his version of the Timæus of Plato is preserved in his works.38

Having thus prepared himself for his profession by indefatigable study, Cicero made his first appearance in public at twenty-six years of age, and pleaded in defence of Roscius against the accusation of Sylla. Soon afterwards, under the plea of recruiting his strength, which he had impaired by the violence of his oratorical exertions, but perhaps chiefly through fear of Sylla, whom he had opposed, he withdrew to Athens. Here he attended upon Antiochus the Ascalonite; but, not approving his doctrine, which differed from that of the Middle Academy, he became a hearer of Posidonius the Rhodian. By frequenting the schools of these and other preceptors, he acquired such a love of philosophy, that after his return to Rome, amidst the business of the forum and the senate, he always found leisure for the speculations of the schools. Upon his second appearance in public, he met with some discouragement from a prevalent opinion, that he was better qualified for the study of philosophy than for the business of active life. But his superior powers of eloquence, soon subdued every prejudice against him, and raised him to the highest distinction among his fellow citizens. In the successive offices of quæstor, ædile, and prætor, he acquitted himself with great reputation. In the consulate he obtained immortal honour by his bold and successful opposition to the machinations of Cataline and his party, and received the glorious title of the Father of his Country.39

The popularity which Cicero had acquired during his consulship, exposed him to the envy of his rivals. Soon afterwards, his unsuccessful attempt to bring Clodius to public justice brought upon him the resentment of that daring and seditious profligate; and, notwithstanding all the efforts of the senate to protect him, the affair terminated in his banishment from Rome.40 Leaving Italy, he passed over into Greece, and visited his friend Plancius at Thessalonica, who afforded him a hospitable asylum. All good men la

Plut.

38 In Brut. c. 90. Ep. ad. Fam. 1. xiii. ep. 16. et in Lucullo. De Off. 1. ii. c. 24. Quint. l. i. c. 2. l. iii. c. 1. Hieron. Pref. in Euseb. Chron. 39 Orat. pro Roscio. Aul. Gell. 1. xv. c. 28. Quint. l. xii. c. 6. 1. c. Cic. in Brut. c. 91. Orat. pro. Planc. in Pis. pro Sext. in Catal. 40 Dio. l. xxxviii. Velleius P. I. ii.

mented his disgrace; and many Grecians vied with each other in offering him tokens of respect. But nothing could alleviate the dejection which he suffered, whilst he lay under a sentence of banishment from the country, which had been the seat of all his former honours. He remained inconsolable, till, after an interval of sixteen months, the Clodian party was suppressed by Pompey, and, by the unanimous voice of the senate and people, he was recalled.41

In Cicero's subsequent quæstorship in Cilicia, his conduct was highly meritorious; for he exercised his authority with exemplary mildness and integrity, and, in the midst of war, cultivated the arts of peace. On his return, he called at Rhodes, and made a short stay at Athens; where he had the satisfaction of revisiting the places in which his youthful feet had wandered in search of wisdom, and of conversing with many of his former preceptors and friends.42

When the flames of civil dissention between Pompey and Cæsar began to burst forth, Cicero used his utmost influence with each party to bring them to terms of accommodation. Finding every attempt of this kind unsuccessful, he long remained in anxious deliberation, whether he should follow Pompey in a glorious and honourable, but ruined cause; or should consult his own safety, and that of his friends, by following the rising fortunes of Cæsar. Had the latter preponderated, he would have listened to the counsel of Cæsar, who advised him, if on account of his advancing years he were averse to military life, to retire into some remote part of Greece, and pass the remainder of his days in tranquillity. But he could not persuade himself to desert the ancient constitution of his country, which he had hitherto honestly defended, and, therefore, determined to join the party of Pompey. Afterwards, however, when he found that Pompey slighted his friendship, he repented of his resolution; and, after the memorable battle of Pharsalia, instead of accepting the charge of the armament which lay at Dyrrachium, as Cato advised, he met Cæsar on his return from Asia, and accepted his friendship.**

From this time, Cicero, no longer able to serve his coun

43

Plut. I. c. Cic. Orat. pro domo sua.

Ep. Fam. 1. vi. ep. 6. 1. vii. ep. 3. 1. xiii. ep. 11.

42 Plut. l. c.

44 Plut. I. c.

try in the manner he wished, retired from public affairs, resolving to devote himself wholly to the study of philosophy. He employed the unwelcome leisure, which the ruin of the republic afforded him, in reading or writing; and he found more satisfaction in conversing with the dead in his valuable library at Tusculum, than in visiting Rome to pay homage to Cæsar. His tranquillity was, however, soon interrupted by domestic vexations and afflictions. From causes which are not fully explained, he divorced his wife Terentia; and his daughter Tullia, who was married to Lentulus, died in child-bed.45

