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Contents

Preface
Introduction to the National Electrical Code®
Brief History of the National Electrical Code®
About the 2017 National Electrical Code®

90. Introduction

Chapter 1 _______________________________________
100. Definitions
110. Requirements for Electrical Installations

Chapter 2 _______________________________________
200. Use and Identification of Grounded Conductors
210. Branch Circuits
215. Feeders
220. Branch-Circuit, Feeder, and Service Load Calculations
225. Outside Branch Circuits and Feeders
230. Services
240. Overcurrent Protection
250. Grounding and Bonding
280. Surge Arresters, Over 1 kV
285. Surge-Protective Devices, 1 kV or Less

Chapter 3 _______________________________________
300. General Requirements for Wiring Methods and Materials
310. Conductors for General Wiring
312. Cabinets, Cutout Boxes, and Meter Socket Enclosures
314. Outlet, Device, Pull, and Junction Boxes; Conduit Bodies; Fittings; and Handhole Enclosures
320. Armored Cable: Type AC
322. Flat Cable Assemblies: Type FC
324. Flat Conductor Cable: Type FCC
326. Integrated Gas Spacer Cable: Type IGS
328. Medium-Voltage Cable: Type MV
330. Metal- Clad Cable: Type MC
332. Mineral- Insulated, Metal- Sheathed Cable: Type MI
334. Nonmetallic- Sheathed Cable: Types NM, NMC, and NMS
336. Power and Control Tray Cable: Type TC
338. Service- Entrance Cable: Types SE and USE
340. Underground Feeder and Branch- Circuit Cable: Type UF
342. Intermediate Metal Conduit: Type IMC
344. Rigid Metal Conduit: Type RMC
348. Flexible Metal Conduit: Type FMC
350. Liquidtight Flexible Metal Conduit: Type LFMC
352. Rigid Polyvinyl Chloride Conduit: Type PVC
353. High-Density Polyethylene Conduit: Type HDPE Conduit
354. Nonmetallic Underground Conduit With Conductors: Type NUCC
355. Reinforced Thermosetting Resin Conduit: Type RTRC
356. Liquidtight Flexible Nonmetallic Conduit: Type LFNC
358. Electrical Metallic Tubing: Type EMT
360. Flexible Metallic Tubing: Type FMT
362. Electrical Nonmetallic Tubing: Type ENT
366. Auxiliary Gutters
368. Busways
370. Cablebus
372. Cellular Concrete Floor Raceways
374. Cellular Metal Floor Raceways
376. Metal Wireways
378. Nonmetallic Wireways
380. Multioutlet Assembly
382. Nonmetallic Extensions
384. Strut- Type Channel Raceway
386. Surface Metal Raceways
388. Surface Nonmetallic Raceways
390. Underfloor Raceways
392. Cable Trays
393. Low-Voltage Suspended Ceiling Power Distribution Systems
394. Concealed Knob- and- Tube Wiring
396. Messenger- Supported Wiring
398. Open Wiring on Insulators
399. Outdoor Overhead Conductors over 600 Volts

Chapter 4 _______________________________________
400. Flexible Cords and Flexible Cables
402. Fixture Wires
404. Switches
406. Receptacles, Cord Connectors, and Attachment Plugs (Caps)
408. Switchboards and Panelboards
409. Industrial Control Panels
410. Luminaires, Lampholders, and Lamps
411. Low-Voltage Lighting
422. Appliances
424. Fixed Electric Space- Heating Equipment
425. Fixed Resistance and Electrode Industrial Process Heating Equipment
426. Fixed Outdoor Electric Deicing and Snow- Melting Equipment
427. Fixed Electric Heating Equipment for Pipelines and Vessels
430. Motors, Motor Circuits, and Controllers
440. Air- Conditioning and Refrigerating Equipment
445. Generators
450. Transformers and Transformer Vaults (Including Secondary Ties)
455. Phase Converters
460. Capacitors
470. Resistors and Reactors
480. Storage Batteries
490. Equipment over 1000 Volts, Nominal

Chapter 5 _______________________________________
500. Hazardous (Classified) Locations, Classes I, II, and III, Divisions 1 and 2
501. Class I Locations
502. Class II Locations
503. Class III Locations
504. Intrinsically Safe Systems
505. Zone 0, 1, and 2 Locations
506. Zone 20, 21, 22 Locations for Combustible Dusts or Ignitible Fibers/Flyings
510. Hazardous (Classified) Locations—Specific
511. Commercial Garages, Repair and Storage
513. Aircraft Hangars
514. Motor Fuel Dispensing Facilities
515. Bulk Storage Plants
516. Spray Application, Dipping, Coating, and Printing Processes Using Flammable or Combustible
Materials
517. Health Care Facilities
518. Assembly Occupancies
520. Theaters, Audience Areas of Motion Picture and Television Studios, Performance Areas, and
Similar Locations
522. Control Systems for Permanent Amusement Attractions
525. Carnivals, Circuses, Fairs, and Similar Events
530. Motion Picture and Television Studios and Similar Locations
540. Motion Picture Projection Rooms
545. Manufactured Buildings
547. Agricultural Buildings
550. Mobile Homes, Manufactured Homes, and Mobile Home Parks
551. Recreational Vehicles and Recreational Vehicle Parks
552. Park Trailers
553. Floating Buildings
555. Marinas, Boatyards, and Commercial and Noncommercial Docking Facilities
590. Temporary Installations

Chapter 6 _______________________________________
600. Electric Signs and Outline Lighting
604. Manufactured Wiring Systems
605. Office Furnishings
610. Cranes and Hoists
620. Elevators, Dumbwaiters, Escalators, Moving Walks, Platform Lifts, and Stairway Chair Lifts
625. Electrical Vehicle Charging Systems
626. Electrified Truck Parking Spaces
630. Electric Welders
640. Audio Signal Processing, Amplification, and Reproduction Equipment
645. Information Technology Equipment
646. Modular Data Centers
647. Sensitive Electronic Equipment
650. Pipe Organs
660. X-Ray Equipment
665. Induction and Dielectric Heating Equipment
668. Electrolytic Cells
669. Electroplating
670. Industrial Machinery
675. Electrically Driven or Controlled Irrigation Machines
680. Swimming Pools, Fountains, and Similar Installations
682. Natural and Artificially Made Bodies of Water
685. Integrated Electrical Systems
690. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Systems
691. Large-Scale Photovoltaic (PV) Electric Power Production Facility
692. Fuel Cell Systems
694. Wind Electric Systems
695. Fire Pumps

Chapter 7 _______________________________________
700. Emergency Systems
701. Legally Required Standby Systems
702. Optional Standby Systems
705. Interconnected Electric Power Production Sources
706. Energy Storage Systems
708. Critical Operations Power Systems (COPS)
710. Stand-Alone Systems
712. Direct Current Microgrids
720. Circuits and Equipment Operating at Less Than 50 Volts
725. Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 Remote-Control, Signaling, and Power-Limited Circuits
727. Instrumentation Tray Cable: Type ITC
728. Fire-Resistive Cable Systems
750. Energy Management Systems
760. Fire Alarm Systems
770. Optical Fiber Cables and Raceways

Chapter 8 _______________________________________
800. Communications Circuits
810. Radio and Television Equipment
820. Community Antenna Television and Radio Distribution Systems
830. Network-Powered Broadband Communications Systems
840. Premises-Powered Broadband Communications Systems

Chapter 9 _______________________________________
Tables
Informative Annex A. Product Safety Standards
Informative Annex B. Application Information for Ampacity Calculation
Informative Annex C. Conduit and Tubing Fill Tables for Conductors and Fixture Wires of the Same
Size
Informative Annex D. Examples
Informative Annex E. Types of Construction
Informative Annex F. Availability and Reliability for Operations Power Systems; and Development
and Implementation of Functional Performance Tests (FPTS) for Critical
Operations Power Systems
Informative Annex G. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
Informative Annex H. Administration and Enforcement
Informative Annex I. Recommended Tightening Torque Tables from UL Standard 486A-B
Informative Annex J. ADA Standards for Accessible Design

Index
About the Authors

Frederic P. Hartwell is a working electrician, is President of Hartwell Electrical Services, Inc., and
has been certified by the International Association of Electrical Inspectors as a Certified Master
Electrical Inspector. He is the senior member of NEC® CMP 9. He is coauthor of McGraw-Hill’s
American Electricians’ Handbook, 16th Edition.
Joseph F. McPartland McGraw-Hill’s National Electrical Code® Handbook, 25th Edition.
Brian J. McPartland ® McGraw-Hill’s National Electrical Code® Handbook, 25th Edition.
Preface

The 29th edition of McGraw-Hill’s National Electrical Code® Handbook has been thoroughly
revised to reflect the changes given in the 2017 National Electrical Code . This is a reference
book of commentary, discussion, and analysis on the most commonly encountered rules of the 2017
National Electrical Code . Designed to be used in conjunction with the 2017 NE Code book
published by the National Fire Protection Association, this Handbook presents thousands of
illustrations—diagrams and photos—to supplement the detailed text in explaining and clarifying
NEC regulations. Description of the background and rationale for specific Code rules is aimed at
affording a broader, deeper, and readily developed understanding of the meaning and application of
those rules. The style of presentation is conversational and intended to facilitate a quick, practical
grasp of the ideas and concepts that are couched in the necessarily terse, stiff, quasi-legal language of
the NEC document itself.
This Handbook follows the order of “articles” as presented in the NE Code book, starting with
“Article 90” and proceeding through the various “Informative Annexes.” The Code rules are
referenced by “section” numbers (e.g., “250.138. Cord- and Plug-Connected Equipment”). This
format ensures quick and easy correlation between NEC sections and the discussions and
explanations of the rules involved. This companion reference to the NEC book expands on the rules
and presents common interpretations that have been put on the many difficult and controversial Code
requirements. A user of this Handbook should refer to the NEC book for the precise wording of a
rule and then refer to the corresponding section number in this Handbook for a practical evaluation of
the details.
Because many NEC rules do not present difficulty in understanding or interpretation, not all
sections are referenced. But the vast majority of sections are covered, especially all sections that
have proved troublesome or controversial. And particular emphasis is given to changes and additions
that have been made in Code rules over recent editions of the NEC. Although this new edition,
McGraw-Hill’s National Electrical Code® 2017 Handbook, does not contain the complete wording
of the NE Code book, it does contain much greater analysis and interpretation than any other so-called
Handbook contains.
Today, the universal importance of the NE Code has been established by the federal government
(OSHA and other safety-related departments), by state and local inspection agencies, and by all kinds
of private companies and organizations. In addition, national, state, and local licensing or
certification as an electrical contractor, master electrician, or electrical inspector will require a firm
and confident knowledge of the NEC. With requirements for certification or licensing now mandated
in nearly every jurisdiction across the country, the need for Code competence is indispensable. To
meet the great need for information on the NEC, McGraw-Hill has been publishing a handbook on
the National Electrical Code since 1932. Originally developed by Arthur L. Abbott in that year,
the Handbook has been carried on in successive editions for each revision of the National
Electrical Code .
One final point—words such as “workmanlike” are taken directly from the Code and are intended
in a purely generic sense. Their use is in no way meant to deny the role women already play in the
electrical industries or their importance to the field.
Frederic P. Hartwell
Joseph F. McPartland
Brian J. McPartland
Introduction to the National Electrical Code®

McGraw-Hill’s National Electrical Code® 2017 Handbook is based on the 2017 edition of the
National Electrical Code as developed by the National Electrical Code Committee of the
American National Standards Institute (ANSI), sponsored by the National Fire Protection
Association® (NFPA®). The National Electrical Code is identified by the designation NFPA No.
70-2017. The NFPA adopted the 2017 Code at the NFPA Technical Meeting held in June, 2016.
The National Electrical Code , as its name implies, is a nationally accepted guide to the safe
installation of electrical wiring and equipment. The committee sponsoring its development includes
all parties of interest having technical competence in the field, working together with the sole
objective of safeguarding the public in its utilization of electricity. The procedures under which the
Code is prepared provide for the orderly introduction of new developments and improvements in the
art, with particular emphasis on safety from the standpoint of its end use. The rules of procedure
under which the National Electrical Code Committee operates are published in each official
edition of the Code and in separate pamphlet form so that all concerned may have full information and
free access to the operating procedures of the sponsoring committee. The Code has been a big factor
in the growth and wide acceptance of the use of electrical energy for light and power and for heat,
radio, television, signaling, and other purposes from the date of its first appearance (1897) to the
present.
The National Electrical Code is primarily designed for use by trained electrical people and
is necessarily terse in its wording.
The sponsoring National Electrical Code Committee is composed of a Technical Correlating
Committee and 19 Code-making panels, each responsible for one or more Articles in the Code. Each
panel is composed of experienced individuals representing balanced interests of all segments of the
industry and the public concerned with the subject matter. In an effort to promote clarity and
consistency of field interpretations of NEC passages, the National Electrical Code Style
Manual was completely rewritten in 1999, with the current version effective in 2015. All Code-
making panels have been asked to review their articles for usability and editorial conformity to this
publication, and copies are available from the NFPA, Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269.
The National Fire Protection Association also has organized an Electrical Section to provide the
opportunity for NFPA members interested in electrical safety to become better informed and to
contribute to the development of NFPA electrical standards. This new Handbook reflects the fact
that the National Electrical Code was revised for the 2017 edition, requiring an updating of the
previous Handbook, which was based on the 2014 edition of the Code. The established schedule of
the National Electrical Code Committee contemplates a new edition of the National
Electrical Code every 3 years. Provision is made under the rules of procedure for handling urgent
emergency matters through a Tentative Interim Amendment Procedure. The Committee also has
established rules for rendering Formal (sometimes called Official) Interpretations. Two general
forms of findings for such Interpretations are recognized: (1) those making an interpretation of literal
text and (2) those making an interpretation of the intent of the National Electrical Code when a
particular rule was adopted. All Tentative Interim Amendments and Formal Interpretations are
published by the NFPA as they are issued, and notices are sent to all interested trade papers in the
electrical industry.
The National Electrical Code is purely advisory as far as the National Fire Protection
Association is concerned but is very widely used as the basis of law and for legal regulatory
purposes. The Code is administered by various local inspection agencies, whose decisions govern
the actual application of the National Electrical Code to individual installations. Local
inspectors are largely members of the International Association of Electrical Inspectors, 901
Waterfall Way, Suite 602, Richardson, TX 75080-7702. This organization, the National Electrical
Manufacturers Association, the National Electrical Contractors Association, the Edison Electric
Institute, the Underwriters’ Laboratories Inc., the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
governmental groups, and independent experts all contribute to the development and application of
the National Electrical Code .
Brief History of the National Electrical Code®

