and then the first as Consul. This, no
doubt, was partly due to his compliance with those rules for canvassing
which his brother Quintus is said to have drawn out, and which I have
quoted; but it proves also the trust which was felt in him by the
people. The candidates, for the most part, were the candidates for the
aristocracy. They were put forward with the idea that thus might the
aristocratic rule of Rome be best maintained. Their elections were
carried on by bribery, and the people were for the most part indifferent
to the proceeding. Whether it might be a Verres, or an Antony, or a
Hortensius, they took the money that was going. They allowed themselves
to be delighted with the games, and they did as they were bid. But every
now and then there came up a name which stirred them, and they went to
the voting pens--ovilia--with a purpose of their own. When such a
candidate came forward, he was sure to be first. Such had been Marius,
and such had been the great Pompey, and such was Cicero. The two former
were men successful in war, who gained the voices of the people by their
victories. Cicero gained them by what he did inside the city. He could
afford not to run into debt and ruin himself during his AEdileship, as
had been common with AEdiles, because he was able to achieve his
popularity in another way. It was the chief duty of the AEdiles to look
after the town generally--to see to the temples of the gods, to take
care that houses did not tumble down, to look to the cleansing of the
streets, and to the supply of water. The markets were under them, and
the police, and the recurrent festivals. An active man, with
common-sense, such as was Cicero, no doubt did his duty as AEdile well.

He kept up his practice as an advocate during his years of office. We
have left to us the part of one speech and the whole of another spoken
during this period. The former was in favor of Fonteius, whom the Gauls
prosecuted for plundering them as Propraetor, and the latter is a civil
case on behalf of Caecina, addressed to the "Recuperatores," as had been
that for Marcus Tullius. The speech for Fonteius is remarkable as being
as hard against the provincial Gauls as his speech against Verres had
been favorable to the Sicilians. But the Gauls were barbarians, whereas
the Sicilians were Greeks. And it should be always remembered that
Cicero spoke as an advocate, and that the praise and censure of an
advocate require to be taken with many gra