On the Shortness of Life, Section 5

Seneca — The Senator

Marcus Cicero was thrown around by enemies like Catiline and Clodius, and by allies like Pompey and Crassus who might betray him at any moment. He fought to save the failing republic and keep it from collapse. But when he was finally exiled — unable to stay quiet during good times or handle bad times with grace — how often must he have regretted that consulship he never stopped bragging about? In a letter to Atticus, after Pompey the father was defeated and his son was trying to rebuild his broken armies in Spain, Cicero's words are heartbreaking.

Seneca — The Senator Original

While tossed hither and thither by Catiline and Clodius, Pompeius and Crassus, by some open enemies and some doubtful friends, while he struggled with the struggling republic and kept it from going to ruin, when at last he was banished, being neither able to keep silence in prosperity nor to endure adversity with patience, how often must Marcus Cicero have cursed that consulship of his which he never ceased to praise, and which nevertheless deserved it? What piteous expressions he uses in a letter to Atticus when Pompeius the father had been defeated, and his son was recruiting his shattered forces in Spain?