n his promises, and to explain why, when he was taken by pirates, the
cities of Asia Minor should have voluntarily contributed money to make
up the ransom demanded, seeing that he had never served in Asia, except
as a subordinate. The only possible explanation is that while there, his
real energies were devoted to the attainment of the greatest possible
popularity in the shortest possible time, and that he was making himself
beloved by the Asiatic cities, while his enemies said of him that he was
wasting his time in idleness and dissipation.

In any case, it was the control of money that most helped him in
obtaining high offices in Rome, and from the very first he seems to have
acted on the principle that in great enterprises economy spells ruin,
and that to check expenditure is to trip up success. And this is
explained, if not justified, by his close association with the people,
from his very childhood. Until he was made Pontifex Maximus he seems to
have lived in a small house in the Suburra, in one of the most crowded
and least fashionable quarters of Rome; and as a mere boy, it was his
influence with the common people that roused Sylla's anxiety. To live
with the people, to take their part against the nobles, to give them of
all he had and of all he could borrow, were the chief rules of his
conduct, and the fact that he obtained such enormous loans proves that
there were rich lenders who were ready to risk fortunes upon his
success. And it was in dealing with the Roman plebeian that he learned
to command the Roman soldier, with the tact of a demagogue and the
firmness of an autocrat. He knew that a man must give largely, even
recklessly, to be beloved, and that in order to be respected he must be
able to refuse coldly and without condition, and that in all ages the
people are but as little children before genius, though they may rise
against talent like wild beasts and tear it to death.

He knew also that in youth ten failures are nothing compared with one
success, while in the full meridian of power one failure undoes a score
of victories; hence his recklessness at first, his magnificent caution
in his latter days; his daring resistance of Sylla's power before he was
twenty, and his mildness towards the ringleaders of popular
conspiracies against him when he was near his end; his violence upon the
son of King Juba, whom he seized by the beard in open court when he
himself was but a young lawyer, and his moderation i