erres;
who, though defended by the influence of the Metelli and the eloquence
of Hortensius, was at length driven in despair into voluntary exile.

Five years after his Quaestorship, Cicero was elected AEdile, a post of
considerable expense from the exhibition of games connected with it. In
this magistracy he conducted himself with singular propriety;[106] for,
it being customary to court the people by a display of splendour in
these official shows, he contrived to retain his popularity without
submitting to the usual alternative of plundering the provinces or
sacrificing his private fortune. The latter was at this time by no means
ample; but, with the good sense and taste which mark his character, he
preserved in his domestic arrangements the dignity of a literary and
public man, without any of the ostentation of magnificence which often
distinguished the candidate for popular applause.[107]

After the customary interval of two years, he was returned at the head
of the list as Praetor;[108] and now made his first appearance in the
rostrum in support of the Manilian law. About the same time he defended
Cluentius. At the expiration of his Praetorship, he refused to accept a
foreign province, the usual reward of that magistracy;[109] but, having
the Consulate full in view, and relying on his interest with Caesar and
Pompey, he allowed nothing to divert him from that career of glory for
which he now believed himself to be destined.

2.

It may be doubted, indeed, whether any individual ever rose to power by
more virtuous and truly honourable conduct; the integrity of his public
life was only equalled by the correctness of his private morals; and it
may at first sight excite our wonder that a course so splendidly begun
should afterwards so little fulfil its early promise. Yet it was a
failure from the period of his Consulate to his Pro-praetorship in
Cilicia, and each year is found to diminish his influence in public
affairs, till it expires altogether with the death of Pompey. This
surprise, however, arises in no small degree from measuring Cicero's
political importance by his present reputation, and confounding the
authority he deservedly possesses as an author with the opinions
entertained of him by his contemporaries as a statesman. From the
consequence usually attached to passing events, a politician's celebrity
is often at its zenith in his own generation; while the author, who is
in the highest repute with post