the general rule of his character ; and we shall have to con-
sider hereafter whether he can or cannot be justified for his
conduct on that occasion.

In these first letters we get a few glimpses of his domestic
life. He tells Atticus that his daughter Tulliola, his darling
(delicice nostrce), is betrothed to Calpurnius Piso Frugi. This
event, which we should have thought full of interest to him,
he mentions in the most laconic manner Tulliolam C. Pisoni
L. F. Frugi despondimus? The young lady was then only

1 Hist, of Rome, iii. 30. Niebuhr Verres, who had swept Sicily clean of
translates faXoffTopyia, ' ' the tender love its works of art, with the abstinence of
for one's friends and parents." But I Frugi, who, when praetorian governor
doubt whether <rTopyr) is ever applied to of Spain, having broken one of his gold
any other than family affection. It is rings, ordered a goldsmith of Corduba
especially used to denote the love of (Cordova) to attend him in the market-
one's offspring. place, where he publicly weighed out

gold and had a new ring made in the pre-

2 Frugi means abstinent (frugal), and sence of bystanders, to prevent the pos-
Cicero, in Verr. de Signis, puns upon sibility of its being said that he had
the name and that of Verres (brush or plundered it. This certainly looks like
besom), contrasting the conduct of a caricature of caution.



B.C. 68. THE TUSCULAN VILLA. 61

nine, or at the most eleven, years old. Atticus had promised
her a present, and Cicero tells him that she looked upon her
father as bail for the performance, but he intended rather to
forswear the obligation than make it good. In another
letter he says that Tulliola has brought her action (diem daf),
and summoned bail.

I have noticed the first mention in Cicero's letters of his
Tusculan villa, in the furnishing and adorning of which he
was at this time so much engrossed, and it may be interesting
to describe it so far as we are able after the lapse of twenty
centuries.

About twelve miles across the Campagna to the east of
Rome, on the slope of the Latin hills, which form as it were
the framework of the landscape, and which now sparkle with
the villas of the Roman nobility, who resort there during the
heats of the summer and autumn months, stands the modern
town of Frascati. The terminus of the railway which con-
nects it with Rome is in the plain, a mile below the town.
About two miles beyond Frascati, and almost at the summit
of the hill that rises above it, is the site of the ancient city
of Tusculum, the arx or fortress of which crowned the top.
A lovelier walk than that which leads to this spot can hardly
be imagined. The path winds with a continuous ascent
through woods, and past villas and convents, " bosomed high
in tufted trees," until it strikes into a narrow road, or rather
lane, paved with ancient polygonal, blocks of flat stone. This
is the identical road which led up in ancient times to Tuscu-
lum from the plain below, and along which Cicero must often
have walked or been carried in his lectica on his way from
Rome to his country seat. Following this lane, the traveller
reaches a romantic spot, where are the remains of a small
amphitheatre ; and a little farther on to the right, on a grassy
platform jutting out on the south-west side of the hill, and
commanding a glorious view, is the site of Cicero's villa.
In the distance, across the Campagna, and right opposite,
glittered the walls and roofs and towers of Rome ; beyond
were the blue waters of the Mediterranean ; on the right lay
Tivoli ; and on the left the Alban lake, embosomed, however,
and hidden from sight by its surrounding hills. Anti-
quaries, who throw doubt upon everything, tell us that there






62 CORRESPONDENCE 6- DOMESTIC LIFE. CHAP. v.

is no certainty that this is the real site of Cicero's villa, and
some call it the villa of Tiberius. But very possibly the
Emperor may have become the owner of the villa, just as
Sylla was before Cicero bought it. 1 Some writers place the
villa in quite a different locality. After describing the walks
round the Alban lake, Eustace mentions a shady alley in
the woods which led to the town of Marino ; and says :' 2
"The same alley continues to Grotta Ferrata, once the




THEATRE AT TUSCUI.UM.



favourite villa of Cicero, and now an abbey of Greek monks.
It stands on one of the Tumuli, or beautiful hills grouped
together on the Alban mount. It is bounded on the south
by a deep dell, with a streamlet that falls from the rock, and
having turned a mill, meanders through the recess and dis-
appears in its windings. This stream, now the Marana, was
anciently called Aqua Crabra, and is alluded to by Cicero.

