"Stavo ben," was written on his monument, "ma, per star
meglio, sto qui."
After the death of those two usurpers the commonwealth seemed to
recover, and held up its head for a little time, but it was all the
while in a deep consumption, which is a flattering disease. Pompey,
Crassus, and Caesar had found the sweets of arbitrary power, and
each being a check to the other's growth, struck up a false
friendship amongst themselves and divided the government betwixt
them, which none of them was able to assume alone. These were the
public-spirited men of their age--that is, patriots for their own
interest. The commonwealth looked with a florid countenance in
their management; spread in bulk, and all the while was wasting in
the vitals. Not to trouble your lordship with the repetition of
what you know, after the death of Crassus Pompey found himself
outwitted by Caesar, broke with him, overpowered him in the senate,
and caused many unjust decrees to pass against him. Caesar thus
injured, and unable to resist the faction of the nobles which was
now uppermost (for he was a Marian), had recourse to arms, and his
cause was just against Pompey, but not against his country, whose
constitution ought to have been sacred to him, and never to have
been violated on the account of any private wrong.
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