flowed the freedom of its cities, without the recommendation of merit, upon perfons of little confideration, and those who had either no employment at all, or very mean ones, is it to be imagined that the inhabitants of Rhegium, Locris, Naples, or Tarentum, would deny to a man fo highly celebrated for his genius, what they conferred even upon comedians When others, not only after Silanus's law, but even after the Papian law, fhall have found means to creep into the regiiters of the municipal cities, fhall he be rejected, who, becaufe he was always defrous of paffing for an Heraclean, never availed himfelf of his being enrolled in other cities? But you defire to fee the enrolment of our ellate; as if it were not well known, that under the last cenforfhip the defendant was with the army commanded by that renowned general L. Lu. culus; that under the conforthip immediately preceding, he was with the fame Lucullus then quator in Afia; and that, when Julius and Craffus were cenfors, the:e was no enrolment made? But, as an enrolment in the cenfors books does not confirm the right of citizenship, and only fhews that the perfon enrolled affumed the character of a citizen, I must tell you that Archias made a will according to our laws, fucceeded to the cftates of Roman citizens, and was recommended to the treafury by L. Lucullus, both when prætor and conful, as one who deferved well of the ftate, at the very time when you alledge that, by his own confeflion, he had no right to the freedom of Rome.

Find out whatever arguments you can, Archias will never be convicted for his own conduct, nor that of his friends. But you'll no doubt afk the reason, Gracchus, of my being fo highly delighted with this man? Why, it is becaufe he furnishes me with what relieves my mind, and charms my ears, after the fatigue and noife of the forum. Do you imagine that I could poffibly plead every day on fuch a variety of fubjects, if my mind was not cultivated with fcience; or that it could bear being ftretched to fuch a degree, if it were not fometimes unbent by the amusements of learning. I am fond of thefe ftudies, I Own: let thofe be ashamed who have bu ried themselves in learning fo as to be of no ufe to fociety, nor able to produce any thing to public view; but why fhould I be afhamed, who for fo many years, my lords, have never been prevented by in

dolence, feduced by pleasure, nor diverted by fleep, from doing good offices to others? Who then can cenfuie me, or in julice be angry with me, if thofe hours which others employ in bufinefs, in p'eafures, in celebrating public folemnities, in refreshing the body and unbending the mind; if the time which is fpent by fome in midnight banquetings, in diverfions, and in gaming,

employ in reviewing thefe ftudies? And this application is the more excufable, as I derive no finall advantages from it in my profeffion, in which, whatever abilities I poffefs, they have always been employed when the dangers of my friends cailed for their affiftance. If they thould appear to any to be but fmall, there are fill other advantages of a much higher nature, and I am very fenfible whence I derive them. For had not been convinced from my youth, by much inftruction and much study, that nothing is greatly defirable in life but glory and virtue, and that, in the puriuit of thefe, all bodily tortures, and the perils of death and exile, are to be flighted and defpifed, never fhould I have expofed my-, felf to fo many and fo great conficts for your prefervation, nor to the daily rage and violence of the moft worthlefs of men. But on this head books are full, the voice of the wife is full, antiquity is full; all which, were it not for the lamp of leaning, would be involved in thick obfcurity. How many pictures of the bravelt of men have the Greek and Latin writers left us, not only to contemplate, but likewife to imitate? Thefe illuftrious models I always fet before me in the government of the ftate, and formed my conduct by contemplating their virtues.