The National Electrical Code was originally drawn in 1897 as a result of the united efforts of
various insurance, electrical, architectural, and allied interests. The original Code was prepared by
the National Conference on Standard Electrical Rules, composed of delegates from various interested
national associations. Prior to this, acting on an 1881 resolution of the National Association of Fire
Engineers’ meeting in Richmond, Virginia, a basis for the first Code was suggested to cover such
items as identification of the white wire, the use of single disconnect devices, and the use of insulated
conduit.
In 1911, the National Conference of Standard Electrical Rules was disbanded, and since that year,
the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has acted as sponsor of the National
Electrical Code . Beginning with the 1920 edition, the National Electrical Code has been
under the further auspices of the American National Standards Institute (and its predecessor
organizations, United States of America Standards Institute, and the American Standards
Association), with the NFPA continuing in its role as Administrative Sponsor. Since that date, the
Committee has been identified as “ANSI Standards Committee C1” (formerly “USAS C1” or “ASA
C1”).
Major milestones in the continued updating of successive issues of the National Electrical
Code since 1911 appeared in 1923, when the Code was rearranged and rewritten; in 1937, when it
was editorially revised so that all the general rules would appear in the first chapters followed by
supplementary rules in the following chapters; and in 1959, when it was editorially revised to
incorporate a new numbering system under which each Section of each Article is identified by the
Article Number preceding the Section Number. The 1937 edition also included an introduction for the
first time, and many of its most important provisions survive, almost verbatim, in Art. 90 today. That
article number, together with much of what is familiar about the Code today, began with the 1959
organizational changes.
In addition to an extensive revision, the 1975 NEC was the first Code to be dated for the year
following its actual release. That is, although it was released in September of 1974, instead of being
called the 1974 Code—as was done for the 1971 and all previous editions of the NEC—this Code
was identified as the 1975 Code. That’s the reason there appears to be 4 years, instead of the usual 3,
between the 1971 and 1975 editions. The purpose was to have the named code year agree with the
effective dates of adoption in, at least, the early adopting jurisdictions.
Due to the proliferation of premises-owned medium-voltage systems, the 1999 Code notably
moved those requirements out of the old Art. 710 and into Chapters 1 through 4. The 2005 NEC
made a notable reorganization of almost all of Chapter 3, resulting in new article numbers for almost
every wiring method.
 The 2017 edition of the NEC continues to modernize in response to developments in the usage of
electric power, with five new articles unveiled. Industrial process heating equipment covered in Art.
425 applies to fixed resistance and electrode heating, but only in industrial occupancies. Article 691
covers solar farms with a generating capacity of at least 5000 kW. Article 706 centralizes the
requirements applicable to the burgeoning field of on-site electrical storage, including new
technologies such as flow batteries. Article 710 will be a central repository for stand-alone system
provisions that formerly repeated themselves in other articles, especially Art. 690. Finally, Art. 712
on DC Microgrids will be of use where multiple on-site dc sources such as solar or wind or fuel
cells supply functional dc power for utilization.
For many years the National Electrical Code was published by the National Board of Fire
Underwriters (now American Insurance Association), and this public service of the National Board
helped immensely in bringing about the wide public acceptance that the Code now enjoys. It is
recognized as the most widely adopted Code of standard practices in the U.S.A. The National Fire
Protection Association first printed the document in pamphlet form in 1951 and has, since that year,
supplied the Code for distribution to the public through its own office and through the American
National Standards Institute. The National Electrical Code also appears in the National Fire
Codes, issued annually by the National Fire Protection Association.
About the 2017 National Electrical Code®

The trend for very large numbers of proposals for changes and adopted changes in successive
editions of the NEC has not reversed itself. The 2017 NEC is based on 4012 public inputs and
1513 public comments that have resulted in literally hundreds of additions, deletions, and other
modifications—both minor and major. There are completely new articles covering equipment and
applications not previously covered by the Code. There are also new regulations and radical changes
in old regulations that affect the widest possible range of everyday electrical design considerations
and installation details.
The process of development of the 2017 NEC makes it a watershed edition as NFPA looks to
an electronic future in terms of standards development. The process has been transformed into one
that is largely based on internet transactions. Instead of the former “proposals,” suggestions for NEC
changes are now styled as “public inputs” (or, if developed at a panel meeting, as “panel inputs”).
Paper submittals are still permitted, but the deadline for submittal is significantly shorter than for the
preferred electronic submittals. The panels still meet in an open session to consider the inputs, and a
two-thirds vote on a subsequent ballot (now submitted electronically) is still required to advance a
change in the NEC. The result (after the customary Correlating Committee review) is a “First Draft
Report” instead of the former “Report on Proposals.” A customary comment period then opens, and
as previously, the panels meet again to consider them prior to issuance of a “Second Draft Report”
instead of the former “Report on Comments.” This documentation represents the principal source of
information relative to the motivation for changes in the Code. This book contains literally thousands
of explanations for how Code sections are intended to be applied, and in the vast majority of cases,
those explanations were developed from the first and second draft reports, or their predecessors in
prior cycles.
The change of title for the reports is of no consequence, but the format is. Both draft reports, as
well as all submitted inputs, comments, and related documentation, are only available for review
online. NFPA does not make these reports available for download, so even printing them out as a
collected report (single inputs and actions can be downloaded) from one’s computer is not possible.
They can be worked only from an active on-line connection. Another procedural issue relates to the
expanded use of task groups prior to the panel meetings under the new process. All public inputs and
comments received initial evaluation by appointed task groups comprised of subsets of the panel
membership, which met online and through conference telephone calls prior to the meetings. The task
groups were not balanced by interest categories, and their reports lacked transparency and frequently
had a disproportionate influence on the final results. In general, the task group process was popular
because it significantly reduced the workload during the meetings, but has proved problematic in
terms of the quality of the final product.
Even the input submittal process is a work in progress. The software is plainly not yet up to the
task. The submittals must be formulated using legislative text with changes underlined and deletions
struck out, but frequently the software would underline additional text that was unaffected by the
input. As a result, many submitters had to resort to explaining in plain English in the substantiation
field exactly what they were intending to change in the text field. The software was also problematic
for the panel process, presenting such annoyances as not allowing for carriage returns in a ballot
comment. This resulted in carefully crafted, properly punctuated voting comments being posted as a
single run-on paragraph, and in addition legislative or other formatting options were unavailable as
well. The software also imposed restraints on the length of comments, which meant some were
relegated to separate Microsoft Word documents almost impossible for the public to find. In many
instances the software carried errors that were difficult to detect in the ballot process due to the
presentation, and then into print. Because they, technically, were balloted, a TIA will be required to
correct them. The new Art. 425 is a case in point, with no fewer than six missed paragraph divisions
spread throughout the article, each having substantive impact and in one case making an entire section
unusable. This author awaits future improvements in this process.
Everyone involved in the layout, selection, estimation, specification, inspection, as well as
installation, maintenance, replacement, etc., of electrical systems and equipment must make every
effort to become as thoroughly versed in and completely familiar with the intimate details related to
the individual change as is possible. And, this must be done as soon as possible.
Clearly, compliance with the NEC is more important than ever, as evidenced by the skyrocketing
numbers of suits filed against electrical designers and installers. In addition, inspectors everywhere
are more knowledgeable and competent and they are exercising more rigorous enforcement and
generally tightening control over the performance of electrical work. Another factor is the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Design Safety Standards for Electrical Systems.
That standard, which borrowed heavily from the rules and regulations given in the NEC, is federal
law and applies to all places of employment in general industry occupancies. Although the OSHA
Design Safety Standards for Electrical Systems is based heavily on the NEC, due to the relatively
dynamic nature of the NEC, there will eventually be discrepancies. But, for those instances where a
more recent edition of the Code permits something that is prohibited by the OSHA standard, OSHA
officials have indicated that such an infraction—although still an infraction—will be viewed as what
OSHA refers to as a “de minimus violation,” which essentially boils down to no fine. Of course that
is not always the case. “Listing” and “labeling” of products by third-party testing facilities is always
permitted but frequently not required by the NEC, but it is made mandatory in most places of
employment by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Design Safety Standards
for Electrical Systems. The OSHA requirement for certification may take precedence over the less
stringent position of the NEC regarding listing of equipment. The impact of the NEC—even on
OSHA regulations, which are federal law—is a great indicator of the Code’s far reaching effect.
The fact that the application of electrical energy for light, power, control, signaling, and voice/data
communication, as well as for computer processing and computerized process-control continues to
grow at a breakneck pace also demands greater attention to the Code. As the electrical percentage of
the construction dollar continues upward, the high-profile and very visible nature of electrical usage
demand closer, more penetrating concern for safety in electrical design and installation. In today’s
sealed buildings, with the entire interior environment dependent on the electrical supply, reliability
and continuity of operation has become critical. Those realities demand not only a concern for
eliminating shock and fire hazards, but also a concern for continuity of supply, which is essential for
the safety of people, and, in today’s business and industry, to protect data and processes, as well.
And, of course, one critical factor that, perhaps, emphasizes the importance of Code-expertise
more than anything else is the extremely competitive nature of construction and modernization
projects, today. The restricted market and the overwhelming pressure to economize have caused some
to employ extreme methods to achieve those ends without full attention to safety. The Code represents
an effective, commendable, and, in many instances, legally binding standard that must be satisfied,
which acts as a barrier to any compromises with basic electrical safety. It is a democratically
developed consensus standard that the electrical industry has determined to be the essential
foundation for safe electrical design and installation; and compliance with the NEC will dictate a
minimum dollar value for any project.
In this Handbook, the discussion delves into the letter and intent of Code rules. Read and study the
material carefully. Talk it over with your associates; engage in as much discussion as possible. In
particular, check out any questions or problems with your local inspection authorities. It is true that
only time and discussion provide final answers on how some of the rules are to be interpreted. But
now is the time to start. Do not delay. Use this Handbook to begin a regular, continuous, and
enthusiastic program of updating yourself on this big new Code.
This Handbook’s illustrated analysis of the 2017 NEC is most effectively used by having your
copy of the new Code book at hand and referring to each section as it is discussed. The commentary
given here is intended to supplement and clarify the actual wording of the Code rules as given in the
Code book itself.
Introduction

