The last days of Cicero.

from Antony. The correspondence leaves Cicero still hopeful and eager, before Plancus had declared for Antony, or Decimus Brutus had been finally ruined; and before it had become evident that Octavian meant to turn upon the senate, under whose authority he had been acting. But within a month from the date at which the correspondence stops Cicero knew that his last chance was gone. The inaction of Octavian after the victory of Forum Gallorum puzzled Decimus Brutus, Plancus, and Cicero almost equally. He declined to hand over any legions to Decimus Brutus, or to join him in the pursuit of Antony; but he did not commit any act of positive hostility against him. There were, however, sinister rumours. An epigram of Cicero's, to the effect that the young man was to be " complimented, promoted, and-got rid of," was said to have been retailed to Octavian, and he had replied that he had no intention of being got rid of. Other reports asserted that Pansa's wound had been poisoned by his physician at Octavian's suggestion. Others, again, that he was negotiating with Cicero, with a view to holding the consulship as his colleague.1 All that was certainly known was that he was keeping his whole force in hand, and shewed no sign of intending to lay down his command. Successive decrees of the senate had invested him with imperium, the prætorian, and then the consular rank, and had given him the privilege of standing for the consulship long before the legal age. But after the victory at Forum Gallorum the tone of the senate towards him altered. His name was ostentatiously omitted in the complimentary vote of thanks to the army, and when presently some of his officers appeared in the senate with a formal demand to be allowed to stand for the consulship at once, the demand was rejected. The senate trusted for protection to two legions which were being sent from Africa by Cornificius; but Octavian at once started for Rome in person at the head of his army. There were no troops between him and Rome, or in Rome itself, to withstand him. The legions from Africa arrived indeed about the same time as he did, but their officers almost immediately surrendered them to

1 See pp. 253, 254.

him. Cornutus, the prætor urbanus, committed suicide in despair, and the senate and city were alike at his disposal. Cicero, among the rest, had to make a somewhat pitiful submission, and after one attempt to organize an opposition, on a false report that the Martia and fourth legion had deserted Octavian, he retired to Tusculum and disappeared from public life.

was

The only question for him and his brother now whether they would be allowed to live unmolested in a private station. Octavian soon made it evident that he meant relentlessly to punish his uncle's murderers. He was elected consul on the 19th of August with his cousin Q. Pedius. By his direction Pedius brought in a law condemning all the assassins of Cæsar, and the tribune Casca was the first victim under it. The law did not touch Cicero personally, but events quickly followed that made his death certain. What Octavian had now to deal with was the force collected in Gaul. By this time Antony had been joined not only by Lepidus, but by Plancus from Celtic Gaul, and by Pollio from Bætica. He had therefore a formidable force. Decimus Brutus was now a condemned man, and was besides entirely powerless; for when Plancus joined Antony nearly all the troops of Decimus Brutus did the same. He was almost alone, and was making desperate efforts to find his way to Marcus Brutus in Macedonia. So that when Octavian, leaving the care of the city to Pedius, started once more for the north, though his object was nominally to crush Decimus Brutus, he had nothing to do but to prevent his reaching Ravenna, and force him back to Gaul, where he was arrested and put to death by Antony's order. The real question for Octavian was how to deal with Antony. He had resolved on coming to terms with him, and after a certain amount of negotiation, he met him and Lepidus on a small island in one of the tributaries of the Po, not far from Bononia, and agreed to share the Empire as "triumvirs for the reconstitution of the state." They were to be appointed for five years, and as a preliminary were to draw up a list mutually agreed upon of men who were to be declared outside the law, and liable to be put to death at The obedient people of Rome accordingly voted the appointment on the 27th of November, and the first

at once.

exercise of their dictatorial powers was the publication of an edict and a provisional list of men to be thus "proscribed." The first list had been forwarded to Pedius before the actual publication of the edict,' and Cicero, who was at Tusculum, soon learnt that his own name, and those of his brother and nephew, were on it. The last scene shall be told in the words of Plutarch.