But were thofe great men, it will he afked, who are celebrated in hiftory, diflin- . guifhed for that kind of learning, which you extol fo highly? It were difficult, indeed, to prove this of them all; bat what I fhall answer is, however, very certain. I own, then, that there have been many men of excellent difpofitions and diftinguished virtue, who, without learning, and by the almost divine force of nature herself, have been wife and moderate; nay, farther, that nature without learning is of greater efficacy towards the attainment of glory and virtue, than learning without nature; but then, I affirm, that when to an excellent natural difpofition the embellishments of learning are added, there refults from this union fomething great and extraordinary. Such was that divine

of its monarchs; under him, the Romans, with no very confiderable force, routed the numberlefs troops of the Armenians; under his conduct too, Rome has the glory of delivering Cyzicum, the city of our faithful allies, from the rage of a monarch, and refcuing it from the devouring jaws of a mighty war. The praifes of our fleet fhall ever be recorded and celebrated, for the wonders performed at Tenedos, where the enemy's fhips were funk, and their commanders flain: fuch are our trophies, fuch our monuments, fuch our triumphs. Thofe, therefore, whofe genius defcribes thefe exploits, celebrate likewife the praifes of the Roman name. Our Ennius was greatly beloved by the elder Africanus, and accordingly he is thought to have a marble ftatue amongst the monuments of the Scipio's. But thofe praifes are not appropriated to the immediate fubjects of them; the whole Roman people have a fhare in them. Cato, the ancestor of the judge here prefent, is highly celebrated for his virtues, and from this the Romans themselves derive great honour in a word, the Maximi, the Marcelli, the Fulvii, cannot be praised without praising every Roman.

were equal to his fortune, confer the freedom of Rome, in the prefence of a military affembly, upon Theophanes of Mitylene, who fung his triumphs? And thefe Romans of ours, men brave indeed, but unpolished and mere foldiers, moved with the charms of glory, gave fhouts of applaufe, as if they had fhared in the honour of their leader. Is it to be fuppofed then, that Archias, if our laws had not made him a citizen of Rome, could not have obtained his freedom from fome general? Would Sylla, who conferred the rights of citizenship on Gauls and Spaniards, have refufed the fuit of Archias? That Sylla, whom we faw in an affembly, when a bad poet, of obfcure birth, prefented him a petition upon the merit of having written. an epigram in his praife of unequal hobbling verfes, order him to be inftantly rewarded out of an eftate he was felling at the time, on condition he should write no more verfes. Would he, who even thought the induftry of a bad poet worthy of fome reward, not have been fond of the genius, the fpirit, and eloquence of Archias? Could our poet, neither by his own intereft, nor that of the Luculli, have obtained from his intimate friend Q. Metellus Pius the freedom of Rome, which he beftowed fo frequently upon others? Efpecially as Metellus was fo very defirous of having his actions celebrated, that he was even fomewhat pleafed with the dull and barbarous verfes of the poets born at Corduba.

Did our ancestors then confer the freedom of Rome on him who fung the praifes of her heroes, on a native of Rudia; and fhall we thrust this Heraclean out of Rome, who has been courted by many cities, and whom our laws have made a Roman? For if any one imagines that lefs glory is derived from the Greek, than from the Latin poet, he is greatly mistaken; the Greek language is understood in almost every nation, whereas the Latin is confined to Latin territories, territories extremely narrow. If our exploits, therefore, have reached the utmost limits of the earth, we ought to be defirous that our glory and fame should extend as far as our arms; for as these operate powerfully on the people whofe actions are recorded; fo to those who expose their lives for the fake of glory, they are the grand motives to toils and dangers. How many perfons is Alexander the Great reported to have carried along with him, to write his hiftory! And yet, when he stood by the tomb of Achilles at Sigæum, "Happy youth," he cried, "who could find a Homer to blazon thy fame!" And what he faid was true; for had it not been for the Iliad, his athes and fame had been buried in the fame tomb. Did not Pompey the Great, whofe virtues

Nor ought we to diffemble this truth, which cannot be concealed, but declare it openly we are all influenced by the love of praife, and the greatest minds have the greateft paffion for glory. The philofophers themselves prefix their names to thofe books which they write upon the contempt of glory; by which they fhew that they are defirous of praife and fame, while they affect to defpife them. Decimus Brutus, that great commander and excellent man, adorned the monuments of his family, and the gates of his temples, with the verfes of his intimate friend Attius and Fulvius, who made war with the Etolians attended by Ennius, did not feruple to confecrate the fpoils of Mars to the Mufes. In that city, therefore, where generals, with their arms almoft in their hands, have reverenced the shrines of the mufes and the name of poets, furely magiftrates in their robes, and in times of peace, ought not to be averfe to honour

