party."

"Your language, Caius, convinces me that the reports which have
been circulated are not without foundation. I will venture to
prophesy that within a few months the republic will pass through
a whole Odyssey of strange adventures."

"I believe so; an Odyssey, of which Pompey will be the
Polyphemus, and Cicero the Siren. I would have the state imitate
Ulysses: show no mercy to the former; but contrive, if it can be
done, to listen to the enchanting voice of the other, without
being seduced by it to destruction."

"But whom can your party produce as rivals to these two famous
leaders?"

"Time will show. I would hope that there may arise a man, whose
genius to conquer, to conciliate, and to govern, may unite in one
cause an oppressed and divided people;--may do all that Sylla
should have done, and exhibit the magnificent spectacle of a
great nation directed by a great mind."

"And where is such a man to be found?"

"Perhaps where you would least expect to find him. Perhaps he
may be one whose powers have hitherto been concealed in domestic
or literary retirement. Perhaps he may be one, who, while
waiting for some adequate excitement, for some worthy
opportunity, squanders on trifles a genius before which may yet
be humbled the sword of Pompey and the gown of Cicero. Perhaps