bent on smoothing down the violence of the conflicting parties, and set his face against every new advance to the propagation of civil discord. He was so indefatigable in contriving and proposing projects of accommodation, that he incurred the nick-name of the Peace-maker. His leading maxim as a politician was, that as the end of a pilot is a prosperous voyage; that of a physician, the health of his patient; that of a general, victory;-that of a statesman is, to make the people happy; to establish them in power, to enrich them, to advance their glory and secure their virtue. This he declares to be the best work a man can perform.

But as this cannot be effected, without unanimity in a state, it was his uniform endeavour to blend the different orders into one mass of mutual confidence; to balance the supremacy of the people by the authority of the senate; to divide their functions between counsel and execution, between ultimate decision and previous influence. It happened unfortunately, he was leagued with a party made up of unconnected shreds and patches. Brutus and Cassius were men of character like himself; high in principle, patriotic in purpose. But very different were those next in authority to them. Decimus Brutus and C. Trebonius had both been deeply pledged to Cæsar's interests. They had been favoured, promoted, and confided in by him in all his wars. When Cæsar first marched into Spain, he left Brutus to command the siege of Marseilles by sea, Trebonius by land. They acquitted themselves with bravery and military skill, and reduced that strong place to the necessity of a surrender at discretion. Their opportunities of thus signalising themselves were created by Cæsar's

patronage: strong indeed must have been the patriotic impulse, if such it were, which should induce them to cut asunder all the ties of gratitude. The conduct of the party has been hallowed by its martyrdom; but Cicero's correspondence gives us reason to believe, that had success given birth to the clash of interests and the recriminations of jealousy, much foul play and mean motive, treachery and avarice, dishonourable ambition and factious intrigue would have disfigured the history, and swelled with dirty anecdotes the scandalous chron icles of the times. Cicero seemed to derive great hopes from Plancus; but generally speaking, he despaired of the cause from the discordant elements of which it was composed. Quæ si ad tuum tempus perducitur, facilis gubernatio est: ut perducatur autem, magnæ cum diligentiæ est, tum etiam fortunæ." The qualification was distrustful, and prophetic. The evocati, a body of veterans, invited again to the service after dismissal, on the footing of volunteers, and entitled to peculiar privileges, were brought down on Antony's side in the great conflict in which Hirtius and Pansa lost their lives. The consul or the general who commanded them reckoned much upon them. Such a band, with experience and military renown, returning in vigour to the war, with honourable distinction and the popularity of well-earned laurels, was a host which they of the adverse faction wanted. The gain of a victory produced no lasting benefit to the patriots; the loss of a battle placed them on the brink of destruction. Their armies were destroyed; their military chiefs fell in various ways, and Cicero was murdered for his Philippics.

The length of this article leaves no room for entering at large into an examination of Cicero's speeches. The great orations are well known to every classical reader: but the shortest deserve attention. The ninth philippic, in answer to Servilius, is not only eloquent, but shows Cicero in the light of a private friend, as well as a promoter of the public service.

66

Quod si cuiqam justus honos habitus est in morte legato, in nullo justior, quam in Ser. Sulpicio, reperietur. Sulpicius cum aliqua perveniendi ad M. Antonium spe profectus est, nulla revertendi. qui cum ita affectus esset, ut, si ad gravem valitudinem labor viæ accessisset, sibi ipse diffideret : non recusavit, quo minus vel extremo spiritu, si quam opem reipublicæ ferre posset, experiretur. Itaque non illum vis hiemis, non nives, non longitudo itineris, non asperitas viarum, non morbus ingravescens retardavit: cumque jam ad congressum colloquiumque ejus pervenisset, ad quem erat missus, in ipsa cura et meditatione obeundi sui muneris excessit e vita. .. Ego autem, patres conscripti, sic interpretor sensisse majores nostros, ut causam mortis censuerint, non genus esse quærendum. Etenim cui legatio ipsa morti fuisset, ejus monumentum exstare voluerunt, ut in bellis periculosis obirent homines legationis munus audacius.

