July 26, 2025 • 29 mins
Dive into the captivating life of Marcus Tullius Cicero, an influential orator, statesman, philosopher, and correspondent who emerged as a new man in the chaotic final years of Romes republican government. In this biography, acclaimed novelist Anthony Trollope delivers a passionate defense of Ciceros virtues against critics who question his political and personal strength. Trollopes personal approach offers a unique glimpse into his own thought process and era, as well as those of Cicero. Volume I explores Ciceros formative years, his ascension through the courts and state offices to the Consulship, and his subsequent exile. This version omits footnotes and appendices, which mostly consist of bibliographical citations, Latin quotations, and substantial extracts from other works, unless they are explicitly referred to in the main text. Catch up with Volume II after this.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter eleven, Part two of the Life of Cicero, Volume one.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Philip Jevons. The Life
of Cicero, Volume one by Anthony Trollope, Chapter eleven, The Triumvirate,
(00:20):
Part two, side note b C. Fifty nine I at
at forty eight. The year following was that of Caesar's
first consulship, which he held in conjunction with Bibulus, a
man who was altogether opposed to him in thought, in character,
and in action. So hostile were these two great officers
(00:41):
to each other that the one attempted to undo whatever
the other did. Bibulus was elected by bribery on behalf
of the Senate in order that he might be a
counterpoise to Caesar. But Caesar now was not only Caesar.
He was Caesar, Pompey and Crassus united with all the dependents,
all their clients, all their greedy hangers on, to give
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this compact something of the strength of family union. Pompey,
who was now nearly fifty years of age, took in
marriage Caesar's daughter Julia, who was a quarter of a
century his junior. But Pompey was a man who could
endear himself to women, and the opinion seems to be
general that had not Julia died in childbirth, the friendship
between the men would have been more lasting. But for
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Caesar's purposes, the duration of this year and the next
was enough. Bibulus was a laughing stock, the mere shadow
of a consul when opposed to such an enemy. He
tried to use all the old forms of the republic
with the object of stopping Caesar in his career, but
Caesar only ridiculed him, and Pompey, though we can imagine
that he did not laugh much, did as Caesar would
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have him. Bibulus was an auger and observed the heavens
when political maneuvers were going on, which he wished to stop.
This was the old Roman system for using religion as
a drag upon progressive movements. No work of state could
be carried on if the heavens were declared to be unpropitious,
and an augur could always say that the heavens were
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unpropitious if he pleased. This was the recognized constitutional mode
of obstruction, and was quite in accord with the feelings
of the people. Pompey alone, or cross Us with him,
would certainly have submitted to an auga. But Caesar was
above augurs. Whatever he chose to have carried, he carried
with what approach he could to constitutional usage, but with
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whatever departure from constitutional usage he found to be necessary.
What was the condition of the people of Rome at
that time? It is difficult to learn from the conflicting
statements of historians that Cicero had till lately been popular.
We know we are told that Bibulous was popular when
he opposed Caesar. Of personal popularity up to this time,
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I doubt whether Caesar had achieved much. Yet we learn
that when Ambibulous, with Cato and Lucullus endeavored to carry
out their constitutional threats, they were dragged and knocked about,
and one of them nearly killed. Of the illegality of
Caesar's proceedings, there can be no doubt the tribunition veto
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was interposed. Caesar contented himself with disregarding it. This is
quoted from the German historian, who intends to leave an
impression that Caesar was great and wise in all that
he did, and he tells us also of the obstinate,
weak creature Bibulous, and of the dogmatical fool Cato. I
doubt whether there was anything of true popular ferment, or
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that there was any commotion except that which was made
by the ruffs who had attached themselves for pay to Caesar,
or to Pompey, or Auto Crassus, or as it might be,
to Bibulus and the other leaders. The violence did not
amount to more than nearly killing this man or the other.
Some Roman street fights were no doubt more bloody, as
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for instance, that in which seven years afterwards Clodius was
slaughtered by Milo, But the blood was made to flow
not by the people, but by hired bravos. The Roman
citizens of the day were I think, very quiescent. Neither
pride nor misery stirred them much. Caesar, perceiving this, was
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aware that he might disregard Bibulus and his auguries, so
long as he had a band of Ruffians about him
sufficient for the purposes of the hour. It was in
order that he might thus prevail. That the coalition had
been made, as Pompey and Crassus, his colleague Bibulous, seeing
how matters were going, retired to his own house, and
there went through a fuss of consular enactments. Caesar carried
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all his purposes, and the people were content to laugh,
dividing him into two personages, and talking of Julius and
Caesar as the two consuls of the year. It was
in this way that he procured to be allotted to
him by the people his irregular command in Gaul. He
was to be pro consul, not for one year, with
perhaps a prolongation for two or three, but for an
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established period of five. He was to have the great
province of Cesalpine Gaul, that is to say, the whole
of what we now call Italy, from the foot of
the Alps down to a line running from sea to
sea just north of Florence. To this trans Alpine Gaul
was afterward added the province so named, possessed at that
time by the Romans, was called Nadbonensis, a country comparatively insignificant,
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running from the Alps to the Pyrenees along the Mediterranean.
The Gaul or Gallia of which Caesar speaks when in
the opening words of his commentary he tells us that
it was divided into three parts, was altogether beyond the
Roman province which was assigned to him. Caesar, when he
undertook his government, can hardly have dreamed of subjecting to
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Roman rule the vast territories which were then known as Gallia,
beyond the frontiers of the Empire, and which we now
call France. But he caused himself to be supported by
an enormous army. There were stationed three legions on the
Italian side of the Alps, and one on the other.
These were all to be under his command for five
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years certain and amounted to a force of not less
than thirty thousand men, as no troops could constitutionally be
stationed in Italy proper. The commander of the legions of
Northern Italy and Gaul says Monson, dominated at the same
time Italy and Rome for the next five years, and
he who was master for five years, was master for
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life side note b c. Fifty nine at forty eight.