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ing the one, or protecting the other. And to engage you the more readily to this, my lords, I will lay open the very fentiments of my heart before you, and freely confefs my paffion for glory, which, though too keen, perhaps, is however virtuous. For what I did in conjunction with you during my confulfhip, for the fafety of this city and empire, for the lives of my fellowcitizens, and for the interefts of the state, Archias intends to celebrate in verfe, and has actually begun his poem. Upon reading what he has wrore, it appeared to me fo fublime, and gave me fo much pleafure, that I encouraged him to go on with it. For virtue defires no other reward for her toils and dangers, but praife and glory: take but this away, my lords, and what is there left in this thort, this feanty career of human life, that can tempt us to engage in fo many and fo great labours? Surely, if the mind had no thought of futurity, if the confined all her views within thofe limits which bound our prefent exiftence, he would neither waite her ftrength in fo great toils, nor harais herfelf with to many cares and watchings, nor fruggle fo often for life itself: but there is a certin principle in the breaft of every good man, which both day and night quickens him to the purfuit of glory, and puts him in mind that his fame is not to be meafured by the extent of his prefent life, but that it runs parallel with the line of pofterity.

Can we, who are engaged in the affairs of the fate, and in fo many toils and dangers, think fo meanly as to imagine that, after a life of uninterrupted care and trouble, nothing fhall remain of us after death? If many of the greateft men have been. careful to leave their ftatues and pictures, thefe reprefentations not of their minds but of their bodies; ought not we to be much more defirous of leaving the portraits of our enterprizes and virtues drawn and finished by the most eminent artists? As for me, I have always imagined, whilst I was engaged in doing whatever I have done, that I was spreading my actions over the whole earth, and that they would be held in eternal remembrance. But whether I fhall lofe my confciousness of this at death, or whether, as the wifeft men have thought, I fhall retain it after, at prefent the thought delights me, and my mind is filled with pleafing hopes. Do not then deprive us, my lords, of a man, whom modelty, a graceful manner, engag

ing behaviour, and the affections of his friends, fo ftrongly recommended; the greatness of whofe genius may be eftimated from this, that he is courted by the moft eminent men of Rome; and whofe plea is fuch, that it has the law in its favour, the authority of a municipal town, the tellimony of Lucullus, and the register of Metellus. This being the cafe, we beg of you, my lords, fince in matters of fuch importance, not only the interceffion of men but of gods is neceffary, that the man, who has always celebrated your vir tues, thofe of your generals, and the viciories of the Roman people; who declares that he will raife eternal monuments to your praife and mine for our conduct in our late domeftic dangers; and who is of the number of thofe that have ever been accounted and pronounced divine, may be fo protected by you, as to have greater reafon to applaud your generofity, than to complain of your rigour. What I have faid, my lords, concerning this caufe, with my ufual brevity and fimplicity, is, I am confident, approved by all: what I have advanced upon poetry in general, and the genius of the defendant, contrary to the ufage of the forum and the bar, will, I hope, be taken in good part by you; by him who prefides upon the bench, I am convinced it will.

