feel far more
eagerness with all order and decency not,--forbid it, Jupiter!--not to
be your master, but your head man, not your tyrant, but your leader. In
the matter of accomplishing for you everything else that must be done, I
will be both consul and dictator, but in the matter of injuring any one,
a private citizen. That possibility I do not think should be even
mentioned. Why should I put any one of you to death, who have done me no
harm, when I destroyed none of my adversaries, even if with the utmost
zeal they had taken[87] part with various enemies against me, but I took
pity on all those that had withstood me but once, saving many alive of
those that fought on the opposing side a second time? How should I bear
malice toward any, seeing that without reading or making excerpts I
immediately burned all the documents that were found among the private
papers both in Pompey's and in Scipio's tents? So then, let us,
Conscript Fathers, boldly unite our interests, forgetting all past
events as brought to pass simply by some supernatural Force, and
beginning to love each the other without suspicion as though we were
some new citizens. In this way you may behave yourselves toward me as
toward a father, enjoying the fore-thought and solicitude which I shall
give you and fearing no vexation, and I may have charge of you as of
children, praying that all noblest deeds may be ever! accomplished by
your exertions, and enduring perforce human limitations, exalting the
excellent by fitting honors and correcting the rest so far as is
feasible.

[-18-] "Another point--do not fear the soldiers nor regard them in any
other light than as guardians of my dominion, which is at the same time
yours: that they should be maintained is inevitable, for many reasons,
but they will be maintained for your benefit, not against you; they will
be content with what is given them and think well of the givers. For
this reason larger taxes than is customary have been levied, in order
that the opposition might be made submissive and the victorious element,
receiving sufficient support, might not become an opposition. Of course
I have received no private gain from these funds, seeing that I have
expended for you all that I possessed, including much that I had
borrowed. No, you can see that a part has been expended on the wars, and
the rest has been kept safe for you: it will serve to adorn the city and
administer the other governmental departments. I hav