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Introductory Note
Introductory Note
The letters of Cicero are of a varied character. They range from the most
informal communications with members of his family to serious and elaborate
compositions which are practically treatises in epistolary form. A very large
proportion of them were obviously written out of the mood of the moment, with
no thought of the possibility of publication; and in these the style is
comparatively relaxed and colloquial. Others, addressed to public characters,
are practically of the same nature as his speeches, discussions of political
questions intended to influence public opinion, and performing a function in
the Roman life of the time closely analogous to that fulfilled at the present
day by articles in the great reviews, or editorials in prominent journals.
In the case of both of these two main groups the interest is twofold:
personal and historical, though it is naturally in the private letters that we
find most light thrown on the character of the writer. In spite of the
spontaneity of these epistles there exists a great difference of opinion among
scholars as to the personality revealed by them, and both in the extent of the
divergence of view and in the heat of the controversy we are reminded of
modern discussions of the characters of men such as Gladstone or Roosevelt. It
has been fairly said that there is on the whole more chance of justice to
Cicero from the man of the world who understands how the stress and change of
politics lead a statesman into apparently inconsistent utterances than from
the professional scholar who subjects these utterances to the severest logical
scrutiny, without the illumination of practical experience.
Many sides of Cicero`s life other than the political are reflected in the
letters. From them we can gather a picture of how an ambitious Roman gentleman
of some inherited wealth took to the legal profession as the regular means of
becoming a public figure; of how his fortune might be increased by fees, by
legacies from friends, clients, and even complete strangers who thus sought to
confer distinction on themselves; of how the governor of a province could
become rich in a year; of how the sons of Roman men of wealth gave trouble to
their tutors, were sent to Athens, as to a university in our day, and found an
allowance of over $4,000 a year insufficient for their extravagances. Again,
we see the greatest orator of Rome divorce his wife after thirty years,
apparently because she had been indiscreet or unscrupulous in money matters,
and marry at the age of sixty-three his own ward, a young girl whose fortune
he admitted was the main attraction. The coldness of temper suggested by these
transactions is contradicted in turn by Cicero`s romantic affection for his
daughter Tullia, whom he is never tired of praising for her cleverness and
charm, and whose death almost broke his heart.
Most of Cicero`s letters were written in ink on paper or parchment with a
reed pen; a few on tablets of wood or ivory covered with wax, the marks being
cut with a stylus. The earlier letters he wrote with his own hand, the later
were, except in rare cases, dictated to a secretary. There was, of course, no
postal service, so the epistles were carried by private messengers or by the
couriers who were constantly traveling between the provincial officials and
the capital.
Apart from the letters to Atticus, the collection, arrangement, and
publication of Cicero`s correspondence seem to have been due to Tiro, the
learned freedman who served him as secretary, and to whom some of the letters
are addressed. Titus Pomponius Atticus, who edited the large collection of the
letters written to himself, was a cultivated Roman who lived more than twenty
years in Athens for purposes of study. His zeal for cultivation was combined
with the successful pursuit of wealth; and though Cicero relied on him for aid
and advice in public as well as private matters, their friendship did not
prevent Atticus from being on good terms with men of the opposite party.
Generous, amiable, and cultured, Atticus was not remarkable for the
intensity of his devotion either to principles or persons. "That he was the
lifelong friend of Cicero," says Professor Tyrrell, "is the best title which
Atticus has to remembrance. As a man he was kindly, careful, and shrewd, but
nothing more: there was never anything grand or noble in his character. He was
the quintessence of prudent mediocrity."
The period covered by the letters of Cicero is one of the most
interesting and momentous in the history of the world, and these letters
afford a picture of the chief personages and most important events of that age
from the pen of a man who was not only himself in the midst of the conflict,
but who was a consummate literary artist.
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