which was unanimously accepted, recognising the prerogative of the Senate but guarding against its abuse. Nevertheless when he went out of office he was put on his trial for riot and Cicero appeared as his counsel. His speech, now unhappily lost, is adduced by Quintilian[1] as the great example of the power of fervid eloquence. "In defending Cornelius Cicero wields arms which are not only potent but flash resplendent. If he had contented himself with instructing the jury on the merits of the case, and speaking sensibly and clearly and in good Latin, he would never have brought the Roman people, as he did, to utter their enthusiasm not by cheers alone but by clapping of the hands. It was because he was lofty and majestic and splendid and overpowering that he wrung that applause from them . . . I fancy that those who heard him were transported, and cheered because they must, not because they chose; like men beside themselves who had lost consciousness of where they stood, they burst forth into those expressions of delight."
Cicero's reputation as an advocate was now so great that, "his doors," as Plutarch tells, "were thronged with clients, no less than those of Crassus and Pompey who were then the most famous persons in Rome, the one for his wealth the other for his military renown." He adds that "Pompey courted Cicero, and the support of Cicero contributed much to Pompey's power and reputation."
This influence was at first exercised only indirectly, for Cicero never addressed the people, nor, so far as
- ↑ Quintilian, Inst. Orat., viii., 3, 3.
