion, which ai-e now called Amasia, Genec, 
 and Tocat. It appears, however, by the letters to Atticus, 
 that this kingdom was so extremely impoverished, that 
 the crown was almost wholly destitute of any revenues — 
 a circumstance to which Horace alludes in one of his 
 • epistles : 
 
 Mancipiis locuples eget seris Cappadocum rex. 
 Tlic instance that Plutarch gives of the great scarcity of 
 money among these people is indeed almost incredible, if 
 what the ancient geographers assert be true, that their 
 country aboimded in silver mines : for that historian tells 
 ws, that when LucuUus was carrying on the war against 
 jUithridates, in this part of the world, an ox sold in Cap- 
 padocia for about fourpence, and a slave for sixpence. — Ad 
 Att. vi. 1 ; Hor. Ep. i. G ; Plut. in Vit. Luculli. 
 
 congratulated him upon so happy a circumstance, 
 and exliiMttd him, in remembrance of his father's 
 fate, carefully to observe the admonitions of the 
 senate in being particularly cautious of his person, 
 he took hi.s leave and returned to Cybistra. The 
 next day, however, he paid me a second visit in 
 my tent, accompanied by his brother Ariarathes, 
 together with several venerable old ministers of his 
 late father, who, in a very plaintive and affecting 
 manner, all joined with him in imploring my pro- 
 tection. Upon my inquiring, with much surprise, 
 what sudden accident had occasioned this unex- 
 pected visit, he told me that he had just received 
 certain information of a design to seize his crown ; 
 that those who were apprised of this conspiracy 
 had not the courage to disclose it till my arrival, 
 but in confidence of my protection had now ven- 
 tured to lay open to him the whole jilot ; and that 
 the disaffected party had actually made treasonable 
 applications to his brother, of whose singular 
 loyalty and affection he expressed at the same time 
 the strongest assurance. This account was con- 
 firmed to me by Ariarathes himself, who acknow- 
 ledged that he had been solicited to accept the 
 government ; which in effect, he said, was avowing 
 their intention of destroying Ariobarzanes, as he 
 could never reign during his brother's hfe. He 
 added, that he had not acquainted the king with 
 these treasonable overtures before, as being appre- 
 hensive for his own person if he had ventured to 
 reveal them sooner. When he had finished, I 
 exhorted Ariobarzanes to take all proper precautions 
 for his security ; and then turning to the approved 
 and experienced ministers of his father's and 
 grandfather's reign, I reminded them of the cruel 
 fate that had attended their late sovereign, and 
 admonished them to be so much the more particu- 
 larly vigilant in protecting their present. 
 
 The king requested me to supply him with some 
 troops both of horse and foot ; which, however, I 
 refused, notwithstanding I was empowered and 
 indeed directed to do so by your decree. The 
 truth is, the daily accounts I received of what was 
 transacting in Syria, rendered it expedient, for the 
 interest of the republic, that 1 should march my 
 whole army, with all expedition, to the borders of 
 Cilicia. Besides, as the conspiracy against Ario- 
 barzanes was now fully detected, he appeared to be 
 in a condition of defending his crown without the 
 assistance of a Roman army. I contented myself, 
 therefore, with giving him my advice ; and recom- 
 mended it to him, as the first art of government, 
 to found his security on the affections of his people. 
 With this view, I persuaded hiai to exert his royal 
 authority in the present conjuncture no farther 
 than necessity should require, and against those 
 only whom he perceived to be most deeply engaged 
 in the plot : as for the rest, that he should grant 
 them a free and general pardon. To which I added, 
 that the best use he could make of my army was, 
 to intimidate the guilty from persevering in their 
 designs, rather than actually to turn it against 
 them ; and that, when the decree of the senate in 
 his favour should be generally knovm, the disaf- 
 fected party would be well convinced that I should 
 not fail of assisting him, pursuant to your orders, 
 if occasion required. 
 
 Having thus encouraged him, I struck my tents, 
 and am now proceeding on my march to Cilicia. 
 1 had the satisfaction, in leaving Cappadocia, to 
 D D
 
 402 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TTJLLIUS CICERO 
 
 reflect that my arrival had worulerfully, and indeed 
 almost jirovidentially, dtlivered tliat monarch from 
 conspiracy which was upon the very point of 
 taking effect. This reflection was so much the 
 more agreeable to me, as you had not only volun- 
 tarily, and without any application for that purpose, 
 honoured Arioijarzanes with the acknowledgment 
 of his regal title, i)ut had particularly recommended 
 him to my protection, aiul expressly declared in 
 your decree that his security was highly your con- 
 cern. I judged it proper, therefore, to send you 
 this minute account of what has passed in relation 
 to Ariobarzanes, that you might see with how 
 much prudence you had long before jjrovided 
 against a contingency which- had well nii;h haj)- 
 pcned. And this I the rather do, as that prince 
 appears to be co faithfully attached to the republic, 
 as well as endowed with such great and excellent 
 qualities, as to justify the extraordinary zeal you 
 have shown for his interest. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 To Thermits, Proprcetor^. 
 Luc'us Genucilius Curvus has been long in 
 the number of my most intimate friends ; and, 
 _ indeed, no man possesses a worthier or 
 ■ ' ' "■ more grateful lieart. 1 recommend him, 
 therefore, most warmly and entirely to your pro- 
 tection; beseeching you to assist him upon every 
 occas'.on that shall not be inconsistent with your 
 honour and dignity. This is a restriction, however, 
 which I might well have spared ; as I am sure he 
 will never make you a request unworthy either of 
 your character or his own. But I must jiarticu- 
 larjy entreat your favour in relation to his afl'airs 
 in Hellespontus. In the first place, then, I beg 
 you would confirm the grant of certain lands which 
 vFas made to him by the city of Parion", and which 
 he has hitherto enjoyed without molestation : in 
 the next place, that if any inhabitant of Helles- 
 pontus should controvert his rights of this kind, you 
 would direct the cause to be heard in that district. 
 But, after having already assigned him wholly to 
 your patronage, it is unnecessary to point out par- 
 ticular articles wherein J. request your good offices. 
 To say all then in one -word : be assured I shall 
 consider every instance wherein you shall advance 
 either his honour or his interest as so many imme- 
 diate favours conferred upon myself. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER in. 
 To Apphes Pulcher. 
 Though I am by no means disposed to be more 
 favourable to myself than to you, in judging of the 
 ^ part we have respectively acted towards 
 ■ ' "■ each other ; yet, when I reflect on our 
 late mutual behaviour, I have far greater reason to 
 be satisfied with my own conduct than with yours. 
 " Quintus Blinucius Tliermus was prsetor in the year 
 of I?omc7"l. At tlie cxpu-atiira of his office, he was ap- 
 pointed propi-actor, or governor of that part of the Asiatic 
 continent, styled Asia proper, which included Lydia, Ionia, 
 Caria, 3iysia, and pait of Phrygia. Cicero speaks of him 
 in a letter to Attieiis, as exercising his administration with 
 great integrity.— Ad Att. vi. 1. 
 * A. city ill Hellespont 
 
 As I knew the high rank which Phanias justly 
 possesses in your confidence and esteem, I inquired 
 of him when we met at Hrundisium in what jiart 
 of the province he imagineil you chose I should 
 receive the resignation of your governmeiit. He 
 assured me it would be extremely agreeable to you 
 if 1 landed at Sida". For this reason, notwith- 
 standing I could not have made so sjilendid an 
 entrance from that city, and it was incoiiveuieiit to 
 me, likewise, U])on many other accounts, yet I told 
 him I would certainly comply with your inclinations. 
 Some time afterwards 1 had a conference with your 
 friend Clodius, at (!orcyra, and I always consider 
 myself as talking to you whenever 1 am conversing 
 with him. 1 repeated, therefore, the same i)romise 
 I had given to Phanias, and assured him that I 
 intended to pursue the route which the latter had 
 marked out to me. Clodius made many acknow- 
 ledgments upon this occasion in your name, but 
 ent_reatcd me to change my design and proceed 
 directly to Laodicea. For it was your purpose, he 
 said, to advance towards the maritime part of the 
 province in order to embark as soon as possible. 
 He added, at the same time, that it was from your 
 great desire to see me that you had deferred your 
 departure ; for, had any other person been your 
 successor, you would not have waited his arrivaL 
 And this, indeed, corresponded with the letters I 
 received from you at Rome, by which I perceived 
 your great impatience to leave the province. I 
 informed Clodius that 1 would comply with his 
 request and with much more willingness, I told 
 him, than if I had been to have executed my first 
 engagement with Phanias. I therefore changed 
 my plan, and immediately gave you notice of it 
 with my own hand, — which, I find by your letter, 
 you received in due time. When I reflect upon 
 my conduct in this instance, I have the satisfaction 
 to be assured that it is perfectly consonant to the 
 strictest friendship. And now let me desire you 
 to consider your behaviour in return. You were 
 so far then from waiting in that part of the 
 province which would have given us the earliest 
 opportunity of an interview, that you withdrew* to 
 such a distance as to render it impossible for me 
 to reach you within the thirty days limited (if I 
 mistake not) by the Cornelian law>', for your de- 
 parture. This proceeding (to speak of it in the 
 softest terms) must look with no friendly aspect 
 in the eye of those who are unacquainted with cur 
 real sentiments towards each other, — as it has the 
 appearance of your industriously avoiding a con- 
 ference : whereas mine, on the contrary, must 
 undoubtedly be deemed conformable to whatever 
 could be expected from the strongest and most 
 intimate union. 
 
 «■ A sea-port town of considerable note in Pamphylia. 
 
 ^ It was usual for tlie governors of provinces, when they 
 entered upon their administration, to publish what ihey 
 styled an cilicl ; whicli was a kind of code or formulary of 
 laws, by which they intended to proceed in tlie dispensa- 
 tion of justice. Cicero's institutes of this sort were founded 
 upon maxims so exti'emely different from those by which 
 Appius had regulated himself, that the latter looked upon 
 them as so many indirect reflections upon his own unwor- 
 thy conduct. And this seems to have been the occasion of 
 his treating Cicero in the manner of which he here, and. 
 in other subsequent letters, so much and bo justly corn- 
 plains. — ^Ad Att. vi. I. 
 
 y This law was so called from its author, Cornelius SyUs,, 
 the dictator.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 403 
 
 In the letter I received from you before my 
 arrival in the ])roviiict-', though you mentioned your 
 design of going to Tarsus^, you still flattered me 
 •\ith hopes of a meeting. In the mean time, there 
 are some who have the malice (for malice, I sup- 
 j;ose, is their motive, as tliat vice indeed is widely 
 diffused among mankind) to lay hold of this plau- 
 sible pretence to alienate rne from you, little aware 
 that I am not easily shaken in my friendships. 
 They assure ine, that when you had reason to be- 
 lieve I was arrived in the jirovince, you held a 
 court of judicature at Tarsus, and exercised such 
 Other acts of authority as even those who have yet 
 some little time unexpired in their ministry do not 
 usually choose to discharge. Their insinuations, 
 nevertheless, are far from making any impression 
 upon me. On the contrary, I rather consider you 
 as having kindly eased me of part of my approach- 
 ing trouble ; and I rejoice tliat you have thus 
 abridged me of one fatiguing month out of the 
 twelve I must pass through in my government. 
 To speak freely, however, there is a circumstance 
 that gives me concern ; and I cannot but regret to 
 find, that out of the small number of forces in the 
 province, there are no less than three complete 
 cohorts wanting, and I know not in what part they 
 are dispersed. But my principal uneasiness is, 
 that I cannot learn where I shall see you ; and 1 
 should have sooner told you so if I had not con- 
 cluded, from your total silence, both as to what 
 you were doing and where you proposed to give 
 me aa interview, that I might daily expect your 
 arrival. I have, therefore, despatched my brave and 
 worthy friend Antonius, praefect of the Evocati'*, 
 ■with this letter ; and, if you think proper, you may 
 deliver up to him the command of the troops, that 
 I may be able to enter upon some action ere the 
 season is too far advanced. I had reason to hope, 
 both from our friendship and your letters, to have 
 had the benefit of your advice upon this occasion ; 
 and indeed I will not even yet despair of enjoying 
 that advantage. However, unless you give me 
 notice, it is impossible I should discover either 
 when or where I am to have that satisfaction. In 
 the mean while, I shall endeavour to convince even 
 the most uncandid, as well as the equitable j)art 
 of the world, that I am sincerely your friend. I 
 cannot forbear saying, nevertheless, that those who 
 are not disposed to judge in the most favourable 
 manner, have some little cause to imagine that you 
 do not bear the same amicable disposition towards 
 me, and I shall be much obliged to you for endea- 
 vouring to remove their suspicions. 
 
 That you may not be at a loss what measures to 
 take in order to our meeting consistently '^ with 
 
 ^ The capital city of Cilicia. It is celebrated by Strabo, 
 for having once vied with Athens and Alexandria in polite 
 and philosophical literature ; but it is far more worthy of 
 notice as being the birth-place of that great apostle of the 
 Gentiles, St. Paul. 
 
 » These were troops composed of experienced soldiers, 
 who had served out their legal time, or had received their 
 dismission as a reward of their valour. They usually guard- 
 ed the chief standard, and were excused from the more 
 servile employments of the military functions. 
 
 t> It appears by what follows, that this time was already 
 elapsed. Mr. Ross was aware of this difficulty, and has 
 solved it by supposing that Cicero " must mean some place 
 irithout the limits of the province." For otherwise Cicero's 
 request cannot bo reconciled, that commentator observes, 
 to the terms of the Cornelian law. 
 
 the terms of the Cornelian law, I think it necessary 
 to inform you, that I arrived in the province oa 
 the last day of July ; that I marched from Iconium 
 on the 31st of August, and am now advancing to 
 Cilicia by the way of Cappadocia. After having 
 thus traced out my route, you will let me know, in 
 case you should think proper to meet me, what 
 time and place will be most convenient to you for 
 that purpose. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Marcus Cato'^. 
 
 I THOUGHT it agreeable to our friendship to 
 communicate to you the intelligence I liave lately 
 ^ ^ ^ij., received. I am to inform you, then, that 
 envoys from Antiocbus, king of Comma- 
 gene ^, arrived in my camp at Iconium, on the 30th 
 of August. They brought me advice that the king 
 of Parthia's son, who is married, it seems, to a 
 si.ster of the king of Armenia, was advanced to the 
 batiks of the Euphrates ; that he was at the head 
 of a very considerable army, composed of his own 
 nation, together with a large body of foreign auxi- 
 liaries ; that he had actually begun to transport his 
 troops over the river ; and that it was reported the 
 king of Armenia had a design to invade Cappa- 
 docia. I have forborne to acquaint the senate with 
 this news for two reasons. The first is, because the 
 Commagenian envoys assured me that Antiochus 
 had immediately despatched an express to Rome 
 with this account ; and, in the next place, knowing 
 that the proconsul Marcus Bibulus' had sailed 
 from Ephesus with a favourable wind about the 
 13th of August, I imagined he had by this time 
 reached his province, and would be able to give 
 the senate a more certain and particular intelli- 
 gence. 
 
 As to my own situation with respect to this im- 
 portant war, it is my utmost endeavour to find that 
 security from the clemency of my administration, 
 and the fidelity of our allies, which I can scarce 
 expect from the strength and number of my troops. 
 I have only to add my entreaties that you would 
 continue, as usual, to favour me with your friendly 
 offices in my absence. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To Thermits, ProprcBlor. 
 
 Cltjvius Puteolanus distinguishes me, npon 
 all occasions, with the highest marks of esteem ; 
 ^„,, indeed, we are united in the strictest 
 bands of amity. He has some affairs iu 
 your province, and, unless he should be able by my 
 means to settle them during your administration, 
 he looks upon them as utterly desperate. This 
 task, my very obliging friend having assigned 
 to my care, I take the liberty (in confidence of that 
 most amicable disposition you have ever discovered 
 towards me) of transferring it to yours ; with this 
 restriction, nevertheless, that it do not e ngage yog 
 
 c Some account will be given of this great and celebra- 
 ted patriot, in the notes on the first letter of the following 
 book. 
 
 <i Commagene was a part of Syiia not subjected to the 
 Boman dominion. 
 
 e Proconsul of Syria. 
 
 D D 2
 
 40i 
 
 1 HE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 \a too much trouble. I am to inform you, then, 
 tliat tlie corporations of Mylata and Alabanda' are 
 respec-tivfly imltbted to Cluviiis ; and tliat Euthy- 
 denius assured iiu', wlieii 1 saw liiin at Kpliesus, 
 he would take care that syndics *>' should be sent to 
 Rome from the former, in order to adjust the 
 matters in controversy between them. This, 
 however, has not been iicrformt'd : on the con- 
 trary, I iiciir tiiey have commissioned deputies to 
 nefjotiate tliis affair in their stead. Hut syndics 
 :ire the jMnper persons, and therefore 1 entreat 
 you to command tiiese cities to despatch those 
 oflicers lo Rome, that this cjuestion may be soon 
 and finally determined. 1 am fartlicr to acquaint 
 you, that I'liilotes, of Al.iband i, li;is assigned cer- 
 tain efiVcts to Cluvius by a hill of sale. Hut the 
 time lor ])ayment of the money, for which they are 
 a security, beinu; ela])sed, 1 beg you would comjiel 
 him either to discharge the debt, or to deliver the 
 goods to the agents of Cluvius. My friend has 
 likewise some demands of the same kind ujion the 
 cities of Ueraclea and Uargylos''. I beseech you, 
 therefore, either to i)rocure him satisfaction by an 
 immediate jjayment, or to oblige thetn to put him 
 in possession of a ])roportionable jiart of their 
 demesnes. The corporation of Caunus' is also 
 indebted to Cluvius : but they insist that, as the 
 money has been ready for him, and actually lodged 
 in the temple for that purpose, he is not entitled 
 to any interest beyond the time the princijial was 
 80 depositedJ. I entreat the favour of you to 
 
 f Two cilios of Caria, in Asia Minor. 
 
 g These officers wore a kind of solicitors to the treasury 
 of their respective corporations. 
 
 ^ In Caria. 
 
 ' This city was likewise in Caria. 
 
 J This patwage is i-endered in a sense very different from 
 that in whicli all the commentators have understood it. 
 They take the expression, aiunt sc jKCttn'.am depositam 
 hiihiiissi.% to mean, that the Caunians pretended the money 
 in dispute was a deposite ; and, therefore, that they were 
 not liable to pay interest. I5ut if we suppose the question 
 between the Caunians and Cluvius to have been, whether 
 the sum he dem,inded was or was not a deposite, the 
 request which Cicero afterwards makes must be highly 
 unjust: — "si intellexeris eos neque ex edicto neque ex 
 dccrcto deposit.am habuisse, dea operam ut usuia? Cluvio 
 conserventur." For if they were merely trustees, it could 
 make no equitable difference whether the money came to 
 them by a judicial decree, or from a private hand ; and in 
 either ca,se it must have been equally oppressive to oblige 
 them to pay interest. Now this difficulty will be entirely 
 removed by supposing that the expression depositam 
 habuisse, is periphrastical, and to be resolved into deposu- 
 use. And this is agreeable to the idiom of the Latin 
 language, as well as to tiie manner in which Cicero 
 expresses himself upon other occasions. Thus in his trea- 
 tise " DeClar. Orat." (147,) habere copniium Sccsvulam, 
 is equivalent to cognoscerc : as in V\a.\it\xs vobishanchabeo 
 ediciionem, is the same as edico. — [Pseud, i. ii. 39.] But if 
 pecuniam depositam habuisse, is a circumlocution for 
 dcposuisse, some substantive must be understood to com- 
 Iilete the sense ; and accordingly a passage in the letters to 
 Atticns will not only point out the word required, but 
 prove likcv/isethatrfcpoj'oisusedin this elliptical manner. 
 — Cicero, giving an account to Atticus of a transaction 
 relating to the claim of a debt due from the city of Salamis, 
 in Cyprus, tells him that dcponerc volcbant — [Ad. Att. vi. 
 1.] which, in another letter where he is speaking of the 
 very same affair, he expresses at full length : " ut iiifano 
 deponerentpostulantibus, (sayshe.lnonconcessi." [Ad Att. 
 V. 21.] And the last-cited passages will not only justify, 
 but explain, the sense contended for ; as they prove that it 
 was usual where any controversy arose concerning the 
 
 enquire into the truth of the fact ; and if it shall 
 appear that the sum in question was not paid into 
 t!ie sacred treasury either in conformity to the 
 general edict'', or special decree, of the prator, 
 to direct that (,'luvius may have such a rate of in- 
 terest allowed him, as is agreeable to the laws you 
 have established in these cases. 
 
 I enter with so much the more warmth into 
 these affiiirs, as my friend Pom[)ey likewise makes 
 them his own, and, indeed, seems more solicitous 
 for their success than even Cluvius himself. As I 
 am extremely desirous that the latter should have 
 reason to be satisfied with my guuJ offices, I most 
 earnestly request yours upon this occasion. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 To the Consul--, (he Prcptors, the Tribunes of the 
 Pcojttc, and the Senate. 
 
 The first intelligence I received that the Par- 
 thians had ])assed the greatest part of their army 
 ^ y ..^, over the Euphrates was extremely posi- 
 tive. However, as I imagined the pro- 
 consul, Marcus IJibulus, could give you a more 
 certain account of this event, I did not think it 
 necessary to charge myself with the relation of what 
 more immediately concerned the province of an- 
 other. But, since my last despatch, I have been 
 farther and more satisfactorily assured of this fact, 
 by several expresses and deputations that have 
 been sent to me for that purpose. When I con- 
 sider, therefore, the great importance of this news 
 to the republic ; that it is uncertain, likewise, 
 whether Bibulus is yet arrived in Syria ; and that 
 I am almost equally concerned with him in the 
 conduct of this war ; I deem myself obliged to 
 communicate to you the purport of my several 
 iuf irmations. 
 
 The first advice I received was from the ambas- 
 sadors of Antiochus, king of Commagene, who 
 acquainted me that the Parthians had actually begun 
 to transport a very considerable body of forces over 
 the Euphrates. But, as it was the opinion of some 
 of my council that no great credit was to be given 
 to any intelhgence that came from this quarter, I 
 thought proper to wait for better information. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the 19tli of September, whilst I was 
 on my march towards Cilicia, I was met by a 
 courier on the frontiers of Lycaonia and Cappado- 
 cia, with an express from' Tarcondimotus; a prince 
 esteemed the most faithful of our allies on that side 
 
 quantum of a debt, for the defendant to apply for leave 
 to pay the money into some temple ; from which time it 
 no longer carried interest. Thus Cicero tells Atticus that 
 the interest upon the debt due from the city of Salamis 
 ought to have censed, cunsisterc iisura debitit: and assigns 
 tliis roa:on for itr—<leponere volcbant: theywere ready and 
 desirous to have lodged it in the sacred treasury. But in 
 the case of Cluvius, if the Caunians had paid in the money 
 without giving him notice, (which might very possibly 
 have been the fact if they had not acted under a judicial 
 order,) it was no unreasonable request to desire they might 
 be compelled to pey the whole interest up to the time 
 when Cluvius should receive the principal. 
 
 1' By the term edict is meant, in this place, that formu- 
 lary of provincial laws explained in re»i. ^, p. 402. 
 
 ' His dominions lay on the southern side of Mount Tau- 
 rus, in a part of Cilicia which the Romans had not thought 
 proper to annex to their province. A coin of this prince 
 is still extant, — Sec Biblioth. Raisonnee, torn. xii. p. 329.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 40& 
 
 the Taurus, and extremely in the interest of the 
 Romans. The purport of his despatches was to 
 inform me that a powerful body of horse, com- 
 manded by Pacorus, the son of Orodes, king of 
 Parthia, had passed the Euphrates, and were en- 
 camped at Tyba, and that the province of Syria was 
 in great commotion. Tlie same day I received an 
 express likewise to this purpose from Jamblichus, 
 an Arabian phylarch'", and one who has the gene- 
 ral reputation of being a friend to the republic. 
 Upon the whole, therefore, I came to a resolution 
 of leading my army to Tarsus". I was sensible that 
 our allies in general were far from being warm in 
 our interest, and were only waiting the opportunity 
 of some favourable revolution to desert us. I flat- 
 tered myself, however, that the lenity and modera- 
 tion of my conduct towards such of them through 
 whose territories I had already passed, would 
 render them better inclined to the Romans, as I 
 hoped to strengthen Cilicia in its allegiance, by 
 giving that part of my province an opportunity of 
 experiencing also the same equitable administra- 
 tion. But I had still a farther inducement : I 
 determined upon this march, not only in order to 
 chastise those who had taken up arms in Cilicia, 
 but also to convince our enemies in Syria that the 
 army of the Romans, far from being disposed to 
 retreat upon the news of their invasion, were so 
 much the more eager to advance. 
 
 If my advice, then, has any weiglit, let me ear- 
 nestly exhort and admonish you to take proper 
 measures for tlie preservation of these provinces ; 
 measures, indeed, which ought to have been con- 
 certed long before, as you were well apprised of 
 those dangers which are now almost within my 
 view. I need not inform you in what manner you 
 thought proper to equip me when I was sent into 
 this part of the world, under a full expectation of 
 being engaged in so important a war. If I did tiot, 
 however, refuse this commission, it was not because 
 I was so weak as to be insensible how ill provided 
 I was to execute it in a proper manner, but merely 
 in submissive deference to your commands. The 
 truth is, I have at all times willingly exposed mv- 
 self to the utmost hazards, rather than not testify 
 my implicit obedience to your authority. But the 
 plain fact is, that if you do not speedily send a very 
 powerful reinforcement into these provinces, the 
 republic will be in the greatest danger of losing 
 tlie whole of her revenues in this part of the world. 
 If your reliance is upon the provincial militia, be 
 assured you will be extremely disappointed ; as they 
 are very inconsiderable in point of numbers, and 
 such miserable dastards as to run away upon the 
 first alarm. The brave Marcus Bibulus is so sen- 
 sible of the nature of these Asiatic troops, that he 
 has not thought proper to raise any of them, though 
 he had your express permission for that purpose. 
 As to the assistance that may be expected from our 
 allies, the severity and injustice of our government 
 has either so greatly weakened them as to put it 
 out of their power to be of much service to us, or 
 so entirely alienated their affections as to render 
 it unsafe to trust them. The inclinations, however, 
 and the forces too (whatever they be°) of king 
 
 "' The lord or chief of a clan. 
 
 " In the original it is aJ Taurum ; but Mr. Ross with 
 good reason supposes there is an error in the text, and that 
 it should be read ad Tarsum. 
 
 « It is probable that Cicero did not at this time know 
 
 Deiotarus, I reckon as entirely ours. Cappadocia 
 is wholly unfurnished with any j)lace of strength ; 
 and as to those other neighbouring princes, our 
 allies, they are neither willing nor able to afford us 
 any considerable succours. Ill provided, however, 
 as I am with troops, my courage, you may be 
 assured, shall not be wanting; nor, I trust, my 
 prudence. What the event may prove is altogether 
 uncertain : I can oidy wish that I may be in a con- 
 dition to defend myself with as much success as I 
 certainly shall with honour. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 Marcus Ccelius lo Cicero. 
 
 Though I have some jjolitical news to commu- 
 nicate to you, yet I can acquaint you with nothing, 
 „ I believe, that will give you more pleasure 
 
 ■ ■ ' ■ than what I am going previously to 
 mention. You are to know then that lluf'usP, your 
 favourite Sempronius Rufus, has been lately con- 
 victed of false accusation'!, to the singidar joy of 
 the whole city. This prosecution was occasioned 
 by the following circumstance. Rufus, soon after 
 the exhibition of the Roman games"', was impeached 
 by Marcus Tuccius ; and being sensible that the 
 charge would be proved against him, and that his 
 trial must unavoidably come on this year, unless 
 some other of a higher nature^ intervened, he de- 
 termined upon an expedient for that purpose. 
 Accordingly, as no one, he thouglit, had so good a 
 title to the honour of this precedence as his prose- 
 cutor, he preferred an accusation upon the Plotian 
 law' against Tuccius, for a violation of the public 
 
 their number ; but they were by no means inconsiderable. 
 For it appears by a letter to Atticus, that they amounted 
 to li,000 foot, amied in the Kunian manner, and 2,000 
 horse. — Ad Att. vi. 1. 
 
 p Cicero mentions this person in a letter to Atticus, as a 
 man wlio had failed in the civilities he owed him, by not 
 waiting upon him before lie set out for Cilicia ; but at the 
 sametimeexpresses asatisfaction in having, by that means, 
 becu spared the trouble of a very disagreeable visitor. The 
 epitliet, therefore, which Ccelius here gives to Rufus must 
 be understood ironically. — .\d Att. v. 2. 
 
 1 " The Roman laws were particularly severe against 
 those who were discovered to have offended in this point 
 In criminal causes they inflicted banishment, and oriiinis 
 am'issio (the loss of rank). In civil causes the plaintiff 
 generally deposited a simi of money, which he forfeited if 
 he was found gviilty of bringing a vexatious suit. Cicero 
 alludes to another punishment of marking a letter upon 
 the forehead of the false informer, ' Pro Rose. Am. 20.' It 
 wa.s tlie letter K which was impressed upon tliem, that 
 being the first letter, according to the old orthography, in 
 the word Kalumnia." — Ross. 
 
 ■• These games were instituted by Tarquinius Priscus, 
 A.U. 138, in honour of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Their 
 annual celebration commenced on the iltli of September, 
 and continued nine days. 
 
 ' It is jinibablc, as JNIanutius observes, that the judges 
 of the present year were in general no friends to Rufus, 
 which made him endeavour to postpone liis trial. The 
 same learned commentator remarks, that all trials were 
 brought on in a regular rotation, unless in accusations that 
 were connected with some other cause that had been imme- 
 diately before adjudged, or in the ease of impeachments 
 for the violation of the public peace. These he proves, by 
 several instances, were always determined jirefei-ably to 
 all other causes whatsoever. 
 
 « The author of this law was P. Platius, or Plautiu.s, 
 tribune of the pe<iple, A. U. G75 ; and the penalty iuflictol 
 by it was b:uiishment.
 
 406 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 peace; a charge, however, which hecoulJ iiotj)revail 
 wilh a single person to suljscribe". As soon as I 
 was apprised of this aflair, 1 (lew to the assistance 
 of Tuccius without waiting his request. But when 
 I rose up to speak, I forbore entering into a parti- 
 cular ck-fence of my friend, contenting myself witli 
 displaying the character of his adversary in all its 
 true and odious colours, in which you may be sure 
 I did not forget the story concerning Vestorius, 
 and his unworthy conduct towards you. 
 
 Iniust inform you, likewise, of another trial which 
 at present greatly engages the forum. Marcus 
 Servilius had been convicted of extortion in his 
 office'', and 1 ventured to be his advocate, notwith- 
 standing the i)opular clamour was strongly against 
 him. Servilius, liowever, having dissipated his 
 whole estate, and being utterly insolvent, Pausa- 
 nius'" petitioned the pra'tor Laterensis (and I 
 spoke likewise in support of tiiis petition) that he 
 might be empowered to pursue the sum in question 
 into whose hands soever it should ai)pear to have 
 been paid'^. But this jictition was dismissed ; the 
 praetor alleging that I'ilius, a relation of our friend 
 Atticus, had also exhibited articles of impeachment 
 against my client for a crime of the same kind. 
 Tills news immediately spread throughout Rome ; 
 and it was generally said in all conversations, 
 that Pilius would certainly make good his charge. 
 Appius, the younger, was much disturbed at tliis 
 report, as having a claim upon Servilius of eighty- 
 one hundred thousand sesterces'^, a sum which he 
 scrupled not to avow had been deposited in the 
 hands of Servilius, in order to be paid over to the 
 prosecutor in an information against his father, 
 provided the informer would sutler himself to be 
 nonsuited. If you are surprised at the weakness 
 of Appius in thus acknowledging so shameful a 
 bargain, how much higher would your astonishment 
 have risen, if you had heard his evidence upon the 
 trial of that very ill-judged action which he brought 
 against Servilius for this money } He most clearly 
 
 " It seems to have been customary for the prosecutor in 
 capital causes to procure some of his friends to join with 
 him in elgning the articles of liis impeachment. These 
 •were styled suhscriptores, and acted as a sort of seconds to 
 him in this judicial combat. They could not, however, be 
 admitted into this association without a special licence 
 fi-om the judges for that purpose.— Hottom. in Q. Caecil. 
 Divin. 15. 
 
 " The whole account of the following transactions con- 
 cerning Servilius is extremely (perhaps impenetrably) 
 obscure in the original, and has exercised the ingenuity of 
 all the commentators to enlighten. The translator, how- 
 ever, has ventured in some instances to depart from them, 
 though he acknowledges, at the same time, that he isscarce 
 more satisfied with his own interpretation than with 
 theirs. 
 
 '" Who tliis person was, or in what manner concerned 
 in the present cause, is altogether undiscoverable. Perhaps, 
 as Mr. Ross conjectures, he might have been the prosecu- 
 tor. 
 
 ^ It appears by a passage which Manutius produces from 
 the oration in defence of Rabirius, that in convictions of 
 this kind th& money was recoverable by the Julian law 
 from any hand into which it could be proved to have 
 been paid.— Pro Rabir. Post. 4. 
 
 y About 65,307'- of our money. This sum must appear 
 excessive if considered only with respect to the wealth of 
 the present times. But Appius might well be enabled to 
 give it, and it might have been extremely prudent in him, 
 likewise, to have done so, if this prosecution was (what 
 seems highly probable) on account of his father's having 
 plundered some province committed to his administration. 
 
 indeed made appear, to the full satisfaction of the 
 whole court, both his own folly and his father's 
 guilt. To complete the absurdity of his conduct 
 upon this occasion, he was so imprudent as to 
 summon the very same judges upon this cause, who 
 tried the information I just now mentioned to have 
 been brought against his father. It happened, how. 
 ever that their voices were equally divided^, liut 
 the prietor, not knowing now the law stood in this 
 case, declared that Servilius had a majority of the 
 three classes of judges in his favour, and accord- 
 ingly acquitted him in the usual form. At the 
 rising of the court, therefore, it was generally 
 imagined that the acquittal of Servilius would be 
 enrolled. But. the prietor thinking it advisable to 
 look into the laws upon this point before he made 
 up the record, found it cx])ressly enacted, that " in 
 all causes sentence shall be jironounced according 
 to the majority of the votes in the whole collective 
 number of judges"." Instead, therefore, of regis- 
 tering the acquital of Servilius, he only inserteil ia 
 the roll the number of voices as they stood in each 
 respective class. Appius, in consequence of this 
 mistake, re-commenced his suit; while the pra;tor, 
 by the intervention of Lollius, promised to amend 
 the record, and enter a proper judgment. But the 
 hapless Servilius, neither entirely acquitted nor 
 absolutely condemned, is at length to be delivered 
 over, with this his blasted character, to the hands 
 of Pilius. For Appius not venturing to contend 
 with the latter, which of their actions should have 
 the priority, has thought proper to waive his prose- 
 cution. He himself is likewise impeached by the 
 relations of Servilius for bribery : as he has also 
 another accusation laid against him by one Titius, 
 a creature of his own, who has charged him with a 
 breach of the peace. And thus are these two 
 worthy combatants most equally matched. 
 
 As to public affairs : we had waited several days 
 in expectation that something would be determined 
 concerning Gaul, frequent motions having been 
 made in the senate for this purpose, which were 
 followed by very warm debates. At length, how- 
 ever, it plainly appearing, agreeable to Pompey's 
 sentiments, that Ctesar's command in Gaul should 
 not be continued longer than the first of March, 
 the senate passed the following orders and decrees'". 
 
 " By authority of the senate, held in the temple 
 of Apollo, on the 30th day of September. Signed': 
 L. Domitius Ahenobarbus ; Q.. Csecilius ; Metullus 
 Pius Scipio ; L. Villius Annalis ; C. Septimius ; 
 Caius Lucceius Hirrus ; C. Scribonius Curio ; L. 
 
 ^ In this case the Roman law determined by the most 
 favour.able presumption, and absolved the defendant. 
 
 ^ It has already been observed in the foregoing remarks 
 that the judges were divided into three classes. [See rem.^, 
 p. 393.] It is obvious, therefore, that there might have 
 been a majority in two of the classes out of the tliree, in 
 favour of Servilius, and yet that the voices considered with 
 respect to the whole number of judges might have been 
 equal. But it is inconceivable that a magistrate of pra?to- 
 rian r.ank could possibly be ignorant of a practice which 
 one can scarce suppose the most common citizen of Rome 
 to have been unacquainted with. >fotwithstanding, there- 
 fore, Coelius ascribes the prsetor's conduct to ignorance, it 
 seems much more probable to have arisen from design. 
 
 b With regard to the difference between an order and a 
 decree of the senate, see rem. •', p. 346. 
 
 c The decrees of the senate were usually signed in this 
 manner by those who were the principal promoters of tho 
 question.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 ■m 
 
 Atteius Capito ; M. Oppius. Whereas a motion 
 was made by Marcus Marcellus, the consul, con- 
 cerning the consular provinces, it is ordered, that 
 Lucius Paulus and Caius Marcellus, consuls elect, 
 shall, on the first of March next, following their 
 entering upon their office, move the senate con- 
 cerning the consular provinces, at which time no 
 other business shall be proceeded upon, nor any 
 other motion made in conjunction therewith. And 
 for this purpose the senate shall continue to 
 assemble, notwithstanding the comitial days'*, and 
 until a decree shall be passed." 
 
 " Ordered, that when the consuls shall move the 
 senate upon the question aforesaid, they shall be 
 empowered to summon such of the three hundred 
 judges who are members of the senate to attend'^." 
 
 " Resolved, that if any matters shall arise upon 
 the question aforesaid, which shall be necessary to 
 be laid before the people, that Servius Sulpicius 
 and Marcus Marcellus, the present consuls, together 
 with the praetors and tribunes of the people, or 
 such of them as shall be agreed upon, shall call an 
 assembly of the people for this purpose : and if the 
 magistrates aforesaid shall fail herein, the same 
 shall be proposed to the people by their successors." 
 
 " The thirtieth day of September, in the temple 
 ■of Apollo. Signed : L. Domitius Ahenobarbus ; 
 Q. Crecilius ; MetuUus Pius Scipio ; L. Villius 
 Annalis ; C. Septimius ; C. Scribonius Curio ; M. 
 Oppius. 
 
 " The consul, Marcus Marcellus, having moved 
 the senate concerning the provinces, 
 
 " Resolved, that it is the opinion of the senate, 
 that it will be highly unbecoming any magistrate 
 who has a power of controlling their proceedings, 
 to occasion any hindrance whereby the senate may 
 be prevented from taking the aforesaid motion into 
 consideration as soon as possible : and that whoso- 
 ever shall obstruct or oppose the same shall be 
 deemed an enemy to the republic. 
 
 " Ordered, that if any ma^astrate shall put a 
 negative upon the foregoing resolution, the same 
 shall be entered as an order of the senate, and again 
 referred to the consideration of this house." 
 
 This resolution was protested against by Caius 
 Ccelius. Lucius Vinicius, P. Publius Cornelius, and 
 Caius Vibius Pansa. 
 
 " Resolved, that the senate will take into consi- 
 deration the case of such of the soldiers under 
 Caesar's command who have served out their legal 
 time, or who, for other reasons, are entitled to a 
 discharge, and make such order thereupon as shall 
 be agreeable to equity ^" 
 
 d The comitial days were those on which the comitia, or 
 assemblies of tlie people, were held ; and on these tlie law 
 prohibited the senate to be convened. The senate, how- 
 ever, in the present instance, and agreeably to a preroga- 
 tive which they claimed and exercised upon many other 
 occasions, took upon themselves to act with a dispensing 
 power. — Mid. on the Rom. Sen. p. 121. 
 
 e Tliis clause was inserted in order to secure a full liouse, 
 .a certain number of senators being necessary to be present 
 for making a decree Talid. [See rem. f, p. 3G7.] Tlie cor- 
 rection of Manutius has been adopted in tlie translation, 
 who, instead of sex abducere liceret, reads eos abducere, 
 Ac. 
 
 f A Roman soldier could not be compelled to bear arms 
 .after Iiaving been in the service ten years:. As the strengtli 
 of Casar's army in Gaul consisted principally in his vete- 
 irans, tViis clause was added, as Gronovius observes, with a 
 wiew of drawiog off those -soldiers from his troops. 
 
 " Resolved, that if any magistrate shall put his 
 negative upon the foregoing decree, the same shall 
 stand as an order of senate, and be again referred 
 to the consideration of this house." 
 
 This resolution was protested against by Caius 
 Ccelius and Caius Pansa, tribunes of the peojile. 
 
 " Ordered, that such of the present praetors who 
 have never held any provincial command, shall draw 
 lots to succeed respectively to the government of 
 Cilicia and the eight remaining Praetorians^ pro- 
 vinces. But if there shall not be a sufficient 
 number'' of these to till up the aforesaid govern- 
 ments ; then, and in this case, the deficiency shall 
 be supplied by lot out of the first college' of praetors, 
 among those who have never lield a foreign govern- 
 ment. And if there shall not be found a sufficient 
 number among these last, so qualified as aforesaid, 
 the same shall be supplied from the members of 
 each preceding college, till the whole number 
 required be completed. 
 
 " Resolved, that if any magistrate shall put his 
 negative upon the foregoing decree, the same shall 
 stand as an order of the senate." 
 
 This decree was protested against by Caius 
 Ccelius and Caius Pansa, tribunes of the people. 
 
 In the debates which preceded these decrees, 
 Pompey let fall an expression that was much ob- 
 served, and gave us very confident hopes of his 
 good intentions. " He could not, without great 
 injustice, he said, determine anything in relation 
 to the provinces under Caesar's command, before 
 tlie first of March : but after that time, he assured 
 the senate he should have no sort of scruple." 
 Being asked, " what if a negative should then be juit 
 upon a decree of the senate for recalling Caesar ?" 
 he declared that he should look upon it as just the 
 same thing, whether Caesar openly refused to obey 
 the authority of the senate, or secretly procured 
 some magistrate to obstruct their decrees. "But 
 supjiose," said another member, " Csesar should 
 pursue his pretensions to the consulate, and retain his 
 command abroad at the same time." — " Suppose," 
 replied Pompey, with great temper, " my own son 
 should lay violent hands upon me ?" From expres- 
 sions of this kind the world has conceived a notion 
 that a rupture will undoubtedly ensue between 
 Pompey and Caesar. I am of opinion, however, 
 that the latter will submit to one of these two con- 
 ditions : either to give up his present pretensions 
 to the consulate, and continue in Gaul, or to quit 
 the province, provided he can be assured of his 
 
 election Curio is preparing most strongly to 
 
 oppose his demands. What he may be able to 
 effect, I know not ; but sure I am, that a man who 
 acts upon such patriot principles, must gain honour 
 at least, if he gain nothing else. He treats me 
 upon all occasions with great generosity ; and 
 indeed, in a late instance, has been more liberal 
 than I could have wished ; as his civility has drawn 
 upon me a trouble, which perhaps I might otherwise 
 
 e The provinces of lesser note were usually assigned to 
 the pr.-Etors, and from thence they were distinguished by 
 the name of the praetorian provinces. 
 
 •» The number of prstors varied in different periods of 
 the republic. In the times of Cicero this magistracy was 
 composed of eight persons, as Cellarius remarks in his not« 
 upon this passage. 
 
 » Every ann\ial set of pr.Ttors were distinguished by col- 
 leges, styled the 1st, 2d, od, &c. according to theii several 
 removes from the current year.
 
 4oa 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 have escaped. He has presented me with some 
 African pantliers, wliic-h he had ]irocured for liis 
 own games, and ijy that means hiid me under a 
 necessity of making use of tlium'. Imust, thercture, 
 remind you of what I have often mentioned aheady, 
 ami entreat you to send me some of these animals 
 from your part of tiie world ; and I again likewise 
 recommend to your care the bond of Sitius. 
 
 1 have had occasion to despatdi my freedman, 
 Pliilo, togi'tlicr with Diogenes, a Greek, into your 
 j)riivince. I hope you will afford your jiatronage 
 both to them and their commission ; as you will 
 find, by the letter they are to deliver to you on my 
 part, tliat it is an aiVair'' in which I am deeply 
 interested. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER Vin. 
 
 To Piiblius Silius\ ProprcBtor. 
 You are apprised, I imagine, of the friendship 
 that subsisted between Titus I'innius and myself. 
 „ He has sufficiently declarel it indeed 
 ■ ' "■ by his will, wherein lie not only ap- 
 pointed me one of the guardians to his son, but 
 left me the contingent reversion also of his estate. 
 My ward (who is a youth of uncommon modesty, 
 as well as great ai)plication to his studies) has a 
 very considerable demand upon the city of Nic;ea, 
 amounting to eight millions of sesterces'" : and the 
 cor]ioration, I am told, are inclined to j)ay of}' part 
 of this sum the first debt they shall discharge. 
 Now, as not only the rest of the trustees who know 
 the regard you bear me, but the young man him- 
 self, is persuaded that you will not refuse anything 
 to my request, I shall be exceedingly obliged to you 
 for employing your good offices, (as far, I mean, as 
 may be consistent with your dignity and character,) 
 that they pay oft' as large a proportion of this 
 demand as possible. Farewell, 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To Marcus CceVms, Ctirule-j^dile elect. 
 
 I CONGRATULATE you On the honourable post 
 
 you have lately obtained", and on the prospect 
 
 A u 70' which, by this mean, is open to you, of 
 
 advancing still higher in the dignities of 
 
 the republic. I am somewhat late, I confess, in 
 
 my compliments : however, you must not impute 
 
 it to any intentional neglect, but merely to my 
 
 i 111 the games he was preparing to exhibit as aedile. 
 
 k This affair seems to be explained by an epistle to Atti- 
 cus, wherein Cicero mentions the receipt of a very pressing 
 letter from Coelius, by the hands of his freedman; The 
 purport of it appears to have been to solicit Cicero to levy 
 a contribution upon his province, towards the expen8e of 
 those public games, which Ccelius as sedile was obliged to 
 exhibit. This oppressive tax had been frequently raised 
 by the governors of provinces in favour of their friends at 
 Rome, and was, indeed, almost established into a custom. 
 •—But Cicero, notwithstanding he aeema to have had a sin- 
 eere affection for Ccelius, would by no means be prevailed 
 upon to break through the equitable maxims of his admi- 
 nistration, and with great integiity refused his request.—. 
 Ad Att. vi. 1. ; Ad Quint. Frat. i. 9. 
 
 ' He was at this time proprator, or governor, of Bithynia 
 and Pontus in Asia, where he discharged the provincial 
 functions with gi-eat applause. — Ad Att. vi. 8. 
 
 m About 70,000i. sterling. n The a;dile»hip. 
 
 ignorance of what passes at Rome. For, partly 
 from the great distance of my situation, and j)artly 
 from those banditti which infest the roads, it is ui 
 considerable time before I can receive any intelli- 
 gence from Italy. And now I know not where t(j 
 find words sufficiently strong to give you joy upon 
 this occasion, or to e.\i)ress my thanks for your 
 having thus " furnished me (as you termed it ia 
 one of your former letters) with a subject of per- 
 ]Htual ridicule." When 1 first received the news- 
 of your victory, I could not forbear mimicking » 
 certain worthy friend of ours, and imitating the 
 droll figures those gallant youths exhibited, of 
 whose interest he had so confidently boasted". 
 J5ut it is not easy to give you in de'scrijition a 
 complete idea of tliis my humorous sally. I must 
 tell you, however, that 1 next figured you to myself, 
 and accosted you, as if present, in the words of the 
 comic poet : 
 
 Tar less, my good friend, I rejoice at your deed. 
 
 As exceeding wliatevcr before did exceed, 
 
 Than as immnting aloft o'er my hopes the most high ; 
 
 MiA for tliis, " Jiy my truth 'tis amaziiii/," I cry. 
 
 Upon which I broke out into a most immoderate 
 fit of laughter ; and, when some of my friends 
 reproved my mirth, as deviating almost into down- 
 right folly, I excused myself by the old verse, 
 
 Excessive joy is not exceeding wise. 
 In short, whilst I ridiculed this noble friend of 
 ours, I became almost as ridiculous as himself. 
 But you shall hear farther upon this subject 
 another opportunity: for, in truth, I have many 
 things to say both of you and to you, whenever I 
 shall find more leisure for that purpose. In the 
 mean time be assured, my dear Ccelius, that I sin- 
 cerely love you. I consider you, indeed, as one 
 whom fortune has raised up to advance my glory, 
 and avenge my wrongs : and, I doubt not, yoii wilb 
 give both those who hate and those who envy me 
 sufficient reason to repent of their folly and their 
 injustice. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To PiifiHus Silius, Proprwtor. 
 Your good oflices in the affair of Atilius afford 
 me an additional motive for giving you my affection. 
 »,p Late, indeed, as I applied to you in his- 
 behalf, I have, however, by your generous 
 intervention, preserved a most worthy Roman 
 knight from ruin. The truth is, I always looked- 
 upon my friendship with Lamia as giving me a 
 claim to yours. In the first place, then, I return 
 you thanks for easing my mind of all its disqui- 
 etude with respect to Atilius ; and, in the next, 
 after thus acknowledging your last favour. I have- 
 the assurance to request another : and it is a favour 
 
 " A mere modern reader, who judges of past ages by the 
 modes that prevail in his own, must undoubtedly concoiva 
 a very low opinion of Cicero from the account which he- 
 here gives of his behaviour. Hut mimicry was not estoonied 
 by tlie Romans, as it is with us, a talent becoming only a 
 comedian or a buffoon. On the contrarj-, this species of 
 humour was thought worthy of tlie gravest characters evou 
 upon the gravest occasions : and it was practised by their 
 orators, as well as recommended by their rhetoriciaiui, as at 
 quality, under certain restrictions, of singular grace and- 
 efficacy in the whole business of public eloqueaice. — Cio. de 
 Oiat li. 59, 60,
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 409 
 
 which I shall repay with the utmost returns of my 
 esteem and gratitude. Let me entreat you, then, 
 if I have any share in your heart, to allow my 
 brother an equal enjoyment of the same privilege ; 
 which will be adding a very considerable obligation 
 to that important one I so lately received at your 
 hands. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 To Appiiis Pidcher. 
 
 By all that I can collect from your last letter, 
 this will find you in the suburbs" of Rome. But, 
 -o-) though the impotent calumnies of these 
 paltry provincials will probably be sub- 
 sided ere this reaches your hands, yet, I tliink it 
 necessary to return some answer to the lon^ epistle 
 I received from you upon that subject ; and I sliali 
 do so in as few words as possible. 
 
 As to the accusation contained in the two first 
 paragraphs of your letter, it is conceived in such 
 vague and general terms, that it is impossible to 
 give it a direct reply. The whole that I can gather 
 from it is, that I am accused of having discovered, 
 by my countenance and my silence, that I was by 
 no means your friend ; a discovery whicli I made, 
 it seeuis, ujion some occasion in the courts of judi- 
 cature, and, likewise, at certain public entertain- 
 ments. I am very sure there is not the least 
 ground for this imputation ; but as you do not 
 point out the particular instances, I know not in 
 what manner to vindicate myself from the charge. 
 This, however, I most undoubtedly know, that I 
 have mentioned you upon all occasions, both })ublic 
 and private, with tlie highest ajjplause, and with 
 the warmest professions of friendship. As to the 
 affair of the deputies'", I will appeal to your own 
 breast, whether I could possibly have acted with 
 more probity and discretion than to lessen the 
 expenses of these impoverished cities, without any 
 diminution, at the same time, of those honours 
 which they proposed to pay you ; especially as it 
 was in compliance with their own immediate 
 request ? And, indeed, I was wholly unapprised 
 oi the parliculai- purposes of that deputation, which 
 was going to Rome with the customary compli- 
 mental address to the senate upon your account. 
 
 o Appius at his return from Cilicia demanded a triumph 
 as the reward of his military exploits in tliat province, 
 and accordingly took up his residence wUhout the city. 
 For those who claimed this honour were not admitted 
 within the walls of Rome till their petition was either 
 granted or rejected, or they chose to drop it themselves. 
 The latter was the case with respect to Appius, as will 
 hereafter appear. 
 
 P " It was a custom for the governors of provinces, upon 
 their retirement from tlicir government, to procure ambas- 
 sadors to be sent to Home from the several cities under 
 their jurisdiction to praise the integrity and equity of their 
 administration. The origin of this custom was undoubt- 
 edly good, and in some feiv instances we find that it was 
 undertaken voluntarily ; but it was generally extorted by 
 force, and a great burden to the miserable inhabitants, 
 who perhaps had been already fleeced bj' the rapine and 
 plunder of that very person whose lenity and moderation 
 they were compelled to extol. Appius had taken care, 
 before he left Cilicia, to secure this compliment to be paid 
 to himself, though as undeserving of it as any of his pre- 
 decessors. But Cicero, who set out upon a more frugal 
 plan than other governors, prevented it, out of compas- 
 aiou to the poverty and indigence of the province." — Ross 
 
 When I was at Apameai, some of the principal' 
 inliabitants of several different cities complained 
 to me of the e.xcessivc appointments that were 
 decreed to their deputies; assuring me, that their 
 respective communities were by no means in a 
 condition to suj)port t!ie assessments levied upon 
 them for that purpose. This suggested to my 
 thoughts various reflections : and I imagined, that 
 a man of your refined sentiments could not be 
 e.xtremely fond of honours of thi.s unsubstantial 
 nature. Accordingly, it was at Synnada, I think, 
 tliat I took occasion to say from the tribunal, (and 
 I expatiated very largely upon the subject,) " that 
 the approved merit of Appius was sufficient, with- 
 out the testimony of the Midensians (for it was iu' 
 tlieir city'' that tlie proposal first arose) to recom- 
 mend him to the esteem of the senate and the- 
 Roman people ; that I had often, indeed, seen 
 instances of this kind of deputations, but did not 
 remember they were ever admitted to an audience ; 
 that, however, I applauded the gratitude they had- 
 thus shown for your merit towards them, but 
 thought the particular instance in question was 
 wliolly unnecessary ; that if any of them were 
 willing to undertake this commission at their own- 
 e.xpense, I should highly commend their zeal ; and 
 I would even consent it should be performed at the 
 public charge, provided they did not exceed a rea- 
 sonable sum ; but, beyond that, I would in no sort 
 give my permission." 
 
 I am persuaded there is nothing in what I thus 
 said, tliat can possibly give you offence: and, 
 iiuleed, your principal complaint is levelled, I per- 
 ceive, against my edict'. For there were some, it 
 seems, who thought it manifestly drawn up with a 
 view of preventing these legations. I cannot for- 
 bear saying, that, to give attention to these ground- 
 less insinuations, is no less injurious to me than 
 to be the author of them. The truth of it is, I 
 settled this edict before I left Rome ; and the 
 single addition that I made to it afterwards, was 
 at the instance of the farmers of the revenues, 
 who, when they met me at Samos', desired I would- 
 transcribe a paragraph out of your edict and insert 
 it into mine. It was that article which restrains 
 the public expenses, and contains several new and 
 very salutary regulations, which I greatly approved. 
 But as to that particular section which gave rise, I 
 find, to the suspicion that I framed it v^ith a design- 
 of striking at you, it is copied entirely from the old 
 precedents. I was not, indeed, so absurd as to 
 think (what I perceive you imagine) that some 
 private affair was concerned in this deputation ; 
 well knowing that it was sent from a public body- 
 in relation to your public character, and addressed 
 to that great council of the whole world, the senate 
 of Rome. Nor did I, (as you object,) when I pro- 
 hibited any person from going out of the province 
 without my permission, exclude all those from the 
 possibility of obtaining that leave, who could not 
 
 1 A city in that part of Phrygia which was annexed to 
 Cicero's province : as was Synnada, likewise, mentioned a- 
 few lines below. 
 
 r A to^vn in the neighbourhood of SjTinada. In the ori- 
 ginal it is Myndensium : but Quartier has given good 
 reasons for the reading here followed. 
 
 s The nature of these proconsular edicts has already been-- 
 explained in rem. ^, p. 402. 
 
 ' An island near the coast of Ionia, lying opposite to the- 
 city of Ephesus. Cicero touched at this island in his voy- 
 age to the province.
 
 410 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 follow me to the camp and beyond Mount Taurus ; 
 an ini|iutation, I must needs say, the most ridicu- 
 lous of any in your whole letter. For where, let 
 me ask, was the necessity that any l)er^on should 
 follow me for tiiis purpose to the camp, or beyond 
 Mount Taurus, when I regulated my journey from 
 Laodicea to Icouium in such a njaiiner, that all the 
 magistrates and deputies of the several cities in 
 that district might have an opportunity of meetinij 
 me? Tiiey could not, therefore, lie under the diffi- 
 culty you charge me with having thrown in their 
 way. unless they had taken up tlie design of going 
 to Home after my having ])assed Mount Taurus ; 
 ■whidi most xmdoubtedly was not the case. For, 
 during my stay at Ajjaniea, Synnada, Philonieluin", 
 and Iconium,all affairs of that nature were entirely 
 settled. 
 
 I must farther assure you, tliat I decreed nothing 
 concerning the abating or abohshing the appoint- 
 ments of the de])uties, but at the express request 
 of the principal inhabitants of several cities ; and 
 their view was, to prevent any unnecessary exactions 
 that were occasioned by the farming of the subsidies 
 imposed for this purjiose, and raising them in that 
 cruel metliod of ca])itation witli which you are so 
 well acquainted. Compassion, indeed, as well as 
 justice, inclined me to ease the calamities of these 
 unhappy cities, oppressed, as they chiefly were, by 
 their own magistrates " : and when 1 was engaged 
 in a design of that nature, I could not possibly 
 overlook an expense which appeared so extremely 
 superfluous as tliat of the a))pointments of these 
 deputies. It was but a piece of justice therefore 
 due to me, not to have listened to any idle tales 
 that might be related to you upon this subject. 
 But if it should prove, after all, tliat you attribute 
 to the reports of others what, in truth, receive 
 their rise merely from your own suspicions, you 
 certainly make use of a sort of figure which the 
 language of friendship will by no means authorise. 
 Had it ever, indeed, been my design to derogate 
 from your reputation in the province, I should 
 scarcely have acted in the manner I did ; I should 
 not have referred it to your son-in-law at Rome, 
 to your freedman at Brundisium, and to the com- 
 mander of your artillery when I saw him at C'or- 
 cyra, to name the place which they thought would 
 be most agreeable to you for our meeting. In 
 short, I wish you would remember the maxim 
 which those great authors have laid down, who 
 have written so excellently upon fiiendship ; that 
 " to accuse and to defend are terms which ought 
 for ever to be banished from intercourses of this 
 amicable kind." 
 
 But do you imagine that I have Lad no oppor- 
 
 " A city in Phrygia Major, situated on the frontiers 
 towards Galatia. The situation of the other cities men- 
 tioned in this place has already been occasionally noted as 
 they occurred in the preceding letters. 
 
 ^ It appears from the letters to Atticus, to whom it was 
 that the grievances of these unhappy cities were principally 
 owing. Their o\i'n magistrates, it is true, had some share 
 in them ; but their chief oppressor was Appius himself. 
 The desolation he had brought upon this plundered pro- 
 vince was so dreadful, that one would rather imagine, says 
 Cicero, some savage monster had been let loose upon them, 
 than that they had been trusted to the care of any human 
 creature. And in another letter he tells Atticus, that he 
 had sufficient eniploj-ment in applying remedies to those 
 wounds which had been given %o this province by his pre- 
 decessor.— Ad Att. V. 16, 17. 
 
 tunitics of listening, in my turn, to accusations of 
 the same nature against yourself.^ Was it never 
 told me, do you think, that after you had appointed 
 me to meet you at Laodicea, you retired beyond 
 Mount Taurus .' That, at the very time I was 
 cmi)loyed in my juridical office at Apamea, Syn- 
 nada, and I'hilomclum, you took the liberty to 
 exercise the same authority at Tarsus ? But I 
 forbear to enter farther into these particulars, that 
 I may not follow your example in the very instance 
 of which I am com]ilaining. This, however, I will 
 say, (and 1 say it with great sincerity,) that if you 
 are really jiersuadcd of the truth of these rejiorts, 
 you do mc much injustice ; and you arc not entirely 
 without reproach, if you only suffered them to be 
 related to you. The truth is, it will appear that I 
 have acted towards you in one uniform tenor of 
 friendsliii). And let those who impute artifice to 
 me say, wdiether it is probable that, alter having 
 ])aid the utmost attention to your interest during 
 your absence from Rome, and at a time when I 
 liad not the least expectation of its ever being in 
 ynur ])ower to return me the same favour, I should 
 give you just reason to abandon me now that I 
 have so many occasions for your good offices. I 
 must, however, acknowledge that there is one 
 article wherein I may not, ])erhaps, have regulated 
 myself altogether agreeably to your inclinations. 
 I am sensible you would be displeased with any 
 liberties that should be taken with the characters 
 i)f those who acted in office under you ; and 1 will 
 own that I have heard very unfavourable repre- 
 .sentations of some of them. But, I must add, that 
 no persons were ever mentioned upon this occasion, 
 or any greater irregularities laid to their charge, 
 than those which your friend Clodius himself named 
 to me when I saw him at Corcyra, who lamented, 
 I remember, that you had been some sufferer in 
 your reputation by the malpractices of those officers "■. 
 Reports of this kind (and many such indeed there 
 are) I never in the least encouraged : but I will 
 frankly acknowledge, likewise, that I never greatly 
 endeavoured to repress them ; well persuaded as I 
 am, that they can, in no sort, affect your character. 
 "' A particular instance of the cruelty of one of these 
 officers under Appius is mentioned in the letters to Atti- 
 cus. Scaptius, who commanded a troop of horse in Cyprus, 
 surrounded their senate with his forces in order to compel 
 them, it is probable, to comply with some unjust demands, 
 and kept them thus besieged till five of the members 
 perished with hunger. AVlien the government of this pro- 
 vince came into the hands of Cicero, the Cyprians, as their 
 island lay Avithin his jurisdiction, petitioned that these 
 troops might bo withdrawn, and he very humanely com- 
 plied with their request. He relieved them, likewise, as 
 well as other cities under his government, from the immo- 
 derate interest which they paid for the money which their 
 necessities had obliged them to borrow in Home, reducing 
 it from 4 per cent., paid monthly, to 1 per cent. This 
 equitable reduction very considerably affected Brutus, who 
 was concerned in these loans ; and he seems to have com- 
 plained of it to Atticus. But notwithstanding the latter 
 strongly pressed Cicero to favour Brutus in this affair, and 
 Brutus himself likewise had written to Cicero for the same 
 purpose ; yet he resolutely withstood their united solicita- 
 tions. " If Brutus," says he, " resents my conduct upon 
 this occasion, I shall be sorry ; but much more so, to find 
 him a different man from what I always thought him." 
 And if Cicero, I will add, had spoken and acted upon every 
 other occasion with the same spirit and integrity as h.c 
 certainly did in the present, he would have merited all the 
 encomiums which the warmest of his admirers could have 
 bestowed. — Ad Att. vi. 1, 2.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 411 
 
 Whoever attempts to persuade you that there is 
 no such thing as a perfect reconcilement between 
 friends whose affections have once been alienated, 
 discovers the perfidy of his own heart, instead of 
 proving the dissimulation of mine ; at the same 
 time that it is evident that he has not a worse 
 opinion of my sincerity than he must necessarily 
 entertain of yours. I5ut if any man has taken 
 offence at the measures I pursue in my government, 
 as not exactly coinciding with yours, I am per- 
 fectly unconcerned at the loss of his friendship. 
 To say truth, we have both acted in the manner we 
 ought, though we have not both followed the same 
 plan. The instances you gave of your diffusive 
 liberality in this province were suitable to a man 
 of your quality. Though, indeed, even you your- 
 self were obliged, the last year, in compliance with 
 the calamities of the season, a little to restrain the 
 munificence of your natural disposition. But if 
 mine, on tlie contrary, flows in a somewhat more 
 limited channel, let not those to whom the benefit 
 of that stream has not reached, wonder that I 
 rather choose they should sutler from the necessary 
 restrictions of my bounty, than that I should, from 
 the just reproaches of my conscience. I have 
 ever, indeed, been e.xtremely reserved in dispensing 
 largesses at another's cost ; as I cannot but be 
 sensibly affected with distresses that extend them- 
 selves throughout a whole community. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for the account you 
 gave me of affairs at Rome, and particularly for 
 the assurance of your faithfully executing all my 
 requests. What I principally recommend to your 
 care is, that neither the business nor the period of 
 my administration may be enlarged. To this end, 
 I beg you would entreat our common friend and'^ 
 colleague Hortensius, that if ever he was disposed 
 to comply with my inclinations, he would not per- 
 sist in my continuing two years in this govern- 
 ment, than which he cannot do me a more unfriendly 
 office. 
 
 As to the information you desire concerning my 
 own motions ; I marched from Tarsus in my way 
 to Amanus, on the seventh of October ; and I write 
 this the day following, from my camp in the plains 
 of Mopsuhesta''. If any action should happen, I 
 shall not fail of giving you notice ; and you may 
 depend upon my enclosing a letter to you, when- 
 ever I send one to my family. With respect to 
 the Parthians whom you inquire after, I am per- 
 suaded that none ever appeared. They were only 
 a troop of Arabians, armed after the Parthian 
 manner. But these, it is said, are all returned 
 home, and I am assured there is now no appear- 
 ance of an enemy in Syria. I entreat you to write 
 to me as often as possible, not only as to what 
 regards your own and my private affairs, but as to 
 those likewise of the republic. 1 am more than 
 ordinarily, indeed, solicitous concerning the latter, 
 as I find by your letter that Pompey is going into 
 Spain ^. Farewell. 
 
 ^ In the augural college. 
 
 y A city in Cilicia, situated upon tlie banks of the river 
 : Pyramus. 
 
 » The government of Spain had been renewed to Pompey 
 for five years at the end of his consulate in the preceding 
 year: which province, however, he administered by his 
 lieutenants, whilst he himself still continued in Rome. — 
 ■ Dio, xli. p. 148. 
 
 u. 702 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 To Pull'ms Silius, Proprwlor. 
 I DID not imagine I should ever have found 
 myself at a loss for expressions : yet at a loss 
 believe me I am, to recommend Marcus 
 Lrenius to you in the terms he deserves. 
 I must content myself, therefore, with explaining 
 the business of this letter in few words ; but in 
 such, however, as may render you sufficiently 
 sensible of my inclinations. It is incredible how 
 great an esteem both my dearest brother and myself 
 entertain for Lajnius : an esteem which is founded 
 not only on the many good offices he has conferred 
 upon us, but on the exalted integrity of his heart, 
 and the singular modesty with which all his virtues 
 are accompanied. It was with the utmost regret, 
 therefore, that I consented to part with him, as I 
 receive much advantage from his counsels, as well 
 as great entertainment from his company. But if 
 I should expatiate any farther in his praise, will 
 you not think that, far from wanting words, as I 
 i just now complained, I have employed more than 
 are necessary .' To be short, then, I recommend 
 Lsenius to your protection with all that warmth 
 which you must be sensible I ought, after what I 
 have here said. Let me earnestly entreat you to 
 expedite the business which has called him into 
 your province, and to favour him likewise with 
 your advice in the conduct of it. You will find 
 him, be assured, a man of a most generous and 
 well-natured disposition : for which reason I bog 
 you will send him back to us with the satisfaction 
 of having finished his aftairs by your means, as 
 soon as possible. Your compliance with this re- 
 quest will extremely oblige both my brother and 
 myself. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 To Marcus Ccelius, Curule-jEdile elect, 
 I WISH you would inquire the reason that your 
 letters miscarry ; for I cannot be induced to tliink 
 »„, that you have not once written to me 
 since your election ^ I am persuaded, on 
 the contrary, that you would not have omitted to 
 communicate a piece of news I so much wished 
 with regard to yourself, and so little expected in 
 relation to Hirms. The truth, however, is, that 
 I have not heard from you since that glorious and 
 joyful event; which gives me some uneasiness, lest 
 my letters should have had no better success in find- 
 ing their way to your hand. But be assured I have 
 never written to my family without accompanying 
 my packet with a letter for you ; as, indeed, there 
 is no man whom I more sincerely and tenderly 
 value. But to turn to the principal purpose of this 
 epistle. Your wish has succeeded, and I have 
 just had employment enough of the military kind 
 to entitle me to a triumph. You were under some 
 apprehensions, I perceive, about the Parthians, as 
 being diffident of my forces. I must acquaint you, 
 then, that having received advice that the Parthians 
 had committed hostilities, I took the advantage of 
 some defiles, and of the neighbouring mountains, 
 to lead my army, supported by a tolerable number 
 of auxiliaries, to Amanus. The reputation of my 
 
 " Into the office of sedile.
 
 412 
 
 THE LKTTEIIS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 ncTic was of some benefit to ine likewise in my 
 inarch : for you cannot imagine of wliat importance 
 it is, in ])lace.s of tiiis iiind, to have tiie populace 
 iisk, Is i/iis the ciiiisitl lluil sdvrd Home 7 Is this 
 he that was so hoitoiirrd h;/ /he senate J together 
 with otlier questions of tlie same import, wliioli 1 
 need not add. When 1 approached to Amanus, a 
 nioc.ntaiii wliieh sejjarates Cilicia from Syria, I had 
 the satisfaction to hear that Cassius'' had oblii^ed 
 the enemy to abandon the siej^e of Antiochea, and 
 that Hilnilus had taken upon liimself the command 
 of the province. However, I empkjyed my army 
 in liarassing the Amanienses, our «'ternal enemies ; 
 and having put many of them to the sword, as well 
 as taken a great number of jirisoners, and entirely 
 dispersed the rest, I surprised and burnt some; of 
 their fortresses. Having thus obtained a complete 
 victory, I was saluted with the title of Imperator 
 by tiie whole army at Issus"^ ; the very i)laee (as 
 your favourite historian Clitarchus'' has often, I 
 have heard you say, informed you) where Alexander 
 defeated Darius. From thence 1 marched into the 
 most infested parts of Cilicia, where 1 am now 
 before Pindenessum, a city of great strength, and 
 which I have already been battering above these 
 three weeks. The garrison makes a most obstinate 
 and vigorous defence ; so that nothing seems want- 
 ing to complete the glory I shall here obtain, but 
 that the name of this place were less obscure. If 
 I should make myself master of it (as I trust I 
 shall), I will send an immediate exjiress to the 
 senate. In the mean time I have given you this 
 general account of my operations, to let you see 
 there is some foundation to hope that your good 
 wishes will take effect. Uut to return to the Par- 
 thians. This summer's campaign has proved, you 
 find, tolerably successful : I am in great pain, how- 
 ever for the next. Let me entreat you, therefore, 
 my dear friend, to endeavour that a successor be 
 appointed to my government : but if that should 
 prove a matter of too much difficulty, (as you inti- 
 mate in one of your letters, and as 1 am myself 
 inclined to suspect,) be careful at least to guard 
 against what may easily be prevented ; I mean the 
 prolongation of my residence. 
 
 I expect from your letters (as I mentioned in 
 one of my former), not merely an account of what is 
 at present going forward in the republic, but a clear 
 prospect also of what is likely to happen. For 
 ■which purpose I entreat you to inform me fully of 
 everything that concerns the public. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Marcus Coelius to Cicero. 
 
 We ^ have received an express from Caius Cassius, 
 
 and another from Deiotarus, which greatly alarm 
 
 A. u lip ^^^' "^'^^ former writes that the Parthian 
 
 army has passed the Euphrates ; and the 
 
 latter, that they are actually marching towards your 
 
 b lie was lieutenant to Crassus, in Syria, after whose 
 death the command of the province devolved upon him, 
 till Bibulus, who was appointed successor to Crassus, 
 arrived. A more particular account will be given of him 
 in the farther progress of these remarks. 
 
 <•• A city which stood on tho frontiers of Cilicia and 
 Syi'ia. 
 
 ** A Greek historian, who attended Alexander in his 
 Persian expedition. 
 
 « This letter appears to have been written before any cf 
 
 province, by the way of Commagene. 'As I well 
 know how ill provided you are with troops, the: 
 l)rincipal concern I feel from this invasion, with 
 respect to you, is lest you should be a loser by it 
 in point of reputation. Had you been better pre- 
 pared, indeed, to receive the enemy, I should have 
 been in great jiain for your life ; but as the very 
 small number of your forces will incline you, I 
 imagine, rather to think of a retreat than an engage- 
 ment, 1 am only anxious concerning your honour, 
 lor liow far the world may consider the necessity 
 of the case, and ai)prove of your thus declining a 
 battle, is a j)oint, I confess, which gives me much 
 uneasy reflection. In short, I shall be in continual 
 anxiety till I hear of your arrival in Italy. In the 
 mean time, this news of the I'arthians has occa- 
 sioned a variety of s])cculations. Some arc of 
 opinion that Pompey ought to be sent to oppose 
 them ; and others, that it is by no means convenient 
 he should leave Rome. A third party is for 
 assigning this expedition to (Iicsar and his army, 
 wiiilst a fourth names the cojisuls' as the most 
 proper jicrsons to be emjjloyed. But all agree, 
 however, in being silent as to any decree of the 
 senate for ])lacing this command in private hands'. 
 The consuls, in the apprehension that they shall 
 cither be nominated to a commission which they 
 do not relish, or suffer the disgrace of its being 
 given frou) them, forbear to convene the senate, 
 and by this mean incur the censure of neglecting 
 the public interest. But whether indolence or 
 pusillanimity be the real motive of their declin- 
 ing the conduct of this war, it is concealed under 
 the specious appearance, however, of modesty. 
 
 As we have received no courier from you, it was 
 suspected, till the des])ateh fiom Deiotarus arrived, 
 that the whole was an invention of Cassius, who, 
 it was thought, in order to cover his own rapine, 
 had sufl'ered a parcel of Arabs to make an incursioa 
 into the province, and then represented them to 
 the senate as a formidable body of Parthians. 
 Whatever, therefore, may be the true state of 
 the affair, let me persuade you to be extremely 
 circumspect in giving a faithful and accurate 
 account of it to the senate, that you may neither be 
 reproached with magnifying matters in order to 
 gratify the private purposes of Cassius, nor with 
 concealing anything which may be of importance 
 for the public to know. 
 
 It is now the eighteenth of November ; and as 
 we are advanced thus far towards the end of the- 
 year, I do not see that anything can be done in 
 this affair before the first of January''. For yoii 
 know how slow and inactive Marcellus is upon all 
 occasions, and are no stranger to the dilatory dis- 
 position of Sulpicius. You will easily judge, there- 
 fore, what is to be expected from two men of this 
 unperforming cast ; and that they who usually 
 act with so much coldness, as to make one doubt 
 their inclinations, even in points they really desir& 
 to effect, will not be very warm in forwarding a 
 business from which they are certainly averse. 
 
 Cicero's despatches, concerning the Parthians, had reached* 
 Rome ; and consequently before Ccelius had received tha 
 preceding epistle. 
 
 f Marcus Marcellus, and Servius Sulpicius. 
 
 g That is, in the hands of those who were not investedi 
 with some public command. 
 
 t When the 'consuls elect entered upon the administra- 
 tion of their office.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 413 
 
 If the Parthian war should become a serious 
 matter, the new magistrates will be engaged, for 
 the first two or three months of their office, in 
 adjusting the proper measures to be taken in this 
 conjuncture. On the other hand, if it should appear 
 to be an invasion of no consequence, or such, at 
 least, that, with the supply of a few additional 
 troops, may easily be repelled by you and the other 
 proconsuls already in those provinces, or by your 
 successors, Curio, I foresee, will begin to play his 
 double game : that is, he will in the first jilace 
 attempt to weaken the authority of Caesar' ; and 
 in the next, endeavour to throw some little advan- 
 tages on the side of Pompey. As for PaulusJ, he 
 declares most vehemently against suffering Caesar 
 to continue in Gaul ; and our friend Furnius is the 
 only tribune whom I suspect of obstructing his 
 measures for that purpose. You may depend upon 
 these articles as certain ; but beyond these I cannot 
 with any assurance pronounce. Time, indeed, may 
 produce much ; as many schemes, 1 know, are con- 
 certed : but they all turn upon the points I have 
 already specified. I forgot to mention that Curio 
 designs to make an attempt to procure a division 
 of the lands in Campania''. It is pretended that 
 Ca3sar does not concern himself in this matter: 
 certain, however, it is, that Pompey is very desirous 
 of having the distribution settled before Caesar's 
 return, that he may be precluded from applying 
 them to his own purposes. 
 
 As to what concerns your leaving the province, 
 I dare not promise that you shall be relieved by a 
 successor ; but 70U may rely upon my endeavour- 
 ing all I can that your administration shall not be 
 prolonged. Whether you will think proper to 
 remain in your government, if affairs should be so 
 circumstanced as to render it indecent for me to 
 oppose any decree of the senate for that purpose, 
 depends upon yourself to determine, as it does 
 upon me to remember, how warmly you made it 
 your request when we parted, that I would pre- 
 vent any such resolution from being taken. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To Puhlius Silius, Proprcelor. 
 It was with the warmest and most grateful 
 acknowledgment of your favours that my friend 
 A. V -U2 ^^''o assured me you have distinguished 
 him with every honour in your power. 
 You may depend upon the most efficacious in- 
 stances of his friendship in return, as there is not a 
 man in the world of a more grateful and generous 
 disposition. You have conferred, at the same time, 
 a very singular obligation upon myself, for I know 
 not any man amongst all our nobility who stands 
 higher in my esteem and affection. Your good 
 
 ' Curio had not as yet pulled ofi' the mask, and declared 
 himself openly in favour of C'a;sar. 
 
 J One of the consuls elect. See rem. 1, p. 400. 
 
 ^ Osar, when lie was conhul, A. U. 694, had procured 
 & law for the distribution of these lands, and part of them 
 had actually been distributed accordingly. The remaining 
 part was what Curio had in his view, which were to be 
 pmchased of the private possessors with the public 
 money, and parcelled out amongst the poor citizens in 
 the same manner as those had been which were already 
 divided.— See rem, =, p. 367. Vide etiam Manut. in Ep. 
 Fom. i. 9. 
 
 offices to him, therefore, in the following instances, 
 wherein he desired I would particularly request 
 them, will be highly agreeable to me. In the first 
 place, I beg you to defer the affair of Pausanias, 
 an inhabitant of Alibanda, till Nero arrives in your 
 jirovince ; and as this is a point in which I perceive 
 he is exceedingly sidicitous, it is with a proportion- 
 able degree of zeal that I entreat your compliance. 
 The next favour I am to ask is, your particular 
 protection for the citizens of Nysa. Nero is greatly 
 attached to the interest of this corporation, and I 
 hope you will show them that nothing can be 
 more to their advantage than his patronage. I 
 have frequently had occasion of recommending 
 Strabo Servilius to you ; but I renew my apj)lica- 
 tions with so much the more ardour, as Nero takes 
 a siiare in his concerns. We jointly then entreat 
 you to settle his affair, and not leave an innocent 
 man to be a prey, perhaps, to one who may succeed 
 to your government with a turn of mind far different 
 from that generosity which distinguishes yours. 
 This will be acting in a manner highly agreeable 
 to myself, and suitable at the same time to your 
 usual humanity. In a word, the purport of my 
 present application amounts to this : that you 
 would upon all occasions continue to distinguish 
 Nero with your most peculiar regard. The truth 
 is, your province has, in this respect, greatly the 
 advantage over mine, as it affords you full scope 
 of doing honour to so noble, so ingenious, and so 
 virtuous a youth. Your perseverance in the same 
 generous offices with which you have thus far 
 assisted my friend, will give him an opportunity 
 of confirming and strengthening those illustrious 
 clientships which have been delivered down to him 
 from his ancestors. And let me add, that it will 
 be placing your favours with great judgment in 
 respect to Nero, as well as bestowing them in the 
 most obliging manner likewise with regard to 
 myself. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 To Curio, Tribune of the People. 
 The congratulations of a friend are not usually- 
 considered as too late if they are paid as early as 
 ^ ^. ..,,., possible: my great distance therefore from 
 Rome, together with the slow progress 
 with which news travels into this corner of the 
 world, will excuse me for not sooner sending you 
 mine. But I now sincerely gfve them you, and 
 most ardently wish that you may obtain immortal 
 honour by your administration of the tribunate. 
 To this end, I must exhort you not to suffer yourself 
 to be turned aside from your natural bias, in com- 
 pliance with the sentiments and advice of others : 
 on the contrary, let me entreat you to be directed 
 in your ministry by the faithful light of your own 
 superior wisdom. No man, indeed, is capable of 
 giving you more prudent counsels than will arise 
 from the suggestions of your own good sense ; and 
 believe me, you can never be misguided so long as 
 you pursue the honest dictates of your uninfluenced 
 judgment. I say not this inconsiderately, but as 
 perfectly well knowing the genius and principles 
 of him to whom I am addressing myself. Yes, 
 my friend, I can never be apprehensive that you 
 will act either weakly or irresolutely whilst you 
 support the measures your heart approves. It was
 
 474 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MAIICUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 neither chance nor ignorance that led you to solicit 
 this iiianistracy in m> important a crisis. It was 
 a deliberate and well-considered resolution that 
 engaged you in this design, and you were perfectly 
 sensible of the great and general confusion in which 
 the couinionwealth is involved, together with the 
 utter uncertainty in what manner these our unhapjiy 
 divi>ious will finally be terminated. You frequently 
 rellect, I doubt not, on the vain, the treacherous, 
 and the pliant dispositions of the j)reseiit general ion. 
 To repeat, then, what I just now mentioned, let mc 
 conjure you steailfastly to jiersevcre in your old 
 ))rinciples ; to consult the dictates of your own 
 i)reast, and faithfully to comply with its wise and 
 worthy admonitions. Hardly, perhaps, is any man 
 more <|ualiricil than yourself to direct the conduct 
 of others ;— none, I am sure, to steer your own. 
 tiood gods! why ain I thus prevented from being 
 a witness of your glorious actions, and an associate 
 in your i)atriot designs.' The latter, 1 am ])v.r- 
 suaded, you are far from wanting : however, I he 
 strength and warmth of my affection might possibly 
 render the conjunction of my counsels with yours 
 not altogether unprofitable. 
 
 You will hear from me again very soon, as I 
 purpose in a few days to send an express to the 
 senate vvith a particular account of the success of 
 my arms during the last summer's campaign. In 
 the mean time you will perceive, by the letter whicii 
 I delivered to your freedman Tliraso, with what 
 zealous jtains I have solicited your election to the 
 jiontifical dignity; an election, indeed, that will be 
 attended with much difficulty, I conjure you in 
 return, my dear Curio, not to suffer this my 
 very troublesome provincial administration to be 
 lengthened out beyond the usual period, and I 
 entreat it by all the strong and tender ties of our 
 mutual friendship. When I first made this request 
 to you in person, and several times afterwards 
 repeated it by letter, I had not the least imagination 
 of your being tribune. I then, indeed, only entreated 
 your good offices as an illustrious senator, and as 
 one who stood high in the favour and esteem of 
 every Roman. But I now apply to Curio not only 
 as my noble friend, but as a powerful tribune. I 
 do not desire, however, (what indeed would be more 
 difficult to obtain,) that anything unusual should be 
 decreed in my favour ; but, on the contrary, that you 
 would support that decree, and maintain those laws 
 by which I was appointed to this government. In 
 a word, my single and most earnest request is, that 
 the terms upon which I set out for this province 
 may not be changed. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIL 
 
 To Thermus, Proprcetor. 
 I FOUND you perfectly well inclined tc employ 
 every good office in your power for my lieutenant 
 . .. ino Marcus Anneius, when I mentioned his 
 attan- to you at Lphesus. However, as 
 my affection will not suffer me to omit any circum- 
 stance which may tend to his advantage, I write to 
 you in the belief that this letter will considerably 
 add to the favourable disposition in which you 
 already stand towards him. He has long enjoyed 
 a share in my friendship ; as, indeed, I have suffi- 
 ciently shown the good opinion I entertain of him, 
 by having appointed him my lieutenant in prefer- 
 
 ence to so many others who solicited for that office. 
 The war in which 1 was soon afterwards engageit 
 gave me occasion of experiencing his military 
 abilities ; and the prudence, the courage, and the 
 fidelity with which he executed his commission, 
 together with the extraordinary marks he gave me 
 of his affection, have raist;d him to the highest 
 jiossible degree of my esteem. I informed you at 
 I'^phesus, that there were some points in controversy 
 between him and the city of Sardis', the particulars 
 of which you will best learn when the cause shall 
 come before you. And here, I must confess, I have 
 liccu long debating witli myself what I should 
 farther say to you. The world universally acknow- 
 ledges ami admires your iinjiartial administration 
 of justice, and my friend's claim is so well founded 
 as to retiuire no other jirotection than that of 
 your usual equity. However, as I am sensible of 
 the great authority which naturally attends the 
 prietorian office, especially where it is exercised 
 with so much honour, lenity, and wisdom, as are 
 well known to distinguish your administration, I 
 entreat you to exert that influence in such a manner 
 u])on this occasion as may convince Anneius that 
 you are his friend. He is already indeed persuaded 
 that you are so, and has often mentioned you 
 to me in that character. Nevertheless, I cannot 
 forbear conjuring you, by those reciprocal good 
 offices which have equally jiassed between us, to 
 let him see that this letter has rendered you still 
 more inclined to serve him. Be assured, the whole 
 extent of your provincial jiower cannot supply you 
 with an opportunity of more effectually obliging 
 me. It is unnecessary I should add, that you 
 cannot better dispose of your favours than by con. 
 ferring them on Anneius ; and I am persuaded you 
 have too high an opinion of his merit and gratitude 
 to entertain the least doubt upon that article. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIIL 
 
 To Volumnius™. 
 The familiar manner in which your letter to me 
 was addressed, though extremely agreeable indeed 
 »Q2 to the intimacy that subsists between us, 
 made me at first doubt whether it did not 
 come from my very good friend, your namesake, 
 the senator. But I soon found, by that lively 
 and elegant humour with which it was distinguished, 
 that it could be the produce of no other hand thaa 
 yours. I was exceedingly pleased with it in every 
 respect, but that I perceived you had not suffici- 
 ently discharged your trust and defended the credit 
 of my possessions as a wit. For you tell me, that 
 since I left Rome, every paltry joke, even those of the 
 dull Sextius himself, is placed to my account. And 
 did you suffer your friend to be thus dishonoured 
 
 1 In Lydia. 
 
 m The person to whom this letter is addressed was a 
 Roman kniglit, extremely admired for his wit and plea- 
 santry. It was this quality, it is probable, that recom- 
 mended him to Antony, with whom he appeai-s to have 
 been in some credit, as he was likewise employed by him 
 in the civil wars. Atticus also was in tlie number of 
 Vdlumnius's friends ; and after the battle of Modena, 
 wlien Antony's faction was supposed to be irrecoverably 
 niined, he generously protected him from the violences 
 of the successful party.— Ad Att. xv. 8 ; Com. Nep. in Vit 
 Attici.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRTENDS. 
 
 415 
 
 without heroically standiiii; forth in vindication of 
 his genius ? I was in liojies that my wit was 
 stamped with such distinguishing marks as to 
 prevent the possibility of its being mistaken. But 
 it seems there is such a general depravation of 
 taste in Rome, that no man's conceits are so execra- 
 bly vile as not to meet with admirers. As you 
 value my reputation, then, assert boldly that every 
 low thing which is repeated of this sort is none of 
 mine. And unless it be some smart pun or elegant 
 hyperbole, some striking paragram", or some arch 
 and unexpected turn" — in a word, unless it answers 
 the character of true humourP, as described in my 
 dialogue on oratory, I desire you would do me the 
 favour most vehemently to swear tliat mine you 
 are confident it is not. With regard to those little 
 pretenders to eloquence of whom you comjjlain, as 
 having usurped my place in the forum, I am much 
 less concerned. Fare it as it may with plaintiffs and 
 defendants of every kind, I am nothing disturbed ; 
 
 " The hyperbole is a figure of speech by which anything 
 is extravagantly magnified or diminished beyond the 
 truth ; as a paragram is a species of the pun, which con- 
 sists in changing the initial letters of a name. It would 
 be needless to produce any example in explanation of the 
 former; and an instance of the latter kind will occur to 
 every English reader in the well-known reply which Crom- 
 well made to the judges, when they reminded him of Magna 
 Charta. 
 
 "Of this kind is what the Duke of Buckingham once said 
 to a noble earl : — "My lord, you will certainly be damned." 
 " How, my lord !" returned the earl, with some warmth. 
 " Nay," replied the duke, " there's no help for it : for it is 
 positively said. Cursed is he of whom all men speak well." 
 — Tatlc-r, vol. i. No. 1/. 
 
 P Cicero, in the treatise to which ho here refers, intro- 
 duces one of liis speakers as pointing out the principal 
 sources of oratorical liumour, among which he makes very 
 honourable mention of the pim. Tlicre is scarce an author, 
 indeed, of any note among the ancients, that has not, in 
 some part or other of his \\Titings, tried his genius at a 
 conceit : and it is remarkable, that there is one in particu- 
 lar which runs through almost the whole set of Roman 
 classics. The first that appears to have started it is that 
 venerable censor, Cato the elder, who, in a grave speech 
 recorded by Livy, taking notice of those fine statues that 
 had been lately transported into Italy, after tlie conquest 
 of Greece, expresses his concern — " ne illcE magis res nos 
 ccperhit quam nos illas." Horace was so well pleased with 
 this witticism, that he has transplanted it into one of his 
 epistles : — 
 
 Grarcia cajita ferum victorcm cejiit, et artes 
 
 Intulit agresti Latio. 
 And even the majestic Virgil could not secure himself from 
 the infection of this contagious ambiguity : — ■ 
 
 Num capti potuere capi? 
 
 a quibble, which was afterwards taken up by Quintus 
 Curtius : though it seems to be somewliat damaged in 
 passing through his hands: — " plures captivi (says that 
 historian, speaking of one of Alexander's victories,) quam 
 qui caperent, erant." AVhcn it is considered how early 
 this species of false wit appeared in the world ; with what 
 difficulty it has been subdued; that some of the best writers 
 have not been able entirely to abstain from it ; and that it 
 was the favourite of so unquestionable a genius as Cicero ; 
 one cannot forbear thinking with the inimitable Mr. Ad- 
 dison, " that the seeds of punning are in the mmds of all 
 men." It is the business, therefore, of criticism, to root 
 out a weed, which the best as well as the worst soil, it 
 seems, is so strongly disposed to produce : as it cannot 
 spread without checking the nobler growth of true wit and 
 just imagination.— Ci'c. DeOrat. ii. as ; Liv. xxxiv. 4 ; Ilor. 
 Ep ii. 1. 157; Virg. .^En. vii. 2!)5; Quint. Curt. v. 13; 
 Addlsoa, Spect. i. No. 51. 
 
 no, not though the worthless Selius himself should be 
 deemed eloquent enough to persuade the world that 
 he is not an arrant slave. But in the article of wit, 
 my friend, there indeed I am much too jealous not 
 to assert my prerogative. It is an article, however, 
 in which I stand in fear of no other competitor 
 but yourself : for your pretensions, doubtless, are 
 formidable. Yet when I say this, you will modestly 
 suspect perhaps tliat I am bantering ; and who 
 but must own that Volumnius is a man of penetra- 
 tion .'' To s])eak seriously, a most agreeable and 
 lively vein of wit runs throughout your whole 
 letter. I will confess, however, that what you 
 mention concerning our friend 'i, though you repre- 
 sented it in a very droll light, did not once make 
 me smile. It is much my desire, I must own, 
 that he should conduct himself through his tribu- 
 nitial office with dignity, not only for his own 
 sake, as you know he is a man I value, but for 
 the sake hkewise of my country, which, however ill 
 it has treated me, I shall never cease to love. 
 
 And now, my dear Volumnius, I hope you will 
 continue the agreeable correspondence you have 
 begun, and give me frequent accounts of affairs 
 both private and public : for, be assured, your letters 
 are extremely pleasing to me. I entreat you, like- 
 wise, to endeavour to gain Dolabella entirely to 
 my interests, by confirming him in that amicable 
 disposition towards me which I know he is inclined 
 to entertain. Not that I suspect he wants any 
 applications of this sort ; but as I am very desirous 
 to make him my friend, it is a point, I think, that 
 cannot be too much laboured. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 To Crassipes^. 
 I TOOK occasion, before I left Rome, of recom- 
 mending the Bithynia^ company to you in the 
 w,2 strongest terms I was able ; and I had 
 the pleasure to find you perfectly -nell 
 disposed, not only from my instances but your own 
 inclinations, to do them all the good offices in your 
 power. However, as those who are concerned 
 in the affairs of this society think it may be 
 to their advantage that I should thus repeat my 
 assurances of the regard I bear them, I make no 
 difficulty of yielding to their solicitations. Be well 
 persuaded, then, that I have ever been desirous of 
 rendering to this whole order in general my best 
 services ; to which, indeed, the important obligations 
 they have conferred upon me give them an un- 
 doubted right. But my attachments are more 
 particularly strong to that branch of them con- 
 cerned in thefinances of Bithynia; as thiscompany, 
 from the rank and character of its members, forms 
 one of the most considerable bodies in the whole 
 republic. It is composed, indeed, out of all the 
 other companies, and happens to consist of several 
 of my most intimate friends. In this number their 
 
 q This seems to allude to Curio. 
 
 ■• lie was quaestor in Uithynia, and, probably, at the 
 same time when F. Silius was governor of that province. 
 See rem. ', p. 408. 
 
 • The revenues of the republic arising from the foreign 
 provinces were farmed by the Roman knights, who were 
 divideil into several companies distinguished by the name 
 of the particular province whose taxes they rented. Seo 
 rem. », i>. 376.
 
 416 
 
 THE LETTKllS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICEIU) 
 
 governor Publms Rupilius holds the principal rank ; 
 l)ie most inii)()rtaiit part of whose function is con- 
 cerneii in my |iresciit address. I make it, then, my 
 earnest request (and it is a request you may very 
 easily comply with) that you assist and protect 
 their a^ent I'upius in discharging his services to 
 the satisfaction of the conij)any ; and, in general, 
 that you would jiromote their interest by all those 
 means which, I well know, are in the jiower of a 
 quicstor. Your conipliaix^e in this instance will 
 greatly oblige nie ; and I will add too, what I can 
 affirm from my own experience, tliat you cannot 
 confer your good offices upon a society that will 
 more gratefully remember them. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 To PulUus Silius, Proprtslor. 
 PuBLiusTerentius Hispo, who is dcputy-receiver- 
 general of the customs arising from jiasture and 
 _,,, cattle in your province, is a person for 
 whom I have a very i)articular frienilslii]) : 
 a?, indeed, many important good offices have mu- 
 tually passed between us. The settling his accounts 
 ■with the several cities under his department which 
 yet remain unadjusted, is a point wherein his cha- 
 racter, you are sensible, is greatly concerned. This 
 
 I attempted in his behalf with reo;ard to the inha- 
 bitants of Ephesus ; but my attempts, I mus^t 
 confess, jiroved unsuccessful. It is the general 
 opinion of the world, however, and what I am 
 firmly assured of myself, that the jij<tice and cle- 
 mency of your administration has gained you such 
 an ascendant over the jjeojile of Greece, that you 
 may easily obtain of them anything you sliall re- 
 quest. I entreat you then to employ your interest 
 with them in favour of Hispo : and I ask it as a 
 ])ointin which my honour is |)e(;uliarly concerned. 
 The truth is, not only the whole com|)any in this 
 branch of the revenues has placed itself under my 
 jirotection, but I have ji.irticular intimacies with 
 many of its members. Your compliance therefore 
 with my request will strengthen my interest with 
 tliis society in general, and will also give me the 
 satisfaction and credit of liaving obtained your 
 good offices for my friend. To this I will add, that 
 you may depend on receiving great complacency, 
 both from the grateful returns of IIis])o in particu- 
 lar, and from the interest you will establish with 
 this illustrious company in general. Y'ou will like- 
 wise oblige me in a most sensible manner : for, be 
 assured, the whole extent of your government 
 cannot supply you with an opportunity of render- 
 ing me a more acceptable service. Farewell. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 To Marcus CatoK 
 Tfie great authority you bear in the republic, 
 together with the high esteem I have ever enter- 
 »i „ tained for your uncommon virtues, make 
 me look upon it as a point of much conse- 
 quence to me, that you should be apprised of the 
 ' This illustrious Roman was.greatgrandson to Marcus 
 Cato, the Censor, to whom he was no less allied in virtue 
 than in blood. He had all his merit, indeed, without any 
 of his failings ; and with the same determined inflexibility 
 in his public conduct, ho was far more amiable in tlie 
 common intercourses of private life. Perhaps a character 
 equally perfect is nowliere to be found in the whole annals 
 of profane history ; and it may well be questioned whether 
 human philosophy ever produced, either before or since, 
 80 truly great and good a man. It is a just observation of 
 Seneca, — "magnam rem puta, unum hominem agere;" 
 and it is this uncommon consistency of action that marks 
 the character of Cato with its most distinguishing beauty. 
 All the parts of his conduct accord with each other, and 
 are the regular result of one steady and invariable prin- 
 ciple : — 
 
 Patriae — impendere vitam : 
 
 Nee sibi, sed toti genitum se credere mundo. 
 This was the glorious object of his ambition from his first 
 appearance in the world to the last moment of his life ; 
 and he undauntedlj' pursued it througli all the various 
 insults and opposition that Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey 
 could contrive to traverse and perplex his way. lie reso- 
 lutely, indeed, opposed the progress of their power, in 
 every step of its unconstitutional advancement ; and, witli 
 a most consummate prudence, perpetually forewarned his 
 countrymen of those calamities which they afterwards 
 experienced. Cicero, nevertheless, has said (and it has 
 been often repeated after him) that tliere was more of 
 probity thim of prudence in Cato's politics, and particu- 
 
 success of my arms ; of the disinterested protection 
 I have given to our allies ; and of the integrity of 
 my administration in general. And I doubt not, 
 when you shall be informed of these several articles, 
 I shall find the less difficulty in ])ersuading you to 
 comply vrith the request I am going to make. 
 
 I arrived in this province on the last of July; 
 and, as the season of the year rendered it necessary 
 for me to hasten to the army, I continued only two 
 days at Laodicea, four at Apamea, three at Syn- 
 nadae, and as many at Philomelum. 1 found great 
 
 larly instances his treatment of the Roman knights in a 
 very nice case, wherein they petitioned tlie senate for 
 redress. [See rem. », p. 3.57-] I'erhaps Cato's firmness in 
 this article cannot be justified: but certainly it would not 
 be reasonable to pronounce, from a particular article, 
 that he did not, in the general tenor of his public actions, 
 discover great abilities. Cicero speaks of them, it is true, 
 upon other occasions also, with some diminution; but it 
 is no wonder he should represent that conduct as injudi- 
 cious, which was almost in every respect the very reverse 
 of his own. One cannot easily, indeed, believe that Cato's 
 talents were unequal to his virtues, when one considers 
 the perpetual jealousy with which he was looked upon by 
 the first triumvirate, the violent measures they employed 
 to prevent his being elected praetor, and that they would 
 never suffer him to attain the consular office. Intejjrity 
 under the direction of much inferior abilities, could not, 
 surely, have been thus formidiLble, especially in an age 
 the most venal and unprincipled that ever darkened the 
 annals of human corruption. But wliatever may be deter- 
 mined as to the measure of his intellectual qualities, he 
 unquestionably possessed the patriot virtues in their 
 highest perfection ; and (as a noble author justly observes) 
 "if he could not save, he prolonged the life of liberty." — 
 Plut. in Vit. Caton. ; Senee. Ep. 120; Lucan. ii. 382; Ad 
 Att. i. 18, 11, 5 ; Let. on the Spirit of Patriotism, p. S.'i.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIKNDS. 
 
 4i'. 
 
 numbers of people assembled in these several towns 
 in expectation of my arrival : and, during my stay 
 in each, I relieved many cities from the oppressive 
 taxes they laboured under, reduced the exorbitant 
 interest they paid for the money they had been 
 obliged to borrow, and discharged them from the 
 •unjust demands of their usurious creditors. Before 
 I arrived in ray government, a mutiny had arisen 
 in the army, and the soldiers had dispersed them- 
 selves into dififerent parts of the provinces : five 
 ■cohorts, in particular, were retired to Philomelum, 
 without a single officer to command them. I 
 therefore ordered my lieutenant Anneius to conduct 
 these scattered regiments to the main body in 
 Lycaonia, and to assemble the whole army at Ico- 
 nium, where I directed him to encamp. These 
 orders he very diligently executed ; and I joined the 
 troops on the 26th of August. In the interval, I 
 •employed myself, agreeably to the injunctions of 
 the senate, in raising a strong body of evocati", 
 together with a proper number of cavalry, as also 
 in assembUng those auxiliary forces which the free 
 as well as regal states in alliance with the republic 
 had voluntarily offered me. As soon as the junc- 
 tion of all the troops was completed, I reviewed 
 the whole army ; and, on the 30th of August, we 
 began to move towards Cilicia. In the mean time, 
 envoys from the king of Commagene arrived with 
 a very confused indeed, but, however, as it ap- 
 peared afterwards, a very true account, that the 
 Parthians had invaded Syria. This news greatly 
 alarmed me, not only for the danger to which that 
 province, but my own, was exposed ; and which 
 threatened, likewise, all Asia in general. I thought 
 it advisable, therefore, to lead my troops through 
 that part of Cappadocia which borders on Cilicia. 
 If, indeed, I had marched directly into Cilicia, I 
 could easily have protected that district of my pro- 
 vince from any invasion on the side of Syria ; as it 
 cannot be entered from thence without traversing 
 Mount Amanus, over which there are only two 
 narrow defiles, that might be defended by a very 
 small force. In short, nothing can be more impreg- 
 nable than Cilicia is from that quarter, by the for- 
 tifications with which nature has secured it. But 
 my chief concern was for Cappadocia, which lies 
 entirely open towards Syria : and besides, there 
 are several little kingdoms in its neighbourhood, 
 which, though in friendship with the Romans, yet 
 dare not openly act against the Parthians. These 
 considerations, therefore, determined me to lie 
 with my army on the borders of Cappadocia ; and 
 accordingly I encamped at Cybistra, a town situated 
 not far from Mount Taurus. By these means, I 
 was in a condition of protecting Cilicia, at the same 
 time that, by possessing myself of Cappadocia, I 
 prevented the contiguous states from entering into 
 any jMcasures to our prejudice. 
 
 Whilst affairs were in this commotion, and there 
 was reason to apprehend a general war, king Deio- 
 tarus sent an embassy to my camp with an offer of 
 joining me with all his forces. I was extremely 
 sensible of this instance of his zeal and friendship, 
 and immediately returned him a letter of acknow- 
 ledgments, with my pressing exhortation, at the 
 same time, that he would hasten his march. I 
 cannot but observe, upon this occasion, that 
 JDeiotarus justly merits those peculiar marks of 
 
 o See rem. », on letter 3, book iv. 
 
 favour and esteem, with which both you and I m 
 jiarticular, as well as the senate in general, have 
 ever distinguished him. He discovers, indeed, a 
 remarkable fidelity and affection to the republic, 
 together with an uncommon presence and greatness 
 of mind both in action and in council. 
 
 I found it necessary, for the better concerting 
 my plan of operations, to continue five days at 
 Cybistra. During my stay there, I had the satis- 
 faction to be of singular service to Ariobarzanes ; 
 a prince particularly assigned to my protection by 
 the senate, in consequence of your motion for that 
 purpose. I delivered him from a very dangerous 
 conspiracy, which was just upon the point of being 
 carried into execution. I did more indeed ; and 
 not only preserved his person, but strengthened 
 his authority. For this purpose I procured Metras 
 and Athenseus (the latter of whom you strongly 
 recommended to my care) not only to be recalled 
 from that exile into which the intrigues of the 
 cruel Athenais had driven them, but to be restored 
 to their former favour and credit with the king. 
 And as it would have produced a very terrible civil 
 war if' the high priest', who was among the disaf- 
 fected party, had taken up arms, as was generally 
 supposed to be his intention, I found means of 
 obliging him to depart the kingdom. This young 
 man abounded both in money and troops, and pos- 
 sessed every other advantage that could render 
 him of importance to those who were inclined to 
 attempt a revolution. In a word, I recovered the 
 authority of Ariobarzanes, without occasioning the 
 least bloodshed or disturbance, and firmly established 
 him in his royal dignity. 
 
 In the mean time, I was informed, by various 
 expresses, that a considerable army of Parthians 
 and Arabians were advanced to the city of Antio- 
 chia* ; and that a large body of their cavalry which 
 had penetrated into Cilicia, were entirely cut to 
 pieces by a detachment of mine, supported by the 
 prjetorian'^ cohort in garrison at Epiphanea>'. Per- 
 ceiving, therefore, that the Parthians had turned 
 off from Cappadocia, and were approached within 
 a small distance of the frontiers of Cilicia, I con- 
 ducted the army with all possible expedition to 
 .\manus. Upon my arrival, I found the enemy 
 was retired from Antiochia, and that Bibulus had 
 taken possession of the city. I sent an express, 
 therefore, to Deiotarus, who was upon full march 
 with all his forces to join me, acquainting him that 
 I did not at present see occasion of drawing him 
 out of his dominions ; but that if any new occur- 
 rence should arise, I would immediately give him 
 notice. 
 
 My principal view in advancing to Amanus was, 
 that I might be ready to assist either Cilicia or 
 Syria, as circumstances should require. I had 
 likewise another design, which I had before medi- 
 tated, and now prepared to execute, as being of 
 great importance to both provinces : I mean, to 
 
 ^ It appears, by a passage which JIanutius cites from 
 Ilirtius, that the high priest of the temple of Bellona, at 
 Commana, a city in Cappadocia, was next in rank and 
 power to the king himself.— Hirt. De Bell. Alexand. 
 
 w In Syria. 
 
 » The pra?torian cohort composed a sort of body-guard to 
 the proconsul, or general, and consisted of a select number 
 chosen out of the evocati. The nature of the latter baa 
 been already explained in remark », p. 403. 
 
 7 A city in Cilicia. 
 
 E B
 
 418 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 quell the insurrection of these highhmders, and 
 extirjKite an enemy tliat was perpftually iiit'estinfj 
 lis. To this tiul I niatle a fi-int of retiring towards 
 anotherpart of Cilicia; and, having actually returned 
 a day's march, 1 encamped at E])iphanea. But, on 
 the 12th of October, in the evening, I struck my 
 tents, and, by a long march during the whole night, 
 I arrived early the next morning at Amanus. I 
 immediately formed in order of battle, heading part 
 of the troops myself, in conjunction with my bro- 
 ther, and distributing the command of the rest 
 amongst my other lieutenants. The enemy being 
 thus surrounded by surprise, were taken and de- 
 stroyed in great numbers. Meanwhile, my lieute- 
 nant I'ontinius attacked Sepyra, C;ommoris, and 
 Erana ; the latter of which is the priiiciiial town on 
 these mountains, and indeed considerable enough 
 to be called a city. They each made a very obsti- 
 nate resistance ; and, notwithstanding the attack 
 began before day-break, they did not surrender till 
 night, nor without having suffered a prodigious 
 slaughter. In this action we took six fortresses, 
 and burnt many more. 
 
 Having thus successfully completed this expedi- 
 tion, we encamped at the foot of Mount Amanus, 
 near Alexander's'' Altars, where I continued four 
 days. During the whole time I remained here, I 
 was employed in extirpating the rest of these 
 mountaineers, and destroying that part of their 
 lands which lies within my province. From hence 
 I sat down before Pindinessum, a city in the terri- 
 tories of that part of Cilicia which has never 
 submitted to the Romans. This was a place of 
 great strengtli, and inhabited by a stubborn people 
 who had preserved themselves unconquered, even 
 by the neighbouring kings. It was a harbour, 
 likewise, for fugitives of every kind, and they were 
 greatly also in the interest of the Parthians, whose 
 approach they impatiently expected. Upon these 
 considerations, 1 thought it for the honour of my 
 arms to restrain their insolence ; especially, as I 
 should by this means the more easily subdue the 
 spirit of those other cantons which were equally 
 averse to the Roman government. In consequence 
 of this resolution, I invested the town ; and, having 
 raised six large fortresses, I began to play my 
 battering engines against their walls. They held 
 out, however, fifty-seven days ; but at length find- 
 ing the flames had seized several parts of the town, 
 and that other quarters were laid in ruins, they 
 surrendered at discretion, after having occasioned 
 me an infinite fatigue. I had the satisfaction to 
 complete this enterprise without occasioning our 
 allies the least inconvenience or expense. After 
 having thus reduced Pindinessum, and received 
 hostages from the Tiburani, a neighbouring peo))le 
 equally bold and insolent, I sent my army into 
 winter-quarters. This care I assigned to my bro- 
 ther, and ordered him to canton the troops amongst 
 those towns we had lately taken, or that were most 
 disposed to revolt. 
 
 And now, if a motion should be made in the 
 senate concerning the honours due to the success 
 of my arms, I shall esteem it the highest glory to 
 be supported in my pretensions by your suffrage. 
 I am sensible it is usual for the gravest characters 
 to request, as well as to be requested, for favours 
 » A place near Issus, where Alexander, having defeated 
 Darius, consecrated three altars to Jupiter, Hercules, and 
 Minerva, as memorials of his victory. — Q,uiat. Curt. iii. 
 
 of this nature in the strongest terms ; but I per- 
 suade myself it will be more proper for me to 
 remind, than to solicit ymi, in the j)resent instance. 
 You have freijuently, iiuleed, not only distinguished 
 me with your vote, but with your highest applause, 
 both in the senate and in the assemblies of the 
 people". And believe me, I have ever thought 
 there was so mucli weight and authority in all you 
 uttered, that a single word of yours in my favour 
 was the highest honour I could possibly receive. I 
 remember, ujion a certain occasion, when you 
 refused to vote for a public thanksgiving'' which 
 was jiroposed in favour of a very worthy and illus- 
 trious citizen ; you told the senate that you should 
 willingly have given your suffrage in support of the 
 honour in question, had it been designed as a reward 
 for any civil services which that consul had per- 
 formed in Rome. Agreeably to this maxim, you 
 formerly concurred in voting that a public thanks- 
 giving should be decreed to me ; not, indeed, for 
 having advanced the glory of our country by my 
 military achievements, (for that would have been a 
 circumstance nothing uncommon,) but for having, 
 in a most singular and unexampled manner, pre- 
 served the liberties of the whole commonwealth ' 
 without: drawing a sword. I forbear to mention 
 the generous share you have taken in all the envy, 
 the ilifficulties, and the dangers to which my life 
 has been exposed ; and a far greater you were 
 willing to have taken, if I could have been pre- 
 vailed upon to have consented. I forbear to men- 
 tion, likewise, that you considered my enemy" as 
 your own ; and that, in order to give me a con- 
 vincing proof of your great regard, you scrupled 
 not to show your approbation even of his death, by 
 defending Milo in the senate. In return, (and I 
 speak of it not as a favour for which you are in- 
 debted to me, but as a tribute which I owed to 
 truth,) I have been no silent admirer of your virtues;, 
 for who, indeed, can suppress his applause of them ? 
 In all my speeches, both in the forum and the 
 senate, as well as in the several pieces I have pub- 
 lished, either in our own language or in Greek, I 
 have ever represented your character as superior, 
 not only to the noblest amongst our contemporaries, 
 but to the most celebrated in history. 
 
 After all, you will wonder, perhaps, what should 
 induce me to set so high a value upon these little 
 transient honours of the senate. I will acknow- 
 ledge, then, the whole truth, and lay open my heart 
 before you with a freedom becoming that philo- 
 sophy we cultivate, and that friendship we profess ; 
 a friendship delivered down to us from our parents, 
 and improved by many reciprocal good offices. 
 
 Let me previously observe, that if ever any maa 
 was a stranger to vain-glory, and a desire of vulgar 
 
 a Cicero, soon after the expiration of his consulate, had 
 very particular obligations to Cato, of the kind he men- 
 tions. For the latter being tribune at that time, procured 
 him a confirmation, from an assembly of the people, of the 
 glorious title of father of his cou.ntry. — Plut. in Vit. 
 Cicer. 
 
 b This honour was usually decreed to a general after 
 some signal advantage obtained by his arms. It consisted 
 in appointing a solemn festival, in order to return thanks 
 to tlie gods for the public success; at which time the 
 senate went in solemn procession to the principal temples 
 in Rome, and assisted at the sacrifices instituted for suctn 
 occasions. 
 
 c I3y the suppression of Catiline's conspiracy. 
 
 <* Clodius.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 410 
 
 admiration, it is myself ; and this frame of mind, 
 which 1 possess by tem|)er, has been still strength- 
 ened (if I am not deceived) by reason and philo- 
 sophy. As an evidence of this, I appeal to my 
 consulate ; in which, as in every other part of my 
 life, though I pursued that conduct, I confess, 
 from whence true honours might be derived, yet 1 
 never thought they were of themselves an object 
 worthy of my ambition. On the contrary, I 
 refused the government of a very noble province*^ ; 
 and, notwithstanding it was highly probable I 
 might have obtained a triumph, yet I forbore to 
 prosecute my pretensions of that kind. I forbore, 
 too, the offering myself as a candidate for the office 
 of augur, though you are sensible, I dare say, that 
 I might have succeeded without much difficulty. 
 But 1 will acknowledge that the injurious treatment 
 I afterwards suffered, though you always speak of 
 it, indeed, as a circumstance which reflects the 
 highest honour upon my character, and as a mis- 
 fortune only to the republic, has rendered me 
 desirous of receiving the most distinguished marks 
 of my country's approbation. For this reason I 
 solicited the office of augur, which I had before 
 declined ; and, as little as 1 once thought the mili- 
 tary honours deserved my pursuit, I am now ambi- 
 tious of that distinction which the senate usually 
 confers on its successful generals. I will own I 
 have some view, by this mean, of healing the 
 wounds of my former unmerited disgrace ; and, 
 therefore, though I just now declared that I would 
 not press you upon this article, I recal my words, 
 and most earnestly conjure your suffrage and assist- 
 ance. I make this request, however, upon the 
 supposition that what I have performed in this 
 campaign sliall not appear contemptible in your 
 eye, but, on the contrary, far superior to the actions 
 of many of those generals who have obtained the 
 most glorious rewards from the senate. 
 
 I have observed, (and you are sensible I always 
 listen with great attention whenever you deliver 
 your opinions,) that, as often as any question of 
 this nature has come before the senate, you were 
 less inquisitive into the military than civil conduct 
 of the proconsul. It was the political ordinances 
 he had established, and the moral qualities he had 
 displayed, that seemed to have the principal weight 
 in determining your vote. If you should examine 
 my pretensions in this view, you will see that, with 
 a weak and inconsiderable array, I found a strong 
 resource against the danger of a very formidable 
 invasion in the lenity and justice of my govern- 
 ment. By these aids I effected what I never could 
 by the most powerful legions : I recovered the 
 friendship of our alienated allies ; firmly strength- 
 ened their allegiance to the republic ; and conci- 
 liated their aflections at a time when they were 
 ■waiting the opportunity of some favourable con- 
 juncture to desert us. 
 
 But perhaps I have expatiated farther upon 
 this subject than is necessary ; especially to you, 
 before whom all our allies in general are accus- 
 tomed to lay their complaints'. To them, there- 
 
 e Macedonia ; to which he had a riglit by lot to have 
 succeeded at the expiration of his consulate. See rem. ^, 
 p. 335. 
 
 f Cato settled a correspondence throughout the whole 
 Roman provinces, and received constant intelligence of 
 the conduct of the several governors in their respective 
 commands, so attentive was this vigilant patriot to what- 
 
 fore, I refer you for an account of the benefits they 
 have received by my administration. They will 
 all of them, as with one voice, I am persuaded, 
 give you the most advantageous testimony in my 
 favour ; but particularly tliose illustrious clients of 
 yours, the Cyprians'-' and Cappadocians, to whom I 
 
 ever concerned the interest of the commonwealth !— Plut. 
 in Vit. Caton. 
 
 K Cyprus had a particular claim to the patronage of 
 Cato, as ho had been employed in executing a commissioa 
 by which that island was annexed to the dominions of 
 the republic. This commission w.as artfully contrived by 
 Clodius in his tribunate, in order to remove Cato out of 
 his ivay ; but the precise nature of it is nowhere distinctly 
 explained. It should seem, by what may be collected from 
 Plutarch, that it was only an embassy in which Cato was 
 appointed to claim, on behalf of tlio republic, the domi- 
 nions of Ptolemy, king of Cyprus, and to offer him, at the 
 same time, the high-priestliood of the temple of Venus, in 
 tlie island of Paphos, which in those days mighthavebeea 
 no disadvantageous exchange. Cato, however, has been 
 severely censured by some modern historians, for having 
 accepted this office ; ami Dr. Widdleton, in particular, 
 thinks he cannot be justified. But none of the ancient 
 historians speak of it as in the least unworthy of Cato'a 
 virtue: and, indeed, one of the most moral writers in all 
 antiquity mentions it upon an occasion which evidently 
 shows that it was by no means thought inconsistent with 
 that character of rigid justice which tliis illustrious Roman 
 hiid so deservedly obtained. Seneca, in his letter of conso- 
 lation, addressed to M.arcia, on the loss of her son, taking 
 notice of the advantages of an early death, instances, 
 among other examples, those calamities which a more 
 extended period had brought upon Cato. — " Marcum Cato- 
 nem (says he) si a Cypro et hercditatis regiae dispensatione 
 redeuntem mare devorasset, — nonne illo bene actum foret ? 
 — Nunc annorum adjectio paucissimorum, virum libertati 
 non suae tantum sed publicse natum, coegit Caesarem fugere, 
 Pompeium sequi." It is evident, then, that this action was 
 so far from being deemed unjustifiable in the opinion of 
 the ancients, (by which alone it can be fairly examined,) 
 that the noblest of their moralists has chosen it to com- 
 plete the glory and grace the exit of his favourite hero. 
 It must unquestionably, therefore, have been founded 
 upon some circumstances that reconciled it to that law of 
 nations which then prevailed in the world. Accordingly, 
 it appears, by some passages in Cicero's orations, that the 
 republic had an ancient claim to these dominions. For 
 Alexander, king of Egypt, to whose territories Cyprus 
 belonged, appointed the Roman commonwealth his general 
 heir; and though the senate did not judge proper, at that 
 juncture, to assert their full right under his will, they 
 thought it, however, a sufficient title to possess themselves 
 of Alexander's eff'ects. From that time down to the date 
 of Cato's commission, frequent attempts had been made 
 in the senate to enforce their right under the will, and a 
 decree had actually passed for that purpose. But as this 
 decree was protested against by some tribune, it had never 
 been carried into execution. Thus far it should seem that 
 Cato's commission was not founded upon a mere arbitrary 
 exertion of power, but on a right which had long before 
 received the sanction of the senate, and which had already 
 in part been vindicated to the public. In the next place, 
 the inhabitants of Cyprus were extremely oppressed under 
 the government of Ptolemy, and desirous of transferring 
 their subjection to the Romans. Paterculus represents 
 this prince as one who well deserved tlie punishment ho 
 suffered : — " omnibus morum viliis (says he) earn contu- 
 meliam meritum." And Dion Cassius expressly declares, 
 that the Cyprians received Cato, " oii»c a/couo-iois Roping 
 that, from slaves, as they were before, they should be 
 raised into the number of the friends and allies of Ifome." 
 But to consider this question in another view : what pro- 
 bable reason of personal interest can be assigned for Cato's 
 imdertaking this office ? It could not be from a spirit of 
 avarice : for it is unanimously confessed that he discharged 
 it with the most unspotted integrity. It could not be from 
 E £ 2
 
 420 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 may likewise add your great and royal friend'', 
 prince Dt'iotarus. If thus to act is a merit of the 
 most sujierior kind, if in all ages the number has 
 been far less coiisiileraljle of those who knew how 
 to subdue their desires than to vanquish tlieir ene- 
 mies, he that has given an instance of botii, cannot, 
 certainly, but be deemed, in Cato's estimation at 
 least, to have strengthened his claim to the honours 
 of his country, and to have improved the splendour 
 of his military achievements by the more unusual 
 lustre of his civil conduct. 
 
 Let me, in the last j)Iace, and as in diffidence of 
 my own solicitations, call in Philosoj)hy for my 
 advocate ; than which nothing has ever alfordfil 
 me a more sensible satisfaction. The truth is, she 
 is one of the noblest blessings that the gods have 
 bestowed on man. At her shrine we have both of 
 us, from our earliest vears, ])aid our joint and ('(lual 
 adorations ; and while she has been thought by 
 some the companion only of indolent and sechided 
 speculatists, we (and we alone, I had almost said) 
 have introduced her into the world of business, and 
 familiarised her with tiie most active and im])ortant 
 scenes. She, therefore, it is that now solicits you 
 in my behalf ; and when Philosophy is the sup- 
 pliant, Cato surely can never refuse. To say all 
 in one word, be well assured, if I should pievail 
 with you to concur in procuring a decree 1 so much 
 ■wish to obtain, I shall consider myself as wholly 
 indebted for that honour to your authority and 
 friendship. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 Marcus Cato to Cicero. 
 
 The affection I bear both to you and to the 
 republic induces me, very sincerely, to rejoice 'in 
 ^ ^ jQo finding that you exercise the same in- 
 tegrity and vigilance in the conduct of 
 our arms abroad as distinguished your administra- 
 tion of our most important aflairs at home. I have, 
 therefore, paid your actions that honour which was 
 most consistent with my judgment ; and, in speak- 
 ing to this question before the senate, as well as 
 afterwards when I assisted in drawing up the 
 decree that has passed in your favour, I applauded 
 the probity and prudence with which you have 
 protected your province, preserved the crown and 
 person of Ariobarzanes, and conciliated the affec- 
 tions of our allies in general. 
 
 If you rather choose, however, that we should 
 ascribe to the gods those advantages which the 
 republic has gained entirely by your own consum- 
 mate wisdom and probity, I am glad the senate 
 
 a motive of ambition ; for he refused all the honours, upon 
 this occasion, which his country would have paid him. 
 It could not be from a servile compliance with the power 
 of Clodius ; for he died rather than submit even to that of 
 Caesar. Upon the whole, therefore, it seems reasonable 
 to assert, that Cato acted in this instance, as in all others, 
 upon a principle of disinterested patriotism, and consis- 
 tentlj'with the strictest maxims of pagan morality. — Plut. 
 in Vit. Caton. ; Orat. in Rul. i. I. 11. IQ; \ell. Pat. ii. 45 ; 
 Dio, p. 1(11 ; Senec. Consol. ad Marc. 20. 
 
 ■> Cato took a voyage into Asia, in order to inform himself 
 of the strength and dispobition of these eastern provinces ; 
 and it was upon this occasion that he entered into a per- 
 bonal friendship with Deiotanis, who paid him the lionours 
 cf his court with smgular marks of ebteem and considera- 
 jtiofl.— Plut. in Vit Caion, 
 
 has passed a de{Tee for that purpose. But if you 
 are willing that fortune should have the credit of 
 your actions, as sui)posing a public thanksgiving 
 necessarily opens your way to a triumph, I must 
 observe that the latter is not always a consetjuence 
 of the former. Yet, granting it were, is it not 
 far more to the honour of a general, to have it 
 declared, by a vote of the senate, that he preserved 
 his province by the mildness and equity of his 
 administration, than that he owed it either to the 
 strength of his troo]>s, or to the jieculiar inter- 
 position of Providence ? Such, at least, were my 
 sentiments when this question came before the 
 house ; and if 1 have employed more words than 
 usual in explaining them, it was from a desire of 
 convincing you, that, though I proposed to the 
 senate what I thought would be most for the 
 advantage of your re|)utation, I rejoice that they 
 have determined what is most agreeable to your 
 wishes. I have only to request the continuance of 
 your friendship, and to entreat you steadily to 
 persevere in those paths of integrity which you 
 have hitherto pursued both in respect to our allies 
 and the republic'. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER in. 
 
 To Caius J\Tarcellus', Consul. 
 Nothing could be more agreeable to my wishes, 
 than that the questicni concerning the honours due 
 A u 703 *■" "^y military services should come 
 before the senate at a time when you are 
 consul, as it will afford you an opportunity of 
 gratifying that uncommon zeal for my interests 
 which 1 have upon all occasions e.xperienced from 
 every branch of your family. Let me entreat you, 
 therefore, when the letter I have addressed to the 
 senate shall be laid before that assembly, to exert 
 your influence in procuring a decree in my favour 
 of the most distinguished kind. I persuade myself 
 you will find no difficulty in complying with this 
 request, as the senate, I trust, vfill by no means 
 be averse to my pretensions. If there were any of 
 your family whose friendship I enjoyed in a higher 
 degree than yours, I should have applied to you 
 by their intervention. But though no man ever 
 entered more warmly into my interests than your 
 father ; though the esteem which your relation 
 Marcus Marcellus has long entertained for me is 
 conspicuous to the whole world ; and, in a word, 
 though all your family, in general, have ever 
 honoured me with the most signal marks of their 
 regard ; yet there is not one of them who hath 
 afforded me stronger instances of affection than 
 yourself. I conjure you, then, to distinguish me 
 with the highest honours ; and let me experience. 
 
 » This letter (to speak in the virtuoso language) is a 
 unique, and extremely valuable, as being the only compo- 
 sition that has been transmitted to us from the hands of 
 Cato. It confirms what Plutarch expressly asserts, that 
 Cato's manners were by no means of a rough and unpolished 
 cast, as no refusal could have been drawn up in more 
 decent and civil terms. A judicious eye, however, cannot 
 but discern, through this veil of politeness, the nice touches 
 of a delicate and concealed raillery, which Cicero, never- 
 theless, thought proper to dissemble, as will appear by 
 his answer to this letter in the following book. See letter 
 10, book vi. 
 
 J See rem. », p. 399.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 421 
 
 in the affair of my thanksgiving, as well as in every 
 other wherein the glory of my reputation is con- 
 cerned, that I want no solicitor to recommend me 
 to your good offices. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Lucius Paulus^, Consul. 
 
 Among many reasons for wishing myself with 
 
 you at Rome, the principal was, that I might, both 
 
 « .. -ji.-j at your election and in the course of your 
 
 A. U. 7(13. •' ■ • i. u ■ c 
 
 consular ministry, have given you proofs 
 of that zeal to which you have so undoubted a right. 
 I am sensible, at the same time, that the unanimity 
 with which you were chosen, (and of which, indeed, 
 I never entertained the least doubt,) would have 
 rendered my assistance in that article altogether 
 unnecessary : and I sincerely wish you may have 
 as little occasion for it in the subsequent discharge 
 of your office. However, I should have had the 
 satisfaction, at least, of seconding your views in 
 both. It is a great concern to me, I confess, when 
 I reflect that, notwithstanding I experienced many 
 important instances of your affection during my 
 consulship, I am yet utterly incapable of making 
 any return in yours. And what renders this reflec- 
 tion still more mortifying, is, that you were but a 
 young man when you thus generously displayed 
 the effects of your friendship : whereas, I am at a 
 time of life when much greater advantages might 
 well be expected from mine. I know not, in truth, 
 by what fatality it is that you have continually had 
 opportunities of advancing my dignities, and that 
 I have never been able to contribute anything but 
 ineffectual good wishes to yours. Thus, as not 
 only in the instance I just now mentioned, but in 
 the article of my restoration, I was indebted to you 
 for the highest honours, so a fresh occasion now 
 presents itself to you of distinguishing me, as my 
 military achievements have happened to fall within 
 the period of your consulate. The dignity of that 
 office with which you are invested, and the import- 
 ance of those honours I am suing for, might well 
 require that I should address you in all the warmth 
 of solicitation ; but I dare not venture thus to press 
 you, lest it should look as if I forgot, or at least 
 imagined that you had forgotten, your usual dis- 
 position to serve me. I will make my request, 
 therefore, in few words : and it will be treating 
 you in a manner more agreeable, I dare say, to 
 your own inclinations, as well as to those favours 
 which all the world is sensible I have received at 
 your hands. If any others, indeed, than you and 
 your colleague were in possession of the consular 
 office, you are the first man whose mediation I 
 should have employed in order to render the 
 consuls favourable to my pretensions. But as this 
 high authority is vested in you, with whom I have 
 the strongest and most conspicuous connexions, I 
 cannot scruple to conjure your assistance in speed- 
 ily procuring a decree of the most illustrious kind 
 in my favour ; an honour which you will find, by 
 the letter I have addressed to the senate, that my 
 arms are not unworthy of receiving. I recommend 
 then my reputation, and, indeed, my concerns of 
 every sort, to your generous patronage. But, above 
 all, I beseech you (and it is a request I mentioned 
 
 k See rem. <4, p. 400. 
 
 in my former letter) that you would not suffer the 
 time of my continuance here to be prolonged. It 
 is much my desire, in truth, to see you in your 
 consular office ; and I doubt not of obtaining from 
 your administration every advantage, both here and 
 in Italy, that I most wish to enjoy. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Marcus Cwlius to Cicero. 
 You have been informed, I doubt not, that 
 Dolabella has exhibited articles of irnpeacliment 
 ^ ,. ..yg against Appius' ; and this prosecution 
 seems to be more agreeable to the world 
 in general than I imagined. Appius, however, has 
 actL-d with great prudence upon the occasion : for 
 as soon as his adversary had lodged his information, 
 he withdrew his petition for a triumph, and imme- 
 diately entered the city"'. By these means he 
 silenced the reports to his disadvantage ; as he 
 appeared more willing to take his trial than his 
 prosecutor expected. Appius relies greatly in this 
 conjuncture upon your assistance ; and I am per- 
 suaded you are not disinclined to serve him. You 
 have it now in your power" to do so as far as you 
 shall think proper ; though, I must add, you would 
 be more at liberty to limit; your good offices towards 
 him, if you and he had never been upon ill terms 
 together. But, as the case now stands, were you 
 to measure out your services by the right he has to 
 demand them, it might be suspected that you were 
 not sincere in your reconcilement : whereas, you 
 can hazard no censure by obliging him ; as you 
 will show that you are not to be discouraged from 
 acting a generous part, even where friendship" 
 might inchne you to the contrary. This reminds 
 me of acquainting you that Dolabella's wife ob- 
 tained a divorce just upon the commencement of 
 this prosecution. I remember the coniiiiissionP 
 you left with me when you set out for the province; 
 as I dare say you have not forgotten what I after- 
 wards wrote to you concerning that affair. I have 
 not time to enlarge upon it at present : only let 
 me advise you, how much soever you may relish 
 the scheme, to wait the event of this trial before 
 you discover your sentiments. If, indeed, your 
 inclinations should be known, it will raise a very 
 invidious clamour against you ; and should you 
 give Dolabella the least intimation of them, they 
 
 1 He was prosecuted by Dolabella in two distinct im- 
 peachments. The first was, for being guilty of treason 
 in his government of Cilicia ; and the other, for bribery 
 and corruption in his election to the consulate. — Ep. Fani. 
 iii. 11. 
 
 '" See rem. °, p. 409. 
 
 n As one of Dolabella's impeachments against Appius 
 was for his mal-practices in Cilicia, it was extremely in 
 the power of Cicero to serve Appius in those examinations 
 which were necessary to be taken in his province. 
 
 o To Dolabella. 
 
 p It seems probable, from this passage, that there was 
 some prospect of a divorce between Dolabella and his ivife 
 before Cicero left Rome ; and that the latter had commis- 
 sioned Coelius, in case this event should happen, to take 
 some measures for procuring a match between Dolabella 
 and his daughter Tullia. There will be occasion to make 
 great use of this circumstance in a remark upon a letter 
 in the following book : and, therefore, it is here pointed 
 out for the reader's particular observation. See rem. 8, oa 
 letter ) , book vi.
 
 422 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 will certainly bpoome more public than will be con- 
 venient cither tor your interest or your honour. 
 He would, undoubtedly, be unable to conceal a 
 circumstance so advantuf^jcous to his present views, 
 and which would give so much credit to the pro- 
 secution in which he is engaged ; and I am per- 
 suaded he would scarcely refrain from making it 
 the subject of his conversation, notwithstanding he 
 ■were sure the discovery wouhl prove to his pre- 
 judice. Pompey, I am tolil, interests liimself ex- 
 tremely in belialf of Appius; insomuch, tliat it is 
 generally imagined he has a design of sending one 
 of his sons in order to solicit you in his favour. 
 Meanwhile, we are in the humour here of acquit- 
 ting all criminals : nothing, in truth, so base or so 
 villanous can be perpetrated that is not sure of 
 escaping punishment. You will perceive how 
 vrondrously active our consuls are in their office, 
 wlien I tell you that they have not yet been able to 
 procure a single decree of the senate, except one 
 for apjjointing the Latiani festivals. Even our 
 friend Curio has not hitherto acted with any spirit 
 in his tribunate ; as, indeed, it is impossible to 
 describe the general indolence that has seized us. 
 If it were not for my contests with the vintners 
 and the surveyors of the public aqueducts, all 
 Rome would appear in a jjrofound lethargy. In 
 short, I know not to what degree the Parthians 
 may have animated you ; but, as for us, in this 
 part of the world, we are fast asleep. But how 
 much soever we may want to be awakened, I hope 
 it will not be by the Parthians. It is reported, 
 nevertheless, though I know not on wliat founda- 
 tion, that they have gained some slight advantage 
 over the troops of Bibulus, near Mount Amanus. 
 
 Since I wrote the above, I must recal what I said 
 concerning Curio. The cold fit is at length expelled 
 by the warmth of those censures to which the levity 
 of his conduct has exposed him. For, not being able 
 to carry his point with respect to the intercalation'', 
 he has deserted the interest of the senate, and 
 harangued the people in favour of Csesar'. He 
 threatens, likewise, to propose a Vnarian law, 
 somewhat of the same tendency with the Agrarian 
 one which was formerly attempted by Rullus' ; as 
 
 1 This festival was instituted by Tarquln, in memory of 
 his conquest of Etruria. 
 
 »• See rem. <i, p. 38!J. 
 
 * It has already been observed, in the course of theso 
 remarks, that Curio secretly favoured the interest of 
 Csesar, at the same time that he affected to act in concert 
 with the friends of the senate. But circumstances being 
 now mature for throwing aside the mask, he seized the 
 first opportunity of quarrelling with his party. With this 
 view he applied to the pontifical college for an intercalation, 
 in order to lengthen out the period of his tribunitial minis- 
 try. This he knew would not be granted, as having before 
 raised, it is probable, some suspicion of his real designs. 
 The refusal, however, furnished him with the pretence he 
 vanted, and gave a colour (such as it was; to the desertion 
 he had long meditated. — Dio, p. 149. 
 
 ' RuUus was tribune of the people in the consulate of 
 Cicero, by whose address and eloquence the law which 
 EuUus attempted to introduce was rejected. " Theselaws," 
 as Dr. Middleton observes, "used to be greedily received 
 by the populace, and were proposed, therefore, by factious 
 magistrates as often as they had any point to carry with 
 the multitude against the public good : but this law (of 
 RuUus) was of all others the most extravagant, and, by a 
 show of granting more to the people than had ever been 
 given before, seemed likely to be accepted. The purpose 
 of it was to createa decemvirate, orten commissioners, with 
 
 also another, em]iowering the sediles to distribute 
 corn among the j)eople. 
 
 If you should determine (as I think you ought) 
 to employ your good offices in behalf of Appius, I 
 beg you would take that oi)portunity of recom- 
 mending me to his favour. Let me prevail with 
 you, likewise, not to declare your.self with respect 
 to Dolabellu ; as your leaving that point at large 
 will be of singular im|)ortance not only to the affair 
 I hint at, but also in regard to the opinion the 
 world will entertain of your justice and honour. 
 
 Will it not be a high reflection upon you if 
 I should not be furnished with some Grecian 
 panthers ? Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 From the same. 
 
 I KNOW not how soon you may wish to resign 
 your government ; but, for my own part, my im- 
 patience for your return is in proportion 
 ■ to the good fortune that has hitherto 
 
 attended your arms. Whilst you continue in the 
 province, therefore, I shall be under perpetual 
 apprehensions lest some unlucky reverse should 
 damp the joy I take in your late successful expe- 
 dition. 
 
 I have time to write but a very few words, as I 
 convey this by the hands of the courier to the 
 farmers of the revenue, who is just setting out ; 
 and, indeed, I sent you a long letter yesterday by 
 your fieedman. Notliinghas since occurred worth 
 communicating ; unless you should have curiosity 
 enough to think (as I imagine you will) that the 
 following articles deserve notice. In the first place, 
 then, Cornificius is u])on the point of being married 
 to the youngest daughter of Sylla; and in the next, 
 Paula Valeria, on the very day her husband was 
 expected from his government, procured a divorce, 
 without alleging the least cause. She is to be 
 married to Decimus Brutus. Several very extra- 
 ordinary incidents of the same kind have happened 
 during your absence. But would you have sus- 
 pected that Servius Ocella was so well with the 
 ladies, as to have been twice discovered in close 
 gallantry within the space of three short days .' If 
 you ask me where the scene of this amorous ad- 
 venture was laid .'' in sad truth, my friend, where 
 I least wished ; but for the rest, I leave you 
 to inquire of others". And a pleasant piece of 
 intelligence it will be for our noble general to learn 
 in whose fair quarters the luckless Ocella was 
 seized ! Farewell. 
 
 absolute power for five years over all the revenues of the 
 republic, to distribute them at pleasure to the citizens ; to 
 sell and buy what lands they thought fit; to determine the 
 rights of the principal possessors ; to require an account 
 from all the generals abroad, except Pompey, of the spoils 
 taken in their wars ; to settle colonies wheresoever they 
 judged proper, and particularly at Capua ; and, in short, to 
 command all the money and forces in the empire." — Life 
 of Cicero, p. 43. 
 
 u One would almost suspect from the reserved manner 
 in which Coelius relates this adventure, that he had a 
 staring reason on his brow (as the poet humorously calls 
 it) for not being more explicit.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 423 
 
 LETTER Vn. 
 
 To Appius Pulcher. 
 
 I WILL answer your letter more fully than I can 
 at present, the very first moment I shall have 
 more leisure. In the mean while I snatch 
 A. u. , t . ^j^g opportunity of sending this by the 
 hands of some domestics of Brutus, who just now 
 called upon me at Laodicea, and are returning with 
 all expedition to Rome. They are in so much haste, 
 that I have only time to write this, and another to 
 Brutus. 
 
 The deputies from Apamea delivered your long 
 letter to me, wherein you very unjustly accuse me 
 of having obstructed by my mandates the public 
 monument^ which that city proposed to raise. 
 You desire I would suffer them to proceed imme- 
 diately upon the execution of that design, lest they 
 should be prevented by the winter ; and very 
 severely reproach me for having suspended the 
 assessments for that purpose till I should be able 
 to inquire into the justice of raising them. This, 
 you tell me, was in some sort an absolute prohibi- 
 tion ; since the winter would necessarily be set in 
 before I could return out of CiLicia in order to 
 examine into that affair. Having thus stated the 
 several articles of your <;harge, I will now show 
 you that they are altogether unreasonable. In the 
 first place, then, as I had received complaints on 
 the part of those who thought themselves aggrieved 
 by excessive taxes, where was the injustice if I 
 forbade these subsidies to be levied till I could 
 examine into the merits of the case ? But this, it 
 seems, I could not be able to effect till the winter. 
 Yet why not .' let me ask : since it was the part of 
 those who made these complaints to wait upon me, 
 rather than mine to attend them. But you will 
 object, perhaps, to the reasonableness of laying 
 these people under the difficulty of taking so long 
 a journey. Yet this journey you yourself must 
 necessarily have designed they should take, when 
 you gave them your letter to deliver to me. And 
 deliver it they accordingly did : but they timed it 
 so absurdly, that though it was to desire they might 
 be permitted to begin their work during the summer, 
 they did not bring it to me till that season was 
 ■expired. I must acquaint you, however, that far 
 the greater part of these very citizens are averse to 
 the levying this tax in question. Nevertheless, I 
 ■shall take such measures for that purpose, as I 
 imagine will prove most agreeable to your inclina- 
 iions. And thus much for this Apamean business. 
 
 I am informed, by Pausanias, a frcfdman of 
 Lentulus, and one of my accensors", that you 
 complained to him of my having treated you with 
 great haughtiness and incivility by not coming to 
 ' It was usual with these Asiatic provmces to consecrate 
 temples to their Roman governors, and associate them 
 "With the gods in the same common ceremonies of religious 
 worship. Probahly, therefore, the building wliich the city 
 <3f Apamea proposed to erect, was some compliment to 
 Appius of this sacred kind The very ingenious Monsieur 
 JMongault has shown, in a learned dissertation which he 
 Tead before the Royal Academy of Belles Lettres at Paris, 
 that the divine honours which were paid to the Roman 
 .emperors, were only a continuance of the same infamous 
 prostitution which had been practised during the times of 
 the republic. — riut. in Vit. Flamin. ; Memoires de Litt6- 
 rat. vol. i. p. 369. 
 
 " The accensors were officers who attended on the pro- 
 <O0nfiular magistrates in their courts of justice. 
 
 meet you in your approach to Iconium. The fact, 
 however, is this : I received a message from you 
 late at night, acquainting me that you proposed to 
 give me an interview in that city before the next 
 morning ; but your servant could not inform me 
 which of the two roads you intended to take. In 
 order, therefore, that I might be ready to attend 
 you, I despatched your friend Varro, together with 
 Lepta, the captain of my artillery, directing them 
 to take different roads, and whichever should meet 
 you first, to return with immediate notice. Ac- 
 cordingly Lepta came back with great expedition ; 
 and assuring me that you had actually passed the 
 camp, I instantly went to Iconium. What fol- 
 lowed I need not mention. And now is it probable 
 that I, who am rather apt to be more assiduous in 
 offices of this kind than my station and character 
 require, should neglect to pay the accustomed 
 honours to Appius Claudius ; to one dignified with 
 the august title of imperator, and, what is stiU 
 stronger, to my friend ? But not to dwell any 
 longer upon this article, I cannot forbear taking 
 notice of an expression you made use of to the 
 same person. " A compliment of this kind, you 
 told him, had mutually passed between you and 
 Lentulus'^ ; and did Cicero take upon himself to 
 act towards a person of your quality with less 
 ceremony .'" But can it be true that so weak an 
 expression should drop from a man of your im- 
 proved understanding and knowledge of the world : 
 I will add too, (what the Stoics justly rank in the 
 number of social virtues,) of your refined good 
 breeding .' Can you possibly believe me so mean 
 as to be influenced more by the distinctions of 
 birth than of merit ? I have ever, indeed, held 
 the founders of illustrious families as truly great ; 
 but never could I esteem the splendid names they 
 transmitted to their posterity as objects of my 
 admiration. These were my sentiments even 
 before I had myself attained what the world con- 
 siders as the highest honours. But now, after 
 having filled the most distinguished posts in the 
 commonwealth with a character that leaves nothing 
 more for my ambition to wish, though I am far 
 from thinking myself superior to those of your 
 rank, I hoped, however, that I might be deemed 
 their equal. I am persuaded at least that I have 
 been always regarded as such, not only by Lentulus, 
 to whom I yield the preference to myself in every 
 respect, but by Pompey likewise, whom I look 
 upon as the greatest man the world has ever pro- 
 duced. But if you differ from them in this opinion, 
 I would recommend the writings of Athenodorus^ 
 to your attentive perusal, — as they will teach you 
 to form a more just distinction between high birth 
 and true nobility'^. 
 
 But, not to deviate farther from the purpose of 
 my letter, I beg you would do me the justice to 
 believe, not only that I am your friend, but that I 
 am most affectionately so ; the truth of which I 
 shall endeavour to evince by every means in my 
 power. Nevertheless, if you are disposed to make 
 the world suspect that you have less reason to take 
 my interest under your protection during my 
 absence than 1 had to act for yours in the same 
 circumstance, I willingly spare you the trouble : 
 
 » LentiUuswas predecessor to Appius in the government 
 of C'ilicia, as Appius was to Cicero, 
 y lie was preceptor to Augustus C'ssar. — »anutiu8. 
 ^ See rem. », p. 334.
 
 424 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 There want not cliii^fs in sucli a cause to fight, 
 Anil Jovo himself sliiiU guarJ a monarch's right*. 
 
 But, notwithstandini; you should give me reason 
 to think that you are of a temper too apt to take 
 offence, you will not, however, extinguish my desire 
 of exerting my best services in your behalf; you 
 will only render me less solicitous in what manner 
 you may receive them. 
 
 Thus I have opened my heart to you with a 
 freedom that results from the conscious sincerity 
 of my frienilship towards you, and which, as it was 
 founded on dispassionate judgment, I shall jireserve 
 just as long as may be agreeable to your own in- 
 clinations. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 
 To Cuius Cassins^', Proqucestor. 
 My own inclinations have anticipated your re- 
 commendation : 1 have long since received Marcus 
 „ Fabius into the number of my friends. 
 ■ ■ ' ■ He has extremely endeared himself to 
 me, indeed, by his great politeness and elegance of 
 manners, but particularly by the singular aftection 
 I have observed he bears towards you. Accord- 
 ingly, though your letter in his behalf was not 
 without effect, yet my own knowledge of the regard 
 lie entertains for you had somewhat more : you 
 may be assured, therefore, I shall very faithfully 
 confer upon him the good offices you request. 
 
 Many reasons concurred to make me wish you 
 could have given me an interview. In the first 
 place, I was desirous, after so tedious a separation, 
 to see a friend whom 1 hav(! long esteemed. In 
 the next place, I should have been glad to have 
 expressed those congratulations in person which I 
 have already paid you in a letter. I wanted, like- 
 wise, an opportunity of conferring with you upon 
 our mutual affairs, as well as of confirming a 
 
 a Homer, Pope's translation. These lines are taken from 
 the speech of Agamemnon to Achilles, in the first Iliad, 
 whore the latter threatens to withdraw his forces from 
 the common cause. Cicero seems to apply them in parti- 
 cular allusion to his interest with Pompey, who at this 
 time was the great idol of his devotion, and the political 
 Jove, at whose shrine he most devoutly bowed. 
 
 ^ He attended Crassus into Syria as his quaestor, who, 
 being killed in an engagement against the Parthians, as 
 has been related in rem. ^,p. 360, the administration 
 devolved upon Cassius. He seems, when this letter was 
 written, to have been setting out, if not actually upon the 
 road, from that province. Soon after his return to Rome, 
 the civil war broke out, in which he commanded a very 
 considerable fleet on the side of Pompey ; but upon the 
 defeat of that general in the plains of Pharsalia, he sur- 
 rendered both himself and his ships to the conqueror. [See 
 letter 3C, book vii. _»•('?«. f.] It is unnecessary to mention 
 the part which Cassius_aftcrwards acted towards his bene- 
 factor, as everybody knows that he was the principal 
 contriver and manager of the conspiracy against Csesar. 
 Plutarch asserts that lie engaged in this design from his 
 passionate love of liberty, but the contemporaries of Cassius 
 thought otherwise, and it was generally believed in Rome 
 that he was actuated upon that occasion more by pique 
 than patriotism. It is probable, indeed, that the former 
 was hisstrongest, if not his singlemotive ; for his oppressive 
 and tyrannical conduct, during his administration of the 
 province of Syria, renders it not very reasonable to suppose 
 that he was a real friend to the natural rights of mankind. 
 — Plut. in Vit. Brut. ; Cic. Ep. Fam. viii. 10 ; see letter 14, 
 iMok ir. 
 
 friendship founded on many reciprocal good offices, 
 though interrupted, indeed, by a long absence. 
 Hut, since I could not obtain tiie jdcasure of a 
 nearer conference, let me take the advantage at 
 least of this more distant communication, and 
 wliich, in most respects, will answer the same pur- 
 jiose. There is oiu> or two, however, I must 
 except, as it can neither afford me a satisfaction 
 e({ual to that of seeing you, nor a mean of rendering, 
 you so sensible of the joy 1 feel in your late success. 
 lUit though I have already ex])ressed my congratu- 
 lations in a former letter, I will here again assure 
 yii\i that I very sincerely rejoice, not only in the 
 illustriims actions you have jjcrformed'-', but at 
 yoiu' very ojiportunc de])arture amidst the general 
 esteem and ajiplauses of the whole province. 
 
 And now, what I had farther to say, if we bad 
 met, related to our mutual affairs ; a point, how- 
 ever, which may full as well be discussed in this 
 manner. With regard to your own, when I con- 
 sider your interest in general, 1 cannot but advise 
 you to hasten to Rome. When 1 left the city, there 
 was not the least appearance of any designs to 
 your prejudice; and I am persuaded your returning 
 thither, while the success of your arms is fresh 
 ui)on the minds of the people, will ensure you a 
 reception greatly to your honour. The reason for 
 hastening your journey will hold still stronger, if 
 you are convinced that you shall be able to defeat 
 those prosecutions which you are apprehensive, 
 it seems, may be brought against some of your 
 officers; as nothing will place your character in a 
 more advantageous light than a victory of this 
 kind. But if you imagine the charge can be made 
 giiod against them, it merits your consideration 
 whether your arrival in Rome will not happen in a 
 conjuncture very unfavourable for such a circum- 
 stance. Upon the whole, you yourself are most 
 capable of determining this question, as you are 
 the best judge of your own strength. If you think 
 you shall triumph over your adversaries, it is a 
 circumstance, undoubtedly, that will raise your 
 general credit ; but if you are clear that the reverse 
 
 s Cassius, after the death of Crassus and the total defeat 
 of his army, conducted back the remains of the Romaa 
 troops into Syria, and shut himself up in Antiochia. But 
 upon the approach of the Parthians towards that city he 
 sallied out, and by his bravery and conduct having 
 repulsed the enemy, he continued harassing their retreat: 
 till he drove them entirely out of Syria. It is upon this 
 success that Cicero's congratulations are founded ; but they 
 are congratulations in which he was by no means sincere. 
 For in some letters to Atticus written about this time, he 
 speaks of Cassius as having magnified his actions to the 
 senate much beyond the truth, and even claims a share 
 with him in the glory of repulsing the Parthians. It was 
 the news, he says, of his being upon the march in order to 
 assist Cassius, that animated his courage, and spread such 
 terror among the enemy as induced them to retreat. Put 
 this (as the very ingenious French translator of the let- 
 tcrsto Atticus observes) was ascribing to himself anhonour 
 to which he had certainly no right. For Cicero was at 3 
 great distance from Antiochia when the Parthians re* 
 treated from that city, which the bravery of Cassius^ 
 together with theii- own inexperience in the nature of regu- 
 lar sieges, were the only causes of their abandoning. An 
 observation, therefore, of Cicero's own may serve perhaps 
 as a proper conclusion to this remark : — " Dfforme est 
 de sejpso prcedicare, /also prcesertim ; et cum irrisione- 
 audientium imitari militem gloriosum." — Dio, p. 134 ; Ad. 
 Att. V. 20, 21 ; Mong. Traduct. vol. iii. p. 148, rem. 9 ; Z>(l- 
 Offic. i. 38.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 42& 
 
 will prove the case, you will certainly oe less mor- 
 tified by the distant reflections of the world, than if 
 you were placed within the hearing of their mali- 
 cious censures. 
 
 As to my own affairs, I must repeat the request 
 of my last, and entreat you to exert your utmost 
 endeavours that my continuance here may not be 
 extended beyond the period limited by the senate 
 and the people. I urge this request as one upon 
 which all my hopes depend, and entreat you to act 
 in it with a proportionable zeal. You will find 
 Paulus '' extremely well disposed to co-operate with 
 you upon this occasion ; as also both Curio and 
 Furnius'=. 
 
 I have only to add the last article I mentioned, 
 as an inducement for desiring an interview ; I mean, 
 in order to renew and confirm the pledges of our 
 mutual friendship. I persuade myself it will not 
 be necessary to employ many words for that pur- 
 pose. You discovered, indeed, an early disposition 
 to be thus united with me, as on my part I always 
 considered it as my particular honour. I found it 
 too my great support, in the season of my misfor- 
 tunes. Let me add, in farther claim to its con- 
 tinuance, that I have contracted, since your absence, 
 a great intimacy with your relation Brutus f. I 
 promise myself much satisfaction from the society 
 of two such ingenious friends, as well as very high 
 advantages from your united services : suffer me 
 not, I conjure you, to conceive this hope in vain. 
 In the mean time, 1 beg to hear from you imme- 
 diately, as I desire, likewise, you would write to 
 me very frequently when you return to Rome. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To JMarcus Coelius, Curule-jEdile. 
 
 The very worthy and learned Marcus Fabiuss 
 is a person with whom I am most intimately con- 
 A u 70'J iiected. He strongly, indeed, engages my 
 affection, not only by his superior genius 
 and erudition, but by that uncommon modesty 
 which adorns them. I entreat you, therefore, to 
 undertake his cause with the same warmth as if it 
 were my own. I know you fine orators are so 
 much employed, that a man must have committed 
 murder at least, ere he can hope that his aff'airs are 
 of significancy enough to claim your assistance. 
 In the present instance, however, I wiU take no 
 excuse : and if I have any share in your regard, 
 you will give up all other business when Fabius 
 requires your services. 
 
 The severity of the winter has prevented my 
 receiving any despatches from Rome a considerable 
 time. I am extremely impatient, therefore, to 
 hear what is going forward amongst you, and par- 
 ticularly what my friend Coelius is doing. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 d One of the present consuls. 
 
 « Tribunes of the people. 
 
 f Brutus was at this time married to Junia, the sister of 
 Cassius. 
 
 K This seems to be the person mentioned in the foregoing 
 letter, in whose behalf Cassius had written to Cicero. The 
 following epistle is likewise in favour of the same friend, 
 and upon the same occasion. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To Cur tins PeduccBafius, FrcBtor^. 
 I HAVE long enjoyed an intimacy with Marcus 
 Fabius, for whom I sincerely profess the most 
 A r 703 tender regard. I do not, however, desire 
 'to influence your judgment in the suit 
 which he has depending before you, as I am sure 
 you will not depart from those rules of equity which 
 your honour obliges you to observe, and which you 
 prescribed to yourself when you first entered upon 
 your office'. My only request is, (and it is a re- 
 quest I most earnestly make) that you would allow 
 him to wait upon you, and would favour his claim 
 so far as justice is on his side. In a word, let me 
 entreat you to show him that my friendship can 
 avail him even at this distance. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 To Appius Pulcher. 
 
 I HAVE at last received a letter from you, writ- 
 ten in a spirit worthy of yourself, as it is conceived' 
 703 ^^ terms full of a generous and candid 
 friendship. It should seem, indeed, that 
 the very view of Rome had an immediate effect 
 upon your temper, and restored you to the agree- 
 able possession of your usual good humour and 
 politeness. I am sure, at least, that the two com- 
 plaining letters you wrote to me on your journey, 
 ere you had left Asia, were such as I could not 
 read without reluctance. I will own, too, that, 
 conscious of the inviolable attachment which I have 
 ever preserved to your interests, I could not for- 
 bear answering them with some warmth. The 
 letter, indeed, which you delivered to myfreedman 
 Philotimus, left me no room to doubt that there 
 were some persons in this province who were no- 
 well-wishers to our union. But I have the satis- 
 faction to find, that as soon as you came to Rome, 
 or rather as soon as you were met by your friends 
 and family, you were convinced of that warm and 
 constant testimony I gave of my friendship and 
 esteem for you upon all occasions during your 
 absence. You will easily imagine, then, with how 
 much pleasure I read your assurances, that if any 
 incident should arise wherein my reputation may 
 be concerned, you will endeavour to make me aa 
 equal return. And though you doubt whether you 
 shall be able eff'ectually to do so, most certainly 
 there is no reason to question it : for there is 
 nothing, my friend, which a sincere and zealous 
 aff'ection is not capable of performing. 
 
 Notwithstanding I was well persuaded, in my 
 own judgment, and had received frequent assur- 
 ances likewise by the letters of my friends, that 
 you would undouhtedlybe honoured with a triumph^ 
 yet it aff'orded me a singular pleasure to be eon- 
 firmedJ in this persuasion by your own hand. 
 Believe me, however, I by no means rejoice in it 
 
 •" The pr^tors were next in rank and power to the con- 
 suls, and their office somewhat resembled that of our 
 chief justices. — See rem. •>, p. 407. 
 
 ' The several praetors, before they entered upon their 
 office, drew up and published a sort of formulary; whi'cli, 
 they intended to observe in their respective administra- 
 tions of justice. — Rosin. Antiq. Horn. vii. 700. 
 
 J When Cicero wrote this epistle, he had not received the 
 letter from Ccelius, wherein; lie gives him an account ot
 
 426 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 from a selfish Epicurean principle, and as it may 
 probably facilitate my own pretensions of the same 
 kind, but as taking a sincere and disinterested 
 share in every increase of your dignities. 1 entreat 
 you, then, as you have more frequent ojiportunities 
 of writing into this province than any otlier of my 
 friends, that you would give nie immediate notice 
 as soon as you shall have obtained the decree, which 
 you have so much reason to expect, and which I so 
 unfeignedly wish you. If the tedious resolutions 
 of the Ion [I bench, as our friend I'ompey calls the 
 senate, should delay your hopes a few days, (and 
 more than a few days they surely cannot delay 
 them,) be contidcnt, however, tiiat they will at 
 length distinguish you with those lionours which 
 are so justly your due. Again, therefore, I conjure 
 you, as you give me your alfcction, or would pre- 
 serve viine, to let me jiarticipate in the joy ot lliis 
 good news as early as possible. 
 
 To this request I will join another, and remind 
 you of executing your promise of sending me the 
 completion of your treatise on augury ><. I ask 
 this, not only as being desirous of informing myself 
 in the rites and principles of the sacred college, 
 but as I receive with uncommon satisfaction every 
 mark of your favour. As to the request you made 
 me on your part of returning you a compliment in 
 the same kind, it is a point 1 must well consider. 
 For it would ill become an author whom you have 
 so often apjilauded for the jiaiiis' he bestows upon 
 his compositions, to suffer any crude and indigested 
 performance to come forth from his hands, espe- 
 cially upon an occasion that would justly expose 
 him to the censure, not only of being guilty of 
 negligence, but of a most ungrateful disrespect. 
 However, I may find some opportunity, perhaps, of 
 satisfying both you and myself upon this article. 
 In the mean time, I hope you will endeavour, in 
 conformity to your promise, that a public thanks- 
 giving of the most distinguished kind be decreed, 
 as soon as possible, on account of my late victories ; 
 and I am persuaded you will act with that zeal 
 which is agreeable to your sincerity, and to the 
 friendship wiiich has long subsisted between us. I 
 
 Appius having dropped liis petition for a triumph. — Sec 
 the 5th letter of this book. 
 k See rem. 7, p. 391. 
 
 1 " 'Tis strange to see how differently the vanity of man- 
 kind runs in different times and seasons. 'Tis at present 
 the boast of almost every enterpriser in the Aluses' art, 
 that, by his genius alone and a natural rapidity of style 
 and thought, he is able to carry all before him ; that he 
 plays with his business, does tilings in passing, at a ven- 
 ture, and in the quickest period of time. In the days of 
 Attic elegance, as works were then truly of another form 
 
 . and turn, so workmen were of another humour, and had 
 their vanity of a quite contrary kind. They became rather 
 affected in endeavouring to discover the pains they had 
 taken to be correct. They were glad to insinuate how 
 labtiriously, and with what expense of time, they had 
 brought the smallest work of theirs (as perhaps a single 
 ode, or satire, an oration, or panegyric) to its i>erfection. 
 When they had so polished their piece, and rendered it so 
 natural and easy that it seemed only a lucky flight, a hit 
 of thought, or flowing vein of humour, they were then 
 chiefly concerned, lest it should in reality pass for such, 
 and their artifice remain undiscovered. They were willing 
 it should be known how serious their play was, and how 
 elaborate their freedom and facility ; that they might say, 
 as the agreeable and polite poet, glancing on himself, 
 Ludeutis speciem dabit et torquebitur." — 
 
 - Shaftesbury's Characteristics, i. 233. 
 
 was somewhat later in my public despatches for 
 this purpose, than I wished ; and as they were 
 delayed likewise by the difficulty of navigation at 
 that season, they did not, I suppose, arrive before 
 the senate was prorogued. It was the inlluence 
 wiiich your advice always has upon my judgment 
 that induced me to deter them ; and I am satisfied 
 it was perfectly righ: not to acquaint the senate of 
 my being saluted with the title of Jmperalor, till 
 1 had gained still farther advantages by my arms, 
 and entirely completed the campaign. I confidently 
 rely, therefore, ujion the assistance you have pro- 
 mised me, and recommend to your protection 
 whatever else concerns either my affairs or my 
 family. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 
 To Marcus Coelius. 
 
 Would you imagine that I should ever be at a 
 loss for words ! 1 do not mean of that chosen and 
 A V 703 ^Isg^ii'^ kind which are the privilege of 
 you celebrated orators, but those of ordi- 
 nary and common use. Yet, believe me, I am 
 utterly incapable of expressing the solicitude I feel 
 concerning the resolutions that may be taken in the 
 senate in regard to the provinces. 1 am extremely 
 impatient, indeed, to return to my friends at Rome, 
 among which number you are principally in my 
 thoughts. I will confess, likewise, that I am quite 
 satiated of my government. For, in the first 
 place, I iiave more reason to apprehend that 
 some reverse of fortune may deprive me of the 
 glory I have here acquired, than to expect I 
 shall be able to raise it higher. And, in the next 
 place, I cannot but look upon the whole business 
 of this scene as much inferior to my strength, 
 which is both able and accustomed to support afar 
 more important weight. I will acknowledge, too, 
 that I am uneasy in the expectation of a very ter- 
 rible war'", which is likely to be kindled in this 
 part of the world, and which I may probably escape 
 if I should obtain my dismission at the stated 
 time. 
 
 I do not forget tne panthers you desired, and 
 have given my orders to the persons usually em- 
 ployed in hunting them : but these animals are 
 exceedingly scarce with us. They take it so unkind, 
 you must know, that they should be the only crea- 
 tures in my province for whom any snares are laid, 
 that they have withdrawn themselves from my 
 government, and are marched into Caria. How- 
 ever, the huntsmen, and particularly lionest Pa- 
 tischus, are making very diligent inquiry after 
 their haunts ; and all the game they can meet with 
 shall certainly be yours : but what the number will 
 prove is altogether uncertain. Be well assured the 
 honour of your aedileship is much my care ; and 
 this day particularly reminds me of it, as it is the 
 festival of the Megalesian games". 
 
 m With the Parthians. 
 
 1 The Megalesian games were under the conduct of the 
 curulc a;diles, as well as those called the Roman. The 
 learned Manutius, therefore, conjectures that the anniver- 
 sary of the former reminded Cicero of the panthers which 
 Coelius requested, in order to grace those shows he was to 
 exhibit at tlie latter, which were celebrated with greater 
 pomp and magnificence. The nature of the Roman games 
 has already been explained in rem. r, p. 405. The Megale- 
 sian games were instituted in honour of the mother of the
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 427 
 
 I hope you will send me a minute detail ot our 
 public affairs, as I have an entire deiiendence on 
 the accounts which are transmitted to me by your 
 hand. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 To Thermus, Proprator. 
 Your very generous treatment of Marcus Mar- 
 cilius, the son of my friend and interpreter", is a 
 A V 703 ™°*'' obliging instance, among many 
 others, of the regard you pay to my re- 
 commendations. He came to me atLaodicea, and 
 expressed the highest gratitude for the good offices 
 you had conferred upon him at my request. As 
 you see, therefore, that your favours are not 
 bestowed upon those who are insensible of their 
 value, I hope you will be the more inclined to 
 ■continue them. I entreat you, then, to interpose, 
 as far as your honour will permit, in preventing a 
 prosecution wherein the mother-in-law of this 
 young man is likeiy to be involved. And though 
 I strongly recommended Marcilius to you in my 
 former letter, yet it is with still greater warmth 
 that I do so in this ; as I have since received very 
 singular, and, indeed, almost incredible proofs of 
 his father's probity and fidelity during the many 
 months he has been engaged in my service. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 To the same. 
 
 The report of a very considerable war being 
 kindled in Syria, is confirmed to me by daily 
 >„„ expresses. I take the liberty, therefore, 
 'in confidence of our mutual friendship, 
 to press you so much the more strongly to dismiss 
 my Ueutenant Anneius as soon as possible. His 
 military abilities, indeed, will render his advice 
 and assistance of singular advantage in this con- 
 juncture, both to myself and to the republic. 
 Nothing could have induced him to leave me at 
 this critical season, or, in truth, have prevailed 
 with me to consent to his absence, but an affair of 
 the last importance to his interest. However, as 
 I purpose to go into CiliciaP about the beginning 
 of May, it is absolutely necessary he should return 
 before that time. 
 
 I will take this opportunity of most earnestly 
 renewing the request I made to you in person, and 
 which I afterwards repeated in a letter, that you 
 ■would employ your good offices in settling his 
 contest with the city of Sardis, agreeably to the 
 justice of his cause, and the dignity of his charac- 
 ter. I had the pleasure, when I talked with you 
 
 gods, and were so called from Megaksia, (scil. o vahs ttjs 
 fi.eya\T]S fleas,) a temple in Phrygia, from whence the 
 statue and worship of that goddess was brought to Rome. 
 This festival commenced on the 4th of April, and conti- 
 nued six days. 
 
 ° The governors of provinces were prohibited from using 
 any other language than the Latin, in the functions of then- 
 ministry, for which reason they were always attended with 
 interpreters. — Val. Max. ii. 2. 
 
 p Besides the province of Cilicia, properly so called, there 
 were three other adjoining districts annexed to Cicero's 
 government, in one of which he appears to have been at 
 'the time of writing this letter. 
 
 upon this subject at Ephesus, to find you perfectly 
 well disposed to assist him upon his own account. 
 Let nie aild, however, that your adjusting this 
 affair to his satisfaction, will be performing the 
 most acceptable service likewise to myself. I con- 
 jure you, therefore, to despatch it with all possible 
 expedition. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To Marcus Ccelius, Curule-JEdile. 
 Your very agreeable letters visit me but seldom : 
 perhaps, by some accident or other, they lose their 
 . „ -„, way. How full was the last'i, which came 
 to my hands, oi the most prudent and 
 obliging advice ! I had determined, indeed, to act 
 in the manner you recommend : but it gives an 
 additional strength to one's resolutions, to find 
 them conformable to the sentiments of so faithful 
 and so judicious a friend. I have often assured 
 you of my extreme aifection for Appius ; and I 
 had reason to believe, after our mutual reconcile- 
 ment, that lie entc-rtaiued the same favourable 
 (lisj)osition towards me. For he distinguished me 
 in liis consulate with great marks of honour and 
 amity, and appeared willing upon all occasions to 
 gratify my requests even in favour of others. I 
 must appeal to you (since the droll Phania' is, I 
 think, no more) that I was not wanting on my 
 part in a suitable return ; and, indeed, he stood so 
 much the higher in my esteem, as I was sensible 
 of the affection he had conceived for you. Add to 
 this, that I am, as you well know, wholly devoted 
 to Pompey, and tenderly attached also to Brutus^. 
 Can I then want a r lason of uniting myself with 
 Appius, thus supported as he is by the most pow- 
 erful friends and alliances, and flourishing in every 
 other advantage that can be derived from affluent 
 possessions in conjunction with great abilities' ! 
 But, besides these considerations, 1 must mention, 
 likewise, the connexion that subsists between us as 
 members of the same sacred college, and the 
 honour he has publicly paid me in his learned 
 treatise concerning its institutions. I mark out 
 tiiese several circumstances the more particularly, 
 
 1 The fifth letter of this book. 
 
 ■^ A favourite freedman of Appius. 
 
 ' That Cicero was wholly devoted to Pompey, cannot 
 be doubted : but that he was sincere in this declaration 
 with respect to Brutus, may well be questioned. It ap- 
 pears, indeed, that they were neither of them perfectly 
 satisfied with each other at this time: and Cicero com- 
 plains to Atticus of having received some very haughty 
 and disrespectful letters from Brutus, even when the latter 
 was soliciting his good offices in favour of Appius. — " Nul- 
 las unquam (says he) ad me literas misit Brutus, ne 
 proxime quidem de Appio, in quibus non esset arrogans, 
 aKOivtavTjThu aliquid. — Plane parum cogitat, quid scribat, 
 aut ad quern." — Ad Att. vi. 3 ; vide etiam vi. 1 ; v. 21. 
 See rem. '", jj. 410. 
 
 ' These were the true, and perhaps the only reasons 
 which induced Cicero to endeavour to be upon good terms 
 with Appius. For that he had a real affection for him, as 
 he pretends in this epistle, is by no means probable. On 
 the contrary, in a letter to Atticus he speaks of his dis- 
 position towards Appius, in terms of much lower import, 
 and discovers, at the same time, the principal motive that 
 engaged him in his interest : — " Pro Appio nos hie omnia 
 faciemus ; honeste tamen, sed plane libentcr. Nee enim 
 ipsum odimus ; et Pompeius mirifice a me contendit."— • 
 Ad Att. vi. 2.
 
 428 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 as your letter seemed to intiniatn a doubt in what 
 manner I was inclined towards liim. This Icaiis 
 me to suspect that some idle talc or other has hein 
 reported to the disadvantas^e of my sentiments 
 respecting Appius : but, be assured, whatever you 
 have heard of that nature is utterly false. I must 
 confess, at the same time, that his maxims and 
 mine in the administration of tHiis ])n)viiicc liave 
 been somewhat difTerent; and it may from tlieiice, 
 perhaps, have been suggested that 1 acted counter 
 to his measures, more from a spirit of opposition 
 than from any real tlisagrecment of principles. 
 But, believe me, I have never said or done the 
 least thing throughout the whole course of my 
 government with a view of prejudicing his reputa- 
 tion. And now that my friend Dolabella has so 
 rashly attacked him, I am exerting all my good 
 offices to dissipate the rising storm with which lie 
 is threatened. 
 
 You mentioned something of a lethargic inac- 
 tivity that had seized the republic. I rejoiced, no 
 doubt, to hear that you were in a state of sucli 
 profound tranquillity, as well as that our spirited 
 friend" was so much infected with this general 
 indolence as not to be in a humour of disturbing it. 
 But the last paragraph of your letter, which was 
 written, I observed, with your own hand, changed 
 the scene, and somewhat, indeed, discomposed me. 
 Is Curio really, then, become a convert to Caesar ? 
 But, extraordinary as this event may appear to 
 others, believe me it is agreeable to what 1 always 
 suspected. Good gods ! how do I long to laugh 
 with you at the ridiculous farce which is acting in 
 your part of the world .' 
 
 I have finished my juridical circuit, and not 
 only settled the finances of the several cities upon 
 a more advantageous basis, but secured to the 
 farmers of the revenues the arrears due on their 
 former agreements, without the least complaint 
 from any of the parties concerned. In short, I 
 have given entire satisfp£tion to all orders and 
 degrees of men in this province. I propose, there- 
 fore, to set out for Cilicia'' on the 7th of May, from 
 whence, after having just looked upon the troops 
 in their summer cantonment, and settled some 
 affairs relating to the army, I intend, agreeably to 
 the decree of the senate for that purpose, to set 
 forward to Rome. I am extremely impatient, 
 indeed, to return to my friends, but particularly 
 to you, whom I much wish to see in the adminis- 
 tration of your sedileship. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 To Quintus Therynus, Proprcelor. 
 It is with great pleasure I perceive that my 
 services to Rhodo and others of your friends, as 
 A „ '•no well as those likewise which I have per- 
 
 A. U. /Oo. , . ,- , . ^ 
 
 tormed to yourself, prove acceptable to a 
 man of your grateful disposition. Be assured you 
 will find me still more and more desirous of ad- 
 vancing your credit and reputation : though 1 must 
 add, that the lenity and justice of your government 
 seem already to have raised them as high as possible. 
 The more I reflect upon your affairs, (and they 
 are the daily subject of my thoughts,) the more I 
 am confirmed in that advice I communicated to 
 
 ° Curia 
 
 V See rem. v, p. i2J. 
 
 you by Aristo. I am well persuaded, indeed, that 
 you will draw u])on yourself very powerful enemies, 
 if you should ])ut any slight u])on a young noble- 
 man of your (piiestor's rank and interest. And a 
 slight it will un<li)ubtedly be, if you should not at 
 your departure commit the administration of the 
 province to his liands, as there is no other person 
 to whom you can trust it of superior quality. But, 
 abstracted from all considerations of this kind, he 
 has an unquestionable right, as your quaestor, to be 
 ])referred to any of your lieutenants, whose blame- 
 less and worthy conduct, however, I must at the 
 same time injustice acknowledge. I am jjcrfectly 
 sensible that you have nothing to fear from the 
 resentment of any man. I could wish, neverthe- 
 less, that you would not incur tiie disj)leasure, and 
 especially with just reason, of three such distin- 
 guished persons as your quxstor and his brothers ; 
 for they are all of them men of some eloquence, as 
 well as gieat spirit; to which I must add, that I 
 am persuaded they will successively be tribunes 
 of the people''" during the three next following 
 years. Now who can tell what turn public 
 affairs may take .' For my own part, I think there 
 is much appearance of great commotions arising in 
 the commonwealth. I should be sorry, therefore, 
 that you should render yourself obnoxious to so 
 formidable a power as the tribunitisd ; especially 
 since you may easily avoid it without offending 
 any person, by justly preferring your quastor to 
 your lieutenants. And should his conduct as your 
 vicegerent in the province, prove worthy of his 
 glorious ancestors, as I hope and believe, it will 
 reflect, in some degree, an honour upon yourself. 
 But, on the contrary, should he deviate from their 
 illustrious examples, the whole discredit will fall 
 singly upon his own character, without involving 
 yours in any part of the reproach. 
 
 I am this moment setting out for Cilicia'= ; so 
 that I have only time to write these loose hints just 
 as they occur. I thought it incumbent upon me, 
 however, to send you my general sentiments of a 
 point wherein your interest is so nearly concerned. 
 May the gods give success to whatever you shall 
 determine ! But if my advice has any weight, 
 you will avoid raising to yourself unnecessary ene- 
 mies, and prudently consult your future repose. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIL 
 
 To C. Titius Ritftis, Prcetor. 
 
 Lucius CusTiDius is not oidy of the sametribe^ 
 
 and corporation^ with myself, but is likewise my 
 
 A u 703 particular friend. As he has a cause 
 
 which he purposes to bring before you, I 
 
 recommend his interest to your protection, but no 
 
 w Pighius with great probability conjectures, from the 
 circumstances here mentioned, compared with other pas- 
 sages in Cicero's writings, that Caius Antonius, second 
 brother to Mark Antony, was quasstor to Thermus.— . 
 Pighii Annal. anno 703. 
 
 X See rem. V, p. 427. 
 
 y Romulus divided his citizens into three tribes, each of 
 wliich were subdivided into ten curias, or wards. These 
 tribes were, in after-times, gradually increased, till they 
 amounted to the number of thirty-five. 
 
 ^ The corporate or municipal towns were those which 
 were allowed to govern themselves by their o^vn laws and' 
 constitutions, and at the same time were honoured withr
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 420 
 
 farther, however, than is consistent with your 
 honour and my own good manners. All I request, 
 therefore, is, that you would allow him freely to 
 wait upon you as often as he shall have occasion ; 
 that you would comply with his desires as far as 
 they shall appear equitable ; and, in a word, that 
 you would convince Liin that my friendship can 
 effectually avail, even at this distance. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 To Silius. 
 
 Will you not think that I am employed in a 
 very imnecessai-y office, when I take upon me to 
 »,,„ recommend a man to your friendship who 
 " ' ' ' already, I know, enjoys that privilege ? 
 Let it be a proof, however, that I am with passion, 
 as well as esteem, devoted to his interest. I most 
 earnestly entreat you, then, to convince Egnatius, 
 by the good effects which this letter shall produce 
 in his favour, both of your affection for me, and of 
 mine for him. And, be assured, your compliance 
 with this request will be the most agreeable of all 
 the many and great instances I have received of 
 your disposition to oblige me. 
 
 The pleasing hopes 1 entertained of public affairs 
 are now totally vanished. However, whilst we 
 wish things were better, let us support ourselves 
 with the trite consolation, that we must submit to 
 what cannot be remedied. But this is a subject 
 I will reserve to our meeting. In the mean time, 
 continue to give me your friendship, and be well 
 persuaded of mine. Farewell. 
 
 the privileges of Koman citizens. Cicero was a native 
 of one of these corporations, called Arpinum, situated in 
 a district of Italy which now maljes part of the kingdom 
 of Naples. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 To Publius CcBsius. 
 
 I MOST earnestly recommend to your favour my 
 very intimate friend Publius Messienus, a Roman 
 A u "03 1^'fi'ght, who is distinguished by every 
 valuable endowment. I entreat you, by 
 the double ties of that amity which I enjoy with 
 you and your father, to protect him both in his 
 fame and his fortunes. Be assured you will by 
 this means conciUate the affection of a man highly 
 deserving of your friendship, as well as confer a 
 most acceptable obligation upon myself. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 To the Magistrates of FregelliB\ 
 
 If my connexions with Quintus Ilippius were 
 not of the strongest and most amicable kind, I 
 A V "03 should not depart from the rule I have 
 laid down to myself of not troubling you 
 with my applications. This maxim, you will bear 
 me witness, I have hitherto strictly observed, 
 though I was ever persuaded, at the same time, 
 that there is nothing you would refuse to my re- 
 quest. However, I now most earnestly entreat 
 your generosity in behalf of my friend's son, and 
 that you would do me the honour to show so much 
 regard to my inclinations as to enfranchise the 
 estate he has purchased of your corporation. I 
 shall esteem your compUance with this request as 
 a very singular favour. Farewell. 
 
 » It is supposed to he the same town which is now called 
 Caperaro in the Campagna di Roma. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 To Appius Pulcher. 
 When I first received an account of the ill- 
 judged prosecution which has been commenced 
 »„~ against you**, it gave me great concern; 
 and, indeed, nothing could possibly have 
 happened that I less expected. But as soon as I 
 had recovered from my surprise, I was well satis- 
 fied that you will easily disappoint the malice of 
 your enemies : for I have the highest confidence in 
 your own judicious conduct on this occasion, as 
 weU as a very great one in that of your friends. I 
 see many reasons, indeed, to believe that the envy 
 of your adversaries will only brighten that character 
 they mean to sully : though I cannot but regret that 
 they should have thus snatched from you an honour 
 you so justly merit, and of which you had so well- 
 grounded an assurance ; the honour, I mean, of a 
 triumph"^. However, you will show your judgment 
 if you should consider this pompous distinction in 
 the light it has ever appeared to my own view ; and 
 at the same time enjoy a triumph of the completest 
 kind in the confusion and disappointment of your 
 
 ^ See rem. ', p. 421. 
 
 c See re ).(. ". p. 40y. 
 
 enemies : as I am well convinced that the vigorous 
 and prudent exertion of your power and influence 
 will give them abundant reason to repent of their 
 violent proceedings. As for myself, be well assured 
 (and I call every god to witness the sincerity of what 
 I promise) that I will exert my utmost interest in 
 support — I will not say of your person, which I 
 hope is in no danger, — but of your dignities and 
 honour. To this end, I shall employ my best good 
 offices for you in this province, where you once 
 presided ; and employ them with all the warmth of 
 an intercessor, with all the assiduity of a relation, 
 with all the influence of a man who, I trust, is dear 
 to these cities, and with all the authority of one 
 who is invested with the supreme command. In 
 a word, I hope you will both ask and expect of me 
 every service in my power : and believe me, I shall 
 give you greater proofs of my affection than you 
 are disposed perhaps to imagine. Notwithstand- 
 ing, therefore, that the letter I received from you 
 by the hands of Quintus Servilius was extremely 
 short, yet I could not but think it much too long : 
 for it was doing an injury to the sentiments of my 
 heart, to suppose you had any occasion to solicit 
 my assistance. I am sorry you should have aa
 
 430 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 opportunity of experiencing, by an incident so little 
 ai;ri-eal)lc to you, the rank you bear in my afrec:tion, 
 the esteem which I entertain for Pompey, whom 1 
 justly value iiiileeil above all men, and the measure 
 of my unfeie;ned regard for Brutus : circumstances, 
 I should hope, of which our daily intercourse Jiad 
 reiidcred you sufficiently sensible. However, hinee 
 it has so happened, I should think that 1 acted a 
 most unworthy, not to say a criminal part, if I 
 were to omit any article wherein my services can 
 avail you. 
 
 Pontinius remembers the singular instances of 
 friendship he has received from you, and of which 
 1 myself was a witness'', with all the gratitude and 
 affection to which you have so undouljted a right. 
 Tlie urgency of his affairs had obliged him, though 
 with great reluctance, to leave me. Nevertheless, 
 having been informed, just as he was going to em- 
 bark at Ephesus, that his presence in this province 
 might be of advantage to your cause', he immedi- 
 ately returned back to Laodicea. I am persuaded 
 you will meet with numberless such instances of 
 zeal upon this occasion : can I doubt, then, that 
 this troublesome affair will prove in the conclusion 
 greatly to your credit ? 
 
 If you should be able to bring on an election of 
 censors ^ and should exercise that office in the 
 manner you certainly ought, and for which you are 
 so perfectly well qualified, you can never want that 
 authority in the republic which will afford at once 
 a protection both to yourself and your friends. 
 Let me entreat, therefore, your most strenuous en- 
 deavours to prevent my administration from being 
 prolonged ; that, after having filled up the measure 
 of my affectionate services to you here, I may have 
 the satisfaction also of presenting them to you at 
 Rome. 
 
 I read with pleasure, though by no means with 
 surprise, the account you gave me of that general 
 zeal which all orders and degrees of men have 
 shown in your cause, — a circumstance of which I 
 had likewise been informed by my other friends. 
 It affords me great satisfaction to find, that a man 
 with whom I have the honour and pleasure to be 
 so intimately united is thus distinguished with that 
 
 d Pontinius was pra;tor in the consulate of Cicero, and 
 at this time one of his lieutenants in the province. He 
 distinguished himself in the affair of Catiline : and having 
 quelled the insurrection of the AUobroges, who took up 
 arms on that occasion, he demanded a triumph. But he 
 met with so strong an opposition to this claim, and par- 
 ticularly from Cato, that it was four. years before liis 
 petition was granted. Appius was at that.time consul ; by 
 whose interest it chiefly was, that Pontinius at length 
 succeeded : and it is to this circumstance that Cicero 
 eeems to allude.— Liv. Epit 103 ; Dio, xl. ; Ad Att. iv. 16. 
 
 e See rem. ", p. 421. 
 
 f The oflBce of censor ^%as the most honourable post in 
 the Roman republic ; though its authority was not so con- 
 siderable as that of the consul. The two principal branches 
 of his duty consisted in taking a general survey of the 
 people, in order to range them in their proper classes; 
 and in watching over the public manners. Appius, toge- 
 ther with Piso, whose daughter Caesar had married, were 
 chosen censors soon after the date of this letter ; and they 
 were the last (as Dr. Middleton observes) " who bore that 
 oflBce during the freedom of 'the republic :" if the republic, 
 indeed, could with any propriety be said to have enjoyed 
 freedom at this period, when all was faction and misrule. 
 —Rosin, de Antiq. Rom. 699 ; Life of Cicero, p. 165. See 
 rem. o, and the passage to which it refers, letter 16 of this 
 book. 
 
 universal approbation he justly deserves. But 1 
 rejoice in this upon another consideration likewise ; 
 as it is a j)roof that there still remains a general 
 disposition in Rome to support the cause of illus- 
 trious merit : a disposition which 1 have myself 
 also experienced upon every occasion as the honour- 
 able recompense of my i)ains and vigils in the public 
 service. I}ut I am astonished that Dolabella, a 
 young man whom I formerly rescued with the 
 utmost difficulty from the consequences of two 
 caj)ital impeachments, should so ungratefully forget 
 the patron to whom he owes all that he enjoys, as 
 to be the author of this ill-considered prosecution 
 of my friend. Aiul what aggravates the folly of 
 his conduct is, that he should thus venture to 
 attack a man who is distinguished with the highest 
 honours, and supported by the most powerful 
 friendships ; at the same time, that he himself (to 
 speak of him in the softest terms) is greatly defi- 
 cient in both these respects. I had received aa 
 account from our friend Coelius, before your letter 
 reached my hand, of the idle and ridiculous report 
 he has propagated, and on which you so largely 
 expatiate. There is so little ground, hov/ever, for 
 what he asserts, that be assured I would much 
 sooner break off all former friendship with a man 
 who had thus declared himself your enemy, than 
 be prevailed upon to engage with him in any new 
 connexions *>'. 
 
 e Nothing could be more distant from Cicero's heart 
 than what he here pretends. For there is the strongest 
 evidence to believe, that it was his fixed intention, at this 
 very time, to enter into an alliance with Dolabella: and, 
 in fact, Tullia was married to him soon after the date of 
 this letter. Cicero affirms, I must acknowledge, in an 
 epistle to Atticus, what he likewise asserts in a subsequent 
 one to Appius, " that this transaction was entirely witli- 
 out his knowledge :" but he seems to have dealt as insin- 
 cerely upon this occasion with his bosom friend, as he too 
 frequently did with all the world beside. Accordingly, he 
 assures Atticus, he so little expected the news of his 
 daughter's match, that he was actually in treaty for the 
 disposal of her to another person. But if the latter part 
 of this assertion were true, it aggravates his dissimulation ; 
 as the former most evidently was not. For, not to mention 
 the great probability there is, that he left a commission 
 with Coelius when ho set out for the province, relating to 
 the marriage in question, [see let. 5, p. 421], it appears 
 that he had received more than one letter from him upon 
 this subject, before he wrote the last-mentioned to Atticus ; 
 and, consequently, that he could not have been so much 
 a stranger to the affair as ho chose to represent himself. 
 Cicero's answer to the letter of Ccelius concerning this 
 treaty with Dolabella is extant : and it cannot be dated 
 later than the beginning of May in the present year ; 
 because he mentions the seventh of that month as a 
 future day, on which he proposed to return from another 
 part of his province into Cilieia. But the letter to Atticus 
 must have been written in the latter end of the same year, 
 because he takes notice in it of the death of Hortehsius. 
 Now he was not informed of that event till he came to 
 Rhodes, in his voyage from Cilieia ; as he himself tells us, 
 in the introduction of his oratorical treatise inscribed to 
 Brutus. If Cicero then was capable of thus disguising the 
 truth concerning Dolabella to the nearest and most valu- 
 able of his friends, it is no wonder he should not scruple to 
 act a still more counterfeit part in all that he saj'S of him 
 to Appius. And this dissimulation he very freely acknow- 
 ledges to Coelius ; who, indeed, was in the whole secret of 
 the affair: as it was by his intervention that it seems to 
 have been principally conducted. Accordingly, Cicero 
 taking notice to Coelius of the letter now before us, which 
 he tells himi was written in consequence of the information 
 he had received from him, in the 5th of the foregoing
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 431 
 
 Yoo have not the least reason to doubt of my ' 
 leal to serve you ; of which I have given many 
 conspicuous testimonies in this province as well as 
 at Rome. Your letter, nevertheless, intimates 
 some sort of suspicion of the contrary. It would 
 be improper at this juncture to reproach you with 
 indulging so injurious a thought ; but it is neces- 
 sary I should convince you that it is altogether 
 without foundation. Tell me, then, wherein did I 
 obstruct the deputation which was intended to be 
 sent to Rome with the complimental addresses to 
 you of this province ? Had I been your avowed 
 enemy, I could not have indulged my spleen by a 
 more impotent piece of malice : and most cer- 
 tainly, if I had meant to act with a disguised 
 malevolence, I could not have chosen an occasion 
 that would have rendered my sentiments more 
 notorious. Were I as perfidious as the authors of 
 these unjust insinuations, yet surely I should not 
 have been so weak either to discover my enmity 
 ■where I designed to conceal it, or to show a strong 
 inclination of injuring you by instances utterly 
 ineffectual. I remember, indeed, that some com- 
 plaints were made to me concerning the excessive 
 appointments allowed to the deputies from this 
 province. In answer to which, I rather advised 
 than directed that all expenses of this kind should 
 be regulated by the Cornelian law*". But far was 
 I from insisting even upon this, as may appear by 
 the public records of the several cities. For when 
 they afterwards passed their accounts before me, I 
 suffered them to charge to the article of their 
 deputations whatever sum they thought proper. 
 Yet what falsehoods have not these worthless 
 informers imposed upon you ? They have affirmed, 
 it seems, not only that I absolutely prohibited all 
 expenses of this kind, but even obliged the agents 
 of those deputies, who were actually set forward in 
 their way to Rome, to refund the appointments that 
 ■were lodged in their hands ; and by these means 
 discouraged several others from undertaking the 
 same commission. I might here, with great justice, 
 complain of your giving credit to these calumnies ; 
 but I forbear, as I said before, in tenderness to your 
 present disquietude, thinking it more proper, at this 
 season, to vindicate my own conduct than to reproach 
 yours. I will only, therefore, remind you of a few 
 reasons that ought to have secured me against 
 suffering in your opinion from these groundless 
 imputations. If ever, then, you experienced the 
 probity of my heart, or observed a disposition in 
 me worthy of those sublime contemplations to 
 which I have devoted myself from my earliest 
 youth ; if ever you discovered, by my conduct in 
 the most important transactions, that I was neither 
 void of spirit nor destitute of abilities, you ought 
 to have believed me incapable of acting a low and 
 little part towards my friends, much more a base 
 
 book ; he expresses himself in the following remarkable 
 words: "Quid si meam (sc. eplstolam) legas, quam ego 
 turn ex tuis Uteris misi ad Appiuni? sed quid agas? sic 
 vivitur :" which in plain English amounts to this, that if 
 a man would be well with the world, he must submit to 
 the lowest and most contemptible hypocris3'. And it must 
 be oiivned that Cicero, in the present instance, as well as 
 in most others, acted up to the full extent of his maxim. — 
 Ad Att. vi. 6 ; Ep. Fam. viii. 6 ; De Clar. Orator. 1 ; Ep. 
 Fam. ii. 1.5. 
 
 ^ This law was enacted, it is probable, in order to 
 restrain the immoderate sums which were expended in 
 these complimental deputations. — ^Maniatiua. 
 
 and a treacherous one. But if artifice be the cha- 
 racter, after all, in which I must needs be repre- 
 sented, could anything, let me ask, be less consistent 
 with such a temper, than cither to slight the friend- 
 ship of a man of your high rank and credit, or to 
 oppose your glory in an obscure and remote pro- 
 vince, after having ojienly supported it in view of 
 the whole world at Rome ? Can anything have 
 less the appearance of artifice than to discover an 
 impotent malevolence, and betray to very little 
 ]iurpose a strong propensity of doing an injury ? 
 But what possible motive could induce me to 
 cherish so implacable a spirit toward you, who was 
 far from showing your&elf my enemy, (and I speak 
 it upon the information of my own brother,) even 
 at a time when you were almost under an indis- 
 pensable obligation of appearing so' .' And after 
 our reconciliation had been effected, agreeably to 
 our mutual desires for that purpose, did you once, 
 throughout the whole period of your consulate, 
 make a single request to me in vain ? or which of 
 the commands that you left with me, when I 
 attended you to PuteolseJ, did I not execute with a 
 zeal and assiduity even beyond your expectations ? 
 But were 1 really the artful roan I am represented, 
 and if it be the characteristic of that disposition to 
 act entirely with a view to interest, nothing surely 
 could be more conducive to mine than the friend- 
 ship of one, from whose rank and abilities, from 
 whose power, family, and alliances, I might hope 
 to derive the highest honours and advantages : con- 
 siderations, I will own, that rendered me ambitious 
 of your friendship, not from any low unworthy 
 cunning, but from those principles of prudence 
 which Wisdom will surely justify. But these were 
 not the only considerations that attached me to 
 your interest : I was drawn by others of a higher 
 and more prevailing influence with me— by a .simili- 
 tude of taste and studies, by the pleasing habitudes 
 of familiar intercourse, and by the same common 
 researches into the most concealed and unfrequented 
 paths of philosophy. To these inducements of a 
 private kind, I may add those of a more popular 
 and public nature. For after having rendered our 
 mutual reconcilement conspicuous to the whole 
 world, I could not even undesignedly act counter 
 to your interest without incurring a suspicion of 
 my sincerity. Let me mention also those obliga- 
 tions which result from my being associated with 
 you in the college of augurs : obligations which 
 our ancestors esteemed of so sacred a nature, that 
 they not only held it impious to violate them, but 
 would not even suffer a candidate to be elected into 
 this society who was known to be at variance with 
 any of its members. But abstractedly from these 
 numerous and powerful motives, there is one which 
 of itself might be sufficient to evince the disposition 
 in which I stand towards you : for tell me, did ever 
 any man possess, or had reason to possess, so high 
 an esteem for another as that which ycnx know I 
 
 i This alludes to the services which Cicero received from 
 Appius in his recal from banishment. " For Appius (aa 
 Mr. Ross observes) was at that time prastor : and though 
 he at first supported his brother Clodius, and opposed 
 the repeal of his law, yet he afterwards deserted him, and 
 joined with the friends of Cicero." — Cic. pro Rom. 33. 
 
 J A maritime city in Campania, in the kingdom of 
 Naples, now called Pozzuoli. When the proconsuls set 
 out for their governments, they ■were usually escorted by 
 their friends to some distance from Rome.
 
 435 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 entertain for the illustrious^ father-in-law of your 
 daughter ? If personal obligations, indeed, can give 
 him a title to these sentiments, do I not owe to 
 Ponipey the enjoyment of my country, my family, 
 my dignities, and even my very self* ? If friendship 
 may be supposed to liave any effect, is tlicrc an 
 instance amongst all our consulars of a more inti- 
 mate union than his and mine? If confidi-nce can 
 create affection, what has he not committed to my 
 care, or communicated to my secrecy? ^Vhl■Ilever 
 he was absent from Rome, was tiiere any other man 
 whom he j)referred to be the advocate of his interest 
 in the senate ? And what honour is tliere which he 
 has not endeavoured to confer upon me in the most 
 distinguished manner ? In fine, with how much 
 temper did he suffer my zeal in the cause of Milo, 
 notwithstanding the latter had upon some occasions 
 joined in the opposition to his measures ? And how 
 generously did he protect me by his counsel, his 
 authority, and even his arms, from the insults and 
 tlie dangers to which I exposed myself in that 
 defence ' ? And I cannot but here observe, that 
 far from being disposed, as you have shown your- 
 self in this affair of the deputies, to listen to the 
 little idle tales that might be propagated to my 
 disadvantage by any paltry provincial, he nobly 
 scorned to give attention to the malicious reports 
 vfhich were dealt about to my jirejudice by the most 
 considerable persons in Rome™. Upon the whole, 
 then, as you are united not only by alliance, but 
 
 i Pompoy. 
 
 k Cicero by no means thought himself so much obh'ged 
 to Pompey as he here pretends : and all these extravagant 
 professions were a mere artifice (and a thin one, it must be 
 owned) to make Pompey believe that he had forgotten the 
 ill usage he had formerly received from him. [Ad Att. 
 i.x. 13.] The truth of it is, Cicero had just the same sort 
 of obligation to Pompey for the enjoyments he mentions, 
 as he would have had to a highwayman, who, after having 
 taken his purse, should have restored it again : for if Pom- 
 pey had not acted a treacherous and dishonest part in the 
 aflair of Clodius, to which our author here alludes, Cicero 
 would never have been deprived of his country, his family, 
 and his dignities. But if Pompey restored him to these, he 
 could not restore him to himself : for, as the elegant Mon- 
 gault, in his remarks on the epistles to Atticus, justly 
 observes, if he rose after his fall, he always appeared, how- 
 ever, to bo somewhat stunned by the blow. 
 
 • If Dion Cassius may be credited in what he relates 
 concerning the circumstances which attended Mile's trial, 
 Cicero had as little reason to acknowledge his obligations 
 to Pompey in the present instance, as in that mentioned 
 in the preceding remark. For Pompey being apprehensive 
 that Milo's party might attempt some violent measures in 
 order to obstruct the course of justice, surrounded the 
 court with his troops; which so intimidated Cicero, that it 
 utterly disconcerted his eloquence, and he made a very 
 languid defence of his friend. Accordingly the oration 
 which Cicero published, and which is still extant, was not 
 spoken, as Dion assures us, at the trial, but was the after- 
 produce of his more composed thouglits. But whether the 
 historian's assertion is to be corrected by Cicero, or Cicero's 
 to be discredited by the historian, is a point I shall not 
 venture to decide. Though I must in justice add, that 
 Asconius, a much earlier writer than Dion Cassius, and 
 one who was a greater admirer of Cicero, accounts in a 
 different manner for the disorder which seized the Roman 
 orator upon this occasion : for he ascribes it to the cla- 
 mours with which he was insulted by the party against 
 Jlilo, when he rose up to speak in his defence. — Dion, xl. 
 p. 145, 146 ; Ascon. Argument, in Milon. 
 
 »> Milo was suspected, or at least his adversaries pre- 
 tended to suspect him, of having a design against Pompey's 
 life : and perhaps Cicero's enemies endeavoured to persuade 
 
 by affection, to my illustrious friend, what are the 
 sentiments, do you imagine, that I ought to beai 
 towards you } The truth of it is, were I your pro- 
 fessed enemy, as I am most sincerely the reverse, 
 yet, after tlie letter which I lately received from 
 Pompey, I should tliink myself obliged to sacrifice 
 my resentment to his request, and be wholly 
 governed by the inclinations of a man to whom I 
 am thus greatly indebted. But I have said enough, 
 and ])erha])s more than was necessary, upon this 
 subject : let me now, therefore, give you a detail 
 botl) of what I have effected and am still attempt- 
 ing for your interest". • » # » # 
 • *•»«•»•• 
 
 This, my friend, is what I have performed, or 
 am endeavouring to perform, in supjiort of your 
 character, I will rather say, than in defence of your 
 person. But I e.\pect every day to hear that you 
 are chosen censor: the duties of which office, as 
 they require the highest fortitude and abilities to 
 e-xecute, so, I am sure, they far better deserve your 
 attention than any services I am capable of render- 
 ing to you in this province. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 To Pcpiriui Pmtus". 
 Your letter has rendered me a most complete 
 general. I protest I did not imagine you were so 
 A. u 703 wonderfully skilled in the art military. 
 But I perceive you are an absolute adept, 
 and deeply studied in the tactics of king PyrrhusP 
 and his minister Cineas. I have some thoughts, 
 therefore, of following your most curious precepts, 
 and indeed of improving upon them. For as I am 
 assured that the best armament against the Par- 
 thian cavalry is a good fleet, I am designing to 
 equip myself accordingly. Seriously, you cannot 
 imagine what an expert commander you have un- 
 dertaken to tutor : for after having worn out 
 Xenophon's life of Cyrus with reading it at Rome, 
 I have now fairly practised it out in the province. 
 But I hope soon to joke with you in person. In 
 the mean time, attend with submission due to my 
 high behests. You are not ignorant, I suppose, 
 of the particular intimacy that subsists between 
 Marcus Fabius and myself. I value him, indeed, 
 Pompey, that our author was privy to that design. — Orat. 
 pro Milon. 24. 
 
 " The particular instances of Cicero's services to Appius 
 are omitted in the original ; and, probably, were so by tho 
 first editor of these letters, as not being thought proper, 
 perhaps, for public inspection. 
 
 ° Lucius Papirius Paetus appears to have been a person 
 of great wit and humour, and in close friendship with 
 Cicero. " He was an Epicurean, and, in pursuance of the 
 plan of life recommended by the principles of that sect, 
 seems to have sacrificed his ambition to his ease. lie had 
 sent some military instructions by way of raillery to Cicei o, 
 who returns an answer to this letter in the same jociae 
 manner." — Ross. 
 
 P Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who flourished about .100 
 years before the date of this letter, was esteemed by the 
 ancients as one of the greatest soldiers that ever appear^id 
 in the world. His whole thoughts and application were 
 turned to the art of war: upon which subject he published 
 some treatises, tiiat were extant in Plutarch's time. Cineas 
 was one of the generals who commanded under this heroic 
 prince ; and who, as it should seem from this passage, had 
 likewise distinguished himself by his military writings.— 
 Plut. in Vit. Pyrrhi.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 433 
 
 •extremely, not only for the singular integrity and 
 modesty of his heart, but as he is a most excellent 
 second to me in thoise contests wherein I am some- 
 times engaged with certain jovial Epicurean com- 
 panions of yours. He lately joined me at Lao- 
 dicea, where I am very desirous of detaining him : 
 but he received an unexpected letter, which has 
 given him great uneasiness. The purport of it is, 
 that his brother has advertised his intentions of 
 selling an estate at Herculaneumi, in which they 
 are both equally interested. This news exceedingly 
 alarms my friend, and as his brotlier's understand- 
 ing is not extremely strong, he is inclined to think 
 he has been instigated by some of their common 
 enemies, to take this very extraordinary measure. 
 Let me then entreat you, my dear Psetus, if you 
 have any friendship for me, to ease Fabius of the 
 trouble of this affair, by receiving the whole bur- 
 den of it upon yourself. We shall have occasion 
 for your authority, your advice, and your interest: 
 and I hope you will exert them all, in order to 
 prevent these two brothers from the disgrace of 
 appearing as adversaries in a court of justice. I 
 must not forget to tell you, that the persons whom 
 Fabius suspects to be the malicious authors of this 
 advice to his brother, are Mato and Pollio. To say 
 all in one word, I shall think myself inexpressibly 
 obliged, if you ease my friend of this troublesome 
 affair ; a favour, he persuades me, entirely in your 
 jpower. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 To Coslius Caldus', Qumstor elect. 
 When I received the very acceptable news of 
 your being elected my quaestor, I was well per- 
 y„, suaded that the longer you continued with 
 me in this province, the more I should 
 have occasion to be satisfied with that choice. It 
 is of importance to the public relation which has 
 thus arisen between us that it should be improved 
 by a nearer intercourse. But, having received no 
 account, either from yourself or any other of my 
 friends, of your being set forward on your way 
 hither, I began to be apprehensive (what I still 
 fear) that 1 should leave this province before your 
 arrival. I was favoured, 'tis true, with a most 
 ■obliging and polite letter from you, on the 22d of 
 June, whilst I was encamped in Cilicia ; and it 
 afforded me a very pleasing instance both of your 
 abilities and friendly disposition. But it was with- 
 out any date, nor did it mention when I might 
 expect you. The person, likewise, that delivered 
 it, not having received it immediately from your 
 
 1 The famous city near Naples, which was swallowed up 
 by an earthquake in the reign of Vespasian ; and which is 
 now f urnisliing the literary world with so many invaluable 
 treasures of antiquity. 
 
 • He was a young man of a noble family, and this seems 
 to have been the whole of his merit. For, notwithstanding 
 Cicero addresses him in this letter, as one of whose talents 
 and virtues he had conceived a favourable opinion, it is 
 certain his real sentiments of him were far different. 
 Tliis appears from an epistle to Atticus, where both the 
 morals and understanding of Caldus are mentioned in 
 terms greatly to his disadvantage. " Nos provincial prae- 
 ficimus Coelium : puerum inquies, et fortasse fatuum, et 
 non gravem, et non continentem. Assentior : fieri non 
 potuit aliter."— Ad Att. vi. C. See the 13th letter of this 
 took. 
 
 own hands, could give me no information either 
 when or from what place it was written. Never- 
 theless, I thought proper to despatch my couriers 
 and lictors with this express ; and if it reaches you 
 time enough, you will greatly oblige me by meeting 
 me in Cilicia as soon as possible. 
 
 The strong letters I received in your behalf, 
 from your relations, Curius and Virgilius, had all 
 the influence which is due to the recommendations 
 of such very intimate and very worthy friends ; 
 but your own letter had still a greater. Believe me, 
 there is no man whom I should have rather wished 
 for my quaestor ; and I shall endeavour to show 
 the world, by distinguishing you with every honour 
 in my power, that I pay all the regard which is so 
 justly due to your own personal merit, as well as 
 to that of your illustrious ancestors. But this I 
 shall the more easily be enabled to effect, if you 
 should meet me in Cilicia : a circumstance in which 
 not only the public interest and mine, but particu- 
 larly your own, is, I think, nearly concerned. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Marcus Ceelius, Curule-Mdile. 
 
 I AM extremely anxious concerning affairs at 
 Rome, as I hear there have been great disturbances 
 „„„ in the general assemblies of the people', 
 and that the festival of Minerva' was 
 celebrated in a most riotous manner. But my in- 
 telligence goes no lower than that period, and I am 
 altogether uninformed of anything which has since 
 passed. Yet nothing mortifies me more than being 
 prevented the pleasure of laughing with you at 
 several ridiculous incidents which attended, I ano 
 told, these public tumults ; but they are of such a 
 delicate nature, that I dare not mention them in a 
 letter. I am a good deal uneasy, likewise, at not 
 having received any account of these commotions 
 from yourself. For which reason, notwithstanding 
 I shall be set out for Italy before this reaches your 
 hand, yet I hope I shall meet a letter from you 
 upon the road, that I may not arrive an utter 
 stranger to the state of public affairs ; as I am sure 
 no man is more capable of instructing me concern- 
 ing them than yourself. 
 
 Your agent, the worthy Diogenes, together with 
 your freedman Philo", parted from me at Pessinus'', 
 in order to proceed on their journey to the king 
 of Galatia'' ; though with little hopes of succeeding 
 at a court neither very able nor very willing to 
 comply with the purposes of their embassy. 
 
 Rome, my friend, Rome alone, is the object that 
 
 • Manutius conjectures that this alludes to the disturb- 
 ances which some of the tribunes occasioned at Rome, in 
 opposing the attempts of the Pompeian party to divest 
 Ca;sar of his government in Gaul. At the licad of tliese 
 tribunes. Curio, who had lately changed sides, now chose 
 to distinguish himself. — Ad Att. vi; 2. 
 
 t This festival was celebrated on the 19th of March, and 
 continued five days. 
 
 " Ceelius mentions these persons in a former letter, as 
 being employed by him to execute some commission in 
 this part of the world ; but the nature of the business witlv 
 which they were charged, does not appear.— Ep. Fam. 
 viii. 8. 
 
 ' A city in Phrygia, within the jm-isdiction of Cicero'* 
 government. 
 
 ■w Deiotarus. 
 
 F F
 
 4S4 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 merits your attention ; and may you ever live v^ithin 
 the splendour of that illustrious scene ! All foreign 
 employments (and it was my sentiments from my 
 first entrance into the world) are below the ambi- 
 tion of those who have talents to distinguish them- 
 selves on that more conspicuous theatre. And 
 would to God, as I was ever well convinced of this 
 truth, that I had always acted accordingly ! He 
 assured, the pleasure of a single walk with you 
 would afford me more satisfaction than all tlie 
 advantages I can derive from my government. I 
 hope, indeed, I sliall receive the applause of having 
 conducted myself throufjhout my administration 
 with an untainted integrity ; however, I should 
 have merited as mucli honour by refusing the 
 government of this j)rovince, as by having tlius 
 preserved it from the hands of our enemies. " But 
 where, then," you will ask, perhaps, " had been 
 the hopes of a triumph?" liulieve me, I should 
 have deemed that loss well compensated by escaping 
 so long and so tedious a separation from all that I 
 hold most valuable. But I hope I shall now soon 
 be with you. In the mean time, let me meet a letter 
 from you, worthy of your political penetration". 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To Appius Pulcher. 
 Whilst I lay encamped on the banks of the 
 Pyramus^, I received two letters from you, and 
 703 both at the same time, which Quintus 
 Servilius forwarded to me from Tarsus. 
 One of them was dated on the 5th of April, but 
 the other, which seemed to have been written later, 
 was without any date. I will answer the former, 
 therefore, in the first place, wherein you give me 
 an account of your having been acquitted of the 
 impeachment exhibited against you for mal-adrai- 
 nistration in this province. I had before been 
 apprised of many circumstances of this event by 
 various letters and expresses as well as by general 
 report ; as, indeed, there never was any occurrence 
 more particularly known. Not that it was in the 
 least unexpected, but because the world is usually 
 very minute in its accounts of all that concerns the 
 honour of so distinguished a character. But, not- 
 withstanding your letter was thus in some measure 
 anticipated, yet it heightened my satisfaction to 
 receive the same good news from your own hand. 
 My information was by this means not only more 
 full than what I had learned from common fame, 
 but it brought you nearer to my imagination, and 
 rendered you in some sort present to those senti- 
 ments of joy which arose upon this occasion in my 
 heart. Accordingly, I embraced you in my thoughts, 
 and kissed the letter that gave me so much reason 
 to rejoice, upon my own account, as well as upon 
 youTs. I say upon my own account, because I look 
 
 I In the original it is only said, " mihi mitte epistolas 
 te dignas." — But it seems evident what Cicero had in his 
 thoughts, by a passage a little higher in this letter : — 
 " obviffi mihi velim slnt literje tuse, quae me enidiant de 
 omni republica." And our author frequently speaks of 
 Coelius as one of that sort of discerning politicians, who, 
 in the language of Shakspeare, 
 
 can look into the seeds of time, 
 
 And say wliich grain will grow, and which will not. 
 
 Macbeth. 
 
 y Jk. river in Cilicia. 
 
 upon those honours which are thus paid by the 
 general voice of my country, to virtue, industry, 
 and genius, as paid to myself; being too much dis- 
 posed, perhaps, to imagine that these are qualities 
 to which my own character is no stranger. But 
 though I am by no means surprised that this triej 
 should have ended so much to your credit, yet I 
 cannot forbear being astonished at that mean and 
 unworthy spirit wliich induced your enemies' to 
 engage in this prosecution. 
 
 lUit you will tell me, perhaps, that I am pre- 
 mature in my congratulations ; for, while there is 
 a charge still subsisting against you, what imports 
 it, you will possibly ;isk, of which impeachment 
 you are first acquitted ? And I must confess it is 
 a point of no consequence with respect to your 
 character ; for you are not only perfectly innocent 
 of both accusations, but are so far from having 
 committed any action injurious to the honour of 
 the republic, that you have greatly contributed to 
 raise and extend its glory". However, there is this 
 advantage gained by your present victory, that the 
 principal difficulty of the whole contest is now 
 over. For, by the terms in which Sylla's law Is 
 drawn up concerning offences against the state, and 
 upon which your first prosecution was founded, it 
 is easy for any man to give a colour to the most 
 groundless charge. Whereas an information of 
 bribery turns upon a fact in its own nature notori- 
 ous, as no man can be guilty of this crime un- 
 observed by the public ; and consequently cither 
 the prosecutor, or the person accused, must evi- 
 dently, and beyond all power of artifice, appear 
 infamous. But who ever entertained even the- 
 slightest suspicions of your having obtained the 
 high dignities through which you have passed by 
 illegal methods ? How do I regret that I could not 
 be present at these prosecutions, that I might have 
 exposed them to all the ridicule they so justly 
 deserve ! 
 
 You mentioned two circumstances which attended 
 your trial that afforded me particular satisfaction. 
 The one is, that general zeal which was expressed 
 by the whole republic in your behalf ; the other, 
 that generous and friendly part which both Pompey 
 and Brutus have acted towards you in this conjunc- 
 
 ^ It may be unnecessary, perhaps, to remind the reader 
 that this alludes to Dolabella, whose friendship and allianca 
 Cicero was at this time courting. 
 
 a Cicero himself will furnish the most proper comment 
 upon this passage. For, in a letter to Atticus, written not 
 many months before the present, he describes the conduct 
 of Appius, in Cilicia, in terms which show that he waa 
 far from being imjustly arraigned by Dolabella. He re- 
 presents him as having spread desolation through the pro- 
 vince by fire and sword ; as having left nothing behind 
 him which he could possibly carry away ; and as having 
 suffered his officers to commit all kinds of violences which 
 lust and avarice conld suggest. " And I am going," says- 
 he, " this very morning to repeal several of his iniquitous 
 edicts." Appius, " cum e'l atpaipecreoos provinciam cura- 
 rit, sanguinem raiserit, quidquid potuit detraxerit, mihi- 
 tradiderit enectam, &c. — Quid dicam de illius praefectis, 
 comitibus, legatis? etiam de rapinis, de libidinib'is, de 
 contumeliis ! — Eo ipse die, quo haec ante lucem scribebam, 
 cogitabam ejus multa inique constituta et acta toUere." 
 It is pleasant to observe, upon some occasions, the different 
 colours in which the same character is painted by different 
 hands : but one has not so frequently the opportunity of 
 hearing the same conduct thus abused and thus applauded) 
 by the same man, and almost, too, in the same breath. — 
 Ad Att. Ti. 1.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 435 
 
 ture. With regard to the first, it would undoubtedly 
 have been the interest of the commonwealth, even 
 in the most flourishing periods of heroic virtue, to 
 have distinguished a citizen of your exalted merit ; 
 but it is more especially so in the present age, when 
 there are so few of the same patriot character to 
 ■whom she can look \ip for protection. And as 
 to the latter, I sincerely rejoice that your two 
 relations, and my very particular friends, have 
 thus warmly and zealously exerted themselves in 
 your cause. The truth of it is, I look upon Pom- 
 pey as the most considerable man that any age or 
 nation has ever produced'' : and Brutus, I am per- 
 suaded, will soon rise to the same honourable pre- 
 eminence above his fellow-citizens in general, which 
 now distinguishes him among our youth in parti- 
 cular. 
 
 With regard to those witnesses who were suborned 
 to give evidence against you, it shall be my care, 
 when I pass through Asia Cif Flaccus has not 
 already prevented me) to bring them to condign 
 punishment. And now let me turn to your second 
 letter. 
 
 I received great pleasure from the judicious 
 sketch you communicated to me of public affairs. 
 It appears that the dangers of the commonwealth 
 are much less considerable, as well as her resources 
 much more powerful, than I imagined, since the 
 principal strength of Rome is united (as you in- 
 form me) under Pompey. It afforded me much 
 satisfaction, at the same time, to remark that 
 spirit of patriotism which animates your letter : 
 and I am infinitely obliged to you, likewise, that 
 you should suspend your own more important oc- 
 cupations, in order to teach me what judgment to 
 form of our political situation. As to your treatise 
 upon Augury <^, I beg you would reserve it to a 
 season when we shall both of us be more disen- 
 gaged. M'^hen I reminded you of that design, I 
 
 '' In the last remark I took occasion to contrast Cicero 
 with himself, in respect to his sentiments and his profes- 
 sions of Appius. The present passage affords an opportu- 
 nity of showing him in the same opposition witli regard 
 to Pompey. The author, then, of this encomium, has else- 
 where said of the hero of his present panegyric, that " ho 
 was artful and ungenteel in his common intercourse ; and 
 as to his political conduct, that was altogether void of 
 everything great or disinterested, and utterly unworthy of 
 a man who meant well to the liberty of his country." 
 " Nihil come, nihil simplex, nihil if roiis iro\iTtKo7s 
 honestum, nihil illustre, nihil forte, nihil liberum." This 
 character, 'tis true, was drawn several years before the 
 date of the present letter ; and different sentiment;, of the 
 Eame man, at different times, are perfectly reconcilable, 
 no doubt, with truth and sincerity. But there is extant a 
 letter to Atticus, written after this to Appius, and at the 
 distance too of not many months, wherein Cicero expresses 
 the same contemptible opinion of Pompey. • ' Ego hominem 
 airo\iTiKu>TaTOV (says he) omnium jam ante cognoram, 
 nimc vero etiam aaTparriyiKuTaTOi'." And in another 
 BtiU more recent letter to Atticus, he asserts, that Pom- 
 pey's political conduct had been full of mistakes during 
 the last ten years : — " Ut enim alia decern annorum pec- 
 cata omittam," &c. The truth of it is, Cicero seldom con- 
 tinues long in the same sentiments, or at least the same 
 language, of Pompey ; and if he raises a trophy to his fame 
 in one letter, we may be almost sure of seeing it reversed 
 in another. If our author's judgment and penetration 
 were less unquestionable, these variations from himself 
 might be imputed to a more favourable cause than can 
 now, perhaps, be reasonably assigned. — Ad Att. i. 13 ; viii. 
 16; vii. 13. 
 
 e See letter 36, book iii. rem. 7. 
 
 imagined you were wholly unemployed and waiting 
 in the suburbs of Rome the determination of your 
 petition''. But I shall now e,\pect your orations* 
 in its stead ; and hope, agreeably to your promise, 
 that you will send me such of those performances 
 as have received your last hand. 
 
 TuUus, whom you charged, it seems, with a 
 commission to me, is not yet arrived ; nor have I 
 any other of your friends with me except those of 
 my own train, every one of whom I may with strict 
 propriety call yours. 
 
 I do not well know what particular letters you 
 mean by those whicli you call my angry ones. I 
 have written twice, 'tis true, in order fully to justify 
 myself against your suspicions, as well as tenderly 
 to reprove you, for too hastily crediting reports to 
 my disadvantage ; and I thought I acted in this 
 agreeably to the strictest friendship ; but since you 
 seem to be displeased with what I said, I shall not 
 take the same liberty for the future. However, if 
 these letters were not, as you tell me, marked with 
 my usual vein of eloquence, I desire you would 
 consider them as none of mine. For, as Aristar- 
 chus' insisted that every verse in Homer was 
 spurious which he did not approve, I desire you 
 would in the same manner look upon every line 
 which you think unrhetorical, as not the produce 
 of my pen. You see I am in a humour to be jocose. 
 Farewell: and if you are (as I sincerely hope) in 
 the possession of the censorial office, reflect often 
 on the virtues of your illustrious ancestors. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 From 3Iarcus Ccelius. 
 We met with a difficulty that greatly embarrassed 
 our schemes for procuring you a thanksgiving ; but 
 A. u 703 ^ difficulty, however, which we were not 
 long in surmounting. For Curio, not- 
 withstanding he is much in your interest, declared 
 that, as all his attempts for convening a general 
 assembly of the people had been obstructed'', he 
 
 d For a triumph. 
 
 « Appius maintained some rank in the republic as an 
 orator, and was well skilled likewise in the laws and anti- 
 quities of his country. Tlie orations which Cicero inquires 
 after were probably those which Appius spoke in defence 
 of himself on these trials. — De Clar. Orat. 297. 
 
 f A celebrated critic, who flourished at Alexandria 176 
 years before Christ. He is said to have left two sons behind 
 him, both of them fools; but they will not, perhaps, be 
 thought to have degenerated very greatly from their father, 
 if what is reported of him be true, that he \vrote above a 
 thousand commentaries upon different authors. Miser si 
 tain mulla svpervacua legisset! 
 
 K The commentators suppose that Cicero alludes to 
 Appius Claudius Coecus, who was censor in the year of 
 Rome 442. He distinguished himself in his oflSce by two 
 works of great utility to the public ; for he made that 
 famous road called the Via Appia, part of which subsists 
 to this day, and was the first, likewise, that supplied the 
 city of Rome with water, by conveying the river Anio 
 through an aqueduct of eleven miles in length. — Liv. 
 ix. 29. 
 
 ■> Paulus, one of the present consuls, not having yet 
 sacrificed his integrity to his interest, very warmly opposed 
 the attempts of Curio, who was endeavouring to procure 
 certain laws from the people in favour of Csesar's present 
 designs. Curio, in revenge, would not suffer any business 
 to proceed in the senate— a power with which he wa» 
 invested as tribune of the people. 
 F F 2
 
 436 
 
 TIIK LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 would by no means suffer the senate to pass any 
 decree of the kiiul in cjiu'stion. If he were to 
 de|)art, he said, from tiiis rcsohition, it would 
 look like Riving up the adviintaijes ho had gained 
 by the indiscreet zeal of the consul I'aulus, and he 
 should be considered as deserting the cause of the 
 public. In order, therefore, effectually to remove 
 this objection, we entered into an agreement with 
 him, that if he would s\iffer the decree for your 
 thanksgiving to ])ass, no other thanksgiving should 
 be j)roclainied during the remainder of this yiMr ; 
 to which the consuls likewise consented. Your 
 acknowledgments are accordingly due to them 
 both, but particularly to Paulus ; for he came 
 ■wholly and readily into our proiJosal in the most 
 obliging manner ; whereas Marcellus somewhat 
 lessened the merit of liis compliance, by telling us 
 that " the affair of these thanksgivings was an 
 article upon which he laid no sort of stress." 
 After having thus adjusted matters with Curio, 
 we were informed that Hirrus intended to defeat 
 our measures, by lengthening out the debates', 
 when the (juestion should come before the senate. 
 Our next business, therefore, was to make our 
 applications on that side, wliicli we so successfully 
 did, that we not only prevailed with him to drop 
 this design, but when the question was moved 
 concerning the number of the enemy's forces, and 
 he might easily have prevented the decree, by re- 
 quiring a list of the slain J, he sat entirely silent. 
 Indeed, the single opposition he gave to us was by 
 voting with Cato, who, though he would not assent 
 to this motion, spoke of your conduct, however, in 
 very honourable terms. I must not forget to 
 mention Favonius, likewise, as a third in this 
 party. You will distribute your thanks, therefore, 
 as they are respectively due : — to the three last, 
 for not preventing this decree, when it was both 
 in their inclination and their power to have done 
 so ; and to Curio, for making an exception in your 
 ■favour to the general rule he had laid down to him- 
 self. Furnius and Leutulus laboured in this affair, 
 as they ought, with as much zeal as if it had been 
 their own, and went about with me in all my appli- 
 cations to solicit votes. It is but justice to Balbus 
 Cornelius'' to name him too in the catalogue of 
 your active friends. He exerted himself, in truth, 
 with great spirit in gaining over Curio : to whom 
 he warmly remonstrated, that if he continued to 
 obstruct the senate in this article, it would affect 
 the interest of Csesar', and consequently render 
 his own sincerity suspicious". Among those who 
 
 ' A very singular custom prevailed in the Roman senate, 
 with regard to their method of debating ; for when a sena- 
 tor was required to deliver his sentiments on the point in 
 question, he was at liberty to harangue on any other sub- 
 ject as long as he thought. proper. This method was fre- 
 quently employed to postpone a decree by those of an 
 opposite p;uty, when they found the majority was likely 
 to be against them. 
 
 i The number of slain neeessary to entitle a general to 
 the honour of a triumph, was 5000; but, asapublic thanks- 
 giving was a distinction of an inferior nature, perhaps a 
 less number might be sufficient. — Val. Max. ii. 8. 
 
 ^ I have already had occasion to observe, that Balbus 
 acted as a kind of superinteiidant of Cassar's political affairs 
 at Rome. 
 
 1 As Cicero's popular talents could not but render him of 
 service to .my party he should espouse, he was at this time 
 €(iui ted both by Pompey and Caesar. 
 
 "' That is, with respect to Cssar : in whose interest 
 Curio had lately declared himself. 
 
 voted in your favour, there were some that in their 
 hearts, nevertheless, were by no means well-wishers 
 to the decree. In this number were the Domitii 
 and the Scipios : in allusion to which Curio rQa.de 
 them a very smart reply, when they affected to be 
 extremely importunate with him to withdraw his 
 protest. " I am the more inclined," said he, " to do 
 so, as I am sure it would be a terrible disappoint- 
 ment to some who have voted on the other side." 
 As to jiolitical affairs, the efforts of all parties 
 are at present directed to a single jioint ; and the 
 general contest still is in relation to the provinces. 
 Pompey seems to unite in earnest with the senate, 
 that the Lith" of November may be limited for 
 Ciusar's resigning his government. Curio, on the 
 contrary, is determined to oppose this to the 
 utmost, and accordingly has relinquished all his 
 other schemes, in order to apply his whole strength 
 to the affair in question. As to our party", you 
 well know their irresolution, and consequently will 
 readily believe me when I tell you they have not 
 the spirit to push their opposition to the last 
 extremity. The whole mystery of the scene, in 
 short, is this : Pompey, that he may not seem to 
 oppose Ca;sar, or to aim at anything but what the 
 latter shall think perfectly equitable, represents 
 Curio as acting in this affair merely upon his own 
 authority, and with no other view than to create 
 disturbances. It is certain, at the same time, that 
 Pompey is much averse to Cajsar's being elected 
 consul, before he shall have delivered up his go- 
 vernment, together with the command of the army ; 
 and indeed he seems to be extremely apprehensive 
 of the consequences, if it should prove otherwise. 
 In the meanwhile, he is severely attacked by Curio, 
 who is perpetually reproaching him with deviating 
 from the principles upon which he acted in his 
 second consulship. Take my word for it, notwith- 
 standing all the difficulties they may throw in 
 Curio's way, Caesar will never want a friend to rise 
 up in his cause : and if the whole turns, as they 
 seem to fear, upon his procuring some tribune to 
 
 n The commencement of Caesar's government in Gaul 
 cannot be dated higher than the year of Rome 695 ; for it 
 is unanimously agreed by all the ancient historians, that 
 he was consul in the year 694. This government was at 
 first granted to him for five years, and afterwards enlarged 
 for five more. Agreeably to this computation, therefore, 
 the legal period of his administration could not expire till 
 the year 705 , yet Cicero, in a letter to Atticus, written in 
 the very beginning of the year 704, speaks of it as abso- 
 lutely completed. Caesar, on the contrary, in the harangue 
 which he made to his army, just before his march into 
 Italy, in the commencement of the same year, expressly 
 says, that they had served under him nine years : and it 
 appears, by what he mentions soon afterwards, that there 
 wanted six months to complete his decennial period when 
 he was recalled from his government. The historians, 
 likewise, are neither agreed with themselves, nor with 
 each other, in their account of the continuance of Caisar's 
 administration in Gaul. For Suetonius in one place calls 
 it nine years, and in another ten : whereas, Dion Cassius 
 expressly says it was but eight. As the decision of this 
 difficulty would prove very little entertaining to the gene- 
 rality of English readers, it is only marked out for the 
 consideration of those who may think the solution worth 
 their inquiry. — Ad Att. vii. 9 ; Caes. De Bell. Civil, i. 7, 
 9 ; Suet, in Vife. Jul. Ca;s. 25, 69 ; Dio, xliv. p. 263. 
 
 o This party was what they called the optimates, and 
 which, in modern language, might be termed the "country 
 party." They wanted not only spirit, but unanimity, to 
 act to any effectual purpose : " non enim boni, ut putant, 
 consentiimt," says Cicero, in a letter to Atticus, vii, 6.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 437 
 
 interpose his ne^fative to their decrees,! will venture 
 to pronounce that he may remain in Gaul as long 
 as he shall think ))roper. 
 
 You will find the several opinions of the senators 
 in relation to this affair, in the newspaper which I 
 herewith send to you. I leave you to select such 
 articles as you may think worthy of notice ; for 
 though I have omitted all the idle stories of such a 
 man being hissed'' at the public games, of another 
 being buried with great funeral pomp, together 
 with various impertinences of the same uninterest- 
 ing kind ; it still abounds with many paragraphs 
 of little moment. However, I chose to err on the 
 right side, and had rather hazard informing you of 
 what you may not, perhaps, desire to hear, than 
 pass over anything material. 
 
 I am glad to find that your care has not been 
 wanting to procure me satisfaction from Sittius ; 
 and since you susj)ect that affair is not in very safe 
 hands, I entreat you to take it altogether into your 
 own. Faieweil. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 To Cajiiniics Salhisluis'i, Proqticestor. 
 
 Your courier delivered both your letters to me 
 at Taurus, on the seventeenth of July, which I will 
 _,.^ answer, as you seem to desire, according 
 'to their respective dates. 
 
 I have heard no news of my successor ; and 
 indeed I am inclined to believe that none will be 
 appointed. Nevertheless, I see no occasion for my 
 I continuance in this province after the expiration of 
 my year', especially now that all our fears are over 
 ■with respect to the Parthians. I do not propose 
 to stay at any place in my return ; though, perhaps, 
 I may visit Rhodes, in order to show that city to 
 my son and nephew^ ; but of this I am not yet 
 determined. The truth is, I am desirous of reach- 
 ing Rome as soon as possible : however, I shall 
 regulate my journey according to the posture of 
 public affairs. But I am afraid it will be impossible 
 for your successor to be so expeditious, as to give 
 you an opportunity of joining me in Asia. 
 
 As to what you mention concerning your 
 accounts, it may save you, I confess, some trouble, 
 to make use of the dispensation which Bibulus, it 
 seems, is willing to grant. But I think you can 
 scarce neglect delivering them in, without violating 
 
 P It was usual with the populace, iviien any person, 
 who hail incurred their displeasure, entered the places of 
 public entertainments, to express their resentments by a 
 general liiss. An instance of this kind, which happened 
 witli regard to the celebrated Ilortensius, is mentioned in 
 the 29th letter of the third book. 
 
 1 Nothing more is known of this person than what may 
 be collected from the present letter : by which it appears, 
 that he was quxstor to Bibulus in Syria. 
 
 •■ That period was now within a few days of expiring ; 
 for the letter beforo us could not have been written sooner 
 than the 17th of July, and Cicero's administration ended 
 on the last day of tl;e same month, computing it from the 
 time he entered his province.— Ep. Vaxn. xv. 2. 
 
 » " The island of Rhodes is situated in tho Mediterra- 
 nean, not far from the coast of Lyeia and Caria. It had a 
 city of the same name, which was at tliis time much 
 celebrated, and resorted to, on account of its schools of 
 eloquence and philosophy. Cicero himself, in tho course 
 of his travels, resided some time here, and applied himself 
 to the stvidy of oratory under the direction of Molo, wlio 
 was both an ciipciicnccd pleader and firic writer." — Ross. 
 
 the Julian law' ; and though Bibulus may have his 
 particular reasons" for not paying obedience to that 
 ordinance, I cannot but strongly advise your ob- 
 serving its injunctions. 
 
 I find you agree with some others of my friends 
 in thinking that I ought not to have drawn the 
 troops out of Apamea : and I am sorry I should 
 have given occasion by that step to the maUcious 
 censures of my enemies. But you are singular in 
 doubting whether the Parthians had at that time 
 actually repassed the Euphrates. It was in full 
 confidence of a fact so universally confirmed, that 
 I evacuated the several garrisons of those brave and 
 numerous troops with which I had filled them. 
 
 It is by no means reasonable that 1 should trans- 
 mit my (piiestor's accounts to you ; nor indeed are 
 they yet settled. I intend, however, to deposit a 
 copy of them at Apamea. In answer to what you 
 mention concerning the booty we took from the 
 Parthians in this war, let me assure you that no man 
 shall touch any part of it, excejit the city qufestors 
 on behalf of the public. I purpose to leave the 
 money at Laodicea which shall arise from the sale 
 of those spoils, and to take security for its being 
 paid in Rome, in order to avoid the hazard both 
 to myself and the commonwealth, of conveying it 
 in specie. As to your request concerning the 
 100,000 drachmas'', it is not in my power to 
 comply with it. For the chests of money taken 
 in war fall under the direction of the prsefects, iu 
 the same manner as all other plunder ; and the 
 particular share that belongs to myself is in the 
 hands of the ciurestor. In return to your question, 
 ^Vhat my thoughts are concerning the legions 
 which have received orders to march into Syria, 
 — I always doubted of their arrival ; but I am now 
 fully persuaded, if it should be known at Rome 
 that everything is quiet in your province, befo.'-e 
 those forces enter Syria, that they will certainly 
 be countermanded. And as the senate has ap- 
 pointed your successor, Marius, to conduct those 
 troops, I imagine it will be a considerable time 
 before you see him. Thus far in reply to your first 
 letter : I am now to take notice of your second. 
 
 I want no inclination to recommend you, as you 
 desire, in the strongest manner to Bibulus. But 
 I must take this opportunity of chiding you a 
 little for having never acquainted me of the ill, 
 though unmerited, terms on which I stand with 
 him"'. You are indeed the only one of my friends 
 among his off.cers who omitted to inform me that 
 when the city of Antiochia was in a general con- 
 
 ' .Julius Ciesar procured a law in liis first consulate, by 
 which it was enacted that the several magistrates in the 
 provinces should deposit a copy of their respective ac- 
 counts in the two principal cities of their government. — 
 Pigh. Annal. i. 352. 
 
 " Bibulus, in the year of Rome 694, was elected joint 
 consul with Cssar, by whom he was treated with great 
 contempt and indignity for endeavouring to withstand the 
 violent nicasiu'cs of his administration. [Sec rem. », p. 
 aj7.] It is probable, therefore, that IJibulus, in resent- 
 ment of these injuries, refused to acknowledge the vali- 
 dity of the law mentioned in tho preceding note : as not 
 liaving been passed, perhaps, with all the necessary for- 
 malities. 
 
 '' About 3000?. of our money. 
 
 ■>»• Notwithstanding Cicero represents the disgust which 
 Bibulus had conceived against him to have been alto- 
 gether without foimdation, yet (as IManutius justly 
 observes upon this passage) he liad great rcasun to be 
 offended : for Cicero had been a principal promiiter of
 
 438 
 
 THK LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 sternatiori from the late invasion of the Parthians 
 (anil their great iiopes depended upon me and my 
 army), that IJibulus often declared lie would suffer 
 the last extremity rather than be obliged to my 
 assistance. However, I was not offended at your 
 silence, as I imputed it to that jiarticular and 
 powerful connexion in which you stood related to 
 him as liis qiuestor, though I was not ij^norant, at 
 tlie same time, of the manner in which he treated 
 you. Uut his unfriendly dis])osition ap])eared 
 likewise in another instance ; for though he de- 
 spatched a courier to Thermus with an account of 
 the irruption of the Parthians, he did not tiiink 
 proper to communicate any intelligence of that 
 kind to me, notwithstanding he well knew that 
 I was ])articularly concerned in the consc(juence 
 of that invasion". Tiie single letter 1 received 
 from him was to desire my interest when his 
 son was soliciting the office of augur ; to which, 
 in compliance witii those sentiments I ever bore 
 towards him, and in tenderness to the affliction 
 under which he then laboured y, I endeavoured to 
 return him the most civil and friendly answer I 
 was capable. If this beliaviour proceeded from a 
 general moroseness of temper (which I confess I 
 never took to be his disjiosition) I have the less 
 reason to complain ; but if it arose from any par- 
 ticular coolness to myself, my recommendations can 
 nothing avail you. I am inclined to suspect the 
 latter, from the whole tenor of his conduct towards 
 me. For in his late despatches to the senate, he 
 is pleased to usurp the entire credit of an affair in 
 which 1 was jointly concerned with him : and 
 assures that venerable assembly that "he had taken 
 proper care to settle the exchanye^ in such a man- 
 ner as would be most advantageous to the public." 
 He mentions, at the same time, as his own act, 
 what was solely and absolutely mine ; and says, 
 that "in order to ease the people of the burden 
 of maintaining the Lombard troops % he forbore 
 to demand them." On the other hand, he thought 
 proper to give me part in an action which belongs 
 altogether to himself, and names me in the letter I 
 am speaking of as " joining in his application for a 
 larger allowance of corn for the use of the auxiliary 
 troops." To point out another instance, also, 
 which betrays the meanest and most contemptible 
 malevolence : — Ariobarzanes having been particu- 
 larly recommended by the senate to my protection'', 
 and it being by my means they were prevailed upon 
 to acknowledge \As regal title, Bibulus constantly 
 speaks of him, tliroughout his letter, under the 
 degrading appellation of " the son of the late 
 king." My recommendation, therefore, to a person 
 thus ill-disposed towards me, would only render 
 him so much the more disinclined to serve you. 
 
 those excessive honours which had been paid to Csesar. 
 See rem. ", above. 
 
 ^ Cicero's province being contiguous to that of Syria. 
 
 y Two of his sons had lately been murdered at Alcxan- 
 di-ia by some Roman soldiers. Seneca mentions the beha- 
 viour of Bibulus, upon this occasion, as an example of 
 philosophical magnanimity ; for the very next day after 
 he had received this afHicting news, he had the resolution 
 to appear in the public exercise of his proconsular office. 
 — VaJ. Max. iv. 1 ; Senec. Consol. ad Mare. 14. 
 
 » Of the public money which was to be remitted from 
 Cilicia and Syria, to the treasury at Rome. 
 
 » Which were raised in order to be sent against the 
 Parthians. 
 ^ !» See letter 1, book vr. 
 
 Nevertheless I herewith enclose a letter which 
 I have written to him in compliance with your 
 request ; and I leave it to your own discretion to 
 make what use of it you shall think proper. — 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 Marcus Caelius to Cicero. 
 
 I coNCRATUi-ATE you On your alliance'^ with 
 80 worthy a man as Dolabella ; for such I sincerely 
 ^..,. think him. His former conduct, it is true, 
 has not been altogether for his own ad- 
 vantage. But time has now worn out those little 
 indiscretions of his youth : at least, if any of them 
 sliould still remain, tlie authority and advantage of 
 your advice and friendship, together with the good 
 sense of Tullia, will soon, 1 am confident, reclaim 
 him. He is by no means, indeed, obstinate in his 
 errors ; and it is not from any incapacity of discern- 
 ing better, whenever he deviates from the right 
 path. To say all in one word, I infinitely love him. 
 
 Do you know, my dear Cicero, what a victory 
 Curio has lately obtained in relation to the pro- 
 vinces .•" The senate, in pursuance of a former 
 order, having assembled to consider of the obstruc- 
 tion which some of the tribunes had given to their 
 decree'', Marcus Marcellus moved, that application 
 might be made to those magistrates to withdraw 
 their protest : but it was carried in the negative by 
 a considerable majority. Pompey is at present in 
 such delicate circumstances, that he will scarcely 
 find any measures, I believe, perfectly to his satis- 
 faction. The senate, however, seem to intend, by 
 the resolution I just now mentioned", that Caesar 
 shall be admitted as a candidate for the consulship, 
 notwithstanding he should refuse to resign his 
 government. What effect this may have upon 
 Pompey you shall know as soon as I can discover '. 
 In the mean time, it imports you wealthy veterans 
 to consider what methods to pursue, in case the 
 latter should appear either unable or unwilling to 
 support the republic. 
 
 Hortensiuss lies at the point of death. Farewell. 
 
 « See rem. e on the first letter of this book. 
 
 •i This decree, together with the protest of the tribunes 
 here mentioned, is inserted at large in the 7th letter of tho 
 4th book. 
 
 ' Cicero speaks of this resolution in a letter to Atticus, 
 and produces it as a proof that the intentions of the senate 
 were not true to the interest of the commonwealth. For 
 had the motion of Marcellus been vigorously supported. 
 Curio's opposition, he sajs, would have been in vain, and 
 Cssar must necessarily have resigned his command. — Ad 
 Att. vii. 7. 
 
 f There is evidently some error in the Latin text : which 
 runs thus, " Quemadmodum hoc laturus Pompeius sit, 
 cum cognoscat, quidnam reipublicse futurum sit, si aut 
 non curct, vos sones,"&c. I have ventured, though un- 
 supported by any of the manuscripts or commentators, to 
 read this passage in the following manner: " Quemad- 
 modum hoc Pompeius latiu'us sit, cum cognoscam, te cer- 
 tiorcmfaciam. Quidnam reipublica; futurum sit, si aut 
 non possit, aut non curet, vos," &c. 
 
 g Hortensius would have been considered as the noblest 
 orator that ever shined in the Roman forum, if Cicero had 
 not risen with superior lustre. There was a peculiar 
 eloquence in his manner, as well as in his expression : and 
 it was difficult to determine whether his audience beheld 
 the grace of his action, or listened to the charms of hia 
 rhetoric, with greater admiration and pleasure. Cicero 
 often celebrates him for the prodigious strength of hia
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 439 
 
 LETTER IX, 
 To Appius Pulcher. 
 
 That I may answer your letter in due form, 
 let me pay my congratulations to you in the first 
 .„„ place, and then turn to what concerns 
 myself. 
 
 Be assured the account you gave me concerning 
 the event of your trial on the information for 
 bribery*", afforded me great pleasure. Not because 
 you were acquitted, for I never entertained the 
 least doubt of the contrary, but to find that there 
 •was not a single judge who dared throw in a nega- 
 tive upon your innocence, even under all the secrecy 
 and safety which the method of balloting would 
 have secured to his malice. This is a circumstance 
 altogether extraordinary : a circumstance, indeed, 
 so little agreeable to the general principles and 
 purposes of the present depraved generation, that 
 the more I reflect on your high rank, on your 
 public and private virtues, and on the distinguished 
 honours to which they have exalted you, the more 
 I consider it with astonishment. I can truly say, 
 no occurrence has happened for a considerable 
 time that surprised me more. 
 
 And now, let me entreat you to imagine yourself, 
 for a moment, in my situation with respect to the 
 affair you mentioned', and, if you should then find 
 that you are under no difficulties, I will not desire 
 you to excuse mine. You will allow me to join in 
 your ov.'n good-natured wishes that an alliance 
 which was conducted without my knowledge, may 
 prove happy both to me and to my daughter. I 
 will venture to hope, too, that something may be 
 derived not altogether unfavourable to my wishesJ, 
 even from the particular conjuncture wherein this 
 transaction has happened ; though I must add, 
 that nothing encourages me in this hope so much 
 as the sentiments I entertain of your candour and 
 good sense. What farther to say I know not. On 
 the one hand, it would not become me to speak 
 with more despondency of an affair to which you 
 have kindly given your favourable presages ; on 
 the other, there are some lights in which I cannot 
 view it without uneasiness. I am apprehensive, 
 indeed, lest you should not be sufficiently persuaded 
 memory : of which the elder Seneca has recorded a remark- 
 able instance, lie undertook, it seems, as a proof of its 
 force, to attend a whole day at a public auction, and give 
 an exact account of everything that was put up to sale, of 
 the price at which it was sold, and of the name of every 
 particular purchaser: and this he accordingly executed 
 without failing in a single article. Cicero received the 
 news of his death with real concern : for though there was 
 a perpetual emulation, there was a mutual friendship 
 xievertheless between them. This harmony, so unusual 
 With those who contend together for the same prize, was 
 greatly owing to the good oflBces of Atticus ; who seems, 
 indeed, upon all occasions (and it is the most amiable part 
 of his very singular character) to have employed the 
 renjarkable influence he enjoj-ed \vith all parties, in 
 reconciling ditferenoes and cementing friendships. Hor- 
 tensius w;is about six years older than Cicero : and died 
 in the 63d year of his age. — Val. Max. viii. 10 ; Cic. de Clar. 
 Orator. 301 ; Senec. C'ontrovers. i. in prooem. ; Ad Att. vi. 
 € ; viii. 8 ; Com. Nep. in Vit Att. 5. 
 
 •> See rem. ' on letter 5, book v. 
 
 » The marriage of Cicero's daughter with DolabeUa. 
 
 J What Cicero seems to intimate in this passage is, that 
 he might, probably, be enabled, by the influence which 
 his alliance would give him with Dolabella, to infuse into 
 him a more favourable disposition towards Appius. 
 
 that this treaty was managed without my privity'' ; 
 as, in truth, it was by some of my friends, to whom 
 I gave a general commission to act in my absence 
 as they should judge proper, without referring 
 themselves at this great distance to me. But, if 
 you ask what measures I would have taken had I 
 been present, 1 will freely own I should have 
 approved of the match', though, as to the time of 
 consummating it, I should certainly have done 
 nothing either without your advice or contrary to 
 your inclination. 
 
 You have already discovered, I dare say, how 
 terribly I am perplexed between apologising for a 
 step which I am obliged to defend, and avoiding, 
 at the same time, saying anything that may give 
 you offence. Have so much charity, therefore, I be- 
 seech you, as to ease me of this embarrassment ; for, 
 in fair truth, I never pleaded a more difficult cause. 
 Of this, however, be well persuaded, that, had I 
 not, ere 1 was informed of this alliance, completed 
 my good offices in your service, it would have 
 induced me to defend your reputation, not, 
 indeed, with more zeal, (for that would have been 
 impossible,) but certainly with so much the more 
 conspicuous and significant testimonies of my 
 friendship. 
 
 The first notice that was given me of this mar- 
 riage, was by a letter which I received on the 3rd 
 of August iipon my arrival at Sida ; at which city 
 I touched in my voyage from the province. Your 
 friend Servdius, who was then with me, seemed a 
 good deal concerned at the news ; but I assured 
 him that the only effect it would have, with respect 
 to myself, would be to give an additional strength 
 to my future services in your behalf. To be short, 
 though it cannot increase my affection for you, it 
 has increased my endeavours of rendering that 
 affection more evident : and as our former dis- 
 union made me so much the more cautious to 
 avoid affording the least suspicion that my recon- 
 cilement with you was not thoroughly sincere, so 
 this alliance will heighten my care not to give the 
 world reason to think that it has in any degree 
 impaired the strength of that perfect friendship I 
 bear you. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To Marcus Cato'". 
 " Praise from thy lips 'tis mine with pride to boast: 
 He best can give it who deserves it most :" 
 
 as Hector, I think, says to the venerable Priam, in 
 one of Naevius's plays. Honourable, indeed, is that 
 A u -03 approbation which is bestowed by those 
 who have themselves been the constant 
 object of universal applause. Accordingly, I esteem 
 the encomiums you conferred upon me in the 
 
 I' See rem. S on letter 1 of this book. 
 
 1 Cicero had surely forgotten what he said to Appius in 
 a former letter. For taking notice of the report which 
 Dolabtlla had spread coneerning this match, he affirms 
 there was so little of truth in it, that he would much 
 sooner renounce all former correspondence with Dolabella, 
 than enter into a new connexion with a man who had 
 declared himself the enemy of Appius. " Ego citius cum 
 eo, qui tuas inimicitias suscepissit, veterem conjunctionem 
 diremissem, quam novam conciliassem." — Ep. Fam. iii. 
 10. See the first letter of this hook. 
 
 »> This letter is an answer to the second in the preceding 
 book.
 
 440 
 
 THE LETTEllS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 senate, together with your conijratulatory letter, as a 
 distinction of the hiKhi-staiui most illustriixis kind". 
 Nothing could be more ai;reeable to my wishes, as 
 nothin<5 could be more glorious for my reputation, 
 than your liaviiig thus freely given to friends-hip 
 whatever you could strictly give to truth. Were 
 Rome entirely composed of Catos, or could it pro- 
 duce many (as it is surj)rising it can furnish even 
 one) of that venerable character, my desires would 
 be an)ply satisfied, and 1 siiould j)refer your single 
 api>robation to all the laurels and all the triumphal 
 cars in the universe. In my own judgment, indeed, 
 and according to the refined estimate of true phi- 
 losophy, the honours you paid me in the senate, 
 and which have been transmitted to me by my 
 friends, is undoubtedly the most significant dis- 
 tinction I can possibly receive. I ac(|uainted you 
 in my former letter with the ])articular motives 
 which induced me to be desirous (for I will not 
 call it ambitious) of a triumph ; and, if the reasons 
 I there assigned will not, in your opinion, justify a 
 warm pursuit of that honour, they must prove, at 
 least, that 1 ought not to refuse it if the senate 
 should make me the ofi'er : and I hope that assem- 
 bly, in consideration of my services in this province, 
 will not think me undeserving of a reward so usu- 
 ally conferred. If 1 shoidd not be disappointed in 
 this hope, my only request is, (what indeed you 
 kindly promise,) that, as you have paid me the 
 honours you thought most to my glory, you would 
 rejoice in my obtaining those which are most to 
 my inclination. And this disposition you liave 
 already very sincerely shown, not only by your 
 
 " Cicero was at this time well pleased with the part 
 which Cato had acted towards him : for he tells Atticus, 
 what he liliewise says in this letter, that " he looked upon 
 the applauses which the former had conferred upon liim, 
 in the senate, as preferable to all the triumphs in the 
 world." But he soon changed his language : and, in his 
 subsequent letters to Atticus, he expresses himself with 
 »;reat warmth and indignation against Cato's behaviour in 
 this very article. Cato, it seems, had granted to Bibulus 
 what he refused to Cicero, and voted that a general thanks- 
 giving should be appointed, for the success of the former 
 in Syria. Tliis was a preference which Cicero could not 
 digest, and he complains of it to Atticus in terms to the 
 following purpose. "Cato, says he, " has given me his 
 applauses, which I did not desire, but refused me his 
 suffrage, though I earnestly requested it. Yet this un- 
 grateful man has voted that a thanksgiving shall be 
 appointed for twenty days, in honour of Bibulus. Pardon 
 nie for saying it ; but I neither can nor will forgive so 
 injurious a treatment." Cicero ascribes this conduct of 
 Cato to envy ; and his ingenious translator. Monsieur Mon- ' 
 gault, imputes it to partiality. On the contrary, I am 
 persuaded it flowed neither from the one nor the other, 
 but was tlie pure result of that impartial justice which 
 seems upon all occurrences to have invariably determined 
 his actions. For Cicero had undoubtedly no claim to the 
 honour he demanded : and for this reason, among others, 
 ■because the number of the slain on the side of the enemy 
 was not 30 great as the laws in these eases required. 
 [Ep. Fam. viii. 1 1 .] But it is probable that the claim of 
 Bibulus was supported by all the legal requisites. For 
 though the Parthians were driven out of Syria before his 
 arrival in the province ; yet Cassius, by whose bravery 
 they were repulsed, acted under the auspices of Bibulus : 
 sub ejus auspicio res gestce erant, as they expressed it. 
 Now the success of the lieutenant, or other subordinate 
 officer, was always imputed to the general, notwithstanding 
 he were not actually present ; as being supposed to arise 
 from the effect of these auspicia, or sacred rites, which he 
 previously performed ere he set out on his intended expe- 
 dition.— Ad Att. vii. 1, 2, 3; Kosin. Antiq. Rom. 96i!. 
 
 U'tter, but by having signed the decree that ha» 
 passed in my favour ; for decrees of this kind, I 
 know, are usually subscribed by those who are 
 most in the interest of the person to whose honour 
 they are voted. I will only add, that I hope to 
 see you very shortly ; and may I find th«: republic 
 in a ha])pier situation than 1 have reasou to fear I 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 To Cuius Marcellus, Consul, 
 I AM informed, by the letters of all my friends, 
 what, inde<'d, I was sufficiently sensible of by the 
 70" effects, that you have exerted tlie same 
 generous zeal in promoting my honours", 
 now that you are consul, which you always dis- 
 covered, in conjunction with your whole family, in 
 every preceding station of your life. There is no 
 good office, therefore, which you have not a full 
 right to claim at my hands, as there is none which 
 I shall not at all times be most warmly and joyfully 
 ready to return. It is a point of much importance 
 from whom one receives an obligation ; but, believe 
 me, there is not a man in the world I would rathei 
 choose be obliged to you than yourself. For, not to 
 mention that I have been attached to you by a simili- 
 tude of studies, and by the many generous services 
 1 have received both from yourself and your father j 
 there is an additional inducement which, in ray 
 estimation, is, of all others, the most engaging ; I 
 mean the manner in which you act, and have ever 
 acted, in the administration of public affairs. As 
 nothing, then, is more dear to me than the com- 
 monwealth, can I scruple to be as much indebted 
 to you in my own particular, as I am in common 
 with every friend to the republic ? And may your 
 patriot labours be attended, as I trust they will, 
 with all the success they deserve. 
 
 If the Etesian winds?, which usually begin to 
 blow about this season of the year, should not 
 retard my voyage, I hope to see you very speedily. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 To Appius Puloher. 
 When the question concerning the military 
 honours to be paid to your armsi was formerly 
 A u "OS "debated in the senate, I supported the 
 cause of your glory with as much warmth 
 and zeal as if I had foreseen that I should one day 
 have occasion for your good offices of the same 
 kind to myself. Truth obliges me, however, to 
 acknowledge that you have returned much more 
 than you received. All my letters, indeed, from 
 Rome agree in assuring me that you not only 
 supported my interest by the authority of your 
 eloquence, and the credit of your vote, (which was 
 as much as I could in reason desire from a man of 
 
 ° This alludes to the good offices of Marcellus, in relation 
 to the general thanksgiving which had lately been voted 
 for the success of Cicero's armiS in Cilicia. See the 6th 
 letter of this book. 
 
 P Periodical winds, which constantly blow the same way 
 during a certain number of months every year. 
 
 1 In Cilicia, probably ; in which province Appius, as the 
 reader has been informed, was predecessor to Cicero. Thi» 
 letter is upon the same subject with the preceding.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 441 
 
 your rank and character,) but that, by contributing 
 your advice, by assisting at the meetings which 
 were held upon my account, by your personal 
 applications, and, in short, by your assiduity in 
 general, you rendered the good offices of the rest 
 of my friends altogether superfluous. These are 
 circumstances far more to my credit than the ho- 
 nour itself for which you thus generously laboured. 
 The latter, indeed, has frequently been obtained 
 by those who had done notliing to deserve it, but 
 no man was ever supported with so much zeal by an 
 advocate thus illustrious, without merit to justify 
 his claim. But the great benefit that I propose 
 to myself by your friendship, arises entirely from 
 the advantages wliicl* naturally flow from an inter- 
 course of this kind ; as nothing, in truth, can be 
 attended with greater, especially between two per- 
 sons, who, like you and me, are united by the same 
 common pursuits ; for I profess to act with you 
 upon the same political principles in which our 
 sentiments are perfectly agreed, as well as to be 
 joined with you in an equal attachment to the same 
 arts and sciences which we mutually cultivate. I 
 sincerely wish that fortune had as strongly con- 
 nected us in every other respect, and that you 
 could think of all who belong to me"^ with the 
 same friendly sentiments I entertain for those who 
 stand related to you. But I do not despair that even 
 this may be effected. It is a point, however, in 
 which you are no way concerned, and which it is 
 my part alone to manage. In the mean time I beg 
 you would be persuaded, as you will most certainly 
 experience, that this alliance has, if possible, rather 
 augmented than diminished the warmth of my zeal 
 for your. service. 
 
 But, as I hope I am now writing to a censor', I 
 must have the modesty to shorten my letter, that 
 I may not be guilty of a breach of respect to a 
 magistrate who is the great superintendant of good 
 manners. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 To Marcus Coelius, Curuk-jEdile. 
 Nothing could be more judicious, nor more 
 carefully conducted, than your management of 
 
 Curio in relation to the thanksgiving'. 
 
 Indeed, the circumstances of that whole 
 affair have proved entirely conformable to my 
 wishes ; not only as it passed the senate with so 
 much expedition, but as our mutual competitor, 
 the angry Hirrus, expressed his assent to those 
 divine encomiums with which Cato honoured my 
 actions. I am inclined to flatter myself, therefore, 
 that this will lead to a triumph ; and I desire you 
 would be prepared accordingly. 
 
 It is with great pleasure I find that Dolabella 
 enjoys the happiness of your esteem and friendship. 
 I was at no loss to guess the circumstance to which 
 you alluded, when you mentioned your hopes that 
 the prudence of my daughter TuUia would temper 
 his conduct. But what would you have said had 
 you seen the letter I wrote "^ to Appius immediately 
 
 A. u. 703. 
 
 ' This alludes to Dolabella, whose conduct to Appius 
 has been so often mentioned in these remarks. 
 
 » See rem. i onthe.tirst letter of this book. 
 
 « See the sixth letter of the present book, to which this 
 la an answer. 
 
 » The letter to which Cicero alludes is the first of the 
 present book. 
 
 after I received yours upon that subject ? Yet 
 thus we must act, my friend, if we would live in 
 the world^. I hope the gods will give success to 
 this match, and that I shall have reason to be well 
 satisfied with my son-in-law ; 1 am sure, at least, 
 your amicable offices will extremely contribute to 
 that end. 
 
 The dark prospect of public aff'airs fills me with 
 great disquietude. I am well inclined towards 
 Curio ; it is my wish tliat Csesar's achievements 
 may meet with the honourable rewards they de- 
 serve ; and I would willingly sacrifice my life in 
 support of Pompey ; still, however, none of my 
 affections are superior to that which I feel for my 
 country. But, I perceive, you do not take any 
 great part in her contests ; being divided, I suppose, 
 between the different obligations of a patriot and a 
 friend. 
 
 Upon my departure from the province, I left 
 the administration in the hands of Caldus''". You 
 will be surprised, perhaps, that I should commit 
 so great a trust to so young a man. But you will 
 remember that he was my qufestor ; that he is a 
 youth of a noble family, and that I am justified ia 
 my choice by a practice almost universal. Besides, 
 I had no other person near me of superior rank ; 
 for Pontinius had long before quitted the province, 
 and, as to my brother, I could by no means have 
 prevailed upon him to accept the employment. 
 Indeed, if I had placed the administration iu his 
 hands, the malicious part of the world would pro- 
 bably have said, that, instead of resigning my 
 government in obedience to the decree of the 
 senate, I still continued it in the person of one 
 who may justly be considered as my second self. 
 Tney might perhaps have added, too, that the 
 intentions of the senate were, that those only 
 should command in the provinces who had never 
 enjoyed a government before'' ; whereas, my bro- 
 ther had actually presided in Asia^ during three 
 whole years. The method I have taken, therefore, 
 secures me from all censure ; whereas, if I had 
 substituted my brother, there is no abuse I should 
 not have had reason to expect. In fine, I was 
 induced, I will not say to court, but, at least, to 
 avoid disobliging, a young man of Caldus's quality, 
 not only by my own inclination, but by the ex- 
 ample also of our two great potentates^; who, in 
 the same manner, and for the same reason, distin- 
 guished their respective quaestors, Cassius and 
 Antonius^ Upon the whole, my friend, I expect 
 that you approve of my choice, for it is now out of 
 my power to recal it. 
 
 The hint you dropped concerning Ocella was so 
 extremely obscure'' that I could make nothing of 
 it, and I find no mention of it in your newspaper. 
 
 You are become so wonderfully celebrated, that 
 
 T See rem. S on letter 1 of this book. 
 
 "• The person to whom the third letter of this book ia 
 addressed. 
 
 X The particular decree to which Cicero alludes, may bo 
 found among those which are inserted in the seventh letter 
 of the fourth book. It stands the last. 
 
 y He was elected governor of Asia Minor, in the year of 
 Rome 692. 
 
 ^ CsEsar and Pompey. 
 
 a Quintus Cassius, brother to the celebrated Caius Cassms, 
 was quaestor to Pompey, in Spain ; as Mark Antony served 
 under Cipsar in the same quality, when he presided as pro- 
 praetor in that province. 
 
 b See the sixth letter of the fifth book, p. 422.
 
 442 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 the fame of your conduct in relation to Matrinius 
 has travelled beyond Mount Taurus. 
 
 If I should uot be delayed by the Etesiaa winds, 
 I hope to embrace you and the rest of my friends 
 •rery soon. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Marcus Ccelius to Cicero. 
 
 I AM ashamed to own how nmch occasion I have 
 to complain of Appius. This ungrateful man 
 singled me out as the object of his secret 
 ■*■ " ■ spleen, for no other reason but because 
 he has received greater obligations from me than 
 liis nariow spirit would suffer him to return. How- 
 ever, he could not carry on his malicious purposes 
 with so much concealment, as to prevent my 
 receiving an intimation of them ; and indeed I had 
 myself observed that he certainly did not mean me 
 •well. Accordingly, I found that he had been tam- 
 pering with his colleague'' to my prejudice ; as he 
 soon afterwards openly avowed his injurious designs 
 to some others of his friends. I discovered also, 
 that he had entered into some consultations of the 
 same kind with Lucius Domitius ; who is lately, I 
 must inform you, become my most bitter enemy. 
 In short, I perceived that he was endeavouring to 
 recommend himself to Pompey by his ill offices to 
 me. Nevertheless I could not submit to enter 
 into any personal remonstrances or intercessions 
 with a man whom I had reason to consider as 
 indebted to me even for his life. I contented myself 
 therefore with complaining to some of our common 
 friends, who had been witnesses to the obligations 
 he had received at my hands. But as this method 
 I found was to no purpose, and that he would not 
 deign to give me the least satisfaction, I determined 
 to apply to his colleague. I rather chose indeed 
 to ask a favour of the latter, (notwithstanding I 
 ■was sensible that my connexions with you"* had 
 rendered him far from being my friend,) than 
 undergo the mortification of engaging in a personal 
 confidence with so ridiculous and contemptible a 
 mortal as Appius, This step extremely exasperated 
 him, and he was no sooner apprised of it, than he 
 ■warmly complained that I was seeking a pretence 
 to quarrel with him, merely in resentment, he said, 
 for his not having fully gratified my avaricious 
 expectations. Soon after this he openly endea- 
 voured to procure Servius to exhibit articles of 
 impeachment against me, and entered into several 
 consultations with Domitius for that purpose. But 
 ■when they perceived that they could not succeed 
 in their intended charge, they dropped this design, 
 and resolved to encourage a prosecution of another 
 kind ; though at the same time they well knew 
 that there was not the least shadow of evidence to 
 support their accusation. However, towards the 
 clos e of my Circensian games^, these shameless 
 
 = Lucius Calphurriius Piso, the father-in-law of Caesar, 
 was colleague with Appius in the censorial office. 
 
 <1 An enmity had subsisted between Piso and Cicero, 
 ever since the consulate of the former, who concurred with 
 Clodius in those violent measures which terminated in 
 Cicero's exile. — See rem. n, p. 34) , and rem. 1, p. 369. 
 
 e Circensian games is a general name for those shows of 
 various kinds, which were exhibited at different seasons to 
 the people in the Circus ; a place in Rome set apart for 
 those purposes. But the particular games alluded to in 
 "this passage, axe most probably (as Manutius, with great 
 
 confederates caused me to be indicted on the Scan- 
 tinian law'. But Pola, whom they had spirited 
 up to be the informer, had scarce entered his action 
 when I lodged an information against our worthy 
 censortt himself, for the very same crime. And 
 nothing in truth could have been more ha])pily 
 concerted ; for this retaliation was so universally 
 applauded, and by the better sort too among the 
 peopli;, that the general satisfaction they have 
 expressed, has mortified Appius even more tliaii the 
 disgrace of the information itself. I have charged 
 him likewise with aj.propriating a little chapel to 
 his private use, which belongs to the public''. 
 
 It is almost six weeks since I delivered my former 
 letter to the slave who now brings you both ; and 
 I am extremely vexed at the fellow's delay. — I 
 think I have no farther news to send you, except 
 that Domitius' is in great pain for the success of 
 his approaching election. 
 
 As 1 earnestly wish to see you, I expect your 
 arrival with much impatience. I will only add my 
 request that you would show the world you are as 
 sensible of the injuries done to me, as I have ever 
 warmly resented those which have at any time been 
 offered to yourself. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 From the same. 
 
 If you had taken the king of Parthia himself 
 
 prisoner and sacked his metropolis, it would not 
 
 make you amends for your absence from 
 
 ■ ■ ' ■ these diverting scenes. You have lost 
 
 indeed a subject of inexhaustible mirth, by not 
 
 being a spectator of the very ridiculous figure which 
 
 the luckless Domitius displayed v.hen he lately 
 
 found himself disappointed of his election J. The 
 
 reason, conjectures) those which thoy called the Roman. 
 For these were exhibited by the s-dilcs in September ; and 
 this letter seems to have been written some time in that or 
 the following month. The nature of these games has been 
 explained in a former note. 
 
 f The author of this law was Marcus Scantinius, who 
 was tribune of the people in the year of Rome (iol. It 
 prohibited that horrid and unnatural commerce, which, 
 in after-ages of more confirmed and shameless corruption, 
 became so general as to be openly avowed even by thoso 
 who affected, in other respects, a decency of character. 
 Horace and Pliny the consul are both instances of this 
 kind, and afford a very remarkable evidence, that the best 
 dispositions are not proof against fashionable vices, how 
 detestable soever, without a much stronger counterpoisa 
 than a mere moral sense can supply 
 
 e Appius. 
 
 ■> Manutius, in his remark upon this place, produces a 
 passage from Livy, by which he proves, that it was the 
 business of the censors to take care that these public 
 chapels should not be shut up by private persons from the 
 general and common use to which they were originally 
 erected. Coelius, tlierefore, informed against his adversary 
 for having practised himself what it was incumbent upon 
 him, by the duties of his office, to punish in others. — 
 Manutius in loc. 
 
 i This person, it is probable, is the same who is men- 
 tioned before in this letter. The commentators suppose 
 that the election of which Coelius speaks was for a mem- 
 ber of the augural college, in the room of Hortensius, 
 lately deceased. For it is said, in the next letter, that 
 Mark Antony was liis competitor; and it appears, from 
 Hirtius, that tlie former was chosen augur about this time; 
 — Hirt. De Bell. Gall. vii. 50. 
 
 i See the last note of the preceding letter.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 413 
 
 Essembly of tlie people was exceedingly numerous 
 iipon this occasion : but the force of party bore 
 down all before it"*, and even carried away many 
 of the friends of Domitius from his interest. This 
 circumstance he imputes to my management : and 
 as he considers the preference which has been thus 
 given to his competitor as a real injury done to 
 himself, he honours me with the same marks of his 
 displeasure witli which he distinguishes the most 
 intimate of his friends. He is at present indeed a 
 very diverting spectacle of indignant wrath : which 
 he im potently discharges, in the first place against 
 myself for promoting the election of Mark Antony, 
 and in the next against the people, for expressing 
 so much satisfaction in his repulse. 
 
 Under this article of news relating to Domitius, 
 I must not forget to mention, that his son has 
 commenced a prosecution against Saturninus : a 
 man, it must be owned, whose conduct in the 
 former part of his life has rendered him extremely 
 odious. The public is waiting with great impatience 
 for the event of this trial : but since the infamous 
 Peducaeus has been acquitted, there is a fair prospect 
 that Saturninus will not meet with more inexorable 
 judges. 
 
 As to political affairs, I have often mentioned 
 to you that I imagined the public tranquillity could 
 not possibly be preserved beyond the present year : 
 and the nearer we approach to those contentions 
 which must inevitably arise, the more evident this 
 danger appears. For Pompey is determined most 
 strenuously to oppose Caesar's being consul unless 
 he resigns his command : and Csesar, on the con- 
 trary, is persuaded that he cannot be safe upon 
 those terms'. He has offered however to throw 
 up his commission, provided Pompey will do the 
 same. And thus their very suspicious friendship 
 and alliance will probably end at last in an open 
 ■war. For my own part I shall be extremely per- 
 plexed in what manner to act in that conjuncture : 
 and I doubt you will likewise find yourself under 
 the same embarrassment. On the one hand I have 
 an interest and connexion with Pompey's party : 
 and on the other, it is Caesar's cause alone and not 
 his friends that I dislike. You are sensible, I dare 
 say, that so long as the dissentions of our country 
 are confined within the limits of debate, we ought 
 ever to join with the more righteous side; but that 
 as soon as the sword is drawn, the strongest party 
 is always the best™. With respect to our present 
 divisions, I foresee that the senate, together with 
 the whole order of judges", will declare in favour of 
 
 k Jlark Antony was supported by all the interest and 
 •credit of Csesar : who exerted himself very strenuously 
 upon this occasion, by going in person to the several 
 municipal towns of Italy that lay nearest to his province 
 of Gaul, in order to engage them in favour of his friend. 
 For these cities being admitted to the freedom of Rome, 
 had a right of voting at elections. — Hirt. De Bell. Gall, 
 viii. 50. 
 
 1 Caesar had acted in a very arbitrary and illegal manner 
 during his fii-st consulate: he apprehended, therefore, and 
 with just reason, that if he should divest himself of his 
 command, and return to Rome in a private character, his 
 enemies would immediately arraign him for his mal-admi- 
 nistration. — Dio, p. 148. 
 
 "> It were to be wished that every man ■who embraces 
 this maxim, were as little scrupulous of acknowledging it 
 as the author of this letter : for of all noxious creatures, a 
 knave without a mask is by far the least dangerous. 
 
 " The expression in the original is, quique resjudicant: 
 'Which Dr. Middleton has translated, and all who judge of 
 
 Pompey : and that all those of desperate fortunes, 
 or who are obnoxious to the laws, will list them- 
 selves under the banners of Caesar. As to their 
 armies, I am persuaded there will be a great 
 inequality. But I hope we shall have time enough 
 to consider the strength of their respective forces, 
 and to declare ourselves accordingly. 
 
 1 had almost forgotten to mention a piece of 
 news much too remarkable to be omitted. You 
 must know that our worthy censor Appius is become 
 the very prodigy of reformers, and is most out- 
 rageously active in restraining our extravagances 
 in pictures and statues, in limiting the number of 
 our acres, and abolishing usurious contracts". The 
 man imagines, I suppose, that the censorship is a 
 kind of specific for discharging the stains of a 
 blemished reputationP. But I have a notion he 
 wiU find himself mistaken : for the more pains he 
 takes of this sort to clear his character, the more 
 visibly the spots will appear. — In the name of all 
 the gods, my dear Cicero, hasten hither to enjoy 
 the diverting spectacle of Appius sitting in judgment 
 on extravagance, and Drususi on debauchery ! It 
 is a sight, believe me, well worth your expedition. 
 
 Curio is thought to have acted very prudently 
 in withdrawing his protest against the decree for 
 the payment of Pompey's troops. — But to answer 
 your question in few words concerning my senti- 
 ments of public affairs : if one or other of our 
 chiefs should not be employed against the Partliians, 
 I am persuaded great dissentions wiU soon ensue : 
 dissentions, my friend, which nothing can terminate 
 but the sword, and which each of them seem well- 
 inclined and prepared to draw. In short, if your 
 own safety were not deeply concerned, I should 
 say that Fortune is going to open to you a most 
 entertaining scene''. Farewell. 
 
 things. But this explanation is contrary to the concurrent 
 sentiments of the best commentators, who agree that qui 
 res judicant is a circumlocution for judices. The phrase, 
 it must be o^vned, is singular : and so is the style of Coelius 
 in general. But what principally confirms the sense here 
 adopted is, that it is most agreeable both to credibility 
 and to fact. For it is by no means probable that every 
 man of judgment was an enemy to Caesar : and it is most 
 certain that the whole order of judges were friends to 
 Pompey. — Ad Att. viii. 16 ; Life of Cicero, p. 65. 
 
 o It is probable tliat Appius had himself as remarkably 
 transgressed the rules of moderation in this last article, as 
 he undoubtedly had in the other two : for avarice is an 
 attendant that seldom fails of accompanying luxury. It 
 is certam, at least, that his o^vn possessions were far above 
 mediocrity: for Cicero frequently speaks of him in the 
 preceding letters as a man who, by his wealth as well as 
 by his alliances and abilities, was of great weight in the 
 republic. And as to his extravagance of the virtuoso kind, 
 it appears that when he mtended to offer himself as a 
 candidate for the oiSce of adile, he plundered all the 
 temples of Greece, as well as other less sacred repositories, 
 in order to make a collection of pictures and statues for 
 the decoration of the games which were annually exhibited 
 by those magistrates. — Ep. Fam. iii. 10 ; Pro Domo, 43; 
 Vide et Pigh. Annal. in anno C96. 
 
 P The batteries of ridicule are never more properly 
 pointed, than when they are thus levelled at counterfeit 
 virtue: as there is nothing that more justly rafses con- 
 tempt and indignation than those reforming hypocrites, 
 
 Qui Curios simulant et Bacchanalia vivtmt. — Juven. 
 
 q It is supposed from what Coelius here says of him, that 
 he was one of the praetors this year. — Pigh. Annal. 703. 
 
 r The meaning of this seems to be (as one of the com- 
 mentators has explained it) that if Cicero himself were 
 not in danger from the dissention between Cxsar and
 
 444 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 A. u. 703. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 To Tereiitia and TiilHa. 
 
 The amiable young Cicero and myself are per- 
 fectly well, if you and my dearest Tullia are so. 
 Wc arrived here" on the 11th of this 
 month, after a very tedious and dis- 
 agreeable i)assage, occasioned by contrary winds. 
 Acastus' met me upon my landing, with letters 
 from Rome, having been so expeditious as to 
 pi-rtbnii his journey in one-and-twenty days. In 
 the packet which he delivered to me, 1 found 
 yours, wherein you express some uneasiness lest 
 your former letters should not have reached my 
 hands. They have, my Tereutia : and I am ex- 
 tremely obligi'd to you for the very full accounts 
 you gave me of everything I was concerned to know. 
 
 I am by no means surprised at the shortness of 
 your last, as you had reason to expect us so soon. 
 It is with great impatience I wish for that meeting : 
 though I am sensible at the same time of the 
 unhappy situation in which I shall find the republic. 
 All tlie letters indeed which I received by Acastus, 
 agree in assuring me that there is a general tend- 
 ency to a civil war : so that when I come to Rome 
 1 shall be under a necessity of declaring myself 
 on one side or the other. However, since there is 
 no avoiding the scene which fortune has prepared 
 for me, I shall be the more expeditious in my 
 journey, that 1 may the better deliberate on the 
 several circumstances which must determine my 
 choice. Let me entreat you to meet me as far on 
 my way as your health will permit. 
 
 The legacy which Prescius has left me is an 
 acquisition that I receive with great concern : as I 
 tenderly loved him, and extremely lament his death. 
 If his estate should be jnit uj) to auction before my 
 arrival, I beg you would recommend my interest in 
 it to the care of Atticus : or in case his affairs 
 should not allow him to undertake the office, that 
 you would request the same favour of Camillus. 
 And if this should not find you at Rome, I desire 
 you would send proper directions thither for that 
 purpose. As for my other affairs, I hope I shall be 
 able to settle themmyself: for I purpose to be in Italy, 
 if the gods favour my voyage, about the 13th of 
 November. In the mean time I conjure you, my 
 amiable and excellent Terentia, and thou my 
 dearest Tullia, I conjure you both, by all the tender 
 regards you bear me, to take care of your healths. 
 Farewell. 
 
 Athens, October the 18th. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 To Tiro''. 
 I niD not imagine I should have been so little 
 able to su))i)ort your absence : but indeed it is 
 
 A. u. "03 °^°"^. '•''*° ^ ^^'^ ^^'^^ heax. Accordingly, 
 '" notwithstanding it is of the last impor- 
 
 Pompey, it must afford him great diversion to see these 
 two chiefs, who had both of them used him ill, revenging 
 his quarrel upon each other. 
 
 » Athens. 
 
 ' A freedman belonging to Cicero. 
 
 » He was a favourite slave of Cicero, who trained him 
 up in his family, and formed him under his own imme- 
 diate tuition. The probity cf his manners, the elegance of 
 
 tance to my interest^ that I should hasten to Rome, 
 yet I cannot but severely rejiroach myself for 
 liaving thus deserted you. However, as you seemed 
 altogether averse from pursuing your voyage til' 
 you should re-establish your hcaltli, I approved of 
 your scheme : and I still a|)pr()ve of it, if you con- 
 tinue in the same sentiments. Nevertheless, if after 
 having taken some refreshment, you sliould think 
 yourself in a condition to follow me, you may do 
 so or not, as you shall judge proper. If you should 
 determine in the affirmative, I have sent Mario to 
 attend you : if not, I have ordereil him to return 
 immediately. 15e well assured there is nothing I 
 more ardently desire than to have you with me, 
 provided I may enjoy that j)leasure without pre- 
 judice to yourself. But be assured too, tiiat if 
 your continuing somewhat longer at PatrEE*" should 
 be thought necessary, 1 ])refer your health to all 
 other cousiderations. If you should embark im- 
 mediately, you may overtake meat Leucas". But 
 if you are more inclined to defer your voyage till 
 your recovery shall be better confirmed, let me 
 entreat you to be very careful in choosing a safe 
 ship ; and that you would neither sail at an improper 
 season nor without a convoy. I particularly 
 charge you also, my dear Tiro, by all the regard 
 you bear me, not to suffer the arrival of Mario, or 
 anything that I have said in this letter, in the least 
 to influence your resolution. I3elieve me, whatever 
 will be most agreeable to your health, will be most 
 agreeable likewise to my inclinations : and therefore 
 I desire you would be wholly governed by your own 
 
 his genius, and his uncommon erudition, recommended 
 him to his master's peculiar esteem and affection: of 
 which the letters addressed to him in this collection are a 
 lasting and remarkable memorial. They arc many of 
 them written, indeed, in a style so different from the 
 ordinary language of friendship, that they probably gave 
 strength and currency to a suspicion highly disadvan- 
 tageous to Cicero's moral character. Tliis imputation 
 seems to have been first propagated by the son of the cele- 
 brated Asinius PoUio ; who, in a treatise which he pub- 
 lished in order to magnify his father's eloquence at the 
 ex;ienso of Cicero's, inserted .i wanton sonnet, which ho 
 pretended was composed by the latter on Tiro. But to 
 speak impartially, there does not seem, from all that can 
 be traced of Cicero's private conduct, the least sufficient 
 evidence to charge him with having been infected with 
 this execrable vice of his degenerate countrymen. In 
 passing judgment, therefore, on these letters to Tiro, it 
 should be remembered that Cicero's temper was more than 
 commonly warm : which infused a peculiar heat into all 
 his expressions, whether of friendship or of enmity. This, 
 together with those notions of amity which were carried 
 by the ancients, in general, so much higher than they 
 have risen in modern ages, may account, perhaps, for 
 those overflowings of tenderness which are so very observ- 
 able in the letters to Tiro. — Aul. Gell. xiii. 9 ; Plin. Kpiat. 
 vii. 4. 
 
 ^ As Cicero was full of the hopes of obtaining a triumph, 
 he was desirous of hastening to Rome before the dissentions 
 between Ca;sar and Pompey should be raised to so great a, 
 height as to render it impossible for Him to enjoy that 
 honour. 
 
 ■"■ A city in Peloponnesus, which still subsists under the 
 name of Patras. Cicero had left Tiro indisposed in this 
 place, the day before the date of the present letter. 
 
 ^ A little Grecian island in the Ionian sea, now called 
 Saint Maure. It was on this island that the celebrated 
 promontory stood, from whence the tender Sappho is said 
 to have thrown herself in a fit of amorous despair ; and 
 which the inimitable Addison has rendered still more- 
 celebrated by Ills ingenious papers on the Lover's Leapj-^ 
 Sec Spectator, vol. iii. No. 223, 233.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 445 
 
 prudence. It is true I am extremely desirous of 
 your company, and of enjoying it as early as pos- 
 sible : but the same aflFection which makes me wish 
 to see you soon, makes me wish to see you well. Let 
 your health therefore be your first and principal care ; 
 assuring yourself, that among all the numberless 
 good offices I have received at your hands, I shall 
 esteem this by far the most acceptable. 
 November the 3d, 
 
 A. V. 703. 
 
 LETTER XVin. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 I CANNOT describe to you (nor would I indeed 
 if it were in my power) the uneasy situation of my 
 mind. I will only say, that your speedy 
 recovery and return to me will afford 
 infinite satisfaction to both of us. 
 
 The third day after we jjarted brought me to this 
 place''. It lies within a hundred and twenty stadia^ 
 of Leucas, where I promise myself that we shall 
 meet, or at least that I shall find Mario there with 
 a letter from you. In the mean while let me 
 entreat you to be careful of your health, in propor- 
 tion to the mutual tenderness we bear towards each 
 other. Farewell. 
 
 Alyzia, Nov. the otli. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 To the same. 
 1 DESPATCHED a letter to you yesterday from 
 this place, where I continued all that day in order 
 »no to wait the arrival of my brother : and I 
 
 A. U. /Oo. . 1 • 1 /. ■ • 
 
 write this before sunrise, just as we are 
 setting out. If you have any regard for us, but 
 particularly for me, show it by your care to re- 
 establish your health. It is with great impatience 
 I expect to meet you at Leucas ; but if that cannot 
 be, my next wish is that I may find Mario there 
 •with a letter. We all of us indeed, but more 
 especially myself, earnestly long to see you ; how- 
 ever, we would by no means, my Tiro, indulge 
 ourselves in that pleasure, unless it may be con- 
 sistent with your health. There is no necessity 
 therefore of hastening your journey, as there will 
 be days enough to enjoy your company when once 
 you shall be thoroughly recovered. I can easily 
 indeed forego your services ; but your health, my 
 dear Tiro, I would fain preserve, for your own 
 sake in the first place, and in the next for mine. 
 Farewell. 
 
 A. v. 703. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 To the same. 
 Your letter produced very different effects on 
 my mind, as the latter part somewhat alleviated 
 the concern which the former had occa- 
 sioned. I am now convinced that it will 
 not be safe for you to proceed on your voyage till 
 your health shall be entirely re-established ; and 
 I shall see you soon enough, if I see you perfectly 
 recovered. 
 
 I find by your letter that you have a good 
 
 y Alyzia, a city of Acamia in Greece. 
 ^ About fifteen miles. 
 
 opinion of your physician, and I am told he deserves 
 it. However, I can by no means approve of tlie 
 regimen he prescribed ; for soups cannot certainly 
 be suitable to so weak a stomach. I have written 
 to him very fully concerning you, as also to Lyso. 
 I have done the same likewise to my very obliging 
 friend Curius ; and have particularly requested 
 liim, if it should be agreeable to yourself, that he 
 would remove you into his house. I am appre- 
 hensive indeed that Lyso will not give you proper 
 attendance ; in the first place, because carelessness 
 is the general characteristic of all his countrymen' ; 
 and in the next, because he has returned no answer 
 to my letter. Nevertheless, as you mention him 
 with esteem, I leave it to you to continue with him 
 or not just as you shall think proper. Let me 
 only enjoin you, my dear Tiro, not to spare any 
 expense that may be necessary towards your re- 
 covery. To this end I have desired Curius to 
 supply you with whatever money you shall require ; 
 and I think it would be proper, in order to render 
 your physician the more careful in his attendance, 
 to make him some present. 
 
 Numberless are the services I have received 
 from you, both at home and abroad ; in my public 
 and my private transactions ; in the course of my 
 studies and the concerns of my family. But would 
 you crown them all ? Let it be by your care that 
 I may see you (as I hope I soon shall) perfectly 
 recovered. If vour health should permit, I think 
 you cannot do better than to take the opportunity 
 of embarking with my quaestor Mescinius ; for he 
 is a good-natured man, and seems to have conceived 
 a friendship for you. The care of your voyage 
 indeed is the next thing I would recommend to 
 you, after that of your health. However, I would 
 now by no means have you hurry yourself, as my 
 single concern is for your recovery. Be assured, 
 my dear Tiro, that all my friends are yours ; and, 
 consequently, as your health is of the greatest im- 
 portance to me as well as to yourself, there are 
 numbers who are solicitous for its preservation. 
 Your assiduous attendance upon me has hitherto 
 prevented you from paying due regard to it. But 
 now that you are wholly at leisure, I conjure you 
 to devote all your application to that single object ; 
 and I shall judge of the affection you bear me by 
 your compliance with this request. Adieu, my 
 dear Tiro, adieu ! adieu ! may you soon be restored 
 to the perfect enjoyment of your health. 
 
 Lepta, together with all your other friends, salute 
 you. Farewell. 
 Leucas, Nov. the 7th. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 To the same. 
 Though it was but an hour or two that you and 
 I spent with Xenomenes at Thyreum"', yet he has 
 ^ ,„ conceived as strong an affection for you 
 as if he had conversed with you his whole 
 life, so wonderfully engaging is my Tiro ! Accord- 
 ingly he has promised to assist you in all your 
 occasions ; and it is a promise, I am well persuaded, 
 he will punctually perform. 
 
 I should be glad, if you find yourself better, that 
 you would remove to Leucas, in order to perfect 
 
 * The Gx'ccians. 
 
 b A city of Peloponnesus.
 
 44G 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 your recovery. Nevertheless, I would not have 
 you eluiiii^e your jjresent situation witlumt takiii;^ 
 the sentiments of Curius and Lyso, together with 
 those of your physician. 
 
 I had some thoui;hts of sending Mario back to 
 you, whom you mii;ht return to me with a letter as 
 aoon as your health should he somewhat mended. 
 But I considered that this would be only securing 
 the jtleasure of hearinej from you once ; whereas, 1 
 hope to receive that satisfaction frequently. And 
 if you have any regard for me, you may easily give 
 it me by sending Acastus every day to the quay, 
 where he cannot fail of meeting with many who 
 will readily cliarge fhemselves with conveying a 
 letter to me. You may be assured, in return, that 
 I shall not sutler any opjiortunity to escaj)e me of 
 sending a line or two by those who are going to 
 PatriE. 
 
 I rely entirely upon the care of Curius for your 
 recovery ; as nothing, I am sure, can exceed either 
 his friendship to myself or his humanity in general. 
 I desire therefore you would be wholly resigned to 
 his direction. As I am willing to sacrifice the 
 pleasure of your company to the advantage of your 
 health, I entreat you to have no other concern but 
 what relates to your recovery ; all the rest, be 
 assured, shall be mine. Again and again I bid 
 you farewell. I am this moment leaving Leucas. 
 
 Nov. the 7th. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 This is the third letter I have written to you 
 within these four-and-twenty hours ; and I now 
 A u 703 ^^^^ ^P "^y P^"^ more in compliance with 
 my usual custom than as having anything 
 new to say. I can only repeat indeed what I have 
 often requested, that you would proportion the 
 care of your health to the affection you bear me. 
 Yes, my Tiro, I conjure you to add this to the 
 numberless good offices you have conferred upon 
 me, as the most acceptable of them all. When 
 you have taken, as I hope you will, all necessary 
 measures for that purpose, my next desire is, that 
 you would use the proper precautions likewise to 
 secure to yourself a safe voyage. In the mean 
 time, you will not fail to write to me as often as 
 you shall meet with any person who is coming into 
 Italy, as I shall take all occasions of doing the same 
 on my part, by those who maybe going to Patras. 
 In one word, take care of yourself, my dear Tiro, 
 I charge you ; and since we have been thus pre- 
 vented from pursuing our voyage together, there 
 is no necessity for resuming yours in haste. Let 
 it be your single care to re-establish your health. 
 Again and again farewell. 
 
 Actiumd, Nov. the 7th, in the evening. 
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 
 To the same. 
 
 I HAVE been detained here= this whole week by 
 
 contrary winds, which have likewise confined my 
 
 A u 703 'brother and his son at Buthrotum '. I 
 
 ""'am full of anxiety about your health, 
 
 d A city in Bpirus. * In Corcyra. ' A city in Epiriis. 
 
 though by no means surprised at not hearing from- 
 you, as the same winds which delay my voyage 
 prevent tlie arrival of your letters. 
 
 Let me entreat you to exert your utmost care 
 in regaining your liealth ; and I hope, as soon as 
 the season of the year and your recovery shall 
 render it convenient for you to embark, you will 
 return to him who infinitely loves you. Your 
 arrival will be impatiently expected by numberless 
 otliers as well as by myself; for all who bear any 
 affection for me are tender well-wishers to you. 
 Again and again, my dear Tiro, I conjure you to 
 take care of your health. Farewell. 
 
 Corcyra, Nov. tho ICth. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 We parted, you know, on the second of Novem 
 her ; on the sixth I arrived at Leucas, from whence 
 
 y -,I2 1 reached Actinm the following day. I 
 was detained there by contrary winds till 
 the next morning, when I sailed for Corcyra, where 
 I arrived on the ninth, after having had a very 
 favourable passage. The weather proving extremely 
 tempestuous, I was obliged to continue in that 
 place till the sixteenth, when I again proceeded on 
 my voyage ; and on the seventeenth I entered the 
 bay of Cassiope, a maritime town in Corcyra, 
 situated about a hundred and twenty stadia from 
 my former port. Here, the wind shifting, I was 
 detained till the 23d. In the mean time, thosa 
 ships that had accompanied me thither, and were 
 so impatient as immediately to put to sea again, 
 were many of them lost. However, on the evening 
 of the day I last mentioned we weighed anchor ; 
 and, having sailed all that night and the next day 
 with a fair gale from the south and a very clear 
 sky, we gained with great ease the port of Hydruns 
 in Italy. The same wind carried us the foUowiug 
 day, being the twenty-fifth, to Brundisium. I 
 was met at this place by Terentia (who desires me 
 to assure you of her esteem), and we entered the 
 town together. On the twenty-seventh, a slave 
 of Plancius arrived here with your very acceptable 
 letter, dated the thirteenth of this month ; which, 
 though it did not entirely answer my wishes, con- 
 tributed greatly to alleviate the uneasiness I was 
 under upon your account. I had the satisfaction 
 likewise of hearing at the same time from your 
 physician, who confirms me in the hope that you 
 will soon be well. 
 
 And now, as I perfectly well know your prudence, 
 your temperance, and the affection you bear me, 
 can it be necessary that I should entreat you to 
 employ your utmost care to re-establish your 
 hesJth ? I am persuaded indeed you will do every 
 thing in your power to return to me as soon as 
 possible ; however, I would by no means have you 
 more expeditious than your strength will bear. I 
 am sorry you accepted Lyso's invitation to his 
 concert, lest your going abroad so soon should 
 occasion a relapse on the fourth critical week^. 
 
 e The ancients entertained a variety of superstitious 
 notions concerning the mystical power of numbers, parti- 
 cularly the number seven with its several multiplications 
 and divisions. Cicero, n one of his philosophical treatises 
 calls this number rerum omnium fere nodus ; and it is to 
 its particular influence with regard to the crisis of disteni-
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIExVDS. 
 
 447 
 
 But, since you were willing to hazard your health 
 rather than appear deficient in point of politeness, 
 I hope you will guard against any ill consequence 
 that may attend your complaisance. 
 
 I have written to Curius to request he would 
 make a proper acknowledgment to your physician, 
 and supply you likewise with whatever money your 
 occasions shall require, which I will repay to his 
 order. You will find a horse and a mule at Brun- 
 disium, which I have left there for your service. I 
 am proceeding on my journey to Rome, where I 
 expect to see great commotions upon the entrance 
 of the new consuls into their office''. However, 
 
 pers, that he alludes in the present passage. Macrobius 
 has retailed abundance of absurd learning in relation to 
 this wonder-working number, which he concludes with the 
 following reflections : — " Undo non immeritohic Humerus 
 totius fabrica; dispensator et dominus, aegris quoque cor- 
 poribus periculum sanitatemve denimtiat." This opinion 
 however is not altogether inconsistent with a more im- 
 proved philosophy, and experience shows that the7th, the 
 14th, &c. days, are frequently attended with certain deter- 
 mining sj-mptoms in the progress of acute diseases. — 
 Macrob. in Somn. Scip. i. 6. 
 
 ■> Tlie consuls entered upon their office on the first day 
 of the new year. 
 
 it is my resolution not to engage in the violent 
 measures of either party. 
 
 I have only to add my most earnest request, 
 that you wo\ild not embark without taking all 
 prudent precautions to secure a safe voyage. The 
 masters of ships, I know, who are governed entirely 
 by their hopes of gain, are always in haste to sail. 
 But I entreat you, my dear Tiro, not to be too 
 hazardous ; and remember that you have a wide 
 and dangerous sea to traverse. I should be glad 
 you would, if possible, take your passage with 
 Mescinius, who is never disposed to run any im- 
 prudent risks in expeditions of this kind. But if 
 your health should not permit you to embark so 
 soon, let me desire you would look out for some 
 other companion in your voyage, whose public 
 character may give him an authority with the com- 
 mander of your ship. In a word, you cannot more 
 effectually oblige me than by exerting your utmost 
 care to return to me safe and well. Again and 
 again, my dear Tiro, I bid you adieu. 
 
 I have recommended you in the strongest terms 
 to the care both of Curius and Lyso, as well as of 
 your physician. Adieu. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 To Tiro. 
 Notwithstanding that I feel the want of your 
 services in every place and upon all occasions, yet 
 _„, be assured your illness gives me far less 
 
 A. U. 704. ■' .. ii. 
 
 concern, on my own account, than on 
 yours. However, since it has terminated, as Curius 
 informs me, in a quartan ague, I hope, if you are 
 not wanting in proper care, that it will prove a 
 means of more firmly establishing your' health. Be 
 so just, then, to the regard you owe me, as not to 
 suffer any other concern to employ your thoughts 
 but what relates to your recovery. I am sensible, 
 at the same time, how much you suffer from this 
 absence ; but, believe me, all will be well whenever 
 you are so. I would by no means, therefore, have 
 you in so much haste to return to me, as to expose 
 yourself to the dangers of a winter voyage ; nor, 
 indeed, to the fatigue of a sea-sickness, before you 
 shall have sufficiently recovered your strength. 
 
 I arrived in the suburbsJ of Rome on the fourth 
 of January, and nothing could be more to my 
 honour than the manner in which I was met on 
 my approach to the city. But I am unhappily 
 fallen into the very midst of public dissention ; or 
 rather, indeed, I find myself surrounded with the 
 flames of a civil w ar. It was my earnest desire to 
 
 i A quartan ague was supposed by the ancients to be 
 extremely salutary in its consequences. Aulus Gellius 
 mentions a contemporary orator and philosopher who 
 wrote a serious panegj'ric upon this wholesome distemper, 
 wherein he supported his opinion upon the authority of a 
 passage in some writings of Plato, which are now lost.— 
 Noct. Att. xvii. 12. 
 
 J As Cicero claimed the honour of a triumph, he was 
 obliged, till his pretensions should be determined, to take 
 up his residence without the walls of the city, agreeably 
 to a custom which has been frequently mentioned in the 
 preceding observations. 
 
 have composed these dangerous ferments ; and I 
 probably might, if the passions of some, in both 
 parties, who are equally eager for war, had not 
 rendered my endeavours ineffectual. My friend 
 Csesarhas written a very warm and menacing letter 
 to the senate''. He has the assurance, notwith- 
 standing their express prohibition, to continue at 
 the head of his army, and in the government of his 
 province ; to which very extraordinary measures he 
 has been instigated by Curio. The latter, in con- 
 junction with Quintus Cassius and Mark Antony, 
 without the least violence having been offered to 
 them', have withdrawn themselves to Caesar. 
 They took this step immediately after the senate 
 had given it in charge to the consuls'", the prsetors, 
 and the tribunes of the people, together with those 
 
 k The purport of Caesar's letter was, that he declared 
 himself \viUing to resign his command, provided Pompey 
 did the same ; but if this were not complied with, that he 
 would immediately march into Italy, and revenge the 
 injuries done both to himself and to the liberties of the 
 republic. — Appian. Do Bell. Civ. ii. 
 
 1 The letter mentioned in the last note was received by 
 the senate with great indignation, and considered as an open 
 declaration of war. Accordingly they voted, that if Csesar 
 did not resign his command by a certain day named ra their 
 decree for that purpose, he should be deemed an enemy to 
 his country. This decree was protested against by Curio, 
 Quintus Cassius Longinus, and Mark Antony, in virtue of 
 their prerogative as tribunes of the people ; and while the 
 senate were deliberating in what manner to punish the 
 authors of this protest, they were advised by the consul 
 Lentulus to withdraw before any decree against them had 
 actually passed. Perhaps this is all that Cicero means 
 when he asserts, that "no violence had been offered to 
 these tribunes," for, otherwise, his assertion would bo 
 contradicted by the imanimous testimony of all the ancient 
 
 historians Appian. De Bell. Civ. ii. ; Cses. De Bell. Civ. 
 
 i. 5. ; Dio, xli. p. 153. 
 
 m The consuls of this year were Clodius Marcellus, and 
 Cornelius Lentulus Crus.
 
 448 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 of us who are invested with proconsular power, to 
 take care of the interests of the republic". And 
 never, in truth, were our liberties in more imminent 
 danger ; as those who are disaffected to the com- 
 monwealth never were headed by a chief more cn])a- 
 ble or better prepared to support them. We are 
 raising forces with all possible diligence, under tliu 
 authority and with the assistance of Ponii)ey, who 
 now begins, somewhat too late 1 fear, to be ap])re- 
 hensive of Caesar's power. In the midst, however, of 
 these alarming commotions, the senate demanded, 
 in a very full house, that a trium])h should be im- 
 mediately decreed to me. But the consul Leiiluhis, 
 in order to appropriate to himself a greater share 
 in conferring this honour, told them that he would 
 propose it himself in proper form, as soon as he 
 should have desiiatched tlu; affairs that were neces- 
 sary in the present conjunct\n'e. In the mean 
 time 1 act with great moderation ; and this con- 
 duct renders my influence with both parties so 
 much the stronger. The several districts of Italy 
 are assigned to our respective protections ; and 
 Capua is the department I have taken for mine. 
 
 I thought it proper to give you this general in- 
 formation of public affairs, to which I will only add 
 my request, that you would take care of your 
 health, and write to me by every opportunity. 
 Again and again I bid you farewell. 
 
 Jan. the 12th. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 To Rufus°. 
 
 I SHOULD have used my utmost endeavours to 
 have given you a meeting, if you had continued in 
 704 your resolution of going to the place you 
 first appointed ; and though you were 
 willing to spare me that trouble, yet be assured I 
 should, upon the least notice, have shown you that 
 I prefer your convenience to my own. 
 
 If my secretary, Marcus Tullius, were not absent 
 I should be able to send you a more explicit answer 
 to your letter. This, however, I will assure you, 
 that, with regard to exhibiting the accounts p you 
 mention (for I will not venture to be so positive as 
 to any other instance), he has not intentionally 
 taken any step injurious either to your interest or 
 your reputation. As to my own share in this 
 transaction, had the law formerly observed in mat- 
 ters of this kind been still in force, I should not, 
 most certainly, have laid my accounts before the 
 treasury, without having, agreeably to those con- 
 
 " By this decree, the magistrates therein named were 
 invested with a discretionary power of acting as they 
 should judge proper in the present exigency of public 
 affairs ; a decree to which the senate never had recourse 
 ■but in cases of the utmost danger and distress. — Caes. De 
 Bell. Civ. i. 5. 
 
 o Lucius Mt'scinius Rufus, the person to whom this 
 letter is addressed, was qua?stor to Cicero in Cilicia. His 
 conduct in that ofBce seems to have given occasion to tlie 
 character we find of him in the letters to Atticus, where 
 lie is represented as a man of great levity, and of a most 
 debauched and avaricious turn of mind. — Ad Att. iv. 3. 
 
 P These were Cicero's accounts relating to the public 
 expenses of his government in Cilicia ; in which there 
 seem to have been articles inserted not altogether favour- 
 able to the reputation of Rufus as qusestor, and which he 
 was desirous therefore should have been altered or sup- 
 pressed before they had been delivered into the treasury 
 at Rome, 
 
 nexions that subsist between usi, previously exa- 
 mined and adjusted them with you. But tha 
 ancient usage in these cases being now superseded 
 by the Julian law', which obliged me to leave 
 a stated account in the province, and exhibit an 
 exact copy of it to the treasury ; I paid you that 
 compliment in Cilicia, which I should otherwise 
 have paid you at Rome. Nor did 1 at that time by 
 any means endeavour to control your accounts by 
 mine ; on the contrary, I made concessions to you, 
 of which, 1 dare say, you will never give me reason to 
 repent. The fact is, 1 resigned my secretary (whose, 
 conduct you now, it seems, suspect) entirely to your 
 direc'tions : and it was Tullius, together witli your 
 brother, (who you desired might be joined with him,) 
 that settled these accounts with you in my absence. 
 I concerned myself, indeed, no farther than just 
 to cast my eye over them ; and I considered the 
 copy, which 1 thus received from my secretary, as 
 coming immediately from your brother's own liand . 
 In this whole transaction I have treated you with 
 all possible resjiect and confidence ; and it was not 
 in my power to have employed a person to make 
 up these accounts, who would have been more 
 cautious than my secretary that nothing should 
 appear to your disadvantage. That I have paid a 
 necessary obedience to the Julian law, by deposit- 
 ing a copy of my stated accounts in the two prin- 
 cipal cities of the province, is most certain. But 
 though I had many reasons for being desirous of 
 passing them as expeditiously as possible ; yet I 
 should have waited your return to Rome, had I not 
 considered their being thus deposited in the pro- 
 vince as just the same thing, with respect to you, 
 as if they had been actually carried into the treasury 
 at Rome. 
 
 As to the article you mention relating to Volusius. 
 it could by no means be inserted in the account. 
 For I am informed by those who are conversant in 
 business of this kind, particularly by my most 
 judicious friend Camillus, that Volusius cannot 
 stand charged with the sum in question, instead of 
 Valerius^; but that the sureties of the latter are 
 necessarily liable to the payment of this debt. It 
 amounts, however, to no more than nineteen 
 thousand sesterces', and not to thirty thousand", 
 as you state it in your letter. For I had recovered 
 part of it from Valerius, and it is only the re- 
 mainder that I have charged. But you are unwil- 
 ling, it should seem, to allow me the credit of 
 having acted upon this occasion either with gene- 
 rosity in regard to my friends, or (what, indeed, I 
 less value myself upon) even with common caution 
 with respect to myself. Why else should you 
 suppose that my lieutenant and prsefect owe it to 
 my secretary, rather than to myself, that they are 
 eased of a very severe, and, in truth, a very uncon- 
 scionable burden? and why else should you imagine 
 
 q As proconsul and quaestor. 
 
 r See rem. ', on letter 7, book vii. 
 
 s The nature of this affair concerning Valerius and 
 Volusius is utterly inexplicable, as it refers to a transac- 
 tion of which we know neither the full circumstances, nor 
 the particular laws to which it relates. Vain, therefore, 
 would be the task of retailing the several opinions of tha 
 commentators upon this and the follo^ving passages, 
 or the attempt to clear them up by any additional con- 
 jectures ; as it is better to remain quietly in the dark, 
 than to blunder about in quest of a light which is no 
 where to be found. 
 
 ' About 152i. sterling. » About 2402. eterling;.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 449 
 
 ■lie sO negligent in a point wherein both my duty 
 ^i» interest were equally and greatly concerned, 
 as to suffer my secretary to settle this account just 
 as he thought proper, without requiring him even 
 to read it over to me ? In short, though I flatter 
 myself that 1 have taken no imprudent measures in 
 this business, yet you will not believe, it seems, 
 tliat I have bestowed upon it even a single thought. 
 Tiie truth, however, is, that the scheme of throwing 
 off this debt from Volusius was entirely my own ; 
 as I am endeavouring, likewise, to discharge the 
 sureties of Valerius, and even Marius himself, 
 from so severe a penalty. And I have the satisfac- 
 tion to find this my design not only generally 
 approved, but applauded ; though, to tell you the 
 whole truth, it is not, I perceive, greatly relished 
 by my secretary. Nevertheless, I thought it the 
 duty of an honest man to spare the fortunes of such 
 numbers of his friends and fellow-citizens, when 
 he could do so without prejudicing the public 
 interest. 
 
 In regard to what you mention concerning Luc- 
 reiiis, I have acknowledged that the money was 
 deposited in the temple by my orders, in pursuance 
 of Pompey's advice. The latter has received this 
 sum for the public use', as Sestius possessed him- 
 self of that which you had deposited in the same 
 j)Iace. I am very sensible that this is an affair in 
 which you are in no sort concerned. However, I 
 should be extremely sorry that I omitted to parti- 
 cularize this circumstance, if it did not most au- 
 thentically appear, by the decree of the senate, and 
 i)y the letters which passed between us, for whose 
 use it was delivered into the hands of Sestius. It 
 was the notoriety of this fact, and the certainty 
 that it was of no importance to you, which pre- 
 vented me from making particular mention of it. 
 But since you wish that I had, I wish so too. I 
 agree with you in thinking that it is proper you 
 «hould insert this article into your accounts; nor will 
 they by that mean appear in the least inconsistent 
 ■with mine ; as you will only add what I omitted, 
 and vouch my express orders. I have no reason, 
 enost certainly, to deny them ; nor should I indeed, 
 if I had, when you desired the contrary. 
 
 As to the nine hundred thousand sesterces^*', 
 they are specified in the manner that you, or your 
 brother, at least, required. And if there is any 
 item in respect to my lieutenant which you are 
 dissatisfied with, and which (after having renounced 
 the privilege I was entitled to by the decree of the 
 senate*) it is in my power to rectify, 1 will endea- 
 vour to do so as far as I legally may^. In the mean 
 
 ^ For the purposes, perhaps, of the war which he was now- 
 preparing to carry on against Caesar. 
 
 ^>' About 72G^l. of our money. 
 
 ^ It seems probable from this passage, that there was 
 ■some decree of the senate whicli indulged tiie proconsuls 
 with a longer time for bringing in their accounts, than 
 they were entitled to by the law ; which privilege Cicero 
 ■thought proper to waive. — Manutius. 
 
 y There is a passage in the original between this and the 
 next sentence which is omitted in the translation. It runs 
 thus: " Tu certepecunia exacia ita efferrc ex meis ratio- 
 nibus relatis non oportuit, nisi quid mc fallit : sunt enim 
 jxlii peritiores." The principal difficulty of this period lies 
 in tlie words exacta and efferre ; which the commentators 
 have endeavoured to remove by various readings and con- 
 jectures. But as neither their readings noi conjectures 
 offer anything satisfactory, I leave it to the explanation 
 •of some more successful interpreter, applauding, in the 
 
 time, be well assured I shall take no step in this 
 affair, if I can possibly avoid it, that may prove 
 inconsistent either with your interest or your incli- 
 nation. 
 
 In answer to your inquiry concerning my hono- 
 rary list', I must acquaint you, that I have only 
 delivered in the names of my prsefects and military 
 tribunes, together with those who attended me as 
 proconsular companions ". I had conceived a notion 
 that no certain time was limited for this purpose : 
 but I have since been informed, that it is necessary 
 to present this list within thirty days after ex- 
 hibiting the accounts. I am sorry you had not the 
 benefit of paying this compliment, as I have no 
 ambitious views to serve by taking it upon myself. 
 But it is still open to you, with respect to the cen- 
 turions and the companions of the military tribunes, 
 the law not having fixed any time for presenting a 
 list of that sort. 
 
 I have nothing farther, I think, to observe upon 
 your letter, except in relation to the hundred 
 thousand sesterces'". I remember you wrote to 
 me upon this subject before, in a letter dated from 
 Myrina"^, and acknowledged it to be an error of 
 your own : though, if there be any error in the 
 case, it seems rather chargeable on your brother and 
 my secretary. But, be that as it will, the mistake 
 was discovered too late to be corrected : for I had 
 then quitted the province and deposited my 
 accounts. I believe, therefore, that the answer I 
 returned was agreeable to the disposition in which 
 I always stand towards you, and to those hopes I 
 had then conceived of my finances. I do not, 
 however, remember that I carried my complaisance 
 so far as to make myself your debtor for that 
 sum, any more than I imagine that you intended 
 this part of your letter as one of those importunate 
 memorials so frequent in these times of general 
 distress. You will consider, that I kft in the 
 hands of the farmers of the revenues at Ephesus 
 all the money which legally accrued to me from 
 my government ; and that this whole sum, amount- 
 ing to no less than two millions two hundred thou- 
 sand sesterces"', was seized for the use of Pompey. 
 Whatever effect this great loss may have upon me, 
 I am sure you ought not to be discomposed at 
 yours : and you should only look upon it as a dish 
 the less at your table, or an inconsiderable diminu- 
 
 mean time, themodestyofGrEevius, who closes his remark 
 upon this place with the following ingenuous acknowledg- 
 ment, so unusual in a critic by profession : " Nihil iii re 
 tarn obscura definio, (says he) nee mihi ipse satisfacio." 
 
 ' The proconsuls, upon their return to Rome, after the 
 expiration of their provincial ministry, used to present a 
 list of such of their officers and attendants who had parti- 
 cularly dLstinguished themselves by their zeal and fidelity 
 in their respective functions. — Manutius. 
 
 » These were generally young noblemen who attended 
 the proconsul into his government as a sort of volunteer.s. 
 in order to gain experience and acquaint themselves with 
 business. — Manutius. ^ About 800i. 
 
 ^ A maritime city in jEolia, a province of Asia. 
 
 * One may judge from hence what immense wealth those 
 rapacious governors of the Roman provinces acquired, wlio 
 did not scruple to oppress the people committed to their 
 charge by every method of extortionthat avarice could sug- 
 gest. For Cicero, who professed to conduct himself with 
 the most exemplary disinterestedness in his province, was 
 yet able, it appears, to acquire so large a sum in a single 
 year as about 1 7, 600^ of our money, and thattoo from apro- 
 vince by no means the most considerable of the republic's 
 dominions. 
 
 G G
 
 460 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 tion of what you might otherwise have expected 
 from my lilKrality. But had you actually advanced 
 these hundrid thousand sesterces to me out of your 
 own j)urse, yet, to be sure, you are too complaisant 
 to insist ui)on a security ; and as to paying them, 
 were I ever so well disposed for that purpose, you 
 must know it is not in my power. You see I 
 answer you in the same spirit of i)leasantry in 
 which I suppose that part of your letter was written 
 to which this refers. Hut to be serious : if you 
 think tliat Tullius can be of any service to you in 
 this affair, 1 will send him as soon as he returns 
 from the country. I have no oiijection to your 
 destroying this letter when you shall have read it. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 To Tcreni'ia and to Tiillin. 
 In what manner it may be proper to dispose of 
 yourselves during the present conjuncture, is a 
 -04 question which must now be decided by 
 ' ' ' your own judgments as much as by mine. 
 Should Csesar advance to Rome without commit- 
 ting hostilities, you may certaiidy, for the present 
 at least, remain there unmolested : but if this mad- 
 man should give up the city to the rapine of his 
 soldiers, I much doubt whether even Dolabella's 
 credit and authority will be sufficient to protect 
 you. I am under some apprehension, likewise, 
 lest, while you are deliberating in what manner to 
 act, you should find yourselves so surrounded with 
 the army as to render it impossible to withdraw, 
 though you should be ever so much inclined. The 
 next question is, (and it is a question which you 
 yourselves are best able to determine,) whether any 
 ladies of your rank venture to continue in the city ; 
 if not, will it be consistent with your character to 
 apjiear singular in that point ? But, be that as it 
 will, you cannot, I think, as affairs are now situated, 
 be more commodiously placed than either with me 
 or at some of our farms in this district : supposing, 
 I mean, that I should be able to maintain my 
 present post. I must add, likewise, that a short 
 time, it is to be feared, will produce a great scarcity 
 in Rome. However, I should be glad you would 
 take the sentiments of Atticus, or Camillus, or any 
 other friend whom you may choose to consult 
 upon this subject. In the mean while, let me con- 
 jure you both to keep up your spirits. The coming 
 over of Labienus'^ to our party, has given affairs 
 a much better aspect. And Piso having withdrawn 
 himself from the city, is likewise another very 
 favourable circumstance : as it is a plain indication 
 that he disapproves the impious measures of his 
 son-in-law'. 
 
 * Labiemis was one of Cajsar's principal and most favour- 
 ite lieutenants in Gaul, where he greatly distinguished 
 himself by his military conduct. The Pompeian party 
 therefore were very assiduous in their applications to gain 
 him over to tlieir cause, as they promised themselves great 
 advantages from his accession. 15ut none however appears 
 to have attended it ; and he, who in Ctesar's camp had been 
 esteemed a very considerable officer, seemed to have lost 
 all his credit the moment he went over to Pompey's. 
 
 . Fortis in armis 
 
 CfESaris Labienus erat, nunc transfugra vilis. 
 Hirt. De IJell. Gall. viii. 52 ; Ad Att. viii. 2 ; Lucan. v. 34.5. 
 
 ' Cicero, as has been observed in a former note, has 
 painted the character of Fiso in the darkest and most 
 
 I entreat you, my dearest creatures, to wri^e tt 
 me as fretpiently as possible, aiul let me know hov^ 
 it is with you, as well as what is going forward m 
 Rome. My brother and nephew, together wita. 
 Rufus, affectionately salute you. Farewell. 
 Minturn.x-K, Jan. the 25th. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 To the same. 
 
 It well deserves consideration, whether it will- 
 be more prudent for you to continue in Rome, oi 
 -„, to remove to some secure place within 
 my department : and it is a considera- 
 tion, my dearest creatures, in which your own 
 judgments must assist mine. What occurs to my 
 jiresent thoughts is this. On the one hand, as 
 you will probably find a safe protection*" in Dola- 
 bella, yi'ur residing in Rome may prove a mean of 
 securing our house from being pluiulered, should 
 tlie soldiers be suffered to coiiuiiit any violences of 
 that kind. But, on the other, when I reflect that 
 all the worthier part of the re))ublic have with- 
 drawn themselves and their families from the city,. 
 I am inclined to advise you to follow their example^ 
 I must add likewise, that there arc several towns- 
 in this canton of Italy under my command which, 
 are particularly in our interest ; as also, that greab 
 part of our estate lies in the same district. If, 
 therefore, you should remove hither, you may not 
 only very frequently be with me, but whenever we 
 shall be obliged to separate, you may be safely 
 lodged at one or other of my farms. However, I 
 am utterly unable to determine at present which of 
 these schemes is preferable : only let me entreat 
 you to observe what steps other ladies of your 
 rank pursue in this conjuncture ; and be cautious- 
 likewise that you be not prevented from retiring, 
 should it prove your choice. In the mean time, 
 I hope you will maturely deliberate upon this point 
 between yourselves, and take the opinion also of 
 our friends. At all events, I desire you would 
 direct Philotimus to procure a strong guard to 
 defend our house : to which request I must add, 
 that you would engage a proper number of regular 
 couriers, in order to give me the satisfaction of 
 hearing from you every day. But, above all, let 
 me conjure you both to take care of your healths- 
 as you wish to preserve mine. Farewell. 
 
 TormisE ', the 25th. 
 
 odious colours. But satires and invectives are not gene- 
 rally the most faithful memoirs, and it is evident, from 
 Piso's conduct upon this occasion, that he was by no means - 
 what our author represents him in one of his orations, 
 portentum ct pteiie /units reipublica : at least if Csesar's- 
 measurcs were really more unfavourable to liberty than 
 those of Pompey. — See letter 8, book i. rem. ". 
 
 S A town in Campania. This letter, in some of the Latin 
 editions, bears date in July ; in others no month is specified. 
 IJut it was imdoubtedly written in J;uuiary, as it appears- 
 by a. letter to Atticus that Cicero's wife and daughter canic 
 to him at FormiiE on the 2d of February. — Ad Att. vii 18. 
 
 •» This epistle seems to have been a sort of duplicate of 
 the former, and though it is dated from a difi'erent place, 
 it was probably written on the same day, and conveyed by 
 some imexpccted opportunity that occurred after he hadi 
 despatched tiie foregoing. 
 
 ' A maritime city in Campania, not far from Minturnae,-, 
 the place from whence the preceding letter is dated.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 451 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To Tiro. 
 
 Yoo will easily judge of our distress, when I tell 
 yuu that myself and every friend of the republic 
 u •'04 '^^^® abandoned Rome, and even our 
 country, to all the cruel devastations of 
 fire and sword. Our affairs, iiiileed, are in so 
 desperate a situation, that nothing less than the 
 ))on erful interposition of some favourable divinity, 
 or some happy turn of chance, can secure us from 
 utter ruin. It has been the perpetual purpose of 
 all my speeches, my votes, and my actions, ever 
 since I returned to Rome, to preserve the public 
 tranquillity. But an invincible rage for war had 
 unaccountably seized not only the enemies, but 
 even those who are esteemed the friends, of the 
 commonwealth : and it was in vain I remonstrated, 
 that nothing was more to be dreaded than a civil 
 war. Caesar, in the mean time, unmindful of his 
 former character and honours, and driven, it should 
 seem, by a sort of frenzy, has taken possession of 
 Ariminum, Pisaurum, Ancona, and Arretum. In 
 consequence of this, we have all deserted the city ; 
 but how prudently, or how heroically, it now avails 
 not to examineJ. Thus you see our wretched situa- 
 tion ! Csesar, however, has offered us the following 
 conditions : in the first place, that Pompey shall 
 retire to his government in Spain ; in the next, 
 that the army we have raised shall be disbanded, 
 and our garrisons evacuated. Upon these terms 
 he promises to deliver up the farther Gaul into 
 the hands of Domitius, and the nearer into those 
 of Confidius Nonianus, the persons to whom these 
 provinces have been respectively allotted. He 
 farther engages to resign his right of suing for the 
 consulship in his absence, and is willing to return 
 to Rome in order to appear as a candidate in the 
 regular form''. We have accepted these proposi- 
 tions, provided he withdraws his forces from the 
 several towns above mentioned, that the senate 
 may securely assemble themselves at Rome in 
 order to pass a decree for that purpose'. If he 
 should think proper to comply with this proposal. 
 
 i So long as Cssar kept himself within the limits of his 
 province, Pompey treated his designs of invading Italy 
 with the utmost contempt : but Cssar had no sooner passed 
 the Rubicon and possessed liimself of those several towns 
 mentioned in this letter, than it appeared that Pompey 
 was utterly unprepared to oppose him. Accordingly, he 
 withdrew from Rome into the more southern parts of Italy 
 with great precipitation, in order, as he pretended, to 
 assemble the troops in those quarters. But his real inten- 
 tion seems to have been to retreat gradually to Brundisium, 
 and from thence to draw the war into Greece. The proba- 
 ble reason of this conduct will be explained in a subsequent 
 note. See rem. j, on letter 14 of this book. AdAtt. vii. 8; 
 Dio, xli. 
 
 In the original it is se prasentcm trinundinum peliiu- 
 rum. Jlanutius conjectures, from this expression, that it 
 was usual to proclaim the names of the candidates on three 
 market-days, at which time the candidates themselves, it 
 is pr(jbable, were required to be present. 
 
 ' The expression in the text is somewhat ambiguous: 
 — " lit sine metu de iiscouditionibus Roma senatus haberi 
 possit." But the sense is determined by the following pas- 
 sago in a letter to Atticus, where, speaking of these propo- 
 siils of Cassar, and of the terms upon which they were 
 accepted, he adds, " id si fecisset (sc. Ccesar) responsum 
 est ad mbem nos redituros esse et rem per senatum con- 
 fecturos."— Ad Att. vii. 14. 
 
 there are hopes of peace ; not indeed of a very 
 honourable one, as the terms are imposed upon 
 us : yet anything is preferable to our present cir- 
 cumstances. But if he should refuse to stand to 
 his overtures, we are prepared for an engagement : 
 but an engagement which Csesar, after having 
 incurred the general odium of retracting his own 
 conditions, will scarce be able to sustain™. The 
 only difficulty will be to intercept his march to 
 Rome : and this we have a prosjiect of effecting, as 
 we have raised a very considerable body of troops ; 
 and we imagine that he will scarce venture to 
 advance, lest he should lose the two Gauls ; everv 
 l)art of those provinces, excepting only the Trans- 
 padani, being utterly averse to him. There are, 
 likewise, six of our legions from Spain, commanded 
 by Afranius and Petreius, and supported by a very 
 powerful body of auxiliaries that lie in his rear. In 
 short, if he should be so mad as to approach, there 
 is great probability of his being defeated, if we can 
 but preserve Rome from falling into his hands. It 
 has given a very considerable blow to his cause, 
 that Labienus, who had great credit in his army, 
 refused to be an associate with him in his impious 
 enterprise". This illustrious person has not only 
 deserted Caesar, but joined himself with us : and it 
 is said that many others of the same party intend 
 to follow his example. 
 
 I have still under my protection all the coast 
 that extends itself from Formise. I did not choose 
 to enter more deeply at present into the opposition 
 against Csesar, that my exhortations, in order to 
 engage him to an accommodation, might be attended 
 with the greater weight. If war, however, must, 
 after all, be our lot, it will be impossible for me, 
 I perceive, to decline the command of some part 
 of our forces". To this uneasy reflection 1 must 
 add another : my son-in-law Dolabella has taken 
 party with Csesar. 
 
 I was willing to give you this general information 
 of public aff'airs ; but suffer it not, I charge you, to 
 make impressions upon your mind to the disadvan- 
 tage of your health. I have strongly recommended 
 you to Aulus Varro, whose disposition to serve you, 
 as well as whose particular friendship to myself, I 
 have thoroughly experienced. I have entreated 
 him to be careful both of your health and of your 
 voyage ; and, in a word, to receive you entirely 
 under his protection. I have full confidence that 
 he will comply with my request, as he gave me 
 his promise for that purpose in the most obliging 
 manner. 
 
 As I could not enjoy the satisfaction of your 
 company at a season when I most wanted your 
 faithful services, I beg you would not now hasten 
 your return, nor undertake your voyage either 
 during the winter, or before you are perfectly 
 recovered : for, be assured, I shall not think I see 
 you too late, if I see you safe and well. I have 
 
 "> The favourable prospect which Cicero gives in this and 
 the following passages of the senate's affairs, is so little 
 consistent with the despondency he expresses in the former 
 part of this letter, that one would be apt to suspect they 
 were two distinct epistles, which some negligent transcri- 
 ber had blended together. 
 
 " See rem. e, on letter 3 of this book. 
 
 o This, however, Cicero contrived to avoid ; and though, 
 after much hesitation, he followed Poinpey into Greece, ho 
 would accept of no command in his army, nor was be pre- 
 sent at any engagement. 
 
 G G 2
 
 452 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 heard nothing of you since the letter I received by 
 Marcus Vohicius ; but indeed I do not wonder at 
 it, as I imagine tlie severity of tlie winter lias like- 
 wise prevented rnj letters from rcaeliing your 
 hands. 1'ake care of yourself, I conjure you, and 
 do not sail till your health and the season shall be 
 favourable. My son is at Formise ; but Terentia 
 and TuJlia are still at Rome. Farewell. 
 Capua, January the 2ytli. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 Quintus CiccroP to Tiro, 
 Your ill state of health occasions us great uneasi- 
 ness ; for tliough we have the satisfaction to hear 
 A. u. 704. *^^*' "^ '* ""' attended with any dangerous 
 symptoms, yet we are informed that your 
 cure must be the work of tijne. Hut we cannot 
 think, without much concern, of being longer 
 separated from one whose agreeable company we 
 learn to value by the regret we feel at his absence. 
 However, notwithstanding I wish most earnestly 
 to see you, yet I conjure you not to undertake so 
 long a voyage till the season and your health shall 
 render it safe. A tender constitution can ill defend 
 itself against the severity of the weather even when 
 sheltered under the covert of a warm roof, much 
 less when exposed to all the iuelemencies both of 
 sea and land. 
 
 Foes to the weak are chillinp; blasts severe : 
 as Euripides q assures us. What credit you may 
 give to that divine poet, I know not ; but for my- 
 self, I look upon his verses as so many indubitable 
 maxims. In short, if you have any value for me, 
 endeavour the re-establisliment of your health, that 
 you may as soon as possible return to us perfectly 
 recovered. Farewell : and continue to love me. — 
 My son salutes you. 
 
 LETTER V\L 
 
 Marcus Coslius to Uicero, 
 
 Was there ever a more absurd mortal than your 
 
 friend Pompey, to act in so trifling a manner, after 
 
 A. u. 704. h^^'"S raised such terrible commotions .' 
 
 Let me ask, on the other hand, whether 
 
 P The brother of our author. Quintus Cicero, after 
 having passed through the office of praetor, in the year of 
 Rome 692, was elected governor of Asia, where he presided 
 three years with little credit. He distinguished himself 
 in Gaul as one of Caesar's lieutenants, but at the breaking 
 cut of the civil war, he followed the fortune of Pompey. 
 However, after the battle of Pharsalia, he made his peace 
 ■with Caesar, and returned into Italy. He appears to have 
 been of a haughty, imperious, petulant temper, and, in 
 every view of bis character, altogether unamiable. But 
 what gives it a cast of peculiar darkness, is his conduct 
 towards Cicero, whom he endeavoured to prejudice in the 
 opinion of Caesar at a time wh'.'n they were both the sup- 
 plicants of his clemency. This, as far as can be collected 
 from the letters to Atticus, was an instance of the basest 
 and most aggravated ingratitude ; for whatever Cicero's 
 failings rjight be in other respects, he seems to have had 
 none with regard to Quintus, but that of loving him with 
 a tenderness he ill deserved. — Ad Att. i. 15 ; vi. (j ; xi. 8. 
 
 1 A celebrated Greek dramatic poet, whose death is said 
 to have been occasioned by excessive joy for having 
 obtained the poetic prize at the Olympic games, lie 
 floui'ished about 400 years before the Christian era. 
 
 you ever heard or read of a general more undaunted 
 in action, or more generous in victory, than our 
 illustrious (,';esar .' Look u])on his troops, my 
 friend, and tell me whether one would not imagine, 
 by the gaiety of their countenances, that, instcail of 
 having fought their way through the severest cli- 
 mates in the most inclement season, they had been 
 regaling themselves in all the delicacies of ease and 
 plenty ! And, now, will you not think that I am 
 immoderately elated .' The truth of it is, if you 
 knew the disquietude of my heart, you would laugh 
 at me for thus glorying in advantages in which I 
 have no share. But 1 (Mnnot e.\plain this to you 
 till we meet, which I hope will be very speedily : 
 for it was Cfesar's intention to order me to Rome 
 as soon as he should have driven I'omjiey out of 
 Italy ; and this 1 imagine he has already effected, 
 unless tiie latter should choose to suffer a blockade 
 in IJrundisium. 
 
 My principal reason for wishing to be at Rome 
 is in order to pour forth the fulness of my heart 
 before you ; for full, believe me, it is. And yet 
 the joy of seeing you may perhaps make me, as 
 usual, forget all my complaints, and banish frorc 
 my thoughts whatever I intended to say. In 
 the mean while, I am obliged (as a punishment, I 
 suppose, for my sins) to march back towards the 
 Alps. I am indebted for this agreeable exi)edition 
 to a foolish insurrection of the Intemclii'. Bel- 
 lienus, whose mother was a slave in the family of 
 Demetrius, and who commands the garrison there, 
 was bribed by the opposite faction to seize and 
 strangle a certain nobleman of that place, called 
 Domitius, a person connected with Ctesar by the 
 rites of hospitality". The citizens, in resentment 
 of this outrage, have taken up arms ; and I have 
 the mortification to be commanded to march 
 thither, through a deep snow, with four cohorts, 
 in order to quell them. Surely the Domitii are a 
 curse wherever they exist. I wish, at least, that 
 
 >■ The inhabitants of Intemelium, a maritime city in 
 Liguria, now called Vintimiglia, in the territories of Genox 
 
 s Hospitality was considered from the earliest ages as 
 in the number of the primary social duties. The sacred 
 historian has recorded a remarkable instance of this kind 
 in the story of Lot, who would rather have sacrificed his 
 own daughters to the flagitious demands of his infamous 
 fellow-citizens, than give up the supposed travellers whom 
 he had kivited to rest under the shadow of his roof. Agree- 
 ably to this Eastern practice, Homer frequently inculcates 
 the maxim, that strangers are to be received as guest* 
 from heaven : 
 
 TTphs yap Albs elalu diravTes 
 'Eetvot. 
 And Horace mentions the hospitable connexion among 
 those of nearest and most tender regard : 
 
 Quo sit amore parens, quo frater amandus et hospes. 
 It will appear by several passages in the following letters, 
 that this generous virtue subsisted among the Romans 
 when every other was almost utterly extinct. The custom, 
 indeed, of receiving strangers was so generally established, 
 that travellers were scarce ever reduced to the necessity of 
 taking up their lodgings at an inn. Those who were thus 
 entertained, or who exercised the same rites of humanity 
 towards others, were called hospiles, and they mutually 
 exchanged certain tokens which were termed tessera hot- 
 pitalitatis. These were preserved in families, and carefully 
 transmitted from father to son as memorials and pledgoa 
 of the same good offices between their descendants. — Pen 
 tat. Gen. xix. ; Homer. Odyss. xiv. 207. Hor. Ars Poet. 
 313.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 4.5.1 
 
 our heaven-descended' chief had acted like this 
 other" of more humble lineage, and had treated 
 Domitius at Corfinium^ in the same manner that 
 his namesake has been treated at Intemelium. I 
 salute your son. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 
 To Tiro. 
 I SHALL think myself indebted to you for all 
 that I most value, whenever you give me the satis- 
 faction of seeing you perfectly recovered. 
 *■ " ■ In the mean time, I am in the utmost 
 impatience for the return of Menander, whom I 
 lately despatched with a letter to you. I conjure 
 you, if you have any affection for me, to take care 
 of your health, and let me see you as soon as it 
 sha.!l be thoroughly re-established. Farewell. 
 April the 10th. 
 
 A. V. 704. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Menander returned a day later than I expected, 
 which caused me to pass a miserable night in the 
 most disquieting apprehensions. But 
 though your letter did not remove my 
 uncertainty as to your health, it in some measure, 
 however, dispelled the gloom which had overcast 
 my mind, as it was an evidence at least that you 
 were still in being. 
 
 1 have bidden adieu to all my literary amuse- 
 ments of every kind ; nor shall I be capable of 
 resuming them again till I see you here. Mean- 
 while, I desire you would give orders that your 
 physician's demands may be satisfied ; for which 
 purpose I have likewise written to Curius. The 
 former, I am told, attributes your distemper to 
 that anxiety which I hear you indulge. Lut if 
 you have any regard for me, awaken in your breast 
 that manly spirit of philosophy for which I so 
 tenderly love and value you. It is impossible you 
 should recover your health if you do not preserve 
 your spirits ; and I entreat you to keep them up 
 for my sake as well as your own. I desire you 
 likewise to retain Acastus, that you may be the 
 more conveniently attended. In a word, my Tiro, 
 preserve yourself for me. 
 
 Remember the time for the performance of my 
 
 t Ca?s.ir affected to be thought a descendant from ^neas, 
 who, it is well known, was supposed to have received his 
 hirtli from Venus. Accordingly, in allusion to this pre- 
 tended divinity of his lineage, he always wore a ring, on 
 wliioh was engraven the figure of that goddess, and with 
 which he used to sealhismost important despatches. Tlio 
 propagating a belief of this kind must necessarily have 
 proved of singular service to Ca?sar's purposes, as it im- 
 pressed a peculiar veneration of his person upon the minds 
 of the populace. Antony very successfully made use of 
 it to instigate them against the conspirators, wlien lie 
 reminded them, in the funeral oration which he spoke over 
 Caesar's body, that he derived his origin on one side from 
 the ancient kings of Italy, and on the other from the im- 
 mortal gods. — Suet, in Yit. Jul. Ca;s. 6 ; Dio, xliv. p. 235, 
 259. 
 
 " Bellicnus, commander of the garrison at Intemelium ; 
 and who, as appears from this letter, was the son of a 
 female slave. 
 
