And thus he was overpowered, and
acquitted Ligarius.
Henceforth, the commonwealth being changed into a monarchy, Cicero
withdrew himself from public affairs, and employed his leisure in
instructing those young men that wished, in philosophy; and by the
near intercourse he thus had with some of the noblest and highest
in rank, he again began to possess great influence in the city.
The work which he set himself to do was to compose and translate
philosophical dialogues and to render logical and physical terms
into the Roman idiom. For he it was, as it is said, who first or
principally gave Latin names to technical Greek terms, which,
either by metaphors or other means of accommodation, he succeeded
in making intelligible to the Romans. For his recreation, he
exercised his dexterity in poetry, and when he was set to it,
would make five hundred verses in a night. He spent the greatest
part of his time at his country-house near Tusculum.
He had a design, it is said, of writing the history of his
country, combining with it much of that of Greece, and
incorporating in it all the stories and legends of the past that
he had collected. But his purposes were interfered with by various
public and various private unhappy occurrences and misfortunes;
for most of which he was himself in fault.
Pages:
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313