rs or what he did when he got there. We may imagine that
to a Cabinet Minister even a Cabinet Council would, after many sittings,
become a matter of course. A leading barrister would hardly leave behind
him a record of his work in chambers. It has thus come to pass that,
though we can picture to ourselves a Cicero before the judges, or
addressing the people from the rostra, or uttering his opinion in the
Senate, we know nothing of him as he sat in his office and did his
consular work. We cannot but suppose that there must have been an office
with many clerks. There must have been heavy daily work. The whole
operation of government was under the Consul's charge, and to Cicero,
with a Catiline on his hands, this must have been more than usually
heavy. How he did it, with what assistance, sitting at what
writing-table, dressed in what robes, with what surroundings of archives
and red tape, I cannot make manifest to myself. I can imagine that there
must have been much of dignity, as there was with all leading Romans,
but beyond that I cannot advance even in fancying what was the official
life of a Consul.

In the old days the Consul used, as a matter of course, to go out and do
the fighting. When there was an enemy here, or an enemy there, the
Consul was bound to hurry off with his army, north or south, to
different parts of Italy. But gradually this system became
impracticable. Distances became too great, as the Empire extended itself
beyond the bounds of Italy, to admit of the absence of the Consuls. Wars
prolonged themselves through many campaigns, as notably did that which
was soon to take place in Gaul under Caesar. The Consuls remained at
home, and Generals were sent out with proconsular authority. This had
become so certainly the case, that Cicero on becoming Consul had no fear
of being called on to fight the enemies of his country. There was much
fighting then in course of being done by Pompey in the East; but this
would give but little trouble to the great officers at home, unless it
might be in sending out necessary supplies.

The Consul's work, however, was severe enough. We find from his own
words, in a letter to Atticus written in the year but one after his
Consulship, 61 B.C., that as Consul he made twelve public addresses.
Each of them must have been a work of labor, requiring a full mastery
over the subject in hand, and an arrangement of words very different in
their polished perfection from the generality