Such was the condition of Rome during the second year
of the Triumvirate, in which Caesar was consul and prepared
the way for the powers which he afterward exercised. Cicero
would not come to his call. And therefore, as we
are told, Clodius was let loose upon him. As he
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would not come to Caesar's call, it was necessary that
he should be suppress. And Clodius, notwithstanding all constitutional difficulties,
nay impossibilities, was made tribune of the people. Things had
now so far advanced with the Caesar that as Cicero,
who would not come to his call, must be disposed
of after some fashion. Till we have thought much of it,
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often of it, till we have looked thoroughly into it,
we find ourselves tempted to marvel at Cicero's blindness. Surely,
a man so gifted must have known enough of the
state of Rome to have been aware that there was
no room left for one honest, patriotic, constitutional politician. Was
it not plain to him that, if Natus ad eustitiam
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he could not bring himself to serve with those who
were intent on discarding the republic, he had better retire
among his books, his busts, and his literary luxuries, and
leave the government of the country to those who understood
its people. And we are the more prone to say
and think all this, because the man himself continually said
it and continually thought it. In one of the letters
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written early in the year to Atticus from his villa
at Antium, he declares very plainly how it is with him,
and this too in a letter written in good humor,
not in a despondent frame of mind, in which he
is able pleasantly to ridicule his enemy Clodius, who it
seems had expressed a wish to go on an embassy
to Tigrani's king of Armenia. Do not think, he says,
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that I am complaining of all this because I myself
am desirous of being engaged in public affairs. Even while
it was mine to sit at the helm, I was
tired of the work. But now, when I am, in
truth driven out of the ship, when the rodder has
not been thrown down but seized out of my hands,
how should I take a pleasure in looking from the
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shore at the wrecks which these other pilots have made.
But the study of human nature tells us and all
experience that men are unable to fathom their own desires
and fail to govern themselves by the wisdom which is
at their fingers. Ends the retiring Prime Minister cannot but
hanker after the seals and the ribbons and the titles
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of office, even though his soul be able to rise
above considerations of emolument, And there will creep into a
man's mind an idea that, though reform of abuses from
other sources may be impossible, if he were there once more,
the evil could at least be mitigated, might possibly be cured.
So it was during this period of his life with
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Cicero he did believe that political justice exercised by himself,
with such assistance as his eloquence, would obtain, for it
might be efficacious for preserving the republic. In spite of Caesar,
and of Pompey and of Crassus. He did not yet
believe that these men would consent to such an outrage
as his banishment. It must have been incredible to him
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that Pompey should assent to it. When the blow came,
it crushed him for the time, But he retricked his
beams and struggled on to the end, as we shall
see if we follow his life to the close. Such
was the intended purpose of the degradation of Clodius. This, however,
was not at once declared it was said that Clodius,
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as tribune, intended rather to oppose Caesar than to assist him. He,
at any rate, chose that Cicero should so believe, and
sent Curio, a young man to whom Cicero was attached,
to visit the Orator at his villar at Antium and
to declare these friendly purposes. According to the story told
by Cicero, Clodius was prepared to oppose the triumvirate and
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the other young men of Rome. The Gerness d'auret, of
which both Curio and Clodius were members, were said to
be equally hostile to Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, whose doings
in opposition to the Constitution were already evident enough so
that it suited Cicero to believe that the rising aristocracy
of Rome would oppose them. But the aristocracy of Rome,
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whether old or young, cared for nothing but its fish
ponds and its amusements. Cicero spent the earlier part of
the year out of Rome, among his various villas, at Tusculanum,
at Antium, and at Formiae. The purport of all his
letters at this period is the same to complain of
the condition of the republic, and especially of the treachery
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of his friend Pompey. Though there be much of despondency
in his tone, there is enough also of high spirit
to make us feel that his literary aspirations are not
out of place, though mingled with his political wailing. The
time will soon come when his trust, even in literature,
will fail him.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
For a while.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Early in the year, he declares that he would like
to accept a mission to Egypt offered to him by
Caesar and Pompey, partly in order that he might for
a while be quit of Rome, and partly that Romans
might feel how ill they could do without him. He
then uses, for the first time, as far as I
am aware, a line from the Iliad, which is repeated
by him again and again, in part or in whole,
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to signify the restraint which is placed on him by
his own high character among his fellow citizens. I would
go to Egypt on this pleasant excursion, but that I
fear what the men of Troy and the Trojan women,
with their wide sweeping robes would say of me, And
what he asks woul the men of our party, the
Optimtes say, And what would Cato say, whose opinion is
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more to me than that of them all? And how
would history tell the story in future ages? But he
would like to go to Egypt, and he will wait
and see. Then, after various questions to Atticus, comes that
great one as to the augership of which so much
has been made by Cicero's enemies, quo quidem uno egor
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abistis cappi possim A few lines above he had been
speaking of another lure, that of the mission to Egypt.
He discusses that with his friend, and then goes on
in his half joking phrase. But this would have been
the real thing to catch me. Nothing caught him. He
was steadfast all through, excepting no offer of place from
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the conspirators by which his integrity or his honor could
be soiled. That it was so was well known to
history in the time of Quintillion, whose testimony as to
the Rapudiatus suigintiiratus his refusal of a place among the
twenty commissioners, has already been quoted. And yet biographers have
written of him as of one willing to sell his honor,
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his opinions, and the commonwealth for a pitiful bribe. Not
that he did do so, not that he attempted to
do it, but because in a half joking letter to
the friend of his bosom, he tells his friend which
way his tastes lay. He had been thinking of writing
a book on geography, and consulted Atticus on the subject,
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but in one of his letters he tells his friend
that he had abandoned the idea. The subject was too dull,
and if he took one side in a dispute that
was existing, he would be sure to fall under the
lash of the critics. On the other he is enjoying
his leisure as Antium and thinks it a much better
place than Rome. If the weather will not let him
catch fish at any rate, he can count the waves.
