This care may be entrusted to the censors, since we wish at all times to maintain their functions in the state. It is likewise to the censors, according to our legal maxim, that those who retire from magisterial offices should report and explain their proceedings when in office, in order to enable the censors to pronounce upon them fairly. ‘This is done in Greece by publicly constituted accusers, who, however, could never have much weight unless their functions were voluntary and honorary. It is therefore better, that the case should be stated to, and the accounts laid before, the censors, reserving intact all their rights to the accuser and the law.
But we have now sufficiently discussed the offices and duties of magistrates, unless you demand further information on any point, _ Atticus.—Why, if we held our peace, the very subject itself would admonish you what you ought further to say.
_ Marcus.—Would it? I suppose you want me next to treat of judgments, as that is a kindred subject to that of magistrates.
Atticus.—What then! do you think nothing remains to be said on the rights of the Romans, which you proposed to investigate?
Marcus.—What would you have me say on such a topic?
Atticus.—I would have you treat of those regulations, of which I think it most disgraceful to those who live in a a ees ON THE LAWS. 483 republic to be ignorant: for as you remarked just now, 1 can only read our laws by favour of the copyists; and so I ob- serve that many of our magistrates are so ignorant of their own laws, that they know no more about them than their clerks choose to tell them. Since, therefore, when you had proposed to explain the laws of religion, you thought it be- came you to treat of the alienation of sacred things, in like manner, now that you have described the laws of our magis- trates, you must discuss their power and their rights. _ Marcus.,—I will endeavour to do so briefly, if I can; for your father’s friend, M. Junius, addressed to him a copious treatise on this subject, which, in my opinion, is extremely well and ingeniously written. But, on the subject of the law of nature, we ought to think to ourselves, and to speak from our own hearts; but when we are considering the rights of the Roman people, we must then repeat what has Peen bequeathed and handed down to us.
Atticus.—Such, indeed, appears to me the right method of proceeding, and T shall listen with pleasure to all you may choose to say on these topics.
[How many books of this treatise originally existed is not known. It is certain that there were five, and Davies thinks there were eight; but we have nothing beyond the first three. | 484 ON THE LAWS.
FRAGMENTS.
As one and the same universal nature unites and corrobo- rates all the parts of the world, so did she unite into one harmonious family all mankind. But men through their depravity disagreed and quarrelled, not recollecting that they are all consanguineous and akin, and equally subject to the same paternal providence. If this fact, indeed, were but kept in. mind, all men might live the amiable life of the gods.
It was a very bold and hazardous measure of the Greek government, to consecrate the images of Love and Cupid in the public theatres, Let us congratulate ourselves, since death gives us some- thing better than we enjoy in life, and not a worse condition of things; for that immortality may truly be termed divine, wherein the mind flourishes, emancipated from the body, and being delivered from sensualism, is free from evil.
ON STANDING FOR THE CONSULSHIP . ADDRESSED BY QUINTUS CICERO TO HIS BROTHER, M. T. CICERO.
J. AurHovuaH you have everything which man can attain to, either by natural genius, or by experience, or by industry, still, out of my affection for you, I have not thought it un- becoming to write you an account of those things which have occurred to me, who day and night can think of nothing but your canvass: not with the idea of being able to suggest to you anything new beyond what you already know, but in order that those things which at present seem scattered and unlimited, might by method and arrangement be presented under one aspect. Although, therefore, nature is of the greatest possible weight, still it seems possible that in a busi- ness lasting only a few months, art might prove superior to nature. Consider what the city is, what is that you are seeking for, and who you yourself are. Think almost every day as you descend to the forum, I am a new man—lIam. seeking the consulship—and the city where I am doing so is Rome. The novelty of your name you will, to a great extent, take off by your reputation as a speaker. That is an accom- plishment which has always carried with it a great deal of dignity. The man who is considered a worthy advocate for men of consular dignity, cannot be reckoned unworthy of the consulship. Wherefore, since you start from this glory, and since whatever you are, you are in consequence of your reputation in this act, you must come so prepared to speak, ’ ’ 486 ON STANDING FOR THE CONSULSHIP.
as if in each individual case the trial would be one calling for every possible kind of ability. Take care that everything which can be an aid to the display of that ability (and of which I know you have an ample store) is always ready and available, and constantly recollect what Demetrius has recorded of the study and practice of Demosthenes.
