I will be your interpreter. Woo her in honest Latin, and I will
turn it into elegant Greek between the throws of dice. I can
make love and mind my game at once, as Flaminius can
tell you.

"Well, then, to be plain, Caesar, Flaminius has been talking to
me about plots, and suspicions, and politicians. I never plagued
myself with such things since Sylla's and Marius's days; and then
I never could see much difference between the parties. All that
I am sure of is, that those who meddle with such affairs are
generally stabbed or strangled. And, though I like Greek wine
and handsome women, I do not wish to risk my neck for them. Now,
tell me as a friend, Caius--is there no danger?"

"Danger!" repeated Caesar, with a short, fierce, disdainful
laugh: "what danger do you apprehend?"

"That you should best know," said Flaminius; "you are far more
intimate with Catiline than I. But I advise you to be cautious.
The leading men entertain strong suspicions."

Caesar drew up his figure from its ordinary state of graceful
relaxation into an attitude of commanding dignity, and replied in
a voice of which the deep and impassioned melody formed a strange
contrast to the humorous and affected tone of his ordinary
conversation. "Let them suspect. They suspect because they know
what they have deserved. What have they done for Rome?--What for
mankind? Ask the citizens--ask the provinces. Have they had any
other object than to perpetuate their own exclusive power, and to
keep us under the yoke of an oligarchical tyranny, which unites