(14:17):
In all these letters, Cicero asks questions about his money
and his private affairs, about the mending of a wall, perhaps,
and adds something about his wife or daughter or son.
He is going from Antium to Formia, but must return
to Antium by a certain date because Tullia wants to
see the games. Then again he alludes to Clodius. Pompey
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had made a compact with Clodius, so at least Cicero
had heard that he Clodius, if elected for the tribunet,
would do nothing to injure Cicero. The assurance of such
a compact had no doubt been spread about for the
quieting of Cicero. But no such compact had been intended
to be kept unless cicer would be amenable, would take
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some of the good things offered to him, or at
any rate hold his peace. But Cicero affects to hope
that no such agreement may be kept. He is always
nicknaming Pompey, who during his Eastern campaign had taken Jerusalem,
and who now parodied the Africanus, the Asiaticus, and the
Macedonicus of the Scipios and Metelluses. If that Hirosulimerian candidate
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for popularity does not keep his word with me, I
shall be delighted if that be his return for my
speeches on his behalf the antipoonato Omnibus Pompeus, for instance,
I will play him such a turn of another kind
that he shall remember it. He begins to know what
the Triumvirate is doing with the Republic, but has not
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yet brought himself to suspect the blow that is to
fall on himself. They are going along very gaily, he says,
and did not make as much noise as one would
have expected. If Kate had been more on the alert,
things would not have gone so quickly. But the dishonesty
of others, who have allowed all the laws to be ignored,
has been worse than Cato. If we used to feel
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that the Senate took too much on itself, what shall
we say when that power has been transferred not to
the people, but of three utterly unscrupulous men. They can
make whom they will consuls, whom they will tribunes, so
that they may hide the very goiter of Vitinius under
a priest's robe. For himself, Cicero says, he will be
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contented to remain with his books if only Clodius will
allow him. If not, he will defend himself as for
his country. He has done more for his country than
has even been desired of him, and he thinks it
to be better to leave the helm in the hands
of pilots, however incompetent than himself to steer when passengers
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are so thankless. Then we find that he robs Portullia
of her promised pleasure at the games, because it will
be beneath his dignity to appear at them. He is
always very anxious for his friend's letters, depending on them
for news and for amusement. My messenger will return at once,
he says in one Therefore, though you are coming yourself
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very soon, send me a heavy letter, full not only
of news, but of your own ideas. In another, Cicero
the little sends greeting. He says in Greek to Titus
the Athenian, that is, to Titus Pomponius Atticus. The Greek
letters were probably traced by the child at his father's knee,
as Cicero held the pen of the stylus. In another letter,
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he declares that there at FORMII, Pompey's name of Magnus
is no more esteemed than that of divys belonging to Crassus.
In the next he called Pompey sam Sigeramus. We learn
from Josephus that there was a lady afterward in the
east in the time of Vitelius, who was daughter of
sam Sigheramus, king of the Emesie. It may probably be
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a royal family name. In choosing the absurd title, he
is again laughing at his party leader. Pompey had probably
boasted of his doings with the sam Sicaramus of the
day and the priests of Jerusalem. When this sam Sicuramus
of ours finds how ill he has spoken of, he
will rush headlong into revolution. He complains that he can
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do nothing at FORMII because of the visitors. No English
poet was ever so interviewed by American admirers. They came
at all hours, in numbers sufficient to fill a temple
at alone a gentleman's house. How can he write anything
requiring leisure in such a condition as this. Nevertheless, he
will attempt something. He goes on criticizing all that is
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done in Rome, especially what is done by Pompey, who
no doubt was vacillating sadly between Caesar, to whom he
was bound and Bibulous, the other consul to whom he
ought to have been bound. As being naturally on the
aristocratic side, he cannot for a moment keep his pen
from public matters, Nor, on the other hand, can he
refrain from declaring that he will apply himself wholly undividedly
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to his literature. Therefore, O, my Titus, let me settle
down to these glorious occupations, and returned to that which,
if I had been wise, I never should have left.
A day or two afterward, writing from the same place,
he asks what Arabakes is saying of him? Arabaces is
another name for Pompey, this Arabian chieftain. In the early
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summer of this year, Cicero returned to Rome, probably in
time to see Atticus, who was then about to leave
the city for his estates in Paris. We have a
letter written by him to his friend on the journey,
telling us that Caesar had made him two distinct offers,
evidently with the view of getting rid of him, but
in such a manner as would be gratifying to Cicero himself.
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Caesar asks him to go with him to Gaul as
the lieutenant, or, if that will not suit him, to
accept a free legation for the sake of paying a vow.
This latter was a kind of job by which Roman
senators got themselves sent forth on their private travels, with
all the apanages of a senator traveling on public business.
(20:17):
We have his argument as to both. Elsewhere he objects
to a liberal legatio as being a job. Here he
only points out that though it enforce his absence from
Rome at a time disagreeable to him, just when his
brother Quintus would return. It would not give him the
protection which he needs. Though he were traveling about the
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world as a senator on some pretended embassy, he would
still be open to the attacks of Clodius. He would
necessarily be absent, or he would not be an enjoyment
of his privilege. But by his very absence he would
find his position weakened. Whereas, as Caesar's appointed lieutenant, he
need not leave the city at once, and in that
position he would be quite safe against all that Clodius
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or other enemies could do to him. No indictment could
be made against a Roman while he was in the
employment of the state. It must be remembered, too, on
judging of these overtures, that both the one and the other,
and indeed all the offers then made to him, were
deemed to be highly honorable. As Rome then existed, the
free legation, the liberal Legatio Wuti Calza had no reference
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to parties. It was a job, no doubt, and in
the hands of the ordinary Roman aristocrat, likely to be
very onerous to the provincials, among whom the privileged senator
might travel, but it entailed no party adhesion. In this case,
it was intended only to guarantee the absence of a
man who might be troublesome in Rome. The other was
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the offer of genuine work, in which politics were not
at all concerned. Such a position was accepted by Quintus
al Cicero's brother, and in performance of the duties which
fell to him, he incurred terrible danger, having been nearly
destroyed by the Gauls in his winter quarters among the Nervee. Labienus,
who was Caesar's right hand man in Gaul, was of
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the same politics as Cicero, so much so that when
Caesar rebelled against the Republic, Labienus, true to the Republic,
would no longer fight on Caesar's side. It was open
to Cicero, without disloyalty, to accept the offer made to him,
but with an insight into what was coming, of which
he himself was hardly conscious, he could not bring himself
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to accept offers which in themselves were alluring, but which
would seem in future times to have implied on his
part an assent to the breaking up of the Republic.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
I delmitroas kitroyaas helkezipeplus what will be said of me
in history by my citizens if I now do simply
that which may best suit my own happiness.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Had he done so, Pliny and the others would not
have spoken of him as they have spoken, and it
would not have been worth the while of modern lovers
of Caesarism to write books against the one patriot.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Of his age.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
During the remainder of this year b. C. Fifty nine,
Cicero was at Rome and seems gradually to have become
aware that a personal attack was to be made upon him.
