Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/27

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Cicero entered on manhood in troublous The final defeat of the Cimbri in 101 B.C. and the disturbances at home which cost Saturninus his life in the next year had been followed by a period of comparative quiet. But the precious time had been wasted; the enfranchisement of the Italians had been vainly urged by the great tribune, Livius Drusus, who laid down his life in their cause, and now in the year 90 B.C., the seventeenth of Cicero's life, the obstinate apathy of Rome was rudely disturbed by the revolt of the Italian allies. In this war Cicero served his apprenticeship as a soldier. His references to personal recollections show that he was at one time with the northern army under Pompeius Strabo, and at another with the southern army under Sulla, This was in the second year of the war. During the year 90 he remained in Rome and we find in the Brutus a full account of the condition of things in the city and of his own way of life there. Cicero was eager to use his new emancipation from boyhood by listening to the speeches of the best orators of the time. But all ordinary business was interrupted by the war; Hortensius, the rising light of the bar, was away with the army; so was Sulpicius Rufus, the most distinguished among the men in middle life, and Antonius, the most famous orator of the seniors; Crassus, the great rival of Antonius, had died the year before. The