favour of the matchless orator and foremost man of Rome. The other and unobjectionable mode of acquiring wealth was by legacies, which in ancient, as in modern times, has always been deemed an honourable source of riches, provided no unworthy acts are resorted to for the purpose of influencing the testator. In the second Philippic he makes it a matter of boast that he had received upwards of twenty million sesterces (about £178,000) from legacies left him by his friends.1

But he also borrowed without scruple, and after his return from exile was almost constantly in debt. Before he went to Cilicia as proconsul, Cæsar had lent him a sum of 800,000 sesterces, equal to about £7000. The purse of Atticus seems to have been generally open to him, and he freely availed himself of it. The money, however, was supplied not as a gift but a loan, and in some cases his friend became security for him when his credit was low and he wished to borrow from others. But on the other hand, he lent money largely to his friends, the repayment of which was often in arrear, and his embarrassments were thereby increased. Drumann says that he did this for the sake of the interest, and to lay men whose services might be useful under obligations to him. But this writer, throughout his elaborate work, does all he can to produce an unfavourable impression of the character of Cicero. He never gives him credit for a single disinterested action, and attributes the most selfish and unworthy motives to his conduct. He is as much prejudiced against him as Middleton was in his favour, and neither of them can be trusted as a biographer, when the subject in question is not a matter of fact, but of opinion affecting Cicero's character. It is not clear that he lent money at interest at all; and at all events we may well believe that his object was to do a kind action, and not to put money in his pocket, or make use of the services of his debtors. Political motives may have perhaps had weight with him in inducing him to advance a very large sum to Pompey at the outbreak of the Civil War, but he was probably quite as much influenced by the exaggerated feeling of gratitude which, as we shall see, he entertained towards him for conduct which little deserved it.

1 Ego enim amplius sestertium ducenties acceptum hæreditatibus retuli.— Philipp. ii. 40.

UNIV

Library.

Or California. CICERO became Prætor-elect at the age of forty-B.C. 67and under circumstances which prove that his popularity at that time was very great. The times were stormy, and the assembly of the people in their centuries for the election of prætors was twice interrupted by tumults before the legal formalities were completed, so that it became necessary to hold a third meeting to choose those officers. The occasion of these tumults was the attempt to pass several obnoxious laws. The first was a bill brought forward by the tribune Aulus Gabinius, and known as the Gabinia Lex, to invest Pompey with an extraordinary commission and supreme command in the Mediterranean to extirpate the pirates whose vessels swarmed in that sea, and ravaged the coasts almost with impunity. Their audacity struck terror into the heart of Rome. They had captured ambassadors on the high seas, and actually seized and destroyed a Roman fleet in the port of Ostia. The bill, however, was strongly opposed by Hortensius, Catulus, and other leading senators, on the ground that it conferred unconstitutional powers on Pompey; and they pointed to the example of Marius and Sylla, as showing the danger of bestowing such extraordinary commands on the generals of Rome. The friends of Lucullus, who had the conduct of the war against Mithridates, took an active part in the opposition to the bill, which they alleged was an encroachment on his authority, because the chief haunts of the pirates were in the Levant, which might be considered as part of his province. To counteract

this, and render him popular with the mob, Gabinius had a picture made of the magnificent palace which Lucullus was then building, and displayed it in the Forum, while he addressed the people to make them believe that Lucullus was enriching himself at their expense.

The second bill was proposed by Lucius Otho, and though. of much less importance, excited still more clamour and violence. Its object was to assign separate rows of seats in the theatres to the equestrian order next to the senators, for the knights had hitherto sat indiscriminately with the rest of the spectators. This was, as might be expected, a most unpopular measure in a republic like that of Rome, and gave rise to tumults which may be compared to the O. P. riots at Covent Garden in the early part of the present century. It was, however, with some difficulty carried, and Otho became, as we shall see, extremely unpopular in consequence.

Caius Cornelius, another of the tribunes, was the author of the third bill, and the opposition to it reveals the extent and depth of political corruption in high places at Rome. It was a bill for punishing with the severest penalties bribery at elections, and enacted that those who were guilty of the offence should be incapable of public office or a seat in the senate. It was strongly opposed by the senators, but was extremely popular with the masses. The excitement was so great that the consuls were obliged to protect themselves by a military guard; business was suspended, and the election of magistrates was put off. The result was, that the bill was withdrawn, and another, less stringent in its nature, was brought forward by the Consul C. Calpurnius Piso, and ultimately became law.

