compel the farmer to compound by a
payment in money which the orator does not blame, on the ground that it
is only proper to allow magistrates to receive corn wherever they wish
(_ib._ iii. 190). From the speech _pro Cluentio_ (145-154) we gain
unique information concerning the condition of society in a country
town, the extraordinary exemption of equites from prosecution for
judicial corruption, the administration of domestic justice in the case
of slaves examined by their owner (_ib._ 176-187). But we have always to
be on our guard against misrepresentation, exaggeration and falsehood.
The value of the letters lies in the fact that in them we get behind
Cicero and are face to face with the other _dramatis personae_; also
that we are admitted behind the scenes and read the secret history of
the times. One of the most interesting documents in the correspondence
is a despatch of Caesar to his agent Oppius, written in great haste and
in disjointed sentences. It runs as follows: "On the 9th I came to
Brundisium. Pompey is at Brundisium. He sent Magius to me to treat
of peace. I gave him a suitable answer" (_Att._ ix. 13, Ai.). In the _de
Bello civili_, on the other hand, Caesar, who wishes to show that he did
his best to make peace, after stating that he sent his captive Magius to
negotiate, expresses mild surprise at the fact that Pompey did not send
him back (_Bell. Civ._ i. 26). We hear of the extraordinary agreement
made by two candidates for the consulship in Caesar's interest with the
sitting consuls of 54 B.C., which Cicero says he hardly ventures to put
on paper. Under the terms of this the consuls, who were _optimates_,
bound themselves to betray their party by securing, apparently
fraudulently, the election of the candidates while they in turn bound
themselves to procure two ex-consuls who would swear that they were
present in the senate when supplies were voted for the consular
provinces, though no meeting of the senate had been held, and three
augurs who would swear that a _lex curiata_ had been passed, though the
_comitia curiata_ had not been convened (_Att._ iv. 18. 2). But perhaps
the most singular scene is the council of three great ladies presided
over by Servilia at Antium, which decides the movements of Brutus and
Cassius in June 44 B.C., when Cassius "looking very fierce--you would
say that he was breathing fire and sword"--blustered concerning what he
considered an insult, viz. a commission to supply co