alth and vigor.

A NEW PORTRAIT OF CICERO.

In the third volume of his _History of the Romans under the Empire_, just
published in London, Mr. MERIVALE gives some elaborate pieces of character
writing, one of which has for its subject CICERO. It is not good for a man
to think harshly of Cicero, and however easy it may seem to be to condemn
manifest faults in his character, it is by no means easy to be fair in the
estimate we make. Mr. Merivale sums up a character which has too often
been roughly put down as that of a great writer and a little man, as
follows:

"Many writers, it has been remarked, have related the death of
Cicero, but Plutarch alone has painted it. In the narrative here
laid before him the reader has the substance of this picturesque
account, together with some touches introduced from collateral
sources. In this, as in many other massages of his Lives, the
Greek biographer has evidently aimed at creating an effect, and
though he seems to have been mainly guided by the genuine
narrative of Tiro, Cicero's beloved freedman, we may suspect him
of having embellished it to furnish a striking termination to one
of his favorite sketches. Nevertheless the narrative is mainly
confirmed by a fragment of Livy's history, which has fortunately
been preserved. The Roman author vies with the Greek in throwing
dignity and interest over the great statesman's end. But in
reviewing the uneven tenor of his career, Livy concludes with the
stern comment, "He bore none of his calamities as a man should,
except his death." These are grave words. In the mouth of one who
had cast his scrutinizing glance over the characters and exploits
of all the heroes of the great republic, and had learnt by the
training of his life-long studies to discriminate moral qualities
and estimate desert, they constitute the most important judgment
on the conduct of Cicero that antiquity has bequeathed to us. Few
indeed among the Romans ever betrayed a want of resolution in the
face of impending death. But it was in the endurance of calamity
rather than the defiance of danger that the courage of Cicero was
deficient. The orator, whose genius lay in the arts of peace and
persuasion, exhibited on more than one occasion a martial spirit
worthy of other habits and a ruder training. In the contest with
Catilina he displayed all the m