COMMENTARY ON THE ROMAN CONSTITU- TION AND ROMAN PUBLIC LIFE SUPPLEMENTED BY THE SAYINGS OF CICERO CICERO A Sketch of His Life and Works Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/cicerosketchofhiOOtaylrich Cicero. Capitoline Museum, Rome. CICERO A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS 2L commentary ON THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION AND ROMAN PUBLIC LIFE, SUPPLEMENTED BY THE SAYINGS OF CICERO ARRANGED FOR THE FIRST TIME AS AN ANTHOLOGY BY Hannis Taylor Hon. LL.D. of the Universities of Edinburgh and Dublin and of the Catholic University of America. AUTHOR OF "THE SCIENCE OF JURISPRUDENCE" (PRESENTED TO THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, MARCH 13, 1909) ; "THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE ENG- LISH CONSTITUTION/" "THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION;" "INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC LAW;" "JURISDICTION AND PROCEDURE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES." SOME- TIME MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE UNITED STATES TO SPAIN Nostra autem respublica non unius esset ingenio, sed multorum, nee una hominis vita, sed aliquot constituta seculis et aetatibus. — De Republica, ii, 1. Our Roman Constitution was not the product of the genius of any one man, but of that of many; it was not evolved in any one lifetime, but in the course of generations and centuries. CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1916 Copyright A. C. McClurg & Co. 1916 Published September, 1916 Copyrighted in Great Britain W F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO Kp ih Bunt, MM. PROFESSOR OF PHARMACOLOGY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED BY HIS LOVING FRIEND THE AUTHOR 344704 PREFACE During the years devoted by the author to the prep- aration of The Origin and Growth of the English Con- stitution, now in the eighth edition, there was ever pres- ent in his mind the hope that the day would come when he would be able to draw out, upon a different plan and within a narrower compass, The Origin and Growth of the Roman Constitution down to the end of the Re- publican Period closed by Cicero's death in December, 43 b. c. An American historian, in speaking of Daniel Webster, has said: Had he stood in the market place, raised an arm, and frozen into silence, his erect figure would have been accepted as the bronze ideal of a statesman and defender of the constitution. 1 In a much more emphatic and exclusive sense was Cicero the ideal defender of the Roman Constitution; in a much more emphatic and exclusive sense was he the embodiment of the departing spirit of Roman Repub- licanism. Certainly, during the last days of the Repub- lic, during his duel to the death with Octavian and An- tony, Cicero could say without exaggeration, U Stat c' est moil "Beneath every shell there was an animal, behind every document there was a man." And so behind Rome's Republican Constitution there was in its last days a man who, as the holder, in the cursus honorum, of every great office in the state, moved every part of its complicated machinery; who, by his immortal discourses 1 James Schouler, History of the United States, vol. Hi, p. 301. vii Vlll PREFACE in the Forum, on the Rostra, and in the Senate, gave ex- pression to its inner spirit. As a dead language can only be quickened into life when we hear the voices of those by whom it was once spoken, so a dead constitution can only be quickened into life when we see the acts and hear the voices of those by whom it was kept in motion. The best possible commentary upon the Roman Constitution should therefore be found in the acts and declarations of the brilliant and devoted citizen who did most to expound it, and who perished in a vain effort to defend it. With that assumption as its thesis this book will at- tempt to indicate what the Roman Republican Constitu- tion really was, during the quarter of a century that pre- ceded its overthrow, through the unfolding of the history of the immortal advocate, statesman, and philosopher who for ages has stood out before the world as its typical expounder and defender. Never before or since was the history of a constitution so completely embodied in the history of a man as that of the Roman Republic in the life of Cicero during the twenty-seven years, immediately preceding his death. With the announcement made at the close of his famous speech in the case of Verres that he would appear no more in the courts as a prosecutor, Cicero's career as a statesman, in the largest sense of that term, really began. The twenty-seven fateful years that intervened between that time and his assassination by the Imperialists are so penetrated and illuminated by his speeches before the courts, the Senate, and the people; by his priceless let- ters, without which a large part of the contemporary his- tory would be a blank; by his writings on government, law, and theology, and above all by his acts as consul in PREFACE ix defending the state when Catiline struck at its heart — that the life of Cicero and the life of the Republic, dur- ing the period in question, are an indivisible whole. Irrevocably bound by his deepest convictions to the an- cient popular constitution, perishing under the weight of its own success, we see him gradually sinking with it until he disappears beneath the horizon, touched by the light of its dying glory. All that was mortal of the most gifted son of ancient Italy went down in the wreck of the Ro- man Republic, but his immortal part survived as that of no other human being of his age has survived, because he was the most intellectual, the most spiritual, the least brutal, and above all the most deeply imbued with the instinct of immortality, embodied in the conviction — to use his own words: The mind is the man, and not the figure which can be pointed at with the finger. Know, therefore, that thou art a divine being since it is a deity in thee which moves, feels, remembers, foresees, rules, and governs that body, over which it is placed, in the very same way as the Supreme Being governs this world. 2 Nothing is more remarkable concerning the public life of Rome, when we consider it in its fullness as a stage upon which both advocates and statesmen could find opportunities for the unrestrained exercise of their powers, than the shortness of its duration. The great days of the Roman bar must really be measured by the professional lives of Hortensius and Cicero. The mag- nificent professional rewards they received had never been enjoyed by any of their predecessors; and after Cicero's death, which synchronized with the fall of the Republic, there were no longer free popular assemblies, or popular courts such as those before which he had won renown. 2 Cicero, De Republica, vi, 24. PREFACE It is no exaggeration to say that the most brilliant era of Roman public life was ushered in by Cicero and closed by his death — he stood at its cradle and he followed its hearse. In his life its history is epitomized at its best. The history of that public life, forensic and tribunitian, should appeal with peculiar force to every American law- yer and statesman, embodying, as it does, a record of conditions so nearly identical with our own. It is im- possible to contemplate the career of Cicero as an advo- cate, as a statesman, as a writer on the twin sciences of government and law, without being deeply impressed by the close resemblance between Roman public life as it existed in his time and American public life as it exists today. When the foremost orator of the Roman Republic, after having won the leadership of the Roman bar, made his way into politics, becoming first a judge, then a sen- ator, and finally an expounder of the theories of the twin sciences with which his public life had connected him, he blazed the path and created the models which have guided all American lawyers and statesmen who have at- tained to eminence through their discourses in the courts, before the people, or in deliberative assemblies. Ferrero made no mistake when he said: In many matters the United States is nearer than Europe to Ancient Rome. First of all, it is a republic, as Rome was, while almost all of the European states are monarchies. That differ- ence is probably a good deal more important than is generally believed. Further, while all the states of Europe are bureaucratic, the United States, like Rome, has an elective administration. Many public functions, which in Europe are confined to a profes- sional bureaucracy, are exercised in America, as they were in Rome, by officers elected by the people. Now, one of the greatest obstacles a European finds to understanding the history of Rome PREFACE xi lies in the fact that, because he is accustomed to see states gov- erned by pure bureaucracy, he finds it hard to imagine a state whose offices are almost all elective. This difficulty does not exist in the United States. An American understands easily the work- ing of the old Roman State because he is a citizen of a state based on the same principle. 3 The author hopes, however, that the sketch of the life and works of Cicero as unfolded herein will appeal to a far wider audience than that composed of lawyers and statesmen; he hopes that it will commend itself to all thinkers who are interested in the marvelous process through which the best and highest thought of Greece and the Orient, after being digested and re-stated by the great Roman philosopher, was passed on through him as a conduit between the Hellenized East and barbarous Europe. The sustained and majestic splendor with which Cicero robed his thoughts has made his works models of style for all time. Quintilian tells us that Livy said that he would be the best writer of Latin prose who was most like to Cicero; and his ardent admirer, Gibbon, 4 who de- clared that "the jurisprudence of his country was adorned by his incomparable genius which converts into gold every object that it touches," has paid a tribute higher still through the ceaseless, nay, almost monotonous flow of Ciceronian rhythm that pervades his prose; while Cardinal Newman has certified over his own hand that — .... as to patterns for imitation, the only master of style I have ever had (which is strange considering the differences of the lan- guages) is Cicero. I think I owe a great deal to him, and, as far as I know, to no one else. 5 3 Ferrero, Greatness and Decline of Rome, preface to Amer. Ed., iv. 4 Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, iv, p. 457. B Newman, Letters and Correspondence, ii, pp. 426-427. PREFACE And yet, after every gift, every achievement in the bril- liant and tragic life of the great Roman has been esti- mated at its full value, the fact remains that the supreme importance of his career to the modern world is em- bodied in his intellectual leadership of the spiritual and ethical revolution which prepared the people of the Med- iterranean Basin for the advent of Christianity. No mat- ter whether the tidal wave of new thought, known as Stoicism, that rolled from the Orient to Athens and from Athens to Rome, was a world-philosophy or a world- religion, it swept away the barriers between nation and nation through the creation of a cosmopolis or ideal world-state governed not by local codes, but by perma- nent, uniform, and universal law flowing from a single God who is Lord and Father — .... a Supreme Deity, who governs the world with boundless power and benevolent will, and is manifested to men as the Logos, or "divine Word." 6 By means of that magnificent notion of a single God as the source of natural law, Stoicism wrecked Pantheism, in substance if not in form, and thus opened the way for a new conception of the destiny of man as a member of a world-wide society in which all distinctions of race, caste and class were to be subordinated to the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. In the De Finibus Cicero says: There is nothing so eminent, nor so extensive in its operation, as that brotherhood between men, that agreement as to what may be useful to all, and that general love for the human race. 7 6 E. V. Arnold, Roman Stoicism, pp. 17, 274, 281. 7 Cicero, De Finibus, v. 23. PREFACE xiii Less than a century and a half before the birth of Christ, the new philosophy of inward defense and defi- ance — "The earliest offspring of the religious conscious- ness of the East and the intellectual culture of the West" 8 — took sudden possession of all the higher classes at Rome, including the jurists, who were completely en- thralled by it. That event became a turning point in the juristic history of the world because, just at the moment when it became necessary to extend the local code of a city-state over a growing empire that aspired to universal dominion, the Stoic philosophers armed the Roman juris- consults with their unique invention of a law of nature, "proceeding from Zeus and the common nature," which, as the law of the Stoic world-state embracing all mankind, was necessarily universal. Out of the fusion of the Stoic theory of a natural and universal law with the common roots extracted by the praetor peregrinns from the local codes of all the states with which Rome was then in con- tact arose the jus gentium — the law common to all na- tions — by whose broad concepts the strict and archaic code of Rome was largely superseded. At last it could be said: "Roman law was finished; the local law of a city had passed into a law available for the world in gen- eral." 9 Before the fall of the Republic the jus gentium had assumed definite form; and upon Cicero — the great interpreter, the master of expression, the author of the first philosophic treatises in the Latin tongue — naturally devolved the duty of defining it. With his mind radiant with the new Stoic conception of a single, law-creating God he was the very first to announce to the world the fact that the jus gentium was — 8 J. B. Lightfoot, Philippians, p. 274. 9 Rudolph Sohm, Institutes, p. 86. xiv PREFACE .... not to be one law for Rome, another law for Athens, one law today and another law tomorrow; but one eternal and immu- table law for all nations, and for all ages, as God the common master and ruler of all — the discoverer, the interpreter, the enactor of the law — is one. 10 With all the faithfulness with which Cicero reproduced the Stoic conception of a law of nature, he reproduced the Stoic conception of ethics by which in his later years he was completely mastered and overcome. The fact is that the one was the corollary of the other. Stoic ethics rested primarily not on the needs of the individual, but on the demands of the supreme law, the "universal law, bidding us to do this and refrain from that." The ulti- mate end of Stoicism, justly called the bridge between ancient and modern philosophical thought, was to create a good citizen, with a high-thoughted soul, who, guided by the examples of wise men, could rise above nationalism, antiquity, custom, pride, and prejudice, into the realm of universal reason and individual liberty. As we shall see hereafter, that lofty ideal of a good citizen was the weapon Cicero seized upon^when, with the zeal of an enthusiast and the power of a Titan, he essayed the impossible task of saving the Roman Repub- lic through a social, moral, and political regeneration of the governing classes of Roman society. The first appeal made in the De Republica culminated in "Scipio's Dream," in which the good citizen is told that — .... to defend the state with the greater cheerfulness, be assured that for all those who have in any way conduced to the preserva- tion, defense, and enlargement of their native country, there is certainly a place in heaven, where the blessed shall enjoy eternal life. 1X WDe Repub., Hi, zz. ^ Ibid., vi, 13. ■*v PREFACE xv As further elaborations of that civic gospel, followed the De Finibus, on the ultimate foundation of ethics; the De Officiis, a treatise on practical ethics, called by Fred- erick the Great "the best work on morals that has ever been or can be written" ; and the Tusculanae Disputa- tiones, on incidental questions concerning ethics, in which are re-examined the problems propounded in the De Re- publica from a moral and social, rather than from a political point of view. Thus it appears that these death- less compositions upon the subjects of ethics and politics that still stir and guide the world were not fabricated as abstract speculations by an isolated thinker in "the un- vexed silence of a student's cell," but by a practical states- man and ardent patriot who, in the presence of a rapidly approaching crisis, was striving to save from wreck and ruin an ancient popular constitution whose life de- pended absolutely upon the virtue and patriotism of its citizens. In his efforts to arouse his countrymen to a nobler sense of civic duty and patriotism, Cicero did not hesitate to offer, without reserve, rewards in a higher life beyond the grave. Armed with the new Stoic conception of a single, law-creating God, and with that logic in which the Stoics so excelled, he undertook to re-define the immor- tality of the soul, and a conscious personal existence after death, in a civic heaven, if you please, with a distinctness and convincing power which a pantheistic philosopher like Plato, not so armed, had never been able to impart to such thoughts. In one place he writes: Therefore, for many other reasons, the souls of the good appear to me to be divine and eternal, but chiefly on this account, because xvi PREFACE the soul of the best and wisest has such anticipation of a future state of being, that it seems to center its thoughts only on eternity. 12 In another: For we have not been framed or created without design nor by chance, but there has been truly some certain power, which had in view the happiness of mankind, neither producing nor maintaining a being, which, when it had completed all its labors, should then sink into eternal misery of death ; rather let us think that there is a haven and refuge prepared for us. 13 In still another: Death is no annihilation, carrying off and blotting out every- thing, but rather, if I may so describe it, a change of abode, and an alteration in our manner of life. 14 Finally, he declares: I have often read and heard that there is nothing evil in death ; for, if there is a survival of consciousness, it must be considered immortality rather than death ; while if consciousness is destroyed, that can hardly be reckoned unhappiness, of which we are uncon- scious. 15 .... There is certainly a place in heaven where the blessed shall enjoy eternal life. 16 Endowed with an introspective mind capable of dram- atizing thoughts that live and move as immortalities in the realm of the unseen, Cicero, during the closing years of his life, answered the question of questions, "If a man die, shall he live again ?" with a vividness and convincing power never equalled before, and never surpassed by mortal man until the New Revelation spoke through the inspired lips 12 Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio PerdueUioms, xo. 13 Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes, i, 49. ™Ibid., i, 12. 15 Cicero, Ad Familiares, v, 16. 16 De Repub., vi, 13: "Certum esse in caelo definitum locum, ubi beati aevo sempiterno fruantur." PREFACE xvii of St. Paul. The transcendent geniuses, the deathless orators of a marvelous epoch were Cicero and St. Paul. Is it therefore strange that the early Christian fathers who gave scientific form and logical consistency to Chris- tian theology and ethics should have embraced with an enraptured tenderness the "Pagan Christian" who had been illumined by the first premonitory rays that fell from the rising Light of the World? Beginning with Minutius Felix and Lactantius, the tide of Ciceronian in- fluence upon Christian thought, which Tertullian strove in vain to check, flowed steadily on until it reached its high-water mark in the writings of St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine. The first named, the famous bishop of Milan, clearly perceiving that in the new Chris- tian literature there was an utter lack of a complete and harmonious system of Christian ethics, undertook to sup- ply it in his De Officiis Ministrorum, modeled without dis- guise upon Cicero's De Officiis. The second so far lost himself in the study of his favorite author that, as he tells us himself, Christ came to him in a dream, during a critical illness at Antioch, and reproached him because he was more of a Ciceronian than a Christian. The third, who occupies a theological position really unrivalled — as no single name has ever possessed such power over the Christian church, as no single mind has ever made such a profound impression upon Christian thought as that of St. Augustine — went so far as to attribute the beginning of his conversion to Christianity to the study of Cicero's Hortensius. In the history of the transmuta- tion of human thought few things are more imposing than the meeting of the mind of the last and greatest philosopher of pagan Rome with that of the first really great philosopher of the Latin church. xviii PREFACE Cicero's leading works found a prominent place in nearly all of the early Christian monastic libraries; and when the treasure house of ancient thought the Middle Ages had guarded was reopened at the dawn of the Italian Renaissance, we find him the literary idol of Petrarch who, when strangers crowded around him, ask- ing what presents they could send him from distant lands, invariably answered: "Nothing but the works of Cicero." In referring to those works, Petrarch said: "You would fancy sometimes it was not a pagan philosopher, but a Christian Apostle, who was speaking" ; and Anthony Trollope has declared that — .... had he lived a hundred years later I should have suspected him of some hidden knowledge of Christ's teachings This pagan had his ideas of God's governance of men, and of man's required obedience to God, so specially implanted in his heart that he who undertakes to write his life should not pass it by unnoticed. 17 In the light of such a record, who can doubt that the persistency of Cicero's intellectual influence through the centuries has depended largely upon its spiritual and eth- ical undertone which influenced so profoundly the thought of the early Christian church? 17 Trollope, Life of Cicero, ii, pp. 322-324. CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION PAGE Twenty centuries of fame and influence; Cicero, "the herald of i antiquity." I His works the unpremeditated outcome of his career; the Forum 2 as a popular university; Tyrrell's brilliant tribute; great days of Cicero and Hortensius. 3 Cicero as a moral teacher; De Republica; De Legibus; De Finibus; 3 Tusculanae Disputationes ; De Officii*; their author does not belong to the "classicists." 4 Cicero's relation to Stoicism; ideal world-state; God as source of 5 natural law; fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. ... 5 Stoic ideal of a good citizen; rewards in a life beyond the grave; 6 definitions of immortality 6 Cicero's influence on the early Christian church ; St. Paul, Chrysip- 7 pus and Aratus; St. Paul's "Stoic ways of thinking," Pantaenus, Clemens, and Origenes ; Minucius Felix; Lactantius; Tertullian; St. Ambrose's Christian ethics; St. Jerome's dream; St. Augus- tine; influence of Hortensius; contained everything but name of Christ; Soliloquies; The City of God; analysis of third book of De Republica; Stoic ethics as substructure of Christian ethics. . 13 Stoic influence on Roman law 13 Number and scope of Cicero's extant works; inaccessible to the 14 many; Ruskin's comment on books made for all time 15 Beneath every document there was a man; Cicero, "the pen and 15 mirror of a great transition." 16 Cicero as a wit; his charge against Volumnius; collection of witti- 17 cisms circulated after his death; inventor of a philosophical ter- minology; his invaluable correspondence; necessity for an anthology 19 CHAPTER II STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW Failure of the Greeks to produce a philosophy of law; jurispru- 21 dence a Roman creation 21 Roman law as a factor in civilization ; as an element in English 22 law; Grotius and the jus gentium; Cicero and the jus gentium. 23 City-state as defined by Aristotle ; class of codes to which Twelve 23 Tables belonged 24 xix xx CONTENTS PACE Rome as a commercial metropolis; the praetor peregrinus; jus gen- 24 tium the product of Comparative Law; theory of natural law a Stoic invention 26 Zenith of Greek philosophy in Plato and Aristotle; decline after 27 the loss of political freedom; creation of large empires. ... 27 Conquests of Alexander; effect of political and geographical changes 28 on philosophic thought; philosophy takes the place of religion; mingling of Greek and Oriental modes of thought 29 Zeno the founder of Stoicism; characteristics of the system; mag- 29 nificent notion of a single God; Stoic state a cosmopolis; the universal law 31 Chrysippus, the second founder; Cicero's statement; Diogenes Laer- 32 tius chief authority for Stoic doctrine; universal law defined; a notable statement from Prof. Murray; Cicero and Stoic ethics; summary by Laertius; a place left for nationalism; ideal of a good citizen 35 Founding of Roman Stoicism; Crates, 159 B.C.; embassy of 155 36 B.C.; Panaetius and Scipio; Laelius; "humane" movement and Graccan reforms; the Scaevolas; Lucilius; Panaetius a re- former; influence of Stoicism on Cicero; its influence on Roman law; Cato; Brutus 40 Making of the jus gentium; Cicero the first to describe it; Sohm's 40 statement; praetorian edict engine of law reform; Cicero's famous definition 43 Blending of jus gentium and law of nature through aequitas ; 43 Maine's statement; tribute of Renan 44 CHAPTER III CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE Born on the farm at Arpinum January 3, 106 B. c. ; paternal grand- 46 father; father; mother Helvia 47 Town of Arpinum and family name; Cicero scorned all false pre- 47 tense; described his cradle spot; a man has two countries. . . 48 The town house in the Carinae; pupil of the poet Archias probably 49 before 88-87 B.C.; brilliant as a youth 49 Friendly interest of Antonius and Crassus ; edict against Latin 50 rhetoricians, 92 B.C.; explained in De Oratore 51 Cicero's contempt for the Epicureans; his relations with the Acad- 51 emy; Plato; Aristotle; five Academic schools; Cicero's eulogy of the old Academy; Polemo; Arcesilaus; Carneades; views of Cardinal Newman 54 Philo the teacher of Cicero; claimed that Carneades had been mis- 54 understood; his maxims; the Stoic Diodotus; made Cicero his heir. 56 The tour abroad, 79-78 B.C.; Athens; Antiochus of Askalon; Cicero's 56 description of the place of the Academy; Antiochus' diluted Stoic- ism; a passage from the Academica 58 CONTENTS xxi PAGE Cicero the advocate, an eclectic; Antiochus an eclectic; Cicero the 59 philosopher a Stoic, without a formal announcement of the fact; passages from the De Legibus; Professor Sihler's statement. . . 62 Cicero's mind finally enveloped by Stoicism; the voice of Chrysip- 62 pus; Scipio's dream; vision of Er; neither dream nor vision to be considered in isolation ; one supreme God ; little gods as personi- fications of physical forces; Cicero's definitions of immortality; advanced beyond Plato by the aid of Stoicism; early Christian fathers and Petrarch. . 67 From Athens to Asia; description of his tour; Antiochus and Deme- 67 trius; Asiatic rhetoricians; Molo of Rhodes 68 Posidonius; Greek Memoir on Cicero's consulate; visit to Delphi. 69 CHAPTER IV THE ROMAN BAR IN CICERO'S TIME At the age of sixteen Cicero assumed the toga virilis; presented by 70 his father to Scaevola the augur 70 Family of the Mucii and gratuitous law teaching; the open house 70 of the jurisconsult; duties of a law student; tribute to Quintus Mucius in the De Oratore; Twelve Tables superseded by the edict in law teaching 72 Scaevola the pontifex maximus; father of Roman law because its 72 first codifier; declared dishonorable contracts invalid; his contri- bution to legal science; edict of the praetor an engine of legal reform 73 Cicero's resolve to win senatorial dignity; Roman bar as a step- 74 ping-stone; the Forum Romanum or Magnum; forensic discus- sions a kind of fete; Forum a great popular university. ... 76 Advocate, robed in his toga, attended by a jurisconsult and secre- 76 tary; curule chair of the praetor; the judices in criminal cases; no official prosecutor; formal divisions of an oration; artifices to excite sympathy; trials of Aquilius and Galba; congratulations and applause of advocate 78 Stenographic reporters; such reports first made during Cicero's con- 79 sulship; his carefully revised speech for Milo 80 Villas of Hortensius and Cicero; Hortensius as an epicure and 80 arbiter of fashion; enormous compensation despite the Lex Cincia; Cicero's estimate of Cotta and Hortensius 81 Necessity for culture; Cicero's training in philosophy; a soldier in 82 the Italian war; first contact with Pompey the Great 84 All courts closed except Commission for High Treason; great advo- 84 cates away with the army 84 Social, transformed into a civil war; Sulla's return from the East 85 in 83 B.C.; death of Scaevola the pontifex; Sulla's dictatorship, 82 B.C.; Cicero began his forensic career in his twenty-fifth year. 86 xxii CONTENTS CHAPTER V THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION PAGE System of government with which Cicero had to deal 87 Roman constitution in the regal period ; Rome as a city-state ; prod- 87 uct of a process of federation; curia the keystone; members of the curiae constituted the populus Romanus 88 Rex as ruler of united people; origin of Roman Senate; appointment 89 of an interrex 90 The popular assembly comitia curiata; voting curiatim 90 Struggle of plebeians for political and legal equality; advance 90 toward equality hastened by Servian reforms; new tribes invented for benefit of plebs; wealth primary basis of classification; regis- tration a religious function 93 The comitia centuriata; growth of its jurisdiction; supersedes the 93 comitia curiata; merely a survival in Cicero's time 94 Criminal jurisdiction originally vested in king; boundary between 95 criminal and civil jurisdiction faintly defined; questiones per- petuae; each standing commission established by a special law. 96 Procedure in civil cases; trial by battle; college of pontiffs; a sacred 96 element necessary; Servian reforms; popular courts substituted for king and pontiffs 97 Habit of intrusting judicial office to private citizen; transition from 98 kings to consuls; annually appointed quaestors; Senate a strong- hold of patrician influence; consuls as guardians of criminal code; patrician power limited by tribunes 100 Elected by an assembly of the plebs ; resolutions of plebs made laws 101 in 287 B.C.; aediles as assistants of tribunes; making of the code of the Twelve Tables; published by the consuls of 448 b. c. ; praetor urbanus, 367 B.C.; administered local law; praetor pere- grinus 242 B.C.; jus gentium; censor and his duties 103 Regimen Morum; constitution of city-state in second half of fifth 104 century b. c. ; sovereign powers of the state vested In a primary assembly; the veto power; vote of assembly final and supreme; bills not amendable; Senate functions advisory and administra- tive; lex Hortensia, 287 B. C. ; sovereign powers gradually usurped by the Senate 106 Why the archaic democratic machine collapsed; Senate a perma- 107 nent council of state; the land question; great estates; slave labor; two stages of disintegration; origin of Roman imperialism; expansion drew the line between optimates and populares. . . 108 Tiberius Gracchus first champion of proletariat; his scheme of 109 reform; made tribune in 133 B.C.; his illegal acts brought about his death; land commission; Caius Gracchus tribune, 123 B.C.; CONTENTS xxiii PAGE Cicero's sketch of him; his scheme of reform; poor relief; estab- lished citizen colony ; extension of Roman citizenship ; premature vision of an Italian nation; Caius' violent death; revival of the popular cause under Marius; chosen tribune, 120 B.C.; consul in 107 B.C.; married the aunt of Caesar; Marius remodeled the army; drew professional soldiers from the poor; made Gaul a Roman province 115 Social or Italian War; Drusus elected tribune, 91 B.C.; his pro- 115 posals; his assassination precipitated the conflict; number of burgesses more than doubled ; death grapple between Marius and Sulla; all regular government suspended; head of a consul exposed on the Rostra; execution of the pontifex maximus. . . 117 Sulla leader of reactionaries, 82 B.C.; Pompey the Great; Crassus; 118 Catiline; Sulla appointed dictator; his proscription; young Caius Julius in danger; Italian emancipation accepted by Sulla; Sulla's constitution 119 Increased powers of Senate reduced those of tribunate; tribune 120 ineligible to reelection; senatorial guard provided; no measure to be presented by a tribune without senatorial assent; no consul to succeed himself; praetors increased to eight; quaestors to twenty 121 Control of criminal justice restored to Senate; Cicero's tribute to the 122 equities; assembly shorn of legislative power; abdication of Sulla, 79 B.C.; all he left behind him was a new type of military despot; Greenidge's summary. . . 123 CHAPTER VI CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR Defense of Publius Quinctius, Cicero's first recorded case; formula 125 and judex; jurisconsults as intellectual guides; responsa pruden- tium; induced to appear by the actor Roscius; Hortensius; extracts from Cicero's speech 127 Roman criminal courts; duumviri perduellionis and quaestor es par- 127 ricidii; questiones perpetuae; foundations of Roman criminal law laid in 149 B.C.; personnel of the permanent commissions. . . 128 Cicero's defense of Roscius of Ameria ; Chrysogonus, favorite 129 freedman of Sulla; hireling separated from the master; awoke and found himself famous 130 First two cases important because they illustrate both civil and crim- 131 inal procedure; catalogue of speeches before the courts; pro P. Quinctio, 81 b. c. ; pro Roscio Amerino, 80 b. c. ; pro Roscio Comoedo, 76 (?) B. C. ; pro M. Tullio, 72 (or 71) b. c. ; in Caeci- lium, 70 b. c. ; in C. V err em, six orations, 70 B. c. ; pro M. Fonteio, xxiv CONTENTS PAGE 69 B. C. ; pro. A. Caecina, 69 B. c. ; pro A. Cluentio Habito, 66 B. C. ; pro C. Rabirio, 63 B. c. ; pro L. Murena, 63 B. c. ; pro P. Cornelia Sulla, 62 B. c; pro Archia, 62 B. c. ; pro Flacco, 59 B.C.; pro Domo Sua, 57 B. c. ; pro Sestio, 56 B. c. ; in P. Vatinium, 56 B. c. ; pro M. Caelio, 56 B.C.; pro Cornelio Balbo, 56 B.C.; pro Plancio, 54 B.C.; pro C. Rabirio Postumo, 54 B.C.; pro Milone, 52 B.C.; pro Liaa- rio, 46 B.C.; pro Rege Deiotaro, 45 b. c 134 Basis of Cicero's fame as an advocate; defense of the actor Roscius; 134 a bit of ridicule; word picture of Roscius 135 Prosecution of Verres; Sicily a treasure house of gold and art; 136 dungeon at Syracuse; crucifixion of Gavius; Verres impeached at Rome, 70 B.C.; court composed entirely of senators; a pen picture of the trial of Verres; a companion picture, trial of Hastings, the English Verres; commons a grand jury of the whole realm; Burke's burning denunciation; impeachment man- agers; Burke, Fox, and Sheridan; acquittal of Hastings; Roman law provided no official prosecutor; Verres defended by Hor- tensius; Cicero employed by Sicilians as prosecutor; his attack on Caecilius; his generous tribute to himself; Cicero ap- pointed prosecutor; gathered evidence in fifty days; trial began August 5 ; proofs for prosecution concluded in nine days ; Verres slipped away into exile; prosecutor delivered but one speech; his warning to the tribunal; reform of senatorial courts; the main issue; unspoken speeches published in five books; fiction of a "second pleading"; Cicero leader of the Roman bar at thirty-six; will not appear again as a prosecutor 147 Defense of the poet Archias; application of lex Papiria; tributes to 147 Archias; precise question at issue; reference to Catiline matter. 149 Defense of Milo; Clodius killed January 18, 52 B.C.; Pompey made 149 sole consul; Milo tried amid passions of factions; court organized under a new statute; Cicero intimidated; his speech rewritten; plea of self-defense; statement of the law; statement of the facts; picture of Clodius; an observation on life 154 CHAPTER VII CICERO AS A STATESMAN Cicero the leader of Italian middle class; his influence with that 155 class secured elections to office; the cursus honorum; curule aedile for 69 B. c 156 Terentia and her half-sister Fabia; villa above Tusculum; birth of 156 Marcus; increase in number of residences; house on the Palatine; professional income; home life at Tusculum; Tyrranio; Tiro, stenographer and right-hand man 159 CONTENTS xxv PAGE The praetorship; venality in elections; Cicero assigned the court 159 for extortion in the provinces; the Manilian law; first political speech; opposed by Hortentius and Catulus; noble tribute to Pompey; Cicero succeeded by the aid of Caesar; supreme com- mand vested in Pompey 163 Canvass for the consulship began in 65 B.C.; De Petitione Consula- 163 tus; the divisor es; seven consular candidates in the field; Anto- nius and Catiline backed by Crassus and Caesar; new statute against corrupt practices; speech in toga Candida; bitter attack upon Catiline and Antonius; revives the memory of Fabia ; how a consular election was conducted; vote taken by groups; issue decided by the vote of the groups; Cicero carried all the thirty- five tribes; a "new man" raised to the consulate 167 Assumed office as consul, January 1, 63 B.C.; a radical lex agraria; 168 inaugural delivered in senate; a bold appeal to the people; ex- tracts from second speech; law abandoned; defeat of a law to restore political rights to those proscribed by Sulla; how Cicero quelled a riot by his tact and eloquence; grim and irresistible good humor; pen picture by Ferrero 171 Prosecution of Rabirius; democratic movement against the aris- 171 tocracy; Caesar made pontifex maximus; the menace of Crassus and Caesar 172 Lucius Sergius Catiline; his offenses against Cicero; impeached 173 by Clodius for extortion and oppression ; second struggle for the consulship; Cicero leader of aristocracy and wealthy knights; candidates for the consulship; senate suddenly convened on eve of election ; Cicero presided in assembly with a cuirass under his toga; Catiline defeated; Cicero's defense of Murena. . . . 176 After second defeat Catiline cast the die; months of August and 176 September, 63 B.C., devoted to preparation; Manlius at the head of an army in Etruria; meeting at the house of Laeca, Novem- ber 6; First Catilinarian, November 8; Catiline driven from Rome never to return; Second Catilinarian, November 9. . . . 179 Fatal intrigue with Allobrogian envoys; conference in the house 180 of Sempronia, wife of Brutus; the Mulvian bridge, December 2-3 ; Third Catilinarian, December 3 ; excuse for permitting Catiline to escape; attempt to involve Caesar and Crassus; hon- ors for Cicero 182 Debate on the death penalty, December 5 ; a grave constitutional 182 question; Forsyth's view; Greenidge's view; Sihler's view; Fourth Catilinarian 184 Cato's fiery appeal forced the death sentence; conspirators strangled 185 in the Mamertine; demonstration in Cicero's honor; close of his career as a statesman; farewell address cut off by tribune's veto ; swore that he had saved the state and conserved the empire 187 xxvi CONTENTS CHAPTER VIII CICERO AND POMPEY PAGE Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar as types 188 Sulla's leadership of the aristocracy; consul with Crassus in 71 189 B. c. ; supreme command in the East ; God of the Jews described by Tacitus ; Pompey's return in 62 b. c. ; trial of Clodius ; his liaison with Pompeia; Pompey's neutrality; Caesar and Cicero as witnesses; Pompeia divorced; Cicero and Clodia 192 Clodius acquitted through bribery; Cicero's invective against him; 193 the consequences 194 Cicero's desire to impress Pompey; his first speech in his presence; 194 the great house on the Palatine; sources of his enormous in- come; contributions from Antonius; Caesar's baggage seized for debt 196 Pompey's gorgeous triumph; he prepares to enter politics; Caesar's 196 ambitions; revived moderate democratic party; proposed a quatuorvirate ; the three-headed monster born; Caesar and Bibulus consuls for 59 B.C.; another Teutonic invasion on the horizon; marriage of Pompey to Julia 199 Caesar follows in the footsteps of his uncle Marius; Clodius his 199 electoral agent; bill of pains and penalties against Cicero offered; Caesar and Pompey evasive; Cicero's appeal to the people; seeks safety in flight; bill passed and property destroyed; mandate of popular assembly 203 Cicero in exile; his libera legatio; forbidden Sicily he went to 203 Greece; first letter to Terentia; his lamentation to Atticus; tender outburst to wife and children; from Dyrrachium to Macedonia; seven months at Thessalonica ; letter to Quintus; to Atticus and Terentia ; visit from Atticus 207 New year, 57 B.C., brought hope; motion for recall; description of 207 a Roman mob; fundamental vice in Roman constitution; only safeguard in the people themselves; necessary law passed August 4, 57 B.C.; triumphal procession to Rome; one day equivalent to immortality 210 Clodius ready to renew the fight; speech in the Senate, September 211 5; oration Ad Quirites; the famine riots; Cicero turned from the aristocracy to the triumvirs; oration Pro Domo Sua; main ques- tion not decided 213 Oration De Haruspicum Responsis; a critical moment in Caesar's 213 career; meeting at Luca with Cicero; who turned to Pompey and Caesar; his feeling of humiliation 215 Oration De Provincits Consularibus, June, 56 B.C.; Caesar kept 216 his command — Pompey and Crassus consuls for 55 B.C.; death of Crassus in 53 B.C.; Cicero chosen augur 217 CONTENTS xxvii PAGE Profound impression made at Rome by Caesar's victories; two in- 217 vasions of Britain and the Commentaries; Quintus in Caesar's camp; also Cicero's friend Trebatius 219 Break between Caesar and Pompey when Julia died; Pompey 219 "savior of society," as sole consul ; the inevitable conflict. . . . 220 Cicero proconsul of Cilicia for 51 B.C.; arrived at Athens after an 220 absence of twenty-eight years; conspicuous honesty and humanity; thirst for military glory; the issue between Caesar and Pompey; Cicero returning meets Pompey; reached the gates of Rome Janu- ary 4, 49 b. c 223 Pompey's alliance with the aristocracy; contempt for Caesar's mili- 223 tary genius; Cicero reveals his doubts and fears to Atticus; Caesar's proposal at the beginning of 49 B.C.; the ultimatum of January 6 ; rapidity of Caesar's advance 225 Pompey's flight to the East; regarded by Cicero as disgraceful; 225 his appeal to Pompey; letters to Atticus 227 Cicero's hope of a settlement; met Caesar at Formiae; his rapid 228 conquest of Spain; Antony viceroy of Italy; Cicero went to Pompey June 7 229 A mission of despair; Pompey's coldness; Pharsalia, August 9, 230 48 B. c. ; Cicero's return to Italy in October ; letters to Plancius, Varro, and Marius 231 CHAPTER IX CICERO AND CAESAR Caesar after Pharsalia; returned from the East to Rome in 47 B.C.; 233 battle of Thapsus. April, 46 B.C.; battle of Munda, March 17, 45 B. c. ; foundations of the new imperial system 234 A subtle constitutional transformation; magic wand of the dictator- 235 ship ; "perpetual dictatorship" and the title impcrator ; power of the imperium; old republican constitution municipalized. . . 236 Comitia as a local assembly; reorganization of the senate; prae- 237 fectura morum; imperial legislation superseded senatorial; mon- archical power under republican forms; calendar reformed; changes in the criminal law 239 Transformation of the Roman republic into a hereditary monarchy; 240 Cicero's illusion as to the dead republic 240 Beginning of coldness to Terentia ; neglected by her during 240 Dyrrachium-Pharsalus campaign; ingratitude of Quintus; meet- ing of Cicero and Caesar, September, 47 B.C.; letter to Varro. . 242 Terentia divorced early in 46 B.C.; Cicero's plea; in the hands of 242 the match-makers; a gay dinner with Volumnius and Cytheris; marries his rich ward Publilia ; importunate creditors 244 Cicero's Cato; Caesar's Anticato; Sihler's striking tribute; Caesar 244 as a journalist; his critical faculty 246 xxviii CONTENTS PAGE Caesar's sumptuary laws; Cicero's fling at the ordinance against 246 mushrooms; how senatorial decrees were written; oration Pro Marcello; "the restoration of the Republic"; Froude's grave in- justice; exposed by an acute historical critic 249 Defense of Ligarius; Caesar sat as sole judge; overwhelmed by 250 Cicero's eloquence; career as an advocate at an end; Caesar's death grapple with sons of Pompey . 252 Death of Tullia early in 45 B.C.; Publilia sent away without a 252 formal divorce; expressions of grief to friends; harsh letter from Brutus; letter from Sulpicius and Cicero's reply; condolence from Caesar; the Consolatio; profound discontent at Rome. . . 254 Fall of Roman Republic should be dated from Munda, March 17, 255 45 B.C.; Cicero compliments Caesar on his Anticato 256 Brutus marries Portia; a note from Cato to Cicero; the latter's 256 estimate of Brutus; the character of his mind; won over by Caesar after Pharsalia; Caesar's love for his mother; his plans manifest after Pharsalia 258 Brutus the Hamlet of Roman politics; Cicero his tutor; ideals 258 drawn from earlier times; patriotic duty defined 259 Caesar's return in September, 45 B.C.; Brutus met him at Nice; 260 Cicero's last oration as an advocate; Caesar his guest at Puteoli; the dinner; a mockery of the ancient constitution; no one breakfasted during the consulship of Caninius 262 Caesar saluted as king, January 26, 44 B.C.; the stage play of 263 February 15, carnival of Lupercalia; Cassius as a nerve force; his insidious appeals to Brutus; Brutus becomes at last the head; the ides of March; supper at the house of Cassius 265 Cicero not one of the actual conspirators; but immediately ratified 265 all that had been done; made himself an accessory after the fact. Cicero deprecated the lack of plan and foresight; tyrrannicides sought shelter in the Arx; Lepidus occupied the Forum; the old citizenship not asleep, but dead; Appian's statement; Froude's insight; Caesar's substitute a necessity; "the tyrrany survives though the tyrant is dead." 269 CHAPTER X THE DUEL TO THE DEATH WITH ANTONY Caesar's adoption of Octavius; career of Antony; head of the state 270 at Caesar's death; meeting of the Senate on March 17; Cicero proposed a general amnesty; Caesar's will and funeral. . . . 271 Truce between regicides and Caesarians; Athenian settlement of 272 403 B.C.; necessity for the reestablishment of peace and order; futile attempt at reconciliation 273 CONTENTS xxix PAGE Caesar's funeral conducted by Antony; wax effigy displaying the 273 wounds; reading of the will; the panegyric; declaration of war against the regicides; their houses burned; leaders slipped away; Cicero the champion of the fallen Republic 275 Acts done in the name of the dead Caesar; Antony's appeal to 276 Cicero in behalf of Sextius Clodius; he could have secured a "peaceful and honored old age"; meeting with Brutus at Antium; Cicero sails for Greece; plans changed by news from Antony; his unique position; the Ciceronians; feeling in the country towns; "my admirable Dolabella." 279 Anthony throws off the mask; threatens Cicero; First Philippic; 279 Antony's reply; arrival of Octavianus; meets Cicero at Cumae; allies himself with republicans and appeals to the veterans; value of professional soldiers; Cicero denounces their influence; center of gravity of the state with the legions 283 First struggle for the military power; Antony's partial success; 284 a law for the exchange of provinces; Decimus Brutus besieged by Antony at Mutina 285 Second Philippic; Octavian consults Cicero; he is advised to go 285 to Rome ; has forces on which he can depend ; drift in favor of Octavian; decisive hour of Cicero's life; Second Philippic pub- lished; Antony contrasted with Caesar 289 Third Philippic; Fourth Philippic; ambassadors to Antony, Janu- 290 ary, 43 B.C.; Fifth Philippic; Cicero guaranteed Octavian's loy- alty; a compromise reached; Sixth Philippic; Cicero prime min- ister of Rome 292 Seventh Philippic; no peace with Antony; Eighth Philippic; Ninth 293 Philippic, funeral honors to Sulpicius 294 Marcus Brutus in Greece; collects a small army and wins successes; 295 asks the senate to approve his action; Tenth Philippic; terrible fate of Trebonius at the hands of Dolabella; Eleventh Philippic. 298 A fresh embassy to Antony proposed in March; his insulting reply; 298 Twelfth Philippic; siege of Mutina approaching a crisis; Cicero's effort to secure Lepidus and Plancus; Thirteenth Philippic; tribute to Sextius Pompey; further letters from Plancus. . . . 301 Antony's discomfiture at Forum Gallorum; death of Pansa ; Cicero's 302 glorious day; Fourteenth Philippic; tribute to the Martian legion; Mars "selects the bravest from the ranks"; second and last battle of Mutina ; Antony and his followers proscribed ; semblance of victory an illusion. 305 Antony converted defeat into victory; political power the fruit of 306 physical force; Antony wins Lepidus; Octavian's coup d'etat; Lex Pedia de interfectoribus Caesaris; Caesarian army in posses- sion of Rome and Italy 308 Fate of Decimus Brutus; reconciliation of Antony and Octavian; 308 the triumviri reipublicae constituendae; scope of their powers; xxx CONTENTS PAGE dreadful expedient for payment of the army; Octavian's sacrifice of Cicero; why he failed to join Decimus in pursuing Antony; legions advocates of a military monarchy; when Octavian de- serted Cicero; last appeal to Brutus and Cassius 312 Cicero declined both suicide and exile; his historical importance; 313 Quintus and his son murdered at Rome; "let me die in my country I have saved so often"; Plutarch's description of the end. . . . 315 Childish rage of Antony and Fulvia 315 Cicero's lack of sympathy with Octavian; his tribute to Cicero; 316 bestowed great honors on his son ; Marcus fought with Brutus at Philippi ; consul with Augustus as his colleague 317 Long life of Terentia; the flimsy case against her; Cicero's misty 318 statement; the Roman wife at a great disadvantage; return of the dower. 319 CHAPTER XI TREATISES ON RHETORIC A fruit-bearing tree and a thought-bearing man contrasted; Cicero 320 fell like an oak with its leaves fresh and green upon it 320 Each production the natural outcome of a particular period; condi- 321 tions that prompted his first treatise on rhetoric; his works on gov- ernment and law; on philosophy and theology; the correspondence. 322 Young Marcus a recruit at the age of seventeen; courts closed 322 by a special decree ; except Commission of High Treason ; a book on the general theory of rhetoric; preparation as a stylist in Latin prose 323 Poverty of Roman letters prior to Cicero's time; Ennius; M. Porcius 324 Cato; Cicero's grandfather; Greek learning of Antonius and Crassus; Cicero's rhetorical training defective on the ethical side; Latin not a philosophical language; Cardinal Newman's tribute. . 326 The Latin manual addressed to Herennius; a Greek original 327 latinized; all of Cicero's compositions on rhetoric drawn from Greek sources; how eloquence must be considered; constituent elements of a speech; constitution of the case; final arrangement of the discourse; how a document should be construed; when a contestant "relies on the letter of the law." 329 De Partitione Oratorio, a catechism for the use of Marcus; the 330 whole art arranged under three heads; partitiones highly scien- tific; illustrations of its style; quoted by Quintilian 332 De Orator e; a letter to Atticus; a systematic work on oratory com- 332 posed at the request of Quintus; "an air of grandeur and mag- nificence reigns throughout"; Tusculan villa of Crassus, 91 B.C.; varied accomplishments of the perfect orator; technology of the subject 334 CONTENTS xxxi PAGE An excursion into the domain of law; Cicero first to define the 335 science of jurisprudence; essence of Cicero's unexecuted plan; work of Scaevola, the younger; kinds and uses of wit; impossible to make rules on the subject; nature of laughter; the thought and language in conjunction 338 Comments of Plutarch and Quintilian on Cicero's manner; modera- 339 tion and forbearance to be observed; typical witticisms attributed to Cicero , . 340 Brutus de Claris Oratoribus ; sketches of all the famous orators 344 of Greece and Rome; country no longer supported by the talents, wisdom, and authority of law 344 Condition of things when Cicero went to the bar; ridicule of 345 Curio; lament over the clouded future of Brutus; Galba and Cato; Caius Gracchus; a concealed epitome of the history of Rome 348 Ad Brutum Orator; the perfect orator; author defines his ideal; 348 pen picture of Demosthenes; his defense of Ctesiphon; criticisms of Aeschines; the real Attic manner; Pericles and Lysias; orations of Demosthenes and Aeschines translated by Cicero; extracts from the surviving preface 351 Topica ad C. Trebatium; a simple abstract of the Topics of Aris- 352 totle; a fling at the dead Caesar 353 CHAPTER XII TREATISES ON GOVERNMENT AND LAW De Republica; certainly in circulation in the year 51 B.C.; not 354 more than a third of the whole survives; first book an epitome of the science of politics ; three chief forms of government analyzed ; Scipio's preference for royalty 356 Second book a review of the origin and growth of the Roman con- 356 stitution; tribute to the early Kings; the great point in political science; an ideal and real commonwealth contrasted; great moral obligations as the basis of political union; third book a collection of disjointed fragments; "honesty the best policy"; St. Augustine's City of God; fourth book a dissertation on duties of citizens; the fifth on the duties of magistrates 359 Sixth book embodies an appeal based on rewards beyond the grave; 360 "Scipio's Dream" a confession of faith in the immortality of the soul; canon against self-murder; the true way to Heaven; uni- verse composed of nine circles ; "the music of the spheres" ; the eternal seat of splendor; the immortal mind of man; "the good of your country." 362 De Legibus ; scene laid at Arpinum; conversation on justice and 363 law; cradle spot of Marcus and Quintus; the villa in his grand- father's time 364 xxxii CONTENTS PAGE Relation between De Republica and De Legibus defined; how the 365 true foundations of law and right may be discovered ; philosophy the source; true nature of moral justice 366 Plato followed only as to external forms; substance of the treatise 366 drawn from Stoic sources; Cardinal Newman's statement. . . . 367 First book seeks "the origin of justice at its fountain head"; God 367 and men associated by law; nature the fountain of justice; second book devoted to religious worship; Morabin's striking comment; source of Hooker's famous exordium ; third book devoted to an exposition of civil laws 369 De Officiis the conclusion of an appeal first made in De Republica; 370 social and political degeneration; an effort to conciliate imperial- ism with liberty 370 Separation of the sciences; Aristotle the founder of political science; 371 Cicero ignored his separation of ethics from politics; Zeno caught the practical spirit of the age; Panaetius the founder of Roman stoicism ; Cicero's effort to construct out of Stoic ethics a code of practical morality; took Panaetius as his guide; an interesting sidelight; Athenodorus Calvus 374 First book a threefold division of the subject; is an action abso- 374 lutely good (honestum), or relatively so (utile)?; second book devoted to the utile; third book, no real conflict between honestum and utile; case of Regulus; the famous trilogy as a regenerating influence 377 CHAPTER XIII TREATISES ON PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY The Academica, two editions; second dedicated to Varro; superi- 378 ority of New Academy to Old; the senses; Academica copied on long paper and sent to Varro at risk of Atticus ; too complicated for shorthand 380 Hortensius, or De Philosophia; Plato's Timaeus 380 De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum; in the manner of Aristotle; dedi- 380 cated to Brutus; first book an apology for the study of philosophy; second, an attack on the Epicureans; third, a discussion on ethics; Cato speaks for the Stoics; expresses himself as to suicide; fourth, Cicero's reply for the New Academy; fifth, the Academy at Athens, 79-78 B.C.; Aristotle; Piso's rejoinder for Peripatetics 383 Tusculan Disputations; "If a man die shall he live again?"; the 384 Consolatio ; five great subjects; first book, on the contempt of death; Stoic and Platonic influences; nature of the soul; it must be eternal; second book, on the bearing of pain; third book, on the mitigation of sorrow; fourth, wise man free from perturba- tions; fifth, virtue sufficient to insure a happy life; every man can create and preserve his own happiness 388 CONTENTS PAGE Paradoxa Stoicorum; described by its author; the moral the only 389 good; the virtuous destitute of nothing; good and evil admit of no degrees; every fool a madman; every fool a slave; only the wise man is rich 390 De Senectute; pathetic contrast between facts and theory; Cato's 391 attempt to argue away the miseries of old age; case of Maximus. 392 Noble dissertation on immortality; death, because followed by im- 392 mortality, not to be lamented ; soul cannot undergo dissolution ; why old age should be delightful 394 Laelius, De Amicitia; famous "Stoic marriages"; attachment of 394 Laelius and Scipio; friendship a complete union of feeling on all subjects; has its origin in nature; when there should be a com- munity in all things 397 De Natura Deorum, the philosophy of religion; Cicero explains 397 why he expounds philosophy in the Latin tongue; earliest indica- tion of preparation for the work; Cotta speaks for New Academy, Balbus for Stoics, Velleius for Epicureans; a fling at Plato and the Stoics; Cotta's response 399 Essence of Stoic creed ; God is the Universe, the Universe is God ; 400 one supreme God source of natural law; the little gods as physical forces; design as against fortuitous concourse of atoms; Cotta's rejoinder in third book, parts of which are lost 402 De Divinatione, a treatise on the Mantic Art; Stoic proof of the 402 reality of divination; arguments of Carneades against Manticism; references to Crassus; Pompey; Caesar; an oppressive superstition. 405 De Fato, last of the series on speculative theology; Fate the \6yos t 405 the divine essence; "the reason of the universe"; destiny and free will interdependent 406 xxxm CHAPTER XIV CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEOUS WORKS "The city, the city, my dear Rufus, stick to that"; how news was 408 circulated at Rome; ancient placards as a means of publicity; Caesar gave publicity to proceedings of the Senate; the Great Annals as a source of Roman history; acta diurna populi romani; the news letter; personal letters from trusted friends; epistolary history of the last years of the Roman Republic 412 Cicero's correspondence begins in his thirty-ninth year; first letter 413 to Atticus, then at Athens; no letters for the critical years 64 and 63 b. c. ; correspondence continuous from 62 to 43 B. c. ; a splendid estimate 414 Letters arranged in four groups; Titus Pomponius born at Rome 415 109 B.C.; out of his life at Athens grew his title of Atticus; money lender and publisher at Athens; his return to Rome; Cicero's xxxiv CONTENTS PAGE banker and book publisher; his parsimony; Cicero's confidence in him; his last letter to him; pen picture of Octavian; personal insolvency; Atticus survived the shipwreck 419 Tiro, the orator's right-hand man ; director of the household econ- 420 omy; "Tertia will not come if Publius is invited"; shorthand writer and collaborator; a tender letter from Cicero; from Quintus; from Marcus the younger; Tiro, inventor of shorthand; "takes down whole periods at a breath"; Thompson on the Notae Tironianae; in a medieval dress; group of syllabic signs; manumission of Tiro, who assumed the name of Marcus Tullius; manumission of Statius by Quintus; Tiro as Cicero's literary ex- ecutor; devoted remainder of very long life to his task 426 Miscellaneous works; Oeconomica ex Xenophonte; De Consiliis suis ; 427 De Consulate; panegyrics on Cato and Portia; Poetical works; Aratus, Stoic poet of Soli ; translations from Homer 429 CHAPTER XV AN APPRECIATION OF CICERO A turning point in the world's history; Cicero and St. Paul; a 430 type of statesman new to history of Rome; Italian or Social War 431 At twenty-five Cicero began his forensic career; his entry into 432 politics; leader of the Italian middle class; conspiracy of Catiline; Cicero's conduct; how estimated at the time; Clodius as leader of the Roman mob; Bona Dea scandal; his wailings in adversity; the true test of courage 435 Judgments of contemporaries; Cicero never faltered on a great 436 occasion; duel to the death with Antony; first Philippic; the struggle for the legions; center of gravity of the state had shifted; siege of Mutina 438 Cicero prime minister of Rome; why success was impossible; 439 reason given by Decimus Brutus; Cicero as a man of contempla- tion; his intellectual fruitfulness; no deliberate design in the direction of authorship ; treatises on government and law ; De Republica; De Legibus ; De Officiis 442 Motive of famous trilogy; treatises on philosophy and theology; 443 Stoicism the undertone; God as the source of permanent, uniform and universal law; definitions of immortality; orations and letters. 444 Moral values as expressed in the letters; revelations as to Roman 445 etiquette; Cicero's contributions to Roman literature; and to the Latin tongue; extent to which he supplemented old materials; his influence on the thought of the early Christian church; Cicero's works in early Christian libraries; Cicero, Petrarch's literary idol; "not a pagan philosopher, but a Christian apostle." 448 CONTENTS XXXV Literary dictatorship of Virgil and Cicero; Quintilian's estimate of 4+9 Cicero as an orator; Mommsen's view; comparison between Demosthenes and Cicero; Dio Cassius; an official historian con- sumed with hatred of Cicero; speech put into mouth of Calenus. . 451 Animus of Appian and Dio; labored malevolence of Drumann; 452 motive of the attack; Mommsen's restatement; a typical extract; influence of Caesar worship ; effect of Mommsen's assault a thing of the past 455 THE SAYINGS OF CICERO Collected and arranged for the first time as an anthology, con- sisting of about a thousand extracts carefully selected from the following compositions : Academica, 459-461. Ad Atticum, 461-463. Ad Cornelium Nepotem, 463. Ad Familiares, 463-470. Ad Quintum Fratrem, 470, 471. Ad Quirites, 471. Brutus de Claris Oratoribus, 471, 473. De Amicitia, 472-478. De Divinatione, 478-482. De Finibus, 482-485. De Haruspicum Responsis, 486. De Imperio Cn. Pompeii, 486. De Lege Agraria, 487. De Legibus, 487-492. De Natura Deorum, 493-498. De Officiis, 498-522. De Oratore, 522-530. De Partitione Oratoria, 530. De Philosophia, 531. De Petitione Consulatus, 531. De Provinciis Consularibus, 531. De Republica, 531-537. (Somnium Scipionis, 537"539) De Senectute, 539-549. Epistolae ad Brutum, 549, 550. Fragmenta, 550. In Catilinam, 550-553. In Pisonem, 553, 554. In Vatinium, 554. In Verrem, 554-557- Orator, 557-559- Paradoxa, 559-562. Philippicae, 562-569. Post Reditum in Senatu, 569. Pro Archia, 570-574. Pro Caecina, 574. Pro Caelio, 575, 576. Pro C. Rabirio, 576. Pro Cluentio, 576, 577. Pro Cornelio Balbo, 577, 578. Pro Domo Sua, 578. Pro Flacco, 578. Pro Lege Manilia, 579, 580. Pro Ligario, 580, 581. Pro Marcello, 581. Pro Milone, 581-583. Pro Murena, 583, 584. Pro Plancio, 584-586. Pro P. Quinctio, 586. Pro Rege Deiotaro, 587. Pro Roscio Amerino, 587, 5S8. Pro Roscio Comoedo, 588, 589. Pro Sestio, 589. Pro Sulla, 589. Pro Tullio, 590. Rhetorica ad Herennium, 590. Somnium Scipionis, 537-539. Tusculanae Disputationes, 590-603. BIBLIOGRAPHY Apart from the ancient sources, the leading authorities, cited or consulted, are as follows: Abeken, B. R. Cicero in seinen Briefen. Hanover, 1835 Arnim, H. von. Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta. Teubner, Leipzig, 1903 Arnold, E. Vernon. Roman Stoicism; Being lectures on the history of the Stoic philosophy with special reference to its development within the Roman Empire. The Cambridge University Press, England, 191 1 Asverus, G. A. Die Legis actio sacramenti. Leipzig, 1837 Augustine, St. Confessions. Translation by E. B. Pusey. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. The City of God. E. P. Dutton & Co. Bagehot, Walter. The English Constitution. D. Appleton & Co., New York Barnabei, F. Di un termine graccano scoperto presso Atena, in Notizie degli scavi, March, 1897 Barone, E. I grandi capitani sino alia rivoluzione francese. Turin, 1898 Beloch, J. Der Italische Bund unter Roms Hegemonic Leipzig, 1880 Belot, E. Histoire des chevaliers Romains considered dans ses rapports avec les differentes constitutions de Rome. Paris, 1869-73 Bernhoeft, F. Staat und Recht der romischen Konigszeit im Verhaltniss zu verwandten Rechten. Stuttgart, 1882 Bethmann-Hollweg, M. A. von. Der rdmische Civilprozess. Der Civil- prozess des gemeinen Rechts. Bonn, 1864 Bloch, G. Origines du senat romain. Fontemoing, Paris Boissier, Gaston. Ciceron et ses Amis. Paris, 1866. Translation by A. D. Jones. Cicero and His Friends. A. D. Innes & Co., London, 1897 Tacitus and Other Roman Studies. Translation by Hutchinson. A. Constable & Co. London, 1906 Borgeaud, C. Le plebiscite dans Pantiquite. Grece et Rome. Geneva, 1886 Botsford, G. W. The Roman Assemblies. The Macmillan Co., New York On the Legality of the Trial and Condemnation of the Catiline Con- spirators. Classical Weekly, New York, March 1, 1913 Bouche-Leclercq, A. Les pontifes de 1'ancienne Rome. Paris, 1871 Brugnola. Le Facezie di Cicerone. Citta di Castello, Umbria xxxvii xxxviii BIBLIOGRAPHY Bruns, C. Fontes juris Romani antiqui. Ed. Carl Geo. Bruns. 4th ed., Tubingen, 1879; 6th ed. by Mommsen and Gradenwitz, 1893 Bryce, James. Studies in History and Jurisprudence. The Oxford Uni- versity Press Caetani-Lovatelu. I giornali dei Romani, in the Nuova Antologia, Rome, November, 1901 Cantalupi, Pietro. La magistratura di Silla durante la guerra civile. Rome, 1900 Carle, Giuseppe. Le Origine del diritto romano. Turin, 1888 . Causeret, C. Etude sur la Langue de la Rhetorique et de la Critique dans Ciceron. Paris, 1886 Clark, E. C. Early Roman Law; the Regal period. London, 1872 Cohn, M. Zum romischen Vereinsrecht. Berlin, 1873 Conybeare and Howson. Life and Epistles of St. Paul. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York Crossley, Hastings. M. Aurelius Antoninus. The fourth book with translation, commentary, and appendix on C. Fronto. The Macmil- lan Company, London, 1882 Cuq, Edouard. Les institutions juridiques des Romains (L'ancien droit). Plon, Paris, 1891 Czyhlarz, C. VON. Lehrbuch der Institutionen des romischen Rechts. Leipzig, 1895 Dante. Divina Commedia. The Oxford University Press Daremberg, Saglio, et Pottier. Dictionaire des antiquites grecques. Paris, 1873 Dareste, Rodolphe. Etudes d'Histoire du Droit. 1889 La Science du Droit en Grece. Larose, Paris, 1893 Nouvelles Etudes d'Histoire du Droit. 1902 Drane, Augusta T. Christian Schools and Scholars. G. E. Stechert & Co., New York Drumann, W. Geschichte Roms in seinem Uebergange von der republi- kanischen zur monarchischen Verfassung. Leipzig, 1834 Duebi, H. Die Juengeren Quellen der Catilinarischen Vcrschwoerung. N. Jahrb., Berne, 1876 Duruy, V. History of Rome, and of the Roman People. Translation by W. J. Clarke. Edited by J. P. Mahaffy, London, 1883 Dyer, T. H. A History of the City of Rome. London, 1865 History of the Kings of Rome. 1868 » Erasmus, Desiderius. Ciceronianus. Translation by Izora Scott; intro- duction by Paul Monroe. The Columbia University Press, New York, 1908 Ernesti, J. A. Clavis Ciceroniana. 1739 BIBLIOGRAPHY xxxix Ferrero, Guglielmo. Grandezza e Decadenza di Roma. Turin, 1901. Translation by Alfred E. Zimmern. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1910 The Women of the Caesars. The Century Co., New York, 191 1 Ferrini, Contardo. Storia delle fonti del diritto romano e della giuri- sprudenza romana. Horpli, Milan, 1885 Fioretti, G. Legis actio sacramenti. Naples, 1883 Forsyth, William. Life of Marcus Tullius Cicero. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York Foster, Herbert B. Translation of Dio Coccelanus Cassius. Pafraets Book Co., Troy, New York Fowler, H. N. Plato: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus. The Loeb Classical Library, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1914 Fowler, W. Wade. Social Life at Rome in the Age of Cicero. The Macmillan Co., 1910 Freeman, Edward A. Comparative Politics. The Macmillan Co. Froude, A. Caesar, a Sketch. Charles Scribner's Sons Fustel de Coulanges, N. D. La Cite Antique, etude sur le culte, le droit, les institutiones de la Grece et de Rome. Hachette, Paris, 1895 Gaumitz, H. Cicero pro Scauro, Leipzig, 1879 Gibbon, E. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Edited by J. B. Bury, London, 1896 Gibson, H. W. The Influence of Christianity upon the Law of Rome. Las ( 7roto: rives etfft, tovs iroXtras. — Politics, vii, 4, 13. 24 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Class of codes to which the Twelve Tables belonged. Rome as a commercial metropolis. relative progress of each community. 