Cicero cannot decide what to do, and so the actions he eventually takes are half-hearted and ineffective…

Subscribe now

In the TV miniseries Rome, Marcus Tullius Cicero was played by David Bamber. Back in 1995 David Bamber had stolen every single scene he was in in the Pride & Prejudice miniseries by his portrayal of the obsequious and socially awkward moron who is the Bennet’s cousin Mr. Collins. He brings a good deal of that energy to his portrayal of Cicero, who is not a man you want on your side when the chips are down.

The situation in Rome in the year -49 is this: A strongly unconventional high politician holding proconsular office—C. Iulius Cæsar provinciae Galliae et Illyrici pro console.—faces the expiration of his term, and thus of his immunity as a holder of mperium from judicial prosection. Cæsar knows that, because of his actions in office earlier in year -59, he has enemies. He knows that his adversaries will try and convict him of crimes after he lays down his power…

We have a primary source for the start of the Roman Civil War in addition to G. Iulius Cæsar’s deceptively powerful plain-spoken “just the facts” narrative in his Commentaries on the Civl War—a narrative that is also a clever and sophisticated lawyer’s brief. Our one other primary source: Marcus Tullius Cicero’s letters to his BFF Titus Pomponius Atticus.

Cæsar, in his The Civil War, makes himself out to be reasonable, rational, decisive, and clever. Cicero, in his Letters to Atticus is a contrast. He lets his hair down. He is writing to someone he trusts to love him without reservation. He is completely unconcerned with making himself appear to be less flawed than he appears. And the impression he leaves is absolutely dreadful: he makes himself out to be erratic, dithering, and idiotic.

Here is Cicero’s most infamous letter to Atticus, as he tries to decide what to do as the Roman Civil War between Cæsar and Pompey begins. Cicero had three choices:

1. follow the cause—in his case, that of the optimates who were clinging to Pompey—and damn the man (Pompey) as having lost it and caused the Civil War because he would brook no equal;

2. follow the man—Cæsar—and damn the cause (as Asinius Pollio is said to have done) of sacrificing Republican norms to Cæsar’s dignitas, as Cæsar started the Civil War because he would brook no superior; or

3. howl at the moon, and try to build a coalition to get both to stand down and then retire, and probably get killed.

And Cicero cannot decide what to do, and so the actions he eventually takes are half-hearted and ineffective…

Share Brad DeLong’s Grasping Reality

A PREY to the gravest and most depressing anxieties, though I am precluded from discussing the question with you personally, I have, nevertheless, resolved to seek your advice.

The whole question in debate is this: if Pompey quits Italy, which I suspect that he is about to do, what do you think I ought to do?

To assist you in giving me advice, I will state briefly what occurs to my mind on either side:

Pompey’s very great services in securing my restoration and the intimacy existing between us, as well as the interests of the Republic themselves, lead me to the conclusion that my policy or, if you choose, my fortune must be united with his. Then there is this: if I stay here and desert that company of most loyal and illustrious citizens, I must come under the power of one man [C. Julius Cæsar]: and although he shews by many instances that he is well disposed to me—and you yourself know what precautions I took in that direction, because I suspected the storm that was hanging over our heads—yet I must look at the matter in two lights: first, how far I can trust him; and, secondly, however certain I may be that he will be my friend, whether it is the action of a brave man and a good citizen [for me] to remain in a city, in which, after having enjoyed the highest offices and commands, after having performed the most important services, and been invested with the most august priesthood, he is to become a mere name [alternatively: become a slave], and to incur danger, not perchance unaccompanied by some disgrace, if Pompey ever restores the constitution.

So much for that side.

Now for the other.

Our friend Pompey has shewn neither wisdom nor courage in anything that he has done: I may add that he has acted in every case against my counsel and advice. I put out of the question the old scores: how he fostered Caesar against the Republic, promoted, armed him; assisted him in the passing of laws by violence and against the auspices; supported the addition of farther Gaul to his provinces; married his daughter; acted as augur at the adoption of Publius Clodius; shewed greater zeal in effecting my recall than in preventing my exile; supported the extension of Caesar’s provincial government; championed his cause at every point in his absence; actually in his third consulship, when he started being a defender of the constitution, yet urged the ten tribunes to propose the bill allowing Caesar’s candidature in his absence; confirmed the same privilege in a certain law of his own, and resisted the consul Marcus Marcellus when he proposed to fix the end of Caesar’s government on the 1st of March.

