M. T. CICERO.

A. U. C. 690.

The crimes these desperate parricides conceal'd, A woman's tongue to Tully's ear reveal❜d.3

3 At Fulvia,---tale periculum reipublicæ haud occultum habuit; seď sublato auctore, de Catilinæ conjuratione quæ quo modo audierat, compluribus narravit. SALL. in Cat.

Such as are fond of contemplating the many instances in which great events have originated from slight accidents, may, I think, add to the number the manner in which the conspiracy of Catiline was first discovered.-Fulvia, a beautiful and mercenary courtesan of Rome, had, among a number of other gallants, admitted Curius, one of the conspirators; who, like most of them, was profligate, extravagant, and needy. As from his poverty he was now no longer able to furnish means for her profusion, she began to treat him with neglect and coldness. Being sensible from whence this change in her conduct towards him proceeded, he threw out hints that he should soon be able to gratify all her desires, however unbounded. From the frequent repetition of such intimations, she began to suspect that they sprung from something more than the mere levity of her lover. She set herself artfully to sift him, and, by degrees drew from him the whole secret, which she immediately communicated to the consul Cicero. It should be remembered to her credit, that when she divulged the conspiracy, she took care to conceal the name of her informer. She shewed conscience in her communication, and. honour in her taciturnity..

Favourite

Favourite of science, and by Athens school'd, 1175
Rome's forum long the accomplish'd sage had rul'd;
Nor ancestors, nor riches made him known; ↑
His honours well acquir'd, were all his own.
Nature, a liberal mother, unconfin'd,
With all her choicest gifts had stor’d his mind ;
With brightest fancy, with profoundest sense;
And syrens tun'd his tongue to eloquence.3

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—M. Cicero, qui omnia incrementa sua sibi debuit; vir novitatis nobilissimæ, et ut vitâ clarus, ita ingenio maximus.

VEL. PAT. 1. ii. c. 34.

Cicero was born A. U. C. 647; he was therefore of the same age with Pompey, and seven years elder than Julius Cæsar. He was descended from a very respectable family, though not noble. In all the offices which he held, and which he acquired by his own merit, his conduct was not only without reproach, but highly laudable and exemplary. He was Quæstor, Curule Edile, Prætor, Consul, and Governor of Cilicia. In this last post had he proceeded with the usual rapacity of Roman governors, he might safely have plunder'd the province of about half a million; but he contented himself with his salary, and a few fair perquisites, to the amount in the whole of about twenty thousand pounds of our money: a rare instance of moderation in times of such unbounded peculation.

Disertissime Romuli Nepotum

Quot sunt, quotque fuere, Marce Tulli!

Quotque post aliis erunt in annis ;-. CATUL. xlvi.

6

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Nor wore he always wisdom's graver cloak,
But lov'd to laugh, and edge the poignant joke ;‘
Convinc'd that oft when sober reason fails,
The well-tim'd lighter pleasantry prevails.
As man's distinction too, some sages place
That gay convulsion of the enliven'd face:
Tears fall from brutes ;-by human kind alone

Is mirth's expression by a laugh made known. 1190
Greece, prone to flatter, as debas'd by fear,
Gave to his praise one honest envious tear:

By him (she cry'd) I see our arts o'ercome,
"And our once matchless palm a plant of Rome.”
Though none with him for inborn gifts could vie,
He studied with Boeotian industry.

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Form'd to adorn at once, and save the state,
Who can decide in what he rose most great?"

Round

Atque ego, ni longum esset, referrem, in quibus causis cum nocentissimos reos tueretur, victoriam jocis adeptus sit. MAC. 1. ii. c. 2.

? Professing a religion which abounded with false gods and superstition,

in

Round all he touch'd such dazzling rays combine,

His inspiration proves the source divine.

As transient clouds in summer skies appear, So shades of weakness dimm'd his character.

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With more than Plato's skill to instruct and please, He wants thy heart, unshaken Socrates!

Books, science, study, Athens, could not give 1205

What man from nature only can receive.

Still anxious for himself, and insincere,"

His restless foresight sprung too oft from fear;

And

in an age and country bewildered in omens, prodigies, and visions, observe how the enlightened mind of Tully soars above such weaknesses:

"Hæc scilicet in imbecillo remissoque animo multa omnibus confusa et variata versantur, maximeque reliquiæ earum rerum moventur in animo et agitantur, de quibus vigilantes aut cogitavimus aut egimus. An tu censes ullam anum tam deliram futuram fuisse, ut somniis crederet, nisi ista casu nonnunquam forté temere concurrerent?---Ut mihi mirum videatur, cum mendaci homini ne verum quidem dicenti credere soleamus, quomodo isti, si somnium verum evasit aliquod, non ex multis potius uni fidem derogant, quam ex uno innumerabilia confirmant." DE DIVIN. 1. ii. c. 67, 71.

In general, the strongest testimonies to the disadvantage of a man's character are furnished by himself. Had not Cicero's Letters come down to posterity, we should have been ignorant of many of his weaknesses.

The

And often thus his timorous bark was run,

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Full on the quicksands which he steer'd to shun;" For bold state-pilots safer tracks explore,

Who plow the deep, nor trust the treacherous shore: Destructive ever is the coward's course,

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He shuns one peril, but encounters worse;
With shame, contempt, and terrour at his heels,
Pangs sharp as death, ev'n in escape, he feels.

See Tully, more than mortal, wise and great, Sunk by base fear beneath a woman's state; Though fond of virtue, more he lov'd the fame," And sometimes lost the prize, to prove the claim.

Fame,

The contrariety of Tully's language in particular, when speaking to Cæsar, and when speaking of him, is very remarkable. In his two celebrated Orations for Marcellus and Ligarius he has carried the encomiastick strain as far as it could well go: for his real sentiments look at numberless passages in his letters to Atticus.

9 O magnam stultitiam timoris, id ipsam quod verearis ita cavere, ut cum vitare fortasse potueris, ultro arcessas, et attrahas.

'Laudis avidissimi semper fuimus.

N

BRUT. Epist. ad Att.

CIC. Epist. ad Att. 1. i. c. 15.
Itaque