5 It was to that class of codes that the Twelve Tables of Rome belonged, the first codification of the jus civile, the local law of the city, administered by the city judge, praetor urbanus, only between Roman and Roman. As there was a religious element in all such archaic law it could not be applied to a foreigner. If, in the early days, a foreigner settled at Rome he could not bring the law of his own city with him; and he could have no possible participation in the law of Rome, because that was the exclusive property of her own citizens. Such was the rule when Rome began to grow into the commercial metropolis of the Mediterranean Basin, a station to which she was predestined by her geographical position. Camillus is reported to have said: Not without reason did the gods and men select this site for the foundation of Rome — healthful hills, a convenient river equally adapted to maritime and inland trade, the sea not too far off to present an active international commerce, nor so near as to expose the city to a sudden attack from foreign vessels; a site in the center of the peninsula, a situation made, as it were, on purpose to allow the city to become the greatest in the world. 6 Again, in the equally graphic words of Cardinal Gib- bons: Rome's happy position and its climate, no less than the rude and simple virtues of its first inhabitants, made it one day the mistress of the world's most historic peninsula. The story of her political growth fascinates us forever, as it did Polybius and St. Augustine. The very wreckage of her splendor, palaces, baths, porticos, theaters, obelisks, arches, still encumbers the sites of 5 As to these early codes, see Sir Henry S. Maine, Ancient Law, pp. 13-20 (a work which cannot be overpraised), and Pollock, Introduction and Notes to Maine's Ancient Law, pp. 4-7. Livy, History, v, 354. STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW 25 departed greatness, and our eyes may richly feast on the sites where Cicero spoke to the masters of this earth, and where Augus- tus ruled with firm hand the enormous mass of empire that God had permitted gradually to coalesce around the Mediterranean into a compact unity, the divinely preordained basis and condi- tions of the new spiritual empire that was to rise amid the ruins of its political forerunner and herald. 7 The result of such a favored situation was an influx of foreigners to Rome whose need of law compelled as early as 242 B.C. 8 the appointment of the -praetor pere- The praetor , r e , , • 1 perearinus. grinus, the praetor or foreigners, whose duty it became to administer justice between Roman citizens and foreigners and between citizens of different cities within the Empire. 9 As such praetor could not rely upon the law of any one city for the criteria of his judgments, he naturally turned his eyes to the codes of all the cities from which came the swarm of litigants before him. While the laws and customs of the Italic cities were, no doubt, similar to those of Rome herself, those of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, and Syrians were marked by many features of their own. Between the two extremes stood the best standards of comparison in the laws and customs of the Greek cities which, while varying a good deal in detail from city to city, seem to have borne a fam- ily resemblance to one another. Thus we encounter what jus gentium is perhaps the earliest application of Comparative Law, ^/q^ ^3. employed by the praetor peregrinus for the purpose of tiveLaw. 7 Roma, preface, 5. 8 The date is not absolutely certain. Livy (Epitome 19) says it was 512; Lydus (De M agister, i, 38, 45) says it was 207 U.C., which corresponds to 510 of the Varronean era. 9 Every alien, i.e., non-citizen, was, as such, absolutely barred from the use of any of the formal juristic acts of early Roman law. Pomponius tells us that the new magistrate derived his title from the fact that his principal duty was to administer justice to the increasing peregrin population. — Digest, i, 2, 2, 28. 26 Theory of natural law a Stoic in- vention. CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS extracting from the codes of all the nations with which the Romans were brought into commercial contact a body of principles common to all which, when fused into one code, could be called "the law of the nations," i. e., law common to all nations — jus gentium. 10 Before this new plant, the product of the comparative process, reached its maturity it was fertilized and developed under the inspiration of a theory drawn by the Roman jurisconsults from a foreign source. A century or more before the fall of the Republic the intellectual life of Rome had passed under the dominion of her subjects in Attica and Peloponnesus, just after they had yielded to the ascendency of the Stoic philosophers who were ever striving to discover in the operations of nature, physical, moral, and intellectual, some uniform and universal force pervading all things that could be designated as the law of nature — the embodiment of uni- versal reason. With the growth of the dominion of Rome and the consequent necessity for the extension of the code of a single city to many cities, there was a natural craving for the discovery of legal principles capable of universal application. In response to such a demand Comparative Law collected the data, in the manner heretofore pointed out, and Stoic philosophy supplied the theory upon which such data were worked into the new creation known as the jus gentium — the common reservoir from which have been drawn all of the finer principles of modern jurispru- dence, in all codes, national and international. Before the close of the fourth century B. c, Greek phi- losophy had reached its zenith in Plato and Aristotle. In 10 It is clear that such a conception was well defined as early as the second century B.C. — De Off., ill, 69-171. Cf. Professor Nettleship, on "Jus Gentium," Journal of Philology, xiii, 169; Voigt, Das Jus Naturale, passim; Bryce, Studies in History and Jurisprudence, pp. 583-84. STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW 27 their hands the Socratic theory of conceptions had reached Zenith of its most perfect development through the grouping around , ree , p . l " r r e> e r » losophy in definite centers of the entire range of contemporary knowl- Plato and edge, thus affording a connected view of the world as a whole. Searching inquiries into morals had supplemented the study of nature, while natural science itself in all its branches had been materially enlarged. More important still, idealism, the most complete and characteristic expres- sion of the intellectual life of Greece, as interpreted by the genius of Plato, had been harmonized with experience by Aristotle, who, through the union of theory with prac- tice, had made constructive criticism an art. But that golden age of intellectual splendor was short- lived. Greek philosophy, like Greek art, being the off- Decline after spring of political freedom, declined with its loss. First t e i it °*aJ > came the blight of the Macedonian supremacy; by the freedom, battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.) the doom of Greece was sealed; all attempts made by her to throw off that yoke ended in defeat. The Macedonian overlordship was to yield only to that of Rome; and when in 146 B.C. the province of Achaia was incorporated under Roman rule the last hope of freedom passed away forever. The com- pensation was in the fact that with the sweeping away of national independence, barriers between nations had been broken down. By the concentration in large empires of Creation East and West, Greeks, Romans, and barbarians were ° a . rgc ' ' ' empires. united and brought into closer contact upon every point. Under such conditions, Philosophy might teach that all men were of one blood, that all were equally citizens of one empire, that morality rested on the relation of man to his fellowmen, independently of nationalities and of social ranks; but in so doing she was only explicitly stat- 28 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Conquests of Alexander. Effect of political and geographical changes on philosophic thought. Philosophy takes the place of religion. ing truths which had been already realized in part, and which were in part corollaries from the existing state of society. 11 While extending Hellenism to the farthest East, the conquests of Alexander had shattered the old order of the Greek world and made way for the new order of vast territorial kingdoms destined eventually to be swallowed up in the Roman Empire. And so, as the city-state with its narrow horizon sank into the larger territorial aggregates, nationality naturally tended to become cos- mopolitan. By such political and geographical changes the course of philosophic thought was profoundly changed. The political and ethical theories of Plato and Aristotle were based upon the free and independent life of small civic communities in which the mind of the unfettered freeman boldly attacked every intellectual problem, without regard to the ulterior consequences. It is not, therefore, strange that to the mental powers of the Greek the loss of political independence was a staggering blow. With the loosening of the ties of civil and local patriotism in the fatherland, and with the corresponding change thus wrought in the position of the individual, his tendency was to withdraw within himself, and, by ignoring the strife raging without, to make happiness behind the bar- riers of his own inner life depend upon his inward state alone. As the old belief in the gods was gone, the place of religion must be supplied by philosophy, not of a theo- retical and unfruitful kind, but of such a practical kind as could supply moral uprightness and moral strength. In the midst of such conditions it was Zeno who caught 11 Edward Zeller, Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics, pp. i-i8, Reichel's trans. STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW 29 the practical spirit of his age — the desire for a popular philosophy to meet individual needs. In all he and the older Stoics taught there breathes an enthusiasm for righteousness in which has been traced the earnestness of the Semitic spirit. 11 * The Macedonian ascendency, while dealing a death blow to the independence of Greece, had as a compensation opened up a new world in which her energies and her thoughts could expand, securing — .... for her culture the place of honor among the nations of the East, but producing at the same time a tardy, but, in the long run, important back-current of Oriental thought, traces of which appear in the philosophy of Greece a few centuries later A striking feature in the history of the post-Aristotelian philosophy, and one which at the same time brings forcibly home to us the Mingling of thorough change of all circumstances, is the fact that so many of ^ r . eek a . nd its representatives come from eastern countries in which vjreek and mo d es f Oriental modes of thought met and mingled. 12 thought. Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, a native of Citium, 13 a Zenothe Greek colony in Cyprus, 14 removed to Athens about 320 stoicism. B.C., and, after a long course of intellectual prepara- tion, appeared as a teacher, probably soon after the be- ginning of the third century. His followers, called at first Zenonians, were afterward known as Stoics from the Stoa, UoikIXyj 2roa, "Painted Porch," the place selected by the master for the delivery of his discourses. Although he lived and taught at Athens, his youth was spent in a city that was half Phoenician, and many of his most distin- lla "Stoicism, like Christianity, was primarily a religion for the oppressed, a religion of defense and defiance; but, like Christianity, it had the requisite power of adaptation." — Gilbert Murray, The Stoic Philosophy, 1915. 12 Zeller, pp. 14, 36. 13 The dates in his life are very uncertain. He is said to have been thirty when he arrived at Athens. — Diog., 2. 14 Alongside of the old Greek population Phoenician emigrants had settled, hence its inhabitants are sometimes called e Phoenicia profecti (De Fin., iv, 20, 56), and Zeno is himself called a Phoenician (Diog., vii, 3, »5>25, 30; ii, 114). 3o CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Character istics of the system guished followers had a like association with the eastern world. The system deals with all the great themes touched upon by Chaldaism, Persism, and Buddhism. Like the first, it insists that there exists an unchanging Destiny, according to which events throughout the universe are predetermined from eternity. Like the second, it sets up as claiming the worship and allegiance of men a Supreme Deity, who governs the world with boundless power and benevolent will, and is manifested to men as the Logos or "divine Word." .... In its practical ethics, though it does not advocate the suppression of all desires, it so far agrees with Buddhism as to hold that happiness is only found in the subor- dination of individual claims to the voice of universal reason. Finally, its teachers are actively engaged in propagating its doc- trines and guiding its disciples. Stoicism has, in short, the inward and outward characteristics of the other great movements we have described, and may claim without presumption to be reck- oned amongst the world-religions All the terms commonly used in association with a personal deity are adopted by the Stoics : their god is Lord and Father Further, besides the per- sonal and the material conceptions of the Deity, they adopted and developed a conception which exercised an extraordinary influence over other systems, when they attributed the exercise of all the powers of deity to the divine Word, which from one point of view is the deity itself, and from another is something which emanates from him and is in some way distinct. 15 The key to the new system, based really upon the mag- Magnificent nificent notion of a single God, who is Lord and Father, is to be found in Zeno's first book, the UoXirua, or Republic, evidently a counterblast to the work of the same name by Plato, 16 whose political theories always presuppose the existence of small civic communities divided by convention into classes. Discarding the olc and grasping the new conception of political organiza- tion, represented by large empires in which the barriers notion of a single God. 15 Arnold, pp. 17-19, 66. is &i>Teypa\f/e wpbs rr\v TlXarcwos JldKirelav. von Arnim, i, 260). •Plut. Sto. Rep., 8, 2 (Hans STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW 31 were broken down between local communities, Zeno's ideal state was made to embrace the whole world in such a way that a man may no longer say "I am of Sidon," or "I am of Athens," but "I am a citizen of the world," who, sweeping away all distinctions between Greeks and barbarians, recognizes the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God. The root-principle of the Stoic state is that it is world-wide, Stoic state a a cosmopolis. This title arose from the practice, attributed to cosmo P°»s. Socrates and Diogenes (as well as others) of replying to the current question, "Of what city are you ?" by the answer, "Of the universe." We must therefore regard ourselves as members not of a clan or city, but of a world-wide society. In this society all distinctions of race, caste, and class are to be subordinated to the sense of kinship and brotherhood. 17 Zeno's world-state was subject to the reign of law; the bond of cohesion was the Logos (ratio atque oratio). 18 Reason and the universal law exist in the community from the beginning. The eternal Wisdom, through which the primal matter took shape, is, in another aspect, the Right Rule (6p0os Ao'yos, vera ratio) which commands and forbids. "If there is a universe, then there is a Theuni- universal law, forbidding us to do this and refrain from that." Or, to put it in another way, When regarded as the groundwork of natural formations, this primary Being or general law is called Nature; but when it appears as the cause of the orderly arrangement and development of the world, it is known as Providence; or in language less tech- 17 Arnold, pp. 273-75, citing Arnim, i, 262; "patriam meam esse mun- dum sciam," — Seneca, Dialogues, vii, 20, 5; "membra sumus corporis magni; natura nos cognatos edidit." — Epis., 95, 52. 18 "ejus [societatis humanae] vinculum est ratio et oratio, quae conciliat inter se homines conjungitque naturali quadam societate." — De Off., i, 16, 50. versal law. 32 Chrysippus, the second founder. Cicero's statement. Diogenes Laertius chief author- ity for Stoic doctrine. CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS nical, as Zeus or the will of Zeus ; and in this sense it is popularly said that nothing happens without the will of Zeus. 19 From Zeno we pass to Chrysippus, the second founder of Stoicism, born at Soli in Cilicia, about 280 B. c, who, after being trained possibly by the founder himself, suc- ceeded, on the death of Cleanthes, to the presidency of the Stoic school. 20 While only the titles and a compara- tively small number of fragments of his works, said to have been not less than 750, have come down to us, it seems to be certain that, deviating from the teachings of Zeno and Cleanthes, he so expanded Stoic doctrine in every direction and with such completeness as to leave hardly a gleaning of details for his successors to gather up. As Cicero has expressed it: For what article of Stoic doctrine has been passed over by Chrysippus? And yet we read also Diogenes, Antipater, Mnesarchus, Panaetius, and many others, and especially the works of my own personal friend Posidonius. 21 The Diogenes of whom Cicero speaks was of Seleucia or Babylon (Diogenes Stoicus), and succeeded Chrysip- pus as head of the Stoic school of Athens; and was sent by the Athenians, 155 B.C., as one of the embassy to Rome where he is supposed to have died shortly after- ward. He should not be confused with Diogenes Laer- tius, our chief authority for Stoic doctrine, who wrote, with the aid of earlier works, the biographies of the Greek philosophers in ten volumes, probably in the reign of Septimius Severus (193-2 11 A.D.). Only fragments of the writings of the earlier Stoics have come down to 1D Zeller, pp. 161-71. 20 "Chrysippum qui f ulcire putatur porticum Stoicorum." — Cicero, Academica, ii, 24. 21 De Fin., i, 2. STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW 33 us. 22 Among such fragments we have the following defi- nition of the right rule, the common or universal law, Universal from Chrysippus himself: "The common law, which is aw e ne ' the right reason moving through all things, identical with Zeus, the supreme administrator of the Universe." 23 Professor Holland, a prince among jurists, practical as well as scientific, says: The Stoics were in the habit of identifying Nature with Law in the higher sense, and of opposing both of these terms to Law which is such by mere human appointment. "Justice," they say, "is by Nature and not by imposition." "It proceeds from Zeus and the common Nature." 24 Cicero simply reiterates Stoic doctrine when he says: Law is the highest reason, implanted in Nature, which com- mands those things which ought to be done and prohibits the reverse The highest law was born in all the ages before any law was written or state was formed Law did not then begin to be when it was put into writing, but when it arose, that is to say at the same moment with the mind of God. 25 Law exists of itself and by natural growth (wei) ; it does not need to be created, since reason and universal law exist in the community from the beginning. The writing down of laws is only a stage in their develop- ment. 26 Notable words on this great subject have just been a notable spoken by Gilbert Murray, professor of Greek at the s taten 2 ent University of Oxford: Murray. 22 The complete works of the later Stoics — Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Heraclitus, Cornutus — who lived under the Roman Empire, are still extant. 23 '0 vofjios 6 koivos, Bairep early 6 6p66s \070s dia iravrwv epxopevos, 4 airbs wv tw Ail Kadriyefiovi rovru rijs twv '6\wv dioiK^aews ovri, — Chrysippus, A pud D. Laertes, vii, 88. 24 T. E. Holland, Elements of Jurisprudence, p. 32, 10th ed. 25 Cicero, De Legibus, i, 6; ibid, i, 15; ibid, ii, 4. 26 "Non turn denique lex incipit esse cum scripta est, sed turn cum orta est." — Ibid, ii, 5. 34 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Cicero and Stoic ethics. Summary by Laertius. We call it "Evolution." The Greeks called it Phusis, a word which we translate by "Nature," but which seems to mean more exactly "growth," or "the process of growth." It is Phusis which gradually shapes or tries to shape every living thing into a more perfect form This fact had made people familiar with the notion of natural law. Law was a principle which ran through all the movements called the Kosmos, or "ordered world." Thus Phusis, the life of the world, is, from another point of view, the Law of Nature; it is the great chain of causation by which all events occur; for the Phusis which shapes things towards their end acts always by the law of causation A natural law, yet a natural law which is alive, which is itself life. 26 * With all the faithfulness with which Cicero reproducec the Stoic invention of a law of nature — a permanent, uniform and universal force pervading all things, and "proceeding from Zeus and the common nature" 27 he reproduced the Stoic conception of ethics by which, in his later years, he was completely enthralled. So widely did that conception, as the embodiment of Stoic morality differ, both in form and substance, from the popular morality of the times and the ideals of the rival philo- sophical schools, that it may also be called, without ex- aggeration, a Stoic invention. The fact is that the one was the corollary of the other. Stoic ethics rested pri- marily, not on the needs of the individual, but on the demands of the supreme law, the "universal law, bidding us to do this and refrain from that." The fundamental canon was "to live consistently with nature," in the words of Diogenes Laertius, whose summary of Stoic ethics is generally accepted as a fair statement of the views of Chrysippus on this point: Hence Zeno's definition of the end is to live in conformity to nature, which means to live a life of virtue, since it is to virtue 26a Murray, pp. 36 sq., 1915. 27 Chrysippus, Apud Plut. de Stoic. Rep., 9. STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW 35 left for nationalism. that nature leads. On the other hand, a virtuous life is a life which conforms to our experience of the course of nature, our human natures being but parts of the universal nature, thus the end to a life which follows nature, whereby is meant not only our own nature, but the nature of the universe, a life wherein we do nothing that is forbidden by the universal law. 28 That supreme law operated directly on man as a po- litical and social animal, as a citizen of the cosmopolis or world-state, whose constitution was based upon indi- vidual liberty and universal reason. And yet a place A place : was left for nationalism by the admission that the Stoic j principles of politics could be realized under any form ! of government, no matter whether it be a monarchy, aris- i tocracy, or democracy, or a combination of such ele- ;ments. 29 Seneca expressed that idea when he said that ! every man is born unto two communities, the cosmopolis and his native city. 30 The real purpose for which a man exists, the supreme good (summum bonum), is to bring himself, as a part of nature, into harmony with the whole, so that he, through virtue, may "keep company with God." 31 [The ultimate end of Stoicism was the creation of a good citizen, with a healthily disposed soul, who, guided by the examples of wise men, could rise above nationalism, antiquity, custom, pride, and prejudice, into the realm of universal reason and individual liberty. As 2S Apud D. Laert, vii, 85. 29 The Stoic theory of politics as developed by Panaetius is preserved in substance by Cicero in the De Republica. Cf. A. Schmekel, Die Philoso- \phie der mitilercn Stoa in ilirem geschichtlichen Zusammenhange darge- stellt, pp. 63, 69 ; Arnold, pp. 273 sq. 80 "Duas rcspublicas animo complectamur, alteram magnam et vere pub- licam, qua di atque homines continentur . . . alteram, cui nos adscripsit condicio nascendi." — Seneca, Dial., viii, 4, i. 31 [Virtus] "habebit illud in animo vetus praeceptum: deum sequere." — Ibid, vii, 15, 5. Ideal of a good citizen. 36 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Founding of Roman Stoicism. Crates, 1 59 B.C. Embassy of 155 B.C. we shall see later on, that ideal of a good citizen was the weapon Cicero seized upon when, with the zeal of an enthusiast and the power of a Titan, he essayed the im- possible task of saving the Roman Republic through a social, moral, and political regeneration of the governing classes in Roman society. An indication must next be given of the process through which the intellectual life of Rome passed under the dominion of her subjects in Attica and Peloponnesus, just after they had yielded to the ascendency of the Stoic philosophers who were ever striving to discover in the operations of nature, physical, moral, and intellectual, some uniform and universal force pervading all things that could be designated as the law of nature — the em- bodiment of universal reason. The good work began with the arrival at Rome of the Stoic Crates, the head of the library at Pergamus, who in 159 B.C. gave lectures on literature, expounding at the same time, no doubt, Stoicism, "the earliest offspring of the union between the religious consciousness of the East and the intellectual culture of the West." 32 Then in 155 B.C., came the famous embassy from Athens, including the heads of the three most important philosophical schools, Diogenes of Babylon representing the Stoics, Critolaus the Peripatetics, and Carneades the Academics. Such were the forerunners of Panaetius of Rhodes, who studied in his youth at Pergamus, probably in the school of Crates, 33 whence he passed to Athens where he attached himself to Diogenes, and afterwards to his successor Antipater. 34 The extension of his studies 32 Lightf oot, p. 274. 33 Strabo, xiv, 5, 16. 34 Discipulus Antipatri Panaetius.- Cicero, De Divinatione, 1, 3. STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW 37 to every branch of philosophy, including astronomy and politics, brought Panaetius into contact with the historian Polybius, both of these learned Greeks uniting in admira- tion of the Roman constitution. 35 Panaetius was perhaps the first Greek who in a private capacity had any insight into the workings of the Roman state or into the char- acter of its citizens, opportunity for observation being gained through his visit to Rome where he lived for years in the house of Scipio Africanus the younger. The friendship between the two must have begun before the year 140 B.C., when Panaetius accompanied Scipio on a Panaetius mission to settle the affairs of the East, 36 continuing andSci P 10 - until the death of Scipio in 129 B.C. During that period it was that the noblest and most intellectual men of Rome gathered around Scipio and his Greek friends Polybius and Panaetius, forming a society permeated with the atmosphere of Stoicism known to the Romans as humanitas. Prominent among that first Stoic group was Laelius, Laelius. who had listened in his youth to Diogenes of Babylon, 37 and who became consul in 140 B.C., appearing as the ideal Stoic and chief speaker in Cicero's De Amicitia; and Mummius, whose oratory was marked with the rug- gedness characteristic of the Stoic sect. It was out of 4 the "humane" movement that the Gracchan reforms movement sprang, Blossius of Cumae, a pupil of Antipater, inspir- a " dGrac_ ing Tiberius Gracchus with schemes that led to his over- forms. 35 "Memineram persaepe te cum Panaetio disserere solitum coram Polybio. Optimum longe statum civitatis esse eum, quern majores nostri nobis reliquissent. — De Repub., i, 21. 38 [accepi] "Publi Africani in legatione, ilia nobili Panaetium unum omnino comitem fuisse." — Acad., ii, 2. Cf. Arnold, pp. 100-101. 37 "llle [Laelius] qui Diogenem Stoicum adulescens, post autem Panae- tium audierat." — De Fin,, ii, 8. 38 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS The Scaevolas. Lucilius. Panaetius a reformer. throw. 38 There was, however, no abatement of zeal upon the part of the Stoic nobles who continued to exercise a marked influence upon public life. Notable among these was Q. Mucius Scaevola, the augur, consul in 117 B.C., the devoted friend of Panae- tius, who married the elder daughter of Laelius, the younger marrying C. Fannius, who enjoyed some dis- tinction as a historian. More notable still was Q. Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex, the nephew of Mucius the augur, consul in 95 B.C., often called the father of Roman law, being the first to codify it in eighteen vol- umes. The Stoic poet was Lucilius, whose teachings as expressed in his satires on religion and ethics are in close accord with the teachings of Panaetius, 39 who may be justly be regarded as the founder of Roman Stoicism which, as localized, took on the form of a kind of religion. It has been described as "The System that stood to Pagan Rome more nearly than anything else in the place of a religion"; 40 "Its history resembles that of a religion rather than a speculative system." 41 Panaetius, the founder of "Roman Stoicism," was a reformer whose primary purpose, in laying great stress upon ethics, upon the "external duties" required of all men, wise and unwise, was to lift the older Stoicism as taught by Zeno and Chrysippus out of the stern narrow- ness that despised the cultivation of art and of life. His mission was to infuse into it a fresh impulse that would stimulate research in history, philosophy, geography, chronology, philology, and law. Stoicism, thus emanci- pated from the narrow austerity of its founders, pre- 38 Cicero, De Amicitia, ii, 37. 89 Cf . Schmekel, pp. 444, 445. 40 Hastings Crossley, M. Aurelius, iv; Pref., p. xii. 41 G. H. Rendall, M. Aurelius, Pref., p. xv. STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW 39 sented its leading tenet, "Live according to nature," with instantaneous success to that powerful class at Rome who, disdaining the innovations of foreign fashion, still clung, in theory at least, to the simple habits of their Italian ancestors. In the forefront of that class stood the Roman lawyers whose alliance with the Stoic philosophy lasted for centuries. 42 As to the direct influence of Panaetius on Cicero there influence can be no doubt. Nobody denies that the former's dis- ofS *? ,clsra * on Cicero. cussion of the practical side of morality in three books on duties was the groundwork of Cicero's De Officiis. It has been said more than once that books I and II of that work are simply a rechauffe, in Cicero's style, of Panaetius upon "external duties," ^pl iw Ka$rjKovrwv. Cicero himself says that he followed Panaetius, not as a mere translator, but correctione quadam adhibita. 43 It is beyond all question that the introduction of Stoicism at Rome was one of the most momentous of the many changes it experienced, and, while the evidence drawn from history and poetry relates chiefly to its influence upon the upper classes of society, it is quite possible that it also extended to the working classes, coloring in that way the philosophy of the poor. 44 Certain it is that the systematic study of law, out of which was evolved Roman its influence jurisprudence, had its beginnings among a group of onRoman thinkers profoundly influenced by Stoic teaching. As the successor of Scaevola we have C. Aquilius Gallus, prae- tor in 66 B.C. with Cicero, who is notable by reason of the fact that in his expositions of the law he followed the principles of equity. 45 If Cicero's friend Sulpicius 42 Maine, pp. 52 sq. 43 See De Off., i, 2, 7 ; 3,9; iii, 2, 7. 44 Arnold, p. 380. 45 "Qui juris civilis rationem nunquam ab aequitate sejunxerit." — Cicero, Pro Caecina, xxvii. 40 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Rufus was not a Stoic, his teacher of dialectic, Lucilius Balbus, was; and in studying oratory he followed Stoic principles far enough to make his exposition clear. 46 But foremost among the Stoics of Cicero's time stands M. Cat©. Portius Cato, who blended the stern tenets of the new creed with the ancient traditions of his Roman ances- tors. As a popular leader above all private ends, as a patriot above all bribes, as an orator whose plain lan- guage and short sentences could reach every mind, as a philosopher capable of real eloquence and striking para- doxes, 47 he has stood through the ages as the most notable illustration of what a great citizen cast in the Stoic mold really was. More closely associated with Cicero was M. Junius Brutus. Brutus, the nephew of Cato, who married his daugh- ter Portia, an ardent Stoic who stabbed herself in the thigh as a practical demonstration of her worthi- ness to be entrusted with a political secret. It was to Brutus, the orator, 48 the tyrannicide, that Cicero dedi- cated his treatises, De Finibus, De Natura Deorum, and Tusculanae Disputationes, all of which are saturated with Stoic doctrines. In the light of what has now been said we may return with greater confidence to the point at which the asser- Making tion was made that the jus gentium — the common reser- voir from which have been drawn all of the finer con- cepts of modern jurisprudence, in all codes, national and 46 "Servius [mihi vldetur] eloquentiae tantum assumpsisse, ut jus civile facile possit tueri!" — Brut., xl. 47 "Cato dumtaxat de magnitudine animi, de morte, de omni laude vir- tutis, Stoice solet, oratoriis ornamentis adhibetis, dicere." — Cicero, Para- doxa Sto., 3. 48 "Tu, [Brute] qui non linguam modo acuisses exercitatione dicendi, sed et ipsam eloquentiam locupletavisse graviorum artium instrumento." — Brut., 97. jus gentium. I STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW 41 international — was the product of a fusion of a body of principles extracted by the comparative method from the codes of all the states with which Rome came into com- mercial contact, and a certain invention of the Stoic phi- losophers known as the law of nature, "proceeding from Zeus and the common nature." As the Stoic cosmopolis or world-state embraced the whole of mankind, the law which governed it was necessarily universal; and as it was an emanation from the mind of an all-wise God, it was also the very perfection of reason. With that imposing and convenient theory the Stoic philoso- phers armed the Roman jurisconsults just at the moment when it became necessary to extend the local law of a city-state over a growing empire that aspired to universal dominion. The body of common roots extracted by the praetor peregrinus from the codes of all the nations with which Rome was in commercial contact — the law of the nations (jus gentium) — was something entirely separate and dis- tinct from the indigenous code (jus civile) which the Roman state had established for itself. It was the new creation (jus gentium) that was lifted to the dignity of world-law, after the jurisconsults had woven into it the Stoic theory of a natural law at once supremely wise and universal. Before the end of the Republic the jus gen- tium had assumed definite form; and to Cicero — the Cicero the great expounder, the master of expression, the author of !2m?|J*" the first philosophic treatises in the Latin tongue — nat- urally fell the duty of describing it. He said: There is a closer tie between those who are of the same nation ; a closer tie between those who are of the same state. Our ancestors distinguished the law of citizens from the law of the nations, that which is proper to citizens not being therewith part 42 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Sohm's statement. Praetorian edict an engine of law reform. of the law of the nations, whereas that which belongs to the law of the nations ought to belong to the law of citizens also. 49 The last sentence embodied a prophecy. The law of the nations (jus gentium) did finally so enter into the law of the citizens (jus civile) as to swallow it up and consume it. By the broad conceptions embodied in the jus gentium the strict and narrow archaic law of Rome was so enriched and expanded that in time the jus civile was largely superseded. Finally it could be said: "Roman law was finished; the local law of the city had passed into a law available for the world in general." 5C The praetorian law was the channel through which the jus gentium gained, in the first instance, admittance into the Roman civil law, which it rapidly permeated. The praetorian edict was the engine of law reform through which the harsh rigors of the jus civile were displaced slowly and cautiously by the jus gentium, the equitable law whose growth and expansion, in opposition to the jus strictum of ancient tradition, flowed on with an ever- increasing volume. And yet its growth did not suddenly sweep away the jus civile. As a system of equity it was gradually elaborated alongside of the older and stricter law in a process of development extending over a period of more than five centuries. 51 But, far in advance of \ the final result, Cicero clearly foresaw all that this world- law was to be in the time to come. In the precious frag- ment of the De Republica 52 preserved by Lactantius he 49 "Itaque majores aliud jus gentium, aliud jus civile esse voluerunt. Quod civile, non idem continuo gentium, quod autem gentium, idem civile esse debet." — De Off., iii, 17. 50 Sohm, p. 86. 61 See the author's Science of Jurisprudence, pp. 91 sq. 82 "Nee erit alia lex Romae, alia Athenis, alia nunc, alia posthac, sed et omnes gentes et omni tempore una lex et sempiterna et immutabilis con- tinebit, unusque erit communis quasi magister et imperator omnium deus, ille legis, hujus inventor, disceptator, lator." STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW 43 declares in terms of matchless power and eloquence of the law common to all nations (jus gentium) : It is not to be one law for Rome, another law for Athens, one Cicero's law today, another law tomorrow, but one eternal and immutable f amous law for all nations and for all ages, as God the common master and ruler of all — the discoverer, the interpreter, the enactor of the law — is one. Here we have the clearest and most emphatic asser- tion possible of the Stoic theory of a universal law of nature identical, as Chrysippus says, with Zeus, the supreme administrator of the universe. A great jurist has said: What was the exact point of contact between the old Jus Blending of Gentium and the Law of Nature? I think that they touch and J us ffenttum blend through Aequitas, or Equity in its original sense; and here nature we seem to come to the first appearance in jurisprudence of this through famous term, "equity." 52a aequitas. Even in Cicero's time the fusion of the jus gentium with the jus naturale was so complete as to induce him to declare them identical. 53 In that way the jus gentium was clothed with a higher authority, a philosophic dig- nity which tended to obscure its humble origin as a mere division of private law. To that cause may be attrib- uted the fact that the term jus gentium was, in a few exceptional cases, used out of its normal and proper sense to indicate a branch of law binding on all nations in the direction of their international relations as jus commune gentibus. 5 * And so it may be true that "there floated B2a Maine, p. 55. 83 "Lege naturae, id est gentium." — De Off., i, 23. """ 54 "Hoc vos Feciales, juris gentibus decitis." — Liv. ix, 11. "Populum Romanum neque recte neque pro bono facturum, si ab jure gentium se prohibuerit." — Sallust, Bellum Jugurthinum, c. xxii. Cf. Nettleship, Jour- nal of Philology, vol. xiii, no. 26. 44 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Maine's statement. Tribute of Renan. also always before the eyes of the later Roman jurists a vision of a jus naturale; a universal code, from which all particular systems are derived, or to which they all tend, at least, to approximate ; a set of rules, the matter, or contents, of which is of universal application." 55 The effort to give to the blended product of jus gentium and jus naturale a strained construction was never successful. It was not the extravagant interpretation of Ulpian, but the more restricted and more reasonable one of Gaius, 56 that finally determined its meaning in the time of the Antonines. As Sir Henry Maine has expressed it: At last at a peculiarly felicitous conjuncture, Ayala and Grotius were able to obtain for it the enthusiastic assent of Europe, ar assent which has been over and over again renewed in evei variety of solemn engagement Having adopted from the Antonine jurisconsults the position that Jus Gentium and the Jus Naturae were identical, Grotius, with his immediate prede- cessors and his immediate successors, attributed to the Law of Nature an authority which would never perhaps have beer claimed for it, if "Law of Nations" had not in that age been ar ambiguous expression. They laid down unreservedly that Natural Law is the code of states, and thus put in operation a process which has continued almost down to our own day, the process of engrafting on the international system rules which are supposed to have evolved from the unassisted contemplation of the conception of nature. 57 In the words of Renan: "Le stoicisme avait [deja] penetre le droit romain de ses larges maximes, et en avait le droit naturel, le droit philosophique, tel que la raison peut le concevoir pour tous les hommes. Le droit strict cede a l'equite; la douceur l'emporte sur la severite; la jus- tice parait inseparable de la bienfaisance. Les grands juriscon- " Holland, p. 6. 56 Inst., i, i. See also Justinian, Inst., i, 2, §2. 87 Maine, pp. 95-96. STOIC PHILOSOPHY AND ROMAN LAW 45 suites d'Antonin continuerent la merae oeuvre. Le dernier [Volusius Moecianus] fut le maitre de Marc-Aurele en fait de jurisprudence, et, a vrai dire, l'oeuvre des deux saints empereurs ne saurait etre separee. C'est d'eux que datent la plupart de ces lois humaines et sensees qui flechirent la rigueur du droit antique et firent, d'une legislation primitivement etroite et implacable, un code susceptible d'etre adopte par tous les peuples civilises." 58 58 Ernest Renan, Marc-Aurele, pp. 22, 23. CHAPTER III Born on the farm at Arpinum, January 3, 106 B.C. Paternal grandfather. Father. CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE In the preceding chapter an attempt was made to indicate in a general way the intellectual conditions sur- rounding life at Rome, on its philosophic and juristic sides, when Marcus Tullius Cicero, the predestined leader of the Roman bar, was born to a family of equestrian rank, the upper-middle class, on his father's estate at Arpinum, on January 3, 106 B.C. His paternal grandfather Marcus, still living when Cicero was born, was a country gentleman of the old school who opposed all innovations, even the introduc- tion of vote by ballot into Arpinum, which had received the Roman franchise some time before. 1 He so hated the Greeks as to say that his countrymen were like Syrian slaves — the more Greek they knew, the greater rascals they were. His father, also called Marcus, a retiring country gentleman of delicate health, simply cared to live among his books on the ancestral estate, where his gravest concern was the direction of the education of his two sons, Marcus Tullius and his brother Quintus. 2 1 From the De Legibus, Hi, 16, 36, we learn that "our grandfather, a man of singular virtue in this town of Arpinum, as long as he lived opposed Gratidius (whose sister, our grandmother, he had married) when he wanted to introduce the law of ballot. For Gratidius was raising a storm in a ladle, as the proverb is, as his son Marius afterward did in the Aegean Sea. To such length did the quarrel proceed, that the consul Scaurus, when he was informed of what had happened, made this remark of our grandfather: 'Would to heaven, Cicero, that a man of your courage and honor had better loved to live in the capital of our commonwealth than to bury yourself in a municipal town.' " 2 In De Orat., ii, t, Cicero speaks of his father as "optimi ac prudentis- simi viri." 46 CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 47 Of his mother Helvia we know only that she was a lady Mother well born (so says Plutarch) ; and that she was a shrewd thrifty housewife who used to seal up all the wine jars in the house, even when they were empty, in order that the claim might not be made that some were empty, when in fact they had been drained clandestinely. 3 The town of Arpinum was situated on the Volscian Town of hills that divide Latium from Campania at the point ^j™™"? where the Liris 3a and Fibrenus met; and it seems that Tullius meant originally "spring" or "rivulet." 4 The family name of Cicero was probably derived from some ancestor who had cultivated the vegetable called cicer, if it was not derived from a forebear who took his name ; from a wart or carbuncle on his nose. When upon the threshold of his political career the youthful advocate was ; advised to change his name, Plutarch says that he haught- ; ily replied that he would make it more famous than the names of the Catuli and Scauri. Scorning all false pretense, Cicero : he sneered at the attempt to trace his pedigree to Attius JJf^j,, Tullius, 5 the Volscian king of old; and he said it would pretense. : be a falsification of family history if he claimed descent I from Manius Tullius, a patrician consul shortly after the expulsion of the Tarquin kings. Cicero of Arpinum was perfectly content with his actual lineage; he was proud of his country home, and of the sturdy stock from which he sprang. He was also proud of the old borough 3 So says her son Quintus in a letter to Tiro. — Ad Tarn., xvi, 26. 3a A name made familiar by the charming lines of Horace (Lib. i, Ode XXII) : "Non rura quae Liris quieta Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis." 4 "Tullios alii dixerunt esse silanos, alii rivos, alii vehementes pro- jectiones sanguinis arcuatim fluentis." — Festus. 5 Plutarch, Cicero, i. 4 8 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Described his cradle spot. A man has two countries. in which his ancestors had been leading factors for gen- erations. As the "most eloquent of all the sons of Ro- mulus" expressed it, in after years: There is one reason, however, why I am so fond of this Arpinum, which does not apply to you Because, to con- fess the truth, it is the native place of myself and my brother here; for here indeed, descended from a very ancient stock, we first saw the light. Here is our altar, here are our ancestors, and here still remain many vestiges of our family. Besides, this villa which you behold in its present form, was originally constructed, at considerable expense, under my father's supervision; for hav- ing very infirm health, he spent the later years of his life here, engaged in literary pursuits. And on this very place, too, while my grandfather was alive, and while the villa, according to the old fashion, was but a little one, like that one of Curius, in the Sabine country, I myself was born I am very glad that I have brought you here, and shown you what I may almost call my cradle spot What were you go- ing to say just now, when you called this Arpinum the true country of yourself and your brother Quintus? Have you more than one country, or any other than the Roman commonwealth in which we have a similar interest? Unless, indeed, you mean to say, that the true country of the philosophic Cato was not Rome, but Tusculum. I indeed should say that Cato, and all municipal citizens like him, have two countries — the one, that of their birth, and the other, that of their citizenship. In the case of Cato, who had been born at Tusculum and was elected a citizen of Rome, he was a Tusculan by extraction and a Roman by citizen- ship; he had one country as his native place, and another as his country in law It is necessary, however, that we should attach ourselves by a preference of affection to the latter, which, under the name of the Commonwealth, is the common country of us all. For this country it is that we ought to sacrifice our lives; it is to her that we ought to devote ourselves without reserve; and it is for her that we ought to risk all our riches and consecrate all our hopes. 6 8 De Leg., opening of second book. CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 49 While the exact date can not be fixed it is certain that Cicero's father, moved by the desire to give to his sons opportunities for education not to be had in a provincial town, purchased a house at Rome in the street called Carinae, a fashionable quarter between the Coelian and The town Esquiline mounts, where the family resided each year, at ^"carinae least during the period between October and June. Whether Cicero then became the pupil of the Roman grammaticus, Aelius, a Stoic, described by him as a man "profoundly learned in Greek and Latin letters," we do not know. But certain it is that he did become the pupil, probably before 88-87 B - c -> of tne P oet Archias, Pupil of the a Greek of Antioch, who came to Rome in 102, having prooabl *" gained fame in his own country by reason of such a before knowledge of the metrical art of Greek letters as enabled him to improvise in verse with exceptional skill on subjects of current interest. Under the guidance of Archias, who surely impressed his pupil with the necessity for making himself a master of elocution, he studied the orators and poets of Greece, composing at the same time in Greek prose and Latin verse. 7 That he was precocious and ambitious to excel his fellow-pupils there can be no doubt, because Plutarch says that when the boys walked abroad they gave him the place of honor in their midst as a tribute to his brilliant parts, which so excited the curiosity of their parents that a " a yo„ th they actually visited the places of instruction in order to satisfy themselves as to his preeminent endowments. Certain it is that from his Greek masters he acquired the technical skill in versification and rhythm which he 7 Reference may here be made to an interesting monograph entitled, A Comparative Scheme of the Moods and Tenses in Cicero's Translations from the Greek, by Charles Henry Saylor, Johns Hopkins University Studies, Baltimore, 191 1. 5o CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Friendly interest of Antonius and Crassus. Edict against Latin rheto- ricians, 92 B.C. always employed for the embellishment of his speeches and essays. Fortunately for the young Marcus, his father was able to claim the friendship of two eminent pleaders, then the foremost at the Roman bar, Marcus Antonius 8 (grandfather of Mark Antony) and Licinius Crassus, the latter the friend and admirer of Aculeo, very eminent in the civil law of Rome, who had married a sister of Cicero's mother Helvia. 9 Through that family connec- tion Crassus, who was full of Greek learning and culture, was induced to direct the education, not only of the sons of Aculeo, but of their cousin Marcus Tullius. The lads were trained by teachers approved by the great Crassus himself; and it appears that, from time to time, they were invited to his house where Marcus had an opportunity to witness the perfect fluency with which Crassus spoke Greek, "as if he knew no other tongue." 10 It was this Crassus who, as censor, jointly with his colleague, Domi- tius Ahenobarbus, in the year 92 B.C. issued an edict clos- ing the schools of the Latin rhetoricians in these terms: It has been reported to us, that there are men who have estab- lished a new kind of instruction (disciplinae) with whom young people meet to form classes (in ludum) ; that they have dubbed themselves Latin Rhetors; that these youths are loafing for whole: days at a time. Our ancestors have established what they wished J their sons to learn and what classes to attend. The new-fangled things which are done contrary to the usage and manner of our ancestors, neither have our approval nor do they seem right, j Therefore it seems we ought to set forth our opinion both to those who hold these classes as well as to those who are wont to; attend them, to wit that we disapprove it. 11 8 Liv., Epit., 68. 9 See W. Drumann, Geschichte Roms nach Geschlechtern, v, p. 213. 10 De Oral., ii, 2. 11 The edict is preserved by Aulus Gellius, xv, 11; and Suetonius, De' Claris Rhetoribus, proem. Cf. Sihler, pp. n-13. CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 51 In his later years Cicero, in order to explain why the despotic power of the censorship was thus employed to suppress Latin schools of rhetoric at Rome, gives Crassus himself the opportunity to say: Even Latin teachers of rhetoric, please the gods, have risen Explained in within the last two years ; a class of persons whom I had sup- De Oratore. pressed by my edict, 12 when I was censor, not because I was unwilling (as some, I know not who, asserted) that the abilities of our youth should be improved, but because I did not wish that their understanding should be weakened and their impudence strengthened. For among the Greeks, whatever was their char- acter, I perceived that there was, besides exercise of the tongue, some degree of learning, as well as politeness suited to liberal knowledge; but I knew that these new masters could teach youth nothing but effrontery, which, even when joined with good qual- ities, is to be avoided, and, in itself, especially so; and as this, therefore, was the only thing that was taught by the Latins, their school being indeed a school of impudence, I thought it became the censor to make sure that the evil should not spread further. I do not, however, determine and decree on the point, as if I despaired that the subjects which we are discussing can be deliv- ered, and treated with elegance, in Latin; for both our language and the nature of things allow the ancient and excellent science of Greece to be adapted to our customs and manners; but for such a work are required men of learning such as none of our , countrymen have been in this sphere; but if ever such arise, they will be preferable to the Greeks themselves. 13 No matter how profound the impression made at Cicero's con- Rome by the new world-religion as preached by the Stoic ^"P** 01 ** 116 n . t or j Epicureans. Panaetius and his followers may have been upon the upper classes in general and upon Roman jurists in par- ticular, the fact remains that these apostles of the Porch met valiant defenders of the older philosophies of Greece in the representatives of the Academic schools, not to 12 For a reference to this passage, see Quintilian, ii, 4, 42. 13 De Orat., HI, 24. 52 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS mention the Epicureans. But as the tenets of the Garden, though carefully studied by Cicero, 14 made no serious im- pression upon his mind or life, either in the domain of metaphysics or morals, we may dismiss Epicurus as a His relations negligible quantity. The serious matter at issue is that Academy. involved in his relations with the Academy which, as an advocate, he woed in his youth, and which, as a statesman and philosopher, he completely abandoned in his later years. Plato. Plato, the founder at Athens of the philosophical asso- ciation known as the "Academy," was no doubt the ablest interpreter of the true mind of Socrates. In the words of Ueberweg he "combined the various elements, the, so to speak, prismatically broken rays of the Socratic spirit in a new, higher, and richer unity." 15 And so by far the Aristotle. ablest of Plato's disciples was Aristotle of Stagira who, branching off from the Academy, founded about 350 B.C. the school of the Peripatetics, the primary purpose of its founder being to introduce into philosophy, then con- vulsed by the disputes of the followers of Socrates, a spirit of reconciliation. In order to reach the truth, said the new teacher, we must, after collecting the various opinions commonly held, seek the reconciling formula of which each is a partial statement. After the death of Aristotle, the Peripatetics so gravi- tated toward the Academics that in later centuries there seemed to be but little difference between them. The Romans found but little divergence between the teaching of the Peripatetics and that of the earlier Academy. Into 14 He had gained some acquaintance with them at Rome through Phae- drus {Ad Fam., xiii, i) before he met Philo. 16 Eng. transl., vol. 1, p. 89, Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophic Tenth ed. by K. Prachter, 1909. Translated from the 4th German ed. by G. S. Morris, 2 vols., New York, 1872-74. CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 53 how many schools was the Academy, which lasted from the days of Plato to those of Cicero, divided? Upon that subject the critics are not agreed. Cicero and Varro recognized but two, the old and the new; Sextus Empiri- cus added a third, the middle; others a fourth, that of Philo and Charmidas; 16 and some even a fifth, the Acad- Five emy of Antiochus. Cicero, who is the principal author- ^oofs"" ity for the history of the Academic schools, pronounces the following eulogy on the old Academy. After enu- merating its leaders, he says: From their writings and systems all liberal learning, all his- Cicero's tory, all elegance of language, may be derived; and also, so great eu I°gy is the variety of arts of which they were masters, that no one can Academv come properly armed for any business of importance and credit without being tolerably versed in their writings. 17 It was the old Academy that chiefly developed the ethical side of Plato's teachings, the path of virtue being indicated by the natural capacities of the individual. And so Polemo of Athens (head of the school, 314-270 B.C.) Poiemo. taught, according to Cicero, that happiness consisted in "virtuous living, aided by those advantages to which nature first draws us," practically the standard adopted by Aristotle. 18 It was Arcesilaus (315-240 B. c), the Arccsilaus. successor of Crates, and the disciple of Theophrastus and Polemo, who taught that truth can never be certainly known; that life must be guided by consideration of prob- ability, the ethical standard being that "of which a rea- sonable defense may be made." 19 Such was the nature 18 According to Cicero {Acad., ii, 6, 17; De Orat., i, IX, 45; Ad M. Brutum Orator, xxi, 41) Charmidas was a pupil of Carneades. 17 De Fin., v, 3. 18 "Honeste autem vivere, f ruentem rebus eis, quas primas homini natura conciliet, et vetus Academia censuit (ut indicant scripta Polemonis), et Aris- toteles eiusque amici hue proxime videntur accedere." — Acad., ii, 42, 131. 19 [cuius] "ratio probabilis possit reddi." — De Fin., iii, 17, 58. Cf. Arnold, pp. 55-63. 54 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Carneades. Views of Cardinal Newman. Philothe teacher of Cicero. of the academic skepticism which was developed and sys- tematized a century later by Carneades, who is called the founder of the third, or new Academy. He was the chief opponent of the Stoics and their doctrine of certitude. Cardinal Newman says : Thus, although we find Carneades, in conformity to the plan adopted by Arcesilaus, opposing the dogmatic principles of the Stoics, concerning moral duty, and studiously concealing his pri- vate views even from his friends; yet, by allowing that the sus- pense of judgment was not always a duty that the wise man might sometimes believe though he could not know; he in some measure restored the authority of those great instincts of our nature which his predecessor appears to have discarded. Clitomarchus pursued his steps by innovations in the same direction ; Philo, who followed next, attempting to reconcile his tenets with those of the Platonic school, has been accounted the founder of a fourth academy — while, to his successor Antiochus, who embraced the doctrines of the Porch, and maintained the fidelity of the senses, it has been usual to assign the establishment of a fifth. 20 It was this Philo of Larissa, the founder of the so- called fourth Academy, who became the teacher of Cicero when, in his nineteenth year, he began the study of Greek philosophy in earnest. This official head of the Academic Sect at Athens, with other conservatives of his kind, had fled to Rome about 88 B.C., after the Athenian democracy had hailed Mithridates as the champion of the Hellenic world. 21 In order to support himself while in exile Philo gave instruction at the capital, the object of his teaching being, no doubt, to put such a new complexion on the skeptical teaching of Arcesilaus and Carneades, as to 20 "Personal and Literary Character of Cicero," Historical Sketches, vol. i, p. 271. 21 At this time Philo, a philosopher of the first name in the Academy, with many of the principal Athenians, having deserted their native home, and fled to Rome, from the fury of Mithridates, immediately became his scholars, and were exceedingly taken with his philosophy. — Brut., lxxxix. CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 55 make it possible to believe that while things were in their own nature knowable, they were not so by the standard of knowledge the Stoics proposed. And so it was af- firmed both by Philo and Metrodorus that Carneades Claimed that had really been misunderstood by everybody. 22 There hadbeen" seems to be no reason to doubt that the positive teaching misunder- Philo attributed to his master, whether right or wrong, was held by himself, and emphasized in the discourses in which he propounded many theses of practical life, rather as problems to be proven or disproven than as a series of dogmatic axioms or maxims. Among the subjects so treated were the following: Whether a man of understanding should enter public life or His maxims, share in the life of political leaders, whether the wise man should marry, what was the best form of government, whether offices should be made common or given as an honor to the most worthy only. The strength of this school was in the presentation of propositions and counter-propositions based upon the actual conditions of life, to be proven or disproven, rather than mere abstractions whose discussion could bear no real fruit. Just at the time when the youthful Cicero was being impressed by the Athenian Academician Philo, his father took into his household a Greek scholar and teacher of the Stoic sect, Diodotus, with whom the rap- The Stoic idly maturing youth studied Greek philosophy daily in the form in which it was expounded by the Porch. In the De Natura Deorum, he tells us : It is a mistake to suppose that this application to philosophical studies has been sudden on my part. I have applied myself to them from my youth, at no small expense of time, and trouble; 22 See R. D. Hicks, Stoic and Epicurean, pp. 355-56; and also the edition of Cicero's Academica, by J. S. Reid, Introd., pp. 58 sqq.; Sihler, p. 25. Diodotus. 56 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS his heir. and I have been in the habit of philosophizing a great deal, when I least seemed to think about it; for the truth of which I appeal to my orations, which are filled with quotations from the phi- losophers, and to my intimacy with those very learned men, who frequented my house and conversed daily with me ; particularly Diodotus, Philo, Antiochus, and Posidonius, under whom I was bred. 23 When Cicero married and set up a house of his own his old teacher went with him, 24 dying in the mansion on Made Cicero the Palatine in 59 B.C. the year before his patron, whom he made his heir, was driven into exile. In a letter to Atticus Cicero says: "Diodotus is dead; he has left me perhaps 1,000 sestertia." 25 The wide attainments of this teacher and friend embraced a knowledge of mathe- matics; but Cicero seems to have been most impressed by his instruction in logic, a science in which the Stoics excelled. No matter whether it was fear of Sulla, as Plutarch says, or ill health that prompted Cicero when, in 79-78 B. c, he went abroad to seek a change of air and scene, accompanied by his brother Quintus, his cousin Lucius, Marcus Piso, and above all by his "other self," the be- loved Atticus, who had sojourned in Athens since about the year 86 B. c. 26 He went with his friends first to Athens, "mother of arts and eloquence," now only the chief town of a Roman province, filled with busy idlers, as it was a century later, when, as they are described by St. Paul : "All the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear The tour abroad, 79-78 B.C. Athens 23 i, 3- 24 Cicero, Ad Atticum, ii, 20. 25 "Diedoto quid faciam Stoico, quern a peuro audivi, qui mecum vivit tot annos, qui habitat apud me, quern et admiror et diligo?" — Academica, H, 36. 26 Drumann, Gesch. R'oms., vol. v, p. 8. CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 57 some new thing." 27 The new thing Cicero desired to hear was in his favorite domain of philosophy; and in order to advance his knowledge in that direction he renewed under the guidance of Antiochus of Askalon, then the Antiochus. official head ( scholar chos) of the so-called fifth Academy, of Askalon studies begun at Rome under his predecessor Philo. If he had begun by compromising with the enemy, his pupil Antiochus, worn out after a long struggle with the Stoics, went so far in recanting his agnostic errors as to admit not only that knowledge was possible, but possible under the standard he had so long refused to recognize. 28 In describing the famous spot in the suburbs of Athens occu- pied by the Academy, redolent with memories of Plato himself, Cicero says: One day when I had been hearing Antiochus lecture, as I was Cicero's de- in the habit of doing, O Brutus, in company with Marcus Piso, scriptionof in that gymnasium which is called that of Ptolemy, my brother ™ e P lace Quintus being with me, and Titus Pomponius, and Lucius Cicero, Academy, our cousin on the father's side as to relationship, but our brother as to affection, we determined to take our afternoon's walk in the Academy, principally because at that time of day that place was free from any crowd. Accordingly, at the appointed time we all met at Piso's house, and thence we walked half-a-dozen fur- longs from the Dipylus to the Academy, beguiling the way with discourse on various subjects; and when we arrived at the de- servedly celebrated space of the Academy we there found the solitude we desired For the remembrance of Plato comes 27 "When Cicero came, not long after Sulla's siege, he found the philoso- phers in residence. As the Empire grew, Athens assumed more and more the character of a university town. After Christianity was first preached there, this character was confirmed to the place by the embellishments and benefactions of Hadrian. And before the schools were closed by the orders of Justinian, the city which had received Cicero and Atticus as students together became the scene of the college friendship of St. Basil and St. Gregory, one of the most beautiful episodes of primitive Christianity." — Conybeare and Howson, p. 322. 28 Acad. Pr., ii, 69; cf. Numenius, cited by Eusebius, Pr. Ev., xiv, 9, 1; Augustinus, Contr. Acad., ii, 6, 15; iii, 18, 41; Hicks, p. 357. 58 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE JND WORKS Antiochus' diluted Stoicism. A passage from the Academica. into my mind, whom we understand to have been the first person who was accustomed to dispute here ; and whose neighboring gar- dens not only recall him vividly to my recollection, but seem even to place the man himself before my eyes. Here Speusippus, here Xenocrates, here his pupil Polemo used to walk; and the latter used to sit in the very spot which is now before us. There is our senate-house (I mean the Curia Hostilia, not this new one, which always seems to me smaller, though in fact it is larger) : whenever I have looked upon that I have always thought of Scipio, and Cato, and Laelius, and more especially of my own grandfather. 29 Such was the hallowed spot in which Antiochus poured out, under the name of the "old Academy," a kind of diluted Stoicism then prevailing, avoiding only a few of its paradoxes and its dogmatic temper. 30 Weary of the skeptical quibbling of such of his predecessors as Arcesi- laus and Carneades, he excused his drift towards the Porch by demonstrating that the doctrines of the Stoics were to be found (i. e. } foreshadowed) in Plato. 31 Cicero's favorite contention was that the Stoic dialectic, as he had learned it from his teacher Antiochus, was not an original system but a modification of the tenets of the old Academy. As he has expressed it in the Academica: You have, said I, O Varro, explained the principles both of the Old Academy and of the Stoics with brevity, but also with great clearness. But I think it to be true, as Antiochus, a great friend of mine, used to assert, that it is to be considered rather as a corrected edition of the Old Academy, than any new sect. .... Still let the school whose principles I have explained, be called the Old Academy, and this other the New; which, having continued to the time of Carneades, who was the fourth in suc- cession after Arcesilaus, continued in the same principles and 29 De Fin., v, i. 30 "Eadem dicit quae Stoici." — Acad., ii, 22. "Erat, si perpauca muta- visset, germanissimus Stoicus." — Ibid., 42, 132. See also J. S. Reid, Aca- demica of Cicero, Introd., pp. 15-19, and notes to Acad., 39, 123, and 40, 126. Arnold, p. no. 31 Sextus Empiricus, Pyrrhoniai Hypotuposeis, 1, 235; Sihler, p. 56. 