on which occasion Marcus Cato, a juror there, stopped his ears
with his hands in open court. Dynast and reformer: the rôles
could not well be borne by one and the same personage. Admi-
rably a great Roman historian later on called Pompey"the origi-
nator and subverter of his own Laws." ¹ As to Bursa, Cicero
wrote to his friend, the recluse Marius: "I surely know that you
are glad, but you are too reserved in your congratulations. For
you think that on account of the contemptible character of the
fellow I deem the satisfaction not so great. Believe me I rejoiced
more in this verdict than in the death of my private enemy
( Clodius). In the first place I prefer that it should have been
accomplished by a trial rather than by the sword, with the renown
of a friend rather than with (such a one's) disaster, and partic-
ularly I was delighted by the fact that so strong a sympathy of
good citizens had arisen in opposition to the incredible exertions
of a man (Pomp.) preeminently distinguished and powerful.
Clodius was at least tremendously in earnest, but this Bursa,
this ape, ² just to amuse himself, chose me as the object of his
attacks, and persuaded some of my ill-wishers, that he would
always be ready to let slip at me." (Fam. 7, 2.)

At this time Cicero more than ever was overwhelmed with
professional work (ib. 4) in the courts. The shorter procedure
under Pompey's law had greatly increased the number of cases
which could be disposed of in a given time. The correspondence
of Cicero in this year is slender. There is no trace of Vercinget-
orix and the mighty rising of the Kelts which for a while tested
all the genius of Caesar and jeopardized all his previous achieve-
ments beyond the Rhone. Rome was indeed an imperial city,
but her home vision was narrow after all.

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