VOLTAIRE. 29 



building out the sea, and levelling mountains, while 

 we are without the necessaries of life !" But the 

 whole comparison is to the same effect. 



Then, can anything be finer than the scene in the 

 Senate where Cicero made his first famous speech? First 

 the historian paints Catiline as full of dissimulation, 

 and acting the part of a suppliant, with downcast look 

 and submissive voice, appealing to the senators whe- 

 ther it w r as likely a man of his rank and former services 

 should be guilty of the things laid to his charge, while 

 the state was defended by " M. Tullius Cicero, inqui- 

 linus civis urbis Romee " (one living in a hired lodging). 

 Thereupon a loud cry was raised against him, and he 

 was saluted with the name of rebel and parricide. 

 "Turn ille furibundus ' Quoniam quidem circum- 

 ventus, inquit, ab inimicis, prseceps agor, incendium 

 meum ruina extinguam.' "* 



Thus the Catiline of Sallust; but he of Voltaire, 

 after saying his part is taken, and calling his followers 

 to come away, departs quietly enough not the furi- 

 bundus proripuit of Sallust, or even the triumphans 

 gaudio erupit of Tully but 



" Vous, senat, incertain, qui venez de m'entendre, 

 Choisissez a loisir le parti qu'il faut prendre." 



And so it is throughout ; the same contrast between 

 the tame, feeble, vague verses of the modern poet, and 



* Cap. xxxi. Cicero (pro Mursena, c. xxv.) gives a different 

 account, but less picturesque : " erupit senatu triumphans gaudio ;" 

 and adds, that he had some days before used the famous words in 

 answer to a threat of prosecution from Cato ; but Voltaire was at 

 perfect liberty to choose either version of the fact, and he preferred 

 his own mean and most tame design. 



