236 



CICERO CICUTA. 



to the sea-coast, and embarked. Contrary \\iiuK 

 drove him back to the shore. At the request of his 

 slaves, he embarked a second time, but soon ret urn 

 ed again to await his fate at his country-seat near 

 Formue. " I will die," exclaimed he, " in my coun- 

 try, which I have more than once saved." His slaves, 

 seeing the neighbourhood already disturbed by the 

 soldiers of the triumvirs, endeavoured to convey him 

 away in a litter, but soon discovered the murderers 

 at their hecK They prepared for combat; but 

 Cicero, who felt that death was unavoidable, ordered 

 them to make no resistance, bent his head before 

 Popilius, the commander of the murderers, who had 

 once been saved by his eloquence, and suffered death 

 more courageously Uian he luid borne misfortune, 

 fie died in his sixty-fourth year, A. U. C. 711 (B. C. 

 43). His head and hands were, by the orders of 

 Antony, affixed to the same rostrum from which the 

 orator, as L ivy says, had poured forth eloquence un- 

 equalled by any human voice. Cicero merited the 

 character which Augustus gave him in these words : 

 " He was a good citizen, who loved his country sin- 

 cerely." He was (particularly considering the spirit 

 of his times) a virtuous man, for his faults were only 

 weaknesses of character, not vices, and he always pur- 

 sued good for its own sake, or (what, if a fault, is 

 easily forgiven) for the sake of fame. His heart was 

 open to all noble impressions, to all great and fine 

 feelings, to patriotism, friendship, gratitude, and love 

 of science. 



Cicero's eloquence has always remained a model. 

 After the revival of learning, he was the most ad- 

 mired of the ancient writers ; and the purity and 

 slegance of his style will always place him in the 

 first rank of Roman classics. The style of his phi- 

 losophical writings, without oratorical ostentation, 

 breathes the pure Attic elegance which some of his 

 contemporaries wished also to see in his orations. 

 The orator is seen, however, in his prolix and com- 

 paratively unanimated dialogues. His philosophical 

 works, the principal part of the contents of which is 

 taken from the Greek, and which combine academic 

 and stoic doctrines and principles, possess very un- 

 equal interest for us. Thus, for example, his work 

 De Natura Deorum is, for us, only a collection of er- 

 rors : the Tuscvlanee Quuestiones are full of the sub- 

 tilties of the Athenian school : his work De Finibus 

 Bonorum et Malorum likewise belongs to this some- 

 what dry, dogmatic philosophy. On the other hand, 

 his works on practical morals have maintained their 

 full value. The book De Officiis is to this day the 

 finest treatise on virtue, inspired by pure human wis- 

 dom. The pleasuresof friendship and old age have like- 

 wise been excellently set forth in Cicero's De Amicitia 

 and De Senectute. Of his political work De Republica, 

 a considerable part was brought to light by Maio, and 

 published in Rome in 1822. Cicero wrote the six books 

 DcRep. in his fifty-fourth year. In these he endeavoured 

 to show by what policy, what resources, and what 

 morals, Rome had obtained the dominion of the world. 

 Steinacker published these fragments at Leipsic, in 

 1823. Villemain translated and explained them 

 (Paris, 1823). The work has also been translated in 

 the United States (New York, 1829). Professor 

 Gust. Munnich, hi Cracow, gives an account of the 

 Sarmatian copy of Cicero De Rep., which, in 1581, 

 was in the possession of a Volhynian nobleman, and 

 has since disappeared, hi his work, M. Tull. 

 Ciceronis Libri De Republica notit. Codicis Sarmat. 

