XII. FROM QUINTUS CICERO TO HIS BROTHER MARCUS, AT ROME.

A. U. C. 690; B. C. 64: AET. M. CICERONIS, 42.

Cum tempus instaret, quo tempore M. Tullius Cicero consulatum ex lege annali petere posset, scripsit ad eum Q. frater hunc libellum, quo docere fratrem suscepit quo modo et quibus artibus consulatum, cuius petitionem proxime suscepturus erat consequi certo posset.

Q. M. FRATRI S. D.

I. 1. Etsi tibi omnia suppetunt, quae consequi ingenio aut usu homines aut intelligentia possunt, tamen amore nostro non sum alienum arbitratus ad te perscribere ea, quae mihi veniebant in mentem dies ac noctes de petitione tua cogitanti, non ut aliquid ex iis novi addisceres, sed ut ea, quae in re dispersa atque infinita viderentur esse, ratione et distributione sub uno aspectu ponerentur. [Quamquam plurimum natura valet, tamen videtur in paucorum mensium negotio posse simulatio naturam vincere.] 2. Civitas quae sit cogita, quid petas, qui sis. Prope cotidie tibi hoc ad forum descendenti meditandum est: Novus sum, consulatum peto, Roma est.' Nominis novitatem dicendi gloria maxime sublevabis. Semper ea res plurimum dignitatis habuit. Non potest, qui dignus habetur patronus consularium, indignus consulatu putari. Quam ob rem quoniam ab hac laude proficisceris, quidquid es, ex hoc es, ita paratus ad dicendum venito, quasi in singulis causis iudicium de omni ingenio tuo futurum sit. 3. Eius facultatis adiumenta, quae tibi scio esse seposita, ut parata ac prompta sint cura, et saepe, quae de Demosthenis studio et exercitatione scripsit De

1. consequi... possunt] The letter begins with a hyperbaton, which is a marked feature in its style throughout: see §§ 12, 24, 32, 33.

ut ea quae in re] 'to bring together into one focus by a logical arrangement (hendiadys) points that in themselves (i. e. in your case) are isolated and without system.'

[Quamquam... vincere] These words have been rightly transposed to § 42, after

facere videare.

2. dignitatis] political consideration.' proficisceris] have this reputation to

start with.'

quasi in singulis] 'as if in every case the issue to be tried was, your own character as a man of ability.'

3. seposita] your special gifts.'

quae de Demosthenis] See de Div. ii. 96, where the remark of Demetrius Phalereus is given ut Demosthenem scribit Phalerens,

metrius, recordare, deinde vide ut amicorum et multitudo et genera appareant. Habes enim ea, quae non multi homines novi habuerunt: omnes publicanos, totum fere equestrem ordinem, multa propria municipia, multos abs te defensos, homines cuiusque ordinis, aliquot collegia, praeterea studio dicendi conciliatos plurimos adolescentulos, cotidianam amicorum adsiduitatem et frequentiam. 4. Haec cura ut teneas commonendo et rogando et omni ratione efficiendo, ut intellegant, qui debent tua causa, referendae gratiae, qui volunt, obligandi tui tempus sibi aliud nullum fore. Etiam hoc multum videtur adiuvare posse novum hominem: hominum nobilium voluntas et maxime consularium. Prodest, quorum in locum ac numerum pervenire velis, ab iis ipsis illo loco ac numero dignum putari. 5. Hi rogandi omnes sunt diligenter et ad eos adlegandum est persuadendumque iis nos semper cum optimatibus de re publica sensisse, minime populares fuisse: si quid locuti populariter videamur, id nos eo consilio fecisse, ut nobis Cn. Pompeium adiungeremus, ut eum, qui plurimum posset, aut amicum in nostra petitione haberemus aut certe non adversarium. 6. Praeterea adolescentes nobiles elabora ut habeas, vel ut teneas studiosos quos habes: multum dignitatis adferent. Plurimos habes: perfice ut sciant quantum in iis putes esse. Si adduxeris, ut ii, qui non nolunt, cupiant, plurimum proderunt.

