James Leigh Strachan-Davidson

“ One more cause of demoralisation must not be forgotten. The Roman oligarchy owed its present position to the sword of Sulla, and had founded its domination on the slaughter and robbery of all its principal opponents. Such a past is enough to sap the rigour of any body of politicians; it leads them to look to mere brute force to clear a way for them out of their perplexities; it seems to absolve them from the necessity for wisdom and prescience and statesman-like capacity, and teaches them to evade the task of finding a solution for political problems. ”

“ The reflection on human nothingness by one who contemplates the ruins of by-gone cities and empires is a topic for every age. But Servius has special considerations to urge, which are happily not of so universal application: "Do you grieve for her lot, who is taken away from the evil to come? who has seen the great days of the Republic, and has expired with its expiration? Does it not often occur to you, as it does to me, that we have fallen on times in which those are to be congratulated who can pass painlessly from life to death? Why be so deeply stirred by a private grief? ”

“ Cæsar as consul had done fearful mischief to Rome, but the Romans might well condone it in consideration of the splendid deeds of the proconsul. The doubt arose when men looked to the future. Cæsar had shown himself utterly unscrupulous; he had trampled on all law and constitution. Could such a man be trusted with power? Would not the acquiescence in Cæsar's supremacy mean the servitude of the commonwealth? These anxieties, though but dimly felt, certainly affected the minds both of Cicero and Pompey at this time. ”

“ I am glad to hear that you profess yourself desirous of promoting peace between citizens. If you connect that peace with liberty, you will do good service to the State and to your own reputation. But if your peace is to restore a traitor to the possession of an unbridled tyranny, then let me tell you that all true men have made up their minds to accept death rather than servitude. You will therefore act more wisely, to my judgment, if you decline to meddle with projects of accommodation which do not commend themselves to the Senate or to the People or to any loyal man. ”

“ There is no guard set upon the gates, no ambush upon the road. If anyone wishes to go forth, he can use his own discretion. But if anyone dares to stir a finger in the city, if I take him, I will not say in any accomplished act, but in any attempt or effort against the nation, then I say that I will make him feel that in this city there are consuls who will not sleep, there are magistrates who will do their duty, there is a Senate which will stand firm, there are forces in arms, there is a prison which our ancestors established to be the scene of vengeance for heinous and red-handed crime. ”

“ The desire to keep things open and the weak love of silence and reserve could only be indulged in at the expense of his reputation for honesty and straightforwardness. It is of no avail that a man has been seen to make great sacrifices on occasion to the cause of duty, if his daily bearing contradicts the idea of his sincerity. Cicero was strongly provoked with Pompey's conduct and expressed his vexation in no measured language to his friend [13] —" there is no courtesy, no candour in him, no sense of honour in politics, nothing high-minded or vigorous or straightforward." ”

“ The high society of Rome considered it a blot on the nobility of Drusus, that there were men alive who could remember his great-grandfather, a simple Roman Knight. [33]
But to return to Atticus himself. Can we forgive the man, who after enjoying for half a century the most endearing friendship with Cicero, could forget all and live on as the genial companion and favoured adherent of the men who had murdered him? Atticus might plead that he had never failed Cicero while he lived, and that he could do him no good now, whereas there were living friends whom he might still help and save. ”

“ Cicero has much to say of the duties of a statesman, but he seems blind to the faults in the machinery of government. His methods of reasoning are those of the Greek philosophers, his conclusions those of a Roman statesman with all a Roman's limitations. The experience of the world has silently worked out the problem which the greatest men of antiquity could not solve. Cæsar and Cicero were the "least mortal minds" of Republican Rome, yet neither of them conceived it as possible, that not only a free city could be organised but a free nation. ”

“ Such was the path in which Cæsar willed that the world should walk. The other alternative before him was to undertake a complicated and difficult task, requiring the highest constructive statesmanship. The Italian people was still sound at heart; Italy still loved liberty and hated despotism; her sons could still endure with patience, and dare with energy, and die with heroism around the eagles. When a people displays such qualities, a statesman need not despair of organising it into a free nation. ”

