C I C 



47.3 



C I L 



Cicero. est degree of pleasure ? In this view of their merits, the 

 'Y "' greater variety of Cicero's subjects, the richer luxuries 

 of his diction and imagery, the intermixture of a finer, 

 more pathetic, and philosophical spirit in his orations, 

 give them a value independent of the pleading which 

 they contain, or the models of argumentation which 

 they exhibit. Had they been opposed to the terser elo- 

 quence of Demosthenes, before an audience assembled to 

 decide rigidly on a point in dispute, those graces might 

 possibly have furnished an inferior pleading ; but to pos- 

 terity they afford a richer treasure of literature, and per- 

 haps altogether a nobler exhibition of the genius of one 

 man. The manner of Cicero, we are told, fell into dis- 

 credit in the succeeding age. Some considerable au- 

 thors, with Sallust at their head, struck into a closer and 

 more sententious style of writing, pretending to emulate 

 the purity of Demosthenes and Thucydides, though they 

 were far from reaching it. Even in his own time, we find 

 him replying to those censurers who reproached him for 

 want of Attic simplicity. Brutus was of the number ; 

 although, it is clear, from Cicero's appeal against their 

 criticisms, that what they meant by simplicity, was only 

 a naked and starved diction, devoid of all legitimate elo- 

 quence. Under the age of Augustus, political causes 

 contributed to debauch the Roman taste ; and under that 

 reign, it became fashionable to decry the taste and man- 

 ner of Cicero. Virgil, in giving the province of elo- 

 quence to the Greeks, did not chuse to offend his pa. 

 tron by a compliment to Tully. The two Asinii Polli- 

 oncs, father and son, distinguished orators of the same 

 age, attacked his abilities even with acrimony, and the 

 younger wrote a book to prove that hii father excelled 

 Cicero. Augustus was himself a dabbler both in prose 

 and verse, and probably contributed to bring a corrupted 

 style into fashion. Mecaenas was an Anticiceronian both 

 in theory and practice. The character of authorship, 

 which some of the succeeding Roman emperors affected, 

 and the danger of either departing from their manner of 

 writing, or of expressing their thoughts in plain lan- 

 guage, together with the swarms of Greek rhetoricians 

 who took pains to deride the eloquence of Cicero, gra- 

 dually debased the taste of the world, till Quinctilian 

 arose and reformed it, at least in as far as the reputa- 

 tion of Cicero was concerned, whose character as an ora- 

 tor he restored to its true light, concluding with these 

 words, Hunc ergo spectemus, hoc propositum notiix sit ejc- 

 'mplum. Ilie te prnfecisse tciat cui Cicero placebit. 



The philosophical works of Cicero were composed in 

 the stormy period which drove him to retirement, be- 

 tween the breaking out of the war of Czsar and Pom- 

 pey, and his own dfath. One half of them has perished 

 by the ravages of time. They formed a complete course 

 of the philosophy of the Greeks, which had followers 

 and admirers at Rome since the time of Lxlius, but 

 few expounders. Cicero was the first who had intelli- 

 gence and enterprize sufficient to exhibit it in all its sys- 

 tems to his countrymen. Its subjects were so uewto 

 the Romans, that their language had not terms for the 

 abstract ideas of the Greeks ; and it was he who first 

 created that metaphysical language, of which a portion 

 disentangled from the jargon of the schools still exists in 

 modern philosophy. He commenced with his book en- 

 titled Hortentius, which has been lost. Next followed 

 his Academic Questions, in which he followed the doc- 

 trines of Plato. The object of his five dissertations, cal- 

 kd the Tusculan Questions, is to discover the most es- 

 tential means of happiness, which he reduces to five. 

 The contempt of death ; patience in affliction j firmneii 



VOL. vi. PART n. 



in different trials of life ; habitual controul over the pas. 

 sions ; and the persuasion that virtue ought to seek for no 

 recompense but from itself. This philosophy is confess- 

 edly borrowed from the Academy, and the Portico j but 

 it is highly embellished by his eloquence. The most 

 pleasing parts of his work, are where he enters on the na- 

 tural proofs of the immortality of the soul, and the future 

 rewards of a virtuous life. 



In his Treatise on the Nature of the Gods, his object 

 seems to be to prove and justify a superintending provi- 

 dence. To find a man unenlightened by revelation, de- 

 voting the ripeness of his mind to such exalted subjects, 

 may well surprise us ; and our admiration must be com- 

 plete, when we find, that, while he stands the advocate ot 

 religion, he is so little tainted with superstition. In his 

 book on Divination, he makes every species of ancient 

 imposture and superstition pass in review. His Scipio',\ 

 Dream, is a fancy piece, built on the Platonic doctrine 

 concerning the soul of the world, and the state of human 

 souls after death. His work De Finibus, on moral ends, 

 contains an account of the opinions of the several Grecian 

 sects upon this subject, and discusses their leading argu- 

 ments. His work De Officiis, may be properly termed 

 the Heathen whole Duty of Man ; a piece, which even 

 Christians cannot read without advantage. His dialogues, 

 entitled Cato and Lcelius, the first treating on old age, 

 the second on friendship, are extremely elegant and'agrce- 

 able piece* of moral writing. His Epistles, perhaps, 

 more justly merit the appellation, than any of the same 

 importance, as documents of history, and models of com- 

 position, which have ever appeared. His workDe Legibut, 

 which explains the grounds of jurisprudence, is incom- 

 plete. His treatises De Republics, and his (Economics, 

 have unfortunately been lost. 



To the list of his writings, should be added his rheto- 

 rical treatises De Oratore ; his book De Claris Oratu- 

 ribits ; and his Orator, addressed to Brutus. See Pin, 

 larch. Middletou's Life of CicefO. Ciccronis Opera. 



* CICHOR ACEjE. See BOTANY, p. 79. 



CICHORlUM, a genus of plants of the class Syn- 

 genesia, and order Polygamia ./Equalis. See BOTANY, 

 p. 28.Q. 



C1CINDELA. See ENTOMOLOGY. 



CICUTA, a genus of plants of the class Pentandria, 

 and order Digyma. 



CID. See SPAIN. 



CIENFDEGIA, a genus of plants of the class Mo- 

 nadelphia, and order Dodecandria. See BOTANY, p. 

 268. 



CILICIA, was an ancient dynasty of Asia Minor, ex- 

 tending from the 36th to the 40th degree of north lati- 

 tude ; bounded on the east by mount Amanus, which 

 divided it from Syria ; on the south by the Mediterra- 

 nean sea ; on the west by a chain of mountains, whick 

 separated it from Pamphylia and Pisidia ; and on the 

 north by Isauria, Cappadocia, and Arminia Minor. 



If we be allowed to prefer any one of the discordant 

 accounts, found in ancient history, respecting the abori- 

 gines of this country, we would say, that it was peopled 

 by Tarshish the son of Javan, from whom it was, at first, 

 denominated Tarsis, and its metropolis Tarsus. The de- 

 scendants of this patriarch arc said to have kept posses- 

 sion of this region till after the Trojan war, when Cilix, 

 a brother of Cadmus, and a native of Phoenicia, migrated 

 with a daring colony of his countrymen, into Cyprus ; and, 

 in the restless ardour of adventure, leaving that island, 

 invaded Tarsis, and deprived the inhabitants of their 

 3o 



