59 ° 
CICERO. 
penfities. He was naturally of a weak and delicate con- 
ftitution, and. he vilited Greece on account of his health; 
but, perhaps, the true caufe of his abfence from Rome 
might be attributed to his fear of Sylla. His friends, who 
were well acquainted with his fuperior abilities, were 
anxious for his return ; and when at laft he obeyed their 
folicitations, he applied himfelf with uncommon diligence 
to oratory, and was loon diftinguifhed above all the fpeakers 
of his age in the Roman forum. When he went to Sicily 
as quseftor, he behaved with great jultice and moderation ; 
and the Sicilians remembered with gratitude the eloquence 
of Cicero, their common patron, who had delivered them 
from the tyranny and avarice of Verres. After he had 
palled through the offices of edile and praetor, he flood a 
candidate for the confullhip in the year of Rome 689 ; and 
the patricians and plebeians were equally anxious to raife 
him to that dignity, againft the efforts and bribery of 
Catiline. His new lituation was critical, and required 
circumfpeftion. Catiline, with many diffolute and def- 
perate Romans, had conf'pired againft their country, and 
•combined to murder Cicero himfelf. In this dilemma, 
Cicero, in full fenate, accufed Catiline of treafon againft 
the ftate 5 but,'as liis evidence was not fufficiently clear, 
his efforts were unavailing. He, however, ftood upon his 
guard, and, by the information of his friends, and the 
difcovery of Fulvia, his life was faved from the dagger of 
Marcius and Cethegus, whom Catiline had fent to affalfinate 
him. After this, Cicero commanded Catiline, in the fe¬ 
nate, to leave the city; and this defperate confpirator 
inarched out in triumph to meet the 20,000 men who 
were affembled in readinefs to fupport his caufe. Tire 
lieutenant of C. Antony, the other conful, defeated them 
in Gaul; and Cicero, at Rome, punilhed the reft of the 
confpirators with death. This capital punifhmenr, though 
inveighed againft by Julius Crefar as too fevere, was fup- 
porte.d by the opinion of Lutatius Catulus, and Cato, and 
confirmed by the whole fenate. After this memorable 
deliverance, Cicero received the thanks of all the people, 
and was ftyled The father of his country, and a fecond foun¬ 
der of Rome. The vehemence with which he had attacked 
Clociius, proved injurious to him ; and, when his enemy 
•was made tribune, Cicero was banifhed from Rome, though 
20,000 young men were fupportcrs of his innocence. He 
was not, however, deferted in his banifhment. Wherever 
he went he was received with uncommon favour; and, 
when the faction had fubfided at Rome, all the fenate and 
people were unanimous for his return. After fixteen 
months abfence, he entered Rome with univerfal fatisfac- 
tion; and, when he was fent, with the power of procon- 
ful, to Cilicia, his integrity and prudence made him fuc- 
cefsful againft the enemy ; and, at his return, he was ho¬ 
noured with a triumph, which the faftions prevented him 
from celebrating in form. After much hefitation, during 
the civil commotions between Ctefhr and Pompey, he 
joined himfelf to the latter, and followed him to Greece. 
When viftory had declared in favour of Csefar, at the 
battle of Pharlalia, Cicero went to Brundufium, and was 
reconciled to the conqueror, who treated him with great 
humanity. From this time Cicero retired into the coun¬ 
try, and feldom vifited Rome. When Crefar had been 
ftabbed in the fenate, Cicero recommended a general am- 
nefty, and was the moft earneft to decree the provinces to 
Brutus and Cafiins. But, when he faw the intereft of Cre- 
far’s murderers decreafed, and Antony come into power, 
he retired to Athens. He foon after returned, but lived 
in perpetual fear of affaffination. Augustus courted the 
approbation of Cicero, and expreffed his wifh to be his 
colleague in the confulfhip. But his wifh was not fincere; 
he foon rejefted him; and, when the two confulshad been 
killed at Mutina, Augultus joined his intereft to that of 
Antony, and the famous triumvirate was foon after form¬ 
ed. The great enmity which Cicero bore to Antony, was 
fatal to him ; and Augultus, Antony, and Lepidus, the 
triumvirs, to deftroy ail caufe of quarrel, and each to dif- 
.patch ills enemies, produced each their lilt of profcrip- 
tion. About two hundred were doomed to cleatli, and 
Cicero was among them, upon the lift of Antony. Au- 
guftus yielded a man to whom he partly owed his great- 
nefs, and Cicero was purfued by the emiftaries of Antony, 
among whom was Popilius, whom he had defended upon 
an accufation of parricide. He had fled in a litter towards 
the fea of Caieta ; and, when the affaffms came up to him, 
he put his head out of the litter, and it was fevered from 
the body by Herennius. This memorable event happened 
in December, 43 before Chrift, after the enjoyment of life 
for fixty-three years, eleven months, and five days. The 
head and right hand were carried to Rome, and hung tip 
in the forum; and fo inveterate was Antony’s hatred 
againft the unfortunate man, that even Fulvia, the tri¬ 
umvir's wife, wreaked her vengeance upon his head, ami 
drew the tongue out of his mouth, and bored it through 
repeatedly with a gold bodkin, verifying, in this aft of 
inhumanity, what Cicero had once oblerved, that “ no 
animal is more revengeful than a woman.” 