ARTICLE 90. INTRODUCTION

90.1. Purpose
(A). Practical Safeguarding. The intent of this section is to establish a clear and definite
relationship between the National Electrical Code® and electrical system design as well as field
installation. Basically stated, the NEC is intended only to assure that electrical systems installed in
commercial, industrial, institutional, and residential occupancies are safe. That is, to provide a
system that is “essentially free from hazard.” The Code (throughout this manual, the words “Code,”
“NE Code,” and “NEC®” refer to the National Electrical Code ) sets forth requirements,
recommendations, and suggestions and constitutes a minimum standard for the framework of electrical
design. As stated in its own introduction, the Code is concerned with the “practical safeguarding of
persons and property from hazards arising from the use of electricity” for light, heat, power,
computers, networks, control, signaling, and other purposes.
The NEC is recognized as a legal criterion of safe electrical design and installation. It is used in
court litigation and by insurance companies as a basis for insuring buildings. The Code is an
important instrument for safe electrical system design and installations. It must be thoroughly
understood by all electrical designers and installers. They must be familiar with all sections of the
Code and should know the latest accepted interpretations that have been rendered by inspection
authorities and how they impact the design and/or installation of electrical systems. They should keep
abreast of Formal Interpretations, as well as the issues addressed by Tentative Interim Amendments
(TIA) that are issued, periodically, by the NEC committees. They should know the intent of Code
requirements (i.e., the spirit as well as the letter of each provision) and be familiar with the safety
issue at the heart of the matter. And, most important, they should keep a copy of the NEC and this
Code handbook close by for ready reference and repeated study.
The NEC is not written for nor intended to be used by untrained individuals. Qualified
electricians and engineers spend many years reviewing and thinking about its provisions. It should be
noted that the language in Article 90, although considerably embellished over the years, has changed
little substantively over the years since this sort of introduction was first presented in the 1937
edition.
(B). Adequacy. It’s worth noting that compliance with the provisions of the National
Electrical Code can effectively minimize fire and accident hazards in any electrical system. A
code-compliant installation will be “essentially free from hazard,” but not absolutely so. This
provision is essentially unchanged since the 1937 edition, and has stood the test of time. Many
installations with substantial code violations exist for protracted periods of time without loss
experience through good fortune and the fact that protective systems frequently overlap. On the other
hand, occasionally a fully compliant installation can fail, usually due to an unforeseen circumstance.
Perfect safety is only achievable at infinite cost. Every three years the National Electrical Code
Committee wrestles with the concept of “essentially free” as it considers proposed changes to the
next edition.
Although the Code assures minimum safety provisions, actual design work must constantly
consider safety as required by special types or conditions of electrical application. For example,
effective provision of automatic protective devices and selection of control equipment for particular
applications involve engineering knowledge above routine adherence to Code requirements. Then,
too, designers and installers must know the physical characteristics—application advantages and
limitations—of the many materials they use for enclosing, supporting, insulating, isolating, and, in
general, protecting electrical equipment. The task of safe application based on skill and experience is
particularly important in hazardous locations. Safety is not automatically made a characteristic of a
system by simply observing codes. Safety must be designed into a system.
In addition to safety considerations, the need for future expansion and other common sense aspects
—such as voltage drop—must be considered and factored into the overall system design. The Code in
this section makes it clear that more than Code compliance will be necessary to ensure a system that
is not only safe but also functional and capable of providing for future needs, without compromising
system-operating continuity or integrity. It is up to the designer and installer, in consultation with the
owner, to provide adequate capacity, selectivity, isolation, and protection beyond its minimum
requirements in order to achieve the desired system characteristics. Remember, it is always
permissible to do more than the Code requires, but never permissible to do less than the Code-
prescribed minimum.
Addressing voltage drop illustrates these principles. No definite standards have been adopted for
the maximum allowable voltage drop in most instances. There is a good reason for this. In most cases,
voltage drop is an inefficiency or inconvenience, but it does not rise to the level of a safety hazard.
For example, a motor run at 10 percent voltage drop, but with appropriate running overload
protection, will have a greatly reduced life span, but not create a shock, fire, or electrocution hazard.
The National Electrical Code does note, however, in a nonmandatory explanatory note, that if
the voltage drop from the point of service entrance to the final outlet does not exceed 5 percent, there
will be “reasonable efficiency of operation.” The note also explains that not more than 3 percent
voltage drop should occur in the feeder system ahead of the branch-circuit supply points, which
leaves the other 2 percent for the branch circuit. In the end, the extent to which voltage drop in an
electrical system is to be tolerated is the owner’s decision, because the NEC does not mandate
design flexibility.
There are some instances, however, where voltage drop does directly bear on safety and the
NEC contains mandatory rules accordingly. For example, if the conductors to a fire pump are not
sized to prevent the voltage drop while starting (i.e., while under locked-rotor conditions) from
exceeding 15 percent, measured at the controller terminals, the control contactor for the motor may
chatter and not reliably hold in, resulting in a failure to start with disastrous consequences.
(C). Relation to Other International Standards. This section simply states that the
National Electrical Code addresses the same safety issues addressed by the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standard for “Electrical Installations of Buildings.” Because the
NEC covers the same consideration for safety as related to protection against electrical shock,
protection against thermal effects, protection against overcurrent, protection against fault current,
protection against overvoltage, faults between circuits, and so forth that are covered by the IEC
Standard, it was considered necessary to establish that fact. This statement in this section facilitates
the adoption of the Code by foreign countries and is consistent with the ongoing process of
harmonizing the NEC and other accepted standards from around the world.
90.2. Scope
(A). Simply stated, the Code applies to all electrical work—indoors and outdoors—other than
that work excluded by the rules of part (B) in this section. Installation of conductors and equipment,
anywhere on the load-side of the point of connection to the serving utility, must comply with the
provisions given in the NEC. As of the 2017 NEC, the words “and removal” are added after
“installation” to reflect that some NEC rules require wiring to be removed. For example, 590.3(D)
requires removal of temporary wiring upon the completion of its function, and numerous limited
energy provisions, such as 800.25, require accessible portions of abandoned wiring to be removed.
The scope of the NEC includes the installation of optical fiber cable, part (A). As part of the
high-technology revolution in industrial and commercial building operations, the use of light pulses
transmitted along optical fiber cables has become an alternative method to electric pulses on metal
conductors for data, voice, and video networks, as well as for control and signaling. Although the
technology of fiber optics has grown dramatically over recent years, it is still primarily used as a
“trunk line” or “backbone” for high-speed networks, while horizontal distribution is generally
accomplished via a twisted-pair or coaxial copper medium. Although coaxial cable can handle high
rates of data transmission involved in data processing and computer control of machines and
processes, optical fiber cables far outperform metallic conductors—even coaxial cable—when it
comes to bandwidth as well as cost of materials. (See Fig. 90-1.) NEC Art. 770, “Optical Fiber
Cables,” covers the installation and use of fiber-optic cables.
Fig. 90-1. The NEC covers the technology of fiber optics for communication and data transmission.

Part (A)(1) provides a laundry-list of specific indoor installations that must be in compliance with
the applicable requirements given in the Code. Note that this section makes clear that the NEC also
applies to “floating buildings” because the safety of Code compliance is required for all places
where people are present. Coverage of floating buildings is contained in NEC Art. 553.
Part (A)(2) identifies specific outdoor installations, including carnivals and industrial substations,
while part (A)(3) mandates that supply equipment and conductors—whether supplied from a utility as
a service or from on-site generators as a separately derived system—as well as all other outside
equipment and conductors must satisfy the rules and regulations of the NEC. Use of the word
“equipment” in parts (A)(2) and (A)(3) makes clear that the NEC applies to electrical circuits,
systems, and components in their manner of installation as well as use.
The following discussion and the discussion in 90.2(B)(5) are very closely related and often hotly
debated. Information has been provided from both sides of the discussions as well as the commentary
from the Code-making panels (CMPs) where available. The purpose is to allow each designer and
installer to make his or her own judgment with regard to how these matters will be resolved based on
a full understanding of both sides of the arguments.
Although generally exempt from compliance with the NEC, according to 90.2(A)(4) certain
utility-owned or -operated occupancies must be wired per the NEC. The wording in this section
along with the companion rule of 90.2(B)(5) is intended to identify those utility electrical
installations that are subject to the rules of the NEC and those that are not. Basically stated, any
utility occupancy that is not an “integral part” of a “generating plant, substation, or control center”
must comply with the NEC in all respects. Clearly, any office space, storage area, garage,
warehouse, or other nonpower-generating area of a building or structure is not an “integral part” of
the generation, transmission, or distribution of electrical energy and therefore is covered by the
NEC.
There has been discussion and disagreement over the meaning of the phrase, “not an integral part
of a generating plant … etc.” Some feel that the phrase “not an integral part of” applies to the process
of generation, and so forth. Others believe that it applies to the building. That is, if an occupancy
identified in 90.2(B)(4) is part of a generating plant, it is exempt from compliance with the NEC.
Although that doesn’t seem to make sense, past comments made by the CMP indicate that it is the
intent of this rule to exempt, say, office spaces within a generating plant. However, this is not
completely clear from the wording used. To prevent any problem with this section, one could choose
to interpret this rule to require NEC compliance for any occupancy that is “not an integral part of the
process” and wire such spaces in accordance with the NEC. Such interpretation cannot be disputed.
That is, satisfying the more rigorous NEC requirements cannot be construed as a violation. But, if
one does not comply, the potential for legal liability exists.
Some may feel that the term integral part should be interpreted to mean “integral part of the
process” (i.e., generation, transformation, or distribution of electric energy), according to
commentary in the NEC Committee Reports for the 1987 NEC. Others feel that it should be taken to
mean an “integral part” of the building or structure. Be aware that the first contention seems more
reasonable. That is, just because an office is in a generating plant, it shouldn’t be exempt from the
NEC, especially since these areas will be occupied by the general public. And it seems logical that
the same should apply to the cafeteria, bathrooms, and other areas within the plant that are not directly
related to the task of generating and delivering electrical energy and will be occupied by other than
qualified plant electrical personnel.
With that said, it should be noted that the wording here could be read both ways and it will be up
to the local authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) to interpret what is and what is not required to comply
with the NEC.
It should be noted that equipment installed by the utility to perform associated functions, such as
outdoor lighting at an outdoor substation, is intended to be considered as an “integral” part to the
process and is therefore exempt from compliance with the NEC (Figs. 90-2 and 90-3).
Fig. 90-2. Circuits and equipment of any utility company are exempt from the rule of the NEC
when the particular installation is part of the utility’s system for transmitting and distributing power to
the utility’s customers—provided that such an installation is accessible only to the utility’s personnel
and access is denied to others. Outdoor, fenced-in utility-controlled substations, transformer mat
installations, utility pad-mount enclosures, and equipment isolated by elevation are typical utility
areas to which the NEC does not apply. The same is also true of indoor, locked transformer vaults,
or electric rooms (Sec. 90.2). But electrical equipment, circuits, and systems that are involved in
supplying lighting, heating, motors, signals, communications, and other load devices that serve the
needs of personnel in buildings or on premises owned (or leased) and operated by a utility are
subject to NEC rules, just like any other commercial or industrial building, provided that the
buildings or areas are not integral parts of a generating plant or substation.

Fig. 90-3. Those buildings and structures that are directly related to the generation, transmission, or
distribution of energy are intended to be excluded from compliance with the NEC. However, the
rules covering this matter also indicate that functionally associated electrical equipment—such as the
outdoor lighting for the utility-owned and -operated outdoor substation—is also exempt from the
NEC.

(B). Not Covered. The rules of the Code do not apply to the electrical work described in
(1) through (5). The most common controversy that arises concerns exclusion of electrical work done
by electric utilities (power companies), especially outdoor lighting.
This rule emphatically explains that not all electrical systems and equipment belonging to utilities
are exempt from Code compliance. Electrical circuits and equipment in buildings or on premises that
are used exclusively for the “generation, control, transformation, transmission, energy storage, or
distribution of electric energy” are considered as being safe because of the competence of the utility
engineers and electricians who design and install such work. Code rules do not apply to such circuits
and equipment—nor to any “communication” or “metering” installations of an electric utility. But, any
conventional electrical systems for power, lighting, heating, and other applications within buildings
or on structures belonging to utilities must comply with Code rules where such places are not “used
exclusively by utilities” for the supply of electric power to the utilities’ customers.
An example of the kind of utility-owned electrical circuits and equipment covered by Code rules
would be the electrical installations in, say, an office building of the utility. But, in the Technical
Committee Report for the 1987 NEC, the Code panel for Art. 90 stated that it is not the intent of this
rule to have NEC regulations apply to “office buildings, warehouses, and so forth that are an
integral part of a utility-generating plant, substation, or control center.” According to comments from
the CMP, NEC rules would not apply to any wiring or equipment in a utility-generating plant,
substation, or control center and would not apply to conventional lighting and power circuits in office
areas, warehouses, maintenance shops, or any other areas of utility facilities used for the generation,
transmission, or distribution of electric energy for the utility’s customers. But NEC rules would
apply to all electrical work in other buildings occupied by utilities—office buildings, warehouses,
truck garages, repair shops, etc., that are in separate buildings or structures on the generating
facility’s premises. And that opinion was reinforced by the statements of the CMP that sat for the
1996 NEC. With that said, it should be noted that the actual wording used here in the Code could be
read both ways and it will be up to the local AHJ to interpret what areas are and what areas are not
required to comply with the NEC.
The wording used in 90.2(B)(5)(c) recognizes non-NEC-complying utility installations “in
legally established easements or rights-of-way.” This clearly exempts utility activities on public
streets, alleys, and similar areas, even for street and area lighting for adjacent parking lots. However,
the 2008 NEC deleted the phrase “or by other agreements” from this list. The concern was that this
provision opened the door to utility noncompliance throughout a facility, provided an agreement
could be struck with the owner and ratified by the governmental authority having jurisdiction over
utility practice. Because utilities are governed by the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC), whose
provisions are entirely inappropriate for premises wiring, this concern is not inconsequential.
In the 2011 version, an elaborate compromise was struck that addressed numerous areas where
formal easements are impractical, including federal lands and military bases, Indian reservations,
railroad property, and state agencies, departments, and port authorities. This successfully covered
many instances where the removal of the “other agreements” permission caused problems. Its list of
governmental entities that are unique to the United States may, unfortunately, create adoption issues in
foreign jurisdictions in which the NEC is or may in the future be adopted.
However, the change remains extremely controversial because it has the potential to unravel over
a century of established precedent regarding site lighting by utilities, where all of the work is on the
line side of any service point, or where there is no service point whatsoever, as illustrated in Fig. 90-
4. Virtually, every electric utility has permission to supply outdoor lighting according to rates
established by the governing authority, and that lighting need not be in a public way or in an easement,
provided it is not premises wiring. The key to understanding the problem is the concept of a service
point, defined in Art. 100. The NESC applies on the supply side of service points, where they exist.
The NEC applies on the load side of service points, where they exist. It is instructive to review the
premises underlying the 2005 NEC language.
Fig. 90-4. This drawing shows an actual example of a practice that is widespread throughout the
United States and many other countries. There is no service point, the parking lot luminaire is not
premises wiring, and the maintenance will be performed by a utility line crew in the same bucket
truck as services the street lighting, at the same time. The drug store is, in effect, buying the 27,500-lm
output from each of the two 250-W high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps. The NEC purports to claim
jurisdiction over this portion of the parking lot lighting.