1 CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 59 system as Arcesilaus I wish to follow the Stoics. Will Antiochus (I do not say Aristotle, a man almost, in my opinion, unrivalled as a philosopher, but will Antiochus) give me leave? And he was called an Academic; but he would have been, with very little alteration, something very like a Stoic. The matter shall now be brought to a decision. For we must either give the wise man to the Stoics or to the Old Academy. He can not belong to both ; for the contention between them is not one about boundaries, but about the whole territory. For the whole system of life depends on the definition of the chief good ; and those who differ on that point, differ about the whole system of life. It is possible, therefore, that those of both these schools should be wise, since they differ so much from one another; but one of them only can be so. If it be the disciple of Polemo, then the Stoic is wrong, who assents to an error: and you say nothing is so incom- patible with the character of a wise man as that. But if the principles of Zeno be true, then we must say the same of the Old Academy and of the Peripatetics; and as I do not know which is the more wise of the two, I give assent to neither. 82 In the light of such and other similar declarations made by Cicero, who was taught both by Philo and Antiochus, Cicero the it is very tempting to fall into the error of believing that he was really dominated by that mild skepticism, that electicism composed of an almost equal sympathy with Plato and Zeno, which manifests itself so often in his works. Speaking as an Academician he says: My words do not proclaim the truth, like a Pythian priestess; but I conjecture what is probable, like a plain man ; and where, I ask, am I to search for anything more than verisimilitude ? . . . . The characteristic of the Academy is never to interpose one's I judgment, to approve what seems most probable, to compare I together different opinions, to see what may be advanced on either (side, and to leave one's listeners free to judge without pretending I to dogmatize. 32 Acad., i, 12; ii, 43. advocate an eclectic. an eclectic. 60 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS There spoke the pleader, the advocate, the man of pa- laestric genius in the forensic arena, often striving to make the worst appear the better cause. In that capacity Cicero may justly be called an eclectic, a selector, a chooser from all the arsenals of thought of those intel- lectual weapons that best served his purpose on a par- Antiochus ticular occasion. It is no doubt true that Antiochus was really an eclectic; but, only with the qualification just stated, can it be said that "the school to which Cicero finally attached himself was that founded by Antiochus of Ascalon (c. 125—50 B. c.)." The just and critical author- ity who makes that assertion is careful to state at the same time that — .... his most systematic expositions of Stoic doctrine are as fol- lows: In the Academica a general view of Zeno's teaching is given by M. Varro (i, 10, 35 to ii, 42), and the Stoic logic, as accepted by Antiochus, is defended by L. Licinius Lucullus (ii, 1, 1 to 19, 63). In the De Natura Deorum (bit. ii) the Stoic physics is explained by Q. Lucilius Balbus; in the De Finibus (bk. iii) the Stoic ethics by M. Portius Cato, as the most distinguished Roman who has adopted them as a standard of life. In the De Officiis Cicero adopts the form of a letter addressed to his son when studying at Athens, and avowedly adapts the substance of the work of Panaetius already mentioned, supplementing it from a memorandum of the teaching of Posi- donius which was specially prepared for him by Athenodorus Calvus; this book deals with ethics mainly in its practical appli- cations. In many of his other works, such as De Amicitia, De Senectute, Tusculan Disputations, De Fato, De Divinatione, and Faradoxa, Cicero makes use of Stoic material without giving professedly an exposition of the Stoic system. 33 That is only a too guarded statement of the whole truth to be maintained herein, which is that as Cicero grew older, as he ceased to be a mere advocate and be- 88 Arnold, p. 109. I CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 61 came a philosopher and statesman mastered and over- Cicero the come with the idea of regenerating the social and polit- J%2£ P ical fabric of a falling Republic through Stoic morality, and the Stoic conception of a life beyond the grave with a Lord and Father who ruled through law — he became, without a formal announcement of the fact, as thoroughly without Stoic, in all he wrote in his later years, as ever Chrysip- *^°™* pus or Cato had been. When the time came to attempt mentof the reform of a luxurious and corrupt society by such appeals as were embodied in the De Legibus, the De Passages Offidis, and De Finibus, it was useless to trifle with the JjJ^Sw quibbling skepticism of the new Academy which declared war on all forms of positive conviction. In opening the ! work first named Cicero says: My treatise throughout aims at the strengthening of the foun- dation of commonwealths and the advancement of the welfare of peoples. I dread therefore to lay down any but well-consid- \ ered and carefully examined principles ; I do not say principles which are universally received, for none are such, but principles | received by those philosophers (evidently Stoics) who consider i virtue to be desirable for its own sake, and nothing whatever to be good, or at least a great good, which is not in its own nature praiseworthy. And then, with the arguments of Carneades against 'justice apparently in his mind, he says: As to the Academy, which puts the whole subject into utter confusion, I mean the new Academy of Arcesilaus and Carneades, let us persuade it to hold its peace. For, should it make an inroad upon the views which we consider we have so skillfully put into shape, it will make an extreme havoc of them. The Academy I f can not conciliate, and I dare not ignore. 34 The fact that, for tactful reasons of his own, Cicero did not deem it wise to make any more formal statement 34 De Leg., i, 13. 62 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Professor Sihler's statement. Cicero's mind finally enveloped by Stoicism. that he was, in his later years, Stoic to the core as to all questions affecting politics, morals, and theology, should not for a moment mislead the critical who have only to turn to the great works published toward the close of his life in order to find the Stoic tenets on those subjects blazoned on every page. Professor Sihler, in reviewing the essay on old age, makes the proper statement mildly when he says: The author was then in his sixty-third year and the financier and Philhellene in his sixty-sixth One can readily see that the exordium was written last. The deeper substratum of Cicero's spiritual affinity, by this time, was really Stoicism. Nature defines our ideals and noblest motives. 35 It is impossible to grasp the real significance of Cicero's intellectual life as a connecting link between the ancient and modern world without a clear understanding of the fact that the deeper substratum of his spiritual affinity, which finally enveloped his mind and soul, was Roman Stoicism in its purest and most scientific form. In the analyses of his works hereafter to be made there will be a persistent effort to explain how it was that whenever^ in his later years, he spoke seriously as a jurist, states- man, moralist, or theologian, it was to emphasize with all the force of his ardent nature some one of the great! principles involved in the Stoic cosmopolis or world-state,1 ruled by a single God as the source of permanent, uniJ form, and universal law. When he was called upon to* define for the first time the real nature of the jus gentium A after it had been robed in the Stoic invention called the law of nature, he said: It is not to be one law for Rome, another law for Athens, one law today, another law tomorrow, but one eternal and immutable 3 5 Sihler, p. 408. CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 63 law for all nations and for all ages, as God the common master and ruler of all — the author, the interpreter, the enactor, of the law — is one. 36 There we hear with a distinctness not to be mistaken the voice of Chrysippus describing the universal or nat- The voice of ural law of the Stoic world-state, "which is right reason Chr ysippus. moving through all things, identical with Zeus, the supreme administrator of the universe." When we pass from book iii of the De Republica, containing the fore- going definition of the jus gentium, to book vi, contain- ing Scipio's dream, we find Cicero, upon the eve of the Scipio's rapidly approaching crisis, striving to create a higher reara ' conception of the duties of Roman citizenship by the assurance that pious, patriotic, and philanthropic states- men will be rewarded not only on earth by the approval of their consciences and the applause of all good citizens, but by immortal glory in new forms of being in a higher life beyond the grave. That method of appeal was sug- gested no doubt by the story, told at the end of Plato's Republic, of Er the Pamphylian, who, after a twelve vision of Er. days' trance, caused by a wound received in battle, re- turned to life; and, in revealing the secrets of the shades below, told of heavenly bliss and hellish punishments, of the judgment seat, and of the renewal of life and the new choice given to souls not yet purified wholly of sin. The final revelation is: "God is blameless; man's soul is immortal: justice and truth are the only things eternally good." 37 In order, however, to obtain a complete and compre- hensive view of Plato's resplendent doctrines as to the immortality of the soul, involving the idea of a con- 30 De Repub., iii, 22. A fragment preserved by Lactantius. 87 See J. Marshall, Short History of Greek Philosophy, p. 150. 6 4 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Neither dream nor vision to be considered in isolation. One su- preme God. scious personal existence in a life beyond the grave, it is necessary to consider the vision of Er, the Phaedo and the Phaedrus as a connected whole. 38 In order to obtain a complete and comprehensive view of Cicero's concep- tions on the same subject, it is necessary to consider Scipio's dream, not in isolation, but in connection with declarations contained in later works, notably the Tuscit- J lanae Disputationes, the De Senectute and the De Natura Deorum. Between the speculations of Plato, made, let us say, about 370 B.C., and those of Cicero, made between 54 B.C. and 44 B.C., there was an interval of something more than three hundred years. During that interval it was that the new world-religion known as Stoicism came upon; the stage, reaching its maturity under Chrysippus who died about 208 B.C. By Panaetius it was carried to Rome and there became firmly rooted between 140 B.C. and 1 29 B.C., the date of the death of Scipio the younger. And so before the time came for Cicero to formulate in philo- sophical and theological treatises the new thought of Rome upon the question of questions involving the im- mortality of the soul and a higher life beyond the grave, Stoicism had practically annihilated Pantheism, so far as its followers were concerned, by the recognition of one supreme God, "the supreme Reason, the Logos or Word, whose divine being permeated the universe . . . I. a first Cause, a Cause of causes, the initial link in the unending chain of events." 39 By that magnificent notion , of one supreme God, creating and governing everything through permanent, uniform, and universal law, the swarm of little gods was practically annihilated by being 38 Cf. H. N. Fowler, Plato: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phae- drus, in "The Loeb Classical Library." 89 Arnold, pp. 218-19. CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 65 reduced to mere personifications of physical forces. Little gods Armed with that new Stoic conception of a single God, ficatbnsof and with that logic in which the Stoics were such adepts, physical Cicero was able to re-define the immortality of the soul, and a conscious personal existence after death, in a civic heaven if you please, with a distinctness and convincing power which a dreaming philosopher like Plato, not so armed, had never been able to impart to such thoughts. The Roman philosopher did not hesitate to say to his Cicero's defi- fellow-man, You were born, not by chance, but in obe- mtlonso ' * ' immortality. dience to the law of the "Lord and Father," who will not only care for you while you are here, but will pro- vide for you an eternal haven of rest and glory after death. In one place he says : Whatever that principle is which feels, conceives, lives, and exists, it is heavenly and divine, and therefore must be eternal; 40 In another: That divine principle, that rules within us, forbids us to leave this world without the order of the Divinity ; 41 In another: The divine soul is drawn down from its lofty home, and, so to say, plunged into the earth, an abode which is by nature the antithesis of divinity and eternity ; 42 In another: Therefore for many other reasons, the souls of the good appear to me to be divine and eternal; but chiefly on this account, be- :ause the soul of the best and wisest has such anticipation of a future state of being, that it seems to center its thoughts only on eternity ; 43 In another: Be assured that for all those who have in any way conduced to the 40 Tusc. Disp., i, 27. * 2 De Settee, xxi. 41 Sotn. Scip., 3. 43 Pro Rabirio, x. 66 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS preservation, defense, and enlargement of their native country, there is certainly a place in heaven where the blessed shall enjoy eternal life. 44 In another: If I am in error in believing that the soul of man is immortal, I err willingly; nor have I any desire, while life lasts, to eradicate the error in which I take delight. But if, after death (as some small philosophers think), I shall feel nothing, I have no fear that those departed philosophers will ridicule my error; 45 In another: To separate the soul from the body, is to learn to die, and nothing else whatever. Wherefore take my advice ; and let us meditate on this, and separate ourselves as far as possible from the body, that is to say, let us accustom ourselves to die. This will be enjoying a life like that of heaven even while we remain on earth ; and when we are carried thither and released from these bonds, our souls will make their progress with more rapidity; for the spirit which has always been fettered by the bonds of the body, even when it is disengaged, advances more slowly, just as those do who have worn fetters for many years ; 46 In another: For we have not been framed or created, without design nor by chance, but there has been truly some certain power, which had in view the happiness of mankind ; neither producing, nor maintain- ing a being, which, when it had completed all its labors, should then sink into the eternal misery of death. Rather let us think that there is a haven and refuge prepared for us. 47 Advanced These lucid and enraptured statements mark the dis- beyond Plato t j t spiritual advance made during the three centuries by the aid r of Stoicism, that intervene between Plato and Cicero, through the application by the latter to the question of questions of that body of thought known as Stoicism which matured after Plato's time. The Roman philosopher's overshad- 44 Som. Sap., 3. 4B De Senec, xxxiii. 46 Tusc. Disp., i, 31. 47 Ibid., i, 47. CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 67 tian Fathers and Petrarch. owing influence in the making of that advance represents the most important outcome of his Greek culture. Forty- three years before Christ came into the world Cicero passed out of it, after having formulated, as the foremost expounder of Roman Stoicism, clear and definite con- ceptions of immortality to which the vague and shadowy dreams of Plato were "as moonlight is to sunlight, as water unto wine." It is not therefore strange that the early Christian Fathers, notably St. Ambrose, St. Jerome Early Chris and St. Augustine, should have been such ardent Cicero- nians. Animated by their spirit Petrarch says: "You would fancy sometimes it was not a pagan philosopher, but a Christian apostle, who was speaking." During the year 79 B.C., six months of which Cicero devoted to the study of philosophy at Athens under the direction of Antiochus of Askalon, he also received rhe- torical instruction from the famous and experienced teacher, Demetrius of Syria. It seems to be clear that while at Athens he, together with his friend Atticus, was initiated into the mysteries of Eleusis. 48 In the next year he crossed the Aegean for travel in Asia. We have in his own words this brief account of his tour abroad, its motive, and its results: 48 In his dissertation On the Laws, ii, 9, he says: "Let there be no nocturnal sacrifices performed by women, except those which they offer according to custom on behalf of the people; and let none be initiated in the mysteries except by the usual forms consecrated to Ceres, according to the Grecian ceremonials." Mr. Collins in his volume on Cicero, in "Ancient Classics for English Readers," says that the Eleusinian mysteries "contained under this thin veil whatever faith in the Invisible and Eternal rested in the mind of an enlightened pagan." See De Leg., ii, 14, where Cicero says: "Of all the glories and divine gifts which your Athens has produced for the improvement of men, nothing surpasses these mysteries by which the harshness of our uncivilized life has been softened, and we have been lifted up to humanity; and as they are called initio., by which aspirants were initiated, so we have in truth found in them the seeds of a new life. Nor have we received from them only the means of living with satisfaction, but also of dying with a better hope as to the future." From Athens to Asia. 68 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Description of his tour. Antiochus and Demetrius. Asiatic rhetoricians. Molo of Rhodes. When my friends, therefore, and physicians, advised me to engage no more in forensic causes, I resolved to run any risk rather than quit the hopes of glory which I had proposed to myself from pleading. When I considered that, by managing my voice, and changing my way of speaking, I might both avoid all future danger of that kind and speak with greater ease, I resolved to travel in Asia, merely for an opportunity to correct my manner of speaking. So that after I had been two years at the bar and acquired some reputation in the Forum, I left Rome. When I came to Athens, I spent six months with Antiochus, the principal and most judicious philosopher of the Old Academy; and under that able master, I renewed those philosophical studies which I had laboriously cultivated and improved from my earliest youth. At the same time, however, I continued my rhetorical exercises under Demetrius the Syrian, an experienced and reputable master of the art of speaking. After leaving Athens, I traversed every part of Asia, where I was voluntarily attended by the principal orators of the country, with whom I renewed my rhetorical exercises. The chief of them was Menippus of Stratonika, the most eloquent of all the Asiatics ; and if to be neither tedious nor impertinent is the characteristic of an Attic orator, he may be justly ranked in that class. Diony- sius of Magnesia, Aeschylus of Cnidos, and Xenocles of Adra- myttium, who were esteemed the first rhetoricians of Asia, were continually with me. Not contented with these, I went to Rhodes, and applied myself again to Molo, whom I had heard before at Rome, and who was both an experienced pleader and a fine writer, and particularly judicious in remarking the faults of his scholars, as well as in his method of teaching and improving them. His principal trouble with me was to restrain the luxuriance of a youthful imagination, always ready to overflow its banks, within its due and proper channel. Thus, after an excursion of two years, I returned to Italy, not only much improved, but almost changed into a new man. The vehemence of my voice and action was considerably abated; the excessive ardor of my language was corrected ; my lungs were strengthened; and rny whole constitution confirmed and settled. 49 49 Brut., 91. CICERO'S GREEK CULTURE 69 Cicero's reference to his visit to Rhodes suggests the Posidonius. name of the famous Stoic philosopher Posidonius, a pupil of Panaetius, who, next to his master, did more perhaps than any other to spread Stoicism throughout the Roman world. After he had settled down as a teacher at Rhodes, 50 attracting thither many students, he became well known to many leading Romans, such as Marius, Rutilius Rufus, Pompey, and Cicero. From Rhodes he came to Rome on a mission in 86 B.C. not long before the death of Marius. That he made a profound impression upon the rising statesman there can be no doubt. When Greek Cicero wrote his Greek memoir on his consulate (-repl cicenft VTrareias) he Sent it to Posidonius who was tO Compose a consulate. more formal and finished work on that basis. In a letter to Atticus he says : I sent my memoir to Posidonius, that he might use it as a foundation of a more eloquent treatise on the same subject; but he writes back to me from Rhodes that, when he read my book, far from being encouraged to write, he felt himself fairly warned off the ground. Now you see ! I have discomfited the whole tribe of Greeks, and so the lot of them, who used to press me for material which they might work up, have ceased to bother me. 61 Cicero seems to have made use of the writing of Posi- donius in De Natura Deorum, ii ; De Divinatione, i ; and in the first half of the Tusculanae Disputationes. 52 The story goes that on his return from Rhodes to Italy he stopped at Delphi where he is said to have asked "how visit to he might become very famous." We may fancy that the Del P hl - secret was revealed to him, despite his incredulity as to the divination emanating from that source. 53 80 He is often described as "of Rhodes," although he came from Apamea in Syria. 61 Ad Att., ii, 1. 52 Cf. Schmekel, Die Phil, der mitt. Stoa, 1892, p. 98, etc. 63 Cf. De Div., ii, 32. CHAPTER IV At the age of sixteen Cicero assumed the toga virilis. Presented by his father to Scaevola, the augur. Family of the Mucii and gratu- itous law teaching. THE ROMAN BAR IN CICERO'S TIME Having traced the growth of Cicero's Greek culture from his youthful beginnings under the poet Archias down to his return from his first tour abroad, let us go back to the year 91 B.C., when, in his sixteenth year, he was brought, according to custom, before the praetor in the Forum, in order that he might there lay aside his boyish dress, toga praetexta, for the toga virilis, the badge of incipient manhood, the token of his introduc- tion into public life. While we do not know whether his father was present on that solemn occasion, Cicero tells us expressly that immediately thereafter he pre- sented him to one of the most famous jurists of that time, the venerable Quintus Mucius Scaevola, known as the augur, who had been consul as early as 117 B.C.: My father, immediately after I had put on the dress of man- hood, introduced me to him, instructing me that, so far as I found it possible and was permitted to do so, I should remain continu- ally at his side. And so I committed to memory many of his wise discourses and pithy sayings, and strove to learn from his wisdom. 1 Like all who aspired to the great offices of state, Scaevola had sought popularity by undertaking gratui- tously the advocacy of causes in the courts of justice, and by giving gratuitous advice on points of law to all who desired it. To that was added gratuitous law teaching, the family of the Mucii having been famous for expert 1 De Amicit., i. 70 THE ROMAN BAR IN CICERO'S TIME yi knowledge in the civil law for several generations. Apart from pleading in the courts, a Roman jurist was expected to occupy himself with consultations, reading, and authorship. Thus the house of every jurisconsult The open was always open not only to suitors but to students, who ju "^consult, came to listen to the responsa prudentium or legal opin- ions, generally delivered in the form of familiar con- versations. 2 It was the business of the student to take Duties of a notes of all such deliverances of the master, and to com- awstu ent# mit his sayings or maxims to memory, following him to the Rostra when he addressed the people, and to the courts when he pleaded as an advocate. Under such a system of instruction, widely different from our own, Cicero, together with his friend Atticus, was admitted into the atrium of Scaevola who, at daybreak, held con- ferences with his consulting clients, which all were at liberty to attend. In the De Orator e (i, 45) we read: For what is more noble than for an old man, who has held the Tribute to highest honors and offices in the state, to be able justly to say Q ulntus for himself that which the Pythian Apollo says in Ennius: that ; nt h e he is the person from whom, if not nations and kings, yet all his De Oratore. fellow-citizens, solicit advice — Uncertain how to act; whom by my aid, I send away undoubting, full of counsel, No more with rashness things perplex'd to sway — For without doubt the house of an eminent lawyer is the oracle of the whole state. Of this fact the gate and vestibule of our I friend Quintus Mucius is a proof. Even in his very infirm state of health and advanced age, it is daily frequented by a vast crowd of citizens, and by persons of the highest rank and con- sequence. There had been a time when the Twelve Tables were taught every schoolboy, who was compelled to learn 2 See the author's Science of Jurisprudence, p. 91. 72 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Twelve Tables superseded by the edict in law teaching. Scaevola the pontifex maximus. Father of Roman law because its first codifier. Declared dishonorable contracts invalid. them as a necessary lesson or "song." But certainly before the close of Cicero's life, the edict, the "living voice of the civil law," 3 had taken the place of the "song of the Twelve Tables" in the education of the youth of Rome. 4 After the death of his first instructor in the civil law, who was a leader among the Stoics, Cicero attached him- self to another of that sect, Quintus Mucius Scaevola, the younger, a nephew of the augur. The new teacher, who was pontifex maximus, occupies a much more con- spicuous place in the history of Roman law than the old one as he was the only jurist of the Republic from whose works the makers of the Digest drew any direct extract. 5 He has been called the father of Roman law because he was the first to codify it in eighteen volumes. 6 He also wrote a book on definitions, reflecting no doubt the in- terest felt by the Stoics in that part of logic. He was consul in 95 B.C., and after his consulship he was ap- pointed governor of Asia, joining in that capacity with his former quaestor, Rutilius Rufus, in an attempt to repress the extortions of the -publicum. He took a decisive step in declaring all dishonorable contracts invalid. 7 When the equites brought Rutilius to trial in 92 B.C., Scaevola defended him with the simple dignity 8 Marcian in Dig., i, i, 8: "nam et ipsum jus honorarium viva vox est juris civilis." 4 "Non ergo a praetoris edicto, ut plerique nunc, neque a xil Tabulis, ut superiores .... hauriendam juris disciplinam putas." — De Leg., i, 5. See also De Leg., ii, 23: "discebamus enim pueri xii, ut carmen necessa- rium: quas jam nemo discit." Cf. A. H. J. Greenidge, Roman Public Life, p. 205, notes 2 and 3. H. J. Roby, Introduction to the Study of Justinian's Digest, etc., p. exxiii, Cambridge, 1884. 6 Pomponius, I. c, §41. 7 "Ego habeo [exceptionem] tectiorem ex. Q. Mucii, P. F. edicto Asiatico; extra quam si ita negotium gestum est, ut eo start non oporteat ex fide bona; multaque sum secutus Scaevolae." — Ad Att., vi, 1. See Arnold, p. 384. THE ROMAN BAR IN CICERO'S TIME 73 of a Stoic, without disregarding entirely the graces of elegance. 8 In making his famous codification of Roman law the pontifex departed from the traditional method of merely interpreting the words of the statutes or formulas relat- ing to procedure or juristic acts. Instead, he arranged, for the first time, the positive law of Rome according to the subject dealt with, thus laying a permanent foun- dation for the labors of his successor. Rising above the mere discussion of isolated cases or questions of law, he began the development of legal science by defining in Hiscontri- clear and definite terms the nature of such legal institu- waTscience. tions as wills, legacies, guardianships, sales, hiring, and the like, and their various genera. Through the definition and employment of general legal conceptions he was the first to lift Roman private law above all the complexities of detail. 9 Thus as the Republican period drew to a close, the responses of the pontifices, by which the development of law had mainly been carried on during the earlier part of it, began to assume a form which must have been fatal to their fur- ther expansion. By such treatises as that of Scaevola they were systematized and reduced to compendia. In the writings of Cicero can be traced a growing dislike 'for the older methods as compared with the more active i instruments of legal innovation. By this time the edict, Edict of the or annual proclamation of the praetor had gained credit engine^f 11 jas the principal engine of law reform. Therefore Cicero legal reform, tells us, as before stated, that certainly in his later years, 8 "Dixit causam illam quadam ex parte Q. Mucius, more suo, nullo adparatu, pure et dilucide." — De Orat., i, 53. 9 As to Scaevola's work, see von P. Kruger, Geschichte der Quellen und \Litteratur des Romischen Rechts, Berlin, 1888, pp. 59, 60; Burckhardt, Zeitschrift der Savigny Stiftung fur Rechts geschichte, herausg. von Bruns, Bekker, u. Roth. Weimar, 1880, and subsequently, ix, 286ff. 74 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Cicero's resolve to win senato- rial dignity. Roman bar as a stepping- stone. the Twelve Tables were neglected by the boys in school who were directed instead to the praetor's edict for their first lessons in law. 10 In removing to the city, Cicero's father, a man of culture and some fortune, whose ambition was centered entirely in his sons, hoped, no doubt, that they would thus be enabled to enter politics, and, in that way, estab- lish senatorial families. At the age of 52, Marcus, in a letter to Quintus, said: It cuts me to the heart, my dearest brother, to the heart, to think that there is no Republic, no law courts, and that my present life, which ought to have been in full bloom of sena- torial dignity, is distracted with the labors of the Forum or eked out by private studies, and that the object on which from boy- hood I had set my heart, "Far to excel, and tower above the crowd," is entirely gone. 11 To win senatorial dignity was Cicero's dominating ambition from his boyhood, and to that eminence there was but one road open to him — the Roman bar which, in the better days of the Republic, was looked upon as 10 Servius Sulpicius, a contemporary of Cicero, born about 106 B.C., is said to have been the greatest jurist of the Republican period. See Brut., xl-xlii. As to his works, see Pompon., 1. c, 43, 44. His pupil was Aulus Ofilius, often called the Tribonian of the Republican period, who is sup- posed to have been consulted by Julius Caesar as to his great but unrealized plan for a codification of Roman law. On that subject, see Sanio, Rechts- historische Adhandlnngen u. Studien (Konigsberg, 1845), pp. 68-126. Gibbon says: "The jurisprudence which had been grossly adapted to the wants of the first Romans was polished and improved in the seventh cen- tury of the city by the alliance of Grecian philosophy. The Scaevolas had been taught by use and experience; but Servius Sulpicius was the first civilian who established his art on a certain and general theory. For the discernment of truth and falsehood, he applied, as an infallible rule, the logic of Aristotle and the Stoics, reduced particular cases to general prin- ciples, and diffused over the shapeless mass the light of order and eloquence." — Decline and Fall, vol. iv, p. 457. 11 Cicero, Ad Quintum Fratrem, iii, 5-6. The quotation is from Homer, Iliad, vi, 208: iroWbv dpiareveiv /cat vireipoxov i/i/j.eva.i &\\ui>. THE ROMAN BAR IN CICERO'S TIME 75 a stepping stone, an initiation into the great offices of state through which a seat in the Senate could be secured. To be a leader of the Roman bar at the time in question was to be a great actor on the brilliantly lighted stage set in the midst of a Forum whose history is a part of the history of the world. In the time of the Republic, Rome had but one Forum which, when viewed in a comprehensive way, was an open-air theatre in which was enacted in the presence of the assembled people the great events in her political and juristic life. That Forum Romanum or Magnum, The Forum as it was afterward called to distinguish it from the or °^"„^ m imperial fora, occupied a valley which extended from the foot of the Capitoline Hill to the northeast part of the Palatine, and in early times it was bounded on two sides by rows of shops and houses, dating from the era of the first Tarquin. As the city grew, the Forum was developed into a vast quadrilateral, inclosed by a kind of open porticoes or promenades, created by the erection of double rows of columns, so separated as to admit of easy circulation, and supporting at the same time archi- traves, on which galleries were constructed. In the great days of Hortensius and Cicero, discus- Forensic sions in the Forum were a kind of fete, attended by all d J scussl0 " s a * kind of fete. classes of citizens and strangers, constituting a crowd so . vast as to overflow its limits into the surrounding temples 1 of Saturn of Vesta of Castor and Pollux and of Peace 1 i or Concordia, extending at times even to the galleries ' of private residences. 12 12 For all details connected with this branch of the subject, I refer to ', the brilliant and invaluable work, Le Barreau Romain, by Grellet- i Dumazeau, 2d ed., Paris, 1858, especially to i, Origine du Barreau Romain, p. 35; v, Costume de I'avocat, p. 107; vi, Des honoraires, p. 113; ix, L'avocat a I'audience, p. 156; xi, Duree des plaidoiries et comment itaient r ecu el lies, p. 184.. 7 6 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Forum a great popular university. Advocate, robed in his toga, attend- ed by a juris- consult and secretary. . Curule chair of the praetor. All men of all ranks are present, and of all ages; the Forum is full, the temples around the Forum are full, all the approaches to this place and to this temple are full. 13 While there was a structure known as the Middle Forum (Forum Medium), so conveniently situated that it could be used in the event of storms, the people accus- tomed to the brilliant climate of Italy, preferred that the debates, certainly in the great criminal trials, should take place in the open court of the Forum, "sub Jove frigido aut torrido." Here then was the great popular university of Rome in which the citizens acquired the most practical part of their political and juristic education; here it was that the best orators displayed the fruits of long and patient train- ing under Greek and Oriental rhetoricians; here it was that the populus Romanus, accustomed to oratory of the highest order, became almost as critical as the patrician Senate. Into the Forum the advocate, in English parlance the barrister, went robed in his toga, attended generally by a jurisconsult, a secretary, and his numerous clients. In that day as in this, few distinguished orators were will- ing to assume the responsibility of a great cause unas- sisted by a jurisconsult or legal adviser, charged with the duty of examining the facts and the law applicable to them, and of making suggestions as to the best man- ner of presenting the various points involved. The tri- bunal consisted of the stage upon which the curule chair 14 of the praetor was placed in front of a spear and 13 In Catilinam, iv, 7. 14 Being made of wood, these tribunals could be removed when the entire area of the Forum was required for gladiatorial or other purposes. — Pro Sestio, 15; Pro Cluentio, 34; In Pisone, 5; Hor., Sat., ii, 6, 35; Asconius, Ad Cic. Niel. Arg., p. 34. The trial had to begin after daybreak * THE ROMAN BAR IN CICERO'S TIME 77 sword, as emblems of authority. If the trial was a criminal one, then the praetor was assisted by judices, The judices judges, taken from an annual list and drawn by lot na i cases . (sortitio). As will be explained hereafter, the classes from which the judices were taken varied, as did also their number. In the famous case of Clodius the number was fifty-six. After the judices were selected, subject to certain chal- lenges, and sworn, they took their seats arranged in a semicircle below that of the praetor. 15 To the left of the judices and a few steps distant from them sat the accused. The accuser sat on the opposite side, Roman ilaw knowing no such thing as an official prosecutor. 16 No official The advocate, his secretaries, 17 and jurisconsult took pros itheir places at the bar, near the accused. The accuser [opened and the advocate for the defense closed, it Ibeing the better opinion that there was no reply. 18 It was therefore important to every advocate that the praetor, who formulated the question for discussion, should so present it as to give to his client the conclu- sion. After the introduction of Greek methods, the orations Formal were rigorously divided into parts, each oration consist- anorat i on . ing of the exordium, narration, confirmation, refutation, and peroration. At the moment of the delivery of the and end an hour before sunset. The place of trial was the Forum — "forum plenum judicorum." In Verr., v, 55, 143. See also the lex Acilia, "» 37. 38, 65, 66. 15 As to the growth of Roman criminal law and the quaestiones fer- petuae, see the author's Science of Jurisprudence, pp. 591-92; Maine, ph. v. 16 Pro Caecin, xxix and lix; Quintil., vi, 1. As to the method of his ^election by the court, see the preliminary procedure in the case of Verres, IP- 140- 17 Cicero, In Verrem, ii, 10. 18 Grellet-Dumazeau, p. 165. 78 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Artifices to excite sympathy. Trials of Aquilius and Galba. Congratula- tions and applause of advocate. last, the advocate was expected to put forth his entire strength, supplemented by every artifice calculated to excite the sympathy of the court. One would hold a child in his arms as he walked around the tribunal; an- other would uncover the infected wounds of his clients; while still another, pleading for a young girl whom the opposing party refused to recognize as his sister, carried his client to the brother's seat and there thrust her into his arms. On one occasion an advocate pleading for a widow had placed behind him a por- trait of the deceased husband, feeble and deformed, from which his agents were told to lift the veil whenever by a cast of his eyes he indicated that his peroration had begun. A notable performance of that kind occurred at the trial of Manius Aquilius, an old consul accused of ex- tortion. Just as he was about to be condemned his advo- cate, after forcing him to rise from his seat, tore open his tunic and thus revealed many scars of wounds received in defense of the Republic. Judges and advocates were moved to tears, and the accused acquitted. 19 By the same kind of an artifice Galba succeeded in escaping a menacing accusation. At the critical moment his chil- dren were brought before the tribunal, where he declared solemnly that before leaving them he desired to confide them to the care of the Roman people. When the pleading was over the clients and friends of the advocate would press around him with congratu- lations. 20 If the public had been moved he was saluted with acclamations. Even while the oration was being delivered, applause was sometimes indulged in. We know that such was the custom in the time of Cicero 19 De Oral., ii, 47. 20 Quintil., xii, 10. THE ROMAN BAR IN CICERO'S TIME 79 because Quintilian says that the orator, during his pleading for Cornelius Balbus, was applauded by his auditors, velut mente captos et quo essent in loco ignaros. 21 Most people will be surprised to learn that the pro- stenograph- ceedings of Roman tribunals were taken down by an ,cre P° rters - organized body of reporters known as notarii, actuarii, scribae, exceptores, amanuenses, some of whom were stenographic reporters. 22 Quintilian (xi, 2) says: Habeamus enim sane ut qui notis scribunt, certas ima- gines. Such of these scribes as were clothed in an official character, and some who were not, took down the statements of parties, the depositions of witnesses, and made stenographic reports of the speeches. To the great skill of such scribes Martial pays this tribute: Currant verba licet, manus est velocior illis. Accord- ing to Plutarch such stenographic reports were first made Such reports during the consulship of Cicero, who says that the speech |j rst . made for Messala by his great friend and contemporary, Hor- Cicero's tensius, was taken down on the spot, word for word. 23 consu s ip ' Copies of addresses so reported were often sent to the provinces by the younger members of the bar. It is not therefore strange that they should have been carefully prepared beforehand by the advocates, most of whom spoke from notes, many writing out the more important parts of the discourse in full. Cicero scarcely ever failed to make such preparation, following it, after the close, with a careful revision that excluded all care- 21 viii, 5; Pliny, Efistolae, ii, 14; vii, 6; Martial, Epigrammata, iii, 46. 22 "II existait pres les tribunaux des teneurs de notes ou greffiers charges de coustater les dires des parties et les declarations de temoins (5) ; ils itaient organises et formaient une corporation." — Le Barreau Romain, p. 196. 23 Brut., 96. 8o CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS revised speech for Milo. lessness of expressions and inelegancies of style. Nota- His carefully bly in the case of Milo the revised version of his speech as published by him was so much more eloquent than the stenographic report, which came to the hands of Asconius and Quintilian, that the exiled Milo, when he saw it at Marseilles, exclaimed: "O Cicero! if you had only spoken as you have written, I would not now be i eating the very excellent fish of Marseilles." 24 As will be explained hereafter the five famous orations against Verres were never spoken at all. They were published afterward as they had been prepared, and as they would have been spoken if Verres had made a regular defense. There can be no question that Cicero's published speeches exercised an immense influence on public opinion. When we consider the extent of their possessions and the luxurious splendor of their lives, it is certain that the professional incomes of Cicero and Hortensius must \ have been enormous. An account will hereafter be given of the great mansion purchased by Cicero on the Pala- tine, built by the Roman millionaire Crassus, and of the procession of villas, extending from the north to the fl south, and situated near the towns of Tusculum, Antium, Asturia, Sinuessa, Arpinum, Formiae, Cumae, Puteoli, and Pompeii — the first and favorite one having been J bought with borrowed money. And yet despite such an array of town and country houses, Cicero seems to have been surpassed in extrava- gance by his senior Hortensius. One of his many villas was also situated near Tusculum in which he had accu- mulated a gallery of costly pictures. It is said that he even watered some of his plants with wine. In his Laurentian villa famous for its magnificent park, he 24 Cassius Dion, xl, 54. Villas of Hortensius and Cicero, THE ROMAN BAR IN CICERO'S TIME 81 collected at great cost, a vast variety of animals. But of all his villas that of Pauli near Baiae, the fashionable watering place frequented by the Roman aristocracy, was the most famous by reason of its immense reservoirs for the preservation and culture of fish, in whose care a large number of fishermen were employed. 25 As an epicure and arbiter of fashion in matters of luxury and taste Hortensius, who was the first among the Romans to serve peacocks on his table, was at the head of the list. While his house on the Palatine was not so pretentious as some of his villas, it was found to be good enough to serve as a residence for Augustus. 26 In order to maintain such almost oriental magnificence it was necessary for Hortensius and Cicero to derive S enormous compensation from their professional services, either in the form of presents or legacies, despite the finally innocuous Lex Cincia, de donis et muneribus , also I called Lex muneralis, designed to make such services gratuitous. And here it may not be amiss to reproduce | Cicero's own estimate of himself as compared with Cotta l and Hortensius. In the Brutus he says: Two orators then reigned in the Forum (I mean Cotta and Hortensius), whose glory fired my ambition. Cotta's way of I speaking was calm and easy and distinguished by the flowing elegance and propriety of his language. The other was splendid, | warm, and animated ; not so much as you, my Brutus, have seen j him, when he had shed the blossom of his eloquence, but far more 'lively and pathetic both in his style and action. As Hortensius, 25 Valerius Maximus, Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium Libri, ix, 1I4, 1; Varro, Re Rustica, iii, 81, 17; Pliny, Historic Naturalis, ix, 55; Suetonius, Augustus, 72; Brut., 88 sqq. 26 Not until after his victory at Actium did Augustus build the Imperial • Palace, having purchased for that purpose several neighboring houses, i among them that which had belonged to Catiline. Velleius Paterculus, ii, !8i ; Suetonius, De lllustribus Grammaticis, xvii ; T. H. Dyer, City of Rome: History and Monuments, p. 199. Hortensius as an epicure and arbiter of fashion. Enormous compensation despite the Lex Cincia. Cicero's estimate of Cotta and Hortensius. 82 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS therefore, was nearer to my age, and his manner more agreeable to the natural order of my temper, I considered him as the proper object of my competition After his consulship (I suppose because he saw that he was beyond comparison the first speaker among the consulars and took no account of those who had not attained that dignity), Hortensius relaxed the efforts which he had exerted from his boyhood up, and being well off in every way chose to pass his time more agreeably, as he thought, or at any rate less laboriously. Just as the brilliancy fades from the coloring of an old picture, so the first, the second, and the third year each robbed him of something not noticeable by a casual observer, but which an edu- cated and discerning critic could detect. .... When, therefore, the once eloquent and admired Hortensius, had almost vanished from the Forum, my appointment to the consulship, which hap- pened about six years after his own promotion to that office, revived his dying ambition; for he was unwilling that after I had equalled him in rank and dignity I should become his superior in any other respect. But in the twelve succeeding years, by a mutual deference to each other's abilities, we united our efforts at the bar in the most friendly manner; and my consulship, which had at first given a short alarm to his jealousy, afterwards cemented our friendship, by the generous candor with which he applauded my conduct. 27 Necessity for In the light of what has now been said as to the possi- bility of winning both fame and fortune at the Roman bar, is it strange that Quintilian should have declared that every ambitious Roman father was eager for his son to become an advocate? Certainly no exception was to be found in Cicero's father, who did all in his power to advance his son's ambition. And yet both perfectly understood the difficulties that beset the undertaking; difficulties only to be removed, even by the possessor of transcendent natural talents, through thorough training not only in law but in rhetoric and philosophy. Cicerol 27 Brut, 92-94. culture. THE ROMAN BAR IN CICERO'S TIME 83 was perfectly conscious of the fact that much of the great success that came to him, after his return from Cicero's Greece was due to his training in philosophy, which puJJjJJj^ he describes as "the fountain head of all perfect elo- quence, the mother of all good work." 28 Trained from his boyhood under the best of masters, the plans of the young aspirant, who hoped "far to excel, and tower above the crowd," advanced prosperously until suddenly blighted by the frost of the terrible Italian war which completely disorganized the political and judi- cial machinery of the state. Just as Cicero, now in his eighteenth year, was beginning his law studies under the venerable Scaevola, the augur, the war deepened in in- tensity, the consuls for the year 89 B.C. being Cn. Pom- peius Strabo and L. Porcius Cato. It is in the spring of that year that we catch a glimpse of him as a young A soldier recruit going to the battlefield, attached in some capacity itaiiao war. to the praetorium and the person of the consul Pompeius Strabo himself. In reference to this connection with the northern army under Strabo, he says: Cnaeus Pompeius, the son of Sextus, being consul, in my pres- ence, when I was serving my first campaign in his army, had a conference with Publius Vettius Scato, the general of the Mar- sians, between the camps. And I recollect that Sextus Pompeius, the brother of the consul, a very learned and wise man, came thither from Rome to the conference. And when Scato had saluted him, "What," said he, "am I to call you?" "Call me," said he, "one who is by inclination a friend, by necessity an enemy." That conference was conducted with fairness: there was no fear, no suspicion; even their mutual hatred was not great; for the allies were not seeking to take our city from us, but to be them- selves admitted to share the privileges of it. 29 It was during that campaign that the young Marcus 28 Brut., 93. 29 Cicero, 12 Philippicae, xi. 8 4 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS First contact with Pompey the Great. All courts closed except Commission for High Treason. Great advo- cates away with the army. came for the time into contact with the consul's son, very near his own age, known in after years as Pompey the Great, a friend destined to exercise such a marked influence on his after life. All hope of a forensic career was suspended of course, for the moment, by the war, which swept the more im- portant advocates into the army, and closed all the courts except the Commission for High Treason, before which were brought the noblest men in Rome upon the charge of having "incited the allies to revolt." Among the vic- tims was the great advocate Caius Cotta of whom Cicero writes: "His exile just at the time when I was most anxious to hear him was the first untoward incident in. my career." 30 As Crassus had died the year before, and as his great rival Antonius, the famous orator of the seniors, Sulpicius Rufus, the most distinguished among the advocates in middle life, and Hortensius, the rising light of the younger bar, were away with the army, Cicero who, in the fall of 89 B.c. ; had returned to his father's house in the Carinae, was compelled to content himself with listening to the magistrates. He says: The only trial we had, was that upon the Varian law ; the rest, ' as I have just observed, having been intermitted by the war. We< had scarcely anybody left at the bar but Lucius Memmius and] Quintus Pompeius, who spoke mostly on their own affairs I The rest, who were esteemed our principal speakers, were then in the magistracy and I had the benefit of hearing their harangues, almost every day. Caius Curio was chosen a tribune of the people, though he left off speaking after being once deserted by his entire audience. To him I may add Quintus Metellus Celer, who,.; though certainly no orator, was far from being destitute of utter- ance; but Quintus Varius, Caius Carbo, and Cnaeus Pomponiu* were men of real eloquence, and might almost be said to have lived upon the rostra. 31 30 Brut., 89. 31 Ibid., 89. THE ROMAN BAR IN CICERO'S TIME 85 During the next year it was, the year of Sulla's first consulship (88 B.C.), that the Social War was trans- Social, trans- formed into a Civil War in which for the first time a civi | war Roman armies were opposed to each other on the battle- field, the leaders of the vanquished party being executed and their heads exposed on the rostra as those of enemies of the state. In the midst of such scenes such orators as Antonius, Sulpicius Rufus, Catulus, and Caius Julius 32 all perished before quiet was restored for a time in 86 B.C. - It was during the dreadful year 88 B.C. that Marius with many other leaders of the popular party were de- clared public enemies immediately after Sulla had seized the city. Then it was that the new dynast was defied to his face by the frail and aged jurist Scaevola, the augur, who died shortly afterward, thus opening the way for Cicero to continue his studies in the civil law under his kinsman Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex maximus, of whom mention has been made already. The midnight ■did not begin to break however until the return from the Past in 83 B.C. of Sulla, who, after a winter passed in Sulla's re- ampania, pressed forward to Rome, overthrowing the Battings bx! younger Marius in 82 B.C., and entering the city without further opposition. Soon a last stand was made by the Combined remnants of the Marians and Italians who were completely defeated in a battle fought under the svalls of the capital. In the midst of the bloody drama enacted in that clos- ing year of the Civil War, when each party seemed to >e intent upon the annihilation of the other, perished Scaevola, the pontifex maximus, who seems to have been Death cut down while fleeing from the Regia, his official resi- °, cac ™ a » 32 These, along with Crassus and his father-in-law, Mucius Scaevola, ippear in the De Oratore. the pontifex. 86 Sulla's dictatorship, 82 B.C. Cicero began his forensic career in his twenty-fifth year. CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS dence, to the sanctuary of Vesta, not far away, before the very image of the goddess. In referring to the inci- dent Cicero cries out: "Why was Scaevola, the pontifex maximus, that pattern of moderation and prudence, mas- sacred before the statue of Vesta?" 33 Not until after the Republic had been distracted for nearly ten years by a civil war which suspended all forms of constitutional government, whether by Senate or Assembly, the disorganization extending from Rome to Italy and from Italy to the provinces, was there a restoration of law and order under the dictatorship of Sulla, who in the year 82 B.C., demanded from the Senate the office of dictator for an indefinite period, with the power of life and death over every citizen, and with ple- nary powers for the reform of the constitution. When under the Sullan regime the courts were reopened with certain serious changes of organization as to criminal judicature to be noted hereafter, Cicero, then in his twen- ty-fifth year, began his forensic career. He says: This time was distinguished by a violent struggle to restore the liberty of the Republic; the barbarous slaughter of the three orators, Scaevola, Carbo, and Antistius; the return of Cotta, Curio, Crassus, Pompey, and the Lentuli; the re-establishment of the laws and courts of judicature, and the entire restoration of the commonwealth; but we lost Pomponius, Censorinus, and Murena, from the roll of orators. I now began, for the first time, to undertake the management of causes, both private and public; not with the view of learning on the Forum, as most did, but as far as had been in my power to accomplish, I came into the Forum fully trained. 84 83 Cicero, De Natura Deorum, Hi, 32. 84 Brut., 90. CHAPTER V THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION Having outlined the career of Cicero down to the dictatorship of Sulla when, on the completion of his twenty-fifth year, his public life really began, an attempt must next be made to outline, down to the same point of time, the growth of the Roman constitution, 1 because it is impossible to understand his career, either as an advo- cate or as a statesman, without a definite comprehension of the system of government, constitutional and legal, with which he had to deal. The beginnings of the Roman constitution are em- bedded in the traditional history of the great city-state that arose on the banks of the Tiber out of the union of a group or groups of village communities, which cer- tainly coalesced upon the general plan dominant in the Greek and Italian peninsulas. In Italy the village com- munity appears as the gens; out of a union of gentes arose the tribe; out of a union of tribes arose the city- state. It seems to be clear that the Italian city was rather the fortress, the place of meeting, the place of shelter, of the tribe, or collection of tribes, than the actual home and dwelling place which it was according j to Greek ideas. A group of Latin villages grew together I to form a border fortress of Latium on the Etruscan march. 2 1 "Constitutions are not made, they grow." — Sir James Macintosh. "Turn Laelius, nunc fit illud Catonis certius, nee temporis unius, nee hominis esse constitutionem Republicae." — De Repub., ii, 21. 2 The Latins began with a Markgenossenschaft, and the town, like the [British oppidum, was at first a mere place of defense in case of the attacks (of enemies. — E. A. Freeman, Comparative Politics, p. 257. 87 System of government with which Cicero had to deal. Roman con- stitution in the regal period. 88 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Rome as a city-state. Product of a process of federation. Curia the keystone. Members of the curiae constituted the populus Romanus. In the Latin city of Rome, 3 which gathered around it the various classes of citizens, half-citizens, allies, and subjects, all looking to the local city as the common center, the idea of the single independent city — the ruling city — reached its highest development. In the structure of the early Roman city-state, which arose out of the aggregation of a group of village communities, the marks of fusion are more distinct than the traces of the admix- ture of races. No one can tell how long the process of federation was in progress, while of the constitution and history of the united city-state in the early days of its existence it is impossible to give more than a meagre outline. According to tradition, the populus Romanus was divided into three tribes, Ramnes, Titienses, and Luce- res, 4 and into thirty curiae, each curia representing a group of gentes, and each gens a group of families. The curia, whose members were probably neighbors and kins- men, is generally regarded as the keystone of the primi- tive political system, and it doubtless represents a stage in political development midway between that in which clanship is the sole bond of union and that in which such claims as those of territorial contiguity and ownership of land have obtained recognition. Even in Cicero's time there were still curies, curial festivals, and curiate assem- blies. The members of the thirty curiae 5 constituted the 8 As to the admixture of non-Latin elements, Sabine and Etruscan, see Mommsen, Rbmische Geschichte, vol. i, p. 43. Jeffrey Gilbert, Forum Romanum (Topographie, i, c. 5), accepting the Sabine settlement, holds that in the union the Latin element decisively predominated. 4 The original legend, the topography of which there seems to be no good reason to doubt, comes out in Dionysius, ii, 50. For Mommsen's treat- ment of it, see Rom. Gesch., vol. i, p. 33. B But, although the curiae had local centers, membership of these bodies did not depend on residence in a given locality. It was hereditary, and if the members of a gens migrated from its curia, the gentiles were still members of that state division. — Greenidge, p. 41. THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 89 populus Romanus, and the earliest known condition of Roman citizenship is the communio sacrorum, partnership in the curial sacra. The soundest view is that the primitive Roman people of the thirty curiae included all the freemen of the community, simple as well as gentle. 6 The common chieftain, whose appointment federation made necessary, was the rex, the ruler of the united Rex as ruler people. 7 The terms interrex and interregnum go far to peop i e . prove not only that Rome once had kings, but that those kings were elective and not hereditary. There must have been a time when the interrex really was, as his name implies, the magistrate who was to preside at the election, not of consuls, but of a king. When, in later times, there were no "patrician magistrates" to hold elections for their successors, a procedure was adopted which we have every reason to believe represented the manner in which the early kings were chosen. 8 In the discharge of the manifold duties, secular and [religious, that clustered around the royal office, the king was assisted by a body of elders, a representative body of chiefs, who, as a permanent advising body, stood to the king as the family council to the house-father in the ;earliest times. The Roman Senate was, no doubt, an Origin loutgrowth and expansion of that idea. The senators, Senate 13 " the patres, taken from the leading gentes, held office for life, and, as the ultimate depository of the supreme power 8 Cf. Moramsen (Rbmische Forschungen, vol. i) as to the vexed question Df the purely patrician character of the curiae. 7 That he was once the priestly head of a community bound together by :ommon sacra is manifest from the survival of the rex sacrificulus, as he appears in Livy, vi, 41. But that his real title was rex sacrorum appears rom Livy himself (xxvii, 6). j 8 Cf. De Leg., iii, 3 ; Liv., iv, 7. 90 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Appoint- ment of an interrex. The popular assembly co- mitia curiata. Voting curiatim. Struggle of plebeians for political and legal equality. and of the sacra connected with it, they claimed the right to appoint the interrex from their own body, 9 to be con- sulted in the choice of the new king, and also the right to ratify the vote of the assembled freemen. Vacancies in their ranks were filled by the king, to whom they could give advice and counsel only when he saw fit to convene them. Before the close of the monarchy the number of senators, originally ioo, was gradually increased to 300. 10 Neither the Senate nor the popular assembly of united Rome could meet except when the king saw fit to con- vene them. In the earliest days that assembly (comitia curiata), in which the freemen voted by the curia, just as in an American convention the vote of the entire body may be taken by delegations, 11 met in the comitium 12 at the northeast end of the Forum, under the presidency of the king, or, in his absence, of the interrex. When the vote was put, the curiae were called in turn, and so voting took place curiatim. A majority of the votes of the curiae determined the final result, after the will of each curia had been declared by a majority of its qualified members. An attempt must next be made to indicate the process through which the clanless classes, known as plebeians, fought their way from a depressed condition to one of political and legal equality with the patrician body, whose members dominated and controlled the early Roman 9 Tradition dates the interregnum from the first vacancy in the royal office, after the death of Romulus. — De Repub., ii, 12, 23 ; Liv., i, 17 ; Dion., ii, 57. When such a vacancy occurred the auspices under which the state had been founded "returned to the patres" (Cicero, Ad. Brutum Orator, i, 5, 4) and not to the comitia curiata. 10 Liv., i, 8, 17, and 35; ii, 1; Greenidge, p. 59. 11 See Bryce, Studies in Hist, and Jur., p. 711. 12 Varro, L.L., v. 155. For the position of the comitium, see Smith, Dictionary of Geography, s. v. "Roma," and Jordan, Topog. d. Stadt Rom. i THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 91 state. Putting aside the guesses of the antiquarians as to the original sources from which the clanless classes were drawn, 13 it may be said that the plebeians (plebs, plebii) represented that part of the free community which stood beyond the pale of the patres, as the complement of that order. It is generally assumed that at a very early stage in the history of the city all plebeians were t in a half-servile condition of clientship. Even if it be admitted that the plebeians had the right to hold prop- erty, both movable and immovable, to transfer it by quiritarian modes of conveyance, and to have the pro- tection for it of the tribunals, the fact remains that they ;had no share in the government of the city, and no right to participate in its religion. While, even before the Servian reforms, the plebeians through the decay of clientage may have become half-fledged citizens, their intermarriage with the gentile houses was out of the question. During the first few centuries gentes they had none; a fact which placed them at a disadvantage in the matter of inheritance and guardianship. 14 The aim of the military, financial, and constitutional ireforms of Servius Tullus was to hasten the advance Advance to- 'toward equality between patricians and plebeians by rec- ward e( i ual - .... r \ r • • lty hastened ogmzing the latter for the first time as, in a sense, mem- by Servian bers of the state. The basis of the primitive military reforras - system had been the three tribes, each of which furnished one thousand men to the legions and one hundred men to the cavalry. 15 Servius undertook the formation of a 1 18 Freeman's guess is "that the new Roman people, the plebs, was made jp from the beginning of strictly local tribes ; it is certain that, as the state ?rew, it grew by the addition of fresh local tribes." — Comp. Pol., p. 70. 14 On these obscure subjects, see Mommsen, Staatsrecht, vol. i, pp. 66 sq., jp. 130 sq.; Bloch, Origines du senat romain, pp. 255 sq.; Karlowa, Rom. fRG., vol. i, p. 62 ; Cuq., Inst. Jurid., pp. 43 sq. I " Varro, L. L., v, 89. 02 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS New tribes invented for benefit of plebs. Wealth primary- basis of classification. new and enlarged army on a new footing, disregarding both the old clan divisions and the semi-religious, semi- political curiae. The new system rested on a distribution of all freeholders (assidui) into tribes, classes, and cen- turies. 16 As the new arrangement was to embrace the whole community, and as the plebeians, many of whom had no clans, could not be made members of the three primitive tribes, it was necessary to invent new tribes for their benefit which could include the whole community. 17 As a recognition of the rights of property was a nec- essary preliminary to the imposition of taxation and the full quota of military service, the tribes marked divisions of the land, and individuals were registered in that tribe in which their land allotment lay. 18 It is probable, how- ever, that the tribes were more than mere divisions of the land; they appear to be divisions of the populus Romanus, of which the disinherited or ruined patrician who had lost his land was still a member. 19 The central idea of the Servian reforms was essentially military, and its methods of registration recognized only those per- sons who were qualified for service by wealth — wealth being the primary basis of classification. For strategic purposes the new array was divided into classes, 20 ac- 16 De Repub., ii, 22; Liv. i, 4; Dion., iv, 16. 17 The four were the Palatina, Suburana, Exquilina, Collina. Cf. Liv., i, 43. Mommsen holds that "the four tribes are probably nothing more than the three Romulian increased through the territorium of the town on the Quirinal." — Staatsrecht, vol. iii, p. 125. 18 For that reason Servius is said to have prohibited transference of domicile or allotment. — Dion., iv, 14. 19 "The tribe to which a landless man belonged would depend upon his domicile." — Greenidge, p. 68. 20 For service in the first class the property qualification is given at 100,000 asses (Livy), for the second at 70,000, third 50,000, fourth 25,000, fifth 11,000. A certain acreage of land, as an original qualification, was probably changed afterward into a given sum of money. Cf. Mommsen, Romische Tubus, p. 115. THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 93 Registration a religious function. cording to age, the unit of organization being the cen- turia, consisting nominally of one hundred men. The act of registration (census) was a solemn religious func- tion conducted by the king, who numbered his fighting force, saw that each warrior was in his proper rank, ex- cluded from the ranks men who were stained with sin, and then concluded the examination with a ceremony of purification (lustrum). This system, at first exclusively military in its nature and objects, was subsequently adopted with modifications as the basis of the political system. Despite the fact that the primary purpose of the cen- turiate organization was the assembly and registration of those liable for military service, it was soon employed as a scheme for the collection of taxes on the registered wealth of the citizens of the classes. Thus a new and mixed assembly sprang into existence, the comitia cen- The comitia turiata, a citizen army, parliament and law court in one, centunata - i to which a preponderance of political power was inevita- bly transferred. While the older assembly of the patrician order, comi- \tia curiata, was not suddenly stripped of its functions, Growth of its i there was a large number of important public acts which Juns lctlon - were naturally performed from the first by the assembly of the centuries because especially within its jurisdiction. [To this assembly an announcement of a purpose to de- clare war could most appropriately be made; by the tax- payers here assembled the war tax (tributum) could be most conveniently assessed; here the oath of allegiance, probably renewed at every taking of the census, was ex- pressed in a lex centuriata, 21 and not, as at first, in a lex 21 "Majores de singulis magistratibus bis vos sententiam ferre volu- wrunt; nam cum centuriata lex censoribus ferebatur, cum curiata ceteris patriciis magistratibus, turn iterum de eisdem judicabatur." — Cicero, De \Lege Agraria, ii, n, 26. Cf. Greenidge, pp. 72-77. 