 ^ Domitius Enobarbus, a little before the date of this 
 letter, was besieged in Corfinium by Csesar, to whom he 
 was at length obliged to surrender the town. Cassar treated 
 him with great generosity, and not only gave liim his 
 
 promise'' is approaching ; but if you return to 
 Italy before the day I fixed for that purpose. I 
 will execute it immediately. Again and again I 
 bid you farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 ^GYPTA returned hither on the 12th of April. 
 But though he assured me that you had lost your 
 A. u 704 f^^^*"' ''"'1 ^'Qve. much mended, it gave me 
 great uneasiness to find that you were 
 not yet able to write ; and the more so, as Hermia, 
 whom I expected the same day, is not yet arrived. 
 The concern I feel on account of your health is 
 beyond all belief. Free me from this disquietude, 
 I conjure you, and in return I will ease you of all 
 yours. I would write a longer letter, if I thought 
 you were in a disposition to read one. I will 
 therefore only add my request, that you would 
 employ that excellent understanding, for which I 
 so greatly esteem you, in studying what methods 
 may best preserve you both to yourself and me. I 
 repeat it again and again, take care of your health. 
 Farewell. 
 
 Since I wrote the above, Hermia is arrived. He 
 delivered your letter to me, which is written, I 
 perceive, with a very unsteady hand. However, I 
 cannot wonxler at it, after so severe an illness. I 
 despatch yEgypta with this ; and as he is a good- 
 natured fellow, and seems to have an affection for 
 you, I desire you would keep him to attend you. 
 He is accompanied with a cook, whom I have like- 
 wise sent for your use. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 Quintus Cicero to ',he same''. 
 I HAVE strongly reproached you in my own 
 mind for suffering a second packet to come away 
 A V 704 ■"'itbout inclosing a letter to me. All 
 your own rhetoric will be insufficient to 
 avert the punishment you have incurred by this 
 unkind neglect ; and you must have recourse to 
 some elaborate j)roduction of your patron's elo. 
 quence to appease my wrath. Though 1 doubt 
 whetlier even his oratory will be able to persuade 
 me that you have not been guilty of a very unpar- 
 donable omission. I remember it was a custom of 
 my mother to put a seal upon her empty casks, in 
 order, if any of her liquors should be purloined, 
 that the servants might not pretend the vessel had 
 been exhausted before. In the same manner, you 
 should write to me though you have nothing to 
 say, that your empty letters may be a proof, at 
 least, that you would not defraud me of what I 
 value. I value all, indeed, that come from you, as 
 the very sincere and agreeable dictates of your 
 heart. Farewell, and continue to love me. 
 
 liberty, but restored to him a sum of money which he had 
 Indged in the public treasury of the city. Some account 
 of the occasion of this inveterate enmity which Coelius 
 expresses towards Domitius, may bo seen in the 15th letter 
 of the preceding book. Cats. De Bell. Civ. i. 23. 
 
 '^ The commentators suppose, with great probability, 
 that this alludes to a promise which Cicero had made to 
 Tiro, of giving him his freedom. 
 
 ^ The time when this letter was written is altogether 
 uncertain, and it is placed under the present year, not 
 because there is any good reason for it, but because there 
 is none against it.
 
 45 i 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 
 To Scrv'vts SulpioiusT. 
 
 I AM informed by a letter from my friend 
 Trebatius that yo" lately iii<niired after me, and 
 _ , exiiresMiil, at thi! same time, niueh eon- 
 '*■*'■' ' cern tluit your iiullKpositioii had ])reveiited 
 you from seeiiii? me when I was in the suburbs of 
 Rome. To whieh he adds, that you are desirous, if 
 I should apiiroach tlie eity, of havini; a confereiiee 
 with me, in order to deliberate in what manner it 
 becomes us to act in this critical season. I sin- 
 cerely wish it had been in our jjower to have con- 
 ferred together ere our afl'airs were utterly ruined, 
 as I am persuaded we mii^ht have contributed 
 somewhat to the support of our declining constitu- 
 tion. For, as you had long foreseen these public 
 calamities, so 1 had the jdeasure to hear, whilst I 
 was in Cilicia, that both during your consulate and 
 afterwards, you always stood forth an advocate for 
 the peace oi' our country'. Hut, though I totally 
 concurred with you in these sentiments, yet, upon 
 my return to Rome, it was too late to enforce 
 them. 1 was, indeed, wholly unsupported in my 
 opinion, and not only found myself among a set of 
 men who were madly inllamed with a thirst of war, 
 but was considered likewise as one who, by a long 
 absence, was utterly unacquainted with the true 
 state of the commonwealth. But, though it seems 
 in vain to hope that our united counsels can now 
 avail the republic, yet, if they can in any degree 
 advantage ourselves, there is no man with whom I 
 should more willingly confer. Not indeed with 
 any view of securing the least part of our former 
 dignities, but to consider in what manner we may 
 most worthily deplore their loss ; for I well know 
 that your mind is amply stored with those exam- 
 ples of the great, and those maxims of the wise, 
 which ought to guide and animate our conduct in 
 this important conjuncture. 
 
 I should have told you before now that your 
 presence in the senate, or, to speak more properly, 
 in the convention of senators", would be altogether 
 ineffectual, if I had not been apprehensive of giving 
 offence to that person who endeavoured, by in- 
 stacing your example, to persuade me to join them. 
 1 very plainly assured him, however, when he 
 applied to me for this purpose, that if I went to 
 
 5" Servius Sulpicius Rufus was descended from one of 
 the noblest and most considerable families in Rome, seve- 
 ral of his ancestors having borne the liighest offices and 
 honours of the republic. He was elected to the consular 
 dignity in the year of Rome 702 ; to which his eminent skill 
 in the law principally contributed. — Suet, in Vit. Tiberii; 
 Dio, xli. p. 148. See rems. « and h, letter I, book ix. 
 
 ^ Sulpicius was well aware that the recalling Ca;sar from 
 his government in Gaul befora the expiration of the time 
 for which it was granted him, together with the refusing 
 him the privilege, which he had obtained by an express 
 law, of suing for the consulate in his absence, would ine- 
 vitably draw on a civil war. And, accordingly, he exerted 
 himself with great zeal in opposing liis colleague, Blarcus 
 Claudius Marcellus, in tho several attempts which he made 
 for tliat purpose. — Dio, ubi sup. 
 
 » Tho meeting of the senate, to which Cicero alludes, 
 was held in Rome, after Pompey had deserted Italy. 
 Cicero calls it " a convention of senators," as not admit- 
 ting the legality of its assembling ; both the consuls 
 together with the principal magistrates of the republic, 
 having withdi-awn themselves, together with Pompey, 
 into Greece. 
 
 the senate, I should declare the same opinion con 
 cerning peace, and his expedition into Spain, which 
 you had already delivered as yours '^'. 
 
 The Hames of war, you see, have spread them- 
 selves throughout the whole Roman dominions, 
 and all the world have taken up arms under our 
 respective chiefs. Rome, in the mean time, des- 
 titute of all rule or magistracy, of all justice or 
 control, is wretchedly abandoned to the dreadful 
 inroads of rapine anil devastation. In this general 
 anarchy and confusion, 1 know not what to expect ; 
 I scarcely know even what to wish. But, notwith- 
 statiding I had determined to retire to a farther 
 distance from Rome, (as, indeed, I cannot even 
 hear it named without reluctance,) yet I pay so 
 great a regard to your judgment, that, if you think 
 any advantage may arise from our interview, 1 am 
 willing to return. In the mean time, I have re- 
 quested Trebatius to receive your commands, if 
 you sliould be desirous of communicating any to 
 me by his mouth. I should be glad, indeed, that 
 you would employ either him or any other of your 
 friends whom you can trust upon this occasion, as 
 I would not lay you under the necessity of going 
 out of Rome, or be myself obliged to advance much 
 nearer to it. Perhaps I attribute too much to my 
 own judgment, though I am sure I do not to yours, 
 when I add, that I am persuaded the world will 
 approve whatever measures we shall agree upon. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER Xin. 
 
 Marcus Cailius to Cicero. 
 
 The melancholy cast of your letter affects me 
 with the deepest concern ; and though you do not 
 704 declare your intentions in direct and ex- 
 plicit terms, yet you leave me no room 
 to doubt of what kind they are=. I thus instantly, 
 therefore, take up my pen, in order to conjure you. 
 my dear friend, by the tenderness you bear to your 
 children, and by all that is most valuable in your 
 esteem, not to resolve upon any measures so totally 
 inconsistent with your true welfare. Heaven and 
 earth will be my witness that I have offered you 
 no advice, nor sent you any prophetic admonitions, 
 which I had not well and maturely considered. It 
 was not, indeed, till after I had an interview with 
 Caesar, and had fully discovered his sentiments, 
 that I informed you in what manner he would most 
 assuredly employ his victory. If you imagine he 
 will be as easy in pardoning his enemies as he was 
 reasonable in offering them terms of accommoda- 
 
 b Cicero had an interview with Csesar, in the return of 
 the latter from Brundisium, after Pompey had abandoned 
 that city and fled into Greece. Caesar laboured to prevail 
 with our author to return to Rome and take his seat in 
 the senate. But Cicero acted upon this occasion with a 
 spirit which we cannot but regret should have ever 
 deserted him : he declared he would not attend the 
 senate, but upon the terms of being at full liberty to deliver 
 his sentiments, which, he confessed, were utterly against 
 carrying the war into Spain, and altogether in favour of 
 peace. Ca?sar as plainly assured him, that this was what 
 he could not suffer; and recommending it to him to think 
 better of the matter, the conference ended, " very little," 
 says Cicero, " to the satisfaction of Caesar, and very much 
 to my own." — Ad Att. ix. 18. 
 
 = That Cicero had formed a resolution of following Pom- 
 pey into Greece.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 456 
 
 tion, believe me, you will find that you have made 
 a very erroneous calculation. His heart and his 
 expressions breathe the severest resentment ; and 
 he left Rome higlily incensed both against the 
 senate and tribunes''. In plain truth, he is by no 
 means in a disposition to show the least favour to 
 his adversaries. If you have any tenderness, there- 
 fore, to yourself, to your son, or to your family in 
 general ; if either my friendship, or the alliance of 
 that worthy man who has married*^ your daughter, 
 can give us a claim to some influence over you, let 
 me conjure you not to disconcert the measures we 
 have taken to preserve our fortunes, nor lay us 
 under the miserable alternative of either abandon- 
 ing a cause upon which our own safety depends, 
 or of impiously wishing well to one which must 
 necessarily be inconsistent with yours. Consider, 
 you have already disgusted Pompey, by this your 
 delay in joining him ; and would it not be utterly 
 impolitic, after having so cautiously avoided giving 
 ■offence to Caesar, when his affairs were yet doubtful, 
 to declare against him now that they are attended 
 ■with such uncommon success .' Would it not be 
 the highest indiscretion to join with those who are 
 fleeing before his troops, after having refused to 
 act in concert with them when they seemed inclined 
 to resist ? In fine, my friend, let me entreat you, 
 whilst you are endeavouring to escape the imputa- 
 tion of being deficient in patriotism, to be careful 
 lest you incur the censure of being deficient in 
 prudence. But, alter all, if I cannot wholly dis- 
 suade you from your resolution, suffer me at least 
 to prevail with you to suspend the execution of it 
 till the event of our expedition into Spain, which 
 I shall venture, however, to assure you, will most 
 certainly fall into our hands upon the very first ap- 
 pearance of Caesar's troops. And what hopes the 
 opposite party can possibly entertain after the loss 
 of that province, I am perfectly unable to discover. 
 As far, likewise, is it beyond my penetration, what 
 motive can induce you to join with those whose 
 affa rs are thus evidently desperate. This design, 
 which you so obscurelv intimated in your letter, 
 had reached the knowledge of Csesar ; and the first 
 thing he said, after the usual salutations had passed 
 between us, was to inform me of what he had heard 
 concerning you. I professed myself entirely igno- 
 rant tliat you had any such thoughts ; but if you 
 had, I said, it was my request that he would write 
 to you in such terms as might most probably pre- 
 vail with you to renounce them. I have received 
 his commands to attend him into Spain ; otherwise 
 I would instantly have come to you, wherever you 
 
 d Czcsar, upon his return to Rome, after the siege of 
 Brundisium, proposed to the senate that an embassy 
 should be sent to Pompey, with proposals of peace. Tliis 
 the house agreed to ; but when the question was moved 
 <;oncerning the persons to be appointed for this purpose, 
 none of the members would undertake that commission. 
 Caesar endeavoured, likewise, to procure a law for granting 
 him the money in the public treasury, in order to carry 
 on the war against Pompey. But Metellus, the tribune, 
 interposing liis negative, Cjesar obtained his purpose by a 
 ehorter method. For, breaking open the temple of Saturn, 
 in which this money was preserved, he first plundered liis 
 country of her patrimony, (says Florus,) and then of her 
 liberty. Having thus possessed himself of an immense 
 wealth, he immediately set out upon his expedition 
 against Afranius and Petreius, the lieutenants of Pompey 
 in Spain.— CiEs. De Bell. Civ. i. .33 ; Dio, xli. Flor. iv. 2. 
 . e DolabeUa. 
 
 had been, in order to have pressed these reasons 
 upon you in person, and, indeed, to have retained 
 you in Italy by absolute force. Consider well your 
 scheme, my dear Cicero, ere you carry it into exe- 
 cution, lest you obstinately, and against all remon- 
 strances, involve both yourself and your family ia 
 utter and irrecoverable ruin. But if you are 
 affected by the reproaches of those who style them- 
 selves patriots, or carinot submit to be a witness of 
 the insolence of some in the opposite party, let me 
 advise you to retreat into a neutral city, till our 
 contests shall be decided. This will be acting 
 with a prudence which I cannot but own to be a 
 laudable one, and which Caesar, I am sure, will by 
 no means disapprove. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Cicero to Marcus Coelius. 
 I SHOULD have been extremely affected by your 
 letter, if reason had not banished from my heart 
 -04 ^'^ ^''^ disquietudes, and despair of seeing 
 better days had not long since hardened 
 it against every new impression of grief. Yet, 
 strong as I must acknowledge my despondency to 
 be, I am not sensible, however, that I said any- 
 thing in my last which could justly raise tiie 
 suspicion you have conceived. What more did 
 my letter contain than general expressions of dis- 
 satisfaction at the sad prospect of our affairs ? a 
 prospect which cannot, surely, suggest to your own 
 mind less gloomy apprehensions than it presents to 
 mine. For I am too well persuaded of the force 
 of your penetration, to imagine that my judgment 
 can discover consequences which lie concealed from 
 yours. But I am surprised that you, who ought 
 to know me perfectly well, should believe me 
 capable of acting with so little policy as to abandon 
 a rising fortune for one in its decline, at least, if 
 not utterly fallen; or so variable as not only to 
 destroy at once all the interest I have established 
 with Caesar, but to deviate even from myself, by 
 engaging at last in a civil war, which it has hitherto 
 been my determined maxim to avoid. Where, then, 
 did you discover those unhappy resolutions you 
 impute to me.' Perhaps you collected them from 
 what I said of secluding myself in some sequestered 
 solitude. And, indeed, you are sensible how ill I 
 can submit, I do not say to endure, but even to be 
 a witness of the insolences of the successful party ; 
 a sentiment, my friend, which once, I am sure, 
 was yours no less than mine. But in vain would 
 I retire, whilst I preserve the title '^ with which I 
 am at present distinguished, and continue to be 
 attended with this embarrassing parade of lictors^. 
 Were I eased of this troublesome honour, there is 
 no part of Italy so obscure in which I should no't 
 be well contented to hide myself. Yet these my 
 laurels, unwelcome as they are to myself, are*" the 
 
 f That of Imperator. See rem. >>, on letter 1, book i. 
 
 g The lictors were a sort of beadles, who carried the 
 ensigns of magistracy before the consuls, proconsuls, and 
 other supreme oflScers of the state. These lictors conti- 
 nued to attend the proconsul after his return from his 
 government, if he aspired (as Cicero did) to the honour of 
 a triumph. 
 
 '' Cicero undoubtedly gave, upon this occasion, but too 
 much colour to the censure of his enemies : for it could
 
 450 
 
 TUK LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 objfct both of the envy and the raillery of my 
 malevolent enemies. Nevertheless, under all these 
 temptations of withdrawing from so disgusting a 
 scene, 1 never once entertained a thought of leaving 
 Italy without the pri'vious apj)robation of yourself 
 and some others. J'.nt you know the situation of 
 my several villas, and as it is among these I am 
 obliged to divide my time, that I may not incom- 
 mode' my friends, the preference I give to those 
 which stand on the sea-coast, has raised asus])ieion 
 that 1 am nu-ilitating a flight into Greece. If j)eace, 
 indeed, were to be found in thnt country, I should 
 jiot, perhaps, be unwilling to undertake the voyage : 
 but to enter u|)on it in order to engage in a war, 
 would be altogether inconsistent, surely, with my 
 principles aiul character ; especially, as it would 
 be taking up arms, not only against a man who, I 
 hope, is perfectly well satisfied with my conduct, 
 but in favour of one wliom it is now iiniiossible I 
 should ever render so. lu a word, as I made no 
 secret to you, when you met me at my Cuman 
 villa, of the conversation which had passed between 
 Ampius and myself, you could not be at a loss to 
 guess my sentinu'iits upon this head : and, indeed, 
 you j)laiidy saw how utterly averse I was to the 
 scheme of Pompey's deserting Rome. Did I not 
 then affirm that there was nothing I would not 
 suffer, rather than be induced to follow the civil 
 war beyond the limits of ItalyJ ? And has any 
 event since happened, that could give me just 
 reason of changing my sentiments .' On the con- 
 not but liave a very strange appcanuicc, that lie should 
 preserve the thoughts of a triumph, at a time wlien his 
 country was bleeding with a civil war. But as he was 
 extremely ambitious of this honour, he was equally unwil- 
 ling to renoimco it ; still flattering himself, i)erhaps, that 
 some accommodation between C'a-sar and Pompcy would 
 aft'ord him an opportunity of enjoying what he so strongly 
 desired. 
 
 > That is, by continuing in the suburbs of Rome ; where, 
 as he had no house of his own, he must necessarily be a 
 guest to some of his friends. For he could not enter the 
 city without relinquishing his claim to a triumph. 
 
 .i Cicero perpetually condemns the conduct of Pompey, 
 in first retiring from Home, and afterwards removing the 
 seat of war out of Italy. But with regard to the former, 
 it appears, even from our author himself, that it was 
 attended with a very good effect, and which Pompey, it is 
 probable, had in view when he resolved upon that measure. 
 For it raised a more general indignation against Cscsar to 
 see Pompey thus fleeing before him, and rendering the 
 people more averse from favouring his cause. " Fugiens 
 Ponipeius mirabiliter homines movet. Quid qua^ris ? alia 
 causa facta est : niliil jam eoncedondum putant Ca:sari." 
 [Ad Att. vii. 11.] And as to Pompey's leaving Italy, he 
 seems, as far as can be judged at this distance of time, to 
 liave acted upon a very rational plan. Pompey's forces 
 were much inferior to Ca?sar's ; and even the few troops 
 which he had, were such as he could by no means depend 
 upon. As he was master of a very considerable fleet, there 
 was great probability of his being able to prevent Ca-sar 
 from following him into Greece: at the same time that 
 Afranius and Petreius were in the rear of Ca;sar, with an 
 army composed of approved and veteran forces. Italy was 
 supplied with corn from the eastern provinces, especially 
 from Egypt ; which Pompey was in hopes of cutting off by 
 means of his fleet. These provinces, together with the 
 neighbouring kings, were likewise greatly in his interest ; 
 and he had reason to expect very large subsidies from them, 
 both of men and money. Perhaps, liierefore, when these 
 several circumstances shall be duly weighed, it will not 
 appear that Pompey determined injudiciously, when he 
 resolved to cross the Adriatic. — Ad Att. vii. 13 ; ix. 9 ; x. 
 8 ; IMo, xli. p. 158. 
 
 trary, has not every circumstance concurred to fix 
 
 me in them'' .' 
 
 Be assured (and I am well persuaded it is what 
 you already believe) that the sini;le aim of my 
 actiims, in these our public calamities, has been to 
 convince the world that my great and earnest desire 
 was to preserve the peace of our country ; and 
 when this could no longer be hoped, that there was 
 nothing I wished more than to avoid taking any 
 |)art in the civil war. .\nd I shall never, 1 trust, 
 liave reason to repent of firmly persevering in these 
 sentinu'iits. It was the frequent boast, I remember, 
 of my friend Ilortensius, that he had never taken 
 up arms in any of our civil dissentions. But I 
 may glory in the same honest neutrality with a 
 much better grace: for that of Ilortensius was 
 sus])eeted to have arisen from the timidity of his 
 temper; whereas mine, I think, cannot be imputed 
 to any motive of that unworthy kind. Nor am I 
 in the least terrified by those C(msiderations with 
 which you so faithfully and affectionately endeavour 
 to alarm my fears. The truth of it is, there is no 
 calamity so severe to which we are not all of us, 
 it should seem, in this universal anarchy and con- 
 fusion, ecjually and unavoidably e.\posed. But if 
 I could have averted this dreadful storm from tho 
 republic at the expense of my own private and 
 domestic enjoyments, even of those, my friend, 
 which you so emphatically recommend to my care, 
 I should most willingly have made the sacrifice. 
 As to my son, (who 1 rejoice to find has a share 
 in your concern,) I shall leave him a sufficient 
 patrimony in that honour with which my name 
 will be remembered so long as the republic shall 
 subsist : and if it be destroyed, I shall have the 
 consolation, at least, to reflect that he will suffer 
 nothing more than must be the common lot of 
 every Roman. With regard to that dear and ex- 
 cellent young man my son-in-law, whose welfare 
 you entreat me to consider, can you once doubt, 
 knowing as you perfectly do the tenderness I bear, 
 not only for him, but for TuUia, that I am infi- 
 nitely anxious upon his account ! I am the more 
 so, indeed, as it was my single consolation, amidst 
 these general distractions, that they might possibly 
 prove a means of protecting him from those incon- 
 veniences in which his too generous spirit had 
 unhappily involved him'. How much he suffered 
 
 k Notwithstanding Cicero's strong assertions that ho 
 had no thoughts of joining Pompey, he had actually deter- 
 mined to do so a few days before he received the preceding 
 letter from Coelius ; as appears by an epistle to Atticus, 
 wherein he expressly tells him that he was only waiting 
 for a fair wind. But before he wrote the present letter, 
 he had reeei ed some news not altogether favourable to 
 Pompey's party ; in consequence of which he renoimeed 
 his former design, and was now determined (though he 
 does not think proper to own it in this letter) to retire to 
 Malta, as a neutral island. This resolution, however, he 
 soon afterwards rejected, and resumed his first intentions 
 of following Pompey into Greece. And this scheme he at 
 length executed. — Ad Att. x. 8, 9. See rem. ' on letter 15 
 of this book. 
 
 ' It should seem, by this passage, that Dolabella, who 
 had contracted very considerable debts, was at this time 
 under some difficulties from his creditors, from whom 
 Cicero flattered himself that Caisar's power would have 
 protected him. Some commentators, however, instead of 
 liberalitate, adopted in this translation, read libertale, 
 and suppose that Cicero alludes to the prosecution in 
 which Dolabella had been engaged against Appius, of 
 which a detail has been given in the preceding remarks.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 457 
 
 from them during the time he continued in Rome, 
 as well as how little that circumstance was to my 
 credit, are points which 1 choose to leave to your 
 inquiry. 
 
 Affairs in Spain, I doubt not, will terminate in 
 the manner you mention. But I neither wait the 
 event of them in order to determine my conduct"", 
 nor am I acting in any other respect with the least 
 artifice. If the republic should be preserved, I 
 shall certainly hold my rank in it : but if it should 
 be subverted, you yourself, I dare say, will join me 
 in my intended solitude. But this latter supposition 
 is perhaps the vain and groundless surmise of a 
 disturbed imagination ; and affairs, after all, may 
 take a happier turn than I am apt to presage. I 
 remember the despondency which prevailed in my 
 earlier days amongst our patriots of more advanced 
 years" : possibly my present apprehensions may 
 be of the same cast, and no other than the effect of 
 a common weakness incident to old age. Heaven 
 grant they may prove so ! And yet you have heard, 
 I suppose, that a robe of magistracy is in the looms 
 for Oppius ; and that Curtius has hopes of being 
 invested with the double-dyed purple ° : but the 
 princi]ial workman, itseems, somewhat delays himP. 
 I throw in this little pleasantry to let you see that I 
 can smile in the midst of my indignation. 
 
 Let me advise you to enter into the affair which 
 I formerly mentioned concerning Dolabella, with 
 the same warmth as if it were your own. I have 
 
 But wliichever be the true word, the sentiment is observ- 
 able. For surely it was utterly unworthy of Cicero, to 
 find the least consolation amidst the calamities of his 
 countiy, in the hope that they might prove a screen to 
 Dolabella, either from the justice of his creditors, or the 
 malice of his enemies. 
 
 "• The contrary of this was the truth : for Cicero -was, 
 at this time, determined to wait the event of Caesar's expe- 
 dition against the lieutenants of Pompey in Spain. And 
 for this purpose he had thoughts of retiring to Malta : — 
 " Melitinn, opinor, capcssamus (says he to Atticus) dum 
 quid in llispania." — Ad Att. x. 9. 
 
 " This alludes to the contentions between Sylla and 
 Marius, which, notwithstanding the probability of their 
 terminating in the total subversion of the constitution, the 
 republic however survived. 
 
 o Oppius and Curtius were persons who probably had 
 distinguished themselves in no other manner than as being 
 the servile instruments of Cxsar's ambition. The former, 
 liowever, appears to have been in high credit during Cesar's 
 usurpation ; but the latter is often mentioned in the letters 
 to Atticus with great contempt. Servius, in his comment 
 on the 7th book of the jEneid, informs us that the colour 
 of the augural robe was a mixture of purple and scarlet: 
 it is probable, therefore, from the expression which Cicero 
 employs, that Curtius had a promise of being advanced 
 into the sacred college. It might well discourage Cicero's 
 hopes of better days, when he saw men of this character 
 singled out to fill the most important dignities of the 
 republic. And, indeed, it was an earnest of what Ca!sar 
 afterw.ards practised, when he became the sole fountain of 
 all preferment ; which he distributed in the most arbitrary 
 manner, without any regard to rank or merit. " NuUos 
 non honores (says one of the historians) ad libidinem cepit 
 
 et dedit. Civitate donates, et quosdam e semibarbaris 
 
 Gallorum, recepit in curiam." — Suet, in Vit. Jul. Ca;s. 76. 
 
 P " Sed eum infecior moratur." This witticism, which 
 turns upon the equivocal sense of the word infecior, could 
 not be preserved in the translation. It is probable that 
 Cffisar had gained Curtius, as he had many others, by some 
 seasonable application to his wants or his avarice : for 
 Cicero seems to use this word in allusion to the verb from 
 whence it is derived, as well as in its appropriated mean- 
 ing ; injicio signifying both to corrupt and to dye. 
 
 only to add, that you may depend upon it I sliall 
 take no hasty or inconsiderate measures. But to 
 whatever part of the world I may direct my course, 
 I entreat you to protect both me and mine, agreeably 
 to your honour and to our mutual friendship. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To Servius Sulpicins. 
 
 I RECEIVED your letter at my Cuman villa, on 
 the 29th of April. I find you shortened it upon 
 the supposition that Philotimus would 
 ■'^* "■ ' ■ deliver it into my hands ; whom, it seems, 
 you had instructed to give me a more full and 
 explicit information. But he did not execute his 
 commission with the care he ought ; for, instead of 
 bringing your letter to me himself, he sent it by 
 another person. However, this omission was 
 supplied by a visit from your wife and son, who 
 are both of them extremely desirous you should 
 come hither, and indeed pressed me to write to 
 you for that purpose. 
 
 You desire to know what measures I would 
 recommend to you in this critical conjuncture. 
 Believe me, I am in a situation of mind which 
 renders me much more in need of a guide myself, 
 than capable of conducting another. But were it 
 otherwise, how should I venture to offer my advice 
 to a man of your distinguished wisdom and dignity? 
 This, however, I will say, that if the question be, in 
 what manner it becomes us to act, the answer is 
 plain and obvious : but what will be most expedient 
 for our interest, is a point far less easy to determine. 
 In short, if we think, as I am sure we ought, that 
 honour and true interest must ever point the same 
 way, there can be no dispute what path we have to 
 pursue. 
 
 You imagine that we are both of us in the same 
 circumstances ; and most certainly we both com- 
 mitted the same mistake, when we honestly declared 
 our opinions in favour of peace. All our counsels 
 indeed equally tended to prevent a civil war ; and 
 as this was the tnie interest of Csesar, we thought 
 he would consider himself as obliged to us for 
 supporting pacific measures. How much we were 
 deceived is evident, you see, from the present 
 posture of affairs. But you look, I know, much 
 farther, and take into your view not only what has 
 already happened or is now transacting, but the 
 whole future progress and final tendency of these 
 commotions. If, then, you should determine to 
 remain in Rome, you must either approve the 
 measures which are there carrying on, or be present 
 at a scene which your heart condemns. But the 
 former seems an unworthy part, and the latter, I 
 think, altogether an unsafe one. My opinion is 
 consequently for retiring : and the single point is, 
 whither to direct our course ? But as public affairs 
 were never in a more desperate situation, so never 
 was there a question attended with greater difficul- 
 ties : whichever way one turns it, some important 
 objection occurs. If you have resolved upon any 
 scheme which is not consistent with mine, I could 
 wish you would spare yourself the trouble of a 
 journey hither : but if you are inclined to parti- 
 cipate of my measures, I will wait your arrival'. 
 
 q Sulpicius had an interview with Cicero at his Cuman 
 villa, soon after the date of this letter ; bn* the former waa 
 so much dispirited and so full of fears, that Cicero could
 
 453 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 A. U. 704. 
 
 I bog you would be as expeditious for thut purjiose 
 as you conveiiifiitiy can : a request in wliicli both 
 Servius and I'osthumia equally joia'. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 To Itufu.i'. 
 Thou on I never once doubted that I enjoyed 
 the highest rank in your friendship, yet every day's 
 experience strengthens me in tliat per- 
 suasion. You assured nie, 1 remember, 
 in one of your letters, that you should be more 
 assiduous in giving mc proofs of your affection now, 
 than when you were my quiestor, as they would 
 more indisputably appear to be the free result of a 
 disinterested esteem. And though nothing, Ithoiight, 
 could exceed your good offices to me in the province, 
 yet you have since fully evinced the sincerity of 
 this promise. Accordingly, it was witli great 
 pleasure I observed the friendly impatience with 
 ■which you expected my arrival in Rome wiien I 
 had thoughts of going thither, as well as the joy 
 you afterwards ex|U-essed at my having laid aside 
 that design when allairs had tnken a different turn 
 from what you imagined. But your last letter 
 was particularly accei)table to me, as an instance 
 both of your affection and your judgment. It 
 afforded me much satisfaction, indeed, to find, on 
 the one hand, that you consider your true interest 
 (as every great and honest mind ought always to 
 consider it) as inseparably cotinected with a rec- 
 titude of conduct ; and on the other, that you 
 promise to accompany me whithersoever I may 
 determine to steer. Nothing can be more agreeable 
 to my inclination, nor, I trust, to your honour, than 
 your executing this resolution. jNline has been 
 fixed for some time, and it was not with any design 
 of concealing it from you that I did not acquaint 
 you with it before. My only reason was, that in 
 public conjunctures of this kind, the communication 
 of one's intentions to a friend looks like admo- 
 nishing, or rather indeed pressing him to share in 
 the difficulties and the dangers of one's schemes. 
 I cannot, however, but willingly embrace an offer 
 which proceeds from so affectionate and generous 
 a disposition : though I must add, at the same time, 
 (that I may not transgress the modest limits I have 
 set to my requests of this nature,) that I by no 
 means urge your compliance. If you shall think 
 proper to pursue the'measures you propose, I shall 
 esteem myself greatly indebted to you ; if not, I 
 shall very readily excuse you. For though I shall 
 look upon the former as a tribute which you could 
 not well refuse to my friendship, yet I shall consider 
 the latter as the same reasonable concession to your 
 fears. It must be owned, there is great difficulty 
 how to act upon this occasion. It is true, what 
 honour would direct is very apparent; but the pru- 
 dential part is far from being a point so clear. 
 However, if we would act up, as we ought, to the 
 
 not bring him to any determination. They broke up their 
 conference, therefore, without cominc; to any explicit reso- 
 lution : for though Cicero's was already formed, he did not 
 think proper to avow his design of joining Pompey, to a 
 man whom ho found in so timid and fluctuating a state of 
 mind. — Ad Att. x. 14. 
 
 "■ The son and wife of Sulpieius. Posthumia was one of 
 those many ladies wiio found Csesar as irresistible a gallant 
 as lie was a soldier. — Suet, in Vit. Jul. Caes. 50. 
 
 • See rem. °, p. 448. 
 
 dictates of that philosophy we have mutually cul- 
 tivated, we cannot once hesitate in thinking that 
 the worthiest measures must, upon tiie whole, be 
 the most expedient. If you are inclined, then, to 
 embark with me, you must come hither imme- 
 diately : but if it should not suit you to be thus 
 expeditious, I will send you an exact account of 
 my route. To be short, in whatever manner you 
 may decide, I shall always cdiisider yovi as my 
 friend ; but mucli more so if you should determine 
 as I wisli. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIL 
 
 To Tercnlia and Tullia. 
 
 I AM entirely free from the disorder in my 
 
 stomach; wliich was the more painful, as I saw it 
 
 occasioned both you and that dear girl 
 
 ■ whom I love better than my life so much 
 
 uneasiness. I discovered the cause of this complaint 
 the night after I left you, having discharged a 
 great quantity of phlegm. This gave me so imme- 
 diate a relief, that I cannot but believe I owe my 
 cure to some heavenly interposition : to Apollo, no 
 doubt, and iEsculapius. You will offer up your 
 grateful tributes therefore to these restoring jiowers 
 with all the ardency of your usual devotion. 
 
 I am this moment embarked', and have procured 
 
 ' In order to join Pompey in Greece, who had left Italy 
 
 about tlircc months before the date of this letter. A late 
 learned and most able panegyrist of Cicero assures us, that 
 lie took this measure, as choosing to " follow the cause 
 which he thought to be the best, and preferring the consi- 
 deration of duty to that of his safety." Cicero deserves so 
 highly from every friend to genius and literature, tliat it is 
 no wonder Dr. .Middlcton should not alw.iys speak of him 
 with the cool inip:irtiality of an unbiassed historian. But 
 it is the principal purpose of these remarks to inquire, 
 without prejudices of :my kind, into the real merit of 
 Cicero's political character: and as his conduct during 
 this important crisis will evidently show the strength and 
 measure of his patriotism, I shall trace it from the break- 
 ing out of the civil war to the present period, and then leave 
 the facts to speak for themselves. 
 
 Upon the news that Ca;sar was marching into Italy, 
 Pompey was appointed general-in-chief of the republican 
 forces, and the principal magistrates, together witli those 
 Avlio were invested with proconsular power, were distri- 
 buted into different cantons of Italy in order to raise 
 troops for the defence of the common cause. Cicero had 
 his particular district assigned him among the rest ; but 
 instead of executing this important commission with spirit 
 and vigour, he remained altogether inactive at his several 
 villas in that part of Italy. And this he signified to Caesar, 
 by means of their common friend Trebatius, who had 
 written to him in Caesar's name, in order to prevail with 
 him to return to Rome. " Rescripsi ad Trebatium quam 
 illud hoc tempore csset difficile : me tamen in praediis 
 nieis esse, neque delectum ulhim, neque negotium sus- 
 cepisse." — [Ad Att. vii. 37.] Pompey, in the mean time, 
 was pressing Cicero to join him : but he excused himself 
 by representing that wliilst ho was actually on the road 
 for that purpose, he was informed that he could not pro- 
 ceed without the danger of being intercepted by Cjesar's 
 troops. [Epist. 2 ; Cicer. ad Pomp, apud Epist. ad Att. 
 viii.] Cicero, however, is so ingenuous as to acknowledge, 
 in the same letter to Pompey, that so long as there were 
 hopes that the negotiations for a peace would be attended 
 with success, he thought it a justifiable piece of prudence 
 not to be too active in forwarding the preparations that 
 were carrying on against Ca;sar ; remembering, he gays, 
 how much he had formerly suffered from the resentment 
 of the latter in the atfair of his exile. This was explaining.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 455 
 
 •a sliip which I hope is well able to perform her 
 voyage. As soon as I shall have finished this letter, I 
 propose to write to several of my friends, recom- 
 mending you and our dearest TuUia in the strongest 
 terms to their protection. In the mean time I 
 should exhort you to keep up your spirits, if I did 
 not know that both of you are animated with a 
 more than manly fortitude. And, indeed, I hope 
 there is a fair prospect of your remaining in Italy 
 ■without any inconvenience, and of my returning to 
 the defence of the republic, in conjunction with 
 those who are no less faithfully devoted to its 
 interest. 
 
 After earnestly recommending to you the care of 
 your health, let me make it my next request, that 
 you would dispose of yourself in such of my villas 
 as are at the greatest distance from the army. And 
 if provisions should become scarce in Rome, I 
 should think you will find it most convenient to 
 remove with your servants to Arpinum". 
 
 at once, the true principle of liis whole conduct, and he 
 avows it more expressly in a letter to Atticus. " Non 
 simul cum Pompeio mare transieriraus ? Omnino non 
 potcrimus ; exstnt ratio dieruin, sed tamen (fatcamurenim 
 quod est) fefellit ca nie res, qua» fortasse non dcbuit, sed 
 fefellit ; pacem piitavi fore : qus si esset, iratum mlhi 
 Cacsareni esse, cum idem amicus esset Pompeio, nolui. 
 Senseram enim quani idem essent. Hoc verens in banc 
 tardilatcm incidi." [Ad Att. x. 8.] Pompey, however, 
 had no sooner set sail for Greece, than Cicero was struck 
 ■with the consciousness of his having acted an unworthy 
 part: — " Postquam Pompeius et consules ex Italia, exi- 
 
 erimt, non angor (says he) sed ardeo dolore non sum, 
 
 inquam, mihi crede, mentis compos, tantum mihi dedeco- 
 xis adniisisse videor." [Ad Att. ix. 6.] After several deli- 
 berations, therefore, he was determined, he tells Atticus, 
 to follow Pompey, without waiting the event of Csesar's 
 arms in Spain. [Ad Att. ix. 19 ; x. 8.] This resolution, 
 nevertheless, soon gave woy to a second ; for having 
 received some accoimts which contradicted a former report 
 that had been spread concerning the advantageous postui-e 
 of Pompey's aflairs, Cicero renounced his intention of 
 joining him, and now purposed to stand neuter. [Ad Att. 
 X. 9.] But a new turn in favour of Pompey seems to have 
 brought Cicero back to his former scheme : for, in a sub- 
 sequent letter to Atticus, wherein he mentions some 
 reasons to believe that Pompey's affairs went well in 
 Spain, and takes notice, likewise, of some disgust which 
 the populace expressed towards Caesar in the theatre, we 
 find him resuming liis design of openly upiting with 
 Pompey ; and accordrngly he resolved to join those who 
 were maintaining Pompey's cause in Sicily. [Ad Att. x. 
 12.] It does not appear, by any of his letters, upon what 
 motive he afterwards exchanged his plan for that of 
 sailing directly to Pompey's camp in Greece ; which, after 
 various debates with himself, he at length, we see, exe- 
 cuted. There is a passage, however, in Ca?sar's Commen- 
 taries, which, perhaps, will render it probable that the 
 news which, about this time, was confidently spread at 
 Rome, that Cjesar's army had been almost totally defeated 
 in Spain, was the determining reason that sent Cicero to 
 Pompey. The fact was, that Afranius and Petreius had 
 gained some advantages overCa!sar ; but as they magnified 
 them, in their letters to Rome, much beyond the truth, 
 several persons of note, who had hitherto been fluctuating 
 in their resolutions, thought it was now high time to 
 •declare themselves, and went off immediately to Pompey. 
 — " Ha!(: Afranius, I'etreiusque, et eorum amici, pleniora 
 etiam atque ubcrinra Romam ad suos perscribebant. 
 JIulta rumor fingebat : ut pene bellum eonfectum vide- 
 
 retur. Quibus Uteris nunciisque Romam perlatis multi 
 
 •ex Italia ad Cn. Pompeium proficiscebantur ; alii ut prin- 
 cipes talem nunciam attiilisse ; alii nee eventum belli 
 «xpectasse, aut ex omnibus novissimi venisse viderentur." 
 — Ca;s. De Hell. Civ. L 53. 
 " A city in the country of the Volsci, a district of Italy 
 
 The amiable young Cicero most tenderly salutes 
 you. Again and again I bid you farewell. 
 June the llth. 
 
 LETTER XVIIL 
 
 Marcus Coslius lo Cicero. 
 
 Was'' it for this thati followed Caesar into Spain.' 
 
 Why was I not rather at Formiae, that I might have 
 
 _ , accompanied you to Pompey .' But I 
 
 A. u. 704. ■<•».. J J •<- 
 
 was infatuated ; and it was my aversion 
 to Appius^*', together with my friendship for Curio, 
 that gradually drew me into this cursed cause. 
 Nor were you entirely unaccessary to my error : 
 for that night, when I called upon you in my way 
 to Ariminum'^, why did you forget the friend when 
 you were gloriously acting the patriot, and not 
 dissuade me from the purpose of my journey, at 
 the same time that you commissioned me to urge 
 Csesar to pacific measures ? Not that I have an 
 ill opinion of the cause ; but, believe me, perdition 
 itself were preferable to being a witness of the in- 
 sufferable behaviour of these his insolent partisans •''. 
 They have rendered themselves so generally odious, 
 that we should long since have been driven out of 
 Rome, were it not for the apprehensions which 
 people have conceived of the cruel intentions of 
 your party ^. There is not, at this juncture, a 
 man in l^ome, except a few rascally usurers*, who 
 does not wish well to Pompey ; and I have already 
 brought over to your cause not only those among 
 
 which now comprehends part of the Campagna di Roma, 
 and of the Terra di Lavoro. Cicero was bom in this town, 
 which still subsists under the name of Arpino. 
 
 ^ This letter confirms the character that lias been given 
 of Coelius in a former remark i, [See rem. k, p. 389,] and 
 shows him to have been of a temper extravagantly 
 warm and impetuous. The resentment and indignation 
 with which it is animated, was owing to some disappoint- 
 ment that he had met with from Caesar, who had not dis- 
 tinguished him agreeably to his expectations. Ccelius, 
 therefore, who was one of the praetors for the present 
 year, endeavoured to take his revenge by opposing the 
 execution of eertain laws which Csesar had procured. His 
 attempts for this purpose having created great disturbances 
 in Rom-C, he was not only deposed from his office, but 
 expelled the senate ; and the present letter seems to have 
 been written immediately upon that event. — Dio, xlii. p. 
 19,'i ; Cips. De Bell. Civ. iii. 20. 
 
 w Appius engaged on the side of Pompey, as Curio was 
 a warm partisan of Ca;sar. For the occasion of Coelius's 
 resentment against Appius. see book vi. letter 14. 
 
 >^ In order to join Ca;sar. Coelius was one of the party 
 with Curio and Antony, when they fled to Csesar. [Dio, 
 xli. p. 153.] — See the first letter of this book, and rem. 1 on 
 the same. 
 
 y The chiefs of Caesar's party at Rome. 
 
 z When Pompey left Rome, upon the approach of Csesar, 
 he declared 'bat he should treat all those as enemies who 
 did not follow him : a declaration, it was imagined, which 
 he would most rigorously have fulfilled, if fortune had put 
 it in his power. — Cass. De BeU. Civ. i. ; Cic. Epist. passim. 
 
 " As great numbers of those who embraced the party of 
 Ca;sar were deeply involved in debt, it was apprehended 
 that they would procure a law for a general discharge 
 from their creditors. But Cxsar adjusted matters by a 
 more prudent method, and in such a manner as to faci- 
 litate the paj-ment of these loans with little prejudice to 
 those who had advanced them. It appears that Caesar 
 rendered himself, by these means, extremely acceptable to 
 those persons at Rome who dealt in this sort of pecuniary 
 commerce.— Gees. De BeU. Civ. L
 
 460 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 the plebeian families who were in the interest of 
 Cwsar, but the whole populace in general. But 
 you will a»k, perhaps, what can this avail us now ? 
 Wait the event, my friend : victory shall attend 
 you in spite of yourselves''. For surely a profound 
 lethargy has locked up all the senses of your jiarty, 
 as they do not yet seem sensible iiow ojien we lie 
 to au attack, and how little capable we are of 
 making any considerable opposition. It is by no 
 menus from an interested motive that I otTcr my 
 assistance, but merely in resentment of the un- 
 worthy usage 1 have received ; and resentment is 
 a pas!^ion which usually carries me, you know, the 
 greatest lengths. ^ — Hut \vli;it are you doing on the 
 other side the water'^' .' Are you imprudently 
 waiting to give the enemy battle ? What l'oni])ey's 
 forces may be, I know not ; but Ca'sar's, 1 am sure, 
 are accustomed to action, and inured to all the 
 hardships of the most severe campaigns. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Dolabella'^ to Cicero. 
 
 I SHALL rejoice to hear you are well : I have 
 the satisfaction to inform you, that both Tullia 
 „ and myself are perfectly so. Terentia, 
 ■ ■ ■ ' ■ indeed, has been somewhat indisjiosed, 
 but is now, I am assured, perfectly recovered. As 
 to the rest of your family, they are all of them in 
 the state you wish. 
 
 It would be doing me great injustice to suspect 
 that I have at any time advised you to join with 
 me in the cause of Cccsar, or at least to stand 
 neuter, more with a view to the advantage of my 
 own party than of your interest. But now that 
 fortune has declared on our side*^, it is impossible I 
 should be supposed to recommend this alternative 
 for any other reason but because the duty I owe 
 you will not suffer me to be silent. Whether my 
 advice, therefore, shall meet with your approbation 
 or not, you will at least be so just as to believe 
 that it proceeds, my dear Cicero, from an honest 
 intention, and from a heart most sincerely desirous 
 of your welfare. 
 
 You see that neither the lofty title with which 
 Pompey is distinguished ', nor the credit of his 
 former illustrious actions, nor the advantages he 
 so frequently boasted of having kings and nations 
 in the number of his clients, have anything availed 
 
 b This boast of Ccelius ended in nothing but his o\ra 
 destruction. For, not succeeding in his attempts at Rome, 
 he witlidrew to Thurii, a maritime to«Ti on the gulf of 
 Terentum ; wlicre, endeavouring to raise an insurrection 
 in favour of Pompey, he was murdered by the soldiers of 
 Caesar's faction. — l)io, xlii. p. 196. 
 
 <: Cicero was at this time in Ponipey's camp in Greece. 
 
 <' The reader has already been apprised, in the foregoing 
 remarks, that Dolabella was son-in law to Cicero. He was 
 a young man of a warm, enterprising, factious disposition, 
 and'one of the most active partisans of Ca-sar's cause. His 
 character, conduct, and fortune will be more particularly 
 marked out, as occasion shall offer, in the farther progress 
 of these observations. 
 
 e Caesar having defeated Afranius and Petreius, the 
 lieutenants of Pompey, in Spain, was at this time with his 
 army before Dyrrachium, a maritime city in Macedonia, 
 now called Durazzi. 
 
 f When he was a very young man, he was honoured by 
 Sylla with the title of Pompey the Great ; a title which he 
 ever afterwards assumed. 
 
 him. On the contrary, he has suffered a disgrace 
 which never, perhaps, attended any other Ilomaa 
 general. For, after having lost both the Spains*, 
 tngethfr with a veteran army, and after having also 
 been driven out of Italy, he is now so strongly 
 invested on all sides, that he cannot execute what 
 the meanest soldier has often performed, — he can- 
 not make even an honourable retreat''. You will 
 consider, then, agreeably to your usu.il prudence, 
 what hopes can jjossihly remain either to him or 
 to your.self ; and the result will evidently point out 
 the measures which are most e.\pedient for you ta 
 pursue. Let me entreat you, if l'om])ey has already 
 extricated himself out of the danger in which he 
 was involved, and taken refuge in his fleet, that 
 you would now at least think it time to consult 
 your own interest in j)reference to that of any other 
 man. You have performed everything which gra- 
 titude and friendship can e.xpect, or the pirty you 
 approved can require. What remains, then, but 
 to sit down quietly under the republic, as it now 
 subsists, rather than, by vainly contending for the 
 old constitution, to be absolutely dejjrived of both? 
 If Pompey, therefore, should be driven from his 
 present post and obliged to retreat still farther, I 
 conjure you, my dear Cicero, to withdraw to 
 Athens, or to any other city unconcerned in the 
 war. If you should comply with this advice, I beg 
 you would give me notice, that J may fly to embrace 
 you, if by any means it shimld be in my [)Ower. 
 Your own interest with Ctesar, together with the 
 natural generosity of his temper, will render it 
 extremely easy for you to obtain any honourable 
 conditions you shall demand ; and 1 am persuaded 
 that my solicitations will have no inconsiderable 
 weight for this purpose. 
 
 I rely upon your honour and your humanity to 
 take care that this messenger may safely return to 
 me with your answer. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 To Terentia'. 
 
 I AM informed, by the letters of my friends, as 
 
 well as by other accounts, that you have had a 
 
 „ .sudden attack of a fever. I entreat you, 
 
 ■ ' ■ therefore, to employ the utmost care in 
 
 re-establishing your health. 
 
 The early notice you gave me of Caesar's letter 
 was e.xtremely agreeable to me; and let me desire 
 you would send me the same expeditious intelli- 
 gence, if anything should hereafter occur that 
 concerns me to know. Once more I conjure you 
 to take care of your health. Farewell. 
 Juno the 2d. 
 
 e This country was divided by the Romans into the 
 Nearer and the Farther Spain ; that part which lay near 
 the Pyrenees and the river Ibro being comprehendeti under 
 the former appellation, and all beyond that river, under 
 the latter. 
 
 •> It is probable that some slight success which Caesar had 
 obtained before Dyrrachium, had been greatly magnified 
 at Rome : for Pompey was so far from being in the situa- 
 tion which Dolabella here represents him, that Caesar found 
 hiniseLf obliged to abandon the siege of this city, and to 
 retire into Thessaly. — Dio, xli. p. 177- 
 
 ' " This letter was written by Cicero, in the camp at 
 Dyrrachium : for there is one extant to Atticus later than 
 this, and dated from the camp. Ad Att. xi. 18." — Ross.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 -lol 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 To the same'. 
 I ENTREAT you to take all proper measures for 
 the recovery of your health. Let me request, 
 likewise, that you would provide whatever 
 A. u. 704. j^^y. ^g necessary in the present con- 
 juncture, and that you would send me frequent 
 accounts how everything goes on. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIL 
 
 To (he same. 
 
 I HAVE seldom an opportunity of writing, and 
 scarce anything to say that I choose to trust in a 
 letter. I find, by your last, that you 
 A. u. 704. pajjnot meet with a purchaser for any of 
 our farms. I beg, therefore, you would consider 
 of some other method of raising money, in order 
 to satisfy that person who, you are sensible, 1 am 
 very desirous should be paid''. 
 
 I am by no means surprised that you should 
 have received the thanks of our friend, as I dare 
 say she had great reason to acknowledge your 
 kindness. 
 
 If PoUex' is not yet set out, I desire you would 
 exercise your authority, and force the loiterer to 
 depart immediately. Farewell. 
 July the 15th. 
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 
 To the same. 
 
 May the joy you express at my safe arrival in 
 
 Italy™ be never interrupted ! But my mind was 
 
 so much discomposed by those atrocious 
 
 A. V. ,04. jijjyrigg J }ja(j received", that I have 
 
 J This letter was probably written soon after the forego- 
 ing, and from the same place. 
 
 k This letter, as well as the two former, was WTitten 
 while Cicero was with Pompey in Greece. The business 
 at which he so obscurely hints, has been thought to relate 
 to the pajTnent of part of TuUia's portion to Dolabella. 
 But it seems evident from the 4th epistle of the 11th book 
 to Atticus, that Cicero was not at this time come to any 
 resolution concerning the second pajonent of his daughter's 
 portion ; for, in a postscript, he desires the sentiments of 
 Atticus upon that subject. "De pensione altera (says he) 
 oro te omni cura considera quid faciendum sit." [Ad Att. 
 xi. 4.] Now that this letter to Atticus was written about 
 the same time, with tlie present to Terentia, appears from 
 hence, that Cicero plainly refers in it to the same epistle 
 to which this before us is an answer. " Ex proximis cog- 
 novi praedia non venisse:" [Ad Att. ibid.] which tallies 
 with what he says in the letter under examination : — " ex 
 tuis Uteris, quas proxime accepi, cognovi pra?dium nullum 
 venire potuisse ;" and proves that the date of each must 
 have been nearly, if not exactly, coincident. For these 
 reasons it seems necessary to look out for another inter- 
 pretation of the present passage ; and, from the cautious 
 circumstance of the name being suppressed, it may be 
 suspected that C'jesar is the person meant. It is certain, 
 at least, that Cicero owed him a sum of money ; concern- 
 ing which, he expresses some uneasiness to Atticus, upon 
 the breaking out of the civil war ; as he could not, indeed, 
 contmue in Cafsar's debt with any honour, after he had 
 joined the party against him. — Ad Att. vii. 3. 
 
 1 It appears, by a letter to Atticus, that this person 
 acted as a sort of stewai-d in Cicero's family. — Ad Att 
 -siiL 47. 
 
 taken a step I fear, which may be attended with 
 great difficulties". Let me, then, entreat your 
 utmost assistance ; though I must confess, at the 
 same time, that I know not wherein it can avail 
 me. 
 
 I would by no means have you think of coming 
 hither; for the journey is both long and dangerous, 
 and 1 do not see in what manner you could be of 
 any service. Farewell. 
 Brundisium, Nov. the 5th. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 The ill state of healtli into which TuUia is fallen, 
 
 is a very severe addition to the many and great 
 
 disquietudes that afflict my mind?. But 
 
 I need say nothing farther upon this 
 
 , ir. 704. 
 
 ■u After the battle of Pharsalia, Cicero would not engage 
 himself any farther with the Pompeian party ; but, hav;ng 
 endeavoured to make his peace with C'a?sar by the media- 
 tion of Dolabella, he seems to have received no other answer 
 than an order to return immediately into Italy. And this 
 he accordingly did a few days before the date of the present 
 letter.— Ad Att. xi. 7- 
 
 n Cicero, who was somewhat indisposed and much out 
 of humour, did not attend Pompey when he marched from 
 Dyrrachium in order to follow Caosar. Cato was likewise 
 left behind, with fifteen cohorts, to conduct the baggage ; 
 but upon the news of Pompey's defeat in the plains of 
 Pliarsalia, he pressed Cicero to take upon himself the com- 
 mand of those troops, as being of superior rank in the 
 republic. Cicero, who had all along declined accepting 
 any commission in Pompey's army, was not disposed, it 
 may well be imagined, to be more active against Caesar, 
 when the latter had just obtained a most signal victory. 
 Accordingly, he absolutely refused this offer which Cato 
 made ; declaring, at the same time, his resolution of with- 
 drawing from the common cause. Tliis exasperated the 
 young Pompey and his friends to such a degree, that they 
 would have killed Cicero upon the spot, if Cato had not 
 generously interposed, and conducted him safely out of tlie 
 camp. It is probably to this outrage that he here alludes. 
 —Ad Att. xi. 4 ; Plut. in Vit. Cicer. 
 
 o It has been observed, that Cicero scarce ever executed 
 an important resolution of which he did not immediately 
 repent. This, at least, was the situation of his mind in 
 the present instance ; and he was no sooner arrived in 
 Italy, than he began to condemn himself for having too 
 hastily determined upon that measure. The letters which 
 he %vrote to Atticus at this period, and which comprise 
 almost the 11th book of those epistles, contain little else 
 than so many proofs of this assertion. Cicero imagined, 
 after the decisive action that had lately happened -a the 
 plains of Pharsalia, that the chiefs of the Pompeian party 
 would instantly sue for peace. But Caesar, instead of 
 direcfly pursuing his victory, suffered himself to be diverted 
 by a t^ar .■>ltogether foreign to liis purpose, and in which 
 the charms of Cleopatra, perhaps, carried him farther than 
 he at first intended. This gave the Pompeians an oppor- 
 tunity of collecting their scattered forces, and of forming 
 a very considerable army in Africa. As this circumstance 
 was utterly unexpected by Cicero, it occasioned him infi- 
 nite disquietude, and produced those reproaches which he 
 is perpetually throwing out upon himself in the letters 
 above-mentioned to Atticus. For, if the republican party 
 should, after all, have returned triumphant into Italy, he 
 knew he should be treated as one who had merited their 
 utmost resentment. 
 
 This and the following letters in this book to Terentia 
 were written during the interval of Cicero's arrival at 
 Brundisium, and Csesar's return into Italy, which contains 
 a period of about eleven months. 
 
 V The anxiety which Cicero laboured under, at this 
 jimcture, was undoubtedly severe. Besides the uneasiness
 
 462 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 subject, as 1 am sure lier welfare is no less a i)art 
 of your tender concern tlian it is of mine. 
 
 I agree both witli you anil her iu thinking it 
 proper that I should advance nearer to Rome''; 
 and 1 should have done so before now, if I had not 
 been prevented by several difficulties wliich I am 
 not yet able to remove. Hut 1 am in e.xpectatiou 
 of a letter fron\ Atticus, with his sentimiMits upon 
 this subject ; and 1 beg you would forward it to 
 me by tlic earliest opportunity. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 To the same. 
 In addition to my other misfortunes, I have 
 now to lament the illness both of Dolabella and 
 Tullia. The whole frame of my mind is, 
 indeed, so utterly discompo.^cd, that 1 
 know not what to resolve, or how to act, in any of 
 my affairs. I can only conjure you to take care 
 of yourself and of Tullia. Farewell. 
 
 A. u. 704. 
 
 LETTER XXVL 
 
 To the same. 
 If anything occurred worth communicating to 
 you, my letters would be more frequent and much 
 longer. But I need not tell you the situ- 
 ation of my aflairs ; and as to the effect 
 they have upon my mind, I leave it to Lepta and 
 Trebatius to inform you. I have only to add my 
 entreaties that you would take care of your own 
 and Tullia's health. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVIL 
 
 To Titius". 
 There is none of your friends less capable than 
 I am to offer consolation to you under your present 
 affliction, — as the share I take in your 
 *■ ^' ' ■ loss^ renders me greatly in need of the 
 same good office myself. However, as my grief 
 does not rise to the same extreme degree as yours, 
 I should not think I discharged the duty which 
 my connexion and friendship with you require if I 
 remained altogether silent at a time when you are 
 thus overwhelmed with sorrow. I determined, 
 
 mentioned in the last remark, he was, likewise, under 
 great disquietude from the uncertainty of tlie disposition 
 in whioli CjEsar stood towards Iiini. And, to add jet more 
 to the discomposure of his mind, it was at tliis time that 
 he received tlie cruel usage from his brotlicr, of whicli an 
 account lias been given in rem. P, p. 452. lie had still 
 greater misfortunes of a domestic kind to increase the 
 weight of his sorrows, which will be pointed out as they 
 shall occasionally oifer themselves in tlie remiunhig letters 
 to Terentia. 
 
 1 Cicero was still at Brundisium, from which place all 
 the following letters in this book to Terentia, except the 
 last, seem to have been written. 
 
 r It is altogetlier uncertain who the person is to whom 
 this letter is addressed; perhaps the same to whom the 
 J6th of the third book is written. [See rem. o, p. 304.] 
 The precise date, likewise, is extremely doubtful : how- 
 ever, the opinion of Dransfcld is here followed, who, in 
 his edition of these epistles, has placed it under the present 
 year. 
 
 ■ Of bis soa 
 
 therefore, to suggest a few reflections to you which 
 may alleviate, at least, if not entirely remove, the- 
 anguish of your heart. 
 
 Tiiere is no maxim of consolation more common, 
 yet at the same time there is none whivh deserves 
 to be more fre(|ueiitly in our thoughts, than that we 
 ought to remciiiiu'r, " \\'e are men," — that is, 
 creatures who are born to be exposed to calamities 
 of every kind ; and, therefore, " that it becomes 
 us to submit to the conditions by which we hold 
 our existence, without hcirig too much dejected by 
 aircidenls which no prudence can prevent." In a 
 word, that we should learn, by " retlccting on the 
 misfortunes wliich have attended otiiers, tliat there 
 is nothing singular in those which befal ourselves." 
 But neither these, nor other arguments to tiie same 
 purpose which are inculcated in the writings of the 
 philosophers, seem to have so strong a claim to 
 success as those which may be drawn from the 
 present unhapjiy situation of pulilic affairs, and 
 tiiat endless series of misfortunes which is rising 
 upon our country. Tliey are such, indeed, that 
 one cannot but account those to be most fortunate 
 who never knew what it was to be a parent ; and 
 as to those persons who are deprived of their 
 children in these times of general anarchy and mis- 
 rule, they have much less reason to regret their loss 
 than if il had happened in a more llouiishing period 
 of the commonwealth, or while yet the republic 
 had any existence. If your tears flow, indeed, 
 from this accident, merely as it affects your own 
 personal happiness, it may be difficult perhaps en- 
 tirely to restrain them, liut if your sorrow takes its 
 rise from a more enlarged and henevulent ])rinciple, 
 if it be for the sake of the dead themselves that 
 you lament, it may be an easier task to assuage 
 your grief. I shall not here insist U])on an argu- 
 ment which I have frequently heard maintained in 
 conversations, as well as often read, likewise, in 
 treatises that have been written upon this subject. 
 "Death," say those philosophers, "cannot be 
 considered as an evil ; because, if any consciousness 
 remains after our dissolution, it is rather an entrance 
 into immortality than an extinction of life ; and if 
 none remains, there can be no misery where there 
 is no sensibility'." Not to insist, I say, upon any 
 reasonings of this nature, let me remind you of an 
 argument which I can urge with much more confi- 
 dence. He who has made his exit from a scene 
 where such dreadful confusion prevails, and where 
 
 ' The notion of a future state of positive punishment, 
 seems to have been rejected by the ancient philosoplicrs in 
 general, botli by those who maintained the eternal, and 
 those who only held the temporary duration of tlie soul 
 after death. Thus Cicero and Seneca, though of different 
 sects, yet agree in treating the fears of tliis sort as merely 
 a poetical delusion : [Tuscul. Disput. 1. 21, 30 ; Senec. 
 Consolat. ad Marc. 19.] and even Socrates himself affixes 
 no other penalty to tlic most atrocious deviations from 
 moral rectitude, than that of a simple exclusion from tlie 
 mansions of the gods. This shows how impotent the 
 purest systems of the best philosophers must have been 
 for the moral government of mankind, since tlicy thus 
 dropped one of the most powerful of all sanctions for that 
 purpose, the terrors of an actual chastisement. The com- 
 parative number of those is infinitely small, wliose conduct 
 docs not give reason to suspect that they would be willing 
 to exchange spiritual joys in reversion, for the full gratifi- 
 cation of an importunate appetite in present ; and tlie 
 interest of virtue can alone be sufficiently guarded by the 
 divine assurance of intense punishment as well as of com- 
 plete happinets hereafter.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 80 many approaching calamities are in prospect, 
 cannot possibly, it should seem, be a loser by tlie 
 exchange. Let me ask, not only where honour, 
 virtue and probity, where true philosophy and the 
 useful arts, can now fly for refuge, but where even 
 our liberties and our lives can be secure ? For my 
 own part, I have never once heard of the death of 
 any youth during all this last sad year, whom I have 
 not considered as kindly delivered by the immortal 
 gods from the miseries of these wretched times. 
 If, therefore, you can be persuaded to think that 
 their condition is by no means unhappy whose loss 
 you so tenderly deplore, it must undoubtedly prove 
 a very considerable abatement of your present 
 affliction ; for it will then entirely arise from what 
 you feel upon your own account, and have no re- 
 lation to fhe persons whose death you regret. Now 
 it would ill agree with those wise and generous 
 maxims which have ever inspired your breast, to be 
 too sensible of misfortunes which terminate in your 
 own person, and affect not the happiness of those 
 you love. You have upon all occasions, buth 
 public and private, shown yourself animated with 
 the firmest fortitude ; and it becomes you to act 
 np to the character you have thus justly acquired. 
 Time necessaril)' wears out the deepest impressions 
 of sorrow ; and the weakest mother that ever lost 
 a child has found some period to her grief. But 
 we should wisely anticipate that effect which a 
 certain revolution of days will undoubtedly produce, 
 and not wait for a remedy from time which we may 
 much sooner receive from reason. 
 
 If what I have said can anything avail in lessening 
 the weight of your affliction, I shall have obtained 
 my wish ; if not, I shall at least have discharged 
 the duties of that friendship and affection which, 
 believe me, I ever have preserved, and ever shall 
 preserve towards you. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVIIL 
 
 To Terentia. 
 
 My affairs are at present in such a situation, that 
 I have no reason to expect a letter on your part, 
 1fi5 ^^^ have nothing to communicate to you 
 on mine. Yet I know not how it is, I 
 ran no more forbear flattering myself that I may 
 hear from you, than I can refrain from writing to 
 you whenever I meet with a conveyance. 
 
 Volumnia ought to have shown herself more 
 zealous for your interest ; and in the particular 
 instance you mention, she might have acted with 
 greater care and caution. This, however, is but a 
 slight grievance amongst others which I far more 
 severely feel and lament. They have the effect 
 upon me, indeed, which those persons undoubtedly 
 wished", who compelled me into measures utterly 
 opposite to my own sentiments. Farewell. 
 
 December the 31st. 
 
 " The commentators are divided in their opinions con- 
 cerning the persons to whom Cicero here alludes, as they 
 are likewise as to the year when this letter was written. 
 There are two periods, indeed, of Cicero's life, with which 
 this epistle will equally coincide: the time when he was in 
 banishment, and the time when he returned into Italy, 
 after the defeat of Pompey. The opinion, however, of 
 Victorius has been followed, in placing this letter under 
 the present year ; who supposes, not without probability, 
 that the persons here meant are the same of whom Cicero 
 complains in the 23d letter of this book. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 To Acilius, Proconsul'' . 
 
 Luciu.s Manlius Sosis was formerly a citizen 
 
 of Catina^*' ; but having afterwards obtained the 
 
 . . Tnc freedom of Naples, he is at present one 
 A. u. 706. . , 1 c\.i ■ I II • 
 
 of the members of their council. He is 
 
 likewise a citizen of Rome ; having been admitted 
 to that privilege with the rest of the Neapolitans, 
 in consequence of the general grant which was 
 made for that purpose to our allies and the inhabit- 
 ants of Latium. He has lately succeeded to an 
 estate at Catina by the death of his brother, and is 
 now in actual possession. But though I do not 
 imagine that his right is likely to be controverted ; 
 yet, as he has other aflairs of consequence in Sicily, 
 I recommend his concerns of every kind in that 
 island to your protection. But I particularly re- 
 commend himself to you as a most worthy man ; 
 as one with whom I am intimately connected ; and 
 as a person who excels in those sciences I princi- 
 pally admire. Whether, therefore, he shall think 
 proper to return into Sicily or not, I desire you 
 would consider him as my very particular friend, 
 and that you would treat him in such a manner as 
 to convince him that this letter proved greatly to 
 his advantage. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 To Terentia. 
 TcLLiA arrived here^ onthel2th of this month J^. 
 It extremely affected me to see a woman of her 
 ,.„„ singular and amiable virtues reduced (and 
 
 A. V. /Oo. ,1.1 .• \ i. 
 
 reduced too by my own negligence) to a 
 situation far other than is agreeable to her rank and 
 filial piety ^. 
 
 I have some thoughts of sending my son, accom- 
 
 * He was governor of Sicily ; which is all that is known 
 of his history. The laborious and accurate Pighius places 
 his administration of that island under the present year ; 
 and Mr. I?oss assigns a very good reason for being of the 
 same opinion. For it appears (as that gentleman observes) 
 that Cicero's correspondence with Acilius was carried on 
 when the latter was proconsul of Sicily, and during the 
 time that C'ssar had the supreme authority. It is proba- 
 ble, therefore, that these letters were written in the present 
 year ; because, in all the others that fall within that period, 
 the persons who severally presided in Sicily are known to 
 have been Posthumius Albinus, Aulus Allienus, and Titus 
 Fursanius. See Mr. Koss's Remarks on the Epist. Famil. 
 vol. ii. p. 502. 
 
 w A maritime city in Sicily, now called Catania. It con- 
 tinued to be a to\vn of considerable note, till the eruptions 
 of mount /Etna in 1669 and 1693, whicn almost entirely 
 laid it in ruins. 
 
 X Brundisium, where Cicero was still waiting for Ca;sar's 
 arrival from Egypt. 
 
 7 June. 
 
 z Dolabella was greatly embarrassed in his affairs; and 
 it seems by this passage as if he had not allowed Tullia a 
 maintenance, during his absence abroad, sufficient to sup- 
 port her rank and dignity. The negligence with wliich 
 Cicero reproaches himself, probably relates to his not hav- 
 ing secured a proper settlement on his daughter, when he 
 made the second payment of her fortune to Dolabella. 
 For in a letter written to Atticus about this time, he ex- 
 pressly condemns himself for having acted imprudently in 
 that affair. " In pensione secunda (says he) ca;ci fuimus." 
 —Ad Att. xi. 19.
 
 i&l 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TIJLLIUS CK EKO 
 
 panied by Rallustius, with a letter to Caesar* ; and 
 if I should execute this design, 1 will let you know 
 when he sets out. In the mean time, be careful of 
 your health, I conjure you. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXL 
 
 To the iame. 
 I HAD determined, agreeably to what I mentioned 
 in my former, to send my son to meet Cx'sar on 
 . ,, -,,,, his return to Italy; but I have since 
 altered my resolution, as 1 hear no news 
 of his arrival. For the rest I refer you to Sicca, 
 who will inform you what measures I think neces- 
 sary to be taken ; thoui;li I must add, that nothing 
 new has occurred since I wrote last. TuUia is still 
 with me. — Adieu, and take all possible care of your 
 health. 
 
 June the 20tli. 
 
 LETTER XXXIL 
 
 To Acilius, P roconatd. 
 
 Caius Fi.avius, an illustrious Roman knight, 
 of an honourable fiimily, is one with whom I live 
 »(^ in great intimacy; he was a very particu- 
 lar friend likewise of my son-in-law Piso. 
 Both he and his brother Lucius show me the 
 strongest instances of their regard. I shall receive 
 it, therefore, as an honour done to myself, if you 
 will treat Caius with all the marks of favour and 
 distinction that shall be consistent with your cha- 
 racter and dignity ; and be assured you cannot, in 
 any article, more effectually oblige me, than by 
 complying with this request. I will add, that the 
 rank which he bears in the world, the credit in 
 which he stands with those of his own order, 
 together with his polite and grateful disjiosition, 
 ■will afford you reason to be extremely well satisfied 
 with the good offices you shall confer upon him. 
 When I say this, believe me I am not prompted 
 by any interested motives, but speak the sincere 
 dictates of truth and friendship. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 To Tereniia. 
 J WROTE to Atticus (somewhat later indeed than 
 I ought) concerning the affair you mention. When 
 you talk to him upon that head, he will 
 inform you of ray inclinations ; and I need 
 not be more explicit here, after having written so 
 fully to him''. Let me know as soon as possible 
 what steps are taken in that business ; and acquaint 
 me at the same time with everything else which 
 concerns me. I have only to add my request, 
 that you would be careful of your health. Farewell. 
 July the 9th. 
 
 » In order to supplicate Ceesot's pardon, for having en- 
 gaged against him on the side of Pompey. 
 
 b Mr. Ross supposes that the letter to w hich Cicero refers 
 is the 19th of the 11th book to Atticus. If this conjecture 
 be right, (as it is highly probable,) the business hinted at 
 concerned the making of Terentia's will, and also the 
 raising of money towards the support of TuUia, by the sale 
 of some plate and furniture. — Ad Att. xi. 19, 20. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 To the same. 
 In answer to what you object concerning the 
 divorce I mentioned in my last"^, 1 can only say, 
 A V "oc *'"'*■ ^ ^"^ perfectly ignorant what power 
 Dolabella may at this time possess, or 
 what ferments there may be among the populace ''. 
 However, if you think there is anything to be 
 apprehended from his resentment, let the matter 
 rest ; and perhaps the first proposal may come 
 from himself'. Nevertheless, I leave you to act 
 as you shall judge proper; not doubting that you 
 will take such measures in this most unfortunate 
 affair as shall appear to be attended with the fewest 
 unhajij)y conseipiences. Farewell. 
 July thcldtli. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 To Acilius, Proconnul. 
 Marci's and Caius Clodius, together with 
 Archagathus and Philo, all of them inhabitants of 
 A II 706 ^^'^ noble and elegant city of Halesa, are 
 persons with whom I am united by every 
 tie of friendship and hospitality. But I am afraid 
 if I recommend so many at once to your particular 
 favour, you will be apt to suspect that I write 
 merely from some motive of an interested kind ; 
 though, indeed, both myself and my friends have 
 reason to be abundantly satisfied with the regard 
 you always pay to my letters of this nature. Let 
 me assure you, then, that both Archagathus and 
 Philo, as also the whole family of the Clodii, have, 
 by a long series of affectionate offices, a right to 
 my best assistance. I very earnestly entreat you, 
 therefore, as an obligation that will be highly 
 agreeable to me, that you would promote their 
 interest upon all occasions, as far as the honour 
 and dignity of your character shall permit. — 
 Farewell. 
 
 = Between TuUia and Dolabella. The occasion of this 
 divorce is so darkly hinted at in the letters to Atticus, 
 that it is altogether impossible to penetrate into the rea- 
 sons that produced it ; one, however, seems to have arisen 
 from an intrigue that was carrying on between Dolabella 
 and Metella, This lady was wife to Lentulus Spintlier (to 
 whom severalletters in the first and second book of this 
 collection .ire addresstd), and is supposed to be the same 
 person whom Horace mentions to have had a commerce 
 of gallantry with the son of the celebrated tragedian 
 JEsopus. — See rem. 7, p. 358 ; Ad Att. xi. 20. 
 
 d Dolabella was at this time tribune of the people, and 
 employing the power and credit with which he was 
 invested by that office to the most seditious purposes. 
 Among other attempts, he endeavoured to procure a law 
 for the general cancelling of all debts, and likewise to 
 oblige the proprietors of houses in Home to remit one 
 year's rent to their respective tenants. The disturbances 
 ran so high, that the senate was under a necessity of suffer- 
 ing Antony to enter Rome with a body of troops, and no 
 less than eight hundred citizens lost their lives upon this 
 occasion. But nothing proved efTectual for quieting these 
 commotions, till it was known that Ca-sar, after having 
 finished the war in Egypt, was actually upon his return 
 into Italy. — Plut. in Vit. Anton. ; Dio, xlii. Liv. Epit. 113. 
 
 ' The passage in the original is extremely corrupt. The 
 translator has adopted the reading proposed by Mr. Ross: 
 — " sed si metuendus iratus est : quicsce ; turn ab illo for- 
 taseo nascetur."
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 466 
 
 A. V. 70c. 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 To Cassius. 
 
 It was the hope that peace would be restored to 
 our country, and the abhorrence of spilling the 
 blood of our fellow-citizens, that equally 
 induced both you and myself to decline 
 an obstinate perseverance in tiie civil war^ But 
 though these sentiments were common to us both, 
 yet, as I am considered as having been the first to 
 inspire you with them, it is more my part, perhaps, 
 to render you satisfied with having adopted them, 
 than it is yours to perform the same friendly office 
 towards me. But, to say the truth, (and it is a 
 circumstance upon which I frequently reflect,) we 
 mutually convinced each other in the free conver- 
 sations we held upon this subject, that a single 
 battle, if it should not wholly determine our cause, 
 ought to be the limits, however, of our particular 
 opposition. And these sentiments have never 
 seriously been condemned by any but by those 
 alone who think it more eligible that our constitu- 
 tion should be totally destroyed, than in any degree 
 impaired. But my opinion was far otherwise : 
 for I had no views to gratify by its extinction, and 
 had much to hope from its remains. As to the 
 <;onsequences which have since ensued, they lay 
 far beyond the reach of human discernment ; and 
 the wonder is, not so much how they escaped our 
 penetration, as how it was possible they should have 
 happened. I must confess my own opinion always 
 was, that the battle of Pharsalia would be decisive ; 
 and I imagined that the victors would act with a 
 regard to the common preservation of all, and the 
 vanquished to their own. But both the one and 
 the other, I was well aware, depended on the 
 expedition with which the conquerors should pursue 
 their success. And had they pursued it immedi- 
 ately, those who have since carried the war into 
 Africa^ would have experienced (and experienced 
 too, if I do not flatter myself, by my intercession) 
 the same clemency with which the rest of our 
 party have been treated, who retired into Asia and 
 Achaia. But the critical opportunity (that season 
 so important in all transactions, and especially in a 
 civil war) was unhappily lost; and a whole year 
 intervening, it raised the spirits of some of our 
 party to hope they might recover the victory, and 
 rendered others so desperate as not to dread the 
 reverse. Fortune, however, must be answerable 
 for the whole train of evils which this delay has 
 produced. For who would have imagined either 
 
 f Csesar, after the battle of Pharsalia, crossed the Helles- 
 pont in pursuit of Pompey. Cassius, who was at the same 
 time sailing in those straits with a very considerable 
 •fleet, might with great ease have destroj-ed him, as Caesar 
 vrasin no condition to have resisted so powerful an arma- 
 ment. But Cassius chose to act a most unworthy and 
 treacherous part, by deserting with his whole fleet to the 
 conqueror. Some of the historians account for this con- 
 duct by assuring us that he was struck with a kind of 
 panic at the amazing fortune of Csesar, wliich rendered 
 him incapable of making any farther resistance. AVhereas 
 itappears, by the present letter, to havebeen in consequence 
 «fa very extraordinary resolution he had formed in concert 
 with Cicero, of resting tlie cause of liberty— for so they 
 called it — upon a single engagement. — Suet, in A'it. Jul, 
 Cxs. 63. Appian. De Bell. Civ. 483, 
 
 '' See rem. °, p. 461. 
 
 that the Alexandrine war could have been drawn 
 out to so great a length, or that the paltry Phar- 
 naces, could have struck such a terror throughout 
 Asia"" ? 
 
 But though we both acted by the same measures, 
 our present situations, however, are extremely 
 different. The scheme which you thought proper 
 to execute, has given you admission into Csesar's 
 councils, and opened a prospect to you of his future 
 purposes ; an advantage, most certainly, that must 
 spare you all the uneasiness which attends a state 
 of doubt and suspense. Whereas, for myself, as 
 I imagined that Ciesar would immediately after the 
 battle of Pharsalia have returned into Italy, I 
 hastened hither in order to encourage and improve 
 that pacific disposition which he had discovered by 
 his generosity to so many of his illustrious enemies : 
 by which means I have ever since been separated 
 from him by an immense distance. Here, in truth, 
 I sit the sad witness of those complaints' that are 
 poured forth in Rome, and throughout all Italy : 
 complaints which both you and I, according to our 
 respective powers, might contribute somewhat to 
 remove, if Cassar were present to support us. 
 
 I entreat you, then, to communicate to me, 
 agreeably to your wonted friendship, all that you 
 observe and think concerning the present state of 
 affairs ; in a word, that you would inform me what 
 we are to expect, and how you would advise me to 
 act. Be assured, I shall lay great stress upon your 
 sentiments ; and had I wisely followed those you 
 gave me in your first letter from LuceriaJ, I might, 
 without difficulty, have still preserved my dignities. 
 Farewell. 
 
 •> Pharnaces was son of the famous Mithridates, king 
 of Pontus. [See r«m. c, p. 333.] This young prince, taking 
 advantage of Caesar's being engaged in the Alexandrine 
 war, made an incursion into Cappadocia and the Lesser 
 Armenia, the dominions of Deiotarus, a tributary king 
 to the Romans. Domitius Calvinus, whom Caesar had 
 appointed to command in Asia and the neighbouring pro- 
 vinces, having received notice of thic invasion, marched 
 immediately to the assistance of Deiotarus. The two armies 
 came to an engagement, in which Pharnaces had the supe- 
 riority. Calvinus, at the same time, being called away by 
 Caesar, who had occasion for those troops to complete the 
 conquest of Alexandria, Pharnaces took that opportunity 
 of entering Pontus, which he seized as his hereditary 
 dominions, and where he committed great cruelties and 
 devastation. This letter seems to have been written soon 
 after the transaction above related, and probably while 
 Caesar himself was on the march in order to chastise the 
 insolence of Pharnaces. It was in giving an account of 
 this expedition that Caesar made use of that celebrated 
 expression in a letter to one of his friends. Vent, vidi,vici. 
 — Hirt. De Bell. Alcxand. 31 ; Plut. in Vit. Caesar. 
 
 ' Caesar, after the battle of Pharsalia, sent Mark Antony 
 intoltaly, ashis master.of the horse ; an office, in the absence 
 of the dictator, of supreme authority in the common- 
 wealth : but Antony abused the power with which he was 
 thus invested, and taking advantage of the disturbances 
 mentioned in rem. d, p. 404, turned them to his private 
 purposes, by enriching himself with the spoils of his fellow 
 citizens. This seems to have been the occasion of those 
 general complaints to which Cicero here alludes. — Plut. in 
 Vit. Anton. ; Cic. Phil. ii. 24, 25. 
 
 J Now called Lucera, a citj' of Italy, situated in tho 
 Capitinata, a part of the ancient Apulia.
 
 460 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLTUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 To Acilius, Proconsul. 
 TuERK is no man of the same rank as Otanilius 
 Naso, witli whom I more intimately converse ; as, 
 indeed, the polite and virtuous cast of Ills 
 A. u. /OC. ,„j„j renders my daily intercourse with 
 him extremiily pleasing to me. After having thus 
 acquainted yi>n with t\w terms upon which we live 
 together, I need add notliin;; f\irtlier to recommend 
 him to your good opinion. lie has some alfairs in 
 your province which he has entrusted to the ma- 
 nagement of his freedinen Hilarus, Antigonus, and 
 Demostratus : these, therefore, together with all 
 the concerns of Naso, I beseech you to receive 
 under your ])rotection. I ask this with the same 
 warmth as if I were personally interested ; and he 
 assured, I shall think myself highly obliged if I 
 should find that this letter shall have had great 
 weight with you. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXVin. 
 
 To Tereiilia. 
 I HAVE not yet heard any news either of Caesar's 
 arrival, or of his letter which Philotimus, I was 
 „»(. informed, had in charge to deliver to me. 
 ' ' ' '' But be assured, you shall immediately 
 receive the first certain intelligence I shall be able 
 to send you. Take care of your health. Adieu. 
 August the lUU. 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 To the same. 
 I HAVE at last received a letter from Caesar, and 
 written in no unfavourable terms''. It is now said 
 A u 706 ^^^^^ ^^ ^"^ ^^ ^^ Italy much sooner than 
 was expected. I have not yet resolved 
 whether to wait for him here, or to meet him on 
 his way ; but, as soon as I shall have determined 
 that point, I will let you know. 
 
 I beg you would immediately send back this 
 messenger ; and let me conjure you, at the same 
 time, to take all possible care of your health. 
 Farewell. 
 August the 12th. 
 
 A. V. 706. 
 
 LETTER XL. 
 
 To Acilius, Proconsul. 
 
 I HAVE been an old and hereditary guest' at the 
 house of Lyso, of Lilybseum ■", ever since the time 
 of his grandfather, and he accordingly dis- 
 tinguishes me with singular marks of his 
 
 1* This letter is not extant ; but Cicero mentions the pur- 
 port of it in one of his orations, by which it appears, that 
 Caesar therein assured our author, that he would preserve 
 to him his former state and dignities. — Pro Ligar. 3. 
 
 1 Cicero was proquaestor of Sicily in the year of Rome 
 678, and he afterwards visited that island in order to fur- 
 nish himself with evidence against Vcrres, the late gover- 
 nor, whom he had undertaken to impeach for his oppressive 
 and cruel administration of that province. It was proba- 
 bly upon these occasions that he had been entertained at 
 the house of Lyso, as well as of several others whom he 
 
 respect ; as, indeed, I have found him to be worthy* 
 of that illustrious ancestry from which he descends. 
 For this reason, I very strenuously recommend 
 both himself and his family to your good offices, 
 and entreat you to let him see that my recommen- 
 dation has proved much to his honour and advan- 
 tage. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XLL 
 
 To Tercniia. 
 I AM in daily expectation of my couriers, whose- 
 return will, perhai)s, render me less doubtful what 
 course to pursue". As soon as they shall 
 A. V. /OC. gprjyg^ 1 ^viii give yon immediate notice. 
 Meanwhile be careful of your health. Farewell. 
 September the 1st, 
 
 LETTER XLII. 
 To the same. 
 1 PURPOSE to be at my Tusculan villa about tH& 
 7th or Hlh t)f this month""'. I beg that everything 
 „ ,. may be ready for my reception, as I shall, 
 
 A. U. 706. i , .•' 1 r • J -.1 
 
 perhaps, bring several friends with me ; 
 and I may probably, too, continue there some time. 
 If a vase is wanting in the bath, let it be supplied 
 with one : and I desire you would, likewise, provide 
 whatever else may be necessary for the health and 
 entertainment of my guests. Farewell. 
 VcnusiaP, October the 1st. 
 
 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 To A'cilius, Proconsul. 
 Caius Avianus Philoxenus is my old host. 
 But, besides this connexion, he is, likewise, my 
 -06 particular friend ; and it was in con- 
 sequence of my good offices that Csesar 
 admitted him into the corporation of Novocomum. 
 It was upon this occasion he assumed the family 
 name of his friend Flaccus Avianus, whom I believe 
 you know to be, likewise, extremely mine. I 
 mention these circumstances as so many proofs 
 that my recommendation of Philoxenus is not 
 founded upon common motives. I entreat you, 
 then, to receive him into the number of your 
 friends ; to assist him in every instance that fhall 
 not break in upon your own convenience ; and, in 
 a word, to let him see that this letter proved of 
 singular service to him. Your compliance with 
 this request will be obliging me in the most sensible 
 manner. Farewell. 
 
 recommends in his letters to Acilius as persons to whom, 
 he was indebted for the rites of hospitality. 
 
 "> A sea-port town in Sicily, now called Marsala. 
 
 " Whether to wait at Hrundisium the arrival of Caesar, 
 or to set out in order to meet him. 
 
 o ' ' Cicero continued at Brundisium till Caesar arrived in 
 Italy, who eame much sooner than was expected, and 
 landed at Tarentum some time in September. They had 
 an interview with each other, whicli ended much to the 
 satisfaction of Cicero, who, intending to follow Caesar 
 towards Rome, wrote this letter to his wife, to prepare for 
 his reception at his Tusculan villa." — Ross. Remarks on 
 Cic. Epistles. 
 
 p Now called Venosa, a town in the kingdom of Naplesv 
 situated at the foot of the Apennine mountains.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF IIIS FRIENDS. 
 
 467 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 To Trcbonius'i. 
 I READ your letter, but particularly the treatise 
 that attended it', with great pleasure. It was a 
 _„P pleasure, nevertheless, not without its 
 alloy ; as I could not but regret that you 
 should leave us at a time when you had thus in- 
 flamed my heart, I do not say with a stronger 
 affection (for that could admit of no increase), but 
 with a more ardent desire of enjoying your com- 
 pany. My single consolation arises from the hope 
 that we shall endeavour to alleviate the pain of this 
 absence by a mutual exchange of long and frequent 
 letters. Whilst I promise this on my part, I 
 assure myself of the same on yours ; as indeed you 
 have left me no room to doubt how highly I stand 
 in your regard. Need I mention those public 
 instances I formerly received of your friendship, 
 ■when you showed the world that you considered 
 my enemies as your own ; when you stood forth 
 my generous advocate in the assemblies of the 
 people ; when you acted with that spirit which tlie 
 consuls ought to have shown, in maintaining the 
 cause of liberty, by supporting mine ; and, though 
 only a qusestor, yet refused to submit to the supe- 
 rior authority of a tribune, whilst your colleague, 
 at the same time, meanly yielded to his measures^? 
 Need I mention (what I shall always, however, 
 most gratefully remember) the more recent instances 
 of your regard to me, in the solicitude you expressed 
 
 1 He was tribune in the year of Rome 698, at which time 
 he distinguished himself by being the principal promoter 
 of those unconstitutional grants that were made by the 
 people to Pompey, Caesar, and C'rassus, for the enlarge- 
 ment of their power and dignities. After the expiration 
 of his tribunate, he went into Gaul, in quality of Cassar's 
 lieutenant ; and on the breaking out of the civil war, he 
 was honoured by Caesar with the command at tlie siege of 
 Marseilles. In the year before the date of this letter, he 
 was elected to the office of prjetor, in which he discovered 
 great spirit and judgment in opposing the factious mea- 
 sures of his colleague, the turbulent Ccelius, of whose 
 attempts mention has been made in rem. ^, p. 469. In thf> 
 present year he was appointed proconsul of Spain, to whicli 
 provincehe was either just setting out or actually upon the 
 road when this letter was written. — Dio, xxxix. p. 105 ; 
 Csesar De Bell. Civ. i. 36 ; iii. 20; Ilirt. De Bell. Afric. 64. 
 For a farther account of Trebonius, see rem. », below, and 
 letter 10, book xii., rem. h. 
 
 ' A collection of Cicero's bons mots. 
 
 ' Trebonius w£.s quasstor in tlie year of Rome 693, when 
 Lucius Afranius and Quintus Jletellus Celer were consuls. 
 It was at this time that Clodius (desirous of obtaining 
 the tribunate, in order to oppress Cicero with the weight 
 of that powerful magistracj') made his first effort to obtain 
 a law for ratifying his adoption into a plebeian family, 
 none but plebeians being entitled to exercise that office. 
 The tribune to whom Cicero here alludes is Herennius, 
 whom Clodius had prevailed upon to propose this law to 
 the people, and wliose indigence and principles qualified 
 him for imdertaking any wotIz for any man that would 
 give him his price. Both the consuls were likewise favour- 
 ers c>f this law when it was first proposed ; but Aletellus, 
 when he discovered the factious designs which Clodius had 
 in view, thought proper, afterwards, most strongly to 
 oppose it. The colleague of Trebonius in the quasstorship 
 was Quintus Ca-cilius Nepos, of whose particular enmity 
 to Cicero an account has been given in rem. ', on letter 
 2, of book i. , and by Cicero himself in the third letter of 
 the same book.— Ad Att. i. 18, 19 ; Dio, xxxvii. p. 53 ; 
 Pigh. Annal. 093. 
 
 for my safety when I engaged in the late war ; in 
 the joy you showed when I returned into Italy' ; 
 in your friendly participation of all those cares and 
 disquietudes with which I was at that time op- 
 pressed"; and, in a word, in your kind intent of 
 visiting me at Brundisium^, if you had not been 
 suddenly ordered into Spain .' To omit, I say, these 
 various and inestimable proofs of your friendship, is 
 not the treatise you have now sent me a most con- 
 spicuous evidence of the share I enjoy in your 
 heart .' It is so, indeed, in a double view; and, 
 not only as you are so partial as to be the constant, 
 and, perhaps, single, admirer of my wit, but as you 
 liave placed it, likewise, in so advantageous a light 
 as to render it, whatever it may be in itself, ex- 
 tremely agreeable. The truth of it is, your manner 
 of relating my pleasantries is not less humorous 
 than the conceits you celebrate, and half the reader's 
 mirth is exhausted ere he arrives at my joke. In 
 short, if I had no other obligation to you for 
 making this collection than your having suffered 
 me to be so long present to your thoughts, I should 
 be utterly insensible if it were not to impress upon 
 me the most affectionate sentiments. When I 
 consider, indeed, that nothing but the warmest 
 attachment could have engaged you in such a work, 
 I cannot suppose any man to have a greater regard 
 for himself than you have thus discovered for me. 
 I wish it may be in my power to make you as 
 ample a return in every other instance, as I most 
 certainly do in the affection of my heart ; a return 
 with which I trust, however, you will be perfectly 
 well satistied. 
 
 But to return from your performance to your 
 very agreeable letter : full as it was, I may yet 
 answer it in few words. Let me assure you, then, 
 in the first place, that I no more imagined the letter 
 which I sent to Calvus'^ would be made public, 
 than I suspect that this will ; and you are sensible 
 that a letter designed to go no farther than the 
 hand to which it is addressed, is written in a very- 
 different manner from one intended for general 
 inspection. But you think, it seems, that I have 
 spoken in higher terms of his abilities than truth 
 will justify. It was my real opinion, however, that 
 he possessed a great genius, and, notwithstanding 
 that he misapplied it by a wrong choice of that par- 
 ticular species of eloquence which he adopted, yet 
 he certainly discovered great judgment in his exe- 
 cution. In a word, his compositions were marked 
 with a vein of uncommon erudition ; but they 
 wanted a certain strength and spirit of colouring 
 to render them perfectly finished. It was the 
 attainment, therefore, of this quality that I endea- 
 voured to recommend to his pursuit ; and the 
 seasoning of advice with applause, has a wonderful 
 
 ' After the battle of Pharsalia. 
 
 " See rem. °, p. 461. 
 
 T When he was waiting the arrival of Caesar. 
 
 "■ A very celebrated orator, who, though not much abovo 
 thirty when he died, (which was a short time before this 
 letter was written), yet left behind him a large collection 
 of orations ; he was concerned with Cicero in most of the 
 principal causes that came into the forum during the 
 short time in which he flourished. The letter here men- 
 tioned was probably part of a correspondence carried on 
 between Cicero and Calvus on the subject of eloquence, 
 the whole of which was extant long after the death of 
 our author, though none of these epistles have reached 
 our times.— Quint. Inst. x. 1 ; Auct. Dialog, de Caus. cor- 
 rupt. Eloquent. 18, 21. 
 
 H H a
 
 4C0 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 efficacy iii firing the genius and animating the 
 efforts of those one wislies to persuade". Tliis was 
 the true motive of the praises I bestowed upon 
 Calvus, of whose talents I really had a very liiijh 
 opinion. 
 
 1 hiive only farther to assure you, that my affec- 
 tionate wishes attend you in your journey ; that I 
 shall impatiently expect your return ; that I shall 
 faithfully jireserve you in my remembrance ; and 
 that I shall soothe the uneasiness of your absence 
 by keeping up this ejiistolary commerce. Let me 
 entreat you to rellcct, on your part, on the many 
 and great good ottii'cs 1 have received at your 
 hands ; and which, though you may forget, 1 never 
 can, without being guilty of a most unpardonable 
 ingratitude. It is impossible, indeed, you should 
 reriect on the oblig.ilioiis you have conferred upon 
 me, witliout believing, not only that 1 have some 
 merit, but that 1 think of you with the highest 
 esteem and afTection. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 To Acilius, Proconsul. 
 I HAVE long had obligations to Demetrius Magus 
 for the generous reception he gave me when I was 
 70f ill 'Sicily'': indeed there is none of his coun- 
 trymen with whom I ever entered into so 
 strong a friendship. At my particular instances, 
 Dolabella prevailed with Caesar to grant liim the 
 freedom of Rome, and I assisted at the ceremony of 
 his admission ; a<;cordingly he now takes upon him- 
 self the name of Publius Cornelius. The ill use 
 ■which some men, of a mean and avaricious turn, had 
 made of Cffisar's confiilence, by exposing privileges 
 of this kind to sale, induced him to make a general 
 revocation of these grants. However, he assured 
 Dolabella, in my presence, that he had no reason 
 to be under any apprehension with respect to 
 Magus ; for his benefaction, he said, should still 
 remain to him in its full force. 1 thought proper 
 to mention this, that you might treat him with 
 the consideration which is due to a Roman citizen ; 
 and it is with the utmost zeal that I recommend 
 him to your favour in all other respects. You 
 cannot, indeed, confer upon me a higher obligation 
 than by convincing my friend that this letter pro- 
 cured him the honour of your peculiar regard. — 
 Farewell. 
 
 ^ "It is but allowing a man to be what he would have 
 the world think him, (says Sir Richard Steele,) to make 
 him :inything else that one pleases." This judicious piece 
 of flattery, however, deserves to be highly applauded in 
 the present instance, as it proceeded entirely from a desire 
 of benefiting the person on whom it was employed. — But 
 what renders it more remarkably generous is, that Cal- 
 ■i-us contested, though very unequally indeed, the palm 
 of eloquence with Cicero. Yet the latter, we see, gene- 
 rously endeavoured to correct the taste of his rival, and 
 improve him into a less inadequate competitor. For 
 Cicero was too conscious of his sublime abilities, to be 
 infected with that low jealousy so visible in wits of an 
 inferior rank, who seem to think they can only rise in 
 fame in proportion as they shall be able to sink the merit 
 of contemporary geniuses. — Senec. Controvers. iii. 1.9. 
 
 y See rem. ', p. 4G6, 
 
 LETTER XLVl. 
 To Sextxli'is Rufus'^, Qucestor. 
 I RKCOMMENO all the Cyprians in general to 
 your protection, but particularly those belonging 
 A V 7W. ^^ '•'"' district of I'aphos* : and I sliall 
 liold myself obliged to you for any in- 
 stance of your favour that you shall think proper 
 to show them. It is with the more willingness I 
 apply to you in their behalf, as it much imports 
 your character (in which I greatly interest myself) 
 that you, who are the first quiestor that ever held 
 the government of Cyprus'", should form such 
 ordinances as may deserve to be followed as so many 
 ])rece(lents by ycmr successors. It will contribute, 
 I hope, to this end, if you shall ])ursue that edict 
 whicii was published by your friend Lentulus>', to- 
 gether with those which were enacted likewise by 
 myself'', as your adopting them will prove, I trust, 
 much to your honour. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XLVn. 
 
 To Acilius, Proconsul. 
 I STRONGLY rccommend my friend and host 
 llijipias to your good offices : he is a citizen of 
 A. u. 7(X> Calactina, and the son of Philo.xenus. 
 His estate (as the affair has been repre- 
 sented to me) has been illegally seized for the use 
 of the public ; and if this should be the truth, 
 your own ecpiity, without any other recommenda- 
 tion, will sufficiently incline you to see that justice 
 is done him. But, whatever the circumstances of 
 his case may be, I request it as an honour to my- 
 self, and an honour too of the most obliging kind, 
 that you would in this, and in every other article 
 in which he is concerned, favour him with your 
 assistance ; so far, I mean, as shall not be inconsist- 
 ent with the honour and dignity of your character. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XLVin. 
 To the same. 
 Lucius Bruttius, a young man of equestrian 
 rank, is in the number of those with whoin I am 
 A u 706 ™os'' particularly intimate : there has 
 been a great friendship, likewise, between 
 his father and myself, ever since I was quaestor in 
 Sicily. He distinguishes me by peculiar marks of 
 his observance, and is adorned with every valuable 
 accomplishment. He is at present my guest ; but 
 I most earnestly recommend his family, his affairs, 
 and his agents, to your protection. You will con- 
 fer upon me a most acceptable obligation, by 
 giving him reason to find (as, indeed, 1 have ven- 
 tured to assure him he undoubtedly will) that this 
 letter proved much to his advantage. Farewell. 
 
 * lie was appointed governor of the island of Cyprus, as 
 appears by the present letter. And this, together with his 
 commanding the fleet under Cassius, in Asia, after the 
 death of Caesar, is the whole that is kno\vn of him. 
 
 a A city in the island of Cyprus. 
 
 ^ Before this time it was always annexed (as Manutius 
 observes! to the province of Cilicix 
 
 <= Lentulus Spinther, to whom several letters in the first 
 and second books of this collection are addressed. See 
 rem. •>, p. 343. 
 
 "* Cicero succeeded Appius in the government of Cilicia,
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 469 
 
 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 To Lucius Papirius Pcelus". 
 
 Is it true, my friend, that you look upon your- 
 self as havins; been guilty of a most ridiculous piece 
 _,„. of folly, in attempting to imitate the 
 
 A. V. /06. ., , ■" II -^ f 1 5 
 
 thunder, as you call it, ot my eloquence r 
 "With reason, indeed, you might have thought so, 
 had you failed in your attempt : but, since you 
 have excelled the model you had in view, the dis- 
 grace surely is on my side, not on yours. The 
 ■verse, therefore, which you apply to yourself, from 
 one of Trabea's' comedies, may witli much more 
 justice be turned upon me, as my own eloquence 
 fails far short of that perfection at which I aim. 
 But tell me what sort of figure do my letters make.' 
 are they not written, think you, in the true fami- 
 liar ? They do not constantly, however, preserve 
 one uniform manner, as this species of composition 
 bears no resemblance to that of the oratorical 
 kind ; though, indeed, in judicinl matters, we vary 
 our style according to the nature of the causes in 
 ■which we are engaged. Those, for example, iu 
 ■which private interests of little moment are con- 
 cerned, we treat with a suitable simplicity of dic- 
 tion ; but where the reputation or the life of our 
 client is in question, we rise into greater jiomp and 
 dignity of phrase. But, whatever may be the sub- 
 ject of my letters, they still speak the language of 
 conversation. 
 
 How came you to imagine that all your family 
 have been plebeians, when it is certain that many 
 of them were patricians, of the lower orders ? To 
 begin with the first in this catalogue, 1 will instance 
 Lucius Papisius Magillanus, who, in the year of 
 Rome 312, was censor with Lucius Sempronius 
 Atratinus, as he before had been his colleague in 
 the consulate. At this time your family name was 
 Papisius. After him there were thirteen of your an- 
 cestors who were curule magistrates '', before Lucius 
 Papirius Crassus, who was the first of your family 
 that changed the name of Papisius. This Papirius, 
 in the year 315, being chosen dictator, appointed 
 Lucius Papirius Castor to be his master of the 
 horse, and four years afterwards he was elected 
 consul, together with Caius Duilius. Next in this 
 list appears Cursor, a man highly honoured in his 
 generation ; and after him we find Lucius Masso, 
 the sedile, together with several others of the same 
 appellation : and I could wish that you had the 
 portraits of all these patricians among your family- 
 pictures. The Carbones and the Turdi follow next. 
 This branch of your family were all of them ple- 
 
 ^ See rem. °, on letter 2, book vi. 
 
 f The-time when this poet flourished is uncertain. His 
 dramatic writings seem to have been in great repute, as 
 Cicero frequently quotes them in his Tusculan Disputa- 
 tions. 
 
 S The patrician families were distinguished into the 
 higher and the lower order. Of the former sort were those 
 who derived their pedigree from the two hundred senators 
 that composed the senate, as it was orijrinally establislied 
 by Romulus : of the latter, were the descendants of the 
 members which, above a century afterv/ards, were added 
 to this celebrated council, by Tarquinius I'riscus. — Rosin. 
 Antiquit. Rom. p. 6a7. 
 
 •> The curule magistrates were those particular officers 
 of the state who had the privilege of being drawn in a car. 
 Those were the consuls, the censors, the prictors, and 
 curule a-diles 
 
 beians, and they by no means reflect any honour 
 upon your race. For, excepting Caius Carbo, who 
 was murdered by Damasippus, there is not one of 
 his name who was not an enemy to his country. 
 There was another Caius, whom I personally 
 knew, as well as the buffoon, his brother : they 
 were both of them men of the most worthless cha- 
 racters. As to the son of Rubria, he was my friend, 
 for which reason I shall pass him over in silence, 
 and only mention his three brothers, Caius, Cneius, 
 and Marcus. Marcus, having committed number- 
 less acts of violence and oppression in Sicily, was 
 prosecuted for those crimes by Publius Flaccus, 
 and found guilty : Caius being, likewise, impeached 
 by Lucius Crassus, is said to have poisoned himself 
 with cantharides. He was the author of great 
 disturbances during the time that he exercised the 
 office of tribune, and is supposed to have been 
 concerned in the murder of Scipio Africanus. As 
 to Cneius, who was put to death by my friend 
 Porapey', at Lilybseum, there never existed, I be- 
 lieve, a more infamous character. It is generally 
 imagined that the father of this man, in order to 
 avoid the consequences of a prosecution which was 
 commenced against him by Marcus Antonius, put 
 an end to his life by a draught of vitriol. Thus, my 
 friend, I would advise you to claim your kindred 
 among the patricians ; for you see the plebeian part 
 of your family were but a worthless and seditious 
 race ■*. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER L. 
 To Acilius, Proconsul. 
 
 I HAVE long had a friendship with the family of 
 the Titurnii ; the last surviving branch of which i;; 
 Marcus Titurnius Rufus. He has a 
 claim, therefore, to my best good offices, 
 and it is in your power to render them effectual. 
 Accordingly I recoinmend him to your favour, in 
 all the most unfeigned warmth of my heart ; and 
 you will extremely oblige me by giving him strong 
 proofs of the regard you pay to my recommenda- 
 tion. Farewell. 
 
 ' This Cneius Papirius Carbo was three times consul ; 
 the last of which was in the year of Rome (J71. Having 
 exercised his power in a most oppressive and tyrannical 
 m.anner, he was deposed, to the great satisfaction of the 
 republic, by Sylla, who was immediately declared dictator. 
 Carbo soon afterwards appeared, with a considerable 
 fleet, upon the coast of Sicily ; and being taken piisoner 
 by Pompey, whom Sylla had sent in pursuit of him, he 
 was formally arraigned before the tribunal of Pompey, and 
 publicly executed by his orders at Lilybseum. — Plut. in 
 Vit. Pomp. 
 
 J It may be proper to apprise the reader, in this place, 
 that there is one epistle from Cicero to Psetus, which is 
 omitted in this translation. Cicero takes occasion, in this 
 rejected letter, to explain to his friend the notion of the 
 Stoics concerning obscenity ; and, in order to illustrate 
 their absurd reasoning upon this subject, he introduces a 
 great variety of doufile-entendrcs, which, as they turn 
 upon ambiguities that hold only in the Latin language, it 
 is utterly impossible to translate. Rut, had they been 
 reconcileable to our idiom, the translator would never- 
 theless have declined the office of being their interpreter ; 
 as he would not have deprived himself of the satisfaction 
 to think tliat there is nothing in this volume unfit for 
 the perusal of the fair part of his readers. — Ep. Fam. ix. 
 
 A. u. 706.
 
 470 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 To Marcus Marius ^. 
 
 WiiKNEVER I leflect, as iiidfcd I frequently do, 
 on tliose jHiblic calamities we have tlius long 
 
 u 707 0''"''i^'li "'111 "re still likely to endure, it 
 always brings to my thoughts the last 
 interview we had together. It made so strong an 
 impressiou u|H)n niy mind, that 1 can name the 
 very day ; and 1 perfectly well remember it was 
 on the tenth of May, in the consulate of Lentulus 
 and iMareellus', that, U])on my arrival at my I'om- 
 peian villa'", 1 found you waiting for uie with the 
 most friendly solicitude. Your generous concern 
 arose from a teiulerness both for my honour and 
 my safety ; as the former you feared would be 
 endangered if I continued in Italy ; and the latter, 
 if I went to Ponqiey. I was myself, likewise, as 
 you undoubtedly jierceived, so greatly perplexed as 
 to' be incapable of determining which of these 
 measures was most advisable. However, I resolved 
 to sacrifice all consideralions of personal safety to 
 the dictates of my honour ; and accordingly 1 joined 
 Pompey in Greece. But I no sooner arrived in his 
 army than I had occasion to rejient of my resolu- 
 tion ; not so much from the danger to which I was 
 myself exposed, as from the many cajiital faults I 
 discovered among them. In the first place, Pom- 
 pey's forces were neither very considerable in point 
 of numbers", nor by any means composed of war- 
 like troops ; and in the next place, (I speak, how- 
 ever, with exception of Pompey himself, and a few 
 others of the principal leaders,) they carried on the 
 war with such a spirit of rapaciousness, and breatlied 
 such principles of cruelty in their conversation, 
 that I could not t'.iink even upon our success 
 without horror. To this I must add, that some of 
 the most considerable officers were deeply involved 
 in debt ; and, in short, there was nothing good 
 among them but their cause. Thus despairing of suc- 
 cess, I advised (what, indeed, I had always recom- 
 mended) that proposals of accommodation should 
 be offered to Ctesar ; and when I found Pompey 
 utterly averse to all measures of that kind, T endea- 
 voured to persuade him, at least, to avoid a general 
 engagement. This last advice he seemed sometimes 
 inclined to follow, and probably would have fol- 
 lowed, if a slight advantage, which he soon after- 
 wards gained", had not given him a confidence in 
 
 '' See rem. u, p. 357. 
 
 1 An. Urb. 704, about two years before the date of this 
 letter, which was probably written very early in the pre- 
 sent year. 
 
 "> " This villa of Cicero was situated near Pompeii, upon 
 the eastern coast of the bay of Naples, and at no great 
 distance from the villa of Marius." — Ross. 
 
 " Pompey's army, at the battle of Pharsalia, was more 
 than double in number to that of Ca!sar, whose forces 
 amounted only to about 22,000 men. — Plut. in Vit. Pomp. 
 
 o Before the walls of Dyrrachium. Kotwithstanding 
 Cicero speaks with some sort of contempt of this advan- 
 tage which Pompey gained over the triiops of Ca?sar, yet 
 it appears to have been very considerable. It was thought 
 CO at least by Ca;sar liimself, who observed to some of his 
 
 his troops. From that moment all the skill and 
 conduct of this great man seems to have utterly 
 forsaken iiim ; and he acted so little like a general, 
 that, with a raw and inexperienced army, he imi)ru- 
 dently gave battle i' to the most brave and martial 
 legions. The coiiseiiuence was, that he suffered a 
 most shameful defeat ; and, abandoning his camp 
 to Ca'sar, he was obliged to run away, unaccom- 
 panied even with a single attendant ■). This event 
 determined me to lay down my arms being per- 
 suaded that if we could not ])revail with our united 
 forces, we should scarce have better success when 
 they were broken and disjiersed. I declined, there- 
 fore, to engage any farther in a war, the result of 
 whicii must necessarily be attended with one or 
 other of the following unhajipy consequences : 
 
 friends, after the action was over, that the enemy would 
 have oV)taincd a complete victory, Iiad they been com- 
 manded by a general that knew how to conquer. — Plut. in 
 Vit. Pomp. 
 
 I' In the plains of Pharsalia. The prhicipal officers of 
 Pompey ".s army were so elated by their late success before 
 Dyrrachium, that they pursued Ca?Bar as to certain con- 
 quest ; and, instead of concerting measures for securing 
 their victory, were employed in wannly contesting among 
 themselves their several proportions of the spoils. Pomi)ey 
 was not less confident of success than the rest ; and he 
 had the imprudence to declare, in a council of war, which 
 was holdcn a few days before this ini])ortant battle, that 
 he did not doubt of entirely defeating C'a;sar by the single 
 strength of his cavalry, and without engaging his legions 
 in the action. — Ua^s. Do Bell. Civ. iii. f)."?, flO. 
 
 It is very observable, that the day on wliich this memo- 
 rable battle was fought is nowhere recorded, and that it 
 was not known even in Lucan's time : — 
 
 " Tempera signavit leviorum Roma malorum, 
 Ilunc voluit nescire diem." — Lucan, vii. 410. 
 
 1 Plutarch resembles Pompey's fliglit to that of Ajax 
 before Hector, as described in the 11th Iliad: — 
 
 " Zeus 06 TraxTjp Ajaffl' v^l^oyos iv (p6fiuv ccpae' 
 Sttj 5e 'ra(pojv," k. t. \. 
 
 " Partial Jove, espousing Hector's part. 
 
 Shot hcav'n-bred horror thro' the Grecian's heart; 
 
 Confused, unnerved in Hector's presence grown, 
 
 Amazed he stood, with horrors not his own. 
 
 O'er his broad back his moony shield he threw. 
 
 And, glaring round, by tardy steps withdrew." — Pope. 
 In fact, however, it was attended with all the circum- 
 stances of disgrace which Cicero mentions. Pompey, after 
 various deliberations, resolved to take shelter in Egypt, 
 where he had reason to hope for a protector in Ptolemy, 
 whose father he had fomierly assisted in recovering his 
 dominions. [See rem. ' on letter 12, book i.] Rut Theo- 
 dotus, a sort of tutor to this young prince, not think- 
 ing it prudent cither to receive Pompey, or to refuse 
 him admittance, proposed, as the best policy, that ho 
 should be destroyed. Accordingly the persons who were 
 sent to conduct him fronr his ship had directions to be his 
 executioners ; which they performed, by stabbing him, as 
 he was stepping out of the boat, in order to land. These 
 assassins, having severed Pompey's head, left his body on 
 the shore, where it was burned with the planks of an old 
 fishing-boat, by a faithful freedman, who had been the 
 unhappy spectator of this aflecting tragedy. Pompey's 
 ashes were afterwards conveyed to his wife Cornelia, who 
 deposited them in a family monument near his Alban 
 vilia. — Plut. in Vit. Pomp.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 471 
 
 •cither to perish in the field of battle, to be taken 
 j)risoaer by the conquerors, to be sacrificed by 
 treachery', to have recourse to Jubas, to live in a 
 sort of voluntary exile, or to fall by one's own 
 hand. Other choice most certainly there was none, 
 if you would not, or durst not, trust to the cle- 
 mency of the victor. Banishment, it must be 
 owned, to a mind that had nothing to reproach 
 itself with, would have been the most eligible of 
 all these evils ; especially under the reflection of 
 being driven from a commonwealtli, which presents 
 nothing to our view but what we must behold with 
 pain. Nevertheless, I chose to remain with my 
 own ; if anything now, indeed, can with propriety 
 be called our oivn ; a misfortune which, together 
 ■with every other calamity that this fatal war has 
 produced, I long since foretold. I returned, there- 
 fore, to Italy, not as to a situation perfectly 
 desirable, but in order, if the republic should in 
 any degree subsist, to enjoy somewhat that had, at 
 least, the semblance of our country ; and if it were 
 utterly destroyed, to live as if I were to all essential 
 purposes in a real state of exile. But though I 
 saw no reason that could justly induce me to be 
 my own executioner, I saw many to be desirous of 
 death. For it is an old and true maxim, that " life 
 is not worth preserving when a man is no longer 
 ■what he once was." A. blameless conscience, how- 
 ever, is undoubtedly a great consolation ; especially 
 as I can add to it the double support that arises to 
 my mind, from a knowledge of the noblest sciences, 
 and from the glory of my former actions ; one of 
 which can never be torn from me so long as I live ; 
 and of the other, even death itself has not the 
 power to deprive me. 
 
 I have troubled you with this minute detail, from 
 
 "■ This seems to allude to the fate of Pompey. 
 « He was a very considerable prince, whose dominions 
 extended not only over that part of Africa which is now 
 called the coast of Barbary, but southward beyond mount 
 Atlas, and fi-om the Straits' mouth along the Atlantic 
 ocean to the Canary islands. Upon the first breaking out 
 of the civil war, he distinguished himself in supporting the 
 Pompeian party, in Africa, against the army commanded 
 by Curio, whom he entirely defeated. [See rem. J on letter 
 1, book iii.] Lucan has given a very poetical description 
 of the several tributary nations which, upon this occasion, 
 he led to battle : — 
 
 " Autololes, Numidaeque vagi, semperque paratus 
 
 Inculto Gaetulus equo," &c. 
 " With him unnumber'd nations march along, 
 Th' Autololes with wild Numidians throng ; 
 The rough Gcetulian, with his ruder steed ; 
 The Moor, resembling India's swarthy breed : 
 Poor Nasamons, and Gar-imantines join'd, 
 AVith swift Marmaridans that match the wind ; 
 The Blarax bred the trembling dart to throw, 
 Sure as the shaft that leaves the Parthian bow ; 
 AVith these Jlassylia's nimble horsemen ride ; 
 They nor the bit, nor curbing rein provide. 
 But with light rods the well-taught courser guide. 
 From lonely cots the Libyan hunters came, 
 AVho still unarm'd invade the salvage game, 
 And with spread mantles tawny lions tame." — ^RowE. 
 After the battle of Pharsalia, Scipio, who commanded the 
 remains of Pompey's army that had assembled in Africa, 
 applied to Juba for assistance ; who, accordingly, joined 
 him with a very considerable body of men. But their 
 united forces were not sufficient to withstand the fortune 
 of Cjesar ; who, having defeated their combined troops, 
 Juba was too high-spirited to survive the disgrace, and, at 
 his own request, ■was stabbed by one of his attendants. — 
 lucan, iv. 670 ; Hirt. De Bell. Afric. 94. 
 
 a full persuasion of the tender regard you bear both 
 to myself and to our country. I was desirous, 
 indeed, to ai)prise you fully of the princij)les by 
 which I have steered, that you might be sensible it 
 was my first and ])rincipal aim that no single arm 
 should be more potent than the whole united com- 
 monwealth ; and, afterwards, when there was one 
 who, by Pompey's mistaken conduct, had so firmly 
 established his power as to render all resistance 
 vain, that it was my next endeavour to preserve 
 the public tranquillity. I was desirous you should 
 know, that after the loss of those troops, and that 
 general' wherein all our hopes were centred, I 
 attempted to procure a total cessation of arms ; 
 and when this advice proved ineffectual, that I 
 determined, at least, to lay down my own. In a 
 word, I was desirous you should know, that if our 
 liberties still remain, I also am still a citizen of the 
 republic ; if not, that I am no less an exile nor 
 more conveniently situated than if I had banished 
 myself to Rliodes or Mitylene". 
 
 I should have been glad to have said this to you 
 in person ; but as I was not likely to meet with an 
 opportunity for that purpose so soon as I wished, 
 I thought proper to take this earlier method of 
 furnishing you with an answer, if you should fall 
 in the way of those who are disposed to arraign my 
 conduct. For, notwithstanding that my death could 
 in no sort have availed the republic, yet I stand 
 condemned, it seems, by some for not sacrificing 
 my life in its cause. But they are those only, I 
 am well assured, who have the cruelty to think that 
 there has not been blood enough sjiilt already. If 
 my advice, however, had been followed, those who 
 have perished in this war might have preserved 
 their lives with honour, though they had accepted 
 of peace upon ever so unreasonable conditions. 
 For they would still have had the better cause, 
 though their enemies had the stronger swords. 
 
 And now, perhaps, I have quite tired your 
 patience : I shall think so, at least, if you do not 
 send me a longer letter in return. I will only add, 
 that if I can despatch some affairs which I am de- 
 sirous of finishing, I hope to be with you very 
 shortly. Farewell. 
 
 ' Pompey. 
 
 " Rhodes, the metropolis of an island in the Mediter- 
 ranean, and Mitylene, the principal city of Lesbos, an 
 island in the JEgean sea, were places to which MarccUus 
 and some others of the Pompeian party retired after the 
 battle of Pharsalia. These cities were esteemed by the 
 ancients for the delightful temperature of their respective 
 climates, and for many other delicacies with which they 
 abounded ; and, accordingly, Horace, in his ode to Plan- 
 cus, mentions them in the number of those which were 
 most admired and celebrated by his countrymen : — 
 
 " Laudabunt alii claram Rhoden, aut Mitylenen,"&c. 
 Both Vitruvius and Cicero, likewise, speak of Mitylene in 
 particular, with the highest encomiums on the elegance, 
 beauty, and magnificence of its buildings. It should seem, 
 therefore, that the text is corrupted in this place ; and 
 that, instead of — non incommodiore loco, the true reading 
 is — non commodiore. Cicero, indeed, would make use of a 
 very odd sort of justification, if we suppose him to have 
 said that he had not chosen a more mconveiiietit place for 
 his residence than those who retired to Rhodes or Mity- 
 lene ; whereas it was much to his purpose to assert, that 
 the exiles in those cities wci-e full as conveniently situated 
 as himself. For the rest, it will appear in the progress of 
 these letters, that Cicero was far from living at Rome as 
 in a state of exile, during C'eesar's usurpation. — Hor. Od. i. 
 7 : A'itruv. i. ; Cic. de Leg. Agra. ii. IS.
 
 472 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 To Cneiiis Plancius". 
 I AM indebted to you for two letters, dated from 
 Corcyra. You congratulate me in one of them on 
 »,„ the account vou have recciveil, tiiat 1 
 
 A. U. /O/- 'II !■ • .> • .1 
 
 still preserve my lormer iniluenee in the 
 commonwealth, and wish me joy in the other of 
 my late marriage"'. With re.si)e(;t to the first, if 
 to mean well to the interest of my country, and to 
 ajiprove tiiat meaning to every friend of its liberties, 
 may be considered as maintaining my inthieiice,the 
 account you have heard is certainly true. But if it 
 consists in rendering those sentiments elfectual to 
 the public welfare, or, at least, in daring freely to 
 support and enforce them, alas 1 my friend, 1 have 
 not the least sliadow of influence remaining. The 
 fact is, it will be sufiicient honour if I can have so 
 much influence over myself as to bear with patience 
 our present and imjiending calamities ; a frame of 
 mind not to be ac(juired without difficulty, when it 
 is considered that the present war" is such, that if 
 one party is successful, it will be attended with an 
 infinite effusion of blood ; and if the other, with a 
 total extinction of liberty. It affords me some 
 consolation, liowever, under these dangers, to reflect 
 that I clearly foresaw them when 1 declared how 
 greatly I dreaded our victory as well as our defeat : 
 I was perfectly aware of the hazard to which our 
 liberties would be exposed, by referring our politi- 
 cal contentions to the decision of the sword. I 
 knew, indeed, if that party should prevail which I 
 joined, not from a passion for war, but merely with 
 the hopes of facilitating an accommodation, what 
 cruelties were to be expected from their pride, 
 their avarice, and their revenge. On the contrary, 
 should they be vanquished, I was sensible what 
 numbers of the best and most illustrious of our 
 fellow-citizens would inevitably perish. And yet, 
 when I forewarned these men of our danger, and 
 justly advised them to avoid it, instead of receiving 
 my admonitions as theeft'ect of a prudential caution, 
 
 T Cneius Plancius was of an equestrian family. He was 
 early initiated into public affairs by Aulus Torquatus, 
 whom he attended wlien lie was proconsul in Africa. He 
 afterwards served under Quintus Mctellus, in his expedi- 
 tion against Crete ; and, in the year of Cicero's banish- 
 ment, was qua?stor in JIacedonia. This giive him an op- 
 portunity of distinguishing his friendship for our author, 
 by the many good offices he exerted towards him as he 
 passed through that province. Cicero very gratefully re- 
 membered them, as appears by his oration in defence of 
 Plancius, when he was accused of illicit practices in 
 obtaining the office of aedile. He seems, in the earlier 
 part of his life, to have indulged himself in the prevailing 
 vices of the fasliionable world ; but, upon the whole of 
 his character, to have been a man of strict honour and 
 integrity. Cicero particularly celebrates him for his filial 
 piety, and that general esteem in which he lived with all 
 his relations. At the time when this letter was written, 
 he was in Corcyra, a little island in the Ionian sea, now 
 called Corfu. It is probable he retreated thither, with 
 some others of the Pompiuan party, after the total over- 
 throw tif their array in the plains of Pharsalia. — Orat. pro 
 Plane. 7. 11, 12. 
 
 "■ See below, note T. 
 
 * Between Csesar, and the remains of the Pompeian 
 party under the command of Scipio, who had assembled a 
 very considerable army in Africa. Ca>sar set out upon 
 this expedition towards the end of December, in the pre- 
 ceding year, abotit three or four months iiiter his reium 
 from the Alexandrine war. 
 
 they chose to treat it as the dictates of an unreB' 
 
 sonable timidity. 
 
 But to turn to your other letter : I am obliged! 
 to you for your good wishes in regard to my mar- 
 riagey, as 1 am well persuaded that they are ])er- 
 fectly sincere. I should have had no thoughts, in 
 these miserable limes, of entering into any new 
 engagement of this sort, if I had not, upon my 
 return into Italy, found my domestic affairs in nO' 
 better a situation than tliuse of the republic. 
 When I discovered that, through the wi(!ked i)rac- 
 tices of those whom I had infinitely obliged, and 
 to whom my welfare ought to have been infiiiitely 
 dear, that there was no security for me within my 
 own walls, and that I was surrounded by treachery 
 on all sides, I tliought it nec-essary to protect myself 
 against the iierfidiousness of my old connexions, by 
 having recourse to a more faithful alliance. — But 
 enough of my j)rivate concerns : and perhaps too 
 much. As to those which relate to yourself, I 
 hope you have the opinion of them which you 
 justly ought, and are free from all jiarticular unea- 
 siness on your own account. For I am well 
 persuaded, that whatever may be the event of 
 public affairs, you will be perfectly secure : as one 
 of the contending jiarties, 1 perceive, is already 
 reconciled to you ; and the other you have never 
 offended. With resjiect to my own disposition 
 towards you: though I well know the narrow 
 extent of my power, and how little my services 
 can now avail, yet you may be assured of my most 
 zealous endeavours, at least, upon every occasion 
 wherein either your character or your interest is 
 concerned. In the mean time, let me know as soon 
 as possible how it fares with you, and what mea- 
 sures you purpose to pursue. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER in. 
 
 To Toranius ^. 
 Although I imagine this miserable war is either 
 already terminated by some decisive engagement*, 
 ^„« or at least is approaching to its conclu- 
 
 sion ; yet 
 
 b ***** * 
 
 I fre- 
 
 y Cicero liad very lately divorced his wife Terentia, on 
 occasion of some great offence she liad given him in her 
 economical conduct. The person to whom he was now 
 married, was called Publilia, a young lady to whom he had 
 been guardian, and of an age extremely disproportionate 
 to his own. His principal inducement to this match 
 seems to have been herfortune, which, it is said, was very 
 considerable. However, he did not long enjoy the benefit of 
 it ; for, finding himself uneasy, likewise, under this second 
 marriage, he soon parted with his j'oung wife, and conse- 
 quently with her portion. This very unequal match ex- 
 posed Cicero to nmch censure ; and Calenus warmly 
 reproaches him with it, in that bitter invective which he 
 delivered, as l)io, at least, pretends, in reply to one of 
 Cicero's against Mark Antony. — .Ad Att. xiii. 34 ; Dio. Ix. 
 p. 303. 
 
 ^ Suetonius mentions a person of this name, who was 
 elected into the office of asdile with Octavius, the father 
 of Augustus, and who afterwards, notwithstanding he 
 had been guardian to Augustus himself, was in the num- 
 ber of those who perished by the sanguinary proscriptions 
 of that emperor. One of the commentators upon thaf;^ 
 historian supposes him to be the same person to whom 
 this letter is addressed ; and indeed the conjecture is 
 extremely prob.ablc. However, all that can be affirmed 
 with any certainty concerning Toranius is, that he took 
 part in the civil war on the side of Pompey, and that.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 47» 
 
 quently reflect that there was not a man throughout 
 all the numerous army of Pompey who agreed with 
 you and me in our opinion. We were the only 
 persons, indeed, who were sensible, if there should 
 be no hope of an accommodation, how pregnant 
 with mischief that war must prove, in which tor- 
 rents of blood would be tlie consequence, if we 
 •were vanquished, and slavery, if we proved vic- 
 torious"^. I was represented at that time, by such 
 wise and heroic spirits as your Domitii and your 
 Lentuli, as a man altogether under the dominion 
 of fear : and fear, I will confess, I did, that those 
 calamities would happen which have since ensued. 
 But I am now totally void of all farther appre- 
 hensions ; and I stand prepared to meet with 
 indifference whatever it be that fortune may have 
 in reserve. While prudence, indeed, could anything 
 avail, I lamented to see her dictates neglected. 
 But now that counsel can profit nothing, and that 
 the republic is utterly overturned, the only rational 
 part that remains, is to bear with calmness what- 
 ever shall be the event : especially when it is con- 
 sidered that death is the final period of all human 
 concerns. In the mean time, I have the satisfac- 
 tion to be conscious that I consulted the dignity of 
 the republic, whilst it was possible to be preserved ; 
 and wlien it could no longer be maintained, that 
 my next endeavour was to save the commonwealth 
 from being utterly destroyed. I mention this, not 
 to indulge a vanity in talking of myself, but that 
 you, who were entirely united with me in the same 
 sentiments and disposition, may be led into the 
 same train of reflections. For it must imdoubtedly 
 afford you great consolation to remember, that 
 whatever turn aff'airs might have taken, your coun- 
 sels were perfectly right. May we yet live to see the 
 republic, in some degree at least, again restored ! 
 and may we have the satisfaction of one day com- 
 paring together the anxiety we mutually suffered, 
 when we were looked upon as men that wanted 
 spirit, merely because we declared that those con- 
 sequences would happen which have accordingly 
 taken place ! Meanwhile, I will venture to assure 
 you, that you have nothing to apprehend upon 
 your own account, exclusive of the general sub- 
 version of the commonwealth. As for myself, be 
 persuaded that I shall at all times, as far as lies in 
 my power, be ready to exert my utmost services 
 towards you and your family. Farewell. 
 
 after the battle of Pharsalia, he retired to Corcyra, as he 
 appears to have been in that island when this letter was 
 written. — Suet, in Vit. August. 27. See the reniaik of Mr. 
 Ross, on the Epist. Famil. vol. i. p. 40fJ. 
 
 a See ran. ^ on the foregoing letter. 
 
 l> The first period of this letter in the original runs 
 thus: " Etsi cum ha?c ad te scribebam, aut appropin- 
 quare cxitus hnjus calamitosissimi belli, aut jam aliquid 
 actmn et confectum vidcbatur ; tamen quotidie conime- 
 inorabam, te unum in tanto exercitu niihi fuisse assen- 
 tarem, ct me tibi." The ctsi and the tamcn in this sen- 
 tence seem to be as absolutely incoherent as if Cicero 
 had said, that " although jEneas settled in Italy, yet 
 C;Esar was a consummate general." It should seem, there- 
 fore, that there is some error in tlie text. Perhaps the 
 proper connecting words that followed tamcu, have been 
 dropped by the transcribers, and tliat Quotidie was the 
 beginning of a new sentence. The translator has ven- 
 tured, at least, to proceed upon this conjecture : and tlie 
 place ot the supposed oniission is marked by asterisks. 
 
 c This is explained by what he says of Pompey in a sub- 
 sequent letter. — See letter 19, book Ix. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Marcus Terentius Varro^. 
 Atticus lately read a letter to me that he had 
 received from you, by which I was informed where 
 ^„y you are, and in what manner employed : 
 but it mentioned no circumstance that 
 could lead me to guess when we might expect to 
 see you. I hope, however, that the time of your 
 coming hither is approaching, and that your com- 
 pany will afford me consolation under our general 
 misfortunes : though, indeed, they are so numerous 
 and so severe, that it is a folly to expect anything 
 will be sufficient for that i)urpose. Nevertheless, 
 there are some instances, perhajjs, in which we may 
 prove of mutual assistance to each other. For 
 since my return to Rome, you must know, I am 
 reconciled to those old companions of mine, my 
 books. Not that I was estranged from them out 
 of any disgust ; but that I could not look upon 
 them without some sort of shame. It seemed, 
 indeed, that I had ill observed their precepts, whea 
 I joined with perfidious associates in taking part 
 in our public commotions. They are willing, how- 
 ever, to pardon my error, and invite me to renew 
 my former acquaintance with them ; applauding, 
 at the same time, your superior wisdom, in never 
 having forsaken their society ■=. Thus restored, 
 therefore, as I am, to their good graces, may I not 
 hope, if I can unite your company with theirs, to 
 support myself under the pressure of our present 
 and impending calamities ? Wherever, then, you 
 shall choose 1 should join you, be it at Tusculum, 
 at Cuniifi', or at Rome, I shall most readily obey 
 your summons. The place I last named would, 
 indeed, be the least acceptable to me. But it is 
 of no great consequence where we meet ; for if w& 
 can but be together, I will undertake to render the 
 place of meeting equally agreeable to both of us. 
 Farewell. 
 
 'I Marcus Terentius Varro had bten lieutenant to Pompey 
 in the piratic war ; in which he distinguished himself with 
 so much advantage, as to be honoured with a naval crown : 
 an honour usually conferred on those who had signalised 
 their valour in a sea engagement. He was afterwards ap- 
 pointed, in conjunction with Afranius and Petreius, lieu- 
 tenant to Pompey in Spain ; and he was serving in that 
 quality, when the civil war broke out. He was at that 
 time at tlie head of two legions in the fartlier Spain : 
 but his colleagues having been defeated by Caesar, he foimd 
 himself in no condition to resist, and accordingly surren- 
 dered himself and his army into the hands of the conqueror. 
 He seems from that time to have withdrawn from public 
 aflairs, and to have consecrated the remainder of his life 
 (wliich he is said to Ifave preserved, with all his senses 
 entire, to the age of a hundred) wholly to philosophical 
 studies. His genius and talents, indeed, were principally 
 of the literary kind ; in which he was universally acknow- 
 ledged to hold the first rank among his contemporaries. 
 Ho published many treatises in all the various branches of' 
 human science ; one or two of the least considerable of 
 which, and those not entire, are the whole that now 
 remain of his numberless compositions. — Ca;s. He Bell. Civ. 
 1 7, &c. ; Val. Ma.x. viii. 7; Cic. Academ. i. 3. 
 
 e Varro's books were his companions, it seems, in the 
 camp as well as in the closet ; and he was never wholly 
 separated from them, it appears, even amidst the moffc 
 active engagements of public life. 
 
 i Varro had a villa near each of these places^
 
 474 
 
 THE LI-:TTERS of MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To Toranius. 
 
 As I wrote to you three days ago by some 
 
 domestics of Pluncius, I shall be so much the 
 
 _,_ shorter at iiresent ; and as niv former f 
 A V 707 
 
 was a letter of consolation, tliis shall be 
 
 one of advice. 
 
 1 think nothing can be more for your advantage 
 than to remain in your present situation, till you 
 shall be able to learn in what manner you are to 
 act. For, not to mention that you will by this 
 mean avoid the dant^cr of a lon^ winter-voyage 
 in a sea that nllords but few harbours, there is this 
 Tcry material consideration, that you may soon 
 cross over into Italy, whenever you shall receive 
 any certain intelligence. Nor do 1 see any reason 
 for your being desirous of presenting yourself to 
 Caesar's friends in their return. In short, I have 
 many other objections to your scheme, for the 
 particulars of which I refer you to our friend Chilo. 
 You cannot, indeed, in these unfortunate times, be 
 more conveniently placed than where you now are ; 
 as you may, with great facility and expedition, 
 transport yourself from thence to whatever other 
 part of the world you shall find it necessary to 
 remove. If Ca;sar should return at the time he is 
 expected'', you may be in Italy soon enoug'i to 
 wait ujion him ; but should anything happen (as 
 many things possibly may) to j)revent or retard 
 his march, you are in a place where you may 
 receive an early information of all that occurs. To 
 repeat it therefore once more, I am altogether of 
 opinion that you should continue in your present 
 quarters. I will only add, (what 1 have often ex- 
 horted you in my former letters to be well persuaded 
 of,) that you have nothing to fear beyond the 
 general danger to which every citizen of Rome is 
 equally exposed. And though this, it must be 
 owned, is sufficiently great, yet we can both of us 
 look back with so much satisfaction upon our past 
 conduct, and are arrived at such a period of life', 
 that we ought to bear with particular fortitude 
 whatever unmerited fate may attend us. 
 
 Your family here are all well, and extremely 
 regret your absence, as they love and honour you 
 with the highest tenderness and esteem. Take care 
 of your health, and by no means remove without 
 duly weighing the consequences. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 To DomitiusK 
 
 If you have not heard from me since your arrival 
 
 in Italy, it is not that I was discouraged from 
 
 u "07 'writing on my part, by the profound 
 
 silence you have observed on yours. The 
 
 S Probably the third letter of this book. 
 
 li From Africa. See rem. ^, p. 472. 
 
 ' Cicero was at this time about 62 years of age. 
 
 J The person to whom this letter is addressed, is sup- 
 posed to have been the son of Domitius ^Enobarbus, who 
 crjiimanded the garrison of Corfinium at the breaking 
 out of the civil war. [See letter 7, book vii, rem. ^.] 
 The father was killed in his flight from the battle of 
 Pharsulia: [Cses. De Bell. Civ. iii. 9i'.] after wliich his son, 
 as it should seem by this letter, returned into Italy. He 
 is mentioned in the list of those who were concerned in 
 
 single reason was, that I could find nothing to say. 
 For, on the one hand, I w.is in every respect too 
 much distressed, as well as too much at a loss how to 
 act myself, to offer you either assistatice or advice ; 
 and, on the other, I knew not what consolation to 
 susrgest to you under these our severe and general 
 misfortunes. However, notwithstanding public 
 afl'airs are so far from being in a better situation 
 at ])resent, that they are growing every day more 
 and more desperate ; yet I could not satisfy my- 
 self with being silent any longer, and rather chose 
 to send you an empty letter tlian not to send you 
 any. 
 
 If you were in the number of those who tena- 
 ciously ])ersevere in the defence of the republic 
 beyond all ]iossihility of success, I should employ 
 every arguiiicnr in my power to reconcile you to 
 those conditions, though not the most eligible 
 indeed, which are offered to our acceptance. But, 
 as you judiciously terminated the noble struggle 
 you made in sujtport of our liberties, by those 
 limits which fortune herself marked out to our 
 opposition, let me conjure you, by our long and 
 mutual amity, to preserve yourself* for the sake of 
 your friends, your mother, your wife, and your 
 children : for the sake of those, in short, to whom 
 you have ever been infinitely dear, and whose 
 w^elfare and interest depend entirely upon yours. 
 Let me entreat you to call to your aid, in this 
 gloomy season, those glorious precepts of philoso- 
 phy in which you have been conversant from your 
 earliest youth ; and to support the loss of those 
 with whom you were united by the most tender 
 ties of affection and gratitude', if not with a mind 
 perfectly serene, at least with a rational and manly 
 fortitude. 
 
 How far my present power may reach, I know 
 not ; or rather, indeed, I am sensible that it cannot 
 extend far. This, however, I will assure you, (and 
 it is a promise which I have likewise made to that 
 excellent woman your affectionate mother,) that, 
 in whatever instance I imagine my services can 
 avail either to your honour or your welfare, I 
 shall exert them with the same zeal which you 
 have always shown in regard to myself. If there 
 is anything, therefore, iu which you shall be de- 
 sirous to employ them, I beg you will let me 
 know, and I will most punctually perform your 
 commands. Indeed, without any such express 
 request, you may depend upon my best offices on 
 every occasion wherein I shall be capable of pro- 
 moting your interest. Farewell. 
 
 assassinating Cassar. " But iie managed his affairs (as 
 Mr. Koss observes) with so much address, that, after the 
 death of Brutus and Cassius, he first made his peace with 
 Antony, and then, upon the decline of his power, took 
 an occasion to leave him and join himself with Augustus. 
 And though he did not live long enough to enjoy the 
 benefit of that union, yet he left a son, who recovered 
 the ancient splendour of the famil}', and laid a foundation 
 for the empire, which took place in the person of his 
 grandson Nero." — Suet, in Vit. Neron. &c. ; Veil. Pat. 
 ii. 72. 
 
 k It looks by this passage as if Domitius had been 
 suspected at this time of an intention to destroy him- 
 self. 
 
 ' The father and friends of Domitius, who had perished 
 in the civil war.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 476 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 To Cneius Plancius^. 
 I HAVE received your very short letter, which 
 tinforms me of what I never once questioned, hut 
 ,j,_ leaves me entirely ignorant in a point I 
 was extremely desirous of knowing. I 
 had not the least doubt, indeed, of the share I 
 enjoy in your friendship, but wanted much to hear 
 with what resolution you submit to our common 
 calamities ; a circumstance, of which if I had been 
 apprised, I should have adapted my letter accord- 
 ingly. However, though I mentioned in my last 
 what I thought necessary to say upon that subject, 
 yet it may be proper at this juncture just to caution 
 you again, not to imagine that you have anything 
 particular to fear. It is true, we are every one of 
 us in great danger : but the danger, however, is 
 general and equal". You ought not, therefore, to 
 complain of your own fortune, or think it hard to 
 take your part in calamities that extend to all. 
 Let us then, my friend, preserve the same mutual 
 disposition of mind which has ever subsisted be- 
 tween us. I am sure I shall on my part, and I 
 have reason to hope that you will do so likewise 
 on yours. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 To Lucius Planciis°. 
 You are sensible, I dare say, that, amongst all 
 those friends whom you claim as a sort of paternal 
 ..,. inheritance, there is not one so closely 
 ' ' '' attached to you as myself. I do not 
 mean in consideration only of those more conspi- 
 cuous connexions of a public kind in which I was 
 engaged with your father ; but in regard, likewise, 
 to that less observable intercourse of private friend- 
 ship which I had the happiness, you well know, 
 of enjoying with him in the highest degree. As 
 this was the source from whence my affection for 
 the son originally took its rise, so that affection, 
 in its turn, improved and strengthened my union 
 with die father ; especially, w hen I observed you 
 distinguishing me with peculiar marks of respect 
 and esteem as early as you were capable of forming 
 any judgment of mankind. To this I must add, 
 (what is of itself, indeed, a very powerful cement,) 
 the similitude of our tastes and studies : and of 
 those particular studies, too, which are of a nature 
 most apt to create an intimacy between men of the 
 same general cast of temperP. And, now, are you 
 
 ^- See rem. ^, p. 472. 
 
 " See the second letter of this book. 
 
 o lie was brother to Plancus Bursa, the great enemy 
 of Cicero, and of whom an account has been given in rciii. 
 «, p. 3G7. Plancus does not seem to have figured in the 
 commonwealth ; at least, history does not take much 
 notice of him till after the death of Cspsar, at which time 
 lie was at the head of a considerable army in the farther 
 Gaul, as governor of that province. But as there are 
 several letters in this collection which passed between him 
 . and Cicf ro at that period , the particulars of his character 
 will be best remarked in the observations that will arise 
 rupon his conduct in that important crisis. In the mean 
 time, it may be sutticient to observe, that when this 
 lettei was written, he was probably an officer under 
 Ca?sar in the African war. See letter -20, bookxii. rem. ^. 
 
 p The studies to which Cicero here alludes are, pro- 
 bably, those of tho philosophical kind. 
 
 not impatient to learn the purpose of this long 
 introduction } Be assured, then, it is not without 
 just and strong reason that I have thus enumerated 
 the several motives which concur in forming our 
 amity ; as it is 'in order to plead before you with 
 more advantage the cause of my very intimate 
 friend Ateius Capitol. I need not point out to 
 you the variety of fortune with which my life has 
 been chequered ; but, in all the honours and dis- 
 graces I have experienced, Capito has ever most 
 zealously assisted me with his power, his interest, 
 and even with his purse. Titus Antistius, who 
 was his near relation, happened to be quaestor in 
 Macedonia (no person having been ajipointed to 
 succeed him) when Pompey marched his army 
 into that province ^ Had it been possible for 
 Antistius to have retired, it would have been his 
 first and most earnest endeavour to have returned 
 to Capito, whom he loved with all the tenderness 
 of a filial affection: and, indeed, he was so much 
 the more desirous of joining him, as he knew the 
 high esteem which Capito had ever entertained for 
 Ciesar. But, finding himself thus unexpectedly in 
 the hands of Pompey, it was not in his power 
 wholly to decline the functioas of his office : how- 
 ever, he acted no farther than he was absolutely 
 constrained. I cannot deny that he was concerned 
 in coining the silver at Apollonia*. But he was 
 by no means a principal in that affair ; and two or 
 three months were the utmost that he engaged in 
 it. From that time he withdrew from Pompey's 
 camp, and totally avoided all )mblic employment. 
 I hope you will credit this assertion, when I assure 
 you that I know it to be fact : for, indeed, Antis- 
 tius saw how much I was dissatisfied with the war, 
 and consulted with me upon all his measures. 
 Accordingly, that he might have no part in it, he 
 withdrew as far as possible, from Pompey's camp, 
 and concealed himself in the interior parts of 
 INIacedonia. After the battle of Pharsalia, he 
 retired to his friend Aulus Plautius', in Bithynia. 
 It was here that he had an interview with Caesar", 
 who received him without the least mark of dis- 
 pleasure, and ordered him to return to Rome. 
 But he soon afterwards contracted an illness, which 
 he carried with him into Corey ra, where it put an 
 end to his life. By his will, which was made at 
 Rome in the consulate of Paulus and Marcellus, 
 he has left ten-twelfths of his estate to Capito. 
 The remaining two parts, amounting to 300,000 
 sesterces^, he has devised to those for whose 
 interest no mortal can be concerned ; and, there- 
 fore, I am not in the least solicitous whether 
 Caesar shall think proper, or not, to seize it as for- 
 feited to the public. But I most earnestly conjure 
 you, my dear Plancus, to consider the cause of 
 Capito as my own, and to employ your influence 
 
 1 Pighius supposes that this is the same Ateius Capito 
 who devoted Crassus to destruction when he set out upon 
 his Parthian expedition : of which the reader has already 
 met with an account in rem. ^.p. 360. — Pigh. Annal. iii. 
 3«9. 
 
 r AMien Pompey retreated before Ca;sar, and abandoned 
 Italy. 
 
 s For the payment of Pompey's army. ApoUonia was a 
 city in Thrace : a part of Greece annexed to the province of 
 Macedonia. 
 
 ' At that time governor of Bithynia, an Asiatic province 
 situated on the Euxine sea. 
 
 " Probably in his return from the Alexandrine war. 
 
 » About mwi. of our money.
 
 476 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 with Ctesar, that my friend may be permitted to 
 inherit tliis legacy, agroeahly to the will of his 
 relation. I entreat you by all the various ties of 
 our friendship, as well as by tliose, likewise, which 
 subsisted between your father and myself, to exert 
 your most zealous and active oHices for this pur- 
 pose. Be assured, if you were to grant me all 
 that lies within the compass of your extensive 
 credit ami jiower, you could not more eflectually 
 oblige me than by complying with my present 
 request. I hope it may be a means of facilitating 
 your success upon this occasion, that Capito, as 
 Ctesar himself can witness, has ever held hini in 
 the highest esteem and alTeetion. But Cicsar, I 
 know, never forgets anything : I forbear, therefore, 
 to furnish you with particular instances of Cajjito's 
 attachment to him, and only desire you to make a 
 proper use of those which are fresh in Ciesar's 
 memory. It may not, liowever, be uiniecessary to 
 point out one proof of this sort, which 1 myself 
 experienced : and I will leave it to your own judg- 
 ment to determine how far the mentioning of it 
 may avail. 1 need not tell you t)y what party my 
 interest had been supported, nor whose cause I 
 espoused in our public divisions. But, believe me, 
 whatever measures I pursued in this war, which 
 were unacceptable to Caesar, (and I have the satis- 
 faction to find that he is sensible of it himself,) 
 were most contrary to my own inclinations, and 
 merely in con)i)liance with the persuasions and 
 authority of otliers. But, if 1 conducted myself 
 with more moderation than any of those who were 
 joined with me in the same cause, it is j)rincipally 
 owing to the advice and admonitions of Capito, 
 To say truth, if the rest of my friends had been 
 influenced by the same spirit with which he was , 
 actuated, I might have taken a part that would ; 
 have proved of some advantage, perhaps, to my 
 country ; I am sure, at least, of much to myself"'. 
 In one word, my dear Plancus, your gratifying my 
 present request will confirm me in the hope that I ; 
 possess a place in your affection, and, at the same 
 time, extremely contribute to your own advantage, 
 in adding, by a very important obligation, the most 
 grateful and worthy Capito to the number of your 
 friends. Farewell. 
 
 ^v The part which Cicero here accuses his friends (and 
 surely with sonic w.int of geiierositj), that they would not 
 suffer him to act, seems to have been that of standing 
 neuter in the war between Pompey and CeBsar. And it 
 must be owned that this conduct would have been far 
 less exceptionable, if, instead of faintly joining with one 
 side, he had determined to engage with neither. Tliis too, 
 as the event proved, might have been most prudential in 
 point of interest : for a neutrality was all that Caesar de- 
 sired of him. But that it could in any sort h.ave advan- 
 taged his country, appears to be a notion altogether impro- 
 bable, and advanced only to give a colour to his not having 
 entered with more spirit into the cause of the republic. 
 Cicero often intimates, indeed, that by preserving a neu- 
 trality, he might have been more likely to have facilitated 
 an accommodation between Pompey and Ca?sar. But it is 
 utterly incredible, from the temper and character of these 
 contending chiefs, that cither of them entertained the 
 least disposition for this purpose : as it is certain, from 
 Cicero's own confession in his letters to Atticus, that he 
 was well persuaded Pompey would never listen to any 
 pacific overtures. — Ad Att. vii. 8 ; viii. 15. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 To AUieuus, Proconsul^. 
 Di'.MOCRiTUs of Sicyon is not only my hostr, 
 but (what I can say of few of his countrymeo 
 A u 707 beside) he is likewise my very intimate 
 friend. He is a person, indeed, of the 
 highest probity and merit, and distinguished for 
 his most generous and j)olite l)OS])itality towards- 
 those who come under his roof; in which number 
 1 have received particular marks of his atiii:tioa 
 and esteem. In one word, you will find him a man 
 of the first and most valuable character amongst 
 his fellow-citizens, I had almost said in all Achaia.- 
 I oidy mean, therefore, by this letter, to introduce 
 him to your acquaintance ; for I know your senti- 
 ments and disposition so well, that I am j)crsuaded 
 nothing more is nec'essary to make you think hint 
 worthy of being received both as your guest and 
 friend. Let me entreat you, in the mean time, to 
 favour him with your j)atronage, and to assure him 
 that, for my sake, he may depend upon all the 
 assistance in your power. If atter this you should 
 discover (as 1 trust you will) that his virtues rendeu 
 him deserving of a nearer intercourse, you cannot 
 more sensibly oblige me than by admitting him inta 
 your family and friendship. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To Lucius Meschiius''-. 
 Your letter afforded me great pleasure, as it 
 gave me an assurance (though indeed I wanted 
 . „ -,,- none) that vou earnestly wish for mv 
 com})any. Believe me, 1 am cc|ually de- 
 sirous of yours ; and, in truth, when there was 
 a much greater abundance of patriot citizens and 
 agreeable companions who were in the number 
 of my friends, there was no man with whom I 
 rather chose to associate, and few whose company 
 1 liked so well. But now that death, absence, or 
 change of disposition has so greatly contracted 
 this social circle, I should prefer a single day with 
 you to a whole life with the generality of those 
 with whom I am at present obliged to live". Soli- 
 tude itself, indeed, (if solitude, alas ! I were at 
 liberty to enjoy,) would be far more eligible than 
 the conversation of those who frequent my house ; 
 one or two of them, at most, excepted. 1 seek my 
 relief, therefore, (where I would advise you to look 
 for yours,) in amusements of a literary kind, and 
 in the consciousness of having always intended 
 well to my country. I have the satisfaction to 
 reflect, (as I dare say you will readily believe,) that 
 I never sacrificed the public good to my own pri- 
 vate views ; that, if a certain person (whom for 
 my sake, I ajo sure, you never loved,) had not 
 
 ^ He was at this time proconsul, or governor of Sicily^ 
 and distinguished himself by his care and diligence in 
 transporting the troops which Csesar received from thence 
 in order to carry on the present war in Africa. There 
 is a silver coin still extant, on which is inscribed, A. 
 ALLIENVS. PRO. COS. and on the reverse, C. CJiSAR. 
 IMP. COS. ITER.— Pigh. Annal. iii. 453. 
 
 7 See rem. " on letter 7, book vii. 
 
 » See rem. °, p. 448. 
 
 » The chiefs of the Csesarean party ; with whom Cicero 
 now found it convenient to cultivate a friendship, in ordep 
 te ingratiate himself with Cffisar.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 477 
 
 looked upon me with a jealous eye'', both himself 
 and every friend to liberty had been happy ; that I 
 always endeavoured that it should not be in the 
 power of any man to disturb the public tranquillity ; 
 and, in a word, that when I perceived tliose arms, 
 which I had ever dreaded, would prove an over- 
 match for that patriot-coalition I had myself 
 formed >-■ in the republic, I thought it better to 
 accept of a safe peace, upon any terms, than impo- 
 tently to contend with a superior force. But I 
 hope shortly to talk over these, and many other 
 points, with you in person. Nothing, indeed, de- 
 tains me in Rome but to wait the event of the war 
 in Africa ; which, I imagine, must now be soon 
 decided. And though it seems of little import- 
 ance on which side the victory shall turn, yet I 
 think it may be of some advantage to be near my 
 friends when the news sball arrive, in order to 
 consult with them on the measures it may be 
 advisable for me to pursue''. Affairs are now 
 reduced to such an unhappy situation, that though 
 there is a considerable difference, it is true, between 
 the cause of the contending parties, I believe there 
 will be very little as to tlie consequence of their 
 success. However, though my spirits were too 
 much dejected, perhaps, whilst our affairs remained 
 in suspense, I find myself mucb more composed 
 now that they are utterly desperate. Your last 
 letter has contributed to confirm me in this dis- 
 position, as it is an instance of the magnanimity 
 with which you support your unjust disgrace"^. It 
 is with particular satisfaction I observe, that you 
 owe this heroic calmness, not only to philosophy, 
 but to temper. For I will confess, that I imagined 
 your mind was softened with that too delicate sen- 
 sibility which we, who passed our lives in the ease 
 
 * Pompoy ; who being jealous of the popularity which 
 Cicero liad acquired during liis consulship, struck in with 
 the designs of Cfpsar, and others, who had formed a party 
 against our author. It was by these means that Pompey 
 laid the principal foundation of Csesar's power, which, 
 without the assistance of the former, could never have 
 prevailed to the destruction both of himself and of the 
 republic. [See rem. «, p. 334.] The censure which Cicero 
 here casts upon Ponipey's conduct towards him, is undoubt- 
 edly just: but it is a proof, at the same time, how un- 
 worthily he flattered that great man in the plenitude of 
 his power, when he professed to have received obligations 
 from him, that gave him the most unquestionable right to 
 his highest gratitude. — See re»t. k, p, 432. 
 
 c Cicero probably alludes to the coalition he formed 
 during his consulship, of the equestrian order with that of 
 the senate: which, indeed, was one of the most shining 
 parts of his administration. " This order (as Dr. Middle- 
 ton observes) consisted, next to the senators, of the richest 
 and most splendid families in Rome : who, from the ease 
 and affluence of their fortunes, were naturally well affected 
 to the prosperity of the republic ; and being also the con- 
 stant farmers of all the revenues of tlie empire, had a great 
 part of the inferior people dependent upon tlieni. Cicero 
 imagined that the united weight cf tliese two orders would 
 always be an overbalance to any other power in the state, 
 and a secure barrier against any attempts of the popular 
 and ambitious upon the common liberty." — Life of Cieero, 
 p. 43. 
 
 d Cicero would have had great occasion for the advice of 
 his friends, if tlie remains of Pompey 's army had defeated 
 Caesar's in Africa. For he had reason to expoct, and would 
 probably have experienced, the severest effects of their 
 resentment, if they had returned victorious into Italy. — 
 Ep. Fam. i.x. 6. 
 
 <? Mcscinius, it is probable, w.as banished hy C.Tsar, as a 
 partisan of Pompey, to a certain distance from Konic. 
 
 and freedom of Rome, were apt in general to con- 
 tract. But as we bore our prosperous days with 
 moderation, it becomes us to bear our adverse 
 fortune, or more properly, indeed, our irretrievable 
 ruin, with fortitude. This advantage we may, at 
 least, derive from our extreme calamities, that they 
 will teach us to look upon death with contempt ; 
 which, even if we were ha()py, we ought to despise, 
 as a state of total insensibility' ; but which, under 
 our present afflictions, should be the object of our 
 constant wishes. Let not any fears then, I conjure 
 you by your affection for me, disturb tlie peace of 
 your retirement ; and, be well persuaded, nothing 
 can befil a man that deserves to raise his dread 
 and horror, but (wliat I am sure ever was, and 
 ever will be, far from you) the reproaches of a 
 guilty heart. 
 
 I purpose to pay you a visit very soon, if nothing 
 should happen to make it necessary for me to 
 change my resolution : and if there should, I will 
 immediately let you know. But I hope you will 
 not, whilst you are in so weak a condition, be 
 tempted by your impatience of seeing me, to remove 
 from your present situation : at least, not without 
 previously consulting me. In the mean time, con- 
 tinue to love me, and take care both of your health 
 and your repose. Farewell. 
 
 f Cicero expresses himself to the same purpose, in two 
 or three other of these letters. Thus, in one to Torquatus ; 
 • — " si non ero, sensu omnino carebo :" and in another to 
 Toranius; — "Una ratio videtur, quicquid evenerit ferre 
 moderate ; praesertim cum omnium reruni mors sit extre- 
 mum." From whence it has been inferred, that Cicero, in 
 his private opinion, rejected the doctrine of the soul's 
 immortality. In answer to which it may bo observed, in 
 the first place, that these passages, without any violence 
 of construction, may be interpreted as affinning nothing 
 more, tlian that death is an utter extinction of all sensi- 
 bility with respect to human concerns : as it was a doubt 
 with some of the ancients whether departed spirits did not 
 still retain a knowledge of what passed in this world. In 
 the next place, admitting these several passages to be so 
 many clear and positive assertions, that the soul perishes 
 with the body ; yet it would by no means follow, that this 
 was Cicero's real belief. It is usual with hun to vary his 
 sentiments in these letters, in accommodation to the prin- 
 ciples or circumstances of his correspondents. Thus, in a 
 letter to Dolabella, he does not scruple to say, " sum 
 avidior quam satis est gloriae :" but in writing to Cato, he 
 represents himself of a disposition entirely the reverse: 
 " ipsam quidem gloriam per se nimquam putavi expeten- 
 dam." In a letter to Torquatus, when he is endeavouring 
 to reconcile him to his banishment from Rome, he lays it 
 down as a maxim, that " in malis omnibus acerbius est 
 videre quam audire :" but, in another letter to Alarcellus, 
 written in order to persuade him to return to Rome, he 
 reasons upon a principle directly opposite, and tells him, 
 — " non est tuum imo sensu octdorxtm moveri : cum idem 
 illud auribus percipias, quod etiam majiis videri solet," 
 &c. Other instances of the same variation from himself 
 might be produced : but these, together with those that 
 have already been occasionally pointed out in the course 
 of these remarks, are sufficient, perhaps, to evince, that 
 Cicero's real sentiments and opinions cannot be proved by 
 any particular passages in these letters. In those to Atticus, 
 indeed, he was generally, though not always, more sincere : 
 and Mr. Ross has cited a passage from one of them, in 
 which Cicero very expressly mentions his expectations of a 
 future state : " tempns est nos de ilia perpelua jam, (says 
 he,) non de hac exigua vita cogitare." But Cicero's specu- 
 lative notions are best determined by looking into his 
 philosophical writings ; and these abound with various and 
 full proofs that he was strongly persuaded of the soul's 
 immortality.— Ep. Fam. ix. 14; xv. 4 ; vi. 4 ; iv. 9 ; Ad 
 Att. X- 8 ; see also Life of Cicero, p. 3W>,
 
 d7(l 
 
 THE LETTERS OF iMARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 To AlUetuis, Proconsul. 
 
 As you are no stranijer, I imagine, to the esteem 
 I entertained for Aviaiius Flaccus ; so I have often 
 
 . ,,,, heard liini acknowledge the irenerous 
 manner in wiiicli you tormerly treated 
 him ; as, indeed, no man ever possessed a more 
 grateful or better heart. His two sons, Caius and 
 Marcus, inherit all the virtues of their father ; and 
 I most warmly recoiunuiid them to your jirotec- 
 tion, as young men for whom 1 have a very singular 
 affection. Caius is now in Sicily, and Marcus is 
 at present with me. I entreat you to show every 
 mark of honour to the former, and to take the 
 affairs of both luuler your patronage ; assuring 
 yourself, that you cannot render me in your govern- 
 ment a more acceptable service. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 To Varro. 
 
 Though I have nothing to write, yet I could 
 not sutler Caninins to pay you a visit without 
 
 ^, »„_ taking tlie o]iportunity of conveying a 
 letter by his hands. And now I know 
 not what else to say, but that I propose to be with 
 you very soon : an information, however, which I 
 am persuaded you will be glad to receive. But 
 will it be altogether decent to appear in so gay a 
 scene 5, at a time when Rome is in such a general 
 flame ? And shall we not furnish an occasion of 
 censure to those who do not know that we observe 
 the same sober philosophical life, in all seasons, 
 and in every place ? Yet, after all, what im- 
 ports it ? since the world will talk of us in spite 
 of our utmost caution. And, indeed, whilst our 
 censurers are immersed in every kind of flagitious 
 debauchery, it is much worth our concern, truly, 
 what they say of our innocent relaxations ! In just 
 contempt, therefore, of these illiterate barbarians, 
 it is my resolution to join you very speedily. I 
 know not how it is, indeed, but it should seem that 
 our favourite studies are attended with much greater 
 advantages in these wretched times than formerly : 
 whether it be that they are now our only resource, 
 or that we were less sensible of their salutary 
 effects when we were in too happy a state to have 
 occasion to experience them. But this is sending 
 owls to Athens '', as we say, and suggesting reflec- 
 
 S Varro seems to have requested Cicero to give liim a 
 meeting at Baia?, a place much frcquentt'tl by the Romans 
 on account of its liot baths ; as tlie agreeablcness of its 
 situation on the bay of Naples rendered it, at the same 
 time, the general resort of the pleasurable world. The 
 tender Propcrtius has addressed some pretty lines to his 
 Cynthia at this place, which sufficiently intimate in what 
 manner the Roman ladies were amused in that dangerous 
 scene of gallantry and dissipation. 
 
 " Tu modo quani primuni corruptas desere Baias, 
 Multis ista dabunt littora dissidium : 
 Littora quae fuerant castis inimica puellis," &c. 
 " Fly, fly, my love, soft Baize's tainted coast. 
 Where many a pair connubial peace have lost ; 
 AVhere many a maid shall guilty joys deplore : 
 Ah fly, my fair, detested Baiaj's shore !" 
 •i A proverbial expression of the same import with tiiat 
 of " sending coals to Newcastle." It alludes to the Athcniim 
 
 tions which your own mind will far better supply.. 
 All that I mean by them, however, is, to draw Oi 
 letter from you in return, at the same time I hat 1 
 give you notice to expect me soon. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIIL 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Ouii friend Caninius paid me a visit, some time 
 ago, very late in the evening, and informed me that 
 A. u. 707. '"-' pu''i)Osed to set out for your house the 
 ne.xt morning. I told him I would give 
 him two or three lines to deliver to you, and 
 desired he would call for them in the morning. 
 Accordingly I wrote to you that night' : but as he 
 did not return, I imagined lie had forgotten his 
 j)rornise; and should, therefore, have sent that 
 letter by one of my own domestics, if Caninius had 
 not assured me of your intention to leave Tusculum 
 the next morning. However, afrer a few days had 
 intervened, ami 1 had given over all exi)ectation3 
 of Caninius, he made me a second visit, and ac- 
 quainted me that he was instantly setting out to 
 you. But, notwithstanding the letter 1 had written 
 was then become altogether out of date, especially 
 after the arrival of such important news-l, yet, as I 
 was unwilling that any of my profound lucubra- 
 tions should be lost, 1 delivered it into the hands 
 of that very learned and affectionate friend of yours, 
 who, I suppose, has acquainted you with the con- 
 versation which passed between us at the same 
 time. 
 
 I think it most prudent for both of us to avoid 
 the view at least, if we cannot so easily escape the 
 remarks, of tlie world : for those who are elevated 
 with this victory look down upon us with an air 
 of triumph, and those who regret it are displeased 
 that we did not sacrifice our lives in the cause. 
 But you will ask, perhaps; (as it is in Rome that 
 we are particularly exposed to these mortifications,) 
 why I have not followed your exam))le in retiring 
 from the city .' But tell me, my friend, superior 
 as your judgment confessedly is, did you never 
 find yourself mistaken ? Or who is there, in times 
 of such total darkness and confusion, that can 
 always be sure of directing his steps aright .' I 
 have long thought, indeed, that it would be happy 
 for me to retire where I might neither see nor hear 
 what passes in Rome. But my groundless suspi- 
 cions discouraged me from executing this scheme; 
 as I was apprehensive that those who might acci- 
 dentally meet me on my way would put such con- 
 structions upon my retreat as best suited with their 
 own purposes. Some, I imagined, would suspect, 
 or at least pretend to suspect, that I was either 
 driven from Rome by my fears, or withdrew in 
 order to form some revolution abroad ; and perhaps, 
 too, would report, that I had actually provided a 
 ship for that purpose. Others, I feared, who knew 
 me best, and might be disposed to think most 
 favourably of my act-ions, would be apt to impute 
 my recess to an abhorrence of a certain party ''. It 
 is these apprehensions that have hitherto, contrary 
 
 coin, which was stamped (as JIanutius observes) with the 
 figure of an owl. 
 
 ' Probably the preceding letter. 
 
 J Concerning Ca;sar's defeat of Scipio in Africa. 
 
 '' Tho Csesareans.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HTS FRIE^^DS, 
 
 479 
 
 to my inclinations indeed, detained me in Rome : 
 but custom, however, has familiarised the unpleas- 
 ing scene, and gradually hardened me into a less 
 exquisite sensibility. 
 
 Thus I have laid before you the motives which 
 induce me to continue here. As to what relates to 
 your own conduct, I would advise you to remain 
 in your present retirement, till the warmth of our 
 public e.xjiltation shall be somewhat abated, and it 
 shall certainly be known in what manner affairs 
 abroad are terminated : for terminated, I am well 
 persuaded, they are'. Much will depend on the 
 general result of this battle, and the temjier in 
 which Csesar may return. And though I see, 
 already, what is abundantly sufficient to determine 
 my sentiments as to that point, yet I think it most 
 advisable to wait the event. In the mean time, 
 I should be glad you would postpone your journey 
 to Baiae, till the first transports of this clamorous 
 joy is subsided ; as it will have a better appearance 
 to meet you at those waters, when I may seem to 
 go thither rather to join with you in lamenting the 
 public misfortunes, than to participate in the plea- 
 sures of the place. But this I submit to your more 
 enlightened judgment : only let us agree to pass 
 our lives together in those studies which were once, 
 indeed, nothing more than our amusement, but 
 must now, alas ! prove our principal support. Let 
 us be ready, at the same time, whenever we shall 
 be called upon to contribute not only our counsels, 
 but our labours, in repairing the ruins of the 
 republic. But if none shall require our services 
 for this purpose, let us employ our time and our 
 thoughts upon moral and political inquiries. If 
 we cannot benefit the commonwealth in the forum 
 and the senate, let us endeavour, at least, to do so 
 by our studies and our writings ; and after the 
 example of the most learned among the ancients, 
 contribute to the welfare of our country, by useful 
 disquisitions concerning laws and government. 
 
 And now, having thus acquainted you with my 
 sentiments and purposes, I shall be extremely 
 obliged to you for letting me know yours in return. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIY. 
 
 To the same. 
 You must know, my friend, that I am one of 
 those philosophers who hold the doctrine of Dio- 
 j^ P ypy dorus concerning contingencies™. Ac- 
 cordingly I maintain, that if you should 
 make us a visit here, you are under an absolute 
 necessity of so doing ; but if you should not, that 
 it is because your coming hither is in the number 
 of those things which cannot possibly happen. — 
 
 ' When this letter was written, there seems to have 
 been only some general accounts arrived of CaDsar's suc- 
 cess in Africa ; but the particulars of the battle were not 
 yet known. 
 
 ™ Diodorus was a Greek philosopher who lived in the 
 court of Ptolomaeus Soter, and flourished about 280 years 
 before the Christian era. lie is said to have died with 
 eriei for not being able immediately to solve a philoso- 
 phical question which that prince put to him in conver- 
 sation. He maintained that nothing could be contingent ; 
 but that whatever was possible must necessarily happen. 
 Cicero ludicrously applies this absurd doctrine to thu in 
 tended visit of his friend. — Cie. de Fato, 7. 
 
 Now tell me which of the two opinions you are 
 most inclined to adopt : whether this of the philo- 
 sopher I just now mentioned, whose sentiments, 
 you know, were so little agreeable to our honest 
 friend Diodotus", or the opposite one of Chrysip- 
 pus" .' But we will reserve these curious specula- 
 tions till we shall be more at leisure : and this, I 
 will agree with Chrysippus, is a possibility which 
 either may or may not happen. 
 
 I am obliged to you for your good offices in my 
 affair with CocceiusP, which I likewise recom- 
 mend to Atticus. If you will not make nie a visit, 
 I will pay you one ; and as your library is situated 
 in your garden, I shall want nothing to complete 
 my two favourite amusements — reading and walk- 
 ing. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To Apuleius, ProqucBstor i. 
 Lucius Egnatius, a Roman knight, is a very 
 particular friend of mine, whose affairs in Asia, 
 ^ry. together with his slave Anchialus, who 
 superintends them, I recommend to you 
 with as much zeal as if they were my own. For 
 be assured we are united to each other, not only 
 by a daily intercourse of the highest friendship, 
 but by many good offices that have been mutually 
 exchanged between us. As he has not the least 
 doubt of your disposition to oblige me, let me ear- 
 nestly entreat you to convince him, by your 
 services in his favour, that 1 warmly requested 
 them. Farewell. 
 
 " Diodotus was a Stoic philosopher, under whom Cicero 
 had been educated, and whom he afterwards entertained 
 for many years in his house. He died about thirteen years 
 before the date of this letter, and left his friend and pupil 
 a considerable legacy. — Cic. Academ. ii. ; Ad Att. ii. i;0. 
 
 o Chrysippus was successor to Zeno, the celebrated 
 founder of the Stoic school. It appears, by a list of some 
 of his writings, which Laertius has given, that he pub- 
 lished a treatise on Fate ; and probably it was in this book 
 that he opposed the ridiculous notions of Diodotus. Seneca 
 represents him as a penetrating genius, but one whoso 
 speculations were somewhat too subtle and refined. Ho 
 adds, that his diction was so extremely close, that he 
 never employed a superfluous word ; a character he could 
 scarce deserve, if what is reported of him be true, that he 
 published no less than 311 treatises upon logic, and above 
 400 upon other subjects. — One cannot hear, indeed, of such 
 an immoderate flux of pen, without being in some danger 
 of suffering the same fate that attended this inexhaustible 
 genius, who is said to have died in a fit of excessive 
 laughter.— Laertius in Vit. ; Senec. de Benefic. i. 3 ; Stan- 
 ley's Hist, of Philos. 487. 
 
 P In the text he is called Costius ,- but, perhaps, (as one 
 of the commentators imagines,) it should be Cocceins. 
 For Cicero, in a letter to Atticus, supposed to have been 
 ^vritten about the same time with the present, requests 
 his assistance in procuring the payment of a smu of 
 money owing to him from Cocceius ; which is not un- 
 likely to be the same affair he alludes to in this passa,5c — 
 Ad Att. xii. 13. 
 
 q It is wholly imcertain both who this person wflfc, vad. 
 when he exercised the office of proquaestor.
 
 4^0 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 To Varro. 
 
 Thic 7ih seems to be a very proper time, not 
 
 only in consideration of public affairs, but i regard 
 
 „ _ also to the season of the year : I apiirove, 
 
 therefore, of tlie day you have named, 
 
 anil will join you accordini^ly. 
 
 1 should be far from thinking we had reason to 
 reproach ourselves for the part we have lately 
 acted, even were it true that those who pursued a 
 different conduct had not repented of their mea- 
 sures. It was the suggestions of duty, not of 
 interest, that we followed, when we entered into 
 the war ; and it was a cause utterly desperate, not 
 the duty we owed our country, that we deserted 
 when we laid down our arms. Thus we acted, on 
 the one hand, with greater honour than those who 
 would not leave Italy in order to follow the war 
 abroad ; and, on the other hand, with more pru- 
 dence than those who, after having suffered a total 
 defeat ■■, would not be prevailed upon to return 
 home. But there is nothing that I can bear with 
 less patience than the affiected severity of our 
 inglorious neuters : and, indeed, whatever might be 
 the final event of affairs, I should be much more 
 inclined to venerate the memory of those mistaken 
 men who obstinately perished in battle, than to be 
 in the least concerned at the reproaches of those 
 who only lament that we are still alive. 
 
 If I should have time, I purpose to call upon 
 you at Tusculum before the 7th : if not, I will 
 follow you to Cumse, agreeably to your appoint- 
 ment. But I shall not fail to give you previous 
 notice, that your bath may be prepared. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 To the same. 
 Your letters to Seius and myself were delivered 
 to us, whilst we were at supper together, in his 
 ..„ house. I agree with you in thinking that 
 this is a very proper time for your in- 
 tended expedition ; which, to own my artifice, I 
 have hitherto endeavoured to retard by a thousand 
 pretences. I was desirous, indeed, of keeping you 
 near me, in case any favourable news should have 
 arrived". For, as Homer sings, 
 
 " The wise new wisdom from tlie wise acquire."' 
 
 But now that the whole affair is decided, beyond all 
 
 doubt, you should set forward with the utmost speed. 
 
 When I heard of the fate that has attended Lucius 
 
 Caesar", I could not forbear saying to myself, with 
 
 ' At the battle of Pharsalia. 
 
 s Concerning the success of the Pompeian party against 
 Cssar, in Africa ; an event, if it had taken place, that 
 would extremely have embarrassed Cicero. For whicli 
 reason he was desirous of keeping Varro within his reach, 
 that he might immediately have consulted with him in 
 xvhat manner to act. — See rem. o, p. 461. 
 
 » n. X. 224, Pope's translation. 
 
 " He was a distant relation of Julius Caesar ; whom, 
 however, he had constantly opposed throughout the civil 
 war. — Lucius, being taken prisoner at the late battle of 
 Thapsus, where Ca;sar gainc'T^^ complete victory over the 
 combined troops of Scipio and Juba, obtained the con- 
 Cjiieror's pardon ; but C'assar afterwards changed his mind, 
 
 the old man in the play, " WHiat Icnileriie.ts then 
 may not I expect"!'' For this reason, 1 am a 
 constant guest at the tables of our present poten- 
 tates ; and what can I do better, you know, than 
 j)ru(lently swim with the current of the times ? 
 15ut, to be serious, (for serious, in truth, we have 
 reason to be,^ 
 
 " See vengeance stalk o'er Afrio's trembling plain ; 
 And one wiile waste of horrid ruin reign »' !" 
 
 A circumstance that fills me with very uneasy 
 ap))rehensions. 
 
 I am unable to answer your question, when 
 C.esar will arrive, or where he jiroposes to land. 
 Some, I find, doubt whether it will be at Baise ; 
 and they now talk of his coming home by the way 
 of Sardinia. It is (pertain, at least, that he has not 
 yet visited this ])art of his demesnes ; and though 
 he has not a worse /arm *^ upon all his est/i/e, he is 
 far, however, from holding it in contempt. For 
 my own part, I am more inclined to imagine he 
 will take Sicily in his return. But these doubts 
 will soon be (bleared up, as Dolabella'' is every 
 moment exjiected. I believe, tlierefore, I must 
 take my instructions from my disciple', as many 
 a pupil, you know, has become a greater adept 
 than his master. However, if I knew what you 
 had determined u])on, I should chiefly regulate my 
 measures by yours ; for which jiurpose 1 expect a 
 letter from you with great impatience. Farewell. 
 
 and gave private orders to have him assassinated. — Dio, 
 xliii. p. 21.<). 
 
 V This alludes to a passage in the " Andria"of Terence, 
 where Simo, the father of Pamphilus, giving an account of 
 his son's tender behaviour at tlie funeral of Chrysis, could 
 not forbear reflecting, he says, — " Quid mihi hie faciet 
 patri!" But Cicero applies it in a different sense, and 
 means that, if Cjesar acted towards his own relations with 
 so much cruelty, he had little reason to expect a milder 
 treatment. 
 
 ^v These lines are quoted ^rom Ennius, a poet, of whom 
 some account has been given in the foregoing remarks. 
 The troops of Cgesar pursued their victory over those 
 of Scipio with great cruelty: — " acrior Ca?sarianoruni 
 impetus fuit (says Florus) indignantium post Pompeium 
 crevisse helium." Numbers, indeed, of Scipio's army must 
 necessarily have been massacred in cool blood : for the 
 historians agree that Caesar's loss amounted only to 50 
 men ; whereas 10,000 were killed on the side of Scipio, 
 according to the account which Hirtius gives of this 
 action, and five times that number if we may credit 
 Plutarch.— Flor. iv. 2 ; Hirt. De Bell. Afric. 8() ; Plut. 
 in Vit. Ciesar. 
 
 ^ The island of Sardinia was, in the time of the Romans, 
 (what it still is,) extremely barren and unwholesome. 
 Martial has a pretty allusion to this latter circumstance, 
 in one of his epigrams : — 
 
 " NuUo fata loco possis excludere : cum mors 
 
 Venerit, in medio Tibure Sardinia est." — iv. GO. 
 
 y Dolabella attended Casar in the African war. 
 
 * Cicero means that he should learn from Dolabella 
 where Caesp.r purpose to land, and in what temper he was 
 returning into Italy, together with some other circum- 
 stances as it was necessary he should be apprised of, m 
 order to pay his personal congratulations to the conqueror 
 in the niost proper and acceptable manner. It seems pro- 
 bable, from this passage, that Dolabella had formed his 
 eloquence under Cicero, agreeably to an excellent custom 
 which prevailed in Rome, of introducing the youth, upon 
 their first entrance into business, to the acquaintimee and 
 patronage of some distinguished orator of the forum, 
 whom they constantly attended in all the public exercises 
 of his profesaion. — Auct. Dialog, de Caus. corrupt. Eloquent. 
 
 34.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 481 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 To Apideius, Proquastor. 
 Lucius Zoilus was appointed, by the will of his 
 patron, coheir in conjunction with me. I mention 
 
 _„- this, not only to show you the occasion of 
 A. u. 7C7. \. ■ , , ■ • . , 1 • XL. 
 
 my friendship with him, but as an evi- 
 dence likewise of his merit, by being thus distin- 
 guished by his patron. I recommend him, there- 
 fore, to your favour as one of my own family ; and 
 you will oblige me in letting him see that you were 
 greatly influenced to his advantage by this letter. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 To Varro. 
 Our friend Caninius acquainted me with your 
 request that I would write to you whenever there 
 „„., was any news which I thought it con- 
 ' ' '' cerned you to know. You are already 
 informed that we are in daily expectation of Csesar*: 
 but I am now to tell you that as it was his intention, 
 it seems, to have landed at Alsium*", his friends 
 have written to dissuade him from that design. 
 They think that his coming on shore at that place 
 ■will prove extremely troublesome to himself, as 
 well as very much incommode many others ; and 
 have therefore recommended Ostia"^ as a more 
 convenient port. For my own part, I can see no 
 difference. Hirtius'', however, assures me that 
 himself as well as Balbus"^, and Oppius,' (who, let 
 me observe by the way, are every one of them greatly 
 in your interest,) have written to Caesar for this pur- 
 pose. I thought proper, therefore, to send you this 
 piece of intelligence for two reasons. In the first 
 place, that you might know where to engage a 
 lodging ; or rather, that you might secure one in 
 both these towns ; for it is extremely uncertain at 
 ■which of them Csesar will disembark. And in the 
 next place, in order to indulge a little piece of 
 vanity, by showing you that I am so well with 
 these favourites of Caesar as to be admitted into 
 their privy council. To speak seriously, I see no 
 reason to decline their friendship ; for, surely, 
 there is a wide difference between submitting to 
 evils we cannot remedy, and approving measures 
 that we ought to condemns^. Though, to confess 
 
 ^ CiEsar returned victorious from Africa, about the 2Gth 
 of July, in the present year ; so that this letter was pro- 
 ■bably written either in the beginning of that month, or 
 the latter end of June.— Hirt. De Bell. Afric. 98. 
 
 b The situation of this place is not exactly known : some 
 geographers suppose it to be the same town which is now 
 called Scvera, a sea-port about twenty-five miles distant 
 from Rome, on the western coast of Italy. 
 
 ^ It still retains its ancient name, and is situated at the 
 mouth of the Tiber. 
 
 '' lie lived in great intimacy with Caesar, .and had served 
 under him in quality of one of his lieutenants in Gaul. It 
 appears, by this passage, that he did not attend Cssar into 
 Africa ; so that if the history of that war annexed to 
 CoDsar's Commentaries was really written, as is generally 
 snipposed, by llu-tius, he was not an eye-witness of what he 
 relates ; a circumstance which considerably weakens the 
 authority of his account. 
 
 c !jee rem. m, p. 399. ' See rem. o, p. 457. 
 
 e To cultivate friendships with the leaders of a successful 
 faction, has sm-cly something in it that much resembles the 
 
 the truth, I do not know there are any that I can 
 justly blame, except those which involved us in the ' 
 civil wars ; for these, it must be owned, were alto- 
 gether voluntary. I saw, indeed, (what your dis- 
 tance from Rome prevented you from observing'',) 
 that our party were eager for war ; while Csesar, 
 on the contrary, appeared less inclined than afraid 
 to liave recourse to arms. Thus far, therefore, 
 our calamities might have been prevented, but all 
 beyond was unavoidable ; for one side or the other 
 must necessarily prove superior. Now, we both of 
 us, I am sure, always lamented those infinite mis- 
 chiefs that would ensue, whichever general of the 
 tv.'o contending armies should happen to tall in 
 battle ; as we were well convinced, that of all the 
 complicated evils which attend a civil war, victory 
 is the supreme. I dreaded it, indeed, even on that 
 side which both you and I thought proper to join, 
 as they threatened most cruel vengeance on those 
 who stood neuter, and were no less offended at 
 your sentiments than at my speeches. But had 
 they gained this last battle, we should stUl more 
 severely have experienced the effects of their power, 
 as our late conduct had incensed them to the highest 
 degree. Yet what measures have we taken for our 
 own security, that we did not warmly recommend 
 for theirs ? And how have they more advantaged 
 the republic by having recourse to Juba and 
 his elephants', than if they had perished by their 
 own swords, or submitted to live under the present 
 system of affairs, with some hopes, at least, if not 
 with the fairest. But they may tell us, perhaps, 
 (and, indeed, with truth,) that the government 
 under which we have chosen to live is altogether 
 turbulent and unsettled. Let this objection, how- 
 ever, have weight with those who have treasured 
 up no stores in their minds to support themselves 
 under all the possible vicissitudes of human affairs ; 
 a reflection whicli brings me round to what I prin- 
 cipally had in view when I undesignedly wandered 
 into this long digression. I was going to have 
 said, that as I always looked upon your character 
 with great admiration, so nothing raises it higher 
 in my esteem than to observe that you are almost 
 the only person, in these tempestuous days, who 
 has wisely retreated into harbour, and are enjoying 
 the happy fruits of those important studies which 
 are attended with more pubhc advantage, as well 
 as private satisfaction, than all the ambitious ex- 
 ploits or voluptuous indulgences of these licentious 
 victors. The contemplative hours you spend at 
 your Tusculan villa are, in my estimation, indeed, 
 what alone deserve to be called life ; and I would 
 willingly renounce the whole wealth and splendour 
 of the world to be at liberty to pass my time in the 
 same philosophical manner. I follow your exam- 
 
 approving of measures which we ought to condemn ; and 
 though it may be policy, most certainly it is not patriotism. 
 It ill agrees, at least, with that sort of abstracted life 
 which Cicero, in the first letter of this book, declares he 
 proposed to lead, if the rejiublic should be destroyed. — 
 Ep. Fam. vii. 3. 
 
 >> Varro, at the breaking out of the civil war, was in 
 Spain ; where he resided in quality of one of Pompey's 
 lieutenants. 
 
 ' These elephants were drawn up in the front of the 
 right and left wing of Scipio's army. But being driven 
 b.ick upon the line behind them, they put the r.auks into 
 great confusion ; and, instead of proving of any advantage 
 to Scipio, contributed to facilitate his defeat.— Hiit. De 
 Bell. Afi-ic. 83. 
 
 I 1
 
 482 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 pie, however, as far as the circumstances in which 
 I am placed will (K'niiit, and liave rtroiirse, with 
 great satisfaction of niiiul, to my favo\iritc studies. 
 Since our country, indeed, either cannot or will 
 not aecept our services, who shall condemn us for 
 returning to that contemplative privacy which many 
 philosojihers have tliouj^lit jireferahlc (I will not 
 say witli reason, however, they liave preferred,) 
 even to flie most public and patriot labours ? And 
 why should we not iiululi^e ourselves in those learned 
 in(iuiries, wliich some of the greatest men have 
 deemed a just dispensation from all public employ- 
 ments, when it is a liberty, at the same time, 
 which the commonwealth itself is willing to allow 
 us ? But I am going beyond the commission which 
 Caninius gave me ; and while he only desired tliat 
 I would acquaint you with those articles of which 
 you were not already apprised, I am telling you 
 what you know far better than I can inform you. 
 For the future I shall confine myself more strictly 
 to your request, and will not fail of communicating 
 to you whatever intelligence I may learn, which 1 
 shall think it imports you to know. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 To Papirius PcetitsK 
 Your letter afforded me a very agreeable instance 
 of your friendship, in the concern it expressed lest 
 A u *'l)7 ^ should be uneasy at the report which 
 had been brought hither by Silius''. I 
 was before, indeed, perfectly sensible how much 
 you were disturbed at this circumstance, by your 
 care in sending me duplicates of a former letter 
 upon the same subject ; and I then returned such 
 an answer as I thought would be sufficient to 
 abate, at least, if not entirely remove, this your 
 generous solicitude. But, since I perceive, by 
 your last letter, how much this affair still dwells 
 upon your mind, let me assure you, my dear Paetus, 
 that I have employed every artifice (for we must 
 now, my friend, be armed with cunning as well as 
 prudence,) to conciliate the good graces of the 
 persons you mention ; and, if I mistake not, my 
 endeavours have not proved in vain. I receive, 
 indeed, so many marks of respect and esteem from 
 those who are most in Caesar's favour, that I 
 cannot but flatter myself they have a true regard 
 for me. It must be confessed, at the same time, 
 that a pretended affection is not easily discernible 
 from a real one, unless in seasons of distress. For 
 adversity is to friendship what fire is to gold, the 
 only infallible test to discover the genuine from the 
 counterfeit ; in all other circumstances they both 
 bear the same common signatures. I have one 
 strong reason, however, to persuade me of their 
 sincerity ; as neither their situation nor mme can by 
 any means tempt them to dissemble with me. As 
 to that person' in whom all power is now centred, 
 I am not sensible that I have anything to fear from 
 him ; or nothing more, at least, than what arises 
 from that general precarious state in which all 
 things must stand where the fence of laws is broken 
 down'; and, from its being impossible to pronounce 
 
 J See rem. ° on letter 2, book vi. 
 
 ^ fiilius, it should seem, had brought an account from 
 the ijmy, that some wittioisms of Cicero had been reported 
 to CiBsar, which had given him offence. 
 
 ' Cssar. 
 
 with assurance concerning any event which depends 
 wholly upon the will, not to say the caprice, of 
 another. But this I can with confidence affirm, 
 that I have not, in any single instance, given him 
 just occasion to take offence; and, in the article 
 you point out, I have been ])articularly cautious. 
 There was a time, it is true, wlien I thought it well 
 became me, by whom Rome itself was free"', to 
 speak my sentiments with freedom ; but now that 
 o\ir liberties are no more, I deem it equally agree- 
 ahh' to my present situation, not to say anything 
 that may disgust either Csesar or his favourites. 
 But were 1 to suppress every rising raillery that 
 might ])i(|ue those at whom it is directed, I must 
 renounce, you know, all my reputation as a wit. 
 And, in good earnest, it is a character upon which. 
 I do not set so high a value as to be unwilling to 
 resign it if it were in my power. However, I am ia 
 no danger of suffering in Caesar's opinion, by being> 
 represented as the author of any sarcasms to which 
 I have no claim ; for his judgment is much tof> 
 penetrating ever to be deceived by any imposition 
 of this nature. I remember your brother Servius, 
 whom 1 look upon to have been one of the most learned 
 critics that this age has produced, was so conversant 
 in the writings of our poets, and had acquired such 
 an e.xcellent and judicious ear, that he could imme- 
 diately distinguish the numbers of Plautus from. 
 those of any other author. Thus Caesar, I am 
 told, when he made his large collection of apoph- 
 thegms", constantly rejected any piece of wit that 
 was brouglit to him as mine, if it happened to be- 
 spurious ; a distinction which he is much more 
 able to make at present, as his particular friends 
 pass almost every day of their lives in my com- 
 pany. As our conversation generally turns upon a- 
 variety of subjects, I frequently strike out thoughts 
 which they look upon as not altogether void, 
 perhaps, of spirit or ingenuity. Now, these little 
 sallies of pleasantry, together with the general 
 occurrences of Rome, are constantly transmitted 
 to Caesar, in pursuance of his own express direc- 
 tions ; so that, if anything of this kind is mentioned 
 by others as coming from me, he always disregards 
 it. You see, then, that the lines you quote with 
 so much propriety from the tragedy of CEnomaus", 
 
 "1 Alluding to his services in the suppression of Catiline's 
 conspiracy. 
 
 " This collection was made by Caesar when he was very 
 young, and probably it was a performance by no means to 
 his honour. For Augustus, into whose hands it camo 
 after his death, would not suifer it to be published. — Suet, 
 in Vit. .Jul. Ca»s. 56. 
 
 o Written by Accius, a tragic poet, who flourished about 
 the year of Rome 617. The subject of this piece, probably, 
 turned upon the death of (F.nomaus, king of Elis, and the 
 marriage of his daughter Ilippodaniia. This prince being 
 informed, by an oracle, that he should lose his life by his- 
 future son-in-law, contrived the following expedient to dis- 
 appoint the prophecy. Being possessed of a pair of horses ■ 
 of such wonderful swiftness, that it was reported they 
 were begotten by the winds, he proposed to the several 
 suitors of his daughter, that whoever of them should beat 
 him in a chariot-race should be rewarded with Hippo- 
 damia, upon condition that they consented to be put to • 
 death if they lost the match. Accordingly, thirteen of ' 
 these unfortunate rivals entered the list: and each of- 
 them, in their turn, paid the forfeiture of their lives. 
 But Pelops, the son of Tantalus, king of Phrygia, beir.gT 
 more artful than the rest, bribed the charioteer of Oino- 
 maus to take out the linch-pin of liis chariot-wheel ; by- 
 which means O'^nomaus was dashed to pieces in the course,-.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 483 
 
 contain a caution altogether unnecessary. For tell 
 me, my friend, what jealousies can I possibly 
 create ? Or who will look with envy u])on a man 
 in my humble situation ? But, granting that I 
 were in ever so enviable a state, yet let me observe, 
 that it is the opinion of those j)hilosophers who 
 alone seem to have understood the true nature of 
 virtue, that a good man is answerable for nothing 
 farther than his own innocence. Now, in this 
 respect, I think myself doubly irreproachable : in 
 the first place, by liaving recommended such public 
 measures as were for the interest of the common- 
 wealth ; and in the next, that, finding I was not 
 sufficiently supported to render my counsels effec- 
 tual, I did not deem it advisable to contend for 
 them by arms against a superior strength. Most 
 certainly, therefore, I cannot justly be accused of 
 having failed in the duty of a good citizen. The 
 only part, then that now remains for me, is to be 
 cautious not to expose myself, by any indiscreet 
 word or action, to the resentment of those in 
 power ; a part which I hold likewise to be agree- 
 able to the character of true wisdom. As to the 
 rest ; what liberties any man may take in imputing 
 words to me which I never spoke ; what credit 
 Caesar may give to such reports ; and how far 
 those who court my friendship are really sincere ; 
 these are points for which it is by no means in my 
 power to be answerable. My tranquillity arises, 
 therefore, from the conscious integrity of my 
 counsels in the times that are past, and from the 
 moderation of my conduct in these that are present. 
 Accordingly, I apply the simile you (piote from 
 AcciugP, not only to Envy, but to Fortune; that 
 weak and inconstant power, whom every wise and 
 resolute mind should resist with as much firmness 
 as a rock repels the waves. Grecian story will 
 abundantly supply examples of the greatest men, 
 both at Athens and Syracuse, who have, in some 
 sort, preserved their independency amidst the 
 general servitude of their respective communities. 
 May I not hope, then, to be able so to comport 
 myself, under the same circumstances, as neither 
 to give offence to our rulers on the one hand, nor 
 to injure the dignity of my character on the other? 
 But to turn from the serious to the jocose part 
 of your letter. — The strain of pleasantry you break 
 into, immediately after having quoted the tragedy 
 of QSuomaus, puts me in mind of the modern 
 method of introducing at the end of those graver 
 dramatic pieces the humour of our mimes, instead 
 of the old Atellan farces'. Why else do you talk 
 of your paltry polypus ■■, and your mouldy cheese ? 
 In pure good nature, it is true, I formerly sub- 
 mitted to sit down with you to such homely fare ; 
 but more refined company has improved me into 
 a better taste. For Hirtius and Dolabella, let me 
 
 and Pelops carried off the beautiful llippodamia. — Iljgin. 
 Fab. 83. 
 
 P The poet mentioned in the preceding remai'k. 
 
 '1 These Atellan farces, which, in the earlier periods of 
 the Roman stage, were acted at the end of tlie niore serious 
 dramatic performances, derived their name from Atella, 
 a town in Italy, from whence they were first introduced 
 at Rome. They consisted of a more liberal and genteel 
 kind of humour than the mimes — a species of comedy which 
 Beams to have taken its subject from low life. — iManutius, in 
 loc. 
 
 f A sea fish so extremely tough, that it was necessary to 
 beat it a considerable time before it could be rendered fit 
 for the table. — Uruyer. DeReC'ibar. xxi. 14. 
 
 tell you, are my preceptors in the science of the 
 table ; as, in return, they are my disciples in that 
 of tiie bar. But I suppose you have already heard, 
 at least if all the town-news is transmitted to you, 
 that they frequently declaim at my house', and 
 that I as often sup at theirs. You must not, how- 
 ever, hope to escape my intended visit, by plead- 
 ing poverty in bar to tiie admission of so luxurious 
 a guest. Whilst you were raising a fortune, indeed, 
 I bore with your jiarsimonious humour ; but now 
 that you are in circumstances to support the loss 
 of half your wealth, I expect that you receive me 
 in another manner than you would one of your 
 compounding debtors'. And though your finances 
 may somewhat suffer by my visit, remember it is 
 better they sliould be impaired by treating a friend 
 than by lending to a stranger. I do not insist, 
 however, that you spread your table with so un- 
 bounded a profusion as to furnish out a splendid 
 treat with the remains : I am so wonderfully mo- 
 derate as to desire nothing more than what is 
 perfectly elegant and exquisite in its kind. I 
 remember to have heard you descrilie an enter- 
 tainment which was given by Phamcas. Let yours 
 be the exact copy of his : only 1 should be glad 
 not to wait for it quite so long. Should you still 
 persist, after all, to invite me, as usual, to a penu- 
 rious supper, dished out by the sparing hand of 
 maternal economy ; even this, periiaps, I may be 
 able to support. But I would fain see that hero 
 bold who should dare to set before me the villanous 
 trash you mention, or even one of your boasted 
 polypuses, with a hue as florid as vermilioned 
 Jove". Take my word for it, my friend, your 
 prudence will not suflTer you to be thus adventurous. 
 Fame, no doubt, will have proclaimed at your 
 villa my late conversion to luxurv, long before my 
 arrival ; and you will shiver at the sound of her 
 tremendous report. Nor must you flatter yourself 
 with the hope of abating the edge of my appetite 
 by your cloying sweet-wines before supper : a silly 
 custom, which I have now entirely renounced ; 
 being much wiser than when I used to damp my 
 stomach with your antepasts of olives and Leu- 
 canian sausages.- — But not to run on any longer 
 in this jocose strain ; my only serious wish is, that 
 1 may be able to make you a visit. You may 
 compose your countenance, therefore, and return 
 to your mouldy cheese in full security ; for my 
 being your guest will occasion you, as usual, no 
 other expense than that of heating your baths. As 
 
 ' Cicero had lately instituted a kind of academy for 
 eloquence in his own house, at which several of the lead- 
 ing young men in Rome used to meet in order to exercise 
 themselves in the art of oratory. Cicero himself will 
 acquaint the re;idcr with his motives fur instituting this 
 society, in the 2:2d letter of the present book. 
 
 ' This alludes (as Slanutius observes) to a law which 
 Cajsar passed in favour of those who had contracted debts 
 before the commencement of the civil war. By this law, 
 as appears from the passages wliich that commentator has 
 cited, commissioners were appointed to take an account of 
 the estate and effects of these debtors, which were to ho 
 assigned to their respective creditors according to their 
 valuation before the civil war broke out : and whatever 
 sums had been paid for interest, was to be considered as in 
 discharge of the principal. By this ordinance. Partus, it 
 seems, had been a particular sufferer. — Cks. De Bell. Civ. 
 iii. 1 ; Suet, in Vit. Jul. C'jes. 42. 
 
 " Pliny, tho naturalist, mentions a statue of Jupiter, 
 erected in the Capitol, which, on certain festival days, it 
 was customary to paint with vermilion. — Manutius. 
 1 I i 
 
 \
 
 484 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICEKO 
 
 for all the rest, you !.re to look upon it as mere 
 j)lea9;iiitry. 
 
 The trouble you have given yourself about 
 Selicius's villa" is extremely obliging, as your 
 ikscription of it was excessively droll. I believe, 
 therelore, from the accounts you give me, I shall 
 renoiiii'-e all thoughts of making that purchase : 
 lor though the country, it seems, abounds in salt, 
 the neigliboui hood, I find, is but insipid. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 To Volumnius''. 
 
 You have little reason, believe me, to regret the 
 
 not being ]irfsent at my declamations"' ; and if you 
 
 ^ . - should really envy Ilirtius, as you assure 
 
 ■ ' ' ' me you should, if you did not love him, 
 
 it must be much more for his own eloquence tlian 
 
 as he is an auditor of mine. In truth, my dear 
 
 Volumnius, eitlier I am utterly void of all genius, 
 
 or incapable of exercising it to my satisfaction, now 
 
 that 1 have lost those illustrious fellow-labourers 
 
 at the bar that fired me with emulation when 1 
 
 used to gain your judicious applause. If ever, 
 
 indi-ed, I displayed the jiowers of eloquence with 
 
 advantage to my re])utation, let me send a sigh 
 
 when LretUct with the fallen Philoctetes'' in the 
 
 play, that 
 
 These potent shafts, the heroes' wonted dread, 
 Now spend on meaner war their idle force ; 
 Aim'd at the wing'd inhabitants of air ! 
 However, if you will give me your company here, 
 my spirits will bo more enlivened, though I need 
 not add that you will find me engaged in a multitude 
 of very important occupations. But if I can once 
 get to the end of them (as I most earnestly wish), 
 I shall bid a long farewell both to the forum and 
 the senate, and chiefly devote my time to you and 
 some few others of our common friends. In this 
 number are Cassius and Dolabella, who are united 
 with us in the same favourite studies, and to whose 
 performances I with great jjleasure attend. But 
 we want the assistance of your refined judgment, 
 and of thiit unccimmon erudition which has often 
 struck me with awe when I have been delivering 
 my sentiments before you. I have determined, 
 then, if I sliould obtain the consent, or at least the 
 permission of Coesar, to retire from that stage on 
 which I have frequently performed a part that he 
 
 " In Naples. ^ See rem. '", on letter 18, bookiv. 
 
 ■"■ See rem. s, on the preceding letter. 
 
 X Philoctetes was the friend and companion of Hercules, 
 who, when he was dying, presented him with his quiver of 
 arrows which had been dipped in the hj-dra's gall. "When 
 the Grecian princes assembled in order to revenge the cause 
 of Menelaus, they were assured by an oracle that Troy 
 could never be taken without the assistance of these arrows. 
 An embassy therefore was sent to Philoctetes to engage 
 him on their side, who accordingly consented to attend 
 their expedition. Bsst being disabled from proceeding with 
 these heroes in their voyage, by an accidental wound 
 which he received in the foot from one of his own arrows, 
 they ungenerously left him on a desolate island, and it was 
 here that he was reduced to the mortifj'ing necessity of 
 employing these formidable shafts in the humble purposes 
 of supplying himself with food. The lines here quoted are 
 taken from A coins, a dramatic poet who flourished about 
 the year of Ttome 623, and who probably had formed a 
 tragedy upon, the subject of this adventure. — Serv. in JEn. 
 iii. 402, 
 
 himself has applauded. It is my resolution, indeed, 
 totally to conceal myself in the secret shades of 
 philosophy, where 1 liope to enjoy, with you, and 
 some others of the same contemplative disposition, 
 the honourable fruits of a studious leisure. 
 
 I am sorry you shortened your last letter in the 
 apprehension that I should not have patience to 
 read a longer. But assure yourself for the future, 
 that the longer yours are, the more acceptable they 
 will always prove to me. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIL 
 
 To Papirius Pcelus. 
 
 Your very agreeable letter found me wholly 
 
 disengaged at my Tusculan villa. I retired hither 
 
 »„- during the absence of my pui)ils'', whom 
 
 'I have sent to meet their victorious 
 
 friend*, in order to conciliate his good graces in 
 
 my favour. 
 
 As Dionysius the tyrant, after he was expelled 
 from Syracuse, opened a school, it is said, at 
 Corinth*; in the same manner, being driven from 
 my dom.inions in the forum, I have erected a sort 
 of academy in my own house ; and I perceive, by 
 your letter, that you approve the scheme. I have 
 many reasons for approving it too, and principally 
 as it affords me what is highly expedient in the 
 present conjuncture, a mean of establishing an 
 interest with those'' in whose friendship I may 
 find a protection. How far my intentions in this 
 respect may be answered, I know not : I can only 
 say, that I have hitherto had no reason to prefer 
 the different measures which others of the same 
 party with myself have pursued ; unless, perhaps, 
 it would have been more eligible not to have sur- 
 vived the ruin of our cause. It would so, I confess, 
 had I died either in the camp"^ or in the field : but 
 the former did not happen to be ray fate ; and as to 
 the latter, I never was engaged in any action. But 
 the inglorious manner in which Pompey'', together 
 with Scipio", Afranius ', and your friend Lentulusf, 
 
 y Ilirtius and Dol.abella. 
 
 ^ Ca;sar, in his return from the African war. 
 
 » He was expelled from Sicily about 340 years before the 
 birth of our Saviour, on accoimt of his oppressive govern- 
 ment ; when, retiring to Corinth, he employed himself in 
 exercising the humbler tyranny of a pedagogue. It is 
 supposed that he engaged in this office the more effectually 
 to conceal the schemes he was still meditating of recovering 
 his dominions, — Justin, xxi. 5. 
 
 b Particularly Ilirtius and Dolabella. 
 
 c The expression in the original is extremely concise.— 
 "Inlectulo? Fateor : sed non accidit." This seems to 
 allude to the sickness with which Cicero was attacked in 
 the camp of Dj'rrachium, and that prevented him from 
 being present at the battle of Pharsalia, or at least fur 
 nishcd him with a plausible excuse for his absence. — Plut. 
 in Vit. Cicer. 
 
 ^ An account of the manner and circumstance of Poni- 
 pey's death has .already been given in rem. 1. p. 470. 
 
 e Scipio, after the unfortunate battle of Thapsus [sea 
 rem. *, p. 480.] endeavouring to make his escape into 
 Spain, was driven back upon the coast of Africa, where ha 
 fell in with a squadron of Caesar's fleet, commanded by 
 Hirtius. Scipio was soon overpowered by the strength 
 and number of the enemy's ships, and himself, together 
 with the few vessels that attended him, were all sunk.— 
 Hirt. De Bell. Afric. 96. 
 
 f Afranius had been one of Pompey's lieutenants in 
 Spain, and had a command in Scipio's army in Africa. He
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 485 
 
 severally lost their lives, will scarcely, I suppose, 
 be tliought a more desirable lot. As to Cato's 
 ileatli'', it must be acknowledged to have been 
 truly noble ; and I can still follow his example, 
 whenever I shall be so disposed. Let me only 
 endeavour, as in fact 1 do, not to be compelled to 
 it by the same necessity': and this is my first 
 reason for engaging in my present scheme. My 
 next is, that I find it an advantage, not only to my 
 healthJ, which began to be impaired by the inter- 
 was taken prisoner in attempting to make his escape after 
 the defejit of that general, and murdered by the soldiers. 
 — Ilirt. Do Bell. Afric. 95. 
 
 e Tliis is not the same person to whom the letters in the 
 first and second hook of this collection are addressed ; but 
 Lucius Lentulus, who was consul with Marcellus .V. U. 
 704, the year in which the civil war broke out. Aftt'r the 
 defeat at Pliarsalia, he fled to the island of Cyprus, where 
 receiving intelligence that Pompey was gone into Egypt, he 
 immediately set sail in order to join him. He arrived on 
 the next day after that unfortunate general had been 
 cruelly assassinated, and being seized tlie moment he 
 landed, he underwent the same fate with that of his illus- 
 trious friend, in pursuance of an order for that purpose 
 from rtolemy.— Plut. in Vit. Pomp. ; Css. De Bell. Civ. 
 iii 102, 104. 
 
 •> The manner and circumstances of Cato's having 
 destroyed himself, are too well known to be particularised 
 in this place. A late noble writer is of opinion that Cato 
 abandoned the cause of liberty too soon, and that he would 
 have died with a better grace at Mu ml a than at Utica. 
 -This censure, it must be owned, has the appearance of 
 being just, if we consider it only in respect to tlie event ; 
 but if there had been a real foundation for the reproach, it 
 can scarce be supposed that it should have escaped every 
 one of the ancient writers who speak of this illustrious 
 Roman's exit ; and that Cicoro, in particular, who most 
 certainly did not love Cato, should have made an honour- 
 able exception of his death, out of that list which he here 
 condemns. It is true the republican part}', after the defeat 
 of Seipio in Africa, made a very powerful struggle against 
 Caesar imder the command of young Pompey in Spain. 
 But it is highly probable that there was not the least 
 rational expectation of this eircumstance, when Cato 
 thought it became him to put an end to his life. For it 
 appears from Plutarch that he would have defended Utica 
 to the last, if he could have persuaded the principal 
 Romans in that garrison to have supported him ; and it 
 was not till after all his remonstrances for that purpose 
 preved utterly ineffectual, and that he had secured the 
 retreat of tliose who did not choose to surrender them- 
 selves to CjEsar, that this exemplary patriot fell upon his 
 o^vn sword. Thus died this truly great and virtuous 
 Roman ! He had long stood forth the sole uncorruptcd 
 opposer of those vices that proved the ruin of this degene- 
 rate commonwealth, and supported, as far as a single arm 
 could support, the declining constitution. But when his 
 services could no farther avail, he scorned to survive what 
 had been the labour of his whole life to preserve, and 
 bravely perished with the liberties of his country. Thisis 
 the purport of that noble eulogy which Seneca, in much 
 stronger language, has justly bestowed upon Cato : — " Ad- 
 vorsusvitia dcgenerantis, civitatis(says he), sictit, solus, et 
 cadentem rempublicam, quantum, modo %tna retrain mami 
 poterat, retinuit ; donee comitem se diu sustentata; i uina; 
 dedit : simulque extineta sunt quae nefas erat dividi. Neque 
 enimCato postlibcrtatem vixit, nee libertas postCatonem." 
 — Lord Bolingbroke's Letter on Patriotism, p. 36 ; Plut. in 
 Vit. Caton ; Senee. De Constant. Sapient. 2. 
 
 • The only necessity which Cato was under of putting 
 an end to his life, arose from that uniform opposition he 
 had given to the dangerous designs of the conqueror ; and 
 it must be allowed that Cicero took sufficient care not to 
 fall under the same. 
 
 J A mere English reader will be surprised to hear Cicero 
 talk of eloquence as an exaciee. There is nothing indeed 
 
 mission of exercises of this kind, but also to my 
 oratorical talents, if any I ever posses.sed, which 
 would have totally lost their vigour if I had not 
 had recourse to tliis method of keeping them in 
 play. The last benefit I shall mention (and the 
 principal one, 1 dare say, in your estimation) is, 
 that it has introduceil me to the demolishing of a 
 greater number of delicious peacocks'' than you 
 iiave had the devouring of i)altry pigeons in all 
 your life. The truth of it is. whilst you are humbly 
 sipping the meagre broths of the sneaking Aterius, 
 I am luxuriously regaling myself with the savoury 
 soups of the magnificent Hirtius. If you have any 
 spirit, then, fly hither, and learn, from our elegant 
 bills of fare, how to refine your own : though, to 
 do your talents justice, this is a sort of knowledge 
 in which you are much superior to our instructions. 
 However, since you can get no purchasers for your 
 mortgages, and are not likely to fill those pitchers 
 you mention with denarii', it will be your wisest 
 scheme to return hither ; for it is a better thing, 
 let me tell you, to be sick with good eating at 
 Rome, than for want of victuals at Naples™. In 
 short, I jilainly perceive that your finances are 
 in no flourishing situation ; and I expect to hear 
 the same account of all your neighbours : so 
 that famiue, my friend, most formidable famine, 
 must be your fate, if you do not provide against it 
 in due time. And since you have been reduced 
 to sell your horse, e'en mount your mule (the only 
 animal, it seems, belonging to you which you have 
 not yet sacrificed to your table), and convey your- 
 self immediately to Rome. To encourage you to 
 do so, you shall be honoured with a chair and 
 cushion next to mine, and sit the second great 
 pedagogue in my celebrated school. Farewell. 
 
 more indolent and immovable than a British orator : for if 
 he ventures into action, his gestures are generally such as 
 would render the finest speech that Demosthenes or Cicero 
 ever delivered absolutely powerless or ridiculous. " You 
 may see many a smart rhetorician (says tlie inimitable 
 Mr. Addison) turning his hat in his hands, moulding it 
 into several different cocks, examining sometimes the 
 lining and somethnes the button, during the whole course 
 of his harangue. A deaf man would think he was cheap- 
 ening a beaver ; when, perhai)S, he is talking of the fate of 
 the British nation." But among the orators of Greece and 
 Rome it was far otherwise : they studied the eloquence of 
 action as much as that of diction, and their rhetoricians 
 have laid down rules for tlie graceful management of the 
 shoulders, the arms, the hands, and the feet, which were 
 cnch of them engaged by turns in the emphatical exercise 
 of ancient elocution. — Si>ectator, vi. p. 50 ; Quint, xi. 3. 
 
 l* This bird was esteemed by the Romans amongst the 
 most refined delicacies of the table, and no entertainment 
 was thought completely elegant where a peacock did not 
 make one of the dishes. Thy bore a most incredible price : 
 Varro assures us tliat a hundred peacocks produced to 
 the owner the annual profit of about three hundred pounds 
 sterling. — Vur. De Re Rustic, iii. C. 
 
 ' The denarius was a silver coin, equivalent to aboufc 
 eight-ponce of our money. Cicero's raillery alludes to the 
 loss which I'oetus had suffered by the late edict of Cassar 
 concerning debtors ; of which an account has been given 
 in rem. ', ;). 483. 
 
 ■" Paetus had a house in Naples, where he appears tt* 
 have been when this letter was written.
 
 486 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XXin. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 YotR. satirical liuniour, I find, has not yet 
 forsaken you ; and I j)erfectly well understand 
 ,„„ your raillery, when you gravely tell n)e 
 '' that Biilbus contented himself with your 
 humble fare. You insinuate, I suppose, that since 
 these our sovt-reinn' rulers are tluis wonderfully 
 temperate, much more does it become a discarded 
 consular'" to j)ractise the same abstemiousness. 
 But do you know, my friend, that I have artfully 
 drawn from IJalbus himself the whole history of 
 the reception you gave him ? He came diri'ctly to 
 my house the monient he arrived in Home : a 
 circumstance, by the way, somewhat extraordinary. 
 Not that 1 am surprised at his wanting the jiolite- 
 ness to call first at yours ; but my wonder is, that 
 he should not go directly to his own". However, 
 after the two or three first salutations had j)assed, 
 I immediately in(|uired what account he had to 
 give of my friend I'lotus. " Never (lie j)rotested) 
 was he better entertained in his whole life." Now, 
 if you merited this cDinplimeiit by your wit, 1 
 desire you to remember that I shall bring as 
 elegant a taste witli me as Halbus himself Hut if 
 he alluded to the honours of your tabic, let it never 
 be said that the family of the stammerers" were 
 more splendidly regaled by Paetus than the sons of 
 elocution. 
 
 Business has prevented me, from time to time, 
 in my design of imying you a visit : but if I can 
 despatch my affairs, so as to be able to come into 
 your jiart of the world, I shall take care that you 
 shall have no reason to complain of my not having 
 given you timely notice. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Are you not a pleasant mortal to question me 
 
 concerning the fate of those estates p you mention, 
 
 707 ^^'''^'^ Balbus had just before been paying 
 
 you a visit ? It is from him, indeed, that 
 
 I derive my whole fund of intelligence ; and you 
 
 may be assured, that where he is ignorant, I have 
 
 no chance of being better informed. I might with 
 
 much more propriety desire you would tell me what 
 
 is likely to be the fate of my own possessions, since 
 
 1 Balbus was a sort of prime minister and chief confidant 
 of Cfesar. 
 
 "1 Tlie consulais were those who had passed tlirough the 
 office of consul. 
 
 n There is undoubtedly nome raillery in this passage, 
 either upon Pastusor Balbus; but, it is impossible to discover 
 of what nature, as it alludes to circumstances utterly 
 unknown. 
 
 o In the original it is, " no pluris esse Balhos, quam 
 disertos putes : " a witticism which could not possibly be 
 preserved in the translation. For it turns upon the equi- 
 vocal sense of the word Balbus, which was not only the 
 name of the person of whom Cicero is speaking, hut signi- 
 fies likewise a man who labours under that defect of speech 
 called stuttering. 
 
 p Probably the estates of the Pompeians that lay about 
 Naples, where Paetus seems to have been when this letter 
 ■was written. It appears that Psetus had been alarmed 
 with a rumour that C'a?sar intended to seize these estates, 
 and therefore had applied to Cicero to learn the truth of 
 this report. 
 
 you have so lately had a person i under your roof, 
 from whom, either in or out of his cups, you might 
 certainly have discovered that secret. But this, my 
 dear Pa;tus, is an article that makes no part of my 
 inijuiry ; for, in the first place, I have reason to be 
 well satisfied, having now almost these four years' 
 been indulged with my life, if life or indulgence it 
 maybe called, to be the sad survivorof our country's 
 ruin. In the next place, I believe it is a question I 
 may easily answer myself. For I know it will be just 
 as it shall seem meet to the men in power ; and the 
 men in j)Ower, my friend, will ever be those whose 
 swords are the most prevailing. I must rest con- 
 tented, therefore, with whatever grace it shall be 
 their pleasure to show me ; for he who could not 
 tamely submit to such wretched terms ought to 
 have taken refuge in the arms of death. Notwith- 
 standing, tiierefore, that the estates about Veil and 
 Capena' are actually dividing out, (and these, you 
 know, are not far distant from Tusculum',) yet it 
 gives me no sort of disquietude. I enjoy my pro- 
 j)erty whilst I may, and please myself with the hope 
 that I shall never be deprived of that privilege. 
 But should it happen otherwise, still, however, 
 since it was my noble maxim (hero and philosopher 
 as I was) that life is the fairest of all possessions, 
 I cannot, undoubtedly, but love the man" by whose 
 bounty I have obtained the continuance of that 
 enjoyment. It is certain, at the same time, that 
 how much soever he may be disposed, perhaps, to 
 restore the republic (as we ought all of us most 
 certainly to wish), yet he has entangled himself ia 
 such a variety of different connexions, that he is 
 utterly embarrassed in what manner to act. But 
 this is going farther into these points than is neces- 
 sary, considering the person to whom I am writing. 
 Nevertheless, I will add, that our chief himself is 
 as absolutely ignorant what measures will finally be 
 resolved upon, as I am, who have no share in his 
 councils. For Caesar is no less under the control 
 of circumstances than we are under the control of 
 Caesar ; and it is as much impossible for him to 
 foresee what these may require, as it is for us to 
 penetrate into what he may intend. 
 
 You must not impute it to neglect (a fault, you 
 are sensible, of which I am seldom guilty in the 
 article of writing) that I have not said thus much 
 to you before. The single reason for my not sooner 
 answering your inquiry was, that as I could only 
 speak from conjecture, I was unwilling, without a 
 just foundation, either to increase your fears, or to 
 encourage your hopes. But this I can with truth 
 assure you, that 1 have not heard the least hint of 
 
 q Balbus. 
 
 ■■ One of the commentators, who conceals his true name 
 under that of Ragazonius, collects from this passage, that 
 the present letter was ^vritten A. U. 707; whereas it seems 
 to prove, on the contrary, that its date cannot be placed 
 earlier than the year 709. For Cicero appears, evidently, 
 to allude to the pardon he had received from Ca?sar. Now 
 this could not have been till after the battle of Pharsalia, 
 A, U. 7(15 ; and the fourth year from that period brings us 
 down to 70f». In the beginning, therefore, of that year, 
 this letter ought to have been placed ; but the error of its 
 present situation was not discovered till it was too late to 
 be rectified. 
 
 « Veii and Capena were cities in that part of Italy called 
 Etruria, which is now comprehendea under the name ot 
 Tuscany. 
 
 t Where Cicero had a villa. 
 
 « Cssar.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 4R7 
 
 the danger you apprehend. A man of your philo- 
 sophy, however, ought to hope for the best, to be 
 prepared for the worst, and to bear with equanimity 
 ■whatever may happen. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Your letter gave me a double pleasure : for it 
 not only diverted me extremely, but was a proof, 
 
 , ^P- likewise, that you are so well recovered 
 as to be able to indulge your usual gaiety. 
 I was well contented, at the same time, to find 
 myself the subject of your raillery ; and, in truth, 
 the re])eatcd provocations I had given you were 
 sufficient to call forth all the severity of your satire. 
 My only regret is, that I am prevented from taking 
 my intended journey into your part of the world, 
 ■where I purposed to have made myself, I do not 
 say your guest, but one of your family. You would 
 have found me wonderfully changed from the man 
 I formerly was, when you used to cram me with 
 your cloying antepasts^. For I now more prudently 
 sit down to table with an appetite altogether unim- 
 paired, and most heroically make my way through 
 every dish that comes before me, from the egg" 
 that leads the van, to the roast veal that brings up 
 the rear^. The temperate and unexpensive guest 
 whom you were wont to applaud is now no more : 
 I have bidden a total farewell to all the cares of the 
 patriot, and have joined the professed enemies of 
 my former principles ; in short, I am become an 
 absolute Epicurean. You are by no means, how- 
 ever, to consider me as a friend to that injudicious 
 profusion which is now the prevailing taste of our 
 modern entertainments : on the contrary, it is that 
 more elegant luxury I admire which you formerly 
 used to display whea your finances were most 
 flourishing^, though your farms were not more 
 numerous than at present. Be prepared, therefore, 
 for my reception accordingly ; and remember you 
 are to entertain a man who has not only a most 
 enormous appetite, but who has some little know- 
 ledge, let me tell you, in the science of elegant 
 eating. You know there is a peculiar air of self- 
 sufficiency that generally distinguishes those who 
 enter late into the study of any art. You will not 
 wonder, therefore, when I take upon me to inform 
 you, that you must banish your cakes and your 
 sweetmeats, as articles that are now utterly dis- 
 carded from all fashionable bills of fare. I am 
 become, indeed, such a proficient in this science, 
 
 ' These untepasts seem to have been a kind of collation 
 preparatory to the principal entertainment. They gene- 
 rally consisted, it is probable, of such dishes as were pro- 
 vocatives to appetite ; but prudent economists, as may be 
 collected from the turn of Cicero's raillery, sometimes con- 
 trived them in such a manner as to damp rather than 
 improve the stomach of their guests. 
 
 ^ The first dish at ever}' Roman table was constantly 
 eggs, which maintained their post of honour even at the 
 most magnificent entertainments : 
 
 Nee dum omnis abacta 
 
 Pauperis epulis regum : nam vilibus ovis 
 
 ~— est — hodie locus. HoR. Sat. ii. 2. 
 
 Tl'ie humble egg at lordly feasts we see : 
 This still remains of old simplicity 1 
 * It appears, by a passage which Manutius cites from 
 Tertullian, that the Romans usually concluded their feasts 
 with broiled or roasted meat. 
 J See rem. •, p. 483. 
 
 that I frequently venture to invite to my table 
 those refined friends of yours, the delicate Verrius 
 and Camillus. Nay, I am bolder still, and have 
 presumed to give a supper even to Hirtius himself ; 
 though, I must own, I could not advance so far 
 as to honour him with a peacock'. To tell you the 
 truth, my honest cook had not skill enough to 
 imitate any other part of his splendid entertain- 
 ments, except only his smoking soujjs. 
 
 But to give you a general sketch of my manner 
 of life ; I spend the first part of the morning in 
 receiving the compliments of several both of our 
 dejected patriots and our gay victors ; the latter of 
 whom treat me with great marks of civility and 
 esteem. As soon as that ceremony is over, I retire 
 to my library, where I employ myself either with 
 my books or my pen. And here I am sometimes 
 surrounded by an audience who look upon me as 
 a man of most profound erudition, for no other 
 reason, perhaps, than because I am not altogether 
 so ignorant as themselves. The rest of my time 
 I wholly devote to indulgences of a less intellectual 
 kind. I have sufficiently, indeed, paid the tribute 
 of sorrow to my unhappy country ; the miseries 
 whereof I have longer and more bitterly lamented 
 than ever tender mother bewailed the loss of her 
 only son. 
 
 Let me desire you, as you would secure your 
 magazine of provisions from falling into my hands, 
 to take care of your health ; for I have most un- 
 mercifully resolved that no pretence of indisposition 
 shall preserve your larder from my depredations. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVL 
 
 To the same. 
 I ARRIVED yesterday at Cumse", and perhaps I 
 may pay you a visit to-morrow ; but I shall take care 
 y„» to give you a short notice beforehand, I 
 "am determined, indeed, not only to see 
 you, but to sup with you too. For though I had the 
 mortification to be informed by Marcus Ceparius, 
 whom I met on the road, that you were laid up 
 with the gout, yet I suppose your cook is not dis- 
 abled as well as his master. You may expect, 
 therefore, very speedily to receive a guest who, as 
 he is remarkable for having a wondrous puny 
 stomach, is equally famous likewise for being an 
 irreconcileable enemy to all sumptuous entertain- 
 ments. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 To Marcus Marius. 
 . ARRIVED at Cumse on the 24th, accompanied 
 by our friend Libo, and purpose to be at my Pom- 
 ^P- peian villa'' very shortly : but I will give 
 '^' ' ' you previous notice when I shall have 
 fixed the day. I wish you the enjoyment of your 
 health at all times, but particularly whilst I am 
 your neighbour. If you have an assignation, there- 
 fore, with your old companion, the gout, pray 
 contrive to put it off to some other opportunity. 
 In good earnest, let me desire you to take care of 
 your health, and expect to see me in two or three 
 days. Farewell. 
 
 z See rem. ^, p. 48j. 
 
 a Where he had a country-house. 
 
 b See rt^m. •", p. -170.
 
 488 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 To Servius Sulpicius'. 
 I AM continually receiving accounts from various 
 hands, that you are in a more than common degree 
 „ _ afteeted by the gtiieral calamities of our 
 country. This is hy no means a mutter 
 of surprise to me, as it in some measure corres- 
 ponds with what passes in my own bosom. Never- 
 theless, I cannot but regret that a man of your 
 superior understanding sliould not rather enjoy his 
 own good fortune, than vainly disquiet himself 
 with the misery of others. As for myself, there 
 is none wlio has more bitterly lamented the general 
 desolation of the commonwealth : yet there are 
 many reflections from which I now derive great 
 relief, particularly from a consciousness of the 
 integrity of my former counsels. 1 long foresaw, 
 as from some advantageous eminence, the storm 
 that was gathering around us : and I foresaw it not 
 only by the force of my own discernment, but 
 much clearer by the assistance of your prophetic 
 admonitions. For though I was absent during the 
 greater part of your consulate'', yet I was not un- 
 apprised how often you foretold this fatal war, and 
 what measures you recommended for its prevention. 
 In the commen<;ement, indeed, of your consular 
 administration, I was myself present in the senate 
 when you prudently endeavoured to awaken our 
 fears by enumerating those civil wars that had 
 happened withiu our own memories^. And if the 
 authors of these, you told the house, unsupjiorted 
 by a single example of the same kind, to give a 
 colour to their conduct, had exercised such dread- 
 ful cruelties^, whoever in future times should suc- 
 cessfully turn his arms against the republic, would 
 most assuredly prove a much more intolerable 
 tyrant. For they that act by precedent, you ob- 
 served, generally think they act by right, and in 
 cases of this nature seldom fail of improving upon 
 their model. You should remember, therefore, that 
 those who refused to follow your judicious advice 
 owe their destruction entirely to their own impru- 
 dence. But you will ask, perhaps, " what relief can 
 
 <= Some account has already been given of Sulpicius, in 
 rem. 7, p. 454. Upon the breaking out of the civil war he 
 was a considerable time in suspense on which side to de- 
 clare himself, [see rem. 1, p. 457.] but at length lie deter- 
 mined to join Pompey. However, soon after the battle of 
 Pharsalia, he made his peace with Caesar, and was ap- 
 pointed by him governor of Greece. It was during his 
 administration of this province that the present letter, 
 together with the rest of those which are addressed to him 
 in this and the following book, were written. 
 
 d Sulpicius was consul in the year 702 ; and it was about 
 the latter end of April, or the beginning of May, in the 
 same year, that Cicero left Rome, in order to proceed to 
 his government in Cilicia. — Ad Att. v. 2. 
 
 8 About two-and-twenty years before the date of this 
 letter, the dissentions between JIarius and Sylla broke out 
 into an open civil war, which terminated in the perpetual 
 dictatorship of the latter. 
 
 f Both Marius and Sylla perpetrated, in their turns, the 
 most horrid outrages against tlie partisans of each other ; 
 but particularly Sylla, whose sanguinary proscriptions, 
 during his usurpation, afFord the most dreadful instances, 
 perhaps, of human cruelty, that are to be met with in the 
 whole annals of despotic power. — Sallust. BelL Cat. 51. 
 
 this consideration afford to your mind, amidst the 
 universal wreck of the republic.^" It must be 
 acknowledged, indeed, that our misfortunes will 
 scarce admit of consolation : so total and so irre- 
 coverable is the ruin we deplore ! However, Cwsar 
 himself, as well as every citizen of Rome besides, 
 looks u])on you as shining forth, amidst this general 
 extinction of the great lights of the republic, in all 
 tlie lustre and dignity of wisdom and virtue. These 
 considerations, tiierefore, ought greatly to alleviate 
 the generous dis(piietude of your heart. 'Tis true 
 you are absent from your friends and family ; but 
 this you have the less reason to regret, as you are 
 removed at the same time from many very disagree- 
 able circumstances. I would jiarticularly point them 
 out to you, but that I am unwilling you should have 
 the pain of hearing what you are so happy as not 
 to see : an advantage which renders your situation, 
 I think, so much the more eligible than ours. 
 
 I have thus far laid before you, in the warmest 
 friendship of my heart, those reasons which may 
 justly contribute to lighten and compose your un- 
 easiness. The rest are to be found within yourself; 
 and they are consolations which I know, by daily 
 experience, fo be of the best and most efficacious 
 kind. I well remember that you passionately 
 cultivated the whole circle of sciences from your 
 earliest youth, and carefully treasured up in your 
 mind whatever the wisest ))hilosophers have deli- 
 vered concerning the best and happiest regulation 
 of human life. Now these are contemplations both 
 useful and entertaining, even in seasons of the 
 greatest calm and prosperity ; but in the present 
 calamitous situation of public affairs, there is 
 nothing else that can sootheand composeour minds. 
 I would not be so arrogant as to take upon myself 
 to exhort a man of your sense and knowledge to 
 have recourse to those studies to vrhich I know 
 you have your whole life been devoted. I will only 
 say with respect to myself, (and 1 hope I shall be 
 justified by your approbation,) that I consecrated all 
 my time and attention to philosophy, when I per- 
 ceived there was no farther employment either in 
 the forum or the senate for my favourite arts. 
 Scarce more room is there for the exercise of that 
 excellent science in which you, my friend, are so 
 eminently distinguished''. I am persuaded, there- 
 fore, that I have no occasion to admonish you to 
 apply your thoughts to the same philosophical 
 contemplations ; which, if they were attended w ith 
 no other advantage, would have this, at least, to 
 
 K Oratory. 
 
 t Sulpicius distinguished himself by his superior skill in 
 the laws of his country, to the knowledge and practice of 
 which science he principally devoted the studies and the 
 labours of his life. He was the first, indeed, among the 
 Romans who seems to have traced and explained the 
 principles of civil law, and to have reduced that branch 
 of knowledge from tlie vague and confused manner in 
 which it had been formerly treated, into a regular and 
 rational system. The number of treatises which he is said 
 to have composed amount to above a hundred and fifty; 
 but nothing of his hand remains, except two very elegant 
 and interesting letters, addressed to Cicero, in the eleventh 
 book of the present collection. See letters 3 and 10, book 
 xi. ; Cic. de Clar. Orator. 152 ; Pompon, de Orig. Juris.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 48» 
 
 recommend them, that they divert the mind from 
 dwelling on its anxieties. 
 
 Your son applies himself to all the polite arts in 
 general with great success : but he particularly 
 excels in those philosophical studies from whence 
 I just now professed to derive the principal conso- 
 lation of my life. I know not any man, except 
 yourself, for whom I have conceived a stronger af- 
 fection : and, indeed, he very amply returns the 
 warmth of my friendsliip : but he evidently shows, 
 at the same time, that in distinguisliing me with 
 the n\arks of his respect and esteem, he imagines 
 that he is acting in the most agreeable manner to 
 yuur inclinations. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER n. 
 
 To Pulllus Servilius Isauricus', Proconsul. 
 
 I RECEIVED the account you sent me of your 
 voyage with much pleasure, as it was a proof that 
 A u 7(17 y°^ ^^^ "°'- unmindful of our friendship ; 
 than which nothing, be assured, can 
 afford me a more real satisfaction. Would you still 
 oblige me more ? let it be by freely communicating 
 to me the state of your province, and the plan of 
 government upon which you proceed. For though 
 the fame of your administration will undoubtedly 
 reach me by many other ways, yet I shall be most 
 pleased in being made acquainted with it by your 
 ©wn hand. As for myself, the hazards to which my 
 letters are exposed will not suffer me to be so 
 frequent in giving you my sentiments of public 
 affairs, as I shall be in apprising you of what passes 
 amongst us. I have hopes, however, that our 
 colleague CfesarJ intends, and, indeed, that he ac- 
 tually has it under his consideration, to establish a 
 rej)ublican form of government of some kind ; and 
 it is of much importance that you should be pre- 
 sent in his council for this purpose. But if it be 
 more for your own glory to preside over Asia, and 
 preserve that ill-affected part of the republic in its 
 allegiance, I ought to regulate my inclinations by 
 yours, and prefer what will most contribute to the 
 advancement of your interest and your honour. 
 Be assured, I shall employ my utmost zeal to pro- 
 mote both by every mean that shall appear con- 
 ducive to that end ; among which, it shall be my 
 jirincipal care to distinguish your illustrious 
 father'' with all possible marks of my observance. 
 
 i Cffsar nominated him joint consul with himself, in 
 the J ear 705; and Servilius exercised the consular func- 
 tions at Rome, whilst his colleague was employed in car- 
 rying on tiie war against Pompey in Macedonia. He was, 
 at this time, proconsul of Asia Minor, to which province 
 he succeeded at the expiration of his consulate. — Css. De 
 Bell. Civ. iii. 1. 
 
 i Caesar was a fellow-member of the college of augurs 
 with Cicero and Servilius. 
 
 l* Servilius the father, after having passed through the 
 office of consul in the year 673, was elected governor of 
 Cilicia, where he greatly distinguished himself in several 
 obstinate and successful engagements with the pii-atic 
 nations that infested the Roman commerce in this part 
 of the eastern world. He particularly turned his arms 
 against the Isauri, a people situated between Cilicia and 
 Lycaonia ; and having penetrated as far as their capital, 
 he not only laid it level with the ground, but demolished 
 several strong forts whicli the pirates possessed in the 
 maritime parts of that kingdom. It was upon this occa- 
 sion that he obtained the title of Isaiiricics ; and at his 
 return to Rome, he was honoured, likewise, witli a triumph. 
 He died not long after this letter was written, in an ex- 
 
 This, indeed, is vrhati justly owe him, not only in 
 regard to his high character, and the friendship ia 
 which we have been long united, but in return, 
 likewise, to the many favours which you and he 
 have conferred upon me. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 To Nigidius Figulus '. 
 
 Though I have long been looking out for an 
 occasion of writing to you, yet I have not only been 
 A. u. 707. unable to meet with any particular subject 
 'for that purpose, but find myself utterly 
 at a loss even to furnish out a common letter. The 
 calamities of our country have spoiled me for those 
 jocose epistles with which, in happier days, I used 
 to entertain my friends ; as fortune has rendered 
 me incapable of writing, or, in truth, of thinking, 
 upon any subject of a cheerful nature. There 
 remains another species of letters of a grave and 
 serious cast, peculiarly adapted to these miserable 
 times. But, as a letter of this kind ought to contain 
 either some promise of assisting you to surmount 
 your misfortunes, or some arguments to support 
 you under them ; from these, too, I am likewise 
 excluded. Sunk, indeed, as I am, into the same 
 abject fortune as yourself, what assistance can I 
 possibly offer you ? In sad truth, I am obliged to 
 have recourse myself to the aid of others, and I 
 have much more reason to lament that I live upon 
 these disgraceful terms, than to rejoice that I am 
 still in being. I say not this from any extraordinary 
 injuries which I have suffered in my own person ; 
 indeed, there is nothing which, in the present con- 
 juncture, I could wish for myself, that Caesar has 
 not voluntarily offered me. Nevertheless, the sor- 
 rows that oppress my heart are of so severe a 
 nature, that I think myself guilty of a crime in still 
 continuing to live. For I liv2 deprived of many of 
 my most intimate friends, whom death, or those 
 public calamities which have driven them from their 
 country, have separated from me ; as I have, like- 
 wise, lost by the same means all those whose good- 
 
 treme old age, and is said to have preserved his health and 
 senses entire to his last moments. — Llv. Epit. 93 ; Flor. iii. 
 6 ; Dio, xlv. p. 277. 
 
 1 Nigidius Figulus was a person of great distinction, not 
 only in the civil, but literary world. He had passed through 
 the offices of tribune and prsetor, with much honour; and 
 was at tliis time in the number of those who were suffer- 
 ing exile for having taken up arms on the side of Pompey. 
 He was extremely well versed in all the liberal sciences, 
 but his studies were principally consecrated to moral and 
 natural knowledge ; in the latter of which he seems to have 
 made such extraordinary discoveries, as to have occasioned 
 a suspicion that he practised the magic art. He was 
 much addicted to judicial astrology ; and it is said, that 
 being informed of the birth of Octavius, he immediately 
 pronounced that he was destined to empire. Lucan has 
 celebrated him for his learning of this kind, and repre- 
 sents him as prophetically declaring the future calamities 
 of his country : 
 
 At Figulus, cui cura deos secretaque cceli 
 
 Nosse fuit, &c. 
 One of the commentators asserts, (though it does not ap- 
 pear upon what authority,) that Figulus died in exile, the 
 year following the date of this letter.— Ad Quint. Frat. L 
 2 ; Cic. Fragm. de Univer. in Princip. ; Dio, xlv. p. 270 ;. 
 Suet, in Vit. Aug. 94 ; Lucan. i. 693.
 
 4U0 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 will I formerly conciliated, wlien, by your assist 
 ance™, I successfully utood forth in defence of the I 
 republic. I have the uiilia])piiH'ss, at the same 
 time, to be jilaced in the midst of tlie general 
 wreck and jilunder of their fortunes ; and not only 
 Lave the pain to hear, but (what is far more aflect- 
 jnfj) am a spectator of the dissii)ation of the estates 
 which belonged to those illustrious associates who 
 assisted me in extinguishing the flames of that 
 dangerous conspiracy. In a word, I have the mor- 
 tification to find myself utterly divested of all (-reilit, 
 autliority, and honours in that republic, where I 
 once flourished in the full possession of those 
 glorious distinctions. Ciesar, 'tis true, acts to- 
 wards me with the utmost generosity ; but his 
 generosity cannot restore what 1 have lost by the 
 general violence and confusion of the times. 'I'luis 
 bereaved of those advantages to wliicli 1 was habi- 
 tuated by genius, by inclination, and by custom, I 
 imagine that the world is no less dissatisfied with 
 me than I am with myself. Formed, indeed, as I 
 was by nature, to be perpetually engaged in the 
 noblest and most important occujiations, I ain now 
 deprived of every mean, not only of acting, but of 
 thinking, to any public purpose. There was a time 
 wVien my assistance could have raised the obscure, 
 and protected even the gviilty ; but now I cannot so 
 much as send a favourable promise to Nigidius ; to 
 the virtuous, the learned Nigidius ; to the man who 
 once flourished in the highest credit, and who was 
 always my warmest friend ! Tlius you see that I 
 am totally disqualified from writing letters to you 
 of this kind. 
 
 The only subject that remains to me, then, is to 
 endeavour to draw off your mind from its inquiet- 
 udes, by laying before you such arguments as may 
 aft'ord you a well-grounded consolation. Bul^, if 
 ever any man was peculiarly qualified to employ 
 the strongest reasonings of this nature, either for 
 his own use or for that of others, most undoubt- 
 edly it is yourself. Such, therefore, as may be 
 drawn from the refined sources of philosophy, I 
 will not pretend to touch ; but shall leave them 
 entirely to your own suggestions. Whatever is 
 worthy of a man of true wisdom and fortitude ; 
 whatever is agreeable to that character you have 
 sustained in the world, and to those studies in 
 which you so early excelled ; whatever, in short, is 
 expected from a great and exalted mind in the cir- 
 cumstances wherein you are placed, your own 
 reflections will best supply. I will only take upon 
 myself, therefore, to inform you of what I have 
 been able to discover from my being situated in 
 Rome, and giving a particular attention to every 
 occurrence that passes. I will venture, then, with 
 confidence to assure you, that your present troubles 
 (perhaps, too, I might add, that those of the 
 republic itself) will not be of long continuance. 
 For, in the first place, Caesar seems well inclined 
 to recal you from exile ; and trust me, I speak this 
 from no hasty conjecture. On the contrary, I 
 examine his sentiments and dispositions so much 
 the more strictly, as I am less biassed in bis favour 
 ■by any particular connexions. I am persuaded, 
 then, that the single reason for his delaying to 
 restore you, is, that he may with a better grace 
 
 " This alludes to the affair of Catiline's conspiracy ; in 
 which, as in every other article of public concern, Cicero 
 was principally determined in his conduct hy the senti- 
 ments and advice of Nigidius. — Plut. in Vit. Cicer. 
 
 refuse the same favour to others against whom he 
 is more warmly incensed. I am sure, at least, 
 that all his most intimate friends and favourites 
 both think and speak of you highly to your ad 
 vantage. 
 
 In the next place, the populace, or rather, I 
 should say, the whole community in general, are 
 strongly in your interest. And, let me add, that 
 the republic herself, whose uower at present, it 
 must be confessed, is certainly inconsiderable, but 
 who must necessarily, however, recover some degree 
 of credit ; the re])ul)lic hcrsilf, believe me, will 
 soon obtain your restoration from those who at 
 this time hold her in subjection. In this respect, 
 therefore, I may venture even to promise you some 
 assistance. With this view, I shall closely attach 
 myself to Ca-sar's favourites, who are all of them, 
 indeed, extremely fond of me, and spend nmch of 
 their time in my company ; as I shall insinuate 
 myself into an intimacy with Cscsar, to which my 
 own modesty has hitherto proved the single obstruc- 
 tion". In short, I shall ])ursue every probable 
 mean of this kind, (and some, too, that I dare not 
 commit to pai]er,) in order to oljtaiu your return. 
 As to other articles of assistance, I am sensible 
 there are many who are perfectly well inclined to 
 offer you their services ; but you may d('i)end upoa 
 me as the first and forwardest in that number. 
 The sincere truth is, there is no part of my estate 
 which is not as freely at your disposal as it is at 
 mine. But I will say the less upon this subject, 
 as I would rather encourage you to hojie, (what I 
 am well, persuaded will be the case,) that you will 
 soon have it in your power to make use of your 
 own. In the mean while, let me conjure you to 
 preserve a firm atid unbroken spirit, remembering 
 not only the siiljiime prece]its you have received 
 from other celebrated )ihilosophcrs, but those like- 
 wise which have been the produce of your own 
 judicious reflections. If you attend to these, they 
 will teach you to hope the best, and, at the same 
 time, to meet whatever may happen with a wise 
 composure of mind°. But these are sentiments 
 which no man is so capable to suggest to you as 
 yourself. I will only add, then, that you may be 
 assured of my carefully and zealously embracing 
 
 n It requires, perhaps, no ordinary portion of faith to 
 believe it was modesty that kept Cicero at a distance from 
 Ca?sar. The true reason, indeed, appears from Cicero's 
 own account in the last paragraph of the following letter, 
 whore he touches upon this article in a more ingenuous 
 manner than he thdught proper in the present instance. 
 See the 17th and 2M letters of this book. 
 
 ° IS' igid ills published many treatises (in different branches 
 of human and theological science, the subjects of which. 
 JIanutius, with his usual learning and industry, has col- 
 lected frdni the several ancient writers wherein they are 
 cited. Jt is probable, from the present passage, that he 
 bad published also some treatise concerning fortitude, upon 
 the Pythagoric principles. It is certain, at least, that 
 Nigidius (and it is a circumstance greatly to the honour of 
 his character) attempted to bring the philosophy of Pytha- 
 goras into credit with his countrymen, which, .after having 
 flourished in Italy during some centuries, was now grown 
 almost entirely out of repute. It is no wonder, indeed, 
 that a system which, in many of its precepts, seems to 
 have approached very near to the divine morality of the 
 Christian institution, was rejected in an age in which the 
 only fashionable principles were, to acquire wealth by 
 every means of avarice and injustice, and to dissipate it 
 by every method of luxury and profusion. — Cic. Fragm. da 
 Univ. in Princip.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF KIS FRIENDS. 
 
 491 
 
 «very opportunity of promoting your welfare ; as I 
 shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the 
 generous services you conferred upon me during 
 my severe afflictions p. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Marcus Marcellusi. 
 
 I WILL not venture to condemn, though I have 
 not myself pursued those measures in which I find 
 „,^ vou still persevered as I have too high an 
 opmion ot your judgment to tniiin. the 
 preference is due to my own. The friendship, 
 however, in which we have so long been intimately 
 united, together with those singular marks of affec- 
 tion you have shown towards me from your earliest 
 youth, induce me to recommend to you what seems 
 conducive to your interest, at the same time that 
 it appears by no means inconsistent with your 
 honour. 
 
 I am sensible that you long foresaw, no less than 
 myself, those calamities that have fallen upon our 
 country ; and I well remember the patriot conduct 
 you displayed during your glorious administration 
 of the consular office. But I remember, too, that 
 you disapproved of the manner ia which the civil 
 •war was conducted ; and that, far from being satis- 
 fied either with the strength or nature of Pompey's 
 forces, you were always extremely diffident of their 
 success ; in which, I need not add, 1 entirely agreed 
 with you. In conformity to these our mutual sen- 
 timents, as you did not enter very far into the war 
 on your part, so I always endeavoured as much as 
 possible to avoid it on mine. The point in contest 
 between the adverse parties was not to be decided, 
 indeed, by the force of their counsels, and the 
 justice of their cause, in which we had undoubtedly 
 the advantage, but by the single strength of their 
 swords, wherein we were evidently inferior. Van- 
 quished, therefore, we accordingly are ; or, if 
 virtue never can be vanquished, yet certainly, at 
 least, we are fallen. Your conduct cannot but be 
 greatly and universally applauded, in having 
 renounced the spirit of contention, when you lost 
 the hopes of success ; and you showed, by your 
 own example, that as a wise and honest patriot will 
 always enter into a civil war with reluctance, so he 
 will never choose to carry it on to its last desperate 
 extremity. Those who did not pursue the same 
 measures formed themselves into two different 
 parties ; and while some retreated into Africa, in 
 order to renew the war, others, and myself among 
 the rest, submitted to the conqueror. But you 
 thought proper to steer a middle course, imagining, 
 perhaps, that it was mean to yield, and obstinacy 
 to resist. In this, I must confess, you are thought 
 by many (I might say by the world in general) to 
 have given a proof of your virtue ; while there are 
 
 P This alludes to Cicero's banishment, in the year 6!)4, 
 at which time Nigidius was praetor. — Pigh. Annal. ii. 361. 
 
 1 For a particular account of the character and conduct 
 of Marcellus, see reni. " on letter 35, book iii. 
 
 ■■ This alludes to the different conduct of Cicero and 
 Jlarcellus, after the battle of Pharsalia ; the former (as 
 has already been remarked) having immediately returned 
 into Italy, in order to throw himself at the feet of the con- 
 queror, the latter retiring to Mitylene, the capital of Les- 
 bos. In this city Blarcellus probably resided, when the 
 present letter was written. 
 
 numbers who admire it likewise as an instance of 
 great magnanimity'. Nevertheless, there is a time, 
 it should seem, when this measure may cease to 
 be any longer justifiable ; especially as nothing, I 
 am persuaded, is wanting to establish you in the 
 full possession of your fortunes but your own 
 concurrence. For he in whom all power is cen- 
 tred' has no other objection, I find, to granting 
 you this favour, but that he is apprehensive you 
 are by no means disposed to think it one. What my 
 own sentiments are as to that point, is too evident 
 by my conduct to render it necessary to explain 
 them. But this, however, I will say, that although 
 you should prefer a state of perpetual exile rather 
 than be a spectator of what you cannot but disap- 
 prove, yet you should reflect that it is impossible, 
 iu any part of the world, to be placed out of the 
 reach of his power whom you desire to avoid. And, 
 even granting it probable that he should suffer you 
 to live free and unmolested in a voluntary banish- 
 ment, yet it deserves your consideration, whether 
 it would not be more eligible, whatever the situa- 
 tion of public affairs may be, to spend your days 
 in Rome than at Rhodes or Mitylene. But, since 
 that power which we dread extends itself over every 
 part of the globe, is it not better to live securely 
 under your own roof, than in perpetual danger 
 under that of another ? For myself, at least, if 
 even death were my resolution, yet I would rather 
 choose to expire in my own country and in my 
 own mansion, than at a stranger's house and in a 
 foreign land. 
 
 All who love you (and your illustrious virtues 
 have rendered that party extremely numerous) join 
 with me in these sentiments. In this we have a 
 regard likewise to the preservation of your estate, 
 which we should be sorry to see dissipated. For 
 though neither that person who governs the republic, 
 nor, indeed, the republic itself, would suffer any 
 injuries of this kind to remain always unredressed, 
 yet I would not, in the mean time, have your estate 
 exposed to the depredations of certain lawless 
 invaders, whom I should not scruple to name, if I 
 were not persuaded that you perfectly well know 
 to whom I allude. 
 
 Your very excellent relation Caius Marcellus" 
 discovers a singular zeal in his frequent and earnest 
 applications to Csesar on your behalf. And, though 
 I am not in a situation to second these his solicita- 
 tions, I claim, however, the next rank in my 
 anxiety for your welfare. The truth is, I have 
 
 " It is probable that Brutus was in the number of those 
 who were in Cicero's thoughts upon this occasion, as may 
 be collected from a passage in Seneca. This noble moralist 
 relates, that Brutus, in a treatise which he wrote concerning • 
 virtue, mentioned his having paid a visit to Marcellus at 
 Mitylene, where he found him in the utmost tranquillity, 
 pursuing, with all his usual taste and spirit, the moral 
 and polite arts. " And I could not forbear thinking," 
 added Brutus, " when I took my leave of Marcellus in 
 order to return to Rome, that it was I myself, and not my 
 friend, who deserved to be lamented as the exile." Seneca 
 takes occasion from hence to introduce a soliloquy, whicli 
 he puts into the mouth of this illustrious exile ; and ha 
 concludes it with a sentiment that raises the highest idea 
 both of Brutus and Blarcellus. " Let conquered nations 
 (he suppoocs Marcellus to have said to himself) look with 
 wonder upon Ca;sar ; but live thou, Bruto miratore con- 
 tentus, batisfied with having gained the admiration of 
 Brutus ! " — Senec. Consol. ad Helvid. 9. 
 
 ' Ca-sar. 
 
 " An account has been given of him in rem. °, j>. 399,
 
 492 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 Btood too much in need of an advocate myself, to 
 take the liberty of acting that part for anotlier ; as 
 all the merit I can plead, is to have yielded after 
 having been conquered". Nevertheless, as far as 
 my advice and endeavours can be of any avail in 
 ~our affairs, they are not wanting to Cains. The 
 rest of your family do not tiiink proper to consult 
 me, thougii they may always be assured of finding 
 me ready to exert my best services wherever your 
 interest is concerned. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To Trehiaiius", 
 I SHOULD have written to you sooner, if it had 
 been either in m.y power to have promised you any 
 ^„^ effectual assistance, or necessary to have 
 ' ' ' " offered you any consolation ; one or the 
 other being the part of every friend in so unhappy 
 a conjuncture as the present. But 1 forbore the 
 latter, as I was informed by many hands of the 
 resolute and philosophical sjiirit with which you 
 support the unjust persecution you are suffering 
 from the violence of tlie times, and of the strong 
 consolation you receive from the consciousness of 
 that integrity by which all your counsels and actions 
 towards the public were directed. If this account 
 be true, (and let me earnestly exhort you to verify 
 it,") y.ou reap the happy fruits of those noble con- 
 templations in which, I well know, you have ever 
 been conversant. I will venture at the same time 
 to assure you, (how unnecessary soever that assur- 
 ance may be to a man so perfectly well acquainted 
 with the present age, and so thoroughly versed in 
 the annals of all the past,) that the cruel injuries 
 under wliich you are oppressed cannot possibly 
 continue long. And this conjecture you may safely 
 take from one who, if he is less a politician in 
 theory, perhaps, than he wishes, is certainly much 
 more so by experience than he desires. Caesar, 
 indeed, seems to be every day more and more 
 inclined to adopt those equitable measures which 
 our public circumstances require. The cause, like- 
 wise, for which you suffer is of sueh a nature, that 
 it must necessarily revive and flourish with the 
 republic ; which most undoubtedly cannot always 
 remain in its present state of subjection. To which 
 I will add, that Caesar is continually giving proofs 
 of greater moderation and generosity than we once 
 imagined he would have shown. But as instances 
 of this kind are generally produced by particular 
 conjunctures, and frequently too depend upon very 
 minute circumstances, I shall watch every favour- 
 able moment, and endeavour to improve it to your 
 best advantage ; for you may be assured I shall 
 neglect no opportunity of assisting and alleviating 
 your misfortunes. I hope likewise that the time 
 is approaching when I shall be enabled to promise 
 you some more effectual service ; of which, how- 
 ever, I had much rather give you proofs than pro- 
 
 " See rem. ° on the preceding letter. 
 
 ■» The person to whom this letter is inscribed is men- 
 tioned hy no other ancient writer ; so that nothing more 
 is known of him than what may be collected from this and 
 two more epistles addressed to him. in the present book. 
 It appears he was at this time in exile, as having taken 
 part against Cassar in the civil war, and that he was soon 
 afterwards restored to his country by the good offices of 
 Dolabella. 
 
 fessions. In the mean while, be persuaded that, as 
 far as I have been capable of observing, there is no 
 man who either is or has been under the same 
 misfortune with yourself that can boast of so many 
 zealous and faithful friends ; in which number I 
 claim the principal rank. 
 
 Let me conclude with entreating you to preserve 
 a firm and unbroken fortitude ; for this is a pos- 
 session which depends entirely upon yourself. As 
 to what is in the disposal of fortune, it must be 
 governed by particular circumstances ; and I shall 
 exert all my prudence to turn them in the most 
 advantageous manner for your interest. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 To Gallus'^. 
 
 I AM much surprised at your reproaches, as I 
 am sure they arc altogetiier without foundation. 
 , _ But were they ever so just, they would 
 come with a very ill grace from you, who 
 ought to have remembered those marks of distinc- 
 tion you received from me during my consulate. 
 It seems, however, (for so you are pleased to inform 
 me,) that Caesar will certainly restore you. I know 
 you are never sparing of your boasts ; but I know, 
 too, that they have the ill luck never to be credited. 
 It is in the same spirit you remind me, that you 
 offered yourself as a candidate for the tribunitial 
 office merely in order to serve me". Now, to show 
 you how much I am in your interest, I wish you 
 were a tribune still ; as in that case you could not 
 be at a loss for an intercesHorf . You go on to 
 reproach me with not daring to speak my senti- 
 ments. In proof, however, of the contrary, I need 
 only refer you to the reply I made when you had 
 the front to solicit my assistance. 
 
 Thus, (to let you see how ibsolutely impotent 
 you are, where you most affect to appear formida- 
 ble,) I thought proper to answer you in your own 
 style. If you had made your remonstrances in the 
 spirit of good manners, I should with pleasure, as 
 I could with ease, have vindicated myself from 
 your charge ; and, in truth, it is not your conduct, 
 but your language, that I have reason to resent. 
 I am astonished, indeed, that you, of all men living, 
 should accuse me of want of freedom, who are sen- 
 sible it is by my means that there is any freedom 
 
 ■w Manutius conjectures, tliat this Gallus is the same 
 with Publius Sestius, to whom the fifth letter of the first 
 book is addressed ; whose family name he supposes (from 
 a passage which he cites out of the oration for Milo) to 
 have been Qallus. That learned commentator supports 
 this opinion with some very plausible reasons : but as tho 
 point in question is of little consequence, the reader will 
 readily excuse me that I save him the trouble of consider- 
 ing them. Gallus seems to have been in the number of 
 the Pompeian exiles, and to have drawn upon himself 
 this letter, in answer to one wherein he had reproached 
 Cicero with ingratitude in refusing to assist him with his 
 good offices. 
 
 ^ Probably during Cicero's exile. 
 
 y Cicero's witticism in this passage turns upon tho 
 double sense of the word intercessor, which, besides its 
 general meaning, has relation likewise to a particular pri- 
 vilege annexed to the tribunitial office. For every tribime 
 had the liberty of interposing his negative upon the pro- 
 ceedings of the senate; which act was ca.Ued.interccssio, 
 and the person who executed it was said to be the ititer- 
 cessor of the particular law, or otheF matter in deliberation.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 iOt 
 
 left in the republic^. I say, you of all men living ; 
 because, if the informations you gave me concern- 
 ing Catiline's conspiracy were false, where are the 
 services of which you remind me ? If they were 
 true, you yourself are the best judge liow great 
 those obligations are wliich I have conferred upon 
 every Roman in general. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 To P. Scrvirnis Isauricus, Proqucesior. 
 Whilst I was proconsul of Cilicia, (to which, 
 you know, three Asiatic departments* were an- 
 ^ ^ ^fy, nexed,) there was no man w-ith whom I 
 entered into a stricter intimacy than with 
 Andro, the son of Artemon, of Laodicea. I was 
 his guest during my residence in that city, as his 
 temjier and manner of life extremely well accorded 
 •with mine. But my esteem for him rose still higher 
 after I left the province, having, upon many sub- 
 sequent occasions, experienced the gratitude with 
 •which he preserved me in his remembrance. Ac- 
 cordingly, it was with great pleasure I lately saw 
 liim in Rome : as you will easily believe, who know, 
 by the many good offices you have yourself con- 
 ferred upon his countrymen, how few of them are 
 disposed to be thus sensible of obligations. I 
 mention these circumstances to show you, in the 
 first place, that it is not without reason I interest 
 myself in his concerns ; and in the next, that his 
 merit well entitles him to a generous reception 
 under your roof I shall be greatly indebted to 
 you, therefore, for giving him a proof of the 
 regard yo'a bear me, by receiving him into your 
 protection, and assisting him in all his affairs : so 
 feu-, 1 mean, as may be consistent with your con- 
 venience and your honour. And this I most ear- 
 nestly request, as an instance of your friendship 
 that will be exceedingly agreeable to me. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 To Trebianus. 
 
 I AM no less sensible of the share you allow me 
 
 in your friendship, than I am conscious of that 
 
 A u 707 affection which I have ever entertained 
 
 for you in return. Agreeably to these 
 
 sentiments, I always lamented that it was your 
 
 choice, or rather, I should say, your fate, to perse- 
 
 ^ Alluding to his having suppressed Catiline's conspi- 
 racy. 
 
 * The classic writers speak of Asia in three different 
 senses, which, if not carefully distinguished, are apt to 
 create great confusion. Sometimes they comprehend under 
 the denomination of Asia, that vast tract of land which 
 made up the third part in their general division of the 
 whole globe ; sometimes they mean only so much of that 
 continent which was terminated by the bay of Issus and 
 the Pontus ; and sometimes they confine it to a still more 
 limited portion, and understand by Asia that kingdom 
 ■which Attains PhUometer, king of Pergamus, bequeathed 
 to the Romans, containing Mysia, Phrygia, Ionia, Ly- 
 caonia, &c. In the two former of these senses, Cilicia was 
 a province of Asia ; in the latter it was not. It is with 
 respect, therefore, to this last division that Cicero calls 
 the three districts annexed to his government of Cilicia, 
 Asiatic ; in one of which the city of Laodicea was included. 
 ^Sigon. de Jur. Provinc. i. 10. 
 
 vere in our civil wars ; and I now feel the same 
 concern at the unjust delay you meet with in being 
 restored to your estate and honours, as you have 
 always shown in my misfortunes. I have frequently 
 and fully opened my heart upon this subject, not 
 only to Posthumulenus, to Sestius, and to our com- 
 mon friend Atticus, but lately also to your freed- 
 man Theuda ; to each of whom I have given 
 repeated assurances that it is my earnest desire to 
 serve both you and your children to the utmost of 
 my ability. I beg, therefore, when you write to 
 the latter, that you would assure them they may 
 most readily command me, upon every occasion 
 wherein my purse, my pains, or my sincere advice, 
 (for these, at least, are still in my power) can be 
 of any advantage to their affairs. If I enjoyed that 
 influence and authority in the commonwealth to 
 which the public services I have performed most 
 justly entitle me, you, who deserve every honour 
 that can be conferred, as well as confessedly the 
 first of that illustrious order to which you belong'', 
 should retain the same distinguished rank in the 
 republic you once possessed. But since we both 
 of us fell at the same time and in the same cause '', 
 I can only promise you what yet remains in my 
 power : the small assistance I mentioned above, 
 together with that little degree of credit which I 
 still, perhaps, have in some sort preserved from 
 the general wreck of my former dignities. I have 
 reason, indeed, from many instances, to believe 
 that Csesar is not averse to me : and almost all his 
 principal favourites, who happen to be persons to 
 whom I have formerly rendered very considerable 
 services, distinguish me with peculiar marks of their 
 esteem and consideration. If, therefore, I should 
 find a favourable opportunity of applying to fJEe!<ar 
 in your behalf (which I am more and more inclined 
 to hope, from what I can discover by the conver- 
 sation of these my friends), I shall not fail very 
 strenuously to solicit him in person for your restor- 
 ation, as it is upon the obtaining of this point that 
 the recovery of your estate must depend. It is 
 unnecessary to enter into particulars upon this 
 article : let me only assure you, in one word, that 
 I am wholly and most affectionately devoted to 
 your service. But as it much imports me that all 
 your family should be apprised of this truth, I 
 hope your letters will acquaint them that Trebi- 
 anus may command whatever is in the power of 
 Cicero to perform. I particularly mention this, as 
 I am desirous they should be persuaded that there 
 is nothing so difficult which I should not with plea- 
 sure undertake in order to render you any service. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To Quintus Gallius^. 
 
 Though I hope to receive many instances 
 hereafter of the regard you bear me (of which, 
 A. u. 707. indeed, you have long since rendered me 
 sufficiently sensible), yet there is one 
 which at present occurs, wherein you may give me 
 a very convincing proof of your friendship. Lucius 
 
 ^ The equestrian. >: That of Pompey. 
 
 d Who this person was, is entirely unknown. He seems 
 to have been setting out for the government of one of the 
 eastern provinces wiicu this letter was written.
 
 494 
 
 THE LETTERS OF iMARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 Oppius, the son of Marcus, is a merchant in Philo- 
 meliam<", with wlioin I am extrcim-ly intimate. 
 But, besiiles warmly recommciidiiit,' him as a man 
 1 love, I must likewise claim your kindness to him, 
 as he is an assent for Egnatius Uul'us, a Roman 
 knight, with whom I am most affectionately con- 
 nected, not only by a daily intercourse, but by 
 many and i^reat good offices. I beseech you, then, 
 to take the person of Oppius, together with the 
 affairs of Kgiiatius, into your protection : a recpiest 
 which I make with as much zeal as if my own 
 interest were concerned. Again and again, there- 
 fore, I entreat your compliance. I beg, likewise, 
 that you would give two or three lines to be i)re- 
 sented to you as a memorandum, when you shall 
 arrive in your province. But 1 desire you would 
 express them in such terms as may strongly remind 
 you how very earnestly I applied in behalf of these 
 mv friends. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To 3Iarcus Marcellus. 
 
 I DARE not pretend to advise, or to animate a 
 man of your distinguished judgment and magna- 
 ^„_ nimity ; much less shall I attempt to send 
 you any consolation. If it be true, 
 indeed, that you bear the sad events which have 
 lately happened in the manner I am informed, I 
 have more reason to congratulate your fortitude 
 than to soothe your affliction. But were the fact 
 entirely otherwise, and you had sunk under the 
 pressure of our public misfortunes, yet I am so 
 far from being qualified to alleviate your sorrows, 
 that I am altogether incapable of assuaging my 
 own. The single testimony, therefore, that I can 
 give you of my friendship is, to convince your 
 family, by my readiness in complying with all their 
 requests, that there are no services so great which 
 they have not reason to expect from me on your 
 account. 
 
 But, notwithstanding I just now disclaimed all 
 right of sending you my admonitions, yet I can- 
 not forbear saying (and you may consider it either 
 as my advice, my opinion, or what my friendship 
 would not suffer me to suppress) that I wish you 
 would prevail with yourself to adopt the same 
 measures which I have pursued, and return to 
 Italy. I wish, indeed, you would be persuaded to 
 think, that if the republic should in any degree 
 subsist, you ought to live in it, as one who, though 
 justly, and in the general estimation of the world, 
 is deservmg of the highest rank, yet wisely sub- 
 mitted to the irresistible necessity of the times ; 
 and if the republic should be totally destroyed, 
 that you would look upon Rome as the most 
 proper scene of exile. For, tell me, my friend, if 
 liberty be the object of our pursuit, what part of 
 the world is exempted from the present dominion ? 
 or if some place of retirement be what we seek, 
 where can we find a more eligible retreat than in 
 our native country .' And, believe me, he who holds 
 the supreme power is not only a friend to genius 
 and literature, but disposed, as far as the circum- 
 
 e A city of Phrygia, upon the borders of Galatia. 
 ' The family of Marcellus was one of the noblest in 
 Borne. — See rem. •», p. 399, 
 
 Stances and situation of his affairs will permit, to 
 pay a particular regard to those who are' dislin- 
 guislied by tlieir birth and dignities. Mut tliis is 
 going farther than I intended. To return, there- 
 fore, to the single purpose of my letter: let me 
 assure you that 1 am wholly yours, and ready to 
 co-operate with your relations in every instance 
 wherein they shall approve themselves suchtf. But 
 if they should not, you may depend, at least, upon 
 my acting, upon all occasions, agreeably to our 
 friendship. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 To Papirins Pains. 
 
 I RKCEiVKD a letter from you some time since 
 by your courier Fhileros, as also another three days 
 "O"' *'*'" ''y '■''^ hands of Zethus ; both which 
 ' ' '" 1 will now answer. It was with much 
 satisfaction I found, by the former, that you were 
 extremely sensible of the concern 1 expressed for 
 your health. Believe me, however, a letter could 
 but faintly represent the uneasiness I suffered upon 
 that account. For though I cannot but acknowledge 
 that there are many from whom I receive great 
 marks of esteem and affection, yet there is not one 
 in that number whom I prefer to yourself. It is 
 a very great — perhaps I might say, a principal 
 inducement for my holding you in this rank, that 
 you have long distinguished me with an unvaried 
 friendship : yet this is a circumstance which you 
 share in common with many others. But your 
 amiable disposition, and those agreeable qualities 
 of every kind which you possess, are claims to my 
 heart in which you are without a rival. To these 
 I must add, I will not call it the Attic, but (what 
 is far more spirited) the true old Roman wit, which 
 so elegantly enlivens your conversati(jn. I will not 
 scruple, indeed, to acknowledge (whatever you may 
 think of me from the confession) that I am wonder- 
 fully delighted with humour ; especially with that 
 sort which is of our own domestic growth. I esteem 
 this latter kind so much the more, as it is now 
 become extremely uncommon ; for, by the admis- 
 sion some years since of the Latians"" into Rome, 
 and lately even of the Gauls' themselves, our native 
 humour has been tainted with the infusion of 
 foreign cant, and is almost entirely extinct J. For 
 
 sit appears from this and other passages in these letters, 
 that some part of Marcellus's fainil3' discovered less warmth 
 in promoting his welfare than seems to have been due to 
 the merit of so illustrious a relation. 
 
 •> The inhabitants of Latium, a part of Italy which is 
 row called the Campapna di Roma. They obtained the 
 honour and advantage of being made free of Rome, towards 
 the close of the Italic war, A. U. 6C4.— See rem. ", p. 349 ; 
 Pigh. Annal. ii. 226. 
 
 i Cscsar, in the wantonness of his power, had lately ad- 
 mitted several of the Gauls into the privileges of Roman 
 citizens, and had even introduced some of them to a seat 
 in the senate. — Suet, in Vit. Jul. Ca?s. 76. 
 
 J It is difRcult, if not altogether impossible, to deter- 
 mine, with any precision, what it was that distinguished 
 the spirit of this true old Roman wit and humour which 
 Cicero here represents as almost entirely "Xtinct. But, in 
 general, as far as can be collected from other parts of our 
 author's writings, it seems to have consisted in what they 
 call urbanity : a term, however, which they themselves 
 did not well know how to explain. For when Brutus, in
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 495 
 
 this reason, -whenever I converse ■with you, I 
 imagine myself transported back into former times, 
 and to be talking with the Granii, the Lucilii, or, 
 in truth, even with the Crassi and the Lselii of 
 old''. There is not a single person, indeed, except 
 yourself, in whom I can discover the least vein of 
 that original spirit which so agreeably distinguished 
 the pleasantry of our forefathers. But since to 
 these uncommon charms of wit, you add the 
 attractions, likewise, of so singular a friendship 
 towards myself, can you wonder that I was greatly 
 alarmed at your late very dangerous indisposi- 
 tion ? 
 
 As to your other letter, in which you acquit 
 yourself of all intention to dissuade me from my 
 Neapolitan purchase', and the assurance you give 
 me that you only meant to advise my continuance 
 in Rome, I understood you in no other sense. 
 But I suppose (and your letter now before me 
 confirms the supposition) that you did not agree 
 ■with me in thinking I might be justified, I will not 
 say in wholly renouncing, but in seldom taking a 
 part in public affairs. With this view I imagine 
 it was, that you reminded me of those times in 
 ■which Catulus acted so distinguished a part '". 
 
 the dialogue concerning t)ie most celebrated orators, in- 
 quires, " Qui est iste, tandem urbanitatis color?" Cicero 
 replies, " Nescio, inquani. Tantum esse quendam scio." 
 Nevertheless, it appears, by what he immediately subjoins, 
 to have resulted from a certain refinement of expression 
 and elegancy of pronunciation which was to be found only 
 amongst the most polite and cultivated natives of Rome. 
 Perhaps, therefore, it was this inexplicable grace of lan- 
 guage and utterance that was infected by the admission of 
 these strangers into Rome ; who, probably, had intro- 
 duced, among the little pretenders to wit and humour, a 
 foreign tone of voice, together with an exotic turn of 
 phraseolocry. A prevailing fashion of this kind would 
 necessarily extinguish that spirit which seasoned the old 
 Roman pleasantry with a nescio quo sapore vernacnlo (as 
 Cicero somewhere calls it), a certain exquisite taste and 
 flavour peculiar to its native soiL — Cie. de Clar. Orator. 
 170, et seq. 
 
 ^ The several persons here mentioned were celebrated 
 ■wits, who flourished about the time that Cicero was born, 
 that is, in the consulate of C. Atilius Serranus and Q. Ser- 
 vilius Caepio, U. C. 647. The reader has already had some 
 account of La;lius in rem. f, p. 334. Crassus was the most 
 distinguished orator of his times, and signalised his 
 eloquence when he was only twenty-one years of age, at 
 the trial of C. Carbo, who was concerned in tho disturb- 
 ances which were raised by the Gracchi. Luciliuswas a 
 Roman knight, and great-uncle to Ponipey. He . nsider- 
 ably improved upon tliat kind of satirical poetry, which 
 received its utmost perfection in the following century 
 from the hands of Horace. Some fragments of his writings 
 still reinain. Granius was a person of low rank ; being 
 only a pra?co, or sort of crier, in the courts of justice. 
 Cicero, however, has inimortali.sed his memory by tlie 
 frequent encomiums he passes upon the singular elegance 
 and pleasantry of his wit and humour. — Cic. de Clar. 
 Orator. I'SS, 159, ic. ; Dacier, Pref. sur les Sat. d'Horace, 
 T. 10. 
 
 1 See the last paragraph of letter 20, book viii. 
 
 ■n Q,. L. Catulus was consul in the year 675. and died 
 about the year 693 : during v/hich period he had many 
 opportunities of exerting his patriotism, by rising up 
 against the gradual encroachments of Pompey and Caesar 
 upon the public liberty. Thus he opposed, with a spirit 
 ■worthy the best times of ancient Rome, tliat unlimited 
 and unconstitutional commission which was granted to 
 Pompey under a pretence of the piratic war; and rendered 
 himself so gloriously obnoxious to Caesar, that the latter 
 endeavoured, though unsuccessfully, to blast his well- 
 established credit by an impeacbment for embezzling the 
 
 But tell me, my friend, what resemblance is there 
 between those days and the ]>resent ? I was, at 
 that period, far from being inclined to absent 
 myself from the care of the republic, as I then sat 
 at the helm of the commonwealth, and shared ia 
 the direction of its most important motions". But 
 now I can scarce claim the privilege to officiate 
 even in the lowest functions of the state. Were I 
 to reside, therefore, altogether at Naples, -would 
 there be a single decree of the senate the less by 
 my absence ? On the contrary, though I live in 
 Rome, and appear publicly ia the forum, they are 
 settled by our friend" in his own house, entirely 
 without my participation. If I happen, however, 
 to occur to his memory, he sometimes does me the 
 honour to prefix my name''. Accordingly, I am 
 often informed, from Syria and Armenia, that a 
 decree of the senate is published in those pro- 
 vinces, and published, too, as made on my motion, 
 of which I had never heard the least mention 
 before. You will suspect, perhaps, that I am not 
 serious ; but, be assured, I speak the literal truth. 
 I have at this instant letters in my possession from 
 the remotest potentates of the globe, returning me 
 thanks for having procured them an acknowledg- 
 ment of their regal title from the senate's : when 
 I was so far from knowing they were honoured with 
 that appellation, that I was utterly ignorant there 
 were any such persons existing. Nevertheless, as 
 long as this snperintendant of our manners'' shall 
 continue in Rome, 1 will comply with your advice ; 
 but the moment he leaves us^, I shall certainly set 
 out to join you over a plate of mushrooms'. If I 
 can procure a house at Naples, it is my purpose, 
 
 public treasure. In short, the welfare of his country was 
 the great and constant object of his unwearied labours ; 
 ill which he persevered with a zeal and resolution which 
 no fears or hopes could shake, and which Cato, of all his 
 contemporaries, seems alone to have equalled. — Pigh. 
 Annal. ii. 279 ; Dio, xxxvi. p. 18, 49, 50 ; Orat. pro Sext. 
 47. 
 
 " The consulate of Cicero fell within tha period men- 
 tioned in the preceding remark ; that is, in the year 690. 
 
 " Csesar. 
 
 P It was usual, in drawing up the decrees of the senate, 
 to prefix the names of those senators who were principally 
 concerned in promoting them. 
 
 q It was the ambition of foreign princes to obtain an 
 acknowledgment of their regal title from the senate, and 
 to be declared friends and allies of the republic ; an honour 
 which, in the more regular times of the Roman govern- 
 ment, was but rarely granted, and only in consideration of 
 some signal services. But in that general corruption 
 which preceded the ruin of the commonwealth, this 
 honour became venal, as it supplied a very plentiful 
 stream of wealth to those leading men in the state who 
 were not ashamed to prostitute the most sacred privileges 
 to their insatiable avarice. Cajsar, in particular, drew 
 immense riches from this single source ; a strong instance 
 of which has already been produced in rem. ', p. 344 ; Ca?s. 
 De Bell. Gall. i. 43 ; Suet, in Vit. Jul. Cjes. 54. 
 
 ^ This title had lately been decreed to Caesar, by which 
 he was invested with all the power of the censorial office, 
 without the name. It does not appear for what reason ho 
 chose this appellation rather than that of censor. Soma 
 have supposed that it was from an affectation of modesty ; 
 but they who assign this reason seem to forget that Csesaf 
 did not blush to be associated with the gods in the public 
 worship of his degenerate Romans. — Suet, in Vit. Jul. 
 Ca?s. 76; Appian. De Bell. Civ. iii. p. 494. 
 
 s Caesar was at this time preparing to set out upon his 
 expedition against the two sons of Pompey, who had 
 assembled a very considerable army in Spain. 
 
 ' This dish was in great esteem among the Romans.
 
 406 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TFJLLIUS CICERO 
 
 you must know, to live so abstemiously, that what 
 our late sumptuary law" allows for one day's 
 expense shall suffice me fur ten. I5ut if I cannot 
 meet with om: to my satisfaction, I intend to be 
 your guest; and I am sure it is not in my jiower to 
 oblige you more. 
 
 Though 1 mentioned in my last that I almost 
 despaired of Sylla's house, yet I have not absolutely 
 given up all tlioughts of that purchase. Agreeably 
 tlurefore to your offer, 1 beg you would take some 
 workmen with you in order to survey it ; for if the 
 walls and roof are in a good repair, I shall perfectly 
 well ajiprove of all the rest. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 
 To Trebonius. 
 
 Tiiouciii I had always a great affection for 
 Dolabella, yet I never received any favour from 
 him till now. Indeed, he never before 
 A. u. 7 rj. j^_^^j ^^ opportunity of repaying those 
 good offices he owed me for having more than once 
 stood forth in his defence. But his late zeal in 
 protecting your estate, together with his present 
 assistance in promoting your restoration, have so 
 abundantly satisfied every claim I have to his 
 services, that there is no man to whom I think 
 myself more strongly obliged. I take so sincere 
 a part with you in the joy of this event, that in- 
 stead of your thanks, I expect your congratulations. 
 The former, indeed, I by no means desire ; but the 
 latter you may, with great propriety, send me. 
 
 Since your distinguished merit has thus removed 
 all obstructions to your return, it will be agreeable 
 to your good sense and greatness of mind, to forget 
 all that you have lost, and reflect only on the 
 advantages you have recovered. You will remember, 
 then, that you are restored to your family and to 
 your friends ; and that whatever you have suffered 
 in your estate is considerably overbalanced by the 
 glory you have acquired ; which, I am persuaded, 
 would be still more acceptable to you if the republic 
 had in any degree subsisted. 
 
 I have received a letter from my friend Vestorius, 
 wherein he informs me of the grateful mention you 
 make of my services. I am extremely obliged to 
 you for your professions of this kind in general, 
 but particularly for those you expressed to our 
 friend Syro^ ; as I am greatly desirous to approve 
 my conduct upon all occasions to every sensible 
 and judicious man. I hope to see you very soon. 
 Farewell. 
 
 li This law was enacted by Caesar soon after his return 
 from the African war. It regulated the expenses of the 
 Romans, not only with regard to their tables, but also 
 their dress, equipage, furniture, and buildings. But Caesar 
 seems to have found it a mucli easier task to corrupt than 
 to reform ; for though he was very desirous of enforcing 
 this salutary law, yet it appears to have been extremely 
 ill observed. — Suet, in Vit. Jul. Css. 43 ; Ad Att. xiii. 7. 
 
 ' A celebrated Epieiu'ean philosopher, who is said to 
 have been Virgil's preceptor. 
 
 LETTER XIIL 
 
 To Afurciis Brultts'", 
 I AM persuaded that your qusestor, Marcus 
 Varro*, wlio is setting out to attend you, needs no 
 recommendation to your favour ; for I 
 ■' '■ doubt not that, in conformity to the 
 maxims of our forefathers, you look ujion his office 
 as giving him a sufficient tith> to your regard. And 
 1 need not tell yon, tiiat it was the jioliey of 
 ancient times to consider the relation between a 
 proconsul and his quaistor, as next to that of a 
 father and son. However, as Varro imagines that 
 a letter from me will have great weight, and has 
 pressed me to write to you in the strongest terms, 
 I willingly ])erform an office which he believes will 
 prove so much to his advantage, 'i'liat you may 
 be sensible I ought not to refuse this request, I 
 must inform you that he cultivated my friendship 
 from his first appearance in the forum ; as, in his 
 more mature years, two circumstances concurred 
 which extremely increased the affection I had con- 
 ceived for him : the one, that he distinguished 
 himself, as you well know, with great genius and 
 a]>plication in that persuasive art in which I still 
 take particular pleasure ; the other, that he early 
 became a meml:„. of the society for farming the 
 ))ublic revenues. I wish, indeed, that he had never 
 embarked in their concerns, as he has been a 
 considerable sufferer by his engagements of this 
 sort. However, his union with a company for 
 whose interests I have so great a regard was one 
 means of more strongly cementing our friendship. 
 
 «" Marcus Brutuf) was nephew to Cato, whoso virtues 
 he had the just ambition to copy. lie seems, however, in 
 some points, to have fallen short of the model he proposed 
 to imitate ; as he by no means acted up to that inflexible 
 uniformity of conduct which renders the character of Cato 
 so gloriously singular. Thus, though Brutus, at the battle 
 of Pharsalia, engaged on the side of Pompey, yet, imme- 
 diately after the unsuccessful event of that action, he not 
 only made his peace with Caesar, but was willing to con- 
 tribute to the ruin of that cause in which lie had so lately 
 engaged. For when Caesar was doubtful what route 
 Pompey had taken in his flight, it was by the advice and 
 information of Brutus that he followed him into Egypt. 
 Ca;sar, just before he set out for Africa, appointed Brutus 
 governor of Cisalpine Gaul, which he administered with 
 great moderation and integrity. It was during his resi- 
 dence in this province, that the present and following 
 letters addressed to him in this book appear to have been 
 written. — Plut. in Vit. Brut. 
 
 ^ Some of the commentators have supposed that this is 
 the celebrated Marcus Terentius Varro, to whom several 
 letters in the preceding book are addressed. But Cellarius 
 has justly observed, that the age and dignity of that illus- 
 trious Roman render it highly improbable he should at 
 this time have been quaestor to Brutus, wlio was a much 
 yoimger man than himself. Perhaps the person recom- 
 mended in this letter is the same whom Horace mentions 
 as an unsuccessful adventurer in satiric poetry : — 
 " Hoc erat, experto frustra Varrone Atacino, 
 
 Atque quibusdam aiiis, melius puod scriberc possem." 
 Sat. X. lib. i. 4G. 
 For the commentators upon these lines inform us, that 
 the poet here spoken of was Terentius Varro, a native of the 
 city of Atax, in the Narbonensian Gaul, from which he waa 
 c.\lled Atacinus, and who was born in the year of Rome 
 673. He must, consequently, in the present year have 
 been thirty-four, which perfectly well coincides with the 
 age one may justly suppose the person to have been in 
 whose favour this letter is written.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 497 
 
 After having acted with the highest integrity and 
 applause, both as an advocate and a judge, he 
 turned his ambition (long indeed before this revo- 
 lution in tiie commonwealth had taken jilace) upon 
 obtaining some employment in the magistracy ; 
 and he esteemed the honours of this kind, vphich 
 his country should confer upon him, as the noblest 
 reward of all his former services. During my late 
 residence at Brundisium'', he obligingly charged 
 himself with carrying a letter and a message from 
 me to Caesar ; and he gave me a very strong proof 
 of his affection, in the zeal and fidelity with which 
 he undertook and executed this generous com- 
 mission. 
 
 I j)urposed, after having thus assigned the reasons 
 which induce me to give Varro my friendship, to 
 have particularly ])ointed out the virtues of his 
 heart; but I think I must have sufficiently rendered 
 you sensible of these, by declaring upon what 
 motives he has so strongly engaged my affection. 
 Nevertheless, I will here, in a more distinct and 
 explicit manner, assure yon, that you will receive 
 much satisfaction and advantage from the company 
 and assistance of my friend. You will find hira, 
 indeed, to be a man of singular modesty and good 
 sense, as well as of indefatigable application to 
 'business, at the same time that he is an entire 
 stranger to immoderate desires of every kind. I 
 know not whether I ought to promise tlms far in 
 bis behalf, as his character, after all, must be 
 referred to your own experience. But in forming 
 new connexions of every sort, it is of much im- 
 portance in what manner the first approaches are 
 made, and by whose hands the avenues of friendship 
 (if I may so express myself) are laid open. It is 
 this office that I have here undertaken ; and though 
 the employment in which Varro stands related to 
 you may well render my services unnecessary, yet 
 they certainly cannot render them prejudicial. If, 
 then, I possess that share in your esteem which 
 Varro imagines, and which I myself am persuaded 
 I enjoy, let me soon have the satisfaction of hearing 
 that my friend has received all the advantages from 
 this letter that rre agreeable to his own hopes, and 
 to my firm expectations. Farewell. 
 
 A. u, 707. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 To Ligarius^. 
 Though, agreeably to tlie friendship which 
 subsists between us, I ought to have offered you 
 either assistance or consolation under 
 your misfortunes ; yet I have hitherto 
 forborne writing, in the belief that it was not in the 
 power of mere words to remove or alleviate your 
 afflictions. But, as I have now reason to entertain 
 the strongest hopes of shortly seeing you restored 
 to your country, I cannot any longer omit to 
 
 y Cicero, upon his return to Italy, after the battle of 
 Pharsalia, resided at Brundisium till Caesar's arrival. 
 
 ^ (iuintus Ligarius was lieutenant to C. C'onsidius, pro- 
 consul of Africa, in the year 703 ; in which post he gained 
 the general esteem of tlie whole province. Accordingly, 
 at tlicir unanimous request, Considius, upon his departure 
 for Home, resigned the administration into tlie hands of 
 Ligra-ius. During his residence in that station, the civil 
 war brcikc out ; and he was at this time suffering exile, for 
 having acted upon that occasion on the side of I'ompey. — 
 -Oral, pro ligar. 1 ; see rem. S on letter 2G of tliis book. 
 
 acquaint you with my sentiments and inclination 
 concerning your affairs. In the first place, then, 
 I am well convinced that you will by no means find 
 Caesar inexorable. The situation of public circum- 
 stances, a regard to his character in the world, 
 length of time, together with what appears to me 
 to be his natural temper, these all concur to soften 
 his resentment every day more and more. This, I 
 imagine, will appear to be his disposition towards 
 all in general who have offended him ; but that it 
 is particularly so with respect to yourself, I will 
 assure you upon the authority of his most intimate 
 friends. I have never ceased to solicit them in 
 your behalf ever since we received the first news 
 from Africa'': and your bijothers have, with e<iual 
 assiduity, joined me in these applications. Their 
 virtues, indeed, together with that affectionate and 
 unwearied zeal with which they enter into your 
 cause, are so extremely engaging, that I am per- 
 suaded even Ctesar himself cannot refuse anything 
 to their requests''. But if we do not advance with 
 all the expedition we wish, it must be imputed to 
 those numberless and important occupations which 
 render Caesar difficult of access ; as it is to him 
 alone that every suit is now preferred. To this I 
 must add, that as he was particularly incensed by 
 the late war fomented against him in Africa, he was 
 inclined to keep those so much longer in suspense 
 concerning their fate, to whom he imagines it was 
 owing that he had so many additional difficulties to 
 encounter. But his resentment, even upon this 
 article also, appears evidently to be cooling ; and I 
 desire you would both believe and remember the 
 assurance I here give you, that you will soon be 
 removed from your present uneasy situation. 
 
 Having thus accpiainted you with my sentiments 
 of your affairs, I had rather leave it to my actions 
 than professions, to declare how much I wish to 
 assist you in them. Let me assure you, however, 
 if I possessed that influence in the commonwealth 
 which you are pleased to think I have merited by 
 my services, you should have no reason to regret 
 
 your present circumstances But, alas ! the same 
 
 cause for which you are suffering in your person, 
 has impaired me in my credit. But whatever 
 remains to me of my former authority ; whatever 
 shadow still attends me of that dignity I once 
 enjoyed ; in a word, as far as my advice, my 
 assistance, or my interest can avail, they shall, upon 
 all occasions, be faithfully employed in seconding 
 the pious zeal of your excellent brothers. In the 
 mean time, preserve that manly composure of 
 mind which you have always possessed. You 
 ought to do so, indeed, in the first place, for the 
 reasons I have already assigned ; and in the next, 
 because your public conduct has ever been such as 
 to afford you a just ground to entertain the most 
 favourable hopes. But were your prospect entirely 
 the reverse, yet a consciousness of the integrity of 
 all your counsels and actions, with regard to the 
 commonwealth, should enable you to support the 
 worst that can happen with a firm and unshaken 
 fortitude. Farewell. 
 
 » Concerning Caesar's victory over Scipio. 
 
 l* The two brothers of Ligarius seem to have stood neuters 
 in the civil war. But one of them had something more 
 than a mere negative merit to plead, as he had distin- 
 guished himself, during his qu.'Estorship, by promoting 
 the honours and interest of Ca;sav. — Orat. pro Ligar. 12. 
 
 K K
 
 40B 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 To Marcus lirulus. 
 I HAVE always had the satisfaction to observe, 
 that you were jHirticularly inquisitive into every 
 ^^ circumstance rehitiii^ to me. 1 doubt 
 A. V. 7 7- ^^^j.^ therefore, of your being apprised, not 
 only that Arj)inum is the place of my nativity, but 
 that, upon all occasions, I zealously patronise tlie 
 interests of this city. The vvliolc of tluir revenues 
 for religious purposes, as also for the repairs of 
 their temples ami other public buildings, arises 
 entirely from their estates in Gaul. Accordingly, 
 we have despatched Quintus Fufidius, Marcus 
 Faucius, and Quintus Mamereus, each of tliem 
 persons of equestrian rank, in order to collect the 
 rents, and to inspect our affairs in tliat jjrovinee. 
 I therefore recommend them to your particular 
 protection, entreating you, by our mutual friend- 
 ship, to assist them in the speedy and successful 
 discharge of their commission, and to distinguish 
 their persons, agreeably to your usual politeness, 
 vrith every possible mark of lionour. You will, by 
 these means, add three very worthy men to the 
 number of your friends, as well as oblige a com- 
 munity extremely sensible of the good offices they 
 receive. Let me add, too, you will perform a 
 service highly acceptable also to myself ; who, as 
 I have at all times stood forth the patron of the 
 Arpinates, am in a more especial manner engaged 
 to take their interests under my protection during 
 the present year. For, in order to the better 
 government of this corporation, I have procured 
 ray son and nephew, together with my friend 
 Marcus Csesius, to be chosen tediles ; the only 
 magistrates which our city admits. It will be much, 
 therefore, to the credit of their administration, as 
 well as a particular honour to myself, if the affairs 
 of this community, during their office, should, by 
 the assistance of your generous services, be placed 
 in a more advantageous posture. For which pur- 
 pose I must again most earnestly conjure you to 
 comply with my present request. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 To the same. 
 I HAVE, in a separate letter, recommended to 
 you, with all possible warmth, the commissaries 
 A u 707 appointed by the city of Arpinum. But 
 'I shall here single out one of them in 
 particular, and desire your peculiar regards to 
 Q. Fufidius, a person with wliom I am united by 
 every friendly tie. I do not mean, however, by 
 thus distinguishing him from the rest, to lessen 
 the weight of my general recommendation, but 
 only to add this as a sort of supplement to what I 
 have there requested. Fufidius, who is son-in-law 
 to my particular friend Marcus Csesius, acted 
 under me in Cilicia, in quality of military tri- 
 bune ; and he acquitted himself so much to my 
 satisfaction, that I had reason to think I received 
 a favour, instead of bestowing one, when T nomi- 
 nated him to that employment. To this I must 
 add, what I know will considerably raise him in 
 your esteem, that he has a taste and genius for our 
 favourite studies. Let me entreat you, then, to 
 receive my friend with the most distinguishing 
 
 marks of your ])oliteness, and to assist him in the 
 more etrcctual discharge of an office which he 
 acce])ted merely in compliance with my persuasions, 
 and contrary to liis own convenience. But as it is 
 the ambition of every man of a generous mind to 
 be approved in all his actions, Fufidius is desirous 
 of executing this commission in such a maimer as 
 to merit not only my apjilause in particular, who 
 engaged him to undertake it, but that, likewise, of 
 our whole community, in general. Now this he 
 will undoubtedly receive, if my recommendation 
 should procure him your friendly offices. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 To Scrvius S'llpicius. 
 
 Thk excuse you allege for so frequently sending 
 me duphcates of your letters, I very readily admit ; 
 . „ -r^ so far, I mean, as it relates to your cau- 
 tion of guardmg against the negligence 
 or treachery of those who undertake to deliver 
 them. But when you add, that a poverty of 
 genius likewise (to use your own expression) 
 obliges you to this continual repetition, it is an 
 apology I can neither approve nor allow. On the 
 contrary, 1 who am enriched, as you ironically tell 
 me (for in that sense I understand your compli- 
 ment) with all the treasures of eloquence, and 
 who, in good earnest, do not think myself wholly 
 destitute of them ; even 1 am tar from pretending 
 to equal the delicacy and elegance of your compo- 
 sitions. 
 
 I always approved of your having accepted the 
 government of Achaia ; but much more so after I 
 had read your last letter. The several reasons you 
 mention are every one of them perfectly just, and 
 altogether v\'orthy of that ;)rudence and dignity 
 which distinguishes your cliaracter. But I can by 
 no means agree with you in thinking that this affair 
 has proved so different from what you expected as 
 to give you just occasion to condemn the step you 
 have taken. The truth of it is, the dreadful con- 
 fusion and desolation which this detestable civil 
 war has universally spread, inclines every man to- 
 imagine that both himself, and the scene in which 
 hf happens to be placed, are, of all others, the 
 most completely miserable. Hence it is that you 
 repent of the choice you have made, and look upon 
 us as much happier who remain at Rome ; whereas 
 we, on the contrary, though we do not suppose 
 your situation is wholly w.ithout its inconveniences,, 
 yet think it greatly preferable to our own. In one 
 respect I am sure it is so, as you have at least the 
 happiness of daring to write your complaints ; 
 which is more than we can do with any safety. 
 This, however, is not to be imputed to the con- 
 queror, who conducts himself, it must be acknow- 
 ledged, with the utmost moderation ; but is entirely 
 owing to that general spirit of insolence which- 
 victory, in all civil wars, never fails to inspire. The 
 single point in which our situation can pretend to- 
 have had the advantage of yours, is, that it gave us 
 the satisfaction not only of knowing somewhat 
 earlier than you could, that your colleague Mar- 
 cellus '^ has obtained his pardon, but of being 
 witnesses in what manner that whole affair wa» 
 
 c Sulpicius and Marcellus were colleagues in the office o£" 
 
 consul. — An. Urb. 702.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 499 
 
 conducted. For, be assured, it is the only honour- 
 able transaction of a public nature that has passed 
 amongst us since the breaking out of this calami- 
 tous civil war. Ca;sar, after having complained of 
 the acrimony (as he called it) with which Marcellus 
 had 0{)posed him, and mentioned, with the highest 
 applause, the equity and prudence of your conduct 
 in the same conjuncture '', on a sudden, and much 
 beyond our expectations, declared, that notwith- 
 standing he had so much reason to complain of 
 Marcellus, he could not refuse to pardon him at 
 the general request of the senate. For I should 
 have told you, that as soon as Lucius Piso had 
 mentioned in the senate the affair of Marcellus, 
 and his relation Caius Marcellus had thrown him- 
 self at Caesar's feet, the whole house unanimously 
 rose up, and approaching towards Caesar, joined 
 in one common intercession. In short, there was 
 something so truly glorious in the transaction of 
 that day, that I could not but look upon it as a 
 sort of symptom that the republic was again 
 reviving. All the senators who had been asked ^ 
 their opinion before me, severally returned their 
 acknowledgments to Caesar, except Volcatius', who 
 declared that he would not have made them, even 
 if he had been in the place of Marcellus himself. 
 But when it came to my turn, I instantly changed 
 a resolution which I had long formed. I had de- 
 termined, not from indolence, believe me, but as 
 being sensible of the want of that authority which 
 once attended my eloquence, to preserve a perpe- 
 tual silence in public. But the greatness of mind 
 which Caesar discovered upon this occasion, toge- 
 ther with that noble zeal which broke forth at the 
 same time in the senate, entirely overcame the 
 strength of my resolution, and I addressed my 
 acknowledgments to Caesar in a long harangues. 
 This, I fear, may prove the occasion, in other 
 instances, of drawing me out from that literary 
 retirement, which affords the single consolation I 
 receive under our general misfortunes. Never- 
 theless, since I have, by this means, avoided giving 
 Caesar offence, who, perhaps, would have inter- 
 
 d That is, during the consulate of Sulpioius and Mar- 
 cellus. See an account of his conduct at this critical 
 period, in rem. »,p. 454. 
 
 « When a question was moved in the senate, the method 
 of debating upon it was, that the consul, after having 
 delivered his own opinion, proceeded to ask the opinions 
 of all the other senators severally by name, and in their 
 proper order ; beginning always with the consulars, and 
 going on to the praetorians, &c. — Mid. on the R. S. p. 1.50. 
 
 f Probably the person here mentioned is Lucius Vol- 
 catius TuUus, who was consul in the year 687. The noble 
 spirit which he showed upon this occasion, in scorning to 
 thank Cisar for what the usurper ought to have had no 
 power to bestow, was worthy of the best ages of the 
 republic : and though Cicero speaks of it without the least 
 approbation, it was the only circumstance in this business 
 that merited his applause. For must it not have affected 
 a true patriot with the utmost concern and indignation, 
 to see the Roman senate, that august council of the whole 
 world ^as Cicero himself has somewhere called it), humbly 
 supplicating, at the feet of Caesar, for the restoration oi 
 one of the most illustrious citizens of the commonwealth ? 
 
 S This speech is still extant : and perhaps it is one of the 
 noblest monuments that remains of the grace and energy 
 of ancient eloquence. It abounds with the most spirited 
 and best-turned compliments that wit ever paid to power : 
 for which the severest patriotism could scarce condemn 
 Cicero, as they all artfully tend to induce Caesar to restore 
 the republic. 
 
 preted my silence into a proof that I considered 
 the republic as no longer subsisting, I shall now 
 and then resume this ])ractice : I shall resume it, 
 however, extremely seldom, and only just enough 
 to comply with his inclinations, without interrupt- 
 ing my philosophical studies. For though I was 
 early devoted to all the liberal arts and sciences, 
 and particularly to philosopliy, yet I find my 
 passion for her growing still stronger upon me 
 every day I live : jierhaps it is because age has 
 rendered me more mature for the lessons of wisdom, 
 and that the misery of the times has dej)rived me 
 of every other relief. I perceive by your letters 
 that you are called off by numberless occupations 
 from studies of this kind : I hope, however, that 
 the long nights will now afford you some leisure to 
 resume them. 
 
 Your son (and let me tall him also mine) dis- 
 tinguishes me with great marks of his consideration; 
 as in return 1 admire him not only for his probity 
 and virtue, but for his learning and genius. He 
 frequently confers with me in relation to your 
 resigning, or continuing in your government ; and 
 I still remain in the same opinion, that we should 
 neither of us take any measures but such as shall 
 be ])erfectly agreeable to Caesar. Affairs are so 
 situated at Rome, that you could find no other 
 satisfaction in being here than what would arise 
 from enjoying the company of your friends and 
 family. For though Caesar's conduct is unexcep- 
 tionable, yet with respect to all the rest, both of 
 persons and circumstances, I am sure you would 
 much rather (if one or other must necessarily be 
 your choice) receive an account of them from 
 others than be a spectator of them yourself. Whea 
 I say this, it is in preference of your interest to 
 my own ; as upon all other considerations I am 
 extremely desirous of seeiflg you amongst us. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIIL 
 
 To Marcus Brutus. 
 Luctus Castronius P^tus is by far the most 
 considerable person in the city of Lucca ; but not 
 707 D30re distinguished, however, by his birth 
 and rank, than by the solidity of his un- 
 derstanding, and the friendliness of his disposition. 
 In one word, he is in every respect a most worthy 
 man. I might add, too, (if it were of any import- 
 ance to his character,) that he is not only conspi- 
 cuous for his eminent virtues, but for his affluent 
 fortunes. I converse with him upon terms of the 
 most unreserved intimacy ; and, indeed, there is 
 no man of senatorian rank whom he treats with 
 greater marks of esteem. I therefore recommend 
 him to you, not only as my friend, but as worthy 
 of being yours. And I am very sure, that what- 
 ever service you shall render him will afford a 
 satisfaction to yourself, as well as confer an obHga- 
 tion upon me. Farewell.
 
 6':0 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTKR XIX. 
 To Marcus Marcellus. 
 
 I SENT you a long letter'', a very few days ago, 
 by Quiiitius Mucins; wliereia I fully explained 
 . , my sentiiueiit.s with respect to the dispo- 
 sition and conduct which I thought would 
 become you in the ])rescnt conjuncture. Never- 
 theless, as your freednian Theo])hilus (of whose 
 faithful affection towavds you I have lieeti a witness) 
 is setting out for Greece, I was unwilling he should 
 wait upon you without hriiiging a letter from nie. 
 
 To rejieat what 1 iin;cil in my last ; let me again 
 most earnestly exhort you, whatever the form of 
 our government he, to return to Rome as soon as 
 possible. It is true, you will have the mortifica- 
 tion, perhaps, to see many things that will give 
 you pain ; but not more, however, than you every 
 day learn from common report. Now, it would 
 be unworthy a man of your character, to be affected 
 only with what passes before his view, when he 
 can hear the very same facts related (and probably 
 magnified too) with less concern. But you will 
 tell me, perhaps, that should you return to lloine, 
 you must submit either to act or to si)eak in con- 
 tradiction to the sentiments of your heart. In 
 answer to which, I must observe, in the first place, 
 that it has ever been deemed the part of true 
 ■wisdooi, to yield to the circumstances of the times ; 
 or, to express the same thing in other words, to 
 comply with unavoidable necessity: and, in the 
 next place, that, as matters now stand, the con- 
 straint you fear is in no sort among the number of 
 our present grievances. It is possible, indeed, 
 that you may not be at liberty openly to declare 
 your opinions ; but totally silent you may un- 
 doubtedly be. For the sole cognizance of all 
 affairs is centred in a single person'; and he de- 
 termines as seems good to himself, without con- 
 sulting any of his party. And this would liavc 
 been pretty much the case, had that other chief J, 
 ■whose cause we chose to follow, been now in pos- 
 session of the commonwealth. For at a time when 
 we were all embarked witii him in the same common 
 danger, he admitted notie into his council but 
 those that were ill qualitied to be bis advisers. 
 And can it be supposed that he would have placed 
 himself more upon a level with us after victory 
 than when his success was altogether doubtful } Is 
 it to be imagined, that he who rejected those most 
 prudent measures you recommended in your con- 
 sulate, and refused, likewise, to follow the concur- 
 rent sentiments of you and your relation'^ who 
 succeeded you in that office, and administered it 
 by your counsels — is it to be imagined that such a 
 man, were be now at the head of the common- 
 wealth, would consult eitlier your opinion or mine .' 
 All civil wars abound with numberless calamities : 
 a truth which though our ancestors were so happy 
 as never once to have experienced, the present 
 generation too frequently has '. But amidst its 
 many miserable consequences, none is more justly 
 
 li This letter is not extant: but it probably contained 
 an account of what had passed in tlie senate, concerning 
 the restoration of JMarceUus. — See letter 17 of this book, 
 p 499. 
 
 > CjEsar. J Pompey. ^ Caius JIarcellus. 
 
 1 The first civil war, in the strict acceptation of that 
 term, which Rome had ever seen, was between Marius and 
 Sylla ; about forty-two years before the date of this letter. 
 
 to be dreaded than victory itself. For though it 
 should turn on the more meritorious side, yet it 
 will be apt to inspire even these with a sjjirit ot 
 insolence and cruelty : and if they should not be 
 so by inclination, they at least will by necessity. 
 For, in many instances, the victor must find him- 
 self constrained to comply with the will of those 
 who assisted him in his conquest. Tell me, my 
 friend, did we not both foresee what cruelties 
 would have been exercised if our party had proved 
 successful .' Aiui would you, in that case, liave 
 lived an exile from your country, that you might 
 not have been a sjiectator of so sad a scene ? I 
 know you will reply in the negative ; and will assure 
 nie, that you should then have remained in tlie un- 
 disturbed jiossession of your estate and honours. 
 Yet certainly it would have become a man of your 
 patriotic sjiirit to have been far less concerned for 
 his own interest than for that of the republic. 
 
 But to what purpose, let me farther ask, should 
 you persevere in banishing yourself from Rome ? 
 Hitherto, indeed, the world has approved your 
 conduct, in having entered into the civil war with 
 reluctance, and in having wisely declined pushing 
 it to its last desperate extremity. The world 
 admires, too, your good fortune (as it may justly 
 be called, considering the distracted state of the 
 times) in having been able to maintain your dig- 
 nity and reputation in an honourable retreat. But 
 the time is now arrived when you ought to think 
 no place more desirable than your native country. 
 If she appears less beautiful than formerly, this 
 circumstance should not diminish your affection, 
 but rather raise your compassion : and as there 
 are so many illustrious citizens whose loss she 
 deplores, you should spare her the additional sorrow 
 of being dejirived likewise of you. If you dis- 
 covered a true greatness of spirit in scorning to be 
 the suppliant of Caesar's power, may you not betray 
 too much pride in contemning the offers of bis 
 clemency ? And if you acted wisely in withdraw- 
 ing from your country, may it not be thought 
 insensibility, should you show no desire of return- 
 ing .' In a word, though you should take no satis- 
 faction in public affairs, yet surely it is imprudent 
 to abandon your own. But, above all, let me 
 entreat you to consider whether your present situ- 
 ation is as secure as it may perhaps be agreeable. 
 Violences are everywhere committed with great 
 licentiousness ; but more particularly in foreign 
 countries, where villany is less restrained by awe 
 and shame from its cruel purposes. I mention 
 this from my concern for your welfare ; which is 
 so great, indeed, that if it be not equal, it is 
 certainly, at least, inferior only to that of your 
 relation Marcellus "'. Believe me, then, it becomes 
 you to act agreeably to the circumstances of the 
 times, and with a rational regard to the preserva- 
 tion of your hfe and fortunes. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 J\[arc7is Marcellus^ to Cicero. 
 
 I HAVE upon every occasion shown you, but 
 
 particularly in the present, that I pay the highest 
 
 A. u. 707. '■^g^'"'^ ^° JOMT sentiments and advice. 
 
 Accordingly, notwithstanding my very 
 
 '^ Caius Marcellus. 
 
 " This lettor seems to be an answer to that which ia 
 mentioned iu the first remark on the preceding epistle.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 501 
 
 affectionate relation Caius Marcellus liad not only 
 entreated, but earnestly conjured me to act in the 
 manner you recommend, yet his persuasions could 
 by no means prevail, till I found them supported 
 by yours. 
 
 I am indebted to your letter for a particular 
 account of the manner in which this affair has 
 been transacted ; and I am extremely obliged to 
 you for your congratulations thereupon, as 1 know 
 they proceed from an excellent heart. J3ut among 
 the very few friends and relations who have sin- 
 cerely endeavoured to promote my recal, nothing 
 in this whole tr;ii\sactii)n affords me so true a joy 
 as to have experienced your singular zeal and 
 giiiid-will towards me. Everything else, indeed, 
 the calamities of the times have taught me to 
 resign with great tranquillity and indifference : 
 but to be deprived of the friendship of men of your 
 worth and character, would render life, under every 
 circumstance, altogether insupportable. It is upon 
 the enjoyment, therefore, of this privilege that I 
 chiefly congratulate myself; and I shall endeavour 
 to convince you, that you have conferred your 
 good offices upon one who is most sincerely and 
 warmly your friend. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 To Marcus Brutus. 
 
 Lucius Titius Strabo is one of the most 
 illustrious and most distinguished of our Roman 
 
 u >-(i7 knights. I live with him in the strictest 
 familiarity, as indeed we are united by 
 every kind of friendly connexion. He claims a 
 debt which is owing to him in your province, from 
 Publius Cornelius : but Volcatius, who presides in 
 our court of justice ° at Rome, having refused to 
 take cognizance of the cause, has directed it to be 
 tried in Gaul. I request your assistance, therefore, 
 in bringing this affair to a speedy determination ; 
 and I request it so much tlie more earnestly than if 
 it were my own, as a man may with a better grace be 
 more anxious for the pecuniary concerns that relate 
 to his friend than to himself. Let me entreat you, 
 then, to take the whole conduct of this business 
 under your immediate direction. And I hope you 
 will endeavour, as far as justice shall permit, that 
 Strabo's freedman, who is employed to manage this 
 suit, may recover the money in question with as 
 little trouble and expense as possible. In this you 
 will greatly oblige me : and you will find, likewise, 
 that Strabo is extremely deserving of your friend- 
 ship. Again and again, therefore, I conjure you 
 to take his interest under your protection, with the 
 same care you are wont to exert in every instance 
 that you know will be agreeable to me. Farewell. 
 
 " The person who so presided was, according to tlie con- 
 stitution of the Roman government, the proctor urbanus, 
 or city pra'tor : hut C'sesar would not suffer the people to 
 proceed this year to the usual election of tlieir magistrates, 
 excepting only with respect to the tribunes and a;dilcs. 
 Instead of praetors, therefore, lie arbitrarily appointed a 
 certain number of persons to administer the civil juris- 
 diction of tlie city ; which is the reason (as one of the coni- 
 mentators conjectures) that Cicero does not call Volcatius 
 by the proper title of his office. — Suet, in Vit. Jul. Caes. 76. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 To L. Papirius Patus. 
 
 I WRITE this letter in great haste upon my 
 tablets, in the midst of an entertainment '' at the 
 
 ^ house of Volumnius. We lay down about 
 ■ ' tlie ninth hour'i ; and I am jjlaced with 
 your friends Atticus on my riglit liand, and Verrius 
 on my left. You will wonder to find tliat 1 caa 
 pass my time thus jovially in the midst of servitude. 
 Yet tell me, my friend, you who are the disci]de of 
 a philosopher, what else should I da? And to what 
 purjiose should I torment myself with endless dis- 
 quietudes? " Spend your days," you will probably 
 reply, " in literary occupations." ]}ut can you 
 imagine I have any other ? or that, without them, 
 my very being would not be utterly insiijiportable ? 
 However, though employments of this kind cannot 
 satiate, there is a certain time, nevertheless, whea 
 it is proper to lay them aside. Now, at such 
 intervals, though a party at supper is not altogether 
 a point of so much importance to me as it was to 
 you, when you made it the single suljject of your 
 arch query to the philosopher ■■ ; yet I know not 
 in what manner I can more agreeably dispose of 
 myself till the hour of sleep. But I was going to 
 name the rest of our company, and to tell you that 
 Cytheris ^ is reclined' at the left hand of Eutrapelus. 
 You will be astonished, I suppose, to find your 
 grave and philosophical friend in such society, and 
 will be apt to cry out with the poet", 
 " And is this he, the man so late renown'd ? 
 
 Wlioni virtue honour'd, and whom glory crown'd; 
 
 Tliis tlie famed chief, of every tongue the praise: 
 
 Of Greece the wonder, and of crowds the gaze." 
 The truth of the matter is, I had not the least sus- 
 picion that this fair lady was to be of our party. 
 However, I have the example of the Socratic 
 Aristippus'', to keep me in countenance ; who, when 
 
 P The time of meals seems a very extraordinary season 
 for the purpose of writing letters. However, it was cus- 
 tomary with the Romans to employ themselves in this 
 manner between the several courses : and they usually 
 carried tablets about them for that use. Plutarch informs 
 lis tliat Cassar generally signed his despatches at table. — 
 I'lut. in Vit. Jul. C'ees. 
 
 q The Romans reclined themselves upon couches at their 
 meals. The ninth hour answers to our three o'clock in the 
 afternoon, and was the usual time when they made their 
 last and principal meal. 
 
 •■ The story to which Cicero her« alludes is more expli- 
 citly mentioned in a subsequent part of this letter. 
 
 s A celebrated courtesan, who, a few years before the 
 date of this letter, had been a very favourite mistress of 
 JIark Antony. If the authority of Servius may be relied 
 upon, she is the Lycoris whose infidelity to the poet Gallus 
 is the subject of the last of Virgil's pastorals. — Plut. in Vit. 
 Anton. Serv. ; in Virg. Eclog. 10. 
 
 ' The reclining posture, at table, was esteemed indecent 
 for women, and only practised by those of a loose cha- 
 racter ; as the Roman ladies of modesty always sat at 
 their meals. 
 
 'I Manutius supposes that the verses here quoted are 
 from a tragedy of the poet Ennius, entitled " Telamon ;" 
 which is frequently mentioned by the ancient gram- 
 marians. 
 
 ^ He was a disciple of Socrates ; but either mistaking or 
 perverting the lessons of his excellent master, he main- 
 tained that " sensual pleasure was the supreme and ulti- 
 mate good." His practice was agreeable to his doctrine, 
 and he spent his life (a great part of which he passed at 
 the court of Dionysius, the Sicilian tyrant) in every kind
 
 502 
 
 THE I.KTTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 he was reproadied with having a commerce of 
 gallantry with the Corintliiaii courtesan, 'Tis trite, 
 rci)Ued tlie pliihj.soiyhcr, (wiliiout being in the least 
 disconcerted) / possrss Lais, but Lais possesses not 
 me. Tiie expression is much stronger in the 
 original "', and 1 leave you, if you think jjroper, to 
 render it in its full import. In the mean time, let 
 me assure you that 1 never had any passion of this 
 sort even when 1 was a young fellow, and much 
 less now that I am an old one. lUit my great 
 delighc is in these festive meetings, where 1 throw 
 out just what comes uppermost, and laugh away 
 the sighs and sorrows of my heart. Nor were you 
 yourself in a more serious mood, my friend, when 
 even a venerable philosopher could not escape your 
 raillery, to whom, when he was in(iuiring if the 
 company had any i|uestiuns to propose to him*, 
 you replied, with great gravity, that " it had been a 
 c|uestion with you the whole morning, where you 
 should find a party to sup ? " The formal pedant 
 expected, perhaps, that you were going to ask him 
 whether there was one heaven only, or heavens 
 innumeraljle : whereas it was at that time, it seems, 
 much more your concern to be resolved in the 
 humorous problem you proposed. 
 
 Thus you see in what manner I pass my time. 
 1 devote part of every day to reading or writing ; 
 after which, that I may not entirely seclude myself 
 from the society of my friends, I generally suji in 
 their parties. But upon these occasions I am so 
 far from transgressing our sumptuary law, (if any 
 law, alas ! can now be said to subsist) that I do not 
 even indulge myself to the fall extent it allows. 
 You need not be alarmed, therefore, at my intended 
 visit : you will receive a guest who jokes much more 
 abundantly than he eats. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 To Ampius. y 
 Believe me, my dear Ampius, it is with the 
 utmost reason that I congratulate you on the 
 
 A. u. 707. 
 
 success of your affairs. I am by no 
 means, indeed, so imprudent as to flatter 
 
 of luxurious indulgence. — Cic. de Orator, iii. 16, 17 ; Athen. 
 Deipn. 12. 
 
 '^ 'Exco AafSa ovk exo/uai, was the answer of Aris- 
 tlppus ; where the verb iyai, as Wanutius observes, con- 
 veys a more obscene fi«nse than the word habeo, into 
 which Cicero translati.n' it. 
 
 * The conceitednebs of the ancient sophists was so extra- 
 vagant, that they pretended to be possessed of all know- 
 ledge, human and divine ; insomuch that one of them pub- 
 licly boasted, at the Olympic games, that he was not onlj' 
 master of the whole circle of liberal arts and sciences, but 
 of the meanest mechanic crafts. Accordingly, it was cus- 
 tomary with them to call upon their audience to propose 
 any question whatever in which they were desirous to be 
 informed ; which was no sooner delivered out, than these 
 philological mountebanks harangued upon it in that fluent 
 jargon with whi h schoolmen in all ages have been so 
 liberally endowed. The first who assumed these impious, 
 shall they be termed, or ridiculous pretensions to omni- 
 science, was one Gorgias, a Grecian : and this man, who 
 in more enlightened days would have been looked upon 
 with the utmost contempt by all true philosophers, was 
 held in such high esteem by his countrymen, that they 
 erected a statue to his memory, of solid gold. — Cic. de 
 Orator, iii. 32 ; De Finib. ii. 
 
 y Titus Ampius had gradually risen through the several 
 employments of the state, till he arrived at the praetor- 
 
 you with false hopes ; for an unexpected disappoint- 
 ment would probably so depress your spirits that 
 nothing would ever be capable of raising them 
 again. 
 
 I have solicited your cause with more freedom 
 than was altogether suitable perhaps to a man in my 
 circumstances ; as the invariable fri(;ndship which 
 I have ever borne towards you, and whicii you have 
 always most faithfully cultivated, taught me to 
 surmount thediftlcullics that fortune, by impairing 
 my credit, had thrown in my way. Accordingly 
 the promise of your pardon is obtained, and all 
 preliminaries are adjusted and confirmed tliat relate 
 to your restoration. I speak this upon my own 
 certain knowledge, having been a witness to the 
 whole transaction. It happens indeed, very luckily, 
 that I am connected with all Ca;sar's favourites ; 
 insomuch that, next to Ca;sar, there is no one who 
 stands so high in their friendship as myself. Pansa, 
 Hirtius, and Opi)ius, Balbus, Matius, and Postu- 
 mius, have each of them distinguished me with 
 particular marks of their esteem. If I had endea- 
 voured to establish this interest merely with a view 
 of serving you in the present conjuncture, I should 
 by no means think I had reasrm to be ashamed. 
 But I did not cultivate their good graces upon any 
 motive of this temporising kind : on the contrary, 
 every one of these whom I incessantly solicited in 
 your behalf, are my old friends. In this number 
 we are principally obliged to Pansa, who, as he has 
 the greatest credit and influence with Caesar, so he 
 showed himself extremely zealous for your interest, 
 and very desirous likewise of obliging me. I must 
 mention Tullius Cimber^ also as one with whose 
 good offices, upon this occasion, I have great reason 
 to be satisfied. He employed them more success- 
 fully upon your account than he possibly could in 
 favour of any other man ; for it is not interested 
 solicitations so much as those which proceed 
 entirely from friendship and gratitude, that prevail 
 with Caesar. Your warrant, however, is not yet 
 actually signed, for there are certain malevolent 
 spirits (who affect to talk as if they were not 
 secretly pleased that this civil war broke out, and 
 who represent you as the principal fomenter of it) 
 that would be exceedingly offended if they knew 
 you had obtained your pardon. It was thought 
 advisable, therefore, to manage this affair with 
 great caution and secrecy ; nor by any means, at 
 present, to suffer our success to be publicly known. 
 It soon, however, will ; and I doubt not that every 
 thing will be ripe for that purpose, before this 
 letter shall reach your hands : for Pansa, whose 
 word may be depended upon, has promised me, in 
 the strongest terms, that he will in a very few days 
 procure your warrant. In the mean time, I thought 
 proper to send you this previous account of the 
 prosperous state of your affairs. For I find, by 
 
 ship ; from which post he was elected, in the year 696, to 
 the government of Cilicia. As he had distinguished him- 
 self during his tribunate by promoting the interest and 
 honours of Pompey, so he appears to have been a warm 
 partisan of his cause in the civil wars ; in consequence 
 of which, he was at this time in exile — Pigh. Annal. iii. 
 376. 
 
 * This person, though greatly in favour with Caesar, wa« 
 afterwards one of the principal conspirators against him. 
 It was lie that gave the signal to the rest of his associates, 
 when they assassinated Caesar in the senate ; and Cimber 
 held him by the gown, while Cassius gave him the first 
 etab.^Suet. inVit. Jul. Caes. 82.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 603 
 
 talking with your wife Epulia, and by the tender 
 tears of your daughter Ampia, that you are more 
 dispirited than your letters intimate ; and they are 
 apprehensive that your uneasiness will be increased 
 by their absence. In order, therefore, to compose 
 this anxiety of your mind, I thought it incumbent 
 on me thus to anticipate a piece of good news, 
 ■which most assuredly will be verified. You are 
 sensible that in my former letters I have rather 
 employed such arguments of consolation as were 
 proper to affect a man of your philosophical magna- 
 nimity, than encouraged you to entertain any other 
 certain hopes than those of being restored with the 
 republic when these flames should subside. And 
 here let me remind you of your letters to me, in 
 which you have always discovered the most heroic 
 determination to meet with firmness and fortitude 
 whatever it might be your fate to suffer. I was by 
 no means surprised to find that you were animated 
 with these manly sentiments, when I reflected that 
 vou had been conversant in the -affairs of the world 
 from your earliest youth ; that you had exercised 
 some of the most important employments of the 
 commonwealth, at a time when our lives and liberties 
 •were in the utmost danger" ; and that you entered 
 into the present war, not merely with the pleasing 
 prospect of victory, but with a mind prepared to bear 
 the re verse with a wise and philosophical resignation. 
 la fine, as you are employed in recording the deeds 
 of illustrious heroes'", it particularly concerns you 
 to copy out, in your own conduct, that magnanim- 
 ity which you are celebrating in others. But this 
 is talking in a style more suitable to your late cir- 
 cumstances than to your present. Let me only, 
 then, exhort you to come prepared to endure those 
 calamities which you must suffer here in common 
 with every citizen of Rome ; calamities, for which, 
 if I had discovered any remedy, I should most 
 certainly impart it to you. The only refuge from 
 them is in those philosophical studies, in which we 
 have both of us ever been conversant ; and these, 
 though in more prosperous days they were only our 
 amusement, must now prove likewise our strongest 
 support. But, to end as I began, let me desire you 
 to be well persuaded that all things are completely 
 settled concerning your full pardon and restoration. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 To P. Servituis Isauricus, Proconsul. 
 As the friendship that subsists between us, and 
 the singular afTection you bear me, are circumstances 
 „^ universally known, I find myself under a 
 frequent necessity of applying to you in 
 behalf of those who solicit my recommendations. 
 But thouglx I am a general well-wisher to all whom 
 I thus introduce to your favour, yet I do not pre- 
 tend to be equally interested in the success of every 
 one of tliem. I am particularly so, however, in 
 
 » Ampius was tribune in the consulate of Cicero, when 
 the conspiracy of Catiline was discovered ; and wasprjetor 
 in the year G95, when Clodius, who at the same time was 
 tribune, raised so much disturbance by his seditious laws ; 
 particularly by that which occasioned Cicero's banishment. 
 — Pich. Annal. ii. 36.X 
 
 b This work seems to have been of the biographical kind, 
 and to have included the life of Julius Cor^sar ; as Suetonius 
 quotes a passage from it, concerning the conduct of that 
 «mperor. — Suet, in Vit. Jul. C'a;s. 77- 
 
 that of Titus Egnatius, as he was the generous 
 comj)anion of my exile, and shared with me in all 
 the pains, the difficulties, and the dangers which I 
 underwent, both by sea and land, during that most 
 unfortunate period of my life. Nor would he, 
 without my consent, have left me at this juncture. 
 I recommend him to you, therefore, as one of my 
 family for whom I have the greatest regard ; and 
 you will much oblige me by convincing him that 
 this letter shall have proved greatly to his advan- 
 tage. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 To Curius'^. 
 
 There was a time when I thought you made a 
 very injudicious choice, by preferring a foreign 
 ^„- country to your own. I imagined that 
 ' ' ' ' Rome (while yet, alas ! it was Rome) 
 must be far more suitable, I will not only say than 
 Patrae, but even than the noblest city in the Pelo- 
 ponnesus, to a man of your amiable and elegant 
 turn of mind. But now, on the contrary, I look 
 upon your having retired into Greece, when our 
 affairs were well-nigh desperate, as a strong proof 
 of your great penetration : and I consider your 
 absence, not only as a very judicious, but a very 
 happy resolution. Yet, why do I call it happy ? 
 when it is impossible that happiness should be the 
 portion of any man, in these wretched times, who 
 possesses the least degree of sensibility. However, 
 that desirable privilege which you, who were at 
 liberty to leave Italy, enjoy by travelling, I have 
 procured by another method ; and I can in some 
 sort say, no less than yourself, that I live 
 
 " Where nor the name nor deeds accursed I hear 
 Of Pelops' impious race ^." 
 For, as soon as my levee is over, (which is some- 
 what more frequented than formerly, a patriot 
 being now looked upon as a sight, of all others, the 
 most uncommon =,) I shut myself up in my library. 
 And it is there, my friend, that I am employed in 
 compositions which you will find, perhaps, to be 
 animated with all that spirit you once said so ill 
 
 c He was one of the city quajstors in the year 691, and 
 about five years afterwards was elected into the post of 
 tribune. It does not appear that he advanced any farther 
 in the offices of the state. On the contrary, it seems pro- 
 bable that he turned his pursuits into an humbler channel, 
 and engaged in some branch of commerce. It was for this 
 purpose, perhaps, that about the time when the dissen- 
 tions between Pompey and C^^sa^ broke out, he retired into 
 Greece, and settled at Patrae. See letter 2 of the following 
 book ; Pigh. Annal. ii. 334. 
 
 <i The sons of Pelops were Atreus and Thyestcs, whose 
 impious and cruel acts are recorded in fabulous history. 
 ThedramaticpoetAttiuswroteatragedy entitled "Atreus," 
 from which play, it is probable, this line was quoted, and 
 which Cicero seems to apply to the violences committed by 
 some of the leading men in the successful party. That 
 Cicero, however, by no means lived the recluse he here 
 represents himself, has already appea'-ed by several letters 
 in the present and preceding book, by which it is evident 
 that he mixed, with great freedom and gaiety, among the 
 chiefs of the victorious faction. 
 
 e A true patriot was a sight in all ages too uncommon, 
 it must be o^vned, not to have been worth remarking ; 
 but, whether those who visited Cicero, in order to view so 
 singular a curiosity, were disappointed or not, is a ques- 
 tion -which every reader by this time, perhaps, may bo 
 able very clearly to determine.
 
 504 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 agreed with my dejection and despair, when you 
 reproaclied me, at your house, for not acting up to 
 the fortitude that appi.-arcd in my writings. I must 
 confess, I coulil not at tliat time forbear lamenting 
 the wretched fate of the republic ; to which I was 
 the more tenderly attached, as I had not only been 
 distinguished with its honours, but had greatly 
 assisted it by my services. And even now, that 
 time (whi(^h wears out the sorrows of the weakest 
 minds), together with reason (which ought to hnv(; 
 the strongest intluence for that purpose) , havejointly 
 contributed to compose my breast; yet I still lament 
 to see the commonwealth thus fallen, without a 
 hope of ever rising more ! There is nothing, how- 
 ever, that can at present be justly inii)uted to liim, 
 in whom all jiower is now vested ; unless, perhaps, 
 it be that he has more than he ought. And as to 
 what is past, our fate and our follies have had so 
 large a share in all that lias haj)pened, that we 
 cannot complain with a good grace. As little reason 
 is there to hope that affairs will mend. 1 cannot, 
 therefore, but conclude my letter as I began it, 
 with admiring your judgment if it were choice, or 
 your fortune if it were chance, that led you from 
 this unpleasiug scene. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVL 
 
 To Ligarius. 
 Be assured that I am exerting my utmost efforts 
 of every kind in order to jirocure your restoration. 
 A c 7(r ■^" truth, the singular and pious affection 
 of your brothers, for whom 1 bear the 
 same warm friendship that I entertain for yourself, 
 will not suffer me to neglect any opportunity of 
 employing my best offices in your behalf. But I 
 had rather you should learn from their letters than 
 from mine, what I jiave already performed, and 
 ■what I am still endeavouring to perform, in your 
 aff'airs. I will only, therefore, acquaint you myself 
 with the strong and well-grounded hopes I have 
 conceived, that your restoration will soon be eff"ected. 
 Let me previously observe, that my fears in all 
 doubtful cases of importance are ever apt to be 
 much superior to my hopes ; a fault, if it be a fault, 
 which J. am very ready to acknowledge. Never- 
 theless, the last tim.e I waited upon Ctesar, I came 
 away with a full persuasion that there was not the 
 least reason to doubt of his granting you a pardon. 
 I attended him for this juirpose, at the request of 
 your brothers, on the 26tli of November last, in 
 the morning, not without encountering all the usual 
 difficulties and indignities before I could gain ad- 
 mittance. Your brothers, and the rest of your 
 relations, having throwu themselves at his feet, I 
 supported their jietition with such arguments as I 
 thought suitable to the occasion'. And I could 
 
 f Cicero had, shortly afterwards, a more public occasion 
 of testifying his zeal for his friend. For Tubero, though 
 he had himself engaged in the same party witli Ligarius, 
 having from private piquo opposed the recal of Ligarius, 
 Cicero defended liim before Caesar in the forum, in a noble 
 oration which is still extant. It was upon this occasion, 
 that the pomp and energy of the Koman orator's rhetoric 
 is said to have had such a wonderful efl'ect, that it not only 
 madeCsEsar tremble, but, what is yet more extraordinary, 
 it made him change his determined purpose, and acquit 
 the man he had resi>lved to condemn. This story lias often 
 been alleged in proof of the power of ancient eloquence ; 
 
 plaiidy perceive, not only by the gracious answer 
 whi(;h C'ffisar returned, but by the whole air of his 
 countenance, together with several other little cir- 
 cumstances, much easier to remark than describe, 
 that he was extremely well inclined in your favour^. 
 Preserve, then, my friend, a firm and vigorous 
 frame of mind ; and if you bore the dark and tem- 
 ])estuous season of your affairs with fortitude, let 
 their jiresent more serene and favourable aspect 
 till your heart with cV.eerfuliuss. As for myself, I 
 shall continue to act with as much assiduity in 
 your cause as if there were still many obstacles to 
 surmount. To this end, 1 shall very zealously per- 
 severe in my applications not only to CaJsar, but 
 to all those who are most in his favour ; every one 
 of whom 1 have experienced to be much my friend. 
 Farewell. 
 
 and the translator confesses, that lie Jias himself, in tho 
 letters publi.iluil under tho name of Sir Thomas I'itz- 
 osborne, produced it for that purpose. 15ut, upon a. stricter 
 inquiry, the supposed fact seems to be extremely ques- 
 tionable. I'or, in the first place, there is not the least 
 trace of it in any part of Cicero's writings. Now this his 
 total silence seems to furnish a very strong presumptive 
 argument to destroy the credit of the story ; for it is alto- 
 gether improbable that a man of Cicero's character should 
 have omitted any opportunity of displaying a circumstance 
 so exceedingly to the honour of his oratorical powers. 
 In the next place, it is very observable, that Valerius 
 Maximus, who has a chapter expressly to show the force 
 of eloquence, and who mentions a particular instance of 
 this kind with regard to Ca;sar himself, yet takes not the 
 least notice of the fact in question. But if it had been 
 true, is it credible either that it should never have reached 
 his knowledge, or that, knowing it, he should have passed 
 it over in silence? especially as it afl'orded him a much 
 stronger instance for his purpose than any he has thought 
 proper to enumerate. It is remarkable, likewise, that 
 Quintilian, thougii he frequently cites the very passage 
 in this celebrated oration wliich is supposed to have 
 raised the strongest emotions in Caesar's breast, yet gives 
 not the least intimation of the effect which it is pretended 
 to have wrought. Plutarch is the only ancient writer who 
 relates this story, and he introduces it with a x4yirai Se, 
 an expre.ssion which seems to imply that he did not copy 
 it from any earlier historian, but received it only from 
 common tradition. Xow it might be sufficient to give rise 
 to such a report, if C'ssar had been seized during the 
 course of this trial with one of his usual epileptic fits, 
 which were attended with that change of colour and 
 trembling of the nerves that Plutarch ascribes to the 
 force of Cicero's rhetoric. And that this is all that there 
 was of truth in the case, is rendered probable by the testi- 
 mony of Suetonius, who informs us that Cajsar was twice 
 seized with these fits when he was engaged in judicial 
 affairs. — Val. J\Iax. viii. 9 ; Quint. Instit. Orat. viii. 4, 6 ; 
 ix. 2 ; Plut. in Vit. C'icer. ; Suet, in Vit. Jul. Cis. 4.5. 
 
 g Cicero's presages in the present instance appear to 
 have been well grounded ; for Ligarius, shortly afterwards, 
 obtained Ca;sar's permission to return to Rome. Ligarius, 
 nevertheless, entered into the conspiracy against him : and 
 history has recorded the very spirited answer which Liga- 
 rius made to Brutus, when that illustrious Roman paid 
 him a visit in order to invite him into a jiarticipation of 
 his scheme. Brutus, finding him sick in bed, began to 
 lament that he should be confined at so critical a con- 
 juncture ; upon which, Ligarius, raising himself on his. 
 arm, and taking Brutus by the hand, " Oh, my friend," 
 said he, " if you are meditating any enterprise worthy ofl 
 yourself, I am well."— Plut. in Vit. Brut.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 5a5 
 
 LETTER XXVn. 
 To P. Servilius Isauricus, Proconsul. 
 I TOOK occasion, -when we were walking in your 
 gardens, to recommend to you, with all possible 
 „,.^ earnestness, tlie Asiatic affairs of my 
 friend Cereliia''. And, agreeably to your 
 usual disposition, and to those many great and 
 good offices I have perpetually received at your 
 hands, you very generously assured me of your 
 utmost assistance. This circumstance, I persuade 
 myself, you have not forgotten : I am sure, at least, 
 it is not customary with you to be unmindful of my 
 requests. However, the agents of this lady inform 
 her, in their letters, that the numerous occupations 
 in which so extensive a province engages you, 
 render it necessary that you should be reminded, 
 from time to time, of your promise. I entreat you, 
 therefore, to recollect that you gave me full assur- 
 ances of employing your good offices in favour of 
 Cereliia, so far as should be consistent with your 
 honour ; and I think your powers for this purpose 
 are very extensive. For, if I mistake not, the 
 decree of the senate, which passed in relation to 
 the heirs of Vannonius, is expressed in such terms 
 as to admit of an interpretation extremely advan- 
 tageous to Cerellia's interest. But this must be 
 submitted entirely to your own judgment; which, 
 I doubt not, will construe this decree in the sense 
 in which it was intended by the senate, as I know 
 the respect you always bear for the resolutions of 
 that assembly. I will only add, therefore, that I 
 desire you would believe that every instance in 
 which you shall favour Cereliia will be a singular 
 obligation conferred upon myself. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 To Aldus Ccecina'. 
 I "WAS informed, by your zealous friend Largus, 
 that the time limited for your continuance in Sicily 
 A u ""07 expires on the first of January next. 
 Having, therefore, upon all occasions, 
 observed that Caesar ratifies whatever Balbus and 
 Ojipius act in his absenceJ, I very strenuously soli- 
 fa This lady was not only a particular friend of Cicero, 
 but a great reader and admirer of his moral writings. But 
 neither her philosophy nor her ago, though she was ten 
 years older than Cicero, could secure her character from 
 censure; and slander has said that her intercourse with 
 our author did not always turn upon matters of specu- 
 lation. But if tlie reader has the curiosity to see this 
 charge entirely overthrown, he will find a very satis- 
 factory confutation of it in Monsieur Mongault's fourth 
 remark on tlie 51st letter of the 12th hook to Atticus. 
 