In one of the earliest of his extant letters to Atticus, written about this time, Cicero gives a lively idea of what a candidate for public office had to go through at Rome, telling him that there was nothing like a canvass to bring a man into contact with every kind of rascality.1 In the same

letter he expresses his disgust at the state of affairs in the city, which, he says, were growing worse with incredible rapidity; and he turns with delight to the thought of his

Scito nihil tam exercitatum esse nunc Romæ quam candidatos omnibus iniquitatibus.—Ad Att. i. II.

ÆT. 40-41.

ELECTED PRÆTOR URBANUS.

71

Tusculan villa, and the library he had formed there, begging his friend to keep carefully for him some books which Atticus had purchased for him at Athens.

Although, owing to the confusion that prevailed, the comitia for the election of prætors was twice adjourned without any definite result, Cicero, who had seven competitors against him, was on both occasions chosen Prætor Urbanus. by the unanimous votes of all the centuries. And when at last, on the third attempt, a valid election did take place, the same result followed, and he was still at the head of the poll.

Next year, B.C. 66, at the age of forty-one, Cicero assumed the office of Prætor Urbanus, or City Prætor. The most important part of his duties was of a judicial nature; and it was usual to determine by lot what particular jurisdiction, civil or criminal, each prætor should exercise during his year of office. Cicero happened to get as his division of labour the criminal courts; or, at all events, had to preside at trials of magistrates accused of extortion, embezzlement, and other offences in their provincial governments. This formed no inconsiderable part of the criminal business at Rome, and required in the judge both firmness and honesty, for the culprits were generally men of powerful influence and great wealth. He had soon an opportunity of displaying both these qualities in an important case. Caius Licinius Macer had, while holding the prætorian government of Asia Minor, been guilty of great oppression and extortion, and, being accused by the provinces which had suffered under his misrule, he was put upon his trial before a body of judices, over whom Cicero presided. Macer was a relation of Crassus, and, relying upon his support, he so confidently expected an acquittal that he did not even assume the mourning dress (toga sordida) which it was usual for persons under prosecution to wear in order to excite sympathy and compassion. He was, however, convicted, and was so overwhelmed with shame at the result that he either destroyed himself or died of grief. Writing to Atticus, Cicero tells him that his own. 1 Postulatur apud me, prætorem primum, de pecuniis repetundis.-Pro Cornelio Fragm.

2 Plutarch says that he took to his

bed and died; but, according to Valerius Maximus, he watched the close of the trial from a balcony, and when he knew that he was convicted, and saw Cicero,

conduct on the occasion had won him golden opinions from the people; and he adds-what would startle us to hear said of an English judge-that the credit he gained by Macer's conviction was of more value to him with the populace than any benefit that could have flowed from the offender's gratitude if he had been acquitted. This shows how much the result of the trial was thought to be in the power of the presiding prætor, although the judices, or jurymen, alone had the right to pronounce the verdict.

It is never right, nor in good taste, to make a jest on a personal infirmity, but Plutarch mentions a sarcasm which fell from Cicero on the bench on an occasion that almost justified an exception to the rule. To understand the point we must remember that a short thick neck, like that of a bull, was thought by the Romans the sign of an impudent unscrupulous character. Vatinius, a rude and insolent man, whose neck was swollen with tumours, came before him when sitting as prætor, with some petition or request, which Cicero said he would take time to consider. Vatinius replied that if he were prætor he would make no question about it. Upon which Cicero retorted, "Yes; but you see I have not got so much neck," we should say check, " as you have."

Although filling the office of a criminal judge, Cicero was not debarred from the exercise of his profession as an advocate. He defended M. Fundanius in a speech now lost; and also Aulus Cluentius Habitus, who was accused of murder, and tried before Q. Naso, Cicero's own colleague in the prætorship. The indictment seems also to have comprised the charge of conspiracy to procure the condemnation of a man named Oppianicus.

The case discloses a melancholy tale of wickedness; and Sassia, the mother of Cluentius, might almost contest the palm of pre-eminence in guilt with Lucrece di Borgia. Not long after her husband's death her daughter married her first

the presiding judge, take off his robe (prætexta), or, as we should say, put on the black cap, he sent a messenger to tell him that he died accused but not condemned, and therefore his property would not be confiscated. He then instantly suffocated himself by forcing a napkin into his mouth. This reminds

us of the peine forte et dure, the punishment formerly in this country for standing mute, which was sometimes endured by prisoners when they dreaded a conviction to be followed by forfeiture of lands and goods, if they pleaded to the indictment and were found guilty.