At the close of a long and remarkable letter written
to his brother Quintas in November, he explains the state
of his own mind, showing us who have now before
us the future which was hidden from him, how greatly
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mistaken he was as to the results which were to
be expected. He had been telling his brother how nearly
Cato had been murdered for calling Pompey in public a dictator.
Then he goes on to describe his own condition. You
may see from this what is the state of the republic.
As far as I am concerned. It seems that friends
will not be wanting to defend me they offer themselves
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in a wonderful way and promise assistance. I feel great
hope and still greater spirit, hope which tells me that
we shall be victors in the struggle, spirit which bids
me fear no casualty in the present state of public affairs.
But the matter stands in this way. If he, that is, Clodius,
should indict me in the court, all Italy would come
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to my defense, so that I should be acquitted with honor.
Should he attack me with open violence, I should have,
I think, not only my own party, but the world
at large to stand by me. All men promise me
their friends, their clients, their freedmen, their slaves, and even
their money. Our old body of aristocrats, Cato Bibulous, and
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the makers of fish ponds generally are wonderfully warm in
my cause. If any of these have heretofore been remiss,
now they join our party. From sheer hatred of these kings,
the Triumvirs. Pompey promises everything, and so does Caesar, whom
I only trust so far as I can see them.
(24:49):
Even the Triumphas promise him that he will be safe.
But his belief in Pompey's honesty is all but gone.
The coming tribunes are my friends, the consuls of next year.
Promise well, he was woefully mistaken. We have excellent titles,
citizens alive to their duty, demicious, Nigidius, Memius and Lentilus
(25:10):
are specially trustworthy. The others are good men. You may
therefore pluck up your courage and be confident. From this
we perceived that he had already formed the idea that
he might perhaps be required to fight for his position
as a Roman citizen. And it seems also that he
understood the cause of the coming conflict. The intention was
that he should be driven out of Rome by personal enmity.
(25:33):
Nothing is said in any of these letters of the
excuse to be used, though he knew well what that
excuse was to be. He was to be charged by
the Patrician tribune with having put Roman citizens to death
in opposition to the law. But there arises at this
time no question whether he had or had not been
justified in what he, as consul, had done to Lentulus
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and the others. Would Clodius be able to rouse a
mob against him, and if so, would see assist Clodius,
Or would Pompey, who still loom to his eyes as
the larger of the two men. He had ever been
the friend of Pompey, and Pompey had promised him all
manner of assistance. But he knew already that Pompey would
turn upon him, that Rome should turn upon him, Rome,
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which he had preserved from the torches of Catalan's conspirators,
that he could not bring himself to believe. We must
not pass over this long letter to Quintus without observing
that through it all the evil condition of the younger
brother's mind becomes apparent. The severity of his administration had
given offense. His punishments had been cruel, his letters had
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been rash, and his language violent. In short, we gather
from the brother's testimony that Quintus Cicero was very ill
fitted to be the civil governor of a province. The
only work which we have from Cicero belonging to this year,
except his letters, is the speech, or part of the
speech he made for Lucius Valerius Flaccus. Flaccus had been
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pride or when Cicero was consul, and had done good
service in the eyes of his superior officers. In the
matter of the Cataline conspiracy. He had then gone to
Asia as a governor, and after the Roman manner had
fleeced the province, that this was so. There is no doubt.
After his return he was accused, was defended by Cicero,
and was acquitted. Macrobius tells us that Cicero, by the
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happiness of a bon maaux, brought the accused off safely,
though he was manifestly guilty. He adds that Cicero took
care not to allow the joke to appear in the
published edition of his speech. There are parts of the
speech which have been preserved and are sufficiently amusing even
to us. He is very hard upon the Greeks of Asia,
the class from which the witnesses against Flaccus were taken.
(27:48):
We know here in England that a spaniel, a wife,
and a walnut tree may be beaten with advantage. Cicero
says that in Asia there is a proverb that a
Phrygian may be improved in the same way fiat experimentum
in corporeevili, it is declared through Asia that you should
take a carrion for your experiment. The last of the
(28:09):
Missians is the well known Asiatic term for the lowest
type of humanity. Look through all the comedies, you will
find the leading slave as a Lydian. Then he turns
to these poor Asiatics and asks them whether anyone can
be expected to think well of them when such is
their own testimony of themselves. He attacks the jew and
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speaks of the Jewish religion as a superstition worthy in
itself of no consideration. Pompey had spared the gold in
the Temple of Jerusalem because he thought it wise to
respect the religious prejudices of the people. But the gods
themselves had shown by subjecting the Jews to the Romans,
how little the gods had regarded these idolatrous worshippers. Such
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were the arguments used, and they prevailed with the judges
or jury. We should rather call them to whom were addressed.
End of Chapter eleven.