The entire premise behind allowing the NESC, substantially different from the NEC, to apply to
utility work is a simple one: The organizational permanence, engineering supervision, and workforce
training in the utility environment are fundamentally different than for premises wiring. Therefore,
different standards can be applied to installations under their exclusive control. Whether this also
applies to an Energy Service Company (ESCo) doing maintenance under contract with the utility is a
regulatory matter that will depend on the degree of command and control exercised by the regulated
utility.
Area lighting wired to the NESC will lack local disconnects, specific overcurrent protection, and
separate equipment grounding conductors, for just a few examples. Is this a safety issue if a utility
line crew does the maintenance? Apparently not, given the ubiquitous presence of street lighting
wired this way. Would it be a safety issue if it were premises wiring, maintained by others?
Certainly, given that the NEC has never allowed such practices over its long history. The fact that
these two statements are self-evidently both true leads to this conclusion: You cannot write and apply
installation rules without taking the operational context into account. The NEC does exactly the same
thing over and over again when it creates special exceptions and allowances for work that will be
performed under qualified maintenance and supervision.
Part (C) gives the AHJ the discretion to permit other than “utilities” the option to install
conductors between the utility supply and the service conductors for individual buildings without
complying with the NEC. Any such waiver is limited to outdoor portions of the electrical
installation, or to conductors inside a building but only to the extent necessary to terminate at the
nearest readily accessible point to where the conductors enter the building. And as discussed at
230.6(5), as soon as wiring penetrates the outer membrane of a building, whether or not it has fully
entered occupied space, it is inside the building for code enforcement purposes. Essentially, it allows
the inspector to permit the use of another standard such as in the utilities code, the NESC. Such
permission is typically limited to campus-type environments where the utility supply to the premises
is medium-voltage and distribution to, and between, buildings is installed and maintained by on-site
personnel. It’s worth noting that any such permission granted by the AHJ must be written permission
to satisfy the definition of “special permission,” as given in Art. 100. Today, however, such
occupancies frequently take service at an elevated voltage at a central point, and all the medium-
voltage feeders to serve the buildings are just that, feeders. As soon as the service point becomes a
central medium-voltage switch, this provision can no longer be applied to the individual buildings.
There are far more mundane uses for this permission. Many CATV (see Art. 820) companies rely
on powered amplifiers mounted near the top of utility poles to keep their signal strength where it
needs to be. Those amplifiers will have a small disconnect and overcurrent protective device located
adjacent to the amplifiers. There are no provisions within the body of the NEC that allow for a
service disconnect to be located at such a location, which is certainly not readily accessible.
However, the entire installation is confined to the pole top, and special permission under 90.2(C) is
routinely granted in such cases.
90.3. Code Arrangement. This section provides guidance on which rule takes precedence
where two rules covering a particular installation are at odds. Basically, the rules in Chaps. 1 through
4 apply at all times, except for installations covered by Chap. 8, which stands alone. Installations
covered by Chaps. 5, 6, and 7 must always comply with the requirements given in Chaps. 1 through 4,
unless a specific rule in Chaps. 5 through 7 requires or permits an alternate method. One implication
of this principle is that exceptions in Chaps. 1 through 4 that allow for different procedures in Chaps.
5 through 7 are unnecessary. The NEC Style Manual has been rewritten to take this into account, and
such exceptions are disappearing from the NEC for this reason. Provisions in Chaps. 1 through 7 of
the NEC only apply in Chap. 8 when a Chap. 8 article specifically cites them, and the numbers of
such citations in Chap. 8 articles are steadily increasing for this reason. Chapter 9 consists of tables
that are mandatory, but only applicable as referenced in earlier articles. The graphic provided in this
section facilitates understanding of the relationship between various Code chapters.
As of the 2017 NEC, there is permission granted for Chaps. 5, 6, and 7 articles to modify not just
Chapters 1 through 4, but to modify Chapters 5 through 7 as well. This may appear to be of no great
effect, but it will prove problematic until inevitable conflicts are sorted out. For example, 517.30(G)
relaxes selective coordination rules on essential electrical systems in hospitals. These systems
include life-safety systems, which are also within the scope of Article 700, which for its part has
extremely strict requirements. Under this rewrite of 90.3, it is arguable whether 517.30(G) amends
700.28, or vice versa. In this particular case, where the Art. 517 provision is there at the direction of
the NFPA Standards Council following action in a different NFPA Technical Committee, the
ultimately enforceable test is in Art. 517. However, other conflicts will be harder to resolve without
clarifying actions in subsequent Code cycles.
90.4. Enforcement. This is one of the most basic and most important of Code rules because it
establishes the necessary conditions for use of the Code.
The NEC stipulates that when questions arise about the meaning or intent of any Code rule as it
applies to a particular electrical installation, including signaling and communication systems covered
by Chap. 8, the electrical inspector having jurisdiction over the installation is the only one authorized
by the NEC to make interpretations of the rules. The wording of Sec. 90.4 reserves that power for
the local inspection authority along with the authority to approve equipment and material and to grant
the special permission for methods and techniques that might be considered alternatives to those Code
rules that specifically mention such “special permission.”
It should be noted that any deviation from standard Code enforcement must be done in accordance
with the provisions given in Art. 100 by the definition of “Special Permission.” The most salient
requirement is the need for documentation. That is, in order to comply with the definition of “special
permission,” such permission must be in writing. This will serve to provide a written record of the
circumstances surrounding the granting of a waiver.
The NEC permits the electrical inspector to “waive specific requirements” or “permit alternate
methods” in any type of electrical installation. In residential, commercial, and institutional electrical
systems—as well as in industrial—inspectors may accept design and/or installation methods that do
not conform to a specific Code rule, provided they are satisfied that the safety objectives of the Code
rule are achieved. In other words, there must be a finding of equivalent safety before the permission
is granted, and the permission to deviate from them must be provided in writing as required by the
first sentence of the second paragraph in this section and stated by the definition of “special
permission” given in Art. 100 (Fig. 90-5).

Fig. 90-5. Inspector’s authority may be exercised either by enforcement of that individual’s
interpretation of a Code rule or by waiver of the Code rule when the inspector is satisfied that a
specific non-Code-conforming method or technique satisfies the safety intent of the Code. (Sec. 90.4.)

This recognition of practices at variance with the Code is provided only for special conditions and
must not be interpreted as a general permission to engage in non-Code methods, techniques, or design
procedures. In fact, it is likely that inspectors will exercise this authority only with reluctance and
then with great care, because of the great responsibility this places on the inspector. This is
especially true because such permission may only be granted in writing. Clearly, this requirement for
documentation will give many inspectors pause for reflection and reconsideration. It seems almost
certain for the exercise of this prerogative.
This section also covers instances when the NEC has changed and new products are not yet
available in the local market to comply with the revised terms. The AHJ may, but is not required to,
permit the use of previously compliant products.
90.5. Mandatory Rules and Explanatory Material. This section provides guidance regarding
proper application of the NEC. Although the NEC consists essentially of specific regulations on
details of electrical design and installation, there is much explanatory material in the form of notes to
rules.
Part (A) of this section addresses “mandatory” rules, which typically employ the phrases “shall”
or “shall not.” Compliance with the Code consists of satisfying all requirements and conditions that
are stated by use of the word “shall” or “shall not” where used in the body of a Code rule or
exception. Those words, anywhere in any rule or exception, designate a mandatory rule. Failure to
comply with any mandatory Code rule constitutes a “Code violation.”
Part (B) of this section indicates the wording that is used in “permissive rules.” These rules are
typified by the use of phrases such as “shall be permitted” or “shall not be required.” Such rules
typically provide or accept alternate measures or suspend requirements under certain conditions. It is
not necessary to do what these rules permit; it is essentially an optional approach.
Note that under the provisions of the NEC Style Manual, the word “may” is not to be used to set
forth a permissive rule. When “may” is being used to indicate permission, it can only be used in the
context of a discretionary action of the authority having jurisdiction. For example, NEC 430.26
authorizes, but does not require, an AHJ to permit the application of a demand factor to the loads on a
motor feeder being sized under 430.24. This is an excellent example of the appropriate use of the
word, as in “… the authority having jurisdiction may grant permission for feeder conductors … .”
Part (C) explains that informational notes [formerly called “fine-print notes” (FPNs), a change that
has been applied throughout the NEC as of the 2011 edition] are included, following certain Code
rules, to provide additional information regarding related rules or standards. This information is
strictly advisory or “explanatory” in nature and presents no rule or additional requirement. The same
is true for bracketed information that references other NFPA® standards. The inclusion of the
referenced standard is to inform the reader of the origin of “extracted text,” where that text is taken
from an NFPA standard. However, the reference to another NFPA standard in no way makes the
referenced standard part of the Code; nor does such reference oblige compliance with other rules in
the referenced standard. Informational notes explain NEC rules, they do not change NEC rules. If,
in reading an informational note, it appears to allow or require something different from the rule that
precedes it, then you are misreading the rule and you should read the rule again.
Part (D), as of the 2011 edition, covers the annexes at the end of the NEC, changing their titles to
include the word “Informative.” This paragraph, in concert with the terminology change regarding
informational notes, attempts to clarify a distinction between actual rules and merely informative text
providing background or interpretive assistance.
90.6. Formal Interpretations. Official interpretations of the National Electrical Code
are based on specific sections of specific editions of the Code. In most cases, such official
interpretations apply to the stated conditions on given installations. Accordingly, they would not
necessarily apply to other situations that vary slightly from the statement on which the official
interpretation was issued.
As official interpretations of each edition of the Code are issued, they are published in the NFPA
News, and press releases are sent to interested trade papers.
All official interpretations issued on a specific Code edition are reviewed by the appropriate
CMP. In reviewing a request for a formal interpretation, a Code panel may agree or disagree. The
panel will render a simple “yes” or “no” to the question, which places the burden on the questioner to
provide a question that can be answered in the affirmative or negative. At some point in future Codes,
the CMP might clarify the Code text to avoid further misunderstanding of intent. On the other hand, the
Code panel may not recommend any change in the Code text because of the special conditions
described in the request for an official interpretation. For these reasons, the NFPA does not catalog
official interpretations issued on previous editions of the Code within the Code itself. Such Formal
Interpretations can be obtained through the National Fire Protection Association®.
Under NFPA rules, Formal Interpretations require a four-fifths vote, which can easily result in
sufficient dissent to preclude their issuance. They are issued on a specific edition of a standard, and
are retained until the wording to which they applied changes. In addition, when a Formal
Interpretation is issued, the technical committee (in this case a CMP) is encouraged (but not required)
to review the disputed text that provoked the request for interpretation when it processes the next
edition. A classic example of a Formal Interpretation, on the text of the 1978 NEC, asked whether
reinforcing steel in a concrete foundation was “available” for connection after the concrete had
hardened. It was common for inspection authorities in Florida at the time to insist that footings be
jackhammered and connections be made so as to bring these concrete-encased electrodes into the
grounding electrode system. The panel’s answer was “No” and that interpretation retained its validity
until the 2005 NEC changed the word “available” to “present” in what is now 250.50.
It should be remembered that, according to 90.4, the authority having jurisdiction has the prime
responsibility of interpreting Code rules in its area and disagreements on the intent of particular Code
rules in its area; and disagreements on the intent of particular Code rules should be resolved at the
local level if at all possible. A Formal Interpretation is not really a viable avenue for a couple of
reasons. One is the amount of time it will take for the CMP to render its decision, which is generally
months. The other is that even if you request a Formal Interpretation and the CMP agrees with your
application, there is no guarantee that the authority having jurisdiction will accept the findings of an
official interpretation, nor is it required to do so.
Although this section deals with Formal Interpretations, it should be noted that changes in the Code
are promulgated in a very similar manner. That is, changes to Code rules are generally precipitated
by a request for change from the field. Guidance for submittal of a Code change is provided closely
following the Index in the back of the Code.
90.7. Examination of Equipment for Safety. It is not the intent of the National
Electrical Code to include the detailed requirements for internal wiring of electrical equipment.
Such information is usually contained in individual standards for the equipment concerned. Note that
Annex A at the end of the Code book includes the recognized product standards that the testing
laboratories use to evaluate the products for which NEC rules require listings.
The last paragraph does not intend to take away the authority of the local inspector to examine and
approve equipment, but rather to indicate that the requirements of the National Electrical Code
do not generally apply to the internal construction of devices that have been listed by a nationally
recognized electrical testing laboratory. Indeed, the last sentence (new as of the 2017 NEC) goes on
to require that the testing lab must design its testing protocol in ways that are compatible with the
NEC, and the third informational note following specifies that Informative Annex A lists only
product standards so conceived.
Although the specifics of Code rules on examination of equipment for safety are presented in 110.2
and 110.3, the general Code statement on this matter is made here in 90.7. Although the Code does
place emphasis on the need for third-party certification of equipment by independent testing
laboratories, it does not make a flat rule to that effect. However, the rules of the U.S. Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are very rigid in insisting on product certification.
Codes and standards must be carefully interrelated and followed with care and precision. Modern
work that fulfills these demands should be the objective of all electrical construction people.
90.8. Wiring Planning. These two sections address concepts that are essentially design
oriented. Part (A) alerts the reader to the fact that simply designing to Code-mandated minimums will
not provide for any future expansion. Additional capacity in raceways, boxes, enclosures, and so
forth, should be considered, but spare capacity is not required. Part (B) points out the fact that
minimizing the number of circuits within any given enclosure will minimize the consequences of a
fault in one or more of those circuits. Additionally, extra room in your raceways (i.e., fewer
conductors than the maximum permitted) will also facilitate pulling of the conductors into the
raceway. Again, providing extra room in raceways or limiting the number of circuits is only required
as indicated elsewhere in the Code (e.g., 314.16 on box fill).
90.9. Metric Units of Measurement. Part (A) identifies metric measurements as the
preferred measurement, although English units (i.e., inch-pounds-feet) are also provided as indicated
by part (B).
In part (C), the Code discusses when one is required to use a “soft” conversion and where a
“hard” conversion is permitted. A “soft conversion” is direct mathematical conversion, for example,
1 m = 39.3 in.; a “hard conversion” is more practical, for example, 1 m = 3 ft. It may seem
counterintuitive to have a “hard” conversion as the inexact conversion. Another way to express the
concept is that a hard conversion is the conversion a hard-core metric user would do, that is, use a
round number for his or her metric measurement. The various explanations that follow in the NEC at
this point regarding “hard” and “soft” conversion are primarily aimed at CMPs. They must make the
decisions around which metric unit would unacceptably degrade safety, or cause wholesale changes
in industry specifications. For example, CMP 9 used soft conversions in Table 314.16 because hard
conversions would result in every steel box being at variance from NEC provisions, not by much,
but enough to force extensive redesign of manufacturing facilities with no real safety benefit. CMP 1
made the decision that reducing the minimum workspace width in front of a panel from 762 mm (the
soft conversion from 30 in.) to 750 mm (the hard conversion) would unacceptably degrade safety, and
so that dimension has been retained as a soft conversion.
The rule of part (D), Compliance, addresses the coexistence of the two systems of measurement.
There the Code states that use of either SI or English units “shall constitute compliance with this
Code.” Clearly, designers and installers may use either of the designated values. However, it should
be noted that only one, or the other units of measure should be used throughout a given project.
Inspectors have raised objection to mixing and matching units of measure.
Chapter One

