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Selections from Cicero Selections from Cicero 1 Biography of Cicero 1.1 From The History of the Life of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Middleton (1741)1 From Volume 1, Section 5. [On Cicero’s Exile]2 358 For it cannot be denied, that, in this calamity of his exil [sic], he did not behave himself with that firmness which might reasonably be expected from one, who had borne so glorious a part in the Republic;3 conscious of his integrity, and suf- fering in the cause of his country: for his letters are generally filled with such lamentable expressions of grief and despair, that his best friends, and even his wife was forced to admonish4 him sometimes, to rouse his courage, and remem- ber his former character.5 1 Middleton, Conyers.The History of the Life of MarcusTullius Cicero. InTwoVolumes. By Conyers Middleton. London: printed [by James Bettenham] for the author, 1741. 2 The context of Cicero’s exile is described at the opening of Section V as “The wretched alter- native to which Cicero was reduced, of losing either his country or his life” (p. 336). In 58BC, the tribune Clodius enacted a law that would exile anyone who executed a Roman citizen without a trial. Four years earlier, Cicero had put to death conspirators during the uprising of Catiline. Cicero attempted to defend himself from Clodius’s law by pointing to the senate’s decree of a state of emergency, which exempted him from punishment. But Cicero failed to gather enough support for his self-defense, and so he left Rome. The day he left, Clodius pro- posed another bill that would formalize Cicero’s exile and confiscate his property and destroy his homes, and it was passed. 3 “For it cannot be denied ... so glorious a part in the Republic” Middleton is alluding to the well-known criticism of Cicero's exile. For example, Plutarch (Trans. Fuller, 1711) blames Cicero’s unphilosophical dejection during exile: “Although many visited him with respect, and the cities of Greece contended which should honour him most, he yet continued dis- heartened and disconsolate, like an unfortunate lover, often casting his looks back upon Italy; and, indeed, he was become so poor-spirited, so humiliated and dejected by his misfortunes, as none could have expected in a man who had devoted so much of his life to study and learn- ing.” (Vol. 5, 340) in Plutarch, Plutarch’s Lives, Translated from the Greek, by Several Hands. In Five Volumes. … To Which Is Prefixt The Life of Plutarch, ed. John Dryden, trans. Several hands (London: printed for Jacob Tonson, 1711). 4 Admonish = to warn, advise or put in mind of. [LEME, A New English Dictionary, Benjamin Norton Defoe (1735)] 5 “… remember his former character.” Italics appear to be used for emphasis in Middleton, since they are not always used for translations or paraphrases from Cicero’s letters or orations. © Tania S. Smith, 2021 | doi:10.1163/9789004442290_009 selections from cicero 275 Atticus was constantly putting him in mind of it; and sent him word of a report, that was brought to Rome by one of Crassus’s freedmen, that his affliction had disordered his senses: to which he answered; that his mind was still sound, and wished onely, that it had been always so, when he placed his confidence on those, who perfidiously6 abused it to his ruin. But these remonstrances did not please him; he thought them unkind and unseasonable, as he intimates7 in several of his letters, where he expresses him- self very movingly on this subject. As to your chiding me, says he, so often and so severely, for being too much dejected; | what misery is there, I pray you, so grievous, which I do not feel 359 in my present calamity? Did any man ever fall from such a height of dig- nity, in so good a cause, with the advantage of such talents, experience, interest; such support of all honest men? Is it possible for me to forget what I was? Or not to feel what I am? From what honour, what glory I am driven? From what children? What Fortunes? What a Brother? Whom, though I love and have ever loved better than myself, yet (that you may perceive, what a new sort of affliction I suffer) I refused to see; that I might neither augment8 my own grief by the sight of his, nor offer myself to him thus ruined, whom he had left so florishing [sic]: I omit many other things intolerable to me: for I am hindred [sic] by my tears: tell me then, whether I am still to be reproached for grieving; or for suffering myself rather to be deprived of what I ought never to have parted with, but with my life; which I might easily have prevented, if some perfidious9 friends had not urged me to my ruin within my own walls, &c.10 6 Perfidiously = [from perfidious.] Treacherously; by breach of faith. [LEME, A Dictionary of the English Language, Samuel Johnson, 1755] 7 Intimates = “To intimate. shew, signify, hint, or give to understand” [LEME, A New English Dictionary, John Kersey the younger, 702] 8 Augment = “to increase, to inlarge, or improve” [LEME, A New English Dictionary, Ben- jamin Norton Defoe, 1735] 9 Perfidious = “false, treacherous, deceitful.” [LEME, A New English Dictionary, Benjamin Norton Defoe, 1735] 10 “As to your chiding me … urged me to my ruin within my own walls, &c.” Ad Atticus, iii. 10. This passage is translated by Guthrie, 1752: “As to the frequent and severe Reproaches you throw out against my Want of Resolution, let me ask you, whether there is a Woe that does not serve to make up the Measure of my Calamity? Did aver Man fall from so elevated a Station, in so good a Cause, with such Advantages of Genius, Experience, and Popularity, or so guarded by the Interest of every worthy Patriot? Is it possible I should forget who I have been, that I should not feel who I am, what Glory, what Honour, what Children, what Fortunes, and what a Brother I have lost? A Brother (to show an unprecedented Kind of.
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