 ' Aulus Csecina was a person of great and amiable virtues 
 in private life ; and he was distinguished, likewise, in 
 public for his genius, his eloquence, and his erudition. 
 He seems to have particularly excelled in the science of 
 divination ; upon which subject he wrote a treatise, which 
 is often cited by Seneca. In the civil wars, he not only 
 drew his sword, but his pen against Ciesar : having pub- 
 lished an invective upon that general, which appears to 
 have extremely offended him. Csecina was accordingly 
 banished ; and the present and following letters to him, 
 were written during his exile in Sicily. — Cic. Orat. pro 
 Caecin. 35, 36 ; Senec. Natural. Quaest. ii. passim. 
 
 J Caesar was, at this time, in Spain, pursuing the war 
 against the sons of Pompey ; whilst Oppius and Balbus 
 were acting as his vicegerents at Kome. 
 
 cited them that you might be permitted to remain 
 in that island as long as you should think proper. 
 In all my applications of this kind, they have either 
 instantly complied with my desire, if it happened 
 not to be particularly disagreeable to them, or have 
 assigned their reasons for refusing : but in the pre- 
 sent instance, they did not give me an immediate 
 answer. However, they called upon me again the 
 very same day, in order to acquaint me, that in 
 consequence of my re(|uest, you were at liberty to 
 continue in Sicily during your own inclination : 
 and they would be answerable, they said, that 
 Csesar would not be displeased. Thus you see how 
 far your licence extends : and I need not tell you 
 what use it would be most advisable for you to 
 make of it. 
 
 After I had written thus far, your letter was 
 given into my hands, wherein you desire my opinion 
 whetlier you should remain in .Sicily, or go into 
 Asia in order to settle your affairs in that province. 
 I do not well know how to reconcile this question 
 to the account which I mentioned above to have 
 received from Largus. For he talked to me as if 
 you were not at liberty to reside any longer in 
 Sicily : whereas your query seems to imply the 
 contrary. Be this as it may, my sentiments are, 
 that you should, by all means, continue in that 
 island. The nearness of its situation renders it 
 extremely convenient for the more expeditiously 
 receiving and returning letters and expresses during 
 the negotiation of your pardon : as you will be so 
 much the earlier,likewise, amongst us, if you should, 
 as I hope, obtain leave to return to Rome, or at 
 least, into Italy. For these reasons, therefore, I 
 am altogether against your removing from your 
 present quarters. 
 
 I shall not fail to recommend you, in the strongest 
 terms, to Furfanius Posthumus and his lieutenants, 
 when they arrive here : but, at present, they are 
 all at Mutina. They are every one of them my 
 friends, and not only persons of singular merit, 
 but great admirers of men of your character. You 
 may, without any particular application to me, de- 
 pend upon my best assistance in every other article 
 wherein I imagine my services can avail you. And 
 should there be any of which I may be ignorant, if 
 you will point them out to me, you will find that 
 you could not have employed any other of your 
 friends who would have acted in your affairs with 
 so warm a zeal. 
 
 Though I shall speak so effectually to Furfanius 
 that there will be no necessity for your delivering 
 a letter to him on my part, yet, as some of your 
 family were desirous you should have one, 1 could 
 not refuse their request : and I have added, at the- 
 bottom of this, a copy of my letter. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 To Titus Furfanius^, Proconsul. 
 It is impossible to be more intimately united 
 with any man, than I have ever been with Aulus 
 ^^ Caecina. I lived in great familiarity with 
 his illustrious father : and the early pre- 
 sages I observed in the son, of the most exalted 
 probity and eloquence, won my affections to him 
 
 ^ He was appointed by Caesar proconsul of Sicily for the ■ 
 following year ; in which post he is said to liave conducted' 
 himself with great clemency and moderation — Quartier.
 
 ^06 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 from his youth. We were attached to each other, 
 not only by the mutual exchange of many friendly 
 oflices, but by the same common tastes and studies: 
 insomuch, that tluTe is no man for whom I ever 
 entertained a more tender regard. After this, I 
 need only add, that I am under the strongest obli- 
 gations, as you see, to protect both his )ierson and 
 his fortunes, to the utmost of my power. As I 
 know, by many instances, the sentiments you enter- 
 tain botli of the calamities of the republic, and of 
 tliose who suffer for its sake, I am sure your own 
 inclmations will lead you to assist Ciecina. I will 
 only entreat you, tlu-reforc, to suffer my recom- 
 mendation to increase that favourable disjiosilidii 
 in proportion to the esteem which I am s(nsil)lc 
 you bear me : and be well persuaded, that you 
 cannot give me a more sensible proof of your 
 friendship. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 Aulus Ccecina to Cicero. 
 
 I HOPE you will not only pardon the fears, but 
 pity the misfortunes, which prevented your re- 
 ^ _ ceiving my performance so soon as I 
 ■ ■ ' ' intended : but my son was apprehensive, 
 I hear, that the publication of this piece might 
 prove to my prejudice. And, indeed, as the effect 
 of compositions of this kind depends more upon 
 the temper in which they are read than on that 
 in which they are written, his fears were by no 
 means irrational ; especially as I am still a sufferer 
 for the liberties of my pen. In this respect my 
 fate, surely, is somewhat singular. For the errors 
 of an author are generally either reformed by a 
 blot, or punished by the loss of his fame : whereas 
 banishment, on the contrary, has been thought the 
 more proper method of correcting mine. And yet 
 Ihe whole of my crime amounts only to this — that 
 I poured forth my invectives against the man with 
 ■whom I was openly at war. Now, there was not 
 a single person, I suppose, in the same party with 
 myself, who was not in effect guilty of the same 
 ■offence ; as there was not one who did not send up 
 his vows for success to our cause, or that offered a 
 sacrifice, though upon an occasion ever so foreign 
 to public affairs, without imploring the gods that 
 •CiEsar might soon be defeated. If he imagines 
 otherwise, he is extretriely happy in his ignorance. 
 But if he knows this to be fact, why am I marked 
 out as the particular object of his wrath, for having 
 ■written something which he did not approve, 
 ■whilst he forgives every one of those who were 
 ■perpetually invoking Heaven for his perdition ! 
 
 But I was going to acquaint you with the reason 
 of those fears which I mentioned in the beginning 
 of my letter. In the first place, then, I have taken 
 notice of you in the piece in question ; though, 
 at the same time, I have touched upon your conduct 
 ■with great caution and reserve. Not that I have, 
 'by any means, changed my sentiments concerning 
 jt ; but, as being afraid to say all that they dictated 
 to me. Now it is well known, that in composi- 
 tions of the panegyrical kind, an author should 
 not only deliver his applauses with a full and 
 ■unlimited freedom, but heighten them, likewise, 
 ■with a suitable strength and warmth of expression. 
 3n satire,indeed, though great liberties are generally 
 '•thought allowable, yet, a writer must always be 
 
 upon his guard, lest he degenerates into petulance 
 and scurrihty. An author is still more restrained 
 in speaking advantageously of himself; as, without 
 much care and circumspection, he will a|)pear 
 arrogant and conceited. Of all subjects, therefore, 
 of a ]icrsonal nature, it is panegyric alone wherein 
 a writer may expatiate uncontrolled ; as he cannot 
 be sparing in the encomiums he bestows upon 
 another, without incurring the imputation of envy 
 or inability. But, in the present instance, you 
 will think yourself, perhaps, obliged to me. For 
 as I was not at liberty to represent your actions 
 in the manner they deserve, the next favour to 
 being totally silent concerning tliem, was to mention 
 them as little as possible. But difficult as it was 
 to contain myself upon so copious a subject, I 
 however forbore : and as there were various parts 
 of your conduct I did not venture even to touch 
 upon, so, in the revisal of my work, I not only 
 found it necessary to strike out several circum- 
 stances I had inserted, but to place many of those 
 which I suffered to remain in a less advantageous 
 point of view. But should an architect, in raising 
 a flight of steps, omit some, cut away part of those 
 he had fixed, and leave many of the rest loose and 
 ill joined together, might he not more properly be 
 said to erect a ruin, than an ea>.y and regular 
 ascent ? In the same manner, where an author is 
 constrained, by a thousand unhappy circumstances, 
 to break the just coherence of his piece and destroy 
 its proper gradation, how can lie hope to jiroduce 
 anything that shall merit the applause of a refined 
 and judiciousear? Butlwas still more embarrassed 
 where my subject led me to speak of Ca;sar : and 
 I will own that I trembled whenever I had occasion 
 to mention his name. My fears, however, did not 
 arise from any apprehension that what I wrote 
 might draw upon roe his farther chastisement, but 
 lest it should not be agreeable to his particular 
 sentiments, with which, indeed. I am by no means 
 well acquainted. But with what spirit can a man 
 compose when he is obliged to ask himself, at every 
 sentence, "Will Caesar approve of this? May 
 not this expression appear of suspicious import ? 
 Or will he not think it still worse if I cha-oge it 
 thus ?" But, besides these difficulties, I was per- 
 plexed, likewise, in regard to the applauses and 
 censures which I dealt out to others ; as I was afraid 
 I might apply them where they would not, perhaps, 
 be very agreeable to Caesar, though they might not 
 actually give him offence. I reflected, that if his 
 vengeance pursued me for what I wrote, whilst I 
 had ray sword in my hand ; what might be the 
 consequence, should I displease him now that I 
 am a disarmed exile ? These fears increased upon 
 me, when I considered the cautious manner in 
 which you thought it necessary to deliver your 
 sentiments in your treatise entitled the Orator ; 
 where you modestly apologise for venturing tc 
 publish your notions upon the subject, by ascribing 
 it to the request of Brutus. But if you, whose 
 eloquence has rendered you the general patron of 
 every Roman, deemed it expedient to be thus art- 
 fully guarded, how much more requisite is it for 
 your old client, who is now reduced to implore 
 that protection from every citizen in general, which 
 he once received from yourself in particQlar ? 
 An author who writes under the constraint of so 
 many doubts and fears, though fears, perhaps, that 
 are altogether groundless ; who is forced to adjus*
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 5o: 
 
 almost every sentence, not to his own judgment, 
 but to the impression it may probably make upon 
 others ; will find it extremely difficult to execute 
 any composition with success. And though this 
 is a difficulty which you have never, it is possible, 
 experienced, as your exalted genius is equal to every 
 undertaking ; yet I am sure I experienced it very 
 sensibly myself. Nevertheless, I ordered my son 
 to read my performance to you ; but not to leave 
 it in your hands, unless you would promise to 
 correct it ; that is, unless you would uew-modcl 
 it in all its parts. 
 
 As to my Asiatic expedition : notwithstanding 
 my affairs require my presence in that province, 
 yet, in obedience to your advice, I have laid aside 
 my intended voyage. And now, as you are sensible 
 that my fate must necessarily, one way or other, 
 be soon determined, I need not, I am persuaded, 
 particularly exhort you to assist me with your good 
 offices. Let me only entreat you, my dear Cicero, 
 not to defer them in expectation of my son's arrival. 
 For his youth, his tendenies.s, and his fears, render 
 him ill able to think of every measure which may 
 be proper to be taken for my advantage. The 
 whole management, therefore, of my cause, must 
 rest entirely upon you, as it is upon you, in truth, 
 that all my hopes depend. Your judicious observa- 
 tion has enabled you to penetrate into the recesses 
 of Csesar's heart; and you are acquainted with all 
 the most probable methods of prevailing with him : 
 60 that each successful step that shall be made in 
 this affair, from its commencement to its conclusion, 
 must proceed altogether from you. I am sensible, 
 likewise, that you have great interest with Caesar, 
 and still greater with all his favourites. I doubt 
 not, then, of your effecting my restoration, if you 
 will exert yourself for that purpose, not only in 
 such instances wherein I shall particularly request 
 your assistance (though that, indeed, would be a 
 very considerable obligation), but by taking the 
 whole conduct of this matter into your own hands. 
 Perhaps my judgment is blinded by my misfortunes, 
 or I expect more from your friendship than in 
 modesty I ought, when I venture thus to impose 
 upon you so heavy a burthen. But whichever may 
 be the case, your general conduct towards your 
 friends will furnish me with an excuse ; for the 
 zeal which you exert upon all occasions where 
 their interest is concerned, has taught them not 
 only to expect, but even to claim your services. 
 
 With regard to the book which my son will 
 deliver to you, I entreat you either not to suffer it 
 to be published, or to correct it in such a manner 
 that it may not appear to my disadvantage. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXL 
 To P. Servilius Isauricus, Proconsul. 
 I NEED not inform you, that Curtius Mithres is 
 the favourite freedman of my very intimate friend 
 ^ Postumus : but let me assure you, that he 
 ■ ' " distinguishes me with the same marks of 
 respect which he pays to his patron himself. When- 
 ever I was at Ephesus, I made use of his house 
 as my own ; and many incidents concurred which 
 afforded me full proofs both of his fidelity and his 
 affection. For this reason, as often as either my 
 friends or myself have any affairs to transact in 
 Asia, I alwaj's apply to Mithres : and I command 
 
 not only his services, but his purse and his house, 
 with the same freedom that I should dispose of my 
 own. I particularise these circumstances the more 
 minutely, that you may see it is not upon common 
 motives, or to gratify the j)urposes of any ambitious 
 views, that I now ajiply to you ; but, on the con- 
 trary, that it is in favour of one with whom I am 
 united by the strongest connexions. I entreat 
 you then to do me the honour of assisting him with 
 your good offices, not only in the law-suit wherein 
 he is engaged with a certain citizen of Colophon', 
 but in every otiier instance also, as far as shall be 
 consistent witli ynurown character and convenience. 
 But though I make this exception, yet 1 am sure he 
 has too much modesty to ask anything improper of 
 you. Indeed, it is his utmost wish, that his own 
 merit, in conjunction with my recommendation, 
 may procure him your esteem. I very earnestly, 
 therefore, conjure you, not only to favour him with 
 your protection, but to receive him into the number 
 of your friends. In return, you may depend upon 
 my most zealous services upon all occasions wherein 
 I shall imagine either your interest or your inclina- 
 tion may require them. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 To Aulus CcBcina. 
 
 As often as I see your son (and I see him almost 
 every day) I never fail to assure him of my zealous 
 ^ assistance, without any exception of time, 
 ■ ' of labour, or of business : and I i)romise 
 him likewise my credit and interest, with this single 
 limitation, that he may rely upon them as far as the 
 small share I possess of either can possibly extend. 
 
 I have read your performance"", and still con- 
 tinue to read it, with much attention ; as I shall 
 preserve it with the greatest fidelity. Your affairs, 
 indeed, of every kind are my principal concern ; 
 and I have the pleasure to see them every day ap- 
 pear with a more and more favourable aspect. You 
 have many friends who contribute their good offices 
 for this purpose: of whose zeal your son, I am 
 assured, has already acquainted you, as well as of his 
 own hopes that their endeavours will prove effectual. 
 Inregard towhat may be collected from appearances, 
 I do not pretend to discern more than, I am persuaded, 
 you see yourself : but as you may reflect upon th'em, 
 perhaps, with greater discomposure of mind, I 
 think it proper to give you my sentiments concern- 
 ing them. Believe me, then, it is impossible, from 
 the nature and circumstancei of public affairs, that 
 either you, or your companions in adversity, should 
 long remain under your present misfortunes : yes, 
 my friend, it Js impossible that so severe an injury 
 should continue to oppress the honest advocates of 
 so good a cause. But my hopes are particularly 
 strong with respect to yourself : not merely in con- 
 sideration of your rank and virtues (for these you 
 possess in common with many others), but particu- 
 larly from your singular learning and genius. The 
 man in whose power we all of us are, holds these, 
 shining qualities in much esteem : and 1 am well 
 persuaded, you would not have remained, even a 
 single moment, in your present situation, if he had 
 not imagined himself wounded" by those talents 
 
 1 A city of tonia, in Asia Minor ; and one of those which 
 claimed the lionour of being the birth-place of Homer. 
 "» See the 30th letter of this book. 
 n See rem. ' on letter 28 of this book.
 
 SOS 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 lie admires. His resentment, however, seems daily 
 cooling : and it lias been intimated to nie by some 
 of his most particular friends, that you will un- 
 doubtedly find advantage in the high ojiinion he 
 has cmiceived of your abilities. Let me conjure 
 you, then, in the first place, to preserve a firm and 
 unshaken fortitude of mind, as what you owe to 
 your birth, to your education, to your learning, and 
 to that character you have uiiiveisally obtained; 
 and, in the next place, that, for tlii^ reasons 1 have 
 alre.idy assigned, you would entertain the strongest 
 anil most favourable Iioiics. Be well jiersuadcd, 
 likewise, that I shall always most readily contribute 
 my warmest services both to you and to your family. 
 You have, indeed, a full right lo expect them, from 
 that aHcction which has so long subsisted between 
 lis, from the conduct I ever observe towards all 
 my friends, and from the numberless good offices 
 I have received at your hands. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 To P. Servilius Isauricus, Procuusul. 
 As the share you allow me in your friendship is 
 by no means a secret to the world, it occasions 
 „.,- great numbers to ajiply to me for recom- 
 "' * mendations. My letters to you, therefore, 
 of this kind, are sometimes, 1 confess, no other 
 than the tributes of common compliment. They 
 are much more frequently, however, the dictates 
 of a real affection ; as is the case, be assured, in 
 the present instance, when I recommend to you Am- 
 pius Menander, the freedman of n:y friend Ampins 
 Balbus. He is a very worthy, modest man, 
 and highly in the esteem both of his patron and 
 myself. You will much oblige me, then, by assist- 
 ing him with your good offices, in every instance 
 that shall not be inconvenient to you : and, believe 
 me, it is with great earnestness that I make this 
 request. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 To AuUtg CtBcina. 
 I AM afraid you will think that I am a more 
 negligent correspondent than I ought, considering 
 >„,, the union between us as iiartisans of the 
 same cause, as being joined in the same 
 studies, and as having mutually conferred upon 
 each other many obliging good offices. The sin- 
 cere truth, however, is, that I should much sooner 
 and much oftener have written to you, if I had 
 not been in daily expectation of seeing your affairs 
 in a better train ; and I rather chose, instead of 
 confirming you in the spirit with which you bear 
 your misfortunes, to have sent you my congratu- 
 lations on their being ended. I still hope to have 
 that pleasure very shortly. In the mean time, I 
 think it incumbent upon me to endeavour, if not with 
 all the authority of a philosopher, at least with all 
 the influence of a friend, to confirm and s^rengthen 
 you in that manly spirit with which I hear, and be- 
 lieve, you are animated. For this purpose, 1 shall not 
 address you as one whose misfortunes are without 
 hope ; but as a person of whose restoratinn I have 
 conceived the same well-grounded confidence which 
 you formerly, I remember, entertained of mine. 
 
 For when I was driven from my country by a set 
 of men who were convinced they could nevei 
 effect thidr destructive [lurposes so long as 1 con- 
 tinued in the commonwealth, I was informed by 
 many of my friends who visited me from Asia, 
 where you tlieri resided, that you strongly assured 
 them of my speedy and honour. ible recal. Now, 
 if the jirinciples of the Etruscan science", in which 
 you weic instructed by your illustricnis and excel- 
 lent father, did not deceive you with respect to 
 me, neither will my presages be less infallible with 
 regard to you. They are derived, indeed, not only 
 from the maxims and records of the most distin- 
 guished sages, whose writings, you well know, I 
 have studied with great application, but from a 
 long exi)erieiice in ])ublic affairs, and from having 
 jiassed through various scenes bnth of prosperity 
 and adversity. I have the stronger reason to con- 
 fide in this method of divination, as it has never 
 once deceived me during all these dark and dis- 
 tracted times: insomuch, that were I to mention 
 my predictions, I am afraid you would suspect 
 that I framed them after the events I jiretend to 
 have foretold P. However, there are many who 
 can bear me witness, that I forewarned Pompey 
 against entering into any association with Caesari ; 
 and that I afterwards as strongly endeavoured to 
 dissuad(! him from breaking that union. I clearly 
 saw, indeed, that their conjunction would consider- 
 ably impair the strength of the senate, and that 
 their separation would as inevitably kindle the 
 flames of a civil war. I lived at that time in great 
 familiarity with Caesar, as well as entertained the 
 highest regard to Pompey ; and, accordingly, the 
 faithful advice 1 gave to the latter was equally to 
 the benefit of both. 1 forbear to instance several 
 other articles, in which ray jji-ophetic admonitions 
 have been verified. For, as I have received great 
 obligations from Caesar, I am unwilling he should 
 know, that had Pomjjey followed my counsels, 
 though Cffisar would still have been the first and 
 most distinguished person in the republic, he would 
 not have been in possession of that extensive power 
 he now enjoys. I will confess, however, that I 
 always gave it as my opinion, that Pompey should 
 go to his government in Spain ; with which, if lie 
 had happily complied, we should never have been 
 involved in this fatal civil war"'. I contended,, 
 
 ° The Komans derived their doctrine and rites of divi- 
 nation, and probably, indeed, many other of their reli- 
 gious and civil institutions, from the Etruscans, a very 
 ancient, learned, and powerful nation, who were once 
 mastei's of almost all Italy, and who inhabited that part 
 which is now called Tuscany. Csecina, who was a native 
 of this province, and well skilled in that pretended pro- 
 phetic art for which his countrymen were particularly 
 famous, foretold, it seems, that Cicero's banishment would 
 soon end (as in fact it did) in a glorious restoration. — Val. 
 Max. i. 1 ; Liv. v. 33 ; Pigh. Annal. i. p. 430. See rem. «, 
 p. 505. 
 
 P Cicero's wonderful reach of judgment, in penetrating, 
 far into the consequences of events, is by no means exag- 
 gerated in the present passage. On the contrary, it ia 
 confirmed by the testimony of an historian who knew him 
 well, and who assures us that Cicero pointed out, with a. 
 prophetic discernment, several circumstances that wera 
 fulfilled not only in his own life-time, but after his death. 
 — Corn. Nep. in Vit. Attic. 17. 
 
 q The motives which induced Pompey to enter into thia 
 union with Caesar have been already explained in rem. ', 
 p. 356. 
 
 » Pompey, instead of going to his government of Spain,
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 509 
 
 likewise, not so much that Csesar should be received 
 as a candidate for the consulship during his ab- 
 sence % as that the law which the people enacted 
 for that purpose, and enacted too at the earnest 
 solicitation of Pompey in his consulate, should be 
 religiously observed'. It was the rejecting of this 
 advice that gave occasion to the civil war ; which I 
 still laboured to extinguish by every method of 
 remonstrance in my power, and by warmly repre- 
 senting that in contests of this kind, though ever 
 so justly founded, even the most disadvantageous 
 terms of accommodation were preferable to having 
 recourse to arms. But my sentiments were over- 
 ruled ; not so much by Potnpey himself (upon 
 whom they seemed to make some impression), as 
 by those who, depending upon his victory., thought 
 it would afford them a very favourable opportunity 
 of e.xtricating themselves from the difficulties of 
 their private affairs, and of gratifying their immo- 
 derate ambition. The war, therefore, commenced 
 without my participation, and I still continued in 
 Italy as long as I pos.^iibly could, even after Pompey 
 was driven out of it". INIy honour, however, at 
 length prevailed over my fears ; and I could not 
 support the thoughts of deserting Pompey in his 
 
 continued in Italy, with the command of two legions which 
 were quartered near Rome. This gave umbrage to Caesar, 
 who suspected, as the truth was, that these troops were 
 designed to act against him. In order, therefore, to remove 
 Lis apprehensions of this kind, it was proposed by Cicero 
 and some others of the more moderate party, that Pompey 
 should retire to his government. But this motion was 
 overruled by the consul Lcntulus ; who prevailed with the 
 senate to pass a decree, whereby Ca?sar, who had already 
 crossed the Rubicon, was commanded to withdraw his 
 forces out of Italy by a certain day therein named, and in 
 case of disobedience, that he should be considered as a 
 public enemy,— Ca;s. De Bell. Gall. viii. 55 ; Caes. De Bell. 
 Civ. i. 2. 
 
 s Pompey, when he was consul the third time, in the 
 year 701, procured a law empowering Ca'sar to offer him- 
 self as a candidate for the consulship, without appearing 
 personally at Rome for that purpose. This was contrary 
 to the fundamental principles of the Roman constitution, 
 and proved, in the event, the occasion of its being utterly 
 destroyed ; as it furnished Caesar with the only specious 
 pretence for turning his arms against the republic. Cicero 
 affirms, in one of his Philippics, that he endeavoured to 
 dissuade Pompey from suffering this law to pass: — " Duo 
 — tempera incidcrunt (says he) quibus aliquid contra 
 Cffisarem Pompeio suaserim — Unum, ne, &e. alterum, nc 
 pateretur ferri iit ahscntis ejxis ratio haberetur. Quorum 
 si utrumvis persuasissem, in has miserias nunquam inei- 
 dissemus." [Phil. ii. 1(1.] But if what Cicero here asserts 
 be true, he acted a most extraordinary part indeed. For, 
 at the same time that he laboured to disstiade Pompey 
 from suffering this law to pass, he persuaded Coelius, who 
 was one of the tribunes of the people, to promote it, or at 
 least not to oppose it ; agreeably to a promise which he 
 had given to Caesar for that purpose. This appears by a 
 passage in one of his letters to Atticus, where, speaking of 
 Caesar's claim to sue for the consulate, without personally 
 attending at Rome, he tells Atticus, •' Ut illi hoc liceret, 
 adjuvi : rogatus ab ipso Ravenna; de Coelio tribuno plebis." 
 ^Ad Att. vii. 1. 
 
 ' Whether this law should, or should not, be superseded, 
 was a question upon which Cicero found the republic 
 divided at his return from Cilicia, just before the civil 
 war broke out. And although he certainly acted an unjus- 
 tifiable part in promoting this law, yet, after it had once 
 passed, it seems to have been right policy in him to advise 
 that it should be observed ; as it was the only probable 
 means of preserving the public tranquillity. 
 
 <» See rem. *, p. 458. 
 
 distress, who had not abandoned me in mine. 
 Partly, therefore, upon a principle of duty, partly, 
 in tenderness to my reputation with the patriots; 
 and partly as being ashamed to forsake my friend, 
 I went, as is faoled of Auiphiaraus^, to that ruin 
 which I clearly foresaw. And, indeed, there was 
 not a single misfortune attended us during that 
 whole campaign, which 1 did not point out before 
 it arrived. You see, therefore, that I have the 
 same right of being credited which augurs and 
 astrologers are wont to urge, and may claim 
 your belief of my present predictions in conse- 
 quence of the veracity of my former. But 1 do 
 not found these my prophecies in your favour on 
 those intimations of futurity which are taught by 
 our augural science. I derive them from observa- 
 tions of a different sort ; which, though not more 
 certain in themselves, are less obscure, however, 
 and consequently less liable to be misinterpreted. 
 The signs, then, from whence I draw my ])resages, 
 are of two kinds : the one taken from Ciesar him- 
 self, the other from the nature and circumstances 
 of public affairs. With respect to the former, they 
 result, in the first place, from that general clemency 
 of Ctesar's disposition which you have celebrated 
 in that ingenious performance entitled your Com- 
 plaints"'^' ; and, in the ne.xt place, from that extra- 
 ordinary regard he discovers for men of your 
 distinguished genius and abilities. To this I must 
 add, that he will certainly yield to those number- 
 less solicitations in your favour which proceed, 
 not from any interested motives, but from a real 
 and just esteem ; among which the unanimous 
 application of Etruria^ will, undoubtedly, have 
 great weight with him. If you ask, whence it has 
 happened that these considerations have hitherto 
 proved ineffectual ? I answer, that Csesar thinks 
 if he should immediately grant a pardon to 
 you, against whom he may seem to have a more 
 reasonable ground of com])laint, he could not 
 refuse it to others whom he is less inclined to 
 forgive. But you will say, perhaps, " If Cfesar is 
 thus incensed, what have I to hope ? " Undoubt- 
 edly, my friend, you have much ; as he is sensible 
 he must derive the brightest splendour of his fame 
 from the hand which once somewhat sullied its 
 lustre. In fine, Csesar is endowed with a most 
 acute and penetrating judgment ; and as he per- 
 fectly well knows, not only the high rank you bear 
 in a very considerable district of Italy'', but that 
 there is no man in the commonwealth, of your age, 
 vrho is superior to you in reputation, abilities, or 
 popularity, he cannot but be convinced that it 
 will be impossible for him to render your exile of 
 any long duration. He is too politic, therefore, 
 to lose the merit of voluntarily conferring upon 
 you, at present, what will otherwise most unques- 
 tionably be extorted from him hereafter. 
 
 Having thus marked out the favourable prog- 
 
 T Amphiarauswasa Grecian prophet, as the i>pets feign, 
 who, foreknowing that ho should be killed if he went to 
 the Tlieban war, concealed himself, in order to avoid that 
 expedition. But his wife being bribed to disclose the place 
 of his concealment, he was forced to the war, and his death 
 confirnied the truth of his prediction. — Manutius. 
 
 «■ This seems to be the performance concerning which 
 Ca^cina writes to Cicero in the ."iOth letter of tins book. 
 
 ^ Ca'cina was a native of Etruria, and a person of great 
 consideration in that part of Italy. 
 
 . Etruria.
 
 510 
 
 Tin: LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 r.ostics whiili I c()llc(;t from circumstances rc.s])ect- 
 in^ Cresar, I will now acquiiint you with those 
 which I gatliL-r from the temper and complexion of 
 the times. There is no man, then, so averse to 
 that cause which Pompey espoused with more 
 spirit, indeed, than pre])aration, as to venture to 
 arraign the principles or the ))atriotisin of those 
 who joined in his party. And I cannot but oi)- 
 scrve to you, that I have often occasion to admire 
 the justice and judgment of Ciesar, who never 
 speaks of Ponipcy but in terms of the highest 
 honour. Should it be said, that wliatever regard 
 he may show to his memory, he treated his jierson 
 upon many occasions with great asperity, let it 
 be remembered that these instances cannot reason- 
 ably be imputed to C:rsar, but were the natural 
 consequences of war. But how favourably lias he 
 received many of us, and myself in particular, who 
 were engaged in the same party? lias he not 
 appointed Cassius to be his lieutenant? has he not 
 given the government of (laul to Brutus, and 
 that of Greece to Sulpieius ? In a word, highly 
 incensed as he was against Marcellus, has be not, 
 in the most honourable manner, restored him to 
 his friends and to his country ? What I would 
 infer, therefore, from the whole, is this, — that 
 ■whatever system of government may prevail, 
 good policy will never permit, in the first place, 
 that a diiTerence should be made among those 
 who were equally involved in the same cause ; 
 and, in the next, that a set of honest and worthy 
 citizens, who are free from all imputation on 
 their moral characters, should be banished from 
 their country, at the same time that such numbers 
 of those who have been exiled for the most infa- 
 mous crimes are suffered to return. 
 
 These are the presages of your friend ; and they 
 are presages, of which, if I had the least doubt, 
 I would by no means have laid them before you. 
 On the contrary, I should, in that case, rather 
 have emj)loyed such consolatory arguments as 
 •would unquestionably have proved effectual for the 
 support of a great and generous mind. I should 
 have told you, that if you were induced to take up 
 arms in defence of the republic (as you then ima- 
 gined) merely from a confidence of success, small 
 indeed would be your merit ; and that if, under a 
 full conviction of the very jirecarious event of war, 
 you tliought it possible that we might be defeated, 
 it would be strange that you should have so much 
 depended upon victory as to be utterly unprepared 
 for the reverse. I should have reasoned with you 
 on the consolation you ought to receive from 
 reflecting on the integrity of your conduct, and 
 reminded you of the satisfaction which the liberal 
 arts will afford in the adverse seasons of life. I 
 should have produced examples, not only from 
 history, but in the persons of our leaders and asso- 
 ciates in this unhappy war, of those who have 
 suflfered the most severe calamities ; and should 
 have also cited several illustrious instances of the 
 same sort from foreign story. For to reflect on 
 the misfortunes to which mankind in general are 
 ■ exposed, greatly contributes to alleviate the weight 
 of those which we ourselves endure. In short, I 
 should have described the confusion of that turbu- 
 lent scene in which we are here engaged; as, un- 
 doubtedly the being driven from a commonwealth 
 ia ruins, is much less to be regretted than from 
 one in a flourishing and a happy situation. But 
 
 these are arguments which I have by no means 
 any occasion to urge, as I hope, or rather indeed 
 as I clearly foresee, that we shall soon welcome 
 your return amongst us. In the mean while, agree- 
 ably to the assurances I have often given you, I 
 shall continue to exert my most active offices in 
 the service of yourself and your excellent son ; 
 who, I must observe with pleasure, is the very 
 exjiress resemblance of his father both in person 
 and genius. I shall now, indeed, be enabled to 
 emjjloy my zeal more effectually than heretofore, 
 as I make great and daily advances in CiEsar's 
 IViendsliip ; not to mention my interest also with 
 Ills favourites, wlio distinguish me with the first 
 rank in their affection, lie assured I shall devote 
 the whole of my influence, both with Caesar and 
 with his friends, entirely to your service. In the 
 mean time, let the pleasing hopes you have so 
 much reason to entertain, together with your own 
 philosophical fortitude, support you with cheerful- 
 ness under your present situation. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 To P. Servilius Isauricus'', Proprcelor. 
 I PERF-ECTLY Well know the general (rompassion 
 of your heart for the unfortunate, and the invio- 
 ^ ^j -p- lable fidelity you observe towards those 
 who have any particular claim to your 
 protection. As Csecina, therefore, is a family 
 client of yours, I should not recommend him to 
 your favour, if the regard I pay to the memory of 
 his father, with whom I lived in the strictest inti- 
 macy, and the unhapjiy fate wliich attends himself, 
 with whom I am united by every tie of friendship 
 and gratitude, did not affect me in the manner it 
 ought. I am sensible that your own natural dis- 
 position, without any solicitations, would incline 
 you to assist a man of Csecina's merit, in distress ; 
 but I earnestly entreat you that this letter may 
 render you still more zealous to confer upon liira 
 every good office in your power. I am persuaded, 
 if you had been in Rome, you would effectually 
 have employed it also in procuring his pardon ; 
 which, in confidence of your colleague's" clemency, 
 we still strongly hope to obtain''. In the mean 
 time, Ccecina has retreated into your province, not 
 only as thinking it will afford him the securest 
 refuge, but in pursuit likewise of that justice which 
 he expects from the equity of your administration. 
 I most warmly request you, therefore, to assist 
 him in recovering those debts which remain due to 
 him upon his former negotiations'^, and in every 
 other article to favour him with your patronage and 
 protection ; than which you cannot confer upon me, 
 be assured, a more acceptable obligation. Farewell. 
 
 * It appears by this letter, which is a recommendation 
 of Csecina to the governor of Asia, that he liad resumed 
 the design of going into that province ; which, in tlie 30th 
 epistle of this book, he tells Cicero he had )aid aside in 
 pursuance of his advice. 
 
 » Servilius was colleague with Cassar in his second con- 
 sulate, A. U. 705. 
 
 b Accordingly Csecina, some time afterwards, received 
 his pardon from Ctesar ; which Suetonius mentions as an 
 instance, amongst others, of that conqueror's singular cle- 
 mency. — Suet, in Vit. Jul. Ca's. 75. 
 
 « Cascina had, probably, been concerned in farming some 
 branch of the Asiatic revenue.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 511 
 
 LETTER XXXVL 
 To Publius Sulpieius^. 
 
 Notwithstanding it is very seldom, in the 
 present situation of public affairs, that I attend 
 -^ the senate, yet, after having received 
 your letter, I thought it would not be 
 acting agreeably to our long friendship, and to 
 those many good offices that have passed between 
 us, if I did not contribute all in my power to the 
 advancement of your honours. It was with much 
 pleasure, therefore, I went to the house, and 
 voted for your jiublic thanksgiving ; which has 
 been decreed accordingly. You will always find me 
 equally zealous in whatever concerns your interest 
 or your glory : and I should be glad you would, 
 in your letters to your family, assure them of this 
 my disposition towards you ; that they may not 
 scruple to claim my best services, if, in any future 
 instance, you should have occasion for them. 
 
 I very strongly recommend to you my old friend 
 Bolanus, as a man of great spirit and probity, 
 and adorned, likewise, with every amiable accom- 
 plishment. As you will extremely oblige mc by 
 letting him see that my recommendation proved of 
 singular advantage to him, so you may depend 
 upon finding him of a most grateful disposition, 
 and one from whose friendship you will receive 
 much satisfaction. 
 
 I have another favour likewise to ask, which, in 
 confidence of our friendship, and of that disposition 
 
 <1 It is altogether uncertain who this Sulpicius was : 
 perliaps the same who commanded a squadron of Cesar's 
 fleet off the island of Sicily, which engaged with and de- 
 feated the fleet under the command of C'assius, about the 
 time that Ca;sar gained the battle of Pharsalia. But who- 
 ever he was, he appears, from the present letter, to have 
 been governor of Illyrieum, and to have lately had the 
 honour of a public thanksgiving decreed for some successes 
 which his arms had obtained in that province. Some of 
 the commentators arc of opinion that the superscription 
 of this letter is a false reading, and that instead of Sulpi- 
 cius, it should be Valiniiis: but those who are inclined to 
 see this notion very solidly confuted, are referred to the 
 observations of Manutius upon this epistle. — Cses. De Bell. 
 Civ. iU. 101 ; Pigh. Annal. ii. 449, 
 
 which you have ever shown to serve me, I very 
 earnestly request. My library-keeper, Dionysius, 
 having stolen several books from that valuable 
 collection which I entrusted to his care, has with- 
 drawn himself into your province, as I am informed 
 by my friend Bolanus, as well as by several others, 
 who saw him at Narona"^. But as they credited 
 the account he gave them of my having granted 
 him his freedom, they had no suspicion of the true 
 reason that carried him thither. I shall think 
 myself inexpressibly indebted to you, therefore, if 
 you will deliver him into my hands : for although 
 the loss I have sustained is not very great, yet his 
 dishonesty gives me much vexation. Bolanus will 
 inform you in what part of your province he is now 
 concealed, and what measures will be proper ia 
 order to secure him. In the mean time, let me 
 repeat it again, that I shall look upon myself as 
 highly indebted to you if I should recover this 
 fellow by your assistance. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXVn. 
 
 To Quintus Gallius^. 
 I FIND by your letter, as well as by one which I 
 have received from Oppius, that you did not forget 
 my recommendations; which, indeed, is 
 A. u. /U7. jjQjjjjjjg iriore than what I expected from 
 your great affection towards me, and from the 
 connexion that subsists between us. Nevertheless, 
 I will again repeat my solicitations in favour of 
 Oppius, who still continues in your province ; and 
 of Egnatius, who remains at Rome : and entreat 
 you to take their joint affairs under your protection. 
 My friendship with Egnatius is so great, that were 
 my own personal interest concerned in the present 
 case, I could not be more anxious. I most ear- 
 nestly request you, therefore, to show him, by your 
 good offices, that I am not mistaken in the share 
 which I persuade myself I enjoy in your affection ; 
 and be assured you cannot oblige me in a more 
 acceptable manner. Farewell. 
 
 e In Liburnia, now called Croatia, which formed part of 
 the province of Illyrieum. 
 f See rem. ■*, p. 493. S See letter 9 of this book. 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 ToAulus Torquatus^. 
 
 Although every one is apt, in these times of 
 
 universal confusion, to regret his particular lot as 
 
 A u 707 singularly unfortunate, and to prefer any 
 
 situation to his own, yet undoubtedly a 
 
 •> Cicero mentions him in other parts of his writings, as 
 a man of singular merit, and one to whose generous offices 
 he had been greatly indebted during the persecution he 
 suffered from Clodius. In the year 701 , Torquatus was 
 advanced to the praetorship ; after which, nothing material 
 occurs concerning him till the present letter; by which, 
 it appears, he was at this time in banishment at Athens, 
 for having taken part with Pompey in tho civil wars. 
 He was of a very ancient and illustrious family, being 
 descended from the brave Titus Manlius, who, in the year 
 394, obtained the name of Torqualut, from the torquis, or 
 
 man of patriot sentiments can nowhere, in the 
 present conjuncture, be so unhappily placed as in 
 Rome. 'Tis true, into whatever part of the world 
 he might be cast, he must still retain the same 
 bitter sensibility of that ruin in which both himself 
 and his country are involved. Nevertheless, there 
 is something in being a spectator of those miseries 
 with which others are only acquainted by report, 
 that extremely enhances one's grief ; as it is impos- 
 sible to divert our thoughts from misfortunes which 
 are perpetually obtruding themselves in view. 
 Among the many other losses, therefore, which 
 must necessarily sit heavy upon your heart, let it 
 not be your principal concern (as I am informed 
 
 collar, wliich he took from the neck of a gigantic Gaul, 
 whom he slew in single combat. — Ad Att v. 1 ; Crc. De 
 Finib. ii. 22 ; Pigh. Annal. ii. p. 411 ; Lit. vii. 10.
 
 512 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 it is) that you are driven from Rome. For, not- 
 withstanding that you are thus exceedingly uneasy 
 at being sejiarated from your family and fortunes, 
 yet they still continue in their usual situations ; 
 which, as they eouhl by no means be improved by 
 your i)reseiice, so neither are they exjjosed to any 
 jmrticular danger. Whenever, therefore, your 
 family are the subject of your thoughts, you should 
 neither lament them as sutlering any calamities 
 peculiar to themselves, nor consider it as a hard- 
 bliip that they are not exempted from those which 
 are eommoii to us all. 
 
 As to \vh;it concerns your own i)erson, you ought 
 not, my dear Torcpiatus, to iiululge those gloomy 
 reriections which either fear or desjiair may suggest. 
 It is certain that He', from whom you have hitherto 
 rei^eived a treatment unworthy of your illustrious 
 character, has lately given very considerable marks 
 of a more favourable disposition. It is eipially 
 certain, that while we are looking u]) to Ciesar for 
 our preservation, he is far from being clear by 
 ■what methods he may best secure his own. The 
 event of every war is always jirecarious ; but with 
 regard to the presentJ, as I well know that you 
 yourself never imagined you had anything to fear 
 if the victory sliould turn on one side, so I am 
 persuaded, should it fall on the other, you can only 
 suffer in the general ruin. The single circumstance, 
 then, that can give you much disquietude, is that 
 which in some sort 1 look upon as a kind of con- 
 solation : I mean, that the danger to which you 
 are exposed is no other than what threatens the 
 whole community. And this, it must be acknow- 
 ledged, is so extremely great, that whatever philo- 
 sophers may pretend, I question whether anything 
 can effectually support us under it, except one 
 consideration alone : a consideration which is 
 always more or less efficacious, in proportion to 
 the strength and firmness of a man's own mind. 
 But, if to mean honestly and to act rightly be all 
 that is necessary to constitute human happiness, it 
 should seem a sort of impiety to call that man 
 miserable who is conscious of having always regu- 
 lated his conduct by the best intentions. It was 
 not, I am persuaded, any private advantage which 
 we promised ourselves from the success of our 
 arms, that induced us lately to abandon our fortunes, 
 our families, and our country'' : it was the just 
 sense of that sacred regard we owed both to the 
 commonwealth and to our own characters. Nor, 
 when we acted thus, were we so absurdly sanguine 
 as to flatter ourselves with the prospect of certain 
 -victory. If the event, then, has proved agreeable 
 to what, upon our first entrance into the war, we 
 were well aware it possibly might, we ought, by 
 no means, surely, to be as much dispirited as if 
 the reverse of all that we expected had befallen us. 
 Let us, then, my friend, cherish those sentiments 
 which true philosophy prescribes, by esteeming it 
 our only concern in thia life to preserve our inte- 
 grity; and so long as we are void of all just reproach, 
 let us bear the various revolutions of human affairs 
 with calmness and moderation. The sum of what 
 I would say, in short, is this, — that virtue seems 
 
 • Csesar. 
 
 J The war in Spain between Caesar and the sons of 
 Pompey. 
 
 ■< Upon the first breaking out of the civil war, v/hen 
 ■Cicero and Torquatus left Italy, in order to join the army 
 'Of Pompey in Greece. 
 
 suffi(uent for her own support, though all things 
 else were utterly lost. Still, however, if any hopes 
 should yet remain to the republic, you should by 
 no means despair, whatever its future situation may 
 be, of holding the rank in it you deserve. 
 
 And here, my friend, it occurs to me, that there 
 was a time when you, likewise, used to condemn 
 my despondency ; and when I was full of ajipre- 
 hensions, and altogether undetermined how to act, 
 you inspired me by your advice and example 
 with more spirited and vigorous resolutions. At 
 that season, it was not our (!ause, but our measures, 
 1 <lisapproved. I thought it much too late to 
 op])ose those. victorious arms which we ourselves 
 had long been contributing to strengthen ; and I 
 lamented that ive should refer the decision of our 
 political disputes, not to tlie wc^ight of our counsels, 
 but to the force of our swords. I do not pretend 
 to have been inspired with a spirit of divination, 
 wlien I foretold what has since happened. I only 
 saw the j)ossibility and destructive consequences of 
 such an event. And it was this that alarmed my 
 fears ; esjiecially as it was a contingency of all 
 others the most likely to take effect. For the 
 strength of our party, 1 well knew, was of a kind 
 that would little avail us in the field ; as our troops 
 were far inferior, both in force and experience, to 
 those of our adversaries. The same spirit and 
 resolution, then, which you recommended to me 
 at that juncture, let me now exhort you, in my 
 turn, to assume in the present. 
 
 I was induced to write to you upon this subject 
 by a conversation I lately had with your freedman 
 I'hilargyrus. In answer to the very ])articular 
 inquiries I made concerning your welfare, he 
 informed me (and I have no reason to suspect his 
 veracity) that you were at some seasons exceedingly 
 dejected. This is a state of mind you aliould by 
 no means encourage. For if the republic should 
 in any degree subsist, you have no reason to doubt 
 of recovering the rank you deserve ; and should it 
 be destroyed, your particular condition will be no 
 worse, at least, than that of every Roman in general. 
 As to the important affair now depending', and 
 for the event of which we are all of us in so much 
 anxiety ; this is a circumstance which you ought 
 to bear with the greater tranquillity, as you are in 
 a city where philosophy, that supreme guide and 
 governess of human life, not only received her 
 birth, but her best and noblest improvements ""- 
 But, besides this advantage, you enjoy the company 
 likewise of Sulpicius", that wise and favourite 
 friend, from whose kind and prudent offices you 
 must undoubtedly receive great consolation. And 
 had we all of us lately been so politic as to have 
 followed his advice, we should have chosen rather 
 to have submitted to the civil, than to the military 
 power of Csesar ". 
 
 ' The war in Spain. 
 
 '" The Athenians (among whom Torquatus, as has been 
 observed above, at this time resided) were supposed to 
 have been the first who instructed manivind, not only in 
 the refinements of poetry, oratory, and philosophy, but in 
 manufactures, agriculture, and civil government. Athens, 
 in short, was esteemed by the ancients to be the source, as 
 it was unquestionably the seat, of all those useful or polite 
 arts which most contribute to the ease and ornament of 
 human life. — Justin, ii. 6; Lucret. vi. 1, &c. 
 
 n Sulpicius was at Athens, as governor of Greece. See 
 rem. «, p. 488. 
 
 This alludes to the opposition which Sulpicius mad«
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 ei3 
 
 But I have dwelt longer, pernaps, upon this 
 subject than was necessary : I will despatch, there- 
 fore, what is more material in fewer words. How 
 much I owed to some of those friends, whom the 
 fate of this cruel war has snatched from me, you 
 perfectly well know ; but I have now none remain- 
 ing from whom I have received greater obligations 
 than from yourself. I am sensible, at the same 
 time, how little my power can at present avail ; but 
 as no man can be so totally fallen as not to be 
 capable of effecting somewliat at least by his earnest 
 endeavours, be assured that both you and yours 
 have an uncjuestionable right to the best and most 
 zealous of mine. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 To Servius Sulpicius. 
 Manius Curiusp, a mercbant of Patrae, is a 
 •person whom I have many and great reasons to 
 value. The friendship between us has 
 A. V. I /. jQjjg continued : so long, indeed, as from 
 his first appearance in the forum. He has formerly, 
 at diffeient junctures, and lately, during this un- 
 ha])py civil war, offered me an asylum at Patrte ; 
 ^nd I should have used his house with the same 
 freedom as my own, if I had found occasion. But 
 my strongest connexion with him results from a 
 motive of a more sacred kind, as it arises from his 
 intimacy with my friend Atticus, for whom he 
 entertains a very singular affection and esteem. If 
 Curius is known to you, I imagine I am paying 
 him the tribute of my good offices somewhat too 
 late ; for I dare say his polite and elegant manners 
 have already recommended him to your regard. 
 However, should this prove to be the case, I very 
 earnestly entreat you to suffer this letter to confirm 
 and increase the favourable disjiosition you have 
 conceived towards him. But if his modesty has 
 concealed him from your notice, or you have only 
 a slight acquaintance with him, or for any other 
 reason, a farther recommendation may be neces- 
 sary, I most warmly and most deservedly give him 
 mine. I will be answerable, too (as every one 
 ought, indeed, whose offices of this kind are sincere 
 and disinterested), that you will experience so much 
 politeness and probity in Curius, as to convince 
 you that he is worthy both of my recommendation 
 and of your friendship. In the mean time, be assured 
 you will very sensibly oblige me, if I should find 
 that this letter shall have had all the influence with 
 you which I confidently expect. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER in. 
 
 To Aulus Torquatus. 
 
 It was more ia compliance with the affection of 
 
 my heart, than as thinking it in the least necessary, 
 
 that I detained you so long in my lasf. 
 
 Your fortitude wants not to be animated 
 
 by any exhortations of mine ; and, indeed, I am in 
 
 every respect too much distressed myself, to be 
 
 to the proposal of recalling Csesar from his government in 
 Gaul, just before the commencement of the civil war. 
 See rem. '■, p. 454. 
 
 P This is the same person to whom the 25th letter of the 
 .preceding hook is addressed. See rem. «, p. 503. 
 
 <i The flrbt letter of the present book. 
 
 capable of encouraging another. But, whatever 
 reason there might or might not have been for the 
 length of my former letter, I am sure it may well 
 excuse me from extending my present, nothing 
 new having since occurred. For as to the various 
 and contradictory reports which are every day pro- 
 pagated amongst us, concerning affairs in Spain, I 
 imagine they are spread likewise into your part of 
 the world. They will all terminate, however, in 
 the same fatal catastrophe ; a catastrophe which I 
 no less clearly discern (and I am well assured it is 
 equally visible to yourself) than if it were now 
 actually before my view. 'Tis true no one can 
 determine what will be the event of the approach- 
 ing battle ; but as to that of the war in general, I 
 have no manner of doubt ; at least, none with 
 respect to its consequences : for one side or the 
 other must certainly be victorious ; and I am well 
 convinced of the use that either party will make of 
 their success. .Such a use, indeed, that I had 
 rather suffer what is generally esteemed the most 
 terrible of all evils, than live to be a spectator of 
 so dreadful a scene. Yes, my friend, life, upon 
 the terms on which we must then endure it, would 
 be the completion of human misery ; whereas death 
 was never considered by any wise man as an evil, 
 even to the happy themselves. But you are in a 
 city where the very walls will inspire you with these 
 and other reflections of the same tendency, in a far 
 more efficacious manner than I can suggest them^ 
 I wiU only, therefore, assure you (unsubstantial as 
 the consolation is which arises from the misfortunes 
 of others), that you are at present in no greater 
 danger than any of those of the same party, who 
 have either totally renounced the war, or who are 
 still in arms, as they are both under equal appre- 
 hensions from the victor. But there is another 
 and far higher consolation, which I hope is your 
 support, as it certainly is mine. For so long as I 
 shall preserve my innocence, I will never whilst I 
 exist be anxiously disturbed at any event that may 
 happen ; and if I should cease to exist, all sensi- 
 bility must cease with me'. But I am again re- 
 turning to my unnecessary reflections, and, in the 
 language of the old proverb, am " sending owls to 
 Athens'." To put an end to them, be assured that 
 the welfare of yourself and family, together with 
 the success of all your concerns, is my great and 
 principal care, and shall continue to be so to the 
 end of my days. Farewell. , 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Servius Sulpicius. 
 
 Your very polite and obliging letter to Atticus 
 
 afforded him great satisfaction ; but not more than 
 
 ^ I received from it myself. It was, indeed, 
 
 ■ ■ equallyagreeable tousboth. But although 
 
 we neither of us doubted that you would readily 
 comply with any request he should make, yet your 
 having voluntarily and unexpectedly offered him 
 your services, was a circumstance, I must acknow- 
 ledge, that raised Atticus's admiration less than 
 mine. As you have given him the most ample 
 assurances, therefore, of your good offices, it is 
 unnecessary that I should desire you to add any- 
 
 >■ See rem. ™, p. 512. 
 t See rem. ^, p. 4/8. 
 
 s See rem. f, p. 477. 
 
 LL
 
 5U 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MAPCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 thing to them from your regard to me. It would 
 be no less impertinent, likewise, to send you my 
 acki>owledf;ments upon this occasion, as your offer 
 was entirely tlic sjjontancous result of your par- 
 ticular friendship to Attieus. This, however, I will 
 say, that as such an uncommon jjroof of your 
 esteem for a man whom I singularly love and value, 
 could not hut he highly agreeahle to me, so it is an 
 <)t)lij;:ttion 1 must necessarily place to my own 
 account. And, indeed, as I may take the liberty, 
 from the intimacy between us, to transgress the 
 strict rules of projiriety, I shall vei\ture to do the 
 two things wliich I just now declared were both 
 improper and unnecessary. Accordingly, let me 
 request, in the tirst place, that you would add as 
 much as possible to those services, for my sake, 
 with which you have shown yourself willing to 
 favour Atticus for his own ; and, in the next place, 
 desire your acccjitance of my acknowledgments for 
 those which you have already so generously pro- 
 mised him. And be assured, whatever good offices 
 you shall render to Atticus in regard to bis affairs 
 in Epirus", or upon any other occasion, will be so 
 many obligations conferred upon myself. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To the same. 
 I HAVE long neen united with Lyso, a citizen of 
 Patrae, by ties which I deem of sacred obligation ; 
 ^ -Q- the ties, I mean, of hospitality ''. This is 
 a sort of connexion, it is true, in which I 
 am engaged also with many others ; but I never 
 contracted with any of my hosts so strict an inti- 
 macy. The many good offices I received from 
 Lyso, together with the habitudes of a daily inter- 
 course, improved our acquaintance into the highest 
 degree of friendship ; and, indeed, during the whole 
 year he resided here, we were scarce ever separated. 
 We neither of us doubted that my former letter 
 would have the effect I find it has, and induce you 
 to take his affairs under your protection in his 
 absence. Nevertheless, as he had appeared in arms 
 in favoiir of our party, we were under perpetual 
 apprehensions of his resentment, in whom all power 
 is now centred. But Lyso's illustrious rank, 
 together with the zealous applications of myself 
 and the rest of those who have shared in his 
 generous hospitality, have at length obtained all 
 that we could wish, as you will perceive by the 
 letter which Cssar himself has written to you. I 
 am so far, however, from thinking him in circum- 
 stances that will allow me to release you from any 
 part of my former solicitation, that I now more 
 strongly request you to receive him into your 
 patronage and friendship. Whilst his fate was yet 
 in suspense, I was less forward in claiming your 
 good offices, being cautious of giving you a trouble 
 which possibly might prove to no purpose. But as 
 his pardon is absolutely confirmed, I most ardently 
 entreat your best services in his behalf. Not to 
 enumerate particulars, I recommend to you his 
 whole family in general, but more especially his 
 
 « Epirus was contigiinus to Greece, and annexed to the 
 government of that province. It is now called Janna, and 
 is under the dominion of the Turks. A considerable part 
 of Atticus's estate lay in this country. — Corn. Nep. in Vit. 
 Att. 14. 
 
 V See rem. «, p. 453. 
 
 son. My old client Memmius Gemellus", having 
 been presented with the freedom of the city of 
 Patrse during his unhappy banishment, adopted 
 this young man according to the forms prescribed 
 by tlie laws of that community : and I beseech you 
 to support him in his right of succeeding to the 
 estate of his adoptive father. But, above all, as I 
 have thoroughly experienced the merit and grateful 
 disposition of Lyso, let me conjure you to admit 
 him into a share of your friendship. I am per- 
 suaded, if you should do so, you will hereafter look 
 upon him with the same affection, and recommend 
 him with as much zeal, as I have expressed in the 
 jiresent instance. There is nothing, indeed, I more 
 earnestly wish than to raise in you this disposition 
 towards him ; as 1 fear, if you should not confer 
 u])on him your best services, he will suspect, not 
 that you are unmindful of my recommendations, 
 l)ut that I did not sufficiently enforce them. For 
 he must be perfectly sensible, not only from what 
 he has frequently heard me declare, but from your 
 own obliging letters to me, of the singular share I 
 enjoy in your friendship and esteem. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 AscLAPO, a physician of Patrje, is my very par- 
 ticular friend ; to whose com])any, as well as skill 
 in his jirofession, I have been much 
 
 ' ' ' '• indebted. I had occasion to experience 
 the latter in my own family ; and had great reason 
 to be satisfied with his knowledge, his integrity, 
 and his tenderness. I recommend him, therefore, 
 to your favour ; and entreat you to let him see, by 
 the effects of this letter, that I did so in the 
 strongest manner. Your compliance with this 
 request will oblige me exceedingly. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 To the same. 
 Marcus ^milius Avianus has distinguished 
 me, from his earliest youth, with peculiar marks of 
 707 ^fffiction and esteem. He is a man not 
 only of great politeness but probity ; and, 
 indeed, in every view of his character, is extremely 
 amiable. If I imagined be were at Sicyon^, I 
 should think it utterly unnecessary to add anything 
 farther in his behalf, being well persuaded that the 
 elegance and integrity of his manners would be 
 sufficient of themselves to recommend him to the 
 same degree of your affection which he possesses, 
 not only of mine, but of every one of his friends in 
 general. But as I hear he still continues at Cybira, 
 where I left him some time ago'', I most strongly 
 recommend his affairs and family at Sicyon to your 
 favour and protection. Among these, I must par- 
 ticularly single out his freedman, Hammonius, as 
 one who has a claim to my recommendation upon 
 his own account. He has gained my good opinion. 
 
 ^v Probably the same person to whom the 27th letter of 
 the 3d book is addressed. See rem. c, p. 391. 
 
 ^ A city in the Peloponnesus, now called Batilica. 
 
 J Cybira was a city of Lycaonia, annexed to the govern- 
 ment of Cilicia : Cicero alludes to the time when ho was 
 iiroconsul of that province.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 515 
 
 not only by bis uncommon zeal and fidelity towards 
 liis patron, but by the very important services like- 
 wise which he has conferred upon myself. Indeed, 
 had it been to me that he had been indebted for the 
 j)rivilege of his freedom, he could not have acted 
 with a more faithful and affectionate assiduity than 
 I experienced from him in my trouldes^. In the 
 first place, then, I entreat your protection of llam- 
 nionius, as agent in the affairs of his })atron : and, 
 in the next, I recommend him upon his own 
 account, as worthy to be received into the number 
 of your friends. Believe me, you will find him of 
 a modest, obliging temper, and well deserving a 
 place in your affection. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER Vlir. 
 To the same. 
 I HAVE a very great regard for Titus Manlius, a 
 merchant of Thespise ; not only as one from whom 
 -..» I have always received singular marks of 
 consideration and esteem, but as he is an 
 admirer also of our favourite studies. To this I 
 must add, that my friend Varro Murena very 
 warmly espouses his interest : and though Murena 
 has full confidence in the effect of that letter which 
 he has himself written to you in favour of Manlius, 
 yet he is persuaded that my recommendation like- 
 wise may somewhat increase your disposition to assist 
 him. In compliance, therefore, with my desire of 
 serving both Murena and Manlius, I recommend 
 the latter to you in the strongest terras : and you 
 will greatly oblige me by promoting the interest 
 and honours of Manlius in every instance con- 
 sistent with your own character and dignity. I will 
 venture to assure you likewise, from the know- 
 ledge I have of his polite and humanised disposition, 
 that your good offices towards him will be attended 
 with all the satisfaction you can promise yourself 
 from the gratitude of a worthy man. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IX, 
 To the same. 
 My friend and tribe-fellow*, Lucius Cossinius, 
 is one with whom I have long lived in great inti- 
 ^ jj -Q- macy ; and which his connexion with 
 Atticus has contributed still farther to 
 improve. I enjoy the affection of his whole family, 
 but particularly of his freedman Anchialus, who is 
 highly in the esteem not only of his patron, but of 
 all his patron's friends ; in which number I have 
 already mentioned myself. I recommend Anchialus 
 therefore to your favour, with as much warmth as 
 if he stood in the same relation to me as he does to 
 Cossinius. Ycu will oblige me, indeed, in a very 
 sensible manner, by receiving him into your friend- 
 ship, and giving him any assistance he may require — 
 as far, I mean, as your own convenience will admit. 
 
 » During his persecution by Clodius. 
 
 " The collective body of the Roman people was divided 
 into thirty-five tribes: and every citizen, of whatever rank, 
 was necessarily enrolled under one or other of these several 
 classes. They were each distinguished by a particular niune, 
 as the Tribut Popilia, Tribiis Velina, &c., which name 
 was derived either from the place which the tribe princi- 
 pally inhabited, or from some distinguished family it con- 
 tained. — llusin. Antiq. Uom. 
 
 And you will hereafter, I am persuaded, leceive 
 much satisfaction from your compliance with this 
 request, as you will find Anchinlus to be a man of 
 the greatest politeness and probity. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To the same. 
 The pleasure I took in the reflection of having 
 written to you in behalf of my friend and host, 
 ^ ^ _jjy Lyso, was much increased when I read his 
 letter : and I particularly rejoiced in hav- 
 ing so strongly recommended him to your esteem, 
 when I found he had before been a sufferer in your 
 good opinion ; for my recommendation, he tells 
 me, was of singular advantage in removing the 
 groundless suspicion you had entertained of him, 
 from a report that he had frequently, whilst he was 
 at Rome, treated your character in a disrespectful 
 manner. Let me, in the first place, then, return 
 you those thanks which I so justly owe you, for suf- 
 fering my letter to efface every remaining impres- 
 sion of this injurious calumny. And, in the next 
 place, although Lyso assures me that, agreeably to 
 your well-natured and generoiis disposition, he has 
 entirely satisfied you of his innocence, yet I entreat 
 you to believe me when I protest, not only injustice 
 to my friend, but to the world in general, that I 
 never heard any man mention you without the 
 highest applause. As to Lyso in particular, in all 
 the daily conversations we had together whilst he 
 continued here, you were the perpetual subject of 
 his encomiums ; both as he imagined that I heard 
 them with pleasure, and as it was a topic extremely 
 agreeable likewise to himself. But though he is 
 fully satisfied with the effects of my former letter, 
 and I am sensible that the generous manner in 
 which you treat him renders all farther application 
 perfectly unnecessary, yet I cannot forbear renew- 
 ing my earnest solicitations that you would continue 
 your favours towards him. I would again also 
 represent to you how well he deserves them, if I 
 did not imagine you were by this time sufficiently 
 acquainted with his merit. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 To the same. 
 Hagesaretus of Larissa'' having received 
 considerable honours from me during my consu- 
 7()7 ^^^^' t^s ^^^'" since distinguished me with 
 singular marks of gratitude and respect. 
 I strongly recommend him, therefore, to you as my 
 host and friend ; as a man of an honest and grate- 
 ful heart ; as a person of principal rank in his 
 native city ; and, in short, as one who is altogether 
 worthy of being admitted into your friendship. 
 And I shall be exceedingly obliged to you for 
 letting him see that you pay regard to this my 
 recommendation. Farewell. 
 
 b There were two cities of this name in Thessaly : a 
 country contiguous to Greece, and whicli formerly made 
 part of the kingdom of Macedonia. One of these cities waa 
 situated upon the river Peneus, and is now called Larsa : 
 the other was a maritime town. Geograpaers suppose the 
 latter to be the present Armino, a considerable sea-port 
 belonging to the Turks. 
 
 LL 2
 
 61G 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 To the same. 
 Thk connexion betwcL-ii Lucius Mescinius and 
 myself results from no less powerful a tie tliun 
 _ _ that of his having been formerly my 
 ' ' ' ' quiestor'^. But, tliouglx I always con- 
 sidered a relation of this kind in the high regard it 
 was viewed by our ancestors, yet the refined and 
 elegant virtues of Mescinius'' rendered it still more 
 justly sacred. Accordingly, tliere is no iiian with 
 whom I live in a higher degree of intimacy, or 
 from whose friendship I derive greater satisfaction. 
 He doubts not of your disposition to serve him 
 ujion every occasion that shall comport with your 
 honour • liowever, he is persuaded that a letter 
 from my hand will considerably strengthen your 
 inclinations for that j)urposc. This he collects not 
 only from his own observation, but from those fre- 
 quent declarations he has heard me make of the 
 very pleasing and intimate friendship in which you 
 and 1 are so strictly joined. I am to inform you, 
 then, that his late brotlier, who was a merchant in 
 Elis', has left liim his estate ; and I entreat you, 
 with all the warmth which you are sensible ought 
 to animate me in the concerns of a friend to whom 
 I am so strongly and closely attached, that you 
 would assist him with your power, your influence, 
 and your advice, in settlins; these liis affairs in your 
 province. In view to this, we have sent directions 
 to his agent, that if any disputes should arise con- 
 cerning the estate or effects of the testator, that 
 they shall be guided by your sentiments, and (if 
 it be not troubling you too much) determined by 
 your arbitration ; an office which I earnestly en- 
 treat you to undertake, and the acceptance of which 
 I shall esteem as an honour done to myself. But 
 if any of the claimants should be so obstinate as to 
 refuse your award, I shall receive it as a singular 
 obligation if you will refer their pretensions (pro- 
 vided you shall not think it a derogation from your 
 dignity) to be determined in the courts at Rome ; 
 as the matter in contest is with a Roman senator. 
 That you may the less scruple to comply with this 
 request, I have procured a sort of recommendatory 
 letter to you from tlie consul Lepidus^ I say a 
 recommendatory one ; for to have desired him to 
 write in a more authoritative style, would not, I 
 thought, be treating your high station with the 
 deference which is so justly due to it. I would 
 add, that your obliging Mescinius in this instance, 
 will be laying out your favours to much advantage ; 
 if I were not, on the one hand, well persuaded that 
 this is a circumstance of which you are already 
 apprised ; and, on the oth^.r, were I not soliciting 
 you as for an affair of my own. For, be assured, 
 I take an equal concern Vi-ith Mescinius in every 
 article wherein he is interested. As I am very 
 desirous, therefore, that he may obtain his right 
 with as little trouble as possible, so I am solicitous 
 likewise that he should have reason to think that 
 my recommendation has greatly contributed to this 
 end. Farewell. 
 
 « See rem. °, p. 448. 
 
 <* The reader will find, by the remark referred to in the 
 la«t note, how little there was of truth and sincerity in the 
 character whicli Cicero here bestows upon his friend. 
 
 * A city in the Peloponnesus. 
 
 ' He was this year appointed by Caesar to be his colleague 
 in the consular office^ — Plut. in Vit. Anton. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 To the same. 
 
 The regard you pay to my recommendations 
 has given me, and will hereafter give me, I dare 
 ^ P »^ say, frequent occasions of repeating my 
 acknowledgments. However, I will 
 attempt, if ])ossible, to convey my thanks to you 
 in a style as various as the several instances that 
 demand them ; and, in imitation of you lawyers*, 
 express the same thing in different words. 
 
 I have received a letter from llammonius, full 
 of the strongest expressions of gratitude for the 
 services you have rendered both to him and Avianus, 
 in consecjiunce of my recommendation'' ; and he 
 assures me that nothing can be more generous than 
 the personal civilities you have shown to himself, 
 as well as the attention you have given to the affairs 
 of his patron. This would afford me a very sen- 
 sible pleasure, were I to consider it only as a benefit 
 to those to whom 1 have the strongest attachments; 
 as indeed Avianus has distinguished himself above 
 all my friends by his superior sensibility of the 
 many and great obligations I have conferred upon 
 him. But my satisfaction still increases when I 
 view it as an instance of my standing so high in 
 your esteem, as to incline you to serve my friends 
 more efficaciously than I myself should, perhaps, 
 were I present for that purpose. Possibly the 
 reason of your having this advantage over me, may 
 be, that I should not yield altogether so easily to 
 their requests as you comply with mine. But 
 whatever doubt I may have as to that point, I have 
 none of your being persuaded that I entertain the 
 sentiments of your favours they deserve ; and I 
 entreat you to believe (what I will be answerable is 
 the truth) that both Avianus and Hammonius have 
 received them with the same grateful disposition. 
 I beseech you then, if it be not engaging you in too 
 much trouble, that you would endeavour that their 
 affairs may be settled before you leave the province. 
 
 I live in a most agreeable intimacy with your 
 son, whose genius and uncommon application, but, 
 above all, his jjrobity and virtue, afford me a very 
 sensible pleasure. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 To the same. 
 It is always with much pleasure that I apply to 
 you in behalf of my friends ; but I find a still 
 A V 707 ^fcater in expressing my gratitude for 
 those favours you yield to my solicitations. 
 This indeed is a pleasure with which you never fail 
 of supplying me ; and it is incredible what acknow- 
 ledgments I receive, even from persons whom I 
 have but slightly mentioned to you. I think my- 
 self greatly indebted for these instances of your 
 friendship ; but particularly for those good offices 
 you have conferred upon Mescinius. He informs 
 me that immediately upon the receipt of my letter', 
 you gave his agents full assurance of your services ; 
 and have since performed even more than you 
 
 g Sulpicius was one of the most considerable lawyers of 
 the age. See rem. !>, p. 488. 
 •> See the 7th letter of this book. 
 > The 12th letter of this book.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 517 
 
 promised. Believe me, (and I cannot too often 
 repeat ir,) you Lave, by these means, laid an 
 obligation upon me of the most acceptable kind ; 
 and it affords me so much the higher satisfaction, 
 as I am persuaded Mescinius will give you abun- 
 dant reason to rejoice in it yourself. Virtue and 
 probity, in truth, are the prevailing qualities of liis 
 heart ; as an obliging and friendly officiousness is 
 his distinguishing characteristic. To this I must 
 add, that he is particularly devoted to our favourite 
 speculations ; those philosophical speculations, my 
 friend, which were always the delight, as they are 
 now also the support and consolation, of my life. 
 Let me entreat you, then, to give him fresh instances 
 of your generosity upon every occasion, wherein it 
 shall not be inconsistent with your dignity to inter- 
 pose. But there are two articles in which I will 
 particularly request it. The first is, that if those 
 who are indebted to the estate of his testator, 
 should insist upon being indemnified in their pay- 
 ments to Mescinius, that my security may be 
 accepted ; and the next is, that as the greatest 
 part of the testator's effects are secreted by his 
 wife, that you would assist in concerting measures 
 for sending her to Rome. Should she be once per- 
 suaded that this method will be taken with her, we 
 doubt not of her settling everything to the satis- 
 faction of Mescinius ; and, that it may be so, I 
 most strongly again request the interposition of 
 your good offices. In the mean time, I will be 
 answerable for what I just now assured you, that 
 the gratitude and other amiable qualities of Mes- 
 cinius will give you reason to think your favours 
 were not ill bestowed, which I mention as a motive 
 on his own account, to be added to those which 
 induced you to serve him upon mine. 
 
 I am persuaded that the Lacedaemonians doubt 
 not of being sufficiently recommended to your 
 justice and patronage, by their own and their 
 ancestors' virtues, and I know you too well to 
 question your being perfectly acquainted with the 
 national rights and merit of every people who are 
 connected with the republic. Accordingly, not- 
 withstanding the great obligations I have received 
 from the citizens of Lacedsemon, yet, when Phi- 
 lippus requested me to recommend them to your 
 protection, my answer was, that the Lacedaemo- 
 nians could not possibly stand in need of an advo- 
 cate with Suipicius. 'The truth is, I look upon it 
 as a circumstance of singular advantage to all the 
 cities of Achaia', in general, that you preside over 
 them in these turbulent times ; and I am persuaded 
 that you, who are so peculiarly conversant, not 
 only in the Roman but Grecian annals, cannot but 
 be a friend to the Lacedaemonians for the sake of 
 their heroic descent. I will only, therefore, en- 
 treat you that, when you are acting towards them 
 in consequence of what your justice and honour 
 requires, you would, at the same time, intimate 
 that you receive an additional pleasure from indulg- 
 ing your own inclinations of that sort, by knowing 
 them to be agreeable likewise to mine. As I think 
 myself obliged to show this city that their concerns 
 are part of my care, it is with much earnestness I 
 make this request. Farewell. 
 
 » Greece. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 To Lepta'K 
 
 The moment I received your letter from the 
 hands of Seleucus, 1 despatched a note to Balbus, 
 ^„„ to inquire the puri)ort of the law you 
 mention'*. His ans.wer was, that such 
 persons as at present exercise the office of prseco', 
 are expressly excluded from being decurii'" ; but 
 this prohibition extended not to those who had 
 formerly been engaged in that employment. Let 
 not our friends, then, be discouraged. It would, 
 indeed, have been intolerable that a parcel of paltry 
 fortune-tellers should be thought worthy of being 
 admitted into the senate of Rome", at the same 
 time that having formerly acted as a proeco should 
 disqualify a man for being member of the council 
 of a country corporation. 
 
 We have no news from Spain : all that we know 
 with certainty is, that young Fompey has drawa 
 together a very considerable army. This we learn 
 from a letter of Pacisecus" to Gfe^ar, a copy whereof 
 Caesar himself has transmitted to us ; in which it 
 is affirmed that Pompey is at the head of elevea 
 legions P. Messala, in a letter he lately wrote to 
 Quintus Salassus, informs him that his brother, 
 Publius Curtius, ha-s been executed by the command 
 of Pompey, in the jiresence of his whole army. 
 This man had entered, it seems, into a conspiracy 
 with some Spaniards, by which it was agreed, in 
 case Pompey should march into a certain village 
 for provisions, to seize upon his person, and delive?^ 
 him into the hands of Caesar. 
 
 In relation to the security in which you stand 
 engaged for Pompey, you may depend upon it, as 
 soon as Galha, who is jointly bound with you, 
 returns hither, I shall not fail to consult with him 
 about measures for settling that affair. He seemed, 
 I remember, to imagine that it might be adjusted ; 
 and you know he is a man who spares no pains 
 where his money is concerned. 
 
 J Cicero mentions a person of tliis name in a former let- 
 ter, wl«) appears to have been his prcffeclxis fahruw, or 
 what might be called, perhaps, in modern language, tlie 
 commander of his train of artillery, when he was governor 
 of Cilicia. It is probable, therefore, as Maniitius cmijee- 
 tures, that he is the same person to whom this lettci- is 
 addressed. — Ep. Fam. iii. 7. 
 
 ^ Manutius very justly observes, that this could not be 
 a law which Ccesar had actually passed, but one wliich he 
 intended, perhaps, to enact, when he should return from 
 Spain : for if it had been actually promulgated, Cicero 
 could have had no occasion to apply to Balbus for his in- 
 telligence. 
 
 1 The office of prrt'fo seems to have been much in tlic 
 nature of a crier in our courtsof justice, but not altogetiier 
 so low in repute. 
 
 ™ A decurio was, in a corporate city, the same as a sena- 
 tor of Rome ; that is, a member of the public council of 
 the community. 
 
 n This is a sneer upon Caesar, who had introduced per- 
 sons of the lowest rank and character into the Konian 
 senate. See rem. °, p. 457- 
 
 ° Ho was a nsstive of Spain, and a person of great note 
 in that province. Cassar entrusted him with a very con- 
 siderable command in the expedition against the sons of 
 Pompey.— Hirt. De Bell. Hisp. 3. 
 
 P The number of horse and foot in a Roman legion 
 varied in different periods of the republic. In its lowest 
 computation, it appears to have amounted to 300i) font and 
 2(!0 horse ; and, in its highest, to liave risen to (iooo of tlie 
 former, and 4U0 of the latter.— Rosin. Antiq. Rum. SHU.
 
 518 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 It gives me much pleasure to find that you so 
 highly approve of my-i Orator. Whatever skill I 
 have in the art, I have displayed it all in that 
 treatise ; and, if the commendations you bestow 
 upon it are not too partial, I cannot hut set some 
 value upon my jiuli^ment. To speak truth, I am 
 willing to rest all my reputation of this kind upon 
 the merit of that performance. I hope my little 
 favourite, your son, already discovers some relish 
 for writings of this sort ; and although he is yet 
 too young to enter far into these studies, yet it will 
 be no disadvantage to him to begin thus early to 
 lorm Ids taste by comj)ositions of this nature. 
 
 I have been detained at Rome on account of my 
 daughter TuUia's lying-in. But though she is 
 now, I hope, out of all danger, yet I still wait here 
 in expectation of my tirst payment from the agents 
 of Dolabella' ; and, to tell you the truth, I am not 
 so fond of changing the scene as formerly. The 
 amusement I found in my country houses, together 
 with the sweets of retirement, were wont heretofore 
 to draw me fre(iuently out of Rome. But the 
 situation of my presenthouse is altogether as plea- 
 sant as tliat of any of my villas. I am, indeed, as 
 much retired here as if I lived in the most unfre- 
 quented desert, and carry on my studies without 
 the least interruption. I believe, therefore, that I 
 have a better chance of a visit from you in Rome 
 than you have of seeing me in the country. 
 
 I would recommend Ilesiodto the agreeable little 
 Lepta as an author which he ought to retain by 
 heart ; and particularly let him always have in his 
 mouth those noble lines, 
 
 High on a rugged rock, lac. ■ 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 To Aulus Torquatus. 
 
 There is no news to send you ; and, indeed, if 
 there were any, yet all accounts of that kind, I 
 ^„g know, are usually transmitted to you by 
 your own family. As to what may here- 
 after happen, though it is always difficult to de- 
 termine concerning future events, yet, when they 
 are not placed at too great a distance, one may 
 sometimes form a tolerable guess. At present, 
 however, all I can conjecture is, that the war is not 
 likely to be drawn out into any great length ; 
 though I must acknowledge there are some who 
 think differently. I am even inclined to believe that 
 there has already been an engagement ; but I do 
 
 •1 This elegant and judicious piece is inscribed to Brutus, 
 and was written in answer to a question he liad often pro- 
 posed to Cicero, concerning the noblest and most perfect 
 species of eloquence. 
 
 ■■ This seems to intimate that there had been a divorce 
 between Dolabella and Tullia : as it was usual, in cases of 
 that kind, for the husband to retiu-n the portion he had 
 received from liis wife, at three annual payments. See 
 rems. ° and 1, on letter 2, book xi. 
 
 " The passage in Hesiod, at which Cicero hints, is to the 
 following purpose : 
 
 High on a rugged rock the gods ordain. 
 Majestic Virtue shall her throne maintain : 
 And many a thorny path her sons must press. 
 Ere the glad summit shall their labours bless. 
 There joys serene to arduous toils succeed, 
 And peace eternal is the victor's meed. 
 
 not give you this as a fact ; I mention it only as 
 extremely probable. The event of war is always 
 j)recarious ; but, in the present instance, the num- 
 ber of forces is so considerable on each side, and 
 there is such a general spirit, it is said, in both 
 armies, of coming to action, ihat it will not be 
 matter of surprise, whichever side should obtain 
 the victory'. In the mean time, the world is every 
 day more and more persuaded, that although there 
 may be some little difference in the cause of the 
 contending parties, there will be scarcely any iu 
 the consequence of their success. As to one of 
 tlicm, we have already in some sort experienced 
 their disposition" ; and, as to the other, we are all 
 of us sufficiently sensible how much is to be dreaded 
 from an incensed conqueror^. 
 
 If, by what I have here said, I may seem to 
 increase that grief which I should endeavour to 
 alleviate, I must confess that I know but one 
 reflection capable of supporting us under these 
 public misfortunes. It is a reflection, however, of 
 sovereign eflicacy, where it can be applied in its 
 full force, and of which I every day more and more 
 experience the singular advantage. It is, indeed, 
 the greatest consolation under adversity, to be 
 conscious of having always meant well, and to be 
 persuaded that nothing but guilt deserves to be 
 considered as a severe evil. But as you and I are 
 so far from having anything to reproach ourselves 
 with, that we have the satisfaction to reflect that 
 we have ever acted upon the most patriot prin- 
 ciples ; as it is not our measures, but the ill success 
 of those measures, which the world regrets ; in a 
 word, as we have faithfully discharged that duty we 
 owed to our country, let us bear the event with 
 calmness and moderation. But 1 pretend not to 
 teach you how to support these our common cala- 
 mities. It is a lesson which requires much greater 
 abilities than mine to inculcate, as well as the 
 most singular fortitude of soul to practise. There 
 is one point, however, in which any man is qualified 
 to be your instructor, as it is easy to show that 
 you have no reason to be particularly afflicted. 
 For with respect to Caesar, though he has appeared 
 somewhat more slow in granting your pardon than 
 was generally imagined, yet I have not the least 
 doubt of his consenting to your restoration ; and 
 as to the other party ^', you perfectly well know 
 how your interest stands with them, without my 
 telling you. Your only remaining disquietude, 
 then, must arise from being thus long separated 
 from your family : and it is a circumstance, I con- 
 fess, thatjustly merits your concern, especially as 
 you are by this mean deprived of the company of 
 
 ' This letter was probably written very early in the 
 present year, as it was on the 17th of Maich that the two 
 armies came to a general engagement. This decisive bat- 
 tle was fought under the walls of Munda, a city which 
 still subsists in the province of Granada. C^sar obtained 
 a complete victory; but it was disputed by the Pompeians 
 with so much courage and obstinacy, that it was long 
 doubtful on which side the advantage would turn, or, as 
 Florus most elegantly expresses it, '• ut plane videretur 
 nescio quid deliberare Fortuna." — Hirt. De Bell. Hisp. 31 ; 
 Flor. iv. 2. 
 
 » The Cscsarean party. 
 
 T Young Pompey, who, if he had succeeded, would un- 
 doubtedly have acted with great severity towards Cicero, 
 and the rest of those who had deserted the cause of hi« 
 father. 
 
 w The Pompeians.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 519 
 
 those most amiable youths, your sons. But, as I 
 observed in a former"' letter, it is natural for every 
 man in these unhappy times to look upon his own 
 condition as of all others the most miserable, and 
 to deem that place the least eligible in which it is 
 his fortune to be situated. For my own part, 
 indeed, I think that we who live at Rome are most 
 to be lamented ; not only as in misfortunes of 
 every kind a spectator must be more sensibly 
 affected than he who is acquainted with them 
 merely by report, but as we are more exposed to 
 the danger of sudden violences than those who are 
 planed at a greater distance. 
 
 Yet, after all my endeavours to reason you out 
 of your disquietudes, I cannot but acknowledge 
 that I am more obliged to time than to that philo- 
 sophy which I have ever cultivated, for the miti- 
 gation of my own ; and how great they once were, 
 you perfectly well know. But, in the first place, 
 I have the consolation to reflect, that when I was 
 so desirous of peace as to think even a bad one 
 preferable to a civil war, I saw farther into con- 
 sequences than some of my countrymen. And 
 although I do not pretend to a spirit of divination 
 and it was chance alone that verified my predictions, 
 yet I will own that I take great satisfaction in the 
 empty honour of my fi'uitless penetration. In the 
 next place, I have the consolation, in common 
 with yourself, that should I now be called upon to 
 lay down my life, I shall not be cut off from a 
 commonwealth which I can by any means regret to 
 leave ; especially as the same blow that deprives 
 me of my life will deprive me likewise of all sensi- 
 bility ^. Besides, I am already arrived at a fulness 
 of years y; and, as I can look back with entire 
 satisfaction on the course I have completed, so I 
 have nothing to fear from any violence which may 
 be offered to me, since nature herself has now well- 
 nigh conducted my days to their final period. In a 
 •word, when I reflect uponthat great man'', orrather, 
 indeed, upon those many illustrious personages 
 who perished in this war, it would seem a want 
 of modesty to regret submitting to the same fate, 
 ■whenever I shall find it necessary. The truth is, 
 I represent to myself all that can possibly happen 
 to me ; as, indeed, there is no calamity so severe 
 ■which I do not look upon as actually impending. 
 However, since to live in perpetual fear is a greater 
 evil than any we can dread, I check myself in these 
 reflections, especially as I am approaching to that 
 state, which is not only unattended with any pain 
 in itself, but which will put an end to all painful 
 sensations for ever. But I have dwelt longer upon 
 this subject, perhaps, than was necessary. How- 
 ever, if I run out my letters to an unreasonable 
 extent, you must not impute it to impertinence, 
 but affection. 
 
 I am sorry to hear that Sulpicius has left 
 Athens* ; as I am persuaded that the daily com- 
 pany and conversation of so wise and valuable a 
 friend afforded you great relief under your afflic- 
 tions. But I hope you will continue to bear them 
 as becomes you, and support yourself with your 
 usual fortitude. In the mean time, be assured I 
 
 w The first letter of this hook. 
 * See rem. f, p. 4/7. 
 
 y Cicero was at tliis time in his 61st year. 
 » Pompey. 
 
 o In order, probably, to return to Rome upon the expi- 
 latioa of his govemmcot. 
 
 shall promote, with the utmost zeal and care, what- 
 ever 1 shall think agreeable to the interest or 
 inclination either of you or yours. And in this 
 I can only imitate you in your disposition to serve 
 me, without being able to return your generous 
 offices in the same efficacious manner. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 To Cuius Cassius. 
 I SHOULD not send you so short a letter, if your 
 courier had not called for it just as he was setting 
 „.„ out. But I have still another reason ; 
 ■ ' ' ■ for I have nothing to write to you in the 
 way of pleasantry, and serious aflairs are topics in 
 which it is not altogether safe to engage. You 
 will, therefore, wonder, perhaps, that I should be 
 in any humour to be jocose ; and indeed it is no 
 very easy matter. However, it is the only expe- 
 dient left to divert our uneasy thoughts. But 
 where, then, you will probably ask, is our philo- 
 sophy ? Why, yours, my friend, is in the '' kitchen, 
 I suppose ; and as to mine, it is much too trouble- 
 some a guest to gain admittance. The fact is, I 
 am heartily ashamed of being a slave ; and, there- 
 fore, that I may not hear the severe reproaches of 
 Plato, I endeavour to turn my attention another 
 way. 
 
 We have hitherto received no certain intelligence 
 from Spain. I rejoice, upon your account, that 
 you are absent from this unpleasing scene, though 
 I greatly regret it upon my own. But your courier 
 presses me to despatch, so that I can only bid you 
 adieu, and entreat the continuance of that friend- 
 ship you have ever shown me from your earliest 
 youth. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 To Dolabella'^. 
 I ■WOULD not venture to omit writing to you by 
 our friend Salvius ; though I have nothing more 
 »„o to say than what you perfectly well know 
 ' already, that I infinitely love you"*. I have 
 much more reason, indeed, to expect a letter from 
 you, than you can have to receive one from me, as I 
 imagine there is nothing going forward in Rome 
 which you will think of importance enough to raise 
 your curiosity, unless, perhaps, that 1 am to sit in 
 judgment between two learned grammarians ; our 
 friend Nicias, and his antagonistVidius. The latter, 
 you must know, has produced a certain manuscript, 
 relating to an account between them, to which 
 Nicias, like a second Aristarchus *, very peremp- 
 torily insists that some of the lines are altogether 
 spurious. Now I, like a venerable ancient critic, 
 am to determine whether these suspected interpo- 
 lations are genuine or not. But you will question, 
 
 b This is a raillery upon the tenets of Cassius, who held , 
 the doctrines of the Epicurean sect. 
 
 c He was, at this time, with Caesar, in Spain. 
 
 d Whatever disagreement there was between Dolabella 
 and TuUia, it did not, in appearance at least, occasion any 
 coolness between him and his fatlierin-law ; a circum- 
 stance, which, considering the tenderness of Cicero for his 
 daughter, can only be accoimted for by Dolabella's great 
 credit with Csesar. 
 
 = A celebrated Grc^k critic. See rem. f, p. 435.
 
 620 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCOS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 perhaps, whether I have sufficiently forgotten the 
 delicious mushrooms and those noble prawns' with 
 which 1 have been so often regaled by Nicias and 
 his gentle spouse, to be (juattfied for an impartial 
 judge in this inii)oriant cause. Let me ask you, in 
 return, whether you imagine 1 have so entirely 
 thrown ofl' all my former severity, as to retain 
 notliing of my old solemnity of brow, even when 1 
 am sitting in grave tribunal. You may be sure, 
 however, that my honest host shall be no great 
 sufferer. 'J'hough, let me tell you, if I should pass 
 sentence of baiushment upon him, I shall by no 
 means allow you to reverse it, lest Ikirsa should 
 be supplied with .'i ])edagogue to teach him his 
 letters »f. Hut 1 am running on in lliis ludicrous 
 style, without reflecting that you, who are in the 
 midst of a campaign, may j)erhaps be too seriously 
 engaged to relish these humorous sallies. When 
 I shall be certain, therefore, that you are in a dis- 
 position to laugh, you shall hear farther from me. 
 I cannot, however, forbear adding, that the jieojile 
 were extremely solicitous coneerning tlie fate of 
 Sulla *", till the news of his death was confirmed ; 
 but now that they are assured of the fact, they are 
 no longer inf|ui.sitive how it linppened, well con- 
 tented with their intelligence that lie is undoubtedly 
 defunct. As for myself, I bear this deplorable 
 accident like a philosopher ; my oidy concern is, 
 lest it should damp the spirit of Caesar's auctions'. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 To Aulus Torqnatus. 
 
 I HOPE you will not imagine that you have been 
 out of my thoughts, by my having lately been a 
 more remiss correspondent than usual. 
 The true occasion of my silence has partly 
 arisen from an ill state of health, which, however, 
 is now somewhat mended, and partly has been 
 owing to my absence from Rome, which prevented 
 me from being informed when any courier was 
 despatched to you. Be assured that I constantly 
 and most affectionately j'reserve you in my remem- 
 brance, and that your affairs of every kind are as 
 much my concern as if they were my own. 
 
 Believe me, you have no reason, considering the 
 unhappy situation of public affairs, to be uneasy 
 that yours still remain in a more dubious and un- 
 settled posture than was generally hoped and 
 imagined. For one of these three events must 
 
 f In the original, it is culinamm,\\\i\c\i conveys no sense, 
 or, at least, a very forced one. The reading, therefore, 
 proposed by Gronovius, is adojited in the translation, wlio 
 imagines the true word was squillarum ,- for prawns was 
 a fish in great repute amongst the Unman epicures. 
 
 K Bursa was a particular enemy of Cicero, and liad been 
 banished for liis riotous attempts to revenge the murder of 
 Clodius, from which banishment he was lately recalled. 
 See rem. a, p. 3B7. 
 
 >■ This man had rendered himself extremely and gene- 
 rally odious by the purchases he had made of the confis- 
 cated estates, during the proscriptions both of Sylla and 
 Caesar. — Cic. de Offic. ii. 8. 
 
 ' In which the confiscated estates were put up to sale. 
 One of the methods that Caisar took to reward his parti- 
 san.s, was by suffering them to purchase these estates at 
 an under-value ; and it was the hopes of being a sharer in 
 these iniquitous spoils, that furnished one of the principal 
 incentives to the civil war.— Cic. ubi sup. 
 
 necessarily take place ; either we shall never see 
 an end of our civil wars, or they will one day sub- 
 side, and give the republic an opportunity of re- 
 covering its vigour, or they will terminate in its 
 utter extinction. If the sword is never to be 
 sheathed, you can have nothing to fear eith.'r from 
 the ]>arty which you formerly assisted, or from that 
 by which you have lately been receivedJ. But 
 should the republic again revive, either by the 
 contending factions mutually agreeing to a cessa- 
 tion of arms ; or by their laying them down in mere 
 lassitude ; or by one side being vancjuished ; you 
 will undoubtedly be again restored both to your 
 rank anil to your fortunes. And should our con- 
 stitution be totally destroyed, agreeably to what 
 the wise Marcus Antonius'' long since apprehended, 
 when he imagined that the i)resent calamities were 
 even then approaching, you will have the consola- 
 tion, at least, to reflect, that a misfortune which is 
 common to all cannot be lamented as peculiar to 
 any : and miserable as this consolation must prove 
 to a man of your jjatriot virtues, 'tis a consolation, 
 liowever, to which we must necessarily have re- 
 course. 
 
 If you well consider the full force of these few 
 hints, (and I do not think it jirudent to be more 
 explicit in a letter,) you must be convinced, with- 
 out my telling you, that you have something to 
 hope, and nothing to fear, so long as the republic 
 shall subsist, either in its present, or any other 
 form. But should it be entirely subverted, as I 
 am sure you would not, if you were permitted, 
 survive its ruin ; so I am persuaded you will pa- 
 tiently submit to your fate, in the conscious satis- 
 faction of having in no sort deserved it. But I 
 forbear to enter farther into this subject, and will 
 only add my request, that you would inform me 
 how it is with you, and where you purpose to fix 
 your quarters, that I may know where a letter or 
 a visit will find you. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 To Cuius Cassius, 
 
 Surely, my friend, your couriers are a set of 
 
 most unconscionable fellows. Not that they have 
 
 A V 708 S^^^"^ ^^ ^"y i)articular offence ; but as 
 
 they never bring me a letter when they 
 
 J Torquatus was now in Italy, having obtained the per- 
 mission of retiu-ning, by means of Dolabella, with wliom 
 Cicero had employed his good offices for that purpose ; as 
 appears by several passages which Jlanutius has produced 
 from the letters to Atticus. But v/hether Torquatus, 
 afterwards, procured a full pardon from Csesar, and was 
 restored to his estates and lionours, is uncertain ; all that 
 is fartlier known of him, is, tlaat he was in the army of 
 Brutus and Cassius, at the battle of Philippi, and in the 
 number of those whom Atticus generously assisted in 
 their distress after the event of that unfortunate action. — 
 Ad Att. xiii. 9, 20, 21 ; Corn. Nep. in Vit. Att. ii. 
 
 k This eloquent and illustrious patriot, the grandfather 
 of Mark Antony, was consul in the year 653; and, about, 
 twelve years afterwards, was put to death by the command 
 of IMarius, whose party he had strenuously opposed. M.arius 
 was at dinner when the executioner of his cruel orders 
 brought him the head of Antonius, which that simguiuary 
 Roman received into his hands, with all the insolent and 
 horrid exultation of the most savage barbarian. — Plut. in 
 Vit. Antoa. ; Appian. De Bell. Civ. i. 344 ; Val. Max. 
 ix. 2.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 521? 
 
 arrive here, is it fair they should always press me 
 for one when they return ? It would be more con- 
 venient, however, if they would give me earlier 
 notice, and not make their demands in the very 
 instant they are setting out. You must excuse 
 me, therefore, (if an excuse I can want, who am so 
 much more punctual a correspondent than your- 
 self,) should this letter prove no longer than my 
 last : as you may be assured of receiving an ample 
 detail of everything in my next. But that my ])re- 
 sent epistle may not be wholly barren of news, I 
 must inform you that Publius Sulla', the father, is 
 dead. The occasion of this accident is variously 
 reported : some say he was a martyr to his palate; 
 and others, that he was murdered by highwaymen. 
 The people, however, are perfectly indifferent as to 
 the manner, since they are quite clear as to the 
 fact : for certain it is, that the flames of his funeral 
 pile have consumed him to ashes. And what though 
 Liberty herself, alas ! perished with this paragon 
 of patriots, you will bear the loss of him, I guess, 
 with much jihilosojihy. But Csesar, 'tis thought, 
 will be a real mourner, in the apprehension that 
 his auctions will not now proceed so currently as 
 usual. (3n the other hand, this event affords high 
 satisfaction co Mindius jMarcellus, and the essenced 
 Attius, who rejoice exceedingly in having thus 
 gotten quit of a formidable antagonist. 
 
 We are in great expectation of the news from 
 Spain, having, as yet, received no certain intelli- 
 gence from that quarter. Some flying reports, 
 indeed, have been spread, that tilings do not go 
 well tiiere ; but they are reports without authority. 
 
 Our friend Pansa set out for his government"" 
 on the 30th of Df cember. The circumstances that 
 attended liis departure afforded a very strong proof 
 that " virtue is eligible upon its own account :" a 
 truth whicii you have lately, it seems, begun to 
 doubt". The singular humanity with which he has 
 relieved such numbers in these times of public dis- 
 tress, drew after him, in a very distinguished manner, 
 the general good wishes of every honest man. 
 
 I am extremely glad to find that you are still at 
 Brundisium, and I much approve of your continu- 
 ing there. You cannot be governed by a more 
 judicious maxim than to sit loose to the vain ambi- 
 tion of the world ; and it will be a great satisfaction 
 to all your friends to hear that you persevere in 
 this prudent inactivity. In the mean time, I liope 
 you will not forget me when you send any letters 
 to your family ; as, on my own part, whenever I 
 hear of any person that is going to you, I shall not 
 fail to take the opportunity of writing. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 To the same. 
 Will you not blush when I remind you that 
 this is the third letter I have written without hav- 
 ing received a single line in return ? 
 However, I do not press you to be more 
 expeditious, as I hope, and indeed insist, that you 
 will make me amends for this delay, by the length 
 of your next epistle. As for myself, if I had the 
 
 A. u. 7fie. 
 
 ' See rem. *> on letter 18 of this book. 
 m Of Gaul : in which he succeeded Marcus Brutus, 
 n As haying lately embraced the Epicurea uprinciples. 
 Bee the following letter. 
 
 opportunity of conveying my letters as frequently 
 as I wish, I should write to you, I believe, every 
 hour ; for as often as I employ my pen in this 
 manner, you seem, as it were, actually present to 
 my view. This effect is by no means produced, let 
 me tell you, by those subtle images which your new° 
 friends talk so much of, who su])pose that even 
 the ideas of imagination are excited by what the 
 late Catius, with wondrous elegancy, has styled 
 spectres. For by this curious word '' you must 
 know he has expressed what Epicurus, who bor- 
 rowed the notion from Deniocritus 'i, has called 
 images. But granting that these same spectres are 
 capable of affecting the organ of vision, yet I can- 
 not guess which way they can contrive to make 
 their entrance into the mind. But you will solve 
 this difficulty when we meet, and tell me by what 
 means, whenever I shall be disposed to think of 
 you, I may be able to call up your spectre, and 
 not only yours, whose image, indeed, is already so 
 deeply stamped upon my heart, but even that of 
 the whole British island, for instance, if I should 
 be inclined to make it the subject of my medita- 
 tions. — But more of this another time. In the 
 mean while I send this as an experiment to try 
 with what temper you can bear my railleries. 
 Should they seem to touch you, I shall renew my 
 attack with so much the more vigour, and will 
 apply for a writ of restitution to reinstate you in 
 your old tenets, " of which you, the said Cassius, 
 have by force and arms'" been dispossessed." 
 Length of possession, in this case, will be no plea 
 in bar ; for, whether the time be more or less since 
 you have been driven by the allurements of plea- 
 sure from the mansions of virtue, my action will 
 be still maintainable. But let me not forget whom 
 it is that I am thus bantering ; is it not that illus- 
 trious friend whose every step, from his first en- 
 trance into the world, has been conducted by the 
 highest honour and virtue .-' If it be true, then. 
 
 ° The Epicureans ; to whose system of philosophy Cassius 
 had lately become a convert. Accordingly Cicero rallies 
 him in this and the following passages, on their absurd 
 doctrine concerning ideas ; which they maintained were 
 excited by certain thin forms, or images, perpetually float- 
 ing in the air. These images were supposed to be con- 
 stantly emitted from all objects, and to be of so delicate 
 and subtle a texture, as easily to penetrate through the 
 pores of the body, and by that means render themselves 
 visible to the mind. — Lucret. iv. 1-2G, &c. 
 
 V It is probable that Catius either coined this word him- 
 self, or employed it in a new and improper manner. For 
 it is observable, that both Lucretius and Cicero, whenever 
 they have occasion to express, in their ov/n language, what 
 the Greek Epicureans called ilBwKa., always render it by 
 the word simulacra or imapines. 
 
 q He v.as a native of Abdera, a city in Thrace, and 
 flourished about 400 years before the Christian era. Epi- 
 curus, who was born about forty years afterwards, bor- 
 rowed much of his doctrine from the writings of thii 
 philosopher. — Cic. de Fin. i. 6. i 
 
 " These were the formal words of the prsetor's edict, 
 commanding the restoration of a person to an estate, of 
 which he had been forcibly dispossessed. Cicero, perhaps, 
 besides the humour of their general application, meant 
 likewise archly to intimate, that Cassius had been driven, 
 out of his more rigid principles by his military com- 
 panions : as, in a letter written to Trebatius, when he was 
 making a campaign with Caesar in Gaul, where our author 
 is rallying him upon a similar occasion, he insinuates that 
 ho had acquired his epicurism in the camp. " Indicavit 
 niihi Pansa (says he) Epicureum te esse factum. O castra 
 praeclara !" — Ep. Fam. vii. 12.
 
 622 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 that you have embraced the Epicurean princiiiles, 
 1 doubt they have more strength and solidity in 
 them than I once imagined. 
 
 And now, will you not be inclined to ask, how I 
 could possibly think of amusina; you in this idle 
 manner? The truth of it is, 1 am not furnished 
 with a more important subject, as I have nothing 
 to write to you concerning public aftairs ; nor, 
 indeed, do 1 choose to trust my sentiments of 
 them iu a letter, Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIL 
 
 Cassius to Cicero. 
 
 Nothing affords me a greater pleasure, in my 
 travels, than to converse with my friend. It brings 
 ,.(,„ you, indeed, so strongly to my mind, tliat 
 'I fancy myself indulging a vein of plea- 
 santry with you in person. This lively impression, 
 however, is by no means i)roduced by those Catian 
 spectres you mention ' : and for which piece of rail- 
 lery, I intend to draw up in my next such a li.st of 
 inelegant stoics as will force you to acknowledge 
 that Catius, in comparison with these, may well 
 pass for a native of the refined Athens. 
 
 It gives me much satisfaction, not only upon our 
 friend Pansa's account, but for the sake of every 
 one of us, that he received such marks of public 
 esteem when he set out for his government '. I 
 hope this circumstance will be thought a convincing 
 proof how amiable a spirit of probity and benevo- 
 lence, and how odious the contrary disposition, 
 renders its possessor : and that the world will learn 
 from hence, that these popular honours, which are 
 so passionately courted by bad citizens, are the 
 sure attendants on those whose characters are the 
 reverse. To persuade mankind that virtue is its 
 ovrn reward, is a task, I fear, of too much difficulty : 
 but that real and undisturbed pleasures necessarily 
 flow from probity, justice, and whatever else is fair 
 and beautiful in moral actions, is a truth, surely, 
 of most easy admission. Epicurus himself, from 
 ■whom the Catii, and the Amafinii, together with 
 the rest of those injurious interpreters of his mean- 
 ing, pretend to derive their tenets, expressly 
 declares, that '• a pleasurable life can alone be 
 procured by the practice of virtue.'' Accordingly 
 Pansa, who pursues pleasure agreeably to this just 
 notion of it, still perseveres, you see, in a virtuous 
 conduct. The truth is, those whom your sect has 
 stigmatised by the name of voluptuaries, are 
 ■warm admirers of moral beauty ; and consequently 
 cultivate and practise the whole train of social 
 duties. But commend me to the judicious Sulla : 
 who, observing that the philosophers were divided 
 in their opinions concerning the supreme good, 
 left them to settle the question among themselves, 
 whilst he turned his views to a less controverted 
 acquisition, by purchasing every good thing that 
 was put up to sale"- I received the news of his 
 death with much fortitude : and, indeed, Caesar 
 will take care that we shall not long have occasion 
 to regret his loss ; as there are numbers of equal 
 merit whom he can restore to US'" in his place. 
 Nor will Caesar himself, I suppose, much lament 
 
 this excellent customer of his, when he shall see 
 what a worthy son he has left to succeed him. 
 
 But to turn to public affair.s ; let me know what 
 is doing in Spain. It is a |)oint, indeed, upon 
 which 1 am extremely solicitous : as I had much 
 rather submit to an old master, whose clemency I 
 have experienced, than run the hazard of being 
 exposed to the cruelty of a new one. You know 
 the weakness of young Pompey's intellects ; that 
 he looks upon cruelty as heroism ; and that he is 
 sensible how much he has ever been the object of 
 our ridicule. I fear, therefore, he would be apt to 
 treat us somewhat roughly, and return our jokes 
 with the point of his sword. If you have any value 
 for me, then, you will not fail to let me know 
 whatever shall happen. Ah, my friend, how do I 
 wish I were ap)iri.sed whether you read this with 
 an ensy or an anxious mind ! for, by that single 
 circumstance, I should be determined what mea- 
 sures are proper for me to pursue. But not to 
 detain you any longer, 1 will only entreat you to 
 continue your friendship to me, and then bid you 
 Farewell. 
 
 P.S. If Caesar should prove victorious, you may 
 expect to see me very soon. 
 
 » In the preceding letter. See rcms. o and P thereon. 
 
 » See rem. >" on letter 20 of this book. 
 
 ° See rem. ^ on letter 18 of this book. 
 
 V Hub alludes to the great number of those whom Caesar, 
 
 LETTER XXin. 
 
 To nolabella. 
 Caius Scberinus, a native of'^ Calenum, is 
 one with whom 1 am particularly united ; and he 
 ^^ is extremely so, likewise, with our very 
 
 A. I]. 703. . ,. i /- • , T .. rriL- • 
 
 intimate friend Lepta. This person, in 
 order to avoid being engaged in our intestine com- 
 motions, attended Marcus Varro into Spain", 
 before the civil war broke out : imagining, as, 
 indeed, everybody else did, that after the defeat 
 of Afranius>', there would be no farther disturb- 
 ances in that province. However, he was, by that 
 very measure, involved in those misfortunes he 
 had taken so much pains to escape. For the sud- 
 den insurrection whicli was formed by Scapula, and 
 afterwards raised to so formidable a height by 
 young Pompey, forced him unwillingly to take a 
 part in that unhappy enterprise. The case of Mar- 
 cus Planius likewise, who is also in the number of 
 Lepta's particular friends, is much the same with 
 that of Suberinus. In compliance with my friend- 
 ship, therefore, for these two persons, and in com- 
 passion to their misfortunes, I recommend them 
 with all possible warmth and earnestness to your 
 favour. But I have still another motive which 
 engages me in their cause : Lepta interests him- 
 self no less ardently in their welfare, than if his 
 own were at stake ; and I cannot but feel the next, 
 I might have said an equal, degree of solicitude, 
 where my friend is so anxiously concerned. Ac- 
 cordingly, though I have often had occasion to 
 experience your affection ; yet, believe me, I shall 
 principally judge of its strength by your compli- 
 ance with my present request. I desire, therefore, 
 
 as soon as he got the power into his hands, had permitted 
 to return from the banishment to which they had for 
 various crimes been condemned. 
 
 w A city of Campania, in the kingdom of Naples. 
 
 5^ See rem. d, p. 473. 
 
 7 He was one of Pompey's lieutenants in Spain, in tlie 
 year 704, in conjunction with Viirro and Petreius. Caesar's 
 victory over these generals has already been occasion&lly 
 mentioned in the preceding remarks.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 523 
 
 or, if you will suffer me to employ so humble a 
 phrase, I even beseech you, to afford your pro- 
 tection to these unhappy men, whose distress 
 arises rather from unavoidable fortune, than from 
 anything blameworthy in their own conduct. I 
 hope, that by your good offices in this affair, you 
 will give me an opportunity of obliging, not only 
 these my friends, but the corporation of Calenum 
 likewise, with which I have great connexions : but 
 above all, that you will, by these means, put it in 
 my power to render a grateful service also to 
 Lepta. What I am going to add, is not extremely 
 material, I believe, to the cause I am pleading : 
 however, it certainly can do it no prejudice. Let 
 me assure you then, that one of these unfortunate 
 persons is in very low circumstances, and the other 
 has scarcely sufficient to entitle him to be admitted 
 into the equestrian orders. As Caesar, therefore, 
 has generously spared their lives, and they have 
 little else to lose, I entreat you, by all your affec- 
 tion towards me, to procure them the liberty of 
 returning into Italy. Thejourney, indeed, is long : 
 however, they are willing to undergo it, for the 
 sake of living and dying among their friends and 
 countrymen. I most earnestly request, tlierefore, 
 your zealous endeavours for this purpose : or 
 rather, indeed, (since I am persuaded it is entirely 
 in your power,) I warmly entreat you to obtain for 
 them this desirable privilege. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 To CcBsar. 
 I VERY particularly recommend to your favour 
 the son of our worthy and common friend Praecilius, 
 a youth whose modest and polite beha- 
 A.v. 7 J • Yiour, together with his singular attach- 
 ment to myself, have exceedingly endeared him to 
 rae. His father, likewise, as experience has now 
 fully convinced me, was always my most sincere 
 well-wisher. For, to confess tbe truth, he was the 
 first and most zealous of those who used both to 
 rally and reproach me for not joining in your cause, 
 especially after you had invited me by so many 
 honourable overtures. But, 
 
 All unavailing proved his every art. 
 
 To shake the puipose of my steadfast heart*. 
 
 For whilst the gallant chiefs of our party were 
 on the other side perpetually exclaiming to me, 
 " Rise thou, distinguish'd 'midst the sons of fame, 
 And fair transmit to times unborn thy name'' ;" 
 Too easy dupe of Flattery's specious voice. 
 Darkling I stray'd from Wisdom's better choice^ 
 
 And fain would they still raise my spirits, while 
 they endeavour, insensible as I now am to the 
 charms of glory, to rekindle that passion in my 
 heart. With this view they are ever repeating, 
 O let me not inglorious sink in death. 
 And yield like vulgar souls my parting breath : 
 In some brave effort give me to expire, 
 That distant ages may the deed admire''! 
 
 * The estate necessary to qualify a man for being received 
 into the equestrian order was four hundred thousand ses- 
 terces, equivalent to about 30007. sterling. Cicero artfully 
 mentions the slender fortunes uf liis friends, as an intima- 
 tion to Dolabella not to expect any douceurs for his good 
 offices tc>wards them, 
 
 a Horn. Odyss. vii. 258. t> Ilom. Odyss. i. 302. 
 
 c Horn. Odyss. xxiv. 314. d Horn. II. xxii. 
 
 But I am immoveable, as you see, by all their 
 persuasions. Renouncing, therefore, the pompous 
 heroics of Homer, I turn to the just maxims of 
 Euripides, and say with that poet. 
 
 Curse on the sage, who, impotently wise, 
 
 O'erlooks the paths where humbler Prudence lies. 
 
 My old friend Prsecilius is a great admirer of the 
 sentiment in these lines : insisting that a patriot 
 may preserve a prudential regard to his own safety, 
 and yet. 
 
 Above his peers the first in honour shine <=. 
 
 But to return from this digression : you will 
 greatly oblige me by extending to this young maa 
 that uncommon generosity which so peculiarly 
 marks your character, and by suffering my recom- 
 mendation to increase the number of tliose favours 
 which I am persuaded you are disposed to confer 
 upon him for the sake of his family. 
 
 I have not addressed you in the usual style of 
 recommendatory letters, that you might see I did 
 not intend this as an application of common form. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 To the same. 
 Amongst all our j'oung nobility, Publius Cras- 
 sus*^ was one for whom I entertained the highest 
 »„„ regard ; and, indeed, he amply justified, 
 in his more mature years, the favourable 
 opinion I had conceived of him from his infancy. 
 It was during his life that his freedman ApoUonius 
 first recommended himself to my esteem ; for he 
 was zealously attached to the interest of his patron, 
 and perfectly well qualified to assist him in those 
 noble studies to which he was devoted. Accord- 
 ingly, Crassus was extremely fond of him : but 
 ApoUonius, after the death of his patron, proved 
 himself still more worthy of my protection and 
 friendship, as he distinguished with peculiar marks 
 of respect all who loved Crassus, or had been 
 beloved by him. It was this that induced ApoUo- 
 nius to follow me into Cilicia, — where, upon many 
 occasions, I received singular advantage from his 
 faithful and judicious services. If I mistake not, 
 his most sincere and zealous offices were not want- 
 ing to you likewise in the Alexandrine war, and it 
 is in the hope of your thinking so that he has re- 
 solved, in concurrence with my sentiments, but 
 chiefly indeed from his own, to wait upon you in 
 Spain. I would not promise, however, to recom- 
 mend him to your favour. Not that I suspected 
 my applications would be void of weight, but I 
 thought they would be unnecessary in behalf of a 
 man who had served in the army under you, and 
 whom, from your regard to the memory of Crassus, 
 you would undoubtedly consider as a friend of your 
 own. Besides, I knew he could easily procure 
 letters of this kind from many other hands. But, 
 as he greatly values my good opinion, and as I am 
 sensible it has some influence upon yours, I very 
 willingly give him my testimonial. Let me assure 
 you, then, that I know him to be a man of litera- 
 ture, and one who has applied himself to the polite 
 arts from his earliest youth : for when he was a 
 boy, he frequently visited at my house with Dio- 
 dotus, the stoic, — a philosopher, in my judgment. 
 
 e Horn. 11. vi. 208. 
 
 ' See rem. P, p. 361.
 
 624 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 of consummate erudition. ApoUonius, inflamtil 
 vvith zeal for the i;lory of your aetions, is greatly 
 desirous of refolding them in Greek, and 1 think 
 him very capable of the uiidertakinfj. lie has an 
 excellent genius, and has been particularly conver- 
 sant in studies of the historical kind, as he is 
 wonderfully ambitious, likewise, of doing justice to 
 your immortal fame. These are my sincere senti- 
 jnents of tlie man ; but how far he deserves them 
 your own superior judgment will best determine. 
 But though 1 told ApoUonius fliat I should not 
 particularly recommend him to your favour, yet I 
 cannot forbear assuring you, that every instance of 
 your generosity towards him will extremely oblige 
 me. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVL 
 
 Quiii/ii'i Cirrro to Marcus Cicero^. 
 I I'UOTicsT to you, my dear brother, you have per- 
 formed an act extremely agreeable to me, in giving 
 Tiro his freedom ; as a state of servitude 
 A. u. ,(ia ^^.,^^ .^ situation far unworthy of his merit. 
 Believe me 1 filt the highest complacency when I 
 found, by his Kttcr and yours, that you rather chose 
 we should look upon liim in the number of our 
 friends than in that of our slaves ; and I both congra- 
 tulate and tlumkyou for this instance of your gene- 
 rosity towards him. If I receive so much satisfaction 
 from the services of my freedman Statius, how 
 much more valuable must the same good qualities 
 appear in Tiro, as they have the additional advan- 
 
 g The date of this letter is altosetlier uncertain. 
 
 tnges of liis learning, his wit, and his politeness, to 
 recommend them! I have many powerful motives 
 for the affection I bear you ; and this mark of your 
 beneficence to Tiro, together with your giving me 
 part (as, indeed, you had reason) in the family joy 
 upon this occasion, still incn-ases the number. In 
 a word, I saw aiul admired all the amiable ([ualities 
 of your heart in the letter you wrote to me on this 
 subject. 
 
 I have promised my best services to the slaves or 
 Sabiuus ; and it is a ])romise I will most assuredly 
 make good. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVIL 
 
 To liex^'. 
 
 LiCfMUS AuisTorKi.KS, a native of Melita', is 
 
 not only my old host, but my very particular friend. 
 
 These are circumstances, I doubt not, 
 
 ' ■ ' ' that will sufficiently recommend him to 
 
 your favour ; as, in truth, I have experienced, by 
 
 many instances, that my applications of this sort 
 
 have always much weight with you. Cxsar, in 
 
 compliance with my solicitations, has granted him 
 
 a pardon ; for I should have told you that he was 
 
 deeply engaged in the same cause with myself. 
 
 He persevered in it, indeed, much longer; which, 
 
 I am persuaded, will recommend him so much the 
 
 more to your esteem. Let me entreat you, then, 
 
 to show him, by your good offices, that this letter 
 
 jiroved greatly to his advantage. Farewell. 
 
 1" lie was at this tune propraetor of Sicily. — Pigh. Anna!. 
 
 ii. 459. 
 ' The island of IMalta. 
 
 BOOK XI. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 To Tiro. 
 
 Your letter encourages me to hope that you 
 find yourself better : I am sure at least I most 
 sincerely wish that you may. I entreat 
 A.V.I a. y^^j^ therefore, to consecrate all your 
 cares to that end, and by no means indulge so 
 mistaken a suspicion as that I am displeased you 
 are not with me. With me you are, iu the hest 
 sense of that expression, if you are taking care of 
 your health, — which I had much rather you should 
 attend than on myself. For though I always both 
 see and hear you with pleasure, that pleasure will 
 be greatly increased when I shall have the satis- 
 faction, at the same time, to be assured that you 
 are perfectly well. 
 
 My work is at present suspended^, as I cannot 
 make use of my own hand ; however, I employ 
 myself a good deal in reading. If your tran- 
 scribers should be puzzled with my manuscript, I 
 beg you would give them your assistance ; as, 
 indeed, there is an interlineation relating to a cir- 
 dumstance in Cato's behaviour, when he was only 
 
 J The work to which Cicero alludes was probably a 
 panegyric upon Cato, which he wrote and published about 
 ;;his time. 
 
 four years of age'*, that I could scarce decipher 
 myself. You wiU continue your care, likewise, 
 that the dining-room be in proper order for the 
 
 •« Plutarch mentions several instances in the life of 
 Cato, wherein that consummate patriot had given very 
 early indications of his resolute and inflexible spirit. But 
 the DKist remarkable, and probably the same which Cicero 
 had celebrated in the passage he is here speaking of, was 
 one that happened when Cato was in the house of his uncle, 
 Livius Drusus, who had taken upon himself the care of 
 his education. At that time the several states of Italy, in 
 alliance with the republic, were strenuously soliciting the 
 privileges of Roman citizens ; and Pompedius Silo, a person 
 of great uote, who came to Rome in order to prosecute this 
 affair, was the guest of Drusus. As Pompedius was one 
 day amusing himself with the children of the family, 
 " Well, young gentlemen," said he, addressing himself 
 particularly to the little Cato and his brother, " I hope 
 you will use your interest with your uncle, to give his vote 
 in our favour." The latter very readily answered in the 
 affirmative, while Cato signified his refusal, by fixing his 
 eyes sternly upon Pompedius, without saying a single 
 word in reply. Pompedius, snatching him \ip in his arms, 
 ran with him to the window, and, in a pretended rage, 
 tlireatenod to throw him out, if he did not immediately 
 yield to his request. But in vain : nature had not formed 
 the atrocem animum Calnnis of a texture to be menaced 
 out of its purposes. Accordingly Pompedius was so struck 
 with that early symptom of an undaunted spirit, that ho 
 could cot forbear saying to some of his friends who were
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 o25 
 
 reception of our guests, — in which number I dare 
 say I may reckon Tertia, provided Publius be not 
 invited. 
 
 That strange fellow Demetrius was always, I 
 know, the very reverse of his nan>esake, of Pha- 
 leris ' ; but I find he is now grown more insufferable 
 than ever, and is degenerated into an arrant 
 Bilienus'". I resign the management of him, 
 therefore, entirely into your hands, and you will 
 pay your court to him accordingly. But, hoivcver, 
 — d'l/e see, — and as to thai, — (to present you with 
 a few of his own elegant expletives) if you should 
 have any conversation with him, let me know, that 
 it may furnish me with the subject of a letter, and 
 at the same time afford me the pleasure of reading 
 so much longer a one from yourself. In the 
 meanwhile take care of your health, my dear Tiro, I 
 conjure you, and be well persuaded that you cannot 
 render me a more pleasing service. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER n. 
 To Dolabella". 
 Oh ! that the silence you so kindly regret had 
 been occasioned by my own death rather than by 
 ^„o the severe loss" I have suffered ; a loss I 
 should be better able to support, if I had 
 you with me, — for your judicious counsels and 
 singular affection towards me would greatly con- 
 tribute to alleviate its weight. This good office, 
 indeed, I may yet perhaps receive ; for, as I ima- 
 gine we shall soon see you here, you will find me 
 still so deeply affected as to have an opportunity of 
 affording me great assistance ; not that tliis affliction 
 has so broken my spirit as to render me unmindful 
 
 present, " Ho \v happy will it beforltaly if this boy should 
 live ! For my part," continued he, " I am well persuaded, 
 if he were now a man, we should not be able to procure a 
 single suffrage throughout all Rome." — Plut. in Vit. Caton. 
 Uticen. 
 
 * Demetrius, surnamed Phalereus, from Phaleris, a sea- 
 port town in Greece, was a celebrated orator, who flourished 
 about three centuries before the birth of Christ. 
 
 i^ AVho this person and Demetrius were is utterly un- 
 known ; but it is probable that the ridiculous part of their 
 characters, to which Cicero here alludes, was that of being 
 very dull and inelegant orators. 
 
 " Ho was at this time with Caesar in Spain. 
 
 o The death of his daughter Tullia. — It appears by a 
 former letter that she had lately lain-in at Rome, from 
 whence she was probably removed, for the benefit of the 
 air. to her father's Tusculan villa, where she seems to have 
 died. This letter furnishes a presumptive argument against 
 the opinion of those who imagine that Dolabella and Tullia 
 were never actually divorced. For, in the first place, not- 
 withstanding it appears that there was some distance of 
 time between the accident of her death and the present 
 epistle, j'et it seems to have been the first letter which 
 Cicero had \vTitten to Dolabella upon the occasion. Now 
 it is altogether improbable, if the marriage had subsisted, 
 that Cicero should not have given him immediate notice 
 of an event in which, if not from affection, at least from 
 interest, he would have been greatly concerned. In the 
 next place it is equally improbable, supposing there had 
 been no divorce, that Cicero should speak of tliis misfor- 
 time only in general and distant terms, as he does through- 
 out this whole letter, without so much as mentioning the 
 name of Tullia, or intimating even the remotest hint of 
 any connexion between her and Dolabella. But the fol- 
 lowing letter will supply a farther and more positive argu- 
 ment against the opinion above-mentioned. See rem. 1 on 
 the nest letter. — Ad Att. xii. 45, 46. 
 
 that I am a man, or apprehensive that I must 
 totally sink under its pressure. But all that cheer- 
 fulness and vivacity of temper which you once so 
 particularly admired has now, alas ! entirely 
 forsaken me. My fortitude and resolution, never- 
 theless, (if these virtues were ever mine) I still 
 retain, and retain them too in the same vigour as 
 when you left me. 
 
 As to those battles which, you tell me, you have 
 sustained upon my account, I am far less solicitous 
 that you should confute my detractors p, than that 
 the world should know (as it unquestionably does) 
 that I enjoy a place in your alfection ; and may 
 you still continue to render that truth conspicuous. 
 To this request I will add another, and entreat 
 you to excuse me for not sending you a longer 
 letter. I shorten it, not only as imagining we 
 shall soon meet, but because my mind is at present 
 by no means sufficiently composed for writing. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 Servius Snlpicius to Cicero. 
 I RECEIVED the news of your daughter's death 
 with all the concern it so justly deserves ; and, 
 indeed, I cannot but consider it as a 
 ■ ■ ' ■ misfortune in which I bear an equal 
 share with yourself. If I had been near you when 
 this fatal accident happened, I should not only have 
 minified my tears with yours, but assisted you with 
 all the consolation in my power. I am sensible, 
 at the same time, that offices of this kind afford at 
 best but a wretched relief ; for as none are qualified 
 to ])erform them but those who stand near to us 
 by the ties either of blood or affection, such persons 
 are generally too much afflicted themselves to be 
 capable of administering comfort to others. Never- 
 theless, I thought proper to suggest a few reflections 
 which occurred to me upon tliis occasion ; not as 
 imagining they would be new to you, but believing 
 that, in your present discomposure of mind, they 
 might possibly have escaped your attention. Tell 
 me then, my friend, wherefore do you indulge this 
 excess of sorrow ? Reflect, I entreat you, in what 
 manner fortune has dealt with every one of us ; 
 that she has deprived us of what ought to be no 
 less dear than our children, and overwhelmed in 
 one general ruin our honours, our liberties, and 
 our country : and, after these losses, is it possible 
 that any other should increase our tears .'' Is it 
 possible that a mind tong exercised in calamities 
 so truly severe should not become totally callous 
 and indifferent to every event .' But you will tell 
 me, perhaps, that your grief arises not so much 
 on your own account as on that of Tullia. Yet 
 surely you must often, as well as myself, have had 
 occasion in these wretched times to reflect that 
 their condition by no means deserves to be regretted 
 
 P The person to whom Cicero alludes was, in all proba- 
 bility, his own nephew, who was at this time in the army 
 with CEesar. This young man had taken great liberties 
 with his uncle's character, aspersing it upon all occasions, 
 and in all companies: in particuhar (and what gave Cicero 
 the greatest uneasiness), he attempted to infuse a suspicion 
 among the principal officers of the army, that Cicero was 
 a man of dangerous designs, and one against whom Cassar 
 ought to bo particularly upon his guard. — Ad Att. xii. 38 ; 
 xiii. 37.
 
 620 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICEIIO 
 
 whom death has gently removed from this unhai)py 
 scene. What is there, let me ask, in the |irtseiit 
 circumstances of our country, that could iiave 
 rendered life greatly desirable to your daughter ? 
 What pleasing hopes, what agreeable views, what 
 rational satisfaction, could she possibly have )ir()- 
 poscd to herself from a more extended period ? 
 V.'as it in the prospect of conjugal happiness, in 
 the society of some distinguished youth i ? as if, 
 indeed, you could have found a son-in-law amongst 
 our ])resent set of young men worthy of being 
 entrusted with the care of your daughter ! Or 
 was it in the ex])ectation of being the joyful mother 
 of a nourishing race, who might possess their ]iatri- 
 mony witli indei>eiidencc, who might gradually rise 
 thr()\igh the several dignities of the state, and exert 
 the liberty to which they were bora in the service 
 and defence of their friends and country ? But is 
 there one amongst all these desirable jirivileges, of 
 which we were not deprived, before she was in a 
 capacity of transmitting them to her descendants ? 
 Yet, after all, you may still allege, perhaps, that the 
 loss of our children is a severe affliction ; and un- 
 questionably it would be so, if it were not a much 
 greater to see them live to endure those indignities 
 ■which their parents suffer. 
 
 I lately fell into a reflection which, as it afforded 
 great relief to the disquietude of my own heart, it 
 may possibly contribute, likewise, to assuage the 
 anguish of yours. In my return out of Asia, as I 
 was sailing from JEgina towards Megara'', I amused 
 myself with contemplating the circumjacent coun- 
 tries. Behind me lay yEgina, before me Megara ; 
 on my right I saw Pirseeus% and on my left 
 Corinth'. These cities, once so flourishing and 
 magnificent, now presented nothing to my view 
 but a sad spectacle of desolation. " Alas ! (I said 
 to myself,) shall such a short-lived creature as 
 man complain when one of his species falls either 
 by the hand of violence or by the common course 
 of nature, whilst in this narrow compass so many 
 great and glorious cities, formed for a much longer 
 duration, thus lie extended in ruins ? Remember, 
 then, oh my heart ! the general lot to which man 
 is born, and let that thought suppress thy un- 
 
 'i This passage seems strongly to intimate, that the 
 marriage between Dolabella and Tullia was actually dis- 
 solved before her death. It must be aclcnowledged, how- 
 ever, that a very learned and accurate critic is of opinion 
 that the affirmative side of this question c.nn no more be 
 proved from these words of Sulpicius, than it can be infer- 
 i-ed from those which he immediately adds, an ut ca liberos 
 ex sesc parcret, that Tullia died without issue, which it is 
 well liiKiwn she did not. But there seems to bo this dif- 
 ference between the two instances, that with respect to 
 the latter, Sulpicius might very properly put the question 
 he there does, notwithstanding TiiUia's having left a son ; 
 for, although she had one, she might reasonably indulge 
 the expectation of having more : whereas, with regard to 
 the former, would it not have been highly injurious to 
 her character if Sulpicius had argued from a supposi- 
 tion which implied that Tullia entertained thoughts of 
 another husband, whilst her marriage with Dolabella was 
 still subsisting? — Vide epist. Ttmstal. ad vir. erud. Con. 
 Middleton. p. 186. 
 
 r ^gina, now called Engia, is an island situated in the 
 gulf that rims between the Peloponnesus and Attica, to 
 which it gives its name. Megara was a city near the isth- 
 mus of Corinth. 
 
 " A celebrated sea-port at a small distance from Athens, 
 now called Port-Lion. 
 
 • A city in the Peloponnesus. 
 
 reasonable murmurs." Believe me, I found my 
 mind greatly refreshed and comforted by these 
 reflections. Let me advise you, in the same man- 
 ner, to represent to yourself what nundjers of our 
 illustrious countrymen have lately been cut off at 
 once", how much the strength of the Roman 
 republic is impaired, and what dnadful devastation 
 has gone forth throughcmt all its jirovinces : and 
 can you, with the impression of these greater 
 calamities upon your mind, be so immoderately 
 afllicted for the loss of a single individual, a poor, 
 little, tender woman? who, if she had not died at 
 this time, must, in a few fleeting years more, have 
 inevitably undergone that common fate to which 
 she was born^. 
 
 Reasonable, however, as these reflections are, I 
 would call you from them awhile in order to lead 
 your thoughts to others more j)eculiarly suitable to 
 your circumstances and character. Remember, 
 tiun, that your daughter lived as long as life waa 
 worth possessing, that is, till liberty was no more; 
 that she lived to see you in the illustrious offices of 
 prsetor, consul, and augur, to be married to some 
 of the noblest youths in Rome'", to be blessed with 
 almost every valuable enjoyment, and at length to 
 expire with the republic itself. Tell me, now, 
 what is there in this view of her fate that could 
 give either her or yourself just reason to complain? 
 In fine, do not forget that you are Cicero — the 
 wise, the philosophical Cicero, who were wont to 
 give advice to others, nor resemble those unskilful 
 empirics who, at the same time that they pretend 
 to be furnished with remedies for other men's 
 disorders, are altogether incapable of finding a cure 
 for their own. On the contrary, apply to your 
 private use those judicious precepts you have ad- 
 ministered to the public. Time necessarily weakens 
 the strongest impressions of sorrow ; but it would 
 be a reproach to your character not to anticipate 
 this its certain effect by the force of your own 
 good sense and judgment. If the dead retain any 
 consciousness of what is here transacted, your 
 daughter's affection I am sure was such, both to 
 you and to all her relations, that she can by no 
 
 " In the civil wars. 
 
 ' One of the finest and most elegant of all ^v^iters, either 
 ancient or modern, has given us some reflections which 
 arose in his mind in walking amongst the repositories of 
 the dead in Westminster Abbey, which, as they are not 
 altogether foreign to the subject of this letter, the reader, 
 perhaps, will indulge me in the pleasure of producing, as a 
 sort of corollaries to the sentiments of Sulpicius: — " VSTien 
 I look upon the tombs of the great," says the incomparable 
 Addison, " every emotion of envy dies within me ; when I 
 read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire 
 goes out ; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a 
 tombstone, my heart melts with compassion ; when I see 
 the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity 
 of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow ; when 
 I see kings lying by those who deposed them ; when I con- 
 sider rival wits, placed side by side, or the holy men that 
 divided tho world with their contests and disputes, I 
 reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little compe- 
 titions, factions, and debates of mankind. When I read 
 the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yester- 
 day, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that 
 great day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, 
 and make our appearance together." — Spectator, vol. i. 
 No. 26. 
 
 ^ To Piso, Crassipes, and Dolabella ; of each of whom 
 an account has been occasionally given in the preceding 
 observations.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 C27 
 
 means desire you should abandon yourself to this 
 excess of grief. Restrain it tlien, I conjure you, 
 for her sake, and for the sake of the rest of your 
 family and friends, who lament to see you thus 
 afflicted. Restrain it too, 1 beseech you, for the 
 sake of your country; that whenever the oppor- 
 tunity shall serve, it may reap the benefit of your 
 counsels and assistance. In short, since such is 
 our fortune, that we must necessarily submit to the 
 present system of public affairs, suffer it not to be 
 suspected that it is not so much the dc.ah of your 
 daughter as the fate of the republic and the success 
 of our victors that you dejilore. 
 
 But it would be ill-manners to dwell any longer 
 upon this subject, as I should seem to question the 
 efficacy of your own good sense. I will only add, 
 therefore, that as we have often seen you bear 
 prosperity in the noblest manner, and with the 
 highest api)lause, show us, hkewise, that you are 
 not too sensible of adversity, but know how to 
 support it with the same advantage to your charac- 
 ter. In a word, let it not be said that fortitude is 
 the single virtue to which my friend is a stranger". 
 
 As for what concerns myself, I will send you an 
 account of the state of this province, and of what 
 is transacting in this part of the world, as soon as 
 I shall hear that you are sufficiently composed to 
 receive the information. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Servius Sulpicius. 
 I JOIN with you, my dear Sulpicius, in wishing 
 that you had been in Rome when this most severe 
 calamity befel me. I am sensible of the 
 ■*■"■' ■ advantage I should have received from 
 your presence, and I had almost said your equal 
 participation of my grief, by having found myself 
 somewhat more composed after I had read your 
 letter. It furnished me, indeed, with arguments 
 extremely proper to soothe the anguish of affliction, 
 and evidently flowed from a heart that sympathised 
 ■with the sorrows it endeavoured to assuage. But 
 although I could not enjoy the benefit of your own 
 good offices in person, I had the advantage, how- 
 ever, of your son's, who gave me a proof, by every 
 tender assistance that could be contributed upon 
 so melancholy an occasion, how much he imagined 
 that he was acting agreeably to your sentiments 
 when he tluis discovered the affection of his own. 
 More pleasing instances of his friendship I have 
 frequently received, but never any that were more 
 obliging. As to those for which I am indebted to 
 yourself, it is not only the force of your reasonings, 
 and the very considerable share you take in my 
 afflictions, that have contributed to compose my 
 mind ; it is the deference, likewise, which I always 
 pay to the authority of your sentiments. For, 
 knowing as I perfectly do the superior wisdom with 
 
 ^ Sulpicius has dra^\'Il togetlier, in this admirefl letter, 
 whatever human philosophy has of force to compose the 
 perturbations of a mind under the disquietude of severe 
 afflictions. But it is evident that all arguments of the sort 
 here produced tend rather to silence the clamours of sor- 
 row, than to soften and subdue its anguish. It is a much 
 more exalted philosophy, indeed, that must supply the 
 effectual remedies for this purpose ; to which no other but 
 that of Christianity alone will be found, on the trial, to be 
 in any rational d^ree sufficient. 
 
 which you are enlightened, T should be ashamed 
 not to support my distresses in the manner you 
 think I ought : I will acknowledge, nevertheless, 
 that they sometimes almost entirely overcome me ; 
 and I am scarce able to resist the force of my grief 
 when I reflect, that I am destitute of those consola- 
 tions which attended others, whose examples I 
 propose to my imitation. Thus Quintus Ma-ximus^ 
 lost a son of consular rank, and distinguished by 
 many brave and illustrious actions; Lucius Paulus* 
 was deprived of two sons in the space of a single 
 week ; and your relation Gallus", together with 
 Marcus Cato'', had botli of them the unhappiness 
 to survive their respective sons, who were endowed 
 with the highest abilities and virtues. Yet these 
 unfortunate parents lived in times when the honours 
 they derived from the republic might, in some 
 measure, alleviate the weight of their domestic 
 misfortunes. But as for myself, after having beea 
 stripped of those dignities you mention, and which I 
 had acquired by the most laborious exertion of my 
 abilities, I had one only consolation remaining, — 
 and of that I am now bereaved ! I could no longer 
 divert the disquietude of my thoughts, by employing 
 myself in the causes of my friends or the business 
 of the state ; for I could no longer, with any satis- 
 faction, appear either in the forum or the senate. 
 In short, I justly considered myself as cut off from 
 the benefit of all those alleviating occupations ia 
 which fortune and industry had qualified me to 
 
 y Quintus FabiusMaximus, so well known for his brave 
 and judicious conduct in opposing the progress of Hanni- 
 bal's arms in Italy, was five times advanced to the consular 
 office, the last of which was in the year of Rome 545. At 
 the expiration of his fourth consulate, he was succeeded 
 in that office by his son, Marcus Fabius, who likewise dis- 
 tinguished himself by his military achievements. It does 
 not appear when or by what accident Marcus died ; but 
 his illustrious father was so much master of his grief upon 
 that occasion, as to pronounce a funeral eulogy in honour 
 of his son before a general assembly of the people. — Liv. 
 xxiv. 43 ; Plut. in Vit. Fab. 
 
 I A very few days before Paulus .^milius made his pub- 
 lic entry into Rome, in the year 585, on occasion of his 
 victory over Perseus, he had the misfortune to lose one of 
 his sons; and this calamity was succeeded by another of 
 the same kind, which befel him about as many days after 
 his triumph. — Liv. xlv. 41. 
 
 a Manutius conjectures, that the person here men- 
 tioned is Caius Sulpicius Gallus, who was consul in the 
 year 586. 
 
 b The Censor. His son was prsetor in the year of Rome 
 638, and died whilst he was in the administration of that 
 office. I cannot forbear transcribing upon this occasion a 
 noble passage from Cicero's treatise concerning old age, as 
 I find it extremely well translated to my hand, by a late 
 ingenious writer (Mr. Hughes, if I mistake not) in the 
 Spectator. Our author represents Cato as breaking out 
 into the following rapture at the thoughts of his approach- 
 ing dissolution : — " O happy day," says this amiable moral- 
 ist, " when I shall escape from this crowd, this heap of 
 pollution, and be admitted to that divine assembly of 
 exalted spirits ! when I shall go — to my Cato, my son ; 
 than whom a better man was never born, and whose fune- 
 ral rites I myself performed ; whereas, he ought rather to 
 iiave attended mine. Yet has not his soul deserted me, 
 but seeming to cast a look on me, is gone before to those 
 habitations to which it was sensible I should follow him. 
 And though I might appear to have borne my loss with 
 courage, I was not unatfected with it ; but I comforted 
 myself in the assurance that it would not be long before 
 we should meet again, and be divorced no more." — Pigh. 
 Annal. ii. 99 ; Plut. in Vit. Caton. ; Cic. de Senect. 23 ; 
 Spectator, vol. vii. No. 637.
 
 628 
 
 THE LETTERS OF- MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 engage. But I considered, too, that this was a 
 deprivation which I suffered in common with your- 
 self and some others ; and, whilst I was endea- 
 vouring to reconcile my mind to a patient endurance 
 -of those ills, there was one to whose tender offices 
 I could have recourse, and in the sweetness of 
 ■whose conversation I could discharge all the cares 
 and anxiety of my heart. But tliis last fatal stab 
 to my peace has torn open those wounds which 
 seemed in some measure to have been tolerably 
 healed : for 1 c;m now no longer lose my private 
 sorrows in the prosperity of the conunonwealtli, as 
 I was wont to dispel the uneasiness I sufTered upon 
 the public account, in the happiness I receive<l at 
 Lome. Accordingly, I have equally banished 
 myself from my house "^ and from the j)ublie, — as 
 finding no relief in either from the ealaniitits, I 
 lament in both. It is this, therefore, that heightens 
 my desire of seeing you here; as nothing can allord 
 me a more effectual consolation than the renewal 
 of our friendly intercourse ; a happiness which I 
 hope, and am informed indeed, that I shall shortly 
 enjoy. Among the many reasons I have for im- 
 patiently wishing your arrival, one is, that we may 
 previously concert together our scheme of conduct 
 in the present conjuncture, — which, however, must 
 now be entirely accommodated to another's will. 
 This person'', it is true, is a man of great abilities 
 and generosity, and one, if I mistake not, who is 
 by no means my enemy, — as T am sure he is 
 extremely your friend. Nevertheless, it requires 
 much consideration, I do not say in what manner 
 we shall act with respect to public affairs, but by 
 what methods we may best obtain his permission 
 to retire from tbem. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To Lucijis Lucceius'. 
 All the letters I have received from you upon 
 the subject of my late misfortune, were extremely 
 A V "08 acceptable to me, as instances of the 
 highest affection and good sense. But 
 the great advantage I have derived from them, 
 principally results from that animating contempt 
 with which you look down upon human affairs, and 
 that exemplary fortitude which arms you against 
 all the various assaults of fortune. I esteem it 
 the most glorious privilege of philosophy, to be 
 thus superior to external accidents, and to depend 
 for happiness on ourselves alone : a sentiment 
 which, although it was too deeply planted in my 
 heart to be totally eradicated, has been somewhat 
 weakened, I confess, by the violence of those 
 repeated storms to which I have Been lately ex- 
 posed. But you have endeavoured, and with great 
 success indeed, to restore it to all its usual strength 
 and vigour. I cannot, therefore, either too often 
 or too strongly assure you, that nothing could give 
 me a higher satisfaction than your letter. But, 
 powerful as the various arguments of consolation 
 are which you have collected for my use, and ele- 
 gantly as you have enforced them, I must acknow- 
 
 c Cicero, upon the death of his daughter, retired from 
 his own house, to one belonging to Atticus, near Rome : 
 from which, perhaps, this letter was written. 
 
 ^ Cjesar. 
 
 e The same to whom the SOth letter of the first book is 
 ■written. See an account of him in rim. ' on that cpiBtle. 
 
 ledge, that nothing proved more effectual than that 
 firmness of mind which 1 remarked in your letters, 
 and which I should esteem as the utmost reproach 
 not to imitate. But, if I imitate, I must neces- 
 sarily excel my guide and instructor in this lesson 
 of fortitude ; for 1 am altogether unsup])orted hy 
 the same hopes which I find you entertain, that 
 j)ublic affairs will improve. Those illustrations, 
 indeed, which you draw from the gladiatorial 
 combats', together with the whole tendency of 
 your reasoning in general, all concur in forbidding 
 me to despair of the commonwealth. It would be 
 nothing extraordinary, therefore, if you sliould be 
 more composed than myself whilst you are in pos- 
 session of these pleasing hojics ; the only wonder 
 is, how you can j)ossibly entertain any. For, say, 
 my friend, what is there of our constitution that is 
 not utterly subverted .■' Look round the republic 
 and tell me (you who so well understand the 
 nature of our government), what part of it remains 
 unbroken or unimpaired ? Most unquestionably 
 there is not one ; as I would prove in detail, if I 
 imagined my own discernment was superior to 
 yours, or were capable (notwithstanding all your 
 powerful admonitions and precei)ts) to dwell upoa 
 so melancholy a subject without being extremely 
 affected. But I will bear my domestic misfortunes 
 in the manner you assure me that I ought ; and, 
 as to those of the j)ublic, I shall support them 
 perhaps with greater equanimity than even my 
 friend. For (to repeat it again) you are not, it 
 seems, without some sort of hopes ; whereas, for 
 myself, I have absolutely none ; and shall, there- 
 fore, in pursuance of your advice, preserve my 
 spirits even in themidst of despair. The pleasing 
 recollection of those actions you recal to my remem- 
 brance, and which, indeed, 1 performed chiefly by 
 your encouragement and recommendation, will 
 greatly contribute to this end. To say the truth, 
 1 have done everything for the service of my coun- 
 try that I ought, and more than could have been 
 expected from the courage and counsels of any 
 man. You will pardon me, I hope, for speaking 
 in this advantageous manner of my own conduct, 
 but, as you advise me to alleviate my present unea- 
 siness by a retrospect of my past actions, I will 
 confess, that, in thus commemorating them, I find 
 great consolation. 
 
 I shall punctually observe your admonitions, by 
 calling off my mind as much as possible from every- 
 thing that may disturb its peace, and fixing it on 
 those speculations which are at once an ornament 
 to prosperity, and the support of adversity. For 
 this purpose, I shall endeavour to spend as much 
 of my time with you as our health and years will 
 mutually permit ; and, if we cannot meet so often 
 as 1 am sure we both wish, we shall always at least 
 seem present to each other by a sympathy of hearts, 
 and a union in the same philosophical contempla- 
 tions. Farewell. 
 
 f Manutius supposes, with great probability, that Lue- 
 ceius, in the letter to which this is an answer, had endea- 
 voured to persuade Cicero not to despair of better times, 
 by reminding him of what sometimes happened at the 
 gladiatorial shows, where it was not unusual to see a 
 combatant that seemed almost entirely vanquished, un- 
 expectedly recover his ground, and gain the day from his 
 antagonist.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 £29 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 Lucceius to Cicero. 
 I SHALL rejoice to hear tnat you are well. As 
 to my own health, it is much as usual ; or rather, 
 ;.„„ I think, somewhat worse. 
 
 I have frequently called at your door, 
 and am much surprised to find that you have not 
 been in Rome since Ctesar left it. What is it that 
 so strongly draws you from hence ? If any of your 
 usual engagements of the literary kind renders you 
 thus enamoured of solitude, I am so far from con- 
 demning your retirement, that I think of it with 
 pleasure. There is no sort of life, indeed, that can 
 be more agreeable, not only in times so disturbed 
 as the present, but even in those of the most de- 
 sirable calm and serenity ; especially to a mind 
 like yours, which may have occasion for repose 
 from its public labours, and which is always capa- 
 ble of producing something that will afford both 
 pleasure to others and honour to yourself. But 
 if you have withdrawn from the world, in order 
 to give a free vent to those tears which you 
 so immoderately indulged when you were here, I 
 shall lament indeed your grief; but (if you will 
 allow me to speak the truth) I never can excuse 
 it. For tell me, my friend, is it possible that a 
 man of your uncommon discernment should not 
 perceive what is obvious to all mankind ? Is it 
 possible you can be ignorant that your perpetual 
 complaints can profit nothing, and only serve to 
 increase those disquietudes which your good sense 
 requires you to subdue ? But, if arguments cannot 
 prevail, entreaties perhaps may. Let me conjure 
 you, then, by all the regard you bear me, to dispel 
 this gloom that hangs upon your heart ; to return 
 to that society and to those occupations which were 
 either common to us both or peculiar to yourself. 
 But though I would fain dissuade you from con- 
 tinuing your present way of life, yet I would by 
 no means suffer my zeal to be troublesome. In 
 the difficulty, therefore, of steering between these 
 two inclinations, I will only add my request that 
 you would either comply with my advice, or excuse 
 me for offering it. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 To Lucius Lucceius. 
 Every part of your last letter glowed with that 
 ■warmth of friendship, which, though it was by no 
 . ., >7no means new to me, I could not but observe 
 
 A. U. /Uo. , , ,. . - . - 
 
 With peculiar satisfaction ; I would say 
 pleasure, if that were not a word to which I have 
 now for ever bidden adieu. Not merely, however, 
 for the cause you suspect, and for which, under 
 the gentlest and most affectionate terms, you, in 
 fact, very severely reproach me ; but because all 
 that ought in reason to assuage the anguish of so 
 deep a wound is absolutely no more. For whither 
 shall I fly for consolation? Is it to the bosom of 
 my friends ? But tell me (for we have generally 
 shared the same common amities together), how 
 few of that number are remaining .' how few that 
 have not perished by the sword, or that are not 
 tecome strangely insensible ? You will say, per- 
 haps, that I might seek my relief in your society ; 
 and there, indeed, I would willingly seek it. The 
 
 same habitudes and studies, a long intercourse of 
 friendship, — in short, is there any sort of bond, 
 any single circumstance of connexion wanting to 
 unite us together ! \Miy then are we such stran- 
 gers to one another ? For ray own part, I know 
 not ; but this I know, that we have hitherto seldom 
 met, I do not say in Rome, where the forum usu- 
 ally brings everybody together^, but when we were 
 near neig.hbours at Tusculum and Puteoli. 
 
 I know not by what ill fate it has hajipened that, 
 at an age when I might expect to flourish in the 
 greatest credit and dignity, I should find myself in 
 so wretched a situation as to be ashamed that I 
 am still in being. Despoiled, indeed, of every 
 honour and every comfort that adorned my public 
 life, or solaced my private, what is it that can now 
 afford me any refuge ? My books, I imagine you 
 will tell me ; and to these indeed I very assidu- 
 ously ajiply. For, to what else can I possibly have 
 recourse ? Yet even these seem to exclude me 
 from that peaceful port which I fain would reach, 
 and reproach me, as it were, for prolonging that 
 life which only increases my sorrows with my years. 
 Can you wonder then that I absent myself from 
 Rome, where there is nothing under my own roof 
 to afford me any satisfaction, and where I abhor 
 both public men and public measures, both the 
 forum and the senate ? For this reason it is, that 
 I wear away my days in a total application to 
 literary pursuits ; not, indeed, as entertaining so 
 vain a hope, that I may find in them a complete 
 cure for my misfortunes, but in order to obtain, at 
 least, some little respite from their bitter remem- 
 brance. 
 
 If those dangers with which we were daily me- 
 naced, had not formerly prevented both you and 
 myself from reflecting with that coolness we ought, 
 we should never have been thus separated. Had 
 that proved to have been the case, we should both 
 of us have spared ourselves much uneasiness : as I 
 should not, h^ve indulged so many groundless fears 
 for your health, nor you for the consequences of 
 my grief. Let us repair then this unlucky mistake 
 as well as we may : and as nothing can be mora 
 suitable to both of us than the company of each 
 other, I purpose to be with you in a few days. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 
 To Marcus Marcellus. 
 Notwithstanding that I have nothing new to 
 communicate to you, and am in expectation of a 
 A. u "08 '^'^^'' from you very shortly, or rather, 
 indeed, of seeing you in person; yet I 
 would not suffer Theophilus to go away without 
 sending you a line or two by his hands. Let me 
 entreat you then to return amongst us** as soon as 
 possible; and, be assured, you are impatiently 
 expected, not only by myself and the rest of your 
 friends, but by all Rome in general. I am some- 
 
 K The forum was a place of general resort for the whole 
 city. It was here that the lawyers pleaded their causes, 
 that the poets recited their works, and that funeral ora- 
 tions were spoken in honour of the dead. It was here, in 
 short, everything was going forward that could engage 
 the active, or amuse the idle. — Hor. lib. I. sat. iv, 74, sat. 
 vi. 42. 
 
 h See letter 19, book jx. p. snn. 
 M M
 
 630 
 
 THE LKTTERS OF iMARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 times, however, inclined to fi;ar that you will not 
 be extremely forward to hasten your journey: and, 
 indeed, if you were possessed of no other sense 
 but that of seeing, I could easily excuse you if 
 there are some j)ersons whom you would choose 
 to avoid. But as the difference is very inconsider- 
 able between hearinj^ and hcini^ a spectator of what 
 one disapproves ; and as 1 am persuaded it is of 
 great consequence, both in respect to your private 
 affairs as well as upon every other consideration, 
 that you should expedite your return, I thought it 
 incumbent upon me to tell you so. And now, 
 having acquainted you with my sentiments, the 
 rest must be left to your own determination ; but 
 I should be glad to know, however, when we may 
 expect you. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To Tiro. 
 
 Believe nie, my dear Tiro, I am greatly anxious 
 for your health ; however, if you persevere in the 
 im ^^'"^ cautious regimen which you have 
 hitherto observed, you will soon, I trust, 
 be well. As to my library, I beg you would put 
 the books in order, and take a catalogue of them, 
 when your physician shall give you his conaent, 
 for it is by his directions you must now be 
 governed. With respect to the gardener, I leave 
 you to adjust matters as you shall judge proper. 
 
 I think you might come to Rome on the first of 
 next month, in order to see the gladiatorial com- 
 bats, and return the following day, but let this be 
 entirely as is most agreeable to your own inclina- 
 tions. In tbe mean time, if you have any affection 
 for me, take care of your health. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 Servius Sulpicius to Cicero. 
 The news I am going to acquaint you with, will, 
 I am sure, prove extremely unwelcome ; 
 ■ yet, as you cannot but in some measure be 
 
 prepared for it, by being sensible that every man's 
 life is subject to casualties, as well as to the gene- 
 ral laws of nature, I thought proper to send you a 
 circumstantial accountof the unhappy accident that 
 has lately happened. 
 
 I arrived at Piraeeus, from Epidaurus", on the 
 23d instant ; where I continued all that day merely 
 to enjoy the company of my colleague, Marcellus K 
 The next day I took my leave of him, with an 
 intention of going from Athens into Bceotia ^, in 
 order to finish the remainder of my circuit ', and I 
 left him in the resolution, as he told me, of sailing 
 to Italy by the way of Malea™. The day following, 
 as I was preparing to set out from Athens, his 
 
 • A city in the Peloponnesus, now called Pigrada, situ- 
 ated upon the bay of Engia. 
 
 J It has already been noted, that Marcellus and Sulpicius 
 were colleagues in the consular office, A. U. 702. 
 
 ^ A district of Greece, under the jurisdiction of Sulpi- 
 cius, governor of that province. 
 
 ' The Roman governors were obliged to visit the principal 
 cities of their province, in order to administer justice and 
 settle other affairs relating to their function. 
 
 ■" A promontory in the south-east point of the Pelopon- 
 nesus, now called cape Mails. 
 
 friend Posthumius came to me about four in the 
 morning, and informed me Marcellus had been 
 stabbed the night before by Magius Cilo, whilst 
 they were sitting together after supper" ; that he 
 had received two wounds from a dagger, one of 
 which was in his breast, and the other under his 
 car, but that neither of them, he hoped, was mor- 
 tal. He added, that Magius, after having com- 
 mitted this barbarous action, immediately killed 
 himself, and that Marcellus had despatched him in 
 order to give me this account, and likewise to desire 
 tliat 1 would direct my physicians" to attend him. 
 This I instantly did, and followed them myself as 
 soon as it was light. But when I had almost 
 reached Pirieeus 1 met a servant of Acidanus, with 
 a Tiote to acquaint me that our friend expired a 
 little before day-break. Thus did the noble Mar- 
 cellus unworthily fall by the hand of a villanous 
 assassin ; and he whose life his very enemies had 
 spared in reverence to his illustrious virtues, met 
 with an executioner at last in his own friend ! 
 However, I proceeded to his pavilion, where I 
 found only two of his freedmen and a few slaves, 
 the rest I was told having fled in apprehension of 
 the consequences in which they might be involved 
 by this murder of their master^. I was obliged to 
 place the body of Marcellus in the same sedan that 
 brought me, and to make my chairmen carry it 
 into Athens, where I paid him all the funeral 
 honours that city could supply, which indeed were 
 not inconsiderable. But I could not prevail with, 
 the Athenians to suffer him to be buried within 
 their walls, a privilege they assured me which their 
 religious ordinances would by no means admit- 
 They granted me, however, what was the next 
 honour, and which they had never permitted to 
 any stranger before; they allowed me to deposit 
 his ashes in any of the Gymnasia I should think 
 proper. Accordingly, I fixed upon a spot belonging 
 to the Academy 1, one of the noblest colleges in the 
 whole world. In this ])lace I caused a funeral pile 
 to be erected, and afterwards persuaded the Athen- 
 ians to raise a marble monument to his memory, 
 at the public expense. Thus have I paid to my 
 relation and colleague, both during his life and after 
 his death, every friendly office he had a right to 
 expect from me. Farewell. 
 Athens, May 31. 
 
 n The reason which induced Cilo to murder his friend is 
 
 not certainly known. It was suspected by some at Rome 
 that it was at the secret instigation of Caesar ; but the cir- 
 cumstance of Cilo immediately afterwards killing himself, 
 renders that suspicion altogether improbable, and seems 
 to determine the motive to some personal and perhaps 
 sudden resentment. — Ad Att. xiii. 10. 
 
 o The ancient physicians practised surgery as well as 
 medicine. 
 
 P Manutius remarks, that, by the Roman law, where a 
 man was murdered in his own house, his slaves were 
 punishable with death. — Tacit. Annal. xiv. 42. 
 
 q " Tliis celebrated place took its name from one Aca- 
 demus, an ancient hero, who possessed it in the time of 
 the TjTidaridae. Bnt, famous as it was, it was purchased 
 afterwards for about 100/., and dedicated to the public for 
 the convenience of walks and exercises for the citizens of 
 Athens, and was gradually improved by the rich, who had 
 received benefit or pleasure from it, with plantations of 
 groves, stately porticos, and commodious apartments, for 
 the professors of the Academic school."— Middleton'B Life^ 
 of Cicero, p. 302, note '. .
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 531 
 
 LETTER XL 
 To Tiro. 
 I IMPATIENTLY expeot a letter from you, upon 
 affairs of many and various kinds ; but it is with 
 ^ much greater impatience, however, that I 
 ■*'"■' expect yourself. In the mean time, endea- 
 vour to gain Demetrius over to my interest, and to 
 obtain whatever other advantage you shall be able. 
 I know your care is not wanting to recover the money 
 which is owing to me from Aufidius ; but I beg you 
 would be as expeditious in that matter as possible. 
 If it is upon that account you delay your return, 
 I admit it to be a good reason ; if not, fly hither, I 
 charge you, with the utmost speed. To repeat 
 it once more, I expect a letter from you with great 
 impatience. Farewell. 
 
 commands for that purpose. I doubt not of reco- 
 vering him, unless he should take refuge in Dalma- 
 tia'' ; and even in that case, I do not entirely 
 despair. Farewell, and continue to love me. 
 From the camp at Narona"', July the lltU. 
 
 LETTEPc XII. 
 
 Vatinius^ to Cicero. 
 
 If you have not renounced your usual custom of 
 defending the cause of your friends, an old client of 
 yours desires to engage you as his advo- 
 ■*■ " ■ cate ; and, as you formerly protected him 
 in his humiliation^, I dare say you will not now 
 abandon him in his glory. Whose aid, indeed, can 
 I so properly invoke upon the occasion of my 
 victories, as that generous friend's who first taught 
 me how to vanquish*- 9 Can I doubt, that he who 
 Lad the courage to withstand a combination of the 
 most powerful men in Rome, who had conspired 
 my ruin, will not be able to beat down the envious 
 and malignant efforts of a little contemptible party 
 that may endeavour to oppose my honours ? If I 
 still, then, retain the share I once enjoyed of your 
 friendship, take me, I entreat you, wholly under 
 your protection, as one whose dignities it is incum- 
 bent upon you both to support and advance. You 
 are sensible that I have many enemies, whose 
 malevolence I have in no sort deserved ; but what 
 avails innocence against so unaccountable a fate ? 
 If these, therefore, should any of them attempt to 
 obstruct the honours I am soliciting, I conjure you 
 to exert your generous oflSces, as usual, in defence 
 of your absent friend. In the mean time, you will 
 find, at the bottom of this letter, a copy of the 
 despatches I send by this express to the senate, 
 concerning the success of my arms. 
 
 Being informed that the slave whom you employ 
 as your reader had eloped from you into the country 
 of the Vardaei ", I have caused diligent search to be 
 made after him, although 1 did not receive your 
 
 ■■ I have already had occasion to give an account of the 
 character of Vatinius, in rem. t, p, 366. lie was at this 
 time, by the appointment of Caesar, governor of Illyricum, 
 which comprehended part of Austria, Hungary, Sclavonia, 
 Bosnia, and Dahnatia. lie was sent thither with a con- 
 siderable army, to reduce tlie people of that province to 
 obedience ; and having obtained some success, he wrote 
 the present letter to Cicero, in order to engage him to sup- 
 port his pretensions to the honour of a public thanksgiving. 
 ^Pigh. Annal. ii. 454. 
 
 * When Cicero, much to his dishonoiu-, defended Vati- 
 nius against the impeachment of Licinius Calvus. See 
 letter 17, book ii. p. 373. 
 
 ' Alluding to his having, by tne assistance of Cicero's 
 eloquence, vanquished his adversaries in the prosecution 
 mentioned in the preceding note. 
 
 " A people contiguous to Dalmatia. 
 
 LETTER XIIL 
 To Tiro. 
 
 You are not mistaken in supposing me desirous 
 of your company ; but, indeed, I am extremely 
 "us 'ipP'ehensive of your venturing upon so 
 long a journey. The abstinence you have 
 been obliged to observe, the evacuations you have 
 undergone, together with the violence of your dis- 
 temper itself, have too much impaired your strength 
 for so great a fatigue ; and any negligence after 
 disorders so severe as yours, is generally attended 
 with consequences of the most dangerous kind. 
 You cannot reach Cuma in less than two days, and 
 it will cost you five more to complete your expedi- 
 tion. But I purpose to be with you at Formiae 
 towards the end of this month ; and, I hope, my 
 dear Tiro, it will not be your fault if I should not 
 have the satisfaction of finding you perfectly 
 recovered. 
 
 My studies languish for want of your assistance ; 
 however, the letter you sent by Acastus has some- 
 what enlivened them. Pompeius is now here, and 
 presses me much to read to him some of my com- 
 positions : but I jocosely, though at the same time 
 truly, assure him, that all my muses are silent in 
 your absence. I hope, therefore, you will prepare 
 to attend them with your usual good offices. You 
 may depend upon mine in the article, and at the 
 time I promised ; for as 1 taught you the etymology 
 of the word^c?€*, be assured I shall act up to its 
 full import. Take care, I charge you, to re-esta- 
 blish your health ; mine is perfectly well. Adieu. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 To Varro. 
 To importune the execution of a promise, is a 
 sort of ill-manners, of which the populace them- 
 selves, unless they are particularly insti- 
 ■ ' gated for that purpose, are seldom guilty*. 
 
 I cannot, however, forbear, I will not say to 
 demand, but to remind you of a favour, which you 
 long since gave me reason to expect. To this end, 
 I have sent you four admonitorsy ; but admonitors, 
 perhaps, whom you will not look upon as extremely 
 modest. They are certain philosophers, whom I 
 have chosen from among the disciples of the later 
 Academy^ ; and confidence, you know, is the cha- 
 
 ^ Dalmatia made part of the province of Illyricum, but 
 it was not, at this time, entirely subdued to the Roman 
 government. 
 
 "■ In Liburnia, now called Croatia, and which formed 
 part of Vatinius's government. 
 
 » This alludes to those promises of public shows, which 
 were frequently made to the people by the magistrates, and 
 others who affected popularity ; some particular instances 
 of which have been occasionally produced in the course of 
 the preceding remarks, 
 
 y These were dialogues entitled " Academica," which 
 appear from hence to have originally consisted of four books, 
 though there is only part of one now remaining. 
 
 * The followers of the Academic philosophy were dividod 
 M M2
 
 632 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 racteristic of this sect». I am apprehensive, 
 therefore, that you may consider them as so many 
 importunate duns, when my meaning only is, that 
 they shouhl present themselves before you as 
 modest petitioners. 15ut to drop my metajjhor, I 
 have long denied myself the satisfaction of address- 
 ing to you some of my works, in expectation of 
 receiving a compliment of the same kind from 
 yourself^ I waited, therefore, in order to make 
 you a return, as nearly as possible, of the same 
 nature. Hut, as I am willing to impute your 
 delaying this favour to the desire of rendering it so 
 much the more perfect, I could no longer refrain 
 from telling the world, in the best manner 1 was 
 able, that we are united both in our atfections and 
 in our studies. With this view, I have drawn up a 
 dialogue which I suppose to have jiassed between 
 you and myself, in conjunction with Atticus, and 
 liave laid the scene in your Cumau villa. The part 
 I have assigned to you, is to defend (what, if 1 
 mistake not, you ai)prove) the sentiments of Anti- 
 ochus '■ ; as 1 have chosen myself to maintain the 
 principles of I'liilo''. You will wonder to find, 
 perhaps, in the perusal of this piece, that 1 have 
 represented a conversation, which, in truth, we 
 never had ; but you must remember the privilege 
 which dialogue writers have always assumed. 
 
 And now, my dear Varro, let me hope that we 
 shall hereafter enjoy together many of these philo- 
 sophical conversations. If we have too long neg- 
 lected them, the pul)lic occupations in which wo 
 were engaged must be our apology ; but the time 
 is now arrived when we have no such excuse to 
 plead. May we, then, exercise these speculations 
 together, under a fixed and peaceable government, 
 at least, if not under one of the most eligible kind ! 
 Though, indeed, if that wt- re to prove the case, far 
 other employments would engage our honourable 
 labours. But, as affairs are at present situated, 
 what is there else that can render life desirable .' 
 For my own part, it is with difficulty I endure it, 
 even with all the advantages of their powerful 
 assistance ; but, without them, it would be utterly 
 insupportable. But we shall talk farther and 
 frequently upon this subject wher. we meet ; in 
 the mean time, I give you joy of the new habi- 
 tation you have purchased, and highly approve of 
 your removal. Farewell 
 
 into two sects, called the Old nnd the Neto. The founder 
 of the former was I'lato ; of the latter, Arcesilas. The 
 principal dispute between them, seems to have related to 
 the degree of evidence upon which liuman knowledge is 
 founded ; the earlier Academics maintaining that some 
 propositions were certain ; the hitter, that none were more 
 ^han probable. — Vide Academ. i. passim. 
 
 "■ Alluding to their practice of questioning all opinions, 
 and .assenting to none. 
 
 l) A philosopher at Athens, whose lectures Varro had 
 formerly attended. lie maintained the doctx'ines of the 
 Old Academy. — Cic. Academ. i. 3 
 
 « A Greek pliilosopher, who professed the sceptical prin- 
 ciples of the Ni'ni Academy. Antii)chus, mentioned in the 
 preceding note, had been bred up under him, though he 
 afterwards became a convert to the opposite sect. Cicero 
 look the sceptical part in this dialogue, not as being agree- 
 Bble to his own sentiments, but in order to pay Varro the 
 greater compliment of maintaining the more rational opi- 
 nion.— Academ, tibi sup ; Ad Att. xiii. 19. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 To Tiro. 
 Why should you not direct your letters to me 
 with the familiar superscription which one friend 
 generally uses to another .' However, if 
 ■*■ "' ■ you aie unwilling to hazard the envy 
 which this privilege may draw ujion you, be it as 
 you think pro|icr; though, for my own jiart, it is a 
 maxim which I have generally pursued with inspect 
 to myself, to treat envy with the utmost disregard. 
 1 rejoice that you found so much benefit by 
 your sudorific ; and should the air of Tusculum 
 be attended with the same liappy effect, l<ow 
 infinitely will it increase my fondness for that 
 favourite scene! If you love me, then, (and if 
 you do not, you are undoubtedly the most suc- 
 cessful of all dissemblers) consecrate your whole 
 time to the care of your health ; which, hitherto, 
 indeed, your assiduous attendance upon myself 
 has but too much jjrevcnted. You well know the 
 rules which it is necessary you should observe for 
 this purpose, and 1 need not tell you that your 
 diet should be light, and your exercises moderate ; 
 that you should keep your body open, and your 
 mind amused. Be it your care, in short, to return to 
 me perfectly recovered, and I shall ever afterwards 
 not only love you, but Tusculum so much the more 
 ardently. 
 
 I wish you could prevail with your neighbour to 
 take my garden, as it will be the most effectual 
 means of vexing that rascal Helico. This fellow, 
 although he paid a thousand sesterces'* for the rent 
 of a piece of cold, barren ground, that had not so 
 much as a wall or a shed upon it, or was sup- 
 plied with a single drop of water, has yet the 
 assurance to laugh at the price I require for mine, 
 notwithstanding all the money I have laid out 
 upon improvements. But let it be your business 
 to spirit the man into our terms, as it shall be 
 mine to make the same artful attack upon Otho. 
 
 Let me know what you have done with respect 
 to the fountain ; though, possibly, this wet season 
 may now have over-supplied it with water. If the 
 weather should prove fair, I will send the dial, 
 together with the books you desire. But how 
 happened it that you took none with you ? Was 
 it that you were employed in some poetical com- 
 position upon the model of your admired Sophocles? 
 If so, I hope you will soon oblige the world with 
 your performance. 
 
 Ligurius, Caesar's great favourite, is dead. He 
 was a very worthy man, and much my friend. Let 
 me know when I may expect you ; in the mean 
 time be careful of your health. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 To Quintus Valerius Orca'. 
 
 I HAVE the strongest attachment to the citizens 
 
 of Volaterrae ', as a body of men, who, having 
 
 „po received great obligations from me, have 
 
 ' abundantly returned them. Their good 
 
 oflBces, indeed, have never been wanting in any 
 
 d About 81. of our money. 
 
 c He was prsptor in the year of Rome 697, and at the 
 expiration of his office obtained the government of Africa. 
 Upon the breaking out of tlie civil war, he took possession 
 of Sardinia in the name of Caesar, by whom he was at this
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 533 
 
 season of my life, whether of adversity or pros- 
 perity. But were I entirely void of all personal 
 connexions with this community, I should, never- 
 theless, merely from my great affection towards 
 yourself, and in return to that which I am sensible 
 you equally bear for me, most earnestly recom- 
 mend them to your protection ; especially as they 
 have, in some sort, a more than common claim to 
 your justice. For, in the first place, the gods 
 themselves seem to have interposed in their behalf, 
 when they so wonderfully escaped from the perse- 
 cutions of SyllaK : and, in the next, the whole body 
 of the Roman people expressed the warmest concern 
 for their interest, when 1 stood forth as their advo- 
 cate in my consulship. For, when the tribunes 
 were endeavouring to carry a most iniquitous law 
 for the distribution of the lands belonging to this 
 city, I found it extremely easy to persuade the 
 republic to favour the rights of a community which 
 fortune had so remarkably protected. And as Caesar, 
 in the Agrarian law, which he procured during his 
 first consulate **, showed his appiobation of the ser- 
 vices I had thus performed for them, by expressly 
 exempting their lands from all future impositions, 
 I cannot suppose that he, who is perpetually dis- 
 playing new instances of his generosity, should 
 intend to resume those which his former bounty 
 has bestowed. As you have followed, then, his 
 party and his power with so much honour to your- 
 self, it should seem agreeable to your usual pru- 
 dence, to follow him likewise in this instance of his 
 generosity, or certainly, at least, to leave this matter 
 entirely to his own decision. One thing I am sure 
 you can by no means doubt ; and that is, whether 
 you should wish to fix so worthy and so illustrious 
 a corporation in your interest, who are distin- 
 guished for their inviolable adherence to their 
 friends. Thus far I have endeavoured to persuade 
 you to take these people under your protection, 
 for your own sake ; but, that you may not imagine 
 I have no other plea to urge in their favour, I will 
 now request it also for mine. You cannot, in truth, 
 confer upon me a more acceptable service, than by 
 proving yourself the friend and guardian of their 
 interests. I recommend, therefore, to your justice 
 and lumianity the possessions of a city which have 
 been hitherto preserved by the peculiar providence 
 of the gods, as well as by the particular favour of 
 the most distinguished personages in the whole 
 Roman commonwealth. If it were in my power 
 as effectually to serve those who place themselves 
 under my patronage as it once was, there is no 
 good office I would not exert, there is no oppo- 
 sition I would not encounter, in order to assist the 
 Volaterranians. But I flatter myself I have still 
 the same interest with you, that I formerly enjoyed 
 ■with the world in general. Let me entreat you, 
 then, by all the powerful ties of our friendship, to 
 give these citizens reason to look upon it as a 
 time appointed one of the commissioners for dividing those 
 estates witli which he proposed, upon his return from 
 Spain, to reward the valour and fidelity of his soldiers. — 
 Pigh. Annal. ii. 384. 
 f A city in Tuscany. 
 
 g They held out a siege of two years against the troops 
 of Sylla, who in vain endeavoured to compel them to 
 submit to his edict for the confiscation of their lands. — 
 Quartier. 
 
 •> The law alluded to seems to have been a branch of that 
 proposed by Rullus, an account of which has been given in 
 these remarks. See rem. ', p. 3G7. 
 
 providential circumstance, that the person who is 
 appointed to execute this commission, happens to 
 be one with whom their constant patron has the 
 greatest influence. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XV'I. 
 
 To Lepta. 
 
 I AM glad that Macula has acted agreeably to 
 the good offices 1 have a right to expect from him, 
 708 ^y offering me the use of his house. I 
 always thought tlie man's Falernian' was 
 weU enough for road-wine, and only doubted whe- 
 ther he had sufficient room to receive my retinue : 
 besides, there is something in the situation of his 
 villa that does not disjjlease me. — However, I do 
 not give up my design upon FetrinumJ. But it has 
 too many charms to be used only as an occasional 
 lodging ; its beauties deserve a much longer stay. 
 
 Balbus is confined with a very severe fit of the 
 gout, and does not admit any visitors ; so that I 
 have not been able to see him since you left Rome. 
 However, I have talked vvitli Oppius concerning 
 your request to be appointed one of the managers 
 of Csesar's games". But, in my opinion, it would 
 be most advisable not to undertake this trouble ; 
 as you will by no means find it subservient to the 
 point you have in view : for Cresar is surrounded 
 with such a multitude of pretenders to his friend- 
 ship, that he is more likely to lessen, than increase, 
 the number; especially where a man has no higher 
 service to recommend him, than what arises from 
 little offices of this kind : a circumstance, too, 
 which Caesar, possibly, may never be acquainted 
 with. But if he should, he would look upon him- 
 self rather as having conferred, than received, a 
 favour. Nevertheless, I will try if this affair can 
 be managed in such a manner as to give you any 
 reasonable hope that it will answer your purpose ; 
 otherwise, I think, you should be so far from de- 
 siring the employment, that you ought by all means 
 to avoid it. 
 
 I believe I shall stay some time at Astura', as 
 I purpose to wait there the arrival of Csesar". 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 To Quintus Valerius Orca". 
 
 I AM not displeased to find that the world is 
 
 apprised of the friendship which subsists between 
 
 ^„o us. But it is not, you may well imagine, 
 
 from any vain ostentation of this kind, 
 
 that I interrupt you in the honourable discharge of 
 
 that troublesome and important commission which 
 
 i This was a favourite wine among the Romans, which 
 took its name from Falernus, a little hill in Campania, 
 where the grape was produced. 
 
 J A town in Campania, where Lepta had a villa. 
 
 k These were games wliich Ca;sar proposed to exhibit ia 
 the several quarters of Rome, upon his return from Spain, 
 in honour of his victory over the sons of Pompey.— Suet, in 
 Vit. Jul. Caes. 
 
 1 A to^vn in the Campagna di Roma, situated near the 
 sea-coast, between Civita Vecchia and Monte Cireello, 
 where Cicero had a villa. It was about two years after tha 
 date of this letter, that Cicero was murdered near thia villa 
 by the order of Antony. 
 
 m From Spain. 
 
 n See rem. e on letter 16 of this book.
 
 534 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 Csesar has entrusted to your care. On the con- 
 trary, notwithstanding that tlie share T enjoy in 
 your affection is so generally known as to occa- 
 sion many ajiplications to nie, yet I would not he 
 tempted, by any pojjular motives, to break in upon 
 you in the execution of your office. However, I 
 could not refuse the solicitations of Curtius, as he 
 is one with wliom 1 have been intimately connected 
 from his earliest youth. I took a very consi- 
 derable part in the misfortunes he suffered from 
 the unjust persecution of Sylla ; and when it 
 seemed agreeable to the gc-neral sense of the iiuoplc 
 that my friend, together witli the rest of those who 
 in conjunction with himself had been deprived 
 both of their fortunes and their country, should 
 be restored at least to the latter, I assisted him 
 for that ])urpose to the utmost of my power. 
 Upon his return, he invested all that remained to 
 him from this general wreck of his substance, in 
 the purchase of an estate at A'olaterra3 ; of which, 
 if 'he should be dispossessed, I know not how he 
 will su])port the senatorial rank to which Cicsar 
 has lately advanced him. It would be an extreme 
 hardship indeed if he should sink in wealth as he 
 rises in honours ; and it seems altogether incon- 
 sistent, that he should lose liis estate in conse- 
 quence of Cicsar's general order for the distribution 
 of these lands in question ; at the same time, that, 
 by his particular favour, he has gained a seat in the 
 senate. But I will not allege all that I well might, 
 for the equity of my friend's cause, lest, by enlarg- 
 ing on the justice, I should seem to derogate from 
 the favour of your compliance with my request. 
 I most earnestly conjure you, then, to consider 
 this affair of Curtius as my own ; to protect his 
 interest as you would mine in the same circum- 
 stances ; and to be assured, that whatever services 
 yon shall thus confer upon my friend, I shall 
 esteem as a personal obligation to myself. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 To Fahiiis Gallus°. 
 Instances of your friendship are perpetually 
 meeting me wherever I turn ; and I have lately, in 
 A u 708 pa'"ticular, had occasion to experience 
 them in regard to my affair with TigelliusP. 
 I perceive by your letter, that it has occasioned 
 you much concern, and I am greatly obliged by 
 this proof of your affection. But let me give you 
 a short history how the case stands. It was Cipius, 
 I think, that formerly said, " / am not asleep for 
 every mani ;" neither am I, my dear Gallus, so 
 meanly complaisant as to be the humble servant of 
 every minion. The truth of it is, I am the humble 
 servant of none ; and am so far from being under 
 the necessity of submitting to any servile com- 
 
 This is the same person to whom the 11th letter of the 
 first book is addressed. 
 
 P Tigellius was an extravagant debauchee, who, by his 
 pleasantrj', his skill in music, his agreeable voice, together 
 ■with his other soft and fashionable qualifications, had ex- 
 tremely ingratiated himself with Caesar. 
 
 1 Cipius was a complaisant husband, who, upon some 
 occasions, would affect to nod, whilst his wife was awake 
 and more agreeably employed. But a slave coming into 
 the room when he was in one of these obliging slumbers, 
 and attempting to carry off a flagon that stood upon the 
 table, " Sirrah," says he, " non omnibus dormio." 
 
 pliances in order to preserve my friendship with 
 CfEsar's favourites, that there is not one of them, 
 except this Tigellius, who does not treat me with 
 greater marks of respect than I ever received, even 
 when I was thought to enjoy the highest popularity 
 and j)ower. But I think myself extremely fortunate 
 in being upon ill terms with a man who is more 
 corrupted than his own native air', and whose 
 character is notorious, I suppose, to the whole 
 world, by the poignant verses of the satiric Calvus". 
 But to let you see upon what slight grounds he has 
 (iikt'ii offence, I had promised, you nmst know, to 
 ))lcud the cause of his grandfather I'hameas, which 
 I undertook, however, merely in frieiulship to the 
 man himself. Accordingly, Phameas called upoa 
 me in order to tell me that the judge had fixed a 
 day for his trial ; wliich happened to be the very 
 same on which I was obligitd to attend as advocate 
 for ."^cxtius. I acquainted him, therefore, that I 
 could not possibly give him my assistance at the 
 time he mentioned ; but that if any other liad been 
 appointed, I most assuredly would not have failed. 
 Phameas, nevertheless, in the conscious pride no 
 doubt of having a grandson that could pijie and 
 sing to some i)ur])ose, left me with an air that 
 seemed to speak indignation. And now, having 
 thus stated my case, and shown you the injustice 
 of this songster's complaints, may I not properly 
 say with the old proverb, " So many Sardinians, 
 so many rival rogues'.'' 
 
 I beg you would send me your " Cato"," which 
 I am extremely desirous of reading. It is, indeed, 
 some reflection upon us both that I have not yet 
 enjoyed that pleasure. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 To Cluvius''. 
 
 In the visit which, agreeably to our friendship 
 
 and that great respect with which you always treat 
 
 "08 *^^' ^ received from you upon your setting 
 
 out for Gaul, we had some general dis- 
 
 "■ Tigellius was a native of Sardinia, an island noted for 
 its noxious air. See rem. ", p. 480. 
 
 » Fate seems to have decreed that Tigellius should not 
 want a poet to deliver his character down to posterity : 
 for, although the verses of Calvus are lost, those of Horace 
 remain, in which Tigellius is delineated with all those 
 inimitable strokes of ridicule which distinguish the mas- 
 terly hand of that polite satirist. — Hor. Sat. 1. 2 et 3. 
 
 ' The literal interpretation of this proverb is, " You 
 have Sardinians to sell, each a greater rogue than the 
 other ;" but a sliorter turn has been adopted in the trans- 
 lation, in order to bring it nearer to the conciseness of the 
 proverbial style. This proverb took its rise (as Manutius 
 observes) from the great number of Sardinian slaves with 
 which the markets of Italy were overstocked, upon the 
 reduction of that island by Titus Sempronius Gracchus, in 
 the year of Rome 512. 
 
 " The character of Cato was, at this time, the fashion- 
 able topic of declamation at Rome ; and every man that 
 pretended to genius and eloquence furnished the public 
 with an invective or panegyric upon that illustrious 
 Roman, as party or patriotism directed his pen. In this 
 respect, as well as in all others, Cato's i-eputation seems to 
 have been attended with every advantage that any man 
 who is ambitious of a good name can desire ; for the next 
 honour to being applauded by the worthy, is to be abused 
 by the worthless. 
 
 '' lie was one of the commissioners nominated by Caesap 
 for settling the division of the lands for the purposes mou-
 
 TO SEVERAL OF IIIS FRIENDS. 
 
 505 
 
 course relating to those estates in that province 
 which are held of the city of Atella"' ; and I then 
 expressed how much I was concerned for the in- 
 terest of that corporation. But in confidence of 
 the singular affection you bear me, and in perform- 
 ance of a duty which it is incumbent upon nie to 
 discharge, I thought proper to write to you more 
 fully upon this affair, as it is, indeed, of the last 
 importance to a community with which I have the 
 iStrongest connexions. I am very sensible, at the 
 same time, both of the occasion and extent of your 
 commission, — and that Caesar has not entrusted 
 you, in the execution of it, with any discretionary 
 power. I limit my request, therefore, by what I 
 imagine is no less within the bounds of your 
 authority, than I am persuaded it is not beyond 
 ■what you would be willing to do for my sake. In 
 the first place, then, I entreat you to believe, what 
 is truly the fact, that the whole revenues of this 
 corporation arise from these lands in question, and 
 that the heavy impositions with which they are at 
 present burdener?, have laid them under the greatest 
 difficulties. But although, in this respect, they 
 may seem to be in no worse condition than many 
 other cities in Italy ; yet, believe me, their case is 
 unhappily distinguished by several calamitous cir- 
 cumstances peculiar to themselves. I forbear, 
 however, to enumerate them, lest, in lamenting the 
 miseries of my friends, I should be thought to 
 glance at those persons whom it is by no means 
 my design to offend. Indeed, if I had not conceived 
 strong hopes that I shall be able to prevail with 
 Caesar in favour of this city, there would be no 
 occasion for my present very earnest application to 
 you. But as I am well persuaded that Caesar will 
 have regard to the dignity of this illustrious cor- 
 poration, to the zeal which they bear for his 
 interest, and above all to the equity of their cause, 
 I venture to entreat you to leave the decision of 
 this affair entirely to his own determination'^. If 
 I could produce no precedent of your having already 
 complied with a request of this nature, it is a 
 request which I should nevertheless have made, 
 but I have so much the stronger hopes that you 
 ■will not refuse me in the present instance, as I 
 am informed you have granted the same favour to 
 the citizens of Regiuray. It is true, you have 
 some sort of connexion with that city ; but in 
 justice to your affection towards me, I cannot but 
 hope that what you have yielded to your own clients 
 you will not deny to mine, especially as it is for 
 these alone that I solicit you, notwithstanding so 
 many others of my friends are in the same situation. 
 I dare say I need not assure you, that it is neither 
 ■upon any ambitious motives that I apply to you in 
 their behalf, nor without having just reason to be 
 their advocate. The fact is, I have great obliga- 
 tions to them ; and there has been no season of my 
 life in which they have not given me signal proofs 
 of their affection. As you are sensible, therefore, 
 that the interest of this corporation, with which I 
 am so strongly connected, is greatly concerned in 
 the success of my present request, I conjure you, 
 by all the powerful ties of our mutual friendship 
 
 tioned in rem. e on letter 16 of this book. The department 
 assigned to him was Cisalpine Gaul. 
 
 ■" A city in Campania, situated between Naples and 
 Copua : it is now called Santo Arpino. 
 
 i Caesar -n'as not yet returned out of Spain. 
 
 7 Now called Regio, a maritime city in Calabria. 
 
 and by all the sentiments of your humanity, to 
 comply with these my intercessions in their behalf. 
 If, after having obtained this favour, I should suc- 
 ceed likewise (as I have reason to hope) in my 
 application to Caesar, I shall consider all the 
 advantages of that success as owing entirely to 
 yourself. Nor shall I be less obliged to you 
 though I should not succeed, as you will have con- 
 tributed all in your power, at least, that I might. 
 In one word, you will by these means tiot only 
 perform a most acceptable service to myself, but 
 for ever attach to the interest both of you and your 
 family a most illustrious and grateful city. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 To Fabius Gallus. 
 
 You need be in no pain about your letter. So 
 far from having destroyed it, as you imagine, it is 
 A u 708 PfiJ'ffictly safe, and you may call for it 
 whenever you please. 
 
 Your admonitions are extremely obliging, and I 
 hope you will always continue them with the same 
 freedom. You are apprehensive, I perceive, that 
 if I should render this Tigellius my enemy, he may 
 probably make me merrier than I like, and teach 
 me the Sardinian laugh^. In return to your pro- 
 verb, let me present you with another, and advise 
 you to "throw aside the pencil"." For our master^ 
 will be here much sooner than was expected ; and 
 I am afraid he should send the man who ventures 
 to paint Cato in such favourable colours, to join 
 the hero of his panegyric in the shades below. 
 
 Nothing, my dear Gallus, can be expressed with 
 greater strength and elegance than that part of 
 your letter which begins, " The rest are fallen," 
 &c. But I whisper this applause in your ear, — 
 and desire it may be a secret, even to your freed- 
 man Apella. Nobody, indeed, writes in this 
 manner except ourselves. How far it is to be 
 defended or not I may consider, perhaps, another 
 time ; but this, at least, is indisputable, that it is 
 a style entirely our own. Persevere, then, in these 
 
 » It is said there was a sea-weed frequently found upon 
 the coasts of Sardinia, the poisonous quality whereof occa- 
 sioned a convulsive motion in the features which had the 
 appearance of laughter ; and that hence the Sardinian 
 lau(}h became a proverb usually applied to those who con- 
 cealed a heavy heart under a gay countenance. Gallus 
 seems to have cited this proverb as a caution to Cicero 
 not to be too free in his railleries upon Tigellius ; and there 
 is a peculiar propriety in his application of it, as Tigellius 
 was a Sardinian. I must acknowledge, however, that I 
 have departed from the sentiments of the commentators 
 in supposing that Tigellius is the person here alluded to : 
 they all imagine, on the contrary, that it is Caesar. But 
 this letter seems evidently to be upon the same subject as 
 the 19th of this book, and was, probably, an answer to one 
 which Gallus had written in return to that epistle. 
 
 a This proverb, Victorius supposes, had its rise from 
 the schools of the painters, where the young pupils, who 
 in the absence of their master were amusing themselves 
 perhaps in drawing their pencils over the piece on which 
 he was at work, called upon each other, when they saw 
 him returning, to lay them aside. Cicero, in the applica 
 tion of this proverb, alludes to the panegyric which Gallus 
 had written upon Cato. See rem. " on the 19th letter of 
 this book. 
 
 b Csesar, who was at this time upon his return from 
 Spain.
 
 536 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 composition', as the best and surest method of 
 forming yo>.]- eloquence. As for myself, I now 
 employ somt- ]);irt even of my nights in exercises 
 of the same kind. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIL 
 To Marcus Rutilius '. 
 
 In the consciousness of that affection I ijear 
 you, and from the proofs I have experienced of 
 70S y^ws, I do not scru])le to ask a favour 
 wliich a ))rinciple of (gratitude obliges nie 
 to request. To what degree 1 value Publius Sex- 
 tius'', is a circumstance witli which my own heart 
 is best acquainted ; but how greatly I ought to do 
 so both you and all the world are ])erfectly well 
 apprised. As he has been informed by some of 
 his friends that you are upon all occasions ex- 
 tremely well disposed to oblige me, he has desired 
 I would write to you in the strongest terms in 
 behalf of Cains Albinius, a person of senatorian 
 rank. Publius Scxtius married his daughter, — and 
 he has a son by her, who is a youth of great merit. 
 I mention these circumstances, to let you see that 
 Sextius has no less reason to be concerned for the 
 interest of Albinius than I have for that of Sextius. 
 But to come to the point. 
 
 Marcus Laberius purchased, imder an edict of 
 Caesar, the confiscated estate of Plotius, which he 
 afterwards assigned over to Albinius, in satisfaction 
 of a debt. If I were to say that it is not for the 
 credit of the government to include this estate 
 among those lands which are directed to be divided, 
 I might seem to talk rather in the style of a man 
 who is dictating than of one who is making a 
 request. But as Csesar thought it necessary to 
 ratify the sales and mortgages that had been made 
 of those estates which were confiscated during 
 Sylla's administration, in order to render his own 
 purchasers of the same kind so much the more 
 secure ; if these forfeited lands, which were put up 
 to auction by his particular order, should be in- 
 cluded in the general division he is now making, 
 will it not discourage all future bidders .' I only 
 hint this, however, for your own judicious consider- 
 ation. In the mean time I most earnestly entreat 
 you not to dispossess Albinius of the farms which 
 Laberius has thus conveyed to him ; and be as- 
 sured, as nothing can be more equitable than this 
 request, so I make it in all the warmth and sincerity 
 of my heart. It will afford me, indeed, not only 
 much satisfaction, but in some sort likewise great 
 honour, if Sextius, to whose friendship I am so 
 deeply indebted, should have an opportunity, 
 through my means, of serving a man to whom he 
 is thus nearly related. Again and again, therefore, 
 I entreat your compliance ; and as there is no 
 instance wherein you can more effectually oblige 
 me, so you may depend upon finding me infinitely 
 sensible of the obligation. Farewell. 
 
 c He was employed in a commission of the same kind 
 with that of Orca and Cluvius, to whom the I6th and 20th 
 letters of this book are addressed. 
 
 <* See rem. », p. 367. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 To Vatinius. 
 
 I AM by no means surprised to find that yoii 
 are sensible of my services''. On the contraiy, I 
 A. u. 708. P'^'"*'^ctly well knew, and have upon all 
 occasions declared, that no man ever 
 possessed so grateful a heart. You have, indeed, 
 not only acknowledged, but abundantly returned, 
 my good offices : be assured, therefore, you will 
 always experience in me the same friendly zeal in 
 every other article of your concerns. Accordingly, 
 after having received your last letter, wherein you 
 recommend that excellent woman your wife to my 
 protection', I immediately desired our friend Sura 
 to ac(|uaint her, that if in any instance she had 
 occasion for my services I hoped she would let me 
 know, — and that she might deiiend upon my exe- 
 cuting her requests with the utmost warmth and 
 fidelity. 'J'his j)romise I shall very punctually 
 fulfil ; and if it should prove necessary I will wait 
 upon her myself. In the mean time I beg you 
 would inform her, by your own hand, that I shall 
 not look upon any office as difficult, or below my 
 character, wherein my assistance can avail her : 
 as, indeed, there is no employment in which I could' 
 be engaged uj)on your account that I should not 
 think both easy and honourable 8. 
 
 I entreat you to settle the affair with Dionysius ;■ 
 and any assurance that you shall think proper to^ 
 give him, in my name, I will religiously perform. 
 But if he should continue obstinate, you must e'ea 
 seize Iiim as a prisoner of war, to grace your 
 triumphal entry. 
 
 May a thousand curses fall upon these Dalma- 
 tians for giving you so much trouble. However, 
 I join with you in being well persuaded that you 
 will soon reduce them to obedience : and as they 
 have always been esteemed a warlike people, their 
 submission will greatly contribute to the glory of 
 your arms. Farewell. 
 
 e The services here alluded to are, probably, those which 
 Vatinius solicited in the 12th letter of this book. Cicero's 
 answer to tliat letter is lost, as well as Vatinius's reply : 
 but the present epistle seems to have been written iu return 
 to the latter. 
 
 f If Vatinius was not a more tender husband than he 
 appears to have been a son, this lady niight have had 
 occasion for Cicero's protection, in some instances, which 
 she would not, perhaps, have been very willing to own : 
 for amim,? other enormities that aie laid to the charge of 
 Vatinius, it is said, that he had the cruelty, as well as the 
 impiety, to lay violent hands on his mother.— Orat. in 
 Vatin. 7- 
 
 g Who would imagine that this is the same person of 
 whom Cicero has elsewhere said, that " No one could look 
 upon him without a sigh, or speak of him without execra- 
 tion : that he was the dread of his neighbours, the disgrace 
 of his kindred, and the utter abhorrence of the public in 
 general." Indeed, when Cicero gave this character of Vati- 
 nius, he was acting as an advocate at the bar, and endea- 
 vouring to destroy his credit as a witness against his friend 
 and client. But whatever allowances may be made, in 
 general, for rhetorical exaggerations, yet history shows 
 that, in the present instance, Cicero's eloquence did not 
 transgress the limits of truth. For Paterculus has painted 
 the character of Vatinius in the same disadvantageous 
 colours, and represented him as the lowest and most wortb- 
 less of men.— Orat. in Vatin. 16 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 69.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 53r 
 
 LETTER XrXIV. 
 To Cornificius^. 
 
 It was with great satisfaction I found, by your 
 letter, that you allow me a place in your thoughts : 
 and it is by no means as doubting the con- 
 A. u. 7ce. stajj^y Qf yQ„r friendship, but merely in 
 compliance with a customary form, that I entreat 
 you to preserve me still in your remembrance. 
 
 It is reported that some commotions have arisen 
 in Syria : at which I am more alarmed upon your 
 account than our own, as you are placed so much 
 nearer to the consequences. As to affairs at Rome, 
 we are enjoying that sort of repose which I am sure 
 you would be better pleased to hear was interrupted 
 by some vigorous measures for the public welfare. 
 And I hope it shortly will : as I find it is Caesar's 
 intention to concert methods for that purpose. 
 
 Your absence has inspired me with the courage 
 of engaging in some compositions, which otherwise 
 I should scarce have ventured to undertake : though 
 there are some among them which even my judi- 
 cious friend, perhaps, would not disapprove. The 
 last that I have finished is upon a subject, on 
 which 1 have frequently had occasion to think that 
 your notions were not altogether agreeable to mine : 
 it is an inquiry into the best species of eloquence'. 
 Though I must add, that whenever you have dif- 
 fered from me, it was always with the complaisance 
 of a master artist towards one who is not wholly 
 unskilled in his art. I should be extremely glad 
 that this piece might receive your suffrage : if not 
 for its own sake, at least for its author's. To 
 tills end, I shall let your family know, that, if they 
 think proper, they may have it transcribed, in order 
 to send it to you. I imagine, indeed, although you 
 should not approve my sentiments, yet that any- 
 thing which comes from my hand, will be accept- 
 able in your present inactive situation. 
 
 When you recommend your character and 
 honours to my protection, it is merely, I dare say, 
 for the sake of form, and not as thinking it in the 
 least necessary. Be assured, the affection which, 
 I am persuaded, mutually subsists between us, 
 would be sufficient to render me greatly zealous in 
 your service. But abstractedly from all motives of 
 friendship, were I to consider only the noble pur- 
 poses to which you have applied your exalted 
 talents, and the great probability of your attaining 
 the highest dignity in the commonwealth^, there is 
 no man to whom I should give the preference in 
 my good oiBces, and few that I should place in the 
 same rank with yourself. Farewell. 
 
 h Quintus Comificius, in the year 705, obtained the pro- 
 consulship of Illyricum. In the followins; year he was 
 removed from thence into some other province, the name 
 of which isimknown, but it appears to have been conti- 
 guous to Syria. In this province he resided when the pre- 
 sent and twenty-sixth letter of this book were written to 
 him. He was afterwards appointed governor of Africa, as 
 appears by several letters addressed to him in the next 
 book, and which avIU afford a farther occasion of speaking 
 of him. He had greatly distinguished himself in the art 
 of eloquence, and is supposed to have been the author of 
 those rhetorical pieces which are mentioned by Quintilian 
 as written by a person of this name. — Pigh. Aimal. ii. 446, 
 454, 466 ; Quintil. iii. 1. 
 
 » This is, probably, the same piece of which an accoimt 
 has been given in rem. 1 on letter 15, book x. 
 
 J The consular office. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 Curius ^ to Cicero. 
 I LOOK upon myself as a sort of property, the 
 possession of which belongs, 'tis true, to Atticus ; 
 but all the advantage that can be derived 
 from it is wholly yours. If Atticus, there- 
 fore, were inclined to dispose of his right in me, I 
 am afraid he could only pass me off in a lot with 
 some more profitable commodity : whereas, if you 
 should have the same inclination, how greatly would 
 it enhance my value to be proclaimed as one entirely 
 formed into what he is, by your care and kindness ! 
 I entreat you then to continue to protect the work 
 of your own hands, and to recommend me in the 
 strongest terms to the successor of Sulpicius in this 
 province'. This will be the surest means of put- 
 ting it in my power to obey your commands of 
 returning to you in the spring : as it will facilitate 
 the settling of my affairs in such a manner, that I 
 may be able, by that time, to transport my effects, 
 with safety, into Italy. But I hope, my illustrious- 
 friend, you will not communicate this letter to Atti- 
 cus ; for as he imagines I am much too honest a 
 fellow to pay the same compliment to you both ; 
 suffer him, I beseech you, to remain in this favour- 
 able error. Adieu, my dear patron, and salute 
 Tiro in my name. 
 Oct. the 29th. 
 
 LETTER XXVI, 
 To Comificius. 
 
 I SHALL follow the same method in answering 
 your letter which I have observed that you great 
 orators sometimes practise in your replies, 
 A. u. 70e. ^^^ begin with the last article first. You 
 accuse me, then, of being a negligent correspond- 
 ent ; but, believe me, I have never once omitted 
 writing whenever any of your family gave me notice 
 that a courier was setting out to you. 
 
 I have so high an opinion of your prudence, that 
 I expected you would act in the manner your very 
 obliging letter assures me you intend, and that you 
 would not determine your measures, till you should 
 know where this paltry Bassus™ designed to make 
 an irruption. I entreat you to continue to give me 
 frequent intelligence of all your purposes and mo- 
 tions, as well as of whatever else is going forward in 
 your part of the world. 
 
 It was with much regret that I parted with you 
 when you left Italy ; but I comforted myself in the 
 persuasion, that you were not only going into a 
 scene of profound tranquillity, but leaving one that 
 was threatened with greai commotions. The 
 reverse, however, has proved to be the fact, and 
 war has broken out in your quarters, at the same 
 time that it is extinguished in ours. But the peace 
 we enjoy is attended, nevertheless, with many dis- 
 gusting circumstances, and disgusting, too, even to 
 Caesar himself. It is the certain consequence^ 
 indeed, of aU civil wars, that the vanquished must 
 not only submit to the wiU of the victor, but to the 
 
 1' See rem. =, p. 503. ' Greece. 
 
 ™ Caecilius Bassus was a Roman knight of the Pompeian 
 party, who, after the battle of Pharsalia, fled into Syria ; 
 where he was, at this time, raising some very formidable' 
 commotions against the authority of Caesar. — Die, zlvii. 
 p. 342.
 
 538 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 will of those also who assisted Iiim in his conquest. 
 But I am DOW become so totally callous, that I saw 
 Bursa", the other day, at the games which Ca-sar 
 exliibited, without the least emotion ; and was pre- 
 sent witii equal jiatieuce at the farces of Publius 
 and Laberius". In short, I am sensible of notliing 
 so much as of the want of a judicious friend witli 
 whom I may freely laugh at what is thus jtassin;; 
 amongst us. And such a friend I shall find in you, 
 if you will hasten your return hither ; a circum- 
 stance which I look upon to be as much your own 
 interest, as I am sure it is mine. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVIl. 
 
 To Dolahella. 
 
 I REJOICE to find that IJaiic'' has changed its 
 
 nature, and is become, on a sudden, so wondrous 
 
 "nn sahilari/'i. But, perhaps, it is only in 
 
 ■ ■ ' ■ complaisance to my friend that it thus 
 
 suspends its usual effects, and will resume its 
 
 ■wonted qualities the moment you dejiart. I shall 
 
 not be surprised should this prove to be the 
 
 case ; uor wonder, indeed, if heaven and earth 
 
 should alter their general tendencies, for the sake 
 
 of'a man who has so much to recommend him to 
 
 the favour of both'. 
 
 I did not imagine, that I had preserved, among 
 
 ° Cicero's inveterate enemy, who had been banished some 
 years before, but had lately been recalled by Caesar. See 
 rwi. », p. 387. 
 
 " For an account of Laberius see rem. ', p. .^00. Publius 
 Syrus had, likewise, distinguished himself upon the Roman 
 stage in those buffoon pieces wliich they called their 
 vi lines. But although these rival poets and actors were 
 both of them excellent in tlieir way, yet it appears that 
 their humour was too low and inelegant to suit the just and 
 refined taste of Cicero. — Macrob. Saturn, ii. 7. 
 
 !' See rem. s, p. 478. 
 
 n Dolahella had probably informed Cicero, in a letter 
 from Baiae, of the salutary effects he experienced from 
 the waters of that place ; in answer to wliich Cicero plays 
 upon the ambiguous meaning of the word saliibrt's, and 
 applies in a moral sense what Dolahella had used in a 
 medicinal. 
 
 ' If no other memoirs of these times remained than what 
 might be collected from the letters of Cicero, it is certain 
 they would greatly mislead us in our notions of the prin- 
 cipal actors who now appeared upon the theatre of tlie 
 Roman republic. Thus, for instance, who would imagine 
 that the person here represented as interesting heaven and 
 earth in his welfare, was, in fact, a monster of lewdness 
 and inhumanity? But how must the reader's astonish- 
 ment be raised, when he is informed that it is Cicero him- 
 self who tells us so? " Dolahella?-— a purro pro deliciis 
 crudelitas fuit, (says our author in one of his Philippic 
 orations,) delude ea libidinum turpitude ut in hoc sit 
 semper ipse la;tatus, quod ea faceret qua; sibi objici ne ab 
 inimico quidem posscnt verecundo." If this was a true 
 picture of Dolahella, what shall be said in excuse of Cicero 
 for having disposed of his daughter to him in marriage? 
 Should any too partial advocate of Cicero's moral character 
 endeavour to pjilliate tliis unfavourable circumstance, by 
 telling us that he had never inquired into Dolabella's con- 
 duct, might it not justly be suspected that he meant to 
 banter ? Yet, this is the very reason wliich Cicero himself 
 assigns in the oration from wlienee the above passage is 
 cited. "Ethie, dii immortales ! aliquando fuit mens! 
 occulta enimerant vitianont'ngui'rejift." Strange! thata 
 man who loved his daughter even to a degree of extrava- 
 gance, should be so careless in an article wherein lier hap- 
 piness But I need not finish the rest ; where facts speak 
 
 for themselves, let me be spared the pain of a commeQU— 
 VhH xi. 14. 
 
 my papers, the trifling speech which I made in 
 behalf of Deiotarus' ; however, I have found it, 
 and send it to you, agreeably to your request. You 
 will read it as a performance which was by no 
 mean, of consecjuence enough to deserve much 
 care in the composition ; and, to say truth, I was 
 willing to make my old friend and host a present 
 of the same indelicate kind with his own. 
 
 May you ever preserve a virtuous and a generous 
 mind ! that the moderation and integrity of your 
 conduct may prove a living reproach to the vio- 
 lence and injustice of some others amongst our 
 contemporaries ! Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVIIL 
 
 Val'mius to Cicero. 
 I HAVE not been able to do anything to the pur- 
 pose with regard to your librarian, Dionysius*; 
 A V 708 ^i*^! indeed, my endeavours have hitherto 
 proved so much the less effectual, as the 
 severity of the weather, which obliged me to retreat 
 out of Dalmatia, still detains me here. However, 
 I will not desist till I have gotten him into my cus- 
 tody. But surely I am always to find some diffi- 
 culty or other in executing your commands, why 
 else did you write to me, I know not what, in 
 favour of Catilius" .' But avaunt, thou insidious 
 tempter, with thy dangerous intercessions! And 
 our friend Servilius, too, (for »Jt«c my heart prompts 
 me to call him, as well as yours,) is, it seems, a joint 
 petitioner with you in this request. Is it usual 
 then, I should be glad to know, with you orators 
 to be the advocates of such clients, and in such 
 causes ? Is it usual to plead in behalf of the most 
 cruel of the human race } in defence of a man who 
 has murdered our fellow-citizens, plundered their 
 houses, ravished their wives, and laid whole regions 
 in desolation ? This worthless wretch had the 
 insolence, likewise, to take up arms against myself ; 
 and he is now, 'tis true, my prisoner. But tell me, 
 my dear Cicero, in what manner can I act in this 
 affair .■' I would not willingly refuse anythingto your 
 request ; and, as far as my own private resentment 
 is concerned, I will, in compliance vrith your 
 desires, remit the punishment I intended. But 
 what shall I answer to those unhappy sufferers who 
 require satisfaction for the loss of tlieir effects, and 
 the destruction of their ships ? who call for ven- 
 geance on the murderer of their brothers, their 
 children, and their parents ? Believe me, if I had 
 succeeded to the impudence as well as to the office 
 of Appius^, I could not have the assurance to 
 withstand their cries for justice. Nevertheless, I 
 
 » See rem. s, p. 400. 
 
 t See letter 12 of this book. 
 
 " This man was quaestor in the year 702 ; and, during the 
 civil war, was intrusted with some naval command ; but 
 it appears, by the present letter, that he had turned pirate, 
 and committed great cruelties and depredations upon the 
 coasts of Illyricum Pigh. Annal. ii. 421. 
 
 V Manutius observes, that this is not the same Appius to 
 whom the letters in the 3d book are addressed ; and refers 
 to a passage in Valerius Maximus, to prove that he perished 
 early in the civil wars. But so lie undoubtedly might, and 
 nevertlieless be the same person here alluded to ; for it by 
 no means appears when or in what post it was, that Vati- 
 nius succeeded to this Appius in question. Impudence, it 
 is certain, was in tlie number of those qualities which dis- 
 tinguished that Appius to whom the letters above-men- 
 tioned are written. — Ad Att. iv. 18.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 539 
 
 svill do everything that lies n my power to gratify 
 your inclinations. He is to Je defended at his trial 
 by Volusius : and, if his prosecutors can be van- 
 quished by eloquence, there is great reason to expect 
 that the force of your disciple's rhetoric will put 
 them to flight. 
 
 I depend upon your being my advocate at Rome, 
 if there should be any occasion. Caesar, indeed, 
 has not yet done me the justice to move for a 
 pubhc thanksgiving, for the success of my arms in 
 Dalmatia : as if, in truth, I were not entitled to 
 more, and might not justly claim the honour of a 
 triumph ! But as there are above threescore cities 
 that have entered into an alliance with the Dalma- 
 tians, besides the twenty of which that country 
 anciently consisted : if I am not to be honoured 
 with a pubhc thanksgiving till I shall have taken 
 every one of these considerable towns, I am by no 
 means upon equal terms with the rest of our 
 generals. 
 
 Immediately after the senate had appointed the 
 former thanksgivings for my victories'^, I marched 
 
 w There is some difiBculty in reconciling what Vatinius 
 here says of a supplication having been decreet! by the 
 senate, with the complaint he makes above against Caisar 
 for having delayed to move the house for that purpose. 
 Some of the commentators, therefore, have suspected that 
 this is the beginning of a distinct letter ; and others, that 
 it is a postscript, written a considerable distance of time 
 
 Into Dalmatia, where I attacked and made myself 
 master of six of their towns. One of these, which 
 was of very considerable strength, I might fairly 
 say that I took four several times ; for it was sur- 
 rounded by a fortification consisting of four differ- 
 ent walls, which were defended by as many forts, 
 through all which I forced my way to the citadel, 
 which I likewise compelled to surrender. But the 
 excessive severity of the cold, together with the 
 deep snows that fell at the same time, obliged me 
 to retreat ; so that I had the mortification, my dear 
 Cicero, to find myself uudcr the necessity of aban- 
 doning my conquests just as I was upon the point of 
 finishing the war. I entreat you, then, if occasion 
 should require, to be my advocate with Caesar, and 
 in every other respect to take my interest under 
 your protection, — in the assurance, that no man 
 possesses a higher degree of affection for you thaa 
 myself. 
 Narona, Dec. the 15th. 
 
 from the body of the epistle. But Mr. Ross has offered, I 
 think, a much better solution, by supposing that the 
 thanksgiving, mentioned in the present paragraph, was 
 one wliich had been decreed on account of some former 
 successes of Vatinius in his province ; and that the 
 thanksgiving, concerning which he complains of Cassar's 
 neglect, was one that he was now soliciting in honour of 
 those successes in Dalmatia of which he here gives an 
 account. 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 To Curius^. 
 'Tis true, I once both advised and exhorted you 
 to return into Italy ; but I am so far from being 
 709 *^ *^^ same sentiments at present, that, 
 on the contrary, I wish to escape myself, 
 To some blest clime remote from Pelops' races'. 
 My heart, indeed, most severely reproaches me for 
 submitting to be the witness of their unworthy 
 •deeds. Undoubtedly, my friend, you long since 
 foresaw our evil days approaching, when you wisely 
 took your flight from these unhappy regions ; for 
 though it must needs be painful to hear a relation 
 of what is going forward amongst us, yet far more 
 intolerable it surely is to be the sad spectator of 
 so wretched a scene. One advantage, at least, you 
 have certainly gained by your absence ; it has 
 spared you the mortification of being present at the 
 late general assembly for the election of quaestors. 
 At seven in the morning, the tribunal of Quintus 
 Maximus, the consul, as they called him^, was 
 placed in the field of Mars* ; when, news being 
 
 ^ This is an answer to the 25th letter of the foregoing 
 book. 
 
 7 Alluding to the Csesarian party. See rem. ^, p. 503. 
 
 ^ CsEsar (as Manutius observes) abdicated the consulship 
 C^on his late return from Spain, and arbitrarily appointed 
 Quintus Maximus, together with Trebonius, consuls for 
 the remaining part of the year. Maximus, therefore, not 
 being legally elected, Cicero speaks of him as one \vhose 
 title was acknowledged only by the prevailing ^action. 
 
 » 'Where the poll for the election of magistrates was 
 usually takes. It was situated on the banks of the Tiber. 
 
 brought of his sudden death, it was immediately 
 removed. But Caesar, notwithstanding he had 
 taken the auspices'* as for an assembly of the tribes, 
 converted it into that of the centuries '^, and, at 
 one in the afternoon, declared Caninius duly elected 
 consul. Be it recorded, then, that during the 
 consulate of Caninius no man had time to dine, 
 and yet that there was not a single disturbance of 
 any kind committed : for he was a magistrate, you 
 must know, of such wonderful vigilance, that he 
 never once slept throughout his whole administra- 
 tion. The truth of it is, his administration con- 
 tinued only to the end of the year, and both expired 
 the very next morning. But, ridiculous as these 
 transactions may appear to you who are placed at 
 
 >• No assembly of the people could be regularlj- held, nor 
 any public act performed, till the augurs had declared that 
 the omens were favourable for the purpose in agitation. 
 
 c The citizens of Rome were cast into three genei-al 
 divisions — into centuries, into curiae, and into tribes. Some 
 account of the two latter has been already given in rem. ", 
 p. 375, and ?-em. 7, p. 428. The former was an institution 
 of Servius TuUius, ^vho distributed the people into 193 
 centuries, according to the value of their respective pos- 
 sessions. These companies had a vote in all questions 
 that came before the people assembled in this manner, 
 and the majority of voices in each determined the suffrage 
 of that particular century. But, as the patricians and 
 the wealthiest citizens of the republic filled up 98 of these 
 189 classes, the inferior citizens were consequently de- 
 prived of all weight in the public deliberations. The prae- 
 tors, consuls, and censors, were elected by the people 
 assembled in centuries ; but the quaestors, aediles, and 
 tribunes, were chosen in an assembly of the tribes. — ^Dion. 
 Hal. iv. 20.
 
 CIO 
 
 TIIK LETTEFIS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 so caveat a distance from them, believe me you 
 could not refrain from tears if you were to see tliem 
 in all tlifir true and odious colours. How would 
 you be affected, then, were I to mention the num- 
 berless instances of the same arbitrary kind wiiich 
 daily occur ! For my own part, tlicy would be 
 utterly iiisujiportablc to me, had I not taken refuj^c 
 in jihilosopliy, and enjoyed, likewise, that friend'' 
 of ours for the companion of my studies whose 
 property, you tell me, you are*". However, since 
 you assure me at the same time that all the betu-fit 
 which can arise from you belongs solely to myself, 
 I am perfectly well contented, — for what can pro- 
 perty give more ? 
 
 Acilius, who is sent into Greece at the head of 
 some legions, as successor to Sulpicius, has great 
 obligations to me ; for I successfully defended liim 
 in two capital prosecutions, before the commence- 
 ment of our public troubles. He is a man of a 
 very grateful disposition, and one who, upon all 
 occasions, treats me with much regard. Accord- 
 ingly, I lierewith send you a letter which I have 
 written to him in your favour, in the strongest 
 terms ; and I desire you will let me know what 
 promises he shall give you in consequence of my 
 -ecommendation. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 To Auctiis', proconsul. 
 
 In confidence of that share you allow me in your 
 esteem, and of which you gave me so many con- 
 
 ,1 700 vincing proofs, during the times we con- 
 tinued together at Brundisium^, I claim 
 a sort of right of applying to you upon any occasion 
 wherein I am particularly interested. I take the 
 liberty, therefore, of writing to you in behalf of 
 Marcus Curius, a merchant at Patrae, with whom 
 I am most intimately united. Many are the good 
 offices which have mutually passed between us, — 
 and, what indeed is of the greatest weight, they 
 reciprocally flowed from the most perfect affection. 
 
 d Atticus. 
 
 c See the beginning of Ciirius's letter to Cicero, p. 537. 
 
 f The commentators imagine that this person is the same 
 ■whom Cicero mentions in tlio foregoing letter to have suc- 
 ceeded to Sulpicius in the government of Greece ; and that, 
 therefore, either instead lof Auctus, the true reading is 
 Acilius, or that he was called Acilius Auctus. But, 
 though it is altogether impossible to determine who the 
 person was to whom this letter is addressed, or in what 
 year it was wi-itten, yet it seems highly probable that 
 Acilius and Auctus were different men ; for Cicero, in the 
 preceding epistle, mentions Aeilius as one on whom he 
 had conferred some very important services : whereas, in 
 the present letter, Cicero appears to have been the person 
 obliged. Now it is by no means credible that our author, 
 if he had ever done any good offices to Auctus, should have 
 been totally silent upon a circumstance which would have 
 given him a much higher claim to the favour he was 
 requesting, than any which he produces. And the incre- 
 dibility grows still stronger, when it is remembered that 
 Cicero never fails to display his services upon all occasions 
 in which he can with any propriety mention them. But 
 on which side soever of this question the truth may lie, it 
 is a point of such very little consequence, that perhaps it 
 will scarce justify even this short remark. 
 
 e Probably during Cicero's residence in that city, upon 
 his return into Italy, after the battle of Pharsalia, an 
 accoimt of which has been given in the foregoing obser- 
 TBtions. 
 
 If, then, you have reason to promise yourself any 
 advantage from my friendship, — if you are inclined' 
 to render the obligations you have formerly con- 
 ferred upon me, if possible, even still more valu- 
 able, — in a word, if you are persuaded that I hold 
 a place in the esteem of every person in your 
 family, let these considerations induce you to 
 comply with my retpiest in favour of Curius. Re- 
 ceive him, I conjure you, under your i)rotection, 
 and preserve both his persun and his jirojK ity from 
 every injury and every inconvenience to which they 
 may be exposed. In the mean time, I will venture 
 to assure you myself, (what all your family will, I 
 doubt not, confirm,) that you may de])eiul upoa 
 deriving great satisfaction from my friendship, as 
 well as much advantage from the faithful returns of 
 my gratitude. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 To Curius, 
 
 Your letter affords me a very evident proof that 
 1 possess the highest share of your esteem, and 
 "00 ^^^^^ y^' '^^^ sensible liow much you are 
 endear(;d to me in rctiu'n, — both which I 
 have ever been desirous should be placed beyond a 
 doubt. Since, then, we are thus firmly assured of 
 each other's affection, let us endeavour to vie in 
 our mutual good offices, — a contest in whieh I am 
 perfectly indifferent on which side the superiority 
 may appear. 
 
 1 am well pleased that you had no occasion to 
 deliver my letter to Acilius''. I find, likewise, 
 that you had not much for the services of Sulpicius ; 
 having made so great a progress, it seems, in your 
 affairs as to have curtailed them (to use your own 
 ludicrous expression) both of head and feet. I 
 wish, however, you had spared the latter, that they 
 might proceed a little faster, and give us an ojipor- 
 tunity of oile day seeing you again in Rome. We 
 want you, indeed, in order to preserve that good 
 old vein of pleasantry which is now, you may per- 
 ceive, well-nigli worn out amongst us ; insomuch 
 that Atticus may properly enough say, as he often 
 you know used, " if it were not for two or three 
 of us, my friends, what would become of the ancient 
 glory of Athens 1 " Indeed, as the honour of being 
 the chief support of Attic elegance devolved upon 
 Pomponius' when you left Italy, so, in his absence,, 
 it has now descended upon me. Hasten your re- 
 turn, then, I beseech you, my friend, lest every 
 spark of wit, as well as of liberty, should be- 
 irrecoverably extinguished with the republic. Feire- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Cornificius. 
 I HAVE the satisfaction to find, by your very- 
 obliging letter, that my last was safely delivered.. 
 A tr 709 ^ doubted not of its affording you plea- 
 sure, and, therefore, was so much the- 
 more uneasy lest it should lose its way. You. 
 inform me, at the same time, that a war is brokea 
 out in SyriaJ, and that Caesar has given you the- 
 
 h See the latter end of the first letter in this book. 
 
 ' Pomponius Atticus. 
 
 J See rem. ™ on letter 26 of the preceding book.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS 
 
 541 
 
 igovemment of this province. I wish you much 
 joy of your command, and hope success will attend 
 it ; as, in full confidence of your wisdom and vigi- 
 lance, I am well persuaded it will. Nevertheless, 
 I am truly alarmed at what you mention concerning 
 the invasion which, it is suspected, the Parthians 
 are meditating. I find by your letter, that the 
 number of your forces is agreeable to what I should 
 have conjectured : I hope, therefore, that these 
 people will not put themselves in motion till the 
 legions, which I hear are ordered to your assist- 
 ance, shall arrive. But if you should not, even 
 with these supplies, find yourself in a condition to 
 face the enemy, I need not remind you to follow 
 the maxim of your predecessor Marcus Bibulus, 
 who, you know, during the whole time that the 
 Parthians continued in your province, most gal- 
 lantly shut himself up in a strong garrison". Yet, 
 after all, circumstances will best determine in what 
 manner it will be proper for you to act : in the 
 mean time, I shall be extremely anxious till I receive 
 an acount of your operations. 
 
 As I have never omitted any opportunity of 
 writing to you, I hope you will observe the same 
 punctuality with respect to me. But above all, let 
 me desire you to represent me in your letters to 
 your friends and family as one who is entirely 
 yours. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Decimus Brutus^ to Marcus Brutus and Cuius 
 
 Cassius. 
 
 You will judge by this letter in what posture 
 
 our affairs stand. I received a visit yesterday in 
 
 A u 709 the evening from Hirtius™, who convinced 
 
 me of Antony's extreme perfidy and ill 
 
 1* This seems to be intended as a sneer upon the conduct 
 of Bibulus Cicero was governor of Cilicia when Bibulus 
 commanded in Syria, and they botli solicited at the same 
 time the honour of a public thanksgiving for the success 
 of their respective arms. Cato gave his sufifrage, upon this 
 occasion, in favour of Bibulus, but refused it to Cicero, a 
 preference which extremely exasperated the latter, and 
 which was, probably, the principal cause of that contempt 
 with which he speaks of Bibulus in the present passage. 
 See letter 10, book vi. rem. ". 
 
 1 Decimus Brutus, of the same family with Marcus Bru- 
 tus, served under Caesar in the wars in Gaul : at the end of 
 which, in the year 703, he returned to Rome, and was 
 chosen one of the city quastors. It does not appear that 
 he distinguished himself by anything remarkable, till he 
 engaged with Jlarcus Brutus andCassius in the conspiracy 
 against his friend and benefactor. This was executed, as 
 all the world knows, by stabbing Caesar in the senate, on 
 the ides or the 15th of March, a few weeks before the pre- 
 sent letter was written. When one considers the charac- 
 ters of those who Avere the principal actors in this memo- 
 rable tragedy, it is astonishing that they should have 
 looked no farther than merely to the taking away of 
 Caesar's life ; as if they imagined that the government must 
 necessarily return into its proper channel as soon as the 
 person who had obstructed its course was removed. They 
 were altogether, therefore, unprepared for those very pro- 
 bable contingencies which they ought to have had in view, 
 and which accordingly ensued. "Whatever then may be 
 determined as to the patriotism of the fact itself, it was, 
 unquestionably, conducted, asCicerofrequcntly and justly 
 complains, by the weakest and most impolitic counsels. 
 Antony, (who was at this time consul,) although he 
 thought proper, at first, to carry a fair appe.T ranee towards 
 the conspirators, yet secretly raised such a spirit against 
 them, that they found it expedient to withdraw from 
 
 intentions towards us. He assured Hirtius, it 
 seems, that he could by no means consent I should 
 take possession of the province to which I have 
 been nominated ° ; and that both the army and the 
 populace were so highly incensed against us, that 
 he imagined we could none of us continue with any 
 safety in Rome. You are sensible, I dare say, that 
 both these assertions are as absolutely false, as that 
 it is undoubtedly true what Hirtius added, that 
 Antony is apprehensive, if we should gain the least 
 increase of power, it will be impossible for him and 
 his party to maintain their ground. I thought, 
 under these difficulties, the most prudent step I 
 could take, for our common interest, would be to 
 request tliat an honorary legation" might be decreed 
 to each of us, in order to give some decent colour 
 to our leaving Rome. Accordingly, Hirtius has 
 promised to obtain this grant in our favour; though 
 1 must add, at the same time, such a spirit is raised 
 against us in the senate, that I am by no means 
 clear he will be able to perform his engagement. 
 And should he succeed, yet I am persuaded it will 
 not be long ere they declare us public enemies, or 
 at least sentence us to banishment. It appears to 
 me, therefore, our wisest method in the present 
 conjuncture is to submit to Fortune, and withdraw 
 to Rhodes or to some other secure part of the world. 
 We may there adjust our measures to public cir- 
 cumstances, and either return to Rome or remain 
 in exile, as affairs shall hereafter appear with a 
 more or less inviting aspect : or if the worst should 
 happen, we may have recourse to the last desperate 
 expedientP. Should it be asked, " why not attempt 
 something at present, rather than wait a more dis- 
 tant period ?" my answer is, because I know not 
 where we can hope to make a stand, unless we 
 should go either to Sextus Pompeiusi, or to 
 Rome. Brutus and Cassias retired to Lanuvium, a villa 
 belonging to the former, about fifteen miles from the 
 city, at which place they probably were when Decimus 
 Brutus, who had not yet left Rome, wrote the following 
 letter. 
 
 "' Hirtius was warmly attached to Caesar, and extremely 
 regretted his death ; but as he was disgusted with Antony, 
 and perhaps jealous too of his rising power, he seems to 
 have opposed the cause he approved, merely from a spirit 
 of personal pique and envy. — Ad Att. xiv. 22 ; xv. 6. 
 
 n Caesar, a short time before his death, had nominated 
 Decimus Brutus to the government of Cisalpine Gaul, and 
 Antony to that of Macedonia. But as Gaul lay more con- 
 veniently for Antony's present purposes, his design was to 
 procure the administration of it for himself. 
 
 " The senators could not be long absent from Rome with- 
 out leave of the senate. When their private affairs, there- 
 fore, required their attendance abroad, it was usual to 
 apply for what they called a legalio libera, which gave a 
 sanction to their absence, and invested them with a sort 
 of travelling title, that procured them the greater respect 
 and honours in the countries through which they passed, 
 and in the place where they proposed to reside. 
 
 P That is, (as the commentators explain it,) by arming 
 the slaves, throwing open the prisons, and raising foreign 
 nations in their defence. 
 
 1 Sextus Pompeius, the younger son of Pompey, was in 
 Corduba when his brother Cneius gave battle to Csesar. 
 Cneius attempting to make his escape, after the total 
 defeat of his arnij', was killed by some of the conqueror's 
 soldiers; but Sextus, upon the enemy's approach, in order 
 to lay siege to Corduba, secretly abandoned that city, and 
 concealed himself till Caesar's return into Italy. The lat- 
 ter had no sooner left Spain, than Sextus collected his 
 broken forces ; and a short time after this letter was writ- 
 ten, he appeared at the head of no less than six legions.—" 
 Hirt. De Bell. Hisp. ; Dio, p. 2/4.
 
 542 
 
 TIIK LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLICS CICEilO 
 
 Csecilius Bassus'. It is probable, indeed, that 
 when the news of Ciesar's death shall be spread 
 throuKli their respective provinces, it may much 
 contribute to strengthen their party ; however, it 
 will be soon enough to join them when we shall 
 know the state of their forces. 
 
 If you and Cassius are desirous I should enter 
 into any engagement on your behalf, I shall very 
 readily be your sponsor: and, indeed, it is a con- 
 dition which Ilirtius requires. I desire, therefore, 
 you would acquaint me with your resolution as 
 soon as possible ; for I expect, before ten o'clock, 
 to receive an appointment from Hirtius to meet 
 him upon these affairs. Let me know, at the same 
 time, where I shall find you. 
 
 As soon as Hirtius shall have given me his final 
 answer, I purpose to ajiply to the senate that a 
 guard may be appointed to attend us in Rome. I 
 do not suppose they will comply with this re(|uest, 
 as our appearing to stand in need of s\ich a protec- 
 tion will render them extremely odious. But how 
 successful soever my demands may prove, I shall 
 not be discouraged from making such as I think 
 reasonable. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 To Tiro. 
 Notwithstanding I wrote this morning by 
 Harpatus, and nothing new has since occurred ; 
 A n 709 ^^^ ^ cannot forbear making use of this 
 opportunity of conveying a second letter 
 to you upon the same subject ; not, however, as 
 entertaining the least distrust of your care, but be- 
 cause the business in which I have employed you 
 is of the last importance to me '. My whole design, 
 indeed, in parting with you was, that you might 
 thoroughly settle my affairs. I desire, therefore, 
 in the first place, that the demands of Otillius and 
 Aurelius may be satisfied. Your next endeavour 
 must be to obtain part, at least, if you cannot pro- 
 cure the whole, of what is due to me from Flamma; 
 and particularly insist on his making this payment 
 by the first of January'. With regard to that debt 
 which was assigned over to me, I beg you would 
 exert your utmost diligence to recover it ; but, as 
 to the advance-payment of the other not yet due, I 
 leave you to act as you shaU judge proper. And 
 this much for my private concerns. As to those of 
 the public, I desire you would send me all the 
 certain intelligence you can collect. Let me know 
 what Octavius" and Antony are doing ; what is the 
 
 r An account of him has already been given in rem. ™ 
 on letter 26 of the preceding book. 
 
 » As Cicero was known to favour the conspirators, he 
 did not think it prudent to trust himself in Rome after 
 Brutus and Cassius had found it necessary to ->vithdravv 
 from thence ; and, accordingly, he soon afterwards followed 
 their example, by retiring into the country. His inten- 
 tion at this time was, to make a tour into Greece for a 
 few montho ; and with that view he had despatched Tiro 
 to Rome, in order to call in the several moneys which were 
 due to him, and likewiso to discharge some debts which he 
 had himself contracted. 
 
 « When the new consuls were to enter upon their office, 
 by which time Cicero proposed to return to Rome. 
 
 » Octavius, who was afterwards known and celebrated 
 by the name of Augustus Caesar, was the son of Attia, 
 Julius Caesar's niece. His uncle, who designed him for 
 the heir, both of his power and his fortunes, had sent him, 
 about six months before his death, to Apollonia, a learned 
 
 general opinion of Rome ; and what turn yoa 
 imagine affairs are likely to take. 1 can scarcely 
 forbear running into the midst of the scene ; but I 
 restrain myself in the expectation of )'our letter. 
 
 Your news concerning Balbus proves true ; he 
 was at Aquinum at the time you were told, and 
 Ilirtius followed him thither the next day. I 
 imagine they are both going to the waters of Baise : 
 but let me know what you can discover of their 
 motions. 
 
 Do not forget to remind the agents of Dolabella", 
 nor to insist w\wn the payment of what is due from 
 Papia. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 To Dithynicus'". 
 I HAVE many reasons to wish that the republic 
 may be restored ; but, believe me, the promise you 
 A. u. 709. S'^'' ""^ '" y"""" Ic'te"", renders it still 
 more ardently my desire. You assure me, 
 if that happy event should take place, you will 
 consecrate your whole time to me ; an assurance 
 which I received with the greatest pleasure, as it is 
 perfectly agreeable to the friendship in which we 
 are united, and to the opinion which that excellent 
 man your father^ entertained of me. You have 
 received more considerable services, I confess, from 
 the men who are, or lately were, in power, than any 
 that I have been capable of conferring upon you : 
 but, in all other respects, there is no person whose 
 connexions with you are of a stronger kind than 
 my own. It is with great satisfaction, therefore, 
 that I find you not only preserve our friendship in 
 your remembrance, but are desirous, likewise, of 
 increasing its strength. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 To Tiro. 
 If you should have an opportunity, you may 
 register the money you mention ; though, indeed, 
 A u 709 ^^ '** ^^ acquisition which it is not abso- 
 lutely requisite to enroll^. However, it 
 may, perhaps, be as well. 
 
 seminary of great note in Macedonia. In this place he 
 was to prosecute his studies and exercises till Csesar, who 
 proposed he should accompany him in his intended expe- 
 dition against the Parthians, should call upon him in his 
 march to that country. But as soon as Octavius was in- 
 formed of the death of Caesar, and that he had appointed 
 him his heir, he immediately hastened to Rome; and the 
 eyes of everybody, but particularly of Cicero, were now 
 attentively turned towards him, in order to discover in 
 what manner he would act in this very critical situation, 
 both of his own affairs and those of the republic. — Dio, 
 p. 271 ; Appian. De Bell. Civ. ii. 
 
 ^ It appearsbythelette^s^vTitten toAtticusatthis time, 
 that Cicero had some considerable demands upon Dolabel- 
 la ; which arose, it is probable, from the latter not having 
 yet returned the whole of Tullia's portion, agreeably to 
 the Roman laws in cases of divorce. ' 
 
 "" This person is supposed by Manutius to be the son of 
 Quintus Pompeius, who obtained the name of Bithynicus, 
 in honour of his conquest of Bithynia. 
 
 ^ Cicero mentions him in his treatise of Celebrated Ora- 
 tors, as one with whom he had enjoyed a particular friend- 
 ship. He attended Pompey in his flight after the battle 
 of Pharsalia, and perished with him in Egypt. — Cic. de 
 Clar. Orat. 240. 
 
 y The censors every five years numbered the people, at 
 which time each citizen was obliged to give an exact
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 643; 
 
 I have received a letter from Balbus, wherein he 
 excuses himself for not giving me an account of 
 Antony's intentions concerning the law I inquired 
 after ; because he has gotten, it seems, a violent 
 defluxion upon his eyes. Excellent excuse, it 
 must be owned ! For if a man is not able to write, 
 most certainly, you know, he cannot dictate ! But 
 let the world go as it wiU, so 1 may sit down quietly 
 here in the country. 
 
 I have written to Bithynicus. — As to what you 
 mention concerning Servilius, you, who are a young 
 man, may think length of days a desirable circum- 
 stance ; but, for myself, 1 have no such wish^. 
 Atticus, nevertheless, imagines that I am still as 
 anxious for the preservation of my life as he once 
 knew me ; not observing how firmly I have since 
 fortified my heart with all the strength of philo- 
 sophy. The truth of it is, he is now seized in his 
 turn with a panic liimself ; and would endeavour to 
 infect me with the same groundless apprehensions. 
 But it is my intention to preserve that friendship 
 unviolated which 1 have so long enjoyed with 
 Antony"; and, accordingly, I intend writing to 
 him very soon. I shall defer my letter, however, 
 till your return : but I do not mention this with 
 any design of calling you off from the business you 
 are transacting'', and which, indeed, is much more 
 nearly my concern. 
 
 1 expect a visit from Lepta to-morrow, and shall 
 have occasion for all the sweets of your conversa- 
 tion, to temper the bitterness with which his will 
 be attended. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 To Dolabella, Consul'^. 
 I DESIRE no greater satisfaction, my dear Dola- 
 bella, than what arises to me from the disinterested 
 
 709 P^""* ^ *^^^® ^'^ *^^ gloi^y you have lately 
 acquired : however, I cannot but acknow- 
 
 account of his estate. But if, in the interval, a man had 
 made any new acquisition, lie was required to enter it 
 hefore the prsetor. 
 
 '^ Servilius Isauricus died about this time, in an extreme 
 old age ; Manutius conjectures, therefore, and witli great 
 probability, that Tiro, in the letter to which the present 
 is an answer, had given Cicero an account of this event, 
 and, at the same time, expressed his wishes of living to 
 the same advanced period. 
 
 " Both Antony and Cicero seem to have been equally 
 unwilling, at this time, to come to an open rupture : but, 
 as to a real friendship between them, it is highly probable 
 there never had been any. On the part of Antony, at 
 least, there were some very strong family reasons to alien- 
 ate him from Cicero. For Antony's father married the 
 widow of Lentulus, whom Cicero had put to death as an 
 accomplice in Catiline's conspiracy ; and he, himself, was 
 married to Fulvia, the widow of Clodius, Cicero's most 
 inveterate enemy. These alliances must unquestionably 
 have made impressions upon Antony's mind little favour- 
 able to sentiments of amity, and, probably, contributed, 
 among other reasons, to kindle that resentment which 
 terminated in Cicero's destruction : but whatever the true 
 motive of their enmity towards each other might have 
 been, the first coolness seems to have arisen on the side of 
 Antony; and if Cicero had resented it with greater moder- 
 ation, he would have acted, perhaps, with more prudence 
 in regard to the public interest, as well as in respect to his 
 own.— Ad Att. xiv. 19. 
 
 b See rem. ', p. 542. 
 
 « Caesar had appointed Dolabella to succeed him in the 
 consulship as soon as he should set out upon his Parthian 
 
 ledge I am infinitely pleased to find, that the world 
 gives me a share in the merit of your late applauded 
 conduct. I daily meet, in this place, great num- 
 bers of the first rank in Rome, who are assembled 
 here for the benefit of their health, as well as a 
 multitude of my friends from the principal cities 
 ill Italy ; and they all agree in joining their parti- 
 cular thanks to me, with those unbounded praises 
 they bestow upon you. They every one of them, 
 indeed, tell me, that they are persuaded it is owing 
 to your compliance with my counsels and admoni- 
 tions, that you approve yourself so excellent a 
 patriot and so worthy a consul. I might with 
 strict truth assure them, that you are much supe- 
 rior to the want of being advised by any man ; and 
 that your actions are the free and genuine result of 
 your own uninfluenced judgment. But although I 
 do not entirely acquiesce in their compliment, as 
 it would lessen the credit of your conduct if it 
 should be supposed to flow altogether from my 
 suggestions, yet neither do I wholly reject it : for 
 the love of praise is a passion, which I am apt, you 
 know, somewhat too immoderately to indulge. 
 Yet, after all, to take counsel of a Nestor, as it was 
 an honour to the character even of that king of 
 kings, Agamemnon himself, it cannot surely be un- 
 becoming the dignity of yours. It is certainly, at 
 least, much to the credit of mine, that while in this 
 early period of your life'', you are thus exercising 
 the supreme magistracy with universal admiration 
 and applause ; you are considered as directed by 
 my guidance and formed by my instructions. 
 
 I lately paid a visit to Lucius Csesar^, at Naples ; 
 and though I found him extremely indisposed, and 
 full of pain in every part of his body, yet the mo- 
 ment I entered his chamber he raised himself with 
 an air of transport, and without allowing himself 
 time to salute me, " O my dear Cicero," said he, 
 " I give you joy of your influence over DolabeUa,^ 
 and had I the same credit with my nephew, our 
 country might now be preserved. But I not only 
 
 expedition ; and, accordingly, Dolabella, upon the death 
 of Caesar, immediately assumed the administration of that 
 office. His conduct in this critical conjuncture had ren- 
 dered it somewhat doubtful which side he was most dis- 
 posed to favour : but an accident had lately happened 
 which gave the friends of the republic great hopes that he 
 would support the cause of the conspirators. Some of 
 Cassar's freed-men had erected a sort of altar upon the 
 spot where his body had been burned, at which the populace 
 daily assembled in the most tumultuous and alarming 
 manner. Dolabella, in the absence of his colleague An- 
 tony, interposed his consular authority in order to suppress 
 this mob ; and having caused tke altar to be demolished, 
 he exerted a very seasonable act of severity, by command- 
 ing the principal ringleaders of the riot to be instantly put 
 to death. It was this that produced the following letter 
 from Cicero, written from some place of public resort, pro- 
 bably from the baths of Baia;.— Dio, p. 240, 267 ; Ad Att. 
 xiv. 15. 
 
 •i Dolabella was, at this time, not more than twenty-five 
 years of age, which was almost twenty years earlier than 
 he could legally have offered himself as a candidate for 
 the consular dignity, the Roman laws having very wisely 
 provided that no man should bo capable of exercising this 
 important office till he had attained the age of forty-two. 
 
 ^ He was a distant relation to Julius Ca;sar, and uncle 
 to Mark Antony. Upon the celebrated coalition of the 
 triumvirate, he was sacrificed by Antony to the resentment 
 of Octavius, as, in return, Cicero was delivered up to the 
 vengeance of Antony. But Lucius escaped the conse- 
 quence of this proscription by the means of Julia, ABtony'» 
 mother — Plut. in Vit. Ant.
 
 Ml 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 congratulate your friend on his worthy conduct, but 
 desire you would return him my particular acknow- 
 ledgments : as, indeed, he is the single consul who 
 has acted with true spirit since you filled that 
 oflBce." He liuii luoceeded to enlarge upon your 
 late glorious action, representing it as equal to the 
 most illustrious and important service that ever was 
 rendered to the commonwealth. And in this he 
 only echoed the general voice of the whole republic. 
 Suffer me, then, to take possession of those enco- 
 miums to which I am by no means entitled, and in 
 some sort to participate with you in that general 
 ajiplause you have accjuired. To be serious, how- 
 ever, (for you will not imagine that I make this 
 request in good earnest,) I would much rather resign 
 to you the whole of my own glory, (if there be any, 
 indeed, I can justly claim,) than arrogate to myself 
 the least portion of that which is so unquestionably 
 your due. For as you cannot but be sensible that 
 I have ever loved you, so your late behaviour has 
 raised that affection into the highest possible 
 ardour : as, in truth, there cannot be anything 
 more engagingly fair, more irresistibly amiable, 
 than the patriot virtues. I need not tell you how 
 greatly the exalted talents and polite manners, 
 together with the singular spirit and probity, of 
 Marcus Brutus, had ever endeared him to my heart. 
 Nevertheless, his late glorious achievement on the 
 ides of March, has wonderfully heightened that 
 esteem I bore him : and which I had always looked 
 upon as too exalted to admit of any farther advance. 
 In the same manner, who would have imagined that 
 my friendship towards yourself was capable of in- 
 crease ? yet it actually has increased so very consi- 
 derably, that the former sentiments of my heart 
 seem to have been nothing more than common 
 affection, in comparison of that transcendent passion 
 which I now feel for you. 
 
 Can it be necessary that I should either exhort 
 you to preserve the glory you have acquired, or, 
 agreeably to the usual style of admonition, set 
 before your view some animating examples of illus- 
 trious merit ? I could mention none for this pur- 
 pose more forcible than your own : and you have 
 only to endeavour to act up to the character you 
 have already attained. It is impossible, indeed, 
 after having performed so signal a service to your 
 country, that you should ever deviate from yourself. 
 Instead, therefore, of sending you any unnecessary 
 exhortations, let me rather congratulate you upon 
 this noble display of your patriotism. It is your 
 privilege (and a privilege, perhaps, which no one 
 ever enjoyed before) to have exercised the severest 
 acts of necessary justice, not only vrithout incur- 
 ring any odium, but with the greatest popularity : 
 vrith the approbation of the lowest, as weU as,of the 
 best and highest amongst us. If this were a cir- 
 cumstance in which chance had any share, I should 
 congratulate your good fortune : but it was the 
 efifect of a noble and undaunted resolution, under 
 the guidance of the strongest and most enlightened 
 judgment. I say this from having read the speech 
 you made upon this occasion to the people ; and 
 never was any harangue more judiciously composed. 
 You open and explain the fact with so much address, 
 and gradually rise through the several circumstances 
 in so artful a manner, as to convince all the world 
 that the affair was mature for your animadversion. 
 1 n a word, you have delivered the commonwealth 
 in general, as well as the city of Rome in particu- 
 
 lar, from the dangers with which they were threat- 
 ened : and not only performed a singular service 
 to the present generation, but set forth a most 
 useful example for times to come. You will consi- 
 der yourself, then, as the great supporter of the 
 republic ; and remember, she expects that you will 
 not only protect, but distinguish those illustrious 
 l)ersonsf who have laid the foundation for the 
 recovery of our liberties. But I hope soon to have 
 an opportunity of expressing my sentiments to you 
 more fully upon this subject in person. In the 
 mean while, since you are thus our glorious guar- 
 dian and preserver, 1 conjure you, my dear Dola- 
 bclla, to take care of yourself for the sake of the 
 whole commonwealth B. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To Trehonhis^. 
 I HAVK recommended my Ora/or (for that is the 
 title which I have given to the treatise I promised 
 A u 709 *° ^^'"^ y°") **' the care of your freedman 
 Sabinus. I was induced to trust it in his 
 charge, from the good opinion I entertain of his 
 countrymen : if, indeed, I may guess at his 
 country by his name', and he has not, like an art- 
 ful candidate at an election, usurped an appellation 
 
 f Brutus and CasBius, together with the rest of the con- 
 spirators. 
 
 g Cicero communicated a copy of this letter to Atticns, 
 who appears to have much disapproved of those encomiums 
 with which it is so extravacantly swelled. The hyper- 
 bole, indeed, seems to have been the prevailing figure in 
 Cicero's rhetoric ; and he generally dealt it out, both to 
 his friends and to his enemies, with more warmth than 
 tiisorction. In the present instance, at least, he was either 
 very easily imposed upon by appearances, or he changed 
 his opinion of Dolabella's public actions and designs, ac- 
 cording to the colour of his conduct towards himself. Per- 
 haps both these causes might concur, in forming those 
 great and sudden variations which we find in our author's 
 sentiments at this period, with respect to the hero of the 
 panegyric before us ; for, in a letter to Atticus, written 
 very shortly after the present, he speaks of Dolabella with 
 high displeasure ; and, in another to the same person a 
 few months later, he exclaims against him with much 
 bitterness, as one who had not only been bribed by Antony 
 to desert the cause of liberty, but who had endeavoured, 
 as far as in him lay, entirely to ruin it. The accusation 
 seems to have been just; but it is observable, however, 
 that in both the letters referred to, part of Cicero's indig- 
 nation arises from some personal ill-treatment which he 
 complains of having received from Dolabella. — Ad Att. 
 xiv. 18; xvi. 15. 
 
 h Some account has already been given of Trebonius in 
 rem. 1, p. 4C7. Cjesar, upon his return from Spain, in the 
 preceding year, appointed him consul with Quintus Fabiua 
 Maximus ; but this, and other favours of the same kind, 
 were not sufl6cient to restrain him from entering into the 
 conspiracy which was soon afterwards formed against 
 Ca?sar's life. At the same time, therefore, that Brutus 
 and Cassius foimd it expedient to leave Rome, Trebonius 
 secretly withdrew into Asia Minor, which had before been 
 allotted to him as his proconsular province ; and he was 
 on his way to that government when the present letter 
 was written.— Dio, p. 236, 247 ; Ad Att. xiv. 10. 
 
 ' Cicero supposes that Sabinus was so called as being a 
 native of Sabinia, a country in Italy, the inhabitants of 
 which were celebrated for having long retained an uncor- 
 rupted simplicity of manners. Hanc olim veteres vitam 
 coluere Sabini is Virgil's conclusion of that charming 
 description which he gives of the pleasing labours and 
 innocent recreations of rural life, Georg. U. 532.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 545 
 
 to which he has no right J. However, there is such 
 a modesty in his countenance, and such an air of 
 sincerity in his conversation, that I am much de- 
 ceived if he does not possess, in some degree, at 
 least, the true Sabine simplicity. But not to suffer 
 him to take up any more of my paper, I will now 
 turn, my dear Trebonius, to yourself. As there 
 were some circumstances attending your departure 
 that increased t.ie affection I bear towards you, 
 let me entreat you, in order to soothe the uneasi- 
 ness I feel from your absence, to be as frequent a 
 correspondent on your part as you shall certainly 
 find me on mine. There are two reasons, indeed, 
 why you ought to be more so : the first is, that, as 
 the republic can now no longer be considered as 
 in Rome, but removed with its glorious defenders, 
 we, who remain here, must expect to receive from 
 our provincial friends what we used to transmit 
 to them ; an account, I mean, of the common- 
 wealth. The next reason is, because I have many 
 other opportunities in your absence, besides that 
 of writing, to give you proofs of my friendship : 
 whereas, you have none, I think, of testifying 
 yours, but by the frequency of your letters. As to 
 all other articles, I can wait; but my first and most 
 impatient desire is, to know what sort of journey 
 you have had, where you met Brutus'*, and how 
 long you continued together. When you are ad- 
 vanced farther towards your province, you will 
 acquaint me, I hope, with your miUtary prepara- 
 tions, and with whatever else relates to our public 
 affairs, that I may be able to form some judgment 
 of our situation. I am sure, at least, I shall give 
 no credit to any intelligence but what I receive 
 from your hands. In the mean time, take care of 
 your health, and continue to allow me the same 
 singular share of your affection which I have always 
 enjoyed. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 Trebonius to Cicero^. 
 I ARRiVKD at Athens on the 22dof this month, 
 where, agreeably to my wishes, I had the satisfac- 
 A V 709 '■'"'^ of finding your son in the pursuit of 
 the noblest improvements, and in the 
 highest esteem for his modest and ingenuous be- 
 haviour"'. As you perfectly well know the place 
 you possess in my heart, you will judge, without 
 my telling you, how much pleasure this circum- 
 stance afforded me. In conformity, indeed, to the 
 unfeigned friendship which has so long been 
 cemented between us, I rejoice in every advantage 
 that can attend you, be it ever so inconsiderable ; 
 much more, therefore, in one so important to your 
 
 i It was an artifice sometimes practised by the candidates 
 for offices, in order to recommend themselves to the good 
 graces of their constituents, to pretend a kindred to which 
 they had no rii^ht, byassiuninRthe name of some favourite 
 and popular family. — Manutius. 
 
 k Brutus had not left Italy when Trebonius set out for 
 Asia, nor did he leave it til) several months afterwards ; 
 ■BO that the inquiry which Cicero here makes must relate 
 to some interview which he supposed that Trebonius 
 might have had with Brutus before the former embarked. 
 —Ad Att. xiv 10. 
 
 1 This letter seems to have been written before the pre- 
 ceding epistle had reached the hands of Trebonioa. 
 
 »o See the remarks on letter 37 of this book. 
 
 happiness. Believe me, my dear Cicero, I do not 
 flatter you when I say, there is not a youth in all 
 this seminary of learning more ardently devoted to 
 those refined and elevated arts which are so pecu- 
 liarly your passion, or who, in every view of his 
 character, is more truly amiable, than our young 
 man. I call him oiirf;, for be assured, I cannot 
 separate myself from anything with which you are 
 connected. It is with great pleasure, therefore, 
 as well as with strict justice, I congratulate both 
 you and myself, that a youth for whom we ought 
 to have some affection, whatever his disposition 
 might be, is of a character to deserve our highest. 
 As he intimated a desire of seeing Asia, I not only 
 invited, but pressed him to take the opportunity 
 of visiting that ]irovince whilst I presided there : 
 and you will not doubt of my supplying your place 
 in every tender office of paternal care. But that 
 you may not be apprehensive this scheme will prove 
 an interruption of those studies, to which, I know, 
 he is continually animated by your exhortations, 
 Cratippus" shall be of our party. Nor shall your 
 son want my earnest incitements to advance daily 
 in those sciences, into which he has already made 
 so successful an entrance. 
 
 I am wholly ignorant of what is going forward at 
 Rome ; only I hear some uncertain rumours of 
 commotions amongst you. But I hope there is no 
 foundation for this report ; that we may one day 
 sit down in the peaceful possession of our liberties, 
 retired from the noise and bustle of the world : a 
 privilege which hitherto it has not been my fortune 
 to enjoy. However, having had a short relaxation 
 from business during my voyage to this place, I 
 amused myself by putting together a few thoughts, 
 which I always designed as a present to you. In 
 this performance I have inserted that lively observa- 
 tion which you formerly made, so much to my 
 honour, and have pointed out, by a note at the 
 bottom, to whom I am indebted for the compli- 
 ment. If, in some passages of this piece, I should 
 appear to have taken great liberties, I shall be 
 justified, I persuade myself, by the character of 
 the man at whom my invective is aimed" ; and you 
 will, undoubtedly, excuse the just indignation I 
 have expressed against a person of such infamous 
 principles. Why, indeed, may I not be indulged 
 in the same unbounded licence as was allowed to 
 honest LuciliusP ? He could not be animated with 
 greater abhorrence of the vices, which he has so 
 freely attacked ; and certainly, they were nof more 
 w^orthy of satire than those against which } have 
 inveighed. 
 
 I hope you will remember your promise- and 
 take the first opportunity of introducing me as a 
 party in some of your future dialogues. I -loubt 
 not, if you should write anything upon the subject 
 of Caesar's death, that you will give an instance of 
 your friendship and your justice, by ascribing to 
 me no inconsiderable share of that glorious trans- 
 action. 
 
 I recommend my mother and family to your 
 good offices, and bid you farewell. 
 Athens, May the 25th. 
 
 " See rem. ' on letter 37 of this book. 
 
 o .Probably at Antony. P See rem. •«, p. 495. 
 
 NN
 
 646 
 
 THE LETTERS OF iMAllCL'S TULMCS CltERO 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 To Muliust. 
 
 I KNOW not wliethiT it is with (greater pain or 
 pleasure that I refli-ct on the visit which I h\t(Iy 
 ,^ received from our very good friend, the 
 well-natured Trebatius. He railed upon 
 me the next mornintj after my arrival at Tusculum ; 
 and as he was l)y no means sufficiently recovered 
 from his late indi:>i)i>>iti()n, I rould not forbear 
 reproving him for tlius hazarding liis health. He 
 interrupted me with saying, that nothing was of 
 more importance to him than tlie business which 
 brought him to my house ; and upon my inquiry 
 if anything new had occurred, he immediately 
 entered into an account of your com|)laints against 
 me. But before I give them a particular answer, 
 let me begin with a few jirevious reflections. 
 
 Amongst all my ac(|uaintance I cannot recollect 
 any man with wliom I have longer enjoyed a 
 friendshi]) than with yourself; and, although there 
 are several for whom my affection commenced as 
 early, there are few for whom it has risen so high. 
 The truth of it is, I conceived an esteem for ynu 
 from the first moment I saw you ; and 1 had rea- 
 son to believe that you thought of me in the same 
 favourable manner. Rut your long absence from 
 Rome, which immediately succeeded our first 
 acquaintance, together with that active course of 
 life wherein I was engaged, and which was so en- 
 tirely different from yours, did not at that time 
 admit of our improving this mutual disposition by 
 a more frequent intercourse. Nevertheless, even 
 so long ago as when Caesar was in Gaul, and many 
 years before the commencement of the civil war, I 
 experienced your friendly inclinations towards me. 
 For as you imagined that my union with Coesar 
 ■vould be greatly advantageous on my side, and not 
 altogether unserviceable to himself, you generously 
 recommended me to his favour, and was the cause 
 of his cultivating my friendship. I forbear to 
 mention several instances which occurred at that 
 period, of the unreserved manner in which we both 
 conversed and corresponded together, as they were 
 followed by others of a more important nature. At 
 the opening of the civil war, when you were going 
 to meet Caesar at Brundisium, you paid me a visit 
 in my Formian villa. This single favour, had it 
 been attended with no other, was at such a critical 
 juncture an ample testimony of your affection. 
 But can I ever forget the generous advice you so 
 kindly gave me at the same lime, — and of which 
 Trebatius, 1 remember, was himself a witness ? 
 
 1 It is principally owing to this and the following letter, 
 that the name and ch.-iracter of Matius are known to pos- 
 terity, as he is n.nvhere mentioned by any of the ancient 
 historians of this memorable period. Ilis inviolable and 
 disinterested affection to Csesar, together with the gene- 
 rous courage with which he avowed that attachment when 
 Caesar was no more, as hey strongly mark out the virtues 
 of his heart, so they will best appear by his own spirited 
 reply to the present epistle. Hut Matius was as much 
 distinguished by his genius as his virtues ; and he was 
 perfectly well accomplished in those arts, wliich contribute 
 to the innocent pleasure and embellisliment of human life. 
 Gardening and poetry, in particular, seem to have been 
 his favourite amusements; in the fonuer of whiih his 
 countrjTnen were indebted to him for some useful im- 
 provements, as they likewise were, in the latter, for an 
 
 elegant translation of the Iliad Columel. xii. 44 ; Aul. 
 
 GeU. Ti. fi ; U. 4. 
 
 Can I ever forget the letter you afterwards wrote 
 to me, when you went to join Caesar in the district, 
 if I mistake not, of Trebula.' It was soon after 
 this, that, either by gratitude, by honour, or per- 
 haps by fate, I was determined to follow Pompey 
 into Greece; and was there any instance of an 
 obliging Zeal which yo\i did not exert in my ab- 
 sence both for me and for my family .■' Was there 
 any one, in short, whom either they or I had more 
 reason to esteem our friend .' But I returned to 
 Brundisium ; and can I forget (let me ask once 
 more) with what a!i obliging expedition you 
 hastened, as soon as you heard of my arrival, to 
 meet me at Tarentuiii ? How friendly were your 
 visits,— how kind your endeavours to reason me 
 out of that dejection into which the dread of our 
 general calamities had sunk me .' At length, how- 
 ever, 1 returned to Rome ; where every proof of 
 the greatest intimacy, and upon occasions, too, of 
 the most important kind, mutually passed between 
 us. It was by your directions and advice that I 
 learned to regulate my conduct with respect to 
 Caesar ; and as to other instance.^ of your friend- 
 ship, where was the man, except Caesar himself, at 
 whose house you more frequently visited, or upon 
 whom you bestowed so many agreeable hours of 
 your conversation ? in some of which, you may 
 remember, it was that you encouraged me to engage 
 in my philosophical writings. When Caesar after- 
 wards returned from completing his victories, it 
 was your first and principal endeavour to establish 
 me again in his friendsliij) ; and it was an endeavour 
 in which you perfectly well succeeded. But to 
 what purpose, you will ask, perhaps, this long 
 detail ? Longer, indeed, I must acknowledge it is 
 than I was myself aware. However, the use I 
 would make of these several circumstances is to 
 show you how much leason I have to be surprised, 
 that you, who well know the truth of them, should 
 believe me capable of having acted inconsistently 
 with such powerful ties. But besides these motives 
 of my attachment to you, — motives known and 
 visible to the whole world, — there are others of a 
 far less conspicuous kind, and which I am at a loss 
 to represent in the terms they deserve. Every 
 part, indeed, of your character I admire ; but when 
 I consider you as the wise, the firm, and the faith- 
 ful friend, — as the polite, the witty, and the learned 
 companion, — these, I confess, are the striking 
 points amidst your many other illustrious qualifi- 
 cations with which 1 am jjarticularly charmed. But 
 it is time to return to the complaints you have 
 alleged against ve. Be assured, then, I never 
 once credited the report of your having voted for 
 the law you mentioned to Trebatius ; and, indeed, 
 if I had, I should have been well persuaded that 
 you were induced to concur in promoting it upon, 
 some very just and rational motive. But as the 
 dignity of your character draws upon you the 
 observation of all the world, the malevolence of 
 mankind will sometimes give severer constructions 
 to your actions than most certainly they merit. If 
 no instances of this kind have ever reached your 
 knowledge, I know not in what manner to proceed 
 in my justification. Believe me, however, I have 
 always defended you upon these occasions with 
 the same warmth and spirit with which I am 
 sensible you are wont to oppose, on your part, the 
 calumnies that are thrown out upoti myself. Thus,. 
 with regard to the law I just now mentioned, I
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 547 
 
 have always peremptorily denied the truth of the 
 charge ; and as to your having been one of the 
 inanngers of the late"' games, I have constantly 
 insisted that you acted agreeably to those pious 
 offices that are due to the memory of a departed 
 friend. In respect to the latter, however, you 
 cannot be ignorant that if Ca-sar was really a 
 tyrant (as 1 think he was"), your zeal may be con- 
 sidered in tvro very different views. It may be 
 said (and it is an argument which I never fail to 
 urge in your favour), that you showed a very 
 commendable fidelity in thus displaying your 
 affection to a departed friend. On the other hand, 
 it may be alleged (and, in fact, it is alleged ) that 
 the liberties of our country ought to be far prefer- 
 able even to the life itself of those whom we hold 
 most dear. I wish you had been informed of tlie 
 part I have always taken whenever tliis question 
 has been started. But there are two circumstances 
 that reflect the brightest lustre upon your character, 
 and which none of your friends more frequently or 
 more warmly commemorate than myself, — I mean 
 your having always most strongly recommended 
 pacific measures to Caesar, and constantly advised 
 him to use his victory with moderation ; in both 
 which the whole world is agreed with me in ac- 
 knowledging your merit. 
 
 I think myself much obliged to our friend 
 Trebatius for having given me this occasion of 
 justifying myself before you. And you will credit 
 the professions I have here made, unless you ima- 
 gine me void of every spark both of gratitude and 
 generosity : an opinion than which nothing can be 
 more injurious to my sentiments or more unworthy 
 of yours. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Matius to Cicero. 
 
 I RECEIVED great satisfaction from your letter, 
 
 as it assured me of my holding that rank in your 
 
 • . -/,n esteem which I have ever wished and 
 
 A. IT. /U9. T 1 1 T 1,1 
 
 hoped to enjoy. Indeed, 1 never doubted 
 
 r At the time when Csesar was killed, he was preparing, 
 agreeably to a vow which he had made at the battle of 
 Pharsalia, to exhibit some games in honour of Venus ; a 
 divinity from whom he affected to be thought a descend- 
 ant. Octavius, soon after his return to Rome, upon the 
 death of Caesar, celebrated these games at his own expense, 
 and Matius undertook to be one of the managers. As this 
 was a public mark of respect paid to the memory of Cssar, 
 and might tend to inflame the minds of the populace 
 against the conspirators, it gave much disgust to the friends 
 of the republic ; and Cicero, it is probable, was in the num- 
 ber of those who had openly spoken of it with displeasiu'e. 
 He did so, at least, in a letter to Atticus. — Ad Att. xv. 2 ; 
 Appian. De Bell. Civ. ii. 407. 
 
 s "It is with injustice," said the celebrated queen of 
 Sweden, " that Cjesar is accused of being a tyrant : if to 
 govern Rome was the most important service he could 
 have performed to his country." It is certain that the 
 republic was well-nigh reduced to a state of total anarchy 
 when Caesar usurped the command ; but it is equally cer- 
 tain that he himself had been the principal author and 
 fomenter of those confusions, which rendered an absolute 
 authority the only possible expedient for reducing the 
 commonwealth into a state of tranquillity and good order. 
 If this be true, it seems no very intricate question to deter- 
 mine what verdict ought to be passed upon Cjesar. But 
 surely it is diflicult to know by what principles Cicero can 
 be acquitted, who reviled that man when dead, whom he 
 was the first to flatter when living. 
 
 of your good opinion ; but the value I set upon it 
 rendered me solicitous of preserving it without the 
 least blemish. Conscious, however, that I had 
 never given just offence to any candid and honest 
 mind, 1 was the less disposed to believe that you, 
 whose sentiments are exalted by the cultivation of 
 so many generous arts, could hastily credit any 
 reports to my disadvantage, — especially as you 
 were one for whom I had at all times discovered 
 much sincere good-will. But as I have the plea- 
 sure to find that you think of me agreeably to my 
 wishes, I will drop this subject in order to vindi- 
 cate myself from those calumnies which you have 
 so often, and with such singular generosity, op- 
 posed. I am perfectly well apprised of the reflec- 
 tions that have been cast upon me since Caesar's 
 death. It has been imputed to me, I know, that 
 I lament the loss of my friend, and think with 
 indignation on the murderers of the man I loved. 
 "The welfare of our country," say my accusers 
 (as if they had already made it appear that the 
 destruction of Csesar was for the benefit of the 
 commonwealth), " the welfare of our country is to 
 be preferred to all considerations of amity." It 
 may be so ; but I will honestly confess that I am 
 by no means arrived at this elevated strain of 
 patriotism. Nevertheless, I took no part with 
 Caesar in our civil dissentions ; but neither did I 
 desert my friend because I disliked his measures. 
 The truth is. 1 was so far from approving the civil 
 war that I always thought it unjustifiable, and 
 e.xerted my utmost endeavours to extinguish those 
 sjiarks by which it was kindled. In conformity to 
 these sentiments, I did not make use of my friend's 
 victory to the gratification of any lucrative or 
 ambitious purposes of my own, as some others 
 most shamefully did whose interest with Caesar was 
 much inferior to mine. Far, in truth, from being 
 a gainer by his success, I suffered greatly in my 
 fortunes by that very law which saved many of 
 those who now exult in his death from the disgrace 
 of being obliged to fly their country'. Let me 
 add, that I recommended the vanquished party to 
 his clemency with the same warmth and zeal as if 
 my own preservation had been concerned. Thus 
 desirous that all my fellow-citizens might enjoy 
 their lives in full security, can I repress the indig- 
 nation of my heart against the assassins of that 
 man from whose generosity this privilege was ob- 
 tained, — especially as the same hands vrere lifted 
 up to his destruction which had first drawn upon 
 him all the odium and envy of his administration? 
 Yet I am threatened, it seems, with their vengeance, 
 for daring to condemn the deed. Unexampled 
 insolence I that some should glory in the perpetra- 
 tion of those crimes which others should not be 
 permitted even to deplore ! The meanest slave 
 has ever been allowed to indulge, without control, 
 the fears, the sorrows, or the joys of his heart ; 
 but these, our assertors of lihertij, as they call 
 themselves, endeavour to extort from me, by their 
 menaces, this common privilege of every creature. 
 Vain and impotent endeavours ! no dangers shall 
 intimidate me from acting up to the generous 
 duties of friendship and humanity ; persuaded, as 
 I have ever been, that death in an honest cause 
 
 ' The law alluded to \?, probably, that which Ca;sar 
 enacted for the relief of those who had contracted debts 
 before the commencement of the civil war, of which se© 
 rem. ', p. 4H3. 
 
 N N 2
 
 648 
 
 THE LETTKRS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 ought never to be shunned, and frequently to be 
 courted. Yet wliy does it thus move tlieir dis- 
 pleasure, if I only wish that they may repent of 
 v^■ilat they have pt rpetrated ? For wish I will 
 acknowledgt- I do, that both they and all the world 
 may rej^nt the death of Ca-sar. " But as a mem- 
 ber (say they) of the eonimonwealth, you ought 
 above all things to desire its preservation." Now 
 that I siiieerely do so, if the whole tenor of my 
 l)ast coniluct, and all the hojies I can reasonably 
 be supposed to entertain will not sufficiently evince, 
 
 shall not attempt to jirove it hy my ])r()fessions. 
 I conjure you, then, to juilge of me, not by what 
 others may say, but by the plain tendency of my 
 actions; and, if you believe I have any interest in 
 the tran(piillity of the republic, be assured that I 
 will have no eoiiimunicatioii with those who would 
 impiously disturb its jx'aee. Shall 1 renounce, 
 inileed, those patriot principles I steadily pursued 
 in my youth, wiien warmth and inex|)erience might 
 have pleaded some excuse for errors ? Shall I, in 
 the sober season of declining age, wantonly unravel 
 at once the whole fair contexture of my better 
 days? Most assuredly not; nor shall I ever give 
 any other offence than in bewailing the severe 
 catastrophe of a most intimate and illustrious 
 friend ! Were I disposed to act otherwise, 1 should 
 Ecorn to deny it ; nor should it be ever said that I 
 covered my crimes by hypocrisy, and feared to 
 avow what I scru|)led not to commit. 
 
 But to proceed to the other articles of the charge 
 against me ; it is farther alleged that I presided at 
 those games which the young Octavius exhibited in 
 honour of Cassar's victories. The charge, I confess, 
 is true ; but what connexion has an act of mere 
 private duty, with the concerns of the republic ? 
 It was an office, not only due from me to the 
 memory of my departed friend, but which I could not 
 rr/use to that illustrious youth, his most worthy heir. 
 I am reproached, also, with having been frequent 
 in paying my visits of compliment to Antony ; yet 
 you will find that the very men who impute this as 
 a mark of disaffection to my country, appeared 
 much more frequently at his levee, either to solicit 
 his favours, or to receive them. But, after all, can 
 there be anything, let me ask, more insufferably 
 arrogant than this accusation ? Caesar never op- 
 posed my associating with whomsoever I thought 
 proper, even though it were with persons whom 
 he himself disa))proved ; and shall the men who 
 have cruelly robbed me of one friend, attempt, 
 hkewise, by their malicious insinuations, to alienate 
 tne from another ? But the moderation of my con- 
 duct, will, I doubt not, discredit all reports that 
 may hereafter be raised to my disadvantage ; and I 
 am persuaded, that even those who hate me for my 
 attachment to C'sesar, would rather choose a friend 
 of my disposition, than of their own. In fine, if 
 my affairs should permit me, it is my resolution to 
 spend the remainder of my days at Rhodes. But, 
 if any accident should render it necessary for me 
 to continue at Rome, my actions shall evince, that 
 I am sincerely desirous of my country's welfare. 
 In the mean time, I am much obliged to Trebatius 
 for supplying you with an occasion of so freely 
 laying open to me the amicable sentiments of your 
 hi art; a,s i* affords me an additional reason for 
 cultivating a friend.xhip with one whom I have ever 
 been disposed to esteem. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 jMarctts Brutus and Caius Cassias, Prcetors"^, to 
 Mark Antony, Consul. 
 
 If we were not persuaded of your honour and 
 
 friendship, we should not trouble you with the 
 
 A V ""oy present application ; which, in confidence 
 
 of both, we doubt not of your receiving ia 
 
 the most favourable manner. 
 
 W'a are informed, that great numbers of the 
 veteran troops arc already arrived in Rome, and 
 that many more are expected by the first of June. 
 Our sentiments would be extremely changed, in- 
 deed, if we entertained any fears or suspicions 
 with regard to yourself. However, as we resigned 
 ourselves entirely tj your direction, and, in com- 
 pliance with your advice, not only published an 
 edi(;t, but wrote circular letters in order to dismiss 
 our friesuls who came to our assistance from the 
 municipal towns, we may justly look upon our- 
 selves as worthy of being admitted into a share of 
 your councils ; especially in an article wherein we 
 are particularly concerned. It is our joint request, 
 therefore, that you would explicitly acquaint us 
 with your intentions, and whether you imagine we 
 can possibly be safe amidst such a multitude of 
 veteran troops, who have even some design, we 
 are told, of replacing the altar* which was erected 
 to Cajsar ; a design, surely, which no one can wish 
 may meet with your ajiprobation, who has any 
 regard to our credit or security^*. It has suffi- 
 ciently appeared, that from the beginning of this 
 affair, we have had a view to the public tranquillity, 
 and have aimed at nothing more than the recovery 
 of our common liberties. No man, except your- 
 self, has it in his power to deceive us, because we 
 never have trusted, nor ever will trust, any other : 
 and most certainly you have too much integrity to 
 betray the confidence we have reposed in you. 
 Our friends, however, notwithstanding that they 
 have the same reliance upon your good faith, are 
 greatly alarmed for our safety ; as they think so 
 large a body of veterans may much more easily be 
 instigated to violent measures by ill-designing men, 
 than they can be restrained by your influence and 
 authority. We entreat you, therefore, to return 
 us a full and satisfactory answer. To tell us that 
 you ordered these troops to march to Rome, as 
 intending to move the senate in June next, con- 
 cerning their" affairs, is amusing us with a very 
 idle and trifling reason ; for as you are assured that 
 we shall not attempt to obstruct this^ design, from 
 
 " They had been appointed prjetors for the present year 
 by Caesar. The reader has already been informed, that 
 Brutus and Cassias, finding it necessary, soon after the 
 assassinati(in of Caesar, to withdraw from Rome, retired 
 to a villa of the former, at Lanuvium, from whence this 
 letter was probably written. 
 
 » See rem. '^, p. 543. 
 
 w Because the suffering of divine honours to be paid to 
 CsEsar would necessarily impress the highest sentiments 
 of him upon the minds of the populace ; and, consequent- 
 ly, tend to incense them against those who were concerned 
 in taking away his life. 
 
 * Antony's pretended reason for drawing together this 
 body of veteran troops was, in ordpr to procure a ratifica- 
 tion from thesenateof those grants of lands which had been 
 made to them by Csesar, as a reward of their strvices ; but 
 his true reason was, to strengthen his hands against those 
 who should attempt to oppose his measures. 
 
 7 The conspirators had given public assurances to the
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 549 
 
 what other quarter can you possibly suspect that it 
 will be oj)j)osed ? In a word, it cannot be thought 
 that we are too anxious for our own preservation, 
 when it is considered, that no accident can happen 
 to our persons without involving the whole republic 
 in the most dangerous commotions. Farewell 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 To Cuius Cassius. 
 
 Belikve me, my Cassius, the republic is the 
 perpetual subject of my meditations ; or, to express 
 „^^n the same thing in other words, you and 
 ' ' ' ' Marcus Brutus are never out of my 
 thoughts. It is upon you two, indeed, together 
 with Decimus Brutus, that all our hopes depend. — 
 Mine are somewhat raised by the glorious conduct 
 of Dolabella, in suppressing the late insurrection^ ; 
 ■which had spread so wide, and gathered every day 
 such additional strength, that it seemed to threaten 
 destruction to the whole city. But this mob is 
 now so totally quelled, that I think we have nothing 
 farther to fear from any future attempt of the same 
 kind. Many other fears, however, and very con- 
 siderable ones too, stili remain with us ; and it 
 entirely rests upon you, in conjunction with your 
 illustrious associates, to remove them. Yet where 
 to advise you to begin for that purpose, I must 
 acknowledge myself at a loss. To say truth, it is 
 the tyrant alone, and not the tyranny, from which 
 we seem to be delivered : for although the man, 
 indeed, is destroyed, we still servilely maintain all 
 his despotic ordinances. We do more ; and, under 
 the pretence of carrying his designs into execution, 
 we approve of measures which even he himself 
 would never have pursued* : and the misfortune is, 
 that I know not where this extravagance will end. 
 When I reflect on the laws that are enacted, on 
 the immunities that are granted, on the immense 
 largesses that are distributed, on the exiles tiiat 
 are recalled, and on the fictitious decrees that are 
 published, the only effect that seems to have 
 been produced by Csesar's death is, that it has ex- 
 tinguished the sense of our servitude, and the 
 abhorrence of that detestable usurper ; as all the 
 disorders into which he threw the republic still 
 continue. These are the evils, therefore, which it 
 is incumbent upon you and your patriot coadjutors 
 to redress : for let not my friends imagine that 
 they have yet completed their work. The obliga- 
 tions, it is true, which the republic has already 
 received from you, are far greater than I could 
 veteran troops, that they would not endeavour to annul 
 the grants which Caesar had made in their favour. — Dio, 
 p. L'57. 
 
 » See rem. c, p. 543. 
 
 » A few days after Caesar's death, Antony assembled the 
 senate in the temple of Tellus, in order to take into con- 
 sideration the state of public affairs. The result of their 
 deliberations was, to decree a general act of oblivion of 
 what was past, and to confirm the several nominations to 
 magistracies, and other grants which had been made by 
 Caesar. This was a very prudent and necessary measure, 
 in order to preserve the public tranquillity ; and it was 
 principally procured by the authority and eloquence of 
 Cicero. But Antony soon pei-verted it to his own ambi- 
 tious purposes ; for, being appointed to inspect the papers 
 of Caesar, he forged some, and modeled others, as best 
 suited his own designs ; disposing of everything as he 
 thought proper, under the authority of this decree. — Dio, 
 p. ^50, 266. 
 
 have ventured to hope : still however her demands 
 are not entirely satisfied ; and she promises herself 
 yet higher services from such brave and generous 
 benefactors. You have revenged her injuries, by 
 the death of her oppre.-;sor ; but you have dona 
 nothing more. For, tell me, what has she yet 
 recovered of her former dignify and lustre .' Does 
 she not obey the will of that tyrant, now he is 
 dead, whom she could not endure when living ? 
 And do we not, instead of repealing his public 
 laws, authenticate even his private memorandums .* 
 You will tell me perhaps (and you may tell me with 
 truth) that I concurred in passing a decree for that 
 purpose. It was in compliance however with public 
 circumstances ; a regard to which is of much con- 
 sequence in political deliberations of every kind. 
 But there are some however who have most immo- 
 derately and ungratefully abused the concessions 
 we found it thus necessary to make. 
 
 I hope very speedily to discuss this and many 
 other points with you in person. In the meaa 
 time be persuaded that the affection I have ever 
 borne to my country, as well as my particular 
 friendship to yourself, renders the advancement 
 of your credit and esteem with the public extremely 
 my concern. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 To Oppius^. 
 The sentiments and advice which your letter has 
 so freely given me, in relation to my leaving Italy "^f 
 A V ~09 together with what you said to Atticus, 
 ' in a late conversation upon this subject, 
 have greatly contributed, he can bear me witness, 
 to dispel those doubts that occurred on whichever 
 side I viewed this question. I have ever thought 
 indeed that no man was more capable of forming a 
 right judgment, nor more faithful in communi- 
 cating it, than yourself ; as I am sure I very parti- 
 cularly experienced in the beginning of the late 
 civil wars. For when I consulted you in regard to 
 my following Pompey, or remaining in Italy, your 
 advice I remember was, that " I should act as my 
 honour directed." This sufficiently discovered 
 your opinion ; and I could not but look with 
 admiration on so remarkable an instance of your 
 sincerity. For notwithstanding your strong attach- 
 ment to CiEsar, who, you had reason to think, 
 would have been better pleased if I had pursued a 
 different conduct ; yet you rather chose I should 
 act agreeably to my honour, than in conformity to 
 his inclination. My friendship for you, however, 
 did not take its rise from this period ; for I was 
 sensible that I enjoyed a share in your esteem long 
 before the time of which I am speaking. I shall 
 ever remember indeed the generous services you 
 conferred both upon myself and my family, dur- 
 ing the great misfortunes which I suffered in my 
 exile : and the strict intimacy in which we con- 
 versed with each other, after my return, as well 
 as the sentiments which, upon all occasions, I pro- 
 fessed to entertain of you, are circumstances which 
 
 ^ The MSS. vary in the name of the person to whom 
 this letter is addressed, some writing it Appius, and others 
 Oppius. If the latter be the true reading, perhaps he is 
 the same of whom some account has been given in rem. », 
 p. 457. 
 
 « See rem. *, p. 542.
 
 550 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 none who were inclined to observe them could 
 possibly overlook, liut you K^^ve me a most dis- 
 tiuguisiiiiig jiroof of the good opinion you had 
 conceived of my constancy and fideUty, by the 
 unreserved resignation of your heart to me, after 
 the deatli of C'tesar. 1 should think myself there- 
 fore a disgrace to human nature, if 1 did not justify 
 these your favourable sentiments, by every kind of 
 good otfice in my power, as well as by the return 
 of my warnu'st allection. Continue yours to me, 
 my dear Oppius, I entreat you ; a request liowever 
 which 1 prefer more in compliance with the cus- 
 tomary form, than as tlnnking it in the least 
 necessary. I recommend all my atVairs in general 
 to your protection, and leave it to Atticus to inform 
 you in what jiarticular points 1 desire your services. 
 AVheu I shall be more at leisure, you may exjject 
 a longer letter. In the mean time take care of 
 your health, as the most agreeable instance you 
 can give me of your friendship. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIL 
 To Treludus. 
 I AM the more enamoured with this city^, be- 
 cause I find you are much the favourite of every- 
 709 tjotiy i'^ 't- ^"'' ^ know not, in truth, 
 where you are otherwise ; and I should 
 rather have told you, that even the absence of your 
 freedman, Rufio, is no less regretted among them 
 than if he were a person of as much consequence 
 as you and \. However, I by no means disapprove 
 of your having called him from hence, in order to 
 superintend the buildings you are carrying on in 
 the Lupercal'^ : for, notwithstanding your house at 
 Velia is altogether as agreeable as that which you 
 have in Rome, yet I should prefer the latter to all 
 the possessions you enjoy here. Nevertheless, if 
 you should take the opinion of a man whose advice 
 you seldom reject, you will not part with your 
 patrimony on the banks of the noble Heles, nor 
 forsake a villa which had once the honour of be- 
 longing to Papirius, an intention which the citizens 
 of Velia are in some fear lest you should entertain. 
 But although it be incommoded, indeed, by the 
 great concourse of strangers who visit the adjoin- 
 ing grove ; yet that objection may easily be removed, 
 you know, by cutting down' this impertinent plan- 
 
 d Cicero, after much debate with himself concerning the 
 voyage whicli he mentions in the preceding letter, at length 
 fixed his resolution and embarked. He sailed along the 
 western coast of Italy, towards Rhcgium, but came ashore 
 every night, in order to lodge at the villa of some friend. 
 He was in this manner pursuing his voyage into Greece 
 when he wrote the present letter from Velia, a sea-port 
 town on the coast of Luoania. 
 
 e A range of buildings in Rome, so called from an 
 ancient temple of the same name, which had been for- 
 merly erected upon that spot to the god Pan.— Dion. Hal. 
 t24. 
 
 f Groves were generally consecrated to some divinity, as 
 this seems to have been, by the number of strangers who 
 probably frequented it on a rt-ligious account. Instead of 
 lucum, therefore, which is the reading adopted by Manu- 
 tius, and followed in the translation, some of the com- 
 mentators have thought it should be lotvm : because, if it 
 were a consecrated grove, it could not be cut down with- 
 out committing an act of impiety. But this objection is 
 founded upon the mistake that Cicero spoke in a serious 
 sense what he seems plainly to have mtended in a ludi- 
 crous one. 
 
 tation, which will prove a very considerable advan- 
 tage likewise both to your pocket and your jiro- 
 spect. To speak seriously, it is a great conve- 
 nience, especially in such distracted times as the 
 present, to be possessed of an estate which affords 
 you a refuge from Rome, in a j)leasant and healthy 
 situation, and in a ))lace where you are so univer- 
 sally beloved. To these considerations, 1 will add, 
 my dear Trebatius, that, perhaps, it may be for my 
 advantage also, that you should not part with this 
 villa. But, whatever you may determine, take care 
 both of yourself and my affairs ; and e.\pect to see 
 me, if the gods permit, before the end of the year. 
 
 I have ))urloined from Se.xtius Fadius, one of 
 Nico's disciples, a treatise which the latter has 
 written concerning the pleasures of the palate. 
 Agreeable physician ! how easily will he make me 
 a convert to his doctrine ! Our friend liassus was 
 so jealous of this treasure, that he endeavoured to 
 conceal it from me : but I imagine, by the freedom 
 of your table indulgencies, tliat he has been less 
 reserved in comnmnicating the secrets of it to you. 
 — The wind has just now turned to a favourable 
 point, so that 1 must bid you farewell. 
 
 Velia, July the 20th. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 You see the influence you have over me ; though, 
 indeed, it is not greater than what you are justly en- 
 A u 709 titled to, from that equal return of friend- 
 ship you make to mine. I could not, there- 
 fore, be easy in the reflection, I will not say of having 
 absolutely refused, but of not having complied, 
 however, with the request you made me, when we 
 were lately together. Accordingly, as soon as 1 
 set sail from Velia, I employed myself in drawing 
 up the treatise you desired, upon the plan of Aris- 
 totle's Topics B ; as, indeed, I could not look upon 
 a city in which you are so generally beloved, with- 
 out being reminded of my friend. I nov? send you 
 the produce of my meditations ; which I have en- 
 deavoured to express with all the perspicuity that 
 a subject of this nature will admit. Nevertheless, 
 if some passages should appear dark, you must do 
 me the justice to remember, that no science can be 
 rendered perfectly intelligible without the assistance 
 of a master to e.xplain and apply its rules. To send 
 you no farther, for an instance, than to your own 
 profession, could a knowledge of the law be acquired 
 merely from books .' Undoubtedly it could not : 
 for although the treatises which have been written 
 upon that subject are extremely numerous, yet they 
 are by no means of themselves sufficient instruc- 
 tors, without the help of some learned guide to 
 enlighten their obscurities. However, with respect 
 to the observations in the present performance, if 
 you give them a frequent and attentive perusal, you 
 will certainly be able to enter into their meaning ; 
 but the ready application of them can only be 
 
 S The treatise here mentioned is stil! extant among 
 Cicero's works, and appears to be a sort of epitome of what 
 Aristotle had long before published upon the same sub- 
 ject. The principal design of it is, to point out the several 
 sources from whence arguments upon every questiou may 
 be derived.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 661 
 
 ^ittained by repeated exercise. And in this exercise 
 I shall not fail to engage you, if I should return 
 ■safe into Italy, and find the republic in a state of 
 repose. Farewell. 
 Rhegium'', July the 28th. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 Brutus and Casshis, Prcelors', to Antony, Consul. 
 
 The letter we have received from you is altoge- 
 ther agreeable to your late contumelious and 
 >.„„ menacing edict, and by no means becom- 
 ' ' ing ?/0M to have written to ns. We have 
 in no sort, Antony, given you any just provocation ; 
 nor could we have imagined, that you would look 
 upon it as anything extraordinary, if, invested as 
 •we are with the high authority of praetors, we 
 thought proper, in a public manifesto, to signify 
 our requests to the consul. But if it raises your 
 indignation that we presumed to take this liberty 
 as praetors, allow us to lament that you should not 
 indulge us in it at least as friends. 
 
 We receive it as an instance of your justice, that 
 ■you deny ever having complained of our levying 
 troops and contributions, and making applications 
 to the armies, both at home and abroad, to rise in 
 our defence ; a charge which we likewise disavow 
 in every particular. We cannot but wonder, how- 
 ever, since you were silent upon this head, that you 
 should be so little able to command yourself upon 
 another, as to reproach us with the death of 
 Caesar. 
 
 We leave it to your own reflections to determine 
 what sentiments it ought to create in us, that the 
 praetors of Rome, in order to preserve the tran- 
 quillity and liberties of the commonwealth, cantiot 
 publish a manifesto declaring their desire of retiring 
 from the execution of their office, without being 
 insulted by the consul. 'Tis in vain, however, 
 that you would intimidate us by your arms ; for it 
 would ill become the spirit we have shown to be 
 discouraged by dangers of any kind. As little 
 should Antony nttempt to usurp an authority over 
 those to whom he is himself indebted for the liberty 
 he enjoys. To the free and independent, the me- 
 naces of any man are perfectly impotent. Had we 
 a design, therefore, of having recourse to arms, 
 your letter would be altogether ineffectual to deter 
 us from our purpose. But, you are well convinced, 
 that no consideration can prevail with us to rekin- 
 dle the flames of a civil war ; and, perhaps, you 
 artfully threw out these menaces in order to per- 
 suade the world that our pacific meeisures are the 
 effect, not of choice, but timidity. 
 
 To speak plainly our sentiments, we wish to see 
 you raised to the highest honours ; but to honours 
 Ihat are conferred by a free republic. It is our 
 
 1» A seaport upon the western point of Calabria, oppo- 
 site to Sicily ; it is now called Regio. 
 
 ' The prsetors could not legally absent themselves from 
 Rome for above ten days, unless they obtained a special 
 ■dispensation from the senate for that purpose. Brutus 
 •and Cassius, therefore, not (hmking it safe to trust them- 
 selves in the city, published a sort of manifesto, directed 
 to Antony as consul, requesting him to move the senate 
 for this licence in their favour. Antony, instead of com- 
 plying with their request, seems to have answered it by 
 IJublishing a manifesto on his part, which was followed, 
 likewise, by a private letter that produced the present 
 «pistle. 
 
 desire, likewise, not to engage with you in any 
 contests ; but we must add, that the possession of 
 our liberties is of far higher value in our esteem 
 than the enjoyment of your friendship. Well con- 
 sider wliat you undertake, and how far you may be 
 able to carry it into execution ; reflecting, not how 
 many years Caesar was permitted to live, but how 
 short a period he was sufi'ered to reignJ. In the 
 mean while, we implore the gods to inspire you 
 with such counsels as may tend to the advantage 
 both of yourself and of the commonwealth. But 
 should they prove otherwise, we wish that the con- 
 sequence may be as little detrimental to your own 
 interest, as shall be consistent with the dignity and 
 safety of the republic. 
 August the 4th. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 To Plancus^. 
 
 I HAD left Rome, and was actually on my voyage 
 
 to Greece, when I was recalled by the general voice 
 
 A u 709 °^ ''^^ republic': but the conduct of 
 
 Marc Antony, ever since my return, has 
 
 J Caesar did not continue longer than five months in tlie 
 peaceable enjoyment of his usurpation ; for he returned to 
 Rome, from the conquest of Pompey's sons in Spain, in 
 the month of October 708, and was assassinated in the 
 March following. — Veil. Pat. ii. 56. 
 
 k Some general account of Plancus has already been 
 given in rem. °, p. 475- In the beginning of the present 
 year he was appointed by Cssar governor of the farther 
 Gaul, where he now was, at the head of three legions. lie 
 is said, during his residence in that province, to have 
 founded the city of Lyons. Upon the death of Caesar, to 
 whom he had been warmly attached, Cicero employed all 
 his art to engage him on the side of the senate ; and Plan- 
 cus, after much hesitation, at length declared himself 
 accordingly. But this declaration seems to have been 
 entirely the effect of a belief that the rupture between 
 Antony and the senate was upon the point of being accom- 
 modated : it is certain, at least, that it was not sincere. 
 For Plancus soon afterwards betrayed the cause he had 
 thus professed to support, and went over with his troops 
 to Antony.— Pigh. Annal. ii. 465 ; Senec. Ep. 91 ; Veil. Pat. 
 ii. 63. See rein. ' on letter 18 of book xv. 
 
 1 The principal motive of Cicero's intended voyage into 
 Greece was in order to avoid the danger of taking part in 
 a civil war, which he apprehended would soon break out 
 between Antony and young Pompey, the latter being 
 expected from Spain, at the head of a considerable army. 
 But as his leaving Italy at so critical and important a 
 conjuncture might justly expose him to the censure of un- 
 worthily deserting the republic, he was long and greatly 
 embarrassed between the desire of preserving his character 
 on the one side, and of securing his person on the other, 
 the two points which seem, throughout his whole life, to 
 have held him in perpetual suspense. However, he at 
 length embarked ; but the no sooner sailed than he re- 
 pented, as usual, of the step he had taken. Nevertheless, 
 he pursued his voyage and arrived in Sicily, from whence 
 he proposed to stretch over into Greece ; but, in attempting 
 this passage, he was blown back by contrary winds on the 
 coast of Italy. Upon his going ashore, in order to refresh 
 liiruscjf, he was informed by some of the principal inhabi- 
 tants of that part of the country, who were just arrived 
 from Rome, that there were great hopes Antony would 
 accommodate affairs to the general satisfaction of all 
 parties. This news was followed by a letter from Atticus, 
 pressing him to renounce his intended voyage, as also by 
 an interview with Brutus, who likewise expressed his dis- 
 approbation of that scheme. Upon these considerations, 
 therefore, he gave up all farther thoughts of Greece, and
 
 552 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLUJS CICERO 
 
 not permitted me to enjoy a moment of repose. 
 The ferocity (for to call it j)riile would be imputing 
 a vice to hini which is nothing uncommon) the 
 ferocity of his temper is so excessive, that he can- 
 not hear a word, or even u look, which is animated 
 with the least spirit of liberty. It is this that tills 
 my heart with a thousand disquietudes : but dis- 
 quietudes, in which my own preservation is by no 
 means concerned. No, my friend, I have nothing 
 farther to wish with resjiect to myself, whether 1 
 consider the years to which I am arrived'", the 
 actions that I have performed, or the glory (if that 
 may be mentioned as of any value in the account) 
 with which they have been crowned. All my 
 anxiety is for our country alone ; anil the more so, 
 my dear IMancus, as the time ajjpointed for your 
 succession to the consular ottice" is so remote, that 
 it is rather to be wished than expected, that we 
 should be able to preserve our liberties so lonj^ 
 alive. What rational h()])es, indeed, can possibly 
 be entertained, where a commonwealth is totally 
 oppressed by the arms of the most violent and out- 
 rageous of men, wliere neither the senate nor the 
 people have any authority ; where neither laws nor 
 justice prevail ; and, in one word, where there is 
 not the least trace or shadow of civil government 
 remaining ? But as you receive, I imagine, the 
 public accounts of what is transacted amongst us, 
 I need not descend into a detail of particulars. 
 Let me rather, in consequence of that affection I 
 bear you, and which has been still increasing from 
 our earliest youth, let me rather remind and exhort 
 you, to turn all your thoughts and cares towards 
 the republic. If it should not be utterly destroyed 
 ere you enter upon the consular office, it may, 
 without difficulty, be steered riglit. Though I will 
 add, that much vigilance as well as great good 
 fortune must concur, in order to preserve it to 
 that desirable period. But I hope we may see you 
 here, somewhat before that time shall arrive. 
 Meanwhile, besides the inducements that arise to 
 me from my regard to the well-being of the 
 republic, you may be assured that, from my parti- 
 cular attachment likewise to yourself, I shall exert 
 my utmost efforts for the advancement of your 
 credit and honours. By these means, I shall have 
 the satisfaction to discharge, at once, the duties I 
 owe both to my country and to my friend ; to that 
 country which is the object of my warmest affec- 
 tions, and to that friend whose amity 1 would most 
 religiously cultivate. 
 
 I am extremely rejoiced, though by no means 
 surprised, to find that you treat Furnius" agreeably 
 to his rank and merit. Be assured that whatever 
 favours you shall think proper to confer upon him, 
 I shall consider them as so many immediate 
 instances of your regard to myself. Farewell. 
 
 immediately returned to Rome. — Ad Att. xiv. 13, 22 ; xv. 
 19, 20,21, 3.3; xvi. 6, 7. 
 
 °» Cicero was, at this time, in his e3d year. 
 
 n Plancus was in the number of tliose whom Csesar had 
 named to the consulate, in that general designation of 
 magistrates which he made a short time before his death. 
 But as Plancus stood last in the list, his turn was not to 
 commence till the year 711. 
 
 o He was lieutenant to Plancus in GauL 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Decimus Brutus, Consul electa, to Cicero. 
 
 \v I entertained the least doubt of your inclina- 
 tions to serve me, I should be extremely copious 
 A. V. 'm. '" "'y soheitations for that purpose ; but 
 I have strongly persuaded myself that my 
 interest is already a jjart of your care. 
 
 I led my army against the inhabitants of the 
 Alps, not so much from an ambition of being 
 s. luted with the title of Ii/ijtcialori, as in order 
 to comply with the martial spirit of my troops, 
 and to strengthen their attachment to our cause. 
 In both these views I have, 1 think, succeeded: 
 as the soldiers have had an opportunity, by 
 this measure, of experiencing the courage and 
 the generosity of their general. I was engaged with 
 the most warlike of these people : and have taken 
 and destroyed great numbers of their forts. In 
 short, 1 thought the action sufficiently considerable 
 to send an account of it to the senate. I hope, 
 therefore, you will support my pretensions with 
 your suffrage, as it will, at the same time, be 
 greatly contriljuting to the credit of the common 
 cause. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 To Decimus Brutus, Consul elect. 
 
 It is of much consequence to the success of this 
 ejjistle, whether it reaches you in an anxious or an 
 A. V. 709. ^^®y hour. Accordingly, I have directed 
 the bearer to watch the favourable mo- 
 ment of delivering it into your hands : as there is 
 a time, my friend, when a letter, no less than a 
 visit, may prove extremely unseasonable. But if 
 he should observe the caution I have enjoined him, 
 and this should find you, as 1 hope it will, in a 
 state of mind perfectly serene and undisturbed, I 
 doubt not of your ready compliance with the request 
 I am going to make. 
 
 Lucius Lamia offers himself as a candidate at 
 the ensuing election of praetors. There is no man 
 with whom I live in an equal degree of familiarity, 
 as we are intimately, indeed, united, by a long 
 acquaintance. But what greatly, likewise, recom- 
 mends him to me is, that nothing affords me more 
 entertainment than his company. To this I must 
 add, the infinite obligations I received from him in 
 my affair with Clodius. He was at that time at the 
 head of the equestrian order ; and he entered with 
 so much spirit into my cause, tliat the consul Ga- 
 binius commanded him to withdraw from Rome ; 
 an indignity never offered before to any citizen of 
 
 P Decimus Brutus was nominated by Cassar to be col- 
 league with Plancus, of v/hose appointment to the consulajr 
 ofifice mention has been made in rem. " on the preceding 
 epistle. Soon after the rest of the conspirators found it 
 necessary to leave Rome, Decimus withdrew into Cisalpina 
 Gaul, in order to take possession of that province which 
 had been allotted to him by Caesar, and to put himself in 
 a posture of defence against the attempts which Antony 
 was meditating. Shortly after his arrival in that province, 
 he employed his troops in an expedition against certain 
 inhabitants of the neighbouring mountains; and having 
 happily executed this scheme, he wrote the following let- 
 ter to request Cicero's suffrage in procuring him thosa 
 distinctions which the senate usually decreed to their suc- 
 cessful generals. 
 
 1 See rem. •>, p. 333. ^
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 66a 
 
 the republic. As the world has not forgotten what 
 he thus suffered upon my account, I am sure it 
 would be the highest reproach upon my character 
 if I did not remember it myself; and, therefore, 
 my dear friend, be well assured that the good or 
 ill success of Lamia, in his present pursuit, will no 
 less sensibly affect me, than if I were personally 
 concerned. Notwithstanding, therefore, the illus- 
 trious character which Lamia bears, together with 
 the great popularity he has acquired by the magni- 
 ficence of the games he exhibited when he \v.;i 
 sedile, yet I am labouring with as much assiduity 
 to promote his interest, as if he had none of these 
 advantages to recommend him. If, then, I possess 
 that share in your affection which I am well 
 persuaded I enjoy ; let me entreat you to write 
 to Lupus to secure the votes of those eques- 
 trian centuries over which you bear an unlimited 
 sway. But not to detain you with a multijdicity 
 of words, I will conclude all with most sincerely 
 assuring you, that although there is notliing, my 
 dear Brutus, which I have not reason to expect 
 from your friendship, yet you can, in no instance, 
 more effectually oblige me, than by complying with 
 my present request. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 
 To the same^. 
 
 There is none of my friends with whom I live 
 in so strict an intimacy as with Lamia. To say 
 
 y -.,n that I am much indebted to his good 
 offices, would not be speaking of them in 
 the terms they deserve; for the truth is (and it is 
 a truth of which the whole republic is sensible), 
 he has conferred upon me the highest and most 
 generous obligations. Lamia, after having passed 
 through the office of sedile with the greatest splen- 
 dour and magnificence, now offers himself as a can- 
 didate for the prsptorship ; and, it is universally 
 acknowledged, tliat he wants neither interest nor 
 dignity to support his pretensions. However, the 
 opposition he is likely to meet with from his com- 
 petitors is so strong, that I have many tears for the 
 event; and, therefore, think myself obliged to be 
 his general solicitor upon this occasion. I well 
 know how much it is in your power to serve me in 
 this affair, and I have no doubt of your inclination. 
 Be assured, then, my dear Brutus, that you cannot 
 more sensibly oblige me than by assisting Lamia 
 in his present pursuit : and it is with all the 
 warmth of my heart that I entreat you to exert 
 your utmost interest for that purpose. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXTV. 
 
 To Caius Cassius. 
 It gives me great pleasure to find that my late 
 speech' has received your approbation. If I could 
 „„ more frequently enforce the same senti- 
 ments, the liberties of the republic might 
 
 easily be recovered. But that far more desperate 
 and detestable scoundrel' than he" at whose death, 
 you said " the worst of all villains is expired," is 
 watching for a pretence to begin his murderous 
 purposes ; and his single view, in charging me 
 with having advised the killing of Caesar, is merely 
 to excite the veteran soldiers against my life. But 
 this is a danger which I am not afraid to hazard, 
 since he gives me a share with you in the honour 
 of that glorious deed. Hence it is, however, that 
 neither Piso, who first ventured to inveigh against 
 the measures of Antony, nor myself, who made a 
 speech to the same purpose about a month'' after- 
 wards, nor Publius Servilius, who followed my 
 example, can any of us appear with safety in the 
 senate. For this inhuman gladiator has evidently 
 a design upon our lives : and he hoped to have 
 rendered me the first victim of his cruel vengeance. 
 With this sanguinary view he entered the senate on 
 the 19th of September, having several days before 
 retired to the villa of Metellus, in order to prepare 
 an infiammatory speech against me'^. But who 
 shall reconcile the silent meditations of eloquence 
 with the noisy revels of lewdness and debauchery ? 
 Accordingly, it was the opinion of all his audience 
 (as I have already, I believe, mentioned to you in 
 a former letter) that he could not so properly be 
 said to have delivered a speech, as to have dis- 
 charged, with his usual indecency, the horrid fumes 
 of his scandalous intemperance. 
 
 You are persuaded, you tell me, that my credit 
 and eloquence will be able to produce some good 
 effect. And some, indeed, they have produced, 
 considering the sad situation of our affairs. They 
 have rendered the people sensible that there are 
 three persons of consular rank, who, because they 
 are in the interest of the republic, and have spoken, 
 their sentiments in the senate with freedom, cannot 
 attend that assembly without the danger of being 
 assassinated. And this is all the good you are to 
 expect from my oratory. 
 
 A certain relation of yours ^ is so captivated with, 
 his new alliance, that he no longer concerns him- 
 self in the success of your games ; but, on the 
 contrary, is mortified to the last degree at those 
 peals of applause vrith which your brother was 
 distinguished y. Another of your family^ has been 
 softened by some grants which it is pretended that 
 Caesar had designed to confer upon him. This, 
 
 ' This letter seems to have been a kind of duplicate of 
 the former, as it is written to the same person, and upon 
 the same occasion. 
 
 » Upon Cicero's return to Rome [see rem. ', p. 551] he 
 received a eummons from Antony to attend a meeting of 
 the senate, which was to be holden the next morninR ; but 
 as the business of this meeting was to decree certain divine 
 
 honours to the memory of Caesar, our author excused him- 
 self from being present. The following day, however, 
 Aniony being absent, Cicero ventured to appear in the 
 senate, when he delivered the speech to which he here 
 alludes, and which is the first of those that are called his- 
 " Philippics." See Life of Cicero, p. 243. 
 
 t Antony. " Csesar. 
 
 » The speech mentioned in rem. s of this letter. 
 
 w It was in answer to this speech that Cicero composed- 
 his second Philippic, which, however, he did not deliver. 
 For, by the advice of his friends, he absented himself from 
 this meeting of the senate, as they did not think it safe for 
 him to be present. — Manutius. 
 
 ^ Lepidus is supposed to be the person here meant, as he 
 was related to Cassius by his own marriage, and had lately 
 married his son to Antony's daughter. 
 
 y Brutus and Cassius were obliged, as praetors, to exhibit 
 certain games in honour of Apollo, with which the public 
 were annually entertained on the third of July ; but as- 
 thcy had withdrawn themselves from Rome, these gamea 
 were conducted by the brother of Cassius. 
 
 » It is not known to whom Cicero alludes in this place,, 
 nor in the period immediately following.
 
 iSi 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 •however, might be borne with patience ; but is it 
 not utterly beyond all endurance, tiiat there should 
 be a man who dares openly avow that he supports 
 tlie measures of that scoundrel, Antony, with the 
 h()|)cs tliat his son will be chosen consul when you 
 and Hrutus are entitled to be candidates for that 
 olfii'i- ? As to our friend, Lucius Cotta, a fatal 
 despair (for so he terms it himself) has almost 
 entindy driven him fiom the senate. Lucius Ciesar, 
 that (irm and excellent patriot, is prevented from 
 coming thither by his ill state of health ; and 
 Servius Sulpi(;ius, who is a true friend to the cause 
 of liberty, and whose authority might be of infinite 
 service in the jiresent conjuncture, is, unhappily, 
 absent from Rome. After having mentioned these, 
 I must take the liberty to say, that I cannot add 
 any others, excepting the consuls elect, who may 
 be justly deemed as well-wishers to the republic. 
 Tlie truth is, these are the only persons upon whose 
 advice and authority the commonwealth can dejiend. 
 And small, indeed, would their number be, even in 
 the best of times ; how unequal, then, must their 
 strength be found, to combat against the worst ? 
 All our hopes, therefore, rest entirely upon you and 
 Brutus : I mean, if you have not witlidrawn from 
 us with a view only to your own preservation ; for, 
 if that should be the case, we have nothing, alas ! 
 to hope, either from Brutus or from you. But if, 
 on the contrary, you are forming some glorious 
 enterprise worthy of your exalted characters, I 
 doubt not that the republic, by your assistance, 
 ■will soon recover her liberties; and 1 have only to 
 wish, that I may not be destroyed ere that hapjiy 
 day shall arrive. In the mean time, my best ser- 
 vices neither are, nor shall be, wanting to your 
 family ; and whether they should apply to me for 
 that purpose, or not, 1 shall never fail to give them 
 proofs of my friendship towards you. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXV 
 
 To Plancus. 
 
 Agreeably to the friendship which subsists 
 between us, my services should not have been 
 A. u 709. ^^i^ting to advance your dignities", if I 
 could have been present in the senate, 
 consistently with my honour or my safety. But no 
 man can freely deliver his opinion in that assembly 
 ■without being exposed to the violences of a military 
 force, that are licensed to commit their outrages 
 ■with full impunity ; and it would ill become my 
 rank and character to speak upon public afiFairs 
 in a place where I am more attentively observed, 
 and more closely surrounded, by soldiers than by 
 senators. In any instance of private concern, my 
 best offices shall not be wanting to you ; nor shall 
 the}-, indeed, even in those of a public nature, 
 whatever hazard I may run, where my appearance 
 is absolutely necessary to promote your interest. 
 But where it may be equally advanced without my 
 ■ concurrence, suffer me, I entreat you, to pay a 
 proper regard to my own dignity and preservation. 
 Farewell. 
 
 a The occasion on which Plancus had applied to Cicero 
 for his eervices in the senate does not appear. 
 
 LETTER XXVL 
 
 To Caius Cassius. 
 
 The malignant sj)irit of your friend •• breaks out 
 
 every day with greater and more open violence. To 
 
 A u 709 inst'i'ice, in the first place, the statue 
 
 which he has lately erected near the 
 
 rostrum, to Ciesar, under whiiih he has inscribed, 
 
 To THE i:XC1;LLKNT FATHEK OK HIS COUNTRY; 
 
 intimating tliat you and your heroic associates are 
 to be considcrid, not only as assassins, but parri- 
 cides. In which number I am, likewise, included; 
 for this outrageous man represents me as the prin- 
 cipal adviser and promoter of your most glorious 
 enterprise. Would to heaven llie charge were true ! 
 for had I been a party in your councils, I should 
 have put it out of his power thus to perplex and 
 embarrass our affairs"^. But this was a point 
 which depended upon yourselves to determine; 
 and, since the opportunity is now over, I can only 
 wish that I were capable of giving you anyeffectuail 
 advice. But the truth is, I am utterly at a loss in 
 what manner to act myself : for to what purpose is 
 resistance, where one cannot oppose force by force ? 
 It is evidently the intent of Ca;sar's party to 
 revenge his death. And, accordingly, Antony 
 being on the 2d of October last presented to the 
 people by Canutius'^, mentioned the generous de- 
 liverers of our country in terms that traitors alone 
 deserve. He scrupled not to assert, likewise, that 
 you had acted entirely by my advice, and that 
 Canutius, also, was under the same influence. He 
 had the mortification, however, to leave the rostrum 
 with great disgrace. In a word, you may judge 
 what are the designs of this faction by their having 
 seized the appointments of your lieutenant^ ; for 
 does not their conduct, in this instance, sufficiently 
 declare, that they considered this money as going 
 to be remitted to a public enemy .' Wretched con- 
 dition, indeed ! that we, who scorned to submit to 
 a master, should more ignobly crouch to one of 
 our fellow slaves ! Nevertheless, I am still inclined 
 to flatter myself, that we are not quite deprived of 
 all hopes of being delivered by your heroic efforts. 
 But where then, let me ask, are your troops .' And 
 with this question I will conclude my letter ; as I 
 had rather leave the rest to be suggested by your 
 own reflections, than by mine. Farewell. 
 
 •> Antony. 
 
 c Cicero frequently reproaches the conspirators with 
 having committed a capital mistake in sparing Antony 
 when they destroyed Caesai', an error which our author 
 would have prevented, it seems, had they admitted him 
 into their councils. But it may be affirmed, (and upon 
 the authority of Cicero himself,) that nothing could have 
 been more unjustifiable than to have rendered Antony a 
 joint victim with Ca?sar. 'Tis true, there was an ancient 
 law subsisting, by which every one was authorised to lift 
 up his sword against the man who should discover any 
 designs of invading the public liberties. But Antony was 
 so far from having given indications of this kind at Ca:sar'3 
 death, that Cicero, in a letter written to Atticus, soon 
 afterwards, tells him he looked upon Antony as a man too 
 much devoted to the indulgences of a luxurious life to be 
 inclined to form any schemes destructive of the public 
 repose : " quern quidem ego (says he) epularum magia 
 arbitror rationem habere, quam quidquam mali cogitare." 
 — Plut. in Vit. Publicol. ; Ad Att. vi. 3. 
 
 d lie was one of the tribunes for the present year. 
 
 e As proconsul of Syria, to which province Cassius was, 
 probably, on his way when this letter was ■written.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 i>5S 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 To Cornificius. 
 
 Stratorius has given rae an ample account of 
 the sad situation of atYaiis in your province'. Oh, 
 A u -fi') '"y fiiend, what insufferable outrages are 
 committed in every part of the Roman 
 dominions ! But those which have been offered to 
 yourself are so much the less to be borne, as they 
 are aggravated by the superior veneration which is 
 due to your illustrious rank and character. Not- 
 withstanding, therefore, that your great and gener- 
 ous spirit may incline you to look upon these 
 insults with calmness, and, perhaps, with indiffer- 
 ence, yet you ought by no means to suffer them to 
 pass uuchastised. 
 
 The news of Rome, I well know, is regularly 
 transmitted to you, otherwise I would take upon 
 myself to be your informer, and particularly of the 
 late attempt of Octavius?. The fact laid to his 
 charge is considered by the populace as a mere 
 fiction of Antony, in order to gain a pretence to 
 seize upon the young man's estate. But the more 
 penetrating and better sort, not only credit the 
 report, but highly approve the design. Indeed, the 
 hopes of the republic are greatly turned towards 
 Octavius ; as there is nothing which his generous 
 thirst of glory, 'tis believed, will not animate him 
 to perform. My friend Antony, at the same time, 
 is so sensible of his being generally detested, that 
 although he discovered the assassins in his house, 
 yet he would not venture to make the affair public. 
 He set out for Brundisium on the 9th of October, 
 in order to meet the four legions "^ that are return- 
 ing from Macedonia ; he hopes, by bribing them 
 over to his interest, to conduct them to Rome, and 
 with their assistance to fix the yoke upon our 
 necks. Tlius you see the situation of the republic ! 
 if a republic, indeed, it may with any propriety be 
 called, where all is in a state of intestine war. I 
 frequently lament your fortune, in having been born 
 so Inte, as never to have tasted the happiness of 
 living in a sound and well-regulated common- 
 wealth. You remember the time, however, when 
 there was a prospect, at least, of better days, but 
 now that prospect is no more ! How in truth 
 should it any longer subsist, after Antony dared to 
 declare, in a general assembly of the people, that 
 " Canutius aflected to rank himself with those' 
 
 'Of Africa. See rem. •>, p. 53'. 
 
 P " Octavius, In order to maintain by stratagem what ho 
 couUi not gain by force, formed a design against Antony's 
 life, and actually provided certain slaves to assassinate 
 Iiini, who were discovered and seized with their poniards 
 in Antony's house." Thus far Dr. Sliddleton, who might 
 have added (as a learned critic has remarked) that Cicero 
 hiniseh, together witli his nephew Quintus, were charged 
 by Antony with being accomplices in this plot, and that 
 the charge appears to have been true. For though, in the 
 present letter, indeed, Cicero talks of this affair as if he 
 was no otherwise acquainted with it than by common 
 report ; yet, in a speech which he afterwards made in the 
 senate, when Antony had retired into Gaul, taking notice 
 of the above-mentioned accusation, he avows and glories 
 in the cliarge. — Life of Cicero, p 245 ; Tunstal's Observ. 
 on the Letters between Cic. and Brut, p. 142 ; Phil. iiL 
 7,8. 
 
 h These were part of that army which Cassar intended to 
 lead against the I'arthians, and which he had sent before 
 him into Macedonia, to wait his arrival for that purpose. 
 
 ' The conspirators. 
 
 who could never appear in Rome, so long as he 
 preserved his life and authority?" But thanks to 
 jjliilosoijliy for having tauglit me to endure this and 
 every other mortification which human nature can. 
 possibly suffer ; and, indeed, it has not only cured 
 me of all my disquietudes, but armed my breasf 
 against e\ery future assault of fortune. And let 
 me advise you to fortify yourself with the same 
 resolution, in the full persuasion that nothing but 
 guilt deserves to be considered as a real evil. But 
 these are reflections which you know much better 
 how to make, than T can instruct you. 
 
 Stratorius has always been highly in my esteem , 
 but he has rendered himself more particularly so 
 by the great diligence, fidelity, and judgment he 
 discovers in the management of your affairs. Take 
 care of your health, as the most pleasing instance 
 you can give me of your friendship. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXVin. 
 
 To the same. 
 My very intimate and most accomplished friend, 
 Caius Anicius, has obtained a titular legationJ into 
 ^ ^ -Qg Africa, in order to transact some business 
 relating to his private concerns in that 
 province. Let me, therefore, entreat your best 
 offices to him upon all occasions, and that you 
 would give him your assistance for the more easy 
 and expeditious despatch of his affairs. But above 
 all (as it is superior to all in my friend's estima- 
 tion) I recommend the dignity of his rank and 
 character to your peculiar regard ; and accordingly 
 I make it my request, that you would appoint 
 lictors to attend him. This is a compliment which 
 I always spontaneously paid, during my own pro- 
 consulate, to those of senatorial rank, who came 
 into my province, and which I have ever, likewise, 
 myself received upon the same occasions ; as, in- 
 deed, it is what I have both heard and observed to 
 have been generally practised by proconsuls of the 
 greatest distinction. You will act, then, in the 
 same manner, my dear Cornificius, in the present 
 instance, if I have any share in your affection, and 
 in all other respects will consult the honour and 
 interest of my friend, assuring yourself that you 
 cannot confer upon me a more acceptable service. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 To Tiro. 
 
 I SEE into your scheme ; you have a design that 
 your letters, as well as mine'', should make their 
 
 u 'Oa appearance in public. But, tell me, how 
 
 happened it, that you, who are wont to 
 
 be the supreme judge and critic of my writings, 
 
 should be guilty of so inaccurate an expression as 
 
 i See rem. », p. 541. 
 
 k It appears, from an epistle to Atticus, that Cieei-o had 
 formed a design, about this time, of publishing a collection 
 of his letters. It is probable, however, that the greater 
 part of those which are now extant were sent into the 
 world at different times, and by different hands, after his 
 decease, as thcie are many of them, which one can scarce 
 suppose that either himself, or any friend who had a regard 
 to his memory, would have suffered to come abroad. — Ad 
 Att. xvi. 5.
 
 556 
 
 TFFE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICEIIO 
 
 to desire me " faUhfiilli/ to preserve my health?" 
 That adverb surely ciiii have no business there, as 
 ilB proper eiiiplDynient is to attend upon some 
 word that imports a. moral obligation. In figura- 
 tive lanjifuage, its use, indeed, is various, as it may 
 he applied even to inanimate and intelleetual ob- 
 jects, provided (as 'J'heophrastus observes) the 
 metaphor be not too bold and unnatural. But we 
 will reserve this for a conversation when we meet. 
 
 Demetrius has been here ; but I had the address 
 to avoid both him and his retinu.e. Doubtless, you 
 will ref;ret that you lost the opportunity of seeing 
 him. It is an opportunity, however, which you 
 may still recover ; for he returns, it seems, to- 
 morrow. Accordingly, I purpose to leave tliis 
 place tlie next morning. 
 
 I am extremely uneasy about your health, and 
 entreat you not to omit any means that may con- 
 tribute to its re-establishment. It is tims that you 
 will render me insensible of your absence, and 
 abundantly discharge all the services 1 require at 
 your hands. 
 
 I am obliged to your good offices towards Cus- 
 pius, for I greatly interest myself in the success of 
 his affairs. Adieu. 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 To Cornificius. 
 Qi;iNTUS TuRius, who was an African merchant 
 of great probity, as well as of an honourable family, 
 "no ^^ lately dead, lie has appointed Cneius 
 Saturninus, Sextus Aufidius, and Caius 
 Anneius, together with Quintus Considius Gallus, 
 Lucius Servilius Posthumus, and Caius Rubellius, 
 all of them men of the same worthy character as 
 himself, his joint heirs. I find you have already 
 treated them in so generous a manner, that they 
 have more occasion for my acknowledgments to 
 you than my recommendation ; and, indeed, tlie 
 favours they gratefully profess to have received 
 from your hands, are more considerable than I 
 should have ventured, perhaps, to request. Never- 
 theless, as I perfectly well know the regard you 
 pay to my recommendation, I will take courage, 
 and entreat you to add to those seivices which you 
 have already, without my solicitation, so liberally 
 conferred upon them. But what I am particularly 
 to desire is, that you would not suffer Eros Turios, 
 the testator's freedman, to continue to embezzle his 
 late patron's effects. In every other instance, also, 
 I recommend their interest to your protection, 
 assuring you that you will receive much satisfaction 
 from the regard and attachment of these my illus- 
 trious friends. Again and again, therefore, I very 
 earnestly recommend them to your good ofl&ces. 
 Farewell. 
 
 ' It is impossible, perhaps, to determine, precisely, 
 wherein the impropriety of this expre.ssion consisted, as it 
 does not appear from the original whether Tiro spoke of 
 his own health or of Cicero's. In the translation, however, 
 it is applied to the latter, as it seems to render the expres- 
 sion less critically just. For as Tiro was Cicero's slave, 
 the care of his health was a duty which the former owed 
 to the latter, as a necessary means of enabling him to 
 perform those services to wliich Cicero had a right. Ac- 
 cordingly, therefore, to our author's own remark concern- 
 ing the literal use of the word fldelis. Tiro might very 
 properly have applied it in the sense here mentioned. But 
 there was no such duty owing from the master to the 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 To Dccimus Brutus, Consul elect. 
 
 When our friend Lujuis arrived with your des- 
 patches, I had retired from. Rome'" to a place 
 A. I'. 709. ^^^""^ ^ thought I could be mo.st secure 
 from danger. For this reason, nolwHh- 
 standing lie took care that your letter" should be 
 delivered into my hands, and continued some days 
 in I hi- city, yt-t he returned without receiving mv 
 answer. However, I came back hither on tlie 9th 
 of this month", when 1 immediately, as my first 
 and )irinci])al concern, paid a visit to PansaP, from 
 whom I had the satisfaction of hearing such an 
 account of you as was most agreeable to my wishes. 
 As you wanted not any exhortations to engage you 
 in the noblest enterprise i that stands recorded in 
 history, so I am persuaded they are altogether un- 
 necessary in the present conjuncture. It may not 
 be improper, nevertheless, just to intimate that 
 the whole expectations of the Roman people, and 
 all their hopes of liberty, are entirely Tixed upon 
 you. If you constantly bear in mind (what I well 
 know is ever in your thoughts) the glorious part 
 you have already achieved, most undoubtedly you 
 can never forget how much there still remains for 
 you to perform. In fact, should that man to whom 
 I always declared myself a friend, till he openly and 
 forwardly took up arms against the republic ; 
 should Antony possess himself of your province', 
 I see not the least possibility of our preservation. 
 I join my earnest intercessions, therefore, with 
 those of the whole republic, that you would finish 
 what you have so happily begun, and deliver us for 
 ever from the tyranny of a despotic government. 
 This patriot task belongs particularly t.) yourself; 
 and Rome, or, to speak more properly, every nation 
 throughout the world, not only expects, but requires 
 their deliverance at your hands. But I am sen- 
 sible (as I have already said) that you need no 
 exhortations to animate you for this purpose. I 
 will spare my admonitions, therefore, and rather 
 assure you (what, indeed, is more properly my 
 part) that my most zealous and active services shall 
 always be exerted for your interest. Be well per- 
 suaded, then, that, not only for the sake of the 
 republic, which is dearer to me than my life, but 
 from my particular regard likewise to yourself, I 
 shall omit no opportunity of forwarding your 
 glorious designs, and of promoting those honours 
 you so justly deserve. Farewell. 
 
 slave ; and, consequently. Tiro could not, in strict pro- 
 priety, have applied it to Cicero. 
 
 ■n Soon after Cicero's late return to Rome, [see rem. ', p. 
 551,] he came to an open rupture with Antony. He 
 found it necessary, therefore, for his security, to remove 
 from the city to some of his villas near Naples. — Life of 
 Cicero, p. 244. 
 
 " The same, probably, which stands tlie 2l6t in the pre- 
 sent book, p. 552. 
 
 " December. Antony had just before left Rome, in order 
 to march his army into Cisalpine Gaul. Upon the news- 
 of this retreat, Cicero immediately returned to the city.— 
 Life of Cicero, p. 247. 
 
 p Consul elect for the ensuing year. 
 
 1 The killing of Caesar. 
 
 r Cisalpine Gaul.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 557 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 To Cornijicius. 
 There is no man that cultivates my friendship 
 -with greater marks of esteem tlian Sextus Aufi- 
 „„ dius ; nor is there any of equestrian rank 
 ■*' ^ ■ ' ■ ' wlio bears a more distinguished character. 
 The strictness of his morals is so happily tempered 
 ■with the sweetness of his disposition, that he unites 
 the severest virtue with the easiest and most 
 engaginc: address. I recommend his affairs in 
 Africa to you, with the utmost warmth and sin- 
 cerity of my heart. You will e.\tremely oblige me, 
 therefore, by showing him that you pay the highest 
 regard to my recommendation ; and I very earnestly 
 entreat you, my dear Cornificius, to comply with 
 this request. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 To Decimus Brutus, Consul-elect. 
 
 Marcus Seius has, I suppose, informed you 
 what my sentiments were at the conference which 
 Lupus held at my house with Libo, your 
 A. V. 7CJ- relation Servilius, and myself; as he was 
 present during tlie consultation. And, though 
 Greceius immediately followed him, he can give 
 you an account of all that passed after Seius set 
 out'. 
 
 The grand and capital point, which I could wish 
 you to lie well convinced of, and ever to bear in 
 your mind, is, that in acting for the security of our 
 common liberties, you ought, by no means, to wait 
 the sanction of the senate ; as that assembly is not 
 yet sufficiently free and uncontrolled in its delibe- 
 rations. To conduct yourself by a contrary prin- 
 ciple, would be to condemn the first glorious steps 
 you took for the deliverance of the commonwealth, 
 and which were so much the more illustrious, as 
 they were unsupported by the formal suffrage of 
 public authority. It would be to declare, that the 
 measures of young Csesar are rash and ill-consi- 
 dered ; who, in the same unauthorised manner, 
 has undertaken the important cause of the com- 
 monwealth'. In a word, it would be to show the 
 world that you thought those brave and worthy 
 veterans your fellow-soldiers, together with the 
 fourth and martial legions ", had judged and acted 
 
 » The principal intent of this consultation seems to have 
 been to determine, whether Decimus Brutus should ven- 
 ture, without the express sanction of the senate, to act 
 offensively against Antony, who was, at this time, on his 
 inarch to dispossess Brutus of Cisalpine Gaul. 
 
 t When Antony set out for Brundisiura, in order to meet 
 the legions which were returning from Macedonia, as has 
 been related in the 27th letter of this book, Octavius went 
 amongst tiiose veteran soldiers to whom Caesar had granted 
 settlements in Campania. From these he drew together, 
 at his own expense and by his private authority, a very 
 considerable body of troops to oppose Antony, if he had 
 thought proper to have made :my attempts upon Home 
 
 •with the Macedonian legions Phil. ii. 2, \2 ; Ad Att. 
 
 xvi. 8. 
 
 " The Roman legions were originally named according 
 to the order in which they were raised, as tlie first, the 
 second, &c. But as those legions which v/ere occasionally 
 raised in the provinces, were distinguished, likewise, in 
 the same manner, it was usual to add to this numeral 
 design,ation some other for the sake of avoiding confusion. 
 This latter denomination was generally taken either from 
 
 irrationally, in deeming their consul an enemy to 
 his country, and consecrating their arms to the 
 service of the republic". To pursue measures 
 which are agreeable to the general sense of the 
 senate, may be well considered as acting under their 
 express authority ; when it is fear alone that 
 restrains them from signifying their approbation 
 in a formal manner. In fine, you can no longer 
 hesitate, whether you should be guided by the prin- 
 ciple I am recommending, as you have in two 
 strong instances been governed by it already ; first, 
 on the ides of March, and lately when you raised 
 your troops. Upon the whole, then, you ought to 
 be both disposed and prepared to act, not merely 
 as you shall be commanded, but in such a manner 
 as to render your achievements the subject of 
 universal admiration and applause. Farewell. 
 
 A. u. 709. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 To the same. 
 Our friend Lupus very punctually delivered 
 your commands and your letter to me, the next 
 morning after his arrival in Rome ; which 
 was in six days after his leaving Mutina^''. 
 I cannot but consider you as recommending my 
 own honours ro my protection, when you request 
 me to be the guardian of yours ; for, be assured, 
 they are equally my concern. It will give me great 
 pleasure, therefore, to find, that you doubt not of 
 my promoting them, upon every occasion, to the 
 best of my zeal and judgment. Accordingly, 
 although I had purposed not to appear in the 
 senate before the first of January next, yet the tri- 
 bunes of the people, having on that very day on 
 which your manifesto ^ was published, issued out 
 a proclamation for a meeting of the senate on the 
 '20th of this month y, in order to move that a guard 
 might be appointed for the seciirity of the consuls 
 elect ^: my affection towards you, induced me to 
 change my resolution, and I determined to attend. 
 I thought, indeed, it would be a most unpardon- 
 able omission, if the senate should be holden without 
 taking notice of your inestimable services to the 
 republic, as it unquestionably would have been if I 
 had not attended ; or that I should not be present 
 to support any decree that might happen to be pro- 
 posed for the advancement of your honours. For 
 this reason, I came early into the senate, and my 
 presence brought together a great number of the 
 members. I will leave it to your other friends, to 
 inform you what I there said to your advantage ; as 
 well as of the speech which I afterwards made to 
 
 the country in which they served, as the legio Parthica, 
 or from the name of tlie general who levied them, as the 
 legio Augusta, or from the name of some divinity, as in 
 the present instance, the legio Martia. — Rosin, lie Antiq. 
 Rom. p. <J66. 
 
 ▼ These two legions (part of those which arrived from 
 Macedonia) refused the offers which Antony mnde to 
 them at Brundisium, and afterwards joined themselves 
 with Octavius. — Ad Att. xvi. 8 ; Phil. iii. 3. 
 
 w A city in Cisalpine Gaul, where Decimus Brutus was 
 shortly afterwards besieged by Antony. It is now called 
 Modena. 
 
 X The purport of this manifesto of Decimus Brutus was 
 to declare his resolution of endeavouring to preserve the 
 province of Cisalpine Gaul, over which he presided, in its 
 allegiance to the republic. — Phil. iii. 4. 
 
 J December. * Hiitius and Pansa.
 
 558 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 the same purpose, in a very numerous assembly of 
 the people*. In the moiin time, let me entreat you 
 to believe, that I shall most zealously embrace 
 every opportunity of contributing to the increase 
 of those dignities you already possess ; and althouc;Ii 
 I am sensible I shall meet veith many rivals in my 
 good offices for this jnirpose, yet I will venture to 
 claim the first rank in that honourable list. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 To Coruificius. 
 I AM waging war here against that most iniqui- 
 tous of all sanguinary ruflians, my colleague '' 
 Antony ; but by no means, however, 
 upon equal terms ; as I have nothing but 
 my tongue to ojTiiose to his arms. lie ventured, 
 in a speech which he lately made to tlie people, to 
 throw out some bitter invectives against you. But 
 his insolence did not pass unchastised ; and he 
 shall have still farther reason to remember, against 
 whom it is that he has thus pointed his injurious 
 attacks. But, as your other friends, 1 imagine, 
 supply you with accounts of our transactions, I 
 should rather inform you what turn affairs are likely 
 to take ; and, indeed, it is a point of no very diffi- 
 cult conjecture. The republic labours under a total 
 oppression ; her friends are without a leader, and 
 our glorious tyrannicides are dispersed into differ- 
 ent and distant quarters. Pansa means well to the 
 commonwealth, and delivers his sentiments witli 
 great spirit and freedom. Hirtius recovers but 
 slowly'' ; and, in truth, I know not what to think 
 of him. Our only hope is, that the people at last 
 will be awakened from their lethargy, and act with 
 a spirit becoming the descendants of their heroic 
 ancestors. For myself, at least, I will never be 
 wanting to my country ; and whatever misfortune 
 may attend the commonwealth after I have exerted 
 my best efforts to prevent it, I shall bear it with 
 perfect equanimity. You may depend, likewise, 
 upon my supporting you in your rank and dignities, 
 to the utmost of my power. Accordingly, in an 
 assembly of the senate, which was holden on the 
 20th of this month ••, I proposed (among other 
 necessary and important articles, which I carried 
 by a great majority) that the present proconsuls 
 should be continued in their respective govern- 
 ments ; and that they should be ordered not to 
 resign them into other hands, than those which the 
 senate should appoint. I made this motion not 
 only as thinking it highly expedient for the interest 
 of the republic, but with a particular view also of 
 preserving you in your provincial command^. Let 
 
 a These two speeches are the third and fourth of the 
 Philippics. The senate, amongst other decrees which tliey 
 passed upon this occasion, approved and ratified the mea- 
 sures which Decimus Brutus had taken in Cisalpine Gaul 
 for the defence of that province. — Phil. iv. 4. 
 
