No More Learning

Cicero's own style varies very widely. The letters to Atticus are
usually colloquial, full of unexplained allusions, sometimes made in-
tentionally obscure and pieced out with a Greek phrase, for fear
of the carrier's treachery! Other letters again, notably a long
'Apologia' addressed to Lentulus after Cicero's return from exile,
are as plainly addressed in reality to the public or to posterity as
are any of the orations.
Prof. R. Y. Tyrrell has long been engaged upon an annotated
edition of all the letters in chronological order. This will be of the
utmost value. An excellent selection, illustrating the orator's public
life chiefly, has been published by Professor Albert Watson. This
volume contains also very full tables of dates, bibliography of all
Cicero's works, and in general is indispensable for the advanced
Latin student. The same letters annotated by Professor Watson have
been delightfully translated by G. E. Jeans. To this volume, rather
than to Forsyth's biography, the English reader should turn to form
his impressions of Cicero at first hand. It is a model of scholarly-
and also literary-translation.
The "New Academy," to which Cicero inclined in philosophy,
was skeptical in its tendencies, and regarded absolute truth as unat-
tainable. This made it easier for Cicero to cast his transcriptions in
the form of dialogues, revealing the beliefs of the various schools
through the lips of the several interlocutors. Thus the 'De Finibus
Bonorum et Malorum sets forth in three successive conversations


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3684
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
the ideas of Epicureans, of Stoics, and of the Academy, on the
Highest Good. It is perhaps the chief of these treatises, though
we would still prefer to have even those later compendiums of the
Greek schools through which Cicero probably cited the chief philoso-
phers at second hand! J. S. Reid, an eminent English scholar, has
spent many years upon this dialogue, and his work includes a
masterly translation.
With a somewhat similar plan, the three books of the 'De Natura
Deorum' contain the views of the three schools on the Divine
Beings. The speakers are Cicero's Roman contemporaries. This
rather sketchy work has been annotated by J. B. Mayor in his usual
exhaustive manner. The now fragmentary dialogue entitled 'The
Republic,' and its unfinished supplement The Laws,' were com-
posed and named in avowed rivalry with Plato's two largest works,
but fail to approach the master. The Roman Constitution is
defended as the ideal mingling of monarchy, aristocracy, and
democracy. The student of pure literature can for the most part
neglect these, and others among the hastily written philosophic
works, with the explicit approval of so indefatigable a student as
Professor B. L. Gildersleeve.
The chief fragment preserved of the Republic' is the 'Dream of
Scipio. ' Its dependence on the vision at the close of Plato's 'Repub-
lic' should be carefully observed. It may be fairly described as a
free translation and enlargement from Greek originals, of which
Plato's passage is the chief. Plagiarism was surely viewed quite
otherwise then than now. Still, the Roman additions and modifica-
tions are interesting also,—and even as a translator Cicero is no
ordinary cicerone! Moreover, in this as in so many other examples,
the Latin paraphrase had a wider and more direct influence than
the original. It has been accepted with justice ever since, as the
final and most hopeful pagan word in favor of the soul's immortality.
The lover of Chaucer will recall the genial paraphrase of Scipio's
Dream' in the 'Parlament of Foules' (stanzas 5-12). We give below,
entire, in our quotations from Cicero, the masterly version of the
'Dream,' prepared by Prof. T. R. Lounsbury for his edition of Chau-
cer's poems. The speaker is the younger Scipio Africanus, and his
visit to Africa as a subaltern here described was in 149 B. C. , three
years previous to his own decisive campaign against Carthage which
ended in the destruction of the city.
Cicero shared in full the Roman tendency to give a practical, an
ethical turn to all metaphysical discussion. This is prominent in the
popular favorite among his larger volumes, the Tusculan Disputa-
tions. ' In each of the five related books a thesis is stated nega-
tively, to be triumphantly reversed later on:-


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3685
"Death seems to me an evil. ”
"I think pain the greatest of all evils. "
«<
Misery seems to me to befall the wise man. "
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4) "It does not appear to me that the wise man can be secure
from distress of mind. "
(5) "Character does not seem to me sufficient for happiness in
life. "
-
The original portion of this work is relatively large, and many
Roman illustrations occur. Dr. Peabody has included the Tusculans,
the two brief essays next mentioned, and the 'De Officiis,' in his
excellent series of versions (Little, Brown and Company).
The little dialogue on Old Age' is perhaps most read of all
Cicero's works. Its best thoughts, it must be confessed, are freely
borrowed from the opening pages of Plato's 'Republic. ' Still, on
this theme of universal human interest, the Roman also offers much
pleasant food for thought. The moderation of the Greek is forgotten
by Cicero, the professional advocate and special pleader, who almost
cries out to us at last:-
:-
"Grow old along with me:
The best is yet to be,
The last of life,
for which the first was made! "
It was written in 45-4 B. C. The other little essay On Friendship'
does not deserve to be bound up in such good company, though it
usually is so edited. Bacon's very brief essay has more meat in it.
Cicero had many good friends, but fully trusted hardly any one of
them not even Atticus. It was
an age which put friendship to
fearful trial, and the typical Roman seems to us rather selfish and
cold. Certainly this essay is in a frigid tone. Professor Gildersleeve,
I believe, has likened it to a treatise of Xenophon on hunting, so sys-
tematically is the pursuit of friends discussed.
Perhaps the most practical among Roman Manuals of Morals is
the treatise on Duties (De Officiis'), in three books.
Here the per-
sonal experience of sixty years is drawn upon, avowedly for the
edification of young Marcus, the author's unworthy son. This sole
Ciceronian survivor of Antony's massacres lived to be famous for his
capacity in wine-drinking, and to receive officially, as consul under
Augustus, the news of Antony's final defeat and death a dramatic
revenge.
Most of these philosophic treatises were composed near the end
of Cicero's life, largely in one marvelously productive year, 45-4 B. C. ,
just previous to the slaying of Cæsar. Not all even of the extant
works have been catalogued here. The Academica' and 'De
Divinatione' should at least be mentioned.
(