94 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Supersedes the comitia curiata. Merely a survival in Cicero's time. curiata; and here, no doubt, was exercised the appellate power, when the king allowed an appeal in a criminal proceeding, because the regal jurisdiction which the people challenged by the provocatio was essentially mili- tary jurisdiction. Thus before the end of the regal period a silent yet momentous change was wrought in the structure of the primitive constitution through the transference of the substance of sovereignty from the comitia curiata, that assembly of a single order, to the comitia centuriata, representing both orders, now blended in the populus Romanus in the full sense of that term. In the process of time the oldest sovereign assembly of Rome, comitia curiata, became a mere shadow of its former self. Its chief surviving constitutional functions were the passing of the lex curiata, which was necessary for the ratification originally of the imperium, the creation of fresh patri- cian magistracies, and of the potestas which these in- volved. 22 For the performance of such acts the comitia curiata was in Cicero's day often represented by but thirty lictors, 23 and the same scanty attendance may have sufficed for the other formal acts retained from earlier times. 24 22 Messala ap. Getl., xiii, 15, 4: "Minoribus creatis magistratibus tributis comitiis magistratus, sed Justus curiata datur lege." 23 De Leg. Agr., ii, 12, 31. 24 These are the acts of the comitia calata. Upon the whole subject, see the interesting statements of Greenidge, pp. 26-27, 250-51 and notes. After the overthrow of the Republic, all the Roman popular assemblies died out and became obsolete without being formally abolished. The power of direct legislation then passed to the Senate. The comitia gradually became a mere name under Augustus and Tiberius. Caius, after professing to restore the assembly to its old powers, with- drew his own gift. For a notable description of the change, see Dion Cassius, lix, 20, who says: airidwKe (lev yap ras apxa-ipecrlas avrois- ire Si iicetvwv re dpyoripcav virb to£S ttoWw XP° V V P-ySev ekevOepws KexpVf laTlK ^'" 11 is rb Spdv ri twv irpocnjKOVToiv otyioiv 'dvruv, Kal rwv ffwovSapx^vTiav /udXwrtt (iiv fij} irXelovwv 7) ocovs alpeiaOai e§et etrayyeWbvTwv, el de wore Kal iiwip THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 95 Such criminal jurisdiction as the state did exercise in Criminal the early days was vested in the king, who, as judge — J ";gi n aiiy n . . . . sometimes availed himself of a "council"; sometimes, per- haps in cases of minor importance, delegating his judicial powers to individual "judges"; aided, in his quest of capital crimes, by the questores parricidii; appointed at his pleasure, in cases of treason, the extraordinary duumviri; allowing, though perhaps not bound to do so, an appeal from the latter to the assembled burgesses, — this is all we can recognize with any degree of confidence. 25 The king — .... specified the crime under which the accused was to be tried, and the penalty to be inflicted, but left the finding on the facts to his delegates (Liv., i, 26). Two such classes of delegates are at- tributed to the regal period, the duumviri perduellionis and the quaestores parricidii. 29 vested in king. If the boundary between civil and criminal jurisdiction Boundary existed at Rome at all, it was very faintly defined. Roman law continued to treat to the last as civil delicts acts now regarded exclusively as crimes. If a conclu- sion may be drawn from the position they held in the later jurisprudence, theft and robbery were regarded not as public but as private wrongs. 27 The power of punish- ment exercised in early times by the king and the comitia \centuriata was shared in later times by the Senate. While fin cases of special importance the comitia and the Senate rbv apiOfibv yivotvro, SiouoXoyovnivwv irpbs dXX^Xovs, rb fitv irxw a T V* •drjuoKparlas effwfero, ipyov 8' ovdev avTijs eylyvero, /cat 5ia tovto in' avrov 'aidis tov Talov KareXvOTjaay • kolk tovtov ra fiev &\\a Kadairep Kal inl rov iTi/Sep/ou Ka.0lffTa.TO. Finally senatorial legislation was superseded by imperial legislation. See the author's Science of Jurisprudence, p. 118. 25 Clark, Early Roman Law, p. 87, citing Heineccius, Elementa Juris \C 'wilis, §136. 26 Greenidge, p. 63. 27 Muirhead, Roman Laiv, p. 69. between criminal and civil jurisdic- tion faintly defined. 9 6 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Questiones perpetuae. Each stand- ing commis- sion estab- lished by a special law. Procedure in civil cases. Trial by battle. College of pontiffs. exercised their power directly, it was usually delegated in each case to a magistrate or a body of commissioners. Such commissioners (quaestors) were appointed at first for particular cases, and afterward for particular classes of cases. 28 The series of statutes by which questiones perpetuae were instituted for the trial of particular classes of crimes wherever committed, beginning with the lex Calpurnia, 149 B.C., continued until a number of courses of conduct had been from time to time branded as criminal. Each standing commission was established by a special law, and consisted of a praetor chosen annu- ally, assisted by a small popular assembly consisting sometimes of as many as 100 judices, who were sum- moned for each particular case. It was before popular courts of that character, presided over by a praetor, that Cicero delivered his famous orations in criminal cases. By the constitutional legislation of Sulla, as we shall see hereafter, the control of such courts (questiones per- petuae) was taken away from the equestrian order and restored to the Senate. Turning from criminal to civil procedure, it appears that there was a time when all questions of quiritarian right, such as disputes concerning property and inher- itances, were settled between the contending parties, sup- ported by their clansmen and friends, with the spear as the arbiter. 29 After the firm establishment of the author- ity of the state, it appears that this procedure by battle was at a very early day superseded by a submission of such questions of right to the college of pontiffs, of whom 1 28 There are traces in very early times of standing quaestores parr't- cidii. — Ortolan, Explication historique des Instituts, vol. i, pp. 182-83. 29 The praetor commanded the parties to go to the ground suis utrisque super stitibus praesentibus. Cf. Cicero, Pro L. Murena, xii, 26. "Sicut* dixi, ecce tibi, vindictam imposui." — Gaius, iv, 16. THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 97 the king was the official head. 30 As their functions were sacred, the pontiffs could only acquire jurisdiction over A sacred a purely civil controversy through the engrafting of a necTssary sacred element which was added by requiring each of the parties to verify his contention by an oath, whose truth or falsity constituted the ostensible issue. Under that form a finding was made on the real issue, and the party in whose favor it was pronounced was free to make I it effectual by self-help, if necessary. 31 Did Servius Tullius substitute for king and pontiffs a Servian c • ' • f . . . reforms. numerous court or citizens to try questions or quintanan \ right upon his submission? If he did, was it his inten- ; tion that the judges should be selected from among the . patrician citizens for each case as it arose, or was it a I collegiate court or courts that he established, in which , the judges had an official character? Dionysius says that 1 Servius drew a line of separation between public and pri- vate judicial processes, and that, while he retained the j former in his own hands, he referred the latter to private I judges, and regulated the procedure in cases brought be- ifore them. 32 Such a substitution for king and pontiffs of a Popular numerous court of citizens to try questions of quiritarian court ssubsti- * m * ^ m tuted for king i right seems quite in harmony with the general spirit of and pontiffs. |the reforms of Servius, who, by enormously increasing the number of citizens entitled to that right, multiplied the sources of such future disputes as would have to be ) determined by such a tribunal or tribunals. 33 By their 30 On early Roman law, see the work of P. Jors, Rbmische Rechtsnvissen- .schaft zur Zeit der Republik (1888). 31 As to the nature of the legis actio sacramento, see Asverus, Die Legis .actio sacramenti, Leipzig, 1837; Fioretti, Legis actio sacramenti, Naples, 1883; Sohm, p. 153; Maine, p. 46. \ 32 Dion. Hal., iv, 25. 33 "Thus we should a priori arrive at the institution of some other court besides the king's, without the testimony of Dionysius, as a simple matter 98 Habit of in- trusting ju- dicial office to private citizen. CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS judgment not mere matters of personal dispute had to be determined, but a law had to be built up which could be of general and permanent application. There were, however, many cases requiring judicial assistance involv- ing no question of quiritarian right, no general principle of law, simply personal claims, mere disputes or differ- ences as to facts, which could well be decided by a single judge. The trial of civil cases, originally vested in the college of pontiffs, of which the king was the official head, was thus finally transferred by him to a single judge (unus judex), who acted as a royal commissioner in each case as it arose. 34 From that habit of intrusting the judicial office to a private citizen, chosen for each individual case, and acting on a commission from the praetor, instead of to officials trained for the purpose, flowed results which contributed more perhaps than any other one cause to make Roman law what it is and has been. Such was the beginning of a system that bore such wonderful fruit, and finally displaced altogether the more imposing cen- tumviral and decemviral courts. Beneath the fabulous story of the flight of the kings, of necessity The best modern authorities admit the existence of the judices under the kings, whether their institution is to be attributed to Servius or not." — Clark, p. ioo, citing Walter (trad, par Laboulaye), Procedure civile chez les Romains, ch. i; Ortolan, Histoire de la Legisla- tion romaine, §§117, 162; Zumpt, Criminalrecht, Absch. i, 4. 34 Wlassak contends that originally in let/is actiones the trial commonly took place before a unus judex, and that the centumviral and decemviral courts did not come into existence until much later than the Twelve Tables, in accordance with the statement of Pomponius. — Rom. Processgesetze, vol. i, pp. 131 sq. It seems to be clear that in the later Republic the decem- viri stlitibus judicandis were chiefly engaged in trying actions affecting personal liberty. — Sohm, p. 150, n. 2. All sworn judges, including the decemviri, stood to the parties solely in the position of private individuals (judex privatus), and not in the position of magistrates equipped with compulsory powers. — Pernice, A., ZS. der Sav. St., vol. v, p. 48. THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION as told by the chroniclers whom Livy 35 followed, it is not hard to perceive the marks at Rome of the wide- spread wave of change similar to that which in Greece swept away the old heroic monarchies. At Rome, how- ever, the transition was, externally, more sudden and decided. Rome had nothing answering to the archonship for life or ten years; into the place of the kings, chosen for life, there at once stepped the two consuls, or rather, praetors, chosen for a single year. After personal kingship was abolished, the new magis- trates simply took the place of the king and kept it; :he kingly office was simply put into commission with [lothing taken away from its power and not much from its dignity. Even the title of king lived on at Rome as [•he style of one of the priests of the national religion Yrex sacrificus, rex sacrificulus, rex sacrorum). 3 * In the conservative commonwealth of Rome, which never wholly tbolished any of its ancient institutions, we see how both he kingly and aristocratic elements of the state, in the ommon acceptation of those terms, might be swept away vithout at all sweeping away the substance of either the ;ingly or the aristocratic power. To the consuls were jiven two general assistants, the annually appointed [uaestors, whose most distinctive duties as representa- tives of the supreme magistracy were those concerning riminal jurisdiction and finance, probably occupying with espect to criminal procedure much the same place as 85 Liv., Ii, 9-14. Consult also Pliny, N. H., 34, 14, and Tac, Ann., Hi, 72. or criticism of the whole story, see Schwegler, vol. ii, pp. 60-202, and teller, Latium u. Rom, p. 180. 38 Liv., vi, 41 ; xl, 42. That his real title was rex sacrorum appears from ivy himself (xxvii, 6), from Gellius (xv, 27), and Cicero {Pro Domo ua, 14). Rex sacrificulus must have been a survival of a real rex. Cf. reeman, Comparative Politics, p. 32. 99 Transition from kings to consuls. Annually appointed quaestors. IOO CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Senate a stronghold of patrician influence. Consuls as guardians of criminal code. Patrician power lim- ited by tribunes. the duoviri in the trial of Horatius. 37 While in the choice of the members of their council of state, the Senate, the consuls were legally as unfettered as the king had been, they were so restrained by custom that the senators were no doubt protected against either capricious removal or selection. The patrician clans had a close hereditary connection with the Senate, and the history of the next century and a half represents it as the stronghold of patrician prejudice and influence. In great emergencies it could recreate the single kingship by the appointment of a dictator. 38 Under normal conditions the criminal law, which was becoming more and more secularized and re- moved from the direct control of religion, was monopo- lized by the official class, as a criminal inquiry could be undertaken solely on the initiative of the consuls who were ostensibly the only guardians of the criminal code. Against such recognized forms of patrician power the plebeians renewed their struggle for legal and social equality armed with little more than the restricted voting power they had won in the comitia centuriata. 39 The primary purpose of the plebs was to defend themselves by limiting the power of the magistrates in the earliest 87 Liv., i, 26. As to the tradition which assigns these officials to the regal period, see Mommsen, Staatsrecht, vol. ii, pp. 523 sq. He thinks that while the financial quaestors, as standing officials, originated with the Republic, they had their origin in the criminal quaestores of the regal period. Cf. Greenidge, pp. 63, 80. 38 Mommsen's theory is that the dictator was regarded as the superior colleague of the consuls. His earliest official title was magister populi, the technical title in the augural books. — De Leg., iii, 3, 9. In deference to republican sentiment he was later called dictator. — Staatsrecht, vol. ii, PP- 145. 153- 80 It seems to be beyond doubt that at some time during the first three centuries of the Republic plebeians were included in the comitia curiata. — Mommsen, vol. iii, p. 93. THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 101 I social struggles which centered around the possession of I the public land 40 and the law of debtor and creditor. J When the consul Appius renewed the enforcement of the | law of debt, the plebeian military contingent suddenly I gathered in battle array and demanded the appointment l of two magistrates, known as tribunes, 41 who should have the power of suspending the decrees of the consul when 'leveled against a member of the plebs. These magis- trates, originally two in number, and recognized by a \\lex centuriata passed 494 B.C., must from the first 1 'have been elected by an assembly of the plebs known as Elected by the concilium plebis curiatim. 42 In dealing with these an assemb, y . of the plebs. idirferent assemblies it must never be forgotten that — .... practically we are treating the Roman community engaged f with different orders of the day under different formal rules. I The people require to be organized in one way for one function rand in another way for another, but under the changing forms ? there is a unity of personnel which forbids us regarding the differ- ent assemblies as different sovereigns. The only disturbance to this unity is found in the fact that the patricians were always excluded from the concilium of the plebs. 4S Not until 287 B.C. were the resolutions of the plebs Resolutions first raised to the level of laws. 44 The magistrates of oi P lebs t made laws the plebs were given two assistants, called aediles, who in287B.c. bore the same relation to them as the two quaestors did 40 As to the early distribution of land among plebeians, see Muirhead, pp. 39 sq. 41 Varro., L.L., v, 81: "tribuni plebei, quod ex tribunis militum primum ijtribuni plebei facti, qui plebem defenderent, in secessione Crustumerina." !Cf. Greenidge, p. 93. 42 Cicero, ap. A scon, in Cornel, p. 76: "Tanta igitur in illis virtus fuit, ut anno xvi. post reges exactos propter nimiam dominationem potentium secederent .... duos tribunos crearent." 48 Greenidge, p. 250. 44 By the lex Hortensia the concilium plebis was made one of the legis- lative organs of the community. — Gaius, i, 3. See also Pompon., Dig., i, a, 2, 8. 102 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Aediles as assistants of tribunes. Making of the code of the Twelve Tables. Published by the consuls of 448 B.C. to the consuls. 46 Not until 462 B.C. did the plebeian community attempt to advance beyond the system of defensive control over the magistrates of the state by establishing such an equality in the administration of the law as would render this clumsy negative system unnecessary. Prior to the Twelve Tables, the private citizen of Rome had no means of ascertaining the law except by asking some sage, who need not answer unless he please, and whose view had no authority except that which his personal reputation implied. In 462 B.C. a tribune made a proposal to the concilium of the plebs that a commis- sion of five be appointed to clear up the forms of legal procedure; 46 and in the next year a resolution of the whole college of tribunes was framed for that end. First a commission of three was appointed to gather informa- tion from the Greek codes, and then a commission of ten patricians with consular powers (decemviri consulari imperio le gibus scribendis), whose duty it was to frame and publish a code of law binding equally on both orders and creating equal rights for all. 47 The outcome was the Twelve Tables which, after confirmation by the cen- turies, were published to the masses by the consuls of 448 B.C.; 48 and, in the words of Livy, remained the "fountain of all public and private law." 49 The code was thoroughly Roman, both as to substantive and ad- 49 "Tribunos et aediles turn primum per seditionem sibi plebes creavit." — Gell., xxiii, 21. See also Pompon., Dig., i, 2, 2, 21; Dion., vi, 90. 48 Liv., iii, 9; Pompon., Dig., i, 2, 2, 4; Mommsen, Staatsrecht, vol. ii, p. 202. 47 "Se .... omnibus, summis infimisque jura aequasse." — Liv., iii, 34. 48 "Leges .... in aes incisas in publico proposuerunt." — Liv., iii, 57, 10. Pomponius says, "in tabulas eboreas prescriptas." — Dig., i, 2, 2, 4. 49 "Decern tabularum leges quae nunc quoque in hoc immenso aliarum super alias acervatarum legam cumulo fons omnis publici privatique est juris." — Liv., iii, 34. THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 103 jective law, and so remained eminently national and un-Hellenic to the end of the Republic. 50 Not until eighty-one years after the close of the strug- gle that culminated in the enactment of the decemviral code was the administration of civil law (jus civile) sev- ered from the consulship and entrusted to a separate magistrate known as the praetor urbanus 51 who, if not a jurisconsult himself, was a magistrate entirely in the hands of those who were. The law the praetor urbanus administered was the local law of a city, now called jus civile in the special and narrower sense of the term, the jus proprium civium Romanorum. More than one hun- dred and twenty years after the creation of the praetor urbanus, a new praetor was appointed at Rome, 242 B.C., known as praetor peregrinus, whose duty it was to decide cases between foreigners (perigrini) and between Roman citizens and foreigners. An attempt has been made al- ready to explain the necessity for the appointment of this new judge out of whose jurisdiction grew the jus gentium, the law common to all nations, 62 by whose broad and philosophic conceptions the narrow archaic law of Rome was so enriched and expanded that in time it was largely superseded. Finally it could be said that, as a result of that process, "Roman law was finished; the local law of the city had passed into a law available for the world in general." 68 No mention has so far been made of the creation of the office of censor, which from small beginnings 54 grew 50 Cf. Bryce, p. 755. 51 "Cum consules avocarentur bellis finitimis neque esset, qui in urbe jus redere posset, factum est ut praetor quoque crearetur, qui urbanus appel- latus est, quod in urbe jus redderet." — Pompon., Dig., i, 2, 2, 27. 62 See above. 53 Sohm, p. 86. 84 Liv. 1. c. : "Idem hie annus censurae initium fuit, rei a parva origine ortae." — Greenidge, p. 115. Praetor ur- banus, 367 B.C. Adminis- tered local law. Praetor peregrinus, 242 B.C. Jus gentium. Censor and his duties. 104 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Regimen morum. Constitution of city-state in second half of fifth century B.C. into one of the greatest of political prizes. In the year 443 B.C. two new officials, called censores, were created, who were to be elected by the assembly out of the pa- triciate, whose primary duty was to attend to the regis- tration, which involved indirectly not only the imposition of pecuniary burdens on individuals, but also an inquisi- tion into character always necessary as a qualification at Rome for the performance of the humblest public func- tion. Thus it came to pass in time that the rule of manners (regimen morum) overshadowed every other aspect of the censor's office. Such, in general terms, was the nature of the constitu- tion of the city-state in the second half of the fifth century before Christ, when Rome was still an aristocratic com- munity of free peasants, occupying an area of about 400 square miles, with a population estimated at not more than i50,ooo. 55 That population dispersed over the countryside was divided into seventeen districts or rural tribes, most of the families having a cottage of their own and a small holding, where father and sons lived and worked together, with the cattle kept at pasture on the neighboring commonland. The constitution of the Roman city-state was slowly evolved; it was the outgrowth of the character of the Roman nation; and its form was therefore in strictness that of a restrained democracy. 5r ' Ferrero, Greatness and Decline of Rome, vol. i, p. I, who says: "It is true that, according to Livy, iii, 24, the census of 459 B.C. counted 117,319 citizens, which would give a free population of about 400,000. But these figures do not seem to me probable, for the following reasons: (1) If Rome had at that time had as many as 120,000 soldiers, she would not have experienced so much difficulty in conquering the small neighbouring peoples. (2) A population of over 1,000 inhabitants to the square mile could not possibly have subsisted, no matter how poor, at a time when Rome lived entirely on the produce of the land. (3) These figures do not agree with others which are more certain." THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 105 It was in fact more popular in form than any other of which there is a record in history. As the ancient world knew nothing of the Teutonic invention now called representative government, the sov- Sovereign £ born there on the farm of his father, who was either a peasant or an obscure knight. 76 At an early age he gave up the plough to join the army, and shortly after the murder of Caius Gracchus he was chosen to the tribu- Chosen nate, a position in which he did not hesitate to criticize tn "" e ' ' r I20 B.C. in his own way both the proletariat and the aristocracy. 77 "He seemed as if made of a block of hard Roman oak, 7 * Froude, Caesar, p. 50. 75 "Thus perished one of the four founders of the Roman Empire, and perhaps the most far-seeing statesman Rome ever produced." — Ferrero, vol. i, p. 57. 76 Cf. Madvig, K. P. S., p. 525. 77 Neumann, G. R. V., p. 261. ii4 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Consul in 107 B.C. Married the aunt of Caesar. Marius remodeled the army. Drew profes- sional sol- diers from the poor. gnarled and knotted, but sound in all its fibres." 78 His first great success as a general was won in the war with Jugurtha, which he brought to a close in 106 B.C. — a war in which a young nobleman named Sulla fought under him. The passions which had been smoldering for a genera- tion among the middle classes, the proletariat, and the capitalists now broke into flame against the aristocracy, lifting Marius in triumph to the consulship for the first time in the election campaign of 107 B.C. Just before that event he had become a person of social consideration through a marriage into a noble but not particularly illus- trious family, 79 that of Caius Julius Caesar, who had married Marcia, the mother of Caius Julius, Sextus Julius, and a daughter named Julia, who became the wife of Marius. Caius Julius, the father of the great Caesar, had married Aurelia, a member perhaps of the consular family of the Cottas. Before leaving for Africa to take away the command of the Numidian war from Metellus, Marius undertook to remodel the army by extending the levy to poor men not inscribed in any of the five classes of landowners, and who therefore had no right to bear arms under the ancient constitution. 80 Instead of attempting as the Gracchi did to revive the strength of the old yeoman class, the orig- inal source of the legions, heretofore no more than citizens temporarily in arms, he provided professional soldiers by raising his levies from among the poor in town and country — an innovation that resulted in momen- tous changes in political and military organization. 81 78 Froude, Caesar, p. 38. 79 Pauly, R. E., vol. iv, p. 1557. 80 Sail., B. J., 86 ; Aul. Gell., xvi, 10, 14. 81 Cf. E. Baroni, / grandi cafitani sino alia Rivoluzione Francese, Turin, 1898; "Annibale," 32ff. ; Ferrero, vol. i, p. 66. THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION "5 Out of materials thus gathered by such methods such an army was formed as no other Roman general had ever commanded; and the change came just in time to enable Marius, now the hero of the populares, to turn back the tide of invasion headed by the Teutons and Cimbri, two mighty nations of "horrible barbarians," who came as the vanguard of that great German folk- wandering destined to change the face and the history of Europe. In the decisive victory won at Vercellae, 101 B.C., Marius settled the fact that Gaul was to be a province of Rome and not the prey of the Germans. Italy was saved by legionaries who, while still citizens, were also professional soldiers, armed with the double power of the hustings and the sword. The change did not however disturb the old law prohibiting standing armies in Italy; victorious generals returning from abroad were still required to disband their legions before entering on her sacred soil. The menace of the Germanic invasion was scarcely over before Rome was torn from within by what is known as the Social or Italian war, arising out of the demand for enfranchisement upon the part of the Latins and Italians whose just cause had been so earnestly espoused by Caius Gracchus. Now when the old political organi- zation of the separate districts had lost all real meaning, now when the intellectual and economic unification of Italy was gradually breaking down all distinctions be- tween Romans, Latins, and allies, the jealous and exclu- sive oligarchy at Rome was startled by a movement that had spread far and wide through the peninsula. When Livius Drusus, 82 an ambitious and popular young aristo- 82 Cicero claimed him as a member of that party to which he himself belonged. — De Orat., i, 25, and Pro Domo, 16. See also Appian, B.C., i, 35; Diod. Sic, xxxvii, 10. Made Gaul a Roman province. Social or Italian war. Drusus elected trib- une, 91 B.C. n6 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS His proposals. His assassi- nation pre- cipitated the conflict. Number of burgesses more than doubled. crat, elected tribune of the people in the year 91 B.C., at- tempted to isolate the moneyed interests by an alliance between the aristocracy and the popular party, he brought forward a number of laws designed to please the popu- lates, and among them a law depriving the knights of their powers in the law courts, and another making the long-delayed concession of the franchise to the Italians. 83 The first proposal excited the equestrian order and their friends in the Senate to fury; the second was represented as evidence of complicity with a widespread conspiracy against the very life of the city-state. At such a moment the flame of civil war was lighted when Drusus was struck down by an unknown assassin. At that signal men rushed to arms in the cause of united Italy; throughout the highlands of the central and south- ern districts the Italian people rose as one man. 84 After a bitter struggle the Italians triumphed through a com-l promise by which practically all the freemen south of the Po were made equal in civil and political rights. 85 By that great stroke of policy the number of the Roman burgesses was more than doubled through the wholesale enfranchisement of Latin and Italian allies. The census for the year 70 B.C. gives the number of citizens as 900,000, as against 394,336 about a generation before the war. 88 83 For the provisions of the leges Liviae, see App., B. C, i, 35; Liv., Epit., Ixxi; Pliny, N.H., xxxiii, 3. Cf. also Lange, R.A., vol. iii, p. 88; Neumann, G. R. V., pp. 45off. 84 As to the Social War, see Kiene, D. Romische Bundesgenossenkrieg, Leipzig, 1845. 86 In 89 B.C. two tribunes proposed the lex Plautia Papiria, under which any citizen of an allied town domiciled in Italy could obtain the rights of Roman citizenship on making a declaration within sixty days to the praetor at Rome. 86 See the interesting table showing the number of Roman citizens at different periods of the Republic and the Empire, in Meyers, Ancient History, p. 49a. THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 117 During the seven years that intervened between the end of the Social War (89 B.C.) and the beginning of the dictatorship of Sulla (82 B.C.) occurred the death Death grap- grapple between the popular party, headed by Marius, JjariMand the self-made man of the people, and the senatorial party, Sulla, headed by the patrician Sulla, resulting in the complete triumph of the latter. The harrowing military details are not important to the constitutional historian who sees, in the midst of the strife that spread from the Forum to Italy and from Italy to the provinces, the integrity of the Empire threatened for the first time by rival gov- ernors, and all regular government, whether by Senate All regular or Assembly, suspended while the rival factions fought fu^ended! out their quarrels under generals willing to lead their legions not only against their fellow-citizens but against the established authorities of the state itself. When in 87 B.C. Marius, aided by Cinna, cut off Rome's food supply and starved her into submission, he marked his triumph by a massacre of the aristocrats, including their representative, the consul Cnaeus Octavius, whose head, Head of a the head of a consul, was exposed to public gaze in front °°"ed e „ of the Rostra. Before the younger Marius took the the Rostra, field in the spring of 82 B.C., he committed to the praetor Damasippus the bloody task of executing a number of Execution of the aristocracy, 87 including the eminent jurist, Q. Mucius Zf^EJ!!, a Scaevola, pontifex maximus, who seems to have been cut down before the very image of Vesta, into whose sanctu- j ary he had fled from his official residence, the Regia, 1 nearby. 88 Under such conditions it was that Sulla, at the i end of the Mithridatic war, wrote to the Senate that he i would soon arrive at Rome to take vengeance on the i Marian party, his enemies and those of the Republic. 8T Lange, vol. Ill, p. 145. 88 Cicero, De Natura Deorum, in, 32. n8 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Sulla leader of reaction- aries, 82 B.C. Pompey the Great. Crassus. Catiline. Sulla appointed dictator. His proscription. Young Caius Julius in danger. Returning from the East laden with the gold of Mith- ridates, the spoils of Greek temples, and the books of Aristotle, seized in the library of Apellicon at Athens, Sulla, whose career had been rather military than polit- ical, was suddenly called to the leadership of the con- servative reactionaries. Among those who came to him were Pompey, destined to be known as Pompey the Great, who having been born in the same year with Cicero was now twenty-three, and Lucius Sergius Catiline, a ruined spendthrift, stained with every crime, but of ancient and aristocratic lineage. To his list of parasites, composed of a crowd of adventurers as shameless and unscrupulous as himself, must be added the aristocratic financier, Lucius Crassus, the representative of a class that piled up enormous riches by buying up cheap the goods of the proscribed. Despite the fact that no dictator had been appointed since the war with Hannibal, such power never having been previously conferred for more than six months, Sulla demanded of the Senate the office of dictator 89 during his own good pleasure, which carried with it not only the power of life and death over every citizen, but plenary power for the reform of the constitution. Thus armed he outlawed every magistrate and every public servant who had held any kind of an office under Cinna, ordering at the same time the proscription of all persons of wealth and consequence everywhere in Italy who had belonged to the liberal party. According to one account the number of proscribed actually put to death numbered nearly 5,000. Among those thus put in jeopardy was the young son of that Caius Julius Caesar, whose sister 89 The lex Valeria granting him the office was passed without opposition. Cf. App., i, 98; Plut., Sulla, xxxiii; Cic, Ad Att., ix, 15; De Leg., i, 15. THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 119 Marius had married, now in double peril because, apart from being a nephew of Marius, he had married Cor- nelia, the daughter of Cinna. When the dictator commanded him to divorce her, Caesar refused to obey, preferring to sacrifice his own and his wife's patrimony, and to leave the city at the imminent risk of proscription. Sulla was induced, how- ever, shortly afterward, through the intervention of rela- tives, to give him a free pardon. 90 That act of grace and favor, grudgingly extended to Caius Julius then only eighteen, was attended by another of even wider signifi- cance. Sulla reassured the Italians by declaring that he would not attack the great measure of Italian emanci- Italian pation — that he accepted it as an accomplished fact. 91 accep tedby Thus in the midst of the gravest political confusion a Sulla - great historic process was quietly completed. The old Italy, the Italy of Oscans, Sabellians, Umbrians, Latins, Etruscans, Greeks, and Gauls had disappeared into the past. In place of a number of small federal republics, there was now a single Italian nation, with an agriculture, a commerce, an army, a civilization, and culture of its own, welded together into a solid and compact middle class out of a medley of human units from all parts of the peninsula who had been thrown together, in close and intimate relations, by the tie of a common ambition, by fellowship in study, in commerce, or in arms. 92 Such were the circumstances under which Sulla under- Sulla's took to restore order and to rebuild the machinery constltutlon - J of civil government, so modified as to meet altered i conditions, in a state torn by class hatreds and dis- tracted by the passions of civil war. It has been said 90 Suetonius, Caesar, i ; Plut., Caes., i. 91 The threat to deprive of the franchise several communities which had joined Cinna was not carried out. — Pro Domo, 30; Pro Caecina, 33, 35. 92 Ferrero, vol. i, pp. 104, 105. 120 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Increased powers of Senate re- duced those of tribunate. Tribune ineligible to reelection. Senatorial guard provided. that his task involved not so much the remaking of a constitution as the organization of a gigantic system of police, necessary at that moment for the preservation of the Empire and the whole of ancient civiliza- tion from the destruction threatened by the desperate revolt of the oppressed thousands of Italy and Asia. In the presence of such an opportunity Sulla, instead of aiming at the regeneration of the state as a whole, viewed his success simply as a party triumph which he attempted to secure by restoring and increasing the powers of the Senate, reduced to almost a nullity by recent revolutions, and at the same time by diminishing the powers of the tribunate, 93 whose steady encroachments through centuries had made it the most important of all magistracies. In the execution of that plan he nearly doubled, out of the patrician order, the number of the senators. From that time onward the Senate appears to have embraced between five and six hundred members, vacancies being supplied as before from the retiring con- suls, praetors, aediles, and quaestors. 94 Therefore, ir order to guard against popular favorites finding in thai way too easy a road to the Senate through elections, it was provided that no one who had been a tribune of th( people could thereafter be elected to any other office. The dignity and safety of the peers for life thus arranged in a single chamber he protected by a guan provided by the enfranchisement of ten thousand slaves who had been owned by the families of the pr< scribed. 96 93 De Leg., iii, 22: "Injuriae faciendae potestatem ademit, auxilii ferenc reliquit." See also Cicero, In Verrem, i, 60. 94 Cf. Greenidge, p. 266. 95 Pro Cornel., fr. 78 ; Ascon., In Corn., 78 ; App., i, 100. 98 Lange, R.A., vol. iii, pp. 144(1. ; Cantalupi, M.S., pp. uoff. THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 121 But more important still was the provision designed to withdraw from the popular assembly the ancient and sovereign right to initiate and control legislation. So long as the citizens at the invitation of consul or tribune could exercise such a power, any changes the Dictator might make could be instantly set aside. It was there- No measure fore ordained that no measure was to be presented to any tobe P^ e " r J sented by a assembly of the people by a tribune without the approval tribune with- of the Senate given beforehand, the power of the college ria^assent" of tribunes being still further diminished by the imposi- tion of a heavy fine for the abuse by a tribune of the right of intercession. While the tribunes still retained their right of veto, a penalty was attached to the abuse of it, the Senate having even the right to depose a tribune. 97 In order to prevent the people from installing in office a second Marius, seven times consul, it was decreed that No consul no one should hold the consulship for two successive *° suc " ed r himself. years, 98 and further that no one should have the right to stand for the consulship who had not previously held the offices of quaestor and praetor. 99 A quaestor must be thirty, a praetor forty, and a consul forty-three years of age. And in order to render the magistrates still more dependent on the Senate by enlarging their number and dividing their authority, the number of praetors was t c • • 1 -inn 1 r Praetors increased from six to eight, 00 and of quaestors to increased twenty. 101 The pontifical and augural colleges were also toei s ht » * ° ° quaestors placed in the hands of the senatorial aristocracy through to twenty. 97 As to Sulla's treatment of the tribunes, see Sunden, De tribunicia potestate a L. Sulla imminuta quaestiones, Upsala, 1897. 98 App., B. C, i, 100. 99 He thus legalized a custom. Cf. Liv., xxxii, 7; App., i, 100. ion Pompon., De Orig. Juris {Dig., i, 2, 2) ; Velleius, H, 89. 101 Tac, Ann., xi, 22; Madvig, Verfassung und Verivaltung des rotn. I Staates, vol. ii, p. 441. 122 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Control of criminal jus- tice restored to Senate. Cicero's tribute to the equites. Assembly shorn of legislative power. a provision requiring vacancies in their ranks to be filled by cooptation as before the lex Domitia. 102 But last, and perhaps most important of all, the con- trol of the administration of criminal justice (quaestiones perpetuae) was taken away from the equestrian order and restored to the Senate. So corrupt had the senators become in the discharge of their judicial functions that Caius Gracchus had disqualified them from sitting in the law courts by a provision requiring the judges to be chosen thereafter from the equites, who had been so exception- ally pure that on the trial of Verres Cicero challenged his opponents to point out a single instance in which an equestrian court had given a corrupt judgment during the forty years in which they had possessed the privilege. 103 Sulla, who never courted popular favor, abolished the public distribution of corn whereby the city had been filled with idle vagabonds. By breaking down the in- fluence of the two new powers in the state, the middle class and the equestrian order, the Dictator hoped to reestablish, with slight modifications, the old aristocratic constitution, existing at the time of the first Punic War, when Italian society was distinctively aristocratic, agri- cultural, and military. His reorganization of the state proceeded on the lines foreshadowed by Rutilius Rufus and his aristocratic followers, whose program, with a few exceptions, was put into execution. Thus the popu- lar party was crushed; and its scheme of reform, as embodied in the proposals of the Gracchi, annihilated. The assembly of the people, shorn of its ancient legislative power, had no excuse for meeting save on 102 Dion. Cass., xxxvii, 37; Liv., Epit., Ixxxix. 103 On the other hand, Appian says (De Bella Civili, i, 22) that the courts of the equites had been more corrupt than the senatorial courts. THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 123 special occasions, and then only at the Senate's invi- tation. Who can tell why it was the proud, masterful, cynical aristocrat, with an inordinate love of sensual pleasure, brutal and yet without any great depth of passion — styled in Mommsen's happy phrase, the "Don Juan of politics" — should have abdicated his supreme office in Abdication 79 B.C. at a moment when he seemed to have nothing to Su » fear? Certain it is that his death, which occurred at the beginning of the next year, was followed by the rapid dis- integration of the fabric he had so carefully constructed. Before the end of ten years his so-called constitution had broken down utterly in almost every part. All that Sulla left behind him was "the type of the military chief at All he left I the head of a devoted army which he controls by his be ind Ira 3 * was a new money and his sword." That "type of the military typeofmili- chief" broods like an evil spirit over the thirty-four years tary e9p ° ' that intervene between Sulla's death and the Ides of March — .... critical years in which Roman imperialism definitely as- serted its sway over the civilized world ; when, by the conversion of the Mediterranean into an Italian lake, Italy entered upon her : historic task as intermediary between the Hellenised East and bar- barous Europe. 104 Of the Roman constitution at this critical stage of its development, a consummate critic has said: The Roman constitution has lost none of its complexity by Greenidge's growth. The accretions of age had changed a curious but com- summar y' paratively simple type of polity into a jumble of constitutional law and custom, through which even the keen eye of the Roman jurist could not pierce, and which even his capacity for fictitious interpretation and invention of compromises could not reduce to 104 Ferrero, vol. i, pp. 105, v. 124 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS a system. The lack of logic, which is the usual accompaniment of a conservatism not thoroughgoing enough to be consistent, produced a machine the results of which appeared for a time to be eminently satisfactory. It conquered the world, and succeeded for a time in governing it with some show of decency and a fair measure of success. Had the equilibrium been maintained in practice as in theory, mixed constitutions would have had the most assured claim to the respect and acceptance of the world. But as the knots which the jurist could not untie were cut by the sword, and the constitution reverted to a type far simpler even than that of its origin, we must assume a weakness in the mixed system which might not have rendered it inadequate as the gov- ernment of a city-state or even of Italy, but certainly rendered it incapable of imperial rule. 105 And yet no matter what its faults may have been, of the unwritten and slowly developed constitution of the Roman Republic we may say not only that the people have made it, but that the people have lived it, for it is little more than their life and history epitomized. 105 Greenidge, p. 146. CHAPTER VI CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR With the foregoing sketch of the Roman political and judicial systems clearly in view it will be easier to follow the career of the well-trained young advocate who, in his twenty-sixth year, 1 undertook his first re- corded case, the defense of Publius Quinctius in a civil Defense of proceeding before a judex or referee, C. Aquilius, ap- Quj n ^j us pointed by the praetor urbanus according to the course Cicero's first fT» i o recorded Koman law. case In order to facilitate an understanding of Roman legal procedure it may not be amiss to say that when a civil suit was commenced, the litigants appeared before the praetor who made a preliminary examination in order to ascertain the precise points in controversy. After hearing the statements and counterstatements of plaintiff and defendant, he constructed a brief technical outline of the disputed issues, called a formula. That formula was Formula then put into the hands of a judex (more like a referee and } udex - or a jury of one than a modern presiding judge), who, after hearing the evidence of the witnesses and the argu- ments of the advocates, returned his decisive judgment to. the praetor who appointed him. The entire proceeding thus carried on by the praetor, judex, 3 and advocates was under the intellectual guidance Jurisconsults of the jurisconsults, the makers of the scientific law lit- tuaTuidT* erature of Rome, who were regarded as law experts, 1 Gell., xv, 28. 2 F. L. Keller, Semestria, i, I. 3 As to the "Theory of Civil Procedure at Rome; the Magistrate and the Judex," see Greenidge, The Legal Procedure of Cicero's Time, pp. 15-47. 125 126 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS and respected and resorted to as such by all concerned in the administration of justice. Primarily, the praetor was a great statesman or politician whose final function was to enforce the law; the judex, or as we should now call him, the referee, might have no technical knowledge of law whatever. 4 Under such conditions the unlearned judicial magistrates naturally looked for light and lead- ing to the jurisconsults who instructed them through their Responsa responsa prudentium, the technical name given to their prudenhum. pj n i ons as experts, which were promptly recorded on tablets by their students or disciples. We know enough of the part played by Cicero in the proceeding before the judex, or referee, in the case in question, to say that induced to he was induced to appear in it by no less a person than appear by the ^ advocate's instructor in elocution, the famous actor actor Roscius. Roscius, the brother-in-law of the defendant Publius Quinc- tius, who was the heir of his brother Caius Quinctius. Caius had died in the Roman province in southern France, with debts remaining of obligations payable to one Naevius, with whom he was jointly possessed of certain lands in the province mentioned. Naevius had promptly secured in the time of Cinna a judgment from the praetoi Burrienus giving him the estate of the absent Quinctius. In the preliminary case in question (causa praejudicialis^ the main point in controversy (™ Kpivofievov) was whethei Quinctius must give security guaranteeing the payment o: the judgment in the main case in the event he should b( the loser. Cicero, who had as an antagonist the great advocate Hortensras. Hortensius, complained that although he was for the defendant he was forced to plead first. In ridiculing certain statements made by the other side as to the swift- * Cf . the author's Science of Jurisprudence, pp. 89 sq. CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 127 ness with which the praetor's decree had been carried from Rome to southern France, Cicero said: What an incredible thing! What inconsiderate greed! What Extracts a winged messenger! The aids and satellites leave Rome, cross from Cicero's the Alps, and arrive in this country of the Segusiavi in two days. What a fortunate man is he who has such fleet messengers or rather Pegasuses! It was in this speech that he said: If fortune or another's crime has deprived us of our wealth, yet so long as our reputation is untarnished, our character will console us for our poverty No honest man desires to cause the death of a fellow-man, even by lawful means; he prefers always to remember that, when he could have destroyed, he spared, rather than that when he could have spared, he destroyed. In his twenty-seventh year, about the age at which Demosthenes made his beginning as a public prosecutor, Cicero appeared in the Forum for the first time in a public or state trial for life and death under the criminal law, before a tribunal whose procedure was utterly unlike that of the praetor urbanus in the civil proceeding against Quinctius. In the sketch heretofore drawn of the Roman constitution an attempt was made to indicate the nature of the criminal courts constituted by the king, such as the duumviri perduellionis and the quaestores parricidii, composed of delegates or commissioners (quaestores) ap- pointed at first for particular cases, and afterward for particular classes of cases. The king — .... specified the crime under which the accused was to be tried, and the penalty to be inflicted, but left the finding of the facts to his delegates. Two such classes of delegates are attrib- uted to the regal period, the duumvirii perduellionis and the • quaestores parricidii? 5 Greenidge, Roman Public Life, p. 63, citing "Liv., i, 26; Zonaras, vii, .... Mommsen (Staatsr., vol. ii, pp. 523 sq.) thinks the financial Roman crim- inal courts. Duumviri perduelli- onis and quaestores parricidii. 128 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Quaestiones perpetuae. Foundations of Roman criminal law laid in 149 B.C. Personnel of the permanent commissions. There was a great lack of criminal courts at Rome before the institution of the quaestiones perpetuae.® The series of statutes by which they were instituted for the trial of particular classes of crimes wherever committed, beginning with the lex Calpurnia de Repetundis, 149 B.C., continued until a number of courses of conduct had been from time to time branded as criminal. 7 Each standing commission was established by a special law, 8 and con- sisted of a praetor chosen annually, assisted at times by as many as 100 judices, who were summoned for each particular case. The foundations of Roman criminal law were really laid when the judicial procedure, first estab- lished in 149 B.C. for the trial of cases of magisteria extortion in the provinces, and applied between 149 B.C. and 81 B.C. to cases of treason and bribery, was so ex- tended by Sulla as to bring under it the chief crimina offenses. 9 Reference has been made already to the move of Caius Gracchus to take out of the hands of the Senate the control of the freshly established court for the tria of cases of magisterial misgovernment in the provinces. 10 These permanent commissions (questiones perpetuae), with jurisdiction over crimes of a political nature, were in future to be composed of knights instead of senators. After that great power of control of the criminal courts quaestors as standing officials originated with the Republic; but he be- lieves (p. 539) that they had their origin in the criminal quaestor es (a word which bears the same relation to quaesitores as sartor to sarcitor or quaero to quaeswi, p. 537). Cf. Tac, Ann., xi, 22 (p. 81) ; Ulpian in Dig., i, 13." 6 See above, p. 94. 7 Cf. Maine, ch. v. 8 Greenidge, The Legal Procedure of Cicero's Time, p. 417. 9 Cf. Mommsen, vol. ii, p. 359; Rein, Criminal-Recht; Zumpt, Criminal- Prozess d. Romer. 10 The creation of the standing criminal courts (quaestiones perpetuae), with their presidents and juries, was the reaction of the provinces on Rome. — Greenidge, p. 183. CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 129 had remained in the equestrian order for more than forty years, it was taken away by Sulla and restored to the Senate. 11 It is a false and misleading analogy to speak of the judices, the judges, who composed these selected popular assemblies, whether consisting of sena- tors or equites, and numbering at times 100, as jurors. It is far more accurate to say that such a court was like that of the lord high steward when he had the right to constitute his court for the trial of a peer by summoning only such members of the peerage as he might see fit to select. Such was the nature of the criminal court composed of judices taken from the senatorial aristocracy before which Cicero appeared in the year 80 B.C., when he undertook Cicero's to defend Sextus Roscius of Ameria, who was accused ^ efenseof 1 Koscius of murdering his father, a man of considerable wealth, of Ameria. struck down at night near the Palatine baths during a short stay at Rome. The son was at home, fifty-six miles away, at the time, and there was not a particle of proof that he had ever seen or communicated with the I assassins who were really unknown. There was nothing tbut suspicion, such as it was, that rested upon the sug- gestion that the father disliked the son, and that he had jonce threatened to disinherit him. The probabilities all pointed to hostile relatives living at Ameria, to one of whom, Titus Roscius Capito, news of the tragedy was brought by one of his freedmen at daylight the next morning. It seems to be clear that the assassination was planned chrysogo- and executed by those kinsmen under some pact with nus ' f r»i 1 r • /• 1 » „ .. freedrui ^nrysogonus, the favorite freedman of Sulla, under ofSulla 11 On repetundarum (trials and statutes), see Mommsen, Strafrecht, )p. 707 sq. avorite man 130 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Hireling sep- arated from the master. Awoke and found him- self famous. which he was to share with them in the estate of the murdered man. A necessary part of the plot was to remove the heir by charging him with parricide. The danger lay, not in the nature of the flimsy accusation, but in the character of the prosecutor and of the tribunal, dominated as it was by Sulla's partisans and friends. Under such circumstances, when a severe sentence might add to the prestige of the freshly organized courts, Cicero deemed it incumbent upon him to do his utmost to establish the innocence of his client and to expose Chrysogonus without attaching blame to Sulla in any way. In separating the hireling from the master he said: All these things, O judges, I surely know are done without the knowledge of L. Sulla, and no wonder, since he at the same time both remedies what has gone by, and organizes those things which seem to be on the threshold of the future, when he alone has the power of settling the system of peace and of waging wars; when everyone looks to him only, when he alone directs every- thing. When he is distracted with so many and so great affairs that he cannot breathe freely, (it is no wonder then) if there be something which escapes his attention, particularly when so many men watch his engagements and seize the opportunity like bird- catchers, so that the moment he has looked away, they plot some- thing of this kind. In this speech he said: Solon, when asked why he had not appointed any penalty for parricide, replied that he had not thought any man capable of the crime. The court was not convinced that there had been any exception to that rule in this case. The rising young advocate, by winning a victory that reminds us of Erskine's triumph in Hatfield's case, cleared the reputa- CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 131 tion of his injured client, and recovered his property for him. He awoke and found himself famous ! As he tells us himself in his later years, My defense of Sextus Roscius, which was the first cause I pleaded, met with such a favourable reception that, from that moment, I was looked upon as an advocate of the first class, and equal to the greatest and most important causes ; and after this I pleaded many others, which I pre-composed with all the care and accuracy of which I was master. 12 The two cases in which Cicero began his career as a First two member of the Roman bar have been thus emphasized, casesira P or - r tant because not so much on account of their intrinsic importance as theyillus- by reason of the line they draw between the constitutions ^ivn and of the civil and criminal tribunals, the scenes of all his criminal earlier triumphs. His extant orations were addressed either to the courts, consisting of one or more members intrusted with the administration of the laws; to the Senate; or to the whole body of the people convoked in their public assemblies. It will therefore be convenient Catalogue to catalogue all (except fragments) that belong to the ° fs P eec h es first class, because they alone are relevant to this branch courts, of the subject. B.C. 81. Pro P. Quinctio: Defense of Quinctius Pro p. Quinctio. before a judex in a suit by Sex. Naevius to recover the 8lBC - profits of a partnership in certain lands in Gaul, inher- ited from his brother C. Quinctius. 12a B.C. 80. Pro Sex. Roscio Amerino: Defense of Ros- ProRoscio cius on a charge of parricide presented by Erucius as g "^c*" ' professional prosecutor, at the instigation of Chryso- gonus. 12 Brut, xc. 12a For elaborate examinations of Cicero's speeches for Quinctius, Roscius 1 the actor, Tullius, and Caecina, see Greenidge, The Legal Procedure of Cicero's Time, Appendix ii, pp. 531-68. 132 Pro Roscio Comoedo, 76 ( ?) B.C. Pro M. Tullio, 72 (or 71) B.C. In Cae- cilium, 70 B.C. In C. V err em, six orations, 70 B.C. Pro M. Fonteio, 69 B.C. Pro A. Caecina, 69 B.C. Pro A. Cluentio Habit 66 B.C. Pro C. Rabirio, 63 B.C. CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS B.C. 76 (?). Pro Q. Roscio Comoedo: Defense of Roscius the actor against the claim of C. Fannius Chaerea to half the profits of certain lands taken as the value of a slave owned in partnership, and killed by C. Flavius. B.C. 72 (or 71). Pro M. Tullio: Suit for damages for an assault made by a rival claimant on the estate of Tullius. B.C. 70. In Caecilium ("Divinatio") : Preliminary argument on the technical right of Cicero to conduct the prosecution against Verres. B.C. 70. In C. Verrem: Prosecuted for oppression and plunder in Sicily. Six orations. (1) The general charge ("Actio Prima"); (2) De Praetura Urbana; earlier political crimes of Verres; (3) De Jurisdictione Siciliana: his Sicilian administration; (4) De Frumento: fraud and peculation as to supplies of grain; (5) De Signis: the taking of works of art; (6) De Suppliciis: cruelties of his government. B.C. 69. Pro M. Fonteio: Defense of Fonteius, ac- cused of extortion and corruption in Gaul during Pom- pey's campaign against Sertorius, about B.C. 75. B.C. 69. Pro A. Caecina: Defense against Aebutius of the right of Caecina to an estate inherited from his wife Caesennia, widow of M. Fulcinus, a rich money lender. B.C. 66. Pro A. Cluentio Habito: Defense of Cluentius, charged with the murder by poisoning of his stepfather Oppianicus, brought by the younger Oppianicus, instigated by Sassia, the mother of Cluen- tius. B.C. 63. Pro C. Rabirio: Defense of Rabirius, charged with treason (perduellio), the act having been committed thirty-seven years before. CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 133 B.C. 63. Pro L. Murena: Defense of Murena, Pro charged by the defeated candidate, Sulpicius, with bribery 7* urena > and corruption in obtaining the consular office. B.C. 62. Pro P. Cornelio Sulla: Defense of Sulla, ProP.Cor- charged with sharing in Catiline's conspiracy. ^bc " B.C. 62. Pro A. Licinio Archia: Defense of the poet's claim to citizenship acquired under the regulations Pro Archia, exacted in consequence of the Italian war. 62B.C. B.C. 59. Pro L. Valerio Flacco: Defense of Flaccus Pro Flacco, against a charge of misgovernment as propraetor of Asia. 59 BC ' B.C. 57. Pro Domo Sua: While this was simply an Pro Domo appeal to the pontifices for a restoration of that part of Sua >S7 B ' c - his estate alienated by Clodius, it may fairly be classed among his forensic efforts, although he was his own client. B.C. 56. Pro Sestio: Defense of Cicero's partisan, ProSestio, Sestius, charged with assault, the attack having been made 5 6bc - on him by the partisans of Clodius. B.C. 56. In P. Vatinum ("Interrogatio") : A per- inP.Vati- sonal attack on Vatinius, one of the chief witnesses who num >$ e *- c - appeared against Cicero's client Sestius. B.C. 56. Pro M. Caelio: Defense of Caelius, a dis- Pro solute young member of the higher society of Rome, who ' Caelt0 * was accused by Atratinus with plotting against the life of the lady Clodia and with keeping a sum of gold belonging to her. B.C. 56. Pro Cornelio Balbo: Defense of Balbus, a Pro Cornelio native of Spain (Phoenician Gades), charged with the Balbo > s 6bc - illegal assumption and use of the Roman franchises, derived from a sweeping decree made by Pompey in 72 B.C. B.C. 54. Pro Cn. Plancio: Defense of Plancius ProPlancio, (who, when quaestor of Macedon, 58 B.C., had be- 54B,C# friended Cicero), charged by M. Junius Laterensis, the 134 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Pro C. Rabi- rio Postumo, 54 B.C. Pro Milone, 52 B.C. Pro Ligario, 46 B.C. Pro Rege Deiotaro, 45 B.C. Basis of Cice- ro's fame as an advocate. defeated candidate for aedile, with corrupt political bargaining. B.C. 54. Pro C. Rabirio Postumo: Defense of Ra- birius, an equestrian speculator and promoter, in a pro- ceeding to recover money said to have been received from Ptolemy Aulates, king of Egypt, in corrupt part- nership with Gabinius. B.C. 52. Pro T. Annio Milone: Defense of Milo, charged with the murder of Clodius. The indictment was for three distinct offenses: de vi, de sodaliciis, and de ambitu. B.C. 46. Pro Q. Ligario: An appeal to Caesar to pardon Q. Ligarius, made in Caesar's official residence, the Regia, on the Forum. The charge was that Ligarius had conducted the war in Africa against Caesar. Plutarch tells us that when "the orator touched upon the battle of Pharsalia, he (Caesar) was so affected that his body trembled, and some of the papers he held dropped from his hands, and thus he was overpowered, and acquitted Ligarius." 13 B.C. 45. Pro Rege Deiotaro: Defense of Deiotarus, king of Galatia, accused of an attempt to murder Caesar, when he was his guest during his stay in Armenia. This, the last case Cicero ever pleaded, was also heard before Caesar himself in the Pontifical Palace at Rome. Before Caesar concluded the inquiry the daggers of his enemies struck him down. 14 Upon his speeches in the foregoing cases, which sur- vive in a more or less perfect form, Cicero's fame as an advocate really depends. Just after his defense of Ros- cius of Ameria, having matched his forensic powers with 13 In the preparation of this list I have been assisted by the helpful little book of Allen and Greenough, entitled Six Orations of Cicero. . 14 O. E. Schmidt, p. 362. CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 135 some of the foremost advocates of the time, he made his tour abroad for the restoration of his health and for the widening of his culture, of which mention has been made already. 15 After his return with health reestab- lished, he reappeared in the courts in defense of the Defense of actor Roscius — whose case probably occurred about the R 0SC i us# year 76 B.C. 16 — a civil suit arising out of a demand of Fannius that the praetor should order that the accounts between him and Roscius, as to the profits of certain land taken as the value of a slave held by them in partnership, and killed by Flavius, be submitted to arbitration. The exordium and conclusion of this speech on the law of partnership (Societas) are lost. Cicero ingeni- ously contended that Roscius had long before settled for himself alone with the slayer of the actor's slave, and was not therefore legally liable to share his indemnity with the original owner of the slave, "a delicate point of law and equity." In ridiculing the appearance of Fannius he said: A bit of ridicule. Do not the very pate and eyebrows closely shaven seem to be redolent of meanness and proclaim his cunning? Does he not from the very nails of his toes to the crown of his head, if the speechless physical person affords any inference to men, seem to consist wholly of cheating, of tricks, of lies, who has his head and eyebrows always shaven for this reason, that he might not be said to own as much as a hair of a good man. 17 He then drew a picture of his own client, saying: Has Roscius defrauded his partner? Can such an imputation Word picture rest upon one who has in him — I can say it boldly — more hon- °* Roscius. esty than he has art; more truth than accomplishments; whom the Roman people consider to be a better man than he is actor; 15 See above, p. 65. 18 Cf. Drumann, vol. v, pp. 346 sq., who assigns an earlier date. 17 Cicero, Pro Roscio Comoedo, 7. 136 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS who, though admirably fitted to the stage on account of his skill in his profession, yet is most worthy of being a senator on account of his modesty and decorum ? 18 After that double appeal to the irrelevant it was very proper for Cicero to say that "the masses are so consti- tuted that they measure but few things by the standard of fact, most by the standard of conjecture." Let us now turn from the case of Roscius, notable only for its bitter gibes and quibbling technicalities, to a real cause celebre that fixed the forensic fame of Cicero for- Prosecution ever. Caius Verres, ex-governor of Sicily, had for three years, 73—71 B.C., plundered and enslaved Rome's oldest province through a series of illegalities and barbarities that had put to the blush even her province-robbing oli- garchy. A nature keenly avaricious, not only for gold but for works of art, was over-tempted by the wealth of a land which was not only the granary of Rome but a Sicilyatreas- treasure house to which had been transferred from the "oldandart m °ther-country the most exquisite specimens of Greek art — bronzes bearing the name of Corinth, an Eros of Praxiteles, a Hercules by Myron, an original work of , Boethos, 19 reliefs of embossed silver, cameos, and intag- lios, plastic works in bronze, marble, or ivory, paintings, and textile delineations, comparable even to the arras o: later times. With an itching palm for gold and with an obsession for works of art that amounted to a disease, Verres, armed with almost irresistible power over the lives and fortunes of the provincials, indulged for three years in a bacchanalian revel of plunder, punctuated by a bru- 18 Pro Roscio Com., 6. 