Chapter eleven, Part two of the Life of Cicero, Volume one.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Philip Jevons. The Life
of Cicero, Volume one by Anthony Trollope, Chapter eleven, The Triumvirate,
(00:20):
Part two, side note b C. Fifty nine I at
at forty eight. The year following was that of Caesar's
first consulship, which he held in conjunction with Bibulus, a
man who was altogether opposed to him in thought, in character,
and in action. So hostile were these two great officers
(00:41):
to each other that the one attempted to undo whatever
the other did. Bibulus was elected by bribery on behalf
of the Senate in order that he might be a
counterpoise to Caesar. But Caesar now was not only Caesar.
He was Caesar, Pompey and Crassus united with all the dependents,
all their clients, all their greedy hangers on, to give
(01:04):
this compact something of the strength of family union. Pompey,
who was now nearly fifty years of age, took in
marriage Caesar's daughter Julia, who was a quarter of a
century his junior. But Pompey was a man who could
endear himself to women, and the opinion seems to be
general that had not Julia died in childbirth, the friendship
between the men would have been more lasting. But for
(01:26):
Caesar's purposes, the duration of this year and the next
was enough. Bibulus was a laughing stock, the mere shadow
of a consul when opposed to such an enemy. He
tried to use all the old forms of the republic
with the object of stopping Caesar in his career, but
Caesar only ridiculed him, and Pompey, though we can imagine
that he did not laugh much, did as Caesar would
(01:49):
have him. Bibulus was an auger and observed the heavens
when political maneuvers were going on, which he wished to stop.
This was the old Roman system for using religion as
a drag upon progressive movements. No work of state could
be carried on if the heavens were declared to be unpropitious,
and an augur could always say that the heavens were
(02:10):
unpropitious if he pleased. This was the recognized constitutional mode
of obstruction, and was quite in accord with the feelings
of the people. Pompey alone, or cross Us with him,
would certainly have submitted to an auga. But Caesar was
above augurs. Whatever he chose to have carried, he carried
with what approach he could to constitutional usage, but with
(02:33):
whatever departure from constitutional usage he found to be necessary.
What was the condition of the people of Rome at
that time? It is difficult to learn from the conflicting
statements of historians that Cicero had till lately been popular.
We know we are told that Bibulous was popular when
he opposed Caesar. Of personal popularity up to this time,
(02:55):
I doubt whether Caesar had achieved much. Yet we learn
that when Ambibulous, with Cato and Lucullus endeavored to carry
out their constitutional threats, they were dragged and knocked about,
and one of them nearly killed. Of the illegality of
Caesar's proceedings, there can be no doubt the tribunition veto
(03:15):
was interposed. Caesar contented himself with disregarding it. This is
quoted from the German historian, who intends to leave an
impression that Caesar was great and wise in all that
he did, and he tells us also of the obstinate,
weak creature Bibulous, and of the dogmatical fool Cato. I
doubt whether there was anything of true popular ferment, or
(03:38):
that there was any commotion except that which was made
by the ruffs who had attached themselves for pay to Caesar,
or to Pompey, or Auto Crassus, or as it might be,
to Bibulus and the other leaders. The violence did not
amount to more than nearly killing this man or the other.
Some Roman street fights were no doubt more bloody, as
(03:59):
for instance, that in which seven years afterwards Clodius was
slaughtered by Milo, But the blood was made to flow
not by the people, but by hired bravos. The Roman
citizens of the day were I think, very quiescent. Neither
pride nor misery stirred them much. Caesar, perceiving this, was
(04:19):
aware that he might disregard Bibulus and his auguries, so
long as he had a band of Ruffians about him
sufficient for the purposes of the hour. It was in
order that he might thus prevail. That the coalition had
been made, as Pompey and Crassus, his colleague Bibulous, seeing
how matters were going, retired to his own house, and
there went through a fuss of consular enactments. Caesar carried
(04:42):
all his purposes, and the people were content to laugh,
dividing him into two personages, and talking of Julius and
Caesar as the two consuls of the year. It was
in this way that he procured to be allotted to
him by the people his irregular command in Gaul. He
was to be pro consul, not for one year, with
perhaps a prolongation for two or three, but for an
(05:05):
established period of five. He was to have the great
province of Cesalpine Gaul, that is to say, the whole
of what we now call Italy, from the foot of
the Alps down to a line running from sea to
sea just north of Florence. To this trans Alpine Gaul
was afterward added the province so named, possessed at that
time by the Romans, was called Nadbonensis, a country comparatively insignificant,
(05:30):
running from the Alps to the Pyrenees along the Mediterranean.
The Gaul or Gallia of which Caesar speaks when in
the opening words of his commentary he tells us that
it was divided into three parts, was altogether beyond the
Roman province which was assigned to him. Caesar, when he
undertook his government, can hardly have dreamed of subjecting to
(05:51):
Roman rule the vast territories which were then known as Gallia,
beyond the frontiers of the Empire, and which we now
call France. But he caused himself to be supported by
an enormous army. There were stationed three legions on the
Italian side of the Alps, and one on the other.
These were all to be under his command for five
(06:11):
years certain and amounted to a force of not less
than thirty thousand men, as no troops could constitutionally be
stationed in Italy proper. The commander of the legions of
Northern Italy and Gaul says Monson, dominated at the same
time Italy and Rome for the next five years, and
he who was master for five years, was master for
(06:33):
life side note b c. Fifty nine at forty eight.