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
Such were Cicero's distractions, when cut off from political life
and oratory, and above all when bereft by Tullia's death. The espe-
cial Consolatio,' composed to regain his courage after this blow,
must head the list of lost works. It took a most pessimistic view of
human life, for which it was reproved by Lactantius. Another per-
ished essay, the Hortensius,' introducing the whole philosophic
series, upheld Milton's thesis, "How charming is divine philosophy,"
and first turned the thoughts of Augustine to serious study.
Cicero's poems, chiefly translations, are extant in copious frag-
ments. They show metrical facility, a little taste, no creative imagi-
nation at all. A final proof of his unresting activity is his attempt
to write history. Few even among professional advocates could have
less of the temper for mere narration and truth. Indeed, reasonable
disregard for the latter trammel is frankly urged upon a friend who
was to write upon the illustrious moments of Cicero's own career!
We said at first that the caprice of fate had exaggerated some
sides of Cicero's activity, by removing all competitors. In any case,
however, his supremacy among Italian orators, and in the ornate dis-
cursive school of eloquence generally, could not have been questioned.
Yet more: as a stylist he lifted a language hitherto poor in
vocabulary, and stiff in phrase, to a level it never afterward sur-
passed. Many words he successfully coined, chiefly either by trans-
lation or free imitation of Greek originals. His clear, copious,
rhythmical phrase was even more fully his own creation. Indeed, at
the present moment, four or five great forms of living speech testify
to Cicero's amazing mastery over both word and phrase. The elo-
quence of Castelar, Crispi, and Gambetta, of Gladstone and of Everett,
is shot through and through, in all its warp and woof, with golden
Ciceronian threads. The 'Archias' speaks to any appreciative stu-
dent of Western Europe, as it were, in a mother tongue which dom-
inates his vernacular speech. Human language, then, has become a
statelier memorial of Cicero than even his vanity can ever have
imagined.
(After writing the substance of this paragraph, I was glad to find
myself in close agreement with Mackail's words in his masterly little
'Latin Literature,' page 62. )
RESUME OF GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
The chief encyclopædia of facts and citations for this period is
the cumbrous old Geschichte Roms, oder Pompeius Cæsar Cicero
und ihre Zeitgenossen' of W. Drumann (Königsberg: 1834-44). The
plan is ideally bad, being a series of family chronicles, while these
three men are more completely isolated from their families and kin


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3687
than any other great trio in all Roman history! The book is how-
ever an exhaustive, inexhaustible, little acknowledged, but still
worked quarry of erudition. The best single book in English is
Watson's edition of the (selected) letters (or Jeans's translation), until
it shall be superseded by the complete annotated edition of the corre-
spondence, by Tyrrell.
Mommsen's severe judgment on Cicero is well known. The other
standard historians are less severe. Forsyth's life is not the final
word on the subject by any means, but gives a good general view.
The stately Ciceronian Lexicon by Merguet, already complete for the
orations, will eventually provide a complete concordance and copious
elucidation for all the works. The most accessible complete edition
of Cicero's writings in Latin is by Baiter and Kayser, in eleven vol-
umes. The Index Nominum alone fills four hundred closely printed
pages of Vol. xi. The great critical edition is that of Orelli (Zurich:
1826-38).
On Cicero as an author, and indeed in the whole field of Latin
literature, the 'Geschichte der Römischen Literatur' of Martin
Schanz (in I. Müller's 'Handbuch') is most helpful, and even
readable.
Lawrons
William Cranston Lawton
OF THE OFFICES OF LITERATURE AND POETRY
From the Oration for the Poet Archias
You
You ask us, O Gratius, why we are so exceedingly attached to
this man.
Because he supplies us with food whereby our
mind is refreshed after this noise in the Forum, and with
rest for our ears after they have been wearied with bad lan-
guage. Do you think it possible that we could find a supply for
our daily speeches, when discussing such a variety of matters,
unless we were to cultivate our minds by the study of literature?
or that our minds could bear being kept so constantly on the
stretch if we did not relax them by that same study? But I
confess that I am devoted to those studies; let others be
ashamed of them if they have buried themselves in books with-
out being able to produce anything out of them for the common
advantage, or anything which may bear the eyes of men and
the light. But why need I be ashamed, who for many years
have lived in such a manner as never to allow my own love of


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3688
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
tranquillity to deny me to the necessity or advantage of another,
or my fondness for pleasure to distract, or even sleep to delay,
my attention to such claims? Who then can reproach me, or
who has any right to be angry with me, if I allow myself as
much time for the cultivation of these studies as some take for
the performance of their own business; or for celebrating days
of festival and games; or for other pleasures; or even for the
rest and refreshment of mind and body; or as others devote to
early banquets, to playing at dice, or at ball? And this ought
to be permitted to me, because by these studies my power of
speaking and those faculties are improved, which as far as they
do exist in me have never been denied to my friends when
they have been in peril. And if that ability appears to any one
to be but moderate, at all events I know whence I derive those
principles which are of the greatest value. For if I had not
persuaded myself from my youth upwards, both by the precepts
of many masters and by much reading, that there is nothing in
life greatly to be desired except praise and honor, and that
while pursuing those things all tortures of the body, all dangers
of death and banishment are to be considered but of small
importance, I should never have exposed myself in defense of
your safety to such numerous and arduous contests, and to
these daily attacks of profligate men. But all books are full of
such precepts, and all the sayings of philosophers, and all an-
tiquity, are full of precedents teaching the same lesson; but all
these things would lie buried in darkness if the light of litera-
ture and learning were not applied to them. How many images
of the bravest men, carefully elaborated, have both the Greek
and Latin writers bequeathed to us, not merely for us to look
at and gaze upon, but also for our imitation! And I, always
keeping them before my eyes as examples for my own public
conduct, have endeavored to model my mind and views by con-
tinually thinking of those excellent men.
Some one will ask "What! were those identical great men,
whose virtues have been recorded in books, accomplished in all
that learning which you are extolling so highly? " It is difficult
to assert this of all of them; but still I know what answer I can
make to that question: I admit that many men have existed of
admirable disposition and virtue, who without learning, by the
almost divine instinct of their own mere nature, have been, of
their own accord as it were, moderate and wise men.
I even


