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Life of Cicero by Anthony Trollope

A >> Anthony Trollope >> Life of Cicero




* * * * *

"Seeing, therefore, that this war cannot be neglected; that its
importance demands the utmost care in its administration; that it
requires a general in whom should be found sure military science,
manifest valor, conspicuous authority, and pre-eminent good
fortune--do you doubt, Quirites, but that you should use the great
blessing which the gods have given you for the preservation and glory
of the Republic?"

* * * * *

On reading, however, the piece over again, I almost doubt whether
there be any passages in it which should be selected as superior to
others.


Notes:

[1] "Civile;" when Sulla, with Pompey under him, was fighting with
young Marius and Cinna.

[2] "Africanum;" when he had fought with Domitius, the son-in-law of
Cinua, and with Hiarbas.

[3] "Transalpinum;" during his march through Gaul into Spain.

[4] "Hispaniense;" in which he conquered Sertorins.

[5] "Servile;" the war with Spartacus, with the slaves and gladiators.

[6] "Navale Bellum;" the war with the pirates.




APPENDIX E.


(See page 268.)


_LUCAN, LIBER I._

"O male concordes, nimiaque cupidine caeci,
Quid miscere juvat vires orbemque tenere
In medio."

"Temporis angusti mansit concordia discors,
Paxque fuit non sponte ducum. Nam sola futuri
Crassus erat belli medius mora. Qualiter undas
Qui secat, et geminum gracilis mare separat isthmos,
Nec patitur conferre fretum; si terra recedat,
Ionium Aegaeo frangat mare. Sic, ubi saeva
Arma ducum dirimens, miserando funere Crassus
Assyrias latio maculavit sanguine Carras."

"Dividitur ferro regnum; populique potentis,
Quae mare, quae terras, quae totum possidet orbem,
Non cepit fortuna duos."

"Tu nova ne veteres obscurent acta triumphos,
Et victis cedat piratica laurea Gallis,
Magne, times; te jam series, ususque laborum
Erigit, impatiensque loci fortuna secundi.
Nec quemquam jam ferre _potest_ Caesarve priorem,
Pompeiusve parem, Quis juspius induit arma,
Seire nefas; magno se judice quisque tuesur,
Victrix causa deis placuit sed victa, Catoni.[1]
Nec coiere pares; alter vergentibus annis
In senium, longoque togae tranquilhor usu
Dedidicit jam paee ducem, famaeque petitor
Multa dar in vulgas, totus popularibus auris
Impelli, plausuque sui gaudere theatri;
Nec reparare novas vires, multumque priori
Credere fortunae, Stat magni nominis umbra."

"Sed non in Caesare tantum
Nomen erat, nec fama ducis, sed nescia virtus
Stare loco; solusque pudor non vincere bello.
Acer et indomitus; quo spes, quoque ira vocasset,
Ferre manum, et nunquam te merando parcere ferro;
Successus urgere suos; instare favori Numinis"--Lucan, lib.i.


Note:

[1] For the full understanding of this oft-quoted line the reader
should make himself acquainted with Cato's march across Libya after
the death of Pompey, as told by Lucan in his 9th book.

* * * * *

"O men so ill-fitted to agree, O men blind with greed, of what service
can it be that you should join your powers, and possess the world
between you?"

"For a short time the ill-sorted compact lasted, and there was a peace
which each of them abhorred. Crassus alone stood between the others,
hindering for a while the coming war--as an isthmus separates two
waters and forbids sea to meet sea. If the morsel of land gives way,
the Ionian waves and the Aegean dash themselves in foam against each
other. So was it with the arms of the two chiefs when Crassus fell,
and drenched the Assyrian Carrae with Roman blood."

"Then the possession of the Empire was put to the arbitration of the
sword. The fortunes of a people which possessed sea and earth and the
whole world, were not sufficient for two men."

