these doubts the man of words will express, if there be given to him
an _alter ego_ such as Cicero had in Atticus.

In reference to the biography of Mr Forsyth I must, in justice both to
him and to Cicero, quote one passage from the work: "Let those who,
like De Quincey,[26] Mommsen, and others, speak disparagingly of
Cicero, and are so lavish in praise of Caesar, recollect that Caesar
never was troubled by a conscience."

Here it is that we find that advance almost to Christianity of which I
have spoken, and that superiority of mind being which makes Cicero the
most fit to be loved of all the Romans.

It is hard for a man, even in regard to his own private purposes, to
analyze the meaning of a conscience, if he put out of question all
belief in a future life. Why should a man do right if it be not for a
reward here or hereafter? Why should anything be right--or wrong? The
Stoics tried to get over the difficulty by declaring that if a man
could conquer all his personal desires he would become, by doing so,
happy, and would therefore have achieved the only end at which a man
can rationally aim. The school had many scholars, but probably never
a believer. The normal Greek or Roman might be deterred by the law,
which means fear of punishment, or by the opinion of his neighbors,
which means ignominy. He might recognize the fact that comfort would
combine itself with innocence, or disease and want with lust and
greed. In this there was little need of a conscience--hardly, perhaps,
room for it. But when ambition came, with all the opportunities that
chance, audacity, and intellect would give--as it did to Sylla, to
Caesar, and to Augustus--then there was nothing to restrain the
men. There was to such a man no right but his power, no wrong but