In the next place, let the number of your friends, and the description of which they are, be seen. For you have all those classes in your favour which such men usually have had: namely, all the publicans: nearly all the equestrian order, also many municipal towns, many individuals of every order in the state who have been defended by you: some colleges, also many young men who have been won over by their taste for eloquence: and the diligent daily attendance of your personal friends. Take care to preserve all these friends by recom- mending them, by asking them, and by making them by every means possible to understand, those who are under obligations to you, that there will never be any other oppor- tunity of showing their gratitude; and those who wish for your services, that there will never be any other opportunity of laying you under an obligation to them. “s There is another thing, also, which appears to me calculated. to be of gteat assistance to a new man: I mean the good- will of the nobles, and especially of those of consular rank. It is well that they unto whose rank and number you wish to come, should themselves consider you worthy to be one of that rank and number. All these men must be carefully asked for their votes, and you must assure them, and persuade them, that we have always held the same sentiments concern- ing the state that the chief nobles have; and that we have never been inclined to the popular party; that if we have ever given utterance to any popular sentiments, we have done so either with the view of uniting Cneus Pompey to our party, in order to have him who was the most powerful man in the state either a friend to our canvass, or at all events not an enemy to it. Moreover, take pains with the young nobles, so as to turn them over, and to retain the affections of all those who are favourable to you. They will bring you much dignity. You have many such friends. Take care that they know of what great importance you consider them. If you can gain those who at present have only no objection ON STANDING FOR THE CONSULSHIP. 487 to you, to be eager for you, they will be of the greatest service.
II. And it is of great service to your canvass as a new man, that the nobles who are standing with you are of such characters, that there is no one who can say that their high birth ought to be more in their favour than your virtue ought to be in yours. For who is there who fancies that Publius Galba or Lucius Cassius, men of the highest rank, are standing for the consulship? You see, then, that men of. the most distinguished families are not equal to you, because they are destitute of energy. But Antonius and Catiline are troublesome. I say that they are very desirable compe- titors for one who is a new man, industrious, innocent, elo- quent, and popular among the judges. They are both assassins from their childhood, both men of lascivious cha- racter, both needy men.! We have seen the property of the one put up to auction; we have heard his voice, when he swore that he could not have a fair trial at Rome against a man of Greek extraction. And we know that he has been expelled the senate. And by the admirable discrimination of the censor, we had him as competitor for the queestorship, with Sabillius and Panthera for his friends, when he had no sureties whom he could produce at the table. In which magistracy he bought that mistress whom he had openly at home, for a hundred and fifty drachms, And in his canvass for the con- sulship, he has preferred pillaging all the innkeepers by the most infamous exercise of ‘his powers as lieutenant, to being present and canvassing the Roman people.
As for the other, O ye Gods, how splendid he is! In the first place, he is as noble as the other: is he more so? No, but he is more virtuous, on which account the one fears his. own shadow, the other does not fear even the laws, being born in his father’s beggary, educated in his sister’s immodesty, and strengthened in the slaughter of the citizens; a man whose first entrance into public affairs was by the murder of Roman knights. For Sylla had appointed Catiline alone to command those Gauls who then were mowing off the heads of the Titinii, the Nannii; and the Tanusii, among whom he mur- dered, with his own hand, that most excellent man, Quintus auy pint 1 See note at the end.
488 ON STANDING FOR THE CONSULSHIP, Ceecilius, his own sister’s husband, a Roman knight, of no party, always quiet by nature, and now also by his age.
IfI. Why should I say that he now seeks the consulship; he who, in the sight of the Roman people, beat a man most beloved by the Roman people, Marcus Marius, with rods made of iron, through the whole city? and drove him to the tomb of Catulus, and there tore his living body with every kind of torture: and while he was standing there, beheaded _ him with his sword and with his own right-hand, while his left-hand was holding his hair away from his neck, and bore away his head in his own hand, while streams of blood were flowing between his fingers? Who afterwards lived in such a way with actors and gladiators that he employed, the one as the assistants of his lusts, and the others as accomplices in his crimes. A man who never came to any place of such holiness and purity, that (though it had no fault in any other respect) still he did not leave some suspicion and dis- credit attaching to it, owing to his own wickedness. A man who has made his greatest friends of the Curii and Annii in the senate-house, of the Sapale and Carvilii in the auction- rooms, and the Pompilii and Veltii in the equestrian order. Who has so much boldness and so much wickedness, so much art in his lust, and so much resolution to effect his purpose, that he has isolated noble children almost in the very bosoms of their parents? Why should I mention Africa to you, why the evidence of the witnesses? These things you know, and I advise you to read them often.
