Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/312

274

say, 'I only wish you had thought of this before'; I know that you wished it, and that I have been a downright ass."

The reconstitution of the triumvirate was followed by a period of quiet at Rome, and the State moved along the lines which the Three had traced for it. Pompey and Crassus were consuls in 55 B.C., and each of the confederates received the provincial command for which he had stipulated. The union between them seemed now absolutely re-established, and Cicero did not at this time appreciate how hollow the alliance necessarily was. In this settlement, which left Pompey for the moment the acknowledged head of the State, Cicero believed that he was obliged to acquiesce. Early in the year 55 he writes to Lentulus: "The State lies beyond question in the power of our friends, and that so absolutely that it is unlikely that this generation will see any change in the situation. I subordinate my action to the wishes of the man whom I am bound in honour not to oppose; and I am not playing the hypocrite in this, as some fancy; for such is my earnestness in Pompey's cause, and such my devotion to him, that they have power to make his interests and wishes seem to me all that is right. To my mind, even his opponents would not do wrong if, feeling themselves to be no match for him, they were now to desist from contending. . . Peace is the best we can hope for now, and that the present rulers seem likely to secure us, if men will submit patiently to their domination. As for my