is the existence of this principle which raises a distinction between vice and virtue. The extent of indulgence of selfinterest, may be said to be the line which separates the good man from the bad: and though nature has kindly given us this principle, as a species of safety valve essential to our protection, yet the disregard of its promptings should ever distinguish the good man, when opposed to those noble duties which we owe to our country and our fellow men. If virtue-and we here use the term as connected with our relations to man and his good-is deserving of being loved as a principle, and if we have evidences, either in ourselves or surrounding objects, to prove that happiness follows from its pursuit, then this is true, without considering it as a reward in a state of immortality. Surely no speculation should be indulged, no considerations of expediency should arise,— as to its being followed at all times and in all places. The moment we balance in our minds, the propriety of acting agreeably to its dictates, so far as that action may or may not conduce to our own personal aggrandizement, we deprive ourselves even of the credit of recognizing such influences. When such considerations stand in the way of our duty to our country, we are not patriots, but traitors. When they interfere with our duty to our fellow men, we are not philanthropists, but enemies to the human race.

We proceed to show, by two well-authenticated facts, which we select because of their prominence, that Cicero prostituted the noble labors of his profession to most unworthy purposes.

Aulus Gabinius was consul in the year 695, with Lucius Calphurnius Piso. These men were open enemies of Cicero, and took active part against him, when so memorably persecuted by Clodius. After the consulate of Gabinius, the latter became governor of Syria, whence he was called by a senatorial decree. Cicero spoke eloquently for the decree; and, in several orations, drew the characters of Gabinius, and his colleague Piso, in most vivid colors. He declared Gabinius to be effeminate in mien, dissolute in principles, and a professed libertine. He said of him and Piso, "Duo reipublicæ portenta ac pæne funera," and yet, a few months after the recall of Gabinius from Syria, when prosecuted for offences in his proconsular government, Cicero, in order to conciliate Pompey and Cæsar, basely undertook his defence.

Vatinius, who was tribune during Cæsar's consulate, had distinguished his opposition to Cicero, both politically and personally, by extreme bitterness. His person and manners have been described by Paterculus, as beyond all comparison abandoned, odious and profligate. Cicero, speaking of him, says:

"No one could look upon him without a sigh, or speak of him without execration: that he was the dread of his neighbors, the disgrace of his kindred, and utter abhorrence of the public in general."

This was said at a time when he was seeking to destroy the credit of Vatinius as a witness: and still, when this same man was impeached for being connected in a conspiracy with the enemies of his country, we discover Cicero not only advocating his cause, but supplicating for him the honors of a public thanksgiving: and after this violent abuse, saying, in answer to the epistle of Vatinius:

"I perfectly well knew, and upon all occasions declared, that no man possessed a more grateful heart." "Be assured, you will always experience in me the same friendly zeal in every other article of your concerns. "Indeed, there is no employment in which I could be engaged on your account, that I should not think both easy and honorable." Letter 23, Book XI.

Making all due allowance for the mere rhetoric of an advocate, and the general license given at the bar to a kind of insincere praise and condemnation, we yet think that Cicero, in these instances, not only betrayed the character of an honorable counsellor, but became in action, as he was in speech, the defender of men disgraced by every private and public vice. We do not say, that an advocate should not lend his services to even a bad man, when impeached before the tribunals of justice. To all, the law should be awarded; and it was one of the generous principles of the civil code, that no man should be condemned but by law. Those who are capable of expounding the law, should therefore not deny their learning to men, who are admitted to be covered with crime. But there is a difference between the giving aid to the unfortunate criminal, as a boon to mercy, and affording it to conciliate men high in power, as a political offering. That such motives actuated Cicero in these defences, is too truly proved, unfortunately, for his character as a pure man. Neither Gabinius nor Vatinius were men so low in station or fortune, as to demand Cicero's services on the ground of VOL. VI. NO. 12.

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compassion to the unfortunate. On the contrary, they were high in power. A series of briberies and corruptions of most revolting character, had placed fortunes in their hands; and there were not wanting orators in Rome, of great abilities and commanding eloquence, who, for pay, would have gladly defended these men. Such a course would have been expected of these-but not of Cicero.

We pass to conduct of Cicero, of a less public, but we are pained to say, not less unworthy character.

We all know how plaintively he has expressed his affection for Tullia, his daughter. If the depth of his affliction be entitled to credit, she was endowed by nature with an interesting form. most amiable disposition, and fine intelligence. She died at the age of thirty-two, after having been successively the wife of Caius Piso, Furius Crassipes, and P. Cornelius Dollabella. This last was a man of unprincipled behaviour, and a servile supporter of Cæsar, whose cause he joined in order to repair his broken fortunes. His loose and profligate conduct towards Tullia, was the common talk of the times, and resulted in their divorce. Tullia, suffering from his neglect, and deprived even of maintenance, was driven to Brundusium, where her father waited Cæsar's arrival from Egypt. It is inferrable, that Cicero had written. to Terentia, suggesting the divorce of Tullia,-who raised objections on the ground of Dollabella's power and authority in Rome. In answer, speaking of the projected divorce, he says:

"If you think there is any thing to be apprehended from his (Dollabella's) resentment, let the matter (the divorce) rest; and perhaps the first proposal may come from himself." Letter 34, Book IX.