Such was the condition of Rome during the second year
of the Triumvirate, in which Caesar was consul and prepared
the way for the powers which he afterward exercised. Cicero
would not come to his call. And therefore, as we
are told, Clodius was let loose upon him. As he
(06:56):
would not come to Caesar's call, it was necessary that
he should be suppress. And Clodius, notwithstanding all constitutional difficulties,
nay impossibilities, was made tribune of the people. Things had
now so far advanced with the Caesar that as Cicero,
who would not come to his call, must be disposed
of after some fashion. Till we have thought much of it,
(07:20):
often of it, till we have looked thoroughly into it,
we find ourselves tempted to marvel at Cicero's blindness. Surely,
a man so gifted must have known enough of the
state of Rome to have been aware that there was
no room left for one honest, patriotic, constitutional politician. Was
it not plain to him that, if Natus ad eustitiam
(07:43):
he could not bring himself to serve with those who
were intent on discarding the republic, he had better retire
among his books, his busts, and his literary luxuries, and
leave the government of the country to those who understood
its people. And we are the more prone to say
and think all this, because the man himself continually said
it and continually thought it. In one of the letters
(08:06):
written early in the year to Atticus from his villa
at Antium, he declares very plainly how it is with him,
and this too in a letter written in good humor,
not in a despondent frame of mind, in which he
is able pleasantly to ridicule his enemy Clodius, who it
seems had expressed a wish to go on an embassy
to Tigrani's king of Armenia. Do not think, he says,
(08:28):
that I am complaining of all this because I myself
am desirous of being engaged in public affairs. Even while
it was mine to sit at the helm, I was
tired of the work. But now, when I am, in
truth driven out of the ship, when the rodder has
not been thrown down but seized out of my hands,
how should I take a pleasure in looking from the
(08:49):
shore at the wrecks which these other pilots have made.
But the study of human nature tells us and all
experience that men are unable to fathom their own desires
and fail to govern themselves by the wisdom which is
at their fingers. Ends the retiring Prime Minister cannot but
hanker after the seals and the ribbons and the titles
(09:11):
of office, even though his soul be able to rise
above considerations of emolument, And there will creep into a
man's mind an idea that, though reform of abuses from
other sources may be impossible, if he were there once more,
the evil could at least be mitigated, might possibly be cured.
So it was during this period of his life with
(09:33):
Cicero he did believe that political justice exercised by himself,
with such assistance as his eloquence, would obtain, for it
might be efficacious for preserving the republic. In spite of Caesar,
and of Pompey and of Crassus. He did not yet
believe that these men would consent to such an outrage
as his banishment. It must have been incredible to him
(09:55):
that Pompey should assent to it. When the blow came,
it crushed him for the time, But he retricked his
beams and struggled on to the end, as we shall
see if we follow his life to the close. Such
was the intended purpose of the degradation of Clodius. This, however,
was not at once declared it was said that Clodius,
(10:18):
as tribune, intended rather to oppose Caesar than to assist him. He,
at any rate, chose that Cicero should so believe, and
sent Curio, a young man to whom Cicero was attached,
to visit the Orator at his villar at Antium and
to declare these friendly purposes. According to the story told
by Cicero, Clodius was prepared to oppose the triumvirate and
(10:39):
the other young men of Rome. The Gerness d'auret, of
which both Curio and Clodius were members, were said to
be equally hostile to Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, whose doings
in opposition to the Constitution were already evident enough so
that it suited Cicero to believe that the rising aristocracy
of Rome would oppose them. But the aristocracy of Rome,
(11:01):
whether old or young, cared for nothing but its fish
ponds and its amusements. Cicero spent the earlier part of
the year out of Rome, among his various villas, at Tusculanum,
at Antium, and at Formiae. The purport of all his
letters at this period is the same to complain of
the condition of the republic, and especially of the treachery
(11:23):
of his friend Pompey. Though there be much of despondency
in his tone, there is enough also of high spirit
to make us feel that his literary aspirations are not
out of place, though mingled with his political wailing. The
time will soon come when his trust, even in literature,
will fail him.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
For a while.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Early in the year, he declares that he would like
to accept a mission to Egypt offered to him by
Caesar and Pompey, partly in order that he might for
a while be quit of Rome, and partly that Romans
might feel how ill they could do without him. He
then uses, for the first time, as far as I
am aware, a line from the Iliad, which is repeated
by him again and again, in part or in whole,
(12:05):
to signify the restraint which is placed on him by
his own high character among his fellow citizens. I would
go to Egypt on this pleasant excursion, but that I
fear what the men of Troy and the Trojan women,
with their wide sweeping robes would say of me, And
what he asks woul the men of our party, the
Optimtes say, And what would Cato say, whose opinion is
(12:30):
more to me than that of them all? And how
would history tell the story in future ages? But he
would like to go to Egypt, and he will wait
and see. Then, after various questions to Atticus, comes that
great one as to the augership of which so much
has been made by Cicero's enemies, quo quidem uno egor
(12:51):
abistis cappi possim A few lines above he had been
speaking of another lure, that of the mission to Egypt.
He discusses that with his friend, and then goes on
in his half joking phrase. But this would have been
the real thing to catch me. Nothing caught him. He
was steadfast all through, excepting no offer of place from
(13:13):
the conspirators by which his integrity or his honor could
be soiled. That it was so was well known to
history in the time of Quintillion, whose testimony as to
the Rapudiatus suigintiiratus his refusal of a place among the
twenty commissioners, has already been quoted. And yet biographers have
written of him as of one willing to sell his honor,
(13:34):
his opinions, and the commonwealth for a pitiful bribe. Not
that he did do so, not that he attempted to
do it, but because in a half joking letter to
the friend of his bosom, he tells his friend which
way his tastes lay. He had been thinking of writing
a book on geography, and consulted Atticus on the subject,
(13:55):
but in one of his letters he tells his friend
that he had abandoned the idea. The subject was too dull,
and if he took one side in a dispute that
was existing, he would be sure to fall under the
lash of the critics. On the other he is enjoying
his leisure as Antium and thinks it a much better
place than Rome. If the weather will not let him
catch fish at any rate, he can count the waves.
(14:17):
In all these letters, Cicero asks questions about his money
and his private affairs, about the mending of a wall, perhaps,
and adds something about his wife or daughter or son.
