olation,
with a view to alleviate his grief; and, with the same object, he
determined on dedicating a temple to his daughter, as a memorial of her
virtues and his affection. His friends were assiduous in their
attentions; and Caesar, who had treated him with extreme kindness on his
return from Egypt, signified the respect he bore his character by
sending him a letter of condolence from Spain,[125] where the remains of
the Pompeian party still engaged him. Caesar, moreover, had shortly
before given a still stronger proof of his favour, by replying to a work
which Cicero had drawn up in praise of Cato;[126] but no attentions,
however considerate, could soften Cicero's vexation at seeing the
country he had formerly saved by his exertions now subjected to the
tyranny of one master. His speeches, indeed, for Marcellus and Ligarius,
exhibit traces of inconsistency; but for the most part he retired from
public business, and gave himself up to the composition of those works
which, while they mitigated his political sorrows, have secured his
literary celebrity.

4.

The murder of Caesar, which took place in the following year, once more
brought him on the stage of public affairs; but as our present paper is
but supplemental to the history of the times, we leave to others to
relate what more has to be told of him, his unworthy treatment of
Brutus, his coalition with Octavius, his orations against Antonius, his
proscription, and his violent death, at the age of sixty-four. Willingly
would we pass over his public life altogether; for he was as little of a
great statesman as of a great commander. His merits are of another kind
and in a higher order of excellence. Antiquity may be challenged to
produce a man more virtuous, more perfectly amiable than Cicero. None
interest more in their life, none excite more painful emotions in their
death. Others, it is true, may be found of loftier and more heroic
character, who awe and subdue the mind by the grandeur of their views,
or the intensity of their exertions. But Cicero engages our affections
by the integrity of his public conduct, the correctness of his private
life, the generosity,[127] placability, and kindness of his heart, the
playfulness of his wit, the warmth of his domestic attachments. In this
respect his letters are invaluable. "Here," says Middleton, "we may see
the genuine man without disguise or affectation, especially in his
letters to Atticus; to whom he talked with th