C I C 



-I of, 



C I C 



<"0, 



P*oitJ Unload, 1787 ; 24. Hival Q*eem*. 1729 ; 

 LtvrimmKMI 1 llama* and WiMfa, 1729; 



25. Pmfml Tyranny in tht Reign of King John, r 1 1. 



CICADA. Srt ENTOMOLOGY. 



CA, Reno* of plant* of the clM Moncecia, ind 

 order Tctrandru. See BOTANY, p 



CICKR, a jyenuf of plant* of the claw Diidelphia, and 

 ulna. See BOTANY, p. 283. 

 I), M A*rr.s Tt'LLiU8, born in the 64-7ih 

 ne, wa detccnded from an ancient and 

 _.able family, which had been of equestrian rank 

 t the time of it* firtt admission to the freedom of the 

 chy. 1 If was, indeed, called at one time a Novu* homo, 

 but only because he was the first of his family who sought 

 and blamed public magistracies. Hi* birth-place ^was 

 Arpinum, now part of the kingdom of Naples. The 

 family *eat was about three miles from the town of Ar- 

 pioom, and is described in one of Cicero's letters as ex- 

 ceedingly beautiful, being surrounded with groves and 

 hady walks leading from the house to the river Fibrenus, 

 which was divided into two equal streams by a little island 

 covered with trees. Here stood a portico, contrived 

 both for study and exercise, to which Cicero retired for 

 meditation. A clear and rapid 'stream, shaded with pop- 

 lars, murmured through a rocky channel, and fell a little 

 below the island into the noble river Liris, in a cascade. 

 This place, consecrated by the memory of Cicero, was 

 lately inhabited by a convent of monks, and was called 

 the Villa of St Dominic. 



Cicero'* first name, corresponding to our baptismal 

 name, was Marcus, after his father : Tullius was the fa- 

 mily name, signifying a flowing stream, probably from 

 the conflux of waters on their grounds ! Cicero, the 

 other family name, is ascribed by Pliny to the reputation 

 of his forefathers for the cultivation of vetches. His 

 early education was, according to the Roman custom, 

 committed to a discreet matron ; but when of age to be 

 placed at a public school, he was brought to Rome, 

 where his father had a house. There, we are told by 

 Plutarch, he was so distinguished, that his school-fellows 

 attended him in a body to and from school, giving him 

 the place of honour among them, and that parents often 

 visited the school to see so extraordinary a youth. Among 

 the instructors of his youth was the poet Archias. Under 

 him he applied chiefly to poetry, though with what small 

 tucceis is proverbially known. This circumstance, how- 

 ever, shews the universality of his taste, if not of his ta- 

 lents. Indeed, it is observable, that few geniuses which 

 have ever swayed mankind by eloquence, from Cicero to 

 Chatham and Fox, have left their love of poetry unre- 

 corded in tome effort to compose it. On assuming the 

 manly dress, he was introduced into the forum, under the 

 tare of Quintus Curtiiif Sixvola, the principal lawyer of 

 the age. The peace of Rome being soon after disturbed 

 by the Italic or Manic war, the forum was, as usual, 

 deserted, and the orators repaired to fight at the head of 

 their military divisions. Cicero went out as a tiro under 

 Pompeius, Strabo, and Sylla. Returning to Rome, he 

 resumed hi* philosophical itudie* under Philo, chief of 

 the academy. Molo, an eminent pleader and master of 

 rhetoric, was his next teacher. Amidst these studies he 

 published some remarks on Rhetorical Invention, translat- 

 ed Xenophon's CEconomics, and versified the Phenomena 

 of Aratus. But his taste both in poetry and rhetoric 

 seem, at this time, to have been rude and imperfect. 



At the age of lix-and-lwcnty, our orator pleaded hi* 

 first cause with equal honour to hi* eloquence, his hu- 

 manity, and intrepidity. Rome was now under Sylla, 



whose proscription* had silenced all laws. A citizen, Cicero. 

 Rosciu* Amerinu*, had been stript of his inheritance by v ~" ."" ~ 

 two of his relations, who had assassinated his father, 

 though he was not in the list of the proscribed, and 

 fearing that the son might reclaim his property, charged 

 him with the murder which they had themselves commit- 

 ted. They were supported in this accusation by one 

 who had participated in the booty, Chrysogonus the freed- 

 man of Sylla. Not another advocate at Rome would 

 expose himself to the terrible resentment of such antago- 

 nists, when Cicero, with youthful boldness, undertook to 

 defend the innocence of Roscius, and gained his cause. 

 His address in this business was very conspicuous ; for 

 while he attacked the freedman of Sylla with indignation, 

 he pretended to consider Chrysogonus's conduct as un- 

 known to Sylla, and unwarranted by his authority. He 

 remained in Rome a year after this event, engaged in the 

 business of pleading, and in one cause exposed himself still 

 more openly to the danger of the tyrant'* resentment. 

 In the cause of a woman of Arretium, he defended the 

 rights of certain towns in Italy to the freedom of Rome, 

 which Sylla had taken away, and gained his plea, though 

 opposed by the distinguished orator Cotta. 



He was 28 years old when he set out on his travels. 

 At Athens he studied Greek philosophy with that deep 

 curiosity and discrimination wkich has enabled him to be 

 the most faithful reporter of its outlines ; and here, as 

 well as at Rhodes and in Asia, he mingled the study of 

 oratory with that of philosophy. At the end of two 

 years he returned with his lungs repaired, his constitu- 

 tion confirmed, and the solid faculties of his mind polish- 

 ed to their utmost brilliance. At this time the greatest 

 of the Roman orators were Cotta and Hortensius. The 

 former was a decided mannerist, and so remarkable for a 

 swinging action, that it was satirically said he had learnt 

 his eloquence in a boat. Hortensius had been hitherto 

 called the king of the Roman bar, but his crown was 

 soon to be transferred to Cicero. Our orator, however, 

 did not think himself yet entirely accomplished in the 

 exterior requisites of a speaker, but took lessons from 

 the eminent players, jEsopus and Roscius, the latter of 

 whom he successfully defended in a pecuniary cause. 



In his 31st year, he was chosen one of the questors. 

 These officers, who were sent annually into the provinces 

 as assistants to, or rather as checks upon, the proconsuls 

 or governors, had the care of the provincial revenues, 

 of providing grain for the armies abroad, and the pub- 

 lic consumption at home. The offioe was the first step 

 in the ascent from plebeian to patrician dignity, as from 

 the questors who h id been censors, the vacancies of the 

 senate were supplied. The marriage of Cicero proba- 

 bly took place in the same year. He was appointed to the 

 questorship of Sicily, and tilled it so as for ever after to 

 possess the gratitude of the Sicilians. We shall pre- 

 sently have occasion to observe how very rarely the pro- 

 vinccs had the good fortune to have a Cicero among 

 them. Before he left Sicily, he made the tour of the 

 island. At Syracuse, he enquired of the magistrates if 

 they could point out to him the tomb of Archimedes. 

 It marks the degradation of a conquered people, that 

 they knew not the spot where the dust of their greatest 

 genius reposed. But Cicero discovered it. When they 

 had carried him to the gate where the greatest number 

 of their old sepulchres stood, he observed, in a place 

 overgrown with shrubs and briars, a small column, of 

 which the head just appeared above the bushes, with the 

 figure of a sphere and a cylinder engraved. On clearing 

 the ground, he found also (though mutilated) the 

 icription which he expected : 



