Named Entity Results, 58 BC

pose of avenging himself upon Cicero. With that end in view he caused himself to be adopted by a plebeian, Fonteius, and secured an election as tribune for the year 58. Cicero would seem to have been blind to his own danger. He knew of the enmity of Clodius, but did not fear him, so that he made no opposition to his adoption or his an attack upon Cicero by securing the passage of certain popular measures, and, having gained the support of the consuls A. Gabinius and L. Piso, between Mar. 20 and 25, 58 B.C., Upon sections 15,16, cf. Cicero's Journey into Exile, by C. L. Smith in Harvard Studies, vol. VII, pp. 65-84. he secured the adoption of a bill enacting: cause of Cicero. At last, Aug. 4, a law was passed in the comitia centuriata authorizing Cicero's return.Att. 4.1.4. Cicero had already come to Dyrrachium in Nov., 58 B.C., in order that he might receive news more quickly, and Aug. 4, 57 B.C., he sailed for Brundisium. He was received most enthusiastically in the towns through w

ive. One dwells, however, with most pleasure upon Cicero's treatment of his personal dependents. Not only his favorite freedman Tiro, but the very slaves of his household enjoyed his kindness and generosity. 50. This sympathetic sensitiveness in Cicero's nature gives to his character its special charm, and constitutes at the same time its principal weakness. Those moments of exaltation and of depression, those periods when he helplessly fluctuates between different courses of action,E.g. in 58 and 49 B.C. Cf. introductory note to Epist. X. find their explanation in this quality. His humor is determined by the circumstances of the moment. He lacks, therefore, the calm poise of the less impressionable nature. He fails to give things their proper proportions, and consequently his forecasts of the future are generally either too sanguine or too gloomy. It was this quality, of course, which made him an opportunist in politics. A man so constituted could find real pleasure only in

Cicero's Family and Friends. Terentia and Publilia. 52. A fair knowledge of the relations existing between Cicero and his wife Terentia may be gained from the letters of Bk. 14, ad Fam. all of which are addressed to her. In the early letters of this correspondence written in 58 B.C., after twenty years of married life, Cicero expresses himself in most affectionate terms. After this date, with the exception of one letter in 50 B.C., which is mainly upon business matters, there are no letters to Terentia up to 49 B.C., although this interval includes the period of his proconsulship, when he wrote so many letters to his personal and political friends. Even the letters of the year 49, when Cicero was in so much anxiety, are very infrequent. The rest of the letters of Bk. 14, belonging to the next two years, are brief and formal. It appears that an estrangement gradually grew up between them which culminated in their divorce in the early part of 46 B.C. In December of the same yea

Letter X: ad Atticum 3.4 Vibo, about April 12,58 B.C. The letters of this third book, ad Att., written in exile, expose perhaps more than any other portion of his correspondence, the weak side of Cicero's character. He is unmanly, selfish, and ungrateful. In contrast the letters of 44 and 43 B.C. breathe a spirit of unfailing courage and unselfish patriotism. It is only when two such epochs in Cicero's life are placed side by side that the reader can discover the true key to his character, 50). Without waiting to see what action would be taken upon the bill of Clodius, which did not mention him by name (qui civem Romanum indemnatum interemisset, ei aqua et igni interdiceretur, Vell. Paterc. 2.45), Cicero left Rome about March 20, 58 B.C. , and went to his friend Sica, near Vibo. Here news reached him of the amended bill directed against him personally. He therefore hastily left Vibo for Tarentum and Brundisium. See Intr. 15 f. quo te arcessebamus: inAtt. 3.3. rogatio: cf. Ep. V

Letter XI: ad familiares 14.4 Brundisium, April 29, 58 B.C. On suis, cf. suis, Ep. XIII. superscription, n. litteras: litterae probably indicates here, as in several other pBssages, more than one letter; cf. litteris, Ep. XCIX.1n. vitae cupidi: Cicero may be regretting either his mistake in not having met death while making an armed resistance to Clodius, as some of his friends advised, or his failure to commit suicide; cf. poenitet viver4 Ep. X. n. aliquam alicuius aliquando: these words indicate sufficiently Cicero's despair. - dii servivi: a statement suggestive of the respective attitudes of the two sexes in Cicero's time in religious matters. neque homines rettulerunt: Cicero's friends did, however, stand by him, and many of those outside Rome, like Flaccus at Brundisium (2) and Plancius at Thessalonica (Att. 3.14. 2), assisted him at the peril of their lives and fortunes, while his friends at Rome and the people throughout Italy worked steadily for his recall. For the ri