ARTICLE 100. DEFINITIONS

The NEC reserves Art. 100 to cover the essential definitions required to properly apply its
provisions. Not included are general terms that are commonly defined, or technical terms that are
used in the same way as in related codes and standards. In addition, if a term is used in only one
article, it will be defined within that article and not in Art. 100. Part I of the article applies throughout
the NEC; Part II covers definitions that apply only to installations operating over 600 V, nominal.
Consult Art. 100 if you are unclear as to how a specialized electrical term is defined that appears in
the NEC.
The 2017 NEC began a new practice of calling out the responsible code making panel for each
definition. The Correlating Committee, many cycles previous, began assigning actions on specialized
definitions to the various panels based on specific expertise. Now these assignments will be
transparent to code users.
The Code Making Panel responsible for the requirements in hazardous (classified) locations
(CMP-14) is responsible for a group of articles at the beginning of Chap. 5. In the past, relevant
definitions were set out in Chap. 5, usually but not exclusively in 500.2. This meant that the same term
would commonly appear in at least two articles. Following an instruction from the Correlating
Committee for the 2017 cycle, based on the NEC Style Manual but frankly regardless of impact on
user friendliness, all such terms are now defined in Article 100. For terminology needing additional
explanation, this handbook will continue to address them in their operational locations in Chap. 5.
For a summary, refer to Table 100-1 in this handbook located at the end of its coverage of Article
100. Most of the relocated definitions include the following qualifying phrase in their titles: “[as
applied to Hazardous (Classified) Locations]” in an attempt to clarify the limited scope of their
coverage. However, as noted in Table 100-1, some do not have that qualification.
Accessible (as Applied to Wiring Methods):
Accessible (as Applied to Equipment):
Accessible, Readily (Readily Accessible):
The best way to look at these definitions is to consider all three at the same time because although
they are necessarily related, there are important differences. Each of the three terms involves the
concept of unimpeded approach. That is, accessible items, whether wiring methods, equipment, or
either of these, if readily accessible, must be capable of unimpeded approach as required, but that is
about the extent of what these terms have in common.
 Wiring methods are accessible if they can be removed or exposed without damaging the building
finish or structure. Wiring methods are any of the NEC-recognized techniques for running circuits
between equipment, as covered in the articles in Chap. 3 of the Code. Wiring methods are also
accessible if they are not permanently closed in by the building structure or finish. Any surface wiring
method would obviously qualify if in plain view, but what about above a suspended ceiling? The
definition uses the word “exposed,” which is also defined in Art. 100 as being on or attached to the
surface, or behind panels designed to allow access. Because suspended ceiling panels are clearly
designed for that purpose, wiring such as that shown in Fig. 100-1 above a suspended ceiling is
exposed, and because it is exposed, it is also accessible.

Fig. 100-1.

The same word used to describe equipment does not mean quite the same thing. Equipment covers
all the products that are connected or hooked up by a recognized wiring method, together with the
other components of the wiring system. Equipment is accessible if it allows close approach. It is not
accessible if it is guarded by a locked door or by height or other barrier that effectively precludes
approach by personnel. The word guarded is also defined in Art. 100, and it means protected by any
of various means to remove the likelihood of “approach or contact by persons or objects to a point of
danger.”
Consider the busbars in a panelboard located chest high in a corridor, and then think about the
panelboard itself, including its enclosing cabinet. Are the busbars themselves “accessible”? No,
because they are guarded by the deadfront. Is the panel accessible? Yes, the deadfront makes it safe to
approach, and nothing about its location precludes approach. What if the panelboard is for a tenancy,
and is located in another tenancy for which access to the supplied tenancy is forbidden? Such a panel
would still be accessible, but not to those for whom access is required by the NEC.
This brings us to the final concept, readily accessible. This term also applies to equipment, and
requires access without climbing over or removing obstacles, or arranging for a ladder or lift to reach
the equipment, as covered in Fig. 100-2. Equipment in the open and reachable only by ladder is
probably accessible, but could never be considered “readily accessible.” Overcurrent (OC) devices
are usually required to be readily accessible, but what about a fused switch on an air-conditioning
compressor high in the air? This is the reason for the special allowance in 240.24(A)(4). It is
understood that such equipment is not readily accessible, and a special allowance permits it to be so.
Figure 100-3 shows other examples of these special allowances.

Fig. 100-2.
Fig. 100-3.

The 2014 NEC first included the concept that the use of tools as a requisite to access disqualified
a location as being readily accessible. This was a logical extension of the overall concept of ready
access. After all, if local conditions require that those for whom ready access is intended must first
find and then operate tools, the inherent delays would likely defeat the purpose. Unfortunately, the
sentence structure could have been read to simply require that the location allow for appropriate tools
to be used. This has been corrected as of the 2017 NEC. The 2017 NEC also adds “or under” after
“to climb over” which may require some discussion with the inspector regarding when an overhead
obstruction is low enough to disqualify the access.
There is one other provision in the ready access definition that neatly ties some of the key concepts
together. Readily accessible equipment must be reachable quickly by those for whom ready access is
requisite. This pointedly does not mean everyone. A locked electrical room is a very well-
understood concept, and perfectly acceptable as long as those who belong in the room have a key.
The 2017 NEC clarified this by adding the parenthetical note “(other than keys)” to the tool
restriction, and then adding an informational note that expressly addresses these concepts.

Adjustable Speed Drive (and System):

These two definitions used to be located in Article 430, and were moved to Article 100 in the 2014
cycle in order to apply in both Article 430 and Article 440. The informational note between them
properly removes some of the text from the former definition location and reformats it as explanatory
material.

Ampacity:
Ampacity is the maximum amount of current in amperes that a conductor may carry continuously under
specific conditions of use without exceeding the temperature rating of its insulation. The word
“ampacity” is actually a made-up word that does not appear in normal dictionaries and that was first
formally defined in the 1965 edition of the NEC. It should be thought of as a logical combination of
“amperes” and “capacity.” Refer to the discussion on NEC 310.15 in Chap. 3 of this book, together
with coverage at the end of this book on Annex D, Example D3(a), for a detailed analysis of ampacity
calculations. The calculation of conductor ampacities is one of the most important skills to be learned
in the electrical trade, and unfortunately it is also one of the most complicated. There are two key
points to raise here, however, in terms of the actual content of the definition.
First, ampacity applies to electrical conductors. Other parts of an electrical system may have
current ratings, such as switches, circuit breakers, and motor contactors, but only electrical
conductors have an ampacity. Second, ampacity in its true sense cannot be defined by a table in a
code book, or even a hundred tables. Every condition of use defines a different ampacity. And every
time a condition changes, such as when the ambient temperature changes, the applicable ampacity
changes. For example, 12 AWG THHN has an allowable ampacity of 30 A at 30°C with three (or
fewer) current-carrying conductors in a raceway. Raise the number of current-carrying conductors in
the raceway, or raise the ambient temperature, or both, and the ampacity will decrease by varying
degrees, all based on the conditions of actual use.
 Approved:
Identified (as Applied to Equipment):
Listed:
These three definitions are covered together in one location, because they cover the three methods of
product acceptance recognized by the NEC. They are crucial to the proper application of the Code.
Code-making panels (CMPs) have robust discussions every code cycle about which one to apply in a
given situation.
The word approved means acceptable to the inspectional authority [technically, the authority
having jurisdiction (AHJ)], and nothing more or less. It does not mean “identified” unless the
inspector chooses to use compliance with the definition of “identified” as the basis for his or her
decision. Similarly, it does not mean “listed” unless the inspector chooses that standard as the basis
for his or her decision. For this reason, any statements in product literature (and they are common)
that something is “approved” by some testing laboratory are necessarily fallacious. A product may be
listed by a testing laboratory, but never approved.
The word identified is routinely confused with the normal usage in the English language of the
word marked. It does not mean marked. It means what Art. 100 says it means. It means generally
recognizable as suitable for the specific application called out in the NEC requirement. This often
comes from product literature generated by manufacturers. This use of the term also correlates with
the informational note in 100.3(A)(1), where suitability is explained first in terms of “a description
marked on or provided with a product to identify the suitability of the product for a specific purpose,
environment, or application.” The note goes on to indicate that suitability may also be evidenced by
listing or labeling, an additional possibility.
For an example of correct usage of this term in a Code rule, the NEC requires two-winding
transformers reconnected in the field as autotransformers to be identified for use at elevated voltage
in 450.4(B). These transformers are frequently listed, but as two-winding transformers. They could
not be listed as autotransformers because they do not leave the factory this way, and they have wide
application as two-winding transformers. A listing would be excessive because the transformer
manufacturers would have to run two production lines with two different labels for the same product.
The installer needs to rely on product literature from the manufacturer to verify suitability for
reconnection, and fortunately, these manufacturers all provide specific information on how to make
the reconnections so the transformers will buck or boost the voltage as desired.
The word listed covers the most specific method of product acceptance, because it means that a
qualified testing laboratory, usually with testing facilities that an inspector could not possibly
duplicate, has performed exhaustive tests to judge the performance of the product under the conditions
contemplated in a specific Code rule. The Code note that follows the definition needs some
explanation as well. Although the note is written in a general and explanatory manner, in fact, all
qualified testing laboratories operating under the current North American electrical safety system do
require a label as evidence of the listing. It follows, then, that if a label falls off, the product no
longer has the status of being listed. Further, the only way a label can be reapplied is in the presence
of an employee of the testing laboratory. Sending labels through the mail is not an option and will
result in disciplinary action against the manufacturer by the testing laboratory. The testing
laboratories will all send personnel into the field to witness the reapplication of labels.
 Be aware that OSHA rules governing workplaces generally require a “listed,” “labeled,” or
otherwise “certified” product to be used in preference to the same “kind” of product that is not
recognized by a national testing lab (Fig. 100-4). UL is beginning to use the word “certified”
(undefined in the NEC) as a synonym for “listed” because the term is more widely recognized in
international commerce. See Fig. 100-25(c). As of now, the defined term of art in the NEC remains
“listed.”

Fig. 100-4.

Arc-Fault Circuit Interrupter (AFCI):

These are devices designed to protect against arcing failures by recognizing the unique electrical
characteristics of the arc and opening the circuit when damaging arcs are present. The definition is
not new, but was relocated from 210.12 in the 2011 cycle.

Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ):

This definition clarifies the meaning of this term, which is used repeatedly throughout the Code. As
indicated by the informational note, the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) is not necessarily the
electrical inspector. In some instances, it may be the head of a fire department or an insurance
company representative.
Most jurisdictions have procedures in place that allow for taking an appeal from an adverse
decision of an inspectional authority. However, there are inevitable trade-offs in terms of time lost in
such a proceeding, so usually only the most compelling instances end up in appellate hearings.

Bathroom:
As defined here and used in the rule of 210.8, a bathroom is “an area” (which means it could be a
room or a room plus an adjacent space that constitutes a collective area), that contains first a “basin”
(usually called a sink) and then at least one more plumbing fixture—a toilet, a tub, and/or a shower.
A small room with only a basin (a “washroom”) is not a bathroom. Neither is a room that contains
only a toilet and/or a tub or shower (Fig. 100-5). The 2011 NEC added more examples of plumbing
fixtures, including showers, urinals, bidets, and then the catch-all wording “similar plumbing
fixtures.” Figure 100-6 shows applications in hotel and motel bathrooms.
Fig. 100-5.
Fig. 100-6.

Battery System:
These comprise storage batteries and chargers, at a minimum, and can also include electrical power-
processing equipment such as inverters and converters and related control equipment. The definition
was relocated from Article 480, and in addition to that article it is also used in Articles 517, 690,
694, 700, and 701.

Bonded (Bonding):
This definition has been simplified and now simply covers the connection of parts in an electrical
system to provide continuity and conductivity. This is one of the many definitions and other rules that
were impacted by a special task group on grounding and bonding. The definitions have been
simplified and the requirements placed in Art. 250, with only special exceptions remaining in other
parts of the NEC. The performance criteria for a bonded connection are covered in 250.4.

Bonding Conductor or Jumper:

This is the means of connection between noncurrent-carrying metallic components of the electrical
system that are provided to ensure continuity. Examples of bonding jumpers are given in Figs. 100-7
and 100-8. They may be bare, covered, or insulated conductors, or it may be a mechanical device,
such as the 10-32 screws often provided to connect a neutral terminal bar to a service enclosure.
Fig. 100-7.

Fig. 100-8.

Bonding Jumper, Equipment:

These are bonding connections made between two portions of the equipment grounding system. For
example, bonding jumpers are routinely used to ensure an electrically conductive connection between
a metal switchboard enclosure and metal conduits entering the open bottom from a concrete floor. If
Fig. 100-9 depicted a feeder and not a service, the jumpers from each conduit to the enclosure frame
would be equipment bonding jumpers.
Fig. 100-9.

