Lucius Seneca - Yale Required Reading - Collected Works (Vol. 2)

Cicero’s orations have served as models for many generations of orators, his rhetorical treatises may be regarded as the foundation of nearly all later theories of style, his philosophical works exerted an influence which permeated the thought of centuries. It remains to speak of his letters. These are in some respects the most interesting of his writings, because they show the feelings of the man as he disclosed them to his intimate friends, they make us acquainted with the personal relations between the prominent Romans of the time, and shed many rays of light upon the dark pages of contemporary history. The first of the extant letters is dated in 68 B. C., the last July 28, 43 B. C. The collection was made by Cicero’s friends, and edited probably by his freedman, Tiro, and his publisher and most intimate friend, Atticus. They fall into four groups; sixteen books addressed to various persons ( Ad Familiares ), three books to Cicero’s brother Quintus ( Ad Quintum Fratrem ), sixteen books to Atticus ( Ad Atticum ), and two books to Brutus ( Ad Brutum ). There were originally nine books of letters to Brutus, but only the eighth and the ninth are preserved.

The letters differ greatly in importance, in length, and in interest. Some are mere greetings or brief introductions, while others are carefully composed treatises; some are expressions of Cicero’s inmost feelings to his intimate friends, while others are business notes or occasional letters to men with whom he was on a less familiar footing; some are addressed to the great leaders of the political parties, others to comparatively obscure persons; some are on literary subjects, others on private business, and still others on matters that pertain to the history of the world. The style and language vary with the contents of the letters, but are in general less careful than in any of Cicero’s other writings. The language is evidently that of common speech rather than of literary composition. In the letters written during his exile Cicero betrays unmanly discouragement, and breaks out into pitiful lamentation, just as in many of his orations he betrays great vanity, and extols overmuch his own courage and patriotism in the matter of the Catilinarian conspiracy; but these letters are the confidential utterances of momentary feelings, not the deliberate expressions of the man’s character, and we must not forget that Cicero was an Italian, a man of easily aroused emotions, whose vanity might overflow or whose grief might break forth without affecting his real earnestness or steadfastness. One of the briefer letters to Atticus is the following, written from Thurium, in April, 58 B. C., soon after Cicero’s banishment began:

Terentia thanks you frequently and very warmly. That is a great comfort to me. I am the most miserable man alive, and am being worn out with the most poignant sorrow. I don’t know what to write to you. For if you are at Rome, it is now too late for me to reach you; but if you are on the road, we shall discuss together all that needs to be discussed when you have overtaken me. All I ask you is to retain the same affection for me, since it was always myself you loved. For I am still the same man; my enemies have taken what was mine, they have not taken myself. Take care of your health. 46

A letter to Marcus Terentius Varro, written in 46 B. C., among the troubles of the civil war, shows Cicero consoling himself with literature:

From a letter of yours, which Atticus read to me, I learnt what you were doing and where you were; but when we were likely to see you, I could gain no idea at all from the letter. However, I am beginning to hope that your arrival is not far off. I wish it could be any consolation to me! But the fact is, I am overwhelmed by so many and such grave anxieties, that no one but the most utter fool ought to expect any alleviation; yet, after all, perhaps you can give me some kind of help, or I you. For allow me to tell you that, since my arrival in the city, I have effected a reconciliation with my old friends—I mean my books; though the truth is that I had not abandoned their society because I had fallen out with them, but because I was half ashamed to look them in the face. For I thought, when I plunged into the maelstrom of civil strife, with allies whom I had the worst possible reason for trusting, that I had not shown proper respect for their precepts. They pardon me; they recall me to our old intimacy, and you, they say, have been wiser than I for never having left it. Wherefore, since I find them reconciled, I seem bound to hope, if I once see you, that I shall pass through with ease both what is weighing me down now, and what is threatening. Therefore, in your company, whether you choose it to be in your Tusculan or Cuman villa, or, which I should like least, at Rome, so long only as we are together, I will certainly contrive that both of us shall think it the most agreeable place possible. 47

Cicero’s letters give us a more complete insight into his private character than could be gained from his other writings. He was a faithful and affectionate friend, a genial companion, a good husband and father, and a devoted patriot. In his political career he exhibited a lack of that insight which enables the great statesman to foresee inevitable changes, and therefore he strove to preserve the old system of government at a time when its usefulness had passed away. He could not sympathize thoroughly with Pompey and his party, still less with the revolutionary policy of Cæsar. The result was indecision and apparent fickleness, but his indecision was not so much that of weakness as of the inability to choose between what he must have regarded as two evils. When he saw his duty clearly before him, as in the year of his consulship, he did not flinch, and again, when Antony was arrayed in arms against the state, he stood forth boldly as the defender of the republic. He showed his courage and firmness also when, in 50 B. C., after Pompey’s flight from Italy, he exposed himself to Cæsar’s displeasure by refusing to come to Rome except as an avowed partizan of Pompey. 48In all the relations of life he was honorable and conscientious, and in the field of literature he stands among the great men of the world.

39 De Oratore , i, 15, 64.

40 Ibid. , i, 8, 34.

41 Pro Ligario , 1.

42 Pro Lege Manilia , 5, 11.

43 Pro Archia Poeta , 7, 16.

44 In Verrem , ii, v, 52.

45 De Divinatione , ii, 1.

46 Ep. ad Atticum , iii, 5, Shuckburgh’s translation.

47 Ep. ad Familiares , ix, 1, Shuckburgh’s translation.

48 Ep. ad Atticum , ix, 18.

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As I frequently contemplate and call to mind the times of old, those men in general seem to me, brother Quintus, to have been supremely happy, who, while they were distinguished with honours and the glory of their actions in the best days of the republic, were enabled to pursue such a course of life, that they could continue either in employment without danger, or in retirement with dignity. To myself, also, there was a time 1when I thought that a season for relaxation, and for turning my thoughts again to the noble studies once pursued by both of us, would be fairly allowable, and be conceded by almost every one; if the infinite labour of forensic business and the occupations of ambition should be brought to a close, either by the completion of my course of honours, 2or by the decline of age. Such expectations, with regard to my studies and designs, not only the severe calamities resulting from public events, but a variety of our own private troubles, 3have disappointed. For in that period, 4which seemed likely to offer most quiet and tranquillity, the greatest pressures of trouble and the most turbulent storms arose. Nor to our wishes and earnest desires has the enjoyment of leisure been granted, to cultivate and revive between ourselves those studies to which we have from early youth been addicted. For at our first entrance into life we fell amidst the disturbance 5of all ancient order; in my consulship we were involved in struggles and the hazard of everything; 6and all the time since that consulship we have had to make opposition to those waves which, prevented by my efforts from causing a general destruction, have abundantly recoiled upon myself. Yet amidst the difficulties of affairs, and the shortness of time. I shall endeavour to gratify my love of literature; and whatever leisure the malice of enemies, the legal cases of friends, or the public service will allow me, I shall chiefly devote to writing. As to you, brother, I shall not fail to obey your exhortations and entreaties; for no person can have more influence with me than you have both by authority and affection.