19 Overbeck, Gesch. d. Griech. Plastik, vol. ii, 2d ed., pp. 126-29; Sihler, pp. 79-83. CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 137 tality that shrank from no crime, and by a lust that con- tinually insulted the honor of the proudest of the Sicilian families. One engine of his tyranny was a dark and dreadful dungeon at Syracuse into which he cast even Roman citizens who were held there in chains until stran- gled by his orders. When one of these victims named Gavius, who escaped and fled to Syracuse, threatened to go to Rome in order to impeach Verres, the tyrant ordered the magistrates first to flog and then to crucify him. When during the first ordeal he uttered the cry, Civis Romanus sum, in the hope that those magic words would save him, Verres ordered that he should be cruci- fied on a headland so that he who called himself a Roman citizen might die while looking toward his native land. Infuriated by such oppressions, the plundered com- munities of Sicily, the moment the intimidation of his official tyranny was removed, rose as one man and de- manded, early in the year 70 B.C., that Verres should be brought to justice through an impeachment at Rome, and tried by his peers. In spite of his efforts for delay, sup- ported by powerful friends, the proceeding moved swiftly. The praetor urbanus, who subsequently presided at the trial, promptly drew by lot a special and stated court (questio perpetua), composed entirely of senators, many of whom were members of the oldest of the Roman families. When on August 5, with the capital still full of citizens from a distance who had attended the elec- tions, the court met in the Temple of Castor, under the presidency of the praetor urbanus, M. Acilius Glabrio, (Rome was the scene of such a state trial as the ancient world had never witnessed before. From the foot of Mount Taurus, from the shores of the Black |Sea, from many cities of the Grecian mainland, from many Dungeon at Syracuse. Crucifixion of Gavius. Verres im- peached at Rome, 70 B.C. Court com- posed entire- ly of senators. A pen- picture of the trial of Verres. 138 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS A companion picture, trial of Hastings, the English Verres. islands of the Aegean, from every city or market town of Sicily, deputations thronged Rome. In the porticos and on the steps of the temple, in the area of the Forum, in the colonnades that sur- rounded it, on the housetops and on the overlooking declivities, were stationed dense and eager crowds of impoverished heirs and their guardians, bankrupt publicans and corn merchants, fathers bewailing their children carried off to the praetor's harem, chil- dren mourning for their parents dead in the praetor's dungeons, a multitude swelled by thousands of spectators from Italy, partly attracted by the approaching games, and partly by curiosity to behold a criminal who had scourged and crucified Roman citizens, who had respected neither local nor national shrines, and who boasted that wealth would yet rescue the murderer, the violator, and the temple-robber from the hand of man and from the Nemesis of the Gods. 20 After the curtain fell upon that memorable scene it was never lifted upon its real counterpart until after the lapse of eighteen centuries when the patrician senators of another expanding empire met at Westminster in the ancient hall of William Rufus to sit in judgment upon an ex-governor of the province of India, accused of the grossest tyrannies and robberies committed while ruling a helpless Oriental people with more than regal power. The place in which that court sat was worthy of such a trial — .... the hall which had resounded with acclamations at the inauguration of thirty kings, the hall which had witnessed the just sentence of Bacon and the just absolution of Somers, the hall where the eloquence of Strafford had for a moment awed and melted a victorious party inflamed with just resentment, the hall where Charles had confronted the High Court of Justice with the placid courage which has half redeemed his fame The judges in their vestments of state attended to give advice on points of law. Near a hundred and seventy lords, three-fourths of the Upper House, as the Upper House then was, walked in 20 Art. "Verres" in Smith's Greek and Roman Biography. CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 139 solemn order from their usual place of assembling to the tribunal. .... The gray old walls were hung in scarlet. The long gal- leries were crowded by an audience such as has rarely excited the fears or the emulations of an orator. There were gathered together, from all parts of a great, free, enlightened, and prosperous empire, grace and female loveliness, wit and learning, the representatives of every science and of every art. There were seated round the Queen the fair-haired young daughters of the House of Brunswick. There the Ambassadors of great Kings and Commonwealths gazed with admiration on a spectacle which no other country in the world could present. There Siddons, in the prime of her majestic beauty, looked with emotion on a scene surpassing all the imitations of the stage. There the historian of the Roman Empire thought of the days when Cicero pleaded the cause of Sicily against Verres, and when, before a senate which still retained some show of freedom, Tacitus thundered against the oppressor of Africa. 21 To such a court, sitting in such a place, and surrounded by such an audience, the people of the British Empire, speaking in their corporate person through their ancient Commons popular assembly, the House of Commons, acting as a -^""f^e grand jury of the whole realm, presented articles of whole realm, impeachment against the English Verres, Warren Hast- ings. After the charges had been read the spokesman of the commons, raising his voice until the old arches of Irish oak trembled, said: Therefore hath it with all confidence been ordained, by the Burke's commons of Great Britain, that I impeach Warren Hastings of urnin S . , 1 • • r denunciation, high crimes and misdemeanors. I impeach him in the name of the Commons' House of Parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I impeach him in the name of the English nation, whose ancient honor he has sullied. I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose rights he has trodden under foot, and whose country he has turned into a desert. Lastly, in the name of human nature 21 Macaulay's Essays, vol. ii, pp. 641-45, "Warren Hastings. 1 140 Impeachment managers. Burke, Fox, and Sheridan. Acquittal of Hastings. Roman law provided no official prosecutor. CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS itself, in the name of both sexes, in the name of every age, in the name of every rank, I impeach the common enemy and oppressor of all! For the trial of such charges the English constitution provided not only a special and stated senatorial tribunal (quaestio perpetua) composed of the peers convened as a court of impeachment, but it also provided for an official body of prosecutors, the managers of the im- peachment appointed by the House of Commons. At the head of that body there stood such a triumvirate of orators as the world had never heard before at the same moment, in ancient or modern times. The first to speak was the British Cicero, Edmund Burke, at whose side stood "Fox and Sheridan, the English Demosthenes and the English Hyperides," whose brilliant and burning denunciations will live for all time. And yet this majestic array, this matchless display of modern eloquence all ended in nothing. After the trial had lasted for nearly eight years, after sixty of the nobles who had walked in the procession at the beginning of the trial had been borne to their ancestral tombs, after the friendship of the brilliant triumvirate of prosecutors had been violently and publicly dissolved, Hastings was acquitted by a vote unanimously in his favor on some charges and nearly so on others. After being thus sol- emnly absolved by the lords he retired to his ancestral home at Daylesford where, at an extreme old age, he died peacefully in his bed at last. When we return to the senatorial court convened by the praetor for the trial of Verres, we look in vain for official managers of the impeachment against him. Under the law of Rome anyone could offer to conduct such a prosecution, subject to the right of the court to accept QUINTUS HORTENSIUS. I CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 141 or reject him. 22 Because that preliminary question was settled by argument alone, without evidence, it was called divinatio, the judges being compelled to guess or divine their way; and when an attempt was made, as in this case, to make the prosecution a farce by employing a friend of the accused to conduct it, such a trick was called praevaricatio. Verres, backed by the Scipios and Metelli, and advised by the great advocate Hortensius, was ready with Caeci- lius, a former quaestor and partner in his frauds and oppressions, when the praetor, early in the year 70 B.C., convened the court to settle the preliminary question as to a prosecutor. In anticipation of such a move the Sicilians had turned to one to whom they were drawn by the double inducements of fame and friendship. In the year 76 B.C. Cicero had been elected to the quaestorship, the western diocese of Sicily governed from Lilybaeum being assigned to him — an office he administered so ably and honestly as to win not only the approval but the affection of the provincials. It is not therefore strange that a grateful people should have appealed to the rising advocate, now curulian aedile elect, 23 to represent them as prosecutor in the pending impeachment. Accepting the trust with all the zeal that could be inspired by a great opportunity, apart from his profes- sional rivalry with Hortensius, Cicero offered himself as prosecutor against Caecilius who, for the moment, pre- Verres de- funded by Hortensius. Cicero em- ployed by Sicilians as prosecutor. His attack on Caecilius. 22 As to the right to prosecute, see Greenidge, The Legal Procedure of Cicero's Time, pp. n, 459. 23 Suringar, p. 80. v. Aedilis in Latin Thesaurus. In Verr. 5, 36. "Now I am aedile elect, I consider what it is that I have received from the Roman people; I consider that I am bound to celebrate holy games with the most solemn ceremonies to Ceres, to Bacchus, and Libera ; but I am bound to render Flora propitious to the Roman nation and people by the splendor of her games." — In Verr., v. 14. 142 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS tended to be the enemy of Verres. 24 In his opening speech made on the preliminary hearing Cicero con- tended, with all the withering force of invective, first, that the pretended enmity of Caecilius was a sham; second, that he was notoriously incompetent to conduct such a prosecution. After emphasizing the first objection, and defining what the qualifications of a prosecutor should be, turning to Caecilius he said: Hisgener- Are you then endowed with all these qualifications? .... ous tribute f or jf y OU are aD i e toc i a y t0 answer me these things which I am saying; if you even depart one word from that book which some elocution master or other has given you, made up of other men's speeches, I shall think that you are able to speak, and that you are not unequal to that trial also, and that you will be able to do justice to the cause and to the duty you undertake. But if in this preliminary skirmish with me you turn out nothing, what can we suppose you will be in the contest itself against a most active adversary? 25 Then in a lofty tone of self-adulation, which became habitual, Cicero in speaking of himself said: I, who as all men know, am so much concerned in the Forum and the courts of justice, that there is no one of the same age [he was then thirty-six], or very few, who have defended more causes, and who spend all my time which can be spared from the business of my friends in these studies and labors, in order that I may be more prepared for forensic practice, more ready at it, yet, (may the gods be favorable to me as I am saying what is true!) when- ever the thought occurs to me of the day when, the defendant having been summoned, I have to speak, I am not only agitated in my mind, but a shudder runs over my whole body. 26 24 It was to the interest of the state to avoid both weakness and collusion. The prosecutor should be one "quem minime velit is, qui eas injurias fecisse arguator." — Cicero in Caecilium, 3, 10. 25 In Caecil., 16. 26 Ibid., 13. CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 143 A moment before he had paid even a higher tribute to himself, when he said tauntingly to Caecilius: Even if you had learned Greek literature at Athens, not at Lilybaeum, and Latin literature at Rome and not in Sicily, still it would be a great undertaking to approach so important a cause, and one about which there is such great expectation. 27 Cicero's plan was effective; the court appointed him prosecutor, giving him time, one hundred and ten days, in which to gather evidence and prepare his arguments for the trial on the merits. Then followed what lawyers call a race of diligence, the defendant, who had failed, by the lavish use of money, to organize the court in his own interest, desiring a postponement until the next year when his powerful friend Metellus (to whom the lot for 69 B.C. had assigned this very court) would begin his praetorship. By almost superhuman efforts Cicero, as- sisted by his cousin Lucius, visited all the complaining communities in Sicily and completed the gathering of his evidence in fifty days. Only at Messana and Syra- cuse did he meet with any difficulty in procuring evidence. While the former, instigated by the new praetor Metel- lus, the friend and successor of Verres, held out against him, he so won over the Syracusans, after an address delivered in Greek before the Senate in the town hall, that they erased from the city records a complimentary decree Verres had extorted through their fears. Thus armed, the tireless prosecutor, who paid all his own expenses, was able to brush aside all expedients for delay, and to force the trial, which began on August 5 before a court composed of course entirely of senators who sat under the presidency of the praetor urbanus, M. Acilius Glabrio. In all such trials the judices were 27 In Caecil, 12. Cicero appointed prosecutor. Gathered evidence in fifty days. Trial began August 5. 144 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Proofs for prosecution concluded in nine days. Verres slipped away into exile. Prosecutor delivered but one speech. provided with three tabellae, one of which was marked with A, i. e., absolvo, I acquit; the second with C, i. e., con- demno, I condemn; and the third with N. L., i.e., non liquet. And it would seem that in some trials the tabel- lae were marked with the letters L, libro, and D, damno, respectively. Fearing that his well-laid plans for a speedy trial might be upset, Cicero entirely disconcerted Hortensius by dispensing with the long and formal oration usual on such occasions. After a short introduction known as Interrogatio Testium, so called because a brief outline of the evidence upon which the prosecution proposed to rely, he proceeded at once to present his affidavits and examine his witnesses, all of which was concluded in nine days. But before that point was reached Verres had disappeared. 28 So overwhelmed was he by the proofs offered against him that, after the third day of the trial, he slipped away from Rome into exile, 29 before the sen- tence, banishment and a heavy fine, could be imposed upon him. The only oration actually delivered by Cicero in this case was the brief introduction preceding the presenta- tion of the witnesses, in which he boldly declared that he was driven to such an unusual proceeding by the intrigues of his opponents. He began by warning the senators that upon the result of this trial would depend theii power to retain the criminal jurisdiction so long veste< in the equestrian order. For an opinion has now been established pernicious to us, ant pernicious to the Republic, which has been the common talk o everyone, not only at Rome, but among foreign nations also- that in the courts of law as they exist at present, no wealthy man 28 Pseudo-A sconius ; p. 126. 20 Ibid., p. 126. CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 145 however guilty he may be, can possibly be convicted. Now at this time of peril to your order and to your tribunals, when men are ready to attempt by harangues, and by the proposal of new laws, to increase the existing unpopularity of the Senate, Caius Verres is brought to trial as a criminal, a man condemned in the opinion of everyone by his life and actions, but acquitted, by the enormous- ness of his wealth, according to his own hope and boast. 30 At that moment an agitation was in progress for such a reformation of the senatorial courts as would compel the praetor urbanus to constitute them of judices drawn equally from the Senate, the equestrian order, and from the tribuni aerarii, the highest social strata of the ple- beians — a reform ultimately embodied in the lex Aurelia judiciaria. 31 Passing then to the main issue he said: While this man was praetor the Sicilians enjoyed neither their own laws, nor the decrees of the Senate, nor the common rights of every nation Roman citizens were tortured and put to death like slaves; the greatest criminals were acquitted in the courts of justice through bribery; the most upright and honorable men, being prosecuted while absent, were condemned and ban- ished without being heard in their own defense The Roman people will understand that with an upright and honor- able praetor, and a carefully selected bench of judges, abundance of wealth has more influence in bringing a criminal into suspicion than in contributing to his safety We say that Caius Verres has not only done many licentious acts, many cruel ones toward Roman citizens, and toward some of the allies, many wicked acts against both gods and men ; but especially that he has taken away from Sicily forty millions of sesterces contrary to law. 32 Cicero could not permit the flight of Verres to deprive him of a precious opportunity to give to the world the 30 In Verr., i, 1. 81 Cf. Lange, vol. iii, p. 197; Veil., ii, 32; Madvig, f. 1, 182 sq.; Sihler, pp. 74, 90. 32 In Verr., i, 4, 5, 17, 18. His warn- ing to the tribunal. Reform of senatorial courts. The main issue. Unspoken speeches published in five books. 146 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Fiction of a "second pleading." great and formal orations he had hoped to deliver orally. He therefore published them afterward, as he had in- tended to deliver them, in five books entitled as follows: First book. — Of the second pleading against Verres — respect- ing his conduct in the city praetorship. Second book. — Of the second pleading against Verres — concerning his manner of de- ciding causes as judge while in Sicily. Third book. — Of the second pleading in the accusation against Verres — on the count relating to corn. Fourth book. — Of the second pleading in the prosecution of Verres — respecting the statutes. Fifth book. — Of the second pleading in the prosecution of Verres — speech on the punishments. Thus by employing the fiction of a "second pleading" or trial, like the second defense of Milo, Cicero was able to put forth a brilliant publication deliberately pre- pared, containing a wealth of priceless information. The five books, one and all, are permeated by a spirit of tri umph. The aim of Cicero in the composition and publication was indeed personal and professional, both of these; but for ui and the enduring concerns of history, he did vastly more. He accumulated a great mass of incontrovertible data which show why the Republic was doomed, at least why the exploitation of the Mediterranean world by the Roman oligarchy could not go \ on forever; further, how that correlative at home, the purchase and sale of the electorate, in spite of the ever new laws de ambitu, \ was the other running ulcer of the body politic which was ruining the state and which ultimately delivered it to a military monarchy. 33 By his oral and written efforts embodied in the brilliant and vigorous Verrines, coupled with the almost super- normal energy and courage by which he had forced a Cice eader conviction of Verres under the most difficult circum- of Roman bar at thirty-six. stances, Cicero, at thirty-six, reached the lonely eminence, 33 Sihler, pp. 75-76. CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 147 of leader of the Roman bar, with his most famous foren- sic rival, Hortensius, humbled in the dust. He had now reached a turning-point in his career. As in our own public life, success at the bar opened the way to political offices and political honors. He who had been quaestor and aedile had the praetorship and consulship before him. Everything must now be sacrificed to popularity. The ambitious advocate therefore announced that he will not ap- would no longer appear as a prosecutor. At the con- J^JJJJ^ elusion of the last published speech in the case of Verres, he expresses the hope — .... that the Republic, and my own duty to it, may be content with my undertaking this one prosecution, and that I may be allowed for the future to defend the good instead of being com- pelled to prosecute the infamous. 34 Eight years after the conviction of Verres, Cicero undertook the defense of his old Greek teacher, the poet Defense Archias, who had come to Rome nearly forty years Archias° et before in the train of Lucullus when Cicero was a child. As a means no doubt of assailing the Luculli, an attack was made by Gratius on their protege, Archias, who was accused as a false pretender to the rights of Roman citi- zenship, involving probably an application of the lex AppHca- Papiria, which provided that those who were on the reg- »-» JJLj - a ister of any confederate city as its citizens were to be exempt from its operation, provided they were residing in Italy at the time the law was passed, and had made a return of themselves to the praetor, within sixty days. 35 The name of Archias, who had acquired citizenship 34 In Verr., v, 72. 35 So said Cicero, Pro Arch., 4. Only one clause of this law is known, that by which the civitas was granted to incolae enrolled on the registers of federate communities. — Greenidge, Roman Public Life, p. 311, note 5. This author remarks that "It is difficult to believe that this cumbrous rule applied to the citizens of the towns." 148 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS under the regulations enacted at the close of the Social War, did not appear on the census lists, as he was abroad with L. Lucullus. That difficulty Cicero contended had been removed by the enrolment of Archias before his return to Rome, during his stay at the confederate city of Heraclea. The oration is occupied however not so much with legal arguments as with a panegyric on Archias, who is supposed to have died soon afterward, and with those touching tributes Cicero never failed to pay to him- self. In the year of the trial, 62 B.C., Caesar was a praetor as was also Cicero's brother Quintus, who seems to have presided at the trial of Archias. After thanking the poet for the training he had given to his mind and to his tongue, Cicero said: I entreat you in this cause to grant me this indulgence, suitable Tributes to to this defendant, and I trust not disagreeable to you — the indul- Archias. gence of allowing me, when speaking in defense of a most sublime poet and most learned man, before this concourse of highly edu- cated citizens, before this most polite and accomplished assembly and before such a praetor as him who is presiding at this trial, to enlarge with a little more freedom than usual on the study of polite literature and refined arts. 36 When Archias arrived at Rome, "Italy was at that time full of Greek science and of Greek systems, and these studies were at that time cultivated in Latium with greater zeal than they now are in the same towns." After stating the precise question of law at issue, he said: As he had now a residence at Rome for many years, he returned Precise ques- himself as a citizen to the praetor, Quintus Metellus, his most tion at issue, intimate friend. If we have nothing else to speak about except the rights of citizenship and the law, I need say no more. The cause is over. For which of all these statements, Gratius, can be invalidated ? Will you deny that he was enrolled, at the time 38 Pro Arch., 2. CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 149 I speak of, as a citizen of Heraclea? .... You ask us, O Gratius, why we are so exceedingly fond of 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 language. 37 As the Catiline matter was still fresh in the minds of Reference his audience Cicero said: !!!.«J!!- ,B " matter. I will now reveal my own feelings to you, O judges, and I will make a confession to you of my own love of glory — too eager perhaps, but still honorable. For this man has in his verses touched upon and begun the celebration of the deeds which we in our consulship did in union with you for the safety of this city and empire, and in defense of the life of the citizens and of the whole Republic. And when I had heard his commencement, because it appeared to me to be a great subject and at the same time an agreeable one, I encouraged him to complete his work. For virtue seeks no other reward for its labors and its dangers beyond that of praise and renown; and if that be denied to it, what reason is there, O judges, why in so small and brief a course of life as is allotted to us, we should impose such labors on ourselves. 38 Ten fateful years then passed by before the time came for Cicero to appear as the defender of Milo. The cap- Defense ital of the Roman world, which now belonged to Caesar and Pompey, was fast drifting toward anarchy. The civil year, 53 B.C., had ended without any consular elec- tion; the three candidates in the field were Plautius Hypsaeus, supported by Pompey; Quintus Metellus Scipio; and Annius Milo, supported by Cicero. 39 The bit- ter enemy of Milo, Clodius, a young libertine, with whom 37 Pro. Arch., 5, 6. 38 Ibid., 11. 39 In a letter written to Curio on that subject Cicero says: "Did I not know that you must be fully aware, while writing this letter to you, under what a weight of obligation I am laboring, how strongly I am bound to work in this election for Milo, not only with every kind of exertion, but even with downright fighting, I should have written at greater length." — Ad Fam., ii, 6. 150 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Cicero had had a quarrel some nine years before in con- nection with the Bona Dea scandal, was a candidate for the praetorship which would have signified but little to ciodius him with Milo as consul. On January 18, 52 B.C., when y 1 e ' Rome was really without a government by reason of the January is, / o j 52 b.c. veto of a tribune forbidding the declaration of an inter- regnum, Milo, traveling along the Appian Way in a car- riage with his wife Fausta (daughter of Sulla) and his friend Fusius, attended by a body of slaves and two well-known gladiators, near Bovillae, close to a chapel of the Bona Dea, met Ciodius on horseback, accom- panied by three friends and about thirty armed slaves. It seems that Cicero had told Atticus four years before that Milo had declared that he would kill Ciodius if he ever met him. At last they met, and the fight began after the cavalcades had almost passed each other, when Milo's two gladiators provoked a quarrel with the hin- dermost of Ciodius' slaves. When Ciodius demanded in a threatening tone to know the cause of the difficulty one of the gladiators pierced his shoulder with a javelin; and after he had been taken into a wine shop near by, he was dragged out in the midst of a general fight and murdered by Milo's orders. The Senate was now thoroughly alarmed; Lepidus was appointed interrex, and to him, with the tribunes and Pompey, the care of the public order was committed. While men were talking of Caesar as dictator, the Senate Pompeymade averted that move by giving the reins of power to soeconsu. p om pey, no t as dictator, an unpopular term, but as sole consul, without submitting the question to the people. 40 40 Dio, 40, 50; Plut., Cat. Min., 47. As there were no consuls, the Senate's proclamation of martial law declared "that the interrex and the tribunes of the plebs and the proconsul Cnaeus Pompeius should see to it that the Republic suffered no harm." CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 151 At that juncture three of the tribunes, Plancus, Sallust, and Pompeius, by violent harrangues, did all in their power to inflame the public mind against Milo, attacking at the same time his defender, Cicero, who thus became almost as unpopular as his client. Milo was certainly in great danger, charged as he was with three distinct offenses — murder and illegal violence (de vi) ; corrupt practices at elections (ambitus) ; organ- izing and belonging to unlawful clubs (de sodaliciis) — each calling for a separate arraignment. On April 8, just a hundred days after the happening of the tragedy Milo tried in the Appian Way, a political trial was to begin in the l^ ns lf S ' midst of the hot passions of factions. Under a new factions, statute enacted through the influence of Pompey a court Court organ- was assembled not under the praetor urbanus, but under n ^ statute a special commissioner, Domitius Ahenobarbus, probably elected by the people at Pompey's suggestion, 41 consisting of 81 judices chosen by lot out of a larger selected body numbering 300. It was provided that after the 8 1 had heard the speeches on both sides, not to occupy collectively more than five hours, the prosecution and defense were each to challenge 15 (5 of each class), leaving thus 51 to render judgment, divided no doubt into 18 senators, 17 knights, and 16 tribuni aerarii. The drawing of the judices began at dawn, and before eight the prosecutors, Appius Claudius, Marc Antony (now for the first time in Cicero's path), and Valerius Nepos had begun their speeches. After they had con- sumed the two hours given them by the new law, Cicero, unassisted, rose to speak in defense of Milo. It was 41 Asconius calls Domitius "Quaesitor suffragio populi"; and Cicero (Pro T. Annio Milone, 8), speaking of Pompey, says, "Quod vero te L. Domiti huic questione praeesse voluit .... ex consularibus te creavit potissi- mum." — Forsyth, vol. ii, p. 20, n. I. 152 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Cicero intimidated. His speech rewritten. Plea of self-defense. certainly a critical moment, calculated to unnerve the bold- est advocate — with all the shops in the city closed, with Pompey near at hand 42 with a select guard, with the court itself surrounded with glittering spears of the sol- diers there to preserve order, and the mob of Claudian sympathizers hooting in defiance of all authority. It is certain that the unusual spectacle so disquieted Cicero, always tremulous as he tells us on the eve of such a contest, that he lost his self-possession. His speech was undoubtedly far below his standard — ineffective and imperfect in its delivery. Milo was convicted and ban- ished by a vote of thirty-eight for condemnation against thirteen for acquittal, Cato voting openly with the minor- ity. That part of the failure was final; not so with the oration. In order to wipe out the memory of his dis- comfiture Cicero, not long after the trial was over, wrote, as in the case of Verres, one of the finest forensic orations even constructed, specially rich in rhetorical craft. 43 The orator's plea was self-defense. He contended that Clodius had declared in public speeches that Milo must be killed; that he could be deprived of life, but not of the consulship if he lived; that Clodius was the aggressor; that there was no premeditation on Milo's part; that his slaves had killed Clodius without his knowledge or consent to avenge the supposed death of their master. In stating the law of self-defense he said: 42 The tribunal was before the Temple of Castor, Pompey being seated at some distance, near the Temple of Saturn, at the upper end of the Forum. Cicero, addressing Pompey, exclaimed: "I appeal to you, and I raise my voice that you may hear me", "Te enim jam appello, et ea voce ut me exaudire possis." — Pro Milo., 25. 43 When Milo, in exile, read this speech, he is reported to have said: "It is just as well that Cicero did not succeed in delivering this speech, or I should not have known the taste of these excellent mullets of Massilia." — Dio, xl, 54. CICERO AS LEADER OF THE ROMAN BAR 153 The law very wisely, and in a manner silently, gives a man a Statement right to defend himself, does not merely forbid a man to be slain, °* the ' aw - but forbids anyone to have a weapon about him with the object of slaying a man; so that, as the object, and not the weapon itself, is made the subject of the inquiry the man who had used a weapon with the object of defending himself would be decided not to have had his weapon about him with the object of killing a man. Let, then, this principle be remembered by you in this trial, O judges; for I do not doubt that I shall make good my defense before you, if you only remember — what you cannot forget — that a plotter against one may be lawfully slain. 44 Passing then to his version of the facts, colored, of Statement course, to suit his side of the case, he said: But Milo, as he had been that day in the Senate till it was dismissed, came home, changed his shoes and his garments, waited a little as men do, while his wife was getting ready, and then started at the time when Clodius might have returned, if, indeed, he had been coming to Rome that day. Clodius meets him unen- cumbered on horseback, with no carriage, with no baggage, with no Greek companions, as he was used to, without his wife, which was scarcely ever the case; while this plotter who had taken, for- sooth, that journey for the express purpose of murder, was driving with his wife in a carriage, in heavy traveling cloak, with abun- dant baggage, with a delicate company of women, and maid- servants, and boys. 45 He meets Clodius in front of his farm, about the eleventh hour, or not far from it. Immediately a number of men attack him from the higher ground with missile weapons. The men who are in front kill his driver, and he had jumped down from his chariot and flung aside his cloak, and while he was defending himself with vigorous courage, the men who were with Clodius drew their swords, and some of them ran back toward his chariot in order to attack Milo from behind, and some, because they thought that he was already slain, began to attack his servants who were behind them; and those of the servants who had pres- ence of mind to defend themselves, and were faithful to their 44 Pro Milo., 4. « ibid., 10. 154 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Picture of Clodius. An observa- tion on life. master, were some of them slain, and the others, when they saw a fierce battle taking place around the chariot, and as they were prevented from getting near their master so as to succour him, when they heard Clodius himself proclaim that Milo was slain, and they thought that it was really true, they, the servants of Milo .... did, without their master either commanding it, or knowing it, or even being present to see it, what everyone would have wished his servants to do in a similar case. 46 There is a natural curiosity of course to read what the great master of invective had to say of such a detested and harmful personal enemy as Clodius had been. Pass- ing over the almost unprintable abuse put into the mouth of Milo, it will be sufficient to reproduce a part of what Cicero said on his own account: I swear to you, the fortune of the Roman people appeared to me hard and cruel, while it for so many years beheld and endured that man triumphing over the republic. He had polluted the holiest religious observances with his debauchery; he had broken the most authoritative decrees of the Senate ; he had openly bought himself from the judges with money; he had rescinded acts which had been passed for the sake of the safety of the Republic, by the consent of all orders of the State; he had driven me from my country; he had plundered my property; he had burnt my house; he had ill-treated my children and my wife; he had declared a wicked war against Cnaeus Pompeius; he had made slaughter of magistrates and private individuals; he had burnt the house of my brother; he had laid waste Etruria; he had driven numbers of men from their homes and professions. 47 As an observation on life this is, perhaps, the most striking: See, now, how various and changeable is the course of human life — how fickle and full of revolutions is fortune; what instances of perfidy are seen in friends, how they dissemble and suit their behavior to the occasion; when dangers beset one, how one's nearest connections fly off, and what cowardice they show. 48 *• Pro Milo., 10. * 7 Ibid., 32. 48 Ibid., 26. ; CHAPTER VII CICERO AS A STATESMAN With the announcement made at the close of his great speech in the case of Verres that he would appear no more in the courts as a prosecutor, Cicero's career as a statesman, in the largest sense of that term, really began. Like his great fellow-townsman, Marius, he was a self-made man, the joint product of genius and culture, largely Greek culture. Despised by the Roman aristoc- racy as a peregrinus, 1 and unpopular with the Roman populace, he was the trusted leader of the Italian middle Cicero class, designated by him as "the true Roman people." {\t a \\^ n Opposed alike to socialistic dreams and to aristocratic middle class, exclusiveness, he stood with the people for the ancient simplicity of life as against the splendid luxury of the cap- ital. 2 It was his influence with the middle class that won His influence his elections to the offices of quaestor, aedile, praetor, diss secured and consul, at the earliest age at which it was possible elections to hold them; it was their voice that insisted in 58 B.C. upon his recall from exile ; 3 it was his power over them that made Caesar eager to win him over in 49 B.C. When at the age of thirty-one he offered himself as a candidate for one of the quaestorships, whose duties were by that time chiefly financial, he was elected "with all the votes." 4 No one could be chosen praetor until he 1 Pro Sulla, 7 ; Sail., Cat., xxxi, "inquilinus urbis Romae." 2 Pro P. Quinctio, 31; Pro Cluent, 46. 3 Pro Domo, 28; Pro Cn. Plancio, 41. 4 Brut, 93. 155 156 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS The cursus honorum. for 69 B.C. had been quaestor, or consul until he had been praetor — those three magistracies forming what was called a career of office — cursus honorum. The office of curule aedile was often held between the quaestorship and the praetorship, but it was not a necessary grade in the cursus honorum. The year 70 B.C. that brought to Cicero the case against Verres, because of his quaestor- Curule aedile ship in Sicily, also brought to him the office of curule aedile, 5 whose chief duties involved, with three colleagues, the general superintendence of the city police, the regu- lation of the games, and the care of the temples and other public buildings. He speaks in his oration against Verres (V) of the duties he is soon to perform as aedile — expensive duties involving public games, the burden of which, Plutarch tells us, his grateful Sicilian clients materially lightened. Some years before this time, certainly it would seem after his return from the East in 77 B.C., Cicero had married Terentia, the date of the marriage or even that of the birth of the eldest child being in doubt. Terentia was evidently a lady of good family, possessed of some fortune over which she never surrendered her control. It seems that in the year 73 B.C. her half-sister Fabia, who was a Vestal, was brought to trial, it being alleged that Catiline was her accepted lover. 6 Plutarch, who puts her dowry at 100,000 drachmas, says Terentia was a woman of violent temper; and Niebuhr makes the equally unsupported statement that — .... in his marriage Cicero was not happy. His wife was a domineering and disagreeable woman ; and as, owing to his great sensibility, he allowed himself to be very much influenced by those B Cf. Mommsen {Staatsr., vol. ii, p. 482) as to the conditions of eligibility to the office; Enc. Brit. (9th ed.), art. "Rome," pp. 764 sq. 6 Ascon. on In toga cand., pp. 92-93 Orelli. Terentia and her half-sister Fabia. CICERO AS A STATESMAN 157 around him, his wife also exercised great power over him, which is the more remarkable because he had no real love for her. 7 In 68 B.C., the year in which his correspondence with Atticus begins, we hear for the first time of Cicero's villa above Tusculum, a sort of Roman suburb, where leading statesmen like Pompey, Lucullus, Scaurus, Hortensius, and others could combine the society of the town with the charms of the country. After congratulating his friend upon his recent purchase of an estate in Epirus, near Buthrotum, he begs him to get anything suitable for his own Tusculan villa — "in that place alone do I find rest and repose from all my troubles and toil." Then, after a reference to Terentia's rheumatism, the letter closes with her compliments and those of his darling (deliciae nostrae) Tulliola to Atticus, his sister, and his mother. The last words are, "Be assured that I love you like a brother." 8 Not until the year 6$ B.C. was Cicero's only son Marcus born, a fact he announces in a letter to Atticus in this cold and laconic way: "Know that in the consulship of Caesar and Figulus I have had an increase to my family by the birth of a son, and Terentia is doing well." 9 From that time onward the only expansion that took place in his family was expressed in the ever-growing number of his residences in town and country. Apart from the cradle spot at Arpinum, which came to him by inheritance, and the recently purchased retreat near Tus- culum, the most important of his villas were situated 7 History of Rome, vol. v, p. 20. 8 Ad Ait., i, 1. This letter opens the correspondence with Atticus when Cicero was in his thirty-ninth year and in the midst of his official career. He had been already quaestor (75 B.C.) and aedile (69 B.C.), and was looking forward to the praetorship in the next year (67 B.C.). 9 "L. Julio Caesare, C. Marcio Figulo consulibus filiolo me auctum scito, salva Terentia." — Ibid., \, 21. Villa above Tusculum. Birth of Marcus. Increase in number of residences. 158 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS House on the Palatine on the western coast of Italy near the towns of Antium, Astura, Sinuessa, Formiae, Cumae, Puteoli, and Pom- peii. Not until 62 B.C., the year after his consulship, did he purchase the Palatine mansion 10 in the Belgravia of Rome from its richest citizen, Crassus, with whom his political relations had been unfriendly. 11 As he boasts that he never received fees for his labors as an advocate, the sources of his wealth involve a per- plexing problem. Certainly his services as a lawyer were sought far and wide. He said in one of his letters to Atticus that he was the "leader of the wealthy," and we know that he sometimes numbered in his clientele foreign kings and commonwealths. The fact is, that by Cicero's time the law forbidding an advocate to receive Professional rewards for his services was practically obsolete. Fees income. were paid him, but they were called presents. 12 Some- times such presents came in the form of legacies be- queathed by grateful clients, or by the parents of such clients. In 44 B.C., long after his active career had ter- minated, Cicero reported a total of bequests amounting to twenty million sesterces, estimated at about £178,000, or $88o,ooo. 13 Despite the number of his residences, which neces- sarily imply a very large income, thoughts of Cicero's Home life at domestic life naturally cluster around his villa at Tuscu- lum, modeled in miniature after the Academy at Athens, with its palaestra, or exercise ground, its gymnasium, and its xystus (a corridor with open pillars), where he passed 10 It seems that at this time he made over the house in the Carinae, which he had inherited from his father, to his brother Quintius. — Plut., Cic, viii. 11 As to the loan of two million sesterces fiom P. Sulla, then under indictment, see Gell., xii, 12, 1. 12 See below, p. 195. 13 Cicero, Philippicae, ii, 40: "Ego enim amplius sestertium ducenties acceptum haereditatibus retuli." Tusculum. CICERO AS A STATESMAN 159 so many happy days In sweet and useful mental com- munion with his other self, Atticus. That friend he was ever urging to send him more books, regardless of ex- pense, for his library, his ruling passion, which he said gave a soul to his house when arranged by his librarian, Tyrannic 14 That member of his household, a distin- Tyrannio. guished Greek grammarian, was secured in $6 B.C. as a domestic tutor for his nephew Quintus. And here men- tion should be made of Cicero's favorite freedman, Tiro, Tiro, stenog- private secretary, stenographer, and general right-hand "JL^and man, whose speed in taking dictation was remarkable. 15 man. In one of his letters Cicero says that he can write nothing without him. After his manumission Tiro, 16 according to custom, assumed the name of Marcus Tullius; and, after the death of his benefactor, wrote a life of him, and published his letters and speeches. The master of the Tusculan villa, the leader of the Roman bar, who had been both quaestor and curule aedile, must next win the praetorship, in order to qualify The himself for the goal of his ambition, the consulship. praetors ip - After Sulla's time there were eight praetors, that number being required for the presidency of the civil and crim- inal courts at Rome, the special functions of the praetors being always assigned by lot (sortitio). 17 Strange as it 14 Ad Att., iv, 4, Cicero writes: "You will find that Tyrannio has made a wonderfully good arrangement of my books, the remains of which are better than I had expected. Still, I wish you would send me a couple of your library slaves for Tyrannio to employ as gluers, and in other sub- ordinate work, and tell them to get some fine parchment to make titlepieces, which you Greeks, I think, call sillybi." 15 See above, p. 79. 18 See the letter of congratulation to Tiro from Cicero's brother Quintus, Ad Fam., xvi, 26. 17 During the period when some of the praetors governed provinces, a regular sortitio took the form of an assignment of the two urban provinciae to two, and of the foreign provinces to two and afterward to four members of the college. — Greenidge, Roman Public Life, p. 204. elections. 160 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS may seem to us, the praetor was primarily a great states- man or politician whose final function it was to enforce the law. He was not necessarily a legal expert, as he looked for light and leading to the jurisconsults, who instructed him upon technical questions through their res pons a prudentium. 16 It is therefore natural that this great political office had to be sought at the hands of the people assembled in their comitia, and we know from a letter from Cicero to Atticus that a canvass for such an office brought the candidate into contact, in his time, with all forms of Venality in venality, 19 a condition of things which he says was grow- ing worse with startling rapidity. To remedy such evils the Calpurnian reform bill, brought forward by the trib- une Cornelius, was passed, providing that candidates who bribed were to forfeit not only the office gained but their seat in the Senate. 20 That measure, coupled with the proposal of Gabinius to invest Pompey with supreme command in the Mediterranean, and another by Otho to assign separate rows of seats in the theatres to the eques- trian order, caused such popular tumults during the elec- tion held in the year 67 B.C. that the comitia for the election of praetors was twice adjourned without a defi- nite result. In the midst of it all "nobody is kept in such perturbation at Rome at the present time as the candidates, by every sort of unreasonable demands." Through it all Cicero, who had seven competitors, stood at the head of the poll, and was thus elected when the third attempt at an election was successful. 18 See above, p. 69. 19 Ad Att., i, 11: "Scito nihil tarn exercitatum esse nunc Romae quam candidatos omnibus iniquitatibus." The comitia was twice postponed this year, evidently after the voting for Cicero had been completed. He was therefore able to say that he was "thrice returned at the head of the poll by a unanimous vote" (De Imp. Pomp., §2). 20 Dio, xxxvi, 38. CICERO AS A STATESMAN 161 Cicero as- signed the court for ex- tortion in the provinces. When he was inaugurated as praetor, January i, 66 B.C., he was assigned the court with jurisdiction over extortion in the provinces (mea de pecuniis repetundis), and in that way the new judge was called upon to preside at the trial of C. Licinius Macer, 21 who was charged with oppression and extortion while holding the praeto- rian government of Asia Minor. Despite his relations with Crassus, who supported him, Macer was convicted; and it is said that he destroyed himself, even before the judices could render a formal judgment against him. But Cicero's most notable performance during his praetorian year was his defense of the bill of Manilius to name a successor to Lucullus in the eastern campaign against Mithridates, it being understood of course that Cnaeus Pompey, now at the height of his fame, would be appointed. This was Cicero's first political speech, the first ever addressed to the people directly. He therefore said at the outset: Although, O Romans, your numerous assembly has always seemed to me the most agreeable body that anyone can address, and this place, which is most honorable to plead in, has also seemed always the most distinguished place for delivering an oration, still I have been prevented from trying this road to glory, which has at all times been entirely open to every virtuous man, not indeed by my own will, but by the system of life which I have adopted from my earliest years. 22 As the extraordinary law in question, carrying with it the sea power, was at once repugnant to the republican institutions of Rome and the established authority of the Senate, the aristocracy, the optimates, led by Hortensius jjor^nsius 7 and Catulus, naturally opposed it. But the public-spirited and Catulus. The Manil- First polit- ical speech. 21 Ad Att., i. 4; Plut., ix; Val. Max., ix, 12. 22 Cicero, Pro Lege Manilla, 1. l62 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Noble tribute to Pompey. Cicero succeeded by the aid of Caesar. lawyer who now entered the arena of imperial politics had not yet announced himself as the champion of the supremacy of the Senate; he was full of political ambition, and eager for the support of those "who held the assem- blies." He was born a member of the equestrian class, and the knights, whose business interests in Asia were seriously endangered by the war, were eager for Pompey to take command, so great was their confidence in his ability as a soldier. Cicero therefore moved cautiously amid the difficult problems before him, dealing tactfully with Lucullus, and at the same time paying a noble tribute to Pompey: No feeling of avarice ever turned him aside from his destined course to think of booty; no licentiousness attracted him to pleas- ure; no delights to self-indulgence; curiosity never tempted him to explore cities, however famous; and in the midst of toil he shunned repose I am not doing this at the request of any- one, nor because I think to conciliate the favour of Cnaeus Pom- peius by taking this side, nor in order, through the greatness of anyone else, to seek for myself protection against dangers, or aids in the acquirement of honors; .... I assure you that I have undertaken wholly for the sake of the Republic. 23 This first performance took place in a contio, a meet- ing that could be called by any magistrate who had a matter to lay before the people, and was regularly held in the Comitium or the Forum. After a proposition of law (rogatio) had been offered, such a meeting was called so that the voters could hear the arguments pro and con, after which, at the same or a subsequent occasion, the comitia voted yes or no on the bill at a meeting regularly called for that purpose. Cicero, who, strangely enough, was supported by Caesar, succeeded in his effort to vest 23 Pro Lege Manil., xiv, 24. CICERO AS A STATESMAN 163 the supreme command in Pompey, who, after ending the Supreme war in the East and organizing the Roman power in that ^TtedTn quarter, returned in the year 61 B.C. covered with greater Pompey. glory than had ever been won by any Roman before him. With the progress of expansion it became the custom to entrust the government of conquered provinces to pro- consuls and propraetors. All provinces were so governed after the time of Sulla, one of his laws providing that consuls and praetors, immediately after the expiration of their term of office in the city, should depart for their provinces. But so set was Cicero's heart on the consul- ship that he did not avail himself of that right at the end of his praetorship; he deemed it more prudent to remain at home so as to keep himself before the people. In the year 65 B.C. his memorable canvass for the con- sulship began, the announcement of his candidacy being made at the comitia tributa held for the election of trib- unes, on July 17. An electioneering document known as Epistola de Petitione Consulatus, addressed to Cicero in the form of a letter or monograph prepared by his brother Quintus, probably with the assistance of Atticus then in Rome, explains in an unusually vivid way electioneering tactics as they were practiced at that time in such contests. The obvious purpose of this appeal was to belittle Cicero's opponents, and at the same time to place him in the most favorable light possible before the electorate. While it admitted that he was a new man, it asserted that he pos- sessed all that could be achieved by reflection, experience, and native endowments. An orator so distinguished as to have ex-consuls for clients certainly should be worthy of consular honors. He was commended for supporting Pompey for command in the East, for undertaking the cause of Manilius, and above all for his splendid defense Canvass for the consul- ship began in 65 B.C. De Petitione Consulatus. 1 64 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS The divisor es. Seven consu- lar candi- dates in the field. Antonius and Catiline backed by Crassus and Caesar. of the ex-tribune Cornelius, who had offended the Senate by proposing a law in the highest degree equitable. The writer concluded with an expression of the hope that agents of electoral bribery (divisores) would in this can- vass be kept within proper limits, if there was to be any expenditure of money at all. There was at this time at Rome a grave condition of economic unrest, of social discontent, aggravated by the gross disparity of conditions between the enormously wealthy province-robbing aristocracy and the bankrupt landlords and merchants of Italy, the disappointed and desperate outcasts from all classes of society among whom the popular party was now seeking support. The battle was on between the ins and the outs, between the privi- leged few and the suffering many. Seven candidates for the consulship were in the field: two nobles, Galba and Sacerdos; Conficius and Longi- nus, who were out of the running; Caius Antonius, wh( had held a command under Sulla; Catiline and Cicero. Ii the latter ever intended to join forces with Catiline, Cra; sus and Caesar were too quick for him; they made term* with Antonius and Catiline and put them forward as can- didates of the popular party. 24 As such they agreed to] unite their forces by making what the Romans called a coitio, "a going together." Alarmed by such a combina- tion, the conservatives resolved to unite in support of Cicero who, disgusted with democratic excesses, promptly consented to become their candidate. In the face of the preparations that followed for the purchase by Catiline and Antonius of the consular elec- 24 Catiline, with his unsleeping energy and bitterness against the con- servatives, and Antonius, who was too unprincipled and too penurious to j reject a golden opportunity, were exactly the instruments they needed. — Ferrero, Greatness and Decline of Rome, vol. i, p. 226. CICERO AS A STATESMAN 165 tion through the employment of systematic bribery and corruption of every kind, to be extended, of course, be- yond the Roman populace to the new voters from the Ital- ian towns, the Senate adopted a resolution suggesting that a statute against corrupt practices, more stringent than New statute the Calpurnian, should be submitted to the electorate. At cornet the moment when the great council was aroused to anger practices, by the defeat, through a tribune's veto, of that honest effort at reform, Cicero arose, only a few days before the election, and assailed his two principal competitors in a Speech, speech known as "the oration in the white robe," 25 be- ™» tis eirei ? > » vasion on Gaul was to hold the supreme military command, had the horizon, died suddenly, possibly by poison. 27 Under such conditions Caesar, backed by Crassus and Pompey, prompted the tribune Vatinius to propose a bill giving him the government of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyria for five years, with three legions, all to date from the promulgation of the bill, which took place on the first of March. In order to give more stability to this wonder-working coalition, Caesar persuaded Pompey, in Marriage of April of this year, to marry his daughter Julia, despite j u > ij 1 a pcyto the fact that she was at the time betrothed to Servilius Coepio. It is all important to note that in placing himself in a Caesar fol- position to follow in the footsteps of his uncle Marius, ^l^lot as a defender of Rome against the northern barbarians, his uncle Caesar had employed the power of the people themselves, who in their assembly had issued a mandate in the form of a law which the Senate would not have approved. His policy was to establish at Rome such a form of democratic government, similar to those of Greece, which 25 The wits said it was the administration of Julius and Caesar. 26 Appian, B. C, ii, 13; Dion, xxxviii, 7; Suet., Caes., 20. 27 Pro Cael., xxiv, 59. electoral agent 200 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS could and would act directly through a popular assembly unhampered by senatorial interference. In order to give stability to such a system it was necessary to maintain a permanent and reliable majority in the assembly, and with that end in view Caesar drew together under the leadership of Clodius, elected tribune by his influence, the worst elements of the population, who were to be mar- shaled in his absence as a fighting force against the middle and upper classes, clodius his Thus armed as the departing consul's electoral agent, Clodius was soon to enter upon a year of power, deter- mined to use it as the instrument of his deadly hate against Cicero, who had been assured by Pompey that Clodius had promised the triumvirs to take no steps against him. 28 As early as December 10, in the year 59 B.C., Caesar's political manager began to strengthen himself with the masses by introducing a series of popu- lar measures, certainly approved by his chief, the first of which proposed to provide absolutely free corn to poor citizens; the second, to grant to the working classes at Rome complete freedom of association. 29 Not until his hands had been strengthened by the adop- tion of these measures did the all-powerful demagogue attempt to wreak his vengeance on the destroyer of Cati- line. His first move was made early in the year 58 B.C., when the consuls were Caesar's father-in-law, Piso, and Pompey's follower, Gabinius, whose characters had been painted in the darkest colors by Cicero. He defined the present situation exactly when he wrote: "Granted that the power of the Senate was unpopular, what do you think it will be now, when it has been reduced to three men who acknowledge no check?" 28 Ad Att., ii, 20; xxii, 2. 20 Lange, R. A., vol. iii, pp. 289^ , CICERO AND POMPEY 201 With the game thus completely in his own hands, Clodius came forward suddenly with a retroactive law, 80 in which Cicero was not named, providing "that whoever has put to death a Roman citizen uncondemned in due form of trial, shall be interdicted from fire and water." This bill of pains and penalties, in the nature of a bill of Bill of pains attainder, was called a privileqium. that is a law of special ""P* *"" 1 . . against Cic- and not general application. The victim of such a bill ero offered, was banished by implication from all communion with his fellow-citizens — its object being to drive him into exile without the chance of an appeal to the people. While conducting his agitation for such a law, Clodius called a contio outside the walls so that Caesar, who was there in command of his legions, might attend and express his views as to Cicero's conduct during his consulship. He said in answer to questions Caesar and on that subject that, while he condemned, as he had Pom P e y J evasive. always done, the illegality of the executions of Catiline's confederates, as the matter had long passed, he was opposed to harsh and retroactive punishments. 31 All appeals to Pompey were equally unavailing. When his friend prostrated himself at his feet in his villa near Albano, he said that he could do nothing against the will of Caesar; 32 that as a private citizen he could only refer those who appealed to him on this subject to the consuls. The only hope left was in an appeal to the sympathy of the people, and with that end in view Cicero humbled Cicero's himself by passing through the streets in mourning sup- ^llolh. ported by the whole equestrian class garbed in the same fashion — twenty thousand of the noblest youths in Rome 80 Livy, ciii; Dion, xxxviii, 14; Veil., ii, 45; Sihler, p. 205. 81 Dion., xxxviii, 17 ; Plut., Cic, 30, 4. 82 Ad Att., x, 4. 202 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS changing their dress as a manifestation of sorrow and affection. The counterblast was an edict from the consuls for- bidding public mourning. The Senate then passed a reso- lution that the whole house should put it on; and when the sympathetic processions passed through the streets the ruffians of Clodius assailed them with mud and stones. Under such conditions Lucullus alone advised him to remain and face the issue; 33 if necessary, backed by his friends, to fight in the streets with the armed mobs of Seeks safety Clodius. But wiser friends, such as Cato and Horten- sius, advised him to go away for a time, confident in the hope that in a few days he would return in triumph. Before yielding to such counsels, he took from his house a valued statuette of Minerva, goddess of wisdom as well as of war, carried it to the Capitol, and there set it up with the inscription, "guardian of the city." 34 It was late in March when he left Rome, accompanied beyond the walls by tearful friends who assured him that he would soon be recalled. On the same day Clodius presented a bill in the assembly interdicting Cicero by name from fire and water, and providing that no one should receive him in his house within five hundred miles of Italy, a proviso changed to four hundred before the Bill passed bill passed into law. 35 It was further enacted that if j" s d tr p ro e P d erty he should be seen within the forbidden limits, he, with all who gave him shelter, might be killed with impunity. After being branded as a traitor to the commonwealth, 33 Ad Att., ill, 15 ; Ad Tarn., xx, 4. 3 * Mlnervae Custodi Urbis. 85 The first section ran: "Is it your pleasure, and do you enact, that M. Tullius has been interdicted from fire and water?" See Pro Dotno Sua, 18, 47, as to the use of the perfect tense in the second or declaratory act, which proceeded upon the assumption that Cicero had been outlawed by the terms of the first law, and that he had acknowledged his guilt by going into exile. CICERO AND POMPEY 203 his great mansion on the Palatine was given to the flames, and soon afterward his Formian and Tusculan villas were sacked and laid waste. Thus a great Roman, who had only a short time before saved the life of the state, was outlawed and driven into exile by the mandate of Mandate of the ancient popular assembly instigated by a clever and ^ u " dissolute demagogue who was the electoral agent of statesmen of the new type who owed him their sympathy and protection. In speaking of the populace Cicero once said: "There are no sagacity, no penetration, no pow- ers of discrimination, no perseverance in the common people; the wise have always regarded their acts rather to be endured than to be praised." 36 The exiled statesman, the spoiled child of fame and Cicero fortune, was now to prove to the world that Seneca was lnexl e * right when he said: "There is no one more unfortunate than the man who has never been unfortunate, for it has never been in his power to try himself." 3T If Cicero had been trained in the hard school of adversity he would have consoled himself with the thought that, while the popular assembly had driven him like a wild beast from home and country, the Senate had, by a special decree, given him a libera legatio which entitled him to travel His libera with all the pomp and circumstance of an ambassador. •***•■ He was thus free to roam in state through his beloved Greece and there accept the public honors the Greek cities were eager to bestow upon him. But like Rachel mourn- ing for her children, he refused to be comforted; he refused to believe, with Ovid, that even in Greece, "The place makes banishment more bearable." 38 With that 36 Pro Plancio, 4. 37 "Nihil infelicitus eo, cui nihil unquam evenit adversi, non licuit enim illi se experiri." — De Provld., iii. 38 "Mitius exilium faciunt loca." — Ep. ex Pont,, ii, 7, 63. 204 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Forbidden Sicily, he went to Greece. First letter to Terentia. His lamentation to Atticus. passionate fondness that bound the ancients to their cradle spot, he preferred to feel with Euripides: "But yet it is a sad life to leave the fields of our native land." 39 As the four-hundred-mile limit contained in the Clodian law made it imperative for him to depart in haste from the soil of Italy, he made his way toward Sicily, writing on the way to Atticus: "I know that the journey is a vexatious one, but my calamity is full of all kinds of trouble. More I cannot write; I am so distressed and cast down." 40 When he was forbidden to go to Sicily he sought Brundusium as the most convenient port from which he could cross to Greece. There, while sheltered by a Roman knight, Flaccus, in defiance of the Clodian law, he wrote his first letter to Terentia : Would that I had been less desirous of life! assuredly I should have seen nothing, or at all events not much, of misery in life. But if fortune preserves to me the hope of recovering any of the blessings I have lost, I have been less guilty of error [referring to suicide, no doubt] ; but if these evils admit of no change, still I wish to see you, my life, as soon as possible, and die in your embrace. 41 To Atticus, who had counseled him against suicide, he wrote : As to your many fierce objurgations of me for my weakness of mind, I ask you, what aggravation is wanting to my calamity? Who else has fallen from so high a position, in so good a cause, with so large an intellect, influence, popularity, with all good men so powerfully supporting him, as I? 42 39 'AW 8/iws Olarpos Tts al&v irarptdos %K\nreiv Spovs. — Fr. Aiol., 23. 40 Ad Att., iii, 2. 41 Ad Fam., xiv, 4. 42 Ad Att., iii, 10. CICERO AND POMPEY 205 Again he says: I have lived, I have had my prime; it is not a fault of mine, it is my very merit that has overthrown me. I have nothing to censure myself for, except that I have not thrown away life to- gether with its equipment. But if it is best for my children that I should live, let me endure the rest, though it is unendurable. 43 Certainly Plutarch and those who support him in the contention that Terentia was an imperious and oppressive shrew are put upon the defensive when we read such a tender outburst as this: Lost and afflicted as I am, why should I ask you to join me? Tender out- You a woman, weak in health, worn out in body and mind! Yet ^Y^T" must I not ask you ? Can I then exist without you ? Be assured of this, if I have you I shall not think myself wholly lost. But what will become of my darling Tullia? Do you both see to it. I can give no advice. And my Cicero, what will he do? I can- not write more — my grief prevents me. I know not what has become of you — whether you still keep anything or have been utterly ruined. Farewell, my Terentia, my most faithful and best of wives! and my dearest daughter, and Cicero, our only remaining hope ! 44 At the end of April the exile sailed from Brundusium and, after a stormy passage, arrived at Dyrrachium on FromDyrra- the opposite coast, where he was hospitably received by Macedonia the people whose patron he had been at Rome. But, fearing to remain in the neighborhood of Autronius and other followers of Catiline there in exile, he determined to move on to Macedonia where his friend Cnaeus Plan- cius was praetor. Accompanied by Plancius he arrived, on May 23, in Thessalonica on the Thracian Sea, where Seven he remained for seven months. About this time his ™° nths , at . rhessalonica. brother Quintus, who was governor of Asia, was return- ing to Italy from his province under serious apprehension 43 Ad Fam., xiv, 4. 44 Ibid., xiv, 4. 