cae: quòd hostes alienigenae aut oppressi serviunt, aut recepti beneficio se obligatos putant: qui autem ex numero civium dementiâ aliquâ depravati, hostes patriae semel esse coeperunt, eos, cùm a pernicie reipublicae repuleris, neque vi coercere, neque beneficio placare possis. Quare mihi cum perditis civibus aeternum bellum susceptum esse video: quod ego vestro bonorumque omnium auxilio, memoriâque tantorum periculorum, quae non modò in hoc populo, qui servatus est, sed etiam in omnium gentium sermonibus ac mentibus semper haerebit, a me atque a meis facilè propulsari posse confido. Neque ulla profectò tanta vis reperietur, quae conjunctionem vestram equitumque Romanorum et tantam conspirationem bonorum omnium perfringere et labefactare possit.

XI. Quae cùm ita sint, patres conscripti, pro imperio, pro exercitu, pro provinciâ, quam neglexi, pró triumpho caeterisque laudis insignibus, quae sunt a me propter urbis vestraeque salutis custodiam repudiata, pro clientelis hospitiisque provincialibus, quae tamen urbanis opibus non minore labore tueor, quàm comparo; pro his igitur omnibus rebus, et pro meis in vos singularibus studiis, proque hâc, quam conspicitis, ad conservandam rempublicam diligentiâ, nihil aliud a vobis, nisi hujus temporis totiusque mei consulatûs memoriam postulo: quae dum erit vestris mentibus infixa, firmissimo me muro septum esse arbitrabor. Quòd si meam spem vis improborum fefellerit atque superaverit, commendo vobis paryum meum filium; cui profectò satis erit praesidii non

solùm ad salutem, verùm etiam ad dignitatem, si ejus, qui haec omnia suo solus periculo conservaverit, illum esse filium memineritis. Quapropter de summâ salute vestrâ populique Romani, P. C. de vestris conjugibus ac liberis; de aris ac focis; de 3fanis ac templis; de totius urbis tectis ac sedibus ; de imperio, de libertate, de salute Italiae, deque universâ republicâ decernite diligentèr, ut instituistis, ac fortitèr. Habetis enim consulem, qui et parere vestris decretis non dubitet, et ea, quae statueritis, quoad vivet, defendere et per se ipsum praestare possit.

3. Fanis-Fana were chapels consecrated to inferior deities or demigods.

4. Parere.......non dubitet-These words imply a willingness to put the conspirators to death.

5. Possit-When Cicero had concluded, Cato rose, and, after praising Cicero, advocated his sentiments and the opinion of Silanus; and, concluding his speech, said, "My opinion therefore is, that, since the criminals have been convicted, both by testimony and their own confession, of a detestable treason against the repub. lick, they should suffer the punishment of death according to the customs of our ancestors." A decree was then passed conformable to this opinion, and Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and Caeparius were strangled in prison. Catiline and his forces were soon after slain by the army under the Consul, Antonius. Thus ended this dangerous conspiracy, for his conduct in suppressing which, Cicero was proclaimed FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY.

H

ORATIO PRO LEGE MANILIA,

INTRODUCTION.

THIS celebrated oration, the first which Cicero deliver'ed from the Rostra, was pronounced in the six hundred and eighty-seventh year of Rome, in the forty-first year of the Orator's age, and three years before the orations against Catiline. The Romans at that time were engaged in war with Mithridates, king of Pontus. This monarch, able, ambitious, warlike, and a second Hannibal in military talents, as well as in hatred to the Romans, disdained to submit to the commands of the Roman commissioners in Asia, which checked his enterprises; and in cool blood, ordered eighty thousand Roman citizens to be massacred in one day. Sylla, and, after him, Lucullus had been sent against this powerful prince; but, though they repeatedly defeated him, they had not entirely subdued him. The prevalence and oppressive administration of the Marian faction in Rome obliged the former General to make peace with Mithridates, and give him an oppor tunity to retrieve his affairs and make more vigorous opposition in future. Lucullus probably would have subjugated him, had not a mutiny in the Roman army existed, and had not the General's personal enemies in Rome persuaded the Senate to recal him. These unfortunate incidents enabled Mithridates to become master of the field; the Roman army was dissipated; the Roman General was removed; Glabrio, the Consul, who was sent to succeed Lucullus, was a man of inferior talents. At this time, Manilius, one of the Tribunes, proposed a law, that Pompey, who was then in Cilicia terminating the piratick war, should have the government of Asia added to his commission, with the command of the Mithridatick war, and of all the Roman armies in those parts. This law was much opposed by the Senate, who were unwilling to confer so extensive authority upon any individual, but was so popular with the people, of whom Pompey was a great favourite, that none except Catulus and Hortensius, who had both passed through the Consulship, dared to speak against it. It was defended by Servilius Isauricus and Caesar; Cicero also, at that time Praetor, most eloquently advoca ted it in the oration that ensues,

