THE CHAUTAUQUAN,

Is published every morning (Sundays excepted) during the three weeks' meetings at Chautauqua in August. It is an eight page, forty-eight column paper, nineteen numbers in the volume. Printed in the grove at Chautauqua on a steam power press. The seventh volume will be issued in August next. Every preacher, Sunday-school superintendent and teacher needs it.

We have rare opportunities to furnish our readers with the ripest and best thoughts of many of the foremost thinkers of the country, who will deliver lectures, sermons and addresses on the Chau auqua platform. We employ

EIGHT STENOGRAPHERS,

who are first-class reporters, and whose reports of scientific and other lectures for our columns have received the highest praise during the past six years.

We shall publish reports of Normal Work, the Kindergarten, Children's Meetings, Primary Class Drills, College of Music, Concerts, Denominational Conferences, C. L. S. C. Camp Fires, Class Vigils, a full account of Graduating Day, Lectures on Models of Palestine Tabernacle, Model of Jerusalem, Descriptions of Days and Prominent Men and Women, Personal and Local News. The DAILY HERALD will mirror the proceedings at Chautauqua in 1882.

Addresses on Sunday-school Work, to be delivered by the following persons, will appear in the ASSEMBLY DAILY HERALD:

Rev. J. H. Vincent, D. D., Rev. B T. Vincent, Rev. J. L Hurlbut, Miss Fanny A. Dyer, Mrs. O. A. Baldwin, Rev. A. E. Dunning, Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller, and others

Lectures on the Sciences, Philosophy, Theology, Travel, Literature, History, Biography, Music, Church Work, Political Economy, etc., etc., will be delivered at Chautauqua next August by the following persons, and published in the ASSEMBLY DAILY HERALD:

Bishop M. Simpson, LL. D., F. L. Hatton, LL. D., Prof. E. E. Ayres, L. T. Townsend, D. D., J. B. Thomas, D. D., Rev J. G Townsend, A. M., Rev. W. Armstrong, A M., Chaplain C C. McCabe, D. D., Prof James Strong, S. T. D., A D. Vail, D. D., A H. Burlingham, D. D., M M. Parkhurst, D. D., Rev. A N. Craft, A M Rev. T. Craven, S. J. Humphrey, D. 1), Rev. Frank Russell, A M., Bishop H. W. Warren, D. D, Bishop R. S. Foster, Lt.. D., T. DeWitt l'almage, D. D., John B. Gough, Esq., Prof. Wall ice Bruce, C. L. Godell, D. D., Rev. J A. Worden, A. M, Prot. B. T Bowne, Prof. William H. Niles, Prof. J. T. Edwards, D.D: William M. Blackburn, D. D., Lyman Abbott, D D., Prof. Frank Beard, A. B. Leonard, D. 1), W. S. Studley, D. D, J M. Buckley, D. D., C E Bishop, Esq., Prot, W. T. Harris, D. H. Post, A. M., Prof. G J Luckey, Rev A. H. Nurcross, Prof. J W. Churchill, Phillip Schaff, D. D, and General Clinton B. Fiske. The ASSEMBLY HERALD will carry Chautauqua into your home every day. The volume will contain more than seventy lectures, sermons, and addresses, all for $1.00. The editor will be assisted by C. E. Bishop, Esq., Rev H. H. Moore, Rev. E. D. McCreary, A. M., Rev. C. M. Morse, and the Rev. J. M. Crouch.

A monthly magazine, 72 pages, ten numbers in the volume, beginning with October and closing with July. The third volume will begin in October, 1882.

THE CHAUTAUQUAN

is the official organ of the C. L. S C., adopted by the Rev J H. Vincent, D. D., Lewis Miller, Esq, Lyman Abbott, D. D., Bishop H. W. Warren, D. D. Prof. W. C Wilkinson, D. D, and Rev. J. M. Gibson, D. D., Counselors of the C L S. C. The Next Volume will Contain more than Half the Required Readings for the C. L. S. C. A brilliant writer will take the C. L. S. C. on a "TOUR ROUND THE WORLD," in ten articles, which will begin in the October number.