Cicero has acquired more real fame by his literary com-, 
pofitions, than by his fpirited exertions as a Roman fena- 
tor. The learning and the abilities which he pofleffed, 
have been the admiration of every age and country, anil 
his ftyle has always been accounted as the true ftandard 
of pure latinity. The words nafcitur poeta have been veri¬ 
fied in his attempts to write poetry ; and the fatire of 
Martial, carmina quod fcribit tnufis et Apolline nullo, though 
fevere, is true. When he travelled into Afia, he was at¬ 
tended by moft of the learned men of his age; and his 
ftay at Rhodes, in the fchool of the famous Molo, con¬ 
duced not a little to perfeft his judgment. Like his 
countrymen, he was not deftitute of ambition ; and the 
high expeftations with which'he returned from his quae-' 
torfhip in Sicily, are well known. In his private charac¬ 
ter, however, Cicero was of an amiable difpofition ; and 
the affability of his manners conciliated the good graces 
of all. He married Terentia, whom he afterwards di¬ 
vorced, and by whom he had a fon and daughter. He 
afterwards married a young woman, to' whom he was 
guardian ; and, becaufe fire feemed elated at the death of 
his daughter Tullia, he.repudiated her. 
The works of this celebrated man, of which, according 
to fome, the tenth part is lcarcely extant, have been edifted 
by the belt fcholars in every country. From his earlieft 
years, he applied himfelf with unremitting afiiduity to 
the cultivation of literature; and, whilft yet a boy, he 
wrote a poem, called Glaucus Pontius, which was extant 
in Plutarch’s time. Amongft his juvenile productions 
was a tranflation into Latin verfe, of Aratus on the Phe¬ 
nomena of the Heavens; of which many fragments are 
ftill extant. He alfo publifhed a poem of the heroic kind, 
in honour of his countryman C. Marius, who was born 
at Arpinum, the birth-place of Cicero. This produftion 
was greatly admired by Atticus ; and old Scsevola was fo 
much pleafed with it, that, in an epigram written on the 
fubjeft, he declares that it would live as long as the Ro¬ 
man name and learning fubfifted. From a little fpecimen 
which remains of it, defcribing a memorable omen given 
to Marius from an oak of Arpinum, there is reaion to 
believe that his poetical genius was fcarcely inferior to his 
oratorial, had it been cultivated with equal induflry. He 
publifhed another poem called Limon, of which Donatus 
has preferved four lines in the Life of Terence, in praife 
of the elegance and purity of that poet’s ftyle. He com- 
pofed, in the Greek language, and in the ftyle and man¬ 
ner of liberates, a Commentary, or Memoirs of the Tranf- 
aftions of his Confulfhip. This he fent to Atticus, with 
a defire, if he approved it, to publifh it in Athens and. the 
cities of Greece. He, fent a copy of it likewife to Pofido- 
nius of Rhodes, and requefted of him to undertake the 
fame fubjeft- in a more eiegant and mnfterly manner. But 
the latter returned for anfwer, that, inftead of being en¬ 
couraged to write by the perufal of his traft, he was quite 
deterred from attempting it. Upon the plan of thofe 
memoirs, he afterwards cojnpofed a Latin poem in three 
books 5 