"While the conference between the triumvirs was going on Cicero was in his villa at Tusculum with his Death of brother. When they heard of the proscription Cicero. they resolved to remove to his seaside villa at

Astura, and thence to take ship and join Brutus in Macedonia: for there were great reports of his success there. They travelled in litters overpowered by distress; and whenever there was a halt in the journey, the two litters were placed side by side and the brothers mingled their lamentations. Quintus was the more cast down of the two and was haunted with the idea of their want of money, for he had brought nothing, he said, with him, and Cicero himself was poorly provided for a journey. It would be better, therefore, he thought, for Cicero to precede him in his flight, while he went home, collected what was necessary, and hurried after him. This course was resolved upon, and the brothers parted with embraces and tears. Not many days after this Quintus was betrayed by his slaves and was put to death with his son. But Cicero reached Astura, found a vessel, embarked, and sailed with a favourable wind as far as Circeii. The pilots wished to put out to sea from that place at once: but whether it was that he feared the sea or had not yet given up all trust in the promise of Octavian, he disembarked and travelled a hundred furlongs upon the road to Rome. But once more, almost beside himself with distress and indecision, he returned to the sea-coast at Astura and there spent the night in terrified and hopeless reflexions. One of his ideas was to go to Octavian's house in disguise and kill himself at the hearth-altar and thus bring a curse upon it. But from undertaking this journey also he was deterred by a dread of being

1 The edict was not put up till the triumvirs entered Rome; but Cicero's name was among those forwarded before (App. B. C. iv. 4). For the text of the edict, see App. iv. 8-11.

put to torture; and with his mind still dazed with confused and contradictory designs, he put himself in the hands of his servants to be conveyed by sea to Caieta, as he had property there and an agreeable summer retreat, when the Etesian winds are at their pleasantest. In this spot there stands a temple of Apollo just above the sea: from it a flock of ravens rose and flew towards Cicero's ship as it was being rowed to land, and settling down upon the yard-arm on both sides of the mast, some of them began uttering loud cries and others pecking at the ends of the ropes. Everybody thought this a bad omen. Cicero, however, disembarked and went to the lodge and lay down to get some rest. most of the ravens lighted down about the window uttering cries of distress, and one of them settling on the bed, where Cicero was lying with his head covered, gradually drew off the covering from his face with its beak. The servants, seeing this, thought that they would be base indeed if they endured to be spectators of their master's murder, and did nothing to protect him, while even animals were helping him and sympathizing in his undeserved misfortune, and so, partly by entreaties and partly by compulsion, they got him again into his litter and began carrying him down to the

sea.

But

"Meanwhile the executioners arrived, Herennius the centurion and Popillus the military tribune (whom he once defended on a charge of parricide) with their attendants. Finding the doors locked, they broke into the house; but when Cicero was not to be seen, and those indoors denied knowing anything about him, it is said that a young man named Philologus-a freedman of Quintus, whom Cicero had educated in polite learning and philosophy-told the tribune about the litter which was being carried through woodland and over-shadowed paths towards the sea. So the tribune, taking a small party with him, ran round to the entrance to the grounds, while Herennius ran down the pathway. Cicero perceived him coming and ordered his servants to set down the litter. Cicero himself, with his left hand as usual on his chin, sat gazing steadfastly on the Executioners, unwashed, with streaming locks, his brow contracted with his anxieties. It was more than those present could endure, and they covered their faces while Herennius

Estimate of Cicero's character.

1

was killing him, as he thrust out his head from the litter and received the stroke. He was in his sixty-fourth year. By the command of Antony the man cut off his head and the hands with which he had written the Philippics! The character and aims of Cicero will have been abundantly illustrated for the reader of these letters. That controversies should rage round his memory is only what must always be the case with a man who takes an active share in political life. Enmities and their expression in invective are more interesting to many than praise, and therefore more lasting. It is an easy task, moreover, to find faults in a character so impulsive, so many-sided, and so complex as that of Cicero. But the one view which I think inadmissible is the Mommsenian one of sheer contempt. Perhaps Cicero was not so important a figure in Roman politics as he thought himself: that he was of no importance is disproved both by the warmth of his friends and the rancour of his enemies. If he lacked originality as a writer or philosopher, neither did he pretend to any. He wished to interpret the Greek philosophers to his countrymen: he did it imperfectly, but he did it as no one else could or did. The magic of style has found its way to the intelligence and taste of mankind, as many a more learned and accurate man would have failed and has failed to do. He composed speeches which are often unfair, overstrained, and disingenuous, but they remain among the first in the world. He wrote letters incessantly they are sometimes insincere, sometimes weak and tiresome, but taken as a whole they are scarcely surpassed by any existing collection. Signor E. Masè-Dari has lately written a volume tending to throw a doubt on his financial purity, especially in his administration of Cilicia. The attempt is, I think, a failure; and though Cicero was a man habitually embarrassed in regard to ready money, it seems that the Roman system of investment-of short loans and accommodation money-is more accountable for this than personal extravagance or reckless contraction of debt. In politics he doubtless made the mistake of putting confidence

1 Plutarch, Cicero, xlvii.-xlviii. There is also a somewhat similar account by Livy preserved by Seneca, Suasoriæ, i. 7.