However, I think I ought not to pass over this—that, first of all, he came off from that trial in as indigent a condition as some of his judges were in before that trial; and, in the second place, so overwhelmed with unpopularity, that another trial was daily demanded against him. He is in such a state, that he has more to fear if he remains quiet, than to despise if he excites any disturbance. How much better fortune have you in your canyass than that new man, Caius Ceelius, lately had? He was a candidate at the same time with two men of the noblest birth, and of such character that all their other qualifications were superior to their nobility,—men of the greatest ability, the greatest modesty, the most distinguished services, the most excellent reasons for canvassing, and the greatest diligence in prosecuting their’ canvass, And yet, ON STANDING FOR THE CONSULSHIP. 489 while one was absent,! Ceelius, although he was far inferior in birth, and superior in hardly any point, defeated the other. Wherefore, if you act as nature and the studies which you have always pursued enable you to, as the occasion and your own interest require, as you can, and as you ought, you will not have a hard contest with those competitors, who are not nearly so illustrious by birth as they are notorious for their vices. For what citizen can be found so unprincipled, as to be willing by one vote to draw two daggers against the republic?
IV. Since I have explained what aids to your newness you have, and may have, I think I must next speak of the import- ance of the honour for which you are standing. You are seeking for the consulship, an honour of which there is no one who does not think you worthy; but there are many who will grudge it to you. For you, being a man of equestrian rank, are aiming at the chief rank in the state,—and at a rank the chief in such a sense, that that honour will confer much more dignity on a brave, eloquent, and innocent man, than on any one else. Do not believe that those who have enjoyed this honour fail to see how much dignity you will have when you have attained it too, But I suspect that those men envy you (except, indeed, such as may be your own especial friends), who, though born of consular families, have not obtained the same honour as their ancestors. I think that even new men of pretorian rank, with the exception of such as are under personal obligations to you, are not inclined to be surpassed in honour by you. And I well know that you are aware how many envious persons there are among the people, and how many, in consequence of the events of late years, are alienated from the new men; and some, too, must inevitably be personally angry with you yourself, on account of the causes which you have pleaded, Recollect this cireum- stance, too,—do you think that you have made any friends by the great zeal with which you have devoted yourself to increasing the glory of Cnzeus Pompeius? Wherefore, as you are seeking the highest office in the state, and as you see that 1 The Latin is cum deesset altu; which is very obscure, if it is not corrupt. Palermus proposes to read decessit for decessisset, had died; an this can hardly be, for if one was dead, Ceelius had no competitor eft, wa eed at 490 ON STANDING FOR THE CONSULSHIP.
there are motions in operation which will be adverse to you, you must exert all your reason, and care, and labour, and diligence.: VY. And the standing for offices is divided into diligence of two kinds; one of which must depend on the zeal of your friends, the other on the inclinations of the people. The zeal of your friends must be gained by kindnesses and services done by you, by length of friendship, by the affability and pleasantness of your own nature. But the name of friends is one used more extensively in a canvass for offices than in any other occasion in life; for now, every one who shows you any geodwill whatever, every one who is civil to you, or who comes to your house, must be ranked in the number of your friends. But still it is the most advantageous thing of all to be beloved by and agreeable to those who are our friends from any more honourable cause, such as relationship, affinity, or companionship, or any other connexion. In the next place, you must labour diligently to make every one, in proportion as he is familiar and intimate with you, love you, and wish your honour to be advanced as much as possible; then all those of your tribe, your neighbours, your clients, your freedmen, and, lastly, even your slaves; for nearly all the conversation with reference to a man’s forensic fame emanates from per- sons connected with his house. Then you must make friends of every sort;—friends for show, men illustrious from their rank and reputation, who, even if they are not very effective as voters or canvassers, nevertheless add some dignity to the candidate;—and magistrates, for the purpose of obtaining your rights, among whom, the consuls especially, and next to them the tribunes of the people, are men of preeminent influence in bringing over the centuries to your interests. Those who have ever gained the votes of a tribe or of a century through your influence, or who hope to do so, or who have ever received, or who expect to receive, any kindness from you, conciliate and make sure of by every means in your power, For, for many years, ambitious men have been labouring vigorously, with all their zeal and energy, to obtain: the objects of their ambition from the men of their own tribe. And do you take pains witii these men, by all imaginable means, to cause them to be eager in your cause with all their hearts and all their inclinations, And if men were only: ON STANDING FOR THE CONSULSHIP. AQT grateful, then all these things ought to be ready done to your hand, as, in fact, I trust that they are. For the last two years you have laid under obligations four companies of citizens, who may be of the greatest influence in aiding you in the object of your ambition; those, namely, of Marcus Fundeenius, of Quintus Galbus, of Caius Cornelius, and ‘of Caius Orcininus. And I know what these companies, when they brought their consent to you, promised you.and assured you of most positively; for I was present. Wherefore you must take care that, on this occasion, you exact of them a requital for your services, by continually reminding them, by asking them, by renewing your kindnesses, by cultivating their goodwill; so as to let them understand that they will never have any other opportunity of showing their gratitude. And, indeed, these men will be excited to zeal in your behalf, both by hopes of your services in future, and by a recollection of your recent exertions in their cause. And altogether, since your canvass is abundantly fortified by that kind of friend- ship which you have gained by your defence of causes, take care that, of all those men who are under obligations to you, each man may have his part carefully marked out and allot- ted to him. And as you have never been troublesome to any one of them in any matter, take care that they understand that you have reserved the requital of all those obligations which you think that you are entitled to demand at their hands, to the present time..
