14
CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OE CATILINE.
had repeatedly been increased; but it was nevertheless a well-
known fact, that every candidate, with the exception of Cicero,
spent enormous sums upon his election, for which they always
contrived afterwards to indemnify themselves during the time of
their office. The Romani rustic! had lost their importance, and
the city populace was a tool in the hands of the nobles in their
feuds against one another. In such a corrupt state of things,
Catiline was a welcome instrument for many ; and it is for this
reason that I do not consider the charge winch was brought
against Crassus to bo unjust. The latter was a very insignificant
person, and Catiline would have crushed him under his feet, if
his schemes had been realised, although it would perhaps have
caused his own ruin. If Catiline really had any object at all,
it must have been that of making himself tyrant, and of be-
coming a second Sulla, without the intention, however, of ever
resigning his tyrannis. Two years before Cicero’s consulship,
he had formed a conspiracy to murder the consuls and proclaim
himself master of Rome. We know his most brilliant qualities
through Cicero, of whom he had an immense hatred, and who
says of him that he possessed a magic and fascinating power,
by which he subdued and swayed all with whom he came in
contact, and that therefore it was no wonder that young people
were attracted by his extraordinary talents. He never let loose
those whom he had once ensnared. I believe that Cicero had
on one occasion defended him ; he had been an officer in Sulla’s
army, and after his praetorship, having had the administration
of the province of Africa, he was charged with malversation
when the year of his office had elapsed. It was only with the
greatest difficulty that ho was acquitted, and it may have been
on that occasion that Cicero spoke for him.13 Everybody’s at-
tention was drawn towards Catiline: every one dreaded him,
but no one had the courage to come forward against him. His
character was so well known that all agreed in their fear, and
in the conviction that fire and plunder would be the order of
the day if he should gain power; and persons of the most dif-
ferent characters and parties, even many partisans of Sulla,
were convinced that they would be his victims.
Under these circumstances, Cicero, who had already been
praetor, offered himself as a candidate for the consulship. He
bore down all opposition by his great integrity and his extra-
15 Ascoιriιι% ad Cieei. tn togacand. p. 85. eel Orelli.
M. TULLIUS CICEKO.
15
ordinary talents; he was in great favour with the people, hut
the nobles at first opposed him as a novus homo, and would hear
nothing of him; hut the well-known fact that Catiline and his
associates intended to murder the candidates for the consulship,
and the prospect that it would be impossible to keep C. Antonius,
uncle of the triumvir, who was probably an accomplice of
Catiline, from the consulship, induced the optimales to declare
for Cicero, who was thus unanimously elected consul for the
year 689, according to Cato.
LECTURE XCIL
M. Tullius Cicero was born on the third of January, 647,
or, according to Varro, 6491, at Arpinum, the native place
of Marius. Arpinum was a municipium of great extent,
considering that it was a provincial town in the interior of
the country, and was one of the so-called Cyclopian towns.
At present it is a very small place. We can easily conceive
that all the citizens of Arpinum were proud of Marius; and
Cicero, who shared this general feeling, had an additional
motive for it, as there existed a sort of relationship between
the two families. M. Marius Gratidianus was one of his kins-
men.2 The Ciceros were among the most distinguished fami-
lies of the place, and during the petty disputes at Arpinum,
his grandfather, a man of considerable merit, always sided with
the optimales.3 Cicero’s father, as well as his grandfather, were
intimate with the first families of Rome, and especially with
those who were opposed to Marius in their political sentiments.
Cicero was thus brought in contact with the Scaevolas and
others who belonged to the party of Sulla: a circumstance
which retained its influence upon him throughout his life, and
produced a kind of discord in his character.
As regards his early youth, we only know that he shewed
great mental activity, and was of a lively character. IIis first
1 This date is so much the easier to remember, as it reminds us of the year
in which Gocthe was bcm (1749).—N.
2 Asconius, ad Cirrron. in toga cand. p. 84, ed Orelli; Cicero, Brutus, 45.
3 Cicero, De Legib. ii. IS.