and had seen the old practices of Roman government brought down to the
pretence of traditional forms. But still, so he thought, there was
life left in the old forms, if they could be revivified by patriotism,
labor, and intelligence. It was the best that he could imagine for the
State--infinitely better than the chance of falling into the bloody
hands of one Marius and one Sulla after another. Mommsen tells us
that nothing could be more rotten than the condition of oligarchical
government into which Rome had fallen; and we are inclined to agree
with Mommsen, because we have seen what followed. But that Cicero,
living and seeing it all as a present spectator, should have hoped
better things, should not, I think, cause us to doubt either Cicero's
wisdom or his patriotism. I cannot but think that, had I been a Roman
of those days, I should have preferred Cicero, with his memories of
the past, to Caesar, with his ambition for the future.

Looking back from our standing-point of to-day, we know how great Rome
was--infinitely greater, as far as power is concerned, than anything
else which the world has produced. It came to pass that "Urbis et
orbis" was not a false boast. Gradually growing from the little nest
of robbers established on the banks of the Tiber, the people of Rome
learned how to spread their arms over all the known world, and to
conquer and rule, while they drew to themselves all that the ingenuity
and industry of other people had produced. To do this, there must have
been not only courage and persistence, but intelligence, patriotism,
and superior excellence in that art of combination of which government
consists. But yet, when we look back, it is hard to say when were the
palmy days of Rome. When did those virtues shine by which her power
was founded? When was that wisdom best exhibited from which came her
capacity for ruling? Not in the time of her early kings, whose mythic
virtues, if they existed, were concerned but in small matters; for the