VI. But since there are three things by which men are chiefly won over to benevolence, and to zealous canvassing and voting for another,—namely, by past service, or future hope, or pure inclination,—you must consider how you may most effectually act upon each of these motives. Men are won over by very slight services, to think them reason suffi- cient to be zealous in the cause of a candidate; so that there is little danger of persons whom you have actually saved,— and there are many such,—not understanding that, if they do not satisfy your expectations at the present time, they will never be esteemed by any one hereafter. But though this is the case, still they must be solicited for their votes, and care- fully brought over to the opinion that, though they are at present under obligations to us, we shall now, in our turn, appear under obligations to them. But as to those who are 492 ON STANDING FOR THE CONSULSHIP.
bound to us by hope,—and that kind of men are far the most energetic and busy in one’s service,—you must take care that your aid appears to be destined for and made ready for them, and hat they understand that you are an attentive spectator of their services; so that it may appear that you distinctly see and observe what proceeds from each individual.
The third kind is those who are a man’s friends from pure inclination; and those men must be strengthened in their purpose by thanking them earnestly, by accommodating your discourse to those motives which lead each man to be zealous for you, by showing a corresponding inclination to be of service to them, and by holding them out hopes of close friendship, familiarity, and intimacy with you. And with reference to all these kinds of friends, you must estimate and consider what the power of each individual is; so that you may know both how to show your complaisance for each person, and what to expect and ask from each person. For there are some men of great influence in their own neigh- bourhoods or municipalities,—some men of general energy | and authority, who, even if they have not previously taken pains to keep up their interest, still can easily at once exert themselves in the cause of that man to whom they are under obligations, or whom they wish to serve, This kind of men you must cultivate in such a way that they themselves may understand that you see what you have to expect from each of them, that you appreciate what you do receive, and that you recollect what you have received, But there are others 7 who have either no influence at all, or are even unpopular among the people of their tribe, and who have not any energy or power to enable them to be of service on a sudden emergency. You must make a distinction with respect to these men; lest, while your hopes are placed on some great thing, you may in reality derive but little assistance from them.
VII. And although a candidate must have his strength in, and his main reliance on, friendships previously formed and established, nevertheless, in the course of the canvass, many very useful friendships are also formed; for amid its other annoyances, still a canyass has this one advantage,—that in the rest of your life you are not able to form friendships with whomsoever you please; for if you were at any other time to ON STANDING FOR THE CONSULSHIP. 493 request men to form an intimacy with you, you would appear to be acting absurdly; but unless you act, in this way while canvassing, and that in many instances and with eagerness, you would not be taken to be a candidate at all. But I assure you of this most positively, that there is no one, unless he is connected by some relationship with some one of your competitors, on whom, if you are inclined for it, you may not easily prevail, to wish by his service to you in this matter to gain your affections, and to lay you under an obligation. Only let him understand that you consider it one of great importance; that he should serve you with all his heart; and that he will be making a good use of his. influence, and gain your friendship, which will not be a short- lived one—lasting till he has voted, and no longer—but firm and lasting. There will be no one, believe me, possessed of any virtue at all, who will let slip the opportunity that 1s now offered to him of contracting a friendship with you; especially as chance has given you this in your favour,—-that men are standing against you whose friendship is to be de- spised or to be avoided, and who not only can never obtain what 1 am now urging you to, but who cannot even attempt it; for how can Antonius begin to conciliate men and invite them to friendship with him, whom he cannot address by himself in his own name? Nothing appears to be more nonsensical, than to fancy that man zealous for your interests with whom you have no acquaintance. There must be some extraordinary glory and dignity, some great amount of illus- trious achievements, in that man whom strangers combine to honour, without any personal benefits having been received by them to influence their votes; so that it cannot happen, without great fauit and great carelessness, that a man who is inactive, who has done no one any service, who has no ability to plead, and no character, and who is not supported by any friends, should defeat one who is fortified by the zeal of many friends, and the good opinion of all men.