Popular articles on Russia, Scandinavian History and Literature, English History, Music, etc., etc, will be published or the C. L S C. in THE CHAUTAUQUAN only. Eminent authors, whose names and work we withhold for the present, have been engaged to write valuable papers, to be in the Required Reading for the C. L S. C. These will appear in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

An excellent serial story will commence in the October number and be completed with the volume.

The following writers will contribute articles for the coming volume:

The Rev. J. H. Vincent, D. D., Mrs. Mary S. Robinson, Edward Everett Hale, Prof. L. A Sherman, Prof. W. T. Harris, Prof. W. G. Williams, A. M., Mrs. Ella Farnham Pratt, C. E Bishop, Esq., Rev. E D. McCreary, A M, Mrs. L. H. Bug bee, Bishop H. W. Warren, Rev. H. H. Moore, Prof. W. C. Wilkinson, D. D., and others.

LOCAL CIRCLES.

THE CHAUTAUQUAN will be the organ of the local circles-we shall, as in the past year, set apart several pages each month, for reports of anniversaries, drills, roundtables, concerts, etc., etc It is our purpose to make this one of the most interesting and profitable features of THE CHAUTAUQUAN for members of the C. L. S C.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

We shall publish Questions and Answers on every book in the C. L. S C. course for 1882-1883. This will be done before the time for reading the book comes round, to aid members in their reading. We have received a great many letters requesting us to continue this feature, and since we believe it is a help to the students, we shall make it a specialty.

C. L. S. C. NOTES AND LETTERS.

Here the best things will be gleaned from more than ten thousand letters, sent to Dr. Vincent's office at Plainfield, N. J. We trust members of the C. L. S. C. will continue to write freely to the Doctor of their experience in pursuing the course of study, of their hindrances and nelps, discouragements and failures, progress and vic

tories.

WE SHALL CONTINUE

THE EDITOR'S OUTLOOK,

EDITOR'S NOTE-BOOK, AND EDITOR'S TABLE. Persons to become thoroughly acquainted with the C. L S. C. and the Chitauqua movement, should read both periodicals-the CHautauqua Assembly Daily HERALD and THE CHAUTAUQuan.

Editor and Proprietor,

MEADVILLE, PA.

VOL. II.

No. 10.

President, Lewis Miller, Akron, Ohio.

Superintendent of Instruction, J. H. Vincent, D. D., Plainfield, N. J. General Secretary, Albert M. Martin, Pittsburgh, Pa. Office Secretary, Miss Kate F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J. Counselors, Lyman Abbott, D. D.; J. M. Gibson, D. D.; Bishop H. W. Warren, D. D.; W. C. Wilkinson, D. D.

CICERO.*

I include Marcus Tullius Cicero in the list of great benefactors, not because he was the first to declare those truths which have signally modified human thought and changed the current of human events, but because his great influence was exerted to conserve what was most precious in the realm of mind among ancient nations; and because his life and character will ever be a great example in degenerate times. No name among the Romans is so illustrious as his for intellectual preeminence; not for original genius, but for learning, accomplishments, breadth of mind and varied attainments.

He was the great Roman expositor of Grecian philosophy, while as orator and statesman, he took the highest rank. Who among the Romans was, on the whole, more distinguished than he? Who has left a more valuable inheritance to modern civilization? Who, of his countrymen, is dearer to the heart of the world? Whose posthumous influence has been greater on the side of virtue, patriotism, and elevated thought? His name is not so august as that of Cæsar, nor was he a poet like Horace and Virgil, nor a historian like Tacitus and Livy, nor an administrator like Augustus and Trajan, but his life is a study, and is invested with perpetual charms.

The critics, of course, have discovered that his life had great defects. But whatever his defects, let us bear in mind that he committed no great crimes, that he had no mean vices, and that his voice was uniformly raised in behalf of public morals, justice and eternal right. Until lately he has received almost unmitigated praise. The fathers of the Church revered him. To Augustine and Jerome he was an oracle, and to Erasmus one of the great lights of antiquity. To Middleton, a greater man than Forsythe, he was an idol. In our schools and colleges he is a household word. In presenting this immortal Roman, I have no novelties to show. Novelties are for those who bore away for a lifetime in a single hole, and seek fame by producing what is new, rather than what is true.

