nistrator. When he returned to Rome, however, his conduct
showed a helpless weakness. Between Pompeius and Caesar he for long did
not know how to choose. Both seemed to him in a measure wrong. In his
own letters he said to one of his friends at this time, 'Whither shall I
turn? Pompeius has the more honourable cause, but Caesar manages his
affairs with the greatest address and is most able to save himself and
his friends. In short, I know whom to avoid but not whom to seek.' In
the end, since he thought that Caesar failed, when he entered Rome, to
treat him with proper distinction and courtesy, he joined Pompeius at
Dyrrachium.

There, however, he made himself very unpopular by criticism of
everything done or left undone. He took no part in the battle of
Pharsalia, being in poor health: after it, instead of joining Cato, who
was carrying on the war in Africa, he sailed to Brundisium. When Caesar
returned from Egypt he set out to join him. Caesar hailed him with the
greatest kindness and respect. Cicero, however, soon withdrew to
Tusculum, where he busied himself with writing. His private affairs
vexed him, however. He divorced his wife Terentia and married a rich
young woman whose fortune paid off some of his debts. But his days were
clouded by a heavy grief: his beloved daughter Tullia died.

After Caesar's murder Octavius treated him graciously. Marcus Antonius,
however, who divided the power of the State with Octavius, was detested
by Cicero, who did all in his power to increase the growing dissensions
between the two. Against Antonius he wrote a series of most envenomed
speeches which he called Philippics in imitation of those of Demosthenes
against Philip of Macedon. In this, however, he paved the way to his own
doom. Antonius and Octavius patched up their quarrels, formed the Second
Triumvirate with Lepidus, and carried through a terrible proscription.
Cicero's was one of the names on Antonius's list, placed there mainly by
the wish of his wife Fulvia, who hated the man who had spoken evil of
her husband. Cicero was killed in his own villa at the age of
sixty-four, and his head set up in Rome above the rostrum from which he
had so often delivered passionate speeches.

XIII

Caius Julius Caesar

So long as the world lasts men will discuss, without settling, the
question, What constitutes greatness? Some people will give one answer,
some another. There are those who hold that no man ought properly to be