ἐκ τούτου Κικέρων, εἰς μοναρχίαν τῆς πολιτείας μεθεστώσης, ἀφέμενος τοῦ τὰ κοινὰ πράττειν ἐσχόλαζε τοῖς βουλομένοις φιλοσοφεῖν τῶν νέων, καὶ σχεδὸν ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τούτους συνηθείας, εὐγενεστάτους καὶ πρώτους ὄντας, αὖθις ἴσχυεν ἐν τῇ πόλει μέγιστον.
After this, when the government had been changed to a monarchy, Cicero abstained from public affairs and devoted his time to those of the young men who wished to study philosophy, and mainly from his intimacy with these, since they were of the highest birth and standing, he was once more very influential in the state.
αὐτῷ δʼ ἔργον μὲν ἦν τὸ τοὺς φιλοσόφους συντελεῖν διαλόγους καὶ μεταφράζειν, καὶ τῶν διαλεκτικῶν ἢ φυσικῶν ὀνομάτων ἕκαστον εἰς Ῥωμαϊκὴν μεταβάλλειν διάλεκτον ἐκεῖνος γάρ ἐστιν, ὥς φασιν, ὁ καὶ τὴν φαντασίαν καὶ τὴν συγκατάθεσιν καὶ τὴν ἐποχὴν καὶ τὴν κατάληψιν, ἔτι δὲ τὸ ἄτομον, τὸ ἀμερές, τὸ κενὸν, ἄλλα τε πολλὰ τῶν τοιούτων ἐξονομάσας πρῶτος ἢ μάλιστα Ῥωμαίοις, τὰ μὲν μεταφοραῖς, τὰ δʼ οἰκειότησιν ἄλλαις γνώριμα καὶ προσήγορα μηχανησάμενος.
He made it his business also to compose and translate philosophical dialogues, and to render into Latin the several terms of dialectics and natural philosophy; for he it was, as they say, who first, or principally, provided Latin names for phantasia, synkatathesis, epokhe, and katalepsis, as well as for atomon, ameres, kerton, and many others like these, contriving partly by metaphors and partly by new and fitting terms to make them intelligible and familiar.
τῇ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ποίησιν εὐκολίᾳ παίζων ἐχρῆτο. λέγεται γάρ, ὁπηνίκα ῥυείη πρὸς τὸ τοιοῦτον, τῆς νυκτὸς ἔπη ποιεῖν πεντακόσια. τὸ μὲν οὖν πλεῖστον τοῦ χρόνου τούτου περὶ Τοῦσκλον ἐν χωρίοις αὑτοῦ διάγων ἔγραφε πρὸς τοὺς φίλους Λαέρτου βίον ζῆν, εἴτε παίζων, ὡς ἔθος εἶχεν, εἴθʼ ὑπὸ φιλοτιμίας σπαργῶν πρὸς τὴν πολιτείαν καὶ ἀδημονῶν τοῖς καθεστῶσι.
His facility in verse-making, too, he employed to divert himself. It is said, indeed, that when he applied himself to such work, he would make five hundred verses in a night.
During this time, then, he lived for the most part at his country-seat in Tusculum, and he used to write to his friends that he was living the life of Laertes, either jesting, as was his wont, or because his ambition filled him with a desire for public activity and made him dissatisfied with the turn things had taken.
σπανίως δʼ εἰς ἄστυ θεραπείας ἕνεκα τοῦ Καίσαρος κατῄει, καὶ πρῶτος ἦν τῶν συναγορευόντων ταῖς τιμαῖς καὶ λέγειν ἀεί τι καινὸν εἰς τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τὰ πραττόμενα φιλοτιμουμένων, οἷόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ περὶ τῶν Πομπηίου λεχθὲν εἰκόνων, ἃς ἀνῃρημένας καὶ καταβεβλημένας ὁ Καῖσαρ ἐκέλευσεν ἀνασταθῆναι· καὶ ἀνεστάθησαν. ἔφη γὰρ ὁ Κικέρων ὅτι ταύτῃ τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ Καῖσαρ τοὺς μὲν Πομπηίου ἵστησι, τοὺς δʼ αὑτοῦ πήγνυσιν ἀνδριάντας.
He rarely went down to the city, and then only to pay court to Caesar, and he was foremost among those who advocated Caesar’s honours and were eager to be ever saying something new about him and his measures. Of this sort is what he said about the statues of Pompey. These Caesar ordered to be set up again after they had been thrown down and taken away; and they were set up again. What Cicero said was that by this act of generosity Caesar did indeed set up the statues of Pompey, but firmly planted his own also.