Bonding Jumper, Main; System:

A main bonding jumper provides the Code-required connection between the grounded system
conductor and the equipment ground bus at the service equipment for a building or structure. The
connection between equipment ground and the grounding electrode system in ungrounded services is a
“bonding jumper,” but not a “main bonding jumper.” The connection between the equipment ground
bus and the neutral bus in the drawing shown in Fig. 100-9 is an example of a main bonding jumper.
The NEC maintains a distinction between a main bonding jumper and the same conductor performing
the identical function at a separately derived system, which is a system bonding jumper. This
definition has been relocated from 250.2 to here because it is also used in 708.20(C) Exception,
which creates the required second article reference for an Art. 100 definition. Note that the
connection may also occur between a grounded circuit conductor and a supply-side bonding jumper,
and this is reflected in the current wording.

Branch Circuit:
A branch circuit is that part of a wiring system that (1) extends beyond the final Code-required
automatic overcurrent protective device (i.e., fuse or breaker) which qualifies for use as branch-
circuit protection and (2) ends at an outlet, which is another defined term in Art. 100. Thermal cutouts
or motor overload devices are not branch-circuit protection. Neither are fuses in luminaires nor in
plug connections, which are used for ballast protection or individual fixture protection. Such
supplementary overcurrent protection is on the load side of the outlet and is not required by the Code,
nor a substitute for the Code-required branch-circuit protection and does not establish the point of
origin of a branch circuit. The extent of a branch circuit is illustrated in Fig. 100-10.

Fig. 100-10.

Branch Circuit, Appliance:

The point of differentiation between “appliance” branch circuits and “general” branch circuits is
related to what is actually connected. For a circuit to be considered an “appliance” branch circuit, it
may not supply any lighting, unless that lighting is part of an appliance. Refer to Fig. 100-11.

Fig. 100-11.
Another random document with
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causes, racy and imaginary details that diverted the audience
(causam mendaciunculis adspergere).[44] Cicero quotes with great
commendation some of these agreeable little lies which perhaps cost
the honour or the life of some unfortunate people who were unlucky
enough to have too witty opponents, and as he had himself a fertile
imagination in this way, he did not stint himself in having recourse
to this easy means of success. Nothing was more indifferent to the
ancient advocate than being inconsistent with himself. It was said
that the orator Antonius never would write any of his speeches, lest
some one should take it into his head to compare his late with his
present opinion. Cicero had not these scruples. He contradicted
himself all his life, and was never uneasy about it. One day, when he
too openly stated the contrary to what he had formerly upheld, as he
was pressed to explain these sudden changes, he answered without
perturbation: “You are mistaken if you think that you find the
expression of our personal opinions in our speeches; they are the
language of the cause and the case, and not that of the man and the
orator.”[45] This at least is a sincere avowal; but how much do the
orator and the man not lose by thus suiting their language to
circumstances! They learnt to be careless of putting order and
consistency in their lives, to dispense with sincerity in their opinions,
and conviction in their speech, to make the same expenditure of
talent for untruth as for truth, to consider only the needs of the
moment, and the success of the case in hand. These are the lessons
that the bar of that age taught Cicero. He remained at it too long, and
when he quitted it at forty to make his first essay in political oratory,
he could not shake off the bad habits acquired there.
Does this mean that Cicero should be struck off the list of political
orators? If this name is given to every man whose speech has some
influence on the affairs of his country, who sways the mob, or
convinces honest people, it seems difficult to refuse it to Cicero. He
knew how to talk to the multitude and make himself listened to. At
times he mastered it in its most furious outbursts. He made it accept
and even applaud opinions contrary to its preferences. He seemed to
drag it out of its apathy, and to call up in it for a short time an
appearance of energy and patriotism. He is not to blame if his
successes were not followed up, if after these grand triumphs of
eloquence brute force remained master. At least he did with his
words all that words could then do. I admit, however, that what was
wanting in his character was wanting also in his political eloquence.
It is nowhere sufficiently resolute, decided, practical. It is too much
taken up with itself, and not enough with the questions it is treating.
It does not attack them boldly on their salient points. It is involved in
pompous phrases, instead of trying to speak that clear and precise
language which is the language of public business. When we examine
it closely, and begin to analyze it, we find that it is chiefly composed
of a good deal of rhetoric and a little philosophy. All those agreeable
and smart arguments, all those artifices of debate, and also all that
ostentation of pathos that we find in it, come from rhetoric.
Philosophy has furnished those grand commonplaces developed with
talent, but not always germane to the subject. There is too much
artifice and method about it. A concise and simple statement would
be more suitable to the discussion of affairs than these subtleties and
emotions; these long philosophical tirades would be advantageously
replaced by a clear and judicious exposition of the orator’s principles
and of the general ideas that regulate his conduct. Unfortunately, as I
have said, Cicero preserved, on reaching the rostrum, the habits he
had acquired at the bar. He attacks, with the arguments of an
advocate, that agrarian law, so honest, moderate, and wise, which
was proposed by the tribune Rullus. In the fourth Catilinarian
Oration he had to discuss this question, one of the gravest that can
be placed before a deliberative assembly, namely, how far is it
permitted to deviate from legality in order to save one’s country? He
has not even approached it. It is painful to see how he hangs back
from it, how he flies from and avoids it, to develop small reasons and
lose himself in a vulgar pathos. The grave and serious kind of
eloquence evidently was not that which Cicero preferred, and in
which he felt most at ease. If you wish to know the real tendency of
his talents, read, immediately after the fourth Catilinarian Oration,
the speech for Muraena, delivered at the same time. There is none
more agreeable in the collection of his speeches, and we wonder how
a man who was consul, and who had then so many affairs on his
hands, found his mind sufficiently free to joke with so much ease and
point; the truth is, there he was in his element. Accordingly, although
he was consul or consular, he returned to the bar as often as he
could. It was to oblige his friends, he said. I think that he wished still
more to please himself; he appears happy, and his animation and wit
expand so freely, when he has some agreeable and lively case to
plead. Not only did he never miss an opportunity of appearing before
the judges, but as much as possible he threw his political discourses
into the form of ordinary pleadings. Everything turned into personal
questions with him. The discussion of ideas usually leaves him cold.
He had to contend against some one in order to let us see him at his
best. The finest speeches he delivered in the Forum or the senate are
eulogies or invectives. In them he is unrivalled; in them, according to
one of his expressions, his eloquence rises and triumphs; but
however fine invectives and eulogies may be, they are not altogether
our ideal of political eloquence, and we demand something else of it
now-a-days. All that can be said in justification of Cicero’s speeches
is, that they were perfectly appropriate to his time, and that their
character is explained by the circumstances in which they were
delivered. Eloquence did not then guide the state as in the best times
of the republic. Other influences had replaced it; in the elections,
money and the intrigues of the candidates, in out-door discussions,
the occult and terrible power of the popular societies, and above all
the army, which, since Sulla, raised or overthrew every government.
Eloquence feels itself powerless in the midst of these forces which
overpower it. How can it still preserve the commanding accent, the
imperious and resolute tone of one who knows his power? Need it
appeal to reason and logic, and try and force itself upon men’s
convictions by a close and forcible argument, when it knows that the
questions it is treating are decided otherwise? M. Mommsen
maliciously remarks, that in most of his great political speeches
Cicero pleads causes already victorious. When he published the
Verrine Orations, the laws of Sulla on the composition of the
tribunals had just been abolished. He well knew that Catiline had
decided to leave Rome when he pronounced the first Catilinarian
Oration, in which he so feelingly adjures him to go away. The second
Philippic, which seems so bold when we think of it as spoken to the
face of the all-powerful Antony, was only made public at the moment
when Antony was flying to Cisalpine Gaul. Of what use then were all
these fine speeches? They did not cause decisions to be taken, since
these decisions were already taken; but they caused them to be
accepted by the multitude, they stirred public opinion and excited it
in their favour: this was something. It was necessary to accept the
facts of the situation; speech no longer governed, eloquence could no
longer hope to direct events, but it acted on them indirectly, it tried
to produce those great movements of opinion that prepare or
complete them; “it does not secure votes and acts, it arouses the
emotions.”[46] If this moral effect is the only end it had in view at the
time, Cicero’s eloquence, by its copiousness and splendour, by its
brilliancy and pathos, was well calculated to attain it.
At first he had put his eloquence at the service of the popular
party; we have seen that it was in the ranks of this party that he made
his first political appearance; but although he faithfully served it for
seventeen years, I am inclined to think that he did not always do so
heartily. The excesses of the aristocratic government threw him
towards democracy, but he must have found democracy not much
wiser, especially when it was victorious. It sometimes gave him
terrible clients to defend. He had to plead the cause of factious and
seditious persons who were always troubling the public peace. One
day he even pleaded, or was on the point of pleading, for Catiline. It
is probable that all this was painful to him, and that the violent
excesses of democracy tempted him more than once to separate from
it. Unfortunately he did not know where to go if he left it, and if the
plebeians offended him by their violence, the aristocracy, by its
arrogance and prejudices, did not any more attract him. Since in
existing parties he did not find any which exactly corresponded to his
convictions, and which altogether suited his disposition, he had no
other resource than to form one for himself. This is what he tried to
do. When he felt that the brilliancy of his eloquence, the offices he
had filled, the popularity that surrounded him, made him an
important person, in order to assure his future, to take a higher and
more permanent position in the republic, to free himself from the
requirements of his former protectors, in order not to be forced to
stretch out his hand to his old enemies, he sought to create a new
party, composed of the moderate men of all parties, and of which he
was to be the head. But he very well understood that he could not
create this party in a moment and produce it from nothing. It was
necessary first to find a nucleus around which the new recruits that
he expected should group themselves. He thought he had found it in
that class of citizens to which he belonged by his birth, and who were
called the knights.
Rome always lacked what we now call the middle and citizen class.
In proportion as the small farmers left their friends to go and live in
the city, and “as those hands which had worked at the corn and the
vine were only occupied in applauding at the theatre and the
circus,”[47] the gap became greater between the opulent aristocracy
which possessed almost all the public wealth, and that indigent and
famished people that was continually recruited from the slaves. The
sole intermediaries were the knights. This name, at the time we are
considering, was not only used to describe the citizens to whom the
state gave a horse (equites equo publico), and who voted separately
in the elections; it was also given to all those who possessed the
equestrian income qualification, that is to say, those whose fortune
exceeded 400,000 sesterces (£3200). We may well believe that the
nobility behaved haughtily to these obscure plebeians whom chance
or economy had enriched; it kept these parvenus at a distance; dealt
out its disdain to them as liberally as to the poor people of the plebs,
and obstinately closed the entrance to public dignities to them. When
Cicero was appointed consul it was thirty years since a new man,
whether knight or plebeian, had attained the consulship. Removed
from political life by the jealousy of the great nobles, the knights
were obliged to turn their energies elsewhere. Instead of wasting
time in useless candidatures, they busied themselves in making their
fortunes. When Rome had conquered the world, it was the knights
especially who profited by these conquests. They formed an
industrious and enlightened class, they were already in easy
circumstances, and able to make loans, and thought they could
speculate in the conquered countries for their own profit.
Penetrating wherever the Roman arms were carried, they became
merchants, bankers, farmers of the taxes, and amassed immense
riches. As Rome was no longer the Rome of the Curii and the
Cincinnati, and dictators were no longer taken from the plough, their
wealth gave them consideration and importance. From that time
they were spoken of with more respect. The Gracchi, who wished to
make them allies in the struggle they were waging with the
aristocracy, caused it to be decided that the judges should be taken
from their ranks. Cicero went further; he tried to make them the
foundation of the great moderate party he wished to create. He knew
that he could count on their devotedness. He belonged to them by
birth; he had shed over them the splendour that surrounded his
name; he had never neglected to defend their interests before the
tribunals or in the senate. He also reckoned that they would be
grateful to him for wishing to augment their importance and call
them to a great political future.
All these combinations of Cicero seemed at first to succeed very
happily; but, to tell the truth, the merit of this success was chiefly
due to circumstances. This great coalition of the moderates upon
which he congratulated himself as his finest work, almost succeeded
under the influence of fear. A social revolution seemed imminent.
The dregs of all the old parties, wretched plebeians and ruined
nobles, old soldiers of Marius, and proscribers of Sulla, had united
under the leadership of a bold and able chief, who promised them a
new distribution of public wealth. The existence of this party
compelled those whom it threatened to unite also in order to defend
themselves. Fear was more efficacious than the finest speeches
would have been, and in this sense we may say that Cicero was
perhaps more indebted for this union which he regarded as the main
point of his policy to Catiline rather than to himself. Community of
interests, then, brought about, at least for a time, a reconciliation of
the aims of various classes. The richest, and consequently the most
seriously endangered, namely the knights, were naturally the soul of
the new party. By their side the honest plebeians who did not wish
political reforms to be exaggerated took their stand, as well as those
nobles whose threatened pleasures drew them from their apathy,
who would have allowed the republic to perish without defending it,
but who did not wish their lampreys and fish-ponds touched. The
new party had not to look about long for a head. Pompey was in Asia,
Caesar and Crassus secretly favoured the conspiracy. Besides these
there was no greater name than Cicero’s. This explains that great
wave of public opinion which carried him into the consulship. His
election was almost a triumph. I shall say nothing of his consulship,
of which he has had the misfortune to speak too much himself. I do
not wish to underrate the victory that he gained over Catiline and his
accomplices. The danger was serious; even his enemy Sallust affirms
it. Behind the plot were hidden ambitious politicians ready to profit
by events. Caesar knew well that the reign of anarchy could not last
long. After some pillaging and massacres, Rome would have
recovered from her surprise, and honest folks, being driven to
activity by despair, would have again got the upper hand. Only it is
probable that then one of those reactions that usually follow great
anarchy would have taken place. The remembrance of the ills from
which they had escaped with such difficulty would have disposed
many people to sacrifice the liberty which exposed them to so many
perils, and Caesar held himself ready to offer them the sovereign
remedy of absolute power. By cutting the evil at the root, by
surprising and punishing the conspiracy before it broke out, Cicero
perhaps delayed the advent of monarchical government at Rome for
fifteen years. He was not wrong, then, in boasting of the services he
rendered at that time to his country’s liberty, and we must
acknowledge, with Seneca, that if he has praised his consulship
without measure he has not done so without reason.[48]
Coalitions of this kind, unfortunately, seldom long survive the
circumstances that give rise to them. When the interests that a
common danger had united began to feel themselves secure, they
recommenced their old quarrels. The plebeians, who were no longer
afraid, felt their old animosity against the nobility revive. The nobles
began again to envy the wealth of the knights. As to the knights, they
had none of those qualities that were necessary to make them the
soul of a political party, as Cicero had hoped. They were more
occupied with their private affairs than with those of the republic.
They had not the strength of numbers, like the plebeians, and were
wanting in those great traditions of government that maintained so
long the authority of the nobility. Their only guiding principle was
that instinct usual with men of large fortunes, which led them to
prefer order to liberty. They sought, before all things, a strong power
which could defend them, and Caesar had in the end no more
devoted followers than they. In this break-up of his party, Cicero,
who could not stand alone, asked himself on which side he ought to
place himself. The fright that Catiline had given him, the presence of
Caesar and Crassus in the ranks of the democracy, prevented his
return to that party, and he finally attached himself to the nobility,
notwithstanding his repugnance. From the date of his consulship he
resolutely turned towards this party. We know how the democracy
avenged itself for what it considered a betrayal. Three years after it
condemned its old head, now become its enemy, to exile, and only
consented to recall him to cast him at the feet of Caesar and Pompey,
whose union had made them masters of Rome.[49]