 1> Antony and Cicero were colleagues as members of the 
 college of augurs. 
 
 c Pansa and Hirtius, as has already been noted, were 
 consuls elect for the approaching year. The latter, about 
 this time, was attacked by a most dangerous sickness ; and 
 his health was esteemed of so much importance at this 
 jimcture to the commonwealth, that public vows wore put 
 up for his recovery.— Phil. vii. 4. 
 
 •• December. 
 
 • Antony, a short time before he left Rome in order to 
 
 me exhort you, then, for the sake of our country, 
 and let me conjure you by your regard to myself, 
 not to suffer any man to usurp the least jjart of 
 your authority ; hut, in every instance, to main- 
 tain the dignity of your rank and character, as a 
 possession which nothing can countervail. 
 
 To deal with you agreeably to that sincerity 
 which our friendship requires, I must tell you, 
 that all the world would have highly apjilauded 
 your conduct, if you had com])lied with my advice 
 in regard to Sempronius. But the atfair is now 
 over ; and, in itself, indeed, it was a matter of no 
 great imjiortance. It is of the utmost, however, 
 that you should employ, as I hope you will, every 
 possible means to retain your province in its allegi- 
 ance. I would add more, but your courier presses 
 me to despatch ; I must entreat you, therefore, to 
 make my excuses to Cherippus, for not writing to 
 him by this opportunity. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 Qiiintus Cicero to Tiro. 
 Your letter brought withit a very strong, though 
 silent reproof, for my having thus long omitted 
 writing to you. I could not, indeed, but 
 ■ ■ ' ■ be sensible how much I had lost by my 
 negligence, when I observed that those points 
 vvliicli my brother (from tenderness, perhaps, or 
 haste) had but slightly touched in his letter, were 
 faithfully represented in yours, in all their genuine 
 colours. This was particularly the case, in respect 
 to what you mentioned concerning the consuls 
 elect f. I know, indeed, that they are totally sunk 
 in sloth and debauchery : and if they should not 
 recede from the helm, we are in the utmost datiger 
 of being irrecoverably lost. I was myself a witness, 
 during a summer's campaign with them in Gaul, 
 that they were guilty of such actions, and within 
 sight, too, of the enemy's camp, as are almost 
 beyond all belief: and I am well persuaded, unless 
 we should be better supported than we are at pre- 
 sent, that the scoundrel Antony will gain them 
 over to his party, by admitting them as associates 
 in his licentious pleasures. The truth of it is, the 
 republic must necessarily either throw herself 
 under the protection of the tribunes, or employ 
 some private hand to defend her cause ; for as to 
 these noble consuls of ours, one of them is scarce 
 worthy to preside over CtesenaS ; and I would not 
 trust the other with superintending the paltry 
 hovels of Cossutius*". 
 
 I hope to be with you towards the latter end of 
 this month. In the mean while, let me repeat 
 
 march against Decimus Brutus, had procured an illegal 
 distribution of the provinces among his friends, by which 
 Cuius Calvisius was appointed to succeed Corniticius in 
 Africa. — Phil. iii. ; Pigh. AnnaL ii. p. 465. 
 
 f Pansa and Hirtius. 
 
 S '• An obscure to\vn in Italy, situated upon the Papis, 
 a river which empties itself into the Adriatic, between 
 Ufeiis and the Rubicon." — Ross. 
 
 •> Who this person was is unknown. Pique and preju- 
 dice seem to have had a considerable hand in the draught 
 which Quintus has here delineated of the two consuls. 
 That Pansa and Hirtius were infected with the fashionabla 
 vices of the age, is altogether probable ; but that they 
 wanted either spirit or capacity for action is by no means 
 true, as will evidently appear in the farther progress ol 
 these letters. 
 
 I
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 5.5S 
 
 what T have often said, tliat I tenderly love you. 
 IVIy impatience to see you is, indeed, so irntnode- 
 rate, that if our first meeting were to happen in tlie 
 midst of the forum, I should not forhear to trans- 
 gress the rules of good breeding, and most warmly 
 embrace you in the presence of the whole assembly. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 Cicero, the Son', to his dearest Tiro. 
 
 After having been in daily and earnest expect- 
 ation of your couriers, they are at length, to my 
 -on great satisfaction, arrived, having per- 
 formed their voyage in forty-six days 
 from the time they left you. The joy I received 
 from my dear father's most affectionate letter was 
 crowned by the very agreeable one which attended 
 it from yourself. I can no longer repent, there- 
 fore, of having neglected writing to you ; as it has 
 proved a mean of furnishing me with an ample 
 proof of your good-nature ; and it is with much 
 pleasure I find that you admit the apology I made 
 for my silence. 
 
 That the advantageous reports you have heard 
 of my conduct, were perfectly agreeable, my dearest 
 Tiro, to your wishes, I can by no means doubt : 
 and it shall be my constant endeavour to confirm 
 and increase the general good opinion which is 
 thus arising in my favour. You may veuture, 
 therefore, with great confidence, to be, what you 
 obligingly promise, the herald of my fame. Indeed, 
 I reflect with so much pain and contrition of mind 
 on the errors into which my youth and inexpe- 
 rience have betrayed me, that I not only look upon 
 them with abhorrence, but cannot bear even to 
 hear them mentioned : and I am well convinced 
 that you take a part in the uneasiness which I 
 suffer from this circumstance. It is no wonder 
 you should be solicitous for the welfare of a person 
 whom both interest and inclination recommend to 
 your good wishes, as I have ever been desirous you 
 should partake of all the advantages that attend 
 me. But if my conduct has formerly given you 
 pain, it shall henceforward, be assured, afford you 
 reason to think of me with double satisfaction. 
 
 I live with Cratippus rather as his son than his 
 pupil ; and not only attend his lectures with plea- 
 sure, but am extremely delighted with the peculiar 
 sweetness of his conversation. Accordingly I 
 spend whole days in his company, and frequently, 
 indeed, the most part of the night, as I entreat 
 him to sup with me as often as his engagements 
 ■will permit. Since the introduction of this custom, 
 he every now and then unexpectedly steals in upon 
 us while we are at table ; and, laying aside the 
 severity of the philosopher, enters with great good 
 humour into aii the mirth and pleasantry of our 
 conversation. Let me request you, then, to hasten 
 hither as soon as possible, in order to enjoy with 
 
 ' He was at this time pursuing his studies at Athens, 
 under the direction of Cratippus, one of the most celebrated 
 philosophers of the Peripatetic sect. If young Cicero had 
 not tl;e talents of his father, liis genius, however, seems 
 by no means to have been contemptible ; and the present 
 letter, written when he was but nineteen years of age, is a 
 full confutation of those who have charged him with a 
 want of sense, tven to a litres of stupidity, Poo letter 26 
 of book xiy. ad Jin. 
 
 us the society of this most agreeable and excellent 
 man. As to Bruttius, I never suffer him to 0& 
 absent from me a single moment. His company 
 is as entertaining as his conduct is exemplary 
 and he perfectly well knows how to reconcile mirth 
 and good-humour with the serious disquisitions oi! 
 philosophy. I have taken a house for him near 
 mine, and assist his narrow fortunes as far as my 
 slender finances will admit^. 
 
 I liave begun to declaim in Greek, under Cassius, 
 as I choose to employ myself in Latin exercises of 
 that kind with Bruttius. I live in great familiarity 
 also with those learned and approved friends of 
 Cratippus, whom he brought with him from Mity- 
 lene, and pass much of my time likewise with 
 Epicrates, one of the most considerable persons in 
 Athens, together with Leonides, and several others 
 of the same rank and merit. Thus I have given 
 you a general sketch of my life. 
 
 As to what you mention concerning Gorgias, 
 notwithstanding that he was of service to me in my 
 oratorical exercises, yet my father's commands 
 were superior to all other considerations : and as 
 he peremptorily wrote to me that I should imme- 
 diately dismiss him"*, I have obeyed his injunctions. 
 I would not suffer myself, indeed, to hesitate a 
 moment, lest my reluctance should raise any sus- 
 picions in my father to my disadvantage. Besides, 
 I thought it would ill become me to take upon 
 myself to be a judge of the propriety of his orders. 
 I am extremely obliged to you, however, for the 
 friendly advice you give me in this affair. 
 
 I very readily admit the excuse you make on 
 account of your want of leisure, perfectly well 
 knowing how much your time is generally engaged. 
 1 am extremely glad to hear that you have bought 
 a farm, and wish you much joy of the purchase. 
 But you must not woader that I deferred my con- 
 gratulations to this part of my letter ; for you will 
 remember it was about the same place in yours 
 that you communicated to me the occasion of them.. 
 You have now a retreat from all the fatiguing 
 ceremonies of the city, and are become a Roman 
 of the true old rural kind'. I take pleasure in 
 figuring you to myself, in the midst of your country 
 employments, buying your tools of husbandry, 
 dealing out your orders to your bailiff, and care- 
 fully treasuring up the fruit-seeds from your dessert. 
 To be serious, I sincerely join with you in regretting 
 that I could not be of service to you upon this 
 occasion. But, be assured, my dear Tiro, I shall 
 not fail to assist you, if ever fortune should put it 
 in my power ; especially as I am sensible you made 
 this purchase with a view to my use as well as your 
 own. 
 
 I am obliged to your care in executing my com- 
 mission. I desire you would see that I have a 
 
 J The allowance which Cicero made to his son, during 
 his residence, at Athens, was about 7^0^. a-year. — Ad Att. 
 xvi. 1. 
 
 k This unworthy tutor had encouraged his pupil in a 
 passion for drinking, a vice in wliich the young Cicero, 
 how sincere soever he might have been in his present 
 resolves, most shamefully signalised himself in his more 
 mature years.— Plut. in Vit. Cicer. ; I'lin. Hist, ^'at. 
 xiv. 22. 
 
 1 Alluding, perhaps, to those celebrated Romans in the 
 earlier ages of the republic, who, after having been called 
 forth from their farms to the service of their country, 
 discharged with glcry the fimctions of the sUte, and then 
 retiu-ni:d to their ploughs.
 
 4560 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 writer sent to me who understands Greek, as I 
 lose much time in transcribing ray lectures. But, 
 above all, I entreat you to take care of your health, 
 that we may liuve the pleasure of enjoyirii;; tofje- 
 ther many pliilosophical conversations. 1 recom- 
 mend Antherus to your good offices, and bid you 
 farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXXVIH. 
 
 From the same to Tiro. 
 The reasons you assii;ii for the intermission of 
 your letters are j)erfectly just ; but I hope that 
 700 ^1"^=''' c.xeuses will not very frtiiuciitly 
 recur. 'Tis true I receive inteili/^eiK'e 
 of public affairs from particular expresses, as well 
 as from general report ; and am continually assured, 
 likewise, of my father's affection, by his own hand ; 
 yet I always take great pleasure in reading a letter 
 from yourself, be it upon ever so trifling a subject. 
 I liopc, therefore, since 1 am thus earnestly de- 
 sirous of hearing from you, that you will not, for 
 the future, send me apologies instead of epistles. 
 Farewell, 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 Bilhynicns^ to Cicero. 
 
 Ik we were not mutually attached to each other, 
 by many singular good offices, I should remind 
 
 u 70!) y"" °* ^''"'' ^■■'^'"'^'''''P wliich formerly 
 subsisted between our parents : but 1 
 leave arguments of this kind to those who have 
 •neglected to improve their hereditary connexions. 
 For myself, I am well satisfied with going no far- 
 ther for my claim to your services than to our 
 own jx-rsonal amity. In confidence of which let 
 me entreat you, if you believe that none of your 
 favours will be thrown away upon me, that you 
 would, upon all occasions during my absence", 
 take my interests under your protection. Farewell. 
 
 '" Soo rem. ^, p. 542. 
 
 " In Sicily, to which province ho succocdcd as governor 
 at tlio expiration of his prsetorship. — I'iglu Annal. iii. 
 p. 476. 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 To Cornificius°. 
 
 I NEGLECT no Opportunity (and, indeed, if I 
 did, I should fail in what you have a full riglit to 
 "lo expect from me) not only of celebrating 
 your merit, but of promoting those 
 honours it so justly deserves. But I choose you 
 should be informed of my zealous endeavours for 
 this purpose, by the letters of your family, rather 
 than by my hand. Let me employ it in exhorting 
 you to turn all your care and your attention upon 
 the republic. This is an object worthy of your 
 spirit and your talents ; as it is agreeable, likewise, 
 to those hopes which you ought to entertain, of 
 still rising in the dignities of your country. But 
 this is a topic I will enlarge upon another time. 
 In the mean while, I will inform you, that the 
 public affairs are totally in suspense ; as the com- 
 missioners are not yet returned, whom the senate 
 deputed to Antony ; not to sue for peace, indeed, 
 but to denounce war, unless he shall immediately 
 pay obedience to the orders with which they are 
 charged P. 
 
 I seized the first occasion that offered of resuming 
 
 o See rem. h, p. 537. 
 
 P These injunctions were, that Antony should instantly 
 quit the siege of Modena, and desist from all hostilities in 
 Gaul. Cioero strongly opposed the sending this deputation, 
 as it was below the dignity of the senate to enter into any 
 sort of treaty with a man whom they had already, in 
 effect, declared a public enemy, as it would have the ap- 
 pearance of fear; and, as the only method of bringing 
 Antony to his duty, would be by an immediate and vigo- 
 rous prosecution of the war. But these reasons, and others 
 of the same tendency, which Cicero urged with great 
 warmth and eloquence, were over-ruled by the friends of 
 Antony ; and it was ordered that Servius Sulpieius Lucius 
 Piso, and Lucius Philippus, all of them persons of consular 
 r.anlt. should carry this message from the senate to Antony. 
 — PhU. V. 
 
 my former spirit, in standing forth as the protector 
 both of the senate and the people : and from the 
 moment I thus declared myself the advocate of 
 liberty, I have not lost the least favourable oppor- 
 tunity for the defence of our common rights. But 
 this, likewise, is an article for which I choose to 
 refer you to the information of others. 
 
 It is with all possible warmth and earnestness 
 that I recommend Titus Pinarius to your favour, 
 as one who, not only from a similitude of taste and 
 studies, but as he is possessed also of every amiable 
 virtue, engages my strongest affection. He comes 
 into your province in order to superintend the 
 affairs of Dionysius, who, as he is much, I am 
 sensible, in your esteem, so no man stands higher 
 in mine. Unnecessary, therefore, as I know it to 
 be to recommend his interests to your protection, 
 yet I cannot forbear doing so : and I doubt not of 
 your giving occasion to the very grateful Pinarius 
 of sending me a letter of acknowledgment for your 
 good offices both to himself and to Dionysius. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 To Decimus Brutus, Consul-elect. 
 
 PollaI sends me word that an opportunity offers 
 
 of conveying a letter to you ; but at present I have 
 
 ..., nothing material to write. All public 
 
 ' " ' ' ■ business, indeed, is entirely suspended 
 
 till we shall hear what success the deputies ■■ have 
 
 met with, from whom we have not yet received any 
 
 intelligence. 1 will take this occasion, however, of 
 
 telling you, that the senate and the people are 
 
 greatly anxious concerning you, not only as their 
 
 own preservation depends upon yours, but as they 
 
 q The wife of Decimus Brutus. 
 
 «• These mentioned in the preceding letter.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 5C! 
 
 are extremely solicitous that you should acquit 
 yourself with glory. The truth is, you liiive, in a 
 very remarkable decree, the general affection of the 
 whole republic, which confidently ho]ies that as 
 you lately delivered us from one tyrant^, so you 
 will now free us from the danger of another'. 
 
 We are raising troops" in Rome and throughout 
 all Italy, if that term may with any propriety be 
 employed, where every man eagerly presses to 
 enter into the service, — so warmly are the people 
 animated with a passion of recovering their liber- 
 ties, and such is their abhorrence of the slavery 
 they have thus long sustained I 
 
 We now expect soon to receive an account from 
 you not only of your own operations, but of those 
 likewise of our common friend Hirtius and of 
 ■Caesar, whom I must particularly call mine. I 
 hope, shortly, to see you all three united in the 
 general honour of one common victory. For the 
 rest, I have only to add (what I had rather you 
 should learn, however, from the letters of your 
 family, and what I hope they are so just as to 
 assure you), that I neither do, nor ever shall, 
 neglect any opportunity of contributing to the ad- 
 Tancement of your public honours. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 To Planciis''. 
 
 The visit I lately received from Furnius'^ afforded 
 me great satisfaction, not only upon his own ac- 
 A u 710 count, but more particularly on yours, as 
 he painted you so strongly to my mind 
 that I could not but fancy, during the whole con- 
 versation, that you were actually present. He 
 ■represented to me the heroism you display in the 
 .military affairs of your province, the equity of 
 your civil administration, — the prudence which dis- 
 tinguishes every part of your conduct in general, — 
 together with what I was by no m.eans indeed a 
 stranger to before, the charms of your social and 
 friendly qualities. To this he did not forget to 
 add, likewise, the singular generosity which you 
 have shown in your behaviour towards himself. 
 Every one of these articles I heard with pleasure ; 
 and, for the last, I am much obliged to you^. 
 
 The friendship I enjoy with your family, my 
 dear Plancus, commenced somewhat before you 
 were born ; and, as the aflfection which I conceived 
 for you begun from your childhood, so, in your 
 more mature years, it was mutually improved into 
 the strictest intimacy. These are considerations 
 which strongly engage me to favour your interests; 
 which I look \ipon, indeed, as my own. Merit, 
 in conjunction with fortune, have crowned you, 
 even thus early in your life, with the highest dis- 
 tinctions ; as the diligent exertion of your superior 
 
 « Caesar. t Antony. 
 
 >» The senate did not suspend their preparations for war 
 ■TiOtwithstanding the deputation they had sent to Antony. 
 On the contrary, Hirtius and Octavius marched into Gaul 
 at the head of a considerable army, while Pansa remained 
 in Italy, in order to complete the additional troops with 
 which he purposed to join them. — Life of Cicero, p. 253. 
 
 » See rem. k, p. 551. 
 
 w He was one of the lieutenants of Plancus. 
 
 ^ Furnius had been particularly recommended by Cicero 
 to the favour of Plancus. See letter 2U of the preceding 
 book. 
 
 talents has frustrated the opposition of those many 
 envious antagonists who vainly endeavoured to 
 obstruct your way. And now, if you will be in- 
 fluenced by the advice of a man who greatly loves 
 you, and who, from a long connexion with you, 
 has an equal claim to your regard with the oldest 
 of your friends, you will receive all the future 
 honours of your life from the republic in its best 
 and most constitutional form. Tliere was a season, 
 you know (for nothing surely could have escaped 
 your discernment), there was a season )" when the 
 world thought you too compliant with the prevail- 
 ing faction of the times ; and I should have thought 
 so too if 1 had imagined that your approbation was 
 to be measured by your submission. But as I 
 knew the sentiments of your heart, I was persuaded 
 you had prudently considered the extent of your 
 power. Public affairs, however, are at present in 
 a far different situation ; and you may now freely 
 act in every point as your judgment shall direct. 
 The time is shortly approaching when, in conse- 
 quence of your present designation, you will enter 
 upon the consular office^, — and you will enter 
 upon it, my friend, in the prime of your years, with 
 the advantage of possessing the noblest and most 
 commanding eloquence, and at a period, too, when 
 there is the utmost scarcity of such illustrious 
 citizens as yourself. Let me conjure you then, by 
 the immortal gods, most earnestly to pursue those 
 measures that will ensure the highest glory to your 
 character. Now there is but one possible method 
 of acting towards the republic with this advantage 
 to your reputation ; at least, there is but one in 
 the present conjuncture, as the commonwealth has 
 for so many years'* been disturbed by our intestine 
 commotions. 
 
 When I write to you in this strain, it is rather 
 in compliance with the dictates of my affection 
 than as supposing that you stand in need either of 
 precepts or admonitions. I am sensible that you 
 are sufficiently supplied with reflections of this 
 nature from the same source whence I derive them 
 myself: it is time, therefore, to put an end to 
 what I designed, not as an ostentation of my 
 wisdom, but merely as an instance of my friendship. 
 I will only add, that you may depend upon the 
 most zealous of my services upon every occasion 
 wherein I shall imagine your credit and character 
 is concerned. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Plancus to Cicero. 
 I AM exceedingly obliged to you for your letter'' ; 
 a favour for which I am indebted, I perceive, to 
 A u 710 *^^ account that Furnius gave of me in 
 the conversation you mention. If I have 
 not written to you sooner, you must impute it to 
 my being informed that you were set out upon 
 your expedition into Greece ; and I was not ap- 
 prised of your return till a very short time before 
 I learned it from your letter. I mention this 
 because 1 should think myself deserving of the 
 highest reproach if I were intentionally guilty of 
 an omission even in the slightest office of friendship 
 
 y During C'ssar's usurpation. 
 
 ^ See rem. ", p. 552. 
 
 a The civil wars had now continued about se7?n years. 
 
 b The preceding spistlc. 
 
 O O
 
 662 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 towards you. The intimacy, indeed, which was 
 contracted between you iiml my father, tlie early 
 esteem I conceived of your merit, together with 
 those instances of affection I have received from 
 you, supply me with many powerful reasons for 
 not failing in the regards I owe you. Ik- assured, 
 therefore, my dear Cicero, there is no man whom 
 I am so much disposed to revere as yourself ; as, 
 indeinl, the great disjiarity of our ages may well 
 justify me in looking up to you with all the sacred 
 respect of tiliul veneration. I received your ad- 
 monitions, therefore, as so many dictates of the 
 most consummate wisdom ; at the same time that 
 I considered them as instances, likewise, of your 
 unfeigned sincerity, — for in this respect, I judge 
 of your heart by what I feel in my own. If 1 
 had any doubt, then, what measures to pursue, 
 or were incUned to adojjt others than those you 
 recommend, 1 should most certainly be deter- 
 mined by yo\ir judgment, or restrained by your 
 advice : but in my jiresent situation can there 
 possibly be an indiu^ement to draw me from those 
 paths you point out ? The truth is, that whatever 
 honourable distinctions I have acquired, either by 
 my own industry or by the favours of fortune, 
 though far inferior to what your affection represents 
 them, yet they want no other lustre, ])erhaps, but 
 that of having been attained with the general ap- 
 probation of the commonwealth ; and tliis even the 
 most inveterate of my enemies acknowledge. Be 
 assured, then, that the whole of my power, my 
 prudence, and my authority, shall ever be exerted 
 in the service of the republic. As I am no stranger 
 to your sentiments, I am well persuaded that mine 
 would never disagree with yours if I had the happi- 
 ness of having you so near me as to be able to 
 consult them. But though I cannot enjoy this 
 very desirable advantage, yet I trust you will never 
 have occasion to condemn my conduct. 
 
 I am extremely impatient to learn what is trans- 
 acting in the nearer Gaul'^, as well as what effect 
 ^he present month'' may produce in regard to affairs 
 at Rome. In the mean time, I am earnestly la- 
 bouring to prevent the people of this province from 
 pursuing the example of their neighbours, by taking 
 advantage of the public disturbances to throw off 
 their allegiance. And should my endeavours be 
 attended with the success they deserve, I doubt 
 not of being approved, not only by every friend of 
 liberty in general, but, what I am most ambitious 
 of, by yourself in particular. Farewell, my dear 
 Cicero, and love me with an equal return of that 
 affection I bear you. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To Plancus. 
 
 The duplicate you sent me of your letter* was 
 
 an instance of your obliging care lest I should be 
 
 disappointed of what I so impatiently 
 
 ■ wished to receive. The contents afforded 
 
 c Where Decimus Brutus commanded, who at this 
 time was actually besieged in Blodcna by Mark Antony : 
 a, circumstance to which I'lancus, 'tis probable, was no 
 stranger, though he thought proper to affect ignorance. 
 
 d January, when the new consuls always entered upon 
 their office. The consuls for the present year were Hirtins 
 a.".- Panss. 
 
 « The foregoing. 
 
 me a double satisfaction ; and I am at a loss to 
 determine whether the friendship you profess for 
 myself, or the zeal you discover for the republic 
 rendered it most truly acceptable. To speak my 
 own ojjinion, indeed, the public affections are alto- 
 gether noble and sublime ; but surely there is 
 something more amiably sweet in those of the 
 j)rivate kind. Accordingly, that jiart of your letter 
 where you remind me of the intimacy in which I 
 lived with your father, of the early disposition you 
 found in yourself to love me, together with other 
 passages to the same friendly jiurjiose, filled my 
 heart with the most exquisite jdeasure, as the 
 sentimcmts you profess with regard to the common- 
 wealth raised in me the highest satisfaction : and, 
 to say truth, 1 was so much the more j)leased with 
 the latter, as they were accomj)anied, at the same 
 time, with the former. 
 
 To repeat what I said in the letter to which you 
 have returned so obliging an answer, let me not 
 oidy exhort, but enlrt'at you, my dear Plancus, to. 
 exert your utmost jiowers in the service of the 
 commonwealth. There is nothing that can more 
 contribute to the advancement of your glory ; for 
 amongst all human honours, none most certainly 
 is superior to that of deserving well of one's 
 country. Your great good sense and good-nature 
 will suffer mc, I know, to sjjcak my sentiments to 
 you with the same freedom that I have hitherto 
 used. Let me again observe then, that the honours 
 you have already acquired, though you could not 
 indeed have attained to them without merit, yet 
 tiiey have principally been owing to fortune, in 
 conjunction with the particular circumstances of 
 the times. But whatever services you shall per- 
 form for the republic in this very critical conjunc- 
 ture, will reflect a lustre upon your character, that 
 will derive all its splendour from yourself alone. 
 It is incredible how odious Antony is become to all 
 sorts of people, except those only of the same dis- 
 honest views with himself; but the great hopes and 
 expectations of the rejiublic are fixed upon you and 
 the army you command. Let me conjure you then, 
 in the most solemn manner, not to lose so impor- 
 tant an opportunity of establishing yourself in the 
 esteem and favour of your fellow-citizens, or, in 
 other words, of gathering immortal praise. Believe 
 me, it is with all the tenderness of a father that I 
 thus admonish you ; that I enter into your interests 
 with as much warmth as if they were my own, and 
 that my exhortations proceed from the zeal I bear 
 for the glory of my friend and the welfare of my 
 country. Adieu. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 To Caius Cassius. 
 Oh, that you had invited me to that glorious- 
 feast you exhibited on the ides of March ! Be- 
 -,„ assured, I would have suffered none of it 
 to have gone off untouched'. Whereas the 
 part you unhappily spared, occasions me, above all 
 others, more trouble than you can well imagine. I 
 must acknowledge, at the same time, that we have 
 two most excellent consuls ^: but as to those of 
 
 t Alluding to the conspirators having spared Antony. 
 when they destroyed Ca;sar. See rem. <=, p,. 554. 
 g Hirtius and Pansa.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 £C3 
 
 consular rank, there is not one of tliem who does not 
 merit the highest reproach. The senate in general, 
 however, exert themselves with spirit, as the lower 
 order of magistrates distinguish themselves by their 
 singular resolution and zeal. In a word, it is im- 
 possible to show a better or more vigorous disposi- 
 tio-n than appears in the populace, not only of 
 Rome, but throughout all Italy. But Philippus 
 and Piso, on the contrary, whom tlie senate deputed 
 with peremptory orders to Antony'', have executed 
 their commission in a manner that raises our 
 highest indignation. For notwitlistanding that 
 Antony refused to comply with every single article 
 of the senate's injunctions, yet these unworthy 
 deputies had the meanness to charge themselves 
 with bringing back the most insolent demands'. 
 This behaviour of theirs has occasioned all the 
 ■world to have recourse to my assistance., and I am 
 become extremely popular in a way wherein popu- 
 larity is seldom acquired, I mean, by supporting a 
 good cause. 
 
 I am altogether ignorant in what part of the 
 •world you are at present, as well as of what schemes 
 you are either executing or meditating. A report 
 prevails that you are gone into Syria, but for this 
 we have no certain authority. We can a little more 
 depend upon the accounts we receive of Brutus, as 
 his distance from us is less remoteJ. 
 
 It has been remarked here by men of some 
 pleasantry, and much indignation against Dola- 
 belhi, that he has shown himself in too great haste 
 to be your successor, as he is most uncivilly set 
 out to take possession of your government when 
 you have enjoyed it scarce a single month''. The 
 case is clear, therefore, say they, that Cassius 
 should by no means give him admittance. But to 
 be serious ; both you and Brutus are mentioned 
 with the highest applause, as it is generally sup- 
 posed that each of you has drawn together an army 
 far beyond our expectations. I would add more, if 
 I knew with certainty the situation of yourself and 
 your affairs ; but I hazard this letter merely upon 
 the doubtful credit of common fame. It is with 
 great impatience, therefore, that I wait for better 
 intelligence from your own hand. Farewell. 
 
 •> See rem. v on letter 1 of this book. 
 
 ' " The purport of them was, that the senate should 
 assign lands and rewards to all his troops, and confirm all 
 the other grants which he and Dolabella Iiad made in 
 their consulship ; that all his decrees from Caesar's books 
 and papers should be confirmed ; that no account should 
 be demanded of the money taken from the temple of Opis, 
 &e. On these terms he offered to give up Cisalpine Gaul, 
 provided, that he might have the greater Gaul in ex- 
 change for five years, with an army of six legions, to be 
 completed out of the troops of Decimus Brutus." — Life of 
 Cicero, p. 253. 
 
 J JIarcus Brutus, when he found it necessary to leave 
 Italy, withdrew into Macedonia, where he was, at this 
 time, employed in raising forces in support of the republi- 
 can cause. 
 
 •t The province of Syria had been intended by Caesar for 
 Cassius; but Mark Antony, after the death of Caesar, had 
 artfully procured it to be allotted to Dolabella. Accord- 
 ingly, the latter left Rome a short time before the expi- 
 ration of his consulship the last year, in order to be 
 beforehand with Cassius in getting possession of this 
 government ; and it is in allusion to this circumstance 
 that the hiunour of the present passage, such as it is, 
 consists. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 To Trebonius^. 
 
 Would to heaven you had invited me to that 
 noble feast which you made on the ides of March j 
 
 u 710 ""^ remnants, most assuredly, should 
 have been left behind"'. Whereas the 
 part you unluckily spared gives us so much per- 
 plexity, that we find something to regret, even ia 
 the godlike service wliich you and your illustrious 
 associates liave lately rendered to the republic. To 
 say the truth, when I reflect that it is owing to the 
 favour of so worthy a man as yourself, that Antony 
 now lives to be our general bane, I am sometimes 
 inclined to be a little anary with you for taking 
 him aside when Caesar fell", as by this mean you 
 have occasioned more trouble to myself in particu- 
 lar than to all the rest of the wliole community 
 From the very first moment, indeed, that Antony's 
 ignominious departure from Romeo had left the 
 senate uncontrolled in its deliberations, I resumed 
 the sjiirit which you and that inflexible patriot, 
 your father, were wont to esteem and applaud. 
 Accordingly, the tribunes of the people having 
 summoned the senate to meet on the 2Uth of De- 
 cember, upon other matters, I seized that oppor- 
 tunity of taking the whole state of the republic 
 into considerationP ; and more by the zeal than the 
 eloquence of my speech, I revived the drooping 
 spirits of that oppressed assembly, and awakened 
 in them all their former vigour. It was owing to 
 the ardour with which I thus contended in the 
 debates of this day, that the people of Rome first 
 conceived a hope of recovering their liberties ; and 
 to this great point all my thoughts and all my 
 actions have ever since been perpetually directed. 
 Thus important, however, as my occupations are, I 
 would enter into a full detail of our proceedings, if 
 I did not imagine that public transactions of every 
 kind are transmitted to you by other hands. From 
 them, therefore, you will receive a more particular 
 information, whilst I content myself with giving 
 you a short and general sketch of our present 
 circumstances and situation. I must inform you, 
 then, we have a senate that acts with spirit ; but 
 that as to those of consular dignity, part of them 
 
 1 He was, at this time, in Asia Minor, of which province 
 he was governor. See rem. ^, p. 544. 
 
 m See rem. f on the preceding letter. 
 
 n As it had been resolved in a council of the conspira- 
 tors, that Antony's life should be spared, they did not 
 choose he should be present when they executed their 
 design upon Caesar, probably lest he should attempt to 
 assist his friend, and by that means occasion them to spill 
 more blood than they intended- For this reason Trebonius 
 held Antony in discourse, at the entrance into the senate, 
 till the rest of the conspirators had finished their work. — 
 Dio, p. 249 ; Plut. in Vit. Brut. 
 
 o Upon the news that two of the four legions from Brun- 
 disiuni [see rem. *>, p. 555] had actually declared for Octa- 
 vius, and posted themselves in the neighbourhood of Rome, 
 Antony left the city with great precipitation, and putting 
 himself at the head of liis army, marched directly in order 
 to wrest Cisalpine Gaul out of ti e hands of Decimus 
 Brutus. Cicero, who was at this time in the country, took 
 the opportunity of Antony's absence to return to Rome; 
 where he arrived on the SJth of December, in the preceding 
 year, about a month or two, 'tis probable, before he wrote 
 the present letter. — Life of Cicero, p. 247. 
 
 P It was upon this occasion that Cicero spoke his third 
 Philippic. 
 
 002
 
 504 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 want the courage to exert themselves in the manner 
 they ouglit, and the rest are ill-affected to the 
 republic. The dentli of Serviusi is a great loss to us. 
 Lucius Cicsar'', though he is altogether in the inte- 
 rest of liberty, yet in tenderness to his nephew", 
 does not concur in any very vigorous measure. The 
 consuls', in the mean time, diserve the higliest 
 <'omnu'ndations ; I must mention Decimus Brutus, 
 likewise, with mucli applause. Tlie conduct of 
 young Ciesar also is equally laiulable, and I per- 
 suade myself that we have reason to hope he will 
 com])lete the work he has begun. Tliis, at least, 
 is certain, that it' he liiid not lieen so extremely 
 expeditious in raising the vi'teran forces ", and if 
 two legions had not deserted to him from Antony's 
 army, there is nothing so cruel or so flagitious 
 which the latter would not have committed. But 
 as these are articles which I suppose you are already 
 ajipriscd of, I only just mention them in order to 
 ciintirm tiiem. 
 
 You shall hear farther from mc whenever I can 
 find a more leisure moment. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 To Caius Cassius. 
 
 It is owing, I imagine, to the difficulty of for- 
 warding any despatches during the winter season, 
 A u 710 ^^^'^^ "'^ have yet received no certain 
 intelligence of what you are doing, nor 
 even know in what part of the world you are placed. 
 It is universally reported, however, (though more, 
 I believe, from what people wish, than from what 
 they have sufficient grounds to assert,) that you 
 have raised an army, and are actually in Syria ; a 
 report which the more easily gains credit, as it 
 appears to be extremely probable. 
 
 Our friend Brutus has acquired great lionour by 
 his late glorious and unexpected achievements^ ; 
 not only as being in themselves extremely desirable 
 to the friends of liberty, but from the wonderful 
 expedition, likewise, with which he performed 
 them. If it be true, therefore, that you are in pos- 
 session of those provinces we imagine, the republic 
 is very powerfully supported ; as that whole tract 
 of country which extends from the nearest coast of 
 Greece as far as Egypt is, upon this supposition, 
 in the hands of two of the most faithful friends of- 
 the commonwealth. Nevertheless, if my judgment 
 does not deceive me, the event of this war depends 
 entirely upon Decimus Brutus ; for if he should be 
 able to force his way out of Mutina, (as we have 
 reason to hope,) it will, in all probability, be totally 
 at an end. There are now, indeed, but few troops 
 employed in carrying on that siege, as Antony has 
 
 1 Servius Sulpicius, to whom several letters in the fore- 
 going part of this collection are addressed. He was one, 
 and the most considerable, of the three consulars whom 
 the senate had lately deputed to Antony ; but, very un- 
 fortunately for that embassy, he died just as he arrived in 
 Antony's camp. — Philip, ix. 1. 
 
 ^ See rem. ^, p. 543. s Antony. 
 
 t Hirtius and Pansa. u See rem. t, p. 557. 
 
 T He had lately sent an account to the senate of his suc- 
 cess against Caius, the brother of Mark Antony, having 
 forced him to retire with a few cohorts to Apollonia, and 
 secured Macedonia, lUyricum, and Greece, together with 
 the several armies in those countries, to the interest of the 
 republic— Philipp. x. 
 
 sent a large detachment to keep possession of 
 Bononia'*^. In the mean while, our friend Hirtius 
 is posted at Claterna^, and Ciesar at Forum Cor- 
 neliiy, each of them at the head of a very consider- 
 able army ; at the same time that Pansa is raising 
 at Rome a large body of Italian troops. But the 
 season of the year has hitherto prevented their 
 entering upon action; and, indeed, Hirtius appears, 
 by the several letters I have received from him, to 
 be determined to take all liis measures with the 
 utmost precaution. 
 
 Both tli(! (lauis, excepting only the cities of 
 I'ononia, Rhcgium, and I'arma, are zealously af- 
 fected to the rejjublic, as are also your clients on 
 the other side the Fo. The senate, likewise, is 
 firm in the cause of liberty ; but when I say the 
 senate, I must exclude all of consular rank, except 
 Lucius Ca;sar, who, indeed, is faithfully attached 
 to the interest of the commonwealth. The death 
 of Servius Sulpicius has deprived us of a very 
 powerful associate. As for the rest of the consulars, 
 part of them are ill affected to the republic, others 
 want spirit to supj)ort its cause, and some there 
 are who look with envy on those jiatriot citizens 
 whose conduct they see distinguished by the j)ublic 
 applause. The populace, however, both in Rome 
 and throughout all Italy, are woiulcrfully unani- 
 mous in the common cause. I have nothing farther, 
 I think, to add, but my wishes that your heroic 
 virtues may shine out upon us from yon eastern 
 regions, in all their enlivening warmth and lustre. 
 Farewell. 
 
 A. V. 710. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To Lucius Papirius Pectus^. 
 I HAVE received a second letter from you con- 
 cerning your friend Rufus : and since you interest 
 yourself thus warmly in his behalf, you 
 might depend upon my utmost assistance, 
 even if he had done me an injui-y. But I am per- 
 fectly sensible, from those letters of his, which you 
 communicated to me, as well as from your own, 
 how much my welfare has been his concern. 1 
 cannot, therefore, refuse him my friendly offices, 
 not only in regard to your recommendation, which 
 has all the weight with me it ought, but in compli- 
 ance also with my own inclinations. I must acknow- 
 ledge that it was his and your letters, my dear Pee- 
 tus, which first put me upon my guard against 
 the designs that were formed to destroy me*. I 
 afterwards, indeed, received intelligence from seve- 
 ral other hands to the same eifect, and particularly 
 of the consultations that were held concerning me 
 both at Aquiniumand Fabrateria'', of which meet- 
 ings, I find, you were likewise apprised. One 
 would imagine that this party had foreseen how 
 much I should embarrass their schemes, by the in- 
 
 w Bologna. ^ Quaderna. 
 
 y Imola. » See rem. ", p. 432. 
 
 a This probably alludes to some design of the veteran 
 soldiers against Cicero's life ; as it appears, from a letter to 
 Atticus, written soon after Cscsar's death, that our author 
 had been cautioned not to trust himself in Rome, on ac- 
 count of the danger to which he would be exposed from 
 the insolence of those troops. — Ad Att. xv. 5. 
 
 •> These towns were situated in Latium, or what is now 
 called tlie Campagna di Roma. They still subsist, under 
 the names of Aquino and Fabratera.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 665 
 
 dustry they employed in order to compass my de- 
 struction : and, as I had not the least suspicion of 
 their purposes, I might incautiously have fallen into 
 their snares, if it had not been for the admonitions 
 you sent me, in consequence of the information you 
 had received from Rufus. Your friend, therefore, 
 wants no advocate with me for my good offices ; 
 and I wish the republic may be in so happy a situ- 
 ation, as to artbrd me an opportunity of giving him 
 tlie most substantial proofs of my gratitude. 
 
 But, to dismiss this subject, I am sorry you no 
 longer frequent the festive tables of your friends ; 
 as you cannot renounce these parties of good cheer 
 without depriving yourself of a very exquisite gra- 
 tification. And, to tell you the truth, 1 am sorry, 
 likewise, upon another account, as I am afraid you 
 will lose the little knowledge you had acquired in 
 the art of cookery, and be absolutely at a loss how 
 to set forth a tolerable supper. For as you made 
 no very considerable improvements in this fashion- 
 able science, even when you had many curious mo- 
 dels for your imitation, what strange awkward things 
 must your entertainments prove now that you en- 
 joy no longer the same advantages ! When I in- 
 formed Spurinna*^ of this wonderful revolution in 
 the system of your affairs, he shook his prophetic 
 head, and declared that it portended some terrible 
 disaster to the commonwealth ; unless, said he, 
 this extraordinary phsenomenon be occasioned by 
 the present cold weather, and yOur friend should 
 return with the zephyrs to his accustomed train of 
 life. But, without a joke, my dear Peetus, I would 
 advise you to spend your time in the cheerful 
 society of a set of worthy and agreeable friends ; 
 as there is nothing, in my estimation, that more 
 effectually contributes to the happiness of human 
 life. When 1 say this, 1 do not mean with respect 
 to the sensual gratifications of the palate, but with 
 regard to that pleasing relaxation of the mind which 
 is best produced by the freedom of social converse, 
 and which is always most agreeable at the hour of 
 meals. For this reason, the Latin langnaijc is 
 much happier, I think, than the Greek, in the 
 term it employs to express assemblies of this sort. 
 In the latter they are called by a word which sig- 
 nifies compolations ; whereas, in ours, they are 
 more emphatically styled convivial meetings ; in- 
 timating that it is in a communication of this na- 
 ture that life is most truly enjoyed. You see I am 
 endeavouring to bring philosophy to my assistance, 
 in recalling you to the tables of your friends ; and, 
 indeed, I prescribe them as the best recipe for the 
 re-establishment of your health. 
 
 Do not imagine, my friend, from my writing in 
 this strain of pleasantry, that I have renounced my 
 cares for the republic. Be assured, on the contrary, 
 that it is the sole and unintermitted business of my 
 life to secure to my fellow-citizens the full posses- 
 sion of their liberties, to which end my admoni- 
 tions, my labours, and the utmost powers of my 
 mind, are, upon all occasions, unweariedly employed. 
 In a word, it is my firm persuasion, that, if I 
 should die a martyr to these patriot endeavours, 
 I shall finish my days in the most glorious manner. 
 Again and again I bid you farewell. 
 
 e A celebrated diviner, who is said to have forewarned 
 Cxsar of the ides of 3Iarcb.— Suet, in Vit. Jul. Cses. 81. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 Cuius Cassius, Proconsul, to Cicero. 
 
 I AM to inform you of my arrival in Syria, where 
 I have joined the generals Lucius Murcus and 
 QuintusCrispus ''. These brave and wor- 
 ■*•"■' ■ thy citizens, having been made acquainted 
 with what has lately passed in Rome, immediately 
 resigned their armies to my command, and with 
 great zeal and spirit co-operate with me in the 
 service of the republic. Aulus AUienus has deli- 
 vered to me the four legions which he brought from 
 Egypt "^ ; the legion which was commanded by Cieci- 
 liiis Bassus^ has likewise joined me. And now it is 
 unnecessary, I am persuaded, that I should exhort 
 you to defend the interest both of myself and of 
 the commonwealth, to the utmost of your abilities: 
 but it may animate your zeal and your hopes, to be 
 assured that a powerful army is not wanting to 
 support the senate and its friends in the cause of 
 liberty. For the rest, I refer you to Lucius Car- 
 teius, whom I have directed to confer with you 
 upon my affairs. Farewell. 
 
 From my camp at Taricheag, March the 7th. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 Asinius PoUio^' to Cicero. 
 
 You must not wonder that you have heard 
 nothing from me, in relation to public affairs, since 
 the breaking out of the war. Our cou- 
 A. u. 710. j.-^^j.^ [jj^yg always found it difficult to pass 
 unmolested through the forest of Castulo', but it is 
 now more than ever infested with robbers. These 
 banditti, however, are by no means the principal 
 obstruction to our intercourse with Rome, as the 
 mails are perpetually searched and detained by the 
 
 d " They had been praitors, A. U. 7i.'8. Caesar sent the 
 former into Syria and the latter into Bithynia, with pro- 
 consular authority."— Dio, .\Ivii. ; Appian. iii. ; Ross. 
 
 e "Allienuswas lieutenant to Dolabella, by whom he 
 was sent into Egypt in order to conduct those legions into 
 Syria. He accordingly executed his commission ; but, 
 instead of delivering these troops to Dolabella, he went 
 over with them to Cassius."— Quartier. 
 
 f See rem. '", p. 537. 
 
 g Situated upon the lake of Genesaret in Galilee. 
 
 h Asinius Poliio was, in every respect, one of the most 
 accomplished persons among his contemporaries. His 
 extensive genius was equal to all the nobler branches of 
 polite literature, and he gave the most applauded proofs 
 of his talents as a poet, an orator, and an historian. Ho 
 united the most lively and pleasing vein of wit and plea- 
 santry with all that strength and solidity of understanding 
 which is necessary to render a man of weight in the more 
 serious and important occasions of life ; in allusion to which 
 uncommon assemblage of qualities it was said of him, that 
 he was a man omnium horarum. It is to be regretted that 
 a character so truly brilliant on the intellectual side, 
 should shme with less lustre in a moral view. 'Tis evi- 
 dent, however, from the present epistle, that in taking 
 part with Ca-sar against Pompcy, private considerations 
 were of more force with him than public utility, and de- 
 termined him to support a cause which his heart con- 
 demned. This letter was >\Titten from the farther Spain, 
 of which province Csesar, a short time before his death, 
 had appointed Poliio governor. 
 
 » A city anciently of great note ; at present it is only a 
 small village called Cazorla, in the province of New Cas- 
 tile, in Spain.
 
 56u 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 soldiers that are posted for that purpose, by both 
 parties, in every quarter of the country. Accord- 
 ingly, if 1 had not received letters by a ship wliich 
 ^tely arrived in this river), I should have been 
 Utterly ignorant of what has been transacted in 
 your part of the world. But now that a communi- 
 eation by sea is thus opened between us, I shall 
 frequently, aud with great pleasure, embrace the 
 oii|)ortunity of correspimding w ith you. 
 
 15elieve nie, tlierc is no danger of my being 
 influenced by the jiersuasions of tlie person you 
 mention''. As much as the world abhors him, he 
 is far from being detested to that degree wliich I 
 know he deserves ; and I have so strong an aversion 
 to the man, that I would upon no consideration 
 bear a part in any measures wherein he is con- 
 cerned'. Inclined bolii by my tem])er and my 
 studies to be the friend of tranfjuillity and freedom, 
 I frequently and bitterly lamented o-ur late uniiai)py 
 civil wars. But, as the formidable enemies which 
 I had among both parties, rendered it altogether 
 unsafe for me to remain neuter, so I woukl not 
 take up arms on that side wliere I knew I should 
 be perpetually exposed to the insidious arts of my 
 capital adversary'". But though my inclinations 
 were not with the party I joined, my spirit however 
 would not suffer me to stand undistinguished among 
 them : in consequence of which, I was forward 
 to engage in all the dangers of the cause I had 
 espoused. With respect to Cajsar himself, I will 
 confess that I loved him with the highest and most 
 inviolable affection, — and indeed I had reason. 
 For, notwithstanding his acquaintance with me 
 commenced so late as when he was in the height of 
 his power, yet he admitted me into the same share 
 of liis friendship, as if I had been in the number of 
 those with whom he had lived in the longest inti- 
 macy. Nevertheless, as often as I was at liberty 
 to follow my own sentiments, 1 endeavoured that 
 my conduct should be such as every honest man 
 must approve ; and whenever I was obliged to ex- 
 ecute the orders I received, it was in a manner that 
 evidently discovered how much my actions were at 
 variance with my heart. The unjust odium how- 
 ever that I incurred by these unavoidable compli- 
 ances, might well teach me the true value of liberty, 
 and how wretched a condition it is to live under 
 the government of a despotic power. If any at- 
 tempts, therefore, are carrying on to reduce us a 
 second time under the dominion of a single person, 
 whoever that single person may be, I declare my- 
 self his irreconcilable enemy. The truth is, there 
 is no danger so great that I would not cheerfully 
 hazard for the support of our common liberties. 
 But the consuls have not thought proper to signify 
 to me, either by any decree of the senate, or by 
 their private letters, in what manner I should act 
 
 J The Guadalquivir, upon wliich the city of Corduba, 
 from whence this letter is dated, was situated. 
 
 k Antony, as Manutius conjectures, though some of the 
 commentators, with greater probability, suppose that he 
 means Lepidus. — Ep. Fam. x. 11 et 15. 
 
 1 Nothing could be more insincere, it should seem, than 
 these professions, as it is probable that PoUio was at this 
 time determined to join Antony. It is certain, at least, 
 that he did so soon afterw.'irds, and carried with him the 
 troops under his command. — Veil. Pat. ii. G3. 
 
 ™ The person hinted at is, perhaps, Cato, as Pollio had 
 early distinguish L-d his enmity towards that most illus- 
 trious of Romans, by a public impeachment. — Dial, de 
 Vama. Corrupt. Eloquent. 34. 
 
 in tne present conjuncture. I have received, indeed, 
 only one letter from Pansa since the ides of March; 
 by which he advised me to assure the senate, that 
 1 was ready to employ the forces under my command 
 in any service they should retpiire. But this would 
 liave been a very imprudent declaratioM at a time 
 when Lepidus had professed, in his public speeches, 
 as well as in the letters he wrote to all his friends, 
 that he concurred in Antony's measures. For 
 could I possibly, without the consent of the former, 
 find means to subsist my army in their march 
 through his provinces ? But, granting that I could 
 liave surmounted this difficulty, 1 must have con- 
 quered anotiier and a still greater, — as nothing 
 less than a pair of wings could have rendered it 
 )>racticablc for me to have crossed the Alps, whilst 
 every pass was guarded by tlie troops of Lc])idus. 
 Add to this that I could by no means convey any 
 despatches to Rome, as the couriers were not only 
 exposed in a thousand different places to the danger 
 of being plundered, but were detained, likewise, by 
 the express orders of Lepidus". It is well known, 
 however, that I publicly declared at Cordaba, that 
 it was my resolution not to resign this province 
 into any other hands than those which the senate 
 should appoint : not to mention how strenuously I 
 withstood all the applications that were made to me 
 for i)arting with the thirtieth legion. I could not, 
 indeed, have given it up, without depriving myself 
 of a very considerable strength for the defence of 
 the republic, as there are no troops in the whole 
 world that are animated with a braver or more 
 martial spirit than those of which this legion is com- 
 posed. Upon the whole, I hope you will do me 
 the justice to believe, in the first place, that I am ex- 
 tremely desirous of preserving the public tranquillity, 
 as there is nothing I more sincerely wish than the 
 safety of all my fellow-citizens ; and, in the next 
 place, that I am determined to vindicate my own 
 and my country's rights. 
 
 It gives me greater satisfaction than you can well 
 imagine, that you admit my friend into a .share of 
 your intimacy. Shall I own, nevertheless, that I 
 cannot think of him as the companion of your 
 walks, and as bearing a part in the pleasantry of 
 your conversation, without feeling some emotions 
 of envy ! This is a privilege, believe me, which I 
 infinitely value, as you shall most assuredly expe- 
 rience, by my devoting the whole of my time to 
 your company, if ever we should live to see peace 
 restored to the republic. 
 
 I am much surprised that you did not mention 
 in your letter whether it would be most satisfactory 
 to the senate that I should remain in this province, 
 or march into Italy. If I were to consider only 
 my own ease and safet}', I should certainly con- 
 tinue here ; but as, in the present conjuncture, 
 the republic has more occasion for legions than 
 for provinces, (especially as the loss of the latter 
 may with great ease be recovered,) I have deter- 
 mined to move towards Italy with my troops. For 
 the rest, I refer you to the letter I have written to 
 Pansa, a copy of which I herewith transmit to you. 
 Farewell. 
 Corduba, luarch the 16tli. 
 
 " Lepidus was governor of that part of Spain which lay 
 nearest to Italy. See rem. ° en letter 14 of this book.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 667 
 
 A. r. 7iy- *' 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 To Cuius Cassius. 
 
 You will receive a full account of the present 
 situation of affairs from Tidius Strabo, a person of 
 ^reat merit, and extremely well-affected 
 to the republic. Need I add how strong 
 his attachment likewise is to yourself, when it thus 
 evidently appears by his leaving his family and his 
 fortunes in order to follow you ? For the same 
 reason I forbear to solicit your good offices in 
 his behalf, as I am persuaded you will think his 
 coining to you a sufficient recommendation to your 
 favour. 
 
 If any misfortune should attend our arms, be 
 assured that the friends of the republic have no 
 other resource left than in you and Marcus Brutus. 
 We are at this juncture indeed in the most im- 
 minent danger : as it is with great difficulty that 
 Decimus Brutus still holds out at Mutina. How- 
 ever, if he should be speedily relieved, we may look 
 upon victory as our own ; if not, let me repeat it 
 again, every friend of liberty will fly for refuge to 
 Brutus and to you. May you stand ready, then, 
 with all that spirit which is necessary for the full 
 and complete deliverance of our distressed country ! 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 To Plancus. 
 The account that Furnius gave us of your dis- 
 position towards the republic, afforded the highest 
 ^,» satisfaction both to the senate and the 
 peo])le. But your letter, which was after- 
 wards read in the senate, seemed by no means to 
 comport with those sentiments our friend had thus 
 represented you as entertaining. At the very time 
 indeed when your illustrious colleague is sustaining 
 a siege from the lawless crew of the most worthless 
 villains, you do not scruple to advise us to peace. 
 But if peace is their sincere desire, let them imme- 
 diately lay dov.n their arms, and sue for it in a 
 proper manner, otherwise they must expect to 
 obtain it, not by treaty, be assured, but by the 
 sword alone. But I leave it to Furnius and your 
 worthy brother, to acquaint you with the reception 
 which your letter upon this subject, as well as that 
 of Lepidus, met with from the senate. Meany.'liile, 
 notwithstanding you are well qualified to be your 
 own adviser, and that it will soon be in your power 
 like^^•ise to have recourse to the faithful and friendly 
 counsels of Furnius and your brother ; yet, in com- 
 pliance with that affection to which you have so 
 many pov.'erful claims, I cannot forbear sending 
 you a few admonitions. Believe me, then, my dear 
 Plancus, whatever honours you have hitherto 
 acquired, (and you have acquired in truth the 
 highest,) they will be considered as so many vain 
 and empty titles, unless you dignify them by joining 
 in the defence both of the liberties of the people 
 and the authority of the senate. Let me conjure 
 you therefore to separate yourself from those asso- 
 ciates with whom you have hitherto been united, 
 not by choice indeed, but by the general attraction 
 of a prevailing party. It has been the fortune of 
 many, as it will probably be yours, to exercise the 
 supreme magistracy during times of public com- 
 motions ; but not one of this number ever derived 
 to himself that esteem and veneration which na- 
 
 turally flow from the consular dignity, who had 
 not distinguished his administration by an active 
 and zealous regard for the interests of the common- 
 wealth. To this end it is necessary that you 
 renounce the society of those impious citizens, 
 whose i)rinciples are far different from your own ; 
 that you show yourself the friend, the guide, and 
 the protector of all those who are faithfully attached 
 to our constitution ; and in fine that you be well 
 persuaded that the re-establishment of the public 
 tranquillity consists, not merely in laying down our 
 arms, but in being secure from all reasonable ap- 
 prehension of their ever being resumed to enslave 
 us again. Thus to think and thus to act, will render 
 your character, both as a consul and a consular, 
 most truly illustrious : but if you should steer 
 yourself by other maxims and by other measures, 
 you will possess those exalted distinctions, not only 
 without honour, but with the utmost disgrace. 
 
 And now, if I have expressed my sentiments with 
 somewhat more than ordinary seriousness, impute it 
 to the zeal of my affection towards you ; assuring 
 yourself, at the same time, that you will, undoubt- 
 edly, find my advice is founded on truth, if you 
 make the experiment in a manner worthy of your 
 character. Farewell. 
 
 March the 20tli. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 To Lepidus°. 
 
 Thk singular regard I bear you, renders it 
 
 greatly my concern that you should be distin- 
 
 710 g'i'slied with the highest dignities of the 
 
 republic. I cannot, therefore, but regret, 
 
 " Marcus ^milius Lepidus was descended from one of 
 the noblest and most ancient families in Rome, and he 
 was himself distinguished with some of the most honour- 
 able posts in the republic. Ho stood high in the confidence 
 and friendship of Julius Cassar, who, when he was dicta- 
 tor, named him for the master of the horse ; when he was 
 consul, in the year 7u7, declared him his colleague ; and 
 who, a short time before his death, appointed him governor 
 of the nearer ^pain. One of the most elegant of the 
 Roman historiaiis has represented Lepidus as void of all 
 military virtues, and in erery view of his character as 
 altogether unworthy of that Iiigh station to which fortime 
 had exalted hlu'.. Accordingly he is described by Shak- 
 speare, in the tragedy of Julius Caesar, as 
 
 a slight unmeritable man. 
 
 Meet to be sent on errands. 
 But though the poet has been strictly true to history, it 
 may be questioned, perhaps, whether the historian has 
 been equally faithful to truth. For when one considers 
 the great trust which Caesar reposed in Lepidus, his address 
 in prevailing with young Pompey, who had made himself 
 master almost of all Spain, to renounce his conquests ; 
 together with the share he ha-d in forming that celebrated 
 league between Autony, Octavius, and himself, which gavo 
 him a third part in the division of the whole Roman 
 dominions ; is it credible that his talents were destitute of 
 lustre ? History, perhaps, may be more reasonably relied 
 upon in what it has delivered concerning his moral cha- 
 racter ; and it is probable that Lepidus was strongly 
 infected with avarice, ambition, and vanity. This at least 
 is certain, that he acted towards the senate in the present 
 conjuncture with great dissimulation and treachery. At 
 the time when this letter was written, he was at the head 
 of a very considerable army in the Narbonensian Gaul, 
 which Ca;sar had annexed to the pro/inee of Spain, ia 
 favour of Lepidus. — I'igh. Annal. ii. 451 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 03, 
 80 : Dio. xlv 275.
 
 568 
 
 J- hi: letters of MAJICUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 thnt you omitted to jmy your acknowleilgiiients to 
 till! senate for those extraordinary honours they 
 lately conferred u]ion youi". 
 
 I am glad you are desirous of composing those 
 unhappy ilissentions that destroy the tranquillity of 
 our country : and if you can effect this f^ood work, 
 consistently with the enjoyment of our liberties, it 
 will be greatly to your own credit, as well as to the 
 advantage of the commonwealth. IJut if the ])eace 
 you propose is to re-establish a most oppressive 
 tyranny, be well assured there is not a man in his 
 senses who will not rather renounce his life than 
 thus surtVr himself to be made a slave. I should 
 think, therefore, that your wisest way would be to 
 avoid engaging as the mediator of a peace which 
 is neither approved by the senate or the people, 
 nor indeed by any lover of his country in the whole 
 republic. But as this is a truth which you will 
 undoubtedly learn from others, I will only add, 
 that I hope you will consider, with your usual 
 prudence, in what manner it will be best and most 
 advisable for you to act. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 To Cains Cassius. 
 I WILL not tell you with how much zeal 1 lately 
 stood forth, both in the senate and before the 
 _.„ people, an advocate for the advancement 
 of your honours''; as it is a circumstance 
 ■which I had rather you should learn from the 
 letters of your family, than from my own hand. I 
 should easily have carried my point in the former, 
 if I had not met with a strenuous opposition from 
 Pansa. Nevertheless, after having enforced my 
 sentiments in the senate, I made a speech, to the 
 same purpose, in an assembly of the people ; to 
 which I was introduced by Marcus Servilius, the 
 tribune. I urged upon this occasion (and with a 
 warmth and vehemence suitaljle to a popular 
 audience) all that I most justly might in your 
 favour : and my speech was received with a louder 
 and more universal applause than ever was known 
 before. I hope you will pardon me that I took 
 these steps contrary to the persuasions of your 
 mother-in-law ; who was apprehensive they might 
 give offence to Pansa. He did not, indeed, forget 
 to avail himself of these fears : and he assured the 
 people, that even your own family were averse to 
 my making this motion. I was by no means, I 
 confess, governed by their sentiments in the case : 
 as I acted entirely with a view to an interest 
 which I have always endeavoured to promote'; the 
 interest I mean of the republic in general, as well 
 
 P Tlio senate had lately decreed, that the statue of Le- 
 pidus should be erected in the forum, with an inscription, 
 in honour of the services he had performed to his country 
 by prevailing with young Pompey to lay down his arms. 
 — Philipp. xvi. 4. 
 
 1 Dolabella having entered into Asia Minor, and com- 
 mitted great outrages and hostilities in that province, was 
 declared, by a general vote of tlie .senate, a public enemy; 
 in consequence of which a debate arose concerning the 
 person to whom the war to be carried on against Dolabella 
 should be intrusted, Cicero moved that a commission 
 should be granted to Cassius for that purpose, with the 
 most honourable and extensive powers. But his motion 
 ■was overruled by the superior interest of Pansa, who 
 seems to have been secretly desirous of obtaining this com- 
 mand for himself.— Philipp. xi. 
 
 as with a regard to the advancement of your gloi y 
 in particular. 
 
 There is one article ujjon which I very largely 
 expatiated in the senate, as I afterwards repeated 
 it likewise in my speech to the people : and I hope 
 your conduct will fully justify what I then said. 
 I undertook to assure the jiublic, that you would 
 not wait for the sanction of our decrees ; but, 
 agreeably to your usual spirit, would, upon your 
 own single autliority, take such measures as should 
 appear expedient to you for the defence of the 
 commonwealth. I went even farther, and almost 
 ventured to affirm, that you had already acted in 
 this manner. The truth of it is, although I was 
 not at that time certainly informed eitlicr in what 
 j)art of the world you were, or what number of 
 troops you were furnished with ; yet I was con- 
 fident, I said, that every legion in Asia' had sub- 
 mitted to yourcommand, and that you had recovered 
 that i)rovince to the rei)ublic. I have only to add 
 my wishes, that in every euterjirise you shall under- 
 take, you may still rise above yourself with superior 
 glory. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 Plancus to Cicero. 
 I .SHOULD employ this letter in giving you a full 
 explanation of my measures, if I had no other 
 ^ ^ -,i, method of convincing you, that I have 
 in every respect conducted myself towards 
 the republic agreeably to my own promises, and to 
 your j)ersuasions. I have ever been ambitious, 
 indeed, of obtaining your esteem, as well as your 
 friendship : and if 1 have wished to secure you for 
 my advocate where I have acted wrong, I have 
 been no less desirous of giving you occasion to 
 applaud me for acting right. But I was going to 
 say, that I shorten this letter for two reasons ; the 
 first is, because I have entered into an ample detail 
 of everything in my public manifesto"; and the 
 next, because you will receive a circumstantial 
 account of all that relates to me from Marcus 
 Varisidius, a Roman knight, and my particular 
 friend, whom I have directed to wait upon you. 
 In the mean time, let me protest, that it was not 
 without much concern that I saw others anticipate 
 me in the good opinion of the republic : but I 
 forbore to declare myself, till I should be in a 
 condition to effect something worthy of those 
 expectations the senate has conceived of me, and 
 of that high office' I shall shortly bear. And 
 should fortune second my endeavours, I hope to 
 render such considerable services to the republic, 
 that not only the present age shall feel the advan- 
 tage of my assistance, but that it shall be remem- 
 bered likewise in times to come. Meanwhile, 
 that I may pursue these endeavours with the 
 greater alacrity, let me entreat your suffrage ia 
 procuring me those honours which your letter sets 
 before my view as incitements of my patriotism ;. 
 and your interest for this purpose is equal, I well 
 know, to your inclination. Take care of your 
 health, and give me your friendship in the same 
 degree that I sincerely give you mine. 
 
 " Asia Minor. • See tlie next letter. 
 
 t The consulate, upon which Plancus was to enter the 
 ioUowing year.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 6G9 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Plancus, Consul elect, to the Consuls, the Prcetors, 
 the Tribunes, the Senate, and the Commons of 
 Borne. 
 
 Before I make any professions with respect to 
 my future conduct, I deem it necessary to justify 
 myself to those who may think that I have 
 A. u. 710. j_^^jj j.jjg republic too long in suspense 
 concerning my designs". For 1 would by no means 
 have it imagined that I am atoning for my past 
 behaviour, when, in fact, I am only seizing the 
 first favourable opportunity of publicly declaring a 
 resolution which I have long formed. I was in 
 no sort ignorant, however, that, at a time of such 
 general and alarming confusions, a less deliberate 
 discovery of my intentions would have proved most 
 to my own private advantage : as I was sensible 
 that several of my fellow-citizens had been distin- 
 guished with great honours, by a more hasty expli- 
 cation of their purposes. But as fortune had 
 placed me in such a situation, that I could not 
 be earlier in testifying mine without prejudicing 
 that cause which I could better serve by conceahng 
 them, I was willing to suffer for a season in l^e 
 good opinion of the world ; as I preferred the 
 interest of the public to that of my own reputation. 
 That this was the genuine motive of my proceed- 
 ings, cannot reasonably, I trust, be questioned. 
 For, can it be supposed that a man in my prosper- 
 ous circumstances, and of my well-known course 
 of life, whose utmost hopes too were upon the very 
 point of being crowned", could be capable either of 
 meanly submitting to the destructive ambition of 
 another, or impiously cherishing any dangerous 
 schemes of his own ? But it required some time, 
 as well as much pains and expense, to render my- 
 self able to perform those assurances I purposed 
 to give to the republic, and to every friend of her 
 cause ; that I might not approach with mere empty 
 professions to the assistance of my country, but 
 with the power of performing an effectual service. 
 To this end, as the army under my command had 
 been strongly and frequently solicited to revolt, it 
 was necessary to persuade them that a moderate 
 reward, conferred by the general voice of the com- 
 monwealth, was far preferable to an infinitely 
 greater from any single hand. My next labour was 
 to convince those many cities which had been 
 gained the last year by largesses and other dona- 
 tions, that these were obligations of no validity, 
 and that thiey should endeavour to obtain the same 
 benefactions from a better and more honourable 
 quarter. I had still the farther task to prevail 
 with those who commanded in the neighbouring 
 provinces, to join with the more numerous party 
 in a general association for the defence of our 
 common liberties, rather than unite with the 
 smaller number, in hopes of dividing the spoils of 
 a victory that must prove fatal to the whole world. 
 Add to this, that I was obliged to augment my own 
 troops, and those of my auxiliaries, that I might 
 have nothing to fear, whenever I should think 
 proper, contrary to the inclination of some about 
 me, openly to avow the cause which it was my 
 resolution to defend. Now, I shall never be 
 
 " See rem. k, p. 551. 
 
 T Alluding to his being to enter the next year on the 
 consular office. 
 
 ashamed to acknowledge, tliat, in order to bring 
 these several schemes to bear, I submitted, though 
 very unwillingly, indeed, to the mortification of 
 dissembling the intentions I really had, and of 
 counterfeiting those which I certainly had not : as 
 the fate of my colleague'*' had taught me how dan- 
 gerous it is for a man who means well to his 
 country, to divulge his resolutions ere he is suffi- 
 ciently prepared to carry them into execution. For 
 this reason it was that I directed my brave and 
 worthy lieutenant, C'aius Fumius, to represent to 
 you, more fully than I thought prudent to explain 
 in my despatches, those measures which seemed- 
 necessary for the preservation both of this province 
 and of the republic in general, as being the more 
 concealed method of conveying my sentiments to 
 you upon that subject, as well as the safer with 
 respect to myself. 
 
 It appears, then, that I have long been secretly 
 attentive to the defence of the commonwealth. But 
 now that, by the bounty of the gods, I am in every 
 respect better prepared for that purpose, I desire 
 to give the world, not only reason to hope well of 
 my intentions, but clear and undoubted proofs of 
 their sincerity. 
 
 I have five legions in readiness to march ; all of 
 them zealously attached to the republic, and dis- 
 posed, by my liberalities, to pay an entire obedience 
 to my orders. The same disposition appears in 
 every city throughout this province ; and they 
 earnestly vie with each other in giving me the 
 strongest marks of their duty. Accordingly, they 
 have furnished me with as considerable a body of 
 auxiliary forces, both horse and foot, as they could 
 possibly have raised for the support of their owa 
 national liberties. As for myself, I am ready eitlier 
 to remain here, in order to protect this province, 
 or to march wheresoever else the republic shall 
 demand my services. I will offer yet another 
 alternative ; and either resign my troops and go- 
 vernment into any hands that shall be appointed, 
 or draw upon myself the whole weight of the war ; 
 if by these means I may be able to establish the 
 tranquillity of my country, or even retard those 
 calamities with which it is threatened. 
 
 If, at the time that I am making these declara- 
 tions, our public disturbances should happily be 
 composed, I shall rejoice in an event so advan- 
 tageous to the commonwealth, notwithstanding the 
 honour I shall lose by being too late in the tender 
 of my services^. But, on the contrary, if I am 
 early enough in my offers to bear a full part in all 
 the dangers of the war, let me recommend it to 
 every man of justice and candour to vindicate me 
 against the malevolence of those whom envy may 
 prompt to asperse my character. 
 
 In my own particular, I desire no greater reward 
 for my services than the satisfaction of having con- 
 tributed to the security of the republic. But I 
 think myself bound to recomme nd those brave and 
 
 ^'' Decimus Brutus. To what particular circumstance 
 of his conduct Plancus alludes, the history of these times, 
 does not discover. Perhaps he may only mean, in general, 
 that Decimus had imprudently dr.awn upon himself the 
 siege of Modena before he had made the proper dispositions 
 against an attack. 
 
 » This passage sufficiently discovers the true motive of 
 Plancus's present declarations ; as they appear evidently 
 to have flowed from some reason he had to believe, that 
 the contest between Antony and the senate was likely to- 
 be adjusted in an amicable manner.
 
 *70 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 worthy men to your especial favour, who, partly in 
 compliance with my persuasion, but much more 
 in contiJence of your pood faith, wouUl not sull<^r 
 themselves to he i)revaileil upon by all the appli- 
 cations that have been made, both to their hopes 
 and their fears, to depart from their duty to the 
 commonwealth. 
 
 LETTER XVIIL 
 To Plancus. 
 Although I had received a very full account 
 from our friend Furnius of your disi)nsition with 
 regard to the republic, and of the mea- 
 A. u. 710. g^j|.gj, yj^^j ^.^^Q meditatins; in its defence, 
 yet the perusal of your letter)' adorded me a still 
 clearer view into the whole plan of your jiatriot 
 purposes. Notwithstanding, then, that you should 
 not have an opportunity of executing your projected 
 services, as the fate of the commonwealth, which 
 depends upon a single battle, will probably be 
 decided ere this reaches your hands ; yet you have 
 acquired, nevertheless, great and universal applause 
 from what the world has been informed of your 
 general good intentions. Accordingly, had eitlier 
 of the consuls been in Uome^ when your despatches 
 arrived, the senate would have declared, and in 
 terms I am persuaded extremely to your advan- 
 tage, the sense it entertains of your zealous and 
 acceptable preparations in their cause. The proper 
 season, however, for your being rewarded with 
 honours of this kind, is, in my opinion at least, 
 so far from being elapsed, that, on the contrary, it 
 seems to be scarce fully arrived : as those distinc- 
 tions alone appear to me to deserve the name of 
 honours that are conferred by our country, not in 
 expectation of services to come, but in just retri- 
 bution to those that have effectually been performed. 
 Believe me, if any form of government shall subsist 
 amongst us where merit can hope to be distin- 
 guished, you will shine out with all the most illus- 
 trious dignities it c;in bestow. But nothing of this 
 kind (let me repeat it again) can justly be called an 
 honour, but what is given, not as the incentive of 
 an occasional service, but as the recompense of a 
 constant and uniform course of patriotism. Be it 
 then your earnest endeavour, my dear Plancus, to 
 acquire these well-merited rewards, by advancing 
 to the relief of your colleague ^ ; by improving that 
 wonderful unanimity which appears in every pro- 
 vince for the support of the common cause, and by 
 giving all possible succour to your country in 
 general. Be persuaded that I shall always be 
 ready to assist your schemes with my best advice, 
 and to promote your honours with my utmost 
 interest : in a word, that I shall act, upon every 
 occasion wherein you are concerned as one who is 
 most sincerely and most warmly your friend. I am 
 so, indeed, not only from that intercourse of affec- 
 tionate good offices by which we have been long 
 mutually united, but from the love I bear likewise 
 to my country ; in tenderness to which I am more 
 anxious for your life than for my own. Farewell. 
 Mai'ch the 30th. 
 
 r The foregoing letter to the senate. 
 
 z " The two consuls, Ilirtius and Pansa, were both in 
 •Gaul, and waiting to attempt a decisive battle with An- 
 tony, in order to deliver Decimua Brutus from the danger 
 ■ho was in at Modena." — Kosa. 
 
 » Decimus Brutus. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 To Cornijtcitis. 
 I AGREE with you in thinking that those who 
 were concerned in the design upon Lilybauui'' 
 _,„ deserved to have been executed unon the 
 
 A. U. 710. .. „ , 1.1 •. ' 
 
 spot. But you spared them, it seems, in 
 the apprehension that the world wimld condemn 
 you as too freely indulging a vindictive spirit ; yet, 
 as well might you have been aii]ireheiisive, my friend, 
 that the world would condemn you for acting too 
 agreeably to your patriot character. 
 
 I very gladly embrace your overtures of renew- 
 ing that association with you, for the defence of 
 tlie rei)ublic, in which I was formerly engaged with 
 your father ; and I am jiersuaded it is an associa- 
 tion, my dearCornificius, in wbicii we shall ever be 
 united. It is with much pleasure, likewise, that I 
 find you esteem it unnecessary to send me any 
 ceremonious acknowledgments of my services: 
 formalities, indeed, would ill agree with that inti- 
 macy which subsists between us. 
 
 If the senate were ever holden in the absence of 
 the consuls, unless upon some very sudden and 
 extraordinary occasion, it would have been more 
 frequently summoned in order to concert proper 
 measures for the support of your authority. But 
 as neither Hirtius nor Pansa is in Rome, no decree 
 can at present be procured, in relation to the 
 several sums of two millions'^, and of seventy mil- 
 lions'' of sesterces whicli you mention. I think, 
 however, that you are sufficiently authorised to raise 
 this money by way of loan, in virtue of that general 
 decree of the senate by which you were confirmed 
 in your government. 
 
 1 imagine you are informed of the state of our 
 affairs, by those to whom it properly belongs to 
 send you the intelligence. As for myself, 1 con- 
 ceive great hopes that things will take a favourable 
 turn. 1 am not wanting, at least, in my utmost 
 vigilance and efforts for that purpose : and I am 
 resolutely waging war against every foe to the re- 
 public. The recovery of our liberties does not 
 seem, indeed, even nrnv, to be a matter of great 
 difficulty : I am sure it would have been perfectly 
 easy, if some persons had acted in the manner they 
 ouaiht. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 To Plancus. 
 It is principally for the sake of my country that 
 I ought to rejoice in the very powerful succours 
 with which you have strengthened the 
 A. u. 710. rgp^^,lic^ at a juncture when it is well- 
 nigh reduced to the last extremity. I protest, 
 however, by all my hopes of congratulating you on 
 the victorious deliverance of the commonwealth, 
 that a considerable part of the joy which I feel 
 upon this occasion, arises from the share I take in 
 your glory. Great, indeed, is the reputation you 
 have already acquired, and great I am persuaded 
 will be the honours that will hereafter be conferred 
 upon you : for assure yourse lf, nothing could mak e 
 
 b A city in Sicily, opposite to the coast of Libya in Africa. 
 The particulars of the affair alluded to, as well as the per- 
 sons concerned in it, are unknown. 
 
 c About 16,tXJ0/. of our money. ^ About S60,0C0J.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 C71 
 
 a stronger impression iipon the senate than your late 
 letter* to that assembly. It did so, both with 
 xespect to those veiy important services which it 
 brought us an account that you had performed, and 
 ■with regard to that strength of sentiment and 
 •expression with which it was drawn up. It con- 
 tained nothing, however, that was in the least 
 unexpected to myself; as I was not only perfectly 
 ■well acquainted with your heart, and had not for- 
 gotten the promises you had given me in your 
 letters, but as I had received from Furnius a full 
 information of all your designs. These, indeed, 
 appeared to the senate much beyond what they 
 had allowed themselves to hope : not that they ever 
 entertained the least doubt of your disposition, but 
 because they were by no means sufficiently apprised 
 either of what you were in a condition to efi'ect, or 
 ■whither you purposed to march. It was with infi- 
 nite pleasure, therefore, that I read the letter which 
 Marcus Varisidius delivered to me on your part. 
 I received it on the 7th of this month, in the morn- 
 ing, amidst a large circle of very worthy citizeus, 
 who were attending in order to conduct me from 
 my house : and I immediately gave them a share 
 in my joy. Whilst we were mutually congratulat- 
 ing each other upon this happy occurrence, Bluna- 
 tius came to pay me his usual morning visit : to 
 ■whom I likewise communicated your letter. It 
 was the first notice he had received of an express 
 being arrived from you : as Varisidius, in pursuance 
 of your directions, did not deliver any of his de- 
 spatches till he had first waited upon me. A short 
 time, however, after Munatius had left me, he 
 returned with your letter to himself, together also 
 ■with that ■^^■hich you wrote to the senate. We 
 thought proper to carry the latter immediately to 
 Cornutus ; who, as prstor of the city, supplies the 
 office of the consuls in their absence, agreeably, 
 you know, to an ancient and established custom. 
 The senate was instantly summoned ; and the 
 expectation that was raised by the general report of 
 an express being arrived from you, brought toge- 
 ther a very full assembly. As soon as your letter 
 ■was read, it was objected that Cornutus had not 
 taken the auspices in a proper manner ; and this 
 scruple was confirmed by the general sentiments of 
 our college ^. In consequence of this, the senate 
 was adjourned to the following day ; -n-hen I had a 
 ■very warm contest with Servilius, who strenuously 
 opposed the passing of any decree to your honour. 
 For this purpose he had the interest to procure 
 his own motion to be first proposed to the senate s ; 
 which being rejected, however, by a great majority, 
 mine was next taken into consideration. But when 
 the senate had unanimously agreed to it, Publius 
 Titius '', at the instigation of ServiUus, interposed 
 his negative. The farther deliberation upon this 
 affair was postponed, therefore, to the next day : 
 when Servilius came prepared to support an oppo- 
 
 s The letter here mentioned seems to have been a sub- 
 sequent one to that which stands the 17th in the present 
 book. 
 
 f See rem. », p. 391; 
 
 S The senate could not enter into any debate unless the 
 subject of it was proposed to them in form by some of the 
 magistrates, who had the sole privilege of referring any 
 question to a vote, or of dividing the house upon it. — Mid- 
 • dletnn on the Rom. Sen. p. 155. 
 
 ^ One of the tribunes. It has already been observed, that 
 those magistrates had a power of putting a stop to the pro- 
 ceedings of the senate by their single negative. 
 
 sition, which, in some sort, might be considered as 
 injurious to the honour even of Jupiter himself ; as 
 it was in the Capitol' that the senate, upon this 
 occasion, was assembled. I leave it to your other 
 friends to inform you in what manner I mortified 
 Servilius, and with how much warmth I exposed 
 the contemptible interposition of Titius. But this 
 I will myself assure you, that the senate could not 
 possibly act with greuter dignity and spirit, or show 
 a stronger disposition tu advance your honours, 
 than it discovered upon this occasion. Nor are 
 you less in favour with the whole city in general : 
 as, indeed, all orders and degrees of men amongst 
 us remarkably concur in the same common zeal for 
 the deliverance of the republic. Persevere then, my 
 friend, in the glorious course upon which you have 
 entered : and let nothing less than immortal fame 
 be the object of your well-directed ambition. De- 
 spise the false splendour of all those empty honours 
 that are short-lived, transitory, and perishable. 
 True glory is founded upon virtue alone ; which is 
 never so illustriously distinguished as when it dis- 
 plays itself by important services to our country. 
 You have at this time a most favourable opportu- 
 nity for that purpose ; which, as you have already 
 embraced, let it not slip out of your hands till you 
 shall have employed it to full advantage ; lest it be 
 said, that you are more obliged to the republic than 
 the republic is obhged to you. As, for my own 
 part, you will always find me ready to contribute 
 to the advancement as well as to the support of 
 your dignities : indeed, it is what I owe not only 
 to our friendship, but to the commonwealth, which 
 is far dearer to me than life itself. 
 
 Whilst I was employing my best services for the 
 promotion of your honours, I received great jiiea- 
 sure in observing the prudence and fidelity which 
 Titus Munatius exerted for the same purpose. I 
 had experienced those qualities in him upon other 
 occasions : bat the incredible diligence and affec- 
 tion with which he acted for your interest in this 
 affair, showed them to me in a still stronger and 
 more conspicuous point of view. Farewell. 
 April the 11th. 
 
 ' The Capitol was a temple dedicated to Jupiter, and the 
 most considerable structure of the sacred kind in all Rome. 
 The ruins of this celebrated edifice are still to be seen. 
 None of the commentators have taken notice of the indi- 
 rect compliment which Cicero here pays to Plancua, 
 which seems, however, to deserve a particular explanation. 
 The Capitol was held in singular veneration, as being built 
 upon the spot which Jupiter was supposed to have chosen 
 for the visible manifestation of his person. In consequence 
 of this popular superstition, both Horace and Virgil often 
 speak of the prosperity and duration of the Capitol as a 
 circumstance upon which the fortune of the whole empire 
 depended :— 
 
 Stet Capitolium 
 
 Fulgens, triumphatisque possit 
 Roma ferox dare jura Medis. — HoR. Od. iiL 3, 42. 
 
 Dum domus jEnei Capitoli immobile saxum 
 Accolet, imperiumque Pater Romanus habebit. 
 
 iEn. is. 448. 
 Cicero, therefore, by a very artful piece of flattery, insi- 
 nuates, that the opposition Servilius made to the honours 
 which the senate intended to have paid to Plancus, was, 
 m effect, an affront to that supreme and guardian divinity 
 in whose temple the transaction passed, as being contrary 
 to ttie interest of a republic which was distinguished by 
 Jupiter himself with his immediate presence. — Vide .^n, 
 viii. 346.
 
 572 
 
 TIIK LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLUJS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 To Cornijicius. 
 
 Mt friendship with Lucius Lamia is well known, 
 
 I am persiiiideil, not only to yourself, who are 
 
 ae(|uainte(l with all the ciicunistanfes of 
 
 A. u. 710. jj^y |j|-^.^ |j||(. iQ ^-vcry KoiiKin in general. 
 
 It most cons))icuously appeared, indeed, to the 
 whole world, when he was banisiied by the eonsnl 
 GahiniusJ, for having, with so remarkable a spirit 
 of freedom and fortitude, risen up in my defence''. 
 Our friendship, however, did not eommenct; from 
 that jieriod : it was from an affection of a mucii 
 earlier date, that he was induced thus generously to 
 expose iiimself to every danger in my cause. To 
 these his meritorious services, I must add, that 
 there is no man whose company affords me a more 
 true and extpiisite entertainment. After wliat I 
 have thus said, you will thitdc it needless, surely, 
 that 1 should use much rhetoric in recommending 
 him to your favour. You see the just reason I 
 have for giving him so large a share of my aflection : 
 whatever terms, therefore, the strongest friendship 
 can require upon an occasion of this nature, let 
 your imagination supply for me in the present. I 
 will only assure you, that your good offices to the 
 agents, the servants, and the family of Lamia, in 
 every article wherein his affairs in your jirovince 
 shall require them, will be a more acceptable in- 
 stance of your generosity than any you could con- 
 fer in my ovi'n personal concerns. I am persuaded, 
 indeed, from your great penetration into the cha- 
 racters of men, that without my recommendation 
 you would be perfectly well disposed to give him 
 your best assistance. I must confess, at the same 
 time, I have heard that you suspect him of having 
 signed some decree of the senate injurious to your 
 honour. But I must assure you, in the first place, 
 that he never signed any during the administration 
 of those consuls ' ; and, in the ne.xt, that almost all 
 the decrees which were pretended to be passed at 
 that time, were absolutely forged. The truth is, 
 you might just as reasonably suppose I was con- 
 cerned in that decree to which my name was sub- 
 scribed, relating to Semi)ronius ; though, in (act, 
 I was then absent from Rome, and complained, 1 
 remember, of the injury that had been done me, in 
 a letter which I wrote to you upon the occasion. 
 But not to enter farther into this subject ; I most 
 earnestly entreat you, my dear Cornificius, to con- 
 sider the interest of Lamia, in all respects, as 
 mine, and to let him see that my recommendation 
 has proved of singular advantage to his affairs ; 
 assuring yourself that you cannot, in any instance, 
 more effectually oblige me. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXn. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Cornificius delivered your letter to me on the 
 
 17th of March, about three weeks, as he told me, 
 
 after he had received it from your hands. 
 
 The senate did not assemble either on 
 
 J See rem. 1, p. 3C)9. 
 
 ^ When Cicero was persecuted by Clodius. 
 ' It is altogether uncertain to what consuls Cicero alludes : 
 Manutius supposes, to Antony and Dolabella. 
 
 that day or the next ; however, on the 9th they 
 met, when I defended your cause in a very full 
 house, and with no un|)rii|>ilious regards from Mi- 
 nerva'". 1 may witii peculiar projiriety say so, as 
 the statue of that guardian goddess of Rome, which 
 1 formerly erected in the Capitol", and whit'h had 
 lately been thrown down by a high wind, was at 
 the same time decreed to be replaced. Your let- 
 ter, which I'ausa read to the senate, was much 
 a])proved, and afforded great satisfaeti(ju to tiie 
 whole assembly. It fired them, at the same time, 
 with general indigiiatiuu against the impudent 
 attemjits of the horrid Minotaur, for so I may 
 well call those combined adversaries of yours, Cal- 
 visius and Taurus ". It was proposed, therefore, 
 that the censure of the senate should pass u|)on 
 them ; but that motion was overruled by the more 
 merciful Pansa, However, a decree was voted 
 upon this occasion extremely to your honour. 
 
 As for my own good offices in your favour, be 
 assured, my dear Cornificius, they have not lieen 
 wanting from the fir.^t moment I conceived a lu)])e 
 of recovering our liberties. Accordingly, when 1 
 laid a foundation, for that purpose, on the 20th of 
 JJecember last'', while the rest of those who ought 
 to have been equally forward in that work, stood 
 timidly hesitating in what manner to act, I had a 
 jjarticular view to the preserving you in your j)rc- 
 sent post ; and to this end I prevailed with the 
 senate to agree to my motion concerning the 
 continuance of the proconsuls in their respective 
 provinces. But my zeal in your cause did not 
 terminate here, and I still continued my attacks 
 upon that person, who, in contemjit of the senate, 
 as well as most injuriously to you, had, even whilst 
 he himself was absent from Rome, procured your 
 government to be allotted to him. My frequent, 
 or, to speak more properly, my incessant, remon- 
 strances against his proceedings, forced him, much 
 against his inclinations, to enter Rome, where he 
 found himself obliged to relinquish the hopes of 
 an honour which he thought himself no less sure of 
 than if it had been in his actual possession. It 
 gives me great pleasure that these my just and 
 honest invectives against your adversary, in eon- 
 junction with your own exalted merit, have secured 
 you in your government, as I rejoice extremely, 
 likewise, in the distinguished honours you have 
 there received. 
 
 I very readily admit of your excuse in regard to 
 Sempronius, well knowing that your conduct upon 
 that occasion may justly be imputed to those errors 
 
 '" It was a sort of proverbial expression among the 
 Romans, when they spoke of any successful undertaking, 
 to say that it was carried on " not without the approbation 
 of Minerva." 
 
 n " Cicero, a little before his retreat into banishment, 
 took a small statue of Minerva, which had long been, 
 reverenced in his family as a kind of tutelar deity, and 
 carrying it to the Capitol, placed it in the temple of 
 Jupiter, under the title of Minerva, the guardian of the 
 city." — Life of Cicero, p. 92. 
 
 o The Minotaur was a fabulous monster which the poets 
 describe as half man half bull. Cicero, therefore, in allu- 
 sion to the name of Taurus, who had joined with Calvisiua 
 in some combination against Cornificius, jocosely gives 
 them the appellation of the Alinotaur. 
 
 P When he spoke his third and fourth Philippic orations, 
 wherein Cicero endeavoured, amongst other articles, to 
 animate the senate and the people to vigorous measures- 
 a^ainst Antony.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 570 
 
 to ■which we were all equally liable, whilst we trod 
 the dark and dubious paths of bondage. I myself, 
 indeed, the grave inspirer of your counsels, and 
 the firm defender of your dignities, even I, my 
 friend, was injudiciously hurried away by my 
 indignation at the times, when, too hastily despair- 
 ing of liberty, I attempted to retire into Greece''. 
 But the Etesian winds, like so many patriot citi- 
 zens, refused to waft me from the commonwealth, 
 whilst Auster, conspiring in tiieir designs, collected 
 his whole force, and drove me back again to Rhe- 
 gium. From thence I returned to Rome, with all 
 the e.xpedition that sails and oars could speed me, 
 and, the very next day after my arrival, 1 showed 
 the world that I was the only man, amidst a race 
 of the most abject slaves, that dared to assert liis 
 freedom and independency ^ I inveighed, indeed, 
 against the measures of Antony with so much spirit 
 and indignation, that he lost all manner of patience ; 
 and pointing the whole rage of his bacchanalian 
 ■ fury at my devoted head, he at first endeavoured 
 to gain a pretence of assassinating me in the 
 senate ; but that project not succeeding, his ne.xt 
 resource was to lay wait for my life in private. 
 But I extricated myself from his insidious snares, 
 and drove him, all reeking with the fumes of his 
 nauseous intemperance, into the toils of Octavius'. 
 That excellent youth drew together a body of 
 troops, in the first place, for his own and my par- 
 
 1 An account of this intended voyage has already been 
 given in a former note. See rem. ', p. .551. 
 
 "■ This seems to allude to his having refused to pay 
 obedience to a summons from Antony, to attend a meet- 
 ing of the senate which was held on that day. See rem. 
 «, p. 553. 
 
 s Octavius, as soon as he returned into Italy, after the 
 death of Cassar, endeavoured to secure Cicero in his inte- 
 rest, as Cicero appeared no less forward to embrace the 
 friendship of Octavius. They both of them, indeed, had 
 one of the strongest of all motives, perhaps, for a mutual 
 coalition ; as there is nothing in which men seem to unite 
 more amicably, tlian in hunting down the same common 
 foe. The league, however, into which Cicero entered with 
 Octavius, extended no farther at first than to a matter of 
 mere civil controversy ; and he only engaged to support 
 Octavius in his claim of part of Cjesar's estate, which 
 Antony, it was alleged, injuriously withheld from him. 
 But even this was going a greater length than a true 
 patriot could prudently have ventured : for though the 
 contest between Antony and Octavius, with respect to 
 the money in question, was altogether personal, yet " by 
 natural consequence (as the accurate observer upon the epis- 
 tles between Cicero and Brutus justly remarks) it became a 
 matter of more extensive concern. In the first place, it 
 was joined witli the succession to tlie name of Ca?sur, 
 which was looked upon by tlie chiefs of the Csesarian party 
 as an earnest of the continuance of the public settlement 
 made by Ca-sar in the person of Octavius ; and, on the 
 same account, it was always suspected by the more dis- 
 cerning republicans. In the next place, it gave Octavius 
 
 ticular defence ; and in the next, for that of the 
 republic in general ; which, if he had not happily 
 raised, Antony, in his return from Brundisium, 
 would have spread desolation, like a wasting pes- 
 tilence, around the land. What followed I need 
 not add, as I imagine you are well apprised of 
 all that has happened subsequent to that period. 
 To return, then, to what gave occasion to this 
 digression, let me again assure you, that I am 
 perfectly well satisfied with your excuse concerning 
 Sempronius. The truth is, it was impossible to 
 act with any determined steadiness and uniformity 
 in times of such total anarchy and confusion. 
 " But other days," to use an expression of Terence, 
 "are now arrived, and other measures are now 
 required." Come, then, my friend, let us sail 
 forth together, and even take our place at the 
 helm. All the advocates of liberty are embarked 
 in one common bottom ; and it is my utmost en- 
 deavour to steer them right. May prosperous 
 gales then attend our voyage ! But, whatever 
 winds may arise, my best skill, most assuredly, 
 shall not be wanting : and is it in the power of 
 patriotism to be answerable for more .' In the 
 mean time, let it be your care to cherish in your 
 breast every generous and exalted sentiment, 
 remembering always that your true glory must 
 ever be inseparably connected with the republic. 
 Farewell. 
 
 the plausible occasion of being the distinguished assertor 
 of CiEsar's acts, and of the full execution of all his bequests, 
 by which means he drew upon himself the eyes of .ill the 
 veterans, the military force of the empire, and interested 
 the whole populace of Rome in his cause, since it was the 
 common cause of all who were expecting with impatience 
 the effect of Caesar's liberality." However, had Cicero's 
 engagements with Octavius ended here, his conduct might 
 have been excused, at least, though it certainly could not 
 liave been justified. But when he afterwards armed Octa- 
 vius with the power and the dignities of the state ; when 
 lie trusted (as the excellent author of the observations on 
 his life ingeniously expresses it) " the last stake of liberty 
 in the hands of a man who had so great temptations to 
 betray it," he seems clearly to have acted in contradiction 
 to the sentiments of his heart, and to have sacrificed the 
 cause of the republic to the hatred he bore to Antony. 
 Plutarch expressly assigns this as Cicero's motive for 
 declaring in favour of Octavius, which, indeed, is abun- 
 dantly confirmed by his letters to Atticus. It appears 
 from these that there was so little difi"erence, with respect 
 to the republican interest, whether Antony or Octavius 
 was at the head of affairs, that neither Atticus nor Cicero 
 could determine in that view which to prefer: — " Valde 
 tibi assentior," saj's our author to his friend, " si multum 
 possit Octavianus, multo firmius acta tyranni coniproba- 
 tum iri, quam in Telluris : atque id contra Brutum fieri. 
 Sin autemvincitur,videsintolerabilemAntonium,ut quern 
 velis nescias." — Ad Att. xvi. 14 ; Plut. in Vit. Brut. ; Tun- 
 stal's Observ. on the Epist. between Brut, and Cic. p. 132; 
 Observ. on the Life of Cic. p. 50.
 
 674 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 Galhn^ lo Cicern. 
 On the 15th of tliis montli, the d.iy on wliich 
 Pansa intended to join the army of llirlius, Antony 
 _.„ (hew out of liis lines the second and 
 thirty-fifth k'gions, together with his own 
 pru-torian coiiort, and that of Silanus" ; l)otii wliicli 
 wi re composed of the Evocati*. I happened, at 
 this time, to lie in Pansa's army, having lieen sent 
 a liuiidred miles express, in order to hasten his 
 mareh. Antony advanced towards us witli these 
 troops, in the supposition tliat our forces consisted 
 only of four new-raised legions ; whereas Mirtius, 
 tlie better to secure our junction, liad taken ad- 
 vantage of the preceding night to reinforce us with 
 the martial legion, which I generally commanded, 
 as also with two prictorian cohorts. These regi- 
 ments, upon the very first ajipearance of Antony's 
 cavalry, could by no means be restrained from 
 engaging ; so that we were under an absolute 
 necessity of following them to the charge. Antony, 
 in order to deceive us into a belief chat none of his 
 legions were with him, had posted them at Forum 
 Gallorum^*', and only appeared with his horse 
 and light-armed troops in view. Pansa, when he 
 saw that, contrary to his inclination, the martial 
 legion had rushed on to the attack, gave directions 
 that two of liis new-raised legions, which were 
 behind, should immediately come up. As soon as 
 we had passed the woods and a morass, we formed 
 in order of battle with twelve cohorts'' ; the other 
 two legions I just now mentioned not being yet 
 arrived. Antony observing this, drew all his forces 
 out of the village, and instantly began the engage- 
 ment. Both sides maintained the first onset with 
 the most obstinate bravery ; though, indeed, our 
 right wing, in which I commanded eight cohorts 
 of tlie martial legion, at the very beginning of the 
 action, repulsed Antony's thirty-fifth legion, and 
 pursued them above ****7 paces out of the field. 
 But I no sooner observed the enemy's cavalry 
 attempting to surroimd the wing from which I had 
 advanced, than 1 endeavoured to rejoin it ; order- 
 ing, at the same time, my light-armed troops to 
 engage Antony's Moorish horse, lest they should 
 fall upon us in our rear. But whilst I was 
 attempting to regain my post, I found myself in 
 the midst of the enemy's troops, and perceived 
 Antony himself at a small distance behind me. 
 
 ' He had been one of Csesar's lieutenants in Gaul ; but 
 not being favoured by him in his pursuit of the consul- 
 ship, he joined in the conspiracy with Brutus and Cas- 
 sius. He was great-grandfather to the emperor Galba. — 
 Quartier. 
 
 "lie was military tribune in the army of Lepidus, and 
 by the secret connivance, if not by the express orders, 
 of that general, had conducted a body of troops to the 
 assistimce of Antony, in the siege of Modena. — Dio, xlvi. 
 p. Xiij. 
 
 * See rem. », p. 403. 
 
 w NowcalledCfls/d-i^ranco, a small village on the^mi- 
 lian Way between Modena and Bologna. 
 
 * A cohort consisted of about four or five hundred men. 
 7 " The common editions add here qithigentos, but it is 
 
 not found either in Dr. Alead's MS. or any other authority." 
 —Ross. 
 
 Upon this, tlirowing my shield across my shouldera. 
 I galloped full speed towards one of our new- 
 raised legions, whicii I saw advancing from the 
 camp ; the enemy, at the same time pursuing me 
 on the one side, and our own men aiming their 
 pikes at me on the other ; but, as the latter soon 
 discovered who I was, I had the very extraordinary 
 good fortune to escape. Caesar's pratorian cohort*, 
 which was posted on the ./^Mnilian road, made a 
 very long and vigorous resistance. But our left 
 wiTig, in which were two cohorts of the martial 
 legion, together with the pru'torian cohort, and 
 which formed indeed the weakest division of our 
 army, began to give ground, being liemmed in by 
 -Vntony's cavalry, in which he is extremely strong. 
 As soon as all our troops had made good their 
 retreat, I began to think of mine, and was the 
 last that entered our camp. Antony, considering 
 himself as master of the field, imagined he could, 
 likewise, take possession of our camp ; but, after 
 an unsuccessful attempt, he retired with great loss. 
 
 As soon as llirtius was informed of what had 
 passed, he put himself at the head of twenty vete- 
 ran cohorts, and meeting Antony in his return 
 from the attack of our camp, engaged him upon 
 the very spot where our action had just before 
 happened, and entirely defeated his army. About 
 ten o'clock that night, Antony, with his cavalry, 
 regained his camp near Mutina ; as Hirtius retired 
 to that which Pansa had quitted in the morning, 
 and in wliich he had left the two legions that 
 repulsed Antony. 
 
 The enemy have lost the greatest part of their 
 veteran troops. But this advantage was not to be 
 obtained without a loss, likewise, on our side ; the 
 prcetorian cohorts, together with the martial legion, 
 having somewhat suffered in this action. We have 
 taken two legionary standards", together with sixty 
 others ; and, upon the whole, have gained a very 
 considerable victory. Farewell. 
 From the camp, April the 20th, 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 Plancus to Cicero^. 
 It affords me great pleasure to reflect that I 
 have amply justified your favourable representations 
 ».(, of me, by having stidctly fulfilled the 
 promises I made you. I give you a proof, 
 likewise, of my particular affection, by acquainting 
 you, before any other of my friends, with the 
 measures I have taken. I hope you are well per- 
 suaded, that the republic will daily receive still 
 stronger instances of my attachment ; let me assure 
 you, at least, that you shall be more and more 
 convinced of it by the clearest and most unques- 
 tionable evidence. As to what concerns my own 
 
 2 Octavius. 
 
 » Each legion had a chief standard carried before it, upon 
 which Vv'as fixed the figure of an eagle ; there was a parti- 
 cular one, likewise, to every company. 
 
 b When Plancus wrote this letter he had not received 
 advice of the action between the troops of Antony and those 
 of the republic, of which an account has been given in the 
 preceding epistle.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 personal interest, I protest to you, my dear Cicero, 
 by al! my hopes of rescuing the republic from those 
 imminent clangers to which it is exposed, that not- 
 withstanding I esteem those illustrious recompenses 
 which are conferred by the senate as no less desir- 
 able than immortal fame, yet, believe me, I shall 
 not in the least remit of my earnest endeavours to 
 assist the commonwealth, although I should never 
 participate of its glorious rewards. If the ardour 
 and efficacy of my zeal should not distini;uish me, 
 amidst those many excellent citizens who stand 
 forth in the defence of our country, let not your 
 suffrage contribute to the increase of my honours. 
 I have no ambition inconsistent with that general 
 equality for which I have taken up arms, and am 
 perfectly well contented to leave it to your own 
 determination, both when, and in what manner, 
 my services shall be recompensed. Nothing, 
 indeed, can be deemed too late or too inconsider- 
 able, which is given to a man as a public testimony 
 of his country's approbation. 
 
 Having reached the Rhone, by long marches, I 
 passed that river, with my whole army, on the 27th 
 of April, and immediately ordered a detachment 
 of a thousand horse to advance before me from 
 Vienna*^, by a shorter road. If I meet with no 
 obstructions on the part of Lepidus, I doubt not 
 of giving the republic reason to be satisfied with 
 my diligence and expedition ; but, if he should 
 attempt to intercept my passage, I must take my 
 measures as circumstances shall require. Of this, 
 however, I will now assure you, that the army I 
 am conducting is highly respectable, whether con- 
 sidered with regard to the nature, the number, or 
 the fidelity of my troops. I will only add, that I 
 desire your friendship upon no other terms, than 
 as you are sure I shall always give you the warmest 
 returns of mine. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IIL 
 
 Decimus Brutus to Cicero. 
 
 You are sensible how great a loss the republic 
 
 has sustained by the death of Pansa''. It behoves 
 
 A u "10 y°"' therefore, to exert all your credit 
 
 and address to prevent our enemies from 
 
 entertaining any reasonable hope of recovering 
 
 their strength now that they have thus deprived us 
 
 of both our consuls'^. I am preparing to pursue 
 
 ' 'Tis now called Vienne, a city in the province of Dau- 
 phiny, situated upon the Rhone. 
 
 d Pansa died at Bologna a few days after the battle of 
 Mutina, of the wounds he received in that action. — Appian. 
 De Bell. Civ. iii. p. 5/2. 
 
 * Hirtius and Octavius, after the battle mentioned in 
 the preceding note, " were determined, at all hazards, to 
 relieve Modena ; and, after two or three days spent in 
 finding the most likely place of breaking through the in- 
 trenchments, they made their attack with such vigour, 
 that Antony, rather than sufiTer the town to be snatched 
 at last out of his hands, chose to draw out his legions and 
 come to a general battle. The fight was bloody and obsti- 
 nate, and Antony's men, though obliged to give ground, 
 bravely disputed every inch of it, till Decimus Brutus, 
 taking the opportunity at the same time to sally out of 
 the town at the head of his garrison, helped greatly to 
 determine and complete the victory. Hirtius pushed his 
 advantage ^vith great spirit, and forced his way into An- 
 tony's camp ; but when he had gained the middle of it, 
 - »s unfortunately killed near the general's tent."— Life of 
 Cicero, p. 272. 
 
 Antony immediately; and I trust shall be able to 
 render it impossible either for Antony to continue 
 in Italy, or for Ventidius' to escape out of it. 
 
 As I suppose you see very clearly the measures 
 which Poliio will pursue, I need say nothing to you 
 upon that article, liut I make it my first and 
 principal request that you would send to Lepidus, 
 in order, if possible, to prevent that light and in- 
 constant man from renewing the war by joining 
 with Antony ; as both Lepidus and I'ollio are at 
 the head of very numerous and powerful armies. 
 I do not mention this as imagining that you are 
 not equally attentive to these important points, — 
 but from the firm persuasion that Lepidus, however 
 dubious it may perhaps appear to the senate, will 
 never of himself act in the manner he ought. Let 
 me entreat you, likewise, to confirm Plancus in his 
 present resolutions ; who, I should hope, when he 
 sees Antony driven out of Italy, will not be want- 
 ing in his assistance to the republic. If the latter 
 should have crossed the Alps, I purpose to post a 
 proper number of forces to guard the passes of 
 those mountains B ; and you may depend upon my 
 giving you regular notice of all my motions. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 From my camp at Rhegiuml», April the 29th. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Plancus. 
 How pleasing was the letter I received from you 
 two days before our victory at Mutina ! wherein 
 A u 710 y*^ gave me an account of the state of 
 your troops, of your zeal to the republic, 
 and of the expedition with which you were ad- 
 vancing to the relief of Brutus. But, notwith- 
 standing that the enemy was defeated before you 
 could join our army, the hopes, nevertheless, of 
 
 ' Ventidius was a soldier of fortune, who, from the mean- 
 est original, became one of the most distinguished captains 
 of the age. The father of Pompey having taken the city of 
 Ascalum in the Italic or Social war, reserved part of the 
 inhabitants to grace his triumphal entry into Rome, 
 among which was the mother of Ventidius, who walked 
 before the victor's car with her infant son at her breast. 
 ■\Vhen he grew up he gained his livelihood by serving as a 
 groom, in which employment having gotten together a 
 little money, he fiu'nished himself with some mules and 
 carriages, which he let out to the government for the use 
 of the proconsuls in their way to the provinces. In this 
 capacity he became known to C.-esar, who observing in 
 him a genius much superior to his station, took him into 
 Gaul, where he advanced him in his army ; and, after the 
 civil wars were ended, gave him a place in the senate, and 
 created him prsetor. After the death of Csesar, he attached 
 himself to the iaterest of Antony, to whoso assistance he 
 was at this time marching at the head of a considerable 
 body of troops, which he had raised out of Caesar's veteran 
 legions that were dispersed in different parts of Italy. 
 Towards the end of the present year, the triumvirate 
 appointed him consul. Having shortly afterwards ob- 
 tained a signal victory over the Parthians, his conduct 
 and bravery were rewarded with a triumph ; and to crown 
 the series of his glory, ho was honoured, at his death, with 
 a public funeral.— Aul. Gell. xv. 4; Dio, xliii. p. 239; Veil. 
 Pat. ii. 65. 
 
 e The intent of this guard seems to have been what 
 Mr. Ross conjectures, in order to intercept the march of 
 Ventidius, and prevent him from following Antony over 
 the Alps. 
 
 ^ A town upon the .lEmilian Way, between Mo^na and 
 Parma. It is now called Regnio.
 
 67C. 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 the commonwealth are still Ci.xi-d entirely upon you ; 
 an the j)rincipal leaders ol" these intainuus rebels 
 have escaped, it is said, from tiie licld of battle. 
 You will remember, therefore, that to exterminate 
 the reiiiairis of this ])arty will be a scrvii-e no li-ss 
 aeeeptable to the senate than if you had given thcin 
 the first repulse. 
 
 I am waiting, as well as many others, witji great 
 imjiatienee for the return of your eoiuicrs. I hope 
 that our late success will now induce even Lepidus 
 liimself to act in concert witli you for the defence 
 of tiie common cause. I entreat you, my dear 
 IMancus, to employ your utmost endeavours for 
 this important puri)ose, that every spark of this 
 horrid war may be utterly and for ever extinguislied. 
 If you should be able to effect this, you will render 
 a most godlike service to your country, and at the 
 same time procure immortal honour to yoursulf. 
 Farewell. 
 May the 5th. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To the same. 
 I SEIZED the very first opportunity of contri- 
 buting to the augmentation of your dignities ; and 
 A Ti 710 ^ omitted no distinction that could be 
 considered either as the applause or re- 
 ward of merit. This you will perceive by the 
 decree which has been voted to your honour with 
 the utmost zeal and unanimity in a very full house ; 
 anil it is expressed in the very words I dictated from 
 a {)aper which I had drawn up for that purpose. I 
 was sensible, at the same time, from your letter, 
 that it was more your ambition to approve your 
 actions to every honest mind, than to be distin- 
 guished with these ensigns of glory ; but I thought 
 it incumbent upon the republic to consider, not 
 what you desire, but what you deserve. Let me 
 only entreat you to finish the work which others 
 have so happily begun ; remembering that whoever 
 shall destroy Antony will have the whole honour 
 of concluding this war. It is thus that Homer 
 gives the glory, not to Ajax, nor Achilles, but to 
 Ulysses alone, of having exterminated Troy'. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 Decimus Brutus to Cicero. 
 I LOOK upon the obligations I have received 
 from you, as nothing inferior even to those which 
 A. u. 710. ^ ^^^^ conferred upon the republic ; but 
 I am not capable, you are well assured, 
 of making you so ill a return as I have experienced 
 from some of my ungrateful countrymen. It might, 
 perhaps, in the present conjuncture, be thought to 
 have somewhat the air of flattery were I to say, 
 that your single applause outweighs, in my esteem, 
 their whole united approbation. It is certain, 
 however, that you view my actions by the faithful 
 light of dispassionate truth and reason ; whereas 
 they, on the contrary, look upon them through the 
 clouds of envy and malevolence. But I am little 
 ' In the original it is " Ilomerus non Ajacem, nee Achil- 
 Icm, sed Ulyssem appellavit TcroXtirApdiov." which is not 
 strictly true ; for Homer frequently gives that epithet to 
 Achilles. Plancus, however, could not mistake the hint, 
 that any stratagem would be fair and honourable which 
 should for ever remove Antony out of their way. 
 
 concerned how much soever they may oppose my 
 honours, provided they do not obstruct me in my 
 services to the republic, — the very dangerous 
 .situation of which let me now point out to you in 
 as few words as ]iossible. 
 
 In the first place, then, you are .sensible what 
 great disturbances tlie death of the consulsJ may 
 create in Rome ; as it may give occasion to all the 
 dangerous practices that ambition will suggest to 
 those who are desirous of succeeding to their office''. 
 This is all that j)nuliiice will allow me to say in a 
 letter ; and all, indeed, tliat is necessary to be said 
 to a man of your penetration. As to Antony, 
 notwithstanding he niade his escape from the field 
 of battle with but a very few troops, and those too 
 entirely disarmed ; yet, by setting open the i)risous, 
 and by pressing all sorts of men that fell in his way, 
 he has collected no contemj)tible number of forces. 
 These have likewise been considerably augmented 
 by the accession of the veteran and other troops of 
 Ventidius ; who, after a very difficult march over 
 the Ajjcnnine mountains, has found means to join 
 Antony in the fens of Sabata'. The only possible 
 scheme which tlie latter can pursue is, — either to 
 have recourse to Lepidus, if that genera! should be 
 disposed to receive iiim ; or to post himself on the 
 Alps and Apennines, in order to make dejiredations 
 with his cavalry (in which he is exceedingly strong) 
 on the neighbouring country ; or to march into 
 Etruria'", where we have no army to oppose him. 
 Had Cifisar, however, passed the Apennine moun- 
 tains agreeably to my advice", I should have driven 
 Antony into such difficulties that, perhaps without 
 striking a single blow, I should have been able to 
 have wasted his whole army by famine. But the 
 misfortune is, that C?csar will neither be governed 
 by me, nor will his army be governed by him, — 
 both which are very unhappy circumstances for 
 our cause. This then being the sad state of public 
 affairs, can I be solicitous, as I said above, what 
 opposition I may meet with in respect to my 0(\'a 
 personal honours .' The particulars I have here 
 mentioned are of so very delicate a nature, that I 
 know not how you will be able to touch upon them 
 in the senate ; or if you should, I fear it will be to 
 no purpose. In the mean time I am in no con- 
 dition to subsist my troops any longer. When I 
 first took up arms for the deliverance of the com- 
 monwealth, I had above four hundred thousand 
 sestertia° in ready money ; but at present I have 
 not only mortgaged every part of my estate, but 
 have borrowed all I could possibly raise on the 
 
 J Ilirtius and Pansa. 
 
 k This seems plainly to point at Ocfavius, who, in fact, 
 soon after procured himself to be elected consul in conjunc- 
 tion with Quintus Pedius. 
 
 1 Between the Alps and the Apennines, on the coast of 
 Genoa. 
 
 n» Tuscany. 
 
 n " Octavius, from the beginning, had no thoughts of 
 pursuing Antonj'. He had already gained what he aimed 
 at; had reduced Antony's power so low, and raised his 
 own so high, as to be in a condition of making his own 
 terms with him in the partition of the empire : whereas, 
 if Antony had been wholly destroyed, the republican party 
 would have probably been too strong for him and Lepidus. 
 When Octavius was pressed, therefore, to pursue Antony, 
 he contrived still to delay it until it was too late, taking 
 himself to be more usefully employed in securing to his 
 interest the troops of the consuls." — Lifo of Cicero, p. 274. 
 
 o About 320,000Z. sterling.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 677 
 
 «redit of my friends. T leave you to judge, there- 
 fore, with what difficulty I now maintain seven 
 legions at my own expense. Tlie truth is, I sliould 
 not be equal to so great a charge were I possessed 
 of all Varro'sP immense treasures. 
 
 As soon as I sliali receive any certain information 
 of Antony's motions, I will give you n- tice. In 
 the mean time I will only add. that I desire the 
 continuance of your friendship upon no otlier terms 
 than as you sliali find an equal return of mine. 
 Farewell. 
 From my camp at Tertonaq, May the Sth. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Plancus to Cicero. 
 
 I GIVE you a thousand and a thousand thanks 
 
 for your late favours, which, as long as I live, I 
 
 shall always most gratefully acknowledge. 
 
 A. u. 710. -j^jQ^g ,jjg^,j (^ijjg J j.,pg ^(,t venture to 
 
 promise ; for I fear it will never be in my power 
 to acquit such uncommon obligations, unless you 
 should think (what your letter endeavours, indeed, 
 with much serious eloquence to persuade me) that 
 to remember them is to return them. You could 
 not have acted with a more affectionate zeal if the 
 ■dignities of your own son had been in question ; 
 and I am perfectly sensible of the high honours 
 that were decreed to me in consequence of your 
 first motion for that purpose. 1 am sensible, too, 
 that all your subsequent votes in my behalf were 
 entirely conformable to the circumstances of the 
 times and the opinion of my friends ; as I am in- 
 formed, likewise, of the advantageous colours in 
 which you are perpetually representing me, as well 
 as of the frecjuent contests you sustain with my 
 injurious detractors. It is incumbent upon me, 
 therefore, in the first place, to endeavour to con- 
 vince the republic that I am worthy of the praises 
 you bestow upon me, — and, in the next jdace, to 
 render you sensible that I gratefully bear your 
 friendship in remembrance. 1 will oidy add, under 
 this article, that I desire you to protect me in the 
 honours I have thus procured by your influence ; 
 but I desire it no otherwise than as my actions 
 shall prove that I am the man you wish to find me. 
 As soon as I had passed the Rhone. I detached 
 a body of three thousand"" horse under the com- 
 mand of my brother, with orders to advance 
 towards Mutina, to which pace I intended to 
 follow them with the rest of my army. But, on 
 my march thither, I received advice tiiat an action 
 had happened and that the siege was raised. 
 Antony, I find, has no other resource left but to 
 retire in'"o these parts with the remains of his 
 broken forces. His only hopes, indeed, are, that 
 he may be able to gain either Lepidus or his army, 
 in wluch there are some troops no less disaffected 
 to the republic than those which served under 
 Antony himself. I thought proper, therefore, to 
 
 P Who this man of immense wealth was, is not known. 
 There is no reason to believe that he was the celebrated 
 Terentius Varm, to whom several letters in the preceding 
 part of this collection are addressed 
 
 q Tiirto/ta, about thirty miles north from Genoa. 
 
 ' In the secimd letter of this book Plancus says this 
 ■detachment consisteil only of a thousand horse ; in one or 
 ■other, therefore, of these passages, the transcribers must 
 ■have committed some mistake. 
 
 recal my cavalry, and to halt in the country of 
 the Allobroges*, that I may be ready to act as cir- 
 cumstance> shall rei|uire. If Antony should retire 
 into this country destitute of men, I make no 
 doubt, notwithstanding, that he should be received 
 by the army of Le|)idus, to be able to give a good 
 account of him with my present forces. Should 
 he even appear at the head of some troops, and 
 should the tenth veteran legion revolt, which, to- 
 gether with the rest of those regiments, was by my 
 means prevailed u])()n to engage in the service of 
 the republic, — yet 1 shall endeavour, by acting on 
 the defensive, to prevent him from gaining any 
 advantage over us ; which I hope to effect, till a 
 reinforcement from Italy shall enable me to exter- 
 minate this desperate crew. I will venture at 
 least to assure you, my dear Cicero, that neither 
 zeal nor vigilance shall be wanting on my part for 
 that purpose It is my sincere wish, indeed, that 
 the senate may have no farther fears ; but if any 
 should still remain, no man will enter into their 
 cause with greater warmth and spirit, nor be wil- 
 ling to suffer niore in the support of it, than myself. 
 I am endeavouring to engage Lepidus to join 
 with me in the same views ; and I have promised 
 him, if he will act with a regard to the interest of 
 the republic, that I shall, upon all occasions, yield 
 him an entire deference. I have employed my 
 brother, together with Furnius and Laterensis', to 
 negotiate this association between us ; and no pri- 
 vate injury done to myself shall ever prevent me 
 from concurring with my greatest enemy whenever 
 it may be necessary for the defence of the common- 
 wealth. But should these overtures prove unsuc- 
 cessful, I shall still persevere with the same zeal 
 (and, perhaps, with more glory) in my endeavours 
 to give satisfaction to the senate. Take care of 
 your health, and allow me an equal return of your 
 friendship. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 Decimus Brutus, Consul elect, to Cicero, 
 
 I HAVE received a duplicate of the letter you 
 
 sent me by ray couriers, to which I can only say, 
 
 ...„ in return, that my obligations to you rise 
 
 much higher than I can easily discharge. 
 
 I gave you an account, in my last, of the posture 
 of our affairs : since which I have received intelli- 
 gence that Antony is on his march towards Lepidus. 
 Among some pajiers of Antony which are fallen 
 into my hands, I found a list of the several persons 
 whom he intended to employ as mediators in his 
 behalf with PoUio, Lepidus, and Plancus ; so that 
 he has not yer, it seems, given up all hopes of 
 gaining the latter. Nevertheless, I did not hesi- 
 tate to send an immediate express to Plancus, with 
 advice of Antony's march. 1 expect, within a few 
 days, to receive ambassadors from the Allobroges, 
 and all the other districts of this [)rovince : and I 
 doubt not of dismissing them strongly confirmed 
 in their allegiance to tlie rei)ublic. You will be. 
 attentive on your part, I dare say, to promote all 
 
 s It comprehended the territories of Geneva, with pnrt 
 of Savoy and Dauphini^, and fomied a district of the pro- 
 vince under the command of Lepidus. 
 
 « Furnius, it has already been observed, was lieutenant 
 to Plancus, as Laterensis acted in the same capacity under 
 Lepidus. 
 
 P P
 
 678 
 
 TIIK LKTTKRS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICKRO 
 
 sach necessary measures at Rome as sJiall be 
 agreeable to your sentiments, and to the interest 
 of the conimonweallh. I am equally persuaded 
 that you will prevent, if it be possible to prevent, 
 the malevolent schemes of my enemies. I5ut if you 
 should not succeed in these generous endeavours, 
 vou will, at least, have the satisfaction to find that 
 no indignities they can throw upon me, are capable 
 of deterring me from my purposes. Farewell. 
 From my camp on the frontiers of tlio Statiellonscs", 
 May thf 5th. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Plancus to Cicero. 
 SoMF. occurrences have arisen since I closed my 
 former letter, of which I think it may import the 
 republic that you should be apprised ; as 
 both the commonwealth anil myself, I 
 hope, have reaped advantage from my assiduity 
 in the affair I am going to mention. I solicited 
 Lepidus by repeated expresses to lay aside all ani- 
 mosities between us, and amicably unite with me 
 in concerting meas\ires for the succour of the 
 republic, conjuring him to prefer the interest of 
 his family and his country to that of a contemptible 
 and desperate rebel ; and assuring him, if he did so, 
 that he might entirely command me upon all occa- 
 sions. Accordingly, by the intervention of Later- 
 ensis, I have succeeded iu my negotiation ; and 
 Lepidus has given me his honour that if he cannot 
 prevent Antony from entering his province'', he 
 will most i;ertainly lead his army against him. He 
 requests, likewise, that I would join him with my 
 forces ; and the rather, as Antony is extremely 
 strong in cavalry, whereas that of Lepidus is very 
 inconsiderable : and out of these few, ten of his 
 best men have lately deserted to my camp. As 
 soon as I received this express, 1 lost no time to 
 forward and assist the good intentions of Lepidus. 
 I clearly saw, indeed, the advantage that would 
 arise from my joining him ; as my horse would be 
 of service in pursuing and destroying Antony's 
 cavalry, and, as the presence of my troops in gene- 
 ral, would be a restraint upon the disaffected part 
 of those under his command. To this end, having 
 spent a day in throvring a bridge across the Isara", 
 a very considerable river, that bounds the terri- 
 tories of the Allobroges, I passed it with my whole 
 army on the 12th of May. But having received 
 advice that Lucius Antonius^ was advancing to- 
 wards us with some regiments of horse and foot, 
 and tliat he was actually arrived at Forum Julii^ ; I 
 ordered, on the 14th, a detachmentof four thousand 
 horse to meet him, under the command of my bro- 
 ther, whom I purpose to follow by long marches 
 with four light-armed legions and the remainder of 
 my cavalry. And should that Fortune which presides 
 over the republic prove in any degree favourable to 
 my arms, I shall soon put an end, at once, both to 
 
 " A territory in Liguria, the principal town of which 
 was Aqus Statiellonim, now called Aqui, in the district 
 of Blontserrat. 
 
 » Narhonensian Gaul : which, together with part of 
 Spain, composed the province of Lepidus. 
 
 "■ It is now called the Jtere, a river in Dauphin^, which 
 falls into the Rhone. 
 
 « A brother of Mark Antony. 
 
 T Now called Frejus, a city in Proyence. 
 
 our own fears and to the hojies o( tnese insolent 
 rebels. Hut if the infamous Antony, apprised of 
 our approach, should retire towards Italy, it will 
 be the business of Brutus to intercept his march ; 
 and Brutus, 1 am persuaded, will not be wanting 
 lither in courage or conduct for that purpose. 
 Nevertheless, 1 shall, in that case, send my brother 
 with a detachment of Imr.-ie to harass Antony in his 
 retreat, and to protect Italy from his depredations. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Cassius, Proconsul, to Cicero. 
 
 Your letter' affords me a new proof of your 
 extraordinary friend.ship. I find by it that you are 
 A. u 710 ""^ ""'y * well-wisher to my interest, (as 
 you have, at all times, been, indeed, for 
 the sake of the republic as well as for my own,) but 
 enter into it with the warmest and most anxious 
 solicitude. I was j)ersuaded, therefore, that as 
 you could not suppose me capable of being inactive 
 at a season when my country laboured under a 
 general oppression, you would be impatient to hear 
 Ijoth of my personal welfare and of the success of 
 my military prejiarations. For this reason, as soon 
 as Aulus AUienus had resigned those legions into 
 my hands which he brought from Egypt*, I wrote to 
 you by different couriers, whom I despatched to 
 Rome. I sent a letter, at the same time, to the 
 senate ; and if my people obeyed their instructions, 
 it was not delivered till it was first read to you. 
 But, if these expresses should not be arrived, I am 
 persuaded they have been intercepted by Dolabella, 
 who, after having most villanously murdered 
 Trebonius'', has made himself master of his pro- 
 vince. 
 
 All the troops which I found in Syria have 
 submitted to my authority. However, I have been 
 a little retarded in my preparations, in order to 
 distiibute some donatives which 1 had promised to 
 the soldiers, but 1 have now discharged my en- 
 gagements. 
 
 If you are sensible that I have refused no labours 
 nor dangers for the service of my country : if it was 
 by your advice and persuasion that I took up arms 
 
 * This seems to be an answer to the 15th letter of the 
 preceding book, p. 568. 
 
 * See rem. «, p. 565. 
 
 b It has already been observed [see rem. •', p. 56."!] that 
 Polabella left Rome before the expiration of his consul- 
 ship, in order to possess himself of the government of 
 Syria. In his way thither he arrived at SSmyrna, where 
 Trebonius, proconsul of Asia Minor, resided. Trebonius 
 refused him admittance into the city, but treated him, 
 however, with great civility, and many compliments 
 mutually passed between them. With these Dolabella 
 appeared satisfied, and pretending to pursue his march, 
 proceeded towards Ephesus; but he returned in the night, 
 and making himself master of the city by surprise, seized 
 Trebonius in his bed. Cicero, in one of his Philippics, 
 expatiates upon the cruelties which Dolabella exercised 
 on this his unfortunate but illustrious prisoner. He kept 
 him two days under torture, to extort a discovery of the 
 public money in his custody, insulting him at the same 
 time with the most opprobrious language ; he then ordered 
 his head to be cut off and exhibited to the populace on 
 the point of a spear, his body to be dragged through the 
 principal streets of Smyrna, and afterwards to be thrown> 
 into the sea. See rem. >>, p. S44 ; Appian. De BelL Civ. iii. 
 p. 6*9. ; Phil, xl 2, 3.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 570 
 
 against those infamous invaders of our liberties ; if 
 1 have not only raised an army for the defence of 
 the commonwealth, but have even snatched it from 
 most cruel and oppressive hands ; let these consi- 
 derations recommend my interests to your care and 
 protection. Had Dolabella, indeed, possessed him- 
 self of these forces, the expectation of such an 
 additional body of troops, even before they had 
 actually joined Antony, would greatly have con- 
 firmed and strengthened his party. If, upon this 
 account, therefore, you think these soldiers deserve 
 highly of the republic, let them experience the 
 benefit of your patronage, nor suffer them to have 
 reason to regret, that they preferred their duty to 
 the commonwealth, to all the powerful temptations 
 of plunder and rapine. I must also recommend it 
 to your care, that due honours be paid to the 
 generals, Marcus and Crispus"^. As to Bassus, he 
 obstinately refused to deliver up the legion under 
 his command : and had they not, without his con- 
 sent, deputed some of their officers to treat with 
 me, he would have shut the gates of Apamea, and 
 forced me to have entered the town by assault. I 
 make these requests, then, as well in the name of 
 our friendship, which, I trust, will have much 
 weight with you ; as in that of the republic, which 
 has ever, 1 know, been the object of your warmest 
 affection. Believe me, the army under my com- 
 mand is zealously attached not only to the senate, 
 and to every friend of our country, but particularly 
 to yourself. The frequent accounts, indeed, they 
 hear of your patriot disposition, have extremely 
 endeared you to them, and should they find their 
 interests to be a part of your concern, they will 
 consider you, in aU respects, as their first and 
 greatest benefactor. 
 
 Since I wrote the above, I have received intelli- 
 gence that Dolabella is marched into Cilicia, 
 whither I purpose immediately to follow him. I 
 will give you early notice of the event of this expe- 
 dition, and may I so prove successful, as I shall 
 endeavour to deserve well of the republic. Take 
 care of your health, and continue your friendship 
 to me. Farewell. 
 From my camp, May the 7th. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 To Decimus Brutus, Consul elect. 
 
 The message you commissioned Galba and 
 
 Volumnius to deUver to the senate, sufficiently 
 
 . ., -in intimates the nature of those fears and 
 A. r. /lO. . 
 
 suspicions which you imagine we have 
 
 reason to entertain. But I must confess, that the 
 apprehensions you would thus infuse into us, seem 
 by no means worthy of that glorious victory you 
 have obtained over the enemies of the common- 
 wealth. Believe me, my dear Brutus, both the 
 senate, and the generals that support its cause, are 
 animated with an undaunted resolution ; we are 
 sorry, therefore, that you, whom we esteem the 
 bravest captain that ever the republic employed, 
 should think us capable of any timidity. Is it 
 possible, indeed, after having confidently reposed 
 our hopes on your courage and conduct, when you 
 were invested by Antony in all the fulness of his 
 
 c Some account of these persons, as well as of Bassus, 
 mentioned in the next sentence, has been given in the 
 preceding remarks. 
 
 strength and power, that any of us should harbour 
 the least fear now that the siege is raised, and the 
 enemy's aruiy entirely overthrown .' Nor have we 
 anything, surely, to apprehend from Lepidus. For 
 who can imagine him so utterly void of all rational 
 conduct, as to have professed himself an advocate 
 for peace, when we were engaged in a most neces- 
 sary and important war, and yet to take up arms 
 against the republic the moment that most desir- 
 able peace is restored ? You are far too sagacious, 
 I doubt not, to entertain such a thought''. Never- 
 theless, the fears you have renewed amongst us, at 
 a time when every temple throughout Rome is 
 resounding with our thanksgivings for your deli- 
 verance, have cast a very considerable damp upon 
 our joy. May the fact ])rove, then, (what, indeed, 
 I am inclined to believe as well as hope) that 
 Antony is completely vanquished. But should he 
 happen to recover some degree of strength, he 
 will most assuredly find that neither the senate is 
 destitute of wisdom nor the people of courage ; I 
 will add, too, nor the republic of a general, so long 
 as you shall be alive to lead forth her armies. 
 Farewell. 
 May the 19th. 
 
 LETTER Xn. 
 
 Plancus to Cicero. 
 
 Antony arrived at Forum-Julii, with the van 
 of his army, on the 15th of May, and Ventidius is 
 A V 710 °^^y ^^° days' march behind him. Lepi- 
 dus writes me word, that he ])roposes to 
 wait for me at Forum-Voconii', where he is at 
 present encamped, a place about four-and-twenty 
 miles distant from Forum-Julii. If he and Fortune 
 do not deceive my expectations, the senate may 
 depend upon my speedily terminating this business 
 to their full satisfaction. 
 
 I mentioned to you in a former letter, that the 
 great fatigues which my brother had undergone, by 
 his continual marches, had extremely impaired his 
 constitution. However, as soon as he was suffi- 
 ciently recovered to get abroad, he considered his 
 health as an acquisition which he had gained as 
 much for the service of the republic as for himself, 
 and was the first therefore to engage in every 
 hazardous expedition. But I have recommended 
 it to him, and indeed insisted, that he should 
 return to Rome, as he would be much more likely 
 to wear himself away by continuing in the camp, 
 than be able to give me any assistance. Besides, 
 I imagined, now that the republic was most unhap- 
 pily deprived of both the consuls, that the presence 
 of so worthy a magistrate wouli be absolutely 
 necessary at Rome. But if any of you should think 
 otherwise, let me be censured for my imprudent ad- 
 vice ; but let not my brother oe condemned as fail- 
 ing in his duty. 
 
 Lepidus, agreeably to my request, has delivered 
 Apella into my hands, as a hos age for the faith- 
 ful execution of his engagements to co-operate 
 with me in the defence of the commonwealth. 
 Lucius Gellius has given me proofs of his zeal, as 
 
 d It will appear in the progress of these letters, that if 
 Cicero was really in earnest in what he here says concern- 
 ing Lepidus, it was he himself, and not Brutus, who waatod 
 sagacity. 
 
 « Now called Le Luc, in Provence. 
 P pa
 
 580 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 he has also actf d in the afTuir of the three brothers, 
 to the satisfaction of Sextus Gaviaiius. 1 Jiave hitely 
 einployeil the latli-r in soiiie nigotiations between 
 Lepiilus anil myself, ai\(l 1 li.ive fmiiid iiini lirnily 
 attaelud to the interest of the republic. It is with 
 great jdeasnre I nivc this testimony in his favour, a 
 tribute wliieh I shall always be ready to i)ay where- 
 ever it is deserved. 
 
 Take eare of your he.iUli, and allow me the same 
 share of your heart whicii y"u most assuredly pos- 
 sess of mine. 1 recoiiimiiid my dignities, likewise, 
 to your proteetion ; and 1 hope, if 1 can ]ilead any 
 merit, you will eontinue your good offices to nie 
 with the same singular affection you have hitherto 
 discovered. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER Xin. 
 
 To Contijicius. 
 
 You recommend a friend of my own, when you 
 desire my good otfi<res to Lueceius : be assured I 
 shall faitiifully su])port his interest by 
 ' ^' ' ' every mean in my power. 
 
 We have lost our oUeagues ^ Ilirtius and Pansa: 
 and the death of these excellent consuls, who dis- 
 charged their ottiee with great advantage to the 
 republic, has happened at a very unseasonable con- 
 juncture. For ihougli we are at present delivered 
 from the oppressions of Antony, we are not wholly 
 free from all apprehensions of danger. But, if I 
 maybe permitted, i sliail continue my usual endea- 
 vours to preserve the eoinmonwealth from ruin ; 
 though, 1 must confess, 1 am full weary of the 
 work. No lassitude, however, ought to obstruct 
 the duties we owe to our country. — But I forbear 
 to enter farther into this subject, as 1 had rather 
 you should hear of my actions from others than 
 from myself. 'I'he account 1 receive of yours is 
 entirely agreeable to my wishes ; but it is far other- 
 wise with respect to the reports concerning Minu- 
 cius. They are, indeed, very unfavourable to his 
 character, notwithstanding all the fine things you 
 said of him in one of your leters. I should be glad 
 to know the truth of the ease, and to be informed 
 of everything else which is transacting in your 
 province. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 To Uecimus Brutus, Consul elect. 
 
 It is with infinite satisfaction, my dear Brutus, 
 
 that I find you approve oi my conduct in the senate. 
 
 » ., lift with respect both to the decemvirs^, and 
 A. V. 710. , , , ' , . 
 
 to the tionours decreed to our young" man. 
 
 Yet, after all, what have my labours availed .' Be- 
 lieve me, my friend, (and you know I am not apt 
 to boast,") the seuHte was the grand engine of my 
 power: hut all those springs which I used so suc- 
 cessfully to manage, have utterly lost their force, 
 
 I f In the college of .augurs. 
 
 g These decemvirs wire probably the ten persons whom 
 the senate, in the first transports of their supposed com- 
 plete victory before the wall> of Modena, had appointed to 
 inquire into the conduct of Antony during his administra- 
 tion of the consular office. — Appian. De Bell. Civ. iii. S78. 
 
 h Octavius. 'I'lie lioniiurs here mentioned were, perhaps, 
 the ovation, (a kind of inft rior and less splendid triumph,) 
 which, by tlie infloence of Cicero, was decreed to young 
 CsEsar for his ?irvices at llie siege of Modena. — Life of 
 Cicero, p. 274. 
 
 and I can no longer direct its motions. The truth 
 of it is, the news of your glorious sally from the 
 garrison of Mutina, of Antony's flight, and of his 
 army being entirely cut to ]iieces, had itis])ired 
 such contident hojjes of a complete victory, that 
 the disapi)ointment has cast a general damp upon 
 the spirit I had raised against our enemies ; and 
 all my ardent invectives seem at last to have proved 
 just as insignificant as if I had been combating 
 with my own shadow. But to thi; ])urpose of youi 
 letter. — Those who are ac(piaintcd with the dis])osi- 
 tions of the fourth and the uim Hal legions, assure 
 me they will never be prevailed on to serve undei 
 you. As to the supply of money which you desire, 
 some measures may, and most assuredly shall, be 
 taken in order to raise it. 1 am wholly in your 
 sentiments with regard to the calling Brutus' out 
 of Greece, and retaining Cjcsar here for the protec- 
 tion of Italy. I agree with you, likewise, my dear 
 Brutus, that you have enemies ; and though I find 
 it no very difficult matter to sustain their attacks, 
 yet still, however, they somewhat embarrass my 
 schemes in yovir favour. 
 
 The legions from Africa J are daily expected. In 
 the mean time, the world is greatly astonished to 
 find that the war is broke out again in your province. 
 Nothing, in truth, ever hapjiened so unexpectedly ; 
 as we had promised ourselves, from the account of 
 the victory which was brought to us on your birth- 
 day, that the peace of the republic was established for 
 many generations. But now all our fears are revived 
 with as much strength as ever. 
 
 You mentioned in your letter, dated the 15th of 
 May, that you were just informed, by an express 
 from Plancus, that Lepidus had refused to receive 
 Antony. Should this prove to be fact, our busi- 
 ness will be so much the easier ; if not, we shall 
 have a very difficult struggle to maintain, and it 
 depends upon you to ease me of my great appre- 
 hensions for the event. As for my own part, I 
 have exhausted all my powers, and I am utterly 
 incapable of doing more than I have already per- 
 formed. It is far otherwise, however, with my 
 friend ; and I not only wish but expect to see you 
 the greatest and most distinguished of Romans. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To Planczis. 
 Nothing, my dear Plancus, could be more glori- 
 ous to yourself,nor more acceptable to the senate than 
 710 '"'"' ^^"^s"" yo^ lately addressed to that as- 
 sembly : I will add too, nothing could be 
 more opportune than the particularjuncture in which 
 it was delivered. Cornutus received it in the presence 
 of a very full house, just as he had communicated to 
 us a cold and irresolute letter from Lepidus. You-rs 
 was read immediately afterwards, and it was heard 
 with the loudest acclamations of applause. It 
 was highly pleasing indeed to the senate, not only 
 from the importance of its contents, and those 
 zealous services to the republic of which it gave us 
 an account, but from that strength and elegance of 
 expression with which it was animated. The 
 senate was extremely urgent that it might imme- 
 
 ' Rlarcus Hrutus. 
 
 J 'i hese were some of the veteran legions that had served 
 under Julius Caesar. See rem, k' on letter 18 of thia book.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 681 
 
 di:itely be taken into consideration : but Cornutus 
 thought proper to decline their request. However, 
 the whole assembly expressing great indignation at 
 his refusal, the question was put by five of the tri- 
 bunes of the people. When Servilius was called 
 upon for his oj)inion, he moved that the debate 
 niii;ht be adjourned. What my sentiments were 
 (and I was supported in them by the unanimous 
 concurrence of the whole house) you will see by 
 the decree that passed upon this occasion. 
 
 I am sensible that yi>ur own superior judgment 
 is abundantly sutiicient to direct you in all emer- 
 gencies ; yet I cannot forbear advising you not to 
 wait for the sanction of the senate in so critical a 
 conjuncture as the present, and which undoubtedly 
 must often demand immediate action. Be a senate, 
 my friend, to yourself; and, without any other 
 authority, scruple not to pursue such measures as 
 the interest of the republic shall require. In one 
 word, let your actions anticipate our expectations, 
 and give us the pleasure of hearing that you have 
 executed some glorious exploit, ere we are so much 
 as apprised that you even had it in your intention. 
 I will venture to assure you, that the senate will 
 most certainly approve both your zeal and your judg- 
 ment in whatever vou shall thus undertake. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 To Decimiis Brutus, Consul elect. 
 
 I AM indebted to you for your short letter by 
 J'laccus Volumnius, as well as for two others more 
 _.,. full, one of which was brought by the cou- 
 rier of Titus Vibius, the other was for- 
 warded to me by Lupus ; and all of them came to 
 my hands on the same day. I find, by your own ac- 
 count, as well as by that which Grseceiushas given 
 me, that the war, far from being extinguished, 
 seems to be breaking out again with greater violence. 
 You are sensible, if Antony should gain any 
 strength, that all your illustrious services to the 
 republic will be utterly frustrated. The first 
 accounts ^-e received here, and which, indeed, 
 were universally credited, represented him as hav- 
 ing run away in great consternation, attended only 
 ■with a few frightened and disarmed soldiers. But 
 if the truth, after all, should be (what Graeceius 
 assures me) that Antony is, in fact, so strong as 
 to render it unsafe to give him battle, he does not 
 seem so much to have fled from Mutina, as to have 
 changed the seat of war. This unexpected news 
 has given all Rome another countenance, and a 
 general air of disappointment appears in every face. 
 There are even some amongst us who complain of 
 your not having immediately pursued Antony ; 
 for they imagine, if no time had been lost, that he 
 must inevitably have been destroyed. But it is 
 usual with the people in all governments, and espe- 
 cially in ours, to be particularly disposed to abuse 
 their liberty, by licentious reflections on those to 
 whom they are indebted for the enjoyment of it. 
 However, one should be careful not to give them 
 any just cause for their censures. 
 
 To say all in one word, whoever destroys Antony 
 will have the glory of terminating the war: a hint 
 which I had rather leave to your own reflections, 
 than enter myself into a more open explanation''. 
 Farewell. 
 
 ^ feee rem. •, ji. 576. 
 
 LETTER XVn. 
 ,Decimns Brutus to Cicero. 
 I wiLi. no longer attempt to make any formal 
 acknowledgments of the repeated instances I re- 
 A V 710 ceive of your friendship : mere words are 
 a very inadequate return to those obliga- 
 tions which my best services can but ill repay. If 
 you will look back uj)On my former letters, you 
 cannot be at a loss to discover the reasons that 
 prevented me from pursuing Antony immediately 
 after the battle of Mutina. The truth, my dear 
 Cicero, is, that I was not only unprovided both 
 with cavalry and baggage-horses, but not having 
 at that time had an interview with Ctesar, I could 
 not depend on his assistance : and I was wholly 
 ignorant, likewise, that Ilirtius was killed. This 
 will account for my not having pursued Antony on 
 the day of the engagement. The day following I 
 received an express from Pansa, to attend him at 
 Bononia ; but, in my way thither, being informed 
 of his death, I immediately returned back to join 
 my little corps. I may justly call them so, indeed, 
 as my forces are extremely diminished, and in a 
 very bad condition, from the great hardships they 
 suffered during the siege. It was by tiiese means 
 that Antony got two days' advance of me ; and, as 
 he marched in disorder, he could retire much faster 
 than it was in my power to pursue. He increased 
 his forces likewise by pressing the inhabitants, and 
 throwing open the prisons in every town through 
 which he passed : and in this manner he continued 
 his march till he arrived in the fens of .Sabata. 
 This is a place with which I must bring you 
 acquainted. It is situated between the Alps and 
 the Apennines, and the roads that lie about it 
 are scarce practicable. When I had reached within 
 thirty miles of Antony, I was informed that he had 
 been joined by Ventidius, and had made a speech at 
 the head of their combined troops, to persuade them 
 to follow him over the Alps ; assuring them that 
 Lepidus had agreed to support him. Nevertheless, 
 not only his own soldiers (which, indeed, are a 
 very inconsiderable number,) but those likewise of 
 Ventidius, repeatedly and unanimously declared 
 that they were determined either to conquer, or 
 perish in Italy ; and at the same time desired that 
 they might be conducted to PoUentia'. Antony 
 found it in vain to oppose them ; however, he 
 deferred his march till the ensuing day. As soon 
 as I received this intelligence, I detached five 
 cohorts to Pollentia ; and am now following them 
 with the remainder of my troops. This detach- 
 ment threw themselves into that city an hour before 
 Trebellius arrived with his pavalry ; a circumstance 
 which gives me great satisfaction, as it is a point, 
 I think, upon which our whole success depends. 
 W^hen the enemy found that their designs were 
 thus frustrated, they conceived hopes of crossing 
 the Alps into Gaul ; as they supposed the four 
 legions commanded by Piancus would not be able 
 to withstand their united forces, and that an army 
 from Italy could not overtake them soon enough 
 to prevent their passage. — However, the Allo- 
 broges, together with my detachment, have hitherto 
 been suflicient to prevent their design ; which, I 
 
 1 Some remains of .this city still subsist, under the name 
 of Poli'nza. It is situated at the confluence of the Stura 
 and the Tanaro, in Piedmont.
 
 582 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 trust, they will find still more difficult to effect, 
 when I shall come up with the rest of my forces. 
 But should they happen, in the mean time, to pass 
 the Isnra, I shall exert my utmost endeavours that 
 this circumstance may not be attended with any ill 
 consequences to the commonwealth. 
 
 Let it raise the spirits and the hopes of the 
 senate, to observe that I'lanrus and myself, toge- 
 ther with our respective armies, act in perfect 
 concert with each other, and are ready to hazard 
 every danger in support of the common cause. 
 However, whilst you thus confidently rely on our 
 zeal and diligence, you will remit nothing, I ho])e, 
 of your own, but employ your utmost care to send 
 us a reinforcement, as well as every other necessary 
 supply, that may render us in a condition to defend 
 your liberties against those who have infamously 
 conspired their ruin. One cannot, indeed, but 
 look \ipon these our enemies with so much the 
 greater indignation, as they have acted with the 
 vilest hypocrisy, and suddenly turned tliose troops 
 against their country, which they long pretended to 
 have raised for its defence. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVIIL 
 
 Decimus Brutus to Cicero. 
 I WISH you would peruse the letter I have 
 addressed to the senate, and make what alterations 
 A u 710 J'"" shall judge proper. You will find by 
 it, that I am under an absolute necessity 
 of thus applying to them. Whilst ! imagined that 
 I should be joined by the fourth and martial 
 legions™, agreeably to the decree of the senate 
 which passed for that purpose on the motion of 
 Paulus and Drusus, I was less solicitous about the 
 rest ; but now tliat I have only some new-raised 
 regiments, and those too extremely ill-accoutred, 
 I cannot but be apprehensive upon your accounts, 
 as well as upon my own. 
 
 The citizens of Vicentia" have always distin- 
 guished Marcus Brutus and myself by their parti- 
 cular regard. I entreat you, therefore, to endeavour 
 that justice be done them by the senate, in the 
 affair concerning the slaves. They, are, indeed, 
 entitled to your favour, both by the equity of their 
 cause, and the fidelity with which they have, upon 
 all occasions, persevered in their allegiance to the 
 republic : whereas their adversaries, on the con- 
 trary, are a most seditious and faithless people. 
 Farewell. 
 Vercella! ", May the 21st. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 Marcus Lepidus'^ to Cicero. 
 Having received advice that Antony was ad- 
 vancing with his troops towards my province, and 
 A u 710 ^^*^ ^^"'' ^^*°''^ ^i"" ^ detachment of his 
 cavalry under the command of his brother 
 
 ™ These were veteran legions which had served under 
 CapBur. But, notwithstanding that they entered into the 
 army of the late consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, they could 
 by no means be prevailed with to join Decimus Brutus, 
 in resentment, 'tis probable, of the part he bore in the 
 conspiracy against their favourite geueral. — Ep. Fam. 
 xi. 14. 
 
 " Vicenza, a maritime city in the territories of the 
 Venetians. 
 
 o Vercelli, in the duchy of Milan. P See rem. o, p. J67. 
 
 Lucius, I moved with my army from the confluence 
 of the Rhone and the Arari, in order to oppose 
 their passage. I continued my march without 
 halting, till I arrived at Forum Voconii, and am 
 now encamped somewhat beyond that town, on 
 the river Argentcus', opposite to Antony, ^'■en- 
 tidius has joined him with his three legions, and 
 has formed his camp a little above mine. Antony, 
 before tiiis conjunction, had the second legion en- 
 tire, fO};ether with a considerable number of men, 
 though indeed wholly unarmed, who escaped from 
 the general slaughter of his other legions : he is 
 extremely strong in cavalry, for, as none of those 
 troo])s suffered in the late action, he has no less 
 than ***' horse. Great numbers of his soldiers, 
 both horse and foot, are continually deserting to 
 my camp ; so that his troops diminish every day. 
 Both Silanus' and Culeo" have left his army, and 
 are returned to mine. But notwithstanding I was 
 greatly offended by their going to Antony, con- 
 trary to my inclination, yet, in regard to the con- 
 nexions that subsist between us, and in compliance 
 with my usual clemency, 1 have thought proper to 
 pardon thera. However, I do not, upon any occa- 
 sion, employ their services, nor, indeed, suffer them 
 to remain in the camp. 
 
 As to what concerns my conduct in this war, 
 you may depend u])on it 1 shall not be wanting in 
 my duty either to the senate or the republic ; and 
 whatever farther measures I shall take to this end, 
 I shall not fail to communicate them to you. 
 
 The friendship between us has upon all occasions 
 been inviolably preserved on both sides, and we 
 have mutually vied in our best good offices to each 
 other. But I doubt not that, since this great and 
 sudden commotion has been raised in the common- 
 wealth, some false and injurious reports have been 
 spread of me by my enemies, which, in the zeal of 
 your heart for the interest of the republic, have 
 given you much uneasiness. I have the satisfac- 
 tion, however, to be informed by my agents at 
 Rome, that you are by no means disposed easily 
 to credit these idle rumours ; for which I think 
 myself, as I justly ought, extremely obliged to you. 
 I am so, likewise, for the former instances of your 
 friendship, in promoting my public honours, the 
 grateful remembrance of which, be assured, is in- 
 delibly impressed upon my heart. 
 
 Let me conjure you, my dear Cicero, if you are 
 sensible that my public conduct has upon all occa- 
 sions been worthy of the name I bear, to be per 
 suaded that I shall continue to act with equal, or, 
 if possible, even with superior zeal\ Let me hope, 
 too, that the greater the favours are which you 
 have conferred upon me, the more you will think 
 yourself engaged to support my credit and character. 
 Farewell. 
 From my camp, at Pons Argenteus, May the 22d. 
 
 1 The Saone, which falls into the Rhone at Lyons, 
 r The Argetis, in Provence: it empties itself mto the 
 Mediterranean, a few miles below Frejus. 
 
 • The number is omitted in all the ancient MSS. 
 
 * See re7H. " p. .574. 
 
 " He had been sent by Lepidus with a body of men, 
 under the pretence of guarding the passes of the Alps, 
 but most probably with secret instructious to favour the 
 march of Antony over those mountains, in his way to the 
 camp of Lepidus; for he suffered Antony to pass them 
 witliout the least obstruction. — Appiau.De Bell. Civ. iii. 
 p. 579. 
 
 » There wac so little of truth in these professions, that 
 
 1
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 583 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Plancus to Cicero. 
 You have been apprised, no doubt, by Laevus 
 and Nerva, as well as by the letter they delivered 
 y,„ to you on my part, of the design I was 
 meditating when they left me ; as, indeed, 
 they have constantly borne a share in all my 
 councils and measures of every kind. It has 
 happened, however, to me, what happens not 
 unt'requently I suppose to every man who is 
 tender of his reputation, and desirous of approving 
 his conduct to the friends of his country : I have 
 given up a safer scheme, as being liable perhaps 
 to some ill-natured exceptions, in exchange for a 
 more dangerous one that may better evince my 
 ^eal. I am to inform you, then, that, after the 
 departure of my lieutenants'", I received two letters 
 from Lepidus, entreating me to join him. These 
 were seconded by the much stronger solicitations 
 of Laterensis, who earnestly represented to me 
 (what, indeed, I am also apprehensive of myself) 
 that there is great reason to fear a mutiny among 
 the disaffected troops under the conduct of Lepidus. 
 I determined immediately, therefore, to march to 
 his assistance, and take an equal share in the dan- 
 gers with which he was threatened. I was sensible, 
 at the same time, that to wait on the banks of the 
 Isara till Brutus should pass that river with his 
 army, and to meet the enemy in conjunction with 
 my colleague, whose forces, as well as their general, 
 would act in perfect harmony with me and my 
 troops, would be much the most cautious measure 
 with respect to my own personal security. But I 
 reflected, that if any misfortune should attend 
 Lepidus, it would be wholly imputed to me, and I 
 should be condemned either as obstinately suffering 
 my resentment to prevent me from givio'^ succour 
 to my enemy in the cause of the republic, or of 
 timidly avoiding to take part in the danger of a most 
 just and necessary war. As my presence, there- 
 fore, might be a mean of protecting Lepidus, and 
 ■of bringing his army into a better disposition, I re- 
 solved to expose myself to all hazards, rather than 
 appear to act with too much circumspection. But 
 never was any man more anxious in an affair for 
 which he was in no sort answerable, than I am in 
 the present ; for though I should have no manner 
 of doubt if the army of Lepidus were not con- 
 cerned, yet, under that circumstance, J am full of 
 apprehensions for the event. Had it been my 
 fortune to have met Antony before my junction 
 with Lepidus, I am sure he would not have been 
 able to have kept the field against me even a single 
 hour ; such is the confidence I have in my own 
 troops, and so heartily do I despise his broken 
 forces, as well as those of that paltry muleteer, the 
 contemptible Ventidius*. But, as the case is now 
 circumstanced, I dread to think what may be the 
 consequence, should any ill humours lie concealed 
 in the army of Lepidus ; as they may possibly 
 break out in all their malignity, before they can be 
 remedied, or even discovered. It is certain, how- 
 ever, that Lepidus, together with the well-atFected 
 
 Lepidus, within a very few days from the date of tliis let- 
 ter, openly joined with Antony against the senate. Soe 
 letter 28 of this book. 
 
 w Laevus and Nerva, the persons montionod iibovp. 
 
 * See rem. ', p. 51a. 
 
 part of his army, would be exposed to great danger, 
 if we should not act in conjunction : besides that, 
 our infamous enemies would gain a very consi- 
 derable advantage, should they draw off any of his 
 forces. If my presence, therefore, should prove a 
 mean of preventing these evils, I shall think myself 
 much indebted to my courage and good fortune for 
 engaging me to make the experiment. With this 
 design 1 moved with my army from the banks of 
 the Isara on the 2 1st of May, having first erected 
 a fort at each end of the bridge which I had thrown 
 over that river, and placed a strong party to defend 
 it, that when Brutus shall arrive, he may have 
 nothing to retard his passage. I have only to add, 
 that I hope to join Lepidus within eight days from 
 the date of this letter. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 Frora the same to Cicero. 
 
 I SHOULD be ashamed that this letter is so little 
 consistent with my former, if it arose from any 
 _j„ instability of my own. But it is much 
 otherwise ; and I have steadily pursued 
 every measure in my power to engage Lepidus to 
 act in concert with me, for the defence of the re- 
 public, imagining it would render you less appre- 
 hensive of my success against our wretched ene- 
 mies. To this end, I not only complied with all 
 the conditions he proposed, but even engaged for 
 more than he demanded ; and I had so much con- 
 fidence in the sincerity of his intentions, that I 
 ventured to assure you, no longer than two days 
 ago, that he would zealously co-operate with me 
 in carrying on the war upon one common plan. I 
 depended, indeed, upon the promises he had given 
 me under his own hand, together with the assur- 
 ances I had likewise received from Laterensis, who 
 was at that time in my camp, and who earnestly 
 conjured me to forget all resentments against Lepi- 
 dus, and to rely upon his good faith. But Lepidus 
 has now put it out of my power to entertain these 
 favourable hopes of him any longer : however, I 
 I have taken, and shall continue to take, all neces- 
 sary precautions, that the republic may not be 
 prejudiced by my too easy credulity. I am to inform 
 you, then, that after I had used the utmost expe- 
 dition (agreeably to his own earnest request) to 
 transport my army over the Isara ; and for that 
 purpose had, in the space of a single day, thrown 
 a bridge across that river, I received a counter- 
 express from him, requiring me to advance no 
 farther, as he should not have occasion, he said, 
 for my assistance. Nevertheless, I will own to you 
 I was so imprudent as to proceed in my march, 
 believing that the true reason of his thus changing 
 his mind arose from an unwillingness to have a 
 partner with him in his glory. I imagined that, 
 without depriving him of any share of that honour 
 which he seemed so desirous to monopolise, I might 
 post myself at some convenient distance, in order 
 to be ready to support him with my troops, incase 
 he should be pressed by the enemy : an event which, 
 in the simphcity of my heart, 1 thought not im- 
 probable. In the mean time, I received a letter 
 from the excellent Laterensis, which was conceived 
 in terms full of despair. He complained that he 
 had been greatly deceived, and assured me that
 
 fi81 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 neither Lepidus nor his army was to be trusted. 
 He expressly cautioned me, at tlie same time, to be 
 upon my Ku^rd against tlii-ir artifices ; addiiiij, tiiat 
 hf had faitiit'ully discliarged the engagements lie had 
 entered into, on his part, and hoped I would act 
 with the same fidelity to the republic on mine. I 
 have sent a copy of this letter to Titius, and ]nir- 
 j)Ose to transmit the originals ofall the rest relating 
 to this affair, by the iiands of Lsevus Cispius, who 
 was privy to the whole transaction. I shall insert 
 in this packet the letters of Lepidus, to which I did 
 not give any credit, as well as those to which I 
 did. 
 
 I must not forget to add, that when Lepidus 
 harangued his soldiers, these mighty honest fellows 
 were exceedingly clamorous for peace. They j)ro- 
 tested that, after the loss of both the consuls, after 
 the destruction of so many brave men, who had 
 perished in defence of their country, and after 
 Antony and his adherents had been declared ene- 
 mies of the commonwealth, and their estates con- 
 fiscated, they were determined not to draw their 
 swords any more, either on the one side or the 
 Other. They were prompted to behave thus muti- 
 nously, not only by the insolent suggestions of their 
 own hearts, but by tlie encouragement also of their 
 officers, j)articularlyCanidius, Rufrenus,and others, 
 whose names the senate shall be acquainted with 
 at a proper season. Lepidus was so far from 
 punishing this sedition, that he did not take even 
 a single step to restrain it. I thought, therefore, 
 that it would be the highest temerity to expose 
 my own faithful troops, together with my auxi- 
 liaries, which are commanded by some of the most 
 considerable chiefs of Gaul, and in effect, too, my 
 whole province to their combined armies. I con- 
 sidered, if I should thus lose my life, and involve 
 the republic in my own destruction, I should fall, 
 not only without honour, but without pity. In 
 consequence of these reflections, I have determined 
 to march my forces back again, that our wretched 
 enemies may not have so great an advantage as my 
 advancing any farther might possibly give them. 1 
 shall endeavour to post my army so advantageously 
 as to cover the province under my command from 
 being insulted, even supposing the troops of Lepi- 
 dus should actually revolt. In short, it shall be my 
 care to preserve everything in its present situation, 
 till the senate shall send an army hither, and vin- 
 dicate the liberties of the republic with the same 
 success in this part of the world as attended their 
 arms before the walls of Mutina. In the mean 
 time, be assured that no man will act with more 
 fervent zeal than myself in all the various occur- 
 rences of the war ; and I shall most readily either 
 encounter the enemy in the field, or sustain the 
 hardships of a siege, or even lay down my life 
 itself, as any of these circumstances shall prove 
 necessary for the service of the senate. Let me 
 exhort you, then, my dear Cicero, to exert your 
 utmost efforts to send a speedy reinforcement to 
 me, ere Antony shall have increased the number of 
 his forces, or our own shall be entirely dispirited. 
 For, if despatch be given to this affair, these infa- 
 mous banditti will undoubtedly be extirpated, and 
 the republic remain in full possession of her late 
 victory. Take care of your health, and continue 
 your friendship to me. 
 
 P. S — 1 know not whether it may be necessary 
 to make any excuse for the absence of my brother. 
 
 who was prevented from attending me in this expe- 
 dition by a slow fever, occasioned by the great 
 fatigues he has lately undergone. As no man has 
 shown more zeal or courage in the cause of the 
 republic, he will undoubtedly return to the ihities 
 of his post the very first moment his health shall 
 permit. 
 
 I recommend my honours to your protection ; 
 though I must confess, at the same time, that all 
 my desires ought to be satisfied, since I enjoy the 
 privilege of your friendship, and the satisfaction of 
 seeing you invested with the high credit and autho- 
 rity 1 have ever wished you. I will leave it, there- 
 fore, entirely to yourself, both when and in what 
 maimer I shall experience the effect of your good 
 offices ; am' will only re(|uest you to suffer nie to 
 succeed Hirtius in your affection, as I certairdy do 
 in the respect and esteem he bore you. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 To Furnius''. 
 
 If the interest of the republic requires the con- 
 tinuance of your services, and it be necessary (as 
 "10 ^" ''^^ world, indeed, is of opinion it is) 
 that you should bear a part in those im- 
 portant operations, which must extinguish the 
 remaining flames of the war, you cannot, surely, 
 be engaged in a more worthy, a more laudable, or 
 a more illustrious jiursuit. I think, therefore, yoii 
 should by no means interrupt your applauded 
 efforts in the cause of liberty, for the sake ol obtain- 
 ing the praetorship somewhat earlier than you are 
 regularly entitled to enjoy it. I say your applauded 
 efforts ; for let not my friend be ignorant of the 
 fame which his conduct has acquired. Believe me, 
 it is inferior only to that of Plancus himself, both 
 by his own confession, and in the judgment, too, 
 of all the world. If there is any farther service, 
 then, remaining for you to perform to your country, 
 you ought to pursue it with an unbroken a|)plica- 
 tion, as an employment, of all others, the most 
 truly honourable : and what, my friend, shall stand 
 in competition with true honour .' But should you 
 imagine that you have amply satisfied the duties 
 you owe to the commonwealth, I do not dissuade 
 you from hastening hither when the time of the 
 elections shall approach, provided this ambitious 
 impatience shall nothing diminish from the lustre 
 of* that reputation you have so justly obtained. I 
 could name, however, many instances of per- 
 sons of great distinction, who, during their en- 
 gagements in the service of the republic abroad, 
 have renounced their legal pretensions of soliciting 
 employments at home ; a sacrifice which, in your 
 own case, will be so much the less, as you are not 
 at present strictly qualified to offer yourself as a 
 candidate. Had you already, indeed, passed 
 through the office of aedile, and two years ^ had 
 intervened since your exercising that function, the 
 
 y He had been tribune in the year of Rome 7il3. and 
 was at this time in the army of Plancus, as one of his 
 lieutenants. 
 
 2 By the laws of Rome a man could not be chosen prsetor 
 till two years after he had served the ofiBce of aedile ; and 
 the same distance of time was likewise required between 
 the prsetorship and the consulate.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 685 
 
 self-denial would have been greater ; whereas now 
 you will forego nothing of the usual and stated time 
 of petitioning for the post in question. I am very 
 sensible that your interest is much too strong to 
 require the assistance of Plancus : nevertheless, 
 should his arms be attended with the success we 
 wish, your applications would certainly appear with 
 greater advantage, were they deferred till the time 
 of his consulate. 
 
 Thus much (as I was willing you should know 
 ray sentiments) I thought proper to say ; but more, 
 I am persuaded, your own good sense and judg- 
 ment would render unnecessary. The sum of all, 
 then, is shortly this : that I would have you regu- 
 late your conduct, upon all occurrences, not by the 
 common standard of popular ambition, but by that 
 of true and solid glory, and look upon a lasting 
 reputation as of more value than the transient 
 honour of enjoying the prjetorian office somewhat 
 earlier than usual. I had a consultation the other 
 day at my house upon this subject, with your 
 very good friends Csecina, Calvisius, and my 
 brother, at which your freedraan Dardanus was 
 likewise jiresent ; and they every one of them joined 
 with me in the opinion 1 have here given you. But 
 after all, you yourself are the best and most com- 
 petent judge. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Decimus Brit/iis to Cicero. 
 
 Friendship and gratitude make me feel, upon 
 your account, what 1 never felt upon my own ; 
 _.„ and I will confess, that I am not without 
 fear in regard to a story which has been 
 propagated concerning you. I thought I it by no 
 means a matter to be despised when I had only 
 heard of it, as I frequently did, from common 
 report ; but it has lately been mentioned to me, 
 likewise, by Segulius. This man tells me (though 
 what he says, indeed, is generally of a piece with 
 the rest of his character) that paying a visit at 
 CsESar's, where you were much the subject of the 
 conversation, Csesar complained (and it was the only 
 charge, it seems, which he brought against you) of 
 an ambiguous expression ^ which you had made use 
 of concerning him. I suspect the whole to be a mere 
 fiction of Segulius, or, at least, that it was he him- 
 
 » The expression itself is inserted in the original ; but as 
 it turns upon an ambiguity that will not hold in our lan- 
 guage, it was impossible to preserve it in the translation. 
 " Laudandum adulescentem, (Cicero is charged with hav- 
 ing said,) ornanduni, tollendum," the last of which words 
 is capable of a double meaning, and may imply either that 
 Octavius should be advanced to the dignities of the state, 
 or that bis life should be taken away. The polite and 
 learned panegyrist of Cicero's conduct has endeavoured to 
 vindicate his admired hero from a charge so littie favour- 
 able both to his prudence and his honour, and it is to be 
 wished that his arguments were as convincing as tliey are 
 plausible. In a point, however, that does not admit of 
 any positive proof, candour will incline on the favourable 
 side; though I cannot but agree with an excellent author, 
 that if the accusation was true, " it very much takes off 
 from the ingratitude of Octavius, in consenting to the death 
 of his benefactor; since such double-dealing could hardly 
 deserve the name of an obligation, let the effects of it be 
 ever so advantageous." — Life of Cicero, p. 281 ; Observ. on 
 the Life of Cic. iji. p. £♦. 
 
 self who reported these words to Csesar. Segulius 
 endeavoured, at the same time, to persuade me 
 that you are in great danger of falling a victim to 
 the resentment of the veteran legions, who speak 
 of you, he pretends, with much indignation. The 
 principal cause, it seems, of their displeasure is, 
 that both Csesar and myself are left out of the 
 commission for dividing the lands'* among the 
 soldiers, and that everything is disposed of just as 
 you and your friends at Rome think proper. 
 
 Notwithstanding that I was on my march "^ when 
 I received this account, yet I thought it would not 
 be advisable to pass the Alps till I had informed 
 myself how affairs stand. I am well persuaded, 
 nevertheless, that with respect to yourself, these 
 reports and menaces of the veterans aim at nothing 
 farther than by alarming your fears, and incensing 
 the young Cassar against you, to obtain for them- 
 selves a more considerable proportion of the 
 rewards decreed by the senate. But I do not in- 
 tend, by saying this, to dissuade you from stand- 
 ing upon your guard, as nothing, be assured, is 
 more valuable to me than your life. Let me only 
 caution you not to suffer your fears to run you into 
 greater clangers than those you would avoid. How- 
 ever, I would advise you to obviate the clamours 
 of these veterans, as far as you reasonably may; 
 and to comply with their desires, both in regard to 
 the decemviis" and to the distribution of their re- 
 wards. As to those forfeited estates which belonged 
 to the veterans who served under Antony, I should 
 be glad, if you think proper, that Ceesar and myself 
 may be nominated to assign them to the troops. 
 But in reference to the pecuniary donative which 
 they have been also promised, it will be proper to 
 act with more deliberation, and as the circum- 
 stances of the public finances shall require : to 
 which end it may be signified to them, that the 
 senate will take these their claims into considera- 
 tion. As to those other four legions to whom the 
 senate has also decreed an allotment of lands, i 
 imagine that the estates in Campania, together 
 with those which were formerly seized by Sylla, 
 will be sufficient for the purpose. I should think, 
 too, that the best method of division would be, 
 either to parcel out those lands in equal shares to 
 the several legions, or to determine their respective 
 proportions by lot. But when I thus give you my 
 opinioii, it is by no means as pretending to superior 
 judgment, but merely from the affection of my 
 iieart towards you, and from my sincere desire that 
 the public tranquillity may be preserved, which, I 
 am very sensible, if any accidents should happen to 
 you, cannot possibly be maintained. 
 
 I do not purpose to march out of Italy, unless I 
 should find it greatly expedient. Meanwhile I am 
 employed in disciplining my troops, and furnish- 
 ing them with arms : and I hope to appear with no 
 contemptible body of forces, upon any emergency 
 that shall again call me into the field. But Ctesar, 
 however, has not sent back the legion to me which 
 served in Pansa's army. 
 
 1 request your immediate answer to this letter ; 
 and if you should have anything of importance to 
 
 l) Thise were lands which the senate seem to have 
 promised as an encouragement to their troops, upon tha 
 breaking out of the war against Antony.— Philipp. xiv. 13. 
 
 c In order to join Plancus. 
 
 cl The persons appointed to execute the commission fol 
 the distribution of the lands above-mentioned.
 
 58G 
 
 Tin: LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 communicate to me, which requires particular 
 secrecy, I desire you would convey it by one of 
 your own domestics. Farewell. 
 Eporediii'', May tlio 24tli. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 From the same to Cicero. 
 Ai.L tilings here go on well': and it shall he my 
 endeavour to render them still hetter. T^epidus 
 ^,„ seems to be favoural)lv disi)0sed towards 
 
 A. V. 710. 1-11 1 4. It 
 
 nic ; and, indeed, we liave reason to divest 
 ourselves of all our fears, and to act with undaunted 
 freedom in defence of the commonwealth. Hut liad 
 oi.raflairs a far less promising aspect, yet it might 
 justly animate and augment that courage which I 
 know always resides in your breast, to rellect that 
 ■we have tliree powerful armies b devoted to the ser- 
 vice of the republic, and that Fortune has already 
 declared in our favour. 
 
 The report which I mentioned in my former let- 
 ter is evidently calculated to intimidate you. But 
 believe me, if you exert a proper spirit, the 
 ■whole united party will be unable to withstand 
 your eloquence. 
 
 I jmrpose, agreeably to what I told you in my 
 last, to remain in Italy till I shall hear from you. 
 Farewell. 
 Eporcuia, Ulay the 25th. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 To Plancus. 
 The news from yovir part of the world is so ex- 
 tremely variable and contradictory, that I am utterly 
 at a loss what to write. Sometimes the 
 ■ accounts we receive of Lepidus are agree- 
 
 able to our wishes, and at others entirely the 
 reverse. All reports, however, concur in assuring 
 us, that you are superior to every danger, either 
 from fraud or force. Ifyouarein some degree 
 indebted for the latter to Fortune, it is certain that 
 the former, at least, is owing to your prudence 
 alone. 
 
 I am informed, by a letter from your colleague'', 
 dated the 15th of May, that you mentioned, in one 
 of your expresses to him, that Lepidus had refused 
 to receive Antony. We should have been more 
 disposed to credit this intelligence, if you had taken 
 notice of it in any of your despatches to Rome. 
 But, perhaps, you would not venture to communi- 
 cate to us this piece of good news, as having been 
 a little premature in an account of the same kind 
 in your last. Every man, indeed, is liable to be 
 deceived by his wishes ; but all the world knows 
 that you can never be imposed upon by any other 
 means. In the present instance, however, all pos- 
 sibility of farther error is removed : for to stumble 
 twice against the same stone is a disgrace, you 
 know, even to a proverb. Should the truth prove 
 agreeable then to what you mentioned in your let- 
 ter to your colleague, all our fears are at an end : 
 
 e A town not far from Vercellae, from whence the last 
 letter from Brutus was dated. See letter 18 of this book. 
 
 ' " Brufus having received, most probably, some frcsii 
 intelligence concerning Lepidus, wrote tliis letter to 
 Cicero the day after he had written the former." — Koss. 
 
 e That of Octaviua, Plancus, and his own. 
 
 l* Decimus Brutus, 
 
 nevertheless, we shall not dismiss them till we 
 receive a confirmation of this account from your 
 own hand. 
 
 I have often assured you of my firm persuasion, 
 that the whole credit of delivering the common- 
 wealth from this civil war,will devolve entirely upon 
 tiiat general who shall extinguish these its last sur- 
 viving flames : an honour which I hope, and believe, 
 is reserved solely (or yourself. 
 
 It is with great pleasure, though witiiout the 
 least surprise, that 1 find you entertain such grate- 
 ful sentiments of my zeal in your service. Higher, 
 indeed, it cannot possibly rise ; but you may depend 
 upon my exerting it to more important purposes, if 
 atlairs in your part of the world should succeed as 
 we wish. Farewell. 
 May the 29th. 
 
 LETTER XXVL 
 Leiitulns' to Cicero. 
 
 As T found, when I applied to Brutus in Mace- 
 donia, that he would not soon be prepared to march 
 to the assistance of this province J, I 
 determined to return hither, in order to 
 collect what remained of the public money, and to 
 remit it with all possible exjjedition to Rome. In 
 the interval 1 received intelligence that Dolabella's 
 fleet appeared upon the coast of Lycia'', and that 
 he had ])rocured above a hundred transport-vessels, 
 intending, if he should not succeed in his designs 
 upon Syria', to sail directly with his forces to 
 Italy, and join the Antonys and the rest of 
 those infamous rebels. I was so much alarmed at 
 this account, that 1 thought proper to postpone all 
 other aflairs, and immediately proceed in quest 
 of this tleet. And notwithstanding my ships were 
 unequal both in number and size to those of the 
 enemy, I should probably have destroyed their 
 whole fleet, if I had not been obstructed by the 
 Rhodians : however, I have disabled the greatest 
 part of it, and dispersed the rest. I have taken 
 likewise every one of their transports, the soldiers 
 and officers on board having quitted them upon the 
 first notice of my approach. In a word, I have 
 succeeded in the main of my design, having defeated 
 a scheme which I greatly dreaded, and prevented 
 Dolabella from strengthening our enemies by 
 transporting bis forces into Italy. 
 
 I refer you to the letter which I have written to the 
 senate ™, for an account of the ill-treatment I re- 
 ceived from the Rhodians, though indeed I have by 
 no means represented it in its strongest colours. 
 These people, in consequence of their imagining 
 that the affairs of the commonwealth were utterly 
 desperate, behaved towards me with the most in- 
 sufferable insolence. But their affronts to my own 
 person are in no sort the foundation of my com- 
 plaints : I have ever disregarded injuries of this 
 kind, that centred entirely in myself. It is their 
 
 ' He was the son of Publius Lentulus, to whom several 
 letters in the first and second books are addressed. He 
 attended Trebonius into Asia Minor as his quaestor in that 
 province, from whence the present letter was written. 
 
 J In order to quell the commotions which Dolabella had 
 raised. See rem. ^, p. 578. 
 
 k It formed part of the province of Asia Minor. It is 
 now called Alfiinelli. 
 
 1 See rem. ^, p. 5(J.'J. 
 
 ™ The following letter.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 687 
 
 disaffection to the republic, their attachment to 
 the o]>posite party, their constant ill offices to all 
 those who distinguish themselves in the support of 
 our liberties, that I thought demanded ray resent- 
 ment. Let me not be understood, however, as 
 passing an indiscriminate censure upon the whole 
 island in general: far am I, indeed, from thinking 
 them all equally infected with the same principles. 
 But I know not by what fatality it happens, that 
 those very magistrates who refused to give ]irotection 
 to my father, to Lucius Lentulus, to Ponipey, and 
 to the rest of those illustrious chiefs who fled into 
 this island after the battle of Pharsalia, are all of 
 them, at this juncture, either actually in the ad- 
 ministration themselves, or possess an unlimited 
 influence over those who are. Accordingly, they 
 have conducted themselves in this aflair with their 
 usual malevolence ; and it is not only expedient, 
 but, indeed, absolutely necessary, that the republic 
 should interpose her authority, lest the insolence of 
 this people should rise to still greater heights, by 
 passing any longer unchastised. 
 
 Let me hope you will continue, as usual, to take 
 my interests under your protection : and that you 
 •will, upon all occasions, both in the senate, and in 
 every other instance, promote my honours with 
 your suffrage. As the province of Asia is decreed 
 to the consuls", with a power of appointing whom- 
 soever they shall think proper to administer the 
 government till their arrival ; I entreat you to em- 
 ploy your interest with them to confer this dignity 
 upon me. The situation of affairs in this province 
 does by no means require their presence before the 
 expiration of their consular office, or in any sort 
 render it necessary that they should send hither an 
 army; for Dolabella is now in Syria: and, agree- 
 ably to what you declared with your usual prophe- 
 tic discernment, he will certainly be defeated by 
 Cassius ere the consuls can possibly arrive. Accord- 
 ingly, he has been obliged to abandon the siege of 
 Antiochia, and has retreated to Laodicea, a sea-port 
 town in Syria, as the only city in which he could 
 confide. I hope he will soon meet with the fate he 
 so well deserves; or rather, indeed, I am per- 
 suaded it has already attended him, for he has no 
 other place to which he can retreat, and it is im- 
 possible he should make any long or effectual 
 resistance against so powerful an army as that 
 which Cassius has led against him°. I imagine, 
 therefore, that Pansa and Hirtius will be in no haste 
 to come into these provinces, but rather choose to 
 finish their consular year at Rome. For this rea- 
 son 1 am inclined to hope that you may prevail 
 ■with them to appoint me their substitute. 
 
 I have received assurances from both of them, as 
 well in person as by letter, that no successor should 
 be elected to my office during their consulate: and 
 Pansa has lately repeated the same promise to my 
 friend Verrius. Believe me, it is not from any am- 
 bitious views that I desire to be continued some 
 time longer in this province. But as I have met 
 
 n Hirtius and Pansa, the news of whose death, together 
 •vith that of the battles in which they fell, had not yet 
 reached the knowledge of Lentulus. 
 
 o This shortly afterwards proved to be the fact ; for Cas- 
 Bius having forced the city of Laodicea to surrender, Dola- 
 bella, in order to avoid falling into the hands of his enemy, 
 put an end to his own life by the assistance of one of his 
 slaves, whom he commanded to be his executioner. — Veil. 
 Put ii.69. 
 
 with many difficulties and disadvantagcB in the dis- 
 charge of my functions, I should extremely regret 
 the being obliged to resign my post before I shall 
 have fully reaped the fruit of my labours. If it 
 wei^ in my power to remit to Rome the whole of 
 those assessments I had actually levied, I should 
 be so far from wishing to remain here, that I 
 should desire to be recalled. But I am very soli- 
 citous to receive the money I advanced to Cassius; 
 to replace what I lost by the death of Trebonius, 
 and the oppressions of Dolabella; as well as to 
 recover the several sums which are due to me from 
 those who have perfidiously broken the good faith 
 they owed both to myself and to the republic. Now, 
 these are points which I can by no means effect, 
 unless the time of my continuance in this province 
 be prolonged : a privilege which I hope to obtain 
 by the interposition of your usual good offices. 
 
 I persuade myself that my services to the com- 
 monwealth give me just reason to expect, not the 
 honour only of administering this province, but as 
 high dignities as Cassius and the two Bruti : as I 
 not only shared with them in forming the design 
 and undergoing the hazard of that ever-memorable 
 enterprise against CsesarP, but have exerted myself 
 with equal zeal and spirit in all our present com- 
 motions. 1 was the first, let me boast, that bid 
 defiance to the oppressive laws of Antony. I was 
 the first that brought over the cavalry of Dolabella 
 to the interest of the republic, and delivered them 
 into the hands of Cassius. I was the first who 
 levied troops in defence of our common liberties 
 against the infamous attempts of those who have 
 conspired our destruction : and it is owing entirely 
 to me that Syria, together with the army in that 
 province, joined themselves under Cassius in the 
 support of the republic. The truth is, if I had not 
 very expeditiously contributed those large subsi- 
 dies, both of men and money, with which I sup- 
 plied Cassius, he would not have ventured to march 
 into Syria : and the name of Dolabella would now 
 have been no less formidable to the republic than 
 that of Antony himself. Yet, at the same time 
 that I acted thus warmly for the interest of the re- 
 public, I had every private bias that could draw me 
 to the opposite party. Dolabella was my friend 
 and companion, as the Antonys were my nearest 
 relations : and it was by the united good offices of 
 the latter that I obtained the quaestorship of this 
 province. But the love of my country was supe- 
 rior to every other attachment ; and I stood forth 
 the first to declare war against the strongest and 
 most endearing connexions both of blood and 
 friendship. Inconsiderable, it must be acknow- 
 ledged, is the fruit which I have hitherto reaped 
 from these instances of my patriotism. However, 
 I do not despair: and I shall unweariedly perse- 
 vere, not only in displaying my zeal for our liber- 
 ties, but in exposing myself to every difficulty and 
 every danger for their support. Nevertheless, I 
 cannot but add, if I were to be encouraged by some 
 of those honours I have merited from the senate 
 and from every friend to our country, they would 
 
 P Plutarch (as Manutius in his remark upon this passage 
 observes) faking notice that several aifected to be thought 
 associates in the conspiracy against Ca?9ar, who, in truth, 
 were in no way concerned in that affair, particularly men- 
 tions Lentulus as one in that number. But he paid dear 
 for his boast, as it cost him his life when Octavius got into 
 power. — Plut. in A'it. Jul. Caes.
 
 >88 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 givt; me an authority which woukl enable ine to act 
 ^vitll {greater advantage to tlic foiiiinon cause. 
 
 I iliil not see your son when I was witli IJrutus, 
 as lie WHS just gone into winlcr-(|uaiteis with the 
 cavalry'', but I had the satisfaction of firtding 
 lliat lie was in general esteem : which gave me great 
 jil.'asure, not only ,n bis account and yours, but 
 likewise upon my own. For 1 cannot but consider 
 a son of yours, that thus copies out his father's vir- 
 tues, as standing in the relation to me of a brothei-. 
 Farewell. 
 I'cri.'a'', May the •2'Mi. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 Lcnlulus, Proquw.itor and Proprcetor, to the 
 Consuls, the PrcBtors, the Trihuncs of the Peo- 
 ple, the Senate, and the Commons of Rome. 
 As soon as Uolabella had possessed himself of 
 Asia' by tlie most infamous and cruel act of trea- 
 A. 1)710 chery', I applied immediately to the 
 arniy in Macedonia under the command 
 of tl;c illustrious Marcus Brutus, as the nearest 
 assistance to which I could have recourse, in order 
 to recover this province as soon as jiossible to the 
 dominion of the commonwealth. But Dolabella 
 being apprehensive of my design, advanced with so 
 mucli rn})idity, that he had got out of these terri- 
 tories before it was possible that the forces I had 
 Bolicited could arrive. In his march, however, he 
 laid the whole country waste, seized upon the jiub- 
 lio money, and not only plundered the Roman 
 citizens of their effects, but most inhumanly sold 
 then; as slaves. I did not think it necessary, there- 
 fore, to defer my departure out of Macedonia till 
 the troops of Brutus should be ready. It appeared 
 to be most for the advantage of the republic, that 
 I should return with all expedition to the duties of 
 iiay post, in order to levy the remainder of the 
 public taxes, to collect the money I had deposited, 
 to inquire what part of it had been seized, and by 
 whose neglect : in a word, to transmit to you a full 
 and faithful account of the state in which I should 
 find the affairs of this province. \Mtli these views, 
 I embarked ; but as I was sailing among the Greek 
 islands, I received intelligence that Dolabella's 
 fleet lay off the coast of Lycia, and that the Rho- 
 dians had a considerable number of ships of war 
 ready to «ail I resolved, therefore, to put back to 
 Rhodes with the ships that attended me, and which 
 were now ioined by those under the command of 
 Pi..tiseus, the proqujestor ; a person whom I must 
 mention as most intimately united with me, not 
 only by the ties of friendship, but by the same 
 
 1 " Brutus, when he first left Italy, sailed directly foj 
 Athens, where he spent some time in concerting measures 
 how to make himself master of Greece and Macedonia, 
 whicli was the great design that he had in view. Here he 
 gathered about him all the young nobility and gentry of 
 Rome, who, for the opportunity of their education, had 
 been sent to this celebrated seat of learning ; but of them 
 all, he took the most notice of young Cicero. lie made 
 him, therefore, one of his lieutenants, though he was but 
 twenty years old ; gave him tlie command of his horse ; 
 and employed him in several cf)mmissions of great trust 
 and importance ; in all which the young man distinguished 
 hoth his courage and conduct." — Life of Cicero, p. 257. 
 
 r A city of I'aniphylia, in Asia Mi.ior, now called Pirai. 
 
 ' Asia Minor. See rem. », p. 493. 
 
 * See rtm. b, p. 573, 
 
 common sentiments towards the republic. I as. 
 sured myself that the Rhodians would give me 
 assistance, in the tirst place, from their regard to 
 the authority of your decree, by wliich Uolabella 
 is declared an enemy to iiis country ; and in the 
 next, as they stood engaged by a solemn treaty 
 renewed with us in the consulate of Marcus Mar- 
 cellus and Servius Sulpieius, to consider the enemies 
 of the republic, in all respects, as their own. But 
 I was greatly deceived in my expectation ; they 
 were so far from being inclined to strengthen my 
 fleet with any of their own ships, that they would 
 not suffer it to enter their harbour. They even 
 refused to fornish our soldiers with provisions and 
 water; and it was with difficulty 1 obtained permis- 
 sion myself to sail into their port with two small 
 vessels. However, I did not think proper to resent 
 this insult upon the rights and the majesty of the 
 Roman i)eo))le ; deeming it of more importance, in 
 the present conjuncture, to frustrate the designs of 
 Dolabella. F"or I had discovered, by some inter- 
 cepted letters, that it was his purpose, if he failed 
 in his atteinj)t upon Syria and Hgypt, (as fail I was 
 sure he must,) to proceed direirtly with his b;riid of 
 robbers and their ])lun(ler to Italy Accordiiiglv, 
 in view to this his scheme, he had jjressed, out of 
 the ports of Lycia, a considerable number of 
 transports, none of them less ihan fifty-six tons 
 burthen", arid these were strongly guarded by his 
 fleet. Being greatly alarmed, therefore, cinseiipt* 
 fathers, at this dangerous design, I resolved to bear 
 with the injurious treatment of the Rhodians, and 
 to submit to every milder expedient of giining 
 them over to our interest. For this purpose, I 
 suffered myself to be introduced into their senate 
 in the manner they thought proper ; whi-re I repre- 
 sented, in the strongest terms I was cajjable, the 
 danger to which the republic would be exposed, if 
 that infamous rebel should transport liis forces 
 into Italy. But I found them most perversely 
 disposed to imagine that the friends of the republic 
 were the weaker party ; that the general associntiou 
 in favour of our liberties was by no means volun- 
 tary ; that the senate would still patiently suffer 
 the insolence of Dolabella ; and that no man would 
 venture to vote him a public enemy. To be short, 
 they were more inclined to believe the false reports 
 that had been jiropagated by the disaffected, than 
 to credit my representations, though entirely agree- 
 able to truth. In conformity witli this disposition, 
 they had sent, before my arrival in the island, two 
 several embassies to Dolabella, notwithstanding his 
 late assassination of Trebonius, and the many 
 other flagitious acts which he committed in this 
 province. And this they did by an unexampled 
 violation of their laws, and contrary to the express 
 prohibitions of the magistrates who were then in 
 office. But whether this conduct was owing to 
 their fears for the territories they possess on the 
 continent, as they themselves allege, or whether it 
 
 " These vessels were much inferior to those employed 
 for the same purposes in our service, the largest of which 
 are of SVA) tons, and the smallest of 100. 
 
 » This appellation was at first given as a mark of dis- 
 tinction to those particular senators who were added by 
 Tarquinius Priscus, or by the people at the settling of the 
 commonwealth, to the hundred which originally compose/J 
 the senate as it .vas instituted by Romulus. But in after- 
 times it became a common title, which was promiscuously 
 made use of in all addresses to that great council of the 
 republic. — Manutius de Senat,
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 689 
 
 is to be imputed to the factious influence of a few 
 of their principal magistrates, who formerly treated 
 some of our illustrious countrymen with equal 
 indiirnity, I know not. This, however, is certain, 
 that I could not ]irevail with them to take any 
 measures to obviate an evil wiiicli it was very easy 
 for them to prevent : and all the arguments I could 
 use, either with resjiect to my own personal dan- 
 ger, or in regard to that which threatened tiie 
 republic, if this traitor with his banditti, after 
 being driven from Syria, should transport them- 
 selves into Italy, proved utterly ineffectual. It 
 was even suspected, that the magistrates themselves 
 amused us with various pretences of delay, till 
 they could send intelligence to Dolahella's fleet of 
 our approach. And, indeed, there were some 
 circumstances that greatly increased this suspicion, 
 particidarly that Sextius Marius, and Caius Titius, 
 the lieutenants of Dolabella, suddenly quitted the 
 fleet, and abandoned their transports, which had 
 cost them so much time and pains to collect. Be 
 that as it will, I pursued my voyage from Rhodes 
 towards Lycia, and falling in with tlie enemy, I 
 took all their transports, and have restored them 
 to their owners. By these means I have obstructed 
 what I so much feared, and have removed all ap- 
 prehensions of Dolabella's passing into Italy with 
 his rascal crew. I chased the enemy as far as Sida, 
 which is the utmost limit of my province ; where I 
 learned that part of them were separated, and that 
 the rest had steered in company together towards 
 Syra and the island of Cyprus. Having thus dis- 
 persed this squadron, and knowing that brave 
 commander and excellent patriot, the illustrious 
 Caius Cassius, had a considerable fleet in those 
 seas, I returned to the duties of my employment : 
 and it shall be my endeavour, conscript fathers, to 
 give both you and the republic full proofs of my 
 indefatigable zeal. To this end I shall e.xert my 
 utmost assiduity in collecting the public revenues, 
 which I shall transmit to you, together with all 
 my accounts, as expeditiously as possible. If I 
 sliould have time, likewise, to make a progress 
 through the province, in order to inquire into the 
 conduct of those with whom I intrusted the care 
 of the finances, I shall not fail to send a list of such 
 who shall appear to have been faithful to their 
 trust, as well as of those who, by voluntarily be- 
 traying it, have rendered themselves partners in 
 the guilt of Dolabella. Let me add, that if you 
 shall think proper to chastise these last according 
 to their demerits, the execution of your justice will 
 greatly strengthen my authority, and enable me, 
 with more facility, to raise and preserve the 
 remainder of the public taxes. In the meanwhile, 
 the better to secure the public revenue, and to pro- 
 tect this province from future insults, I have 
 formed (what, indeed, was extremely wanting) a 
 body of troops composed entirely of volunteers. 
 
 Since I wrote the above, about thirty .Asiatic 
 soldiers, who deserted from Dolabella in Syria, are 
 arrived in Pami)hylia. They relate that Dolabella 
 
 appeared before the walls of Antiochia, in Syria, 
 and fituliiig that the inhabitants had shut the city 
 gates against him, he made several attem(>ts to 
 enter by force, but was always repulsed with great 
 disadvantage. At length, having loat about a 
 hundred men, he retired in the night, and fled to- 
 wards Laodicea, leaving all his sick and wounded 
 behind him. They add, that the same night 
 almost the whole of his Asiatic troops deserted ; 
 eight hundred of which returned to .\ntiochia, and 
 surrendered themselves to the officers of the gar- 
 rison, which Cassius had left in that town ; the 
 rest (of which number these soldiers are) came 
 down into Cilicia by Mount Amanus : in fine, that 
 Cassius, witii his whole army, was reported to 
 have been but four days' march from Laodicea when 
 Dolabella retired towards that city. 1 am ))er- 
 suaded, therefore, that this most infamous villain 
 will meet with the punishment he deserves much 
 sooner than we expected. 
 
 LETTER XXVIIL 
 
 Lepidus,' Imperator and sovereign Ponlijf'^, to 
 the Senate and People of JRonie". 
 Heaven and eartii will bear me witness, con- 
 script fathers, that there is nothing 1 have at all 
 _,,, times more sincerely desired than the 
 
 A. U. /lO. ^- c 1-1 
 
 preservation ot our common liberties : 
 and I should soon have convinced you of this truth, 
 if Fortune had not forced me to renounce those 
 measures I purposed to pursue. My whole army, 
 indeed, expressed their usual tenderness towards 
 their fellow-countrymen, by a mutinous opposition 
 to my designs ; and, to own the truth, they abso- 
 lutely compelled me not to refuse my protection to 
 such a multitude of Roman citizens. I conjure 
 you then, conscript fathers, to judge of this aftair, 
 not by the suggestions of private resentment, but 
 by the interest of the commonwealth : nor lei it be 
 imputed as a crime to me and my army, that, 
 amidst our civil dissentions, we yielded to the 
 dictates of compassion and humanity. Be assured, 
 that by acting with an equal regard to the safety 
 and honour of all parties, you will best consult 
 both your own and your country's advantage. 
 Farewell. 
 From my camp, at Pons Argenteus, May the .snth. 
 
 ^^ The function of the Roman pontiffs was to give judg- 
 ment in all causes relating to religion, and to regulate the 
 festivals, sacrifices, and all other sacred institutions. The 
 sovereign pontiff, or superintendant of these ponlijices, was 
 one of the most honourable offices in the commonwealth. 
 
 ^ This letter was written by Lepidus to the senate, in 
 order to excuse the junction of his forces with those of 
 Antony, wliioh was effected the day before its date. l!ut 
 though he represents himself as merely passive in that 
 transaction, and to have been forced into it by a general 
 revolt of his troops ; yet it most evidently appears to have 
 been in consequence of a secret treaty which had been in 
 agitation during some months before, between him an(J 
 Antony.
 
 ilO 
 
 THE LETTERS OP MARCUS TQLLIUS CICERO 
 
 BOOK XV. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 To Plane us. 
 
 Though I am too well assured of the disposition 
 of your heart, to require any formal declarations of 
 your gratitude, yet I cannot l)ut confess 
 A.V.71 . ^i^^j. J fgggiygj your acknowledfjments 
 with great pleasure, as they afforded me tlie most 
 evident proof of the affection you bear me. I was 
 always, indeed, perfectly sensible of your friend- 
 ship ; but it never appeared to me in a stronger or 
 more advantageous light. 
 
 Your letter to the senate was extremely well 
 received, not only from the important account it 
 brought us of your wise and heroic measures, but 
 as it was greatly admired likewise for the strength 
 and elegance of its composition. Let it be your 
 earnest labour, my dear Plancus, to extinguish the 
 remains of this war, which if you should happily 
 effect, you will acquire the most consummate credit 
 and reputation. I wish all possible prosperity to 
 the republic ; yet, believe me, spent as I am with 
 my utmost efforts to preserve it from destruction, 
 I am scarce more solicitous for the liberties of my 
 country, than for the glory of my friend. I hope 
 that the immortal gods have placed within your 
 power a most favourable opportunity of increasing 
 your famr ; and let me entreat you to embrace it, 
 my dear Hancus, in the full persuasion that who- 
 ever shall destroy Antony, will have the honour of 
 terminating this most execrable and alarming war. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 Asiniiis Pollio y to Cicero. 
 
 It is owing to Lepidus, who detained my cou- 
 riers above a week, that I did not receive earlier 
 yj„ advice of the several actions near Mutina ; 
 though, indeed, I should be glad to have 
 been the last that was informed of this unhappy 
 news, if it were utterly out of my power to be of 
 any assistance in redressing its consequences. I 
 wish the senate had ordered me into Italy, when 
 they sent for Plancus and Lepidus ; for if I had 
 been present, the republic would not have received 
 this cruel wound. And though some, perhaps, 
 may rejoice in this event, from the great number cf 
 principal officers and veteran soldiers of the Caesar- 
 ian party who have perished, yet they will undoubt- 
 edly find reason to lament it, when they shall be 
 sensible of the terrible desolation it has brouglit 
 upon their country. For if what is related, con- 
 cerning the number of the slain, be in any degree 
 true, the flower Euid strength of our armies are 
 entirely cut off. 
 
 I was well aware of the great advantage it would 
 have proved to the republic, if I could have joined 
 Lepidus ; as I should have been able, especially 
 ■with the assistance of Plancus, to have dissipated 
 those doubts which occasioned his delay in declar- 
 ing for the senate. But the letters which I 
 
 7 See rtmt. ^ and ', p. 565-()6. 
 
 received from him being written (as you will per- 
 ceive by the copies I herewith transmit) in the 
 same s))irit with those speeches wliich, it is said, 
 he made to his army at Narbo ', I found it neces- 
 sary to act with some sort of artifice towards him, 
 if 1 hoped to obtain leave to march my troops 
 tiirough Ills province. I was apprehensive, like- 
 wise, if an engagement should happen before I 
 could execute my designs, that the known friend- 
 ship I had with Antony (though not superior, 
 in(h'cd, to that which Plancus entertained for him) 
 would give my enemies an occasion of misrepresent- 
 ing my intentions. For these reasons I despatched 
 two couriers from Gades », in the month of April, 
 by two different ships, with letters, not only to you, 
 and to Octavius, but to the consuls also, requesting 
 to be informed in what manner my services might 
 most avail the republic. But, if I am right in my 
 calculation, these ships did not sail till the very 
 day on which the battle was fought between Pansa 
 and Antony; as that was the soonest, I think, since 
 the winter, tliat these seas were navigable To 
 these reasons for not marching, I must add, that 
 I had so little apjjrehension of this civil war, that 
 I settled the winter-quarters of my troops in the 
 very remotest parts of Lusitania''. Both armies, 
 it should seem, were as eager to come to an action, 
 as if their greatest fears on each side were, lest 
 some less destructive expedient might be found of 
 composing our disturbances. However, if circum- 
 stances required so much precipitation, I must do 
 Hirtius the justice to acknowledge, that he con- 
 ducted himself with all the skill and courage of a 
 consummate general. 
 
 lam informed, by my letters from that part of 
 Gaul which is under the command of Lepidus, that 
 Pansa's whole army is cut to pieces, and that he 
 himself is since dead of his wounds. They add, 
 that the martial lei;ion is entirely destroyed, and 
 that Lucius Fabatus, Caius Peducaeus, and Deci- 
 mus Carfulenus, are among the number of the 
 slain. My intelligence farther assures me, that, 
 in the subsequent attack by Hirtius, both he and 
 Antony lost all their legions; that the fourth 
 legion, after having taken Antony's camp, was 
 engaged and defeated by the fifth, with terrible 
 slaughter : that Hirtius, together with Poniius 
 Aquila, and, as it is reported, Octavius likt^wise, 
 were killed in the action. If this should prove 
 true, (which the gods forbid,) I shall be very greatly 
 concerned. My advices farther import, that An- 
 tonv has, with great disgrace, abandoned the siege 
 of Mutina ; however, that he has ***' complete 
 regiments of horse still remaining, togetlier with 
 one which belongs to Publius Bagiennus, as also 
 a considerable number of disarmed soldiers ; that 
 Ventidius has joined him with the seventh, the 
 eighth, and the ninth legions ; and that Antony is 
 determined, if there should be no hopes of gaining 
 Lepidus, to have recourse to the last expedient, 
 and arm not only the provincials, but even the 
 
 * Narbonne, in Provence. 
 
 » Cadiz. i" Portugal. 
 
 c The number is omitted in the MSS.
 
 TO SEVERAL Oh HIS FRIENDS 
 
 59) 
 
 slaves ; ?n flne, ttat Lucius Antonius, after bavincj 
 plundered the city of Parma, has posted himself 
 upon the Alps. If these several particulars are 
 true, there is no time to be lost ; and every man 
 who wishes that the republic, or even the name of 
 the Roman people, may subsist, should imme- 
 diately, without waiting for the express orders of 
 the senate, contribute his utmost assistance to 
 extinguish these dreadful flames. I hear that 
 Decimus Brutus is at the head of only seventeen 
 cohorts, together with two incomplete legions of 
 new-raised troops, which had been levied by An- 
 tony. I doubt not, however, that the remains of 
 the forces commanded by Hirtius will join him. I 
 hope so at least ; as there is little, I think, to be 
 expected from any new recruits that may be raised ; 
 especially since nothing can be more dangerous 
 than to give Antony time to recover strength. 
 
 My next letters from Italy will determine the 
 plan of my operations ; and, as the com is now cut 
 down, and partly carried in, I shall be more at 
 liberty to execute them without obstruction from 
 the season of the year. In the mean time, let me 
 assure you, that I will neither desert, nor survive'', 
 the republic. It is a misfortune, however, that my 
 distance from the scene of action is so great, and 
 the roads so infested, that it is often six weeks, and 
 sometimes more, ere I can be informed of any 
 event that has happened. Farewell. 
 
 A. V. 710. 
 
 LETTER in. 
 
 Decimus Brutus to Cicero. 
 It affords me some consolation, in the midst of 
 my great concern *, that the world is at length 
 convinced that my fears were not without 
 just foundation '. I have sent, by this 
 express, a full account of the whole affair to the 
 senate. And now let theaa deliberate, if they 
 please, whether they shall call home their troops 
 from Africa and Sardinia, whether they shall send 
 for Marcus Brutus, and whether they shall order 
 the payment of my forces. But of this you may 
 be well assured, that unless they act, with regard 
 to these several articles, in the manner I have 
 pointed out in my letter, we shall ail of us be 
 exposed to the utmost danger. 
 
 I entreat you to be extremely cautious whom the 
 senate shall employ to conduct the troops that are 
 to reinforce me ; as it is a trust which requires 
 great fidelity and expedition. Farewell. 
 From my camp, June 3d. 
 
 <• Notwithstanding PoUio's pious resolutions of expiring 
 with the republic, he was contented to live on long after 
 its total destruction, and died in a good old age in the 
 court and favour of Augustus. It was not many months, 
 indeed, from the date of this letter, that he united with the 
 enemies of his country, by joining his troops with those of 
 Antony and Lepidus. — Auct. Dial, de Caus. Corrupt. 
 Eloquent. 
 
 • Occa-sioned by the treachery of Lepidus, in having 
 deserted the cause of the republic and joined himself to 
 Antony. This letter appears to have been ^v^itten a few 
 days after that event, being dated the 3d of Jime ; and the 
 junction between the two armies of Lepidus and Antony 
 having been effected on the 29th of May. 
 
 ' See the 11th letter of th* preceding book, to which 
 this oecmM to allude. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To Decimus Brutus P. 
 
 May every god confound that most infamous of 
 
 all human beings, the execrable Segulius ! For 
 
 do you imagine, my friend, that he has 
 
 A. V. 710. ^^jj ^jjjg • jjg j.^jg -jg jj^i^g [j^jj. cggsar, 
 
 or to you ? Be assured he has related it to every 
 mortal that would give him the hearing. I am 
 much obliged to you, however, for informing me of 
 tills contemptible report ; as it is a very strong 
 instance, my dear Brutus, of the share you allow 
 me in your friendship. 
 
 As to what he mentioned concerning the com- 
 plaints of the veterans, that you and Caesar are left 
 out of the commission for dividing the lands, I sin- 
 cerely wish I had, likewise, been excluded from so 
 troublesome an office. But it is by no means to 
 be imputed to me, that you were not both nomi- 
 nated ; on the contrary, I moved that all our gene- 
 rals should be included. But the clamours of 
 those who always endeavoured to obstruct your 
 honours, carried it against me ; and you were both 
 excepted, in opposition to my warmest efforts. 
 Unheeded then by me, let Segulius propagate his 
 impotent calumnies ! For all that the man means 
 is nothing more than to repair his broken fortunes. 
 Not that he can be charged with having dissipated 
 his patrimony ; for patrimony he never had. He 
 has only squandered in luxury what he acquired by 
 infamy. 
 
 You may be perfectly at ease, my dear and ex- 
 cellent Brutus, with regard to those fears which 
 you so generously entertain upon my account, at 
 the same time that you feel none, you tell me, upon 
 your own Be assured I shall expose myself to no 
 dangers which prudence can prevent; and, as to 
 those against which no precaution can avail, I am 
 little solicitous. High, indeed, would my presump- 
 tion be, were I to desire to be privileged beyond 
 the common lot of human nature. 
 
 The advice you give me not to suffer my fears to 
 lead me into greater dangers than those they would 
 avoid, supplies me at once with a proof both of 
 your judgment and your friendship ; but the caution 
 is altogether unnecessary. The truth of it is, dis- 
 tinguished as you are by a fortitude of mind which 
 renders you incapable of fear upon any occasion, 
 yet there is no man who approaches nearer to you 
 in that quality than myself. Nevertheless, I shall 
 always be upon my guard, though I shall never be 
 afraid. Indeed, if I should have any reason, will 
 it not be wholly owing, my dear Brutus, to your- 
 self ? For were I of a disposition apt to take 
 alarm, yet I should be perfectly composed, in the 
 confidence of that protection I shall receive from 
 your ajiproaching consulate ; especially as the 
 world is no less sensible than I am of the singular 
 share I enjoy of your affection. 
 
 I agree entirely with your opinion concerning 
 the four legions, as also that both you and Ceesar 
 should have the distribution of those estates you 
 mention. This is an office on which some of my 
 colleagues had cast a very wistful eye ; however, I 
 have disappointed their longing, by rese rving it 
 
 g This letter is an answer to the 23d of the foregoing 
 book, and was written before any of the letters which give 
 an account of .Antony's being received by Lepidus had come 
 to Cicero's hands.
 
 6'J2 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 wholly for you and Cics.-ir. Tn ttie mean time, if 
 any occurrence should arise tiiat requires particu- 
 lar secrecy, I shall observe your directions, and 
 communicate it to you by one of my own domestics. 
 Farewell. 
 
 Jiuic tliu 4th. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 Planctis to Cicero. 
 
 I SHALL never regret to undergo the greatest 
 dangers in the cause of my country, provided, my 
 _. dear Cicero, that whatever happens to 
 myself, I may not justly be accused of 
 temerity. But I should not scruple to confess 
 that I liad been guilty of an imprudence, if I had 
 ever acted in reliance upon the sincerity of Lepidus. 
 Too easy a disjiosition to give credit to fair j)re- 
 tences, cannot so properly l)e called a. fault as an 
 error : but an error into which the noblest minds 
 are generally most liable to fall. It was not, iiow- 
 ever, from a mistake of this nature that 1 had 
 lately well-nigh been deceived : for the character 
 of Lepidus I perfectly well knew. It was entirely 
 owing to a certain sensibility of what my detractors 
 might say : a quality, I will freely acknowledge, 
 particularly prejudicial in the affair of war. I was 
 apprehensive, if I remained in my camp, that 
 those who are inclined to misconstrue my actions, 
 might represent me as the occasion of the war 
 being protracted, by obstinately indulging my 
 resentment against Lepidus: and, therefore, I ad- 
 vanced almost within sight of him and Antony. 
 I encamped, indeed, at no greater distance from 
 them tlian forty miles, that I might be able, as 
 circumstances should require, either speedily to 
 join the array of Lepidus, or safely to retreat with 
 my own. In marking out my camp, I chose a 
 spot of ground that gave me the advantage of 
 having a large river in my front, which would 
 take up some time in passing, and that lay cnn- 
 tiguous, likewise, to the country of the Vocontii'': 
 who, I was sure, would favour my retreat. Wlien 
 Lepidus found himself disappointed of what he so 
 much wished, and that there was no hopes of my 
 approaching nearer, he immediately threw off the 
 mask ; and on the 29th of May he joined Antony. 
 The combined armies moved the same day in 
 order to invest my camp ; and they had actually 
 advanced within twenty miles before I received 
 advice of their junction. However, I struck ray 
 tents with so much expedition, that, by the favour 
 of the gods, I had the happiness to escape them. 
 My retreat was conducted with so much good 
 order, that no part of my biiggage. nor even a 
 single man, was either le!t behind or intercepted 
 by these incensed villains. On the 4th of this 
 month I repassed the Isara with my whole army : 
 after which I broke down the bridge I had thrown 
 across that river. I took this precaution, that my 
 troops might have time to refresh themselves, as 
 well as to give my colli ague' an opportunity of 
 coming up to me : which I imagine he will be 
 able to effect in three days from the date of this 
 letter. 
 
 I must always acknowledge the zeal and fidelity 
 
 ^ A people of Narbonensian Gaul. 
 * l/ecimus Brutus. 
 
 which Laterensis has shown to the republic, in his 
 negotiations between Lepidus and myself: but it 
 is certain that his great partiality towards Lepidus 
 prevented him from discerning the dangers into 
 which I have been led. However, as soon as he 
 discovered how grossly he had been imposed upon, 
 he attempted to turn that sword against his own 
 breast, which with much more justice had been 
 plunged in the heart of Lepidus. Hut he was pre- 
 vented from completing his j)urpose : and it is 
 said (though I by no means mention it as a cer- 
 tainty) that the wound he has given himself is not 
 mortal-*. 
 
 My es(!ape from these traitors has proved an 
 extreme mortification to them : as they marched 
 to attack me with the same unrelenting fury which 
 instigates them against their country. Some late 
 circumstances ])articularly contributed to inflame 
 their resentment. I had frequently and warmly 
 urged Lepidus to extinguish this civil war : 1 had 
 disapproved of the conferences that were holden 
 with the enemy : I had refused to see the lieute- 
 nants whom Antony deputed to me under the 
 j)assports of Lepidus : and had intercepted Catius 
 Vestinus, whom the former had sent express to the 
 latter. But it is with pleasure I reflect, that the 
 more earnestly they wished to get me into their 
 hands, the more they suffer in the disap]iointment. 
 
 Continue, my dear Cicero, to employ the same 
 vigorous efforts you have hitherto exerted, that we 
 who are in arms, for the defence of the republic, 
 may have suitable honours paid to our services. 
 In the mean time, I wish that Caesar would join 
 us with those brave troops he commands ; or, if 
 his affairs will not permit him, that, at least, they 
 might be sent under the conduct of some other 
 general : for most certainly his own personal 
 interest is at stake''. The whole force of the dis- 
 affected party is united against our country : and 
 shall we not put forth our utmost strength in its 
 defence ? As for what concerns myself, I will 
 venture to assure you, that if you at Rome are not 
 wanting on your parts, I will abundantly perform 
 everything that can be expected on mine. 
 
 The obligations I am continually receiving from 
 your h:inds, endear you to me every day more 
 and more ; at the same time that they animate me 
 ti) act in such a manner as not to forfeit, in any 
 degree, your esteem and affection. 
 
 1 will only add my wishes, that I were able in 
 
 person to give you such proofs of my gratitude as 
 
 might afford you greater reason to rejoice in the 
 
 good offices you have conferred upon me. Farewell. 
 
 Ctilaro (in the frontiers of the AUobroges', 
 
 June the fith. 
 
 i It proved otherwise, ani the senate, in honour of hia 
 patriotism, not only decreed him a public funeral, but 
 ordered a statue to be erected to his memory. — Uio, p. 324. 
 
 k OctMVinswas at this time secretly carryini? on a treaty 
 w it[i Lepidus and Antony, which shortly after ended in 
 an alliance, wliich every reader is acquainted with, under 
 the name of the Triumvirate. 
 
 1 A people of the Narbonensian Gaul, in which CularOi 
 now called GrenubU, was situated.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS, 
 
 693 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 To Decimus Brutus. 
 
 To tell you the truth™, I was once inclined to 
 be somewhat angry at the shortness of your letters : 
 -jQ but 1 am now so well reconciled to your 
 concise manner, that I condemn my own 
 as downright loquacity, and shall make your epis- 
 tles the models of mine. How short, yet how 
 expressive are you when you tell me, that *' all 
 things go well with you, and that yon shall endea- 
 vour to render them still better; that Lepidus 
 seems favourably disposed ; and that we have 
 everything to expect from our three armies"!" 
 Were I ever so full of fears, these significant sen- 
 tences would banish them all. But 1 exert the 
 spirit you recommend ; and, indeed, if, at the 
 time when you were closely blocked up in Mutina, 
 my hopes, nevertheless, were fi.\ed entirely upon 
 you, how much higher, think you, must they be 
 raised now .' 
 
 T should be glad, my dear Brutus, to resign to 
 you my post of observation, if I might do so 
 without incurring the censure of deserting it. As 
 to what you mentioned of continuing in Italy till 
 you should hear from me, I do not disapprove of 
 it, if the motions of the enemy should not call you 
 elsewhere ; as tliere are many points upon the 
 carpet at Rome, which may render it prudent for 
 you not to remove to a farther distance. But, at 
 all events, if your presence here may prove a mean 
 of terminating the war, it is inidoubtedly the first 
 and principal scheme you should have in view. 
 
 The senate has decreed the first money that 
 could be raised for the payment of your troops. 
 Servius is extremely your friend ; and you may 
 always depend upon me. Farewell. 
 June the 8tU. 
 
 A. u. 710. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 Asinius Pollio to Cicero. 
 Balbus", my qutestor, has withdrawn from 
 "Gades with very considerable effects in his hands, 
 which he had received of the public taxesP, 
 consisting of a large quantity of uncoined 
 gold, a much larger of silveri, together vrith a great 
 sum of ready money ; and what adds to his iniquity 
 is, that he has not discharged even the pay of the 
 troops ^ In his flight he was detained three days, 
 by contrary winds, at Calpe^, — from whence, how- 
 ■ever, he sailed on the 1st of this month, and has 
 
 '» When Cicero wrote this letter, which is an answer to 
 the 24th of the preceding book, [see p. 586,] he had not yet 
 received the news of Antony's junction with Lepidus. 
 
 n Those of Decimus Brutus, Plancus, and Octavius. 
 
 He was nephew to Lucius Cornelius Balbus, the great 
 friend and favourite of Caesar, and of whom frequent men- 
 tion has been made in the preceding letters. 
 
 P The quaestor was receiver-general of the provincial 
 taxes. 
 
 1 The province of Spain abounded in valuable mines of 
 every sort, particularly in those of silver and gold, the 
 proprietors of which paid a certain proportion, to the 
 government, of tlie pure ore which these mines produced. 
 — Strab. iii. : Burman. de Vectigal. Pop. Rom. Dissert, 
 p. H17. 
 
 ^ Tlio payment of the forces was a part of the business 
 loelonging to the provincial qua;stors. 
 » Gibraltar. 
 
 transported himself, together with his treasure, 
 into the dominions of Bogud, king of Mauritania'. 
 But whether the jiresent prevailing reports" will 
 bring him back to Gades or carry him to Rome I 
 know not ; for I hear that his resolutions vary with 
 every different express that arrives. But, besides 
 the robberies and the extortions he has committed 
 in this province, and the cruelties he has exercised 
 towards our allies, be affected, in several instances, 
 to imitate (as he himself used to boast) the actions 
 of Caesar. Accordingly, on the last day of the 
 games which he exhibited at Gades, he presented 
 Herennius Gallus, a comedian, with the <;oldeii 
 ring, and conducted him to one of the fourteen 
 benches of the theatre which he had appropriated 
 to those of the equestrian order. He likewise 
 continued himself in the supreme magistracy of 
 Gades by his own single authority, and at two 
 immediately successive assemblies of the people he 
 nominated for the two next following years such 
 of his creatures whom he thought proper to succeed 
 him in the government of that city. He also re- 
 called from exile, not indeed those unfortunate men 
 who were banished on account of the present com- 
 motions, but those infamous rebels who were con- 
 cerned in the sedition which was raised in Gades 
 during the proconsulate of Sextus "^'arrus^, and in 
 which all the members of their council were either 
 assassinated or expelled. Thus far he had Caesar 
 for his model ; but, in the instances I am going to 
 mention, he exceeded even Ca;sar himself. He 
 caused a play to be acted at the public games upon 
 the subject of his embassy to Lucius Lentulus", 
 the proconsul ; and the good man was so affected 
 with the remembrance of those transactions which 
 the scenes of this drama recalled to his mind, that 
 he melted into tears. At the gladiatorial games, he 
 gave a specimen of his cruelty with regard to one 
 Fadius, who had served in Pompey's army. This 
 man had twice, it seems, voluntarily entered the 
 lists in combats of this kind ; but upon the present 
 occasion he refused to fight, though peremptorily 
 required by Balbus, and accordingly threw himself 
 upon the protection of the populace. But the 
 
 ' One of the most considerable kingdoms in ancient 
 Africa, comprehending those of Fez and Morocco, together 
 with part of Algiers and Billedulgerid. Bogud, the prince 
 of this country, had, in the late civil wars, favoured and 
 assisted Cjesar, by whom he had been greatly distin- 
 guished, as he afterwards supported Antony in the war 
 between him and Octavius. It is probable, therefore, that 
 Balbus withdrew with these treasures, not in order to 
 convert them to his private use, but to employ them in 
 the cause of Antony.— Ilirt. De Bell. Alex. 59 ; De Bell. 
 Afrie. 2.5. 
 
 " Concerning the junction of Lepidus with Antony. 
 
 ^ It does not appear who this person was, nor at what 
 time he presided as governor of Spain. 
 
 w He was consul in the year 7<'4, wlien the civil war 
 broke out, in which he took part with Pompey. He 
 accompanied that general in his retreat to Brundiiiuni, 
 and from thence passed over with him into Greece. But 
 before Lentulus left Italy Balbus was employed by Cassar 
 (as Manutius observes) to prevail with him to return to 
 Home. Balbus afterwards (as appears by a passage which 
 the same conmientator cites from Paterculus) executed a 
 much more difficult commission of this kind, at the siego 
 of Dyrrachium, where he undertook to carry some farther 
 overtures from Caesar to Lentulus, who was in that garri- 
 son, and which he executed with equal address and intre- 
 pidity. It was this adventure, it is probable, that formed 
 tlie subject of the play which Pollio here mentions-. — A^ 
 Att. viii. 11 ; VeU. Pat. ii. r.\. 
 QQ
 
 !)4 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 nv)1) having pelted Balbus with stones when he 
 aitt-niptcd to recover him out of their hands, he 
 let loose upon them a party of his Gallic horse. 
 Balljus having by these means got the unfortunate 
 Fadiu!^ into his possession, ordered him to be fixed 
 in a ))it which was dug for that ]mrpose in tlie 
 place where the games were exhibited, and caused 
 him in this manner to be burned alive. This was 
 performed soon after Balbus had dined", who was 
 present during the whole execution, walking about 
 bare-footed, with his hands behind him and his 
 tunic loose, in the most unconcerned and indecent 
 manner ; and while the unhappy sufferer cried out 
 that he was a Roman citizen, " Why do you not 
 run now (said the insulting and relentless Balbus) 
 to implore the protection of the people.'" But 
 this was not the single cruelty he exercised. He 
 exposed, likewise, several Roman citizens to wild 
 beasts ; particularly a certain noted auctioneer in 
 the city of Hispalisy,' — and this for no other reason 
 but because the poor man was excessively deformed. 
 Such is the monster with whom I had the misfor- 
 tune to be connected ! But more of him when 
 we meet. In the mean time (to turn to a point of 
 much greater importance) I should be glad the 
 senate would determine in what manner they would 
 have me act. 1 am at the head of three brave 
 legions, one of which Antony took great pains to 
 draw over to his interest at the commencement of 
 the war. For this purpose he caused it to be sig- 
 nified to them, that the very first day they should 
 enter into his camp every soldier should receive 
 five hundred denarii% besides which, he also as- 
 sured them that if he obtained the victory they 
 should receive an equal share of the spoils with his 
 own troops ; a reward which all the world knows 
 •would have been without end or measure. These 
 promises made a deep impression upon them ; and 
 it was with great difficulty I kept them from desert- 
 ing. I should not, indeed, have been able to have 
 effected this if 1 had ncit cantoned them in distant 
 quarters, — as some of the cohorts, notwithstanding 
 they were thus separated, had the insolence to 
 mutiny. Antony endeavoured, likewise, to gain 
 the rest of the legions by immense offers. Nor 
 was Lepidus less importunate with me to send him 
 the thirtieth legion, which he solicited both by his 
 own letters and by those which he caused Antony 
 to write. The senate will do me the justice, there- 
 fore, to believe, as no advantages could tempt me 
 to sell my troops, nor any dangers which I had 
 reason to apprehend if Antony and Lepidus should 
 prove conquerors, could prevail with me to diminish 
 
 ^ There seems to have been some peculiar indecorum in 
 this circumstance, though it is not very easy to determine 
 V'herein it precisely consisted. It may be that public 
 executions, at this time of the day, were thought indecent ; 
 it is certain, at least, that it was deemed improper to hold 
 courts of judicature for the trial of criminal matters in an 
 afternoon. For Plutarch takes notice that the younger 
 Cato was accused of this practice during his prsetorship, 
 and thinks it necessary, for the credit of that illustrious 
 Roman, to deny the truth of the charge ; or, perhaps, 
 PoUio might point out this circumstance as a mark of 
 uncommon cruelty of disposition in Balbus, who could 
 rise from table with a temper of mind so different from 
 that which pleasures of this sort are naturally apt to 
 inspire, and turn from a cheerful meal to a scene of the 
 utmost horror and barbarity. — Plut. in Vit. Caton. Uticen. 
 
 y The city of Seville, in Spain. 
 
 * About i4l. sterling. 
 
 their number, that I was thus tenacious of my 
 army for no other purpose but to employ it in the 
 service of the republic". And let the readiness 
 with which 1 have obeyed all the orders I received 
 from the senate be a jiroof that I would have com- 
 )ilied in the same manner with every other they 
 should have thought proper to have sent me. I 
 have preserved the tranquillity of this province, I 
 have maintained my authority over the army, and 
 iiave never once moved beyond the limits of my 
 own jurisdiction. 1 must add, likewise, that I have 
 never employed any soldier, either of my own 
 troops or those of my auxiliaries, in carrying any 
 despatches whatsoever ; and I have constantly 
 punished such of my cavalry whom I have found 
 at any time attempting to desert. I shall think 
 these cares sufficiently rewarded in seeing the 
 peace and security of the republic restored. But if 
 the majority of the senate, and the commonwealth 
 indeed in general, had known me for what I am, 
 1 should have been able to have rendered them 
 much more important services. 
 
 I have sent you a copy of the letter which I 
 wrote to Balbus just before he left this province;, 
 and if you have any curiosity to read his play, 
 which I mentioned above, it is in the hands of my 
 friend Gallus Cornelius, to whom you may apply 
 for it. Farewell. 
 Corduha, June the 8th. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 To Plan CHS. 
 
 All our hopes are entirely fixed (and fixed, too, 
 with the approbation of the gods themselves) upon 
 A u "10 y°" ^"*^ 5'°^*^ colleague''. The perfect 
 unanimity, therefore, that appears, by 
 your several letters to the senate, to subsist between 
 you, affords great satisfaction, not only to that 
 assembly in particular, but to the whole city in 
 general. 
 
 As to what you wrote to me concerning the 
 commission for dividing the lands, if that affair 
 had been brought before the senate I should have- 
 been the first to have proposed the most honourable 
 decree in your favour. But the slowness of their 
 deliberations in the business which was then under 
 their consideration, together with other obstruc- 
 tions which attended their debates, having prevented 
 them from coming to any resolution, both your 
 brother and myself were of opinion that it was 
 most advisable to proceed upon the former decree; 
 and I take it for granted that he has acquainted 
 you to whom it is owing that it was not drawn up 
 in the manner we proposed. But if, in this in- 
 stance or in any other, your inclinations should 
 not be entirely gratified, be well persuaded, how- 
 ever, that you are in such high esteem with all the- 
 friends of the republic that there is no sort of 
 honours they are not disposed to confer upon you. 
 I wait with great impatience for an express from 
 you, as I expect it will bring us the news I most 
 wish. Farewell. 
 
 * See rct}i. <^; p. 591. 
 b Decimus Brutus.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 69S 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To Corni/icius'. 
 
 Is it really so, my friend ; and have I never 
 written to you but when I had occasion to recom- 
 ^.„ mend the cause of some litigious suitor ? 
 I confess I have frequently troubled you 
 with letters of this kind ; but must you not thank 
 your own obliging partiality towards me, if the 
 world is iiersuaded tliat no recommendation has so 
 much weight with you as mine ? Tell me, however, 
 when did I omit writing, if your family gave me 
 notice of an opportunity ? In fact, nothing affords 
 me greater satisfaction, now that I cannot converse 
 with you in person, than this intercourse of letters. 
 I only lament that my public occupations prevent 
 me from corresponding with you as frequently as I 
 ■wish. If I had more leisure, indeed, I should not 
 only provoke you to enter with me into a com- 
 merce of this epistolary kind, but I should chal- 
 lenge you with whole volumes of my works ; a 
 challenge which I ought to have received from 
 you, as your engagements, I imagine, are not 
 altogether so numerous as mine. But if I am 
 mistaken in this supposition, how shall I acquit 
 you of being a little unreasonable, in expecting 
 frequent letters on my part, when you have so 
 seldom leisure to send me any on yours ? If I 
 have hitherto been engaged in the most important 
 occupations, as holding myself bound to exert all 
 my cares in the defence of the re()ublic, I may still 
 more strongly urge that plea at present. For as a 
 relapse is always more dangerous than a first 
 attack, so the rekindling of this war, after it was 
 aJmost totally extinguished, demands a double 
 portion of my labour and vigilance. But, not to 
 enter farther into this subject, believe me, my dear 
 Comificius, I should think myself most inexcusably 
 ■'iidolent, not to say ill-mannered, were I capable 
 jf suffering you to gain the superiority over me in 
 any instance of friendship. That I enjoy yours, is 
 a point of which I never once had the least doubt : 
 but the conversation I have lately had with Cherip- 
 pus, has rendered it still more evident. As agree- 
 able as he always was to my taste, I could not but 
 look upon him, in his last visit, with more than 
 ordinary pleasure, as he not only acquainted me 
 with the sentiments of your heart, in the message 
 he delivered to me, but, as he represented, at the 
 same time, a lively image of your very air and 
 countenance. You had no reason then to be ap- 
 prehensive that I should be displeased at your 
 having sent me the same common letter which you 
 addressed to all your friends in general. If I de- 
 sired a more particular memorial, it was merely 
 from the affection of my heart, and by no means as 
 a point upon which I insisted. 
 
 The loss of both our consuls ""i together with the 
 incredible scarcity of money in the treasury, puts 
 it out of my power to ease you of your great and 
 continual expense in your military preparations. 
 We are trying all expedients in order to raise sup- 
 plies for discharging those donatives we promised 
 to the troops that behaved well : and I imagine 
 that we shall at last be obliged to have recourse to 
 a tax^. 
 
 » See rem. ^, p. 537. 
 
 <* Hirtius and Pansa. 
 
 • " This was sv sort of capitation tax, proportioned to 
 
 I am persuaded there is no truth in the report 
 concerning Attius Dionysius : as Stratorius has 
 not mentioned a word to me upon that subject. 
 .With regard to Publius Lucceius : be well per- 
 suaded that his interest is no less my concern than 
 it is yours : for, indeed, he is extremely my friend. 
 I could not, however, prevail with the managers 
 of the auction to adjourn the sale ; their engage- 
 ments and their oath oblige them, they assure me, 
 to the contrary. I would by all means, therefore, 
 advise him to hasten into Italy: and if the sum- 
 mons I sent him some time since had any weight, 
 he will be at Rome when you read this letter. As 
 to the affairs you mention, and particularly the 
 money, I find you were not aj)prised of Pansa's 
 death when you wrote your letter, by the hopes 
 you express that, through my interest, he would 
 comply with your request. And most undoubtedly 
 he would, had he been living ; for he held you in 
 great esteem. But as he is dead, I do not see that 
 anything can now be done in thi!& matter. 
 
 I approve, in general, of your measures with 
 respect to VenuUius, Latinus, and Horatius : and 
 particularly, that you have deprived them of their 
 lictors. But I am not altogether so well pleased, 
 that, in order to render this circumstance the less 
 uneasy to them, you have taken away these attend- 
 ants likewise from your own lieutenants. Those who 
 deserve the highest honours ought not to have 
 been thus levelled with a set of men, who certainly 
 merit the utmost disgrace : and if they will not 
 depart from your province, in obedience to the 
 decree of the senate, I think you should use com- 
 pulsory methods for that purpose. 
 
 I have nothing farther to add in answer to your 
 last letter (of which 1 received a duplicate) but 
 that I hope you will be persuaded, your credit and 
 reputation are no less sacred to me than my own'^. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To Decimus Brutus. 
 
 Though I always receive your letters with the 
 highest satisfaction, yet I am much better pleased 
 ^. , that you enijiloyed your colleague Plancus 
 to make an excuse to me, than if you had 
 interrupted your very important occupations by 
 writing yourself. He has executed your commission 
 very fully : and nothing can render your character 
 more truly amiable to nie, than the account he 
 gives of your zeal and diligence. 
 
 The junction of your forces with those of Plan- 
 cus, and the harmony with which you act together, 
 as appears by your common letter to the senate, 
 was extremely agreeable, both to that assembly, 
 and to the people in general. Wliat remains then, 
 
 each man's substance, but liad wholly been disused in 
 Romefrom the conquest nf M.acednnia by Paulus.iEniilius, 
 wliich furnished money and runts suflficient to ease the city 
 ever after of that burthen, till tlic necessity of the present 
 times obliged them to renew it." — Val. Max. iv. 3 ; Life of 
 Cicero, p. 283. 
 
 f This letter closes the correspondence between Cicero 
 and Comificius. The latter, not long afterwards, lost his 
 life in bravely defending his province against the troops of 
 Sextius, who claimed it in the name of Octavius, by virtue 
 of the general division of the Roman dominions that had 
 been agreed upon between the triumvirs. — Appian. D9 
 BeU. Civ. p. 620. 
 
 QQ3
 
 69o 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 A. U. 710. 
 
 my dear Brutus, Iwt to conjure you to persevere in 
 the same unanimity, anil to endeavour, 1 will not 
 say to excel others, but (what is far worthier of 
 your ambition) to rise above yourself ? I need add 
 no more : esjjccially as I am writiiis to one whose 
 epistolary conciseness I purpose to imitate. 
 
 I wait with impatience for your next desjjatches, 
 as I imaijine they will brinj; us such accounts as are 
 agreeable to our wishes. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 To Furnius^. 
 
 When your letter assured me that it was abso- 
 lutely necessary either to slight Narbonensian 
 Gaul'', or to attack the enemy with great 
 disadvantage, I was glad to find that the 
 former had been chosen: as I much more dreaded 
 the consequences of coming to an engagement \\\wn 
 vsnequal terms. What you mentioned likewise con- 
 cerning the harmony between Flanciis and IJrutus, 
 afforded me great pleasure ; for it is a circum- 
 stance upon which I found my i)rincipal hopes of 
 our success. 
 
 Notwithstanding you modestly refer it to time 
 to inform me to whom we owe that general zeal 
 which appears in your province' ; be assured it is a 
 point of which I am already jjcrfectly well apprised. 
 I could not, tlierefore, but read the latter part of 
 your letter, which, in all other respects, was ex- 
 tremely agree ible to me, with some concern. You 
 there tell me, that if the election for sediles is fixed 
 for the month of August, you will soon be at Rome ; 
 but if it is already over, you will be there much 
 sooner : " for wherefore," you ask, " should you 
 weakly continue to hazard your life, without the 
 prospect of any recompense?" O ! my friend, is 
 it possible that you, who judge so well concerning 
 the interests of others, should be thus a stranger to 
 your own ? But, as I am sensible of the strong 
 impulse of your heart towards true glory, I cannot 
 believe that these are its genuine sentiments ; at 
 least, if they be, I must condemn my own judg- 
 ment as well as yours, for being so greatly deceived 
 in your character. Shall the ambition of antici- 
 pating a slight and common honour, (for so I must 
 call the office you have in view, if obtained in the 
 manner by which so many others have risen to it 
 before you,) induce you to withdraw fi'om a theatre 
 where you are acting with such universal and well- 
 merited applause ? Shall it be a question with 
 you, whether to offer yourself as a candidate now, 
 or at the next election for praetors ; and is it none, 
 how you shall deserve every illustrious distinction 
 which the commonwealth can bestow .'' Are you a 
 stranger to the exalted reputation you have ac- 
 quired .' Or do you consider it as of no value, 
 thus to rise in the esteem of your country .■' If 
 you are ignorant, indeed, of the high credit in 
 which you stand with the public, it is an ignorance 
 for which w^, who are your friends, are undoubt- 
 edly to be blamed. But if you already know it, 
 tell me, my Furnius, can any prsetorship afford 
 you a satisfaction superior to what you feel in dis- 
 chargirig the duty you owe to your country, and in 
 
 S See rem. y, p. .'584. 
 
 h In whioli province were the combined armies of 
 Antony and Lcpiiliis. 
 
 • Transalpine Gaul, in which province Furnius was 
 lieutenant to Plancus. 
 
 reaping immortal glory .' an acquisition ■which, 
 though few indeed endeavour to deserve, yet 
 every man most certainly wishes to enjoy. 
 Calvisius, who is much your friend, and a man of 
 great judgment also, frequently joins with me ia 
 i:oniplaining of you upon this article. However, 
 since you ari; so desirous to attain this office, I 
 shall endeavour that the election may be deferred 
 till the month of January ; as this adjournment 
 will, upon many accounts I think, prove for the 
 advantage likewise of tlie republic. Farewell : 
 and may victory attend you ! 
 
 LETTER Xll. 
 
 To Cuius Cassius. 
 I 1 MAG INK you are informed, by the public 
 journals, which I know are duly transmitted to 
 . ,. >ji,i you, of the infamous coiuluct of that most 
 
 A. L. /iU. *. , , . . 
 
 light and inconstant man, your relation 
 LepidusJ. We are again, therefore, involved in 
 a war, which we flattered ourselves was entirely 
 over ; and all our hopes are now placed upon 
 Decimus'' and Plancus; or, to speak more truly 
 indeed, upon Brutus' and upon you. For it is 
 from you two tliat we expect, not only a present 
 assistance, in case any misfortune (which the gods 
 avert !) should attend our arms, but a firm and 
 lasting re-establishment of our liberties. 
 
 The reports in regard to Dolabella'", are, in all 
 respects, agreeable to our wishes, excepting only 
 that they want confirmation. In the mean time, 
 be assured, that the oi)inion and expectations of 
 the world concerning you, are such as evidently 
 show that they look uj)0u you as a truly great 
 man. Let this animate you to the noblest achieve- 
 ments, in the full persuasion that there is nothing 
 so considerable which your country does not hope 
 to obtain by your courage and conduct. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 To the same. 
 
 I TAKE example from the conciseness of your 
 letters, to shorten mine : though, to say truth, 
 nothing occurs at present that can tempt 
 ■*■"■' ■ me to lengthen them. For, as to our 
 transactions, I well know you are acquainted with 
 them by the public journals ; and we are perfectly 
 ignorant of everything that concerns yours. One 
 would imagine, indeed, that all communication 
 were cut off between us and Asia : for we have 
 received no intelligence from thence, excepting 
 only some uncertain, though indeed repeated, 
 rumours in relation to the defeat of Dolabella. 
 
 We imagined that the flames of this civil war 
 were entirely extinguished ; but, in the midst of 
 this pleasing persuasion, we were suddenly and 
 greatly alarmed by the conduct of your relation 
 Lepidus. Be assured, therefore, that the hopes of 
 the republic are wholly fixed upon you and your 
 army. We have, it is true, a very powerful body 
 of troops in this part of the world ; nevertheless, 
 your presence here is extremely necessary, to give 
 our affairs all the success we wish. I will not say 
 
 J Lepidus and Cassius were married to the two sisters of 
 Marcus I5rutus. 
 k Brutus. ' Marcus, 
 
 " That lie was defeated by Cassius.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 597 
 
 that we have no hopes of recovering our liberties ; 
 but I must say our hopes are small. Such as they 
 are, however, they are entirely founded upon your 
 future consulate". Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Cassius°, Qu<Bstor,to Cicero. 
 Thh preservation of the republic, by the victory 
 we have lately obtained, gives me inexpressible joy, 
 as the honours that have been paid my 
 
 A U 710 
 
 ■ friendP afford me likewise a very sen- 
 
 sible pleasure. I cannot sufficiently indulge my 
 admiration, when I consider you as thus rising 
 above yourself in glory, and that the consular'' 
 should shine forth even with more lustre than the 
 consul. Some uncommon privilege of fate most 
 certainlv attends your patriot virtues, as we have 
 often I am sure experienced. How else should 
 your single eloquence be of more avail than the 
 arms of all our generals? You have a second time, 
 indeed, rescued the well-nigh vanquished republic 
 from the hands of our enemies, and once more re- 
 stored her to us again. From this period, there- 
 fore, I date the return of our liberties, and I shall 
 now be honoured with the public applause of the 
 most distinguished of patriots. Yes, my friend, 
 you will norv declare, (what you promised to con- 
 ceal till the recovery of our freedom should render 
 it to my advantage to be known,) you will now de- 
 clare to the whole world those instances you received 
 of my tender attachment both to you and to the 
 republic, during the dark and dangerous season of 
 our servitude. I am much less solicitous, however, 
 that you should publish my praises, than that you 
 should be persuaded I deserve them ; and I had 
 rather stand approved by your silent judgment, 
 than, without that internal verdict in my favour, to 
 enjoy, by your recommendation, the good opinion 
 of the whole world. It is my great ambition, in- 
 deed, that you should esteem my late conduct to 
 have been, not the effect of a sudden and irregular 
 impulse, but the natural result of the same uni- 
 
 ■> Cassius and Brutus were pr«etors the last year, and the 
 laws entitled a man to sue for the consulate two ycai's after 
 ho had served the office of praetor. 
 
 " It is altogether uncertain whether the author of this 
 letter was Lucius Cassius, the brother of Cains Cassius, or 
 another Cassius, distinguished by the addition of Parmeii- 
 sis, from Parma, the place of his nativity. There is no- 
 tln'ng indeed in the history of these two Cassii, or in the 
 letter itself, tliat can render it more reasonable to suppose 
 it to have been written by the one rather than the other ; 
 for they were botli in the number of the conspirators 
 against Ca;sar, and both afterwards acted with Brutus and 
 Cassius in Asia. This epistle appears to have been written 
 from the island of Cyprus soon after the news of Antony's 
 defeat at the battle of Mutina had reached that part of 
 the world.— Casaubon. ad Suet. JuL 80 ; Appian. De Bell. 
 Civ. p. 671. 
 
 P Tliis seems to allude to the honours that were paid to 
 Cicero by the populace, upon the news that Antony had 
 been forced to abandon the siege of Mutina. '■ The whole 
 body of the people (to give the relation of this fact in the 
 words of Dr. Middleton) assembled about Cicero's house, 
 and carried him in a kind of triumph to the capitol ; 
 where, on their return, they pla^^ed him in the rostra, to 
 give them an account of the victory, and then conducted 
 him home with infinite acclamations." — Philipp. xiv. 5 ; 
 Life of Cicero, p. 271. 
 
 t Those who liad passed through the office of consul 
 were styled consulars. 
 
 form principles of which you have been a witi»ess : 
 in a word, that you should think of me, as of one 
 from whom the republic has so much to expect, as 
 may well justify every honour to which I shall be 
 advanced. I am sensible, my dear Cicero, that 
 your own family, as they are well worthy of the 
 relation they bear to you, deserve your first and 
 most tender regard. But those surely have a right 
 to the next place in your affection who endeavour 
 to imitate your patriot virtues : and I shall be glad 
 to find that their number is considerable. I ima- 
 gine, however, that it is not so great as to exclude 
 me from a share in your good offices, and prevent 
 you from procuring any j>ublic distinctions in my 
 favour which shall be agreeable to your inclinatioa 
 and your judgment. That I am not unworthy of 
 them, with respect to the disposition of my heart, 
 I have already, perhaps, sufficiently convinced you : 
 and, as to my talents, whatever they may be, the 
 general oppression under which our country so long 
 laboured, would not suffer them to appear in their 
 full advantage. 
 
 I drew together, out of the ports of this Asiatic 
 province, and of the neighbouring islands, all the 
 ships of war I could possibly collect : and, consider- 
 ing the great opposition I met with from the seve- 
 ral cities, I manned them with tolerable expedition. 
 With this fleet I pursued that of Dolabella, com- 
 manded by Lucilius ; who, after having frequently 
 made a show of coming over to me, but still, how- 
 ever, continuing to retreat, sailed, at length, into 
 the port of Corycus''; where he blocked himself up. 
 I did not think proper to follow him thither; not 
 only as judging it most advisable to join our land 
 forces, but as furulius the quaestor lay behind ma 
 with a squadron which Tullius Cimber Sited out 
 the last year from Bithynia. I put in, therefore, 
 at Cyprus ; from whence I take this first opportu- 
 nity of acquainting you with the intelligence I have 
 here received. I am to inform you then, that the 
 city of Laodicea (in pursuance of the example of 
 our faithless allies the Tarsenses^, though, indeed, 
 with a greater degree of folly) have voluntarily 
 called in Dolabella. From those two cities he has 
 composed an army (as far as numbers can make an 
 army) of Greek soldiers, and is encamped before 
 Laodicea ; having thrown down part of the walls, 
 in order to join his camp with the town. On the 
 other hand, Cassius' is encamped, about twenty 
 miles distant from him, at Paltos. His army con- 
 sists of ten legions, and twenty auxiliary cohorts, 
 together with four thousand horse. He imagines 
 that he shall be able to oblige the enemy to surren- 
 der, without hazarding a battle ; as wheat is so 
 scarce in Dolabella's camp, that it is sold for twelve 
 drachmae. The enemy must necessarily, indeed, 
 be destroyed by famine, if they are not soon sup- 
 plied by the ships that belong to Laodicea. This, 
 however, we shall with great ease prevent ; for, 
 besides the three squadrons under Turulius, Patis- 
 cus, and myself, Cassius has a considerable fleet in 
 these seas commanded by Sextilius Rufus. Let 
 me encourage you, then, to hope, that we shall 
 soon vindicate our liberties with the same success" 
 in this part of the world, as has attended your 
 army in Italy. Farewell. 
 Cromyacris, in Cyprus, June the i3th. 
 
 r In Cilicia. 
 t Caius Cassius. 
 
 » The citizens of Tai-sus. 
 » See rem. ", p. 5t;7,
 
 698 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCCJS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To Decimus liriitus. 
 
 I WAS expecting every (l;iy to hear from you, 
 when our friend Lupus f;:ivf nu; notice that he was 
 just setting out to you, and desired to 
 *■"■"'"■ know if 1 had anytiiinj,' to write. Hut 
 though T liave nothing worth communicating more 
 tlian what you are furnished with by the public 
 journals, and that you are no friend I am told to 
 letters of mere em)>ty form, yet 1 caiuiot forbear 
 following your exam^ile, and sending you two or 
 three short words. 15e assiired, then, that all our 
 liopes rest upon you and your colleague". As to 
 Brutus"', I am not able to give you any certain 
 account of him : I can only say, that, in pursuance 
 of your advice, I endeavour to persuade him, in all 
 my letters, to come over into Italy, and to take a 
 part in this general war". I much wish he were 
 now here, as his presence would render me less 
 apprehensive of the consequences of these intestine 
 commotions'' which prevail in Rome ; and which 
 are by no means indeed inconsiderable. — But I 
 forget that I proposed to imitate your laconic bre- 
 vity, and am running on in a second page. Fare- 
 well then, and may success attend your arms'-. 
 
 June liJtIi. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 • ■ To Cains Cassius. 
 
 ''"Your relation and my friend, the worthy Lepi- 
 dus, together with all his adherents, were, by a 
 unanimous decree of the senate, which 
 A. u. 710. pjjggg^i Qjj ti^g 3Qti^ of j^„g last, declared 
 
 public enemies to their country : but at the same 
 
 ■f Plancus. '^ IMarcus Brutus. 
 
 . ^ The conduct of Marcus Brutus, as far as can be judged 
 of it at this great disiiince, appears altogether unaccount- 
 able. Before the battle of JIutina he had drawn down all 
 iiis forces to the coast, in order to embark for Italy, if any 
 accident should make his assistance necessary. But, upon 
 the news of Antony's defeat, he retired to the remotest 
 parts of Greece and Macedonia, to oppose the attempts of 
 Dolabella ; and from that time (as Dr. Middlcton observes) 
 seemed deaf to the call of the senate, and to all Cicero's 
 letters, whicli urged him so strongly to come to their 
 relief. But had Brutus and Cassius (as the same inge- 
 nious historian remarks) marched with their armies to- 
 wards Italj-, at the time when Cicero first pressed it, before 
 the desertion of Plancus and the death of Decimus, it 
 eeems reasonable to believe that the immediate ruin of 
 the republic might have been prevented. — Life of Cicero, 
 p. 282. 
 
 y The disturbances to which Cicero alludes were, proba- 
 bly, those that were occasioned by the violent measures of 
 Octavius, in order to obtain the consulate. — See rem. ' on 
 letter 18 of this book. 
 
 ^ Decimus Brutus, soon after the date of this letter, was 
 most treacherously deserted by Plancus, who drew off his 
 troops from these of his colleague, and went over with 
 them to the camp of Antony aiid Lepidus. " Decimus 
 Brutus being thus abandoned, and left to shift for himself, 
 with a needy mutinous army, eager to desert, and ready 
 to give him up to his enemies, had no other way to save 
 himself than by flying to Marcus Brutus in Macedonia. 
 But the distance was so great, and the country so guarded, 
 th.at he was often forced to change his road for fear of 
 being taken ; till, having dismissed all his attendants, and 
 wandered for some time alone in disguise and distress, he 
 committed himself to the protection of an old acquaintance 
 and host, whom he had formerly r)bliged, where, either 
 through treachery or accident, he was surprised by An- 
 tony's soldiers, who immediately killed him, and returned 
 
 time a full pardon was offered to such as shall re- 
 turn to their allegiance before the first of Septem- 
 ber. The senate acts with great s])irit ; but it is 
 the eX])eetation of being su))])orted by your army, 
 that chiefly animates them in their vigorous mea- 
 sures. I fear, indeed, that we shall have occasion 
 for all your assistance, as the war is now become 
 extremely formidable by the villany of Lepidus. 
 
 The accounts which daily arrive concerning 
 Dolabella are altogether agreeable to our wishes : 
 but, at present, they are nothing more than mere 
 rumours. However, your letter addressed to the 
 senate, dated from the camp on the Dth of May, 
 has raised a geiu'ral persuasion in Rome, that he 
 is actually defeated. Accordingly, it is imagined, 
 that you are now u|)on your mar(;h into Italy, with a 
 view, on the one hand, of succouring us with your 
 troops, if any of those accidents so common in war 
 should have rendered our arms unsuccessful; or, 
 on the other hand, of assisting us with your coun- 
 sels and authority, in case we should have proved 
 victorious. You may be assured, in the mean 
 while, that no endeavours of mine shall be wanting 
 to procure the forces under your command all pos- 
 sible honours. However, I must wait a proper 
 season for this purpose, when it shall be known 
 how far they have availed, or are likely to avail, the 
 )-epublic. At present, we have only lieard of their 
 endeavours in the cause of liberty ; and glorious, it 
 must be acknowledged, their endeavours have been. 
 But still some positive services are expected ; and 
 these expectations, I dare be confident, either 
 already are, or soon will be, perfectly answered. No 
 man, indeed, possesses a more patriot or heroic 
 spirit than yourself : and it is for this reason that 
 we wish to see you in Italy as soon as possible. 
 The fact is, if you and Brutus were here, we should 
 look upon the republic as restored. 
 
 If Lepidus had not received Antony, weak and 
 defenceless as he was, when he fled after the battle 
 of Mutina, we should have obtained a complete 
 victory. This infamous step, therefore, has ren- 
 dered him far more odious in Rome even than An- 
 tony himself ever was : for Antony raised a war at a 
 time when the republic was in the utmost ferment ; 
 whereas Lepidus has kindled the flames in the midst 
 of peace and victory. We have the consuls elect* to 
 lead our armies against him ; but though we greatly 
 depend upon their courage and conduct, still however 
 the uncertain event of war leaves us much to fear. 
 Be assured therefore that our principal reliance is 
 upon' you and Brutus, whom we hope soon to 
 see in Italy ; and Brutus, indeed, we expect 
 every day. Should we have defeated our enemies, 
 as I hope we shall, before your arrival, the autho- 
 rity, nevertheless, of two such illustrious citizens 
 will be of infinite service in raising up the republic, 
 and fixing it upon some tolerable basis. All our 
 business, indeed, will by no means be over, not- 
 withstanding we should be delivered from the in- 
 famous designs of our enemies, — as there are many- 
 other disorders of a different kind, which it will be 
 still necessary to redress. Farewell. 
 
 with his head to their general.— Veil. Pat. ii. 64 ; Appian. 
 iii. 588; Val. Max. ix. 1,3."— Life of Cicero, p. 281. 
 ^ Decimus Brutus and Plancus.
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS, 
 
 599 
 
 LETTER XVn. 
 
 To Ampius **. 
 YotiR family has informed you, I imagine, of 
 my zealous labours to procure your restoration, as 
 „.„ I have the pleasure to be assured that 
 they are abundantly satisfied with my 
 services. Uncommon, indeed, as the affection is 
 •which they every one of them bear towards you, yet 
 I cannot allow that they are more sincerel-y desirous 
 of your welfare than myself. I am sure, at least, 
 their power of assisting you in this conjuncture is 
 by no means equal to mine. I haveemployed it, and 
 shall continue to employ it, for your benefit : and 
 I have already gained a very considerable point, 
 ■which will much contribute to facilitate your re- 
 turn. In the meanwhile, preserve a firm and 
 manly sjiiiit, and be well persuaded that my good 
 offices shall not be wanting to you upon any occa- 
 sion. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XVin. 
 
 Plancus, Consul elect, to Cicero. 
 
 I CANNOT forbear to express, upon every occa- 
 sion, the sentiments I entertain of your repeated 
 ^.„ favours ; though, at the same time, it is 
 with some reserve that I indulge myself 
 in this satisfaction. The great intimacy, indeed, 
 ■which you allow me to enjoy with you, renders all 
 formal acknowledgments of this kind unnecessary ; 
 Jior would I make so cheap a return to the many 
 important obligations I owe to you, as that of 
 mere empty professions. I had much rather 
 reserve the proofs of my gratitude to some future 
 opportunity of testifying it in person ; and, if I 
 live, I will convince you, by the assiduity of my 
 good offices, and by every instance of respect and 
 esteem, that you have not a friend, nor even a 
 relation, who is so warmly attached to you as my- 
 self. In the mean time, I am at a loss to deter- 
 mine, whether the daily pleasure I receive, or the 
 lasting honour I shall derive, from your affectionate 
 regard, be greater. 
 
 I find the interest of ray troops has been a part 
 of your care. It was not with any intention of 
 advancing my own power, that I was desirous they 
 should be distinguished by the senate, as I am 
 conscious of having no views but what regard the 
 ■welfare of the republic. My reasons were, in the 
 first place, because I thought they deserved to be 
 rewarded ; and, in the next place, because I was 
 desirous they might, upon all occasions, be still 
 more attached to the commonwealth. I hoped, 
 likewise, by these means, so strongly to fortify 
 them against all solicitations, that I might be 
 answerable for their continuing to act with the 
 same unshaken fidelity which they have hitherto 
 preserved. 
 
 I have kept entirely upon the defensive ; and, 
 though I am well apprised with how much just 
 impatience the public wishes for a decisive action, 
 yet I persuade myself that the senate will approve 
 my conduct. If any misfortune, indeed, should 
 attend our armies in this part of the world, the 
 republic would not very soon be in a condition to 
 
 b In some MSS. the superscription of this letter is to 
 Appius, and in others to Ampius Balbus. The time when 
 this letter was written is no less uncertain than the person 
 to whom it is addressed. 
 
 oppose any sudden incursion of these rapacious 
 traitors. As to the state of our forces, I imagine 
 you already know that those under my command 
 consist of three veteran legions, together with one 
 new-raised regiment, whicii last, however, is com- 
 posed of far the best-disciplined troops I ever saw 
 of this sort. Brutus >= is at the head of ten legions, 
 one of which is veteran, another has been upon 
 the establishment about two years, and all the rest 
 are lately raised. Thus, you see, though our army 
 is very numerous, it is not extremely strong. The 
 republic, indeed, has but too often had occasion to 
 be convinced how little is to be expected from raw 
 and unexperienced forces. However, if we had 
 been joined either by the African legions ■'j which 
 are composed wholly of veteran troops, or by 
 Caesar's"^, we should, without hesitation, have 
 hazarded a general engagement. As the troops of 
 the latter were somewhat nearer than the former, 
 I frequently pressed Csesar, by letters, to advance; 
 and he accordingly promised to join us with all 
 expedition. But other views, I perceive, have 
 diverted him from these intentions. Nevertheless, 
 I have despatched my lieutenant, Furnius, with 
 another letter to him, if happily it may anything 
 avail. You are sensible, my dear Cicero, that I 
 take an equal part with you in the aflfection you 
 bear to Octavius. He has a right to my friend- 
 ship, not only from that intimacy which I enjoyed 
 with his uncle^; but, in regard also to his own 
 disposition, which, as far I could ever discover, is 
 regulated by principles of great moderation and 
 humanity. It would ill indeed become that dis- 
 tinguished amity, which subsisted between Julius 
 Caesar and myself, not to look upon Octavius with 
 all the tenderness which is due to the son of my 
 friend, after he has been adopted as such by 
 Caesar's will, and that adoption approved by the 
 senate. What I am going to say, therefore, is 
 more the dictates of concern than resentment ; 
 but it must be acknowledged, that if Antony still 
 lives, if he has been joined by Lepidus, if their 
 armies are by no means contemptible ; in a word, 
 all their hopes and all their attempts are singly 
 owing to Caesar^. Not to look farther back than 
 to his promise of joining me : had he fulfilled the 
 assurances he gave me for that purpose, the war 
 would, by this time, either have been totally at an 
 end, or driven into Spain, where the enemy could 
 not have carried it on without great disadvantage, 
 as that province is utterly averse to them. I am 
 at a loss to conceive, therefore, with what view, or 
 by whose advice, Caesar was diverted from a mea- 
 sure so greatly to his interest and his honour, in 
 order to turn his pursuits towards a consulship of 
 a few months' duration'' : much to the terror, at 
 the same time, of the republic' ; and with preten- 
 
 <: Decimus. 
 
 d These legions composed part of that army with which 
 Julius Caesar defeated Scipio in Africa, from whence they 
 had lately been recalled by the senate. But soon after 
 their landing they were corrupted by the other soldiers, 
 and, deserting the senate, they joined themselves to Octa- 
 vius. — Life of Cicero, p. 278, 
 
 e Octavius. ' Julius Caesar. 
 
 e See rem. ", p. 576. 
 
 •> To the end of the current year, of which there remained 
 about five or six months luiexpired when Octavius v/as 
 declared consul. 
 
 i Octavius advanced towards Rome at the head of several 
 legions, in order to demand the consulate, which threw thn
 
 600 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 
 
 sions, too, exceedingly ridiculousJ. The remon- 
 strances of his friends might be extremely service- 
 able upon this occasion, both to himself and to 
 the commonwealth. But none of them, I am 
 persuaded, would have so much influence over 
 him as yours'' ; as there is no man who is so mudi 
 obliged to you e.\ce))t myself: for I shall ever 
 acknowledge that the favours I have received from 
 yow are great and innumerable. I have given 
 instructions to Furnius to solicit Caesar ujjoii tliis 
 subject : and if I should have that authority with 
 him which I am sure I ought, he will hereafter 
 thank me for my advice. In the mean time, we 
 have a very difficult i)art to sustain here : as, on 
 
 city into the utnuist consternation and disorder.— Dio, p. 
 310 ; Appian. p. "lil'i (5. 
 
 J Terhaps the absurdity to wliich Plancus licrc alluded 
 was, that Octavius, wlio was but a youth of twenty, and, 
 consequently, who wanted above twenty years of the age 
 prescribed by the laws for being qualified to sue for the 
 consular office, should entertain so e.xtravagant a thought 
 as to aspire to the supreme magistracy. 
 
 '' Plancus chose a very improper man to dissuade Octa- 
 Tius from pursuing his design upon the consulate, when he 
 fixed upon Cicero as the most likely person to jjrevail with 
 him for that purpose. It appears, indeed, that Octavius 
 liud artfully ensnared Cicero to enter into his views, by 
 persuading him that he was desirous of having him for his 
 colleague in the consular office, and promising to leave the 
 sole administration of it to Cicero's superior wisdom and 
 enperienco. The bait was too well adapted to his vanity 
 and ambition, to be thrown out in vain, and Cicero under- 
 took the management of this affair upon the terms pro- 
 posed. Plutarch, Appian, and Dion Cassius, all concur in 
 giving testimony to the truth of this fact ; but, as it is a 
 fact which proves that Cicero was by no means at this 
 juncture acting the part of a patriot, the polite apologist 
 ff liis conduct has endeavoured todihcredit the evidence of 
 these historians. To this end Dr. Middleton produces the 
 following passage from the letters to Brutus, as an incon- 
 testable proof, " that no man was more shocked at Oeta- 
 vius's attempt, or took more painf to dissuade it, than 
 Cicero." — " C'Eesarem — improbissimis Uteris quidam falla- 
 oibusque nunciis impulerunt in spem certissimam consu- 
 latus. Quod simul atque sensi, ncque ego ilium absenteni 
 Uteris monere destiti, neo accusare praisentes ejus neees- 
 sarios, qui ejus cupiditati suffragari videbantur ; nee in 
 senatu, seeleratissimorum consiliorum fontes aperire du- 
 bitavi." [Epist. ad Brut. 10.] Now, there seems to be the 
 strongest reason to question either the authenticity or the 
 veracity of this letter ; because it is most certain, from one 
 of Cicero's Philippics, that he actually did favour the 
 earliest possible promotion of Octavius to the consulate. 
 " Quid est enim P. C. (says he) cur cum (Octavium) non 
 quam primum amplissimos honores capere cupiamus ? 
 Legibus enim annalibus cum grandiorem aetatem ad con- 
 bulatum constituebant, adolescentia; temeritatem vereban- 
 lur. C. Cassar ineunte a;tate docuit ab excellenti eximi- 
 aqtie virtute, progressum atatis expcctari non oporlcre. 
 In hoo spes libertatis posita est ; ab hoc accepta jam salus, 
 huic summi honores et exquiruntur et parati sunt." — 
 fPhilipp. v. 17, 18.] Could Cicero, after this, without 
 being guilty of the wildest and the weakest inconsistency, 
 
 the one hand, we do not think ourselves altogether 
 strong enough to hazard an engagement : and, on 
 the other, must take care not to expose the repub- 
 lic to greater dangers by declining one. However, 
 if Caesar could comply with the dictates of his 
 interest and his honour, or if the African legions 
 should speedily join us, you may depend upon 
 having nothing to fear from this quarter. Let me 
 entreat you to continue your friendship to me, 
 and to be assured that I am entirely yours'. 
 Farewell. 
 From my camp, July the 28th. 
 
 " admonish Octavius by letter against his designs uponi 
 the C(msulship, reproach those to their face who encouraged 
 him in that ambitious view, and lay open the source of 
 these traitorous counsels in the senate," (all which tho 
 epistle in question aftirius that he did,) when he had him- 
 self, in the speech and in the passage above cited, said 
 everything that his wit and eloquence could suggest in 
 favour of Octavius's premature advancement to the consu- 
 lar office? Either the letters, then, to Brutus are not 
 genuine, or Cicero, to serve a present purpose, jiretended' 
 that he had .acted a. part which he did not. The former of 
 these suppositions is maintained by some very learned and 
 judicious critics, and the latter will by no means be thought 
 improbable, if there is any weight in the sever.al instances 
 of the same kind which have been occasionally produccdl 
 in the course of tlic^ remarks. But whichever of these 
 alternatives bo the ti^t, it equally concludes in support oJ 
 ,hat historical evidence for which I have been contending. 
 In farther confirmation of which it may be observed, that 
 Plutarch cites the authority of Octavius himself for what 
 he affirms concerning the private agreement ijetween 
 Octavius and Cicero in regard to the consulate. And it is 
 probable he took this piece of secret history from those 
 memoirs which Octavius wrote of his own life, as it is 
 certain that both Plutarch and Appian made great use of 
 them in compiling their histories. — Plut. in Vit. Cicer. ; 
 Appian. p. 578-!), .385; Dio, p. 519 ; Middlet. on the Epist. 
 to Brut. p. 134, rem. 8 ; Tunstal's Observ. on the Epist. to 
 Brut. p. 2^2, et Suet, in Vit. Aug. 85. 
 
 1 Planeus, soon after the date of this letter, abandoned 
 his colleague Deeimus Brutus, and went over with his 
 troops to Antony and Lepidus. [See rzm. ^ on letter 15 of 
 this book.] About four months, likewise, from the time 
 when this letter was written, the celebrated coalition was 
 formed between Ca;sar, Antony, and Lepidus, in conse- 
 quence of which Cicero, it fs well known, was sacrificed' 
 to Antony's resentment. In the last moments of his life 
 he behaved with great composure ; and it is the only cir- 
 cumstance in all his misfortunes that he bore with a 
 becoming fortitude. lie had, indeed, 80 much the less 
 reason to complain of his fate, as it is certain that he suf- 
 fered nothing more than he would have inflicted, had For- 
 tune put Antony into his power. " Omnium .adversorum 
 (says Livy) nihil ut viro dignum crat, tulit, praeter mor- 
 tem : quae, vere a?stimanti, minus indigne videri potuit, 
 quod a victore iniraico nihil crudeliuspassurus erat. quam 
 quod ejusdem fortuna; compos ipse feeisset." [Liv. Fragm. 
 apud Senec. Suasor. 6 ] This is the judgment which the 
 noblest and most impartial of the Roman historians has 
 passed upon Cicero, and the truth of it is abundantly coa- 
 firmed by the foregoing letters.
 
 AK 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 REFERRING TO THE ORDER IN WHICH THESE LETTERS STAND IN THE EDITION OF ORiEVIDS. 
 
 
 Book I. 
 
 
 
 
 Book III. 
 
 
 
 LKTTER 
 VII. . . 
 
 LIB. 
 
 — viii. 
 
 
 BP. 
 
 8 
 
 LETTER 
 
 LIB. 
 
 
 EP. 
 
 LETTER 
 
 LIE. 
 
 
 EP. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 61 
 
 I. . . 
 
 V. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 I. . . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 IX. . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 II. . 
 
 V. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 II. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 x. . . . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 62 
 
 in. . 
 
 V. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 III. . 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 XI. . . 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 IV. . 
 
 . — V. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 IV. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 XII. . . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 63 
 
 ▼ . . . 
 
 . V. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 V. . . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 XIII. 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 VI. . 
 
 — xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 VI. . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 XIV. . . 
 
 — viii. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 VII. . 
 
 — xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 VII. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 XV. . . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 64 
 
 Till. . 
 
 — xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 VIII. 
 
 — xii. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 XVI. . . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 IX. . 
 
 — xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 IX. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 XVII. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 55 
 
 z. . . 
 
 V. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 X. . . . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 32 
 
 XI. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 XI. . . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 XIX. . . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 XII. . 
 
 — i. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 XII. . . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 65 
 
 XIII. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 XIII. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 XIV. . 
 
 — i. 
 
 — 
 
 o 
 
 XIV. . . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 zv. . 
 
 — i. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 XV. . . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 
 Book V. 
 
 
 
 XVI. . 
 
 — i. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 XVI. . 
 
 V. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 
 XVII. , 
 
 — i. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 XVII. . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 I. . . . 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 — i. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 XVIII. . 
 
 V. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 II. . 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 XIX, . 
 
 — i. 
 
 — 
 
 6" 
 
 XIX. . . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 75 
 
 III. . 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — , ^' 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 IV. . . 
 
 — XV. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 XXI. . 
 
 V. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 XXI. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 V. . . 
 
 — viii. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 XXII. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 VI. . 
 
 — viii. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 XXIII. . 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 VII. . , 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 
 Book II. 
 
 
 
 XXIV. . 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 VIII. 
 
 — XV. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 
 XXV. . 
 
 — viii. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 IX. . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 I. . . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 40 
 
 XXVI. , 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 X. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 59 
 
 II. . . 
 
 — i. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 XI. . 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 III. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — ^ 
 
 8 
 
 XII. . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 IT. . . 
 
 — i. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 — viii. 
 
 — ' 
 
 2 
 
 XIII. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 54 
 
 ▼. . . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 XXX. 
 
 — viii. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 XIV. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 57 
 
 TI. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 74 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 XV. . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 Til. . 
 
 V. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 — viii. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 XVI. . . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 Tin. 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 — viii. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 XVII. 
 
 ^ xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 58 
 
 IX. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 — viii. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 47 
 
 X. . . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 51 
 
 XI. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 76 
 
 XII. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 — XV. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 XUI. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 XXXVHI 
 
 XT. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 XIV. 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Book VI. 
 
 
 
 XT. . 
 
 — vii. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 XVI. 
 
 — vii. 
 
 _ 
 
 16 
 
 
 Book IV. 
 
 
 
 I. . . 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — 
 
 10- 
 
 XVII. 
 
 — i. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 II. . 
 
 — ix. 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 — siii. 
 
 — 
 
 42 
 
 I. . . 
 
 XT. 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 III. . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 41 
 
 II. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 53 
 
 IV. . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 49 
 
 III. . 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 V. . . 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 XXI. . 
 
 — vi. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 IT. . 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 VI. . 
 
 — viii. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 ZXII. 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 73 
 
 T. . . 
 
 — xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 56 
 
 VII. . 
 
 — ii. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 XXUI. 
 
 . — i. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 VI. . 
 
 — sv. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 VIII. 
 
 — viii. 
 
 — 
 
 15
 
 602 
 
 INDEX TO THE ORDER OF THE LETTERS, 
 
 LF.TTER 
 
 
 LID. 
 
 
 EP. 
 
 
 Book 
 
 VIII. 
 
 
 
 
 Book 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 IX. . 
 
 — 
 
 iii. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 X. . 
 
 — 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 LETTER 
 
 
 LIB. 
 
 
 i-i'. 
 
 LKTTEIl 
 
 
 LIB. 
 
 
 EP. 
 
 XI. . 
 
 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 I. . . . 
 
 — 
 
 vii. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 I. . . . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 xir. . 
 
 — 
 
 iii. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 II. . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 II. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 XIII. . 
 
 __ 
 
 ii. 
 
 — 
 
 l."! 
 
 III. . . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 III. . . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 XIV. 
 
 — 
 
 viii. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 IV. . . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 ■ — 
 
 1 
 
 IV. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 XV. . 
 
 — 
 
 viii. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 v. . . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 V. . . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 XVI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 .'•) 
 
 VI. . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 VI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 XVII. 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 VII. . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 .5 
 
 VII. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 o 
 
 VIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 29 
 
 VIII. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 IX. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 78 
 
 IX. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 X. . . . 
 
 — 
 
 V. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 X. . . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 24 
 
 XXI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 XI. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 79 
 
 XI. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 XXII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 G 
 
 XII. . . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 XII. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 26 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 XIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 XIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 27 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 XIV. . . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 XIV. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 28 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 XV. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 45 
 
 XV. . . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 
 Book 
 
 VII. 
 
 
 
 XVI. . . 
 XVII. 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 ix. 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 XVI. . . 
 
 XVII. , 
 
 
 
 vi. 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 I. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 n 
 
 XVIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 4G 
 
 XVIII.' . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 II., . . 
 
 — 
 
 v. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 III. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 XX. . . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 lo- 
 
 XX. . . 
 
 . — 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 IV. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 XXI. . . 
 
 — 
 
 vii. 
 
 — 
 
 ss 
 
 XXI. . 
 
 — 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 T. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 XXII. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 XXII. 
 
 — 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 TI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 XXIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 xxni. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 Til. . . 
 
 — 
 
 viii. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 XXIV. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 Till. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 XXV. . . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 XXV. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 IX. . 
 
 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 XXVI. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 XXVI. • 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 X. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 — 
 
 vii. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 XXVII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 52 
 
 XI. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 20- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 XII. . . 
 XIII. 
 
 ~~ 
 
 iv. 
 viii. 
 
 
 
 1 
 16 
 
 
 Book 
 
 IX. 
 
 
 
 
 Book 
 
 XI. 
 
 
 
 XIV. . . 
 
 — 
 
 ii. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 I. . . . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 XV. . . 
 
 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 11. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 68 
 
 I. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 XVI. . . 
 
 — 
 
 V. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 III. . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 II. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 XVII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 IV. . . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 III. . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 viii. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 V. . . , 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 IV. . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 VI. . 
 
 — 
 
 vii. 
 
 — 
 
 27 
 
 V. . . 
 
 — 
 
 v. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 VII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 67 
 
 VI. . 
 
 — 
 
 v. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 XXI. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 VIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 VII. . 
 
 — 
 
 v. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 XXII. . 
 
 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 IX. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 43 
 
 VIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 XXIII, 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 X. . . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 IX. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 XI. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 X. . . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 XXV. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 XII. . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 XI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 XXVI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 XIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 XII. . 
 
 — 
 
 v. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 — 
 
 V. 
 
 . — 
 
 16 
 
 XIV. . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 XIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 XV. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 XIV. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 30 
 
 XVI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 _ 
 
 12 
 
 XV. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 XXX. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 XVII. 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 XVI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 xvir. 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 31 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 — 
 
 vii. 
 
 — 
 
 24 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 _ 
 
 13 
 
 XXI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 32 
 
 XXII. 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 26 
 
 XXI. . 
 
 — 
 
 viL 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 — 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 XXII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 33 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 71 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 — 
 
 v. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 24 
 
 XXV. . 
 
 — 
 
 vii. 
 
 — 
 
 28 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 xxvr. 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 XXV. 
 
 — 
 
 vii. 
 
 — 
 
 29 
 
 XL. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 34 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 72 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 XLI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 XLII. 
 
 — 
 
 xiv. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 XXIX. \ 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 9 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 v. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 35 
 
 XXX. . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 _ 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 __ 
 
 69 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 XLV. . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 36 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 .5 
 
 
 Book 
 
 XII. 
 
 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 48 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 70 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 , — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 37 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 I. . . 
 
 — 
 
 vii. 
 
 — 
 
 30 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 66 
 
 II. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 50 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 — 
 
 xiiu 
 
 — 
 
 77 
 
 III. . 
 
 — 
 
 vii. 
 
 — 
 
 31 
 
 L. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 39 
 
 XXZTII 
 
 — 
 
 xiii. 
 
 — 
 
 45 
 
 IT. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 19
 
 A9 ARIIANGEI) IN GR^VIUS' EDITION. 
 
 603 
 
 tBTTEH 
 
 
 LIB. 
 
 
 KP. 
 
 
 Book 
 
 XIII. 
 
 
 
 LETTEn 
 
 
 LIB. 
 
 
 p.p. 
 
 ■^ . . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 XII. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 VI.. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 24 
 
 LETTER 
 
 LIB. 
 
 
 EP. 
 
 XIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 VII. . 
 
 — 
 
 vi. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 I. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 XIV. . 
 
 
 
 xi. 
 
 __ 
 
 14 
 
 VIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 x\n. 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 II. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 
 XV. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 IX. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 III. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 XVI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 X. . . 
 
 — 
 
 XV. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 IV. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 XVII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 _ 
 
 13 
 
 XI.. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 V. . . 
 
 — 
 
 z. 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 XII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 27 
 
 VI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 XIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 28 
 
 VII. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 28 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 XIV, . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 VIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 XXI. . 
 
 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 XV. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 IX. . 
 
 — 
 
 ix. 
 
 — 
 
 24 
 
 XXII. 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 XVI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 29 
 
 X. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 
 
 ix. 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 XVII. 
 
 — 
 
 vii. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 XI. . 
 
 — 
 
 X, 
 
 — 
 
 31 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 „— 
 
 23 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 vii. 
 
 — 
 
 19 
 
 XII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 XXV. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 .3 
 
 XIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 XIV. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 SXVII. 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 XXI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 XV. . 
 
 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 XXII. 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 16 
 
 XVI. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 XXIII. 
 XXIV. . 
 
 ___ 
 
 xi. 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 2 
 
 XVII. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 8 
 10 
 
 
 Book 
 
 XV. 
 
 
 
 XXV. . . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 XIX. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 28 
 
 I. . . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 XXVI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 XX. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 II. . . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 XXVII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 23 
 
 XXI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 29 
 
 III. . 
 
 — 
 
 XI. 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 XXII. 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 IV. . 
 
 
 
 xi. 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 XXIX. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 V. . . 
 
 __ 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 XXX. . . 
 
 XXXI. . 
 
 •~~ 
 
 xii. 
 xi. 
 
 z 
 
 26 
 5 
 
 
 Book XIV. 
 
 
 
 VI. . . 
 
 VII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 24 
 32 
 
 XXXII. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 27 
 
 I. . . . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 30 
 
 VIII. . . 
 
 
 
 X, 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 XXXIII.. 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
 11. . 
 
 ..^ 
 
 X. 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 IX. . . 
 
 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 30 
 
 XXXIT, , 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 iir. . . 
 
 
 
 xi. 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 X. . . 
 
 
 
 xi. 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 XXXV. . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 22 
 
 IV. 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 XI. . . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 26 
 
 XXXVI. . 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 27 
 
 V. , . . 
 
 — 
 
 x. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 XII. . . 
 
 
 
 xii. 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 XXXVII.. 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 21 
 
 VI. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 XIII. . . 
 
 
 
 xii. 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 — 
 
 xvi. 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 VII. . . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 11 
 
 XIV. . , 
 
 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 13 
 
 xjaix.. 
 
 — 
 
 iv. 
 
 — 
 
 It) 
 
 Till. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 XV. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xi. 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 IX 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 XVI. . . 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 jx 
 
 — 
 
 xii. 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 XVII. . 
 
 
 
 ', ^• 
 
 — 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 £1.. . . 
 
 — 
 
 zL 
 
 — 
 
 18 
 
 XVIII. . 
 
 — 
 
 X. 
 
 — 
 
 24
 
 INDEX Tu CICERO'S LETTERS 
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 Abdbila, a city in Thrace, 521, rem. '^ 
 
 Acastus, 446 
 
 Accensws, tlicir office, 423, r. *" 
 
 Accius, wrote tlic tragedy of CEiiomaus, 482, r. ® 
 
 Acilius, Cicero's letters to, 4fi3, 4(i4, 4C6, 4G8, 469 ; 
 
 conjecture concerning liim, 463, r. ^ 
 Actiuni, a city of Epirus, 446, r. ^ 
 Addison, reflection among tlic tombs of the great, 
 
 526, r. " 
 Adversity is to friendship, what fire is to gold, 482 
 JEdilcs, their office to superintend the markets and 
 
 m.ngazines of corn, SS.^i, r. '' ; of two kinds, Plel)eian 
 
 and Curule, 394, r. ^ ; Plcbei-an, 396, r. ' 
 iEgina, an island between Peloponnesus and Attica, 
 
 52G, r. «■ 
 iElius Sextus, 388 
 
 ^milius Paulus loses two sons in one week, 527, r. * 
 ^sopus, the actor, account of him, 358, r. ^ ; died 
 
 worth nearly 200,000/. 358, r. ^ 
 Afranius, 345, 451 ; murdered by the soldiers, 
 
 484, r. ' 
 Affection mutual, characterised, 335 
 Africa, sad situation of affairs there, 555 
 Agesilaus would not suffer any pictuic or statue of him 
 
 to be taken, 350 ; account of him, 350, r. > 
 Agrarian law explained, 422, r. ' 
 Ague, quartan, salutary, 447, r. ' 
 Alabanda, a city in Asia Minor, 404 
 Alexander would permit his picture to be dra\vn only 
 
 by Apelles, his statue by Lysippus, 350 ; visited the 
 
 tomb of Achilles, 351, r. " 
 Alexander (of Egypt) appointed the Roman com- 
 monwealth his general heir, 419, r. f 
 Alipta; were persons who prepared the bodies of com- 
 batants for athletic exercises, 370, r * 
 Allienus, Cicero's letters to, 476, 478 ; sDver eoin of, 
 
 476, r. " 
 Alsium, a town on tlie western coast of Italy, 481, r. *" 
 Alysia, a city of Acarnia in Greece, 445, r. ^ 
 Amanienses harassed by Cicero, 412 
 Amanus, a mountain that divides Cilicia from Syria, 
 
 412 ^ 
 
 Ammoniue, 344 
 
 Amphiaraus, the fable of, 509, r. ' 
 Ampius, 456 ; Cicero's letters to Lim, 502, 598 ; 
 
 account of him, 502, r. y, 503, r. • ; Cicero obtains 
 
 the promise of his pardon, 502 
 Ancharius, Quintus, Cicero's letter to, 352 
 Anchialus recommended by Cicero to Sulpicius, 515 
 Andro, 493 
 Anicius, 343 ; recommended by Cicero to Cornificius, 
 
 555 
 Anneius, Marcus, recommended by Cicero to Ther- 
 
 mut, 414 
 
 Ante]>asts consisted of provocatives to appotitOi 483V 
 487, r. ' 
 
 Antiochia, siege of, abandoned, 412 ; in Syria, 589 
 
 Antiochus, king of Commagene, 403, 404 
 
 Antipater, .■)77 
 
 Antistius, Titus, leaves ten-twelfths of his estate to 
 Ateius Capito, 475 
 
 Antonii, 396 
 
 Antonius, 403 
 
 Antonius, Cains, 428, r. " ; Cicero's letter to, 33fi ; 
 uncle to Mark Antony, 336, r. ** ; Pompey insisted 
 that he should bo recalled, 337, r. " ; brought to 
 trial, 338, r. ■' 
 
 Antonius, Marcus, put to death by command of Marius, 
 520, r. -^ 
 
 Antony, Mark, 353, r. ^'', 501, r,'; his infamous 
 intercourse with Curio, 379, r. "" ; supported by 
 Csesar in his election, 443, r, i' ; cnriciics himself 
 by the spoils of his fellow-citizens, 465, r. ' ; excites 
 the soldiers against Cicero, 553 ; erects a statue 
 to the memory of Caesar, 554; Cicero laments 
 that he was spared when Ca;sar was murdered, 
 554, r. "^ ; represents the murderers of Casar as 
 traitors, 554 ; Octuvius and Cicero engage in :i 
 plot against his life, 555, r. B; suspected of per- 
 fidy to Brutus, 541; reasons for not entering into 
 friendsliip with Cicero, 543, r, ^ ; sus|)ected of 
 intending to rebuild the altar to Ca;sar, 548 ; doubts 
 on his drawing together the veteran troops, 548 ; 
 assembles the senate in a few days after Cxsar's 
 death, 549, r. * ; Brutus and Cassius' letters to liim, 
 548, 551 ; cannot bear a word or look animated by 
 the spirit of liberty, 552; Cicero declares, that 
 whoever destroys him will have the glory of termi- 
 nating the war, 576, 580, 590 ; arrives at the Forum 
 Julii, 579; recovers strength, 581 ; his retreat from 
 Mutiua in disorder, 581 ; joined by Ventidius, 581;; 
 acts with the vilest hypocrisy, 582 ; forms his camp 
 above Forum Voconii, 582 ; his troops desert to 
 Lepidus, 582 ; reports respecting the battle between 
 him and Hirtius, 590 ; offers great rewards to the 
 soldiers who join him, 594 ; would have been over- 
 come had he not been joined by Lepidus, 598 
 
 Apamca, a city in Phrygia, 409, r. ■* 
 
 Apella delivered by Lepidus as a hostage, 579 
 
 Apelles, 350; his celebrated picture of Venus, 371, r.* 
 
 Apollo, 458 
 
 Apollonia, silver coined there for the payment of 
 Pompey's army, 475 ; a learned seminary in Mace- 
 donia, 542, r. " 
 
 Apollonius is desirous of recording the actions of Cxsac 
 in Greek, 524 
 
 Appius, 367, 370, r.", 375, 423 
 
 Appius, Pulcher, Cicero's letters to him, 380, 388,. 
 389, 390, 395, 402, 423, 425, 429, 434, 439, 440 u 
 one of his daughters married to the son of Pompey»
 
 INDEX TO CICERO'S LETTERS TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. «05 
 
 the other to Brutus, 380, r. "; addresses liis treatise 
 on Augury to Cicero, 390 ; his credulity in augury, 
 391, r. ^ ; on his return from Cilicia demanded a 
 triumph, but dropped his chiim, 409, r."; severely 
 plundered Cilicia, 410, r.^ and^" ; impeached of trea- 
 son and bribery, 4"21; supported by Pompcy, 422; 
 accuses Cicero of obstructing the erection of a public 
 monumentto him, 423;Cicero's friendship for bin), 
 427 ; prosecution commenced against him, 429 ; 
 Cicero promises to support him, 4"29; acquitted, 
 434 ; his character by Cicero, 434, and r. " ; con- 
 gratulated by Cicero on his acquittal, 439; his in- 
 gratitude, 442 ; becomes a prodigy of reformers, 
 443 ; plundered the temples of Greece to collect 
 statues for the games, 443, r. ° ; character of, by 
 Marcus Coelius, 443 
 
 Appius, Claudius Coccus, the first who supplied Rome 
 Willi water, 435, r. s 
 
 A])uleius, Cicero's letter to, 479, 481 
 
 Arar, a river near Lyons, now called the Saone, 
 5H2, r. " 
 
 Archagathus recommended by Cicero to Acilius, 464 
 
 Aveopagitcs, magistrates of Atiiens, 393, r. ^ 
 
 Argentcus, a river in Provence, 582, r. "^ 
 
 Aiiarathes, 401 
 
 Ariobarzanes, king of Cappadocia, 417, 420, 438 ; 
 implores the protection of Cicero, 401 ; plot against 
 him discovered, 401 
 
 Anstarclius, a critic of Alexandria, 435, r. ^ 
 
 Aiistippus, 501 
 
 Aristocratical party, question respecting, 374, r. P 
 
 Aiistocritus, 341, 342 
 
 Aiistoteles,Licinius recommended by Cicero to Rex, 524 
 
 Army, on the distribution of lands and rewards to the 
 soldiers, 585 
 
 Arpinum, a city of the Volsci, the birth-place of 
 Cicero, 459, r. " ; patronised by Cicero, 498 
 
 Artu;.sdes, king of Armenia, 400 
 
 Aschipo, the piiysician, recommended by Cicero to 
 Sulpjcius, 514 
 
 Asia, spoken of by classic writers in different senses, 
 493, r. a 
 
 Astura, a town in the Campagna di Roma, 533, r. ' 
 
 Atcius, 360, r, ^ ; recommended by Cicero to Lucius 
 Plancus, 475 ; Titius Antestius leaves him ten- 
 twelfths of his estate, 475 
 
 Atella, a city in Campania, now called Santo Arpino, 
 recommended by Cicero to the protection of Cluvius, 
 535 
 
 Atellan. farces were acted after serious dramatic per- 
 formances, 483, r. t 
 
 Athenais, 417 
 
 Athenodorus, 423 
 
 Athens, the seat of all the useful and polite arts, 
 512^ r. n' 
 
 Athletic games, account of, 359, r. ^ 
 
 Atilius, 408 
 
 Atrium Libertatis erected in honour of Cicero, 366, r.^*' 
 
 Atticus, 337 ; kept a band of gladiators, which he let 
 out on public occasions, 358, r. d 
 
 Attius, the csscnced, 521 
 
 Avarice, an attendant on luxury, 443, r. ° 
 
 Auctus, Cicero's letter to, 540 ; conjecture concerning 
 him, 540, r.. f 
 
 AufiJius, Sextus, recommended by Cicero to Corni- 
 ficius, 557 
 
 Augurs, college of, 391, r. ° 
 
 Augustus, instituted a poetical court of judicature, 
 which was improved by Domitian, 357, r. » ; in- 
 structs his graciisoES in swimming, 366, r. ' 
 
 Avianus, 355, 387,466 
 
 Avianus, Marcus ^milius, recommended by Cicero 
 
 to Sulpici\is, 514 
 Auiclius, Iiis two sons recommended by Cicero to 
 
 Aucliarius, 352 
 Authors, tlie vanity of, 426, r. ' ; various kinds of 
 
 writing characterised, 506 ; difficulty of writing 
 
 witii success when restrained by fear, 506 
 
 B. 
 
 Bacchanals, improper statues for Cicero, 355 
 
 Bacilus, 377, r. "^ 
 
 Baia>, danger to the fair from frequenting the hot 
 baths tiicrc, 47i!, r. s 
 
 Balbus, 361, 436, 486 ; Cornelius inviolably attached 
 to Cajsar, 399, r. "' ; withdraws from Gadcs with 
 considerable eff'ects, 593 ; attempts to make Cssar 
 the niiidcl of his actions, 593 ; presents Herennius 
 Gallus, a comedian, with a gold ring, 593 ; account 
 of liiui, 593, r, ^^ ; orders Fadius to be put to 
 deatli for refusing to enter the lists at the gladiatorial 
 games, 594 ; other cruelties, 594 
 
 Baigylos, a city in Caria, 404 
 
 Basilius, Cicero's letter to, 377 
 
 Rassus, Csecilius, account of, 537, r. '", 542 
 
 Bellienus, strangles Domitius, 452 
 
 Bellotia, high priest of, next in power to the king, 
 417, r. " 
 
 Bibulus, Marcus, 345, 346, 347, 349, r.^ ; 541; 
 takes possession of Antiochia, 417; treated with 
 contempt by Ca;sar, 437, r. " ; offended at Cicero, 
 
 437, r. '^ ; two of his sons murdered in Alexandria, 
 
 438, r. r 
 Bilienus, 525 
 
 Biography, advantages from the study of, 350 
 
 Bithynia, farmed by the Roman knights, 415, r. • 
 
 Bithvnicus, Cicero's letter to, 542; letter to Cicero, 
 £60 
 
 Bolanus, recommended by Cicero to Sulpicius, 511 
 
 Bona Dea, celebration of, 370, r. " 
 
 Bribery, amazing at Rome, 391 , r. '^ 
 
 Britain, supposed by the Romans to have abounded 
 with gold and silver, 362, r. " ; progress of, from 
 barbarism to liberty, 362, r. * 
 
 Brundisium, Cicero arrives at, 338, r. ^ 
 
 Bruttius, Lucius, recommended by Cicero to Acilius, 
 468 
 
 Brutus, Decimus, letter to M. Brutus and Cassius, 
 541 ; account of him, 541, r. '; 552.7-. p ; letters 
 to Cicero, 552, 581, 582, 585,586 ; Cicero's letters 
 to him, 552, 553, 556, 557, 560, 578, 580, 53 J, 
 595, 598 ; encouraged by Cicero to act without 
 waiting for sanction of the senate, 557 ; reasons that 
 prevented him pursuing Antony, 581 ; deserted by 
 Plancus, and killed by Antony's soldiers, 598, r. * 
 
 Brutus, Marcus, married to Junia, sister of Cassius, 
 425, r. ' ; favourable report of, by Cicero, 435 ; 
 Cicero's letters to, 496, 498, 499, 501; account of 
 him, 496, r. * ; Cicero recommends M. Varro to 
 him, 496 ; Cicero recommends the commissioners of 
 Arpinum to his friendship, 498 ; his conduct on tlic 
 ides of March praised by Cicero, 544 ; D. Brutus's 
 letter to him and Cassius, 541 ; and Cassius' letters 
 to Mark Antony, 548, 551 ; his conduct after the 
 battle of Mutina, 598, r. *; state of his army, 599 
 
 Buckingham, D. of, unexpected turn in a speech of 
 his, 415, r. °
 
 606 
 
 INDEX TO CICERO'S LETTERS 
 
 BuUis, tlio pcu|)lc of, 376 
 
 Bursa iiiflaiiu's tlio (listiirbaiiccs on the assassination of 
 Cloilius, 387, r. "; banislicil, 387, r. " ; Cicero 
 entcriaiis a stronjjcr aversion to liim lliau lie ever 
 did to Clodiiis, 3!i!( 
 
 Buthrotuui, a city of Epire, 446 
 
 Cjecina, Aiiliis, Cicero's letters to, .'')05, 507,508; 
 account of iiini, .505, r. ' ; advised by Cicero to con- 
 tinue in Sicily, 505 ; letter to Cicero, 5(l(i ; sufiers 
 for the liberties of his pen, 506 ; his caution in 
 mentioning Caesar in liis worlc, 50G ; ])resar;c8 of liis 
 being recalled, 508 ; a native of Ktrmia, 509, r. " ; 
 recommended by Cicero to Isauricus, 510 
 
 Cecsar, Julius, s<ipposcd to bo alluded to, 333, r. •• ; 
 and Crassus solicit Cicero to join tlicir party, 
 340, r. ' ; purposes either to gain (.'icero or ruin 
 him, 341, r. ' ; by aidinc; the farmers of the 
 public revenues, obtained their support, 357, r. ' ; 
 Cicero's letters to, 361, 523 ; rather discovered than 
 conquered Britain, 361, r. ^ ; his schcnio to usurp 
 the supremo power, 367, r. ^ ; fixes his winter quar- 
 ters near Italy, 368, r. ^ ; paid Curio's debts, 378 ; 
 T.i; foments confusion at Rome, 383, r. '; his 
 scheme of putting the Transpadani on the footing of 
 the municipal towns of Italy, 390, r. '" ; endcavonrs 
 to gain the lowest of the people to his interest, 396, 
 r.'; recalled from Gaul, 407 ; debate on his govern- 
 ment in Gaul, 436, r. " ; to be admitted a candi- 
 date for the consulate, 438 ; his opposition to Pom- 
 pey, 443 ; sends a menacing letter to the senate, 
 447 ; letter received with indignation, 447, r. ' ; 
 takes possession of Arminium and other towns, 451 ; 
 offers conditions to Rome, 451 ; affected to be 
 thought a descendant of Venus, 453, r, ' ; his gene- 
 rosity to Domitius Enobarbus, 453, r. '' ; incensed 
 against the senate and tribunes, leaves Rome, 455 ; 
 takes money out of the temple of Saturn, and pro- 
 ceeds against the lieutenants of Pompey in Spain, 
 455, r. ** ; distributes preferment without regard to 
 rank or merit, 457, r. ° ; gets a victory of Pompey 
 at Pharsalia, 470 ; defeats Scipio in Africa, 478, r. 
 J; returns victorious from Africa, 481, r."; less 
 inclined than afraid to have recourse to arms, 481 ; 
 made a collection of apophthegms, 482 ; intends to 
 establish a republican government, 489 ; his gene- 
 rosity to Cicero, 489 ; his moderation and generos- 
 ity, 492; admits some of the Gauls into the privi- 
 leges of Roman citizens, 494, r. '; takes the name 
 of superintendant of manners, 495 ; makes a 
 law to regulate expenses, 496, r. "; his greatness of 
 mind in pardoning Marcellus, 499 ; the reason why 
 Caecina became the object of his wrath, 506 ; never 
 speaks of Pompey but in terms of the highest ho- 
 nour, 510 ; obtains a complete victory over young 
 Pompey, 518, r. •; his method of rewarding his 
 partisans, -520, r. ' ; conspirators obliged to leave 
 Rome, 541, r. ' ; appointed Dolabella to succeed 
 him in tlie consulship, 543, r. "^ ; at the time of his 
 death purposed games in honour of Venus, 547, r.^; 
 act of oblivion passes the senate after liis death, 
 549, r. » ; Rome more a slave to the plans of Cscsar, 
 after his death, than to himself when living, 549 ; 
 Brutus and Cassius reproached by Antony, 551 ; 
 a statue erected to his memory, 554 ; his party in- 
 tent to revenge his death, 554 ; his murderers 
 represented by Antony as traitors, 554 ; his mur- 
 
 der styled by Cicero the nohlest enterprise. 556 ; 
 many boasted of being concerned in the <-oi;spiracv, 
 wlio were not, 587, r. p ; Lucius Cajsar pirdoncd' 
 by him, and afterwards privately assassinated by his 
 order, 480, r. " 
 
 Cocsena, nii obsriirc town in Italy, 558 
 
 C'ajBius, Publius, Cicero's letter to, 429 
 
 Caldus, Cfflius, Cicero's letter to, 433; his character, 
 433, r. ' ; Cicero leaves the administration of Cili- 
 cia in his hands, 441 
 
 Calenum, a city of Campania, 522 
 
 Caliilius, one of the most agreeable orators of tiic age, 
 396, r. "' ; lost his election, 396 
 
 Callistiicnes, 349, r. •• 
 
 Calpe, now Gil,raltar, 593 
 
 Calvus contested the palm of eloquence with Cicero, 
 468, r." 
 
 Camillus, 444 
 
 Cam|)aiiia, considerations respecting the lands refeiTod 
 to a full house, 307 ; case of tlio lands, 367, r. «; 
 Curio attempts to procure a division of the lands, 
 413 
 
 Canidius, 399 
 
 Caniuius, 346, 353, 359, 393 
 
 Capena, a city in Italy, 486 
 
 Cappadocia, account of the kingdom of, 401, r. ' ; not 
 furnished with any place of stiength, 405 
 
 Cassius, 356, 4 1 2; Ci'ccro'slctters to, 424.4 f)5, 520, 52 1 , 
 549, 553, 554,562, 564, 568, 596, 598 ; his speech 
 on iiaving saved the life cf Csesar, when in danger of 
 drowning, 365, r. '; account of him, 424, r. ^ ; 
 deserted with his whole fleet from Pompey to Caesar, 
 465, r. •; letters to Cicero, 522, 597; D. Bnitus' 
 letter to him and M. Biut\is, 541 ; and M. Brutus' 
 letter to Antony, 551 ; pursues the fleet of Dola- 
 bella, commanded by Lucilius, 597 ; his army, 597 
 
 Catiline, those concerned in his conspiracy put to death 
 without any process, 336, r. ■" ; supported by per- 
 sons of desperate fortunes, 338, r. ^ ; recommended 
 to Lucius Lucceius to wiite a history of that con- 
 spiracy, 350; capital punishments inflicted on all 
 concerned in it, 369, r. ° 
 
 Catilius turns pirate, 338 
 
 Catina, a maritime town in Sicily, 463 
 
 Calo, Cains, opposed the restoration of Pompey, 334, 
 r. ', 344, r. J, 348 ; proposes the recal of.Lcntului, 
 348, r. ^ 
 
 Cato, Marcus (the Censor), instructs his son in swim- 
 ming, 365, r. "; thoughts on his own approaching 
 dissolution, occasioned by the death of liis son, 527, 
 
 Cato (Uticensis), his speech, 372, r. •= ; Cicero's letters 
 to, 403, 410, 439 ; his character, 416, r. * ; pro- 
 longed the life of liberty, -1 16, r. *; settled a cor- 
 respondence through the whole of the provmces, 
 
 419, r. '; enters into friendship with Deiotarus, 
 
 420, r. •" ; acts upon the principles of disinterested 
 patriotism, 420, r. s ; letter to Cicero, 420 ; his 
 manners by no means rough or unpolished, 420, r. 
 ' ; supports a thanksgiving to Bibulus, 440, r. " ; 
 opposes a thanksgiving to Cicero, 440, r. " ; Cicero's 
 thoughts on his deatii, 485; Seneca's eulogy on, 
 485, r. h ; anecdote of his stedfast behaviour at four 
 years of age, 524, r. "^ ; his character a fashionable 
 declamation for both parties at Rome, 534, T. " 
 
 Catulus, Q. L. makes the welfare of his country the 
 
 object of his labours, 495, r. ■" 
 Caunians, refused to pay interest for money after 
 
 having lodged it in the treasury, 404, r. J 
 Cannus, a city in Caria, 404
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 607 
 
 Censor, that ofBce explained, 430, r. '; every five 
 
 years number the people, 542, r. ^ 
 Certllia, account of her, 505, r. •» 
 Ch;iiiots of the old Britons, 362, r. * 
 Chrysippus the philosopher, account of, 384, 479, T. " 
 Cibyra, a city in Phrygia Major, 397, r. " 
 Cicero, Quintus, letter to M. T. Cicero, 524 ; in order 
 to obtain the recal of his brother, engaged to an un- 
 limited resignation to the measures of Pumpey, 
 368, r. ■! ; letters to Tiro, 452, 453, 558 ; his eha- 
 racter, 452, r. p 
 Cicero, M. T. letter to Pompey, 333 ; complains of 
 a want of return of friendship in Pompey, and liis 
 not congratulating him on iiis services, 334 ; cause 
 of Pompey's coolness towards him, 334, r. ''; letter 
 to Quintus Metellus Celer,334; resolves to receive 
 no honours at the end of his consular office, 335, 
 r. ^ ; swore that he had preserved Rome and the 
 republic from destruction, 335, r. ° ; his good 
 offices to Pompey, 335 ; letter to Gains Antonius, 
 336; "I am informed," the reason for his \ising 
 that expression, 337, r. " ; letter to Publius Sestius, 
 337 ; purchases Crassus's house, 337 ; in distress 
 for money, 338 ; sincerity not the virtue of, 338, 
 r. ' ; letters to Tercntia, 338, 339, 340, 341 ; his 
 dejection during banishment, 338, 339 ; a philo- 
 sopher only in speculation, 338, r. ^ ; passes through 
 Brundisium in his way to Greece, 338, r. '' ; a law 
 passed that no person should harbour him, 339, 
 r. '; his daughter Tullia married to Piso, 339, 
 ♦•. •; promises freedom to his slaves conditionally, 
 339 ; a temple erected to Liberty where his house 
 stood, 340, r. "^ ; solicited to join Ca'sar and Cras- 
 sus, 340, r. ■ ; his design of taking up arms against 
 his country examined, 340, r. " ; deserted by 
 Pompey, 340, r. '" ; Ca;sar offered to take him into 
 Gaul as his lieutenant, 341, r. *; letter to Quintus 
 Metellus Nepos, 342 ; the treachery of Clodius to 
 him, 342, r. ^ ; recalled from banishment, 343, 
 r. c ; letters to Publius Lentulus, 343, 346, 347, 
 348, 352, 356, 366 ; the part he took in placing 
 Ptolemy in his kingdom, 344 ; letter to Quintus 
 Valerius Oica, 345 ; recommends his African 
 friends, 345 ; his friendship to Lentulus, 347 ; 
 compares the fate of Lentulus with his own, 348 ; 
 letter to Lucius Lucceius, 349 ; served as a volun- 
 teer undei the father of Pompey, 349, r. * ; wishes 
 to have his life portrayed by Lucceius in a history 
 of Catiline's conspiracy, 350 ; purposes to be his 
 own historian, if Lucceius refuses it, 351 ; his 
 vanity, 351, r. p ; letter to him from Quintus 
 Metellus Nepos, 352 ; letter to Quintus Ancharius, 
 352 ; his and Pompey's advice to Lentulus, 353 ; 
 his duplicity in the affair of Ptolemy, 353, r. ^ ; 
 sometimes represents his approbation and con- 
 demnation of tlie same actions, 353, r. '" , 354, 
 r. •> ; exhorts Ijcntulus to a well-regulated ambi- 
 tion, 354 ; makes immoderate and fatal concessions 
 to the ambition of Csesar, 354, r. •*; letter to Fabius 
 Gallus, 355, 492, 534, 535 ; statues purchased for 
 him, 355 ; prefers paintings to statues, 356 ; motives 
 of his attachment to Pompey, 356 ; motives of his 
 ambition, 356 ; letters to Marcus Marius, 357, 387, 
 470, 487 ; on public shows, 357 ; advantages he 
 derived from ^sopus, 358, r. ^ ; dissatisfied in his 
 situation of public advocate, 359 ; wholly under 
 the influence of Pompey and Cassar, 359, r. >> ; 
 letters to Quintus Philippus, 359, 377 ; letter to 
 Marcus Licinius Crassus, 360 ; supposed insincerity 
 of his professed friendship for Crassus, 360, r. " ; 
 
 letters to Julius Caesar, 361, 523; letters to 
 Trebatius, 362, 363, 364, 365, 379, 381, 382, 
 383, 384, 387, 388, 550; letter to Munatius, 
 364 ; reconciled to Coesar and Appius, 366 ; 
 defence of his appearing advocate for Vatinius, 
 366 ; traces the motives for his conduct, 366 ; the 
 Atrium Libertatis erected as a monument for his 
 services, 366, r.^" ; the inscription ordered to be 
 restored, 3GG, r. '*^ ; his houses pillaged and burned 
 by order of Clodius, 367, r. ^ ; adheres firmly to 
 his political principles, 367 ; the engagements on 
 which Pompey favoured his recal, 368, r. J ; had 
 no esteem for Pompey, 369, r. " ; his motives for 
 uniting with Ceesar, 369 ; in compliance to the law 
 made against him by Clodius, he appears in mourn- 
 ing, and is joined by 20,000 knights, 369, r. ' \ 
 deserted by some of his friends, 370 ; his recal op. 
 posed, 370, r. * ; his name defaced from his mo- 
 nument, and the name of Clodius inserted, 370 ; 
 inferior to Metellus in his behaviour during banish- 
 ment, 371, r. * ; recalled from banishment by 
 Lentulus, 371 ; cause of his having promoted the 
 honours of Csesar, 372 ; blamed for having joined 
 Pompey and Csesar, 372, r. <= ; defends Cato, 373 ; 
 provoked to engage in the defence of Vatinius, 
 
 373 ; blamed for defending AulusGabinius, 373, r. J; 
 at variance with Crassus, 373 ; reconciled to Cras- 
 sus, 374 ; his support of Csesar and Pompey inde- 
 fensible, 374, r. ° ; principles on which he acted, 
 
 374 ; his character as a patriot depreciated, 375, r. ', 
 503, r. * ; sends three dialogues on oratory to Len- 
 tulus, 375 ; delivers a poem on his banishment, 
 sealed up, to his son, 375, r. ' ; letters to Lucius 
 Culleolus, 376 ; letters to Curius, 377, 503, 539, 
 540 ; letter to Basilius, 377 ; letter to Lucceius 
 Valerius, the lawyer, 377 ; mistakes the meaning 
 of Homer, 378, r. » ; letters to Caius Curio, 378, 
 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 413 ; letters to Appiua 
 Pulcher, 380, 388, 389, 390, 395, 402,409, 423, 
 425, 429, 434, 439, 440 ; letters to Caius Mem- 
 mius, 381, 384, 391 ; letters to Cornificius, 382, 
 537, 640, 555, 556, 557, 558, 560, 570, 57--', 
 580, 595 ; sends a letter in Greek to Csesar, 383 ; 
 letter to Publius Sextius, 384 ; his declaration of 
 friendship for Sextius, 385 ; supported Milo in his 
 election for the consulate, because his own dignities 
 depended on it, 385 ; letter to Titus Fadius, 386 ; 
 letters to Titus Titius, 387, 462 ; obtains the ba- 
 nishment of Bursa, 387 ; conceives a stronger 
 aversion to Bursa than he ever had against 
 Clodius, 388; letters from Ccelius to him, 389, 
 393, 394, 396, 397, 398, 405, 412, 421, 422, 
 435, 438, 442, 452, 454, 459; his political 
 treatises universally read, 390 ; intimately united 
 with Patro, 392 ; his real sentiments of Patro, 392 ; 
 letters to xMarcus Ccelius, 393, 408, 411, 433, 
 441, 445 ; often changes his opinion, or at least his 
 language, respecting Pompey, 393, r. " ; his ad- 
 ministration of Cilicia commended, 393, r. p ; 
 shares, with his servant Philotimus, in the profit 
 made by the purchase of his friend Milo's estates, 
 at an under value, 395, r. ^ ; letters to Marcus 
 Marcellus, 399, 491, 494, 529; letters to Caius 
 Marcellus, 399, 420, 440 ; letter to Caius Mar- 
 cellus the elder, 400 ; letter to Lucius Paulus, 
 400, 421 ; letters to the consuls, the prsetors, the 
 tribunes of the people, and the senate, 400, 
 404 ; takes Ariobarzanes under his protection, 
 401 ; letters to Thermus, 402, 403, 414 ; dis- 
 pleased with the conduct of Appius, 402 ; his
 
 <J00 
 
 INDEX TO CICERO'S LETTERS 
 
 edict for tlic povernnicnt of Cilicia very dif- 
 ferent fioin tliat of Ajjpius, 403 ; letter to Mar- 
 cus Catii, 403, 41(), 4;59 ; ciuinot rely on tlic 
 )iroviiK-i;il militia, 4l)Ct ; voluntary advocate for 
 Tiiccius, lOli ; lellcrs to Publius '^Uius, 4()li, 411, 
 41 '5, 410, 4'2'J ; congratulates CctU, j on iiis a?di]e. 
 Bliip, 408 ; defence of himself against Appius, 
 409 ; restrains tlie public expenses in Cilicia, 410 ; 
 declaration of friendship for A|>pius, 410; lowers 
 the interest of money in Cilicia, 410, r. ^ ; entitled 
 to a triunijdi, 411 ; gains a victory over the I'ai- 
 thians, 412 ; his vanity, 412 ; saluted with the title 
 of Imperator, 412; his esteem and affection for 
 Nero, 413 ; letter to Vohimniuf!, 414, 484 ; wislies 
 to retain iiis character of a wit, 415; letter to Cras- 
 sipos, 415 ; his own aceoimt of liis government of 
 Cilicia, 4IG ; his]irogres3 against the Parthians, 417: 
 takes Pindincssnni, 418 ; jHCserved the conimon- 
 ■weallh without drawing a sword, 418 ; refused the 
 government of Macedonia, 419 ; represents himself 
 as a stranger to vain-glory, and desire of vulgar 
 admiration, yet ambitious of military honours, 419 ; 
 very attentive to the interests of the commonwealth, 
 419, r. 8 ; calls philosophy for his advocate, 420 ; 
 Marcus Cato's letter to him, 420 ; accused by Ap- 
 pius Pulcher of neglect to him, 423 ; prefers merit 
 to distinction of birth, 423; looks on Poniy>ey as 
 the greatest man the world ever produced, 423 ; let- 
 ters to Cains Cassius, 424, 519, 520, 549,553, 554, 
 562, 564, 568,596; letters to C. Titius Kufus, 
 428, 448, 458 ; was a native of Arpinum in Italj', 
 428, r. '"•, 459, r. " ; letter to Puhlius Cassius, 429 ; 
 letter to the inhabitants of Frcgcllae, 429 ; promises 
 to support the honour of Appius Pulcher, 429 ; in- 
 sincerity of his professions, 430, r. s ; his obligations 
 to Ponipcy, 432; not nnder the obligations to Pom- 
 pey which he pretended, 432, r. "^ ; observations on 
 'his defence of Milo, 432, r. ' ; letters to Papirius 
 PKtus,432, 469, 482,484,486,487,494,501,564; 
 '■wore out Xenophon's Life of Cyrus with reading it, 
 432 ; his friendship with Marcus Fabius, 432 ; letter 
 to Coelius Caldus, 433 ; his expressions of joy on the 
 acquittal of Appius Pulcher, 434 ; his character of 
 Appius Pulcher in a former letter to Atticus, 434, 
 r. " ; formed difterent opinions of Pompey at differ- 
 ent times, 435, r. ^ ; friendship for Ai)pius Pulcher, 
 435 ; difficulty in procuring a thanksgiving, 435 ; 
 courted both by Pompey and Caesar, 436, r. ' ; let- 
 ter to Caniniiis Sallustius, 437 ; studied oratory 
 at Rhodes under Molo, 437, r, ' ; anxious to leave 
 his province at the expiration of the year, 437 ; 
 intends to deposit a copy of his quaestor's accounts at 
 Ajwmea, 437 ; advises the Parthian plunder to be 
 laid out in behalf of the public, 437 ; not on good 
 terms with Bibulus, 438 ; congratulated on his 
 alliance with Dolabella, 438 ; received the account 
 •of the death of Hortensius with real concern, 438, 
 y. K ; his thoughts on the marriage of Dolabella with 
 Tullia, 439 ; docs not forgive Cato for refusing him 
 a thanksgiving, 440, r. " ; acknowledges himself 
 obliged to Cato, 440 ; acknowledges his obligations 
 to Appius Pulcher, 440 ; his disquietude on the 
 dark prospect of public affairs, 441 ; leaves the ad- 
 ministration of Cilicia to Caldus, 441 ; letters to 
 Tcrentia and Tullia, 444, 450; arrives at Athens, 
 444 ; laments the death of Prcscius, who left him a 
 legacy, 444 ; letters to Tiro, 444, 445, 446, 447, 
 451, 453, 524, 530, 531, 532, 542, 555; his 
 temper more than commonly warm, 444, r. " ; in 
 liopes of obtaining a triumph, 444, r. " ; detained 
 
 at Corcyi-a by contrary uiuds, 44G ; account of bis 
 voyage on his return from his government, 446 ; 
 met hy Tcrentia at Brundisium, 446 ; resolves not 
 to engage in party measures, 14 7 ; arrives in tlio 
 bui)urbs of Rome, 447; finds Koine in civil war, 
 447; takes Capua in Italy under his protection, 
 448 ; on the ])ublic expenses of Iiis government in 
 Cilicia, 448 ; pays a necessai-y obedience to tlio 
 Julian law, 448 ; his honorary list, 449 ; the money 
 he left in the hands of the farmers of the revenues 
 at Kphesus seized for Pompey, 449 ; his wife and 
 daughter leave Rome, 450, ?•. n ; with all the friends 
 of the republic abandons Rome, 451 ; follows Pom- 
 pey into Greece, but would not accept' a command 
 in Pompey's amiy, 451, r. "; letters to Seiviug 
 Solpicius,' 454, 457, 488, 513, 514, 515, 516, 
 527 ; will not take his seat in the senate witliout 
 full liberty of speaking his sentiments, 454, r. '' ; 
 had formed a resolution of following Pompey into 
 (Jreccc, 454, r. "^ ; averse to Pompey's deserting 
 Rome, 456 ; resames his intention of following 
 Pompey into Greece, 456, r. ^ ; professes that his 
 aim was to preserve the peace of liis country, 456; 
 determines to wait the event of Caesar's expedition 
 in Spain, 457, r. '" ; resolves to retire from Rome, 
 457 ; letters to Tcrentia, 458,460, 461, 462, 4G3. 
 464, 466 ; attributes his cure to Apollo and j'Escu- 
 lapius, 458; joins Pompey in Greece, 458, r. ' ; 
 his political character stated, 458, r. ' ; Dolabella's 
 letter to Cicero, 4G0 ; Dolabella endeavours to 
 persuade Cicero to quit Pompey's party, 460 ; con- 
 jecture respecting some money which he wishes to 
 have paid, 461, r. ^ ; quits Pompey's party, 461, 
 r. '" ; Pompey exaspeiated against him, 461, r. "; 
 scarcely ever executed an important resolution 
 without repenting immediately, 461 , r.° ; his severe 
 anxietj', 4()1, r. ^ ; consoles Titius on the loss of 
 his son, 462 ; thoughts on a future state, 462 ; 
 letters to Acilius, 463, 464, 466, 468, 469 ; re- 
 proaches himself with negligence respecting his 
 daughter Tullia, 463, r. ^ ; letters to Cassius, 465; 
 reasons why he declined a perseverance in the civil 
 war, 465 ; had an interview with Caesar in Italy, 
 466, r. ° ; letters to Trebonius, 467, 496 ; ac- 
 knowledges favours received from Trebonius, 467 ; 
 the palm of eloquence contested by Cal vus, 468, r. ' ; 
 letter to Sextilius Rufus, 468 ; repents that he 
 joined Pompey, 470 ; advised Pompey to propose 
 terms of accommodation to Cajsar, 470 ; lays down 
 his arms and returns to Italy, 470 ; motives and 
 defence of his conduct, 471 ; letter to Cneius Plan- 
 cius, 472 ; laments the present and impending 
 calamities, 472; his wife Tcrentia divorced, 472, r. 
 ^; letters to Toranius, 472, 474 ; letters to Marcus 
 Terentius Varro, 473, 478, 479, 480, 481, 531; 
 letter to Domitius, 474 ; advice to Domitius against 
 suicide, 474 ; letters to Lucius Plancus, 474, 551, 
 554, 561, 562, 567, 570, 574, 576, 580, 586, 
 590, 594 ; his fiiendship for Plancus, 475 ; declares 
 that lie joined Pompey contrary to his own inclina- 
 tion, in compliance with the solicitation and autho- 
 rity of others, 476 ; blamed for not standing neuter 
 in the war between Pompey and Cajsar, 476, r. * ; 
 letters to Allienus, 476, 478 ; letter to Lucius Mes- 
 cinius, 476 ; censures Pompey for his conduct 
 towards him, 477; obliged to associate with the Cte- 
 sareanparty,477; declares that he never sacrificed the 
 public good to his own private views, 477 j rejected 
 the doctrine of the immortality of the soul in 
 liis private opinion, 477, r. ■ ; held JifTercnt
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 609 
 
 opinions o* tho same tiling at different times, 477, 
 r. ^; nar rives for not quitting Rome, 478 ; 
 letters to Apuleins, 479, 481 ; liis icasons for keep- 
 ing VaiTO within his reach, 480, r. ' ; inclined to 
 join the strongest party, 481 ; tliinks it best not to 
 disgust CVsar or his favourites, 482; institutes a 
 kind of academy for eloquence at his own house, 
 483, r. % 484, 485 ; intends a visit to P;ipirius 
 Paetns, 483 ; resolves to retire into the secret shades 
 of philosophy, 484 ; his thoughts on Cato's death, 
 485 ; becomes an absolute Epicurean, 487 ; general 
 sketch of his manner of life, 487, 501 ; laments the 
 dtisolation of the commonwcaltli, 488; consecrates 
 all his time and attention to pliilosopiiy, 488 ; letters 
 to Scrvilius Isauricus, 489, 493, 503, 505, 507, 
 508, 510; letter to Nigidius Figulus, 489; finds 
 hirnself divested of all his credit, authority, and 
 honours, and thinks it a ciime to continue to live, 
 490 ; wishes to insinuate liimself into the friendship 
 of Cffisar, and pretends that modesty keeps him from 
 intimacy, 490 ; disapproved of the manner in which 
 the civil war was carried on, 491 ; could plead the 
 merit of having yielded after he was conquered, 
 492 ; letters to trehianus, 492, 493 ; letters to 
 Quintus Gallius. 493, 511; letters to Dolabella, 
 519, 522, 525, 538, 543 ; letters to Marcus Brutus, 
 496, 498, 499, 501 ; letter to Ligarius, 497 ; zeal- 
 ously patronises the city of Arpinum, 498 ; ad- 
 dresses Casar on the pardon of Marcelhis, 499 ; 
 thought it true wisdom to yield to the circumstances 
 of the times, 500 ; Marcus Marcellus's letter to 
 him, 500 ; letter to Ampins, 502 ; not equally 
 solicitous in all his recommendations, 503 ; mixes 
 with the chief of the victorious faction, 503 ; how 
 far a patriot, 503, r. ^ ; letter to Ligarius, 504 ; is 
 said to have made Casar tremble bv his rhetoric, 
 504, r. f; letters to Aulus Cacina, 505, 507, 508; 
 letter to Titus Fur fanius, 505; Csecina's letter to 
 liim, 506 ; his skill in divination, 508 ; could not 
 support the thoughts of deserting Pompey, 509 ; 
 advances daily in the fiiend>hip of Caesar, 510 ; 
 letter to Publius Sulpicius, 511 ; letters to Aulus 
 Torquatus, 511, 513 ; letter to Lepta, 517; in- 
 scribed his Orator to Brutus, 518, r. ^; letter to 
 Aulus Torquatus, 518; is appointed to judge 
 letween Nicias and Vidius, 519 ; Cuius Cassius's 
 letter to him, 522 ; letters to Caesar, 5G3 ; Quintus 
 Cicero's letter to him, 524 ; gives Tiro his freedom, 
 524 ; letter to Rex, 524 ; laments the death of 
 Tullia, 525, 527, 528 : his character detracted by 
 his own nephew, 525, r. ■" ; Servius Sulpicius's 
 letter to Cicero, lamenting the death of Tullia, 
 5-5 ; thinks Cresar by no means his enemy, 528 ; 
 letters to Lucius Lucceius, 528, 529; advantages he 
 derived from the advice of Lucceius, 528 ; Lucceius' 
 letter to Cicero, 520; laments how few friends he 
 has left, and the miseries of life, 529 ; Vatiniiis's 
 letter to Cicero, 531 ; sends four dialogues callc'l 
 Academica to Varro, 531 ; writes a dialogue between 
 Atticus, Varro and himself, 532 ; letters to Quintus 
 Valerius Orca, 532, 533; recommends the citizens 
 of Volaterra to Orca's protection, 532 ; Macula 
 offers him the use of his house, 5;^3 ; letter to 
 Cluvius, 534 ; recommends the citizens of Atella 
 to the piotection of Cluvius, 535 : letter to IMarcus 
 Rutilius. 536 ; letter to Vatinius, 53f) ; Curius's let- 
 ter to Cicero, 537 ; blamed for not inquiring into the 
 conduct of Dolabella, 538, r. "■ ; letter to Auctus, 
 540 ; favoured the conspirators against Caesar, 542, 
 "»••'; sends Tiro to Rome to receive hisdebts, 542.; let 
 
 ter to Bithynicus, 542 ; no real friendship between 
 him and Antony, 543, r. * ; approves of Dolabella's 
 consular conduct, 543 ; praises the conduct of Bru- 
 tus on the ides of Marcli, 544 ; letters to Trebonius, 
 544, 563 ; Trebonius's letter to, 545 ; character of 
 his son, 545 ; letter to Matins, 54(5 ; friendship for 
 Matius, 546 ; reviled that man [Ca>sar] when dead, 
 whom ho was the first to flatter when living, 547, 
 r. ^ ; Matius's letter to, 547; his declarations of 
 friendship to Brutus and Cassius, .549 ; letter to 
 Oppius, 549 ; motive of his intended voyage into 
 Greece, 551, r. ' ; Decimns Brutus' letters to, 552, 
 575, 576, 577, 581, 582, 585, 58G, 591; letters 
 to Decimus Brutus, 552, 553, 556, 557, 560, 579, 
 580, 581, 591, 593. 595, 598; neglects attending 
 the senate when divine honours were to be voted to 
 Cassar, 553, r. * ; cannot appear with safety in the 
 senate, 553 ; the occasion of his 1st and 2d Philip- 
 pics, 5,53, r. * and ^ ; declines speaking when the 
 senate is surrounded with soldiers, 554 ; reproaches 
 the conspirators for sparing Antony, 554 ; laments 
 that he was not one of the conspirators, 554, 562, 
 5G3 ; supposed by Antony to have been one of the 
 conspirators, 553, 554 ; favoured the design of Oc- 
 tavius against the life of Antony, 555, r. S • had a 
 design of publishing his letters, 555, r. ^ ; found it 
 necessary to move from Home, 556, r. " ; the kill- 
 ing of Cccsar the noblest enterprise recorded by his- 
 tory, 556 ; encourages D. Brutus to act without 
 waiting for the sanction of the senate, 557 ; the 
 occasion of the 3d and 4th Philippics, 558, r. * ; 563, 
 r. P; Bythinicus's letter to Cicero, 560 ; his flat- 
 tery of Plancus m order to gain him over to his 
 partv, 561, 562; Plancus's letters to Cicero, 561, 
 568", 570, 574, 577, 578. 579, 583, 592, 5Q9 ; be- 
 comes popular, 563 ; a design to destroy him, 564 ; 
 Caius Cassius's letters to, 565, 567, 578, 598 ; 
 Asinius Pollio's letters to, 565, 590, 593 ; his ad- 
 vice to Plancus, 567 ; letter to Lepidus, 567 ; is 
 always ready to assist Plancus with his advice and in- 
 terest, 570 ; hopes for a fiivourable turn in tlie affairs 
 of the state 570; recommends Plancus to persev«re, 
 571; places a statue of Minerva in the temple of 
 Jupiter, 572, r. ° ; was the only man who dared to 
 assert his freedom and independency in the senate, 
 573; his engagements with Octavius, 573, r. '; 
 inveighed against the measures of Antony, 573 ; 
 Galba's letter to, 574 ; Octavius refuses to hearken 
 to his advice, 576 ; his disappointment in Antony 
 not being defeated, 580 ; advises Plancus not to wait 
 for the sanction of the senate, 581 ; Marcus Lepidus's 
 letter to, 582 ; letters to Furnius, 584, 596 ; dis- 
 pleases Octavius by an ambiguous expression, 585 ; 
 Lentulus's letter to, 586 ; will not expose himself to 
 any danger that prudence can prevent, 591 ; Cassius' 
 (Qua;itor) letter to, 597 ; iiis eloquence of more 
 avail than all the armies of their generals, 597 ; ho- 
 nours paid him by the populace, 597, r. ^ ; the 
 ruin of the republic would have been prevented by 
 following his advice, 598, r. ^ ; letter to Ampins, 
 598; Plancus's letter to, 599 ; artfully ensnared by 
 Octavius, 600, r. ^\ conjecture how far he assisted 
 Octavius in obtaining ttie consulate, 600, r. '' ; was 
 sacrificed to the resentment of Antony, 600, r. • ; his 
 composure at his death, 600, r. ' 
 
 Cicero's (the Younger,) letters to Tiro, 559, 560; 
 account of him, 559, r. • ; lived with Cratippus 
 both as his son and pupil, 559 ; his studie?, 569 ; 
 his courage and conduct, 588 
 
 Cilicia, extent of that province. 400, r. ■", 427 ; mili- 
 'R R
 
 610 
 
 INDEX TO CICERO'S LETTERS 
 
 tary preparations tlierc by Cicero, 401 ; added to 
 the provinces by P. ServiHiis, 400, r. ' ; praetors 
 draw lots for tiic goverunu'iil of, 407 ; prevented 
 by Cicero from sending deputies to tiiank Appiiis, 
 409 ; severely plundered by Appius, 410, r. " 
 
 Cilix, 380 
 
 Cilo Magius stabs Marcellus, and then kills himself, 
 530 
 
 Cimber, his treachery to Ca;sar, 502, r. ''' 
 
 Cineas, 43'2, r. •■ 
 
 Cipius, saying (if, 534 
 
 Circcnsian games consisted of shows of various kinds, 
 442, r. « 
 
 Civil war, victory, the supreme evil of, 481 
 
 Cleopatra, 461, r. " 
 
 Clodius procures a law that no person shall harboiir 
 Cicero, 338, r. <= ; treachery to Cicero, 343, r. *; 
 pillages and burns Cicero's hou?cs, 307,7"."; an 
 enemy to the laws and tranquillity of Rome, 368 ; 
 after having driven Cicero from Rome, opposes 
 Pompey and Cocsar, 369, r. ", 370, r. * ; his 
 schemes a;;;ainst Cicero, 369, r. '' ; law procured 
 by him, 369, r. "" ; intrudes on the matrons' 
 mysteries, 370 ; suspected of cr'im. con. with 
 his three sisters, 370, r. " ; opposes the recal of 
 C coro, 370, r. ^ ; impeached by Milo as a disturber 
 of the public peace, 370, r. ". ^killed by Milo, 386, 
 r. * ; his funeral pile made of the benches of the 
 senate-house, 387, r. ' 
 
 Clodius, Marcus, recommended by Cicero to Acilius, 406 
 
 Cluvius, 403 ; the cities of Mylata and Alabanda in- 
 debted to him, 404 ; has demands on Ileraclea 
 Bargylos and Caunus, 401 ; liis dispute with the 
 Caunians, 404, r.J ; Cicerj's letter to, 534 
 
 Cocceius, 479 
 
 Ccelius, Marcus, letters to Cicero, 389, 393, 394, 396, 
 397,398,405,412,421,422, 435, 438,442, 452, 
 454, 459 ; Cicero's letters to him, 393, 408, 4ll, 
 425, 426, 427, 433, 441, 455 ; account of, 389, 
 r. ^ ; wirshes Cicero to address some of his works to 
 him, 395; complains of the ingratitude of Appius, 
 442 ; Lucius Domitius becomes his most bitter 
 enemy, 442 ; Appius endeavours to persuade Ser- 
 vius to impeach him, 442 ; indicted on the Scan- 
 tinian law, 442 ; lodges an information against 
 Appius, 442 ; endeavours to persuade Cicero to join 
 Caesar, 454 ; laments his having joined Caesar, 459; 
 encourages Pompey's party at Rome, 459 ; mur- 
 dered by tlie soldiers of Caesar's faction, 460, r. ^ 
 
 Cognosco explained, 378, r. ' 
 
 Colophon, a city of Ionia, 507 
 
 Comitlal days, 407, r. ^ 
 
 Commagene, a part of Syria, 403 
 
 Confidence frequently passes for skill, 377 
 
 Conscript fathers, the council of the republic addressed 
 by that term, 588, r. " 
 
 Consuls become infamous barterers for provinces, 369; 
 not under the age of forty-two, 543, r. *• ; might not 
 be sued for until two years after having served the 
 office of praetor, 597, r. " 
 
 Consulars, wiiom, 486, r. ■" 
 
 Corcvra, an island in the Ionian Sea, now called Corfu, 
 395, r.', 472 
 
 Corinth, a city of Peloponnecus, 526 
 
 Cornelia visits the \vife of Cicero, 337; her character, 
 399, r. 1 
 
 Cornelian law, 402, r. y, 431, r. h 
 
 Cornelius, 337, 346 
 
 Cornificius, 422 : Cicero s isttcrs to, 382, 537, 540, 
 555 556, 557, 558, SCO, 580, 5.95; account of 
 
 bin), 537, r. ^ ; lost his life in defence of his pro- 
 vince, 595, r. ' 
 
 Corporation, or niunicip.il towns, 428, r. * 
 
 Cossinius, Lucius, recommended by Cicero to Sul- 
 j)icius, 515 
 
 Corycus, in Cilicia, 597 
 
 Crassipes, 374; married to Tullia, 355; Cicero's 
 letter to, 4 1 5 
 
 Crassiis, Marcus Licinius, Cicero's letter to, 360 ; 
 Cicero's profession of friendship for him, 360 ; gives 
 a general treat on 10,000 tables, and three montlis' 
 provisions of corn, 360, r. J; accepts the province of 
 Syria, with a design of nuaking war on the Partbians, 
 
 360, r. ^; regulated his att.achmcnt by his interest, 
 
 361, r. '^ ; his son heads a body of knights in sup- 
 port of Cicero, 369, r. *" ; cause of variance betwcea 
 liim and Cicero, l'>73; sets off Tor Syria, 374, r. ' ^ 
 account of him, 495, r. '' 
 
 Criminals employed on the roads, 358, r. ' 
 
 Cromwell, paragram of his, 415, r. " 
 
 Cromyacris, in Cyprus, 597 
 
 Cularo, on the frontiers of the Allobroges, new Gre- 
 noble, 592 
 
 Culeo returns to Lepidus, 582 
 
 Culleolus, Lucius, Cicero's letter to, 376 
 
 Cunia;, a city in Campania, 390, r. ■ 
 
 Curia>, their votes considered as tlie voice of the pcojde, 
 375. r. " 
 
 Curio, Cains, 347, 435; Cicero's letters to, 378, 381, 
 382, 383, 384, 385, 413 ; his cii.ar.acter, 378, r. i , 
 381, r. % 396, r. ' ; his debts paid by Caesar, 
 378, r. J ; lost his life before tlic battle of Pharsalia, 
 
 378, r. J ; his infamous intercourse with Antony, 
 
 379, r. '" ; gives public games, 383, r. ' ; theatre, 
 394 ; gives panthers tc Ccelius, 398, 408; prepares 
 to oppose tlie demands of C'a:sar, 407 ; joins Caisar's 
 parly, 422 ; becomes a convert to Ca!sar, 423 
 
 Curiiis, 433 ; Cicero's letters to, 377, 503, 537, 539, 
 
 540 ; account of him, 603, r, •= 
 Curius, Manius, recommended by Cicero to Sulpicius, 
 
 513 
 Curius, Marcus, recommended byCicero to Auctus,540 
 Curtius, 4,57, 534 
 
 Curule magistrates drawn iu a car, 469, r. " 
 Curvus, Lucius Genucilius, recommended bv Cicero 
 
 to Therm us, 402 
 Cuspius, Publius, 345 
 Custidius, Lucius, 428 
 Cjbira, a city of Lycaonia, 514, r. ^ 
 Cybiratac hunt panthers, 398 
 Cyprus had a peculiar claim on the patronage of Cato, 
 
 419, r. S; extremely oppressed under the gosern- 
 
 mcnt of Ptolemy, 419, r. s 
 Cyzicum, a town in the island of Propontis, 393 
 
 D. 
 
 Dalmatia, Vatiiiius's victories in, 539 
 
 Damasippus, 355, 35G 
 
 Death to be wished for, after the loss of liberty hi a 
 country, 525 ; consolation drawn from the prospect 
 of ruined cities, 526; Addison's reflections amongst 
 the repositories of the de.ad, 526, o-. '^ ; in an honest 
 cause ought never to be shunned, 547 
 
 Decemviri, account of, 580, r. S; appointed to distri- 
 bute lands to the soldiers, 585, r. "• 
 
 Decurio, that office explained, 517, r. "* 
 
 Deiotarus, prince ofGalatia, 412, 417,418,465, r.l't
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 611 
 
 his character, 400, r. * ; his gjoat army, 405, r. ° ', 
 offers to join Cicero with his forces, 417 
 
 Drmetrius, Magus, on being granted the freedom of 
 Rome, took the name of Publius Cornelius, 4()8 
 
 Demetrius, a celebrated orator, 5'25, r. ' 
 
 Democritus of Sicyon, 476 
 
 Dialogue writers have the privilege of drawing up dia- 
 logues which had never taken place, 532 
 
 Dictator, a magistrate invested with supreme and abso- 
 lute power, 396, r. " 
 
 Diodorus, a Greek philosopher, 479, r. "' 
 
 Diodotus, a Stoic philosopher, 479, r. " 
 
 Diosrenes, Laertius, preserved the will of Epicurus, 
 392, r. i 
 
 Dion Cassius, 338, r. % 340, ?•. ">, 345, r. ™ 
 
 Dionysius, 351, r. ^ ; steals books from Cicero's 
 library, 511 
 
 Divination attended to by the senate, 347, r. ^ ; 
 derived from the Etruscans, 508, r. ° 
 
 Dolabella exhibits articles of impeachment against 
 /\ppius, 421 ; his wife obtains a divorce, 421 ; un- 
 grateful to liis patron, 430 ; marries Tullia, 438, 
 439, 441 ; joins Caesarj 451 ; letter to Cicero, 
 460; his character, 460, r. '', 538, r. '; endea- 
 vours to persuade Cicero to leave Pompey, 4G0 ; 
 his neglect of Tullia, 463 ; divorce purposed, 464 ; 
 reasons for a divorce, 464, r. <^; employs his power 
 to seditious purposes, 464, r. * ; attended Csesar 
 in the African war, 480, r.^; Cicero's letters to 
 him, 519, 522, 523,538, 543; doubts whether 
 the marriage with Tullia was dissolved, 525, r. °, 
 526, r. 1 ; disperses the mob that gathered about 
 Caesar's altar, 543, »•. "^ ; saves the commonwealth 
 as well as the city, 544 ; if he should not succeed 
 in Syria, intends to join Antony, 586 ; obliged to 
 abandon the siege of Antiochia, 587 ; puts an end 
 to his life by commanding one of his slaves to be 
 his executioner, 587, r. ° ; in his march from Asia 
 laid waste the country,. and seized the public mo- 
 ney, 588 ; his fleet destroyed by Lentulus, 589 ; 
 the gates of Antiochia shut against him, and his 
 troops desert him, 589 ; defeated by Cassius, 
 596, r. '" ; collects his forces at Laodicea, 597; 
 price of wheat in his camp, 597 
 
 Domitian improved Augustus's poetical court of ju- 
 dicature, 357, r. * 
 
 Domitii, 436 
 
 Domitius, Cicero's letter to, 474 ; account of him, 
 474, r.'i 
 
 Domitius, Lucius Enobarbus, one of Csesar's avowed 
 enemies, 390, r. "^ ; disappointed in his election, 
 442 ; seized and strangled by Bellienus, 45"2 ; 
 treated by Ca;sar with generosity, 453, r. ^ 
 
 Dyrrachium, a city in Macedonia, now Durazzo, 
 341, r. ",460, r. « 
 
 E. 
 