1 When I visited the spot in the as they were disinterred from their sleep

autumn of 1859 a solitary workman was of ages.
employed by the Aldobrandini family,

to whom it belongs, in excavating cham- " Classical Tour through Italy, \\.

bers and pavements, which I saw just 258.



^ET. 39. THE TUSCULAN VILLA. 63

Eastward rises a lofty eminence once crowned with.Tusculum ;
westward the view descends, and, passing over the Campagna,
fixes on Rome and the distant mountains beyond it ; on the
south a gentle swell presents a succession of vineyards and
orchards, and behind it towers the summit of the Alban
Mount, once crowned with the temple of Jupiter Latiaris.
Thus Cicero from his portico enjoyed the noblest and most
interesting view that could be imagined to a Roman and a
consul ; the temple of the tutelary divinity of the empire ;
the seat of victory and of triumph ; and the theatre of his
glorious labours the capital of the world

' Rerum pulcherrima Roma ! ' "

But it is surely an insuperable objection to this theory that
Grotta Ferrata is fully three miles from the ancient Tuscu-
lum ; and if Cicero's villa really occupied the site where it is
supposed by Middleton, Melmoth, Eustace, and other writers
to have been, it never would have borne the name of Tuscu-
lanum. 1

The villa itself was arranged as closely as possible on the
model of the Academy at Athens, so as to resemble it in
miniature. In fact, Cicero used playfully to call it his aca-
demy, and he added to it a palcestra or exercise-ground, a
gymnasium (which perhaps was the same as the academia\
and a xystus, a colonnade or corridor with open pillars, like
that which may still be seen on the south side of the Capitol
at Rome, by the side of the modern road which leads up
from the Campo Vaccino (the Forum) to the Campidoglio.
It was here that Cicero and Atticus passed many delightful
hours together away from the noise and bustle of Rome,
communing together on lofty themes, and enjoyed those
conversations in retrospect of which each might say to the
other

" I've spent, them not on toys, or lusts, or wine,
But search of deep Philosophy,
Wit, Eloquence, and Poetiy
Arts which I loved, for they, my friend, were thine ! "

The neighbourhood of Tusculum was a favourite resort of

1 After all, we must be content to reruin standum est, ubi certain rebus
guess in such matters where certainty is derogat antiquitas ficlem."
impossible, and say with Livy, " Fama



64 CORRESPONDENCE 6- DOMESTIC LIFE. CHAP. v.

the old Roman nobility. 1 On the declivity of the hill were
scattered the villas of Balbus, Brutus, Catulus, Metellus,
Crassus, Pompey, Caesar, Gabinius, Lucullus, Lentulus, and
Varro ; so that Cicero was in the midst of his acquaintances
and friends, but he thought his own villa lay a little out of
the road, as it certainly did. 2

Above all things, Cicero's passion was a library. To add
this to a house was, as he expressively termed it, to give
the house a soul ; and in nothing was he more urgent with
Atticus than in entreating him to send him books, which of
course in those days meant manuscripts. He begged him
never to lose an opportunity of picking up for him works
of art to ornament his villa and grounds ; and great is the
joy he expresses at the arrival of a Hermathena a double-
headed bust of Mercury and Minerva on a square pedestal ;
and he mentions statues or pictures from Megara, and figures
of Mercury in Pentelic marble with bronze heads, some of
which may perhaps yet be discovered and add to the trea-
sures that are contained in the Museum of the Vatican. He
tells Atticus not to be afraid of the expense it was his
hobby (genus hoc est voluptatis mece] and he would take
take care and repay him.