Soon after the death of Cæsar, although it does not appear that Cicero had any concern in the conspiracy, he fell a sacrifice to the resentment of Antony, who could not forget the, severe Philippics which the orator had delivered against him. When the triumvirate was formed, and it was reciprocally agreed that some of the enemies of each party should be given up, Antony demanded the head of Cicero. Accordingly, after much contention, and on the part of Octavius a delay of three days, Cicero was registered among the hundred and thirty senators who were doomed to destruction by this sanguinary proscription. Apprized by his friends of his danger, he fled from place to place for safety; always thinking, as was natural in such a situation, any other place more secure than the present. His last retreat was to a small farm which he had at Caieta. The house was surrounded by the appointed executioners of the bloody commission. After an unsuccessful attempt of his attendants to save him, by conveying him away on a litter towards the sea, Popilius Lænas, a military tribune, in whose behalf Cicero had formerly pleaded when he was accused of parricide, came up to the litter, and struck off his head, while some of the soldiers, who were standing by cut off his hands. These mangled remains of this great man were conveyed to Antony, who in triumphant revenge placed them upon the rostra of that pulpit from which the orations against him had been delivered: not, however, without exciting much indignation in the populace, who bitterly lamented the tragical end of this father of his country. His death

45 Plut. I. c. Cic. Tusc. Q. 1. i. c. 1. De Off. I. ii. c. 1, 2. Ep. Fam. 1. xiii. ep. 77. 1. ii. ep. 5. I. i. ep. 7. 1. vi. ep. 19. 1. ix. ep. 11. Val. Max. 1. viii. c. 13.

happened in the 710th 47 year of the city, and in the sixtyfourth year of his age.48

From the whole history of the life of Cicero it appears, that, though exceedingly ambitious of glory, he wanted strength of mind sufficient to sustain him in the pursuit. Perpetually fluctuating between hope and fear, he was unable to support with equanimity the convulsions of a disordered state and the commotions of a civil war; and therefore, was always attempting to reconcile the contending par ties, when he ought to have been maintaining, by vigorous measures, the cause which he approved. He was, in his natural temper, so averse to contention, that his spirts were shirits depressed, more than became a wise man, by private injuries and domestic vexations. On many public occasions he discovered a surprising degree of timidity. When, under the immediate apprehension of danger from popular tumult, he undertook the defence of Milo, his panic was so great, that he was seized with a universal tremor, and was scarcely able to speak; so that his client, nothwithstanding his innocence, was sentenced into exile." His chief delight was in the society and conversation of learned men; and many elegant specimens remain of his ability in relating, or framing, philosophical conferences. But in his private intercourse with his friends, as well as in the forum and the senate, he discovered a degree of vanity scarcely to be reconciled with true greatness of mind. From these circumstances, compared with the general character of his writings, it seems reasonable to conclude, that Cicero's chief excellences were fertility of imagination and readiness of invention; and that his talents were better adapted to the splendid offices of eloquence, than to accurate and profound investigations of philosophy.

What kind and degree of service Cicero rendered to philosophy will, in some measure, appear from a distinct enumeration of his philosophical writings. On the subject of the philosophy of nature, his principal works are, the fragment of his translation of Plato's Timæus, entitled De Universitate, "On the Universe;" and his treatise De Natura Deorum, "On the Nature of the Gods," in which

47

,"B. C. 43.

48 Plut. 1, c. Vid. Liv. apud, Senec. App. Dion. Veil. Paterc. &c. Mart. 1. iii. ep. 66. 49 Dio, I. xlvi. Plut. 1. c.

the opinions of the Epicureans and Stoics concerning the Divine Nature are distinctly stated and examined. To the same class may be referred the books "On Divination and Fate," which are imperfect, and "The Dream of Scipio," (commented upon by Macrobius) which is founded upon the Platonic doctrines concerning the soul of the world, and the state of human souls after death. On moral philosophy, Cicero treats in several distinct works. In his treatise De Finibus, "On Moral Ends," which is a history of the doctrine of the Grecian philosophers concerning the ultimate ends of life, he states the different opinions of the several sects upon this subject, enumerates the leading arguments by which they were supported, and points out the difficulties which press upon each opinion. In his Quæstiones Tusculanæ, “Tusculan Questions," he treats of the contempt of death; patience under bodily pain; the remedies of grief, anxiety, and other painful perturbations of mind; and the sufficiency of virtue to a happy life. In the dialogues entitled Cato and Lælius, he discourses concerning the consolations of old age, and concerning the dutics and pleasures of friendship. His explanation of "Six Stoical Paradoxes," seems rather to have been written as a rhetorical exercise, than as a serious disquisition in philosophy. His treatise De Officiis, " On Moral Offices,* addressed to his son Marcus, containing an excellent summary of practical ethics, written chiefly upon Stoical principles, but not without some mixture of the Peripatetic. The grounds of jurisprudence are explained in his book De Legibus," On Laws," which is not entire. Cicero no where so clearly discovers his own opinions, as in his Quæstiones Academicæ, "Academic Questions," of which only two books are extant, the second inscribed with the name of Lucullus. In this work he raises up the whole edifice of Grecian doctrine, that, after the manner of the Academic sect, and particularly of Carneades, he may demolish it. As a storehouse of materials for a history of the Grecian sects, this piece is of great value. It is much to be regretted, that, among the philosophical works of Cicero, we do not find his Hortentius, or " Exhortation to the Study of Philosophy," which Augustine confesses operated upon his mind, as a powerful stimulus to the pursuit of wisdom. His "Economics" and "Republic" are also lost,

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