Verres. He fled the city
and was never heard of again. Cicero was the hero of the hour.

The man who appears and feels himself a hero when addressing a great
crowd, who can work their feelings and his own into tempestuous
enthusiasm, is often a weak reed, swayed by every impulse and incapable
of the long slow effort required to carry a purpose into action. This
was the case with Cicero. When speaking he was carried away by his own
passion. Then he appeared to know exactly what he thought. Alone,
however, he was moody, a prey to fearful doubt and depression, one day
full of enthusiasm, the next despairing. He was at once vain and timid;
uncertain of himself and turned this way and that by the praise or blame
of others. His great desire was to be admired by every one. His
comparatively humble origin made him feel any attention from the nobles
far more flattering than it was.

In a good sense as well as in a bad he was a Conservative. His study of
history made him feel full of respect for any institution that had
lasted a long time, and for men belonging to ancient families. He felt
this even at a time when his writings and speeches were making him known
throughout Italy and admired by men whose praise was worth having. The
rich men and many of the aristocrats were far inferior to Cicero in
brains and character; yet he longed and strove to get into 'society'.
Society at the time was extravagant, frivolous, vicious, and
hard-hearted. Cicero was modest and frugal in his personal habits,
serious in the bent of his mind, a man of high moral principle and
tender domestic affections. Yet nothing pleased him more than an
invitation to one of the houses of the smart set; nothing vexed him more
than to be thought old-fashioned or middle-class in his ideas.

All these feelings made him regard his own election to the consulship,
and the support he received as candidate from the noble Conservatives,
as the most wonderful affair. Yet the real reason why the Conservatives
supported him was not that they loved Cicero but that they loathed
Catiline, the third strong candidate, and were prepared to go to great
lengths to keep him out. Antonius, who was elected as Cicero's
colleague, though a friend of Crassus, was considered to be harmless.

This consulship was the turning point in Cicero's life. He had always
wanted to stand well with all parties. Now he was compelled to take his
place definitely on the Conservative side. More than tha