occasion to say something about Cicero's property, a
matter which is, in its way, a rather perplexing question. In the case
of a famous advocate among ourselves there would be no difficulty in
understanding that he should have acquired a great fortune. But the
Roman law strictly forbade an advocate to receive any payment from his
clients. The practice of old times, when the great noble pleaded for the
life or property of his humbler defendants, and was repaid by their
attachment and support, still existed in theory. It exists indeed to
this day, and accounts for the fact that a barrister among ourselves has
no _legal_ means of recovering his fees. But a practice of paying
counsel had begun to grow up. Some of Cicero's contemporaries certainly
received a large remuneration for their services. Cicero himself always
claims to have kept his hands clean in this respect, and as his enemies
never brought any charge of this kind against him, his statement may
very well be accepted. We have, then, to look for other sources of
income. His patrimony was considerable. It included, as we have seen, an
estate at Arpinum and a house in Rome. And then he had numerous
legacies. This is a source of income which is almost strange to our
modern ways of acting and thinking. It seldom happens among us that a
man of property leaves any thing outside the circle of his family.
Sometimes an intimate friend will receive a legacy. But instances of
money bequeathed to a statesman in recognition of his services, or a
literary man in recognition of his eminence, are exceedingly rare. In
Rome they were very common. Cicero declares, giving it as a proof of the
way in which he had been appreciated by his fellow-citizens, that he had
received two hundred thousand pounds in legacies. This was in the last
year of his life. This does something to help us out of our difficulty.
Only we must remember that it could hardly have been till somewhat late
in his career that these recognitions of his services to the State and
to his friends began to fall in. He made about twenty thousand pounds
out of his year's government of his province, but it is probable that
this money was lost. Then, again, he was elected into the College of
Augurs (this was in his fifty-fourth year). These religious colleges
were very rich. Their banquets were proverbial for their splendor.
Whether the individual members derived any benefit from their revenues
we do not know. We often find him