one of the notes affixed by
Melmoth to his translation of this letter: "It was fear alone that
determined his resolution; and having once already suffered in the cause
of liberty, he did not find himself to be disposed to be twice its
martyr." I should not have thought these words worthy of refutation had
they not been backed by Mr. Forsyth. How did Cicero show his fear? Had
he feared--as indeed there was cause enough, when it was difficult for a
leading man to keep his throat uncut amid the violence of the times, or
a house over his head--might he not have made himself safe by accepting
Caesar's offers? A Proconsul out of Rome was safe enough, but he would
not be a Proconsul out of Rome till he could avoid it no longer. When
the day of danger came, he joined Pompey's army against Caesar, doubting,
not for his life but for his character, as to what might be the best for
the Republic. He did not fear when Caesar was dead and only Antony
remained. When the hour came in which his throat had to be cut, he did
not fear. When a man has shown such a power of action in the face of
danger as Cicero displayed at forty-four in his Consulship, and again
at sixty-four in his prolonged struggle with Antony, it is contrary to
nature that he should have been a coward at fifty-four.

And all the evidence of the period is opposed to this theory of
cowardice. There was nothing special for him to fear when Caesar was in
Gaul, and Crassus about to start for Syria, and Pompey for his
provinces. Such was the condition of Rome, social and political, that
all was uncertain and all was dangerous. But men had become used to
danger, and were anxious only, in the general scramble, to get what
plunder might be going. Unlimited plunder was at Cicero's
command--provinces, magistracies, abnormal lieutenancies--but he took
nothing. He even told his friend in joke that he would have liked to be
an augur, and the critics have thereupon concluded that he was ready to
sell his country for a trifle. But he took nothing when all others were
helping themselves.

The letter to Lentulus is well worth studying, if only as evidence of
the thoughtfulness with which he weighed every point affecting his own
character. He did wish to stand well with the "optimates," of whom
Lentulus was one. He did wish to stand well with Caesar, and with Pompey,
who at this time was Caesar's jackal. He did find the difficulty of
running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. He