Cicero

These complaints were characteristic of ambition, as well as the fact that he was often led on by the cleverness of his speech to disregard propriety. For instance, he once served as advocate for Munatius, who was no sooner acquitted than he prosecuted a friend of Cicero’s, Sabinus, whereupon, it is said, Cicero was so transported with anger as to say: Was it, pray, on your own merits, Munatius, that you were acquitted, and not because I spread much darkness about the court when before there was light?

And again, he gained great applause by an encomium on Marcus Crassus from the rostra, and then a few days afterwards as publicly reviled him, whereupon Crassus said: What, did you not stand there yourself a day or two ago and praise me? Yea, said Cicero, exercising my eloquence by way of practice on a bad subject.

Again, Crassus once said that no Crassus had lived in Rome to be older than sixty years, and then tried to deny it, exclaiming, What could have led me to say this? You knew, said Cicero, that the Romans would be delighted to hear it, and by that means you tried to court their favour. And when Crassus expressed his satisfaction with the Stoics because they represented the good man as rich, Consider, said Cicero, whether your satisfaction is not rather due to their declaration that all things belong to the wise.

Now, Crassus was accused of covetousness. Again, one of the sons of Crassus who was thought to resemble a certain Axius, and on this account had brought his mother’s name into scandalous connection with that of Axius, once made a successful speech in the senate, and when Cicero was asked what he thought of him, he answered with the Greek words Axios Krassou.[*](Worthy of Crassus.)