there has never been a doubt. Plutarch, however, does not make it out
to have been very great, assuming a sum which was equal to about L4200
of our money. He tells us at the same time that Cicero's own fortune
was less than L4000. But in both of these statements, Plutarch, who
was forced to take his facts where he could get them, and was not very
particular in his authority, probably erred. The early education of
Cicero, and the care taken to provide him with all that money could
purchase, is, I think, conclusive of his father's wealth; and the mode
of life adopted by Cicero shows that at no period did he think it
necessary to live as men do live with small incomes.

We shall find, as we go on, that he spent his money freely, as men did
at Rome who had the command of large means. We are aware that he was
often in debt. We find that from his letters. But he owed money not as
a needy man does, but as one who is speculative, sanguine, and quite
confident of his own resources. The management of incomes was not so
fixed a thing then as it is with us now. Speculation was even more
rampant, and rising men were willing and were able to become indebted
for enormous sums, having no security to offer but the promise of
their future career. Caesar's debts during various times of his life
were proverbial. He is said to have owed over L300,000 before he
reached his first step in the public employment. Cicero rushed into no
such danger as this. We know, indeed, that when the time came to him
for public expenditure on a great scale, as, for instance, when he was
filling the office of Aedile, he kept within bounds, and he did not
lavish money which he did not possess. We know also that he refrained,
altogether refrained, from the iniquitous habits of making large
fortunes which were open to the great politicians of the Republic. To
be Quaestor that he might be Aedile, Aedile that he might be Praetor
and Consul, and Praetor and Consul that he might rob a province--pillage