The Life of Cicero Volume I Part 16

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

[141] I annex a pa.s.sage from our well known English translation: "The power of the pirates had its foundation in Cilicia. Their progress was the more dangerous, because at first it had been but little noticed. In the Mithridatic war they a.s.sumed new confidence and courage, on account of some services which they had rendered the king. After this, the Romans being engaged in civil war at the very gates of their capital, the sea was left unguarded, and the pirates by degrees attempted higher things--not only attacking ships, but islands and maritime towns. Many persons distinguished for their wealth, birth and capacity embarked with them, and a.s.sisted in their depredations, as if their employment had been worthy the ambition of men of honor. They had in various places a.r.s.enals, ports, and watch-towers, all strongly fortified. Their fleets were not only extremely well manned, supplied with skilful pilots, and fitted for their business by their lightness and celerity, but there was a parade of vanity about them, more mortifying than their strength, in gilded sterns, purple canopies, and plated oars, as if they took a pride and triumphed in their villany.

Music resounded, and drunken revels were exhibited on every coast. Here generals were made prisoners; and there the cities which the pirates had seized upon were paying their ransom, to the great disgrace of the Roman power. The number of their galleys amounted to a thousand, and the cities taken to four hundred." The pa.s.sage is taken from the life of Pompey.

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

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

[144] See Appendix D.

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

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

[147] Orator., lxvii. and lxx.

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

[149] Sall., Conj. Catilinaria, xxi.: "Petere consulatum C. Antonium, quem sibi collegam fore speraret, hominem et familiarem, et omnibus necessitudinibus circ.u.mventum." Sall.u.s.t would no doubt have put anything into Catiline's mouth which would suit his own purpose; but it was necessary for his purpose that he should confine himself to credibilities.

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

Martial explains the nature of their business:

"Currant verba licet, ma.n.u.s est velocior illis; Nondum lingua suum, dextra peregit opus."--xiv., 208.

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

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

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

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

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

[156] It will be seen that he also defended Rabirius in his consular year, but had thought fit to include that among his consular speeches. Some doubt has been thrown, especially by Mr. Tyrrell, on the genuineness of Cicero's letter giving the list of his "oratiunculas consulares," because the speeches Pro Murena and Pro Pisone are omitted, and as containing some "rather un-Ciceronian expressions." My respect for Mr. Tyrrell's scholarship and judgment is so great that I hardly dare to express an opinion contrary to his; but I should be sorry to exclude a letter so Ciceronian in its feeling.

And if we are to have liberty to exclude without evidence, where are we to stop?

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

[158] Conj. Catilinaria, xxv.

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

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

[160] Pro Murena, xxix.

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

[162] Pro Murena, xi.

[163] Ibid., xi.

[164] Ibid., xii.

[165] Ibid., xiii.

[166] Ibid., xi.

[167] Pro Cluentio, 1.

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

[169] He alludes here to his own colleague Antony, whom through his whole year of office he had to watch lest the second Consul should join the enemies whom he fears--should support Rullus or go over to Catiline.

With this view, choosing the lesser of the two evils, he bribes Antony with the government of Macedonia.

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

[171] The "jus imaginis" belonged to those whose ancestors was counted an aedile, a Praetor, or a Consul.

The descendants of such officers were ent.i.tled to have these images, whether in bronze, or marble, or wax, carried at the funerals of their friends.

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

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

[174] See Introduction.

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

[176] The word is "proscripsisti," "you proscribed him."

For the proper understanding of this, the bearing of Cicero toward Antony during the whole period of the Philippics must be considered.

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

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

[179] aeneid, viii., 668:

"Te, Catilina, minaci Pendentem scopulo."

[180] Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii., x.x.xiv.

[181] Juvenal, Sat. ii., 27: "Catilina Cethegum!" Could such a one as Catiline answer such a one as Cethegus?

Sat. viii., 232: "Arma tamen vos Nocturna et flammas domibus templisque parastis." Catiline, in spite of his n.o.ble blood, had endeavored to burn the city. Sat. xiv., 41: "Catilinam quocunque in populo videas." It is hard to find a good man, but it is easy enough to put your hand anywhere on a Catiline.

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