Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/67

Rh time (and people seem to think that this will be so), Cato singlehanded will have proved of more avail than all the laws and all the courts." He was likewise through life the champion of the helpless provincials, and in the last terrible struggle he lifted up his voice, though in vain, against the harshness and cruelty of his associates. Cato's want of tact and judgment often made him a sore trial and vexation to his friends; but these weaknesses were on the surface; at heart the man was sound, honest, and fearless. His faults have deserved to be forgotten by posterity, and his virtues have been claimed as a possession of the world or all time. It has proved true for him, that "The path of duty was the path of glory."

The fortunes of Rome were chequered during the years following the Restoration which was the work of Sulla. Lucullus, as we have seen, won some brilliant victories in the East. Spain was disturbed by a remnant of the Marians under Sertorius. By the aid of native allies Sertorius resisted for long years with varying success the efforts of Metellus and Pompey. His assassination by one of his Roman comrades caused the collapse of the Spanish insurrection, and the country was effectually subdued by Pompey. Meanwhile the government had on its hands two contests of a very dangerous and irritating nature. It was too timid or too supine to organise a powerful and centralised fleet, or to supply Italy with a proper garrison. The result of the first