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3689
add this, that very often nature without learning has had more
to do with leading men to credit and to virtue, than learning
when not assisted by a good natural disposition. And I also
contend that when to an excellent and admirable natural dispo-
sition there is added a certain system and training of education,
then from that combination arises an extraordinary perfection of
character: such as is seen in that godlike man whom our
fathers saw in their time— Africanus; and in Caius Lælius and
Lucius Furius, most virtuous and moderate men; and in that
most excellent man, the most learned man of his time, Marcus
Cato the elder: and all these men, if they had been to derive no
assistance from literature in the cultivation and practice of vir-
tue, would never have applied themselves to the study of it.
Though even if there were no such great advantage to be
reaped from it, and if it were only pleasure that is sought from
these studies, still I imagine you would consider it a most
reasonable and liberal employment of the mind: for other occu-
pations are not suited to every time, nor to every age or place;
but these studies are the food of youth, the delight of old age;
the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity;
a delight at home, and no hindrance abroad; they are com-
panions by night, and in travel, and in the country.
And if we ourselves were not able to arrive at these advan-
tages, nor even taste them with our senses, still we ought to
admire them even when we saw them in others.
And
indeed, we have constantly heard from men of the greatest
eminence and learning that the study of other sciences was
made up of learning, and rules, and regular method; but that a
poet was such by the unassisted work of nature, and was moved
by the vigor of his own mind, and was inspired as it were by
some divine wrath. Wherefore rightly does our own great En-
nius call poets holy; because they seem to be recommended to
us by some especial gift, as it were, and liberality of the gods.
Let then, judges, this name of poet, this name which no bar-
barians even have ever disregarded, be holy in your eyes, men
of cultivated minds as you all are. Rocks and deserts reply to
the poet's voice; savage beasts are often moved and arrested by
song; and shall we who have been trained in the pursuit of the
most virtuous acts refuse to be swayed by the voice of poets?
The Colophonians say that Homer was their citizen; the Chians.
claim him as theirs, the Salaminians assert their right to him;


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3690
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
but the men of Smyrna loudly assert him to be a citizen of
Smyrna, and they have even raised a temple to him in their
city. Many other places also fight with one another for the
honor of being his birthplace.
They then claim a stranger, even after his death, because he
was a poet: shall we reject this man while he is alive, a man
who by his own inclination and by our laws does actually belong
to us? especially when Archias has employed all his genius with
the utmost zeal in celebrating the glory and renown of the
Roman people? For when a young man, he touched on our
wars against the Cimbri and gained the favor even of Caius
Marius himself, a man who was tolerably proof against this sort
of study. For there was no one so disinclined to the Muses as
not willingly to endure that the praise of his labors should be
made immortal by means of verse. They say that the great
Themistocles, the greatest man that Athens produced, said when
some one asked him what sound or whose voice he took the
greatest delight in hearing, "The voice of that by whom his own.
exploits were best celebrated. " Therefore, the great Marius was
also exceedingly attached to Lucius Plotius, because he thought
that the achievement which he had performed could be celebrated
by his genius. And the whole Mithridatic war, great and diffi-
cult as it was, and carried on with so much diversity of fortune
by land and sea, has been related at length by him; and the
books in which that is sung of, not only make illustrious Lucius
Lucullus, that most gallant and celebrated man, but they do
honor also to the Roman people. For while Lucullus was gen-
eral, the Roman people opened Pontus, though it was defended
both by the resources of the king and by the character of the
country itself.
Under the same general the army of the Roman
people, with no very great numbers, routed the countless hosts
of the Armenians. It is the glory of the Roman people that by
the wisdom of that same general, the city of the Cyzicenes, most
friendly to us, was delivered and preserved from all the attacks
of the kind, and from the very jaws as it were of the whole war.
Ours is the glory which will be for ever celebrated, which is
derived from the fleet of the enemy which was sunk after its
admirals had been slain, and from the marvelous naval battle off
Tenedos: those trophies belong to us, those monuments are ours,
those triumphs are ours. Therefore I say that the men by
whose genius these exploits are celebrated make illustrious at


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3691
the same time the glory of the Roman people. Our countryman
Ennius was dear to the elder Africanus; and even on the tomb
of the Scipios his effigy is believed to be visible, carved in the
marble. But undoubtedly it is not only the men who are them-
selves praised who are done honor to by those praises, but the
name of the Roman people also is adorned by them. Cato, the
ancestor of this Cato, is extolled to the skies. Great honor is
paid to the exploits of the Roman people. Lastly, all those
great men, the Maximi, the Marcelli, and the Fulvii, are done
honor to, not without all of us having also a share in the pan-
egyric.
Certainly, if the mind had no anticipations of posterity, and
if it were to confine all its thoughts within the same limits as
those by which the space of our lives is bounded, it would neither
break itself with such severe labors, nor would it be tormented
with such cares and sleepless anxiety, nor would it so often have
to fight for its very life. At present there is a certain virtue in
every good man, which night and day stirs up the mind with the
stimulus of glory, and reminds it that all mention of our name
will not cease at the same time with our lives, but that our fame
will endure to all posterity.
Do we all who are occupied in the affairs of the State, and
who are surrounded by such perils and dangers in life, appear to
be so narrow-minded as, though to the last moment of our lives
we have never passed one tranquil or easy moment, to think that
everything will perish at the same time as ourselves? Ought we
not, when many most illustrious men have with great care col-
lected and left behind them statues and images, representations
not of their minds but of their bodies, much more to desire to
leave behind us a copy of our counsels and of our virtues,
wrought and elaborated by the greatest genius? I thought, at
the very moment of performing them, that I was scattering and
disseminating all the deeds which I was performing, all over the
world for the eternal recollection of nations. And whether that
delight is to be denied to my soul after death, or whether, as
the wisest men have thought, it will affect some portion of my
spirit, at all events I am at present delighted with some such
idea and hope.


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
HONORS PROPOSED FOR THE DEAD STATESMAN SULPICIUS
From the Ninth Philippic
OU
UR ancestors indeed decreed statues to many men; public
sepulchres to few. But statues perish by weather, by vio-
lence, by lapse of time; the sanctity of the sepulchres is
in the soil itself, which can neither be moved nor destroyed by
any violence; and while other things are extinguished, so sepul-
chres become holier by age.
Let then this man be distinguished by that honor also, a
man to whom no honor can be given which is not deserved.
Let us be grateful in paying respect in death to him to whom
we can now show no other gratitude. And by that same step
let the audacity of Marcus Antonius, waging a nefarious war,
be branded with infamy. For when these honors have been
paid to Servius Sulpicius, the evidence of his embassy having
been insulted and rejected by Antonius will remain for ever-
lasting.
On which account I give my vote for a decree in this form:
"As Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the son of Quintus, of the Lemo-
nian tribe, at a most critical period of the republic, and being
ill with a very serious and dangerous disease, preferred the
authority of the Senate and the safety of the republic to his
own life; and struggled against the violence and severity of his
illness, in order to arrive at the camp of Antonius, to which the
Senate had sent him; and as he, when he had almost arrived at
the camp, being overwhelmed by the violence of the disease,
has lost his life in discharging a most important office of the
republic; and as his death has been in strict correspondence to
a life passed with the greatest integrity and honor, during which
he, Servius Sulpicius, has often been of great service to the re-
public, both as a private individual and in the discharge of vari-
ous magistracies: and as he, being such a man, has encountered
death on behalf of the republic while employed on an embassy;
the Senate decrees that a brazen pedestrian statue of Servius.
Sulpicius be erected in the rostra in compliance with the resolu-
tion of this order, and that his children and posterity shall have
a place round this statue of five feet in every direction, from
which to behold the games and gladiatorial combats, because he
died in the cause of the republic; and that this reason be in-
scribed on the pedestal of the statue; and that Caius Pansa and


