Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/765

CICERO. time of his reformed mode of life, and diligent ap- plication to philosophy under Cratippusof Mytilene — representations confirmed by the testimony of various individuals who visited him at that period. (Ad Alt. xiv. 16, XV. 4, 6, 17, 20, xvi. 1, odFam. xii. 16.) After the death of Caesar he was raised to the rank of military tribune by Brutus, gained over the legion commanded by L. Piso, the lieu- tenant of Antonius, defeated and took prisoner C. Antonius, and did much good service in the course •f the Macedonian campaign. When the republi- can army was broken up by the rout at Philippi, he joined Sext. Pompeius in Sicily, and taking ad- vantage of the amnesty in favour of exiles, which formed one of the terms of the convention between that chief and the triumvirs when they concluded a short-lived peace (b. c. 39), returned to the metropolis. Here he lived in retirement and ob- scurity, until Octavianus, touched perhaps with remorse on account of his former treachery to the family, caused him to be admitted into the college of augurs, and after his final rupture with Anto- ny, assumed him as his colleague in the consul- ship, (b. c. 30, from 13th Sept.) By a singular coincidence, the despatch announcing the capture of the fleet of Antony, which was immediately fol- lowed by his death, was addressed to the new consul in his official capacity, and thus, says Plutarch, " the divine justice reserved the com- pletion of Antony's pimishraent for the house of Cicero," for the arrival of the intelligence was im- mediately followed by a decree that all statues and monuments of Antony should be destroyed, and that no individual of that family should in time coming bear the name of Marcus. Middleton has Ihllen into the mistake of supposing that the victory thus announced was the battle of Actium, but this was fought about eleven months before the event in question. Soon after the termination of his office, Cicero was nominated governor of Asia, or, according to others, of Syria, and we hear no more of him. Young Cicero was one of those characters whose name would never have appeared on the page of history had it not been for the fame of his father ; and that fame proved to a certain extent a misfor- tune, since it attracted the eyes of the world to va- rious follies and vices which might have escaped un- noticed in one enjoying a less illustrious parentage. Although naturally indolent {ad Att. vi. 1), the advantages of education were by no means lost upon him, as we may infer from the style and tone of those two epistles which have been preserved {ad Fam. xvi. 21, 25), which prove that the praise bestowed on his compositions by his father did not proceed from mere blind partiality {ad Att. xiv. 7. XV. 17), while his merits as a soldier seem unques- tionable. Even the stories of his dissipation scarcely justify the bitterness of Seneca and Pliny, the lat- ter of whom records, upon the authority of Tergilla, that he was able to swallow two congii of wine at a draught, and that on one occasion, when intoxi- cated, he threw a cup at M. Agrippa, an anecdote which Middleton, who is determined to see no fault in any one bearing the name of Cicero, oddly enough quotes as an example of courage and high spirit. (PHn. H. N. xxii. 3, &c., xiv. 28; Senec. Suasar. 6, de Bene/, iv. 30 ; Plut. Cic. and Brut.; Appian, B. C. iv. 19, 20, v. 2 ; Dion Cass. xiv. 15, xlvi. 3, 18, 41, 19.) CICURINUS. 747 8. Q. TuLLius Cicero, son of No. 6, and of Pomponia, sister of Atticus, must have been bom about B. c. 66 or 67, for we find that it was pro- posed to invest him with the manly gown in the year B.C. 51 {ad Att. v. 20). He passed a consi- derable portion of his boyhood with his cousin Marcus, under the eye of his uncle, whom he ac- companied to Cilicia, and who at an early period remarked his restless vehemence and self-confidence, observing that he required the curb, while his own son stood in need of the spur {ad Att. vi. 1, 3, 7), although he at the same time had formed a favour- able opinion of his disposition from the propriety with which he conducted himself amidst the wrangling of his parents {ad Att. I. c). Before leaving Cicilia, however, he appears to have begun to entertain some doubts of his nephew's upright- ness, and these suspicions were fully verified by a letter which the youth, tempted it would seem by the prospect of a great reward, despatched to Caesar soon after the outbreak of the civil war, betraying the design which his father and his uncle had formed of quitting Italy. {Ad Att. x. 4^ 7.) His unamiable temper broke forth with savage violence after the battle of Pharsalia, when he loaded his uncle with the most virulent vituperation in hopes that he might thus the more easily propitiate the conqueror. Having obtamed pardon from Caesar he accompanied him to Spain, ever seeking to gain favour by railing against his own nearest relations, and after the death of the dictator was for a while the right-hand man of Antony {ad Att. xiv. 20), but, having taken some offence, with characteristic fickleness he went over to Brutus and Cassius, by whom he was kindly received, was in consequence included in the proscription of the triumvirs, and was put to death at Rome in b. c. 43. He is said on this occasion to have in some degree made amends for his former errors by the steadfastness with which he refused to divulge the place where his father was concealed, even when pressed by torture. (Dion Cass, xlvii. 10.) [W. R.] CICURrNUS, the name of a patrician family of the Veturia gens. Varro says (Z. L. vii. 91, ed. Miiller), that the Veturii obtained the surname of Cicurii from their quiet and domesticated {cicur) disposition. Cicurinus seems to have been the name of two distinct families of the Veturia gens, which were called respectively the Crassi Cicurini and Gemini Cicurini : the members of each are given below in chronological order. 1. P. Veturius Geminus Cicurinus, consul B. c. 499 with T. Aebutius Elva. In this year siege was laid to Fidenae, Crustumeria was taken, and Praeneste revolted from the Latins to the Romans. In Livy (ii. 19) his praenomen is Caius, but Diony- sius (v. 58) has Publius; and the latter name is pre- ferable, as it seems likely enough that the P. Vetu- rius, who was one of the first two quaestors, was the same as the consul, (Plut, Poplic 12.) 2. T. Veturius Geminus Cicurinus, consul a c. 494 with A. Virginius Tricostus Caelioman- tanus, in which year the plebs seceded to the sacred mountain, and the tribunate of the plebs was esta- blished. Cicurinus was sent against the Aequi, who invaded the Latin territory this year; but they retired at his approach, and took refuge in the mountains. (Liv. ii. 28-30 ; Dionys. vi. 34 j Ascon. in Cornel, p. 76, ed. Orelli.) 3. T. Veturius Geminus Cicurinus, consul & c. 462, with L. Lucretius Triciptinus, defeated