In my more humble work as a teacher of history in general, I seek to unfold what is useful to ordinary minds, and I know of few subjects more interesting than the life and labors of Cicero. Excuse me if I call him by that old fashioned name. I like it better than Kikero or Chichiro. He was born in the little suburban town of Aspinum, one hundred and six years before the Christian era, in a revolutionary age.

It is important, for a true appreciation of Cicero, and his

* A lecture delivered at Chautauqua by John Lord, LL. D.

first and for a few minutes on his age-not an age of artists and philosophers and scholars, such as marked the era of Pericles at Athens and modern Rome in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries under Julius II and Leo X, but an age of political changes and warlike enterprises, when the old constitution was being undermined, and aristocratic demagogues were grasping by appealing to the people whom they deceived, and bribed, and led. The armies of the republic had nearly conquered the world, and the proud metropolis was revelling in the spoils of the subdued empires. The spoils of war, and the immeasurable riches which flowed to Rome, were producing their natural effectspride and luxury, effeminacy and vice. Fortunes were enormous and disproportionate, made by fortunate generals and unscrupulous contractors, and provincial governors. They were chiefly made by those who belonged to the noble and privileged classes-by those to whom were entrusted political and military power, for it should be remembered the Roman constitution was essentially aristocratic, like that of England, and not democratic like that of Athens. The more powerful senatorial families divided among themselves most of the great offices of state. The Cornelii furnished thirty consuls in a hundred and ninety-three years, the Valerii eighteen, the Emilii fifteen, the Claudii and the Fabii each twelve. What proud families were these, tracing their origin to the early days of Rome, and ruling their state by proscriptive right. They composed a nobility more powerful than any now existing in Europe. It was under their ascendency that we associate dignity with the Roman senate, and glory with Roman conquests. Their rule was a long one, lasting far longer than that of any ancient or modern democracies, stable, powerful, and patriotic. But the nobles, who ruled the state for five hundred years, were not feudal tyrants, nor Venetian oligarchists. Their power was held in check by the people,-by the citizens, who, while they could vote, were yet excluded from high political office by the overwhelming influence which the nobles possessed from their wealth and prestige. Even the tribunes of the people were ultimately selected from these families. Only a rich man, or a man who had rendered great public services could be a senator. These senators, in the possession of unlimited wealth, and of the great offices, were generally men of experience and practical wisdom. They had remarkable administrative ability. They were the generals, the legislators, and the governors of the empire. When the empire was being formed with the progress of arms and wealth-the fortunate generals, and sometimes generals who were plebeian by birth, like Marius, for war always develops abilities, and rewards them, were enabled to intimidate and cripple the senate, and usurp its power. But the greatest inroad on the constitution was made by the demagogues, generally ambitious and unscrupulous men from the upper classes, who fanned the passions and prejudices of the people, and caused them, by corruption and bribery, to pass laws in their centuries fatal to the welfare of the state, for theoretically, the populus was the real sovereign by whom power was delegated.

At last they were able, for a time, to block the wheels of government. In other words, generals and politicians used the people as tools in proportion as the power of the people was developed. Such men as Catiline, Claudius, Cæsar, and Antony were thus enabled to defy the laws and grasp illegal power. The democratic element gained ground gradually over the aristocratic, as in Paris to-day, and even in England. The senate was still august and conservative, but the reign of politicians and generals commenced with the expansion of the empire. The people, as they advanced in political importance, entrusted their interests and their liberties to these demagogues, and war idols, as war, successful or unsuccessful, just or unjust, offensive or defensive, always demoralizes.

and Stuart Mill. He had a wonderful memory, and early mastered the Greek language. He wrote poetry, studied under eminent masters, frequented the Forum, listened to speeches of different orators, watched the gestures of the best actors, and plunged into the mazes of Greek philosophy. For a profession he selected the law, the only one in which a man could arrive at eminence, next to the profession of

arms.

But in spite of his great attainments, for, like Bacon, he had taken all knowledge for his province, he was twentyfive before he had a case. He was twenty-seven when he defended Roscius, which seems to have brought him into notice, even as the fortunes of Erskine were made in the Greenwich Hospital case, and that of Daniel Webster in the case of Dartmouth College. To have defended Roscius against all the influence of Sulla, then the most powerful man in Rome, was considered bold and audacious.