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3693
Aulus Hirtius the consuls, one or both of them, if it seem good
to them, shall command the quæstors of the city to let out a
contract for making that pedestal and that statue, and erecting
them in the rostra; and that whatever price they contract
for, they shall take care the amount is given and paid to the
contractor; and as in old times the Senate has exerted its
authority with respect to the obsequies of, and honors paid to,
brave men, it now decrees that he shall be carried to the tomb
on the day of his funeral with the greatest possible solemnity.
And as Servius
Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the son of Quintus cf the
Lemonian tribe, has deserved so well of the republic as to be
entitled to be complimented with all those distinctions; the Sen-
ate is of opinion, and thinks it for the advantage of the repub-
lic, that the curule ædile should suspend the edict which usually
prevails with respect to funerals, in the case. of the funeral of
Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the son of Quintus of the Lemonian
tribe; and that Caius Pansa the consul shall assign him a place
for a tomb in the Esquiline plain, or in whatever place shall
seem good to him, extending thirty feet in every direction,
where Servius Sulpicius may be buried; and that that shall be
his tomb, and that of his children and posterity, as having been
a tomb most deservedly given to them by the public authority. "
OLD FRIENDS BETTER THAN NEW
From the Dialogue on Friendship'
Β'
UT there arises on this subject a somewhat difficult question:
Whether ever new friends, if deserving friendship, are to be
preferred to old ones, just as we are wont to prefer young
colts to old horses? -a perplexity unworthy of a man; for there
ought to be no satiety of friendship as of other things: every-
thing which is oldest (as those wines which bear age well) ought
to be sweetest; and that is true which is sometimes said, "Many
bushels of salt must be eaten together," before the duty of
friendship can be fulfilled. But new friendships, if they afford a
hope that, as in the case of plants which never disappoint, fruits
shall appear, such are not to be rejected; yet the old one must
be preserved in its proper place, for the power of age and custom
is exceedingly great; besides, in the very case of the horse, which
I just mentioned, if there is no impediment, there is no one who


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3694
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
does not more pleasurably use that to which he is accustomed
than one unbroken and strange to him; and habit asserts its
power, and habit prevails, not only in the case of this, which is
animate, but also in the cases of those things which are inani-
mate; since we take delight in the very mountainous or woody
scenery among which we have long dwelt.
HONORED OLD AGE
From the Dialogue on Old Age
B
UT in my whole discourse remember that I am praising that
old age which is established on the foundations of youth:
from which this is effected which I once asserted with the
great approbation of all present,— that wretched was the old age
which had to defend itself by speaking. Neither gray hairs nor
wrinkles can suddenly catch respect; but the former part of life
honorably spent, reaps the fruits of authority at the close. For
these very observances which seem light and common are marks
of honor -to be saluted, to be sought after, to receive prece-
dence, to have persons rising up to you, to be attended on the
way, to be escorted home, to be consulted; points which, both
among us and in other States, in proportion as they are the most
excellent in their morals, are the most scrupulously observed.
They say that Lysander the Lacedæmonian, whom I mentioned
a little above, was accustomed to remark that Lacedæmon was
the most honorable abode for old age; for nowhere is so much
conceded to that time of life, nowhere is old age more respected.
Nay, further: it is recorded that when at Athens during the
games a certain elderly person had entered the theatre, a place
was nowhere offered him in that large assembly by his own
townsmen; but when he had approached the Lacedæmonians,
who, as they were ambassadors, had taken their seats together
in a particular place, they all rose up and invited the old man to
a seat; and when reiterated applause had been bestowed upon
them by the whole assembly, one of them remarked that the
Athenians knew what was right, but were unwilling to do it.
There are many excellent rules in our college, but this of which
I am treating especially, that in proportion as each man has the
advantage in age, so he takes precedence in giving his opinion;
and older augurs are preferred not only to those who are higher


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3695
in office, but even to such as are in actual command. What
pleasures, then, of the body can be compared with the privileges
of authority? which they who have nobly employed seem to me
to have consummated the drama of life, and not like inexpert
performers to have broken down in the last act. Still, old men
are peevish, and fretful, and passionate, and unmanageable,-
nay, if we seek for such, also covetous: but these are the faults
of their characters, not of their old age. And yet that peevish-
ness and those faults which I have mentioned have some excuse,
not quite satisfactory indeed, but such as may be admitted.
They fancy that they are neglected, despised, made a jest of;
besides, in a weak state of body every offense is irritating. All
which defects however are extenuated by good dispositions and
qualities; and this may be discovered not only in real life, but
on the stage, from the two brothers that are represented in
'The Brothers'; how much austerity in the one, and how much
gentleness in the other! Such is the fact: for as it is not every
wine, so it is not every man's life, that grows sour from old
age.
I approve of gravity in old age, but this in a moderate
degree, like everything else; harshness by no means. What
avarice in an old man can propose to itself I cannot conceive:
for can anything be more absurd than, in proportion as less of
our journey remains, to seek a greater supply of provisions?
DEATH IS WELCOME TO THE OLD
From the Dialogue on Old Age'
A
N OLD man indeed has nothing to hope for; yet he is in so
much the happier state than a young one, since he has
already attained what the other is only hoping for. The
one is wishing to live long, the other has lived long. And yet,
good gods! what is there in man's life that can be called long?
For allow the latest period: let us anticipate the age of the
kings of the Tartessii. For there dwelt, as I find it recorded, a
man named Arganthonius at Gades, who reigned for eighty
years, and lived one hundred and twenty. But to my mind
nothing whatever seems of long duration, in which there is any
end. For when that arrives, then the time which has passed has
flowed away; that only remains which you have secured by virtue
and right conduct. Hours indeed depart from us, and days and


