en observed in eminent lawyers and men of letters. The age wanted
strong men such as Caesar; this Cicero certainly was not. He was gentle,
amiable, very clever, and highly cultivated, but the last man in the
world to succeed in politics. The later years of his life were spent
chiefly in pleading at the bar and writing essays. In 52 B.C. he
composed one of his finest speeches in defence of Milo, who had killed
Clodius in a riot, and was then standing for the consulship; in this he
was acting quite against the wishes of Pompey. In the following years
(51-50 B.C.) he was in Asia, as governor of the province of Cilicia, and
here the best side of his character showed itself in his just and
sympathetic treatment of the provincials. In 49-48 B.C. he was with
Pompey's army in Greece to fight for the old cause, of which, however,
he well-nigh despaired, and after the decisive battle of Pharsalia, at
which he was not present, he threw himself on the conqueror's mercy.
Caesar, who had certainly nothing to fear from him, received him kindly,
and was a great friend to him from that day; but Cicero was not a happy
man now that he could no longer make speeches in the senate or in the
courts; to all this Caesar's victory had for the time at least put at
end. In the years 46, 45, 44 B.C., he wrote most of his chief works on
rhetoric and philosophy, living in retirement and brooding mournfully
over his griefs and disappointments. In 43 B.C., the year after Caesar's
death, he had once again the delight of having his eloquence applauded
by the senate. In that year his famous speeches against
Antony--Philippics, as he called them after the title of Demosthenes's
orations against Philip of Macedon--were delivered. These cost him his
life. As soon as Antony, Octavius (afterward the Emperor Augustus), and
Lepidus had leagued themselves together in the so-called triumvirate for
the settlement of the state, they followed the precedent of former
revolutions, a proscription-list of their political enemies. All such
were outlawed and given up to destruction. Cicero's name was in the
fatal list. Old and feeble, he fled to his villa at Formiae, pursued by
the soldiers of Antony, and was overtaken by them as he was being
carried in a litter down to the shore, where it had been his intention
to embark. With a calm courage (which, to quote Macaulay's words) "has
half redeemed his fame," he put his head out of the litter and bade his
murderers strike. He d