Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.4, 1865).djvu/267

 (LESAR. 259 was forced to appeal to the tribunes at Koine, alleging that in Greece he could not have fair play against Gre- cians. In his pleadings at Rome, his eloquence soon ob- tained him great credit and favor, and he won no less upon the affections of the people by the affability of his manners and address, in which he showed a tact and con- sideration beyond what could have been expected at his age; and the open house he kept, the entertainments he gave, and the general splendor of his manner of life con tributed little by little to create and increase his political influence. His enemies slighted the growth of it at first, presuming it would soon fail when his money was gone ; whilst in the mean time it was growing up and flourish- ing among the common people. When his power at last was established and not to be overthrown, and now openly tended to the altering of the whole constitution, they were aware too late, that there is no beginning so mean, which continued application will not make consid- erable, and that despising a danger at first, will make it at last irresistible. Cicero was the, first who had any sus- picions of his designs upon the government, and, as a good pilot is apprehensive of a storm when the sea is most smiling, saw the designing temper of the man through this disguise of good-humor and affability, and said, that in general, in all he did and undertook, he de- tected the ambition for absolute power, " but when I see his hair so carefully arranged, and observe him adjusting it with one finger, I cannot imagine it should enter into such a man's thoughts to subvert the Roman state." But of this more hereafter. The first proof he had of the people's good-will to him, was when he receiyed by their suffrages a tribuneship in the army, and came out on the list with a higher place than Caius Popilius. A second and clearer instauce of their favor appeared upon his making a magnificent ora-