III.
 The gravest political crisis that Cicero passed through, after the
great struggles of his consulship, was certainly that which terminated
in the fall of the Roman republic at Pharsalia. We know that he did
not willingly engage in this terrible conflict, of which he foresaw the
issue, and that he hesitated for nearly a year before deciding on his
course. It is not surprising that he hesitated so long. He was no
longer young and obscure as when he pleaded for Roscius. He had a
high position and an illustrious name that he did not wish to
compromise, and a man may be allowed to reflect before he risks
fortune, glory, and perchance life on a single cast. Besides, the
question was not so simple nor the right so clear as they seem at first
sight. Lucan, whose sympathies are not doubtful, yet said that it
could not be known on which side justice lay, and this obscurity does
not seem to be altogether dissipated, since, after eighteen centuries
of discussion, posterity has not yet succeeded in coming to an
agreement. It is curious that, among us, in the seventeenth century,
at the height of monarchical government, the learned all pronounced
against Caesar without hesitation. Magistrates of the high courts,
men cautious and moderate by their offices and character, who
approached the king and were not sparing of flattery, took the liberty
of being Pompeians and even furious Pompeians in private. “The
First President,” says Guy-Patin, “is so much on Pompey’s side, that
one day he expressed his joy that I was so, I having said to him, in his
fine garden at Bâville, that if I had been in the senate when Julius
Caesar was killed, I would have given him the twenty-fourth stab.”
On the contrary, it is in our own days, in a democratic epoch, after
the French Revolution, and in the name of the revolution and the
democracy, that the side of Caesar has been upheld with the greatest
success, and that the benefit humanity has reaped from his victory
has been set in its clearest light.
I have no intention to re-open this debate, it is too fertile in stormy
discussions. I only wish here to deal with so much of it as is
indispensable to explain Cicero’s political life. There are, I think, two
very different ways of looking at the question: our own first, namely,
that of people unconcerned in these quarrels of a former age, who
approach them as historians or philosophers, after time has cooled
them, who judge them less by their causes than by their results, and
who ask themselves, above all, what good or evil they have done in
the world; then that of contemporaries, who judge of them with their
passions and prejudices, according to the ideas of their time, in their
relation to themselves, and without knowing their remote
consequences. I am going to place myself solely at this latter point of
view, although the other seems to me grander and more profitable;
but as my only design is to ask from Cicero an explanation of his
political actions, and as one cannot reasonably require of him that he
should have divined the future, I shall confine myself to showing how
the question was stated in his time, what reasons were alleged on
both sides, and in what manner it was natural for a wise man who
loved his country to appreciate those reasons. Let us forget, then, the
eighteen centuries that separate us from these events, let us suppose
ourselves at Formiae or Tusculum during those long days of anxiety
and uncertainty that Cicero passed there, and let us hear him
discuss, with Atticus or Curio, the reasons that the two parties urged
to draw him into their ranks.
What shows plainly that the judgment of contemporaries on the
events which pass before them is not the same as that of posterity is,
that the friends of Caesar, when they wished to gain over Cicero, did
not employ the argument that seems the best to us. The chief reason
that is appealed to now to justify Caesar’s victory is that, on the
whole, if by it Rome lost some of her privileges, it was for the
advantage of the rest of the world that she was despoiled. What does
it matter that a few thousand men, who did not make a very good use
of their political liberty, were deprived of it, if by the same stroke
almost the entire world was rescued from pillage, slavery, and ruin?
It is certain that the provinces and their inhabitants, so roughly
treated by the proconsuls of the republic, found themselves better off
under the régime inaugurated by Caesar. His army was open to all
foreigners; he had with him Germans, Gauls, and Spaniards. They
helped him to conquer, and naturally profited by his victory: and this
was, without his wishing it perhaps, the revenge of the conquered
nations. These nations were not anxious to recover their
independence; they had lost the taste for it with their defeat. Their
ambition was quite the reverse: they wished to be allowed to become
Romans. Up till then, however, that proud and greedy aristocracy,
who held power, and who meant to use the human race for the
benefit of their pleasures or their grandeur, had obstinately refused
to raise them to a level with themselves, no doubt in order to
preserve the right of treating them according to their caprice. In
overthrowing the aristocracy, Caesar overthrew the barrier that
closed Rome to the rest of the nations. The empire made the entire
world Roman; it reconciled, says a poet, and blended under one
name, all the nations of the universe. These are surely great things,
and it does not become us to forget them, us the sons of the
vanquished, called by Caesar to partake in his victory. But who, in
Cicero’s time, thought it would be thus? who could foresee and
indicate these remote consequences? The question did not present
itself then as it does to us who study it from a distance. Caesar does
not anywhere allege the interest of the conquered among the reasons
he gives for his enterprise. The senate never claimed to be the
representative of the Roman nationality, threatened by an invasion
of the barbarians, and it does not appear that the provinces rose in
favour of him who came to defend them; on the contrary, they were
almost equally divided between the two rivals. If the West fought on
Caesar’s side, all the East repaired to Pompey’s camp, which proves
that when the struggle commenced its consequences were unknown
even to those who were to profit by them, and whose interest should
have made them clear-sighted. Besides, even if Cicero had suspected
the benefits that the world was going to draw from Caesar’s triumph,
can we think that this reason would have sufficed to decide him? He
was not one of those whose love for the whole of humanity excuses
them from serving their country. He would have resigned himself
with difficulty to the sacrifice of his liberty, under the pretence that
this sacrifice would profit the Gauls, the Britons, and the Sarmatians.
No doubt he was not indifferent to the interest of the world, but that
of Rome touched him closer. His temper was gentle and humane, he
had written in beautiful works that all nations are only one and the
same family, he had made himself loved in the province he had
governed; nevertheless, when Caesar opened the city and even the
senate to the strangers who accompanied him, he showed himself
very discontented, and attacked these barbarians with his most cruel
raillery. He saw plainly that those Spaniards and Gauls who were
walking proudly about the Forum were triumphing over Rome. His
Roman pride revolted at this sight, and I see no reason to blame him
for it. If he could divine or even catch a glimpse of the general
emancipation of the conquered nations which was preparing, he
understood also that this emancipation would bring with it the loss
of the original, distinct, and independent existence of his country. It
was natural that a Roman should not wish to pay this price even for
the prosperity of the world.
Putting aside this reason, another, specious if not true, was much
used to entice the irresolute. They were told that the republic and
liberty were not interested in the war, that it was simply a struggle
between two ambitious men who were contending for power. In this
assertion there was a certain amount of truth capable of misleading
thoughtless minds. Personal questions certainly held a large place in
this contest. The soldiers of Caesar fought solely for him, and
Pompey had in his suite many friends and creatures whom thirty
years of prosperity and power had gained for him. Cicero himself
gives us to understand, several times, that it was his old friendship
for Pompey that led him into his camp. “It is to him and to him alone
that I sacrifice myself,” said he, when he was preparing to leave Italy.
[50]
There are moments in which he seems to take pleasure in limiting
the subject of this quarrel he is about to engage in, and when, writing
to his friends, he repeats to them what Caesar’s partisans said—“It is
a conflict of ambition, regnandi contentio est.”[51] But we must be
careful when reading his correspondence of this period, and must
read it with caution. Never was he more irresolute. He changes his
opinion every day, he attacks and defends all parties, so that by
skilfully putting together all the words let fall in this discontent and
uncertainty, one may find in his letters grounds for charges against
everybody. These are only the sallies of a restless and frightened
mind, of which we must not make too much use either against others
or against himself. Here, for instance, when he asserts that the
republic has nothing to do in the contest, he does not say what he
really thinks. It is only one of those pretexts that he invents to justify
his hesitation in his friends’ eyes and his own. So rare is it to be quite
sincere, I do not say with others only but with oneself! We are so
ingenious in proving to ourselves that we have a thousand reasons
for doing what we do without reason, or through interest or caprice!
But when Cicero wishes to be frank, when he has no motive to delude
himself or deceive others, he speaks in another manner. Then the
cause of Pompey becomes really that of justice and right, that of
honest men and of liberty. Without doubt, Pompey had rendered
very indifferent services to the republic before being led by
circumstances to defend it. He could not be trusted entirely, and his
ambition was to be feared. In his camp he affected the airs of a
sovereign; he had his flatterers and his ministers. “He is a little
Sulla,” said Cicero, “who dreams also of proscriptions, sullaturit,
proscripturit.”[52] The republican party would certainly have taken
another defender if it had been free to choose; but at the time when
Caesar assembled his troops, this party, which had neither soldiers
nor generals, was really forced to accept Pompey’s aid. It accepted it
as that of an ally whom one distrusts and watches, who, perhaps, will
become an enemy after the victory, but with whom one cannot
dispense during the fight. Besides, although Pompey might not
altogether secure liberty, it was known that it ran fewer risks with
him than with Caesar. He was ambitious doubtless, but more
ambitious of honours than of power. Twice he had been seen to
arrive at the gates of Rome with an army. The democracy called him,
to make himself king, he had only to will it, and twice he had
disbanded his troops and laid down the fasces. He had been made
sole consul, that is to say, almost dictator, and at the end of six
months he had voluntarily taken a colleague. These precedents made
sincere republicans believe that after the victory he would content
himself with sonorous titles and pompous eulogies, and that his
services would be repaid, without danger to any one, with laurels and
the purple. In any case, if he had demanded something else, we may
be certain that he would have been refused, and that he would have
found adversaries in the greater number of those who had become
his allies. There were in his camp many persons who were not his
friends, and who cannot be suspected of having taken arms to win a
throne for him. Cato distrusted him, and had always opposed him.
Brutus, whose father he had killed, hated him. The aristocracy did
not pardon him for having restored the power of the tribunes, and
for having united with Caesar against it. Is it likely that all these
eminent persons, experienced in affairs, were the dupes of this
indifferent politician who never deceived anybody, and that, without
knowing it, they worked for him alone? or must we admit, which is
still less likely, that they knew it, and that they voluntarily
abandoned their country, risked their fortunes, and gave their lives
to serve the interests and the ambition of a man whom they did not
love? Assuredly, for them, something else was in question. When
they went over sea, when they decided, notwithstanding their
repugnance, to begin a civil war, when they came to put themselves
under the orders of a general against whom they had so many
reasons for ill-will, they did not intend to intervene solely in a
personal quarrel, but to come to the help of the republic and of that
liberty which were threatened. “But here,” people say, “you are
deceived again. These names, liberty and republic, delude you. It was
not liberty that was defended in Pompey’s camp, it was the
oppression of the people by a caste. They wished to maintain the
privileges of a burdensome and unjust aristocracy. They fought to
preserve for it the right to oppress the plebs, and to crush the world.”
At that rate the friends of liberty ought to keep for Caesar the
sympathies they generally accord to Pompey, for he is the liberal and
the democrat, the man of the people, the successor of the Gracchi
and of Marius. This is indeed the part he assumed from the day
when, almost a child, he had braved Sulla. Praetor and consul, he
had appeared to serve the popular cause with devotion, and at the
moment when he marched on Rome, abandoned by the senate, he
still said, “I come to deliver the Roman people from a faction that
oppresses it.”[53]
How much truth is there in this pretence that he makes of being
the defender of the democracy? What ought to be thought of it, I do
not say by a patrician, who naturally thought much ill of the people,
but by an enemy of the nobility, by a new man like Cicero? Whatever
anger the disdain of the aristocracy had caused to Cicero, whatever
impatience he had felt at always finding in his way, in his
candidatures, one of those nobles to whom “honours came while
they slept,” I do not find that his ill-humour had ever led him to
pretend that the people was oppressed;[54] and I suppose that when it
was asserted before him that Caesar took up arms to restore him his
liberty, he asked how long it was since he had lost it, and what new
privileges they wished to add to those he already possessed? He
called to mind that the people possessed a legal organization, had
their own magistrates to whom they appealed from the decisions of
others, magistrates inviolable and sacred, whom the law armed with
the enormous power of staying the action of the government by their
interference, and of interrupting political life; that they had the
liberty of speech and of the rostrum, the right of voting, in which
they trafficked for a living, and finally, free access to all grades of the
magistracy, and he had only to cite his own case to demonstrate that
it was possible for a man without birth and almost without fortune to
attain even the consulship. Such success in truth was rare. The
equality laid down in the law disappeared in practice. The consular
records of that period contain scarcely any but illustrious names. A
few great families seem to have established themselves in the highest
dignities of the state; they guarded the avenues to them, and allowed
no one to approach; but was it necessary, in order to break down the
obstacles that the cleverness of a few ambitious men opposed to the
regular working of the institutions, to destroy these institutions
themselves? was the evil so great that it was necessary to have
recourse to the radical remedy of absolute power? Was it impossible
to think that it would be more surely cured by liberty than by
despotism? Had it not been seen by recent examples that a strong
current of popular opinion was sufficient to overturn all this
aristocratic resistance? The laws gave the people the means of
recovering their influence if they willed it energetically. With the
liberty of voting and of speaking in the public assembly, with the