II. 7. Ac multum etiam novitatem tuam adiuvat, quod eius modi nobiles tecum petunt, ut nemo sit qui audeat dicere plus llis nobilitatem quam tibi virtutem prodesse oportere. Iam P. Galbam et L. Cassium summo loco natos quis est qui petere consu

cum RHO dicere nequiret, exercitatione fecisse ut planissime diceret.

non multi homines] is supplied by Baiter from Fam. v. 18, 1. See Adn. Crit.

propria] cf. § 35, attached to you personally.' The conjecture praeterea is unnecessary.

4. ut intellegant] that it be clearly perceived by those who owe you a service, that this is the time, and no other, for paying their debt: and by those who desire to do you a service that this is the time, and no other, for laying you under an obligation.'

5. adlegandum] adlegare is used of a private agent, legare of a public. populares] demagogues.'

7. quis petere cons. putet] 'who could look on them as candidates for the consulate?' Kayser's oportere after petere is not required. Moreover, it weakens the expression, which is intended to be very vehement: cf. or. in tog. cand., te vero, Catilina, consulatum sperare aut cogitare non prodigium atque portentum est? Galba seems to have been very poorly supported. See Att. i. 1, 1, and pro Mur. 17, mihi accidit ut cum duobus patriciis, altero improbissimo atque audacissimo, altero moderatissimo atque optimo viro, peterem. Superavi tamen dignitate Catilinam, gratia Galbam. L. Cassius seems to have been one of the most desperate of the conspirators with Catiline: he is often mentioned in the Cat. oratt. and in the

latum putet? Vides igitur amplissimis ex familiis homines, quod sine nervis sunt, tibi pares non esse. 8. At Catilina et Antonius molesti sunt. Immo homini navo, industrio, innocenti, diserto, gratioso apud eos, qui res iudicant, optandi competitores, ambo a pueritia sicarii, ambo libidinosi, ambo egentes. Eorum alterius bona proscripta vidimus, vocem denique audivimus iurantis se Romae iudicio aequo cum homine Graeco certare non posse, ex senatu eiectum scimus optima verorum censorum existimatione, in praetura competitorem habuimus amico Sabidio et Panthera, quod

pro Sulla. Asconius, in his commentary on the or. in tog. cand., enumerates the competitors of Cicero, duos patricios, P. Sulp. Galbam, L. Sergium Catilinam; quattuor plebeios, ex quibus duo nobiles, C. Antonium, L. Cassium Longinum; duo qui tantum non primi ex suis familiis magistratum adepti erant, Q. Cornificium et C. Licinium Sacerdotem.

Solus Cicero ex competitoribus equestri erat loco natus, atque in petitione patrem amisit.' These last words have an important bearing on the disputed passage pater nobis discessit, Att. i. 6, 2. See note on Ep. ii.

familiis] 'houses, establishments,'

not families.'

Eorum alterius] C. Antonius. This is explained by or. in tog. cand., and the note of Asconius thereon. Cicero in that speech says, quem enim aut amicum habere potest is qui tot cives trucidavit ? aut clientem, qui in sua civitate cum peregrino negavit se iudicio aequo certare posse?' Asconius explains that the first question refers to Catiline (see §§ 9, 10); the second to Antonius, who previously despoiled the Greeks in Achaia, having put himself at the head of certain turmae of the Sullan army. The Greeks brought Antonius before M. Lucullus, praetor peregrinus. C. Caesar, then a young man, pleaded the cause of the Greeks, and, Lucullus having decided in their favour, Antonius appealed to the tribunes,

declaring that he had no fair play against the Greeks. Antonius was removed from the senate by the censors Gellius and Lentulus for plundering the allies, for refus ing to submit to law, and for the general profligacy by which he had dissipated his property.

bona proscripta] See or. in tog. cand., alter pecore omni divendito et saltibus prope addictis, pastores retinet ex quibus ait se cum velit subito fugitivorum bellum excitaturum.