QUANQUAM mihi semper frequens conspectus vester multò jucundissimus; hic autem locus ad agendum amplissimus, ad dicendum ornatissimus est visus, Quirites, tamen hoc aditu laudis, qui semper 2 optimo cuique maximè patuit, non mea me voluntas, sed meae vitae rationes ab ineunte aetate susceptae prohibuerunt. Nam, cùm anteà per aetatem nondum hujus auctoritatem loci contingere auderem ; statueremque, nihil huc, nisi perfectum ingenio, elaboratum industriâ, afferri oportere; omne meum tempus amicorum temporibus transmittendum putavi. Ita neque hic locus vacuus unquam fuit ab iis, qui vestram causam defenderent; et meus labor in privatorum periculis "castè integrèque versatus, ex vestro judicio fructum est amplissimum consecutus. Nam, cùm propter dilationem comitiorum 'ter praetor pri

1. Locus......amplissimus.......ornatissimus-The people were assembled at this time in a part of the Forum, which was called Comitium, where the pulpit or tribunal stood, from which the orators used to harangue them; it was afterwards called ROSTRA, because it was adorned with the beaks of the ships taken from the Antiates. In this place none spoke, except men of distinction and magistrates. A great proportion of the most important business of the republick was here transacted. The orations here delivered were much more polished and elegant, than those pronounced in the courts of the judges. Hence the epithets amplissimus......ornatissimus.

2. Optimo cuique patuit-Magistrates were permitted to address the people from the Rostra; the magistracies were open to every good man, who was desirous of election.

3. Temporibus-is often used by Cicero for periculis. In the early part of his life he advocated the causes of many of his friends.

4. Caste integreque-Cincius, a Tribune, in the year of the city 549, passed a law, that no one should take money or a present for pleading a cause.

5.

Ter praetor primus-Comitia for electing magistrates and enacting laws were often dissolved by some person's taking the auspices, which deferred the meeting to another day. This was an expedient often used by those publick officers, who were opposed to

mus centuriis cunctis renunciatus sum, facilè intellexi, Quirites, et quid de me judicarētis, et quid aliis praescriberetis. Nunc cùm et auctoritatis in me tantum sit, quantum vos honoribus mandandum esse voluistis; et ad agendum facultatis tantum, quantum homini vigilanti ex forensi usu propè quotidiani dicendi exercitatio potuit afferre ; certè, et si quid auctoritatis in me est, eâ apud eos utor, qui eam mihi dederunt; et si quid etiam dicendo conséqui possum, iis ostendam potissimùm, qui ei quoque rei fructum suo judicio tribuendum esse censuerunt. Atque illud in primis mihi laetandum jure esse video, quòd in hâc insolitâ mihi ex hoc loco ratione dicendi, causa talis oblata est, in quâ oratio nemini deesse potest. Dicendum est enim de Cn. Pompeii singulari eximiâque virtute: hujus autem orationis difficiliùs est exitum, quàm principium invenire. Itaque non mihi tam copia, quàm modus in dicendo quaerendus est.

II. Atque ut inde oratio mea proficiscatur, unde haec omnis causa ducitur; bellum grave et periculosum vestris vectigalibus atque sociis a duobus poten

a successful candidate or a popular law, to prevent the passing of the one or the election of the other. In the year in which Cicero offered himself candidate for the Praetorship, by the promulgation of several laws, to which the senate were much opposed, the Comitia were so often dissolved, that it was feared there would be no election. These disturbances, however, were the occasion of an unexpected honour to Cicero: in the three different assemblies convened for the choice of Praetors, two of which were dissolved without effect, he was declared every time the first Praetor by the suffrages of all the centuries.

6. Centuriis cunctis-The Praetors were chosen by the Comitia centuriata, as were also the Consuls and Censors; inferior magistrates were chosen by the Comitia tributa. In the last mentioned assemblies, the majority of the votes in each tribe determined the general vote of the tribe, and a majority of tribes determined the election, in which the meanest citizen, therefore, was as influential