Letter XII: ad Atticum 3.12 Thessalonica, July 17,58 B.C. Cicero stayed at Thessalonica from May to November, 58 B.C. , under the protection of the quaestor Plancius. sedulo: probably from the conversational vocabulary, if we may judge from its frequency in comedy and in the Letters, and its infrequency (e.g. Cic. de An. 3.16; Livy, 34. '4.3) elsewhere. Cf. Ter. Ad. 251, 413; Fun. 362; Heaut. 126; Cic. Att. 9. '5.6; Fam. 5.10 A. 2. It is found oftenest with focio. caput scribis: cf. Att. 358 B.C. , under the protection of the quaestor Plancius. sedulo: probably from the conversational vocabulary, if we may judge from its frequency in comedy and in the Letters, and its infrequency (e.g. Cic. de An. 3.16; Livy, 34. '4.3) elsewhere. Cf. Ter. Ad. 251, 413; Fun. 362; Heaut. 126; Cic. Att. 9. '5.6; Fam. 5.10 A. 2. It is found oftenest with focio. caput scribis: cf. Att. 3. I 5.6 at tute scri/sisti ad me quoddam caput legis Clodium in curiae poste fixisse NE REFERRI NEVE DICI LICERET ('that no motion should be brought forward and no speech made'). hic: this word may express surprise here as elsewhere in the Letters: 'do you blame me, then?' Cf. Ep. LXXIX. 4 hic tu me abesse Urbe miraris, in qua domus nihil delectarepossit, etc.? or it may mean, 'at this point in your letter,' after writing of the action of Clodius. secundum comitia: Pompey expressed later the s

Letter XIII: ad familiares 14.2 Thessalonica, Oct. 5,58 B.C. suis in the superscription is plural because it belongs to both the children. For variations of this salutation, cf. Fam. '4. I, 3' and 6. The possessive pronoun indicates familiarity, and Cicero uses it in addressing the members of his family only. It is used in all the 24 letters to his wife, in Bk. 14, ad Fam., with one exception: in the fifteenth letter, Ep. LVIII., which is cold and formal, he writes, Tullius s.d. Terentiae. Upon the significance of the possessive in this use, cf. Fam. 16.18.1. In a previous letter to his freedman Cicero had written, Tullius Tironi sat, omitting Tiro's praenomen. The latter evidently remarked upon the salutation as too familiar for a letter from patron to freedman. Upon which Cicero put at the head of his next letter the same salutation, and added in the body of the letter, Quid igitur? non sic oportet? equidem censeo sic; addendum etiam SVO. nisi si: apparently a favorite pleo

Letter XIV: ad Atticum 3.22 Thessalonica, with a postsCript from Dyrrachium, Nov.25, 58 B.C. Piso: cf. Ep. XIII. 2 fl. consuesti: cf. Intr. 82. Plancius: quaestor of Macedonia and Cicero's host at Thessalonica. In return for his kindness Cicero defended him in 54 B.C. , in the Or. pro Plancio. Cf. also Fam. 14.1.3. milites, etc.: the province of Macedonia had been assigned to the consul L. Calpurnius Piso for 57 B.C. , and Cicero feared the coming of his soldiers. Lentulus: elected to the consulship for 57 B.C. Cicero based great hopes upon this man's friendship for him and influence with Pompey. de Metello: Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos was to be the colleague of Lentulus. He had, as tribune, prevented Cicero, at the close of his Consulship (Fam. 5.2.7), from making the customary speech to the people. Atticus had subsequently brought about a reconciliation. Cf. also Ep. XII.1n. mi Pomponi: cf. Ep. X. n. scribe ad me omnia: a request to be found in almost every letter of this pe

e is sometimes questioned. ad theatrum: to the temporary theatre where the ludi Romani were being held. impulsu Clodi: Böckel shows by a quotation from Asconius that there had been scarcity at Rome for three months. Perhaps, however, the populace had been led by Cicero's friends to expect a return of prosperity upon his recall, and as they found that this result did not follow, there was a popular reaction against him, led by Clodius. id ipse (sc. Pompeius) cuperet: in the latter part of 58 B.C. Pompey and Clodius had a violent quarrel, and were still at enmity with each other. Atticus might therefore have supposed that the position, which was to be offered to Pompey, since it was the result of the agitation led by Clodius, was distasteful to Pompey. ut id decernerem, that I should advocate that course. quod dicere: Cicero comments bitteriy upon the cowardice of the Optimates in an oration delivered a short time after this: at enim non nulli propter timorem, quod se in senatu tu