"You, Magnus, you, Pompeius, fear lest newer deeds than yours should
make dull your old triumphs, and the scattering of the pirates should
be as nothing to the conquering of Gaul. The practice of many wars has
so exalted you, O Caesar, that you cannot put up with a second place.
Caesar will endure no superior; but Pompey will have no equal. Whose
cause was the better the poet dares not inquire! Each will have his
own advocate in history. On the side of the conqueror the gods ranged
themselves. Cato has chosen to follow the conquered.

"But surely the men were not equal. The one in declining years, who
had already changed his arms for the garb of peace, had unlearned the
general in the statesman--had become wont to talk to the people,
to devote himself to harangues, and to love the applause of his own
theatre. He has not cared to renew his strength, trusting to his old
fortune. There remains of him but the shadow of his great name."

"The name of Caesar does not loom so large; nor is his character as a
general so high. But there is a spirt which can content itself with
no achievements; there is but one feeling of shame--that of not
conquering; a man determined, not to be controlled, taking his arms
wherever lust of conquest or anger may call him; a man never sparing
the sword, creating all things from his own good-fortune trusting
always the favors of the gods."

END OF VOLUME I.

Poetry Workshop creature features

For many years my local corner shop displayed a large sign in its window telling local residents to "use us or lose us!" It always looked a rather toothless threat to me. After all, if I didn't use them, what difference would it make to me if they weren't there? And surely a corner shop, one that had been there for years, would have enough customers to survive without recourse to such apocalyptic warning? But it didn't and was soon converted into flats.

This community shop was destroyed not so much by the pressures of the supermarkets or people's commuting patterns, but simply by customer apathy. It's something to think about as crime writers and readers across the world mourn the imminent passing of Maxim Jakubowski's celebrated Charing Cross Road bookshop in London, Murder One.

Apathy is a strange word to connect to a bookstore that thrives on passion. It's noticeable when you walk through the door, when you speak to the friendly, knowledgeable staff, when you look at the shelves and see the vast range of titles on offer. This isn't your regular kind of bookstore: the first time I visited spent a whole lunch break looking up and down, from floor to ceiling from table to table; it was an hour that changed my perception of both crime writing and of bookselling.

Murder One was – and for a few weeks will remain – a shop that took crime seriously. Not in the sense that it intellectualised it, or made unsubstantiated claims for its importance, but in the way that it treated crime writing with the respect it was due. With a genre that has so many off-shoots, branches and sub-genres, it took a shop of Murder One's calibre to show just how diverse, interesting and mentally stimulating crime could be – far more than the guilty pleasure I had, until then, considered it.

Thanks to judicious recommendations, enticing table displays and hours of foraging among the stacks, I discovered writers that I would never have picked up, let alone read. You could always get the latest blockbuster, but delve a little deeper and you'd find books that were not stocked anywhere else, novels that, like the perfect crime, were hidden from public view. The Martin Beck novels by Sjöwall & Wahlöö – probably my favourite sequence of novels in any genre – were introduced to me via Murder One, as were Kem Nunn, Sue Grafton, and Henning Mankell. It's also the staff of Murder One who piqued my interest in the inimitable Fred Vargas, and I can't thank them enough for the introduction.

Inclusive and without snobbery, Murder One amply demonstrated that the best bookshops are places not just of commerce, but of community; places that make feel you belong. It's the kind of store that bibliophiles dream about: well-stocked, well-staffed and shabby enough to lose days browsing within. It's just unfortunate that such shops don't have enough paying customers to keep them afloat, or that these customers visit all too infrequently – something of which I'm certainly guilty.

These kinds of shops are facing a long, bloody battle – and one which, without significant reinforcements, they are likely to lose. As we hear of the travesty of another brilliant independent going down, we'll mourn the loss, wring our hands and damn Amazon and the supermarkets and Waterstone's. Yet perhaps the most important detail we'll probably keep under wraps: the last time we actually spent any money there.

Murder One closing its doors for the final time is undoubtedly a .38 shell for independent bookshops, but whether it's body blow or a warning shot all depends upon us, the consumers. No one, no matter how iconic or established, can exist on fond memories alone: just ask Woolworths. Use these shops now, because it doesn't take a master sleuth to deduce what will happen if we don't.

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