Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/196

166 man fit to play the part of Scipio, the soldier-chief of a free State, and alongside of him Cicero hoped to fill the place of Lælius, the man of peace, of eloquence, and of learning, who could supplement the qualities of the military leader. This apportionment of functions was suggested in a letter which Cicero wrote to Pompey, in reply to the one which had caused him so much uneasiness early in the year. Cicero's letter is naturally severe in tone, and he refers not without dignity to his own services to Pompey in the past: "It is my great satisfaction to be conscious that I have not failed in supporting my friends; and if on any occasion these fail to support me in turn, I am well content that the balance of obligations conferred should rest with me. Of one thing I feel sure, that if the zeal which I have always shown in your service proves an insufficient link to bind us the one to the other, yet nevertheless the interests of the State will draw and unite us together. . . When you have made yourself acquainted with the truth of the case, you will readily allow me, as scarcely less than Lælius, to be associated both as a political ally and as a friend with you who are so much greater than Africanus."

The failure of Cicero's "good cause" is the story which we have to trace of the politics of the ensuing years; but it may be well to attempt, once for all, to arrive at a judgment on the practicability of his ideal. The problem presented to Rome was one which had never been solved in the ancient world. Free States there had been and great Empires, but