He is going from Antium to Formia, but must return
to Antium by a certain date because Tullia wants to
see the games. Then again he alludes to Clodius. Pompey
(14:39):
had made a compact with Clodius, so at least Cicero
had heard that he Clodius, if elected for the tribunet,
would do nothing to injure Cicero. The assurance of such
a compact had no doubt been spread about for the
quieting of Cicero. But no such compact had been intended
to be kept unless cicer would be amenable, would take
(15:01):
some of the good things offered to him, or at
any rate hold his peace. But Cicero affects to hope
that no such agreement may be kept. He is always
nicknaming Pompey, who during his Eastern campaign had taken Jerusalem,
and who now parodied the Africanus, the Asiaticus, and the
Macedonicus of the Scipios and Metelluses. If that Hirosulimerian candidate
(15:26):
for popularity does not keep his word with me, I
shall be delighted if that be his return for my
speeches on his behalf the antipoonato Omnibus Pompeus, for instance,
I will play him such a turn of another kind
that he shall remember it. He begins to know what
the Triumvirate is doing with the Republic, but has not
(15:48):
yet brought himself to suspect the blow that is to
fall on himself. They are going along very gaily, he says,
and did not make as much noise as one would
have expected. If Kate had been more on the alert,
things would not have gone so quickly. But the dishonesty
of others, who have allowed all the laws to be ignored,
has been worse than Cato. If we used to feel
(16:11):
that the Senate took too much on itself, what shall
we say when that power has been transferred not to
the people, but of three utterly unscrupulous men. They can
make whom they will consuls, whom they will tribunes, so
that they may hide the very goiter of Vitinius under
a priest's robe. For himself, Cicero says, he will be
(16:34):
contented to remain with his books if only Clodius will
allow him. If not, he will defend himself as for
his country. He has done more for his country than
has even been desired of him, and he thinks it
to be better to leave the helm in the hands
of pilots, however incompetent than himself to steer when passengers
(16:54):
are so thankless. Then we find that he robs Portullia
of her promised pleasure at the games, because it will
be beneath his dignity to appear at them. He is
always very anxious for his friend's letters, depending on them
for news and for amusement. My messenger will return at once,
he says in one Therefore, though you are coming yourself
(17:16):
very soon, send me a heavy letter, full not only
of news, but of your own ideas. In another, Cicero
the little sends greeting. He says in Greek to Titus
the Athenian, that is, to Titus Pomponius Atticus. The Greek
letters were probably traced by the child at his father's knee,
as Cicero held the pen of the stylus. In another letter,
(17:40):
he declares that there at FORMII, Pompey's name of Magnus
is no more esteemed than that of divys belonging to Crassus.
In the next he called Pompey sam Sigeramus. We learn
from Josephus that there was a lady afterward in the
east in the time of Vitelius, who was daughter of
sam Sigheramus, king of the Emesie. It may probably be
(18:02):
a royal family name. In choosing the absurd title, he
is again laughing at his party leader. Pompey had probably
boasted of his doings with the sam Sicaramus of the
day and the priests of Jerusalem. When this sam Sicuramus
of ours finds how ill he has spoken of, he
will rush headlong into revolution. He complains that he can
(18:26):
do nothing at FORMII because of the visitors. No English
poet was ever so interviewed by American admirers. They came
at all hours, in numbers sufficient to fill a temple
at alone a gentleman's house. How can he write anything
requiring leisure in such a condition as this. Nevertheless, he
will attempt something. He goes on criticizing all that is
(18:47):
done in Rome, especially what is done by Pompey, who
no doubt was vacillating sadly between Caesar, to whom he
was bound and Bibulous, the other consul to whom he
ought to have been bound. As being naturally on the
aristocratic side, he cannot for a moment keep his pen
from public matters, Nor, on the other hand, can he
refrain from declaring that he will apply himself wholly undividedly
(19:11):
to his literature. Therefore, O, my Titus, let me settle
down to these glorious occupations, and returned to that which,
if I had been wise, I never should have left.
A day or two afterward, writing from the same place,
he asks what Arabakes is saying of him? Arabaces is
another name for Pompey, this Arabian chieftain. In the early
(19:36):
summer of this year, Cicero returned to Rome, probably in
time to see Atticus, who was then about to leave
the city for his estates in Paris. We have a
letter written by him to his friend on the journey,
telling us that Caesar had made him two distinct offers,
evidently with the view of getting rid of him, but
in such a manner as would be gratifying to Cicero himself.
(19:57):
Caesar asks him to go with him to Gaul as
the lieutenant, or, if that will not suit him, to
accept a free legation for the sake of paying a vow.
This latter was a kind of job by which Roman
senators got themselves sent forth on their private travels, with
all the apanages of a senator traveling on public business.
(20:17):
We have his argument as to both. Elsewhere he objects
to a liberal legatio as being a job. Here he
only points out that though it enforce his absence from
Rome at a time disagreeable to him, just when his
brother Quintus would return. It would not give him the
protection which he needs. Though he were traveling about the
(20:38):
world as a senator on some pretended embassy, he would
still be open to the attacks of Clodius. He would
necessarily be absent, or he would not be an enjoyment
of his privilege. But by his very absence he would
find his position weakened. Whereas, as Caesar's appointed lieutenant, he
need not leave the city at once, and in that
position he would be quite safe against all that Clodius
(21:00):
or other enemies could do to him. No indictment could
be made against a Roman while he was in the
employment of the state. It must be remembered, too, on
judging of these overtures, that both the one and the other,
and indeed all the offers then made to him, were
deemed to be highly honorable. As Rome then existed, the
free legation, the liberal Legatio Wuti Calza had no reference
(21:24):
to parties. It was a job, no doubt, and in
the hands of the ordinary Roman aristocrat, likely to be
very onerous to the provincials, among whom the privileged senator
might travel, but it entailed no party adhesion. In this case,
it was intended only to guarantee the absence of a
man who might be troublesome in Rome. The other was
(21:47):
the offer of genuine work, in which politics were not
at all concerned. Such a position was accepted by Quintus
al Cicero's brother, and in performance of the duties which
fell to him, he incurred terrible danger, having been nearly
destroyed by the Gauls in his winter quarters among the Nervee. Labienus,
who was Caesar's right hand man in Gaul, was of
(22:08):
the same politics as Cicero, so much so that when
Caesar rebelled against the Republic, Labienus, true to the Republic,
would no longer fight on Caesar's side. It was open
to Cicero, without disloyalty, to accept the offer made to him,
but with an insight into what was coming, of which
he himself was hardly conscious, he could not bring himself
(22:29):
to accept offers which in themselves were alluring, but which
would seem in future times to have implied on his
part an assent to the breaking up of the Republic.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
I delmitroas kitroyaas helkezipeplus what will be said of me
in history by my citizens if I now do simply
that which may best suit my own happiness.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Had he done so, Pliny and the others would not
have spoken of him as they have spoken, and it
would not have been worth the while of modern lovers
of Caesarism to write books against the one patriot.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Of his age.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
During the remainder of this year b. C. Fifty nine,
Cicero was at Rome and seems gradually to have become
aware that a personal attack was to be made upon him.