 Eggs, the first dish at every table, 487, r. " 
 Egnatius, 359 ; recommended by Cicero to Silius, 429 
 Egnatius, Lucius, recommended by Cicero to Apu- 
 
 'leius, 479 
 Egnatius, Titus, recommended by Cicero to Isauricus, 
 
 503 
 Elephants, terrible slaughter of, 359 ; supposed to 
 
 partake, in some degree, of rational faculties, 
 
 359, r. s ; drawn up in the front of Scipio's armv, 
 
 481, r.' 
 Elis, a city of Peloponnesus, 516 
 
 Elocution, contrast between that of Rome and Britain> 
 
 485, r. i 
 Eloquence not venal at Rome, 337, t. ^ ; the povvei 
 
 of, 504, r. ' 
 Epaminondas, his glorious death, 350 
 Eporedia, a town Ticar Vercella;, 586, r.' 
 J.phesus, a cit}' in Ionia, 396, r. ' 
 Epicureans, their ])rinciples ridiculed, 381 ; their 
 
 absurd doctrine of ideas, 521, r. ° 
 Epicurus left his school and gardens to the sect of 
 
 philosophers called by his name, 392, r. • 
 Epiphanea, a city in Cilicia, 417, r. ^ 
 Epirus contiguous to Greece, 514, r. " 
 Epistolary correspondence, the proper subjects for, 383 
 Equestrian order, coalition of, with the senate, 477,»*« "J 
 
 required an estate equal to about 3000/., 523, r. * 
 Etesian winds, 440, 442 
 Evander, Caius, 381 
 Evocati, troops composed of experienced soldiera 
 
 403, r. » 
 Euripides' death occasioned by excessive joy, 452, r.' 
 Euthydemus, 404 
 Eutrapelus, 501 
 
 Fabius, Quintus, 389 
 
 Fabius, Marcus, 424, 425 ; his friendship with Ci- 
 cero, 433 ; Cicero's character of, 433 ; his brother 
 intends selling an estate at Herculaneum, 433 
 
 Fadius, Titus, letter of consolation to, on his banish- 
 ment, 386 ; burned to death by order of Balbus, 
 for refusing to enter the lists at the gladiatorial 
 games, 594 
 
 Fulernian wines, 533, r. ' 
 
 Farmers of the public revenues, 357, r. '; decree in 
 their favour by Lentulus, 376, r. " 
 
 Favonius, 398, 436 
 
 Feasts of the Romans, 487, r. '', '^, ^ 
 
 Feridius, Marcus, recommended by Ccelius to Cicero, 
 398 
 
 Flaccus, Avianus, and his two sons, recommended by 
 Cicero to AUienus, 478 
 
 Flaccus, Marcus, 338 
 
 Flavius, Caius, recommended by Cicero to Acilius, 464 
 
 Forum, a place of general resort, 529, r. e 
 
 Forum Voconii, a town in Provence, now called Le 
 Luc, 579 
 
 Frcgellae, Cicero's letter to the magistrates of, 429 
 
 Friendship, private, ought to give way to more exten- 
 sive obligations, 368, r. ^ 
 
 Fufidius recommended by Cicero to Brutus, 498 
 
 Furfanius, Cicero's letter to, 505 
 
 Furnius, 413,425, 436, 596; Cicero'sletters to, 584, 
 596 ; Cicero encourages him to seek glory in the 
 field rather than claim honours at home, 584 
 
 Fusius, Aulus, recommended by Cicero to MemmiuB, 
 384 
 
 Fusius, Quintus, 337 
 
 Future state, Cicero's thoughts on, 462, r. ' 
 
 G. 
 
 Gabinids, Aulus, 341, r. ">, 369, r. ' ; character of, 
 by Cicero, 373, r. J ; first opposed and afterwards 
 defended by Cicero, 373, r. J 
 
 Gades, now Cadiz, 590 
 
 R R2 *
 
 C12 
 
 INDEX TO CICERO'S LETTERS 
 
 Gallius, Qiiintus, Cicero's letters to, 493, 511 
 Callus, l'':ibius, Cicero's letters to, 34:<, S."):), 4'.)2, 
 
 .534, Tj^iS ; conjecture concerning' iiiin, 4'J2, r. * 
 G.'inics, public, arc instances of wealth, not of merit, 
 
 382* 
 Gaul, Cisalpine, liow dividt-d, 300, r. "' ; orders and 
 
 decrees of the senate concerning;, 406 
 .UcUius, Lucius, acts for the interest of the republic, 
 
 ft 79 
 Gemellus, Memmius, recommended by Cicero to Sul- 
 
 picius, 514 
 Gladiators, when fust introduced at Rome, 358, r. '' 
 Gnatho, 373 
 Gorgias, a statue of solid gold erected to his memory, 
 
 502, r. ^ 
 Government docs not require an absolute perseverance 
 
 in one system of measures, 374 ; best security in the 
 
 •flections of the pi'ople, 40 1 
 Gracchus, Scmpronius, 354, r. ^ 
 Granius, account of iiim, 495, r. ^ 
 Grecians, carelessness their general characteristic, 445 
 Greek farces, 358, r. " 
 Groves, consecrated, 550, r. ' 
 
 H. 
 
 Hagesaretus recommended by Cicero to Sulpicius 
 515 
 
 Hammonius, recommended by Cicero to Sulpicius, 515 
 
 Helico, 532 
 
 Heraclea, a city in Caria, 404, r. ^ 
 
 Hercuianeum, 433, r. i 
 
 Hercules, stoiy of Pleasure and Virtue appearing to 
 
 him, 349, r. <= 
 Herennius, 467, r. ^ 
 
 Hesiod, his wiitings recommended by Cicero, 518 
 Hippias, recommended by Cicero to Acilius, 40"8 
 Hippius, recommended by Cicero to the magistrates of 
 
 Fregellsc, 429 
 Hirrus, 394, 411, 436, 441 ; supported by Pompey, 
 
 397 ; character of, 394, r. '' ; atfucts to act the i)a- 
 
 triot, 398 
 Hirtius, 484, 541 ; did not go with Caesar into Africa, 
 
 481, »■. '' ; conducted himself as a consummate 
 
 general, 590 
 Hispalis, a city of Spain, 594, r. ^ 
 Hispo recommended by Cicero to Silius, 416 
 Hissing, displeasure shown by, 437, r. p 
 Homer, a passage misapplied by Cicero, 378, ?•. ' 
 Honour, the next, to being applauded by the worthy, 
 
 is to be abused by the worthless, 534, r. " 
 Hortensius, 340, r. '^, and '" ; his death and character, 
 
 438, r. s 
 Hospitality considered as a primary social duty, 452, 
 
 r. 5 
 Hyberbole, a figure of speech, 415, r. " ; a prevailing 
 
 figure with Cicero, 544, r. s 
 Hypocrisy, necessity of, for a man to keep well 'with 
 
 the world, 431, r. S 
 Hypocrites, proper objects of ridicule, 443, r. P 
 Hypsaeus, 345 
 
 Iamblicus, an Arabian phylarch, 405 
 Iconium, a city of Cilicia, 395, r. •> 
 Illyricum, comprehended Austria, Hungary, Sclavonia, 
 Bosnia, and Dulmatia, 531, r. ' 
 
 Imporator, during the times of the republic, explained, 
 
 333, r. " 
 Integrity, cannot be given up with a good grace, 368, 
 
 r. k 
 Intemelium, a maritime city in Liguria, 452, r. ' 
 Intercalation, performed by the pontifical college at 
 
 their discretion, 388, r. '' 
 Intercessor, witticism of Cicero on, 492, r. ^ 
 Interest of money lowered in Cilicia by Cicero, 410, 
 
 r. * 
 Tnterrex, that office explained, 379, r. •" 
 Issus, a city on the frontiers of Cilicia and Syria, 
 
 412, r. * ; Alexander, having defeated Darius, 
 
 consecrated three altars there, 418, r. ' 
 Italy, cause of the war, 349, »■. * J government of the 
 
 corporate towns, 358, r. ^ 
 
 .Tuba, account of, and his death, 471, r. * 
 Julia, Ca-sar's daughter, her death, 364, r. 
 Julian law, 437, r. * 
 Julias, Lucius, 345 
 Junius, 355 
 
 Labkrius, account of, 380, r. ' 
 
 Labicnus goes over to Pompey's party, 450, 451 
 
 La;lii, 396 
 
 Tiaslius, and Scipio Africanus, their friendship, 334, r. * 
 
 Laenius, Marcus, recommended by Cicero to Silius, 
 411 
 
 Lamia, 408 ; supported by Cicero in his election for 
 piaetor, 552 
 
 Laodicea, a city of Phrygia, 395, r. ? 
 
 Larissa, two cities of that name in Thessaly, 515, r. ^ 
 
 Latercnsis, decreed by the senate a public funeral and 
 a statue to his memory, 592, r.i 
 
 Latian Festivals, instituted by Tarquin, 422, r. "^ 
 
 Latin language to be used by governors of provinces, 
 427, r. ° 
 
 Latium, a part of Italy, made free of Rome, 494, r. '' 
 
 Lauda tores, witnesses to the character of persons who 
 were arraigned, 366, r. ^ 
 
 Law profession held in great esteem, 362, r. ^ 
 
 Law, knowledge of, not t» be acquired merely by 
 books, 550 
 
 Legion, number various at different periods, 517, r. •*; 
 how styled, 557, r. " 
 
 Lentulus, Lucius, murdered by order of Ptolemy, 
 485, r. I.' 
 
 Lentulus, P., 341, 342, r. ^ ; 344, r. i ; 345, r. " ; 
 359, r. h ; Cicero's letters to, 343, 346, 347, 348, 
 352, 356, 366 ; moves for the recal of Cicero, 
 343, r. ^, 344, r. ■' ; tliought the obligation to his 
 country superior to every other, 344, r. ^ ; proposed 
 and carried a law in favour of Pompey, 345, r. ™ ; 
 his friends, 352; Pompey's advice to him, 353; 
 advised by Cicero to make himself master of Alex- 
 andiia and Egypt, 353 ; Pompey Iiis friend, 357 ; 
 recalled Cicero from banishment, 371 ; flattery of 
 Cicero to him, 375 ; gives judgment against the 
 farmers of the revenues, 376, r. '^ ; letter to Cicero, 
 586 ; takes Dolabella's transports, 586 ; complains 
 of ill treatment from the Rhodians, 586 ; boasts of 
 his services, 587 ; letter to the consuls, senate, &e., 
 588; gives an account of Dolabella and his fleet, 
 588
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 613 
 
 I.epiilns delivers Apella as a hostage, 579 ; letter to 
 Cieeio, 582 ; encamps near Forum Voconii, 582 ; 
 his ])rofession3 of loyalty to the senate, .582 ; a few 
 <l:tys after joins Antony, 582, r. ^' ; Plancus joins 
 hiiu witii his troo])<, 583 ; his ainiy not to be tnisteil, 
 584 ; docs not punish a sedition in his army, 584; 
 letter to the senate and people, 589 ; joins Antony, 
 5,01, r.^, 592; his sincerity douhted hy riancus, 
 592 ; his infamous conduct, 59G ; liis adiierents 
 declared public enemies hy the senate, 598 
 
 Leptn, 423, 445; Cicero's letters to, 517, 533 
 
 Letteis frequently written by the Romans during their 
 meals, 501, r. p 
 
 Leucas, a Grecian island, now St. Maure, 444, r. ^ 
 
 Liberty, a temple to, erected on the area of Cicero's 
 house, 340, r. ^ 
 
 Libo, 345 
 
 Licinian law, 394, r. ' 
 
 Lictors, a sort of beadles who attended the consuls, &;c., 
 455, r. s 
 
 Ligarius, Cicero's letters to, 497, 504 ; account of him, 
 497, »*. * ; Cicero endeavours to obtain iiis pardon, 
 604 ; after having obtained a p.irdon, joins Brutus 
 in his conspiracy against Cocsar, 504, r. K 
 
 Ligurius, a great favourite of Ca>sai', his death, 532 
 
 Lilybaeura, a sea-port in Sicily, 466, r. "' 
 
 Lions,500 killed atPompey's hunting matches, 359, r. ' 
 
 Lollius, 406 
 
 Lucan, his ch.aracter of Curio, 379, r. 
 
 Lucca, a town of Cisalpine Gaul, 368, r. •> 
 
 Lucceius, 37G, 449 ; account of him, 349, r. ^ ; wrote 
 the history of the Italic and Marian civil wars, 349 ; 
 Cicero's letters to him, 349, 528, 5"29 ; his firm- 
 ness of mind, 528: letter to Cicero, 529 
 
 Luceria, a city in Italy, 465, r. > 
 
 Lucilius, account of, 495, r. ^ 
 
 Lucullus, 333, r. ^, 344, 348 ; infidelity of his wife, 
 391, r. <= 
 
 Lupercal, a range of buildings at Rome, 550, r. * 
 
 Lupus, 345, 346 
 
 Ljci,i, part of Asia Miaor, 586, r. k 
 
 Lysippus, 350, r. '' 
 
 Lyso, 445, 46ti ; recommended hy Cicero to Sulpicius 
 514, 515 
 
 M. 
 
 Macula offers Cicero the use of his house, 5o3 
 
 MjEtius, 357 
 
 Megalesian games, 426, r. " 
 
 Manilius, 364 
 
 M.anliiis, M.arcus, 388 
 
 Maulius, Titus, recommended by Cicero to Sulpicius, 5 1 5 
 
 Manners, superintendant of, 495 
 
 Marcellinus, 344, 346 
 
 Marcellus, Caius, the elder, Cicero's letter to, 400 
 
 Marcellus, C.iius, Cicero's letters to, 399, 420, 440 
 
 Marcellus, Marcus, Cicero's letters to, 399,491, 494, 
 500, 529 ; letter to Cicero, 500 ; account of, 399, 
 r. " ; warmly opposed by Caesar, 390, r. " ; slow 
 and inactive, 412 ; a proof of his virtue, 491 ; dur- 
 ing his voluntary exile visited by Brutus, 491, 
 r. ' ; Cicero endeavours to persuade him to return, 
 491, 494, 500; of one of the noblest families in 
 Italy, 494, r. '; obtains a pardon, 498 ; st.abbcd 
 by Magius, 530 ; where buried, 530 ; a monu- 
 ment to his memory erected at Atheus, at the public 
 expense, 530 
 
 Marian civil wars, 349, r .• 
 
 Mario, 446 
 
 Marius, INIarcus, 376, r. y, 457, r. " ; cause of tbo 
 civil wars, 34,'(, r, "; Cicero's letters to, 357, 387 
 470, 487 ; characterised, 357, r. " ; horrid outr.iges 
 of his party, 488, r. ' 
 
 Matins, 382; Cicero's letter to, 546 ; liis character, 
 546, r. '' ; gardening and poetry his favourite amuse- 
 ment, 546, r. 1 ; letter to Cicero, 547 ; laments 
 tlie death of Caesar, 547; reflections cast on him 
 after tiie deatii of Caesar, 547 ; his friendship for 
 C.-esar, 548 
 
 Mato, 433 
 
 ]\[atrinius, 442 
 
 Mauritania, in Africa, 593, r. ' 
 
 Maximus, Q. Fabius, his resolution when ho lOst his 
 son, 527, r. >' 
 
 Medea, the story of that play, 362, r. ^ 
 
 Megara, a city near Corinth, 526, r. '' 
 
 Mcmniins, Caius, Cicero's letters to, 381, 384, 391 ; 
 •account of the family of, 391, r. "^ ; enters into an 
 infamous association, and turns informer, 391, r. " ; 
 banished, 391, r. "^ ; his character, 391, »". * J 
 formed to make woman false, 391, r. <^ 
 
 Jlenandcr, Ampius, recommended by Cicero, to Isau» 
 ricus, 503 
 
 INIenocrates, 375 
 
 ^lescinius, 445, 447; Cicero's letter to, 476 ; recom- 
 mended hy Cicero to Sulpicius, 516, 517 
 
 Messala, M. V.il. tried and acquitted, 393 ; condemned 
 on a second impeachment, 396 
 
 jNIessicnus, Publius, recommended bv Cicero toCsesiuij 
 ^29 
 
 jNIetella, 464, r. <^ 
 
 Metellus, 343, r. ^, 344, r. ^ 356, r. <>, 370, r. ' 
 
 Metcllus, Q. Caceil. Nepos, attempts to procure the 
 lecal of Ponipcy, 334, r. ' ; retires in disgust to 
 Pompey, 334, r. ' ; censured by the senate, 334, 
 r. ' ; Cicero's letter to, 342 ; letter to Cicero, .352 ; 
 his character, 371,7'. ^ ', cause of his exile, 371, r. 
 ' ; superior to Cicero in acting consistently, 371 ,r. * 
 
 Metellus, Q. Celer, letter to Cicero, 334 ; complains 
 of the persecution of his relation Metellus, 334; 
 Cicero's letter to him, 334 ; cliaracter of his wife, 
 335, r. 1 
 
 Metras, 417 
 
 Milo, 348, 370, r. '' ; supported hy Cicero in his elec- 
 tion to tlie consulate, 385 ; ilissipated three con- 
 siderable estates in shows, 386, r. ' ; kills Clodius, 
 386, r. ■'"J banished, 386, r. ^^ ; his estates sold, 
 395, r. '' ; observations on Cicero's defence of him, 
 432, r. '; suspected of a design ag.ainst Pompey's 
 life, 432, r. ■" 
 
 Mind, indications of a low and little, 351, r. " ; 
 crimes, and not the injustice of others, ouglit to 
 disturb its serenity, 385 
 
 Minerva, festival of, observed in a riotous manner, 433 
 
 Mithridatcs, a brave but cruel prince, overcome by 
 Pompey, 333, r. " 
 
 Mitvlenc, capital of Lesbos, 471, r. ", 491, r. ' 
 
 Molo, 437, r. ' 
 
 Money, scarcity of in Cnppadocia, 401, r. ' 
 
 INIopsuiiesta, a city in Cilicia, 411, r. ^ 
 
 Mucia, marned to Pompey, and afterwards divorced, 
 335, r. "> 
 
 IMucius, 364 
 
 Munatius, Cicero's letter to, 364 
 
 Munda, a city in Granada, 518, r. • 
 
 Murder; a master murdered in his own house, the 
 slaves punished with death, 530, r. '
 
 614 
 
 INDEX TO CICERO'S LETTERS 
 
 Mushrooms in great cstocni, 495, r. ', 520 
 Mutina, a city of (."isalpinc Gaul, .557, r. * 
 Mj-lata.a city in Asia Minor, 404, r. 
 
 N. 
 
 NiETius, 35 1 
 
 Narbonnc in Provence, 590 
 
 Narona in Libiiinia. now called Croatia, 511, 531 
 
 Naso, Otacilius, 4GG 
 
 Nero, 413 ; Cicero's esteem and afTection for hira, 413 
 
 Nica!a, a city grcaily indebted to Titus Pinnius, 408 
 
 Nigidius, Figulus, Cicero's letter to, 489 ; account of 
 
 him, 489, r. ' ; Cxsair is inclined to call him from 
 
 exile, 490 
 Nobility amongst the Romans, 354, r. ^ 
 Nonianus, Confidius, 45] 
 Numa regulates the public registers, 350, r. ' 
 Numbers, superstitious notions respecting, 44() r. s 
 Nysa, protection for the citizens requested by Nero, 
 
 413 . 
 
 O. 
 
 OfltiGATioNs, on asking, 385 
 
 Ocella, his amours, 422 
 
 Octavius takes the name of Augustus Cffisar, 542, r. " ; 
 forms a design against the life of Antony, 555; 
 the design favoured by Cicero, 555, r. s ; complains 
 of the ambiguous exi)ressions of Cicero, 585 ; joins 
 the triumvirate, 592, »•. '', 600, r. ' ; his conduct 
 complained of by Plancus, 599 ; advances with seve- 
 ral legions, in order to demand the consulate, 399, r. ' 
 
 CEnomaus, story of that tragedy, 432 r. ° 
 
 Offilius, his opinion on wills, 387 
 
 Omens observed by the Romans, 361, r. " 
 
 Oppius, 359, 457 ; Cicero's letter to, 549 
 
 Oppius, Lucius, recommended by Cicero to Gallius, 
 494 
 
 Optimates, their irresolution, 436, r. " 
 
 Orators of Greece and Rome studied both action and 
 diction, 485, r. J 
 
 Oratory, three dialogues on, sent by Cicero to Len- 
 tulus, 375 
 
 Orca, Q. Val., Cicero's letters to, 345, 532, 533; 
 account of him, 532, r. " 
 
 Orfius purposed to be made king of Gaul by Ca;sar, 
 361 
 
 Oscian farces, account of, 358, r. " 
 
 Ostia, a town on the mouth of the Tiber, 481, r. "= 
 
 Owls sent to Athens, a proverbial exprcssion,478, r. h, 
 513 
 
 Pacorus, son of Orodes, king of Parthia, encamps at 
 
 Tyba, 405 
 Paetus, Lucius Castrinius, 394 ; recommended by 
 
 Cicero to Brutus, 499 
 Paetus, Papirius, Cicero's letters to, 432, 469, 482, 
 
 484, 486, 487, 494, 501 ; a person of great wit 
 
 and humour, 432, r. <> ; his noble descent, 469 
 PalsEstra, or public building for various exercises, 
 
 535, r. >' 
 Pansa, 381 ; died of his wounds, 590 
 Panthers, to be procured for Coelius, 394, 397, 398, 
 
 408, 426 
 Paphos, a city of Cyprus, 468 
 Paragram, a species of pun, 415 r. ° 
 
 Parion, a city iji llellespontus, 402 
 
 Parthia, now a part of Persia, 397, r. •> ; a son of the 
 king of, married to a sister of the king of Armenia, 
 403; army of, piiascs the Euphrates, 404, 412; 
 commits hoslililies, 411; progress of the army, 
 412; invades S\ria, 417 ; progress of Cicero agamst 
 tlicni, 417, 418 ; repulsed by Cassius, and driven 
 out of Syria, 424, r. ■= 
 
 Patricians, higher and lower order, 469, r, P 
 
 Parly, strongest always the best, 443 
 
 Patiscus, 39H, 420 
 
 Patrx, a city of Peloponnesus, 444, r. "" 
 
 Patriots, tiicir duty to retire when they can no longer 
 serve the state, 356, r. i 
 
 Patriot, Cicero undeserving of that character, 375, r. t. 
 503, r. « 
 
 Patro, Cicero's acquaintance with, 392; wishes to bo 
 reconciled to Memmius, 392 
 
 Paulus, 413, 435, r. ''; Cicero's letters to, 400, 421 
 
 Pausanias, 359, r. " 
 
 Peacocks, great value of at Rome, 485, r. ^ 
 
 Pearl of the value of 8,000/. dissolved and drunk by 
 the son of jii^sopu:, the actor, 358, r. y 
 
 Pcdu(:a?anus, Curtius, Cicero's letter to, 425 
 
 Peducaias acquitted, 443 
 
 Pelops, story of the sons of. 503, r. ^ 
 
 Pcscennius, 339 
 
 Pessinus, a city in Phrygia, 433 
 
 Petreius, 451 
 
 Petrinum, a town in Campania, 533 
 
 Piia!(lrus, 392 
 
 Phaleris, a seaport in Greece, 525, r. ' 
 
 Piiania, 427 
 
 Plianias, 380, 395, 402 ; a person of consummate 
 politics, but of infinite curiosity, 380 
 
 Pharnaces makes an excursion into Cappadocia, an4 
 the Lesser Armenia, 465, r. ^ 
 
 Philemon, Metrillius, 383 
 
 Philetmrus, 339 
 
 Philippus, 346, r. p 
 
 Philippus, Quintus, Cicero's letters to, 359, 377 ; con- 
 jecture concerning him, 359, r. ' 
 
 Philo, 392, r. e, 433 ; recommended by Cicero to 
 Acilius, 464 
 
 Philoctetes, a story of, 484, r. ^ 
 
 Philomelum, a city of Phrygia Major, 410, r. ", 494 
 
 Philosophy, one of the noblest blessings of God, 420 
 
 Philotes, of Alabanda, assigned his effects to Cluviug, 
 404 
 
 Philotimus buys Milo's estate at an under value, 395 
 
 Philoxenus, Caius Avianus, recommended by Cicero to 
 Acilius, 466 
 
 Pilius, 406 
 
 Pindenessum, a city of Cilicia, 412 ; surrenders ta 
 Cicero, 418 
 
 Pinnius, Titus, his son has a considerable d.emand on 
 the city of Nicxa, 408 
 
 Pira:eus, a sea-port near Athens, now Port-Lion, 526 
 
 Piso, Caius Frugi, married TuUia, daughter of Cicero, 
 339, r. " ; his character, 342, r. " 
 
 Piso, Lucius Calphurnius. his character, 341, r. ", 
 4-50, r. f 
 
 Plancius, 341 ; his generous offices to Cicero, 341, r. 
 
 Plancus, Cneius, Cicero's letters to, 472, 475, 55 li 
 554, 580, 586, 590, 592, 599 ; account of him, 
 472, r. ■', 551, r. "^ ; declared himself on the side 
 of the senate, but soon went over to Antony, 551, 
 r. ^ ; advised by Cicero to act without waiting for 
 the sanction of the senate, 581 ; purposes to join 
 Lepidus, 583 ; his contempt of the army of Antony
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 615 
 
 and Ventidiug, 583 ; deceived in Lepidus, 583 ; his 
 proceedings against Antony, 592 ; wishes Caesar to 
 join him with his army, 592 ; state of his forces, 599 
 
 Plaocus, Lucius, Cicero's letter to, 475 ; account of 
 him, 475, r. ° 
 
 Planius, Marcus, recommended by Cicero to Dola- 
 bella, 422 
 
 Pliny requested Tacitus to write his life, 351, r. " 
 
 Plotian law, 405, r. ' 
 
 Pola, 442 
 
 Pollentia, a city in Piedmont, now called Polenza, 
 581, r.> 
 
 Pollex,461 
 
 Pollio, 433 
 
 Pollio, Asiniusi letters to Cicero, 590, 593 ; la- 
 ments the action near Mutina, 590 ; his friend- 
 ship for Antony, 590 ; wishes to have joined Lepidus, 
 590 ; says he will neither desert nor survive the 
 republic, 591 ; after this declaration, he, within a 
 few months, joined Antony, and survived the 
 republic many years, 591, r. ^ ; his care of his 
 troops, 594 
 
 Polypus fish, 483, r. ' 
 
 Pompeia, 370, r. " 
 
 Pompeius, Cneius, killed by Casar's soldiers, 541, r.'^ 
 
 Pompeius, Quintus, recommended by Cicero to Curius, 
 377 
 
 Pompeius, Quintus Rufus, a principal author of the 
 disturbances on the death of Clodius, 390, r, ' 
 
 Pompeius, Sextus, 541, r. *• 
 
 Pompey the Great, Cicero's letter to, 333 ; Lis suc- 
 cess against Mithridates, 333, r. ' ; supposed cause 
 of his coolness to Cicero, 334, r. * ; his recal at- 
 tempted by Metellus Nepos, 334, r, ' ; insists that 
 Antonius should be recalled from his government, 
 337, r. " ; laws in his favour, 345, r. ™ ; insulted 
 when he spoke in favour of Milo, 348 ; artifice of, 
 353, r. ^ ; theatre, 357, r. ^' ; killed 500 lions at his 
 bunting matches, 359, r. '; invested with the go- 
 vernment of Spain for five years, but chose to con- 
 tinue in Italy, 361, r. ' ; set forward on his 
 expedition into Sardinia and Africa, 368 ; his con- 
 versation with the brother of Cicero, 368 ; refuses to 
 protect Cicero against Clodius, 370, r. * ; foments 
 confusion at Rome, 383, r. • ; made alterations in 
 the method of choosing judges, 388, r. S 393, r."; 
 seldom spoke his real sentiments, yet had not arti- 
 fice enough to conceal them, 390 ; secretly fomented 
 the tumults, 391, r. "= ; animated with the most 
 patriotic sentiments, 393 ; debate on the payment of 
 his forces, 397 ; married Cornelia, daughter of 
 Scipio, 399, r. ' ; questioned respecting Ca;sar, 407; 
 looked on by Cicero as the greatest man in the 
 world, 423; Cicero's pretended obligations to him, 
 432, r. '' ; his treachery to Cicero, 432, r, '' ; his 
 party attempts to divest Cassar of his government in 
 Gaul, 433, r. ' ; his character by Cicero at different 
 periods, 435, r. '' ; opposes Ca:sar's being elected 
 consul before he gives up the command of the army, 
 436 ; senate and judges declare in his favour, 443 ; 
 apprehensive of the power of Caesar, 448 ; receives 
 money for the public use, 449 ; money seized for his 
 use, 449 ; treated Caesar's design of invading Italy 
 with contempt, 451, r.J; the policy of his leav- 
 ing Rome, and removing the war out of Italy, 456, 
 r. i ; ill-advised declaration when he left Rome, 
 459, r. * ; after his defeat at Pharsalia, is deserted 
 by Cicero, 461, r. ™ ; defects in liis army, 470; 
 would have overcome Ca;sar, had his army been 
 I commanded by a general who knew how to conquer, 
 
 470, r. "; runs away after the battle of Pharsalia 
 with a single attendant, 470 ; would not follow tho 
 advice of Cicero, 470 ; resolves to take shelter in 
 Egypt, but is stabbed by order of Ptolemy, 470, r. 
 1 ; his body burned with the planks of a fishing- 
 boat, and his ashes brought to Rome, 470 r. *• 
 
 Pompey (the Younger) draws together a very consider- 
 able army in Spain, 517 ; weakness of his intellects, 
 522 
 
 Pomptinus, the villa of MetriliuB Philemon, 383 
 
 Pontiffs, their function, 589, r. * 
 
 Pontinius distinguished himself in the affair of 
 Catiline, 430, r. ^ 
 
 Praecilius, his son recommended by Cicero to Caesar, 523 
 
 Pra;co, similar to the cryer in a court of justice, 517, 
 r.i 
 
 Praetor, not chosen until two years after having served 
 the office of aedile. 584, r. ^ ; office, 425, r. ^ ; 
 could not absent themselves for more than ten days, 
 551, r.'; exhibited games in honour of Apollo, 
 553, r. y 
 
 Praetorian cohort, 417, r, ^ ; provinces, why so called, 
 407, r. e 
 
 Prawns, in great repute, 520, r. ' 
 
 Prescius leaves a legacy to Cicero, 444 
 
 Protogenes, 358 
 
 Ptolemy, 345, 397, r. " ; father of Cleopatra, 344, r 
 • ; money paid to settle him on his throne, 344, r. 
 • ; driven out of Egypt, 344, r. ' ; prophecy found in 
 the Sibylline books against his being assisted by the 
 Romans, 345, r.J; the part taken by Cicero to replace 
 him in his kingdom, 345 ; debates on restoring, 346; 
 Cicero advises Lentulus to place Ptolemy on his 
 throne, 353 ; his death, 397 ; orders Pompey to be 
 stabbed, 470, r. i 
 
 Publilia married to Cicero, and soon after parted, 
 472, r. 7, 
 
 Publius, his death, 361, r. P 
 
 Punning, remarks on, 415, r. ■* 
 
 Pupius, 416 
 
 Puteoli, a maritime city in Campania, now Pozzuoli, 
 431, r.» 
 
 Puteolanus, Cluvius, 403 
 
 Pyramus, a river in Cilicia, 434 
 
 Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, a great soldier, 432, r. ' 
 
 Q. 
 
 Qu^sTOR, was receiver-general of the provincial taxes, 
 
 337, r. ^ ; 593 
 Quindecimvirs, presiding magistrates at the games, and 
 
 keepers of the Sibylline oracles, 396, r. ° 
 
 R. 
 
 Raciliits, Lucius, 352 
 Ragazonms, 352, r. i 
 Raphael, his paintings in the little Farnese retouched 
 
 by Maratti, 371, r. 7 
 Registers, public regulated by Numa, 350, r: ' 
 Rex, Cicero's letter to, 524 
 Rhegrum, a maritime city in Calabria, 535 
 Rhodes, an island in the Mediterranean, 437, »*, ', 471, 
 
 r. " ; ill behaviour of the Rhodians to Lentulus, 
 
 586, 588 
 Rhodo, 428 
 Romans, their manner of settling affairs of state, 347,. ' 
 
 r. ^ ; public entertainments, 357 ; magnificence of
 
 610 
 
 INDEX TO CICERO'S LETTERS 
 
 tlicir roads, 35R, r. ' ; progress to ruin, 362, r. " ; 
 civil war not OLi-isioned by tlie enmity of Ca;s;u- 
 and Ponipcy, but by tlK-ir foruicr fricndsliiis 37-, r, 
 • ; divided into cuiiK, ivbose votes were considcii'd 
 as tlio voice of tlic people, 375, r. " ; niilitury 
 functions conferred by tlie people, 37C, r. '" ; 
 alfiiirs in confusion, occasioned by Ponipey and 
 Osar, 383, r. '', 384; elections carried by bribery 
 and mobs, 38(j, r. " ; law to prevent coininolions 
 at elections, 3ti8, r. B; increase of bribery, 391, 
 r. *-' ; 3.'l.'3; severe laws against false accusers, 405, 
 r. 1 ; soldiers could not be compelled to serve more 
 than ten years, 407, r. ' ; how divided by Romu- 
 lus, 4"2fi, r. J; united under Pompey, 435; when 
 first supplied with water, 435, r. s : tendency to a 
 civil war, 414; immense wealth acquired by the 
 governors of the provinces, 449, r. *• ; convention 
 of senators, 454, r. " ; reclined on couches at their 
 incals, 501, r. <i ; state of patriotism, 511 ; divided 
 into thirty-live tribes, 515, r. "; critical state of 
 the republic, 520 ; governors obliged to visit the 
 principal cities in their provinces, 530, r. ' ; citizens 
 cast into three general divisions, 539, r. ^ ; centuries 
 explained, 539, r. '; senators could not be long 
 absent without leave, 541, r. " ; capitation. tax, 
 595, r. • 
 
 Koss, Mr. nis sentiments of Pompey, 353, r. ' 
 
 Kufus, Lucius Mescinius, Cicero's letters to, 448, 468; 
 his character, 448, r. " ; on the expenses of Cicero's 
 government in Cilicia, 448, r. p 
 
 Rufus, Sempronius, convicted of false accusations, 
 405 
 
 Rufus, Servius Suipicius, 399, r. ° 
 
 Rufus, Sextilius, Cicero's letter to, 468 
 
 Rufus, C. Titius, Cicero's letter to, 428 
 
 Rullus, 422, r. ' 
 
 Rupa. 382 
 
 Rupilius, Publius, 416 
 
 S. 
 
 Sabata fens, account of, .581 
 
 Sabinia, a city in Ital)-, 544, r. ' 
 
 Sabinus, 544 
 
 Salamis, a city in Cyprus, 404, r. J 
 
 Sallustius, Caninius, Cicero's letter to, 437 
 
 Samarobriva, a city in Belgic Gaul, 379, 381 
 
 Samos, an island on the coast of Ionia, 409 
 
 Sardinia, island, 480, r. ", 534, r. ' 
 
 Sardinian laugh, 535, r. ^ 
 
 Sardis, a city in Lydia, 414 
 
 Saturninus, his law that the senate should ratify -what- 
 ever the people ordained, 371, r. ^ ; prosecution 
 against, 443 
 
 Sctevola. Quintus, 376, 388 ; compiled a body of laws 
 in eighteen volumes, 388, r. ' 
 
 Scaptius besieges the senate-house in Cyprus, 410, r.* 
 
 Scantinian law explained, 442, r. ^ 
 
 b'canrtis', M. jEmilius, accused of a traitorous corres- 
 pondence with Mithridates, 371, r."; his speech 
 before the assembly, 371, r. "^ 
 
 Scipio Africanus and Lselius, their friendship, 334, 
 r. '; his death, 484, r. « 
 
 Scipio, Metellus, 399, r. ' 
 
 Segulius execrated by Cicero, 591 
 
 Sejanum, the true reading of, 357, r. " 
 
 Seius, 381 
 
 Selicius, 348, 484 
 
 Sclius, 415 
 
 Senate, forms of proceedings 346, r 9 and '; power 
 
 of nomination of candidates for the magistraciea, 
 
 372, r. «; singular custom of lengthening debates. 
 
 436, r. i 
 Seneca, eulo^ry on Cato, 485, r. •< 
 Serranus, 370, r. * 
 
 Servilius (the father), account of, 4f(f), r. " 
 Servilius Isauricus, 343, r. ^ 34'), 400, r. % 40G ; 
 
 Cicero'.s letters to, 4«9, 493, 503, 505, 507, 508, 
 510; why called Isauricus, 489, r. k ; his death 
 
 in extieuie old age, 543, r. * 
 Scr.vilius, Marcus, convicted of extortion, 406 
 Ser\ilius, Strabo, 413 
 Servius, his opinion on wills, 387 ; tried and convicted, 
 
 396 
 Sestius, 449 
 
 Sestiiis, Publius, Cicero's letter to, 337 
 Sextius, P. account of, 367, r. ^ ; Cicero's letter to, 
 
 384 ; jirofessed friendship of Cicero for, 384 
 Shakspeare quoted, 365, 391 
 Sibyls, 344 r, J 
 Sibylline oracles regarded by the senate, 344, 346, 
 
 348, 353 
 Sica, 339 
 
 Sicinius, 381, r. « 
 Sicyon, a city of Peloponnesus, 514 
 Sida, a sea-port of Pampliylia, 402 
 Silanos rctnrns to Lcpidus, 582 
 Silius, Publius, 387 ; Cicero's letters to, 408, 411, 
 
 413, 416, 429 ; governor of Bithvnia and Pontus 
 
 in Asia, 408 
 Sittius, 394, 397, 437 
 Sophists, besides the arts and sciences, pretended to a 
 
 knowledge of the meanest crafts, 502, r. * 
 Sosis, Lucius Manlius, recommended by Cicero to 
 
 Acilius, 463 
 Soul, Cicero's opinion of the, inquired into, 477, r. 
 Spain, government of, renewed to Pompey for five 
 
 years, 411, r. ^ ; how divided bj the Romans, 
 
 460, r. B 
 Spectres, or images, 521, 522 
 Stabioc, a maritime town in Campania, 357, r. ^ 
 Stage entertainments at Rome, 358 ; the Oscian and 
 
 Greek farces, 358, 7'. " 
 Statues purchased for Cicero not approved of by him, 
 
 355 
 Strabo, Lucius Titius, 501 
 Suberinus, Caius, recommended bv Cicero to Dola- 
 
 bella, 522 
 Suicide, Cicero's motives against, 474 
 Sulla, his death, 520, 521 
 
 Superstitious ceremonies, credulity in, at Rome, 360, r.** 
 Suipicius, Publius, Cicero's letter to, 511 J had a 
 
 thanksgiving for his successes in lUyricum, 51 l,r. ** 
 Suipicius, Servius, Cicero's letters to, 454, 457, 488, 
 
 498,513, 514, 515, 516, 525, 527 ; account of 
 
 him, 454, r. y ; aware that the recal of Ca;sar would 
 
 draw on a civil war, 454, r. ^ ; his skill in the laws, 
 
 488, r. '' ; accepted of the government of Achaia, 
 
 498 : consolation to Cicero on the death of TuUia, 
 
 525' 
 Swimming, a poiite exercise at Rome, 365, r. ' 
 Sylla, 333, r. '^, 356, r. ' ; law made by him, 376, 
 
 r. * ; horrid outrages of his party, 488, r. ' ; Cicero 
 
 intends to purch.ase his house, 496 
 Syndics, a kind of solicitors of the treasury, 404, r. f 
 Synnada, a city of Phyrgia, 409 
 Syria, a great commotion there, 405 ; cannot be entered 
 
 without traversing Mount Amanus, 417; report oF 
 
 a war in, 427 
 Syrus, Publius, account of, 538, r. '
 
 TO SEVERAL OF HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 617 
 
 T. 
 
 Tarcondimotus, a priaoe of Cilicia, 404 
 
 Tareiitiira, softuess and luxury of the inhabitants, 
 381, r.^ 
 
 Tarquin, games instituted by him, 4.05, r. •■; instituted 
 the Latian festivals, 422, r. i 
 
 Taisus, the capital of Cilicia, 403, r. ^ 
 
 Teientia, Ciceio's letters to. 338, 339, 458, 460, 461, 
 462, 463, 464, 466; and Tullia, Cicero's letters to, 
 444, 450 ; dragged from the temple of Vesta, to the 
 office of Valerius, 339 ; divorced from Cicero, 
 472, r. y 
 
 Tertulla, wife to Crassus, 360, r. ° 
 
 Thanksgivings, public, on what accounts voted, 418, r. I* 
 
 Theraistocles, account of, 350, i . ' 
 
 Thermus, Cicero's letters to, 402, 403, 414, 427, 428 
 
 Thessalonica, a city in Macedonia, 340 
 
 Thraso, 414 
 
 Thyreum, a city of Peloponnesus, 445 
 
 Tigellius, account of him, 534, r. p and ', 535 
 
 Timseus. his character as an liistorian, 349, r. ^ 
 
 Timoleon, account of, 351, r. '^ 
 
 Tiro, Cicero's letters to, 444, 445, 446, 447, 451, 
 453, 524, 530, 531, 532, 542, 555 ; a favourite 
 slave of Cicero's, account of him, 444, T. " ; Quin- 
 lus Cicero's letters to, 452, 453, 558 ; Cicero's (the 
 Younger), letters to, 559, 560 ; Cicero gives him 
 his freedom, 524 
 
 Titius, Titus, Cicero's letter to, 462 
 
 Toranius, Cicero's letters to, 472, 474 
 
 Torquatus, Aulus, Cicero's letters to, 511, 513, 518, 
 520 ; account of him, 511, r. '' ; Cicero consoles 
 him on his absence from Rome, 512 ; allowed to 
 return through the intercession of Dolabella, 520, r.l 
 
 Trabea, the poet, 469 
 
 Tralles, a city in Asia Minor, 395 
 
 Trebatius, 361,362, 454; Cicero's letters to, 362, 
 363, 364, 365, 379, 381, 382, 383, 384, 387, 
 388, 493, 550 ; Horace addressed one of liis satires 
 to him, 362, r. '^ ; advised the Roman satirist to 
 swim across the Tiber, 365, r. ' ; looked on by 
 Caesar as a wonderful lawyer, 364 ; turns Epicurean, 
 381 ; his arrogance, 331 
 
 Trebianus, Cicero's letter to, 492 
 
 Trebonius, Aulus, 347 ; Cicero's letters to, 467, 496, 
 544, 563 ; account of him, 467, r. •» and % 544, 
 r. '' ; letter to Cicero, 545 ; invites Cicero's son to 
 Asia, 545 
 
 Treviri, a warlike people bordering on Germany, 
 382, r. = 
 
 Treviri monitales, inspectors of the public coin, 382, r.<^ 
 
 Tribunes, their rank, 362, r. ^'^ 
 
 Triumph could not be claimed without having destroyed 
 5000 of the enemy, 397, r. <=, 436, r.J ; persons 
 demanding, remained without the city until it was 
 either granted or rejected, 409, r. ° 
 
 Triumvirate, Octavius treats with Ltpidus and Antony, 
 and soon after joins them, 522, r."^; formed, 600,r.' 
 
 Trojan Horse, a tragedy, 365, r. "* 
 
 Trypho recommended by Cicero to Munatius, 364 
 
 Tuccius, Marcus, 405 
 
 Tullia married to Caius Piso Frugi, 339, r. * ; marries 
 Crassipes, 355, r. "^ ; marries Dolabella, 438, 
 439,441; arrives at Bruadisium, 463; neglected 
 
 by Dolftbella, 463, r. "; divorce purposed, 464; 
 her death, 525, r. " ; conjecture whether she had 
 been divorced from Dolabella, 525, r. u, 526, r. i ; 
 Sulpicius's consolation to Cicero on her death, 52S 
 
 V. 
 
 Vacebra, his death, 364 
 
 Valeria, Paula, divorced, and a treaty of marriage with 
 
 Decimus Brutus, 422 
 Valerius, Lucius, Cicero's letter to, 377 
 Valerius, the lawyer, 380 
 
 Vardaei, a people contiguous to Dalmatia, 531, r. " 
 Varius, accuses Scaurus of bribery, 371 , r. * 
 Varro, M. Terentius, Cicero's letters to, 473, 478, 
 
 479, 480, 481, 531 ; his character, 473, r. d, 
 
 497 ; recommended by Cicero to Brutus, 496, r. " 
 
 497 
 Vatinius, 352, r. ' ; why Cicero became his advocate* 
 
 366, 367 ; character of, 366, r. ^ 531, r. % 536, 
 
 r. * ; by the artful examination of him by Cicero» 
 
 he exposed the iniquity of his tribunate, 367 ; 
 
 bribed, 367, r. " ; defended by Cicero, 373 ; his 
 
 letters to Cicero, 531, 538 ; wishes to have a public 
 
 thanksgiving, 531 
 Vegetables, luxurious method of dressing, 343 
 Veil, a city in Italy, 486 
 Velia, a sea port of Luciinia, 550, r. ■* 
 Ventidius joins Antony, 581 
 Venusia, a town in Naples, 466 
 Vercella;, in the duchy of Milan, 582 
 Vestorius, 406 
 
 Viaiian law threatened by Curio, 422 
 Vibullius, 368 
 
 Vicentia, a maritime city of the Venetians, 582 
 Vinicianus, 396 
 Virgil supposed to allude to Curio in vendidit hid 
 
 auro patriam, 378, r. J 
 Ulubrean frogs, 383 
 Ulysses, story of, referred to, 378 
 Vocontii, a people of Narbonensiau Gaul, 592 
 Volaterrffi, a city in Tuscany, recommended to tho 
 
 protection of Orca, 532 
 Volcatius, 345, 346, 347, 501 ; his noble spirit, 
 
 499, r. f 
 Volumnia, 463 
 Volumnius, Cicero's letters to, 414, 484 ; account of 
 
 him, 414, r. •" 
 Volusius, 448 
 Voluptuaries, warm advocates for moral beauty, 522 
 
 Wit, the loss of the true old Roman lamented, 494,rJ 
 
 Xenomenes, 445 
 
 X. 
 
 Z. 
 
 ZoiLus, Lucius, recommended by Cicero toApuleius^ 
 481
 
 THE 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS, 
 
 IN SIXTEEN BOOKS. 
 
 TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, WITH MOTES, 
 
 HY WILLIAM HEBERDEN, M.D. F.R.S.
 
 HONORABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND SHUTE BARRINGTON, 
 
 lord bishop of durham, &c. &c. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 In availing myself of your Lordship's permission to inscribe to you the following Letters, I shall not offend 
 your modesty by any attempt to proclaim to the world what the world everywhere acknowledges — your 
 Lordship's eminent virtues. I shall be content if I can hide some part of my own deficiency in the splendor 
 of so great and good a name. 
 
 Your Lordship is well acquainted with the originals from which the following translation is drawn. But 
 while all familiar letters must be liable to obscurity in proportion to our ignorance of the persons and circum- 
 stances, often of little notoriety, to which they allude ; much more is it to be expected, that in a correspondence 
 entertained at so remote a period, where there exist no remains of the letters on one side, and not unfrequently 
 no record of the particulars which form their subject, many difficulties should present themselves, independent 
 of those which are inseparable from customs and language long since gone into disuse. It is therefore no idle 
 task to render documents, at once so curious and instructive, more extensively useful, by making them more 
 generally understood. For whether we consider the matter or the manner of these letters, their author, or 
 the time when they were written, they constitute in every point of view one of the most precious remains of 
 antiquity. Cicero, as your Lordship knows, was not only the greatest orator of Rome ; he was at the same 
 nvae one of her wisest counsellors, and one of her best citizens. To good natural parts he had added incredible 
 industry, and had made himself master of all the literature and philosophy of the Greeks, then considered as 
 the only source, and, exclusively of revelation, still the brightest source, of good taste and right judgment. But 
 while the learning of the Greek sophist was often suffered to waste itself in fruitless speculation or self-conceit, 
 Cicero's, on the contrary, appears to have been constantly directed to the purposes of useful life, adding strength 
 and grace to the manly powers of his mind. It regulated his judgment, and animated his exertions in the 
 forum and in the senate, in the various and important offices which he executed with singular diligence in the 
 republic, and likewise in the discharge of those gentler duties of courtesy and friendship, to which he seems 
 never to have been inattentive. For so occupied was his whole life, that it may well e.xcite our wonder how 
 lie found time to write, or to read, even a portion of those works which he composed and studied. His conduct 
 in the height of his power, during his consulship, is universally known, as well from contemporary histories as 
 from his own orations, which yet remain an illustrious monument of his prudence, of his diligence, of his 
 eloquence. His administration of a provincial government is not less distinguished, and is collected chiefly from 
 the evidence of these letters. It appears to have been every way judicious and upright, and worthy of his high 
 character. For in a situation where other governors, removed from the danger of immediate observation, and 
 unrestrained by the sanctions of a pure religion, had too generally given a loose to rapine, extortion, and violence, 
 and had sacrificed honour, conscience, duty, every ornament and every virtue, at the shrine of ambition and 
 avarice, Cicero stands almost a single instance of unshaken justice, patriotism, and moral excellence. 
 
 But it would be tedious and impertinent to your Lordship to attempt to enumerate all the parti'culars that 
 made up the life of this extraordinary man. Our business is with his Letters. And it is difficult to conceive 
 any memorials more worthy of regard than the genuine letters of such a person, addressed to a niost intimate 
 friend, to whom he opened his bosom upon all occasions without reserve, who, as he says himself, was " his 
 associate in public affairs, his confidant in all private ones, and admitted to all his conversation and thoughts "• ' 
 They present an undisguised account of his own sentiments and ftelings under a great variety of circumstances, 
 with his opinions upon almost all the great events and great men of his time. How highly they were valued 
 
 • Qui et in putillca re EOcius, et in privatis omstibus conscius, et omnium sennonum et consiliorum particcps. 
 —Ad Att. i. 18.
 
 C22 DEDICATION. 
 
 hy liis countrymen, \vc learn from the testimony of Cornelius Ncpos, wlio mentions " the sixteen books of his 
 letters to Atticus, from the time of his consulship to his death ;" and adds, that " whoever should read them 
 would little need any other history of those times, everything being so clearly described respecting the zeal 
 of parties, the vices of the leading men, and the changes of the republic, that nothing remains unrcvealed, 
 A\n\ his wisdom," says he, " may well be thought to have something of divine inspiration ; for Cicero not only 
 foretold what took place during his own life, but also what we now experience ho announced like a prophet**." 
 To Englishmen they derive an additional interest, from breathing everywhere a rational love of liberty, and dread 
 of tyranny, called forlli by the peculiar crisis in which the republic was placed, when it was about to sink for ever 
 under the yoke of despotism. To Christians they afford occasion to cherish with more fervent gratitude those 
 consolations and hopes of revelation, that " anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast'," from want of which 
 we see the wisest of the lieatheu world become a prey to temporal calamities, and overwhelmed with despair. 
 
 Besides the contents of these letters, the style of their composition is itself deservedly an object of admiration; 
 a style free from all pedantry and affectation, from all levity and impertinence, perfectly easy and familiar, yet 
 everywhere consistent with dignity and good manners ; or in the words of Cicero himself, when speaking of 
 Atticus, " the language is chaste, intcrsjiersed with polite wit, and distinguished by marks of affection''." But 
 these very excellences, while they enhance the value of the original letters, add in no small degree to the 
 difficulty of a just translation. It has been my endeavour, in the first place, to give the true sense of tha 
 author ; then to give it as little altered from the original as the different genius of the languages would permit ; 
 to preserve as much as possible of the Roman air, without destroying that case which gives to epistolary 
 correspondence its best grace ; not attempting to modernise terms of civility, or to disguise old customs under 
 new habits, but wishing rather to fivmiliarise the reader with ancient Rome. For I considered that these letters 
 ought to appear, not as if Cicero had written in this age and country, but as if English had been the language 
 of Italy in his time, so that the sentiments and manners might still be Roman, the medium only changed 
 through which they are expressed. To the letters I have added notes, which I have studied to make as few, 
 as short, and as clear as I could, consistently with the object of rendering more easily intelligible, not only to 
 the English reader, but to the scholar, the frequent allusions, the hints, and broken sentences which occur. 
 And though they have not been drawTi up without considerable pains in perusing and weighing the opinions of 
 different commentators, yet I have generally thought it best to give simply my own judgment, without 
 embarrassing the reader with my reasons. 
 
 I know not if any apology be required for having given the names of people with their Latin terminations. 
 For what can be more absurd than an attempt to translate a mere personal designation ? I have not scrupled, 
 therefore, to write Pompeius, Antonius, &c. And it may reasonably be expected that the public taste, which 
 is daily improving, will before long adopt this alteration from the present practice. If I have not always 
 followed the same rule in regard to the names of places, it is because countries belonging equally to all times seem 
 not improperly to partake of the same changes which obtain in the appellations of other common objects. While, 
 therefore, I have preserved the names of persons unchanged, I trust I shall not bo chargeable with inconsistency 
 ia adopting the English terms of Rome, Italy, and other places familiarly known in modern language. 
 
 But I have done. I have perhaps already trespassed upon your patience longer than I ought, were it not 
 that under the cover of your Lordship's name I considered myself in some measure as addressing the public. 
 It only remains that I thank your Lordship for affording me this public opportunity of acknowledging my deep 
 sense of the great and undeviatiug kindness with which you have honoured me from a very early period of my 
 life, and -which derived originally, among many other blessings, from my dear and respected father, your 
 Lordship has permitted to grow up with my growth into familiarity and friendship. I have the honour to be, 
 ■with great gratitude, esteem, and affection, 
 
 My Lord, your Lordship's most obedient and faithful servant, 
 JDatchet, October, 1823. W. Heberden. 
 
 l" Sexdecim volumina epistolanim, ab consulatu ejus Cicero ea solum, quae vivo se acciderunt, futura praedixit ; 
 
 usque ad extremum tempus, ad Atticum scriptarum ; quae sed etiam, quae nunc usu veniunt, cecinit ut vates. — Corn. 
 
 qui Icgat, non multum desideret historiam contextam illo- Nep. in Vit. Attici, 16. 
 
 rum temporum. Sic enim omnia de studiis principum, "-■ Epistle to the Hebrews, vi. 19. 
 
 vitiisduoum, ac mutationibus reipublica-, perscriptasunt, d Pure loquuntur, cum humanitatis sparsae sale, turn 
 
 ut nihil in his non appareat. Et facile existimari possit insignes amoris notis. — Ad Att. i. 13. 
 prudentiam quodammodo esse divinationem ; non enim
 
 THE 
 
 L E T T E R S 
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 LETTER l\ 
 
 (^Being the fifth in Grcevius's edition.') 
 Yor, who know me so well, may easily conceive 
 what distress I have felt, and what a severe loss I 
 have sustained, both in my public and domestic 
 concerns, by the death of my relation'' Lucius. For 
 he possessed all the engaging qualities which can 
 arise from kindness and gentleness of manners. 
 And I doubt not that you partake in this affliction, 
 hoth from your regard to me, and because you 
 have yourself lost in him a most accomplished con- 
 nexion and friend, who was attached to you as well 
 hy his own inclination as by my frequent mention 
 of you. As to what you say about your sister, she 
 shall be my witness how much pains I have taken 
 to reconcile my brother Quintus to her"^. For, as 
 
 ■ It is obvious that the best arrangement of any scries 
 of letters must be that of their dates. I have therefore 
 not scrupled to adopt this order in regard to the first 
 eleven letters of this book, which are generally acknow- 
 ledged to have been very early misplaced. At the same 
 time, to avoid any inconvenience that might arise from it, 
 I have, here and elsewhere, as often as the same liberty 
 has been taken, subjoined the number of each letter as it 
 stands in GreBvius's edition. This first, in the order of 
 time, was written in the 685th year of Rome, correspond- 
 ing to the 68th year before Christ, when Cicero was thirty- 
 tiiue years old. 
 
 b liucius Cicero was cousingerman to Marcus ; the term 
 firater, like the Greek dSeAc^Js, being subject to consider- 
 able latitude of signification. See book il. letter 7, note f. 
 
 e Quintus Cicero, the younger brother of Marcus, had 
 married Pomponia, Atticus' sister. 
 
 I thought him unreasonably offended, I wrote to 
 him in such a manner as might soothe a brother, 
 and admonish one who was my junior, and reprove 
 one who was in the wrong. And by the letters 
 which I have since frequently received from him, I 
 trust that all is again as it ought to be, and as we 
 wish. With regard to my writing, you accuse me 
 without reason : for Pomponia has never acquainted 
 me with any opportunity of sending a letter ; nei- 
 ther has it happened to me to know of anybody 
 that was going to Epirus, nor had I even heard that 
 you were yet at Athens. As soon as I came to 
 Rome after your departure, I despatched the busi- 
 ness of Acutilius, which you had intrusted to me, 
 but it turned out that there was no need of exertion ; 
 and being persuaded of the sufficiency of your own 
 judgment, I chose that Peduceus, rather than I, 
 should give you an opinion by letter. For after 
 having several days heard what Acutilius had to 
 say (with whose manner of prosing I presume you 
 are acquainted), I should hardly have thought 
 much of writing to you upon the subject of his 
 complaints, when I had not scrupled (which was 
 no pleasant task) to listen to them. But while you 
 accuse me, remember that I have received but one 
 letter from you ; though you have had so much 
 more leisure for writing, and so many more oppor- 
 tunities of sending your letters. When you tell 
 me that if anybody •* were offended with you, it 
 was my business to appease him ; mind what you 
 
 <i This alludes to some offence taken by LucceiiiB, of 
 which more appears in letters 6 and 7 of this book.
 
 C24 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 say : I have not neglected that also. But he is 
 strangely irritated. I have not, however, omitted 
 anything that was to be said on your part. But 
 now far it was to be urged, I thought it best to be 
 determined by your wishes ; which, if you will only 
 let me know, you shall find that I have not chosen 
 to be more forward than you would be yourself, 
 nor shall I be more remiss than you may desire. 
 Tadius has informed me respecting his affair, that 
 you had written as if there was now no occasion to 
 be uneasy, because the inheritance was secured by 
 prescription^. I was surprised you should not have 
 known, that in a legal guardianship, under which 
 the girl is said to be placed, no prescription cim be 
 established. I am glad yeu are pleased with your 
 purchase f in Epirus. I should wish, as you men- 
 tion, that, as far as you can without inconvenience, 
 you would attend to the commission 1 gave yo\i« ; 
 and in such a manner as you may judge suitable to 
 my Tusculan villa. For, after all my troubles and 
 fatigues, it is there I find repose, where I am now 
 daily expecting Wjf brother. Terentia'' is affected 
 with severe pains in the joints ; she has a great 
 regard for you, and your sister, and mother, and 
 ■wishes your best health, as does my darling TuUia'. 
 Take care of yourself, and continue to love me, 
 and believe me to love you as a brother. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 (Grcev. vi.) 
 I WILL hereafter give you no occasion of charg- 
 ing me with neglect of writing. Do you only take 
 care that, in your abundant leisure, you are even 
 with me. Rabirius's house at Naples, which you 
 had already measured and completed in your mind, 
 has been purchased by M. Fonteius for 130,000 
 sestertii (£]083)'. I wished you to be acquainted 
 
 « The term of undisjjuted possession, which conferred a 
 prescriptive title among Roman citizens, was by the XII. 
 Tables fixed at two years for landed property, and one 
 year for personal property. 
 
 ' Atticus had purchased an estate near Buthrotum in 
 Epirus. 
 
 e This commission appears by the subsequent letters to 
 have been directed to the purchase of statues. 
 
 ^ Terentia was Cicero's wife. 
 
 ' Tullia was Cicero's daughter. 
 
 J In this and otlicr parts of this translation I have re- 
 tained the Latin terms of sestertii and sestertia, because 
 different interpreters might estimate them differently ; at 
 the same time, for the convenience of the English reader, 
 I have subjoined what I suppose to be the amount in 
 pounds sterling. The expression H.S. (((1))) XXX is 
 generally agreed to mean 130,000, in which case the first 
 characters (signifying 100,000) are to be understood of 
 sestertii, while the tens imply 30 sestertia, each contain- 
 ing 1000 sestertii. And these different characters are 
 usually so applied. Thus H.S. ((1)) ((1)) CCCC, and 
 H.S. XXCD, which we find in the 3d and 4th letters of 
 this book, are equally expressive of 20,400, the former 
 being sestertii ; the decimal part of the latter, sestertia. 
 The value of Roman money is deduced from the actual 
 value of the denarius, which is to be met with in all col- 
 lections, and is worth about eightpence English. Hence 
 it follows tliat the sestertius (two asses and a half, or a 
 quarter of the denarius) is equivalent to two-pence, and a 
 thousand sestertii to SI. 6s. Sd. 
 
 In order to reduce the sestertii to English pounds, it is 
 only necessary to divide by 120. The characters expressive 
 of tiieir number are usually (1) 1000, ((1)) 10,000, (((!))) 
 
 with this, in case it should any way affect your 
 plans. My brother Quintus seems to be disposed 
 towards Pomponia, as we could wish, and is 
 now with her at his estate near Arpinum, where he 
 has with him D. Turranius, a man of excellent 
 acquirements. My father died the 24th of Novem- 
 ber''. This is the sum of what I had to say to 
 you. If you should be able to meet with any 
 ornaments of the gymnasiac kind', which would 
 suit that place which you know, I should be glad 
 if you would secure them for me. I am so charmed 
 with my Tusculan villa that I feel then only satis- 
 fied with myself when I get there. Let me know 
 all that you do, and all that you intend to do. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 {Grcev, vii.) 
 
 All is well with your mother "", for whom I en- 
 tertain a great regard. I have engaged to pay L . 
 Cincius" 20,400 sestertii (iri70) on the nth of 
 February. I should be glad if you would take oare 
 to let me have the things you have purchased and 
 provided for me as soon as possible. And I wish 
 
 100,000, each additional pair of marks increasing the maa- 
 ber tenfold. 
 
 The same letters H.S. likewise are used to denote sester- 
 tia, to which the figures X, &c. being added, seem to signify 
 not only "decern," &c., but more commonly " decies," 
 &c. the adverb being 100 times the value of the correspond- 
 ing adjective. 
 
 The following table exhibits at one view the Senomi- 
 nations of the sestertia, and the corresponding value in 
 English money. 
 
 £ t. d. 
 One thousand sestertii . . 8 6 8 
 
 H.S. X (10) Dena sestertia ... 83 6 8 
 
 H.S. L (50) Quinquaginta sestertia . . 416 13 4 
 
 H.S. C (100) Centum sestertia . . 833 6 8 
 
 U.S. D (500) Quinquies sestertiOm . . 4,166 13 4 
 
 PC, &c. Sexies (600), Septies (700), Octies 
 
 (800), Novies (900). 
 H.S. X (1000) Decies sestertiam , . 8,333 6 8 
 
 XX, &c. Vicies (2000), Tricies (3000), 
 
 Quadragies (4000). 
 H.S. L (5000) Quinquagies sestertiilm . 41,666 13 4 
 
 LC, &o. Sexagies (6000), Septuagies (7000,, 
 
 Octogies (8000), Nonagies (9000). 
 H.S. C (10,000) C'cntiessestertium . 83,333 6 !'. 
 
 H.S. D (50,000) Quingenties sestertium . 416,666 13 4 
 H.S. (1) (100,000) Millies sestertium . 833,333 6 8 
 
 k This, which appears abrupt or unfeeling, loses that 
 character when we consider that it must probably have 
 been said either in reply to some inquiry of Atticus, or as 
 specifying the date of an event previously known, or at 
 least expected. 
 
 ' rvfivacriaiSri, that is, such statues and other marbles 
 as were erected in the gymnasia or public-schools in 
 Greece, and would be suitable to Cicero's favourite retreat 
 near Tusculum, where he had built rooms and galleries in 
 imitation of the schools and porticos of Athens, and which 
 he likewise called by their Attic names of Academia and 
 Gymnasium, and designed for the same purposes of philo- 
 sophical inquiry. 
 
 ■n That this is spoken of Atticus's mother, not of 
 Cicero's, appears from the frequent mention he makes cf 
 the former ; while his silence respecting his own mother 
 affords reason to believe she may have died early. Atti- 
 cus's mother lived to be ninety years old. — Com. Nep. in 
 Vit. Attici, 17. 
 
 " L. Cincius appears to have been the agent employed in 
 purchasing marbles for Cicero.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUJS. 
 
 625 
 
 you would consider, as you promised, how you can 
 complete my library. All hope of the pleasure to 
 which I look forward when I shall have come into 
 retirement, is placed in you. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 (Grixv. viii.) 
 EvERYTHiXG is as we could wish at your house. 
 Your mother and sister are held in the greatest 
 esteem by me and my brother Quintus. T have had 
 some conversation with Acutilius. He denies that 
 anything had been written to him by his agent, 
 and is surprised that any dispute should have 
 arisen. The security which he demanded is no 
 longer required from you. I have understood that 
 Tadius is very thankful, and highly pleased with 
 what you mention of having compromised the 
 affair of his family. That friend of mine", who is 
 indeed a good man, and very friendly to me, is 
 seriously angry with ym. When I know how much 
 you regard this, I may be able to judge what pains 
 I should take in it. I have provided for L. Cincius 
 20,400 sestertii (£170) for the Megaric statues. 
 The Mercuries of your Pentelic marble with bronze 
 heads, about which you wrote to me, already delight 
 me exceedingly ; and I should be glad if you would 
 send them, and the other statues, and whatever 
 else you may judge suitable to the place, and to my 
 studies, and to your taste, as many, and as soon as 
 possible ; especially what you think proper for my 
 gymnasium and portico ; for I am transported with 
 such a fondness for these sort of things, that while 
 I request you to assist me, I must expect others to 
 blame me. If Lentulus's shi[) is not ready, let the 
 things be embarked in any other you please. My 
 darling TulliolaP is anxious for your present, and 
 calls upon me as a surety ; but it is safer for me to 
 swear off than to pay. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 (Grcev. ix.) 
 
 I HEAR from you too seldom, though you can 
 much easier find people going to Rome than I can 
 to Athens ; and you may be more sure of my being 
 at Rome than I can of your being at Athens. This 
 letter is therefore the shorter, owing to my uncer- 
 tainty ; for, being doubtful where you might be, I 
 ■was unwilling that this our familiar conversation 
 should fall into strange hands. 
 
 I am anxiously expecting the Megaric statues 
 and Mercuries about which you wrote to me. 
 Whatever of the same kind you may have, which 
 you think fit for my Academy, do not hesitate to 
 send it, and trust to my purse. These sort of 
 things are my delight. I particularly want such as 
 are most suitable to my gymnasium. Lentulus pro- 
 mises the use of his ships. I request your diligent 
 attention to tliese matters. Chilius asks you (and 
 I too at his desire) for an account of the national 
 customs of the Eumolpidsei. 
 
 Lucceius. 
 
 P Such diminutives expressive of endearment are not 
 uncommon in other languages, especially in Italian. Of 
 all Latin authors, Catullus has made the most frequent use 
 ■of them, and often with singular beauty. 
 
 1 The Eiunolpidac were a family of Thracian origin, conse- 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 (Grcev. X.) 
 
 While I was in my Tusculanum (this is ia 
 return for that of yours — " While I was in the 
 Ceramicus"'") ; however, while I was there, a ser- 
 vant sent by your sister from Rome gave me the 
 letter which had been brouglit from you, and said 
 that he was to set out the same afternoon on his 
 return. Hence it is that I determined to write 
 something in answer to your letter, and am com 
 pelled by the shortness of the time to write but a 
 few lines. In the first place, I will engage to 
 appease, or even fully to reconcile our friend' ; 
 which although I did before in some measure, of 
 my own accord, yet I will now set about it with 
 more earnestness, and will urge him more strongly 
 since 1 perceive by your letter how great a stress 
 you lay upon it. But I would have you under- 
 stand that he is very deeply offended. Still, as I 
 see no serious cause for it, I have great confidence 
 that he wi.l be moved by a sense of what is right, 
 and by my authority. 
 
 I should be glad to have my statues and Her- 
 meracles ' embarked as soon as you have an oppor- 
 tunity, and anything else you may find proper for 
 the place you know ; especially what you think 
 suitable to my palaestra and gymnasium. For I am 
 sitting there while I write, so that the place itself 
 reminds me. I commission you besides to procure 
 some reliefs, which may be introduced into the 
 ceiling of the ante-room ; and two figured puteals" 
 Take care that you do not engage your library to 
 anybody, however eager a lover of such things you 
 may meet with, for I reserve all my gatherings for 
 
 crated to the service of the Eleusinian mysteries at Athena, 
 TOv T7JJ/ TfAfrv" avroTs KaraarnTajx^vou 'E.vtJi6\TOV 
 Bap^dpov Kai 0paKhs uvros. [Lucian, Demonai, 34.] 
 What may be the exact meaning convej-ed bj' the general 
 term Trarpia, it is not easy to say. It may, however, be 
 observed, contrary to the interpretation of some commen- 
 tators, that considering the secrecy always observed in 
 regard to these mysteries, and that Cicero was himself one 
 of the Initiated, it can hardly be supposed that he would 
 concur in any request to Atticus to reveal them. 
 
 "■ Cer»nicus was the name of a district in the suburbs of 
 Athens, which among other buildings contained the Aca- 
 demy, whose maxims were adopted by Cicero. In this 
 and the other letters I have adopted the Latin expressions 
 Tusculanum, Pompeianum, &c., signifying his house near 
 Tusculuni and Pompeii. 
 
 8 Lucceius. See letter 7 of this book. 
 
 ' It is not obvious to conceive how the two figures of 
 Mercury and Hercules, or Minerva, indicated by the terms 
 Hermeracles and Hermathena, could be combined in one 
 statue. May it have been a stone case surmounted with a, 
 he:id of Mercury, and containing an image of Hercules or 
 Minerva ? Such are described by Plato in his ^vfiTiaiov, 
 where Alcibiades compares Socrates to " those figures of 
 Silenus in the sculptors' shops which open in the middle, 
 and exhibit images of the gods," ro7s aii\7}V0LS rovrois 
 ev TOis epiJ.oy\vcpe'ioi.s KaSrifxevois — oi StxaSe Stoi- 
 ;^06i'T6S (paivovraL tvSodev ayaXfjiaTa €x,ovres deuf. — 
 Ed. Ficin. p. 1202. 
 
 u Putcalia sigillata. These are usually supposed to have 
 been the tops of wells, resembling some marbles still foimd 
 among the ruins of ancient Italy. But it does not seem 
 very probable that wells should be made a subject of oma^ 
 ment, and the real design of these marbles is not clearly 
 made out. Perhaps it should be written pluiealia, as it is 
 in some editions, signifying " sculptured cases," to hoJ4 
 manuscripts or other library apparatus.
 
 026 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 the purpose of providing that resource for my old 
 age. 
 
 Respecting my brother, I trust that things are 
 as I have always wished, and have studied to make 
 them. Tlierc are many reasons to believe it, and 
 not tlie least is, that your sister is pregnant. 
 
 As to what regards my comitia'', 1 both remem- 
 ber that I excused you, and have long since declared 
 tliis to our common friends who are expecting you. 
 I shall not only not summon you, but shall forbid 
 you. For I know that it is of much greater 
 imjiortance to you, that you should do what is to 
 be done at this time, than it is to me that you 
 should be present at the comitia. Therefore I would 
 liave you make up your mind, as if it were on my 
 business that you were sent into that country. 
 And you will find me towards you, and hear of me, 
 in case of any success, as if it were gained, not only 
 in your presence, but by your means. Tulliola 
 ajipoints you a day : she calls upon your surety" 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 (GrcBV. xi.) 
 
 1 ACTED first of my own accord, and have since 
 been much excited by your two letters written to 
 the same purpose. In addition to which, Sallus- 
 tius^ has been constantly exhorting me to do my 
 utmost with Lucceius towards restoring your ancient 
 friendship. But after all I could do, I have not 
 only not been able to recover that good-will which 
 he used to bear you, but not even to elicit the 
 cause of his altered disposition. Although he speaks 
 of that arbitration of his, and the things which 
 before you left us I understood had given him 
 offence, yet there is something that has sunk deeper 
 in his mind, which neither your letters nor my 
 assurance can so easily erase, as you can remove 
 it in person, not only by conversation, but by your 
 own familiar countenance ; if only you think it 
 worth while, which you certainly will if you take 
 my advice, and act consistently with your natural 
 kindness. You must not be surprised, if I before 
 signified to you by letter that I hoped to find him 
 tractable, and now appear to distrust. But it is 
 incredible how determined his mind seems to be, 
 and fixed in this angry mood. But this will either 
 be set right when you arrive, or will make him 
 very uneasy, whichever is in fault. 
 
 As to what you say in your letter, that you sup- 
 pose I am already elected, you must know that 
 nothing at Rome is so vexatious as the iniquitous 
 proceedings against the candidates ; nor is it known 
 when the comitia will take place. But you will 
 hear all about this from Philadelphus. I should 
 be glad if you would send as soon as possible what 
 you have got for my academy. Not only the 
 actual enjoyment, but the very thought of that 
 place delights me wonderfully. Remember not to 
 
 » The comitia here alluded to must have been held for 
 the election of prxtors, for which office Cicero was at this 
 time a candidate. 
 
 w These law terms are evidently introduced by Cicero 
 in playful reference to his daughter's expectation of a 
 present, which Atticus had promised to send her. Some 
 would read, " she does not call upon your surety." The 
 difference is of little moment. See letter 4 of this book. 
 
 ^ This Sallustius was a friend of Cicero's, not the histo- 
 rian of the same name. 
 
 give up your books to anybody ; but keep them, as 
 you say, for me. I entertain the strongest affec- 
 tion for them, as I do now disgust for everything 
 else ; for it is not to be believed in how short a 
 time how much worse you will find things than 
 you left them. 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 {GrtBV. iii.) 
 
 Know that your grandmother is dead from want 
 of youy, and from fear lest the states ^ of Latium 
 should not be steady in their duty, and should fail 
 to bring the victims to Mount Albanus. I imagine 
 L. Saufeius" will send to console you upon this, 
 event. We are ex])ccting you here in January, 
 either from common report, or from what you may 
 have written to others ; for to me you have written 
 nothing about it. The statues which you have 
 procured for me are landed at Caieta. I have not 
 seen them ; for it has not been in my power to 
 leave Rome. I have sent a person to pay tht, 
 freight. I am much obliged to you for having 
 managed this so well, and so reasonably. 
 
 As to what you have repeatedly said about 
 appeasing our friend, I have done and tried every- 
 thing ; but his mind is wonderfully estranged on 
 account of certain suspicions, which, though I ima- 
 gine you have heard, yet, when you arrive, you 
 shall know from me. Sallustius, who is here, I 
 have not been able to restore to the place he held 
 in his affection. I mention this to you, because 
 he used to accuse me on your account ; but he has 
 found by his own case that he is very inexorable, 
 and that my attention to you has not been deficient. 
 I have engaged my dear Tullia in marriage to C» 
 Piso, son of Lucius Frugi. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 (GrcBv. iv.) 
 You raise in us perpetual expectations of your 
 arrival. Lately, when I supposed you to be com- 
 ing, we were suddenly put off till July. Now, 
 however, I imagine, as far as you can do it with, 
 convenience, you will really come at the time you 
 mention. You will thus be at my brother Quin- 
 tus's comitia '-'; we shall meet again after a long- 
 interval ; and you will be able to conclude the busi- 
 ness of Acutilius *=. For this purpose Peduceus- 
 
 7 By this expression Cicero gently reproaches his friend 
 on account of his long absence. 
 
 2 It must be supposed that this relates to some scruples- 
 and apprehensions which this old lady had expressed, and 
 which may probably have been a subject of jest between 
 the two friends. The ceremonies alluded to are tliose of 
 the Latin festival, which used to be celebrated every year 
 in memory of the union of the different neighbouring states 
 of Latium. By the word LalitKe I understand yentcs, or 
 civitatcs, not midicrcs ; for it does not appear that women 
 had any part to perform there. 
 
 » This L. Saufeius appears to have been a philosopher of 
 the Epicurean sect, who placed their chief happiness ia 
 their ease. It is upon this depends the smartness of 
 Cicero's observation, writing to one of the same persua- 
 sion. 
 
 •> Quintus Cicero was a candidate for the office of sedilb 
 at the ensuing comitia. 
 
 c It is uncertain what this business was. It is spoken of 
 in the first letter of this book.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 627 
 
 has also requested me to write to you ; for we are 
 of opinion tliat it is desirable you should at length 
 bring this affair to a conclusion. My intercession 
 is, and has long been, prepared. 
 
 1 have concluded the business of C. Macer with 
 great and distinguished applause. And while I 
 have done him every justice, have yet derived 
 much greater advantage from the approbation of 
 the people, upon his condemnation, than I could 
 have done from any return on his part, had he been 
 acquitted. 
 
 As to what you write to me about the Herma- 
 tliena, it is exceedingly grateful to me, and an 
 ornament proper for my academy ; Mercury being 
 the common emblem of all schools, and Minerva 
 the particular one of that school. I should be glad 
 therefore, as you say. to have you contribute as 
 many other things as possible to the embellishment 
 of that place. The statues you before sent me I 
 have not yet seen ^ ; they are at Formianum, where 
 I am now intending to go. I shall transport all 
 those things to Tusculanum. Should I ever begin 
 to overflow, I will decorate Caieta*-'. Keep your 
 books, and do not despair of my being able to make 
 them mine ; which if I accomplish, I shall exceed 
 Crassus in riches, and look down with contempt 
 upon the houses and lands of all the world. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 (Grwv. i.) 
 
 Of my canvas, in which I know you take a lively 
 interest, this is the state, as far as can yet be fore- 
 seen. P. Galba alone is beginning to solicit votes ; 
 he is refused without ceremony or disguise. Peo- 
 ple think that this premature canvassing is not 
 unfavourable to my cause, for he very generally 
 meets with denials under pretence of persons being 
 under obligation to me. So I hope I may derive 
 some advantage from it, as by this means the opi- 
 nion spreads of my having many supporters. I 
 had intended to begin canvassing in the Campus 
 Martius, at the comitia for electing tribunes, the 
 17th of July, at the very time when I understood 
 from Cincius that your servant was to set out with 
 this letter. My competitors, which seem to be 
 certain, are Galba, and Antonius, and Q. Cornifi- 
 cius. I imagine you will either smile or grieve at 
 this. To enrage you quite, there are some who 
 sven think of Cajsonius. I do not apprehend 
 Aquillius will offer ; for he denies it, and has sworn 
 that he is ill, and has objected his judicial supre- 
 macy. Catilina will be a certain competitor, if it 
 be determined that the sun does not shine at mid- 
 day '. I imagine you do not expect me to take 
 notice of Aufidius and Palicanus. 
 
 Of those who are in nomination for this next 
 
 •^ It may be thought singular that Cicero, who had ex- 
 jressed sucli a strong passion for these marbles, should 
 not h.ave found time to visit them ; but it is probably to 
 be accounted for by his being at this time one of the prje 
 tors, whose duties obliged him to reside in the city. 
 
 « Caieta is probably the same as Formianum, under a 
 different name : Caieta being a sea-port, and Formiae the 
 name of a town at a short distance from it inland. 
 
 » That is, if it be determined to shut the eyes against 
 his iniquitous proceedings, which are as clear as the meri- 
 dian sun. 
 
 year, Caesar if is thought secure. The contest is 
 supposed to lie between Therm us and Silanus, who 
 are so poor in friends and in reputation, that it 
 seems to me not impossible to bring in Curius ; 
 but this opinion is peculiar to myself, It appears 
 most conducive to my cause that Thermus should 
 be returned with Cajsar ; for of those who are not 
 the present candidates, there is nobody who seems 
 likely to be a more powerful opponent, if he should 
 witiidraw into my year ; because he has the charge 
 of the Flaminian road, which will easily be com- 
 pleted by that time. 1 should therefore gladly see 
 him now Ca;sar's colleague ''. 
 
 Such is the opinion hitherto formed of the can- 
 didates. I shall take care to use the greatest dili- 
 gence in executing every part of a candidate's duty ; 
 and possibly, since the Cisali)ine Gaul' has consi- 
 derable weight in voting, when the forum at Rome 
 is a little cooled from its judicial causes, I may run 
 down in September, as a lieutenant to Piso J, so as 
 to be back in January. When I shall clearly have 
 discovered the disposition of the nobles, I will 
 write to you. The rest I hope will go smoothly, 
 with only the present city competitors. Take care 
 to engage for me, since you are nearer to them, 
 that troop of our friend Pompeius. Tell him I 
 shall not be angry with him, if he does not come 
 to my election. So much for this business. 
 
 But there is one subject on which I am very 
 anxious to have your forgiveness. Your uncle 
 Csecihus, having been defrauded of a considerable 
 sum of money by P. Varius, commenced an action 
 against his brother Caninius Satrius for the pro- 
 perty, which he said he had received from Varius 
 by a fraudulent transfer. Other creditors were 
 parties in the same action ; amongst whom was 
 Lucullas, and P. Scipio, and L. Pontius, who they 
 supposed would be appointed administrators, if the 
 goods were sold. But it is absurd now to speak of 
 an administrator. Caecilius requested me to sup- 
 port him against Satrius. Now, there is scarcely 
 a day that this Satrius does not come to my house. 
 His first attention is to L. Domitius ; his next to 
 me. He was of great service to me, and my bro- 
 ther Quintus, in our canvasses. I am very truly 
 embarrassed, both on account of my intimacy with 
 Satrius, and with Domitius, on whom, above all, 
 my present success depends. I explained this to 
 Csecilius, and at the same time assured him, that 
 if the dispute lay between them two alone, I would 
 comply with his wishes ; but that now, in the gene- 
 ral cause of all the creditors (people especially of 
 the first authority, who, without Cjecilius's appoint- 
 ing anybody in his own name, could easily main- 
 tain their common cause) it was reasonable that he 
 should consider the obligations and circumstances 
 under which I lie. He seemed to receive this more 
 harshly than I could wish, or than gentlemen use 
 to do ; and afterwards he entirely brake off the 
 intercourse between us, which had been a few days 
 
 e This Cjesar was Lucius Julius Caesar, a, distant relatioa 
 of " The mighty Julius." 
 
 ^ There is evidently some error in the text. I bavo 
 given what appears to be the sense intended. 
 
 ' Cisalpine Gaul was the ancient name for Lombardy: 
 those who had passed through the first magistracies in the 
 towns south of the Po, had a right of voting in the assem- 
 blies of the Roman people. 
 
 J These lieutenancies appear to have been fictitious 
 oflBces, under the plea of which the senators of Rome used 
 to visit the provinces with a certain degree of authority. 
 SS 2
 
 628 
 
 THE LETTERS OF IMAKCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 establislied. I have to beg that you will not take 
 this ill of me, hut will consider that I was prevented 
 by common humanity from coming forward in the 
 time of his distress against the high reputation of 
 a friend who had exerted all his efforts and kind 
 offices to serve me. Or if you are disposed to 
 jiass a harsh sentence upon me, you will suppose 
 it was my ambitious views that stood in the way. 
 But I think, even if it were so, that I should still 
 deserve to be forgiven, considering that this occa- 
 sion is no trifling one. For you see in what pro- 
 gress we are, and how important it is not only to 
 retain, but to acquire the good-will of all people. 
 I hope 1 have jiroved my case ; I certainly wish it. 
 Your Hermathena deiights me exceedingly ; and 
 it is so well placed, that the whole gyumasium 
 derives a lustre from it, as from the sun ''. You 
 have mv best aflectious. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 (GrcEV. ii.) 
 
 In the consulate' of L. Julius Csesar and C. 
 Marcius Figulus, know that 1 have a son born, and 
 that Terentia is going on well. No letter from you 
 after so long a time ? I before sent you a parti- 
 cular account of the state of my interests. I am at 
 present thinking to undertake the defence of my 
 •'ompetitor Catiiina'". The judges are such as we 
 sioaid wish, and with the full consent of the ac- 
 <''!.ser ". I hope, if he should be acquitted, to have 
 »5m the more friendly in the business of my can- 
 vass. Should it fall out otherwise, we must bear 
 it with patience. I have great need of your speedy 
 arrival : for it is the general opinion that some 
 noble" persons of your acquaintance will oppose 
 my success. I foresee that you can be of the 
 greatest use in conciliating their good will towards 
 me ; therefore do not fail to be at Rome in January, 
 as you have appointed. 
 
 iBetween the eleventh and twelfth letters of this collection 
 must have intervened a period of more than three pears, 
 during ichich the correspondence is interrupted, oicinij, 
 as it should seem, to Atticus's having come to Rome to 
 assist Cicero in his election, and remaining there with 
 kmi through the period of his consulship.'] 
 
 ^ The original is a little obscure. I have expressed what 
 I conceived to be the true meaning. 
 
 ' The Romans designated their years by the names of 
 the consuls. 
 
 "1 This is the same Catiiina whose conspiracy Cicero 
 afterwards delcatcd with so much applause in his consu- 
 late. Catiiina was at this time charged with peculation 
 in Africa. There is no doubt but Cicero's object was to 
 promote his own election by the co-operation of Catilina's 
 connexions, which were numerous, and among the first 
 families of Rome. He however changed his mind, and 
 did not defend him. 
 
 " His accuser wasClodius, who appears to have accepted 
 a bribe to betray his own cause. 
 
 « None of Cicero's ancestors having been ennobled by 
 holding the higher offices of the state, it is on this account 
 that he was sometimes taunted with the appellation of a 
 " new man." The same cause excited the jealousy of the 
 nobles towards him, whom they looked upon as an ambi- 
 tious and popular upstart. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 That Trojan woman p is a slow business ; nor 
 did Cornelius afterwards return to Terentiai. I 
 think we must have recourse to Considius, Anius, 
 Sclicius'' , for the nearest relations cannot extract 
 money from Ca;cilius at less than twelve ])er cent.' 
 IJut, to return to my first subject : I have known 
 nothing more shameless, more cunning, more 
 sluggish, than her'. " 1 send one of my freedmen " 
 — " I have given directions to Titus " — mere pre- 
 texts and delays ! But it may be that fortune 
 orders things better than we ourselves ; for Pom- 
 peius's foreruuners tell me that he will openly 
 propose that Antonius should be superseded ; and 
 at the same time the praetor will bring it before the 
 people. It is an affair of that kind, that 1 cannot 
 honourably defend the man with the good esteem 
 either of the respectable part of society, or of the 
 populace, nor do I choose to do it, which is most 
 of all ; for a circumstance has occurred, which I 
 send to you entire, that you may see the nature of 
 it. I have a freed-man, a good-for-nothing fellow, 
 Hilarus I mean, the acconiptant, and a client of 
 yours. Of him Valerius the intrepreter" relates 
 the following account, and Chilius writes me word 
 that he has heard the same ; that this fellow is 
 with Antonius, and that Antonius, in making his 
 exactions, gives out that a part is demanded for 
 me, and that this freed-man is sent by me to look 
 after the common plunder. I am not a little dis- 
 turbed, though I can hardly believe it ; but there 
 has certainly been some conversation to this effect. 
 Pray investigate the whole : inquire, learn, and, 
 if you can by any means, remove the scoundrel 
 from those parts''. Valerius mentioned Cnseus 
 
 P Teucris ilia. The person thus designated is univer- 
 sally agreed to be that C. Antonius who had been colleague 
 with Cicero in his consulate, and whom Cicero had gained 
 by voluntarily resigning to him the valuable province of 
 Macedonia, to which Cicero would otherwise have been 
 appointed upon going out of office. Various conjectures 
 have been formed about the term here applied to him, 
 which, as it probably relates to some private understanding 
 between Cicero and Atticus, must ever remain obscure. 
 It seems to be a contemptuous expression, used in imi- 
 tation of the Greek feminines, which were sometimes 
 applied to men, and which Pope has thus rendered in his 
 Homer — 
 
 " O, women of Achaia, men no more." 
 So afterwards [letter 14 of this book] we find Cicero using 
 the term •' iiliola Curionis," meaning " the effeminate son 
 of Curio." 
 
 q Terentia, we know, was Cicero's wife. Cornelius was 
 quaestor to Antonius, and by what follows seems to have 
 been employed by him to deceive Terentia with false pro- 
 mises of repaying some money perhaps advanced by Cicero. 
 Is this the reason of the term lentiim negotium? 
 
 r Tlie.se may probably be the names of usurers. 
 
 s Centesimis. The Latin indicates one per cent. ; but it 
 is to be remembered that the Romans calculated their 
 interest not by the year, but by the month. The calends 
 and ides, that is, the beginning and middle of each month, 
 being the usual times of payment. 
 
 ' I have thought it right still to preserve the original 
 expression in the feminine, as it relates to Antonius imder 
 the character of the Trojan woman. 
 
 " The Romans thought it a point of dignity in their pub- 
 lic capacitj' always to .speak in their own language, and to 
 heal' foreigners through an interpreter. 
 
 » Macedonia, near to which Atticus resided.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTTCUS. 
 
 629 
 
 Plancius as his authority for this report. I ear- 
 nestly beg you will see what all this is. It appears 
 that Pompeius is very friendly to me ; his divorce 
 of Mucia"' is much approved. I imagine you have 
 heard that P. Clodius, the son of Appius, was 
 detected in women's clothes at the house of Caius 
 Ciiesar, while the religious ceremonies for the peo- 
 ple" were going on, and that he was saved, and 
 conducted out by the hands of a servant-girl ; that 
 it is an affair of great scandal, which I know you 
 will be sorry for. I have nothing more to tell you. 
 And in truth I have been a good deal distressed, 
 for Sositheus, my reader, a pleasing youth, is lately 
 dead, which has disturbed me more than the death 
 of a slave ought to have done. I hope you will 
 often write to me : if you have nothing to say, say 
 what comes uppermost. The first of January, in 
 the consulship of M. Messala and M. Piso>'. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 I HAVE now received three letters from you, one 
 through M. Cornelius, which I imagine you de- 
 livered to him at the Tres Tabernee^ ; another, 
 which yourCanusian'^ host brought me ; the third, 
 ■which as you mention you gave from the vessel 
 after the anchor was weighed : which were all let- 
 ters of a master : they speak in a chaste style, are 
 interspersed with pleasant humour, and distinguish- 
 ed by marks of affection. These letters might well 
 excite me to write in return ; but I have been the 
 more dilatory from want of a trusty messenger ; 
 for how few are there who can carry a letter of any 
 weight, without lightening it by a perusal'' ! Besides 
 this I do not always know when any one goes to 
 Epirus ; and I conceive that, having slain your 
 victims before Amalthsea '^, you would immediately 
 go to lay siege to Sicyoa. Nor am I by any means 
 certain when you go to Antonius, or how long you 
 mean to stay in Epirus ; so that I do not care to 
 trust letters of a confidential kind either to Greeks'" 
 
 "' JIucia had been married to Pompeius, and was now 
 divorced, as it is said, on suspicion of adultery with Caesar. 
 
 ^ This alludes to the secret ceremonies held annually in 
 honour of the Bona Dea, or Good Goddess, for the safety of 
 the Roman people. 
 
 y The consuls entered upon their office on the kalends, 
 or first day, of January ; and by their names the years were 
 afterwards distinguished. 
 
 ^ Tres Tabernae, or the Three Taverns, a place near 
 Rome, on the Appian road, familiar to Christians by 
 being mentioned in St. Paul's journey to Rome, Acts 
 xxviii. 15. 
 
 » Canusium was a town on the road to Brundisium, by 
 which Atticus passed to his estate at Buthrotum in 
 Epirus. 
 
 1> As the English language permitted, I have thought it 
 right to preserve this humble jest, which may find a place 
 in a familiar letter. 
 
 <: Amalthea. This is the name given to the goat fabu- 
 lously supposed to have nourished Jupiter, and whose horn 
 was afterwards made the emblem of plenty. From the 
 latter circumstance, the word Amaltheum was adopted by 
 Cicero to designate the library of Atticus in Epirus, rich in 
 variety of learning. Here Cicero uses the original word, 
 as if the sacred goat was the divinity of the place ; and he 
 means to say, that after enjoying himself amidst his books, 
 he conceives Atticus would go to Sicyon, perhaps to claim 
 some money due to him as renter of the tributes. See let- 
 ter 19 of this book. 
 
 ^ After Greece became subject to the Romans, it was 
 
 or to Epirots. Since your departure some things 
 have occurred deserving of notice, but not to be 
 exposed to the risk of my letter's being either lost, 
 or opened, or intercepted. 
 
 \ou must know then in the first place, that I 
 was not the first called upon for my opinion*, 
 and that the peace-maker of the AUobroges' was 
 put before me, which was done amidst the mur- 
 murs of the senate, but without any reluctance on 
 my part ; for I am thus freed from all obligation 
 towards a perverse manf ; and at liberty to main- 
 tain my own dignity in the state in spite of his 
 wishes. And this second place of delivering my 
 sentiments, carries with it nearly the same authority 
 as the first, while it leaves the judgment unfettered 
 by any obligation towards the consul. The third 
 is Catullus ; the fourth (if you wish to know that 
 too) Hortensius. But the consul himself is of a 
 narrow and poor spirit, an ill-natured snarler of 
 that sort which even without raillery is laughed 
 at ; ridiculous rather from his features, than his 
 wit'': concurring in nothing with the state; se- 
 parated from all the principal people ; from whom 
 one can expect no good to the state, because he 
 wishes it no good ; and from whom one need fear 
 no harm, because he dares not commit it. His 
 colleague' is very attentive to me, and a follower 
 and supporter of the best parties. There is be- 
 sides some little disagreement between them : but 
 I fear lest that which is diseased in the state may 
 spread further ; for I suppose you have heard that, 
 while the sacred ceremonies for the people were 
 performing at Caesar's house, a man came there in 
 female dress ; and when the vestal virgins had re- 
 newed the sacrifice, mention was made of it in the 
 senate by Q. Cornificius. He was the first, that 
 you may not suspect any of us. Afterwards the 
 afiair was, by a decree of the senate, referred to 
 the pontiffs, and it was determined by them to be 
 sacrilege. The consuls then, by another decree of 
 the senate, published an indictment, and Csesar 
 sent his wife a bill of divorce. In this cause Piso, 
 induced by his friendship with P. Clodius, uses his 
 
 divided into two provinces of Achaia and Macedonia, 
 of which the former included the whole of Greece 
 proper. It appears from Cicero's Familiar Letters, 
 [letters 4, 5, &c.,] that Ser. Sulpicius, as governor of 
 Achaia, had jurisdiction over the Peloponnesus, Attica, 
 BoEOtia, Thessaly, and Epirus : therefore Plinius calls it 
 " Achaiam, illam veram et mcram Gra-uiam." And Pau- 
 s.-mias says, KaXovat Se oux 'EAAaSos, dA\' 'Axa'is 
 ■)jyefj.6va oi 'Pw/xaioi, SiAtl exeipuo'ai'To "EWtji'os 5t 
 'Axaio)!', To're rov 'EWriutKov ■KpoiaT7}K6r(av. [Lib. 
 vii.] And this extended sense is to be given to the word 
 'AxQ'tt. when it occurs in the New Testament, as in Acts 
 xviii. 12 ; and again, ch. xix. il ; also, 1 Cor. xvi. 15. 
 
 « It seems to have been the custom for the consul, 
 upon first entering into office, to call upon the consular 
 senators for their opinion in what order he thought proper ; 
 which order was observed duiing the remainder of the 
 year. 
 
 t By this expression is to be understood Caius Piso, who 
 had presided over the province of Gallia Narbonensis, in 
 which the AUobroges dwelt. 
 
 g Marcus Piso, a relation of the former, and one of the 
 new consuls. 
 
 l» In the original there Is a play upon the words/dciV and 
 /acetiis, which, as it is impossible to preserve in the trans- 
 lation, so neither would it be desirable, unless for the 
 purpose of exhibiting a juster character of Cicero's nuuiner 
 towards his intimate friend. 
 
 ' M. Messala.
 
 G30 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 endeavours that lliis indictincnt, which he himself 
 prefers, and prefers by ordtr of the senate, and 
 for the sake of reliRion, may be set aside. Mes- 
 eala is hitlierto very strenuous for measures of 
 severity. Good men are kept away by the en- 
 treaties of Clodius ; ruffians are provided ; and I 
 myself, who had been a very Lycurgus at the be- 
 ginning, am daily softened down. Cato is instant 
 and urgent. In short, 1 am afraid lest these mat- 
 ters, neglected by the jiood, and supported by the 
 wicked, may be the occasion of serious evils to the 
 republic. But that friend of yours (you know 
 who I mean J ; about whom you wrote to me, that 
 when he no longer dared to find fault, lie began to 
 commend) makes a show of great regard for me ; 
 salutes me, loves me, openly praises me ; stcretly, 
 yet so that it is sufficiently manifest, he envies me : 
 there is nothing kind in him, nothing candid, no- 
 thing disinterested in his politics, nothing illus- 
 trious, nothing brave, nothing liberal. But these 
 things I will detail to you more particularly some 
 other time ; for they are not yet sufficiently known 
 to me ; nor do I care to intrust to this fellow, of 
 whom I know nothing, a letter about things of such 
 importance. The praetors have not yet had their 
 provinces allotted them ; the business is in the 
 same state in which you left iti^. The geographi- 
 cal position of Misenum and Puteoli, which you 
 require, shall have a place in my speech. I had 
 observed that the date of the third of December 
 was wrong. The parts of my speeches which you 
 commend, I assure you pleased me very much ; 
 though I did not before venture to say so. But now 
 that they have your ajiprobation, they appear to me 
 more truly Attic'. I have added something to the 
 speech against Metellus'". The book shall be sent 
 to you, since your kind regard for me has given 
 you a taste for oratorical writings. What news 
 shall I send you ? what? The consul Messala has 
 bought Autronius's house for 437 sestertia" 
 (£33,600.) What is that to me ? you will say ; only 
 that in comparison with this purchase, I must be 
 judged to have laid out my money prudently ; and 
 people have begun to understand that, in buying, 
 it is very allowable to use the assistance of one's 
 friends, in order to attain some respectability". 
 That Trojan woman is a slow business ; but, how- 
 ever, there is some hope. Do you bring these mat- 
 
 i Cn. Pompeius is probably the person here intended. 
 
 k Q. Cicero had been one of the praetors, which made 
 this circumstance of some interest both to Cicero and to 
 Atticus, the one his brother, the other his brother-in-law. 
 
 1 The Attic manner of writing and speaking was always 
 considered as the most perfect model. 
 
 '" The tribune Jletellus had been active in opposing 
 Cicero, charging him with having put citizens to death 
 vvithout a trial. 
 
 n If the text be correct, the amount in English money 
 would be about 3(i42i. But there is great reason to suspect 
 Bome error, such as may easily be made in transcribing 
 figures ; for Cicero mentions this purchase as a justification 
 of his own conduct in borrowing money for a house in 
 Bome, for which it appears by his Familiar Letters that 
 he gave 3500 sestertia, or near 30,000i. [Ep. Fam. v. 6.] It 
 seems probable, therefore, that instead of CCCCXXXVII 
 it ought to be written either (1) (1) (1) (1) XXXVU, which 
 would be equivalent to 33,6442., orXXXVlI (tricies septies, 
 3700) equivalent to 30,833Z. 
 
 o This passage is illustrated by refei-ence to the 39th 
 chapter of the first book of the Offices, where Cicero speaks 
 of the respect attached to a person's residence— adhibenda 
 eonunoditatis dignitatisque diligentia. 
 
 ters to a conclusion. You may expect to hear 
 from me again with more freedom. January 27, 
 in the consulship of M. Messala and M. Piso. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 I AM afraid you will be tired of hearing how 
 much I am engaged ; but in truth I have been so 
 busy, that I have scarcely had time for this short 
 letter, and that has been snatched from important 
 occupations. I mentioned in a former letter p 
 Pompeius's first harangue ; that it was not accept- 
 able to the poor, that it appeared spiritless to the 
 wicked, unsatisfactory to the rich, undignified to 
 the good : in short, it was a cold performance. 
 Afterwards, at the instigation of the consul Piso, 
 that inconsiderate tribune Fufius brought Pompeius 
 forth to the assembly of the people. The business 
 was conducted in the Flamiiiiau Circus i, and the 
 same day, in that very place, was a fair held. He 
 inquired of him whether he approved of the judges 
 being chosen by the praetor in the affair of Clo- 
 dius's sacrilege ; which judges the same proetor 
 was to use as his council ; as it had already been 
 appointed by the senate. Upon which Pompeius 
 spoke quite aristocratically ; replying, that the 
 authority of the senate on all occasions had now, 
 and always, the greatest weight with liim ; and this 
 he professed at great length. Afterwards the consul 
 Messala inquired of Pompeius in the senate, what 
 he thought of the offence to religion, what of the 
 indictment announced. He spoke in such a man- 
 ner in the senate as to commend generally all the 
 acts of that body ; and said to me, as he sat by 
 me, that he thought his answer contained a suffi- 
 cient reply to the questions proposed to him. 
 Crassus, perceiving that it gained him applause to 
 have it supposed that he was pleased with my con- 
 sulate, rose up, and spoke of my consulate in the 
 handsomest manner, saying, that he owed it to me 
 that he was a senator, that he enjoyed his freedom 
 and his life ; that as often as he saw his wife, his 
 home, his country, so often he saw blessings de- 
 rived from me : in short, all those topics of fire 
 and sword, which I used variously to represent in 
 my speeches (you, who are my Aristarchus and 
 critic, know those repositories of ornaments), he 
 interwove with great effect. I was sitting nest 
 Pompeius, and observed him to be moved ; whe- 
 ther it was that Crassus should have gained the ap- 
 plause which he had missed, or that my deeds 
 should be so esteemed as to obtain the ready con- 
 currence of the senate to the praises bestowed 
 upon them, especially by one who owed it me the 
 less, because, in all my letters in commendation of 
 Pompeius, he had been lightly spoken of This 
 day much attached me to Crassus : and whatever 
 was given covertly, I willingly acknowledged from 
 him openly. But as for myself, ye gods ! how I 
 exulted before my new hearer, Pompeius ! If periods 
 and inflections, if deductions and arguments, ever 
 availed me, it was then : in short, there were ge- 
 neral cheers : for the subj ect was, of the dignity 
 
 P This letter is lost. 
 
 q Pompeius having applied for the honour of a triumph, 
 was obli;;ed to conform to the custom of residing beyond 
 the wails of Home till that was over. It was, therefore, in 
 compliment to him that the meetings of the people and of 
 the senate were at this time held out of the city.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 631 
 
 of the senate, the unanimity of the knights, the 
 consent of all Italy, the expiring remains of the 
 conspiracy, of plenty and peace. You know my 
 powers on such materials : they were so exerted, 
 that I am the more brief, because I imagine that 
 they must have been heard even as far as you. 
 
 But this is the state of aflairs at Rome. The 
 senate is our Areopagus ■■ : nothing can be more 
 firm, nothing more upright, nothing more strenu- 
 ous ; for when the day was come for bringing for- 
 ward the impeachment, according to the decree of 
 the senate, there were collected youths scarcely 
 bearded, the whole herd of Catiline, with the ef- 
 feminate son of Curio at their head, demanding of 
 the people to set aside the impeachment. Even 
 Piso, the consul, who had proposed it, was now 
 •exerting himself against it. The Clodian mob had 
 got possession of the passages ; and voting papers 
 •were furnished so, that none might be given signi- 
 fying assent. Here then Cato rushes to the ros- 
 tra % and utters a most severe reproach on the 
 consul Piso, if that can be called reproach, which 
 is full of dignity, full of authority, full of whole- 
 some counsel. Our friend Horteusius follows to 
 the same purpose, and many other good men ; but 
 the assistance of Favonius was particularly dis- 
 tinguished. In this concourse of principal per- 
 sons the assembly is dismissed ; the senate is 
 ■convoked ; when it was decreed, in a full house, 
 (■while Piso was contending against it, and Clodius 
 was entreating at the feet of each individual,) that 
 the consuls should use their authority with the 
 •people to admit the impeachment. Fifteen voted 
 with Curio against passing the decree ; on the other 
 side •were at least four hundred. The thing was 
 concluded. Fufius, the tribune, then gave way. 
 Clodius made some pitiful addresses, in which he 
 treated Ilortensius, C. Piso, and the consul Mes- 
 sala, with great disrespect ; me he only charged 
 with having found out ' everything. The senate 
 determined that nothing should be done respecting 
 the provinces of the praetors, the embassies, and 
 other business, till the impeachment should have 
 been brought forward. Here you have the history 
 of the Roman affairs. But yet I must tell you 
 also what 1 had not hoped for : the consul Mes- 
 sala is excellent, brave, firm, diligent, and extols, 
 loves, and imitates me : the other is by one fault 
 the less faulty ; in that he is indolent, sleepy, in- 
 expert, incapable of business ; but in will so ill- 
 disposed, that he began to hate Pompeius ever 
 after that meeting in which he praised the senate. 
 He has therefore wonderfully alienated from him 
 all the best people ; nor is he induced to act thus 
 more by friendship towards Clodius, than by a love 
 of ruinous and factious measures. But he has 
 nobody among the magistrates like him. With 
 the exception of Futius, •we enjoy a good set of 
 tribunes ; and Cornutus is another Cato. But 
 
 ' 'Af ei'os Trdyos. This is the well-known council at 
 Athens, before which St. Paul afterwards spake. It was 
 celebrated for its justice It may be observed that Cicero, 
 in his letters to Atticus, makes the more frequent use of 
 Cveek terms, both because the language was familiar to 
 Atticus, and beoai:se he was often resident in Greece. 
 
 5 It is hardly necessary to observe, that the Romans 
 used to address the people in their assemblies from a raised 
 pulpit, called the rostra. 
 
 « Cicero, it seems, had used an expression of this kind 
 on the occasiou of the Catilinarian conspiracy ; and it was 
 afterwards thwwn in his teeth in derision. 
 
 now, to return to private matters, the Trojan 
 woman has made good her promises. Do you ac- 
 complish the commissions which you have under 
 taken. My brother Quintus, who lias purchased 
 the remaining three (juarters of the Argiletan 
 building for 725 sestertia ('jOOO/.), is desirous of 
 selling his Tusculanum, in order to buy, if he can, 
 Pacilius's house. I want you to be reconciled to 
 Lucceius. I see him very desirous of it, and will 
 lend my assistance. Let me know exactly what 
 you are doing, where you are, and how things are 
 going on. The 13th of February. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 You have heard that the province of Asia" has 
 fallen to my dear brother Quintus ; for I doubt 
 not but common report has brought you this intelli- 
 gence swifter than any friend's letter. Now, as you 
 know I have always been very greedy of praise ; and 
 am, and am esteemed, beyond all men attached 
 to the Greeks ; and have incurred much obloquy 
 and enmity in the cause of the republic ; do you 
 therefore " call to mind all your prowess^," and by 
 your management contrive that I may be praised 
 and loved by everybody. Upon this subject I will 
 write more to you in the letter I shall send by 
 Quintus himself. I should be glad if you would 
 let me know what you have done about my com- 
 missions : and what, also, about your own busi- 
 ness ; for since your departure from Brundisium, 
 no letters from you have been delivered to me. I 
 want much to know how you do. March 15. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 You ask me what happened at the trial, that the 
 issue should have been so contrary to all expecta- 
 tion ; and at the same time you desire to know 
 how it happened that I battled less than usual. I 
 shall answer you the last first, like Horner"^. For, 
 as long as the authority of the senate required my 
 support, I fought •nith such eagerness and vehe- 
 mence, as to excite shouts and acclamations greatly 
 to my honour. And if ever you thought me 
 strenuous in the public cause, you would certainly 
 have admired me upon that occasion ; for when he 
 had recourse to his declamations, and in them used 
 my name invidiously, ye immortal gods ! what 
 fighting, what execution did I exhibit ! What 
 attacks did I make upon Piso, upon Curio — upon 
 the whole crew ! How did T assail the levity of the 
 
 " The provincial Asia was situated in the western part 
 of Asia Minor. Generally speaking, Asia Minor was called 
 Asia. 
 
 V The original is taken from a verse of Homer. Cicero 
 means to request that Atticus, who was invited to be 
 lieutenant to Quintus, would exert himself to render the 
 Greeks of Asia Slinor favourable to him ; and that he 
 should do so, he oflfers three reasons: 1st, that he was fond 
 of praise from all men ; 2dly, that he had himself always 
 shown a partiality towards the Greeks ; and 3dly, because 
 he was apprehensive lest the enemies he liad made by his 
 vigorous conduct in his consulship might endeavour to 
 injure his reputation abroad. Atticus, however, refused 
 to accept the appointment of lieutenant. 
 
 w Homer begins his Ilias near the conclusion of the 
 Trojan war, and afterwards introduces an account of the 
 earlier part
 
 632 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 old, the wantonness of the young ! Often did I 
 want you, so help me gods ! not only as an adviser 
 of my plans, but as a witness of my extraordinary 
 exertions. ISut after Ilortensius had devised that 
 the tribune Fufius should bring in the law respect- 
 ing the sacrilege (in which there was no other dif- 
 ference from the consular indictment, excepting 
 in the condition of the judges ; though in that 
 was everything), and was earnest that it might be 
 so done ; having persuaded himself, and others, 
 that no judges^ could absolve him, I contracted 
 my sails, knowing well the inetiiciency of such 
 judges, and I -said nothing in my evidence but what 
 was so well known and attested that 1 could not 
 omit it. If, thercfori', you ask me the reason of 
 the acquittal (to levert now to your first question), 
 it was the neediness and baseness of the judges; 
 and that it should so happen was occasioned by 
 Hortensius's proposal ; who, fearing lest Fufius's 
 intercession might pst a stop to the progress of 
 the law, as decreed by the senate, did not perceive 
 that it was better to have him left in disgrace and 
 ignominy, than intrusted to an unsound court of 
 judgment. But prompted by his hatred, he hastened 
 to bring the matter to a trial, saying, that even 
 before a leaden sword he must needs fall. But if you 
 ask what were the circumstances of this judgment 
 which had so incredible an issue, I answer, such 
 that the counsel of Ilortensius, which now from 
 the event is censured by others, was by me censured 
 from the very beginning. For as the rejection of 
 a judge is made with the greatest applause, when 
 the prosecutor, like an upright censor, rejects per- 
 sons of bad character, and the defendant, like a 
 kind master of gladiators, selects the most tem- 
 perate ; here, on the contrary, as soon as the judges 
 sat down together, all honest men began to have 
 sad misgivings^ ; for a baser set never met together 
 iu a common gaming-house : senators of stained 
 reputation, ruined knights, and tribunes, not 
 debtors, so much as receivers'^. There were, how- 
 ever, a few honest men among them, whom he 
 could not remove by rejection, who sat downcast 
 and mournful among people most unlike to them- 
 selves, and seemed afraid of being infected by the 
 contagion of their infamy. Here, as each charge 
 was submitted to this council, in the first inquiries, 
 there appeared a surprising severity, without any 
 difference of opinion : the defendant had obtained 
 nothing ; more was even granted to the prosecutor 
 than he asked ; Hortensius, in short, was exulting 
 that he should have managed so well. There was 
 nobody who did not think him guilty, and a thou- 
 sand times condemned. Upon my being brought 
 forwards as a witness, I imagine you will have 
 heard from the acclamation evenof Clodius's ad-vo- 
 cates, what rising of the judges took place, how 
 they surrounded me, how openly they exposed 
 their throats to P. Clodius for my security : which 
 I consider a much greater honour than that which 
 was shown to Xenocrates, whom your countrymen 
 prevented from swearing when he gave his testi- 
 
 ^ The judges of ancient Rome corresponded to our jury 
 rather than to our judges, and determined the fact, not 
 the law. Their number varied at different times. 
 
 y The foregoing sentence has been differently, but I 
 think wrongly, understood by commentators. 
 
 ' Intimating that they were both ruined and bribed. 
 The sense is rendered in some measure obscure for the sake 
 of the poor antithesis of srati and serarii. 
 
 mony : or that of our judges, who refused to look 
 at the accounts of Metellus Numidicus, when they 
 were brought round as usual. What was done to 
 me, I say, is much greater. So that by the voice 
 of his judges, when I was so defended by them as 
 the safeguard of the country, the culprit was con- 
 founded, and all his supporters shrunk at once ; 
 and the next day the same concourse came about 
 me as had conducted me home on resigning the 
 consulship. The noble Areopagites" cried out that 
 they would not come forward unless a guard was 
 appointed. It was submitted to the council : one 
 voice alone was against having a guard. The affair 
 was brought before the senate: it was decreed with 
 great dignity and liberality ; the judges were com- 
 mended ; the business was intrusted to the magis-- 
 trates : nobody thought the man would make 
 any reply. Say now, ye Muses, how the fire 
 was first kindled''. You know Baldhead*', him of 
 the Nanneian estates, that jianegyrist of mine, 
 whose speech I mentioned to you so full of my 
 praise. In two days he accomplished the whole 
 business by means of a single slave, and him taken 
 from the school of the gladiators. He sent for the 
 judges to come to him ; he promised, he entreated, 
 he bribed. Nay, more, O ye gods ! such a profli- 
 gate business ! even the enjoyment of certain 
 women, and the introduction of young men of 
 family, were made to enhance the price offered to 
 some of the judges. Thus, in the general absence 
 of all honest men, while the forum was filled with 
 slaves, there were still twenty-five judges so firm, 
 that, in face of the greatest danger they chose 
 rather to perish than to ruin everything : there 
 were thirty-one who were more moved by famine 
 than by fame : one of whom Catulus meeting said 
 to him, " What made you ask us for a guard ? were 
 you afraid of having your money taken away?" 
 You have here, as shortly as I could give it you, 
 the nature of the trial, and the reason of the 
 acquittal. 
 
 You ask further what is the present state of 
 public affairs, and how I am affected. Know, 
 then, that the constitution of the republic ; which 
 you thought my counsels, I thought divine Provi- 
 dence'', had confirmed ; which seemed to be fixed 
 and consolidated by the union of all good men, 
 arnd the authority of my consulship ; unless some 
 god have compassion upon us, has slipped from 
 our hands by this single judgment : if it can be 
 called a judgment, that thirty of the lowest and 
 most profligate of the Roman people, by the effect 
 of bribery, should extinguish all right and justice : 
 and, what not only all men, but all animals, know 
 to have been done, that Talna, and Plautus, and 
 Spongia, and such scoundrels, should determine 
 not to have been done. But yet, that I may offer 
 you some consolation on the part of the republic, 
 wickedness does not exult in its victory with that 
 alacrity which some miscreants had hoped, after 
 
 » The term is here used in derision. 
 
 b The original is quoted from Homer. 
 
 c Baldhead — in the original Calvus, which, besides 
 meaning bald, as I have expressed it, was the name of a 
 considerable family in ancient Rome. Here it is used in 
 mockery for Crassus. What is the exact signification of 
 ex Naiinejanis commentators are not agreed. 
 
 <• I doubt not these expressions have a reference to the 
 doctrines of Epicurus against a superintending Providenca : 
 Atticus, as is well known,. being of that sect
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 CSS 
 
 this wound which has been inflicted on the state ; 
 for they fully thoiiglit, when religion and modesty, 
 •when the faith of judgments, and the authority of 
 the senate had fullen, that then wickedness and 
 licentiousness, being openly victorious, would exact 
 of every honest man vengeance for the pain which 
 every villain had suffered by the severity of my 
 consulship. And I, that same person (for I need 
 not fear the reproach of vain-gloriousness in speak- 
 ing of myself to you, especially in a letter which 
 I wish nobody else to read), myself, I say, have 
 revived the drooping spirits of good men, encourag- 
 ing and rousing every one : and by persecuting 
 and harassing these corrapt judges, I have snatched 
 all insolence from all the supporters and favourers 
 of that victory. I have never suffered the consul 
 Piso to be at peace in anything : I have taken away 
 from the man the province of Syria, already pro- 
 mised him ; I have recalled the senate to its former 
 severity, and have roused it from its despondence. 
 Clodius I have crushed when he was present in the 
 senate, both by a continued speech full of dignity, 
 and by altercation, of which you may taste a few 
 specimens ; for the rest can neither have their 
 force nor elegance, from want of that spiritof con- 
 tention which you Greeks call ayaifa. For when 
 we met in the senate on the 15th of May, being 
 called upon for my opinion, I entered at length 
 upon the general state of the republic, and seemed 
 to be inspired when I brought in that head of my 
 discourse — "that the conscript fathers^, on the 
 receipt of a single wound, should not be dejected, 
 should not faint ; that it was a wound of such a 
 kind as ought neither to be dissembled nor to be 
 feared, lest we should be thought either cowards by 
 being alarmed at it, or stupid by not being sensible 
 of it : that Lentulus had been twice acquitted ; twice 
 Catiline ; that he now was the third let loose upon 
 the public by his judges. You are mistaken, 
 Clodius ; the judges have reserved you not for the 
 city, but for a prison, and have wislied not to 
 retain you in tlie state, but to deprive you of 
 banishment. Therefore, conscript fathers, raise up 
 your spirits, maintain your dignity: that concord of 
 all good men yet remains in the republic : they 
 have felt pain, but their courage is unabated : no 
 new evil has been created ; but what was there 
 before has been brought to light : in the trial of 
 one abaudoned man several have been found like 
 him." But what am I doing? I have almost 
 included my speech in my letter. I return to our 
 altercation. The pretty ^ boy gets up, and objects 
 to me that I had been at Baise^. " It is not true : 
 but what if it were? Is it the same," added I, 
 " as if you were to say I had been in conceal- 
 ment i'.'" "What," says he, "has a fellow of 
 Arpinum' to do with hot baths?" " Say this," 
 replied I, "to your patronJ, who longed for the 
 
 « The senators were usually addressed by this title. 
 
 f Pulcher, " handsome," was one of the names of the 
 Claudian family, from which Clodius descended. 
 
 B Baiae was celebrated for its warm baths, and fre- 
 quented by the voluptuous. 
 
 '' This, no doubt, alludes to Clodius's concealment In 
 disguise at the ceremonies of the Bona Dea. 
 
 ' Arpinum, a place about sixty miles E.S.E. from Rome, 
 where Cicero was born. 
 
 J It has been generally supposed that Cicero, by this ex- 
 pression, meant the sister of Clodius, who wanted to have 
 connected herself with Cicero. I think it more likely that 
 he should have meant Crassus : but the particular circum 
 
 baths of Arpinum." (For you know the Marinae*.) 
 " How long," says he, " shall we bear this king V 
 " Do you venture to pronounce the word king," 
 said I, " when he whose name was king did not so 
 much as mention you in his wUl?" (For he had 
 devoured the inheritance of Re.x in his expecta- 
 tion.) " You have been buying a " fine house," 
 says he. " One would think," said I, " you were 
 accusing me of buying the judges." " They would 
 not trust you," says he, " even on your oath." 
 "Nay, but," said I, " hve-and-twenty did trust 
 me : the other one-and-thirty did not trust you, 
 for they took care to receive their money before- 
 hand. " Overwhelmed by continued shouts, he 
 sunk down, and held his tongue. My situation is 
 this. Among the good, I am just as you left me ; 
 among the tilth and dregs of the city, much better 
 now than you left me ; for it is no prejudice to me 
 that my evidence should seem to have had no effect. 
 Their ill-disposition has been let blood without any 
 pain to me ; and tlie more so, because all those 
 supporters of that iniquity acknowledge that a very 
 clear case was bought off from the judges. In 
 addition to this, that wretched and hungry rabble, 
 who hang about the popular assemblies like a 
 leech, eager for money, imagine that I am much 
 esteemed by this Magnus '. And indeed we are 
 united together by a frequent and pleasant inter- 
 course to such a degree, that those our revellers in 
 conspiracy", half-bearded youths, in their con- 
 versations call him Cnseus" Cicero. Therefore, in 
 the games and shows I carry off wonderful marks - 
 of favour, without any shepherd's pipe to inter- 
 mingle its hissing". The public attention is just 
 now directed to the comitia for the election of con- 
 suls. Our Magnus, against the wish of everybody, 
 thrusts forwards the son of AuIusP; and in con- 
 ducting this business, he endeavours to gain his 
 cause, neither by authority nor by favour, but by 
 those means with which king Philippus said he 
 was able to take any castle into which an ass laden 
 with gold could get up. It is said that a certain 
 consul has undertaken the affair, like Doterioi the 
 player; and that he has people in his house to 
 distribute money, which I do not believe. But 
 there have lately been made two hateful decrees of 
 the senate, which are supposed to be directed 
 against the consul, on the requisition of Cato and 
 Domitius : one, that it might be lawful to search 
 the houses even of magistrates on informations of 
 bribery ; the other, that anybody who had distribu- 
 tors of money in his house, should be considered 
 as an enemy to the state. Lurco, one of the 
 
 stances and private histories of those remote times are not 
 sufficiently preserved to enable any person to speak with 
 confidence about it. 
 
 ^ The meaning of this passage has been much disputed. 
 I incline to believe it a parenthesis addressed to Atticus, 
 signifying, perhaps, some salt spring near Arpinum, or 
 some villa thence denominated. 
 
 ' A title known to belong to Pompeius. 
 
 "1 This may probably refer to some designation familiar 
 to the private conversation of the two friends. 
 
 n CnJEUs was Pompeius's praenomen. 
 
 ° The pastor itia fistula of the original might perhapa 
 resemble a modern cat-call. 
 
 P This is supposed to be Afranius, a man of no preten- 
 sions for such an appointment. 
 
 1 Much doubt, has been entertained about the true read- 
 ing and the meaning of this word, which, however, is oi^ 
 little moment. The consul here spoken of is Piso.
 
 634 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 tribunes of the people, who entered upon his office 
 at the time of the /Elian law, has been set free 
 from the operation both of the ALViaa and Fufian 
 law, that he might introduce another on canvass- 
 ing at elections ; which, lame as he is', he has pro- 
 mulgated under prosperous omens. So the comitia 
 are put oif to the 27th of July. The novelty in 
 the law is this : that anybody who shall have i)ro- 
 niiscd money in his tribe, if he have not given it, 
 shall be exempt from penalty ; but if he have given 
 it, he sliall have to pay to each tribe three thousand 
 sestertii' (25/.) annually, as long as he lives. I 
 observed that P. Clodius had already kept this law, 
 inasmuch as he was accustomed to promise, and 
 not to pay. But mark you ; do you jierceive how 
 my consulate, which Curio before called a deili- 
 cation, will, if this man be elected, become a mere 
 pujipet-show' .' Therefore I believe we must con- 
 tent ourselves with our philosophy, as you do ; 
 and disregard these aifairs of consulships ns un- 
 worthy of notice. 
 
 As to what you tell me, that you have determined 
 not to go into Asia, 1 should rather have wished 
 that you did go ; and cannot but fear that some 
 unpleasant consequence may arise from that cir- 
 cumstance". At the same time I cannot blame 
 your determination, especially after having declined 
 to accept a province myself. I shall be content 
 with your epigrams, which you have placed in the 
 Amaltheum ; especially since Chilius has left me, 
 and Arcbias has written nothing^ But having 
 already composed a Greek poem in honour of the 
 LucuUi, I am afraid he will now turn his attention 
 to the story of the Caecilii. I returned thanks to 
 Antonius in your name, and delivered the letter to 
 Manlius. I have hitherto written to you the less 
 frequently, because I had no proper person to 
 •whom I could intrust my letters ; nor did I suf- 
 ficiently know what I should intrust to them. 
 Farewell. I have now made you amends. If 
 Cincius* refers to me any business of yours, I will 
 readily undertake it ; but he is just now more 
 occupied in affairs of his own, in which I shall not 
 be backward in assisting him. If you are likely to 
 be stationary, you may expect often to hear from 
 me ; but do you also write frequently. I wish you 
 would describe to me your Amaltheum, how it is 
 situated, how it is fitted up ; and that you would 
 send me any poems, and stories you possess on the 
 subject ot Amalthea". I should like to make one at 
 Arpinum. I will send you something of my writ- 
 ing ; at present there is nothing finished. 
 
 >■ Any personal defect was considered as inauspicious. 
 
 s The number of the tribes was thirty-five. 
 
 t The Latin fabam mimum, if it be correct, is not now 
 intelligible. 1 have given what I conceive to be the gene- 
 ral signification. 
 
 u The difficulties which Cicero apprehended actually 
 tooU place, owing to his brother's taking ill this refusal, 
 on the p.irt of Atticus, to serve under him in the capacity 
 of lieutenant. 
 
 » Cicero had wished that one of these poets should have 
 -written on the subject of his consulship. 
 
 ■w See letter 3 of this book, note ". 
 
 ^ Amalthea is properly the fabulous name of the fabu- 
 lous goat which was said to have nourished the infant 
 Jupiter : it is, therefore, rightly e.xprcssed in this place. 
 But Atticus's library was denominated Amaltheum. See 
 tetter 13 of this book, note <=. 
 
 LETTER XVIL 
 
 I PERCEIVE from your letter, and from the copies 
 of my brother Quintus's which you sent with it, 
 a great alteration in his disposition and sentiments 
 towards you ; which affects me with all that concern 
 which my extreme love for you both might be ex- 
 pected to produce ; and I wonder what can have 
 liappened, that should occasion to my brother 
 Quintus either such deep offence, or such change- 
 ableness of mind. I had already observed, what I 
 saw that you also suspected at the time of your 
 departure, that some unfavourable impression had 
 arisen, and that he was hurt in mind, and harboured 
 certain unfriendly suspicions ; whicli, though 1 before 
 often wished to heal, and especially after the allot- 
 ment of his jirovince ; yet 1 was not aware that the 
 offence he had conceived was so great as your letter 
 declares ; nor were my endeavours attended with 
 the success that I hoped. But yet I consoled 
 myself with the consideration, that I did not doubt 
 but he would see you either at Dyrrachium, or 
 somewhere in those parts ; and whenever that 
 happened, I trusted, and persuaded myself, that 
 everything would be amicably settled between you, 
 not only by discourse and explanation, but by the 
 very sight and meeting of each other. For what 
 kindness there is in my brother Quintus, what 
 cheerfulness, how tender a disposition both to con- 
 ceive and to lay aside off'ence, it is needless for me 
 to mention to you, who are well acquainted with it. 
 But it has happened very unfortunately that you 
 have not seen him anywhere. For what the male- 
 volence of certain persons has suggested to him, 
 has had more influence than either his duty or his 
 relationship, or the former aff'ection between you, 
 which ought to have great weight : and it is easier 
 to guess, than to declare, where the blame of this 
 misfortune lies : for in defending my own rela- 
 tions, I am afraid of appearing harsh towards 
 yoursy. For this is my feeling upon the subject, 
 that though no wound may have been inflicted by 
 those of his own household, yet they certainly might 
 have healed that which was already received. But 
 the fault of this whole aff'air, which extends even 
 something further than appears, I can better explain 
 to you when we meet. Respecting the letter which 
 he wrote to you from Thessalonica, and the language 
 which you imagine he held with your friends at 
 Rome, and upon his journey; what foundation there 
 be for it I know not ; but all my hope of removing 
 this vexation rests in your kindness. For if you 
 consider, that the minds of the best men are often 
 irritable, and at the same time placable ; and that 
 this sensibility, as I may call it, and tenderness of 
 nature, is generally a sign of goodness ; and, what 
 is the chief of all, that we ought mutually to bear 
 with the ill humours, or faults, or off'ences of each 
 other ; these differences, as I hope, will easily be 
 composed : and that you may do so, I earnestly 
 entreat you : for it is of the greatest concern to me, 
 who sincerely love you, that there should be no one 
 of my connexions who either does not love you, or 
 is not loved by you. That part of your letter was 
 by no means necessary, in which you explain what 
 opportunities of advantage either in the provinces 
 or in the city you have foregone, as well at other 
 
 y From hence one may see that Cieero thought Pompo 
 nia to blame.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 635 
 
 times, as during my consulate': for your inge- 
 nuousness and greatness of mind are well known to 
 me. Nor have I ever thought there was any differ- 
 ence between us, except in the line of life we 
 adopted ; inasmuch as a certain ambition has led 
 me to the pursuit of honours ; whilst a different, 
 but most irreproachable, scheme of life, has con- 
 ducted you to an honourable retirement. In that 
 true praise of sincerity, of diligence, of scrupulous 
 adherence to duty, I set neither myself nor any- 
 body else before you ; and in affection towards me, 
 when I go beyond brotherly and domestic attach- 
 ments, I attribute the first place to you. For I 
 have seen, and thoroughly known, on various occa- 
 sions, both your solicitude and your joy on my 
 account. And often has your congratulation on my 
 success been delightful to mc, and your support in 
 my fears most grateful. Nay, at this time, from 
 your absence, I ft-el a want not only of counsel, in 
 which you excel, but of that intercourse of conver- 
 sation, which I enjoy with peculiar relish in your 
 company. What shall I say*? In business of the 
 state ? in which it is not allowable for me to be 
 negligent ; or in the fatigues of the forum ? which 
 formerly I undertook for ambition's sake ; now, 
 that I may be able by favour to maintain my 
 dignity, or even in domestic concerns? in which 
 both before, and particularly since the departure of 
 my brother, I want you and our conversations. In 
 short, neither my labour, nor my rest, neither my 
 business, nor my idleness, nor forensic, nor do- 
 mestic affairs, nor public, nor private, can any 
 longer proceed without your sweet and friendly 
 counsel and conversation. From the mention of 
 these things modesty has often restrained us both. 
 But it has now been rendered necessary by that 
 part of your letter in which you study to clear and 
 justify yourself and your conduct. And amidst the 
 embarrassments arising from his alienated and 
 offended mind, this however has happened fortu- 
 nately, that your resolution of declining all pro- 
 vincial employments has been known, and occasion- 
 ally professed by you to me and others of your 
 friends ; so that your not being together may appear 
 to be the effect not of any disagreement and rupture 
 between you, but of your inclination and judgment ; 
 whence I trust those sentiments which have been 
 violated will easily admit of expiation ; and these 
 between us, which have been kept sacred, will con- 
 tinue to be religiously maintained. 
 
 We are here engaged in a sickly, wretched, and 
 changeable republic. For I suppose you have heard 
 of our knights ** being nearly disunited from the 
 senate. First they took it very ill that a decree of 
 tl>e senate should have been promulgated, to in- 
 stitute an inquiry into those who should have 
 received money as judges. At the passing of this 
 decree I was accidentally absent ; but when I found 
 that the equestrian order was much disturbed at it, 
 though they did not openly say so, I reproved the 
 
 » It is to be supposed that Cicero, during his consulship, 
 would not fail to offer his assistance in procuring for Atti- 
 cus .iny appointment he might wish to hold. 
 
 » The sense I have given to this passage is not agreeable 
 to the usual punctuation, but appears to me most consonant 
 to Cicero's ordinary manner of writing, and most suitable 
 to the context. 
 
 ^ The Roman people were divided into three orders, 
 senators, knights, and plebeians. The business of the 
 knights was chiefly to act as judges, or as farmers of the 
 public revenue. 
 
 senate, as I thought, with great authority ; and 
 spake forcibly and copiously in not the most 
 honourable cause. Now for another favourite 
 concern of the knights, scarcely to be borne, 
 which, however, I have not only borne, but justi- 
 fied. The farmers of the revenue in Asia*^, who had 
 made their agreement with the censors, complained 
 in the senate that they had been deceived by the 
 hope of gain, and had made an improvident bargain, 
 and petitioned that the letting might be set aside. 
 I took the lead among their supporters ; or rather 
 I was the second ; for it was Crassus who encou- 
 raged them to present this request. An odious 
 business, disreputable petition, and a confession of 
 imprudence. But there was the greatest reason to 
 apprehend, that, if they gained no redress, they 
 might be altogether alienated from the senate : 
 This affair also was principally managed by me ; 
 and it was brought about that they obtained a very 
 full and very friendly senate ; and I said a good deal 
 respecting the dignity and unanimity of the two 
 orders, on the first of December and day following. 
 The business is not yet finally settled, but the in- 
 clination of the senate has been clearly seen. Me. 
 tellus, the consul elect, had alone spoken against it. 
 That hero of ours, Cato, was going to speak, but 
 owing to the shortness of the day it did not come 
 to his turn. Thus maintaining my proposed line of 
 conduct, I support, as well as I am able, that con- 
 cord I had endeavoured to cement. But yet, since 
 these measures are liable to fail, a certain safe way, 
 as I hope, is fortifying to enable me to retain my 
 authority. I cannot sufficiently explain this to you 
 by letter, but I will give you a little hint. I ana 
 very familiar with Pompeius. I know what you 
 will say. I will use caution, wherever caution can 
 be used ; and I will write more fully to you some 
 other time about my intentions in conducting the 
 business of the republic. Do you know that 
 Lucceius purposes immediately to solicit the con- 
 sulship ? for there are said to be only two candi- 
 dates. Cccsar, with whom he thinks he may unite 
 through Arrius ; and Bibulus, with whom he sup- 
 poses he may be joined through C. Piso. Do you 
 laugh .' Believe me, this is no laughing matter. 
 What else shall I tell you ? What? There are many 
 things : but at another time. If you would have 
 us expect you, take care to let me know. Now I 
 modestly beg, what I earnestly wish, that you will 
 come as soon as you can. The fifth of December. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 There is nothing of which I now so much feel 
 the want, as of him with whom I can communicate 
 everv thing that concerns me ; who loves me, who 
 is prudent, — with whom I can converse without 
 flattery, without dissimulation, without reserve. 
 For my brother, who is all candour and kindness, 
 is away ; MeteUus is no more to me than the sea- 
 shore, or the air, a mere desert : but you, who have 
 so often relieved my cares and anxieties by your 
 conversation and counsel, who used to be my 
 companion in public matters, my confidant in all 
 ])rivate ones, the partaker of all my words and 
 thoughts, where are you ? I am so deserted by 
 
 c Asiani appear to have been persons from the order of 
 knights, who rented of the censors the collection of the 
 tributes from Asia Minor, as was usual in other provinces, 
 for five years at a time.
 
 63G 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 everybody that I have no other comfort but what 
 is enjoyi'd with my wife and daughter, and my 
 sweet little Cicero. For those ambitious and out- 
 ward fi ifiidsliips make some show in public, but 
 liave no domeslic fruit. So that whilst my house 
 is full every moniini;, — whilst 1 go down to the 
 Forum attended with troops of friends, — out of 
 this crowd I can find nobody with whom I can 
 either jest freely or open my bosom familiarly. 
 Therefore I look for you, 1 want you, nay I call 
 for you. For there are many things which trouble 
 and distress me, which, could I pour tliem into 
 your ears, I seem as if I could discharge in the 
 conversation of a single walk. The stings and 
 vexations of my domestic troubles I shall keep to 
 myself, and not trust to this letter and to a strange 
 messenger. And these (for I would not have you 
 think too much of them) are not of great moment ; 
 but yet they hang upon me, and tease me, and 
 have no friendly counsel or conversation to allay 
 them. But in the republic, although there is a 
 ready courage, yet the inclination to e,\ert itself 
 does again and again elude every remedy''. Should 
 I but shortly collect together what has been done 
 since your departure, you must needs exclaim, that 
 the state of Rome can no longer subsist. For it 
 was, I believe, after you left us, that the first en- 
 trance was made upon the cause of the Clodian 
 story. Upon which occasion, conceiving that I 
 hail an opportunity of cutting down and restraining 
 the licentiousness of the young, I exerted myself 
 with vehemence, and poured forth all the powers 
 of my mind and understanding, — influenced by no 
 hostility towards anybody, but by the hope of 
 correcting the republic and healing the state. 
 Deeply is the republic injured by this corrupt and 
 profligate judgmenf^. See now what has since taken 
 place : a consul^ has been imposed upon us whom 
 nobody that is not as much a philosopher as our- 
 selves can bear to look at without a sigh. How 
 severe a wound is this 1 After a decree of the 
 senate had passed respecting bribery at elections, 
 respecting the conduct of judges, no law was 
 carried through, — the senate was worried out, — the 
 Roman knights alienated. So that year overturned 
 two supports of the state which by me alone had 
 been established ; for the senate both threw away 
 its authority and dissolved the union of the two 
 orders. Now then another fine year has been 
 entered upon ! Its beginning has been such that 
 the annual rites in honour of the tutelary goddess 
 of Youth were omitted. For Memmius was en- 
 gaged in initiating the wife of M. Lucullus in rites 
 of his owns. Menelaus*", not brooking that, pro- 
 cured a divorce. But whereas that Idaean shepherd' 
 had only abused Menelaus, — this Paris of ours has 
 treated both Menelaus and Agamemnon J with 
 
 ^ I understand the expression animus and voluntas to 
 apply not to Cicero, but to /n repuhlica. 
 
 e See letter 16 of this book. 
 
 ' This consul is L. Afranius, ;i creature of Pompeius, and 
 designated by Cicero as the sou of Aulus. See letter 16 of 
 this book. 
 
 git must be supposed that Blemmius ought to have pre- 
 sided at the rites of Juventas. It seems that he debauched 
 the wife of M. Lucullus, which is meant by those rites of 
 his own. 
 
 h M. Lucullus, called Menelaus, as having been injured 
 by Memmius, whom he had before called Paris. 
 
 ' Paris. 
 
 i L. Lucullus, the brotlier of Marcus, so called because 
 
 scorn. But there is one C. Herennius, a tribune, 
 whom jxrhaps you have never heard of (though 
 you may have heard of him, for he belongs to your 
 tribe) k ; and Sextus, his father, used to distribute 
 among you the money of the candidates'. This 
 man wants to translate P. Clodius to tli' condition 
 of a plebeian'"; and the same fellow pi.iposes that 
 the j)opulace at large should vote on this affair of 
 (Hodius in the Campus Martius". I have given 
 him sucli a reception in the senate as I am accus- 
 tomed to do to such scoundrels ; but nothing can 
 be more insensible than he is. Metellus is an 
 excellent consul, and attached to me ; but it lessens 
 his authority that he has, as a matter of form, pro- 
 mulgated this j)roposal respecting Clodius. 13ut 
 this son of Aulus ", ye gods ! how dull, how 
 spiritless a soldier ; how well he deserves to lend 
 an ear every day, as he does, to hear himself abused 
 by Palicanus. An Agrarian law has been promul- 
 gated by Flavius, a jioor thing, almost the same as 
 that of Plotius. In the mean time there is not a 
 sound statesman, not a phantom of one, to be 
 found, lie who might be one, my intimate (for 
 so he is, and I wish you to know it) Pompeius 
 defends that painted robe of hisP by keeping 
 silence. Crassus utters not a word against the 
 favour of the people. The others you are already 
 acquainted with ; who are so stupid that they hope 
 to preserve their luxurious stews i when the republic 
 is lost. The oidy person who administers any 
 relief, rather by his firmness and integrity than by 
 his counsel or prudence, is Cato, who now for the 
 third month continues to harass the poor collectors'', 
 who have been very friendly to him. So we are 
 compelled to pass no decree about other matters 
 till an answer is given to these collectors. I expect 
 therefore that even the business of the embassies 
 will be put off". You see now by what waves we 
 are tossed : and if from what I have said you per- 
 ceive that there is as much more unsaid, yet visit 
 us once more ; and altiiough these parts in which 
 I call you deserve to be shunned, nevertheless let 
 the value you set upon our friendship be such, that 
 you may be glad to enjoy it even with these vexa- 
 tions. For, that you may not be registered as an 
 absentee, I will take care to have your return given 
 out and proclaimed everywhere. To be registered 
 just at the lustration^ is like a very merchant. 
 
 Agamemnon was brother to Menelaus. Memmius, who 
 had thus insulted M. Lucullus, had before injured his 
 brother, in opposing his petition for a triumph. 
 
 ^ The people of Kome were distributed into thirty-five 
 tribes. 
 
 1 The inferior magistrates were elected by the tribes, 
 and probably might distribute money amongst those of 
 their own tribe for this purpose. 
 
 "' Clodius wanted, for factious purposes, to become tri- 
 bune, for which it was necessary he should be a plebeian. 
 lie therefore contrived to get adopted into a plebeian 
 family. 
 
 " The tribunes had the power of calling tlie comitia 
 tributa in the Campus Martius ; and, in voting by tribes, 
 as everj' citizen had a voice in his own tribe, consequently 
 the plebeians had a great majority. 
 
 " Afranius. 
 
 P Pompeius continued to wear his coloured robe of 
 triumph. 
 
 4 The stews for fish were among the principal luxuriea 
 of the Romans 
 
 >■ These are the farmers of the revenues of Asia Minor 
 sjioken of in letter 17 of this book. 
 
 > The registry of the censors, which was renewed every
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 G37 
 
 Therefore take care that we may see you as soon 
 as possible. The 1 st of February, in the consulship 
 of L. Metellus and L. Afranius. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Not only if I had as much leisure as you have, 
 but also if I was content to send such short letters, 
 I should surpass you, and write much oftener than 
 you do. But, besides my great and incredible 
 occupations, I never sufiFer any letter to go to you 
 ■without some argument and ojiinion. First then, 
 as it is proper in writing to such a lover of his 
 country, I will send you an account of what is 
 going forward in the republic ; next, as I know 
 your affection to me, I will tell you what I conceive 
 you may not be unwilling to hear relating to myself. 
 And with respect to the republic, the chief concern 
 at present is the apprehension of a Gallic war. 
 For the Edui, our brethren (as they have been 
 called), are actually fighting ; the Sequani have 
 been fighting very ill ; and the Helvetii are without 
 doubt in arms, and making incursions into the 
 Roman province. The senate has decreed that 
 the consuls should have the two Gauls allotted to 
 them ; that a levy should be made ; that exemptions 
 should not be admitted ; that ambassadors should 
 be despatched with authority, who should go to 
 the cities of Gaul and take care that they do not 
 join the Helvetii. The ambassadors are Q.. Me- 
 tellus Creticus, and L. Flaccus, and (by an ill 
 assortment, like the Greek proverb of pouring 
 precious ointment upon lentils) Lentulus the son 
 of Clodianus. And here I cannot forbear mention- 
 inn;, that when, among the consulars, the first lot 
 fell upon me, a full senate with one voice deter- 
 mined that I ought to be retained in the city. 
 After me the same thing happened to Pompeius : 
 so that we two seemed to be kept as pledges of the 
 republic. Why then should I look for the applauses 
 of others when these spring up at home ? Now 
 this is the state of the city affairs. The Agrarian 
 law was vehemently urged by the tribune Flavins, 
 though the author of it was Pompeius, and it had 
 nothing popular besides its author. From this 
 law 1 took out, with the approbation of the 
 assembly, whatever affected the interests of private 
 persons : I exempted the land which had been sold 
 in the consulship of P. Mucins and L. Calpumius ; 
 I confirmed the possessions of Sulla's people ; the 
 Volaterrani and Arretini, whose lands Snilla had 
 declared public, but had not allotted, I retained in 
 the enjoyment of their property. One plan I did 
 not object to, that land should be purchased with 
 this adventitious money, which might be derived, 
 for the space of five years, from the tributes of the 
 countries newly conquered'. The senate was 
 adverse to the whole ot this Agrarian scheme, sus- 
 pecting that it was designed only to give some new 
 ptwer to Pompeius ; for Pompeius had used great 
 exertions to accomplish his wish of carrying the 
 law through. But, with the full approbation of 
 those w\>o were to occupy the lands, I confirmed 
 the titles of the actual possessors (for our strength, 
 as you know, lies in the rich proprietors), whilst I 
 
 fifth year, was concluded by a lustration, or sacrifice of 
 purification, addressed to the assembled people. 
 
 * These were the countries conqueied by Pompeius in 
 the Mithridatic wsir 
 
 satisfied the people and Pompeius (for that also I 
 wished to do) by the purchase ; which being care- 
 fully conducted, I hoped the lees of the city might 
 be drawn off, and the waste lands of Italy peopled. 
 But this whole affair has cooled again, having been 
 interrupted by the war. Metellus is indeed a good 
 consul, and is much attached to me : the other is 
 such a mere cipher, that he does not even know 
 what it is that he has bought". These are the 
 chief things of the rejjublic ; unless you may think 
 it concerns the republic also, that one Herennius, a 
 tribune of the people, of your tribe, a good-for- 
 nothing and needy fellow, has several times insti- 
 tuted a motion for transferring P. Clodius to the 
 rank of a plebeian : but many have intt^posed 
 their prohibition. This, I think, is what has been 
 doing in the republic. But for myself, after having 
 once obtained the distinguished and immortal 
 glory of that fifth of December", not without much 
 envy and ill will, I have never ceased to exert the 
 same spirit in the republic, and to support that 
 dignity which I had entered upon and attained. 
 But when I had witnessed, first, in the acquitt^il 
 of Clodius, the inconstancy and weakness of the 
 judges ; then saw how easily our knights collectors, 
 though they continued friendly to me, were dis- 
 united from the senate ; then again, that certain 
 happy spirits (those luxurious possessors of fish- 
 ponds, I mean, your friends) are undisguisedly 
 envious of me ; I considered that it was time to 
 look out for some greater support and stronger 
 securities. Therefore, first I brought Pompeius, 
 who had too long observed a silence upon my 
 transactions, into that disposition, that in the 
 senate, not once, but repeatedly, and at considerable 
 length, he attributed to me the safety of the empire 
 and of the world : which did not so much concern 
 me (for what I did is not so obscure as to stand in 
 need of testimony, or so doubtful as to require 
 commendation) as the republic ; because there 
 were certain ill-disposed people who expected that 
 some contention might arise between me and 
 Pompeius from a disagreement upon those matters. 
 With him I have united myself in such intimacy, 
 that each of us may hence be more fortified in his 
 own line of conduct, and firmer in the republic, 
 from this connexion. And that hostility of the 
 licentious and delicate youth, which had been raised 
 against me, has been so softened by my civility, 
 that they all now pay me particular attention. In 
 short, I do nothing harsh towards anybody, — nor, 
 however, any thing popular and unbecoming ; but 
 my whole conduct is so regulated, that 1 maintain 
 a constancy towards the republic ; and in my pri- 
 vate concerns, on account of the unsteadiness of 
 the good, the unkindness of the malevolent, the 
 hatred of the wicked, towards me, I adopt a certain 
 caution and attention ; and so bear my affections, 
 whilst I am implicated in these new connexions, 
 that the sly Sicilian Epicbarmus often whispers in 
 my ear that verse of his, — " Be sober and distrust- 
 ful ; these are the sinews of the understanding :'' 
 and of my management and scheme of life you see, 
 I think, as it were a model. Respecting your 
 business you often write to me; but it is impossible 
 to remedy it,. — for the decree of the senate was 
 carried by a great concurrence of members, without 
 
 u Meaning that he had bought the consulship. 
 ^ When he defeated Catiline's conspiracy, and ordered 
 h38 accomplices to be put to death.
 
 f.08 
 
 THK LE ITERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 tlie authority of any of us consulars. For, as to 
 your seeing that I was iircsent when it was drawn 
 \i]), you may understand from the decree itself that 
 a ditlennt oliject was at that time brought forward; 
 and this ahout tlie free people was added without 
 liny occasion, — and was so done by P. Scrvilius 
 the son, who gave his opinion among the last. 
 But at tliis time it cannot be altered : so that the 
 meetings which were at first held on this subject 
 have long since ceased to be kept up. If, how- 
 ever, by your gentle manners you have squeezed 
 out of the Sicyonians any portion of money, I 
 should be glad to be made acquainted with it. I 
 have sent you the account of my consulate, written 
 in Greek ; in which, if there is anything that 
 appears to an Attic gentleman not to be correct and 
 good Greek, I will not say to you, what I think 
 LucuUus said of his history, that he purposely 
 introduced some barbarisms, that it might be known 
 to be the work of a Roman. In mine if there be 
 anything of that sort, it will be without my know- 
 ledge, and contrary to my inclination. If I com- 
 plete that in Latin, I will send it to you. You 
 may expect the third in verse ^"f that I may omit 
 no mode of celebrating my own praises. Here 
 take care that you do not quote upon me the 
 Greek proverb, " Who will praise his father?"" 
 For if there is anything better among men let it be 
 praised, and let me be blamed for not rather be- 
 stowing my praises elsewhere ; though what I 
 write is, after all, not praise, but history. My 
 brother Quintus studies to exculpate himself in his 
 letters, and affirms that he never spoke anything 
 against you to anybody : but this must be managed 
 between us with great care and diligence when we 
 meet. Do you only at length visit us again. This 
 Cossinius, to whom I give my letter, seems to me 
 an excellent man, free from levity, and affectionate 
 towards you, and such as your letter represented 
 him. The 15th of March. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Upon my return to Rome from my Pompei- 
 anumy on the 12tli of May, our friend Cincius 
 gave me your letter dated the 13th of February, to 
 which I now reply. And first, I am very glad 
 that you are so perfectly acquainted with my 
 opinion respecting you'-. In the next place, it 
 gives me great satisfaction that you should have 
 shown such moderation in those affairs in which I 
 and my family were concerned, not without some 
 appearance of harshness and unkindness " ; which 
 is a proof at once of no small* affection, and of 
 consummate judgment and prudence. On which 
 
 w This he afterwards executed. See book ii. letter 3. 
 
 I Some doubts have been enteriained about the applica- 
 tion of this proverb. In the beginning of Plutarch's life 
 of Aratus it is quoted more at length ; and from thence I 
 should understand it here to signify, that as it was con- 
 cluded that one who praised the deeds of his ancestors, 
 had no merit of his own ; so it might be inferred, tlnaSlf 
 Cicero was so vain of his consulship he had little else to 
 boast of. 
 
 y Cicero possessed several villas, one of which was near 
 Pompeii. 
 
 « This probably alludes to what he had said in letter 17 
 of this book. 
 
 » Meaning the disagreement between Q,aintus and his 
 wife Pomponia. 
 
 subject as you have written so graciously, so care- [ 
 
 fully, so fairly, and candidly, that I not only have 
 notliing further to ask of you, but had no right to 
 expect so much readiness and mildness from you, 
 or from any man ; I think it best to say nothing 
 more about the business. When we meet, then, 
 if any occasion occurs, we will confer togethf r by 
 word of mouth. 
 
 In what you say about the republic, you argue 
 affectionately and wisely ; and your opinion is not 
 at variance with the line of conduct 1 have adopted. 
 I ought neither to recede from the state of uiy 
 dignity, nor to go without my host into the for- 
 tifications of another man ; and he'' of whom 
 you siieak, has nothing noble, nothing exalted, 
 nothing that is not abject and popular. Yet 
 the course 1 have taken is jjcrhaps not without 
 its advantage to myself in promoting tlie tranquil- 
 lity of my own times ; but it is still much more 
 advantageous to the republic than to me, that the 
 violence of the wicked against me should be 
 repressed by my having confirmed the wavering 
 opinion of one in the highest fortune, authority, 
 and favour ; and by having converted him from 
 the hopes of bad men to the commendation of my 
 actions. Had any meanness been necessary on my 
 part, I should have thought no object an equiva- 
 lent; but everything has been done in such a 
 manner, that my dignity has sustained no diminu- 
 tion from compliance with him, while his is 
 increased by his approbation of me. The rest is, 
 and will continue to be, so managed, as not to 
 permit that what I have done, may appear to have 
 been done by accident. My good men, those 
 whom you mention, and that Sparta*^, which you say 
 has fallen to my lot, I will not only never desert, 
 but even if I am deserted by it, I will still continue 
 in my former sentiments. I would wish you, 
 however, to consider, that, since the death of 
 Catulus, I maintain this course of honour without 
 protectors, and without associates : for as Rhin- 
 ton, I think, says, " some are as nothing, others 
 care for nothing." With regard to the envy 
 which our epicures bear me, I will either write to 
 you at another time or will reserve it till we meet. 
 But nothing shall tear me from the senate ; whe- 
 ther because it is right that we should be united, 
 or that it is most suitable to my affairs, or that I 
 am not sorry to be held in such esteem by them. 
 
 With regard to the Sicyonians, as I told you in 
 a former letter, there is not much hope in the 
 senate. For there is now nobody that offers any 
 complaint. So that, if you wait for this, it is a 
 long business. Try some other means if you can. 
 For it has been concluded without animadversioa 
 from those whom it concerned ; and the senators 
 hastily ran to support the motion. The season is 
 not yet come for superseding the decree ; because 
 there are not only none to complain, but manj" 
 are very well pleased ; partly through malice'*, 
 partly from an opinion of its justice. Your fViend 
 Metellus is an excellent consul. I have only to 
 blame in him, that he is not very well pleaded with 
 the news of peace from Gaul. I suppose he is 
 
 •• Pompeius. 
 
 e This obviously alludes to a passage in some letter from 
 Atticus, who had applied to Cicero a Greek proverbial ex- 
 pression, signifying, that one who was born at Sparta ought 
 to act worthily of this aistinction. 
 
 d Ueing pleased to see the public creditors disappointed.
 
 TO TITUS POxMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 GSD 
 
 ambitious of a triumph. In this I wish he were 
 more moderate. Everything else is excellent. 
 But tliis son of Aulus behaves in such a manner, 
 tJiat his consulate is no consulate, but the mortifi- 
 cstion of our Magnus''. Of my writings I have 
 sent you my consulate in Greek. I delivered the 
 book to L. Cossinius. But while you are pleased 
 with my Latin compositions, I imagine that, as a 
 Greek, you will bear towards this Greek one a 
 little envy. If anyhody else writes upon this 
 subject I will send it you. But, believe me, as 
 soon as they have read this of mine, they are 
 somehow checked. Now, to return to my own 
 business, L. Papirius Psetus, a good man, and 
 fond of me, has made me a present of the books 
 which Ser. Claudius left. As your friend Cincius 
 declared that, by the Cincian law^, it was allowable 
 to take them, I said that I should most willingly 
 
 « Magnus, or great, is well known to have been an appel- 
 lation of Pompeius, who had got Afranius, the son of Aulus, 
 to be elected consul. 
 
 ( This is said joking. Cincius's name has frequently 
 occurred before, as an agent employed by Attieus. The 
 Cincian law forbade the receiving of extravagant sums for 
 pleading. 
 
 S This is not said to Paetus in reply to his offer actually 
 
 accept them if he offered them?. Now, if yoa 
 love me, if you know that you are beloved by me'', 
 use your endeavours, through your friends, your 
 clients, your guests, nay, your freed-niec, and 
 slaves, that not a scrap of them may be lost. For 
 I want exceedingly both the Greek books, which I 
 suspect, and the Latin, whicli I know he left. I 
 have every day more satisfaction in these studies, 
 whenever the business of the forum permits. You 
 will render me a most, I say, a most grateful 
 service, if you will attend to this with the same 
 diligence you use in things which you suppose me 
 to have much at heart. At the same time I recom- 
 mend to you the affairs of Paetus himself, for 
 undertaking which he gives you the greatest 
 thanks. I not only ask, but entreat you, at length 
 to visit us. 
 
 made, but to Cincius, on the supposition that it might be 
 made. It is for this reason that he adds si alliilisset. He 
 told Cincius, that since he so interpreted his namesake's 
 law, that he might legally accept the books, he should be 
 very glad to do so if they ivere offered to him. 
 
 1> This may allude particularly to some expressions 
 which it is probable Attieus had used in his acknowledg- 
 ment of letter 17, where Cicero declares his strong affectioQ 
 for him. 
 
 BOOK TI. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 On the 1st of June, as I was going to Antium, 
 and gladly leaving the gladiators of M. Metellus, I 
 met your servant. He delivered to me your letter, 
 and the Greek narrative of my consulship, upon 
 which I was glad that I had previously given to 
 L. Cossinius my book on the same subject, written 
 likewise in Greek, which he was to take to you. 
 For had I read yours first, you might say that I 
 had stolen from you. Although yours, which I 
 eagerly read, appeared to me rather rough and 
 undressed, yet that vei-y negligence had the effect 
 of ornament ; and, as they say of women, it was 
 the sweeter from having no perfume. 
 
 My book, on the other hand, had exhausted the 
 whole repository of Isocrates, and all the scent- 
 boxes of his disciples, and, in some measure, even 
 the colours of Aristotle. This, as you mentioned 
 in a former letter, you just tasted at Corcyra ; but 
 afterwards I imagine you received it from Cossi- 
 nius. 1 should not have ventured to send it you, 
 unless I had deliberately and critically examined 
 it. Though Posidonius', to whom I had sent my 
 memoir, that he might describe the same events in 
 i^more finished style, told me in his answer from 
 Rl-odes, that the perusal had not only not disposed 
 him to write, but had completely discouraged him. 
 What say you .-' I have confounded the Greek 
 nation ; so that they who pressed me to give them 
 materials, which they might embellish, have now 
 ceased to triiuble me. If the book pleases you, 
 you will take care to have it circulated in Athens, 
 and other citiesJ of Greece. For it may possibly 
 
 ' Posidonius was a Stoic philosopher, under whom Cicero 
 bad studied at Rhodes. 
 J Previous to the invention of printing, the transcribing 
 
 throw some splendour on my affairs. I will send 
 the speeches you ask for, and some others, since 
 you seem to be pleased with what I have written 
 at the desire of certain young men. For, as your 
 fellow-citizen Demosthenes, in those orations which 
 are called Philippics, had shone forth, and eman- 
 cipated himself from that abrupt and judicial 
 manner of speaking, that he might appear more 
 dignified and statesman-like ; so it became me to 
 see that there should be some orations of mine, 
 which might be called consular ; of which one was 
 delivered in the senate on the 1st of January ; the 
 next to the people on the Agrarian law ; the third 
 on the subject of Otho'' ; the fourth in defence of 
 Rabirius ; the fifth on the children of the persons 
 proscribed' ; the sixth, when in the assembly I 
 resigned my province'"; the seventh, by which I 
 drove out Catiline ; the eighth, which I delivered 
 to the people the day after Catiline's flight : the 
 ninth, in the assembly on the day when the Allo- 
 broges gave their public testimony"; the tenth, in 
 
 and dispersing of hooks must have been a work of great 
 labour, and must have taken up a great deal of time. 
 
 k Otho had been the author of a law which appropri- 
 ated a distinguished part of the theatre to the use of the 
 knights. This Otho coming into the theatre during 
 Cicero's consulship was hooted by the populace, and sup- 
 ported by the knights, so as to endanger a considerable 
 uproar ; upon which Cicero summoned the people to the 
 temple of Bellona, where he addressed them with such 
 effect, that, upon returning to the theatre, they joined 
 their applause to that of the knights. The oration is not 
 extant. 
 
 1 This relates to Sulla's proscription. 
 
 "> Cicero having declined the province of Macedonia in 
 favour of C. Antonius, was nominated to that of Cisalpine 
 Gaul, but immediately gave it up to Q. Metellus. 
 
 n This relates to the Catilinai-ian conspiracy.
 
 040 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 the senate on the fifth of December". There are 
 besides, two sliort ones, as it were fragments, on 
 the subject of the Agrarian law. I will take care 
 that you shall have this whole collection. And 
 since not only my writings, but my transactions, 
 afford you pleasure, in the same books you will see 
 both what I have done, and what I have said. 
 Otherwise, you should not have asked for them ; 
 for I (lid not present myself to you uninvited. 
 
 As to wliat you inquire ab<)\it the cause of my 
 sending for you ; and signify, that though you are 
 fettered with business, yet not only if it is neces- 
 sary, but if I wish it, you will come to me ; tliere 
 is, in truth, no immediate necessity ; but I thought 
 you might arrange the season of travelling more 
 conveniently. You are away too long, especially 
 as you are at no great distance, and yet we do not 
 enjoy the fruits of your company, and you are 
 ■without us. At present all is quiet ; yet if the 
 madness of the pretty p youth were allowed to 
 proceed a little further, I should earnestly call you 
 thence. But Metellus nobly prevents it, and will 
 prevent it. MHiat say you > He is a patriotic 
 consul, as I always believed, and well disposed. 
 But that fellow no longer dissembles, but openly 
 professes his wish to be made a tribune of the 
 people. Upon the question being agitated in the 
 senate, I beat him down, and reproached him with 
 his inconstancy, who at Rome was soliciting the 
 tribunate, though at Hera, in Sicily, he had de- 
 clared that he wanted to be made sedile. Sut I 
 said it was not a thing about which we need give 
 ourselves much trouble ; for it would no more be 
 permitted to him as a plebeian to ruin the state, 
 than it had been to some, like himself, who were 
 patricians, when I was consul. Again, when he 
 boasted in the assembly that he had come from 
 the straiti in six days, and that nobody had time 
 to come out to meet him, and that he had arrived 
 in the night ; I observed, that it was nothing 
 strange that he should have come from Sicily to 
 Rome in six days, who had gone from Rome to In- 
 teramna in three hours' ; that it was not the first 
 time he had entered by night ; and that nobody 
 had met and stopped him on a former occasion, 
 when it ought more especially to have been done. 
 What say you ? I make an impudent man modest 
 not only by a constant dignity of speech, but even 
 by this kind of repartee. Now, therefore, I 
 dispute and jest familiarly with him. For, as we 
 were conducting one of the candidates, he asks me 
 if I used to give a place to the Sicilians in the 
 exhibitions of gladiators^.' I said, no. "But 
 I," says he, " their new patron, shall adopt this ; 
 though ray sister, who has such consular space' 
 allotted her, gives me but one foot." " Do not 
 complain," said I, " of this one foot of your sister, 
 for you are at liberty to lift up the other whenever you 
 
 ° This likewise relates to tlie Catilinarian conspiracy. 
 
 P The person here meant is evidently Clodius. He is so 
 designated, book i. letter 16. 
 
 q By the Strait is to be understood the narrow sea 
 between Italy and Sicily. 
 
 >■ At the time of his trial it was falsely asserted, that 
 Clodius had been at Interamna on the night when he was 
 discovered in Cajsar'B house at the mysteries of the Bona 
 Dea. 
 
 * Cicero had been quaestor in Sicily some years before; 
 . and lately Clodius had held the same office there. 
 
 ' Clodia was wife of the consul Metellus. 
 
 please"." You will say this is not a very consular 
 speech. I confess it ; but I hate her, ill deserving 
 to be called consular; for she is a seditious woman, 
 is at war with her husband, and not only with 
 Metellus", but with Fabius also, because she is 
 displeased with the part they take on this"' occa- 
 sion. In reply to your inquiry about the Agrarian 
 law, it seems for the jjresfut to have cooled. As 
 to the reiiroof you give me with a gentle hand 
 res])ecling my familiarity with I'ompeius, I would 
 not have y"U imagine that I have united myself 
 with him for the sake of my own security : but 
 things were so circumstanced, that if by accident 
 there should ariye any disagreement between us, 
 the greatest dissentions must have ensued iti the 
 republic : which I have guarded and provided 
 against in such a manner, that 1 shall not depart 
 from my just course ; but he will become better, 
 and lay aside something of his popular levity. 
 For, you must know, he speaks much more mag- 
 nificently of my actions, against which many had 
 endeavoured to excite him, than of his own. For 
 to himself he bears testimony of having well 
 administered the state ; to me of having saved it. 
 How far his doing this may be of use to me I 
 know not ; it is certainly of use to the republic. 
 What if I make even Csesar a better man, who 
 is now in the enjoyment of such prosperous gales ? 
 Should I do any great injury to the state .' But, 
 if nobody envied me, if all favoured me as they 
 ought, yet the remedy which could cure the 
 unsound parts of the state, would not be less de- 
 sirable than that which would cut them out. But 
 now, when that body of knights, which I stationed 
 on the Capitoline hill under your standard, has 
 deserted the senate ; and our chiefs think they 
 have reached the skies, if they have but bearded 
 mullets in their fish-ponds, which will come to 
 their hands ; and neglect everything else ; do you 
 not think that I render essential service, if I pre- 
 vent them from doing mischief, who have it so 
 much in their power ? For you cannot esteem our 
 friend Cato more than I do : but he, with the best 
 intentions and the greatest integrity, sometimes 
 does harm to the state, by delivering his opinion 
 as if he were living in the republic of Plato, not in 
 the dregs of Romulus. What can be more just 
 than that one, who had received money for his 
 sentence, should be brought into judgment? Cato 
 gave his opinion to this effect, and the senate 
 assented. The knights declared war against the 
 senate, not against me, for I dissented. What 
 could be more impudent than the appeal of the* 
 collectors.' Yet for the sake of retaining the 
 good-will of the order, the loss should have been 
 submitted to. Cato resisted, and carried his point. 
 The consequence has been, that when the consul 
 was shut up in prison y; when seditions have ai 
 
 u Clodius was supposed to have had incestuous com- 
 merce with his sister. 
 
 V Slie was married to Metellus, but supposed to enter- 
 tain Fabius also with the familiarities of a husband. 
 
 w The exact meaning of the original is not osvious ; but 
 I conceive it to relate to the opposition wbich Metellus 
 and Fabius gave to Clodius's design of maJiing himself a 
 tribune of the people. 
 
 X These were of the order of knights, who had made an 
 improvident bargain for taking the rents of some of the 
 subject provinces, and petitioned to have it cancelled. See 
 book i. letter 17. 
 
 y The consul Metellus was imprisoned bv Flaviue, one
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 G41 
 
 «lifferent times been raised ; not one of those men 
 nas come forwards, by whose concurrence I, and 
 also the consuls who came after me, used to defend 
 the repubhc. What then ! you will say, shall we have 
 them hired with a price ? What shall we do, if 
 we can have them upon no other terms ? Should 
 we prefer submitting ourselves to freed-men, and 
 €ven slaves ? But, as you say, enough of my zeal. 
 Favonius has found my triljc more favourably dis- 
 posed than his own ; that of Luccfius he has lost. 
 He accused Nasica ungenerously, and yet he spake 
 but moderately, as if he had bestowed his pains, at 
 Rhodes, upon the mill<, rather than upon Molon'. 
 He gently found fault with me, because I had 
 defended Nasica. Now, however, he is again a 
 <;andidate on behalf of the republic*. I will let 
 you know what Lucceius does when I shall have 
 «een Caesar, who will be here in two days' time. 
 That the Si(7onians should injure you, you may 
 attribute to C^ato, and to his emulator, Servilius. 
 What ! does not that stroke aflect many good men ? 
 But, if it must be so, let us commend it ; only let 
 us afterwards, in the dissentions of the state, be 
 '•content to be left alone. My Amalthea'' expects 
 and wants you. My Tusculanum and Pompei- 
 anum delight me exceedingly, excepting that they 
 have overwlielmed me, the asserter of debts'^, not 
 with Corinthian brass, but debts of this ordinary 
 brass money. In Gaul I hope all is cpiiet. You 
 may expect soon to receive my Prognostica'', with 
 the little volume of orations. In the mean time 
 let me know what are your intentions about coming 
 to us, for Pomponia desired I might be informed 
 that you would be at Rome in July. This does 
 mot agree with the letters you had written to me 
 about the time of your setting out. 
 
 Psetus, as I before mentioned to you, has pre- 
 sented me with all the books which his brother left. 
 This gift of his is dependent upon your diligence. 
 If you have any regard for me, take care that they 
 may be preserved, and sent to me. Nothing can 
 be more acceptable to me than tiiis ; and I would 
 have you carefully secure the Latin as well as the 
 Greek books. I shall regard this as your gift. I 
 have sent a letter to Octavius"^. I had not spoken 
 to him ; for I neither supposed your business to be 
 of a provincial nature, nor did I consider you 
 among the scriveners': but I have written, as it 
 became me, with all diligence. 
 
 ■of the tribunes, for opposing tlie Agrarian law; but after 
 a few hours was liberated by Pompeius, attended by some 
 of the other tribimes. 
 
 ^ Tlie similarity of the Latin words suggested this ex- 
 pression to Cicero, which it would be perhaps impossible, 
 and certainly trifling, to preserve in a translation. 
 
 * He is mentioned book i. letter 14. 
 
 ^ Tlie reason of this term being applied to a library is 
 explained before, book i. letter 13. In letter 16, book i. he 
 mentions his intention of having an Amaltheum of his 
 own at Arpinum. 
 
 <^ This has been supposed to allude to the Catilinarian 
 conspirators, who were many of tbein overwhelmed with 
 debts. It seems to me more probable, that it should refer 
 to his general practice as an advncate. 
 
 •l Cicero had translated the Prognostics of Aratus, a 
 Greek poet. 
 
 ^ The father of Augustus Caefar, at that time governor 
 ■of the province of Macedonia. 
 
 f It is evident, from some former letters, that Atticus 
 was in danger of sustaining a considerable loss at Sicyon, 
 "the tributes of which place he appears to have rented, but 
 'Which had lately been withheld under pretence of a geie- 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Take care, I beseech you, of our young Cicero': 
 we are his uncles, and ouglit, according to the 
 Greek expression, to be his guardian deities'". I 
 have been engaged in reading the PellenEeum', and 
 have a large jjile of Dica.'archus's works before me. 
 What a great man he is ! One may learn from him. 
 much more than from Prociiius. At Rome I believe 
 1 have ills Atlienaics and Corinthiacs. If you take 
 my advice you will read him. 'J'his I answer for, 
 that he is a wonderful n.an. Herodes, if he were 
 wise, would read hiui, rather than write one sylla- 
 ble of his own. He has shot at me by letter ; with 
 you I see he has come to close quarters. I would 
 sooner have been a conspirator myself, than have 
 opposed the conspiracy, if 1 had thought it would 
 be necessary to hear himJ. You are mistaken 
 about Lollius 1^ ; about Vinius I quite agree with 
 you. But bow is this .' Do you observe that the 
 Kalends are coming, and Antonius ' is not come ? 
 That the judges are summoned ? For so they in- 
 form me, that Nigidius threatens in the assembly 
 to call to account any judge who absents himself. 
 I should be glad however if you have heard anything 
 about Antonius's arrival, that you would send me 
 word. And since you do not come hither", at 
 least sup with me the day before the Kalends. 
 Mind that you do not fail. Fare you well. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 I IMAGINE I ought to present" my congratula- 
 tions on Valerius's having been defended by Hor- 
 tensius, and acquitted. This judgment was sup- 
 posed to be granted to the favour of C. AtUius. I 
 
 ral decree of the senate in favour of all tree states. See 
 book i. letter 19. 
 
 g The son of Quintus and Pomponia. 
 
 '' The occasion and circumstances of this letter, the 
 place from whence it is written, or to which it is directed, 
 the persons and the books named in it, are so little known, 
 that it io involved in considerable obscurity. Cicero seems 
 to be speaking of his nephew, who was also nephew to 
 Atticus, and might possibly be imwell at Rome, while 
 Cicero was atone of his villas. I have ventured to give to 
 this passage a sense very different from that of any com- 
 mentary I have seen ; and I have done so upon the autho- 
 rity of Plutarch, in the conclusion of his piece entitled 
 Trep} <f)iAa5eA(p(as, where he observes that the very word 
 Qi7os, signifying at once " uncle" and " divine," leads to 
 brotherly kindness and affection : ^OKS^yap /jlol t ovvofxa 
 KaKws vrpriy^lryOai irpug evvoiav aSeXcpccv Koi ayairricrif'. 
 Cicero therefore employs the Greek term, because the Latin 
 did not bear this signification. 
 
 ' neAXrjvaiwv. This was probably some work of Pi- 
 caearchus on the government of Pellene, a small territory 
 of Achaia. 
 
 J It is probable this Herodes might have written some 
 poor account of Cicero's consulship, which it pained him 
 to read. 
 
 k Who Lollius or Vinius may have been is not kno\vn. 
 
 ' C. Antonius was impeachedfor extortion in his govern • 
 ment of Macedonia. 
 
 1' We may suppose that this letter was addressed to 
 Atticus at Rome, whither he was going without accepting 
 Cicero's invitation to the villa whence he writes. There- 
 fore, having missed liim before, Cicero now appoints him 
 to sup with him at Rome the day when he intended to go 
 thither himself. 
 
 " Et»a77e'Aia. This usually signifies the gratuity givea 
 TT
 
 (Vf2 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 suspect too, that Epicrates ", as you say, may have 
 grown wanton ; for 1 did not like his military 
 shoes, any more tiiau his wliite bandages. We 
 shall know what tlie case is when you come. 
 
 When you tind fault with the narrowness of my 
 windows, you must know that you find fault with 
 the Institution of Cyrus f; for when I made the 
 sameol)sorvation, Cyrus said that llie view of lawns 
 throijgh wide apertures was less pleasing. For, let 
 the sight be A, the object B C, the rays D and E 
 — you understand the rest. If we saw by the in- 
 cidence of images '•, the images might be much 
 embarrassed in tiiese narrow openings ; but now 
 the emanation of rays is made merrily. If you find 
 fault with other parts, you will not find me silent, 
 unless it be on some point which can be altered 
 without expense. 
 
 I come now to the month of January, and to my 
 ])articular situation and policy; in which we must, 
 like Socrates, consider both sides ; and then at last, 
 like his disciples, choose wliat pleases us. It is 
 truly a matter of great concern : for either a strong 
 resistance must be made to the Agrarian law, in 
 which there will be some fighting, but full of ho- 
 nour ; or we must be quiet, which is the same 
 thing as going out of the way to Solonium, or An- 
 tium ; or else I must give it my support, which 
 they say Caesar so much expects from me, that he 
 makes no doubt of it. For Cornelius has been with 
 me, Balbus I mean, Caesar's friend. He affirmed 
 that Csesar would follow mine and Pompeius's 
 advice in all things, and that he would endeavour 
 to unite Crassus with Pompeius. Here is the 
 state of this business. I am intimately connected 
 with Pompeius ; if you please with Caesar too. 
 There is an opportunity of returning into favour 
 with my enemies, of conciliating the populace, of 
 securing tranquillity for my old age. But that for- 
 mer resolution of mine influences me, wliicli is in 
 the third book"" — " In the mean time, that course 
 which you pursued with virtue and spirit in 
 early youth, and also as consul, you must still 
 maintain, and grow in reputation and the praises 
 of good men." Calliope herself^ having dictated 
 this to me in that book, which contains so many 
 wholesome maxims, I think I ought not to doubt 
 but that, in the words of Homer, " My best au- 
 spices should be to fight for my country." But 
 let us reserve these considerations for our walks 
 during the Compitalia'. Do not forget the day 
 
 to the messengers of good news. The letter is generally- 
 supposed to have been written from the country to Atticus 
 at Rome, in answer to one received from him communi- 
 eatinj this intelligence. It seems to me more natural to 
 suppose that Cicero might have heard it elsewhere, and 
 that it wanted confirmation. 
 
 o This term is used to designate Pompeius, who appears 
 to have affected some ambitious singularity of dress, and 
 may have been suspected of interfering in the cause of 
 Valerius. 
 
 P This is a playful application of the title of Xenophon's 
 work to the architect whom Cicero employed, and who 
 happened to be named Cyrus. 
 
 4 This seems to relate to the Epicurean doctrine of images 
 described by Lucretius, and here humorously applied to 
 the circumstances of Cicero's house. 
 
 ' Of a poem written by Cicero on the subject of his 
 consulate. 
 
 » Calliope was invoked in this book to inspire him. 
 
 t The Compitalia was a Roman festival, on which, it 
 seems, Atticus had promised to pay Cicero a visit in the 
 country. 
 
 before the Compitalia. I shall order the bath to 
 be heated ; and Terentia invites Pomponia : we 
 will add your mother to our party. Bring me, 
 from my brother Quintus's library, Tiieophrastus 
 on the Love of Honour. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 I AM very much obliged to you fbr sending 
 me Serapion's work ; of which, between ourselves, 
 1 scarcely understand a thousandth part. I have 
 desired you may be paid for it in ready money; that 
 you might not set it down among the expenses of 
 your j)resents. But, having made mention of 
 money, let me bog you to come to some arrange- 
 ment with Titinius in any manner you are able. 
 If he does not adhere to what he had professed, I 
 should like best, if Pomponia agrees to it, that the 
 things which are so dearly bought may be returned. 
 If that cannot be done, let the money be paid, 
 rather than have any altercation about it. I 
 should be very glad to have you settle this before- 
 you go with your usual kindness and diligence. 
 
 Does Clodius then, as you say, go to Tigranes ? 
 Would it were on the same terms as Scepsius " ! 
 but I have no reason to object to it. For it will 
 be a more favourable time for my absence on a free 
 lieutenancy^, when my brother Quintus, as I hope, 
 may be settled at his ease, and it may be known 
 what that priest of the Bona Dea'*' is about. In. 
 the mean time I shall entertain myself with the 
 Muses with an even spirit, nay, with cheerful- 
 ness and satisfaction. Nor will it ever enter my 
 mind to envy Crassus, or to repent that I have 
 been true to myself. I will endeavour to gratify 
 you on the subject of geography ; but I make no 
 certain promise. It is a great undertaking ; but 
 yet, at your desire, I will try to let you have some 
 fruit of my absence. Whatever you may have- 
 learned relating to the republic, especially whom 
 you may think likely to be the consuls, let me 
 know, though I am become less curious since I 
 have determined not to trouble myself about pub- 
 lic affairs. 
 
 I have been to see Terentia's wood. We want 
 nothing but the Dodonean oak =', to make us think 
 we have possession of Epirus itself. About the- 
 Kalends I shall be either in my Formianum or 
 Pompeianum. If I should not be in the Formia- 
 num, come, if you love me, to the Pompeianum, — 
 it will give me great delight, and will be very little 
 out of your way. I have ordered Philotimus to let 
 the wall be done as you wished. I think, however, 
 
 " Many conjectures have been formed respecting the 
 true reading and the right interpretation of this passage^ 
 Gronovius proposes to road " Scepsii conditione," and ob- 
 serves that Metrodorus Scepsius was sent by Jlithridatea 
 to Tigranes, and there lost his life. I have adopted his- 
 emendation, but have ventured to put upon it a new con- 
 struction. After all, it is very doubtful. 
 
 ^ What the nature of these free lieutenancies was, i» 
 explained, book i. letter 10, note J. 
 
 ^' Cicero thought to absent himself from Rome during 
 the time of Clodius's tribunate. He was expecting that 
 his brother Quintus might be relieved from his government 
 before anotlier year, and might then keep a watch upon 
 Clodius's operations. 
 
 J' These oaks were of sacred memory, and situated in 
 Epirus, the country of Atticus's villa, to which he here- 
 alludes.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 643 
 
 you should consult Vettius. In these times, when 
 the life of every good man is so precarious, I con- 
 sider the enjoyment of the Palatine ground ^ for 
 one summer to be of great value ; yet so, that I 
 should wish nothing less, than that Pomponia, or 
 the boy, should be exposed to any danger from its 
 falling. 
 
 and tell me everything, as you promise, at your 
 leisure. I wish you to inform me also what day 
 you think of leaving Rome, that I may acquaint 
 you where I shall be ; and i beg you will iiery soon 
 let me hear about what I have written to you. I 
 anxiously expect your letters. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 1 WISH indeed, and have long wished, to visit 
 Alexandria, and the rest of Egypt ; and likewise to 
 get away from hence, where people are grown 
 tired of me ; and to return when they may again 
 want me. But as to going at this time, and being 
 sent by these persons', (I may say with Hector,) 
 " I have too much respect for the Trojans, and 
 long-robed Trojan ladies." For what will our 
 nobles say if there are any remaining ? that I have 
 renounced my principles for a bribe ? " The first 
 to impute disgrace to me will be Polydamus," 
 that Cato of ours," who alone is as good as a hun- 
 dred thousand. But what will history say of us 
 some six hundred years hence? which I value much 
 more than the idle rumours of those who are now 
 living. But I think we must suspend our judg- 
 ment and wait. For if it should be offered, I shall 
 still be at liberty to do as I please ; and then it 
 will be time to determine. There is some credit 
 even in declining. 'Therefore, if Theophanes* 
 should happen to say anything to you about it, do 
 not immediately repel him. 
 
 I am expecting to hear from you on the following 
 subjects : what Arrius says '' ; how he bears his 
 disappointment ; whether any consuls are yet pro- 
 vided ; whether, as the people say, they are to be 
 Pompeius and Crassus ; or, as I am informed, Ser- 
 viua Sulpicius with Gabinius ; also, whether there 
 are any new laws ; and in short, if there is any news ; 
 and since Nepos is going away, who is to have the 
 augurate ' ; with which alone I could be caught 
 by them. See my levity. But why do I speak of 
 these things ? wliich I desire to have done with, 
 and to give my whole mind and all my care to phi- 
 losophy. This, I say, is my intention : would it 
 had always been so ! But now, when I have ex- 
 perienced the vanity of all that I once thought 
 great, I think of dedicating myself to all the Muses. 
 Let me, however, hear more certainly about Cur- 
 tius"", and whether anybody is fixed upon to suc- 
 ceed him ; and what is doing about P. Clodius ; 
 
 7 The palaestra was properly a piece of ground appro- 
 priated to public exercises. This might have adjoined to 
 the v/all of Cicero's and his brother's premises, which were 
 contiguous buildings on the Palatine hill. The repairs of 
 the partition wall may be supposed to have interfered with 
 their access to this ground, at least for a season. 
 
 ^ Cssar and Pompeius thought at this time of sending 
 an ambassador to Alexandria, to confirm Ptolemy Aulctes 
 on his throne. 
 
 » Theophanes was a creature of Pompeius. 
 
 *> Arrius had received a promise of support from Crassus. 
 but was now set aside to make room for the friends of 
 Cses-ar and Pompeius. 
 
 c Upon the death of Metellus Celer it was natural to 
 suppose that his brother Nepos might have succeeded to 
 his office of augur ; but his going now to the government 
 of a province made him ineligible, as it was necessary to 
 solicit it personally at Rome. 
 
 ■* It is not known who this Curtius is, or what place he 
 held. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 What I promised in a former letter, that some 
 work should appear, the fruit of my retirement, I 
 do not now very strongly confirm ; for I are so 
 attached myself to idleness, that I am not to be 
 torn from it. Therefore I either amuse myself 
 with books, of which I imve an agreeable collection 
 at Antium ; or T count the waves, for the season is 
 not favourable for catching lacerrse^. My mind 
 quite revolts at writing. The geographical re- 
 searches which I projected are a great undertaking; 
 for Erato.'-thenes, whom I had intended to follow, 
 is strenuously opjiosed by Sera))ion, and by Hip- 
 parchus. What think you, if Tyrannic ' should 
 join them ? Besides, the subject is difficult to 
 explain, and of a uniform nature, and less suscepti- 
 ble of any ornaments of writing than I had sup- 
 posed ; and, which is the chief of all, any cause is, 
 to say the truth, sufficient to make me give it up. 
 I am doubtful whether I shall settle here, or at 
 Antium, to pass all this time ^ ; where I would 
 rather have been a duumvir, than have been con- 
 sul at Rome''. You have done wiser in providing 
 a home at Buthrotum. But believe me this town 
 of Antium comes very near to yours. Could it be 
 supposed there was any place so near Pi.ome where 
 there are many people who never saw Vatinius ' ? 
 where there isnobodybesidesmyself whocares if any 
 one of the twenty commissioners J is alive and safe .* 
 where nobody interrupts me, and everybody loves 
 me ? Here then is the place to exercise my politi- 
 cal talents : there I am not only prevented, but 
 am weary of it. Therefore some private observa- 
 tions, which I may read to you alone, shall be 
 drawn up in Theopompus's manner, or still more 
 severely. I now trouble myself no fiu-ther about 
 the public, than to hate the wicked ; and even that 
 without anger, or rather with some pleasure ia 
 writing. 
 
 But to come to business : I have written to the 
 city quaestors about my brother Quintus's affair. 
 See what they sayi" ; whether there is any hope of 
 
 e It is probable these lacertse were some common sort of 
 fish ; but I have thought it best to retain the original word 
 in a thing of so much uncertainty. 
 
 f Tyr.'innio, a severe preceptor, with whom both the 
 Ciceros placed their sons. 
 
 g Cicero had determined to withdraw from Rome during 
 the storms which he saw approaching, and which he had 
 no power to control, 
 
 h His conduct during his consulship, meritorious as it 
 had been, was now going to be arraiirned, which filled his 
 mind with these sentiments. The cliief magistrates of the 
 provincial towns were called duumviri. 
 
 ' Vatinius was a factious tribune, who exerted himself 
 this year in opposing the authority of the senate. 
 
 J These were commissioners appointed to divide the land* 
 of Campania agreeably to the Agrarian law. 
 
 k I have thought it right to preserve in the translation 
 this little irregularity of the original expression, the En- 
 glish language admitting it with as much propriety as the 
 Latin. 
 
 T Ta
 
 044 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 Roman money'; or whether we must be put off 
 with the Pompeian cistaphorus. Moreover, settle 
 what is to be done about the wall. Is there any- 
 thing else ? yes : let me be informed when you 
 mean to go from thence. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 I WILL think again about the geography. You 
 ask me for two orations : one of which I did not 
 care to write out, because I had left it imperfect ; 
 the other, that I might not praise a person I did 
 not like : but I will see about this also. However, 
 there shall be something, tliat you may not think 
 I have been totally idle. What you tell me about 
 Clodius is highly agreeable to me ; and I hope, 
 when you come, you will bring me a full account ; 
 and that you will let me hear from you in the 
 mean time, if you know, or suspect, anything; 
 especially what he is likely to do about the em- 
 bassy. Before I read your letter I was wishing to 
 get at the fellow'", not forsooth that I might put 
 off my engagement with him (for I am eager for 
 the contest) ; but T thought he would lose what- 
 ever popularity he had acquired by being made a 
 plebeian. " For what purpose have you passed 
 over to the people ? that you might go to salute 
 Tigranes ? Tell me ; do the Armenian kings refuse 
 to salute patricians .'" In short I was prepared to 
 work him upon this embassy ; which if he shghts, 
 and if, as you say, that excites the indignation 
 both of the framers and supporters of the law by 
 which he was disnobled, it will be a fine scene. 
 But, to say the truth, our Publius (Clodius) is 
 treated rather disrespectfully : in the first place, 
 that he who was once the only man in Csesar s 
 house, now should not have been able to be one 
 among twenty: then, that one embassy should 
 have been talked of, another should have been given ; 
 that rich one for the purpose of exacting money, 
 is reserved, I suppose, for the Pisaurian Drusus, 
 or the glutton Vatinius : this meagre and dainty 
 banishment is given to him, whose tribunate is 
 reserved to suit the occasions of these gentlemen. 
 Inflame him , I conjure you, as much as possible. The 
 only hope of safety is in the disagreement of these 
 people among themselves, of which I learned some 
 symptoms from Curio. Already Arrius complains 
 that the consulate has been snatched away from 
 him : Megabocchus", and these sanguinary youths, 
 are determined enemies. To this let there be added, 
 yes, let there be added, that contest for the augur- 
 ship. I hope often to send you fine letters upon 
 these subjects. But I want to know what it is that 
 you throw out obscurely ; that already some of the 
 
 1 It seems Quintus Cicero wanted to have the expenses 
 of his government defrayed in Roman money, instead of 
 the Asiatic cisiophort, accruing from the plunder of Mith- 
 ridates by Pompeius. The cistophorus was a small coin, 
 60 called from bearing the impression of the cistus, or chest, 
 used in the mysteries of Ceres. 
 
 m This sense appears to me sufficiently good, without 
 altering the text in opposition to all MSS. Most commen- 
 tators have thought tit to omit the preposition in, and to 
 understand Cicero to say that he had wished Clodius might 
 go to Tigranes. 
 
 n It is generally supposed that by this term is meant 
 Pompeius, and that he was at variance with these young 
 incendiaries, th» remains of Catiline's accomplices. 
 
 (piinqueviri" themselves are beginning to speak 
 out. What is this? for if there is anything in 
 it, it must be better than I had imagined. I would 
 have you understand this, not as if I made these 
 iiupiiries with any view of engaging myself in 
 jmblic affairs. I have long since been weary of 
 steering the state, even when it was permitted me 
 to do so : but now, when I am obliged to quit the 
 ship, not throwing away, but taking in the rudder p, 
 I wish from the land to look at the shipwreck of 
 those peoj)le; I wish, as says your friend Sophocles, 
 " from under my roof to hear the frequent drip- 
 ping with a tranquil mind." 
 
 You will see what is necessary about the wall. 
 I will correct the error of Castricius : yet Quintus 
 had written to me 25,0001 sestertii ; now to your 
 sister he says 30,000. Terentia salutes you. Cicero 
 desires that you will answer for him to Aristo- 
 demus, in the same manner as you have done for 
 his relation ^ your sister's son. I shall not neglect 
 your information about Amalthea^ Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 While I was eagerly expecting a letter from 
 you in the evening, as I usually do, I was informed 
 that the servants had arrived from Rome. T call them 
 in, and ask if they have any letters. They say no. 
 What do you say, said I, is there nothing from 
 Pomponius ? Alarmed at my voice and counte- 
 nance, they confessed that they had received a 
 letter, but had lost it on their way. What thmk 
 you ? I was very much provoked ; for all your 
 letters lately had brought some useful or agreeable 
 nformation. Now, if there was anything deserv- 
 ing to be recorded in the letter you sent the 16th 
 of April, write as soon as possible, that I may not 
 remain in ignorance ; or if there was nothing but 
 good-humour, yet repeat even that. Know that 
 young Curio has been here to visit me. What he 
 said about Publius (Clodius) exactly agreed with 
 your letters. He is wonderfully incensed against 
 our haughty kings'. He said that the young men 
 were equally angry, and could not bear this state 
 of things. We are in a good way. If we can 
 depend upon these people, let us, methinks, mind 
 our own affairs". I am engaged in history. At 
 the same time, though you may think me another 
 Saufeius^, nothing is more indolent than I am. 
 But let me explain to you my motions, that you 
 may determine where you will come to me. 1 
 design to go to Formianum the middle of April ^. 
 T hen (since you think I ought to omit that delicate 
 o Who these five commissioners might be, or for what 
 purpose they were appointed, docs not appear. 
 
 p The expression nnplies that he did not abandon the 
 state in anger, but withdrew his guidance till some more 
 favourable season, when his services might be available. 
 
 q The text is evidently corrupt. I have supposed that 
 it ought to be written U.S. ((1)) ((D) D)- But it is impos- 
 sible to ascertain the truth, and is of little moment. 
 
 r In the original it is " brother." [See book i. letter 1.] 
 They were really first-cousins. 
 5 See book i. letter 16. 
 t Caesar, Crassus, and Pompeius. 
 u Cease to trouble ourselves. 
 V A philosopher of great study. 
 
 w The Parilia was a festival celebrated on t>ie 21st of 
 ApriL
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 645 
 
 basin" at this time) on the first of May I shall leave 
 Formianum, that I maybe at Antium on the third. 
 For the games of Antium are to take place from 
 the fourth to the sixth of May, and TuUia wishes 
 to see tliem. Thence I think of going to Tus- 
 culanum, then to Arpinum, and to be at Rome 
 on the first of June. Let me see you either in 
 Formianum, or at Antium, or in Tusculanum. 
 Replace your former letter, and add something 
 new. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 I HOPE you are well. Ceecilius, the qusestor, 
 having told me that he is going to send a servant, 
 I have written this hastily, that I might elicit your 
 marvellous dialogues with Publius, as well those 
 which you mention, as that which you reserve, 
 saying it is tedious to detail your reply ; also that 
 which has not yet taken place, which that BiJopis^ 
 will relate to you upon her return from Solonium. 
 I would have you believe nothing can be more 
 agreeable to me. If the agreement relating to me 
 is not kept I am in heaven^ This our Jeru- 
 salemite", who brings matters before the people, 
 shall know what a fine return he has made for my 
 choicest speeches, of which you may expect a dis- 
 tinguished counterpart''. For, as well as I can 
 guess, if that profligate'^ is in favour with these 
 mighty men*, he will not be able to exult, not only 
 over the consular Cynic "^i but not over those 
 Tritons of the stews. I can never be an object 
 of envy when I am robbed of my power, and of all 
 my senatorian authority. But if he disagrees with 
 them it will be absurd to attack me. However, let 
 him if he will. Believe me, this revolution in the 
 state has been made gaily, and with less noise than 
 I had supposed ; more speedily indeed than seemed 
 possible ; and that, partly through the fault of 
 Cato ; but, besides, through the shameful conduct 
 of those who neglected the auspices, the /Elian, 
 the Junian, and Licinian law, the Csecilian, and 
 the Didian ; who threw away all the resources of the 
 constitution ; who gave away kingdoms and estates 
 to tetrarchs ; and to a few persons immense sums 
 of money. I see now to what party envy will pass 
 over, and where it will abide. Think that I have 
 learned nothing either from experience, or from 
 Theophrastus, if you do not shortly see people call 
 out for those our times. For if the authority of the 
 
 » The place here meant is Baix, situated in the bay of 
 Naples. See book i. letter 16. 
 
 y Ci'-ero uses an epithet familiarly applied by Homer to 
 Juno. He means by it to designate Clodia, who, perhaps, 
 might be full-eyed, which the word signifies ; and, besides, 
 resembled Juno in cohabiting, as it was suspected, with 
 her brotlier Clodius. 
 
 '^ That is, if the conspiracy against Cicero should be 
 broken up, he may be at his ease. 
 
 » Pompeius, who had captured Jerusalem. He had con- 
 ducted the auspices at the time that Clodius's bill of adop- 
 tion was brought before the people. 
 
 '' WaKivuiZiav, meaning that Cicero would now speak 
 in accusation of Pompeius, whom he had formerly 
 praised. 
 
 c Clodius. ^ Caesar, Crassus, and Pompeius. 
 
 ^ Cicero calls himself a cynic, as adopting a severe line 
 of conduct, and intimates that the triumvirs would no 
 longer cooperate with Clodius against him, or those patri- 
 cian epicures, when their loss of authority ceased to excite 
 envy, 
 
 senate excited envy, what do you ttiink will be the 
 case, when it is transferred, not to the people, but 
 to three ambitious men .' Therefore let them make 
 whom they will consuls, and tribunes of the peo- 
 ple ; nay, let them clothe the evil of Vatinius^ 
 with the painted robe of the priesthood, you will 
 shortly see not only those who have committed no 
 offence, but even Cato himself, who is so guilty in 
 their eyes, raised to great honour. As for myself, 
 if your companion Publius permits it, I mean to 
 act the philosopher ; if he designs anything, then 
 only to defend myself; and, as becomes that pro- 
 fession, " I announce that I will repel any one 
 who first insults me." Only let my country be 
 favourable. It has received from me, though not 
 more than is due, at least more than was demanded. 
 I prefer being ill rowed under the steerage of 
 another, to steering well with such ungrateful 
 rowers. But these things may be discussed better 
 when we meet. Now hear the answer to your 
 inquiry. I intend to go from Formianum to Antium 
 the third of May ; from Antium I wish to go to 
 Tusculanum on the seventh of May. But as soon 
 as I leave Formianum, where 1 mean to stay till 
 the end of April, I will immediately let you know. 
 Terentia sends her compliments. The young 
 Cicero salutes the Athenian Titus s. 
 
 LETTER Xh. 
 {GrcBV. xii.) 
 Let those men' deny, if they can, that Publius 
 has been made a plebeian. It is a mere exercise of 
 sovereignty, and is not to be borne. Let but Publius 
 send persons to attest it, and I will swear that our 
 Cnseus, when he was colleague with Balbus, told 
 me at Antium, that himself had conducted the 
 auspices on the occasion. What two charming 
 letters have been delivered to me from you, both 
 at the same time ! I do not know what remune- 
 ration I can make for them ; but that some is due 
 I freely acknowledge. Observe the concurrence of 
 circumstances. I had just gone from the Antiati 
 into the Appian road at the Tres Tabernse, on the 
 festival of CeresJ, when my friend Curio, coming 
 from Rome, met me. At the same ])lace presently 
 came the servant from you with letters. Curio 
 asked me if I had heard no news. I said, no. 
 Publius (says he) is canvassing for the place of 
 tribune of the people. What think you ? He 
 is very angry with Caesar, and tlireatens to re- 
 scind all his acts. How does Caesar receive it? 
 
 f Vatinius had scrofulous swellings in the neck, called 
 in Latin ^<rn>»a, and in English ci'i'Z. OyariJ'ios x'^ipa- 
 5ujf Thv Tpdxr]\ov ireoi'jrAetos. — Plutarch's Life of 
 Cicero. 
 
 g Cicero concludes with a Greek form ot salutation from 
 his son to Atticus, whose prsenomcn was Titus. 
 
 1> This letter is the 12th in Gra^vius's edition, but is 
 evidently misplaced, because it is alluded to in that which 
 follows. This was \vritten at four P. m. from the Tres 
 T.abernae, after Cicero had left Antium on his way to For- 
 mianum. The next was written at ten o'clock the same 
 nigl\t from Appii Forum. The 12th after he was at For- 
 mianum. 
 
 i The triumvirs, between whom and Clodius there was 
 now the appearance of disagreement. 
 
 J The Cerealiawere celebr.ated in the second week of 
 April. The precise day is variously computed from the 
 7 th to the 12th.
 
 G4(; 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 said I. lie denies that lie proposed anything 
 about his adoption. Then Curio declared his own 
 hatred'', and that of Memmius and Metelhis Nepos. 
 I toolc my leave of the young man, and hastened 
 to your letters. Where are they, who speak of 
 viva voce information? How much more fully 
 have I learned from your letters, than from his 
 conversation, what was doing, what were the daily 
 surmises, the intention of Publius, the trumpet of 
 Boopis', the standard-bearer Atlienio, the letters 
 sent to Cnreus, the conversation of Theophanes 
 and of Memmius. Besides, what an e.xpectation 
 have you given me of that licentious feast ! I am 
 dying with curiosity. Yet I shall be satisfied 
 without your writing me an account of that meet- 
 ing, as I wish rather to hear it from your own 
 mouth. As to your exhortation to write some- 
 thing ; the materials indeed increase upon me, as 
 you say ; but the whole thing is yet in fermenta- 
 tion, and " during the autumn the wine is thick :" 
 when it is settled, what I may write will be better 
 digested. But if you cannot have anything at 
 present, at least you shall be the first to have it, 
 and for some time the only one. You do well to 
 like Dicffiarchus : he is an honest man, and not a 
 little better citizen than those rulers of iniquity". 
 I have written this letter on the festival of Ceres, 
 at four in the afternoon, the moment I had read 
 yours ; but with the intention of despatching it 
 to-morrow by the first person I meet". Terentia 
 is delighted with your letter, and sends her kindest 
 regards ; and Cicero the philosopher" salutes the 
 statesman Titus. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 (Grwv. X.) 
 Pray admire my firmness. I do not mean to 
 attend the games at Antium? ; for it carries with 
 it an appearance of inconsistency, while I wish to 
 avoid every suspicion of luxury, suddenly to be 
 seen travelling not only delicately, but unbecom- 
 ingly. I shall therefore wait for you in Formianum 
 till the 7th of May. Let me know what day I may 
 expect to see you. From Appii Forum, 10 p. m. 
 I despatched another letter a little before from the 
 Tres Taberasei. 
 
 ^ Hatred of the power assumed by Caesar. 
 
 1 This is meant of C'lodia, [see letter 9 of this book,] who 
 was urging her brother to extremities, as it were witli a 
 clarion or war-trumpet. Tlie same figure is continued in 
 applj-ing to Athenio the term of standard-bearer of sedi- 
 tion : Athonio had been the author of an insurrection in 
 Sicilj-. Under this name Cicero probably means A'^atinius. 
 
 ™ In Greek aSiKaiapxoL, which it is impossible to trans- 
 late 80 as to preserve the opposition to the name Dica>ar- 
 chus; the latter signifying "a rulerof justice," the former 
 " rulers of iniquity." 
 
 " He was now on the Appian road, which was much 
 frequented, and could not fail of presenting to him some 
 person who would convey his letter to Rome. 
 
 ° This ia said in Greek, after the Greek manner, as if 
 Cicero and Atticus had changed conditions ; Cicero now 
 fieeking retirement, while Atticus remained in the throng 
 and business of Rome. 
 
 P See letter 8 of this book. 
 
 q The Appii Forum and Tres Tabernas derive an interest 
 Irom the mention of these places in St. Paul's journey to 
 Rome, Acts xxviii. 15. 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 
 {GrtBv. xi.) 
 
 To tell you the truth, I seem as if I were banished 
 since 1 have been in Formianum. While I was at 
 Antium there was no day on which I did not know^ 
 bettir what was doing at Rome, than those who 
 were living there. For your letters acquainted me 
 not only with the state of Rome, but with that of 
 the republic at large ; and taught me not only what 
 happened, but also what was going to happen. 
 Now, unless anything is picked up from a casual 
 passenger, I can hear nothing. Therefore, though 
 I hope very soon to see you, yet let me have, by 
 the servant, whom I have directed immediately to 
 come back, some long letter, full not only of all 
 that has been done, but likewise of your own opi- 
 nions. Take care to let me know the day when 
 you mean to leave Rome. I intend to remain in 
 Formianum till the sixth of May. If you do not 
 arrive before that day, I shall perhaps see you at 
 Rome. For why should I invite you to Arpinum, 
 " a rugged place (as Ulysses says of Ithaca',) but 
 a good nurse of youths ; than which nothing can 
 in my eyes be more delicious." So much for the 
 present. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 A PROVOKING circumstance, that nobody should 
 have delivered the letter' I wrote to you from Tres 
 Tabernse the same hour that I received your most 
 acceptable intelligence. But you must know that 
 the parcel in which it was contained was taken to 
 my house' the same day on which I sent it, and 
 from thence was brought back to me at Formianum. 
 I have ordered this letter again to be taken to 
 you, that you might be assured of the pleasure 
 yours had given me. When you inform me that 
 nothing is said in Rome", this is what I expected. 
 But, I can tell you, people are not reserved in the 
 country, nor can the country bear your'' tyranny. 
 But if you come into this Telepylus Laestrygonia'^ 
 (Formise I mean), what a noise do people make ! 
 How irritated are their minds ! In what detesta- 
 tion is our friend Magnus'', whose appellation of 
 Great begins to decay with that of the Rich Crassus. 
 Believe me, I have yet met with nobody who could 
 bear this state of things so quietly as I do. There- 
 fore pray let us continue to enjoy our philosophical 
 retirement ; for I can aver upon my oath, that 
 
 " The original is taken from Homer's Odyssey, and is 
 the more appropriate in being applied by Cicero to Arpi- 
 num, with feelings of affection towards his native place, 
 with which Ulysses is represented to have said it of his 
 own country, Ithaca. 
 
 « This is the tenth letter of this book. 
 
 ' This must have been his house at Rome. 
 
 <» That is, nothing was said of the authority usurped by 
 the triumvirate. 
 
 T By " your tyranny" is to be understood that which was 
 exercised by the triumvirs at Rome, where Atticus was 
 staying. 
 
 " Tr]\eTrv\os AaKTTpvyovia, is an expression taken 
 from Homer's Odyssey, the meaning of which is not exactly 
 known. The place so denominated by Homer was sup- 
 posed to have been near Formiae. 
 
 1^ A name given to Pompeius, and signifying Great. See 
 book i. letter 20.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 647 
 
 there is nothing worth contending for^. If you 
 have got your letters to the Sicyoniaus''. hasten 
 down to Formianum. I think of leaving it the 
 sixth of May. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 How great an expectation do you raise in me 
 about the discourse of Bibulus ! How great about 
 the conversation of Bijopis ! How great also about 
 that dainty entertainment ! Come, then, yourself 
 to my thirsty ears. Though there is now nothing 
 which I should think more to be apprehended, than 
 that our Sampsiceramus* when he perceives that 
 he is lashed by the discourses of all people, and 
 sees these proceedings so easily overset, may begin 
 to rush into violent counsels. For my own part, I 
 am dispirited to that degree, that I prefer being 
 enslaved in this indolence, in which I now pine 
 away, to contending with the best hope of success. 
 
 In the way of composition, to which you often 
 exhort me, nothing can be done. I live in a court- 
 house, not in a villa, owing to the throng of the 
 Formians ; for this Jimilian tribe would fill a 
 court-house''. But I say nothing of the generality, 
 who after ten o'clock cease to trouble me. But, 
 then, C. Arrius is my nearest neighbour ; nay, he 
 is now my very comrade, who even refuses to go to 
 Rome, that he may philosophise here with me all 
 the day long. On the other side is Sebosus, that 
 friend of Catulus. Which way can I turn myself? 
 I would assuredly go immediately to Arpinum, if I 
 did not perceive that you might be expected with 
 most convenience in Formianum ; but only till the 
 sixth of May. For see to what people my atten- 
 tion is given up. It would be a fine opportunity if 
 anybody wished now to purchase my Formian 
 estate, while these people are about me. And should 
 I still attempt anything ? Let us forsooth under- 
 take some great work, of much research and 
 leisure ! Nevertheless, I will endeavour to satisfy 
 you, and will not spare my own pains. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 1 SEE, as you tell me, that things are not less 
 uncertain in the state than they are represented in 
 your letter ; but that very variety of reports and 
 
 y 1 have given to this passage an interpretation some- 
 thing different from that commonly received, because I 
 thought it more consonant to the usual phraseology of the 
 ancient Romans., and to his own feelings, expressed in 
 letter 8 of this book : — " Aliud agamus." 
 
 2 Atticus had not been able to get from the people of 
 Sicyon the tributes which he had rented. [Sec book i. 
 letter 19.] lie appears to have staid in Rome to solicit 
 letters to the Sicyonians for the payment of this money. 
 
 * It is generally agreed, that by this name, which recurs 
 in several subsequent letters, is to be understood Pompeius. 
 The name occurs in Josephus as king of the Emesi, per- 
 haps a prince conquered by Pompeius. It cannot but 
 strike every reader, that the names under which he is 
 mentioned in these letters should be so various, and often 
 so extraordinary; perhaps ill derision of some affected 
 grandeur. 
 
 h So I understand the text of the original, which is by 
 no means clear, and may possibly be corrupt. Literally — 
 "But what an ..Emilian tribe (have I) equal to a court- 
 house?" The people of Formiae being reckoned in the 
 -^milian tribe, are therefore called by that name. 
 
 opinions delights me, for I seem to be in Rome 
 when I read your letters ; and, as it always happens 
 in affairs of such magnitude, to hear sometimes one 
 thing, sometimes another. There is one circum- 
 stance I cannot comprehend, what he can possibly 
 devise for carrying into effect the Agrarian scheme 
 without any opposition. What results from that 
 firmness of Bibulus in the postponement of the 
 comitia, besides the exposition of his own opinion, 
 without any correction of the evils of the republic ? 
 Our hope, then, is in Publius. Let him, let him 
 be made a tribune of the people ; if for nothing 
 else, that you may the sooner come back from 
 Epirus (for I take it for granted that nothing will 
 prevent your going thither*^,) especially if he wishes 
 for any contention with me. For I do not doubt, 
 if there should be anything of this kind, you will 
 hasten up. But if this should not be the case, 
 whether he rush on to his own ruin, or whether he 
 retrieve the condition of the state, I propose to 
 myself a noble sight, if only it is permitted me to 
 see it with you by my side. 
 
 As I was writing this, in comes Sebosus. I had 
 hardly felt my vexation, when " Good morning," 
 says Arrius. This is getting away from Rome ! 
 From whom is it I have escaped to fall into such 
 hands? I must go "to my cradle and native 
 hills''." In short, if I cannot be alone, I will 
 rather live among mere rustics than with these 
 mighty civil people. However, as you say nothing 
 certain about your motions, I will wait for you ia 
 Formianum till the fifth of May. Your attention 
 and diligence in the Malvian dispute^ is extremely 
 gratifying to Terentia. She is not aware that you 
 are supporting the common cause of all who occupy 
 the public lands. But you still pay something to 
 the collectors of the revenue ; she refuses even 
 that. Both she, and the aristocratical^ boy Cicero, 
 send their compliments. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 The thirtieth of .\pril, as I was dozing after 
 dinner, your letter was delivered to me, in which 
 you speak of the Campanian lands. What think 
 you ? In the liS-st place, it struck me in such a 
 manner as effectually to remove my sleep ; but this 
 was through thoughtfulness rather than uneasiness. 
 And the result of my thoughts is this ; first, from 
 what you had mentioned in a former letter, of 
 having heard from one of Caesar's friends that 
 something was to be brought forward to which no- 
 body would object ; I had apprehended something 
 greater. This did not appear to be of that kind. 
 Then, for my consolation, all expectation of the 
 Agrarian bounty seems to have centred in the 
 
 c The meaning of the original has been variously under- 
 stood. I have ventured to interpret it in a manner differ- 
 ent from any that I have seen, and which appears to me 
 sufficiently consonant with the Latin idiom, and with the 
 context. 
 
 <! The original is part of an hexameter verse from some 
 unknown author. 
 
 e This evidently relates to the leases of the public lands ; 
 but the particular meaning of the term is not known. 
 
 f The expression indicates that the young Cicero was 
 already zealous in behalf of the best interests of the re 
 public. 
 
 e A distribution of this land was to be made to the 
 people.
 
 CAS 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 Campanian land •, which, at ten acres a-piece, can- 
 not maintain aoove five thousand men. All the 
 remaining multitude must necessarily be alienated 
 from them''. Besides, if there is any one thinf? 
 more calculated than another to inflame the minds 
 of good men, it is certainly this ; and the more so, 
 because the port duties being removed, and the 
 Campanian land distributed, what domestic revenue 
 remains besides the twentieth ' ? and this I suppose 
 will, in one little meeting, be extinguished by the 
 shouts of a mob. What our Cnicus intends, I know 
 not, that he could be wrought to such a pitch : 
 " for he now breathes through no little flageolet, 
 but with a full breath untempercd by a reedJ." 
 Hitherto he pretended to api)rove Caesar's laws, 
 but to leave it to him to defend his acts : that he 
 liked the Agrarian law ; but whether intercession 
 could be made or not was no business of his : that 
 he was glad to have the affair of the king of Alex- 
 andria'' at length concluded ; but whether Bibulus 
 had been observing the heavens' or not, it was not 
 his duty to inquire : that on the subject of the 
 farmers of the revenue, he had wished to favour 
 the order of knights ; but that it was impossible for 
 him to guess what would happen if Bibulus came 
 down to tlie forum'". But now, Sampsiceramus, 
 what will you say ? that if you have taken away 
 from us the tribute of the Campanian land, you 
 have appointed it to be levied on Mount Libaiius"? 
 But how will you support this reasoning ? I will 
 keep you, says he, in subjection by Caesar's army. 
 But in truth you will not subject me so much by 
 that army, as by the ungrateful spirits of those 
 people who bear the name of good, but who have 
 returned me no thanks, no recomjjense of reward, 
 or even of good words. Should I put myself for- 
 ward against that faction, I might yet find some 
 means of opposing them. I have now made this 
 resolution, that as there is so great a controversy 
 between your friend Diceearchus, and my friend 
 Theophrastus", the former preferring a life of busi- 
 ness, the latter one of speculation, I will comply 
 with both. Dicaearchus 1 have abundantly satisfied 
 already ; I now turn to that party which not only 
 allows me to be quiet, but reproves me for not 
 having always been so. Let us then, O my Titus, 
 address ourselves to those noble studies ; and at 
 length return thither, from whence we ought never 
 to have departed. What you say of my brother 
 Quintus's letter to you, was equally true of that 
 to me : it was " a lion in front, and behindi'." I 
 do not know what to call it ; for at the beginning 
 he deplores his stayi in such a manner as to be 
 quite affecting ; presently he is so easy about it as 
 to desire me to correct and publish his annals. I 
 
 •» From Cesar's faction. 
 
 ' This was a tax upon the purchase and manumission of 
 slaves. 
 
 3 The original is taken from Sophocles. 
 
 ^ Ptolemy Auletes had applied to the Romans to support 
 his title to the throne of Egypt. 
 
 1 When any of the principal magistrates were observing 
 the auguries, it was unlawful to transact public business. 
 
 "» Bibulus had been insulted on his way to the forum. 
 
 n Having subjected Syria to the Roman arms. 
 
 Meaning the variance between worldly business and 
 philosophy. 
 
 P The original is part of averse of Homer describing the 
 discordant compound of the monster Chimxra, in the sixth 
 book of the Iliad. 
 
 1 His being obliged to remain in his province. 
 
 wish to direct your attention to what he says about 
 the coast duties, and that he had, by the advice of 
 his council, referred tlie business to the senate. It 
 ajipears that he had not yet read my letter, in 
 which, after due consideration, I had explained to 
 him that they ought not to be exacted. 1 should be 
 glad, if any Greeks' have yet come to Rome upon 
 that account, that you would see them, and, if you 
 think proper, would let them know my sentiments 
 ujion it. If I can manage so that this good cause 
 may not be lost in the senate, I will endeavour to 
 satisfy the renters" : but if not (I must speak openly 
 with you), I prefer satisfying all Asia, and the 
 traders ; for it is also of great imjjortance to them. 
 This I consider myself bound to do. But you will 
 see about it. Pray, do the quaestors hesitate even 
 about paying in cistophori' ? For, after having 
 tried everything, I must be content with this 
 ultimate resource, if there is no other. I shall be 
 glad to see you in Arpinatum, and will give you a 
 country welcome, since you despise this by the 
 sea-side. 
 
 LETTER XVn. 
 
 Just as you say, so I find it : Sampsiceramus is 
 disturbed : there is nothing that may not be appre- 
 hended. He is confessedly preparing the way to 
 tyranny. For, what means that sudden alliance" ? 
 what means the distribution of the Campanian 
 land ? or the money that is squandered .' If this 
 were all, it would be more than enough ; but such 
 is the nature of the thing, that it caimot end here. 
 For how should this afford any pleasure ? They 
 never would have brought matters to such a state, 
 but for the sake of opening a way to other mischie- 
 vous counsels. Ye immortal gods ! But, as you 
 say, in Arpinatum, about the thirteenth of May, 
 we will not bewail these matters, lest all the time 
 and attention we liavs bestowed ou literature be 
 lost ; but we will calmly confer together. Nor do 
 I, as formerly, derive consolation so much from 
 any good hopes, as from indifference, which I 
 exercise in nothing so much as in regard to civil 
 and public affairs. Besides, I have a little vanity 
 and conceit (it is well to know one's own faults), 
 which is in some measure flattered ; for it used to 
 sting me to think, that, some six hundred years 
 hence, the deserts of Sampsiceramus towards his 
 country might eclipse my own. There is now no 
 longer room for this apprehension ; for he is so 
 sunk, that Phocis Curiana^ is honourable in com- 
 parison. But of this when we meet. You seem 
 to me, however, likely to be at Rome at the time 
 of my arrival, which I shall not be sorry for, if it 
 put you to no inconvenience. But if you do come, 
 as you say, 1 wish you could get out from Theo- 
 phanes how Alabarches^*" is disposed towards me. 
 You will make inquiry, therefore, with your usual 
 accuracy, and bring me from him some documents, 
 
 r Asia Minor, where Quintus resided, was colonised by 
 Greeks, and had made part of the Greek empire, and still 
 used the Greek language. 
 
 s These are the knights farmers of the taxes, 
 
 ' See above, letter 6 of this book, note •. 
 
 " Pompeius had hastily married Caesar's daughter, 
 though she had been engagec' to another man. 
 
 T The ex.ict meaning of this is not known ; the general 
 sense is sufficiently obvious. 
 
 ■'*■ This is another name applied to Pompeius.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 6-iO 
 
 as it were, by which I may regulate my conduct. 
 We shall be able to learn something of the general 
 state of affairs from his conversation. 
 
 [_The foregoing letters were written from Cicero in the 
 country to Alticus in Rome. This, and the following 
 letters, were from Cicero in Home to Atticut in the 
 country. '\ 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 I HAVE received several letters from you, by 
 which I find with what doubtfulness and anxiety 
 of mind you wish to be informed what news 
 there is. We are beset on all sides : and we now 
 no longer refuse to be enslaved ; but dread death 
 and banishment as greater evils ; which are in truth 
 much inferior ones. And this state, which all with 
 one voice deplore, is not relieved by a word from 
 anybody. It is the aim of those in power, as I 
 suspect, to leave nobody any favour to bestow. 
 The young Curio" alone speaks out, and openly 
 opposes them : he receives the greatest applause, 
 is saluted in public with greathonour, and has shown 
 him many other marks of kindness ; while Fufiusy 
 is persecuted with hootings, reproaches, and hisses. 
 From hence no hope is to be derived, but only the 
 greater grief, when you perceive the will of tlie 
 city free ; its courage fettered : and that you may 
 not have to ask after each particular in detail, the 
 whole is reduced to such a state, that there is no 
 tope, not only that individuals, but even that the 
 magistrates can long remain free. But amidst this 
 oppression, conversation, at least in private circles 
 and companies, is less reserved than it was. Our 
 grief begins to overcome our fear ; yet so, that all 
 is overwhelmed with despair. Even the Campa- 
 nian law contains a denunciation, in the assembly 
 of the candidates, against anybody who shall 
 presume to mention any other occupation of the 
 laud, than as it is proposed by the Julian laws. 
 The other candidates do not hesitate to swear to 
 these conditions ; Laterensis is thought to have 
 acted wisely, in ceasing to solicit the tribunate, 
 that he might not be obliged to swear. But I do 
 not care to say anything more about the republic : 
 I vex myself, and cannot write without the greatest 
 pain. 1 support myself, considering this state of 
 oppression, not dejectedly ; considering what I 
 have formerly done, not at all courageously. 
 
 I am very kindly invited by Csesar into his pro- 
 vince, as his lieutenant : a free lieutenancy is also 
 given me under colour of a vow ^. But this is not 
 a sufficient security in the moderate counsels of 
 this pretty youth " ; and banishes me from my bro- 
 ther when he arrives : the former is safer, and does 
 not prevent my coming up, when I wish it. I 
 hold this, but do not think I shall make use of 
 it ; and nobody knows it. I do not like to run 
 away : I wish to fight''. The affections of people 
 are very great : but I do not speak positively. 
 You will keep this to yourself. 
 
 ^ See letter 8 of this book. 
 
 J Fufius was a creature of Caesar's : he ia mentioned 
 before, book i. letter 14. 
 
 ^ Of these free lieutenancies notice has been taken, book 
 i. letter 10, note J. 
 
 " Clodius : it alludes to his family name of Pulcher. 
 The expression of " moderate counsels "is used ironically. 
 
 I» To contend with Clodius. 
 
 Respecting the manumission of Statius'", and 
 some other matters, I am sorry indeed, but am 
 now grown callous. I should be glad, or rather I 
 should wish, that you were here: I should then 
 want neither counsel, nor comfort. Be ready 
 however, that if I call for you, you may fly to me. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Many things give me uneasiness, both from so 
 great a commotion in the republic, and from the 
 dangers which beset me individually, and are six 
 hundred fold. But nothing vexes me more than 
 the manumission of Statius : " that neither my au- 
 thority ; but I omit authority ; not even my dis- 
 pleasure, should be respected''." I do not know 
 what it is right to do : not that there is so much in 
 the thing itself, as in the conversation it excites. 
 I cannot be angry with those whom I greatly love ; 
 but I am sorry, indeed very sorry. As for other 
 matters of more importance, as the threats of 
 Clodius, and the struggles which are prepared for 
 me, they affect me but little ; for I conceive that I 
 shall be able either to bear them with becoming 
 dignity, or to avoid them without vexation. You 
 will say perhaps, "enough of dignity ; as they said 
 of acorns, when they had found better food*^; 
 think, I beseech you, of your safety." Alas ! 
 why are you not here .' nothing would escape you. 
 I am perhaps blinded, and am too much given up 
 to a sense of honour. Be assured, nothing ever 
 was so disgraceful, so base, so offensive to all 
 orders, ranks, and ages, as this present state of 
 affairs : more so than I could wish, not only than I 
 could have expected. Those courtiers of the popu- 
 lace have now taught even moderate people to hiss. 
 Bibulus is extolled to the skies. I know not why ; 
 but he is so praised, as if " he alone by his check 
 restored the state to us^" Pompeius, my be- 
 loved, who now is my greatest pain, has been his 
 own ruin : he retains not one supporter. I doubt 
 whether it be through inclination, or fear, that he 
 is obliged to join with them. For my own part, I 
 neither fight with that cause, because of the friend- 
 ship that subsists between us ; nor do I approve it, 
 lest I should condemn all that I have formerly 
 done. I manage as I can. The sense of the peo- 
 ple is clearly seen in the theatre, and public shows : 
 for in the exhibition of gladiators, now the master, 
 then the assistants s, were cut with hisses. In the 
 Apollinarian games, Diphilus, the actor, attacked 
 our friend Pompeius with petulance. He was 
 obliged to repeat a thousand times that sentence, 
 " you are great by our wretchedness :" and that — 
 " the time will come when you will rue that cour- 
 age," he pronounced with the shout of the whole 
 theatre ; and so of the rest : for the lines are such, 
 that they seemed to have been composed for the 
 
 >: This statius had acted in a manner to excite dissatis- 
 faction while he was with Q. Cicero in his government, 
 as appears from Cicero's Letters to Quintus, book i. let- 
 ter 2. 
 
 d This is taken from the " Phormio" of Terentius. 
 
 s This appears to be a Greek proverb, derived from the 
 ancient use of acorns as food : they are still used in some 
 parts of Spain. 
 
 ' The original is a celebrated line of Ennius in praise of 
 Fabius Maximus. 
 
 B I suspect this may be meant of Ca;sar and bis 
 coadjutors.
 
 650 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 occasion by some enemy of Pompejus. " If nei- 
 ther laws nor morals compel," &c. was spoken 
 amidst great shouts of applause. After Caesar had 
 come in amidst a dead applause'', the young 
 Curio followed, and was cheered, as Pompeius used 
 to be in the days of the republic. Caesar was 
 greatly disturbed. Letters were said to be hastily 
 despatched to Pompeius at Capua : they ' were 
 angry with the knights who stood up to applaud 
 Curii) : they were at enmity with all the ])eople ; 
 they threatened the Roscian law > and even the corn 
 law''. It was altogether a confused business. For 
 my part, I should have liked better that their 
 attempts might pass over in silence ; but I 
 fear this is impossible. People do not bear 
 what however it seems necessary to bear : but 
 there is now one general voice amongst all, con- 
 firmed by hatred, rather than by security. In the 
 mean time our Publius threatens me, and is an 
 open enemy. There hangs over me that business, 
 for which you will fly uj) '. I believe I have that 
 consulai host of all good men, even of all moder- 
 ately good, firmly attached to mc. Pompeius pro- 
 fesses no common regard for me : at the same time 
 he affirms that Clodius will not utter a word about 
 lue ; in which he does not deceive me, but is him- 
 self deceived. Cosconius being dead, I am invited 
 to fill his place in the commission for dividing the 
 lands ; that is, to supply the place of a dead man. 
 Nothing would be more disgraceful for me in the 
 eyes of men ; nor would anything be less calcu- 
 latt'd for the very purpose of security. For these 
 commissioners are ill looked upon by the good ; 
 so that while I retained the ill-will of the worst 
 part of society, I should add to it that of the 
 others. Cffisar wishes me to be his lieutenant. 
 This would be a more honourable way of avoiding 
 danger ; but I now refuse this. How is it then ? 
 I choose rather to fight : however there is yet no- 
 thing determined. I repeat, that I wish you were 
 here ; but, however if there is any necessity, I shall 
 send for you. What more ? what .' it is this, that 
 we may depend upon all being lost. For why 
 should I so long dissemble the truth ? but I write 
 this in haste, and with some reserve. Hereafter I 
 will either write everything plainly to you, if I can 
 find a trusty messenger to whom I may deliver my 
 letters ; or if I am obliged to write obscurely, yet 
 you will understand it. In these letters 1 shall call 
 myself Lajlius, and you Furius : the rest will be 
 in enigmas. I here diligently cultivate, and pay 
 respect to Csecilius ". I hear that the edicts of 
 Eibulus have been sent to you. Our Pompeius is 
 burning W'ith vexation and rage on their account. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 I HAVE done everything in my power for Ani- 
 catus, as I understood you wished. Numestius I 
 have willingly received into friendship, from the 
 
 h So elsewhere it is said " semivivis mercenariorum vo- 
 cibus."— Pro Sext. § 59. 
 
 ' The triumvirs, Cxsar, Pompeius, and Crassus. 
 
 i By the Roscian law the knights had appropriate seats 
 in the theatre separated from those of the common people. 
 
 k By this law com was delivered to the populace at a 
 reduced price. 
 
 1 This business was the tribunate of Clodius, which was 
 . not yet determined. 
 
 «> Caccilius was Atticus's uncle. He is mentioned before, 
 boC'li i. leUer 10. 
 
 regard with which you mentioned him ; Caecilius I 
 support in every way that I am able ; Varro" gives 
 me great satisfaction ; Pompeius has a real love 
 and affection towards me. Do you believe it ? you 
 will say. I do believe it ; his conduct persuades 
 me of it. But as I perceive practical writers, in all 
 historical maxims, and even in verse, advise us to 
 be cautious, and forbid to be credulous ; I shall do 
 one of these two, and be cautious ; the other, not 
 to Ijelieve, 1 cannot do. ('lodius still denounces 
 danger to me. Pompeius afhrms that there is no 
 danger ; nay, he swears it ; and adds even that he 
 would sooner be killed himself, than I should be 
 hurt. The affair is yet unsettled : as soon as any- 
 thing is determined, I will let you know. If it is 
 necessary to fight, 1 shall summon you to share my 
 troubles : if I am permitted to be quiet, I will not 
 disturb you from your Amaltliea. I shall write to 
 you very briefly upon public affairs ; for I fear lest 
 the paper itself should betray me. Hereafter 
 therefore, if I have occasion to write more fully to 
 you, I shall veil it in allegory. The state is dying 
 by a new disease ; so that while all people blame 
 what is done, com[)lain, grieve, entertain no differ- 
 ence of opinion, and even speak out, and openly 
 lament ; yet no remedy is offered. For we believe 
 that no resistance can be made, which is not fatal ; 
 and that there is no end of yielding, besides ruin. 
 Bibulus is exalted to the skies with the admiration 
 and favour of the people, who copy and read his 
 edicts and speeches. He is arrived at the height 
 of glory by a new method ; for nothing is now SO 
 jiopular, as hatred of the popular leaders: I fear 
 what may be the issue of this. If I begin to see 
 anything, I will write to you more openly. If you 
 love me, as indeed you do, keep yourself in readi- 
 ness, that you may come up if I call : but I en- 
 deavour (and shall do so) to prevent the necessity 
 of it. As to what I said about calling you Furius, 
 there is no need of changing your name. I shall 
 make myself Lselius, and you Atticus ; and I shall 
 not use my own hand, or seal, provided the letters 
 be of a kind which I should be sorry to have fall 
 into other hands. Diodotus is dead : he has left me, 
 perhaps, a hundred sestertia » (800/). Bibulus 
 has put off the comitia, by an ArchilochianP edict, 
 to the seventeenth of October. I have received 
 the books from Vibiusi. He is a poor poet ; and 
 yet has some information : but upon the .vhole is 
 not without his use. I shall have it transcribed, 
 and send it back. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 On the subject of the republic why should I 
 write to you minutely .' The whole is ruined : and 
 in one respect is more wretched than you left it ; 
 for then the tyranny which oppressed the state 
 
 n This is the same Varro who was afterwards esteemed 
 the most learned of the Romans. 
 
 ° In the original it is centres, which would be H.S. 10,000, 
 or 83,000?. ; but it is probable the word may have been so 
 copied by mistake for centum, which would make this 
 heq.uest 833?. 
 
 P Archilochus was a severe satirist, so that the expres- 
 sion signifies that these edicts reflected severely upon the 
 triumvirate. 
 
 1 It appears by the following letter, that these books 
 contained the poems of Alexander. It is probable that 
 Atticus miglit have sent them tc Cicero by Vibius.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 r,51 
 
 seemed at least to be liked by tbe common people ; 
 and though a cause of trouble to the better sort, 
 yet it did not threaten their ruin. Now it has 
 suddenly become so hateful to every body, that I 
 dread to think where it may burst forth ; for we 
 have already experienced tlie rage and intemper- 
 ance of those men, who in their anger against 
 Cato"' have overturned everything. But then they 
 used such gentle poisons, that it seemed as if we 
 might die without agony ; now I fear they will be 
 rendered outrageous by the hisses of the populace, 
 the language of the respectable citizens, the clam- 
 our of Italy. I had hoped, indeed, as I often used 
 to say to you, that the wheel of the republic was 
 so turned, as scarcely to be heard, scarcely to leave 
 a track ; and so it would have been, if people 
 could have waited to let the storm pass over : but 
 after smothering their groans a long time, at last 
 all have begun to speak, and to cry aloud ; so that 
 my friend^, unused to reproach, always conversant 
 with praise, and surrounded with glory, knows not 
 ■where to turn himself in his present squalid ap- 
 pearance and broken spirit. He sees it dangerous 
 to proceed, weak to retreat ; he has made good 
 people his enemies, and has not even the bad for 
 his friends. See now my tenderness of mind : I 
 could not refrain from tears when I saw him, on 
 the 22nd of July, addressing the people upon the 
 edicts of Bibulus ; him, I say, who formerly used 
 magnificently to exalt himself in that very place, 
 with the greatest affection of the people, and uni- 
 versal applause. How was he then humbled ! how 
 dejected ! how did he displease not only his audi- 
 ence, but himself also ! O spectacle ! agreeable 
 to Crassus alone, not so to others. For having 
 descended as it were, from the stars, it seemed a 
 fall, rather than any advance. And as Apelles, 
 if he saw his Venus, or Protogenes his Jalysus, 
 smeared with mud, would, I conceive, feel great 
 pain : so did I with great pain behold him, whom 
 I had painted and polished with all the colours of 
 art, suddenly disfigured. Though nobody thought 
 I owed him any friendship for his conduct in the 
 Clodian business ; yet such was my regard, that it 
 was not to be exhausted by any act of unkindness. 
 Bibulus's Archilochian edicts against him are so 
 acceptable to the populace, that one cannot pass 
 by the place where they are exhibited, for the 
 throng of people who are reading them : to him 
 they are so bitter, that he pines with vexation: to 
 me they are distressing, because they give too 
 much uneasiness to one whom I have always 
 loved ; and I am afraid lest one so powerful, so 
 active with his sword, and so unaccustomed to in- 
 sult, should give way to grief and rage with all the 
 force of his mind. Wliat is likely to be the end of 
 Bibulus, I cannot say ; at present he is in surpris- 
 ing glory. Upon his putting off the comitia to 
 the month of October, Caesar imagined that, this 
 being a measure usually offensive to the people, he 
 should be able, by addressing them, to persuade the 
 assembly itself to go to Bibulus ; but after utter- 
 ing many very seditious expressions, he could not 
 extract from them a single word. What say you } 
 the triumvirs feel that they have the good-will of 
 no party : so much the more reason have we to 
 
 ' The stern supporter of old principles. With Cato must 
 be supposed to be included other inflexible politicians of 
 the same tfme. 
 
 • Pompeius. 
 
 be afraid. Clodius is my declared enemy. Pom- 
 peius affirms that he will do nothing against me : 
 it is dangerous to believe this ; therefore I prepare 
 myself to resist him. I trust I shall have the best 
 wishes of all orders. When the time comes, not 
 only I shall want you, but the circumstances them- 
 selves will call for you : I shall gain a great deal of 
 advice, of courage, and of protection, if I have you 
 with me at that time. Varro gives me satisfaction ; 
 Pompeius talks divinely. I hope I shall certainly 
 be able to come off either with distinguished credit, 
 or without mortification. Let me know what you 
 are doing, how you amuse yourself, and how you 
 have managed with the .Sieyonians '. 
 
 LETTER XXn. 
 
 How I could wish that you had remained in 
 Rome ! you would certainly have remained, if we 
 could have foreseen what has happened : we could 
 easily restrain our pretty youth", or at least we 
 should be able to know what he was about. But 
 now, tliis is the state of the business ; he flies about, 
 raves, follows no certain course, threatens many, 
 and seems likely to act as chance may offer. When 
 he sees the odium attached to the present state of 
 affairs, he seems as if he would attack those who 
 have occasioned it ; but when again he recollects 
 their influence, and the strength of their army, he 
 directs himself against me ; and to me he threatens 
 both violence and prosecution. With him Pom- 
 peius has discoursed ; and, as he informed me him- 
 self, (for I have no other witness,) discoursed with 
 vehemence, telling him that he should incur the 
 utmost disgrace of perfidy and wickedness, if any 
 danger should be brought upon me by him, whom 
 he had himself invested with arms, when he suf- 
 fered him to be made a plebeian ; but that he, and 
 Appius, had received his promise on my behalf, 
 and that if he did not observe it, he should resent 
 it so, that the world might know nothing was 
 dearer to him than my friendship. After saying 
 this, and much more to the same purpose, he told 
 me that Clodius first continued for some time to 
 urge many things on the other side ; but at last 
 gave up, and declared that he would do nothing 
 contrary to Pompeius's wishes. Since then, how- 
 ever, he has not ceased to speak very severely of 
 me ; and if he did not, still I should not trust him, 
 but should prepare for everything, as I do. Now 
 I conduct myself so, that every day my friends and 
 my influence increase. I keep altogether clear 
 from public concerns, and am busily engaged in 
 causes, and the exertions of the forum. This I 
 perceive is agreeable not only to those who use my 
 assistance, but to the people generally. My house 
 is frequented ; I am saluted ; the remembrance of 
 my consulship is renewed. The favour of the peo- 
 ple is manifest ; and I am in such hope, as some- 
 times to think the struggle which hangs over me 
 is not a thing to be declined. I have now need of 
 your advice, your affection, and fidelity ; therefore 
 fly uj) ; every thing will be easy to me, if I have 
 but you. Much may be done through our friend 
 Varro ; but it will be strengthened by your support. 
 Much may be got from Publius himself; much 
 may be known, which cannot be kept secret from 
 
 * See book i. letter 19, 
 
 « Publius Clodius.
 
 652 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 you ; mtich also — but it is idle to enumerate cadi 
 particular ; I shall then want you for everythin;^. 
 Be assured of this, that everything will be ])lain 
 when I see you ; but all depends uyon its beint; 
 before he enters upon liis office. While Crassus 
 is urging Pompeius, I imagine ifyou are here (wlio 
 by means of Biiopis'' may learn from Clodius liim- 
 selfwithwhat sincerity they are acting) I shall either 
 be free from trouble, or, at least, free from error : you 
 do not need my entreaty and exhortation. You 
 see what my wishes, what the occasion, what the 
 imjiortanceof thecase requires. Of the republic I 
 have nothing to write to you, but the great hatred of 
 all people towards those who have possessed them- 
 selves of everything ; yet no hope of any change. 
 But, as you may easily ])erceive, Pomjieius is tired, 
 and heartily repents. I cannot sufficiently foresee 
 what issue is to be expected ; but these rancours 
 must assuredly burst forth somewliert-. I have 
 sent back to you the books of Alexander; a care- 
 less writer, and no good poet, yet not without his 
 use. I have willingly received Numerius Numes- 
 tius into my friendship, and have found him a 
 sensible and prudent man, and worthy of your 
 recommendation. 
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 I BELIEVE you never before received a letter 
 from me that was not written in my own hand.' 
 From 1 hat you may judge how much I am occupied : 
 for having no spare time, and yet being obliged to 
 walk about for the sake of recruiting my voice, I 
 dictate this as I walk. In the first place then I 
 would have you know, that our friend Sampsicera- 
 mus is heartily sick of his situation, and wishes he 
 could again be restored to that place, from which 
 he has fallen. He imparts to me his uneasiness, 
 and sometimes openly seeks a remedy ; which it is 
 impossible for me to find. Then, all the authors 
 and adherents of that faction are losingtheirvigour ; 
 while there never was a more general consent in 
 the wishes and expressions of all people.. As for 
 myself (for I know you will be glad to be informed), 
 I interfere in no ]3ublic counsels, and give myself 
 up altogether to the business and labour of tlie 
 forum ; by which, as may easily be supposed, I am 
 brought to the frequent relation, and regret, of my 
 former deeds But that kinsman of our Boopis 
 casts no little terror, and threatens ; and while he 
 denies it to Sampsiceramus, to others he professes 
 and boasts of it ; therefore if you love me, as in- 
 deed you do, it you are asleep, wake up ; ifyou are 
 standing, walk ; if you are walking, run ; if run- 
 ning, fly. It is not to be believed how much (which 
 is the most possible) I place in your counsels and 
 prudence, how much in your affection and fidelity. 
 The greatness of the occasion requires perhaps a 
 long discourse ; but to minds so united as ours, a 
 few words are sufficient. It is of great importance 
 to me, if you cannot be at Rome on the comitia, 
 at least that you may be there when he is declared 
 tribune. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 In the letter I sent by Numestius, I called upon 
 you with an earnestness and vehemence, which 
 nothing could exceed ; to that call add even, if you 
 
 ' Clodia. See book ii. letter 9, note J. 
 
 can, something more. Do not make yourself un. 
 easy (for I know you, and am aware of the solici- 
 tude and an.\iety inseparable from real affection) ; 
 but the case, as I hope, is less formidable in fact, 
 than it seems in the relation. Vettius (the same 
 who gave information at the time of my consulship) 
 had promised Ccesar, that he would contrive to 
 bring the young Curio into some suspicion of cri- 
 minality. He therefore insinuated himself into the 
 familiarity of the young man ; and having, as it 
 appears, frequent meetings witii him, he at length 
 brought matters to such a state, that he declared 
 his determination to assault Pomjieius with the 
 assistance of his slaves, and to kill him. Informa- 
 tion of this was given by Curio to his father, and 
 by him to Pompeius. The affair was brought be- 
 fore tlie senate. Vettius being introduced, at first 
 denied that he had ever been concerned with Cuiio ; 
 but this did nut last long ; for he jireseiitly de- 
 manded a public pledge of security ujion his giving 
 evidence ; this was not opposed. Then he gave 
 out, that there liad been a band of young men 
 under the conduct of Curio ; amongst whom had 
 originally been PauUus, and Q. Crejjio Brutus, and 
 Lentulus, the son of the flamen, not without the 
 knowledge of his father ; that afterwards C. Septi- 
 mius, the secretary of Bibulus, had brought him a 
 dagger from Bibulus : which was all absurd ; as if 
 Vettius would have been without a dagger, unless 
 the consul had given him one ! And this was the 
 more scouted, because on the 13th of May Bibu- 
 lus had warned Pompeius that he ought to be upon 
 his guard, and Pompeius had thanked him for it. 
 Young Curio being introduced, deposed in answer 
 to what Vettius had said ; and Vettius was then 
 chiefly convicted by his own assertion, that it had 
 been the advice of the young men to attack Pom- 
 peius in the forum with the gladiators of Gabinius ; 
 and that Paullus was at the head of it ; though it 
 was known that he was at that time in Macedonia. 
 A decree of the senate was then passed, that Vet- 
 tius should be put in prison for having confessed 
 that he had carried arms; and that whoever libe- 
 rated him would be an enemy to the republic. The 
 general opinion of this affair was, that it had been 
 designed Vettius and his slaves should have been 
 apprehended in the forum with a dagger and with 
 arms ; and then he should have offered to confess. 
 And this would have been done, if the Curios had 
 not previously given information to Pompeius. The 
 decree of the senate was then read in the assembly 
 of the people ; but the next day Ccesar, who for- 
 merly, when he was prcetor, had obliged Q. Catu- 
 lus to speak from below"', now brought Vettius 
 forwards on the rostra, and placed him in a situa- 
 tion, to which the consul Bibulus was not permitted 
 to aspired Here he said whatever he pleased 
 about the republic ; and having come ready pre- 
 jiared, he first omitted any mention of Ccepio, 
 whom he had named with acrimony in the senate ; 
 so that it was manifest the night, and some nightly 
 management, had intervened ; in the next place, he 
 named some, whom in the senate he had not 
 touched with the slightest suspicion ; as LucuUus, 
 from whom he said C. Fannius used to be sent to 
 
 ■" Private persons were not allowed to ascend the rostra 
 witliout the invitation of some magistrate. 
 
 ^ Uibiilus, who was joint consul with Caesar, was pre- 
 vented from appearing in public by apprehensions of being: 
 insulted.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS A I'TICUS. 
 
 653 
 
 liim ; the same who had set his name to the accu- 
 sation of P. Clodius ; also L. Domitius, whose 
 house had been fixed upon as the place from whence 
 their eruption might be made. He did not name 
 me ; but mentioned that a certain speaker, of con- 
 sular rank, and neighbour to the consul'', had sug- 
 gested to him, that some Ahala Servilius^, or 
 Brutus", must be found. He added at last, upon 
 being called back by Vatinius, after the assembly- 
 was dismissed, that he had understood from Curio, 
 that my son-in-law Piso, and M. Laterensis, were 
 privy to these machinations. Vettius was at this 
 time charged before Crassus Dives for violence ; 
 and upon being found guilty, meant to claim the 
 benefit of turning evidence ; which if he had ob- 
 tained, it was probable several trials would have 
 followed. This did not much alarm me, who, how- 
 ever, am not used to disregard anything. Indeed, 
 I had the strongest marks of favour shownrme ; but 
 I am quite weary of my life, so full are all things 
 of all sorts of miseries. A little while ago we had 
 been apprehensive of a massacre, which the speech 
 of that firm old man Q. Considius^ had dispelled ; 
 that which we might have apprehended es'ery day, 
 has suddenly sprung up. ^Vhat think you .' No- 
 thing is more unfortunate than I ; nothing more 
 fortunate than Catulus"^, both from the splendour 
 of his life, and from the character of these times. 
 Yet in the midst of these calamities, I preserve a 
 firm and unruffled mind, and maintain my dignity 
 honourably and carefully. Pompeius bids me lay 
 aside all uneasiness on the subject of Clodius ; and 
 on every occasion professes the greatest kindness 
 towards me ; but I want you to direct my counsels, 
 to share my anxieties, and to take part in all my 
 thoughts. Therefore, as I desired Numestius to 
 use his influence with you, so I beg you even more 
 earnestly, if possible, to fly up to us. I shall get 
 new life if I see you. 
 
 y Cicero's house in Rome was not far from Cassar's. 
 
 z Ahala Servilius had killed Sp. Melius on suspicion of 
 aspiring to kingly power. 
 
 » Brutus, as is well known, had been the cause of 
 Tarquinius's being driven from the throne, and of the 
 extinction of the regal power. 
 
 b Cssar had committed some acts of violence, and had 
 filled the assembly with armed men, when the law was to 
 be passed which gave him the government of Gaul for five 
 years. Jlany senators absented tliemselves ; but Consi- 
 dius came forward, saying, that he was too old to fear 
 death. 
 
 c Q. Catulus had died the year befose. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 When I cc mmend one of your frieiids to you. 
 I like him to know from you, that I have done so. 
 As lately, when I wrote lo you of Varro's atten- 
 tion to me, you said in return that you were very 
 glad of it ; but I would rather you had written to 
 him, to assure him that I was sensible of his kind- 
 ness ; not so much because he actually gave me 
 satisfaction, as that he might continue to do it ; 
 for, as you know, he has wonderfully moderated 
 those involved and unwholesome counsels. But I 
 observe that maxim, that it is necessary to bear 
 the extravagances of those who are in power : 
 while your other friend Hortensius ""j with how full 
 a hand, how nobly, how eloquently has he raised 
 to the stars my praises, in speaking of the praetor- 
 ship of Flaccus, and that time of the Allobroges ! 
 Believe me, nothing could have been said more 
 kindly, more honourably, or more copiously. I 
 wish you would write to inform him that I have 
 mentioned this to you. But why should you write ? 
 when I imagine you are coming yourse'f, and are 
 almost here ; so much have I urged you in former 
 letters. I very much look for you, very much 
 want you; and not I, more than the cause itself, 
 and the time, call for you. On the present state 
 of affairs what should I write to you, but a repe- 
 tition of the same thing ? Nothing can be more 
 hopeless than the condition of the republic ; nothing 
 more hated than those who have occasioned it. So 
 far as belief, and hope, and conjecture go, I am 
 supported by the strongest favour of ail people. Fly 
 up, therefore ; you will either extricate me from '-il 
 uneasiness, or you will share it wirh lue. 1 am ilie 
 shorter, because I hope we shall very soon be at 
 liberty personally to converse together as we please. 
 Farewell. 
 
 •i In the original it is Hortalus, which was one of the 
 names of Hortensius.; but being less commonly known, I 
 have not thought fit to preserve it in the translation. 
 
 [lit the interval between this and the following letters, 
 Atticus went up to Rome at his friend's request. Clodius 
 in the mean time having been appoinleil tribune of the 
 people, spared no means to pain the populaee, and at 
 length promulgated a deeree against such as had put to 
 death a Roman citizen without the sentence of the people. 
 This vas evidently levelled at Cicero's conduct in the 
 suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy ; upon which, 
 seeing the disposition of men's minds, he tvithdrew from 
 the city, and was presently followed by a decree of banish- 
 ment.} 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 {GrcBV. iii.) 
 I WISH I may ever see the day wheu I shall 
 have reason to thank you for compelling me to 
 preserve my life ; hitherto I am very sorry. But 
 I entreat you to come to me immediately at A''ibo, 
 to which place many causes have directed me. It 
 you come thither, I shall be able to consult about 
 my whole journey and flight. If you refuse to do 
 this, I shall be surprised ; but I trust you will 
 do it. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 The reason of my coming hither was, that there 
 was no place where I could any longer remain 
 unmolested so well as on Sica's estate ; especially 
 while the law for my banishment had not yet been 
 finally amended. At the same time I knew that 
 I could easily go back to Brundisium, if I had you 
 with me ; but without you I could not continue in 
 those parts, on account of Autronius"^. Now, as I 
 
 ' By " those parts " Cicero probably means Greece, where 
 Autrouius and others of the Catilinarian conspirators re-
 
 GUI 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 mentioned to you before, if you come to me, we 
 will consult upon this whole business. I know the 
 journey is troublesome ; but this threat calamity is 
 full of troubles. My spirits are too much broken, 
 and depressed, to admit of my writing more. Fare- 
 well. Dated the 8th of April, from the shores of 
 Lucania. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 (CrcBV. iv.) 
 I WOULD have you attribute it to my misfor- 
 tunes, rather than to fickleness, that I have sud- 
 denly left Vibo, whither I had invited you ; for I 
 have received a draft of the law for my ruin ; by 
 which I find that the amendment I had heard of, 
 permits me to remain at any place exceeding the 
 distance of four hundred miles. But not being 
 permitted to go where I had intended', I immedi- 
 ately turned my course towards Brundisium, pre- 
 viously to the passing of the law, lest I might 
 involve Sica, with whom I was staying, in my ruin ; 
 and also because I was not suffered to be at Malta. 
 Now make haste to join me, if only I can meet 
 with any one to take me in. Hitherto I have met 
 with a kind reception ; but I am apprehensive of 
 what is to come. I repent, my Pomponius, of 
 being yet alive ; in which matter you have princi- 
 pally influenced me. But of this when we meet : 
 only manage to come. 
 
 LETTER IV, 
 (^GrcBV. i.) 
 As I before thought it of importance to have 
 you with me,— so especially, upon reading the 
 form of the law, I understood that nothing could 
 happen more desirably for the journey I deter- 
 mined upon, than that you should join me as soon 
 as possible : that after leaving Italy, in case my 
 road should lie through Epirus, I might have your 
 protection and that of your friends ; or if anything 
 else were to be done, might regulate my measures 
 by your advice. I beg, therefore, that you will 
 take pains to join me without delay. You may do 
 it the easier, since the law respecting the province 
 of Macedonia s has been passed. I would use 
 further arguments with you, if the state of affairs 
 did not itself speak to you on my behalf. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Terentia often acknowledges her obligations 
 to you in the strongest terms ; which is highly 
 gratifying to me. I live in great wretchedness. 
 
 Bided, so as to render it unsafe for him to proceed to Bu- 
 throtum, (where we may suppose that Atticus had offered 
 him an asylum,) unless he had the protection of Atticus's 
 presence. Brundisium was the port from wlience people 
 passed into Greece. Vibo was opposite to Sicily. 
 
 f Cicero hud designed to pass his exile in Sicily or Malta, 
 but being prevented from executing this plan, he deter- 
 mined to go, by the way of Macedonia, into some of the 
 nearest parts of Asia Minor. 
 
 e The appointment of the government of Macedonia was 
 probably of some importance to Atticus, on account of his 
 private affairs. It was allotted to the consul Piso, who 
 appears to have been a base, hypocritical man, in the 
 Interest of Clodtiu. 
 
 and am worn out with excessive grief. I know 
 not what to say to you : for if you are still in Kome 
 you cannot now come up with me ; and if you are 
 on your road, as soon as you have come up with 
 me we shall arrange together what is to be arranged. 
 I only beg that you will continue in the same 
 affection you have always borne me, — for I am still 
 the same. My enemies have taken away from me 
 my goods, but not myself. Farewell. Dated the 
 10th of April, at Thorium •>. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 I HAD not doubted but I should see you at 
 Tarentum or Brundisium. Many reasons made 
 me wish it ; among the rest, that I might stop in 
 Ejjirus and take your advice on the rest of my 
 affairs. Since this has not happened, I shall place 
 this also in the long catalogue of my misfortunes. 
 I shall proceed into Asia, particularly to Cyzicum'. 
 I commend my family to you. I hardly and 
 wret-hedly support myself. Dated the 18th of 
 April, from the neighbourhood of Tarentum. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 I ARRIVED at Brundisium the 18th of April, 
 The same day your servant delivered to me -your 
 letter; and, the third day after, another servant 
 brought me another letter. Your kindness in 
 inviting and pressing me to go to your house in 
 Epirus, is very gratifying to me, and nothing new, 
 and what I should wish to do if I might spend my 
 whole time thereJ ; for I dislike places that are 
 frequented : I avoid mankind, and can hardly bear 
 to see the light. That retirement would not be 
 unpleasant to me, especially in so familiar a place; 
 but to turn aside for the sake of making an ex- 
 cursion thither, is, in the first place, out of my 
 way ; then it would expose me to Autronius, and 
 the rest of that set, for four days' journey, — and 
 would, besides, be without you. For a fortified 
 castle, if I were living there, might be desirable ; 
 to a mere passenger would be useless. If I dared 
 I would go to Athens : I certainly should like it : 
 but at this time many of my enemies are there, — 
 and I have not you with me ; and I fear they may 
 interpret even that city to be not sufficiently distant 
 from Italy ; nor do you say on what day I may 
 expect you. By calling upon me to preserve my 
 life, you produce only this effect, — of preventing 
 me from laying hands on myself ; you cannot pre- 
 vent my repenting of my determination, and of 
 my life : for what is there that should attach me 
 to it .' especially if there is no longer that hope 
 which accompanied me in my flight. I will not 
 attempt to enumerate aU the miseries into which 
 I have fallen through the extreme malice and 
 wickedness not so much of my enemies as of my 
 
 h Thui-ium was a to>\Ti at the extremity of Italy, for- 
 merly distinguished for luxury, and known by the nama 
 of Sybaris. 
 
 ' Cyzicum waB situated on the Asiatic side of the Pro- 
 pontis. 
 
 i Atticus'i place in Epirus lay within the proscribed 
 distance, or so near to it, that Cicero did not feel himself 
 at liberty to reside there in security. He was even appre- 
 hensive that some of his enemies might deem Athena to be 
 too near to Italy.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 655 
 
 enviers, lest I should exasperate my own grief and 
 bring you into the same distress. This I affirm, 
 chat nobody was ever affected with so heavy a 
 calamity, nobody had ever more reason to wish for 
 death, — the most honourable time for which has 
 already passed by ; the time that remains may 
 bring an end to my trouble, but not a remedy. 
 On the subject of the republic I see you collect 
 every thing which you think can afford me any 
 hope of a change of circumstances. I>ittle as this 
 is, yet, since you will have it so, let us wait for it. 
 In the mean time, if you make haste you will yet 
 be able to join me ; for I shall either go into 
 Epirus or shall pass slowly through Candavia''. 
 My doubt about Epirus is not owing to my irreso- 
 lution, but to my uncertainty where I may meet 
 with my brother, whom indeed I know not how I 
 shall be able either to see or to take leave of. This 
 is the greatest and saddest of all my miseries. I 
 would write to you oftener, and more at length, if 
 my grief did not take away all the powers of my 
 mind, and above all the power of writing. I long 
 to see you. Farewell. Dated the 30th of April, 
 at Brundisium. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 On leaving Brundisium, I informed you why I 
 did not go into Epirus ; because of its vicinity to 
 Greece, which was full of daring enemies, and 
 because the passage out was difficult when I might 
 wish to leave it. Besides this, I received two 
 messages while I was at Dyrrachium', — one to say 
 that my brother would go by sea from Ephesus to 
 Athens ; the other that he would go by land through 
 Macedonia. I sent therefore to Athens, to desire 
 that he would come from thence to Thessalonica™ ; 
 and went myself to Thessalonica, where I arrived 
 the 23d of May. I have heard nothing certain 
 about his journey, except that he had a little before 
 left Ephesus. I am now full of alarm about the 
 proceedings at Rome" ; for though you tell me, in 
 a letter dated the 15th of May, that you had heard 
 he was likely to be brought to a severe account, 
 and in another letter that things were now more 
 favourable, — yet this last is dated a day earlier than 
 the other, which adds to my uneasiness : so that 
 while my daily trouble distresses and wastes _ me, 
 this additional vexation leaves me scarcely any life 
 remaining. But the voyage is a very difficult one ; 
 and from his uncertainty where I might be, he 
 may perhaps have taken a different course. For 
 Phaeto, his freedman, has not seen him ; but being 
 driven back by the wind into Macedonia, he met 
 me at Pella. I see how much reason I have to 
 fear what is to come, nor do I know what to say. 
 I am afraid of everything ; for there is nothing so 
 miserable that may not happen in my present cir- 
 cumstances. Wretched enough before in my great 
 afflictions and sorrows, with the addition of this 
 apprehension, I remain at Thessalonica in suspense, 
 
 k Candavia was a mountainous district on the borders of 
 Macedonia. 
 
 • A port of Albania, opposite to Brundisium. 
 
 D> Thessalonica, a principal city of Wacedonia, the same 
 where St. Paul established one of the first Christian 
 churches, and to which he has addressed two epistles. 
 
 » Proceedings relating to Quintus Cicero's administra- 
 tjcn of his province of Asia, which comprehended the 
 western part of Asia Minor. 
 
 and have no courage for anything. Now, in answer 
 to your inquiries, I have not seen Trypho Ctccilius. 
 Your conversation with Pompeius I have understood 
 from your letter. I do not see so great a commo- 
 tion to hang over the repubhc, as you either see or 
 represent with a view of comforting me ; for the 
 business of Tigranes having passed over, all diffi- 
 culties seem to be removed'^. You desire me to 
 return thanks to Varro, which I will do, and like- 
 wise to Hypsceus. I think of following your advice 
 in not going further off till the decrees of May are 
 brought to me, but where I shall remain I am not 
 yet determined ; for I am so uneasy about Quintus 
 that I can resolve upon nothing : but I will im- 
 mediately let you know. From the irresolution 
 apparent in my letters, I imagine you perceive the 
 disturbance of my mind ; which, though I am 
 afflicted with an inconceivable and heavy calamity, 
 is not however so much owing to the greatness of 
 my misfortune as to the recollection of my own 
 fault, — for you now see by whose iniquity p I have 
 been led on and betrayed. I wish you had per- 
 ceived it sooner, and had not, with me, given up 
 your whole mind to grief. When, therefore, you 
 hear of my being oppressed and worn out with 
 sadness, remember that I am more affected with 
 the penalty of my folly than with the event itself; 
 that I should have trusted him without suspecting 
 his wickedness. The sense of my misfortunes, 
 and apprehension for my brother, stop my writing. 
 See after and regulate all these matters. Terentia 
 returns you the greatest thanks. I have sent you 
 a copy of the letter which I wrote to Pompeius. 
 Dated the 29th of May, at Thessalonica. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 My brother Quintus having left Asia before the 
 first of May and reached Athens on the fifteenth, 
 was obliged to make great haste, that his absence 
 might not expose him to difficulty, in case there 
 should be anybody not yet satisfied with the sum 
 of my misfortunes. I wished him, therefore, 
 rather to hasten to Rome than to come to me. At 
 the same time (for I will confess the truth, from 
 which you may perceive the greatness of my suffer- 
 ings) I could not bring my mind either to look 
 upon him, who was so tenderly attached to me, 
 under the effect of such affliction, or present before 
 him, and suffer him to behold, my own wretchedness 
 sunk in grief, and my ruined condition. I dreaded 
 also, what would certainly have happened, that he 
 might be unable to quit me. I contemplated the 
 time when he would either be obliged to dismiss 
 his lictorsT, or would be forcibly torn from my 
 embrace. The effect of this bitterness I have 
 avoided by another bitterness, of not seeing my 
 brother. You, who made me preserve my hfe, 
 have driven me into this situation. I now pay the 
 
 o Clodius had, in consideration of a large sum of money, 
 contrived to get the son of Tigranes out of Pompeius's 
 custody, though not without a struggle, in which soma 
 lives were lost. This was likely to have caused a division 
 among the triumvirs, Clodius being supported by Caisar. 
 But it seems to have passed over. 
 
 p This is meant of Pompeius. 
 
 q The provincial governors were allowed to retain their 
 lictors and fasces, the ensigns of their rank, till they re- 
 turned to Rome ; but might be obliged to dismiss them 
 previously, if they used unnecessary delay.
 
 <35ff 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TTJLLIUS CICERO 
 
 penalty of my error; though your letters encourage 
 me, — from which I easily perceive the amount of 
 your own liopes. These indeed afforded me con- 
 solation, till you came to that part, — " after 
 Pompeius, now gain over Hortensius, and people 
 of that description." I beseech you, my Pompo- 
 nius, do you not yet see by whose means, by whose 
 treachery, by whose baseness, I am ruined ? But 
 of this we will talk when we meet. I only say, 
 what I imagine you know, that it is not my 
 enemies, but my enviers, who have undone me. 
 Now, if indeed things are as you hope, I will sup- 
 ])ort myself, and use my best endeavours, with that 
 hope which you bid me entertain. But if, as it 
 appears to me, things are fixed and settled, what I 
 ■was not permitted to do in the best manner must 
 be done in one less becoming''. Terentia often 
 acknowledges her obligations to you. One of my 
 troubles in apprehension is the business of my poor 
 brother. When I know how this will be deter- 
 mined, I shall know what I ought to do. The 
 expectation of letters, and of those advantages 
 •which you hold out, keeps me, as you advise, at 
 Thessalonica. If any news arrives, I shall know 
 ■what is hereafter to be done. If, as you mention, 
 you left Rome on the first of June, we shall very 
 soon meet. I send you the letter which I wrote 
 to Pompeius. Dated the 13th of June, at Thessa- 
 lonica. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 What has taken place, up to the 25th of May, 
 I have learned from your letters ; the rest I waited 
 to hear at Thessalonica, as you advised. "When 
 this account arrives, I shall more easily be able to 
 determine where I shall be ; for if there is occasion, 
 if anything is done, if I see any hope, I will either 
 remain where I am, or will go to your house in 
 Epirus. But if, as you say, these prospects should 
 have vanished, T must make some other arrange- 
 ment. Hitherto you show me nothing besides the 
 disagreement of those peoples — which, however, 
 relates to everything rather than to me. I do 
 not see, therefore, how this can help me : still as 
 long as you encourage me to hope, I will obey you : 
 for when you charge me so often and so severely, 
 and upbraid me ■nith want of courage, I beseech 
 you, what evil is there which does not enter into 
 my calamity ? who ever fell at once from such a 
 lofty state ? in so good a cause .' with such force 
 of talents, and wisdom, and favour .' such support 
 from all honest men ? Can I forget what I was .-' 
 Can I help feeling what I am .' what honour I have 
 lost ? what glory ? what children ? what fortunes ? 
 what a brother .'' whom (to teach you a new species 
 of calamity) though I loved him, and have always 
 loved him, more than myself, yet I avoided seeing, 
 that I might neither be witness to his grief and 
 mourning, nor present myself to him in ruin and 
 
 ' Alluding to his death. Suicide was not then held to 
 'be either a crime or a disgrace. Cato and Atticus adopted 
 it in perfect conformity with the principles of their respec- 
 tive sects. Cicero here, as elsewhere, plainly exposes one 
 leading principle of the Academics, to whose sect he be- 
 Ionised, that when they were unable to do what they con- 
 sidered to be best, they ought to do that which was next 
 •best. 
 
 The triumvirs, Casar, Crassus, and Pompeius. 
 
 affliction, whom he had left in the height of pros- 
 perity. I omit other grievous considerations, — for 
 I am jirevented by tears. And ought 1 then to be 
 reproached for my sadness .' or rather for having 
 committed so great a fault as not to retain these 
 advantages (wliicli miglit easily have been done, if 
 plots for my destruction had not been laid within 
 my own walls), or at least not to lose them but 
 with my life ? I have mentioned this, that you 
 might rather relieve me, as you do, than that you 
 should think me deserving of reproach and blame. 
 And I write the less to you, because I am inter- 
 rupted by my sorrows ; and in truth I have more 
 to ex])ect from thence than to say myself. If any 
 intelligence is brought me, I will acquaint you 
 with my determination. I wish you to write to 
 me, as you have hitherto done, about everything, 
 that 1 may not remain in ignorance on any point. 
 Dated the 18th of June, at Thessalonica. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 Your letters and some favourable reports, 
 though not on the best authority, and the hope of 
 hearing further from you, and your advice, have 
 all kept me at Thessalonica. When I shall have 
 received the letters I expect, if there is indeed that 
 hope which has been encouraged by rumours, I 
 will go to your house ; if it is otherwise, I will take 
 care to inform you what I do. Continue to assist 
 me as you do with your exertions, your advice, and 
 influence. Have done with consolation, and cease 
 to upbraid me. When you do so, I seem to have 
 lost your affection, and to have lost your sympathy; 
 whom I conceive to be so affected with my mis- 
 fortunes, that you are yourself inconsolable. Sup- 
 port my excellent and kind brother Quintus. I 
 beg you to write to me fully everything that may 
 be depended upon. Dated the 28th of June. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 You argue seriously about what may be hoped, 
 especially through the senate ; and at the same 
 time you add, that the clause of the law (for my 
 banishment) is stuck up ', by vphich nothing is al- 
 lowed to be said, and accordingly nothing is said. 
 In this state of things do you blame me for being 
 afflicted ? while I am, as you yourself know, in 
 such affliction as nobody ever felt. You hold out 
 hopes from the new elections ; but what hope is 
 there with the same tribune of the people ", and a 
 hostile consul elect ■" ? I am much hurt about the 
 speech ■**■ which has been brought forward. Try if 
 possible to heal this wound. I wrote it long since 
 in anger, because he had first attacked me ; but I 
 had so suppressed it, that I never imagined it 
 would get abroad. How it should have got out I 
 do not know,; but as it never happened that I had 
 
 t See letter 15 of this book. " Quoddani caput legia 
 Clodium in curijB poste fixisse, ne referri, neve dici 
 liceret," 
 
 >» Cicero apprehended that Clodius might again be 
 elected tribune for the ensuing year. 
 
 ^ Q, Metellus Nepos, who when tribune would not 
 permit Cicero to address the people upon laying down hia 
 consulship. 
 
 w Perhaps against Curio. See letter 15 of this be ok.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 057 
 
 any dispute with him in person ; and as it seems to 
 •me to be written more carelessly than my other 
 speeches, it may possibly be concluded not to be 
 mine. I should wish, if you think I can by any 
 means be re-established, that you would do what 
 you can in this business ; but if I must needs be 
 undone, I am less solicitous about it. I continue 
 still in the same place, without any power of convers- 
 ing, or thinking. Though, as you mention, I had ex- 
 pressed a wish that you might come tome atDodon"; 
 yet I understand that where you are^", you are of 
 real use to me, and that here you could not relieve 
 me by one word of comfort. I am unable to write 
 more ; nor indeed have I anything to say. I ex- 
 pect rather to hear from you. Dated the 1 7th of 
 July, at Thessalonica. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 (Grcsv. siv.) 
 From your letters I am full of expectation about 
 Pompeius, what he may intend, or declare con- 
 cerning me ; for I imagine the comitia are over : 
 after which you mention that he wished to have my 
 case considered. If my hopes make me appear 
 foolish to you, I entertain them by your desire, 
 though I am aware that your letters have rather 
 been calculated to check me and my expectations. 
 I should be glad now to hear distinctly what you 
 think. I know that I have fallen into this trou- 
 ble by the many faults I have committed. If any 
 chance should in any degree rectify them, I shall 
 the less regret that I have lived, and continue to 
 live. On account of the constant communication 
 of this road, and my daily expectation of news, I 
 have not yet moved from Thessalonica ; but I am 
 now driven away, not by Plancius ^, (for he would 
 rather keep me,) but by the nature of the place 
 itself, which is ill calculated to bear the pain of such 
 calamities. I did not go into Epirus, as I had 
 mentioned, because lately all accounts and letters 
 had agreed that there was no occasion for my being 
 so near Italy. Therefore, as soon as I hear the 
 event of the elections, 1 shall go into Asia, though 
 I am not yet certain to what place ; but you shall 
 hear. Dated the 21st of July, at Thessalonica. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 (Grcev. xiii.) 
 After seeing my hopes diminish, and at length 
 vanish, 1 changed my intention, which I had men- 
 tioned to you, of going into Epirus ; nor have I 
 moved from Thessalonica, where I determined to 
 remain till I should hear something from you about 
 ■what yoa mentioned in your last letter ; thatsome^ 
 thing would be proposed in the senate on my be- 
 half as soon as the comitia were over ; and that 
 Pompeius had told you so. Wherefore, since the 
 comitia are passed, and you say nothing, I thence 
 consider it the same as if you had written to tell 
 me that nothing was done : nor shall I regret hav- 
 
 ' It is doubtful what this means, or whether there may 
 EOt be some error in the text. 
 
 y At Rome. 
 
 * Cn. Plancius, a friend of Cicero, waa qu^stor under 
 L. Appuleius, who had the praetorian government of Mace- 
 'donia. 
 
 ing been led by the hope of so near a termination*. 
 But as to the commotion which you said you fore- 
 saw, and which seemed likely to turn to my advan- 
 tage, they who have lately arrived, say there will 
 be none. My remaining hope is in the tribunes 
 elect. If I wait for this, you will have no reason 
 to think me inattentive to my interest, and to the 
 wishes of my friends. When you blame me for 
 bearing my misfortunes so heavily, you ought to 
 excuse me, seeing that I am afflicted as you never 
 saw, or heard any one to be. For as to what you 
 say you hear of my grief having turned my head, 
 my head is sound enough. I wish it had been so 
 in the time of my danger> when I was so unkindly 
 and cruelly treated by those whom 1 supposed to have 
 been my friends : who, when they saw me begin to 
 waver in my resolution, urged me on in such a 
 manner as to use all their wickedness and perfidi- 
 ousness to my destruction. Now, since I am going 
 to Cyzicum, where I shall have fewer opportunities 
 of receiving letters, I hope you will be the more 
 particular in letting me hear everything which you 
 think I ought to know. Continue to love my bro- 
 ther Quintus. If in my own wretchedness I leave 
 him safe, I shall not esteem myself wholly ruined. 
 Dated the 5th of August. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 On the 13th of August I received four letters 
 from you : one, in which you reproach me with 
 want of firmness ; another, in which you mention 
 that a freedman of Crassus had told you of my 
 anxiety and emaciation ; the third, in which you 
 inform me what has been done in the senate ; the 
 fourth, about what you say Varro had confirmed to 
 you respecting the disposition of Pompeius. To the 
 first I reply, that my grief is so far from affecting 
 my understanding, that it is an additional source of 
 grief to have no opportunity, no personwith whomi 
 may employ thatunderstanding which is unimpaired. 
 For if you cannot without uneasiness lose me alone, 
 what do you suppose I must feel, who lose you and 
 everybody .' And if you, who are living in security, 
 yet want me, how do you suppose I must want 
 that very security itself .'' I do not care to enu- 
 merate all that has been taken from me ; not only 
 because you are already acquainted with it, but 
 also that I may not aggravate my affliction. This 
 I affirm, that nobody was ever bereft of such great 
 advantages, or ever fell into such miseries. More- 
 over, time does not only not mitigate this distress, 
 but even augments it. Other troubles are softened 
 by age ; this cannot fail daily to increase, both from 
 the sense of actual misery, and from the recollec- 
 tion of my past life : for I want not merely my 
 goods, and my friends, but myself. For what am 
 1 ? But I will not be the occasion either of dis- 
 tressing your mind with lamentations, or of hand- 
 ling, oftcner than is necessary, my own wounds. 
 For as to exculpating those whom I mentioned to 
 have injured me, and among the rest, Cato ; I am 
 so far from imagining him to be implicated in that 
 crime, that it is a great source of trouble to me that 
 the pretences of others should have had more 
 weight with me than his honesty. The others 
 whom you exculpate, ought to stand ex cused by 
 
 a I agree with M. Mougault In understanding this to 
 moan the I:ope he had cherislied of being soon restored. 
 V U
 
 658 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 me, if they are so by you. But about these things 
 wc trouble ourselves too late. As for Crassus's 
 freedinan, I imagine he is not sincere in anything 
 he has said. You describe the business to have 
 been well managed in the senate. But what says 
 Curio .•' Has he not read that ''speech which has 
 been brought forward I know not from whence ? 
 Axiii-^. however, giving mean account of the trans- 
 actions of the same day, does not so much com- 
 mend Curio. Hut he may have omittrd .soinetliini;: 
 you have assuredly said nothing beyond the fact. 
 The conversation of Varro affords some hope of 
 Cffisar. I wish Varro may himself engage in my 
 cause ; which I am persuaded he will do, both of 
 his own accord and from your solicitation. Should 
 fortune ever restore me to the possession of you 
 and my country, I sliall certainly endeavour to give 
 you, of all my friends, the greatest cause to rejoice 
 at it ; and shall so fulfil the demands of duty and 
 affection, (which have before, I confess, been too lit- 
 tle manifested,) that you shall think me restored 
 to you, no less than to my brother and my children. 
 If I have in anything behaved ill towards you, or 
 rather since I have done so, pray pardon me ; for 
 I have behaved much worse towards myself. I do 
 not write this because I am not fully aware of the 
 part you bear in my great affliction ; but, in truth, if 
 the regard you have and have had for me, had been 
 deserved on my part, you never would have suf- 
 fered me to remain in want of that prudence in 
 ■which you abound ; nor would you have suffered 
 me to be persuaded that it was to my advantage to 
 have the law concerning the companies "= carried 
 through. But you administered to my grief no- 
 thing but tears, the eftect of your love; as I did 
 myself. Whatever might have been effected, had I 
 possessed claims upon you to consider day and 
 night what I ought to do ; that has been omitted, 
 not through your fault, but mine. But if not 
 merely you, but anybody, when I took alarm at the 
 ungenerous reply of Pompeius '', had called me 
 back from that disgraceful counsel ^, which you of 
 all people was most able to do, I should either have 
 fallen with honour, or shoidd now live victorious. 
 You must forgive me what I say ; for I accuse my- 
 self much the most : ne.xt I accuse you as another 
 self, and at the same time an associate in my fault. 
 If I am restored, I shall think myself even less to 
 blame ; and shall certainly possess your affection 
 through your own kindness, since it will be inde- 
 pendent of any received from me. 
 
 Concerning the conversation which you men- 
 tion to have had with Culeo on the invalidity 
 of a private law ' ; there may be something in 
 it ; but it is much better to have it abrogated. 
 For if nobody prevents it, what can be more 
 secure ? Or if anybody should not allow it to 
 be carried, the same decree of the senate will still 
 operate to invalidate it. Nor is there need of any- 
 thing else besides the abrogation ; for the former of 
 Clodius's two laws did not affect me f. And if at the 
 
 *> See letter 12 of this book. 
 
 e These companies, which were instituted for purposes 
 of police, were abused to foment cabals and violences. 
 
 d That he could do nothing without the consent of 
 Ctesar. 
 
 e Of quitting the city. 
 
 f Laws relating to individuals were prohibited by the 
 Twelve Tables. 
 
 g Clodius had proposed, and carried a law, against 
 putting to de6th Roman citizens untried. His second law 
 
 time of its promulgation, I had either thought fit: 
 to approve it, or, as it deserved, to disregard it, it 
 could have done me no harm. Here first my judg- 
 ment failed, or rather injured me. I was blind, I 
 say ; blind in changing my habit, and supplicating 
 the people ; wliic'h, unless I should have been at- 
 tacked by name, was i)rejudicial to me. But I am 
 going back to things that are past. It is liowever 
 with this view, that if anything is done in this 
 l)usiness, you may not meddle with that law which 
 (Contains many popular enactments. But it is fool, 
 ish in me to prescribe what you should do, or how. 
 I only wish something may be dotie ; on which sub- 
 ject your letter is rather reserved, lest, I suppose, I 
 should feel my disappointment too severely. For 
 what do you see ))ossiblc to be dom; ? or by what 
 means ? By the senate ? But you have told me 
 yourself that Clodius had fi.xed ujion the door-post 
 of the senate-house that clause in the law which 
 makes it illegal to reconsider it, or to speak of it. 
 How then is it that Domitius has said he would 
 move for its reconsideration .' or how is it that 
 Clodius should have been silent, while some, as you 
 mention, were speaking of that affair, and demand- 
 ing its reconsideration ? But if anything is to be 
 done by the people, can they act without the con- 
 currence of all the tribunes of the people ? What 
 of my goods ? what of my house .' Can that be 
 restored.' or if not, how am I myself restored* 
 Unless you see some means of solving these diffi ■ 
 culties, what is the hope to which you call me ? 
 And if there is no hope, what is life itself .' I shall 
 therefore wait at Thessalonica for an account of 
 the transactions of the 1st of August, from which I 
 may determine whether I shall take refuge in your 
 grounds, (that I may both avoid seeing people 
 whom I do not like, and may, as you say, see you, 
 and be nearer at hand in case anything is done,) 
 and this I understand you and my brother Quintus 
 to advise, or whether I shall go to Cyzicum. Now 
 then, my Pomponius, since you have exerted no 
 portion of your prudence for my safety ; either be- 
 cause you supposed that I was sufficiently capable 
 of judging for myself; or that you owed me 
 nothing more than merely to be ready on my behalf; 
 and since I have been betrayed, prevailed upon, 
 seduced to neglect all my supports ; have disap- 
 pointed and deserted all Italy, ready to rise in my 
 defence ; have given up myself, my friends, into the 
 power of my enemies ; while you looked on in. 
 silence, who if your judgment was not better than 
 mine, at least had less to fear, raise up, if you can, 
 my afflicted friends, and in this yet assist me. But 
 if all means are obstructed, let me be informed even- 
 of that : and cease at length either to chide me, or 
 civilly to offer me consolation. If I meant to ac- 
 cuse your want of faithfulness, I should not trust 
 myself in preference to your roof. No, I accuse 
 my own folly, in supposing that your love for me 
 was equal to my wishes. Had this been the case, 
 you would have shown the same fidelity, but greater 
 care ; and certainly would have held me back whea 
 I was hastening to my ruin ; nor would you have 
 encountered those troubles which you now sustain 
 in my shipwreck. Take care then to let me know 
 everything clearly and distinctly ; and help me, as 
 you do, to be again somebody, since I can no lon- 
 ger be what I w as, and what I might have been , 
 appears to have applied this general principle to Cicero's, 
 particular siise.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 C59 
 
 And believe that it is not you, but myself, that 
 I accuse in this letter. If there are any, to whom 
 you think letters should be sent in my name, I 
 should be glad if you would write, and take care to 
 have them delivered. Dated the 19 th of August. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 All my motions are rendered uncertain from 
 nothing else but the expectation of your letter of 
 the 1st of August. If it affords any liope, I sliall 
 go into Epirus ; if not, to Cyzicum, or some other 
 place. The oftener I read over your letters, the 
 more my hopes decline ; for the reading them 
 ■weakens the hope they were meant to excite : so 
 that it is very evident you are actuated by a regard 
 both to my consolation and to truth. I, therefore, 
 beg you distinctly to tell me what you know, as it 
 really is; what you think, as you really think. 
 Dated the 21st of August. 
 
 LETTER XVn. 
 
 The accounts I had received about my brother 
 Quintus had been unfavourable, and without varia- 
 tion, from the 4th of June to the 31st of August. 
 On that day Livineius, the freed-raan of Regulus, 
 came to me from his master : he reported that no 
 mention of my brother's administration had been 
 made ; but that there had been some talk about 
 the son of Caius Clodius'' He also brought me a 
 letter from my brother. The next day Sestius' 
 servant arrived with your letter, not so free from 
 apprehension as the verbal communication of Livi- 
 neius. In truth, I am very anxious in the midst 
 of my own great distress, and the more so, because 
 the question will come before Appius. The other 
 matters which you mention in the same letter, 
 relating to my hopes, seem to be less flattering 
 than what I hear from other people. But, since 
 the time is not far distant when the business must 
 be determined, I shall either go to your house', 
 or shall still remain in this neighbourhood. My 
 brother tells me that you alone are the support of 
 all his concerns. Why, then, should I exhort you 
 to do what you do already .' or why should I 
 return my thanks, which you do not desire .' I 
 only wish that fortune may enable us again to 
 enjoy our mutual affection in security. I am 
 always particularly anxious for your letters. You 
 need be under no apprehension that your minute- 
 ness can be troublesome to me, or your candour 
 disagreeable. Dated the 4th of September. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 You had raised in me no little expectation, 
 when you mentioned that Varro had told you in 
 confidence, that Pompeius would certainly under- 
 take my cause ; and that as soon as he should have 
 heard from Caesar, which he was expecting, he 
 would get somebody to propose it. Was there 
 
 •> P. Clodius had two brothers, Caius and Appius. The 
 foi-mer had died, leaving two sons ; the latter is the same 
 who is afterwards spoken of in this letter. 
 
 « The Latin is " ad te." Many instances might be pro- 
 duced to justify this translation. It is similar to what 
 •ccurs in the Acts, xvL 40, Trp^j r^wAuStW, meaning 
 •* Lydia's house." 
 
 notliing in this ? or has Csesar's letter proved 
 unfavourable ? Is there anything to be hoped ? 
 You mentioned also that he had said something 
 would be done at the time of the comitiaJ. Let 
 me, if you see in what straits I am, and if you 
 think it becomes your kindness, let me be informed 
 of tlie whnle matter. For my brother Quintus, an 
 excellent man, who is so much attached to nie, 
 sends accounts full of hope, fearing, I suppose, 
 my want of courage. But your letters are various ; 
 for you would not have me to desp:iir, nor too 
 hastily to hope. I entreat you to let me know 
 everything that you are able to discover. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 As long as I continued to receive from you such 
 accounts as gave me reason to expect anything 
 further, I was detained at Thessalonica by hope 
 and an,xiety: but when all the business of this 
 year seemed to be finished, I did not care to go 
 into Asia, both because company is disagreeable to 
 me, and if anything should be done by the new 
 magistrates, 1 should be sorry to be out of the way. 
 I have, therefore, determined to go to your place 
 in Epirus ; not that the nature of the place was of 
 any consequence to me, who altogether shun the 
 light ; but I should go with peculiar pleasu>-e from 
 your port to my restoration ; or, if that is cut off, 
 I can nowhere more easily support this wretched 
 life, or, what is far better, throw it up. I shall 
 have only a few people with me, and shall dismiss 
 the great body of them. Your letters have never 
 raised my hopes so much as those of some other 
 friends ; yet have my hopes always been less even 
 than your letters. Nevertheless, since a begin- 
 ning has been made, however it has been done, or 
 from whatever cause, I will not disappoint the sad 
 and mournful requests of my excellent and only 
 brother, nor the promises of Sestius'' and others, 
 nor the hope of that afflicted woman Terentia, nor 
 the entreaties of the poor dear Tullia, and those of 
 your faithful letters. Epirus will afford me either 
 a passage to restoration, or what I have mentioned 
 above'. I beg and beseech you, my Pomponius, 
 as you see me spoiled of all my splendid, cherished, 
 and enjoyable possessions, by the perfidy of certain 
 people ; as you see me betrayed and cast forth by 
 my counsellors ; and know that I am compelled 
 to ruin myself, and all that belong to me ; that 
 you will assist me with your compassion, and 
 support my brother Quintus, who may yet be 
 saved; that you will protect Terentia and my 
 children ; that you will wait for me, if you think 
 there is any chance of seeing me there" ; other- 
 wise, that you will come to visit me, if possible, 
 and will assign me so much of your land as my 
 body can occupy" ; and that you will send me 
 servants with letters as soon as possible, and as 
 often as you can. Dated the 1 6th of September. 
 
 J See letters 13 and 14 of this book. 
 
 ^ Sestius was a tribune elect, and had promised to pro- 
 mote Cicero's recall. 
 
 1 Alluding to his determination to kill himself. See 
 letter 9 of this book, note '. 
 
 ™ That Atticus should wait for Cicero at Rome, if he 
 saw any chance of his recall ; otherwise that ho should go 
 to see him in Epirus before he executed uia reiKilution o/ 
 killing himself. 
 
 ° For his buriaL 
 
 U U3
 
 6(i0 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Cicero salutes Q. CiEcilius, the son of Quintus, 
 Pomponianus Atticus". That this should be so, 
 and that your uncle should have discharged this 
 duly to you, I exceedingly ajjprove : I would say 
 th.it I rejoiced at it, if I could >ise this word. 
 Alas ! how would everything he according to my 
 miiid, had it not been for want of courage, of pru- 
 dence, of honesty, in those whom I trusted : which 
 I care not to recollect, h\st I add to my regret. 
 But I am sure you must remember the life I led ; 
 how many delights it contained, how much dignity. 
 To recover this, I beseech you by your fortunes'*, 
 strive as you do; and enable me to spend the 
 birth-day of my return with you and with my 
 relations in your delicious liouse. I wished to 
 Iiave stayed at your place in Epirus tor this hope 
 and expectation, which is held out to me ; but the 
 letters I receive make me think it more convenient 
 to remain where I am. Respecting my house, and 
 Curio's speech, it is as you say. The general 
 restoration, if only that be granted, will contain 
 everything. But there is nothing about which I 
 am more anxious than my house. However, I 
 mention nothing to you in particular ; I commend 
 myself wholly to your affection and fidelity. It is 
 very gratifying to me, that in so great an inherit- 
 ance i you should have been able to extricate yourself 
 from all trouble. When you promise your services 
 on my behalf, that on every occasion I may derive 
 assistance from you, ratiier than from anybody 
 else, I am very sensible how great a support this 
 is ; and I know that you undertake, and are able 
 to sustain, many kind offices for my preservation; 
 and that you need not be entreated to do so. When 
 you forbid me to suspect that I had either done or 
 neglected to do anything towards you, which could 
 give you offence ; I will comply with your request, 
 and free myself from that source of uneasiness : 
 nevertheless, I am indebted to you so much the 
 more, in proportion to the excess of your kindness 
 towards me, over mine towards you. I beg you 
 to tell me what you see, what you hear, what is 
 done ; and to exhort all your friends to assist me. 
 The proposed law of Sestius is deficient both in 
 dignity and caution : for it ought expressly to 
 name me, and to mention more particularly my 
 effects ; and I should be glad if you would attend 
 to this circumstance. Dated the 4th of October, 
 at Thessalonica. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 The day on which I write this, is the thirtieth 
 since I have received any letter from you. It had 
 been my intention, as I before mentioned to you, 
 to go into Epirus, and there wait for whatever 
 might happen. 1 beg you, if you see anything 
 either way, that you will distinctly inform me ; 
 and that you will write in my name, as you pro- 
 pose, any letters which you may think necessary, 
 Dated the 28th of October. 
 
 o Atticus having been adopted by his uncle Q. Caecilius, 
 and made his heir, is addressed by this new designation 
 conformable to the custom of his country. 
 
 P A form of adjuration used pai-ticularly by persons in 
 iistress. 
 
 <i Com. Nepns states the amount to be centies H.S,, equi- 
 valent to 83,333^. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 TuotJGH my brother Quintus and Piso had 
 act|uainted me with the state of affairs; yet I 
 wished that your engagements had not prevented 
 you from writing, as usual, about what was doing, 
 and what conclusions you drew from it. The hos- 
 ])itality of Flancius has hitherto retained me, when 
 I have several times attempted to go into Epirus. 
 lie has entertained the hope, which f cannot say I 
 have, that we might be able to go away together; 
 which he exjiects may do him honour. But now 
 that soldiers are said to be coming, it will be neces- 
 sary for me to leave him. When I go, I will 
 immediately write to inform you where I am. 
 Lentulus by his kindness towards me, which his 
 actions, his promises, and his letters declare, 
 affords some hope of the good disposition of Pom- 
 jieius. For you have often told me in your letters, 
 that he was entirely under Pompeius's influence. 
 My brother has written to me about Metellus, how 
 much he hoped had been effected through you. 
 My dear Pomponius, exert yourself that I may 
 again be permitted to live with you and with my 
 friends ; and write to me everything. I am op- 
 pressed not only with grief, but with the want of 
 all that was dearer to me than myself. Farewell''. 
 
 As I knew if I went through Thessaly into 
 Epirus I should be a long while without intelli- 
 gence, and as I have friends at Dyrrachium, I 
 have come to them, after writing the former part 
 of my letter at Thessalonica. When I set out 
 again for your place, I will let you know ; and I 
 trust you will send me an exact account of every- 
 thing, of whatever kind it may be. I now look 
 for the thing itself, or lose all hope. Dated the 
 ■26th of November, at Dyrrachium. 
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 
 On the 27th of November I received three 
 letters from you ; one dated the 2.5th of October, 
 in which you encourage me to wait with firmness 
 for the month of January*, and say everything 
 that can lead to hope ; such as the zeal of Len- 
 tulus, the good-will of Metellus, and the whole 
 desij;n of Pompeius. In another letter, contrary 
 to your custom, you do not mention the date ; 
 though you sufficiently mark the time by saying 
 that you write on the same day on which the law 
 was promulgated by the eight tribunes'; that is, 
 the 29ih of October ; and you add what advantage 
 you conceive that promulgation to have produced. 
 From which, if my restoration is become desperate 
 by the fate of this law, 1 should hope, for your 
 love of me, you will esteem this fruitless diligence 
 of" mine rather unhappy than absurd; but if 
 there be indeed any hope, that you will use your 
 endeavour to make the new magistrates hereafter 
 exert themselves with greater diligence in my sup- 
 port. For that proposed law of the old tribunes 
 
 r This is the conclusion of the letter, to which what 
 follows is a postscript : the letter having been written at 
 Tliesaalonica, the postscript at Dyrrachium. 
 
 s When the new magistrates entered into office. 
 
 • Eight of tlie ten tribunes proposed the repeal of 
 Cicero's banishment, but it was necessary that they should 
 all be unanimous. 
 
 u He means the pains he was taking in this letter.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 661 
 
 comprised three lieads ; one for my return, which 
 was inciuitiously drawn up; for by it nothing is 
 restored besides my citizenship and my rank ; 
 which, considering my condition, is a great deal; 
 Ijut what ought to liave been secured, and in what 
 manner, cannot have escaped you^. The next 
 liead is copied from tlie ordinary form of indemnity, 
 in case anything should be enacted in sup])ort of 
 this law, which was contrary to other existing 
 laws. As for the third head, obser\'e, my Ponipo- 
 nius,with what design, andby whom, it was inserted. 
 For you know that Clodius added such sanctions 
 to his law as should put it almost, or altogether, 
 out of the power either of the senate, or of the 
 people, to invalidate it. But you know also that 
 the sanctions of laws which are abrogated, are 
 never regarded. Were it othei-wise, scarcely any 
 could be abrogated ; for there is none which is not 
 fenced round by some obstacle to its repeal. But 
 when a law is repealed, that very clause is repealed, 
 which was meant for its security. Notwithstand- 
 ing this is so, and has always been so held and 
 observed, our eight tribunes have inserted tliis 
 clause : " If there be anything contained in this 
 law, which by any laws or decrees, that is, which 
 by the Clodian law, it is not, and shall not be, 
 strictly lawful to promulgate, abrogate, diminish, 
 or supersede ; or which subjects to a penalty, or 
 fine thereupon, whosoever hath promulgated, abro- 
 gated, diminished, or superseded it; nothing of 
 such kind is enacted by this law." And this could 
 not affect those tribunes ; for they were not bound 
 by the enactment of their own body : which affords 
 the greater suspicion of some malice, that they 
 should have inserted what was immaterial to them- 
 selves, but prejudicial to me ; that the new tribunes 
 of the people, if they were at all timid, might think 
 it still more necessary to use the same clause. 
 Nor has that been overlooked by Clodius : for he 
 said in the assembly on the 3rd of November, that 
 under this head was prescribed to the tribunes 
 elect what was the extent of their authority. But 
 you are aware that no law has any clause of this 
 kind ; which, if it were necessary, all would have, 
 tliat go to abrogate a former law. I wish you 
 could find out how this should have escaped Nin- 
 nius and the other tribunes, and who introduced 
 it ; and how it happened that eight tribunes of the 
 people should not have hesitated to bring my cause 
 before the senate. Or can it be thaf^ they, who 
 thought this clause might be disregarded, should 
 at the same time be so cautious in abrogating it, 
 as to be afraid of that, when they were free from 
 the law, which need not be observed by those who 
 were bound by the law .-' This clause I certainly 
 should not wish the new tribunes to propose : but 
 let them enact what they will ; the clause which 
 recalls me, provided the thing be accomplished, 
 will satisfy me. I am already ashamed of having 
 written so much about it : for, I fear, by the time 
 you read it, the tiling will be past hope, so that 
 my concern may appear to you pitiful, to others 
 ridiculous. But if there is anything to be hoped, 
 look at the law which Visellius drew up for T. 
 Fadius, which pleases me exceedingly : for I do 
 
 » Alluding to his house and property. 
 
 '" There is confessedly some error in the text. I propose 
 to read " Sive sitne qui." The alteratiori of "qui" for 
 " quod," is very little, and seems to me to make the sense 
 cf the whole passage clear and consistent. 
 
 not like that of our friend Sestius*, which you say 
 you approved. The third letter is dated on the 
 l.ith of November, in which you explain sensibly 
 and accurately what it is that seerns to delay my 
 business ; about Crassiis, Pompeius, and the rest. 
 I beg you, therefore, if there is any hope that it 
 can be accomplished by the wishes, the authority, 
 the collected numbers of honest men, that a gene- 
 ral push may be made ; attend to this, and excite 
 ochers. But if. as 1 too plainly see, both by your 
 suspicions and my own, that there is really no 
 hope ; I jiray and beseech you to love my brother 
 Quintus, whom I have wretchedly ruined ; and 
 not to suffer him to adopt any measures which may 
 be inexpedient for your sister's sen. As for ray 
 }>oor Cicero, to whom I leave nothing but ill-will 
 and disgrace, ))rotect him as well as you can'', and 
 support by your kind attention Terenlia, of all 
 women the most afflicted. I shall go into Epirus 
 as soon as I have received the intelligence of the 
 first day's proceedings. I hope you will inform 
 me in your next letter how the beginning passed 
 of!'. Dated the 30th of November. 
 
 LETTER XXIV, 
 
 When vou mentioned to me before, that the 
 provinces of the consuls had been appointed with 
 your approbation^ ; though I was afraid how this 
 might turn out, yet I hoped your better judgment 
 might have seen some reason for it. But since t 
 have heard, both by word of mouth and by letter, 
 that this proposal of yours is very much blamed, I 
 have been deeply concerned ; inasmuch as that 
 little hope, which remained, seems to be taken 
 away. For if the tribunes of the people are 
 offended, what hope can there be ? And they 
 may with reason be offended, when they, who had 
 undertaken my cause, have been left out of con- 
 sideration, and by our concession have lost the 
 exercise of their just rights : especially when they 
 declare that they wished for my sake to have the 
 power of making out the appointments of the con- 
 suls ; not that they might throw any impediment 
 in the way, but that they might attach them to my 
 cause : but that now, if the consuls are ill disposed 
 towards me, they may show it without constraint ; 
 or if they should be inclined to support me, still 
 they can do nothing without the concurrence of the 
 tribunes. For as to what you say, that unless my 
 friends had consented, they would have atttained 
 the same purpose through the people'' ; this could 
 not be done against the sense of the tribunes** : so 
 that I fear we may have lost the good-will of the 
 tribunes ; or, if that still remains, that the bond of 
 union with the consuls may have been lost. Another 
 no small disadvantage attached to this is, that tba 
 
 X See letter 20 of this book. 
 
 v This seems to have been said under the idea of destroy- 
 ing himself. 
 
 z Atticus had no other concern in it than as being one 
 of Cicero's principal friends and agents at Rome. It setms 
 that the appointment of the provinces was a check upon 
 the conihict of the consuls, which was exercised in great 
 measure by the tribunes. By having the appointment 
 previous to their entering upon their office, the tribimes 
 lost this control, and the consuls became independent. 
 
 » This had been done in the case of CaDsar. 
 
 '' Any one of the tribunes might interpose to stop the 
 jiiogress of a law in the popular assembly.
 
 6G2 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 solema resolution, as it was represented to me, 
 that the senate would pass no act before my cause 
 was determined, has been broken; and that, on an 
 occasion which was not only unnecessary, but quite 
 unusual and novel. For 1 do not believe that the 
 provinces were ever before appointed for the con- 
 suls elect. Hence that firmness, which was shown 
 in my behalf, having been once infringed, tliere is 
 nothing now which nKiy not be decreed. It is not 
 surprising that this should have pleased those friends 
 to wliom it was referred : for it would be difficult 
 to find anybody who would openly give an opinion 
 in opposition to such advantages of the two consuls. 
 It was impossible not to favour either so friendly a 
 man as Lentulus, or Metellus, who so kindly laid 
 aside his resentment. But yet I fear whether we 
 may be able to keep these, and may not have lost the 
 tribunes of the people. How this has turned out, 
 and what is the state of the whole business, I wish 
 you to inform me ; and with your usual frankness. 
 For the truth itself, though it may not be agree- 
 able, is yet acceptable to me. Dated the 10th of 
 December. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 SuBSEauENT to your departure "=, I have received 
 letters from Rome, by which I perceive that I must 
 pine away in this sad condition. For (you will 
 pardon me) if any hope of my re-establishment 
 had remained, such is your affection, that you 
 •would not have gone away at this time. But that 
 I may not seem ungrateful, or willing that every- 
 thing should be sacrificed along with me"", I say no 
 
 e From Rome. It is gsnerally agreed by commentators 
 that the words " a me" ought to be omitted. If they are 
 retained, I should still understand it to mean " since j'ou 
 left my affairs at Rome." For the tenor of these letters 
 forbids the supposition of Atticus's having been with 
 Cicero. 
 
 d It is probable that Atticus might have written tq say 
 that some business called him awiiy from Rome ,at this 
 time; to which Cicero replies, that he would not _J)0 
 
 more upon the subject. This I beg of you, that 
 you will endeavour, as you promised, wherever I 
 may be, to stop your progress before the first of 
 January. 
 
 LETTER XXVL 
 
 I HAVE received a letter from my brother Quintus 
 with the decree of the senate concerning me. It is 
 my intention to wait for the passing of the law^ ; 
 and if there is any malignant opposition, I will 
 avail myself of the authority of the senate, and will 
 rather lose my life, than my country. Pray make 
 haste to come to me. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 I SEE by your letters, and by the case itself, 
 that I am utterly lost. I beg that in any concerns 
 in which my family may stand in need of your 
 assistance, you will have compassion upon my 
 wretchedness. I hope, as you say, that I shall 
 shortly see you. 
 
 [^The law for Cicero's recall was for some time obstructed 
 by the tribune Serraniis, who had been gained over 6y 
 Clodius. At length, however, it passed on the ith of Au- 
 gust, Cicero having already embarked for Italy, and 
 arrived at Brundisium, v)here, three days afterwards, 
 he received intelligence of the law having been ratified 
 with great zeal and unanimity by all the centuries.'] 
 
 thought to wish that Atticus should sacrifice everything 
 for his sake. 
 
 e The decrees of tlie senate had not the force of a law 
 till they were confirmed by the people. But the lav/ of 
 Cicero's banishment having been carried by illegal means, 
 the senate had on this occasion passed a vote, " that if, 
 through any violence, or obstruction, the law for his re- 
 call was not suffered to pass, within the five next legal 
 days of assembly, Cicero should be at liberty to return, 
 without any further authority." — Life of Cicero, p. 109. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 As soon as I came to Rome, and met with any- 
 body to whom I could properly entrust a letter to 
 you, I thought nothing deserved my earlier atten- 
 tion, than sending to congratulate with you upon 
 my return. For I had found, to tell you the truth, 
 that in giving me advice, you were as much in want 
 of fortitude and prudence, as myself^ ; and con- 
 sidering my former attachment to you, that you 
 had not been over diligent in protecting my safety. 
 Yet you, who had at first partaken of my error, or 
 rather madness, and had been the companion of 
 my false alarm, bare our separation with much 
 uneasiness, and spared no pains, no exertion, 
 diligence, or trouble, to bring about my resto- 
 ration. And I may truly affirm, that amidst the 
 greatest joy, and most wished-for congratulations, 
 
 ' The explanation of this and the following sentences is 
 found in letter 15, book iii. 
 
 the only thing wanting to complete my satisfaction, 
 is to see, or rather to embrace you ; whom once 
 possessed, I hope never again to leave. If I do 
 not make amends also for all the neglected fruits of 
 your kindness B in the time that is gone by, I shall 
 verily think myself undeserving of this return of 
 fortune. 
 
 I have already obtained, what I conceived most 
 difficult to be recovered in my situation, that dis- 
 tinction in the forum, that authority in the senate, 
 and favour among good men, in a greater degree 
 than I could have hoped. But in regard to my 
 property, which, as you know, has been violated, 
 dissipated, and plundered, I am in great difficulty ; 
 and I stand in need, not so much of your money, 
 which I look upon as my own, but of your advice, 
 in gathering up and securing the remains of it. 
 B This likewise derives explanation from book iiL, letter 
 15, where Cicero declares that his future attentions t« 
 Atticus shall make up for any past deficiencies.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS 
 
 6G3 
 
 "Now, thouKli I imagine that everything has been 
 either rehited to you by your friends, or brought by 
 messengers and common report ; yet I will shortly 
 describe what I think you will most wish to be 
 informed of by my own letters. I left Dyrrachium 
 the 4th of August, on the very day when the law 
 passed for my recall. On the 5th I came to Brun- 
 tlisium, where my dear TuUia was ready to receive 
 me on her birth-day, which happened also to be 
 the anniversary of the foundation of the Brundisian 
 colony, and of the temple of Public Safety in your 
 neighbourhood. This was noticed by the populace, 
 and celebrated with great rejoicing. On the 8th 
 of August, while I was at Brundisium, I heard 
 from my brother Quintus, that the law had been 
 confirmed in the assembly of centuries'', with an 
 astonishing zeal among all ranks and ages, and an 
 incredible concurrence of all Italy. Thence, having 
 been honoured by the principal people of Brundi- 
 sium, as I pursued my journey I was met by mes- 
 sengers of congratulation from all parts. On 
 approaching the city there was nobody of any 
 order of citizens known to my nomenclator', who 
 did not come to meet me, excepting those enemies, 
 who could not either dissemble, or deny their 
 hostiUty. When I arrived at the Capenan gate-, 
 the steps of the temples were filled with the lower 
 classes of people, who signified their congratu- 
 lations with the loudest applause ; and a similar 
 throng and applause attended me quite to the 
 capitol : and in the forum, and in the capitol itself, 
 the numbers were prodigious. The day following, 
 which was the 5tb of September, I returned thanks 
 to the senate. These two days the price of pro- 
 visions being very high, the people collected 
 tumultuously, by the instigation of Clodius, first 
 at the theatre, then at the senate, crying out that 
 I had occasioned the dearth of corn. At the same 
 time, the senate having met upon the subject of 
 the supplies, and Pompeius being called upon by 
 the voice, not only of the populace, but of the 
 better sort, to provide for it, and being himself 
 desirous of it, and the people calling upon me by 
 name to propose a decree for that purpose, I did 
 so, and explained fully my sentiments, in the 
 absence of others of consular rank, who said they 
 could not with safety declare their opinions, ex- 
 cepting Messala and Afranius. A decree of the 
 :senate was accordingly passed agreeably to my 
 proposal, that Pompeius should be engaged to 
 undertake the business, and that a law should be 
 brought in. Upon the recital of this decree, when 
 the populace, according to this silly and new 
 •custom, had given their applause, repeating my 
 name, I harangued the assembly by the permission 
 of all the magistrates present, excepting one praetor 
 and two tribunes of the people. The next day 
 there was a full senate, and all the consular senators 
 granted whatever Pompeius asked for. Upon his 
 demanding fifteen lieutenants, he named me at the 
 head of them, and said that I should be in every- 
 thing another self. The consuls drew up a law, 
 giving to Pompeius the power of regulating the 
 corn aU over the world for five years. Messius 
 
 1> The most dignified assembly of the people was that in 
 vhich the votes were collected by centuries, or classes. 
 
 ' An attendant, whose duty it was to mention the 
 naiTies of everybody that passed. Such people were parti- 
 icularly employed by persons engaged in a public canvass. 
 
 i One oi the gates of Rome. 
 
 drew up another, giving him an unlimited com- 
 mand of money, superadding a fleet and army, and 
 a greater authority in the provinces, than was 
 possessed by the governors themselves. That 
 consular law of mine now appears quite modest ; 
 this of Messius intolerable. Pompeius says he 
 prefers the former ; his friends are for the latter. 
 The consular senators, headed by Favonius, exclaim 
 against it ; I say nothing ; more especially because 
 the pontifices have yet given no opinion respecting 
 my house''. If they remove the religious impedi- 
 ments, I shall have a noble area, and, agreeably to 
 the resolution of the senate, the consuls wiU estimate 
 the value of the buildings : if it is otherwise, they 
 will pull down what is now there, will contract for 
 a house in their own names, and will make an- 
 estimate of the whole am.ount. Such is the situa- 
 tion of my affairs ; hazardous for a state of pros- 
 perity ; for a state of adversity, good. In my 
 income, as you know, I am much embarrassed; 
 and have besides some domestic troubles, which I 
 do not care to commit to writing. I have all that 
 affection, which I ought to have, towards my 
 brother Quintus, endowed as he is with distin- 
 guished loyalty, virtue, and fidelity. I am looking 
 for you, and beg you to hasten your coming ; and 
 to come in such a disposition of mind, as not to 
 suffer me to remain in want of your counsel. I 
 am entering upon the beginning of another life. 
 Already some, who defended me in my absence, 
 begin to be secretly angry with me upon my 
 return, and openly to envy me. I greatly want 
 you. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 If it happens that you hear from me less fre- 
 quently than from some others, I beg you will not 
 attribute it to my neglect, nor even to my occupa- 
 tions ; which, great as they are, yet can never 
 interrupt the course of my affection and duty. But 
 since I came to Rome, it is now only the second 
 time that I have known of any body to whom I 
 could entrust a letter ; consequently this is the 
 second I have sent. In the former I described to 
 you the manner of my return, and what was my 
 situation, and the condition of all my affairs, ha- 
 zardous for a state of prosperity, for a state of 
 adversity good enough. After the date of that 
 letter, there followed a great contest about my 
 house. I spake before the pontifices the last day 
 of September. The cause was diligently debated by 
 me, so that if ever I made a figure in speaking, or 
 if ever else, then at least the sense of my injuries, 
 and the importance of the issue, added new force 
 to mv language. I could not, therefore, withhold 
 the speech from our young friends ; and, though 
 you do not ask for it, yet I shall shortly send it to 
 you. The sentence of the pontifices was to this 
 effect — " If he who said he had made a dedication 
 
 k Clodius, when he destroyed Cicero's house in Kome, 
 consecrated part of the area on which it stood, and erected 
 a temple there to the goddess Liberty. The remaining 
 part Clodius had planted, and appropriated to his own 
 use. llonce it is that Cicero goes on to siiy, if the conse- 
 cration of the area be set aside, he shall have a noble 
 space for a new house ; or if it should not be set aside, that 
 the consuls were at least to clear the ground, and contract 
 for the building of a house for him on the unconsecrated 
 part.
 
 fiO-i 
 
 TIIK LETTERS OF .MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 had not been specially aiiimintcil to that purpose by 
 any order of the junpU;, either in tlieir ctiUuries or 
 tribes ; then that part of the area appeared capable 
 of being restored to me without any religious im- 
 pediment." Upon tliis I was immediately congra- 
 tulated ; for nobody doubted but the house was 
 adjudged to nie. But presently that fellow' mounts 
 the rostra, by permission of Appius'", and tells the 
 people that the pontitices had given sentence in his 
 favour, but that 1 was attemi)ting to get possession 
 by force ; and he exhorts them to support him and 
 Appius, and to defend their own liberties. Upon 
 this, while even among that lowest rabble some 
 wondered, some smiled at the fellow's madness, I 
 had determined not to <;onie forward till tin' consuls, 
 by the decree of the senate, should first have con- 
 tracted for the rebuilding of Catulus's portico". 
 On the first of October was held a full senate, at 
 which all those pontifices, who were senators, were 
 present. Marcellinus, who was much attacheil to 
 me, being first called upon to speak, inquired of 
 them what they had intended by their sentence. 
 Upon which M. Lucullus, in the name of all his 
 colleagues, replied, that the pontifices were the 
 judges of religion, the senate of the law : that he 
 and his colleagues had given their opinion upon the 
 point of rel'gion ; tliat they would speak of the law 
 in the senate. Each of them then being asked his 
 opinion in turn, argued at length in my favour. 
 When it came to Clodius to speak, he wished to 
 wear out the day" ; nor was there any end to it, 
 till after having spoken for nearly three hours, he 
 was at length compelled, by the disapprobation 
 and clamour of the senate, to bring his discourse 
 to a conclusion. A decree of the senate being then 
 made agreeably to the proposal of Marcellinus, 
 with only one dissentient voice, Serranus inter- 
 ceded?. Immediately both consuls referred it to 
 the senate to take this intercession into considera- 
 tion ; and the most dignified opinions were pro- 
 nounced, that it was the pleasure of the senate 
 that my house should be restored to me ; that 
 Catulus's portico should be rebuilt ; that the reso- 
 lution of the senate") should be supported by all 
 the magistrates ; that if any violence was offered, 
 the senate w'ould consider it to have been done' by 
 his means who had interposed his negative. Ser- 
 ranus took fright, and Cornicinus had recourse to 
 his old farce ; and having cast off his upper gar- 
 ment, he threw himself at the feet of his son-in- 
 law"". He asked to have the night to consider of 
 it, which they were not disposed to grant, for they 
 had not forgotten the first of January^. With some 
 difficulty, however, this was acceded to by my 
 
 ' Clodius. 
 
 "< Appius was at this time prsetor. 
 
 " This adjoined to the aiea of Cicero's house, and had 
 partly been destroyed to make way for Clodius's temple of 
 Liberty. 
 
 This was sometimes practised for the purpose of im- 
 peding the progress of any decree of the senate. 
 
 P Any one of the tribunes of tlie people had the power 
 of stopping the decrees of the senate, which was called 
 interceding. 
 
 1 The acts of the senate, when they were not suffereil 
 to pass on to a decree, were called auctoritaies, 
 
 ' Cornicinus was father-in-law to Serranus. 
 
 " It was on the first of January, upon occasion of tne 
 debate on Cicero's recall, that Serranus and Cornicinus had 
 done the same tiling before ; but at that time Serranus 
 persisted in his opposition. 
 
 consent. The next day the decree of the senate was 
 made, which 1 sent you. Then the consuls con- 
 tracted for the restoring of Citulus's portico. 
 What Clodius had done was immediately demo- 
 lished by the contractors, with universal ajiproba- 
 tion. The consuls, by the opinion of their council', 
 valued what had been erected upon the ground at 
 2000 sestertia ( Ifi.OOO/.)" ; the other things very 
 illiberally. My Tusculanum at ."iOO sestertia (4000/). 
 The Formianuiii at 250 sestertia (JOOO/). This 
 valuation was very much censured, not only by all 
 the best ])eoj)le, but even by the common sort. 
 You will naturally ask, then, what was the cause 
 of it. They say it was my modesty, in neither 
 objecting, nor strenuously urging my claims. But 
 that is not the case, for this might indeed have 
 been of advantage to me ; but these same people, 
 my Titus Pomponius, I say these very people, 
 whom you know well enough, who have clipped 
 my wings, are unwilling to let them grow again ; 
 but I hope they are already growing. Do you only 
 come to me, which I am afraid of your not doing 
 till late, owing to the arrival of your and my friend 
 Varro. Having put you in possession of what has 
 been done, let me inform you of my further designs. 
 I have engaged myself to I'ompeius in such a man- 
 ner, as in no degree to be prevented from being at 
 liberty, if I should wish it, either to offer myself 
 for the censorship, should the next consuls hold 
 the comitia for that purpose, or to take a votive 
 legation^ of almost all the shrines and groves ; for 
 so my affairs required^. And I wished to have it 
 in my power either to canvass, or at the beginning 
 of the summer to go from Rome : and in the mean 
 time T thought it desirable to keep in the sight of 
 the citizens who had shown me such great kind- 
 ness. These are my views with regard to the public, 
 but my domestic concerns are greatly embroUed. 
 The building of my house at Rome is going on. 
 You know with what expense, and what trouble, I 
 am restoring my Formianum, which I am neither 
 able to relinquish, nor to see. My Tusculanum I 
 have advertised for sale. I cannot easily do with- 
 out a villa near the city. The kindness of my 
 friends has been exhausted in that business, which 
 has produced nothing but disgrace ; which you 
 felt at a distance, I in fact*. By their favour and 
 assistance I should easily have obtained everything, 
 if my own defenders had permitted it. But I have 
 now great trouble from this source. The other 
 things which vex me are of a more secret nature 7. 
 I enjoy the affection of my brother and of my 
 daughter. I am e.xpecting you. 
 
 ' It appears that the magistrates were accustomed to 
 have the opinion of a council in conducting business o£ 
 importance that was entrusted to them. 
 
 u Cicero had paid for it 29,000^. 
 
 T The senators not being permitted by law to absent 
 themselves from Rome without leave, used the subterfuge 
 of an honorai-y lieutenancy, or expiation of a vow, to set 
 themselves at liberty. See book ii., letter 18. 
 
 'V The disorder into which his affairs had been thrown. 
 in different parts of Italy, made it, I suppose, either a real, 
 uv a pretended reason, for having these votive legations in 
 so many places. 
 
 X The text is obscure, and perhaps faulty. 
 
 >■ Probably alluding to the ill-humour of Terentia, which, 
 occasioned increasing vexation, and drove him at lact to a 
 divorce
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 66& 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 I KNOW you will be glad to be informed of what 
 is doing here, and in what concerns me, to hear it 
 from myself ; not that such matters, which are done 
 in the face of the world, can he more certain from 
 my pen, than from anybody else who may write to 
 you, or tell you about them ; but that you may 
 perceive from my style how I am affected by them, 
 and what is the present feeling of my mind, and 
 condition of my life. On the third of November, 
 the workmen were violently driven from my 
 ground by armed men ; the portico of Catulus, 
 which was rebuilding by contract entered into by 
 the consuls, agreeably to the decree of the senate, 
 and which had already reached the roof, was thrown 
 down. My brother Quintus's house was first injured 
 by stones thrown from my area, then set on fire by 
 order of Clodius, in sight of the whole city, with 
 lighted materials, to the great grief and lamen- 
 tation, I say not of all good people, for I know not 
 if there are any, but fairly of all people. He rushed 
 on impetuously ; and, after this outrage, seemed to 
 think of nothing but the slaughter of his enemies ; 
 went round from street to street, and openly invited 
 the slaves to revolt^. Before, when he avoided'' a 
 trial, he had indeed a difficult case, and strong 
 evidence against him; but yet he had a case, he 
 might deny the fact, he might lay it upon others, 
 he might even defend some of the charges as war- 
 ranted by law. After this ruin, fire, plunder, he is 
 deserted by his friends, and scarcely retains Deci- 
 mus the marshal, or Gellius : he uses the counsel 
 of slaves ; he sees that if he should kill all whom he 
 wished, his cause upon trial could not be worse 
 than it is already. Therefore as I was going down 
 the Sacred Street on the 3d of November, he pur- 
 sued me with his mob ; shouts, stones, sticks, 
 swords, all unforeseen. I retreated into the vesti- 
 bule of Tertius Damion ; they who were with me 
 easily prevented these rioters from entering. He 
 might himself have been killed. But I begin to 
 use** dieting; I am tired of manual operations. 
 When he saw that he was driven by the general 
 voice not to trial, but to punishment, he afterwards 
 imitated all the Catilines and Acidini. For on the 
 r2th of November he was so determined to destroy 
 and burn Milo's house on Mount Germalus, that 
 openly at eleven o'clock in the morning he brought 
 men with shields and drawn swords, and others 
 with lighted torches. He had taken possession of 
 the house of P. Sulla as his camp, to conduct the 
 siege. At that time Q. Flaccus brought out from 
 Milo's Annian house ■= some determined men, killed 
 the most notorious of the Clodian mob, and 
 wished to kill him, but he took refuge in the inner 
 part of the building. On the 14th SuUa came to 
 the senate, Clodius staid at home, Marcellinus was 
 admirable, everybody was exasperated. MeteUus 
 
 » The servants of the ancient Romans were all slaves, o^ 
 which they kept a prodigious number. 
 
 a On this occasion he had been accused by Milo for the 
 violences committed while he was tribune. The consul 
 Jletellus contrived to prevent the prosecution. 
 
 b Perhaps it ought to be written " Diaeta curare incipio." 
 As it stands, the senbe is, that " I begin to have my affairs 
 protected by gentle methods." In the other case it would 
 mean, that " I begin to treat Clodius by gentle methods." 
 
 c Many of the opulent citizens had more than one house 
 at Rome ; frequently by adoption or bequest. 
 
 wasted the time of speaking by cavilling, in which, 
 he was assisted by Oppius"*, and even by your 
 friend', of whose firmness and e.xcellence your 
 letters have spoken so truly'. Sestius was out- 
 rageous ; Clodius, if his election k were not suffered 
 to take place, threatened the city. Upon the pro- 
 posal of Marcellinus's motion, which he delivered 
 from a written paper, so as to include the whole of 
 my case, the area, the burning, my personal dan- 
 ger, and made them all to precede the comitia** ; 
 one declared' that he would observe the heavens' 
 on all the comitia days. Then followed factious 
 speeches from MeteUus, rash ones from Appius, 
 furious ones from Publius. This, however, is the 
 sum ; unless Milo had declared his observation of 
 the heavens in the Campus Martins, the comitia 
 would have taken place. On the 20th of Novem- 
 ber Milo came into the Campus Martins in the 
 middle of the night with a great attendance. 
 Clodius, though he had a chosen band of runaway 
 slaves, dared not come into the field. Milo re- 
 mained till noon with great honour, and to the 
 great joy of the people. The struggle of the threa 
 brothers'' was disgraceful, their strength broken, 
 their fury contemptible. MeteUus challenges a 
 prohibition in the forum the ne.xt day ; that there 
 was no occasion to come into the Campus Martius 
 by night ; that he should be in the forum at sevea 
 
 ^ Manutius has not without reason conjectured that it 
 ought to be written Appius, who was Clodius's brother, 
 and was jjraetor, and was in the senate. 
 
 « It is generally supposed that Cicero here means Hor- 
 tensius. 
 
 t Tliis is said ironically, Cicero having had some reason 
 to suspect that Hortensius acted towards him imgens- 
 rously. 
 
 g He was at this time candidate for the office of Eediie. 
 His election would prevent all judicial proceedings against 
 him till the expiration of his year. 
 
 h The comitia for the election of sediles. 
 
 ' Proscripsit. It has been doubted what was the nomi- 
 native to this verb. I believe it to be used indefinitely, 
 and without a nominative. That this is sometimes dona 
 by ancient authors, has been observed by Bentley on the 
 construction of the word " inquit," Hor. 1 Serm. iv. 78. 
 Bishop Pearce has extended this observation to some other 
 words in his note upon 1 Cor. vi. IG. Jlany other examples 
 of the same kind might be produced both in sacred and 
 profane writings. Of the former I would instance the word 
 a.TroKa\vTrreTai, 1 Cor. iii. 13, which has given some trou- 
 ble to commentators, and among the rest to Pearce himself. 
 I apprehend it to be used absolutely or indefinitely, and 
 without any nominative — " it is revealed," or "revelation 
 is made." It is used in the same manner again, c. xiv. 30. 
 So 2 Cor. iii. 16, Tji/'iKa 5' Uv eir lar pi^\iri — "whenever 
 anyone turn." 1 Cor. xiv. 5 and 13, SiepiJ.7)vevT] — "one 
 interpret," or " it he interpreted." So Luke xvi. 9, 
 Sf^ctivTai vfxds — " tliat you may be received." Among 
 profane authors we find the same construction, as e^'Se'xe- 
 rai, Arr. Epict. i. 22, " Does any one admit ?" rbv (fiSSov 
 opl^ovrai TTpocrSoKiav kukov, Aristot. Eth. iii. 6, "People 
 define." And in Latin, Ordinis hsc virtus erit et venu3, 
 aut ego fallor, Ut jam nunc dicat, &c.— " that one should 
 say." Hor. Ars Poet. i2. So ag;iin, v. 252, Trimetris 
 accrescere jussit nomen lambaeis — "it was ordained." And 
 similar to these is " putant," Cic. Nat. Deor. ii. lt>—" it ia 
 supposed." 
 
 J The magistrates only were allowed to observe the hea- 
 vens for the purpose of divination; and when they did so, 
 no comitia could be held. 
 
 k Clodius, Appius, and MeteUns: the latter was not 
 properly a brother, but a cousin. This use of the Latin 
 word " f rater " has before been taken notice of.
 
 ■666 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLHJS CICERO 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 On the 30th of January, before it was light, 
 Cincius made himself most agreeable to me by 
 informing me that you were in Italy, and that he 
 was going to send a servant to you, whom I would 
 not suffer to go without a letter from me ; not that 
 I have anything particular to tell you, especially 
 being now so near ; but that I might assure you 
 that your arrival is most grateful to me, and what 
 I have been most anxiously expecting. Therefore, 
 fly up, in order to gratify your own affection, and 
 to feel the effects of mine. We will settle other 
 matters when we meet. I write this in haste. As 
 soon as you arrive, come with your attendants to 
 my house ; I shall be delighted to receive you. 
 You will find a noble arrangement of Tyrannic for 
 the library of my books, the remains of which are 
 much better than I had supposed. I should be 
 glad also if you would send me two of your library 
 clerks, whom Tyrannio may employ in repairing 
 my books, and other offices, and that you would 
 direct them to bring some parchment to make 
 
 ' A part of the city so called, where it is to be supposed 
 there were, or had been, groves of trees. 
 
 ™ The nundince, wliicli were held every ninth day, and 
 were holidays, when the comitia could not be held. 
 
 " Candidate for the office of scdile witli Clodius. AVhat 
 is here said of him may probably allude partly to his being 
 prone to sleep, and partly to his giving up all idea of the 
 comitia being held that day. 
 
 " Milo. 
 
 P The charge against Cicero when he was banished was, 
 'that he liad put Roman citizens to death without a trial. 
 
 in the morning. Therefore, on the 21st Milo came j* 
 before sun-rise into the forum. Metellus at the 
 first dawn was hastening secretly to the Cam]nis 
 .Marlius through by-ways ; Milo comes up to him 
 between the groves' ; forbids the comitia : he with- 
 drew under the severe and opprobrious scoffs of 
 Q. Flaccus. The 22d was market day"". On 
 that day, and the day following, there was no 
 meeting. It is on the 24th that I am writing, at 
 three o'clock in the morning : Milo is already in 
 possession of the Campus Martius. Marcellus the 
 candidate" is snoring, so that I, who am his neigh- 
 bour, might hear him. Clodius's vestibule, I am 
 told, is deserted, there being but a few ragged 
 fellows, without even a lantern. Their party com- 
 plained that it was all my doing, little knowing tiie 
 spirit and the ability of thathero". His cournge 
 is admirable. I send you rare news. But this is 
 the sum of the whole : I do not think the comitia 
 will be held, and I do think that Publius, if he is 
 not first killed, will be brought to trial by Milo. If 
 he come in his way, I foresee that he will be killed 
 by Milo ; he does not hesitate to do it ; he openly 
 professes it ; my fateP does not intimidate him, 
 for he has had no envious and faithless counsellor, 
 nor does he mean to trust to any inactive great 
 man. My mind alone is in full vigour, even more 
 so than when I was in power ; in my property I am 
 ■wasted ; yet I contrive to repay the liberality of my 
 brother Quintus against his will, from the resources 
 of my friends rather than my own, lest I should be 
 quite exhausted. In your absence I am at a loss 
 what measures to take respecting the general state 
 of my affairs ; therefore hasten up. 
 
 indexes, which I thimc you Greeks call syllabuses. 
 But this according to your convenience. But do 
 you at all events come, if you can stay in this part 
 of the cciuntry "*, and can bring Pilia"', for this is 
 reasonable, andTullia wishes it. In good truth you 
 have bought a splendid situation. I understand 
 your gladiators fight admirably. If you had chosen 
 to contract for them, you might have saved your- 
 self these two charges". But of these things 
 hereafter. Only mind to come ; and, if you have 
 any regard for me, remember about the librarians. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 What say you ? Do you suppose that I should 
 wish my com])osit)ons to be read and approved by 
 anybody, rather than by you ? Why tlien have I 
 sent them first to anybody else ? I was pressed by 
 him' to whom I sent them, and had no other copy. 
 What ? Besides (for I have some time been nibbling 
 at what must be swallowed at last) a recantation of 
 my sentiments seemed to be rather disreputable. 
 But farewell to upright, and true, and honourable 
 counsels 1 It is not to be believed what perfidy 
 there is in those chiefs", as they wish to be ; and 
 as they would be, if they had any honesty. I have 
 understood and known them, having been invited, 
 deserted, cast off by them ; yet it had been my in- 
 tetition to co-operate with them in the republic. 
 They are the same that they were : I have at length 
 by your instruction grown wiser. You will say 
 that you advised, and persuaded me what to do ; 
 but not to write also. But I chose to lay myself 
 under an obligation to maintain this new connexion; 
 and to prevent my relapsing to those, who, when 
 they ought to pity, do not cease to envy me. How- 
 ever I have, as I wrote you word, been very tem- 
 perate in my subject. I shall become more 
 exuberant, if both he receives it kindly, and these 
 peojile show their vexation ; who ill endure that I 
 should possess a villa which had belonged to 
 Catulus, and do not consider that I bought it of 
 Vettius ■' ; who say that it did not become me to 
 build a house ; that I ought rather to sell one. But 
 what more? If in the public expression of my 
 sentiments I have spoken anything which they 
 might approve ; yet their joy is, that I should have 
 spoken contrary to the wish of Pompeius. But 
 there is now an end of this ; and since those, who 
 have no power, do not choose to behave kindly to 
 me, let me try to be kindly received by those who 
 have. You wil! say, " I wished it long ago." I 
 know that you wished it ; and that I was a very 
 
 1 At Antium. 
 
 r Pilia was betrothed to Atticus, but not yet married ; 
 unless we suppose with M. Mongault that this letter should 
 be divided into two, the first written from Rome, the other 
 from Antium, after Atticus's marriage. 
 
 s Purcliasing gladiators, and purchasing a place for them 
 to exliibit : so I understand this passage, whicli is not very 
 clear. Tliese gladiators are supposed to have been in lionour 
 of Caecilius. See book iii. letter 20. 
 
 ' Tliis seems to have been Caesar, to whom Cicero had 
 sent a complimentary poem. 
 
 " lie probably means those who, while tliey professed to 
 support the republic, were actuated by jealousy towards 
 Cicero, as he li. c|iiently insinuates in other letters. 
 
 » There weic several of this name, all of them people of 
 obscurity, and thereby forming a contrast to the family of 
 Catuluck
 
 TO TITUS rOiMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 667 
 
 uss. Bnt it is now time that I snould have regard 
 to myself, since I can by no means have the regard 
 of these people. I am much obliged to you for 
 your frequent visits to my house. Crassipes " 
 runs away with my means. You may come from 
 the direct road into the grounds ; this seems more 
 convenient. You will return home the next day, 
 for what does it signify to you ? But I will see 
 about it ^. Your people have highly decorated my 
 library by their arrangement and coverings. I 
 should be glad if you would commend them for it. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Respecting Lentulus, I bear it as I ought. 
 We have lost a good, and a great man, and one who 
 tempered a noble spirit with much kindness. It 
 is some consolation, though a poor one, that I by 
 no means lament his fate like Saufeius, and the rest 
 of your sect f. For he so loved his country, that 
 indeed I may consider him to have been snatched 
 from its ruin by some favour of the gods. For 
 ■what can be more disgraceful than our life } mine 
 especially .' As for you, though you have all the 
 endowments of a statesman, you have addicted 
 yourself to no party, but feel a common interest in 
 all ; while 1, if I speak of the republic as I ought, 
 am thought mad ; if, as 1 am obliged to do, a slave ; 
 if I say nothing, oppressed and fettered. How 
 much cause then have I for grief ? which is also 
 aggravated by this circumstance, that I cannot even 
 express it for fear of appearing ungrateful. What 
 if I should retire, and shelter myself in some port 
 of rest ? It is in vain. Rather let me rush into 
 war, and take the field. Shall I then submit to 
 be a follower, who have refused to be a leader ? So 
 it must be ; for so I see it pleases you, whom I 
 wish I had always minded. What remains is (ac- 
 cording to the proverb) " Sparta is your lot, make 
 the best of it." In good truth I cannot; and I 
 approve the conduct of Philoxenus, who chose 
 rather to be conducted back to prison*. But I 
 study in this place to discard these sentiments*; 
 and you, when we meet, shall confirm my purpose. 
 I perceive that you sent me several letters, which I 
 received all at the same time ; and this even added 
 to my sorrow ; for by accident I first read three, 
 in which it was stated that Lentulus was rather 
 better ; then came this thunderstroke in the fourth. 
 
 ■"^ TuUia becoming a widow by the death of her iiusband 
 L. Piso, was lately married to Crassipes, to wliom Cicero 
 had t(i pay her doner. 
 
 » These expressions are attended ■svith tliat obscurity 
 which must always be found in familiar letters, from tlieir 
 relation to circumstances that are unknown to the reader. 
 It seems to nie most probable that they may refer to some 
 letter of Atticus's inviting Cicero to come to him at Rome. 
 For that Atticus was at Rome, appears from his frequent 
 visits to Cicero's house wliile it was rebuilding ; and that 
 Cicero was himself at Antiiun, may be concluded from the 
 mention of liis library, which is known to have been at 
 his villa near that place. 
 
 y Of the sect of the Epicureans, who placed all their 
 happiness in present enjoyment. See book i. letter 8, 
 note a. 
 
 ^ Rather than commend the verses of Dionysius the 
 Tyrant. 
 
 » The sense of this passage appears to me to have been 
 misapprehended, by not adverting to the force of the word 
 iiia. whicli I conceive to mean "such sentiments as he 
 uaa hitherto held." 
 
 But, as I said, it is not he that is to be pitied ; but 
 we, who are slaves. Respecting the Hortensiana'', 
 which you advise me to write ; I am engaged ia 
 other subjects, yet am not unmindful of your 
 injunction. But in truth at the very outset I 
 relinquished it, that I might not appear foohshly to 
 have been offended with the iiiikindness of a friend ; 
 then again foolishly to proclaim it by writing. I 
 was at the same time apprehensive lest the depth of 
 my abasement, which has appeared in my actions, 
 might become still more conspicuous if I should 
 write anything ; and that offering satisfaction might 
 seem to partake of levity, but I will consider 
 of it. Do you only let me hear something from 
 j'ou as often as possible. Desire Lucceias to show 
 you the letter which I have just sent him, in which 
 I ask him to write the account of my transactions ; 
 1 hope you will be pleased with it '^. Encourage 
 him to set about the work ; and thank him for hav- 
 ing agreed to undertake it. Look after my house"* 
 as far as you can. Say something proper to Ves- 
 torius, who is very liberal towards me. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Nothing could be more seasonable than your 
 letter, which relieved my mind from great uneasi- 
 ness, on account of our dear boy Quintus*. Cha- 
 rippus had come hither two hours before, and had 
 quite frightened me. As to what you say of Apol- 
 louius ; what evil spirit has possessed him, a fellow 
 from Greece, to suppose he might throw his affairs 
 into disorder, likethe Roman knights } for Terentius 
 might plead his right ^. With respect to Metellus, 
 peace to the dead ; but, however, for many years 
 
 there has not died a citizen, who I will be 
 
 answerable for your money. For what need you 
 fear, whomsoever he has made his heir } unless it 
 is Publius. But he has not done improperly, 
 
 although he was himself ^. Therefore, on his 
 
 account, you will not have occasion to open your 
 coffers. In what concerns the others ^, you must 
 be more cautious. You will have the goodness to 
 attend to my requests about my house ' ; you will 
 set a guard ; you will warn Milo. The people of 
 Arpinum are clamorous on the subjectof LateriumJ? 
 What say you ? I for my part am sorry. But (as 
 
 b The Hortensiana seems to have been some work eithe^ 
 to be dedicated to Hortensius, or complimentary and con- 
 ciliatory towards him. 
 
