Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-07-18
THE DEATH OF CICERO.
"CoME, THEN, OLD SOLDIER, IF YOU
KNOW YOUR DUTY, AND STRIKE


QUICKLY"
From the Atlantic Monthly.
Yet there was no need to ascribe, as
some have done, to feminine influence
the fact that the objections of the youth
full Cesar were quickly overruled, and
the name of Marcus Tullius Cicero put
upon the fatal roll of the prescribed
The name of Quintus was also there,
and the two old brothers, all their differ
ences forgotten, were together at the
Tusculan Villa when the list of the
condemned appeared. 1t seemed worth
while making the attempt to escape by
sea and join Brutus in Macedonia, and
to this end the pair set forth down the
Alban hills, carried side by side in
two litters, and conversing earnestly
all the way. 1t appeared, however, be-
fore they reached the Campagna, that
they had not nearly money enough be-
tween them for the journey, and Quintus
took the risk of returning to Rome for
ample supplies. They did not linger
over their parting, nor need we. The
hired assassins of the triumvirs were al
ready at work in the city when Quintus
arrived; he fell at once into their hands,
and he and his son died bravely togeth-
er, fighting side by side.
Meanwhile our Cicero pushed on to
Astura, seeing once more, as in dream,
the spot where he had first clasped death
to his heart, when he paced its deep
shades beside the clinging ghost of Tul
liza. There he embarked, and coaSted
along as far as the Ciraan Cape, where,
the weather being very threatening, he
landed and slept. In the morning he
had half abandoned the voyage. He
even walked little way along the road
toward Rome, as though impatient to
meet his murderers and anticipate the
end. But his attendants, resolved, if
possible, on saving their beloved master,
persuaded him to re6mbark; and strug-
Cling still against contrary winds, they
rounded the point of Gaeta. F0rmi4
now lay before them exquisite Formi8
embraced by its guardian capes, one
of the sweetest of Cicero's Italian homes
But the December skies were dark above
the villa to-day, the Volscian peaks on
the horizon dim, and even the Tyrrhene
waves discOlored. Here, however, be-
ing faint with seasickness and spent
with fatigue, the reluctant fugitive
would absolutely land, and, fiinging
himself upon a couch under his own
roof once more, he sank into a heavy
slumber. From this he was presently
reused by his slaves, who, reporting
in agonized panic that soldiers were in
sight, hurried him almost by force into
litter, and plunged into the thickest of
the shrubbery between the villa and the |
sea. Halfway down the slope they en-
countered the troop, when Cicero, hear
ing the clang of arms, looked out, and |
ordered his men in loud, clear voice, |
to set down the litter, and offer no re-
sistance. Laying his left hand on his
chin, with an unconscious gesture very
common to him while speaking, he fixed |
his eye steadily for moment on the |
captain of the band, one Herennius,
whom he recognized and called by name |
"Come, then, old soldier, if you know |
your duty, and strike quickly" He i
stretched forth his emaciated neck, the
bystanders involuntary covered their
eyes, and the blow fell
The severed head was set up above |
the roStra, according to the barbarous
fashion not so long gone by, and Fulvia,
with half the wolf s milk curdled in
her veinS," drew out the tongue and |
pierced it with her bodkin, assailing the
dead man with such invectives as Ro-
man virago might compass. But the
tickle people of the streets, who had sat
so many times entranced under the music
of that lifeless tongue, lifted up their
voices when they saw the ghastly relic,
and wept without restraint.