Even

Yet with preparation for imperial tyranny, there was a great improvement in all the arts. Material life became more splendid and prosperous, as public virtue fled. social life was marked by urbanities, and courtesies, and civilities, with the increase of picture-galleries, fountains, gardens, and fish-ponds; but with the grandeur of an everexpansive material civilization was the decline of those virtues on which the strength of man is based. To the eye of

a superficial observer there was progress in civilization. The beautiful face of nature, the architectural monuments, the theatrical exhibitions, the chariot races, the banquets, and the battles seemed to the eyes of pleasure-seekers worthy of unbounded panegyric. The crisis of danger, it is true, had not been reached, nor the abyss of shame, but all things were rapidly tending to the consummation—to the eclipse of faith, the general disbelief in God, the atheistic negations of philosophers. An Epicurean philosophy is the sequel of an Epicurean life. The whole current and drift of society were to magnify wealth as the chief good of earth, and all the pleasures and ostentations which wealth produces, and banish from the minds of men the idea of a superintending Providence to whom all are directly and personally responsible. "Cui bono?"-"Who shall show us any good?" "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die!"-this was the cry. Sensualism became the convertible word for utilities, pervading even literature, extinguishing poetry, friendship, and self-sacrifice from the earth.

The Romans were rapidly advancing, as pagan evolutionists might say, to this materialistic millennium, when Cicero commenced his memorable career. Although he was inconsistent with his lofty ideal of life, and loved homage and power, and even the luxuries of elegant life, yet still his speeches and his writings are generally an eloquent appeal to the noblest sentiments of the human soul-a sad and mournful protest against the vices which were undermining the state-alike mournful and vain, for nothing could arrest the evils which made a change of government necessary, and which ultimately would surely destroy the most magnificent empire that our world has seen. What was born of violence will end in violence-one of those immutable laws which stand out in the moral government of God.

He (Cicero) was well born, but not of a noble family. No one of his ancestors had held one of the great offices of state; but his father belonging to equestrian ranks, was able to give him a good education. The peculiarity of his youth was his precocity. He was a prodigy, like Pitt, Macaulay

Cicero was not naturally robust. His figure was tall and spare, his neck long, and his mouth anything but sensual. He looked like an elegant scholar more than a popular public speaker. Yet he was impetuous and ardent and fiery,

health of such a young man could not stand the strain of his nervous system, and he was obliged to leave Rome for recreation, and he made the tour of Greece and Asia Minor, which every fashionable and cultivated man was supposed to visit. But he did not abandon himself to the pleasures of cities more fascinating than Rome, but pursued his studies in rhetoric and philosophy under eminent masters, or professors, as we should now call them. He remained abroad two years, and when he returned he was thirty years of age, and settled down in his profession, taking at first but little part in politics, and married Terentia, with whom he lived happily for thirty years.

But the Roman lawyer was essentially a politician, looking ultimately to a political office, since only through the great public offices could he enter the senate-the object of ambition to all distinguished Romans, as a seat in Parliament is the goal of an Englishman.

The Roman lawyer did not receive fees, like modern lawyers, but derived his support from presents and legacies. When he became a political leader, a man of influence with the great, his presents were enormous. Cicero acknowledged late in life to have received more than what would be equal to a million dollars from legacies alone. The great political leaders and orators were the stipendiaries of eastern princes and nobles who wanted favors from the senate, and could reward them as well as railroad kings in our times.

Before Cicero could be a senator he must pass through those great public offices which were in the gift of the people. The first step in the order of advancement was the office of quæstor, which entailed the duty of collecting revenues in one of the provinces. This office he was sufficiently influential to secure, and he was sent to Sicily, and distinguished himself for his activity and integrity. At the end of a year he resumed his practice in the courts,— hardly anything more than a mere lawyer for five years, when he was elected ædile, one to whom the care of the public building was entrusted. This office he secured by canvassing the votes of the people, but here he appears as the politician rather than the lawyer. To get office he was obliged to make himself popular, and he succeeded, a difficult thing to do with his tastes and habits.

