Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/336

294 ," is meant to indicate that a place might be found in Rome for a kind of monarchical power, to be exercised by Pompey. It is clear, however, from the account of the magistracies in the third book of The Laws, that no extraordinary authority, like that established by Augustus in the next generation, was contemplated in Cicero's Republic. The character drawn, so far as we can judge from the few lines that remain, seems to be only that of the "best citizen," the ideal statesman, who guides a free commonwealth by his advice and influence. It was a part which might have been played by Pompey or by Cæsar or by Cicero himself, or even by all three at once.