“ For my own part, Senators, if I may speak my mind, I think that instead of looking only to the veterans, we should rather ask, what will the young soldiers, the flower of Italy, the newly levied legions who have come forward so readily to defend the State, what will the whole of Italy think of the firmness of your action? For nothing remains forever at its best; one generation succeeds another. For many years the legions of Cæsar were in their prime; now the same is true of the legions of Pansa, of Hirtius, of Octavian, and of Plancus. ”

“ But I am astonished at those men of sense and character, first, that they listen so readily when they hear a great citizen and a noble servant of the commonwealth traduced by the tongue of a scoundrel; next, that they hold a doctrine most contrary to their own interests, that the glory and dignity of any man are at the mercy of the insults of a rascal, bankrupt in fortune and reputation ”

“ Thus the Roman Nobles became in fact though not in law an hereditary caste of office-holding families. In their best days they had all the great qualities of an oligarchy—high spirit, steadiness of purpose, persistence under difficulties, trained sagacity in war, and diplomacy. The Nobility represented Rome in a stronger and loftier spirit than any popular organisation could have done, and the Romans were proud to follow its lead and to accept as their own the majestic policy which the Senate announced by word and deed. ”

“ What can be fairer than that every man should be put on his trial, who has taken a bribe for his verdict? Such was Cato's proposal, and the Senate agreed. So the Knights declare war against the House, not against me, for I protested. What could be more barefaced than the tax-farmers repudiating their bargain? For all that we had better put up with the loss for the sake of retaining the good-will of the order. Cato resisted and gained his point. ”

“ In Atticus Cicero found the friend exactly fitted to supplement his own qualities. The warm impulsive heart of the one sought repose in the easy-tempered, stable, appreciative nature of the other. The impetuous, indiscreet man of genius needed a calm, sympathising and absolutely safe companion, in whose ear he could breathe all his fears and hopes and doubts; through all the years of their intercourse never a word escaped through Atticus which could add to Cicero's embarrassments. ”

“ For when the person who asserts has the power of pronouncing judicially on the question, where need he draw the line in his assertions? It will be convenient to maintain that Pergamus, Smyrna, Tralles, Ephesus, Miletus, Cyzicus, in fact the whole of Asia, which has been recovered since that consulship, has become the property of the Roman People. . . Then there is Alexandria and the whole of Egypt; how secretly it is smuggled in, how all mention of it is avoided, how cunningly it is handed over to the decemvirs. ”

“ Consider within yourself which is the more proper course, and which the more useful for our side, to avenge the death of Cæsar or the death of Trebonius, and whether it is more right for us to battle with each other that the crushed cause of the Pompeians may revive again, or to come to terms and cease to make sport for our enemies." Antony says that Cicero looks on like a lanista, or trainer, who has set a brace of gladiators to fight, sure to profit whichever falls, and this in fact bluntly represents the real state of the case. ”

“ All Cæsar's efforts were directed to inducing Cicero to acquiesce in the situation as Sulpicius had done. The presence of Cicero would have soothed the minds of many, and would have given weight and dignity to the remnant of the Senate which could still be assembled in Rome. Urgent letters, couched in the most flattering language from Cæsar himself and from his friends pressed Cicero to return, and the hope that he might thus aid the cause of peace was always dangled before him. ”

“ True, Clodius had appeared with his mob, and driven off the masons who were rebuilding Cicero's house; he had attacked Cicero himself with stones and swords, as he was proceeding (happily with a sufficient escort) along the Sacred Way, and he had succeeded in setting fire to the house of Quintus. But the Ciceros might look after themselves; men who had risen from the middle class had no business to stand on their dignity. The Nobles then petted and encouraged Clodius, who was always ready to show sport by insulting and annoying Pompey. ”