 <; This letter is still extant. — Ep. Fam. book v. letter 12. 
 
 ^ Which was rebuilding at Rome. See letter 3 of thia 
 book. 
 
 « The son of Q. Cicero, the same v/hom he afterwards 
 calls the young Cicero. 
 
 f Terentius was a Roman knigat. It is probable that 
 Atticus may have had some money dealings with him, and 
 with ApoUonius, and that tliey were both defaulters. 
 
 K These breaks are evidently indicative of some reproach- 
 ful expressions, of which Cicero checked the utterance out 
 of respect to the dead. 
 
 h This refers to ApoUonius and Terentius. 
 
 ' Cicero had likewise in a former letter begged his friend 
 to look after it. Indeed it seems to have been necessary, 
 not only for tlie sake of encouraging and directing the 
 workmen, but also to protect it from the violence of Clo- 
 dius. See letter .3 of this book. 
 
 J Lateriimi was a possession of Q. Cicero in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Arpinum. By some alterations he seems t9 
 have given offence to the people there.
 
 C68 
 
 Tin-: LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 Homer sings) " he disregards tlieir words.'' It 
 only remains to beg tliat you will continue to nurse 
 and to love the young Cicero, as you do. 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 
 Many passages in your letter delighted me, and 
 nothing more than your " dish of ()otted cheese''." 
 As to what you say ahout my debts being reduced 
 •♦to a shroil," I reply by the jirovcrb, "call no- 
 body great before you see his end '." I find nothing 
 for you ready built in the country ; there is some- 
 thing ill the town '" ; but it is uncertain whether it 
 is to be sold. This is close to my liouse. Be 
 assured that Antium is tlie Buthrotuni " of Rome, 
 as that of yours is of Corcyra. Nothing can be 
 quieter, nothing more retired, nothing ))leasanter. 
 "However despicable, our home is still dear"." 
 But since Tyrannio has arranged my books, a new 
 spirit seems to animate my house ; and in accom- 
 plishing this, Dionysius and your Menophiius have 
 been of wonderful assistance. Notiiing can be 
 more elegant than your shelves, now that the books 
 are so highly distinguised by their covers. I should 
 be glad to hear from you of the success of the 
 gladiators P ; but it is on the presumption that they 
 conducted themselves well ; if otherwise, I do not 
 ask about them''. 
 
 Apenas was scarcely gone, when your letter 
 arrived. What say you ? Do you think he will not 
 propose' the law? Speak louder, I beseech you ; 
 for 1 seem scarcely to have heard it. But let me 
 know presently, if it is not troublesome to you. 
 As a day has been added to the holidays, I can the 
 better spend that day here with Dionysius. I am 
 quite of your mind about Trebonius. With respect 
 to Domitius % "no fig, I swear, was ever so like 
 another," as bis situation is to mine ; either 
 because it happens through the same people, or 
 because it is beyond all expectation, or because 
 there are no honest men left. In one res])ect it is 
 unlike ; that he deserves it. But with respect to 
 the misfortune itself, I do not know if mine were 
 not the lesser ; for what can be worse than this, 
 that he who has been all his life looked upon as 
 consul elect ', should at last be unable to obtain the 
 
 k Several parts of this letter refer to some expressions 
 previously addressed to Ciecro by Atticus. Cicero having 
 been living in retirement, seems to have given occasion to 
 Atticus to banter him on his spare living, from which he 
 concludes that he must have reduced his debts to a mere 
 trifle. The word tyrotarichum is met with again, book 
 xiv. letter 16. Raudusculum occurs, book vi. letter 8. 
 book vii. letter 2, and book xiv. letter 14. 
 
 ' Cicero replies by a Greek proverb, the meaning of 
 ■which is, that he must not presume upon tlie extinction of 
 his embarrassments before it took place. 
 
 »" The town of Antium, from whence Cicero writes. 
 
 " The place of -4.tticus's residence in Epirus, opposite to 
 Corcyra. 
 
 o The original is obscure, and probably mutilated. 
 
 P See letter 4 of this book. 
 
 q This seems to have been the conclusion of a letter 
 despatclied by a slave of the name of Apenas. The rest 
 should be considered either as a separate letter, or a post- 
 script written after recalling his messenger. 
 
 ■^ It is uncertain to what law this alludes. 
 
 • L. Domitius jEnobarbus. 
 
 ' He was of a noble family, and had obtained all the 
 previous offices in the state as soon as he was of an age to 
 hold them ; but was kept from the consulship by means of 
 
 consulate .' especially when he stood alone, or at 
 most iiad only one competitor. But if it be, which 
 I do not pretend to know, that he has in the memo- 
 randums of his calendar as long a list of consuls to 
 come, as of those already made, what can be more 
 wretched than he ? unless it be the republic, in 
 which there is no ho])e even of any amendment. 
 The first intelligence I had of Natta was from your 
 letter. I dislike the man. You ask r.bout my 
 poem. What if it should endeavour to make its 
 escape".' Would you consent.-' With regard to 
 Fabius Luscus, which I had been going to mention, 
 he was always very friendly to me, nor had 1 ever 
 borne him any ill will ; for he was a sensible, modest, 
 well behaved man. As I did not happen to see 
 him, I supposed he had been absent ; till I heard 
 from this Gavius of Firmum, that he was in Rome, 
 and had been there all along. Can such a trifling- 
 cause, you will say, have offended him .' He had 
 given me much information about the Firmian 
 brothers. What may be the reason of his anger 
 against me, if lie is angry, I am quite ignorant. 
 Respecting the advice you give me, to conduct 
 myself like a good politician, and keep my own 
 counsel ; I shall do so. But I stand in need of 
 greater prudence ; for which I shall apply to you, 
 as I use to do. 1 wish, if you have any access to 
 Fabius, that you would smell out, and just taste that 
 guest of you-rs ^ ; and send me daily accounts of 
 these, and all other matters. When you have 
 nothing to tell me, teU me even that. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 (GrtBV. X.) 
 It is strongly reported at Puteoli that Ptole- 
 mseus is restored to his kingdom''''. If you have 
 any certain information, I should be glad to knov/ 
 it. I am here feeding on Faustus's library. You 
 might suppose perhaps that it was on the exquisite 
 productions of Puteoli and Lucrinum. There is 
 no want of these ; but, to say the truth, in the 
 present state of the republic, I have lost my re- 
 lish for other enjoyments and pleasures ; and find 
 support and refreshment from books alone : and 
 would rather occupy that little seat of yours under 
 the statue of Aristotle^, than the curule chair of 
 these people ; and rather walk with you at your 
 house, than with him>', with whom I see I must 
 walk. But about this walk chance must determine, 
 unless there be some god who has a regard to us. 
 With respect to my gallery, and my stove, and all 
 that Cyrus ^ is engaged to do, I should be glad if, 
 as far as you can, you would look after them ; and 
 press Philotimus to despatch ; that I may have it 
 in my power to make you some return in this 
 kind". Pompeius came to Cumanum the 23rd of 
 
 Pompeius and Crassus, at the instigation of Caesar, whom 
 he had foolishly provoked. 
 
 u What if I sliould think of publishing it ? This must 
 be the poem to Ca;sar mentioned in letter 5 of this book. 
 
 * Supposed to mean Saufeius. 
 
 "■ Ptolemaeus was restored by Gabinius, who was governoz 
 of Syria, but was not autliorised to re-establisli Ptolemaeua 
 in Egypt. 
 
 ^ In Atticus's library. y Pompeius. 
 
 ^ An architect. See book ii. letter 3. 
 
 " By receiving Atticus in his library, as he had beea 
 received in that of Atticus.
 
 TO TITUS POMPON lUS ATTICUS. 
 
 609 
 
 April. He immediately sent a message of comjili- 
 ment to me. It is the following morning that I 
 write this, and am going to him. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 {Grcev. ix.) 
 I SHOULD be glad to know if the tribunes really 
 prevent the census by vitiating the days for hold- 
 ing it ; ^ such is the report here ; likewise what they 
 are doing, or what is their design generally respect- 
 ing the censurate. I have been here with Porn- 
 peius. He talked a good deal about the repub- 
 lic ; and was dissatisfied with himself, " as he 
 said." For so we must speak of this man. He 
 despised the province of Syria, and extolled that 
 of Spain. Here again we must subjoin — " as he 
 said." And I imagine, whenever we speak of 
 him, we should add this ; as Phocylides does in 
 the beginning of his poems — " This also is by 
 Phocylides." He expressed his thanks to you for 
 having undertaken to place the statues •= for him : 
 and towards me he showed particular kindness. 
 He also came to me at Cumanum from his own 
 villa. He appeared to me to desire nothing less 
 than that Messala should stand for the consulship. 
 If you know anything about it, I should wish to 
 be informed. I am much obliged to you for say- 
 ing that you will commend my fame to Lucceius "•, 
 and that you frequently visit my bouse. My bro- 
 ther Quintus writes me word, that having now his 
 dear Cicero with him, he should go to you the 7th 
 of May. I left Cumanum the 27th of Aiiril : 
 and the same day I was at Naples with Loetus. 
 The 28th of April, early in the morning, I have 
 written this, setting off to Pompeianum. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 I AM delighted with your letters, two of which 
 I received together on the last day of the month. 
 Go on to tell me the rest. I am anxious to know 
 the whole business. Find out too, if you can, how 
 this is : you may do it through Demetrius. Pom- 
 peius said that he expected Crassus in Albanum 
 on the 28th, and that as soon as he arrived, they 
 should go immediately to Rome, to examine the 
 accounts of the public renters. I asked if they 
 would do it during the exhibition of the gla- 
 diators ? He replied, before they came on. How 
 this is, if you either know at present, or else when 
 he is come to Rome, I wish you would send me 
 ■word. Here 1 am devouring books with a wonder- 
 ful man, (so in truth I esteem him,) Dionysius, 
 who sends his compliments to you, and all your 
 family. " Nothing is more delicious than univer- 
 sal information." Therefore, as to a man of cu- 
 riosity, write to me distinctly what takes place the 
 first day, what the second, what the censors do, 
 ■what Appius, what that popular Apuleia •=. Lastly 
 
 b We have before eeen instances of this practice of the 
 magistrates, who observed the heavens in order to prevent 
 the public business. 
 
 c These statues were for the ornament of the theatre 
 ■which Pnmpeius was now erecting. 
 
 d By encouraging him to write the history of Cicero's 
 consulship. See book iv. letter 6. 
 
 * By this term Cicero is supposed to mean Clodius 
 
 I wish you to inform me what you are doing your- 
 self. For, to say the truth, I am not so much de- 
 lighted with the news, as with your letters. I 
 have brought nobody with me besides Dionysius : 
 yet I am not afraid of being without your con- 
 versation. I am charmed with the work '. You 
 will give my book to Lucceius. I send you that 
 (if Demetrius Magnes, that you may have a per- 
 son ready to bring me back a letter from you. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 EgnatiusK is at Rome. But I spoke to him 
 strongly upon Halimetus's business at Antium, 
 and he promised to exert his influence with Aqui- 
 lius. You will be able to see him therefore if you 
 wish it. I scarcely think I can offer ray assistance 
 to Macro ; for on the 15th I see there is to be an 
 aifction at Larinum, which will last three days. I 
 hope, therefore, though you interest yourself so 
 much about him, that you will excuse me. But, 
 as you love me, come with Pilia to dine*" at my 
 house the 2d of next month : in short you must 
 do it. On the 1st I mean to dine in the gardens 
 of Crassipes, by way of an inn. I shall elude the 
 order of the senate ' and shall get home after din- 
 ner, that I may be ready the next morning for 
 Milo. I shall there see you, and remind you of 
 your engagement. All my family join in kind 
 reeards. 
 
 LETTER Xin. 
 
 I SEE that you are apprised of my having coroo 
 to Tusculanum the lath of November ; there I met 
 Dionysius. We wish to be at Rome the 15th of 
 next month. What do I say ? we wish ? nay, but 
 we must be there. Milo's marriage is to be cele- 
 brated ; and -there is some expectation of the 
 comitia being held K If this is confirmed, I am 
 not sorry to have been absent during the alterca- 
 tions, which I understand have taken place in the 
 senate ^. For I must either have supported v/hat 
 I could not approve ; or must have been wanting 
 in attention, where I ought not. But I hope you 
 will describe to me, as distinctly as possible, these 
 matters, and the present state of the republic, 
 and how the consuls ' bear this rude treatment. 
 
 Apuleius ■n-as the name of a seditious tribune in Marius's 
 time, who had driven into banishment Metellus Numidi- 
 cus. The feminine termination is added in contempt, to 
 mark his effeminacy and degeneracy. 
 
 f This probably alludes to something contained in 
 Atticus's letters, and which must necessarily remain 
 obscure. 
 
 e A banker. See book vii. letter 18. 
 
 •" The Latin cana, which is usu.ally translated supper, 
 nearly corresponds to our dinner : it was commonly served 
 about three or four o'clock in the afternoon. The pran- 
 dium of the Romans resembled our luncheon. 
 
 ' This order required every senator in Rome to attend at 
 the meetings of the senate. 
 
 J The comitia for the election of the next year's consuls, 
 which had been factiously interrupted. 
 
 k These altercations probably relate to the proposal of 
 confirming the governments of Gaul, Spain, and Syria, to 
 Csesar. Pompeius, and Crassus, for five years. 
 
 1 Domitius ^nobarbus and Appius Claudir.s Pulcher 
 were elected almost at the end of the year, the election 
 liaving been prevented from taking place at the ordinary 
 time.
 
 070 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 I am quite thirsty for news : and if you ask me, I 
 must sny that I have sad misgivini,'s. They say 
 that our Crassus went out in liis military dress not 
 quite with tlie same dignity as his coeval formerly 
 L. PauUus, then a second time consul. O the 
 wicked man'" ! I have finished the oratorical 
 books with care : they have occujiiud much of my 
 time and attention : you may get them transcribed. 
 I have also to beg this of youAbat you will make 
 me an accurate representation of the present state 
 of things, that I may not come thither quite a 
 stranger. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Our friend Vestorius has informed me by letter, 
 that he believes you left Rome on tlie 10th of 
 May, later than he had mentioned, because you 
 had not been quite well. I shall be very glad to 
 hear that you are better. I wish you would write 
 home to your people to let me have access to your 
 books, in the same manner as if you were there. 
 Amongst others, I particularly want Varro's works". 
 For 1 must take some things from thence for the 
 books which I have in hand, and whicli 1 hope 
 you will approve. I should be glad, if you have 
 any news, especially from my brother Quintus", 
 next from C. Caesar, and if you can tell me any- 
 thing of the comitia, or the republic, (for you 
 commonly soon smell out these matters,) that you 
 would let me know. If you have nothing to tell 
 me, yet let me hear from you ; for your letters can 
 never be unseasonable, or unwelcome. But, above 
 all, I beg you to come back to us as soon as you 
 have finished your business, and completed your 
 journey p to your mind. Make my compliments to 
 Dionysius. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 (Grtsv. xvi.) 
 You may judge how busy I am, by receiving 
 this letter "1 in the hand-writing of a clerk. On 
 the frequency of your letters I have nothing to 
 accuse you : but most of them only let me know 
 where you were, as coming from you ; or, besides, 
 informed me that you were well. I was particu- 
 larly glad to receive two letters of this kind almost 
 at the same time, which you sent from Buthrotum ; 
 for I was anxious to know that you had had a good 
 passage. But this frequent correspondence rather 
 pleased me by its quickness than by its copious- 
 ness. The letter which your guest M. Paccius 
 delivered to me was indeed important, and full of 
 
 "< Crassus went out imder the curse of the tribime 
 Ateius. 
 
 n Varro had written several treatises on the history and 
 antiquities of Rome, with whicli he was particularly con- 
 versant. Cicero was probably engaged in his work on 
 Government. 
 
 Q. Cicero was lately made lieutenant to Caesar in 
 Gaul. 
 
 P A journey into Asia, mentioned in the nest letter. 
 
 1 Several of the latter letters of this fourth book, espe- 
 cially this, seem to have been written at different interrals, 
 and tL> have been strangely misarranged. At this distance 
 of time it would be fruitless to attempt to disentangle their 
 contents. 
 
 matter. To this, therefore, I shall write in an- 
 swer ; and, in the first place, must tell you that E 
 have shown Paccius, by words aiul deeds, the weight 
 of your recommendation : so that though he was 
 before quite a stranger to me, I have received him 
 into close familiarity. I shall now proceed to the 
 other parts of your letter. A''arro, about whom 
 you write to me, shall be introduced in some 
 place '^, if only a |)lace can be found for him. But 
 you are aware of the nature of my dialogues ; so 
 that in those upon oratory, wliieh you so highly 
 commend, no mention (-ould be made of anybody, 
 who was not known, or heard of, by those who 
 carry on the disputation. This, which I have begun 
 onthesubjectofgovernment, I have attributed to the 
 persons of Africanus, and Philus, and Laelius, and 
 Manilius: andhaveadded the young men Q. Tubero, 
 P. llutilius, and Lielius's two sons-in-law Scsevola 
 and Fannius. I thought, therefore, since I mean 
 to prefix an introduction to each book, as Aris- 
 totle has done in those which he calls his public 
 treatises, of making some occasion for naming 
 him ; which I understand you ap])rove. I only 
 T/ish I maybe able to accomplish my undertaking; 
 for I have embraced, as you jjprceive, a great and 
 momentous subject, and one which demands much 
 leisure, which I exceedingly want. When in those 
 books which you commend, you miss the person 
 of Sca3vola, you must know that I have withdrawn 
 it not inadvertently ; but have followed the ex- 
 ample of our divine Plato in his Republic. There, 
 when Socrates had come into the Pirseeus to Cepha- 
 lus, a rich and pleasant old man, as long as the 
 first dialogue was going on, the old man is present 
 at the disputation ; then, having himself delivered 
 his opinion, he says that he must go away upon some 
 religious business ; and he does not afterwards re- 
 turn. I imagine Plato thought it hardly proper to de- 
 tain a person of that age any longer in so protracted 
 a discussion. Much more 1 thought it right to use 
 the same discretion in regard to Scaevola, whose 
 age and state of health you remember, as well as 
 his honours ; which made it hardly becoming ia 
 him to remain for several days in Crassus's Tus- 
 culan villa. Besides, the subject of the first book 
 was congenial with Scsevola's studies ; the others, 
 as you know, contain technical reasonings, at 
 which I did not choose to have that cheerful old 
 man, such as you knew him, to be present. I 
 shall pay attention to what you tell me concerning 
 my daughter's settlement ; for by the testimony, 
 as you say, of Aurelius, it is a good security : and 
 by this also I shall recommend myself to my dear 
 Tullia. I am not wanting to Vestorius : for I 
 understand this to be your vvish ; and I take care 
 to let him know it. But are you aware of his dis- 
 position, that while we are both ready to serve 
 him, nothing can be more untractable .' Now for 
 what you ask about C. Cato. You know that he 
 was acquitted on the Junian and Licinian law ; 
 and I foretell that he will be acquitted on the 
 Fufian ; and that, with even more satisfaction to 
 his accusers than to his supporters. He has, 
 however, returned into friendship with me and 
 Milo. Drusus is prosecuted by Licinius, with 
 leave to challenge the judges on the ;:}rd of July. 
 The rumours about Procilius are not favourable ; 
 but you know how the judgments are given. 
 
 "^ That is, I will endeavour to introduce his name into 
 some part of my writings.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 en 
 
 Hirrus is reconciled with Domitius. The decree 
 of the senate, which the consuls have proposed 
 relating to the provinces, " Whoever hereafter," 
 &c., never pleased me, because I knevir tliat the 
 declaration of Memmius" must be very offensive 
 to Csesar. My friend Messala, and his compe- 
 titor Domitius, have been very liberal tovrards the 
 people. Nothing can exceed the favour in which 
 they are held ; they were sure of being consuls. 
 But the senate has decreed, that previous to the 
 comitia an inquiry should be made without pub- 
 lishing the result'. These resolutions, which were 
 generally applicable" to each candidate, gave the 
 candidates great alarm. But some of the judges, 
 amongst whom was Opimius Antius, called upon 
 the tribunes to prevent any judgment without the 
 sanction of the people. This succeeded. The 
 comitia were put off by a decree of the senate, till 
 the law for the reserved judgment should be passed : 
 the day for the law arrived : Terentius interceded : 
 the consuls, who had conducted the business with 
 an easy hand, referred it to the senate. Here was 
 Abdera itself, not without some observations 
 from me. You will say, " Cannot you be quiet ? " 
 Pardon me ; it is hardly possible. For what could 
 be so absurd ? The senate had decreed that the 
 comitia should not be held till the law had passed, 
 and if anybody interceded, that the whole business 
 should be taken again into consideration. It was 
 first moved with indifference ; intercession was 
 made without any apparent unwillingness : the 
 business was referred to the senate ; upon which 
 thev passed a resolution, that it was desirable the 
 comitia should be held at the very earliest time. 
 Scaurus, who was acquitted during those few days 
 of business, when I defended his cause with great 
 eloquence, (for Scaevola by his observation of the 
 heavens had stopped the meetings of the people 
 every day till the end of September, the day before 
 I write this,) had given ample gratuities to the 
 people by their tribes at his own house; but 
 though his bounty was larger, that of the candi- 
 dates who had been before him seemed to be more 
 acceptable. 1 should like to see your conntenancs 
 while you read this ; for, to say the truth, you 
 have some interest in having this traffic continue 
 through several returns of the fair days ^. But the 
 senate was to be held to-day, that is, the 1st of 
 October, for it is just beginning to dawn. There 
 will nobody speak freely besides Antius and Favo- 
 nius ; for Cato is ill. About me you need not 
 fear : yet I make no promises. What more do 
 you inquire about ? the judgments, I imagine, 
 which have been passed. Drusus and Scaurus are 
 
 8 A factious engagement entered into between the con- 
 suls and the two candidates, Memmius and Domitius, for 
 their mutual support. The decree of the senate alluded 
 to must have been founded on this iniquitous contract, 
 which Memmius, who was supported by Cssar, declared 
 afterwards in disgust to the senate. See letter 18 of this 
 book. 
 
 • The sentence was not to be declared till after the elec- 
 tion, yet so as to make void the election of those who should 
 be found guilty. 
 
 " Tlie passage in the original is obscure, and probably 
 corrupt I have given what I suppose to be the meaning 
 of it. 
 
 ^ Abdera was proverbially a land of folly and madness. 
 
 'f The nundince, or days of fair, were held every ninth 
 day. Atticus had some concern >vith them by reason of 
 bis money transactions. 
 
 found not guilty. It is thought the three candi- 
 dates will be accused ; Domitius by Memmius, 
 Messala by Q. Pompeius Rufus, Scaurus by Tria- 
 rius or by L. Ctesar. " What," you will ask, 
 " will you be able to say for them ?" May I die, 
 if I know. In those three books, which you com- 
 mend^, I find nothing. Now, to give you my 
 opinion of affairs, we must bear them. Do you 
 ask how I conducted myself^ .' with firmness and 
 freedom. " But he^," you will say, " how did he 
 bear it?" Patiently; conceiving that he was 
 bound to have some consideration for my dignity, 
 till satisfaction should be made to me". How, 
 then, was he acquitted '' .' Through the incredible 
 weakness of his accusers, that is, of L. Lentulus 
 the younger, whom everybody cries out upon as 
 guilty of prevarication ; then, through the extra- 
 ordinary exertiongof Pompeius, and the corruption 
 of the judges. Yet, after all, thirty-two found 
 him guilty, thirty-eight acquitted him. The other 
 trials are still hanging over him : so that he is not 
 fairly clear of his difficulties. Youwillsay, "How, 
 then, do you bear all this ?" In truth, very well; 
 and I am very well satisfied with myself for doing 
 so. We have lost, my Pomponius, not only all 
 the life and spirit, but the very complexion and 
 ancient form of the state. There is no longer any 
 repubhc, in which I can take pleasure, or acquiesce 
 with any satisfaction. " Is this then,'' you will 
 say, " what you bear so easily .-"' Even so : for I 
 remember how flourishing the state was not long 
 since, when I was at the head of affairs ; and what 
 return I have met with : so that I am troubled 
 with no anxiety on that account. They, who were 
 mortified at my having any share of power, are 
 now outrageous that one man should possess all 
 power. Many circumstances afford me comfort : 
 yet I do not descend from my state ; but return 
 to that course of life which is most congenial to 
 my nature, literature and study. The toil of 
 pleading I relieve with the charms of oratory : my 
 house and my country-seats afford me delight : I 
 do not consider from whence I have fallen, but 
 from whence I have risen. If I possess but my 
 brother and you, the rest may go to ruin, for me. 
 I may still philosophise with you. That part of 
 my mind where passion once resided is grown cal- 
 lous : private and domestic concerns alone afford 
 me pleasure. You wiU perceive a wonderful ex- 
 emption from care, for which I principally depend 
 upon your return : for there is nobody on earth 
 whose sentiments are so congenial with my own. 
 But hear something more : things tend to an 
 interregnum"^; and there is some surmise of a 
 dictator"*. Indeed there is much talk of it : which 
 was of some use to Gabinius before timid judges*. 
 The consular candidates are all charged with 
 bribery. Gabinius, too, is added to the number f 
 
 » In his treatise " De Oratore." 
 
 y This probably alludes to the trial of Gabinius. 
 
 ^ Pompeius, who was a friend to Gabinius. 
 
 » Gabinius had conspired with Clodius in his attack 
 upon Cicero. 
 
 •> Here are inserted two Greek words, but what they 
 are, or what they import, lias not been satisfactorily 
 ascertained. 
 
 c When there were no consuls, an interrex was ap- 
 pointed, and changed every five days. 
 
 d In the person of Pompeius. 
 
 c Lest Pompeius, had be been made dictator, should 
 persecute them.
 
 f.7i 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 whom P. Sylla accused, not doubting but that he 
 was out of the city ; while Tor<iuatus opposed it 
 ■without any effect. But they will all be accpiitted ; 
 por will anybody hereafter be condemned, unless 
 he be guilty of murder. But all this is prosecuted 
 with severity, so that the witnesses become eager. 
 M. Fulvius Nohilior has been found guilty : many 
 others, shrewd ]U'ople do not even wait to answer 
 to their accusation. What more' news ? yet there 
 is some. Upon the ac(|uittal of Gabinius, other 
 judges, in indignation, an hour after, condemned 
 by the Papian law one Antiochus Gabinius from 
 among the assistants of the ])ainter Sojjolis, a 
 freed-man, and Serjeant of (labii)ius. This man, 
 therefore, charged by the 1'a|)ian law with offence 
 against the state, immediately said in Greek, 
 " Have I not known thee, ^lais, along with 
 PaphiaK?" Pontinius wants to enter in triumph 
 the 2nd of November. Cato and Servilius the 
 prfctors, and Q. Mucius the tribune, o))enly 
 oppose it ; for they say that no law has been 
 passed for his command''; and, in truth, it was 
 passed in a foolish manner. But Pontinius will 
 have the consul Appius with him. Cato, however, 
 affirms that, as long as he lives, lie shall not have 
 a triumph. I imagine this, like many other things 
 of the same kind, will come to nothing. Appius 
 thinks of going into Cilicia at his own expense, 
 without waiting for the law. I have replied to the 
 letter I received by Paccius : let me inform you of 
 the rest. I have learned from my brother's letters 
 more than I could have believed respecting Caesar's 
 affection for me ; and it is abundantly confirmed 
 by Caesar's own letters. The event of the Britan- 
 nic war is anxiously expected ; for it appears that 
 the access to the island is defended by prodigious 
 bulwarks ; and it is now known there is not a 
 grain of silver in the island, nor any hope of plun- 
 der, unless of slaves ; of whom I imagine you do 
 not expect to find any skilled in letters or in music. 
 PauUus has now nearly built the court-house in 
 the middle of the forum with the same ancient 
 pillars ; but that which he has begun is very mag- 
 nificent. What say you ? Nothing can be more 
 acceptable, nothing more glorious, than that monu- 
 ment. Likewise the friends of Csesar (myself I 
 mean and Oppius, though you should burst with 
 envy) towards that public work, which you used 
 to praise to the skies, of enlarging the forum, and 
 opening it quite to the Hall of Liberty, have dis- 
 regarded the sum of 60,000 sestertia (500,000Z.) ; 
 as the claims of individuals could not be settled 
 for less. We shall accomplish a most noble work. 
 For in the Campus Martius we are going to make 
 marble inclosures covered in for the comitia of the 
 tribes ; and we shall surround them with a lofty 
 portico a mile in circuit. To this work will also 
 be added a public hall. You will say, " What 
 good will this do me ? " What .' should I conceal 
 
 f These breaks, of which there are several in this letter, 
 may probably be the commencement of additions made by 
 the author at several different times before he had a con- 
 venient opportunity of sending it. 
 
 B It is not known whence the Greek is taken. It pro- 
 bably alludes to the fable of Mars being caught with the 
 Paphir.n Venus by her husband Vulcan ; then it will mean 
 that Gabinius was as guilty, as this his freed-inan, imder 
 the same Papian law. 
 
 h Before one entered Rome in triumph, it was necessary 
 to pass a law permitting him to assume a military com- 
 m;uid for that day. 
 
 from you these Roman concerns .' For when yoa 
 ask what is doing at Rome, I cannot suppose you 
 ask about the census, which is now past all ho|ie ; 
 or about the judgments that may be given by the 
 Coctian' law. Now suffer me to scold you, if I 
 have reason on my side. For you say in the letter, 
 which C. Decimus delivered to me, dated from 
 Buthrotum, that you thought it would lie neces- 
 sary for you to go into Asia. To me, indee.l, it 
 seemed to signify nothing, whether you transacted 
 your business by your agents or in person ; 
 since you so often go away, and stay away so 
 longJ. But I would rather have considered this 
 with you, while it was yet open to disci'ssion ; 
 for then I might have done something : as it is, I 
 shall check the reproof I was going to tjive you. 
 I wish it may have any effect in hastening your 
 return. I write lo you less frequently, because I 
 am uncertain where you are, or where you are 
 likely to be. I have thought fit, however, to give 
 this letter to one who, it was probable, would see, 
 you. Since you think that you shall go into Asia, 
 I should be glad to know at what time I may 
 expect you here, and what you have done about 
 Euty chides''. 
 
 LETTER XVr. 
 
 (Grav. XV.) 
 
 I AM much pleased with what you have done 
 about Eutychides ', who will have your old name 
 of Titus with your new one of Csecilius : as Diony- 
 sius's name is compounded of yours and mine into 
 Marcus Poraponius. I shall be particularly glad 
 if Eutychides understands that this has been done 
 out of your attention to my wishes ; and that his 
 kindness towards me in my distress was not lost 
 upon me at the time, and has not been forgotten 
 since. I conclude it was necessary to undertake 
 your Asiatic journey. For without sufficient cause 
 you never would have gone so far from your friends 
 and all that you hold dear. But your kindness of 
 heart and affection will best be shown by your 
 speedy return. I have some fear however lest 
 you should be detained by the urbanity of the 
 rhetorician Clodius, and by Pituanius ; who, they 
 say, is a man of great learning, and now addicted 
 to Greek literature. But, if you would be es- 
 teemed a man of probity, come back to us at the 
 time you appointed. You shall be at liberty to 
 enjoy the society of these persons at Rome, when 
 they are safely arrived. You say that you are 
 wishing to hear from me. I have written to you, 
 and upon various subjects, all detailed in a jour- 
 nal". But I suppose, as you do not seem to have 
 remained long in Epirus, my letter never reached 
 you. But the kind of letters I send you is such, 
 
 i It is not known what is meant by the Coctian law. 
 
 J I conceive Cicero to mean that Atticus so often ab- 
 sented himself, that it was of little moment to him whe- 
 ther he went in person to Asia, or whether he remained 
 at Buthrotum. 
 
 k See letter 16 of this book. 
 
 ' Eutychides seems to have been a slave, to whom 
 Atticus had given his freedom at the instance of Cicero ; 
 and, as was usual on Bach occasions, had given him bis 
 own name in addition to w hat he bare before. 
 
 "> frobably alluding to the preceding letter.
 
 TO THUS POMPON I us ATTICUS. 
 
 C73 
 
 Hhat I do not care to entrust them to anybody, 
 sunless I can depend upon his delivering them to 
 you. Now hear the state of affairs at Rome. On 
 'the 5th of July Sufenas and Cato" were acquitted ; 
 Procilius was condemned. From hence we see that 
 ihese mighty Areopagites" consider the canvassing, 
 the comitia, the intei'regnum, the dignity of the 
 •state, nay, the republic itself, to be of no account. 
 We ought indeed to avoid killing a housekeeper in 
 his own house P, yet this is no great matter; for 
 twenty-two acquitted, twenty-eight condemned. 
 Publiusi indeed, eloquently sunnning up his accu- 
 sation, had some effect upon the minds of the 
 judges : Hortonsius'' appeared in the cause like 
 himself ; I did not say a word, for my timid girl 
 who is now unwell, was afraid that what I might 
 •say would offend Publius's spirit. This business 
 being concluded, the Reatini" brought me to their | 
 paradise to sup|jort their cause against the people 
 of Interamna, before the consul and ten commis- 
 •sioners ; because the water of the lake Velinus, 
 which had been let out by Manius Curio, by cut- 
 ting through the hil!, flows down into the Nar, 
 upon which depends the drainage, yet moderate 
 moisture, of Rosea. I lived with Axius, who also 
 took me to the place called the Seven Waters. I 
 returned to Rome on Fonteius's account the 9th 
 of July. I came into the theatre, and, first, was 
 received with a great and general applause (but 
 this is of no consequence, and it was silly in me 
 ^o mention it) ; then, I gave my attention to An- 
 tiphon. He had received his freedom before he 
 came upon the stage. Not to keep you in doubt, 
 he bore away the palm. Nothing could be more 
 insignificant than his figure, nothing more defec- 
 tive than his voice, nothing more just than his 
 acting. This you must keep to yourself ; yet in 
 the Andromache he was greater than Astyanax 
 himself. In the other parts he had nobody equal 
 to him. You will ask now how I liked Arbuscula. 
 I was very much pleased with her. The games 
 were magnificent, and well received. The fight- 
 ing with beasts was put off to another time. Fol- 
 low me now into the Campus Martius. The can- 
 vass is carried on with great warmth : but, as 
 Homer says, " I will give you a sign." Interest 
 rose on the ides" of July from four to eight per cent. 
 You will say I am not sorry for that. O man ! O 
 
 1 This means Caius Cato, who with Sufenas and Proci- 
 lius had been guilty of great excesses, as tribunes of the 
 people. 
 
 Said in derision of the judges, before v.'hom the three 
 above-named were tried. 
 
 P Besides the charge of violence which attached to 
 Cato and Sufenas, Procilius appears to have been accused 
 of murder. 
 
 1 P. Clodius at this time attended to the business of 
 pleading, and was a man of good ability. 
 
 r In the original it is Hortalus, which was another of 
 Hortensius's names, by which he is also culled elsewhere 
 in these letters. 
 
 * The inhabitants of Reate, about 40 miles J^. E. from 
 Rome, a place celebrated for its beauty. 
 
 ' I understand Cicero to mean that Antiphon played 
 the nart of Astyanax, in the playof Andromache; and 
 though his figure and voice were both very deficient, yet 
 he acted with more justness than Astyanax himself could 
 have exhibited. 
 
 " It was usual, in ancient Rome, to collect the interest 
 of money on the ides, or near tlie middle, of every month. 
 ■Caeoilius, to whose fortune and name Atticus had fiuc- 
 •ceeded, obtained hiswealtt bj'this kind of usury ; and by 
 
 citizen ! Memmius is supported by the whole 
 weight of Ciesar's influence ; with him the con- 
 suls have joined Domitius, under what conditiong 
 I dRa'e not connnit to a letter. Pomi)eius storms, 
 and complains, and favours Scaurus ; but whether 
 he does this in appearance, or in earnest, is mat- 
 ter of doubt. There is no eminence in any of the 
 candidates ; money levels all distinction. Messala 
 is drooping ; not that his courage or his friends 
 fail him, but the junction of the consuls and 
 Pompeius are against him. I expect these comitia 
 will be put off. The candidates for the tribunate 
 have sworn to petition imder the arbitration of 
 Cato. They have deposited with them .500 sester- 
 tia (4000/.), on condition that whoever should by 
 Cato be found guilty of briberj', should lose that 
 sum, which is to be divided amongst his comi)e- 
 titors. I write this the day before the comitia are 
 expected to take place. But if they do take place, 
 and the messenger is not gone, I will give you the 
 whole history of them on the 28th of July. If, as 
 it is believed, the elections should be carried with- 
 out expense, Cato alone will have been able to do 
 more than all the judges. I have been defending 
 Messius, who is recalled from his Ueutenancy ; for 
 Appius had sent him out a lieutenant to Caesar. 
 Servilius ordered hini to be present. He has the 
 support of the tribes Pomptina, Velina,and Maecia. 
 There is a sharp contest ; but considerable pro- 
 gress is made. As soon as I am free from this, I 
 am engaged for Drusus ; then for Scaurus. Here 
 are noble titles provided for my speeches. Per- 
 haps I shall have also the consuls elect. If Scaurus 
 is not one of them, he will have great difficulty in 
 securing a favourable sentence. From my bro- 
 ther Quintus's letters I suspect he is now in Bri- 
 tain. I am in some anxiety to know what he is 
 doing. One thing 1 have gained ; that I have re- 
 peated and certain assurances of Caesar's kindness 
 and friendship. I should be glad if you would 
 make my compliments to Dionysius, and ask and 
 persuade him to come as soon as he can, to in- 
 struct my young Cicero and myself too. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 With what pleasure did I receive your letter, 
 which I had been looking for ! O happy arrival 
 O well-observed promise, and rare fidelity ! O 
 charming voyage ! How greatly was I alarmed 
 when I recollected the coracles^ of your former 
 passage ! But, if I am not mistaken, I shall see 
 you sooner than you mention. For I imagine you 
 thoughc that your ladies were in Apulia; which 
 not being the case, why should Apulia detain you I 
 for you must give up a few days to Vestorius, and 
 taste again, after an interval, that Latin Atticism*. 
 
 what follows, it is probable that Atticus continued the 
 same practice. 
 
 " Boats of wicker covered with leather, the Greek word 
 of tlie text being probably equivalent to irKo7a SttpOfpiva, 
 or Sepudriva, described by Ca;sar, B. C. i. 54; and such 
 as are still used in some places. I suspect this, like many 
 of the Greek terms in these letters, may have been used by 
 Atticus himself. It is meant to indicate the smallness of 
 tlie vessel in which he had crossed the sea. 
 
 w Vestorius, it must be supposed, used the Latin lan« 
 guage witli an elegance which justified this expression; 
 Atticism denoting the perfection of just composition. 
 XX
 
 o71 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TII1.LIUS CICERO 
 
 But then you fly up hither, and visit this genuine 
 example of my republic". I think 1 told you about 
 the money openly distributed amongst the tribes 
 from a certain place, jjrevious to the comitia ; also 
 that Gabinius was aeijuitted : I take it for granted 
 that he will be in authority. As to your inquiries 
 about Messala, I do not know what to say. I 
 never saw candidates so equal. With the strength 
 of Messala you are well acquainted. Scaurus has 
 been arraigned by Triarius. If you ask, I must 
 say there is no great sympathy excited in his 
 favour ; yet his acdileship has rendered his memory 
 not unacceptable, — and the recollection of his 
 father has weight with the country voters. The 
 other two plebeians " are so matched, that Domitius 
 is strongly supported by his friends, and derives 
 some advantage from his public shows, which, 
 however, were not very well received ; Memmius 
 is recommended by Caesar's soldiers, and relies 
 upon I'ompeius's influence in the north of Italy. 
 If he does not prevail with these helps, it is sup- 
 posed that somebody will be found to put off the 
 comitia till Cresar's arrival ; especially now that 
 C. Cato has been ac(iuitted '^. On the '24th of 
 October I received letters from my brother Quintus 
 and from Ctesar, dated from the shores of Britannia, 
 the latest on the 26th of September, — at which 
 time the war was finished and hostages had been 
 received ; there was no plunder, but a sum of 
 money was imposed. They were going to transport 
 the army back from Britannia. Q. Pilius had 
 already set out to join Csesar. Now if you have 
 any regard for me and your connexions, or if you 
 have any faith or prudence, and think of enjoying 
 your own comforts, you ought to make haste and 
 come to us. In truth I cannot patiently bear to 
 be without you. What wonder that I should long 
 for you, when I so much long for Dionysius ? 
 whom both I and my Cicero shall beg from you 
 when the time comes. The last letter* I received 
 from you was dated the 9th of August from 
 Ephesus. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 I SUPPOSE you think that I have forgot my 
 custom and purpose, and that I write to you sel- 
 domer than I used to do ; 'lut the truth is, that 
 seeing the uncertainty of your actual situation and 
 of your movements, I have not directed letters to 
 Epirus, nor to Athens, nor to Asia, nor intrusted 
 them to anybody that was not going to you. For 
 my letters are of such a kind that if they should 
 not be delivered it might occasion me a good deal 
 
 =5 Spoken ironically in comparing the corrupt state of 
 Rome with the model proposed in his treatise on Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 y It was necessary to have one of the consuls of a ple- 
 beian family. 
 
 » C. Cato had factiously prevented the elections on a 
 former occasion. 
 
 » This, if it is in its proper place, must mean the last 
 letter previous to that which announced Attlcus's arrival 
 inltaly. 
 
 of trouble, — often containing secrets which I d(> 
 not care to trust even to my own clerks. It is 
 amusing to guess the issue . the consuls are in 
 great disgrace, owing to C. Memmius the candidate 
 having declared in the senate the contract which 
 he and his competitor Domitius*" had made with 
 the consuls, — that if through their influence they 
 should get to be made consuls, they both bound 
 themselves in the sum of 100,000 sestertii (3700/.) 
 to produce three augurs, who would assert that 
 they had been present at the passing of a law for 
 giving military command to the consuls in the 
 provinces they desired, though no such law had 
 ever passed ; and two consular senators who would 
 say they had been present at the signing of the 
 decree for the consular provinces, though in fact 
 there had not been even any senate assembled. 
 This contract, which was declared to have been 
 made not verbally, but by names and entries in 
 several tablets, was actually produced by Memmius, 
 at the recommendation of Pompeius, with the 
 names inserted. Hereupon Appius"^ was unaltered; 
 he lost nothing. The other consul •• was confounded, 
 and, I may say, completely prostrate. But Mem- 
 mius, having broken off the engagement against 
 the wish of Calvinus, had entirely cooled again% 
 and was the more inclined now to think of a dicta- 
 tor, and to favour the suspension of public business 
 and the general licentiousness. Observe the even- 
 ness and freedom of my mind, and my contempt of 
 the Seleucian province', and indeed my agreeable 
 connexion with Csesar; for this plank alone affords 
 me pleasure in the general shipwreck. Ye gods [ 
 with what honour, dignity, and favour, does he treat 
 my, and your, Quintus ! I could do no more if I 
 had the command myself. He tells me that Caesar 
 has kindly given him the choice of a winter legion s. 
 Should you not love this man .' Who of those 
 others deserve as well of us ? But did I tell you 
 that I was lieutenant to Pompeius, and that I was 
 to be out of the city from the. 13th of January? 
 This appeared to me convenient for many reasons. 
 But I shall say no more. The rest I must keep 
 till we meet, that you may still look for some news. 
 Remember me kindly to Dionysius, for whom I 
 have not merely reserved, but have even built, an 
 apartment. For to the supreme pleasure I take 
 in your return, I derive a great accession from his 
 arrival. The day you come to me I entreat you, 
 by the love you bear me, to remain with your 
 attendants at my house. 
 
 b Cn. Domitius Calvinus, the same who is afterwards 
 called Calvinus. 
 
 c Appius Claudius Pulcher, one of the consuls. 
 
 d L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the other consul. 
 
 e CjEsar having shown his displeasure at the disclosure 
 made by Memmius, the latter ceased to prosecute the 
 business further, 
 
 £ The province of Cilicia, which Appius coveted, and to 
 which Cicero might expect to be appointed. 
 
 Z \Vliere he would choose to have his winter quarters. 
 
 \_Beht:Kn this and ihe/ollovnnri book there appears to ^ave> 
 intervened a period of more than two peart,]
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 675 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 I TEKOEiVED youF feelings, and am very con- 
 SC.i.''US of my own, at our separation ; which should 
 make you take the more jiains to prevent any fresh 
 decree for the prolongation of my government ^, 
 that this our want of eaeh other may not last be- 
 yond a year. About Annius Saturninus you have 
 managed very judiciously. As for the securities, 
 I request that, as long as you remain in Rome, you 
 ■will provide them ; and there are some securities 
 required upon taking possession', among wliich 
 are those on the Memraian and Atilian estates. 
 About Oppius you have done as 1 wished ; especially 
 by speaking to him of the 800 sestertia (6GG0/.), 
 which I should be glad to discharge even by bor- 
 rowing (if necessary) for that purpose, without 
 waiting for the final settlement of my accounts. 
 I come now to that cross line at the end of your 
 letter, in which you remind me about your sister. 
 The state is this : when I came to Arpinum, as 
 soon as my brother arrived, we first talked, and 
 for some time, about you ; from which I deviated 
 into what I and you had said to each other in 
 Tusculanum upon the subject of your sister. I 
 never saw anything so gentle and placid as my 
 brother was at that time towards her ; so that if 
 for any reason offence had been taken, it did not 
 appear. So it passed that day. The day following 
 we left Arpinum ; and, it being a festival, Quintus 
 was obliged to stop at Arcanum J; I slept at 
 Aquinum, but took some refreshment at Arcanum. 
 You are acquainted with that estate. As soon as 
 ■we got there, Quintus said in the kindest manner, 
 " Pomponia, do you invite the ladies ; I will send 
 for the boys'*." Nothing could be more gentle, as 
 it seemed to me, not only in words, but also in 
 his intention and countenance. But she, in my 
 hearing, replied, " I am only a stranger here my- 
 self:" which, I imagine, alluded to Statins having 
 gone before to prepare things for us. Then said 
 Quintus to me, " See what I have to bear every 
 day." You will say, " What was all this.'" It 
 is a great deal, and has given me much concern, — 
 BO absurdly and harshly did she answer in words 
 and looks. I kept it to myself in sorrow. We 
 all sat down, except her ; to whom Quintus sent 
 
 h Cicero was appointed to the governnient of C'ilicia, in- 
 cluding a considerable part of Abia Jlinor. Tiiose who 
 had been consuls and praetors were usually rewarded with 
 these governments, from which they drew enormous sums 
 of money. Cicero always disliked the office, as foreign to 
 his habits, and was anxious for the time when he might 
 lay it down. 
 
 > It is always difficult to understand the money transac- 
 tions of a foreign country ; and it is not surprising that 
 this difficulty should be much increased by tlie intervention 
 of so many ages, in which the customs, as well as the records 
 of particular cases, have been lost. The interpretation 
 here offered, if it be not the exact sense of the original, is 
 probably sufficiently near to it for all modern purposes. 
 
 J This was a place near Arpinum, where Quintus hav- 
 ing an estate, thought it proper to assist at some local 
 ceremonies. 
 
 ^ Tliose ladies here mentioned were probably Cicero's 
 ■wife and daughter, who might be coming to take leave of 
 him ; the boys were the sons of Cicero and of Quintus. 
 
 something from the table, which she rejected. Tn 
 short, nothing could be milder than my brother, 
 nothing ruder than your sister. 1 pass over many 
 circumstances, which at the lime were more offen- 
 sive to me than to Quintus himself. Thence I 
 proceeded to Aquinum. Quintus remained at Ar- 
 canum ; but came to me at Aquinum the next 
 morning, and told me that slie had refused to sleep 
 with him, — and that when she went away she con- 
 tinued just in the same humour in which I had 
 seen her. In a word, you may tell her this, if you 
 please, that I thought there was a great want of 
 courtesy in her behaviour that day. I have writtea 
 to you jierhaps more at length then was necessary, 
 that you might perctive there was occasion on 
 your side, likewise, for advice and admonition. 
 Further, 1 have only to beg that you will execute 
 my commissions before you leave Rome ; that you 
 will send me word of all that happens ; that you 
 will drive out Pontinius' ; and that you will take 
 care to let me know as soon as you go. Be assured 
 nothing is dearer or sweeter to me than yourself. 
 I took leave of A. Torquatus with great affection 
 at Minturnse : he is an excellent man. I wish you 
 would tell him in the course of conversation, that 
 I mentioned him in my letter to you. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 I -w^RiTE this on the 10th of May, being on the 
 point of leaving Pompeianum so as to sleep to- 
 night with Pontius in Trebulanum. From' thence 
 I mean to proceed by regular journeys without 
 any delay. While I was at Cumanum, Hortensiua 
 came to see me, which I took very kindly. Upon 
 his asking if I had any commands, I gave him a 
 general answer in other respects ; but this I par- 
 ticularly requested, that, as far as lay in his power, 
 he would not suffer my government to be prolonged. 
 In which I should be glad if you would confirm 
 him ; and assure him that I was very much gratified 
 by his visit, and by his promise of doing this or 
 anything else I might want. In the same cause 
 I have engaged my friend Furnius also, who I saw 
 would be tribune of the people for the year. I had 
 almost a little Rome in my Cuman villa, so great 
 was the concourse in that neighbourhood : whilst 
 my friend Rufio, seeing that he was watched by 
 Vestorius, played a trick upon him ; for he never 
 called upon me. Indeed ? when Hortensius came, 
 both unwell, and so far ; Hortensius too™; when 
 a vast number besides ; did not he come .-' No, I 
 say. Did you not see him then .' you will say. 
 How could I help seeing him, when I passed through 
 the town of Puteoli .' where I bowed to him while 
 he was engaged, I believe, in some business ; after- 
 wards I just bid him farewell, when he came on 
 purpose " from his villa to ask if I had any com- 
 
 1 Pontinius had been appointed one of Cicero's lieu- 
 tenants. 
 
 " If the repetition of Hortensius's name be correct, it 
 must in this second place mean " one of such distinction, 
 and so circumstanced with regard to me." 
 
 ■• If the word expense be retained, I conceive this to bo 
 its proper interpretation. 
 
 X X 3
 
 67« 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 mands. Ought oiu" to think liim unkind? or 
 ought one not rather to think him in that very 
 cireunistunce deserving of commendation, that he 
 shouhl not have pressed to be heard"? But to 
 return. Do not imagine tljat I have any other 
 consolation in this great pLigue than tliat I hope it 
 •will not last more than a year. Many, judging 
 from the custom of others, do not believe me really 
 to wish this ; you, who know me, will use all dili- 
 gence when the time comes for its being settled. 
 When you return from Epirus I beg you to write 
 to me on the subject of the republic if there is 
 anything likely to happen. For we have not yet 
 received satisfactory information how Cajsar bare 
 the vote of the senate respecting his authority p. 
 There was a report, too, about the people beyond 
 the Po, that they were ordered to elect four magis- 
 trates ''. If this be so, I am afraid of great 
 commotions ; but I shall learn something from 
 Pompeius''. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 On the 10th of May I came to Pontius in Tre- 
 bulanum. There your two letters were delivered 
 to me the third day after they had been written. 
 The same day 1 delivered to Philotimus a letter for 
 you from Pansa's Pompeian villa. At present I 
 have nothing particular to tell you. Pray let me 
 know what are the reports about the republic ; for 
 I perceive great apprehensions in the towns here, 
 though much of it is no doubt groundless. But I 
 should be glad to be informed what you think 
 likely to hajipen, and when. I do not know what 
 letter you wish me to answer ; for I have yet re- 
 ceived none besides the two, which were delivered 
 to me together in Trebulanum, — one of which 
 contained P. Licinius's proclamation, and was 
 dated the 7th of May — the other was in answer to 
 mine from Minturnee. T am afraid there may have 
 been something of importance in that which I have 
 not received, to which you wish me to reply. I 
 will put you into favour with Lentulus. I am 
 much pleased with Dionysius. Your servant 
 Nicanor is of great use to me. I have now nothing 
 more to say, and the day already breaks. I intend 
 getting to Beneventum to-day. By my moderation 
 and diligence, I trust I shall give satisfaction. From 
 Pontius' house at Trebulanum, the 1 1th of May. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 I CAME to Beneventum the 11th of May, where 
 I received the letter to which you alluded in one 
 that reached me before, and which I answered the 
 same day from Trebulanum by L. Pontius ^. In- 
 
 It is probable Rufio and Vestorius might have had 
 some dispute, which was to be referred to Cicero's decision. 
 
 P I am not ignorant of the term autoritas being applied 
 to such votes of the senate as were prevented from passing 
 inlo a law. Still it appears to me that the best sense of 
 this passage is by understanding the word to refer to 
 Cseaar's authority, which was at this time attacked by the 
 consul Marcellus, who proposed a decree for shortening 
 the period of his command in Gaul, and preventing one 
 who was not present from being elected consul. 
 
 1 The election of fourmagistratesconstituted afree town, 
 and gave the right of voting in the Roman assemblies. 
 
 r Cicero was afterwards to see Pompeius, who was at 
 Tarentum. See letter 6 of this book. 
 • Cioero having written this letter at Pontius's house, 
 
 deed I have received two at Beneventum ; one o* 
 
 which was brouglit me early in the morning by 
 Funisulanus ; the other by my secretary TuUius. 
 The attention you pay to my first and principal 
 commission ' is exceedingly grateful to me ; but 
 your departure weakens my hope. He brougl-'rvnoe 
 to this", not because I was altogether satisfied, 
 but because the want of anything better obliged m^ 
 to consent. Respecting the other, whom yoii 
 seem to think not unsuitable, I doubt whether my 
 daughter could be brought to admit him, and it 
 would be difficult for your ladies to find out. On 
 my part 1 have no objection. But you will be 
 gone, and the business must be settled in my ab- 
 sence. You will consider my situation. For if 
 either of us were there, something might be done 
 by means of Servilius to the satisfaction of Servius : 
 as it is, if this should now be approved, I hardly 
 see how it can be managed. I now come to 
 the letter I received by TuUius, and feel much 
 obliged by your attention about Marcellus. If 
 therefore a decree of the senate should be passed, 
 you will let me know : or if not, you will neverthe- 
 less accomplish the business^, — for it must of 
 necessity be granted to me, and to Bibulus. But 
 I do not doubt that the decree of the senate has 
 already been despatched, especially as the popu- 
 lace have their advantage in it. You have done 
 well about Torquatus. It will be time enough to 
 think of Maso and Ligur when they arrive. As 
 to what Chaerippus says^'', since here also you with- 
 hold your opinion ; O this province ! and must he 
 too be satisfied .' He must so far be satisfied, that 
 nothing may come before the senate. Consider 
 what is to be done, or pay down the money ; for 
 about the others I do not care. It happens how- 
 ever fortunately that you should have talked with 
 Scrota. What you say about Pontinius is very 
 just. For so it is, that if he comes to Brundisium 
 before the 1st of June, there will be less occasion 
 to press M. Annius and Tullius. I like vchat you 
 heard from Sicinius *, provided the exception does 
 not affect anybody to whom I am under obligations. 
 But I will consider of it : for I approve the thing 
 itself. What I may determine about my journey, 
 and what Pompeius wiU do about the five prefects^, 
 when I have learned from him, I will let you know. 
 Respecting Oppius, you have done right to assure 
 him of the payment of the 800 sestertia (6G60/-) : 
 and now that you have Philotimus with you, bring 
 
 it is to be supposed that when Cicero proceeded to Bene- 
 ventum, Pontius at the same time went up to Rome. 
 
 ' This probably refers to the re-marriage of his daughter, 
 who appears to have been separated from Crassipes by a 
 divorce. It must not be forgotten that divorces at that 
 time were exceedingly common. 
 
 •i It is not certain of whom Cicero is speaking ; it appears 
 to have been some person who had proposed to marry Tul- 
 lia, and who had induced Cicero to listen to his offer. She 
 did in fact marry P. Cornelius Dolabella. 
 
 ^ The object of Cicero was probably to get a decree 
 authorising him to raise a supply of troops, which he 
 considers necessary for himself and Bibulhs, on account 
 of the hostility of the Parthians who bordered on their 
 provinces. 
 
 "■ He seems to have brought up some demand against 
 Cicero, the nature of vv'hich is not known. 
 
 ^ It was usual to issue a proclamation upon entei'ing on 
 a provincial government. Cicero had been inquiring what 
 others had done on similar occasions, and it is to this that 
 Sicinius's exception must be supposed to allude. 
 
 y See aftei'wards in letter 7 of this book.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 677 
 
 the business to an end, and make up the account. 
 Ai»<l, as you love me before you go away, enable 
 ine again to go on ^. You will have relieved me 
 from a great source of uneasiness. I have now 
 replied to all the contents of your letters : though 
 1 liad almost omitted your want of paper °. This 
 Is my concern, if your deficiency obliges you to 
 write less. Take then 200 sestertii (1/. 16*.), in 
 order to supply yourself, though the smallness of 
 this sheet shows my own parsimony in this respect ; 
 while it demands from you an account of all that 
 is done or talked of. If you have any certain in- 
 telligence of Cffisar, I hope to hear from you ; and 
 again more particularly by Pontinius about every- 
 thing. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 I HAVE positively nothing to say : for I have nei- 
 ther anything to desire of you, considering there has 
 been nothing omitted, nor anything to tell you, for 
 I know nothing, and have no room for joking — so 
 many things press upon me. Know this however, 
 that I send this on the morning of the 15th of May, 
 just setting out from Venusia. On this day it is 
 probable that something will be done in the senate. 
 Let therefore your letters follow me, by which I 
 may not only be made acquainted with all facts, 
 but likewise with the current reports. I shall be 
 glad to receive them at Brundisium, for there I 
 design to wait for Pontinius till the day which you 
 mentioned. I will give you a particular account 
 of the conversations 1 may have at Tarentum 
 with Pompeius on the subject of the republic : 
 though I wish to know how long I may properly 
 write to you, — that is, how long you are likely to 
 remain in Rome, that I may know to whom I ought 
 hereafter to deliver my letters, and may not deliver 
 them in vain. But before you go, at all events let 
 that business be settled of the 20 and the 800 ses- 
 tertia (166/. and 6660/.). I wish you would con- 
 sider this as a thing of the very first importance and 
 necessity ; that what I have begun to entertain*" by 
 your recommendation, I may complete by your 
 assistance. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 I CAME to Tarentum the 18tli of May. Having 
 determined to wait for Pontinius, I thought it best 
 to pass the intermediate time with Pompeius, till 
 he should arrive : especially as I found that Pom- 
 peius wished it, and even begged me to be with 
 him, and at his house every day : to which I 
 readily agreed, — for I shall get from him many 
 good conversations on the subject of the republic ; 
 and shall besides be furnished with instructions 
 suitable for my new office. But I begin now to be 
 
 z This appears to me to be the best interpretation of 
 this passage, and most consistent with the context. 
 
 » This badinage probably refers to some expression in 
 Atticus's letter, or, it may be, to the cross line spoken of 
 in letter 1 of this book. This letter contains an unusual 
 number of broken sentences, and short allusions, which 
 involve in thera considerable doubt of the true meaning. 
 
 b He speaks of the friendship he had begun to have 
 with Caesar. The sums stated here and elsewhere, as ne- 
 gotiated between him and Oppius, were apparently due to 
 Caesar. 
 
 shorter in writing to you, from my uncertainty 
 whether you are at Rome or already set out. As 
 long as I remain in this ignorance, I will still write a 
 few lines, rather than suffer an opportunity of send- 
 ing to you to pass without a letter. At the same 
 time I have now nothing to ask of you, or to tell 
 you. I have made all my requests, which you will 
 execute as you promiseil ; when I have any news, I 
 will tell you. One thing however I shall not cease 
 to urge as long as I suppose you to remain in 
 Rome, that you would leave that business com- 
 pleted respecting the account with Ciesar. I look 
 eagerly for your letters ; especially that 1 may know 
 the time of your departure. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 I SEND you a letter every day, or rather each 
 day, shorter; for I become every day more appre- 
 hensive that you may have set out for Epirus. 
 However, that you may see I have attended to 
 your request, Pompeius says he shall present five 
 new prefects as before, with exemption of service, 
 and with the authority of magistrates '-'. After 
 spending three days with Pompeius in his own 
 house, I am going to Brundisium this 20th of May. 
 I leave him an excellent citizen, and fully prepared 
 to repel the evils which are apprehended. I shall 
 hope to get a letter from you, that I may know 
 both what you are doing, and where you are. 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 
 It is now twelve days that I have been detained 
 at Brundisium, partly by indisposition ; from 
 which however I am now recovered, having been 
 free from fever ; partly by the expectation of Pou- 
 tinius's arrival, of which I have not yet received 
 any intimation. But I am expecting to sail. If 
 you are at Rome, which I scarcely suppose, but if 
 you are, I should exceedingly wish you to attend 
 to the following circumstance. I received infor- 
 mation from Rome that my friend Milo complained 
 in his letters of my unkindness, because Philoti- 
 mus was a party in the purchase of his goods ''. 
 This I desired to be done by the advice of C. Duro- 
 nius, whom I knew to be much attached to Milo, 
 and such a one as you esteem him. His inten- 
 tions and mine were, first, that the property might 
 thus come under my control, and that no ill-dis- 
 posed purchaser might rob him of his .slaves, of 
 whom he has a great many with him ; then, that 
 the security he had wished to provide for Fausta = 
 
 c Different conjectures have been formed respecting the 
 text and the meaning of this sentence. It seems to me 
 most probable, that Pompeius was allowed to nominate to 
 Cicero's prefectures, which were often honorary, and while 
 they gave authority, admitted of exemption from service. 
 Cicero only insisted on excluding all per.sons concerned in 
 traffic. [See letter 11 of this book.] The proper busi- 
 ness of the prefect appears to have been to determine 
 causes in such places where there were no authorised 
 magistrates. 
 
 d Philotiraus was a freed-man of Terentia, Cicero's 
 wife. Jlilo had been found guilty of the death of Clodius, 
 and in consequence went into a. voluntary exile at Mar- 
 seilles ; and his debts being very great, his estate was sold 
 by public auction for the satisfaction of his creditors. 
 
 « Fausta was Mile's wife.
 
 C7n 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 might be ratified ; added to whicli, if anything could 
 be saved, that I might the more easily save it. 
 Now 1 should be glad if you would examine into the 
 whole affair, — for accounts are often exaggerated. 
 But if lie complains, if he writes to his friends, if 
 Fausta is of the same mind, do not let Piiilotimus 
 continue to have any concern in the property, con- 
 trary to Milo's wishes ; for so I told him in person, 
 and he engaged to do. It was no great object to 
 me. But if what I have heard is undeserving of 
 notice, you will judge what is right. Speak to 
 Duronius. I have written also to Camillus, and to 
 Lamia ; and the rather, because I could not depend 
 upon your being in Rome. In short, you will 
 determine what you think most consistent with my 
 honour, my reputation, and my interest. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 I ARRIVED at Actium ' the 15th of June, hav- 
 ing feasted like the Salii s at Corcyra, and Sybotis, 
 upon the presents which Arcus and my friend Eu- 
 tychides •■ had splendidly and kindly provided for 
 me. I preferred going from Actium by land, after 
 having had a very unpleasant voyage. The dou- 
 bling of Leucate too seemed to be attended with 
 difficulty ; and I did not tliink it becoming to pro- 
 ceed to Patrse in a small vessel without my equi- 
 page. I daily study myself, and direct my attendants, 
 to carry into effect my determination (in which 
 you often encouraged my speed), to discharge this 
 office, which is out of the common ' course, with the 
 utmost moderation, and the utmost forbearance. I 
 hope that the Parthians will be quiet, and that for- 
 tune will favour me : I sliall do my part. Pray 
 take care to let me know what you are doing, 
 where you will be at successive times, how you left 
 my affairs at Rome, and above all about the twenty 
 and the eight hundreds sestertia {1661. and G660/. ). 
 This you will accomplish in one letter carefully 
 despatched, so that it may reach me. But (though 
 you are now absent, while the business of the pro- 
 vinces is not under consideration, yet will, as yon 
 ■wrote me word, be present at the time) remember 
 to provide through your own influence, and through 
 all my friends, especially through Hortensius, that 
 my year of service may remain in its present state, 
 and that no addition may be decreed. I am so 
 earnest in this request, that I doubt if I should not 
 even beg you to contend against any intercalation''. 
 
 f On the coast of Acarnania in Greece. The same place 
 that was afterwards distinguished by the engagement 
 between Augustus and M. Antonius, which decided the 
 empire of the world. 
 
 B The Salii were priests of Mars, who, at the conclusion 
 of their solemn processions, used to partake of a splendid 
 entertainment ; from whence Salearic feasts derived their 
 name. 
 
 •> Arcus and Eutychides were freed-men belonging to 
 Atticus, whose house at Buthrotum was near to Corcyra 
 and Sybotis, through which Cicero passed after he had 
 crossed the Adriatic. Eutyctiidcs is mentioned before, 
 book iv. letter 15. 
 
 ' It was usual for the consuls to take a government imme- 
 diately upon resigning their oflSce. Cicero having declined 
 this at the time, was now appointed out of the regular 
 course. 
 
 3 Mentioned above in letter 5 of this book. 
 
 '' This is said jestingly. The irregularities of the year, 
 previdus to Csesar's reformation of the calendar, used to 
 be rectified by the occasional insertion of a mouth, consist- 
 
 But I must not impose every burden upon you. 
 At least however be firm upon the subject of the 
 year. My affectionate and dear boy Cicero sends 
 his compliments to you. I have always, as you 
 know, had a regard for Dionysius ; but 1 esteem 
 him more and more every day, and particularly 
 because he loves you, and is continually talking 
 about you. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Having reached Athens the 2.5th of June, I 
 have been now three days expecting Pontinius, but 
 have yet heard nothing certain about his arrival. 
 I assure you my thoughts have been entirely en- 
 gaged upon you : and though I was naturally led 
 to this by my own feelings, yet these have been the 
 more lively from the recollection that I was tread- 
 ing in your steps. In short, our whole conversa- 
 tion is about you. But you perhaps wish rather to 
 hear something about me. I have to tell you, then, 
 that hitherto there has been no expense incurred, 
 either publicly or privately upon me, or any of my 
 train. Nothing is received under the sanction of 
 the Julian law' ; nothing from those with whom we 
 lodge. My attendants are all resolved to support 
 my reputation. So far all is well. I'his being ob- 
 served, has called forth much discourse and com- 
 mendation among the Greeks. In what remains 
 to be done, I study to conduct myself, as I under- 
 stood you to approve. But it will be time to take 
 credit for these matters when we arrive at the pero- 
 ration and conclusion of the whole. The rest of 
 my concerns are of such a nature that I often re- 
 proach myself for not having devised some means 
 of escaping from this employment. How little is 
 it adapted to my habits ! How true is that saying 
 — " Every one to his own trade !" You will say — 
 " What has already happened ? you have not yet 
 entered upon business." I know not, but I ap- 
 prehend there is worse to come, — though I bear 
 this, as I hope and believe, to all appearance admi- 
 rably ; but I am worried in my inward feelings, by 
 the many things which are every day arrogantly 
 said or concealed in anger and petulance, and every 
 kind of foolish weakness, which I do not specify, — 
 not from any wish to hide them from you, but 
 because they are irremediable. When I am 
 returned safe, you shall admire my patience : it is 
 a virtue I am deeply studying. But enough of 
 this. Though I had little else to write about, not 
 being able to guess even what you are doing or 
 where you are. Nor was I ever so long in igno- 
 rance of my own affairs ; what has been done about 
 Csesar's business, what about Milo's ; and I have 
 not only seen nobody, but have not so much as 
 heard any report to inform me of what is going on 
 in the republic. If therefore you know anything 
 about these matters, with which you think I should 
 like to be acquainted, you will confer a great kind- 
 ness upon me by letting me hear it. What is there 
 besides .' Nothing truly but this, that I am highly 
 delighted with Athens, with the city itself, and the 
 
 ing of more or fewer days, at the discretion of the pontifices, 
 between the 23d and 24th of February. This was called 
 an intercalary month. 
 
 ' By the Julian law the public officers of Rome were 
 entitled to certain articles of provision in the to\vns througn 
 which tliey passed.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 G79 
 
 ornaments of the city ; with tlie affection of the 
 people towards you, and their kindness also to me ; 
 but es]iecially with tlie philosophical spirit wliich 
 everywhere prevails'". If there is any good, it is 
 to be found in Aristus, with whom I lodge, — for I 
 gave up your, or rather my XenOj to Quintus ; but 
 the houses are so near, that we pass whole days 
 together. As soon as you can, let me hear your 
 plans, that 1 may know wliat you do, where you 
 are, and, above all, when you will be in Rome. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 How is tliis ? so often to send letters to Rome, 
 yet none for you ? Hereafter, however, I will rather 
 •write in vain, than suff'er an opportunity to pass 
 without writing to you. I entreat you by your 
 fortunes ", while you are there, to secure by all 
 possible means, that the period of my government 
 may not be prolonged. I cannot tell you how 
 ardently I wish for the city ; how ill I bear the 
 impertinences of my present situation. Marcellus 
 has acted shamefully about this citizen of Como". 
 If he had not held a magistracy, at least he belonged 
 to one of the colonies on the Po p : so that the 
 offence given to our friend Pompeius, appears to 
 me to be no less than that to Caesar. But this is 
 his concern. I thought also, as you say Varro 
 asserts, that Pompeius was certainly going into 
 Spain. I was sorry for it ; and easily persuaded 
 Theophanes that nothing was more to be wished, 
 than that he should not go away anywhere. The 
 Greek'' therefore will try what he can do ; and his 
 authority has the greatest weight with him. I send 
 this on the 6th of July, the day of my leaving 
 Athens, after having been there ten whole days. 
 Pontinius is arrived ; and at the same time Cn. 
 Volusius : the quaestor •■ is here ; and your Tullius 
 alone absent. I have some open boats belonging to 
 the Rhodians, and some double-oared vessels of 
 the Mitylenaeans, and others. I hear nothing of 
 the Parthians. Por the rest, I trust to the gods. 
 Hitherto I have made my journey through Greece 
 with great applause ; nor have I yet any complaint 
 to make of my people ; they seem to know me, and 
 my purpose, and the conditions of their service ; 
 and are entirely subservient to my good estimation. 
 Henceforth, if that proverb be true, " Like master, 
 like man," they will assuredly continue in the 
 same disposition : for they shall see nothing in me 
 
 "> This appears to me to be the true sense of this dis- 
 puted passage. Had &vco KaTw related to the ambiguity 
 of tlie Academic philosophy, I apprehend it would have 
 liad the article 7j prefixed. 
 
 » A form of adjuration elsewhere occurring in Cicero's 
 letters. However unusual it may be in England, it seemed 
 right to preserve this character of the original in the trans- 
 lation. 
 
 It seemed to be out of enmity to Caesar that the consul 
 Marcellus had ordered a person of Como, to which place 
 Caesar had extended the rights of citizenship, to be publicly 
 beaten. 
 
 P Pompeins's father had before got the same privileges 
 to be given generally to the colonies bordering on the Po. 
 How irregular it was to inflict such a punishment on a 
 Koman citizen may bo inferred from the history of St. 
 Paul. Acts xxii. 25. 
 
 1 Theophanes was probably a freed-man of Pompeius, 
 and a Greek. 
 
 ' The business of the provincial quffotor principally re- 
 ig«rdcd the supplies of the army. 
 
 to justify their delinquency. But if this be found 
 insufficient, I shall adopt severer measures ; for 
 hitherto I have been gentle and lenient ; and, as I 
 hope, not without some effect. But, as some say, 
 I have calculated upon this forbearance only for 
 one year : take care then that I do not lose my 
 character by any prolongation of my government. 
 I now come back to what you desire of me. With 
 regard to the prefects, there shall be an exemption 
 of service for any you '^ ])lease ; only name them : I 
 shall not hesitate, as I did in the case of Apuleius. I 
 love Xeno as much as you do, and am confident that 
 he is sensible of it. 1 have put you in the highest 
 favour with Patron, and the rest of these effeminate 
 philosophers'; and have done no more than you 
 deserved ; for he told me that you had thrice w ri tten to 
 him, to assure him that in consequence of his letter 
 I would take care of that business" ; which he took 
 very kindly. But upon Patron's applying to me. 
 to request that your Areopagus would cancel the 
 decree they had made in the preetorship of Poly- 
 charmus, it appeared both to Xeno, and afterwards 
 to Patron himself, more proper that I should write 
 to Memmius, who had gone to Mitylene the very 
 day before I arrived at Athens, in order that he 
 might signify to his friends his consent to the mea- 
 sure. For Xeno was persuaded that the Areopagus 
 would never grant it against the will of Memmius. 
 But Memmius had already given up all thoughts of 
 building : he was, however, displeased with Patron ; 
 which made me write particularly to him a letter, 
 of which I send you a copy. I wish you to com- 
 fort Pilia for my sake^: for I will tell you ; you 
 need not mention it to her; I received a packet, in 
 which was Pilia's letter : I took it, opened it, read 
 it. It was written with great feeling. The letters 
 you received from Brundisium, without any from 
 me, were despatched at a time when I was not well. 
 For I would not have you put off wich that servile 
 excuse ^'' of business. Take care to let me hear 
 everything ; but especially take care of your own 
 health. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 A SEA voyage is a serious thing, even in July. 
 We were five days coming from Athens to Delus. 
 On the Gth of July we proceeded from the Piraeus * 
 
 s It does not appear that the governors of provinces were 
 limited in their appointment of prefects. Cicero only 
 excluded such as carried on any traffic. [See above, let- 
 ter 7 of this book.] The translation here offered is new, 
 but is most consonant to the words of the original thus 
 pointed, " in praefectis, excusatio iis quos voles: deferto." 
 
 ' The Epicureans. 
 
 " Memmius had been obliged to quit Rome, and had 
 taken up his residence at Athens, where he got from the 
 council of the Areopagus a grant to build upon the site of a 
 school of Epicurus. This the supporters of that jihiloso- 
 phy were anxious to prevent. 
 
 V It has been doubted to what this alludes, and indeed 
 it is one of those private circumstances which it is impos- 
 sible to ascertain ; but it appears to me most probable that 
 some letter from Pilia to Atticus had fallen by mistake 
 into Cicero's hands, and that it contained some expressions 
 of uneasiness, which Cicero takes this opportunity of re- 
 questing her husband to soothe. 
 
 w The meaning of the original is uncertain. I have 
 supposed it to be " an excuse of being busy;" which he 
 represents as an excuse fit for a slave, who was forced to 
 work. » The port of Athens.
 
 080 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 to Zoster with a troublesome wind, which detained 
 us there the next day. On tlie 8tli we had a 
 pleasant passage to Ceo. From tlieice we went to 
 Gyarus with a strong gale, b\it not unfavourable. 
 We completed our course to Scyrus, and thence to 
 Delus, to both of them quicker than we wished. 
 You are acquainted with tlie undecked vessels of 
 the Rhodians ; there is nothing less calculated to 
 resist the waves. I had, therefore, determined not 
 to hurry, nor to stir from Delus till the indications 
 from the heights sliould be favourable. As soon as 
 I heard of Messala, I immediately wrote to you 
 from Gyarus ; and I also comniunic^ated my opinion 
 to Hortensiusy, with whom I fully sympathised. 
 But I am expecting a letter from you informing me 
 what is said of that judgment, and indeed upon the 
 ■whole state of tiie republic, and that a statesman- 
 like letter, since you are reading over my treatise 
 on Government with my friend Thallumetus'^; so 
 that I may learn not only what is doing (for that 
 even your grave client Helenius could tell), but 
 what will be done hereafter. By the time you read 
 this, the consuls will be appointed. You will be 
 able to perceive with some certainty everything 
 relating to Cresar, to Pompeius, to the trials them- 
 selves. But, 1 beseech you, since you remain in 
 Rome, clear off my business. What I forgot to 
 answer you about the brick-work", 1 request you to 
 get done. Respecting the water, if anything can 
 be done, I beg you to manage it with your usual 
 kindness. I do from my own sense of the subject, 
 as well as from your representation, consider it of 
 real importance : therefore accomplish something. 
 If Philippus has asked you to do anything in his 
 affair, I should be glad if you would gratify him. 
 I will write more to you when I am settled ; I am 
 now completely in the middle of the sea. 
 
 LETTER Xin. 
 
 I ARRIVED at Ephesus the 22d of July, the five 
 
 hundred and sixtieth dayafter thebattle of Bovilla''. 
 The voyage was performed without danger, and 
 without sickness; but slowly, owing to the weak- 
 ness of the undecked Rhodian vessels. Of the con- 
 course of deputations, and individuals, and the 
 incredible multitude which came to greet me at 
 Samos, and in an astonishing manner at Ephesus, I 
 imagine you have already heard ; or may say, 
 " how does it concern me ^? '' However, both the 
 farmers of the revenue addressed me with as much 
 2eal as if I had come with a command ; and the 
 Greeks, as if I had been an Ephesian praetor''. 
 yrom which I know you will understand that my 
 
 y Messala was related to Hortensius. He had been 
 charged witli bribery at his election to the consulshix). See 
 book iv. letter 16. 
 
 ^ Probably one of Atticus's freed-men. 
 
 » This, and wliat follows about the water, probably refers 
 to his house in Rome. 
 
 1> This was the place where Clodius was killed in his 
 affray with Slilo. Cicero uses the phrase jestingly, as if 
 its importance constituted a new epoch. 
 
 = It is probable this may have been an expression fami- 
 liar to Atticus. 
 
 <* The farmers of the revenue and the proprietors of the 
 land were likely to be often at variance, the former sup- 
 porting themselves by the authority of the Roman governor, 
 the latter by that of their own magistrates, whom they 
 therefore respectively courted. 
 
 boasting of so many years is now brought to the 
 test"-'. But as I hojni I sliall put in practice the 
 lessons I have learned from you ; and shall be able 
 to satisfy all parties ; and the more easily, because 
 in my province the compositions' have already been 
 made. But enough of this; especially as Ciestius 
 informed me, while I was at dinner, that he should 
 set out this very night. I have attended to your 
 little concerns^ at Ephesus ; and to Thermus, (who 
 previously to my arrival had generously promised 
 his assistance to all your friends,) yet I have pre- 
 sented PhilogenesandSeius, and haverecommended 
 Xeno of ApoUonidis. He promised to do every- 
 thing you wished. I have besides explained to 
 Philogenes the account of wliat I borrowed'' from 
 you. So much for this also. I return to the affairs 
 of the city. I entreat you by your fortunes, since 
 you remain in Rome, first of all to support and 
 secure this, that my government may be but for the 
 year, that there be even no intercalation '. In the 
 next place, finish my commissions ; especially if any- 
 thing can be done in that domesticJ business, in 
 which you know my difficulty : then have a regard 
 to Ceesar^, whose friendship I have solicited at 
 your recommendation ; nor do I regret it. And if 
 you know how much it concerns me to be informed 
 and regardful of what is doing in the rejjublic, 
 (doing? nay, ratherwhat is hereafter to take place,} 
 write everything to me, and exactly ; particularly 
 whether the state of the judgments that are either 
 made, or to be made, is attended with difficulty. 
 About the water', as you think it worth while. If 
 Philippus should want anything, I shall be obliged 
 to you to attend to it'". 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Till I am settled in some place, you must not 
 expect me to send you either long letters, or always in 
 my own hand; but when I have time, I will do both. 
 I am now pursuing my journey on a hot and dusty 
 road. I wrote to you yesterday from Ephesus ; this 
 I send from Tralles. I expect to be in my province 
 the 1st of August. From that day, if you love me, 
 endeavour to secure the termination of my govern- 
 ment after one year. In the mean time I have 
 received intelligence such as I could wish ; first, 
 that the Parthians are quiet ; then, that the con- 
 tracts with the farmers of the revenue are completed ; 
 lastly, that the sedition of the soldiers has been 
 allayed by Appius, and their pay delivered to them 
 up to the middle of July. I am wonderfully well 
 received in Asia. My arrival has occasioned not 
 the smallest expense to anybody. I hope all my 
 attendants will have regard to my reputation. I 
 have great apprehensions ; but hope for the best. 
 
 c By his boasting he probably means his philosophical- 
 prudence. 
 
 f These were the contracts entered into annually between 
 the farmers of the revenue and the proprietors. 
 
 g This may have been borrowed from Atticus's o^vn. 
 expression. 
 
 >> See letter 15 of this book. 
 
 » See letter 9 of this book. 
 
 i This probably alludes to the marriage of his daughter. 
 See letter 4 of this book. 
 
 •• See letter 5 of this book. 
 
 1 See above, letter 12 of this book. 
 
 >n See letter 12 of this book. I conceive this andthas 
 former clause to make two distinct sentenoea.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 G8t 
 
 AU my people have now joined me exce])t your 
 friend Tullius. I purpose going directly to the 
 army, to appropriate the remaining summer months 
 to military business, the winter months to civil 
 concerns. I trnst that, if you know me to be 
 no less anxious than yourself about the republic, 
 you will send me word of everything that hapj)ens. 
 or will happen. You cannot gratify me more ; 
 unless by the execution of what 1 begged you to do, 
 especially that inmost concern ", which I have so 
 mucii at heart. I write in haste, and in dust. My 
 future letters shall be more particular. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 I CAME to Laodicea the 31st of July. From 
 this day you will begin the reckoning of my year. 
 Nothing could be more desired, nothing more 
 affectionately entertained, than my arrival. But it 
 is not to be believed how sick I am of this business. 
 The activity of my mind, with which you are so 
 well acquainted, has not a sufficient field to exert 
 itself, and the notable effect of my industry is lost. 
 Is it for me to administer justice at Laodicea, and 
 A. Plotius at Rome ? And while our friend is 
 commanding so large an army, for me to have the 
 name only of two meagre legions? In short, I 
 vant not these tilings : I want the splendour, the 
 forum, the city, my own home, and you. But I 
 vriil bear it as I can, provided it be but for one 
 year. If my government is prolonged, it is all over 
 with me ; but it may very easily be prevented if 
 only you remain at Rome. You ask what I do 
 here. I shall continue to live, as I do, at a great 
 expense. I am wonderfully pleased with the plan 
 I have adopted. I observe a strict self-denial", 
 agreeably to your advice ; so that I doubt whether 
 it will not be necessary to raise money in order to 
 pay off what I have borrowed of you. I do not 
 exasperate the wounds of AppiusP, but they ap])ear 
 and cannot be concealed. I write this on the 3d 
 of August, ou my way from Laodicea to the camp 
 in Lycaonia. Thence I mean to proceed to Mount 
 Taurus, that I may contend in arms with Msera- 
 genes, and, if I can, may decide the affair of your 
 slave '^. The panniers, as they say, have been put 
 on the wrong beast^ It is confessedly a burden 
 that does not belong to me, but I will bear it, only, 
 as you love me, let it not exceed the year. Mind 
 to be present in time, that you may solicit the 
 whole senate. I am exceedingly anxious, because 
 it is now a long while that I have remained in ig- 
 norance of all that is doing. Therefore, as I have 
 before said to you, make me acquainted, besides 
 other things, with the state itself. Should I write 
 more by a tardy messenger ? but I deliver this to a 
 familiar and friendly man, C. Andronicus of 
 Puteoli. You will have frequent opportunities of 
 
 "^ Probably alluding to the marriage of his daughter. 
 
 ° By self-denial is to be understood Cicero's abstinence 
 from all extortion, such as was made a great source of 
 revenue to the provincial governors. 
 
 P Appius had preceded Cicero in the government of 
 Cilicia ; the wounds he had inflicted were those of ex- 
 tortion. 
 
 1 Maeragenes was the captain of a lawless band, to whom 
 a Slav? of Atticus's had run away. 
 
 ' A proverbial expression, signifying something unsuit- 
 abl«». 
 
 sending to me by the messengers of the public 
 renters, through the collectors of the revenue and 
 customs within my district. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 While I am on my journey, and actually on 
 the road, the messengers of the public renters are 
 setting out ; yet I have thought it right to steal a 
 little time, that you may not think me regardless of 
 your injunction. Accordingly, I have stopped in 
 the road to send you shortly this information, 
 which should have occupied a larger space. My 
 arrival, which was eagerly expected in this miserable 
 and utterly ruined province, took place the last 
 day of July. During three days that I staid at 
 Laodicea, three at Apamea, and three at Synnade, 
 I heard of nothing but the inability of the people 
 to pay the head money imposed upon them ; the 
 universal sale of goods ; the groans and lamenta- 
 tions of the cities, the fatal traces, not of a man, 
 but of some savage beast. In short, I am sick of 
 everything, even of my life. The wretched cities, 
 however, find some relief in being free from any 
 expense either on my account or that of my lieute- 
 nants, quaestors, or anybody else. For I decline to 
 accept not only forage, and what is allowed by the 
 Julian law, but even my fire- wood ; nor does any- 
 body receive a single thing besides four beds, and 
 a roof to cover them ; in many places, not so much 
 as that, for we more commonly remain under a 
 tent. Hence we have a surprising concourse from 
 the country, from the villages, and from every 
 house. Indeed they revive again at my approach, 
 at the justice, the moderation, the clemency of 
 your Cicero ; so that he has exceeded the expecta- 
 tions of all people. Appius', upon hearing that I 
 was coming, went into the remotest part of the 
 province, as far as Tarsus, where he holds a session. 
 1 hear nothing of the Parthians ; but some, who 
 are lately arrived, relate that our cavalry have been 
 defeated by the barbarians'. Bibulus does not even 
 yet think of going into his province" ; which peo- 
 ple attribute to this, that he wishes to remain there 
 as late as he can. I am hastening to join the army^ 
 which is two days distant. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 I HAVE received from Rome a packet of letters 
 without one from you ; which, if only you were 
 there, and were well, I attribute to the fault of 
 Philotimus, not to you. I dictate this sitting in 
 my carriage, on my way to the camp, from which 
 I am distant two days' journey. In a few days I 
 shall have sure persons to whom I can deliver my 
 letters, therefore I reserve myself for that. How- 
 ever, though 1 would rather you should hear it from 
 others, I conduct myself in the province with such 
 moderation, that not a penny is spent upon any of 
 my people. This is accomplished also by the 
 attention of the lieutenants, and tribunes, and 
 prefects, for they are all zealous for my honour. 
 
 ' Appius was Cicero's predecessor in the province of 
 Cilicia. 
 
 ' This is spoken, in the Greek manner, of people unac- 
 quainted with the Roman customs and discipline. 
 
 » Syria.
 
 682 
 
 rilE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, 
 
 Our friend Lepta is admirable". But I must be 
 quick. I will tell you everythina; fully in a few 
 days. The younger Deiotarus, who has received 
 from the senate the title of king, has taken our 
 Ciceros^" with him into his kingdom. While I am 
 in my summer quarters, I considered it to be the 
 best place for the boys. Sestius has informed me 
 of the conversation he had with you on the subject 
 of my domestic and greatest concern'', and what 
 ■was your opinion. I beseech you, pay every atten- 
 tion to that business ; and let me know what can 
 be done, and what you think. Sestius likewise 
 said that Hortensius had mentioned something 
 about extending the term of my government. He 
 had distinctly promised me in Cumanum that he 
 would support my release at the end of twelve 
 months. If you have any regard for me, fortify this 
 posf. It cannot be told how unwillingly I am kept 
 away from you. Besides, I expect that this honour, 
 ■which I derive from my moderation, will be the 
 more distinguished, if I soon retire, as it happened 
 to Scajvola, who presided in Asia only nine 
 months. Appius, when he understood that I was 
 approaching, removed from Laodicea as far as 
 Tarsus. There he holds a session, while I am in 
 the province ; but I shall not quarrel with him for 
 this wrong, for I have enough upon my hands in 
 healing the wounds which have been inflicted on 
 the province, which I endeavour to do with the 
 least censure upon him. But I wish you would tell 
 our friend Brutus that Appius has not behaved 
 handsomely in going away as far as he could upon 
 >iuy approach. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 Ho'w I wish you were in Rome, if it happens 
 that you are not there, for I have no certain infor- 
 mation, excepting that I have received two letters 
 from you dated the 19th of July, in which it was 
 anoentioned that you were going into Epirus about 
 the beginning of August. But whether you are in 
 Rome or in Epirus, the Parthians have passed the 
 Euphrates under the conduct of Pacorus, son of 
 Orodes, king of the Parthians, with almost all his 
 forces. There is yet no news of Bibulus's arrival 
 in Syria. Cassius is in the city of Antioch with his 
 whole army. I am with my army at Cybistra, in 
 Cappadocia, at the foot of Mount Taurus. The 
 enemy is in the Cyrrhestica, which is the part of 
 Syria nearest to my province. I have written to 
 the senate an account of this state of affairs^. If 
 •you are at Rome, you will see if you think my 
 letter should be delivered ; and many things, nay, 
 .everything which require your kind attention, the 
 sum of which is, that between the slaying and the 
 offering *, as they say, no additional time or burden 
 
 ▼ He was what may be called the chief engineer, and 
 had the direction of the %vorkmen — prasfectus fabrum. — 
 Ep. Fam. iii. 7. 
 
 w The sons of Marcus and of Quintus Cicero. 
 
 * Respecting the marriage of his daughter. 
 
 y It may be supposed that Cicero uses this metaphor in 
 ■consideration of his military character. 
 
 « This letter is preserved in the beginning of the 15th 
 ■book of the Familiar Epistles. 
 
 » The meaning seems to be, that nothing may occur, at 
 «ome unseasonable moment, to frustrate my designs, and 
 prevent my hopes, of quitting the province at the expira- 
 >tion of the year. 
 
 may be laid upon me. For in this weak state of 
 the army, and deficiency of allies, at least such a8 
 can be dejiended upon, my best security is the 
 winter. If -that season arrives without the enemy's 
 having passed into my province, the only thing I 
 fear is that the senate, under the apprehension of 
 domfstic disturbances, may be unwilling to let 
 Pompeius go away. But if they send somebody 
 else in the spring, I do not care, provided no addi- 
 tion be made to my time. So much then, if you 
 are in Rome. But if you are gone, or indeed if you 
 remain there, this is the state of my affairs : I have 
 no distrust ; and following, as I believe, prudent 
 counsels — and possessing, I hope, a good body of 
 men, I feel to be in a safe position, abounding in 
 corn, almost looking down upon Cilicia, and con- 
 venient for moving. My army is small, but, I 
 trust, unanimous in affection towards me, and likely 
 to be doubled by the arrival of Deiotarus with all 
 his forces. I have much more faithful allies than 
 anybody else has had, being struck with my kind- 
 ness and forbearance. I am making a levy of 
 Roman citizens, and transporting corn from the 
 fields into places of safety. If it is necessary, we 
 shall defend ourselves by arms ; if not, by the 
 nature of the country. Therefore be of good 
 courage ; for I see you, and am as sensible of your 
 friendly sympathy as if you were actually present. 
 But I beg of you, should the consideration of my 
 case be put off till the first of January, that you 
 would, if possible, be in Rome at that time. I shall 
 feel quite secure if you are there. The consuls are 
 my friends, and the tribune of the people, Furnius; 
 still 1 have need of your assiduity, prudence, and 
 influence. It is a most important time ; but I am 
 ashamed of using many words with you. Our 
 young Ciceros are with Deiotarus, but if necessary 
 they shall be removed to Rhodes. If you are in 
 Rome, write to me with your usual exactness ; if in 
 Epirus, yet send me one of your messengers, that 
 both you may know what I am doing, and I what 
 you do, and mean to do. I attend to the concerns 
 of your friend Brutus in a manner that he would 
 not do for himself. But I now bring forth my 
 ward*", without defending him, for it is a slow and 
 fruitless business. Yet I will endeavour to give 
 satisfaction, even to you, which is harder than to 
 Brutus himself ; but I will assuredly satisfy both. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 I HAD just sealed the letter which I imagine you 
 have read, written with my own hand, and con- 
 taining an account of everything, when Appius's 
 messenger hastily delivered to me your letter of the 
 21st of September, the forty-seventh day from his 
 leaving Rome. Ah, what a distance ! By that I 
 make no doubt you waited for Pompeius's return 
 from Ariminum, and are now gone to Epirus ; and 
 I fear you will be not less, but, as you say, more 
 anxious in Epirus than I am here. I have written 
 
 l" This ward was Ariobarzanes, a king of Cappadocia, 
 whose person and government the senate had recom- 
 mended to the care of Cicero. He had been driven out of 
 his kingdom by Mitliridates, and his affairs were in great 
 disorder. Cicero, while he offered to support him in hia 
 kingdom, did not undertake to defend him against the 
 claims of his creditors, one of whom appears to have be»i 
 Brutus.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 683 
 
 to Philotimus about tlie Atellian debt, desiring him 
 not to call upon Messala. I am pleased that the 
 reputation of my iirogress should have reached you, 
 and I shall be still more pleased if you hear the 
 rest. I am glad you take such delight in the 
 daughter whom you have left in Rome ; and though 
 I have never seen her, yet I love her, and am sure 
 she must be amiable. Farewell again and again, 
 patron, and your fellow disciples'^. I am glad you 
 are pleased with what I have effected in the army 
 respecting the Tarentine light cavalry''. When you 
 say that you are not sorry he'' should have met with 
 arepulse, who contended with your nephew's uncle*^; 
 it is a mark of great affection ; and by it you have 
 put me in mind that I ought to rejoice also, for it 
 had not occurred to me. " I cannot believe that," 
 you say. As you please ; but yet I rejoice ; for being 
 indignant, you know, is very different from being 
 envious s. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 On the morning of the Saturnalia (December 
 17) the Pindenissians surrendered themselves to 
 me, the forty-seventh day after I had begun to 
 besiege them. "Who the plague are these Pin- 
 denissians .' who are they !" you will say ; " I never 
 heard the name." What can I do .■■ Could I convert 
 Cilicia into /Etolia or Macedonia ? You must know 
 this, however, that with such an army as I have 
 here, no very great affairs could have been achieved. 
 What has been done I will shortly explain to you ; 
 for so, in your last letter, you give me leave to do. 
 You know of my arrival at Ephesus, for you con- 
 gratulated me on that day's celebrity, than which 
 nothing ever pleased me more. From thence I 
 •was honourably received in all the towns where I 
 went, and arrived at Laodicea the last day of July. 
 There I staid two days in great reputation ; and by 
 liberal expressions eradicated all former injuries. 
 I did the same at Apamea, where I staid five days ; 
 at Synnade, where 1 was three days ; at Philo- 
 melum five days ; and ten days at Iconium. My 
 jurisdiction was exercised with the greatest equity, 
 the greatest lenity, and the greatest dignity. 
 Thence I came into the camp the 26th of August, 
 and on the 30th I reviewed the army near Iconium. 
 From this station, having received pressing mes- 
 sages about the Parthians, I proceeded into Cilicia 
 through a part of Cappadocia which borders on 
 
 c That is, farewell to the Epicureans, if you so far forget 
 their love of indifl'erence as to become fond of yom- chil- 
 dren. See book vii letter 2. 
 
 J There is reason to believe that the Tarentines were a 
 Bpcoies? of light cavalry. I have thought it right, therefore, 
 to insert this illustration, without which it must be unin- 
 telligible to an English reader. 
 
 e This is supposed to relate to Hirrus, who had formerly 
 opposed Cicero for the augurship, and had lately been 
 rejected in his canvass for the oflfice of aidile in opposition 
 to Cselius. The obscurity of this, as of many other passages, 
 arises entirely from our ignorance of Atticus's letter, to 
 vhich it alludes. 
 
 f A humorous periphrasis for Cicero himself, perhaps 
 taken from Atticus's own expression. It occurs again, 
 [book vi. letter 8,] in relation to the same event. 
 
 e The expression which in the original is in Greek, seems 
 to be taken from Aristotle. His meaning is, that he may 
 innocently rejoice through indignation against an unwor- 
 thy candidate, though it would be wrong to rejoice through 
 envy at another's want of success. 
 
 the province, with the design of making the 
 .Armenian Artavasdes, and the Parthians them- 
 selves conceive that they were excluded from 
 Cappadocia. After being encamped five days at 
 Cybistra in Cappadocia, I was informed that the 
 Parthians were at a long distance from that passage 
 of Cappadocia, and were rather threatening Cilicia. 
 Therefore I immediately made my way into Cilicia 
 through the passes of Mount Taurus. I came to 
 Tarsus the 5th of October ; thence I went to Mount 
 Amanus, which divides Syria from Cilicia by the 
 opposite course of the waters'". These mountains 
 were full of eternal enemies. Here, on the 13th of 
 October, we killed a great number of them ; and 
 Pontinus having advanced by night, and myself the 
 next morning, we took and burned the forts, which 
 were strongly guarded. I was saluted Imperator'. 
 I occupied for a few days the very same position, 
 at Issus, which, in his expedition against Darius, 
 had been held by Alexander, not a little better 
 general than either you or me. There I remained five 
 days ; and having spoiled and laid waste the Amanus, 
 I departed. For you know that as there are certain 
 things called panics, so there are also the empty 
 rumours of war. The rumour of our approach 
 both encouraged Cassius, who was shut up in 
 Antiocli, and alarmed the Parthians ; so that Cas- 
 sius pursued them with advantage as they retreated 
 from the city. In this retreat Osaces, one of the 
 Parthian generals of great authority, received a 
 wound, of which he died a few days after. My 
 name was respected in Syria. In the mean lime 
 Bibulus arrived. I imagine he wanted to be equal 
 with me in this empty title. He began to seek for 
 laurels in the Amanus, as if they were strewed 
 upon a cakeJ. But he lost the whole of his first 
 cohort, and the centurion of the first division, a 
 man distinguished in his situation, Asinius Dento, 
 and the other officers of the cohort, and Sextus 
 Lucilius, a military tribune, son to T. Gaevius 
 Ctepio, a rich and splendid man. In truth he sus- 
 tained an ugly blow, both in itself and in the time 
 when it happened. I invested Pindenissus with a 
 ditch and rampart : it was a strong place belong- 
 ing to the free Cilicians, and had time out of mind 
 been in arms against us. The people were a fierce 
 and barbarous race, prepared with all the means of 
 defence. We accomplished the business by a large 
 mound, fascines, a lofty tower, great quantity of 
 macliines'', a numerous body of archers, great 
 fatigue and equipage, and many wounds received, 
 but the army safe. The Saturnalia were truly 
 joyous. I gave up the spoil, excepting the horses, 
 to the soldiers. The slaves were sold on the third 
 day of the Saturnalia. While I write this in the 
 tribunal', the sum amounts to 12,000 sestertia 
 (9G,U00/.) I shall leave the command of the army 
 to my brother Quintus, to be taken from hence 
 
 •> That is, at the part of the mountains whence the 
 streams descend in opposite directions. 
 
 » This title, as is well known, used to be conferred by 
 the acclamation of the soldiers upon any signal success ; 
 the fasces were at the s<ime time crowned with laurel. 
 The general retained the title till he returned to Rome. 
 
 J The word in the original signifies a kind of cake, which 
 was covered with laurel leaves, and from which conse- 
 quently they were easily gathered. 
 
 '' These were various instruments for offence, such as 
 continued in use till the introduction of firearms. 
 
 1 A raised platform, on which the persons in authority 
 were seated.
 
 684 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 into winter quarters in a part of the country that 
 is ill pacified, and am f;<)ing myself to Laodicea. 
 So much for this. But let mo revert to what I 
 have omitted. When you particularly advise me ; 
 and which is more than all, in what you labour 
 with so much earnestness ; tiiat I should satisfy 
 oven this LiRiirian scotler'"; may I die, if any- 
 thiiiLj could be said more elegantly. But I do not 
 call this forbearance, for that seems to imply a 
 virtue opposed to pleasure, while in my life I never 
 felt so great a pleasure as I do from this inti'grity 
 of conduct. Nor is it the reputation (wliich is very 
 groat), but the thing itself that delights me. In 
 short, such has been its value, I did not know 
 myself, nor was I aware what I could do in this 
 kind. I am justly proud. Nothing can be more 
 honourable. In the mean time, it is something 
 splendid that Ariobarzanes should live and reign 
 by my assistance. I have preserved the king and 
 the kingdom, as it were, in passing, by prudence 
 and authority, and making myself inaccessible to 
 his enemies, not merely shut against their presents. 
 At the same time, not the smallest thing has been 
 received from Cappadocia ; and I even hope that 
 during the whole year of my government not a 
 farthing of expense will be incurred in the pro- 
 vince. Brutus, who was desponding", I have 
 cheered as much as I could. I love him no less 
 than thou : I had almost said, than tliee. This is 
 all I had to tell you. I am now preparing to send 
 a public account to Rome, which will be more full 
 than if I had sent from the Amanus. But am I 
 to understand that you will not be in Rome ? 
 Everything depends upon the first of March °. For 
 I ata apprehensive that when the business of the 
 province is taken into consideration, if any resist- 
 ance is made on the part of Cajsar^, I may be 
 continued. If you were there to attend to this, I 
 should have no fears. I come now to the affairs 
 of the city, with which, after a long ignorance, I 
 have at length been made acquainted by your most 
 acceptable letter of the 28th of December. Your 
 freed-man Philogenes took great care to send it by 
 a circuitous and not very safe route. For that, 
 which you say was delivered to Lenius's servant, I 
 had not received''. I was pleased with what you 
 say of Caesar respecting both the decree of the 
 senate' and your own hopes. If he submits to this, 
 I am safe. That Leius should have scorched him- 
 self in this Plsetorian conflagration, I am not so 
 much concerned^. I want to know why Lucceius 
 should have been so vehement about Q. Cassias, 
 
 ™ This expression is probably borrowed from a letter of 
 Atticus. It is supposed to mean Cato ; but the reason of 
 the appellation is not known. 
 
 n About the recovery of his money. 
 
 Wlicii the new consuls were to bring before the senate 
 the consideration of the provinces. 
 
 P If Cesar's friends resist the appointment of anybody 
 to succeed him in Gaul ; in that case the senate may deem 
 it necessary to keep Ponipcius at home, and to renew my 
 government of Cilicia. For it was expected that Ponipcius 
 might be sent to put an end to the Parthian war. 8u) let- 
 ter 13 of this book. 
 
 1 It must be supposed that Philogenes had previously 
 pointed out the same route to this slave of Lenius. 
 
 f The senate had decreed to entertain the question of 
 sending a successor to Csesar. 
 
 • This is supposed to mean not a real fire, but a sentence 
 of condemnation against Plaetorius, in whieli Leius was 
 involved. 
 
 and what has been done. As soon as I get to 
 Laodicea, I am desired to present your nephevtf 
 Quintus with his robe ' of manhood. I shall endea- 
 vour carefully to regulate his conduct. He, from 
 whom I have derived such great assistance", was to 
 come to me at Laodicea, as he said, with the young 
 Ciceros. I am expecting a letter from Epirus, to 
 bring me an account, not only of your occupations,, 
 but also of your retirement. Nicanor is in office, 
 and liberally treated by me. I think of sending 
 him to Rome with the public despatches, both for 
 their more careful conveyance, and at the same 
 time that he may bring nie back certain intelli- 
 gence of you, and from you. I am obliged to 
 Alexis^' for his repeated salutations ; but why does 
 he not by his own letters follow the example of my 
 Alexis ^'' to you ? I am looking out for a horn * 
 for Phemius. But it is time to stop. Take care of 
 yourself, and let me know when you think of re- 
 turning to Rome. Again and again, farewell. 
 When I was at Ephesus, I cai-efnlly reconnnended 
 your affjiirs and your fi-iends to Thermus ; and I now 
 do the same by letter; and I have understood that 
 he is of himself very desirous of serving you. I 
 should be glad if you would use your influence about 
 Paramenus's house, as I before mentioned to you,, 
 that what the boy has, througli your and myassist- 
 ance, may not by any means be disturbed. I con- 
 sider this as a point of honour to both of us, and it 
 will, besides, be particularly acceptable to me. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 I WAS very glad to hear that you had arrivt,d 
 safe in Epirus, and had, as ycu say, an agreeable- 
 passage. I am rather concerned that you will not 
 be in Rome at a period so important to me ; but I 
 comfort myself with thinking that you will not like 
 to winter there, and unnecessarily to be out of the 
 wayy. Cassius, the brotherof your friend Q. Caa- 
 sius, had sent the letter, of which you ask me the 
 meaning, in a more modest style than that which 
 he sent afterwards, where he pretends to have put 
 an end to the Parthian war. They had indeed 
 retreated from Antioch before the arrival of Bibu- 
 lus ; but not in consequence of any success on our 
 part. They are now in winter quarters in the 
 Cyrrhestica, and threaten us with a great war. For 
 the son of Orodes, the Parthian king, is in our 
 province^ ; and Deiotarus, whose son is engaged 
 to the daughter of Artavasdes", from whom it might 
 
 ' Young men at the age of seventeen used to change tho 
 bordered robe of youth for the plain one of manhood. 
 
 " Deiotarus. This periphrasis is probably taken from 
 Atticus's letter 
 
 T The freed-man and amanuensis of Atticus. 
 
 w Tiro, who held tlie same situation with Cicero. 
 
 X This horn was for a musical instrument; and it has. 
 been with good reason conjectured, that the person for 
 whom it was designed might have been a freed-man of 
 Atticus, who had cultivated a taste for music, and h.ad 
 received the name of Phemius, from a musician mentioned 
 in the Odyssey, i. 154. That Atticus was himself fond of 
 music ma.v be conjectured from book iv. letter 16 : " Ex. 
 quibuB (Britannicis mancipiis) nuUos puto te Uteris aut 
 musicis erudites expectare." 
 
 y Expecting that for these reasons Atticus might proba- 
 bly change his intentions. 
 
 » Not Cicero's province of Cilicia, but the Roman pro- 
 vince of Syria. Book vi. letter 1. 
 
 ■> Artavasdes was kine of Armenia.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 685 
 
 be known, has no doubt but the king himself will 
 pass tiie Euphrates with all his forces in the begin- 
 ning 01 summer. And the very day that Cassius's 
 victorious letter was read in the senate, which was 
 the 7ta of October, mine brought an account of 
 some disturbance. Our friend Axius says that 
 mine carried with it great authority, while no credit 
 was given to the other. Bibulus's had not then 
 been received. I am confident it must have been 
 full of alarm. I am afraid of this consequence 
 from ir, ; that whilst Pompeius is kept at home 
 under the apprehension of seditious commotions, 
 and Caesar is denied any honour from the senate ; 
 while this knot is disentangling, the senate may 
 think 1 ought not to leave my government before 
 a successor arrives ; and that in such a disturbed 
 state of affairs, it is not enough to have single 
 lieutenants preside over such large provinces. 
 Hence I dread some prolongation of my time, 
 which not even the intercession of a tribune can 
 stop ; and the more so, because of your absence, 
 who by your opinion, influence, and zeal, might 
 obviate many difficulties. But you will say that I 
 am raising troubles out of my own brain. I can- 
 not help it : and wish it were so. But I am full 
 of fears ; though I admired the conclusion of the 
 letter you sent from Buthrotum before you had 
 recovered from your sea-sickness, in which you say 
 — " As far as I see, and hope, you will meet with 
 no impediment to your departure." 1 should have 
 liked it better, " as I see," without that " hope." 
 I received another, by a very quick passage, at 
 Iconium, through the messengers of the public 
 renters, dated the day of Lentulus's triumph. In 
 this you repeat the same mixture of bitter and 
 sweet, telling me first that I shall have no hin- 
 drance ; then adding, if it should be otherwise, that 
 you will come to me. Your hesitations sting me. 
 You see by this what letters I have received. For that 
 which you say you gave to Camula, the slave of the 
 centurion Hermon, has never reached me. Ycu 
 repeatedly told me that you had sent one by 
 Lenius's servant. This, which was dated the 22d 
 of September, Lenius at length delivered to me at 
 Laodicea, upon my arrival there the 11th of Febru- 
 ary. Your recommendations I acknowledged to 
 Lenius immediately in words, and shall do so in 
 deed as long as I stay. The only new subject in 
 this letter related to the Cybiratian panthers'". I 
 am much obliged to you for answering M. Octavius, 
 that you did not believe I meant to send any. In 
 future, what you do not know to be certain, you 
 may certainly deny. For, my own resolution being 
 inflamed by your opinion, 1 have exceeded every- 
 body, as you will find, in forbearance, and also in 
 justice, easiness of access, and clemency. There 
 is not anything excites so much surprise, as that 
 no farthing of expense should have been incurred 
 since I obtained the province, either for the state, 
 or for any of my people, excepting L. Tullius the 
 Itexitenant. He, who is otherwise abstemious, yet 
 on his journey availed himself of the Julian law. 
 It was only once in the day ; not as others had 
 <lone, in all the villages he passed through ; 
 besides him nobody received anything even once ; 
 this obliges me to except him, when I assert that 
 no farthing of expense was incurred. Besides him 
 
 ^ It had been usual for the governors of iirovinces to 
 domand wild beasts to be sent up for the shuw^ of their 
 friends in Rome, 
 
 nobody received anything. For this pollution*^ I 
 am indebted to Q. Titinius. The campaign being 
 ended, I gave the command of the winter qiiarters 
 and of Cilicia to my brother Quintus. I sent into 
 Cyprus, Q. Volusius, the son-in-law of your friend 
 Tiberius, a steady man, and besides wonderfully 
 abstemious, to remain there a few days, lest the 
 few Roman citizens, who carry on business in those 
 parts, should think that justice was denied them ; 
 for it is illegal to summon the Cypriots out of the 
 island. I went myself on the 5th of January from 
 Tarsus into Asia''; I cannot tell you with what 
 admiration of the cities of Cilicia, and above all of 
 the Tarsians. And when I had passed the range 
 of the Taurus, a prodigious expectation was raised 
 in the districts of Asia under my jurisdiction, which 
 in six months of my government had receiveil no 
 letter^ from me, and had seen no guest ^ For, 
 before me, that time had always been employed in 
 a species of traffic, by which the opulent cities gave 
 great sums of money to be excused liaving soldiers 
 quartered upon them in the winter. The Cypriots 
 gave as much as two hundred Attic talents (nearly 
 10,000^.); from which island (I speak not hyper- 
 bolically, but truly) no money whatever will be 
 exacted under my government. In return for 
 these benefits, at which they express their astonish- 
 ment, I do not permit them to decree any honours 
 to me, except in words ; I forbid all statues, tem- 
 ples, chariots ; nor am I burdensome to the cities 
 in any other way — but perhaps I am to you, while 
 I proclaim all this about myself. Bear with me, 
 however, if you love me ; for it is you who desired 
 me to do it. In short, I have made my progress 
 through Asia in such a manner, that even famine, 
 than which nothing is more wretched, and which 
 was felt at this time in my part of Asia, owing to 
 the entire failure of the crops, might seem a thing 
 to be wished for by meS'. Wherever I have been, 
 I have employed no force, no legal process, no 
 insult ; but have by authority and exhortation, 
 prevailed upon those Greeks'* and Roman citizens, 
 who had corn in store, to promise a large sup|)ly 
 to the people. February the 13th, on which day 
 I am writing, I have appointed to hold a session 
 at Laodicea for the affairs of Cybira ; the 15th of 
 March for those of Apamea ; and at the same time 
 I mean to hold one for Synnade, Pamphylia, (when 
 I shall look out for a horn forPhemius') LycaoniaJ, 
 and Isauria. The middle of May I shall return into 
 Cilicia, to spend there the month of June, I nope 
 unmolested by the Parthians. If things go as I 
 
 c In the original it is sordes, " filth," which gives a 
 propriety to St. Paul's expressions, 1 Cor. iv. 13, where he 
 applies to the apostles the terms " filth " and " off scouring ;" 
 for tlicy must be supposed to have been familiar to the lan- 
 guage of the Romans, at least at that time, however strange 
 to our own. It is evident that Cicero here means Tullius, 
 and that he so designates him on account of his misconduct. 
 
 d Certain districts of the country, which lay in the 
 province of Asia, but were attached to Cicero's government. 
 
 c Letters demanding supplies. 
 
 f No person who was to live upon them. 
 
 g As it proved an additional subject of glory. 
 
 ^ By Greeks he means the natives ; so afterwards in 
 speaking of the Cypriots. 
 
 ' This is mentioned likewise in the preceding letter. 
 
 J I adopt M. ]Mongault's conjecture, that Aonium, as It 
 stands in our copies, ought to be Lycaonium, that being 
 the only one not otherwise mentioned of the six Asiatic 
 dibtricta attached to Cicero's gcvernment.
 
 GOO 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICLRO 
 
 wish, I sliall employ July in passing again 
 through the province on my return ; for I arrived 
 within the province at Lnodicea, in the consul- 
 ship of Sulpicius and Marcellus, the 31st of 
 July. 1 must set out on my departure the 2yth of 
 July, having first obtained my brother Quintus's 
 consent to his being left in command ; which will be 
 ■very muchagainstboth his inclination and mine ; but 
 it cannot with propriety be avoided; especially as 
 I cannot even now detain that excellent man Pon- 
 tinius ; for Posthumius, perhaps also Posthumia, 
 snatches him away to Rome. You have here my 
 plans. Now hear what relates to Brutus. Brutus 
 is well acquainted with certain creditors of the Sala- 
 minians of Cyprus, M. Scaptius, and P. Matinius, 
 whom he has particularly recommended to me. 
 Matinius I do not know. Scaptius came to me in 
 the camp. I promised that I would take care, for 
 Brutus' sake, that the Salaminians should pay him 
 the money that was oveing to him. He thanked 
 me ; and at the same time asked to be made a 
 prefect. I said I made it a rule never to appoint 
 anybody engaged in traffic, as I had before told 
 you. When Cn. Pompeius asked me, I gave to 
 him the same answer ; likewise to Torquatus, on 
 his application for M. Lenius, your friend ; and to 
 several others. If he wished to be made a prefect 
 for the sake of his bond, I would take care he 
 should recover it. He thanked me, and took his 
 leave. Appius had formerly given a few troops of 
 horse to this Scaptius, for the sake of repressing 
 the Salaminians ; and had made him a prefect. But 
 he harassed the people of Salamis ; and I ordered 
 the horse to remove from Cyprus, which Scaptius 
 took very ill. However, that I might keep my 
 promise to him, when the Salaminians came to me 
 at Tarsus, and Scaptius with them, 1 ordered them 
 to pay the money. They said a great deal about 
 the bond, and about the ill-usage they had received 
 from Scaptius- I said I could not listen to it. I 
 exliorted ; I begged, in return for the kindness I 
 had shown tovrards their city, that they would con- 
 clude the business ; at last I said I should compel 
 them. Upon this they not only did not refuse, 
 but they added, that they would pay then out of 
 me. For as I had not accepted what they had been 
 used to give to their governors, they in some mea- 
 sure gave it from my revenue ; indeed the amount 
 of Scaptius's debt was less than the praetorian tri- 
 bute. I commended them. Right, says Scaptius, 
 but let us reckon up the amount. In the mean 
 time, while I had declared in my opening proclama- 
 tion, composed from different models'', that I 
 should maintain the interest of one per cent, per 
 month, togetiier with what accrued at the end of 
 the year, he by the terms of his bond demanded 
 four per cent. •' What do you mean," said I ; " can 
 I act contrary to my proclamation .' " He then 
 produced a decree of the senate in the consulship 
 of Lentulus and Philippus, that whoever obtained 
 the province of Cilicia, should pronounce judgment 
 according to that bond. I was at first struck with 
 horror ; for it would have been the ruin of the city. 
 But I find two decrees of the senate in the same 
 year respecting this bond. The Salaminians, when 
 they were desirous of raising money at Rome, were 
 prevented by the Gabinian law. Upon which these 
 friends of Brutus, relying upon his influence, 
 
 >> See letter 4 of this book. 
 
 ottered to advance the money at four percent, pe» 
 month, if it could be authorised by a decree of tne 
 senate. Through the favour of Brutus, a decree 
 was passed, " that no detriment should arise to 
 the Salaminians, nor to those who furnished the 
 money." They accordingly paid the money. 
 But it afterwards occurred to them, that the de- 
 cree would be of no use to them, since the Gabi- 
 nian law prohibited the establishing a right upon 
 the terms of a Li-iui. Thereupon another decree 
 of the senate was ])assed, " that this bond should 
 have the same validity as others." But to return : 
 while I was explaining this, Scaptius drew me aside, 
 saying that he did not mean to oppose my judg- 
 ment ; but that they believed they owed him two 
 hundred talents (about 10,000/.), and this sum he 
 was willing to accejit : that they really owed hira 
 something less ; but he wished me to bring them 
 to this agreement. Very well, said I. So I called 
 them to me, after Scaptius had retired, and asked 
 them what they offered, and what was the amount 
 of their debt. They replied, one hundred and six 
 talents, (about 5100/.). I rej)orted this to Scap- 
 tius. The man began to clamour. " What is the 
 use of this ? " said I. " Compare your accounts." 
 They sat down, and made their computation, which 
 agreed to a sixpence. They said they were ready 
 to pay it, and pressed him to take it. Here Scap- 
 tius again called me aside, and begged that I would 
 leave the matter as it stood. I gave way to his 
 shameless request; and when the Greeks com- 
 plained, and desired leave to deposit the money in 
 some temple', I did not grant it. Everybody pre- 
 sent exclaimed that nothing could be more shame- 
 less than Scaptius, who was not satisfied with one 
 per cent, per month, with the annual compound 
 interest ; some said nothing could be more foolish. 
 But to me he appeared more impudent than foolish. 
 For thus he either satisfied himself with good secu- 
 rity at one per cent., or took his chance for four 
 per cent, on security which was not good. This is 
 the statement of my case ; which must be approved 
 by Brutus, or he will no longer deserve our regard. 
 It will assuredly be approved by his uncle" , espe- 
 cially as a decree of the senate was lately passed, I 
 believe after your departure, on the subject of 
 creditors, that one per cent, should constantly be 
 taken without compound interest. What differ- 
 ence this makes, if I rightly know your fingers", 
 you have certainly computed. On this subject, by- 
 the-bye, Lucceius complains to me by letter that 
 there is great danger lest these decrees should lead, 
 by the fault of the senate, to cancelling the old 
 accounts. He refers to the mischief, which C. 
 Julius formerly occasioned by the procrastination 
 of a single day" ; the state never was in greater 
 jeopardy. But to return to the business: consider 
 my case against Brutus ; if this may be called a 
 case, where nothing can with honour be said in 
 opposition ; especially as I have left the whole affair 
 open. What I have to say besides, relates to my 
 private concerns. On that secret business? I 
 
 1 ^V^len the money was deposited in a temple, the interest 
 upon it ceased to accumulate. 
 
 'n Cato. n On which you may reckon it. 
 
 o To what particular transaction this alludes is not 
 known ; but the state had repeatedly been convulsed by 
 the conduct of usurers. 
 
 p That this relates to his daughter's marriage may be 
 inferred from lettei 4 of this bork.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 687 
 
 qui^e agree with you. We should tliink of Posthu- 
 mia s son, since Pontidia's ,seems to be trifling with 
 us. But I wish you were tliere. You must not 
 expect to hear aiiytliing from my brother Quintus 
 at this time of the year ; for the Taurus, on account 
 of the snow, is impassable before the month of 
 June. 1 continue to refresh'' Thermus by frequent 
 
 q To remind him of your friends. Letter 13 of this 
 book. 
 
 letters, as you desire. King Deiotarus protests 
 that P. Valerius has nothing, and that he supports 
 him. As soon as you know whether there is any 
 Intercalation at Rome, I should be glad if you 
 would inform me on what day the mysteries ■■ will 
 take ])lace. I am in less expectation of hearing 
 from you, than if you were in Rome ; but yet I 
 expect it. 
 
 ' See rote at the conclusion of letter 1 of book vi. 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 I RECEIVED your letter at Laodicea on the fifth 
 day before the festival of the Terminalia", and 
 read it with the greatest pleasure ; for it was full 
 of affection, of kindness, of attention, and diligence. 
 To this therefore I will reply, as you desire ; and 
 shall not follow my own arrangement, but the order 
 ■which you have adopted. You say that you have 
 very recently got my letter from Cybistra, dated 
 the '22nd of September ; and you wish to know 
 ■what letters of yours I have received. Almost all 
 that you mention, except those which you say you 
 sent by Lentulus' servant from Equotuticum and 
 Brundisium. So that your pains have not been 
 thrown away, as you apprehend ; but have been 
 admirably laid out ; provided it was your purpose 
 to gratify me : for nothing gives me greater plea- 
 sure. I am particularly glad that you approve of 
 my reserve towards Appius, and my freedom 
 towards Brutus. I had thought it might have 
 been otherwise. For Appius had written to me 
 two or three letters on his journey, com])laining 
 that I had rescinded some of his regulations. As 
 if, when a patient changes his physician, he that 
 was first in attendance should quarrel with his 
 successor for deviating from the treatment which 
 he had adopted. Just so Appius : having treated 
 his province by depletion, having let it blood, and 
 used every sort of evacuation, and delivered it up 
 to me quite exhausted, now does not like to see it 
 recruited under my care ; but sometimes tinds 
 fault, while at other times he returns thanks ; for 
 I have avoided any personal reflection upon him. 
 The dissimilarity alone of my conduct otfends him. 
 What indeed can be so dissimilar, as that the pro- 
 vince, under his government, should have been 
 drained with expenses and losses ; and that from 
 the time I have held it, there should have been no 
 charge of a single penny, either privately or pub- 
 licly.' to say nothing of his prefects, his attendants, 
 and lieutenants ; his plunderings also, his licen- 
 tiousness, and insults : whereas now there is no 
 private house managed with such prudence, such 
 regularity, such moderation, as the whole of my 
 province. This some friends of Appius absurdly 
 misrepresent, as if I was studious of applause at 
 his expense ; and did my duty not for the sake of 
 my own reputation, but of his discredit. But if 
 Appius, agreeably to Brutus's letter which I have 
 
 • The Roman custom of dating by the number of days 
 previous to any festival is well known. In this instance 
 the fifth day before the Temiinalia must be about the 
 middle of February. 
 
 sent you, expresses his thanks to me, I do not 
 trouble myself about it : nevertheless, on tlie very 
 day that 1 am writing before it is light, I think of 
 abolishing many of his unjust acts and regulations. 
 I come now to Brutus, whose interests I have 
 embraced with the greatest warmth, at your 
 desire ; and for whom I had begun to entertain 
 affection ; but — shall I speak it .' I check myself 
 from fear of offending you. Do not, however, 
 imagine that I have anything more at heart than 
 to do as he directs ; or that there is anything about 
 which I have taken more pains. He gave me a 
 list of instructions ; and you had already conferred 
 with me upon the same subjects ; all of which I 
 have prosecuted with the greatest diligence. In 
 the first place, I have laboured to make Ariobar- 
 zanes pay him the talents he promised to give me. 
 As long as the king remained with me, the trans- 
 action went on very well : afterwards he began to 
 be pressed hard by a multitude of Pompeius's 
 agents : and Pompeius has alone more authority 
 than all other people; because, in addition to other 
 reasons, it is thought he will come to the Parthian 
 war. lie is now paid by instalments of thirty-three 
 Attic talents (6000/.) every month; and that is 
 scarcely sufficient for the monthly interest. But 
 our friend Cnseus' bears this patiently. He is 
 without his principal ; and is satisfied with the 
 interest, though it is incomplete. Ariobarzanes 
 pays nobody else, nor can he pay ; for his treasury 
 is exhausted, and he has no revenue. By Appius's 
 ordinance, he demands tributes ; but these hardly 
 furnish the interest due to Pompeius. The king 
 has two or three very rich friends ; but they keep 
 what belongs to them with as much care as I or 
 you. On my part, however, I do not cease by 
 letter, to entreat, to persuade, to upbraid the king. 
 Deiotarus has, likewise, told me that he has sent 
 messengers to him about Brutus's business ; who 
 brought him back word that the king has nothing. 
 In truth, I believe nothing can be more plundered 
 than that kingdom, nothing more indigent than the 
 king : so that I think either of renouncing my 
 wardship ; or, like Scsevola in the case of Glabrio, 
 of refusing to pay the interest and charges upon 
 his debts. However, to M. Scaptius" and L. 
 Gavius, who managed Brutus's business in the 
 kingdom, I have given the prefectures which I 
 promised Brutus through you, as they did not 
 trade within my province : for you remember my 
 
 ' Pompeius. 
 
 <• This M. Scnptius must be a different person from him 
 who is afterwards joined with P. Matiniu?. See letter 'It
 
 f)8[5 
 
 THK LETTERS OP MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 conditions, that he shouhl take what prefectures 
 he pleased, provided it was not for one engaged in 
 traffic. I liad, therefore, given him two besides. 
 But the persons for wiiom he had asked had left 
 the province. Now let me explain to you the 
 affair of the Salaminians", which I perceive is as 
 new to you as it was to me : for I never under- 
 stood from Brutus that the money belonged to 
 him. Indeed I have his own memorandum, in 
 which it is said, " The Salaminians owe money to 
 M- Scaptiusand P. Matinius, my intimate friends." 
 These he recommends to me ; and adds, as a sort 
 of spur, that he was himself surety for them to a 
 large amount. I had arranged that the Salami- 
 nians should repay it at twelve per cent, for six 
 years, with an accruing interest at the end of each 
 year. But Scaptius demanded forty-eif,'ht per 
 cent. I was afraid, if he had obtained this, that 
 you would yourself cease to love me. For I should 
 have receded from my own proclamation ; and 
 should have utterly ruined a city placed under the 
 protection of Cato, and of Brutus himself, and 
 distinguished by my benefits^'. At this very time 
 Scaptius suddenly produces a letter of Brutus, 
 saying that the f.*fair was at his own risk ; which 
 he liad never mentioned either to me or you ; and, 
 at the same time, re.niesting that I would make 
 Scaptius a prefect. Bul 1 had, through you, made 
 this exception, that it must not be a person engaged 
 in traffic. Or if I did ap)toint anybody, least of 
 all could I appoint him ; because he had been a 
 prefect under Appius, and having some troops of 
 horse, had actually loesieged the senate in their 
 house of assembly at Salamis, in consequence of 
 which five senators had been starved to death. 
 As soon as I received information of this from 
 certain Cypriots, who were sent to meet me at 
 Ephesus, I wrote the very day I reached the pro- 
 vince, to remove the troops out of the island. On 
 this account I imagine Scaptius must have written 
 unfavourably of me to Brutus. This, however, is 
 my feeling upon the subject : if Brutus should 
 think that I ought to have awarded the forty-eight 
 per cent., after having maintained the interest of 
 twelve per cent, through the whole province, and 
 declared it in my proclamation, and even had the 
 concurrence of the severest usurers ; or if he 
 should complain of my refusing a prefecture to 
 one engaged in trade, which I have refused to 
 Torquatus, in the case of your friend Lenius, and 
 to Pompeius himself, in the case of Sex. Statins, 
 and have received their approbation of my conduct; 
 or if he should be offended at my withdrawing the 
 troops ; I shall be sorry indeed to have incurred 
 his displeasure, but much more so to find him a 
 different man from what I had supposed. This, 
 however, Scaptius must acknowledge, that he was 
 enabled to receive all the money according to the 
 terms of my decree. I may add, too, what I doubt 
 if you will yourself approve : for the interest ought 
 to have stood as it was in the decree ; and the 
 Salaminians wished accordingly to deposit it " : 
 t)ut I prevailed upon them to forbear. They gave 
 way to me indeed ; but what is to become of them 
 if Paullus should succeed to the province.' All 
 
 » The same that is detailed book v. letter 21. 
 
 w The island of Cyprus had been taken from the king of 
 Egypt, and reduced to the form of a Roman province under 
 the direction of Cato and Brutus. 
 
 » See book v. letter 21, note '. 
 
 this I did for Brutus' sake, who has written to 
 you very kindly about me : but to me, even when 
 he is asking a favour, he writes in a dogmatical, 
 haughty, uncivil manner. I wish you would write 
 to him upon these matters, that I may know how 
 he takes it: for you will inform me. 1 had indeea 
 particularly mentioned this subject to you in a 
 former letter^ ; but I would have you distinctly 
 understand that I had not forgot what you said in 
 some of your letters, that if 1 brought back from 
 this province nothing else besides liis favour, it 
 was sufficient. Be it so, since you desire it : but 
 with this condition I presume that I incur no 
 guilt. Accordingly I decreed the payment of 
 Scaptius's debt without delay. How properly the 
 decree was formed I leave you to judge. I shall 
 not appeal even to Cato. But do not suppose I 
 have thrown aside your exhortations, which are 
 imprinted in my bosom. With tears in your eyes 
 you commended to me my re])utation. What 
 letter of yours is there in which you do not advert 
 to it ? Let then who will be angry ; I shall be 
 content with having right on my side; especially 
 as 1 have bound myself by six books '"-^ as it were 
 so many pledges, with which I am rejoiced to find 
 you so well pleased. In these you doubt about 
 one historical fact, relating to Cnseus the son of 
 M. Flavius. But he did not live before the time 
 of the decemviri : for he was curule-sedile ; which 
 was an office instituted many years after the 
 decemviri. What then was the use of his pub- 
 lishing the table of the festivals .' It is supposed 
 to have been at some time concealed, with tlie view 
 of making it necessary to consult the few upon the 
 proper days for transacting business. And many 
 authors assert, that Cn. Flavius the scribe pub- 
 lished the list of festivals, and composed the for- 
 mularies of legal process ; that you may not 
 suppose it to be my invention, or, rather that of 
 Africanus, for it is he that speaks. "What is said 
 about the gesture of a player has not escaped you. 
 You entertain a wicked suspicion * ; I wrote it in 
 perfect simplicity. You say that you heard of my 
 being saluted imperator tlirough Philotimus. But 
 J take for granted, since you have been in Epirus, 
 you have received from me two letters, with a full 
 account of everything ; one from Pindenissus pre- 
 sently after its capture, the other from Laodicea, 
 both delivered to your servants. Upon the same 
 subject I sent public despatches to Rome by two 
 different messengers, for fear of the accidents of a 
 sea voyage. About ray daughter Tullia I agree 
 with you ; and have written to her, and to Teren- 
 tia, to express my concurrence. For you had 
 before said — " and I could wish you had gone 
 back to your own flock''." The correction of the 
 letter brought by Memmius was a matter of no 
 difficulty : for I greatly prefer him from Pontidia' 
 to the other from Servilia : therefore you may get 
 the assistance of Aufius, who has always been very 
 friendly to me ; and now may be expected to be 
 still more so, as he ought to succeed to his brother 
 Appius's'' affection towards me, along with the 
 
 y Book V. letter 21. » De Republica. 
 
 » By supposing it glanced at the action of Ilortensius, 
 which was thought to be too artificial. 
 
 b By his own fiock, Atticus meant his own equestrian 
 rank, from whence to take a husband for his duughter. 
 
 c Mentioned before, book v. letter 21. 
 
 d This Appius was not the same Appius Claudius, o/
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 niio 
 
 rest of his inheritance. He often declared how 
 uioch he esteemed me ; and showed it in the aft'air 
 of Bursa*. You will relieve me from a great source 
 of anxiety'. I am not pleased with Furnius's 
 exception K ; for the only time that I dread is the 
 ■one which he excepts. I should write more to 
 you upon this subject if you were at Rome. I am 
 not surprised that you ))lace all hope of peace in 
 Pompeius. So it is : and I think that the charge of 
 •dissimulation'' must be removed. If the arrange- 
 ment of my letter is confused, you must attribute 
 dt to yourself ; for I follow you in your sudden 
 transitions. The young Ciceros are attached to 
 •each other, and pursue their studies !Wid exercises 
 together ; but, as Isocrates said of Ephorus and 
 Theopompus', one wants a bridle, the other a spur. 
 I mean to present Quintus with his gown J of man- 
 hood on the festival of Bacchus (March 18), as 
 his father desired. I shall observe the day, on 
 the presuinj)tion of there being no intercalation. 
 ■] am very much pleased with Dionysius. The 
 boys say that he is very passionate : but there can 
 be noliody of more learning, or better morals, or 
 more attached to you and me. It is with justice 
 that you hear the commendations of Thermus and 
 •Siiius : they conduct themselves most honourably. 
 Add also M. Nonius, Bibulus, me, if you will. I 
 "wish Scrota had an opportunity of distinguishing 
 himself; for it is a situation of splendour''. The 
 others discredit the administration of Cato. I 
 am much obliged to you for having recommended 
 my cause' to Hortensius. Dionysius thinks there 
 is no hope about Amianus. I have been able to 
 obtain no trace of Terentius. Meeragenes" must 
 certainly be dead. I have passed through his pro- 
 perty, on which there was not a living creature 
 remaining. I did not know this at the time I 
 spoke to your freed- man Democritus. I have 
 ordered the Rhosiac" vases. But, pray what are 
 you thinking of? In wrought dishes and splendid 
 covers you use to entertain me with a dinner of 
 herbs : what then can I suppose you will serve up 
 in earthenware ? Directions have been given to 
 search out a horn for Phemius° : it will no doubt 
 
 ■w)ioni Cicero elsewhere speaks as his predecessdr in tlic 
 government of Cilicia. 
 
 * Cicero had formerly arraigned T. Munatius Plancus 
 'Bursa, on which occasion it is probable this Appius might 
 liave shown some civility to him. 
 
 f On the subject of Tullia's marriape. 
 
 e Furnius appeers to have proposed a decree to permit 
 the governors of Syria and Cilicia to rtsiyn their provinces 
 at the expiration of their year, except the Parthians should 
 advance before the month of July. 
 
 •> See book iv. letter 10. 
 
 » Two writers of history, brought up under Isocrates. 
 
 J See book v. letter 20, note '. 
 
 ^ This is supposed to allude to some government of 
 ■which Scrofa was desirous, and for which the other candi- 
 dates were unfit. The subsequent mention of Cato's ad- 
 ministration probably relates to some expression used by 
 Atticus on this occasion. 
 
 1 The cause here mentioned must mean his leave to 
 return home. 
 
 "> This is the person to whom Atticus' slave had fled. 
 [See book v. letter 15.] Those mentioned before were pro- 
 bably debtors of Atticus. 
 
 n Rhosus was the name of a town on the confines of 
 Syria and Cilicia, and might perhaps have been distln- 
 piished for its pottery ; but I find no mention of it in 
 Plinius or elsewhere. 
 
 " This is before mentioned, book v. letter 20. 
 
 be found. I trust he will perform somclliing 
 worthy of it. We are threatened with a Parthian 
 war. Cassius has sent a foolish letter^. Bibulus's 
 has not yet been received ; when it Is read, I ima- 
 gine the senate will at length be roused. For my 
 own jiart, 1 am in great perple.fity. If, as I hope, 
 the term of my service is not extended, I have still 
 fears about June and .July. Yet, sujipose any 
 irruption to be made, Bibulus will surely be able 
 to hold out for two months. But what will be the 
 situation of him whom I leave there ; especially if 
 it be my brother .-' or what will be my own, if I 
 do not take my departure so soon ? This is a great 
 difficulty. I have, however, agreed with Deio- 
 tarus, that he is to join my camp with all his 
 forces. He has thirty cohorts of 400 men each, 
 armed in our manner ; and 2000 horse. He will 
 support us till Pompeius arrives ; who, by the 
 letters I have received from him, gives me to under- 
 stand that the business will be left to him. The 
 Parthians have taken up their winter quarters in 
 the Roman provincei. Orodes'' himself is ex- 
 pected. In short, there is some stir. I have 
 made no deviation from Bibulus's proclamation, 
 besides that exception about which you wrote to 
 me, as containing a reflection upon our order". I 
 have adopted what is equivalent, but more guarded, 
 from the Asiatic proclamation of Q. Mucius, son 
 to Publius, " that covenants should be performed 
 with good faith, excepting when the transaction 
 was of such a nature that it could not properly be 
 observed." I have also followed many parts of 
 Scsevola's ; among the rest, that which the Greeks 
 consider as the restoration of their freedom ; that, 
 in settling their disputes with each other, they 
 should use their own laws. The proclamation is a 
 short one, because of my having divided it under 
 two distinct heads : one of tiiem provincial ; in 
 which is contained what relates to the public 
 accounts of the cities, to debts, interest of money, 
 contracts, likewise all the concerns of the public 
 renters : the other embraces what could not con- 
 veniently be determined without a proclamation, 
 the entering upon inheritances and projierty, the 
 appointment of commissioners and sales of effects ; 
 which are usually demanded and executed under a 
 decree of the governor. A third head, concerning 
 the determination of all other causes, I left un- 
 written, j)rofessing to regulate my decrees of this 
 sort by those of Rome. Thus I endeavour, and 
 hitherto succeed in giving general satisfaction. 
 The Greeks are delighted with having judges of 
 their own nation. Poor ones, you will say. What 
 does it signify ? at least they think they have 
 obtained their freedom by it. For your people' 
 truly have dignified judges in the persons of Turpio 
 the cobbler, and Vettius the broker. You wish to 
 know what I mean to do with the renters. I make 
 much of them, I humour them, I commend them 
 in words, and pay them honours ; but take care 
 they shall not be vexatious to anybody. What is 
 most extraordinary, even Servilius abided by the 
 interest of money, as it had been ratified in their 
 contracts. But I manage thus : I appoint a day 
 at a considerable distance, before which if they 
 
 p Book v. letter 21. 
 
 q Cicero, when he calls it "our province," means not 
 his own but a Roman province, 
 r The Parthian king. ^ xhe order of Roman knights; 
 t The people of Epirus. 
 
 Y Y
 
 coo 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 pay what is due, I give notice that I shall estimate 
 the interest at twelve per cent. ; but if they do not 
 pay, then I leave them to liieir contract. By 
 these means l)otii the Greeks pay at a reasonable 
 interest, and the renters get an arrangement which 
 is very acceptable. Such is the jiresent state of 
 thinps ; tliey have verbal lionour in full measure, 
 and frecptcnt invitations. In short, they are all so 
 well with me, that everybody tliinks himself to be 
 the most so. But withal, " tlure is nothing"" — 
 you know the rest. About the statue of Africanus 
 (how unconnected the subjects ! but this very cir- 
 cumstance delights me in your letter ;) what say 
 you .' Does not this Scipio Metellus know that 
 his own ancestor was never censor .' Yet on the 
 statue, which you had ]ilaced in that elevated situa- 
 tion in the temple of Ops, there was inscribed 
 nothing but '• Consul." Likewise on that which 
 is in the temple of Pollux there is inscribed 
 " Consul:" and, that it was of this same Africa- 
 nus, the attitude, the dress, the ring, the likeness 
 itself declares : in fact, when in that crowd of gilt 
 knights, which this Metellus placed in the capitol, 
 J observed the statue of Africanus with the inscrip- 
 tion of Serapion, I supposed it to be an error of 
 the workman ; but now I see it was Metellus's. 
 What a disgraceful ignorance ! Respecting Fla- 
 vins, and the festivals, if it is a mistake, at least 
 it is a general one ; and you have very properly 
 doubted ; and I was near following the common 
 opinion ; as is done in many of the circumstances 
 related by the Greek historians. For who has not 
 asserted that the Eupolis of the ancient comedy 
 was thrown into the sea by Aleibiades as he was 
 sailing to Sicily ? Yet Eratosthenes has confuted 
 it, by adducing plays which he wrote after that 
 time. But is Duris of Samos, therefore, an histo- 
 rian of great research, to be reviled because he has 
 made the same mistake as many others .'' Who 
 has not said that Zaleucus composed laws for the 
 Locrians ? And is Theophrastus then to be scorned, 
 because the circumstance is contradicted by your 
 favourite TiniEeus ? But not to know that his 
 own ancestor had not been censor, is disgraceful : 
 especially as, during the remainder of his life after 
 his consulship, no Cornelius whatever had been 
 censor. As to what you say of Philotimus, and 
 the payment of the 20,600 sestertii (165/.), I un- 
 derstand that Philotimus came to the Chersone- 
 sus" about the beginning of January; but I have 
 yet received nothing from him. Camillus sends 
 me word that he has received the residue which 
 belonged to me ; what that is I know not, and 
 should be glad to know. But of these matters 
 hereafter. Perhaps they can best be settled when 
 we meet. One thing, my Atticus, towards the 
 conclusion of your letter disturbed me : for you 
 write thus — " What more? " Then you go on to 
 entreat me in the most friendly manner, " not to 
 relax in my vigilance, and to take care what is 
 done." Have you then heard anything wrong 
 of anybody ? Though assuredly there is nothing 
 of the kind ; fa? from it. For it would not have 
 escaped me, nor will it. Yet that admonition of 
 yours, so particular, seems to indicate something. 
 
 " In the original there are only two Greek words, the 
 beginning of some sentence familiar to Atticus, but not 
 known at this time ; of course the sense is matter of con- 
 jecture, in which state I have thought it best to leave it. 
 
 » To collect debts. See book vi. letter 5. 
 
 Respecting M. Octavius, I now reply to you m 
 second time, that you have given him" a very 
 proper answer. I wish you liad done it a little 
 more confidently. For Ca:lius sent his freed-man 
 to me with a very civil letter ; but spake of the 
 panthers, and of the cities", most foully. I wrote 
 word back that, in the first place, I was sorry 
 I should be so little known in this obscurity, as to 
 have it yet unheard in Rome that no expenses 
 were imposed ujion the people of my province, but 
 for the payment of debts : ami I informed him 
 that it was neither lawful for me to procure the 
 money he wanted, nor for him to receive it : and I 
 admonished him, whom I really love, that having 
 been himself the accuser of others'', he should 
 conduct himself more cautiously. In the ne.xt 
 place, I gave liim to understand that it was incon- 
 sistent with my honour, to make the Cybiritans 
 have a ))ublic hunting by my command. Lepta is 
 in raptures with your letter ; for it is beautifully 
 written, and has j)Ut me in high favour with him. 
 I am much obliged to your daughter for having 
 expressly desired you to send me her good wishes: 
 I am obliged to Pilia also : but the former has been 
 more forward in her kindness, by greeting me, 
 whom she has yet never seen. Do you, therefore, 
 in return make my compliments to both of them. 
 A passage of your letter dated the 31st of Decem- 
 ber contained a grateful recollection of the cele- 
 brated oath'-, which I had not forgotten: for on 
 that day I was great in my robe of honour. You 
 have my rejily to all the subjects of your letters ;. 
 not, as you ask me, gold for brass ' ; but like for 
 like. But there is another little letter, which I 
 must not leave unanswered. Lucceius might 
 indeed very well give up his Tusculanum'' ; unless, 
 perhaps, that he likes to retire there with his 
 piper. I should be glad to know what is the real 
 state of his affairs. I hear, too, that our friend 
 Lentulus has offered for sale his Tusculanum oq 
 account of his debts. I wish to see them both 
 free ; and likewise Sestius, and add, if you please, 
 Cselius : to all of whom may be applied that verse 
 of Homer, " They were ashamed to refuse, and 
 afraid to accept *=." I imagine you have heard of 
 Curio's intention of proposing the recall of Mem- 
 mius. About the security of Egnatius Sidicinus*, 
 I have yet some hope, though not much. Pina- 
 rius, whom you commend to me, is very unwell ;. 
 but Deiotarus takes great care of him in his sick- 
 ness. I have now replied also to your little letter. 
 I hope you will let me frequently hear from you 
 
 w Book V. letter 2). 
 
 ^ Wanting Cicero to use his authority for Curio's service, 
 by demanding panthers and levying contributions from 
 certain towns in his province. 
 
 y It was he who had accused C. Antcnius of corruption. 
 
 z Wlien upon resigning the consulship on the 31st of 
 December, Cicero having been invidiously forbid to lia- 
 rangue the people, adroitly altered tho usual oath, and 
 instead of swearing that he had faithfully discharged his 
 duty, he swore that the republic and city of Rome had 
 been saved by his means. 
 
 » Alluding to Diomed's exchanging his brazen armour 
 for Glaueus's of gold, mentioned in Homer. 
 
 •> I suspect Cicero may have used the word Tusculanun* 
 only in reference to his own villa of that name. 
 
 c The application is a little uncertain, but is generally 
 supposed to signify, that these persons were ashamed of 
 refusing the offers held out to them by Casar in tnei» 
 necessities, yet afraid of accepting them. 
 
 ^ Probably some creditor of Cicero.
 
 TO TITUS POAirONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 091 
 
 while I remain at Laodinea, that is, till the 1 5th of 
 May ; ami when you come to Athens (for by that 
 time w» sliall know about the city business, and 
 about the provinces, which are all clfferred to the 
 month of March), send me a special messenger. 
 lUit is it true that you have, through Herodes, 
 already got from C;esar fifty Attic talents (9000/.) ^ 
 by which, as I hear, you have greatly incurred the 
 displeasure of Pompeius ; for he thinks you have 
 devoured what belonged to him ; aiul that Caesar 
 will become the more active in building at the 
 Grove*^. I heard this from P. Vedius, a great 
 prodigal, but well acquainted with Pompeius. 
 This Vedius met me with two light carriages, and 
 a larger one suitably equipped, and a litter, and a 
 great retinue ; for which, if Curio's law should 
 have passed', he will be obliged to pay a hundred 
 sestertia (800/.). He had besides a dog-headed 
 monkey in the carriage, and some wild asses. I 
 never saw a more extravagant fellow. But hear 
 the conclusion. He lodged at Laodicea with Pom- 
 peius VinduUus, and there he left his equipage 
 when he came to me. Presently Vindullus dies, 
 which event it is thought will concern Pompeius 
 MagnusS. C. Vennonius comes to Vindullus' s 
 house ; and as he was sealing the effects, he liglits 
 upon the things belonging to Vedius. Among 
 these were found five lagunculse '' of married women, 
 one of the sister of a friend of yours, a brutish' 
 man, who associates with him, and wife of that 
 merry Lepidus, who bears these things so care- 
 lessly. I wished to send you this history by-the- 
 bye ; for we are both of us very curious. There is 
 one thing besides J would have you consider. I 
 am told that Appius is erecting a portico at 
 Eleusis. Should I be foolish, if I were .to erect 
 one at the AcademyJ ? I think so, you will say. 
 Then you must give it me in writing. I am very 
 fond of Athens, and should like to leave some 
 memorial, while I hate false inscriptions on other 
 persons' statues. But as it shall please you. You 
 will also inform me on what day the Roman mys- 
 teries fall'' ; and how you pass the winter. Take 
 care of your health. The seven hundred and sixty- 
 fifth day after the battle of Leuctra'. 
 
 « Caesar built a splendid house at Aricium, by the sacred 
 grove of Diana. f A sumptuary law. 
 
 B From the name of Pompeius prefixed to Vindullus, it 
 appears probable that the latter might be a freed-nian of 
 Pompeius ; in which case, if he died intestate and without 
 children, Pompeius would succeed to one half of his 
 property. 
 
 •> 1 have left the Latin word as it stands in Grsvius's 
 edition, without attempting to suggest either an alteration 
 or explanation. Whatever be its proper signification, 
 whether an image, as some have supposed, or some article 
 of female use, it seems at least to have contained an im- 
 press or name, by which its owner might be known. 
 
 i A joking expression for Brutus, admissible only in 
 such joking relations. The word Lepidus is afterwards 
 introduced in a similar manner. 
 
 J The Academy at Athens, the original seat of that 
 system of philosophy which Cicero followed. 
 
 ^ It was before observed, that previously to Csesar's 
 correction of the calendar, the year was regulated by the 
 intercalation of more or fewer days between the 23d and 
 24 th of February, at the discretion of the pontifices ; and 
 till this was proclaimed, the time of the subsequent festi- 
 vals was not kno\vn. 
 
 ' Tliat is, after the memorable affray in which Clodius 
 was killed, and which Cicero humorously compares to the 
 battle of Leuctra, famous in Grecian history. 
 
 LETTER n. 
 
 Your freed-man, Philogencs, having called to 
 pay his respects to me at Laodicea, saying that he 
 was going to cross the sea to you immediately, I 
 send this letter by him in answer to that which I 
 received through Brutus's courier ; and I shall 
 reply first to your last page, which has given me 
 great uneasiness, owing to what Cincius has writ- 
 ten about .Statius's conversation, in which it is very 
 vexatious that Statins should say I approved that 
 design ■". I approve it ! Upon this subject, I have 
 only to say, that it is my wish to have as many 
 bonds of connexion with you as possible, — though 
 the strongest of all are still those of atlection ; so 
 far am I from wishing to loosen any of those by 
 which we are united. But that he " is apt to speak 
 too harshly about these matters I have often expe- 
 rienced, and have often appeased his anger, as I 
 believe you know. And in this excursion or 
 campaign of mine, I have repeatedly seen him in- 
 flamed with rage and calmed again. What he may 
 have written to Statins, I know not. But, what- 
 •"ver he meant to do in an affair of that kind, at 
 least he ought not to have detailed it to his freed- 
 man. I will, however, use my utmost endeavours 
 that nothing may be done contrary to our wishes, 
 and to his duty; for it is not enough in such a 
 case, for every one merely to attend to his owa 
 conduct. The boy, or now the young man, Cicero f , 
 has especially his part in this duty : of which, 
 indeed, I often remind him : and he seems to me 
 to bear great affection, as he ought, towards his 
 mother, and remarkably so towards you. He is a 
 boy of good parts, but unsteady ; in regulating 
 which I have enough to do. Having now in my 
 first page answered your last, I shall return to the 
 beginning of your letter. In a])plyiiig the term 
 maritime P to all the cities of the Peloponnesus, I 
 have followed the synopsis of Diceearchus, no in- 
 considerable author, but one approved even by your 
 judgment. In relating Chseron's'' account of Tro- 
 phonius's cave, he finds great fault with the Greeks 
 for having so adhered to the sea-coast, and does not 
 accept any place in the Peloponnesus. Though I 
 was pleased with the author, (for he was well 
 versed in history, and had lived in the Peloponnesus,) 
 yet I was surprised ; and communicated my doubts 
 to Dionysius. He was at first struck with it ; but 
 having as good an opinion of Dicaearchus, as you 
 can have of C. Vestorius, or I of M. Cluvius, he 
 thought I might safely trust him. He reckoned 
 a certain place called Leprion to be a maritime town 
 of Arcadia ; and considered Tene and Aliphera 
 and Tritia as recently built, which he confirmed by 
 Homer's catalogue of the ships, in which there is 
 no mention made of them. And I transcribed 
 that passage from Dicaearchus in so many words. 
 I knew that the Phliasians were so called ; and 
 would have you put it in your copy : I have it so. 
 But at first I was misled by analogy ; Phlius, Opus, 
 Sipus, from whence are derived Opuntii, Sipuntii; 
 
 "" Quintus having thought of getting divorced from 
 Pomponia, Attious' sister. 
 
 » Quintus. " Quintus' son. 
 
 p This alludes to some observations of Attious upon 
 Cicero's treatise " De Republica.'' 
 
 1 Cha;ron seems to have been one of the speakers intro- 
 duced in a work of Dicsarchus, upon the descent inta 
 Trophonius's cave. 
 
 Y V2
 
 692 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 but I presently corrected it. I understand you are 
 pleased with my moderation and forbearance. You 
 would be more so if you wt;re here. In this court, 
 which I hold at Laodicea from the middle of 
 February to the end of April for all the departments 
 excej)! Cilicia, I have been able to effect wonders ; 
 so many cities have been sit free from all debt, so 
 mauy greatly relieved, and all, by being allowed to 
 use their own laws and judicature, have revived as 
 if they had gained their freedom. There are two 
 ways by which I have enabled them to discharge, 
 or at least to diminish, tlieir debts. One, by putting 
 them to no expense within my government : wlien 
 I say none, I am not speaking liyperbolically, but 
 mean literally none, not a farthing. From this 
 alone it is incredible how the cities have been 
 relieved. Another was, that there were surprising 
 impositions practised by the Greeks themselves, in 
 the jiersons of their magistrates. I instituted an 
 inquiry myself, respecting those who had held 
 magistracies within the last ten years, and they 
 openly confessed. Tlierefore, without any public 
 disgrace, they were left to restore to the people 
 their money. And the people, who in this present 
 lustrum ' had paid nothing, have without murmur- 
 ing discharged even what was due of the lustrum 
 preceding. So that I am in favour with the rent- 
 ers ; a grateful set of people^ you will say. I am 
 sensible of it. The rest of my administration has 
 been mild and courteous, and not inconsiderate. 
 The access to me has been by no means such as is 
 usual in the provincial governments. There has 
 been no intriguing with the chamberlain. I am up 
 and walking before it is light, as I used to do when 
 I was a candidate. This is great, and well received ; 
 and is not laborious to me, from the habit of 
 that ancient service. On the 7th of May I think of 
 going into Cilicia ; and after spending the month of 
 June there (I wish it may be in peace, for we are 
 threatened with a great war from the Parthians,) 
 to employ July on my return. For my year of 
 office expires the 30th of July, and I am in great 
 hope that no extension of the time will be made. I 
 have the city registers to the 7th of March, by 
 which I find that, by tlie perseverance of my friend 
 Curio, everything is likely to be passed rather than 
 the business of the provinces*. I hope, therefore, 
 that I shall very soon see you. I come now to your 
 friend, nay, my friend Brutus, for so you will have 
 it. I have done everything that I could do in my 
 province, or that I could attempt in the kingdom '. 
 I have exerted myself with the king in every way, 
 and continue to do so daily by letter. For I had 
 him three or four days with me in a disturbed 
 state of his affairs, from which I have extricated 
 him. And both personally, and afterwards by 
 reiterated letters, 1 have not ceased to beg and 
 entreat him for my sake, and to advise and per- 
 suade him for his own. I have been able to do a 
 good deal; but how much I do not exactly know, 
 owing to my great distance from him. The Sala- 
 minians, however, (for these I could force,) I have 
 brought to e.xpress their readiness to pay the whole 
 
 ' The censors were chosen every five years, which inter- 
 val was called a lustrum. The revenues of the republic 
 were let by the censors for this space of time. 
 
 • If no new regulation were made, Cicero's government 
 would of course terminate with the year for which he 
 was appointed. 
 
 * The kingdom of Ariobarzanes, in Cappadocia 
 
 account to Scaptius, on condition of paying inter- 
 est at twelve per cent, reckoned from the last con- 
 tract, and not merely twelve per cent, throughout, 
 but with the interest added to the jirincipal at the 
 end of each year. The money was paid down ; but 
 Scaptius refused to take it. And do you say then 
 that Brutus is content to sustain some loss .' It 
 was forty-eight per cent, in the contract. The 
 thing was imj)ossible ; nor if it had been possible 
 could I have suffered it. I hear now that Scaptius 
 repents. For what he affirmed to be by a decree 
 of the senate, that the contract should be good in 
 law, was done from this consideration, that the 
 Salaminians had raised money contrary to the 
 Gabinian law. For the law of Aulus Gabinius for- 
 bids the cognizance of such bonds. The senate 
 therefore decreed, that the bond should be cogniz- j 
 able. It consequently possesses just the same 9 
 authority as others, and nothing more. This state- 
 ment of what has jiassed, I think Brutus himself 
 must approve. How you" may approve it I can- j. 
 not say ; Cato certainly will. But to return to you; I 
 can you, my Atticus, who praise so highly my in- i 
 tegrity and politeness, can you from your own 
 mouth, as Ennius says, ask me to send troops to 
 Scaptius, for the purpose of extortion .' Would 
 you if you were with me, who sometimes say that 
 you are vexed at not being so, would you suffer me 
 to do it if I wished it? " Not more," you say, 
 " than fifty men." There were at first not so 
 many with Spartacus ^. And what mischief would 
 they not have done in so exposed an island ? But 
 would they not have done it .' Nay, what did they 
 not do before my arrival .' They kept the senate of 
 the Salaminians shut up in their meeting-room so 
 many days, that some of them perished with 
 hunger. For Scaptius was a prefect under Appius, 
 and had some troops from him. Do you then, 
 whose image is presented to my mind as often as I 
 think of anything honourable and praiseworthy, — 
 do you, I say, ask me to make Scaptius a prefect? 
 I had formerly made a resolution to appoint nobody 
 engaged in traffic, and Brutus approved of it. 
 Should he have cavalry .■' why rather than infantry? 
 Scaptius I suppose is grown prodigal of his money. 
 The principal people you say wish it. I know how 
 much they wish it : for they came as far as Ephe- 
 sus to meet aie, and with tears related the infamous 
 conduct of the cavalry, and their own miseries. In 
 consequence, I immediately despatched letters to 
 have the troops removed from Cyprus before a cer- 
 tain day ; and for this, among other reasons, the 
 Salaminians applaud me to the skies in their 
 decrees. But what need of troops now ? For the 
 Salaminians already pay, — unless indeed I wished 
 to compel them by force of arms to reckon the in- 
 terest at forty-eight per cent. And if 1 were to do 
 such a thing, should I ever dare to read or look 
 into those books * which you commend .' In this 
 business, my sweet Atticus, you have shown too 
 much, yes, too much regard to Brutus : I fear I 
 may have shown too little. I have acknowledged, in 
 a letter to Brutus, that you mentioned these par- 
 ticulars to me. Now let me turn to something 
 else. I shall here do all I can for Appius *, con- 
 
 " This appears to be said in joke. 
 
 ■f Spartacus had been the leader of a formidable rebellion 
 of the Roman slaves. w His treatise on Government. 
 
 * He had been accused of peculation in the government 
 of Cilicia, in which he had been Cicero's predecessor.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 093 
 
 sistently however witli my honour, but most readily ; 
 for I bear him no ill-will, and have a threat regard 
 to Brutus y, and Pompeius wonderfully presses it, 
 ■whom in truth I love more and more every day. 
 You have heard that C Crelius is coming hither 
 as quitstor. I do not know how it is but that 
 Pammenian business does not please me ''-. I hope 
 to be at Athens in the month of September. I 
 should be glad to know the times of your move- 
 ments. I was acquainted with the simplicity of 
 Sempronius Rufus, by your letter from Corcyra. 
 What think you ? I envy the superiority of Vesto- 
 rius *. I should like still to prattle on, but the day 
 breaks : the throng increases ; and Philogenes is 
 hastening to depart. I must therefore bid you 
 farewell, and beg that you will make my compli- 
 ments to Pilia and to our little Cwcilia, when you 
 write. My son Cicero sends his kind regards. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Though I have no news to tell you of anything 
 that has happened since I wrote to you by your 
 freed-man Philogenes, yet as I am going to send 
 Philotimus to Rome, I will not let him go without 
 a few lines to you ; and first, what particularly 
 concerns me, (not that you can at all help me, for 
 the business does not admit of delay, and you are 
 a long way off, and, as it is said, " the wind rolls 
 many waves of the wide sea between us",) the day 
 as you see creeps on ; for I leave the province the 
 30th of July, and there is yet no successor ap- 
 pointed. Whom shall I leave to take the command 
 of the province ? Reason and general expectation 
 call for my brother ; in the first place, because 
 it is esteemed an honour, and therefore nobody is 
 more proper ; in the next place, because he is the 
 only person I have of prsetorian rank. For Ponti- 
 nius by the terms of his agreement, (having come 
 out upon that condition,) has already left me. No- 
 body thinks my qufestor'' of sufficient dignity, — 
 for he is volatile, licentious, and touchy. But 
 with regard to my brother, the first consideration 
 is, that I imagine he would not easily be prevailed 
 upon, for he dislikes the province, and in truth 
 nothing can be more disagreeable or more trouble- 
 some. Then, supposing he should not choose to 
 refuse me, what ought I to do } For, at a time 
 when there is thought to be a great war in Syria, 
 and that likely to foi'ce its way into this province, 
 while there is here no defence, and supplies voted 
 only for the year that is expiring, — what affection 
 does it argue to leave my brother ? or what atten- 
 tion to ray duty to leave a mere trifler .' You see, 
 therefore, under what difficulties I labour, and how 
 much I stand in need of advice. In short, I did 
 not wish to have anything to do with this whole 
 business "^ . How much preferable is your province** ! 
 You can leave it when you please, (unless perhaps 
 you may have left it already,) and you may appoint 
 over Thesprotia and* Chaonia whomsoever you 
 
 y Appiuswas a relation and friend of Brutus. 
 * See the conclusion of the 2()th letter of the fifth book, 
 a Book V. letter 2. 
 
 •> Mescinius. See letter 4 of this book, 
 e Compare this sentence, which is rather obscure, with 
 " O rem totam odiosam I " See letter 4 of this book, 
 d Atticus's own estate in Epirus. 
 « Districts of Epirus, in the vicinity of Buthrnfum. 
 
 think fit. However, I have not yet seen Quintus, 
 to know whether, if 1 wished it, he could be brought 
 to agree to it ; nor, if he could, am I sure what 
 I should wish. '.So much then for this. The 
 rest is hitherto full of praise and thanks, and not 
 unworthy of those books which you arc pleased to 
 commend. Cities have been preserved ; the rent- 
 ers have been abundantly satisfied ; nobody has 
 been hurt by any insult, very few by the severe 
 justice of my decrees, and nobody so that he dare 
 complain. Deeds have been accom])lished that 
 would justify a triumph ; about which I shall do 
 nofliing in a hurry, and notliiiig at all without your 
 advice. The oidy difficulty is in delivering up the 
 province ; and this some god must determine. 
 Respecting the affairs of the city, you know more 
 than I ; you have more frecpient and more certain 
 intelligence. Indeed I am concerned that I should 
 not myself have received information from your let- 
 ters, for there were unpleasant reports here about 
 Curio and Paullus '. Not that I apprehend any 
 danger while Pompeius stands or even sits^ by us; 
 let him but have his health. But yet I lament the 
 condition of Curio and Paullus, with whom I am 
 well acquainted. If therefore you are now in Rome, 
 or whenever you are there, I should wish you to 
 send me a sketch of the whole state, which may 
 meet me, and by which I may fashion myself, and 
 consider beforehand in what disposition of mind I 
 should approach the city. For it is something not , 
 to be quite a stranger and uninformed upon my 
 arrival. I had almost forgot to add, that for your 
 friend Brutus' sake, as I have repeatedly written 
 to you, I have done everything I could. The Cy- 
 priots paid down the money, but Scaptius was not 
 satisfied with the interest of twelve per cent, accu- 
 mulating at the end of each year. Pompeius has 
 not been able to get more from Ariobarzanes 
 through his own influence, than Brutus has got 
 through mine, though it was impossible for me to 
 ensure him. For the king was very poor ; and I 
 was so far off that I could only act by letters, with 
 which I have not ceased to press him. The result 
 is, that in proportion to the amount, Brutus comes 
 off better than Pompeius : for about one hundred 
 talents (20,000/.) have been procured for Brutus in 
 the course of the year ; and in six months two 
 hundred (40,000/.) have been promised to Pom- 
 peius. But in the affair of Appius, it can hardly 
 be told what consideration I have had for Brutus. 
 Why then should I vex myself ? His friends are 
 mere trifles, Matinius, and Scaptius ; who because 
 he could not get from me a troop of horse to harass 
 the Cypriots, as he had done before, is perhaps 
 angry ; or because he is not a prefect, which I have 
 granted to nobody engaged in traffic ; not to C. 
 Vennonius, my own familiar acquaintance ; nor to 
 yours, M. Lenius. This I told you in Rome that 
 I meant to observe ; and I have persevered in it. 
 But what reason can he have to complain, who 
 refused to take the money when it was offered him? 
 The other Scaptius who was in Cappadocia is, I 
 imagine, satisfied. Upon receiving from me the 
 appointment of tribune, which I offered him at the 
 request of Brutus, he afterwards wrote to me to say 
 that he did not wish to accept it. There is a per- 
 son by the name of Gavius, whom I also made 
 
 ' They had been bought over by Ca?sar at a great price. 
 
 g Sits idle and inactive.
 
 CO-i 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 prefect by Brutus's desire ; but he thought fit to 
 say and to do many things against me, mixed with 
 abuse, — a very spaniel of P. Clodiu.s. Tliis fellow 
 neither escorted me on my way to Aiiamea; nor 
 afterwards, when he iiad come to the canij) and was 
 returning again, did he ask if I had any commands ; 
 and he was, 1 know not why, manifestly unfriendly. 
 If I had emjiloyed such a man as prefect, what 
 would you think of me? I, who as you know 
 could never bear the insolence of the most power- 
 ful men, should I bear it in this hireling ? though 
 it is something more than bearing it, to bestow a 
 place of emolument and honour. This Gavius 
 then, seeing me lately at Apamea on his way to 
 Rome, addressed me tlius : (I should hardly ven- 
 ture to address Culleolus'' in such a mauner:) 
 " Whence," says he, " am I to get my allowances 
 as prefect?" I replied, with more gentleness than 
 those who were present thought I ougiit to have 
 done, '■ that I was not used to give allowances to 
 those whose services were not wanted." He went 
 away in a passion. If Brutus can be moved with 
 the anger of such a worthless fellow, you may love 
 him by yourself, I shall not be your rival. But I 
 think Brutus will show himself to be what he 
 ought. I wished however that you might be ac- 
 quainted with the real state of the case ; and I have 
 sent an exact account of it to Brutus himself. Be- 
 tween ourselves, Brutus positively sends me no let- 
 ters, not even lately about Appius, in which there 
 is not something haughty and unfriendly. It is a 
 saying often in your mouth, that " Granius did not 
 undervalue himself, and hated proud kings' ;" in 
 ■which however he I'ather excites my smile than my 
 anger ; but he is in truth too regardless of what he 
 ■writes or to whom. Q. Cicero the son has I sup- 
 pose, nay, certainly, read the letter addressed to 
 his father. For he is in the habit of opening them, 
 and that by my advice, in case there should be any- 
 thing of importance to be known. In that letter 
 ■was the same notice about your sister which you 
 mentioned to me. I saw the young man wonder- 
 fully moved, and he uttered his grief to me in tears. 
 In short, I observed a great degree of filial affec- 
 tion, of sweetness, and kindness ; from which I 
 entertain the greater hope that nothing will be done 
 hastilyj. This I wished you to be acquainted 
 with. . I am sorry to add that young Hortensius 
 has bee^ conducting himself in a very unbecoming 
 and disgraceful manner at the exhibition of gladia- 
 tors at Laqdicea. I invited him to dinner for his 
 fether's sake the day he arrived ; and for the same 
 father's sake I have done nothing more ''. He 
 told me that he should wait for me at Athens, that 
 ■we might return home together. " Very well," 
 said I ; for what could I say ? In fact I imagine 
 what he said is nothing at all. I should certainly 
 be sorry from fear of offending the father, for whom 
 I have a great regard. If he should go with me, I 
 will so manage him as not to give offence where 
 I should be very sorry to do it. I have nothing 
 
 •" By Culleolus it is evident that Cicero means some low 
 person, but whom it is not known. 
 
 The original is taken from Ennius. I apprehend it 
 to have been familiarly applied to Brutus by liis friend 
 Atticus. 
 
 i This no doubt refers to the report of Quintus's divorce, 
 mentioned in letter 2 of this book. 
 
 k Hortensius had quarrelled with his son, who seems to 
 
 are been an ill-conditioned youni; man. 
 
 more to say, but that I should be glad if you would 
 send me Q. Celer's speech against M. Servilius. 
 Let me hear from you soon. If there is no news, 
 at least let me hear by your messenger that there 
 is none. My regards to Pilia and your daughter. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 I ARRIVED at Tarsus the 5th of June, where I 
 
 met with several things which gave me uneasiness. 
 There is a great war in Syria, great depredations 
 in Cilicia, and any jjlan of administration is ren- 
 dered difficult by reason of the short time that 
 remains of my yearly office. But above all, my 
 greatest difficulty is, that I am obliged by the de- 
 cree of the senate to leave somebody in charge of 
 the government. Nothing could be more unfit than 
 the quaistor Mescinius' ; and of Ca;lius"' I yet hear 
 nothing. It seems most proper to leave my bro- 
 ther with the command ; but in this there are some 
 unpleasant circumstances, such as my own depar- 
 ture, the danger of a war, the irregularities of the 
 soldiers, and six hundred things besides. How 
 hateful is the whole business ! But this I must 
 leave to fortune, since there is little opportunity for 
 the exercise of prudence. When you are come 
 safely, as I hope, to Rome, you will with your 
 accustomed kindness see about everything which 
 you think concerns me; and, in the first place, 
 about my dear TuUia, respecting whose establish- 
 ment I have written my opinion to Terentia, while 
 you were in Greece. The next thing to be consi- 
 dered is rt\y honour. For in your absence I fear 
 there has hardly been sufficient attention paid in 
 the senate to my letters. I shall besides write a 
 few words to you more mysteriously, which your 
 sagacity will be able to unravel. My wife's freed- 
 man (you know whom I mean") has seemed to 
 me lately, by what he has incautiously let out, to 
 have confused the calculations arising from the sale 
 of the goods of the Crotonian tyrannicide". And 
 I fear — Do you understand me } Looking then 
 yourself alone into this, secure the residue?. I 
 cannot write all that I fear. Contrive that your 
 letters may fly to meet me. I have written this 
 hastily on my journey, and surrounded by troops. 
 You will make my compliments to Pilia, and to the 
 pretty little Cseciliai. 
 
 1 Ilis character is given in letter 3 of this book. The 
 qusDstors were not usually appointed by the commanders. 
 
 "' See letter 2 of this book. 
 
 n Philotinius. See book v. letter 8. 
 
 ° JMilo, of the same name as a celebrated prize-fighter 
 of Crotona. The addition of tyrannicide, it is almost 
 needless to add, relates to his having killed Clodius. 
 
 p It seems probable that Cicero's fears might arise from 
 some suspicion of his wife's having availed herself of her 
 authority over herfreed-man Philotimus to appropriate to 
 her use part of the money obtained from the sale of Milo's 
 goods. ISee book v. letter 8 ; book xi. letters 16 and 22 ; and 
 book xi. letter 2, note t.] She appears to have been an 
 improvident woman, and to have involved Cicero in debts. 
 [Life of Cicero, p. 195.] AVliat I have rendered " secui'e 
 tlie residue," I suppose to allude to what is said in letter 1 
 of this book, towards the end — " Camillus sends me word 
 tliat he has received the residue." The same thing is 
 repeated in letter 5 of this book. " See after the residue." 
 
 1 Atticus's daughter, called also Attica.
 
 TO TITUS POiMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 695 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 By this time I presume you are in Rome, where, 
 if it is so, I congratulate you upon your safe 
 arrival. As long as you were away, you seemed to 
 be further from me than if you were at home, for 
 I was more a stranger to the state, both of the 
 public aft'airs, and of my own. Therefore, although 
 I hope that I shall already have made some pro- 
 gress on my way by the time you read this, yet I 
 should wish you to let me hear frequently from 
 you, with every particular, upon all subjects ; espe- 
 cially upon what I before mentioned to you, that 
 my wife's freed-man has appeared to me, by his 
 frequent hesitation and shuffling, in diflerent meet- 
 ings and conversations, to have admitted some 
 incorrectness into his computation of the Croto- 
 nian's property. Be so good as to inquire into this 
 with your usual kindness, but especially this : 
 " From the walls of the city on the seven hills he 
 delivered to Camillus"^ an account of debts to the 
 amount of 24 and 48 minte (7G/. and 153/.) ; that 
 he owed 24 minae from the Crotonian property ; 
 and from that of the Chersonesus^ 48 minse ; and 
 having entered upon a succession of 1280 minse 
 (409()/.), he had not paid a farthing, though the 
 whole was due the first of February : his own freed- 
 man, a namesake of Conon's father', had been 
 wholly inattentive." In the first place, therefore, 
 take care that the ])rincipal may be all secured ; 
 then, that the interest from the fore-mentioned day 
 may not be overlooked. I had great fears whilst I 
 suffered him to be here ; for he came to make ob- 
 servations, not without some hopes. But failing in 
 this, he went away abruptly, saying, " I give up ;" 
 at the same time quoting a verse of Homer, that it 
 is discreditable to remain long and return empty". 
 And he reproached me with the old saying, " What 
 is given," &c^. See after the residue"' ; and as far 
 as possible let me clearly understand it. Though 
 I have now almost served my yearly term, for there 
 are only thirty-three days remaining, yet I am 
 greatly liarassed by the anxious state of the pro- 
 vince. For while Syria is blazing with arms, and 
 Bibulus in the midst of his sad affliction* sustains 
 the chief burden of the war ; and his lieutenants, 
 and quaestor, and friends, are sending to me to come 
 to their assistance ; though my armyis but weak, yet, 
 having good auxiliaries of the Galatiaus, Pisidiaus, 
 and Lyciians, which constitute its strength, I have 
 thought it my duty to keep them as near as possible 
 to the enemy, so long as the decree of the senate 
 authorises me to preside over the province. But, 
 v?hat gives me great satisfaction, Bibulus is not 
 importunate with me, but rather writes to inform 
 me of everything. In the mean time the day of my 
 •departure creeps on unobserved. As soon as it 
 
 r See bofilv vi. letter 1, towards the end. 
 
 « In the same place it is said that Philotimus went to 
 tlie Chersonesus the beginning of January. 
 
 ' Timotheus. Not only freed-men, but even slaves had 
 their pcculiares, or vicarii. 
 
 " I have inserted a translation of the conclusion of this 
 verse of Homer, without which the English would he unin- 
 telligible, though it was familiar to Atticus. 
 
 » " What is given must satisfy us." 
 
 ■" That is, the balance of his .-iccounts mentioned in the 
 preceding letter, and probably alluding to the money 
 received by Camillus over and above what Philotimus 
 kept in his own possession. See letter 1, hook vi 
 
 « Bibulus had recently lost two sons hv tre.'ulirrv. 
 
 arrives, it will be another question whom 1 shall 
 leave in the command ; unless Caldus Cselius, the 
 new quaestor, should be come, of whom I have yet 
 heard nothing certain. I intended to have written 
 a longer letter, but 1 have nothing more to say, 
 and am too full of care to trifle and joke. Farewell, 
 therefore, and make my compliments to the dear 
 little Attica, and to my friend Piha. 
 
 LETTER VLr 
 
 (Grcsv. vii.) 
 Young Quintus has, with all duty, reconciled 
 the mind of his father to your sister. It is true 
 that I encouraged him, but when he was already in 
 his course. Your letter, too, was a great incite- 
 ment. In short, I trust the affair will terminate as 
 we wish. I have already written to you two letters 
 about my private concerns, if only they have been 
 delivered. They were in Greek, and in purposed 
 ambiguity. But there is no occasion to do any- 
 thing, besides simply asking about Milo's account, 
 and exhorting him to use despatch as he promised 
 me : you may thus be of some service. I have 
 desired the quaestor Mescinius to wait at Laodicea, 
 that I may get the accounts made out agreeably to 
 the Julian law, and left in two of the provincial 
 cities. I design to go to Rhodes for the sake of 
 the boys, and thence as soon as possible to Athens, 
 though the winds are very much against us ; but I 
 want to reach home during the year of the present 
 magistrates, whose good-will I have experienced in 
 the decree for a supplication'-. But let me hear 
 from you on my way, whether you think 1 ought 
 to take more time, out of respect to the republic. 
 I should have written by Tiro, but have left him 
 very ill at Issus. They send me word, however, 
 that he is better ; but I am much concerned for 
 him. For nothing can be more modest, or more 
 attentive, than that young man. 
 
 LETTER Vn. 
 {Grmv. vi.) 
 Whilst in everything I support Appius's ho- 
 nour in the province, I am on a sudden become 
 father-in-law to his accuser''. "May it turn out 
 happily ! " you say. I hope it may, and I am sure 
 that you wish it. But, believe me, I thought of 
 nothing less, and had sent some confidential per- 
 sons to the ladies about Tiberius Nero, who had 
 applied to me on the subject. When they came to 
 Rome the contract was already made. I hope this 
 may be a more desirable party. I understand the 
 ladies are exceedingly delighted with the young 
 man's courtesy and complaisance. You must not 
 try to pick out defects. But how is this ? Do you 
 distribute bread to the populace at Athens ^ Do 
 you think this right? Though my treatise "^ does 
 
 y See tlie following letter, note <*. 
 
 z A public thanksgiving, which tiscd to he voted upon 
 any signal success, and which might lead to his obtaining 
 a triumph. 
 
 a P. C. Dolabella. 
 
 b His treatise on Government, in which it is to be 
 presumed thf author objected to such bounties as might 
 procure an undue influence to the donor among hifi fellow- 
 citizcns.
 
 C96 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 not forbid it ; for this is no bribe amongst fellow- 
 citizens, but a liberal acknowledgment of hospital- 
 ity. You still advise me to think of the portico for 
 the Academy '^, though Appius no longer thinks of 
 that at Elcusis. I am sure you must be sorry for 
 Hortensius''. I am myself deeply concerned ; for 
 I had looked forwards to living with hira in great 
 familiarity. I have appointed Cselius to the charge 
 of the province. " A mere boy," you will say, " and 
 perhaps giddy, and undignified, and intemperate." 
 I acknowledge it, but it could not be otherwise ; 
 for I was struck with the letter 1 had received from 
 you some time since, in which you said that you 
 doubted what I ought to do about resigning the 
 command. I saw what was the cause of your doubt, 
 and was sensible of the difficulty ; that I was deli- 
 vering it to a boy : but it was not desirable to 
 deliver it to my brother ; and, besides my brother, 
 there was nobody whom I could with propriety 
 advance before the qutestor, especially as he was a 
 person of noble birth. However, so long as the 
 Parthians seemed to threaten us, I had determined 
 either to leave my brother in the command, or 
 even, for the sake of the republic, to remain my- 
 self, contrary to the decree of the senate. But 
 since by a most unexjiected good fortune they 
 have retired, my doubt has been removed. I fore- 
 saw what would be said : " So, has he resigned to 
 his brother .-' 'Is this holding the government for 
 not more than a year .' What avails it that the 
 senate wished the provinces to devolve upon such 
 as had not before had a command ; while this*^ man 
 has commanded for three years together .' " This 
 then is what I say in public f. But what shall I say 
 to you ? I should never be dee from anxiety, lest 
 he should do something angrily, or disrespectfully, 
 or carelessly, for such is the condition of mankind. 
 What if his son should be guilty of some impru- 
 dence, a boy of great sell-confidence ? What 
 vexation would it give me ! For his father would 
 not send him away, and was not pleased that you 
 should advise it. But as for Cselius, I do not say 
 that I care not what he does ; but however I care 
 much less. Add to this, that Pompeius, a man of 
 that weight and experience, appointed Q. Cassius ; 
 and Csesar, Antonius, without the form of a bal- 
 lots; should I offend one who is given me by 
 ballot ? and thereby induce him to pry into the 
 conduct of the person whom I had left ? What I 
 have done is preferable, and is warranted by many 
 precedents, and is more suited to my age''. But, 
 
 <= See letter 1 of tliis book. 
 
 <* Hortensius was lately dead. It appears from tlie pre- 
 face to Cicero's treatise " De Claris Oratoribus," tliat he 
 heard of this event at Rhodes on Ills return from Cilicia. 
 And it is on tliis account that I liave transposed tlie order 
 of this and the preceding letter, which it is evident was 
 written previous to his arrival at Rhodes. 
 
 e Q. Cicero had held the provincial government of Asia 
 three years. 
 
 f The meaning is, that this anticipation of what might 
 bo objected to him, is the reason he professes for not ap- 
 pointing his brother. To Atticus he subjoins the real reason, 
 which is his fear of some misconduct from liis brother's 
 hasty disposition. 
 
 g The quaestors seem to have been usually appointed by 
 the government at home after a ballot. Cassius and An- 
 tonius, though irregularly appointed, were left in the 
 command, one of Spain, the other of Gaul, at as early an 
 age as Caelius. 
 
 *■ An age when it became desirable to avoid contentions, 
 
 ye gods ! in what favour have I put you with him, 
 by reading to him, I do not say your letter, but 
 that of your secretary. The letters of my friends 
 invite me to demand a triumph, a thing, as I think, 
 not to be despised in this regeneration' of my for- 
 tuiU'S. Therefore, my Atticus, do you also begia 
 to wish it, that I may not be discountenanced. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 As 1 was going to write to you, and had actually 
 taken up my pen, Batonius came directly from the 
 ship to tiie house in which I was at Ephesus, and 
 delivered to me your letter of Se])tember 30. I re- 
 joice at your favourable passage, your meeting with 
 Pilia, and, not least, at her conversation about the 
 marriage of my daughter Tuliia. But Batonius has 
 brought me strange alarms respecting Csesar : to 
 Lepta he has spoken yet more at large. I hope his 
 news may not be true ; it is certainly dreadful : that 
 he will on no account dismi.is his army ; and that 
 the praetors elect, and Cassius the tribune of the 
 people, and the consul Lentulus, support him, 
 while Pompeius thinks of retiring from the city. 
 But how is this .' Are you at all troubled for him, 
 who sets himself before the uncle of your sister's 
 sonJ .' And who are they that have defeated him? 
 But to my purpose. The Etesian winds have 
 greatly retarded me; and this undecked vessel of 
 the Illiodians has made me lose twenty days. 
 Whilst I am on the point of embarking from 
 Ei)liesus, 1 deliver this letter to L. Tarquitius, who 
 leaves the port at the same time, but will sail 
 quicker. For in these open vessels, and other long 
 boats of the Rhodians, we must watch for fair 
 weather. I have, however, made as much haste as 
 I could. I am pleased with what you say of the 
 Puteolan crumbs'^. Now I should wish you care- 
 fully to consider the state of the Roman affairs, and 
 see what you think should be determined about 
 demanding a triumph, to which my friends invite 
 me. I should be quite easy about it, if Bibulus 
 was not trying for it ; who, as long as there was- 
 one enemy' in .Syria, no more put his foot out of 
 the gate than lie had formerly done out of his 
 house'". But now it is disgraceful to be silent. 
 However, consider the whole matter, that as sooiii 
 
 such as might be excited against him, if he offended his 
 qusestor. 
 
 ' Having begun, as it were, a new life, after his resto- 
 ration from banishment, a life which required the sup- 
 port of new honours: for, before that event, the fame of 
 his consulship had been such, as to make him disregard 
 them. 
 
 i The same expression is used in reference to the samfr 
 event, book v. letter 19, and is no doubt taken from some- 
 thing said upon that occasion. The person alluded to is- 
 generally acknowledged to be Hirrus. 
 
 ^ The word in the original, raudusculum, or ruduscu 
 him., is probably derived from rndus, " rubbish," and 
 thence is used for the " sweepings," " crumbs," or " little 
 remains" of a debt. It is used in the same sense, book iv. 
 letter 8. 
 
 ' In the text it is7'o.?pc^, "stranger:" but I have thought 
 if better to adopt the very easy alteration of hoslis, agree- 
 .I'.ily to book vii. letter 2. 
 
 '" Bibulus, when he was joint consul with Cajsai, had 
 liecn insulted and violently driven from the forum ; in 
 L-imsequence of which he afterwards shut himself up in hi» 
 licnise, and acted only by theisublicatiDn; of edicts. He» 
 book ii. letter 21,
 
 TO TITUS rOMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 GOT 
 
 as we meet, I may be able to make my determina- 
 tion. But I am writing more than enough ; for I 
 have no time to spare, and am sending by one 
 who will either arrive with me or not much before. 
 Cicero" presents his compliments. You will pre- 
 sent those of both of us to Pilia and to your 
 daughter. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Immediately upon my landing in the Pirieus" 
 the 14th of October, I received from my servant 
 Acastus your letter, which I had long expected ; 
 but before I unsealed it, I took notice of its short- 
 ness ; when I had opent- d it, I was struck with the 
 unevenness of the letters, which you generally form 
 very correctly and distinctly. In short, I perceived 
 from thence, what you mention to be the case, 
 that you came to Rome the '20th of September with 
 a fever. Being greatly concerned, though not more 
 than I ought, I immediately inquired of Acastus. 
 He assured me that both you and he thought you 
 were quite well, and that he had the same account 
 from your own people ; at the same time that he 
 acknowledged, conformably to the conclusion of 
 your letter, that you had some degree of fever at 
 the time you wrote. I am very sensible of your 
 kindnes-i, yet surprised tliat you should nevertheless 
 have written with your own hand. But enough of 
 this ; for I hope from your prudence and temper- 
 ance, nay, as Acastus bids me, I trust, that you are, 
 as I wish you, already well. I am glad you received 
 the letter I sent you by Turannius. Watch, 
 specially, if you love me, the greediness p of this 
 
 " The son. ° The port of Athens. 
 
 P In the original is a Greek word, derived from Philo- 
 tiraus, wliioh marks t!ie meaning of the author. The 
 tcnn " confoimder " refers to the confusion wliich Philo- 
 
 confounder. Take care that he do not touch this 
 Pra;cian inheritance, how little soever it may be. 
 It gives me much concern, for I had a great regard 
 for the man. Say tiiat I have need of money for 
 the splendour of my triumph ; in regard to which, 
 as you advise, you shall tind me neither vain ia 
 demanding it, nor insensible in rejecting it. I 
 understand by your letter, that Turannius told you 
 I had consigned the province to my brother. Do 
 you think I should so ill interpret your guarded 
 expression, when you say you doubted''.'' What 
 need was there of doubt, if there was any reason 
 for wishing my brother to be left, and such a brother? 
 It was to my mind a prohibition, not a doubt. You 
 advise me by no means to leave the young Quintus 
 Cicero. That is the very exposition of my own 
 sentiments. We have seen everything in the same 
 light as if we had (conversed together. It could 
 not be (lone otherwise ; and your continued doubt 
 freed me from all doubt. But I imagine you have 
 received a letter written more fully upon this sub- 
 ject. I mean to send my messenger to-morrow, 
 who will probably arrive before our friend Saufeius ; 
 yet it was hardly right to let him go to you without 
 a letter from me. Write to me as you promise, 
 about my dear TuUia, that is, about Dolabella; 
 about the republic, which I foresee is in great 
 danger ; about the censors, especially what is done 
 about statues and pictures, whether any proposi- 
 tion is made''. I send this letter on the l.Tth of 
 October, the day on which, as you say, Csesar is to 
 bring four legions to Piacentia. What, I beseech 
 you, is to become of us .' I enjoy my present station 
 in the citadel at Athens. 
 
 timus had admitted into his accounts. See letters 4 and S 
 of this book. «■ See letter 6 of this book. 
 
 ■• It was probably expected that the censors might intro- 
 dnco some regulations upon these articles, with the view 
 of repressing the luxury of the age. 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 I s^NT a letter by L. Saufeius, and to you alone''; 
 for though I had hardly time to write, yet I did 
 not like that one so intimate should go to you with- 
 out a letter from me. But, considering the rate 
 that philosophers travel, I imagine this will reach 
 you tirst. If, however, you have received that, 
 you will know that I came to Athens the 14th of 
 October ; and that upon landing in the Piraeus, 1 
 received your letter from my friend Acastus, not 
 without uneasiness at your having arrived at 
 Rome with a fever. I was, however, relieved by 
 hearing from Acastus that you were as much better 
 as I could wish. But I quite shudder at the infor- 
 mation which your letter brought about Cspsar's 
 legions. I also begged you to take care that the 
 greediness (or, as the Greeks call it, the philotimia) 
 of you know whom', might not injure me ; about 
 which I had written to you some time ago. Tu- 
 rannius had misinformed you at Brundisium, as I 
 learned by a letter from that excellent man Xeno. 
 
 " This is the last letter of the preceding book. 
 ♦ This is evidently said in allusion to Philotiuius. 
 
 I explained shortly why I had not left my brother 
 in charge of the province. This was the substance 
 of that letter. Now hear the rest. I entreat you 
 by your fortunes, to employ all the affection with 
 which you embrace me, and all your prudence, 
 which I always admire, in taking into consideration 
 the whole of my situation. For I seem to see such 
 a contest ; unless the same Providence, which 
 delivered me from the Parthian war, better than I 
 dared to hope, should have compassion upon the 
 republic ; such I say as never was before. But 
 this calamity is common to me with everybody 
 else ; upon this I do not require your advice. That 
 which is my own affair I beg you to undertake. 
 Do you perceive how, at your instance, I have 
 attached myself to both parties ? And I wish I 
 had from the first attended to your friendly admo- 
 nition. " But," as Homer says, " your persuasions 
 did not reach my heart ; for nothing is sweeter 
 than one's country." At length, however, you did 
 persuade me to embrace the one, because he had 
 been so kind to me ; the other, because he was so 
 powerful. I have done it, therefore, and done it 
 with all readiness, so that nobody is more esteemed'
 
 •698 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 by either of them. For I considered that my con- 
 nexion with Pompeius did not oblige me to trans- 
 .gress against the republic ; nor, because I agreed 
 with CiEsar, was I to figlit against Pompeius ; such 
 was their union. Now, as you show, and as I 
 I)lainly see, the utmost contention between them is 
 to be a])prehencled. And eacli reckons me of liis 
 side, unless one of them feigns. For Pompeius 
 ■ does not doubt (and he judges rightly) of my highly 
 approving his present sentiments with regard to the 
 republic. I have received letters to this effect from 
 both of them, at the same time that you received 
 yours ; as if neither esteemed anybody more than 
 me. What sliould I do then ? I do not mean 
 ■when they come to extremities ; for if it is to be 
 decided by arms, I am clear that it is better to be 
 conquered with the one, than to conquer with the 
 •other ; but I speak of the questions which will be 
 agitated at the period of my arrival ; whether one, 
 who is absent, be eligible ; whether he should not 
 dismiss his army. " Speak, Marcus TuUius." 
 What shall I say .' Wait, I beseech you, till I can 
 see Atticus. There is no room for trifling. Shall 
 I oppose Caesar.' Where tlien is our" strict attach- 
 ment ? For, I helped to procure him this permis- 
 sion by applying to Caelius the tribune of the 
 jieople at the request of Pompeius himself^ at 
 Ravenna. " Of Pompeius ?" Even of our Cnaeus, 
 in that famous third consulate. Should I now 
 'Change ray sentiments? " I have too much respect 
 (not only for Pornpeius, but) for the Trojan men 
 and women. Polydamus will be the first to re- 
 proach me"'." Who.' You yourself, who are used 
 to commend both my actions and my writings. 
 I have escaped this blow during the two preceding 
 consulates of the Marcelli, when Caesar's province 
 •was taken into consideration. Now I fall into the 
 very crisis. There let any blockhead give his 
 opinion first; I am mightily pleased to be engaged 
 about my triumph, and to have so good an excuse 
 for remaining without the city. Yet people will 
 try to elicit my sentiments. You will perhaps 
 laugh at what I am going to say. How I should 
 ■wish even now to be staying in my province ! It 
 •was clearly desirable if this was hanging over us, 
 though nothing could be more disagreeable. For, 
 by-the-bye, I would have you know, that all those 
 first appearances, which in your letters you com- 
 mended to the skies, have dissolved away. The 
 practice of virtue itself is not an easy thing ; but 
 how difficult is a continual pretence of it ! For 
 •when I thought it right and honourable, out of the 
 yearly sums which had been voted for ray expenses, 
 to leave a yearly sum for the quaestor C. Caelius, 
 and to bring into the treasury a thousand sestertia 
 (8000/.) ; my attendants murmured, thinking it 
 ought all to have been divided amongst them ; as if 
 I should be more attentive to the treasuries of the 
 Phrygians and Cilicians, than to our own. But 
 they did not move me : for my own applause has 
 the greatest weight with me. Yet there is nothing 
 that could be done for the honour of any person, 
 •which I have omitted. But this, as Thucydides 
 says, is an excursion from the subject, not without 
 
 " So I understand this, which has usually been otherwise 
 interpreted. 
 
 T It is most consonant with what follows to understand 
 this of Pompeius. 
 
 w This is quoted from Homer. The same verses are foimd 
 in letter 5, book ii. 
 
 its use. But pray consider my situation ; how, in 
 the first jilace, I may retain the favour of Caesar ; 
 then about my triumph ; which, unless the times 
 of the republic prevent it, I conceive to be easily 
 attainable. I judge so both from the letters of my 
 friends, and from the supplication, when he, who 
 did not vote for it, voted more than if he had 
 decreed the greatest triumph^. With him Favonius, 
 my familiar friend, was one who concurred in 
 opinion ; another was Hirrus, who was angry with 
 me. Yet Cato was present at the drawing up of 
 the decree, and wrote to me most pleasantly upon 
 the subject of his vote. But Caesar, in congratulat- 
 ing with me about the supplication, exults upon 
 the opinion delivered by ('ato ; but mentions 
 nothing of what Cato said ujion the occasion ; only 
 that he voted against the supplication. I come 
 back to Hirrus. You had begun to reconcile him 
 to me : go on with it. You have Scrofa, you have 
 Silius to assist you. I have already written to them 
 and to Hirrus hinisf^lf. For he had kindly informed 
 them, that he could have stopped it, but did not 
 choose to do so : but that he had concurred with 
 Cato my particular friend, when he made such 
 honourable mention of me ; and that 1 had not 
 written to him, though I wrote to everybody else. 
 He said truly ; for to him alone, and to Crassipes, 
 I had not written. So much then for public affairs. 
 Let us return home. I wish to separate myself 
 from that man>'. He has strangely perplexed my 
 accounts, a very Lartidius^; " but let us leave what 
 is already done, however we may regret it." Let 
 us despatch the rest ; and this first, in which I have 
 some care added to my affliction ; but this Praecian 
 affair'', whatever it is, I should be sorry to have 
 confounded with those accounts of mine which he 
 has in his hands. I have written to Terentia'', 
 and likewise to him, that I should put together in 
 your hands whatever money I could collect, for the 
 equipment of my expected triumph. This, I con- 
 ceive, must be unobjectionable. But as they please. 
 Take upon you this care also"^, how we may en- 
 deavour to accomplish what you propose. This 
 both you have pointed out in some letter, (from 
 Epirus was it ? or from Athens ?) and I will assist 
 you in it. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 I ARRIVED at Brundisium the "24th of November, 
 after as favourable a voyage as your own ; so charm- 
 ingly did a gentle gale waft us from Epirus. The 
 words have run into a verse, which, if you please, 
 you may impose upon some young man for your own. 
 I am much concerned at your illness ; for your 
 letters show that you are very far from well ; and 
 1, who know your fortitude, suspect it must be 
 something serious that obliges you to give way, 
 
 * Cato resisted the application forCioero's supplication; 
 but at the same time spake of him in the most honourable 
 terms. 
 
 y Pliilotimus. * It is not known who this is. 
 
 » See book vL letter 9. 
 
 ^ Philotimus was Terentia's freed-man, and perhaps 
 involved witli her in emharrassins Cicero's accounts. 
 
 c I conceive the conclusion (if this letter to relate 
 altogether to some new subject mentioned previously by 
 Atticus, and not improbably concerning Q. Cicero, or 
 Pomponia, whose disagreement is mentioned, book vL 
 letter 2.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 699 
 
 and almost overpowers you ; though your servant 
 Pamphilus assured me that the quartan tits of your 
 ague had left you, and that another milder form had 
 succeeded ; and Terentia, who came to the gate of 
 Brundisium at the same time that I entered the 
 harhour, and who met me in the forum, said that L. 
 Pontius had informed her inTrebulanum, that this 
 also had left you : which, if it be so, is what 1 
 exceedingly wish, and hope indeed that your pru- 
 dence and temperance may have effected. I come 
 now to your letters, of which I have received six 
 hundred'' at once, each more acceptable than the 
 former, and all in your own hand. I used to love 
 Alexis's handwriting, because it bare so near a 
 resemblance to your own ; yet I loved it not, as 
 showing that you were not well. The mention of 
 his name brings to my mind Tiro "■", whom 1 have left 
 sick at Patric ; a young man, as yo.u know ; and 
 add, if you please, an honest one ; I know nothing 
 better. Therefore I miss him sadly ; and though 
 he did not think himself dangerously ill, yet I can- 
 not help being anxious about him, and place my 
 greatest hojie in the attention of M. Curius', which 
 Tiro has signified to me by letter, and many persons 
 have mentioned. Curius himself is sensible how 
 much you wish him to be in my esteem : and indeed 
 I am highly pleased with him ; for he possesses a 
 natural urbanity of manners which is very amiable. 
 He has a will sealed with the seals of the Cicerosf 
 and those of the praetorian'' cohort, in which he 
 has openly bequeathed to you a pound, to me a 
 half-penny'. I was sumptuously entertained by 
 Alexion-i at Actium in Corcyra"*. There was no 
 resisting Cicero's wish of seeing Thyamis'. I am 
 rejoiced that you take pleasure in your little girl, 
 and that the affection of parents towards their 
 children is proved to you to be natural"'. For 
 without this there can be no natural union between 
 man and man ; and if this is taken away, the very 
 intercourse of life is destroyed. May it turn out 
 well, said Carneades grossly ; yet more modestly 
 than our friend Lucius", and Patron; who in 
 referring everything to their own gratification, do 
 
 <! It lias been repeatedly seen in former letters that this 
 was a familiar expression for any great number. 
 
 f Tiro was Cicero's amanuensis, ;is Alexis was Atticus's. 
 In book vi. letter 6, we find him left sick at Issus. It is to 
 be supposed that he afterwards proceeded as far as Patra; 
 in the Peloponnesus, and was there again laid up under 
 the care of Curius. 
 
 f M. Curius is said to have been quaestor and tribune at 
 Rome, and afterwards to have settled as a merchant at 
 Patra3. — Ep. Fam. iv. 5, et xiii. 50. 
 
 e The sons of Marcus and Quintus. 
 
 •» This seems to have been a sort of guard of honour. 
 
 > This passage is attended with great obscurity, owing 
 apparently to its being a jest, which is no longer intelli- 
 gible. I suspect the point of it may consist in some pro- 
 vincial misapplication of the terms libella and teruncitis, 
 instead of as and tricns, whereby Cicero and Atticus might 
 become entitled to a mere trifle, instead of inheriting the 
 estate. And if the text de Tortorio be correct, it may be 
 an intended blunder of the same kind. 
 
 3 Alexion was a physician. See book xv. letter 1. 
 
 ^ The place called Actium of Corcyra was different from 
 that afterwards distinguished by the naval action between 
 Augustus and Antonius. 
 
 1 Thyamis was a river of Epirus, where Atticus's pro- 
 perty was situated. 
 
 "1 This is said in opposition to the tenets of Atticus's 
 philosophy, which referred everything to pleasure. 
 
 ■> Lucius Torquatus. He and Patron were both Epicu- 
 reans. 
 
 not" think any thing whatever should be done foi 
 the sake of another; and when they say tliat tlie 
 reason why a man ought to be good, is that he may 
 escape harm, not because it is naturally right ; they 
 do not perceive that they are describing a crafty 
 man instead of a good man. But this I believe is 
 in those books p, which you encourage me by prais- 
 ing. I return to my subject. I was eagerly 
 expecting the letter, which you had sent by Philo- 
 xenus ; for you had mentioned that it contained an 
 account of your conversation with Pompeius at 
 Naples; this Patron delivered to me at Brundisium. 
 I believe he had received it at Corcyra. Nothing 
 could be more acceptable. For it related to the 
 republic ; to the opinion which he entertained of 
 my integrity ; to the kindness which he showed 
 in his discourse about the triumph. But what 
 pleased me most of all was, that I understood 
 you had visited him for the purpose of discover- 
 ing his disposition towards me : this, I say, was 
 the circumstance most agreeable to me. With 
 respect to the triumph, however, I never had any 
 wish for it before that barefaced letter of Bibulus, 
 which was followed by so full a supplication. Had 
 he really done what he described, I should rejoice, 
 and favour his pretensions. Bjat now, that he, 
 who never set his foot beyond the gate so long as the 
 enemy was on this side the Euphrates, should be 
 loaded with honours ; and that I, on whose troops 
 his army placed their whole reliance, should not 
 attain the same ; this is a disgrace to us ; to us, I 
 say, including you. I shall therefore make every 
 exertion, and hope I shall succeed. If you were 
 well, I might already have had some particulars 
 investigated : but I trust you will soon be well. I 
 love you for this Numerian remnant *!. I want to 
 know what is become of Hortensius'' ; what Cato is 
 doing, who has in truth been shamefully hostile 
 towards me. He gave me his testimony for in- 
 tegrity, justice, clemency, fidelity, which I did not 
 ask ; what I did ask, he refused. How therefore 
 does Casar, in the same letter in which he con- 
 gratulates me and promises every thing, exult la 
 the injury I have received from Cato's ingratitude ? 
 Yet this very man voted to Bibulus a supplication 
 of 20 days. Pardon me ; I cannot bear this, nor 
 will I. I wish to reply to all your letters ; but 
 there is no occasion, since I shall see you so soou. 
 But as to that business of Chrysippus (for about the 
 other, a mere mechanic, I was less surprised, 
 though nothing could be worse than his conduct) ; 
 but for Chrysippus, whom on account of some little 
 proficiency in learning I entertained with kindness, 
 and had in esteem ; that he should leave the boy 
 without my knowledge ! I omit many other things 
 which I hear of him ; I omit his thefts ; but his 
 running away I cannot bear ; there is nothing that 
 I think more wicked. I have accordingly followed 
 the old principle, as it is said, of the praetor Drusus, 
 in the case of one who would not swear to observe 
 the same conditions after he had obtained his 
 liberty ; I have not pronounced them free : espe- 
 cially as there was nobody present by whom their 
 
 « Both the sense and the subsequent member of the sen- 
 tence require that it should be read non putent. 
 
 P Cicero's treatise " De Republica," 
 
 1 The same expression is used book iv. letter 8, and book 
 vi. letter 8. 
 
 r This must be understood of the son, for the father waa 
 already dead. See book vi. letters 3 and ^,
 
 700 
 
 THE LETTERS OF IMAIICUS TULLIUS CICERf) 
 
 liberation could properly be asierted. You will 
 receive this as you shall think fit. 1 assent to your 
 judgment. To one most eloquent letter of yours 1 
 have not rejjlied, in whieli yon speak of the dangers 
 of the republic. What should I reply? I was 
 exceedingly disturbed. But the Parthians do 
 nothing to occasion me much alarm, and bave 
 suddenly left Bib\dus half alive. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 The sixth of December I came to Herculanum' 
 and there read your letter, which Philotimus de- 
 livered to me. The moment I saw it I had the 
 satisfaction of recognising your own hand-writing ; 
 afterwards I was exceedingly delighted with the 
 accurate information it contained. With respect 
 to the first point, in which you say you diflFer from 
 Dicffiarchus^ though I had earnestly requested 
 (and that with your concurrence) that I might not 
 be obliged to remain in the province longer than 
 one year; yet this was not acccmphshed by our 
 endeavours. For you must know that not a word 
 was mentioned in the senate about any of us, who 
 held provincial governments, remaining beyond 
 the time appointed by the decree of the senate. So 
 that I Ciinnot justly be charged with any blame for 
 having left the province earlier tlian might, per- 
 haps, have been desirable. Hut what if it be better 
 as it is ? This has often appeared to be the case 
 on other occasions as well as on this. For whether 
 things can be brought to an agreement, or to the 
 discomfiture of the evil-disposed, in either case I 
 should be glad to give my assistance, or at least 
 not to be out of the way. But if the good are 
 overpowered, wherever I might be, I should be 
 overpowered with them. Therefore, the quickness 
 of my return ought not to be regretted. And if 
 the idea of a triumph had not been thrown in my 
 way, which you also approve, truly you should 
 not now much want that character, which is drawn 
 in my sixth book ^ For what should I do to satisfy 
 you, who have devoured those books ? I should 
 not even now hesitate to lay aside this object", 
 great as it is, if it be more proper to do so. But it is 
 impossible to pursue both at the same time, and 
 •while I serve my ambitious views in a triumph, to 
 exert a free spirit in the cause of the republic. Do 
 not, however, doubt, but that whichever is the more 
 honourable, that will be to me the more desirable. 
 For what you seem to recommend, that I should 
 continue to hold my command, and remain out of 
 the city^, both as being safer for myself, and as 
 affording the means of rendering service to the 
 republic, how this is we will consider when we 
 meet. It is a thing that admits of deliberation, 
 though in great measure I agree with you. You 
 do well in not doubting of my affection towards the 
 republic ; and you judge rightly that he * has by 
 no means acted liberally towards me, considering 
 my services and his profusion to other people ; and 
 you justly explain the reason of this, which entirely 
 agrees with what you say has been done in the case 
 
 s Dica>archus maintained the duty of active exertion. 
 See book ii. letter 16. 
 
 » Of his treatise " De Republica." " His triumph. 
 
 » The continuing out of the city was necessary so long 
 ae he retained his command. 
 
 w Cssar. 
 
 of Fabius and Caninius. But if this were not so, 
 and he had devoted himself wholly to me, yet that 
 guardian " divinity of the city which you mention 
 would compel me to remember its nobh- inscription, 
 and would not permit me to imitate Volcacius or 
 Servius, with whom you are satisfied, but would 
 call iipon me to feel and to act as became me. 
 And this I would readily do, if it might be done in 
 a diflerent manner from what is now recpiired. 
 For at this time people are contending for their 
 own power, at the risk of the state. If it is in 
 defence of the re])ublic, why was it not defended 
 at the time when this very man was consul .' And 
 the year following why was not I defended, with' 
 whose cause the safety of the republic was identi- 
 fied ? Why was his command prolonged .-' or why 
 in that manner.^ Why was such a struggle made 
 that the ten tribunes of the people should propose 
 the decree for his eligibility in his absence .' By 
 these means he is become so powerful, that now it 
 is left to a single i citizen to resist him ; who I 
 wish had never given him such power, instead of 
 now opposing him, when he is so strong. But 
 since affairs are brought to this situation, ! shall, 
 not, as you say, " look out for the vessel of the 
 Atridae^ :" the only vessel for me shall be that 
 which is steered by Pompeius. When you ask, 
 what must be done if I am called upon — " S|)eak, 
 M. TuUius, concisely." 1 assent to Cn. Pompeius. 
 Yet privately I shall exhort Pompeius to peace. 
 For I am convinced that affairs are in the greatest 
 danger. You, who are in the city, know more. 
 But this I see, that we have to do with a man of 
 the boldest and readiest spirit ; that all convicts, 
 all disgraced persons, and all that deserve to be 
 convicted and disgraced, incline to that party ; 
 almost all the youth, all the city rabble, the power- 
 ful tribunes, with the addition of C. Cassius ; all 
 who are oppressed with debt, whom I understand 
 to be more than I had supposed. That cause wants 
 nothing but a good cause ; it has everything else in 
 abundance. In such a state everybody ought to 
 exert himself to prevent a decision by arms, the 
 event of which is always uncertain, but in the 
 present case rather to be dreaded in favour of 
 one party". Bibulus has left his province, and 
 deputed the command on Veiento. He will not, as 
 1 hear, hurry himself in his departure. Cato, when 
 he got him his honours, declared that the only 
 persons towards whom he bare no jealousy were 
 those whose influence could receive little or no 
 increase. I come now to my private concerns ; 
 for I have mostly rephed to your letter on the sub- 
 ject of the republic, and to that from your villa, 
 and to that which you wrote afterwards. I come 
 to my private concerns. One word, also, about 
 Ca-lius. He is so far from shaking my opinion, 
 that I think he will himself repent of having 
 ehanired his own. But how is it that Lucceius's 
 buildings should have been adjudged to him .' I 
 am surprised that you should have omitted to 
 mention it. About Philotimus I will do as yon 
 
 -"' Tliis is generally supposed to allude to an image of 
 Minerva, deposited in the capitol by Cicero previous to his- 
 exile, and bearing an inscription " The Guardian of the- 
 City." 
 
 y Pompeius. 
 
 ^ In which he might sail with most security. The ori~ 
 ginal is part of a Greek verse. 
 
 • CsEsar's party.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 701 
 
 advise. I did not, however, expect from him at 
 this time tlie accounts which he gave you ; but the 
 remainder which lie desirtd me in Tusculanum to 
 enter into my book with my own hand, and of 
 ■which he also gave me a memorandum in Asia, 
 written with bis hand. If he made this good, he 
 would himself owe nie as much, or more, than 
 what he there declares to be the amount of my 
 debt. But hereattcr, if only the condition of the 
 republic permit, I will not subject myself to accu- 
 sations of this kind : not, indeed, that I had 
 before been negligent ; but 1 was occupied with 
 the multitude of my friends. I shall be glad, there- 
 fore, to avail myself of your assistance and advice, 
 as you promise, and hope 1 shall not be giving you 
 much trouble. Respecting those clogs ^ of my 
 cohort, there is no cause for uneasiness ; for they 
 corrected themselves on observing my integrity. 
 But nobody vexed me more than one whom you 
 least suspect. His behaviour was at first excellent, 
 and is so now ; but at the moment of my departure 
 he intimated that he had hoped to re('eive some- 
 thing ; and he did not restrain that covetousness 
 which had gradually influenced his mind. But he 
 soon recovered himself ; and overcome by my 
 honourable services towards him, he esteemed them 
 of more value than any sum of money. I have 
 received from Curius a will*^, which I carry with 
 me. I have been informed of Hortensius's lega- 
 cies ''. I now want to know what sort of a man 
 the son*^ is, and what it is that he intends to sell 
 by auction. For if Cselius has got possession of 
 the house at the Flumentan gate, I know not why 
 I may not take for myself that at Puteoli. I come 
 now to the word Pira;ea, in which I am more repre- 
 hensible, that being a Roman, I should hav« writ- 
 ten Pirseea ', not Piraeus (as all our people call it), 
 than that I should have added the preposition 
 into ; for I have not considered ii as the name of 
 a town, but of a districts. Yet our friend Diony- 
 sius, who is with nie, and Nicias the Coan, did not 
 think Pirseea to be a town. But I will see about 
 it. My error, if it be one, consists in my having 
 spoken of it not as a town, but as a district. And 
 I have followed, I do not say Csecilius, " In the 
 morning when 1 went out of the port into Piraeeus;" 
 for he is no authority for Latinity ; but Terentius, 
 whose comedies, on account of the elegance of 
 their language, were supposed to be written by C. 
 Leelius : " Yesterday, I and some other young men 
 went together into Piraeeus.'' And again : " The 
 merchant added this, that she had been taken out 
 of Sunium." For if we choose to call districts 
 towns, Sunium is as much a town as Piraeeus. But 
 as you are a grammarian, if you can solve this 
 question, you will relieve me from much embar- 
 rassment. Caesar writes in a kind manner to me : 
 Balbus does the same in his name. My resolution 
 is, never to stir an inch from the path of honour. 
 
 1j Serperastra are described to be instruments for keeping 
 straight the legs of children who are disposed to be crooked. 
 The word maybe adopted from Atticus, and applied to 
 certain persons who had proved a clog -infl embarrassment 
 to Cicero in his administration. 
 
 <: See the preceding letter. 
 
 •1 This must mean the legacies of the elder Hortensius, 
 which tlie son had to pay by the will of his father. 
 
 f See book vi. letter 3. f See book vi. letter 9. 
 
 g It is well known that the Romans did not insert the 
 prepositions in speaking of going to or fioni any town, 
 though they did express them when speaking of a country. 
 
 But you know how much remains due to him ''. 
 Do you think, then, it is to be feared that anybody- 
 should object that debt to me, if I seem to act 
 feebly ? or that he should demand it, if I act firmly ? 
 What do you find in answer to this ? Let us pay 
 it, you say. Well, then, I will borrow from 
 Ceelius'. Yet I would have you consider this well ; 
 for I imagine if ever I should speak with energy in 
 the senate in behalf of the republic, that Tartessiaa 
 friend of yoursJ will call to me as I go out, "Pray 
 direct the money to be provided." Have I any- 
 thing more to say .■' Yes, my son-in-law is agree- 
 able to me, to TuUia, to Terentia. He has as 
 much wit and kindness as you could wish. As 
 to other tilings, to which you are no stranger, we 
 must bear them. For you know about whom we 
 inquired'^; who all, except him with whom I 
 negotiated through you, think to make me respon- 
 sible : for nobody will trust them. But of these 
 matters when we meet ; for they require a long 
 talk. My hope of Tiro's recovery rests in M, 
 Curius, to whom I have written that such service 
 would be particularly acceptable to you. Dated 
 the 9th of December, from Pontius's house at Tre- 
 bulanum. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 DioNYSius is impatient to see you. I have 
 accordingly sent him, not with a very good grace ; 
 but there was no refusing it. I have found him 
 learned, which I knew before ; and besides, of cor- 
 rect behaviour, ready to oblige, studious of my 
 reputation, careful, and (that I may not seem to 
 be giving the character of a freed-man) in short an 
 excellent man. I saw Pompeius the 10th of 
 December. We were together perhaps two hours. 
 He seemed to be much pleased at my arrival. He 
 encouraged me in the affair of my triumph, and 
 promised to do his part ; advising me not to go to 
 the senate till I should have finished this business, 
 from fear of alienating any of the tribunes by the 
 sentiments that might be delivered. In short, as 
 far as words, nothing could be fuller of kindness. 
 On the subject of the republic, he talked to me as 
 if a war was inevitable. There appeared to be no 
 hope of accommodation. His oninion of Caesar's 
 hostility had lately been confirmed by the arrival 
 of Hirtius from Caesar, with whom he was very 
 intimate : for he had not called upon Pompeius ; 
 but having arrived on the evening of December 6th, 
 and Balbus having engaged to go to Scipio before 
 it was light upon this whole business, he returned 
 late at night to Caesar. This he considered as a 
 plain sign of hostility. In short, nothing else 
 affords me comfort, but that I cannot suppose he, 
 to whom even his enemies had given a second con- 
 sulate, to whom fortune had given the greatest 
 power, would be so mad, as to bring these advan- 
 tages to the hazard of a contest. But if he venture 
 to rush on, I confess I am full of fears, which I 
 dare not commit to paper. As things now are, I 
 think of getting to Rome the 5th of January. 
 
 •> Caesar. ' Probably some nioney-scrivener. 
 
 J Balbus, a native of Tartessus in Spain, 
 k See book v. letter 4, respecting their fitness for hus- 
 bands to his daughter.
 
 THE LKTTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTKIl V. 
 
 I HAVR received several of your letters at the 
 same time ; and though I liad later intelligence 
 from ])eo))lc wlio came to meet me, yet they were 
 very acceptable, as they showed your attention and 
 kindness. I am concerned at your ilhiess ; and 
 perceive that you suffer still greater uneasiness 
 from Pilia's being attacked in a similar manner. 
 Apply yourselves, both of you, to your recovery. I 
 see tlie interest you take about Tiro. But, tliough 
 he is of woiHlcrlul service to me, wlieu lie is well, 
 in every species cither of business or of study, yet 
 I am more anxious for his recovery on account of 
 his own kind and modest disposition, than for any 
 advantage towards myself. Philogenes lias never 
 said anything to me about Luscienus. Dionysius 
 will inform you of other matters. I am surprised 
 that your sister should not have come to Arcanum '. 
 I am not sorry that you approve of my determina- 
 tion respecting Chrysippus"". I have no intention 
 of going to Tusculanum at this time. It is out of 
 the way for those who might come to meet me, 
 and has some other inconveniences. But I mean 
 to proceed from Formianum to Terracina the 31st 
 of December ; thence to the extremity of the Pon- 
 tine marsh ; thence to Pompeius's villa at Albanum ; 
 and so to Rome the 3d of January, my birth-day. 
 I daily become more alarmed about the republic. 
 For even the good, as it is supposed, are not agreed. 
 How many knights, how many senators have I 
 seen, who severely blame, among otlier things, this 
 journey of Pompeius ! We have great need of 
 peace. From a victory must arise many evils, and 
 most assuredly that of a tyrant. But these things 
 we shall very soon have an opportunity of discuss- 
 ing in person. There is now absolutely nothing 
 that I can write about. Not about the republic, 
 because our information is the same : and our 
 domestic affairs are known to both. It only re- 
 mains to joke, if this man" permit. For my part 
 I should think it wiser to grant him what he 
 asks, than to meet in arms. It is too late now to 
 resist one whom we have for ten years fostered 
 against ourselves. What do you advise then .' you 
 will say. Nothing but with your concurrence ; nor 
 indeed anything >^fore my business" is either con- 
 cluded, or laid aside. Take care then to get well ; 
 and shake off at length this ague with the diligence 
 you so highly possess. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 I HAVE absolutely nothing to say to you. You 
 are acquainted with everything ; nor have I any- 
 thin» to expect from you. Let me then only keep 
 up my custom of not suffering anybody to go to 
 you without a letter. I am in great fear about the 
 republic ; and have hitherto scarcely found any- 
 body who did not think it better to grant Caesar 
 what he demanded, than to go to war. His de- 
 mands are indeed greater than was supposed. But 
 why should we now first resist him ? For this is 
 not a greater evil than when we prolonged his 
 government for five years ; or when we introduced 
 
 ' A place belonging to Q,. Cicero. 
 
 " See letter 2 of this book. 
 
 " Caesar. o nig triumph. 
 
 the law permitting him to be a candidate for the 
 consulship in his absence. Unless forsooth we 
 then gave him these arms, that we might now fight 
 with him well i)repared. You will say, " What 
 then will be your opinion ?" Not what I shall 
 say. For I shall think that everything ought to 
 be done to avoid a battle ; I shall say the same as- 
 Poin])eius. Nor shall I do this with an abject spirit ; 
 i)ut this again is a very great evil to the state, and 
 in some measure peculiarly improper for me, that 
 1 should appear to differ from Pompeius in so im- 
 portant a cause. 
 
 LETTER VII 
 
 " Dionysius, an excellent man, as I have also 
 found him, and very learned, and full of affection 
 towards you, arrived in Rome tlie 18th of Decem- 
 ber, and delivered to me your letter." These are 
 the very expressions contained in your letter about 
 Dionysius. You do not add — " and he returns 
 thanks to you." But he certainly ought : and 
 sucli is your kindness that, if he liad done so, you 
 would have mentioned it. I do not however recant 
 tlie testimony given of him in my former letter. 
 Let him therefore be called an excellent man. 
 For even this is well done, that he should have 
 given me this means of thorouglily knowing him. 
 Philogenes has informed you truly. He had pro- 
 vided what he ought p ; and I desired him to make 
 use of the money till it should be wanted. He has 
 accordingly had the use of it thirteen months. I 
 hope Pontinius is well ; but from what you men- 
 tion of his having entered the city, I am fearful 
 what may be the matter ''. For he would not have 
 done so, but for some important reason. As the 
 2d of January is the day of the Compitalia ■■, I do 
 not care to go to Albanum " that day, from fear of 
 being troublesome to the family ; I sliall therefore 
 go on the third ; and thence to the city on the 
 fourth. I do not know on what day your fit re- 
 curs ; but I should be sorry to have you disturbed 
 under the inconvenience of your illness. Respect- 
 ing the honour of my triumph, unless Csesar em- 
 ploy any secret measures through his tribunes, 
 everything else seems to be tranquil. Most tran- 
 quil certainly is my own mind, which looks upon 
 the whole with indifference ; and the more so, be- 
 cause I hear from many persons that Pompeius 
 and his council have determined to send me into 
 Sicily, as holding a command. This is worthy of 
 Abdera '. For the senate has passed no decree, 
 and the people no law, for my having a command 
 in Sicily. But if the republic gives this authority 
 to Pompeius, why sliould he send me, rather than 
 any private person .' If therefore this command is 
 likely to give me trouble, I shall avail myself of 
 the first gate I see ". For as to what you say of 
 there being a wonderful expectation of my arrival, 
 though at the same time none of the good, or mo- 
 
 P See book v. letter 13. 
 
 1 Pontinius was one of Cicero's lieutenants ; and it was 
 to be expected that he would have remained out of the 
 city to attend Cicero in his triumph. 
 
 r This was a Roman festival, and holiday for the slaves. 
 It is mentioned before. See book ii. letter 3. 
 
 • The estate of Pompeius. See letter 5 of this book. 
 
 ' The land of fools. 
 
 " Shall enter Rome immediately, and thereby abdicate 
 my conmiand.
 
 TO TITUS rOMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 JOS 
 
 derately good, entertain any doubt of my senti- 
 ments : I do not understand whom you call good: 
 for my own part I know none, at least if we look 
 for whole orders of men, for undoubtedly there are 
 individuals who are good. But in civil dissentions 
 we ought to look for ranks and orders of good men. 
 Do you tliink then the senate is good, which hna 
 left the provinces witliout commanders .' For 
 Curio could never have maintained liis purpose^ 
 if any attempt had been made to resist him. But 
 the senate would not follow tliat advice ; from 
 whence it happened that no successor to Ctesar 
 was appointed. Or the public renters ? Who 
 were never steady, but now are quite in Caesar's 
 interests. Or the bankers? Or farmers? Who 
 have most reason to wish for peace ; imless you 
 suppose those people to be afraid of living under 
 kingly government who have never objected to it, 
 provided they could live in peace. What then ? 
 Must we admit the pretensions of one absent", 
 who still keeps his army after the day appointed 
 by law is past ? I say at once, of nobody absent. 
 For if this is granted, the other follows of course. 
 Do we admit a government of ten years? and so 
 ample ? Then we must admit also my banishment, 
 and the loss of the Campanian territory *, and 
 the adoption of a patricians' by a plebeian, of a 
 man of Cadiz '■ by one of Mitylene ; and we must 
 admit the wealth of Labienus and Mamurra, and 
 the gardens and Tusculan villa of Balbus. The 
 source of all these is the same. He should have 
 been resisted while he was weak, and the thing was 
 easy. Now there are eleven legions, as many ca- 
 valry as he pleases, people beyond the Po, people 
 from the city, so many tribunes of the people, such 
 an abandoned body of young men, a leader of such 
 authority, such boldness ; this is the man with 
 wliom we must fight, or admit his pretensions, 
 which are also sanctioned by the law. " Fight," 
 you say, " rather than be a slave." For what 
 object? That if you are conquered, you may be 
 proscribed .' If you conquer, that you may still be 
 a slave ? What then, say you, will you do .•' The 
 same as cattle, which being scattered about follow 
 the herds of their own species. As one ox follows the 
 others, so shall I follow the good, or those who 
 have the reputation of good, though they rush 
 on to their destruction. I see clearly what is 
 best * in our sad straits. For nobody can say 
 when we come to arms what will be the issue ; 
 but everybody knows that if the good are beaten, 
 this man will neither be more sparing of the blood 
 of the principal citizens, than Cinna was ; nor 
 more moderate than Sulla, in plundering the rich. 
 I iiave been a long time talking politics with you, 
 and should continue if my lamp were not going 
 out. To be short, — " speak, Marcus Tullius." 
 I side with Pompeius ; that is, with T. Pomponius. 
 Pray make my compliments to that nice boy Alexis, 
 unless perhaps in my absence he is become a young 
 man, — for he seemed to be growing up very fast. 
 
 » This Curio was a tribune, and creature of Csesar, and 
 tlierefore stopped the appointment of the new governors 
 to secure Caesar from a successor. 
 
 »• That Ca;sar, though absent, might yet be eligible to 
 the consulship ; for, had he come up to Rome, he must 
 have resigned his command. 
 
 » See book ii. letter 6. 7 As in the case of Clodiua. 
 
 » Balbus was a native of Tartessus near Cadis, and had 
 been adopted by Thcophanes of Mitylene. 
 
 > Namely, peace. See letter 3 of this book. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 What need of such strong affirmation on the 
 subject of Dionysius ? Would not a mere nod 
 from you secure my belief? But your silence gave 
 me the greater suspicion, both because you gene- 
 rally employ your testimony to consolidate friend- 
 ships, and I heard that he had spoken differently 
 of me to otlier people. But I am perfectly satis- 
 fied that it is as you say. 1 therefore continue to 
 regard him as you would have me. I had also 
 marked the day of your ague from one of your 
 letters written as the fit was cuming on, and I cal- 
 culated that you might, if tliere was occasion, 
 come to me in Albanum witaout inconvenience the 
 3d of January. But pray do nothini; that is in- 
 consistent with your health. For what signifies 
 one or two days ? I understand that, by Livia's 
 will, Dolabella with two co-heirs succeeds to a 
 third part of her property, but on the condition of 
 changing his name. It is a question of propriety 
 whether it be right for a young man of noble birth 
 to change his name for a lady's will. But we shall 
 be able to determine this more philosophically, 
 when we know to about how much this third of the 
 third part of her property amounts. What you 
 thought would be the case, that I should see 
 Pompeius before I got to Rome, has accordingly 
 happened. For on the 27th of December he came 
 up to me at Lavernium. We came together to 
 Formise, and conversed privately from two in the 
 afternoon till dusk. In answer to your inquiry, if 
 there is any hope of accommodation, so far as I 
 have learned from Pompeius's full and accurate 
 discourse, there is not even any inclination towards 
 it. For his opinion is, that if Caesar should be 
 made consul, even with the dismissal of his army, 
 the government will be overturned. He even 
 thinks, that when he is acquainted with the active 
 preparations against him, he will neglect the con- 
 sulate this year, and prefer keeping his army and 
 his province. But if he should be driven to mad- 
 ness, he held him in great contempt, and relied 
 upon his own forces and those of the republic, 
 la truth, though that saying often occurred to me, 
 that the fortune of war was common ; yet it was 
 some alleviation of my solicitude, to hear a brave 
 and experienced man, and one of the greatest au- 
 thority, politically expose the dangers of a false 
 peace. We had in our possession Antonius's 
 speech pronounced the 23d of December, which 
 contained an accusation of Pompeius from the 
 time of his entering into public life, complaining 
 of those who had been condemned, and of the ter- 
 ror of his arms. Upon which he observed, "What 
 think you that Caesar himself will do, if he should 
 obtain the government of the state, when his weak 
 and needy quaestor dares to utter such expres- 
 sions ?" In short, he appeared not only not to wish 
 for such a peace, but even to dread it. Yet the ap- 
 prehension of abandoning the city shakes, as I 
 conceive, this resolution *". It is a great vexation 
 to me, that I must pay off my debt to Caesar, and 
 transfer to that quarter the materials of my tri- 
 umph. For it is unseemly to be indebted to one 
 of an opposite party. But of this, and many 
 other things, when we meet. 
 
 b The text is obscure, and perhaps faulty.
 
 904 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 " Am I," say you, •' to receive a letter from you 
 every day ?'' Yes, if 1 find anybody to whom I 
 can give it. " But yon are on tlie ])oint of being 
 here yourself." It will then be time enough to 
 sto]) when I arrive. 1 find there is one of your 
 letters wliich has never reached me, owing to my 
 friend 1j. Quintius,who was bringing it, being rob- 
 bed and wounded at Basilus's monument. Consider 
 therefore, if it contained anything of importance for 
 nietoknow. Atthesametimeresolvemc this political 
 problem. Since one of these things must take place : 
 either 1st, that Cffisar should be deemed eligible, 
 while he still retains his army through the senate, 
 or through the tribunes of the people ; or ^dly, that 
 Ca;sar must be persuaded to give up his province 
 and his army, in order to become consul ; or 3dly, 
 if this cannot be done, that the comitia may be held 
 •without any consideration of him, yet with his suf- 
 fering it, and retaining his province ; or, 4thly, if 
 through the interference of the tribunes he does not 
 suffer the comitia to proceed, but yet remains quiet, 
 that the business may be brought to an interreg- 
 num ; or, Sthi'r if in order to enforce his claims, 
 he should bring up his army, that we must then 
 contend in arms ; and 6thly, that he may either 
 begin the contest immediately, before we are 
 sufficiently prepared ; or, 7thly, after his friends 
 have preferred at the comitia their request 
 ifor his eligibility, and have been refused ; he may 
 also, Sthly, proceed to arras either for that single 
 reason, that his claims are not admitted ; or 9thly, 
 (for an additional reason if it happen that any tri- 
 bune, in his attempt to interrupt the senate, or to 
 •excite the populace, should be marked or circum- 
 ve!ited by a decree of the senate, or removed, or 
 expelled, or should flee to him under pretence of 
 being expelled : again, when war is actually begun, 
 •we must either, lOthly, remain in possession of the 
 city, — or 1 Ithly, we must leave it, in order to inter- 
 cept his supplies of provisions and troops. Tell 
 methen of these evils, to one of which we must cer- 
 tainly submit, which you think the least. You will 
 say, " that he should be persuaded to deliver up 
 his army in order to be made consul." It is indeed 
 a measure of such a kind, that if he consents no- 
 thing can be said against it ; and if he does not 
 obtain the admission of his claims, I shall be sur- 
 iprised if he does not do it. Yet there are some 
 persons who think nothing is more to be dreaded 
 than that he should be consul. " But so," 
 you will say, " is better than with his army." 
 Certainly. But this very so may well make one 
 exclaim, O what a great calamity ! and it admits 
 of no remedy; we must submit at his discretion. 
 Think of him a second time consul, whom you re- 
 member in his former consulate. At that time, in 
 his weakness, he out-matched, you say, the whole 
 republic ; what do you expect now? And when he 
 is consul, Pompeius is resolved to be in Spain. 
 This is a sad state, that the very thing which is 
 most to be deprecated, cannot be refused ; and if he 
 does it, he will presently attain the highest favour 
 amongst all good men. But setting aside this, to 
 which they say he can never be brought, of the 
 remaining evils which is the worst ? To yield to 
 what Pompeiws calls his most impudent demands? 
 For what can be more impudent ? You have held 
 ithe province for ten years, granted you not by the 
 
 senate, but oy yourself, through violence and fac- 
 tion. The period has elapsed, not of the law, but 
 of your self-will ; but suppose it to be of the law, 
 a decree is passed for apjjointing a successor, you 
 stoj) it, and say, " Have consideration for me." 
 Have you for us? Would you keep your army 
 longer than the people granted it ? and against the 
 will of the senate ? " You must fight then, unless 
 you agree to it." With a good hope, as Pompeius 
 says, either of conquering or of dying in liberty. 
 It' now we must fight, the time depends upon acci- 
 dents ; the manner, on future events : on this sub- 
 ject therefore I do not call upon you. If you have 
 anything to offer in reply to what I have said, let 
 mehearit. I am tortured with anxiety day and night. 
 
 LETTER X, 
 
 I HAVE suddenly come to the resolution of 
 setting out before light, to avoid observation and 
 discourse, especially as my lictors come with their 
 laurels'^. For the rest, truly I neither know what 
 I am doing, or what I shall do ; so much am I 
 disturbed with the rash determination'' of our 
 general, who seems to have lost his senses. How 
 can I advise you, who am myself waiting for your 
 advice ? What has been Cueeus's object, or what 
 is now his object, I cannot tell, cramped as he is 
 within the towns, and appearing stupified. If he 
 remains in Italy, we shall all be together ; but if 
 he retires, our conduct must be a subject of con- 
 sideration. Hitherto certainly, if I have any under- 
 standing, everything has been done foolishly and 
 incautiously. Pray write to me very often, what- 
 ever comes into your mind. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 What, I beseech you, is all this ? or what are 
 people about ? For I am quite in the dark. " We 
 have got possession," you say, " of Cingulum ; we 
 have lost Anconis ; Labienus has deserted from 
 Cffisar." Are we speaking of a Roman general, or 
 of Hannibal ? O wretched man, and void of under- 
 standing'', who has never known even a shadow of 
 what is truly honourable ! Yet he professes to do 
 all this for honour's sake. But how can there be 
 honour, where there is not rectitude ? Or is it 
 right then to have an army without any public 
 appointment ? To occupy the towns of Roman 
 citizens, in order to get a readier access to his own 
 country ? To cancel debts, to recall exiles, to 
 institute six hundred other wicked practices, 
 " in order to obtain (as Eteocles says') the greatest 
 kingdom of the gods?" I envy him not his fortune. 
 I would assuredly prefer a single basking s with 
 you in your Lucretine sun, before all kingdoms of 
 such a kind; or rather I would die a thousand 
 times, before I would suffer such a thought to 
 enter my mind. " What if you should wishjt,^' 
 
 c The fasces borne by the lictors, or Serjeants, attending 
 one who had been saluted emperor, were bound with laurel 
 till they entered the city. See book v. letter 20. 
 
 d Pompeius hastily left Rome, and retired towards 
 Brundisium. 
 
 e Caesar. ' In the " Phoenissae" of Euripides, 
 
 g The ancient Romans used to have places appropriated 
 to walking or conversation, which were open to the sun, 
 I and screened from cold winds.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 r()t, 
 
 ■you say ? " For everybody is at liberty to wish." 
 But I consider this very wish a thing more wretched 
 than being crucified. The only thing that is worse, 
 is to get what you so wish. But enough of this ; 
 for I am too ready to dwell upon these troubles 
 ■with you : let us return to our own general. Tell 
 me then, what think you of this resolution of 
 Pompeius ? I mean his leaving the city. I am quite 
 at a loss : nothing seems more absurd. That you 
 should leave the city ? Would you then do the same 
 if the Gauls should come"* ? The republic, he says, 
 ■does not consist in its walls, but in all that we hold 
 -dear. Themistocles did the same'. For a single 
 city was unable to withstand the united flood of 
 foreign nations. But Pericles did not so, fifty 
 years afterwards, when besides the walls he kept 
 nothing. And our own people formerly, when the 
 rest of the city was captured, still kept possession 
 of the citadel : " so have we heard the deeds of 
 ancient heroes." Yet by the grief of the towns, 
 and the conversation of those I meet, this reso- 
 lution seems likely to produce some effect. There 
 is a wonderful complaint (I know not if it is made 
 there ; but you will tell me) that the city should 
 be without magistrates, without a senate. In short, 
 Pompeius by his flight creates a strong sensation. 
 What think you ? The case is quite altered, and 
 now it is thouglit that nothing should be granted 
 to Cffisar. Explain to me how all this is. I have 
 a charge attended with little trouble : for Pompeius 
 wishes me to have the superintendence of all this 
 district of Campania, and the sea-coast ; so that the 
 levies of troops, and aU business of importance, 
 may be referred to me. I therefore expect to be 
 unsettled. I imagine by this time you see what is 
 ■Caesar's impetuosity, what is the disposition of the 
 people, what is the state of the whole business : 
 about all these things I should be glad if you would 
 write to me, and (as they are liable to change) as 
 often as you can. For I feel some comfort both 
 wb^st I am writing to you, and whilst I am reading 
 jour letters. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 I HAVE hitherto received but one letter from 
 you, dated the 20thJ, in which it is mentioned that 
 you had previously despatched another, which I 
 have not received. But I beg you will write as 
 often as possible, not only if you have learned, or 
 heard anything, but even if you suspect it ; espe- 
 cially what you think I ought or ought not to do. 
 As to what you ask me, that I should take care to 
 inform you what Pompeius is doing ; I do not 
 believe he knows himself, and certainly nobody 
 else does. I saw the consul Lentulus at Formife 
 the 22d, and saw Libo. Everything is full of 
 alarm and confusion. Pompeius is gone to Lari- 
 num ; for there the troops are, and at Luceria, 
 and Theanum, and other parts of Apulia. Thence 
 it is uncertain whether he means to stop anywhere, 
 or to cross the sea. If he remains, I doubt whether 
 he can rely upon his army ; if he goes away, what 
 I should do, whither I should go, or where I should 
 stay, I know not. For I apprehend he, whose 
 
 h Th's evidently alludes to the city of Rome having for- 
 jnerly been taken by the Gauls. 
 
 ' Upon the invasion of the Persians. 
 J Probably the 2Uth of January, 
 
 tyranny you dread, will act most sadly. Neither 
 the adjournment of public business, nor the flight 
 of the senate and magistrates, nor the secret'' 
 treasury, will stop him. But this, as you say, we 
 shall soon see. In the mean time you must excuse 
 me for writing to you so much, and so often. For 
 I feel some consolation from it, and besides am 
 desirous of eliciting your letters in return, espe- 
 cially your advice, what I should do, or how I 
 should conduct myself, and whether I should give 
 myself up wholly to the party. I am not deterred 
 by danger ; but am distracted with grief. That 
 everything should be conducted with such want of 
 judgment, or so contrary to my own judgment ! 
 Or should I hesitate, and turn back, and join those 
 who are in possession, and enjoy the smiles of 
 fortune.' " I have too much respect for the 
 Trojans','' and am prevented by the duty not only 
 of a citizen, but of a friend. But then I am un- 
 manned by commiseration for the children. Write 
 therefore something to me in my trouble, notwith- 
 standing you feel the same distress ; but especially 
 if Pompeius should retire out of Italy, tell me what 
 you think I ought to do. Manius Lepidus indeed 
 (for we were together) has resolved to go no further 
 than that ; L. Torquatus says the same. I have 
 many circumstances, and among the rest my lictors, 
 to embarrass me. I never met with anything less 
 capable of being disentangled. Therefore I ask 
 for nothing certain, but only for what you think j 
 and, in short, I wish to know your very doubtings. 
 It is pretLy certain that Labienus has left Caesar. 
 If it had happened that on coming to Rome he 
 could have found the magistrates and the senate 
 there, it might have been of great service to our 
 cause ; as by it he would appear to pass sentence 
 upon a friend for the sake of the republic. This 
 appears indeed now, but is of less service ; for 
 there is nobody to serve ; and I imagine he already 
 repents of the step he has taken ; unless perhaps 
 the very circumstance of his having left him be 
 false : I had it however for a truth. Now though, 
 as you say, you confine yourself within your own 
 boundaries, yet I wish you to explain to me the 
 actual state of the city ; whether there is expressed 
 any wish for Pompeius ; any dislike towards Caesar ; 
 also what you think about Terentia and TuUia, 
 whether they should continue at Rome, or be with 
 me, or retire to some place of safety. All this, 
 and anything else that occurs, I should be glad to 
 hear from you, and the oftener the better. 
 
 LETTER Xin. 
 I AGREE with you about the Vennonian business. 
 I look upnn Labienus as a hero. There has been 
 for a long time no deed more distinguished amongst 
 our citizens. If no other good arise from it, there 
 is this at least, that it has given pain to Caesar. 
 But I think moreover that it has some effect in 
 advancing the general cause. I love Piso too, 
 whose judgment of his son-in-law" must, I think, 
 
 k The treasury -was within the temple of Saturn, and 
 there appears to have been one part of it reserved for the 
 extraordinary exigencies of the state. [Livius, xxvii. 10.] 
 This is what is probably intended in this place. See letter 
 21 of this book. 
 
 1 This quotation from Homer occurs before. See book 
 ii. letter 5. 
 
 "» Ca'&ar had married Calpumia, Pico's daughter.
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 ;X)6 
 
 have weight. Though you see the nature of this 
 contest. It is a civil war of such a kind, as does 
 not arise from divisions among the members ot the 
 state, but from the audacity of one abandoned 
 citizen He is powerful from his army ; lie retains 
 many by hopes and promises ; but really aims at 
 possessing everything belonging to everybody To 
 this man has the city been dehvered up, tail ot 
 supplies, and without a garrison. What is there 
 that you may not dread from one who regards 
 those temples and houses not as his country, but 
 as liis prey ? What he designs to do however, or 
 by what means, I know not, without a senate, and 
 without magistrates : he cannot so much as pretend 
 to any pubUc motive. But where shall we be able 
 to raise ourselves up again ? or when ? having, as 
 you must perceive, a most ungeneral-like com- 
 mander, who did not even know the circumstances 
 ofPicenum". How unadvised he is, the state of affairs 
 testifies; for,tosaynothingoftheerrorsofthelastten 
 years, what condition is not preferable to this flight? 
 iSor do I now understand what are his intentions ; 
 and I do not cease in my letters to inquire. It is 
 plain that nothing can be more timid, nothing more 
 confused : so that I see no protection, for the sake 
 of which he was kept near the city ; nor any place 
 or situation for protection. All hope is placed in 
 two legions that are invidiously retained", and ill- 
 affected. For the new recruits are hitherto raised 
 against their inclination, and determined not to 
 fight. The time for making conditions is lost. 
 What is likely to happen I do not see. It has been 
 committed by us, or at least by our leader, to go 
 out of harbour without our rudders, and give our- 
 selves up to the storm. I am in doubt what I 
 should do with our young Ciceros : I have some- 
 times thought of sending them into Greece. And 
 with respect to TuUia and Terentia, when the 
 approach of so many foreign troops comes across 
 my mind, I dread everything : then again when I 
 recollect Dolabella, I a little revive. I should wish 
 you to consider what you think I ought to do ; in 
 the first place, for security ; (for a different con- 
 sideration is due to them and to myself;) then for 
 my reputation, that I may not be blamed for 
 choosing to let them be in Rome at a time when 
 all honest people are leaving it. You also, and 
 Peduceus, who has written to me, must take care 
 what you do ; for such is your reputation, that as 
 much is required of you as of the greatest citizens. 
 But about this you will see ; as I wish you to con- 
 sider about myself, and my concerns. It remains 
 for me to beg that you will find out, as well as you 
 are able, what is doing, and will write me word : 
 also what you can ascertain by conjecture, which I 
 particularly look for from you. For, while every- 
 body relates what is done, from you I expect what 
 is going to be done. " The best prophet is one 
 who guesses wellP." Pardon my loquaciousness ; 
 which both affords me some relief while I am 
 writing to you, and calls forth your letters^. 
 
 I could not at first understand the enigma of 
 Oppii of Velia "■ ; fo r it is more obscure than 
 1 That the town of Picenum should have been garrisoned 
 to prevent the approach of Csesar to Rome, 
 o They had been raised for the Parthian war. 
 P The original is quoted from Euripides, 
 q There is every appearance of this being the conclusion 
 of one letter, and what follows, the beginning of another. 
 * The Oppii were probably scriveners and money agents 
 
 Plato's doctrine of numbers'. But I now under. 
 stand your meaning ; for you call the Oppii the 
 .Juices' of Velia. This puzzled me a long time. 
 But this being made out, the rest was clear, and 
 agreed with Terentia's account. I saw L. Caesar 
 at Minturnse the morning of the 25th of January 
 with most extravagant instructions ; a mere man 
 of straw ; so that lie seems to me to have done it 
 in mockery, to deliver to him instructions of such 
 importance. Unless perhaps he did not deliver 
 them, and this man caught hold of some expres- 
 sions, which he pretended were instructions. 
 Labienus, whom I look upon as a great man, came 
 to Theanum the 23d ; there he met Pompeius and 
 the consuls. When I know certainly what was 
 said and done, I will inform you. Pompeius went 
 from Theanum towards Larinum the 24th. That 
 day he remained at "Venafrum. Labienus seems to 
 have brought us a little encouragement. But I 
 have nothing yet to tell you from this quarter. 
 I rather wait to hear what news is brought thither; 
 how he bears this conduct of Labienus ; what 
 Domitius is doing among the Marsi, or Thermus 
 at Iguvium, or P. Attius at Cingulum"; how the 
 people in the city are disposed ; and what is your 
 opinion of the future. Upon these subjects I 
 should wish often to hear from you, and what you 
 thiak best to be done about the ladies, and what 
 you mean to do yourself. If I were writing with 
 my own hand, I should send you a longer letter : 
 but I employ Etfi amanuensis on account of a weak- 
 ness in my eyes. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 I SEND this on the 27th of January, on my way 
 from Cales to Capua, having still a slight inflam- 
 mation of the eyes. L. Caesar delivered Caesar's 
 despatch to Pompeius on the 25th, while he was 
 with the consuls at Theanum. The terms vvere 
 approved, with this reserve, that he should with- 
 draw his garrisons from those places which he had 
 occupied beyond the limits of his province. If he 
 did tlus, it was replied that we would return to the 
 city, and conclude the business through the senate. 
 I hope that we are at peace even at this present. 
 For he begins to repent of his madness, and our 
 general of his forces'. Pompeius wished me to go 
 to Capua, and to forward the levies ; in which the 
 Campanian settlers are not very ready to engage. 
 Pompeius has very conveniently distributed Csesar's 
 gladiators, which are at Capua, and about whom I 
 had before sent you a wrong account from Tor- 
 quatus's letters. Two are sent to each family. 
 There were 500 of them in the schools. It was 
 said they were going to make an insurrection : so 
 that in this respect the repubhc has been well pro- 
 
 reslding in that part of Rome known by the name of 
 Velia. 
 
 'This doctrine of numbers was derived from Pythagoras, 
 and is indeed most obscure. Plato has introduced it in hia 
 " Tinijeus," and in some other parts of his works. 
 
 « I have thought it best to give this, which I conceive to 
 be the meaning of the Latin succones, derived from 6ir6s, 
 " succus," or "juice." There is an instance of a similar 
 enigma on the name of Philotimus. [See book vi. letter 9.] 
 Of the Oppii see book viii. letter 7. note ™. 
 
 « These were all of them of Pompeius's party. 
 
 ▼ Pompeius begins to repent of having placed his reliance 
 on such doubtful troops.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 707 
 
 vided for. Respecting our ladies, amongst whom is 
 your sister, pray consider how far it is reputable 
 for us that they should remain at Rome, when all 
 other ladii'S of any respect have left it. I have 
 before written to you, and have written to them 
 about it. I should wish you to encourage their 
 departure ; especially as I have estates on the sea- 
 coast, where I preside, in which they may be accom- 
 modated as occasion offers. For if ofience is taken 
 at my conduct, it arises from my son-in-law ; for 
 which I ought not to be responsible : but this is 
 sometliing more, that our ladies should have con- 
 tinued at Rome after ail the others. I should be 
 glad to know what you yourself, and Sextus, think 
 about going away ; and what is your opinion of 
 the whole state of affairs. For my own part, I do 
 not cease to recommend peace ; which, even if it 
 be unequitable, is preferable to the most equitable 
 war. But this as fortune shall ordain. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Since my departure from the city, I have suf- 
 fered no day to pass without writing something to 
 you ; not that I had much to say, but that I might 
 talk with you in my absence. For, when I cannot 
 do this in person, nothing is more agreeable to 
 me. Upon my arrival at Capua on the 27th, the 
 day previous to my writing this, I met the consuls 
 and many of our order'" ; all of whom wished that 
 Csesar might withdraw his garrisons, and abide by 
 the terms he had offered. Favonius alone objected 
 to our admitting any conditions imposed by him ; 
 but he was not attended to in the council. 
 Even Cato thinks it now better to submit than to 
 fight. He says however that he wishes to be pre- 
 sent in the senate, when the terms are debated, if 
 Csesar should be induced to withdraw his garrisons. 
 Therefore he does not care to go into Sicily, where 
 his presence is greatly wanted ; but is desirous of 
 being in the senate, which I fear may be prejudicial. 
 Postumus also, whom the senate appointed Ijy name 
 to go immediately into Sicily to succeed Fuffanus, 
 refuses to go without Cato, and conceives that his 
 own assistance and weight in the senate is of great 
 importance. Thus the business devolves upon 
 Fannius, who is sent before with a command into 
 Sicily. There is a great difference of opinion in 
 our consultations. Most think that Caesar will not 
 adhere to the conditions, and that these requi- 
 sitions were interposed by him only to interrupt 
 our necessary preparations for war. But I expect 
 that he will withdraw his garrisons : for if he is 
 made consul, he will gain his purpose, and will 
 gain it with less guilt than that with which he 
 began. But a severe blow must be sustained ; for 
 we are shamefully unprepared both in men and 
 money. The whole of which, whether belonging 
 to individuals in the city, or to the public in the 
 treasury, is left for him. Pompeius is gone to 
 join the troops of Attius, and has taken Labienus 
 with him. I want your opinion upon these matters. 
 I design to retire immediately to Formise. 
 
 » Of the senators. 
 
 LETTER XAT. 
 
 I IMAGINE I have received all your letters ; the 
 first irregularly, the rest in the order in which 
 Terentia sent them. About Caesar's proposals 
 and Labienus's arrival, and tlie replies of the con 
 suls and of Pompeius, I have written to you in a 
 letter from Capua of the 28th, and have besides 
 thrown together several things in the same letter. 
 We have now two subjec;ts of expectation ; one, 
 what Csesar will determine when he has received 
 the answer delivered to L. Caesar ; the other, what 
 Pompeius is doing, who sends me word that in a 
 few days he shall have an army on which he can 
 depend ; and he holds out tlie liope that, if he gets 
 into the country of Picenum, we may return again 
 to Rome. He has with him Labienus, who speaks 
 confidently of the weakness of Ciesar's forces. His 
 arrival is a great source of encouragement to our 
 Cnaeus. I have been desired by the consuls to be 
 at Capua the 5th of February. 1 set out from 
 Capua to go to Formiae the 30th of January ; and 
 the same day having received your letter at Cales 
 about three in the afternoon, I have immediately 
 set down to answer it. I agree with you about 
 Terentia and TuUia, to whom I liad written referring 
 them to you. If they are not already set out, 
 there is no occasion for their removing till we see 
 what the situation of things may be. 
 
 LETTER XVn. 
 
 Your letter is most acceptable and agreeable to 
 me. I thought of transporting the boys into 
 Greece, at a time wlien the quitting Italy seemed 
 necessary : for if I should go to Spain this would 
 not be equally suitable for them. I think you and 
 Sextus may even now very well remain in Rome ; 
 for you have no reason to be friends with our 
 Pompeius, — since nobody ever withdrew so much 
 from the city garrison. You see that I can still 
 joke" with you. You must already be acquainted 
 with the answer which L. Caesar brings back from 
 Pompeius, and the letter he bears from him to 
 Csesar ; for it is written and delivered with the 
 view of being made public. I have in my own 
 mind found fault with Pompeius, who, though he 
 writes so well, should have left to Sestius an affair 
 of such consequence, which was to go into every- 
 body's hands. Accordingly, I never read anything 
 more Sestian y. It may, however, be seen by 
 Pompeius's letter, that nothing is refused to Caesar; 
 but everything that he can demand is abundantly 
 granted, — which he must be mad if he does not 
 accept, especially as the demand is most unreason- 
 able : for who are you that say, " if Pompeius 
 goes into Spain," and " if he dismisses his garri- 
 sons ? " Yet this is granted ; though not so 
 honourably now, when the republic has been 
 violated and invaded by arms, as if he had formerly 
 obtained the acknowledgment of his eligibility. 
 Yet I doubt if even this will satisfy him. For 
 when he had delivered his proposals to L. Caesar, 
 he should have waited more quietly for the answer; 
 instead of which he is reported to be particularly 
 
 » The joke consists in giving the name of garrison to 
 the senators and others who quitted Home. 
 J More indicative of Sestius's bad style. 
 ZZ2
 
 70b 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 active. Trebatius sends me word, that he was 
 desired by Csesar to write to me the 22d of Janu- 
 ary, requesting me to come to Rome, and saying 
 that I could not do him a greater favour. Upon 
 all this he largely dilated. I understood, by 
 reckoning up the days, that as soon as Caesar had 
 heard of my departure he began to be uneasy, from 
 the apprehension that we' might all be absent. 
 I do not doubt, therefore, of his having written 
 likewise to Piso, and to Servius. I am rather 
 surprised that he should not have written to me 
 liimsclf, or should not have a))plied to me through 
 Dolabella or Caelius ; not that 1 have any objection 
 to Trebatius's writing, of whose aflfection I am 
 well persuaded. I wrote word back to Trtbatius 
 (for 1 did not care to write to Caesar, as he had 
 not written to me), that it could not very well be 
 done at this time, — but that I was at one of my 
 farms, and had taken no i)art in raising troops or 
 any other business : and I intend to maintain this 
 posture as long as any hope remains. But if war 
 breaks out, 1 shall not be wanting to my duty or 
 to my dignity, having first sent the boys into Greece. 
 For I perceive that every part of Italy will be in- 
 volved in the contest, — so great is the mischief 
 excited partly by wicked, partly by jealous citize^^s. 
 But in a few days it will be understood, from tlie 
 manner in which he receives our answer, how 
 things are likely to go. Then, if we are to have 
 •war, I will write to you more at length ; but if 
 even a truce is agreed upon, I shall hope to see you 
 myself. This "J^d of February, on which day I 
 write in Formianum, being just returned from 
 Capua, I am expecting the ladies, though I had 
 ■written to them by your advice to desire they 
 would remain in Rome ; but I hear there has been 
 a great alarm in the city. I mean to be at Capua 
 the 5th of February, as the consuls desired. What- 
 ever intelligence is brought hither from Pompeius 
 I will immediately write to inform you ; and I 
 shall expect to hear from you upon these affairs. 
 
 LETTER XVin. 
 
 On the 2d of February the ladies arrived at 
 Formiae, and brought an account of your attention 
 and great kindness to them. I have thought it 
 best that they should remain in Formianum along 
 with the young Ciceros, till I knew whether we 
 were to have a disgraceful peace or a wretched war. 
 I am going with my brother to the consuls at 
 Capua the 3d of February, on which day I write ; 
 for we were desired to be there the 5th. Pompeius's 
 answer is said to be liked by the people, and ap- 
 proved by the assembly. I had supposed it would 
 be so. If he" rejects this, he will lose his esti- 
 mation ; if be accepts it, — ''"Which then," you 
 will say, " do you prefer.''" I would answer you 
 if I knew how well we were prepared. It was 
 reported here that Cassius had been driven from 
 Ancon, and that the place was in the possession of 
 our people. If a war takes place, this may be an 
 advantageous circumstance. They say that Caesar, 
 
 « The senators. 
 
 ■ Cffisar. 
 
 *> I have left this break as it is in the original. The 
 eense no doubt is, that if Caesar agrees to Pompeius's terms, 
 we shall be left in a very bad condition. 
 
 at the very time when Lucius Caesar was sent with 
 proposals of peace, was nevertheless eagerly raising 
 recruits, occupying dill'erent posts, and securing 
 himself with garriscms. (1 the wicked robber ! O 
 disgrace to the republic, scarcely to be compensated 
 by any peace. But let us cease to conij)lain, and 
 bend to the times, and go with Pompeius into 
 Spain. This is what I wish for in this sad state ; 
 since we have, without any pretence, refused to lot 
 the republic see him a second time consul'. But 
 enough of this. I forgot before to write to you 
 about Dionysius ; but it was my determination to 
 wait for Caisar's answer, — that in case I should 
 return to the city he might wait for me there, or 
 if that should be put off then I might send for 
 him. I say nothing of what he ought to do in the 
 event of my flight, or what becomes a learned and 
 friendly man, especially when he had been asked. 
 But this I must not require too rigidly from Greeks. 
 You will take care, however, if it is necessary to 
 summon him (which I should be sorry for) that I 
 may not trouble him against his inclination. My 
 brother Quintus is anxious to pay what he owes 
 you through Egnatius ; and there is no want of 
 inclination on Egnatius's part, nor any want of 
 funds : but the times being such that Q. Titinius, 
 who has been a great deal with me, has not enough 
 to defray his expenses on the road, and has informed 
 his debtors that they must continue tiie same in- 
 terest''; that L. Ligus also is said to have done 
 the same ; and that Quintus has at j)resent no 
 money in his house, and can neither get any from 
 Egnatius nor borrow anywhere : he is surprised 
 that you should have no regard for this general 
 embarrassment. And I, whilst I observe that 
 precept falsely attributed to Hesiod (for so it is 
 supposed), to pronounce no judgment till you have 
 heard both sides, especially against you, whom I 
 never knew to do anything unadvisedly ; yet I am 
 moved by his complaint : at all events I wished 
 you to be acquainted with it. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 I HAVE nothing to tell you : nay, a letter which 
 I had written I have not sent, — for it was full of 
 good hopes ; as I had been informed of the dispo- 
 sition of the assembly, and imagined that Caesar 
 would abide by the terms, especially as they were 
 his own. Behold then on the morning of the 4th 
 of February I received your letter, and that of 
 Philotimus, of Furnius, and of Curio to Furnius, 
 in which he ridicules L. Caesar's embassy. I feel 
 quite overwhelmed, and know not what resolution 
 to form. Yet it is not for myself that I care ; but 
 I am at a loss what to do about the boys. I write 
 this, however, on my way to Capua, that I may 
 more readily learn the state of Pompeius's aflfairs. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 The time itself makes me little disposed to say 
 much ; for I despair of peace, and our friends 
 make no provision for war. You can imagine 
 
 <^ Csesar's eligibility having been sanctioned by law, there 
 was no longer any pretence to oppose it. 
 
 d It was usual to pay the interest of money the middle 
 of every month, and probably some intimation was given 
 in case the interest was to continue tmaltered.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS 
 
 709 
 
 nothing weaker than these consuls ; by whose 
 directions I came to Capua yesterday in a violent 
 rain, with the liope of hearing what they had to 
 propose, and of learning the state of our prepara- 
 tions. They iiad not then arrived, but were coming 
 empty and unprepared. Cnteus was said to be at 
 Luceria, where he was to join some cohorts of the 
 Attian legion, not very steady. But Csesar, they 
 say, is rushing on and almost at hand ; not with 
 the view of fighting, — for with whom should he 
 fight ? hut to intercept our flight. For myself, I 
 am ready to die with the rest in Italy ; about 
 wliich I do not consult you. But if they go out 
 of Italy what should I do ? The winter, the lictors 
 which attend me '^, the improvidence and negligence 
 of our leaders, all tend to make me stay : the mo- 
 tives to flight are, my friendship with Cnseus, the 
 common cause of all honest men, the baseness of 
 joining with a tyrant, who whether he will imitate 
 Phalaris, or Pisistratus'^, is uncertain. I should be 
 glad if you could resolve these difficulties, and 
 assist me with your counsel, — though I imagine 
 you must yourself be already in perplexity where 
 you are, — but yet as far as you may be able. If I 
 learn anything new here to-day, you shall know it ; 
 for the consuls will presently be here, as they 
 appointed. I hope to hear from you every day. 
 You will answer this as soon as you can. I left 
 the ladies and the young Ciceros in Formianum. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Of our calamities you have earlier intelligence 
 than I, tor they take their course from thence ; and 
 there is nothing good to be expected from hence. 
 I came to Capua the 5th of February, agreeably to 
 the order of the consuls. Lentulus arrived late in 
 the day ; the other consul had not yet arrived on 
 the 7th : for on that day I left Capua and staid at 
 Cales, from whence I send this the following day 
 before it is light. I learned so much at Capua, — 
 that the consuls are quite inefficient, and that no 
 troops are raised. Those employed on the recruit- 
 ing service dare not show their faces, as Ceesar is 
 at hand ; while our commander is nowhere, and 
 does nothing ; so that the people will not enlist, — 
 not from want of inclination, but from want of 
 encouragement. But our Cnseus (O wretched and 
 incredible state !), how is he quite sunk ! He has 
 nc spirit, no counsel, no forces, no exertion ; to 
 say nothing of his shameful flight from the city, 
 his timid harangues in the towns, his ignorance not 
 only of his adversary's forces, but of his own. 
 What is the meaning of this ? On the 7th of 
 February, C. Cassius, tribune of the people, came 
 to Capua with instructions from Pompeius to the 
 consuls that they should go to Rome and take 
 away the money from the sacred treasury ^, and 
 immediately quit the city. Return to Rome ? 
 under what guard ? Then that they should go out 
 again .' with whose permission ? The consul wrote 
 word back, that Pompeius himself must first 
 
 e Cicero liad not yet laid down his command since his 
 return from Cilicia. 
 
 I Phiilaris was distinguished by his cruelty ; Pisistratus 
 by hiw humanity ; both of them tyrants. 
 
 g This seems to have been a sacred deposit reserved for 
 extraordinary emergencies. See above, letter 12 of this 
 
 occupy Picenum ''. But that was already lost ; 
 whicii I knew, and nobody else, from Dolabella's 
 letters. I had no doubt but that Ciesar would 
 presently be in Ajjulia, and that our Cnseus would 
 be on board a ship. It is a great question what I 
 should do. I should have no difficulty, if every- 
 thing had not been conducted most disgracefully, 
 while I was never consulted. But yet I would do 
 what becomes me. Csesar himself invites me to 
 peace ; but his letter is previous to his present 
 impetuous career. Dolabella and Cselius assure 
 me that my conduct is satisfactory to him. I am 
 distracted with wonderful irresolution. Help me, 
 if you can, with your advice ; and at the same time, 
 as far as you are able, provide for what may hap- 
 pen. In such a confused state of affairs I can 
 write about nothing. I am expecting to hear from 
 you. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 I PERCEIVE there is not a foot of ground in 
 Italy that is not in Caesar's power. Of Pompeius 
 I know nothing ; and unless he gets on board a 
 ship, I fear he will be taken. What incredible 
 speed ! But as for this our general. — Yet I cannot 
 without pain find fault with one for whom I am 
 grieved and distressed. It is not without reason 
 that you apprehend a slaughter ; not that anything 
 could be less calculated to secure the victory and 
 authority of Csesar ; but I see by whose counsels 
 he will act. May it turn out well ! I apprehend 
 it will be necessary to retire from these towns. I 
 am at a loss what steps to take. You will do 
 what you think best. Speak with Philotimus ; and 
 you will have Terentia on the 13th. What should 
 I do .' In what land, or what sea, should I follow 
 him, whom I know not where to find .' But how 
 is it possible by land ? And in what sea ? Shall 
 I then deUver myself up to Csesar .' Suppose I 
 could do it with safety (and many people advise it), 
 could I also do it with honour .' Certainly not. 
 What then ? I want your advice, as usual. It is 
 a difficulty which cannot be cleared up : yet tell 
 me what occurs to you., and what you mean to do 
 yourself. 
 
 LETTER XXin. 
 
 On the 9th of February in the evening I received 
 a letter from Philotimus informing me that Domi- 
 tius had an army to be depended upon ; and that 
 it had been joined by the troops from Picenum 
 under the conduct of Lentulus and Thermus ; that 
 Csesar might be intercepted, and that he was afraid 
 of it : that the spirits of honest men in Rome were 
 raised ; that the wicked were almost thunderstruck. 
 I am afraid that this is but a dream : but, however, 
 Philotimus's letter has quite revived M. Lepidus, 
 L- Torquatus, and C. Cassius the tribune of the 
 people, who are with me in the neighbourhood of 
 Formise'. I wish it may not be more true, that 
 we are all nearly prisoners ; and that Pompeius is 
 retiring from Italy ; of whom (O bitter chance !) 
 Caesar is said to be in pursuit. Caesar in pursuit 
 
 •> This Pompeius had professed to do ; which if he hail 
 done, it would liave cut off Cissar's approach to the ci^. 
 i See hook viii. letter 6.
 
 710 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 of Pompeius ? What ? to kill him ? O sad ! 
 And do we not all make a rampart of our bodies to 
 oppose him? In this you also take an interest. 
 But what can we do ? We are completely con- 
 quered, overwhelmed, and taken. However, upon 
 reading Philotimus's letter I have changed my 
 resolution about tlio ladies, whom, as I told you, 
 I was going to send back to Rome. But it occurred 
 to me that it miglit occasion a good deal of talk, 
 if I should seem already to have formed my judg- 
 ment of the public cause : in desi)air of which the 
 ladies went back as a step to my own return. Re- 
 specting myself, I agree with you, that I should not 
 expose myself to a doubtful and hazardous flight, 
 by which I can do no good to the republic, none 
 to Pompeius, for whom I am willing to die with 
 all devotion and readiness. I will therefore remain : 
 tliough to live — J. You ask what people are 
 doing here. All Capua, and all recruiting, is sunk 
 in despair : the cause is considered as lost ; every- 
 body is running away ; unless there be any pro- 
 sj)ect of Pomjjcius uniting those troops of Domitius 
 ■with his own. But I suppose we shall know 
 everything in two or three days. I have sent you 
 a copy of Ctesar's letter, as you desired. Many 
 persons have assured me of his being very well 
 pleased with the part I have taken. I am not 
 sorry for this; whilst I shall continue, as I have 
 hitherto done, to avoid anything inconsistent with 
 mv honoui-. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 Philotimus's letter gave wonderful encourage- 
 ment, not .to me, but to those who were with me. 
 The next day comes a letter to Cassius from his 
 friend Lucretius at Capua, saying that Nigidius 
 had arrived at Capua from Domitius, and reported 
 that Vibullius was fleeing out of Picenum with a 
 few soldiers to Cnseus, and that Csesar was imme- 
 diately following him, while Domitius could not 
 muster 3000 men. He added that the consuls had 
 left Capua. I doubt not but Cnseus is trying to 
 make his escape, if only he can effect it. I have, 
 as you advise, no thought of fleeing away. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 After I had despatched my letter to you full of 
 sad news, but I fear too true, on the subject of 
 Lucretius's letter to Cassius from Capua ; Cepha- 
 lio arrived, and brought from you a more cheerful 
 letter, yet not written with your usual confidence. 
 I can believe anything sooner than what you say, 
 that Pompeius is at the head of an army. Nobody 
 brings any intelligence of the kind hither, but 
 
 J I understand this to allude to his destroying himself, 
 If he could not live with credit, like what is repeatedly 
 Eaid, book iii. letters 9, 19, 23, under the affliction of liis 
 banishment ; and there also it is rather implied than 
 expressed, probably to avoid the ill omen of an open decla- 
 ration in direct terms. 
 
 everything that is unpleasant. It is a wretched 
 state. He has always been successful in a bad 
 cause : in the best of causes he has failed. What 
 can be said, but that he understood the one, which 
 was easy enough, and did not understand the 
 otlier? For the right administration of the repub- 
 lic is a difficult art. But 1 shall very soon know 
 everything, and will immediately write to you. 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 I CANNOT say, as you do, "how often do I 
 revive ? " For it is only now that I a little revive, 
 especially by the intelligence that is brought from 
 Rome about Domitius, and the troops of the 
 Picentians. These last two days everything has 
 become more favourable, so that the preparations 
 for flight are put off. Caesar's declaration, " if I 
 find you here two days hence"*," is discredited. 
 The accounts of Domitius are good ; those of Afra- 
 nius excellent. Your friendly advice of keeping 
 myself free from either party as long as I can, is 
 very agreeable to me. When you add, that 1 must 
 avoid the appearance of being inclined to a bad 
 cause, I certainly may appear so ; for I refused to 
 take a lead in the civil contest wliile peace was iu 
 agitation : not that it was not right, but because 
 that which was much more right had brought upon ■ 
 
 me the imputation of wrong'. I certainly did not ' 
 
 wisli to make an enemy of him™ to whom Pom- 
 peius would offer a second consulate and a triumph : 
 and in what terms? "for his most distinguished 
 conduct." I know whom I should fear, and why. 
 But if a war breaks out, as I see it will, I shall not 
 be backward in taking my side. Terentia has 
 written to you about the 20,000 sestertii (16G/.). 
 While I thought 1 should be moving about, I did 
 not care to be troublesome to Dionysius ; and I 
 made no reply to your repeated assurance of his 
 attachment, because I expected from day to day 
 to be able to determine what was to be done. 
 Now, as far as I see, the boys are likely to pass 
 the winter in Formianum. Whether I shall be 
 there too, I do not know ; for if we go to war, I 
 am resolved to join Pompeius. When I hear any- 
 thing certain, I will take care to inform you. For 
 my part I apprehend the foulest war ; unless, as 
 you know, some accident should occur on the side 
 of Parthia". 
 
 k This is not to be supposed Caesar's actual declaration- 
 It appears to be a line out of some poem, and probably 
 means no more than to express the apprehensions enter- 
 tained of Caesar's unlimited power. 
 
 1 This alludes to the persecution and banishment which 
 he suffered in consequence of his exertions in suppressing 
 the Catilinarian conspiracy. 
 
 "> Cssar. 
 
 » The Romans having sustained a signal defeat by the 
 Parthians, at the time of Crassus's death, became pecu- 
 liarly alive to any danger that might arrive, and had 
 already appointed Pompeius to go thither, [book vi. let- 
 ter 1,] from whence it was hoped, that, in case of alarm 
 from that quarter, the necessity of hii absence might pre- 
 vent a civil war from breaking out.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 711 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Presently after I had sent my letter to you, 
 I received one from Pompeius. It mostly related 
 to the transactions in Picenum, of which VibuUius 
 had sent him an account ; and to the troops raised 
 by Domitius ; all which is known to you. It did 
 not, however, represent things in so favourable a 
 light as Philotinius's letter. I would have sent 
 you the letter itself, but that my brother's servant 
 is in a hurry to set off. I will send it therefore 
 to-morrow". But at the end of the letter is added 
 in Pompeius's own hand : " I think you should 
 come to Luceria : you can nowhere be safer.'' I 
 understood this to signify, that he looked upon 
 these towns, and maritime coast?, as given up. 
 And I was not surprised that he, who had given 
 up the headi itself, should not spare the other 
 members. I immediately wrote him word back by 
 a confidential attendant, that I did not consider 
 ■where I could be most in safety ; but that if he 
 wished me to go to Luceria on his own account, 
 or that of the republic, I would immediately go : 
 and I advised him to preserve the sea-coast, if he 
 hoped to be supplied with grain from the provinces. 
 I knew that 1 was saying this to no purpose ; but 
 as in the case of retaining the city formerly, so 
 now in the case of not relinquishing Italy, I wished 
 to declare my opinion. For I perceive that pre- 
 parations are making to concentrate all the troops 
 at Luceria, not because that place is tenable, but 
 that from thence, if we are pressed, we may have 
 a ready escape. You must not therefore be sur- 
 prised, if I am unwilling to embark in a cause 
 which has for its object neither peace nor victory, 
 but only a disgraceful and calamitous flight. I 
 must go ; that, whatever issue chance may produce, 
 I may rather submit to it with those who are 
 called good than appear to dissent from the good. 
 Though I see that the city will presently be full 
 of good people in one sense, that is, of the luxu- 
 rious and wealthy ; and if these distant towns are 
 deserted, it will overflow. I should be among their 
 number, if I were not encumbered with these 
 lictors. Nor should I be sorry to have Manius 
 Lepidus, L. Volcatius, and Sergius Sulpitius, for 
 my companions ; of whom none exceeds L. Domi- 
 tius in folly, or Appius Claudius in inconstancy''. 
 Pompeius alone affects me, not by his authority, 
 but by his kindness. For what authority can he 
 have in this cause ? who professed his fondness for 
 Caesar at a time when we were all afraid of him ; 
 and since he is become afraid himself, thinks that 
 everybody ought to be Caesar's enemy. I shall, 
 however, go to Luceria ; though he will not per- 
 haps be much pleased with my arrival ; for I 
 cannot conceal my dislike of what has hitherto 
 been done. If it were possible for me to sleep, I 
 
 • The letter itself wiU be found after letter 11 of this 
 book. 
 
 P The south coast, from whence Cicero ■writes. 
 
 1 Rome. 
 
 ' He should be as well countenanced by the example of 
 those who were going to Rome, as by that of those who, 
 without being a whit better, staid away. 
 
 should not molest you with such long letters : if 
 you are under the influence of the same cause. I 
 wish you would make the same return. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 I AM obliged to you on every account ; both for 
 telling me what you had heard ; and for not giving 
 credit to what was inconsistent with my usual cor- 
 rectness ; and for giving me your own opinion. I 
 wrote one letter to Caesar from Capua, in reply to 
 what he had said to me about his gladiators'. It 
 was short, but expressive of kindness ; not only 
 without reproach, but even with great praise, of 
 Pompeius. For so that purpose of my letter re- 
 quired, wherein I exhorted him to a reconciliation. 
 If he has communicated this, he is welcome to 
 publish it. I have written a second letter, the 
 same day that I write this. I could not do other- 
 wise, considering that he had himself written to 
 me, and likewise Balbus. I send you a copy of 
 my letter, and believe you will find in it nothing 
 to blame : if there should be anything, show me 
 how I could avoid it. " Do not write at all," 
 you will say. How will this enable one to escape 
 those who shall please to invent .' However, I 
 will do so as far as possible. When you recall me 
 to the recollection of what I have done, and said, 
 and written, you act indeed a friendly part, for 
 which I thank you ; but you seem to rae to judge 
 differently from myself what is honourable and 
 becoming for me in this cause. For, in my 
 opinion, nothing was ever done, in any country, 
 by any leader and head of a state, more disgrace- 
 fully than by our friend ; whose condition I sin- 
 cerely lament. He has deserted the city, that is, 
 his country, for which, and in which, it had been 
 glorious to die. You appear to me not to see the 
 magnitude of this calamity ; for you remain still 
 in your own house. But you cannot remain there 
 without the leave of the most abandoned men. 
 Can anything be more wretched, more disgraceful 
 than this .' We wander about like beggars with 
 our wives and children. We have placed all our 
 hopes in the life of one man, who is every year 
 dangerously ill ; and are not driven, but called, 
 out of our country ; which we have left, not to be 
 preserved till our return, but to be plundered and 
 burned ; so many are there in the same situation 
 with myself, not in their villas, not in their gardens, 
 not even in the city ; or if they are now, they will 
 not be there long. In the mean time I must not 
 remain even at Capua, but at Luceria. And we 
 must now relinquish the sea-coast, and wait for 
 Afraniu« and Petreius' ; for Labienus has lost his 
 dignity". Here you will apply to me the proverb, 
 " What you give, that you must bear^.'' I say 
 nothing of myself; I leave that to others. But 
 
 • See book vii. letter 14. 
 
 ' These were lieutenants of Pompeius in Spain. 
 
 " He had lost his consideration since his defection from 
 CiEBftr to Pompeius. See book vii. letter 12. 
 
 » This I conceive to be the true interpretation of this 
 broken sentence.
 
 via 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 what dignity is there here ? You, and all respect- 
 nble people, are, and will continue, at your own 
 homes. But before, who did not j)re8ent himself 
 to me ? And now, who comes to tliis war "' '. for 
 so it must now be called. \'ilmllius has already 
 done great thini^s. You will know what this is 
 from Pompcius's letter ; in which observe the 
 place that is scored. You will see what Vihulliiis'.s 
 own opinion is of our Cnaeus. Jiut whither does 
 this discourse lead ? I am ready to sacrifice my 
 life for I'ompeius ; there is nobody for whom I 
 have a greater regard : yet not so, that I think all 
 hope of saving the rei)ublic, depends upon him 
 alone ; for you give me to understand, something 
 ditterently from what you used to do, that even if 
 he should retire from Italy, you think I ought to 
 retire with him : which seems to me advisable nei- 
 ther for the republic nor for my children, and, 
 moreover, neither right nor honourable. " What 
 then.' Will you be able to sui)])()rt the sight of a 
 tyrant.'" As if it signified whether I saw him, 
 or only heard of him ; or as if I could look for a 
 higher authority than Socrates ; who, when there 
 were thirty tyrants, did not set his foot beyond the 
 gate". But I liavc besides a special reason for 
 staying ; about which I shall hope at some time to 
 talk to you J". I write this, the 17th of February, 
 by the same lamp with which I have burned your 
 letter * ; and am going immediately from Formire to 
 Pompeius : if it were to treat of peace, I might be of 
 some consideration ; if of war, what part can I take .' 
 
 LETTER in. 
 
 In the anxiety occasioned by this critical and 
 wretched state of affairs, while I have no means of 
 consulting with you in person, yet I wish to avail 
 myself of your judgment. The whole question is 
 this : if Pompeius should quit Italy, as I imagine 
 he will, what you think I ought to do ; and that you 
 may the more easily give me your opinion, I will 
 shortly explain what occurs to me on both sides. 
 My great obligations to Pompeius in promoting 
 my restoration, the intimacy between us, and the 
 cause of the republic itself, induce me to think that 
 I ought to unite with him, whether in counsel or 
 in fortune. Added to which, if I remain, and 
 desert that assemblage of the best and most distin- 
 guished citizens, I must fall under the dominion 
 of one man ; who, though in many respects he 
 shows himself to be friendly to me, (and that he 
 might be so I have, as you know, long since pro- 
 vided, in apprehension of this storm which hangs 
 over us,) yet we must take into consideration both 
 the degree of credit that is to be given to his pro- 
 fessions, and, if it should be clear that he will 
 indeed be friendly to me, whether it becomes a 
 brave man, and a good citizen, to remain in that 
 city, in which he has enjoyed the highest honours 
 and appointments, has conducted the greatest 
 
 ^^ They who now content themselves with staying at 
 home, formerly professed their readiness to support the 
 cause of the republic. 
 
 X Lysander liaving made himself master of Athens, 
 placed the government in the hands of thirty tyrants. 
 
 }■ This probably alludes to the conduct of Terentia. 
 
 ' There is reason to believe that Atticus, out of his 
 great caution, had desired Cicero to destroy his letters, 
 or in the mean time to keep them secured. See book ix., 
 letter 10. 
 
 affairs, and held the sovereign priesthood, without 
 being any longer his own master, and with the pos- 
 sibility of incurring danger, and perhajis some dis- 
 grace, if ever Pompeius should restore the republic. 
 This is what may be said on one side. See now 
 what may be said on the other. Nothing has been 
 (lone by our Pompeius wisely, nothing nobly, and, 
 1 may add, nothing but what was contrary to my 
 own opinion and ;iuthority. I omit those old errors 
 of cherishing, raising, and arming Ciesar against 
 the re])ublic ; that it was he who got laws to be 
 passed by violence, and contrary to the auspices ; 
 lie that added the further (iaul to his command ; 
 he that is the son-in-law ; he that was augur at 
 the adoption of P. Clodius ; he that was more ear- 
 nest in my recall than in preventing my e.\ile ; he 
 that extended the period of Cie sar's government ; 
 he that was on every occasion the advocate of 
 Ca;sar in his absence ; and even in his third consu- 
 late, after he began to be the protector of the 
 republic, e.xerted himself to obtain the consent of 
 the ten tribunes to his eligibility during his absence ; 
 which he afterwards ratified by a certain law of his 
 own ; and on the 1st of March opposed the consul 
 Marcus Marcellus, who would have put an end to 
 the Gallic provinces". But, to say nothing of these 
 matters, what can be more disgraceful, what more 
 inconsiderate, than this retreat from the city, or 
 rather this base flight ? What conditions were 
 not preferable to the desertion of one's country ? 
 The conditions were bad, I grant ; but could any- 
 thing be worse than this? " But he will recover 
 the republic." When ? Or what preparations 
 are there to encourage such a hope ? Is not the 
 country of Picenum lost ? Is not the road left 
 open to the city ? Is not all the wealth of the 
 metropolis, both public and private, surrendered 
 to the adversary .' In short, there is no party, 
 no power, no place, where those may rally who- 
 wish well to the republic. Apulia is chosen, 
 the most uninhabited part of Italy, and the most 
 remote from the irruption of this war : flight, 
 and convenience of the sea-coast, appear to be 
 the first objects in this despondency. I took 
 charge of Capua against my will ; not that I dis- 
 liked that office, but because there was no party to 
 act with, none that showed any public sorrow, or 
 any declared private sorrow : there was some among 
 good men, but this was in a quiet way, as usual, 
 and as I might have felt myself; the mob and all 
 the weaker sort were inclined to the other side, 
 and many were desirous of some change. I told 
 Pompeius that I could undertake nothing without 
 troops, and without money. I have therefore had 
 nothing at all to do ; for I saw from the first, that 
 nothing was aimed at besides escape. If I now 
 pursue this object, whither should I go ? Certainly 
 not with him : for when 1 had set out to join him, 
 I understood that Caesar was in those parts, so 
 that I could not safely get to Luceria. I must 
 sail then by the Mediterranean sea, with no certain 
 course, and in the depth of winter. Besides, should 
 I go with my brother, or without him .' or with my 
 son ? or how ? Either way I shall have great 
 difficulty, and great anxiety. And what violence- 
 will he commit against me and my fortunes in my 
 absence ! Greater than against those of other 
 people ; because he may think that in his attacks- 
 
 That is, wanted to put an end to Caesar's aduiiuistra* 
 tion in Gaul.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS, 
 
 713 
 
 upon me he will be supported by some degree of 
 populari!,y. Besides, how troublesome is it to carry 
 with me these fetters, these laurelled fasces I mean, 
 out of Italy ! And supposing the sea to be tran- 
 quil, what place would be safe for me, before I 
 could reach him ? I neither know what road I 
 should take, nor whither I should go. But if I 
 remain, and there be any place for me in these 
 parts, I shall do no more tlian Piiilippus, than L. 
 Fkiccus, than Q. Mucins, did at the time of Cinna's 
 domination, however it turned out to the last of 
 them'' ; who used nevertheless to say that he fore- 
 saw what must be the consequence ; but that he 
 preferred this, to coming up in arms against his 
 country. Thrasybulus *-' judged otherwise, and per- 
 liaps better. But there is some reason in the 
 conduct and sentiments of Mucins, as well as in 
 those of Thrasybulus ; both in bending to the times, 
 when it is necessary, and not letting slip an oppor- 
 tunity when it is otlered. But in this very 
 consideration these same fasces create an embar- 
 rassment. For supposing him to be friendly 
 cowards me, which is uncertain ; but supposing it, 
 he will otl'er me a triumph ''. Would it be more 
 dangerous not to accept it ; or more invidious to 
 accept it ? This, you say, is a difficult and inex- 
 plicable point. Yet e-xplained it must be. " But 
 how can it be done ? " Now, that you may not 
 suppose I incline to remain, because I have dwelt 
 longer on that side ; it may be, as it happens in 
 many cases, that there is more pleading on one 
 side, more truth on the other. Tlierefore 1 should 
 be glad if you would give me your opinion, as upon 
 a point of great moment, on which I would exer- 
 cise an unbiassed judgment. I have a vessel ready 
 for me, both at Caieta and at Brundisium. Whilst 
 I am writing this account of my own concerns by 
 night in the neighbourhood of Cales, there have 
 arrived messengers with letters stating that Csesar 
 is on his way to Corfinium, and that Dwnitius is 
 at Corfinium with a steady army eager to engage. 
 I .cannot think that our Cnseus will be so negligent 
 3.S to desert Domitius ; though he had sent on 
 Scipio before with two cohorts to Brundisium, 
 and had written to the consuls to desire that one 
 of them would conduct into Sicily the legion which 
 had been raised by Faustus. But it will be dis- 
 graceful to desert Domitius, when he is imploring 
 his assistance. 1 have some hope, but not much, 
 (though it is generally believed in these parts,) 
 that Afranius may have had an engagement with 
 Trebonius in the Pyrenaean mountains, that Tre- 
 bonius has been repulsed, and that your friend 
 Fabius lias come over with his troops ; and in 
 short, that Afranius is approaching with a strong 
 force. If this is so, we shall perhaps remain in 
 Italy. As it was uncertain what road Csesar 
 woidd take, and it was expected that he would go 
 either to Capua or to Luceria, I sent Lepta to 
 Pompeius with a letter, and returned to For- 
 miae, that I might not fall in with him, I vpished 
 to let you know this ; and have written in a more 
 composed state of mind than I did lately, not 
 meaning to interpose any judgment of my own, but 
 to request yours. 
 
 •> Q. Mucins remained in the city, and was killed. 
 
 c Thrasybulus came against his country, Athens, to 
 deliver it from the dominion of the thirty tyrants. 
 
 d See book vii., in which his petition for a triumph is 
 repeatedly mentioned 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Your Dionysius, for so I must call him, not 
 mine, (who was pretty well known to me, though 
 I chose rather to rely upon your judgment than 
 my own,) without any regard to your testimony 
 concerning him, which Jiad so often been given me, 
 has displayed his insolence in this state of fortune 
 in which he supposed me to be. However, as far 
 as human j)rudence can effect, I hope to regulate 
 the course of events with some discretion. But 
 what honour, what attention, has not been shown 
 him ! What commendation to others in favour of 
 a contemptible man 1 I have even chosen to have 
 my judgment impeached by my brother Quintus, 
 and generally by all people, rather than not extol 
 hiui by my praises : and have taken upon myself 
 part of the trouble of teaching the young Ciceros, 
 instead of applying to any other master. Ye gods ! 
 what letters have I written to hlra ! how full of 
 honour ! how full of affection ! You would sup- 
 pose I was inviting Dicaearchus, or Anstoxenes ; 
 not one who was such a prattler, and so little fit to 
 teach. *' But he has a good memory •=." He shall 
 find that I have a better K He has replied to my 
 letters in such a manner, as I never did to any one 
 whose cause I declined. For I always added, " if 
 it is in my power; " " if I am not prevented by 
 some former engagement." I never gave to any 
 cUent, however humble, mean, or guilty, so abrupt 
 a refusal, as he has given me. He has positively, 
 and without qualification, cut off all communica- 
 tion. I never knew an instance of greater ingra- 
 titude ; in which vice is included everything that 
 is bad. But more than enough on this subject. I 
 have got a vessel ready : but wait for a letter from 
 you, that I may know what answer it brings to my 
 consultation. You are apprised of C. Attins Pelig- 
 nus having opened the gates of Sulmo to Antonius, 
 though he had with him five cohorts ; and that Q. 
 Lucretius has fled from thence. Our Cnaeus is gone 
 to Brundisium, and deserted the cause. It is all 
 over. 
 
 LETTER V 
 
 Before it was light on the 22d, I wrote to you 
 about Dionysius ; and on the evening of the same 
 day Dionysius himself came to me, moved, as I 
 suspect, by your authority. For how can I think 
 otherwise ? Though it is true that after having 
 done anything intemperately, he often repents. 
 But he never was more determined than on this 
 occasion. For what I mentioned to you, I after- 
 wards had confirmed to me, that before he had got 
 three miles " he began to toss his horns into the 
 air with anger." He uttered, I mean, many im- 
 precations, to fall, as they say, upon his own head. 
 But observe my lenity: I put into the same packet 
 with your letter one directed to him. This I wish 
 to have returned to me ; and for this special pur- 
 |iose I have sent Pollux, one of my couriers, to 
 Rome ; and have written to you to beg that, if it 
 should have been delivered to you, you would take 
 care to send it back, that it may not come to his 
 hands. If there was any news, I would have 
 
 e He will take advantage of what I have said in his 
 favour. 
 f I shall show him that I can resent his ill behaviour.
 
 714 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 written. I am anxious to hear about Corfinium «, 
 ■where the fate of the republic is to be decided. 1 
 shall be obliged to you to forward the packet, 
 •whicii is addressed to Des. M. Curius'', and to 
 recommend Tiro to Curius, that he may advance 
 to him, as I have requested, what may be necessary 
 for his expenses. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 After I had sealed the letter which I intended 
 to send in the night, (as in fact I did, for I wrote 
 it in the evening,) C. Sosius, the praetor, came to 
 Formianum to my neighbour M. Lepidus, to whom 
 he had been quaestor ; and brought him a copy of 
 Pompeius's letter to the consul, as follows. 
 
 " I have received a letter from L. Domitius 
 dated the 17th of February, of which I inclose a 
 copy. Now, though I should not write, yet I am 
 sure you see of your own accord, of what import- 
 ance it is to the republic, that all the forces should 
 be collected as soon as possible into one place. If 
 therefore you think well of it, you will take care to 
 join me as soon as you can ; leaving at Capua what 
 you consider will be a sufficient guard." Then he 
 subjoined the copy of Domitius's letter, •which I 
 sent you yesterday. Good gods ! What horror do 
 I feel ! How anxious am I about the issue ? I 
 hope however that the name of Pompeius will be 
 considerable, and considerable also the terror of his 
 approach. I hope also, as nothing has yet hurt us, 
 « # *i I have just heard that your ague has left 
 you. May I die if I am not as much pleased as if 
 it had been my own case. Tell Pilia that it is not 
 right for her to keep hers any longer J ; and that 
 it is unbecoming the usual harmony between you. 
 I hear that my Tiro has been freed from another 
 illness of the same kind. I find he has borrowed 
 elsewhere for his expenses k. But I had requested 
 Curius, in case he should want anything. I hope 
 it is Tiro's modesty, rather than Curius's want of 
 liberality that is in fault. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 The only thing remaining to complete the dis- 
 grace of our friend is, that he should refuse to 
 assist Domitius. Nobody doubts but he will come 
 to his relief. For my own part, I think he will not. 
 " Will he desert then such a citizen, and those who, 
 you know, nrp with him ? Especially when he is 
 at the head of thirty cohorts ? " Unless I am 
 totally mistaken, he will desert them. He is incon- 
 ceivably alarmed, and thinks of nothing but 
 escaping. He it is (for I see what is your opinion) 
 ■whom you think I ought to accompany. But 
 ■while I have somebody to avoid, I have nobody to 
 follow. For when you praise and extol my pro- 
 fession of choosing rather to be conquered with 
 
 S See letter 3 of this book. 
 
 •" This is the person under whose care Cicero had left 
 Tiro at Patrse. See book vii. letter 2. 
 
 ' The original is mutilated in this part so as to baffle all 
 •reasonable interpretation. 
 
 J It appeared by a former letter that Pilia had been 
 seized by an illness of the same kind as her husband. See 
 book viL letter 5. 
 
 k See before, letter 5 of this book. 
 
 Pompeius, than to conquer with the opposite party, 
 I do indeed choose it ; but it is with Pompeius sucli 
 as he then was, or such as I believed him to be : 
 but with him, who runs away before he knows 
 whom he has to fear, or which way he should go; 
 who has betrayed our cause, left his country, and 
 is going to leave Italy ; with him if I chose rather 
 to be conquered, it has happened already, I am 
 conquered. As to what remains, I cannot bear to 
 look at a state of things which 1 ni-ver apprehended ; 
 nor indeed to look at him', on whose account I 
 must lose not only my friends, but my very self. I 
 have written to Philotimus to procure the money 
 for my journey, either from the mint (for nobody 
 pays), or from the Oppii, your iiartners"". 1 shall 
 leave to you the care of what else is requisite ". 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 O SHAMEFUL business ! and therefore misera- 
 ble ! For I hold that whatever is base, that, or 
 rather that only, is miserable. He had fostered 
 Cfesar ; he had suddenly begun to fear him ; he 
 had agreed to no condition of peace ; had made no 
 preparation for war ; had deserted the city ; had 
 lost Picenum by his negligence ; had thrust him- 
 self into Apulia; was going into Greece; was 
 leaving; us all without speaking to us, or consulting 
 us upon so important and extraordinary a resolu- 
 tion. Then presently comes Deraetrius's letter to 
 him, his to the consuls. A sense of honour seemed 
 to flash before his eyes, and I supposed him to 
 have exclaimed withbecoming manliness, " In this, 
 which is my duty, let people attempt and plot what 
 they will against me ; for right is on my side"." 
 But he, bidding a long farewell to honour, goes on 
 to Brundisium. It is reported, that Domitius, and 
 they who were with him, when they heard it, sur- 
 rendered. O grievous affair ! I am prevented by 
 anguish from writing more to you. I look anxiously 
 for a letter from you. 
 
 LETTER IXP. 
 
 I LIKE exceedingly your advice, which is both 
 honourable and suitable to the caution required 
 in these times. Lepidus indeed (for we almost 
 live together, which is very grateful to him) never 
 approved of leaving Italy : TuUusi still less. 
 For his letters are frequently brought to me frona 
 other people. But their opinion has less weight 
 with me. They had never given so many pledges 
 to the republic "■. Your authority greatly influences 
 
 1 Caesar. It seems Cicero was preparing to retreat from 
 CscBar and Italy, though without joining Pompeius. 
 
 ™ So I venture to translate the word contubernalcs ; for 
 the Oppii being, as it appears, money-dealers, and living 
 in one of Atticus's houses, may well be believed to have 
 been connected in business with Ca;cilius, to whose pro- 
 perty Atticus had succeeded. See book x. letter 15. 
 
 " This probably relates to his proposed journey. 
 
 o The original is taken from Aristophanes. 
 
 P What usually stands as the former part of this letter, 
 will be found after book ix. letter 1 1 , to which it obviously 
 alludes. 
 
 q This is probably the same L. VolcatiusTuUus of whom 
 mention is made, together with Lepidus, in the first letter 
 of this book. 
 
 ' They had not been engaged in the service of the repub- 
 lic, like Cicero.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 716 
 
 me. For it holds out the means both of recovering 
 the time that remains, and of securing the presents 
 But what, I beseech you, can be more wretched 
 than this ? that the one should gain applause in a 
 most foul cause ; the other, odium in the very best : 
 that the one should be esteemed the preserver of 
 his enemies ; the other, the deserter of his friends. 
 And in truth, however I may love my friend 
 Cnreus, as I do and ought, yet in this respect I 
 cannot commend him, that he should not have 
 come to the support of such people. If this is 
 through fear, what can be more disgraceful ? or if, as 
 some suppose, he thought that his own cause would 
 be advanced by their destruction, what can be 
 more iniquitous ? But let us have done with this ; 
 for we augment our sorrow by repeating it. On 
 the 24th in the evening the younger Balbus called 
 upon me on his way to the consul Lentulus ; to 
 whom he was hastening through by-ways, by com- 
 mand of Cfesar, with a letter, with instructions, 
 •with the promise of a provincial government if he 
 would return to Rome. I do not think it possible 
 to persuade him, unless they should have a per- 
 sonal interview. He said that Ctesar wished for 
 nothing more, than to get up to Pompeius, which 
 I believe ; and to resume his friendship with hina, 
 which I do not believe. I even fear that all this 
 clemency may be directed against that one object 
 of cruelty'. The elder Balbus indeed informs me, 
 that Caesar wishes nothing more than to live in 
 security, while Pompeius retains his authority. 1 
 suppose you believe this ! But while I am writing, 
 Pompeius may already have reached Brundisium, 
 for he went lightly armed from Luceria before the 
 legions. But this meteor" has dreadful vigilance, 
 swiftness, and diligence. What will be the issue I 
 cannot guess. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 DiONTSius having come to me contrary to my 
 expectation, 1 spake to him with all civility, ex- 
 plained ihe peculiarity of the times, and desired 
 him to let me know what were his intentions ; that 
 I did not require anything of him against his will. 
 He replied that he was in uncertainty about his 
 accounts ; that some people did not pay ; that from 
 others the money was not yet due ; with some- 
 thing else about his slaves : for which reasons he 
 could not be with us. I let him have his way, 
 and dismissed him ; as tutor to the young Ciceros, 
 not willingly ; as an ungrateful man, not unwill- 
 ingly. I wished you to know mv opinion of his 
 condact. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 Respecting the great agitation of mind with 
 which you suppose me to be aflected ; it is true, 
 indeed, yet not so great as you may perhaps 
 imagine. For every care becomes less, when either 
 the resolution is fixed, or when all consideration is 
 fruitless. We may still grieve ; and that 1 do all 
 day long : but while it is ineffectual, I fear I may 
 
 « By remaining to secure himself now, and to make 
 himself useful hereafter. 
 « To aceonipUsb the death of Pompeius. 
 u Cxsor. 
 
 even disgrace my studies and learning. I waste 
 therefore all my time in considering the excellence' 
 of that character which you thought I had accu- 
 rately expressed in my treatise"'. Do you reniem- 
 ber then that moderator of the state, to which I 
 would refer everything ? For it is thus, if I am 
 not mistaken, that Scipio speaks in the fifth book : 
 " For as the proper aim of the pilot is a favourable 
 course ; that of the physician, health ; that of a 
 general, victory : so is the happiness of his coutitry- 
 meii, of tliis moderator of the state : that they 
 may live secure in wealth, rich in forces, abundant 
 in glory, honourable in virtue : for I would have 
 him the person to accomplish this greatest and 
 best of works." This has at no time been duly 
 considered by our Cnseus, and least of all on the 
 present occasion. It is dominion that has been 
 sought by both parties ; not any endeavour to 
 render the state happy and virtuous. Nor has he 
 left the city because he was unable to defend it ; 
 nor Italy because he was driven out of it : but this 
 was his purpose from the beginning, to move all 
 lands and seas, to call up distant kings, to intro- 
 duce savage nations armed against Italy, to raise 
 the greatest armies. A dominion like that of Sylla 
 has long since been his object, and many who are 
 with him desire it. Think you that no agreement, 
 no convention, could be made between them ? 
 Even yet it might : but it is not the aim of either 
 to make us happy ; both of them wish to oppose 
 it. I have shortly exposed these matters at your 
 request ; for you wished me to give you my opinion 
 of these calamities. I forewarn you therefore, my 
 Atticus, not with the prophetic spirit of her" whom 
 nobody believed ; but anticipating by conjecture ; 
 '• already in the great oceans'," &c. Nearly in the 
 same strain, I say, I may prophesy ; so great a 
 weight of evils hangs over us. And in one re- 
 spect the condition of us, who remain at home, 
 is worse than theirs who have passed over with 
 Pompeius ; inasmuch as they have only one to 
 fear, whilst we have both. Why then did I stay 
 behind ? you will say. It may be either in obedience 
 to you ; or because I could not get up to him ; or 
 because this was more proper. I say, next summer 
 you will see the wretched Italy trampled under 
 foot, and shaken by the violence of both parties, 
 who will collect together the slaves of every de- 
 scription. Nor is a proscription (which was the 
 general subject of conversation at Luceria) so 
 much to be dreailed, as the ruin of the whole 
 country ; so great will be the forces of both in this 
 contest. I send you my opinion. But you expected 
 perhaps some source of consolation : I can find none. 
 Nothing can be more wretched, nothing more 
 deplorable, nothing more disgraceful. You ask 
 what Casar has written to me. What he has 
 frequently said ; that he was much pleased with 
 my remaining quiet ; and he begs me to continue 
 so. The younger Balbus brings the same injunc- 
 tions. He was on his way to the consul Lentulus 
 with Ceesar's letter, and the promise of rewards, if 
 he would return to Rome. But upon reck oning 
 
 T I have taken the liberty of supposing that viri in the 
 tfxt ought to be virtus. 
 
 i"' His piece on a Republic. 
 
 I Cassandra, who foretold the destruction of Troy, but 
 was d isregarded. 
 
 y This is the introduction of Cassandra's prophecy, from 
 some unknov^'n author.
 
 710 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 up the days, I think he will pass over before a 
 meeting can take place. I wisii you to be made 
 acquainted with the mcagiencss of two letters 
 which I have received from Ponipeius, and my 
 own full replies. I send you a copy of them. I 
 am expecting the issue of this rapid march of 
 Csesar through Apulia to Brundisium. I wish it 
 were anything like the Parthian incursions ^ As 
 soon as 1 hear anything, I will write to you. I 
 should be glad if you would tell me wliat good 
 peojile say. There are reported to he a great many 
 in Rome. I am aware that you do not go into 
 
 fublic ; but you must necessarily hear a great deal, 
 remember your receiving a l)ook, sent you by 
 Demetrius Magnes, upon Concord. I siiould be 
 glad if you would lend it to me. You see what 
 subject I am considering. 
 
 Cn. JMagnus, Proconsul, to Cicero, Imperutor. 
 Q. Fabius came to me the 2.0th of January. 
 He brings information that L. Domilius with his 
 own eleven cohorts, and fourteen cohorts which 
 Vibullius has brought up, is on his way to join me : 
 that he had intended to leave Cortinium the \'M\ 
 of February; and that C. Ilirrus with live cohorts 
 would follow. I am of opinion you should come 
 to me at Luceria ; for here I think you will be in 
 the greatest safety. 
 
 M. Cicero, Imperator, to Cn. Magnus, Proconsul. 
 I RECEIVED your letter at Formiae the l.')tli of 
 February, by which I understood that the transac- 
 tions in Picenum were much more favourable than 
 had been represented to me ; and it was with plea- 
 sure that I recognised the courage and diligence of 
 Vibullius. On the coast, over which I have been 
 placed, I have hitherto thought it right to have a 
 ship in readiness : for what 1 hear, and what I 
 apprehend, is of such a nature, as to make me 
 think it my duty to follow whatever plan you 
 should advise. Now, since by your authority and 
 counsel I am in better hope, if you think it possible 
 to maintain Tarracina and the sea-coast, 1 wUl 
 continue there, although there are no garrisons 
 in the towns. For there is nobody of condition in 
 these parts, except M. Eppius, whom I have de- 
 sired to remain at Minturnse. He is an active and 
 careful man. But L. Torquatus, who is a brave 
 man, and in authority, is not at Formise: I imagine 
 he is gone to you. I came to Capua, agreeably to 
 your last instructions, the very day on which you 
 left Teanum Sidicinum ; for you had desired me, 
 together with M. Considius the propraetor, to take 
 care of the affairs in that part. When I came 
 thither, I found that T. Ampins was raising troops 
 with great diligence, which were transferred to 
 Libo, who had also great zeal and authority in the 
 colony. I remained at Capua as long as the con- 
 suls ; and came thither again the 5th of February, 
 as the consuls had appointed. After being there 
 three days, I came back to Formiae. At present I 
 am uncertain what is your intention, or what is 
 your plan of conducting the war. If you think 
 this coast should be maintained, as I think 
 it may, there must be somebody to take the com- 
 mand : it possesses great convenience and respect- 
 ability, and has in it many distinguished citizens. 
 But if all our forces are to be collected into one 
 
 That is, soon over. 
 
 place, I sliall not hesitate to join you immediately; 
 which I shall be very glad to do, as I told you the 
 day 1 left the city. If I appear to anybody to have 
 been backward in this business, I do not regard it. 
 provided I do not appear so to you : yet if, as I 
 perceive, war must be waged, I trust I shall easily 
 satisfy everybody. I send to you M. TuUius, noy 
 confidential freed-man, by whom, if yoa think fit, 
 you may write to me. 
 
 C/i. Magnus, Proconsul, to M. Cicero, Imperator. 
 
 I HoiMC you are well. I read your letter with 
 great satisfaction, and recognised also your former 
 sjjirit in support of the common safety. The con- 
 suls have joined the army which I have had in 
 Apulia. I earnestly exhort you, by your distin- 
 guished and unceasing regard for the republic, to 
 come to us, that we may by our united counsels 
 afford help and assistance to this afflicted state. 1 
 think you should travel by the Appian road, and- 
 reach Brundisium quickly. 
 
 M. Cicero, Imperator, to Cn. Magnus, Proconsul. 
 
 When I wrote the letter which was delivered to 
 you at Canusiura, I had no suspicion that you 
 would cross the sea for the service of the republic ; 
 but was in great hope that we might in Italy either 
 establish some agreement, which seemed to me 
 very desirable, or with the highest dignity defend 
 the republic. In the mean time, before my letter 
 could have reached you, understanding from the 
 instructions which you sent to the consuls by 
 D. Lseliiis what was your intention, I did not 
 wait till I should hear from you, but immediately 
 set out, with my brother Quintus and our children, 
 to join you in Apulia. When I came to Teanum 
 Sidicinum, C Messius your friend, and several 
 others, informed me that Caesar was on his way to 
 Capua, and would stop at Esernia that very day. 
 I was truly concerned, because if it were so, 1 con- 
 sidered not only that my roail was intercepted, but 
 that 1 was myself quite cut off from you. I there- 
 fore proceeded at that time to Cales, wliere I might 
 remain till I should receive some certain information 
 from Esernia about what I had heard. While I 
 was at Cales there was brought to me a copy of the 
 letter which you sent to the consul Lentulus, 
 saying that you had received one from L. Domitius, 
 the 17th of February, of which you subjoined a 
 copy ; and that it was of great importance to the 
 republic, that all the forces should be collected 
 into one place as soon as possible ; and directing 
 him to leave a sufficient guard at Capua. Upon 
 reading this letter I was of the same opinion as • 
 everybody else, that you would proceed with aU 
 your forces to Corfinium. But as Ceesar had 
 encamped before the town, I did not think it safe 
 for me to go thither. While we remained in . 
 anxious expectation of the issue, we heard at one 
 and the same time both what had happened at 
 Corfinium, and that you had begun to make your 
 way to Brundisium : and when I and my brother 
 had determined to go to Brundisium, we were 
 warned by many people, who came from Samnium 
 and Apulia, to take care that we were not surprised 
 by Caesar ; for that he had set out for the same 
 place to which we were going, and would reach his 
 destination quicker than we could. Upon which . 
 neither I, nor my brother, nor any of our friends,
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 717 
 
 thought it right to run the risk of injuring not 
 merely ourselves, but the republic, by our rashness ; 
 especially as we had httle doubt but that, if even 
 the road were safe, yet we sliould not now be able 
 to overtake you. In the mean time I received your 
 letter of the 20th of February from Canusium, in 
 which you beg that we would come quickly to 
 Brundisium. This I received on the 27th, when I 
 did not doubt but you would already have arrived 
 at Brundisium. The road seemed to be quite 
 closed against us ; and ourselves to be taken as 
 completely as those who had gone to Corfinium : 
 for I consider as taken, not only those who have 
 fallen into the liands of armed people, but those 
 likewise who are excluded from certain districts, 
 and have come within the garrisons and posts of 
 their enemies. In this state my first wish was, 
 that I had always been with you, as I mentioned 
 to you when I wanted to decline the command of 
 Capua; which I did, not for the sake of avoiding 
 the trouble, but because I saw that the city was 
 incapable of being kept without an army, and I was 
 unwilling to expose myself to the same accident, 
 which I lament in the case of our brave friends*. 
 But when I was prevented from being with you. I 
 wish I could have been made acquainted with your 
 designs : for it was impossible for me to guess 
 them ; as I should sooner have thought anything, 
 than that this cause of the republic could not be 
 maintained in Italy under your direction. I do not 
 mean however to find fault with your determi- 
 nation ; but I mourn over the fortune of the re- 
 public ; nor do I the less believe you to have acted 
 with good reason because I am unacquainted with 
 your purpose. I am persuaded you remember 
 what was always my opinion, first, respecting the 
 maintaining peace, even upon unequal conditions ; 
 then respecting the city ; for on the subject of 
 Italy you never opened yourself to me. But I do 
 not assume to myself that my opinion ought to 
 have prevailed : I adopted yours. And I did this, 
 not for the republic's sake, about which I despaired, 
 rent as it now is, and incapable of being raised up 
 without a ruinous civil war ; but I sought you, 
 and wished to be with you, and will not omit an 
 opportunity of it, should any present. In all this 
 business I was well aware that I should not give 
 satisfaction to such as were eager for fighting : for, 
 in the first place, I professed that I wished nothing 
 more than peace : not but I feared the same con- 
 sequences as they did, but I esteemed even those 
 to be more tolerable than a civil war. Then again, 
 after the war was begun, when I found that con- 
 ditions of peace were offered to you, and that you 
 made an honourable and full reply to them, I 
 formed my own determination, which I trusted, 
 according to your usual kindness towards me, I 
 should easily explain to your satisfaction. I recol- 
 lected that I was one who, for my distinguished 
 services to the republic, had been subjected to the 
 saddest and most cruel sufferings ; that 1 was one 
 who, if I had offended him '', to whom even 
 while we were in arms there was granted a second 
 consulate, and a most ample triumph, I should be 
 again exposed to the same persecution ; since the 
 attacks of wicked men on my person seemed always 
 to have something of popularity. And this I was 
 not forward to sus pect, till it was openly threatened. 
 
 » ^\■ho were obliged to surreuder themselves to Csesar. 
 • C«8ar. 
 
 Nor did I so much dread it, if it were necessary ; 
 as I thought it prudent to avoid it, if it could be 
 done with honour. You see shortly the motives 
 by which I was actuated as long as there was any 
 hope of peace. Circumstances have removed all 
 power of doing anything further. But I have a ready 
 answer for those who are dissatisfied with me : for 
 I have been no more a friend to C. Cfesar'^ than 
 they ; nor have they been more attached to the 
 republic than I. The difference between us consists 
 in this ; that while they are excellent citizens, and 
 I am not deficient in the same reputation, I pre- 
 ferred settling these disputes by treaty, which I 
 understood to be your wish also ; they by arms. 
 And since this opinion has prevailed, I shall take 
 care that neither the republic may lose the afTection 
 of a citizen, nor you that of a friend. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 The weakness of my eyes is become more 
 troublesome even than it was before ; I determined, 
 however, to dictate this rather than send no letter 
 at all by Gallus Fabius, who is so much attached 
 to us both. Yesterday I wrote myself, as well as 
 I was able, with a prophecy, which I wish may 
 prove false. The occasion of this letter is, not 
 only that I may let no day pass without writing to 
 you, but, what is a juster reason, tliat I may beg 
 you to employ a little portion of your time (atid it 
 will not cost you much) to let me thoroughly un- 
 derstand your sentiments. I am still at liberty to 
 choose what course I should adojit. Nothing has 
 been neglected which does not admit, rot merely 
 of a plausible, but a satisfactory excuse. For 
 surely I have not done wrong in wishing to decline 
 the proffered administration of Capua, that I might 
 avoid any suspicion either of backwarilness in rais- 
 ing troops or of treachery ; nor, after the conditions 
 of peace brought by L. Caesar and Fahatus, in 
 taking care not to offend him, to whom Pompeius, 
 while they were both in arms, had offered the con- 
 sulate and a triumph. Neither can anybody justly 
 blame these last measures of not crossing the sea, 
 which, though it was matter of con.rideratioii, yet 
 it was not in my power to accomplish ; nor ought 
 I to have suspected such a step, especially as from 
 Pompeius's own letter I concluded (and I perceive 
 that you were of the same opinion) that he would 
 go to support Domitius. And in truth I wanted a 
 longer time to determine what was right, and what 
 I ought to do. In the first place then, though you 
 have given me generally your opinion on this sub- 
 ject, yet I should be giad if you would write to me 
 more particularly. In the next place I wish you 
 to look a little into futurity, and fancy to yourself 
 the character I ought to support, and how you 
 think I can be of most use to the republic,' — whe- 
 ther there is any room for a pacific personage, or 
 whether everything rests with the military. I, 
 who measure everything by duty', recollect, how- 
 ever, your advice '', which if I had followed I 
 
 '^ Caius Julius Caesar, the latter of which names are more 
 familiar to the English reader. 
 
 •• This alludes to the i)riDCiples of the Academic sect, 
 which Cicero folluwoJ. 
 
 ^ Atticus, in conformity with his own pilnciplcE. as an 
 Epicurean, having recommended Cicero not to provoke 
 hostility at the time of Clodius'a machinations, which 
 cadcd in Cicero's bonislunent.
 
 il8 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 should not have felt the miseries of those times. I 
 remember what you then recommended through 
 TheopLanes and Culeo, and I often recollected it 
 witli regret. Now tlien at least let me revert to 
 that estimation of things which I formerly rejected, 
 and consider not only what is glorious but a little 
 also what is expedient. But I prescribe nothing ; 
 I wish you to give me exactly your own opinion. 
 I should be glad also if you would find out as cor- 
 rectly as you can (and you will meet with persons 
 through whom you may do it) what our friend 
 Lentulus, what Domitius, is doing, or what he 
 means to do ; how they conduct themselves, — 
 whether they accuse or are angry with anybody. 
 With anybody, do I say ? With Pomiieius. Porn- 
 peius throws all the blame upon Domitius, as 
 appears by his letter, of which I send you a copy. 
 You will see after these matters ; and, as I men- 
 tioned to you before, I should be obliged to you to 
 send me the book which Demetrius Magnes pre- 
 sented to you upon Concord. 
 
 Cn. Magnus, Proconsul, to C. Marcellus ' and 
 L. Lentulus, Consuls. 
 As I considered that, while our troops were 
 dispersed, we could neither render any service to 
 the republic nor defend ourselves, — therefore I 
 wrote to L. Domitius first to come to me himself 
 with his whole force, or if he doubted about him- 
 self, to send me the nineteen cohorts which were 
 on their way to me from Picenum. What I feared 
 has happened, — that Domitius was hemmed in, 
 without being strong enough to form an encamp- 
 ment, because he had my nineteen cohorts and his 
 own twelve distributed in three different towns, 
 having placed part at Alba and part at Sulmo, — 
 nor could he disengage them if he would. I am 
 now, therefore, in the greatest anxiety. For I 
 wish to relieve so many valuable men from the 
 hazard of a siege, and am unable to go to their 
 assistance, — for I do not think it safe to let these 
 two legions be conducted thither, — out of which I 
 have not been able to collect more than fourteen s 
 cohorts, having sent a garrison to Brundisium, and 
 not thinking that Canusium ought to be left un- 
 protected in my absence. I sent word to D. 
 Lselius that I hoped to have an increase of force, 
 so that if you thought well of it one of you might 
 join me ; the other might go into Sicily with such 
 troops as you have obtained at Capua and in the 
 neighbourhood, together with those which have 
 been raised by Faustus ; that Domitius with his 
 twelve cohorts should proceed to the same destina- 
 tion ; that all the remaining forces should be col- 
 lected at Brundisium, and from thence should be 
 transported in ships to Dyrrachium. Now, since 
 at this time I am no more able than you to go to 
 the assistance of Domitius, I must leave him to 
 extricate •" himself through the mountains. I 
 cannot suffer the enemy to attack these fourteen 
 cohorts, which I have in a doubtful disposition, or 
 
 f In the text it is M. Marcellus ; but, as there can be 
 little do\ibt of this being a mistake, I have taken the liberty 
 of altering it. 
 
 g The complete legions contained ten cohorts, each cohort 
 being divided into three manipuli, and each manipulus 
 into two centuries. Had the numbers therefore been com- 
 plete, which they seldom were, the legion would have 
 contained 6000 men. 
 
 •> Tlie passage in the original is defective. I have given 
 what I suppose to b^ t'ae true meauiiis. 
 
 to come up with me in my march : on which 
 account I have thought it right (and I find that 
 Marcellus, and the rest of our order' who are here, 
 are of the same opinion) to conduct the force 1 
 have with me to Brundisium. I beg you to collect 
 whatever soldiers you can, and to come to the same 
 place as soon as possible. I think you may dis- 
 tribute among the men which you have with you 
 the arms you were going to send me. You will 
 confer a great service on the republic by transport- 
 ing the supernumerary arms on beasts of burden to 
 Brundisium. I should be glad if you would give 
 notice to my people upon this subject. I have 
 sent to the praetors P. Lupus and C. Coponius to 
 join me, and to conduct to you what troops they 
 possessed. 
 
 Cn. Magnus, Proconsul, to Domitius, Proconsul. 
 I AM surprised that you have not written to me, 
 and that all information about the republic should 
 come to me from others rather than from you. 
 While our troops are dispersed it is impossible for 
 us to be equal to our adversaries. With our 
 forces united I hope we may be of service to the 
 republic and to the common safety. When, there- 
 fore, you had determined, as Vibullius wrote me 
 word, to leave Corfinium the 9th of February with 
 the army, and to come to me, I wonder what 
 should have caused you to change your mind. For 
 the reason which Vibullius mentions is of little 
 weight, that you had heard of Caesar's having left 
 Firmum, and being arrived at Castrum Truentinum ; 
 for the nearer the enemy approached, the more 
 expeditiously ought you to have acted, in order to 
 join me before Csesar could obstruct your road or 
 cut off the communication between us : therefore, 
 I beg and entreat you again and again, as I have 
 not ceased to do in my former letters, to come to 
 Luceria on the earliest day, before Csesar can bring 
 together into one place the forces which he pur- 
 posed to collect, and separate us from each other : 
 or if you meet with impediments from some who 
 would save their own troops, at least it is reasonable 
 that I should desire you would send me those 
 cohorts which are come from Picenum and Cama- 
 rinum, and have left their own fortunes. 
 
 Cn. Magnus, Proconsul, to Domitius, Proconsul. 
 M. Calenius brought me your letter the 18th 
 of February, in which you say that you mean to 
 observe Caesar's motions, and if he should attempt 
 to come towards me by the sea-coast that you will 
 immediately join me in Samnium, — or if he should 
 loiter about those parts that you are disposed to 
 resist him, whenever he comes within your reach. 
 1 have a just sense of your spirit and courage in 
 this determination ; but we must take great care 
 that our forces are not so divided as to render us 
 unequal to our adversary, who has already a great 
 many troops, and will shortly have more. For 
 with your usual prudence you ought to consider 
 not only how many cohorts Caesar can at present 
 bring against you, but what numbers of cavalry and 
 infantry he will in a short time collect. This is 
 confirmed by a letter which I have received from 
 Bussenius, in which he says, what I have heard 
 also from others J, that Curio is collecting the 
 
 1 The order of senators. 
 
 i I have translated this as if it were written aliis, ineteaJ 
 of illis : for this, I doubt not, is the proper reading. 
 
 I
 
 TO TITUS POMPON 1U5 ATTICUS. 
 
 7i» 
 
 garrisons from Umbria and Tuscany, and proceed- 
 ing to join Csesar. If these forces should unite, 
 ami part should he sent to Alba, part should come 
 against you, — without fighting, but only defending 
 themselves in their quarters, you will be embar- 
 rassed, and unable alone to resist such numbers 
 •with your present force, so as to admit of your 
 foraging. For these reasons I strongly advise you 
 to come hither as soon as possible with your whole 
 force. The consuls have determined to do the 
 same. I sent you advice by Metuscilius, that it 
 was necessary to prevent my two legions from 
 being brought to face Csesar without the Picentine 
 cohorts. You must not, therefore, be uneasy if 
 you should hear of my retreating, in case Ceesar 
 comes towards me, — as I think it right to provide 
 against the embarrassment of being surrounded ; 
 for I can neither form a camp, owing to the season 
 of the year and the disposition of tlie soldiers, nor 
 can I safely bring together the troops out of all the 
 towns for fear of having my retreat cut off. I have 
 therefore collected at Luceria not more than four- 
 teen cohorts. The consuls will either bring all the 
 garrisons, or will go into Sicily : for it is expedient 
 either to have a strong army with which we may 
 rely upon breaking through the enemy, or else to 
 get possession of such countries in which we can 
 defend ourselves, — neither of which is at present 
 the case ; for Csesar is already master of a great 
 part of Italy, and his army is superior both in 
 appointments and numbers to mine. We must, 
 therefore, take care to pay the utmost attention to 
 the republic. I beg you again and again to come 
 to me as soon as possible with all your forces. 
 We may yet raise up the republic if we unite our 
 counsels in conducting the business ; but if we are 
 disunited we must be weak. Such is my ultimate 
 opinion. 
 
 Since writing this, Sica has brought me your 
 letter and instructions. Respecting your wish that 
 I should go to you, I do not consider it possible 
 for me to do it, because I have no great confidence 
 in these legions. 
 
 Cn. Magmis, Proconsul, to Domitius, Proconsul. 
 I RECEIVED your letter the 17th of February, 
 in which you inform me that Csesar has pitched his 
 camp before Corfinium. What I supposed, and 
 forewarned you, has happened, — that he does not 
 wish at present to engage in battle with you ; but 
 that he will collect together all his forces and 
 hamper you so as to prevent your joining me, and 
 uniting those troops of the best citizens with these 
 legions, whose disposition is doubtful, — which 
 makes me the more concerned at your account. 
 For I cannot sufficiently rely upon the disposition 
 of the soldiers whom 1 have with me to risk the 
 whole fortune of the republic ; nor have those 
 joined who have been enrolled by the consuls out 
 of the levies. Therefore try if by any means you 
 can even now manage to extricate yourself, that 
 you may come hither as soon as possible before all 
 the adversary's forces are united. For men cannoi 
 very quickly arrive here from the levies, — and if 
 tLey did, it does not escape you how little they can 
 be tiusrert against veteran legions while they are 
 Dot so mucQ as Know a to each other. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 The hand-writing of a clerk will show you thac 
 my eyes are not yet well ; and the same cause will 
 make me short ; though at present I have nothing 
 to tell you. My only expectation is in the news 
 from Brundisium. If Caesar should have come up 
 with our friend Cnaeus, the hope of peace is very 
 doubtful ; but if he should have passed over first, 
 there is danger of a destructive war. But do you 
 perceive with what a man the republic has to do ? 
 how acute 1 how vigilant ! how ready ! If forsooth 
 he puts nobody to death, and plunders nobody, he 
 will be most loved by the very people who were 
 most afraid of him. I have a good deal of conver- 
 sation with the towns-people, and with those from 
 the country ; they care absolutely about nothing 
 but their fields, and their pleasure-houses, and their 
 pelf. See how things are changed. Him •*, on 
 whom they once relied, they fear ; and they love 
 this man', whom they used, to dread. I cannot 
 without grief reflect upon the errors and misconduct 
 of our party, through which this has happened. I 
 told you what dangers I apprehended. I am in 
 expectation of hearing from you. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 I AM afraid my daily letters must be troublesome 
 to you, especially as I can send you no news, nor 
 indeed find any new subject to write upon. And if 
 I were expressly to send messengers to you about 
 nothing at all, I should act absurdly ; but when 
 people are going, particularly my own servants, I 
 cannot suffer them to go without writing something 
 to you. Besides, believe me, I feel some relief in 
 these miseries while I talk, as it were, with you ; 
 and still more when I read your letters. I think 
 indeed there has been no time since this flight and 
 trepidation, when this intercourse of letters could 
 with more propriety be interrupted ; as nothing 
 new is heard at Rome ; nor in these parts, which 
 are two or three days nearer to Brundisium than 
 you are. It is at Brundisium that all the struggle 
 of this first season passes. I am distracted with 
 anxiety about the event. But I shall know all 
 before you ; for I find that Csesar set out from 
 Corfinium on the afternoon of the same day on 
 which Pompeius set out in the morning from 
 Canusium, that is the 21st of February. But such 
 is the manner of Caesar's march, and with such 
 allowances does he urge the speed of his soldiers, 
 that I dread his getting to Brundisium sooner than 
 is to be wished. You will say, " What good is 
 there in anticipating the distress of such an event, 
 which in three days you will know ?" There is 
 none indeed. But, as I said before, I love to 
 converse with you. Besides, you must know that I 
 begin to waver in my opinion, which seemed to be 
 already fixed. For the authorities", which you 
 approve, are not satisfactory to me. For what 
 have they ever done to distinguish themselves in 
 the republic? or who expects from them anything 
 praise-worthy ? not that I mean to applaud those 
 who have crossed the sea for the purpose of increas- 
 
 k Pompeius. ' Csesar. 
 
 m M. Lepidus, L. Volcatius Tullus. See book Tiii, let- 
 ters 1 and 9.
 
 720 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 ing the preparations for war ; however intolerable 
 may be the j)resent state of affairs ; for I see how 
 great and how ruinous the war must be. Hut I 
 am influenced by regard for an individual, to whom 
 it seems due that I should be a companion in his 
 flight, and an assistant in restoring the republic. 
 " So often then do you change your mind?" I 
 converse with you as with myself; and who is 
 there but in a case of su('li moment argues variously 
 with himself? at the same time I wish tu elicit 
 your opinion; that if it is still the same, I may be 
 the more determined ; if it is changed, that I may 
 assent to it. It is of importance to the subject of 
 my doubt, to know what Domitius will do, and 
 what our friend Lentulus. We have various 
 reports about Domitius ; sometimes, that he is at 
 Tibertum, or at Lepidus's house ; or that Lejiidus 
 is gone with him to the city ; which I find is not 
 true ; for Lepidus says that it is uncertain where 
 he is gone, and that he does not know whether his 
 object be to conceal. himself, or to reach the sea. 
 He is equally ignorant about his son. He adds, 
 what is distressing, that a large sum of money, 
 which Domitius had at Corfinium, has never been 
 delivered to him. We hear nothing of Lentulus. 
 I should be glad if you could find out these things, 
 and let me know. 
 
 LETTER XV, 
 
 On the 3d of March, iEgypta delivered to me two 
 letters from you ; one an old one, dated February 
 26, which you mention to have given to Pinarius, 
 whom I have not seen. In this you express your 
 anxiety to know what has been done by Vibullius, 
 ■who was sent on" before. But Caesar has not so 
 much as seen him. In another letter I perceive 
 that you are aware of this. You desire also to 
 Icnow how I receive Caesar on his return : but I 
 mean to avoid him altogether. You mention 
 besides, that you meditate a Hacmonian flight", 
 and a change of your life ; which I think you 
 must adopt : also that you are uncertain whether 
 Domitius has his fascesP with him ; but as soon as 
 you know, you will inform me. You have my 
 reply to your first letter. There are two subsequent 
 ones, both dated the 28th of February, which have 
 plucked me from my former resolutioni, in which, 
 as I before wrote to you, I was already wavering. 
 "What you say, " that Jupiter himself forbids if," 
 has no weight with me. For there is danger in 
 displeasing either party : and the superiority is still 
 uncertain, though the worst cause has the appear- 
 
 n Vibullius was of Pompeius's party, was taken by Cassar 
 at Corfinium, and thence despatched to Ponipeius with 
 piopoMls of peace, which the latter disregarding never sent 
 back Vibullius at all. 
 
 The text is probably corrupt. It appears to be copied 
 from Atticus's own expression in allusion to some story 
 that has been lost. It may be believed that he meant to 
 signify a design of retiring into Epirus. 
 
 p Domitius had been nominated to succeed Caesar in 
 Gaul. If he had the fasces carried before him, it would be 
 a mark of his assuming tlie authority in opposition to 
 'CiEsar. His example would be valuable to Cicero, who 
 was likewise encumbered with his lictors. See letter 1 of 
 this book. 
 
 1 Persuading him now to leave Italy, contrary to the 
 determination he had once formed. 
 
 !■ These words are, no doubt, copied from Atticus's o\vn 
 expression : the meaning probably is, that the cause of the 
 Tepublic seemed to be abandoned by the gods. 
 
 ance of being best provided. I am not moved 
 either by the consuls, who are themselves more 
 easily moved tlian a leaf or a feather. It is the 
 considi^ration of my duty that distracts me, and 
 has done from tiie beginning. It is certainly safer 
 to remain ; but is thought more honourable to cross 
 the sea. At tlie same time I would rather many 
 should think I had acted imprudently, than a few 
 dishonourably. As to what you ask about Lepidus 
 and Tullus ; it is not doubted" but they will present 
 themselves to Cicsar, and will go into the senate. 
 Your last letter is dated the first of March, ia 
 wliich you wish for a meeting', and do not despair 
 of peace. But while I write this, I neitlier believe J 
 they will meet ; nor, if tliey did, that I'ompeius | 
 would agree to any terms. You seem to entertain ' 
 no doubt of wliat I ought to do, provided the 
 consuls should cross the sea : they certainly cross 
 it, or as things are now, have already crossed. 
 But observe, that, except Appius, there is scarcely 
 anybody who has not a right to do so". For 
 they either have some command, as Pompeius, as 
 Scipio, Setenas, Fannius, Voconius,Sestius,and the 
 consuls themselves, who have by ancient custom 
 the privilege of visiting all the provinces ; or they 
 are lieutenants under these. But I do not wish to 
 argue the point. I see what is your opinion, and 
 am pretty well satisfied on the subject of my duty. 
 I would write more, if I could do it myself''; I 
 shall be better able two days hence. I send you a 
 copy of Balbus Cornelius's letter, which 1 received 
 the same day as yours, that you may pity my con- 
 dition when you see me thus mocked*. 
 
 Balbus to Cicero, Imperalor. 
 Undertake, I entreat you, Cicero, the care and 
 consideration most becoming your high character, 
 of bringing back again to their former harmony 
 Caesar and Pompeius, who have been torn asunder 
 by the perfidy of certain persons. Believe me, 
 Caesar will not onlj'' put himself in your power, but 
 will esteem it a great favour conferred upon him, 
 if you apply yourself to this business. I should be 
 glad if Pompeius would do the same ; though I 
 rather wish, than expect, that he can be brought to 
 any terms at such a time. But when he has stopped 
 his flight, and laid aside his fears, I shall begin not 
 to despair of the influence your authority may have 
 with him. Caesar is pleased, and I am most 
 particularly so, with your wishing my friend" Len- 
 tulus the consul to remain here. For I have that 
 regard for him, that I do not love Caesar better. 
 If he had suffered me to talk with him as 1 
 used to do, and had not wholly rejected my con- 
 versation, I should be less uneasy than I am. Do 
 not imagine that at this time anybody is more vexed, 
 
 5 I have interpreted this sentence as if the words 7ion 
 dubitant wcie independent of illi, which latter word I con- 
 ceive to be connected with futuri sint. " People do not 
 doubt but they will join Caesar." For this interpretation 
 of (tubitant, see book iv. letter 3, note '. Otherwise it 
 appears very harsh to say that they did not themselvee 
 doubt but they should join him, &c. 
 
 ' Between Caesar and Pompeius. See letter 9 of this 
 book. 
 
 " The senators were not at liberty to quit Italy but upon 
 some public duty. 
 
 » He was probably prevented by ths 
 eyes, which he hoped a few days v 
 Temove. 
 
 '"' Flattered witk moek vospocu
 
 TO TITUS POMPON lUS ATTICUS. 
 
 721 
 
 ■than I, when I see him, wliom I love more than 
 ■myself, conducting himself in Iiis consulate like 
 any thing rather than a consul. But if he will be 
 ruled by you, and will take my word about Caesar, 
 and spend the remaining part of his consulate in 
 Rome ; I shall begin to entertain hope, that by the 
 recommendation even of the senate, upon your 
 authority and at his motion, Poinpeius and CiJesar 
 may be united. If this is accomplished, I shall 
 think I have lived long enough. I am sure you 
 must approve of Caesar's whole conduct respecting 
 Corfinium ; as in such a business it could not 
 terminate more favourably, than by being eftected 
 without bloodshed. I am glad you were pleased 
 with the arrival of mine and your friend Balbus". 
 All that he has told you about Caesar, or that 
 Caesar has written, I am persuaded, whatever turn 
 his affairs may take, he will prove to you by his 
 •conduct that he has written in great sincerity. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 Everything is ready for me, excepting a road 
 to conduct me in secrecy and safety to the Adriatic 
 «ea. For I cannot take advantage of the sea here >", 
 at this season of the year. But how shall I get 
 thither, where my inclination leads me, and circum- 
 stances call me ? For it is necessary to set out 
 speedily, that I may not meet with some obstacle 
 to stop me. Yet my inducement to go is not he^ 
 whom one might suppose ; whom I have long 
 known to be a bad politician, and now find to be 
 also a bad general. It is not he therefore that 
 influences me ; but the talk of the world, of which 
 I am informed by Philotimus. He says that I am 
 
 » Dalbus the younger, [see letter y of this book,] nephew 
 to him who writes this letter. 
 
 y The Mediterranean washing the southern coast of Italy, 
 from whence Cicero wTite«. 
 
 * Pompeius. 
 
 reproached by all the principal people. Ye gods . 
 by what principal people ? By those who are 
 runniug to meet, and to sell themselves to Csesar ? 
 The towns salute him as a god. And they do not 
 dissemble, as when they put up vows for Pompeius 
 in his sickness : but whatever this Pisistratus" has 
 not inflicted, is as much a subject of gratitude, as 
 if he had prevented some other person from inflict- 
 ing it. This man"" they hope to propitiate; the 
 other'' they think exasperated. What greetings do 
 you think are made from the towns .' What hon- 
 ours ? " They are afraid," you will say. I believe 
 it ; but they are more afraid of tiie other ''. They 
 are delighted with Caesar's insidious clemency : 
 they dread Pompeius's anger. The 8.00 judges*, 
 who were particularly attached to our Cna;us, some 
 of whom I see every day, dread certain threats of 
 his at Luceria'. I ask again then, who are these 
 principal people, who would drive me out, while 
 they remain themselves at home ? Nevertheless, 
 whoever they are, " I respect the Trojans s." At 
 the same time I know what I have to hope ; and 
 go to join one, who is better prepared to lay waste 
 Italy than to conquer it ; in short, whom I expect 
 — indeed while I am writing this, March 2d, I am 
 expecting to hear something from Brundisium. 
 What something ? How shamefully he'' has run 
 away from thence ; and by what road this con- 
 queror' returns, and whither. Which when I have 
 ascertained, if he comes by the Appian road, I think 
 of going to Arpinum. 
 
