The Life of Cicero Volume I Part 18

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

[230] Florus, lib. ii., xix. Having described to us the siege of Numantia, he goes on "Hactenus populus Roma.n.u.s pulcher, egregius, pius, sanctus atque magnificus.

Reliqua seculi, ut grandia aeque, ita vel magis turbida et f[oe]da."

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

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

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

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

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

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

[236] Plutarch--Cra.s.sus: [Greek: kai synestesen ek ton trion ischyn amachon.]

[237] Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii., 44: "Hoc igitur consule, inter eum et Cn. Pompeium et M. Cra.s.sum inita potentiae societas, quae urbi orbique terrarum, nec minus diverso quoque tempore ipsis exitiabilis fuit."

Suetonius, Julius Caesar, xix., "Societatem c.u.m utroque iniit." Officers called Triumviri were quite common, as were Quinqueviri and Decemviri. Livy speaks of a "Triumviratus"--or rather two such offices exercised by one man--ix., 46. We remember, too, that wretch whom Horace gibbeted, Epod. iv.: "Sectus flagellis hic triumviralibus." But the word, though in common use, was not applied to this conspiracy.

[238] Ad Att., lib. ii., 3: "Is affirmabat, illum omnibus in rebus meo et Pompeii consilio usurum, daturumque operam, ut c.u.m Pompeio Cra.s.sum conjungeret. Hic sunt haec. Conjunctio mihi summa c.u.m Pompeio; si placet etiam c.u.m Caesare; reditus in gratiam c.u.m inimicis, pax c.u.m mult.i.tudine; senectulis otium. Sed me [Greek: katakleis]

mea illa commovet, quae est in libro iii.

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

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

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

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

[242] Suetonius, Julius Caesar, xx.

[243] Ad Att., lib. ii., 1: "Quid quaeris?" says Cicero.

"Conturbavi Graecam nationem"--"I have put all Greece into a flutter."

[244] De Divinatione, lib. i.

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

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

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

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

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

[250] Ad Att., lib. ii., 7: "Atque haec, sin velim existimes, non me abs te [Greek: kata to praktikon]

quaerere, quod gestiat animus aliquid agere in republica. Jam pridem gubernare me taedebat, etiam quum licebat."

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

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

[253] Quint., xii., 1.

[254] Enc. Britannica on Cicero.

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

[256] Ibid.: "Festive, mihi crede, et minore sonitu, quam putaram, orbis hic in republica est conversus."

"Orbis hic," this round body of three is the Triumvirate.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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