Well, to pass over all this, what could be more discreditable, more ill-considered, than this departure from the city, or I should rather call it this most shameful, most unprincipled flight? What terms could there be that were not preferable to the abandonment of one’s country? The terms offered were bad. I confess it: but could anything be worse than this?

But (you say) he will recover the Republic. When? What preparation has been made for realizing that hope? Is not Picenum lost? Is not the road to the city laid open? Is not all money public and private, handed over to his opponent? In fact, there is no cause to support, no forces to support it, no rallying point for those who wish the constitution maintained. Apulia has been selected, the most sparsely peopled district of Italy, and the most widely removed from the point of attack in this war: it is evident that, from sheer desperation, the object in view is flight and the facilities of a sea-coast.

I undertook Capua with reluctance, not because I desired to shirk that duty, but because it was in a cause in which there was no openly expressed grievance on the part of the orders in the state or of private individuals, though there was some-far from keen, as usual—on the part of the Optimates; and because, as I saw for myself, the multitude and the lowest of the people were inclined to the other side, while many were eager simply for change. I told Pompey himself that I would undertake no duty without a guard and money. Accordingly, I had practically nothing to do at all, because, from the first, I saw that his sole object was flight.

If I am to follow that flight now, whither am I to go? Not with him; for when I started to join him, I learnt that Caesar was in such a position that I could not reach Luceria safely. I should have to sail by the Mare Inferum, without definite direction and in the worst possible weather. Again, am I to take my brother, or only my son without him, or how? Either alternative involves very great difficulty, and the keenest distress of mind. Again, what kind of attack will he employ against us and our property in our absence? Something more violent than in the case of others, for he will perhaps think that he has a chance of winning popularity by damaging us. Consider, again, these fetters—I mean my laurelled fasces—what a nuisance to carry them out of Italy! Moreover, what place, even suppose I enjoy a calm passage, will be safe for me till I reach Pompey? By what route, again, or whither to go, I have no idea.

If, on the other hand, I keep my ground and find some footing on this side, I shall have done what L. Philippus did during the tyranny of Cinna, as well as L. Flaccus and Q. Mucius. Though it turned out unhappily in the case of the latter, he used, nevertheless, to say that he foresaw the result (a result which did actually happen), but preferred it to approaching the walls of his native city in arms. Thrasybulus acted differently and perhaps better.

But yet there are good grounds for Mucius’s line of policy and opinion, as well as for that of the other, namely, to temporize, when necessary, and not to let slip an opportunity when it is given. But even if I adopt this course, those same fasces involve a difficulty. For suppose he is my friend, which is uncertain, but suppose he is, he will offer me the triumph. Not to accept I fear will get me into trouble with him, to accept I fear will appear scandalous to the loyalists. “What a difficult and insoluble problem !” you say. And yet I must solve it. For what can possibly be done else?

Don’t think me more inclined to remain, because I have used more words on that side. It may very well be, as happens in many investigations, that one side has the superiority in words, the other in truth.

Wherefore please give me your advice, on the understanding that I am considering a most important matter with impartiality.

There is a vessel at Caieta ready for me, and another at Brundisium. But here come couriers, as I am in the act of writing these words at Cales before daybreak: here comes a letter stating that Caesar has reached Corfinium, that Domitius is inside Corfinium with a strong force eager to fight. I can’t believe that our friend Gnaeus will go so far as to abandon Domitius, though he has sent Scipio in advance to Brundisium with two cohorts, and has written to the consuls saying that he wishes the legion enrolled by Faustus to be taken to Sicily by a consul. But it will be shameful if Domitius is abandoned when imploring to be relieved.

There is a certain hope, no great one in my mind, but warmly entertained in these parts, that Afranius has fought a battle with Trebonius in the Pyrenees; that Trebonius has been repulsed; that your friend Fadius also has come over with his cohorts. The chief hope, however, is that Afranius is on his way hither with large forces. If that is the case, we shall perhaps stay in Italy.

