and when to envy there are added fear and hatred, malicious anecdotes
spring like mushrooms in a forcing-pit. But gossip is not evidence, nor
does it become evidence because it is in Latin and has been repeated
through many generations. The strength of a chain is no greater than the
strength of its first link, and the adhesive character of calumny proves
only that the inclination of average men to believe the worst of great men
is the same in all ages. This particular accusation against Caesar gains,
perhaps, a certain credibility from the admission that it was the only
occasion on which anything of the kind could be alleged against him. On
the other hand, it was unheard of for near a quarter of a century. It was
produced in Rome in the midst of a furious political contest. No witnesses
were forthcoming; no one who had been at Bithynia at the time; no one who
ever pretended to have original knowledge of the truth of the story.
Caesar himself passed it by with disdain, or alluded to it, if forced upon
his notice, with contemptuous disgust.

The Bithynian mission was otherwise successful. He brought the ships to
Thermus. He distinguished himself personally in the storming of Mitylene,
and won the oak-wreath, the Victoria Cross of the Roman army. Still
pursuing the same career, Caesar next accompanied Servilius Isauricus in a
campaign against the horde of pirates, afterwards so famous, that was
forming itself among the creeks and river-mouths of Cilicia. The
advantages which Servilius obtained over them were considerable enough to
deserve a triumph, but were barren of result. The news that Sylla was dead
reached the army while still in the field; and the danger of appearing in
Rome being over, Caesar at once left Cilicia and went back to his family.
Other causes are said to have contributed to hasten his return. A plot had
been formed, with the consul Lepidus at its head, to undo Sylla's laws and
restore the constitution of the Gracchi. Caesar had been urged by letter
to take part in the movement, and he may have hurried home either to