in his
self-praise, there might have been dispute had he spoken ill of one who
had been popular as Tribune. His praise of Pompey was almost more
fulsome than that of the day before, and the same may be said of his
self-glorification. Of his brother's devotion to him he speaks in
touching words, but in words which make us remember how untrue to him
afterward was that very brother. There are phrases so magnificent
throughout this short piece that they obtain from us, as they are read,
forgiveness for the writer's faults. "Sic ulciscar facinorum singula."
Let the reader of Latin turn to chapter ix. of the oration and see how
the speaker declares that he will avenge himself against the evil-doers
whom he has denounced.

Cicero, though he had returned triumphant, had come back ruined in
purse, except so far as he could depend on the Senate and the people for
reimbursing to him the losses to which he had been subjected. The decree
of the Senate had declared that his goods should be returned to him, but
the validity of such a promise would depend on the value which might be
put upon the goods in question. His house on the Palatine Hill had been
razed to the ground; his Tusculan and Formian villas had been destroyed;
his books, his pictures, his marble columns, his very trees, had been
stolen; but, worst of all, an attempt had been made to deprive him
forever of the choicest spot of ground in all the city, the Park Lane of
Rome, by devoting the space which had belonged to him to the service of
one of the gods. Clodius had caused something of a temple to Liberty to
be built there, because ground so consecrated was deemed at Rome, as
with us, to be devoted by consecration to the perpetual service of
religion. It was with the view of contesting this point that Cicero
made his next speech, Pro Domo Sua, for the recovery of his house,
before the Bench of Priests in Rome. It was for the priests to decide
this question. The Senate could decree the restitution of property
generally, but it was necessary that that spot of ground should be
liberated from the thraldom of sacerdotal tenure by sacerdotal
interference. These priests were all men of high birth and distinction
in the Republic. Nineteen among them were "Consulares," or past-Consuls.
Superstitious awe affects more lightly the consciences of priests than
the hearts of those who trust the priests for their guidance.
Familiarity does breed contempt. Cicero, in making this speech, p