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Arms and battles were to him abominable, as they are to us. But arms and battles were the delight of Romans. He was ridiculed in his own time, and has been ridiculed ever since, for the alliterating twang of the line in which he declared his feeling: "Cedant arma togæ; concedat laurea linguæ."
Deus Optimus maximus hominis votis atque alacritati faueat, initia secundet, successus fortunet, exitum foelicissimum concedat. Vale amice ac Domine singularis. Arusburgi ad Ossellam fluuium 20. Februarij 1581. Tuus quantus quantus sum Ioannes Balakus. The same in English.
Cf. in Pisonem 73 pacis est insigne et oti toga, contra autem arma tumultus atque belli; De Or. 3, 167 'togam', pro 'pace', 'arma', ac 'tela', pro 'bello'. We have the same contrast between arma and toga in Cicero's own much-derided verse, cedant arma togae, concedat laurea laudi, which is defended by him, in Pis. 73 and Off. 1, 77.
"Cedant arma togæ; concedat laurea linguæ," we can hear Cæsar say, with an irony expressed in no tone of his voice, but still vibrating to the core of his heart, as he thought so much of his own undoubted military supremacy, and absolutely nothing of his now undoubted literary excellence. But to go back a little; we shall find Cicero still waiting at Brundisium during August and September.
"Concedat laurea linguæ" had been the watchword of his life. "Let the ready tongue and the fertile brain be held in higher honor than the strong right arm." That had been the doctrine which he had practised successfully. To him it had been given to know that the lawyer's gown was raiment worthier of a man than the soldier's breastplate.
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