 (Gottingen, 1825.) According to nun, Goslicki used 

 this copy in his work De Perfecto Senator e. Cicero's 

 works De Divinatione and De Legibus are instructive 

 monuments of antiquity. The same philosophical 

 spirit is evident in all his oratorical treatises, parti- 

 cularly in the most important of them, De Oratore, 



although tliis contains as little of utility for us :;s the 

 Claris Oratoribut, Topicis, De Purtititme Uratoria, 

 &c. The most interesting of all < 'it-mi's works, for 

 posterity, are his Epistola fanuliures &i\<\ Ad Atticum, 

 which give a more exact and lively idea of the state 

 of the republic than any of his other works, and dis- 

 play most strongly the characteristic traits of the au- 

 thor. They are translated, in a masterly style, by 

 Wieland. The life of Cicero was written, of old, by 

 Plutarch, and has been also, in modern times, by 

 Middleton and Morabiii. In the publication and ex- 

 planation of his works, Paulus and Aldus Manutius 

 Lambinus, the two Gruters, the two Gronovii, &<., 

 have distinguished themselves. We possess late edi- 

 tions of his entire works, by J. A. Ernesti, Beck ami 

 Schutz. Cicero's life, interesting on many account*. 

 is particularly so to the historical politician, as show- 

 ing the consequences of the deplorable state of the 

 Roman republic, in the case of so distinguished an 

 individual, as well as the impossibility of preserving 

 its liberty. Cato, Cicero, and some others, were 

 worthy of having lived in a better age of the republic, 

 to the corruption of which they fell martyrs. In 

 1828 appeared a highly important work, edited by 

 Maio (q. v.), Classicorum Auctorum e Vaticanis 

 Codicibus Editorum : Tomus 1 et 11, curante Angela 

 Mojo, t'aticana BibliotheccE Prafecto. Roma, Typis 

 Vaticanis, 1828, 8vo. The second volume contains 

 all the fragments of Cicero's orations which have been 

 discovered by Maio, Niebuhr and Peyron. 



CICERONE; the title of the person who, in 

 Italy, and particularly in Rome, shows and explains 

 to strangers curiosities and antiquities. The talka- 

 tiveness of such persons lias procured them the name 

 cicerone, in jocular allusion to Cicero. A good 

 cicerone must possess extensive and accurate informa- 

 tion ; and several distinguished archaeologists have 

 pursued this business, as it gives them an opportunity, 

 while serving others, to make repeated examinations 

 of the works of art, and thus to become continually 

 more familiar with them. Signore Nibbi is the most 

 distinguished cicerone. He explains antiquities on 

 the spot, in Rome, hi a very interesting manner. 



CICISBEO ; a name given, since the 17th century, 

 in Italy, to the professed gallant of a married lady. 

 It is the fashion, among the liigher ranks in Italy, 

 for the husband, from the day of marriage, to associ- 

 ate with his wife in his own house only. In society, 

 or places of public amusement, she is accompanied 

 by the cicisbeo, who even attends at her toilet, to re- 

 ceive her command for the day. This custom is the 

 more extraordinary, from the natural jealousy of the 

 Italian, who seems to change his character complete- 

 ly after marriage. Father Barri has made the 

 Cicisbeatura the subject of a moral work, and divides 

 it into larga and stretta ; the first kind lie thinks 

 pardonable, but the latter he regards with repug- 

 nance. This custom is much on the decline in Italy 



CICUTA. The cicuta, or common hemlock (conium 

 maculatum), is a plant indigenous hi most temperate 

 climates, and is found commonly along walls and 

 fences, and about old ruins and buildings. It is an 

 annual plant, of four or five feet in height, having 

 very fine double pinnate leaves, of a pale-green colour, 

 and bearing flowers of a greenish-white, in large, flat 

 heads. It was first introduced in medicine, together 

 with other vegetables of the same kind, by oaron 

 Storck of Vienna. The most common form in which 

 it is administered, is the extract, which is given in 

 pills. Of this, from twelve to sixty grains per day 

 may be taken for a long time. It was considered in- 

 valuable in all chronic inflammations, and enlarge- 

 ments of glandular parts, as the liver, the womb, &c., 

 but its use has now been greatly superseded by mer- 

 cury and other medicines. Its green leaves, stirred 



