The Life of Cicero, vol 1 | Page 2

of
Roman life into moral perceptions, into natural affections, into
domesticity, philanthropy, and conscious discharge of duty, which do
not seem to have been as yet fully appreciated. To have loved his
neighbor as himself before the teaching of Christ was much for a man
to achieve; and that he did this is what I claim for Cicero, and hope to
bring home to the minds of those who can find time for reading yet
another added to the constantly increasing volumes about Roman times.
It has been the habit of some latter writers, who have left to Cicero his
literary honors, to rob him of those which had been accorded to him as
a politician. Macaulay, expressing his surprise at the fecundity of
Cicero, and then passing on to the praise of the Philippics as senatorial
speeches, says of him that he seems to have been at the head of the
"minds of the second order." We cannot judge of the classification
without knowing how many of the great men of the world are to be
included in the first rank. But Macaulay probably intended to express
an opinion that Cicero was inferior because he himself had never
dominated others as Marius had done, and Sylla, and Pompey, and
Caesar, and Augustus. But what if Cicero was ambitious for the good
of others, while these men had desired power only for themselves?
Dean Merivale says that Cicero was "discreet and decorous," as with a
similar sneer another clergyman, Sydney Smith, ridiculed a Tory
prime-minister because he was true to his wife. There is nothing so
open to the bitterness of a little joke as those humble virtues by which
no glitter can be gained, but only the happiness of many preserved. And
the Dean declares that Cicero himself was not, except once or twice,
and for a "moment only, a real power in the State." Men who usurped
authority, such as those I have named, were the "real powers," and it
was in opposition to such usurpation that Cicero was always urgent. Mr.
Forsyth, who, as I have said, strives to be impartial, tells us that "the
chief fault of Cicero's moral character was a want of sincerity."
Absence of sincerity there was not. Deficiency of sincerity there was.

Who among men has been free from such blame since history and the
lives of men were first written? It will be my object to show that though
less than godlike in that gift, by comparison with other men around him
he was sincere, as he was also self-denying; which, if the two virtues be
well examined, will indicate the same phase of character.
But of all modern writers Mr. Froude has been the hardest to Cicero.
His sketch of the life of Caesar is one prolonged censure on that of
Cicero. Our historian, with all that glory of language for which he is so
remarkable, has covered the poor orator with obloquy. There is no
period in Cicero's life so touching, I think, as that during which he was
hesitating whether, in the service of the Republic, it did or did not
behoove him to join Pompey before the battle of Pharsalia. At this time
he wrote to his friend Atticus various letters full of agonizing doubts as
to what was demanded from him by his duty to his country, by his
friendship for Pompey, by loyalty to his party, and by his own dignity.
As to a passage in one of those, Mr. Froude says "that Cicero had lately
spoken of Caesar's continuance in life as a disgrace to the State." "It has
been seen also that he had long thought of assassination as the readiest
means of ending it,"[1] says Mr. Froude. The "It has been seen" refers
to a statement made a few pages earlier, in which he translates certain
words written by Cicero to Atticus."[2] "He considered it a disgrace to
them that Caesar was alive." That is his translation; and in his
indignation he puts other words, as it were, into the mouth of his
literary brother of two thousand years before. "Why did not somebody
kill him ?" The Latin words themselves are added in a note, "Cum
vivere ipsum turpe sit nobis."[3] Hot indignation has so carried the
translator away that he has missed the very sense of Cicero's language."
When even to draw the breath of life at such a time is a disgrace to us!"
That is what Cicero meant. Mr. Froude in a preceding passage gives us
another passage from a letter to Atticus,[4] "Caesar was mortal."[5] So
much is an intended translation. Then Mr. Froude tells us how Cicero
had "hailed Caesar's eventual murder with rapture;" and goes on to say,
"We read the words with sorrow and yet