[47] Brutus, xci.

[48] The total correspondence contains 817 letters, of which 52 were
written to Cicero, 396 were written by Cicero to Atticus, and 369 by
Cicero to his friends in general. We have no letters from Atticus to
Cicero.

[49] Quintilian, lib.x., ca.1.

[50] Clemens of Alexandria, in his exhortation to the Gentiles, is
very severe upon the iniquities of these rites. "All evil be to him,"
he says, "who brought them into fashion, whether it was Dardanus, or
Eetion the Thracian, or Midas the Phrygian." The old story which he
repeats as to Ceres and Proserpine may have been true, but he was
altogether ignorant of the changes which the common-sense of centuries
had produced.

[51] De Legibus, lib.ii., c.xiv.




CHAPTER III.

THE CONDITION OF ROME.


It is far from my intention to write a history of Rome during the
Ciceronian period. Were I to attempt such a work, I should have to
include the doings of Sertorius in Spain, of Lucullus and Pompey in