tion followed; Octavian claiming, as an excuse, that the senate and even Cicero were not giving him proper support. On a little island near Bologna, the second triumvirate was formed, based on the most infamous bargain that can be conceived. Each surrendered to the vengeance of the others their particular foes. By this

arrangement Octavian gave up to death Cicero, Lepidus his own brother Paulus, Antony his uncle, Lucius Caesar.

Octavian's betrayal left Cicero without hope or desire to prolong his life. He was at his Tusculan villa when the news of his peril reached him. In a state of indecision he was persuaded to attempt an escape. He went to the coast and embarked, but was driven back by contrary winds. His attendants urged him to make a second effort, but he soon landed again near Caieta and

repaired to his Formian villa, determined to meet his fate, as he said, in the land which he had so often saved. But his slaves, who were greatly attached to him, and could not bear to have him thus sacrifice himself, almost forced him into a litter when the emissaries of Antony were already near, and hastened with him toward Caieta, where the ship was still lying. But he was overtaken in the grounds of his villa, and forbidding his faithful attendants, who would have died for him, to defend him, calmly and with unmoved countenance met his death. By the command of Antony his head and hands were nailed to the Rostra, the spot from which he had pronounced the Philippics which cost him his life.

VIII. CICERO THE ORATOR.

"Dissertissime Romuli nepotum,

Quot sunt quotque fuere, Marci Tulli,
Quotque post aliis erunt in annis."

-CATULLUS, 49. 1-3.

As an orator and advocate Cicero was easily first among the Romans, and was so ranked by Quintilian.' Of all ancient orators whose works are extant he is second only to Demosthenes. Making a plea before a jury, defying an Antony, pouring abuse upon a Catiline, or eulogizing a Pompey, he was unsurpassed. In a word, wherever the feelings and passions were brought into play, in panegyric or invective, Cicero was absolute master, and could sway at his will the people, the senate, and even imperial Caesar himself. His powers of description were marvelous. His vivacious and versatile genius instantly grasped the salient points of his subject with such power,

1 Quint. XII. 1. 19.

that men and events lived before his hearers. The keenest wit and sharpest sarcasm were always at his command, and no one that ever felt their force forgot the experience.

He was not nearly so successful in deliberative orations where political proposals or measures of state were under discussion. Cicero was not a profound constitutional lawyer, and seemed incapable of grappling strongly with fundamental principles of statecraft. All such questions met with but superficial treatment at his hands.

The very elements of his greatest strength were sometimes carried to excess and became his greatest weakness. To make an impression more vivid he often exaggerated; and he suffered all his life from a fatal fluency of words which led to long and involved sentences. He was conscious of this defect, and in his youth was warned by his famous teacher-Apollonius Molon of Rhodes - against his natural exuberance.

Another conspicuous defect was his inordinate vanity, which appears in all he does and says. He never could forget himself, and was always posing for effect. This deserves to be laughed at as an amiable weakness rather than severely censured. It was an innocent pride, and never led to anything serious in character or conduct.

Cicero's services as an advocate were sought far and wide, and his orations, famous in ancient times, have remained as models for all time. The law which forbade an orator to receive reward for his services had almost become a dead letter, and, though he himself says that he never accepted a fee, yet he received many large legacies and rich presents from the rich and powerful. This was the chief source of his wealth, which was quite considerable, including real estate at Rome and nine handsomely furnished villas.

IX. CICERO THE STATESMAN.

"Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit." — JUVENAL.

Cicero's political speeches are better examples of fine rhetoric than of statesmanship. So little did he realize the inadequacy of the old Roman constitution to the needs of his day, that he regarded all the wise changes brought about by the Gracchi and other reformers as serious faults. His inability to handle large questions of public policy is well illustrated by the fourth Catilinarian oration, where he scarcely touches the real question at issue, viz.: how far it is permitted to depart from strict legality to save the state.

Neither was he suited by nature for a successful politician. He was too timid, irresolute, and changeable, and was made so by the very qualities of mind that made him an incomparable writer. His quickness of imagination and perception caused him to see more than one side of a case, and embarrassed him by presenting to his mind a multitude of conflicting reasons. His conscience, too,

was too exacting, and made him too scrupulous in conduct. His nature was too fine to cope with the terrible crises that marked the fall of the Roman republic. He lacked the force of character, the singleness of aim, and the unbending will of Julius Caesar. There were two periods in his public life when he saw his duty clearly and did it magnificently, when contending against Catiline and against Antony. In general one may admit, without disparaging Cicero, that public life was not suited to him; one might almost say that he was too good for it.

X. CICERO THE PHILOSOPher.

"You would fancy sometimes it was not a pagan philosopher, but a Christian apostle, who was speaking." -Petrarch.

During seasons of political retirement Cicero applied himself assiduously to philosophy. Most of his philosophical works were produced during the years 46-44 B.C., but he studied philosophy from his youth and was amassing material for many years. It was for him a diversion rather than a serious business, and it seems to have entered little into his actual life. Philosophy was to the ancients what religion is to us, but in Cicero's letters, where he is most genuinely himself, there is a total absence of philosophical and religious questions. He apparently had little positive religious belief beyond faith in an overruling Providence and some kind of a future life.

He recognized, however, the value of Greek thought as applied to the state and to the practical duties of the citizen, and his purpose was to teach its lessons to his countrymen, who were profoundly ignorant of the subject. Though he has no pretensions to be considered an original thinker, it was no small achievement to mold the Latin tongue to the expression of Greek philosophic thought. In many cases he had to coin the very words themselves. The result was not only a great enrichment of the language, but the preservation of ideas and truths which had a preeminent influence on the Romans themselves, and thereafter, especially during the Middle Ages, on the world at large.

Cicero's Roman instinct led him away from abstract speculation to practical problems of life; and by his charming and eloquent pen he aimed to interest busy men of the world in what he had to say.

Of the three