CICERO. 



. where \'errtt had violated thij law, the genius 

 of (be orator *cm to expand with the horrible richness 

 of kU subject, and he urptMt* himself in eloquence, ( 

 much M Verret surpaste* the ordinary limit* of human 



Cicero patted from thi accuMtion to fulfil the dutiet 

 of hit office at cunle-xdile. The people were passion- 

 ately fond of public fettivalt, and it belonged to that of- 

 fice to supply the greater part of thote at hit own ex- 

 pence, the public allowance for them being small, ac- 

 cording to the frugality of the old Roman republic. It 

 wat dangerous to be frugal on such occasions, a Ma- 

 mercut had lott the consulthip by declining the xclilc- 

 sbip ; yet Cicero aroided the opposite extreme of pro- 

 digality, by which C.rsar had ruined his fortune. The 

 Sicilian*, during hit aedilethip. gave him effectual proofs 

 of their gratitude, by supplying him largely with all 

 kindt of provisions which their island afforded, for the 

 use of hit table and the public feasts ; but, instead of 

 making any private advantage of their liberality, he ap- 

 plied tne whole to the benefit of the poor, and augment- 

 ed hit popularity by reducing the price of the markets. 



His private affairs, in the mean time, though not flour- 

 ishing, were kept, by good management, in a respectable 

 condition. He had married Tcrentia, a woman of fa- 

 mily, whose fortune added to his own patrimony, ena- 

 bled him to purchase a house on the Palatine Hill in 

 Rome, and keep up a handsome villa at Arpinum. As 

 there was no honour in the state to which he might not 

 pretend, he wat careful to cultivate the favour of the 

 people ; and, at the same time, it must be owned, that, 

 amidst a general disposition to patriotism, he kept the 

 favour of the powerful by accommodations, which, in 

 rigid virtue, cannot be defended. Pompey wat aiming 

 at power beyond the limits of the constitution ; yet the 

 necetaity which he found for that great man's support, 

 made him subservient to his views of ambition. In h:s 

 fortieth year, Cicero was nominated to the praetonhip : 

 he entered his office on the ensuing year, and presided 

 over the courts of justice with great integrity. Dut 

 the famous oration which he made in favour of the Ma- 

 nilian law, which conferred almost sovereign powers 

 upon Pompey, though one of the noblest monuments of 

 his eloquence, can only be considered as an interested 

 piece of policy, to ingratiate himself at once with Pom- 

 pey and Czsar : the former of whom desired the dan- 

 gerous power which the Manilian law conferred upon 

 iiim fur the take of its immediate use ; the other wished 

 Pompey to obtain it, most probably that he might es- 

 tablish a precedent for enormous military commissions, 

 which his conscious genius foretold him that he should 

 one day postett. 



Cicero had now the consulate in full view. On the 

 expiration of hit pnrtorthip, he therefore refused to ac- 

 cept of a province. The consular election took place in 

 hit forty-third year. But to pass, for a moment, from 

 the view of his public to his private life, from the states- 

 man to the scholar, it is interesting to find him, at this 

 busiest period of hit life, as eager in the pursuit of books, 

 and Cue specimens of art, as if his time and fortune had 

 been unoccupied by other objects. In hit beautiful re- 

 treat at Tutculum, he had constructed rooms and galle- 

 ries in imitation of die schools and porticos of Athens, 

 which he called by their Attic names of the Academy 

 and Gymnasium, and designed for tin- conferences of his 

 learned friends. He had given Atticus a general com- 

 on, to purchase for him any piece of Grecian art or 

 'ure which wat elegant and curious: a committion 

 Atticus executed to his great satisfaction, and 

 2 



sent him, at different time*, several cargoes of statue;. t ' 

 So intent was Cicero on embellishing his Tusculan Villa, 

 that he tent over to Atticus the plans of his ceilings, 

 which were of stucco-work, in order to bespeak pieces 

 of sculpture or painting to be inserted in the compart- 

 ments. Nor was he lest intent on forming a Gn 

 brary by the same help. Atticus was remarkable, above 

 all men in his rank, fur a family of learned slaves, having 

 scarce a footboy in IIH house- who could not both read 

 and write for him. For those copies, however, it ap- 

 pears that Atticus had demanded a sum which the other 

 was yet unable to raise. " Pray, keep your books for 

 nu-," says Cicero, in one of his letters to Attieua, 

 do not despair of my being able to make them mine ; 

 which, if I can compass I shall think myself richer than 

 Crassns, and despise the fine villas and gardens of them 

 all." In another letter he continues, " I am setting 

 apart all my little rents to purchase that relief (a collec- 

 tion of books) for my old ape." In a third letter he 

 says, " that he placed all his hopes of comfort and 

 pleasure, whenever he should retire from business, on 

 Atticus preserving his library for him." 



It wa* greatly to the honour of Cicero, that one of 

 the motives for electing him to the consulship, was the 

 general fear which prevailed of an impending conspiracy. 

 When chosen to that high office, in his forty-fourth 

 year, he found the public tranquillity endangered from 

 several causes. The sons of those wni had been pro- 

 scribed by Sylla, were brought forward by the tribunes 

 as candidates for public offices. An Agrarian law, a 

 measure at all times full of hazard, was proposed by the 

 tribune Rullus. Thf law of Otho, for appropriating 

 separate seats in the theatre to the equestrian order, oc- 

 casioned several popular tumults. Above all, the de- 

 signs of Catiline were aimed at the vital principle* of 

 peace and social order. The colleague of Cicero, Ante- 

 niiis, was quite incapable of co-operating with him, ei- 

 ther by capacity or virtue. Cicero, therefore, judiciously 

 contrived to get rid of him, by persuading him to ac- 

 cept of the province of Macedon, which he had himself 

 obtained by lot. His eloquence and influence were next 

 employed, in opposing the chcme of the demagogue 

 Rullus for an Agrarian law, to be enforced by a decem- 

 virate of commissioners, who were to have absolute 

 power for five years over all the revenues of the repub- 

 lic ; to require an account from all generals of spoils ta- 

 ken abroad ; to sutle colonies ; distribute, buy, and sell 

 land, and judge of the rights of proprietors at pleasure ; 

 and, in short, to command all the money and forces of 

 the empire. In this business, Cicero repeatedly chal. 

 lenged the tribunes to come face to face, and dispute 

 with him. They were forced at last to submit to turn. 



The detail of the Catilinarian conspiracy belongs to 

 a different place in our work. It is sufficient to say, 

 that, after he obtained a clue which made him master of 

 all the labyrinth of that wretch's plans, he obtained a de- 

 cree of the senate, ordering the consuls to take care lest 

 the republic ehould receive any detriment. By thoss 

 few and pithy words, they were invested with almost 

 dictatorial power. Cicero delegated the charge of fo- 

 reign affairs to Q. Metellus, reserving to himself that of 

 the city. Accompanied by a large body of friend 

 armed with a breast-plate, he descended into the Cam- 

 pus Martins, where the conspirators, not daring to mo\e 

 C' :tiliue a^ain, underwent a repulse. Thus render. 1 '.! 

 desperate, the incendiary summoned his party by night, 

 and fixed upon a day for setting fire to the city, massa- 

 cring the chief senators, and seizing the capitol. In the' 

 mean time, he had engaged two Roman knight: to at- 