 » Caesar. ** C^sar. 
 
 « Pompeius. '^ Pompeius. 
 
 e The number of judges varied at different times. They 
 were chosen annually from the three different orders of 
 citizens, and corresponded more nearly to our jurymen than 
 to our judges. 
 
 f The apprehension of a proscription. See letter 11 of 
 this book. 
 
 e See book vii. letter 12, and book ii. letter 5. 
 
 ^ Pompeius. ' Csesar. 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 LETTER 1. 
 Before you read this, I imagine I shall know 
 ^hat has been done at Brundisium ; for Cnseus 
 set out from Canusium the 2'2d of February, and 
 I am writing the 6th of March, the 13th day 
 afterwards J. In the mean time I am distracted 
 with the expectation of every hour ; and am sur- 
 prised that no rumour even should yet have reached 
 us. This silence is quite wonderful. But it is 
 perhaps idle to vex oneself about what must soon 
 he known. I am uneasy at not yet having been 
 able to find out where our friend Lentulus, where 
 Domitius is. And I want to know, that I may 
 the more readily understand what they mean to 
 do ; whether they will join Pompeius ; and, if so, 
 by what way, or when they will go. I understand 
 the city is already full of the principal citizens, 
 
 J In the original it is the 14th day, because the Romans, 
 in their computation of time, were accustomed to include 
 '%oth the fifbt and the last day. 
 
 and that Sosius and Lupus '', whom our Cnaeus 
 expected to be at Brundisium before him, are 
 trying causes. From these parts numbers are 
 going up. Even M. Lepidus, with whom I used 
 to spend my day, thinks of going to-morrow. I 
 shall however remain in Formianum, that I may 
 receive the earlier intelligence ; I then design to 
 go to Arpinum ; and thence to the Adriatic sea by 
 the most unfrequented road, having first set aside 
 or wholly dismissed my lictors. For I hear that 
 many respectable people, who on this and former 
 occasions have rendered good service to the re- 
 public, disapprove of my delay, and make many 
 severe observations upon me in their convivial 
 meetings. Let us give way then, and in order to 
 show that we are good citizens, let us make war 
 upon Italy by sea ' and land : and let us once more 
 light up against us the enmity of wicked men, 
 
 •> The two praetors. 
 
 1 This is evidently sarid with a mixture of irony. 
 3 A
 
 722 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 which was just extinguished ; and let us follow the 
 counsels of Lucceius and Tlieophanes ■". For 
 Scipio either goes into Syria by his lot, or honour- 
 ably attends his son-in-law", or avoids the angtr 
 of CjEsar : the Marcelli, if they were not afraid 
 of CiEsar's sword, would stay behind : Appius is 
 influenced by the same apprehension, and some 
 recent causes of enmity: besides him, and C. 
 Cassius, the others are lieutenants ; Faustus is 
 proquffistor : I am the only person at liberty to 
 choose the course I shall take". My brother will 
 go with me ; though it is not reasonable that he 
 should share my fortunes on this occasion, which 
 ■will more particularly expose him to Ceesar's dis- 
 pleasure ; but I cannot prevail upon him to stay. 
 We shall thus give to Pompeius what we owe him. 
 Indeed nobody else moves me ; neither the talk of 
 good men, of whom there are none, nor the cause 
 itself, which has been conducted timidly, and will 
 he prosecuted wickedly p. To him, to him alone I 
 give this, while he does not even ask it, but sup- 
 ports (as he says i) not his own cause, but that of 
 the public. I shall be glad to know what you 
 think about going to Epirus. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 Though I am expecting a longer letter from 
 you on the 7th of March, which I think is your 
 well day, yet I have thought it right to reply to 
 that short one which you despatched on the 5th, 
 when the fit was going off. You say you are glad 
 that I hav.e staid ; and tell me that you continue 
 in your opinion. But in your former letters you 
 seemed to me not to doubt but that I ought to go, 
 provided Cnaeus should embark with a respectable 
 attendance, and the consuls should pass over. 
 Have you then forgot this ? or did I not rightly 
 understand you ? or have you changed your opi- 
 nion ? But either in the letter which I am 
 expecting I shall see distinctly what you think, or 
 I shall solicit another. Nothing has yet been 
 heard from Brundisium. What a difficult and 
 hopeless state ! How in reasoning upon it you 
 leave nothing unsaid ! Yet in conclusion, how 
 you explain nothing of your real sentiments ! You 
 are glad that I am not with Pompeius ; and yet 
 you state how disgraceful it would be for me to be 
 present "■ while anything is said against him, and 
 how impossible to approve it. I must certainly 
 then oppose it. " God forbid," you say. What 
 therefore is to be done, if in the one case there 
 is guilt, in the other punishment ? " Obtain," 
 you say, " from Caesar leave to absent yourself, 
 and to remain quiet." Must I then descend to 
 supplication ? O sad ! and what if it is denied 
 me.' And respecting my triumph, you say that I 
 shall be at liberty to do as I please. But what if 
 Caesar should press it upon me ? Should I accept 
 it ? What can be more disgraceful ? Should I 
 
 m Lucceius and Theophanes were Pompeius's advisers in 
 this war. 
 
 " Pompeius. 
 
 ° To' choose whether he should stay in Italy, or cross the 
 sea to Pompeius. 
 
 P By making war upon our country. 
 
 q That is, what he professes, though untruly. See book 
 iv. letter 10. 
 
 ' In the senate. 
 
 refuse .' He will think that he is wholly spurned ; 
 more so than in the affair of the twenty commis- 
 sioners * : and he is accustomed, in exculpating 
 himself, to throw upon me all the blame of those 
 times ; that I am so hostile to him, that I will not 
 even receive honour at his hands. How much more 
 unkindly will he bear this ! just so much as the 
 honour itself is greater, and he is more poweiful. 
 For as to what you say, that you doubt not but 
 Pompeius is greatly offended with me at this time; 
 I see no reason why he should be so at this time. 
 Can he, who never acquainted me with his inten- 
 tion, till Corfinium had been lost; can he complain 
 that I did not go to Brundisium, when Casar was 
 between me and it .' Besides, he knows that his 
 complaining on that account is unj-ustifiable : he 
 sujiposes me to have been better informed than 
 himself about the weakness of the towns, about the 
 levies, about peace, about the state of the city, 
 about the treasury, about the occupation of Pice- 
 num. But if I would not go when it was in my 
 power, then indeed he might be angry. Which I 
 do not regard from fear of his doin" me any harm ; 
 (for what can he do? "Who is a slave, that is 
 not afraid to die ' ?") but because I abhor the im- 
 putation of ingratitude. I trust therefore that my 
 going to him, at whatever time it should be, would, 
 as you say ", be acceptable. As to what you say, 
 that if Caesar acted with more moderation, you 
 could give a more deliberate opinion ; how is it 
 possible that he should not act ruinously .' His 
 life, his manners, his former actions, the plan of 
 his undertaking, his companions, the strength of 
 the good, or even their firmness, demand it. I 
 had scarcely read your letter, when Postumus Cur- 
 tius came to me on his way to Caesar, talking of 
 nothing but fleets and armies : he was seizing 
 Spain ; occupying Asia, Siciiia, Africa, Sardinia, 
 and presently pursuing Pompeius into Greece. I 
 must go therefore, that I may be his companion, 
 not so much in war as in flight ; for I cannot bear 
 the scoffs of those people, whoever they are. They 
 assuredly are not, as they are called, good ; yet I 
 wish to know what it is they say ; and I earnestly 
 beg you to find out, and to inform me. Hitherto 
 I am quite ignorant of what has been done at 
 Brundisium. When 1 know, I shall take counsel 
 from circumstances and opportunity, but shall be 
 regulated by you. 
 
 LETTER IlL 
 
 DoMiTius's son passed through Formiae on the 
 8th, hastening to his mother at Naples ; and upon 
 my servant Dionysius asking particularly about his 
 father, he desired I might be told that he was in 
 the city. But I had heard that he was gone 
 either to Pompeius, or into Spain. I should be 
 glad to know how this is ; for it is of consequence 
 to the subject of my present deliberation ; that if 
 he is certainly not gone anywhere, Cnseus may 
 understand the difficulty of my leaving Italy, while 
 it is all occupied by troops and garrisons, espe- 
 cially in winter. If it were a more favourable 
 
 ' AVhen it was offered to Cicero to fill the place of Cos- 
 conius, who died. See book ii. letter 19. 
 
 ' The original is a verse of Euripides. 
 
 i» In the original is a Greek word, no doubt taken from 
 Atticus's own expression.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 723 
 
 time of year, it would be possible to go by the 
 Southern sea : now nothing can pass but by tlie 
 Adriatic, the road to which is intercepted. You will 
 inquire therefore about Domitius, and about Len- 
 tulus. No report has yet arrived from Brundisium, 
 and this is the 9th of March, on which day, or the 
 day before, 1 imagine Ctesar would reach Brundi- 
 sium ; for on the first he stopped at Arpi. If you 
 would hearken to Postumus, he will pursue Cnseus ; 
 for, by conjecture from state of the weather and 
 the number of days, he supposed him already to 
 have passed over. For ray own part, 1 do not 
 think Caesar will be able to get sailors ; he is 
 himself very confident, and the more so, because 
 the liberality of the man is known to the people 
 concerned in the boats. But it is impossible I can 
 much longer remain in ignorance of this whole 
 Brundisian business. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 Though I feel some repose so long as I am 
 writing to you, or reading your letters ; yet I want 
 myself a subject to write about, and am persuaded 
 you do so too. For that familiar communication, 
 which passes between us, while our minds are at 
 ease, is excluded in these times ; and what is ap- 
 propriate to the times, is already exhausted. But, 
 that I may not resign myself wholly to sadness, I 
 have taken up certain subjects of a political nature, 
 and suited to the times ; that I may both withdraw 
 my mind from complaints, and may exercise myself 
 in matters of present concern. Such are the fol- 
 lowing. If it be right to remain in one's country 
 after it is subjected to a tyrant. Being so subjected, 
 if every means should be employed to dissolve the 
 tyranny, even at the risk of ruining the city. If 
 care must be taken, that the person who executes 
 this be not himself exalted. If it be right to 
 succour one's country, under a tyrant, by oppor- 
 tunity and reasoning, rather than by war. If, 
 when one's country is subjected to a tyrant, it be 
 consistent with the duty of a good citizen to be 
 quiet, and retire. If every danger ought to be 
 hazarded for the sake of freedom. If war and 
 siege ought to be brought upon one's country when 
 oppressed by tyranny. If one, who does not at- 
 tempt to put down a tyranny, may yet be reckoned 
 among the number of good citizens. If we ought 
 to support our benefactors and friends in political 
 struggles, even when we think them to have acted 
 imprudently. If one who has rendered signal 
 service to his country, and on that very account 
 has incurred troubles and envy, should voluntarily 
 expose himself for bis country's sake. If it be 
 permitted him to make provision for himself and 
 his family, and to leave state affairs to those in 
 power. Exercising myself in these questions, and 
 ■writing on both sides in Greek and in Latin, I 
 divert my attention a little from uneasiness, and 
 contemplate something of real interest. But I 
 fear I may address you unseasonably ; for if the 
 person who brought your letter came straight 
 hither, it will fall upon your sick day. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 You wrote to me on your birthday a letter full 
 of advice, and at once expressive of the greatest 
 kindness, and the greatest good sense. Fhilotimus 
 
 delivered it to me the day after he had received it 
 from you. The circumstances you mention are 
 very difficult to arranj^e ; the way to the Adriatic ; 
 the voyage by the Mediterranean ; the departure to 
 Arpinum, as if to avoid Caesar ; the remaining at 
 Formia;, as if on purpose to congratulate him. 
 But nothing is more wretched than to see what 
 presently, presently I say, must be seen. I have 
 l>ad Postumus '' witli nie : I told you how conse- 
 quential he was. Q. Fusius likewise called upon 
 me ; with what an air ! with what insolence ! He 
 was hastening to Brundisium ; charging Ponipeius 
 with wickedness, the senate with fickleness and 
 folly. Shall I, who cannot bear this in my villa, be 
 able to bear Curtius in the senate.' Or suppose 
 me to bear it with ever so good a stomach ; what 
 must be the issue when I am called upon ; " Speak, 
 M. "Tullius?" I say nothing of the republic, 
 which I consider as lost bulli by the wounds it has 
 received, and by the remedies whicli are prepared 
 for it. But what shall 1 do al)Oiit Pompeius.' with 
 whom (for why should I deny it?) I am quite 
 angry. For the causes of events always affect us 
 more than the events themselves. When I con- 
 sider therefore these miseries (and what can be 
 worse ?) or rather when I reflect that they have 
 been brought on by his means and his fault, I am 
 more irritated against him than against Csesar 
 himself: in the same manner as our forefathers 
 marked the day of the battle of the Allia'*', as 
 sadder than that of the taking the city ; because 
 the latter calamity was the consequence of the 
 other : therefore the one is still held sacred, the 
 other not even known to the common people. Thus 
 am I angry while I recollect the errors of ten years 
 past (among which was that year of affliction to 
 me, when he, to say nothing worse, did not defend 
 me), and perceive the rashness, the baseness, the 
 negligence of the present tiiiie. But these things 
 are now erased from my mind. I think of the 
 benefits I have received from him, and think also 
 of his own dignity. I understand, later indeed 
 than I could wish, by reason of Balbus's letters 
 and conversation ; but I see planily that nothing 
 else is aimed at, nothing else has beeen aimed 
 at from the beginning, but his death. Shall 
 I then, (if Achilles, according to Homer, whea 
 his mother goddess told him that his fate 
 would presently follow that of Hector, replied, 
 " Would that I might die immediately, since I 
 could not prevent the death of my friend ;" what 
 if not only a friend, but also a benefactor ; such a 
 man too, and engaged in such a cause ? And shall 
 I then) think these duties to be trafficked away for 
 the sake of life ^ ? I place no reliance on your 
 principal people, and now no more defer to them. 
 I see how they give themselves, and will give them- 
 selves, to this man. Do you think those decrees 
 of the towns for Pompeius's health bear any com- 
 parison with these congratulations of victory ? 
 " They are afraid," you will say. Themselves say 
 they were afraid before. But let us see what has 
 been done at Brundisium. From that perhaps 
 will arise my determination, and another letter. 
 
 » Postumus Curtius. See letter 2 of this book. • 
 
 w The Gauls defeated the Romans at the river AUi.i. 
 
 previous to their taking the city. 
 I The context appeajs to mo to require an interrogatioa 
 
 in this place. 
 
 3 A 2
 
 724 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 I HAVE yet heard nothing from Brundisium, 
 Balbus has written from Rome, saying tliat he 
 supposes the consul Lentuhis to have crossed the 
 sea, without being met by the younger Balbus ; 
 •who had already heard this at Canusium, from 
 whence he wrote to liis uncle. And he added that 
 the six coliorts, wliich had been at Alba, had gone 
 over to Curias by the Minueian road; that Ctesar 
 had written to inform him of it, and would shortly 
 be at Rome. I shall follow your advice, and shall 
 not hide myself at Arpinum at this time ; though 
 I wished to invest my son with the toga of man- 
 hood at Arpinum >', and had intended to leave this 
 as my excuse to Ciesar. But he might perhaps be 
 offended at that very circumstanee, that I should 
 not rather do it at Rome. If, however, it is right 
 to meet him, it is best here. We will then con- 
 sider the rest ; whither I should go, and by what 
 road, and when. Domitius, as I hear, is in the 
 neighbourhood of Cosa^ ; and, as they say, is pre- 
 pared to sail. If to Spain, I do not approve it ; 
 if to Cnseus, I commend him : but anywhere rather 
 than to see Curtius ", whom even I, that have been 
 his patron, cannot bear to look at. What then ? 
 Must I bear others '' ? But I must be quiet, that 
 I may not aggravate my own fault : for through 
 my affection to the city, that is, to my country, 
 and hoping that affairs might be compromised, I 
 have managed so as to be completely intercepted 
 and taken. Since writing the above I have received 
 a letter from Capua to this effect : Pompeius has 
 crossed the sea with all the troops that he had 
 with him, amounting to 30,000 men, besides the 
 two consuls, and those tribunes of the people and 
 senators, who were with him, all with their wives 
 and children. He is said to have embarked the 
 4th of March, from which day the winds have been 
 northerly. They say that he either cut in two, or 
 burned, all the vessels which he did not use. The 
 letter containing this account was brought to L. 
 Metellus, the tribune of the people, at Capua, 
 from his mother-in-law, Clodia, who herself passed 
 over. I was before solicitous and anxious, as 
 indeed the circumstances required, while I could 
 bring my mind to no conclusion : but now, since 
 Pompeius and the consuls have left Italy, I am no 
 longer anxious, but burn with grief ; and, as 
 Homer says, " Neither is my mind sound, but I 
 am distracted." Believe me, I am not master of 
 myself, so great is the disgrace I seem to have 
 incurred. In the first place, by not having been 
 with Pompeius, whatever plan he adopted ; then, 
 in not having been with the good, however ill 
 their cause was conducted. Especially when the 
 very persons for whose sake T was more timid in 
 exposing myself to the risks of fortune, my wife, 
 my daughter, the young Ciceros, wished me to 
 follow that course; and considered this to be base 
 
 y It was usual to assume the toga virilis on the festival 
 cf Bacchus, March 18th, at the age of seventeen, with some 
 ceremony. 
 
 z Cosa is a place on the sea-coast of Etruria. 
 
 a Perhaps Postumus Curtius, of whom he had spoken in 
 iCtter 2 of this book, and for whom he had formerly soli- 
 cited the office of tribune. 
 
 b I apprehend it ought to be in the original Quid ? alios? 
 Otherwise it is not easy to see upon what the word alio* 
 depends. 
 
 ana unworthy of me. My brother Quintus, indeed, 
 said he should be satisfied with whatever I chose ; 
 and he followed it with perfect complacency. I 
 now read over your letters from the beginning ; 
 and they afford me some comfort. The first advise 
 and beg me not to throw myself away ; the next 
 show that you are glad I have remained. When I 
 read these, I think myself less blameable ; but it 
 is only while I am reading them : afterwards my 
 regret again bursts forth, and, as it is said, " I am 
 haunted with shame." I beseech you, therefore, 
 my Titus, pluck out from me this trouble, or at 
 least diminish it either by consolation, or advice, 
 or any way you can. But what can you do ? or 
 what can any man .' Hardly any god. I am con- 
 sidering (as you advise, and hope may be effected) 
 how I can get Caesar's permission to absent myself 
 when anything is agitated in the senate against 
 Cnseus : but I fear I may not obtain it. Furnius 
 has arrived from him ; and, that you may know 
 whose example I follow, he brings word that Q. 
 Titinius' son is with Caesar. He sends me greater 
 thanks than I could wish. What he asks of me, 
 in few words indeed, but energetically, you shall 
 see by his own letter. How unfortunate that you 
 should have been unwell ! Had we been together, 
 there surely would have been no want of counsel — 
 "And going two in company'^," &c. But, let us 
 not act over the past ; let us provide for what 
 remains. These two things have hitherto deceived 
 me ; at first, the hope of accommodation ; upon 
 which taking place I had wished to pass my old 
 age free from anxiety and popular strife"*; after- 
 wards, the understanding that Pompeius had actu- 
 ally engaged in a cruel and deadly warfare. In 
 truth I thought it argued a better citizen, and a 
 better man, rather to undergo any punishment, 
 than not only to take the lead, but to take any 
 part in such cruelty. It appears preferable even 
 to die than to be leagued with such men. Think 
 of these matters, my Atticus, or rather resolve. I 
 can bear any event better than my present anguish. 
 
 CcBsar, Imperator, to Cicero, Imperator. 
 Having but just seen our friend Furnius, with- 
 out being able conveniently either to speak to him 
 or hear him, being in a hurry, and actually on my 
 road, with my troops already sent on before ; I 
 could not, however, let pass the opportunity of 
 writing to you, and sending him to thank you. If 
 I have frequently done this, yet I am likely to do 
 it still more frequently ; so greatly am I obliged 
 to you. Especially I have to beg of you, as I 
 trust I shall soon arrive in Rome, to let me see 
 you there, that I may be able to avail myself of 
 your advice, influence, dignity, and assistance in 
 everything. I must end as I began, and request 
 you to excuse my haste, and the shortness of my 
 letter. You will hear the rest from Furnius. 
 
 c The original is part of a verse from Homer, well known 
 to botli Cicero and Atticus, expressive of Diomedes's wish 
 to have a companion in his night expedition to the Trojan 
 camp. 
 
 d Several conjectures have been offered by commentators 
 in explanation of tliis passage, which however appears to 
 be sufficiently clear, if we only admit the slight alteration 
 of et in the place of uti.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 725 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 I HAD written a letter to you, which should 
 have been sent the 12th of March ; but the person 
 to whom 1 meant to entrust it did not go that day. 
 But the very same day, came that swift-foot, as 
 Salvius called him, and brought me your very satis- 
 factory letter, which again instilled into me some 
 little life. Restored I cannot call myself : but what 
 is next to this you have done. Trust me, I now 
 no longer think of a prosperous termination : for I 
 see that as long as these two, or this one, is living, 
 we shall never have a republic. Therefore I now 
 lay aside all hope of retirement, and am prepared 
 for every severity. My only fear was that of doing, 
 or, I may say, of having done anything discredit- 
 able. Let me assure you then that your letter is 
 very valuable to me ; and not only that longer one, 
 than which nothing can be more explicit, nothing 
 more complete ; but also the shorter one, in which 
 it was particularly agreeable to me to understand 
 that my sentiments and conduct were approved by 
 Sextus. You have done me a great kindness ; for 
 I know that he loves me, and that he understands 
 what is right. Your longer letter has relieved not 
 me only, but all my family, from anxiety. I shall 
 accordingly adopt your advice, and stay in Formi- 
 anum ; lest either my going to meet him in Rome 
 may create observation ; or if I neither see him 
 here nor there, he may think that I try to avoid 
 him. As to what you advise, that I should ask 
 him to let me pay the same regard to Pouipeius 
 which I pay to him, you will see by the letter of 
 Balbus and Oppius, of which I send you a copy, 
 that I have already done so. I send also Ctesar's 
 letter to them, written with great temper, for such 
 a distempered state. If Caesar does not grant me 
 this, I perceive that you approve of my under- 
 taking a negotiation for peace ; in which I do not 
 regard the hazard that attends it. For when so 
 many dangers threaten us, why should I not com- 
 pound for the most honourable ? But 1 appre- 
 hend I shall bring some embarrassment upon 
 Pompeius, and that he will be inclined to turn 
 upon me " the appalling horror of the Gorgon's 
 head '." For our friend Cneeus has been strangely 
 ambitious of a sovereignty like that of Sulla. I 
 say it with confidence. He never was less ^ secret. 
 "Would you then," you say, "join such a 
 man ? " I follow him, believe me, from a sense 
 of the benefits I have received, not from a love of 
 his cause, as in the case of Milo ; as in — but 
 enough of this. " Is not then his cause a good 
 one?" Yes, the very best: but it will be con- 
 ducted, mind you, most foully. The first object 
 is, to starve the city and all Italy by famine ; then 
 to lay waste and burn the country, and not to spare 
 the property of the opulent. But, as I apprehend 
 all the same calamities from this party; if there 
 were not on the other side a sense of benefits 
 received, I should think it more proper to bear at 
 home whatever might happen. But I consider 
 
 8 The original is a verse of Homer. The meaning here 
 is, that he might have to encounter thefro\vTi of Pompeius, 
 ■who was averse from any compromise. It is possible that 
 some severity of countenance spoken of by Plutarch, as 
 TO ytpapov Koi rb ^acriKiK6v, may have given occasion 
 to the application of this line to him. 
 
 ' He was formerly spoken of as wanting openness. See 
 book iv. letters 9 and 15. 
 
 myself under such obligations to him, that I dare 
 not expose myself to the charge of ingratitude, 
 however just an excuse for it you point out. About 
 my triumph I agree with you, and easily and will- 
 ingly give up all thoughts of it. I am uncommonly 
 pleased with the hope that in the midst of our 
 arrangements the season for sailing may creep on 
 unobserved. " If only," as you say, " Pompeius 
 is strong enougli." He is stronger even than I 
 thought. But wliatever hope you may entertain 
 of him, I engage that, if he prevails, he will leave 
 no tile in Italy unbroken^^. " And will you then 
 be his associate .•"' Against indeed my own judg- 
 ment: and against the authority of all antiquity''. 
 I wish to get away, not so much to promote what 
 is done there, as that I may not witness what is 
 done here. For do not suppose that the madness 
 of these people can be supportable, or confined to 
 one kind : though nothing of this has escaped your 
 penetration. When the laws, the judicial proceed- 
 ings, and the senate, are taken away ; neither private 
 property nor the republic will be able to su])port 
 the licentiousness, the boldness, the extravagance, 
 the needs of so many needy men. Let us away 
 then by any passage, though I submit this to 
 your judgment ; but by all means let us away. 
 We shall soon know that which you wait for ; 
 what has been done at Brundisium. It gives 
 me great pleasure, if indeed there is now any room 
 for pleasure, that you say my conduct hitherto is 
 approved by the good, at the same time that they 
 know I have not left the country. I will endea- 
 vour to find out more particularly about Lentulus 
 I have entrusted this to Philotimus, a bold man, 
 and more than enough attached to the senatoiiaa 
 party. In conclusion, you may perhaps be at a 
 loss for a subject to write upon ; for it is impos- 
 sible at this time to write about anything else ; 
 and about this what more can now be said .' But 
 as both your wit supplies you (I speak forsooth as 
 I think), and your affection, by which my wit 
 likewise is sharpened ; continue as you do, and 
 write as much as you can. I am half angry that you 
 do not invite me to Epirus, where I should not be 
 a troublesome companion. But farewell. For as 
 you must exercise and anoint yourself', so I must 
 sleep ; which your letter enables me to doJ. 
 
 Balbus and Oppius to M. Cicero. 
 The counsels, not only of inconsiderable people, 
 as we are, but even of the greatest men, are apt to 
 be interpreted by the event, not by the intention. 
 Yet relying on your goodness, we give you the best 
 opinion we can upon the subject about which you 
 wrote to us. And if it be not wise, at least it pro- 
 ceeds from honest minds, and the kindest regards. 
 Unless we were assured from himself that Caesar 
 would do what in our judgment he ought to do ; 
 that as soon as he comes to Rome he will enter 
 upon measures of reconciliation with Pompeius ; 
 we should cease to exhort you to take a part in 
 this affair, in order that the whole may be effected 
 
 B That is, he will destroy everything. 
 
 l" Which leads to remaining at Rome, instead of desert- 
 ing one's country. 
 
 • This alludes to the treatment of his quartan fever, for 
 which Celsus likewise recommends walking and other 
 exercise, and anointings. " Amhulationibus uti oportet, 
 aliisque cxercitationibus, et unctionibus.' — Lib. iii. 14. 
 
 i Meaning that his mind had before been too much dis- 
 composed to allow him to sleep.
 
 T2G 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 nirire easily, and with more dignity, through you, 
 who are connected with both parties. On the 
 other hand, if we thought that Csesar would not 
 do so, but was desirous of engaging in war with 
 Porapeius ; we never would persuade you to bear 
 arms against one who has shown you the greatest 
 kindness ; as we have always entreated you not to 
 fight against Ca;sar. But still, since we arc rather 
 able to guess than to know what Caesar will do, 
 we can only say, that it does not appear suitable 
 to your dignity and known probity, being so 
 attached to both, to bear arms against either ; and 
 •we have no doubt but Ciesar will highly .approve 
 this, agreeably to his accustomed humanity. But, 
 if you wish it, we will write to Caesar, in order to 
 ascertain more certainly what he will do in this 
 affair J: from whom if we receive an answer, we 
 ■will immediately let you know our opinion ; and 
 promise you, that wc will advise what seems to us 
 most becoming your dignity, not what may be most 
 beneficial to Ciesar's cause : and this, we believe, 
 Caesar will approve, according to his indulgence 
 towards his friends. 
 
 Balbus to Cicero, Imperalor. 
 I HOPE you are well. After I had despatched 
 to you the joint letter with Oppius, I received one 
 from Cffisar, of which I inclose a copy. From 
 thence you may perceive how desirous he is of 
 peace and of reconciliation with Pompeius ; and 
 how far he is from all cruelty ; and I sincerely 
 rejoice, as I ought, that he entertains such sen- 
 timents. With respect to yourself, and your 
 integrity, and duty, I think, my Cicero, as you do, 
 that it is impossible your reputation and attach- 
 ment can permit you to bear arms against one 
 from whom you profess to have received such 
 kindness. That Ccesar will approve this I am 
 confident, from his distinguished humanity ; and I 
 know for certain that he will be abundantly satis- 
 fied with you, provided you take no part in the 
 war against him, and do not join his adversaries. 
 And he will not only deem this sufficient in one of 
 your high character; but, of his own accord, he 
 has given me leave to absent myself from the army, 
 that might have to act against Lentulus or Pom- 
 peius, to whom I am under great obligations : and 
 he said, that he should be satisfied if, when I was 
 called upon, I would undertake for him the busi- 
 ness relating to the city ; and that I was at liberty 
 to do the same for them''. Accordingly I am at 
 this time conducting and supporting Lentulus's 
 affairs at Rome ; and I maintain towards them my 
 duty, fidelity and gratitude. But, in truth, I con- 
 sider the hope of agreement to be now again cast 
 off, not entirely desperate ; since Caesar's disposi- 
 tion is such as we ought to desire. In this case I 
 think, if it meets with your approbation, that you 
 should write to him, and request from him a guard ; 
 as you did from Pompeius, with my approbation, 
 at the time of Milo's trial. I will engage, if I 
 know anything of Caesar, that he will sooner con- 
 sider your dignity than his own advantage. How 
 prudently I may advise you I know not ; but this 
 I know, that whatever I write to you, I write from 
 the purest affection and regard: for, so may I die 
 without prejudice to Caesar', as I esteem few 
 , J Of reconciliation with Pompeius. 
 
 ^ For Lentulus and Pompeius. 
 
 ' Tliis is a form of abjuration which becajne common 
 under the emperors.. 
 
 equally dear to me as yourself. When you have 
 come to any determination about this business™, 
 I wish you would write to me : for I am not a 
 little earnest that you should be able, as you desire, 
 to show your kindness towards both". And this I 
 trust you will do. Farewell. 
 
 Ccesar to Oppius and Cornelius'*. 
 I AM very glad that you express in your lettei* 
 how much you approve of what has been done at 
 Corfinium. I shall willingly adopt your advice ; 
 and the more so, because of my own accord I had 
 resolved to show every lenity, and to use my en- 
 deavours to conciliate Pompeius. Let us try by 
 these means if we can regain the affections of all 
 people, and render our victory lasting. Others, 
 from their cruelty, have not been able to avoid the 
 hatred of mankind, nor long to retain their victory; 
 except L. Sulla alone, whom I do not mean to 
 imitate. Let this be a new method of conquering, 
 to fortify ourselves with kindness and liberality. 
 How this may be done, some things occur to my 
 own mind, and many others may be found. To this 
 subject 1 request your attention. I have taken 
 Cn. Magius, Pompeius's prsefect. I accordingly 
 put in practice my own principle, and immediately 
 released him. Already two of Pompeius's praefects 
 of engineers have fallen into my power, and have 
 been released. If they are disposed to be grateful, 
 they should exhort Pompeius to prefer my friend- 
 ship to that of these people, who have always been 
 the worst enemies to him and to me ; by whose 
 artifices it has happened that the republic has come 
 into this condition. 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 
 While I was at dinner on the 14th, and it was 
 late, Statins brought me a short letter from you. 
 Respecting the inquiry you make about L. Torqua- 
 tus, not only Lucius, but Aulas also, is gone?, the 
 former several days ago. I am concerned for what 
 you mention about the assemblies of the Reatini, 
 that there should be any seeds of proscription in the 
 Sabine country. I had heard likewise i that many 
 senators were at Rome. Can you tell why they 
 ever left if? It is the general opinion in these 
 parts, rather from conjecture than from any mes- 
 sage, or letter, that Caesar will be at Formise the 
 22d of March. Here now should I like to have 
 that Minerva of Homer, who took the form of 
 Mentor, to whom I might say, " Mentor, how 
 shall I go; or how shall I accost him '^ ?'' Nothing 
 more difficult ever occurred to me. I think of it, 
 however ; and at least shall not, as sometimes hap- 
 pens, be taken by surprise. But take care of your 
 health, — for I think yesterday w-as your bad day. 
 
 ™ About entering upon negotiations for peace. 
 
 ° Caesar and Pompeius. ° Cornelius Balbuf. 
 
 P Gone to join Pompeius. 
 
 q The expression " likewise" probably refers to a previous 
 letter from Atticus, and me:ins that Cicero had heard thia 
 before he received Atticus's account. 
 
 r Insinuating that they went out to pay court to Caisar 
 on his return from Brundisium. 
 
 « The original is a verse taken from the beginning of 
 the 3d book of the Odyssey.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS, 
 
 727 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 I RECEIVED three letters from yon on the 16th. 
 They were dated the 12th, 13th, and 14th. I 
 shall, therefore, reply to them in their order. I 
 agree with you, that it is best to remain in Formi- 
 anum ; also about the passage by the Adriatic sea; 
 and, as I mentioned to you before, I will try if I 
 can get his consent to my taking no part in public 
 affairs. What you approve, that I told you I for- 
 get the precious conduct and errors of our friend, 
 it is even so. Nay, I remember not those very 
 circumstances which you mention of his miscon- 
 duct towards me. So much do I desire that my 
 gratitude for his kindness may overpower all sense 
 of his ill-treatment. Let us do then as you advise, 
 and recollect ourselves. For I philosophise as 
 soon as I get into the country ; and in my walks I do 
 not cease to meditate fipon the subjects I mentioned 
 to you '. But some of them are very difficult to 
 determine. Respecting the principal citizens, be 
 it as you please ; but you know that saying, 
 ** Dionysius in Corinth"." Titinius' son is with 
 Csesar. But what you seem to fear, that your ad- 
 vice may displease me ; this is so far from being 
 the case, that your opinion and your letters are the 
 only thing that give me pleasure. Therefore con- 
 tinue, as you profess, to write to me whatever 
 comes into your mind. Nothing can be more 
 acceptable to me. I come now to the next letter. 
 You are not rightly informed about the number of 
 Pompeius' soldiers. Clodia mentioned more by 
 one half. The story too about the ships that were 
 destroyed, is not true. When you commend the 
 consuls, I also commend their intentions, tliough I 
 blame their conduct : for owing to their dispersion, 
 the negotiation for peace is prevented, which 1 was 
 meditating. Accordingly, I have sent back to you 
 by Philotimus the treatise of Demetrius upon Con- 
 cord. I cannot doubt but a most destructive war 
 hangs over us, the first operation of which will 
 be felt in the want of provisions. Yet I am 
 vexed that I have no part in this war, not- 
 withstanding such a load of wickedness will 
 attend it ; for, whereas the not supporting a 
 parent is criminal ; our chiefs design to destroy 
 that most venerable and sacred parent, their coun- 
 try, by famine. And this I fear, not from conjec- 
 ture, but from the conversations at which I have 
 been present. All this fleet from Alexandria, Col- 
 chis, Tyre, Sidon, Aradus, Cyprus, Pamphylia, 
 Lycia, Rhodes, Chios, Byzantium, Lesbus, Smyrna, 
 Miletus, Cos, is collected for the purpose of inter- 
 cepting the supplies of Italy, and of occupying the 
 provinces from whence they are drawn. Then, in 
 what wrath will he" come ! especially against those 
 who wish best to their country ; as if he had been 
 deserted by those people whom in fact he deserted. 
 In my doubt therefore what 1 ought to do, my gra- 
 titude towards him has great weight. Were it not 
 for this, I should think it better to perish within 
 my country, than in saving my country to ruin it. 
 Respecting the northern parts '", I think with you: 
 
 I See the 4tli letter of tbis book. 
 
 » DionysiU3, from being an absohite monarch in Syra- 
 cuse, became a schoolmaster at Corinth. Hence this ex- 
 presfion seems to mean, that those who were once great 
 are liable to be strangely humbled. 
 
 ' Pompcius. 
 
 • The northern parts of Greece seem here to be in- 
 
 and fear that Epirus may suffer. But what place 
 in Greece do you suppose will escape being plun- 
 dered ? For he professes openly, and holds out to 
 his soldiers, that even in his bounties he will show 
 himself the superior. You very justly advise 
 me, when I see Caesar, not to address him with 
 over civility, but rather to maintain my dignity. 
 And so I shall certainly do. After our meeting, I 
 think of going to Arpinum ; for I would not ba 
 absent when he comes; nor should I like to be 
 running backwards and forwards on so wretched 
 a road. I hear, as you mention, that ]5ibulu8 
 arrived, and returned again the 11th. In the 
 third letter you say that you were expecting Philo- 
 timus. He left me on the lV)th. This w.as the 
 reason that the answer, which I wrote immediately 
 upon the receipt of your letter, was later in reach- 
 ing you. Respecting Domitius, I imagine, as you 
 say, that he is in Cossanum, and that his intention 
 is not known. That base and sordid man", who says 
 that the consular comitia may be held by the pra;tor, is 
 the same that he always was in the republic. This 
 is the real meaning of what Csesar writes in the 
 letter of which I sent you a copy ^, that he wishes 
 lo avail himself of mij adnice : well, suppose this 
 to be a general expression, ntT/ influencp, — this is 
 absurd; but I imagine he pretends this with regard 
 to some opinions of the senators : my dignitij, 
 meaning perhaps the opinion of one of consular 
 rank : at last comes my assistance in eijerything. 
 I began to suspect from your letter, that his inten- 
 tion was what I have hinted, or not very different. 
 For it is of great consequence to him that the 
 business should not come to an interregnum ''. If 
 the consuls are created by the praetor, he gains his 
 point. But in our augural books we read not only 
 that the consuls, but even the praetors, cannot law- 
 fully be created by a praetor, and that it never has 
 been done. In the case of consuls it is not allowed, 
 because a higher command cannot be instituted by 
 an inferior one : and in the case of preetors, 
 because they are elected as assistants to the consuls, 
 who are of superior authority. He will be very 
 likely to refer this to me, and not to rest satisfied 
 with the opinion of Galba, Scsevola, Cassius, An- 
 tonius". "Then may the wide earth gape to 
 receive me''." You see what a storm hangs over 
 me. I will send you the names of the senators 
 who have passed over, when I have ascertained 
 them. You are quite right about the supplies of 
 corn, which cannot possibly be managed without 
 subsidies "■' ; nor is it without reason that you fear 
 those who are about him, full of demands ; and 
 
 tended, among which was situated Atficus's proi>erty in 
 Epirus. 
 
 " It is not Itnown who is here meant. Some suppose it 
 to be Lepidus, who was at that time praetor. The whole 
 of this letter being in reply to those received from Atticus, 
 may naturally be expected to be obscure, by alluding to 
 persons and things there mentioned. 
 
 y Inserted after letter 6 of this book. 
 
 » In the absence of the consuls an interregnum used to 
 be created to hold the comitia. In this case Caesar would 
 not be secure of the consulship, which he hoped to obtain. 
 
 » It is to be supposed that these were augurs as well as 
 Cicero, and in Caesar's interests. It belonged to the augurs 
 to determine such cases. 
 
 b Taken from Homer. 
 
 c It would be necessary for Pompeius to raise money 
 by any means ; and his followers would be clamorous far 
 plunder.
 
 7-28 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 dread an iniquitous war. I should be glad to see 
 our friend Trebatius, thou£;li, as you say, he has no 
 hope of anything good. Press him to make haste: 
 for it will be convenient that he sliould come before 
 Caesar's arrival. Respecting Lanuinum, as soon as 
 I heard tliat Phameas was dead, 1 wislied, if tlicre 
 should over be a rejjublic, that one of my friends 
 mi^hc buy it. But of you, who are most especially 
 mine, I never thought. For I knew that you used 
 to incpiire at how many years' purchase, and what 
 is tlie productiveness of tlie soil ; and had seen your 
 book of accounts "' not only at Rome, but atDelos. 
 However, though it is very pretty, yet I should 
 value it lower than it was valued in the consulshij) 
 of Marcellinus, when I thought, on account of the 
 house which I then had at Antium, that those gar- 
 dens would be pleasanter to me, and less expensive, 
 than the refitting my villa at Tusculum. 1 offered 
 500 sestertia (4000/. ), through a surety to whom 
 he might surrender it, when it was to be sold at 
 Antium : but he would not accept it. Now how- 
 ever I imagine everything of that kind is lowered 
 on account of the scarcity of money. It will be 
 most convenient for me, or rather for us, if you 
 purchase it. Take care not to undervalue his ab- 
 surdities^. The place is exceedingly beautiful: 
 though I look upon all these things as already 
 devoted to destruction. I have answered your 
 three letters ; but am expecting others. For 
 hitherto it is your letters that have supported me. 
 Dated on the Liberalia '. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 I HAVE nothing to tell you ; for I have heard no 
 news, and I answered all your letters yesterday. 
 But while my anxiety not only deprives me of sleep, 
 but does not even suffer me to be awake without great 
 uneasiness, I have determined to write I know not 
 what, upon no particular subject, that I may, as it 
 were, converse with you ; in which alone I tind 
 consolation. I seem to have lost my reason from 
 the beginning ; and this one consideration vexes 
 me, that while Pompeius was sinking, or rather 
 rushing to destruction, I should not in all events 
 have accompanied him, like one of his troop. I 
 saw him on the 19th of January full of alarm ; and 
 from that day I perceived what course he would 
 take. He has never pleased me since, nor has he 
 ever ceased to commit one error after another. In 
 the mean time he has never written to me ; and 
 has thought of nothing but flight. In short, as in 
 affairs of love we are disgusted by a want of clean- 
 liness, of sense, or of delicacy ; so the baseness of 
 his flight, and his neglect, turned away my affec- 
 tion : for his conduct has been void of all merit, 
 that should induce me to join him. But now my 
 affection again rises up ; now I cannot bear to be 
 withouthim ; now neitherbooks, nor study, nor phi- 
 losophy, afford me any relief; so that, like Plato's 
 bird s, I look upon the sea day and night, and long 
 
 d In the original is digamma, the signification of which 
 is uncertain ; but tlie context leads to the interpretation I 
 have given. 
 
 e That is, the extravagant alterations which Phameas 
 had made. 
 
 ' The festival of Bacchus, which was celebrated the 18th 
 of March. 
 
 B Plato, wishing to get away from Dionysius the tyrant 
 
 to take my flight. I pay, I pay the penalty of my 
 folly : yet what folly have I committed .-' What 
 have I not done with due deliberation .' For, had 
 I no object besides flight, I might have fled with all 
 readiness ; but I shuddered at the idea of a cruel 
 and extensive war, of which ])eople do not yet see 
 the wretchedness. What threats are held out to 
 the towns ! and to good men by name ! and in 
 short to all who stay behind ! How often does he 
 repeat, "Sulla was able, sliall not I be able.'" 
 Besides, this stuck with me : Tarquinius acted ill, 
 who excited Porsena and Octavius Mamilius 
 against his country : Coriolanus most undutifully, 
 who solicited succour from the Volsci : Themis- 
 tocles nobly, who chose rather to die : and Hip- 
 pias, the son of Pisistratus, was branded with 
 infamy, who fell in the battle of Marathon bearing 
 arms against nis country. But Sulla, but Marius, 
 but Cinna, did well, perhaps even rightly ; yet 
 what could be more cruel, more destructive, than 
 their victory ■' A war of this kind I wished to 
 avoid ; and the more so, because I saw that still 
 greater cruelties were devised and prejiared. Should 
 I, whom some have called the preserver, the father of 
 that city, bring against it the forces of the Getae, 
 and Armenians, and Colchians .■' Should I bring 
 famine upon my fellow-citizens, ruin upon Italy ? 
 I considered that this '' man in the first place was 
 mortal ; then, that he might be destroyed in many 
 ways : but I thought the city, and people, ought, 
 as far as in us lies, to be preserved to immortality. 
 At the same time a certain hope presented itself to 
 me, that something might be agreed upon, rather 
 than that either the one should admit such a 
 degree of wickedness, or the other such a degree of 
 jHofligacy. Now the general concern is altered, 
 and my particular concern is altered with it. To 
 me, as it is expressed in one of your letters, 
 it seems as if the sun had fallen out of the 
 world. As they say of the sick, that while there 
 is life, there is hope ; so I, as long as Pompeius 
 was in Italy, did not cease to hope. This, this it 
 was that deceived me ; and, to speak the truth, 
 my age already declining from continual labours 
 towards a state of repose, soothed me with the 
 charm of domestic life. Now, though the attempt 
 be attended with danger, I certainly will attempt 
 to fly away from hence. I ought perhaps to have 
 done it sooner ; but the circumstances I have men- 
 tioned delayed me, and above all your authority. 
 For when 1 got to this place I opened the bundle of 
 your letters, which I have under my seal, and keep 
 with the greatest care. In one, that was dated 
 January 23, I find it thus: " But let us see what 
 Cnaeus does, and in what direction his designs 
 flow. If he should leave Italy, he will act altogether 
 wrong, and in my judgment inadvisedly ; and in 
 
 of Syracuse, compared himself to a bird longing to make 
 its escape. 
 
 h This is generally understood of Csesar ; I rather under- 
 stand it of Pompeius : the sense being, that Cicero was not 
 so to support Pompeius, who might die at any time, as to 
 ruin his country, which ought to be preserved for ever. 
 And this he gives as a reason for not immediately joining 
 Pompeius. lie besides still cherished hopes of peace ; and 
 that neither Pompeius would be so wicked as to destroy 
 his country, nor Caesar so profligate as to enslave it. But 
 now that thej' had thrown off the mask, and shown their 
 real intentions, and extinguished all idea of accommoda- 
 tion, the wliole state of affairs was changed, and CiceroV 
 duty changed likewise.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 7?/y 
 
 that case our plans must be changed." This you 
 write four days after I lift the city. Again, on the 
 25th of January : " Proviik-d our Cnteus does not 
 relinquish Italy as inadvisedly as he has relin- 
 quished the city." The same day you send a 
 second letter, in which you distinctly reply to my 
 questions. It is thus: " I come now to your 
 consultation. If Cnceus leaves Italy, I think you 
 should return to the city : for what end is there of 
 travelling about ?" This struck me forcibly, — and 
 I now see it to be even so, that a boundless war is 
 united with a wretched flight ; which you represent 
 as a travelling. There follows an oracular opinion 
 on the 27th of January : " If Pompeius remains 
 in Italy, and no agreement is made, I think there 
 will be a protracted war; but if he leaves Italy, I 
 apprehend that a war is prepared, which will here- 
 after be interminable." In this war I am oblig(^d 
 to be a partaker, a companion, and an assistaiit ; 
 a war interminable, and with fellow-citizens ! Then 
 on the 7th of February, when you began already to 
 hear more of Pompeius's design, you conclude one of 
 your letters in this manner : " I do not indeed ad- 
 vise, if Pompeius leaves Italy, that you should also 
 run away ; for you will do it with great risk, and 
 will not benefit the republic; which you may bene- 
 fit hereafter, if you remain." Who that had any 
 love for his country, or any public spirit, would 
 not be moved by such advice, upon the authority 
 of a prudent man and a friend ? Further, on the 
 11th of February, you again reply to my inquiries 
 thus : " What you ask me, whether I think pre- 
 tVrable, a flight in which I preserve my fidelity, 
 or a stay which must be relinquished? I certainly 
 think at present that a sudden departure and pre- 
 cipitate journey would be useless to Cnseu^ himself, 
 and hazardous to you : and 1 think it better thatyour 
 friends should be dispersed, and in places of obser- 
 vation : and in truth I think it disgraceful for us to 
 entertain any design of flight." This disgraceful 
 thing our friend Cnseus meditated two years ago ; 
 so long has his mind dwelt upon Sulla, and upon 
 proscriptions. Afterwards when, as I imagine, 
 you had written to me something in a more gene- 
 rous strain, and I had supposed some expressions 
 to mean that I should quit Italy ', you distinctly 
 reprobate this on the 14th of February : "I as- 
 sure you I never meant in any letter to express that 
 if Cnseus went out of Italy, you should go with 
 him ; or if I expressed it, I must have been, I do 
 not say an inconsistent man, but a mad man." In 
 another part of the same letter : *' Nothing is left 
 for him but flight ; but I by no means think, or 
 have ever thought, that it was your duty to accom- 
 pany him." But this whole consideration you un- 
 fold more particularly in a letter dated the I'ith of 
 February: " If M. Lepidus and L. Volcatius 
 remain, I think you ought to remain ; yet so, that 
 if Pompeius is in safety and makes a stand any- 
 where, you may leave this ghastly troop J, and 
 rather suff"er youFself to be defeated in battle with 
 Pompeius, than reign with Ceesar among that rab- 
 ble, to which it is evident they will be reduced " 
 You then use many arguments in support of this 
 opinion ; and in conclusion you say, " What if 
 Lepidus and Volcatius go away ? I am completely 
 at a loss : and whatever happens therefore, and 
 whatever you do, I shall think that we ought to be 
 
 « See book viii. letter 2. 
 
 J Caesar's profligate adherents. See letter 18 of this book» 
 
 satisfied with it." If you then doubted, now at 
 least you do not doubt, as they remain. Then, at 
 the very time of his flight, February '2.j : " In the 
 mean time I do not doubt but you will remain ia 
 Formianum ; for you can there with most conve- 
 nience wait for what may happen." On the 1st of 
 March, when he had already been four days at 
 IJrundisium: "We shall then be able to deliberate, 
 while the cause is not indeed whole and entire, but 
 certainly less infringed, than if you threw yourself 
 away with him." Again, March 4, when your 
 ague was coming on, in consequence of which you 
 wrote very briefly, you add however : " To-morrow 
 I will write more, and reply to all your observa- 
 tions : so much however I will say, that I do not 
 repent of the advice I gave about your stay ; and, 
 though it must he attended with great anxiety, yet 
 as I think it less objectionable than your going, I 
 continue in the same opinion, and am glad that you 
 have remained." But when I was uneasy, and 
 afraid lest I might have acted unbecomingly ; on the 
 3d of March you say, "Nevertheless, I am not sorry 
 that you are not with Pompeius. Hereafter, if 
 there is occasion, it will not be difficult ; and when- 
 ever it is done, it will be very gratifying to him. 
 But I must add, that if Csesar goes on to act, as he 
 has begun, with candour, moderation, and prudence, 
 I shall think again, and consider more deliberately 
 what is best to be done." On the 9th of March 
 you write also that our friend Peduceus approves of 
 my remaining quiet ; and his opinion has great 
 weight with me. With these letters of yours I 
 comfort myself by thinking that hitherto I have 
 not done wrong. Do you only defend your own 
 opinion. With regard to myself it is unnecessary; 
 but I want to have others know it. If only I have 
 not erred, I will take care of the rest. Let me 
 have your encouragement, and assist me altogether 
 with your judgment. Here nothing is yet heard 
 about Cgesar's return. So much at least I have 
 gained by this letter, that I have read over all 
 yours, and in so doing have found consolation. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 You know our friend Lentulus is at Puteoli. 
 Upon hearing this from a passenger, who said that 
 he recognised him on the Appian road, where he 
 was traveUing in a litter partly opened ; however 
 improbable it might be, yet I sent a servant to Pu- 
 teoli to ascertain the fact, and sent a letter to him. 
 He found him just secluding himself in his villa, 
 from whence he wrote back to me full of gratitude 
 to Csesar, and saying that he had delivered to C. 
 Ccecius instructions for me about his future plans : 
 him I expect to-day, that is, the 20th of March. 
 Matius also came to me the 19th, — a man, as he 
 has appeared to me, temperate and prudent ; and 
 has always been supposed to be in favour of peace. 
 How much he seemed to disapprove these proceed- 
 ings ! How much to dread that ghastly troop, a» 
 you call them ! In a long conversation which I 
 had with him, I showed him Cffisar's letter to me, 
 of which I before sent you a copy, and asked him 
 to explain to me what it was he meant by saying 
 that he wished to avail himself of my advice, my 
 influence, my dignity, my assistance in everything''. 
 
 k See letter 9 of this book.
 
 730 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 He replied, that he had no doubt he wanted my assist- 
 ance and influence to promote an accommodation. 
 Woukl that it were possible for me to effect, or 
 help forward, any measure of public utility in this 
 wretched state of the country ! Matius likewise 
 was persuaded thathe was so disposed, and promised 
 that he would himself advise it. Yesterday Cras- 
 sipes was with me, who said that he had come from 
 Brundisium the Gth of March, and had left Pom- 
 peius there ; which was the report also of those 
 who had come from thence on the 8th. And 
 all agreed (amongst whom was Crassipes also, who 
 would listen with more prudence ') that they used 
 threatening language, unfriendly towards the prin- 
 cipal citizens, hostile to tlip towns, mere proscrip- 
 tions, mere Sullas" : that Lucceius, that all Greece, 
 that Theophanes also, talked in this manner. Yet 
 in these people is all our hope of safety ; and I 
 watch in my mind, and take no rest, and in order 
 to avoid the calamities at home, am wishing to be 
 ■with persons most unlike myself. For what 
 excess do you suppose Scipio, and Faustus, and 
 Libo°, will not commit ; whose creditors are 
 said to be meeting"? And, if they are successful, 
 how will they harass the citizens ! But what dis- 
 tant views do they relate of our Cnseus ? that he 
 thinks of going to Egypt, and Arabia, and Meso- 
 potamia, and has laid aside all idea of Spain. 
 Such stories are monstrous ; but perhaps they are 
 not true. Assuredly things are both ruinous here, 
 and there by no means well disposed. I am 
 already wishing to hear from you. Since my retreat 
 from the city, there has never been on my part 
 any interruption of our correspondence. I send 
 you a copy of my letter to Csesar, by which I hope 
 to produce some effect. 
 
 Cicero, Imperator, to Ccesar, Imperator. 
 
 Upon reading your letter p, which I received by 
 any friend Fumius, relative to my being in the city, I 
 was not so much surprised at your wishing to avail 
 yourself of my advice, and dignity ; but I asked 
 myself what you meant by my influence and assist- 
 ance. And I was led by my hopes to this conclu- 
 sion ; that agreeably to your admirable and singular 
 prudence, I supposed you might wish some steps 
 to be taken for the tranquillity, the peace, the 
 ■anion of the citizens : and for that purpose I 
 thought my character and person sufficiently 
 suited. Which if it be so, and if you are touched 
 with any regard for protecting myfriend Pompeius, 
 and reconciling him with yourself and the republic, 
 you will indeed find nobody more ready than I am 
 in such a cause; having always been to him, and 
 to the senate, as soon as I could, the counsellor of 
 peace. Nor have I by taking up arms had any 
 part in the war ; but have thought that you were 
 injured in it, and that unfriendly and envious per- 
 sons were resisting the honour i which had been 
 
 1 There is some obscurity, and perhaps some error, in 
 the text. 
 
 ■n This is represented as the disposition of Pompeius's 
 ,party, of whom Lucceius and Theophanes were principal 
 advisers. 
 
 n These ■\vere of Pompeius's party. 
 
 <> To make a sale of their goods. 
 
 P Tlie letter alluded to is subjoined to letter 6 of this book. 
 
 q The power of being eligible to the consulship without 
 ■coming to Rome and laying down his command. 
 
 granted you by the favour of the Roman people. 
 But as at that time I not only supported your 
 dignity, but also got others to assist you ; so now 
 am I greatly interested for the dignity of Pompeius. 
 It is now some years since I selected you two, 
 whom I might particularly cultivate, and with 
 whom I might be, as I am, in the strictest friend- 
 ship. I therefore request of you, or rather I beg 
 and entreat you with all earnestness, that among 
 your great cares you would allot some time also to 
 this consideration, that by your favour I may be 
 enabled to sustain the part of a good man, grateful 
 and dutiful in the remembrance of the greatest 
 benefits''. If this concerned myself only, I should 
 nevertheless hope to obtain it from you ; but, as I 
 conceive, it concerns both your own plighted faith, 
 and the republic, that out of a few I should be 
 reserved by your means, as one particularly suited 
 to renew the harmony of you two, and of the 
 citizens. Though I have before thanked you on 
 account of Lentulus, whom you have saved, as he 
 did me; yet upon reading the letter, which he 
 wrote to me full of gratitude for your liberality 
 and kindness ^, I considered myself to haye 
 recei^fred from you the same benefit you have con- 
 ferred upon him. If then you perceive that I am 
 grateful towards him, give me the power of being 
 so likewise towards Pompeius '. 
 
 LETTER XI » 
 
 I AM not sorry for what you say about my 
 letter ^ being made public ; and have even myself 
 allowed several people to take copies of it. For 
 after what has happened, and still threatens us, I 
 should be well pleased to have my sentiments 
 recorded concerning a peace. But in recommend- 
 ing this, especially to such a man, I thought there 
 was no readier means of moving him, than by 
 affirming that the measure, to which I exhorted 
 him, was worthy of his prudence. And if I have 
 spoken of his prudence in terms of admiration 
 while I was calling upon him to save his country, 
 I am not afraid of appearing to flatter a man, at 
 whose feet I would willingly have thrown myself in 
 such a cause. But where it is said, that you would 
 allot some time ; this is not that he should consider 
 about peace ; but about me, and my duty ^^. For 
 when I affirm that I have not engaged in the 
 war, although it is evident from the fact, yet I 
 added it for the purpose of giving weight to my per- 
 suasion. And it is with the same view that 1 
 approve his cause. But why is this brought for- 
 ward now.'' Would that any good had followed ! 
 Nay, I should be glad to have my letter read in the 
 public assembly; since Pompeius himself made 
 public his own letter to him, in which he says, for 
 your most distinguished c onduct^. More distin- 
 
 "■ Pompeius and Lentulus, of whom he speaks soon 
 after, were instrumental in procuring Cicero's recal from 
 banishment. 
 
 ' Lentulus had been captured at Corfinium, and imme- 
 diately liberated by Caesar. 
 
 ' By not being obliged to assist in any measures against 
 him. 
 
 " This, which ought obviously to follow Cicero's letter 
 to Csesar, is taken from the beginning of book viii. letter 9, 
 
 » To Cssar. The preceding letter of this edition. 
 
 w The duty he owed to Pompeius. 
 
 X See book vii. letter 26.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 731 
 
 g^ished than his own ? than that of Africanus ? 
 Such was the current of the times. Even you two'', 
 so respected, go to meet him at the fifth mile-stone. 
 What ? to meet him on his return from whence ? 
 doing what .' or purposing to do what ? With wliat 
 additional spirit will he trust in his cause, when 
 he sees you, and others like you, greeting him not 
 only with their numbers, but with cheerful looks ? 
 Are we then to blame ^ ? I do not mean at all 
 to accuse you : but the marks which sliould dis- 
 tinguish real good-will from mere pretence are 
 strangely confounded. But what decrees of the 
 senate do I foresee ? I am speaking however more 
 openly than I had intended. I mean to be at Arpi- 
 num the last day of the month, and thence to visit 
 my several villas, which I despair of seeing after- 
 wards. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 While I was reading your letter on the 20tli of 
 March, I received one from Lepta, informing me 
 that Podpeius was surrounded, and that even the 
 passage out of the harbour was occupied with rafts. 
 1 cannot bear to think or write the rest for weep- 
 ing. I send you a copy of it. Wretched as we 
 are ! why did we not all follow his destiny ? The 
 same intelligence is brought from Matius and Tre- 
 batius, who met with Caesar's messengers at Min- 
 turnoe. I am distracted with grief, and already 
 envy the fiite of Mucius ^. But how honourable, 
 how clear are your counsels ! how well considered, 
 respecting my journey by land, my passage by sea, 
 my meeting and conversation with Caesar ! All is 
 at once honourable and cautious. And how kind, 
 how generous, how brotherly, is your invitation to 
 Epirus ! I am surprised about Dionysius, who 
 was treated by me with more honour than Panae- 
 tius was by Scipio, and yet has most foully insulted 
 this present state of my fortune. I hate the man, 
 and will hate him, and wish I could punish him; 
 but his own humour will punish him sufl5ciently. 
 Now especially I beg you to consider what I ought 
 to do. An army of the Roman people invests Cn. 
 Pompeius ! keeps him inclosed with a trench and 
 rampart ! prevents his escape ! Do I live ^ And 
 is the city standing ? Do the praetors continue to 
 pronounce judgment.' Do the aediles prepare the 
 public games ? Do substantial men continue to 
 register their interest.' And*" do I myself sit idle? 
 Should I madly endeavour to go thither, to implore 
 the faith of the towns .' The honest will not fol- 
 low me ; the inconsiderate will laugh at me ; and 
 those who are eager for a change, especially being 
 armed and victorious, will use violence, and lay 
 hands upon me. What think you then? Have 
 you any counsel for the remains of this wretched 
 life ? I am grieved, and vexed ; while some think 
 me prudent, or fortunate, in not having gone with 
 him. But I think otherwise. For though I never 
 
 y Perhaps Atticus and Sext. Peduceus. See book vii. 
 letter 13. 
 
 » This appears to be asked as by Atticus and Peduceus. 
 
 « Q.. Mucius Scaevola was killed in a former civil war by 
 order of Marius. This is before alluded to. See book viii. 
 letter 3. 
 
 b That is, do things go on as usual ? or are not all orders 
 of men eager to vindicate the country from such mon- 
 strous proceedings? Not unlike to this is that of Catullus, 
 " Quid eet CatuUe, quid moraris emori 1 " 
 
 wished to be his companion in victory, I should 
 desire to be so in adversity. Why should I now 
 request your letters, your prudence, or kindness ? 
 The thing is over. Nothing can now help me, who 
 have not even anything left to wish for, but that he 
 may be delivered by some compassion of the enemy"^. 
 I suspect that the account of the rafts is not true. 
 Else what is it that Dolabella means in this letter, 
 which he sent from Brundisium the 1 3th of March, 
 calling it the good fortune of Caesar, that Pompeius 
 should be on his flight ; and that he would sail with 
 the first wind ? which is very different from those 
 letters, of which I before sent you copies. Here 
 they talk of mere cruelties. But there is no later 
 or better authority than that of Dolabella. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 I RECEIVED your letter on the 22d, in which you 
 defer all counsel to that time when we shall have 
 learned what has been done. In truth so it must 
 be ; nor in the interval can anything be determined, 
 or even planned ; although the recent letter of 
 Dolabella encourages me to resume my former 
 considerations : for, on the 18th there was a favour- 
 able wind, of which I suppose he would take ad- 
 vantage. The collection of your'' opinions was 
 not brought together for the sake of lamentation, 
 but rather for my consolation. For I was not so 
 much distressed with these calamities, as with the 
 suspicion of my own fault, or folly : these thoughts I 
 now dismiss, since my conduct and counsels have 
 the sanction of your judgment. When you say 
 that my being under such great obligations to him, 
 is more a matter of acknowledgement on my part 
 than of desert on his ; it is so. I have always 
 extolled to the utmost what he did ; and the more, 
 that he might not suppose I harboured the remem- 
 brance of what had passed before '. Which how- 
 ever well I may remember, yet now it becomes me 
 to follow the pattern of his conduct at that time '. 
 He gave me no assistance when it was in his 
 power ; and afterward he became friendly, indeed 
 extremely so, from what reason I know not. I 
 will therefore do the same to him. Moreover, this 
 is alike in both of us, that we have been led 
 into error by the very same people s. I only wish 
 I were able to assist him as much as he was able 
 to assist me. What he did however is most grate- 
 ful to me. But I neither know in what manner I 
 can now help him ; nor, if I could, should I think 
 it right to do so while he is preparing such a 
 deadly war. I would only avoid giving him offence 
 by staying here. I can neither bear to see what 
 you may already anticipate in your mind, nor to 
 
 c Cicero probably received Dolabella's letter subsequently 
 to his wi-iting the above. This may, perhaps, be intimated 
 by the expression his Uteris, which I have therefore en- 
 deavoured to preserve in the translation : the letter, or a 
 copy of it, might have been inclosed. 
 
 d See letter 10 of this book. 
 
 e ■\\1ien Pompeius did not exert himself as he might, to 
 prevent Cicero's banishment. 
 
 f When, after neglecting Cicero's interests in the first 
 instance, he afterwards was active in his recal, as he goes 
 on to explain. 
 
 g Meaning probably Bibulus, Lucceius, and others, who 
 had formerly been envious and jealous of Cicero, [see book 
 iv. letter 5,] and had more recently led on Pompeius to hifl 
 present fortune, and then deserted him.
 
 732 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 take a jiart in those calamities. I have been the 
 slower in removing, because it is difficult to make 
 up one's mind to a voluntary departure without 
 any hope of returning. For I perceive that Ciesar 
 is so well provided with infantry, with cavalry, 
 ■with fleets, with auxiliaries from Gaul ; which lat- 
 ter Matins, a little ostentatiously I suspect, but 
 certainly, estimated at 10,000 foot and COOO horse, 
 to be furnished at their own expense for ten years: 
 but. supposing this to be an exaggeration, he has 
 certainly great forces ; and he will have for their 
 sujjport, not subsidies, like Ponipeius'', but the 
 property of the citizens. Add to this the con- 
 fidence of the man ; add the weakness of all tiiose 
 attached to the republic ; who, because they think 
 Pompeius may with reason be angry with them, 
 therefore hate the game, as you call it ; would it 
 were such ! You say too that one had observed, 
 "That fellow sits idle," because be had professed 
 more than he performed"; and generally those who 
 once loved him, love him no longer ; but the towns 
 and country people are afraid of him, and hitherto 
 are fond of Caesar : from all this, I say, he is so 
 ■well provided, that even if he should not be able 
 to conquer, yet how he can himself be conquered 
 I do not see. But I fear no fascinationJ from this 
 man so much a* the persuasion of necessity. 
 " For you must know," says Plato, " that the re- 
 quests of tyrants arc blended with necessity." I 
 seeyou donot approveofthoseplaces which have no 
 hai'bour ; and indeed they did not please me ; but I 
 could be there without obser.vation, and with a 
 trusty attendance ; which if I could have at Brun- 
 disium, I should like it better. But there it is 
 impossible to be concealed. But, as you say, when 
 we shall have learned''. I am not anxious to 
 exculpate myself to your good men. For what 
 dinners does Sextus inform me they are giving and 
 receiving ! How luxurious ! How joyous ! But 
 be these people as good as they may, they are not 
 better than ourselves : they might move me if they 
 had more courage '. I was mistaken about Pha- 
 meas's Lanuinum " ; I was dreaming of his Tro- 
 janum. It was for that I offered 500 sestertia 
 (4000/.) But the other is worth more. I should 
 •wish however that you might buy it, if I saw any 
 hope of enjoying it. What strange things are 
 daily reported, you will know from the note " in- 
 closed in my letter. Our friend Lentulus is at 
 Puteoli pining with grief, as Csecius relates. What 
 should he do.' He dreads a repetition of the dis- 
 grace of Corfinium : he now thinks he has done 
 enough for Pompeius, and is moved by Caesar's 
 kindness ; but yet is more moved by the actual 
 state of affairs. Can you bear th is ? Everything 
 
 ^ See letter !) of this book. 
 
 ' Igivethis translation of an obscure, and perhaps faulty, 
 passage, not witliout great hesitation. I propose to point 
 the latin thus : " Oderunt, ut tu scribis, ludum ; ac vel- 
 lem.' Scribis quisnam hie significasset, Sedet iste ; quia 
 plus ostenderat, quam fecit." 
 
 i Cicero here employs a Greek -word, which is probably 
 copied from an expression of Atticus, to ■which this is 
 meant as a reply. 
 
 ^ This refers to what is said in the beginning of this 
 letter. 
 
 ' If they showed more courage in support of the re- 
 public. 
 
 ™ See letter 9 of this book. 
 
 ° Perhaps this may mean Lepta's report, which Cicero 
 had sent to Atticus with the preceding letter. 
 
 is wretched, but nothing more wretched than this; 
 that Pompeiiis has sent M. Magius to propose con- 
 ditions of peace, and is yet besieged, which I did 
 not at first believe; but I have received a letter- 
 from BalbiLS, of which I send you a copy. Read 
 it, I beseech you, and that paragraph of Balbus 
 himself, the excellent Balbus " ! to whom our friend 
 CiuEus gave a piece of ground to erect a villa ; 
 whom he often distinguished by a ])reference to any 
 of us. So, he is sadly distressed! But that you 
 may not have to read the same thing twice, I refer 
 you to the letter itself. As to any hojie of peace, 
 I have none. Dolabella, in his letter of March 15, 
 speaks of nothing but war. I must remain tiien in 
 tliat sam(^ wretched and desperate determination p, 
 since nothing can be more wretched than this i. 
 
 Balbus to Cicero, Imperator. 
 T HAVE received a short letter from Casar, of 
 ■which I subjoin a copy. By the shortness of it 
 you may judge how greatly he is occupied, who 
 writes so briefly upon so important a subject. If 
 tl>ere should be any further news, I will immedi- 
 ately write to you. 
 
 " CcBsar to Oppius, and to Cornelius'. 
 
 " I ARRIVED at Brundisium the 9th of March. 
 I pitched my camp close to tlie wall. Pompeius is 
 in Brundisium. He has sent M. Magius to me to 
 treat of peace. I made such reply as seemed 
 proper. This I wished you immediately to know. 
 When I entertain hope of accomplishing anything 
 towards an agreement, I will immediately inform 
 you." 
 
 How do you imagine, my Cicero, that I am now 
 distressed, after being again brought to have some 
 hope of peace, lest anything should prevent their 
 agreement? For, in my absence all I can do is to 
 wish. If I were there, I might perhaps seem tobe- 
 of some use. Now I am in a cruel state of ex- 
 pectation. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 I SENT you on the 24th a copy of Balbus's let- 
 ter to me, and of Caesar's to him ; and the very 
 same day I received one from Q. Pedius at Capua, 
 informing me that Csesar had written to him the 
 14th of March in the following terms. " Pompeius 
 keeps within the town. We are encamped before 
 the gates. We are attempting a great work, which 
 must occupy many days on account of the depth of 
 the sea ; but there is nothing better to be done : 
 we are constructing piers from each extremity of 
 the port, so as either to oblige him to transport 
 immediately the forces he has at Brundisium, or to 
 prevent him from getting out." Where is the 
 peace, about which Balbus professed himself to be 
 so distressed .' Can anything be more bitter ? 
 anything more cruel .' And some confidently relate 
 that he talks of avenging the sufferings of Cn» 
 Carbo, and M. Brutus ^, and of all those who had 
 felt the cruelty of Sulla while Pompeius was his- 
 
 » This is said ironically. P To pass over to Pompeius. 
 1 The remaining in Italy a witness to the ruin of the 
 state, and to the pretences of false friends, 
 r Cornelius Balbus. 
 ' They had been put to death by Pompeius.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 (33 
 
 associate : that Curio under hi^ command did 
 notliiii<!; which Pompeius had not done under the 
 command of Sulla : that to serve his own views he 
 had recalled those only, who by the former laws ' 
 were not liable to banishment ; but that Pompeius 
 had recalled from exile the very traitors to their 
 country : that he complained of Milo's being 
 driven out by violence" : that, however, he should 
 punish nobody but those wlio were found in arms. 
 This was contradicted by one Baebius who came 
 from Curio on the l.Hth, a man not without some 
 eloquence ; but who may not say so to anybody " ? 
 I am quite at a loss what to do. I imagine Cnaeus 
 is now gone from thence. What is really the case, 
 we must know in two days' time. I have heard 
 notliing from you, nor is Aiiteros"' arrived, who 
 might bring a letter from you. But it is no won- 
 der ; for wliat can we write .' Nevertheless I omit 
 no day. 
 
 After I had finished my letter, I received one, 
 before it was light, from Lepta at Capua, informing 
 me that Pompeius had embarked from Brundisium 
 tlie loth of March; and that Caesar was to beat 
 Capua the 2Cth. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 After I had sent my letter to inform you that 
 Csesar was to be at Capua on the ■26th, I received one 
 from Capua, saying that he would be with Curio in 
 Albaoum the 28th. As soon as I have seen him I 
 shall go to Arpinum. If he grants me the per- 
 mission I ask. I shall accede to his terms ; if not, I 
 shall make terms for myself*^. He has, as he wrote 
 to me, placed single legions at Brundisium, Ta- 
 rentum, and Sipontum. He seems to be closing 
 up the passages by sea ; and yet himself to look 
 rather to Greece than to Spain. But these are 
 more distant considerations. At present I am 
 worried with the idea of meeting him ; for he is 
 just here, and I dread his first steps. For I imagine 
 he will want a decree of the senate, he will want a 
 warrant of the augurs (and I shall be hurried 
 away >', or shall be exposed to great vexation if I 
 absent myself), either for the praetor to propose the 
 consuls, or to nominate a dictator : neither of 
 which is consistent with law. But if Sulla could 
 procure his own appointment to the dictatorship 
 by an interrex, why may not Caesar ? I cannot 
 resolve the difficulty, unless by suffering under the 
 one the punishment of Q.. Mucins, or under the 
 other that of L. Scipio '. By the time you read 
 this, our interview wall perhaps have taken place — 
 "Bear up, my heart, you have borne a severer 
 
 t Previous to those made by Portipeius. See book x. 
 letter 4. 
 
 u At the time of Milo's trial the forum had been occu- 
 pied by armed men under the direction of Pompeius. 
 
 " This seems to be the most obvious interpretntion of the 
 text, which has been variously understood. 
 
 w One of Atticus's frecd-men. 
 
 * The meaning is, that if Cssar did not accede to the 
 proposal of Cicero's absenting himself when any business 
 ■was agitated against Pompeius, he should, without leave, 
 retire from Italy. 
 
 y Shall be obliged to go to Rome, as a senator and augur 
 to assist at these measures. 
 
 ^ In the time of the former civil wars, Q. Mucins had 
 been put to death by Marius, L. Scipio proscribed by 
 Sulla. 
 
 trial "."' No, not that which was peculiarly ray 
 own. For then there was hope of an early return ; 
 there was a general complaint : now I am anxious 
 to get away, and any idea of returning never enters 
 my mind. Besides, there is not only no complaint 
 among the provincial towns, and country people ; 
 but on the contrary they fear Pompeius, as cruel 
 and exasperated. Yet nothing is to me a greatet 
 source of sorrow than that 1 should have remained; 
 nor anything which T more desire, than to fly away ; 
 not so much to be the companion of his warfare, 
 as of his flight. You deferred giving any opinion 
 till such time as we should know what had been 
 done at Brundisium. Now then we know, never- 
 theless my doubts continue. For I can scarcely 
 hope that he will grant me the permission I want, 
 though I produce many just reasons for it. But I 
 will immediately send you an exact account of all 
 tliat passes between us. Do you strive with all 
 affection to assist me with your care and prudence. 
 He comes so soon, that 1 sliall not be able even to 
 see Trebatius '', as I had appointed. Everything 
 must be done without preparation. But as Mentor 
 says to Telemachus, — " You would provide one 
 thing, but the Deity provides another." Whatever 
 I do, you shall immediately know it. As for any 
 despatches from Caesar to the consuls and to Pom- 
 peius, about which you ask, I have none. What 
 yEgypta brought, I sent to you before on my way 
 hither ; from which I think the despatches may be 
 understood. Philippus is at Naples, Lentulus at 
 Puteoli ; respecting Domitius continue to inquire, 
 as you do, where he is, and what are his inten- 
 tions. When you say that I have expressed my- 
 self about Dionysius with more asperity than is 
 consistent with my disposition, you must know 
 that I am one of the old school, and imagined you 
 would feel this insult with more indignation than 
 myself. For besides that I thought you ought 
 to be moved at the ill-treatment I might have re- 
 ceived from anybody, this man has in some mea- 
 sure injured j'ou also by his misconduct towards 
 me. But how much you value this I leave to your 
 own judgment ; nor in this do I wish to impose 
 any burden upon you. For my own part, I always 
 thought him a little crazy ; but new I also think 
 him disingenuous, and wicked ; yet not more ar: 
 enemy to me than to himself. You have been 
 properly careful towards Philargyrus ; you cer- 
 tainly had a just and good cause ; that 1 was myself 
 deserted, rather than that I deserted him <^. After 
 I had dehvered my letter, on the 25th, the servant, 
 whom I had sent to Trebatius also, as well as to 
 Matins, brought back a letter, of which the fol- 
 lowing is a copy. 
 
 Matins and Trebatius to Cicero, Imperator. 
 
 After we had left Capua, we heard on our road 
 that Pompeius had gone from Brundisium the 17th 
 of March with all his troops ; that Caesar had 
 
 a The original is taken from Homer. Cicero applies it 
 to his former sufferings in his banishment. 
 
 b So I read it, agreeably to letter 9 of this book, wherein 
 Cicero expressed his wish to see Trebatius before Csesar'a 
 arrival. 
 
 <= This probably means Dionysius, on whose subject 
 Atticus might have spoken to Philargyrus in exculpation 
 of Cicero's conduct towards him. It is uncertain if this 
 Dionysius be the same that is represented to have run off
 
 7-4 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 entered into the town the day following, and, having 
 harangued the people, had jjroeeeded from thence 
 towards Rome, and hoped to be in the city before 
 the first of April, and then, after staying there a 
 few days, to set out for Spain. We have thought 
 it advisable, having for certain this account of 
 Cwsar's motions, to send your servant back, that 
 you might know it as soon as possible. We will 
 attend to your instructions, and execute them as 
 oeea.sion re(|uires. Trebatius Scsevola hopes to be 
 ■with you in time''. 
 
 Since writing our letter we have been told that 
 Caesar means to pass the 2.5th of March at tSene- 
 ventum, the 2Gth at Capua, tlie 27th at Sinuessa. 
 We believe this maj be depended upon. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 Though I have nothing particular to tell you, 
 yet, not to omit any day, I send tliis letter. They 
 say that Csesar will stop on the 27th at Sinuessa. 
 1 received a letter from him the 2Gtli, in vihich he 
 now expects every kind of assistance from me, not 
 simply my assistance, as in his former letter. 
 Upon my writing to commend his clemency in the 
 affair of Corfinium, he replied in the following 
 terms : — 
 
 CcBsar, Imperator, to Cicero, Irnperator. 
 You rightly conceive of me (for I am well known 
 to you) that nothing can be further from my dis- 
 position than cruelty. And while I have great 
 pleasure in the transaction itself, I rejoice with 
 triumph that what I have done meets with your 
 approbation. Nor does it disturb me that those 
 whom I have set at liberty are said to have gone 
 away in order again to make war upon me ; for I 
 wish nothing more than that I should be like my- 
 self, and they like themselves. I should be glad 
 to have you in the city, that on all occasions I may 
 avail myself of your advice and every kind of 
 assistance, as I have been used to do. Let me assure 
 you that nothing can be more agreeable to me than 
 your Dolabella. To him accordingly I shall owe 
 this favour* ; for he cannot do otherwise, such is 
 his kindness, his feeling, and his affection towards 
 me. 
 
 LETTER XVIL 
 
 I WRITE this on the 28th, on which day I expect 
 Trebatius. From his report, and from Matius's 
 letter, I shall consider how I am to regulate my 
 conversation with him '. O sad time : And I have 
 no doubt but he will press me to go to the city ; 
 for he has ordered it to be publicly announced even 
 at Formiae, that he wishes to have a full attendance 
 of the senate on the first of April. Must I then 
 refuse him ? But why anticipate ? I will imme- 
 diately write you an account of everything. From 
 what passes between us I shall determine whether 
 I should go to Arpinum or elsewhere. I wish to 
 invest my young Cicero with the manly robe «, and 
 
 with some valuable books from Cicero's library. — Ep. 
 Fam. xiii. 77- 
 
 <* Before Csesar's arrivaL 
 
 e Of persuading Cicero to go to Rome. 
 
 ' CiEsar. 
 
 9 Tliis was usually done at tho age of seventeen. 
 
 T think of doing it there. Consider, I beg you, 
 what course I Bhould take afterwards ; for anxiety 
 has made me stujtid. I should be glad to know if 
 you have received from Curius any account ot 
 Tiro*". For Tiro himself has written to me in such 
 a nianner as makes me fearful how he may be ; and 
 those who come from thence only say so much, 
 that he is going on well'. In tlie midst of great 
 cares this also troubles me ; for in this state of 
 things his assistance and fidelity would be extrcmsly 
 useful. 
 
 LETTER XVIIL 
 
 I HAVE done both according to your advice; 
 having ordered my discourse so that he should 
 rather think well of me than thank me J; and 
 having adhered to my intention of not going to the 
 city. I was mistaken in supposing that he would 
 easily be persuaded : I never knew anybody less 
 so. He said that he stood condemned by my 
 resolution ; and that others would be slower to 
 comply, if I refused to attend. I replied, that 
 their case was different from mine''. After a good 
 deal of discussion, " Come, then," said he, " and 
 propose terms of peace." "At my own discretion," 
 said I. " Have I," said he, "any right to pre- 
 scribe to you?" "This," I replied, " is what I 
 shall propose : that it is not agreeable to the 
 senate that troops should be sent to Spain, or that 
 an army should be transported into Greece ; and 
 I shall lament at some length the situation of 
 Pompeius." Then he — " But I do not Uke that to 
 be said." "So I supposed," said I; "and for 
 that reason I vpish to absent myself; because I 
 must either say this, and much more which it will 
 be impossible for me to withhold if I am there; 
 or else I must stay away." The conclusion was, 
 that, as if he wished to get rid of the subject, he 
 desired I would consider of it. This I could not 
 refuse. So we parted. I imagine he was not 
 much pleased with me ; but I am pleased with my- 
 self, which I have not been for some time past. 
 As for the rest, O gods, what an attendance 1 Or, 
 as you used to say, what a ghastly troop ! Among 
 whom was the Eros' of Celer. O ruinous state ! 
 O desperate forces ! What think you of Servius' 
 son ? and Titinius's ? How many have been in that 
 very camp, by which Pompeius was besieged 1 Six 
 legions ! He is himself extremely vigilant and 
 daring. I see no end of evil. Now at least you 
 must deliver your opinion. What I have mentioned 
 was the last thing that passed between us ; yet his 
 winding up, which I had almost omitted, was 
 ungracious ; that if he was not permitted to use 
 my advice, he should use whose he could, and 
 should think nothing beneath him. You see the 
 man then, as you expressed it. " Were you 
 grieved?" Undoubtedly. " Pray what followed ?" 
 
 •> Cicero had left him sick at Patrae. See book vii. 
 letter 2. 
 
 > The text is perhaps faulty. It may, however, be under- 
 stood according to the above interpretation by pointing it 
 thus — id modo nuntiant ; Sane. In magnis, &c. 
 
 i Rather esteem me for my attachment to Pompeius, 
 than thank me for compliance with his own wishes. 
 
 I' Others were not under the same obligations to Pom- 
 peius. 
 
 ' Supposed to be some f reed-man.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 735 
 
 He went directly to Pedanum, I to Arpinum. 
 Tlience I look for your warbler™. " Plague on it," 
 you will say, " do not act over again what is 
 past : even he whom we follow " has been much 
 disappointed." But I expect your letter: for 
 nothing is now as it was before, when you pro- 
 posed that we should see first how this would turn 
 out. The last subject of doubt related to our 
 interview ; in which I question not that I have 
 given Caesar some offence. This is a reason for 
 determining the quicker. Pray let nie have a letter 
 from you, and a political one. I am very anxious 
 to hear from you. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 I HAVE given my young Cicero the plain toga° 
 at Arpinum P, in preference to any other place, as 
 there was no going to Rome : and this was kindly 
 received by my fellow-countrymen : though I saw 
 the people there, and wherever I passed, afflicted 
 and downcast ; so sad and so dreadful is the con- 
 templation of this great calamity. Levies are 
 making, and troops taking up their winter-quarters. 
 And if these measures, even when adopted by good 
 citizens, in prosecution of a just war, and conducted 
 with moderation, are yet in themselves grievous ; 
 how harsh do you suppose they now are, when they 
 are adopted by desperate men, in a profligate civil 
 war, and with all insolence ! For you may be 
 assured there is not an abandoned man in Italy 
 who is not among them. I saw myself the whole 
 body at Formise ; and in truth never thought they 
 deserved the name of men. I knew them all ; but 
 had never seen them together. Let me away, then, 
 whither I may, and relinquish all I possess. Let 
 me go to him, who will be more glad to see me 
 than if 1 had originally been of his company. For 
 then we had the greatest hope ; now, I at least have 
 none : yet, besides myself, nobody has left Italy, 
 who did not believe Caesar to be his enemy. And 
 
 ™ This is probably taken from some expression used by 
 Atticus, and meant to denote the harbinger of spring, at 
 which season Cicero would sail. 
 
 •> " Whom we follow," I imagine to be said by Cicero in 
 his own person, thereby meaning Pompeius, though the 
 sentence in which this stands is put into the mouth of 
 Atticus. 
 
 o The toga worn in mature age was without the purple 
 border, which distinguished the pratexta of youth, and 
 waa therefore called the plain toga, or manly toga. 
 
 V Arpinum was the place of Cicero's birth, where he 
 ccntinuod to have a family seat. 
 
 I do this not for the sake of the republic, which 1 
 look upon as utterly extinguished ; but that nobody 
 may think me ungrateful towards him, who raised 
 me out of the difficulties which he had brought 
 upon me ; and, at the same time, that I may not 
 witness what is doing, or at least what will be done. 
 Indeed, I imagine tliat some decrees of the senate 
 have already been passed : I wish it may be ia 
 favour of Volcatius's opinion i. Yet what does it 
 signify ? for all are of one mind. But Servius will 
 be the most to blame, who sent his son to destroy 
 Cn. Pompeius, or at least to take him prisoner', 
 with Pontius Titinianus". This latter was actuated 
 by fear' ; but the former — But let us cease to rail, 
 and at length come to some conclusion ; though I 
 have nothing new but this, which I wish were the 
 shortest possible, that there is life remaining". 
 The Adriatic Sea being closely guarded, I shall 
 sail by the Tyrrhenian ; and if the passage from 
 Puteoli be difficult, I shall make my way to Croton, 
 or Thurii ; and, good citizens as we are, and 
 attached to our country, shall go to infest the 
 sea''. I see no other manner of conducting this 
 war. We go to bury ourselves in Egypt'". We 
 cannot be a match for Caesar with our army ; and 
 there is no reliance on peace. But all this has 
 been abundantly deplored. I should be glad if you 
 would deliver to Cephalion^ a letter about every- 
 thing that is done, even about the conversation of 
 people, unless they are quite dumbfounded. I 
 have followed your advice, especially by maintain- 
 ing in our interview the dignity I ought, and per- 
 sisting in not going up to the city. It only remains 
 to beg you will inform me as distinctly as possible 
 (for there is no time to lose) what you approve, 
 and what you think : though there is no longer 
 any doubt. Yet if anything, or rather whatever 
 occurs to your mind, pray let me know it. 
 
 q To propose terms of peace. 
 
 r The object of Caesar's army at Brundisium could be 
 nothing but either to destroy Pompeius, or to make him 
 prisoner. 
 
 ' This must be the same as Titinius' son, mentioned 
 before. See letter 18 of this book. 
 
 t The fear of being ruined by Ca;sar, if he had not joined 
 him. 
 
 " The text is obscure, and very probably corrupt, so 
 that I offer this translation without any confidence. 
 
 ' That is, shall go to join Pompeius, even though his 
 present purpose be to intercept the supplies of his country ; 
 for at that time Italy was furnished with com by importa- 
 tion chiefly from Sicily and Egypt. 
 
 "• See letter 11 of this book. 
 
 X The bearer, it is to be supposed, of Cicen/s letter.
 
 •736 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 On the 3d of April, having come to my brother's 
 house at Lateriuniy, I received your letter, and was 
 a little revived ; which had not been tiio case since 
 this ruination. For I most highly value your 
 ai>probation of my firmness*, and conduct. And 
 when you tell me that Sextus also approves it, I 
 am as much pleased as if I thought I had the 
 commendation of his father, for whose judgment I 
 always entertained the greatest respect : who for- 
 merly said to me, wluit 1 often recollect, on tliat 
 5th of December'', when I asked him, " Sextus, 
 ■what then do you advise ?" " Let me not die," 
 said he in the words of Homer, " indolently and 
 ignobly ; but after some great deed, which may be 
 heard by generations to come." His authority 
 therefore lives with me ; and his son, who is like 
 him, has the same weight with me which the 
 father had. I beg you to make my kindest com- 
 pliments to him. Though you defer giving your 
 opinion to no distant period ; (for I imagine that 
 hired peace-maker ^ has already summed up ; 
 already something has been don« in that assembly 
 of senators ; for I do not esteem it a senate ;) yet 
 by that you keep me in suspense ; the less so how- 
 ever, because I cannot doubt of your oiiinion about 
 what I ought to do'=. Why else should you men- 
 tion Flavius's having a legion and the province of 
 Sicily, and that this is already carried into effect ? 
 What crimes, think you, are partly in preparation, 
 and now contriving ; partly on the point of being 
 executed ? And should I disregard that law of 
 Solon, your fellow-citizen*', as I esteem it, and 
 mine too, who made it a capital crime to join 
 neither party in a civil commotion ? Unless you 
 are of a different opinion, both I and the children <= 
 shall away from hence. But one of these is more 
 certain than the other' : I shall not however be in 
 a hurry ; I shall wait for your advice, and for the 
 letter which I desired you would send by Cepha- 
 lion?, unless you have already sent another. When 
 you say, not that you had heard it from any other 
 •quarter ; but that you thought within yourself, I 
 should be induced to go up, if the question of 
 peace were agitated ; it has never entered into my 
 mind that any question of peace can be agitated, 
 ■while it is most certainly his wish, if possible, to 
 
 y This place was close to Arpinum. It is mentioned 
 book iv. letter 7- 
 
 » In resisting Caesar's wishes about going to Rome. See 
 book ix. letter 18. 
 
 a Distinguished by the vigorous measures adopted in 
 the Catilinarian conspiracy by Cicero, who was then 
 consul. 
 
 1> Wlio is here meant is uncertain. He appears to have 
 been bought over by Caisar, and probably a tedious speaker, 
 by what is said of his simiming up. 
 
 •; Namely, that I should quit Italy, now that Caesar 
 assumes tyrannical authority. 
 
 d An Athenian: to which title not only Atticus but 
 Cicero might reasonably aspire, from his attachment to 
 Athens. 
 
 ^ His son and nephew. 
 
 i His own departure was more certain than that of the 
 toys. 
 
 e Sec book ix. letter 19. 
 
 deprive Pompeius of his army and province : unless 
 perhaps that summary speaker'' can persuade him 
 to be (juiet, whilst the negotiators go backwards 
 and forwards. 1 see nothing now that I can hope, 
 or think possible to be done : yet this deserves the 
 attention of an upright man, and is a great political 
 question ; whether one should enter into the coun- 
 sels of a tyrant, when lie is going to deliberate on 
 some good cause. Therefore if it should happen 
 that 1 am summoned (whicli I do not regard : for 
 I told him what I should say upon the subject of 
 peace', which he strongly rejirobated), but yet if it 
 should happen, let me know what you think I ought 
 to do. Nothing has yet occurred which is more 
 deserving of consideration. I am glad you were 
 pleased with Trebatius's report ; he is a good man, 
 and a good citizen ; and your own repeated expres- 
 sion of " excellent well," is the only thing that 
 has hitherto given me satisfaction. 1 eagerly 
 expect a letter from you, which I imagine has 
 already been sent. YouJ and Sextus have main- 
 tained the same dignity which you recommend to 
 me. Your friend Celer is more eloquent than 
 wise. What you heard from Tullia about the 
 young men is true. What you mention about M. 
 Antonius*", appears to me not so bad in fact as in 
 sound. This irresolution, in which I now am, is 
 as bad as death : for I ought either to have acted 
 with freedom among the ill-disposed ; or, even at 
 some hazard, to have joined the good party. " Let 
 us either follow the rash measures of the good ; or 
 let us lash the boldness of the wicked'." Both are 
 attended with danger : but the course I take is not 
 dishonourable, and yet is not safe. I do not think 
 t*iat he'" who sent his son to Brundisium on the 
 subject of peace (about which I entertain the same 
 sentiments as you, that it is a palpable pretence, 
 and that war is preparing with all vigour) is likely 
 to be appointed. Of this, as I hoped, no mention 
 has hitherto been made"^. I have therefore the 
 less occasion to write, or even to think what I 
 should do, in case I were appointed. 
 
 l> I apprehend this to allude to the hired peace-maker 
 mentioned in the former part of this letter, and to be spo- 
 ken in mockery of his tedious speeches, suvimarius being 
 equivalent to perorasse. 
 
 ' See book ix. letter 18. 
 
 J The following part of this letter seems to be a postscript 
 subsequent to the receipt of one from Atticus, to which it 
 alludes. 
 
 k It is doubtful to what this alludes ; and indeed it is 
 ddubtful if the text be correct. 
 
 1 I suspect this sentence to be a quotation produced in 
 illustration of what immediately precedes ; otherwise it is 
 odd that the same observation should be repeated with so 
 little variation. 
 
 m Perhaps Balbus ; the yoimger Balbus, who was hia 
 nephew by birth, being his son by adoption. See book viii. 
 letter 9. 
 
 n I understand this to mean that no mention had been 
 made of appointing anybody to negotiate with Pompeius : 
 and he was glad of it, not because he did not wish foi 
 peace, but because he saw that all overtures for that pur 
 pose would be insincere on the part of Caesar, and only 
 designed either to allay the clamours of some well-meaning 
 persons In Italy, or to embarrass and cast an odium upon 
 Pompeius.
 
 TO TITUS rOMPOMUS ATTICUP. 
 
 7a7 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 I RECEIVED your letter the 5tli of A])ril, which 
 "Was brought by Cephalion ; and had designed to 
 ■remain tlie following day at Minturnse, and thence 
 immediately to embark ; but I stopped at my 
 brother's house in Arcanum, that, till the arrival 
 ■of some surer information", I might be less ob- 
 served, and yet everything might be done'' which 
 could be done without me. The warbler is now 
 liereT, and 1 am eager to be off; no matter whither, 
 or by what passage. But this will be for my con- 
 sideration with those who understand it^ Con- 
 tinue, as far as you can, to assist me with your 
 counsels, as you have hitherto done. The state of 
 affairs is incapable of being disentangled : every- 
 thing must be left to fortune. I struggle without 
 any hope. If anything better should occur, it will 
 be a surprise. 1 hope Dionysius has not set out 
 to come hither, as my daughter TuUia wrote me 
 word. Not only the time is unsuitable; but I do 
 not cate to lifive my troubles, great as they are, 
 made an exhitjition to one who is not friendly. I 
 do not however wish you to quarrel with him on 
 my account. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Though I liave really nothing to tell you, yet 
 this is what I wanted besides to know' : whether 
 Caesar was set out' ; in what state he left the city, 
 and whom he had appointed over different districts 
 :and offices ; whether auy commissioners had been 
 sent by decree of the senate to treat with Pom- 
 peius and the consuls on the subject of peace. 
 Wishing therefore to know this, I have for that 
 purpose sent this letter ; and I shall be obliged to 
 you to inform me about this, and anything which 
 it may concern me to know. I shall w-ait in 
 Arcanum till I hear. This is the second letter I 
 liave dictated to you this same 7th of April, having 
 written a longer the day before with my own hand". 
 They say that you were seen in the court"; not 
 that I mean to accuse you ; for I am myself open 
 to the same accusation*. I am expecting to hear 
 from you, yet do not know very well what I should 
 ■expect. However, if there is nothing, I shall be 
 glad to hear e"en that. Csesar by letter excuses 
 me for not going up, and says that he takes it in 
 good part. I do not regard what he adds, that 
 Tullus and Servius have complained of his not 
 granting the same liberty to them as to me. 
 The silly men ! who would send their sons to 
 besiege Cn. Pompeius, yet hesitate themselves to 
 go into the senate. But I send you a copy of 
 •Caesar's letter^. 
 
 Information respecting Caesar's proceedings, as appears 
 by the subsequent letter. 
 
 P Preparatory to his embarkation. 
 
 1 See bo<ik ix. letter 18. 
 
 ' The captain of the vessel, and others acquainted witli 
 naval affairs. 
 
 » This refers to tha preocdiiih' letter. 
 
 ' To go to Spain against Pompeius's lieutenants. 
 
 " This longer letter was the fir.st of this book. 
 
 » The regia was properly the court of the chief priest ; 
 .but it must here be understood of some place where Csesar 
 ihold his court. 
 
 '^ Having met Caesar at Formiae. 
 
 » This has not come down to u& 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 1 HAVE received several letters from you the 
 same day, all full of information ; one particularly, 
 which is equivalent to a volume, deserves to be 
 repeatedly read, as I do>'. I assure you that your 
 pains have not been thrown away, and that I am 
 extremely obliged to you. And as long as you 
 can, that is, as long as you know where to find 
 me, I earnestly beg that you will continue to write 
 very frequently. But let us at length make an 
 enil, if possible, or some moderation, which is cer- 
 taiidy poss^ible, of the wailing which I daily utter. 
 For I now no longer think of the dignity, the 
 honours, the state of life, which I have lost ; but 
 what I have enjoyed, wiiat I have done, in what 
 reputation I have lived ; and, even in these cala- 
 mities, what difference exists between me, and 
 those on whose account I have lost everything. 
 These are they who, unless they had driven me 
 from the country, thought they could not obtain 
 the indulgence of their wishes ; of whose associa- 
 tion and wicked combination you see the issue. 
 The one^ burns with fury and wickedness, and, 
 instead of relaxing, is daily growing more violent ; 
 first he drove hini^ from Italy ; novvr he endeavours 
 to persecute him in another'' quarter, to plunder 
 him in another"-' province : nor does he any longer 
 refuse, but in some measure demands, that, as he 
 is, so also he may be called, a tyrant. The other ; 
 he, who formerly would not so much as raise me 
 up when I was prostrate at his feet ; who said he 
 could do nothing contrary to Csesar's will ; having 
 escaped from the hands and sword of his father- 
 in-law'', is preparing war by sea and land, not 
 indeed without provocation ; but however just, or 
 even necessary, yet ruinous to his fellow-citizens, 
 unless he conquers ; calamitous even if he does 
 conquer. Great as these generals are, I do not 
 set their actions, nor their fortune, before my 
 own, however flourishing they may seem, however 
 afflicted I. For who can ever be happy, that has 
 either abandoned his country, or enslaved it.' And if, 
 as you remind me, I have rightly said in my book^ 
 that nothing is good but what is honourable, 
 nothing evil but what is base ; then assuredly 
 each of those men is most wretched ; both of 
 whom have always preferred their own power and 
 their private advantage before their country's 
 prosperity and honour. I am therefore supported 
 by an excellent conscience, when I reflect that I 
 have either rendered the greatest services to my 
 country when it was in my power ; or certainly 
 have never thought of it but with reverence ; and 
 that the republic has been overthrown by that verj 
 storm which I foresaw fourteen years ago f. 1 
 shall go then with this conscience accompanying 
 me, in great affliction it is true ; yet that, not so 
 much on my own or on my brother's account, 
 (for our age, whether well or otherwise, is already 
 spent) as on account of the boys, to whom I some- 
 
 s' Tliis little irregularity of construction is not to be 
 condemned in a familiar letter, and seemed to be equally 
 admissible in English as in Latin. 
 
 * Ca;sar, " Pompeius. 
 l) Greece. i: Spain. " Caesar. 
 
 e I'robably alluding to his treatise on Government, but 
 contained also in his Paradoxes. 
 
 * At the time of his consulate. 
 
 3B
 
 738 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 times think it was due to have transmitted also 
 our free constitution. One of these p, being better 
 disposed, does not so prodigiously torment me : but 
 the other'' — O sad affair! In ray whole life 
 nothing ever happened more vexatious '. Spoiled 
 by my indulgence, he has gone such lengths as I 
 dare not mention : but I am expecting to hear 
 from you ; for you said you would write fully when 
 you had seen him. All my kindness towards hiin 
 lias been tempered with much severity ; nor is it 
 a single or small fault that 1 have suppressed, but 
 many and great ones. And his father's lenity 
 should rather have called forth his affection, than 
 been so cruelly slighted. The letter he wrote to 
 Caesar gave me so much pain, that I never men- 
 tioned it to you ; but we see how it has soured his 
 own behaviour. But of this journey, and affecta- 
 tion of duty, I cannot venture to speak as it de- 
 serves. I only know that, after the interview with 
 Hirtius, he was sent for by Csesar, and talked with 
 him about my mind being entirely alienated from 
 his measures, and my design of leaving Italy: and 
 even this I mention with timidity. No blame 
 however attaches to me : the fear is for his natural 
 disposition. It was this that corrupted Curio, and 
 Hortensius' son ; not any fault of their parents. 
 My brother is dejected with sorrow, and afraid not 
 so much for his own life as for mine. To this, to 
 this evil, bring consolation, if you can find any. I 
 should wish particularly that his wife may either 
 receive the reports that have been brought to me 
 as false, or suppose them to be less than they are. 
 If they are true, I know not what may be likely to 
 ensue in this condition and flight. If we had yet 
 a free government, I should not be at a loss 
 respecting either the severity or the indulgence to 
 be used. Either anger, or grief, or fear, has 
 prompted me to write this with more asperity 
 than accords with either your or my affection 
 towards him. If what I have heard be true, you 
 ■will pardon me ; if false, I shall be very glad to 
 have you pluck from me this error. But however 
 this be, you will impute nothing to the uncle, or 
 to the father. When I had written so far, I received 
 a message from Curio, that he would call upon 
 me; for he had arrived in Cumanum the evening 
 before, that is, the 13th. Therefore, if I collect 
 from his conversation anything to tell you, I will 
 add it to my letter. 
 
 Curio passed by my house, and sent me word 
 that he would come presently. He went to address 
 the people at Puteoli ; and having done so, he 
 returned, and was with me a considerable time. O 
 foul affair ! You know the man ; he concealed 
 nothing. In the first place, nothing is more cer- 
 tain than that all who had been condemned by the 
 Pompeian law will be restoredJ ; accordingly he is 
 to make use of their services in Sicily. He made 
 no doubt of Caesar's getting possession of Spain ; 
 that he would then pursue Pompeius with his 
 army, wherever he might be ; and that his death 
 would be the termination of the war. Nothing 
 could be nearer accomplished ^ : that Csesar had 
 
 e His own son. l» Quintus' son. 
 
 • He appears to have been paying court to Csesar, at the 
 expense of his father and uncle. It was the more vexa- 
 tious to Cicero, because he had been endeavouring to keep 
 •well with Ca-sar, both for his own sake, and for that of 
 his country. 
 
 i See book is. letter U. 
 
 wished in the transport of his anger to have haJ 
 the tribune Metellus' put to death ; and if this had 
 been executed, a great slaughter must have ensued : 
 that many had advised a slaughter ; and that he 
 abstained from cruelty, not by inclination, or natural 
 disposition, but because he thought that clemency 
 was popular ; but that if he lost the affections of 
 the people, he would become cruel ; and he was 
 much disturbed when he understood that he had 
 given offence to the populace in the affair of the- 
 treasury™. In consequence of which, though he 
 had determined to harangue the people before he 
 left the city, he did not venture to do so, and set 
 out with his mind greatly agitated. Upon my 
 asking him what he foresaw; what conduct";, 
 what republic ; he plainly acknowledged that 
 there was no hope remaining. He" was afraid of 
 Pompeius's fleet ; and said that if it should be col- 
 lected, he should quit Sicily. What, said I, are 
 those six fasces of yours ? If they are granted by 
 th^ senate, why are they covered with laurel p ? If 
 by Caesar, why are there sixi ? "I wished," says 
 he, " to get them by a surreptitious decree of the 
 senate, for it could not be done otherwise ; but now 
 he is become much more hostile to the senate, and 
 says, ' From me everything shall proceed.' They 
 are six, because I did not choose to have twelve, 
 as I might." I then said, how much I wished 
 that I had asked Caesar for what I understand 
 Philippus has obtained "■ ; but I was ashamed, be- 
 cause he had not obtained anything' from me. " He 
 would willingly have granted it to you," says he ; 
 " but suppose yourself to have obtained it ; for I 
 will inform him, as you yourself shall please, of our 
 having talked together about it : but what does it 
 signify to him where you are, since you refuse to 
 come into the senate .' Yet now you would have 
 given him no offence on that account, if you had 
 uot been in Italy." To which I replied, that I 
 sought for retirement and solitude, especially on 
 account of my lictors. He applauded my conduct- 
 Well, then, said I, my way to Greece lies through 
 your province', since the coast of the Adriatic is 
 occupied by soldiers. " What," said he, " could 
 be more desirable for me ?" And he added a great 
 deal with much liberality. So that this is now 
 settled, that I can sail not only safely, but openly. 
 The rest he postponed to the next day, in which 
 if there should be anything worth relating, I will 
 let you know it. There are some things, however, 
 which I omitted to ask ; as, whether Caesar would 
 wait for an interregnum ? or — how can I pronounce" 
 
 '' This, agreeably to the custom of the Latin language, 
 applies to what follows. 
 
 ' This IVIetellus had opposed 'CsEsar in his plunder of 
 the public treasury. See book vii. letter 12. 
 
 ™ Csesar had forcibly seized the public money in the 
 treasury at Rome, the tribune Metellus in vain resisting 
 him. 
 
 n The word exemplum in this place seems to mean 
 " what character Casar would exhibit." See book vii. 
 letter 20. 
 
 " Curio. See letter 7 of this book. 
 
 V The laurels were attached by the soldiers, in conse- 
 quence of some signal victory gained over an enemy. 
 
 1 The consuls and proconsuls had twelve lictors givOD- 
 them by the senate, the propraetors had only six. 
 
 ' Licence to live where he pleased. 
 
 ' Ca;sar had not been able to prevail with Cicero iiii> 
 wisliing him to go to Rome. See book ix. letter 18. 
 
 ' Sicily. 
 
 n Or act from his own authority, as if he were a king.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 739 
 
 it ? He said that the consulate had been offered 
 to himself, but that he had declined it for the next 
 year. There are other circumslanoes, also, about 
 which I shall inquire. In conclusion, he sware, 
 what he would easily accomplish, that Caesar ought 
 to be most friendly towards inc. " For what, I 
 say", has Dolabella written to me?" I asked 
 what ? He" asserted, that when he had written to 
 desire that I would go to Rome, Cicsar expressed 
 the greatest thankfulness, and not only approved, 
 but was even glad that I had acted as I did. What 
 think you ? 1 have resumed my composure. For 
 that suspicion of domestic calamity, and of the 
 conversation with Hirtius, has been greatly relieved. 
 How I wish him^" to prove worthy of us! And 
 how I invite myself to find some excuse'' for him ! 
 But it is necessary to have some communication 
 with Hirtius. There must be something ; but I 
 should be glad if it might turn out to be inconsider- 
 able. And yet I wonder he should not have come 
 back. But we shall see how it is. You will let 
 the Oppii give credit to Terentiay. This is now 
 the only thing to be apprehended in the city^. 
 Assist me, however, with your advice, whether I 
 should go by land to Rhegium, or should embark 
 from hence. But since I do not go immediately, 
 I shall have something to write to you, as soon as 
 I have seen Curio. Pray take care, as usual, to let 
 me know how Tiro goes on*. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Of my general intention I conceive I have 
 already written to you explicitly enough ; respect- 
 ing the day, nothing can be said with certainty, 
 but that it will not be before the new moon. 
 Curio's discourse the next day came to the same 
 amount, unless that he stiU more openly gave me 
 to understand that he saw no end to this state of 
 things. The charge you impose upon me of regu- 
 lating the young Quintus, is an Arcadian under- 
 taking''. However, I will leave nothing untried ; 
 and I wish you would do so too : but I shall not 
 spare him. I wrote immediately to Vestorius 
 about Tullia"^ ; and indeed she pressed me ear- 
 nestly. Vectenus has spoken to you more reason- 
 ably than he wrote to me ; but I cannot sufficiently 
 express my surprise at the carelessness of the 
 incription '^. For upon hearing from Pliilotimus 
 
 " 1 understand tliese to be the words of Curio, so that 
 inquam means Curio said. 
 » Dolabella. 
 
 * Young Quintus. 
 
 » This I conceive to be the meaning of the original, 
 which has been variously interpreted, and, as is too fre- 
 quent iu obscure texts, unwarrantably altered. 
 
 7 See note "> on book viii. letter 7- 
 
 » The want of money is the only thing to be appre- 
 hended for Tercntia ; the number of otlier females of dis- 
 tinction doing away any impropriety in her remaining 
 thore. See book vii. letter 14. 
 
 » It Avill be remembered that Tiro was left ill at Patrte. 
 
 *> In the original is the word Arcadia, which is probably 
 taken from an oracle reported in the first book of Herodo- 
 tus's history, discountenancing, as a work of great diffi- 
 culty, a meditated attack of Arcadia by the Lacedemonians. 
 See letter 12 of this book, 
 
 = It is uncertain to what this alludes; but seems, by 
 what follows, [see letter 13 of this book,] most probably to 
 relate to an advance of money. 
 
 * This may probably allude to Vectenus having called 
 
 that I might purchase that cottage from Canuleius 
 for 50 sestertia (400/.), and might have it for less, 
 if I applied to Vectenus ; I did apply to him to get 
 some abatement, if he could, from that sum. He 
 engaged to do so ; and sent me word a little while 
 ago, that he had bought it for 30 sestertia (240/,), 
 and desired I would let him know to whom 1 would 
 have it assigned ; that the money was to be paid 
 the 13tli of November. I wrote to hirn rather 
 angrily, yet with a familiar joke. But now, as he 
 acts with liberality, I do not mean to find fault 
 with him, and have written to tell him that I had 
 been set right by you. I shall be gbiil to hear what 
 you intend about your journey, and when. April 17. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Nothing now stops me but the season. I shaU 
 use no cunning in my proceedings", happen what 
 may in Spain. Nevertheless keep my counsel. I 
 have explained to you all my inteutions in a former 
 letter, for which reason this will be short ; besides, 
 I am in a hurry, and busy. Respecting young 
 Quintus, " I take all pains' " — you know the rest. 
 The advice you give me is both friendly and pru- 
 dent ; but everything will be easy, if 1 can only 
 guard against hims. It is an arduous task. There 
 are many excellent '• points about him : but notiiing 
 plain, nothing candid. I wish you had undertakeu 
 to manage the young man ; for his father, by his 
 over-indulgence, undoes whatever I do. If I could 
 act without the father's interference, I could ma- 
 nage him. This you can do". But 1 forgive him. 
 It is, I say, an arduous task. I have been con- 
 fidently told that Pomi)eius is going through lUyrium 
 to GaulJ. I must now consider how and which 
 way I shall proceed. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 I auiTE approve your going to Apulia and 
 Sipontum, and that appearance'' of unsettledness, 
 and do not consider you to be under the same 
 circumstances as myself. Not but we have both, 
 the same duty to perform in the republic ; but that 
 is not the question. The struggle is, who shall be 
 king ; in which the mere moderate king has been 
 driven out, he who is the better and honester of 
 the two, who must conquer, or the very name of 
 the Roman people will be extinguished : yet if he 
 conquers, he will conquer after the manner and 
 example of Sulla. In this struggle, therefore, it is 
 
 Cicero by the title of " Proconsul," [see letter 11 of this 
 book,] in consequence of which Cicero in return called 
 hini monctalis, or " money-stamper." Cicero seems to 
 have been displeased with the abrupt manner in which 
 Vectenus had concluded the purchase, and fixed the day 
 of payment, without consulting liim. 
 
 •2 Shall not wait to see how things turn out in Spain. 
 
 f Tills alludes to a passage in Terence, where an old man 
 exposes the pains he has taken to educate his son. 
 
 a Young Quintus. 
 
 h See letters 10 and 12 of this book. 
 
 ' Cicero was living with his brother Quintus, whereas 
 Atticus was beyond the reach of his influence. 
 
 J I suppose on his waj' to Spain ; but it was not true. 
 
 ^ Atticus, not willing to offend Csesar by abruptly 
 quitting Italy, seems to have intended to pass some time 
 irregularly in the south-eastern parts previously to hi^ 
 departure. 
 
 3B3
 
 740 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 not for you openly to espouse either party, but to 
 bend to the times. But my case is a ditlcrent one, 
 being under such oblii^utions that I cannot l)ear to 
 appear uni<rateful. 1 do not, however, tl>ini< of 
 goins; into the field ; but of retiring into Malta, or 
 some other ])lace of (-(pial insii^^nificance. You will 
 say, " By this you do not help him, towards whom 
 you wish to siiow your gratitude : nay, ))erhaps he 
 would rather have wished you did not go." But 
 about tliis we shall see afterwards. Let me but get 
 out ; wiiicli Dolabella and Curio enable nie to do 
 at a better sea.son, the one by the Adriatic sea, the 
 other l)y the straits of Sicily'. I have had some 
 hopes tiiat Servius Sulpicius might wish to converse 
 with me'" ; and I sent my freed-man Philotimus to 
 him with a letter. If he will act a manly jiart, it 
 may prove a valuable meeting ; if otherwise, I shall 
 still maintain the same character as I used to do. 
 Curio has been staying with me, thinking that 
 Csesar is dejected by the popular disjjleasure, and 
 himself diffident about Sicily, if Pompeius should 
 have set sail. I have given the young Quintus a 
 rough reception. I find it was avarice, and the 
 hope of a handsome present. This is bad enough, 
 but 1 trust there is notliiug of that baseness which 
 I had apprehended". This fault I imagine you will 
 attribute not to my indulgence, but to his natural 
 disposition, while I endeavour by discipline to 
 regulate him. You will arrange with Philotimus 
 what you think best about the Oppii of Velia". 1 
 shall consider Epirus as my own? ; but I think of 
 taking a different course. 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 
 The state of things admonishes, and you have 
 pointed out, and I see myself, that it is time to put 
 an end to our writing upon sUch subjects as it 
 might be hazardous to have intercepted. But as 
 my daughter Tullia frequently writes to me, begging 
 me to wait the event of what is doing in Spain, 
 and constantly adds that you are of the same opi- 
 nion, whicii indeed I perceive by your letters ; I 
 have thought it not unsuitable to let you know my 
 sentiinents upon that subject. I think the advice 
 would be prudent, if I meant to shape my conduct 
 by the fate of Spain, which you say I ought to do. 
 For it must necessarily happen, either that Caesar 
 is driven out of Spain, which I should exceedingly 
 desire ; or that the war is protracted ; or that he, 
 as he seems confidently to expect, seizes upon 
 Spain. If he is driven out, w-ith what grace or 
 honour shall I then go to Pompeius, when 1 imagine 
 Curio himself 1 will go over to him ? If the war is 
 protracted, for what am I to wait, or how long .' 
 It remains, that if we are beaten in Spain, I should 
 be quiet. But upon this point I think otherwise. 
 For I would sooner desert him'' a conqueror, than 
 conquered and doubtful (instead of confident) of 
 
 1 Dolabella and Curio were Cicero's friends, and held 
 commands in those parts respectively. 
 
 >" Servius Sulpicius was a senator of great respect, a 
 friend of Cicero's, and a favourer of peace, but of a timid 
 character. 
 
 n See letter 4 of this book. 
 
 See book viii. letter 7. and book vii. letter 13. 
 
 P This must be supposed to bo in answer to some letter 
 from Atticus, ofifering Cicero the free use of his place in 
 Epiius. 
 
 1 VVTio is of Cssar'B party. » Cffsar. 
 
 his affairs. Inasmuch as I foresee e.iecutions if he 
 is victoiious, and violation of private pro]ierty, and 
 the recall of exiles, and cancelling of debts, and 
 honours bestowed upon the basest men, and a king, 
 doin such as not only no Roman, but not even any 
 Persian can bear, is it possible for my indignation 
 to be silent .' Can my eyes sustain the sight of my 
 deliyering my ojiinion" in the company of Gabinius .' 
 And even of his being called upon to speak first ? 
 In the jiresence of your client CliL'lius .> In that 
 of C. Ateius's client Plaguleius .'' And the rest? 
 But why do I enumerate my enemies .' while 
 I cannot without pain see in the senate my own 
 connexions', whom I have myself defended, nor 
 act amongst them without shame. What if it 
 is by no means certain that I should be allowed to 
 do so .' For his friends write me word that he is 
 far from being satisfied with me, because I have 
 not gone into the senate. However, I cannot en- 
 tertain a thought of recommending myself to him, 
 and that with some risk, with whom I refused to 
 be united even with recompense. Then consider 
 this, that the whole contest is not to be decided 
 in Spain ; unless you suppose that, upon losing 
 this, Pompeius will throw up his arms ; notwith- 
 standing his whole plan is Themistoclean". For he 
 deems him who is in possession of the sea to be 
 necessarily master of affairs. Hence, without ever 
 striving to keep Spain by itself, he has always 
 made naval preparations his principal care. He 
 will accordingly sail, when the season is fit, with a 
 prodigious fleet, and will come to Italy ; where 
 what shall I be, sitting idle ? For it will no longer 
 be allowable to be neuter. Shall I then oppose his 
 fleet .' What evil can be greater, or even so great ? 
 What indeed can be baser ? Have I feebly'' and 
 alone borne his wickedness against the absent ; and 
 shall I not bear it in company with Pompeius and 
 the other chiefs .' But if, setting aside duty, we 
 consider only the danger ; there is danger from 
 those ^, if I do wrong ; from him^, if I do right: 
 nor can any plan be devised in these troubles which 
 is free from danger. There can therefore be no 
 doubt but I should avoid doing anything base with 
 danger, which I would avoid even with safety. 
 Should I not have crossed the sea along with Pom- 
 peius .'' It was not in my power ; there is the 
 account of the days. Besides (to confess the truth, 
 w'ithout that concealment which I might use), one 
 thing deceived me, which perhaps ought not, but it 
 did deceive me ; for I thought there would be peace ; 
 and if this had taken place, I did not care to have 
 Caesar angry with me, at the time that he would 
 be reconciled to Pompeius. For I had already felt 
 the effectsy of their union. It was through fear of 
 this that I fell into this dilatoriness. But I shall 
 obtain every purpose if I make ' haste : if I delay, 
 I shall lose it. And yet, my Atticus, certain au- 
 guries inspire me with confident hope ; not the 
 auguries of our college* collected by Appius, but 
 
 » In the senate. 
 
 t Recalled from banishment by Caesar's authority. 
 
 « Who retired before the Persians from Athens, to con 
 quer them at sea. 
 
 ■^ The text is probably corrupt. I offer this Interpreta 
 tion as what appears the least exceptionable. 
 
 >•■ Pompeius's party. ^ Casar. 
 
 y When Pompeius assisted Clodius's views by reason oj 
 his own connexion with Ca;sar. 
 
 * To quit Italy. » The college of augurs.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 741 
 
 those of Plato on the subject of tyrants. For I 
 do not see by what means he can long remain with- 
 out fallin-; ott' himself, even without any exertion 
 on our part : since fresh and floiirisliins:^, in tlie 
 space of six or seven days, he became the object 
 of the bitterest hatred to that same indigent and 
 abandoned multitude ; having so soon lost the pre- 
 tension of two things ; of clemency, in the case of 
 Metellus '' ; of wealth, in the affair of the trea- 
 sury '^. Now what companions or ministers can 
 he employ, if the provinces, if the republic is to 
 be governed by persons, no one of whom has been 
 able to regulate his own patrimony for two months? 
 There is no enumerating all the particulars, which 
 you will readily comprehend ; only place them in 
 your view, and you will presently understand that 
 such a kingdom can hardly last six months. If I 
 am mistaken in this, I shall bear it, as many ex- 
 cellent men, distinguished in the republic, have 
 borne it : unless you imagine that I would rather 
 die like Sardanapalus in his bed '^, than in a The- 
 mistoclean exile : who being, as Thucydides says, 
 " the ablest to apprehend things present, after the 
 shortest consultation ; and far the best to con- 
 jecture of things to come, what was likely to take 
 place ;" yet fell into those straits, which he would 
 have avoided, if nothing had deceived him. Though 
 he was one who, in the words of the same author, 
 " eminently foresaw advantages and disadvantages, 
 while they were yet in obscurity ;" yet he did not 
 see either how to escape the envy of the Lacedemo- 
 nians, or that of his own fellow-citizens, nor what he 
 was promising to Artaxerxes. That night would not 
 have been so calamitous to the prudent Africanus ; 
 nor that day of Sulla's superiority so sad to the 
 shrewd C. Marius ; if nothing had deceived them. 
 Nevertheless I support my opinion by the augury 
 I have mentioned. This does not deceive me ; 
 nor will it turn out otherwise. He must fall either 
 by his enemies, or by himself, who indeed is his 
 own worst enemy. I hope this may happen during 
 my life, though it is time for me to think of that 
 eternal, not of this short life. But should anything 
 happen to me sooner than I expect, it signifies 
 little whether I see it done, or foresee that it will be 
 done. This being so, it is not to be borne, that I 
 should submit to those against whom the senate 
 armed me with authority to see that the republic 
 received no detriment ^. To you I commend all 
 my concerns ; though such is your affection to- 
 wards me that they need not my commendation. 
 In fact I have nothing to tell you ; for I sit here 
 only waiting for an opportunity to sail. Yet no- 
 thing ever so demanded to be told, as that of all your 
 multiplied kindnesses none was at any time more 
 acceptable to me than the sweet and assiduous at- 
 tention you have bestowed on my dear Tullia. She 
 is herself highly gratified by it ; and I no less so. 
 Her excellence is indeed wonderful. How does she 
 bear the public misfortunes ! How her own do- 
 mestic embarrassments ! And what a courage does 
 she show at my dej)arture ! Call it natural affec- 
 tion, or the completest union of minds ; yet she 
 
 l) Wliom he had wished to kill. See letter 4 of this 
 book. 
 
 <: The plunder of which showed that he was in want of 
 money. 
 
 ^ Sardanapalus was an Assyrian king distinguished for 
 his effeminacy. 
 
 « In his consulship. 
 
 would have me do what is right, and be well 
 esteemed. But of this too much, lest I call forth 
 my own sensibility. If you hear anything certain 
 about Spain, or anything else, while I remain in 
 Italy, you will write to me. And at my departure, 
 I shall i)erhaps send again to you ; and the rather, 
 because Tullia seemed to think you would not at 
 present leave Italy. I must manage to get An- 
 tonius's consent, as well as Curio's, to my residing 
 at Malta, without taking a part in this war. I 
 wish I may find him as accommodating and kind 
 to me as Curio. He' is said to be coming to Mi- 
 senum the 2d of May, that is to-day ; but he has 
 sent before an ungracious letter, of which J inclose 
 a copy. 
 
 Antonius, Tribune of the People, ProprcBtor, to 
 Cicero, Imperator. 
 Unless I had a great regard for you, indeed 
 much greater than you imagine, I should not have 
 minded the report which is spread about you, 
 especially as I do not believe it ; yet loving you as 
 I do, I cannot dissemble that the very rumour, 
 liowever unfounded, greatly affects me. I cannot 
 think that you will cross the sea, considering your 
 affection for Dolabella and your daughter, that 
 accomplislied woman, and the esteem in which you 
 are held by all of uss^, to whom indeed your dignity 
 and splendour are almost dearer than to yourself. 
 But I have not thought it the part of a friend to 
 be indifferent to what is said even by ill-disposed 
 persons ; and I have acted with the greater zeal, 
 because I consider the task imposed upon me to be 
 the more difficult, owing to the offence which has 
 arisen between us*", rather from my jealousy than 
 from any injury on your part. For I would have 
 you believe that, excepting my Csesar, nobody is 
 dearer to me than you, and that at the same time 
 I am persuaded Caesar esteems M. Cicero among 
 his best friends. Therefore I beg you, my Cicero, 
 to take no hasty step, — but to distrust the attach- 
 ment of one', who first injured you that he might 
 afterwards confer a kindness ; and on the other 
 hand not to run away from one J who, though he 
 should not love you (which, however, cannot be 
 the case), yet would wish you to be in safety and in 
 honour. I have expressly sent to you my intimate 
 friend Calpurnius, that you may be assured of the 
 great interest I take in your life and dignity. 
 
 The same day Philotimus brought the following 
 letter from Csesar. 
 
 Ccesar, Jmperalor, to Cicero, Imperator. 
 
 Though I was persuaded that you would do 
 nothing rashly or imprudently, yet I have been 
 moved by common report to write to you, and to 
 request, by the intimacy between »is, that you 
 would not in this declining state of affairs take any 
 step which you did not think it necessary to take 
 in their sound state. For you will both inflict a 
 severer blow on our friendship, and less well con- 
 sult your own advantage, if you appear to be 
 
 ' Antonius. 
 S Us of CsEsar's party 
 
 li Antonius had been a candidate for the augurship in 
 opposition to Cicero. 
 ' ronipeius. 
 J Ca:sar.
 
 742 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 influenced not by the course of events (for every- 
 thing seems to have fallen out most favourable to 
 us, most adverse to them), nor by attachment to 
 the cause (for that was the same when you judged 
 it proper to abstain from their counsels), but by 
 condemnation of some act of mine,— than which 
 you can do nothing more painful to me. That you 
 may not do it I beg of you, by the right of our 
 friendship. Iksides, what can be more proper for 
 a good and peaceable man and a good citi/en than 
 to abstain from civil broils ? This some who 
 ■would wish it cannot do because of tlie danger ; 
 you, to whom the testimony of my life and the 
 assurance of my friendship are well known, will 
 never find anything either more secure or more 
 honourable than to abstain from all hostihty. 
 April 10', Oa my journey. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 The arrival of Philotimus (what a fellow he is ! 
 how silly ! how often misrepresenting in favour of 
 Pompeius !) has frightened to death all my com- 
 panions. As for myself, I am become callous. 
 None of our people entertained a doubt of "Caesar's 
 having checked his progress ;" whereas he is said 
 to advance with the utmost speed : and that " Pe- 
 treius had joined Afranius," though he brings no 
 intelligence of the kind. In short it was even 
 believed that Pompeius was passing with a great 
 force through lllyrium into Germany ; for this was 
 confidently asserted. I am of opinion, therefore, 
 that 1 ought to get away to Malta, till we see what 
 is done in Spain. From Caesar's letter it appears 
 as if I might almost do this with his consent ; for 
 lie says that I can do nothing more honourable or 
 more safe than to withdraw from all contention. 
 You will say then, " where is that resolution which 
 you professed in your last letter." It is here, and 
 it is unaltered. But I wish it were possible to de- 
 termine only at my own risk. The tears of my 
 family sometimes soften me, when they entreat me 
 to await the issue of the war in Spain. The boys 
 covdd not without great emotion read a letter from 
 M. Cselius written in a lamentable strain, and en- 
 treating me to wait for the same event, and not to 
 betray so rashly my fortunes, my only daughter, 
 and all my connexions. My own son, indeed, is 
 of greater spirit, and for that very reason affects 
 me the more, and seems to be anxious only about 
 my reputation. To Malta, therefore : thence whi- 
 ther it shall seem prudent. Do you, however, 
 even now let me hear from you, especially if there 
 is any news of Afranius. If I have any conversa- 
 tion with Antonius, I will let you know what has 
 been done : but, as you advise, I shall be cautious 
 in trusting him ; for'' the means of concealing my 
 design are both difficult and dangerous. I expect 
 Servius on the seventh of May, for whom I shall 
 ■wait, at the desire of Postumia' and the young 
 Servius. I rejoice to hear that your ague is better. 
 I send you a copy of Caelius's letter. 
 
 ^ This relates to the expediency of obtaining Antonius's 
 OODsent to Cicero's departure, since it was both difficult 
 and dangerous to attempt it by stealth. 
 
 1 Postumia was the wife of Servius Sulpicius, the person 
 here intended. 
 
 Ccelius to Cicero. 
 I AM distressed by your letter, in which you 
 show that your thoughts are engaged about nothing 
 but what is sad. What this is you do not expressly 
 say ; nevertheless you sufficiently declare the nature 
 of what you contemplate. I therefore write this 
 letter to you without loss of time, to beg and 
 beseech you, Cicero, by your fortunes, by your 
 children, not to adopt any measure prejudicial to 
 your happiness and security. For I call the gods, 
 and men, and our friendship, to witness that I 
 have told you beforehand, and have given you this 
 counsel not hastily, but have informed you after 
 being with Cicsar, and knowing what his disposition 
 would be should he gain the victory, — if you ima- 
 gine that Caesar will continue to observe the same 
 moderation in liberating his adversaries and sub- 
 mitting to their conditions, you are mistaken. His 
 thoughts, and indeed his declarations, breathe 
 nothing but what is severe and cruel. He went 
 away much out of humour with the senate, and 
 thoroughly provoked by the opposition to his 
 wishes'". There will assuredly be no room for 
 mercy. Therefore, if you have any regard for 
 yourself, for your only son, for your family, for 
 your remaining hopes, — if I, if that excellent man 
 your son-in-law", have any weight with you, you 
 ought not wilfully to disturb their fortune, — so that 
 we should be obliged to hate, or relinquish, that 
 cause in the success of which our happiness con- 
 sists, or else entertain the impious wish of injuring 
 you. Lastly, think what offence you must already 
 have given" by your delay. But now, to oppose 
 Caesar in the time of victory, whom you were un- 
 willing to offend while his cause was doubtful, and 
 to join those in their flight whom you refused to 
 follow as long as they resisted, is the height of 
 folly. Take care that while you are ashamed to be 
 wanting in the duties of the best citizen, you are 
 not too negligent in choosing what is the best 
 course. But if I cannot entirely prevail with you, 
 at le-st wait till it is known how we go on in 
 Spain ; which, I announce to you, will be ours 
 upon the arrival of Caesar. What hope they may 
 have after Spain is lost I know not : and what can 
 be your object in uniting with a desperate cause, I 
 cannot for my life discover. This, which without 
 saying it you gave me to understand, Caesar had 
 heard ; and as soon as he had asked me how I did, 
 he mentioned what he had heard about you. I 
 professed my ignorance ; but begged him to write 
 to you in such a manner as might be most likely 
 to induce you to stay. He takes me with him to 
 Spain. If this were not so before I went to the 
 city, wherever you were, I would have run down 
 to you and argued the point with you in person, 
 and used my utmost endeavour to keep you. Con- 
 sider, Cicero, again and again, that you may not 
 utterly rain yourself and all your family, nor 
 plunge yourself, with your eyes open, into a situa- 
 tion from whence you see no retreat. But if the 
 language of tie best citizens affects you, or if you 
 cannot bear the insolence and haughtiness of certain 
 persons, you may choo se, I think, some town free 
 
 n» The motions in the senate for permitting Caesar to 
 take the money out of the treasury were stopped by the 
 intercession of the tribune L. Metellus. Csesar, however, 
 got possession of it by force. See letter 4 of this book. 
 
 » Dolabella. » To Pompeius.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 743 
 
 from war while these matters are deciding, which 
 will presently be concluded. If you do this I shall 
 think you have acted wisely, and you will give no 
 offence to Csesar. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Blind that I am, not to have foreseen this ! I 
 sent you Antonius's letter. Having repeatedly 
 written to him that I entertained no designs against 
 Cicsar's measures, — that I was mindful of my 
 son-in-law, mindful of our friendship, — that if 1 
 thought otherwise I might have been with Pompeius, 
 but that I wished to be out of the way, because 1 
 did not like to be running about with my lictors, — 
 that this measure, however, was not even now de- 
 termined. To these observations see how super- 
 ciliously he replies : — 
 
 " How true are your professions ! For one who 
 wishes to be neuter remains in his country ; he who 
 goes away appears to pass judgment upon one of 
 the parties. But I am not the person to determine 
 whether anybody is at liberty to go away or not. 
 Caesar has laid this duty upon me, that I should 
 suff'er nobody at all to leave Italy. My approving 
 your intention is, tlierefore, of little consequence, 
 as I have no authority to remit anything. I think 
 you should apply to Ccesar, and ask leave from 
 him. I do not doubt but you will obtain it, 
 especially as you promise to observe the relations 
 of our friendship." 
 
 Here is a Spartan despatch'' for you ! I shall 
 by all means deceive the man. He was to come 
 on the evening of the third, that is to-day ; there- 
 fore to-morrow he may perhaps call upon me. I 
 shall endeavour to appear in no hurry i. I shall 
 give out that I mean to apply to Csesar : I shall 
 conceal myself somewhere with very few attendants, 
 and shall certainly fly away from hence in spite of 
 these people. I wish it may be to Curio "■ ; this I 
 say to you, God willing. I have received a great 
 additional uneasiness. Something worthy of me * 
 shall be accomplished. I am exceedingly sorry for 
 your dysury. Attend to it, I beseech you, while 
 it is yet recent. I was pleased with your account 
 of the people at Marseilles' ! I beg to be informed 
 of everything you may hear. I should like Sicily, 
 if I might go openly ; which I had obtained from 
 Curio. I wait here for Servius, as I am requested 
 by his wife and son, and as I think it expedient. 
 This fellow takes Cytheris" with him in an open 
 carriage ; a second conveys his wife ; and there are 
 besides seven others together, of his girls think you 
 or boys .' See by how vile a death we perish ; and 
 doubt, if you can, of the havoc he'" will make, 
 whether he come back conquered or conqueror. 
 
 P The on'sinal is expressed in two Greek words, signify- 
 ing a particular kind of cipher used by the government 
 of Sparta, to which their generals were expected to pay 
 implicit obedience. 
 
 1 The text is evidently corrupt ; but I read it with the 
 least alteration — Teniabo autem nihil properare. 
 
 ' "I should be glad to get to Sicily imder the command 
 of Curio ;" who, though of Caesar's party, was personally 
 attached to Cicero, from thence Cicero would proceed to 
 Malta. 
 
 » This is said perhaps from a feeling of some dissatisfac- 
 tion at the part he had hitherto acted. 
 
 » They shut their gates against Caesar. 
 
 " Cytlieris was Antonius's mistress. 
 
 * CtEf^r. 
 
 But I, if there should be no ship, will go even in a 
 cock-boat, to snatch myself from the violence of 
 these people. I will vmte more after I have seen 
 him. I cannot help loving our young nephew, 
 though I plainly see that I am not loved by him. 
 I never saw anything so intractable, so set against 
 his family, so absorbed in his own conceit. What 
 an incredible weight of troubles ! I will, however, 
 and do, take pains to correct him ; for he has ex- 
 cellent abilities''', but requires great attention to 
 his temper. 
 
 LETTER XT. 
 
 After sealing my last letter, I did not choose to 
 deliver it to the person I had intended, because he 
 was not one of my own servants. For this reason 
 it was not delivered that day. In the mean time 
 Philotimus arrived, and brought me yours ; la 
 which what you say about my brother certainly 
 shows a want of steadiness ; but has nothing 
 insincere, nothing fraudulent, nothing that may not 
 be turned to good, nothing that you may not by a 
 single word lead whither you will. In short, he is 
 affectionate towards all his friends, even those with 
 whom he often quarrels ; and me he loves better 
 than himself. I do not blame him for sending a 
 different '^ account to you about your nephew, and 
 to the mother about her son. What you mention 
 about the journey, and about your sister, is vexa- 
 tious, and the mere so, because my time is so 
 contracted that it is not in my power to remedy it ; 
 for remedy it I certainly would. But you see ia 
 what troubles and difficulties I am. The money 
 concerns are not stich (for I often hear from him) 
 that he does not wish to pay you, and is earnest to 
 do so. But if Q. Axius, in this my flight, does 
 not repay me thirteen sestertia (100/.) which 1 lent 
 to his son, but excuses himself on account of the 
 times ; if Lepta, if others do the same ; I cannot 
 forbear wondering, when I hear from him that he 
 is pressed for some 20 sestertia (160/.). For you 
 see the difficulties. He has ordered, however, that 
 the money may be provided for you. Do you 
 think him slow, or backward, in such atfairs .' 
 Nobody is less so. But enough about my brother. 
 Respecting his son, it is true that his father always 
 indulged him : but indulgence does not make one 
 deceitful, or covetous, or without natural affection ; 
 though it may perhaps create haughtiness, and 
 arrogance, and moroseness. Accordingly he has 
 these faults also, which arise from indulgence : but 
 tliey are supportable ; for why should I add, at his 
 time of life .' But the former, which to me who 
 love him are more grievous than these very cala- 
 mities in which I am placed, are not the effects of 
 our tenderness ; no, thty have roots of their own ; 
 which, however, I would pluck out if it were 
 possible. But the times are such that I must put 
 up with everything. My own son I easily restrain ; 
 for nothing is more tractable ; and it is in compas- 
 sion to him that I have hitherto adopted less 
 vigorous counsels ; and the more he wishes me to 
 exert myself, the more I am afraid of injuring him. 
 Antonius arrived yesterday evening . He ma y 
 
 «■ See letter 12 of this book. 
 
 ^ I understand this to mean different from that whicit 
 Cicero had given in the preceding letters. Some suppose 
 that he means Quintus had given one account to .A.tticus 
 another to Pomponia.
 
 744 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 perhaps soon call upon me ; or he may not even do 
 that ; as he wrote to explain his wishes. But you 
 shall know immediately what is done. I must now 
 conduct everything secretly. What shall I do 
 about the boys ? Shall I trust them to a small 
 row-boat ? What inclination do you imagine I 
 shall have for sailing ? For I remember, even in 
 summer time, how uneasy I was sailing with that 
 open vessel of the Rhodians>' : what do you sup- 
 pose then will be the case in this severe season 
 with a little barge ? It is every way a sad state. 
 Trebatius is with me, a thoroughly honest man, 
 and good citizen. What monstrous things does he 
 relate ! Immortal gods ! Does Balbus also think 
 of coming into the senate ? But 1 shall to-morrow 
 get him to carry a letter to you himself. 1 am 
 ready to believe Vectenus is kindly disposed towards 
 me, as you say. I had joked with him a little 
 angrily for having written to me so peremptorily 
 about providing the moneys. If he received this 
 otherwise than he ought, you will soften it. I 
 addressed hiia coiner, because he had addressed me 
 proconsul. But since he is an honest man, and 
 friendly tov/ards me, I am ready also to be friendly 
 towards him. 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 
 What will become of me ? Or who is there not 
 only more unfortunate, but more disgraced, than I 
 am ? Antonius says that he has received orders * 
 about me by name. He has not however yet 
 seen me, but mentioned this to Trebatius. What 
 can I do now ? Nothing prospers with me ; and 
 what has been considered with the greatest care, 
 turns out the most unhappily. For when I had 
 gained Curio, I thought I had obtained everything. 
 He had written to Hortensius'' about me; and 
 Reginus was entirely with me. I never suspected 
 that Antonius would have anything to do with this 
 sea"^. Which way shall I now turn myself.' I am 
 beset on all sides. But enough of lamentation. I 
 must sail then unseasonably, and creep unobserved 
 into some merchant-ship. I must not let it seem 
 as if I were stopped with my own concurrence ''. 
 I must endeavour to get to Sicily ; which if I 
 accomplish, I shall pursue something further. 
 Let but things go on well in Spain. Though about 
 Sicily itself, I wish the news may be true ; but 
 hitherto nothing has happened favourably. It is 
 reported that a concourse of Sicilians assembled 
 round Cato, entreating him to resist, and promising 
 everything ; and that he was moved by it, and 
 began to levy troops. I do not believe it, however 
 illustrious be its author. That the province might 
 be kept, I know. But we shall soon have news 
 from Spain. We have here C. Marcellus intent 
 upon the same purpose "^j or excellently feigning 
 it : though I have not seen him myself, but hear it 
 from one who is intimate with him. Pray let me 
 hear if you have anything new. If I make any 
 
 y See book vi. letter 8. 
 
 » See letter 5 of this book. 
 
 » To prevent Cicero from leaving Italy. 
 
 b Hortensius had a command on the south coast. 
 
 c The southern, or Tyrrhenian sea. 
 
 d It must not have tlie appearance of a plan concerted 
 between him and Csesar for the purpose of his remaining 
 In Italy. 
 
 < Of quitting Italy. 
 
 attempt, I will immediately write to you. I shall 
 deal severely with young Quintus : I wish I may 
 be able to do any good. But do you tear t!ie 
 letters in which I have said anything harshly of 
 him, for fear of some disclosure : I will do the 
 same with yours. I am waiting for Servius, yet ihy 
 not expect from him any sound advice. You shall 
 know whatever is the result. It must doubtless be 
 confessed that I have committed errors. But is it 
 once only ? and on one occasion .' Nay, everything, 
 the more it has been considered, the more impru- 
 dently has it been done. But, as Homer says, 
 " what is past, we must let be, however sorry:" 
 in what remains, let us oidy not rush on our ruin. 
 You bid me be circumspect in my dejiarture. In 
 what respect should I be circumspect ? All the 
 accidents that can occur are so manifest, that if 1 
 would avoid them, I must sit down in shame and 
 grief ; if I should neglect them, I am in danger of 
 falling into the hands of abandoned men. But see 
 in what great difficulties I am. I sometimes think 
 it would be desirable to sustain even some severe 
 injury from these people, that it may appear how 
 hateful I am to the tyrant. If the course I had 
 hoped were open to me, I would have accom- 
 plished something, as you wish and e.xhort, that 
 should justify my delay. But the guard that is 
 kept is surprising ; and I have some suspicions 
 even of Curio himself. I must act therefore either 
 by force or by stealth : and if by force, I shall 
 perhaps have to contend also with the season. 
 But by stealth, is by stealth from these people ; In 
 which if there should be any failure, you see what 
 disgrace impends. But I am drawn on, and 
 must not recede tlirough fear of some outrage. I 
 often think with myself about Ceelius*^ ; and, should 
 I have any similar opportunity, I shall not let it 
 slip. I hope that Spain is steady. The affair of 
 Marseilles, as it is noble in icself, so is it an argu- 
 ment with me that all is right in Spain ; for they 
 would not show such resolution if it were other- 
 wise ; and they would know the truth, being so 
 near and vigilant. You rightly take notice of the 
 disapprobation expressed in the theatre. 1 perceive 
 also, that the legions which he took up in Italy 
 are very much dissatisfied. But yet nothing is 
 more hostile, than he is to himself. You justly 
 fear his breaking out into violence. If he is driven 
 to despair, he will certainly do so. This increases 
 the propriety of effecting something in the same 
 spirit as Cselius, but I should hope with better 
 success. But everything in its turn : whatever is 
 done first, you shall immediately know it. I will, 
 as you desire, do what I can for the young maas, 
 and will support the weight of the whole Pelopon- 
 nesus'* : for he has good parts, if there were but 
 any disposition susceptible of instruction. Hitherto 
 he shows none ; yet there may be ; or virtue is not 
 to be taught ; which I can never believe. 
 
 f The CjElius here spoken of has been supposed to be one 
 C. Caelius Caldus, who endeavoured, but in vain, tc check 
 the progress of Sylla in the former civil wars ; but I do. 
 not find that this conjecture rests on any certain founda- 
 tion. See letter 14 of this book. 
 
 K Young Quintus. 
 
 h This probably alludes to the same thing, as when, in^ 
 letter 5 of this book, he mentions Arcadia, which was a. 
 part of the Peloponnesus; meaning that no difficultyi 
 should deter him.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 745- 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 "Your letter was particularly acceptable to my 
 dear Tullia, and iiuleeil to me. Your letters always 
 bring soinethiiia; agreeable with them. Write, 
 therefore ; and if you can offer any ground of hope, 
 do not omit it. You need not be alarmed at 
 Antonius's lions'. Nothing is pleasanter than this 
 man. Listen to a trait worthy of a minister of 
 state. He summoned the council of tenJ from the 
 free towns ; and the four magistrates came to his 
 residence early in the morning. First, he was 
 asleep till nine o'clock : then, upon being told that 
 the Neapolitans and Cumans were arrived (for 
 Ceesar was displeased with these people), he ordered 
 them to come again the next day, as he wanted to 
 bathe, and was taking a lavement. This he did 
 yesterday : and to-day he has determined to go 
 over to ^Enaria''. He promises to recall those that 
 have been banished'. I5ut omitting these matters, 
 let me say something about myself. I have had a 
 letter from Axius"". I am obliged to you for what 
 you have done about Tiro. I am quite satisfied 
 with Vectenus. I have paid the money" to 
 Vestorius. Servius is said to have slept at Min- 
 turnse the 6tb of May ; to-day he was to lodge with 
 C. Marcellus in Liternium ; he will therefore reach 
 me early to-morrow, and will furnish me with 
 matter for writing to you ; for I now find nothing 
 to say. I am surprised that Antonius should not 
 so much as send a message to me, especially as he 
 has always been very civil. I suppose he does not 
 choose to deny before my face his having received 
 a harsh command concerning me. But I should 
 not ask any favour" ; nor, if I obtained it, should I 
 place any reliance upon it. Yet I must devise 
 something. Pray let me know if anything is done 
 in Spain ; for it might be heard by this time ; 
 and everybody is anxious, as supposing that, if 
 things go right, there will be no further trouble. 
 But for my part, I neither think that the preserva- 
 tion of Sjiain will decide the business, nor its loss 
 render it desperate. I imagine Silius, and Ocella, 
 and the others, are obliged to delay their departure. 
 I perceive too that you are hindered by CurtiusP ; 
 though I suppose you have*! a passport. 
 
 ■ Antonius is reported, but at a subsequent period, to 
 have yoked lions to his carri.nge. He may at least have 
 shown a fondness for tlicm, and carried them about witlx 
 him at this time. Cicero seems to mean that Antonius 
 himself assumed so little of the character of the lion, that 
 he condescended to amuse himself with low humour, be- 
 neath the dignity of his situation. 
 
 J The municipia, or towns admitted to the freedom of 
 Roman citizens, were usually governed by a council of 
 ten, and had besides four executive magistrates. 
 
 '' A small island near the coast of Campania, since called 
 Ischia. 
 
 ' See above, letter 4 of this book. 
 
 '" See letter 11 of this book. 
 
 ° The word money is not in the original, but seems to 
 be the most probable completion of the sentence, and at 
 the same time explanatory of what was said letter 5 of 
 this book. 
 
 Should not ask leave to depart. 
 
 P Perhaps some debtor, from whom Atticus could not 
 recover his money. 
 
 1 In the original there appears to have been some Greek 
 word, which has undergone such mutilation from copyists 
 and commentators, as to baffle all reasonable interpreta- 
 tion. The 17th letter of this book, which seems to have 
 reference to this, makes it probable that Cicero meant in 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 O WRETCHED existence ! For to remain so long 
 in fear, is a greater evil than the thing itself which 
 is feared. Servius, as I before mentioned, having 
 arrived the 7th of May, came to me the next day. 
 Not to detain you unnecessarily, we came to no 
 conclusion. I never saw anybody more disturbed 
 by apprehension ; nor in truth did he fear anything 
 that was not a just cause of fear. That man'' was 
 angry with him, this' by no means pleased; and 
 the victory of either party was to be dreaded, owing 
 to the cruel disposition of the one', the audacity of 
 the other"*, and the pecuniary difficulties of both, from 
 which they can never be extricated but through the 
 property of private individuals. This he said with 
 so many tears, that I wondered they had not been 
 dried up by such protracted misery. As for me, 
 even this weakness of the eyes, which prevents my 
 writing with my own hand, is unattended with any 
 weeping"', though it is often so troublesome as to 
 keep me awake. Collect, therefore, what consola- 
 tion you can, and send it me ; not from books and 
 philosophy ; for that I have at home ; though 
 somehow the remedy is less powerful than the 
 disease : but do you rather find out what relates to 
 Spain, and to Marseilles. Servius brings a suf- 
 ficiently good report on these subjects, and says 
 there is good authority for that of the two legions"'. 
 Let me then hear this from you, if you can, and 
 other things of the same kind. Something must 
 necessarily be known in a few days. But I revert 
 to Servius. We adjourned our conversation to the 
 next day. But he is loath to go out of the country. 
 He would sooner bear whatever might happen, in 
 his bed. He has a painful scruple arising from his 
 son's joining the army before Brundisium '^. This, 
 however, he positively asserted, that if the exiles 
 were restored, he would go into banishment himself. 
 To this I replied, that that would certainly take 
 place ; and that what was now doing was not at all 
 better; and I produced many instances. But this, 
 instead of giving him encouragement, increased his 
 fear ; so that now it seems necessary rather to keep 
 him in ignorance of my purpose, than to invite him 
 to do the same. Therefore, there is not much to 
 be expected from him. I shall think of Cselius, 
 according to your suggestion. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 While Servius was with me, Cephalio arrived 
 with your letter, on the tenth ; which brought us 
 great hope of better things respecting the eight 
 cohorts ; for they also which are in these parts, 
 
 some manner to signify " a passport," which is there called 
 diploma ; whence it may be suspected that the word here 
 might have been SiirAoi/xa. 
 
 ■• Pompeius would be angry with him for ha\ing sent his 
 son to join Cesar's army before Brundisium. 
 
 s Ca?sar was displeased with his having moved the 
 senate not to approve of the expedition to Spain against 
 I'ompeius's lieutenants ; as Cicero had informed him he 
 should himself do if he went to Rome. See book ix. 
 letter 18. 
 
 ' PompeSns. 
 
 " CjEsar. 
 
 ^ As if the very source of his tears was exhausted. 
 
 "■ See letter 12 of this book. 
 
 ^ See book ix. letter 19.
 
 746 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 are said to waver. On the same day Fiinisulanns 
 brought another letter from you, corroborating the 
 «ame circumstance. On the subject of his own 
 business 1 satisfied him amply, <;iviiii; him to un- 
 -derstand all his obligation to you. He has not yet 
 iiaid me. He owes mc a considerable sum, and is 
 not supposed to be rich. He now says that he will 
 pay it ; but that one, who is in his books, delays : 
 <liat, when this is paid, if there should be sufficient 
 at your ^ house, you may send it by the messengers. 
 Rhilotimus's freed-man, Eros, will tell you how 
 much it is. But let us return to greater matters. 
 That Ccelian business, which you wish for, ripens 
 apace ; and I am distracted with doubt whether I 
 should wait for a favourable wind. There wants but. 
 a standard, and people will flock to it'. I am quite 
 of your mind in thinking it best to go openly % 
 and 1 think to set ofl' accordingly : but I shall 
 first wait for another letter from you. Nothing is 
 to be got from Servius's opinion : every objection 
 is raised to every proposal. He is the only man 
 I have known of a more timid disposition than C. 
 Marcellus, who regretted that he had been made 
 consul. How dishonourable ! He is said too to have 
 confirmed Antonius in his opposition to my de- 
 parture, that he might himself, I suppose, remain 
 with the better grace. Antonius set out for Capua 
 the tenth. He sent me word that he was prevented 
 from waiting upon me by shame, because he thought 
 I should be angry with him. I shall go then, and 
 in the manner you advise, unless any hope should 
 previously be afforded of sustaining some more im- 
 portant character *>. But this can scarcely happen 
 so soon. AUienus the prstor however thinks that 
 one of his colleagues will be appointed, if I am 
 not. I care not who it is, so there be but some- 
 body. I am pleased with what you mention about 
 your sister. I take pains about young Quintus ; 
 and hope things are better. As for my brother 
 'Quintus, I assure you he is making every exertion 
 to pay the interest that is due ; but he has hitherto 
 squeezed nothing out of L. Egnatius'^. Axius <* 
 modestly applies for 12,000 (100/.); for he has 
 frequently written to desire 1 would advance to 
 Gallius whatever he wants. But if he had not 
 written, could I do otherwise ? In truth I have 
 repeatedly promised : but this money he wants im- 
 
 y Atticus, we have seen, succeeded to the property of 
 Ciecilius, who was a sort of banker ; and 1 imagine the 
 same business to have been continued on Atticus's account. 
 Hence I understand this passage to mean, that if Funisu- 
 lanus, after tlie money tliat was owing to him should have 
 been paid, bad enough at Atticus's banking-house to 
 answer Cicero's claims, it might be sent down to him. 
 [See book viii. letter 7, note ■".] This receives consider- 
 able weight from what occurs in several letters of book 
 xii., from which it appears that Atticus was a long time 
 ■engaged with his accounts, so as to show that they must 
 have been voluminous and intricate. 
 
 I This may either mean, that there were many people 
 dissatisfied with Cajsar, and ready to unite under any 
 leader in opposition to him : or, that many people were 
 •desirous of leaving Italy as soon as an opportunity offered. 
 
 « See letter 12 of this book. " I must act, therefore, 
 •either by force or by stealth." 
 
 i> Of being a negotiator for peace. 
 
 = See book vii. letter li). 
 
 o Axius is mentioned before, in letter 1 1 of this book, 
 .as owing Cicero 13,000 sestertii on account of his son, who 
 is probably the same Gallius here spoken of. And now hp 
 <«ays, tliat Axius, instead of repaying the money, borrows 
 ia,(KK> more, and wants it immediately. 
 
 mediately. I wish people ' would have considera- 
 tion for me in these troubles. May the gods 
 confound them ! But of this at some other time. 
 1 rejoice at your being freed from your ague, and 
 also Pilia. While the stores and other things are 
 putting on board, I mean to run down to Pom- 
 peianum. I should be glad if you would make my 
 acknowledgments to Vectenus for his attention. 
 If you have anybody to send, let me hear from 
 you before I go. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 I HAD just sent you a letter on a variety of sub- 
 jects, when Dionysius came to me at an early hour. 
 I should not only have shown myself ready to for- 
 give him, but should have remitted the whole, if he 
 liad come in the temper of mind you described. For 
 in the letter I received from you at Arpinum, you 
 said that he would come, and would do whatever I 
 desired. Now I desired, or rather wished, to have 
 him with me. This he had positively refused, 
 when he came to Formianum, which occasioned me 
 to write to you angrily about him. He said very 
 little ; but the amount of his "harangue was, that 
 I would forgive him ; that he was so embarrassed 
 with his own affairs, that he was unable to go with 
 me. I replied in a few words, but felt great vexa- 
 tion. I saw clearly that he despised my present 
 fortune. What think you ? Perhaps you will be 
 surprised ; but I must tell you that I reckon this 
 among the greatest vexations of these times. I 
 would have him continue your friend. The wishing 
 j'ou this, is wishing that all may go well with you: 
 for just so long will his attachment last. I trust 
 my design will be unattended with danger ; for I 
 shall both dissemble, and mean to keep a sharp 
 look-out. Let but the passage be such as I wish ; 
 for the rest, so far as it is under the control of 
 prudence, due care shall be taken. While I remain 
 here, I should be glad if you would write me 
 word not merely of what you know, or have heard, 
 but also of what you foresee will happen. Cato, 
 who might have kept Sicily without any difficulty, 
 (and if he had kept it, all respectable people would 
 have flocked to him) went from Syracuse the 24th 
 of April, as Curio wrote me word. I wish, what 
 is said, that Cotta may keep Sardinia. There is 
 such a report. If it be so, poor Cato ! In order 
 to lessen any suspicion of my departure, or of my 
 design, I went to Pompeianum the 12th, that I 
 might remain there, while the things requisite for 
 the voyage were got ready. Upon my arrival at 
 the house, information was brought me that the cen- 
 turions of thrt-e cohorts which are at Pompeii wished 
 me to go thither the next day ; it was my friend 
 Ninnius communicated this to me ; that they wished 
 to deliver themselves and the town to me. But I, 
 look you, was off on the morrow before it was 
 light, that they might not so much as see me. For 
 what was there in three cohorts ? What if there 
 had been more ? How were they furnished ? There 
 occurred to me the same ideas upon that Cselian 
 attempt which 1 read in the letter I received from 
 you the same day, as soon as I arrived at Cuma- 
 num ; and yet it might only have been done to try 
 me. I therefore 'cmoved all suspicion. Upon my 
 
 e Adjuvarent seems to be used absolutely, in the man* 
 ner explained in book iv. letter 3, note '.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 747 
 
 return 1 find Hortensius has been here, and called 
 to pay his respects to Terentia. He used very 
 honourable language towards roe. But I suppose 1 
 shall see him ; for he sent his servant to say that he 
 would call upon me. This is better than my col- 
 league ' Antonius, whose mistress is carried in a 
 litter in the midst of his iictors ^. Since you are 
 free from the ague, and have shaken off not only 
 the disease but even the languor attending it, I'jt 
 me see you in Greece looking quite well. In the 
 mean time let me hear something from you. 
 
 LETTER XYII. 
 
 HoRTEXSius came to me the 14th, after my 
 letter was written. I wish the rest of his conduct 
 may correspond with this. His attention toward-s 
 me is inconceivable, and of this I mean to avail 
 myself". Afterwards came Serapio' with your 
 letter. But before I opened it, I told him that you 
 had already written to me about him, as you had 
 done. Then, when I had read the letter, I entered 
 upon the rest very fully ; and in truth I am much 
 pleased with him, for he seems to be at once a man 
 of learning and of probity. I think of employing 
 his vessel also, and taking him with me. The 
 weakness of my eyes has frequent returns, and 
 though not very troublesome, yet it prevents my 
 writing. I am glad your health is now both re- 
 stored from its old complaint, and strengthened 
 against any fresh attacks. I wish I had OcellaJ 
 here : for these matters seem to be rather more 
 feasible. At present I am stopped by the equinox, 
 ■which is very much out of its natural course ''. If 
 this blows gently, I hope Hortensius will continue 
 in the same disposition, for hitherto nothing could 
 be more kind. You are surprised at my having 
 sjxiken of a passport ', as if I were charging 
 you with I know not what offence ; and can- 
 not imagine how it should have come into my 
 mind. But as you had mentioned an intention of 
 going away, and I had understood that nobody was 
 permitted to go without one, therefore I concluded 
 you had one ; as likewise because you had got a 
 passport for the boys. This was the reason of the 
 
 ' See letter 15 of tliis book, where Antonius is said to 
 have gone away witl'.(iut seeing Cicero. He was Cicero's 
 colleague in the college of augurs. 
 
 e See letter 10 of this book. 
 
 •• Hortensius had a command under Caesar ; and Cicero 
 hoped to facilitate his design of sajling by his connivance. 
 See letter 12 of this book. 
 
 ' Scrapie seems to have been recommended to Atticus as 
 a tutor to the two yovuig Ciceros. 
 
 J He is mentioned in letter 13 of this book, and may 
 probably have been mentioned in some letter from Atticus. 
 
 •t I'rcviously to the reformation of the calendar, the esti- 
 mated periods of the year had grown into great disorder; 
 BO that the equinoctial winds, which might favour Cicero's 
 Foyage, had not yet blown. See letter 18 of this book. 
 
 1 See letter 13 of this book. 
 
 opinion I c.\'pressed. But I should be glad to know 
 what you think of doing, and above all if there is 
 yet any news. May lt>. 
 
 LETTER XVIII, 
 
 My dear Tullia was brought to bed the 1 9th of 
 May of a seven months' child. I rejoice in her safe 
 delivery. The child is very weakly. Tiie calms 
 have hitherto delayed me surprisingly, and have 
 been a greater impediment than the watch which 
 is kept over me. For Hortensius's professions are 
 all idle words, so that he must be a most base man. 
 He has been corrupted by the freed-man Salvius. 
 Henceforward thert-fore I shall not write to inform 
 you what I am going to do, but what I have done. 
 For all the Coryca'i'" seem to listen to what I say. 
 But still if there is anything from Spain, or any- 
 thing else, pray continue to write ; and do not 
 expect to hear from me till I arrive at my destina- 
 tion, unless I send to you on my passage. But I 
 write even this with fear : so slowly and difficultly 
 has everything hitherto been done. As 1 laid ill 
 the first beginning, so the rest follows. I am now 
 jiroceeding to Formise. The Furies will perhaps 
 pursue me by the same route. From the conver- 
 sation which Balbus had with you, I do not ap- 
 prove of Malta. Do you then doubt of his reckon- 
 ing me among the number of the enemies .' I have 
 written myself to Balbus, telling him that you had 
 informed me of his good-will, and of his suspicion. 
 For the one 1 have returned my thanks ; on the 
 other subject you must excuse me to him. Did 
 you ever know anybody more unfortunate .' I say 
 no more, that I may noc also distress you. I am 
 worried to death with thinking that a time is ar- 
 rived, when neither courage nor prudence can any 
 longer avail me. 
 
 ™ The banditti of Jlount Corj'cus were noted for their 
 secret intelligence ; from whence the term Corycaei was 
 used proverbially to signify any spies or discoverers of 
 secrets. — Erasm. Adag. 
 
 ITn the interval between the tenth and eleventh books of 
 Cicero's letters, it appears that he actuaUi/ quitted Italy 
 the Wth of June, and passed over to Diirrachiitm, with 
 his brother and the two young Ciceros, to join Pompeius. 
 In the mean time Caesar had made himself master of 
 Spain; and having been created dictator at Rome, 
 marched to Brundisium, and thence embarlced the 4th of 
 January in pursuit of Pompeius. At first Pompeius 
 obtained some advantage over Casar before Dyrrackium, 
 but was soon after totally defeated in the memorable 
 battle of Pharsalia. Cicero was not present on this occa- 
 sion, but remained at Dyrrachium out of health, and out 
 of spirits. After this defeat Pompeius's party dispersed. 
 The preatfr part went to renew the war in Africa, whi- 
 ther Ccesar also followed them. Some retired into Greece; 
 but Cicero returned to Brundisium about the eitd of 
 October, and j>om thence wrote the 5th letter of the 
 following fcoois.]
 
 748 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 BOOK XI. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 T IIAVF. received from you a sealed packet " 
 brouj;lit by Anteros ; but from wliich I have been 
 able to learn nothing of my domestic affairs, about 
 which I am deeply concerned. For he " who has 
 had t!ie management of them is not there, nor do 
 I know where in the world he is. But I place all 
 hope of my reputation and private concerns in 
 your kindness, which I have so often experienced. 
 This if you will extend to me in these sad and 
 desperate times, I shall bear with a better heart the 
 dangers which are common to me with tlie rest ; 
 and that you will do so I conjure and entreat you. 
 1 have two-and-twenty hundred sestertia (17,000/.) 
 in cistophori" in Asia ; by exchanging which money 
 you will easily support my credit. Had I not 
 thought that 1 left it quite clear, trusting to liim '' 
 whom you have long since ceased to trust, 1 would 
 have waited a little longer, and not left my private 
 affairs in t'mbarrassment. The reason of my writing 
 to you so late, is, that I have been late in finding 
 what I had to apprehend. 1 beg you again and 
 aijain to take me wholly under your protection; that 
 if those, with whom I am "■, are safe, I may escape 
 along with them, and may owe my safety to your 
 kindness. 
 
 LETTER 11. 
 
 I RECEIVED your letter the 4th of February, and 
 the very same day I formally accepted the inherit- 
 ance ' according to the will. Out of my many 
 sad troubles one is removed, if, as you say, this 
 inheritance is adequate to the support of my credit 
 and reputation ; which, however, even without this, 
 I understand that you would have defended from 
 your own means. As to what you mention 
 respecting the dower *, by all the gods I conjure 
 you to take the whole affair under your manage- 
 ment, and to protect that poor creature '" (who is 
 suffering by my fault and negligence) out of my 
 property, if I have any ; or by any means you can 
 employ without j)utting yourself to inconvenience. 
 Do not, I beseech you, suffer her to remain, as you 
 say, destitute of everything. On what expenses has 
 the produce of the farms been consumed ? No- 
 body ever told me that those sixty sestertia (480/.) 
 which you mention had been deducted from her 
 
 " Not a reguhir letter; whicli might perhaps be occ.i- 
 sioned by the risk attending it. See the conclusion of the 
 following letter. 
 
 " Philotiraus. 
 
 P See book ii. letter 6. The ci.itopJwri appear to have 
 been the current coin of Asia Minor ; and this sum was 
 probably saved during his government of Cilicia. 
 
 <l Philotinius. 
 
 r The Pompeians, whose safety here mentioned relates 
 to tlieir prcperty, not to their persons. This and tlie 
 three following letters appear to have been written from 
 Dyrrachium. 
 
 3 Accepting it before witnesses within a certain time 
 specified by the will. 
 
 « The dower of his daughter on her marriage with Dola- 
 bella. 
 
 'i Tullia, who appears to have been brought into diffi- 
 culties by her husband's extravagance. 
 
 dower ; for I never would have suffered it. But' 
 this is the least of the injuries which I have- 
 received "', and which my grief and tears jirevent 
 me from detailing to you. Of the money which I 
 had in Asia, 1 have drawn out nearly one half*. I 
 thoiiL'ht it would be safer where it is than with the 
 l>ut)lic renters". When you exhor*-, me to keep up 
 my spirits, I wish you could suggest anything that 
 might enable me to do so. But if to my other 
 miseries is added that also which C'hrysippus said 
 was in contemplation (you have not mentioned it) 
 respecting my house *", who is there more wretched 
 than myself? I pray and beseech you, pardon me. 
 I cannot write any more. You see how greatly I 
 am afflicted. If this were common to me with the 
 rest, who seem to be in the same case, my fault 
 would not appear so great, and would therefore be 
 the more tolerable. There is now no source of 
 comfort ; unless you devise something, if indeed 
 anything can be devised, that I may not be ex- 
 posed to any peculiar calamity and insult. I have 
 been later in sending back the courier, because 
 there was no opportunity of sending. I have 
 received from your agents seventy sestertia (.560/.) 
 in money, and the clothing ^ that was wanted. I 
 should be glad if you would write in my name to 
 whom you think proper: you know my friends. If 
 they expect my seal, or signature, you may teU 
 them that I have avoided this, on account of the 
 watch that is kept ^ 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 What is doing here you will be able to leara 
 from the bearer of this letter, whom I have kept 
 the longer because I have been in daily expectation 
 of something new ; though at present I have no 
 other reason for writing, than that, about which 
 you desired an answer, respecting what I would 
 have done relative to the first of July*". Either 
 alternative is attended with difficulty in such diffi'- 
 cult times ; the risk of so large a sum ; or, in this 
 doubtful issue of events, that breaking off *^ which 
 
 T From his wife Terentia, probably through the agency 
 of Philotimus. 
 
 w He placed it in the hands of Egnatius, a banker at 
 Rome. See letter 3 of this book. 
 
 X Tlio farmers of the taxes in Asia, of whom frequent 
 mention is made in the early books of these letters. Sce^ 
 book i. letter 17, note «. 
 
 y It was proposed to take from Cicero his house in Rome, 
 on account of his going over to Pompeius. 
 
 z Probably for his slaves. 
 
 » Cicero being now with Pompeius's army at Dyrrachium^ 
 was under the restriction of military discipline, and, it is 
 probable, might be watched with some jealousy. 
 
 ^ This was probably the day on which some portion of 
 his daughter's fortune became due to Dolabella. Cicero, 
 as well as Tullia, was dissatisfied with Dolabella, and me- 
 ditated a divorce. But considering Dolabella's credit with' 
 Caesar, it was difficult to determine, in the present doubt- 
 ful state of aflFairs, whether to incur the danger of losing 
 so large a sum, if he paid it ; or to cut the matter short 
 by suing for a divorce, and thereby making Dolabella his 
 enemy. 
 
 c The expression is probably borrowed from AtticuSr 
 and means the separating his daughter from her husbands
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 r49 
 
 you mention. Therefore as other things, so this 
 especially I commit to your protection and kind- 
 ness, and to her judgment and inclination. I 
 should have done better for my poor daughter, if I 
 had formerly deliberated with you in person, ra- 
 ther'' than by letter, on the subject of my own 
 security and circumstances. When you deny that 
 any jieciiliar disadvantage attaches to me, though 
 this affords no consolation, yet there are ; many 
 peculiar circumstances which you must see to be, 
 as tluy are, very grievous, and which I might easily 
 have avoided. But these very things will be less, 
 if, as has hitherto been done, they are lightened by 
 your care and attention. The money is with Eg- 
 natius. ]A-t it remain on my account, as it is, (for 
 things cannot long continue in their present state), 
 that I may be able to see what is most expedient ; 
 though i am in want of everything ; because he 
 also " with whom I am is in difficulties, and I have 
 advanced him a large sum of money, thinking that 
 when matters are settled, this may likewise be an 
 honour to me. I should be glad, if there are any per- 
 sons to whom you think I ought to write, that you 
 would execute this, as you have done before. Pre- 
 sent my compliments to your family, and take care 
 of your healtli. In the first place make every care 
 and provision for what you mention ; that nothing 
 may be wanting to her ^ for whom you know how 
 uneasy I am. From the camp, June 13th. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 I RECEIVED a letter by Isidorus, and two of 
 later dates. From the last I find that the estates 
 have not been sold s. You will therefore see that 
 she '' may be supi)orted through you. With respect 
 to Frusinas ', if only I survive, it will be a con- 
 venient possession for me. You desire me to write, 
 but I am prevented by want of matter, for I have 
 nothing worth writing ; entirely disapproving, as I 
 do, both what happens, and what is doing. I wish 
 I had formerly consulted you in person, rather than 
 by letter. I support your cause here among these 
 people as well as I can. Celer will tell you the 
 rest. I have hitherto declined all office, the more 
 so because it was impossible to do anything as 
 became me and my circumstances J. You ask what 
 new has happened : you will be able to learn from 
 Isidorus. What remains does not appear to be 
 more difficult ''. I should be glad to have you take 
 care (as you promise, and as you do) of what you 
 know I have especially at heart '. I am worn 
 with anxiety, which has also brought on extreme 
 bodily weakness. As soon as this is removed, I 
 «hall join the leader of the business, who is in 
 
 •i That is, on the propriety of his own going to join 
 ■Pompeius. See the following letter. 
 
 « Pompeius. 
 
 f TuUia. 
 
 S Estates by which he proposed to relieve Tullia from 
 her embarrassment. 
 
 •> Tullia 
 
 ' The name of an estate. See letter 13 of this book. 
 
 J The subsequent part of the letter appears to have been 
 written after that affair of Dyrrachiuin in which Cjesar 
 was worsted. The vicinity of the armies made Cicero very 
 cautious and reserved in what he wrote. 
 
 '» Thero did not appear any reason why Pompeius should 
 not be equally successful in any subsequent engagement. 
 
 1 His daughter's comfort. 
 
 great hope '". Our friend Brutus " engages zeal- 
 ously in the cause. So far I have been able to 
 write with caution. Farewell. Respecting the 
 second payment ", pray consider with all attention 
 what is to be done ; as I observed in the letter 
 which I sent by Pollex. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 I CANNOT without the greatest pain describe to 
 you what causes, how bitter, how grievous, how 
 unexpected, have moved me, and compelled me to 
 act from a certain impulse of mind, rather than 
 from consideration. They were such as have 
 ))roduced the effect you perceive p. I therefire 
 neither know what to tell you about my concerns, 
 nor what to ask of you. You see the result and 
 sum of the business. I have understood from 
 your letters, both from that whicli you wrote in 
 conjunction with others, and from that which was 
 in your own name, (what indeed I perceived by 
 myself), that your declining influence made you 
 look out for some new means of defending me. 
 As to what you propose of my coming nearer, and 
 travelling through the towns by night, I do not well 
 see how that can be dene ; for I have not such 
 convenient resting-places, that I can pass in them 
 all the day-time ; nor is it of much consequence 
 for the purpose of your inquiry, whether people 
 see me in the towns or on the road. But yet I 
 will consider, among other things, how this can 
 best be done. My uneasiness both of mind and 
 body is beyond belief, and makes me incapable of 
 writing many letters : I have only answered those 
 which I, received. I wish you would write to 
 Basilus, and to whomsoever you think proper, also 
 to Servilius, in my name. That I should have 
 written nothing to you in so long an interval, you 
 will understand to arise from want of matter to 
 write upon, not from want of inclination. Re- 
 specting your inquiry about Vatinius, 1 should not 
 want his services, nor anybody's else, if they could 
 find how to assist me. Quintus was at Patrse 'i, 
 in a disposition very hostile towards me. To the 
 same place his son went from Corcyra. I imagine 
 they are since gone from thence along with the 
 rest '. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 I PERCEIVE your anxiety not only about your 
 own, and the common calamities, but more parti- 
 cularly about me, and ray affliction. And this my 
 affliction is so far from being lessened, that it is 
 even increased by associating yours with it. How- 
 ever, you see with your usual prudence to what 
 source of consolation I am most open. For you 
 approve of my determination^, and declare that at 
 
 m Pompeius received great hope from his recent success. 
 
 1 This is more particularly mentioned, because Brutus 
 was personally hostile to Pompeius, who had caused the 
 death of Brutus's father under Sulla's administration. 
 
 o The second instalment of his daughter's dower. 
 
 P That he should have returned to Brundisium after the 
 battle of Pharsalia. 
 
 q In the Peloponnesus. 
 
 r To make their peace with C«Bar. See letter 6 of this 
 book. 
 
 » Of coming to Italy.
 
 750 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 Buch a time I could have done nothing better. You 
 add also (what, though of less weiglit than your 
 own judgment, yet has some weight with nie) tliat 
 the step whieh I have taken is apjiroved by others 
 also ; that is, persons of consideration. If I 
 thought this, I should be less afflicted. " Believe 
 me," you say. I do believe you ; but I know how de- 
 sirous you are that my distress should be lightened. 
 I have never regretted my withdrawing from the 
 army : there was such a cruel spirit, such a co- 
 operation with barbarous nations, that a proscrip- 
 tion was contemplated not individually, but col- 
 lectively ; so that it was determined by common 
 consent that the property of you all should be the 
 prey of his victory ; of you all, I say ; for there 
 was no thought even of you unmi.xed with cruelty. 
 I shall never repent of my good-will ' ; I do re- 
 pent of the measures I adopted ". I could wish 
 that I had retired to some remote town till I was 
 sent for. I should have created less observation, 
 and should have received less vexation. I should 
 not be exposed to this present trouble''. To lie 
 miserably at Brundisium, is every way painful. 
 How can I advance nearer, as you advise, without 
 the lictors, which the people gave me, and which 
 can never be taken from me but by violence. 
 These with their fasces I lately mingled for a time 
 in the crowd, as I approached the town, through 
 fear of some insult from the soldiers. I contrived 
 to get home in time '". I want you now to go to 
 Oppius ; and, provided it be thought right to ad- 
 vance with these lictors, I imagine they will au- 
 thorise me to consider of it "". For so they engage ; 
 that Caesar will have regard not only to the pre- 
 servation of my dignity, but even to the increase 
 of it ; and they exhort me to be of good courage, 
 and to entertain the best hopes. They give me the 
 strongest assurance of what I should more readily 
 credit if I had remained at home. But I am 
 entering upon things that are past. Consider then, 
 I beg you, what remains, and consult about it with 
 these people ; and, (if you think it expedient, and 
 it meets with their approbation,) that Csesar may 
 be the more inclined to approve what I do, let it 
 appear to be at their suggestion. Let Trebonius, 
 Pansa, and any others, be admitted to this consul- 
 tation, and let them write to inform Csesar that 
 what I have done, has been at their suggestion. I 
 am quite alarmed at Tullia's illness and debility. I 
 understand you are very kind to her, for which I 
 am greatly obliged to you. I never had any doubt 
 about Pompeius's fate y. For all princes and peo- 
 ple were so impressed with the desperate state of 
 his affairs, that wherever he had gone, I supposed 
 this would happen. I cannot help lamenting his 
 fall ; for I knew him to be a man- of integrity, 
 virtue, and dignity. Should I offer to console you 
 about Fannius '• ? He talked mischievously about 
 
 t Of having wished to serve Pompeius. 
 
 " The cruel disposition manifested in Pompeius's army 
 made Cicero repent of having joined them. 
 
 ▼ His detention at Brundisium, and the uncertainty of 
 his reception by Caesar's party. 
 
 w This passage has been variously tortured. I give 
 what appears to me to be the most natural interpretation, 
 without vouching for its correctness. 
 
 « How he should advance with his lictors and their fasces. 
 
 7 He was treacherously murdered in Egypt. 
 
 » Perhaps he was recently dead. Cicero seems to imply 
 that his conversation respecting Atticus was such as en- 
 titled him to little regret. 
 
 your remaining. And L. Lentulus had already 
 promised himself Hortensius's house, and Caesar's 
 gardens, and Baiae. Just the same is done on this 
 side, excepting that the other was boundless; for 
 everybody who had staid in Italy was esteemed in 
 the number of enemies. But some time or an- 
 i>ther I shall be glau to talk over these matters with 
 my mind more at ease. I hear that my brother 
 Quintus is gone into Asia to make his peace. Of 
 his son I have heard nothing. Inquire of Di«- 
 chares, Caesar's freed-man, whom I have not seen, 
 but who brought that letter from Alexandria. He 
 is reported to have seen him either on his jourtey, 
 or already in Asia. 1 look for your letter, as the 
 occasion demands ; and hope you will take care 
 to let it be brought to me with all expedition. 
 November 28. 
 
 LETTER Vn. 
 
 I THANK you for your letter, in which you have 
 accurately stated everything which you supposed to 
 concern me. It is settled therefore, according to 
 the opinion you give me from these people, that I 
 should continue to be attended by the same lictors. 
 as it was granted to Sestius : though I apprehend 
 he did not retain his original lictors, but had others 
 given him by Csesar. For I understand that he ■ 
 disallows such decrees of the senate, as were passed 
 subsequently to the departure of the tribunes. If 
 therefore he chooses to be consistent with himself, 
 he may still approve of my lictors. But what 
 have I to do with lictors, who am almost ordered 
 to quit Italy .' For Antonius sent me the copy of 
 a letter he had received from Cresar, in which it 
 was stated that he had heard of Cato's and L. 
 Metellus's arrival in Italy, with the design of living 
 openly in Rome ; that he did not like this, from 
 fear of its occasioning some disturbance ; and thit 
 all should be excluded from Italy, exceptthose whose 
 case he shouldhimself have heard : and he expressed 
 himself on this subject with great warmth. There- 
 fore Antonius wrote to me requesting that I would 
 pardon him, but that he was not at liberty to dis- 
 obey these instructions. Upon this I sent L. Lamia 
 to explain to him that Caesar had desired Dola- 
 bella to write to me, pressing me to come to Italy 
 as soon as possible, and that I had come agreeably 
 to his letter. He then issued an order to except me 
 and Leelius by name ; which I was sorry for, as 
 he might have excepted us in fact, without pub- 
 licly naming us. O the many heavy causes of 
 uneasiness 1 which you kindly endeavour to alle- 
 viate, and not without effect ; for you do indeed 
 lessen my affliction by the very circumstance of 
 your taking such pains to lessen it ; and this I 
 trust you will not think it burdensome to do very 
 often. You will especially attain your purpose, if 
 you can bring me to think that I have not entirely 
 lost the good opinion of respectable people. Yet 
 what can you do in this respect .' Nothing, truly. 
 But if circumstances should give you any opportu- 
 nity, this will afford me the best consolation. It 
 cannot be done at present ; but if anything should 
 arise in the course of events : like what has hap- 
 pened now. For it was said that I ought to have 
 gone with Pompeius, but his f?te lessens the re- 
 
 • Cffisar.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 751 
 
 proach of having neglected tliat duty. So of all 
 things nothing is more censured, than that I should 
 not have gone into Africa : but I considered that 
 the republic ought not to be defended by the bar- 
 barous troops of a faithless nation, especially 
 against an army that had gained repeated victories. 
 This perhaps will not be approved. For I hear 
 that many good men are arrived in Africa ; and I 
 know there veere many before. I am very much 
 pressed on this subject. Here then I stand in need 
 of some favourable chance. It may be that some, 
 or possibly all of them, may prefer their safety to 
 the issue of war. For if they persevere, and gain 
 their cause, you see in what a condition I shall be. 
 You will say, what will be their condition if they 
 are defeated ? It will at least be a more honourable 
 wound. These considerations distract me. You 
 do not say why you do not prefer Sulpicius's de- 
 termination to mine : for though it is less glori- 
 ous than Cato's, it is however exempt both from 
 danger and from remorse. The last thing to be con- 
 sidered, is the situation of those who are in Greece. 
 However, these are so far better off, than I am, tliat 
 they are together in considerable number ; and 
 whenever they come to Italy, they will come to 
 their own home. Continue, as you do, to soften 
 these matters, and to conciliate as many as you 
 can. When you excuse yourself", I am well aware 
 of your reasons, and consider it for my interest 
 that you should be there ', if it be only to manage 
 for me, as you have hitherto done, what can be 
 managed, with those in authority. In the first 
 place I should be glad if you would attend to this : 
 I apprehend there are many who have or will 
 accuse me to Caesar, as either repenting of the step 
 I have taken '', or disapproving what is done. And 
 though botli are true, yet these persons assert it 
 out of ill-will towards me, not that they have any 
 knowledge of its being so. But that Balbus and 
 Oppius may defend me against^all such attacks, and 
 by their frequent letters may confirm Caesar's kind 
 disposition ; that this may effectually be done, you 
 •will use all diligence. Another reason why I should 
 be sorry to have you leave Rome is, that you say 
 you have been entreated ^ — O sad business ! What 
 should I write ? or what should I desire ? I shall 
 be very short, for my tears burst forth. I commit 
 it to you, and beg you to take it under your care. 
 Only see thwt, at such a time, it involve you in no 
 difficulty. Pardon me, I beseech you : I can dwell 
 no longer on this subject for my tears and grief. I 
 will only say, that nothing can be more gratifying 
 to me than your affection towards her. You do 
 kindly in undertaking to write to whom you think 
 it proper. I have met with a person who saw 
 Quintus the son at Samos, the father at Sicyon. 
 Their excuse is easily made. I wish they, who 
 have seen Ca;sar before me, may be as ready to 
 promote my interest with him, as I should be to 
 promote theirs, if I had any opportunity. When 
 you ask me to take it in good part, if there should 
 be anything in your letter that vexes me, I do 
 take it in the very best part ; and request you to 
 tell me everything without disguise, as you do ; 
 and to do it as often as possible. Farewell. 
 December 19. 
 
 * From going to Cicero. 
 
 = At Rome. d In coming to italy. 
 
 « Entreated by TuUiatoassisther. The word "entreated," 
 which includes the rest, is no doubt borrowed from 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Though you iicrceive indeed how greatly I am 
 afflicted, yet you will know it from Lepta and 
 Trebatius. I pay severely the penalty of my rash- 
 ness', which you would fain persuade me is pru- 
 dence : nor do I prevent your disputing the point, 
 and writing to me as often as possible. For your 
 letters afford me some comfort at this time. You 
 must use every exertion through those who wish 
 well to me, and have influence with Caesar, parti- 
 cularly through Balbus and Oppius, that they may 
 write on my behalf with all diligence. For, as I 
 hear, I am attacked both by some in person, and 
 by letters. These must be met, as the importance 
 of the occasion demands. Furnius ^ is there very 
 unfriendly towards me ; and Quintus has sent his 
 son not only to make his own peace, but to accuse 
 me. He gives out that I have traduced him to 
 Csesar ; which is refuted by Caesar himself and all 
 his friends ; and yet he does not cease, wherever 
 he goes, to heap all sorts of reproaches upon me. 
 Nothing ever happened to me so unaccountable, 
 nothing in all these troubles so painful. Some 
 atrocious things were related to me by those who 
 had heard him talking openly at Sicyon in the 
 hearing of many people. You know his manner ; 
 perhaps you have experienced it. It is all turned 
 against me. But I add to my uneasiness by speak- 
 ing of it, and make you uneasy too. Therefore I 
 return to my subject, and beg you to let Balbus 
 send somebody expressly for this purpose ''. I 
 should be glad if you would write in my name to 
 whom you think fit. Farewell. December 27. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 I HAVE indeed acted both incautiously, as you 
 observe, and more hastily than I ought, and am 
 out of all hope', being kept by these exceptions' to 
 the edicts. If they had not been made, through 
 your care and kindness, I might be at liberty to go 
 into some unfrequented place : now I cannot even 
 do this. Wliat advantage is it to have arrived 
 before the tribunes enter upon their oflBce'', if the 
 coming at all is of no advantage ? What can I 
 hope from him', who has never been a friend to 
 me ; since I am already undone and crushed by 
 this law ? Balbus's letters to me become daily less 
 encouraging ; and there may probably be many 
 
 Atticus's own expression. Tullia had been neglected by 
 her husband Dolabella, and left at Rome in want of every- 
 thing. 
 
 ' In coming to Brundisium. 
 
 e Furnius is probably mentioned, like Quintus, as one 
 who used to be Cicero's friend, and whom it was therefore 
 the more grievous to have against him on this occasion. 
 
 ^ To counteract the calumnies of evil-minded persons. 
 
 » All hope of being able to leave Brundisium. 
 
 J See letter 7 of this book. He could not, without offend- 
 ing Caesar, refuse to use his permission of remaining in 
 Italy. 
 
 '' Lest they might have piiblished some law of exclusion. 
 But he derived little benefit from his return to Italy, while 
 he thought it unsafe to proceed through the country amidst 
 Caesar's adherents with his lictors, and unworthy of him 
 to relinquish them. 
 
 ' Caesar, upon whose conduct Cicero could not depend la 
 his present circumstancea.
 
 762 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 from many quarters to Caesar against me. I am 
 ruined by own fault. No part of my troubles iias 
 been brought on by accident ; everything is the 
 effect of folly. For when I saw the nature of the 
 contest ; that all was unprepared, and feeble, 
 against troops in the highest order; I separated ■" 
 from them (what could 1 do?), and adopted counsels 
 not so much bold, as allowable " for me beyond other 
 men. I yielded to my friends, or rather I obeyed 
 them. Of one of them, him whom you" commend 
 to me, you will see the disposition from his own 
 letters which he has sent to you and to others, 
 and which 1 sliould never have opened but from 
 the following circumstances. A parcel was brought 
 to me, which 1 undid, to see if there was any letter 
 for myself; which there was not. There was one 
 to Vatinius, and another to Ligurius, which I 
 ordered to be taken to them. They presently 
 called upon me burning with grief, crying out 
 upon the perfidy of the man. They read to me 
 the letters, filled with all sorts of calumnies against 
 me. Ligurius was quite in a rage, saying that he 
 knew Caesar had hated him ; yet had not only 
 shown liim kindness, but had also given him so 
 much money, out of regard to me. After receiving 
 this shock, I was desirous of knowing what he had 
 ■written to others ; for I considered that it would be 
 prejudicial to himself, if this great guilt of his 
 should be generally known. I found they were all 
 of the same kind. I have sent them to you, that 
 if you think it desirable for him that they should 
 be delivered, you may deliver them ; no harm will 
 accrue to me ; for as to their being opened, I 
 imagine Pomponia has his seal. It was his using 
 this bitterness when we first set sail, which so 
 affected me, that I was afterwards quite sunk : and 
 now he is said to be solicitous not so much for 
 himself as against me. Thus am I pressed by all 
 circumstances ; which I am hardly able, or rather 
 quite unable, to bear p. Amongst these distresses 
 there is one equivalent to all the rest, that I shall 
 leave my poor daughter plundered of her patri- 
 mony, and all her fortune. I should therefore be 
 particularly glad to see you, as you promise ; for 
 I have nobody else to whom I can commend her ; 
 as I understand her mother is threatened with the 
 same dangers'! as myself. But if you should not 
 find me, yet let this be a sufficient commendation, 
 ^nd do you, as far as you can, mollify her uncle 
 towards her. I write this on my birth-day ; when 
 I wish that I had never been born ; or that my 
 mother had produced nothing afterwards. I am 
 (prevented by tears from writing more. 
 
 ™ ThevroTd scivcram in this place evidently comes from 
 sriico, and though I do not find any corresponding signi- 
 fication of it, I suspect it is here equivalent to desciveram, 
 and have translated it accordingly. 
 
 » It would have argued more courage to join either of 
 the contending parties ; but Cicero was excusable in not 
 joining Pompcius, by the hope of acting as a mediator of 
 peace ; and his obligations to Pompeius were such as for- 
 bade his co-operating with Caesar. 
 
 " Quintus, in whose favour I suppose Atticus might have 
 written to Cicero upon finding him angry at his brother's 
 behaviour. 
 
 P Has not this expression, as well as what immediately 
 follows, allusion to thoughts of destroying himself? such 
 MS we find him uttering under the afiliction of his banish- 
 ment in the third book. 
 
 1 The danger of having her goods forfeited. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To my inconceivable distresses there has been a 
 fresh addition from what has been related to me 
 respecting the two Quintuses. P. Terentius, a 
 friend of mine, has had a good deal to do as 
 deputy contractor for the customs and revenues 
 ill provincial Asia. He met with Quintus the son 
 at Kphesus the 13th of December, and particularly 
 invited him to his house through friendship to me. 
 Having made inquiries from him about me, he said 
 the young man informed him that he was very 
 angry with me, and showed him a roll of jiaper 
 containing a speech whic'li he intended to make to 
 Ciesar against me. Terentius said what he could 
 to check his senseless conduct. Afterwards, at 
 Patra;, Quintus the father talked to him a great 
 deal in a similar strain of slander. You are 
 acquainted with his extravagance by the letters 
 which I sent you, I am sure this must give you 
 pain ; to me it is most distressing, and the more 
 so, because I imagine there will be no room for me 
 even to expostulate with them. On the state of 
 things in Africa, I hear accounts very different 
 from what you mention. For they say nothing 
 can be more steady, or better prepared ; add to 
 this, Spain"", and the disaffection in Italy, the 
 declining strength and zeal of the legions, and the 
 confusion in the city^. Where can I find any 
 tranquillity', but while I am reading your letters.' 
 which would no doubt be more frequent, if you 
 had anything to offer by which you thought my 
 cares could be lessened. But I beg you not to 
 omit writing to me whatever happens ; and those" 
 who are so cruelly hostile to me, you may blame 
 at least, if you cannot hate them ; not with the 
 expectation of doing any good ; but to let them 
 see that you love me. I will write more to you 
 when you have answered my last letter. Farewell. 
 January 21. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 I AM so exhausted with the torment of my great 
 distresses, that if there were anything upon which 
 I ought to write to you, I should not easily be able 
 to execute it ; much less then, when I have nothing 
 to tell you, when especially there is not even any 
 prospect of things becoming better. So that 1 am 
 no longer anxious even for your letters, though 
 they always bring something agreeable with them. 
 Therefore continue to writs, whenever you have an 
 opportunity of sending. I have nothing to reply 
 to your last, which I received now a long time 
 ago. For in this interval I find that everything is 
 changed ; the right cause has acquired strength, 
 and I pay the heavy penalty of my folly ^. I must 
 procure for P. Sallustius thirty sestertia (240/.), 
 which I received from Cn. Sallustius. I shall be 
 
 r Since Cesar's rapid subjection of Spain, fresh insurrec- 
 tions had broken out there. 
 
 » Considerable disturbances had arisen between the 
 tribunes. 
 
 ' In consequence of Cicero's return to Italy he had as 
 much to apprehend from the success of Pompeius's party, 
 as from that of Caesar's. 
 
 u Alluding, no doubt, to his brother and nephew. 
 
 T Pompeius's party was in considerable force in Africa 
 and Spain, and Cicero suspected that he had .acted preci- 
 pitately in offending them by his return to Italy.
 
 TO Tl'tUS POMPONIUS ATTICTTS. 
 
 ?C3 
 
 obliged to you to see that they are provided with- 
 out delay. I have written about it to Terentia. 
 Even this is now almost gone. I wish therefore 
 you would arrange with her, that I may have 
 •enough for present use. I shall perhaps be able to 
 take it up here, if I only know that it will be sup- 
 plied at Rome. But without knowing that, I have 
 rot ventured to do so. You see the state of all n^ 
 affairs. There is no sort of misfortune which I do 
 not suffer and apprehend. And the misery of this 
 is the greater, in proportion to the greatness of my 
 folly. He^'' does not cease to slander me in Greece ; 
 so that your letters have been of no avail. Fare- 
 well. March 8. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Cephalto delivered your letter to me the 8th 
 of March in the evening ; and the same day in the 
 morning I had despatched a messenger with a 
 letter to you. Nevertheless, upon reading your 
 letter, I have thought it right to make some reply, 
 •especially as you express yourself doubtful what 
 ■excuse I shall make to Caesar for my going away 
 at the time when I quitted Italy. I have no occa- 
 sion for any new excuse : for I have repeatedly 
 told him by letter, and have sent word by several 
 persons, that I was unable, if I wished it, to bear 
 the reflections that were made npori me ; with many 
 things to the same effect. There was nothing that 
 I less wished him to suppose, than that I had not 
 acted upon my own judgment in a thing of such 
 moment. Afterwards, upon hearing from Balbus 
 Cornelius the younger, that he conceived my bro- 
 ther Quintus to have been the trumpet to my 
 ;march, for so he expressed himself, before I 
 knew what Q\iintus had been writing to so many 
 people about me ; though he had said, and done, 
 many severe things to me in person, yet I wrote 
 notwithstanding" to Csesar in these words : "I am 
 no less anxious for my brother Quintus, than for 
 myself ; but in my present situation I cannot ven- 
 ture to commend him to you. So much however 
 I shall venture to ask of you, that I beg you will 
 not suppose he has done anything to lessen my 
 duty and affection towards you ; but has always 
 rather contributed to unite us together ; and has 
 been the companion, not the adviser, of my going 
 away. Therefore in other matters you will attri- 
 bute to him whatever your kindness and the friend- 
 ship between you demands. That I may be no 
 detriment to him in your esteem, I earnestly 
 entreat of you again and again." If then I should 
 have any meeting with Csesar, though I do not 
 doubt but he will be kind towards him, as he has 
 already declared, yet I shall behave in the same 
 manner as I have always done. But, as I see, I 
 have much more reason to be concerned about 
 Africa ; which you represent as being daily con- 
 firmed in the hope of making terms, rather than of 
 victory. I wish this were so : but I understand 
 it is very much otherwise, and apprehend that you 
 are yourself of that opinion, only write differently, 
 not with a view to deceive me, but to encourage 
 me ; especially when to Africa is joined Spain like- 
 
 * Quintus. 
 
 " Tiie text appears to be faulty. I have supposed, with 
 -Graevius, that it ought to benikilominus. 
 
 wisey. Respecting your recommendation >)f writ- 
 ing to Antonius and others ; if you think it neces- 
 sary, I should be glad if you would do this which 
 you have often done before. For nothing occurs 
 to me that I ought to write. If you hear that I 
 am unreasonably broken in spirit, what think you, 
 when you find these noble ^ actions of my son-in- 
 law added to my former troubles .' However, I 
 hope you will not cease to write to me, as often as 
 you can, although you should have nothing to 
 write about. For your letters always bring me some 
 comfort. I have formally accepted Galio's legacy. 
 I suppose it was a simple inheritance, since no 
 form has been sent me. March 8. 
 
 LETTER Xin. 
 I HAVE hitherto received no letter by Mursena's 
 freed-man. P. Siser brought that which I am 
 now answering. What you mention about the 
 letter of the elder Servius, and what you say of 
 certain people having brought information of 
 Quintus's arrival in Syria, are neither of them 
 true. In reply to your inquiry, how those, who 
 have come hither, are, or have been affected to- 
 wards me, I have understood that nobody has 
 manifested any disrespect. But how little this 
 signifies to me, I am quite sure you can judge. 
 In my present grief everything is intolerable to 
 me ; and nothing more so, than that I find myself 
 in a situation, where the only things that are appa- 
 rently desirable*, are what I have always disap- 
 proved. P. Lentulus the father is said to be at 
 Rhodes ; the son at Alexandria ; and C. Cassius, 
 it appears, is gone from Rhodes to Alexandria. 
 Quintus offers me some explanation by letter, but 
 in terms more bitter than his heaviest accusation. 
 For he says that he has understood from your 
 letters, that you were displeased with his having 
 written to several people so unkindly about me; 
 and that he is sorry he should have given you any 
 uneasiness, but that he had done what was right. 
 Then he details most foully the causes of his doing 
 so. But neither at this time, nor before, would he 
 have manifested his hatred towards me, unless he 
 saw me to be every way distressed. I wish that 
 even by travelling in the night, as you proposed. I 
 had approached nearer to you. I can now form 
 no conjecture either when, or where, I am likely 
 to see you. There was no occasion for your 
 writing to me about the co-heirs of Fufidius : for 
 what they ask is just in itself ; and whatever you 
 had done 1 should have been satisfied with it. 
 You have long since known my wish of redeeming 
 the Frusinian estate'' ; though at that time my 
 affairs were in a better condition, and I did not 
 think my case so desperate ; yet I have still the 
 same wi-sh. You will consider how this may be 
 accomplished. And I should be glad, as far as 
 
 y Sec letter 10 of this book. 
 
 * Dolabella was at this time tribune, and wished to pass 
 several seditious acts, in wUicli he was opposed by Trebel- 
 lius, another tribune ; from whence arose great contention 
 and disturbances in Rome. 
 
 " The success of Caesar's party, from which he thought 
 he had now less to apprehend, than from tliat of Ponipeius, 
 whicli would be irritated against Jiim in consequence of 
 his withdrawing from tlicm. 
 
 *> See letter 4 of this book. 
 
 3C
 
 754 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 you can, that you would secure me supplies for my 
 necessary exjienses. What means 1 had, I jiresented 
 to Pompeius at a time when 1 thought 1 did it 
 prudently. For which purjiose I then both took 
 it from your bailitr, and borrowed elsewhere ; while 
 Qttintus complained by letter that 1 had given 
 noUimg to him ; thovigh he never asked me, nor 
 have 1 beheld the money myself. But I wish you 
 would see what there is, that can be done"^, and 
 what advic(! you can give me about everythint:; ; for 
 you know the state of my affairs. My affliction 
 prevents my writing more. If there is anytiiiiig, 
 which you think should be written to anybody in 
 my name, I should be glad if you would do it as 
 usual. Whenever you have an opportunity of send- 
 ing a letter to me, I hope you will not omit it. 
 Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 I AM far from being offended with the honest 
 truth conveyed in your letter ; in which you do 
 not even attempt to console me, as formerly, under 
 the general, and particular calamities, which I 
 suffer ; but acknowledge that it can no longer be 
 done. For things are not now, as they were before, 
 when, to say nothing more, I thought I had com- 
 panions and associates. But all who were sup- 
 posed to be making their peace in Greece and in 
 Asia, both those who knew the state of affairs'*, 
 and those who did not, are said to be going into 
 Africa. So that, besides Lselius, I have no partner 
 in my fault' ; and even he is so far better off, as 
 he has been received'. About myself however, I 
 do not doubt but Ceesar has already written to 
 Balbus and to Oppius ; from whom I should have 
 heard, if there had been anything good ; and they 
 would also have spoken with you. But I wish 
 you would confer with them upon this subject, and 
 let me know what answer they give you. Not that 
 a grant of safety from Csesar can have any assur- 
 ances ; but yet it will afford an opportunity of 
 consideration and forecast. Though I dread the 
 sight of everybody, especially with such a son-in- 
 law'' ; yet in sucli great troubles I do not see what 
 else' I should wish for. Quintus still goes onJ, as 
 both Pansa informs me and Hirtius. He'' too is 
 said to be on his way to Africa with the rest. I 
 will write to Minucius the father, and will send 
 your letter. I will let you know if he does any- 
 thing'. I wonder that you should have been able 
 to send thirty sestertia (240/.), unless it have arisen 
 from the Fufidian estate. Yet 1 see it is so'". I 
 
 <-■ About redeeming the estate at Frusinas, and providing 
 for his necessary e.\penses, as well as about his brotlier 
 and everj'thing else. 
 
 <l The reverses which Caesar had suffered, and the rising 
 hopes of the Pompeian party. 
 
 « The fault of having returned to Italy, instead of joining 
 the republican troops collecting in Africa. 
 
 f Has been kindly received by Caesar's partisans iu 
 Italy. 
 
 K Because Cicero's chief apprehension now was from the 
 success of the Pompeian party. 
 
 ■> Dolabella, of whose conduct he was ashamed. 
 
 ' "What I can wish for, besides a protection from Csesar. 
 
 i Continues to calumniate me. 
 
 ^ Quintus. 
 
 ' If he will advance me any money. 
 
 ■" That Atticus had directed Minucius to let Cicero have 
 
 look for you ; whom I should be particularly gladi 
 to see, if it can any liow be managed ; for the 
 occasion demands it. The last act is already draw- 
 ing to a conclusion" ; when it is easy to judge 
 more soundly what everything really is°. Fare- 
 well. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 As you produce sufficient reason why I cannot 
 see you at this time, pray what ought I to do ? 
 For Caesar seems to hold Alexandria in such a 
 mannerP that he is ashamed even of writing about 
 what is done there. But it looks as if the opposite 
 party would soon pass over from Africa i ; the 
 Greeks ■■, also, will return from Asia to join them, 
 or will remain in some neutral place. What, 
 therefore, do you think 1 ought to do .' I see that 
 it is a difficult question : for I am alone, or with, 
 one other, and can neither return to that party nor 
 derive any degree of hope from this. But I am 
 desirous at least of knowing what you think ; and 
 this among other things made me wish to see you, 
 if it could be done. I informed you before that 
 Minucius had furnished me with only twelve ses- 
 tertia (100/.) ; I should be glad if you could secure 
 the payment of the rest. Quintus has written to 
 me not only without asking pardon, but with great 
 bitterness : the son with a degree of hatred which 
 is surprising. No sort of evil can be imagined with 
 which I am not assaulted. Yet everything is more 
 tolerable than the sense of my own error, which is 
 both strong and constant. If I were to have those 
 companions in my error which I e.xpected, yet it 
 would be but a slender consolation. But every 
 body's conduct besides admits of some excuse ; 
 mine admits of none. Some have been captured, 
 some intercepted, so as not to caU in question their 
 attachment, — especially when, upon being at li- 
 berty, they have rejoined their party. Even those 
 who voluntarily delivered themselves up to Fufius' 
 can only be charged with timidity ; and there are 
 
 that money, which he would replace with Minucius's cor- 
 respondent at Rome. 
 
 " So I understand the original, which is concise and 
 thence obscure. It may be worth v/hile here to advert to 
 the force of the present passive, expressive of that which 
 is in the act of behig clone. The want of a correspondent 
 tense in English has sometimes occasioned a misapprehen- 
 sion of the just meaning in both Greek and Latin authors; 
 as Luke ix. 51, '¥,v tiS avfxvk7]povdai to,s iifxepas ava- 
 \7i\pews aiiTov — " When the days of his being received 
 up into heaven were drawing towards their accomplish- 
 ment" — not, as in the common translation, "when the 
 time was come." 
 
 " This seems to me to have been generally misunder- 
 stood ; I conceive it to allude to the denouement of a stage 
 play, like what is said afterwards in letter 19 of this book, 
 " Jam cnim niihi videtur adesse extremum." 
 
 P Caesar, seduced by the charms of Cleopatra, was engaged 
 in a war to support her cause in Egypt against her brother 
 Ptoleniaeus. 
 
 1 Egypt and Africa are generally distinguished by the 
 Roman writers, the latter signifying that part \vliich was 
 reduced to a Roman province. Here, the party in Africa 
 means the army attached to Pompcius's cause, who were 
 in force in the neighbourhood of Carthage, from whence 
 Cicero apprehended they might make an attack upon 
 Italy. 
 
 ■■ These Greeks are those of Pompeius's party, who had) 
 fled into Asia Minor after the battl& of Pharsalia. 
 
 s Caesaj's lieutenant in Greece.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS 
 
 76C 
 
 many of various descriptions who, whenever they 
 apply to them, will readily be received. You need 
 the less wonder, therefore, that I cannot support 
 such a weight of affliction : for my error aloue 
 admits of no reparation, — and perhaps Lselius's ; 
 but how does that help me ? They say that C. 
 Cassius has ' changed his intention of going to 
 Alexandria. These things I detail to you, not that 
 you can remove my trouble, but tiiat I may know 
 whether you have anything to ofter about what 
 preys upon me. In addition to all the rest is my 
 son-in-law, and these other matters, of which I 
 cannot write for weeping. I am ve.\ed too about 
 ^sopus' son". In short I am completely miser- 
 able. But to return to my first point ; what do 
 you think is to be done t Should I try to come 
 nearer to you unobserved ? or should I cross the 
 sea ? For it is impossible to remain here much 
 longer. Why can nothing be settled about the 
 Fufidian estates ? For the nature of the conditions 
 was such as is not usually disputed ; since the 
 portion which appears too little may easily be 
 made up by a valuation. It is not without reason 
 that I make these inquiries ; for I suspect the 
 co-heirs may thitik my situation very doubtful, and 
 may on that account keep the business in suspense. 
 Farewell. May 14. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 It is not by my fault at this time (though before 
 I have been faulty enough) that I derive no con- 
 solation from that letter'' : for it is written in a 
 meagre style, and bears strong marks of not coming 
 from Ca;sar, which I imagine you must have per- 
 ceived. About meeting him, I will do as you 
 advise '*' ; for there is no great expectation of his 
 arrival ; and those who come from Asia say that 
 nothing has been heard about peace, — in the hope 
 of which I have fallen into this error ^. I see 
 nothing to be hoped, — now, especially, when such 
 a wound has been received in Asia, in Illyricum, in 
 the affair of Cassius >■, in Alexandria itself, in Rome, 
 in Italy. For my part, even if he should come 
 back notwithstanding the war^ in which he is still 
 said to be engaged, yet I apprehend the business 
 will be settled'' before his return. As to what you 
 mention of a certain degree of joy being excited in 
 all good people upon the news of Ctesar's letter, 
 you indeed omit nothing which you think can be 
 any source of comfort ; but I cannot persuade 
 myself that any good man would think my safety 
 ■worth the begging it of Caesar, and the rather be- 
 
 • He had purposed to go to Alexandria to make his peace 
 wHh Caesar. 
 
 « ^;sopus the actor had been received into familiarity by 
 Cicero, but his son was a profligate. 
 
 ' A letter pretending to come from Caesar. 
 
 "" Atticus seems to liave advised him not to put himself 
 forward in saluting Caesar on liis return. 
 
 * The error of retjirning to Italy after the battle of 
 Pharsalia, when he had expected that the opposite parties 
 would have made peace, 
 
 y Q. Cassius Longinus bad been left in the command of 
 Spain, where the people and soldiers revolted to the 
 Pompeian party. In the other provinces here mentioned 
 Caes.ir's troops had met with some check. 
 
 " The war in Egj'pt. 
 
 » Cicero was apprehensive of -the army in Africa getting 
 possession of Italy, in opposition to Csesar. 
 
 cause I have now no companion in such a course. 
 Those in Asia wait for the issue of events ; the 
 Greeks afford a hope of jjardon to Fufius himself''. 
 These peoide had at first the same fear as I, and 
 adopted the same resolution ; but the delay at 
 Alexandria has ri:;hted their cause "^ and overset 
 mine. Therefore I still request of you, as in my 
 former letters, that if you see anything in my 
 ruined condition which you think I ought to do, 
 you will inform me. If 1 am received by Czesar's 
 ])arty (which you see is not tlie case), yet as long 
 as the war lasts I am uncertain wliat I should do 
 or whither I should go. But if I am cast off, the 
 difficulty is still greater. I look, therefore, for a 
 letter from you, and beg you will write explicitly. 
 With regard to your advice of writing to Quintus 
 on the occasion of this letter, — I would do it if the 
 letter gave me any satisfaction. Though somebody 
 wrote to me lately in the following terms : " In 
 these troubles I am not soiry to be at Patrse. I 
 should be there with more satisfaction if your 
 brother S)ioke of you in a way that I liked to hear." 
 When you say that he complained of my not writ- 
 ing to him, — 1 once only received a letter from 
 him, to which I sent an answer by Cephalio, who 
 was detained. several months by contrary weather. 
 I have before mentioned to you that Quintus the 
 son had written to me with great rudeness. The 
 last thing 1 have to beg of you is, that if you think 
 it right, and can undertake it, you would join with 
 Camillus in speaking to Terentia aljout her will"*. 
 The times require that she should consider of it, 
 and give satisfaction where it is due. I have un- 
 derstood fiom Philotimns that she is guilty of some 
 great ■= misconduct, which 1 can scarcely believe. 
 But at all events, if anything can be done, it must 
 be looked to. I long to hear from you about 
 everything, especially what you may say about her. 
 Upon this I want your opinion, even if you have 
 nothing to propose ; for I shall consider that as 
 conclusive. June 3. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 I SEND this by another person's messenger who 
 is in a hurry to set off : for this reason it wiU be 
 the shorter, and because I am going to send one of 
 my own. My dear Tullia came to me the twelfth 
 of June, and acquainted me with the numerous 
 instances of your attention and kindness to her, 
 and brought me three letters. But I not only 
 
 •> I understand this to mean that Fufius, who had been 
 left in Greece, and to whom the Greeks had sued for par- 
 don, now rested the hope of his own pardon from the 
 revivhig ascendancy of the Pompeians, upon the interces- 
 sion of these very Greeks. 
 
 c By Caesar's delay at Alexandria the Greeks had time 
 to recover from theii' first alarm, and to observe the actual 
 progress of affairs. Cicero, who had acted upon the pre- 
 sumption of Cesar's superiority, now found himself in a 
 difficult strait. 
 
 d Terentia's conduct and extravagance had now made 
 Cicero resolve upon a divorce. And in such a case, where 
 there were children, it was the custom for each party to 
 make a settlement by will on their common offspring, 
 proportioned to their several estates. For when a wife 
 was not guilty of infidelity, her dowry was restored to 
 her. 
 
 e This misconduct probably related to her appropriation 
 and waste of CUccro's property. See book vi. letter 4, not* 
 P, and letter 22 of this book. 
 
 y C 2
 
 16G 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 coiiUl not take tliat pleasure which I ought in the 
 virtue, gentleness, iuid atiecMon of an ^xeinplary 
 daughter, but was even touclied with inconceivable 
 grief at the tliouglit of such a mind being involved 
 ill so Slid a fortune, — and that by no fault of hers, 
 but by my egregious folly. Now, tlierel'ore, I 
 neitiier expect consolation from you, which 1 know 
 you are anxious to administer, nor advice, for 
 ■wiiich there is no room. I perceive, indeed, both 
 by your former letter and by the last, that you have 
 tried everything. I think of sending Cicero ' to 
 Ca;sar with Sallustius. I see no reason why I 
 should detain Tullia here any longer in such a state 
 of general affliction : I therefore mean to send her 
 back to her mother as soon as she will let me. In 
 return for your letter of consolation ^, suppose me 
 to have said what your own understanding suggests 
 as proper for the occasion. What you mention of 
 Oppius's conversation'' is quite consonant with my 
 suspicion ; yet, speak as 1 miglit, 1 should never 
 persuade these jieople that I approved of their 
 conduct. However, I will observe what moderation 
 1 can ; though I see not v>'hat it signifies to me if 
 .1 should incur their displeasure. I find you have 
 just cause to prevent your coming to me, — for 
 which 1 am very sorry. Nobody brings any account 
 of Ciesar's departure from Alexandria. It is certain 
 that no person has come from thence since the 
 15th of March, nor has any letter been received 
 from him since the 13th of December ; by which 
 yon see that the affair of the letter ' dated Febru- 
 ary 9 (which, even if it were genuine, would be of 
 little account), is not true. I understand that li. 
 Terentius is come from Africa, and has arrived at 
 Paestum. I should like to know what intelligence 
 he brings, and how he got awayj, and what is doing 
 in Africa. He is reported to have been despatched 
 by Nasidius. If you find out how this is, I wish 
 you would let me Know. Respecting the ten ses- 
 tertia (80/.), I will do as you direct. Farewell. 
 June 14. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 There is yet no rumour of Caesar's departure 
 irom Alexandria ; on the contrary, it is believed 
 that he is fully occupied. I shall not, therefore, 
 send my son, as I had intended ; and must beg of 
 you to extricate uie from hence ^ : for any penalty 
 is better than continuing here. Upon this subject 
 I have written to Antonius, and to Balbus, and to 
 Oppius. For whether there be war in Italy by 
 land or by sea, it is by no means desirable for me 
 to be here. Both of these may possibly happen ; 
 certainly one of them. I learned from your account 
 
 * His son. 
 
 B Tlie text here is dbscure. and perhaps faulty ; but I 
 think it intelligible without any conjectural emendations, 
 which should never be admitted unnecessarily. 
 
 h The context leads one tn suppose that Oppius, who 
 was of Caesar's party, objected to Cicero's freedom of 
 speech. 
 
 ' That, of which Cicero speaks in letter 16 of this book. 
 
 J Sciplo, who had the command of the sea-coast, pro- 
 hibited all passengers, through fear of their establisliing 
 an intercourse with Cjesar. 
 
 '' Cicero was still at IJrundisinm, whence he could not 
 depart without danger of giving offence by retaining his 
 lictors, or of dishonnming his rank by dismissing them. 
 See above, letter 6 of this book. 
 
 of Oppius's conversation what was their plan ' of 
 proceeding ; but 1 beg you to make them alter it. 
 1 expect nothing whatever but what is miserable ; 
 yet nothing can be worse than my present situation. 
 I wish you, therefore, to speak to Antonius and 
 those others, and to expedite this business as you 
 can. Write to me about everything as soon as 
 possible. Farewell. June 20. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 {GrtBV. XXV.) 
 I READILY assent to your letter, in which you 
 say, in many words, that you have no advice to 
 offer that can be of service to me. There is 
 assuredly no consolation that can alleviate my 
 suflering. For nothing has happened by accident, 
 else it might be borne : but 1 have occasioned 
 everything by those errors and distresses of both 
 mind and body, which I wish my nearest con- 
 nexions'" had chosen to heal rather than to aggra- 
 vate. Since no hope is afforded me either of your 
 advice or of any consolation, I will not hereafter 
 ask it of you. I trust, however, that you will not 
 cease to write, — but will let me know whatever 
 occurs to your mind, whilst you have anybody to 
 send or there is anybody to send to", — which will 
 not be very long. There is a doubtful report of 
 his° having left Alexandria ; which arose from a 
 letter of Sulpicius, and has received confirmation 
 from all the subse(|uent accounts. Whether it be 
 true or false is of so little moment to me, that I 
 know not which I should prefer. What I wrote 
 to you some time since about theP will I wish they 
 could place among the adverse letters. I am quite 
 distressed at the wretched means of this poor 
 creature"*; I think nothing ever happened like it, — 
 and wish you could point out to me any way in 
 which I might assist her. 1 see the same difficulty 
 which there was in giving advice before. But this 
 object disturbs me beyond everything. I was blind 
 in the second payment of her fortune. I wish 
 somebody else, — but it is now past. I beg you, in 
 these ruinous circumstances, if anything can be 
 raised arid got together out of my plate, with some 
 part of my furniture, so as to be in security, that 
 you would pay attention to it. For things seem 
 to be drawing to a conclusion without any conditions 
 of peace ; and the present state, even without an 
 enemy, is incapable of subsisting. You may take 
 an opportunity, if you think fit, of talking with 
 Terentia upon these matters. I cannot write all 
 that I feel. Farewell. July 5th. 
 
 1 This probably relates to Caesar's lieutenants in Italy, 
 who acted, he says, as if they were determined to keep 
 him shut up in Hrundisium, being perhaps unwilling to 
 determine .anything about his lictors till they should 
 receive instructions from Caesar. lie applies to Atticus to 
 procure authority for his removal without compromising 
 his dignity. 
 
 •" Alluding in the first place to his brother, and perhaps 
 also to Dolabella and Terentia. 
 
 " Said in a sort of despair of his being able to support 
 his troubles. See letter 9 of this book, note P. " Caesar. 
 
 P See letter 16 of this book. The subsequent line is of 
 very doubtful interpretation. It may perhaps allude to 
 some expression of Atticus, or his friends, calling the 
 letter of Cicero in which he spoke of his will, as one of his 
 croaking letters, 
 
 q His daughter Tullia ; for ir the very next, and several 
 other letters, he speaks of her in similar terms.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 767 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 {GrcBV. xxiii.) 
 
 Camili.us has informed me that you had spoken 
 to him on the subject, about which I wrote' to beg 
 you would communicate with him. I am now ex- 
 pecting to hear from you ; though if it is otherwise 
 than it ought to be, I do not see how it can be 
 altered : but having received a letter from him", I 
 want one from you also ; and conclude that you 
 had not learned all you wished, — provided only 
 that you are well ; for you mentioned your being 
 attacked with some kind of indisposition. One 
 Acusius arrived from Rhodes the '24th of June, 
 and brought word that Quintus the son had set out 
 to join Cffisar the 29th of May ; and that Philoti- 
 raus had arrived at Rhodes the day before with a 
 letter' for me. You will hear Acusius himself, — 
 but he travels slowly ; in consequence of which I 
 shall deliver my letter to a m.ore expeditious mes- 
 senger. What may be in C.-jesar's letter I know 
 not ; but my brother Quintus highly congratulates 
 me. To say the truth, so great has been my error 
 that I can obtain nothing, even in imagination, 
 which can be tolerable to me. I entreat you to 
 think about this poor creature", and (what I lately 
 mentioned to you) that something may be made up 
 to secure her from want, and likewise about this 
 will. I wish also that I had attended before to 
 that other business', but I was afraid of everything. 
 There was nothing better in this deplorable situa- 
 tion than a separation. I should then have done 
 something, like one alive ^"j — whether the cause 
 assigned were the law for expunging debts, or the 
 nightly violences, or his commerce with Metella, 
 or all together ^. Her property would not then 
 have been lost, and I should have appeared to feel 
 a becoming indignation. 1 well remember your'' 
 letter ; but I remember also that time : though 
 anything was preferable. Now he seems himself 
 to threaten it^ ; for I hear such things respecting 
 the state of the repubhc* ; O gods ! My son-in- 
 law especially ! That he should do this ; even 
 expunge all former debts 1 I think with you, 
 therefore, that a bill of divorce should be sent. He 
 will perhaps demand the third instalment of her 
 dower. Consider, therefore, whether I should 
 wait till it originate with himself, or whether I 
 should anticipate him. If it be any how possible, 
 even by travelling at night, I will try to see you. 
 I hope you will write to me upon these matters, 
 and anything else which it may concern me to 
 know. Farewell. 
 
 r Namely, the urging Terenlia to make her will. See 
 letter IG of this book. 
 
 s The context appears sufficiently to warrant the reading 
 with Jl.inutius, ah il'.o. The text of this letter seems to 
 be faulty in several parts. 
 
 t From Ca!sar. " TuUia. 
 
 » The business of his daughter's divorce. 
 
 " Alive to his situation. 
 
 ^ Any, or all of these offences on the part of Dolahella, 
 would have justified Cicero in suing for a divorce for his 
 daughter. 
 
 y In which it is to be supposed that Atticus advised 
 Tullia's divorce. 
 
 » By his conduct, regardless of all propriety. 
 
 • The text is very uncertain. 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 {GrcBV. xix.) 
 Having an opportunity of writing by your ser- 
 vant, I would not let it slip, though I have nothing 
 to say. You write to me less frequently than you 
 used, and shorter, — which 1 imjiute to your having 
 nothing that you think I can like to read or to 
 hear. But if there is anything, of whatever kind it 
 may be, I should wish you to let me know it. The 
 only thing that would be desirable for me is, if 
 anything can be done respecting a peace, — of which 
 in truth I entertain no hope. Yet since you some- 
 times slightly mention it, you compel me to hope 
 for what is hardly within the compass of my wishes. 
 Philotimus is expected the middle of August : I 
 know nothing more about him. I shall be glad to 
 receive your answer to what I mentioned to you in 
 a former letter ''. I have yet time enough in the 
 midst of calamities to use some precaution, though 
 1 have hitherto never used any. Farewell. July 22. 
 
 LETTER XXIL 
 
 (GrcBV, xxiv.) 
 
 What you some time since mentioned to me, 
 and what you have twice repeated in your letters to 
 Tullia about me, I perceive to be true. And I am 
 the more miserable (though my wretchedness 
 appeared to admit of no addition) because I not 
 only must not resent the great injurj^ I have 
 received - ; but cannot even lament it with impu- 
 nity. Therefore I must try to bear it. But when 
 I have borne it, yet all the calamities are to be sus- 
 tained, which you caution me to prevent"^. For 
 such is the offence I have committed, that in every 
 state of affairs, and under every party, it is likely 
 to be attended with the same consequence •=. But 
 I shall proceed in my own hand', since what 
 follows demands secrecy. See, I beseech you, even 
 now about the will. The idea of its having been 
 made at the time when she began to inquire, did 
 not I imagine strike you (else she would not have 
 asked), neither did it strike me. Yet, as if it were 
 so, having once entered upon the subject, you may 
 advise her to entrust it to somebody, whose for- 
 tune is exempt from the hazard of this war. I 
 should like, above all, that it might be to you, if 
 she is of'the same mind. I conceal from the poor 
 creature that in this I am apprehensive of that 
 other dangers. I am well aware that nothing can 
 be sold now ; but things may be laid by and 
 secreted, so as to escape that ruin which hangs 
 
 b This probably alludes to Cicero's speaking too freely 
 upon the state of affairs; which is mentioned more dis- 
 tinctly in the latter part of this letter, and was before noticed 
 in letter !7 of this book. 
 
 <: His not being at liberty to quit Brimdisium. 
 
 <i The danger of giving offence to Ca;sar. 
 
 e Cicero conceived thjit Cssar was so much displeased 
 with his having joined Pompcius, and the Pompeians with 
 his having deserted them, that his own ruin would ensua 
 either way. 
 
 f The former part of his letter being wTitten by an 
 amanuensis. 
 
 g The confiscation of his property, in apprehension of 
 which he wished to have Terentia's settled by will, and
 
 i8 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MAIICUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 over us. For when you say that my own property 
 will be ready for my use, and ynurs for Terentia ; 
 yours I grant ; but what can there be of mine ? 
 Respecting Terentia however (to pass by all other 
 grievances, which are innumerable), what can be 
 worse than this ? You had written to her to send 
 a bill of exchange for twelve scstertia (100/.), this 
 being what remained out of tiie silver. She sent 
 me ten sestertia (80/.), and added that this was all 
 whit'li remained. You see what a person would do 
 in a large concern, who could ])urloin this little 
 from a small one. Philotinius has not only not 
 arrived, but has not even acquainted me by letter, 
 or by message, what he is doing. Some, who are 
 come from Ephesus, relate that they saw him there 
 going to law about some disputes of his own, which 
 it is probable may be put off till Csesar's arrival. 
 So that I imagine he either has nothing which he 
 thinks it of importance to deliver quickly to me (in 
 which case I am the more neglected) ; or, if he has 
 anything, he does not trouble himself to convey it 
 to me till all his own business is finished. All this 
 gives me great imeasiness ; yet not so much, as per- 
 haps it ought ; for I apprehend nothing signifies less 
 to me, than what is brought from thence '>. Why I 
 think so ', I am persuaded you know. When you 
 caution me about accommodating my countenance 
 and language to the time ; difficult as this is, I 
 would however command myself, if I thought it at 
 all signified to me. When you say in your letter 
 that you think the business of Africa may be set- 
 tled', I wish you had added why you think so. No 
 reason occurs to me to suppose that it can be done; 
 but if there should be anytiiing, which has a ray of 
 consolation, I hope you will write to acquaint me 
 with it: or if, as I perceive, there should be 
 nothing, write to tell me even this. If I should 
 soon hear anything, I will write to you. Farewell. 
 August Gth. 
 
 LETTER XXin. 
 
 (GrcBV. XX.) 
 
 On the 16th of August arrived C. Trebonius 
 from Seleucea Pieria, after a voyage of twenty- 
 seven days. He reported that he had seen Quin- 
 tus, the son, and Hirtius, with Csesar, at Antioch ; 
 and that they had obtained all that they asked on 
 behalf of Quintus without any difficulty. At 
 which I should the more rejoice, if this concession 
 afforded me any assurance of hope. But there are 
 other things to be feared, and from other quarters; 
 and what is granted by Caesar, as by a master, is 
 still under his control. He has also pardoned s'al- 
 lustius'' ; and indeed is said to refuse nobody. 
 Which itself is suspicious that inquiry may only be 
 deferred, ^ M. son to Quintus Gallius, has restored 
 Sallustius' slaves. He came to transport the legions 
 into Sicily ; and brings word that Casar is pre- 
 
 placed in the hands of some trustee, who would not be 
 exposed to the same ruin. 
 
 •> From Caesar. See letter 20 of this book. 
 
 » Because he thought himself equally doomed to suffer 
 from the success of either party. 
 
 J The war in jifrica may be terminated by negotiation. 
 
 •< Perhaps the same, with whom Cicero had thought of 
 Bending his bon. See letter 1'/ of this book. 
 
 sently going thither from Patrse. If he does, I ' 
 shall go to some place nearer Rome, as I wish I 
 had done before. I am longing to receive your 
 answer to the letter in which 1 lately requested 
 your advice. Farewell. August 17. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 {Qrtev. xxi.) 
 On' the 27th of August I received your letter, 
 dated the 21st; and the pain arising from Quintus's 
 former misconduct, which I had now laid aside, I 
 felt most severely upon reading his letter. Though 
 you could not any how avoid sending me the letter, 
 yet I would rather it had not been sent. In answer 
 to what you say about the will, you must judge 
 what can be done, and how. About ths money, 
 she'" wrote as I informed you before. If there 
 is occasion, I must draw from the resource you 
 mention. It is not probable that Caesar will reach 
 Athens by the 1st of September. Many things are 
 said to detain him in Asia, especially Pharnaces ". 
 The 12lh legion, to which Sulla came in the first 
 instance, is reported to have driven him away by 
 stones °. They do not suppose that any of them 
 will stir. It is expected that Csesar will proceed 
 directly from Patrse to Sicily : but if this p be true, 
 he will be under the necessity of coming hither. 
 And I wish he had come before : for I should then 
 have got away somewhere or other. Now I am 
 afraid of being obliged to wait, and among other 
 things to bear in misery the unhealthiness of this 
 place. What you advise of my taking care to act 
 suitably to the time, I would do, if circumstances 
 permitted, and if it were any how possible. But 
 amidst such great offences on my part, and such 
 great injuries on the part of my relations'), I can 
 neither do anything with becoming dignity, nor 
 wear the appearance of it. You compare the times 
 of Sulla : when everything was conducted splen- 
 didly in its kind, though a little intemperately in 
 the manner. But I lay aside "■ all considerations of 
 this sort; and much rather prefer what may be 
 advantageous to the community, with whose inter- 
 est I have united my own. I should hope however 
 that you will write to me as often as you can, par- 
 ticularly as nobody else writes : but if everybody 
 
 1 It may seem at first contradictory, that Cicero should 
 here speak of removing from Brundisium, when in the 
 preceding letter he regrets his inability to do so. But 
 probably his stay at Brundisium may have been thought 
 proper, in order to salute Caesar on his arrival ; and this 
 reason would cease when Caesar should pass into Sicilj'and 
 Africa without touching in Italy. 
 
 "" Terentia. See letter 22 of this book. 
 
 n Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, had successfully 
 opposed Ca?sar's forces in Asia Minor under Cu. Domitius 
 Calvinus. 
 
 They refused to go into Africa till they should have 
 received their pay. See letter 25 of this book. 
 
 P This account of the troops refusing to march. 
 
 1 Alluding to Terentia, to Quintus, and to Dolabeila, 
 whose behaviour had very much vexed and mortified his 
 too irritable mind. 
 
 r Atticus had probably recommended the necessity ot 
 temporising, as in the times of Sulla ; to which I under- 
 stand Cicero to reply, that the cases are not similar ; and 
 that at all events his own views were directed to the public 
 good, not to his private security. Literally thus — "But 
 these things are of such a kind as I must forget."
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 wrote, yet 1 sliould be very anxious for your letters. 
 You say that Csesar will be more disposed to forgive 
 Qnintus at my intercession ; but I before wrote 
 vou word, that he at once granted to Quintus the 
 son everything he desired, without any mention of 
 me'. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 {GrcEv. xxii.) 
 Balbus's messenger delivered the packet ' to me 
 very carefully. For" you write as if you were 
 afraid 1 may not have received those letters, which 
 I wish indeed had never been delivered to me : for 
 they increased my affliction; and into whose ever 
 hands they had fallen, they would have communi- 
 cated nothing new. For what is so universally 
 known, as his^ animosity against me, and this style 
 of his letters .' Which 1 imagine Ciesar transmit- 
 ted to these persons, not because he was offended 
 with Quintus's baseness, but for the sake of making 
 my misfortunes more public. For when you say 
 that you are afraid they may injure him ■**", and that 
 you are endeavouring to remedy this, Caesar did 
 not even wait to be asked about him\ This I am 
 not sorry for : I am more sorry that my own 
 
 8 See Letter 23 of this book. 
 
 t This packet contained copies of Quintus's letters, 
 which seem to have been transmitted to Italy by Cffisar's 
 direction. 
 
 » This explains the reason of Cicero's mentioning the 
 safe delivery of the packet. 
 
 ■» Quintus's. w Quintus. 
 
 * Forgave him without waiting to be entreated. See 
 letter 23 of this book. 
 
 requests should have no effect. Sulla, as I con- 
 jecture, will be here to-morrow with Messala. 
 They are hastening to Csesar after being driven 
 away by the soldiers, who refuse to go anywhere 
 till they have received their pay. ile^ will there- 
 fore come hither, which was not expected. But it 
 will be some time first ; for he travels so as to 
 spend several days in the principal towns. And, 
 do what he will, Pharnaces will occasion some 
 delay. What therefore do you think I ought to do? 
 For my health already supports with difficulty the 
 effect of this unwholesome air, which occasions 
 additional uneasiness in my distress. Shall I beg 
 these people'-, who are going to him, to make my 
 excuses ? And shall I proceed nearer to Rome .' 
 Pray consider this ; and, what in spite of my 
 repeated entreaties you have not hitherto done, 
 assist me with your advice. I know it is a thing of 
 difficulty ; yet do it as may be in these troubles. 
 It is besides of great consequence to me to see 
 you : I shall have gained something, if that happens. 
 You will attend to the business of the will, as you 
 mention. 
 
 Cffisar. 
 
 * Sulla and Messala. 
 
 lA few days after Cieero had sent this last letter, Ccesar 
 unexpectedly arrived in Italy. He landed at Tarentum 
 in September, and on the first notice of his setting for- 
 wards towards Home, Cicero set out on foot to meet him. 
 Casar no sooner saw him, than he alighted and ran to 
 embrace him; then walked ivith him alone, conversing 
 familiarly with him for some time. Cicero followed Ccesar 
 to Rome. At the end of the pear Casar embarked for 
 Africa, to pursue the tear against Scipio and the other 
 Pompeian generals-'} 
 
 BOOK XII. 
 
 LETTER I, 
 
 It is now the eleventh day since we parted, and 
 I scrawl these few lines, on the point of going 
 from home before dawn. I design to get to-day to 
 Anagniiium, to-morrow to Tusculanum, and to 
 spend there one day ; so that on the 28th I shall 
 observe our appointment. And I wish I may be 
 able to run immediately afterwards to the embrace 
 of my dear Tullia, and to get a kiss of Attica *. 
 Pray write to me all about her ^ ; that while I stay 
 in Tusculanum, I may know what she prattles ; or, 
 if she is in the country, what she writes to you. In 
 the meantime either send her, or give her, my 
 love, and likewise to Pilia ; and though we shall 
 soon meet, yet write to me if you have anything to 
 say. 
 
 While I was folding up this letter, the messenger, 
 who had travelled all night, came to me with 
 yours. Upon reading which, I have been much 
 concerned at Attica's indisposition. I have 
 learned from your letter everything else, which I 
 €spected. But as to what }^u say of the tire in 
 the morning "=, it is a greater sign of age to waver 
 
 » Attious's daughter. " What relates to Attica. 
 
 c It is reasonable to suppose this may refer to some ex- 
 Jiression of Atticus joking with Cicero for wanting a fire 
 in the morning, like an old man ; to which Cicero replies. 
 
 in memory. For I had fixed the 29th with Axius, 
 the 30th with you, and the day of my arrival with 
 Quintus, that is the '28th. This is all I have to 
 say to you : there is nothing new. What need of 
 writing then .' What .-' When we are together, 
 and prattle about anything that comes into our 
 heads, the very talking, even if it is about nothing, 
 has a sweetness in the conversation itself. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 Here, however'', it is rumoured that Marcus 
 has perished by shipwreck ; that Asinius has been 
 delivered up alive into the hands of the soldiers ^ ; 
 that fifty ships have been carried into Utica by 
 this adverse wind ; that Pompeius ^ is not to be 
 found, nor has he been in the Balearic islands s, as 
 
 that it is a greater sign of age to lose one's memory, as 
 Atticus appears to have done in making some mistake 
 respecting the arrangement of tlie days after Cicero should 
 have returned to Rome. 
 
 ii It is to be presumed that this refers to a previous letter 
 received from Atticus, ia which he might have said there 
 was no news. 
 
 e The Pompeians. 
 
 f The son of Cn. Pompeius Magnus. 
 
 g Majorca, Minorca, and Ivica.
 
 760 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 Fatienus affirms. But there is no authority for 
 anything. I send you wiiat has been talked of in 
 your absence. In the nu-antimc games are to be 
 celebrated at Praneste : there will be Hirtius, and 
 all that i)arty *" ; and the games are to last eiglit 
 days. What feasting ! \Vhat gaiety ! While 
 this is going on, the business ' has perhajis been 
 settled. O marvellous men i ! But Balbus is 
 building: for what cares he .' Yet. if youcimsidttr, 
 for one who studies not what is right, but what is 
 agreeable'', has he not done well? " And are 
 you asleep all this while .■' It is time you should 
 e.\plain your purpose, if you mean to do anything'." 
 If you ask what I think, I think the proper pur- 
 jiose of life is, to be useful '". But why should I 
 say much.' I shall j)resently see you; and, as 1 
 hope, from the road straight to me ; when we will 
 together appoint a day for Tyrannic", and arrange 
 anything else that is to be done. 
 
 LETTER in. 
 Excepting yourself, I believe nobody is less of 
 a flatterer than I am ; or if we are either of us 
 occasionally so towards anybody, at least it is never 
 towards each other. Listen to me, then, when I 
 say this without any deceit : that I wish I may die, 
 my Atticus, if not only my Tusculanum (where I 
 am otherwise very happy), but the islands of the 
 blessed spirits" are so precious in my sight, that I 
 could be content always to be there without you. 
 Therefore, to attribute to you the same feeling 
 (which, indeed, is the case), let these three days? 
 of which you speak be endured patiently ; but I 
 should be glad to know whether you come to-day 
 immediately from the auction, or on what day. In 
 the mean time, I occupy myself with my books, 
 and am sorry that I have not got Vennonius's 
 history. However, not to be silent about my affairs, 
 there are three ways of recovering that debt which 
 is granted 1 me by Caesar ; either by purchasing at 
 
 h Caesar's party. 
 
 • The business of the war in Africa. 
 
 J To be given to sports at such a time. 
 
 ^ Agreeably to the maxims of the Epicureans, wliich 
 Atticus liiui adopted. 
 
 ' I understand tlie foregoing to be addressed to Cicero 
 in the person of Atticus, to which Cicero sui^joins his 
 reply. 
 
 ™ Conformably with what he says in his first book De 
 Legibus, c. 20. " Quippe cum antiqui omnes, quod secun- 
 dum naturam esset, quo juvaremur in vita, bonum esse 
 decreverint." And Dc Fin. iv. 6, " Summum bonum est — 
 omnibus, aut maxiinis rebus iis, quaj secundum naturam 
 sint, fruentcm vivere." 
 
 n To read together some work which Tyrannic had 
 lately written. See letter 6 of this book. 
 
 ° Called also the Fortunnte Islands, into which the 
 spirits of good men were supposed to pass after death. 
 They are believed to be the same as the Canaries. These 
 were formerly only casually and imperfectly known, and 
 had ascribed to them beauties which they never really 
 possessed. 
 
 P Hoc triduum probably refers to Atticus's own expres- 
 sion in some former letter, putting ott' his visit to Cicero 
 for three days. It may be observed that Cicero was a very 
 early riser, often writing his letters before it was light ; he 
 may ver}' well, therefore, have sent to Atticus at Rome, 
 only about twelve miles distant, to know if he might 
 expect him th.it day. 
 
 1 It having been seen that at the approach of the war 
 Cicero was indebted to Caesar, it is not probable that he 
 could subsequently have become his creditor. 1 am in- 
 
 the sale (I would rather lose it : thougn indepen- 
 dent of its baseness, I imagine this would itself be 
 to lose it); or by assignment from a broker at a 
 year's credit (who is there, that I could trust? Or 
 when would that Metonic"" year arrive?); or by 
 Vectenus's agreement for one" half. Think about 
 it. I am afraid, after all, that this man may make 
 no sale ; but that he may hasten to add iiis a])|)lause 
 at the conclusion of the games, lest a person of such 
 importance' should be disregarded. But it" shall 
 be attended to. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Your letter was most acceptable and delightful 
 to me. How say you ? I have recovered my 
 holiday''. For I was troubled at Tiro's account of 
 your having appeared to him to be flushed. I shall 
 add, therefore, one day more, as you propose. 
 Respecting Cato, it is a problem tit for Archi- 
 medes'*". It is impossible for me to write what 
 your companions" will read, not merely with satis- 
 faction, but even with patience. For even if I should 
 refrain from mentioning the opinions he has de- 
 livered, and all that zeal and wisdom which he 
 showed on behalf of the republic ; if I should drily 
 attempt to commend his dignity and firmness ; 
 this itself may be worth hearing ; but such a man 
 cannot justly be praised, unless it is set forth that 
 this state of things which is now established he 
 saw while it was yet future, and strove to prevent ; 
 and that he might not see it accomplished, relin- 
 quished his life. Of these things what is there that 
 I can render palatable to Aledius ^ ? But pray 
 take care of your health, and that prudence, which 
 you show in everything, show especially in your 
 own recovery. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 '' QuiNTUS the father for the fourth time*," or 
 rather for the thousandth time, shows his want of 
 sense in taking pleasure at his son and Statins being 
 
 clincd to think, therefore, that this debt to Cicero may 
 have been due from one of Ponipcius's party, whose goods- 
 were confiscated, but out of which Caesar may have per- 
 mitted Cicero to indemnify himself. See letter 21 of this 
 book, note '. 
 
 r jVUuding to the cycle of 10 j'ears invented by Meto, in 
 which time it was calculated (but not correctly) that the- 
 sun and moon would return to the same positions about 
 the earth. 
 
 5 Being content to receive one-half of the debt, as it 
 is probable Vectenus might have done on some similar 
 occasion. 
 
 ' Said ironically, importing that this partisan of 
 Caesar's, whoever he was, might be glad to pusli himself 
 into notice by his applause, and escape the discharge of 
 his debt. 
 
 " The recovery of his money. 
 
 " Probably Cicero might have designed to go up to Rome 
 on occasion of his friend's illness, but upon receiving a^ 
 good account, determined to prolong his holidays another 
 day. 
 
 w It was a problem of exceeding difficulty to write hi» 
 proposed panegyric upon Cato so as not to ofiFend Caesar. 
 
 ^ Of C-csar's party. 
 
 y Some one studious of pleasing Caesar. He is mentioned 
 again, letters i"! and 24 of this book. 
 
 '■ The original is part of averse of Ennius,quotedby Auk 
 Gell. X. 1, " Quintus pater quartum fit consul."
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 761 
 
 made Lupercans*, to see Tiis family loaded with tliis 
 double disgrace. I may add also I'hilotimus as a 
 third. What singular folly ; if my own'' were not 
 still greater. But what face can he have to ask 
 you to defray his ex})enses for this purpose .' Sup- 
 pose him to have come to no " dry spring," but to 
 Pirene'^ itself; or, as you say, to drink in your 
 fountain " the emerging flood of Alpheus '' ;" espe- 
 cially under his great embarrassments. Where can 
 this end ? But it is his affair. I am much pleased 
 ■with my "Cato :" but so was Bassus Lucilius"^ with 
 Lis performances. About Cielius ' you will inquire, 
 as you mention ; I am quite ignorant. Not oirly 
 his ability, but his character should be known. 
 You will let me know if you have any doubts about 
 Horteusius and Virginius ; though, as far as I see, 
 you will not easily find anything more desirable. 
 You will negotiate with Mustella, as you mention, 
 when Crispus arrives. I wrote to Aulus, to tell 
 him that I had explained fo I'iso what I knew for 
 certain about the gold. For I agree with you that 
 this business is protracted too long, and that every- 
 thing should now be got together from all parts. I 
 plainly perceive that your whole time and attention 
 is taken up with my concerns ; and that your 
 desire of coming to me is prevented by my busi- 
 ness. But 1 consider you as actually with me, not 
 only because you are conducting my affairs, but 
 also because I seem to see how you conduct them. 
 For no hour of your occupation ])asses without my 
 knowledge. I find that Tubulus^ was prator in 
 the consulship of L. Metellus and Q. Maximus. 
 Now I wish to know under what consuls P.Scaevola, 
 the Pontifex Maximus, was tribune of the people. 
 I imagine it was under the next, Caepio and Pom- 
 peius ; for he was praetor under 1'. Furius and 
 Sex. Atilius. You will give me, therefore, the date 
 of his tribunate ; and, if you can, let me know with 
 what crime Tubulus was charged. Pray see, too, 
 whether L. Libo (he who accused Ser, Galba) was 
 tribune of the people in the consulship of Censorinus 
 and Manilius, or in that of T. Quintus and Manius 
 Acilius. For I am perplexed by the Fannian 
 
 » The Lupercans were those who conducted the festivi- 
 ties of the Lupercalia, instituted in honour of Pan, on 
 which occasion tbey ran about tlie streets almost nuked. 
 There were formerly two companies of Lupercans, to 
 whom Caesar had lately added a third, into which people 
 were desirous of being admitted ; but Cicero thought this 
 flattery unbecoming his family. Statius was a freed-man 
 of Quintus's. 
 
 *> By his own folly he probably means the part he had 
 acted in the civil war, with which he always appears to be 
 dissatisfied. 
 
 <= An abundant spring near Corinth, sacred to the Muses. 
 
 ^ The original is taken from Pindar, who thus charac- 
 terises the fountain Aretlmse, feigned to be derived from 
 the river Alpheus in the Peloponnesus, passing under the 
 sea and rising up in Sicily. Cicero means to say that it 
 was absurd for his brother, who was considerably embar- 
 rassed in his fortune, to incur such an expense, and to 
 rely upon Atticus's resources. 
 
 ^ Some obscure author, whose works pleased nobody but 
 bimself. 
 
 f This part of the letter seems to allude to Cicero's nego- 
 tiations with different bankers, or brokers, about the sale 
 of his plate, which he wished to exchange for gold, either 
 to be secreted or taken with him, in case of insurrection, 
 or counter-revolution. 
 
 S This and what follows probably alludes to Cicero's 
 treatise " De Finibus," on which he was then engaged, 
 and doubtful of some circumstances and dates mentioned 
 in the second book. 
 
 epitome of Brutus, or rather Brutus's epitome of 
 Fannius's history. I wrote what I found in the 
 latter part of that work ; in following which I 
 called this Fannius, who wrote the history, son-in- 
 law to Lielius : but you demonstratively refuted it. 
 Now Brutus and Fannius refute you. I had under- 
 stood from riortensius, who is good authority, that 
 it was as Brutus states. Disentangle, tiierefore, 
 this matter. I have sent Tiro to meet Dolaljella. 
 He will return to me tlie thirteenth ; and 1 shall 
 hope to see you the next day. I perceive the great 
 interest you take in my dear Tullia ; and that this 
 may always be the case I earnestly entreat you. 
 So, then, all is still open to consideration '' ; for so 
 you write word. Though 1 wished to avoid the 
 beginning of the month', and to escape the ledgef 
 of the NicasiosJ, and I have my own accounts ta 
 make up ; yet nothing is of sufficient moment to 
 make me absent myself from you; being actually 
 at Rome, and hoping very soon to see you ; though 
 every day the hours seem long whilst I am expect- 
 ing you. You know that I am no flatterer, and 
 say, therefore, something less than I feel. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 With respect to Cselins, pray take care that 
 there is no defect in the gold. I know the way of 
 these things ^. But the loss from the exchange is 
 quite enough ; and if to this is added the gold 
 itself — But what am I saying .' You will see after 
 it. Here you have something in Hegesius's style', 
 which Varro commends. I come now toTyrannio*". 
 What say you.' Is this true? and without me? 
 How often have I, when I was at leisure, yet re- 
 frained from reading it without you ? How, there- 
 fore, can you excuse this .' There is but one way ; 
 by sending me the book, which I particularly beg 
 you to do ; though the book itself will not delight 
 me more than I have been delighted with your 
 admiration of it. For I love everybody that shows 
 his attachment to his countrymen " ; and am pleased 
 with your great admiration of so subtile a specu- 
 lation. Though indeed your observations are all 
 of that kind " ; for you are fond of that science by 
 which alone the understanding is nourished. But 
 pray, what is there in that acute and deep research, 
 which has reference to the ultimate principle? of 
 
 h I understand this to relate to his daughter's divorce. 
 
 ' This is supposed to be owing to his unwillingness to 
 appear in the senate convened by order of Ca;sar on the 
 first of August. 
 
 J The meaning of this is uncertain, but most probably 
 relates to the payment of interest to some usurers of this 
 name, if he should be obliged to borrow money. 
 
 k I understand this to mean, I know how liable gold is 
 to be adulterated. 
 
 1 Some author, whose manner of ■writing bare some 
 resemblance to the preceding sentence, perhaps the inter- 
 ruption and interrogation. 
 
 ■" See letter 2 of this book. 
 
 " Atticus, though not properly an Athenian, is elsewhere 
 considered as such : — " ita enim se Athenis coUocavit, ut 
 sit psene unus ex Atticis," [De Fin. v. 2,] as indeed hi» 
 name implies. Cicero's meaning in this place is, that 
 Atticus, by his approbation of Tyrannio's subtilty in rea- 
 soning, shows his attachment to the taste of his country- 
 men the Athenians. 
 
 " Distinguished by niceness of judgment and acufeness, . 
 by which the mind is exercised. 
 
 P Cicero being at this time engaged in his treatise " l>e- 
 Finibus."
 
 782 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 morals ? However, this is a long inquiry ; and 
 you are engage<l, perha])s, in some business of 
 mine; and instead of that dry basking 'i which 
 you overdid on my lawn, I shall expect to be enter- 
 tained with ointments and elegances. But, to go 
 back to my former subject : if you love me, send 
 the book ; for it is truly yours since it has been 
 sent to you. " Have you so much leisure from 
 vour affairs, Chremes''," that you can read also 
 my " Orator ? " Well done ! I am much obliged ; 
 and shall be still more so, if not only in your 
 own copy, but in those for other people, you 
 ■will get your librarians to insert Aristophanes in 
 the place of Eujiolis '. Cresar, I imagine, meant 
 to rally you upon using the word quaso, which, 
 however, is quaint and pleasing. At the same 
 time lie so insists upon your being under no 
 anxiety, that I can have no doubt of his intention '. 
 I am sorry that Attica's indisposition " should 
 continue so long ; but as she has now no shivering, 
 I hope all is going on as we could wish. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 I HAVE made a short note of everything that 
 you desire, and have delivered it to Eros ; indeed, 
 more than you ask ; and amongst other things 
 ■what relates to my son, the first notice of whose 
 wish I received from you. I talked freely with 
 him : and, if it is convenient to you, shouW be 
 glad if you would inquire about it from himself. 
 But why should I delay to inform you ? I explained 
 to him that by my desire you had applied to him 
 to know whether there was anything that he wished 
 or wanted ; and that you had acquainted me with his 
 ■wish of going to Spain ', and his want of a liberal 
 allowance. With respect to his allowance, I told 
 him I would do as much as Publius, or the flamea 
 Lentulus, had done for their sons. Respecting 
 Spain, I mentioned two objections ; one, the same 
 that occurred to you, that I was fearful of incurring 
 reproach. Was it not enough to have relinquished 
 our arms in support of the Pompeian party? 
 Must we also take arms against it ? The other 
 objection was, that he would be mortified by seeing 
 his cousin admitted to greater familiarity and 
 favour. I would rather he should enjoy my 
 liberality than his own liberty. Yet I gave my 
 consent : for I understood that you did not greatly 
 object to it. I must think about it again and again, 
 and I beg you to do the same. It is a great thing, 
 and one that involves no difficulty to remain quiet : 
 the other is very doubtful. But we will consider of 
 
 1 This probably alludes t.o some conversation on the 
 foundation of moral duty, held at Cicero's house during 
 the time of their basking in the sun, as was usual among 
 the ancient Romans. The word ahusns es seems to imply 
 that Atticus had carried this to a prejudicial extent : the 
 ointments and elegances mentioned are intended to 
 designate Atticus's politeness compared with Ciceio's 
 drier statement ; ointments being often used previous to 
 basking. 
 
 >■ This is a verse of Terentius. 
 
 " Cicero, in his piece entitled " Orator," had, it seems, 
 erroneously put Eupolis for Aristophanes. 
 
 * Atticus had applied to Caesar to spare the estates of 
 the people about Buthrotum, which were threatened with 
 confiscation for their attachment to Pompeius. 
 
 " See letter 1 of this book. 
 
 » To Join Caesar's army against Pompeius' sons. 
 
 it. About Balbus I had made a memorandum, 
 and think of doing so, as )'0u advise, as soon as he 
 comes back. But if his coming is delayed, I shall 
 at all events wait three days. 1 omitted t< mentioa 
 also that Dolabelia is with me. 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 
 Many persons approve of this measure respect- 
 ing Cicero*. He-"' is a very proper companion. 
 But we must previously see about this first pay- 
 ment^, for the day approaches, and he' travels 
 quickly. Pray x^nie to inform me what news Celer 
 brings of Caesar's transactions with the candidates ; 
 whether he intends to go himself into the Campus 
 Fsenicularius ", or into the Campus Martius. And 
 I should like to know whether it is necessary to be 
 at Rome at the comitia ; for I must needs satisfy 
 both Pilia *", and especially Attica. 
 
 LETTER IX.. 
 (Grcev. X.) 
 
 This is sad indeed about Athamas'. Your 
 concern is natural, but ought to be moderated. 
 There are many ways of consolation ; of which the 
 properest is, to let reason do that which time will 
 do. But let us take care of Alexis**, that counter- 
 part of Tiro, whom I have sent back sick to Rome ; 
 and if there is any epidemical sickness on the 
 Quirinai hill'', let us transfer him with Tisamenus' 
 to my house. All the upper part of the house is 
 unoccupied, as you know. I think this is worth 
 considering. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 (GrcBV. xi.) 
 
 I AM sorry for poor Sejus : but whatever happens 
 
 in the course of nature must be borne with patience. 
 
 For indeed •n'hat are we ? Or how long are we 
 
 likely to regard these things ? Let us consider 
 
 '»■ Cicero the son. It probably relates to his going to 
 Athens to complete his studies, instead of joining Caesar's 
 army, which seems to have been returning from Spain. 
 
 " It appears elsewhere that the son was accomi)anied to 
 Athens by L. Montanus, who is probably tlierefore the 
 person here intended. See letter 53 of this book. 
 
 y It is uncertain to what this alludes. 
 
 I It is probable that this may mean Cassar, on his return 
 from the Spanish war. 
 
 a This maj^ perhaps mean, \Yhether Caisar will appoint 
 the magistrates " in a field of fennel," that is, in Spain, 
 or suffer them to be regularly elected in the "field of 
 Mars," or Campus Martius at Rome ; for both Plinius and 
 Dioscorides take notice of fcnneX {/xapadpov, faeniculum) 
 being particularly cultivated in Spain ; and Strabo men- 
 tions a place in Spain called " the fennel plain," from this 
 circumstance. 
 
 b Celer, who was a candidate probably for the praetor- 
 ship, is supposed to have been a relation of Pilia's, perhaps 
 her brotlier, whom Cicero would not fail to support if 
 there should be a free election. For Attica he often play- 
 fully professes his affection. 
 
 « A slave of Atticus's, who was just dead. 
 
 d Another slave, and amanuensis. 
 
 e The district of Rome where Atticus lived. 
 
 ^ A third slave of Atticus, who might wait upon AlexiS; 
 or who might himself be ill. ,
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 763 
 
 what more nearly concerns ourselves, (yet not 
 much either), what I should do about the senate^. 
 Not to omit anything, Csesonius has written to me 
 to say that Posthumia, Sulpicius's wife, is come to 
 his house. I liave already told you tliat I have no 
 thoughts at present of Pompeius Magnus's daugh- 
 ter''. The other whom you mention, I believe 
 you know. I never saw anything more disgusting. 
 But I shall presently see you : therefore when we 
 meet. After I had sealed my letter, I received 
 yours. I hear with pleasure of Attica's cheerful- 
 ness, yet partake of your anxiety. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 {GriBV. ix.) 
 I ASSURE you I am very well pleased with being 
 here', and that, more and more every day, but for 
 the reason J which I mentioned in a former letter. 
 Nothing can be pleasanter than this retreat, if it 
 ■were not a little interrupted by the son of Amyn- 
 tas''. What a tiresome loquacity ! In other 
 respects, you can imagine nothing more delightful 
 than the house, the coast, the view of the sea, and, 
 in short, the whole together. But even this does 
 not require a long letter, and I have nothing par- 
 ticular to tell you, and am very sleepy. 
 
 LETTER Xn. 
 
 On the subject of the dower' I want you so 
 much the more to clear me from all imputation. 
 Balbus's delegation of his authority is quite royal"". 
 Make an end by any means. It is discreditable 
 for the business to lie in this state of suspense. 
 The isle of Arpinas" may be very proper for the 
 ■deification", but I fear it will not be thought to 
 confer the same degree of honour p. It lies out of 
 
 B To avoid either offendinp; Csesar or acting in a manner 
 unbecoming liis former character and connexions. 
 
 •> Previous to this time Cicero had divorced his wife 
 Terentia, and was thinking of marrying again, which he 
 «oon after did. 
 
 ' Probably at Astura. See letters 19 and 40 of this book. 
 To this place Cicero retired after the death of his daughter, 
 who died in childbirth. 
 
 3 Perhaps the absence of Atticus. See letter IG of this 
 book, which may not improbably be the letter alluded to; 
 the order of these short letters (many of them little more 
 than notes, and without a date) having been apparently 
 deranged in many instances. It would be a laborious and 
 Iruitless task to endeavour to rectify it. 
 
 1' Philippus, so called from Philippus, king of Macedo- 
 nia, who was the son of Arnj-ntas. lie is mentioned again, 
 letters 16 and 18 of this book. 
 
 ' It seems to me most probable that this may relate to 
 "the repayment of Terentia's dower upon her divorce. 
 
 >» It is quite uncertain to what this alludes; most proba- 
 bly to some debt due from Cicero, the care of which Balbus 
 had delegated to some third person. It may be that the 
 discharge of this prevented the inunediate payment of the 
 ■dower. 
 
 " Arpinas was a place inland, but surrounded by a divi- 
 sion and re-union of the river Fibrenus before it falls into 
 the Liris. — Be Legibus, ii. 3. 
 
 o This must allude to his design of deifying his daughter 
 TuUia, who had lately died, though nothing has yet been 
 •said of that event. It is probable that the letter may have 
 lieen misplaced. See letter 18 of this book. 
 
 P Arpinas, tliough in many respects very proper for the 
 erection of a. temple consecrated to his daughter, yet lay 
 
 the way. My wish therefore is for the gardens' ; 
 which 1 will, however, examine on my arrival. 
 About Epicurus' it shall be as you please ; though 
 I incline to this latter kind of persons'. It is 
 incredible how eagerly some people desire the 
 other. To the ancients therefore ; for this is free 
 from invidiousness'. I have nothing to tell you : 
 but 1 have determined, nevertheless, to write every 
 (lay for the sake of eliciting your answers ; not 
 that I expect anything from them, but yet I some- 
 how do expect. Therefore, whether you have 
 anything to say or nothing, yet write something ; 
 and take care of yourself. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 I AM not easy about Attica, though I rely upoa 
 Craterus's " opinion. Brutus's letter is sensible 
 and friendly', but made me shed many tears. 
 This retreat™ is less worrying to me than that con- 
 course of people. I want nobody but you. How- 
 ever, I occupy myself in study with the same ease 
 as if I was at b.ome". Yet the same violence of 
 grief presses and hangs upon me ; not that I 
 indulge it, but still I do not resist it. Respecting 
 what you mention of Appuleius'', I apprehend 
 there is no occasion for any e.^ertion on your part, 
 or on that of Balbus and Oppius, to whom he 
 pledged himself, and desired I might be informed 
 that he would not give me any trouble. Never- 
 tlieless, get me excused from day to day on account 
 of my health. Lsenas had promised to do this. 
 Engage^ C. Septimius and L. Statilius. In short, 
 nobody that you ask will refuse to swear. But if 
 there is any difficulty, I will go up myself, and will 
 swear to a continual sickness. For as I must 
 absent myself from these meetings, I would rather 
 it should appear to be done by law than by grief. 
 I should be glad if you would call upon Cocceius ; 
 for he does not perform what he promised. I 
 wish to buy some place to hide and shelter my 
 affliction. 
 
 too much out of common observation to do her the honour 
 he desired. 
 
 q The gardens in the vicinity of Rome. 
 
 ' Cicero has been shown before to be at this time engaged 
 in his book " I>e Finibus," in which he discusses in a dia- 
 logue the opinions of different philosophers respecting the 
 constitution of moral virtue, and seems to have consulted 
 Atticus upon the person whom he should introduce to 
 support Epicurus's doctrine. 
 
 s By " this latter kind " I conceive to be meant not " more 
 recent," but on the contrary, those who had been some time 
 dead, but whom he had eventually named last among dif- 
 ferent descriptions of persons. 
 
 t By introducing only ancient characters he would occa- 
 sion no ill-will. 
 
 " Craterus was a physician of eminence at Rome. 
 
 ■» A letter of condolence on the death of TuUia. 
 
 *■ At Astura, near Antium. 
 
 * Among his books, m his usual residence at Rome. 
 See letter 42 of this book. 
 
 7 This Appuloius appears to have been lately incorpo- 
 rated into the college of augurs, on which occasion several 
 festivals were held, from which Cicero desired to be ex- 
 cused. 
 
 ^ It seems to have been necessary for three of the 
 college to attest the incapacity of one from attending ; 
 he therefore desires Atticus to apply to C. Septimius and 
 L. Statilius, in addition to Laenas. See letter 14 of thia 
 book.
 
 764 
 
 THE I.KTTERS OF MARCUS TULLIL'S CICERO 
 
 LETTER XIV, 
 
 I WROTE to you yesterday about excusing me 
 to Apjiuleius. I imagine there is no difficulty. 
 Whomsoever you call upon, nobody will refuse. 
 But speak to Scptiniius, and Laenas, and Statilius; 
 for there must be three. Laiiias promised me to 
 manage the whole. As to what you mention of 
 being called upon by Junius" ; assuredly Cornifi- 
 cius is a rich man : however, I should like to know 
 wlieu it is that I am said to liave been i)ound ; 
 and whether for the father or for the son. Never- 
 theless, as you say, see Cornificius's agents, and 
 the surveyor^ Appuleius. In wisliing me to be 
 restored from my affliction, you act as you always 
 do ; but you are witness that I have not been 
 wanting to myself. For there is nothing written 
 by anybody on the lessening of affliction, wliich I 
 have not read at your house. But my grief over- 
 comes all consolation. I have even done what 
 nobody ever did before me, written for my own 
 consolation. I will send the book to you, if the 
 clerks have transcribed it. I assure you, no com- 
 fort is equal to it. I write all day long ; not that 
 I expect any good from it, but for the time I am 
 pre-occupied ; not effectually indeed, for the vio- 
 lence of my grief presses me ; but yet I am soothed ; 
 and I strive by all means to compose not my mind 
 only, but, if possible, my very countenance. In 
 doing which I sometimes think I am doing wrong, 
 sometimes I think I should do wrong if I omitted 
 it. There is some relief in retirement : but it 
 \vould be much better if you were here. This is 
 the only reason of my removal. For, in regard to 
 my distress, it suits well. Yet this also is a source 
 of regret ; that you can no longer entertain the 
 same regard for me ; those qualiiications in which 
 you used to take pleasure are gone. I wrote to 
 you before about Brutus's letter to me. It was 
 sensibly written, but afforded me no comfort. 
 What he wrote to you of his coming hither ; that 
 I should like ; for such appears to be his affection 
 that it could net fail of doing me some good. If 
 you have any intelligence, I hope you will write to 
 me, especially to inform me when Pansa"^ sets out. 
 I am concerned about Attica, yet I rely upon 
 Craterus. Do not let Pilia despond. Your ow^l 
 accustomed anxiety is enough for everybody. 
 
 write an answer to Brutus, as you advise. Yoit 
 shall have the letter to-morrow, and will forward 
 it when you have an opportunity. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 As it is not thought right to make a general 
 excuse to Appuleius, you will take care that it is 
 renewed from day to day. In this solitude I have 
 no intercourse with anybody ; but penetrate in the 
 morning into a thick rough wood, from whence I 
 do not go out before evening. Next to you, 
 nothing is more pleasing to me than solitude. 
 There all my conversation is with books. Even 
 this is interrupted by tears, which I resist as much 
 as I can ; but hitherto I am unequal to it. 1 will 
 
 ^ This Junius seems to have called upon Atticus, as 
 Cicero's friend, about some money due from Cornificius, 
 for whom Cicero had been surety. 
 
 "° This is evidently a different person from that Appu- 
 .eius mentioned in the beginning of the letter. 
 
 *-■ He had been appointed to succeed Brutus in the 
 government of Cisalpine Gaul. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 I WOULD not have you neglect your own con- 
 cerns to come to me. I will rather go to some 
 place nearer, if you should be prevented much 
 longer. Though, indeed, I should not have re- 
 moved out of your sight, unless I had found that 
 nothing was of any use to me; yet if there was 
 any alleviation, it was only in you ; and as soon as 
 there can be from anything, it will be from you. 
 Now, however, I cannot bear the very circumstances 
 of being without you : but I do not approve of 
 staying in your house; nor can I stay in my own ; 
 nor if I were anywhere near, should I still be with 
 you ; for the same cause would prevent your being 
 with me, which prevents you now. As yet nothing 
 has been more agreeable to me than this solitude, 
 which I wish Philippus may not destroy'', for he 
 arrived yesterday evening. Writing and study do 
 not assuage my grief, but they interrupt it. 
 
 LETTER XVIL 
 
 Marcianus has informed me that my excuse 
 has been made to Appuleius by Laterensis, Naso, 
 Lsenas, Torquatus, and Strabo. I should be glad 
 if you would get letters written to them expressive 
 of my thankfulness. As to what Flavins says of 
 my having been surety for Cornificius more than 
 five-and-twenty years ago, though the defaulter 
 is rich, and Appuleius is a liberal appraiser, yet I 
 should be glad if you would find out from the 
 books of the joint securities, whether it is really 
 so. For previously to my being sedile I had no 
 intercourse with Cornificius. I do not, however, 
 mean to deny it; but I should like to knovv the 
 truth. You may also call upon the agents, if you 
 think proper. Though what does it signify to me ? 
 Nevertheless^ — You will inform me of Pansa's 
 departure when you know it. Give my love to 
 Attica, and pray take good care of her. My 
 respects to Pilia. 
 
 LETTER XVIIL 
 
 Whilst I avoid all recollections which by a 
 certain sting exasperate my pain, I refrain from 
 advising with you ; but trust you will excuse me 
 in this matter, whether I am doing right or wrong. 
 For some of those authors, which I now chiefly 
 read, say, that it is a duty to do what I have fre- 
 quently mentioned to you, and what I would fain 
 have you approve. I speak of the temple' ; which 
 1 request you to consider in proportion to the 
 affection you bear me. I have no hesitation about 
 the kind of building, being satisfied with Cluatius's 
 design ; nor about the thing itself, which is deter- 
 
 d See letter 9 of this book. 
 
 e The sense of his present afiBlction makes him indif- 
 ferent to such matters ; nevertheless he would do what is 
 right. 
 
 I Wliich he intended to erect and consecrate to his 
 daughter.
 
 TO TITUS rOMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 766 
 
 mined ; but I sometimes doubt about the situation. 
 I wish therefore that you would think about it. Yes, 
 I will consecrate her, as much as can be done in 
 these learned times, with monuments of every 
 kind, drawn from the best sense of all writers, 
 both Greek and Latin. This may perhaps renew 
 my wound ; but I consider myself bound, as it 
 were, by a vow and promise ; and that long space 
 of time, when I shall cease to be, influences me 
 more than this short period, which, however, 
 seems to me too long. For, after trying every- 
 thing, I find nothing in which I can acquiesce^. 
 While I was engaged in that treatise about wliich 
 I wrote to you before, I was, as it were, cherishing 
 my sufferings. Now I reject everything, and find 
 nothing better than solitude ; which Philippus has 
 not interrupted, as I apprehended. For after paying 
 his compliments to me yesterday, he immediately 
 set off for Rome. I have sent you the letter 
 which I wrote to Brutus at your recommendation. 
 You will take care to have it transmitted along 
 •with yours. I have, however, sent a copy of it to 
 you, that, if you do not approve of it, you may 
 not send it. When you say that my domestic 
 concerns are regularly administered, I should like 
 to know what you allude to. There are some 
 things about which I am solicitous. See that 
 Cocceius does not fail me. For what Libo pro- 
 mises, as Eros writes me word, 1 consider as 
 certain. Respecting my principal, 1 trust to Sul- 
 picius and to Egnatius. Why should you trouble 
 yourself about Appuleius, when the excuse is so 
 easy .' Consider how difficult it is for you to come 
 to me, as you propose. For it is a long journey ; 
 and I cannot take leave of you without great pain 
 at your departure, which it may perhaps be neces- 
 sary for you to make speedily. But all as you 
 please. For whatever you do I shall think to be 
 done for the best, and done for my sake. Having 
 learned yesterday from other letters the circum- 
 stance of Antonius's approach, I was surprised 
 there should he nothing said about it in yours. 
 But it may possibly have been written the day 
 before it was sent. Not that I care about such 
 matters. But I suppose he is come up about his 
 sureties. As to what you mention of Terentia's 
 speaking about the witnesses to my will, in the 
 first place, be assured that I care nothing about it, 
 nor have I room to admit any trifling or new con- 
 cern''. But what resemblance is there between 
 the two cases .' She would not employ those who 
 she thought would inquire, unless they knew what 
 it contained. Was there any danger of that in my 
 case ? However, let her do as I do. I will give 
 my will to be read by whom she ])leases : he will 
 ■find that I could not have behaved more honour- 
 ably towards my grandchild than I have done. 
 For as to not calling upon her to attest it ; in the 
 first place, it never entered into my mind ; next, 
 it did not for that reason, because it was of no 
 consequence. Yourself know (if only you recol- 
 lect) that I desired you at the time to bring some 
 of your people. For what need was there of 
 many ? Indeed I meant your attendants : upon 
 ■which you suggested that I should send to Silius : 
 
 g In these few words how strongly is expressed the want 
 of that solid consolation, which is only to be found in tlio 
 Oospcl ! 
 
 f' So filled was lie v/ith concern for his daughter, and 
 perhaps for the republic. 
 
 whence it arose that I sent to Pviblilius' : but 
 neither was necessary. You will manage this as 
 you think best. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 This placed is indeed pleasant, and open to the 
 sea, and capable of being seen both from Antium 
 and from Circaei ; but we must consider how, 
 amongst all the change of possessors, who may be 
 innumerable in an endless posterity (if only tliis 
 state of things should last), that which is con- 
 secrated may still subsist. 1 have now no need of 
 revenue, and can be content with a little. I some- 
 times think of getting some of the gardens on the 
 other side of the Tiber; for this reason, that I 
 know nothing which would be so much frequented. 
 Which of them it should be, we will consider when 
 we meet ; but the temple nuist be finished this 
 summer. At all events settle with Apella, the 
 Cliian, about the pillars. I approve of what you 
 mentioned about Cocceius and Libo; and especially 
 about my judgeship ''. Respecting the bond ', you 
 will let me hear when you have discovered any- 
 thing ; yet I should like to know what C;ornificius's 
 agents say, but would not have you give yourself 
 much trouble about it while you are so engaged. 
 Respecting Antonius, Balbus also wrote to me in a 
 joint letter with Oppius, and with your concur- 
 rence, that I need not be disturbed. I returned my 
 thanks to them : but, as I have before told you, I 
 would have you understand that I neither was dis- 
 turbed at that news, nor shall I now be disturbed 
 at anything. If Pansa has set out to-day, as you 
 siipposed, henceforwar'i begin to inform me what 
 you expect about Brutus's arrival ; that is, on what 
 day. If you know where he now is, you will easily 
 be able to form a conjecture. Concerning what 
 you mention to Tiro about Terentia, 1 entreat yon, 
 my Atticus, to undertake the whole business. You 
 perceive that some duty on my part is implicated, 
 upon which you are fully informed ; and some sup- 
 pose young Cicero's fortune to be concerned. The 
 former consideration weighs far the most with me, 
 as being more sacred and important ; especially as 
 I conceive thi.5 latter to be neither well founded nor 
 settled. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 You seem not yet entirely to understand how 
 indifferent I am about the arrival of .\jitonius, and 
 about everything of the kind. On the subject of 
 Terentia I wrote to you in the letter I sent yes- 
 terday. When you exhort me, and say that others 
 expected it of me likewise, that I should dissemble 
 the excess of my affliction ; can I do more than 
 spend whole days in study .' Though I do it, not 
 for the sake of dissembling, but rather of soothing 
 and healing my mind ; and if I do not reap adequate 
 advantage, surely I do enough for appearance. I 
 
 ' This, being prob.ibly a rel.ition of that Publilia whom 
 he-had lately taken to his second wife, may have excited 
 the greater suspicion and indignation in Terentia. 
 
 J Astura. 
 
 k It is uncertain to what this alludes; perhaps some 
 occasion of Cicero's acting as a judge, from which Atticii3 
 may have got liini excused. 
 
 I Sec letters 17 and IJ of tliis book
 
 7nG 
 
 TIIK LP:TTEUS of MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 write the less to you, because I am expecting your 
 reply to my Icttei of yesterday. I am expictiiiir par- 
 ticularly to hear about the temple ; and .soniethiug 
 also about Terentia. I wish you would inform me 
 in your next letter, whether Cn. Cfcpio, the father 
 of that Servilia who married Claudius, perished by 
 shipwreck in the lifetime of his father, or after his 
 death ; likewise whether Hutilia died before, or 
 after her son C. Cotta. They relate to the book I 
 have been writing on the moderation of grief. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 I HAVE read Brutus's letter"', and return it to 
 vou. To say the truth, it is not a very civil 
 answer to your questions. But this is his affair. 
 Though one thing shows a shameful ignorance, for 
 he supposes that Cato was the first to ]iropose the 
 sentence of deatli on the Catilinarian conspirators; 
 whereas everybody had proposed it before except 
 C;esar. And because the sentence of Ccesar him- 
 self, then speaking in the place of prtetor, was so 
 severe, he su|)poses those of the consular senators to 
 have been more lenient ; that is, of Catulus, Ser- 
 vilius, the Luculli, Curio, Torquatas, Lepidus, 
 Gellius, Volcatius, Figulus, Cotta, L. Caesar, C. 
 Piso, and M. Glabrio, with Silanus and Miirena, 
 the consuls elect. Why then was the decree made 
 according to the opinion of Cato ? Because he had 
 said the same thing in more brilliant and copious 
 terms. Me he commends for having brought the 
 affair before the senate, not for having discovered 
 it ; for giving encouragement, and for having 
 formed my judgment before I consulted them. It 
 Vfas because Cato had extolled all this to the skies, 
 and had proposed its being entered in the decree, 
 that the vote was carried in favour of his opinion. 
 Brutus seems to think he has done much for me by 
 calling me the excellent consul. What enemy ever 
 spoke in more meagre terms ? And how does he 
 reply to your'other observations? He only desires you 
 to set him right about the decree of the senate. 
 He would have done as much if he liad been told of 
 it by Ranius. But this again is his own affair. 
 Respecting the gardens ", since you approve of it, 
 get something done. You know the state of my 
 affairs. If, besides, anything is received from Fabe- 
 rius, there is no difficulty. But, even without that, 
 I think I am able to manage it. Those of Drusus 
 are certainly to be sold ; possibly also those of 
 Lanraa and Cassius : but of this when we meet. I 
 cannot write more properly about Terentia than 
 you do. Let my duty be the first thing to be con- 
 sidered. If anything should go amiss, I would 
 rather the fault should lie with her than with my- 
 self. A hundred sestertia (800/.) must be pro- 
 cured for Ovia, the wife of C. LoUius. Eros says 
 he cannot do it without me ; I suppose, because 
 some valuation ° is to be accepted and assigned. I 
 
 n> Brutus might probably have drawn up some account 
 of Cato, which he had submitted to Atticus, and upon 
 which Atticus had made observations, and proposed certain 
 questions. 
 
 n Where Cicero thought of erecting a temple to his 
 daughter. See letter 19 of this book. 
 
 o In order to facilitate the arrangements between 
 debtors and their creditors, Caesar had gut a law passed to 
 admit the estimation of property agreeably to its value 
 before the civil war broke out— Caes. De Bell. Civ. iii. 
 
 wish he had mentioned it to you. For if the busi- 
 ness, as he tells me, is ready, and he does not 
 deceive me in this, it might be completed through 
 you. I should be glad if you would incpiire into 
 this and settle it. When you call u])on me ta 
 attend the business of the forum, you call upon me 
 to do that which, even in happier circumstances, 1 
 avoided. For what have I to do with the forum, 
 without legal trials, without a senate, and meeting 
 those whom I cannot look upon with patience ? 
 As to what you say of people's requiring of me- 
 that I should be at Rome, and not suffering me 
 to absent myself, or suffering it only to a certain, 
 extent ; know that I have long since esteemed you 
 more than all those together ; and that I have 
 some regard for myself too, and would much sooner 
 abide by my own judgment than that of all the rest. 
 Yet I do not go further i* than the wisest mea 
 allow ; all of whose writings, so far as they relate 
 to that subject, I have not only read, which is itself 
 a mark of some courage for a sink man to admit of 
 his remedy, but have even transferred into my own 
 compositions, which is certaitily no sign of a 
 dejected and broken spirit. From such remedies 
 do not endeavour to recall me into that throng, 
 lest I relapse. 
 
 LETTER XXIL 
 
 In throwing upon me all the burden of Terentia'g 
 business i, you do not act with your usual indul- 
 gence towards me, — for these wounds are such as I 
 cannot touch without the greatest pain. Manage 
 it therefore, I beseech you, as you can. For I ask 
 nothing more of you, than you can accomplish ; 
 and you alone can find out what the truth is about 
 Rutilia "■. As you seem to doubt, you will write to 
 me when you know, and as soon as you can ; also 
 whether Clodia was living after the death of the 
 consular D. Brutus, her son. This may be ascer- 
 tained from Marcellus, or at least from Posthumia; 
 the other from M. Cotta, or Scyrus, or Satyrus. I 
 entreat you again and again on the subject of the 
 gardens. I must strive with all my own means and 
 those of my friends, who I am persuaded will not 
 desert me ; but I shall be able to do it by myself. 
 And I have some property also, which I can easily 
 sell. But without selling, by mortgaging the land 
 for one year to the vendor, I can obtain what I 
 want if you assist me. Those of Drusus are quite 
 ready, for he is wanting to dispose of them. The 
 next I think are Lamia's ; but he is absent. How- 
 ever, if you can, find out something about them. 
 Silius also makes no use of his, and will easily 
 be satisfied with that interest. You have^ your 
 instructions. Consider, not what the present 
 state of my affairs requires, which I regard not, 
 but what is the object of my wishes, and what is 
 the occasion of them .' 
 
 P In the indulgence of his grief. 
 
 q This must have some relation to Terentia's wiU. See 
 letter 19 of this book. 
 
 r See letter 20 of this book. 
 
 s Notwithstanding my objections to admit conjectural 
 emendations of the text, I have supposed this ought to be 
 habes, which is quite agreeable to Cicero's manner of 
 writing, while the common reading of habe is both harsh 
 and scarcely intelligible. See book vi. letter 1, and book 
 xiv. letter 2, also book xvi. letters 7 and 16.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 7or 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 By the beginning of your letter I thought you 
 were going to send me some news ; for you say, tliat 
 although I did not care about what was doing in 
 Spain, yet you would write. But in truth you oidy 
 replied to my letter', as regarded the forum, and 
 the senate. But my house is, you say, the 
 forum". What is my house itself to me with- 
 out the forum ? All is over, all is over, Atticus ; I 
 have long seen it, but now 1 acknowledge it, since I 
 have lost the only tie '' by which I was held. 
 Therefore I seek retirement. And yet if anything 
 should bring me thither, I will endeavour if pos- 
 sible (and it will be possible) to let nobody besides 
 myself be sensible of my affliction ; not even you, if 
 by any means this be practicable. And in truth 
 this is the reason of my not going up. You 
 remember what Aledius™ asked of you. Even 
 now they ^ tease me : what would be the case if I 
 should go thither ? Attend to the affair of Terentia 
 as you mention, and save me from this great addi- 
 tion to my great calamities. That you may know 
 I am not so overwhelmed with grief, as to be quite 
 sunk, your annals mention the year in which Car- 
 neades with the other deputies arrived in Rome ; 
 now I want to know, what was the occasion of it ; 
 I imagine it was on the business of Oropus^, but am 
 not certain; and if it is so, what debates were held 
 about it; besides, what distinguished Epicurean there 
 was at that time, who presided in thegardens^ ; and 
 what illustrious statesmen were then at Athens * ; 
 which I apprehend you can find out from ApoUo- 
 dorus's book. I am sorry about Attica; yet as her 
 illness is slight, I trust that all is going well. I had 
 no doubt about Gamala '' ; for whence should his 
 father Ligus be so fortunate ? Not to speak of my- 
 self, who am incapable of relief, though every- 
 thing should happen as I wish. I heard the same 
 valuation of Drusus's gardens which you mention, 
 and I believe I stated it in my letter to you 
 yesterday. But whatever be the price, that is well 
 bought which must needs be had. To me, what- 
 ever you may think (for I know what I think myself), 
 it is some discharge, if not of my grief, at least of 
 my bounden ■= duty. I have written to Sica in con- 
 sequence of his acquaintance with L. Cotta. If 
 nothing should be settled about these gardens across 
 the Tiber, Cotta has some property near Ostiaina 
 
 « See letter 21 of tliis book. 
 
 " It is probable that Caesar wished, through his friends, 
 to bring back Cicero to Rome, in order by his presence to 
 give authority to Cesar's acts. 
 
 T TuUia. w See letter 4 of this book, note 7. 
 
 ^ Caesar's friends. 
 
 y The Athenians had been accused to the senate of plun- 
 dering Oropus, and had been condemned in a heavy fine ; 
 in mitigation of which tlicy deputed Cameades, Diogenes, 
 and Critolaus, three pliilosopliers of different schools, to 
 plead their cause. — Aul. Gell. vii. 14. 
 
 » The schools of Epicurus at Athens were held in 
 gardens. 
 
 " All these inquiries show that Cicero was at this time 
 not so overwhelmed with grief, but that he could apply 
 himself to the composition of some philosophical treatise, 
 to wlikh they relate. 
 
 l" I'erhaps Gamala, son to Lisrus, liad lately died ; and 
 hia own affliction taught him to expect that Ligus would 
 suflFer the common calamities of humanity, and by sucli 
 a loss would be imable to enjoy his otherwise happy cir- 
 cumstances. 
 ♦ See letter 18 of this book. 
 
 very public part, though it is but a little place. 
 For this purpose, however, it is abundantly 
 sufficient. I wish you would think of this ; but do 
 not be alarmed at the price of the gardens. I have 
 now no want of plate or of clothes'', or of any places 
 of pleasure : this is what I want. I see too from 
 whom <•• I can get assistance. But speak with Siiius; 
 for there is nothing better. I have also given in- 
 structions to Sica, who sends me word that he has 
 made some appointment with him. Let him there- 
 fore write to inform me what he has done; and let 
 it be ' as you shall think proper. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 I AM glad that A. Siiius has settled his business; 
 for I did not care to refuse him, yet doubted how 
 far it was in my power to serve him. Make an 
 end of Ovia's affair, as you propose. It seems 
 now to be time to make some arrangement about 
 Cicero ff. But I wish to know whether the money 
 that he will want at Athens, can be obtained by 
 letters of exchange, or must be carried with him ; 
 and should be glad if you would take the whole 
 affair into consideration, respecting both the man- 
 ner and time. You will be able to learn from 
 Aledius whether Publius is going into Africa, and 
 when. I wish you would inquire, and let me know. 
 And, to return to my own trifles, I want you to 
 inform me whether P. Crassus, the son of Venuleia, 
 died in the lifetime of his father the consular, P. 
 Crassus, as I think he did, or afterwards. Like- 
 wise, if my memory is correct about Regillus, the 
 son of Lepidus, that he died before his lather. 
 You will despatch these affairs of Cispius, and of 
 Prfficius. All seems to go on most favourably 
 with Attica. Make my compliments to her andtO' 
 Pilia. 
 
 LETTER XXV, 
 
 Sica has written to me all the particulars about 
 Siiius, and mentioned his having laid the circum- 
 stances before you, as you also acknowledge. I am 
 pleased with the thing itself, and with the terms j 
 but should prefer paying in money, rather than by 
 a valuation ^ ; for Siiius will not want an estate for 
 pleasure. But though I can be content with my 
 present income, I can scarcely do with less. Whence 
 then am I to find the money ? You will get six 
 hundred sestertia (4800/.) from Hermogenes, 
 especially as it is a case of necessity : and I find 
 that I have as much in the house. For the rest I 
 can pay interest to Siiius, till I discharge it by 
 means of Faberius, or somebody who is indebted to 
 him. There will be something also from other 
 quarters. But you will manage the whole business 
 for me. In truth I greatly prefer these gardens to 
 those of Drusus ; nor are they to be compared 
 
 d Clothes made a considerable part of the wealth of 
 great families. They were used not only for their nume- 
 rous slaves, but as coverings for their couches. 
 
 e It is most probable that Atticus might have offered to 
 assist Iiim. 
 
 ' So I understand this imperfect sentence. 
 
 g About sending the young Cicero to complete his studies 
 at Athens Sec letter 8 of thisbook, note ^. 
 
 ^ See letter 21 of this book, note °.
 
 76B 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 together. Believe me, I am influenced but by one 
 motive, upon which I know tliat 1 am wild. Yet 
 humour this my folly, as you do. For as to what 
 you say of the " repose of old age ';" that consider- 
 ation is at an end ; I am in pursuit of other 
 things. 
 
 LETTER XXVL 
 
 SicA writes me word, that even if he should not 
 come to any agreement with A. Silius, yet he will 
 come here on the 2M. I readily forgive your occu^ 
 jiutions, with which I am well acquainted ; and 
 doubt not of your disposition, or rather your wish 
 and earnest desire, that we may be together. With 
 resjiect to Nicias, if I were in a state to enjoy his 
 kindness, I should be particularly glad to have him 
 with me ; but to me solitude and retirement is a 
 province J. Because Sica was contented to bear 
 this, I am the more desirous of seeing him. 
 Besides, you know the weakness and delicacy of 
 our friend Nicias, and his habits in regard to food. 
 Why then should I be a trouble to him, while he 
 can be no pleasure to me ? Nevertheless, his good- 
 will is gratifying to me. One subject " you mention 
 to me, upon which I am resolved to say nothing in 
 return ; for I hope I have prevailed with you to 
 save me from that trouble. My compliments to 
 Filia and to Attica. 
 
 LETTER XXVIL 
 Respecting the Silian affair, though the con- 
 ditions are not unknown to me, yet I expect to hear 
 all about it to-day from Sica. Cotta's villa, wliich 
 you say you do not know, is beyond Silius's, with 
 which 1 think you are acquainted ; it is a poor 
 place, and very small. It has no land about it ; no 
 space for any other purpose, thougix enough for 
 what I want. I look for notoriety. But if we 
 come to an Eigreement about Silius's gardens, that 
 is, if you agree (for it rests entirely with you) we 
 need think no more about Cotta. With regard to 
 Cicero, 1 will do as you mention, and shall leave it 
 to him to fix the time. You. will get exchanged what 
 money is necessary. If you find out anything from 
 Aledius you will, as you mention, write me word. 
 I perceive from your letters, as you must also from 
 mine, that we have nothing new to say. The same 
 subjects recur every day, and are long since worn 
 out : yet can I not refrain from writing daily, that 
 I may hear from you in return. Upon the subject 
 of Brutus, however, you may have some intelli- 
 gence ; for I imagine you know by this time where 
 iie means to wait for Pansa. If, as is usual, in 
 the nearest part of the province, he will be likely 
 to arrive about the beginning of next month. I 
 should be glad if it were later ; as I have many 
 reasons for avoiding Rome ; so that I even doubt 
 if 1 should not ofter him some excuse, which I see 
 would be very easy. But there is time enough to 
 think of it. My compliments to Pilia and Attica. 
 
 • In the original is a Greek word signifying the "con- 
 summation, repose, or proper occupation of old age." 
 The same expression is repeated in letters 29 and 44 of tliis 
 book. 
 
 ' To which I go with as much delight, as another man 
 takes possession of a govemmont. 
 
 i" The subject of Terentia. See letters IB and 23 of this 
 took. 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 I HAVE learned no more about Silius from my own 
 conversation with Sica, than from his letter ; for he 
 wrote very accurately. If therefore anything occurs 
 to you in the communication you may have with 
 him, you will let me know it. Upon the subject', 
 about which you suppose some notice has been 
 sent to me, whether it has been sent or not, I 
 cannot tell ; certainly nothing has reached me. 
 Do you therefore proceed as you have begun; 
 and if you can so settle it (which, to say the 
 truth I do not expect) as to get her"" approba- 
 tion, you may if you please make use of Cicero. 
 It may be of some consequence to him", that he 
 should appear to have wished it for her sake : to 
 me it signifies nothing, excepting so far as you 
 know", which I greatly regard. When you recall 
 me to my usual habits, I must say that I have long 
 since mourned for the republic, though I did it 
 more gently ; for I had something on which my 
 mind could repose. Now I am quite incapable ot 
 maintaining the same intercourse and way of life. 
 Nor in this do I think that I need trouble myself 
 with the opinions of other people : my own inward 
 sense is of more weight with me than the talk of 
 the world. While I have been consoling myself in 
 study, I have no reason to be dissatisfied with the 
 advantage I have gained. I have lessened my 
 repining ; my sorrow I neither could, nor, if I 
 could, sliould I wish it. You rightly interpret my 
 wishes respecting Triarius. But do nothing with- 
 out their approbation. I love him even in his 
 death ; I am the guardian of his children, and bear 
 affection towards the whole family. With regard 
 to the Castrician business, if Castricius wishes to 
 receive a price for his slaves, and will consent to its 
 being paid in the manner that payments are now 
 made p, certainly nothing is more convenient. But 
 if he is determined to take away the slaves them- 
 selves, it does not appear to me to be equitable ; 
 since you desire me to tell you what I think. 1 
 should be sorry that my brother Quintus should 
 have any trouble about it. And I think I under- 
 stand that you are of the same opinion i. If Publius 
 waits for the equinox, as you say Aledius told you, 
 I suppose he will soon sail"'. He told me he 
 should go by way of Sicily. Whether he does go, 
 and when, I should like to know. And I wish, at 
 some time when it is convenient to you, that you 
 would visit the little Lentulus". and send him such 
 of my slaves as you think proper. Compliments 
 to Pilia and Attica. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 SiLTtJS, you say, is to be with you to-day. To- 
 morrow therefore, or rather when you can, you 
 
 1 Cicero's will. See letter 18 of this book. '" Terentia's. 
 
 f' Tliat so Terentia might consider him in her will. See 
 letter 19 of this bonk. 
 
 ° So far as his duty is concerned. See letter 19 of this 
 book. 
 
 p By the appraisement of property. See letter 21 of this 
 book, note <>. 
 
 1 Namely, that it is not equitable to take away the slaves 
 from Quintus, who seems to have agreed with Castricius 
 about a price for them, but could not immediately procure 
 the money. 
 
 "■ To Africa. See letter 24 of this book. 
 
 s The son uf Tullia and of Cornelius LentulusDolabclla.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 rc<j 
 
 •will let me know if you have anything to tell me 
 alter liaving seen him. I do not wish to avoid 
 Brutus, yet I do not expect to derive from him any 
 consolation. J5ut there are reasons why I should 
 not like to be at Rome at this time ; if these eon- 
 tinue, I must devise some excuse to Brutus ; and, 
 as things now are, they seem likely to continue. 
 Pray bring this business of the gardens to some 
 conclusion. The chief object is what you know. 
 Another consideration is, that I want something 
 for myself. For I can neither bear to live in the 
 world nor to be at a distance from you. For this my 
 •design 1 rtnd notiiiug more suitable than that place. 
 Upon this subject I am persuaded of your concur- 
 rence ; and the more so because I think (and I 
 understand you are of the same opinion) that I am 
 regarded with great affection by Oppius and Balbus. 
 I would have you communicate to them how 
 earnestly, and why, I wish for these gardens; but 
 that it can only be done when that Faberian business 
 is settled Find out therefore whether they will 
 sanction it ' ; or how far they can be induced, if I 
 forego part of my claim upon early payment ; for 
 i despair of getting the whole. In short you will 
 discover if they are disposed to give me any assist- 
 ance towards this design. If they will, it is a 
 great point gained ; if not, let us strive by any 
 means to accomplish it. Consider it as that ancient 
 " repose of old age," as you expressed it, or as my 
 tomb. Nothing more is to be thought of that jilace 
 at Ostia. If I cannot get this, I must try about 
 Damasippus's. Lamia's I conceive to be unattain- 
 able. 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 I THINK what I shall say to you ; but there is 
 really nothing. The same day atter day. 1 am 
 much obliged lo you for going to see Lentuhis. Let 
 him have what servants, and what number you think 
 right. Respecting Silius's inclination to sell, and 
 respecting the (jrice, you seem to apprehend, in 
 the first place, that he may not choose it ; and, in 
 'ihe next place, that he may not accede to the terms, 
 iiica is of a different opinion ; but I agree with you. 
 However, 1 have written to Egnatius, as he wished. 
 ■I have no objection to your speaking with Clodius 
 -according to Silius's desire ; and this is better than 
 .that I should write to Clodius, as he asked me to 
 •'Jo. With regard to Castricius's slaves", I think 
 it best that Egnatius ^ should manage it ; as you 
 mention tiiat you suppose will be done. Pray see 
 that the account is settled with Ovia ^^. Since you 
 say that it was night * when you wrote, I shall 
 «xpect something more in to-day's letter. 
 
 ' 'Whether Oppius and Balbus, who wore concerned 
 jointly with Faberius in conducting Caesar's affaira. would 
 undertake to promote the payment to Cicero, especially if 
 he consented to relinquish part of his claim or, prompt 
 payment of the remainder. See letter 47 of this book. 
 
 n See letter i;8 of this book. 
 
 » Egnatius was a banker employed by both Marcus and 
 ■Quintus Cicero. In this transaction the latter was con- 
 
 w See lett-r 21 of this book. 
 
 * It is to b" supposed that.Atticus had alleged this afi a 
 reason for abruptly concluding bis letter 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 SiCA will be surprised at Silius's having changed 
 his mindJ". For my part, I am more surprised at 
 your saying, that if I should suggest a different 
 purchase, (which he will not hear of, having des- 
 tined it to some other purpose,) you think he may 
 be induced to sell. For he imputes to his son the 
 cause of his refusal ; which seems to me not 
 unreasonable, considering that his son is everything 
 he could wish. You ask me what is the highest 
 price I would give ; and how much I prefer these 
 gardens to those of Drusus. I have never been 
 there. The Coponian villa' I know to be old, and 
 not large, and that it has a noble wood. But I 
 know the produce of neither ; which however I 
 think it would be prudent to ascertain : though 
 either of them are valuable to me from my parti- 
 cular circumstances, not from the computation of 
 their real worth. But I would have you consider 
 whether it is in my power to purchase them. If I 
 could sell the Faberian property, I should not 
 hesitate to conclude even on prompt payment for 
 Silius's, if only he can be induced to sell. If he 
 refuses to sell, I would apply to Drusus on the 
 terms which Egnatius told you he demanded. 
 Hermngenes" may also be a great assistance to me 
 in making a prompt payment. Do you only 
 admit of my being in the disposition of one who is 
 desirous of purchasing : yet while I am a slave to 
 my wishes and my grief, I am willing to be directed 
 by you. I have received a letter from Egnatius'*, 
 should he have any conversation with you, you 
 will let me know ; for it will be most convenient to 
 negotiate thro\igh him ; and this I think should be 
 done, for I do not see how it is possible to come to 
 any conclusion with Silius. Compliments to Pilia 
 and Attica. I have written this with my own 
 hand. Pray think what is to be done. 
 
 LETTER XXXn. 
 
 PuBLiLiA"^ has written to me to say that her 
 mother, in a conversation with Publilius "*, agreed 
 to come with him to visit me ; and she adds, that 
 if I would permit her, she would come at the same 
 time. She uses many entreaties for this purpose, 
 and begs me to write in answer. You see how 
 embarrassing this is. I replied that I was even 
 more afflicted, than when I had told her I wished to 
 be alone ; and therefore was not disposed to let her 
 come to me at this time. I thought, if I made no 
 reply, that she would come with her mother. Now 
 I do not think she will : for it was evident that the 
 letter was not her own. But I wish to avoid 
 altogether, what I see will happen, that they should 
 come to me. There is only one way of avoiding 
 
 y See letter 25 of this hook. 
 
 » Supposed to be the same as Drusus's. 
 
 a A debtor of Cicero's. See letter 25 of this book. 
 
 l* This letter probably respected the sale of Drusus's place. 
 Hut it may be observed that Egnatius, as Cicero's agent, had 
 some concern with Silius likewise, and with Castricius, as 
 appears by the preceding letters; though the latter was on 
 Quintus's account. 
 
 c Cicero, after being divorced from Terentia, had mar- 
 ried Publilia. 
 
 <i Brother to Publilia. 
 
 3 D
 
 770 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 if ; wliicli I do not like; but it is necessary. I 
 now tliercfore beg you to find out how long I may 
 remain here, without being molested. You will 
 manage tliis, as you mention, with prudence. I 
 wish you would propose to Cicero, provided it 
 appears to you reasonable, that he should accom- 
 modate the expenses of this foreign resitlence to 
 the rents arising from Argiletus and Aventinus ', 
 which would easily have satisfied him, if he had 
 been at Rome, and hired a house, as he thought of 
 doing. And when you have made this proposal to 
 him, I should be glad if you would arrange the 
 rest in such a manner, that I may out of those 
 rents supply liim with what is necessary. I will 
 engage that the expenses of neither Hibulus, nor 
 Acidinus, nor Messala, who I hear are to be at 
 Athens, will exceed the receipts from those rents. 
 1 wish you therefore first to see who are the people 
 to hire them, and at what rate ; then, that there 
 may be somebody b who will pay to the day ; like- 
 wise what provision and equipage is wanted by the 
 way. At Athens there can certainly be no occasion 
 for horses ; and I have at home more than can be 
 wanted for his use on the road ; as you also 
 observe. 
 
 LETTER XXXm. 
 I SHOULD like, as I told you in my letter yester- 
 day, if Silius prove such as you suppose, and 
 Drusus be unaccommodating, that you should 
 make overtures to Damasippus. He has, I think, 
 allotted portions on the shore, of I know not how 
 many acres, at a fixed price, with which I am not 
 acquainted. Whatever arrangements you make, 
 you will let me know. I am very anxious about 
 my little Attica's health ; and should even fear 
 there was some mismanagement ; but that the 
 integrity of the tutor, and attention of the physician, 
 and the regularity of the whole family in every 
 way, forbid me to entertain such a suspicion. 
 Take care then. I can say no more. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 Here I could remain contentedly for one in 
 trouble, even without Sica ; for Tiro is better. But 
 since you say that I must take care I am not 
 molested (by which I understand that you are 
 unacquainted with the certain day of their journey '') 
 I have thought it more convenient for me to go 
 thither '. And 1 perceive that you are of the same 
 opinion. To-morrow therefore to Sica's villa near 
 Rome ; thence, as you advise, I think of going 
 into the neighbourhood of Ficulea. Respecting 
 what you wrote to me, as I am coming up myself, 
 we will see about it together. I am most sensible 
 of your kindness, diligence and prudence, both in 
 the management of my affairs, and in consulting 
 and advising me in the letters you send. 
 
 « By going himself to see them. See letter 34 of this 
 iMok. 
 ' Argiletus and Aventinus were districts of Rome. 
 K Somebody to collect the rents, and pay them regularly. 
 >> See letter 32 of thia book. > To Bomc. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 Should you have come to any understanding 
 with Silius, I shall be glad to be informed of it 
 the very day that I arrive at Sica's house ; and 
 especially what part he wishes to have excepted. 
 For when you mention the boundary, we must 
 take care that it be not the very place, for the sake 
 of which, as you know, I have been led to think of 
 the whole business. I send you a letter from 
 Hirtius, which is both recent and kindly written. 
 Before I last parted from you, it never entered into 
 my mind that a sum was to be distributed to the 
 people, equal to the excess above a certain expense 
 allowed by law to be laid out on a monument. 
 This would not much affect me, but that somehow 
 (perhaps foolishly) I should not like it to be called 
 by any other name, than that of a temple. But 
 however I may wish this, I doubt if I .shall be able 
 to attain it without altering the situation J. Pray 
 consider how this is. For though I am les» 
 impatient, and have nearly collected myself; yet I 
 stand in need of your counsel. Therefore I entreat 
 you again and again more earnestly, than you like, 
 or bear to be entreated by me, to embrace this- 
 subject with your whole heart. 
 
 LETTER XXXVL 
 
 I WISH to have a temple : from this I am not 
 to be diverted. I am anxious to avoid the appear- 
 ance of a monument ; not so much on account of 
 the legal penalty, as that I may accomplish the 
 deification. This I might do by erecting it near 
 the house; but, as I have often said, I am afraid 
 of a change of possessors. In an open field, 
 wherever I should erect it, it seems probable that/ 
 it may retain the respect of posterity. You must 
 bear with this weakness of mine ; for such I ac- 
 knowledge it to be. I cannot communicate, not 
 even with myself, so freely as with you. If the 
 thing, the place, the design, meets your approba- 
 tion, I beg you to read over the law and send it to 
 me. If any method of avoiding it should occur, I 
 shall avail myself of it. If you write to Brutus, 
 unless you think it improper, scold him for object^ 
 ing to be in Cumanum on account of the reason 
 which he mentioned to you : for, to my apprehension, 
 he could do nothing more uncivil. If you think it 
 right to proceed in the affair of the temple, as I 
 have begun, I should be glad if you would exhort 
 and quicken Cluatius''. For, even if another situ- 
 ation appear preferable, I imagine I shall still want 
 his advice and assistance. To-morrow you will- 
 perhaps be at your viUa'. 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 Yesterday I received two letters from you; 
 one by Hilarius, dated the day before, — the other 
 by the messenger on the same day. The same day 
 also I received one from ^gypta the freed-man, 
 
 J There were already many monuments erected in these 
 gardens on the other side of the Tiber, amongst which it 
 would be difBcult to distinguish the temple he proposed. 
 to consecrate to his daughter. 
 
 k See letter 18 of this boola . ' Near Rome.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 771 
 
 saying that Pilia and Attica were quite well. This 
 last was delivered to me the thirteenth day. I 
 thank you for sending me Urutus's letter. He 
 wrote also to me. This letter I send you, and 
 likewise a copy of my answer to it. Respecting 
 the temple, if you find nothing for me in the gar 
 dens (wiiich you may surely find, if you have that 
 regard for me which you certainly have), I highly 
 apj)rove your proposal about Tusculanum. How- 
 ever judicious you may be in your plans, as indeed 
 you are, yet, unless you took a real interest in my 
 obtaining what I so ardently wish, that idea could 
 never have come so appositely into your mind. But 
 somehow I require notoriety. Therefore you must 
 accomplish for me the possession of these gardens. 
 The most frequented are Scapula's ; besides, there 
 is the vicinity to where you are, that it may not 
 occupy the whole day to go thither. For this 
 reason I should exceedingly wisli you to confer 
 with Otho", if he is in Rome, before your de- 
 parture. If there is nothing to be had, though 
 you are used to bear with my folly, yet I shall go 
 on till I make you quite angry ; for Drusus at least 
 is disposed to sell. If then tliere is anything else, 
 it will not be my fault if I do not buy it ; but in 
 this I beg you to take care that I commit no error. 
 The surest way of taking care is, if I can accom- 
 plish anything about Scapula's gardens". I wish 
 you likewise to inform me how long you will stay 
 in your villa near Rome. I have need of your 
 favour and your influence with Terentia ; but you 
 will do as you think right : for I know that where 
 anything concerns me you take more interest in it 
 than I do myself. Hirtius has written to me that 
 Sex, Pompeius" has left Corduba and fled into the 
 more northern provinces of Spain, and that Cnseus 
 has fled I know not whither, for it is of little con- 
 sequence. I know nothing more. He dates his 
 letter from Narbonne, the 18th of April. You 
 wrote to me doubtfully about the shipwreck of 
 Caninius ; let me know therefore if any certain 
 intelligence has arrived. With respect to your 
 calling me from my sadness, you will greatly relieve 
 me if you can find a place for the temple. Many 
 things occur to my mind in favour of the deifica- 
 tion ; but I am greatly in want of a situation. 
 Again, therefore, see Otho about it. 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 I HAVE DO doubt you were very busy, which was 
 the reason of your not sending me any letter : but 
 he was an idle fellow not to attend your convenience 
 ■when he was sent for that very purpose. At this 
 time, unless anything has detained you, I imagine 
 you are in your villa. I continue writing here all 
 day without any relief, but yet with some distraction 
 of attention. Asinius Pollio has written to me on 
 the subject of our unnatural relation p. What the 
 younger Balbus lately intimated pretty plainly, and 
 Dolabella more reservedly, he has openly declared. 
 I should be deeply concerned if there were any 
 
 "> Otho might probably be one of Scapula's heirs. 
 
 "It was to be expected that Scapula, being lately dead, 
 his heirs would be obliged to sell these gardens in order to 
 divide the prnperty. 
 
 o Sextus and Cuseus Pompeius were the sons of Cnsus 
 Pompeiiis Magnus. 
 
 f" ■^Oiiiig Q. Cicero. 
 
 room for new sources of grief. But can anything 
 be more abominable .' What a dangerous man ! 
 Though for my part — but I will restrain my feel- 
 ing. Let me hear from you, as you may be at 
 leisure ; for there is nothing that presses. As to 
 what you say, that I ought now to show the firm- 
 ness of my mind, — and that some speak of me 
 more severely than either you or Hrutus write : if 
 any persons suppose that my mind is broken and 
 has lost its energy, let them know the extent and 
 kind of studies in which I am engaged, — and I 
 conceive, if they are men, they will think either 
 that I do not deserve reproof, having so far roused 
 myself as to bring my mind disengaged to the dis- 
 cussion of difficult questions ; or if 1 have chosea 
 this method of diverting my grief, which is at once 
 the most liberal and the most worthy of a man of 
 learning, that I ought rather to be commended. 
 But while I do everything that I can for my relief, 
 do you effect thafi, for which I perceive you are 
 not less earnest than 1 am. I seem to owe this to 
 myself, and to be incapable of ease till I have dis- 
 charged it, or seen a prospect of discharging it, — 
 that is, till I have a place such as I want. If 
 Scapula's heirs, as you say that Otho told you, 
 mean to have the gardens divided into four parts 
 and valued, there is indeed no room for a purchaser. 
 But if they are to be publicly sold, we will see what 
 can be done. That Publician place, belonging to 
 Trebonius and Cusinius, was offered me : but you 
 know it is a mere barn ; and I do not approve of 
 it at all. Clodia's I like ; but apprehend it is not to 
 be sold. Though you say you quite revolt from 
 Drusus's gardens, yet 1 must be content with 
 those, unless you can find something else. The 
 building I do not regard ; for I shall build nothing 
 more than I should do otherwise. The 4th and 
 5th books of Antisthenes's Cyrus please me like 
 the other works of the same author, who is more 
 ingenious than learned. 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 When the messenger arrived without a letter 
 from you, I supposed the reason of your not 
 writing to be that you had written the day before 
 what I answered in that letter. Yet I had expected 
 to hear something relating to the letter of Asiniaa 
 Pollio. But I measure your leisure too much by 
 my own. However, unless there should be some- 
 thing of importance, I would not nave you think 
 it necessary to write till you are quite at liberty. 
 I would do as you advise about the messengers, if 
 there were any letters of consequence, as there 
 were formerly ; when, during the shorter days, yet 
 the messengers constantly returned to their time. 
 And there was something, as Silius, Drusus, and 
 some other matters. Now, if it were not for Otho, 
 there would be nothing to write about : even that 
 is deferred. Yet I find relief when I talk with you 
 in my absence ; and still more when I read your 
 letters. But since you are out of town (for so I 
 suppose), and there is no particular occasion for 
 writing, our correspondence may rest till something 
 new occurs. 
 
 q The procuring a proper situation for a temple to bo 
 consecrated to bis daughter.
 
 772 
 
 rilK LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XL. 
 
 What will be the naturt- of Caesar's censure' in 
 Oiipositioii to my commeiulation, I see from tlie 
 book wliicli Ilirtius has sent me, in which he col- 
 lects tiigethcr the faults of Cato, while he speaks 
 verv higiily of me. 1 have, therefore, sent the 
 book to Musca, that he might give it to your 
 
 librarians, for I wish to have it made public ; and 
 
 that this may be the sooner done, I should be glad 
 if you would give directions to your ]ieople. I 
 often attempt to compose something in the way of 
 advice", but I cannot please myself. In this I am 
 countenanced by the address of Aristotle and of 
 Theopompus to Alexander. But what resem- 
 blance is there between the two cases ? They 
 wrote what was at once honourable to themselves 
 and agreeable to Alexander- Can you devise any- 
 thing of such a kind ? As for me, I can suggest 
 nothing. When you say that you fear my influence 
 and authority may be lessened by this my grief, I 
 know not what jieople should either blame or re- 
 quire. Is it that I should not grieve .' IIow is 
 that possible ? That I should not sink under it ? 
 Who ever did so less ? While I remained at your 
 liouse, whom did I exclude.' Who, that came, 
 could be offended with me .■' From you I went to 
 Astura. Those lively spirits who find fault with 
 me cannot read so much as I wrote. How well, is 
 nothing to the purpose : but the kind of writing 
 was such as nobody with a broken spirit couhl 
 execute. I have been thirty days in my gardens'. 
 Who ever found a want of access to me, or of free 
 conversation ? And now I am so engaged in read- 
 ing and in writing, that my attendants find it more 
 difficult to bear their leisure than I to bear my 
 labour. If anybody asks why I am not at Rome ? 
 Because it is the recess. Why I am not in any of 
 my farms, wliich are suitable to such a time .' 
 Because I could not easily bear so much company. 
 Therefore I remain, where he" who possessed that 
 excellent place at Baiae used every year to spend 
 this season. When I come to Rome, neither my 
 looks nor conversation will subject me to reproof. 
 1 have lost for ever that gaiety with which 1 used 
 to season the sadness of these times ; but there will 
 be found no want of constancy and firmness either 
 in my mind or speech. Respecting Scapula's 
 gardens, it seems possible, j)artly by your influence 
 partly by mine, to get them submitted to public 
 auction. Unless t'nis is done I shall be excluded. 
 But if we come to an open sale, my desire of pos- 
 session will outweigh Otho's wealth : for as to 
 ■what you mention about Lentulus, it does not rest 
 upon that. Let but the Faberian business^ be 
 settled, and continue to exert yourself as you do, 
 and I shall get what I want. In answer to your 
 inquiry how long I shall remain here, — it will be a 
 few days ; but 1 am not certain : as soon as I have 
 determined, I will write to you. Do you likewise 
 let me know how long you mean to stay in your 
 ■villa. The very day on which I send this I have also 
 received, both by letter and by word of mouth, the 
 same account you mention of Pilia and of Attica. 
 
 "■ Caesar wrote a piece called " Antl-Cato," in answer to 
 Oicero's panegyric, called " Cato." 
 
 - To Caesar, and prcbably at Atticus" suggestion. See 
 letter 44 of this book. 
 
 ' At Astura. "It is imcertain of whom he speaks. 
 
 » See letter 29 of tliis book. 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 I HAVB nothing to say ; yet 1 wish to know 
 where you are, — and, if you are gone, or going, out 
 of town, when you mean to return. \ou will 
 therefore inform me. And respectin;^ my move- 
 ments, which you desire to know, I have de- 
 termined to be at Lanuvium on the 14th, and 
 from thence to go the day following either to Tus- 
 culanum or to Rome ; which I do, you shall know 
 the same day. You know bow querulous misfor- 
 tune is, — not indeed towards you ; bu*; yet I am 
 grown very impatient about the temple : and unless 
 this is, I do not say completed, but unless I see it 
 in progress, I will venture to say (and you will 
 receive it as you are accustomed), my vexation will 
 vent itself upon you, however undeservedly. But 
 you will bear with me in writing this, as you do, 
 and have borne with all my weaknesses. I should 
 be glad to have you collect all your consolations in 
 this one objec't. If you ask, what it is I wish for? 
 First Scapula's gardens, then Clodia's; afterwards, 
 if Silius refuses and Drusas is unreasonable, those 
 of Cusinius and Trebonius ; I believe they belong 
 now to Terentius ; I know they did belong to 
 Rebilus. But if you prefer Tusculanura, as you have 
 signified in some of your letters, I shall not object 
 to it. This then is what you must accomplish, if 
 you wish me to be comforted ; whom you now 
 accuse more severely than is natural to you ; but 
 you do it from your great affection, and overcome 
 perhaps by my foolishness. Yet if you wish me to 
 be comforted this is the greatest comfort ; or, if 
 you would know the truth, the only one. If you 
 have read Hirtius's letter, — which I consider as a 
 specimen of the censure that Csesar has written 
 upon Cato, — I should like you to inform me, at 
 your convenience, what you think of it. To return 
 to the subject of the temple ; unless it is finished 
 this summer, which is yet all before us, I shall not 
 think myself free from guilt ^. 
 
 LETTER XLIL 
 {Grmv. xliii.) 
 1 HAVE determined to sleep at Lanuvium on the 
 14th, as I mentioned to you before ; from thence I 
 shall go either to Rome or to Tusculanum. You 
 shall know both beforehand. You do rightly in 
 taking no notice of the relief which this business 
 may justly afford me ; it being such, believe me, 
 as you could not suppose. The thing itself shows 
 how earnestly I desire it, when I venture to confess 
 it to you, wlio, I suspect, do not very much approve 
 of it : but in this you must bear with my weakness. 
 Bear with it ? Nay, you must even forward it. 
 About Otho 1 dare not hope ; perhaps because I 
 wish it. Besides, the purchase exceeds my ability, 
 especially in opposition to one who is both desirous 
 of having it, and rich, and one of the heirs. Next 
 to this I should like Clodia's. But if these cannot 
 be had, conclude what you will. I consider myself 
 hound by a stricter obligation than anybody ever 
 Vkas by that of a vow. You will see, likewise, the 
 "^-ebonian gardens, notwithstanding the owners are 
 
 «' In letter 18 of this book he had said that he considered 
 himself as bound by a vow. He alludes to the same thing: 
 '.ikcwise in letter 42 of this book.
 
 TO TITUS POMrONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 773 
 
 absent ; and as I mentioned to you yesterday, you 
 will think also about Tusculanum. The summer 
 must certainly not be suftered to slip away without 
 doing something. 
 
 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 {GrcBV. Book xiii. Letter xxvi.) 
 I ENTiRKLY approvc of what you mention about 
 Virt'ilius's portion". You will therefore act ac- 
 cordingly. That is my first wish!' ; next to that, 
 Clodia"s ; and if I can get neither, I fear I may 
 become outrageous and rush upon Drusus. I 
 know no moderation in my desire of that object, 
 which you know. Therefore at intervals I incline 
 to Tusculanum. For anything is better than not 
 to have it finished this summer. In my present 
 state, I have no place where I can be more at my 
 ease than at Astura. But as those who are with 
 me hasten away (I suppose because they cannot 
 bear my sadness) ; though I should be very well 
 content to remain ; yet, as 1 mentioned to you, I 
 shall go from hence, that I may not appear de- 
 serted. But which way? To Lanuvium ? I try^ 
 to go to Tusculanum ; but will immediately let you 
 know. You will bring your writing" to an end. 
 For my own part, it is not to be believed how much 
 I write in the day ; and even in the night ; for I 
 get no sleep. Y'esterday also I accomplished a 
 letter to Ciesar, because you seemed to wish it. 
 And if you thought it expedient, there is no harm 
 in its being written. As things are at present, 
 there is no necessity for sending it ; but this shall 
 be as you please. I will however send you a copy 
 of it, perhaps fromLanuvium, unless it happens that 
 I go to Rome. But you shall know to-morrow. 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 I AM tery well pleased that Hirtius should have 
 written to you with sympathy about me, for be has 
 done it kindly ; and I am still better pleased that 
 you should not have sent me his letter, for you 
 have done it even more kindly. I wish the book, 
 which he sent me upon Cato, to be published by 
 your librarians for this reason, that his praise may 
 be exalted by the censure of that party. In acting 
 through ISIustella you have a person extremely 
 proper, and one who has been kindly disposed 
 towards me ever since the Pontian '' business. 
 Therefore get something done"^. What else, but to 
 secure access to a purchaser'' ? This may be done 
 through any of the heirs. And I apprehend Mus- 
 tella'= will do it, if you ask him. You will thus 
 
 » Virgilius was one of the heirs of Scapula, together with 
 Otho, Mustella, and Crispus. 
 
 y Scapula's gardens. 
 
 » His difficulty consisted in overcoming bis repugnance 
 to visit a place which sadly reminded him of his daughter. 
 
 * Atticus seems to have been engaged in settling his 
 accounts, with which these letters, Uteres, were probably 
 connected. Compare this with what he repeats in the 
 following letter, ted quceso confice, et te vacuum reilde 
 nobis. 
 
 •» Perliaps some person whom Cicero had defended, or 
 otherwise assisted. 
 <= In Catling a place to erect a temple to Tullia. 
 
 * To get Scapula's gardens exposed to public sale. 
 
 * Mustellu appears to have been one of Sci^tiula's ho r~i. 
 
 procure for me the place which I wish, for the 
 purpose which I have at heart ; and besides, " a 
 repose for my old age""." For those of Silius, 
 and of Drusus, do not appear to me sufificiently 
 respectable for a family residence. How would it 
 become one to remain for any length of time ia 
 such a villa as that .' I should therefore prefer, 
 first, Otho's ; and, next to that, Clodia's. If 
 nothing can be done, either some stratagem must be 
 practised upon Drusus^, or I must be content with. 
 Tusculanum. In shutting yourself up at home, 
 you have acted prudently. But pray use despatch, 
 and restore yourself to me free from care. I shall 
 go from hence, as I before-mentioned, to Lanu- 
 vium on the 14th, and the day following to Tus- 
 culanum. For I have subdued my mind'', and 
 jierhaps conquered it, if only I can persevere. 
 You shall know therefore, jjcrhaps to-morrow, at 
 all events the day after. But pray, how is this ? 
 Philotimus affirms that Pompeius is not shut up in 
 Carteia ; about which Oppius and Balbus sent me 
 the copy of a letter to Clodius Patavinus, declaritg 
 that they believed it to be true ; but that a great 
 war is still maintained'. He is in the habit of 
 being a complete FulviniasterJ ; but yet, if you 
 have any intelligence, let me know it. I want also 
 to know what is the truth respecting Caninius' 
 shipwreck''. 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 While I have been here ', I have completed 
 two long treatises : for I have no other means of 
 deviating, as it were, from the path of wretched- 
 ness. Even if you have nothing to say, which I 
 foresee will be the case, yet I wish you to tell me 
 that, if only it is not in these terms. The accounts 
 of Attica are excellent. I am concerned about 
 your languor"", notwithstanding you say it is 
 nothing. In Tusculanum I shall have the advan- 
 tage of more frequently hearing from you, and 
 sometimes seeing you. In other respects things 
 are more supportable at Astura ; nor are the 
 objects, which revive my grief, more distressing 
 here than everywhere else" ; though in truth, 
 wherever I am, they are with me. I wrote to you 
 about your neighbour" Csesar, because I had learned 
 
 f In the original is the same Greek word which was 
 explained in letter 25 of this book, note '. 
 
 K Some artifice to induce him to sell his gardens at a 
 reasonable price. See letter 41 of this book. 
 
 •" Forced himself to return to Tusculanum, which he 
 had hitherto avoided, as containing many objects calcu- 
 lated to renew his grief for Tullia. See letters 45 afld 46 
 of this book. 
 
 ' In Spain. 
 
 J A partial interpreter of events in favour of his own, 
 that is, of Pompeius's party. [See book x. letter 9.] Such 
 as had been notoriously some person of the name of Fu 
 vius or Fulvinius. 
 
 k See letter 37 of this book. 
 
 ' At Astura. 
 
 ra In the original is a Greek wora of doubtful significa- 
 tion, but probably meaning a languor which created an 
 indifi'erence towards everything. 
 
 " This I conceive to be the just meaning of the word 
 magis in this place. On the contrary, at Tuscnilanuni 
 there were many circumstances to remind him of his 
 j daughter. 
 
 " A statue had lately been erected to Cscsar in the tem- 
 ple of Quirinus, near Atticus's house, which was on tha 
 (-'.lirinal h>li.
 
 774 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 it from your letter. I would rather have him 
 comrade with Quirinus than with Public'' Safety. 
 Let Ilirtius he made pubiic'i ; for I was of the 
 same opinion, which you mention, tliat while our 
 friend's genius is apjjlauded, his attempt to censure 
 Cato would be derided. 
 
 LETTER XLVL 
 
 I HAVE never complained of your not writing ; 
 for I perceive what you mention "■. Besides I sus- 
 pect, or rather know, that you can have had nothing 
 to say. On the 8th I supposed you to be out of 
 town, and concluded that tJiere was nothing. I 
 shall nevertheless send to you almost every day ; 
 for I would rather send in vain than that you 
 should have nobody to take your letters, in case 
 there should be anything with which you think I 
 ought to be acquainted. On the 8th I received 
 your empty letter, as you call it ; for what had you 
 to write about ? Yet, such as it was, it was not 
 unpleasant to me to know-even this, that you had 
 no news. You mentioned, however, something 
 about Clodia. Where then is she ? or when will 
 she come ? That place pleases me so well, that, 
 next to Otho'sS I like nothing better. But I do 
 not suppose either that she will sell ; for she takes 
 pleasure in it, and is in no want of money : and as 
 for the other, you are aware of the difficulties. Yet 
 pray let us try, that we may devise some means of 
 gratifying my wishes. I think of leaving this 
 place to-morrow, and going either to Tusculanum 
 or home ', and afterwards perhaps to Arpinum. 
 When I know for certain, I will write to you. It 
 had occurred to me to remind you of doing the very 
 thing which you are doing ; for I thought you 
 could more conveniently transact the same business 
 at home, without suffering yourself to be inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 LETTER XLVII. 
 (GrcBV. xlvi.) 
 I HOPE to conquer my feelings, and to go from 
 Lanuvium to Tusculanum. For I must either 
 renounce for ever that estate (since the same 
 painful sensations will remain, only in a less de- 
 gree) or I know not what it signifies whether I go 
 there now, or ten years hence. Since the being 
 thus reminded, is nothing more than what con- 
 stantly wastes me day and night. What then, you 
 ■will say, do your studies afford no relief ? In this 
 respect I fear they may even do the contrary ; as I 
 might otherwise perhaps be more insensible. For 
 to a cultivated mind nothing is without feeling and 
 interest. 
 
 P Near to the temple of Qiiirinus was situated the temple 
 of Public Safety ; and Cicero means to say that he should 
 be sorry to have any tyrant in a place of safety. 
 
 q Hirtius's essay, mentioned in letter 40 of this book. 
 
 ^ Tiiat you are very busy. „_ 
 
 ' The same that is elsewhere called Scapula's, Otho being 
 one of the heirs. See letter 37 of this book. ,., , 
 
 t To his house at Rome. I have tliought it right to pro- 
 eerve the character of the original by a literal translatUuj.a 
 He uses the word in the same sense elsewhere! , 
 
 LETTER XLVIIL 
 
 (Grcsv. xlvii.) 
 Do then, as you mention, so that you put your- 
 self to no inconvenience. For two words will be 
 sufficient. Or I will go up, if it is necessary. 
 This therefore as you can. About Mustella do 
 as you propose ; though it is a great undertaking". 
 For this reason I more incline to Clodia. But ia 
 either case the Fabcrian account must be settled ; 
 about which there will be no harm in your having 
 some conversation with Balbus ; and indeed letting 
 him know, what is the truth, that I am desirous of 
 purchasing, and unable to do it without the dis- 
 charge of that debt, and do not dare to engage upon 
 an uncertainty. But since Clodia is to be at Rome, 
 and you consider it so desirable, I look wholly that 
 way ; not that I should not prefer the other ; but 
 it is a great concern, and an arduous contest with 
 one who is eager, who is rich, who is heir. Though 
 in point of eagerness I will yield to nobody : in 
 other respects 1 am inferior. But of this when we 
 meet. Make" public Ilirtius's book, as you do. 
 Respecting Philotimus'", I also thought the same. 
 I foresee that your house will become more valuable 
 from having Caesar for your neighbour''. I am 
 expecting the return of my messenger to-day. He 
 will bring me an account of Pilia and Attica. 
 
 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 (GrtBV. xlviii.) ^ 
 
 I CAN easily believe that you are glad to be at 
 home. But I should like to know how much 
 remains to be done ; or whether you have already 
 finished. I am expecting you in Tusculanum ; and 
 the rather, because you wrote word to Tiro, that 
 you were coming immediately, and added that you 
 thought it necessary. While you were here, I was 
 very sensible how much good you did me ; but I 
 am much more sensible of it since your departure. 
 Therefore, as I mentioned to you in a former 
 letter, I ■will either go wholly to you ; or you shall 
 come to me, so far as it will be consistent mth 
 your occupations. 
 
 LETTER L. 
 
 (GrcBV. xlix.) 
 
 Yesterday, not long after you left me f think, 
 some persons of smart appearance brought me 
 despatches, and a letter from " C. Marius, the son 
 of Caius, and grandson of Caius^," urging me at 
 great length, by the relationship between us, by 
 the poem which I had inscribed with the name of 
 Marius, by the eloquence of L. Crassus, his grand- 
 father, to undertake his defence ; and he sent me 
 a detail of his case. I wrote to him in return, 
 
 " Great from the price. 
 
 ' It must be remembered that, previous to the invention 
 of printing, it was a work of great labour to make copies of 
 a book for the use of the public. 
 
 w His intelligence about the war in Spain. See letter 
 44 of this book. 
 
 ^ See letter 45 of this book. This may be supposed to 
 be said jestingly. 
 
 y This I take to be a transcript of the title assumed by 
 this man, who was an impostor.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 776 
 
 that he had no need of a patron, since the whole 
 power was in his relation Csesar, who was an excel- 
 lent man, and exceedingly liberal ; but that never- 
 theless he should have my good wishes. What 
 times are these ! That it should ever happen that 
 Curtius^ should think of standing for the consul- 
 ship ! But enough of this. I am anxious about 
 Tiro. But I shall soon know how he does, for I 
 sent a person yesterday to see him ; to whom at 
 the same time I gave a letter for you. I send you 
 a copy of my letter to Caesar. I should be glad if 
 you would let me know on what day the gardens 
 are to be sold. 
 
 LETTER LI. 
 
 (Grcnv. 1.) 
 In proportion as your arrival cheered me, so 
 your departure afflicted me. Therefore when you 
 can, that is, when you have done with Sextus'" 
 sale, you will come to me again. A single day will 
 be valuable to me ; I need not say, agreeable. I 
 would myself go to Rome in order to be with you, 
 if I had sufficiently made up my mind on a certain 
 subject''. 
 
 LETTER LII. 
 
 {GrcBv. li.) 
 I HAVE got Tiro with me sooner than I had 
 apprehended. Nicias is also arrived ; and I heard 
 to-day that Valerius was coming. How many 
 soever they may be, I shall feel myself more 
 solitary than if you alone were here. But I hope to 
 see you after Peduceus's"^ business. You give some 
 intimation that it may even be sooner : but this as 
 you can. About Virgilius do as you mention''. 
 I want however to know when the sale takes place. 
 I see that you approve of my sending the letter to 
 Caesar. To say the truth, I quite agree in the 
 .propriety of doing so ; and the rather, because 
 there is nothing in it that is unbecoming a good 
 citizen ; good at least for the times, to which all 
 •writers on government direct us to submit. But 
 you know it was my desire that some of that party 
 should read it first ; which 1 wish you would take 
 care of; and not let it be sent, unless you understand 
 that they quite approve of it. You will easily find 
 out whether they really think so, or only feign. 
 Feigning would be to me a prohibition. But this 
 you will probe. Tiro has informed me of your 
 opinion about Cierellia ; that it is unbecoming my 
 dignity to remain in debt ; and that you think 
 I should give a note of hand — " This you fear ; of 
 
 * The same who is before mentioned. See book ix. 
 letter 6. 
 
 » Atticus, being a friend to Sextus Peduceus, wished to 
 attend the sale of some part of his property. 
 
 b From the obscure bint contained in this expression, 
 it is probable he might allude to his conduct in the senate 
 respecting Caesar's authority and administration. See let- 
 ters U and 29 of this book. 
 
 <= The same who in the preceding letter is called Sextus. 
 
 ^ Virgilius was one of the heirs of Scapula, [see letter 
 44 of this book] whose gardens Cicero wished to get. It 
 is to the sale of these gai-deus that he refers iu the subse- 
 •^uent sentence. 
 
 the other you entertain no fear''." But these, 
 and many other matters, when we meet. Witli 
 your leave, however, the payment of the debt to 
 Carellia must be suspended, till I know about Meto 
 and Faberius. 
 
 LETTER LIII. 
 
 {Grctv. lii.) 
 You know L. Tullius Montanus who went with 
 Cicero ^ I have received a letter from his sister's 
 husband, saying that Montanus owes Plancus 2.5 
 sestertia (200/.) as surety for Flaminius ; and that 
 something had been requested of you by Montanus 
 respecting tliis business. If you can assist him, 
 either by speaking to Plancus, or by any other 
 means, I should be truly glad that you would do 
 it : my obligation to him demands it. If, as it 
 may happen, you are better acquainted with the 
 business than I am, or if you think that Plancus 
 should be solicited, I wish you would write to me ; 
 that I may know what the case is, and what to ask 
 of him. 1 am expecting to hear what you have done 
 about the letter to Cuesar. I am not very anxious 
 about Siliusff. You must get me either Scapula's 
 gardens, or Clodia's. But you seem to be in some 
 doubt about Clodia, whether she will come, or 
 when, and whether the gardens will be to be sold. 
 What is it I hear of Spinther's being divorced ? 
 You are very confident, you will say, in the copious- 
 ness of the Latin language, to undertake such sub- 
 jects'": but they are mere transcripts, and done 
 with less labour than you may suppose. I have 
 only to find words, and in these I abound. 
 
 LETTER LIV. 
 
 {GrcBv. liii.) 
 Though I have nothing to say to you, yet I 
 write, because I seem then to talk with you. There 
 are with me here Kicias and Valerius. I expect 
 to-day a letter from you written in the morning. 
 There will perhaps be another in the afternoon, 
 unless your correspondence with Epirus prevents 
 you, which I would not interrupt. I send you 
 letters to Marcianus and to Montanus, which I 
 should be glad if you would inclose in your packet', 
 unless that is already gone. 
 
 <= The original is a verse, quoted also elsewhere from 
 some unknown author. Cicero's meaning seems to be, 
 that while Atticus was apprehensive of the debt being left 
 tmpaid, he did not advert to the embarrassment which it 
 might occasion to Cicero to pay it, before he was himself 
 sure of being paid by his o\vn creditors, Meto and Faberius. 
 
 f To Athens. See letters 8 and 24 of this book. 
 
 S Silius's gardens. See letter 44 of this book. 
 
 h Philosophical subjects, which, before Cicero, had not 
 been treated in the Latin language. He goes on to say, 
 that he drew his matter from the Greek writers, and had 
 little trouble except in finding Latin expressions. In the 
 conclusion of his treatise " De Finibus," we find it said in 
 the person of Atticus, — " Sed mehercule pergrata mihi 
 oratio tua : quae enim dici latine posse non arbitrabar, ea 
 dicta sunt a te, nee minus plane, quam dicuntur a Graecis." 
 
