New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-06-06
IN THE TIME OF CICERO.
n. DoIsSIER'S PICTURE OF A GREAT
SOCIAL EPOCH


IL there were more looks like this in the world
scholarship would be free of the reproach OF ieav
inS its ofiairs more less exclusively i'm the
hands OF wise men With sense of humor. No
one could impugn NJ Boissers learning, but no
one could accuse him, either. of having sacrificed
hi imagination to his scholarship. He has bal
arced the two from impulse of human SYM
PATTY. and the result is an invaluable picture OF
Cicero and his time In fact the book is much
the history Of epoch it is the biography OF a
Single man. NJ Boissier has chosen well the
friends whom he has grouped around the central
figure of mis- stacy. Att;cus unique. but Atti-
Gus was typical nevertheless being the fine flower
of Roman EpiCureansm in the century preceding
the Christian era and in CSelius our author has
laid his finger upon thoroughly characteristic
pelsorage. Caesar. Brutus and Octavius. who
complete his select company. also of pecu-
iariy illustrative significance. Thus NJ Boissier
carries his reader literally into the heart Of his
subject makes him acquainted with the person
alitics OF that remote age. and in so doing in
terprets it anew. His book first published in
1866. 1t should have been translated long ago.
But now that the work has been done at last ii
has been done well. Mr.. Jones has made a trans
lation which rcproduces the spirit. the animation
ard the force of the original. Altogether the APP
pearance of this volume is calculated to comIpand
serious attention. 1t will please old readers of
'Ciceron ct ses Amis.' revivng delightful memo
Nowhere else may full and impartial
portrait of Cicero be found NJ. Bosser points
out and very justly, that the astute politician
and enthusiastic man of letters had been judged
too often by the standards of the present day.
Mommsen has been the chief sinner in this
spect and he has had plenty of followers. Their
mistake Is not unnatural Cicero had many
points in common with our modern world of in
tellectual curiosity and fastidious self-seeking.
We do not doubt at all that in every great capt.
tai Of the world there statesmen whose lives
are controlled. consciously unconsciously. by
some at any rate. OF the principles which gov
erned M. Bossers famous Roman But a great
ethical gulf lies between Cicero and ourselves.
between his civilization and ours. and IL liz neces-
sary TO see him as his contemporaries saw him
TO grasp adequately the subteties of his charac-
ter. II was contemporary that NJ. Boissicr
analysed his hero. He studiousy avoided the
pitfalls of modern feeling and prejudice. In con-
sequence he gives n portrait OF Cicero that Is.
the whole more fiattering than will be found
elsewhere. We say more flattering. but we might
as well add more just" There is something
very persuasive and convincing about the indi-
vidual whom NJ. Boisser has realized tactfully.
and 1t is just here that the authors freedom
from the petrifying influences of conventional
scholarship is appreciated. He throws overheard
all the classical traditions and prepossessions.
Though Cicero lived by lights different from
own. though he must be viewed through another
perspective. he was. nevertheless. a man like our
selves. and he should be treated accordingly.
Hence We are made acquainted with the most
intimate side Of his nature, he is shown to us
not alone the less spectacular ac-
cuser Of Catiline. but the householder and
business man, the host and friend. In these
capacities he throws light. by implication, upon
bis public career. We learn for example, that
the political vacillation with which SO many
modern critics have found il easy to charge him.
was something closely identified with the whole
trend of his temperament and did spring
from purely sef-interested motives. pondered
with the craft OF a politician who was nothing
else. Cicero was much else. He loved his villas
he loved his friends: he had great feeling for
nature any more than had the majority OF his
contemporaries. but, at least he enjoyed the
quiet OF his rural retreats and in their solitude
with few friends about him he could wreak
himself upon his library. and find a bliss i'm the
occupation which might well have shaken his
devotion TO affairs OF the State The student
who has picked his way among the ruins of that
old Tusculan home above Frascati. which was
of Cceros most cherished haunts, can well
understand the wrench that 1t meant for him
to embark upon the stormy enterprises OF his
day. The mere patrician. anxious avoid pro- |
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