CICERO. 



469 



<i. Eassinate Cicero in his own house ; but the consul being 

 -, ^ acquainted with all his designs, refused admission to the 

 assassins. 



This was the state of the conspiracy, when Cicero de- 

 livered the first of those four speeches that were deliver- 

 r-d upon the occasion of it, and are still extant. The 

 '.e had been summoned to the temple of Jupiter in 

 the capitol, where it was not usually held, but in times 

 of public alarm. The audacious appearance of the trai- 

 tor in this place, drew down that memorable burst of 

 the orator's eloquence, in which he indignantly denoun- 

 J to Catiline the discovery of his treasons, and the 

 certainty of his punishments ; and, after detailing to the 

 e whatever had been done at the meetings of the 

 conspiracies, pressed Catiline to quit the city, telling 

 him that the gates lay open, and that nobody should 

 prevent his departure. This terrible oration was the 

 first punishment which Catiline suffered, by his folly in 

 going to the senate. Yet neither the voice of Cicero, 

 nor of his own conscience, could entirely deprive him 

 of the courage to attempt a reply. But though the law 

 forbade any senator being interrupted, he had scarcely 

 pronounced a few vague phrases, when murmurs began 

 on all sides, which speedily swelled into a cry of indigna- 

 tion, and the names of parracide and incendiary were 

 rung in his ears. 



Finding it impossible any longer to wear the masque, 

 he rushed out of the senate, vowing, ' that he would 

 extinguish, under the ruins of his enemies, the fire which 

 they were lighting around him." 



The event justified Cicero's political sagacity : Cati- 

 line, the following night, went out of Rome with 300 

 desperadoes, and put himself at the head of the troops 

 of Mallius. The issue of hii bloody struggle with the 

 troops of the republic is well known. After a vain at- 

 tempt to push his escape over the Appennines into Gaul, 

 his miserable army engaged with the forces of Petreius, 

 and were cut off to a man. 



After Catiline's departure, Cicero mounted the ros- 

 tra, and, in his second Catilinarian oration, gave the 

 people an account of all that had passed. His object 

 was, to dissipate the false alarms which the conspirators 

 insidiously spread, exaggerating their own resource*, and 

 the danger of the republic : he proved, that it was only 

 in Rome that Catiline could strike a blow, and, being 

 driven from thence, that he was for ever lost. The im- 

 prudence of the conspirators who were left behind by 

 Catiline, precipitated their destruction, even before the 

 death of Catiline himself. Cicero detected Cethcgus, 

 Lentulus, and others of them, in treasonable correspon- 

 dence with the ambassadors of the Allobroges, produ- 

 ced their letters in the senate, and on the clearest evi- 

 dence, and even on their own confession of guilt, ob- 

 tained a decree of the senate for putting them to death. 

 Thus ended a conspiracy, in which some of the most 

 powerful men in Rome were suspected of having been 

 implicated, though its principles, and its avowed agents, 

 were the most abandoned and atrocious. While the 

 recollection of Cicero's services was fresh in the public 

 memory, all orders of society joined in the most grateful 

 applause, and perhaps no man ever enjoyed a more en- 

 viable triumph. Catalus, in the full senate, declared him 

 the father of his country ; and Cato repeated it from 

 the rostra, with the loudest acclamations of the people. 

 Thi glorious title, the imperial tyrants of Rome were 

 proud to extort from slaves and flatterers, which Ci- 

 cero obtained from the free vote of the senate and the 

 people. 

 When Cicero's consulship wa concluded, he resigned 



it, according to custom, in a full assembly of the people. 

 This ceremony was generally accompanied with a speech 

 from the expiring consular ; and, from such a speaker 

 aa Cicero, an interesting address was naturally expected. 

 Metellus, one of the new tribunes, invidiously determined 

 to disappoint both the orator and the people ; and when 

 Cicero had mounted the rostra, declared that he would 

 not suffer him to speak. On which Cicero, who was 

 never at a loss, instead of pronouncing the ordinary form 

 of the oath, raising the tone of his voice, swore so loud 

 that all the people could hear him, " that he had saved 

 the republic and the city from ruin ;" which the multi- 

 tude" below confirmed with an universal shout, crying 

 out, " that it was true." 



Cicero. 



Kt parenter* 



Roma putrem jiatrite d'ccranem liber-i diiit, 



From the time of his consulate, Cicero's influence IK 

 Rome began to decline. The rising popularity of Cae- 

 sar, the triumphal return of Pompey from Asia, and his 

 reconciliation with Crassus, which laid the foundation of 

 the first triumvirate, occupied the minds of men, and 

 confined the stream of power to a particular channel. 

 Cicero employed himself chiefly in literary and forensic 

 pursuits. He composed the history of his consulate in 

 Greek, for his friends Atticus and Possidonius, and he 

 made the same theme the subject of three books ol 

 verse. He defended several considerable causes ; and 

 thus endeavoured, by conferring new obligations, to 

 compensate the loss of former favours. He was, indeed, 

 sensible that a storm was gathering against him. !! 

 had incurred the hatred of the violent, and abandoned 

 Publius Clodius, by appearing as an evidence against 

 him, when prosecuted for violating the mysteries of the 

 Bona Dea. Clodiua, who was resolved upon his ruin, 

 had, by means of a plebeian adoption, made himself eli- 

 gible to the tribuneship of the people ; and, as he was a 

 political tool of the triumvirate, he was supported by 

 Caesar and Pompey, though they assured Cicero that 

 there was no intention of injuring him. Clodius, how- 

 ever, as soon as he was made tribune, began his attack, 

 by proposing a law, that whoever had been concerned 

 in the death of a Roman citizen should be deemed guil- 

 ty of treason against the state. This was so obviously 

 aimed against Cicero, that he immediately assumed the 

 habit of a mourner, and went about soliciting the pro- 

 tection of his friends. Such was the regard he still in- 

 spired, that the whole order of knights went into mourn- 

 ing, and joined in his supplications ; and young Crassus, 

 the son of the triumvir, who had been his pupil in elo- 

 quence, attended upon him with a large body of the Ro- 

 man youth, in order to defend him from the violence of 

 Clodius and his mob. His counsels were now perplexed 

 by the different opinions of his friends. The question 

 was, whether he should remain in Rome, and defend 

 himself by force, or save the effusion of blood, by re- 

 treating till the storm should blow over. Cato advised 

 him to the latter plan : It is unfair, as many have done, 

 to impute his inclination to this advice to timidity ; for 

 no man seems to have felt the pain of exile more deeply 

 than Cicero, although the fears and intreaties of his fa- 

 mily might operate on his resolution. He therefore 

 applied to Cx-sar, to take him as his lieutenant into 

 Gaul. 'The artifices of Clodius, who pretended to wish 

 for a reconciliation, induced him to change his purpose, 

 and decline accepting j by which he offended that com- 

 mander, or, perhaps, rather afforded him a pretext for 

 sharing in the base desertion of him ; which Pompey, 

 with still less excuse, did not blush to be guilty of. Clo- 