Nunc autem quis dubitat, quin ei vitam abstulerit ipsa legatio? secum enim ille mortem extulit: quam, si nobiscum remansisset sua cura, optimi filii, fidelissimæ conjugis diligentia, vitare potuisset. At ille, cum videret, si vestræ auctoritati non paruisset, dissimilem se futurum sui; si paruisset, munus sibi illud pro republica susceptum,

vitæ finem allaturum: maluit in maximo reipublicæ discrimine mori, quam minus, quam potuisset, videri reipublicæ profuisse. Multis illi in urbibus, qua iter faciebat, reficiendi se, et curandi potestas fuit. aderat et hospitum invitatio liberalis pro dignitate summi viri, et eorum hortatio, qui una erant missi, ad requiescendum, et vitæ suæ consulendum. At ille properans, festinans, mandata nostra conficere cupiens, in hac constantia, morbo adversante, perseveravit. Quod si excusationem Ser. Sulpicii, patres conscripti, legationis obeundæ recordari volueritis, nulla dubitatio relinquetur, quin honore mortui, quam vivo injuriam fecimus, sarciamus. Vos enim, patres conscripti, (grave dictu est, sed dicendum tamen,) vos, inquam, Ser. Sulpicium vita privastis: quem cum videretis re magis morbum, quam oratione, excusantem, non vos quidem crudeles fuistis, (quid enim minus in hunc ordinem convenit?) sed, cum speraretis nihil esse, quod non illius auctoritate et sapientia effici posset, vehementius excusationi obstitistis atque eum, qui semper vestrum con. sensum gravissimum judicavisset, de sententia dejecistis. Ut vero Pansæ consulis accessit cohortatio gravior, quam aures Ser. Sulpicii ferre didicissent, tum vero denique filium, meque seduxit, atque ita locutus est, ut auctoritatem vestram vitæ suæ se diceret anteferre. cujus nos virtutem admirati, non ausi sumus ejus adversari voluntati. movebatur singulari pietate filius: non multum ejus perturbationi meus dolor concedebat: sed uterque nostrum cedere cogebatur magnitudini animi, orationisque gravitati: cum quidem ille, maxima laude et gratulatione omnium vestrum, pollicitus

est, se, quod velletis, esse facturum, neque ejus sententiæ periculum vitaturum, cujus ipse auctor fuisset: quem exsequi mandata vestra properantem, mane postridie prosecuti sumus. . . Reddite igitur, patres conscripti, ei vitam, cui ademistis. vita enim mortuorum in memoria vivorum est posita. perficite, ut is, quem vos ad mortem inscii misistis, immortalitatem habeat a vobis. cui si statuam in Rostris decreto vestro statueritis, nulla ejus legationem posteritatis inobscurabit oblivio."

With respect to his virtues, talents and general character, he says, "Nam reliqua Ser. Sulpicii vita multis erit præclarisque monumentis ad omnem memoriam commendata. . . . . hæc enim statua, mortis honestæ testis erit: illa, memoria vitæ gloriosæ ut hoc magis monumentum grati senatus, quam clari viri, futurum sit." He ends by proposing a decree, "Sulpicio statuam pedestrem æneam in Rostris ex hujus ordinis sententia statui, circumque eam statuam locum gladiatoribus liberos posterosque ejus quoquo versus pedes quinque habere, eamque causam in basi inscribi: Pansa, Hirtius, consules, alter, ambove, si eis videatur, quæstoribus urbanis imperent, ut eam basim statuamque faciendam et in Rostris statuendam locent: quantique locaverint, tantam pecuniam redemtori attribuendam solvendamque curent: cumque antea senatus auctoritatem suam in virorum fortium funeribus ornamentisque ostenderit; placere, eum quam amplissime supremo die suo efferri. utique locum sepulcro in campo Esquilino C. Pansa consul, seu quo alio in loco videatur, pedes triginta quoquo versus adsignet, quo Ser. Sulpicius inferatur. quod sepulcrum, ipsius, liberorum, posterorumque ejus sit, uti quod optimo