It was while he was ædile elect, which office secured him an entrance into the senate, that Cicero appeared as the public prosecutor of Verres, one of the great cases of antiquity, and from which his public career fairly dates. His residence in Sicily prepared him for this duty, and he secured the conviction of the great criminal, whose peculiari

ties and corruptions would amaze our modern New Yorkers, and all the rings of our great cities combined. But the prætor of Sicily was a provincial governor-more like Warren Hastings than Tweed. For this public service Cicero gained more eclat than Burke did for his prosecution of Hastings, since Hastings, though a corrupt man, laid, after Clive, the foundation of the English empire in India, and was a man of talents greater than any man who has since filled his place. Hence the nation screened him. But Verres had no virtues, and no great abilities, and was an outrageous public robber, and hoped, from his wealth and powerful connections, to purchase immunity for his crimes. In the hands of such an orator as Cicero he could not escape the penalty of the law, powerful as he was, even at Rome. This case placed Cicero above Hortensius, hitherto the leader of the Roman bar.

It was at this period that the extant correspondence of Cicero commenced, which is the best picture we have of the manners and habits of Roman aristocracy at the time. History could scarcely spare those famous letters, especially to Atticus, in which also the private life and character of Cicero shines to the most advantage, revealing no vices, no treacheries, only egotism and vanity and vacillation, and a way that some have of speaking about people in private very differently from what they say in public, which looks like insincerity. In these letters Cicero appears as a very frank man, genial, hospitable, witty, whose society and conversation must have been delightful. In no modern correspondence do we see a higher perfection in the polished courtesies and urbanities of social life. As a gentleman he never had a superior, not even in the court of Louis XIV. In these letters he evinced a friendship to Atticus which is immortal, and what is nobler than the capacity of friendship? In these letters he also shines as a cultivated scholar as well as gentleman, and also as a great statesman and patriot, living for the good of his country, though not unmindful of the luxuries of home, and the charms of country retirement, and those enjoyments which are ever associated with cultivated and favored life-pictures, books, medals, statues, curiosities of every kind, all of which adorned his various villas, as well as his magnificent palace on Mount Palatine, which cost him what would be equal in our money to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. To keep up this town house and some fifteen villas in different parts of Italy, and feast the greatest nobles, like Pompey and Cæsar, would imply that his income was enormous, much greater than that of any modern professional man, and yet he seemed to have lived, like our Webster, beyond his income, and was in debt the greater part of his life - another flaw in his character, for I do not wish to paint him without faults, but as a good man as well as a great man, for his time. He never fell like Bacon, nor sinned like Mirabeau, but rendered greater public service than either, while his private character was as lofty as that of Chatham, if we could forget his vanity, which, after all, is not so offensive as the intellectual pride of Burke and Pitt, and sundry other lights, whom we could mention, conscious of their gifts and attainments. There is something very different in the egotism of a silly and self-seeking aristocrat, from the egotism of a great benefactor, who has something to be proud of, and with whose private experience the greatest national deeds are connected. I dwell on this fault because it has been handled too severely by modern critics. What were the faults of Cicero, compared with those of Theodosius and Constantine, to say nothing of his contemporaries, like Cæsar and Pompey, before whom so much incense has been burned.

But to return to the public career of Cicero. At the age of forty he became prætor, or supreme judge. This office,

