Anthony Trollope to GHL, Glasgow, 1 June 1865
Title
Anthony Trollope to GHL, Glasgow, 1 June 1865
Title
Anthony Trollope to GHL, Glasgow, 1 June 1865
Sender
Anthony Trollope
Recipient
George Henry Lewes
Date(s)
- 1865-06-01
Place
Glasgow
Letter Content
Anthony Trollope to GHL, Glasgow, 1 June 1865
MS: Yale. Published: The Letters of Anthony Trollope, ed. B. A. Booth, 1951, pp. 166-167.
Waltham House, | Waltham Cross.
Glasgow | June 1. 1865.
My dear Lewes.
Beesly's paper on Catiline is admirable. It is written by a man leaning on his pen with delight, which leaning always gives a life to the work. But he writes too much like an advocate with a side to defend, to be perfectly convincing. I still believe that Cicero was more of a patriot than Catiline. That both were false and both cruel is to be assumed, -- for they were Romans of that false and cruel time that began with Sulla and ended when there was no longer spirit enough in Rome either for falsehood or cruelty. That Cicero was constitutionally a coward, -- though he knew how to die, -- and Catiline a man of nerve was little to the credit or discredit of either, -- as little as having strong arms or long legs. Had Beesly been more historic and less enthusiastic he would have told us that Cicero, who was so loud against Verres was at any rate honest in his own province, -- (a very rare virtue) and that he sought nothing from his countrymen at home beyond the objects of a fierce ambition, and was therefore entitled to deal heavily with a demagogue.
That he did, -- is as I have said a matter of course because he was a Roman; and equally a matter of course that he did successfully, because he was gifted with the use of words. I however, am myself so given to rebellion in politics that I am delighted to see and hear any Catiline defended, and any Cicero attacked.
I am glad you have no difficulty about the chronique.
Yours ever
A. T.
Tom immersed in a lawsuit with a Russian -- (in Florence!) which is like to keep him there all the summer, -- as to the sale or non sale of his house!!!
MS: Yale. Published: The Letters of Anthony Trollope, ed. B. A. Booth, 1951, pp. 166-167.
Waltham House, | Waltham Cross.
Glasgow | June 1. 1865.
My dear Lewes.
Beesly's paper on Catiline is admirable. It is written by a man leaning on his pen with delight, which leaning always gives a life to the work. But he writes too much like an advocate with a side to defend, to be perfectly convincing. I still believe that Cicero was more of a patriot than Catiline. That both were false and both cruel is to be assumed, -- for they were Romans of that false and cruel time that began with Sulla and ended when there was no longer spirit enough in Rome either for falsehood or cruelty. That Cicero was constitutionally a coward, -- though he knew how to die, -- and Catiline a man of nerve was little to the credit or discredit of either, -- as little as having strong arms or long legs. Had Beesly been more historic and less enthusiastic he would have told us that Cicero, who was so loud against Verres was at any rate honest in his own province, -- (a very rare virtue) and that he sought nothing from his countrymen at home beyond the objects of a fierce ambition, and was therefore entitled to deal heavily with a demagogue.
That he did, -- is as I have said a matter of course because he was a Roman; and equally a matter of course that he did successfully, because he was gifted with the use of words. I however, am myself so given to rebellion in politics that I am delighted to see and hear any Catiline defended, and any Cicero attacked.
I am glad you have no difficulty about the chronique.
Yours ever
A. T.
Tom immersed in a lawsuit with a Russian -- (in Florence!) which is like to keep him there all the summer, -- as to the sale or non sale of his house!!!
Signature
A. T.
Citation
Anthony Trollope, Anthony Trollope to GHL, Glasgow, 1 June 1865, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/91705