Life and literature in the Roman republic

by Tenney Frank

There is not one among you who does not comprehend that the Roman people, formerly humane even in the treatment of enemies, is now suffering from a wave of cruelty here at home.... This not only has resulted in the utterly brutal murder of many citizens, but has destroyed in our people, once so compassionate, the capacity to feel any pity.[3]

When we consider these two passages in connection with the fact that Cicero—without pay of course—took a case which none of the distinguished men of his day dared touch, we can only reach the conclusion that Cicero’s aversion to Sulla and his crew was at this time the dominant influence in his life. This does not indeed prove Cicero a democrat, but it does go far to explain why Cicero did not for the next sixteen years reveal any sympathy for the senatorial cause, and why during that period he frequently criticizes Sulla and his policies,[4] while mentioning the Gracchi in terms of high praise.[5] Cicero was still a moderate liberal.

Cicero was in Greece when Sulla died and therefore had no share in the abortive revolution of Lepidus. On his return he took few political cases, giving a large part of his time to practice in civil cases (Verr. II, 181), through which he won enough distinction to secure election to the questorship and aedileship.

In the first Verrine oration Cicero inveighed bitterly against the past venality of the senatorial courts, instituted by Sulla, and the selfishness of the oligarchy. This was of course in part due to his plan to frighten the jurors into a severe judgment, for he went on to remind them that a reform of the court had been proposed and indeed was probably imminent. However, it is clear that Cicero was eager to take the onerous case. He fought for the privilege, he spent months of expensive and unpaid effort in the midst of the canvassing season upon it, he went out of his way to reveal the sins of the senatorial misrule of the provinces, and to speak with high respect of democratic heroes like the Gracchi, and of democratic proposals like the return of the tribunate. All these things prove that Cicero could not at this time have been considered a supporter of the aristocracy. The equestrian order, with which he was still closely identified despite his entrance into the senate, had strongly supported Pompey and had united with the populace in electing him on a moderate democratic program. There can be no doubt that Cicero had voted wholeheartedly for Pompey and that he supported the equestrian-democratic bloc and program. If in the Sullan days he was an independent liberal with aversions to both Cinna and Sulla, he was now willing to work with the liberal group, even if a somewhat independent adherent who was waiting to see whether the party made good before committing himself definitely.

With Pompey’s accession to the consulship the fortunes of the knights, who had suffered untold disasters under Sulla, reached a turning point. The restoration of the censorship meant among other things that the equestrian corporations were again to be assigned provincial contracts; the restoration of the tribuneship meant that they would not have to appeal to the hostile senate for desired administrative measures; the revision of the court panels gave back to them both power and prestige. Since Pompey proved to be their friend they determined to honor him and use him further. In 67 they demanded that the seas be cleared of pirates so that the commerce in which they were interested would be protected; and they demanded that Pompey be placed in command of the war with extraordinary powers. When the senate objected, the knights, resting their arguments upon Gracchan precedents, took the bill directly to the assembly. The senate considered this revolutionary. The populace, flattered by this appeal to their assembly and favorably disposed to Pompey, supported the knights. When the senate induced a tribune to veto the measure, Gabinius, assuming the validity of the Gracchan theory of “recall,” threatened to present a bill to depose this tribune, thereby forcing him to desist. This was tantamount to accepting the democratic theory of popular sovereignty in its extreme form, and Cicero seems to have acquiesced. At any rate when Cicero mentioned the incident in the Pro Cornelio two years later, he raised no objection to the procedure, and afterwards when he quarreled with Gabinius he did not cast this act in his teeth.

In the year 66, when Manilius introduced a proposal to place Pompey in command in Asia, the same coalition of knights and populace again insulted the senate by taking the bill directly to the assembly. On this occasion Cicero was the principal speaker for the coalition; and he spoke as a full-fledged democrat, unashamed. One may of course suppose that Cicero was largely influenced by life-long connections with the knights and by a deep devotion to Pompey, apparently dating from the time when he served under Pompey’s father in the Social War. One also realizes that the Manilian law had a very great practical appeal, and that a rising and ambitious young statesman like Cicero would see the advantage of being chosen as the spokesman for such an important measure of the party then in power. Be that as it may, the speech of that day is the speech of an important and accepted member of the popular-equestrian party.[6]

This was the year of Cicero’s praetorship in which he had to serve as judge in the trial of Licinius Macer, a radical democrat, who was accused of misappropriation. Cicero mentions the case to Atticus immediately after the trial, remarking—though a judge had but little discretion in such matters—that he had been favorably disposed to the culprit in his management of the case, and had received much favorable comment from the people for his attitude.[7]

A democratic attitude is again shown by Cicero in his defense of Cornelius the next year (65). Cornelius in his tribuneship had angered the senate by proposing several radical plebiscites and especially by his disregard of a tribunician veto. When the herald had been forbidden by a tribune to read the bill of Cornelius in question, Cornelius himself had read it to the assembly, thereby not only breaking an old law but also in a new manner putting into effect the Gracchan theory of the “recall” which would strip the senate of its power to interfere in legislation. When Cornelius was haled to court by some senators on the charge of lese majesté Cicero undertook to defend him; in this defense Cicero confined himself to minimizing the charge of the actual breach of a law, but did not offer any apologies for the attempt of Cornelius to apply the radical theory of “recall.” Indeed he actually defended that part of the procedure by referring to the precedent set by Gabinius two years before.[8] Here then he accepted again the Gracchan theory of popular sovereignty. In the years 66-5 at least Cicero behaved like a confirmed democrat.

In July of 65, about the time of his speech, Cicero wrote to Atticus that he had begun to think of his canvassing for the consulship and that he was certain of the support of all but the nobles, that is to say, he knew that the equestrian and democratic groups would vote for him. A few days later he still felt himself so closely allied with the democratic group that he was considering giving legal aid to Catiline. That however he did not do. A careful investigation into the merits of the case was probably enough to dissuade him.