22.26
The
money made in this business was left to his son, who hoped that his fortune
might help him to a more respectable position in society. He decided to
become an advocate, and his appearances in the Forum, where he defended
men of the lowest class by noisy and scurrilous attacks upon the property
and character of respectable citizens, brought him into notoriety and
ultimately into office. After discharging the various duties of the
quaestorship, the two aedileships, plebeian and curule, and lastly those of the
praetor, he now aspired to the consulship. With this view he cleverly took
advantage of the feeling against the Dictator to court the gale of popular
favour, and gained for himself the whole credit of carrying the resolution.
Everybody, whether in Rome or in the army, whether friend or foe, with the
sole exception of the Dictator himself, looked upon this proposal as intended
to cast a slur on him. But he met the injustice done to him by the people,
embittered as they were against him, with the same dignified composure with
which he had previously treated the charges which his opponents had
brought against him before the populace. While still on his way he received a
despatch containing the senatorial decree for dividing his command, but as
he knew perfectly well that an equal share of military command by no means
implied an equal share of military skill, he returned to his army with a spirit
undismayed by either his fellow-citizens or the enemy.