διανοούμενος δʼ, ὡς λέγεται, τὴν πάτριον ἱστορίαν γραφῇ περιλαβεῖν καὶ πολλὰ συμμῖξαι τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν καὶ ὅλως τοὺς συνηγμένους λόγους αὐτῷ καὶ μύθους ἐνταῦθα τρέψαι, πολλοῖς μὲν δημοσίοις, πολλοῖς δʼ ἰδίοις κατελήφθη πράγμασιν ἀβουλήτοις καὶ πάθεσιν, ὧν αὐθαίρετα δοκεῖ πλεῖστα συμβῆναι.
He purposed, as we are told, to write a comprehensive history of his native country, combining with it many Greek details, and introducing there all the tales and myths which he had collected; but he was prevented by many public affairs which were contrary to his wishes, and by many private troubles, most of which seem to have been of his own choosing.
πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἀπεπέμψατο τὴν γυναῖκα Τερεντίαν ἀμεληθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτῆς παρὰ τὸν πόλεμον, ὥστε καὶ τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐφοδίων ἐνδεὴς ἀποσταλῆναι καὶ μηδʼ ὅτε κατῆρεν αὖθις εἰς Ἰταλίαν τυχεῖν εὐγνώμονος, αὐτὴ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἦλθεν, ἐν Βρεντεσίῳ διατρίβοντος αὐτοῦ πολὺν χρόνον, ἐρχομένῃ δὲ τῇ θυγατρί, παιδίσκῃ νέᾳ, τοσαύτην ὁδὸν, οὐ πομπὴν πρέπουσαν, οὐ χορηγίαν παρέσχεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν τῷ Κικέρωνι πάντων ἔρημον καὶ κενὴν ἀπέδειξεν ἐπὶ πολλοῖς ὀφλήμασι καὶ μεγάλοις.
For in the first place he divorced his wife Terentia because he had been neglected by her during the war, so that he set out in lack of the necessary means for his journey, and even when he came back again to Italy did not find her considerate of him. For she did not come to him herself, although he tarried a long time at Brundisium, and when her daughter, a young girl, made the long journey thither, she supplied her with no fitting escort and with no means; nay, she actually stripped and emptied Cicero’s house of all that it contained, besides incurring many large debts.
αὗται γὰρ εἰσιν αἱ λεγόμεναι τῆς διαστάσεως εὐπρεπέσταται προφάσεις, τῇ δὲ Τερεντίᾳ καὶ ταύτας ἀρνουμένῃ λαμπρὰν ἐποίησε τὴν ἀπολογίαν αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος μετʼ οὐ πολὺν χρόνον γήμας παρθένον, ὡς μὲν ἡ Τερεντία κατεφήμιζεν, ἔρωτι τῆς ὥρας, ὡς δὲ Τίρων ὁ τοῦ Κικέρωνος ἀπελεύθερος γέγραφεν, εὐπορίας ἕνεκεν πρὸς διάλυσιν δανείων.
These, indeed, are the most plausible reasons given for the divorce. Terentia, however, denied that these were the reasons, and Cicero himself made her defence a telling one by marrying shortly afterwards a maiden. This he did, as Terentia asserted, out of love for her youthful beauty; but as Tiro, Cicero’s freedman, has written, to get means for the payment of his debts.
ἦν γὰρ ἡ παῖς σφόδρα πλουσία, καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτῆς ὁ Κικέρων ἐν πίστει κληρονόμος ἀπολειφθεὶς διεφύλαττεν. ὀφείλων δὲ πολλὰς μυριάδας ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων καὶ οἰκείων ἐπείσθη τὴν παῖδα γῆμαι παρʼ ἡλικίαν καὶ τοὺς δανειστὰς ἀπαλλάξαι τοῖς ἐκείνης χρησάμενος. Ἀντώνιος δὲ τοῦ γάμου μνησθεὶς ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τοὺς Φιλιππικοὺς ἀντιγραφαῖς ἐκβαλεῖν αὐτόν φησι γυναῖκα παρʼ ἡ ἐγήρασε· χαριέντως ἅμα τὴν οἰκουρίαν ὡς ἀπράκτου καὶ ἀστρατεύτου παρασκώπτων τοῦ Κικέρωνος.
For the girl was very wealthy, and Cicero had been left her trustee and had charge of her property. So since he owed many tens of thousands he was persuaded by his friends and relatives to marry the girl, old as he was, and to get rid of his creditors by using her money. But Antony, who spoke of the marriage in his replies to Cicero’s Philippics, says that he cast out of doors the wife with whom he had grown old, and at the same time makes witty jibes upon the stay-at-home habits of Cicero, who was, he said, unfit for business or military service.
