Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/21

Rh Italy was perhaps more than compensated for the lack of ancestral connection with the city of Rome, by the keen interest which his fellow-townsmen and neighbours took in his political career, by their pride and delight in his exploits, and by their anxiety for the reputation which reflected credit on their native place. In this respect the country-towns were in strong contrast with the civic and suburban districts, such as that of Tusculum, which were surfeited with famous and noble families and were careless about their local worthies. "This is our way," says Cicero, pleading the cause of a client from his own Volscian district, "and this is the way of our native towns. Why need I speak of my brother and myself? The very fields, if I may say so, and the mountains were partisans in our elections. Do you ever hear a Tusculan boasting of the great Marcus Cato, foremost though he was in every virtue, or of Coruncanius his fellow-townsman, or of all the famous men who have borne the name of Fulvius? No one ever says a word about them. But if you are in company with any burgess of Arpinum, you will probably have to listen, however little you may like the topic, to something about me and my brother: most certainly you will not get off without some reference to Caius Marius." "Our boroughs," he proceeds, "lay great stress on the duties of neighbourship. In what I say about Plancius I am founding on what I experienced in my own case, for we are close neighbours of the Atinates. Most