intervention of the tribunes and the invincible strength of numbers,
they must always end in being masters. It was their own fault if they
left the power to others, and they deserved the degradation in which
the nobility held them, since they made no effort to free themselves.
Cicero had small esteem for the common people of his time; he
thought them careless and apathetic by nature. “They demand
nothing,” said he, “they desire nothing”;[55] and every time he saw
them stirring in the Forum he suspected that the liberality of some
ambitious men had worked this miracle. He was not, therefore, led to
think it necessary to accord them new rights when he saw them use
their ancient rights so little or so ill, and so he did not regard the
pretext put forth by Caesar for taking up arms as serious. He never
consented to look upon him as the successor of the Gracchi coming
to emancipate the oppressed plebs; the war which was preparing
never seemed to him to be the renewal of the ancient struggles
between the people and the aristocracy, of which Roman history is
full. In fact, an assembly of ruined nobles, like Dolabella, Antony,
and Curio, marching under the leadership of him who boasted of
being the son of the gods and of kings, little deserved the name of the
popular party, and there was something else at stake than the
defence of the privileges of birth in a camp to which so many knights
and plebeians had repaired, and which reckoned among its chiefs
Varro, Cicero, and Cato, that is to say, two burgesses of small fortune
of Arpinum and Reate, and the descendant of the peasant of
Tusculum.
Caesar, however, does not seem to have been very much
prepossessed with this part of champion of the democracy. We do
not find, on reading his memoirs, that he speaks very much of the
people’s interests. The phrase just quoted is almost the only one in
which they are mentioned. Elsewhere he is more frank. At the
beginning of the civil war, when he set forth his reasons for
commencing it, he complained that he was refused the consulship,
that his province was taken from him, that he was torn from his
army; he says not a word of the people, of their unrecognized rights,
of their crushed liberty. This was, however, the moment to speak of
them in order to justify an enterprise that so many people, and those
the most honest, condemned. What did he demand in the final
conditions he laid before the senate before marching on Rome? His
consulship, his army, his province; he defended his personal
interests, he bargained for himself, it never came into his mind to
demand any guarantee for that people whose defender he called
himself. Around him, in his camp, one thought no more of the people
than they did of themselves. His best friends, his bravest generals,
had no pretension to be reformers or democrats. They did not think,
in following him, that they were going to give liberty to their fellow-
citizens; they wished to avenge their outraged chief, and to win
power for him. “We are the soldiers of Caesar,” said they with Curio.
[56]
They had no other title, they knew no other name. When some
one came to speak to those old centurions who had seen Germany
and Britain, who had taken Alesia and Gergovia, of abandoning
Caesar and passing over to the side of the laws and the republic, they
did not reply that they were defending the people and their rights.
“We,” said they, “shall we quit our general who has given all of us our
ranks, shall we take arms against an army in which we have served
and been victorious for thirty-six years? We will never do it!”[57]
These men were no longer citizens but soldiers. After thirty-six years
of victories, they had lost the traditions of civil life and the taste for
it; the rights of the people had become indifferent to them, and for
them glory took the place of liberty. Cicero and his friends thought
that these surroundings were not those of a popular chief who came
to restore liberty to his fellow-citizens, but those of an ambitious
man who came to establish absolute power by arms, and they were
not mistaken. Caesar’s conduct after the war proves this more than
all the rest. How did he use his victory? What benefits did he confer
on the people whose interests he pretended to defend? I do not speak
of what he was able to do for their comfort and their pleasures, the
sumptuous feasts, the public meals that he gave, the corn and oil that
he so generously distributed to the poorest, the 400 sesterces (£3
4s.) that he paid each citizen on the day of his triumph: if these alms
satisfied the plebeians of that time, if they consented to sacrifice their
liberty at that price, I pardon Cicero for not having more esteem for
them, and for not putting himself on their side; but if they demanded
something else, if they wished for a more complete independence, for
a larger share in the affairs of their country, for new political rights,
they did not obtain them, and Caesar’s victory, notwithstanding his
promises, rendered them neither freer nor more powerful. Caesar
humiliated the aristocracy, but only for his own advantage. He took
the executive power out of the hands of the senate, but only to put it
in his own. He established equality between all the orders, but it was
an equality of servitude, and all were henceforth reduced to the same
level of obedience.
I know that after he had silenced the public speakers, deprived the
people of the right of voting, and united in himself all public
authority, the senate that he had appointed, having exhausted
flattery, solemnly awarded to him the name of Liberator, and voted
the erection of a Temple of Liberty. If it is against this liberty that
Cicero and his friends are accused of having taken up arms, I do not
think it is worth the trouble to defend them from this charge.
Let us call things by their real name. It was for himself and not for
the people that Caesar worked, and Cicero, in opposing him, thought
he was defending the republic and not the privileges of the
aristocracy.
But did this republic deserve to be defended? Was there any hope
of preserving it? Was it not manifest that its ruin was inevitable?
This is the greatest charge that is made against those who followed
Pompey’s party. I admit it is not easy to answer it. The evil that Rome
suffered, and which showed itself in those disorders and that
violence of which Cicero’s letters give us such a sad picture, was not
of a kind to be averted by a few wise reforms. It was ancient and
profound. It became worse every day without any law being able to
prevent or arrest it. Could one hope to cure it with those slight
changes that the boldest proposed? Of what use was it to diminish, as
was wished, the privileges of the aristocracy and to augment the
rights of the plebeians? The sources of public life themselves were
seriously impaired. The evil came from the way in which the
citizenship was acquired.
For a long time Rome had drawn her strength from the country
people. It was from the rustic tribes, the most honoured of all, that
those valiant soldiers who had conquered Italy and subdued
Carthage had come; but this agricultural and warlike people, who
had so well defended the republic, could not defend themselves
against the encroachments of the great estates. Enclosed little by
little by those immense domains where cultivation is easiest, the
poor peasant had for a long time struggled against misery and the
usurers; then, discouraged in the struggle, he had ended by selling
his field to his rich neighbour, who coveted it to round off his estate.
He had tried then to become a tenant farmer, a metayer, a hired
labourer on the property where he had been for so long the master,
but there he met with the competition of the slave, a more frugal
worker, who did not stand out for his wages, who did not make
terms, who might be treated as one liked.[58] Thus, driven twice from
his fields, both as owner and as tenant farmer, without work or
resources, he had been forced to migrate to the city. At Rome,
however, life was not more easy for him. What could he do there?
There was little trade, and usually it was not in the hands of the free
men. In countries where slavery flourishes, work is looked down
upon. To die of hunger without doing anything, is regarded by the
free man as a privilege and an honour. Besides, each noble had men
of all trades among his slaves, and as such a number of workmen
were too many for himself alone, he hired them out to those who had
none, or made them keep shop in a corner of his house for his own
profit. Here again slave competition killed free labour. Happily at
this time Marius opened the ranks of the army to the poorest citizens
(capite censi). These unfortunate men, finding no other resource,
became soldiers. For lack of something better to do, they achieved
the conquest of the world, subjugated Africa, Gaul, and the East,
visited Britain and Germany, and the greater number of them, the
bravest and best, were killed in these distant expeditions. During this
time, the vacancies left in the city by those who departed and did not
return were ill filled. Since Rome had become powerful, people from
all parts of the world came to her, and we may well suppose they
were not always the most respectable.
Several times she had endeavoured to defend herself against these
invasions of foreigners; but it was useless to make severe laws to
remove them, they always returned to hide themselves in that
immense city without a police, and, once settled there, the more
prosperous, by means of their money, the others by means of base
services or cunning, succeeded in obtaining the title of citizens.
Those who received it more naturally, and without needing to
demand it, were the freedmen. No doubt the law did not grant them
all political rights at once; but after one or two generations all these
reservations disappeared, and the grandson of him who had ground
at the mill and who had been sold in the slave-market voted the laws
and elected the consuls like a Roman of the old stock. It was of this
mixture of freedmen and foreigners, that was formed what at this
time was called the Roman people, a wretched people who lived on
the bounty of private persons or the alms of the state, who had
neither memories nor traditions, nor political capacity, nor national
character, nor even morality, for they were ignorant of that which
makes up the honour and dignity of life in the lower classes, namely,
work. With such a people a republic was no longer possible. This is,
of all governments, that which demands the greatest integrity and
political judgment in those who enjoy it. The more privileges it
confers the more devotedness and intelligence it demands. People
who did not use their rights, or only used them to sell them, were not
worthy to preserve them. That absolute power which they had invited
by their votes, which they had received with applause, was made for
them; and one understands that the historian who studies from afar
the events of the past, when he sees liberty disappear from Rome,
consoles himself for its fall by saying that it was deserved and
inevitable, and that he pardons or even applauds the man who, in
overturning it, was only an instrument of necessity or justice.
But the men who lived then, who were attached to the republican
government by tradition and memories, who recalled the great
things it had done, who owed to it their dignities, position, and
renown, could they think like us and resign themselves as easily to its
fall? Firstly, this government existed. They were familiarized to its
defects, since they had lived with them so long. They suffered less
from them, through the long habit of enduring them. On the other
hand, they did not know what this new power that wished to replace
the republic would be. Royalty inspired the Romans with an
instinctive repugnance, especially since they had conquered the East.
They had found there, under this name, the most odious of
governments, the most complete slavery in the midst of the most
refined civilization, all the pleasures of luxury and the arts, the finest
expansion of intellect with the heaviest and basest tyranny; princes
accustomed to play with the fortune, honour, and life of men, a
species of cruel spoilt children, such as are only now to be found in
the African deserts. This picture did not attract them, and whatever
disadvantages the republic had, they asked themselves if it was worth
while to exchange them for those that royalty might have. Besides, it
was natural that the fall of the republic should not appear to them so
near and so sure as it does to us. It is with states as with men, for
whom we find, after their death, a thousand causes of death which
nobody suspected during their life-time. While the machinery of this
ancient government was still working it could not be seen how
disorganized it was. Cicero has, sometimes, moments of profound
despair, in which he announces to his friends that all is lost; but
these moments do not last, and he quickly regains his courage. It
seems to him that a firm hand, an eloquent voice, and the agreement
of good citizens can repair all, and that liberty will easily remedy the
abuses and faults of liberty. He never perceives the whole gravity of
danger. In the worst days, his thoughts never go beyond the
schemers and the ambitious men who disturb the public repose; it is
always Catiline, Caesar, or Clodius whom he accuses, and he thinks
that all will be saved if one can succeed in overcoming them. He was
mistaken, Catiline and Clodius were only the symptoms of a deeper
evil that could not be cured; but is he to be blamed for entertaining
this hope, chimerical as it was? Is he to be blamed for having thought
that there were other means of saving the republic than the sacrifice
of liberty? An honest man and a good citizen ought not to accept
these counsels of despair at first. It is useless to tell him that the
decrees of destiny condemn to perish the constitution that he prefers
and that he has promised to defend, he does well not to believe it
entirely lost until it is actually overthrown. We may call such men, if
we like, blind or dupes; it is honourable in them not to be too
perspicacious, and there are errors and illusions that are worth more
than a too easy resignation. Real liberty existed no longer at Rome,
as I believe, the shadow only remained, but the shadow was still
something. One cannot bear a grudge against those who attached
themselves to it and made desperate efforts not to allow it to perish,
for this shadow, this semblance, consoled them for lost liberty and
gave them some hope of regaining it. This is what honest men like
Cicero thought, who, after mature reflection, without enthusiasm,
without passion, and even without hope, went to find Pompey again;
this is what Lucan makes Cato say in those admirable lines which
seem to me to express the feelings of all those who, without
concealing from themselves the sad state of the republic, persisted in
defending it to the last: “As a father who has just lost his child takes
pleasure in conducting his obsequies, lights with his own hands the
funeral pyre, leaves it with regret, as tardily as he can; so, Rome, I
will not forsake thee until that I have held thee dead in my arms. I
will follow to the end thy very name, O Liberty, even when thou shalt
be no more than a vain shadow!”[59]

IV.

Pharsalia was not the end of Cicero’s political career, as he had

thought. Events were to lead him back once more to power and
replace him at the head of the republic. His retired life, his silence
during the early days of Caesar’s dictatorship, far from injuring his
reputation, on the contrary enhanced it. Statesmen do not lose so
much as they think by remaining for a time outside of affairs.
Retirement, supported with dignity, increases their importance. That
they are no longer in power suffices for people to find some
inclination to regret them. There are fewer reasons to be severe
towards them when their place is not coveted, and as people no
longer suffer from their faults the memory of them is easily lost, and
their good qualities only are remembered. This is what happened to
Cicero. His disgrace disarmed all the enemies that his power had
made him, and his popularity was never so great as when he kept
himself voluntarily from the public eye. A little later, when he
thought he ought to draw nearer to Caesar, he conducted himself
with so much tact, he adjusted so cleverly submission and