PAGE xxi. To Terentia (ad Fam. XIV. xvII.) xxii. To Terentia and Tullia (ad Fam. XIV. xvIII.). 194 xxiii. To Terentia (ad Fam. XIV. xxi.) xxiv. To Terentia (ad Fam. XIV. xI.). XXV. To Terentia (ad Fam. XIV. x.). xxvi. To Terentia (ad Fam. XIV. xxiv.) xxvii. To Terentia (ad Fam. XIV. XXIII.) xxviii. To Terentia (ad Fam. XIV. XXII.) . xxix. To Marcus Marius (ad Fam. VII. IV.) xxx. To Paetus (ad Fam. IX. xxIII.) . xxxi. To Atticus (ad Att. XII. x.). xxxii. To Servius (ad Fam. XIII. xx.). xxxiii. To Gaius Cassius (ad Fam. XV. xxxiv. To Atticus (ad Att. XII. xv.) xxxv. To Atticus (ad Att. XII. xvI.) xxxvi. To Atticus (ad Att. XII. XVIII.). xxxvii. To Atticus (ad Att. XII. xxxvI.) xl. To Basilus (ad Fam. VI. xv.) xli. To Atticus (ad Att. XV. XXIII.) xlii. To Atticus (ad Att. XV. xxv.) xliii. To Atticus (ad Att. XV. xxvIII.) xliv. To Atticus (ad Att. XVI. Ix.) Forum, Móns Capitolinus, Mons Palatinus. (Based in part upon the plan of the Forum in the time of the Republic in Roman heroic Statue, perhaps Pompey. (Statue in the Spada Palace at Rome. From a photograph) Tumulus of Achilles. (From Schliemann's Ilios, p. 654) · 158 INTRODUCTION. I. MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. i. LIFE OF CICERO. THE Cicero family was of plebeian stock. From time immemorial it had been settled near Arpinum, an ancient town in the Volscian territory, about sixty miles southeast of Rome. Arpinum had been conquered by the Romans B. C. 305; its inhabitants received the full rights of Roman citizenship B. C. 188. The ancestral estate of the Ciceros lay in the valley of the Liris, near its junction with the Fibrenus, just below the hill on which the city stood. Here MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO was born, January 3, B. C. 106. His grandfather had been prominent in the local affairs of Arpinum; his father was a member of the equestrian order, and enjoyed the friendship of prominent men at Rome, being withal a man of literary tastes. So when Marcus and his younger brother Quintus were old enough to profit by the educational advantages of the metropolis, their father bought a house in Rome and removed thither. For a time at least, the brothers studied under teachers recommended by the orator Crassus.1 Among the intimate advisers of Marcus was the gifted Archias, who aroused in him a decided bent for poetry. In his sixteenth year, B. C. 91, 1 See Vocabulary, under Crassus (1). Marcus assumed the toga virilis,1 and became a constant attendant at the Forum; for at this time the Forum was an important means of liberal education. Here were the Rostra, from which orators addressed the people; the courts, where the most distinguished men of the time could be seen and heard; places of business, also, where the financial interests of the Roman world centred. In the Forum, too, one might hear the latest news from all quarters, and meet representatives of every nation; and young Cicero was no idle. listener. Having been commended by his father to Q. Mucius Scaevola, one of the most learned jurists of the time, he accompanied Scaevola on all occasions, thus accumulating a store of wisdom and experience of incalculable value. At the same time he pursued regular studies with the greatest industry. In 89 B. C. these pursuits were interrupted for a time by a campaign under the father of Pompey, who was successfully prosecuting the Social War. But on his return to Rome Cicero laid aside all hope of distinction in a military career, and for six years devoted himself to the study of logic, rhetoric, philosophy, and declamation, under the most eminent instructors. One of them - Diodotus the Stoicafterwards lived in his house and died there. Every day, Cicero informs us, he practised speaking, Latin, oftener in Greek. He also made translations from Greek authors, wrote verses, and composed a treatise on rhetoric. Absorbed in these studies, he passed unscathed through the terrible period of strife between Sulla and the party of Marius. sometimes in At the age of twenty-five Cicero entered the courts as a pleader. The most noteworthy of his earlier efforts at the bar is the speech in defence of Sextus Roscius, who had been falsely accused of parricide by Chrysogonus, an influential 1 See Note to p. 77, 1. 30, praetexta. freedman of Sulla. The older lawyers feared to undertake the case; and it required more than ordinary courage to run the risk of incurring the enmity of Sulla, who was then supreme. But the young orator maintained his side with tact as well as vehemence, and came off victorious. The strain of professional life soon began to wear upon his health. Desirous of a change, in 79 B. C. he went to Athens, where he attended lectures on rhetoric and philosophy. Afterwards he travelled in Asia Minor, and spent some time at Rhodes with Molo, the famous rhetorician, under whom he had previously studied at Rome. After an absence of two years he returned home, not only recovered in health but greatly improved in his style of speaking. His abilities as a pleader quickly gained for him a wide reputation. Having now reached the age at which Roman citizens were permitted to enter upon the course of advancement in the public offices, Cicero presented himself as a candidate for the quaestorship, and was elected with flattering evidences of his popularity. The year of office (B. C. 75) he spent in Sicily, as quaestor to the praetor Sextus Peducaeus. He discharged the duties assigned him with strict justice and impartiality, virtues most rare among Roman provincial officers of that period. Five years later he was called upon to plead the cause of the Sicilians against Verres, who had been governor of the island in the years 73-71, and had robbed, scourged, and in other ways maltreated the inhabitants with unprecedented brutality. Many of the most prominent men at Rome found it for their interest to sustain Verres, who was defended by Hortensius, at that time the most famous pleader in the lawcourts. Every obstacle that bribery or influence could raise was thrown in the way of the prosecution. But with indomi |