haracter he had seen so
clearly when writing from Macedonia to Atticus--that "Cn. Pompey who, by
his valor, his glory, his achievements, stands conspicuously the first
of all nations, of all ages, of all history." We cannot but be angry
when we read the words, though we may understand how well he understood
that he was impotent to do anything for the Republic unless he could
bring such a man as Pompey to act with him. We must remember, too, how
impossible it was that one Roman should rise above the falsehood common
to Romans. We cannot ourselves always escape even yet from the
atmosphere of duplicity in which policy delights. He describes the state
of Rome in his absence. "When I was gone, you"--you, the Senate--"could
decree nothing for your citizens, or for your allies, or for the
dependent kings. The judges could give no judgment; the people could not
record their votes; the Senate availed nothing by its authority. You saw
only a silent Forum, a speechless Senate-house, a city dumb and
deserted." We may suppose that Rome was what Cicero described it to be
when he was in exile, and Caesar had gone to his provinces; but its
condition had been the result of the crushing tyranny of the Triumvirate
rather than of Cicero's absence.

Lentulus, the present Consul, had been, he says, a second father, almost
a god, to him. But he would not have needed the hand of a Consul to
raise him from the ground, had he not been wounded by consular hands.
Catulus, one of Rome's best citizens, had told him that though Rome had
now and again suffered from a bad Consul, she had never before been
afflicted by two together. While there was one Consul worthy of the
name, Catulus had declared that Cicero would be safe. But there had come
two, two together, whose spirits had been so narrow, so low, so
depraved, so burdened with greed and ignorance, "that they had been
unable to comprehend, much less to sustain the splendor of the name of
Consul. Not Consuls were they, but buyers and sellers of provinces."
These were Piso and Gabinius, of whom the former was now governor of
Macedonia, and the latter of Syria. Cicero's scorn against these men,
who as Consuls had permitted his exile, became a passion with him. His
subsequent hatred of Antony was not as bitter. He had come there to
thank the assembled Senators for their care of him, but he is carried
off so violently by his anger that he devotes a considerable portion of
his speech to these indignant