However, since Caesar’s line of march was uncertain, as he was thought to be intending to go either in the direction of Capua or Luceria, I am sending Lepta with a letter to Pompey, and am returning myself to Formiae to avoid falling in with anyone. I wished you to know this, and I am writing in a somewhat quieter frame of mind than I mentioned just Now: my object being not to put forward a judgment of my own, but to ask yours… <https://www.bradford-delong.com/2020/07/marcus-tullius-ciceros-take-on-the-first-three-months-of-49-liveblogging-the-fall-of-the-roman-republic.html>

And MOAR from Cicero starting in late December of the year -50:

Marcus Tullius Cicero: at Formiae, to Titus Pomponius Atticus at Rome; 27 Dec -50 <http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Cic.%20Att.%207.9>: ‘Please consider… and at the same time “solve this strictly political problem.”… Consider, I say, which of these evils, some one of which we must confront, you think the least. You will no doubt say “to persuade him [Caesar] to hand over his army, and so become consul.“… For us, however, as certain persons think, nothing is more to be dreaded than his becoming consul. “But I would prefer his being consul on these terms to his being so with an army,” you will say. Certainly. But even on “these terms,” I tell you, there is one who thinks it a grave evil…. Imagine him consul a second time after our experience of his former consulship! “Why, comparatively weak as he was then,” you say, “he was more powerful than the whole state.” What, then, do you think will be the case now?… Pray make any suggestion that occurs to you: for my part, I am on the rack day and night….

Cicero: at Formiae, to Atticus at Rome; 08 Feb -49 <http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Cic.%20Att.%207.21>: ‘I arrived at Capua for the 5th of February, in accordance with the order of the consuls…. What I ascertained while at Capua was that the consuls are no good: that no levy is being held anywhere…. As to our leader Gnaeus [Pompeius]—what an inconceivably miserable spectacle! What a complete breakdown! No courage, no plan, no forces, no energy! I will pass over his most discreditable flight from the city, his abject speeches in the towns, his ignorance not only of his opponent’s, but even of his own resources…. Caesar himself urges me to promote peace. But his letter is dated before he began his violent proceedings. Dolabella and Caelius both say that he is well satisfied with my conduct. I am on the rack of perplexity. Assist me by your advice if you can, but all the same look after your own interests to the utmost of your power. In such a total upset I have nothing to say to you. I am looking for a letter from you….

Cicero: at Formiae, to Atticus at Rome; 10 Feb -49 <http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Cic.%20Att.%207.23>: ‘On the 9th of February, in the evening, I received a letter from Philotimus saying that “Domitius has a strong force; cohorts from Picenum, under Lentulus and Thermus, have effected a junction with Domitius’s army; Caesar’s advance can be stopped: he is himself afraid of that; the courage of the loyalists at Rome is raised; the disloyal are in dismay”…. I fear that these are dreams. However, Manius Lepidus, L. Torquatus, Gaius Cassius, who are staying with me at Formiae, are quite restored to life by Philotimus’s letter….

Cicero: at Formiae, to Atticus at Rome; 23 Feb -49 <http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Cic.%20Att.%208.7>: ‘There is only one thing left to complete our friend’s [Pompey’s] disgrace-failure to relieve Domitius. “But nobody doubts that he intends going to his relief.” I don’t think he will. “Will he, then, abandon such an illustrious citizen, and those whom you know to be with him, and that when he himself has thirty cohorts?” Yes, he will, unless I am entirely mistaken. He has become alarmed beyond belief. He looks to nothing except flight; in which you think—for I see what your opinion is—that I ought to be his companion. I, however, know from whom to fly, but not whom to follow. As to my remark, which you praise and declare to be memorable, that I preferred defeat with Pompey to victory with those others, it is quite true: I do prefer it—but it is with the Pompey as he was then, or as I thought him…

Cicero: at Formiae, to Atticus at Rome; 01 Mar -49 <http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Cic.%20Att.%208.13>: ‘We are hanging entirely on news from Brundisium…. Do you see upon what sort of man [Caesar] the Republic has fallen? How clear-sighted, how alert, how well prepared! By heaven, if he puts no one to death, nor despoils anyone of anything, he will be most adored by those who had feared him most. The burgesses of the country towns, and the country people also, talk a great deal to me. They don’t care a farthing for anything but their lands, their poor villas, their paltry pence. And now observe the reaction: the man in whom they once trusted [Pompey] they now dread: the man they dreaded [Caesar] they worship. What grave mistakes and vices on our side are accountable for this I cannot think of without sorrow….

