'The fault of the great author, whose letters to his friend you have been reading, is, that Tully is wholly concerned for the fame of Cicero; and that for fame and self-exaltation sake. In some of his orations, what is called his vehemence (but really is too often insult and ill manners) so transports him, that a modern pleader... would not be heard, if he were to take the like freedoms... Cicero's constitutional faults seem to be vanity and cowardice. Great geniuses seldom have small faults. You have seen, I presume, Dr Middleton's "Life of Cicero". It is a fine piece; but the Doctor, I humbly think, has played the panegyrist, in some places in it, rather than the historian. The present laureat's performance on the same subject, of which Dr Middleton's is the foundation, is a spirited and pretty piece... You greatly oblige me, Madam, whenever you give me your observations upon what you read'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Lady Bradshaigh
'The fault of the great author, whose letters to his friend you have been reading, is, that Tully is wholly concerned for the fame of Cicero; and that for fame and self-exaltation sake. In some of his orations, what is called his vehemence (but really is too often insult and ill manners) so transports him, that a modern pleader... would not be heard, if he were to take the like freedoms... Cicero's constitutional faults seem to be vanity and cowardice. Great geniuses seldom have small faults. You have seen, I presume, Dr Middleton's "Life of Cicero". It is a fine piece; but the Doctor, I humbly think, has played the panegyrist, in some places in it, rather than the historian. The present laureat's performance on the same subject, of which Dr Middleton's is the foundation, is a spirited and pretty piece... You greatly oblige me, Madam, whenever you give me your observations upon what you read'.
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Richardson Print: Book
'Begin Julius Florus and finish the little vol of Cicero.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Percy Bysshe Shelley Print: Book
To Miss Hunt Shirley, July 28, 1795
'I must tell you that I cannot help being quite reconciled to Cicero... If you have not yet met with it, only read, as a sample, the first book of his "Tuscular disputations", "de contemrenda morte", and I think you will agree with me, that with the addition of Christianity to confirm his supposition, and rectify a few mistakes in them, and the knowledge of the true state of the universe, no doctrine can be more perfect than his; and that half the modern books on the subject might have been spared, had the writers of them, before they began, read this dialogue.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Smith Print: Book
Letter to MIss Ewing September 21, 1778 'Were I not afraid of the imputation of pedantic affectation, I could make this clear by a learned quotation from M.T. Cicero?s fortieth oration.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Anne Grant [nee MacVicar] Print: Book
MS notes in all vol. other than I, XI and XVI. Some are copied from Macaulay's own copy of Cicero which he read between 1835-7: "transferred by me from his Bipontine edition [to] the outside margin of the Delpin"; "Macaulay's notes are marked with M". Sir George's dates of reading incude: 1899; 1903; "June 18 1904 Chamonix"; "Nov 17 1909 Rome A heavy day of rain & the break up of our long spell of fine weather"; "Wallington Oct 12 1916"; "Christmas Day 1918 Welcombe"; 1919; "June 21 1921 Wallington"; 1923. Sir George responds to Macaulay's comments: "I understand my uncle's feelings about it in India, and his reservations twenty years afterwards." V.3: "On the whole I agree with Macaulay about the comparative value of the Third Book [...]". Vol. 12 draws historical parallels: "It is strange to read these letters. Cicer's cruel anxiety about the course to be taken [...] were like out anxieties about America, the Balkans, and the Scandinavian States. Then, as now, the whole civilised world was in question" [written in 1915].
Century: 1850-1899 / 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: George Otto Trevelyan Print: Book