comp. in praet. habuimus] i. e. the praetorship of Marcus, a. u. c. 688 (b. c. 66). These details we should have expected to have heard of in the or. pro Mur., if nowhere else. There Cicero distinctly states (§ 49) that Catiline was encouraged by the promises of his colleague. Or. in tog. cand. says, 'nescis me praetorem primum esse factum, te concessione competitorum, et collatione centuriarum, et meo maxime beneficio postremo tertium in locum esse subiectum.' This last word is explained by Madvig as 'promoted,' by others as foisted into,' by some (wrongly) changed to sublectum or subvectum. On this passage Asconius justly observes, that if Cicero had really defended Catiline, as Fenestella says, he would here have twitted Catiline with the fact as he brings up to Antonius the much slighter service done to him in his suit for the praetorship, and in this very speech Cicero upbraids Q. Mucius, a tribune, with his hostility to him, reminding him how he had defended him on a charge of theft. Again, these words, from the or. in tog. cand., seem quite inconsistent with the theory of Cicero's defence of Catiline, miser qui non sentias illo iudicio te non absolutum, verum ad aliquod severius iudicium ac maius supplicium reservatum.

alios ad tabulam quos poneret non habebat. Quo tamen in magistratu amicam, quam domi palam haberet, de machinis emit. In petitione autem consulatus caupones omnes compilare per turpissimam legationem maluit quam adesse et populo Romano supplicare. 9. Alter vero, di boni! Quo splendore est? Primum nobilitate eadem? Non. Num maiore re? Non. Sed virtute. Quam ob rem? Quod ille umbram suam metuit, hic ne leges quidem, natus in patris egestate, educatus in sororis stupris, corroboratus in caede civium: cuius primus ad rem publicam aditus in equitibus Romanis occidendis fuit. Nam illis, quos meminimus, Gallis, qui tum Titiniorum ac Nanniorum ac Tanusiorum capita demetebant, Sulla

ad tabulam] At the scrutiny of votes.' This word has a technical sense in Roman elections, and is carefully to be distinguished from the tabellae. At the election of magistrates each voter was supplied with one ticket (tabella, tesserula), containing the names or initials of all the candidates, and the voter affixed his mark (punctum) to the candidate for whom he voted. The tabellae of each century were collected by the rogatores and brought back to the presiding magistrate, who put them in the cista or sitella; these tabellae were taken out and counted by the diribitores, and the votes, as they were taken out of the cista, were by the custodes checked off by puncta on a tablet. This tablet was called tabula, and this particular stage of the business of election was technically described by the phrase ad tabulam. See Varr. R. R. 3, 5, narrat AD TABULAM, cum diriberent, quemdam deprehensum tesserulas conicientem in loculum. Antonius had no more respectable friends than these obscure foreigners to whom to assign this important duty. The above three classes of officers are mentioned in Pis. 36. In the passing of laws the procedure was different: two tabellae were supplied-one for the law (marked V. R. = uti rogas, as you propose'), the other against it (A = antiquo, I reject').

de machinis] This was the public platform on which slaves were exposed for sale, also called catasta. The same meaning is conveyed by another phrase in Pis. 35, duos de lapide emptos tribunos; the lapis was the stone on which the praeco stood at slave auctions. See Plaut. Bacch. iv.7, 17, in eo ipso astas lapide ubi praeco praedicat.

caupones omnes compilare per turp.

=

leg.] Caupones parochi. To change
legationem of the mss to adlegationem
destroys the sense. The meaning, no
doubt, is this: Antonius accepted a lega-
tio when he ought to have been canvass-
ing, and in the character of legatus he
was very oppressive to the innkeepers
and hospites, who were obliged to afford
to him a certain amount of entertainment.
This amount was strictly limited by the
Lex Iulia (Att. v. 16, 3, Pis. 90), but its
provisions were easily violated with im-
punity. This is rhetorically called by
Quintus a robbery of the caupones.'
This billeting system is called ἐπισταθμία
in Att. xiii. 52, 2. The regular Latin
for billeting' is deductio. Antonius, of
course, conducted his canvass by proxy.
Bücheler reads Cappadoces for caupones,
supposing Antonius to have had a legatio
to settle the affairs of Cappadocia after
the restoration of Ariobarzanes, and to
have acted rapaciously in the discharge
of his commission. See Adn. Crit.
9. Alter] Catiline.

Non] Cf. pro Mur., senatus num obviam prodire crimen putat? Non, sed mercede. Convince. Num sectari multos? Non, sed conductos. See Adn.

Crit.

in sororis stupris] quae Sergia fecit cum aliis; nam Catilinam etiam, sicut Clodium, sororis stupro pollutum esse, ne Marcus quidem fingebat.' Büch.