206 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Letter to Quintus. To Atticus andTerentia. of an indictrhent for provincial misgovernment In order to comfort his brother, who had been sorely distressed because some of his slaves had reached him without letters, Marcus wrote to him on June 15, saying: To think that you feared that out of anger I sent a messenger to you without a letter, or that I even did not wish to see you! That I should be angry with you! Could I be angry with you? Yes! I was unwilling to be seen by you. For you would not have seen your brother — not him whom you had quitted; not him whom you had known; not him whom you left in tears at your departure, when you were yourself in tears — not even a trace of him — not a shadow, but the image of a breathing corpse. 45 In September Cicero made up his mind to go to Epirus, the residence of his wise and faithful friend Atticus, whose ability to help him had been increased by a great inheritance of ten million sesterces ($440,000) from his stingy old uncle Caecilius. 46 He arrived at Dyrrachium on November 26, and on that day wrote to Atticus: Though my brother Quintus and Piso have given me a careful account of what has been done, yet I could have wished that your engagements had not hindered you from writing fully to me, as has been your custom, what was on foot and what you under- stood to be the facts. Up to the present, Plancius keeps me here by his generous treatment, though I have several times made an effort to go to Epirus. 47 On the same day he wrote to his wife: To think that a woman of your virtue, fidelity, uprightness, and kindness should have fallen into such troubles on my account ! And that my little Tullia should reap such a harvest of sorrow 48 Ad Quint. Frat., i, 3. 46 Nep., Alt., 5. Cicero greets Q. Caecilius Pomponianus Atticus, son of Quintus, in a letter written at Thessalonica, October 4 {Ad Att., iii, 20). According to custom, Atticus took his uncle's praenomen and nomen, Q. Caecilius, retaining his own nomen in an adjectival form (Pomponia- nus) as a cognomen. 47 Ad Att., iii, 22. CICERO AND POMPEY 207 from the father from whom she used to receive such abundant joys ! 48 That he had not lost all hope is made plain by that part of the same letter in which he says, "If we have all the tribunes [for 57 B.C.], if Lentulus is as devoted as he seems, if indeed we have even Pompey and Caesar, there is no need of abandoning hope." The first year of his exile closed with a visit from Atticus who, leaving Rome visit from in December for his country seat in Epirus, stopped on the way to pay Cicero a visit at Dyrrachium. The new year, 57 B.C., opened in such a way as to New year, prove that there was "no need of abandoning hope"; the brought hope, deputations that came to Rome from every part of Italy to plead for his return made it plain that the tide had turned. Practical manifestation of that fact was given when the new consuls, Lentulus and Metellus, supported by Cotta, moved in the Senate, the moment after their inauguration, that Cicero should be recalled. When, Motion for however, they suggested that as the proceedings against him had been entirely illegal, no fresh law enabling him to return was necessary, Pompey very properly suggested that an edict of the people (lex) was necessary to give legality to what the Senate had done. When an effort was made to pursue that course, one of the tribunes interposed his veto, and in that way the bill was not submitted to the assembly until January 25, when Clodius was ready with his ruffians to raise a riot in order to prevent a vote. Before the riot was over many lives were lost; the tribune Serranus was severely wounded, and Quintus Cicero left for dead on the ground. Nothing could more vividly illustrate the convulsions in which the Roman Republic died than the following de- 48 Ad Fam., xiv, 1. recall. 208 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Descrip- tion of a Roman mob. Fundamen- tal vice in Roman constitution. scription of the Roman mob that defied and set aside the constitution at the moment when the Senate, the two consuls, all the tribunes except one, Pompey and Caesar, backed by all Italy were clamoring for Cicero's recall: When we speak of the Roman mob, we must not forget that it was much more frightful than our own, and was recruited from more formidable elements. Whatever just dismay the pop- ulace that emerges all at once from the lowest quarters of our manufacturing cities, on a day of riot, may cause us, let us remem- ber that at Rome this inferior social stratum descended still lower. Below the vagabond strangers and starving workmen, the ordinary tools of revolutions, there was all that crowd of freedmen demor- alized by slavery, to whom liberty had given but one more means for evil doing; there were those gladiators, trained to fight beast or man, who made light of the death of others or themselves; there were still lower those fugitive slaves, who were indeed the worst of all classes, who, after having robbed or murdered at home, and lived by pillage on the road, came from all Italy to take refuge and disappear in the obscurity of the slums of Rome, an unclean and a terrible multitude of men without family, without country, who, outlawed by the general sentiment of society, had nothing to respect as they had nothing to lose. It was among these that Clodius recruited his bands. 49 In describing the combats that often took place during electoral contests when such bands were abroad, Cicero says in his exaggerated style that: "The Tiber was full of corpses of the citizens, the public sewers were choked with them, and they were obliged to mop up with sponges the blood that streamed from the Forum." 50 The funda- mental difficulty was that the Roman constitution in the days of the Republic vested the supreme powers of the state in a one-chamber popular assembly unrestrained by any of the checks and balances by which democracies are 49 Bossier, Cicero and His Friends, pp. 211-12, A. D. Jones's trans. *°Pro Sext, 35. CICERO AND POMPEY 209 bridled in the modern world. Tacitus affirmed in advance that such a fabric as the English constitution was impos- sible in practice when he said: In all the nations the supreme authority is vested either in the people, the nobles, or a single individual. A constitution com- posed of these three simple forms may, in theory, be praised, but can never exist in fact, or if it should, it will be of short duration. 51 The only safeguard of the constitution of the Roman Republic was in the moderation, the patriotism, the sense of law of the citizen body in which the sovereignty was vested. When that citizen body was converted into a lawless body the Republic perished, simply because there were no longer any citizens upon whom it could depend. 52 Despite the earnest and persistent efforts of Pompey, Lentulus, Servilius, and other distinguished men, backed by the whole power of the Senate, Clodius, backed by his publicly organized ruffians, was able to prevent the pass- age of the necessary law until August 4, 53 when it was car- ried with scarcely a dissenting voice by a great popular assembly voting in their centuries in the Campus Martius, where Clodius was at last contemptuously set aside. On that very day Cicero left Dyrrachium, landing at Brundu- sium on August 5, the birthday of his darling Tullia, 54 who, just widowed by the death of the faithful Piso, was there to welcome him. The twenty-four days consumed in the journey to Rome was a triumphal procession, an unbroken ovation. 51 Ann., iv, 33. 52 "For a very long time," says Appian, "the Roman people was only a mixture of all the nations. The freedmen were confounded with the citizens, the slave had no longer anything to distinguish him from his master. In short, the distributions of corn that were made at Rome gathered the beggars, the idle, the scoundrels from all Italy." — De Bell. Civ., ii, 120. 53 The lex Cornelia, proposed by Cornelius Lentulus. 64 Ad Att., iv, 1. Only safe- guard in the people themselves. Necessary law passed August 4, 57 B.C. Triumphal procession to Rome. X 210 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Plutarch says it was no exaggeration, yea, less than the truth, when Cicero declared that he was carried back to Rome on the shoulders of Italy. 55 As he approached the city in September the Senate came to welcome him beyond the walls; he was placed in a gilded chariot wait- ing to receive him outside the gate; and as he passed through the Forum along the Via Sacra to the Capitol the entire population went out to receive him. To use his own words, "It seemed that all the city was drawn from its foundations to come and salute its liberator." 56 Is it strange that at such a moment a nature so emo- tional should have cried out: "I do not feel as though I were simply returning from exile; I appear to myself to be mounting to heaven"? Let us heartily enjoy with him One day that one day equivalent to immortality (immortalitatis immortality. insiar fuit), when all the popular societies of Rome were pouring congratulatory addresses upon him. Let us ban- ish the thought of hypocrisy; let us not say with Juvenal: Who could endure the Gracchi if they were to rail at the seditious mob? Who could not confound heaven with earth and sea with heaven, if Verres were to pretend to hate a thief, Milo a murderer? if Clodius were to decry adultery, Catiline accuse Cethegus of factious views? if Sulla's three pupils were to declaim against Sulla's proscriptions? 57 Cicero was forced to descend rapidly from his heavenly heights; he was forced to realize that he had made no mistake when he said: As the sea, which is calm when left to itself, is excited and turned up by the fury of the winds, so, too, the Roman people, of itself placable, is as easily roused by the language of demagogues as by the most violent storms. 58 65 Cic, xxxiii. B7 Sat., ii, 8. 9* 44, Att., iv, i, 58 Fro Cluent., 49. CICERO AND POMPEY 211 His remorseless and resourceful enemy Clodius was Clodius ready and waiting for him at the head of the rabble that ready , to "" ' ° new the right. had ruled during the three years of anarchy which fol- lowed the seizure by the triumvirate of the government of the Republic. But before he was called upon to renew the fight with Clodius, he appeared in the Senate on Sep- Speech in tember 5, the day after his return, where he offered the September's profoundest thanks to his friends and the bitterest abuse to his enemies, attacking with special violence Gabinius and Piso, nominees of Pompey and Caesar, who had been consuls during the preceding year. On the same day he addressed the people in the Forum in a speech fa contio) known as the oration Ad Quirites, expressing the same Oration general line of thought, but in a more moderate vein. The Unites. undertone of both discourses was embodied in the assur- ance that the safety of the Republic which had been endangered by his absence was made secure by his return: Therefore, when I was absent, the Republic was in such a state that you thought that I and it were equally necessary to be restored. But I thought that there was no republic at all in a city in which the Senate had no influence — in which there was impunity for every crime — where there were no courts of justice, but violence and arms bore sway in the Forum — where private men were forced to rely on the protection of the walls of their houses, and not on that of the laws. Therefore, after the Republic was banished, I thought that there was no room for me in this city; and if the Republic was restored, I had no doubt that it would bring me back in its company. 59 riots. Upon the heels of these orations came the famine The famine riots 60 in which armed and trained bands of desperadoes 59 Ad Quirit., 6. 60 There had been a deficiency of grain in the provinces, especially in Sicily, from which Rome drew her main supply. — Ad Att., iv, I. The streets, even the Forum, were so insecure that Cicero did not dare to stir abroad. 212 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS led by Clodius went to the Capitol and attacked the sen- ators with stones. In the midst of such scenes Cicero proposed that a law should be submitted to the people giving to Pompey for five years the absolute power to regulate the importation of grain from every part of the world, a measure so enlarged before its adoption as to give the great one unlimited funds, a fleet, an army, and such authority over the provinces as would supersede that of their actual governors. 61 Ciceroturned In that way Cicero, who began by attempting to steer a fromtheans- j^jjjjg C0U rse between his old allies, the aristocracy, and tocracy to the J triumvirs. the triumvirs, now turned to the latter, despite the recent cruelties he had suffered at their hands, as he was advised to do by the shrewd Atticus and his brother Quintus. The aristocracy could never forgive him for being a "new man," a fact emphasized by the coldness with which they had received the enthusiastic demonstrations by which he had been honored upon his return, and by the stingy spirit in which they proposed to compensate him for the losses of his property. He was also made to feel that he was an object of envy; he said "those who have clippec my wings are sorry to see them grow again." In the midst of these mental perplexities Cicero was still pursued by Clodius who, after destroying his house on the Palatine, 62 had hoped to keep the owner out of possession of the ground by building upon it a temple dedicated to Liberty, levelling at the same time the adjoin- 81 Ad Att., iv, i. 62 The house of Clodius, near to that of Cicero on the Palatine, was more magnificent, having cost, it is said, the enormous sum of 14,800,000 sesterces, or about £130,000. Its owner had adorned it with Greek paintings and statues. — Plin., N. H., xxxvi, 24, § 2 ; Cic, Pro Dom., 43. The house of Cicero was a little lower down the hill, a circumstance which explains his threat to increase its height, so as to shut out Clodius from a view of the city: "Tollam altius tectum, non ut ego te despiciam, sed ne tu aspicias, urbem earn, quam detere voluisti." — De Harusp. Res., 15. CICERO AND POMPEY 213 ing portico of Catulus, a monument of his victory over the Cimbrians. As the land had been thus dedicated ad pios usus, a question was made for the decision of the college of pontiffs, to which Cicero addressed in Septem- ber, 57 B.C., the oration known as Pro Domo Sua, which Oration Pro he considered his very best effort — a brilliant retrospect omo ua " full of invaluable historical data intermingled with burn- ing invectives against those who had wronged him. As the main question turned upon the legality of the conse- Mainques- cration, the pleader attempted to establish illegality by d e "id e j t proving that the illegally elected tribune Clodius could not consecrate anything. That point of law the college left to the Senate by deciding simply that if he who per- formed the office of consecration was not legally author- ized to do so, then the area in question should be returned to Cicero, 63 who was indemnified by a senatorial decree that his damage should be born by the state and his house rebuilt at the public expense. When, in January, 56 B.C., the comitia elected aediles, among the winners was Clodius, who was quick to sug- gest, in a harangue to the people, after the college of soothsayers had declared that some deity had been of- fended because consecrated places had been devoted to profane uses, 64 that the real culprit was Cicero who had pulled down the temple of Liberty on the site upon which his new house was being erected. When the Senate, thus prompted, resolved that the consuls should bring in a bill O ratlon . D ' , . . Haruspicum on the subject of sacred places, Cicero delivered the ora- Responsis. 83 The pontiffs said: "If neither by a command of the free burghers, in a lawful assembly (populi jussu), nor by plebiscite, he who avers that he dedicated the site to religious uses had specific authority given him to do so, and has done it without such authority, we are of opinion that that part of i the site which has been so dedicated may, without any violation of religion, be restored to Cicero." — Ad Alt., iv, 2. 84 Lange, vol. iii, p. 329. 214 A critical moment in Caesar's career. Meeting at Luca with Cicero. CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS tion known as De H aruspicum Responsis, in which, after tearing to tatters the dreadful past of the brother of the Clodias, he exhorted all citizens of every class to put aside their mutual animosities as the best means of regain- ing the favor of the gods and their former prosperity. Despite his recent attempt to murder him in the streets, Clodius had not cowed Cicero. He said in the speech in question : But my hatred for Clodius is not greater this day than it was then, when I knew that he was scorched as it were with those holy fires, and that he had escaped in female attire from the house of the Pontifex Maximus, after attempting an act of atrocious licentiousness. That Pontifex Maximus was now Rome's most con- spicuous general at the head of legions in Gaul, where he was trying to eclipse the military fame of Pompey by add- ing vast areas beyond the Alps to the Empire. This was a critical moment in Caesar's career. He had been alarmed by reports that had reached him of the possible repeal of his agrarian law; of a growing feeling of hostility against the coalition; and above all he was eager to have his com- mand renewed for five years. A proposition had been made in the Senate to recall Piso and Gabinius from their proconsular provinces, and that Caesar should also be deprived of the government of the two Gauls which were to be assigned to the new consuls elect. On April 5, Cicero himself had moved that on May 15 the Senate, if there was a full house, should discuss Caesar's Campanian land law. And so, when he met Caesar at Luca, where the alliance between the three self- constituted rulers of Rome was renewed, the latter ex- pressed his resentment in these terms, which Cicero has preserved for us: CICERO AND POMPEY 215 There Caesar complained much of my motion [of April 5], for he had previously also seen Crassus and had by him been inflamed against me. It was indeed a well-established fact that Pompey was seriously displeased with it, which I, while I had heard it from others, learned particularly from my brother. When Pompey met him [in Sardinia] a few days after leaving Luca, he said, "You are the very man I want to see, nothing more suit- able could happen: unless you confer earnestly with your brother Marcus, you must pay what you have pledged for him." Why make a long story of it ? He, Pompey, complained bitterly, called to mind his own services, his frequent conferences with my brother himself concerning the acts of Caesar, and guaranties which he [Quintus] had given to him [Pompey] about myself: all this he called to mind. 65 Under such pressure Cicero, seriously embarrassed by financial difficulties, clearly understood that his old friends in the Senate would do little or nothing to help him. Alluding of course to Pompey and Caesar, he says in one of his letters: Since those who have no power will not be my friends, let me Who turned try to be friends with those who have the power. to \°™P e y and Caesar. He adds: I see clearly now that I have been only an ass \_scio me asinum germanum fuisse]. But it is now time for me to take care of myself, since I cannot in the least rely on their friendship. 68 That he felt keenly the humiliation of his position we know from that letter to Atticus in which he says : For what is worse than our life? Especially mine! For you, Hisfeelingof indeed, although you are by nature "political," are tied to no humiliation, party nor bound to public servitude. You enjoy merely the gen- eral name of statesman. What grief, however, must I feel? I, who if I say what I ought about politics, am thought mad; if what is expedient, servile ; if I keep silence, utterly done for and laid on the shelf. And the worst of it is that I dare not express my grief lest I should appear ungrateful. 65 Ad Tarn., i, 9. Cf. Sihler, p. 233. 66 Ad Att, iv, 5. 56 B.c 216 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS He once said: To yield to the times, that is, to obey necessity, has always been regarded as the act of a wise man. Such were the conditions under which Cicero, early in June, 56 B.C., spoke in Caesar's favor in the Senate in the Oration De oration known as De Provinciis Consularibus, when his Consulari- recall, as well as that of Piso and Gabinius, was in ques- !"!'J une ' t ' on " Turning savagely upon the provincial administra- tion of the last two, after declaring that he would not permit his desire for personal revenge to influence his public duty, he said : Do you not think that you ought to recall those men from their provinces, even if you had no one to send in their places? Would you, could you retain there these two pests of the allies, these men who are the destruction of the soldiers, the ruin of the farmers of the revenue, the desolators of the provinces, the disgracers of the Empire? When taunted by the suggestion that he should be no more hostile to Gabinius than to Caesar, he answered that he must not put his personal wrongs before the public welfare. A most important war [he said] has been waged in Gaul; very mighty nations have been subdued by Caesar; but they are not yet established with laws, or with any fixed system of rights, or by peace which can be thoroughly depended on If a successor is appointed to him, there is great danger that we may hear that the embers of this momentous war are again fanned into flame and rekindled Even that great man, Caius Marius, whose godlike and amazing valor came to the assistance of the Roman people in many of its distresses and disasters, was content to check the enormous multitudes of Gauls who were forcing their way into Italy, without endeavoring to penetrate himself into their cities and dwelling-places Nature had previously protected Italy by the Alps, not without some especial kindness of the gods consuls fot 55 B.C. CICERO AND POMPEY 217 providing us with such a bulwark. For if that road had been open to the savage disposition and vast numbers of the Gauls, this city would never have been the home and chosen seat of the empire of the world. 87 Caesar kept his command in Gaul, while Pompey and Caesar kept Crassus became consuls for the following year, 55 B.C., ^ 8 p°™™ and the two Spains and Africa being assigned to the former, and Crassus and Syria to the latter. But Pompey's provinces were left to his legates; and as the year 54 B.C. brought with it a renewal of the riots, the Senate, backed by all the better elements, prevailed upon him to remain at home in order to preserve order by his influence. Crassus went to his province; and in the summer of the year 53 B.C. the news fell upon Rome like a thunderbolt Death of that he with a great part of his army had perished in the Crassusln sands beyond the Euphrates, victims to the archery of the wily Parthians. 68 With the father fell the son Publius who was a member of the college of augurs. To that vacant and long-coveted office Cicero was now named by Cicero Pompey and Hortensius, 69 holding it during the last c osen r J . . augur. decade of his life, and giving to its traditions serious study, despite the mass of forensic business which recent years had cast upon him. 70 The news of Caesar's victories had made a profound Profound impression at Rome, because they were discoveries as well ™^" a"*" 1 as victories. This consummate politician and man of the Rome by world, with a brilliant talent for letters, who resolved v j ctor j es# at forty-four to outshine Pompey as a military leader, had during the six years that intervened between 58 and 52 B.C. conquered the Helvetii at Autun; cut the Germans 67 De Provinciis Consularibus, viii, 13, 14. 88 Plut., Crass., xxxiii ; Dion, xl, 25. 8 » II Phil., 2. T0 See Ad Fam., xv, 4. 2l8 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Two inva- sions of Brit- ain and the Commen- taries. Quintus in Caesar's camp. under Ariovistus to pieces near Muhlhausen ; scattered the Belgae to the winds; conquered the Veneti; built a bridge across the Rhine, making that river the boundary of the Empire; and, above all, had impressed so profoundly the language, laws, and institutions of Rome upon the con- quered as to give a Roman form to the civilization of France which has survived until the present time. As incidental achievements may be mentioned Caesar's two invasions of Britain and the writing of his immortal Commentaries, relating in seven books the history of the first seven years of the Gallic war, composed, no doubt, in the course of his campaigns, and probably cast in their present form during his stay in winter-quarters. 71 Among Caesar's lieutenants, called his tent-comrades (contuber- nales), were many cultivated men of letters, personal friends of Cicero, who kept up a constant communication with him as the official patron of literature at Rome. 72 In the midst of that coterie was his own brother Quintus who had such a passion for poetry that, during the winter in which he was fighting the Nervii, he composed four pieces in sixteen days. But the most literary man of them all was the great general himself, who, according to Fronto, "busied him- self with the formation of words while arrows were cleav- ing the air, and sought the laws of language amid the dir of clarions and trumpets." It was Caesar's literary tastt that made him eager for Cicero's friendship, knowing, oi course, his power over public opinion, and the value of hi< eloquent words when sounding the praises of his great 71 It is now agreed that the Commentarii de Bella Galileo were pub- lished in 51 B.C. 72 Cicero made no mistake when he said one day to Caesar: "After our time there will be great debates about you, as there have been among our- selves." — Pro Marcello, ix. CICERO AND POMPEY 219 friend Trebatius. achievements. In addition to his brother, Cicero had also Also Cicero's his friend Trebatius near Caesar; and his letters to them, which introduce us further into the private life of the con- queror of Gaul, supplement the Commentaries. Cicero had sent Trebatius to Caesar with a cordial letter of rec- ommendation in which he said: I do not ask of you the command of a legion, or a government for him. I ask for nothing definite. Give him your friendship, and if afterward you care to do something for his fortune and his glory I shall not be displeased. 73 In the midst of his great affairs Caesar joked with his friends and permitted them to write to him "familiarly and without subserviency," his answers being "full of politeness, kind attention, and charm." Such were the relations between Cicero and Caesar when the time came for the latter to draw away from Pompey, who affected a haughty and imperious tone that tended to alienate everybody. The first break came when in September, 54 B.C., Julia, the daughter of Caesar and the wife of Pompey, died. After the death of Crassus in the following year it became manifest that Pompey was drawing nearer to Cato as an ally, and was becoming more disposed to act as the champion of the Senate, regardless of Caesar. That tendency was strengthened by the growth of anarchy and confusion at Rome, which prompted even strict constitutionalists like Cicero to speak of the necessity for investing Pompey with something like a dictatorship for the preservation of order. 74 The year 52 B.C., which opened without consuls, and with the murder of Clodius by Milo, precipitated that result when, as heretofore pointed out in the account given of the trial of Milo, Pompey became the "savior of 79 Ad Fam., vii, 5. 7i Plut., Pomp., 54; Ad Quint Trat., iii, 8. Break be- tween Caesar and Pompey when Julia died. Pompey, "savior of society," as sole consul. 220 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS The inevita- ble conflict. Cicero pro- consul of Cilicia for 51 B.C. society," by an election as sole consul, his provincial com- mand being at the same time prolonged for five years, and fresh troops assigned him. 75 Thus Pompey was actually drawn into a close alliance with that powerful party in the Senate which, alarmed by the rise of Caesar, was determined to force Pompey to lead the attack upon him which could not be made without him. From that time down to the beginning of the civil war a collision became inevitable, despite Caesar's efforts to avert it, between the two rival statesmen of the new type — "the type of a military chief at the head of a devoted army which he controls by his money and by the sword." Under a law which Pompey had revived as to procon- sular governments — providing that no ex-consul could assume such a command until after the expiration of five years measured from the end of his term ; and that, in the meantime, the provinces should be administered by those who had not held such posts — Cicero was forced to accept 76 the proconsulate of Cilicia for the year 51 B.C., leaving Terentia behind, and taking with him his brother Quintus as legate, and the Greek grammaticus Dionysius as tutor to his son and nephew. 77 He went away owing Caesar 800,000 sesterces, the payment of which he en- trusted to Atticus; 78 and on the way to Brundusium he spent three days with Pompey. "I left him," he says, "in an excellent frame of mind, and thoroughly prepared to ward off the danger that is feared" 79 — referring, no 76 Plut., Pomp., 56 ; App., B. C, ii, 24. 76 "Contra voluntatem meam et praeter opinionem." 77 Ad AtU, v, 3 ; v, 9. 78 Ibid., v, 1. 79 Ibid., v, 7. Ad Fam., iii, 2. CICERO AND POMPEY 221 doubt, to a possible collision between the Senate and Caesar. He arrived at Athens on June 25, after an absence Arrived at of about twenty-eight years, and at Laodicea on July 2?2J!i!!? t 31, dating from that day his term which he hoped of twenty- would not last more than a year. In a letter expressing elg year8# his longings for the Forum, his home and friends, he told Atticus that "the saddle had been put on the wrong horse." 80 It was his good fortune to succeed Appius Claudius, a most rapacious ruler, who had nearly ruined the province by monstrous conduct, which Cicero told Atticus was less like that of a man than that of a beast. In the midst of the ruin thus wrought he resolved to be so considerate of the suffering provincials as not to exact even his legal perquisites, thus winning for himself un- bounded popularity. If in home politics he was at times wavering and irresolute, his conspicuous honesty and Conspicuous humanity in the midst of great temptations place him {j°„*|Ji t a r nd above all the provincial administrators of his time. The provincials found in him such a ruler as they had never known before, because he recognized the fact that "Noth- ing is more praiseworthy, nothing more suited to a great and illustrious man than placability and merciful dispo- sition." Such nobleness was gravely belittled, however, by an unbecoming thirst for military glory which grew out Thirst for of his besetting sin, vanity, after some decided successes n ) 1 ) tary had been won over the Parthians through operations carried on chiefly by his brother Quintus, who was an experienced soldier. Everything was reported with great pomp to the Senate in the hope that first supplications in honor of victory and finally a triumph would follow, the 80 Ad Att., 5, 15: "Clitellae bovi sunt impositae." 222 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS only honor he had not enjoyed. Only a supplicatio, 81 or thanksgiving in honor of his successes, was decreed; and that was postponed until the following year. His greatest longing, perhaps, was for his return, for which he was now preparing at the end of an administra- tion so frugal that a surplus of 2,200,000 sesterces (about $98,800) remained, as his strictly legal perquisites, be- yond the sum voted by the Senate for his expenses. That sum, deposited with Roman bankers at Ephesus, 82 was loaned to Pompey, and lost in the civil war, then looked for within a year. Caelius wrote: The issue be- This is the issue about which the men who have control of tween Caesar ^g g 0vernmen t are going to fight, viz., because Pompey has re- solved not to suffer it that Caesar shall become consul in any other way but that of surrendering army and provinces. But Caesar is convinced that he cannot be safe if he leaves his army: still he offers the terms that both shall surrender their armies. 83 With that prospect ahead of him Cicero began his journey homeward, stopping at Rhodes, where he heard of the death of his old friend and rival Hortensius, and at Athens where he received a letter only twenty-one days old 84 from his wife, Terentia. He arrived at Brundusium the last week in November; and on December II, while traveling slowly northward, he met Pompey. "We were two hours together," he said. "Pompey was delighted at my arrival. He spoke of my triumph and promised to do his part. He advised me to keep away from the Senate till it was arranged, lest I should offend the tribunes." 85 81 Even Cato favored it. — Ad Fam., xv, 6. 82 Ad Fam., v, 20. 83 Ibid., viii, 14. 84 Ibid., xiv, 5. Reference may here be made to O. E. Schmidt's pre liminary discourse prefixed to his edition of Cicero's correspondence from 51-44 B.C.: Der Briefivechsel des M. Tullius Cicero von seinem Pro consulat in Cilicien bis zu Caesar's Ermordung, Leipzig, 1893. 85 Ad Att., vii, 4. Cicero, returning, meets Pompey. CICERO AND POMPEY 223 On December 27, he had a second conference with Pom- pey at Formiae, who seemed to have neither hope nor desire for peace. For he thinks thus: If Caesar be made consul, even after he was parted from his army, the constitution will be at an end. He thinks, also, that when Caesar hears of the preparations against him, he will drop the consulship for this year, to keep his province and troops. 88 Cicero reached the gates of Rome January 4, 49 B.C., Reached the remaining without for nearly two months in a state of |ome°janu- doubt and hesitation. 87 The claim he was still making for ary 4 ,49B.c. a triumph gave him a valid legal excuse for that course which relieved him of the embarrassment at this critical moment that a seat in the Senate would have imposed upon him. After the death of Caesar's daughter Julia, Pompey Pompey's allied himself more closely with the aristocracy by marry- J^Jj^* ing into the noble family of the Metelli, and during his aristocracy, third consulship, with his father-in-law, Caecilius Metel- lus Pius, as a colleague, he strengthened his position and recovered lost ground by an energetic policy. As the tre- Contempt for mendous crisis approached, he seemed to be both confident ^J!*" JJj " and defiant, expressing in his conference with Cicero at Formiae great contempt for Caesar as a military opponent. Should he be so insane as to try extremities, Pompey holds him in utter contempt, I thought, when he was speaking, of the uncer- tainties of war; but I was relieved to hear a man of courage and experience talk like a statesman of the dangers of an insincere settlement. Not only he does not seek for peace, but he seems to fear it. My own vexation is, that I must pay Caesar my debt, and spend thus what I had set apart for my triumph. It is indecent to owe money to a political antagonist. 88 •• Ad An., vii, 8. 87 Ad Tarn., xvi, 11. 88 Ad Att., vii, 8. 224 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Cicero re- veals his doubts and fears to Atticus. Caesar's pro- posal at the beginning of 49 B.C. In Cicero's frequent letters to Atticus, written between the middle of December, 50 B.C., and the end of June, 49 B.C., we have a picture of the interior of his mind with all the doubts and hesitations that beset him at the moment when, by prejudice and conviction, he was in- clined to follow Pompey, while debating with himself whether he would not be justified in submitting quietly to Caesar. In one of his speeches he said: I deem it no proof of inconsistency to regulate our opinions as we do a ship and a ship's course on a voyage, according to the weather which might be prevailing in the commonwealth. 89 In one of his letters to Atticus written on his journey from Brundusium he says: Since, however, things have come to such a pass, I will not ask, as you write, quoting the words of Homer, "Where is the ship of the Atridae?" That shall be my ship where Pompey holds the helm. As to what will happen when, as you say, I am called upon, "Speak, Marc Tully!" I will answer shortly, "J agree with Cnaeus Pompey." Privately, however, I will urge him to peaceful counsels. For my opinion is that we run the greatest hazard. You who are in the city know more than I do. However, I see this plainly, that we have to do with a man ful of audacity, and thoroughly prepared. 90 The first question the new consuls for the year 49 B.C. presented to the Senate was whether a letter should be read, just brought by Curio from Ravenna to Rome from Caesar, who proposed to lay down his military command if Pompey would do the same, adding that if that condi- tion was not complied with he would not be wanting in his duty to himself and his country. The consul Lentulus, backed by Metellus Scipio, the father-in-law of Pompey, after advocating bold measures, and declaring that Pom- es Pro Plane, 39. 90 Ad Att., vii, 3. CICERO AND POMPEY 225 pey would defend the Republic if the Senate would follow him — proposed that Caesar should be ordered to disband his army by a certain day, and, in the event of failure, to be regarded as a traitor and rebel. The other consul, Marcellus, advised that Caesar be not defied until an army could be raised by a levy en masse; and in order to prevent the pending motion from being carried, the newly elected tribunes, Marc Antony and Quintus Cassius, interposed their veto. But the delay was only for a moment. On January 6 there was another Theulti- violent debate resulting in an ultimatum ; the consuls, prae- ^uary 6. tors, and tribunes were ordered to see that the Republic suffered no harm. 91 On the next day the tribunes, Antony and Quintus Cassius, fled from Rome to Caesar, who, by the middle of the month, had crossed the Rubicon. With wonderful foresight Cicero had anticipated what actually happened when he wrote: Or if perchance a tribune of the people blocking the Senate or rousing the people, having formally been branded by censure, either cut short by a resolution of the Senate or suspended, or deprived of his office, or claiming to have been deprived of his office, seek refuge with him. 92 The rapidity of Caesar's advance staggered and bewil- Rapidity dered his foes. Instead of marching directly on the capital ° dv anc e . he secured the possession of the country by seizing first upon the heart of the peninsula, dashing through the upland valleys midway between the two seas, and in that way arriving at Rome as the undisputed master of Italy by the end of March. Pompey having failed to sustain Domitius Ahenobarbus Pompey's r^ r • 1 a • • r+ flight to at Lornnium, a strong position in the Apennines in Lae- t heEast. sar's path, his only hope was in flight to the East, with its 91 Caes., B. C, i, 5. 92 Ad Att, vii, 9. Cf. Sihler, p. 301. 226 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Regarded by Cicero as disgraceful. His appeal to Pompey. treasures, fleets, and millions of men which might still be organized for victory in the long run. 93 Before the fall of Corfinium Cicero wrote: My convictions, personal and political, attach me to Pompey. If I stay behind, I desert my noble and admirable companions, and I fall into the power of a man whom I know not how far I can trust This is one side; but now look at the other. Pompey has shown neither conduct nor courage, and he has acted throughout against my advice and judgment. I pass over his old errors: how he himself armed this man against the constitution; how he supported his laws by violence in the face of the auspices ; how he gave him Further Gaul, married his daughter, supported Clodius, helped me back from exile indeed, but neglected me afterward; how he prolonged Caesar's command, and backed him up in everything; how, in his third consulship, when he had begun to defend the constitution, he yet moved the tribunes to carry a resolution for taking Caesar's name in his absence, and himself sanctioned it by a law of his own ; how he resisted Marcus Marcellus, who would have ended Caesar's government on March I. Let us forget all this: but what was ever more disgraceful than the flight from Rome? 94 By February 17, Pompey had begun to direct all his forces to move toward Brundusium; and, attended by the consuls, a majority of the Senate, and a long train of young patricians, the descendants of the Metelli and Scipios, abandoned Italy as untenable. In a letter to Pompey, Cicero said: My advice was always for peace, even on hard terms. I wished you to remain in Rome. You never hinted that you thought of leaving Italy. I accepted your opinion, not for the constitution's sake, for I despaired of saving it. The constitution 93 "A victory in the East means the personal supremacy of Pompey. We cannot agree with Cicero, who represents his flight from Italy as the result of a panic. No; it was a well-considered plan, which, on the whole, wa9 the only plan likely to secure for Pompey a position like that which Caesar actually attained." — Tyrrell, Cicero in His Letters, vol. iv, p. 117. »* Ad AtU, viii, 3. CICERO AND POMPEY 227 is gone, and cannot be restored without a destructive war; but I wished to be with you, and if I can join you now I will I preferred an arrangement, and you, I thought, agreed with me. They [the aristocracy] chose to fight, and as their counsels have been taken, I can but do my duty as a member of the common- wealth, and as a friend to you. 95 In a letter to Atticus he said : Observe the man into whose hands we have fallen. How Letters to keen he is, how alert, how well prepared! By Jove, if he does Att,CU9 - not kill anyone, and spares the property of those who are so terrified, he will be in high favor! I talk with the tradesmen and farmers. They care for nothing but their lands and houses and money. They have gone right round. 98 In another letter he says: My preparations are complete. I wait till I can go by the upper sea; I cannot go by the lower at this season. I must start soon lest I be detained. I do not go for Pompey's sake. I have long known him to be the worst of politicians, and I know him now for the worst of generals. I go because I am sneered at by the optimates. Precious optimates! What are they about now? Selling themselves to Caesar. The towns receive Caesar as a god. 97 Again : Pompey has sailed. I am pleased to find that you approve my remaining. My efforts now are to persuade Caesar to allow me to be absent from the Senate which is soon to meet. I fear he will refuse. I have been deceived in two points. I expected an arrangement; and now I perceive that Pompey has resolved upon a cruel and deadly war Pompey is aiming at monarchy after the type of Sulla. I know what I say. Never did he show his hand more plainly. Has he not a good cause? The very best. But mark me, it will be carried out most foully. He means 95 Ad Att., viii, 11 (d). 06 Ibid., viii, 13. For a clear and elaborate statement, with the authorities, of all the motives that prompted Cicero to follow Pompey, see Tyrrell, Cicero in His Letters, pp. xxvii sq. 97 Ad Att., viii, 16. 228 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Cicero's hope of a settlement. Met Caesar at Formiae. to strangle Rome and Italy with famine, and then waste and burn the country, and seize the property of all who have any. Caesar may do as ill; but the prospect is frightful. 98 .... Why did not I follow Pompey when things were at their worst? On January 17 I could see that he was thoroughly frightened In no respect was he acting in a way to make it proper for me to join his flight. But now my love for him revives; now my regret for him is more than I can bear; books and philosophy please me no more. Like Plato's bird, I gaze night and day over the sea, and long to fly away." Still believing that peace might be accomplished by con- ference, Cicero remained in Italy while Pompey, about the middle of March, crossed the Adriatic to Epirus. Such hope of a settlement was kept alive by Caesar's agents at Rome 100 and by Caesar himself who, on March 26, wrote that he desired a conference with Cicero on his way to the capital which he had not seen for nine years. "I would like to have you await me," he said, "near Rome, that I might use your counsels and resources, as I am wont, in everything. Let me tell you that no one is more 1 agreeable than your Dolabella." 101 On March 27 or 28, I Caesar and Cicero met at Formiae, where the great soldier laid down the law to the great orator after the latter had declared that he would not go to Rome, where the Senate was soon to meet, because he knew he would not be per- mitted to express his real opinions. Caesar did not force him. "The upshot was that he, as though seeking a way out, suggested that I think the matter over. There was no saying nay to that. So we parted." In refusing to stoop to please Caesar, Cicero had pleased himself: "I 98 Ad Att., ix, 7 9» Ibid., ix, 10. vii, 348A. 100 Ad Att., ix, 13 (a) 101 Ibid., ix, 16 (a). Ka.8a.irep 6pvis ttoOwv iroOev avairTaoOai. — Plato, Epis., CICERO AND POMPEY 229 suppose he does not love me. But I loved myself, and, it is a long time since that has come to pass." 102 Still hoping His rapid to win Cicero, Caesar, before sailing away to subdue JJJJJjjJJ Spain in forty days, wrote him a personal letter, dated April 16, warning him not to leave Italy: Nobody will say that you are following the winning cause, if you do, that is true; but you would condemn my action and you could not do me a greater injury than that. 103 Antony, left behind as a kind of viceroy, also appealed Antony vice- 1 • • roy of Italy. to him, saying, You and I are at odds, but that is due not so much to any wrong you have done me- — there is none — but to my enthu- siasm [for Caesar's cause]. Think of your son-in-law and your daughter. Do not go. 104 Tullia also appealed to her father to wait for decisive news from Spain. 105 He did not finally make up his mind until June, when he went from Cumae to Formiae where a vessel was ready for him. On the seventh, after writing Cicero went a farewell letter to Terentia, 106 advising her to dwell in T° n °!I ipey those villas farthest removed from men in arms, he em- barked with his brother, son, and nephew, and sailed to the opposite coast to join Pompey. Nearly four years later he wrote: I do not think that I once abandoned country and children, being influenced by the prizes of victory, but as it seemed to me 102 Ad A tt., \x, 18. v*Ibid. t x, 8 (b). 104 Ibid., x, 8 (a). In that letter Antony says: "For I want to convince you that no one is dearer to me than you are, except my Caesar, and that my conviction at the same time is that Caesar gives M. Cicero a very high place among his friends." 105 Ibid., x, 8. 106 Ad Fam., xiv, 7. At the close he says: "You can with advantage use ; the home at Arpinum with your town establishment, if the price of food goes up." 230 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS A mission of despair. Pompey's coldness. Pharsalia, August 9, 48 B.C. I followed a certain duty satisfactory to my sense of right and of devotion, and due the state and my public position. 107 There can be no doubt that Cicero went on a mission of despair from a sense of duty; and it was certainly very noble of Cato, upon his arrival at the camp, to upbraid him for his folly in coming to them, as their cause was desperate, and as it was likely that the orator could have been of more service to his friends and country if he had remained at home. 108 Certainly he was treated neither with confidence nor consideration by Pompey, who, after he had indulged in sarcastic comments as to the unpre- paredness of his army, as Macrobius tells us, said, "I wish Cicero would go over to the enemy that he may learn to fear us." And yet he seems to have loaned Pompey at this time a considerable sum of money to help on the cause. The letter to Atticus of June 13 from the camp at Dyrrachium relates mainly to financial matters. 109 There it was that Caesar first encountered Pompey, a year after the departure of the latter from Italy; and there it was that Caesar suffered a most unexpected defeat which forced him to retire in a kind of flight toward Mace- donia. That success, Cicero tells us, so turned Pompey's head — .... that from this moment that great man ceased to be a general; opposed a raw, new-raised army to the most robust and veteran legions ; was shamefully beaten, with the loss of his camp, and forced to fly away alone. 110 And yet the fact is that at the battle of Pharsalia, fought August 9, 48 B.C., old style, by the Roman aristocracy in 107 Ad Tarn., vi, i. Cf. Sihler, p. 320. i°8 Plut., Cic, 38. *«• Ad Att.j ii, 3. 110 Ad Tarn., vii, 3. This was the letter written to Marius in July, 46 B.C. CICERO AND POMPEY 231 defense of their own supremacy, Pompey had forty-seven thousand infantry, not including his allies, and seven thou- sand cavalry, while Caesar had only twenty-two thousand infantry and a thousand cavalry. Neither Cicero nor Cato were present; both had remained in the camp at Dyrrachium where the latter commanded with fifteen cohorts. When the news of the defeat arrived Cato offered the command to the ex-consul on account of his superior dignity, 111 and when he declined it, according to Plutarch, young Pompey drew his sword and would have killed him but for Cato's interference. After twenty- four thousand Pompeians had surrendered, Cicero, re- Cicero's re- garding Caesar's victory as absolutely conclusive, returned . October * to Brundusium about the end of October, after a dreary absence of nearly eighteen months. In a letter to Plancius he said : Victory on one side meant massacre, on the other slavery. It Letters to consoles me to remember that I foresaw these things, and as much * lanclus > feared the success of our cause as the defeat of it. I attached Marius. myself to Pompey's party more in hope of peace than from a desire of war; but I saw, if we had the better, how cruel would be the triumph of an exasperated, avaricious, and insolent set of men; if we were defeated, how many of our wealthiest and noblest citizens must fall. Yet when I argued this and offered my advice I was taunted for being a coward. 112 In a letter to Varro he said: You and I both grieved to see how the state would suffer from the loss of either army and its generals; we knew that victory in a civil war was itself a most miserable disaster. I dreaded the success of those to whom I had attached myself. 113 In a letter to Marcus Marius he said: I despaired of success and recommended peace. When Pompey would not hear of it, I advised him to protract the war. Thus 111 Plut, Cat. Min., 55. 112 Ad Tarn., iv, 14. 113 Ibid., ix, 6. 232 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS for the time he approved, and he might have continued firm but for the confidence he gathered from the battle of Dyrrachium. From that day the great man ceased to be a general. With a raw and inexperienced army he engaged legions in perfect disci- pline. On the defeat he basely deserted his camp and fled by him- self. For me this was the end I retired from a war in which the only alternatives before me were either to be killed in action or to be taken prisoner, or fly to Juba in Africa, or hide in exile, or destroy myself. 114 114 Ad Fain., vii, 3. Julius Caesar. British Museum. CHAPTER IX CICERO AND CAESAR Cicero was wide of the mark when he assumed that the civil war had ended with the triumph of Caesar at Caesar after Pharsalia. Nearly three years of bitter strife were to arsa ia ' pass by before the final overthrow of the Pompeians in March, 45 B.C., at Munda, near Cordova, in one of the most desperate battles in which Caesar was ever engaged. Instead of being able to return to Italy, the victor of Pharsalia was compelled to follow along the track of Pompey to Alexandria, whence, after an embarrassing delay of nine months devoted to the settlement of the title to the throne of Egypt, he sailed for Syria, where he saw and conquered Pharnaces, the son of the great Mithridates, ending the war in five days. 1 Not until he had placed the affairs of the East upon a firm foundation Returned was he able in August, 47 B.C., to return to Rome in £5^,, R ome time to deal with the threatened revolt of the legions in 47 b.c. in Campania, 2 embarking before the end of that year for Africa, where Scipio, Cato, Afranius, Labienus, and the other Pompeian generals, assisted by King Juba, held possession of that province with a vast army. A division of Scipio's troops were in the peninsula of Thapsus, between Carthage and Utica. There it was that 1 In the famous message to the Senate he announced his victory in the laconic phrase, Veni, vidi, vici. 2 Dio., xlii, 52-55. 233 234 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Battle of Thapsus, April, 46 B.C. Battle of Munda, March 17, 45 B.C. Foundations of the new imperial system. Caesar won the battle of Thapsus in April, 46 B.C. ; there it was that Cato of Utica, ultimus Romanorum, fell upon his sword and died. 3 After his return to Rome in July, as a world-conqueror, Caesar, on four separate days, celebrated triumphs over Gaul, Egypt, Pontus, and Africa. But the end was not yet. In midwinter the great one, now fifty-five and in failing health, was compelled to depart for Spain, accompanied by his adopted son Octa- vius, and by Decimus Brutus, in order to put down a gen- eral revolt throughout that province headed by Labienus and the sons of Pompey. After the slaughter at Munda — including three thou- sand Roman knights, "the last remains of the haughty youths who had threatened Caesar with their swords in the Senate-house, and had hacked Clodius' mob in the Forum" 4 — he was so delayed by the task of reconstruct- ing the affairs of the peninsula that he did not return until September, 45 B.C., to resume the suspended work of practical reform. 5 During the five years and more that intervened between the crossing of the Rubicon, about the middle of January, 49 B.C., and his assassination on the ides of March, 44 B.C., Caesar was able to pass barely fifteen months at home. His real work was done abroad. It was through his world-conquests that he built up that pronounced and permanent form of dictato- rial power that enabled him to lay deep the foundations of the new imperial system into which the ancient repub- 3 About April 15. — O. E. Schmidt, Der Briefivechsel, p. 420. 4 Froude, Caes., p. 394. 5 The battle of Munda seemed to close the era of the civil war. There was no longer either pretext or reason, so the upper class held, for the prolongation of the dictatorship. The decisive moment, then, was approach- ing; at last the world would know whether Caesar cared more for liberty or for the temptations of tyranny and revolution. — Ferrero, Greatness and Decline of Rome, vol. ii, p. 289. CICERO AND CAESAR 235 lican constitution of Rome, without any sudden or vio- lent outward changes, was silently yet swiftly trans- formed. Nothing in the history of institutions is more subtle A subtle than the process through which the substance of the ,i ttani f or „ divided powers vested by the Roman constitution in the mation. assembly of the people, the Senate, and the magistrates was centralized in the hands of a single autocratic ruler, without the destruction of the outward forms of the organs from which it was drawn. The magic wand Magic wand that wrought the transformation was the dictatorship, ° ors y p# lc a " which necessarily implied a temporary suspension of all constitutional government in order that the state might, on a particular occasion, suffer no harm. As dictator, Sulla had made a tentative demonstration of the process through which Caesar arrived at a finality. Caesar was first proclaimed dictator in 49 B.C., after his brilliant successes in Spain; on the news of Pompey's death he was, in 48 B.C., declared dictator a second time in his absence, with Antony as his master of horse, abso- lute governor in Italy; after the battle of Thapsus, he was, in 46 B.C., made dictator for ten years; after the battle of Munda, in 44 B.C., he was made dictator for life. The "perpetual dictatorship" thus granted excited "Perpetual the bitter animosity of the republicans, because it implied an d the^title a perpetual suspension of constitutional government; and imperator. the title imperator he adopted was intended to describe the unlimited nature of the imperium he claimed, sep- arate and apart from the limited authority possessed by the republican magistrates. 6 The tribunician power was 6 Suet., 40; Dion., xliii, 44. See also, as to the use of the title imperator in this sense, Mommsen, vol. iii, p. 466, and note. 236 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS imperium. also conferred upon him which, apart from other advan- tages, rendered his person inviolable. 7 From the time he seized the money in the treasury on his first entry into Rome 8 until the end, he assumed, as Power of the imperator, the entire direction of Rome's foreign affairs, the entire control of the army, and of the provinces which were governed by his "legates" 9 and not by inde- pendent magistrates. The old republican constitution had been made for the government of a single city; and when the attempt was made to apply it to the govern- ment of a growing empire, it simply broke down because its clumsy machinery was inadequate to the task. The clear, dark eyes of the world-conqueror seeing that fact simply made a severance, taking upon himself as im- perator the direction of all imperial affairs, and leaving to the old constitution, with such serious modifications as he saw fit to make in it, the local government of Rome as a city-state. To use a favorite phrase, Caesar municipalized the old republican constitution, subordinating it at the same time to the imperator who directed the legions and the provinces. While still pretending to hold his authority by the will of the people, he permitted the ancient fabric, consisting of popular assemblies, Senate, and elected mag- istrates, consuls, praetors, aediles, quaestors, and tribunes, to go on discharging within a limited sphere their usual functions subject always and in all things to his paramount authority. Under such a system Rome was for months 7 The tribunicia potestas was granted early in his period of rule (48 B.C.) and given for life; it must have been regarded even now as the ideal com- plement of a lasting imperium, valuable for the inviolability it conferred and for the civil and popular coloring which it gave its holder. — -Greenidge, Roman Public Life, p. 337. 8 Plut., Caes., 35. 9 Dion., xliii, 47. Old republican constitution munici- palized. CICERO AND CAESAR 237 at a time left without regular magistrates, and governed like a dependent city by the imperator\ prefects. 10 Can- didates presented themselves to the people at elections backed by a dictatorial recommendation equivalent to a command. 11 The dwindling process had been going on since the year 81 B.C. From that time the consuls and praetors of each year had been stationed at Rome and employed in purely municipal business; while, since the enfranchise- ment incident to the Italian war, the comitia, although Comitia still recognized in theory as the ultimate source of all asa °, ° * assembly. power, had become little more than assemblies of the local Roman populace. In that way, as the old magis- tracies became merely municipal offices, the assembly of the sovereign people lost its law-making power, retaining no right to represent the true Roman people except when called upon to make a formal confirmation of the authority of the ruler of the Empire which was his already. Nothing is more notable than the reorganization of the Reorganiza- Senate, from which the imperator expelled all who had g°n a ° e been guilty of corruption or extortion, filling their places with officers of distinguished merit, with foreigners, with sons of freedmen, with meritorious citizens from all parts of the Empire, including even "semi-barbarous Gauls" — thus raising the total number of senators to 900. Instead of the censorship, by which the list of the Senate could be revised, Caesar was given for three years, in 4 c B.C., _ - . , . Praefectura the praefectura morum, 12 which he used as a means of morum. 10 Zumpt, Stud. Rom., p. 241 ; Suet., 76. 11 Suet., 41 : "Caesar dictator .... commendo vobis ilium et ilium, ut vestro suffragio suam dignitatem teneant." Cf. the admirable article on "Rome," ancient history, by H. F. Pelham, M.A. (Enc. Brit., 9th ed.), to which I am greatly indebted. 12 Dion., xliii, 14; see Mommsen, C.I.L., vol. i, p. 41. 238 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Imperial legislation superseded senatorial. restraining the extravagance and luxury induced by the sudden influx of plundered wealth. When the Roman popular assemblies died out and became obsolete, without being ever formally abolished, the power of direct legislation passed to the Senate; and so at the very moment when the Senate was recognized as an organ of legislation, it became the mere tool of the emperor for that purpose. In the history of Roman statute law are reflected the two stages of development through which the imperial power passed. During the first, while the Roman state remained a republican com- monwealth in theory, the power of the emperor was simply the power of the "first citizen" ; during the second, i. e., from the time of Diocletian to Constantine, it was the power of a monarch. After imperial legislation had thus superseded senatorial legislation, after an imperial statute became an oratio directly promulgated to the nation as a whole, it became necessary, of course, to dis- tinguish the emperor's merely interpretative or judicial from his legislative functions. 13 In the words of a master: Caesar was the first sole ruler of Rome; and we might be inclined to imagine that the powers which he enjoyed were con- sciously assumed merely as those of a provisional government, were there not signs that towards the close of his life he was satisfied with the solution which he had adopted But in the last year of his life, 44 B.C., he entered on a perpetual dictator- ship, a revival of the Roman monarchy both in reality and in name. It is true that the title rex was not assumed, out of deference to the feelings of the masses, who saw in it merely a synonym of oriental despotism; and for the same reason the diadem was de- clined. But every educated Roman knew that the Roman mon- archy had been nothing else than the unlimited imperium, and many may have believed that dictator or "master of the people" 13 See the author's Science of Jurisprudence, pp. 114-18. CICERO AND CAESAR 239 was the most significant of the titles of the king. It was there- fore a regnum under which Rome was living, and there was no concealment of its military character, for the title imperator was now borne by the regent within the walls. 14 Thus armed with the substance of monarchical power, Monarchical under republican forms, the regent, as we may call Caesar, ^epubHcan undertook to demonstrate the practical value of the new forms, order by relieving the towns of the concentration of a pauper population, and the country districts of a growing desolation, by the colonization of Corinth and Carthage, and by allotments of land on a large scale in Italy, whereby decaying rural communities were reinforced by fresh groups of settlers. 15 In the same spirit he reformed the Roman calendar Calendar with the aid of Sosigenes, 16 an Alexandrian astronomer, who, leaving the moon altogether, took the sun as the basis of the new system. And finally, he purified the ad- ministration of the criminal law by the abolition of the Changes popular element among the judices. While the regent, cri t m f na u aw or "the tyrant," if you please, was thus doing what, he could to reconstruct Rome as a well-ordered and pro- gressive commonwealth, he was planning other schemes of administrative reform that contemplated the turning of the course of the Tiber, the draining of the Fucine Lake and the Pontine Marshes, the building of a new road across the Apennines, the extension of the capital t and the widening of its periphery. 17 14 Greenidge, Roman Public Life, pp. 336-37. 15 As to the temporary stimulus given to Italian industry by the reimpo- ; sition on foreign goods of harbor dues, see Suet., 42, 43. j ie It is not unlikely that he had made acquaintance with Sosigenes in ', Egypt, and had discussed the problem with him in the hours during which he is supposed to have amused himself in the arms of Cleopatra. — Froude, ! Caes., p. 386. 17 Plut. Caes., 58; Suet., 44; Dio., xliii, 51. 240 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Transforma- tion of the Roman re- public into a hereditary monarchy. Cicero's illu- sion as to the dead Republic. Beginning of coldness to Terentia. Walter Bagehot, in describing the subtle process through which the ancient English monarchy was silently transformed into a hereditary republic, has said: This ancient and ever-altering constitution is like an old man who still wears with attached fondness clothes in the fashion of his youth ; what you see of him is still the same ; what you do not see is wholly altered. 18 Cicero might have described in the same words the subtle process through which the ancient Roman Republic was silently transformed under his very eyes into a hereditary monarchy. To the ancient republican consti- tution the orator was so devotedly attached, through prejudice and principle, that he sacrificed his life in a vain yet patriotic effort to revive it, after it had perished through its own infirmities. He passed out of the world under the illusion that the republican constitution was only in a swoon from the blow Caesar had inflicted upon it — he could not understand that it was actually dead as the result of a slow disease in its vitals which had deprived it of citizens. Only when we hold Cicero's illusion, amounting to an obsession, clearly in view, is it possible to understand his relations to Caesar and to political events during the four fateful years that intervened between Pharsalia and the ides of March — a period during which Cicero's one thought, one hope, was the resuscitation of the dead Republic. After his arrival at Brundusium early in November, 48 B.C., hoping to meet Caesar then at Alexandria, he seems to have declined to permit Terentia to come to him: "I don't see what good you can do me if you do come. Good-bye." 19 A coldness had begun between 18 Eng. Const., p. 34. 19 Ad Fam., xiv, 12. CICERO AND CAESAR 241 them immediately after his return from exile, to which he darkly alludes in two letters to Atticus, emphasized by the fact that it was Tullia, not Terentia, who came to meet him at Brundusium on that occasion. 20 But that coldness was so far removed that he kept up a corre- spondence with Terentia while in Cilicia, 51—50 B.C.; and despite his disapproval of the marriage she ar- ranged between Tullia and Dolabella, he addressed her warmly when about to return, and was met by her on landing. 21 The next symptom of estrangement appears in the short, cold, and conventional notes from Pompey's camp. If Plutarch is to be believed, Cicero was "neglected by Neglected by her during the war [the Dyrrachium-Pharsalus cam- p er r j2 m . paign] when he was left in dire want." 22 At any rate Pharsalus she did not go to him during his long stay at Brundusium, ' irapaign - whither he had gone by reason of a letter written by Dolabella at the command of Caesar, who had told him to write to his father-in-law to return to Italy immedi- ately. Under such conditions, Balbus and Oppius, the regent's all-powerful representatives, undertook to in- terest themselves in the orator's behalf. That interven- tion was specially necessary by reason of the fact that Quintus, now a pronounced Caesarean, had sent his son in advance to the regent, not only to secure his own pardon, but to present an accusation against the brother from whose devotion and prestige he had derived what- ever importance he had enjoyed. Therefore, when on Ingratitude January 3 he wrote to Atticus, he said : "I am writing this ° Qulntus - to you on my birthday, on which day would that I had 20 It was Tullia's birthday. — Ad Att., iv, i. 21 At Athens he received a letter from her only twenty-one days old. — r Ad Fam., xiv, 5. 22 Cf. Sihler.p. 356. 242 Meeting of Cicero and Caesar, September, 47 B.C. Letter to Varro. Terentia di- vorced early in 46 B.C. CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS never been born of the same mother. Tears prevent me writing more." 23 Not until September did the clouds begin to lift, when Caesar, upon his return, met Cicero between Taurentum and Brundusium, embracing him, and giving him freedom to live anywhere in Italy he chose. We have no account of the interview from the orator's own pen; we only know from Plutarch that "Caesar, as soon as he saw him coming a good way before the rest of the company, came down to meet him, saluted him, and leading the way, conversed with him alone for some furlongs." Soon he was at his beloved Tusculan villa, in the Alban hills, and there he remained until December, when he returned to Rome within whose walls he had not been since his departure to assume the proconsular government of Cilicia in 5 1 B.C. From his old quarters in town he wrote to Varro, the "most learned of the Romans," and the author, it is said, of 490 books (two only of which survive even in part) : Permit me to tell you that, since my arrival in the city, I have effected a reconciliation with my old friends, I mean my books; though the truth is that I had not abandoned their society because I had fallen out with them, but because I was half-ashamed to look them in the face. For I thought, when I plunged into the maelstrom of civil strife, with allies whom I had the worst pos- sible reason for trusting, that I had not shown proper respect for their precepts. They pardon me; they recall me to the old inti- macy, and you, they say, have been wiser than I for never having left it. 2 * It was at the end of this year or early in the next, 46 B.C., that Cicero, now a gray-headed man of sixty-one, divorced the wife to whom he had been married for ™AdAtt., xi, 9. Zi AdFam., ix, 1. CICERO AND CAESAR 243 some thirty years. 