when it expired, entitled him to a provincial government. That was a great ultimate ambition of the senator, since the administration of a province for a single year usually secured an enormous fortune. This tempting offer he resigned, from motives of patriotism, for he felt he could not be spared from Rome in such a crisis of public affairs, when the fortunate generals were grasping power, and the dema gogues were making despotism a necessity. Some writers say he was a far-sighted and ambitious watchman, who could not afford to weaken his chances of being made consul by absence from the capital. This great office, the highest in the gift of the people, which gave supreme executive control, was rarely conferred, although elective, upon any but senators of ancient family and enormous wealth. It was as difficult for a "new man" to reach dignity, under an aristocratic constitution, as for a commoner a hundred years ago to become prime minister to England. Transcendent talents and services scarcely sufficed. Only generals who had won great military fame, or the highest of the nobles, stood much chance. For a lawyer to aim at the highest office in the state, without a great family to back him, would have been deemed as audacious as for such a man as Burke to aspire to a seat in the cabinet during the reign of George III. A lawyer at Rome, like a lawyer in London might become a lord chancellor or prætor, but not easily a prime minister. Aristocratic influence and jealousies would defeat him. Although the people had the right of election, they voted at the dictation of those who had money and power. Yet Cicero obtained the consulship, which he justly regarded as a great triumph. It was a very unusual thing. It was more marvelous than for a Jew to reign in Great Britain, or a Jew to reign, like Mordecai, in the court of a Persian king. The most distinguished service of Cicero as consul was to ferret out the conspiracy of Catiline. Now, this traitor belonged to the very highest rank in the senate of nobles. He was like an ancient duke in the British house of peers. It was no easy thing for a plebeian consul to bring to justice so great a culprit. He was more formidable than was Essex in the reign of Elizabeth, or Basompiere in the time of Richelieu. He had a band of numerous and faithful followers, armed and desperate. He was also one of those oily and aristocratic demagogues who bewitched the people. He was as debauched as Mirabeau, but without his patriotism, though like him he aimed to overturn the constitution by allying himself with the democracy. He gained the people he despised by his money and promises, and he had powerful confederates of his own rank, so that he was on the point of deluging Rome with blood. But all his schemes were foiled by Cicero, who added unwearied activity to extraordinary penetration. For this great and signal service he received the highest tributes the state could render. He was called the "savior of his country," and he succeeded in staving off, for a time, the fall of his country's liberties. It was a mournful sight to him to see the ascendency which demagogues had already gained, since it betokened the approaching destruction of the constitution, which, good or bad, was dear to him, and which he sought to conserve. It is true it was aristocratic rather than democratic, and aristocracies have this advantage at least over democracies: that they have proved stable and permanent. The aristocracy of Rome lasted five hundred years, and under it the most glorious days of the republic had been passed; as soon as the reign of demagogues commenced it was felt there was no security, or order, or law, but in imperialism. The government by and through the people was a humiliating failure, for at Rome it was synonomous with the tyranny and usurpation of popular leaders, and all subsequent history has confirmed and illustrated the same thing, that popular liberty is impossible if the people are corrupt and ignorant. They will be the tools

and victims of ambitious and unscrupulous politicians. What capacity or inclination have ignorant masses to select able and good men to govern them? They clamor for demoralizing pleasures, which wicked politicians give in exchange for spoils and power, and when power falls to a ring of demagogues, then farewell to the welfare of a state or city. All this Cicero saw and lamented. Hence his bold and unsparing exposure of the crimes and designs of Catiline, and his watchfulness of still more dangerous public enemies, who had the favor of the people, like Cæsar and Antony and Clodius. It was their cabals that kept him in Rome, when, a second time, he had the privilege of a provincial government. He felt it his duty to remain at home.

Clodius avenged himself by artfully causing the people to pass a law that whoever inflicted capital punishment on a citizen without a trial, should be banished. This seemed to the people to be a protection to their liberties. Now, Cicero, when consul, had executed some of the conspirators associated with Catiline, for which he was called the "savior of his country." But by the new law which Clodius caused to be passed, he was himself a culprit, and it would seem that all the influence of the senate and his friends could not prevent his exile. He appealed to his friend Pompey, but he turned a deaf ear, and also to Cæsar, but he was outside the walls of the city in command of an army. In fact, both of these generals wanted him out of the way, for both of them were bent on being the supreme ruler of Rome. So it was permitted for the most illustrious patriot, whom Rome then held, to go into exile. What a comment on the demoralization of the times! What an illustration of the unscrupulousness of demagogues! Here was the best, the most gifted, and the most accomplished man of the republic-a man who had rendered invaluable and acknowledged services-that man of consular dignity, and one of the leaders of the senate, sent into inglorious banishment on a mere technicality, and for an act that showed courage and virtue, and the "magnanimous" Cæsar and the "illustrious" Pompey allowed him to go. Where was salvation to a country that banished its savior, and for having saved? The heart sickens over such a fact, although it occurred two thousand years ago. It makes us disgusted with a republic that could commit such a crime, and in the name of liberty. It reminds us of some of the worst atrocities of the French Revolution. As well banish the patriots who exposed the infamies of Tweed, or hang the three soldiers who captured Major André. When the citizens of Rome saw that great man depart mournfully from among them, and to all appearance forever, for having rescued them from violence and slaughter, and by their own act, they ought to have known that the days of the republic were numbered. But this only a few far-seeing patriots felt, and not only was Cicero banished, but his palace was burned, and his villas confiscated. He was not only disgraced but ruined. He was an exile and a pauper. What a fall! What an unmerited treatment! Is it to be wondered at, that even so good and great a man as Cicero should bitterly feel his disgrace and misfortunes? Is it surprising that, philosopher that he was, he should give way to grief and despondency? He would have been more than human not to have lost his spirits and his hopes. How natural was grief and despair in such complicated miseries, especially to a religious man. Chrysostom could support his exile with dignity, for Christianity had abolished the superstition of Greece and Rome as to household gods. Cicero could not. He was not great enough for such a martyrdom. It is true we should have esteemed him higher had he accepted his fate with resignation. No man should yield to despair. Had he been as old as Socrates, and had he accomplished his mission, possibly he would have shown more equanimity. But his work was