Titiniorum ac Nanniorum] These were victims of the Sullan proscription. For the Nannii, see Att. i. 16, 5.

demetebant] mowed down,' the conjecture of Gesner for demebant, and quite in keeping with the exaggerated tone of the letter.

unum Catilinam praefecerat in quibus ille hominem unum optimum, Q. Caecilium, sororis suae virum, equitem Romanum, nullarum partium, cum semper natura tum etiam aetate iam quietum, suis manibus occidit.

III. 10. Quid ego nunc dicam petere eum consulatum, qui hominem carissimum populo Romano, M. Marium, inspectante populo Romano, vitibus per totam urbem ceciderit, ad bustum egerit, ibi omni cruciatu lacerarit, vivo spiranti collum gladio sua dextera secuerit, cum sinistra capillum eius a vertice teneret, caput sua manu tulerit, cum inter digitos eius rivi sanguinis fluerent? Qui postea cum histrionibus et cum gladiatoribus ita vixit, ut alteros libidinis, alteros facinoris adiutores haberet, qui nullum in locum tam sanctum ac tam religiosum accessit, in quo non, etiam si alia culpa non esset, tamen ex sua nequitia dedecoris

unum optimum] of singular excellence.' 10. M. Marium] He still dwells on the enormities of Catiline, recounting the details of his murder of M. Marius Gratidianus. This Marius gained great popularity by his bill for the regulation of the coinage, in which he stole a march on the tribunes and his colleagues in the praetorship, by proposing alone the bill which they had agreed to put forward in common. Cicero says of him omnibus vicis statuae, ad eas tus, cerei; quid multa? nemo unquam multitudini fuit carior. Off. iii. 80.

qui... ceciderit] The perfect subjunctives throughout assign reasons why such a man should not be a candidate for the consulship; the imperfect subjunctives teneret... fluerent merely express the minor details of his reprehensible acts. Qui ita vixit must be translated and then he lived such a life.' The perfect indicative no longer assigns a reason, only describes a circumstance.

bustum] Probably the bustum Basili near the city, on the Appian Road, where, as we learn from Att. vii. 9, 1, a friend of Cicero, L. Quintius, was robbed and wounded. Asconius describes the bustum Basili thus:-Via Appia est prope urbem monumentum Basili qui locus latrociniis fuit perinfamis. But Seneca, in describing this transaction, makes the bustum Catuli the scene of the outrage:-' Mario L. Sulla perfringi crura, erui oculos, amputari manus iussit, et, quasi toties occideret quoties vulnerabat, paullatim et per singulos artus laceravit. Quis erat huius

imperii minister? quis nisi Catilina omne facinus in Mario exercens. Sic illum ante bustum Q. Catuli carpebat' (Sen. De Ira iii. 18). Val. Max. ix. 2, 1, places the scene ad sepulchrum Lutatiae genlis. Livy (epit. 88) says 'Marium senatorii ordinis virum cruribus brachiisque fractis, auribus praesectis, et effossis oculis necavit.' Neither Livy nor Valerius Maximus ascribes the crime to Catiline, but to Sulla.

vivo spiranti] cf. or. in tog. cand., 'quod caput etiam tum plenum animae et spiritus ad Sullam usque ab Ianiculo ad aedem Apollinis manibus ipse suis detulit.' This is a strong argument for spiranti instead of stanti, when we consider how largely Cicero availed himself of the phraseology of this part of his bro ther's letter in his orat. in tog, cand. See especially on alia culpa, § 10, and sicas destringere, § 12. So also inspectante populo in this sentence is borrowed by Marcus: populum vero, cum inspectante populo collum secuit hominis maxime popularis, quanti faceret ostendit (or, in tog. cand.). The aedes Apollinis was near the Carmental Gate, between the Forum Olitorium and the Flaminian Circus. Asconius warns us against confounding it with the temple of Apollo on the Palatine, which was not built till after Actium.

alia culpa] See or. in tog, cand., ‘cum ita vixisti ut non esset locus tam sanctus quo non adventus tuus, etiam cum culpa nulla subesset, crimen adferret.' The allusion is to the case of Fabia, a Vestal, who was tried for unchastity, the charge being an intrigue with Catiline, but was ac