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3696
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
months and years; nor does past time ever return, nor can it be
discovered what is to follow. Whatever time is assigned to each
to live, with that he ought to be content: for neither need the
drama be performed entire by the actor, in order to give satisfac-
tion, provided he be approved in whatever act he may be; nor
need the wise man live till the plaudite. For the short period of
life is long enough for living well and honorably; and if you
should advance further, you need no more grieve than farmers do
when the loveliness of springtime hath passed, that summer and
autumn have come. For spring represents the time of youth
and gives promise of the future fruits; the remaining seasons are
intended for plucking and gathering in those fruits. Now the
harvest of old age, as I have often said, is the recollection and
abundance of blessings previously secured. In truth, everything
that happens agreeably to nature is to be reckoned among bless-
ings. What, however, is so agreeable to nature as for an old
man to die? which even is the lot of the young, though nature
opposes and resists. And thus it is that young men seem to
me to die just as when the violence of flame is extinguished by
a flood of water; whereas old men die as the exhausted fire
goes out, spontaneously, without the exertion of any force: and
as fruits when they are green are plucked by force from the
trees, but when ripe and mellow drop off, so violence takes away
their lives from youths, maturity from old men; a state which
to me indeed is so delightful, that the nearer I approach to
death, I seem as it were to be getting sight of land, and at
length after a long voyage to be just coming into harbor.
GREAT ORATORS AND THEIR TRAINING
From the Dialogue on Oratory>
F
OR who can suppose that amid the great multitude of stu-
dents, the utmost abundance of masters, the most eminent
geniuses among men, the infinite variety of causes, the
most ample rewards offered to eloquence, there is any other
reason to be found for the small number of orators than the
incredible magnitude and difficulty of the art? A knowledge
of a vast number of things is necessary, without which volubility
of words is empty and ridiculous; speech itself is to be formed,
not merely by choice, but by careful construction of words; and


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3697
all the emotions of the mind which nature has given to man,
must be intimately known; for all the force and art of speaking
must be employed in allaying or exciting the feelings of those
who listen. To this must be added a certain portion of grace
and wit, learning worthy of a well-bred man, and quickness and
brevity in replying as well as attacking, accompanied with a
refined decorum and urbanity. Besides, the whole of antiquity
and a multitude of examples is to be kept in the memory;
nor is the knowledge of laws in general, or of the civil law in
particular, to be neglected. And why need I add any remarks
on delivery itself, which is to be ordered by action of body, by
gesture, by look, and by modulation and variation of the voice,
the great power of which, alone and in itself, the comparatively
trivial art of actors and the stage proves; on which though all
bestow their utmost labor to form their look, voice, and gesture,
who knows not how few there are, and have ever been, to whom
we can attend with patience? What can I say of that repository
for all things, the memory; which, unless it be made the keeper
of the matter and words that are the fruits of thought and
invention, all the talents of the orator, we see, though they be
of the highest degree of excellence, will be of no avail ? Let
us then cease to wonder what is the cause of the scarcity of
good speakers, since eloquence results from all those qualifica-
tions, in each of which singly it is a great merit to labor suc-
cessfully; and let us rather exhort our children, and others
whose glory and honor is dear to us, to contemplate in their
minds the full magnitude of the object, and not to trust that
they can reach the height at which they aim by the aid of the
precepts, masters, and exercises that they are all now follow-
ing, but to understand that they must adopt others of a different
character.
In my opinion, indeed, no man can be an orator possessed
of every praiseworthy accomplishment unless he has attained
the knowledge of everything important, and of all liberal arts;
for his language must be ornate and copious from knowledge,
since unless there be beneath the surface matter understood
and felt by the speaker, oratory becomes an empty and almost
puerile flow of words.
"I am then of opinion," said Crassus, "that nature and
genius in the first place contribute most aid to speaking; and
that to those writers on the art to whom Antonius just now
VI-232


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3698
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
alluded, it was not skill and method in speaking, but natural
talent that was wanting; for there ought to be certain lively
powers in the mind and understanding, which may be acute to
invent, fertile to explain and adorn, and strong and retentive to
remember; and if any one imagines that these powers may be
acquired by art (which is false, for it is very well if they can
be animated and excited by art; but they certainly cannot by art
be ingrafted or instilled, since they are all the gifts of nature),
what will he say of those qualities which are certainly born with
the man himself - volubility of tongue, tone of voice, strength of
lungs, and a peculiar conformation and aspect of the whole
countenance and body? I do not say that art cannot improve
in these particulars (for I am not ignorant that what is good
may be made better by education, and what is not very good
may be in some degree polished and amended); but there are
some persons so hesitating in their speech, so inharmonious in
their tone of voice, or so unwieldy and rude in the air and
movements of their bodies, that whatever power they possess
either from genius or art, they can never be reckoned in the
number of accomplished speakers; while there are others so hap-
pily qualified in these respects, so eminently adorned with the
gifts of nature, that they seem not to have been born like other
men, but molded by some divinity. It is indeed a great task
and enterprise for a person to undertake and profess that while
every one else is silent, he alone must be heard on the most
important subjects, and in a large assembly of men; for there is
scarcely any one present who is not sharper and quicker to dis-
cover defects in the speaker than merits; and thus whatever
offends the hearer effaces the recollection of what is worthy of
praise. I do not make these observations for the purpose of
altogether deterring young men from the study of oratory, even
if they be deficient in some natural endowments. For who does
not perceive that to C. Cælius, my contemporary, a new man,
the mere mediocrity in speaking which he was enabled to attain
was a great honor? Who does not know that Q. Varius, your
equal in age, a clumsy uncouth man, has obtained his great popu-
larity by the cultivation of such faculties as he has?
"But as our inquiry regards the complete orator, we must
imagine in our discussion an orator from whom every kind of
fault is abstracted, and who is adorned with every kind of
merit. For if the multitude of suits, if the variety of causes, if