 '' Which Atticus was going to send to Buthrotum in 
 Epirus, from whence Cicero's letters would be forwarded 
 to Athens.
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 [TA« nrrangemrnt of the li-tler.t in this book appears to be. in several instances incorrect ; yet the inconvenience, not to- 
 tiieiilhin the lUfficiiUy, of altcriiKj it in a wiiy that could be satis/actory, made it to be thouyhl more tlesirable to 
 jjreseri'c llic order alreadij establithcil.] 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 NoHODY could have written more firmly or 
 more temjjerately than you have done to CiceroJ, 
 or more entirely as I could wish. Your letters to 
 the Tullii '^ are likew^ise extremely prudent. So 
 that either these must have an effect', or we must 
 think no more about it. I see that you are using, 
 or rather have already used, all diligence about the 
 money"'. If you suceeed in this, I shall owe the 
 gardens to you. There is no kind of possession 
 which I should like better, especially for that pur- 
 pose" in which I am engaged ; and aoout which 
 you prevent my impatience, by the assurance, or 
 rather promise, for the summer". Besides, for 
 the decline of my life^, and the relief of my sorrow, 
 nothing can be found more suitable. My wish for it 
 sometimes urges me to exhort you ; but I check my- 
 self; for I do not doubt but that in a matter, which 
 you think I have much at heart, your wishes even 
 exceed my own. Therefore understand this, as if 
 it were really so. I am anxious to know what 
 they'^ think of my letter to Caesar. Nicias is much 
 attached to you, as he ought to be, and is highly 
 gratified by your remembrance of him. On my 
 part I have a great affection for our friend Peduceus; 
 and transfer to him aU the regard I felt for his 
 father ; besides that I value him for his own sake, 
 as much as I valued the other ; and am much obliged 
 to you for wishing to produce this mutual attacli- 
 ment between us. When you have examined the 
 gardens, and have informed me about the letter', 
 I shall have some subject to write upon. But at 
 all events I shall write to you ; for there will always 
 be something to say. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 Your early information was more gratifying to 
 me, than the substance of your letter. For what 
 can be more shameful*? But I am now grown 
 callous to such things, and have put off all feeling. 
 I look for a letter from you to-day ; not that I 
 expect any news ; for how should there be any ? 
 
 i The son. 
 
 k TuUius Montanus and Tullius Marcianus. [See book 
 2ii. letters 53 and 54.] They were with the young Cicero at 
 Athens. 
 
 • His son appears to have been livin? extravagantly. 
 
 ™ Collecting the money due to Cicero, that he might 
 make his intended purchase of a site for a temple. 
 n The deification of his daughter. 
 
 That it should be done in the course of the summer. 
 See book xiL letters 41 and 43. 
 
 P See book xli. letter 45. 
 
 1 CSBsar's friends. See book xii. letter 52. 
 " The letter he had -Nvritten to Caesar. 
 
 • There is nothing to show certainly to what this al- 
 ludes: but on comparison with book xii. letter 38, it is 
 probable that Atticus might have written to Cicero on the 
 subject of young Quintus. 
 
 But yet — you will order the letters to be taken to 
 Oppius and Balbus ; at the same time if you can 
 meet with Piso, you will speak to him about the 
 gold'. If Faberius arrives, you will see that the 
 assignment is made (if indeed any is made) for as 
 mu('h as is due. You will receive the account 
 from Eros. Ariarathes, Ariobarzanes' son", is 
 come to Rome. I imagine he wants to purchase 
 some kingdom from Ccesar ; for at present he has 
 no place of his own to set his foot in. Our friend 
 Sestius has been beforehand with me as his public 
 attendant ; which I do not regret ; but as I have a 
 great friendship with his brothers, arising from the 
 important service I rendered them^, I have written 
 to invite him to my house. As I send Alexander 
 for this purpose, I shall deliver this letter to hiuj. 
 So to-morrow is Peduceus' sale : therefore as soon 
 as you are at liberty"'; though Faberius may per- 
 haps be an impediment ; but however when you 
 can. Our Dionysius makes heavy complaints, and 
 not without reason, that he is so long kept from 
 his scholars. He has written to me at great length, 
 and I suppose also to you. I apprehend he will 
 absent himself some time longer. I am sorry ; for 
 I want the man very much. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 I AM expecting a letter from you ; though not 
 just yet ; for I write this reply to your last early in 
 the morning. I am so well satisfied with tliese 
 assignments, as to entertain no other question about 
 them, except what arises from your hesitation. 
 For I do not quite take it in good part that you- 
 should refer to me, who, if I negotiated the busi- 
 ness for myself, should do nothing but by your 
 advice. But I understand you to do it rather from 
 the accuracy with which you always act, than be- 
 cause you have any real doubt about their respon- 
 sibility. For you do not approve of applying to 
 Cselius, and are against selling any more". In 
 both which I agree with you. Therefore I must 
 have recourse to these assignments. Otherwise 
 you must for once^ have been made surety, and 
 in these very deeds. But everything shall rest 
 upon me. As to the time of payment being distant, 
 let me but get what I want ; I imagine the day 
 appointed by the auctioneer, or at least by the heirs, 
 will likewise be distant. See about Crispus and 
 Mustella ; and I should like to know what is the 
 
 ' See book xii. letter 5. 
 
 » See book v. letter 20. 
 
 T During his government in CilicLo. Seebook v. Ietter20. 
 
 '»■ As soon as Atticus should be disengaged from attend- 
 ing Peduceus' sale, Cicero hoped to see him in Tuscula- 
 num. See book xii. letter 51. 
 
 * It appears from letters 5 and 6 of the preceding book,, 
 that Caelius was one of the persons with whom Cicero had 
 exchanged some of his plate for gold. 
 
 y We learn from Ciirnelius Nepos that Atticus wouli 
 never be surety for anybody.
 
 TO TITTJS POMPON I US ATTIC US. 
 
 777 
 
 portion belonging to these two. I had been in- 
 formed of Brutus's arrival ; for my freed-man 
 ^gypta brought me a letter from him, which I 
 «end to you, as being kindly' written. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 1 AM indebted to you for an elaborate account 
 of the ten commissioners^. And indeed I believe 
 you are right ; for the soni" was quaestor the year 
 after Mummius was consul. Since you repeat your 
 question, whether I am satisfied with the sureties, 
 I repeat my answer', that I am. If you can make 
 any arrangement with Piso'', bring that business 
 to a conclusion, for Aulus'^ aj)pears to be sincere. 
 I hope you may be able to come sooner ; but if 
 not, at least let us be together when Brutus comes 
 to Tusculanum. I am very desirous that we should 
 meet. You will be able to learn what day it will 
 be, if you give it in charge to a servant to inquire. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 I HAD supposed that Sp. Mummius was one of 
 the ten commissioners ; but however — For it is 
 natural that he should have been lieutenant to his 
 brother ; and he certainly was at Corinth. I send 
 you Torquatus '. Talk with SiliusK, as you pro- 
 pose, and urge him. He objected to the day of 
 payment being in May ; to the rest he made no 
 opposition. But you will manage this also with 
 the same care you do everything. About Crispus 
 and Mustella you will inform me as soon as you 
 have settled anything. Since you promise to be 
 with me on Brutus's arrival, I am satisfied ; espe- 
 cially as the intervening days will be employed on 
 my chief concern''. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 You have done properly about the aqueduct. 
 See that I may not have to pay no tax on pillais' ; 
 though I think I heard from Camillus that the law 
 had been altered. What answer can I make to 
 PisoJ more civil, than that Cato'' is at present 
 
 * Cicero had before taken notice of the ungracious man- 
 ner in which Brutus used to write. See book vi. letter ]. 
 
 » See letter 30 of this book. 
 
 '' He believes Atticus to be right in naming TuditanuB 
 the father, instead of the son. See letter 6 of this book. 
 
 <: This answer is contained in letter 3 of this book. 
 
 ^ "With wliom he wished to exchange some of his plate 
 for gold. See book xii. letter 5. 
 
 ^ Commentators have doubted about this name, which 
 however I have admitted, because we find it before in con- 
 junction with that of Piso. See book xii. letter 5. 
 
 ' This probably means the first book of his treatise " De 
 Finibus," in which L. Torquatus is introduced as support- 
 ing the opinions of Epicurus. See letter 32 of this book. 
 
 K About his gardens. See book xii. letter 25, &c. 
 
 ^ The procuring a place for the temple to be erected to 
 his (laugliter. 
 
 > This may be supposed to have been written in answer 
 to some observation of Atticus respecting the tax which 
 would be required on the pillars of his temple ; to which 
 he replies that he desires he may have to pay ih ; that is, 
 he desires he may have some pillars. See book xii. let- 
 ter 13. 
 
 J Piso appears to have been a money-dealer. See book 
 xii. letter 5, and book xiii. letter 2. 
 
 ■< That Cato the son had none of his guardians with him 
 to advise him. 
 
 alone ? And this answer applies not only to the 
 co-heirs of Ilerenoius, but to other cases, as you 
 know ; for you acted with me in tlie affair of the 
 young Lucullus', respecting the money wliich his 
 guardian (for that ought to be noticed) had taken 
 up in Greece. But he" acts liberally in saying 
 that he will do nothing contrary to my wishes. 
 When we meet, therefore, as you observe, we will 
 resolve how to settle this business. You have done 
 quite right to have a meeting with the other co- 
 heirs. I have no copy of my letter to Brutus, 
 which you ask for ; but however it is safe ; and 
 Tiro says that you ought to have it ; and, as I 
 remember, at the same time with his e.\postulatory 
 letter I sent you mine also in answer to him. You 
 will take care that I escape the trouble of tliti 
 judgeship ". I was quite ignorant of that Tuditanu-; 
 who was great-grandfather to Hortensius, and suji- 
 posed it to have been the son, who could not havu 
 been commissioner at that time. I consider it as 
 certain tliat Mummius was at Corinth. For this 
 Spurius, who lately died, often used to repeat to 
 me some letters written in comic verses to his 
 friends from Corinth. But I have no doubt he 
 was lieutenant to his brother, and not one of the 
 ten. And I have moreover understood that it was 
 not customary formerly to admit among the com- 
 missioners those who were related to the com- 
 manders, as we, through ignorance, or rather 
 negligence of their excellent institutions, sent M. 
 Lucullus, and L. Mursena, and others nearly 
 allied, as commissioners to L. Lucullus. But it 
 is most natural that he should have been among 
 the first of his brother's lieutenants. How much 
 trouble you take, while you both attend to the.<e 
 matters, and despatch my business, and are much 
 less careful about your own concerns than about 
 mine ! 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 I HAVE had Sestius with me ; and yesterday 
 Theopompus arrived. He reported that letters had 
 been received from Csesar°, who said that he had 
 determined to remain at Rome ; and added the 
 same reason which was mentioned in my letter p, 
 lest in his absence his laws should be disregarded, 
 as had been the case with the sumptuary law. This 
 is very natural, and what I had suspected ''. But 
 these people must have their way "■ ; unless you 
 would have me persevere in these same' sentiments. 
 He mentions also that Lentulus ' is certainly di- 
 vorced from Metella. But all this you know better 
 than I. Write, then, what you will in reply, so 
 that you write something. Though I am at a loss to 
 
 1 Cato and Cicero were left guardians to the son of the 
 great Lucullus. — De Fin. iii. 2. 
 
 ra Piso. 
 
 n See book xii. letter 19. 
 
 o He was at this time in Spain, fighting with the sona- 
 of Pompeius. 
 
 P His letter to Ca;sar. 
 
 <^ It appears to me that Cicero, in his letter before-men- 
 tioned, had anticipated this, and wished to prevent it. 
 
 r Caesar's friends must be attended to, who objected to 
 many parts of his letter, [see letter 2/ of this book,] and 
 probably to what he had siiid on this subject. 
 
 s The sentiments expressed in his letter. 
 
 < The same who is called Spinther. See book xii. let- 
 tor X'l.
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 conceive what you can write about, unless, per- 
 haps, about Mustella, or unless you have seen 
 Silius. Rrutus came to Tusculanum " yesterday, 
 past four in the afternoon ; to-day, therefore, he will 
 call iijion mc. I wish it had been while you were 
 here. I desired he might be informed that you had 
 waited for him as long as you could ; that you 
 would come when you heard of his arrival ; and that 
 1 would, as I do, give you immediate notice of it. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 I HAVE positively nothing to say to you ; for it is 
 not long since you left me ; and soon after you re- 
 turned my triple tablets". I shall be obliged to you 
 to let the parcel be taken to Vestorius, and to desire 
 somebody to inquire if any farm belonging to Q. Fa- 
 berius* in the neighbourhood of Pompeii or of Nola 
 is to be sold. I should be glad if you would send 
 me Brutus's epitome of Ctelius's history ", and get 
 from Philoxenus Pansetius's treatise on Prudence. 
 I shall see you on the 15 th with your family. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 You had just gone away yesterday, when Tre- 
 batius came ; and soon after, Curtius ; the latter 
 to pay his compliments ; but on being invited, he 
 stayed. Trebatius continues with me. This morn- 
 ing Dolabella came. We had a long conversation 
 till the day was far advanced. I can describe 
 nothing more attentive or more affection ate>'. We 
 came at length to the subject of young Quintus, of 
 whom he related many particulars not to be re- 
 peated or named ; and one thing of such a kind, 
 that, unless the whole army knew it, I should not 
 only not venture to dictate to Tiro, but not even 
 to write it myself — But I check rnyself. Torquatus 
 arrived very seasonably, while Dolabella was with 
 me ; and Dolabella in the kindest manner explained 
 the terms I had used in discoursing with him ^ ; 
 for I had just been discoursing most urgently, 
 ■which seemed to be gratefully received by Tor- 
 quatus. I am longing to know if you have heard 
 anything of Brutus *. Though >iicias supposed it 
 to have actually taken place, but that the divorce 
 was not approved : for which reason I am the more 
 
 " Brutus had a villa in the neighbourhood of Tusculum, 
 not far from Cicero's. 
 
 ' The Romans carried about with them little tablets of 
 wood, or ivory, covered with wax, called piigillares, on 
 which they wrote with a stilus. These tablets consisted of 
 two, three, or more leaves, and were accordingly called 
 (iuplices, triplices, &c. Cicero, it may be supposed, had 
 written to Atticus on one of tliese consisting of three 
 leaves, which Atticus had returned with his answer. 
 
 "■ The same of whom mention is made, book xiL let- 
 ter 25, and elsewhere. 
 
 * Brutus may probably have epitomised several histo- 
 ries. In book xii. letter 5, we read of his epitome of Fan- 
 nius's History; and Plutarch has reported, that on the 
 evening previous to the battle of Pharsalia, he was en- 
 gaged in making an abridgment of Polybius. 
 
 y Dolabella had married Cicero's daughter, whose death 
 lie so deplored. It is doubtful whether a divorce between 
 them had taken place or not ; at least there seems to have 
 "been no ill-will between the parties. 
 
 * On the subject of Torquatus. 
 
 » Who repudiated his wife Clodia, and was going to 
 marry Porcia, Cato's daughter. Cicero hoped that Cato's 
 popularity might obliterate any disapprobation excited 
 ifj this divorce. 
 
 anxious, as well as you ; that if any offence is 
 taken, this may heal it, I am obliged to go to 
 Arpinum, as it is necessary for me to regulate those 
 small farms ; and I am apprehensive that I may 
 not be able to get away, if J wait till Ca;sar comes ; 
 of whose arrival Dolabella entertains the same 
 opinion which you formed from Messala's letter. 
 When I get there, and find what business is to be 
 done, I will write to inform you about the time Oi 
 my return. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 I AM not surprised that you should be deeply 
 concerned about Marcellus **, and a])i)rehensive of 
 all kinds of danger. For who would be afraid of 
 what had never happened before, and what human 
 nature seemed incapable of committing .' So that 
 everything is now to be feared. But do you' ot 
 all people transgress the evidence of history, by 
 saying that I am the only consular '' remaining ? 
 What! do you make no account of Servius? 
 Though this has no weight with me, especially as I 
 think the condition of the others' no way inferior. 
 For what am I ? Or what can I be, either at home 
 or in public ? In fact, unless it had occurred to my 
 mind to occupy myself in writing, I should not 
 know which way to turn myself. I think I must 
 do, as you mention, to Dolabella, and take some 
 subject of more common and ])ublic interest. I 
 niust at all events compose something ; for he 
 earnestly desires it. If Brutus has come to any 
 conclusion ', you will take care to let me know it. 
 I think he should conclude it as soon as possible, if 
 only he has made his determination : for he will 
 thus either extinguish or appease all idle talk. 
 There are some who even talk to me about it. But 
 he will conduct this best himself, especially if he 
 also consults with you. It is my intention to go 
 from hence the ■2'2d. For here I have nothing to 
 do ; nor indeed there, nor anywhere ; there s, how- 
 ever, there is something. I expect Spinther to- 
 day ; for Brutus has sent to inform me. In his 
 letter he exculpates Cfesar on the death of Mar- 
 cellus. But no suspicion would fall upon him, 
 even if he had been killed insidiously. Now, how- 
 ever, when it is clear that it was done by Magius, 
 is not the whole to be imputed to his insanity .' I 
 am at a loss to understand this '' ; therefore you 
 will explain it ; though I have no further doubt, 
 excepting about what may have been the cause of 
 Magius's madness ; for whom he had even been 
 surety at Snnium. It was perhaps that very circum- 
 stance ; for he was insolvent. I imagine he may 
 have asked something from Marcellus, and Mar- 
 cellus may have replied, with that firmness which 
 was natural to him, that " things seen near, and 
 at a distance, have not the same aspect'." 
 
 b He had been killed near Athens by P. Magius Chilo, 
 one wlio had been his friend. 
 
 c Who are usually so accurate. 
 
 d A senator who had been consul. It does not mean 
 literallj- the only one ; but that he was the only one who 
 could support the dignity of the situation. 
 
 e Tliose who have died in supporting the republic. 
 
 f About his marriage. 
 
 e At Arpinum. See letter 9 of this book. 
 
 •> To understand why Brutus should exculpate Caesar. 
 
 ' The original is part of a verse of Euripides. It meani 
 that Marcellus had now become acquainted with Magiue'i
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 r79 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 I IMAGINED the removal to Ariiinum to be a 
 ■slight matter ; but I find it quite ollierwise, since 
 I have been separated further from you. It was 
 iowever expedient, both for the sake of reletting the 
 iiarms, and to avoid imposing on our friend Brutus 
 so great a burden of civility i. Hereafter we shall 
 be able better to cultivate a mutual friendship in 
 Tusculanum''. But at this time, when he was so 
 good as to visit me daily, and I was unequal to go 
 to him, he was deprived of all comfort in his 
 Tusculan villa. If, then, Servilia' is arrived ; if 
 Brutus has concluded anything"", or even if he 
 is resolved upon it ; when they go ° to meet Csesar ; 
 in short, whatever occurs, which I ought to know, 
 you will inform me. Converse with Piso °, if you 
 can : you see how ripe the business p is. Yet do not 
 put yourself to inconvenience. 
 
 LETTER Xn. 
 
 Your accounts of my dear Attica have much 
 affected me ; yet at the same time they have af- 
 forded me comfort. For your own consolation, 
 expressed in the same letters, is a sufficient warrant 
 for the relief of my anxiety. You have famously 
 sold the speeches in favour of Ligarius. Hence- 
 forward whatever I publish, I shall employ you to 
 proclaim. As to what you say about Varro, you 
 know that my compositions used formerly to con- 
 sist of orations, or something of that kind, in which 
 it was impossible for me to introduce Varro' s name. 
 But since I entered upon these philosophical 
 inquiries, Varro has already given me notice of a 
 great and weighty address i : two years have elapsed, 
 while that Callipides"' in his continual course has 
 not advanced a foot. In the mean time 1 prepared 
 myself, as he desired, to make him a return "ac- 
 cording to the same measure^ — or better if I 
 couid," for so Hesiodus adds. I have now pledged 
 to Brutus, with your approbation, that treatise on 
 the Foundation of Moral Duty, with which I am 
 very well pleased. And you have assured me of 
 his kind acceptance of it. I may as well, therefore, 
 remove from my Academical Disputations the pre- 
 sent speakers, who are distinguished characters 
 
 distressed fortunes, which before he did not know, when 
 he engaged to be his surety. Some have supposed this 
 quotation to belong to the following letter ; in which case 
 it would mean that Cicero, since his removal to Arpinum, 
 found the actual separation from Atticus more grievous 
 than he had expected in distant contemplation. 
 
 J In calling every day upon Cicero, who had not suflB.- 
 ciently recovered his spirits to wait upon Brutus in return. 
 
 ^ Brutus, as well as Cicero, appears to have had a resi- 
 dence in the neighbourhood of Tusculum. 
 
 1 Brutus's mother. 
 
 " Relating to his marriage with Porcia. 
 
 " This is generally supposed to mean Brutus; but it 
 seems to me more reasonable to understand it generally of 
 , people going to meet Ccesar on his return from Spain. 
 
 About the gold he was to provide in exchange for 
 Cicero's plate. See book xii. letter 5. 
 
 P The sale of Scapula's gardens was approaching. 
 
 1 His treatise on the Latin Language, which was after- 
 wards piiblislicd and inscribed to Cicero. 
 
 ' This was a prorerbial expression taken from some 
 person who was busily employed, but made little progress. 
 • The original is part of a verse from Hesiodus. 
 
 indeed, but by no means philosophical, and dis- 
 course with too much subtilty, and substitute Varro 
 in their place. For there are the opinions of 
 Antiochus, to which he is much attached. I can 
 find a place for Catuhis and Lucullus elsewhere, if 
 you approve of these persons ; and I shall be glad 
 if you will write in answer to me upon this subject. 
 I have received a letter from Vestorius about Erin- 
 nius's auction*. He says that the business has 
 without any dispute been referred " to me, to take 
 place on the 24th of June. For they supposed 
 that I should be in Rome, or in Tusculanum. You 
 will therefore tell either your friend S. A'ettius, my 
 co-heir, or my friend Labeo, to defer a little the 
 sale, as I shall not be in Tusculanum till about the 
 7th of July. You liave with you Eros^, as well as 
 Piso. Let us think, with all our minds, of Scapula's 
 gardens. The day is at hand. 
 
 LETTER Xin. 
 
 In consequence of the letter you wrote to rne, 
 about Varro, 1 have taken the Academy'' entirely 
 out of the hands of those distinguished personages, 
 and transferred it to our friend ; and from two 
 books I have made it into four. These are longer 
 than the others were, though there are several parts 
 left out. I am very desirous of hearing from you, 
 who understood that he was pleased with my de- 
 sign. I want also to know who it was that you 
 understood excited his envy ; unless perhaps it was 
 Brutus. That was the only thing which remained ". 
 But yet I should like much to know. In truth, 
 unless my self-love deceive me, those books have 
 come out in such a manner, that there is nothing 
 of the same kind like them even in Greek. You 
 will patiently bear the loss of your copy y having 
 been transcribed to no purpose. This, however, 
 wiU be far more brilliant, more condensed, and 
 better. I am now in doubt which way to turn ^ 
 I am desirous of gratifying Dolabella's wishes ; but 
 can find no proper subject. At the same time " I 
 respect the Trojans" :" and if 1 should find some- 
 thing, I do not see how I can escape reproach. 
 I must either give it up therefore, or 1 must devise 
 something else. But why do I regard these trifles ? 
 How, I beseech you, does my dear Attica, for 
 whom I am very anxious .' But I frequently recur 
 to your letter, and feel satisfaction in it ; yet I look 
 for further accounts. 
 
 ' Cicero appears to have been one of Beveral heirs to 
 Brinnius, whose property, as usual, was to be sold and 
 divided, 
 
 « It was usual for one of the legatees to be appointed to 
 conduct the sale. See book i. letter 10. 
 
 T Cicero's agent. See letter 2 of this book. 
 
 ■w His books on the philosophy of the Academy. See 
 letter 12 of this book. 
 
 » As if he had said that the envy excited by the dedica- 
 tion of his former work to Brutus, was the only thing that 
 could be added to enhance the satisfaction he had in his 
 treatise " De Finibus." 
 
 y Of the " Academica" in the first edition. 
 
 I ■\\Tiat work I shall next undertake. 
 
 » The original is from Homer, and has been more than 
 
 once quoted before. [See book ii. letter 5, and book vii. 
 
 letter 1.] The meaning is, that he had too much respect for 
 
 honest citizens to write anything unbecoming the republia
 
 780 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 lp:tteii XIV. 
 
 Brinniits's freed-man, my co-heir, wrote tome 
 to say, that, if I pleased, he and Sabiuus Albius, 
 two joint heirs, wouhl come to wait upon me. I 
 entirely disapjiro^e of it ; the inheritance is not 
 worth it. Besides, they may easily attend the day 
 of the sale, which is the lltli, if they will come to 
 me in Tusculanum on the morning of tiu; 8th, the 
 day after my arrival. Or if they wish to put it off 
 longer, they may do it for two or three days, or as 
 long as they please ; for it makes no difference. 
 Therefore unless they are already set out, I would 
 have you stop them. Let me know if there is any 
 news of Brutus ; or if you have any intelligence of 
 Ciesar ; or if there is anything else. I should wish 
 you to consider again and again whether you ap- 
 prove of sending to Varro what I have written ; 
 though there is something also which concerns 
 yourself; for you must know that you are intro- 
 duced as a third personage in that dialogue''. I 
 think then we should consider, notwithstanding the 
 names are already inserted. But they may either 
 be erased or altered. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Pray, how is my Attica ? For I have had no 
 letter from you these three days. This is not to be 
 ■wondered at, as nobody came from Rome, and 
 possibly there was no reason for writing. In con- 
 sequence I have myself nothing to write about. 
 But the day on which I deliver this to Valerius, I 
 am expecting one of my people, who if he arrives, 
 and brings anything from you, I am persuaded I 
 shall be at no loss what to say. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 Though I went in pursuit of streams and soli- 
 tudes, that I might better be able to support 
 myself, I have hitherto not stirred a foot out of 
 the house; such great and continued rains have we 
 had. I have transferred that whole Academical 
 composition to Varro. It had at tirst been in the 
 names of Catulus, Lucullus, and Hopteusius. After- 
 wards, as this appeared unsuitable, owing to these 
 persons being, not indeed unlearned, but notori- 
 ously unversed in such subjects, as soon as I got 
 home I transferred those dialogues to Cato and 
 Brutus. Your letter about Varro is just arrived. 
 The opinions of Antiochus cou!d;be more fitly sup- 
 ported by nobody. \et I should wish you to 
 inform me, in the first jilace, whether you think 
 anything should be inscribed to him ; then, if you 
 think so, whether this is the properest thing. 
 "What of Servilia .' Is she yet arrived .' Is Brutus 
 doing anything <= ? or when .= What is heard of 
 Cjesar ? I shall be in Tusculanum on the 7th, as 
 I mentioned <*. You will settle with Piso ", if you 
 can. 
 
 t> The "Academjca" being written in the form of 
 dialogues, 
 c About li.s marriage. d See letter 12 of this book. 
 
 « See letters 4 and 1 1 of this book. 
 
 LETTER XVIL 
 
 On the 27th I hope to receive something from. 
 Rome ; not that I had given any particular direc- 
 tions. Therefore, send something by your own 
 people. I must repeat the same inquiries; what 
 Brutus intends ? or if he has taken any steps ? and 
 whether there is anything from Cffisar.' But what 
 are these things ? which I care little about : I want 
 to know how my Attica does. Though your letter, 
 which is already too old, bids me hope the best, 
 jet I look for some recent information. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 You see the advantage of being near'. Let us 
 then conclude the purchase of the gardens f. While 
 I was in Tusculanum I seemed to be talking with 
 you ; so frequent was the intercourse of our letters. 
 But that will i)resently be the case again h. In the 
 mean time, at your suggestion, I have completed 
 the books to Varro with some acuteness. Still I 
 wait for your answer to what I wrote to you : first, 
 by what means you understood that he wished it 
 of me ; since he, who is himself so great a writer, 
 never addressed' anything to me : then, who it is 
 that he envied, unless perhaps Brutus J. For if he 
 does not envy him, much less Hortensius '', or 
 those who speak upon the republic. I wish you 
 iistinctly to inform me in the first place, whethei 
 you continue in the same mind, that I should send 
 him what I have written, or whether you think 
 there is no occasion for it. But of this when wfr 
 meet. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 My secretary Hilarus, to whom I had given a 
 letter for you, was just gone on the 28th, when the 
 messenger arrived with your letter dated the day 
 before ; in which it was particularly gratifying to 
 me that my Attica begs you not to be uneasy, and 
 that you say there is no danger. Your authority, 
 I see, has famously recommended the Ligariaa 
 oration. For Balbus and Oppius wrote to me tO' 
 say that they were extremely pleased with it, and 
 had in consequence sent it to Csesar, as you men- 
 tioned to me before. In the case of Varro, I am. 
 not moved by any apprehension of appearing vain- 
 glorious' ; for I had determined to include no living 
 characters in my dialogues'" ; but since you inform 
 me that Varro is desirous of it, and sets a great 
 value upon it, I have composed this work, and 
 
 f This is probably said in reply to some observation of 
 Atticus. 
 
 S Which have the advantage of being so near to Rome. 
 See book xii. letter 37. 
 
 h He should soon be in Tusculanum again. 
 
 ' Never provoked me to write by first addressing any of 
 his numerous works to me. 
 
 J See letter 1.3 of this book. 
 
 ^ To whom Cicero had inscribed a book of I'liilosophy ; 
 or those in whose names the dialogue is maintained in hi& 
 treatise on the Republic. 
 
 1 I do not insert Varro's name through fear of being cett- 
 sured for adopting the great names of persons deceased. 
 
 ■n See book xii. letter 12.
 
 TO TITUS rOMPONiUS ATTICTS. 
 
 781 
 
 completed the whole Academical discussion in four 
 books ; 1 know not how well, but with sucli care, 
 that nothing can exceed it. In these, what had 
 been excellently collected by Antiochus against the 
 doctrine of incomprehensibility, I have attributed 
 to Yarro ; to this 1 reply in my own person, and 
 you are the third in our conversation. If I had 
 made Cotta and Varro disputing with each other, 
 as you suggest in your last letter, mine would bo a 
 mute character. This has a good effect in old peo- 
 ple; as Heraclides has done in several books ; and I 
 in the six books on Government. I have three books 
 also on Oratory, with which I am much satisfied ; 
 and in these likewise the characters are such, that 
 it became nie to be silent. For the speakers are, 
 Crassus, Antonius, Catulus the old man, C. Julius 
 brother to Catulus, Cotta, and Sulpicius. The 
 discourse is supposed to be held while 1 was a boy, 
 so that it was irapossihU^ for me to sustain anyj)art 
 in it. But what I have lately written are in the 
 manner of Aristotle, where the conversation is so 
 managed, that he himself has the principal part! 
 I have finished the five books on the Foundation 
 of Moral Duty, so as to give the Epicurean doc- 
 trine to L. Torquatus, the Stoical to M. Cato, the 
 Peripatetic to M. Piso ; for I considered that their 
 being dead would preclude all jealousy. These 
 Academics, as you know, I had discussed in the 
 j)ersons of Catulus, LucuUus, and llortensius; but 
 in truth the subject did not suit their characters ; 
 being more logical than what they could be sup- 
 posed ever to have dreamed of. Therefore, when 
 I read your letter about Varro, I seized it as an 
 inspiration. Nothing could be more adapted to 
 that species of philosophy, in which he seems to 
 take particular delight ; or to the support of such a 
 part, that I could manage to avoid making my own 
 sentiments predominant. For the opinions of 
 Antiochus are extremely persuasive, and are so 
 carefully expressed, as to retain the acuteness of 
 Antiochus, with my own brilliancy of language, if 
 indeed I possess any. But consider again and again 
 whether you think these books ought to be attri- 
 buted to Varro. Some things occur to me upon 
 the subject ; but these when we meet. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 I HAVE received from Caesar a letter of condo- 
 lence, dated April 30th, from Seville. I have not 
 heard what has been promulgated about extending 
 the city"; and should be glad to know. I am 
 pleased that my services are kindly received by 
 Torquatus, and shall not fail to increase them. It 
 is impossible for me now to add to my Ligarian 
 oration anything about Tubero's wife and daughter- 
 in-law ; for the speech has been widely dissemi- 
 nated ; nor have I any wish to defend Tubero, who 
 is wonderfully fond of accusing people. You have 
 had truly a fine exhibition". Though I am very 
 •well satisfied with this place p, yet I am desirous of 
 seeing you, and shall accordingly return, as 1 in- 
 tended. I imagine you have had a meeting with my 
 brother, and I want therefore to know what you 
 
 " See letter 33 of this bdok. 
 
 o Probably alluding to some application, or perhaps al- 
 tercation between Tubero and these ladies before Atticus. 
 P Arpiuum. 
 
 have done 1. I am in no trouble about my reputation, 
 whatever I may foolishly have written to you at 
 that time. There is nothing better (for there is no 
 other just oy)ject of care) than lliis'; that every- 
 body through his whole life should not deviate a 
 hair's breadtii from a right conscience. Observe 
 how philosophically I talk. Do you sui)pose I am 
 engaged in these speculations to no j)urpose ? 1 
 siiould be sorry to iiave you vexed ; for it was no- 
 thing*. And, to return again to the same point, 
 do you think that I have altogether any other care 
 than that I may not be deficient towards him'? 
 Or is this my object forsooth, that I may appear 
 to preserve the jmblic opinion.' "For on these 
 things there is no dependence"." 1 wish I were 
 able to bear my domestic troubles^ as easily as I 
 can disregard these. But you suppose me to have 
 wished something which has not been accomplished. 
 Is it not allowable, then, to have one's own opi- 
 nion .' But, however, what was then done**' I can- 
 not help approving ; and yet I can very well lay 
 aside all care about it, as indeed 1 do. But more 
 than enough of trifles. 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 I DELIVERED a long letter to Ilirtius, which I 
 had just written in Tusculanum. To that, which 
 you sent me there, I shall reply at some other time ; 
 at present I wish to advert to others. \\ hat can I 
 say aoout Torquatus, till I have heard something 
 from Dolabella ? As soon as that happens, you 
 shall immediately know. I expect a messenger 
 from him to-day, or at farthest to-morrow, who 
 shall be sent on to you as soon as he arrives. 1 am 
 expecting to hear from Quintus ; for when I was 
 setting out from Tusculanum on the 24th, as you 
 know, I sent a messenger to him. To return to my 
 business ; that expression of yours, which had 
 wonderfully pleased me, now exceedingly dis- 
 pleases ; for it is altogether a nautical term, as 
 indeed I knew ; but I thought that when the 
 rowers were ordered inhihere, "to back their oars," 
 they suspended their motion. Yesterday, however, 
 upon the arrival of a vessel at my villa^, I learnt 
 that this was not the case ; for they do not suspend 
 them, but move them in another manner. This is 
 quite different from the Greek fTroxv- Therefore 
 
 ") Towards reconciling Cicero and Quintus. See the 
 ninth and following letters of book xi. 
 
 "■ So I understand this passage, which has been variously 
 interpreted by diiferent commentators. 
 
 s I conceive this alludes to sonic expression fallen from 
 Attic'is, probably on the occasion of Quintus Cicero. 
 
 ' This seems to be written under a sense of philosophical 
 propriety, by which he was taught to be anxious about 
 nothing but his own conduct. 
 
 u In the original is a fragment only of a Greek sentence, 
 which , in our ignorance of the remainder, must be supplie<i 
 by conjecture. 
 
 " Meaning, no doubt, his affliction for his daughter, as 
 well as his concern about Terentia .ind Quintus. 
 
 '*■ Respecting his conduct towards his brother, wlm 
 seemed to take offence at Cicero's advancing money to 
 Pompeius, while he suffered Quintus to remain in difficul- 
 ties. [See book xi. letter 13.] I mn aware that the latter 
 part of this letter has been very differently interpreted, 
 and supposed by some able conmientators to relate to 
 Cicero's success in the forum, for which I see no suSicient 
 grounds. 
 
 ^ On the banks of the Liris, or Garigli.ano.
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 let it stand in the book, as it was. Mention this 
 ;il.-o to Varro, unless he has already altered it. For 
 there is no better word than i had used before, and 
 which is warranted by the authority of LucuUus. 
 CJarneades also makes the guard of the boxer, and 
 the action of the charioteer holding in his horses, 
 to correspond with ^Trox^J ; but the backing the 
 oars is attended with motion, and that a consider- 
 able one, while the ship is turned round to the 
 stern. You see how much more I care about this, 
 than either about public rumour y ; or about 
 Pollio': let me hear also about I'ansa', if any- 
 thing certain is known ; for I imagine it has been 
 made public ; and if there has been any news of 
 Critonius, or anything ascertained respecting Me- 
 tellus and Balbinus. Tell me, is it your pleasure 
 to publish my writings first, without my leave ? 
 Not even Hermodorus did this, who used to divulge 
 Plato's books ; from whence came the proverb, 
 " Hermodorus deals in words'"." How is this ? 
 Do you think it right that anybody should have it 
 before Brutus, whom I addressed at your sugges- 
 tion "^. For Balbus wrote me word that he had 
 transcribed the fifth book of the Foundations of 
 Moral Duty from you ; in which I have not indeed 
 altered much ; yet something. But you will do 
 well to keep back the others ; that Balbus may not 
 receive them uncorrected, or Brutus when they 
 are stale. But enough of these matters, that I may 
 not seem to be diligent about trifles. Though now 
 these things are the greatest with which I have to 
 do. For what else is there .-' I am using such 
 despatch in sending to Varro what I have written 
 at your suggestion, as already to have forwarded it 
 to Rome to be transcribed. You may, if you 
 please, have it immediately ; for I have written to 
 my clerks to let yours, if you wished it, have the 
 liberty of copying it ; but you will keep it private 
 till I see you ; as you always do with great care, 
 when 1 have desired it. But in consequence of 
 my having omitted to mention this to you, Cserellia, 
 glowing with a wonderful passion for philosophy, 
 copies from your people, and is in the possession 
 of these same books on the Foundations of Moral 
 Duty. And I assure you (subject indeed to human 
 fallibility) that she did not receive them from my 
 people ; for they were never out of my sight ; and 
 they were, besides, so far from making two copies, 
 that it was with difficulty they completed one. I 
 do not however impute any fault to your clerks : 
 and that I would have you understand ; for I had 
 omitted to say that I did not yet wish them to get 
 abroad. What 1 still upon trifles ? For upon 
 subjects of importance I have nothing to say. I 
 agree with you about Dolabella. Let the co-heirs ■'j 
 as you mention, come to Tusculanum. Balbus 
 has written to me about Caesar's arrival, that it 
 will not be before the 1st of August. The account 
 of Attica is excellent, that she has less fever, is 
 quieter, and bears her iUness with patience. As 
 to what you say upon that subject for our con- 
 
 7 ^Vhat the public may say of him, as in the preceding 
 letter. 
 
 * He had been left by Csesar in Spain, 
 
 » It is uncertain to what this relates. 
 
 *> Hermodorus made a tralfic of publishing in Sicily tho 
 lectures he had heard from Plato. 
 
 <^ His treatise " De Finibus"is addressed to Brutus, and 
 is that of which Cicero here speaks. 
 
 ^ Bee letter 14 of this book. 
 
 sideration *, in which I take no less interest thaa 
 you ; so far as I know, I greatly approve of the 
 gentleman, his family, and fortune. What after 
 all is the chief thing, I am not personally ac- 
 quainted with him ; but I hear favourable reports 
 from Scrofa. He likewise lives very near you, if 
 this is anything to the purpose ; and is more 
 noble ' than his father. When we meet therefore 
 — and it will be with a mind disposed to approve. 
 For in addition to what I have said, I have a re- 
 gard for his father, as I believe you know, and 
 greater than not only you, but than he is aware 
 of; and that, both deservedly, and of long standing. 
 
 LETTER XXIL 
 
 It is not without reason that I ask so particu. 
 larly what you think best about Varro. Some 
 things occur to me, which I shall reserve till we 
 meet. I have been very glad to interweave your 
 name, which I shall do frequently ; for it was by 
 your last letter that I first understood you did not 
 object to it. About Marcellus s I had before heard 
 from Cassius ; and Servius sent me the particulars. 
 What a sad affair ! To come back to my first sub- 
 ject ; there is no place, where I would rather have 
 my writings remain, than with you. But I should 
 like not to have them sent abroad, till we both ap- 
 prove of it. I exempt your clerks from all blame, 
 and do not mean to find fault with you ; notwith- 
 standing what I wrote to you, that Cserellia had 
 some, which she could only have had from you. I 
 was aware of the propriety of gratifying Balbus •■; 
 I only wished that it might not be given to Brutus 
 when it was grown stale, or to Balbus when it was 
 imperfect. I will send the books to Varro, if you 
 think it right, as soon as I have seen you. You 
 shall know the cause of my hesitation when we 
 meet. In calling upon the assignees, you have done 
 quite right. I am sorry you should have so much 
 trouble about your grandmother's estate. The 
 case of our friend Brutus is very vexatious ; but it 
 is the condition of human life. The ladies' are a 
 little unreasonable in bearing such hostile disposi- 
 tions, while neither of them are chargeable with 
 dereliction of cheir duty. There was no occasion 
 to call upon my secretary TuUius. If there had 
 been, I would have sent you word. For nothing 
 has been deposited with him under the title of a 
 vowJ ; though he has some mon y belonging to 
 me, which I have determined to apply to this 
 purpose. So that both 1 told you rightly where it 
 was ; and be rightly denied having anything under 
 that title. But let us at once enter upon this 
 business '*. For the consecration of men ', 1 do not 
 
 e The choosing a husband for Attica. 
 
 i Owing, I suppose, to his mother's family, 
 
 S Seo letter 10 of this book. 
 
 b On account of his influence with Caesar. 
 
 » Meaning probably Servilia and Porcia, the mother and 
 wife of Brutus. 
 
 ) To be applied to the discha.^ of a vow, for such 
 he considered his resolution of erecting a temple to his 
 daughter. 
 
 k The temple. 
 
 ' Though groves M'ere often consecrated to heathen gods, 
 yet, in the case of deifying men, something more open to 
 view was preferable.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 rB3 
 
 quite approve of a grove, because it is too unfre- 
 quented ; notwithstanding it has a reputation of 
 sanctity. But this also shall be as you think pro- 
 per ; for you are my guide in everything. I shall 
 be at Tusculum, as I appointed"'; and I wish 
 you could be there the same day. But if anything 
 should prevent you (as many things may), at least 
 the next day, when the co-heirs are to come, by 
 whom it would be cruel to be beset without you. 
 Again another letter without a word about Attica ; 
 but this I pla'^e among the best signs. I find fault 
 ■with this ; not tliat you, but that she should not 
 so much as send her compliments. But do you 
 make my very best compliments both to her, and 
 to Pilia ; do not however give a hint of my being 
 ofTended. 1 send Cffisar's letter, in case you should 
 not have read it. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 To the letter wliich I received from you yester- 
 day in the forenoon, I immediately replied ; I now 
 answer that of the afternoon. I wish Brutus had 
 rather sent for me ; which was more reasonable, 
 considering the sudden and distant journey ujion 
 ■which he was going ° ; and, to say the truth, under 
 our present feelings, when we are incapable of en- 
 joying each other's society (for you know in what 
 principally consists the pleasure of li^ving together) 
 I should readily have acceded to our meeting in 
 Rome, rather than in Tusculanum. The books to 
 Varro were no impediment; for they have been 
 re-made °, as you have seen ; they only wait to 
 have the errors of the clerks corrected. You know 
 my hesitation about these books ; but you are 
 answerable. Those which I am to send to Brutus, 
 are likewise in the hands of the transcribers. Get 
 my business settled, as you mention ; though Tre- 
 batius tells me they all make those deductions. 
 What do you think these people will do ? You 
 are well acquainted with the house. Conclude it 
 then in affability. You cannot believe how much 
 I disregard such concerns. I assure you in the 
 most solemn manner, and would have you believe 
 me, that my paltry possessions are more plague 
 than pleasure to me ; and that I am more dis- 
 tressed by having nobody f on ■nhoni I should 
 bestow them, than gratified by having them to 
 use. Trebatius also said that he had mentioned 
 the circumstance 1 to you. But perhaps you were 
 afraid I should be sorry to hear it. That indeed 
 was kindly intended ; but, believe me, I do not 
 now care about such matters. Therefore enter into 
 negotiation, and clip it as you will, and make an 
 end of it. Rouse them, call, speak to them, as if 
 you thought you were speaking with that Scseva''. 
 
 >" July 7. See letter 12 of this book. 
 
 ° Perhaps to meet Cjesar on his way from Spain. 
 
 ° It being generally agreed that the word de/ecti must 
 be erroneous, I have supposed, with the least alteration, 
 that it ought to be refecti; a word sufficiently appropriate, 
 if it is considered that the work bad been altogetber 
 re-cast, the characters changed, and the number of books 
 extended from two to fnur. See letter 13 of this book. 
 
 P Alluding to his daughter, who hi.d been in distress, 
 and formerly wanted his assistance. See book xi. letter 20. 
 
 1 The deductions in payment. 
 
 r It is uncertain who this is. The name occurs again, 
 book xiv. letter 1(1, and is there supposed to signify one of 
 Czsar's s<.>ldier8 who had enriched himself by the plunder 
 
 Do not suppose that they, who are in the habit of 
 gras))ing at what does not belong to them, will re- 
 mit anything of their just dues'. Take care only 
 about the day ' ; and even that with civility. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 What is this which I hear from Hermogenes 
 Clodius, that Audromenes had told him he had seen 
 Cicero " at Corcyra ? For I suppose it must have 
 been known to you ''. Has he then sent no letter 
 even by him ;■' Or has he not seen him ? Let me 
 know how this is. What more should I say to you 
 about Varro ? The four books are in your pos- 
 session, and I shall be sat'sfied with whatever you 
 do. I am restrained by no '• respect for the Tro- 
 jans'" ;" why should I .' I was rather afraid how 
 well he might himself'' like it. But since you un- 
 dertake it, I shall rest at ease. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 Respecting the deductions ^ I have already 
 replied to your very accurate letter. You will 
 make an end of it therefore, and without any 
 hesitation, or revision. It is proper and expe- 
 dient that this should be done. About Audro- 
 menes ^, I had supposed it must be as you say, 
 otherwise you would have known it, and mentioned 
 it to me. While you write so much about Brutus, 
 you say nothing of yourself °. But when do you 
 suppose he will come to Tusculanum .' For on the 
 1 4th I am going to Rome. What I meant to say 
 to Brutus (but what I perhaps expressed indis- 
 tinctly, since you mention your having read it) 
 was, that I had understood from your letter, that 
 he wished me not to go up at this time merely for 
 the sake of waiting upon him. But as the appointed 
 time of my going '' is so near, I beg that you will 
 take care that this may be no impediment to his 
 coming to Tusculanum for his own convenience, 
 for I had no intention of calling upon him about 
 the sale, since you alone are quite sufficient in a 
 business of that kind. But I wanted him to attest 
 my will <= ; which I should now prefer executing aC 
 another time, that I may not seem to have come 
 to Rome for that purpose*^. I have accordingly 
 written to Brutus, what I really thought, that there 
 
 of the opposite party.. The sense seems to require that it 
 be some person of more power than principle. 
 
 ' Persons who have got money by unjustifiable means, 
 will not relinquish justifiable advantages. 
 
 t That the money may be ready at the time it is wanted. 
 
 " His son. 
 
 ' Atticus having possessions in Corcyra, and frequent 
 communication with that country. 
 
 w la the original is the same fragment of a verse so often 
 quoted before. [See letter 13 of this book.] The meaning 
 is, that he had no need to fear giving offence. 
 
 * Varro. Y See letter 23 of this book. 
 
 I See letter 24 of this book. 
 
 " That is of your coming to Tusculanum, as well as 
 Brutus. 
 
 ^ To attend Brinnius's sale. See letter 14 of this book. 
 
 e Wills were anciently performed with great solemnity. 
 —Taylor, C. L. p. 64. 
 
 •* That Brutus may not imagine I go up now expressly 
 to get his attestation, and should therefore be disappointed 
 if he were not to be there.
 
 784 
 
 Tilt: LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 was no occasion for his being there on the 15th •. 
 I should be glad then if you would manage this 
 ■whole business so, that 1 may not in the least in- 
 terfere with Brutus's convenience. But what is it 
 that you are at length afraid of, because 1 desire 
 the books to be given to Varro on your responsibi- 
 lity? Even now, if you have any doubt, let me 
 know it. In elegance of style they have not been 
 surpassed. I should like Varro, especially as he 
 desires it ; but he i.s, as you know, " a stern man, 
 and one who might easily take exception without 
 just cause '." Accordingly 1 often picture to my- 
 self his countenance, complaining, it may be, that 
 my part is more copiously defended in those books 
 than his ; though you will perceive that this is not 
 the case, if ever you get into Epirus, and have 
 leisure to examine them. For at present I give 
 way to your correspondence with Alexio k. I do 
 not however despair of their meeting with Varro's 
 approbation ; and after being at the expense of 
 large paper '', I shall not be sorry to have that de- 
 sign adhered to. But I say again and again, that 
 it must be on your responsibility. Therefore if you 
 have any hesitation, let us transfer it to Brutus ; 
 for he also is an Antiochian '. O variable Academy, 
 and like itself; now here, now there J. But, pray 
 how did you like my letter to Varro ? May 1 die, 
 if 1 ever study any work, as I have done this. 1 
 have not even dictated to Tiro, who is used to 
 write down whole sentences ; but to Spintherus, 
 syllable by syllable. 
 
 N. B. The 26ift letter was lie/ore inserted in its proper 
 place, after the 43d of book xii.] 
 
 LETTER XXVIL 
 
 Respecting the letter to Csesar'', I was always 
 of opinion that it ought first to be submitted to 
 his friends. Otherwise I should have been not 
 only wanting in attention to them, but should also 
 have exposed myself to some danger, in case of his 
 being offended with me. They have acted ingenu- 
 ously ; and I take it kindly that they have not 
 concealed what they thought. Especially they have 
 done well in suggesting so many alterations, that 
 the writing it afresh is more than the occasion de- 
 mainds. On the subject of the Parthian war, 
 however, what ought 1 to have considered, but 
 what I supposed him to wish .' For what other 
 argument could my letter admit, besides flattery ? 
 Had I wished to recommend what I thought best, 
 should I have wanted matter .' Therefore the 
 ■whole letter is unnecessary. For where the ad- 
 vantage to be gained cannot be great ; and a 
 
 e The day of Brinnius' sale. See letter 33 of this book. 
 
 f The original is taken from Homer. 
 
 g Atticus's bailiff in Epirns- 
 
 •> A presentation copy written on large and handsome 
 paper. 
 
 » See letter 19 of this book. 
 
 ') He compares his own variableness in changing the 
 address, to the variable nature of the Academic philosophy, 
 ■which he professed, ever bending to circumstances, and 
 adopting probability in the place of fixed principles. 
 
 k See book xii. letter 40. This letter appears to have 
 been a letter of advice on public affairs, which made 
 Cicero anxious to have the approbation of some of Caesar's 
 party ; by which is probably to be understood Balbus and 
 Opi)ius, who were likewise friends to Cicero. 
 
 failure, even if it be not great, may be productive 
 of vexation ; what need is there of running the 
 risk .'' Especially when I consider, that having 
 written nothing before, he would expect thai; I 
 should write nothing till the whole war was at an 
 end. 1 am even apprehensive that he may imagine 
 I wished this to be as a soother for my " Cato'." In 
 short, I repented of having written, and nothing 
 could fall out more to my mind, than that my 
 labour was not ajjproved. Besides, I should have 
 exjjosed myself to the calumnies of Caesar's ad- 
 herents, and among them to those of your rela- 
 tion '". But I return " to the subject of the gardens. 
 I would by no means have you go thither but with 
 perfect convenience to yourself ; for there is no 
 hurry. MHiatever be the result, let us use our 
 endeavours about Faberius. Respecting the day of 
 sale, however, when you know anything, you will 
 inform me. As the messenger, who came from 
 Cumanum, reports that Attica is quite well, and 
 says that he has a letter for you, I send liim on to 
 you without delay. 
 
 LETTER XXVIIl, 
 
 As you were to inspect the gardens to-day, I 
 shall hear to-morrow what you have thought of 
 them. About Faberius you will let me know, 
 when he is arrived. Respecting the letter to 
 Caesar, believe me when I swear that I cannot do 
 it. Not that the baseness of it deters me; (though 
 it ought exceedingly ; for how base is flattery ?) 
 since it is base for me even to be alive. But, as I 
 was saying, it is not this baseness that deters me; 
 I wish it was ; for I should then be what I ought 
 to be : but nothing occurs to my mind. For with 
 regard to the exhortations of those eloquent and 
 learned men" to Alexander, you see on what sub- 
 jects they are employed. They are addressed to a 
 young man inflamed with the love of the truest 
 glorjr, and asking for advice in the pursuit of 
 lasting praise. It is easy to speak in an honour- 
 able cause. But what can I do .'' Yet I carved 
 out from my wooden materials something that 
 might look like an image ; and in this, because 
 there were some things a little better than what 
 are doing, and have been done, they are censured. 
 But I by no means regret this ; for if that letter 
 had been delivered, believe me, I should be sorry 
 for it. What .' Do not you see how that very 
 disciple of Aristotle, with all his understanding 
 and all his moderation, after he got the title of 
 king, became haughty, cruel, intemperate .' And 
 do you suppose this man* from amidst his pro- 
 cessions, the comrade of Quirinus*), will be pleased 
 with this temperate letter of mine ? But let him 
 rather want what is not written than disapprove 
 what is written. In short, as he pleases. That 
 
 1 To counteract any displeasure Cassar might have con- 
 ceived from Cicero's panegyric on Cato. 
 
 "' Young QuintuB Cicero. 
 
 » It may be observed, that the expression of returning 
 to the subject, is often used to mean, not returning to 
 what had been said before in the same letter, but return- 
 ing to any subject previously mentioned, especially if it bo 
 one of frequent recurrence. 
 
 Aristotle and Theopompus. See book xii. letter 4(1. 
 P CsBsar 
 
 1 See book xii. letter 46.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 78fl 
 
 Archimedean problem ', wliich once stimulated me, 
 and which 1 referred to you, is past. Now, indeed, 
 I wish for that issue or any issue ^, much more 
 ardently than 1 foimerly dreaded it. Unless some- 
 thing else i)revent you, I shall be very glad to see 
 you here. Nieias has been earnestly sent for by 
 Dolabella, for I read the letter ; and though it was 
 against my inclination, yet it was at my instance 
 that he went. This in my own hand. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 While I was inquiring of Nieias different 
 things relating to literary ])eople, I fell, as it were, 
 by chance upon the subject of Talna '. He made 
 no great account of his abilities, but said that he 
 •was modest and prudent. He added, however, 
 ■what I did not like, that he said he knew he had 
 lately paid his addresses to Cornifieia, the daughter 
 of Quintus", who was an old woman, and had 
 been married several times ; but the match was 
 not approved by the ladies, who found out that his 
 property did not exceed 800 sestertia (6400/.). 
 This I have thought it right you should know. I 
 have learned about the gardens, both from your 
 letter and from Chrysippus'. In the house, with 
 the dulness of which I was well acquainted, I 
 understand there has been little or no alteration. 
 However, he speaks well of the larger bath, and 
 says that out of the smaller may be constructed 
 some winter apartments"'. A covered place for 
 exercise must therefore be added ; which, if it is 
 made as large as that in Tusculanum, will not cost 
 much more than half the price, in this place. But 
 for that temple which I want, nothing seems more 
 appropriate than the grove with which I was for- 
 merly acquainted ; but at that time it was little 
 frequented ; now I hear it is very much so : there 
 is nothing that I should prefer to it. On this 
 subject I entreat you to bear with my extravagance. 
 It remains, that if Faberius pays me that debt, I i 
 •would not have you make a question about the 
 price. I would have you outbid Otho. At the 
 same time I do not suppose he will exceed the 
 Ijounds of reason ; for I think I know the man. 
 But I hear he has been so roughly" treated, that I 
 <io not think he will care to be a purchaser. What ? 
 Would he suffer ? — But vchy do I reason about it ? 
 If you settle this Faberian account, let me have it 
 though at a dear rate : if not, I must not think of 
 it even at a cheap one. Let us try Clodia there- 
 fore, from whom I entertain hope, both on account 
 of their being much cheaper, and because Dola- 
 
 ■■ This probably means the embarrassment in which he 
 found himself upon his return to Italy after the defeat of 
 Pompeius, of which he speaks so much in book xi., when 
 jie doubted what steps he ouijlit tu take to conciliate Csesar, 
 and dreaded the effects vf his displeasure. 
 
 s Banishment, or death, now appears more desirable to 
 him than a life of sorrow and dissatisfaction, after the loss 
 of his daughter, and loss of the freedom of the state. 
 
 t It seems probable tluit this may have been somebody 
 whom Atticus thought of as a husband for Attica. 
 
 1 Quintus Corniiicius. 
 
 » An architect under Cyrus, of whom mention was for- 
 merly made. See book ii. letter 3. 
 
 "■ The ancient Romans used to have summer and winter 
 oaartments, the latter of which Plinius calls hibcraacula. 
 tCp. ii. 17. 
 
 >: It is uncertain to what rough treatment Cicero refers. 
 
 bella's debt>' is on the point of being liquidated, 
 so that I may trust to paying in ready money. 
 Enough about the gardens. To-morrow I hope to 
 see you, unless some business j)revent ; which I 
 wish may be Faberius's. However, if you can. 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 I RETURN you Cicero'sMetter. O hard-hearted 
 man, who are not moved with his dangers* ! He 
 accuses me also. 1 should have sent you his 
 letter; for as to the other respecting his achieve- 
 ments, I take it to be a copy of yours. I have 
 sent a messenger to Cumanum to-day, to whom I 
 have entrusted your letter to Vestorius, which was 
 brought by Pharnaces. I had just despatched 
 Demea to you, when Eros arrived. But there 
 was no news in the letter he brought, excepting 
 that the sale*" would be in two days. Therefore 
 after that'', as you mention ; and 1 wish the Fabe- 
 rian business may [u-eviously have been settled. 
 Eros, says he"*, will not come to-day ; but thinks 
 he may to-morrow morning. You must pay him 
 attention ; though such flattery is not far removed 
 from guilt. I shall hope to see you the day after 
 to-morrow. Find out, if you can, who were the 
 ten commissioners sent to Mummius^. Polybius 
 does not mention their names. I remember only 
 the consular Albinus, and Sp. Mummius, and 
 think I have heard Hortensius name Tuditauus. 
 But in Libo's annals it appears that Tuditanus was 
 made jirittor fourteen years after Mummius'.s 
 consulship ; which does not accord. 1 think of 
 wTiting some political congress, supposed to be 
 held at Olympia, or where you will, after the 
 manner of your friend Dicaearchus. 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 On the morning of the 28tli I received by 
 Demea' a letter dated the day before, by which I 
 might expect you either to-day or to-morrow. But 
 I apprehend that longing, as I do, for your arrival, 
 I shall myself be the occasion of stopj)ing you. 
 For I cannot suppose the Faberian business will 
 be so soon despatched (even if it is in train) but 
 that it will meet with some impediment. When 
 you are at liberty therefore s ; as you are still likely 
 to be kept. I shall be glad if you will send me 
 the books of Dicsearchus, which you mention, and 
 likewise his Kari^acns ''. About the letter to 
 
 y Due to Cicero. 
 
 ^ Young Quintus's. See letter 2 of this book. 
 
 a This is said ironically of the dangers he had magnified 
 in his campaign with Caesar in Spain. 
 
 b Can this mean the sale of Scapula's gardens ? 
 
 <: After the sale j'ou will come to me. 
 
 ^ Faberius. 
 
 c See letters 4 and 6 of this book. 
 
 ' It appears by the preceding letter that Cicero had sent 
 this Deniea before to Atticus, and it is to be supposed that 
 he brought back a letter from Atticus to Cicero, which is 
 that spoken of. The expression of the text is liable to the 
 same ambiguity as that in the translation. 
 
 K The sense is obvious, that he wished Atticus to como 
 to him .as soon as he was at liberty. I liavc thought the 
 conclusion of the sentence was sufficiently clear, without 
 adding to the original. 
 
 '' Jleaning his book upon the descent into Trophonius's 
 cave, which was before mentioned. See book vi. letter 2, 
 3 E
 
 790 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 CjEsar I am quite determined. And the very thing 
 which they say lie mentions in his letter, that he 
 ■will not go against the Partliians till affairs at 
 home are settled, is the same that I advised in 
 my letter. But were it otherwise, whichever he 
 chose to do, he might, with my consent. For does 
 he wait for this forsooth? And will he do nothing 
 but hy my advice ? Let us, I beseech you, have 
 done with this, and be at least half-free ; which 
 we may yet be by saying nothing, and keeping 
 quiet. 15ut speak to Otho, as you jiropose ; and 
 make an end, my Atticus, of that business'. For 
 I can find no other place where I can be with you, 
 and yet not be in the f.irum. With regard to the 
 price, this has occurred to me. C. Albanius is the 
 nearest neighbour; who bought of M. Pilius 1000 
 • acres, as well as I remember, for 11,500 sestertiaJ 
 (92,000/.) ; and everything is now lower. But my 
 wishes are to be taken into the account ; in which 
 I am likely to have no rival besides Otho. Even 
 upon him you will be able to make some impres- 
 sion ; and the easier, if you have the assistance of 
 Canus"*. O silly gluttony' ! Let him suppose that 
 I maintain the sternness of a father'". You will 
 reply to his letter, if there is anything you wish to 
 say. 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 Having received a second letter from you to- 
 day, I did not care to leave you with only one in 
 return. Do as you mention in regard to Faberius ; 
 for on him depends the whole success of my design. 
 Had not this design been in agitation, (believe me 
 in this, as in everything else,) I should not trouble 
 myself. Therefore, as you do (for nothing can 
 exceed this) urge, insist, accomplish. I should 
 be glad if you would send me both books of Dicse- 
 archus on the Soul, and likewise that on the 
 Descent". I do not find his Tripoliticon, or the 
 letter which he sent to Aristoxenus. I now par- 
 ticularly want those ° three books ; they would be 
 convenient for the subject p which I have in con- 
 templation. The "Torquatus"i is at Rome : I have 
 desired it may be sent to you. The " Catulus" and 
 " LucuUus" ' I imagine you have had before ; but I 
 have made new introductions to these books, which 
 I wish you to have, containing an eulogium upon 
 each of these persons ; and there are some other 
 additions. You have not quite understood what I 
 
 ' Of the gardens. 
 
 J I conceive the figures ought to be interpreted Centies 
 decies qiiinquies. See book i. letter 2, note i. 
 
 ^ Q,. Gellius C'anus was an early friend of Atticus, men- 
 tioned by Corn. Nepos. 
 
 ' This probably alludes to some account, received 
 through Atticus, of his son's expensive living. 
 
 :•> That is, Putct me patris tueri partes. At that time 
 parents used great severity towards their children ; for 
 whom Plutarch therefore recommends the interference of 
 an uncle. — See Pint- Vlepl <i>iAa5eA.(J)i'os near the end. 
 
 " Entitled KaTafiaais, or the Descent into the Cave of 
 Trophonius. See letter 31 of this book. 
 
 The two treatises on the Soul, and that upon the 
 Descent. 
 
 P Probably his Tusculan Questions. 
 
 1 A treatise of Cicero's, so called from Torquatus being 
 the principal character named in it : perhaps the first book 
 of hi-i treatise " l)e l''inibus." See letter 5 of this book. 
 
 ' The original names of two books of his " Acadeniica." 
 See letter 12 of this book. 
 
 wrote to you about the ten commissioners ; which 
 I suppose was owing to my writing by abbrevia- 
 tions. For 1 meant to inquircMibout C. Tuditanus, 
 who I heard from Hortensiiis had been one of the 
 ten. But in Libo's annals 1 see that he was prae- 
 tor in the consulship of P. Popillius and P. Rupi- 
 lius. Could he then have been a commissioner 
 fourteen years before he was prietor ? Unless 
 indeed he became quEestor extremely late, which I 
 do not think was the case ; for I observe that he 
 had no difficulty in taking the curule ' offices at 
 the regular times. 1 knew that Posthumius was 
 one of them, whose statue you say you remember 
 at the Isthmus. It is he who was with LucuUus; 
 for whom I have to thank you, as a very proper 
 personage at that congress'. You will find out 
 then the others if you can ; that I may have & 
 splendid assemblage of characters. 
 
 LETTER XXXIIL 
 Strangk negligence ! Can you' suppose that 
 Balbus and Faberius had ever once told me the 
 declaration" was given in ? Moreover, it was by 
 their direction that I sent up on purpose to make 
 my declaration, which they said it was proper to. 
 do. It was made by the freed-man Philotimus. I 
 believe you are acquainted with the clerk^ : but 
 you will write to him, and that without delay. I 
 have sent a letter to Faberius, as you advise ; and 
 imagine you will have had some communication with. 
 Balbus to-day in the capitol. I have no scruple 
 in regard to Virgilius^'^. I have no reason for it 
 on his own account ; and if I should purchase, of 
 what will he have to complain .' But you must 
 take care, that, being in Africa, he does not act the 
 same part as Cselius^ You will see about the 
 account with Crispiusv. But if Plancus thinks 
 of it^, there may be some difficulty. You and I 
 are both of us desirous that you should come to 
 me ; but this business must not be left. This is 
 indeed good news, that you hope Otho may be 
 gained''. Respecting the valuation, as you say, 
 when we have entered upon the negotiation ; though 
 his letter only relates to the quantity of land. Con- 
 clude with Piso*" if you can. I have received 
 Dicsearchus's book, and expect the Kara^aais. 
 Give instructions to somebody about the commis- 
 
 « The pra?tors, consuls, censors, and chief aediles, were- 
 allowed to use particular carriages, currus, from whenco 
 they were called curule offices. 
 
 ' Which Cicero proposed to introduce in some new treac 
 tise. See letter 30 of this book. 
 
 " A declaration of each person's property was given in 
 to the censors every fifth year ; and in the interval, every 
 new accession was registered by the pr*tor. The declara- 
 tion here spoken of may probably relate to some assignment 
 of Faberius's property to Cicero. 
 
 " The secretary whose business it was to receive the 
 declaration. 
 
 »• Virgilius, one of the co-heirs of Scapula, appears to 
 have been in Africa in support of Pompeius's party, in- 
 consequence of which it is probable his share may have 
 been confiscated. 
 
 X In surrendering upon condition of recovering his pro- 
 perty. This Ca»lius is supposed to be a different person, 
 from him mentioned in letter 3 of this book 
 
 r Mentioned in book xii. letter 24. 
 
 » Designs to purchase the gardens. 
 
 a See letter 31 of this book. 
 
 b See book xii. letter 5.
 
 TO TITUS POMrONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 m 
 
 gioners*. He will find it in the book which con- 
 tains the decrees of the sena»e in the consulate of 
 Cn. Cornelius and L. Mummius. Your conjec- 
 tv.re about Tuditanus is very jirobable ; that, as 
 he was at Corinth, (for Ilortensius did not men- 
 tion it inconsiderately,) he was then either qutestor 
 or military tribune; and I rather suppose this to 
 have been the case. You will be able to ascertain 
 this from Autiochus. Learn also in wliat year he 
 was quiEstor, or military tribune. If neither 
 agrees, then, whether he was in the number of 
 the lieutenants or of the pages'' ; provided he was 
 in that war at all. I was speaking of Varro, and 
 behold the wolf in the fable =. For he came to 
 me, and at such a time, that I invited him to stay ; 
 but did not use so much violence as to tear his 
 coat'; for I remember that expression of yours; 
 and they were a large company, and I was not 
 prepared. Nevertheless, soon after came C. 
 Capito with T. Carrinas. Their coats I scarcely 
 touched^; yet they stayed, and it fell out very 
 well. But Capito, by chance, entered upon the 
 subject of enlarging the city ■> ; that the Tiber was 
 to be brought from the Mulvian bridge at the foot 
 of the Vatican hills ; that the Campus Martins 
 was to be built up, and the Vatican plain to be 
 converted into another Campus Martius. " What 
 do you say .' " cried I. " I am going to the auc- 
 tion, that, if I can with propriety, I may purchase 
 Scapula's gardens." " Take care how you do 
 it," says he ; " for the law will certainly be car- 
 ried, as it is Caesar's wish." I heard him very 
 patiently, but should be sorry to iiave it take place. 
 But what say you ? You know Capito's diligence 
 in seeking out news. He is not inferior to C^amil- 
 lus. Let me hear about the business of the 15th' ; 
 for it is that which brings me up. I had likewise 
 some other affairs, which, however, I can easily 
 transact two or three days later. But J by no 
 means wish you to be harassed with travelling. I 
 also forgive Dionysius. As to what you say about 
 Brutus, I have set him quite at liberty, as far as 
 relates to me ; for I wrote to him yesterday to say 
 that I had no occasion for his assistance on the 
 lothJ. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 I CAME to Astura the ■25th'*, having stopped 
 three hours at Lanuviura to avoid the heat. I 
 should be glad if you could without much trouble 
 get me excused from going to Rome before the 
 5th' ; which you can do through Egnatius. But, 
 above all, my principal'" concern is, that you 
 
 e Whose names lie wished to know. See letter 30 of this 
 book. 
 
 d Young men of family who went for instruction in the 
 suite of the (irovincial governors. 
 
 c As he spake of him, in he came. 
 
 ' I suppose this to allude to some joking expression 
 formerly used by Atticus. 
 
 S He did not press them to stay. 
 
 ^ See letter -20 of this hook. 
 
 ' See letter 25 of this hook. The day of Brinnius' sale. 
 
 J In the text is Idib. Mai., but it has justly been sus- 
 pected that this is an error, or false interpolation. The 
 month intended was probably July, the time of Brinnius' 
 sale. 
 
 Probably in July, after his return from Arpinum. 
 Of August. 
 
 n> I prefer the making Ma.rimmn begin the sentence; 
 for Cicero nowhere else joins it with Egnatius. 
 
 should complete the arrangement with Publilias" 
 while I may be considered as absent. Write me 
 word what is said about this. "As if the people 
 cared forsooth"." In truth, I apprehend not; for 
 it is an old story. But I wanted to fill the Jiage. 
 Why should 1 say more ? as 1 shall presently he 
 witli you, unless you ])ut it off. For I have already 
 written to you on the subject of the gardens. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 O DISGRACEFUL circumstance ! Your name- 
 sake'' is enlarging the city, which he never saw till 
 within these two years, and which he thinks too 
 little even to hold iiim. 1 exj)cct to hear from you 
 upon this subject. You say that you will present the 
 books 1 to Varro as soon as he arrives. He has 
 got them then by this time, and all doubt is at an 
 end. Ah ! if you could know what risk you run' ! 
 unless my letter has ju'rliajis stojijied you. But 
 you had not received it when you wrote last. 1 am 
 anxious to know therefore how the afiair stands. 
 
 LETTER XXXVL 
 
 Though what you tell me of Brutus's affection, 
 and your walk together, is nothing new, but the 
 very same that I have often heard before ; yet the 
 oftener, the more agreeable. And it is the more 
 gratifying to me, because you take pleasure in it; 
 and the more certain because it comes from you. 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 I SEND you this second letter to-day. Nothing 
 can be more convenient or more suitable than what 
 you mention about Xeno's debt, and the forty ses- 
 tertia (SOU/.) from Epirus ^ The younger Balbus 
 spake of that business' to me in the same manner. 
 There is nothing new, but that Hirtius disputed 
 sharply with Quititus' in my behalf; while he" con- 
 tinued everywhere, and especially in company, to 
 utter many calumnies first about me, then about 
 his own father. But nothing of what he said was 
 so plausible, as that we were both exceedingly hostile 
 towards Caesar ; that we were not to be trusted ; 
 and that I was even to be guarded against. It 
 was quite formidable ; but that I knew our king 
 was aware of my having no spirit left. He said 
 
 » Respecting his divorce from Publilia, and the repay- 
 ment of her dower. 
 
 o A well-known expression in the " Andria " of Teren- 
 tjus. 
 
 p This was probably some surveyor, at whose suggestion 
 Cassar may have thought of extending the city. 
 
 q The "Acadcmica," addressed to Varro. Which, though 
 done at Atticus' suggestion, yet Atticus seems to have 
 been afraid of recommending. See letter 25 of this book. 
 
 r Said in pleasant mockery of his friend's timidity. 
 
 » This money due to Atticus from his estates in Epirus, 
 and a debt from Xeno at Athens, [.see book v. letter lo,] 
 was proposed to be transferred to young Cicero in Athens, 
 and repaid by his f.ither at Itonie. 
 
 t The calumnies of young Quintus. who was with the 
 army in Spain. See book xii. letter 33. 
 
 u The nephew. 
 
 V (iuintus. 
 
 3E 'J
 
 78« 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 too that I was severe towards my son Cicero ; but 
 of that as he pleases. I aru glad 1 gave to Lepta's 
 messenger my jianegyric on I'orcia^' before I 
 received your letter. You will take care, therefore, 
 if you have any regard for me, that if it is sent to 
 Uoiuitius and jirutus, it may be sent in this form". 
 You will continue to give me daily information 
 about the gladiators >', and other subjects that are 
 blown about, as you call it. I should be glad, if 
 you think well of it, that you would call upon Bal- 
 bus and Oflilius about advertising the sale'. I spake 
 to Balbus myself, who agreed to it. I imagine Offi- 
 lius lias a written account of all the proi)erty. 
 Balbus has also. But Balbus wished for an early 
 day, and at Rome ; if Ctesar's arrival should be 
 delayed, the day might be ])Ut off. But he seems 
 to be just here. Therefore take the whole into 
 consideration ; for Vestorius has signified his 
 acquiescence ". 
 
 LETTER XXXVIIL 
 
 As I was writing ])efore dawn against the Epicu- 
 reans *", by the same lamp and labour*^ I scrawled 
 something to you, and sent it before it was light. 
 Afterwards, having slept again, v/hen I got up at 
 Bun-rise I received a letter from your sister's son •', 
 which I send you. The beginning of it is very 
 repioacbful ; but jierhaps " he did it without con- 
 sideration ••'." It runs thus: " I am sorry for 
 everything that can be said discreditably of you." 
 Meaning that many things might be said against 
 me, though he professed not to approve it. Can 
 anything be more foul ? But you shall read the 
 rest, and judge for yourself; for I inclose it to 
 you. You mentioned sometime since, that he was 
 struck with the daily and continual commendations 
 of our friend Brutus, such as many persons have 
 told me he bestows upon me. He' has said some- 
 thing about it to me, and I imagine to you, which 
 you will let me know. What he may have written 
 to his father about me, I cannot tell. But observe 
 how dutifully he speaks of his mother: " In order," 
 says he, " that I might be with you s as much as 
 possible, I wished to have a house hired for me, 
 and so I told you ; but you have not done it, so 
 that we shall be less togetner. For I cannot bear 
 to see that house; you know why." The reason 
 
 '«' Cato's sister, who had lately died. She was mother 
 to Domitius. See letter 48 of this book, which should have 
 preceded this. 
 
 '^ In the corrected form in which Cicero had sent it pre- 
 viously to his hearing from Atticus on tlie subject. 
 
 y To be exhibited upon Cesar's return from Spain. 
 
 ^ It is not certain what sale i.s here intended ; possibly 
 that of Cluvius's property. [See letter 4.5 of this book.] 
 Balbus probably acted as Cjesar's agent. 
 
 » That is, his readiness to have it take place at an early 
 day. 
 
 ^ The 2d book of his Tusculan Questions, on which he 
 was at this time engaged. 
 
 •'- ^\'riting before it was light, he of course wrote by a 
 lamp. The expres.sion '• lamp and labour" was familiar to 
 the Romans ; and though not so in English, it seemed de- 
 sir.ible nevertheless to preserve it in the translation. 
 
 ■^ Quintus. 
 
 « I suspect the Greek expression in the original to be 
 taken from some former letter of Atticus, written in ex- 
 tenuation of liis nephew's misconduct. 
 
 f Quintus the younger. 
 
 S His father, to whom this letter was written. 
 
 his father gives, is his aversion to his mother. 
 Now help me, my Atticus, with your advice. 
 " .Shall 1 mount the lofty wall of justice** .'" that 
 is, Kh;dl I openly spurn him, and cast him off.' 
 "Or shall 1 usethe crooked pathsofdissim\iliition?" 
 For I may add with Pindar — " to say the truth, my 
 mind is divided." The former is more suitable to 
 my disposition ; but perhaps the latter to the times. 
 Whatever be your opinion, be assured that mine is 
 the same. I am most ajiprehensive of his intrud- 
 ing upon me in Tusculanum. It would be easier 
 managed in a greater concourse. Shall I remove' 
 then to Astura ? What if Csesar should suddenly 
 arrive ? Help me, I beseech you, with your advice. 
 1 will do as you determine. 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 O VANITY beyond belief J ! To tell his father 
 that he must absent himself from home on account 
 of his mother ! How dutiful ! But his father 
 already relaxes, and says that his son had reason to 
 be angry with him. I will, however, follow your 
 advice ; for I see you prefer the crooked **. I will 
 go to Rome, as you recommend, though against 
 my inclination ; for I am deeply engaged in 
 writing. By the same opportunity, you say I shall 
 see Brutus, But were it not for that other reason ', 
 this circumstance '" would not bring me up : for 
 he does not come from whence I could wish " ; 
 luir has he been long absent, or ever written to me. 
 But yet I want to know how his journey has turned 
 out ". I should be glad if you would send me the 
 bodks which 1 before mentioned to you, especially 
 those of Phaedrus, entitled UepLaadi' and 'EWddus '*. 
 
 LETTER XL. 
 
 Does Brutus say this, that Caesar brings good 
 tidings to worthy people.' But where will he find 
 them ? Unless perhaps he hangs him.self i. But 
 here what support he meets with ! Where then is 
 that device of yours, which I saw in the Parthenon/, 
 
 •' Taken from Pindar, and quoted more at length by 
 Plato in his Republic. 
 
 ' To be out of Quintus's way. 
 
 J I have supposed it ought to be written mcredibilem. 
 
 ^ This relates to the crooked paths of dissimulation men- 
 tioned in the preceding letter. 
 
 ' To avoid encountering his nephew in Tusculanum. 
 
 '" The meeting Brutus. 
 
 » Cicero did not approve of Brutus s paying court to 
 Cassar by going so far to attend him on his return to 
 Rome. 
 
 " One object of his journey seems to have been the ob- 
 taining the prcetorship through C.xsar"s favour. 
 
 P Commentators are not agreed alxjut the text, and it is 
 in vain to conjecture what these books might be. 
 
 1 This may probably allude to something previously said 
 by Atticus. It appears to be meant of Caesar, who having 
 occasioned the death of so many good citizens, could only 
 find in the regions of the dead any deserving that name. 
 
 "■ It seems most probable that this may mean some 
 library, or gallery, belonging to Brutus, so called from the 
 temple at Athens, and in which he might, by the advice 
 of Atticus, luiYtf pUiced statues, or pictures, of h.is ances- 
 tors Brutus and Ahala, tlie assertors of their country's 
 liberty, the first against Tarquinius, the second against 
 Q. Melius.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 riw 
 
 of Aliala and Brutus ? But what can he do ? I 
 am i)k'ased with what follows', that not even he', 
 who has been the source of all our atrocities, thinks 
 well of our nepliew. I had feared that even Bru- 
 tus might entertain aflection for him : for so he 
 intimated in the letter he wrote in reply to mine. 
 I wish he " had tasted some of his "■' stories. But, 
 as you say, when we meet. Yet what do you 
 advise ? that 1 should go up ? or stay ? To say 
 the truth, I am both entangled in my books, and 
 unwilling to receive him" here. I understand his 
 father is gone to-day to meet him at the Acrono- 
 man rocks". It is surprising how angry he went ; 
 so that I was obliged to check him. But I am 
 myself easily changed. Therefore I must hereafter 
 take care how I conduct myself y. But consider 
 ■what you think of my going up ; and, if it can 
 be clearly seen to-morrow, let me be informed of 
 everything early in the morning ^ 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 I HAVE sent to Quintus the letter for your 
 sister. Upon his complaining of the quarrel 
 between young Quintus and his mother, (on which 
 account he told his son that he would remove from 
 his house ",) I mentioned that he had written a very 
 proper letter to his mother, but none to you. He 
 was surprised at the first circumstance ; but with 
 regard to you, he said the fault rested with him- 
 self, as he had repeatedly written to his son 
 in terms of severity respecting your unkindness 
 towards him. But upon his saying that he relented, 
 I told him (after reading your letter recommend - 
 ing** dissimulation) that I should not be angry with 
 him. For then came on the mention of Cana<^. 
 And indeed, if that proposal should be adopted, it^ 
 became necessary. But, as you observe, some 
 attention must be paid to our own dignity ; and 
 we ought both to be in the same mind, though his 
 offence towards me is thegreaterandmorenotorious. 
 But if Brutus brings anything conciliatory, we 
 must not hesitate. When we meet, however : for 
 it is a thing of some moment, and requires caution. 
 To-morrow therefore '^, unless I receive from you 
 some further leave ' of absence. 
 
 » In Atticus's letter. 
 
 ' Caesar. 
 
 " Brutus. 
 
 ' Quintus' stories against Cicero. 
 
 ^^ Quintus. 
 
 ^ The text is uncertain, and tlie place unknown. 
 
 y So I conceive the sentence ought to be completed ; 
 meaning that he must be careful how he reproached his 
 nephew, whom he might soon after have occasion to 
 defend, as in the present instance. 
 
 ^ Early on the day after to-morrow. He wanted to 
 receive from Atticus an early account of everything relat- 
 ing to Caesar's approach, that he might regulate his mea- 
 sures accordingly. 
 
 » See letter 37 of this book. 
 
 b See letter 38 of this book. 
 
 c To be proposed as a match for Quintus. 
 
 <* It was necessary to dissemble his displeasure. 
 
 * I shall sec you in liome. 
 
 ' Some intimation tliat I need not so soon go up to Rome. 
 See letter 43 of this book. 
 
 LETTER XLIL 
 
 He k came to me, and was very much dejected ; 
 upon which I said, but what makes you so 
 thoughtful .' Do you ask, says he, one who has a 
 joiirney to perform ; and a journey to the war, and 
 that a dangerous and a disgraceful one*"? What 
 then obliges you to go.' said L My debts, he 
 replied ; and yet I have not even enough to sup- 
 port me on the road. In this place 1 borrowed 
 something from your eloquence, and held my 
 tongue. But, he went on to say, I am most of all 
 vexed about my uncle. On what account ? said I. 
 Because, says he, he is angry with me. Why do 
 you suffer it .' I said. (For 1 chose rather to say 
 so, than, why do you give occasion for it .') I will 
 not suffer it, says he ; for I will remove the cause 
 of it. You do rightly, said I ; but if it is not 
 troublesome, I should be glad to know what the 
 cause may be. Because, whilst I was deliberating 
 whom I should marry, 1 did not satisfy my mother, 
 and so did not satisfy him. But at present there 
 is nothing I so much wish ', and am ready to do 
 what they desire. I hope it will turn out well, 
 said 1, and I commend you. But l>ow soon ? I am 
 indifferent about the time, said he, since I approve 
 of the thing. But I think, said I, that it should be 
 before you set out ; for so you will give satisfaction 
 also to your father. 1 will do, says he, as you 
 advise. So ended this dialogue. But hark you : 
 you recollect that my birth-day is the 3d of 
 January ; you will accordingly be with me. Just 
 as I had finished my letter, see here, Lepidus begs 
 me to come up. I imagine the augurs have nothing 
 to do in the way of consecrating a temple. But let 
 us go '. I shall therefore see you. 
 
 LETTER XLIII. 
 I SHALL certainly avail myself of this delay of a 
 day ; and you have done very kindly to let me 
 know it, and in such a manner as to write yourself 
 immediately from the sports, and to let me get 
 your letter at a time when I did not expect it. 
 I have indeed some business to transact in Rome, 
 but I can do it two days later. 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 Your letter was most pleasing, however un- 
 pleasant the circumstance of the procession''. But 
 yet it is not unpleasant toknow everything, even that 
 affair of Cotta'. The populace indeed behaved 
 
 !f Young Quintus. 
 
 t Against the Parthians, by whom Crassus had been 
 defeated and slain. 
 
 ' As to give them satisfaction. 
 
 J Here follow two Greek words, probably corrupted, and 
 rendered little more intelligible by the conjectures of com- 
 mentators. 
 
 •< The procession here spoken of seems to have been that 
 called Circensian, exhibited in the Circus Maximus, where 
 the images of the gods were dra\%-n along with great pomp 
 previously to the exhibition of the games. On this, occasion 
 Ca;sar's image was also drawn next to that of Victory, by 
 an adulatory decree of the senate. 
 
 1 It is supposed that Cotta, even at this time, began to 
 speak of making Ca>sar a king, on pretence of some obscure 
 prophecy that the Parthians could only be conquered by a 
 king.
 
 ■do 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 nobly in giving no applause even to the statue of 
 Victory, on account of its bad neighbour "'. Brutus 
 has been with me, and wished me very much to write 
 something to Caesar; to which I agreed ; but on con- 
 dition that he would see the procession". And have 
 you ventured to present the books to Varro ° ? 1 
 am anxious to know what he may think of them. 
 But when will he read them ? I quite approve of 
 your conduct about Attica p. It is something to 
 have the mind elevated with the sight, as well as 
 with the awe and celebrity, of the ceremony. I 
 should be glad if you would send me Cotta'i. Libo 
 1 'have with rac, and 1 had Casca before. Brutus 
 has informed me upon the authority of T. Ligarius, 
 that the naming of L. Curfidius in the Ligarian 
 speech is my mistake ; but, as they say, an error of 
 memory. 1 knew that C^urfidius was very intimate 
 with the family of Ligarius ; but 1 see that he had 
 died previously. Therefore give instructions to 
 Pharnaces, Antseus, and Salvius'', to erase that 
 name fiom all the copies. 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 Lamia was with me after you left me ; and he 
 brought me a letter he had received from Cffisar, 
 ■which, though it was dated antecedently to those 
 brought by Diochares «, yet plainly declared his 
 intention of coming before the Roman games '. At 
 the end of it he desired that Lamia" would make 
 every preparation for the games, so that he might 
 not hurry up to no purpose. By this letter there 
 seemed to be no doubt of his arriving before that 
 time ; and Lamia said that Balbus upon reading 
 that letter was of the same opinion. I find I have 
 some additional holidays^'; but how many, do, if 
 you love me, let me know. You will be able to 
 learn from Babius, or from your other neighbour 
 Egnatius. When you exhort me to employ those 
 days in expounding philosophy, you urge one who 
 is already running. But you perceive that I must 
 spend that time with Dolabella. Were I not 
 detained by Torquatus's business ''', I should be 
 able to run down to Puteoli "^j and return in time. 
 Lamia, it seems, had heard from Balbus that there 
 was a large sum of money in the housed, which 
 ought to be divided as soon as possible ; and a great 
 
 "> Csesar. 
 
 " From which he would he ahle to judge how high Ca;sar 
 was raised above the level of any modest address. See 
 letter 28 of this book. 
 
 See letter 25 of this book. 
 
 P In taking her to the Circensian procession. 
 
 1 Cotta, Lilio, and Casca, liere mentioned, seem to 
 mean certain works of which they were respectively tlie 
 authors, as we say familiarly Locke, or Pope, meaning the 
 books written by them. 
 
 r Atticus's librarians or clerks, 
 
 s A freed-man of Caesar. See book xi. letter 6. 
 
 ' These began September 4. 
 
 " Lamia was at this time aedile, to which office was 
 attached the care of the public games. 
 
 ^ That the necessary time of his going to Rome was 
 postponed. 
 
 "' It has appeared by some former letters that Cicero 
 wanted to serve his friend Torquatus tlirough the influence 
 of Dolabella. See letter 9 of this book. 
 
 * To take possession of part of Cluvius's property, to 
 which he had succeeded. See letter 46 of this book. 
 
 y Clu\ius'£ bouse. 
 
 amount of plate, besides the lands ; that an auction 
 ought to take j)lace at the earliest time. I wish 
 you would write me word what you think best to be 
 done. For my own part, if I had to choose out of 
 all, I could not easily find anybody more diligent, 
 or more ready, or more friendly towards me, than 
 Vestorius ; to whom I have written very par- 
 ticularly, and imagine that you have done the 
 same. This appears to me sufficient. What say 
 you .' For the only thing I am afraid of is, that 
 1 may seem too negligent. I shall therefore hope 
 to hear from you. 
 
 LETTER XLVL 
 
 PoLLEX* told me he would be back by the 13th 
 of August, and accordingly came to me at Lanu- 
 vium the 12th. But he is rightly called Pollex, not 
 Index*. You will learn therefore from himself. I 
 called upon Balbus : for Lepta, who was anxious 
 about the games **, brought me to him by force, iu 
 that Lanuvian villa which he has given up to 
 Lepidus. From him the first thing I heard was 
 this — " A little while ago I received that letter, in 
 which he strongly confirms his intention of return- 
 ing before the Roman games." I read the letter. 
 There is a great deal about my " Cato" '^, from the 
 repeated perusal of which he says that he is grown 
 more copious ; whilst from the reading of Brutus's 
 "Cato" he appears to himself eloquent. From him"* 
 I learned the inheritance of Cluvius's property. O 
 negligent Vestorius ! A free* inheritance, before 
 witnesses^, within sixty days. I was afraid it would 
 be necessary to send for him s. Now I must send 
 to desire he will accept by my order. This same 
 Pollex may therefore return ••. I have also had 
 some liberal conversation with Balbus about Clu- 
 vius's gardens, in which he promised to write to 
 Csesar immediately. He said that Cluvius had 
 charged Titus Hordeonius with a legacy of 50,000 
 sestertii (400/.) to Terentia, with the expense of a 
 monument, and several other things ; but that 
 there was no charge upon me. Pray, gently 
 reprove Vestorius. What can be more discredit- 
 able, than that Plotiiis the perfumer should so long 
 before have informed Balbus of everything by his 
 slaves ; and that he ' should not have informed me 
 even by my own. I am sorry for Cossinius, for I 
 had a great regard for him. If anything should 
 remain aft-er paying my debts and my purchases, I 
 will send it to Quintus ; but I apprehend these 
 will oblige me even to contract new ones. I know 
 nothing about the house at Arpinum. 
 
 » This appears to have been one of Cicero's messengers 
 [see book xi. letter 4] ; perhaps the same who, in book viii. 
 letter 5, is called Pollux. 
 
 » Pollex in Latin signifies the thumb, index the fore- 
 finger. Index likewise signifies one who gives information. 
 Cicero, by saying he was no index, insinuates that he 
 brought little information. 
 
 b He wanted to have the charge of the games to be cele- 
 brated in honour of Caesar's return. 
 
 c His panegyric upon Cato. Brutus likewise published 
 something on the subject of his uncle Cato. 
 
 d Balbus. 
 
 e A free inheritance might probably mean one unin- 
 cumbered with conditions. 
 
 f It was to be accepted before witnesses. 
 
 ? Vestorius. ^ To PuteolL 
 
 ' Vestorius.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 791 
 
 There is no occasion for your accusing Vestorius. 
 For after I had sealed this letter, my messenger 
 arrived in the night, and brought me a letter from 
 him written with great exactness, and likewise a 
 ■copy of the will. 
 
 LETTER XLVII. 
 
 As soon as your servant Agamemno touched 
 upon the subject, not of my going up, (though I 
 would have done that also, if it had not been for 
 Torquatus,) but of my wi'iting ; I immediately 
 stopped my business, laid aside what I had in hand, 
 and have executed what you desired. I shall be 
 glad to have you made acquainted with the account 
 of my expenses J through Pollex. For it would not 
 be creditable to me to leave him ^ in distress tins 
 first year, whatever may have been his conduct. 
 Afterwards I shall regulate matters more carefully. 
 This same Pollex must be sent back to accept' on 
 my behalf. It was impossible for me to go to 
 Puteoli"', as well for the reasons I mentioned to 
 you", as on account of Ctesar's approach. Dola- 
 bella writes word that he will come to me the 14th. 
 How irksome is it to be subject to a master"! 
 Yesterday evening Lepidus wrote to me from 
 Antium, where he was staying, — for he has the 
 house which I sold. He requests me with great 
 ■earnestness to attend the senate on the first ; that 
 I should greatly oblige both himself and Csesar. T 
 imagine it is nothing, else Oppius would probably 
 have said something to you, — forBalbusisill. How- 
 •ever, I would rather go up to no purpose, than 
 be away if there should be any real occasion. I 
 should be sorry for it afterwards. Therefore to- 
 ■day I shall be at Antium ; to-morrow before noon 
 I sliall reach home p. If nothing prevents you, I 
 •wish you and Pilia would dine with me on the 3lst. 
 I hope you have settled everything with Publiliusi. 
 I shall run back to Tusculanum on the 1st; for I 
 "would rather everything should be arranged with 
 them ■■ in my absence. I send you my brother 
 ■Quintus's letter ; not a very kind reply to mine, but 
 yet such as may give you satisfaction, so far as I 
 can judge. You will see. 
 
 LETTER XLVIIL 
 
 Yesterday in the midst of noise' I fancy I 
 heard something about your coming to Tuscula- 
 num ; which I wish, and wish again ; yet with 
 your own convenience. Lepta requests that, if his 
 
 j The expenses he had been at for his son at Athens. 
 
 k Cicero's son. 
 
 1 To accept formally Cluvius's bequest. See letter 46 of 
 this book. 
 
 ™ The seat of Cluvius's estate. 
 
 " Respecting Torquatus. See letter 45 of this book. 
 
 « This has been variously interpreted. I understand it 
 "to be expressive of his indignation at being obliited to sub- 
 mit to tlie directions of Dolabclla and Lepidus, in order to 
 conciliate Caesar's favour. 
 
 P By home, he here and elsewhere means his house in 
 Kome. 
 
 1 Brother to Cicero's second wife. See letter 34 of this 
 book. 
 
 ' The family of Publilia, respecting the re-payment of 
 lier dower. 
 
 • At Rome. 
 
 affairs demand it, I will go up, — for BabuUius is 
 dead. Csesar, I believe, inherits one twelfth, 
 though nothing has yet transpired. Lepta succeeds 
 to a third ; but he is afraid he may not be allowed 
 to take possession of the iidieritance. There is no 
 reason for this ; but, however, he is afraid. If 
 therefore he sends for me, I shall hasten up, — else 
 I shall not go before it is necessary. Send back 
 Pollex as soon as you can. I have sent you the 
 panegyric on Porcia ' corrected ; and I have done 
 it the sooner, that if it should happen to be sent to 
 her son Domitius, or to Brutus, it may be sent in 
 this form. If you can conveniently do it, I should 
 be greatly obliged to you to attend to this ; and I 
 wish you would send me the panegyric " of M. 
 Varro and of LoUius, especially LoUius's, for the 
 other I have read, yet I want to look at it again, — 
 for there are some parts which I hardly recollect. 
 
 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 1 MUST first send my compliments to Attica^', 
 who, I suppose, is in the country ; then give my 
 best compliments to Pilia likewise. Let me hear 
 of Tigellius, if there is anything new ; for, as Gal- 
 lus Fabius informs me, he brings against me a mosc 
 unjust charge of having deserted Phamea, after 
 undertaking his cause. This I undertook, not with 
 my good liking, against the young Octaviuses, the 
 sons of Cnseus ; hut I agreed to it out of regard to 
 Phamea. For, if you remember, he had promised 
 me through you, to assist me in my canvass for the 
 consulship, if there should be any occasion, which 
 I looked upon in the same light as if I had actually 
 made use of liim. He came to me, and said that 
 the judge had appointed to hear his cause on the 
 very day when it was necessary for me to attend the 
 council about my friend Sestius by the Pompeian 
 law : for you know the days for those judgments 
 are fixed. I replied that he could not be ignorant 
 of my obligations to Sestius ; that if he had taken 
 any other day whatever, I would not fail him. 
 Upon this he went away angry. I believe I told 
 you about it. However, I did not make myself 
 uneasy, nor did I think it necessary to pay atten- 
 tion to the unmerited displeasure of one with 
 whom I was unconnected. I mentioned however 
 to Gallus, when I was lately at Rome, what I had 
 heard, but without naming the younger Balbus". 
 Gallus, as he writes word, had some business of his 
 own. He says that Tigellius suspects me of hav- 
 ing injured him from a consciousness of infideUty 
 towards Pbamea. 1 therefore send you this detail, 
 that, if you can, you may learn something about 
 this friend '= of mine. Do not be in any trouble 
 about me'': it is well, if anybody be allowed to 
 
 t See letter 37 of this book. 
 
 ^ Likewise upon Porcia. 
 
 V Tlie particular occasion of this appears, by letter 50 of 
 this book, to have been Attica's recovery from some illness, 
 on wliich he congratulates both her and her mother. 
 
 »■ From whom it is to bo presumed that Cicero had 
 he-ird of something said or done unkindly by Tigellius 
 towards him. 
 
 " This seems to me to mean Tigellius, and is to be under- 
 stood sneeringly. Tigellius was grandson to Phamea. — 
 Ep. Fam. vii. 24. 
 
 y Tigellius was a singer in the train of Caesar. Cicero 
 says that he had nothing to apprehend from his hostility.
 
 Y92 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 hate at his own free-will ' ; it has an appearance of 
 not being entirely slaves. Though indeed, as you 
 perceive, those people" are rather slaves to me, if 
 paying attention be the test of servitude. 
 
 LETTER L. 
 
 Having been advised in some of your letters to 
 write to Csesar in a more copious manner, and 
 having lately understood from Halbus in Lanuvium, 
 that he and Oppius had written to Csesar, and in- 
 formed him of my having read and greatly com- 
 mended his book against Cato, I have written a 
 letter to Caesar, on tlie subject of this book, to be 
 delivered to Dolabella. But I sent a copy of it to 
 Oppius and Balbus, and have desired them not to 
 let my letter be delivered to Dolabella, unless they 
 approve of the copy. They have replied to me, 
 that they never read anything better, and they 
 ordered the letter to be given to Dolabella. Vesto- 
 rius has written to me todirect the Brinnian estate '' to 
 be surrendered on my part to one Hetereius, bis 
 servant ; in order that he "= might himself properly 
 surrender to him ^ thaf^ at Puteoli. If you approve 
 of this, send that servant to me. I imagine Vesto- 
 rius will also have written to you. On the subject 
 of Caesar's coming, I have heard from Oppius and 
 Balbus the same as from you. I am surprised you 
 shouldyet have had no communication withTigellius, 
 if it be only to know how much he has received'. 
 I am curious to know, though I care not a farthing. 
 You ask what I thiak about going to meet him^: 
 what think you of my going as far as Alsium ? I 
 have even written to Mursena about receiving me ; 
 but I apprehend he is gone forward with Matius. I 
 shall therefore apply to Sallustius. Just as I had 
 written this last hne, Eros has informed me that 
 Murasna made him the kindest answer, I shall 
 therefore lodge with him, — for Silius has no beds : 
 and Dida, I believe, has his house quite full. 
 
 LETTER LL 
 
 I FORGOT to send you a copy of my letter to 
 Caesar, which was not, as you suspect, because I 
 was ashamed of your seeing it, lest in ridicule I 
 should be called Micillus ^. In faith, I have writ- 
 ten no otherwise than to one on a par and equality; 
 for I think well of that book', as I told you in 
 person. I wrote therefore without flattery, and 
 yet so that I thiuk he will read nothing with more 
 pleasure. I am now at length satisfied about 
 Attica: therefore congratulate her again. Tell 
 me all about Tigellius, and as soon as you can, — • 
 for I am in great doubt. I can inform you that 
 Quintus comes to-morrow ; but whether to me or 
 
 ^ That any one, as Tigellius, should be permitted to 
 love or hate, but at his master's will. 
 
 « Caesar's followers, in imitation of their leader, paid 
 great attention to Cicero. 
 
 b See letter 14 of this book. c Vestorius. 
 
 d Hetereius. 
 
 ^ Cluvius's estate. See letter 46 of this book. 
 
 f From Caesar. 
 
 K Csesar, who was on his return from Spain. 
 
 •> The meaning of this is not exactly known. It proba- 
 bly alludes to some story that has since been lost. 
 
 i Cffisar's " Anti-Cato." See the preceding letter. 
 
 to you I am uncertain. He wrote me word that \\e 
 should come to Rome the '25th ; but I have .'<ent 
 to invite liim J, though it obliges me to go presently 
 to Rome, that he may not arrive before me. 
 
 LETTER LII. 
 
 O THE troublesome guest 'M But I had no 
 reason to repent of it : for it turned out very 
 pleasantly. Upon his arrival at I'iiilippus's on the 
 evening of the second day of the Saturnalia ', the 
 house was so filled with soldiers, that there was 
 scarcely space left for Caesar himself to dine. 
 There were 2000 people. I was indeed disturbed 
 at thinking what would be the case the next day'". 
 Barba Cassius came to my assistance, and set a 
 guard. An encampment was formed in the fields ; 
 the house was secured. On the third of the 
 Saturnalia, he remained at Philippus's till one la 
 the afternoon, and did not admit anybody. I 
 imagine he was settling his accounts with Balbus: 
 then he walked on the beach. After two o'clock 
 he went into the bath ; then he heard about Ma- 
 murra " : he never changed countenance : he was 
 anointed, and sat down to table, following an emetic 
 course". So he ate and drank without reserve, 
 and in good-humour ; sumptuously indeed, and 
 with due preparation ; and not only that, but 
 " with good conversation well digested and sea- 
 soned, and, if you ask, cheerfuUyP." His attend- 
 ants were besides entertained at three tables very 
 plentifully. Nor was anything wanting for the in- 
 ferior freed-men and slaves ; while those of higher 
 condition were elegantly served. In short, I 
 thought myself a man ^ again. Yet my guest was 
 not one to whom you would say — " Pray come to 
 me in the same manner when you return." Once 
 is enough. There was nothing of importance in 
 the conversation, but a great deal of liberal learning. 
 In short, he was highly pleased, and enjoyed 
 himself. He said he should pass one day at 
 Puteoli, and one at Baise. You have here the 
 account of my hospitality or forced "■ entertainment, 
 which was hateful to me, I say, not disagreeable. 
 I shall stay here* a little while, then go to Tuscu- 
 lanura. As he passed Dolabella's villa, the whole 
 body of armed men ranged themselves on each side 
 of his horse ', which was done nowhere else. This 
 I heard from Nicias. 
 
 In the interval between tfiis and the subsequent book, Caesar 
 had been killed by a conspiracy of distinguished men 
 jealous of their country's liberty. At the head of thert 
 were M. Brutus and C. Cassius the prcetors.'] 
 
 3 At Cicero's house in Rome. 
 
 k This may be considered as spoken by Cicero in antici- 
 pation of Caesar's visit. 
 
 I The 21st of December. 
 
 "1 When Cicero was to receive him. 
 
 " JManiurra had realised a great fortune in Caesar's ser- 
 vice. It is supposed that C'atullus's verses on Mamurra- 
 may have been read, reflecting also upon Csesar. 
 
 A course prescribed to such as were using vomits, 
 which seems to have been familiar to the ancient Romans. 
 
 P The preceding sentence is a verse of Lucilius. 
 
 1 It put him in mind of former times under a free 
 government. 
 
 "■ In the original is a Greek word signifying a foroedt 
 reception for the retinue of a prince. ^ At Astura. 
 
 * This was probably intended as a mark of honour.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 79a 
 
 BOOK XIV. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 I HAVE been to call upon the person " about 
 whom I spoke to you tliis morning. He said no- 
 thing could be more ruinous ; that the state could 
 never be settled. For if he'', with all his abilities, 
 found no way of doing it, who will now find any ? 
 In short, he said that all was ruined. I know not 
 if it be so. But he affirmed, with apparent satis- 
 faction, that in less than twenty days there would 
 be an insurrection in Gaul ; that, for his own part, 
 since the lf>th of March *^ he had conversed with 
 nobody besides Lepidus ; in conclusion, that it was 
 impossible thiags should stop here. O prudent 
 Oppius ! who does no less regret Csesar, while he 
 says nothing that can give offence to any honest 
 man. But enough of this. Whatever new occurs 
 (and I e.xpect a great deal), I beg you will not fail 
 to write. Among other things, whether this is 
 certain about Se.xtus " : but above all about our 
 friend Brutus ; of whom Cfesar used to say (as I 
 heard from him with whom I have been), that " it 
 is of great importance what he wishes ; for what- 
 ever he wishes, he wishes strongly." He y took 
 notice of this, when he^ spoke for Deiotarus at 
 Nice, "that beseemed to speak with great ve- 
 hemence and freedom." Likewise (for I like to 
 write everything as it occurs) very lately, when I 
 was at his house by desire of Sestius, and sat down 
 till I was called, he* said : " Can I doubt of my 
 being greatly hated, when M. Cicero is obliged to 
 wait, and cannot get an audience at his own con- 
 venience ? Yet if anybody is gracious, it is he ; 
 nevertheless I doubt not that he hates me bitterly." 
 This he '' told me, and much more of the same 
 kind. But to my purpose. Whatever may happen, 
 not only of great, but also of little moment, you 
 will inform me. On my part I will omit nothing. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 Yesterday I received two letters from you. 
 By the first I learned the circumstances of the 
 theatre, and Publius"^ ; good indications of the con- 
 currence of the populace. The applause, which 
 ■was given to L. Cassius, has even some pleasantry"*. 
 The other letter is upon the subject of Bald Cape *, 
 
 " Blatius. See letters 3 and 4 of this book. 
 
 » CjEsar. 
 
 " The day on which Cssar had been killed. 
 
 ^ Sextus Pompeius, who had collected a considerable 
 force in Spain. 
 
 7 Caesar. ^ Brutus. 
 
 a Caesar b Matius. 
 
 « Probably some actor, who may have been cheered in 
 the theatre for allusion to the downfall of tvranny. See 
 letter 3 of this book. 
 
 ^ L. Cassius being applauded not for any merit of his 
 own, but because his brother C. Cassius had been one of 
 those concerned in killing Caesar. 
 
 ^ There is no doubt of Matius being intended under the 
 name of Madarus, which in Greek signifies bald, the sub- 
 sequent word (pa\dKpo>fxa signifying a bald head, or naked 
 headland, such as usually protects a harbour. But in 
 this ii^stance it afforded so little hope of tranquillity, that 
 Cicero did not remain there ; Matius being evidently hos- 
 
 which affords however no safe harbour, as yott 
 suppose. For I went on, though not so far as I 
 had intended, being detained a long time in conver- 
 sation. What I wrote to you, obscurely perhaps, 
 was this ; he said tliat Ctesar had observed to him, 
 upon the occasion of my being kept waiting, whea 
 1 went to him at Sestius's request : " Can 1 now be 
 so foolish as to sujipose this easy man will be 
 friendly to me, after he has been kept so long 
 waiting for my convenience .'" Y'ou have then a 
 " bald cape " very unfriendly to tranquillity ; that 
 is, to Brutus. I am going to-day to Tusculanum, 
 to-morrow to Lanuvium ; thence I mean to pro- 
 ceed to Astura. Everything is ready for Pilia's 
 reception ' ; but I want likewise to see Altica, 
 though I forgive yous. My compliments to both 
 of them. 
 
 LETTER in. 
 
 Your letter is still peaceful. I wish this may 
 last ; for Matius said it was impossible. And my 
 workmen, mark you, who went to purchase corn, 
 returned empty-handed, and brought a strong 
 report from Rome that all the corn was taken to 
 Antonius's house. This is certainly a false alarm, 
 or you would have written to inform me. Balbus's 
 freed-man Corumbus has not yet been here. The 
 name is familiar to me ; for he is said to be a 
 clever architect. You seem to have been employed 
 to countersign '' not without reason ; for so these 
 people would have us think ■. 1 do not know why 
 they should not feel it also in their heart. But 
 what are these things to me ? However, scent out 
 Antonius's real disposition. T suspect him rather 
 of solicitude about his table, than of designing any 
 mischief. If you have anything of importance, 
 let me know it ; or if not, tell me the indications 
 of popular feeling, and the sayings of the actors K 
 Compliments to Pilia and Attica. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 What news do you suppose I can have at La- 
 nuvium ? But I imagine that you there ^ must 
 every day receive some fresh intelligence. The 
 times are pregnant with business. For when 
 Matius' is so indisposed to peace, what think you of 
 others ? I am grieved indeed that (what never 
 
 tile to Brutus, from whose cause alone tranquillity could 
 be expected. 
 
 f At Cumanum. See letter 17 of this book. 
 
 e Forgive you for keeping her with you. 
 
 1» To set his seal as witness to the wills of some of Caesar's 
 party, who wished to secure Cicero's friendship by their 
 bequests, to which AMicus was privy. 
 
 ' Think them to be Cicero's friends. It alludes to some- 
 thing previously mentioned by Atticus. 
 
 J It seems to have been customary for the comic actors- 
 to insert passages calculated to catch the public mind. See- 
 book ii. letter 1!). 
 
 k At Rome. 
 
 ' Matius had on a former occasion been mentioned as a 
 person of moderation and prudence, supposed to be a friend' 
 to peace. See book ix. letter 2.
 
 794 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 happened in any other state) together with liberty 
 the republic should not have been restored. What 
 is talked of, and threatened, is dreadful. I am 
 afraid also of hostilities in Gaul, and what Sextus ' 
 may attempt. But whatever happens, this 15th of 
 March is a consolation. Our heroes "', as far as 
 lay in them, have acted gloriously and magnifi- 
 cently. What remains to be done, requires sup- 
 ))Iies and forces, of which we have none. I write 
 this, thatif there is anything new, (forevei'y day I ex-' 
 pect something), you may immediately let me know 
 -it; and if there is nothing new, yet that, according 
 to custom, our correspondence may suffer no inter- 
 ruption. 1 will take care it shall not on my jiart. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Having used abstinence before you were seri- 
 ously indisposed, I hope that all is now as I could 
 wish ; yet I should be glad to know how you do. 
 It is a good sign, that Calvena " is uneasy at byjng 
 suspected by Brutus. But this is no gcod sign, 
 tl'jit the legions are coming with their ensigns from 
 Gaul. What do you think of those which have 
 been in Spain .-' Will they not make the same 
 demands ° .' What pf those which Annius took 
 over P .' I should have said Caninius, but it was 
 a slip of the memory. There will be greut confu- 
 sion excited by this gamester '. For that con- 
 spiracy of Ciesar's freed-men might easily be put 
 dowri, if Antonius were right-minded. Mine was 
 a foolish scrupulousness in declining to get an 
 honorary legation ■■ before the adjournment, that I 
 might not seem to desert this swell of affairs, from 
 which, if it were possible for me to remedy it, T 
 certainly ought not to withhold my services. But 
 you see the magistrates, if indeed they deserve the 
 name, you see however the minions of the tyrant 
 in authority ; you see his veteran troops at our 
 side * ; all which are unstable ' things ; while they", 
 who ought not only to be protected, but exalted, by 
 the guards of the whole world, are rewarded neither 
 with praise nor love, but confined within their own 
 walls ■". Yet, after aU, it is they that are liappy : 
 the state that is wretched. But I should be glad 
 'to know what effect the approach of Octavius "■* 
 produces ; whether people flock to him ; whether 
 there is any apprehension of usurpation. I do not 
 think it ; but yet, whatever happens, I wish to 
 •know it. I write this to you on the 12th, setting 
 out from Astura. 
 
 • Sextus Pompeius in Spain. 
 
 ■" The conspirators ngainst Csesar. 
 
 n Matius, whom he had before called INIadarus in letter 
 2 of this book, both words being indicative of baldness. It 
 •is not improbable that Atticus may first have used Mada- 
 ms, derived from the Greek, which was familiar to him ; 
 and that Cicero may have invented the corresponding 
 word Calvena from the Latin. 
 
 o Of what CiEsar had promised them. 
 
 P To Greece, prepai-atory to the war which Ca;sar was 
 going to wage with the Parthians. q Antonius. 
 
 "■ An authoritative leave of absence from the senate, 
 •frequently alluded to in the earlier books of these letters. 
 
 ' Having lands given them in Campania and other neigh- 
 bouring districts. ' Not to be relied upon. 
 
 " The conspirators against Caesar. 
 
 ' They withdrew from the public ferment excited by 
 'Caesar's death. 
 
 w Better known afterwards by the name of Augustus. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 I RECEIVED your letter on the 12th at Fundi, 
 while I was at dinner. In the first place therefore 
 1 was glad to hear that you were better ; then that 
 you made a better report of public affairs ; for I 
 did not like that approach of the troops. About 
 Octavius I am very indifferent. I am curious to 
 hear something of Marius ", whom 1 supposed to 
 have been put death by Csesar. Antonins's inter- 
 view with our heroes > pa.ssed ofl" very well for the 
 occasion. Hitherto, however, nothing gives me 
 pleasure besides the 15tli of March. Here at 
 Fundi, where I am with my friend Ligur, I am 
 distracted at seeing 8extilius's farm in the pos- 
 session of that rascal Curtilius ; and what I say of 
 him, 1 say of the whole tribe. For what can be 
 more sad, than to look upon the very things which 
 made us hate him '• ? Are we also to have for two 
 years the consuls and tribunes of the people, which 
 he chose .' I am quite at a loss to know what part 
 I can take in ]mblic affairs. Nothing was ever so 
 inconsistent, as that the destroyers of the tyrant 
 should be praised to the skies, while the acts of 
 the tyrant are defended. But you see the consuls • 
 you see the other magistrates ( if they deserve the 
 name) ; you see the want of energy in the good. 
 In the country towns the people are exulting with 
 joy. It cannot be told how much they are de- 
 lighted, how they flock about me, how eager they 
 are to hear every word relating to that affair." Yo', 
 in all this time no decrees are passed. For such I, 
 the state of our government, that we are afraid ov 
 the very people we have defeated. I write this 
 during my dessert. I will write more fully on 
 public affairs another time. Let me on your part 
 hear how you do, and what is going forward. 
 
 LETTER Vn. 
 
 On the 14th I saw PauUus in Caieta, who in- 
 formed me about Marius, and mentioned some 
 other things relating to the republic, which were 
 indeed very sad. There has been nothing from you, 
 for none of my people have arrived. But I hear 
 that our friend Brutus was seen near Lanuvium. 
 Where does he intend to fix himself? For while I 
 wish to be acquainted with everything else, so 
 particularly with what concerns him. I write this 
 the 1.5th, on the point of leaving Formianum, 
 that from thence in another day I may reach Pu- 
 teolanum. I have received from Cicero a letter 
 smacking of the ancient style, and of considerable 
 length. The rest may possibly be feigned ; but 
 the style of his letter shows that he has acquired 
 some learning. Now I earnestly beg you to take 
 care, as I lately mentioned to you, that he may 
 not be left in want of anything. This concerns 
 my credit and dignity, as well as my duty ; and I 
 understand that you are entirely of the same opi- 
 nion. If then there is an opportunity, I think of 
 going into Greece in the month of July. I hope 
 everything may be more favourable. But the times 
 being such that it is impossible to say certainly 
 what may be proper for me, what allowable, what 
 
 ^ See book xii. letter 50. 
 y The conspirators, 
 • Caesar's death. 
 
 * Csesar.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICl/S. 
 
 '795 
 
 «xpedient ; pray take care that I may support him 
 honourably and handsomely. You will take into 
 your consideration, as usual, this, and whatever 
 else concerns me ; and you will write to me all that 
 is interesting, or, if there is nothing, what comes 
 into your head. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 When you wrote, you supposed me to be al- 
 ready in one of my houses on the coast ; and I 
 ■received your letter on the IGth at the little cottage 
 at Sinuessa'' . About Marius it is quite right, 
 though I must needs grieve for tbe grandson "^ of 
 L. Crassus. I rejoice also that our friend Brutus 
 is so well satisfied with Antonius ■'. For as to what 
 you say of Junia's"^ having brought a letter written 
 in a temperate and friendly manner; Paulhisf gave 
 me one that he had received from his brother ; at 
 the conclusion of which he mentions that a plot had 
 been formed against him, of which he had certain 
 information. I did not like this, much less did he. 
 I am not sorry for the queen's^ flight ; but I want 
 you to inform me what is become of Clodia''. 
 You vpill take care about the Byzantians, as about 
 everything else, and will send for Pelops to come 
 to you. As soon as I liave seen into the business 
 of Baiae ', and that assemblage, about whom you 
 •w'.sn to be informed, I will write, as you desire, 
 that you may know everything. I am anxiously 
 expecting what the Gauls, what the Spaniards, 
 what Sextus will do. This you will tell me, who 
 tell me everything. I am glad that the reason of 
 your silence was nothing but a slight indisposition ; 
 for I seem, as I read your letters, to feel a tem- 
 porary ease. Always write to me everything that 
 relates to Brutus, where he is, and what are his 
 intentions. I hope he may now safely walk alone 
 all over the city. But yet I should like to knowJ. 
 
 ^ Sinuessa is on tlie sea-coast, whither Atticus's letter 
 had been sent. It appears, from book xvi. letter 10, that 
 Cioero had a house there. 
 
 c Tliis pretender had been put to death by Antonius. 
 Had he been tlie person whose name he assumed, ho 
 would have been grandson to L. Crassus. See book xii. 
 letter 50. 
 
 "i Brutus's agreement with Antonius was likely to lead 
 to peace. 
 
 <= This Junia was sister to Brutus, and wife to M. Lcpi- 
 dus, who had the government of Transalpine Gaul. The 
 letter mtist probably have been from Lepidus, the friend 
 of Caesar, to Brutus. The good understanding of the oppo- 
 site parties apparent from tliis letter, would be destroyed 
 by plots, or the suspicion of plots, such as is afterwards 
 mentioned. 
 
 ' L. yEmilius PauUus, brother to Lepidus. 
 
 g Cleopatra, who had followed Ca;sar to Rome, and now 
 fled upon the event of his assassination. 
 
 l" To what this alludes, or the following mention of the 
 Byzantians, is not known. 
 
 ' When Cicero speaks of " the business" of Baia?, he 
 may be supposed to mean the conversation and idle talk, 
 Baioe being notorious fur idleness. And this sense receives 
 confirmation from tlie word chorum, which I have rendered 
 '■ assemblage," but which in the original means properly 
 " a troop of dancers or singers." The expressions may 
 .probably be borrowed from Atticiis, who seems often to 
 have indulged in a little good-humoured bantering, 
 ■seasoned also with terms newly invented or newly applied. 
 [See book iv. letter 8.] It is to this that Cicero alludes 
 [see letter 14 of this book] when he says Joca tua plena 
 /aceliarum. ' See letter 5 of this book. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 I HAVK learned a great deal about the republic 
 from your letters, several of which 1 received at 
 the same time by Vestorius's freed-man. To your 
 questions I shall reply briefly. In the first place, 
 1 am greatly delighted with the Cluvian inherit- 
 ance ^ ; but as to what you ask, why I sent for 
 Chrysij)pus' ; I had two cottages in ruins, and the 
 rest were !fo crazy, that not oidy the lodgers, but 
 the very rats had left them. Some jieople would 
 call this a calamity ; for my part, I do not think 
 it even a disadvantage. O Socrates, and ye of the 
 Socratic school'", I shall never be sufliciently 
 thankful to you. Ye immortal gods ! how totally 
 do I disregard such things. But, however, I have 
 got such a plan for building, by the recommenda- 
 tion and assistance of Vestorius, that this loss 
 will be a real gain to me. There is a great con- 
 course here ; and, as I am told, it will be still 
 greater. Two, indeed, are the pretended " consuls 
 elect. O gracious gods ! The tyranny survives, 
 though the tyrant is dead. We rejoice in the death 
 of the victim, whose acts we defend. How severely, 
 therefore, does M. Curtius accuse us, as if it were 
 a disgrace to live ! And not without reason. For 
 it had been better to die a thousand times than to 
 suffer such a state of things, which seems likely 
 even to be permanent. Balbus also is here, aud is 
 much with me. He had received a letter from 
 Vetus", dated the 31st of December, stating that 
 at the time he was besieging Csecilius p, and had 
 almost taken him, Pacorus the Parthian came up 
 with a large army, by which means Csecilius had 
 been snatched from him, and he had lost many of 
 his men ; in which affair he accuses Volcatius. 
 Thus a war in that quarter appears imminent. 
 But let Dolabella and Nicias^ see to this. At the 
 same time Balbus gave me more favourable accounts 
 of Gaul. He had a letter twenty days after its 
 date, saying that the German!, and those nations, 
 upon hearing about Csesar, had sent deputies to 
 Aurelius, who was left in the command by Hirtius, 
 professing their submission to such orders as they 
 should receive. In short, everything wore the 
 appearance of peace, contrary to what Calvena ' 
 had said. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Is it so, then ? Has my and your Brutus found 
 this fruit of his exertion, that he should be shut 
 up in Lanuvium .' That Trebonius should proceed 
 to his province through by-ways .' That all the 
 acts, writings, sayings, promises, thoughts of Caesar, 
 
 k See book xiii. letter 4(). 
 
 1 An architect, mentioned likewise book xiii. letter 29. 
 
 " Whose philosophy Cicero had adopted. 
 
 " Hirtius and Pansa, who had been appointed by Cfesar, 
 not elected by the votes of the people according to the laws 
 of the republic. 
 
 o C. Antistius Vetus, one of Caesar's generals. 
 
 P Caecilius was of Pompeius's party ; after the battle of 
 Pharsalia he had raised an army in Syria, and was besieged 
 in Apamea. 
 
 q Dolabella was going into Syria to conduct the war 
 against the Parthians, and Nicias accompanied, him, being 
 attached by familiarity and friendship. 
 
 ' Matius. See letter 5 of this book, not© «>.
 
 JOG 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 should have greater force than if he were himself 
 alive ? Do you remember how I demanded, on 
 that very first capitoline ^ day, that the senate 
 should lie summoned by the praetors ' into the 
 capitol ! Ye immortal gods ! What operations 
 might then have been effected ; while all good, or 
 tolerably good j)eople were exulting ; and the 
 rogues were confounded ? You lay the blame on 
 the 18th of March". But what could have been 
 done then ? We were already ruineJ. Do y(ni 
 remember exclaiming that the cause was ruined, if 
 he should be buried with funeral honours ? Y'et 
 he was burned in tlu- public forum, and extolled to 
 excite pity ; and slaves and beggars were sent with 
 torches against our houses. What followed ? That 
 they dared to say, " Do you oppose the nod of 
 CsEsar .'" These, and other things of the same 
 kind, I am unable to bear ; therefore I think of 
 changing my country for another. But has your 
 windy colic entirely left you ? As far as I could 
 judge by your letters, it seemed to be so. I come 
 hack to the Tebassi '', the Scajvas, the Frangos. Do 
 yon imagine that they expect to hold their pos- 
 sessions, while our authority still subsists ? For 
 thay gave us credit for more valour than they have 
 found. Will these, forsooth, be lovers of peace, 
 and not rather authors of plunder ? But what I 
 said to you about Curtilius "' and the Sextilian 
 estate, I say about Censorinus, about Messala, 
 about Plancus, about Postumius, about the whole 
 set. It were better to have died when he '^ died 
 (which I wish ^ had happened), than to witness 
 these things. Octavius arrived in Naples the I8th^. 
 There Balbus saw him the following morning, and 
 the same day came to me in Cumanum, and said 
 that he* was going to enter ujion his inheritance ''. 
 But, as you say, he must have a great contest- 
 radical"^ with Antonius. Y'our Buthrotian'' affair 
 is, as it ought and shall be, an object of my care. 
 You ask if the Cluvian inheritance'' has already 
 produced a hundred sestertia (800^.). It seems to 
 approach to this ; but in the first year I have 
 cleared eighty (640/.). Quintus the father has 
 written to me in vexation about his son, principally 
 owing to the fondness he now shows to his mother, 
 
 « Day of transactions in the capitol, when, Csesar being 
 assassinated, the conspirators took refuge there, and were 
 joined by all the most respectable people. 
 
 * Brutus and Cassius were pr^tors. 
 
 " On which day was passed the decree confirming 
 C«sar's acts, and the grants of land made to his veteran 
 troops. 
 
 ' These are names of obscure persons enriched by Caesar 
 out of the confiscated property of his enemies. 
 
 ■**■ See letter 6 of this book. 
 
 ^ Cassar. 
 
 y I have in the translation adopted the conjectural 
 emendation of Gronovius, who proposed to substitute 
 utinam in the place of ntitiquam. 
 
 = Of April. a Octavius. 
 
 h CiEsar's fortune, which Antonius had hoped to appro- 
 priate to himself. 
 
 E Tlie Greek word in the original is probably a coinage 
 ofAtticus. See letter 8 of this book, note ' . 
 
 d Atticus had considerable possessions at Buthrotum in 
 Epirus ; in consideration of which, he had not only got 
 that country exempted from proscription, but had paid to 
 Caesar's ofiicers a large sum in discharge of the contribu- 
 tions demanded of the inhabitants. This he was anxious 
 to have ratified by the consuls according to the law for 
 ratifying Caesar's acts. See Appendix, No. 1 . 
 
 e See book xiii, letter 46. 
 
 towards whom he was before so undeservedly hostile*. 
 He has sent me some flaming letters against him. 
 What he is doing, if you know, and have not yet 
 left Rome, I should be glad if you would infornv 
 me ; and indeed, if there is anything else. I am. 
 infinitely delighted with your letters. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 The day before yesterday I sent you a longer 
 letter. I shall now reply to the contents of your 
 last. I should in trutli be very glad to let Brutus 
 occupy AsturaK. You speak of the intemperance of 
 tliose people : did you expect it to be otherwise ? For 
 my part, I look for yet greater things. When I 
 read the harangue about " so great a man," about 
 so "distinguished a citizen," 1 am unable to bear it. 
 Though these things may now make one smile, yet 
 remember, the custom of pernicious harangues is 
 so cherished, that those our gods, not heroes, will 
 live indeed in eternal glory, but not without env)', 
 not even without danger. Yet they have a great 
 consolation in the consciousness of the noblest and 
 most famous deed. But what consolation is left 
 for us, who, when our king is killed, are yet not 
 free ? But let fortune see to this, since reason 
 does not rule. I am pleased witli what you tell me 
 of Cicero. I wish all may go on well. The care 
 you take to supply him amply for his use and orna- 
 ment is very grateful to me, and I beg you to con- 
 tinue it. Respecting the Buthrotians you judge 
 very rightly, and I do not forget that concern. I 
 will also undertake all legal actions whi(-h I per- 
 ceive daily to become easier. With regard to the 
 Cluvian inheritance (since the interest you take in 
 my affairs exceeds even my own), the rents amount 
 to a hundred (800/.). The downfall h has not 
 lessened the projierty ; I do not know if it may not 
 have improved it. I have with me here Balbus, 
 Hirtius, and Pansa, Octavius has lately arrived 
 at the neighbouring house of Philippus. He is 
 entirely devoted to nic. Lentulus Spinther is 
 coming to roe to-day, and goes away to- morrow 
 morning. 
 
 LETTER XIL 
 
 O MY Atticus, I fear this 1 5th of March may be 
 productive of no other issue than a transitory joy, 
 followed by the penalty of odium and grief. What 
 is it that I hear from thence > ? What do I witness 
 here J ? A noble act indeed, but fruitless ! You 
 know how much I am attached to the people of 
 Sicily, and how honourable I esteem that patronage. 
 Csesar conferred upon them many benefits, to which 
 I did not object, though their admission to the 
 rights of Latium was too much. However, let that 
 pass. But see now, Antonius, in consideration of a 
 large sum of money, has promulged a law, said to 
 have been proposed by the dictator in the comitia, 
 by which the Sicilians are made Roman citizens, 
 
 f See book xiii. letter .38. It appears that Quintus the 
 father had lately been divorced. 
 
 g See letter 15 of this book. 
 
 •» This alludes to the ruinous state of some cottages 
 belonging to the Cluvian property, mentioned in letter 9 
 of this book. 
 
 > From Rome. i At Baiae.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 797 
 
 of which there was never any mention during his 
 life. Nay, is not the case the same witli my friend 
 Deiotarus ** ? He is worthy indeed of any kingdom ; 
 but not through the influence of Fulvia '. There 
 are six hundred things of tiie same kind. But I 
 come back to my purpose. In a cause so clear, so 
 well attested, and so just, as that of Buthrotum '", 
 shall we obtain no satisfaction .' We may tlie more 
 expect it, the more he " thus dispenses. Octavius 
 conducts himself here in a manner very respectful 
 and friendly towards me. His own people saluted 
 him as Ca3sar"; but PhilipjiusP did not, therefore 
 neither did I. I do not think it possible for him 
 to be a good citizen, so many people are about him, 
 who threaten the death of our friends. Theyi 
 say tliese things are not to be borne. What think 
 you, when this boy "■ shall come to Rome, where 
 our liberators cannot be in safety ? Famous iudetd 
 they will always be, and happy too in the conscious- 
 ness of what they have achieved. But we, unless 
 1 deceive myself, shall lie in disgrace. I wish, 
 therefore, to get away, where " I may hear nothing 
 of the Pelopidae ^," as the poet says. I do not like 
 even these consuls elect, who have, however, forced 
 me to declaim ' ; so that I am not permitted to be 
 at rest even at this watering-place. This is owing 
 to my too great complaisance. Formerly it was 
 almost necessary ; but now, whatever be the state 
 of things, the case is altered. For a good while 
 past I have had nothing to write to you ; yet I 
 write, not because I can afford you any pleasure by 
 this letter, but that I may elicit yours. Do you, if 
 there is anything about other matters, but especially 
 whatever occurs relative to Brutus, let me know it. 
 I write this on the '2'2d ", while I am at table at 
 Vestorius's house, a man unused to argument, but 
 sufficiently versed in arithmetic^ 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Your letter of the 19th was delivered to me on 
 the seventh day after. You ask, and even suppose 
 that I do not myself know, whether I am most 
 pleased with the hills and prospect, or with the 
 walks on the level beach '■''. And indeed, as you 
 
 '' See book v. letter 17. He had been deprived of his 
 kingdom of Arnienia by Ca'sar. 
 
 ' Antonius's wife. See book xvi. letter 3. 
 •" t^ee letter 10 of this book, note •*. 
 " Antonius. 
 
 He had been adopted by Ciesar, in consequence of 
 which it was usual to take the name after it had been 
 ratified in the assembly. 
 
 P L. Philippus had married Atia, mother to Octavius, 
 and niece to Cassar. 
 
 1 Octavius's friends say that the conspirators ought not 
 to go unpunished. 
 
 ' Octavius was at this time about eighteen years old. 
 
 ' This is part of a sentence from a play of Accius, 
 quoted more at length book xv. letter 11, meaning, 
 " where I may hear nothing of these people." 
 
 ' It was customary for distinguished orators to declaim 
 on some subject proposed, for the edification of younger 
 men. 
 
 " Of April. 
 
 " He was occasionally employed by Cicero in some 
 money transactions, and may perhaps have been a scri- 
 vener, or money agent, at Puteoli. See book xiii. letters 
 43 and 4(>. 
 
 " This must be suppose! to allude to his recent acquisi- 
 tion of Cluvius's estate at Puteoli. 
 
 say, the beauty of both is such, that I doubt which 
 is to be preferred. But " we have other cares than 
 those of entertainments, and see with dread a pro- 
 digious mischief gathering, and stand in doubt 
 whether we shall be saved, or perish"." For though 
 you send me great and pleasing intelligence of D. 
 Brutus" having joined his troops, in whom my best 
 hopes reside ; yet, if a civil war breaks out, as it 
 certainly will if Se.vtus remains in arms, which I 
 am confident he will, what part I ought to take I 
 know not. For it will not now be allowable, as it 
 was in C:esar's war, to move neither to one side 
 nor the other. But whomsoever this set of scoun- 
 drels supposes to have been pleased with Caesar's 
 death (and we have all most openly showed our 
 joy), him they will hold to be in the number of their 
 enemies. And tliis consideration leads to a most 
 extensive slaughter. It remains for me, tlien, to 
 join the army of Sextus >', or ))erhaps of Brutus. 
 An odious measure, at once foreign from our age, 
 and exposed to the uncertain issue of war. So 
 that we may in some measure say to each other, 
 " My child, to you are not granted warlike 0])era- 
 tions ; do you rather employ yourself in the lovely 
 works of speech'-." But this must be left to 
 fortune, which in such circumstances is of more 
 avail than reason. Let us, however, see to that, 
 which ought to be in our own power ; that what- 
 ever happens we may bear it with fortitude and 
 self-possession, and may remember that it is the 
 condition of liumanity : and let us still derive great 
 consolation from literature, and not a little also 
 from the 15th of March. Take now upon yourself 
 the consideration of what constitutes my present 
 solicitude, so many things occur to my mind 
 both ways. I am going, as I had arranged, with 
 a nominal appointment" to Greece. I may thus 
 in some measure escape the danger of the impend- 
 ing conflict, but am likely to incur blame for desert- 
 ing the republic at so difficult a crisis. Should I 
 remain, I foresee that I must be exposed to great 
 risk ; but I conceive it may happen that I may be 
 able to be of use to the republic. The following 
 considerations are of a private nature ; that I think 
 it may be very advantageous for the confirmation 
 of my son, that I should go thither ; nor indeed 
 had 1 any other object in view at the time when I 
 determined to get from Ctesar an honorary lieu- 
 tenancy. You will take this whole business, there- 
 fore, into your consideration, as you use to do 
 where you think me to be concerned. I come now 
 to your letter, in which you say it is rumoured that 
 I am going to sell the property which I have at the 
 lake *> ; and to convey to Quintus that little place 
 at an extravagant price, that the rich Aquillia, as 
 young Quintus told you, may be introduced there '^. 
 But 1 have no thought of selling it, unless I should 
 find something which I like better ; and Quintus 
 has, at this time, no wish to purchase ; for he has 
 
 »■ The original is from Homer. 
 
 Jt Decimus Brutus was a relation of M. Brutus, and had 
 the government of Cisalpine Gaul. 
 
 y Sextus Pompeius in Spain. 
 
 » The original is a little altered from an address of 
 Jupiter to Venus in the Hiad of Homer. 
 
 a An honorary lieutenancy. Sec letter 5 of this book. 
 
 •> The Lucrine lake, in the neighbourhood of Baia; and 
 Puteoli. See letter 16 of this book. 
 
 c Quintus the son supposed that his father might marry 
 Aquillia. See letter 17 of this book.
 
 793 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 enough to do in the repayment of his wife's dower'', 
 in which he is under great obligations to Egiiatius. 
 And as for takini^ another wife, lie is so far from 
 ir, that he declares nothing is more delightful than 
 a single bed. But enough of tliis. I revert to the 
 wretched, or rather the lost republic. M. Antonius 
 has written to me about the restoration of Sextus 
 Clodius '■' ; how lionoural)ly, as far as relates to 
 me, you will see by his own letter, of which I send 
 you a copy ; how jirotligately, how basely, how 
 mischievously (so that I sometimes almost wish for 
 Csesar again), you will easily believe. For things 
 which Cfesar would never either have done or suf- 
 fered, are now brought forward from his forged 
 instructions. I have treated Antonius with all 
 civility ; for having once persuaded himself that he 
 was at liberty to do what he chose, he vvould not 
 the less have done it for my disapprobation. 
 Therefore I send you likewise a copy of my answer. 
 
 Antonius Consul to Cicero. 
 
 It has happened from my occupations, and your 
 sudden departure, that I have been j)revented from 
 treating with you personally upon the following 
 business ; and in consequence am apprehensive 
 that my absence may lessen the weight I might 
 have with you. But if your goodness corresponds 
 with the opinion I have always entertained of you, 
 I shall sincerely rejoice. 1 begged of Csesar to 
 restore Sex. Clodius ; and I gained my suit. It 
 ■was my intention, even then, to use his kindness 
 cnly on the condition of your acceding to it ; which 
 makes me the more earnest that I may now be per- 
 mitted to do it with your consent. But if you show 
 yourself unmoved by his miserable and ruined for- 
 tune, I shall not contend against you, however I 
 may seem bound to support Cssar's will. Yet in 
 truth, if you are disposed to regard me with huma- 
 nity, with prudence and charity, you will easily be 
 persuaded ; and will be glad that P. Clodius K a 
 youth of the fairest hopes, should think that, when 
 it was in your power, you did not persecute his 
 father's friends. Let it, I entreat you, appear that 
 you engaged in hostility with liis father for the 
 repubhc's sake ; and you will not despise this 
 family. For we more honourably, and more readily, 
 lay aside the quarrels which have been taken up in 
 the name of the republic, than those of private 
 pique. Suffer me then to instil into this youth, 
 even now, these sentiments, and to teach his tender 
 mind that quarrels are not to be transmitted to 
 posterity. Though I know well that your fortune, 
 Cicero, is exempt from all danger ; yet I apprehend 
 you would rather pass a tranquil and honourable 
 old age, than one of vexation. Lastly, I ask this 
 favour of you by my own right, having done every- 
 thing in my power for your sake. Should I not 
 obtain your consent, so far as I am concerned, I 
 shall not give this boon to Clodius ; that you may 
 understand how great your authority is with me, 
 'jnd may for that reason be the more easily conci- 
 5ated. 
 
 d Havhig lately put away liis wife Pomponia. 
 
 « He had been a partisan of P. Clodius, and banished for 
 having headed an uproar at the time of P. Clodius's death. 
 
 ' Son of that P. Clodius who had been so inveterate 
 against Citeio, and the author of his banishment. Anto- 
 Qics had married his mother Fulvja, widow of P. Clodiua 
 
 Cicero to Antonius, Consul. 
 
 What you negotiate with me by letter, I should 
 for one reason only have wished to negotiate ia 
 person ; that you might have perceived not by my 
 words alone, but also by my countenance, and eyes, 
 and forehead, as they say, the affection I bear you. 
 For having always loved you, as indeed I was coa- 
 strained to do, first by your attention, afterwards 
 also by the favours 1 received, so in these times 
 the republic has attached me to you in such a man- 
 ner, that I hold nobody dearer ; and the letter you 
 have written full of afTeciion and consideration, 
 makes me feel not that I am doing a kindness to 
 you, but receiving one from you ; while in your 
 recpiest you refuse to serve my enemy, though your 
 own relation, against my consent ; when you have 
 it in your power to do so without any difficulty. 
 But, my Antonius, I not only concede this to you ; 
 but such are the expressions you use, that I consi- 
 der myself most liberally and honourably treated. 
 And though in any case I should think it right 
 freely to grant this to you, I am glad to do it also 
 in consideration of my own feelings and disposition. 
 For I never entertained any bitterness, nor any- 
 thing that partakes of austereness or severity, 
 beyor.d what the necessitv of the republic demanded. 
 To which I may add, that against Clodius k him- 
 self I never showed any signs of anger ; and have 
 always made it a rule, not to persecute an enemy'.s 
 friends, especially those without power ; and not 
 to deprive ourselves of the protection they afforded. 
 Respecting young Clodius, I consider it to be your 
 business to imbue his tender mind, as you say, with 
 these sentiments, that he may not suppose any 
 hostility to remain between our families. In my 
 contentions with P. Clodius I supported the pub- 
 lic cause ; he his own. The republic has passed 
 its judgment upon our struggles. If he were living, 
 I should now have no quarrel remaining with him. 
 Therefore, since you ask this of me in such a man- 
 ner, that, notwithstanding your jiower, you refuse 
 to make use of it without my consent, pray give 
 this also to the young man, if you think fit ; not 
 that my age has any danger to apprehend from 
 his youth ; or that my dignity has to fear any 
 opposition ; but that you and I may be mutually 
 united together more than we have hitherto been. 
 For owing to the intervention of these hostilities, 
 your heart has been more open to me, than your 
 house. But enough of this. I have only to say, 
 that I shall always, without hesitation, and with the 
 greatest zeal, do whatever 1 think will please you, 
 or contribute to your advantage ; of which I beg 
 you to be thoroughly persuaded. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Repeat again those same words to me\ Has 
 our young Quintus worn a chaplet in the public 
 
 K Sextus Clodius, for wliom Antonius had written to 
 him. 
 
 ^ The text is borrowed from a play of P;ici'vius. 
 
 > The Parilia were celebrated the 21st of April ; but 
 Caesar having received the news of a victory gained in 
 Spain on the eve of this annual festival, appointed addi- 
 tional gamce to be observed ever after in memory of that 
 event. Young Quintus wore a chaplet on this occasion to 
 
 ow bis attachment to Caesar.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 lm- 
 
 games ? Was he the only one ? though you add 
 Lamia, which I am sur|)rised at ; but I wish to 
 know who there werK besides. I am quite sure 
 however there tould be nobody who was not a bad 
 citizen. Yet let me liear the particulars. It liaji- 
 pened that I had despatched to you my letter of 
 the 2fith written at considerable length, about three 
 hours before I received yours full of important 
 matter. 1 need not tell you how heartily I laughed 
 at your pleasantry and wit en the Vestorine ^ heresy, 
 and the Puteolan custom of the Pherios. But let 
 us turn to what more immediately concerns the 
 pul)lic. You defend the party of Brutus and Cas- 
 sius, as if I reproached them, whom I cannot 
 sufficiently praise. But I summed up the faults of 
 the times, not of the men. For after the tyrant 
 has been removed, I see the tyranny continue. So 
 that what he' would not have done, is now done ; 
 as in the case of Clodius ; respecting whom I am 
 confident that he not only would not have done it, 
 but would not even have suffered it. Rufio Ves- 
 torianus "' will follow, (who was never written 
 Victor",) and others. Who will not ? We could 
 not bear to be the slaves of the man himself ; yet 
 we yield obedience to his memorandums. For on 
 the 18th of March " who could absent himself from 
 the senate ? But suppose that this might in some 
 manner have been possible ; yet, when we had 
 assembled, could we freely deliver our opinions .' 
 Was it not necessary by all means to support the 
 veteran soldiersP, who were present, and armed, 
 while we had nothing to protect us } How little I 
 was pleased with that session i in the capitol. you 
 are witness. What then ? Was that the fault of 
 the Brutuses ' ? By no means indeed of those 
 Brutuses ; but of other Brutuses^, who think them- 
 selves cautious and prudent ; who were satisfied 
 with feeling a secret joy ; while some even expressed 
 their congratulations ; but none remained firm. 
 But let us omit what is past ; let us support these 
 people with every care and protection ; and, as you 
 teach ns, let us be content to think ourselves happy 
 in the loth of March ; which to our friends indeed, 
 those more than mortal men, has given an access 
 to heaven ; but has not given freedom to the Roman 
 people. Recollect your own prediction. Do you 
 
 k Alluding to Cicero's 12tli letter, in the conclusion of 
 which he speaks of Vestorius as more versed in aritlimotic 
 than In philosophical reasoning. What is meant by the 
 Puteolan custom of the Pherios is not so easily explained ; 
 but may probably be a witticism of the same kind, drawn 
 from t)ie circumstance of the Pherios being perhaps brokers 
 at Puteoli. 
 
 1 Caesar. 
 
 ■" See book v. letter 2. 
 
 " Atticus may have erroneously written his name Rufio 
 Victor : b;it Cicero says lie should rather be distinguislied 
 by the name of Vestorianus, having been implicated in 
 some dispute with Vestorius, but without obtaining a vic- 
 tory over liim, and therefore not entitled to the appellation 
 of Victor. 
 
 ° On that day the senate had been summoned by An- 
 tonius, and passed the decree for the ratification of Caesar's 
 actF. 
 
 P 'Whom Caesar had rewarded with the confiscated estates 
 of the Pompeians. 
 
 <! Where Brutus and most persons of condition assembled 
 after the assassination of Ca?sar. 
 
 •■ Brutus's party. 
 
 • No fault of those who exerted themselves to restore 
 the republic ; but of otherS; who refused to support them, 
 after professing attachment to the cause of liberty. 
 
 not remember how you exclaimed that everything 
 was lost, if he should have a public funeral? You 
 said it wisely ; and you see what has flowed from 
 that circumstance. As to what you mention, that 
 Antonius was to bring forward the subject of the 
 provinces on the first of June, of which he was 
 himself to have the two Gauls, with e.\tension ot 
 the ordinary time in both : will it be allowed to 
 vote freely ? If it is, I shall rejoice at the recovery 
 of our liberty; if not, what do 1 get by this change 
 of masters, besides the pleasure with which my eyes 
 beheld the just fall of the tyrant .■* You say tiiat 
 the temple of Ops ' has been plundered ; which I 
 foresaw at thsC time. Verily we have been set free 
 by excellent men, and yet are not free. So the 
 praise is theirs, the blame our own. And do you 
 exliort me to write history .' To collect togethei 
 the wicked acts of these people, by whom we are 
 even now besieged .=" Can I avoid commending 
 those same persons, who have employed you to 
 countersign " ? Not that the paltry interest weighs 
 with me ; but it is hard to visit with reproach 
 people, whoever they are, that are kindly disposed. 
 But about all my designs, as you mention, I think 
 I shall be able to decide more certainly on the 1st 
 of June, on which day I shall be in Rome, and 
 will use my utmost endeavours, with the help of 
 your authority and influence, and the perfect jus- 
 tice of the cause, that a decree of the senate may 
 be obtained in the case of the Buthrotians, such as 
 you describe. What you bid me consider, 1 will 
 consider ; though in my last letter I had referred 
 the consideration to you. But you are for restoring 
 to your neighbours^, the Marsilians, their property ; 
 as if the republic were already re-established. It 
 may perhaps be possible to do this by arms, in 
 which what strength we possess I know not ; by 
 authority it is impossible. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 The short letter, which you afterwards" wrote, 
 was indeed very pleasing to me, about Brutus's 
 letter to Antonius, and the other to you. Things 
 wear a better appearance than they have hitherto 
 done. But I must consider where I am, and which 
 way I should even now proceed". My charming 
 Dolabella ! For I now call him mine ; before, 
 believe me, I had some doubt. This is an affair of 
 deep contemplation. From the Tarpeian rock >' ! 
 On the cross ! Throwing down the pillar ! Con- 
 
 t In which Caesar had collected a large sum of money 
 for the prosecution of the Parthian war. 
 
 u See letter 3 of this book. 
 
 V It is probable some deputies from Marseilles might bf. 
 living in the neighbourhood of Atticus's house at Rome, 
 suing for tlie restoration of what Caesar had taken from 
 them when they refused to join his party. 
 
 "' Atticus had probably so called it in his letter. 
 
 X It having been his intention to pass over to Greece 
 See letter 13 of this book. 
 
 J" Dolabella had exerted himself in his capacity of con- 
 sul to check the forwardness of these who had raised a 
 monument to Cassar, and erected a pillar inscribed •' To 
 the father of his country." Some he caused to be thrown 
 from the Tarpeian rock (an ancient form of capital pun- 
 ishment in Rome) ; others, slaves, he ordered to be cruci- 
 fied ; at the same time throwing down the pillar and monu- 
 ment, and ordering the ground on which they stood to be 
 new paved.
 
 800 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIU8 CICERO 
 
 tracting for the new paving of the ground ! In 
 short, it is quite heroic. He seems to have put 
 an end to that aftectation of regret', wliich w;is 
 already making daily progress, and which I feared, 
 had it continued, would have heen dangerous to our 
 deliverers. I now entirely concur witli your letter, 
 and hope for better things ; thougli I cannot bear 
 those persons, who, while ihey pretend to be friends 
 to peace, support his" wicked acts. But all can- 
 not be done at once. Things are beginning to go 
 better than I had exjiected. I sliall not, iiowevcr, 
 go abroad, till you think I can do it witli propriety. 
 I will certainly nowhere be wanting to my Brutus. 
 Even if there were no fiiendship between us, I 
 •would do it in acknowledgment of his great and 
 distinguished virtue. I give up to Pilia my whole 
 house'', and ail that it contains, being myself on my 
 way to Pompeianuin this 1st of May. I wish you 
 would persuade Brutus to occupy my house at 
 Astura'-'. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 I SEND this letter the 3d of May on the point of 
 embarking from the Cluvian gardens in a row-boat, 
 after having put our dear Pilia in possession of my 
 house on the Lucrine lake, with the servants and 
 purveyors. The same day I threaten our friend 
 Psetus's potted cheese '', and proceed in a few days 
 to Pompeianum ; whence I shall afterwards return 
 by sea to these royal •= domains of Puteoli and 
 Cumse. O places greatly to be desired in all other 
 respects ! but from the number of troublesome 
 visitors almost to be shunned. But to come to the 
 point ; how noble is this conduct of my Dolabella ! 
 What matter it affords for contemplation ! For 
 my part, I do not cease to praise and to encourage 
 him. You do well to inform me in all your letters, 
 what you think of the thing itself, and what of the 
 man. Our friend Brutus, I suppose, might now 
 wear even a golden crown in the middle of the 
 forum. For who would dare to insult him, with a 
 cross, or the Tarpeian rock ' before his eyes .' 
 Especially amidst such great applause and appro- 
 bation of the lowest people. Now, my Atticus, 
 resolve me of my doubts. I should like, when I 
 have fully satisfied Brutus, to make an excursion 
 into Greece. It is of great moment to Cicero, or 
 rather to me, or I may say to both of us, that I 
 should look upon him in his studies. For Leonidas's 
 letter, which you sent me, aff"ords me no great 
 satisfaction. I shall never be content with com- 
 mendations such as these ; "as things are at pre- 
 sent." It is the testimony of one who feels no 
 confidence, but rather mistrust. I had desired 
 Herodes to write to me in detail ; but I have 
 hitherto heard nothing from him. I fear he may 
 have had nothing which he thought would give me 
 pleasure to hear. I am much obliged to you for 
 having written to Xeno ; for my duty and reputa- 
 
 ' The display of their regret for Ctesar. ^ Ca?.s;ir's. 
 
 ^ His house at Cumanum, on the borders of the Lucrine 
 lake. [See letters 16 and 17 of this book.] I'ilia probably 
 went on account of her health. See book iv. letter 1. 
 
 <: This proposal is mentioned before. See letter 11 of 
 this book. 
 
 •1 The same expression is used before, ['^ee bntdt iv. let- 
 ter 8.] It seems to mean only a cheap and homely dish. 
 
 e Expressive of the satisfaction he took in them. 
 See letter 15 of this book. 
 
 tion, are both concerned in his naving no ■v^ant 
 unsupplied. I hear that Flamma Flaminius is in 
 Rome. 1 have written to him to say that I had 
 desired you to speak with him about the business 
 of Montanus k ; and I shall be glad if you will take 
 care that my letter is delivered to him ; and will 
 yourself, at your convenience, have some conversa- 
 tion with him. I conceive if the man lias any 
 sense of shame, he will provide against the possi- 
 bility of any expense being incurred on his account. 
 You have acted very kindly towards me in letting 
 me know that Attica was well, before 1 knew of 
 her indisposition. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 I CAME to Pompeianum the ;{d of May, having, 
 the day preceding, as I before wrote you word, 
 establiihed Pilia in Cumanum. There, whilst I was 
 at dinner, your letter was delivered to me, which 
 you had given to your freed-man Demetrius, the 
 30th of last month. In this are contained many 
 things prudently done, yet such that, as you your- 
 self observe, every design appears subject to the 
 control of fortune. Upon these subjects, therefore, 
 we can only speak as occasion offers, and when we 
 are together. Respecting the afi'air of Buthrotum, 
 I wish I may have an opportunity of seeing Anto- 
 nius, which will be a great step. But it is not 
 expected that he will deviate from the Capuan road, 
 wliither I fear he is gone to the great prejudice of 
 the republic''. L. Caesar', whom I saw yesterday 
 at Naples very far from well, was of the same 
 opinion. This business must therefore be entered 
 upon, and completed on the 1st of JuneJ. But 
 enough of this. Young Quintus has written a most 
 bitter letter to his father, who received it upon oui 
 arrival at Pompeianum. The substance of it was 
 that he would not tolerate Aquillia as his step- 
 mother. That however might perhaps be borne. 
 But what think you of this .' That from Caesar he 
 had received everything ; nothing from his father ; 
 and for what was to come he looked to Antonius. 
 How lost to all sense of honour ! But I will think 
 what can be done. .1 have written letters to our 
 friend Brutus, to Cassius, and to Dolabella ; of 
 which I send you copies ; not with a view to 
 deliberate about sending them, for I am clearly 
 of opinion they should be sent ; but because I 
 doubt not that you will agree with me. I beg you, 
 my Atticus, to supply my son with what you think 
 right, and to allow me to lay this burden upon you. 
 1 am very thankful for what you have hitherto 
 done. That unpublished work of mine'' has net 
 yet been polished, as I designed. What you wish 
 to have interwoven in it requires another separate 
 volume. But, believe me, I think there was less 
 danger in speaking against those wicked practices 
 during the life of the tyrant than since his death. 
 For he somehow bore with me surprisingly. Now, 
 
 K 8ee book xii. letter 53. 
 
 ^ He went to secure the cooperation of the veteran 
 troops, who had been established in that neighbourhood. 
 
 ' This Lucius Ca?sar appears, by the following letter to 
 Dolabella, to have been Antonius's uncle by his mother's 
 side. 
 
 J The senate had been appointed to meet on this day- 
 See letter 14 of this book. 
 
 It His Anecdotes, or secret Memoirs a' d Observations on 
 Public Afi'airs. See book ii. letter 6.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 whichever way T move, I am calleci back to observe 
 not only the acts of Ciesar, but liis very thoughts. 
 Flamma being arrived, you will see about Mon- 
 tanus : I think his business ought to be in a better 
 state. 
 
 Cicero to his DolahcUa, Consul. 
 Though I am satisfied, my Dolabella, with the 
 glory you have gained, and derive abundantly great 
 joy and delight from it ; yet I cannot help acknow- 
 ledging that my pleasure is enhanced by the 
 common Ojiinion which supposes me to have a 
 share in your praises. I have seen nobody' — and 
 I meet with numbers every day ; for there are a 
 great many excellent men who come into these 
 parts'" on account of their health, besides many of 
 my friends from the neighbouring towns ; all of 
 whom, while they extol you to the skies with the 
 loudest praises, presently return the greatest 
 thanks to me. For they say they cannot doubt 
 but that it is in consequence of my instructions 
 and advice that you show yourself so excellent a 
 citizen, and so distinguished a consul. To whom, 
 though I might most truly reply, that what you do, 
 you do from your own judgment and inclination, 
 and that you need nobody's advice ; yet I neither 
 quite assent, lest I should seem to lessen your 
 praise, if it were all owing to my couu'^els ; neither 
 do I strongly deny it; for, you know. I am more 
 than enough covetous of glory. Besides, it is not 
 unbecoming your dignity (what was thought 
 honourable to Agamemnon himself, the king of 
 kings) to have some Nestor in forming your 
 counsels ; while to me it is most glorious that you, 
 a young consul, should flourish in praises as the 
 pupil of my institution. L. Caesar, when I saw 
 him sick at Naples, though he was suffering from 
 pains all over his body, yet, almost before he 
 saluted me, " O my Cicero," said he, " 1 congra- 
 tulate you upon having such influence with Dola- 
 bella ; which, if I had with my sister's son", we 
 might already be safe. Congratulate also and 
 thank your Dolubella, who, since your own con- 
 sulship, is the' only one whom I can truly call a 
 consul." He went on to say a great deal about 
 the case, and the part you had taken ; and declared 
 that nothing was ever done more noble, nothing 
 .more famous, nothing more salutary to the repub- 
 lic : and in this all with one voice agree. I must 
 beg you then to let me enter upon this false inhe- 
 ritance, as it were, of another's glory, and in some 
 measure to become a partner in your praises. But 
 in truth, my Dolabella, (for hitherto I have been 
 joking,) I would sooner transfer to you all my own 
 praises, if indeed I have any, than draw off any 
 part from yours. For having always had that 
 affection for you, of which you are the best judge ; 
 yet with these actions I am so wonderfully inflamed, 
 that no affection ever was stronger. For nothing, 
 believe me, is more becoming, nothing more beau- 
 ful, nothing more lovely, than virtue. I have 
 always, as you know, loved M. Brutus for his great 
 ■abilities, his sweet disposition, his distinguished 
 probity and firmness ; yet the 15th of March pro- 
 
 ' The following part of the sentence being differently 
 turned, there is left a sort of hiatus in the construction, 
 '*hich is no blemish in a letter, even if it l>e thought one 
 in a more studied eomposition. 
 
 >" The neighbourhood of Baiae. 
 
 ' Antuoiua. 
 
 duced such an accession to my love, that I won- 
 dered there should have been any room for the 
 increase of what seemed already at the full. Who 
 would have thought that any addition could have 
 been made to the love I bare you .' Yet such is 
 the addition, that T seem to myself now at length 
 to love, before only to have liked. Why, then, 
 should I exhort you to regard your own dignity 
 and glory ? Should I propose to you the exam- 
 ples of eminent men, as they do who use exhort- 
 ations? I have nobody to propose more eminent 
 than yourself. It is yourself you must imitate ; 
 with yourself you must contend. It is not allow- 
 able for you now, after such noble deeds, not to be 
 like yourself. W^hich being the case, exhortation 
 is needless. We ought rather to congratulate you. 
 For that has happened to you which has happened 
 I believe to nobody else, that the utmost severity 
 of punishment has not only been inflicted without 
 exciting ill-will, but has even been popular ; and, 
 while it has gratified every good man, it has like- 
 wise pleased every one of the lowest class. If this 
 were the effect of chance, I would congratulate 
 your good fortune ; but it is the effect of your own 
 greatness of mind, your understanding, and judg- 
 ment. For I have read your speech, than which 
 nothing can be more prudent. So step by step 
 have you gone back to the cause of what was done, 
 and again returned from it ; that the case itself, 
 by the confession of everybody, was ripe for your 
 animadversion. You have saved therefore both 
 the city from danger, and the state from fear ; 
 and have conferred a benefit not merely temporary, 
 but of lasting example. You ought, consequently, 
 to understand that the republic reposes on you ; 
 and that those persons, from whom it has derived 
 a commencement of liberty, are by you not only 
 to be protected, but rewarded with honours. But 
 on these matters I hope very soon to say more in 
 person. Since it is you who preserve the republic 
 and us, take especial care, my Dolabella, of our 
 own safety. 
 
 LETTER XVni. 
 
 YotJ repeatedly attack me because I appear too 
 extravagantly to extol this action of Dolabella's. 
 But while I certainly approve of what has been 
 done, I have been led by more than one of your 
 letters to this high strain of commendation. Dola- 
 bella, however, has wholly forfeited your opinion 
 by the same cause, which has likewise made me 
 very much his enemy. The modest man ! He 
 ought to have paid the 1st of January, and he has 
 not paid yet ; though he was set free from an enor- 
 mous debt by the hand of Faberius°, and begged 
 from him the assistance of Ops?. For it is allow- 
 able to jest, that you may not think me too much 
 disturbed. It was early on the 8th that 1 sent my 
 letter ; and I received yours the evening of the 
 same day in Pompeianum, by a quick conveyance 
 
 o This Faberius appears to have been a clerk to Csesar, 
 and since made a tool of Antonius to insert in Caesar's in- 
 structions what he thought fit. It was by such means that 
 Antonius got possession of Ca?sar's money ; with some ol 
 which he bought Dolabella's concurrence in his schemes. 
 
 P Caesar's treasure had been secured in the temple of 
 Ops ; and in Latin the same word signifies .also attUtanttf 
 ttom wbenc« arUes the matter of Cictro'i jetk. 
 9 »
 
 002 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 of two' days. But, as i sent you word the very 
 fcame day, I wrote a sharp letter to Dolabella ; and 
 if this has no effect, yet 1 apprehend he will not 
 resist my personal application. I imagine you 
 have settled the Albiau account. What you have 
 furnished me from tlie Patulcian account is most 
 acc(!ptable, and like everything you do. I thought 
 Eros, whom I had left, was made for settling such 
 affairs, which have got into confusion by his great 
 mismanagement. But I must see about this with 
 him. You will take upon yourself, as I have often 
 mentioned to you, the whole concern of Monta- 
 nus's business. I am not at all surprised at Ser- 
 vius's desponding conversation with you at tlte 
 time of his departure ; nor do I in any respect 
 yield to him in despondency. If our friend 
 Brutus, that excellent man, does not go into the 
 senate on the 1st of June, I do not understand 
 what he means to do in the forum. But he knows 
 best. By what I perceive to be going on, I judge 
 there has not been much gained by the 1.5th of 
 March. Therefore I think daily more and more 
 about going into Greece. For I do not see how I 
 can be of any use to my Brutus, who, as you say, 
 is himself thinking of leaving the country. I am 
 not at all satisfied with Leonidas's letter. Respect- 
 ing Herodes, I agree with you. I should like to 
 have read Saufeius'sP account. I design to leave 
 Pompeianum the 10th of May. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 On the 7th of May while I was in Pompeianum 
 I received two letters from you, one the sixth, the 
 other tlie fourth day after their dates. 1 shall 
 reply to them in their order. I am very glad that 
 Barnaeus should have delivered my letter to you so 
 seasonably. You will manage with Cassius as you 
 do everything else. How fortunate that I should 
 have written to him upon the very point you advise 
 four days before, and should have sent you a copy 
 of my letter ! But while I was in despair about 
 Dolabella's deficiency, or paylessness i (to use 
 your own expression), behold Brutus's letter and 
 yours ! He is thinking of quitting the country. 
 But I see a different haven' nearer to one of my 
 age ; into which I should like better to be con- 
 veyed, while our Brutus is flourishing, and the 
 republic established. But now, as you say, there 
 is no choice. For you agree with me that my age 
 is unsuitable to arms, especially to those of civil 
 wars. Antonius wrote to me only about Clodius^ ; 
 that my gentleness and kindness was gratifying to 
 himself, and would be a source of great satisfaction 
 to me. But Pansa seems to be outrageous on the 
 subject of Clodius, and likewise on that of Deio- 
 tarus ; and uses severe language, if you choose to 
 
 What is expressed in Latin the third clay, is really the 
 next day but one. In this sense it is used in the Gospels 
 on the occasion of our Lord's resurrection ; and so in fact 
 it is always used by Roman authors. 
 
 P Some letter on the subject of the young Cicero from 
 Saufeius, who may probably have been at this time at 
 Athens. 
 
 1 The original Greek m^ perhaps have been a word of 
 Atticus's coining, of which I have endeavoured to express 
 the meaning in a similar manner in English. 
 
 » Death. Cicero was at this time in his 63d year. 
 » This is probably in reply to some question of Atticus 
 U{>on the subject of Antonius's letter. 
 
 believe him. This, however, is not so well in my 
 mind ; that he vehemently reprobates this act of 
 Dolabella's. Respecting those who wore chap- 
 lets' ; your sister's son, upon being accused by his 
 father, wrote in answer, that he had worn a chap- 
 let in honour of Csesar ; and had put it off on 
 account of his mourning ; in sliort, that he was 
 ready to bear every reproach, for that he loved 
 Caesar even dead. I have written to Dolabella 
 very explicitly, as you wished me to do. I have 
 also written to .Sica. I would not put this trouble 
 upon you ; and should be sorry to have him angry 
 with you. 1 know Servius's manner of talking", 
 in which I see more of alarm than of wisdom. 
 But since we are all alarmed, I assent to Servius. 
 Publilius^ has been trifling with you. For Cserel- 
 lia^'' has been sent hither by these people to nego- 
 tiate with me. But I soon persuaded her that 
 what she asked was not only not agreeable to me, 
 but not even admissible, if I see Antonius, I will 
 use all diligence about Buthrotum. I come now 
 to your last letter (though on the subject of Ser- 
 vius I have already replied) that I exalt Dolabella's 
 deed. In truth, I think it could not have been. 
 better in such a case, and at such a time. But 
 whatever I attribute to him, I do it from your 
 letters. Yet I agree with you that it would be a 
 better deed, if he paid me what he owes. I wish 
 Brutus would occupy Astura. You commend me 
 for making no determination about going abroad 
 till I see how things are likely to turn out ; but I 
 have changed my purpose. However, I shall do 
 nothing till I see you. I am pleased with Attica's 
 returning thanks to me about her mother, to whom 
 I have given up my whole house and stores ; and 
 I hope to see her again on the 11th. Give my 
 compliments to Attica ; I will take good care of 
 Pilia. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 I WENT by sea from Pompeianum to my friend 
 Lucullus's on the 10th, where I arrived about 
 9 o'clock ; and upon quitting the vessel I got your 
 letter dated the 7th, which- your messenger was 
 said to have carried to Cumanum. The next day 
 I received another through Lucullus about the 
 same hour on which I had arrived ; and I received 
 one on the 9th dated from Lanuvium. Hear, there- 
 fore, my reply to all of them. In the first place, 
 I am much pleased with what has been done in my 
 concerns respecting both the payment and the 
 business of Albius. But with regard to your 
 Buthrotum, Antonius came to Misenum while I 
 was in Pompeianum ; and he had left it again 
 before I heard of his being there. From thence 
 he went to Samnium ; so that I can give you little 
 hope of my meeting him. The business of Both* 
 rotum must therefore be managed at Rome. L. 
 Antonius's" harangue is quite horrible ; Dola- 
 
 t See letter 14 of this book. " See letter 18 of this book. 
 
 ' See book xii. letter 32. 
 
 w See book xiii. letter 21. It may be supposed that she 
 was sent to negotiate a reconciliation between Cicero and 
 Publiiia. 
 
 ^ He was brother to M. Antonius, and at this time one 
 of the tribunes of the people. He proposed to make a fur- 
 ther grant of lands to the people, to secure their support 
 for his brother ; in which he wan (apposed by Dolabella.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 803 
 
 bella's excellent. Now* let him keep the money 
 to himself if he will but pay it on the loth. I 
 fehould be sorry if Tertulla^ were to miscarry ; for 
 Cassius's need to be rehired as well as Brutus's. 
 I should be glad to know what is become of tiie 
 queens and also of the young Csesar'. 1 have 
 done with your first letter, and come now to the 
 second. About the Quintuses and Buthiotum, 
 ■when I come, as you say. I am much obliged for 
 your advances to Cicero. You think I am mis- 
 taken in supposing that the republic depends upon 
 Brutus ; but so it is. It will either cease to exist, 
 or it will be preserved by him or his party. To 
 your advice of my sending up"* a written speech, 
 let me, my Atticus, reply by a general maxim on 
 these subjects, in which I am pretty well versed. 
 There never was any poet or orator who thought 
 anybody superior to himself. This is the case 
 even with bad ones. What do you think then of 
 Brutus, wlio has both genius and learning ? Of 
 whom also I have had some experience lately on 
 the subject of his edict. I composed one at your 
 request. I liked mine ; he liked his own. Nay, 
 when I had addressed to him my treatise on the 
 best style of oratory, which I was induced to do 
 almost at his earnest solicitation, he wrote word, 
 not to me only, but to you also, that what I recom- 
 mended he did not approve. Therefore, leave 
 everybody, I beg, to write for himself. " Every 
 one his own wife, mine for me ; every one his own 
 taste, mine for me." I cannot say much for the 
 style of this, being taken from Attilius, a very 
 harsh poet. 1 wish only that he"^ may be allowed 
 to address the people at all ; for if he is allowed to 
 remain in the city in safety, the cause is ours. 
 For either nobody will follow the leader of a new 
 civil war ; or those will follow who may easily be 
 overpowered. I come to the third letter. I am 
 glad that Brutus and Cassius were pleased with 
 my letter ; and have in consequence written to 
 them again. With regard to their wish that Hir- 
 tius may be made better through me ; I use my 
 best endeavours, and he talks most honourably ; 
 but he lives and is domesticated with Balbus, who 
 talks honourably likewise : you must judge what 
 you are to believe. I see you are greatly pleased 
 ■with' Dolabella ; I am exceedingly so. I lived 
 with Pansa in Pompeianum ; who quite convinced 
 me of his upright sentiments, and his desire of 
 peace ; but I see clearly that some people are 
 seeking for an occasion of war. I approve of the 
 proclamation of Brutus and Cassius. You ask me 
 to take upon myself the consideration of what I 
 think they ought to do. But opinions depend 
 upon the time ; which fluctuates every hour. That 
 first act of Dolabella's, and this speech in oppo- 
 sition to Antonius, seem to me to have done much. 
 The cause was utterly sinking. Now we appear 
 likely to have a leader ; which is the only thing 
 the free towns and all good people want. You 
 speak of Epicurus, and venture to pronounce that 
 one should abstain from politics **. Does not the 
 
 » In consideration of his patriotic conduct. 
 J Wife of Cassius, 
 
 * Cleopatra. 
 
 • The sou of Cleopatra by Caesar. 
 b For the uee of Brutus. 
 
 ■^ Brutus. 
 
 d It will be recollected that the leading principle of 
 Epicurus's philosopliy vas to consult our own ease. 
 
 dear look of my Brutus deter you from such lan- 
 guage ? Q. the son, as you mention, is the right 
 hand of Antonius. Through him therefore we 
 shall easily carry what we wisli'^. If, as you sup- 
 pose, L. Antonius should bring forward Octavius, 
 I am anxious to know how lie will address the 
 j)eople. I write this in haste ; for Cassius's mes- 
 senger is setting off" immediately. I am going 
 presently to pay my compliments to Pilia ; then 
 by water to feast with Vestorius. Best compli- 
 ments to Attica. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Soon after I had delivered to Cassius's messenger 
 my letter to you on the lltli, my own messenger 
 arrived, and (what was like a prodigy) without any 
 letter from you. But it presently occurred to me 
 that you must have been at Lanuvium. Eros 
 hastened, that I might get a letter from Dolabella. 
 He did not write abo\it my business', for he had 
 not yet received mine ; but it was in answer to that 
 of which I sent a copy to you, and was well ex- 
 pressed. As soon as I had despatched Cassius's 
 messenger, I received a visit from Balbus. Gracious 
 gods ! how easily might you perceive his dread of 
 quiet! You know the man, how reserved he is; 
 but yet he spake freely of Antonius's designs, who 
 was going round to the veteran soldiers, to secure 
 the ratification of Caesar's acts, and to make them 
 swear to enforce them everywhere ; for which pur- 
 pose the Duumviris were to examine them every 
 month. He complained also of his own unpopu- 
 larity ; and his whole conversation showed his 
 attachment to Antonius. In short, there is no 
 relying upon anytiiing''. To me it is no longer 
 doubtful that affairs tend to war. For that deed' 
 has been done with a manly spiiit, but with the 
 prudence of a child. Who did not see that there 
 was left an heirJ to the kingdom .' What could be 
 more absurd .' "To fear this ; to have no appre- 
 hension about the other''." Nay, at this very 
 time there are many inconsistencies ; as that Pon- 
 tius's Neapolitan villa should be held by the mother^ 
 of the tyrant-killer. I must read again and again 
 my " Cato the Elder""," which I sent you, — for 
 age makes me peevish ; I am out of humour with 
 everything: but my life has had its course", let 
 younger men see to it. You will continue to watch 
 over my concerns as you do. I write or rather 
 dictate this while the dessert is upon the table at 
 Vestorius's. I intend to-morrow to be with Hir- 
 tius ; and thus forsooth I hope to bring over to 
 the honest party one of the five that are left ° ! It 
 
 « Respecting Buthrotum. 
 
 f The pajTnent of his debt to Cicero. 
 
 S The colonial towns of Italy were governed by two ma- 
 gistrates, called duumviri, in imitation of the Roman 
 consuls, and they were subject to tlie Roman laws. 
 
 h For Balbus had talked honourably of serving the re- 
 public. See letter 20 of this book. 
 
 ' The assassination of Caesar. J Antonius. 
 
 k The original is a verse of which notice has before been 
 taken. See book xii. letter Si. 
 
 ' Servilia, who had been a favourite of Caesar, and re- 
 ceived a grant of land forfeited by some of the Pompeian 
 party. 
 
 m Cicero's essay on Old Age, so entitled. 
 
 " lie was now about 03. 
 
 o I have endeavoured to give what appears the most 
 probable signification of the Greek word of the text. I su» 
 3 F2
 
 C04 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 is a great delusion. There is no one of them who 
 does not dread a state of quiet. Let me then put 
 •wings to my feet ; for anything is better than to 
 engage in war. Pray give my best eomi)limeuts to 
 Attiea. I am eager for Octavius's speech, and 
 anything else there may be, — particuUirly wlietlier 
 Dolabella's money begins to chink p, or if he has 
 altogether cancelled my account. 
 
 LETTER XXn. 
 Having understood from Pilia that a messenger 
 was to be sent to you on the 1 ."Jth, I have immediately 
 scrawled something. In the first place, then, I 
 ■wish you to know tliat 1 go from hence to Arpinum 
 the 17th of May, — so that hereafter you will direct 
 thither if there i.s anything, though I shall myself 
 presently be at Rome. Hut I wish, before I arrive, 
 to find out more accurately what is likely to happen; 
 though I fear my conjectures may prove too true : 
 for it is sufficiently clear what they aim at. My 
 pupil 1, who dines with me to-day, is greatly at- 
 tached to him whom our Brutus stabbed ; and, if 
 you ask me, I plainly jierceive they dread a state 
 of quiet. This position they hold and openly 
 maintain, — that he who has been killed was a most 
 distinguished man, and that the whole state is 
 thrown into disorder by his death ; that what he 
 
 pect that many of these words are borrowed from Atticus, 
 who may possibly have designated by the appellation of 
 TTiVTeXoi-Koi some five principal supporters of Cajsar's 
 party, one of whom might be Ilirtius. Prom irej/reAoiTro/ 
 Cicero may humorously have derived TriVTi\onrov. 
 
 V If he is preparing to pay nie. 
 
 1 Iliitius. See letter 12 of this book. 
 
 did would be without effect as soon as we lay aside 
 our fears ; that his own clemency was his ruin, 
 without wliich nothing of the kind could have hap- 
 pened to him. What occurs to me is, that if 
 Pompei\is ■■ comes up with a firm army, which is 
 ])robable, there will certainly be war. The very- 
 idea and thought of this disturbs me : for what 
 was formerly allowed to you " will not now be 
 allowed to me. I have not concealed my joy'; 
 besides, they are fond of charging me with ingra- 
 titude. So that what was formerly allowed to you 
 and many others will on no account be allowed. 
 Must I declare myself then, and go into the field ? 
 It is better to die a thousand times, especially at 
 this age. The 15th of March, therefore, is not so 
 great a consolation as it was, because of the great 
 blunder that it embraces. Still those young" men 
 "by their other well-doings put out this reproach"." 
 But if you have any better hope, since you both 
 hear more and are admitted to their counsels, I 
 wish you would write to me, and at the same time 
 consider what I should do about a votive legation*. 
 Many people in these parts warn me not to attend 
 the senate on the first, as soldiers are said to be 
 secretly engaged for that day, and expressly against 
 the conspirators, who, I apprehend, will be safer 
 anywhere than in the senate. 
 
 f Sextus Pompeius. 
 
 « To take no part in the civil war. 
 
 ' Joy at Caesar's death. 
 
 » The conspirators, who were all much j'ounger than 
 Cicero. 
 
 " The original is a verse from some unknown Greek 
 poet. 
 
 w A leave of absence on some fictitious appointment. 
 See letter .5 of this book, and elsewhere. 
 
 BOOK XV. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 O SAD news of Alexion ^. It is not to be be- 
 lieved how much I am afflicted ; and that, not on 
 account of what most persons suggest, asking what 
 physician I should employ. For what have I now 
 to do with a physician .' Or if I should want one, 
 is there such a scarcity ? What I have lost is his 
 affection towards me, his kindness and gentleness. 
 This consideration also affects me ; what is not to 
 be feared when so temperate a man, so consummate 
 a physician, is unexpectedly carried off by the 
 violence of disease .-' For all this the only conso- 
 lation is, that it is the condition of our birth that 
 we should submit to whatever is incident to 
 humanity. Respecting Antonius, I have already 
 written to say that I had not met with him ; for he 
 came to Misenum while I was in Pompeianum, 
 and was gone again before I knew of his arrival. 
 But it happened that Hirtius was with me in 
 Puteolanum when I read your letter. I read it to 
 him, and entered upon the subject. In what re- 
 
 * This i))iysician was before mentioned. See book vii. 
 ktter 2. 
 J Ikis DO doubt regards the business of Buthrotum. 
 
 lates to the first party he was not less earnest than 
 myself; and in conclusion he appointed me the 
 arbiter not only of this business but of his whole 
 consulship. With Antonius I will so manage, as 
 to let him understand that if he satisfies me in this 
 affair I will give myself wholly to him. I hope 
 Dolabella is at home ^. Let us come now to our 
 friends *, of whom you say you entertain good 
 expectations in consequence of the moderation of 
 their proclamations. But 1 learned Hirtius's rea}. 
 sentiments when he left me on the I6th to go from 
 Puteolanum to Naples for the sake of meeting 
 Pansa. For I took him aside and counselled him 
 in favour of peace. He could not deny that he 
 was desirous of peace ; but he feared the arms of 
 our friends no less than those of Antonius. He 
 confessed it was not without reason that both 
 parties had a guard ; but for his own part he was 
 afraid of the arms of both : in short, there is no- 
 thing sound. About young Quintus I agree with 
 you. Your letter to his father was extremely 
 handsome, and could not fail of being most agree- 
 able. I had no difficulty in satisf ying Cserellia, who 
 
 » That is, at Rome, where he could forward the businei* 
 
 • Brutua and Caaaius.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 805 
 
 dill not ajipear very solicitous '' ; and if she were, 
 assurfdly 1 sliould not be so. 1 am surprised you 
 should have listened at all to the lady*", who you 
 say was so troublesome to you : for as to my having 
 spoken well of her before her friends, in the hearing 
 of her three sons and her d.uiiihter, " the same 
 person does not always utter the same thing"'." 
 What is this ? What is it that should make me 
 walk about in an assumed character .' Is not old 
 age of itself a character sufficiently disgusting .' 
 What Brutus requests, that I would go to him 
 previously to the first '^, he has mentioned also in 
 a letter to me, and I may probably do so ; but I 
 cannot at all tell what he wants : for what counsel 
 can I give him who am in need of counsel myself.' 
 While he has consulted his own immortalisation 
 better than our tranquillity. The report about the 
 queen' will soon be extinguished. Pray remember 
 about FlammaB, if there is anything you can do. 
 Yesterday I sent you a letter as I was going from 
 Puteolanum ; and I turned aside to Cumanum, 
 where I saw Pilia almost well : I saw her besides 
 at Baulos near Cumae ; for she had come to attend 
 a funeral, at which I likewise assisted. Cn. Lucullus, 
 my intimate friend, was carrying his mother to her 
 grave. That day, therefore, I staid in Sinuessanum, 
 and the next morning setting out for Arpinum I 
 scrawl this letter. 1 have nothing new, however, 
 to tell you, or to ask you ; unless, perhaps, you 
 think what follows to be of any consequence. Our 
 Brutus has sent me the speech he delivered at the 
 meeting in the capitol, and has desired me to cor- 
 rect it (but not with a view to excite applause) 
 before he publishes it. The speech is written with 
 great elegance of sentiments and expression, so 
 that nothing can exceed it. Yet, if I had had the 
 same cause to conduct, I should have treated it 
 with more warmth ; you see what the subject is, 
 and who is the person that speaks. I liave, there- 
 fore, been unable to correct it ; fo: . n the style 
 which our Brutus prefers, and agreeably to his 
 judgment of the best method of speaking, he has 
 so well succeeded in this oration that nothing can 
 be more elegant. But I alone, whether rightly or 
 not, am of a different opinion. I wish, however, 
 that you would read the speech, — unless you have 
 read it already, — and would let me know what you 
 think of it ; though I fear you may be misled by 
 your name'', and may be over-attic in your judg- 
 ment : but if you will call to mind the thunders of 
 Demosthenes, you will understand that what is 
 consummately attic may be strongly expressed. 
 But of these things when we meet. I did not care 
 to let Metrodorus go to you either without a letter, 
 or with a letter that contained nothing. 
 
 ^ About Cicero's taking back Publilia. See book xiv. 
 letter 19. 
 
 « Publilia's mother. 
 
 •^ The original is in Greek, and seems to bo quoted as a 
 proverbial sentence. It means that there is now no reason 
 wliy he should disguise his real sentiments, although he 
 may have done so before. Old age is b.nd enough, without 
 making it worse by assuming a false character. 
 
 e The first of June, on which day he designed to go to 
 Rome, wliere the senate was summoned. 
 
 f Cleopatra What was the report alluded to, is uncer- 
 tain. 
 
 K In the affair of Montanus. See book xiv. letter IG. 
 
 1> Atticus. It will be recollected that the Attic style was 
 esteemed the perfection of good writing. 
 
 LETTER 11. 
 
 Ox the 18th, on my way from Sinuessanum, 
 after I had sent my letter to you and had proceeded 
 from Cumte to Viscianum, I received yours from 
 the messenger. There was more than enough in 
 it about Buthrotum. For you do not, nor can 
 you, take a greater interest in that business than I 
 do. It is thus proper for you to attend to my 
 concerns and me to yours. 1 have accordingly 
 undertaken this so, that I shall esteem nothing of 
 superior obl-igation '. I learned from your letter, 
 and from others, that L. Antonius had made a 
 scurvy harangue ; but what was the nature of it I 
 do not know, for you said nothing. About Mene- 
 demu.s J it is quite right. Quintus^ must assuredly 
 be dictating what you write. I am glad you approve 
 of my reason for declining to compose what you 
 asked of me', and you will approve it still more 
 when you have read the speech, about which I 
 wrote to you this morning. What you mention 
 about the legions is perfectly true'" ; but vou do 
 not seem sufficiently to have considered what you 
 can hope to have done by the senate in the affair 
 of our Buthrotians. As far as my opinion goes 
 (for I see so much), I do not think we" shall long 
 subsist : but even if we are disappointed of this 
 resource", you will not be disappointed about 
 Buthrotum 1'. I feel as you do on the subject of 
 Octavius's speech ; and am not j)kased with the 
 preparations for his games 'i, and the appointment of 
 Matius and Postumius to conduct them. Saserna' 
 is a fit colleague for them. But all these people, 
 as you perceive, are as much afraid of peace as w* 
 are of war. I should be glad if I could relieve 
 Balbus from the odium he has incurred '^ ; but he 
 does not himself believe it to be possible : there- 
 fore he turns his attention elsewhere. I am glad 
 that you derive comfort from the first Tusculan 
 Disquisition ; for there is no resource either better 
 or readier'. I am not sorry that Flamma speaks 
 so fairly. What may be the case of the Tyndari- 
 tani", in which you are so earnest, I know not ; 
 yet I will give them ray support ''. These transac- 
 
 ' How well he fulfilled this promise is manifested by 
 his letters still extant to Plancus and Capito. See Ap- 
 pendix. 
 
 J It is not known to what this alludes. The name occurs 
 again letter 4 of this book. 
 
 k This evidently relating to something said in Atticus's 
 letter, it is no wonder that it should no longer be intel- 
 ligible. 
 
 1 See book xiv. letter 20. 
 
 "> This is supposed to allude to some legions which An- 
 tonius had lately recalled from Macedonia. 
 
 n The senate. 
 
 o I understand this to mean, "even if we have not the 
 senate to support us." 
 
 p We shall be able to accomplish our purpose through 
 Antonius. 
 
 q Games that had been promised by Cajsar, and were 
 now celebrated by Octavius to gain the affections of the 
 populace. 
 
 ' Sasema, Matius and Postumius, were all partisans of 
 Caesar 
 
 s Balbus, though friendly to Cicero, was attached to 
 Ca?sar, and therefore suspected of ill-will to the cause of 
 Brutus and the republic. See book xiv. letter 20. 
 
 « The first Tusculan Disquisition is upon the contempt 
 of death. " A people of Sicily. 
 
 " So this imperfect sentence ought probably to be com- 
 pleted.
 
 HOG 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 tions seem to move this one-of-the-five*', especially 
 the exiienditiiic of the money >^. I am sorry for 
 Alexion ; yet li:ivinK fallen into so severe an illness, 
 I think that he has been liindly dealt with. I 
 shoukl like to know who are his heirs in the second 
 degrees', and what is the date of his will. 
 
 LETTER IIL 
 
 1 RECEIVF.D two letters from you on the 22d in 
 Atinas, in answer to two of mine. One was dated 
 the 18th, the other the 21st. To the earliest there- 
 fore first. Pray come to Tusculanum, as you pro- 
 pose. I mean to be there tlie 27th. When you 
 say that we must submit to the conquerors, I do 
 not agree with you ; for many things appear to me 
 preferable. As to what you recollect to have been 
 done in the temple of ApoUo during the consulship 
 of Lentulus and Marcellus ^ ; neither the case nor 
 the time is similar ; especially as you mention that 
 Marcellus and others are taking their departure. I 
 must therefore find out and determine on the spot, 
 whether I can safely remain in Rome. These new 
 meetings alarm the inhabitants " ; for we are placed 
 in great straits. But let these things be disre- 
 garded ; I can look upon still greater with uncon- 
 cern. I have been made acquainted with Calva's 
 ■will, a base and sordid fellow. T thank you for the 
 care you take about Demonicus's accounts. I have 
 already written very particularly to Dolabella about 
 Marius, if only my letter has been delivered. For 
 his sake I wish him success, as indeed I ought. I 
 come now to the more recent letter. I have 
 learned what I wanted about Alexion ''. Hirtius is 
 in your interest"^. I wish Antonius were worse 
 than he is ''. You mention Quintus the son. A 
 volume of evils ! Of the father we will speak when 
 we meet. I am desirous of assisting Brutus in 
 everything I can. I see you entertain the same 
 opinion of his speech that I do. But I do not 
 quite understand what you wish me to write, as if 
 it were a speech delivered by Brutus ; when he has 
 himself published his own. How can this be } 
 Would you have it as against a tyrant, who had 
 been justly killed .' I shall have much to say, and 
 much to write ; but it must be in another manner 
 and time. The tribunes have done well about 
 Caesar's chair ". And excellent the fourteen rows 
 of knights. I am glad Brutus has been at my 
 house, provided he was pleased, and staid as long 
 as he liked. 
 
 w Hirtius. See book xiv. letter 21, note ". 
 
 * Antonius's expenditure of the money taken from the 
 temple of Ops. y After the failure of the first heirs. 
 
 ^ At the breaking out of the civil wart when the senate 
 united with Pompcius, and invested the consuls with 
 extraordinary authority to provide for the safety of the 
 republic. 
 
 » The meetings of the veteran soldiers in the country 
 tovjTis. I) See letter 2 of this book. 
 
 <: On the subject of Buthrotum. 
 
 d This must be suppo-sed to relate to some passage in 
 Atticus's letter, wliere he mentioned that Antonius was ill. 
 
 s It had been decreed, in flattery to Csesar, that he 
 should have a gilt chair in the senate and public places. 
 Octavius wished to have this chair placed, in memory of 
 C'jesar, at the games, but the triliunes forbade it ; on which 
 account they seem to have been applauded by the knights 
 in the theatre, where they sat in fourteen rows of l)«ncl".e& 
 tecerved by law for their axclusive use. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 On the 'J3d about two o'clock a messenger 
 arrived from Q. Fufius with a letter containing 
 sometliing about my restoring myself to him ' ; as 
 silly as usual ; unless, perhaps, whatever we dislike 
 is apt to appear silly. I replied in a manner that 
 I think you would approve. He brought me two 
 letters from you, one of the 22d, the other the 
 23d. I shall answer the latter first. " And the 
 legion ff .'" 1 apjjlaud the circumstance. And if 
 Carfulenus _too ; the streams, as they say, will run 
 upwards ''. You take notice of the factious coun- 
 sels of Antonius. I wish he may act through the 
 populace, rather than through the senate ; and I 
 imagine this is likely to be the case. But to me 
 all his measures have a warlike tendency. If 
 indeed Decimus Brutus's province is snatched 
 away, wliatever I may think of his strength, it 
 seems impossible to be done without a war. But 
 for this I do not wish, now that assurance' is given 
 to the Buthrotians. You may smile ; but I am sorry 
 that this should not rather have been accomplished 
 by my attention, diligence and influence. When 
 you say that you do not know what is to become 
 of our friends J, the same doubt has long since 
 given me concern ; so that the consolation I de- 
 rived from the 15th of March already appears 
 foolish. For we have shown a manly spirit, but, 
 believe me, a childish prudence. The tree has 
 been cut down, not torn up by the roots ; and you 
 see accordingly how it sprouts. Let us have 
 recourse then to the Tusculan Disquisitions, since 
 you often appeal to them. We must endeavour * 
 to conceal this from Saufeius ; for my part I will 
 never tell. You say that Brutus has written to 
 inquire on what day I should go to Tusculanum. 
 As I before mentioned to you, the 27th ; and I 
 hope to see yon there as soon as possible ; for I 
 apprehend i' shall be obliged to proceed to Lanu- 
 vium ', where there will be a great deal of talking. 
 But I shall see about it. I revert now to the earlier 
 letter, of which I pass over that first part relative 
 to the Buthrotians, which is lodged in my inmost 
 soul ; if only, as you say, there is any opportunity 
 of acting. Yon seem quite earnest on the subject 
 of Brutus' speech, by urging it again so copiously. 
 Should I then support the same cause for which he 
 has written ? should I wiite without his invitation ? 
 No interference can be more disrespectful. But, 
 
 f This expression may probably be copied from Fufius'a 
 letter. 
 
 e This is copied froniAtticus's letter, and nodoubt alludes 
 to the martial legion under the command of Carfulenus, 
 which deserted from Antonius at this time. 
 
 b Tlie original is a Greek proverbial expression, signi- 
 fying that it would be beyond all expectation ; for Carfu- 
 lenus had been a firm friend to Ca:sar. In fact he did not 
 join Brutus, but Octavius. 
 
 i May not this refer to the unwarranted assertion of 
 some foolish person saying that he would be answerable 
 for the safety of the Buthrotians? which Cicero pleasantly 
 ridicules. Had a war broken out, it might be expected that 
 Antonius would be otherwise employed than in settling 
 soldiers in Buthrotum. 
 
 J The conspirators. 
 
 ^ This is said in jest, with reference to Saufeius's attach 
 ment to the sect of Epicurus ; while the Tusculan Disqui- 
 sitions are conducted upon principles totally opposite. U 
 will be remembered tliat Atticus was also an Epicurean. 
 
 ' Brutus and Cassius wei'e at Lonuvlum.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 807 
 
 say you, something in the manner of Heraclides™. 
 To that indeed I do not object ; but the subject 
 must be well considered, and we must wait for a 
 riper season of writing. For, whatever you may 
 think of me, (and T should certainly wish you to 
 tliink the best possible,) if things remain as they 
 promise, (you will bear what I am going to say,) 
 the 15th of March affords me no satisfaction. For 
 he " would never have returned ; and we should not 
 have been compelled by fear to confirm his acts. 
 Or (to adopt Saufeius's maxims °, and renounce 
 those Tusculan Disquisitions to which you also 
 invite Vestorius p) so gracious towards me was he 
 (whom even dead may the gods confound !) that, 
 since we have not by his death regained our liberty, 
 there was no reason, at my age, to dislike him for 
 a master. 1 blush, believe me. But I have already 
 written, and will not erase it. I could have wished 
 the report about Menedemus had been true ; and 
 wish that about the queen may be so. The rest 
 when we meet ; especially what measures our 
 friends should pursue ; what also ourselves, if 
 Antonius means to beset the senate with soldiers. 
 If I had given this letter to his messenger, I was 
 afraid he might open it. I have therefore sent on 
 purpose ; for yours required an answer. 
 
 1 How much I wish you could have given Brutus 
 your assistance ! I will therefore write to him. I 
 have sent Tiro to Dolabella with a letter and 
 instructions. Desire him to come to you ; and if 
 you have anything to say, write what you please. 
 But see here ! most provokingly, L. Ceesar begs 
 me either to go to him at The Grove '^, or to let 
 him know where he may find me ; for Brutus 
 wished him to have some conversation with me. 
 A hateful and fruitless job ! I think however I 
 shall go, and from thence to Rome, unless I change 
 my present purpose. I send you this in few words, 
 for there is yet nothing from Balbus. I am there- 
 fore expecting to hear from you, and not only what 
 has been done, but also what will be done. 
 
 LETTER V, 
 
 The messenger that went to Brutus has brought 
 back letters from him and Cassius. They earnestly 
 desire my opinion ; Brutus, indeed, which of the 
 two plans ' he should adopt. O sad state of afiairs ! 
 I have positively nothing to say, and therefore 
 think of maintaining silence, unless you suggest 
 something different. But if anything occurs to 
 
 ™ lleraclides appears to have written a book of political 
 dialiigues, which has not come down to us. Book xiii. 
 letter 9. 
 
 " Cajsar would probably never have returaed safe from 
 his projected Parthian expedition. This appears to Ije said 
 partly in reference to the actual danger of the war, which 
 had already been fatal to Crassus's army ; and partly in 
 reference to the unstable and invidious nature of Cxsar's 
 power. See book x. letter 8. 
 
 ° The maxims of the Epicureans, who profess to consult 
 only their own ease. 
 
 P This must allude to something said, very likely in jest, 
 ly Atticus. 
 
 q There is every reason to think this must be the begin- 
 ning of a separate letter. 
 
 "• Near to Aricia, where C^sar had built a house. See 
 book vi. letter 1 . 
 
 « Whether he should go up to Rome the 1st of June ; or 
 «hould retire from Italy. 
 
 you, pray write. Cassius strongly begs and en- 
 treats me to make a good citizen of Hirtius. Do 
 you think he is in his senses .•' 'Tis the fuller and 
 the coals '. I send you his letter. What you say 
 respecting a decree of the senate for the provinces 
 of Brutus and Cassius ", is repeated by Balbus and 
 by Hirtius; and the latter purposes himself to 
 bring it on ; for he is already in Tusculanum. He 
 strongly advises me to keep away. He does this 
 on account of the danger, which he says threat- 
 ened him also. But for my part, even if there were 
 no danger, I am so far from caring to prevent 
 Antonius' suspicions of my dissatisfaction at his 
 success, that the wisli of avoiding him is of itself 
 a reason why I am unwilling to go to Rome. Our 
 friend Varro has sent me a letter, which he received 
 from I know not whom (for he had erased the 
 name)^ in which it was mentioned, that those 
 veteran soldiers, whose claims ^ were rejected, (for 
 some of them were dismissed,) talked very sedi- 
 tiously ; so that whoever was thought to have 
 oj)posed their interests, would be in great danger 
 at Rome. Besides, how should I manage my 
 going, my returning, my countenance, my step, 
 amongst that party"". And if, as you say, L. An- 
 tonius is to go against Decimus *, the rest against 
 our friends y, what should I do.' or how should I 
 conduct myself.' I have therefore determined, as 
 matters now stand, to absent myself from that 
 city in which I have not only flourished with the 
 highest dignity, but have enjoyed some share of it 
 even itnder subjection. Yet I am not so much 
 resolved to go out of Italy, (upon which I must 
 deliberate with you,) as not to go up thither ^ 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 Our friend Brutus has written to me, and like- 
 wise Cassius, that I might use my authority to 
 secure Hirtius, whom they knew to have been 
 hitherto well affected, though they could not en- 
 tirely depend upon him. For I apprehend he is 
 displeased with Antonius, but still attached to that 
 cause. However, I wrote, recommending to him 
 the dignity of Brutus and Cassius ; and wish you 
 to be acquainted with his answer, in case you 
 should draw from it the same conclusion as I do, 
 that the opposite party are even now afraid of 
 our friends' possessing more spirit than they 
 really have. 
 
 " Hirtius to his Cicero. 
 
 " You ask if I am yet returned from the coxin- 
 try ; or whether, at a time when everybody is in 
 activity, I am amusing myself in idleness. I 
 likewise have quitted the city ; for I thought it 
 more useful to absent myself I write this setting 
 off to Tusculanum. And I would not have you 
 suppose me so strenuous as to return on the 5th ; 
 for I see nothing that demands my attention, the 
 
 t In the uncertainty of a doubtful text, I read 6 yva<pevs 
 &i'SpaKas, " the fuller attempting to clean coals ;" for he 
 considered it a fruitless endeavour to reclaim him from 
 Caesar's party to favour Brutus and Cassius. 
 
 " To whom provinces would naturally be decreed, as to 
 pra'tors, at the expiration of their office. 
 
 T Claims of a portion of land. '*■ Caesar's friends; 
 
 » Decimus Brutus. 
 
 T JL Brutus, and the other conspirators. » To Rome.
 
 808 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 apjiointments being provided for so many years ». 
 As Brutus and Cassius may obtain anythinj; of me 
 througli you, so I wisli that by you they may as 
 easily be induced to enter into no intemperate 
 counsels. For you say tliat, at the time they wrote 
 to you, they were retiring. Wiiither ? or where- 
 fore ? Stoi> thcni. 1 bpseeech you, Cicero; and 
 sutler not all these tliin!,'s to perish, which must 
 be utterly ruined by ])lunder, by fire, by slaughter. 
 Only, if they have any cause of fear, let them be 
 upon their guard ; but h t them attempt nothing 
 more. In good truth they will gain no more by 
 violent counsels than by gentle ones, provided 
 they are prudent. For this state of things, which 
 is ))assing on, is not of a nature to last ; but by 
 opposition it presently assumes a power of doing 
 mischief. Write to me in Tusculauura, and let me 
 know what hopes you have of them." 
 
 This is Hirtius's letter ; to which I replied, that 
 they entertained no intemperate designs ; and this 
 I confidently affirmed. This, such as it is, I 
 wished you to know. Since sealing my letter I 
 have heard from Balbus that Servilia had returned, 
 and confirmed the opinion that they would not go 
 out of the country. I am now expecting a letter 
 from you. 
 
 — ♦ — 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 I THANK you for the letters you sent me, which 
 indeed gave me much pleasure ; especially that of 
 our friend Se.xtus"*. You will say, " because he 
 commends you." I think indeed that may be one 
 reason ; but yet before I came to that part, I was 
 exceedingly pleased both with his sentiments in 
 regard to the republic, and with the accuracy of 
 his writing. The peace-maker Servius '^, with his 
 little clerk, seems to have acted as an ambassador, 
 and to be afraid of any captious proceeding. But 
 he ought to have considered, that " it was no 
 struggle of right," but what follows''. Let me hear 
 also from you. 
 
 ■ — « — 
 
 LETTER Vin. 
 After you left me I received two letters from 
 Balbus ; no news. Also one from Hirtius, who 
 represents himself to be highly offended with the 
 conduct of the veteran troops. I am anxious to 
 know what they will do about the first of March "=. 
 I have therefore sent Tiro, and several others with 
 him, that whatever happens you may write to me 
 by one of them. I have besides written to Antonius 
 about an honorary legation, lest being an irritable 
 man, he might be ofiended had I applied only to 
 Dolabella. But ,".s he is said to be difficult of 
 
 a Cysar, preparatory to his Parthian expedition, had 
 nominated the magistrates for several years in advance. 
 
 i> Tliis is generally supposed to mean Sextus Peduceus, 
 of whom niention is made, book vii. letter 13, and book x. 
 letter 1. 
 
 c Servius Sulpicius, a distinguished lawyer, who may 
 perhaps oa that account be represented as attended by his 
 clerk. Ue is mentioned before. See book x. letter 14. 
 
 d The original is from Ennius — " it is no struggle of 
 right, but rather of arms ; they aim at a kingdom, and 
 proceed by main force." — Aul. Gell. xx. 10. 
 
 f Commentators have not without reason suspected some 
 error of the text. It ought probably to be written "the 
 1st of June." If that is not the case, it must relate to some- 
 thing no longer vaiderstood. 
 
 access, I have written to Eutrapelus to present my 
 letter to him, as having occasion for such an ap- 
 pointment. A votive legation is more honourable ; 
 but I may make use of both f. Again and again I 
 beg you to take care of yourself. I wish you could 
 come to me ; but if you cannot, we will attain the 
 same end by letter, Grajceius sends me word, 
 that C. Cassius had informed him there were men 
 provided to be sent armed to Tusculaimm. This 
 does not appear to me probable ; but yet it is right 
 to be ujjon one's guard, and to go about from one 
 villa to aiiotiier *J. To-morrow will produce some- 
 thing to direct us in the consideration of this 
 business. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 On the evening of the third I received a letter 
 from Balbus, saying that the senate was to meet 
 on the 5th, for the purpose of apjiointing Brutus 
 in Asia, Cassius in Sicily, to purcliase corn for the 
 use of the city. Wretched business ! first, that 
 they sliould receive any commission from these 
 people ; then, if any, that it should be such a 
 lieutenant's commission''. I know not if it is 
 better than sitting by the Eurotas'. But these 
 things chance must govern. He says that at the 
 same time a decree is to be passed for the allot- 
 ment of the ])rovinces to them, and to the rest 
 of prpetorian rank. This certainly is better than 
 that PersicJ portico. For I would not have that 
 distant Lacedeemon supposed to mean Lanuvium, 
 Do you laugh, you will say, in such a state of 
 affairs ? What should I do ? I am tired of weeping. 
 Immortal gods ! how the first page of your letter 
 disturbed me ! But what was that collision of arms 
 in your house .' I am glad however that this storm 
 soon passed over. I am anxious to know what you 
 have done with your commission'', at once so sad 
 and difficult of consultation. For it is indeed quite 
 inextricable ; so beset are we by all the troops. 
 As for me, Brutus's letter, which you say you have 
 read, has so disturbed me, that though I was before 
 at a loss, yet I am become duller than ever through 
 
 f A votive legation granted by the two consuls, and an 
 honorary lieutenancy from Dolabella. A votive legation- 
 was a nominal appointment in discharge of a vow. See 
 letter 1 of this book. 
 
 S To avoid being surprised. It should be mentioned, 
 however, that the text in this place is very doubtful. Ir. 
 the Epist. ad Fain. xi. 20. D. Brutus admonishes Cicero to 
 be upon his gutird—cautwn , et insidias vitantem. 
 
 ^ During the time of their praetorship it is probable they 
 could not be sent abroad but by some commission of 
 this kind, which may have been devised by the friends of 
 peace. 
 
 ' The Eurotas was a river of LacedEemon. The expres- 
 sion is probably a proverbial one, signifying, " to remain 
 inactive,"' as Brutus and Cassius were domg at Lanuvium. 
 The Romans used to give great names to their canals :— 
 " ductus aquaruna isti Nilos et Euripos vocant." — Do Leg. 
 ii. 1. 
 
 J Having previously applied the name of Eurotas to the- 
 stream that flowed by Lanuvium, he goes on in the sama 
 figure of speech to call the portico of Lanuvium by the- 
 name of a portico at Lacedaemon ; and concludes ironi- 
 cally, that he would not have Atticus suppose him to mean 
 Lanuvium ; thus humorously giving- the true interpreta- 
 tion of his own metaphor. 
 
 ^ Atticus appears to have been solicited to go to Lanu- 
 vium for tlie purpose of advising with his friend Brutus^ 
 in the present difficult situation. See letter 10 of this book.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 809 
 
 distress of mind'. But I will write more when I 
 am informed of what has been done. At present 
 I have nothing to say, and the less, because I am 
 doubtful if you will get this letter. For it is 
 uncertain whether the messenger will see you. I 
 am very anxious to hear from you. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 How affectionately is Brutus's letter written ! 
 How unlucky this time, when you are prevented 
 from going to him ! But what can I write '" .' 
 Should I advise him to accept the oflFer of these 
 people } What more disgraceful ? To attempt any 
 thing ? They dare not, neither can they. Come 
 then, should I advise them to remain quiet 7 Who 
 can answer for their safety ? And if any violent 
 measures are adopted with regard to Decimus, 
 what will become of our friends, even if nobody 
 offers to molest them ? Not to celebrate the 
 games" ? What more dishonourable ? To exact 
 corn ! How does it differ from that appointment 
 of Dion"? Or what office in the state is more 
 contemptible .•' In such a situation of things, 
 counsel is not safe even for the person who gives 
 it. This however I might disregard, if I were 
 doing any good. But to enter upon it without any 
 prospect of advantage ; while he listens to the 
 advice or even the entreaties of his mother, why 
 should I interfere ? I will however think what kind 
 of letter I can write ; for I cannot bear to be silent. 
 I will presently send therefore either to Antium 
 or to Circsei p. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 I CAME to Antium on the 2Cth. Brutus was glad 
 to see me. Afterwards in the presence of several 
 persons, and of Serviliai, Tertulla ', and Portia', 
 he asked what I thought. Favonius also was there. 
 I had meditated upon this as I went along, and 
 gave it as my opinion that he should accept this 
 corn commission in Asia ; that nothing now re- 
 mained for us to do but to secure ourselves ; in 
 which was involved the protection also of the 
 republic itself. After I had entered into this dis- 
 course, Cassius came in ; upon which I repeated 
 the same sentiments. At this place Cassius with 
 animated looks (you would say Mars himself was 
 breathing) declared he would not go into Sicily. 
 " Shall I accept an offer which is intended as an 
 insult ? " " What then do you propose to do .'" 
 said I. To which he replied, that he would go 
 into Greece. " And what," said I, " will you do, 
 Brutus .'" " I will go to Rome," said he, " if you 
 advise it." " But I do by no means advise it, for 
 you will not be safe." " But if 1 could be safe, 
 would you then approve it ?" " So much so that 
 I would not have you go away at all, neither at 
 this time, nor into a province after your praetorship. 
 But I do not advise you to trust yourself in the 
 city." I added what will readily occur to you, why 
 he would not be safe. A great deal was then said, 
 
 ' It is probable that Atticus may have asked Cicero's 
 opinion. m To Brutus. 
 
 n Tliis was the customary duty of the city praetor. 
 
 <• Dion appears to have been formerly sent out of Sicily 
 by Dionysius under colour of some embassy, but really from 
 the desire to remove one whom lie feared. 
 
 P To which places Brutus was going. 1 Bnitus's mother. 
 
 I Casoius's wife. > Brutus's wife. 
 
 and especially by Cassius, complaining of the oppor- 
 tunities which had been lost ; and he heavily accused 
 Decimus. I said we ought not to dwell upon what* 
 was past ; though at the same time I agreed with 
 him. And having entered upon the consideration of 
 what ought to have been done ; without however 
 saying anything new or anything more than is said 
 every day ; (for I did not touch upon the subject 
 of having omitted to strike anybody else " ;) but only 
 that the senate ought to have been assembled, and 
 the people more powerfully excited while their 
 affections were yet warm : " It is taking the man- 
 agement of the whole republic," exclaims your 
 female friend^; "this I never heard anybody 
 advance." I checked myself^'. At length Cassi\is 
 seemed disposed to go into .Sicily ; (for Servilia 
 engaged that the mention of the corn should be 
 expunged from the decree ;) and our friend* was 
 soon driven from that idle)" talk ; for he said that 
 he acquiesced. He determined therefore that the 
 games should be celebrated in his name, but 
 without his being present. And he appeared will- 
 ing to proceed into Asia from Antium. Not to 
 tire you ; I had no satisfaction in that visit, besides 
 the consciousness of having done my duty. For it 
 was not to be suffered that he should leave Italy 
 without my seeing him. Excepting for this debt of 
 affection and kindness, I might say to myself — 
 "What is the Hse of your coming hither, O 
 prophet^?" I found the vessel'' shattered, or 
 rather gone to pieces. Nothing was done with 
 wisdom, nothing with prudence, nothing with 
 regularity. So that if I before did not hesitate, yet 
 still less do I now hesitate to fly away from hence ; 
 and that as soon as possible ; " where I may hear 
 neither of the deeds nor the nameofthePelopidie''." 
 But while I think of it, let me inform you that 
 Dolabella has appointed me his lieutenant from 
 the '2d of April '^. I was told of it yesterday even- 
 ing. A votive appointment you did not like ; and 
 indeed it was absurd, that having bound myself by 
 vows "if the republic should subsist," I should 
 now discharge them when it is overturned. Besides, 
 the honorary legations have, I think, a definite 
 period by the Julian law ; and it is not easy to a 
 legation of this kind '' to add leave to go in and out 
 when you please ; which is now granted to me. 
 And the right which this licence gives me for five 
 years is charming. Though why should I think of 
 five years .' The business appears to me to be con- 
 tracted within a little space ^. But let me not 
 utter ill omens. 
 
 « That what is here said refers to Decimus only, appears 
 from the context; for Cicero himself immediately proceeds 
 to the consideration of their past errors. 
 
 " Meaning that Antonius ought to have been killed as 
 well as Caesar. ^ Servilia. 
 
 '•" So I understand it, upon the authority of Cicero: " Re- 
 primam jam, et non insequar longius." — De Leg. ii. J 8. 
 
 " Brutus.. 7 About going to Rome. 
 
 z The original is a verse taken frona some unknown 
 Greek author. 
 
 » The vessel of the state, a metaphor not imfrequent 
 among Roman authors. 
 
 ^ A verse of the poet Accius, quoted before. See book 
 xiv. letter 12. 
 
 c It is uncertain whether there is any error in this date, 
 or whether there may have been some reason for the com- 
 mission being antedated. 
 
 d One that is oblained for the discharge of a vow. 
 
 •^ That is, the cause of the republic is reduced to a short 
 term.
 
 «10 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 This is good news about Buthrotum. But I hnd 
 already sent Tiro with a letter' to Dolabella as you 
 desired. What liarm ? I thoui^lit 1 had written 
 sufficiently distinctly about our friends at AntiumK, 
 that you needed not to doubt of tiieir remaining 
 quiet, and accepting Antonius's insulting offer. 
 Cassius scorned the business of the corn, which 
 Servilia engaged to get expunged from tlie decree of 
 the senate. But our friend'', with all his dignity, 
 said he would go into Asia, after he had agreed 
 with me that he could not safely reside in Rome. 
 For he thought it better to exhibit the games without 
 being present. He was collecting vessels, and pre- 
 paring for his passage. In the mean time they 
 designed to remain in the same neighbourhood. 
 Brutus talked of going to Astura'. L. Antonius 
 kindly indeed by letter desires me not to make 
 myself uneasy J. I acknowledge this as one favour 
 received ; and may perhaps receive a second, unless 
 he should come to Tusculanum. How intolerable 
 are these negotiations ^ ! which however are tole- 
 rated'. Which of Brutus's party'" is to blame for 
 this"? There is, I am persuaded, no want of 
 sense, no want of spirit in Octavianus " ; and he 
 seemed to be affected as we could wish towards 
 our heroes. But it is matter of deep consideration 
 what reliance can be placed on his age, his name?, 
 his succession, his education. His stepfather'!, 
 •whom I saw at Astura, thought he was not to be 
 trusted. But he must be cherished however, if for 
 no other reason, that he may be disunited from 
 Antonius. It is well done of Marcellus, if he 
 directs our own's own""; who seemed to me to be 
 much attached to him. He^ did not place much 
 reliance on Pansaand Hirtius. They' have a good 
 natural disposition, if it is but firm". 
 
 f Upon the subject of H-uthrotum, about which Atticus 
 appears now to have had some satisfactorj- assurance, per- 
 haps througli the instrumentality of Dolabella. See letter 
 14 of this book. 
 
 g Brutus and Cassius. 
 
 h Brutus. 
 
 • To Cicero's house. See letter 3 of this book, and book 
 xiv. letter 19. 
 
 J Under the apprehension of his Tusculan villa being 
 seized. See letter 8 of this book. 
 
 ^ That we should be forced to negotiate for our security. 
 
 1 Antonius being suffered to proceed with impunity. 
 
 '" So the word Bruti is to be understood. See book xiv. 
 letter 14. 
 
 " P'or suffering Antonius to live. 
 
 The same who is before called Octavius ; but his 
 adoption into Caesar's family having been confirmed, he 
 took the name of C. Julius Casar Octavianus, that of 
 Augustus being added afterwards. 
 
 r The name and inheritance of Cajsar. 
 
 1 Pliilippus. See book xiv. letter 12. 
 
 !■ It is consonant with Atticus's manner to suppose tliat 
 he may thus have designated the young Q,uintus, meaning 
 Cicero's own brother's own son. 
 
 s Philippus. 
 
 t Pansa and Hirtius. 
 
 " He intimates the same thing in letters 1 and C of this 
 book, and again in letter 22. I know not if any apology 
 might be expected for giving a new interpretation to the 
 concluding sentences of this letter. Suffice it to say, tliat 
 I was dissatisfied witli the explanation of foimer commen- 
 tators, and always incline to resist the itch of conjectural 
 emendations, the offspring of idleness and vanity. At the 
 : same time I should add, that both Middletcn and Mongault 
 i apply this to Octavianus. 
 
 LETTER Xin. 
 
 On the 24th I received two letters from you. I 
 shall reply to the earliest first. I agree with you 
 that I should neither take the lead, nor close the 
 rear; but should nevertheless favour them". I 
 have sent you my speech, and leave the keeping 
 and the publication of it to your discretion. But 
 when shall we see the time that you will think 
 it may be produced ? I do not understand how the 
 truce you mention can possibly take place. It is 
 better to use no opposition ; which is the policy I 
 mean to adopt. When you say that two legions 
 have arrived at Brundisium, you get all informa- 
 tion first^' : write me word therefore of everything 
 you hear. I am expecting Varro's Dialogue. I 
 now approve of undertaking something in the 
 manner of Ueraclides", especially as you anticipate 
 it with so much delight : but I wish to know of 
 what kind you would have it. As I mentioned to 
 you before, or formerly, (since you f>refer this 
 expression,) you have, to tell you the truth y, made 
 me the more desirous of writing, by adding to your 
 own opinion, which was well known to me, the 
 authority of Peduceus, which is always great, and 
 of the first weight with me. I will endeavour 
 therefore to prevent your charging me either with 
 idleness, or want of attention. Vectenus and 
 Faberius I cherish, as you advise. I suspect 
 Clselius of no evil design, although — But what has 
 he done ? On the subject of maintaining our 
 freedom, than which assuredly nothing is sweeter, 
 I agree with you. Behave so to Gallus Caninius ? 
 The wicked man^ ! What else can I call him ? 
 Should I call him the cautious Marcellus .' Such 
 would I call myself; yet not so very cautious. I have 
 now replied to your longer and earlier letter ; but 
 what shall I reply to the shorter and more recent 
 one, except that it was most delicious ? The news 
 from Spain is excellent. Might I but see my 
 Balbilius^ safe, the support of my old age. I may 
 say the same of Annianus, considering the atten- 
 tion I receive from Visellia ''. But these things are 
 subject to the lot of human nature. You say that 
 you know nothing of Brutus ; but Selicia informs 
 me that M. Scaptius ' is arrived, and that he is to 
 come to her, not with any display, but privately ; 
 and that I should know everything ; which I will 
 immediately communicate to you. In the mean 
 time you mention, in the same letter, that a servant 
 of Bassus is come, who brings intelligence of the 
 Alexandrian legions being in arms ; that Bassus is 
 sent for '', and Cassius is expected. What say you ? 
 
 V The party of Brutus and Cassius. 
 
 w Tliougli Cicero was now in the neighbourhood of 
 Puteoli, and consequently much nearer to Brundisium, 
 yet news from thence had arrived at Rome before it reached 
 him. 
 
 X See letter 4 of this book. 
 
 y The text has been variously tortured. I would point 
 it thus— ^(i scribendum, dicere tibi vere, fecisU me acrio- 
 rem, &c. i. e. ut possim dicere tibi vere. 
 
 z Tliis appears to me to relate to Marcellus, whatever 
 he may have done ; otherwise 1 see not how the following 
 expression, cautum Marcellam, should come to be in the 
 accusative case, unless indeed it be copied from Atticus. 
 
 a I apprehend the word Balbilius is but a diminutive 
 from Balbus, and so afterwards Annianus for Annius. 
 
 1> Tliis must be some relation of Annius. 
 
 = See book v. letter 21. 
 
 <» To put himself at the head of the Alexandrian legion
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 811 
 
 The republic seems to be recovering its rights. 
 But we must not presume beforeliand. You know 
 the unsteadiness of these troops'", and tlieir habits 
 of plunder. Dolabella is the best of men. Thougii 
 ■while I am writing at my dessert, I hear that he is 
 come himself to Hai:e, yet he wrote to me from 
 Formianum a letter, which I received upon (juittin 
 the bath, saying that he had done everything to tii 
 utmost about the payment. He accuses Vectenu 
 of shufflinsf , as such people are accustomed to do 
 but adds that my friend Sestius has taken the whole 
 business wjion himself. He is an excellent man, 
 and very much attached to me ; yet I want to know 
 ■what Sestius should be able to do in this affair 
 more than any one of us. If however there should 
 be anything beyond my expectation, you will take 
 care to inform me. But if, as I imagine, it is a 
 lost case, you will nevertheless write ; for such a 
 circumstance will not affect me. Here I amuse 
 myself with philosophical speculations, (for what 
 else can 1 do ?) and copiously explain what relates 
 to our duty, addressing myself to Cicero. For on 
 what subject can a father more properly speak to 
 his son .•' Afterwards I shall proceed to something 
 else. In short, there shall remain some fruit of 
 this excursion. Varro was expected to-day or to- 
 morrow. But 1 am hastening away to Pomjieia- 
 Dum ; not that anything can be more beautiful than 
 this place ; but there I shall be less molested by 
 visitors. Pray let me know -what accusation is 
 brought in the case of Myrtilus. who I hear has 
 suffered punishment ; and v/hether it is quite clear 
 by whom he was corrupted. While I write this, 
 I imagine the speech will just have been delivered 
 to you. I am almost afraid to hear what you may 
 think of it. Though how does it concern me, if it 
 is not to come out till the republic is restored .' 
 About which what are my hopes ^ I dare not 
 write. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 On the 26lh I received a letter from Dolabella, 
 of which I send you a copy. In this he says that 
 he has done everything that you could wish. I 
 immediately wrote to him in return with the fullest 
 expression of my thanks. But that l-.e might not 
 be surprised at my writing twice on the same sub- 
 ject, I gave it as a reason, that I had not before 
 been able to have any personal communication with 
 you. Not to detain you, the following is a copy 
 of my letter : — 
 
 ' ' Cicero to his Dolabella, Consul. 
 " Having before heard by letter from my friend 
 Atticus of your great liberality and extreme kind- 
 ness towards him ; and having it also under your 
 own hand, you that had done what we desired, 1 
 wrote to express my thanks to you in such terms, 
 that you might understand you could not have 
 conferred upon me a greater favour. But Atticus 
 having since come himself to me at Tusculanum 
 for this single purpose of returning you his thanks, 
 through me, for the extraordinary attention and 
 great kindness he had experienced from you in the 
 Buthrotian affair ; I could not refrain from repeat- 
 
 d This seems the most natural interpretation, though 
 mot supported by commentators ; who have followed each 
 other in applying the words to Antonius and his party. 
 
 e Cleaning that he had no hope at all, but avoided the 
 til omen of saying so. 
 
 ing the same '.o you more distinctly in this letter. 
 For of all the marks of your affection and civility 
 towards me, my Dolabella, which are very great, 
 let me assure you that I esteem this tlie highest and 
 most grateful, by letting Atticus see my regard for 
 you, and yours for me. For the rest, though the 
 settlement of Buthrotum has been your work, and 
 we are naturally inclined to support the fruits of 
 our own exertion, yet 1 wish again and again to 
 recommend both the cause and the city to your 
 patronage, that you may be jileased to cover it with 
 your authority and assistance. You will confer a 
 lasting security on the Buthrotians ; and will save 
 Atticus and me from much trouble and anxiety, if 
 for my honour's sake you will let them always 
 remain under your protection. Which again and 
 again I earnestly entreat you to do." 
 
 Having thiishcd this letter, I devoted myself to 
 my compositions, which I fear may in several places 
 call for your little red marks', so discomposed'am 
 I, and occupied with deep i? thoughts. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Confound L. Antonius ! if he molests the Buth- 
 rotians. I have drawn up my attestation '', which 
 you may countersign when you please. If L. 
 Fadius the eedile demands the money belonging to 
 the people of Arpinum, deliver up even the whole 
 of it. (1 wrote to you in a former letter abo\it the 
 1 10 sestertia (900/.) which were to be provided for 
 Statins'.) If therefore Fadius asks for it, I wish 
 it to be given to him ; but to nobody besides 
 Fadius. I think there is some other deposit at my 
 house, ■which I have written to Eros to give back J. 
 The queen ^ I hate. Ammonius, the voucher of 
 her promises, knows that I am justified in what I 
 do. They ' were aU. connected with learning and 
 becoming my character, so that I should not mind 
 declaring them in the public assembly. Sara, in- 
 dependently of my knowing him to be a bad man, 
 was besides insolent to me. For once only I saw 
 him in ray house, when asking him civilly what he 
 wanted, he said he came to look for Atticus. But 
 of the haughtiness of the queen herself, when she 
 was in the gardens on the other side of the Tiber, 
 I cannot speak without great pain. Let me, then, 
 have nothing to do with such people, who seem to 
 think not so much that I have no spirit, as that I 
 have scarcely common feeling. Eros's mismanage- 
 ment, as I conceive, is an obstacle in the way of my 
 going abroad. For while I ought to have abundance, 
 from the balance which he drew the fifth of April, I 
 am under the necessity of borrowing. And what 
 was received from the produce of my estate, I sup- 
 posed to have been laid by for that temple "". But 
 
 f Atticus appesu's to have been in the habit of marking 
 with red wax such passages as he disapproved. See book 
 xvi. letter 11. 
 
 S Respecting, no doubt, the state of public affairs. 
 
 h To Ca;sar*s covenant respecting the Buthrotians. Sec 
 Appendix. To L. Plancus. 
 
 ' Statius appears to have been a freed-man of Q. Cicero. 
 See book v. letter 1; and book xv. letter 19. 
 
 J This settlement of Cicero's accounts seems to have 
 been made preparatory to his going into Greece. See 
 letter 17 of this book. "^ Cleopatra. 
 
 1 The promises he had received from Cleopatra, it may 
 be, of books, or statues. 
 
 "> In which he proposed to consecrate his daughter's 
 memory. See book xiL letter 13, &c.
 
 812 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 I have given instructions about these matters to 
 Tiro, whom I have sent to Rome on that account. 
 I (lid not care to trouljle you, who had already 
 trouble enough. The more modest my Cicero is, 
 the more I feel for him. For upon this subject he 
 mentioned nothing to me, to whom he ouglit par- 
 ticularly to have written ; but lie wrote to Tiro to 
 say, that since the first of April, when the year 
 ends, he had received nothing. You were always 
 of opinion, agreeably to your natural disposition, 
 and thought also that it concerned my dignity, 
 that he should have from me not only a liberal, but 
 also a handsome and ample allowance. Therefore 
 I wisli you would manage (what I can transact 
 through nobody else, or I would not trouble you), 
 that there may be paid by exchanges at Athens 
 what is sufficient for his yearly expenses. Eros 
 will furnish the money for this purpose. I send 
 up Tiro ; therefore you will " be so good as to take 
 care about it, and write me word if anything occurs 
 to you upon the subject. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 At length a messenger is arrived from Cicero 
 with a letter written, in good truth, after the ancient 
 manner °, which of itself shows some degree of 
 proficiency. Other people likewise give me good 
 accounts. Leonidas, however, still uses the same 
 expression of " hitherto r." But Herodes gives 
 him the highest commendations. What think you ? 
 Though these should prove mere words, I am gra- 
 tified to receive them on this subject, and gladly 
 become a credulous hearer. If you have heard 
 anything from Statins that concerns me, 1 should 
 be glad to be informed of it. I assure you this place "^ 
 is beautiful, and quite retired ; and, if you wish to 
 write anything, free from interruption. But I know 
 not how it is, " Sweet home''." Accordingly my 
 steps revert to Tusculanum ^ For, after all, this 
 rude scene would soon grow tiresome. I am besides 
 afraid of the rains, if my prognostics ' are true ; for 
 the frogs are exercising their rhetoric. I beg you 
 to let me know where, and on what day, I can see 
 our friend Brutus. 
 
 LETTER XVn. 
 
 I RECEIVED two letters on the 14th, one dated 
 that day, and one the day before. Therefore to the 
 earliest first. You will inform me about Brutus, 
 when you know yourself. I had heard of the pre- 
 tended alarm of the consuls ^ ; for Sica, very affec- 
 tionately indeed, but with unnecessary agitation, 
 brought me an account of that suspicion. But 
 what is it you say, " that we must be content with 
 wh at is offered'?" For not a word has been 
 
 n Cicero sent up his CDnfidential freed-man Tiro with 
 directions to communicate with Atticus upon the allowance 
 for his son at Athens. o gee book xiv. letter 7. 
 
 P This refers to book xiv. letter 16. q Pompeianum. 
 
 »" The original is part of a Greek proverb, 
 
 » Though Pompeianum belonged to Cicero, yet he was 
 most at home in Tusculanum. 
 
 • Cicero haU translated the " Prognostics" of Aratus. 
 
 >^ Under pretence of personal danger the consuls appear 
 to have surrounded tliemselves with a guard, perhaps to 
 excite hostile feelings towards the conspirators. 
 
 » The original is a Greek proverbial expression, quoted 
 before, book vi. letter 5. It probably alludes here, as in 
 the former instance, to the partial payment of some debt. 
 
 mentioned by S^iregius"'. I am not pleased with 
 this. I have been vexed about your neighbour 
 Pletorius, that anybody should have heard it before 
 me. You have acted quite right in the case of 
 Syrus. I imagine you will easily stop L. Antonius'' 
 through his brother Marcus. I forbade tlie money 
 to be given to Antro, or to anybody, except y L. 
 Fadius the sedile ; but you had not then received 
 the letter. It cannot either safely or jjroperly be 
 done otherwise. With regard to the deficiency of 
 100 sestertia (800/.) to be jn-ovided for Cicero, I 
 should wish you to inquire of Eros what is become 
 of the rent of the houses ', I am not displeased 
 with Arabic's conduct in the affair of Sitius. About 
 my journey I think nothing, till I have settled my 
 accounts * ; in which I believe you agree with me» 
 I have replied to your first letter : now hear what 
 I have to say to the other. You act as you always 
 do, in assisting Servilia, that is Brutus '^. I am 
 glad you do not trouble yourself about the queen, 
 and especially that you approve of my conduct. I 
 have been informed by Tiro of the state of Eros'a 
 accounts, and have sent for him. I am much 
 obliged by your engaging that Cicero shall be in no 
 want. I hear great things of him from Messala, 
 who called upon me on his return from them "= at 
 Lanuvium. And indeed his own letter is so affec- 
 tionately and classically written, that I might read 
 it to a public audience, for which I think he 
 deserves the more indulgence. Sestius, I imagine, 
 is not sorry about Bucilianus ''. If Tiro comes to 
 me, I think of going to Tusculanum. But I beg 
 you to inform me without delay whatever happens 
 which it may concern me to know. 
 
 LETTER XVin. 
 
 Though I thought I had sufficiently explained 
 to you on the loth what I wanted, and what I 
 wished you to do if it was convenient to you ; yet 
 after I had set out, and was passing over the lake ', 
 I determined to send Tiro to you, that he might 
 be present at the transactions ^ which were in agi- 
 tation. And I have also written to Dolabella to 
 
 ■>" Nothing is known of Siregius, or several other names 
 which occur in this letter ; they may probably have been 
 connected with Cicero only in his private and pecuniary 
 transactions. 
 
 " From giving trouble to the Ruthrotians. See letter 15 
 of this book. y See letter 15 of this book. 
 
 2 This may possibly allude to the houses mentioned, 
 book xii. letter 32, from the rents of which he proposed 
 to defray his son's expenses at Athens. 
 
 » In the text is inserted a Greek letter, the meaning of 
 which has been much disputed. It seems to me most pro- 
 bable that it is used for " accounts," being the first letter 
 of tlie word \6yos. 
 
 b Atticus had given to Servilia a sum of money for 
 Brutus's use, probably the same which is mentioned in 
 Corn. Nepos's life of Atticus, amounting to 101) sestertia, 
 or 8001. From the same author it appear?, that after 
 Brutus was in Epirus, he sent him another present of 300- 
 sestertia, or 24()()^ <: The conspirators. 
 
 •i Sestius and Bucilianus were the names of two of the 
 conspirators. What particular circumstance is here al- 
 luded to, is not kno\vn: perhaps the collecting vessels t» 
 transport himself and his adherents to Epirus. See book 
 xvi. letter 4. 
 
 e The Lucrine lake, from his house at Cuma;. See book 
 xiv. letters Ki .and 17. 
 
 f Probably his money transactions. See letter IS of thla 
 book.
 
 TO TITLS I'OMPOXIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 813 
 
 cay, that, if he thought fit p, I should be glad to set 
 Loff; and I have asked him al)out the nmles of 
 burden'' for the journey. Let mc beg' that in 
 these matters (since 1 understand you are very 
 much occupied, partly about the IJuthrotians, partly 
 about Brutus, the providing for whose games I sus- 
 |)ect devolves wholly ujiou you, and in great measure 
 also the conduct of them) that tli^c refore in an affair J 
 of this kind you will give me a little of your assist- 
 ance ; for much will not be recpiisite. Things ap- 
 pear to me to tend to slaughter, and that at no great 
 distance. You see the men ; you see the arms that 
 are collected. I do not think myself by any means 
 safe. If you think otherwise, I wish you would 
 write to me ; for I would much rather remain at 
 Lome, if I can do it with propriety. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 What further attempt"* is to be made in the 
 case of the Buthrotians .' For you mention that 
 you have been waiting in vain. And what does 
 Brutus say of himself.' I am truly sorry you 
 should be so detained ; for which we may thank 
 the ten' men. It is a troublesome business, but 
 must be borne, and is most acceptable to me. 
 Respecting the employment of arms, I never saw 
 anything more open. Let me be off, then ; but, as 
 you say, we will talk of it together. What Theo- 
 phanes wants I cannot tell : for havmg written to 
 tne, I answered him as I could ; but he says he 
 •wishes to come to me, partly about his own affairs, 
 and partly about something that concerns me. I 
 am impatient to hear from you. Pray see that 
 nothing is done'" rashly. Statius has written to 
 me to say that Q. Cicero liad strongly affirmed to 
 him in conversation that he could not bear these 
 proceedings, and that he was resolved to go over to 
 Brutus and Cassius. I want now to understand 
 this ; for what it means I am unable to explain. 
 He may design Something in a fit of passion against 
 Antonius ; he may aim at some new glory ; it may 
 be all a sudden impulse ; and assuredly so it is. 
 But vet I have my fears ; and his father is much 
 disturbed ; for he knows what that person" formerly 
 
 e Cicero being appointed his lieutenant was obliged to 
 wait for Dolabella's sanction. 
 
 •> Going in the capacity of lieutenant to the consul, he 
 was entitled to a supply of mules. 
 
 ■ Tills must be understood, upon which the following 
 sentence depends. 
 
 i Relating to the settlement of his affairs previous to 
 quitting the country. 
 
 k This may cither mean an attempt on the part of L. 
 Antonius and others to molest the Huthrotians, [see letter 
 15 of this book,] or an attempt on the part of Atticus to 
 eecure them. I incline to the former explanation. The 
 letter being in answer to one from Atticus, several parti- 
 culars in it are rendered obscure from our ignorance of the 
 circumstances to which they allude. 
 
 ' This cxpi'ession is probably a humorous one, taken 
 from the decemviri, or ten persons, by whom the laws of 
 Rome were framed ; and applied, perhaps by Atticus in 
 the first instance, to some ten people distinguished by 
 their disregard for the republic, who at this time, it m.ay 
 be, threatened to divide and appropriate Cicero's property. 
 See letter 8 of this book. 
 
 "" Probably said in relation to the designs of evil-minded 
 persons on Cicero's property. 
 
 " Perhaps Dolabella. See book xiii. letter 9, where the 
 very same Greek expressions ai'e applied to young Quin- 
 tus's conduct. 
 
 said of him to me ; things not to be revealed. lu 
 short, I do not know wliat he is at. I am to re- 
 ceive from Dolabella such despatches " as I please ; 
 that is, none at all. Tell me ; did C. Antonius 
 wish to be made a septemvir p .' He was undoubt- 
 edly worthy 'i of it. It is, as you mention, with 
 regard to Menedemus. You will let me know every- 
 thing. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 I HAVE returned my thanks to Vectenus, — for 
 nothing could be more kind. Let Dolabella's de- 
 spatches be what you jilease ; only let me have 
 something, or at least a message to Nicias ' : for 
 %vho, as you say, did not before understand this 
 arrangement' ? Do you suppose that any sensible 
 man now entertains a doubt but that it is a journey 
 of despair, not of business .' You say that men, 
 and good ones too, already speak of the reptiblic 
 being in extremity. For my part, tlie very day on 
 which I heard that tyrant' called in the assembly 
 " a most eminent man," I began to distrust. But 
 when I was with you at Lanuvium, and saw that 
 our friends had only so much hope of life as Anto- 
 nius had been pleased to afford them, I quite 
 despaired. Therefore, my Atticus, I would have 
 you receive this " with the same firmness with 
 which I write it: that species of destruction, by 
 which you are likely to fall", you will esteem dis- 
 graceful, and almost denounced against us by 
 Antonius. From this snare I have determined to 
 withdraw, not for the purpose of flight, but in the 
 hope of a better death. The fault rests wholly with 
 Brutus. You say that Pompeius" has been 
 received at Cartheia. Now therefore they must 
 send an army against him. To which camp then 
 should I betake myself .' for Antonius cuts off any 
 middle course. That camp is weak ; this is 
 wicked. It is time therefore to hasten away. But 
 help me with your advice, whether I should go from 
 Brundisium, or from Puteoli. Brutus adopts a 
 hasty but prudent counsel". I am much con- 
 cerned : for when shall I see him again ? But we 
 must bear the afflictions incident to humanity. 
 You are yourself unable to see him. The gods 
 confound this man who is dead y, for having ever 
 molested Buthrotum ! But, leaving what is past, 
 let us consider what is yet to be done. Though I 
 
 Going in the capacity of Dolabella's lieutenant, he 
 might be supposed to bear despatches. 
 
 P One of the seven commissioners appointed for the dis- 
 tribution of forfeited or waste lands to the soldiers. 
 
 1 This is to be understood as said in derision, the com- 
 missioners being persons of no reputation. 
 
 r Nicias was the intimate friend of Dolabella, and being 
 to accompany him in his province of Syria, [see book xiv. 
 letter 9,] he had probably already set out before him. on 
 that expedition. 
 
 s The text appears to be faulty in this place. I have 
 given what I conceive to be the meaning. 
 
 ' Cxsar. See book xiv. letter 1 1 . 
 
 " What follows. 
 
 T The text has been supposed to be corrupt. It may 
 perhaps relate to Cicero's apprehension of Antonius'a 
 power and cruelty, which Atticus may have declared his 
 determination to abide. Had wo Atticus's letters, the 
 sense would probably be clear. 
 
 w Sextus Pompeius, who still retained a powerful army 
 in Spain. * In retiring from Italy. 
 
 y Casar. So before, letter 4 of this book.
 
 8U 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 have not yet seen Eros, yet from his letter, and 
 from what Tiro has ascertained, I am pretty well 
 master of his accounts. You say that I ought to 
 horrovv two hundrtd sestertia (KiOO/.) for five 
 months, — that is, to the first of November. The 
 payment of the money due from Quintus will fall 
 upon that day. I should be glad therefore (as Tiro 
 assures me you would not wish me to go up to 
 Rome ex])ressly for this jiuqiose) that,if you do not 
 object to such a business, you would find out from 
 whence the money can be procured, and contract 
 for it on my behalf This is what is wanting for 
 the present. I must inquire more particularly 
 about the balance from himself'' ; and in this, 
 about the rents of the dowry estate, which, if they 
 are regularly paid to Cicero, though I wish him to 
 have a liberal allowance, yet will be nearly suffi- 
 cient for him. I am aware that I must also have 
 money for my journey ; but the former may be paid 
 out of the estates as it becomes due ; what I want 
 for myself must be had at once. And though I 
 apprehend that he who is afraid of mere shadows'" 
 is driving on to slaughter, yet I shall not set off 
 till my accounts are cleared. But whether they 
 are unravelled or not, I will examine with you. I 
 have thought it proper to write this with my own 
 hand ; and have accordingly done so. About 
 Fadius, as you mention : but to nobody else '^. I 
 shall hope to have an answer from you to-day. 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 I HAVE to acquaint you that Quintus, the 
 father, is exulting with delight ; for his son has 
 ■written to say that he had wished to go over to Bru- 
 tus for this reason ; that Antonius having pressed 
 him to get him made dictator, and to occupy some 
 fortress, he had refused to do it ; and he refused 
 from fear of vexing his father, from which time 
 Antonius had been his enemy. ' But afterwards," 
 says he, " I recollected myself'', being apprehensive 
 that in his anger towards me, he might do you " 
 some injury ; therefore I have pacified him ; and 
 indeed have received from him a promise of four 
 hundred sestertia (3200^.) certain, w.ith the hope of 
 the restf." Statius writes word that he is desirous 
 of living with his father ; and, what is surprising, 
 he s is also glad of it. Did you ever know a more 
 confirmed profligate than he is '' ? I quite approve 
 of your hesitation in the affair of Canus '. I had 
 suspected nothing about the debts ; but supposed 
 
 ' Eros. 
 
 » Tliis appears to be the same estate mentioned in letter 
 ] 7 of th is book, and may have been part of Terentia's dower, 
 settled perhaps upon her son. 
 
 I' Antonius. See letter 17 of this book. 
 
 <•■ See letter 15 of this book. 
 
 ii From fear of irritating Antonius he checked his desire 
 of joining Brutus. e His father. 
 
 ' What was further necessary to discharge his debts. 
 
 e Statius himself, who was freed-man and steward to 
 Quintus, and had, by his influence with the father, excited 
 the jealousy and hatred of the son. 
 
 ^ This appears to be said of young Quintus, whose story 
 Cicero distrusted, thinking that it was a trick to get money 
 from his father. 
 
 ' See book xiii. letters 41 and 42, where Cana may pro- 
 bably bo the daughter of Canus here mentioned. It will 
 be recollected that she was proposed as a wife for young 
 Quintus. 
 
 the dower J to have been entirely repaid. What you 
 defer, that you may speak with me jiersonally, I 
 shall be anxious to hear. Vou may keep the mes- 
 senger as long as you please ; for I know you are 
 busy. About Xeno you have managed admirably. 
 I will send you what I am writing, as soon as it is 
 finished. You mentioned to Quintus that you had 
 written to him ; but nobody brought the letter. Tiro 
 says that you do not now ajiprove of Brundisium '', 
 and that you talked sometliing about soldiers. But 
 1 had already fixed upon liydruntum'. I was in- 
 fluenced by your five hours' passage. But what a 
 long voyage is this"' ! However, we will see about 
 it. I received no letter from you on the 21st ; for 
 now what news is there .' You will come then as 
 soon as you are able. I hasten my departure, that 
 Sextus " may not first arrive, whom they report to 
 be on his way. 
 
 LETTER XXIL 
 
 I REJOICE with you upon the departure" of 
 young Quintus. He will give us no further 
 trouble p. I am ready to believe that Pansa talks 
 favourably ; for 1 know that he has always united 
 himself with Hirtius. I suppose he may be very 
 friendly towards Brutus and Cassius, if he caa 
 find his advantage in it ; but when will he go near 
 them .' Likewise an enemy to Antonius ; but 
 when ? or why .' How long are we to be trifled 
 with 1 ? I mentioned that Sextus was on his way, 
 not as if he were just at hand ; but because he cer- 
 tainly acts with that view, and will on no account 
 lay down his arms. If he persists, war must be the 
 consequence. But here our Cytherius' declares 
 that nobody but the conqueror shall live. What 
 will Pansa say to this .' And if war takes place, as 
 it seems probable, which will he join ? But of 
 these and other matters when we meet ; to-day, as 
 you intimate, or to-morrow. 
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 
 I AM wonderfully distracted, yet without any 
 particular uneasiness ; but a great number of 
 things occur to me both ways on the subject of my 
 journey. " How long is this to last."' you will 
 say. As long as there is room for hesitation, 
 which will be till I am fairly embarked. If I hear 
 from Pansa, I will send you both my letter and 
 his. I am expecting Silius, to whom I will give' 
 the memoir I have drawn up'. If there is any 
 news, you will acquaint me with it. I have sent a 
 letter to Brutus. If you know anything about his 
 progress, I shall be obliged to you to inform me. 
 
 J She may probably have been divorced from a former 
 husband, but with some charge upon her dower, 
 k See letter 20 of this book. 
 ' The extremity of Italy nearest to Greece. 
 ni From Puteoli. " Sextus Pompeius. 
 
 From Rome. P By his intrigues with Antonius. 
 
 1 By these ineffectual professions of Pansa. 
 
 ' Meaning Antonius, who was under the control of his 
 mistress Cytheris. See book x. leltor 10 
 
 ' To be transmitted to Atticus. 
 
 ' A short account of the state of public affairs. Tho 
 same Greek word is employed in the same sense, book ii. 
 lottort.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 816 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 The messenger which I sent to Brutus returned 
 from his journey the 2()tli. Servih;i iuformeJ 
 him that Brutus had set out that day at ten 
 o'clock. I was sorry my letter had not been 
 delivered. Silius did not come to me. I drew up 
 that stateonent, and have sent the account to you. 
 I want to know on what day I may expect you. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 There is great variety of opinions about my 
 going abroad, for I have many visitors. But lec 
 me beg you to take this matter into consideration. 
 It is a thing of some importance. Do you approve 
 it, if I tliii\k of returning by the 1st of January .' 
 My mind is evenly balanced, yet so that 1 incline 
 to go, provided my conduct gives no ofifence. And 
 you have also ably pointed out the day, that was 
 formerly held sacred; that is, the mysteries". 
 But however this may be, accident must regulate 
 my determination about the journey. Let me 
 therefore continue to doubt. For a winter voyage 
 is an odious thing ; which was the reason of my 
 asking you about the day of the mysteries. I 
 think, as you say, that T shall see Brutus. I mean 
 to go from hence the last day of the month. 
 
 LETTER XXVL 
 
 I SEE that you have done everything about 
 Quintus's business ; yet he is uneasy and doubtful 
 whether he should humour Lepta, or shake Silius's 
 credit. I have heard say that L. Piso wishes to get 
 away on some appointment under a forged decree 
 of the senate. 1 should like to know if there is 
 any truth in it. The messenger, whom I told you 
 I had sent to Brutus at Ana^ninum, returned on 
 the night previous to the first of the month, bring- 
 ing me a letter, in which there was one thing incon- 
 sistent with his consummate good sense ; that is, 
 that he wanted me to attend his games". I 
 replied, that in the first place I was already set out, 
 so that it was no longer in my power ; in the next 
 place, that it would be very strange for me, who 
 have never gone to Rome at all since this assump- 
 tion of arms^*", and that, not so much in consider- 
 ation of my danger, as of my dignity, suddenly to 
 come up to the games. For at such a time to ex- 
 hibit the games is quite right for him, — it is part 
 of his duty ; but as it is no part of my duty to see 
 them, so neither is it becoming. I am indeed ex- 
 ceedingly desirous that they should be exhibited, 
 and should be well received, which I trust will be 
 the case ; and I entreat you to let me know from 
 the very beginning how they go off, and afterwards 
 to pursue the detail through each succeeding day. 
 But enough about the games. The rest of his let- 
 
 " See the conclusion of book v., also the last sentences of 
 book vi. letter 1. It was perhaps deemed a profanation to 
 travel, or to transact any unnecessary business, at the time 
 of this solemn festival, which I conceive must be the same 
 that in the passage referred to in the sixth book is called 
 "the Roman Mysteries." 
 
 » See letters 10 and 12 of this book. 
 %« letters 18 aud 19 uf this boolc 
 
 ter sometimes inclines one way, sometimes another; 
 yetemits occasional sparks of vigour. Thatyou may 
 judge for yourself what to think of it, I send yon 
 a copy of the letter, though my messenger informed 
 me that he had also brought a letter from Brutus 
 for you, which had been forwarded to you from 
 Tusculanum. I have so arranged my journey as to 
 be at Puteoli the 7th of July ; for I wish to em- 
 bark as soon as I can, yet so as to use all human 
 prec'aution in my voyage. You may relieve M. 
 .iElius from all further care. He wants permissioa 
 to make some excavations at the extremity of his 
 property, which are to pass under ground, and to 
 be subject to certain service^. Let him know that 
 I have long since objected to it, and that nothing 
 would be an equivalent to me. But, as you say to 
 me, let it be expressed with all gentleness ; and so 
 as rather to relieve him from all further care, than 
 to let him suppose that I am at all offended. I beg 
 you likewise to speak freely with Cascelius upoa 
 that subject of TuUius 5'. It is a small concern^; 
 but you have very properly adverted to it. It was 
 conducted with too mucii craftiness. If he had 
 any way imposed upon me, which he was near 
 doing, unless you had ill-naturedly* stepped in, I 
 should have been very angry. However it may be 
 therefore, I wish the business to be stopped. 
 Remember ***^ You will take care to give pos- 
 session to the person for whom Cserellia applies, 
 at the highest price which was offered at the sale. 
 I think this was three hundred and eighty sestertia 
 (3000/.), If there is any news, or if you foresee 
 anything that is likely to happen, I should wish 
 you to write to me as often as possible. Remem- 
 ber to make my excuse to Varro, as I desired you, 
 for my backwardness in writing. I hope M andus 
 will trim his opponenf^. Let me know (for you 
 are curious about such things) what M. Eanius 
 has done respecting the will. From Arpinas, 
 July 2d. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 I AM pleased that you should persuade me to 
 do what I had already done of my own accord the 
 day before. For by the same messenger who took 
 my letter to you on the 2nd, I wrote also to Sestius 
 in terms of great regard. He does kindly to follow 
 me to Puteoli, but his complaint is unreasonable. 
 For it was not so much my business to wait for 
 
 » I have given what appeared to me the most natural 
 interpretation of this passage, which is very obscure and 
 probably much corrupted. 
 
 y By comparison with letter 29 of this book, there is 
 reason to suppose that this relates to some interest of 
 money due to Cicero. 
 
 I After the sentence relating to TuUius ; which seems 
 to be inserted witliout any other connexion with the pre- 
 ceding, than what may have arisen from its place in 
 Atticus's letter ; he seems here to revert to the subject of 
 M. jElius's request, which Atticus may have been the first 
 to mention. 
 
 a This I imderstand to be said in jest ; the notice which 
 Atticus had taken of the business having thwarted .Situs's 
 designs. 
 
 b The text is too much corrupted to be intelligible. 
 
 c The text is here likewise either deficient, or too con- 
 cise to admit of any certain interpretation in our ignorance 
 of the circumstances. The name occurs again in letter 29 
 of this book.
 
 «16 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 liim on his return from Cosannm, as his. either 
 not to go till he had seen me, or to come bnck 
 sooner. For he knew I was anxious to set off, and 
 liad written to sav that he would come to me at 
 Tusculanum. I am troubled at the tears you shed 
 upon leaving me ''. If you had done so in my 
 presence, I might possibly have changed altogether 
 my resolution of going. But I like the hoj)e, 
 ■with which you consoled yourself, of our soon 
 meeting again, which expectation is indeed my 
 greatest support. You shall have no want of let- 
 ters. 1 will inform you of everything relating to 
 Brutus. 1 shall very .soon send you my treatise 
 upon Glory, and I will make out something in the 
 manner of Heraclides, which may lie by in your 
 closet. I remember about Plancus. Attica has 
 reason to complain*. Your information about 
 liaechis, and about the chaplets on the statues, 
 ■was highly acceptable ; and I trust you will here- 
 after omit nothing, not only of so great, but of 
 ever so little interest. I shall not forget Herodes 
 •and Mettius, and everything, which I can but sus- 
 pect will be agreeable to you. O disgraceful son 
 of your sister ! He arrived as I was writing this, 
 about sunset, while we were at dinner. 
 
 LETTER XXVIIL 
 
 As I wrote you word yesterday, I have settled to 
 get to Puteolanum ^ on the 7th. There I shall 
 hope to hear daily from you, especially upon the 
 subject of the games e ; of which you must also 
 send an account to Brutus. I sent you yesterday 
 a copy of a letter I had from him, which I was 
 hardly able to understand ''. Make my excuses to 
 my Attica, so that all the blame may rest upon 
 you ; and assure her that I have by no means 
 *' brought away with me all my affection." ' 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 1 SEND you Brutus's letter J. Good gods! 
 What a want of resource ! You will see when you 
 
 <* Uncertain if they should ever meet again in such dis- 
 tracted times. 
 
 « He might perhaps have sent her no message by 
 Atticus. 
 
 ' I have taken the liberty of inserting this word in the 
 place of " Tusculanum," which is found in all the editions. 
 The alteration is very slight, and amply warranted by 
 tracing Cicero's progress from the evidence of his other 
 letters. For he appears to have gone from Puteoli on the 
 SOth of June [letter 25 of this book] to Arpinas July 2 
 [letter 26], and thence to Tusculanum July 3 [letter 28], 
 where he took leave of Atticus [letter 27], and from 
 whence we find him at Formiae July 6 [letter 29] on his 
 way ba£k to Puteoli July 7 [book xvi. letter 1], where he 
 ■was to embark. 
 
 g See letter 26 of this book. 
 
 •> It is said letter 26 of this book that Brutus' senti- 
 ments incline " sometimes one way, sometimes another;" 
 so that here we are to understand Cicero as hardly know- 
 ing what conclusion to draw respecting the measures he 
 would pursue. The same meaning is attached to the word 
 inlerprctari in letter 19 of this book. 
 
 ' The concluding expression may probably be copied 
 from some letter of Attica's. 
 
 J Probably another lett«;r subsequent to that 'mentioned 
 in letter 26 of this book. 
 
 ead it. Respecting the celebration of Brutus's 
 games I agree with you. You need not go to M. 
 yElius's house ; but speak to him ■* when you 
 meet him. About the six per cent, from Tullius 
 you may emjiloy M. Axianus, as you mention. 
 Your transaction with Cosianus is well managed ; 
 and it gives me pleasure to find that you attend to 
 your own concerns as well as mine. I am glad my 
 lieutenancy ' is approved. May the gods accom- 
 plish what you promise '" ! For what is there 
 that I prefer to my friends ? Though I have my 
 fears about her ", whom you except. When I have 
 seen Brutus, I will write you a full account. I 
 wish it may be true about I'lancus and Decimus °. 
 I do not like Sextus's throwing away his shield p. 
 Tell me if you know anything about Mundus. I 
 have replied to all your observations ; now 
 hear mine. Quintus the son is come to con- 
 duct me to Puteoli. A famous citizen 1 you 
 might call him Favonius, or Asinius. He did it 
 for two reasons ; to attend me, and to make his 
 peace with lirutus and Cassius. But what say 
 you ? For I know you are well acquainted with 
 the Othos. He says that he is going to take to 
 himself Julia t : for a divorce is settled. His 
 father asked me what was said of her. I replied, 
 that I had heard nothing (for I did not know why he 
 asked), excepting what related to her features, and 
 to her ])arentage. But why .' said I. Upon which 
 he told me that his son wished to marry her. 
 Then I, notwithstanding my abhorrence, yet said 
 that I did not suppose the reports to be true. It is 
 his object (for this is it) to give our nephew nothing. 
 She will have him without regarding his father. I 
 suspect however that the young man dreams as 
 usual. But I should be glad if you would make 
 inquiry, which you can easily do, and let me 
 know. 
 
 I beseech you, what is this ? After I had sealed 
 my letter, some persons from Formise, who were 
 dining with me, told me they had seen Plancus, 
 him who is engaged about Buthrotum ■■, the day 
 previous to my writing this, that is, on the 5th, 
 dejected and without his trappings ; and that the 
 servants said, that he and his colonists ' had 
 been turned out by the Buthrotians. Well done ! 
 But I beg you to write me an account of the whole 
 business. 
 
 It See letter 26 of this book. 
 
 1 See letter 11 of this book. 
 
 n> Probably that he would see him in Hreece. 
 
 n Tliis may mean Pilia, or Attica, whose health might 
 prevent theni from travelling. 
 
 o Plancus and Decimus Brutus had been nominated by 
 Ca;sar consuls elect for the year after Hirtius and Pansa. 
 They now commanded one the further, the other the 
 nearer Gaul. It is probable that at this time Plancus had 
 declared his determination to join Decimus Brutus against 
 Antonius. 
 
 p It was proverbially disgraceful for one " to throw away 
 his shield ;" which means here " giving up the cause." 
 [See book xvi. letter 1.] Itisnot unlikely that the expres- 
 sion may have been borrowed from Atticus. 
 
 <! It is to be supposed that she was married to one of tbo 
 Othos. 
 
 r To make a distribution of lands in Epirus. See Ap- 
 pendix. He is so distinguished, as being a different per- 
 son from that Plancus, who was before mentioned in thi« 
 letter. 
 
 • Those who came to take possession of the lanfid
 
 TO TITUS POMPOMUS ATTICUS- 
 
 air 
 
 BOOK XVI. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 T ARRIVED at Piiteolanum the 7th of July, and 
 write this the following day on my way to Brutus 
 at Nesis '. But while I was at dinner the day I 
 got here, Eros delivered to me your letter. Is it 
 so ? In the edict for proclaiming the games, is the 
 month, instead of Quintilis, called July, according 
 to the new name given to it in honour of Csesar " ? 
 May the gods confound those "■' people ! But we may 
 storm the whole day. Can anything he more dis- 
 graceful than the adoption of the term " July " by 
 Brutus ? 1 turn therefore to my own duty, and 
 " let us leave this," as it is said", for I see no 
 help. But pray, what is it I hear about the settlers 
 of Buthrotum being cut to ])ieces " ? And what is 
 the meaning of Plancus's going in such haste (for 
 80 I heard) day and night ? I want much to know 
 the truth. I am very glad that my going is ap- 
 proved. It is no wonder if the Dymeans ^, after 
 being driven fi'om their possessions, should infest 
 the sea ; but it does not follow that my staying 
 here would be thought proper ^. There may be some 
 security in sailing in company with Brutus ; but I 
 apprehend his vessels are very small. However, I 
 shall presently know, and will write to you to- 
 morrow. I imagine it was a false alarm about 
 Ventidius ". With regard to Sextus **, it is held for 
 certain that he does not take up arms. If this is 
 true, I see that without a civil war we are to be made 
 slaves. How then .' The first of January aftbrds 
 us hope in Pansa. Mere illusion ! In the wine 
 and indolence of these people.'' From the 210 
 sestertia '•■ (1680/.) Cicero's accounts may very well 
 be liquidated. For Ovius is recently come from 
 thence, and details many circumstances which give 
 
 t A small island not far from Puteoli, where the younger 
 LucuUus, a relatiim of Brutus, had a villa. 
 
 n In order to make this intelligible to the English reader, 
 I have thought it necessary thus to paraphr.ase what in the 
 original is contained in two words. I have throughout 
 adopted the English dates; and in general the months 
 have the same denominations in both languages ; except- 
 ing that July and August used to be called Quintilis and 
 Sextilis ; till the first was altered in honour of Julius C'a?sar 
 a little before his death, the other afterwards iu honour of 
 Augustus. 
 
 » The Caesarian faction, by whom this date is supposed 
 to have been inserted in the proclamation. 
 
 ^ This text has been variously tortured. Without alter- 
 ing the reading of the manuscripts, I understand iufxev 
 to be taken from Homer II. ii. 2.36, where Thersit.es says — 
 "Let us leave this man." Nothing is more common in 
 these letters than such partial quotations. The et preced- 
 ing the Greek word, I take to be part of the Latin text. 
 
 » See book xv. letter 29. 
 
 T These were pirates subdued by Pompeius, and planted 
 at Dyme in Greece ; from whence they had subsequently 
 been expelled by Caesar. 
 
 * This seems to be the meaning ; which a literal trans- 
 lation would hardly have conveyed. 
 
 » That he was advancing with troops to support Anto- 
 nins. 
 
 1» Sextu8 Pompeius. See book xvi. letter 29. 
 
 e This may perhaps be the sum borrowed, which, book 
 JCV. letter 20, was in round numbers called 200 sestertia. 
 
 me pleasure. Among the rest this is not amiss, 
 that he was authorised to assure me his allowance 
 was amply sufficient ; that 72 sestertia (.580/.) were 
 sufficient, fully and entirely ; but that Xeno doled 
 it out sparingly and reluctantly, that is, by little at 
 a time. What you have transmitted beyond the 
 rents of the houses >*, may be placed to that year, 
 upon which fell the additional expense of his 
 journey ; and in future, dating from the first of 
 April'', let his allowance be raised to 80 sestertia 
 ((i40/.) ; for the houses now produce so much. 
 But it must be considered what should be done 
 when he returns to Rome, for I do not think that 
 mother-in-law' can be tolerated. I rejected the 
 proposal through the tall Pindarus «. Now hear 
 for what purpose I have sent the messenger. 
 Quintus the son promises me that he will be a 
 very Cato ; and both the father and the son have 
 been urgent with me to commend him to you.- 
 yet so, that you might only give credit to him 
 when you should be satistied from your own know- 
 ledge. I shall give him a letter agreeable to his 
 own wishes ; but, that you may not be moved by 
 it, I write this for the purpose of assuring you that 
 I am not moved myself. The gods grant that he 
 may fulfil what he promises ! It would be a gene- 
 ral joy. But I say no more. He sets out from 
 hence the 9th. For he says there is an assignment 
 for the l.5th, and that he is severely pressed. You 
 will regulate by my letter the manner in which you 
 are to answer him. I will write more when I have 
 seen Brutus, and send back Eros. I admit the 
 excuse of my Attica, and love her dearly. My 
 compliments to her and to Pilia. 
 
 LETTER II''. 
 (GrcEV. V.) 
 Brutus is already expecting to hear from you. 
 What I toldhimof Attius's "Tereus'" was not new; 
 but he supposed it to have been the " BrutusJ." 
 However, some rumour had reached him that the 
 exhibition of the Grecian games'' had not been well 
 
 <• See book xii. letter 32. 
 
 fi See book xv. letter 15. 
 
 f The mother of some lady proposed as a match for the 
 young Cicero. 
 
 e Probably some freed-man of large stature belonging to 
 this lady. 
 
 ^ This is probably the letter which was taken by young 
 Quintus, and which I have thought tit to place the second 
 in this book, having apparently been written on tlie even- 
 ing of July 8, after his visit to Brutus in company with 
 yoimg Quintus. The behaviour of both parties at that visit, 
 may havegiven Cicero additional confidence in his nephew's 
 professions ; which afterwards proved to be sincere. 
 
 > See the next letter. 
 
 i Another play by the same author. 
 
 k The people were entertained for several days together, 
 during which time there were a vaiiety of exhibitions, 
 and, among the rest, what are here denominated Grecian 
 games, which were probably the contests of the Athlete: 
 borrowed from the Greeks. 
 
 3 G
 
 818 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 attended ; which did not surprise me ; for you 
 know my opinion of them'. Now hear what is 
 better than all. Quintus has passed several days 
 with me ; and if I wished it, would even have staid 
 longer : but, while he was here, you cannot believe 
 how much he delighted me in every respect ; par- 
 ticularly in that'" wherein I was least satisfied. 
 For he is so entirely changed by means of some 
 writings which I had in hand, and by repeated con- 
 versation and instruction, that he will in future 
 be disposed towards the republic as we could with. 
 Having not only assured me, but persuaded me of 
 his sincerity, he has been very earnest with me to 
 voiicii to you for his conducting himself in a man- 
 ner honourable both to you and to me. And he 
 does not ask you immediately to trust him ; but 
 when you are thoroughly satisfied, then to give him 
 your affection. Unless he had convinced me, and 
 I had believed what 1 tell you to be certain, I 
 should not have done what I am going to mention. 
 For I took the young man with me to Brutus, who 
 was so well satisfied with what I relate, that he 
 gave full credit to it himself, and refused to accept 
 me as a voucher; but commending him, spake 
 most kindly of you ; and upon taking leave of him, 
 embraced and kissed him. Therefore, though I 
 have more reason to congratulate you than to ask 
 you, yet I do ask that if heretofore he appears to 
 have been guilty of some indiscretions owing to the 
 infirmity of youth, you will believe that he has 
 renounced them ; and trust me when I add, that 
 your authority will have great,or rather the greatest, 
 effect in confirming his resolution. Having several 
 times thrown out to Brutus my design of sailing in 
 his company, he did not seem to catch at it, as I 
 had expected. I thought him absorbed ; whicli 
 indeed is the case, particularly on the subject of the 
 games. But on my return home, Cn. Lucceius, 
 who sees a great deal of Brutus, informed me 
 that he delayed his voyage, not from irresolution, 
 but waiting if any chance should arise. I there- 
 fore doubt whether I should go to Venusia, and 
 there wait to hear about the troops. If they are 
 not in the neighbourhood, as some suppose, I may 
 go to Hydruntum. If neither" is safe, I shall 
 return to this place. Do you think I am jesting" ? 
 May I die if anybody keeps me besides you. For 
 only look round — But I blush to say it before your 
 face. How charmingly are the days pointed out in 
 Lepidus'sP auspices ; and how conveniently for the 
 purpose of my return ! I derive from your letter a 
 great encouragement to set out. And I wish I 
 may see you there i. But as you shall think most 
 advantageous'. I am expecting Nepos's' letter. 
 Is he desirous to possess my writings, who con- 
 
 1 That they are undeserving of attention. This appears 
 from the Familiar Epistles. — Ep. Fani. vii. 1. 
 ™ His attachment to Antoniiis. 
 n Neither Brundisium nor Hydruntum. 
 
 This may perhaps allude to some letter from Atticus 
 adverting to book xv. letter 27, in which Cicero had ex- 
 pressed his concern at partmg from him. 
 
 P Lepidus was chief pontifox at this time ; in which 
 capacity he appointed the days for the augurs to take the 
 auspices, and Cicero, it will be recollected, belonged to the 
 college of augurs. 
 
 1 In Greece. 
 
 «■ Jleaning that he would not have Atticus go to his 
 own inconvenience. 
 
 Corneli'is Nepos, who had a great friendship with 
 Atticus. 
 
 siders as unfit to be read those subjects * of which 
 I am most proud ? And you say, " after him, who 
 is irreproachable " ;" but it is you who are " irre- 
 proachable," while he is " divine." There is no 
 collection of my letters ; but my Tiro has about 
 seventy, and some may be got from you. These I 
 must look over and correct, and then they shall be 
 published '. 
 
 LETTER TIL 
 
 {^Grcev. ii.) 
 
 Ok the 10th I received two letters, one by my 
 own messenger, the other by Brutus's. We had 
 here a very different report respecting the Buthro 
 tians. But to this among many other things we 
 must submit. I send back Eros sooner than I had 
 intended, that there may be somebody to attend to 
 Hortensius ; and also because he says he has made 
 an ajipointment with the knights*. Hortensius 
 however is very unreasonable ; for there is nothing 
 owing to him excepting from the third instalment", 
 which becomes due the 1st of August ; and of this 
 very instalment the greater part has been paid him 
 some time before the day. But Eros will see about 
 this on the 15th. In the case of Publilius'', I think 
 there ought to be no delay in making the proper 
 assignment. Yet when you consider how far I 
 have receded from my right, by paying at once 200 
 out of the 400 sestertia (3200/.) and giving a bill 
 for the remainder, you may mention to him, if you 
 please, that he ought to wait my convenience after 
 the loss I have sustained in my just claims. But 
 I entreat you, my dear Atticus, (do you observe 
 how I eoax.') as long as you remain in Rome, 
 manage, regulate, govern all my concerns, without 
 waiting to hear from me. For though the balance 
 is quite sufficient to discharge all demands, yet it 
 frequently happens that our own debtors are not 
 punctual to their time. If anything of this sort 
 should occur, let my credit be of the first con- 
 sideration with you : so as to support it by borrow- 
 ing, or even by selling, if circumstances render it 
 necessary. Brutus was much pleased with your 
 letter. For I was with him several hours in Nesis 
 soon after 1 had received it. He seemed to be 
 delighted with " Tereus ''," and to feel himself under 
 greater obligation to Accius than to Antonius. For 
 myself, the more I am pleased with the account, 
 the more it excites my indignation and vexation, 
 that the Roman people should employ their hands, 
 not in defending the republic, but in applauding it. 
 
 t Philosophical inquiries. 
 
 " This, which is no doubt copied from Atticus's letter, 
 and there applied to Cicero, as likewise the subsequent 
 expressions, are taken from Homer. 
 
 V It is to be supposed that Atticus had solicited him to 
 publish a collection of his letters. 
 
 w It is uncertain who are meant. 
 
 X Should not this be written Hordeonius, who was before 
 stated to have succeeded to part of Cluvius's estate ? [See 
 book xiii. letter 46.] Whoever he was, Cicero appears to 
 have iHU'chased his interest on condition of paying for it 
 by three instalments. 
 
 y Brother to Cicero's second wife, to whom, upon his 
 divorce, he was to repay her fortune. See book xiii. letter 
 34. 
 
 ^ The title of one of Accius's or Attius's plays, in which 
 the expressions in favour of liberty called forth the plaudits 
 of the populace.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 ni9 
 
 The minds of these men» appear to be inflamed to 
 such a pitch as to unmask tlieir wickedness. But 
 however, if they do but smart, let tliem smart for 
 what they may**. I am glad of what you say, that 
 my determination"^ is every day more approved ; 
 and was anxio\isly expecting what you might write 
 to me about it ; for I meet with a variety of opi- 
 nions. Indeed it was on that account I protracted 
 my stay, in order to leave it open as long as pos- 
 sible. But now that I am driven out with a pitch- 
 fork, I Ihink of proceeding to Brundisium ; for it 
 will be easier and more practicable to avoid the 
 troops'" than the pirates, who are reported to be 
 seen abroad. Sestius was expected on the tenth*, 
 but he is not come, so far as I know. Cassius has 
 arrived with his little fleet. As soon as I have 
 feen him, I mean to go on the 11th' to Pompei- 
 anum, thence to Acculanum, and so on. It is as I 
 supposed about TutiaS. The report of il'^butius'' 
 I do not believe ; I do not however care about it 
 any more tlian you. I have written to Plancus 
 and OppJus' because you desired me; but do not 
 think it necessary to deliver the letters, unless you 
 choose it. For after having done for you every- 
 thing in their power, I am afraid they will think my 
 recommendation superfluous ; especially Oppius, 
 whom I know to be entirely in your interests. But, 
 as you like. Since you write word that you shall 
 winter in Epirus, it will be a great kindness to me 
 if you go thither before the time that I must by 
 your advice return into Italy. Let me hear from 
 you as often as possible ; if about things of little 
 moment, by any messenger you may find ; but if 
 there is anything of more importance, send some- 
 body from your house. If I get safe to Brun- 
 disium, I shall set about my Heraclidean workJ ; I 
 have sent you the treatise upon Glory. You will 
 keep it locked up, as usual ; but let select passages 
 be marked, which Salvius "^ may read to your guests, 
 when he has a good audience. These books please 
 me much ; I would rather hear that they pleased 
 you. Again and again farewell. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 {GrcBV. iii.) 
 
 YoD have done wisely (for I am now writing 
 
 in answer to the letter which you sent me after 
 
 meeting Antonius at Tibur). Wisely I say in 
 
 giving way to him, and even being forward to 
 
 " Antonius's party.- 
 
 •> The original is from Afranius. — Tuso. Disp. iv. 20. 
 
 = Of going abroad. 
 
 <1 Which were expected from Macedonia to strengtlien 
 Antonius's army. 
 
 * The day on which Cicero writes. 
 
 ' There seems to be no doubt that what is in the manu- 
 scripts v. Kal., should be v. Id. 
 
 g AVhat this alludes to is not knofvn. 
 
 *" This is unknown. 
 
 « On the subject of Buthrotum. 
 
 J After the manner of Heraclides. See book xv. letter 4. 
 
 '' A freed-man of Atticus employed in his library, [see 
 book xiii. letter 44,] and in reading to him during some 
 part of his dinner ; which Corn. Nepos informs us was his 
 constant practice. It seems to have been a frequent prac- 
 tice not only among the ancient Greeks and Romans, but 
 also in more recent times ; and was probably only discon- 
 tinued upon the easy acquirement of books consequent on 
 the invention of printing. 
 
 thank him'. For as you rightly observe, we can 
 more easily bear the loss of our public rights than 
 of our private ones. When you say that you are 
 more and more pleased with "O Titus," See.", 
 you give me fresh spirits to write. In your expec- 
 tation of seeing Eros, and not empty-handed", I am 
 glad that you have not been disappointed. But 
 what I have sent you is the same treatise retouched ; 
 and indeed it is the original itself in many places 
 interpolated and amended. When it has been 
 transcribed on large paper, you may read it in 
 private to yotir guests. But as you love me, show 
 yourself cheerful and entertain them well, lest they 
 vent upon me the displeasure they may feel towards 
 you°. I wish that what I hear of Cicero may he 
 true. I shall know about Xeno, when I am thereP; 
 though I cannot suppose that he would do anything 
 either inattentively or illiberally. Respecting 
 Herodes, I will do as you desire; and what you 
 mention, I will learn from Saufeius and Xeno. 
 On the subject of Quintus the son, I am glad the 
 letter 1, which I sent by my messenger, was delivered 
 to yDU previously to that which he took himself; 
 though you would not have been deceived. Never- 
 theless — But I am anxious to know what he said to 
 you and you to him ; yet I have no doubt that 
 each behaved in his own manner. 1 hope to 
 receive the account by Curius ; who, amiable as he 
 is himself and beloved by me, yet derives a great 
 additional regard from your recommendation. I 
 have replied to your letter. Now hear what I am 
 persuaded is unnecessary to be written, but yet I 
 write. Many considerations affect me on my 
 departure, and most of all, that I am .'separated 
 from you. Besides, I dislike the trouble of a 
 voyage, unsuitable not only to my age, but also to 
 my character. And the time of my departure has 
 something absurd in it ; for I leave a state of peace, 
 to come back to war ; and the interval that might 
 be spent among my small estates, in convenient 
 and sufficiently pleasant houses, I am going to 
 waste in travelling. My consolation is that 1 shall 
 either be of service to Cicero, or shall be able to 
 judge what advantage is to be expected. Then you, 
 as I hope, and as you promise, will presently be 
 there. If this happens, everything will go better 
 with me. But I am much vexed about the balance 
 of my accounts. For though it is all clear, yet 
 Dolabella's debt being entered among them, and 
 his assignees total strangers to me, I feel anxious 
 about it ; so that among all my troubles nothing 
 vexes me more. Therefore I do not think I have 
 done wrong in having written to Balbus more 
 Openly, that if anything of the kind should happen, 
 and the payments should not correspond, he might 
 assist me ; likewise in having desired you in the 
 event of such an accident to communicate with 
 
 ' Antonius may have agreed to acknowledge Atticus's 
 payment in exemption, or partly in exemption, of further 
 demands upon Buthrotum. With this the following sen- 
 tence very well agrees ; meaning, that he did right to thank 
 Antonius for his private services, notwithstanding the 
 public wrongs entailed upon the state. Hes publico and 
 res familiaris, are here opposed to each other. 
 
 •n These words are the beginning of Cicero's treatise upon 
 " Old Age." 
 
 " That is, with some composition of Cicero's. The words 
 are probably Atticus's. 
 
 ° Lest they bo out of humour, and not disposed to liko 
 my work. 
 
 V At Athens. '\ Sec letter 1 of this book. 
 
 3 G 2
 
 820 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 him ; which you will do if you see occasion, more 
 especially if you go into Epirus. I write this oa 
 the point of embarking from Pompeianum with 
 three small vessels of ten oars each. Brutus is 
 still in Nesis, Cassias at Naples. Are you pleased 
 with Deiotarus, and are you not pleased with 
 Hieras".' who having heen directed at the time 
 that Blesamius came to me to do nothing without 
 consulting our friend Se.\tus% made no communi- 
 cation to him nor to any of us. I long to kiss my 
 Atlicu for the sweet salutation she sent me through 
 you. You will return therefore my kindest com- 
 pliments to her, and present them likewise to 
 FiUa. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 {Grav. iv.) 
 As I told you in the letter you would receive 
 yesterday or perhaps to-day (for Quintus^ said the 
 next day), I went to Nesis the 8th. Brutus was 
 there. How he was vexed about the 7th of July' ! 
 He was wonderfully disturbed, and said that he 
 should write to desire that the fights with the wild 
 beasts, which were to take place the day after the 
 ApoUinary games, might be proclaimed for the 
 13th of Quintilis. Libo came in and said that 
 Philo, Pompeius's freed-man , and his own freed-man 
 Hilarus, had arrived from Sextus" with a letter to 
 the consuls, or whatever else they are to be called ". 
 He read us a copy of it. I said what I thought, 
 that some few things were irrelevant ; but other- 
 wise it was sufficiently dignified and not dis- 
 respectful. I only wanted to have added that what 
 ■was inscribed to the consuls alone, should have 
 been to the praetors, tribunes of the people and 
 senate, lest they should not produce what had 
 been sent to themselves. They say that Sextus 
 was at Carthagena with only one legion ; and that 
 he received the account of Csesar the very day on 
 which he had taken the town of Borea ; that after 
 taking the town there was a wonderful expression of 
 joy, a change in men's minds, and a concourse from 
 all parts ; but that he returned to the six legions 
 which he had left in the further part of Spain. To 
 Libo himself however he wrote word that there 
 could be no accommodation unless he were per- 
 mitted to resume his own* house. The sum of 
 his demands was, that all the armies should be dis- 
 missed wherever they might be. So much for 
 Sextus. Respecting the Buthrotians, after every 
 inquiry I hear nothing certain. Some report that 
 the settlers were cut to pieces ; some, that Plancus, 
 upon receiving a sum of money, had run away and 
 
 q Deiotarus having been deprived of liis kingdom of 
 Armenia by Cssar, sent Ilieras and Blesamius liis agents 
 to Rome to procure its restitution, upon which occasion 
 Cicero was liis advocate with Ca!sar. But upon Caesar's 
 death Hieras seems to have been the person who secretly 
 gained over Fulvia, Antonius's wife, and purchased what 
 he wanted for a large sum of money. [See book xiv. let- 
 ter 12.] Deiotarus had already seized his dominions by 
 force, which Atticus may have approved. 
 
 ' This is supposed to be Sextus Peduceus. 
 
 » The son. * See letter 1 of this book. 
 
 " Pom.peius. 
 
 ' They were not regularly chosen, but of Ca;sar's ap- 
 pointment. See book xiv. letter 9. 
 
 ™ Which had been his father's, and was now occupied 
 by AntoniuB. 
 
 left them. So that 1 do not see hovT I can ascertain 
 what the truth of it is, unless you presently write 
 to me. The going to Brundisium, about which I 
 doubted, seems to be at an end ; for the legions " 
 are said to be apjiroaching. But this voyage^ lias 
 some suspicion of danger. Therefore I determined 
 to sail in company with Brutus. I found hiui 
 better prepared than I had understood. For 
 Domitius ' has himself some good vessels ; and 
 there are besides some distinguished ones belonging 
 to Sestius, Bucilianus, and others. For upon 
 Cassius's fleet, which is quite a fine one, I cannot 
 reckon beyond the straits ». It is rather unpleasant 
 to me that Brutus seems to be so httle inclined to 
 hasten his voyage. He waits first to hear the issue 
 of the games ; and afterwards, as far as I can 
 learn, means to proceed slowly and stop at several 
 places. Yet I think it is better to sail slowly than 
 not to sail at all ; and if, when we have made some 
 way, the passage appears clear ^, I shall take 
 advantage of the Etesian winds '^. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Hitherto (for I am got asfar as Sica's at Vibo^) 
 I have sailed rather conveniently than expedi- 
 tiously ; for a great part of the way has been per- 
 formed by rowing ; there being none of the winds 
 which usually precede the Etesian. It happened 
 also very opportunely that we passed over the two 
 bays of Peestum and Vibo, which must be passed 
 with an even course^. I got to Sica's the eighth 
 day after I left Pompeianum, having stayed one day 
 at Velia, where 1 was much at my ease at my 
 friend Thalna's. I could not have been received, 
 more hospitably, especially in his absence. I 
 arrived at Sica's on the 24th, where I was quite at 
 home ; therefore I stayed over the next day. But 
 I mean when I get to Rhegium, before I undertake 
 my longer passage, to consider whether I shall go 
 in a heavy vessel to Patras, or in a light one to the 
 Tarentine Leucopetra ^ and from thence to Cor- 
 cyra ; and if I go in a ship of burden, whether I 
 shall at once cross over from the straits or go by 
 way of Syracuse. Upon this subject I will write 
 to you from Rhegium. In truth, my Atticus, I 
 often ask myself what is the purpose of this voyage ? 
 Why am I not with you? Why am I not visiting 
 my own viUas, those dear spots of Italy ? But it is 
 
 X See book xv. letter 13. r From Puteoli. 
 
 z See book xiii. letter 48. 
 
 a The straits of Sicily, for Cassius was to proceed to 
 Syria. 
 
 b From pirates. 
 
 c These blew from the north in the months of .July and 
 August.— Plin. Hist. Nat. ii. 47. 
 
 d See book ili. letters 2 and 3. 
 
 c I have supposed with some commentators that the 
 original ought to be written pedibus ccquis, and I under- 
 stand it to mean that the ropes, which fastened the sails 
 on each side, were equally stretched, so that tho ship 
 passed with an even course. It is well known that the 
 word jjcrfc* is applied to many different things. So Homer 
 in the construction of Ulysses' ship, Tr6Sas TfVeSrjffev ev 
 avTTJ. — Od. V. 260. 
 
 i There seems reason to believe this may be the same 
 as Lcuca, near Hydruntum, the word Tarentine being 
 added to distinguish it from .another place of the same 
 name near Rhegium, of which mention is made in the 
 next letter.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 B21 
 
 enough, and more than enough, to be away from 
 you. And from what am I fleeing ? From danger ? 
 At present, unless I am mistaken, there is none ; 
 but to this very danger your autliority calls nie 
 back. For you write word that my going is aj)- 
 plauded to the skies ; but on condition that I return 
 before the first of January, which I certainly shall 
 endeavour to do. For I would rather be at home 
 even with the apprehension of danger, than in 
 perfect security at your Alliens. 15ut see how 
 things are likely to go ; and either write to me, or, 
 what I should like much better, bring me word 
 yourself. So much for this. I hope you will take 
 it in good part, if I urge you to a thing, in which 
 I am persuaded you already take more interest 
 than I do myself. Clear up, I entreat you, and 
 settle my accounts. I left a fair balance ; but 
 there is need of some exertion, that my co-heirs 
 may be paid in full for the Cluvian estates on the 
 first of August. You will see what is to be done 
 with Publilius. He ought not to press me, since I do 
 not avail myself of my right ; yet I wish him also to 
 be fully satisfied. But what shall I say to Terentia ? 
 Her I would have you pay even before it is due, if 
 you can. But if, as I hope, you will quickly go to 
 Epirus, I request you previously to provide for 
 the entire extrication and discharge of this debt, 
 for which I am pledged. But enough of these 
 affairs ; I am afraid you will think it too much. 
 Now hear my negligence. I sent you my treatise 
 on Glory ; but it has the same preface as that to the 
 third book of the Academics. It arose from hence, 
 that I have a whole volume of prefaces, from which 
 I am in the habit of selecting one when I begin 
 any new composition. So lately in Tusculanum, 
 not recollecting that I had before used that preface, 
 I introduced it into the book which I sent you. 
 But upon reading over the Academics in the ship, 
 I found out my error. I therefore immediately 
 wrote a new preface, which I have sent you. You 
 will accordingly cut off the former, and glue on 
 thisK Give my compliments to Pilia, and to 
 A.ttica, my delight and darling. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 On the 6th of August, having set out from Leu- 
 sopetra', from whence I meant to pass over to 
 Greece, when I had proceeded about forty miles I 
 was driven back by a violent south wind to the 
 same port of Leucopetra. There while I was 
 \«:aiting for a fair wind, at the house of my friend 
 Valerius, so that I was altogether at my ease and 
 very comfortable, there arrived some Rhegians of 
 distinction, who had recently come from Rome, — 
 and among them one who had been staying with 
 our Brutus at Naples. They brought with them 
 the proclamation of Brutus and Cassius, and said 
 there was to be a full senate on the 1st of Septem- 
 ber, and that Brutus and Cassius had written to the 
 
 B See letter 3 of this book. 
 
 •» These expressions show the way practised by the 
 ancient Romans in regard to their boolss, which consisted 
 of a long scroll of parchment divided transversely into 
 pages, and fixed upon rollers. 
 
 ' It appears by the first Philippic that Cicero passed over 
 from Leucopetra near Rhcgium to Syracuse, August 1 , and 
 the day following set sail fur Greece, but was driven back 
 to Leucopetra. Hence he made a second attempt to cros.s 
 the sea to Greece, but was again obliged to retuiii. 
 
 consular and prwtorian members to request theic 
 attendance. Thc;y reported that great hope was 
 entertained of Antonius's giving way, of some 
 accommodation, and of our friends' returning to 
 Rome. They added also that my absence was 
 regretted, and in some degree blamed. Upon 
 hearing this, 1 did not hesitate to lay aside all 
 thoughts of my voyage, which, to say the truth, I 
 never much liked : but when I read your letter I 
 confess I was surprised that you should so vehe- 
 mently have changed your opinion, — though I 
 concluded it was not without good reason. Yet if 
 you were not the adviser and promoter of my 
 going, at least you were an approver of it provided 
 I returned to Rome by the 1st of January. Thus 
 I sliould have been away, whih^ the danger was 
 likely to be less, and should have come into the 
 very flame. But if this was not so prudent, I have 
 however no cause to be displeased ; for in the first 
 place it was done by my own judgment ; and in the 
 next place, even if it had been by your advice, 
 what is expected of one who gives advice, besides 
 integrity .' I cannot sufficiently wonder at the 
 following expressions in your letter : — " Come 
 then, you who prefer an honourable deathJ, come ; 
 will you desert your country .'" Did I desert it? 
 Or did I then appear to you to desert it ? You 
 not only did not prevent it, but you even approved 
 of it. The rest was still more severe; " 1 wish 
 you would draw up for me some note to prove that 
 you have done right." So then, my Atticus, does 
 my conduct stand in need of defence, especially 
 before you who so strongly approved it .' Yes, I 
 wUl compose an apology ; but it shall be to some 
 one of those who disliked and dissuaded my going. 
 Though what need now of " a note ?" If I had 
 persevered there might have been need : but this 
 very want of consistency may be objected to me. 
 No philosopher, among the many things that have 
 been written on questions of this kind, ever called 
 a change of opinion by the name of inconsistency. 
 Afterwards you go on thus : "for if this had been 
 done by my friend Phcedrus'*, there would be a 
 ready excuse ; but what are we to say now ?" So 
 then, what I have done is of such a nature that I 
 cannot approve it to Cato', being full of guilt and 
 infamy. I wish it had appeared so to you from 
 the beginning ; you should have been my Cato, as 
 you always are. This last is the most galling of 
 all, "for our Brutus says nothing ;" that is, he 
 does not venture to admonish a person of my age. 
 I can put no other interpretation on these words ; 
 and assuredly so it is : for on the 16th of August, 
 when 1 had arrived at VeUa, Brutus heard of it, 
 being with his ship off the river Heles, three miles 
 east of Velia. He immediately came on foot to 
 me. Immortal gods ! What satisfaction did he 
 show at my return, or rather my coming back ! 
 He then poured forth everything that he had sup- 
 pressed, — so as to make me recollect that expression 
 of yours, " for our Brutus says nothing." He 
 particularly regretted my absence from the senate 
 on the 1st of August. Piso he extolled to the 
 skies.- He said that he was glad that I had avoided 
 two heavy imputations ; one of despondency and 
 
 J This seems to refer to what Cicero had said, book xv. 
 letter 20. 
 
 k Apparently some Epicurean. 
 
 1 A Stoic. These names both occur in Cicero's treatise- 
 " De Fiuibus," to which it is probable they allude.
 
 1\22 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 desertion of the republic, which I was aware that 
 1 incurred by going away, — for many with tears 
 uttered their complaints before me, and would not 
 be persuaded of my speedy return ; the other, 
 upon which Brutus and those who were with him 
 (and they were a good many) expressed their joy, 
 *hat I had avoided the imputation of being supposed 
 t,o go to the Olympic Games. Nothing could have 
 been more disreputable than this at any period of 
 the republic, — and at this period quite inexcusable. 
 But I cordially thank the south wind, which has 
 saved me from this disgrace. You have here 
 plausible reasons for my coming back, and reasons 
 which are at tlie same time just and ample : yet 
 there can be no juster reason than what you 
 mention yourself in another letter, — " if there is 
 anything owing to anybody take care to provide 
 some source from whence an equivalent may be 
 drawn ; for the apprehension of war has produced 
 a wonderful difficulty in raising money." This 
 letter I read in the middle of the straits ; and no 
 means of providing this occurred to me but by 
 coming up to my own support. But enough of 
 this ; the rest when we meet. Brutus has shown 
 me Antonius's proclamation, and their reply, which 
 is admirably drawn up. But I really do not see 
 what effect these proclamations can have, or what 
 is their object ; nor am I now, as Brutus imagined, 
 going thither to take any part in public affairs. 
 For what can be done ? Has anybody seconded 
 Piso ? Did he himself return again the next day .•' 
 But they say that at my age one ought not to be at 
 a great distance from his grave™. But pray what 
 is this which I hear from Brutus ? He said you 
 had written word that Pilia had suffered an attack 
 of palsy. I am exceedingly concerned, — though at 
 the same time he added that you hoped she was 
 better. I earnestly wish it. Present my best 
 compliments to her, and to sweetest Attica. I 
 write this on board, approaching to Pompeianum, 
 on the 19th. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 "When I know what day I shall arrive", I will 
 let you know. I must wait for my heavy goods, 
 which are coming from Anagnia ; besides which, 
 several of my family are sick. On the evening of 
 the first" I received a letter from Octavianus. He 
 is attempting great things : he has gained over to 
 his party all the veterans who are at Casilinum and 
 Calatia p, — and no wonder ; for he gives a bounty 
 
 "> That is, it is right for me to be near Rome, where I 
 must soon expect to be buried. 
 
 ° At Rome. In ihe interval between the time of writing 
 the preceding letter and this, Cicero had gone up to Rome, 
 where he arrived August 31 . and was received with great 
 compliments and congratulations. The following day, 
 Sept. 1, he was solicited by Antonius to attend the senate ; 
 but excused himself on the pretence of fatigue ; but really 
 because he knew it was fruitless to resist the proposal of 
 Antonius to decree divine honours to Caesar. Antonius in 
 rage threatened to pull down his house. Thereupon, on 
 Sept. 2, Cicero pronounced his first Philippic against 
 Antonius ; and before the end of the month he retired to 
 the neighbourhood of Naples, where he composed his 
 •second Philippic, distinguished for the free exposure of 
 Antonius's character. He still continued in the same 
 Beighbourhood when be wrote the present letter in the 
 Cionth of November. 
 
 " The first of November. 
 
 r Places in the neighbourhood of Capua. 
 
 of 500 denarii (16/.). He thinks of going through 
 the other colonies. He plainly aims at making 
 himself the head of an army to be brought against 
 Antonius. Accordingly, I see that in a few days 
 we shall be in arms. Whom then should I follow? 
 Consider his name'', consider his age; and he 
 requests to have first some conversation witli me 
 secretly either at Capua or not far from Capua. 
 But it is childish to suppose that this can be done 
 secretly. I informed him by letter that this was 
 neither necessary nor possible to be done. He 
 sent to me one Ca;sina of Volaterra, a friend of 
 his, who brought word that Antonius was advancing 
 towards Rome with the legion of AlaudansS — that 
 he demanded contributions from all the free 
 towns, — and was conducting a legion* with military 
 ensigns. He consulted me whether he should 
 march to Rome with 3000 veterans, or should 
 maintain the post of Capua, and prevent Antonius's 
 approach, — or should go to meet the three Mace- 
 donian legions which are advancing along the 
 upper coast, and which he hopes are in his interest. 
 They refused to receive Antonius's bounty, as this 
 person relates, — and bitterly insulted him, and left 
 him whilst he was haranguing them. In short, 
 he' assumes the command, and thinks that I ought 
 to support him. I, for my part, advised him to 
 go to Rome ; for I thought he would have with 
 him both the city populace, and, if he could gain 
 their confidence, likewise the most respectable 
 citizens. O Brutus, where are you ? What a fine 
 opportunity " do you lose ! I did not foresee 
 exactly this : but I fully expected something of 
 the kind. Now I want your counsel. Shall I go 
 to Rome .' or shall I remain where I am ^ ? or 
 shall I retire to Arpinum ? For that place pos- 
 sesses great security. To Rome I think ; in case 
 I should be wanted if anything decisive occurs. 
 Resolve me this, therefore : I never was in greater 
 perplexity. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 I RECEIVED two letters in one day from Octa- 
 vius. He now wants me to go immediately to 
 Rome, and says that he is desirous of acting by the 
 authority of the senate ; to which I replied, that 
 the senate could not meet before the first of Janu- 
 ary, which I believe to be the case"'. But then he 
 adds, " by your advice." In short, he presses 
 hard, and I try to excuse myself. I cannot trust 
 his youth ; I do not know his real intentions ; I 
 do not care to do anything without your friend 
 Pansa *. I am afraid of Antonius's power, and 
 
 1 Casar. 
 
 r This was a legion first raised by Caesar in Gaul. They 
 were so called from a Gallic word signifying " the crested 
 lark," in imitation of which this legion wore a crest of 
 feathers on the helmet. So the name of Plantagenet is 
 said to be derived from a sprig of broom, which the prince 
 Geofi'ry of Anjou wore on his helmet. Lyttelton's H. 2. 
 vol. i. 149. 
 
 s Of four legions from Macedonia, three rejected his 
 orders, and one joined him. 
 
 t Octavianus. " Of restoring the republic. 
 
 » In the neighbourhood of Naples. 
 
 w Owing probably to the absence, or timidity, of mcst of 
 the respectable members. See letter 11 of this book. 
 
 » He was one of the consuls elect; accordingly Cicero 
 thought it better to wait till be should have entered oo 
 his office.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 823 
 
 nnwilling to go from the coasts, and at the same 
 time should be sorry to be out of the way upon 
 any great occasion. The proceeding of this young 
 man displeases Varro more than me. He has 
 steady troops ; he may have Brutus' ; and he acts 
 openly, arranging and mustering his army at 
 Capua. Already I see war. Write in answer to 
 tliis. I am surprised that my messenger should 
 have left Rome on the first without a letter from 
 you. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 I ARRIVED at my house in Sinuessa the 7th of 
 November " ; and it was generally reported that 
 Antonius was to sleep at Casilinum the same day ; 
 which made me alter my plans. For 1 had in- 
 tended to go straight to Rome by the Appian 
 road, in which case he would easily have overtaken 
 me ; for they say that he travels with the speed of 
 Csesar ''. 1 therefore turned aside from Minturnse 
 towards Arpinum, with the design of sleeping on 
 the 9th "^ either at Aquinum, or in Arcanum. Now, 
 my Atticus, enter into my present concern with 
 your whole mind, for it is a thing of great mo- 
 ment. There are three parties to choose : whether 
 I should remain at Arpinum, or should approach 
 nearer, or should go to Rome. Whatever you 
 advise I will do. But as soon as possible. I 
 anxiously look for a letter from you. The 8th, in 
 the morning at Sinuessanum. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 On the 5th *■ I received two letters from you, 
 one dated the 1 st of this month, the other the day 
 before. First then for the earliest. I am glad that 
 you approve of my work " ; wherein the brilliant 
 passages which you have selected derive additional 
 brilliancy from your judgment ; for I was afraid of 
 those little red ' marks of yours. Your observa- 
 tion about Sica s is very just ; but it is with diffi- 
 culty that I restrain myself. I will however 
 mention it without any disrespect to Sica or to 
 Septimia ; only so, that children's children may 
 know, without any Lucilian fence'', that he has 
 had children by the daughter of C. Fadius. And 
 I shall be glad to see the day when this speech 
 
 y From whence he might yet cross the sea, if Antonius's 
 iwwer should prevail. 
 
 » This is generally supposed to mean Decimus Brutus, 
 but perhaps without sufficient reason. 
 
 » The date of this letter is generally acknowledecd to be 
 ■wrong. A comparison with the 13th letter of this book 
 has induced me to adopt the dates of M. Mongault, which 
 are alone warranted by the context. 
 
 b See book viii. letter 9. 
 
 = Mongault has shown how easily v. Id. is corrupted into 
 
 a. jd. 
 
 d The 5th of November. « His 2d Philippic. 
 
 ' Marks of disapprobation. See book xv. letter 14. 
 
 S It seeniB Antonius had married Septimia, daughter to 
 Fadius and grand-daughter to a freed-man, consequently of 
 inferior rank, and perhaps illegally so : for senators were 
 prohibited from marrying libertinae. [Taylor C. L. p. 304.] 
 But while Cicero wished to state this in his severe charge 
 upon Antonius, he did not wish to hurt the feelings of his 
 friend Sica, who was probably in some way connected with 
 Septimia. 
 
 *> Without any such disguise, as the poet Lucilius used 
 ia hit latirei. 
 
 may circulate so freely as to find its way even into 
 Sica's house. But we have need of that time, 
 when those ' triumvirs lived. May I die if it is not 
 wittily said. I would have you read iO to Se.xtus, 
 and tell me what he thinks of it. lie alone is as 
 good as ten thousand to me. But take care that 
 Calenus and Calvena ^ do not come in. When yoH 
 say you are afraid of tiring me ; you tire me ? 
 Nobody less. For as Aristophanes said of Archi- 
 lochus's Iambics ', so may I of your letters, that I 
 like the longest the best. But you are advising me. 
 Even if you were finding fault with me, I should 
 not only bear it patiently, but should be pleased, 
 as long as good sense and kindness are mingled 
 with reproof. Accordingly I shall readily adopt 
 your corrections, and put " the same right as Ru- 
 brius's," instead of " as Scipio's ;'' and in the 
 matter of Dolabella's praises I will lessen their 
 heap. Yet I think there is in that place a fine 
 irony, when I represent him to have been in three 
 engagements against Roman citizens. I like better 
 too that expression, " it is most unfit that this 
 man should live," than, " what is more unfit .'" I 
 am glad you like Varro's Peplographia. I have 
 not yet got from him that Heraclidean work. In 
 exhorting me to write, you show your friendship ; 
 but let me assure you that I do nothing else. I am 
 sorry for your cold, and beg you to apply to it 
 your usual attention. I rejoice to think that " O 
 Titus™" has been of use to you. The Anagnians " 
 are, Mustella the captain of the gladiators, and 
 Laco, who is a great drinker. I will polish up, 
 and send you the book you desire. What follows is 
 in reply to the latter of the two letters. The treatise 
 on Duties, as far as Pansetius has gone, I have 
 comprised in two books. There are three of his. 
 But having in the beginning divided the considera- 
 tion of duties into three kinds ; one, when we 
 deliberate whether anything is honourable or base ; 
 the second, whether it is useful or prejudicial ; the 
 third, how we are to judge when these clash toge- 
 ther (as in the case of Regulus °, it was honourable 
 to return, and useful to remain) ; he has treated 
 admirably of the two first ; respecting the third he 
 promises hereafter, but has written nothing. The 
 subject has been prosecuted by Posidonius, whose 
 book I have sent for ; and have written to Atheno- 
 dorus Calvus to give me the heads of it, which I 
 am expecting. I wish you would urge him, and 
 request him to do it as quickly as he can. In this 
 
 > This is apparently copied from some letter of Atticus 
 But what three people or what time is meant is imcer- 
 tain. A. Gellius mentions that Nffivius, a writer of plays, 
 had animadverted so freely upon some leading persons, as 
 to have been cast into prison by certain triumvirs ; but I 
 know not if this can be the circumstance intended. — Aul. 
 Cell. iii. 3. 
 
 J Read his second Philippic to Sextus Peduceus. 
 
 k Friends to Antonius, It was before seen that by Col- 
 vena was meant Matius. See book xiv. letter 5. 
 
 ' Satirical poems. 
 
 •n Cicero's incomparable treatise on Old Age, beginning 
 with these words. 
 
 n Mentioned in the second Philippic, where one is called 
 " the prince of gladiators," the other " the prince of 
 drinkers." 
 
 o Who having been taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, 
 was sent to Rome to negotiate for his liberation on disad- 
 vantageous terms. But he, exhorting the Romans to reject 
 the terms of the Carthaginians, returned to Carthage, 
 where he knew that the severest pimishment would b» 
 inflicted on him.
 
 824 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 is treated of duties under particular circumstances. 
 With regard to the title, 1 have no douJ)tof KaBrtKou 
 bein? duty, unless you have anything to say to the 
 contrary. I5ut " of duties," is a fuller title. And I 
 address my son Cicero, which seemed not unsuit- 
 able. Nothing can be more clear than your ac- 
 count of Myrtilus ''. How poignant are your ob- 
 servations oil these people'' ! Is it thus against D. 
 lirutus ? The gods confound them ! 1 have not 
 busied myself in Pompeianum, as I projjosed ; 
 tirst, on account of the weather, than which no- 
 thing can be worse ; then, I have every day a 
 letter from Octavianus, begging me to undertake 
 the conduct of affairs, to come to Ca])ua a second 
 time to save the republic, at all events to go im- 
 mediately to Rome. " They were ashamed to 
 refuse, and afraid to venture '." He has however 
 acted and still acts strenuously : and will bring a 
 strong force with him to Rome ; but he is a mere 
 boy. He thinks the senate may be assembled im- 
 mediately. But who will attend ? Or, if he does, 
 ■who in this uncertain state of affairs will choose to 
 offend Antonius ? On the 1 st of January he may 
 perhaps afford protection ; or things may come to 
 a crisis before. The free towns are wonderfully 
 inclined towards the boy. For on his way to Sani- 
 nium he came to Cales, and slept at Theanus's. 
 The greeting and exhortation was surprising. 
 Would you have thought it .' On this account I 
 shall go to Rome sooner than I had intended. As 
 soon as I have fixed the time, I will write. Though 
 I hare not read the conditions (for Eros has not 
 arrived), yet I shall be glad if you will conclude 
 the business = on the twelfth. I shall be better able to 
 write to Catina ', Tauromenium and Syracuse, if 
 Valerius the interpreter sends me the names of 
 those in power ; for they change at different times, 
 and my own acquaintance are mostly dead. I have 
 written a public letter, if Valerius will make use of 
 it ; else he must send me the names. Balbus has 
 written to me about the holidays set forth by Le- 
 pidus ". I shall wait till the 29th, and hope to 
 hear from you. And by that time I expect to 
 know the event of Torquatus's business ". I send 
 you a letter from Quintus ", that you may see how 
 much he loves him ^, whom he is sorry you should 
 love so little. Give Attica a kiss for me on ac- 
 count of her cheerfulness, which is the best sign in 
 children. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 I SEND you the copy of a letter I have received 
 from Oppius, because it shows his kindness. Re- 
 specting Ocella^, while you hesitate and send me 
 
 P See book xv. letter 13, where Cicero inquires into 
 the nature of INIyrtilus's offence ; to this it is to be sup- 
 posed that Atticus replied, and that Cicero here acknow- 
 ledges it. q Caesar's and Antonius's adherents. 
 
 "■ The original is taken from Homer, and was before 
 quoted. [See book vi. letter 1.] In this place it is ob- 
 viously meant to apply to himself. See letter 14of this book. 
 
 s This relates, no doubt, to his money transactions. 
 
 ' These are all places on the eastern coast of Sicily, 
 where Valerius seems to have been canvassing for some 
 appointment. The same person was mentioned, book i. 
 letter 12. i See letter 2 of this book. 
 
 » It is not kno'wn to what this alludes. 
 
 ■•" The father. » Quintus the son. 
 
 y The name occurs before. [See book x. letters 13 and 
 17.] He appears \d have been one of Pompeius's party. 
 
 no answer, I have adopted a counsel of my own, 
 and think of going to Rome on the 12th. I con-- 
 sidered that it was better for me to be there to no 
 purpose, at a time when it was not necessary, 
 than, if I should be wanted, to be absent. Besides, 
 I have some fear of being intercepted ; for he ' 
 may arrive presently ; though there are various 
 reports, and some that I should like to have veri- 
 fied. But there is nothing certain. Yet whatever 
 happens, I would rather be with you than remain- 
 at a distance, in anxiety both about you and about 
 myself. But wnat can I say to you .' Be of good 
 courage *. Tliis is a lively sally '' on the subject of 
 Varro's Heraclideum. Nothing ever amused me 
 so much. But of this and other greater matters 
 when we meet. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 What a strange chance ! On the 8th having- 
 left Sinuessanurn before it was light, and got by the 
 dawn of day as far as the Tirene bridge at Min- 
 turnse, where the road turns to Arpinas, I met the 
 messenger just as I was " entering upon my long 
 course''." I immediately cried out, " If you have 
 anything from Atticus, give it me." But I was 
 not yet able to read ; for I had sent away the 
 torches, and the light was insufficient. But as 
 soon as I could see, I first began to read the 
 former of your two letters. It is elegant beyond 
 everything. As I hope to be saved, I say nothing 
 different from what I feel. I never read anything 
 more -kind. I will come then whither you call me, 
 provided you assist me. But at first I thought 
 nothing could be so irrelative to that letter, in 
 which I had asked for your advice, as this answer; 
 till I found another, in which you direct me, in the 
 words of Homer, " to pass by the stormy Minas'^ 
 to the island of Psyria ", keeping the Appian ' road 
 on the left." That day then I slept at Aquinum, 
 rather a long journey, and a bad road : I deliver 
 this as I am setting out from thence the next 
 morning sr. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 {Part of Letter xiii. in GrcBviuss Edition.) 
 Eros' s letter has obliged me to send up much 
 against my will. Tiro will explain the business to 
 you. You will consider what is to be done. I 
 wish you besides to write frequently, and to inform 
 me whether I may advance nearer ; for I should 
 like better to be at Tusculanum, or somewhere in 
 the suburb ; or whether you think I must go yet 
 further off. There wi ll every day be somebody to 
 
 z Antonius. 
 
 a This probably refers to some expressions in Atticus's 
 letter, to which this is a reply. 
 
 b Again referring to Atticus's letter. 
 
 c The original is from Homer. 
 
 d Cleaning the Apennines. 
 
 e Meaning Ai'pinas, situated at the conflux of thcFibre- 
 nus and Liris, and at the extremity intersected and sur^ 
 rounded by water, so as to be elsewhere called an island. 
 See book xii. letter 12. 
 
 f The word " Appian" was inserted by Atticus to eluci- 
 date the application of his Greek quotation. 
 
 S What follows is so evidently a distinct letter, bearing 
 a different date, that I have not scrupled to separate it. 
 This was written November 9, from Aquinum • the othe? 
 November 11, from Arpinas.
 
 TO TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS. 
 
 825 
 
 take a letter. Tt is difficult, at this distance, to 
 answer your inquiry, what I think you ought to do. 
 However, if they'' are upon an equality with each 
 sther, it will be best to remain quiet. But if', — the 
 mischief will spread, first to usJ, then generally. 
 1 eagerly expect your advice. I am afraid of being 
 absent when I ought to be there, and yet I dare 
 not go up. Of Antonius's movements I now hear 
 something different from what I mentioned. I 
 ■wish you therefore to explain everything, and let 
 me know the truth. For the rest, what can I say 
 to you ? 1 am inflamed with the love of history ■'. 
 For your encouragement stimulates me beyond be- 
 lief. But it can neither be entered upon nor effected 
 without your assistance. We will therefore con- 
 sider of it together when we meet. At present I 
 wish you would send me word, under what censors 
 C. Fannius, the son of Marcus, was tribune of the 
 people. For 1 seem to have heard that it was 
 uuder P. Africanus and L. Mummius, and want 
 to know if it is so. Send me a true and clear 
 account of every change that happens. From 
 Arpinas, the 11th '. 
 
 LETTER XY. 
 (Grav. xiv.) 
 1 HAVE positively nothing to tell you. While 
 I remained at Puteoli there was every day some- 
 thing new about Octavianus, and many false reports 
 of Antonius. But in answer to what you mention, 
 (for I received three letters from you on the 1 1th,) 
 I perfectly agree with you. If Octavianus acquires 
 influence, the acts of the tyrant will be established 
 much more firmly than in the temple of Tellus™, 
 which will be unfavourable for Brutus. But if he 
 is beaten, you see how insupportable Antonius will 
 be. So that it is difficult to choose between them. 
 
 this sad fellow, Sestius's messenger ! He pro- 
 mised to be at Rome the day after he left Puteoli. 
 When you admonish me to proceed gently, I assent, 
 though I think differently from you. Neither 
 Philippus nor Marcellus " have any weight with 
 me ; for theirs is a different case ; or if it is not, at 
 least it appears to be so ". But this young man, 
 though he does not want spirit, wants authority. 
 However, if I can prudently be at Tusculanum, 
 consider whether that or this ^ would be better 
 when Antonius arrives. I shall be there with more 
 satisfaction, because I shall know all that takes 
 place. But, to pass from one subject to another, 
 
 1 have no doubt that what the Greeks call KaOriKov, 
 we call " duty." Why should you doubt about 
 its being rightly applied to the state .' Do we not say 
 " the duty of the consuls .'" " the duty of the 
 senate ?" It suits admirably ; or give me a better 
 
 t Antonius and Octavius. 
 
 > That is, if Antonius should have the superiority. 
 
 ." To Cicero end the other prominent supporters of the 
 republic. 
 
 ^ It must be supposed that Attious had pressed him to 
 undertake some history, probably the history of his own 
 'Jraee. ' November. 
 
 '" Where the senate was induced to ratify Caesar's acts. 
 
 ° It is to be presumed that Atticus had proposed to 
 Cioero the examples of Thillppus and Marcellus. 
 
 " Philippus had married Octavianus's mother, and Mar- 
 cellus Octavianus's sister. 
 
 I' Whether he might go to Tusculanum, or Bhould re- 
 mais at Arpinas. 
 
 word. This is sad intelligence about Nepos' son. 
 In truth I am much concerned, and sorry for it. 
 I did not know that there had been such a boy. I 
 have lost Caninius, a man, as far as regards me, 
 always very kind. There is no occasion for your 
 speaking to Athenodorus'', for he has sent me a 
 very handsome abstract. Pray take every precau- 
 tion about your cold. Quintus, the great-grandson 
 of your grandfather, has written to my father's 
 grandson "■, that after the 5th of that month on 
 which I distinguished myself, he will lay open the 
 state of the temple of Ops ', and that before the 
 l)eople. You will see, therefore, and write me 
 word. I am an.\ious to know Sextus's opinion ". 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 (GrcBV. XV.) 
 Do not suppose it is from indolence that I 
 decline writing with my own hand ; yet in truth it 
 is from indolence, for I have nothing else to allege. 
 However, in your letters likewise I think I caa 
 trace Alexis ". But to come to my purpose : if 
 Dolabella had not used me shamefully, I might 
 perhaps have doubted whether I ought to relax or 
 to contend for my utmost right. But now I am 
 even glad that an opportunity is offered to me, by 
 which he and everybody else may know that I 
 ha^e withdrawn my affection from him ; and I may 
 publicly declare, that, both on my own account, 
 and that of the republic, I hold him in aversion. 
 For after having at my instance undertaken the 
 defence of the republic, he has not only been bribed 
 with money to desert it, but, as far as was in his 
 power, he has contributed to ruin it. In answer 
 to your question, how I mean to proceed when the 
 day"' arrives : in the first place I should like it to 
 be so, that there may be no impropriety in my 
 being at Rome ; about which, as about everything 
 else, I will do as you think right. But upon the 
 whole, I am disposed to act vigorously and sternly. 
 And though it may seem to be in some measure 
 discreditable to call upon the sureties, yet I would 
 have you take this under your consideration ; for I 
 may introduce agents for this purpose ; and the 
 sureties will not resist the claim. Upon this I am 
 confident the sureties will be released. But I think 
 it will be disgraceful in him ==, especially as he has 
 pledged himself in the debt, not to redeem his 
 agents ; and it becomes my own character to pro- 
 secute my right without exposing him to extreme 
 ignominy. I should be glad if you would inform 
 me what is your opinion about this ; and doubt 
 not but you will be able to settle the whole in some 
 gentler manner. I come now to the republic. I 
 have on many occasions experienced your pru- 
 
 1 See letter 11 of this book. 
 
 r That is, Quintus the younger has written to young 
 Cicero. This humorous circumlocution, of which instances 
 liave before occurred in this correspondence, may probably 
 have had a reference to something no longer understood. 
 
 s The 5th of December, on which day Cicero in his con- 
 sulship exposed and defeated the conspiiaey of Catiline. 
 
 ' Where was the public treasure, which Antonius had 
 seized. 
 
 " Sextus Peduceus's opinion of Cicero's second Philipite. 
 See letter 11 of this book. 
 
 » Alexis was an amanuensis of Atticus. 
 
 w The day appointed for Dolabella to pay Cicero. 
 
 » Dolai>ella.
 
 S2tf 
 
 THE LETTERS OF MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO 
 
 dence in political matters ; but nothing was ever 
 more prudent tlian the observation eontained in 
 your last letter. " For tliough at present tliis boy 
 nobly resists Antonius, yet we must wait for the 
 issue hereafter >'." Yet what an harangue? For 
 it has been sent to me. He swears " by the liope 
 of attaining his father's honours'- ;" and at the 
 same time extends his hand towards the statue \ 
 But let ine not owe my safety to one like him ''. 
 As you say, however, the surest test will be tiie 
 tribunate of our friend Casca "^ ; about wliieb I told 
 Oppius, when he was exiiorting me to sujijinrt the 
 young man, and his whole cause, and band of 
 veteran soldiers, that I could by no means do it, 
 till I should be satisfied that he w'ould not only 
 not be an enemy to the tyrannicides, but would 
 even be a friend to them. Upon his assurance that 
 he wauld be so, why, said I, should we be in a 
 hurry .' For I can be of no use to him before the 
 1st of January •* ; and ^-e shall see his intentions 
 before the middle of December in the case of 
 Casca. He readily assented. So much, then, for 
 this. I have only to add, that you shall have 
 messengers every day ; and I imagine you will 
 every day also have something to tell me. I send 
 you a copy of Lepta's letter, by which that Stra- 
 tyllax "^ appears to me crest-fallen. But you will 
 read it, and judge for yourself. 
 
 After I had sealed my letter, I received yours 
 and Sextus's '. Nothing could be more agreeable 
 or more friendly than Sextus's letter. For yours 
 was very short, having written so fully before. It 
 is indeed with prudence and kindness that you 
 advise me to remain in this neighbourhood, till I 
 hear the event of the present commotions. But, 
 my Atticus, the republic does not at this time affect 
 me. Not that anything is or ought to be dearer 
 to me ; but even Hippocrates forbids giving medi- 
 cine when all hope is past. Therefore I lay aside 
 such considerations. It is for my private affairs 
 that I am now concerned. Say I so ? Yes, for 
 my reputation. For though there is so great a 
 balance, yet I have not actually received enough to 
 pay Terentia e. Terentia do I say ? You know 
 that some time ago I engaged to pay twenty-five 
 sestertia (200/.) on the part of Montanus >>. Cicero 
 
 y The word postea in the original, if it is not an error, 
 seems to have been misplaced. 
 
 ^ Caesar, his adopted father. 
 
 » The statue of Caesar. 
 
 •> Like Caesar, who had erected to himself a tyranny 
 upon the ruins of the republic. 
 
 = Casca was the first of the conspirators who struck 
 Caesar. He was now a candidate for the tribunate. 
 
 d When the new consuls would come into office. 
 
 e Various conjectures have been formed upon the mean- 
 ing of this word. It seems to be most probable that it 
 may have been the name of some character in a play, as 
 we see it in the " Truculentus" of Plautus. Antonius is 
 on all hands supposed to be the person intended by it. 
 
 f Sextus Peduceus. 
 
 e See letter (i of this book. b See book xii. letter 63. 
 
 had very modestly requested this on his own faitb. 
 I promised with all readiness, which you also 
 approved, and desired Eros to set apart a sum for 
 that purpose. He has not only not done it, but 
 Aurelius ' has been under the necessity of borrow- 
 ing at a most exorbitant interest. Respecting the 
 (iel)t to Terentia, Tiro wrote me word that you said 
 the money would accrue from Dolabella. 1 sup- 
 pose he understood wrong, if anybody understands 
 wrong ; rather, he did not understand at all. For 
 you sent me Cocceius's^ answer, as Eros did, 
 almost in the same words. I must therefore come 
 uj) into the very flame of civil commotion. For it 
 is better to fail publicly than privately. To the 
 other subjects, ujjon which you so sweetly write to 
 me, in my present disturbed state of mind I am 
 unable to reply as I used to do. Let me first 
 extricate myself from this care which presses me. 
 Some means of doing this occur to me ; but I can 
 come to no certain determination till I liave seen 
 you. But why cannot I be in Rome with as much 
 propriety as Marcellus .' This, however, is not the 
 question, nor do I much care about it. You see 
 what it is that I care about ; and I shall accord- 
 ingly go up. 
 
 LETTER XVn. 
 
 {Grcbv. xvi.) 
 I HAVE read your very agreeable letter ; and send 
 you a copy of what I have written to Plancus. I 
 shall know from Tiro what passed between them. 
 You will be able to give more attention to your 
 sister when you cease to be occupied with this 
 ati'air '■. 
 
 Presently after the conclusion ofihe above correspondence 
 Cicero ivent tip to Rome, where he used every exertion to 
 rouse the people, the senate, the provincial governors, 
 to support the cause of the republic. Oclavius at first 
 joined the republican armies against Antonius; but 
 afterwards uniting with Antonius and Lepidns, formed 
 that triumvirate, which e.vtinguished the dying liberties 
 of Rome. Having secured the military by promises, they 
 jyroceededto act ivithout control, and to proscribe all who 
 were offensive to them. Among these was Cicero, who 
 vias at that time at Tusculanum ; but thereupon he fled 
 to Astura, and embarking there ivent along the coast to 
 Furmianum. Thence he was going again towards the 
 shore to re-embark, when he was overtaken and killed, 
 having ordered his servants to make no resistance. Thi4 
 happened twelve months after he had gone up to Rome, 
 when he had nearly completed his 64(A year. 
 
 > Some agent on the part of Montanus. 
 
 J An agent of Dolabella. 
 
 l* The affair of the Buthrotians. There is reason to 
 believe this short letter is misplaced in point of time ; and 
 that it, with those which are thrown together in tho 
 Appendix, belongs to the same period as the otliers con- 
 tained in book xv. and beginning of book xvi. relative to. 
 Buthrotum.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LETTER 1. 
 M. Cicero to L. Plancus, Preetor elect. 
 
 I KNOW the great regard you bear to my frietul 
 Atticus, und to me your zeal is such, tliat in truth 
 I consider myself to have few equally attentive and 
 affectionate. For to the great, and long, and just 
 friendship between our families, a great accession 
 has been made by your disposition towards me, 
 and mine towards you, equal and mutual. The 
 case of Buthrotuni is not unknown to you ; for I 
 have often conversed with you about it, and detailed 
 the whole affair to you. It happened in this 
 manner : — As soon as we found that the Buthro- 
 tian land was proscriJied, Atticus became alarmed, 
 and drew up a statenieat, wliich he gave me to pre- 
 sent to Ccesar ; for I \^as to dine with him that 
 day. I gave Caesar the otatemeut ; and he ap- 
 proved the cause, and wrote back to Atticus, that 
 ■what he asked was very joist; but at the same 
 time reminded him, that the Buthrotians must pay 
 the remainder of the money at the time appointed. 
 Atticus, who was anxious to save the city, paid the 
 money out of his own property. Upon this we 
 went to Caesar, and spoke in behalf of the Buthro- 
 tians, and brought back a most liberal decree, 
 signed by persons of the first distinction. After 
 this had been done, I confess I was surprised that 
 Caesar should permit the assembling of those who 
 wished for the Buthrotian land ; and should not 
 only permit it, but should appoint you to super- 
 intend that business. Accordingly 1 spoke to him, 
 and that repeatedly, so that he even accused me of 
 ■want of confidence in his word. He likewise bid 
 M. Messala, and Atticus himself, lay aside all 
 apprehensions ; and openly declared, that he was 
 unwilling to oflend the minds of the claimants, 
 ■while they remained in Italy; (for, as you know, he 
 affected popularity;) but that, when they had crossed 
 the sea, he would take care they should be settled 
 in some other place. This passed during his life : 
 but after the deatli of Caesar, as soon as the consuls 
 by a decree of the senate began to hear causes, 
 this, which I have above written, was laid before 
 ♦hem. They approved the cause without any 
 Hesitation, and said they would write to you. But I, 
 my Plancus, though I do not doubt but the decree 
 of the senate, and the law, and the decree of the 
 ccnsuls, and their letter, will have abundant autho- 
 rity with you, and am conscious that for Atlicus's 
 own sake you would wish it ; yet in consideration of 
 our acquaintance and mutual regard, I have taken 
 ■upon me to request that of you, which your distin- 
 guished kindness and gentle disposition would of 
 themselves induce you to grant, that what I am 
 confident you would do of your own accord, you 
 
 will for my iionour's sake do readily, liberally, aiid 
 quickly. There is nobody more friendly, or moro 
 agreeable, or dearer to me, than Atticus. Before, 
 his property only was concerned, though that was 
 to a large amount ; now his reputation is likewise 
 implicated ; that what he gained by great solicita- 
 tion and favour, both in the lifetime and after the 
 death of Caesar, he may effectually obtain by your 
 assistance. Should this be granted by you, I 
 would have you believe that I shall entertain such 
 a sense of your kindness, as to consider myself 
 under the greatest obligation. I shall make it a 
 point to attend with zeal and diligence to whatever 
 I think will please or interest you. Take care to 
 preserve your health. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Cicero to Plancus. Prator elect, 
 
 I HAVE already petitioned you by letter in behalf 
 of the Buthrotians ; that, as their cause had been 
 approved by the consuls, (who had legal authority 
 to inquire, determine, and pass judgment on Caesar's 
 acts,) you would promote that object, and would 
 relieve my Atticus (for whom I know your regard). 
 and me, (who am not less earnest), from our pre- 
 sent anxiety. For everything being at length 
 arranged, after great care, and much exertion and 
 trouble, it remains with you to enable us as soon as 
 possible to put an end to our solicitude. And 
 indeed I know your prudence to be such, that you 
 must see what great confusion will arise, if those 
 consular decrees, which have been made respecting' 
 Caesar's acts, are not observed. On my fiart, 
 though I disapprove many of Caesar's decisions, 
 (which was unavoidable among such a multiplicity 
 of business), yet for peace and quiet's sake 1 think 
 it right to support them ; and I believe that you 
 strenuously maintain the same opinion. But the 
 purpose of my letter is not to persuade, but to ask. 
 I ask you therefore, my Plancus, and beg you, with 
 all the zeal and ardour of which I am ca|>able, so to 
 undertake, so to manage, so to conclude this whole 
 affair, that what ■we have without any hesitation 
 obtained from the consuls by the extreme goodness 
 and justness of the cause, you will not only permit 
 us to enjoy, but v\ill take pleasure in it, consider- 
 ing the disposition you have often evinced towards 
 Atticus, both in his presence and in mine. By so 
 doing you will confer the greatest obligation on me, 
 who have always been united to you both by incli- 
 nation and family connexion. That you will do 
 I this, I ardently request of you again and again.
 
 828 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Cicero' to his Capita^. 
 
 I NEVER expected to come before you as a sup- 
 pliant ; but am not sorry that an opportunity is 
 oflered me of making trial of your affection. You 
 know my regard for Atticus. I beg you therefore 
 to grant me this ; forget, for my sake, the part he 
 once took in behalf of a friend, your adversary, 
 when his character was at stake. In the first 
 place, it is becoming your humanity to pardon 
 this; for everybody is bound to support his 
 friends : then, if you love me (to say nothing of 
 Atticus), grant this wholly to your Cicero, for 
 whom you profess so much esteem ; that what I 
 have always believed, I may now fully know, the 
 reality of your affection. After Caesar by his 
 decree (which I, with many persons of the first 
 dignity, countersigned) had exempted the Buthro- 
 tians, and assured me that as soon as the claimants 
 had crossed the sea he would write to assign them 
 some other lands, it happened that he was sud- 
 denly cut off. Upon this, as you know, (for you 
 were present when the consuls were appointed by 
 a decree of the senate to take Ccesar's acts into 
 consideration,) the business was put off to tlie 1st 
 of June. The decree of the senate was confirmed 
 by a law passed on the 2d of June, giving to the 
 consuls the cognizance of those matters, which 
 Csesar had purposed, decreed, and enacted. The 
 cause of the Buthrotians was laid before the consuls. 
 Caesar's decree was recited, and besides, several 
 documents of Caesar's were produced. The consuls 
 by the judgment of their council decreed in favour 
 of the Buthrotians, and appointed Plancus to 
 carry it into execution. Now, my Capito (for I 
 know the influence you possess wherever you are, 
 especially with a man of Plancus's easiness and 
 humanity,) strive, labour, or rather coax and per- 
 suade Plancus, who, I hope, is well disposed, to be 
 still better disposed through your means. Indeed 
 it seems to be a thing of such a kind, that without 
 favour to anybody, Plancus would of himself, 
 agreeably to his own disposition and prudence, not 
 hesitate to maintain the decree of the consuls, to 
 whom the inquiry and determination was referred 
 both by the law and by the decree of the senate ; 
 especially as, if this sort of cognizance were invali- 
 dated, the acts of Caesar would seem to be called in 
 question ; which not only those who are interested, 
 but also those who disapprove them wish, for tran- 
 quillity's sake, to confirm. Nevertheless, it is of 
 consequence to me that Plancus should do this 
 cheerfully and freely, -which he certainly will if 
 you exert that gentle spirit which I have often 
 experienced, and that sweetness, in which nobody 
 equals you. I earnestly request you to do so. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Cicero to C. Cupiennius. 
 
 I HAD a great esteem for your father, and he 
 
 always showed me extraordinary attention and 
 
 kindness ; nor indeed have I ever doubted of your 
 
 1 Probably the same who is mentioned, book xiii. 
 letter 33. 
 
 affection towards me. I, on my part, have not 
 been deficient in cultivating it. I therefore request 
 of you the more urgently to aid the city of Buth- 
 rotum, and to exert your influence that our friend 
 Plancus may lose no time in confirming and carry- 
 ing into effect the decree of the consuls, which they 
 made in favour of the Buthrotians, agreeably to the 
 authority given them both by the law and by the 
 decree of the senate. This, my Cupiennius, I ear- 
 nestly request of you again and again. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Cicero to Plancus, Prator elect. 
 Excuse me, if after I have written to you in 
 detail about the Buthrotians, I address you again 
 upon the same subject. It is not, my Plancus, 
 that I have any distrust either of your liberality, 
 or of the friendship between us ; but in an affair 
 of such moment to my Atticus, (in which now evea 
 his reputation is concerned, that it may be seen he 
 is able to secure that to which Ciesar consented, 
 and which we, who were present at the decrees and 
 rescripts of Caesar, witnessed and countersigned, — 
 especially as the whole power of execution rests 
 with you) ; that, what the consuls decreed agree- 
 ably to the decrees and rescripts of Caesar, I say 
 not, you should execute, but should execute with 
 zeal and readiness ; this will be so grateful to me, 
 that nothing can be more so. Though I hope that 
 by the time you receive this the request I had made 
 in a former letter may be already granted, yet I 
 shall not cease to importune you, till I hear that it 
 is done ; to which I look forward with great hope. 
 Then I trust I shall write in a different strain, and 
 shall have to return you thanks for your important 
 favour. Should this be conferred, I would have 
 you believe not so much that Atticus, (who is 
 deeply interested), as that I (who am not less ear- 
 nest than he) shall be obliged by it. Farewell. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 Cicero to Capito. 
 I DOUBT not you will be surprised, and evendis- 
 pleased, that I should address you again upon the 
 same subject ; but an affair is at issue of g^reat mo- 
 ment to Atticus, my intimate friend, to whom I am 
 bound by every tie. I know your zeal for your 
 friends, and theirs too for you, and it is in your 
 power to render me essential service with Plancus. 
 I am well acquainted with your kindness, and 
 know the influence you have with your friends. 
 Nobody can do us more service, on this occasion, 
 than you. And the cause is as good as one ought to 
 be which the consuls have decreed on the judg- 
 ment of the council, having taken cognizance of it 
 agreeably to the law and the decree of the senate. 
 But I consider everything to rest in the liberality 
 of your friend Plancus ; who I think, while for 
 your friendship's sake, and for the republic's sake, 
 he will carry into effect the decree of the consuls, 
 so for my sake will be glad to do it. Assist me then, 
 my Capito ; for which again and again I earnestly 
 entreat you. Farewell.
 
 INDEX 
 
 CICERO'S LETTERS TO ATTICU8. 
 
 U. R.'^THE NUMERAL LETTERS DFNOTE THE BOOK, THE FIGURES THE LETTER. 
 
 A1.EDIUS, ii. 4 ; xii. 23 
 
 Alexio, XV. I 
 
 Alexis, vii. 2 
 
 Anialthca, i. 13, 16 
 
 Antoniiis, C, i. 12 
 
 Antonius, M., x. 13 
 
 Appiiis, V. 15 ; vi. 1 ; viii. 1 
 
 Appulfius, xii. 17 
 
 Arpimim, ii. 11 ; xii. 12; xvi. 13 
 
 Aquillia, xiv. 17 
 
 Arbiiscula, iv. 15 
 
 Arcliias, i. 16 
 
 Ariobai'zancs, v. 18; vi. 1 
 
 Attica, vi. 4 ; xii. 1 
 
 Atticus,i. 17; iii. 30; iv. 16 ; vi. 1 
 
 B. 
 
 Balbus, XV. 2 
 
 Bibulus, li. 19; V. 16, 20 
 Bo"opis, li. 9 
 Britannia, iv. 16 
 i> •'♦us, vi. 1 ; V. 18 
 Buth-tttum, i. 1 ; xiv. 10 ; xv. 4 
 
 C;ecilius, i. 10, 12; iii. 20 
 
 Caesar, vii. 11 ; x. 4, 12 
 
 Casar, L., vii. 13 
 
 Oatilina, i. 11 
 
 Cato, i. 14 ; iv. 1 ; xii. 4 
 
 C'atulus, ii. 24 
 
 Cicero, canvass fii cons. i. 10 ; with 
 Ponipeius, i. 16; with Clodius, 
 ii. 1 ; son born, i. 11 ; banished, 
 iii. ; returns, iv. 1 ; to Cilicia, 
 T. and vi. ; in Campania, vii. 11; 
 interview with Caesar, ix. 18 ; at 
 Brundisium, xi. 5 ; Tullia's death, 
 xii. 14; entertains Caesar, xiii. 52 
 
 Cicero, M., fil. xiv. 16 
 
 Cicero, Q., i. 5 
 
 Cicero, Q., fil. vi. 2 ; x. 4, 11 ; xiv. 
 17 ; xvi. 1, 5 
 
 Clodius, i. 12, 16 ; ii. 22 ; iv. 3 
 
 CrassuB, i. 14, 16 
 
 Considius, ii. 24 
 Crassipcs, iv. 5 
 Curio, ii. 18; .^.4 
 Curius, vii. 2 
 Cybistra, v. 18 
 Cjtheris, x. 10 
 
 D. 
 
 Deiotakus, V. 17 ; xiv. 12 
 DicJBarclins, ii. 2, 12 
 Dionysius, iv. 11 ; viii. 4 ; ix. 15 
 Dolabclla, vii. 3 ; xiv. 17 
 Domitius, iv. 16 ; viii. 11 ; ix. I 
 
 E. 
 
 Egnatius, iv. 12 ; vi. 1 ; vii. 18 ; x. 
 15 
 
 F. 
 
 FORMIANUM, ii. 13, 14 
 
 Milo, iv. ;5 : V. 8' 
 Montanus, xii. 52 
 
 G. 
 
 Gabinius, iv. 16 
 
 H. 
 
 Herennius, i. 18 
 
 Hcrmcracles, i. 6 
 
 Hirciis, vii. I 
 
 Hinius, v - 20 
 
 History, xiv '4 
 
 Hortcnsius, ii.25 ; v. 2 ; vi. 7 
 
 Hortensius, fil., vi. 3 
 
 L. 
 
 Labieni's, vii. 12 
 Lciil'.iiiis, iv. 6 
 Lucceius, i. 7 
 
 M. 
 
 Marius, xii. 49 
 Matins, ix. 12 
 Mumniius, i. 18 ; iv. 18 
 Messaia, i. 14 
 Mescinius, vi. 7 
 I Metellus, i. Id 
 
 NiciAs, xii. 26 
 
 O. 
 
 OcTAVIUS, XT. 12 
 
 Oppius, vii. 13; viii. 7 ; r. 15 1 
 xiii. 23 
 
 P. 
 
 Patron, v. 11, 19 
 
 Piiarnaces, xi. 21 
 
 Pheniius, v. 20 
 
 Pliiiippus, xii. 18 
 
 Philotimus, v. 8 ; vi. 4 ; vii. I | 
 
 X.9 
 Pindenissus, V. 20 
 Piso, i. 13 
 Pollux, viii. 5 
 Pompeius, i. 14, 19 ; ii. '<9, 21 ; Ir, 
 
 9; V. 9 ; vii. 10; xi. 6 
 Pomponia, v. 1 
 Poniiuius, V. 6, 21 
 Publilia, xii. 32 
 
 Sampsiceramus, ii. 14 
 Scaptius, vi. 2 
 Scrvius, x. 14 
 Sica, iii. 2 
 Statius, vi. 2 
 
 Taurus (mons), v. 21 
 
 Terentia, xi. 22. 
 
 Tertulla, xiv. 20 
 
 Tiro, vi. 6 ; vii. 2 
 
 TuUia, i. 8; iv. 1, 5; vi. 7; X.8 
 
 Varro, ii. 20 ; iT. 16 ; xif- 85 
 Vatinius, ii. 9 
 Vectenus, x. 5, 15 
 VettiuB, ii. 24
 
 } 
 
 x\ 
 
 %
 
 CENTRAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 University of California, San Diego 
 
 DATE 
 
 DUE 
 
 SEp 1 JAQ,73 
 
 
 AUG t^ KLti"^ 
 
 
 OCT 21 1974 
 
 
 OCT seen 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CI 39 
 
 UCSD Libr.
 
 m 
 
 w 
 
 ''iiinii'.n 
 
 HM,|, 
 
 /\A 
 
 !''^' I iiiiw 
 
 (>()() (y/^ 
 
 
 (>'/;i 
 
 i 
 
 yi 
 
 -^ 
 
 j»i 
 
 '^^^^ 

 
 
 
 .£i^ 
 
 
 ^;,i/| 
 
 '>^^