it was the exultation of Cicero at the death of a very great man, when the conduct of that man towards him had been most magnanimous and kind,-a man who had, in his day of superiority, been servilely approached by Cicero, with most cringing and base solicitations for favor and patronage.. We should not be content to substantiate this charge against Cicero, by the evidence of what others have said; unfortunately, his own correspondence condemns him too incontestibly for doubt or controversy. As evidence that Cæsar had conferred benefits of no insignificant kind upon Cicero, we produce the following extracts from the letters of the latter. In the year 707, he writes to Nigidius Figulus:

"There is nothing which, in the present conjuncture, I could wish for myself, that Cæsar has not voluntarily offered me." * * “Cæsar, 'tis true, acts towards me with the utmost generosity."

Letter 3, Book IX.

Speaking in reference to his wish to assist Figulus, he says:

"With this view I shall closely attach myself to Cæsar's favorites, who are all of them, indeed, extremely fond of me, and spend much of their time in my company; as I shall insinuate myself into an intimacy with Cæsar, to which my own modesty has hitherto proved the single obstruction." Letter 3, Book IX.

He writes the same year to Servius Sulpicius, upon the matter of the pardon of Marcellus:

"Cæsar, after having complained of the acrimony, as he called it, with which Marcellus had opposed him, and mentioned, with the highest applause, the equity and prudence of your conduct in the same conjuncture, on a sudden, and much beyond our expectations, declared, that notwithstanding he had so much reason to complain of Marcellus, he could not refuse to pardon him at the general request of the Senate."**"All the senators who had been asked their opinion before me, severally returned their acknowledgments to Cæsar, except Volcatius, who declared that he would not have made them, even if he had been in the place of Marcellus himself. But when it came to my turn, I instantly changed a resolution which I had long formed. I had determined, not from indolence, believe me, but as being sensible of the want of that authority which once attended my eloquence, to preserve a perpetual silence in public. But the greatness of mind of Cæsar discovered itself upon this occasion, together with that noble zeal which broke forth at the same time in the senate, entirely overcame the strength of my resolution, and I addressed my acknowledgments to Cæsar in a long harangue." ** I still remain in the same opinion, that we should neither of us take any measures but such as shall be perfectly agreeable to Cæsar." ** "For though

Cæsar's conduct is unexceptionable, yet, with respect to all the rest, both of persons and circumstances, I am sure you would much rather, if one or other must necessarily be your choice, receive an account of them from others, than be a spectator of them yourself." Letter 17, Book IX.

In his letter to Jubianus, he says:

"Cæsar, indeed, seems to be every day more and more inclined to adopt those equitable measures which our public circumstances require." Cæsar is continually giving proofs of greater moderation and generosity, than we once imagined he would have shown." Letter 5, Book IX.

In a letter to Lentulus, speaking of the propriety of suiting one's opinions to the times, and excusing his subserviency to Cæsar, he writes:

"To these considerations I must add those uncommon acts of generosity which Cæsar has exerted both towards my brother and myself; so much, indeed, beyond all example, that even whatever had been his success, I should have thought it incumbent upon me at least to have defended him. But now, distinguished as he is by such a wonderful series of prosperity, and crowned with so many glorious victories, I cannot but esteem it a duty which I owe the republic, abstracted from all personal obligations to himself, to promote his honors as far as lies in my power. And believe me, it is at once my confession and my glory, that next to you, together with the other generous authors of my restoration, there is not a man in the world from whom I have received such amicable offices." Letter 17, Book II.

Again, in a letter to Terentia, he openly confesses his design of sending his son, accompanied by Sallustius, with a letter to Cæsar, supplicating his pardon for having enlisted against him in the cause of Pompey. Book 7, Letter 30.

In the letter to Lentulus, above quoted, he says:

"In consequence of these sentiments, it was absolutely necessary for me, you see, to unite with Cæsar, as one who was joined in the same views and the same interest. His friendship, likewise, which you are sensible my brother and I have long shared, together with his humane and generous disposition, which I have abundantly experienced, both in his late letters, and his good offices towards me, contributed greatly to confirm me in these resolutions."

In a letter to Julius Cæsar, he says:

"I am going to give you an instance how much I rely upon your affectionate services, not only towards myself, but in favor also of my friends." Letter 8, Book II.

To Trebatius, he writes:

"I no sooner gave up my intentions of this kind, and perceived that Cæsar treated me with great distinction and friendship, than I recommended you in the strongest and warmest terms to his favor, perfectly well knowing the singular probity and benevolence of his heart." Letter 11, Book XI.

The oration for Marcellus, on the occasion of his pardon, is filled with most indelicate adulations to Cæsar. He says to Cæsar:

"When you gave back M. Marcellus to the senate and people of Rome, especially after recounting his offences, you convinced all men of what I had learned before, from your conduct to myself in particular, and to many others, that you had sacrificed your resentments and your suspicions to the authority of this order and the dignity of the State."

"No flow of genius, no force of eloquence, no power of description, is sufficient, Cæsar, I will not say to embellish, but even to recount your exploits."

"It has often occurred to me, and I have often declared it with pleasure, that none of the achievements of our commanders, none of foreign nations, none of the most illustrious monarchs, are worthy to be compared with yours, either in regard to the importance of the contests, the number of battles, the variety of countries, the celerity of conquests, or the diversity of enterprises."