Besides his house at Rome and residence at Tusculum,
Cicero had many other villas, of which the principal were
situated on the west coast of Italy. Following the direction
from north to south, they lay respectively near the following
towns : Tusculum, Antium, Asturia, Sinuessa, Arpinum,
Formige, Cumae, Puteoli, and Pompeii. Besides his villa
near Antium, he had a house in the town, which he pur-
chased in the year 45 B.C., from M. Lepidus, only a short
time before his death. Antium (now Porto d'Anzo) was
situated on a headland looking down upon the blue waters
of the Mediterranean, and Cicero enjoyed the cool breezes
and quiet retirement of the spot. He had here a good
library, and many of the manuscripts which were saved
when his villas at Tusculum and Formise were plundered by

1 " Hie Brutus sociique aderant ; hie Attice, Tulli
Gaudebas sermone tui ; ingentesque procellae
Conticuere fori, et raucse fragor abfuit urbis."

Cicero cum Familiaribus. Oxford Prize Poem, 1829, by Sir Eardley Wilmot.
2 Devium aTravTucri et habet alia dv<rxp'no'Ta. Ad. Aft. vii. 5-



B.C. 68.



.HIS NUMEROUS KESIDEA T CES.



the satellites of Clodius at the time of his exile were brought
to his country seat at Antium. His Asturian villa lay in an
island which was formed by a river that here emptied itself
into the sea. It was surrounded by a thick wood of shady
trees, in the solitude of which he used to pass whole days
alone while mourning for the death of his daughter. Formiae




CICERO S VILLA, FOKMI.K.



was not far from Cajeta (Gacta) and the modern town or
village of Castiglione. His villa there was laid in ruins by
Clodius, but afterwards restored by Cicero, and it was in
the adjacent park that he was murdered by the emissaries
of Antony. He purchased his country residence near Cumse,
on the hill above the town, after his return from banishment
It was not far from Baiae, the favourite watering-place of the

F



66 CORRESPONDENCE & DOMESTIC LIFE. CHAP, v

fashionable world of Rome ; and amongst his neighbours he
mentions the names of Pompey, Varro, and Marcus Brutus.
At no great distance from this was Puteoli (Puzsuolo) on
the seaside, where he had a villa of considerable size.
Annexed to it was a building to which, as at his Tusculanum,
he gave the name of Academy ; and here he once enter-
tained Julius Caesar on his way to Rome after his return
from the East. He was much attached to this residence, but
it had one drawback. The neighbourhood was populous,
and he complained that he had too many visitors. After
his death the villa became the property of C. Antistius
Vetus, and it was here that the Emperor Hadrian was
buried.

His Pompeian villa lay a few miles from Naples, close to
Pompeii, and was so called, of course, from the city which has
been disinterred after the lapse of twenty centuries.

The question naturally occurs, from what sources did
Cicero derive the wealth which the possession of so many
residences implies, and how was he able to bear the cost of
keeping up so many establishments ? He inherited the
Arpinum villa, but all the rest were purchased by him. We
know from Plutarch that all the fortune he got by his wife
Terentia was a myriad of denarii, equal to about ^3500,
which was by no means sufficient to support such an
expense. And he made it his boast that he took nothing
for his services as an advocate. How, then, did he become
so rich as to be the proprietor of fourteen or fifteen different
villas, all furnished with exquisite taste and adorned in
many instances with masterpieces of Grecian sculpture and
Roman art ?

ere were no cotton lords at Rome, and commerce
rished to only a limited extent. But Cicero could have
derived no benefit from either commerce or manufactures.
His career was that of an advocate and statesman, and in
neither capacity was he directly paid. The most certain
mode of acquiring wealth to a public man at Rome was a
provincial government. 1 This followed, as a matter of course,

1 De Quincey says :" Almost the only ways allowing for a large means of
open channels through which a Roman marrying to advantage since a man
nobleman could create a fortune (al- might shoot a whole series of divorces,