γήμαντι δʼ αὐτῷ μετʼ οὐ πολὺν χρόνον ἡ θυγάτηρ ἀπέθανε τίκτουσα παρὰ Λέντλῳ· τούτῳ γὰρ ἐγαμήθη μετὰ τὴν Πείσωνος τοῦ προτέρου ἀνδρὸς τελευτήν. καὶ συνῆλθον μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν παραμυθίαν τῷ Κικέρωνι πανταχόθεν οἱ φίλοι· βαρέως δʼ ἄγαν ἤνεγκε τὸ συμβεβηκός, ὥστε καὶ τὴν γαμηθεῖσαν ἀποπέμψασθαι δόξασαν ἡσθῆναι τῇ τελευτῇ τῆς Τυλλίας.
Not long after Cicero’s marriage his daughter died in child-birth at the house of Lentulus, to whom she had been married after the death of Piso, her former husband. His friends came together from all quarters to comfort Cicero; but his grief at his misfortune was excessive, so that he actually divorced the wife he had wedded, because she was thought to be pleased at the death of Tullia.
τὰ μὲν οὖν κατʼ οἶκον οὕτως εἶχε τῷ Κικέρωνι. τῆς δʼ ἐπὶ Καίσαρα συνισταμένης πράξεως οὐ μετέσχε, καίπερ ὢν ἑταῖρος ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα Βρούτου καὶ βαρύνεσθαι τὰ παρόντα καὶ τὰ πάλαι ποθεῖν πράγματα δοκῶν ὡς ἕτερος οὐδείς. ἀλλʼ ἔδεισαν οἱ ἄνδρες αὐτοῦ τήν τε φύσιν ὡς ἐνδεᾶ τόλμης, τόν τε χρόνον, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ταῖς ἐρρωμενεστάταις φύσεσιν ἐπιλείπει τὸ θαρρεῖν.
Such, then, were Cicero’s domestic affairs. But in the design that was forming against Caesar he took no part, although he was one of the closest companions of Brutus and was thought to be distressed at the present and to long for the old state of affairs more than anybody else. But the conspirators feared his natural disposition as being deficient in daring, and his time of life, in which courage fails the strongest natures.
ὡς δʼ οὖν ἐπέπρακτο τοῖς περὶ Βροῦτον καὶ Κάσσιον τὸ ἔργον καὶ τῶν Καίσαρος φίλων συνισταμένων ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας αὖθις ἦν δέος ἐμφυλίοις πολέμοις περιπετῆ γενέσθαι τήν πόλιν, Ἀντώνιος μὲν ὑπατεύων τήν βουλὴν συνήγαγε καὶ βραχέα διελέχθη περὶ ὁμονοίας, Κικέρων δὲ πολλὰ πρὸς τὸν καιρὸν οἰκείως διελθών ἔπεισε τήν σύγκλητον Ἀθηναίους μιμησαμένην ἀμνηστίαν τῶν ἐπὶ Καίσαρι ψηφίσασθαι νεῖμαι δὲ τοῖς περὶ Κάσσιον καὶ Βροῦτον ἐπαρχίας.
And so, when the deed had been accomplished by the partisans of Brutus and Cassius, and the friends of Caesar were combining against the perpetrators of it, and it was feared that the city would again be plunged into civil wars, Antony, as consul, convened the senate and said a few words about concord, while Cicero, after a lengthy speech appropriate to the occasion, persuaded the senate to imitate the Athenians and decree an amnesty for the attack upon Caesar, and to assign provinces to Cassius and Brutus.
ἔσχε δὲ τούτων τέλος οὐδέν, ὁ γὰρ δῆμος αὐτὸς μὲν ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς οἶκτον ἐξαχθείς ὡς εἶδε τόν νεκρὸν ἐκκομιζόμενον διʼ ἀγορᾶς, Ἀντωνίου δὲ καὶ τήν ἐσθῆτα δείξαντος αὐτοῖς αἵματος κατάπλεων καὶ κεκομμένην πάντῃ τοῖς ξίφεσιν, ἐκμανέντες ὑπʼ ὀργῆς ἐν ἀγορᾷ ζήτησιν ἐποιοῦντο τῶν ἀνδρῶν, καὶ πῦρ ἔχοντες ἐπὶ τὰς οἰκίας ἔθεον ὡς ὑφάψοντες. οἱ δὲ τοῦτον μὲν τῷ προπεφυλάχθαι διέφυγον τόν κίνδυνον, ἑτέρους δὲ πολλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους προσδοκῶντες ἐξέλιπον τήν πόλιν.
But none of these things came to pass. For when the people, who of themselves were strongly moved to pity, saw Caesar’s body carried through the forum, and when Antony showed them the garments drenched with blood and pierced everywhere with the swords, they went mad with rage and sought for the murderers in the forum, and ran to their houses with fire-brands in order to set them ablaze. For this danger the conspirators were prepared beforehand and so escaped it, but expecting others many and great, they forsook the city.
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