Cicero: at Formiae, to Atticus at Rome; 18 Mar -49 <http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Cic.%20Att.%209.10>: ‘The one thing that torments me is that I did not follow Pompey, like any private in the ranks, when, in every part of his policy, he was losing his footing, or rather rushing headlong to ruin. On the 17th of January I could see that he was thoroughly frightened…. From that moment he forfeited my confidence, and never ceased committing one blunder after another. Meanwhile, never a line to me… It was the nature of the war, beyond measure sanguinary and widespread… that I shrank from with horror…. How often did I hear [Pompey say] “Sulla could do it, why not I?” For myself I was haunted with the reflexions: it was unrighteous of Tarquinius to stir up Porsena and Octavius Mamilius against his country; impious in Coriolanus to seek aid from the Volsci… Hippias, son of Pisistratus, who fell in the battle of Marathon bearing arms against his country, was Criminal…. However dangerous the experiment of attempting to fly hence, that experiment shall at least be made. I ought, perhaps, to have done so before. But the considerations I have mentioned held me back…

Cicero: at Formiae, to Atticus at Rome; 26 Mar -49 <http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Cic.%20Att.%209.16>: ‘I received a letter from him [Caesar] on the 26th, in which he now talks of looking forward to my “resources,” not my “aid”…. I had written to compliment him on the moderation of his conduct at Corfinium, and he answered me as follows: “CAESAR IMPERATOR TO CICERO IMPERATOR: You judge me quite accurately—for my character is well known to you—when you say that nothing is more remote from my disposition than cruelty. For myself, as I take great delight in this policy for its own sake, so your approval of my action gives me a triumphant feeling of gladness. Nor am I shaken by the fact that those, who were allowed to go free by me [after they had surrendered], are said to have departed with the intention of renewing the war against me: for there is nothing I like better than that I should be what I am, they what they are. I should be much obliged if you would meet me at the city, that I may, as ever, avail myself in all matters of your counsels and resources. Let me assure you that nothing gives me more pleasure than the presence of your son-in-law Dolabella…“.

Cicero: at Arpinum, to Atticus at Rome; 28 Mar -49 <http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Cic.%20Att.%209.18>: ‘I FOLLOWED your advice in both particulars: for I spoke [to Caesar] in such a manner as rather to gain his respect than his thanks, and I stuck to the resolution of not going to Rome. I found myself mistaken in one respect—in thinking that he would be easily satisfied. I never saw anything less so…. “My motion [in the Senate] will be this,” said I, “that the senate disapproves of any[one] going to Spain [to fight] or taking armies across to Greece, and,” I added, “I shall make many regretful remarks as to Gnaeus [Pompeius].” Thereupon he said, “Of course, I don’t wish such things said [on the Senate floor].” “So I supposed,” said I, “but I must decline being present there, because I must either speak in this sense, and say many things which I could not possibly pass over, if present, or I must not come at all.” The upshot was that, by way of ending the discussion, he requested that I would think it over. I couldn’t say no to that. So we parted. I feel certain, therefore, that he has no love for me. But I felt warm satisfaction with myself, which hasn’t been the case for some time past. For the rest, good heavens! What a crew! What an inferno! to use your word. What a gang of bankrupts and desperadoes!…

Cicero: at Arpinum, to Atticus at Rome; 01 Apr -49 <http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=LatinAugust2012&getid=1&query=Cic.%20Att.%209.19>: ‘BEING debarred from Rome, I gave my son his toga virilis at Arpinum in preference to any other place, and my fellow townsmen were gratified at the compliment: though I observed everywhere that both they and others whom I passed in my journey were in low spirits and much dejected. So melancholy and shocking is the contemplation of this tremendous disaster…. Don’t imagine that there is a single scoundrel in Italy who is not to be found among them. I saw them en masse at Formiae. I never, by Hercules! believed them to be human beings, and I knew them all: but I had never seen them collected in one place. Let us go, then, whither we have resolved to go, and leave all that is ours behind us. Let us start to join him [Pompey], to whom our arrival will give greater satisfaction than if we had been together from the first. For at that time we were in the highest hopes, now I, at any rate, have none; nor has anyone except myself left Italy, unless he regarded Caesar as his personal enemy. Nor, by Hercules! do I do this for the sake of the Republic, which I regard as completely abolished: but to prevent anyone thinking me ungrateful to the man [Pompey], who relieved me from the miseries which he had himself inflicted upon me: and at the same time because I cannot endure the sight of what is happening, or of what is certain to happen…

Leave a comment