VIII. Wherefore you must labour, by many friendships of various kinds, to secure all the centuries in your interest: and first of all, as indeed is clear, you must conciliate the senators and knights of Rome, and the active and influential men of the other orders. There are many men of the city very active, many freedmen influential and energetic in the forum; and all 494 - ON STANDING FOR THE CONSULSHID.
whom you can influence yourself, or whom you can get at by any common friends, you must take care to secure in your favour. Be diligent, solicit them, assure them, point out that they will be doing you the greatest possible service. In the next place, have a regard to the whole city, all the colleges and burghs, and all the neighbouring towns. If you can win over the chief men in these bodies to your friendship, you will by their means easily gain the rest of the multitude. After that take care to imprint on your mind and memory the whole of Italy, described and catalogued by tribes,—let there not be any municipality, or colony, or prefecture, not any single spot, in short, in all Italy, in which you have not sufficient strength and support. Moreover, seek out and dis- cover men in every district, make acquaintance with them, Solicit them, make them promises; take care that they canvass for you in their neighbourhoods, and become, as it were, can- didates themselves for your sake. They will wish to have you for a friend, if they see that your friendship is sought for by them; and you must make them understand that abundantly by such language as bears upon that point; for men who live in the municipal towns and in the country, think themselves friends of ours if they are merely known by name to us; but if, besides this, they think that they can gain any protection to themselves by our means, then they lose no opportunity of earning a title to it. With these men the rest of the nobles, and especially your competitors, have no acquaintance at all; but you have some already, and will easily be able to improve it; and without acquaintance there can be no friendship: nor yet is that sufficient, though it is of great importance, if some hope of advantage and friendship does not also follow, so that you may appear to be not a mere nomenclator only, but also an active friend. And in this way, when you have both secured the zealous service, in the centuries, of those men who are of the greatest power and influence with the men of their tribes, on account of ambitious views of their own, and when you have rendered the rest who have any weight among any portion of the men of their tribe, through any consi- derations connected with their municipality, or the state, or any college, eager for your success, you will have a right to entertain the best possible hopes. The centuries of the knights appear to me to be much more easily retained in your interests f ON STANDING FOR THE CONSULSHIP.; 495 ‘by diligence. In the first place, you must make acquaintance with them all, for they are but few; then you must win their affections, for they are mostly young men, and that is the age which is the most easily gained over to friendship: and — in the next place, you will have with you every one of the youth who is most virtuous, and most inclined to liberal studies and goodness; and also, as the equestrian rank is. your own rank, those men will naturally be willing to promote the authority of their order, if they are courted by you with such care that you secure the centuries, not only by the goodwill of the order, but by the personal friendship of individuals. And the zeal of the young men in your behalf, as shown in voting, in canvassing, in spreading reports, and in attending you about the city, is of wonderful importance, and very honourable.
IX. And since I have mentioned the subject of attending you through the city, I may as well say, too, that care must be - taken to avail yourself of a daily company of attendants, of every class, order, and age. For from the numbers of such a retinue a conjecture will be able to be formed as to how much power and support you are likely to have at the election itself. This may be arranged under three divisions: there is the company of saluters who come to your house; another, of those who escort you home again; a third, of those who accompany you in your walks through the city. In respect of the saluters, who are the most ordinary kind of attendants, and who, according to the fashion at present prevailing, come in considerable numbers, this must be: taken care of,—that while it shall appear to be the slightest service that they are to render you, it shall likewise seem the one which is most acceptable to you yourself. Assure those who come to your -house that you notice it, and point it out to their friends, who may tell them again, and often repeat it to themselves. And ‘in this way men very often, in the case of there being several competitors, and of their seeing that there is one man who -takes especial notice of these acts of attention, desert the others, and devote themselves to him alone, apd by degrees, from having been common friends of all the candidates, be- come his alone, and from having been sham supporters, turn