Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/840

CICERO. 740 CICERO. a complete course of training in oratory. At the same time lie studied philosophy under three successive instructors, of the Ei)ieureaii, Aca- demic, and Stoic schools, and negl(?eted no mental exercise, however arduous, which might con- duce to his future eminence; being thus early of the opinion which he afterwards maintained in his treatise Dc Oratore, that an orator should possess almost universal knowledge. With the exception of a brief cani])aigii under Sulla, in the Social War, he passed his time in these pre- liminary studies until his twenty-sixth year, when he began to plead in public. In one of his earliest causes he distinguished himself by defending the rights of Roseius, a private citizen, against one of the favorites of Sulla, who was then dictator. Soon after, for the benefit of his health, and to pursue his oratorical studies, he traveled to the chief seats of learning in Greece and Asia, and on his return was regarded as second to no orator at the Roman bar. Having been elected qu;estor (B.C. 76), he was ajipointcd by lot to a government in Sicily, a post which he filled with great ability, and to the entire sat- isfaction of those whom he governed. Some years after his return he laid the Sicilians under still greater obligation by his successful prosecu- tion to their )>net(ir. Verres, against wlioni ho prepared no fewer than six orations, although the first had the eti'eet of disheartening the accused so effectually that he vohnitaiily retired into exile. This was Cicero's first great triumph, for Verres had as his counsel and advocate the famous pU>ader Hortensius, who was at that time the acknowledged head of the Roman bar. In B.C. 60 Cicero filled the office of ivdile. and in 66 that of pra>tor. Supported by Pompcius, whose favor he had gained by his advocacy of the Jla- nilian Law. giving to that general the command of the Mithridatic War, Cicero was at length elected, by an overwhelming majority, to the consulship (li.c. 6.3). His tenure of oflice was rendered memorable by the conspiracy of Cati- line, which he frustrated with admirable skill and promptitude. (See C.tii.ixe.) The highest praises were showered upon Cicero; he was hailed by Cato and Catullus as the "father of his country':' and public thanUsuivings in his name were voted to the gods. But his ])opularity did not la.st long after the expirati(m of his consul- ship. His enemies charged him with a public crime in having put the conspiring nobles to death vithout a formal trial, and he' found it necessary to leave Rome, and to take up his residence in Tiiessahmiea (n.c. 58). A formal edict of banishment was pronounced against him, but he was recalled from exile in about .sixteen months, and on his return to Rome was received with great enthusiasm. His recovered dignity, however, soon excited the envy of the very party in the Senate with which he had desired to make common cause: while I*(mipeius and Ciiesar, the greatest powers in the State, from whose enmity he had most to dread, courted his alliance and cooperation. Thus, while preserving an ajjpearance of inde- pendence, he was betrayed into many actions which he could not but regard as huniiliatins, and which, by increasing the |)iiwer of the tri- umvirs, led indirectly to the riin of the Re- public. A remarkable exception to this trinnning policy is to be found in his assisting Milo when suing for the consulship. xVgainst the wish of PompeiuSj and in spile of the hostile feeling of the populace, he defended him after he had slain the demagogue Clodius in an accidental encounter. During this period he composed his works, De Onilorc, De h'epiibUca, and IJc Legi- bus. After a year's admirable administration of the Province of Cilieia (B.C. nl to 50). he re- turned to Italy on the eve of the Civil War. With the convietions which he avowed, there was but one course which it would have been honor- able for him to pursue — to enlist himself, at all hazards, on the side of Pompcius and the Repub- lic. But instead of this he hesitated, balanced the claims of duty and of interest, blamed Pom- peius for his want of preparation, and criticised the plan of his campaign, even after he had joined the army of the Senate, so that Pom- pcius found his cooperation more annoying than his ojiposition. After the battle of Phar- salia had wrecked the Ponijjeian cause, Cic- ero abruptly ijuitled his friends, and resolved to throw himself upon the generosity of the conqueror. After nine months' miserable suspense at Brundisium. he was kindly re- ceived by Coesar. whom he followed to l{ome. During the years which ensued he remained in comparative retirement, composing his l^riiicipal works in i)hilosophy and rhetoric, including those entitled (halor; Hortrnsius ; De Fiiiibiis: Tun- culdiiw JJifiiiiitotionts : De yotiira Deoruiii : De Senectute: De Amicilia; and De 0/)iciis. On the death of Csesar. he was disposed to unite his in- terests with those of Brutus and the other conspirators, but was restrained by dictates of prudence. In the civil disturbances which fol- lowed, lie espoused the cause of Oetavianus, and composed his denunciatory orations against . - tonius, which are known as the Pliilippies. These orations were the occasion of his death. When Oot.avianus and Lcpidus joined with Antonius in a triumvirate, Cicero was among the proscribed, and his life was relentlessly sought. The sol- diers of Antonius overtook him while his attend- ants were bearing him, now old and in an in- firm state of health, from his Formian villa to Caieta, where he intended to embark. He met his death with greater fortitude than he had shown during many of the untoward incidents of his life. Forbidding his attendants to make any resistance, he stretched forward in the litter, and oflFered his neck to the sword of his execu- tioners. He died in the sixty-fourth year of his age, on December 7, B.C. 43. As a man. Ciiero was high-minded, generous, and possessed at all times of excellent inten- tions; yet he was lacking in moral courage; he was intensely egoistic and so unstable that he failed to iiii|>ress his ideas upon those about liim. His very sensitiveness and his high-strung, emotional nature, which made him so successful as an orator and as an interpreter of literary themes, were fatal to his ambition as a states- man. He lacked the intense conviction of a man like Cato, and he lacked also the cool, haughty courage and vnishaken nerve of Ca-sar. He al- ways saw with fatal facility the strength of each side of every quistion. so that he was coiitimiallv wavering between one position and amilluT. . swayed by the impulses of the moment and ut- terly devoid of that grim tenacity of purpose which holds fast to the end. This is the reason wliv, in the stormv times which attended and