not done. He was cut off in his prime, and in the fulness of usefulness, from his home, his religion, his family, his power, and his influence. He was utterly ruined.

I think the critics make too much of the grief and misery of Cicero in his banishment. But they are a cold and cynical set of men, who think it is their business to pick flaws and destroy. I complain that they do not render justice by an exalted standard. We may be disappointed that Cicero was not equal to his circumstances. But we cannot be hard on him. My surprise is, not that he was overwhelmed with grief, but that he did not attempt to drown his grief in books and literature. His sole relief was in pathetic and unmanly letters.

The great injustice of their punishment naturally produced reaction; nor could the Romans afford to lose the services of their greatest orator. They also craved the excitement of his speeches, more thrilling and delightful than the performance of any actor, so he was recalled. Cicero ought to have anticipated this. It seems, however, he had that unfortunate temperament which favored alternate depression and exaltation of spirit, without measure or reason. His return was a triumph-a grand ovation-an unbounded tribute to his vanity. His palace was rebuilt at the expense of the state, and his property was restored; his popularity was regained. In fact his influence was never lost. It was because it was so great that his enemies wished him out of the way. He was one of the few who retain influence after they have lost power. The excess of his joy on his restoration to home, and friends and property, and fame and position, was as great as the excess of his grief in his short exile. But this is a defect in temperament, in his mental constitution, rather than a flaw in his character. We could have wished more placidity and equanimity, but to run him down because he was not great in everything is unjust, and unworthy of a candid historian.

On his return to Rome, Cicero resumed his practice in the courts with more devotion than ever. He was now past fifty years of age, in the prime of his strength, and in the height of his forensic fame. But, notwithstanding his success and honor, his life was saddened by the growing dissension between Cæsar and Pompey, the decline of public spirit, and the approaching fall of the institutions in which he gloried. It was clear that one or the other of these fortunate generals would soon become master of the Roman world, and that liberty was about to perish. His eloquence now became sad. He sings the death song of departing glories. He wails his Jeremiads over the demoralization which was sweeping away, not men's liberties, but religion, and extinguishing faith in the world. To console himself he retired to one of his beautiful villas and wrote one of his immortal essays, de oratione, which has come down to us entire. His literary genius now blazes equal with his public speeches in the forum and in the senate. Literature was his solace and amusement, not a source of profit and probably of contemporary fame. He wrote a treatise on the same principles that he talked with friends. Fra Angelica painted pictures. He renewed his attempts in poetry but failed. His poetry is in the transcendental rhythm of his prose compositions, like those of Madame de Stael, Macaulay and Rousseau.

But he was dragged from his literary and forensic labors to accept the office of a governor of a province. It was forced upon him. That honor had no charms for him. Had he been venal and unscrupulous he would have seized it with avidity. He was too conscientious to enrich himself by public corruption as other senators did, and unless he could accumulate a fortune, the command of a distant province was honorable exile. He was fifty-six years of age when he became proconsul of the eastern province, Cilicia, I believe, and all historians have united in praising his pro