25 The lame excuse generally given for that step rests upon the accusation of mismanagement of his financial affairs by Terentia during his absence, which seems to have been caused largely by the careless- ness or dishonesty of her steward, Philotimus. 26 In a letter to Cnaeus Plancius, the orator thus states his own case: I should not have taken any new step at a time of such general Cicero's plea, disaster had I not on my return found my private affairs in as sorry a position as the public. The fact is, that when I saw that, owing to the criminal conduct of those to whom my life and for- tunes ought, in return for my never-to-be-forgotten services, to have been their dearest object, there was nothing safe within the walls of my house, nothing that was not the subject of some intrigue, I made up my mind that I must arm myself by the faith- ful support of new marriage connections against the perfidy of the old." Certain it is that he undertook to carry out that policy very promptly by placing himself in the hands of match- in the hands makers, whose first tender was very unattractive, we know, because in a letter to Atticus he said: of the match- makers. As to the daughter of Pompeius Magnus, I wrote you back word that I was not thinking about her at the present moment. That other lady whom you mention I think you know — the ugliest thing I ever saw — nihil vidi foedius. 28 While in this receptive condition, the orator was the A gay dinner guest of the great wit Volumnius at a feast graced by . an ° d um " the famous beauty and actress Cytheris, who then held Cytheris. Antony and Gallus among her captives. In a letter to a 25 Cf. O. E. Schmidt, Der Brief., p. 420. 26 Ad Alt., vi, 4. Seneca tells us there was at least one divorce a day at Rome — nulla sine divortio Acta sunt. 27 Ad Fam., iv, 14. 2 *AdAtt., xii, 11. 244 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Marries his rich ward Publilia. Importunate creditors. Cicero's Cato. Caesar's Anticato. friend written from the dinner table, no unusual thing with busy men, 29 he said: I have just lain down at dinner at three o'clock, when I scribble a copy of this to you in my pocket book. 30 .... Now listen to the rest. Below Eutrapelus (Volumnius) lay Cytheris To tell you the truth, I had no suspicion that she would be there. .... As for myself the fact is that that sort of thing never had any attraction for me when I was a young man, much less now I am an old one. I like a dinner party. I talk freely there, what- ever comes upon the tapis, as the phrase is, and convert sighs into loud bursts of laughter Every day something is read or written. Then, not to be quite churlish to my friends, I dine with them, not only without exceeding the law [Caesar's sumptuary law], but even within it, and that by a good deal, so you have no reason to be terrified at the thought of my arrival. You will receive a guest of moderate appetite, but of infinite jest. 31 Atticus, knowing that there is no fool like an old one, advised his friend to cut short his matrimonial quest by marrying Publilia — his rich ward, almost a girl, with an ambitious widowed mother — largely no doubt as a means of satisfying his importunate creditors. And here let it be remembered that the orator's professional business on the Forum had ceased since the spring of 51 B.C., when he went as proconsul to Cilicia; and that his accu- mulations from that quarter had been sunk in Pompey's disasters. It is a comfort to be able to turn away from Cicero's apparently heartless divorce from Terentia, and from his manifestly mercenary marriage with Publilia, to the con- templation of his panegyric on Cato, which had the effect of drawing from Caesar himself a counterblast, which he entitled Anticato, not published, however, until after 29 It was Caesar's constant habit. — Plut., Caes., 63. 30 For his amanuensis to copy, no doubt. 3i Ad Fam., ix, 26, CICERO AND CAESAR 245 his triumph at Munda. Cicero clearly described the magnitude of his task when he wrote: But that about Cato is a problem requiring an Archimedes. I cannot succeed in writing what your guests [Caesarians like Hirtius, Balbus, and Oppius] can possibly read, I don't say with pleasure, but even without irritation. Nay, even if I keep clear of his senatorial speeches, and of every wish and purpose which he entertained in politics, and chose in merely general terms to eulogize his firmness and consistency, even this in itself would be no pleasant hearing for your friends. But that great man can- not be praised as he really deserves unless the following topics are dilated upon: his having seen that the present state of things was to occur, his having exerted himself to prevent them, and his having quitted life to avoid what has actually happened. 32 Great as the difficulties were, he who was destined to perish defending the ancient constitution as Cato perished, built a deathless monument to his memory. If there is anywhere in ancient letters a truer outline of Cato's Sihler's strik- political life, I do not know where to find it. There lie the ln g tribute - simple words, like huge units of masonry, without binding mortar, without sculptured ornaments, large, firm, abiding. 33 And here, in connection with Caesar's literary per- formance known as Anticato, mention may be made of the interesting fact that after his election as consul in 59 B.C., he established a new institution that gives him a Caesar as a place among the founders of journalism. He originated J ournahst - at Rome what we should now describe as a popular news- paper or handbook, copied by slaves and distributed every few days to subscribers, into which was condensed the most important and interesting public and private infor- mation of the day, for the benefit of those rich enough 32 Ad Alt., xii, 4. 33 Sihler, p. 342. 246 His critical faculty. Caesar's sumptuary laws. Cicero's fling at the ordi- nance against mushrooms. CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS to pay for it. 34 While the regent was away from Rome he received of course regularly the Acta, finally a sort of Moniteur of the Empire, 35 in which the utterances of all important personages were naturally included. Writing on that subject to a friend in July, 46 B.C., Cicero said: I think it is my duty to say nothing calculated to offend either his [Caesar's] wishes or those of his favorites. But if I want to avoid the credit of certain keen or witty epigrams, I must entirely adjure a reputation for genius, which I would not refuse to do, if I could. But after all Caesar himself has a very keen, critical faculty, and, just as your cousin Servius — whom I consider to have been a most accomplished man of letters — had no difficulty in saying: "This verse is not Plautus's, this is — " because classi- fying the various styles of poets and by habitual reading, so I am told that Caesar, having now completed his volumes of bons mots [his Dicta Collectanea, which Augustus would not allow to be published. — Suet., Caes., 56], if anything is brought to him as mine, which is not so, habitually rejects it. This he now does all the more because his intimates are in my company almost every day. 36 Before the end of July, the victor at Thapsus arrived from Africa by way of Sardinia ; and, as a quasi-sovereign, he undertook, acting as praefectus morum, to suppress luxurious living, through sumptuary laws, under which too costly dishes were confiscated. Cicero could not resist the temptation to take a fling at a certain ordinance deal- ing with mushrooms. In ridiculing the dumb show of senatorial government he writes : 34 See Daremberg and Saglio, D.A., vol. i, p. 50; E. Caetani-Lovatelli, "I giornali dei Romani" in the Nuova Antologia, November 1, 1901 ; Fer- rero, Greatness and Decline of Rome, vol. i, p. 287. 35 Tacitus {Ann., xvi, 22) tells us that "The journals are read with more avidity than ever in the provinces and the armies, to know what Thrasea has last abstained from doing": "diurna populi Romani, per provincias, per exercitus curatius leguntur, ut noscatur quid Thrasea non facerit." See Bossier, Tacitus and Other Roman Studies, p. 226. 36 Ad lam., ix, 16; see also Ad Fam., viii, 1. CICERO AND CAESAR 247 I did not myself at that time desire to absent myself for any length of time from the guardianship of the constitution; for I was sitting at the helm and holding the rudder; whereas now I scarcely have a place in the hold. Do you suppose the number of senatorial decrees will be any the less if I am at Naples? While I am at Rome and actually haunting the Forum, senatorial How senato- decrees are written out in the house of your admirer, my intimate na ' decrees friend [Caesar], and whenever it occurs to him, I am put down as backing a decree, and am informed of its having reached Ar- menia and Syria, professing to have been made in accordance with my vote, before any mention has been made of the business at all. And, indeed, I would not have you think that I am joking about this, for I assure you I have had letters from kings at the other end of the earth, thanking me for having voted for giving them the royal title, as to whom I was not only ignorant of their having been called kings, but of their very existence even. What, then, am I to do? After all, as long as this friend of ours, this guardian of morals, is here, I will follow your advice: but directly he goes away I am off to your mushrooms. 5 '' In the midst of such repinings Cicero was suddenly called upon to depart from his policy of silence, and to speak in the Senate in the matter of his old school-fellow, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, an ultra-aristocrat, who, as consul in 51 B.C., had been hostile to Caesar, of whom he now refused to ask pardon. After having obtained from his staunch republican friend, who, after Pompey's overthrow, had retired to Mitylene, his consent to accept a pardon, if tendered him, Cicero asked it of Caesar who, to his surprise and delight, granted it to his old enemy promptly and graciously. Carried away by such noble- ness, the emotional orator, in his first speech since Phar- ^ . „ p ' I r t Oration Pro salia, pronounced the oration known as Pro Marcello, in Marcello. 37 Ad Tarn., ix, 15. Max Budinger, In an able article on Cicero und der Patriciat, has shown that cordial feelings existed both before and after the outbreak of the civil war between Cicero and Caesar, not as politicians, but a9 men of the world. Tyrrell, Cicero in His Letters, Int., xxxi. 248 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS the Senate, in Caesar's presence. The whole Senate had interceded with Caesar to pardon Marcellus, and to allow him to return to his country; and when he yielded Cicero rose and thanked him for his magnanimity. The orator's letters fix the fact that at that time he really hoped that the regent intended to restore the Republic. Writing to Servius Sulpicius, immediately after the incident, he relates how Caesar, after dwelling se- verely on the "bitter spirit" shown by Marcellus, declared that he would not allow "his opinion about an individual to bring him into opposition to the declared will of the Senate." Then he adds: You need not ask me what I thought of it. I saw in my mind's eye the Republic coming back to life. I had determined to hold my peace forever; not, God knows, through apathy, but because I felt my former status in the House lost beyond recall. But Caesar's magnanimity and the Senate's loyalty swept away the barriers of my reserve. 88 The ninth chapter of the speech, directed to the con- sideration of what Caesar is still to do, thus begins: "Theresto- This then is what still remains, this is the act necessary to ration of the CO m P lete the drama, this the crowning feat, the restoration of Republic." | ... the Republic. Then, after saying: Unquestionably, posterity will stand amazed when they hear and read of your military commands — of the provinces which you have added to the Empire — of the Rhine, of the ocean, of the Nile, all subject to us — of your countless battles, of your incred- ible victories, of your innumerable monuments and triumphs, [he added], have regard, then, to those judges who will judge you many ages afterwards, and who will very likely judge you more honestly than we can. For their judgment will be unbiased by as Ad Fam., iv, 4. CICERO AND CAESAR 249 affection or by ambition, and at the same time it will be untainted , by hatred or by envy. 39 Froude has deliberately attempted to make it appear Froude's that this speech, not regarded at the time as over- s ra y eln " r ° justice. strained, was a base and hypocritical attempt upon the part of Cicero to flatter and mislead Caesar upon the very eve of his assassination. That brilliant and pictur- esque man of letters, who would have been a greater historian if he had struggled less for dramatic effects, says: "Such was the speech delivered by Cicero in the Senate in Caesar's presence within a fezv weeks of his murder." The backbone of the fierce attack thus made upon Cicero's character and motives is broken the moment we remember that the speech was really delivered before November 23, 46 B.C. — a full year and a half, instead of a "few weeks" before the murder. An acute historical critic has clearly demonstrated from Exposed by the documents, in an article entitled "Cicero's Case against Caesar," 40 how it was that, during that year and a half — .... the sincere admiration of Caesar's character expressed throughout the speech for Marcellus was converted into the feel- ing that produced the scream of delight at the assassination of Caesar, preserved for us in that extraordinary little scribble to Basilus — the shortest letter extant, [in which Cicero wrote:] Congratulations! Delighted! My love and complete sympathy! Do send me, with your love, a full account of what you are doing, and what is going on. 41 Certainly if the orator had been in the plot, or in touch with the plans of the conspirators, his ignorance as to what was going on, on the Capitol, could not have 30 Pro Marcello, 9. 40 Quarterly Review, No. 368, October, 1896, pp. 395-422. " 41 Ad Fam., vi, 15. an acute his- torical critic. 250 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS been so sensational or so profound. Neither the learned nor living narration of a Mommsen, nor the brilliant staging of Froude can permanently affect historical judg- ment when their manifest purpose was to exalt one demigod at the expense of another. While Caesar's consent to the restoration of Mar- cellus was still a very recent occurrence, the orator's serv- Defenseof ices were secured in behalf of another exile, Quintus Ligarius, who had been with the Pompeians in Africa, and to whom Cicero had written in the latter part of September as follows: To begin with, then, I will say this, of which I have a clear knowledge and full perception — that Caesar will not be very obdurate to you. For circumstances, as well as the lapse of time and public opinion, and — as it seems to me — even his own natural disposition, daily render him more gentle. 42 Ligarius had been impeached by Tubero, an ancient enemy, upon the ground that he had behaved with great violence in the prosecution of the African war against Caesar, who, as there was no organized court available Caesar sat as to try the case, ordered it be heard before him as sole « JU ge - judge, sitting in his official residence, the Regia, on the Forum. After the regent was told who was to appear for the accused, he said: "Why might we not as well once more hear a speech from Cicero? There is no doubt that Ligarius is a bad man and an enemy." And yet in the teeth of such prejudices the orator so played upon the regent's finer feelings that as he advanced in his argument the latter was seen to change color until his emotion became visible to all. And when "at length the orator touching upon the battle of Pharsalia, he was so affected that his body trembled, and some of the papers 42 Ad Fam., vi, 13. CICERO AND CAESAR 251 he held dropped from his hands, and thus he was over- Over- powered, and acquitted Ligarius." 43 In plucking to bl C ;™ e ro > s pieces the accuser, who would withhold from Ligarius eloquence, the clemency extended to himself, the orator, in this masterpiece of art, said: But I ask this: Who is it who thinks that it was a crime in Ligarius to have been in Africa? Why, the very man who himself also wished to be in Africa, and who complains that he was prevented by Ligarius from going there, and who certainly was in arms and fought against Caesar. For, O Tubero, what was that drawn sword of yours doing in the battle of Pharsalia? Against whose side was that sword-point of yours aimed? What was the feeling with which you took up arms? What was your intention? Where were your eyes? your hands? your eagerness of mind? What were you desirous of ? What were you wishing for? I am pressing you too hard. The young man appears to be moved. I will return to myself. I also was in arms in the same camp. 4 * A moment before he had said: See how brilliantly the light of your liberality and wisdom rises upon me while speaking before you! As far as I can, I will lift up my voice so that the Roman people may hear me. When the war began, O Caesar, when it was even very greatly advanced towards its end, I, though compelled by no extraneous force, of my own free judgment and inclinations went to join that party which had taken up arms against you. 45 And yet, despite the victory won in this pleading before the autocrat, it is plain from a letter written to Sulpicius Rufus at this time that Cicero considered his career as an advocate really at an end: I will only say, what I hope you think to be right, that for Career as j myself, seeing that for the art to which I had devoted myself an advocate j there was now no place either in Forum or Senate-house, I have 48 Plut., Cic, 39. . ** Pro Q. Ligario, 3. « jyid., 3. 252 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Caesar's death grap- ple with sons of Pompey. Death of Tullia early in 45 B.C. Publilia sent away with- out a formal divorce. bestowed my every thought and every effort on philosophy. For your professional knowledge — eminent and unrivaled as it is — no sphere much better has been left than for mine. 46 Early in November of this eventful year Caesar went away to Spain for the death grapple with the sons of Pompey; and before the end of that month Cicero arrived at his Tusculan villa where his beloved Tullia, divorced at last from Dolabella, her third husband, while looking forward to her confinement, awaited him. It is prob- able that at this time Cicero wrote the letter of consolation to Titus Titius in which he said : The very condition of the commonwealth and the disturbance of the times gone to rack and ruin, when the most blessed are those who have not reared any children, and those who lost them in these times are less wretched than they would be if they had lost them in a good or at least in some form of government. 47 To the great, tender, emotional nature that had sounded all the depths and shallows of human pleasure and pain, the new year, 45 B.C., was to bring a crowning sorrow in the death of the idolized Tullia, who gave birth to a son of Dolabella at Rome in January. So soon as she had gained sufficient strength she was removed to the Tusculan country-seat in the Alban hills, where Cicero closed her eyes about February 15. 48 As the awful soli- tude of his grief was disturbed by the unsympathetic Publilia, he sent her away it seems without any formal divorce. In the words of Plutarch, "he took the event so much to heart that he even sent away his wife, as she had seemed to take pleasure in Tullia's death." At such a moment he naturally took refuge with Atticus at Rome; and, after a brief sojourn, he went to Astura by the sea, where he could be alone with the waves. 48 Ad Fam., iv, 3. 47 Ibid., v, 16. 48 Cf. O. E. Schmidt, p. 271. CICERO AND CAESAR 253 In almost daily letters he poured out his grief to his Expressions friends. On March 9 he wrote to Atticus : friend* t0 In this lonely place I have no one with whom to converse, and, plunging into a dense and wild wood early in the day, I do not leave it till evening. Next to you, I have no greater friend than solitude. In it my one and only conversation is with books. Even that is interrupted by tears, which I fight against as long as I can. But as yet I am not equal to it. I will answer Brutus, as you advise. 49 Not many days before he had received rather a harsh Harsh letter letter of condolence from Brutus, who charged him with fromBrutus - giving way to his grief with a weakness unworthy of a man whose habit it was to console others. The notable letter written by the great jurist Sulpicius, now governor of Achaia, was in a more tender and yet in a chiding vein: Why is it that a private grief should agitate you so deeply? Letter from Think how fortune has hitherto dealt with us. Reflect that we Su lp iclus have had snatched from us what ought to be no less dear to rep ] v human beings than their children — country, honor, rank, every possible distinction Now is the time for you to convince us that you are able to bear ill fortune equally well, and that it does not appear to you to be a heavier burden than you ought to think it. 50 In reply he said: In my case, after losing the honors you yourself mention, and which I had gained by the greatest possible exertions, there was only that one solace left which has now been torn away For there is no republic now to offer me a refuge and a consola- tion by its good fortunes when I leave my home in sorrow, as- there once was a home to receive me when I returned saddened by the state of public affairs. 51 The new master, "he in whose power we are," did not forget him in his dark hour. Caesar wrote him a letter 49 Ad Att., xii, 15 ; Ad Brut., 9. B0 Ad Fam., iv, 5. si ibid., iv, 6, , 254 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Condolence from Caesar. The Consolatio. Profound discontent at Rome. of condolence dated at Hispalis (the modern Seville on the Guadalquivir) May 31. 52 While sympathetic friends were thus striving to do what they could, Cicero's intro- spective spirit sought surcease from sorrow in a Treatise on Consolation (Consolatio, seu de luctu minuendo) ; 53 and as a physical monument to his grief he proposed to erect some kind of a shrine to Tullia's memory. I am quite resolved to consecrate her memory by every kind of memorial borrowed from the genius of every kind of artist, Greek or Latin. This may perhaps serve to irritate my wound, but I look upon myself as now bound by a kind of vow and promise. And the infinite time during which I shall be non- existent has more influence on me than this brief life, which yet to me seems only too long. 54 When in the midst of such gloom Atticus appealed to his grief-stricken friend to resume his place as patronus on the Forum, he replied: You urge me to reappear on the Forum; that is a place which I ever avoided even in my happier days. Why, what have I to do with a Forum when there are no law courts, no Senate-house, and when men are always obtruding on my sight whom I cannot see with any patience. 55 It is impossible to read the letters written by such moderate men as Sulpicius and Cicero at this time with- out being impressed with the profound discontent existing at Rome, even among those who, like Sulpicius, had been loaded by Caesar with offices and emoluments. Those of his enemies who, after Pharsalia, had only asked for tranquility and protection, were now demanding a good deal more. As a keen observer has expressed it: So long as men are uncertain of their life, they do not trouble themselves to know if they shall live free, but when once life is 32 Ad Att., xiii, 20. B4 Ibid., xii, 18.. »» Ibid., xii, 14, 20. 55 Ibid -> xii > *»• CICERO AND CAESAR 255 assured, the desire for liberty returns to all hearts, and those who served Caesar felt it like the rest. Caesar, we know, partly satis- fied this desire, but this satisfaction did not last long. It is as difficult to halt on the road to liberty as on that to absolutism. One favor generally makes men desire another, and men think less of enjoying what they have obtained than of lamenting what they lack. It was thus that Cicero, who had welcomed Caesar's clemency with transports of joy, and who saluted the return of Marcellus as a sort of restoration of the Republic, soon changed his opinion and language He said on every opportunity that all was lost, that he blushed to be a slave, that he was ashamed to live. 58 The fall of the Roman Republic may well be dated Fall of Ro- from the final triumph over the enemies of the new Caes- ^, u^ e be bllC arean system at Munda on March 17, the news of which dated from did not reach the capital until the evening of April 20. 57 March 17 The head of the young pretender Cnaeus Pompey, who 4SB-c. fled to Gibraltar, was delivered to the regent on April 12 ; B8 his brother Sextus escaped. Cicero, writing to Atticus on May 5, says: Hirtius has written to tell me that Sextus Pompeius had quitted I Cordova and fled into Northern Spain, and that Cnaeus [who had S threatened to kill him after Pharsalia] has fled I don't know \ whither, nor do I care. 59 When the war in Spain ended, Caesar completed his answer to Cicero's Cato, in two books, which he sent at once to Rome for publication. In that way an excuse was given to the orator to express his thanks for the great courtesy with which the regent had treated him, and at the same time to compliment him upon the ele- : gance of his composition. In his account of that per- formance he says to Atticus : 66 Bossier, Cicero and His Friends, p. 299. 57 At least thirty-four days after the event. — D10, 43, 42. 68 Bell. His p., 39. °e Ad Att., xii, 37, 4. 256 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Cicero com- pliments Caesar on his Anticato. Brutus mar- ries Portia. A note from Cato to Cicero. The latter's estimate of Brutus. The reason of my not sending you at the time a copy of the letter which I wrote to Caesar was that I forgot. Neither was the motive what you suspected it to have been — shame of ap- pearing in your eyes to be ridiculously time-serving; nor, by heaven, did I write it otherwise than I should have written to an equal and a man like myself. For I really do think well of those books of his [Caesar's Anticato], as I told you when we met. Accordingly I wrote without any flattery, and at the same time in such a tone as I think will give him as much pleasure to read it as possible. 60 Cicero had previously written to his friend on the subject, saying: As I have not written to him [Caesar] before, he will think that I should probably not have written had not the war been over. Moreover, I fear his thinking that I meant this as a sop for my Cato. 61 About this time Brutus was divorcing his wife Claudia, intending to marry Portia, the daughter of his uncle Cato of Utica, the arch enemy of Caesar, from whom Brutus had been receiving large preferments since Pharsalia, where his life was specially guarded by his orders. All that remains to us of Cato is a note, full of refinement and dexterity, written from Rome in June, 50 B.C., to Cicero, who was at that time proconsul of Cilicia. 62 Without Cicero's letters and works we should not know Brutus, nor the history of their connection, which lasted for ten years. From Cilicia, Cicero wrote to Atticus: "He is already the first among the young men; he will soon be, I hope, the first in the city." 63 At that time this nephew of Cato, descended from one of the most illustrious of the Roman families, the brother-in-law of Lepidus and Cassius, had just married a daughter of 60 Ad Att., xiii, 51. S1 Ibid., xiii, 27. 02 Ad Tarn., xv, 5. 63 Ad Att., v, 21, CICERO AND CAESAR 257 Appius Claudius, another having already married the eldest son of Pompey. Brutus had passed a good deal of his life at Athens studying Greek philosophy, returning with a great repu- tation for wisdom, supported by a virtuous and regular life. The mind of this serious young man was deliberate Thecharac- and introspective; he reached conclusions by gradual te f ofhls processes in which he became so absorbed that when his resolve was at last made up nothing could move him. Caesar correctly described his obstinacy as the source of his strength when he said: "All that he wills he means." 64 Such was the nature of the man who, at thirty-seven, went to Thessaly, despite the fact that he hated Pompey and loved Caesar who treated him with paternal affection, because he deemed it his duty to follow the consuls and the Senate as the defenders of liberty. After doing his duty bravely at Pharsalia, Brutus was completely won Won over by over by the conqueror whom he followed in his conquests vh^'y* of Egypt and Asia. Caesar did all in his power to attach Brutus by granting him the pardon of some of the most deeply compromised of the Pompeians, and by assigning to him the government of one of the great provinces of the Empire, Cisalpine Gaul. Servilia, Cato's sister and Brutus' mother, was the Caesar's object of one of Caesar's violent passions, and scandal loveforhls • r ' mother. said she was his mistress. She certainly retained her sway over him to her pecuniary advantage even after Pharsalia, and she did all in her power to draw her son close to \ Caesar. But a counter-influence came when Brutus mar- t ried his cousin Portia, the daughter of Cato, who brought j to her new home all of the passions of her father and first husband, Bibulus, added to her own hatred of the author 84 Ad Au., xlv, i. 258 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS His plans manifest after Phar- salia. Brutus the Hamlet of Roman politics. Cicero his tutor. of all her misfortunes. Thus influenced from within, Brutus was assailed from without by the anti-monarchical elements eager to group themselves around a leader whose character and courage would give dignity and solidity to the cause. So long as Pompey and Caesar faced each other in arms as jealous rivals, those who suspected the former of a design to overthrow the constitution comforted them- selves with the hope that the latter only aspired to a tem- porary dictatorship. But after Pharsalia, that illusion vanished when it became plain that the victor intended to found a new and monarchical system. While it is impos- sible to trace the details, it seems to be clear that such a menace generated opposition not only among the sena- torial party discomforted by the overthrow of Pompey, but among Caesar's own generals who were jealous of his dazzling ascendency. Thus it was that while Cassius was meditating his murder on the banks of the Cydnus, Tre- bonius had been almost in the act of making way with him at Narbonne. The greatest need of the two disconnected groups of opponents to the regent was a leader who represented not only a name but a principle; "one who should represent the Republic and liberty without any personal reserva- tions." 65 The ideal man was Brutus, who, when we con- sider his gloomy habits, his introspective mind, his fanat- ical republicanism, his peculiar relations to his mother's lover, his general popularity, may, without exaggeration, be called the Hamlet of Roman politics. No one did more to prepare Brutus for his mission than Cicero, who entered into the closest literary relationship with him. While only twenty-five of the letters between them sur- 65 Boissier, p. 330. CICERO AND CAESAR 259 vive, all written after the death of Caesar, the collection must have been extensive since a grammarian quotes the ninth book of them. In one work dedicated to him Cicero says: "Who was ever more respected and loved than you ?" 66 In another, also dedicated to him, he says : Brutus, I feel my grief revive when I look upon you and con- sider how the unhappy fate of the Republic has arrested the rapid advance to glory which we anticipated in your youth. This is the true cause of my sorrow, this is the cause of my cares and those of Atticus, who shares in my esteem and affection for you. You are the object of all our interest; we desire that you should reap the fruits of your virtue ; our most earnest wishes are that the condi- tions of the Republic may permit you one day to revive and increase the glory of the two illustrious houses you represent. You ought to be master in the Forum and reign there without rival ; we are, in truth, doubly afflicted, that the Republic is lost for you, and you for the Republic. 07 Under such influences, the younger man was continually brooding over the glory of that Brutus who had expelled the Tarquins, thus filling his mind with ideals drawn from Ideals drawn the history of earlier times. The most notable of the times philosophical works of Brutus, of which only brief frag- ments remain, was the treatise On Virtue, addressed to Cicero, an important passage from which has been pre- served by Seneca, 68 the point of which is that as a man going into exile can take all his virtue with him, he must not complain. On the subject of patriotic duty he says in his letters : Our ancestors thought that we ought not to endure a tyrant Patriotic even if he were our father To have more authority than duty defined. the laws and the Senate is a right that I would not grant to my father himself No slavery is advantageous enough to make me abandon the resolution to be free. 69 68 Orat., x. 8S Cons, ad Helv., ix. 67 Brut., 97. 69 Epis. Brut., i, 17 ; ibid., i, 16. 26o CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Caesar's return in September, 45 B.C. Brutus met him at Nice. Such were the relations between Cicero and Brutus in the fall of 45 B.C., when Caesar returned to Italy, after having been engaged in Spain during the five months that followed the triumph at Munda in reorganizing the ad- ministration of that province. He had already granted an amnesty; and in order to show that the past was really forgotten he drew no distinction between his friends and his enemies, impartially recommending for office those whose position or services to the state entitled them to promotion. He even restored the statues of Sulla and Pompey which had been thrown down in the revolution ; and he sent a pleasing compliment to Cicero concerning his Cato. 70 It seems that Brutus went to meet the regent on his return from Spain, and at Nice made an oration before him in favor of old Deiotarus, king or tetrarch of Gala- tia, who had been accused of plotting upon a certain occa- sion against Caesar's life. Despite the spirited vehemence with which Brutus is said to have presented the case, he was not able to prevail for Deiotarus, and in that way Cicero was called upon to reargue the matter before the regent in the Pontifical Palace, probably in November. 71 This was the last case the great advocate ever pleaded; and in his discourse he did his best to appeal to all that was noblest and gentlest in the demigod in whose honor a temple to Clemency had been erected. His last words were: Cicero's last I entreat you, O Caius Caesar, to consider that on this day oration as y 0ur sentence will bring on those kings either most miserable an a vocate. ca j am j t y j accompanied with infinite disgrace, or an unsullied repu- 70 There was a good deal about my Cato. He says that by repeatedly reading it he had increased his command of language. — Ad Alt., xiii, 46. 71 E. O. Schmidt, p. 362. CICERO AND CAESAR 261 tation attended with safety; and to desire the one of those results would be an act of cruelty, to secure the other an action suitable to your clemency. 72 The regent simply postponed judgment with the inti- \ mation that when he undertook the Parthian campaign, then in contemplation, he would pursue the inquiry on the spot. Before the close of the year Caesar was the guest of Cicero at his villa near Puteoli, the former having Caesar his come to that neighborhood to visit the mother and step- E^^, father of Octavius whose designation as heir was still unknown even to the youth's nearest relatives. In describ- ing the visit to Atticus the orator said: Well, I have no reason after all to repent my formidable guest ! For he made himself exceedingly pleasant. But on his arrival at the villa of Philippus on the evening of the second day of the Satur- nalia [which began on December 17], the villa was so choke full of soldiers that there was scarcely a dining-room left for Caesar himself to dine in. Two thousand men, if you please! I was in a great taking as to what was to happen the next day ; and so Cassius Barba came to my aid and gave me guards After two, he went to the bath. Then he heard about Mamurra [his old chief of engineers who had died] without changing countenance. He The dinner. was anointed ; took his place at the table. He was under a course of emetics, 73 and so ate and drank without scruple and as suited his taste. It was a very good dinner, and well served, and not only so but Well-cooked, well-seasoned food, with rare discourse: A banquet, in a word, to cheer the heart. 74 .... We didn't say a word about politics. There was plenty of literary talk. In short, he was pleased and had a good time. 75 On December 31, the consul Fabius Maximus died sud- denly, whereupon an "election" was held immediately, 72 Pro Rege Deiot., 15. 73 A process that held somewhat the place in medical treatment that bleeding did a century ago. 74 Verses of Lucilius. 75 Ad Att., xiii, 52. 262 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS and Caninius Rebilus was named by the regent in the A mockery of afternoon to an office that continued only through the re- cons^tutbn. mamder of the day. In the midst of the raillery and indignation provoked by such a mockery of the ancient constitution Cicero wrote to Curius : Though these things are painful even to hear of, yet after all hearing is more bearable than seeing. At any rate you were not on the Campus Martius when, the comitia for the quaestors being opened at seven o'clock in the morning, the curule chair of Q. Maximus — whom that party affirmed to be consul — was set in its place, and then on the death being announced was removed : where- upon Caesar, who had taken the auspices as for a comitia tributa, held a comitia centuriata, and between twelve and one o'clock announced the election of a consul to hold office till January I. which was the next day. Thus I may inform you that no one breakfasted during the consulship of Caninius. However, no mis- chief was done while he was consul, for he was of such astonishing vigilance that throughout his consulship he never had a wink of sleep. You think this a joke, for you were not here. If you had been you would not have refrained from tears. 76 Nothing could illustrate more vividly than this incident the extent to which the regent had abolished in his own interest everything but the form of popular election, the choice of consuls and praetors being made by him several years in advance. While the hearts of those who still clung to the past were being fired by such open mockeries of the sovereign dignity of the state in the ancient assembly of the people, the Senate added fuel to the flame by inventing fresh titles and conferring fresh powers upon one who was king in fact but not in name, the Roman people being still sensi- tive about names. After making Caesar dictator for life, 77 and, as the surviving organ of the Republic, bestow- 76 Ad Fam., vii, 30. T7 Bio, xliv, 8 ; App., B. C, ii, 106. No one breakfasted during the consulship of Caninius. CICERO AND CAESAR 263 ing upon him all the essentials of monarchy, the Senate voted next that he should really be king, offering him ten- tatively the crown. When he refused, thus avoiding what appeared to be a snare, Dio says they employed someone Caesar salut- to place a diadem on the head of his statue which stood j an a u ar yf6 upon the Rostra. On January 26, as he rode through the 44B.C. streets, he had been saluted as king by the mob. 78 The matter assumed, however, a more serious form at the ancient carnival of the Lupercalia, on February 15, The stage when the regent, robed in his consular purple, and wear- p ! ^° ar ing a wreath of bay, wrought in gold, was approached by carnival of his colleague in the consulship, Antony, who placed a tiara u P erca ia - on his head, saying: "The people give you this by my hands." 79 It may be that this was deliberate stage play suggested by Caesar who, after announcing in a loud voice "that the Romans had no king but God," ordered that the tiara should be placed on the statue of Jupiter Olympus on the Capitol. But such declarations did not mislead the vengeful coterie who were now driving Brutus on to action; their bitter words of denunciation for the master and his satel- lites had in them what Cicero calls "the bite of liberty which never tears better than when she has been muzzled for a season." 80 They knew that the time for action had arrived, and upon Cassius, the man of a party, the man Cassiusasa who embodied the envenomed hate of the vanquished aris- nerve tocracy, devolved the task of nerving the arm of the man of conviction, who loved the person of the Dictator while 78 When the tribunes put some of the offenders into prison Caesar passed a law deposing them and expelling them from the Senate. Then it was that he said he had given a weapon to his enemies. — App., B. C, ii, 108 ; Suet, Caes., 79 ; Dio, xliv, 10. 79 Cf. II Phil., 34; Sihler, Annals of Caesar, pp. 256 sqq. a°De Off., ii, 7. 264 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS hating his system. Upon him the whole enterprise depended. 81 When the conspirators strove to win accomplices, the His insidious answer came from every side : "We will join you if Brutus Brutus" t0 wil1 lead us -" After the feast of the Lupercalia, when he could no longer doubt Caesar's intentions, his brother-in- law Cassius "took him by the hand" and said: "What shall we do if Caesar's flatterers propose to make him king?" Brutus answered that he purposed not to go to the Senate. "What," replied Cassius, "if we are summoned in our capacity as praetors, what must we do then?" "I will defend the Republic," said the other, "to the last." "Will you not then," replied Cassius, embracing him, "take some of the senators, as parties to your designs? Do you think it is worthless and mercenary people, or the chief citizens of Rome who place on your tribunal the writings you find there? They expect games, races, or hunting spectacles from the other praetors; what they demand of you is that you should restore liberty to Rome, as your ancestors did." 82 Brutus be- comes at last the head. Thus won over, Brutus became at last the head, the leader, of a conspiracy that had been designed by Cassius, the imperious and testy aristocrat, the daring and skilful military chief who, after rescuing the remains of the army of Crassus, had driven the Parthians from Syria. By the side of Brutus and Cassius as leaders of what remained of the beaten aristocracy, stood the great military chiefs like Labienus, Trebonius, and Decimus Brutus, who had been enriched by Caesar's bounty, and two of whom were about to receive fresh favors in the immediate future. It is said that of the sixty senators in all who were parties to the immediate conspiracy, nine-tenths were members of the 81 Plutarch {Brut., 9) says: "From the beginning there was in the nature of Cassius a certain ill-will and hostility to the kingly tribe," which he illustrates by an anecdote. 82 App., B. C, ii, 113- CICERO AND CAESAR 265 old faction whom Caesar had pardoned, and who, of all his acts, resented most that he had been able to pardon them. He was to set out in a few days for Parthia ; the ides of The ides of March (the 15th of the month) were at hand, on which day there was to be an important meeting of the Senate; and it was rumored that after the pontifices had brought forward an old sibylline oracle which said that the Par- thians could only be conquered by a king, that title was to be demanded for Caesar. 83 On the evening before, the plan of action for the next day was arranged at a supper given at the house of Cassius, to which Cicero was not invited. The same evening when Caesar was at supper at Supper at the the house of Lepidus, the conversation turned on what CMtko. kind of death was most desirable. The predestined vic- tim, who was signing papers while the rest were talking, looked up and said, "a sudden one." It is impossible to know whether Cicero was actually present in the Senate, sitting in the curia of Pompey, at the moment of Caesar's assassination. Certain it is that he Cicero not was not one of the actual conspirators. He was not in- a " t e u °] vited to the supper at the house of Cassius the night conspirators, before, a fact that goes far to confirm Plutarch, who says expressly that the plot was concealed from him — .... lest to his own disposition, which was naturally timorous, adding now to the wariness and caution of old age, and by his weighing as he would every particular that he might not make one step without the greatest security, he should blunt the edge of their forwardness and resolution. And yet Brutus seems to have looked upon him as the very embodiment of the ancient constitution he was defending because, as the senator rushed into the Forum, waving his 83 Suet., Caes., 79. 266 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS dagger red with Caesar's blood, he shouted the name of Cicero, and congratulated him, as the representative of Butimme- the Republic, upon the restoration of liberty. That fied all that" Cicero immediately ratified and approved all that had had been been done we know, first, from his telegraphic letter to Basilus, in which he says : I congratulate you! For myself I am rejoiced! I love you. I watch over your interests: I desire to be loved by you and to be informed of how you are, and what is being done ; 84 and, secondly, from the statement in the Second Philippic, where he says : For what is the difference between a man who has advised an action, and one who has approved of it? or what does it signify whether I wished it to be done, or rejoice that it has been done? Is there anyone then, except you yourself and those men who wished him to become a king, who was unwilling that that deed should be done, or who disapprove of it after it was done? All men, therefore, are guilty as far as this goes. In truth all good men, as far as it depended on them, bore a part in the slaying of Caesar. Some did not know how to contrive it, some had not courage for it, some had no opportunity — everyone had the inclination. 85 Of course it never occurred to Cicero, obedient as he was to the political ethics of his age, that regicide in Made him- defense of liberty could be considered a crime. He self an acces- exu i te d j n sucn an aC (- as the most glorious in the annals of sory arter ... the fact. fame, and did all in his power to make himself an acces- sory after the fact. In subsequent letters he said that — .... though everything goes wrong, the ides of March console me. But our heroes have done gloriously and nobly what depended on themselves to do. What remains requires money and resources, of both of which we are destitute. s* Ad Yam., vi, 15. 85 II Phil, 12. E o la a CICERO AND CAESAR 267 And in a letter to Cassius, he exclaims, Oh, that you had invited me to the feast of the ides of March : there would have been no remains ! 86 that is to say, Antony would not have escaped. The only thing that seems to have displeased Cicero cicerodepre- was the lack of foresight, the lack of prearranged plan S^wJand* upon the part of the conspirators. He said "They had foresight, acted with manly courage, but childish judgment: ammo virili, consilio pueriliT 87 The theory upon which they had acted was that the Roman people were being held in bondage by a tyrant whose death would set them free. But when the deed was done, and the conspirators rushed out of the Senate-house brandishing their swords and call- ing upon the people to assert themselves, they simply list- ened with surprise, but without anger or sympathy. Under such conditions the tyrannicides, after the mob, Tyrannicides unmoved by the cry of liberty, had refused to hail them !° u ^ h i sh A 1_ ' ' *' term the Arx. as deliverers of their country, after speeches by Brutus and Cassius made in a contio had received only a cold response, after it was plain that the fire would not kindle, deemed it prudent to shelter themselves in the Arx of Rome, while Lepidus came with troops and occupied the Forum. At that moment when it was plain "that the Lepidus people would not respond," it was Cicero's idea that the occupied Senate should have been convoked in order that favorable decrees might have been extorted from its fears. On April 19 he wrote to Atticus: Do you not remember that on that very first day of the retreat upon the Capitol I claimed that the Senate should be summoned into the Capitoline temple ? Good heavens, what might have been se Ad Fam., xii, 4: "Vellem Idibus Martiis me ad caenam invitasses; reliquiarum nihil fuisset." 87 Ad Att., xv, 4. 268 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS The old citizenship not asleep, but dead. Appian's statement. Froude's insight. Caesar's substitute a necessity. effected then, when all loyalists — even semi-loyalists — were exult- ant, and brigands utterly dismayed. 88 What neither Cicero nor Brutus could understand was that the Roman citizenship, from which the ancient re- publican constitution had drawn the breath of life, had ceased to exist — it was not asleep, it was dead. It had disappeared in the disintegrating process through which the old city-republic had been transformed into a military empire. As Arjpian had expressed it: For a very long time the Roman people was only a mixture of all the nations. The freedmen were confounded with the citizens, the slave had no longer anything to distinguish him from his mas- ter. In a word, the distributions of corn that were made at Rome gathered the beggars, the idle, and the vagabonds from all Italy. 83 In the words of one whose insight is often unclouded by prejudice or passion: "In the army only remained the imperial consciousness of the honor and duty of Roman citizens. To the army, therefore, the rule was transferred." 90 Naturally the very powerful body of veterans, many of whom were then awaiting assignments of land in Rome, refused, even with more emphasis than the people in general, either to approve or condone the act by which the head of the new monarchical system had been removed. And some of the best and wisest recog- nized the fact that the collapse of the old constitution had been so complete that Caesar's substitute was an absolute necessity, possibly a beneficent necessity. Cicero's clear- visioned friend Marrius, whose villa he visited early in April, went so far as to say that if Caesar's genius had failed to provide anything better, who could hope to s 8 Ad Att, xiv, 10. 89 De Bell. Civ., ii, 120. 90 Froude, Caesar, p. 430. CICERO AND CAESAR 269 improve on what he had done? In a letter written to Atticus on April 7, the orator says: I have come on a visit to the man, of whom I was talking to you this morning [Caius Ma+ius]. His view is that "the state of things is perfectly shocking: that there is no way out of the embroglio. For if a man of Caesar's genius failed, who can hope to succeed?" In short, he says that the ruin is complete. 91 The ruin of the old republican constitution was com- plete, and the only two questions that remained were these : first, to what extent and in what form should the new Caesarean system survive; second, who should be Caesar's heir? Cicero was among the first to perceive the actual condition of things. On April 11 and 18 he wrote to Atticus: You see, after all, the tyrant's hangers-on in the enjoyment of "The tyranny the imperium, you see his armies, his veterans on our flank survives /-1 \~y «iii 'ii though the ty- Good God ! the tyranny survives though the tyrant is dead. 92 rant j s dead." 81 Ad Att., xiv, 1. 92 Ibid., xiv, 5, 9. CHAPTER X Caesar's adoption of Octavius. Career of Antony. THE DUEL TO THE DEATH WITH ANTONY Certainly Caesar expected his military monarchy to survive him and to become hereditary in his family. The childless regent took the first step in that direction when he adopted Octavius, the son of his niece, Atia; the second, when on September 13, 45 B.C., he drew up his will and placed it in the hands of the chief Vestal Virgin, making Octavius his universal heir. 1 The most formidable foe to that plan was Marcus Antonius, generally known as Mark Antony, who quickly resolved to seize the purple of his fallen benefactor and to make himself his heir. Antony, whose stepfather Len- tulus had been put to death by Cicero as one of the Catiline conspirators, began a new career in Gaul when in 54 B.C. he was welcomed by Caesar, who, in order to make him more efficient as a promoter of his ambitious designs, elevated him to the offices of quaestor, augur, and tribune of the plebs, in the last of which he displayed marvelous boldness and dexterity in upholding his patron's cause against the intrigues and violence of the Pompeian party. After the Rubicon was crossed, Antony shared his master's triumphs, being second in command at Pharsalia, and deputy-governor of Italy during Caesar's long absences in Spain and Africa. At the opening of the 1 Suet, Caes., 83. Three-fourths of the estate was thus bequeathed to Octavius, an eighth to L. Pinarius, an eighth to Q. Pedius. The Vestals were frequently made the custodians of wills. — Tac, Ann., i, 8; Plut., Ant., 58. 270 Mark Antony. The Vatican. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH ANTONY 271 year in which the assassination occurred, the regent as- sumed the consulship with Antony as his colleague, thus leaving him at the head of the state when he died. Armed Head of the with that authority the senior consul, after he had recov- stat , ea ^ "" ' ' sar s death. ered from the terror inspired by the fear that he was to be the next victim, removed the public funds, amounting to the enormous sum of seven hundred million sesterces ($30,800,000), according to Cicero, 2 from the Regia and the temple of Ops to his own house in the Cannae. Then, after gaining possession of Caesar's papers which Calpurnia, acting apparently under her father's counsel, willingly handed over to him, called by edict a session of the Senate which met in the temple of Tellus on March Meeting of 17, probably before daybreak. He had already won M e ar S c e h n ^° n over Lepidus, who in the night following the assassina- tion had occupied the Forum with the legion stationed on the island in the Tiber, by promising him the office of pontifex maximns made vacant by Caesar's death, and the marriage of his daughter to Lepidus' son. The approaches to the Senate were carefully guarded by soldiers when it met in the memorable session in which Cicero, "who laid the foundations of peace," pro- Cicero pro- posed a general amnesty, including of course the slavers P os e da g en - r ° * ' ° ' eral amnesty. of the regent, conceding at the same time Antony's de- mand that all the appointments made and directions given by the regent should stand. Piso, Caesar's father-in- Caesar's will law, then proposed that the contents of his will, still in andfuneral - the custody of the Vestal Virgins, should be published, and that he should be given a public funeral. To both resolutions the Senate agreed. As Antony was then in possession of Caesar's papers, the land assignments for his veterans were of course to be carried out. 2 II Phil, 37. 272 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Truce be- tween regi- cides and Caesarians. Athenian settlement of 403 B.C. Necessity for the reestab- lishment of peace and order. It is not from Appian but from Dio 3 that we derive the elaborate and probably no more than traditional ver- sion of the words used by Cicero in the senatorial peace parley of March 17, when a hollow truce was proclaimed between the regicides and the Caesarians. After assuring them that there was no mandate of military power to con- trol their deliberations, no restraint upon the freedom of action or debate, the orator appealed to all factions to put aside feuds and bickerings, knowing as they must the curse of such divisions. Then, after a review of Roman polit- ical history, in which he spoke of Saturninus, Glaucia, the Gracchi, of Marius and Sulla, of Sertorius and Pompey, he made emphatic reference to the Athenian settlement, the act of amnesty of Thrasybulus, after the fall of the Thirty Tyrants, in 403 B.C., 4 through which Athens won back prestige and power abroad and reestablished peace and order at home. They should decide at once, he said, because signs of a fresh conflict were already visible. Caesar is slain. The Capitol is occupied by the optimates, the Forum by soldiers, and the people are full of terror. Is violence to be again answered by more violence? These many years we have lived less like men than like wild beasts in cycles of warring revenge. Let us forget the past. Let us draw a veil over all that has been done, not looking too curiously into the acts of any man. Much may be said to show that Caesar deserved his death, and much against those who have killed him. But to raise the question will breed fresh quarrels; and if we are wise we shall regard the scene we have witnessed as a convulsion of nature now at an end. Let Caesar's ordinances, let Caesar's appointments be maintained. None such must be heard of again. But what is done cannot be undone. 6 s xliv, pp. 23 sqq. 4 Xenophon, Hell., ii, 4, 43. 5 Froude's abridgment of Dio, who gives no more than the traditional version. — Caes., pp. 423-29. THE DUEL TO THE DEATH WITH ANTONY 273 The conspirators, who were then invited to come down Futile at- from their stronghold on the Capitol, refused to do so SSJSJJ 8 " until Antony and Lepidus each sent a son to them to be held as hostages for their security. As an evidence that a real reconciliation had been effected, a dinner was given that night to Cassius by Antony, and to Brutus by Lepidus. It was probably on March 18 that Antony, whose genius Caesar's for oratory was inherited from a famous father, con- ductedby" 1 " ducted the public funeral of the regent, whose body was Antony, brought from his palace, where it had been lying since the evening of the assassination, down to the Forum and placed upon the Rostra 6 with the blood-soaked toga still wrapped about it. As a part of the stage setting a wax Wax effigy effigy of the murdered Caesar was raised and turned in tjJe^unds all directions by a mechanical device in such a way that the people could see for themselves the twenty-three wounds inflicted on the body as well as on the face of the unvengeful hero who had done so much for his country. 7 First the will was read in which it was provided not Reading only that his gardens on the Tiber should be held as a per- of the petual pleasure ground for all Romans, but that each citizen should receive a personal legacy of seventy-five drachmas. Next it transpired that after Octavius, 8 as a second heir, he had actually named Decimus Brutus, one of those who had betrayed him. Then it was that Antony The came forward to speak of Caesar's ancestry, his personal P ane sy nc - traits, his generosity as a friend, his forbearance as an 8 According to the Roman archaeologist Boni, the remains of it have been recently discovered. See Vaglieri, Gli scavi recenti nel Foro Romano, Rome, 1903, pp. i52ff. T App., ii, 147. 8 In a codicil Caesar had adopted Octavius as his son. — Suet., Caes., 83; Veil., ii, 59; Liv., Per., 116; Dio, xliv, 35. 274 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS enemy, and above all of his services to the state, of his campaigns in Spain, Gaul, Britain, Asia, Egypt, and Armenia. He had labored for peace with Pompey, An- tony said, but Pompey preferred to go into Greece in order to array the powers of the East against his country, perishing in an attempt so unworthy. And yet Caesar took no revenge. He praised and rewarded those who had been faithful to Pompey, and treated his murderers as they deserved. To use Dio's words, there was in him an inbred goodness" {I^vttj xP r }< TT ° T V' s ) ; he was never- carried away by anger, never spoilt by success. To you he was consul ; to the army, imperator ; to the enemies of his country, dictator. In a word he was Pater Patriae. And this your father, your Pontifex, this hero, whose person was declared inviolable, lies dead — not by disease or age, not by war or visita- tion of God, but here at home, by conspiracy within your own walls, slain in the Senate-house, the warrior unarmed, the peace- maker naked to his foes, the righteous judge in the seat of judgment. 8 * Declaration of war against the regicides. This carefully prepared declaration of war against the regicides from one who had, for a moment, dissembled, proved to be the turning-point of the crisis. Such a storm of passion was aroused that after the body had been burned on the Forum, amid a frenzy of tributes that amounted to a popular ovation, the unhappy Helvius Cinna, one of the tribunes whose name was mistaken for that of the praetor Cinna, who had spoken in a scornful way of the memory of Caesar, was seized by the mob and Their houses torn to pieces on the spot. The houses of the principal conspirators were then given to the flames. 9 It was no longer a matter of doubt which side the populace would take; they believed, according to Suetonius, that the dead 8a Dio, xliv, 48. ° App., B. C, ii, 147. burned. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH AN TONY 275 Caesar was a god who had returned to heaven where his star had been seen ascending. 10 In such an atmosphere it was impossible for the con- spirators to live; paralyzed with fear, they thought only of flight. Such of them as Marcu s Br utus, Decimus Leaders , Brutus, Cassius, Cimber, and Trebonius slipped away to ^way. the provinces the regent had assigned them, while the rest sought shelter in the shadows of their friends. With their subsequent histories we are not directly concerned. What remains to be said will be confined to the duel to the death between Cicero and Mark Antony. After the latter, by his consummate art and eloquence, had driven from Rome those who had planned and executed the assassination of Caesar, but one real gladiator remained in the arena, a Cicero the gladiator who resolved to defend alone the fallen Repub- a^^^ 1 lie in its death agony and to go down with it into the Republic, grave, as the last and noblest champion of Roman free- dom. Cicero drew a perfect picture of himself when, in the Third Philippic, he said: And now (may the immortal gods avert the omen!) if the last hour of the Republic has arrived, let us, the foremost men of all the world, resolve like brave gladiators to perish with honor. Let us prefer to fall with dignity rather than live on like slaves in ignominy. 11 During the five months and more that intervened be- tween the death of Caesar and the meeting in September of the Senate in which the great orator pronounced the First Philippic, Antony, senior consul and official head of the state and army, did his utmost to draw into his own hands every resource, financial, political, and military, 10 "In deorum numerum relatus est non ore modo decernentium sed per- suasione vulgi." 11 III Phil., 14. 276 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Acts done in the name of the dead Caesar. Antony's ap- peal to Cicero in behalf of Sextius Clodius. which the regent had possessed as such. Not content with seizing the public funds deposited in the Regia and temple of Ops, and all the papers of Caesar in possession of Calpurnia, he invented a convenient device through which he forced the new divinity to issue edicts and other documents even after death. By securing the cooperation of the late secretary Faberius 12 he was able to issue a variety of forged edicts and orders, and to sell appoint- ments, franchises, and titles in the nature of testamentary papers, declaring that he had found them in the regent's archives. Edicts of which no one had ever heard were engraved on brass tablets and hung up in the usual way on the Capitol, thus tempting Cicero to declare that Antony was able to do more in the name of Caesar dead than Caesar himself could or would have done if alive: "Though the king is slain, we pay respect to every nod of his majesty." Antony, who left Rome in April, not returning until after May 15, asked of Cicero in the interval to consent to the restoration of Sextius Clodius, of whom he was now the stepfather, from an exile that had lasted already eight years, claiming even in this case to act in accordance with a memorandum found among Caesar's papers. In reply the orator said: Of course my dear Antony, I give you my free consent, besides acknowledging that by expressing yourself as you have done you have treated me with the utmost liberality and courtesy. 13 Allusion was no doubt made to that part of Antony's letter in which he had said: Although your fortunes, my dear Cicero, are now, I feel assured, removed from every danger, nevertheless I think you would prefer 12 App., iii, s ; Ad Alt., xiv, 12, i. *• Ibid., xiv, 13. THE DUEL TO THE DEATH WITH ANTONY 277 spending a peaceful and honored old age rather than one full of anxiety. Finally, I claim a right to ask this favor of you myself; for I have omitted nothing that I could do for your sake. 1 * In estimating Cicero's subsequent struggles and sacri- fices for the Republic, resulting in his death, it should never for a moment be forgotten that if he had been will- ing to sacrifice his convictions to his interests, the "peace- ful and honored old age" thus assured him would have been beyond all question. Not until after Antony had thrown off the mask behind which, for a time, he dis- sembled, intimating that he would act as a patriot, and heal the innermost wounds from which the Republic was dying, did Cicero arouse himself to a course of patriotic conduct that exceeded in unselfish devotion even the great part he had played in crushing the conspiracy of Catiline. On June 7 he went by sea to Antium for a notable polit- ical conference with Brutus (the first meeting since the evening of the ides), who was attended by his mother Servilia, and his wife Portia, and also by Tertulla, the wife of Cassius and sister of Brutus, by Favonius, and other friends. 15 While they were discussing the best course to adopt, Cassius himself arrived; and after an utter want of plan had been disclosed, it was resolved that Brutus should use a commission he had to purchase grain in Asia as a pretext for leaving Italy; Cassius, who scorned to go to Sicily in that capacity, resolving to cross over to Achaea. Just before sailing for Greece in July, Cicero wrote to Atticus: I am leaving peace to return to war; and the season which might have been spent in my favorite country places — so beauti- fully built and so full of charm — I am to waste on a tour abroad. The consolations are that I shall either do my son good, or make ™Ad Att., xiv, 13. 15 Ibid., xv, 10. He could have secured a "peaceful and honored old age." Meeting with Brutus at Antium. Cicero tails for Greece. 278 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Plant changed by news from Antony. His unique position. The Ciceronians. up my mind how much good he is capable of receiving. In the next place you will, as I hope and as you promise, soon be there. If that happens things will go better with me. 16 But the winds and the waves were against him; never more was he to leave his beloved Italy. While he was waiting for a favorable breeze at the villa near Rhe- gium, 17 all his plans were changed by news brought by friends announcing Antony's purpose to call a meeting of the Senate for September 1, appearing as if he were anxious to effect a reconciliation with Brutus and Cassius. A copy of a speech recently made by the consul to the people was then handed to Cicero, of a temper so pleas- ing that he resolved to return to Rome, where he arrived on the last day of August. Plutarch tells us that as he approached the city multitudes flocked out to meet him, and that the whole day was spent in receiving the com- pliments and congratulations of his friends as he passed along towards his great house on the Palatine. His position at this juncture was at once unique and imposing. Nearly all of the great actors contemporary with him had passed from the stage, many of them to bloody graves. His commanding intellect and reputa- tion qualified him in a peculiar way for the unofficial leadership the Roman Senate and people were soon to thrust upon him. As the life and soul of the opposition to Antony he was to become the spokesman of those who called themselves, as Appian tells us, the Ciceronians — those who still clung to the traditions of the Republic 16 Ad Alt., xvi, 3. 17 Afterwards, in describing these experiences, he said: "Enraged at the position of affairs, and despairing of freedom, I was on the point of hurry- ing off to Greece, when the Etesian winds, like loyal citizens, refused to further me in my desertion of the Republic, and a south wind, blowing in my teeth, carried me back by his strong blast to your fellow-tribesmen of Rhegium." — Ad Fam., xii, 25. I THE DUEL TO THE DEATH WITH ANTONY 279 and to the principles of the ancient constitution. 