y, produced not long
afterwards a conspiracy of senators, and even of some whom I had most
obliged and loved, against my life, which they basely took away by
assassination.

_Scipio_.--You say you led your victorious troops to Rome. How were they
your troops? I thought the Roman armies had belonged to the Republic,
not to their generals.

_Caesar_.--They did so in your time. But before I came to command them,
Marius and Sylla had taught them that they belonged to their generals.
And I taught the senate that a veteran army, affectionately attached to
its leader, could give him all the treasures and honours of the State
without asking their leave.

_Scipio_.--Just gods! did I then deliver my country from the invading
Carthaginian, did I exalt it by my victories above all other nations,
that it might become a richer prey to its own rebel soldiers and their
ambitious commanders?

_Caesar_.--How could it be otherwise? Was it possible that the
conquerors of Europe, Asia, and Africa could tamely submit to descend
from their triumphal chariots and become subject to the authority of
praetors and consuls elected by a populace corrupted by bribes, or
enslaved to a confederacy of factious nobles, who, without regard to
merit, considered all the offices and dignities of the State as
hereditary possessions belonging to their families?

_Scipio_.--If I thought it no dishonour, after triumphing over Hannibal,
to lay down my fasces and obey, as all my ancestors had done before me,
the magistrates of the republic, such a conduct would not have
dishonoured either Marius, or Sylla, or Caesar. But you all dishonoured
yourselves when, instead of virtuous Romans, superior to your
fellow-citizens in merit and glory, but equal to them in a due subjection
to the laws, you became the enemies, the invaders, and the tyrants of
your country.

_Caesar_.--Was I the enemy of my country in giving it a ruler fit to
support all the majesty and weight of its empire? Did I invade it when I
marched to deliver the people from the usurped dominion and insolence of
a few senators? Was I a tyrant because I would not crouch under Pompey,
and let him be thought my superior when I felt he was not my equal?

_Scipio_.--Pompey had given you a noble example of moderation in twice
dismissing the armies, at the head of which he had performed such
illustrious actions, and returning a private citizen into the bosom of
his country.

_Caesar_.--His moderat