Cicero as witness 187 



whose abilities and energy might qualify him for management of a big 

 landed estate, had endless opportunities of turning his qualities to his 

 own profit elsewhere. Whether as individuals or in companies, enter- 

 prising Romans found lucrative openings in the farming of revenues, in 

 state-contracts, in commerce, or in money-lending, both in Italy and 

 in the Provinces. Such employments, compared with a possible estate- 

 stewardship, would offer greater personal independence and a prospect 

 of larger gains. And freemen of a baser and less effective type would 

 have been worse than useless: certainly far inferior to well-chosen 

 slaves. 



XXVI. CICERO. 



It is hardly possible to avoid devoting a special section to the evi- 

 dence of Cicero, though it must consist mainly of noting a number of 

 isolated references to particular points. With all his many country- 

 houses, his interest in agriculture was slight. But his active part in public 

 life of all kinds makes him a necessary witness in any inquiry into the 

 facts and feelings of his time; though there are few witnesses whose 

 evidence needs to be received with more caution, particularly in matters 

 that offer opportunity for partisanship. For our present purpose this 

 defect does not matter very much. It is chiefly as confirming the state- 

 ments of others that his utterances will be cited. 



When we reflect that Cicero was himself a man of generous instincts, 

 and that he was well read in the later Greek philosophies, we are tempted 

 to expect from him a cosmopolitan attitude on all questions affecting 

 individuals. He might well look at human rights from the point of 

 view of common humanity, differentiated solely by personal virtues 

 and vices and unaffected by the accident of freedom or servitude. But 

 we do not find him doing this. He might, and did, feel attracted by 

 the lofty nobility of the Stoic system; but he could not become a Stoic. 

 No doubt that system could be more or less adapted to the conditions 

 of Roman life: it was not necessary to make the Stoic principles ridi- 

 culous by carrying 1 priggishness to the verge of caricature. But the 

 notion that no fundamental difference existed between races and classes, 

 that for instance the Wise Man, human nature's masterpiece, might be 

 found among slaves, was more than Cicero or indeed any level-headed 

 Roman could digest. The imperial pride of a great people, conscious 

 of present predominance through past merit, could not sincerely accept 

 such views. To a Roman the corollary of accepting them would be the * 

 endeavour (more or less successful) to act upon them. This he had no 

 intention of doing, and a mere theoretical assent 2 to them as philo- 



1 As in his opinion the younger Cato did. 



2 See pro Murena 62, where disputandi 



causa is opposed to ita Vivendi. 