It must be remembered, that at this time Dollabella was tribune of the people, and engaged in using the power and authority of his office for most infamous purposes. The conclusion results, that Cicero thought the character, honor and rights of his child, who possessed, as he says, the most singular and amiable virtues, should all be sacrificed to his own political safety. But, even after the divorce, according to the better authorities, at the instance of Dollabella himself, we see Cicero writing to this miserable "monster of lewdness and inhumanity," that he was capable of "interesting heaven. and earth in his welfare."-Letter to Dollabella, Book 11, Letter 27. Again-that "I (Cicero) desire no greater sa

tisfaction, than what arises to me from the disinterested part I take in the glory you have lately acquired."-Letter IX., Book 12. And soliciting favors from Dollabella, and his interest with Cæsar, for his friends.-Vid. Letter 23, Book 10.

All these flatteries and cringings, as they were not authorized by the character of Dollabella, if we believe Cicero himself, could have only arisen from the fact of the influence of Dollabella with Cæsar, whose good opinion Cicero was conciliating upon all occasions.

If we follow Cicero in his epistles to his wife Terentia, we are struck, not less with his professions of devotion to her, than with the unlimited praise accorded to her conduct while he was in banishment. She is, in all his letters, approved, as the kind, affectionate wife and mother,-lauded for her economieal administration of his affairs,-her self-denial,-her sacrifices for his comfort,-her persecution in his cause; and yet, shortly afterwards, we see him repudiating a woman who had exhibited such firmness and love in his affliction,-and marrying his pupil, avowedly to secure her fortune.

We take no pleasure in exposing the vices of men. If they lived for themselves, and were not examples, in whose track others were to follow, we could safely leave them to that judgment which exists hereafter: but when we remember, that each man is destined to furnish in his life a precedent for the action of others, our duty is clear. It calls upon us to speak plainly of men's conduct,--to acknowledge it, when good,--to condemn it, when bad. More error has grown out of the compromise of men's vices with their faculties, than good from the most splendid abilities. Cicero is taken as a pattern for eloquence,--his professions of patriotism, for love of country; and all his vices are forgotten, or never exposed. Mr. Southey writes Lord Nelson's life, to teach the young sailor his duty, and hides his shameful violations of every domestic duty. And so every biographer, in his turn, takes up his hero, and injures public morals, by a wilful concealment of crimes which should receive a public and immediate condemnation.

The great defect in Cicero's conduct, was a want of sincerity. Mere insincerity, we may remark, is looked upon by the world, generally, as a species of necessary frailty. But it is the source of all crime, all immorality, all error; and, therefore, the worst principle of the human heart. The man who recognizes the necessity, much less the propriety, of re

sorting to dissimulation in his conduct with men, is wanting in the principal element of virtue. What is man's conduct, what his great achievements, without honest intentions?

We are often struck with the sublime attitude of Socrates, when compared with either ancient or modern great men. How much of noble disinterestedness,-of dignified self-sacrifice, of personal immolation,-in the cause of virtue and truth? He stands, in the darkness of his age, the most brilliant moral light. In his intelligence, there is no prostitution,-in his public conduct, no doctrines of expediency,-in his private life, no compromise of truth. Teaching his friends, in his own language:

"That they were not only to forbear whatever was impious, unjust, or unbecoming, before men; but even, when alone, they ought to have a regard to all their actions, since the Gods have their eyes continually upon us."

How much of religion is embraced in the sentence of this good man, which follows:

"My Aristodemus, understand there is a being whose eye pierceth throughout all nature, and whose ear is open to every sound; extended to all places; extending through all time; and whose bounty and care can know no other bounds than those fixed by his own creation."

The life of Socrates ran parallel with these sentiments; and it was just as easy for Cicero to guide his actions by them, as for Socrates. He possessed sufficient intellect,--had fine conceptions of moral duty,--but spent his life in balancing between the temptations of ambition, and the claims of duty. He seemed to have none of that moral firmness, which actuates a man like Socrates, when, against the claims of ambition, the temptings of pleasure, the love of approbation, the distinction of honored stations, he can determine to be sincere, and follow truth, for the love he bears it. Had he pursued this course,--and it is his error, not his misfortune, that he did not,--then, indeed, Cicero might have deserved the epithet of Father of his country; and Rome might have been free. But, with Cicero wanting truth, what could have been expected of the wild ambition of her Anthony,--the madness of her Brutus,--the want of intelligence and virtue of her people? When the sun hides his face, then may we excuse the inferior orbs for refusing to shine!

We have no inclination to detract from the general merit of Cicero's writings, as literary compositions. His letters are