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"from one so angry " Well, it is obvious to him that the very same fountain which has (only slightly I admit) bespattered him, will offer deep draughts of praise to his lips. Finally he is a man of penetrating intelligence who sees far ahead, and he knows perfectly well that a man like you—a man who is by far the greatest nobleman in a district of Italy[1] which he can ill afford to disregard, and who, in the state to which we all belong, is the peer of any among the most eminent men of his age, whether in ability or popularity or reputation in the eyes of the Roman people—cannot be shut out from political life any longer. He will not want this favour to be attributed some day to the lapse of time, rather than immediately to himself.
10 So much for Caesar. Now as to the nature of our times and circumstances. No man is so bitter an enemy to the cause which Pompey, with more courage than calculation, took up as to dare to speak of us as either disloyal citizens or unprincipled men. And here I often admire the sobriety and justice and wisdom of Caesar; he never refers to Pompey except in the most complimentary terms. But, you will object, he has on many occasions treated him as a public man[2] with undue harshness. Well, that is due to the clash of arms and to victory, not to Caesar. Why, how warmly he has welcomed us all! Cassius he has made his legate; Brutus he has made governor of Gaul; Sulpicius of Greece; Marcellus, with whom he was more indignant than any one, he has recalled with every consideration for his honour.[3]
11 What then is the import of all this? It means that the very nature of things and of politics as we find them will not tolerate—no, nor will any system
- ↑ See note c, p. 458.
- ↑ "Caesar, however highly he regarded Cn. Pompey as a private man, had to deal with him severely as leader of the opposite party, even going so far as to confiscate his property." Tyrrell.
- ↑ See iv. 4. 3.