18 The Roman mob and the veterans who attended Caesar's funeral, driving the regicides from the city, may have represented the largest but not the only element in the population. Public opinion among the Romans of Italy never wavered in its devotion to the republican cause until put down by armed force. About the middle of April Cicero writes: In the country towns they are jumping for joy. In fact I can- Feeling in not describe to you how rejoiced they are, how they flock to see me, the country how eager they are to hear me speak on the state of the Republic. 19 After Dolabella, the colleague of Antony in the con- sulship, had ordered a pillar to be thrown down, which had been erected in the Forum to the memory of Caesar on the spot where his body was burnt, and had executed the ringleaders of a riot that ensued, Cicero on May 1 wrote : My admirable Dolabella! For now I call him mine. Before this, believe me, I had my secret doubts. It is indeed a notable achievement — execution from the rock, on the cross, removal of the column, the contract given out for paving the whole spot. 20 Some months later he wrote : Though the Senate is courageous, it is the lowest in rank that are most so. Nothing, indeed, can be firmer or better than the temper shown by the people and by the whole of Italy. 21 Cicero was met at Rome by the news that Antony Antony had thrown off the mask and had ceased to dissemble; [h^nTaslc 18 "Cicero was a conservative republican, belonging to the middle class; a lawyer by temperament as well as by profession, and as passionate a constitutionalist as Burke." — Herbert Paul, Men and Letters, p. 344. 19 AdAtt.,xiv, 6. 20 Ibid., xiv, 15. In the absence of Antony (II Phil., 42) Dolabella had pulled down the memorial column (I Phil., 2), crucified those of the rioters who were slaves, and hurled from the Tarpeian rock some who were free. 21 Ad Fam., xii, 4.. "My ad- mirable Dolabella. 28o CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Threatens Cicero. First Philippic. that he had announced his purpose to propose in full Senate a public thanksgiving in honor of Caesar's memory. Feeling that he could not, without the grossest hypocrisy, support a motion by which the dead regent would be almost deified; and being unwilling to be forced into a position that would make him odious to the veterans, the orator simply absented himself upon the ground that he had not recovered from the exhaustion incident to his rapid journey. Whereupon Antony became so enraged as to declare in the Senate, after intimating that Cicero was planning an attempt upon his life and was slandering and insulting him, that if he did not appear he would use all his consular powers to bring him by force, and that if he resisted he would even send soldiers and smiths to break down the doors of his house. 22 While smarting under that bitter insult, the orator did attend the next day, September 2, and delivered the first of the fourteen immortal orations against Antony, called originally, as they should have been, Antonian Orations (Orationes Antonianae), a little afterwards changed by the orator himself to Philippics, half in jest and half seri- ously, in memory of the orations of Demosthenes against Philip. 23 Juvenal, who wrote within a century of Cicero's time, called them "divina Philippica." When the First Philippic is contrasted with the gorgeous and burning denunciation that followed it may be said to be a grave, dignified, and self-restrained criticism of Caesar's acts 22 1 Phil, 5. Ferrero says, "The smiths were intended to break down the doors, and not to destroy the house, as some historians explain." — vol. Hi, p. 98, note t- 23 In the spring of 43 B.C., Brutus, referring to Philippics V and x, wrote to Cicero: "You are, of course, waiting for my praise of them at this time of day! I cannot decide whether it is your courage or your genius that is the most admirably displayed in these pamphlets. I quite agree in their having even the title of Philippics, by which you jestingly describe them in one of your letters." — Epist. ad Brut., ii, 5. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH ANTONY 281 and Antony's policy, without being a declaration of war. It was firm but conciliatory; it urged peace, and offered compromise. And yet he had said enough against the consul to settle the fact that he left the Senate his declared enemy. The bitter Ciceronian gibes, especially those relating to the forged documents, so incensed Antony that he retired for two weeks to the villa of Metellus Scipio at Tibur, the modern Tivoli, where, with the aid of a rhetor, he formulated his reply to Cicero which he delivered in Antonyi the Senate on the 19th. In this violent invective, limited rep y ' in the main to the orator's public life, he began his charges with the events connected with the conspiracy of Catiline and ended with the accusation that he had actually organ- ized the conspiracy for the assassination of Caesar. 24 Not wishing to give way to his anger and fearful of the machinations of Antony and his veterans, Cicero pru- dently remained away on that day. He afterwards de- clared that if he had not taken that precaution, he would have been murdered by the soldiers on guard even within the walls of the Senate-house. There can be no doubt that this sudden change of front upon the part of Antony was prompted by the necessity of fixing more firmly his leadership of the Caesarians, who were inclined to drift to the real heir, Octavianus, the grandson of Caesar's sister Julia, who at the time of his uncle's death was at Apollonia in Epirus. After Arrival of his arrival at Naples in April he sought an interview with Cicero at Cumae, where he did all in his power to win Meets Cicero him to his cause. On the twenty-second of the month at Cumae - Cicero wrote : 24 II Phil., 12 ; Ad Tarn., xii, 2. Cicero says in that letter, "He accuses me of being the instigator of Caesar's assassination, with no other motive than that of inciting the veterans against me." 282 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Allies him- self with republicans and appeals to the veterans. Octavius here treats me with great respect and friendliness. His own people addressed him as "Caesar," but Philippius did not, so I did not do so either. 25 I declare that it is impossible for him to be a good citizen. 26 He is surrounded by such a number of people who even threaten our friends with death. He says the present state of things is unendurable. But what do you think of it, when a boy like that goes to Rome, where our liberators cannot be in safety? 27 When he did go to Rome, and found out there that Antony, who had appropriated his inheritance, was in- clined to treat him with contempt, he proceeded at once to ally himself with the republicans. But what was more ominous, Octavian, who had just completed his nineteenth year, prompted his agents to incite the legions at Brun- dusium to abandon Antony, while he himself appealed to Caesar's veterans, settled on their lands in Campania, to come to his standard. The most important asset which the regent had left behind him, from a political point of view, was represented by thirty-six legions to whose train- ing as fighting machines he had devoted the best energies of his life. Veteran soldiers were even more valuable in the ancient than in the modern world, for the reason that it was practically impossible to train short-service men in the use of the arms employed in those times, when a few pro essiona p ro f ess i ona l soldiers could put to rout hosts of half- soldiers. r r trained men. In organizing bodies of mercenary troops, Caesar had made it profitable to become a soldier, and along with self-interest and discipline, he had infused into his legions such personal devotion for himself that those 25 Having been adopted in Caesar's will, the future Augustus was now properly Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus, the adjective form of his original name. 26 Reading "bonum civem esse." 27 Ad Alt., xiv, 12. Value of THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH ANTONY 283 who had fought and conquered under him were not only eager to avenge his death, but to set aside the amnesty granted to those who had brought it about. It is not therefore strange that at a time when the struggles for the allegiance of the veteran legions were the pivots upon which every political movement turned, everybody should be inquiring as to the views the veterans might take. Nothing so vexed the soul of Cicero as the necessity for continually pandering to the feelings and interests of the veteran troops. In one of the Philippics he cries out: What, in the name of all that is mischievous, is the object of Cicero de- always opposing the name of the veterans to every good cause ? n °u nces tnelr For even if I were attached to their virtue, as indeed I am, still if they were arrogant I should not be able to tolerate their airs. While we are endeavoring to break the bonds of slavery shall any- one hinder us by saying that the veterans do not approve of it ? 28 And yet, sad as it was, the fact remained that after five civil wars since the year 49 B.C., a period of only five years, a sixth was about to begin whose outcome depended almost entirely upon what the veteran legions might ap- prove or disapprove. No matter what Cicero, Antony, or Octavian might say, the event depended upon what the heaviest battalions resolved to do. Thus the center Center of of gravity of the state had shifted. Under the old con- fheltate°with stitution those who aspired to supreme political power the legions, at Rome asked it at the hands of the citizens assembled in the Forum or Campus Martius; under the new Caesa- rian system such power had to be sought in the camps of the veteran legions. The Senate might remain as a Council of State ; the magistrates might bear their old names, and administer their old functions. But the authority of the executive government lay in the loyalty, 28 X Phil., 9. 284 First strug- gle for the military power. Antony's par- tial success. CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS the morality, and the patriotism of the legions to whom the power had been transferred. 29 With a perfect appreciation of the value of the legions, Antony, who had been prompt to win Lepidus on the night of the ides, had ordered four of the Macedonian legions, the Second, Fourth, Thirty-fifth, and Martian, to cross the Adriatic; and in that way Octavian found them at Brundusium in October, 44 B.C., where the first struggle between the heirs of Caesar for the pos- session of the military power really began. In the hope of arousing the Caesarians to enthusiasm Antony in- scribed upon the pedestal of a statue of Caesar on the Rostra the words parenti optime merito, 30 and on Octoberj^or 5 there was a rumor that he had discovered assassins in his house who admitted that Octavian had sent them to murder him. About the middle of the month Cicero wrote: In short, I have great hopes of him [Octavian]. There is noth- ing he may not be expected to do for fame and glory's sake. Antonius, however, our whilom intimate friend, feels himself to be the object of such violent dislike, that though he caught the assassins within his doors he does not venture to make the fact public. On October 9 he set out to meet the four Macedonian legions, planning to win them over to his side by money-bounties, to lead them to the city, and station them as fetters on our necks. 31 When Antony appealed to these legions, even with "money-bounties," to follow him, he was only able to win over the Second and Thirty-fifth; and after he had inflicted a terrible punishment upon the Martian 32 and the Fourth legions for their disaffection, both declared for Octavian after Antony had returned to Rome. In order to advance his military plans Antony had this month ob- 29 Froude, Caes., p. 396. 30 Ad Fam., xii, 3. 31 Ibid., xii, 23. 32 App., B. C, iii, 43 ; III Phil., 4. THE DUEL TO THE DEATH WITH ANTONY 285 tained from the people a law (lex de permutatione pro- vinciarum) 33 directing an exchange of provinces by A law forth* which Decimus Brutus was to be removed to Macedonia exc angeo provinces. so that Antony himself could take his command in Cisal- pine Gaul, given to him by Caesar and confirmed by the Senate after his death. Once in possession of that all- important post, and backed by a strong military force, the consul believed that he would have at his mercy not only the capital but the wide plains of the region now known as modern Lombardy. When Decimus Brutus refused to give up as governor of Cisalpine Gaul upon the ground that Antony's action was unconstitutional if not illegal, the consul collected all the forces that still remained faithful to him, and on November 20 left the city, and pressed northward, hoping to surprise and crush his adversary, whose large army consisted mainly of recruits not to be relied upon in the open field against veterans. For that reason, Decimus DecimusBru- awaited the attack behind the powerful walls of the fort- * b us Anton ° at ress of Mutina, where he was besieged by Antony until Mutina. the following April. There the last stand was made for the Roman Republic; there the veteran legions com- pleted the transfer of the sovereign power to the new military monarchy. When Antony abandoned the capital for the siege of Mutina, the two arch enemies he left behind him were Cicero and Octavian. After the consul's violent speech of September 19, Cicero resolved to write a reply which would be not only a defense of himself but a flame- wreathed portrait of his adversary. The Second Philip- Second pic, which was intended only as a political pamphlet for Phlh PP lc - publication, seems to have been prepared at his villa 83 Livy, Per. j cxvii. 286 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS near Puteoli, where it was* completed at the end of Octo- ber, when it was sent to Atticus with a letter saying: I am sending you my speech. As to whether it is to be locked up or published, I leave to your discretion. But when shall we see the day when you shall think it ought to be published? 34 The next day he wrote: How I fear your criticism! And yet why should I? What care I for a speech which is not likely to see the light unless the Republic is restored ? 35 This most brilliant and ferocious of all invectives, excepting perhaps the denunciation of Midias by Demos- thenes, thus passed into the hands of the publisher, where it remained until early in December. On November i Cicero received an important letter from Octavian, the contents of which he repeats to Atticus : Octavian He is entering upon a serious undertaking. He has won over to his side all the veterans at Casilinum and Calatia. And no won- der: he gives a bounty of 500 denarii apiece. Clearly, his view is a war with Antony under his leadership. So I perceive that before many days are over we shall be in arms. But whom are we to fol- low? Consider his name, his age. 36 Again, he demands a secret interview with me, at Capua of all places ! It is really quite child- ish if he supposes it can be kept private He wanted my advice whether he should start for Rome with an army of 3,000 veterans, or should hold Capua, and so intercept Antony's advance, or should join the three Macedonian legions now sailing by the j Mare Superum, which he hopes are devoted to him. 37 34 AdAtt.,xv, 13. 35 Ibid., xv, 13. 36 In the Monumentum Ancyranum, §1, Octavian thus begins the record < of his achievements: "When nineteen years old [he was born in September,. 63 B.C.] I collected an army on my own account and at my own expense, byf means of which I restored to liberty the Republic, which had been enslaved by the tyranny of a faction." 37 Ad Att., xvi, 8. Cicero. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH ANTONY 287 Cicero advised him to go to Rome. He is advised to go to For I think he will have not only the city mob, but, if he can Rome. impress them with confidence, the loyalists also on his side. O Brutus, where are you? What an opportunity you are losing! 38 When Octavian continued his attempt to draw Cicero to his side by asking for advice and senatorial initiative, the orator made excuses, which he thus explained: I cannot trust in one so young; I am in the dark as to his dispo- sition. I am not willing to do anything without your friend Pansa. I am afraid of Antony succeeding, and I do not like going far from the sea; and at the same time I fear some great coup without my being there. Varro, for his part, does not like the youth's plan. I do not agree with him. He has forces on which he can depend. Has forces He can count on Decimus Brutus, and is making no secret of his °"J^„_„^ intentions. He is organizing his men in companies at Capua ; he is paying them their bounty-money. 39 can depend. Desperately resolved to destroy Antony through a coalition with the republicans, headed by Cicero and Decimus, Octavian wrote daily letters to the former, appealing to him "to save the state for a second time," 40 and to the latter promising to reenforce him with five legions. Against such promises stood the distrust excited by his recent speech in the Forum during which he ex- tended his hands towards Caesar's statue and swore: "as surely as he hoped he might be permitted to attain to his father honors," a declaration that forced Cicero to say: "I would not even be saved by such a one." In the midst of such conflicting interests and emotions the orator moved northward towards Rome, where at the end of November the drift was decidedly in favor of Driftinfavor Octavian and against Antony, who seemed to have lost his hold there after his departure for Mutina. On De- 88 Ad Att., xvi, 8. 39 Ibid., xvi, 9. 40 Ibid., xvi, 2, 6. of Octavian. 288 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Decisive hour of Cicero's life. Second Philippic published. ccmber 9 Cicero went into the city, and on the next day the new tribunes of the people, one of them the regicide Casca, took up office. In a few days they resolved to convoke the senate for December 20, a conclusion reached at the very moment when a great sensation was created in the capital by the news that Decimus had published an edict declaring that he would ignore Antony as governor of Gaul, and would continue to hold the province for the Senate. 41 The supreme moment had arrived; a life and death struggle with the bold, able, and experienced Antony was at hand; there was a chance to overthrow the Caes- arians and restore the Republic, if only a leader could be found equal to the emergency. There was but one leader possible and he was full of doubts and fears. There could be no hope of success without Octavian, who de- manded the imperium of a propraetor; and certainly it was perilous to give official authority to a young man of nineteen bearing Caesar's name and with Caesar's vet- erans under his command. Under such conditions wouk the conqueror of Catiline undertake to save the Republic a second time? This was the decisive hour of his life, the moment of supreme audacity, of final self-sacrifice, or permanent glory. That morning (December 20) he took the decisive step; at the age of sixty-two, more capable of wielding the pen than the sword, the leader of that political world in which equivocation had reigned supreme for eight months, he plunged into the vast and unknown dangers which barred the progress of his generation, with an audacity which car only be regarded as heroic when his natural timidity and the ter- rible uncertainty of the situation are remembered. 42 A week or more before, perhaps, Atticus had publishec the Second Philippic, destined to become an unrivalec 41 III Phil, 4. 42 Ferrero, vol. iii, p. 124. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH ANTONY 289 classic in all the rhetorical schools of the Roman and of the modern world — a tremendous outburst in which all the ferocity of tragedy, all the power of pathos united with all the resources of humor and mirth in an impeach- ment of Antony, whose crowning crime was his attempt to call back kings to Rome ! What can be more scandalous than for that man to live who placed a diadem on a man's head, when everyone confesses that that man was deservedly put to death who rejected it? ... . And are you then diligent in doing honor to Caesar's memory? Do you love him even now that he is dead? What greater honor had he obtained than that of having a holy cushion, an image, a temple, and a priest? As then Jupiter, and Mars, and Quirinus have priests, so Marcus Antonius is the priest of the God Julius. Why then do you delay? Why are you not inaugurated? .... And what a life is it, day and night to be fearing danger from one's own people! Unless, indeed, you have men who are bound to you by greater kindnesses than some of those men by whom he was slain were bound to Caesar; or unless there are points in which you can be compared with him. In that man were combined genius, method, memory, literature, Antony con- prudence, deliberation, and industry. He had performed exploits trasted wltn in war which, though calamitous for the Republic, were never- theless mighty deeds. Having for many years aimed at being a king, he had, with great labor and much personal danger, accom- plished what he intended. He had conciliated the ignorant mul- titude by presents, by monuments, by largesses of food and by banquets; he had bound his own party to him by rewards, his adversaries by the appearances of clemency. Why need I say much on such a subject? He had already brought a free city, partly by fear, partly by patience, into a habit of slavery. With him I can, indeed, compare you as to your desire to reign ; but in all other respects you are in no degree to be compared to him Consider, I beg you, Marcus An- tonius, do some time or other consider the Republic: think of the family of which you are born, not of the men with whom you are living. Be reconciled to the Republic. However, do you decide 290 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS on your own conduct. As to mine, I myself will declare what that shall be. I defended the Republic as a young man; I will not abandon it now that I am old. I scorned the sword of Catiline, I will not quail before yours. No, I will rather cheer- fully expose my own person, if the liberty of the city can be restored by my death. 43 Third Of a widely different character was the Third Philip- 1 ippic " pic, delivered in the Senate on December 20, after Cicero had answered the question of questions by his resolve to accept the leadership and to risk everything in the effort to save the Republic a second time. It was a calm, wise speech, demanding neither peace nor war as necessary alternatives. It was an appeal to the Senate to commend Brutus for his edict, Octavian, "a youth, nay, almost a boy," for his public services in the enlistments, the two revolted legions for their action. At the close he pro- posed that there should be a repudiation of the distribu- tion of the provinces as made by Antony on November 20, and that the governors then in office should be per- mitted to remain until successors could be appointed. After delivering his speech in the Senate, Cicero pro- ceeded to the Forum, where he communicated his pro- Fourth posals to the people by a contio, known as the Fourth 1 ippic# Philippic, in which he said that "the Senate has no longer been content with styling Antonius an enemy in words, but it has shown by actions that it considers him one." 1 ! Thus the new head of the senatorial government put beyond all question the fact that Antony was no longer) a Roman consul but a public enemy. Ambassadors After the new consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, had 01M January, 7 ' January 1 of the year 43 B.C., delivered their speeches^ 43 b.c. Fufius Calenus asserted that Antony did not desire war, "II Phil., usqq. THE DUEL TO THE DEATH WITH ANTONY 291 moving at the same time that ambassadors be sent to open peace negotiations with one who had now lost his official character. Servius Sulpicius and Publius Servilius then followed, proposing that Octavian should be given the command of an army with the rank of propraetor, and that he should be eligible for offices as if he had held already the quaestorship. Realizing that the republican cause could only be ad- vanced by revolutionary methods, Cicero met the situa- tion thus presented by the furious assault upon Antony contained in the Fifth Philippic, attacking both his public Fifth administration and his private life, and pointing it all l Ippic " with the intimation that his ulterior object was to capture Transalpine Gaul so as to be able to return with suffi- cient forces to enable him to seize the capital. He there- fore urged that a tumultus and state of siege should be proclaimed, and that a golden statue should be dedicated to Lepidus in recognition of his republican opinions. The next day the debate was resumed. Octavian was to be admitted to the Senate among the senators of consular rank, and he might apply for the consulship ten years before the legal time. 44 In pledging himself for the youth's loyalty Cicero said: "I do promise, and pledge Cicero myself, and undertake that Caius Caesar will always be KJJJw!? such a citizen as he is this day, and as we ought above all loyalty, things to wish and desire that he should be." The issue was now peace or war, and the few declared friends of Antony in the Senate even went so far as to send the ex-consul's aged mother and Fulvia from house to house hoping to restrain those senators who were hesi- tating, 45 Cicero making another speech on the third of the 44 Mon. Anc, i, 3-5; App., B. C, iii, 51 ; Livy, Per., cxviii. 45 App., B. C, iii, 51, 54. 292 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS month in the hope of bringing the waverers to his views. Acompro- Finally, on the 4th, after a speech from Piso, a compro- mise reached. • 111 • • i_ « • .- « . . • mise was reached under which it was agreed that bulpicius, as the representative of the republicans, Piso as the repre- sentative of the Caesarians, and Philippus, the stepfather of Octavian, should be sent as ambassadors, not to treat for peace, but to command Antony to return from Cisal- pine Gaul to Italy, it being stipulated that a tumultus would be proclaimed if he disobeyed. In the meantime one of the consuls would take the supreme command and lead to Gaul the forces Octavian had already prepared at Arretium. On the same day, before an immense assembly on the Forum, Cicero, in a discourse known as the Sixth Sixth Philippic, gave an account of all that had been done, con- 1 Ippic ' eluding with this declaration: Matters are now at a crisis. We are fighting for our freedom. Either you must conquer; which indeed you will do if you con- tinue to act with such piety and unanimity, or you must do any- thing rather than become slaves. Other nations can endure slavery ; liberty is the inalienable heritage of the Roman people. At this critical moment of waiting, which may be con- sidered the prologue to the civil war soon to begin in the valley of the Po, Cicero became, in fact, if not in law, the head of the senatorial government of the Republic. In the words of a very clear thinker: The magistrate might, without any dereliction of duty, con- fine himself to naming the subject which the Senate was to dis- cuss; it was open to the private senators to make any motion on the subject in hand, and this motion, if approved by a majority Cicero prime of voices, became a binding instruction to the executive. Thus minister of Cicero, though without any formal office, took the responsibility of the initiative and shaped the policy of the Republic. He was, in fact, prime minister of Rome. 46 45a vi Phil., 6. 46 Strachan-Davidson, Cicero, p. 406. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH ANTONY 293 As such he was forced to discharge the duties of many of the missing officers of state, to read many letters, to make many speeches, and above all to breathe into the weak and wavering a fiery enthusiasm and force such as he had scarcely possessed in his earlier years. After the great speeches of December 20 and January I, the audacious figure of the old orator stood out amidst the universal vacillation like a huge erratic boulder in the midst of a plain. He was requested upon every side to unmask dangers and to advise upon precautions, and was himself obliged to intervene in public business to secure the execution of his decrees, which otherwise would have been dead letters. 47 Before the return of the ambassadors, and while parti- zans of Antony in the city, with Calenus at their head, were striving to win friends by representing him as eager for an accommodation, in a meeting of the Senate con- voked by Pansa for the dispatch of matters of routine, Cicero abruptly warned them that there was more impor- tant business to be disposed of. In the Seventh Philippic, Seventh then delivered in the second half of January, the orator * ipplc ' spoke as the leader upon whom the burden rested, saying: On no condition will I make peace with Antony. If we can- No peace not live in freedom let us die What hope then is there Wltn Anton y- that there ever can be peace between the Roman people and the men who are besieging Mutina and attacking a general and army of the Roman people? 48 After the return of the ambassadors early in February, Pansa immediately convoked the Senate to receive their report, stating that Antony would neither yield to the demands of the Senate nor permit them to transmit its discussions to Decimus Brutus. His principal counter demands (which they had no right to bring) were that 47 Ferrero, vol. iii, pp. 129-30. 48 VII Phil., 8. 294 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Eighth Philippic. Ninth Philippic, fu- neral honors to Sulpicius. he should retain Transalpine Gaul with six legions; that his acts and those of Dolabella were not to be annulled; that his troops were to receive lands; and that there should be no account required of him of the money taken from the temple of Ops. After Cicero had stated his opinion that as Antony had refused to obey the Senate he should be declared hostis, Calenus, backed by Pansa, who was constantly supporting the Caesarians, carried through a milder measure. On the next day when the Sen- ate met to put its resolves into definite form, Cicero deliv- ered the Eighth Philippic as a protest against the irreso- lution of the day before. As the inflexible leader, who stood alone with a whole-hearted desire for war, he said: What a responsibility it is to support worthily the character of a chief of the Roman commonwealth ; those who bear it should shrink from offending not only the minds but the eyes of their fellow-citizens. When they receive the envoy of our enemies at their houses, admit him to their chambers, even draw him apart in conversation, I say that they think too little of their dignity, too much of their danger. 49 In conclusion he said: I give my vote, that of those men who are with Marcus An- tonius, those who abandon his army, and come over either to Caius Pansa or Aulus Hirtius the consuls; or to Decimus Brutus, imperator and consul elect; or to Caius Caesar, propraetor, before the fifteenth of March next, shall not be liable to prosecution for having been with Antonius. 50 So effective was this ardent speech, whose main pur- pose was to discredit Antony's champion, Calenus, that the proposal was passed. Probably on the same day was delivered the Ninth Philippic, devoted to the particular kind of funeral honors to be paid to the great jurist, Servius Sulpicius, one of the ambassadors, who being in « VIII Phil., 10. ^°Ibid.,ti. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH ANTONY 295 ill health had died by reason of his journey to the camp of Antony. Supporting Pansa's contention that the cause of his death and not the nature of it was the true criterion, Cicero pleaded for a small funeral monument at the expense of the state, and an equestrian statue in the Forum such as was customary in honor of ambassa- dors who were actually killed in the service of their embassy. In speaking of this cherished friend of his earlier years, who enjoyed the reputation of being not only the first lawyer of his time, but the first of all who ever studied law as a profession at Rome, 51 he said: Restore then, O conscript fathers, life to him from whom you have taken it. For the life of the dead consists in the tender recollection of them by the living. Take ye care that he, whom you, without intending it, sent to his death, shall from you receive immortality. 52 The scene now shifts suddenly from Cisalpine Gaul to Macedonia, from Decimus Brutus to Marcus Brutus, MarcusBru- who in the preceding autumn of 44 B.C., had arrived at Athens where, like any private individual, he began to attend lectures on Greek philosophy, along with a group of young Roman students, 53 among whom were Cicero's son Marcus, Domitius Ahenobarbus, and a young man by the name of Flaccus, whose father was an intelligent and wealthy freedman. When these young men, who ex- 51 As to his works, see Pompon., 1. c, 43, 44. His pupil was Aulus Ofilius, often called the Tribonian of the Republic, who is supposed to have been consulted by Julius Caesar as to his great but unrealized plan for a codifica- tion of Roman law. On that subject, see Sanio, Rechtshistorische Abhandl. u. Studien (Konigsberg, 1845), pp. 68-126. B2 IX Phil., 5. 53 Plut., Brut., 24. Cicero, speaking of the departure of Brutus, said: "I saw him depart from Italy in order not to cause a civil war there. O, sorrowful spectacle, I do not say for man only, but for the waves and the shores! The savior of his country was forced to flee; its destroyers remained all-powerful." — X Phil., 4. tus in Greece. 296 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Collects a small army and wins successes. Asks the Senate to approve his action. tended a most cordial welcome to the regicide, learned that Trebonius, also one of the regicides, was sending sixteen) thousand talents (about £320,000) to Rome from his rich province of Asia; and that the official in charge of this tribute would touch at Greece, they persuaded Brutus to induce the envoy to hand over the money so that it might be used in the interests of the republicans against the Caesarians. Thus in possession of the sinews of war a small army was rapidly collected under the command of Brutus, who in December, 44 B.C., surrounded by a band of young admirers including Horace, 54 went to Thessalonica, where Hortensius, the governor of Macedonia, who was with- out troops, recognized him as his successor. Encouraged by such success, Brutus by a forced march reached the shores of the Adriatic about January 20, 55 with the pur- pose of overcoming Vatinius, a Caesarian, who was gov- ernor of Illyria. After accomplishing, through a series of happy accidents, that undertaking, Brutus sent letters to Rome asking the Senate to approve his actions. 56 When like a bolt from the blue they arrived at the capital about the middle of February, Pansa hurriedly convoked the Senate for the next day. In the midst of the excitement caused by news that 54 Horace was in the army of Brutus the greater part of two years (43-42 B.C.), and in that way had the opportunity to visit Thessaly, Mace- donia, and Thrace, and many famous cities in Asia Minor mentioned in his poems in a way that implies personal acquaintance. He remained with Brutus to the end, participating in the victory and subsequent rout at Philippi. Returning to Rome, he found his father dead and his estate swept away in the confiscation of the territory of Venusia. He had, however, saved money enough from his two campaigns to enable him to purchase a clerkship in the quaestor's office. Thus poor in purse and still poorer in favor, he began life again at the age of twenty-three. See article by Clement Laurence Smith in The Lyric Poems of Horace, vol. i, pp. 34-35- 55 Gauter, Neue Jahrb. fur. Phil, u. Pad., 1895, pp. 62off. 56 X Phil., 6; Liv., Per., 118; Dio, xlvii, 21; Plut, Brut., 26; Ferrero, vol. iii, pp. 135 sqq. Brutus. National Museum, Florence. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH ANTONY 297 lifted the hopes of the republicans and depressed those of the friends of Antony, the latter did all in their power to prevent an approval by the Senate of Brutus' conduct. Calenus said that favorable action in that direction would no doubt entirely alienate the sympathies of the veterans. Then it was that Cicero delivered the Tenth Philippic as Tenth an emphatic indorsement of the revolution brought about ' lppic * by Brutus, with the aid of his own son Marcus, who had quitted his studies at Athens and taken the field inde- pendently, receiving the surrender of a legion commanded by L. Piso — certainly a triumph for the senatorial gov- ernment at Rome of which the orator was the head I Can we wonder when he exclaims : The Roman people there are now in possession of Macedonia, and Illyricum, and Greece. The legions there are all devoted to us, the light-armed troops are ours, and, above all, Brutus is ours, and always will be ours — a man born for the Republic, both by his own most excellent virtues, and also by some special destiny of name and family, both on his father's and on his mother's side. 57 He concluded by moving that the Senate approve the military acts of Brutus in Macedon and Illyricum, con- firm his future acts, and legalize his appropriation of public funds and supplies, admonishing him at the same time to remain as near Italy as possible. Here reference must be made to the terrible fate of Trebonius, whose confiscated tribute made Brutus' revo- lutionary coup possible. In the first days of March, 43 B.C., news arrived that Dolabella, who had left Rome Terrible fate before the expiration of his consulship to take possession at the hands of Syria, which Antony had contrived to have allotted to of Dolabella. him, had entered Asia with a legion and a body of cav- alry, had treacherously seized Trebonius at Smyrna, and « X Phil, 6. 298 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS had put him to death after subjecting him to the extremes of torture in the hope of forcing him to disclose the whereabouts of the money. 58 Calenus, in order to shield Antony in the midst of the storm of indignation excited by the dreadful act, made a fierce attack upon Dolabella, asserting his willingness to declare him a public enemy and proposing at the same time to entrust to the two consuls, after they had relieved Mutina, the conduct of military operations against him. 59 As a counter-proposition Cicero suggested that such oper- ations should be entrusted to Cassius, together with the proconsulship of Syria; and upon that subject he pro- Eleventh nounced the Eleventh Philippic in which the crime of 1 ipp,c ' Dolabella, as the apt pupil of Antony, is painted with all the lurid color a master of the human passions could impart to it. You see now an image of the cruelty of Marcus Antonius in Dolabella; this conduct of his is formed on the model of the other. It is by him that the lessons of wickedness have been taught to Dolabella. Do you think that Antonius, if he had the power, would be more merciful to Italy than Dolabella has proved in Asia? To me, indeed, this latter appears to have gone as far as the insanity of a savage man could go; nor do I believe that Antonius either would omit any description of punishment, if he had the power to inflict it. 60 In the meantime the siege of Mutina languished; and in the midst of the general hesitation the Senate resolve( A fresh em- in March to send a fresh embassy to Antony composed oi bassytoAn- £ ye mem b ers f r0 m all parties, including Cicero himself/ tonyproposed r ° in March. a move supplemented by an obsequious letter from Hir- 58 Dio, xlvii, 29; Livy, Epit., 119; XI Phil, 2; App., B. C, Hi, 26. 5» Ibid., 9. 60 Ibid., 3. 61 Ibid., 1. Cicero's colleagues were to be P. Servilius, Fufius Calenus, L. Piso, and L. Caesar. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH ANTONY 299 tius and Octavian. Antony's counterblast to such weakness was an insulting reply to the two last named of His insulting remarkable literary merit, in which, after eulogizing the rep y " assassination of Trebonius, he declared that he would remain faithful to Dolabella, whom he praised for his desire to punish Caesar's murderers, defended, he said, by Hirtius and Octavian, as members of the party that wished to rob the veterans of their reward. After expressing his willingness to receive the ambassadors if they came, he added that he did not think their arrival probable. Before Antony's letter was received at Rome on March 18 to 19, the embassy had in fact been annulled; and Cicero and his supporters realized that they had been duped 62 when it became evident that the real object of Antony's friends in proposing it was to gain time for Ventidius to join him at the head of three veteran legions. Twelfth In the Twelfth Philippic, delivered at the next meeting l ippic ' of the Senate Cicero, in the midst of whispers of treachery, cried out, We have been deceived — we have, I say, been deceived, O con- script fathers! It is the cause of Antonius that has been pleaded by his friends, and not the cause of the public. And I did indeed see that, though through a sort of mist; the safety of Decimus Brutus had dazzled my eyesight. 63 The time for action had now arrived; with the return of fine weather the siege of Mutina was approaching a Siege of crisis. Early in January Hirtius had joined Octavian, proacWii?" and some weeks later the two had advanced as far as a crisis. Bononia — Forum Gallorum lying midway between that point and Mutina. Shortly after March 19, the other consul, Pansa, moved northward at the head of four 62 XII Phil., 7. 63 Ibid., 2. 300 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Cicero's effort to se- cure Lepidus and Plancus. Thirteenth Philippic. new legions, which, added to the three ordered from Africa, the three of Octavian and the four of Decimus, made fourteen now on foot which had been newly re- cruited or reenlisted within a few months, an effort that compelled Pansa to employ all the armorers he could find at Rome. 64 At such a moment Cicero did all in his power to secure the support of Lepidus, governor of Northern Spain and Southern Gaul, and of Plancus, governor of Northern Gaul, whose armies might have a decisive influ- ence in deciding the conflict. When their attitude and that of their generals was still in doubt, he wrote to Lepidus : I am glad to hear that you profess yourself desirous of pro- moting peace between citizens. If you connect that peace with liberty, you will do good service to the state and to your own reputation. But if your peace is to restore a traitor to the pos- session of an unbridled tyranny, then let me tell you that all true men have made up their minds to accept death rather than servitude. 65 To Plancus he wrote: You recommend peace while your colleague is besieged by a gang of rebels. If they want peace, they should lay down their arms and beg for it; if they demand it by force of arms, then we must win our way to peace through victory, not through negotiation. 66 On March 20, after letters had been read to the Senate from Lepidus and Plancus, betraying an anxiety to avoid a decision, Cicero, fearing their effect, made the furious and eloquent appeal for war embodied in the Thirteenth Philippic, pronounced in the last free Senate in the history of Rome. From the beginning of this war which we have undertaken against those impious and wicked citizens, I have been afraid lest 4 VII Phil, 4. C5 Ad Fam., x, 27. M lbid., x, 6. THE DUEL TO THE DEATH WITH ANTONY 301 the insidious proposals of peace might dampen our zeal for the recovery of our liberty. 67 And then, in order to emphasize that contention, the orator read, paragraph by paragraph, with drastic com- ments of his own, a letter received by Hirtius and Octa- vian from Antony insidiously designed to seduce them from their allegiance: I have read you this letter, O conscript fathers, not because I thought it worth reading, but in order to let you see all his par- ricidal treasons revealed by his own confessions. 68 In concluding Cicero moved a formal commendation Tribute to of Sextius Pompey, who — Pompey. .... has acted as might have been expected from the affection and zeal of his father and forefathers towards the Republic, and from his own previous virtue and industry, and loyal principles in promising to the Senate and the people of Rome his own assist- ance and that of the men whom he had with him. 69 The doubt and anxiety that clouded the public mind down to the end of March and the beginning of April was relieved somewhat when on the 7th of the month last named further letters from Plancus to the magistrates and Senate were read in which he said: I required a considerable time, heavy labors, and great expense Further in order finally to make good my promises to the Republic and letters from all loyal citizens, and in order not to approach the task of aiding my country with no equipment except good intentions, but with the requisite resources. I had to secure the loyalty of my army, which had been often tampered with by the offer of great bounties, and to persuade it to look to the state for moderate rewards, rather than to a single person for unlimited ones I saw from what had befallen my colleague the danger of a premature reve- lation of intentions by a loyal but unprepared citizen. 70 67 XIII Phil., 1. 69 Hid., 21. 68 Ibid., 10 sqq. 70 Ad Fam., x, 8. 302 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Antony's dis- comfiture at Forum Gallorum. Death of Pansa. Cicero's glo- rious day. Fourteenth Philippic. Finally, on April 14 or 15, the opposing armies near Mutina met at Castelfranco, then known as Forum Gal- lorum, where Antony, confident of the support of Lepidus and of his position as Caesar's avenger, had taken the offensive. After a fierce engagement, in which he was at the outset successful, Antony was finally so far over- come by the forces of the consuls and Octavian as to be compelled to retire during the night to his camp before Mutina. During the battle Pansa received a wound of which he died about a week later. 71 After a false rumor, current at Rome about the 17th or 1 8th, to the effect that the senatorial army had been annihilated, was dispelled by dispatches from Hirtius, telling of Antony's discomfiture, a great popular demon- stration took place, multitudes flocking to Cicero's house on the Palatine. The enthusiastic citizens escorted him to the capitol and down on the Rostra and forced him to make a speech received with great applause. On that glorious day he wrote to Marcus Brutus: I have no vanity in me — and indeed I ought to have none; yet after all a unanimous feeling of all orders, thanks, and congratu- lations do move my heart, because it is a thing to be proud of that in the hour of the people's preservation I should be the people's hero (popularis). 72 But I prefer for you to hear these things from others. Such was the prelude to the Fourteenth Philippic, the last oration ever published by Cicero, delivered in the Senate on April 21, where he demanded that a supplica- tion of forty days should be decreed; that a monument should be erected to the fallen, "who had conquered in their death," and that the bounties promised to the sena- torial army should be paid to the kindred of the slain. 71 The news of his death reached Rome on the 26th. 72 Epist. ad Brut., i, 3. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH ANTONY 303 Refusing to be carried away by the transport of the hour, he said that it would certainly be premature to accept the suggestion of Servilius that the citizens should relin- quish the sagum, or robe of war; he considered it far more important for the Senate to declare Antony a public enemy (hostis) which, strangely enough, had not yet been done. From the first of January to this hour [he said] I have never ceased watching over the Republic; that day and night my house and my ears have been open to the instruction and admonition of everyone; that it has been by my letters, and my messages and my exhortations, that all men in every part of the Empire have been aroused to the protection of our country; that it is owing to the open declaration of my opinion ever since the first of January, that no ambassadors have been sent to Antonius; that I have always called him a public enemy, and this a war; so that I, who on every occasion have been the adviser of genuine peace, have been a determined enemy to the pretense of fatal peace. 73 Then moved, no doubt, by the spirit of the funeral ora- tion delivered by Pericles in memory of those who had fallen in the Peloponnesian war, he said: I, therefore, give my vote, O conscript fathers, that the most noble monument possible be erected to the soldiers of the Martian Tribute to legion, and to those soldiers also who died fighting by their side, the Martian Great and incredible are the services rendered by that legion to the Republic. That was the first legion to tear itself from the piratical band of Antonius; that was the legion which encamped at Alba ; that was the legion that went over to Caesar ; and it was in imitation of the conduct of that legion that the fourth has earned almost equal glory for its bravery. The fourth is victori- ous without having lost a man; some of the Martian legion fell in the very moment of victory. O happy death, which, due to nature, has been paid, rather as a debt due to your country! But I consider you men born for your country; you whose very name is derived from Mars, so that the same deity who begot this city W XIV Phil, 7. 304 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS the bravest from the ranks." for the benefit of the nations, appears to have begotten you for the benefit of this city. Death in flight from the battle-field is Mars "selects disgraceful, but glorious in victory, for Mars himself usually selects the bravest from the ranks. Those impious wretches ye slew will pay the penalty of their parricide in the realms below, while you who breathed out your latest breath in victory have gained the dwelling-place and home of the blessed. Brief is the span of life given us by nature; but the memory of a life nobly spent is immortal. And if indeed it were no longer than this life of ours, who would be so foolish as to face the extremity of toil and danger in order to win the highest glory and renown? It is well then, soldiers, with you — the bravest of the brave while you lived, but now sanctified by death. For your merit car never be unsepulchered, either by the oblivion of those who now exist, or the silence of posterity, since the Senate and Roman people have raised to you, almost with their own hands, an imperishable monument. 74 Second and last battle of Mutina. At the very moment Cicero was pronouncing this last Philippic, really the funeral oration of the Roman Repub- lic, its armies were fighting the second and last battle of' Mutina 75 in which Antony suffered so severely that, dur-i ing the night of April 21, while ignorant of the death of Hirtius, he resolved to abandon the siege and to fall back, upon Lepidus in Gallia Nabonensis. After the death of Pansa, who died of his wounds in the night of the 2 2d I and 23d, 76 Decimus Brutus, one of the slayers of Caesar,, and Octavian, his adopted son, were the surviving com-- manders of the victorious senatorial army; and as sucI$J they were expected, of course, to inflict upon the fleeing] Antony the fate of Catiline. 77 The news of the battle reached Rome, in a very exaj " XIV Phil, 12. 75 App., iii, 71. For the best account of the second battle, see Schmidt,' Neue Jahrb. fiir Phil. u. Pad., 1892, pp. 323ft. 76 Ad Fam., xi, 13. 77 Episl. ad Brut., i, 3. THE DUEL TO THE DEATH WITH ANTONY 305 gerated form apparently on April 25 ; and on the next day the Senate met and proscribed Antony and his followers Antony and upon the assumption that his career was at an end. 78 For a moment it did seem as if Cicero's struggles and sacri- fices had not been in vain; it did seem as if the Republic had been saved ; it did seem as if his duel to the death with his followers proscribed. Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in which Cicero Delivered His Last Philippic Antony had ended at last with the chief promoter of the new monarchical system prostrate in the dust. But never in all history was the semblance of victory such a complete Semblance of illusion. The great lover of liberty had wooed the God- JJSli* 11 dess and had clasped a cloud. When he seemed to have all within his grasp, she whispered: Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, 78 Lange, R. A., vol. iii, p. 524. 306 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Antony con- verted defeat into victory. The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. 79 With consummate art Antony, always greatest in mo- ments of supreme peril, converted defeat into victory by winning to the Caesarian cause the generals in command of the veteran legions who had no idea of sacrificing them- selves or destroying each other for the benefit of the Sen- ate at Rome. They were beginning to understand that the new monarchical system founded by Caesar in the Mediterranean world, rested upon the assumption that those who controlled the mercenaries could control not only the provincial governments but affairs at Rome. It is not therefore strange that the orator should have writ- ten at this time to Marcus Brutus: For we are flouted, Brutus, both by the airs assumed by the soldiers and the arrogance of their commanders. Each man claims to be powerful in the Republic in proportion to his physical force. 80 Cicero foreshadowed all that was to happen when in the Tenth Philippic he said: Finally let me speak one true word, one word worthy of* myself. If the resolutions of this House are to be governed by the nod of the veterans, if all of our deeds and words are to be fashioned at their will, it is better to wish for death, which Romans have always preferred to servitude. 81 Antony, with four legions and the cavalry, hastened by a forced march across the Maritime Alps to appeal to Antony wini r * 1 Lepidus. Lepidus, whose army was composed of seven of Caesar s 79 The Tempest, Act iv, sc. i. 80 Epist. ad Brut., i, 10. 81 X Phil, \ Political power the fruit of phys- ical force. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH Wl TH ANTONY 307 old legions, 82 and the appeal was not in vain. After the deed was done, Lepidus on May 30 wrote a brief letter to the Senate in which he said: I beg of you to consult for the highest interests of the Republic, and not to regard the compassionate feelings of myself and my army in the light of crime. 83 Antony and Lepidus, now at the head of fourteen legions, jointly undertook to reorganize the great Cae- sarian army in the West, first by winning over Plancus and Pollio, next by effecting a reconciliation with Octavian, a task Lepidus himself assumed early in July, just at the moment when Caesar's heir was breaking with the sena- torial government which had denied him the consulship. Emboldened by the prospect of an agreement with An- tony and Lepidus, Octavian resolved upon a coup d'etat octavian's which involved an expedition against Rome itself, whither ""* d ' etat - he had sent his emissaries to reassure the masses as to his intentions and to urge them to revolt. He crossed the Rubicon early in August 84 with eight legions, and upon his arrival the African and Sardinian legions came over to his standard, the populace followed, the city surrendered, the senatorial party fled, and on the 19th, Octavian and his kinsman Pedius were elected consuls, 85 after the necessary formalities had been hurried through. By appropriate action of the comitia curiata Octavian's adoption was ratified, and the lex Pedia de interfectoribus Lexpediade Caesaris 86 passed, subjecting the assassins of Caesar and Ej2«ISi their accomplices to the jurisdiction of a special court, no exceptions being made in favor of the tribune Casca, nor 82 Stationed at Forum Voconii, twenty-four miles away. — AdFam.,-x.,ij. 83 Ad Fam., x, 35. 84 App., in, 88. 85 Dio, xlvi, 45-45 ; App., iii, 92-94. 8e Livy, 120; Dio, xlvi, 47-48; App., iii, 95. 308 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS of Marcus Brutus, then fighting against the Bessi, nor of Decimus Brutus who, with Plancus, was about to attack Antony, nor of Sextus Pompeius who had accepted the extraordinary powers his father had exercised in the war against the pirates. 87 The panic-stricken Senate, in which Cicero did not appear, granted everything, including the donations de- manded by Octavian of five thousand drachmas ($900) for each veteran, amounting for the eight legions to about $7,700,000 — a sum, of course, not available. Caesar's heir had been greeted by great and small, including his mother and sister who had been sheltered in the house of the Vestals. The Caesarian army, which preserved per- fect discipline, was thus in possession of Rome and Italy, with Octavian at the head of eleven legions, controlling at the same time Gallia Narbonensis with the fourteen legions of Antony and Lepidus. In the presence of such a menace the wavering Pollio resolved to come over, dividing, during September, his three legions between Lepidus and Antony. 88 The Caesarian combination that now controlled twenty-eight legions had yet to overcome the two armies of Decimus Brutus and Plancus, numbering only fifteen legions between them. The break soon came when Plan- cus — more than ever willing to abandon Decimus since he had passed under the ban of the lex Pedia — resolved to follow the example of Pollio — three of his legions passing to Antony and two to Lepidus. Thus deserted by Plancus, in the midst of what has been well described as Fate of Deci- a kind of Caesarian mania, Decimus, while attempting by an overland march with his army to reach Macedonia, Caesarian army in pos- session of Rome and Italy. mus Brutus. 87 Plut, Brut., 27; Dio, xlvi, 48-49. 88 App., iii, 97. Cf. Ferrero, vol. iii, pp. 172 sqq. THE D UEL TO THE DEA TH WITH ANTONY 309 was captured in the Alps by a barbarian chief who executed him under orders from Antony, unmoved by the fact that he had saved his life during the conspiracy. 89 With the entire Caesarian army of the West in posses- sion of Italy and the European provinces, nothing re- mained but the reconciliation of Antony and Octavian, a Reconcil- consummation made urgently necessary by the fact that *f tlonof Brutus and Cassius were still in possession of the richest Octavian. part of the Empire, the East, with nineteen legions behind them. Thus drawn towards each other by common inter- ests and common dangers, the rival leaders of the Cae- sarians seem to have agreed before they met to reestab- lish the regent's dictatorship, with the full powers he had enjoyed during the last years of his life, in such a way as The trium- to include the go-between, Lepidus, called by Decimus v ] nrei P ub ' ° , Itcae con- "that shiftiest of men," 90 in the triumviri reipublicae stituendae. constituendae. In order to work out the details of the general plan thus outlined, the three met toward the end of October on a little island near Bologna, formed by the confluence of the Reno and Lavino, where, with the two armies facing each other on opposite sides of the river, they engaged, with mutual distrust, in a conference which lasted two or three days. 91 We know only that the outcome was the Second Triumvirate; not a group of dictators, but "a com- mission of three for settling the government," which was to continue for five years from the end of the current Scope of year. 92 Within that time they were to possess criminal thelr P° wers - jurisdiction without right of appeal or form of trial, the 89 Dio, xlvi, 53 ; App., ii, 97-98. »° Ad Fam., xi, 9. 81 App., iv, 2; Plut., Cic, 44; Dio, xlvi, 55. 92 Fasti Colotiani in C. I. L„ p. 466. 3io CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Dreadful expedient for payment of the army. right to make laws, and by virtue of the sovereign power of consuls over the whole state, they were to have the right to appoint senators and officials in Rome and in the towns, and governors of provinces, to impose taxes, order levies, and to strike coins with their images and super- scriptions. 93 But over and above all such details stood the over- shadowing necessity for providing money with which to settle the vast obligations, assumed in the midst of the struggles, to the forty-three legions, about two hundred thousand men, by whose physical force existing conditions had been brought about. The problem of problems was how to raise, with an empty treasury, with a people unwilling to be taxed, and with the rich provinces of the East in the hands of the enemy, a sum exceeding eight hundred millions of sesterces, 94 equivalent to about $40,- 000,000. But one expedient seemed possible, and that was a massacre of the rich and a confiscation of their property through a proscription, in which the list is said to have included two thousand of the richest knights, and a hundred senators, to which were added a few specially energetic and able political opponents. 95 A heated controversy seems to have arisen over the selection of twelve or seventeen victims 96 who were to be put to death at once without the hope of pardon. There is every reason to believe that as a solution Antony gave up his mother's brother, Lucius Caesar; Lepidus, his own brother, Aemilius Paullus, and Octavian, Cicero, whom he called "father." »3Mommsen, Rom. St., vol. iv, pp. 449 J??.; Herzog, Geschichte und System der romischen Staatsverfassung, 1891, vol. ii, p. 96; Ferrero, vol. Hi, p. 181. 94 App., iv, 31. ^Ibid., 5; Plut, Ant., 20; Livy, Per., 120; Plut., Cic, 46. 98 App., iv, 6. ^SUTk The Young Augustus. The Vatican. THE DUEL TO THE DEATH WITH ANTONY 311 Less than six months intervened between that glorious April 21 when the people, after the arrival of bulletins announcing victory in the first battle of Mutina, escorted Cicero in triumph to the Capitol and back again, and the day on which the Caesarian triumvirate condemned him unheard to a traitor's death. During the interval he led with all the heroism of despair a forlorn hope beset by conditions that made success impossible. The nature of those conditions revealed themselves in the moment of victory that followed the second battle of Mutina when Octavian's Octavian failed to join Decimus in the pursuit and destruc- c^cero" Why tion of Antony. In a letter written on May 5 to Cicero, he failed to D. . 1 join Decimus ecimus said : iu pursuing • 1 Antony. But if Caesar had listened to me and crossed the Apennines, I could have hemmed in Antony so completely that he would have perished for lack of supplies; but I cannot command Caesar, and Caesar cannot command his troops. These are both very ugly facts. 97 Two weeks later we have the explanation of the diffi- culty, the real beginning of the end, in another letter from Decimus, from which it appears that the Fourth and the Legions ad- Martian legions had refused to serve under his orders 98 JJkSJL a -the veterans were no longer willing to follow the stand- monarchy, ard of the regicide who had aided in cutting down the chief they adored. As that Caesarian fanaticism grew, the legions, believing that their interests would best be pro- moted by a military monarchy, drew together in a coali- tion whose primary purpose was a campaign of revenge against those who had so cruelly arrested its growth. It was that sentiment that clothed Octavian with power and importance. In a letter to Marcus Brutus, Cicero pays 97 Ad Tarn., xi, 10. 98 Ibid., xi, 19. The Fourth and the Martian had joined Octavian. 312 When Octa- vian deserted Cicero. Last appeal to Brutus and Cassius. CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS high tribute to his great personal power (he is potentis- simns), lamenting at the same time that — .... certain persons by most unprincipled letters and misleading agents and messages induced Caesar, up to that time wholly gov- erned by my advice, and personally possessed of brilliant ability and admirable firmness of character, to entertain a very confident hope of the consulship. 39 Plutarch was, no doubt, correct in assuming that Octa- vian turned his back, on Cicero the moment he refused to support him for the consulship. According to Suetonius (August 12), he abandoned without hesitation the sena- torial government the moment it refused to bestow that office upon him. It was then that the leader of a depu- tation of centurions who had been sent to present his claim, struck his hand upon his sword hilt and said, "If you will not give it, this shall give it," and it did. After Octavian's desertion the only hope that remained to Cicero as the head of the dying Republic was centered in the return from the East of Brutus and Cassius. When in June he felt that Caesar's heir was slipping away from him, he wrote to the former: If the counsels of the disloyal have greater weight than mine, or if the weakness of his time of life proves unequal to the strain of the business, our whole hope is in you. Wherefore fly hither, I beseech you, and put the last touch to the freedom of a state, which you liberated by courage and high spirit rather than by any fortunate coincidence. Men of all kinds will crowd around you. Write and urge Cassius to do the same. Hope of liberty is nowhere to be found except in the headquarters of your two camps. 100 In the very last letter of Cicero which is preserved to us, written to Cassius early in July, he said: »» Epist. ad Brut., i, 10. 10 ° Ibid., \, 10. THE DUEL TO THE DEATH WITH ANTONY 313 Assure yourself, therefore, that everything depends on you and Marcus Brutus, and that you are both anxiously expected, Brutus momentarily. 101 But as they never returned, the last spark of life was crushed out of the Republic by the Caesarian legions of the West. Thus deserted by all, the sole surviving defender of the ancient constitution was calm and steadfast when the time came for him to seal his devotion with his blood. Two means of escape were open to him — nothing barred the path either to suicide or exile. The epidemic of self- cicerode- murder that followed the performance of Cato, noble as c m ?. ot , r ' suicide and it was regarded by many, did not infect the spirit of one exile, who had a clearer vision of immortality and of a life beyond the grave than any other among the ancients who lived and died prior to the Christian dispensation. He rose above the popular temptation; he was too lofty for self-destruction. Cicero may have made many a grave political error, but none the less, his historical importance can compare with that of Caesar, His historical and is but little inferior to that of St. Paul or St. Augustine, importance. .... Of all the men who governed the Roman world in that day, Cicero, alone amid the frightful political debasement of his time, had not wholly lost that sense of good and evil which may not raise a man above petty weaknesses, but at any rate withholds him from criminal excesses and extravagance. He alone attempted to govern the world, not with the foolish obstinacy of Cato, or with the cynical opportunism of others, but upon a rational system based upon loyalty to republican tradition amid the prevailing disorder. 102 With his duty done and his usefulness ended, he cer- tainly had the right to go into exile, and for a time he 101 Plut., Cic, 45-46. 102 Ferrero, vol. iii, pp. 189-90. 314 CICERO, A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS Quintus and his son murdered at Rome. "Let me die in my coun- try I have saved so often." contemplated such a course. When he heard of the pro- scriptions he was at his Tusculan villa with his brother Quintus. After resolving to join Brutus they proceeded in litters to Astura where they hoped to embark for Mace- donia. In order to procure funds for the journey Quintus returned to Rome where he met his son who had been left behind. There it was that the sleuths of Antony discov- ered their hiding-place, and murdered both after subject- ing the younger Quintus to frightful tortures. Thus bereft, Cicero embarked alone at Astura, sailing as far as the promontory of Circeii (Capo Circello), where, in a fit of irresolution, he insisted on being put ashore. On the morrow, yielding to the entreaties of his devoted slaves, he set sail again only to discover a rough sea and contrary winds. Sick and sad as he was when he reached Caieta, near his own Formian villa, he resolved to go no farther. 103 Pressed to continue his voyage, "Let me die," he said, "in my country I have saved so often." The story goes 104 that ravens settled on tackle and yardarms as the vessel was being rowed to the land; and that aftei he retired to his villa for rest the ravens flew in and cawed and cawed. One, alighting on his couch, tried to draw the cloak from his face. Startled by such an omen, his slaves, eager to get him away from the place, partly by constraint, partly by entreaty, placed him in a litter and moved towards the coast. Then it was that the slayers who came upon their heels, after a vain search of the empty house, were told by a freedman of Quintus, whom Cicero had befriended, how to follow the densely wooded path by which he was being carried to the sea. When overtaken, he ordered his attendants to set down the litter, forbid- 1Q 3 His return is attributed by Appian (B. C, iv) to seasickness— ofo i