At the close of a long and remarkable letter written
to his brother Quintas in November, he explains the state
of his own mind, showing us who have now before
us the future which was hidden from him, how greatly
(23:25):
mistaken he was as to the results which were to
be expected. He had been telling his brother how nearly
Cato had been murdered for calling Pompey in public a dictator.
Then he goes on to describe his own condition. You
may see from this what is the state of the republic.
As far as I am concerned. It seems that friends
will not be wanting to defend me they offer themselves
(23:47):
in a wonderful way and promise assistance. I feel great
hope and still greater spirit, hope which tells me that
we shall be victors in the struggle, spirit which bids
me fear no casualty in the present state of public affairs.
But the matter stands in this way. If he, that is, Clodius,
should indict me in the court, all Italy would come
(24:09):
to my defense, so that I should be acquitted with honor.
Should he attack me with open violence, I should have,
I think, not only my own party, but the world
at large to stand by me. All men promise me
their friends, their clients, their freedmen, their slaves, and even
their money. Our old body of aristocrats, Cato Bibulous, and
(24:29):
the makers of fish ponds generally are wonderfully warm in
my cause. If any of these have heretofore been remiss,
now they join our party. From sheer hatred of these kings,
the Triumvirs. Pompey promises everything, and so does Caesar, whom
I only trust so far as I can see them.
(24:49):
Even the Triumphas promise him that he will be safe.
But his belief in Pompey's honesty is all but gone.
The coming tribunes are my friends, the consuls of next year.
Promise well, he was woefully mistaken. We have excellent titles,
citizens alive to their duty, demicious, Nigidius, Memius and Lentilus
(25:10):
are specially trustworthy. The others are good men. You may
therefore pluck up your courage and be confident. From this
we perceived that he had already formed the idea that
he might perhaps be required to fight for his position
as a Roman citizen. And it seems also that he
understood the cause of the coming conflict. The intention was
that he should be driven out of Rome by personal enmity.
(25:33):
Nothing is said in any of these letters of the
excuse to be used, though he knew well what that
excuse was to be. He was to be charged by
the Patrician tribune with having put Roman citizens to death
in opposition to the law. But there arises at this
time no question whether he had or had not been
justified in what he, as consul, had done to Lentulus
(25:54):
and the others. Would Clodius be able to rouse a
mob against him, and if so, would see assist Clodius,
Or would Pompey, who still loom to his eyes as
the larger of the two men. He had ever been
the friend of Pompey, and Pompey had promised him all
manner of assistance. But he knew already that Pompey would
turn upon him, that Rome should turn upon him, Rome,
(26:17):
which he had preserved from the torches of Catalan's conspirators,
that he could not bring himself to believe. We must
not pass over this long letter to Quintus without observing
that through it all the evil condition of the younger
brother's mind becomes apparent. The severity of his administration had
given offense. His punishments had been cruel, his letters had
(26:39):
been rash, and his language violent. In short, we gather
from the brother's testimony that Quintus Cicero was very ill
fitted to be the civil governor of a province. The
only work which we have from Cicero belonging to this year,
except his letters, is the speech, or part of the
speech he made for Lucius Valerius Flaccus. Flaccus had been
(27:01):
pride or when Cicero was consul, and had done good
service in the eyes of his superior officers. In the
matter of the Cataline conspiracy. He had then gone to
Asia as a governor, and after the Roman manner had
fleeced the province, that this was so. There is no doubt.
After his return he was accused, was defended by Cicero,
and was acquitted. Macrobius tells us that Cicero, by the
(27:25):
happiness of a bon maaux, brought the accused off safely,
though he was manifestly guilty. He adds that Cicero took
care not to allow the joke to appear in the
published edition of his speech. There are parts of the
speech which have been preserved and are sufficiently amusing even
to us. He is very hard upon the Greeks of Asia,
the class from which the witnesses against Flaccus were taken.
(27:48):
We know here in England that a spaniel, a wife,
and a walnut tree may be beaten with advantage. Cicero
says that in Asia there is a proverb that a
Phrygian may be improved in the same way fiat experimentum
in corporeevili, it is declared through Asia that you should
take a carrion for your experiment. The last of the
(28:09):
Missians is the well known Asiatic term for the lowest
type of humanity. Look through all the comedies, you will
find the leading slave as a Lydian. Then he turns
to these poor Asiatics and asks them whether anyone can
be expected to think well of them when such is
their own testimony of themselves. He attacks the jew and
(28:30):
speaks of the Jewish religion as a superstition worthy in
itself of no consideration. Pompey had spared the gold in
the Temple of Jerusalem because he thought it wise to
respect the religious prejudices of the people. But the gods
themselves had shown by subjecting the Jews to the Romans,
how little the gods had regarded these idolatrous worshippers. Such
(28:53):
were the arguments used, and they prevailed with the judges
or jury. We should rather call them to whom were addressed.
End of Chapter eleven.
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