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3699
the rabble and barbarism of the forum, afford room for even
the most wretched speakers, we must not for that reason take
our eyes from the object of our inquiry. In those arts in
which it is not indispensable usefulness that is sought, but lib-
eral amusement for the mind, how nicely, how almost fastid-
iously, do we judge! For there are no suits or controversies
which can force men, though they may tolerate indifferent ora-
tors in the forum, to endure also bad actors upon the stage.
The orator therefore must take the most studious precaution not
merely to satisfy those whom he necessarily must satisfy, but to
seem worthy of admiration to those who are at liberty to judge
disinterestedly. If you would know what I myself think, I will
express to you, my intimate friends, what I have hitherto never
mentioned, and thought that I never should mention.
To me,
those who speak best and speak with the utmost ease and
grace, appear, if they do not commence their speeches with
some timidity, and show some confusion in the exordium, to
have almost lost the sense of shame; though it is impossible that
such should not be the case: for the better qualified a man is to
speak, the more he fears the difficulties of speaking, the uncer-
tain success of a speech, and the expectation of the audience.
But he who can produce and deliver nothing worthy of his sub-
ject, nothing worthy of the name of an orator, nothing worthy
the attention of his audience, seems to me, though he be ever
so confused while he is speaking, to be downright shameless; for
we ought to avoid a character for shamelessness, not by testify-
ing shame, but by not doing that which does not become us.
But the speaker who has no shame (as I see to be the case with
many) I regard as deserving not only of rebuke but of personal
castigation. Indeed, what I often observe in you I very fre-
quently experience in myself; that I turn pale in the outset of
my speech, and feel a tremor through my whole thoughts, as it
were, and limbs. When I was a young man, I was on one occa-
sion so timid in commencing an accusation, that I owed to Q.
Maximus the greatest of obligations for immediately dismissing
the assembly as soon as he saw me absolutely disheartened and
incapacitated through fear. " Here they all signified assent,
looked significantly at one another, and began to talk together;
for there was a wonderful modesty in Crassus, which however
was not only no disadvantage to his oratory, but even an assist-
ance to it, by giving it the recommendation of probity.


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3700
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
CICERO TO TIRO
[The following epistles are taken by permission from Jeans's Letters of
Cicero. This letter gives a vivid glimpse of Cicero's tenderness to his slaves
and freedmen. Tiro was probably the first editor of his former master's
letters. ]
ΑΕ
GYPTA arrived here on the 12th of April. Although he
reported that you were now quite rid of your fever and
going on very well, he nevertheless caused me some
anxiety by his report that you were not able to write to me, the
more so because Hermia, who ought to have been here on the
same day, has not yet come. I am more anxious than you can
believe about your health. Only free me from this anxiety and
I will free you from all duties. I would write you more if I
thought you could now read more with pleasure. Use all the tal-
ents you possess, of which I have no small opinion, to keep your-
self safe for my sake as well as your own. Again and again I
repeat, take every precaution about your health. Good-by.
P. S. -Hermia is just come. I have your note with its poor
weak handwriting-no wonder, too, after so severe an illness. I
send out Ægypta to stay with you because he is not a bad com-
panion, and appeared to me to be fond of you; and with him a
cook, for you to make use of his services.
Good-by.
CICERO TO ATTICUS
[The family affection of Cicero might be illustrated by many such letters
as the following:]
I
T BEING now eleven days since I left you, I am scrawling this
little bit of a note just as I am leaving my country-house
before it is light. I think of being at my place at Anagnia
to-day, and Tusculum to-morrow; only one day there, so that I
shall come up all right to time on the 28th; and oh, if could
but run on at once to embrace my Tullia and give Attica a kiss!
Talking of this, by-the-by, do please write and let me know
while I am stopping at Tusculum what her prattle is like, or if
she is away in the country, what her letters to you are about.
Meanwhile either send or give her my love, and Pilia too. And
even though we shall meet immediately, yet will you write to
me anything you can find to say?


## p. 3701 (#57) ############################################

MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3701
P. S. I was just fastening up this letter, but your courier
has arrived here after a long night journey with your letter. I
was very sorry, you may be sure, to find on reading it that
Attica is feverish. Everything else that I was waiting for I
now know from your note; but when you tell me that to have a
little fire in the morning sent le vieillard," I retort il le sent
plus for one's poor old memory to begin to totter: because it
was the 29th I had promised to Axius; the 30th to you; and the
day of my arrival, the 31st, to Quintus. So take that for your-
self- you shall have no news. Then what on earth is the good
of writing? And what good is it when we are together and
chatter whatever comes to our tongues? Surely there is some-
thing in causerie after all; even if there is nothing under it, there
is always at least the delicious feeling that we are talking with
one another.
SULPICIUS CONSOLES CICERO AFTER HIS DAUGHTER
TULLIA'S DEATH
FOR
some time after I had received the information of the
death of your daughter Tullia, you may be sure that I
bore it sadly and heavily, as much indeed as was right for
me. I felt that I shared that terrible loss with you; and that
had I but been where you are, you on your part would not have
found me neglectful, and I on he should not have failed to
come to you and tell you myself how deeply grieved I am. And
though it is true that consolations of this nature are painful
and distressing, because those [dear friends and relations] upon
whom the task naturally devolves are themselves afflicted with a
similar burden, and incapable even of attempting it without
many tears, so that one would rather suppose them in need of
the consolations of others for themselves than capable of doing
this kind office to others, yet nevertheless I have decided to
write to you briefly such reflections as have occurred to me on
the present occasion; not that I imagine them to be ignored by
you, but because it is possible that you may be hindered by
your sorrow from seeing them as clearly as usual.
;
What reason is there why you should allow the private grief
which has befallen you to distress you so terribly? Recollect
how fortune has hitherto dealt with us: how we have been


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
bereft of all that ought to be no less dear to men than their
own children-of country, position, rank, and every honorable
office. If one more burden has now been laid upon you, could
any addition be made to your pain? Or is there any heart that
having been trained in the school of such events, ought not now.
to be steeled by use against emotion, and think everything after
them to be comparatively light?
Or it is for her sake, I suppose, that you are grieving? How
many times must you have arrived at the same conclusion as
that into which I too have frequently fallen, that in these days.
theirs is not the hardest lot who are permitted painlessly to
exchange their life for the grave! Now what was there at the
present time that could attach her very strongly to life? what
hope? what fruition? what consolation for the soul? The pros-
pect of a wedded life with a husband chosen from our young
men of rank? Truly, one would think it was always in your
power to choose a son-in-law of a position suitable to your rank
out of our young men, one to whose keeping you would feel you
could safely intrust the happiness of a child. Or that of being
a joyful mother of children, who would be happy in seeing
them succeeding in life; able by their own exertions to maintain.
in its integrity all that was bequeathed them by their father;
intending gradually to rise to all the highest offices of the State;
and to use that liberty to which they were born for the good of
their country and the service of their friends. Is there any one
of these things that has not been taken away before it was
given?
But surely it is hard to give up one's children? It is
hard; but this is harder still-that they should bear and suffer
what we are doing.
A circumstance which was such as to afford me no light con-
solation I cannot but mention to you, in the hope that it may
be allowed to contribute equally towards mitigating your grief.
As I was returning from Asia, when sailing from Ægina in the
direction of Megara, I began to look around me at the various
places by which I was surrounded. Behind me was Ægina, in
front Megara; on the right the Piræus, on the left Corinth;
all of them towns that in former days were most magnificent,
but are
now lying prostrate and in ruins before one's eyes. "Ah
me," I began to reflect to myself, "we poor feeble mortals, who
can claim but a short life in comparison, complain as though a
wrong was done us if one of our number dies in the course of


