dian family to acts of violence. Hence Pompey, apprehensive of an outbreak, placed, on the day of trial, strong bodies of troops in the forum and in the avenues which led to it. The whole city was in commotion, and the termination of the trial was awaited by the friends of good government with anxiety and fear, and by the adherents of the de ceased demagogue with ominous declarations and threats. An unusual scene was pre sented to Cicero as he rose to defend the accused. The interest excited and the danger impending would have furnished a less timorous man with inspiration; he would have grasped the opportunity of emphasizing the urgency of reaching a conclusion unin fluenced by threats and regardless of results. But Cicero seems to have been terrified by the demonstrations of the rabble; although it is said that he was partly reassured by the vast numbers of approving citizens who looked down upon him from the roofs and windows of neighboring houses. However, his agitation increased; his effort was un productive of effect, and his client was sen tenced to banishment. A splendid oration has come down to us as that pronounced by the advocate on this memorable occasion, composed, however, after the trial had taken place. This production is said to have evoked from the exiled Milo the famous ex clamation : " If Cicero had spoken thus, I should not now have been eating figs at Marseilles." Opinions may differ as to the result of Cicero's efforts under different cir cumstances, and under the direction of dif ferent motives; but, in our judgment, Milo would have eaten the figs at Rome or at his neighboring villa, had Cicero delivered his defence, not merely from a conviction of the innocence of his client, but in anticipation of liberal remuneration in the event of an ac quittal. It is refreshing to turn to an inci dent in the life of the great Lord Erskine. That remarkable advocate was asked by a
friend how he dared in his first argument, which was a brilliant success, to face Lord Mansfield upon a certain point when he was so clearly out of order. He replied : "I thought of my children as plucking me by the robe, and saying, ' Now, father, is the time to get us bread.'" We have hastily recounted some of the popular opinions upon the practices of mem bers of the legal profession; but there is another side to the subject, and we must be fair. A word is proper in recognition of the service of those who speak of the practising attorney in language which approaches en comium. These are brought into such close relations with their legal adviser as to appre ciate the difficulties peculiar to the profes sion he practises. They extol rather than defame; they sympathize with rather than condemn. They make due allowance for efforts which fail of success through events which cannot be controlled; they appreciate the difficulty of attempting the solution of problems which deal with every subject of human inquiry, from the trifling details of common life to the complex affairs of state; they learn the wisdom of not increasing their attorney's perplexity or of imposing new burdens upon him by officious interference and petulant remonstrance; and when they speak of him in his absence, as they some times do, they pay tender tributes to his character and life. Could he listen he would hear himself defended from the charge of negligence and indifference, of yielding to the government of caprice and of accom plishing his aims by artful means; he would hear himself extolled as one of enlarged views and clear understanding, ready with sympathy when required, sagacious in select ing the course to be pursued, and clever and careful in pursuing it; and, above all, en dowed with that nice discernment and in stinct which ever incite to subserve the ends of justice and to promote peace.