This beautiful oration was made in the 55th year of Cicero's age, upon the following occafion. In the year of Rome 701, T. Annius Milo, Q Metellus Scipio, and P. Plautius Hypfæus, ftood candidates for the confulfhip; and, according to Plutarch, pushed on their feveral interests with fuch open violence and bribery, as if it had been to be carried only by money or arms. P. Clodius, Milo's profefied enemy, ftood at the fame time for the prætorfhip, and ufed all his intereft to difappoint Milo, by whofe obtaining the confulfhip he was fure to be controuled in the exercise of his magiftracy. The fenate and the better fort were generally in Milo's intereft; and Cicero, in particular, ferved him with diftinguished zeal: three of the tribunes were violent against him, the other feven were

his fast friends; above all M. Cœlius, who, out of regard to Cicero, was very active in his fervice. But whilt matters were proceeding in a very favourable train for him, and nothing feemed wanting to crown his fucceis, but to bring on the election, which his adverfaries, for that reafon, endeavoured to keep back; all his hopes and fortunes were blafted at once by an unhappy rencounter with Clodius, in which Clodius was killed by his fervants, and by his command. His body was left in the Appian road, where it fell, but was taken up foon after by Tedius, a fenator, who happened to come by, and brought to Rome; where it was expofed, all covered with blood and wounds, to the view of the populace, who flocked about in crowds to lament the miferable fate of their leader. The next day, Sextus Clodius, a kinfman of the decealed, and one of his chief incendiaries, together with the three tribunes, Mi o's enemies, employed all the arts of party and faction to inflame the mob, which they did to fuch a height of fury, that, fnatching up the body, they ran away with it into the fenate-houfe, and tearing up the benches, tables, and every thing combustible, drefied up a funeral pile upon the fpot; and, together with the body, burnt the house itself, with a bafilica or public hall adjoining. Several other outrages were committed, fo that the fenate were obliged to país a decrce, that the inter-rex, affifled by the tribunes and Pompey, fhould take care that the republic received no detriment; and that Pompey, in particular, fhould raise a body of troops for the common fecurity, which he prefently drew together from all parts of Italy. Amidit this confufion, the rumour of a dictator being induftrioufly fpread, and alarming the fenate, they refolved prefently to create Pompey the fingle conful, whofe election was accordingly declared by the inter-rex, after an inter-regnum of near two months. Pompey applied himself immediately to quiet the public diforders, and published feveral new laws, prepared by him for that purpofe; one of them was, to appoint a special commiffion to enquire into Clodius's death, &c. and to appoint

an extraordinary judge, of confulat rank, to prefide in it. He attended Milo's trial himfelf with a strong guari, to preferve peace. The ac-. cufers were young Appius, the nephew of Clodius, M. Antonius, and P. Valerius. Cicero was the only advocate on Milo's fide; but as foon as he rofe up to speak, he was received with fo rude a clamour by the Clodians, that he was much difcompofed and daunted at his first fetting out: he recovered fpirit enough, however, to go through his fpeech, which was taken down in writing, and published as it was delivered; though the copy of it now extant, is fuppofed to have been retouched, and corrected by him afterwards, for a prefent to Milo. who was condemned, and went into exile zt Marfeilles, a few days after his condemnation.

THOUGH I am apprehenfive, my lords, it may feem a reflection on a perfon's character to difcover any figns of fear, when he is entering on the defence of fo brave a man, and particularly unbecoming in me, that when T. Annius Milo himfelf is more concerned for the fafety of the ftate than his own, I fhould not be able to maintain an equal greatness of mind in pleading his caufe; yet 1 muft own, the unusual manner in which this new kind of trial is conducted, ftrikes me with a kind of terror, while I am looking around me, in vain, for the ancient ufages of the forum, and the forms that have been hitherto obferved in our courts of judicature. Your bench is not furrounded with the ufual circle; nor is the crowd such as uled to throng us. For thofe guards you fee planted before all the temples, however intended to prevent all violence, yet strike the orator with terror; fo that even in the forum and during a trial, though attended with an ufeful and neceflary guard, I cannot help being under fome apprehenfions, at the fame time I am fenfible they are without foundation. Indeed, if I imagined it was ftationed there in oppofition to Milo, I fhould give way, my lords, to the times; and conclude there was no room for an orator in the midst of fuch an armed force. But the prudence of Pompey, a man of fuch diftinguished wifdom and equity, both chears and relieves me; whofe juftice will never fufler him to leave a perfon expofed to the rage of the foldiery,

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