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3703
nature, or has met his death by violence; and here in one spot
are lying stretched out before me the corpses of so many cities!
Servius, be master of yourself, and remember that it is the lot of
man to which you have been born. " Believe me, I found
myself in no small degree strengthened by these reflections.
Let me advise you too, if you think good, to keep this reflection
before your eyes.
How lately at one and the same time have
many of our most illustrious men fallen! how grave an encroach-
ment has been made on the rights of the sovereign people of
Rome! every province in the world has been convulsed with the
shock: if the frail life of a tender woman has gone too, who
being born to the common lot of man must needs have died in
a few short years, even if the time had not come for her now,
are you thus utterly stricken down?
Do you then also recall your feelings and your thoughts from
dwelling on this subject, and as beseems your character bethink
yourself rather of this: that she has lived as long as life was of
value to her; that she has passed away only together with her
country's freedom; that she lived to see her father elected Præ-
tor, Consul, Augur; that she had been the wife of young men
of the first rank; that after enjoying well-nigh every blessing
that life can offer, she left it only when the Republic itself was
falling. The account is closed, and what have you, what has
she, to charge of injustice against Fate? In a word, forget not
that you are Cicero - that you are he who was always wont to
guide others and give them good advice; and be not like those
quack physicians who when others are sick boast that they hold
the key of the knowledge of medicine, to heal themselves are
never able; but rather minister to yourself with your own hand
the remedies which you are in the habit of prescribing for
others, and put them plainly before your own soul. There is
no pain so great but the lapse of time will lessen and assuage
it: it is not like yourself to wait until this time comes, instead
of stepping forward by your philosophy to anticipate that result.
And if even those who are low in the grave have any conscious-
ness at all, such was her love for you and her tenderness for all
around her that surely she does not wish to see this in you.
Make this a tribute then to her who is dead; to all your friends
and relations who are mourning in your grief; and make it to
your country also, that if in anything the need should arise she
may be able to trust to your energy and guidance. Finally,


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3704
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
since such is the condition we have come to, that even this con-
sideration must perforce be obeyed, do not let your conduct
induce any one to believe that it is not so much your daughter
as the circumstances of the Republic and the victory of others.
which you are deploring.
I shrink from writing to you at greater length upon this
subject, lest I should seem to be doubtful of your own good
sense; allow
me therefore to put before you one more con-
sideration, and then I will bring my letter to a close. We have
seen you not once but many times bearing prosperity most
gracefully, and gaining yourself great reputation thereby: let us
see at last that you are capable also of bearing adversity equally
well, and that it is not in your eyes a heavier burden than it
ought to seem; lest we should think that of all the virtues this
is the only one in which you are wanting.
As for myself, when I find you are more composed in mind
I will send you information about all that is being done in these
parts, and the state in which the province finds itself at present.
Farewell.
CICERO'S REPLY TO SULPICIUS
YES
´ES, my dear Servius, I could indeed wish you had been with
me, as you say, at the time of my terrible trial. How
much it was in your power to help me if you had been here,
by sympathizing with, and I may almost say, sharing equally in
my grief, I readily perceive from the fact that after reading your
letter I now feel myself considerably more composed; for not
only was all that you wrote just what is best calculated to soothe
affliction, but you yourself in comforting me showed that you too
had no little pain at heart. Your son Servius however has made
it clear, by every kindly attention which such an occasion would
permit of, both how great his respect was for myself and also
how much pleasure his kind feeling for me was likely to give
you; and you may be sure that, while such attentions from him
have often been more pleasant to me, they have never made
me more grateful.
It is not however only your arguments and your equal share,
in this affliction which comforts me,
I may almost call it,
but also your authority; because I hold it shame in me not to
be bearing my trouble in a way that you, a man endowed with
-
-


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3705
such wisdom, think it ought to be borne. But at times I do
feel broken down, and I scarcely make any struggle against
my grief, because those consolations fail me which under simi-
lar calamities were never wanting to any of those other people
whom I put before myself as models for imitation. Both Fab-
ius Maximus, for example, when he lost a son who had held
the consulship, the hero of many a famous exploit; and Lacius
Paulus, from whom two were taken in one week; and your own
kinsman Gallus; and Marcus Cato, who was deprived of a son
of the rarest talents and the rarest virtue,- all these lived in
times when their individual affliction was capable of finding a
solace in the distinctions they used to earn from their country.
For me, however, after being stripped of all those distinctions
which you yourself recall to me, and which I had won for myself
by unparalleled exertions, only that one solace remained which.
has been torn away. My thoughts were not diverted by work
for my friends, or by the administration of affairs of state;
there was no pleasure in pleading in the courts; I could not
bear the very sight of the Senate House; I felt, as was indeed.
too true, that I had lost all the harvest of both my industry and
my success. But whenever I wanted to recollect that all this
was shared with you and other friends I could name, and when-
ever I was breaking myself in and forcing my spirit to bear
these things with patience, I always had a refuge to go to where
I might find peace, and in whose words of comfort and sweet
society I could rid me of all my pains and griefs. Whereas now,
under this terrible blow, even those old wounds which seemed
to have healed up are bleeding afresh; for it is impossible for
me now to find such a refuge from my sorrows at home in the
business of the State, as in those days I did in that consolation
of home, which was always in store whenever I came away sad
from thoughts of State to seek for peace in her happiness. And
so I stay away both from home and from public life; because
home now is no more able to make up for the sorrow I feel
when I think of our country, than our country is for my sorrow
at home. I am therefore looking forward all the more eagerly
to your coming, and long to see you as early as that may pos-
sibly be; no greater alleviation can be offered me than a meet-
ing between us for friendly intercourse and conversation. I hope
however that your return is to take place, as I hear it is, very
shortly. As for myself, while there are abundant reasons for


