ate, quarrelling between Clodius and Pompey, in the course of which
Pompey was induced to consent to Cicero's return. Then Clodius took upon
himself, in revenge, to turn against the Triumvirate altogether, and to
repudiate even Caesar himself. But it was all a vain hurly-burly, as to
which Caesar, when he heard the details in Gaul, could only have felt how
little was to be gained by maintaining his alliance with Pompey. He had
achieved his purpose, which he could not have done without the
assistance of Crassus, whose wealth, and of Pompey, whose authority,
stood highest in Rome; and now, having had his legions voted to him, and
his provinces, and his prolonged term of years, he cared nothing for
either of them.

There is a little story which must be repeated, as against Cicero, in
reference to this period of his exile, because it has been told in all
records of his life. Were I to omit the little story, it would seem as
though I shunned the records which have been repeated as opposed to his
credit. He had written, some time back, a squib in which he had been
severe upon the elder Curio; so it is supposed; but it matters little
who was the object or what the subject. This had got wind in Rome, as
such matters do sometimes, and he now feared that it would do him a
mischief with the Curios and the friends of the Curios. The authorship
was only matter of gossip. Could it not be denied? "As it is written,"
says Cicero, "in a style inferior to that which is usual to me, can it
not be shown not to have been mine?"[285] Had Cicero possessed all the
Christian virtues, as we hope that prelates and pastors possess them in
this happy land, he would not have been betrayed into, at any rate, the
expression of such a wish. As it is, the enemies of Cicero must make the
most of it. His friends, I think, will look upon it leniently.

Continued efforts were made among Cicero's friends at Rome to bring him
back, with which he was not altogether contented. He argues the matter
repeatedly with Atticus, not always in the best temper. His friends at
Rome were, he thought, doing the matter amiss: they would fail, and he
would still have to finish his days abroad. Atticus, in his way to
Epirus, visits him at Dyrrachium, and he is sure that Atticus would not
have left Rome but that the affair was hopeless. The reader of the
correspondence is certainly led to the belief that Atticus must have
been the most patient of friends; but he feels, at the