Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.4, 1865).djvu/428

 420 CATO THE YOUNGER. derailed notwithstanding. And indeed Cato was a great trouble and perplexity to almost all that w r ere accused of any thing, as they feared to have him one of their judges, yet, did not dare to demand his exclusion. And many had been condemned, because by refusing him, they seemed to show that they could not trust their own inno- cence ; and it was a reproach thrown in the teeth of some by their enemies, that they had not accepted Cato for their judge. In the mean while, Caesar kept close with his forces in Gaul, and continued in arms; and at the same time em- ployed his gifts, his riches, and his friends above all tilings, to increase his power in the city. And now Cato's old admonitions began to rouse Pompey out of the negligent security in which he lay, into a sort of imagination of danger at hand ; but seeing him slow and unwilling, and timorous to undertake any measures of prevention against Caesar, Cato resolved himself to stand for the consulship, and presently force Caesar either to lay down his arms or discover his intentions. Both Cato's competitors were persons of good position ; Sulpicius, who was one, owed much to Cato's credit and authority in the city, and it was thought unhandsome and ungratefully done, to stand against him ; not that Cato himself took it ill, " For it is no wonder," said he, " if a man will not yield to another, in that which he esteems the greatest good." He had persuaded the senate to make an order, that those who stood for offices, should themselves ask the people for their votes, and not solicit by others, nor take others about with them, to speak for them, in their canvass. And this made the common people very hostile to him, if they were to lose not only the means of receiving money, but also the opportunity of obliging several persons, and so to become by his means both poor and less regarded. Besides this, Cato himself was by nature altogether unfit