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3706
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
wanting to see you as soon as possible, my principal one is in
order that we may discuss together beforehand the best method
of conduct for present circumstances, which must entirely be
adapted to the wishes of one man only, a man nevertheless who
is far-seeing and generous, and also, as I think I have thoroughly
ascertained, to me not at all ill-disposed and to you extremely
friendly. But admitting this, it is still a matter for much delib-
eration what is the line,-I do not say of action, but of keeping
quiet, that we ought by his good leave and favor to adopt.
Farewell.
――――
A HOMESICK EXILE
I
SEND this with love, my dearest Terentia, hoping that you
and my little Tullia and my Marcus are all well.
From the letters of several people and the talk of every-
body I hear that your courage and endurance are simply
wonderful, and that no troubles of body or mind can exhaust
your energy. How unhappy I am to think that with all your
courage and devotion, your virtues and gentleness, you should
have fallen into such misfortunes for me! And my sweet Tullia
too, that she who was once so proud of her father should have
to undergo such troubles owing to him! And what shall I say
about my boy Marcus, who ever since his faculties of perception
awoke has felt the sharpest pangs of sorrow and misery? Now
could I but think, as you tell me, that all this comes in the
natural course of things, I could bear it a little easier. But it
has been brought about entirely by my own fault, for thinking
myself loved by those who were jealous of me, and turning from
those who wanted to win me.
I have thanked the
people you wanted me to, and mentioned that my information
came from you. As to the block of houses which you tell me
you mean to sell-why, good heavens! my dear Terentia, what
is to be done! Oh, what troubles I have to bear! And if
misfortune continues to persecute us, what will become of our
poor boy? I cannot continue to write-my tears are too much
for me; nor would I wish to betray you into the same emotion.
All I can say is that if our friends act up to their bounden
duty we shall not want for money; if they do not, you will not
be able to succeed only with your own. Let our unhappy for-
tunes, I entreat you, be a warning to us not to ruin our boy,


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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3707
who is ruined enough already. If he only has something to save
him from absolute want, a fair share of talent and a fair share
of luck will be all that is necessary to win anything else. Do
not neglect your health; and send me messengers with letters to
let me know what goes on, and how you yourselves are faring.
My suspense in any case cannot now be long. Give my love to
my little Tullia and my Marcus.
DYRRACHIUM, Nov. 26.
P. S. -I have moved to Dyrrachium because it is not only a
free city, but very much in my interest, and quite near to Italy;
but if the bustle of the place proves an annoyance I shall betake
myself elsewhere and give you notice.
CICERO'S VACILLATION IN THE CIVIL WAR
B
EING in extreme agitation about these great and terrible
events, and having no means of discussing matters with you
in person, I want at any rate to avail myself of your judg-
ment. Now the question about which I am in doubt is simply
this: If Pompeius should fly from Italy (which I suspect he will
do), how do you think I ought to act? To make it easier for
you to advise me, I will briefly set forth the arguments that
occur to me on both sides of the question.
The obligations that Pompeius laid me under in the matter of
my restoration, my own intimacy with him, and also my patriot-
ism, incline me to think that I ought to make my decision as
his decision, or in other words, my fortunes as his fortunes.
There is this reason also: If I stay behind and desert my post
among that band of true and illustrious patriots, I must perforce
fall completely under the yoke of one man. Now although he
frequently takes occasion to show himself friendly to me
indeed, as you well know, anticipating this storm that is now
hanging over our heads, I took good care that he should be so
long ago-still I have to consider two different questions: first,
how far can I trust him; and secondly,―assuming it to be abso-
lutely certain that he is friendly disposed to me,- would it show
the brave man or the honest citizen to remain in a city where
one has filled the highest offices of peace and war, achieved
immortal deeds, and been crowned with the honors of her most
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3708
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
dignified priesthood, only to become an empty name and undergo
some risk, attended also very likely with considerable disgrace,
should Pompeius ever again grasp the helm? So much for this
side; see now what may be said on the other.
Pompeius has in our cause done nothing wisely, nothing
strongly; nothing, I may add, that has not been contrary to my
opinion and advice. I pass over those old complaints, that it
was he who himself nourished this enemy of the republic, gave
him his honors, put the sword into his hand-that it was he
who advised him to force laws through by violence, trampling on
the warnings of religion-that it was he who made the addi-
tion of Transalpine Gaul, he who is his son-in-law, he who as
Augur allowed the adoption of Clodius; who showed more activity
in recalling me than in preventing my exile; who took it on him
to extend Cæsar's term of government; who supported all his
proceedings while he was away; that he too even in his third
consulship, after he had begun to pose as a defender of the con-
stitution, actually exerted himself to get the ten tribunes to pro-
pose that absence should not invalidate the election; nay more,
he expressly sanctioned this by one of his own acts, and opposed
the consul Marcus Marcellus, who proposed that the tenure of
the Gallic provinces should come to an end on the 1st of March
— but anyhow, to pass over all this, what could be more dis-
creditable, what more blundering, than this evacuation of the
city, or I had better say, this ignominious flight? What terms
ought not to have been accepted sooner than abandon our coun-
try? The terms were bad? That I allow; but is anything worse
than this? But he will win back the constitution? When?
What preparations have been made to warrant such a hope?
Have we not lost all Picenum? have we not left open the road
to the capital? have we not abandoned the whole of our treasure,
public and private, to the foe? In a word, there is no common
cause, no strength, no centre, to draw such people together as
might yet care to show fight for the Republic. Apulia has been
chosen the most thinly populated part of Italy, and the most
remote from the line of movement of this war: it would seem
that in despair they were looking for flight, with some easy
access to the coast. I took the charge of Capua much against
my will not that I would evade that duty, but in a cause which
evoked no sympathy from any class as a whole, nor any openly
even from individuals (there was some of course among the good
—
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MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
3709
citizens, but as languid as usual), and where I saw for myself
that the mass of the people, and all the lowest stratum, were
more and more inclined to the other side, many even longing for
a revolution, I told him to his face I would undertake to do
nothing without forces and without money. Consequently I have
had no responsibility at all, because I saw from the very first
that nothing was really intended but flight.