"He who subdues the mind,-who suppresses his resentment,— who uses victory with moderation,-who not only raises an ingenious, an illustrious and brave adversary to the honor from which he had fallen, but heightens and enlarges his former dignity,-he who does this, suffers by a comparison with the greatest of human characters, for he resembles Deity himself."**"In the act of this day, you are yourself the conductor-yourself the assistant; an act so truly great, that time itself shall not consume the trophies and monuments it has reared." ** "You had before risen superior, in the virtues of equity and mercy, to every other conqueror in our civil wars, this day you have risen superior to yourself."

"Yet has he, unsolicited, restored me to myself and to the State; and likewise restored to themselves, and to their country, those illustrious men whose number and dignity grace this assembly."

"I joined Pompey on friendly, not political principles; and so strongly was I influenced by a grateful sense of my obligations to him, that not only without any ambition, but even without any hope, I rushed voluntarily on evident destruction." "Hence it is, Cæsar, that we, who have been witnesses of these things, ought to be the more sensible of your generosity." "Wherefore, rejoice in this amiable quality; enjoy your fortune and dignity; enjoy your virtue and noble disposition." "When you reflect on the other illustrious actions of your life, though you will find reason to attribute much to your bravery, yet, more must be attributed to your good fortune; but as often as you think of us, whom you have reserved to enjoy

with yourself the happiness of our country, so often shall be revived in your mind the pleasing remembrance of your extensive beneficence, of your amazing generosity, and of your unparalleled wisdom." "All of us who wish the security of our constitution, earnestly desire and entreat you to have a regard to your life and safety; and all of us, seeing you apprehend some reason to be on your guard, promise, not only to protect you by day and night, but offer our own bodies and our own breasts as the shield of your defence."

It is to be recollected that this oration was spoken in 707 A. U., a brief period before Cæsar's death, and accords little with the terms of praise with which Cicero hails that event. It must also be borne in mind, that some of the most unconstitutional and ruinous concessions made to Cæsar by the Roman senate, were advised and approbated by Cicero,for, in alluding to the voting to Cæsar a sum of money for the payment of his army, and the power of nominating ten lieutenants, and the dispensation of the Sempronian law for appointing a successor, he says:

"Harum ego sententiarum et Princeps et Auctor fui." Orat. pro Balbo. 27.

These extracts are sufficient to show, that if Cæsar was not disinterestedly generous, at least Cicero either believed him to be so, or was himself guilty of shameful insincerity. If he knew Cæsar was performing these acts of moderation, in order to protect and increase his popularity merely, still, by approving them, he was himself acting the hypocrite; for the true patriot will neither act with duplicity himself, nor hesitate to expose it in others. If, on the contrary, he did believe Cæsar sincere in his generosity, how dreadfully criminal was his conduct, while approving that generosity, to be even then secretly assisting in the conspiracy which led to his murder?

Writing to Dollabella in 709, he says, speaking of Brutus :

"His late glorious achievement, on the ides of March," (the assassination of Cæsar,) "has wonderfully heightened that esteem I bore him." Letter 9, Book XII.

To Caius Cassius, he writes:

"This outrageous man (Anthony) represents me as the principal adviser and promoter of your most glorious enterprise."—(Alluding to Cæsar's murder.) "Would to heaven the charge were true! for had I been a party in your counsels, I should have put it out of his power thus to perplex and embarrass our affairs." Letter 26, Book XII.

Again:

"Oh that you had invited me to that glorious feast you exhibited on the ides of March! Be assured, I would have suffered none of it to have gone off untouched. Whereas, the part you unhappily spared, (Anthony,) occasions me, above all others, more trouble than you can well imagine." Letter 6, Book XIII.

In a letter to Decimus Brutus, in which he alludes to his participation in Cæsar's death, he says:

"As you wanted not any exhortations to engage you in the noblest enterprise that stands recorded in history," (Cæsar's assassination,) "so, I am persuaded, they are altogether unnecessary in the present conjuncture."

Speaking of Anthony, he says:

"I join my earnest intercessions, therefore, with those of the whole republic, that you would finish what you have so happily begun, and deliver us for ever from the tyranny of a despotic government." Letter 31, Book XII.

These extracts disclose the melancholy truth, that in the midst of Cicero's professions of patriotism, he was, in the sacred name of his country's liberty, openly sanctioning the treacherous murder of Cæsar, and reproving the conspirators for their forbearance in not extending their assassination to Anthony. He, indeed, censures the taking of Anthony aside when Cæsar was slain; and calls the killing of the latter the glorious deliverance of his country. It is mournful to contemplate these evidences. They are, indeed, dark spots upon an intellectual sun.

There is one expression in the letter of Cicero to Lentulus, which unhappily furnishes a key to the motives of all Cicero's political conduct. He says:

"The general scheme of politics, therefore, being thus changed, it is time most certainly for every man of prudence, in which number I have the ambition to be justly accounted, to vary likewise his particular plan. Accordingly, that chief and favorite guide of my principles, whom I have already quoted, the divine Plato himself, advises not to press any political point farther than is consonant with the general sense of the community." Letter 17, Book XII.

These sentiments form, in its most shameless confession, the doctrine of expediency,—a doctrine which sets aside all the influences of the virtues in the affairs of life, except in cases where they can be used as powers, secondary to the advancement of ourselves. It appears, indeed, to us, that it