JET. 39- SOURCES OF HIS WEALTH. 67

the possession of the office of Piaetor or Consul, and the
frequent instances of accusation of ex-governors charged
with oppression and extortion, show with what unscrupulous
avarice the pro-praetorian and pro-consular powers were too
often exercised. Cicero, however, declined a pro-praetorian
government, and he declined also to take either of the pro-
vinces allotted to him and his colleague Antonius when he
laid down the office of Consul. He did not assume a pro-
consular government until after his return from exile, some
years after his consulship. It could not therefore have been
from this source that he derived that wealth which enabled
him to be the possessor of so many estates, and to live in
such affluence and luxury at a much earlier period. But
there were two other modes of becoming rich, and Cicero
participated largely in both. Rome was rapidly advancing
to the position of mistress of the world, and her leading men
were the masters of Rome. It therefore was the policy of
distant kings and commonwealths to conciliate their favour
and support, and for this purpose presents of enormous value
were transmitted to them. We can hardly call them bribes,
for in many cases the relation of patron and client was
avowedly established between a foreign state and some
influential Roman ; and it became his duty, as of course it
was his interest, to defend it in the senate and before the
people. For instance, Cicero mentions Dyrrachium as a
place of which he was patron, and whose interests he had
always defended. Such a custom opened no doubt the door
to corruption, for money was lavished to buy the votes of
the senators, and agents were employed at Rome to distri-
bute it. The purity and disinterestedness of Cicero's
character makes me believe that he never accepted such
presents as a bribe, nor allowed his public conduct to be
influenced by any regard for money ; but he undoubtedly
did receive presents from foreign suitors, and we can easily
imagine that they were large in amount, for they must have
been most anxious to secure the goodwill and propitiate the

still refunding the last dowry, but still the gain of twenty, thirty, or even forty

replacing it by a better) were these per cent ; and secondly, the grand

two lending money on sea risks, or to resource of a provincial government."

embarrassed municipal corporations on Collected Works, ''Cicero."
good landed or personal security, with



68 CORRESPONDENCE & DOMESTIC LIFE. CHAP. v.

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, Caesar 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 sup-
plied 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 ttioney 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 Mtddleton 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 pro-
bably 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 hcereditatibus retuli.
Philipp. ii. 40.





CHAPTER VI.

THE PR^TORSHIP.
/Et. 40-41. B.C. 67-66.

ClCERO became Praetor-elect at the age of forty B.C. 67
and 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
praetors 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 op-
posed 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 extraordi-
nary commands on the generals of Rome. The friends of
Lucullus, who had the conduct of the war against Mithri-
dates, 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



70 THE PR^ETORSHIP. CHAP. vi.

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 ad-
dressed 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 vio-
lence. 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 un-
popular 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 elec-
tion 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
I 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 tarn exercitatum esse nunc Romoe quam candidates omnibus
iniquitatibus. Ad Alt. i. n.



JKT. 40-41. ELECTED PRAETOR 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 praetors was twice adjourned with-
out any definite result, Cicero, who had seven competitors
against him, was on both occasions chosen Praetor 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 Praetor Urbanus, or City Praetor. 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 praetor 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. 1 This formed no
inconsiderable part of the criminal business at Rome, and
required in the judge both firmness and honesty, for the cul-
prits 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 y
had, while holding the praetorian government of Asia Minor,
been guilty of great oppression and extortion, and, being
accused by the provinces which had suffered under his mis-
rule, 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 prosecu-
tion 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. 2 Writing to Atticus, Cicero tells him that his own

1 Postulatur apud me, prsetorem pri- bed and died ; but, according to Valerius
mum, de pecuniis repetundis. Pro Maximus, he watched the close of the
Cornelia Fragin, trial from a balcony, and when he knew

2 Plutarch savs that he took to his that he was convicted, and saw Cicero,



72 THE PR^TORSHIP. CHAP. vi.

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 gra-
titude if he had been acquitted. This shows how much the
N^ result of the trial was thought to be in the power of the pre-
siding praetor, 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