At Athens, he became a hearer of Antiochus of Ascalon, with whose
fluency and elegance of diction he was much taken, although he did
not approve of his innovations in doctrine. And Cicero made up his
mind that if he should be disappointed of any employment in the
commonwealth, to retire from pleading and politics, and pass his
life quietly in the study of philosophy.
But after he had received the news of Sylla's death, and his body,
strengthened again by exercise, had grown vigorous, and his voice
was rendered sweet and full to the ear, his friends at Rome
earnestly solicited him by letters to return to public affairs.
He, therefore, again prepared for use his orator's instrument of
rhetoric, and summoned into action his political faculties,
diligently exercising himself in declamations, and attending the
most celebrated rhetoricians of the time. He sailed from Athens
for Asia and Rhodes. Among the Asian masters, he conversed with
Xenocles of Adramyttium, Dionysius of Magnesia, and Menippus of
Caria; at Rhodes, he studied oratory with Apollonius, the son of
Molon, and philosophy with Posidonius. Apollonius, we are told,
not understanding Latin, requested Cicero to declaim in Greek. He
complied willingly, thinking that his faults would thus be better
pointed out to him.
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