His new theory is that the body politic should be educated to accept the leadership and advice of some strong person who might, like the revered _princeps senatus_ of old, be honored as guardian (_rector_ or _gubernator_) and whose considered advice would be respected by all. He says explicitly that he has in mind such a man as Scipio Aemilianus, who at times served in just such a capacity even when he held only the honorary designation of _princeps senatus_. In the fragments that we have the precise intention of the great office does not come out clearly. One scholar believes that Cicero had Pompey in mind, and that Augustus later tried to put the program in action under his own régime.[10] A few years later Cicero in a letter to his most trusted friend says that Pompey had never measured up to the height of his ideal rector,[11] which seems to be a confession that Cicero had had Pompey in mind as a possible candidate though fearing that Pompey would prove deficient as a leader. It can hardly be doubted that Cicero must have had moments of regrets that the state had not accepted him, Cicero, for such unofficial leadership after his consulship. It is quite clear that if Cicero had at that time proved himself a man of outstanding qualities of leadership he might have become for many years a rector of the type that he describes. At any rate in 43, after Caesar’s murder, Cicero assumed for himself the position of rector and gubernator, though he held no office.[12] However, while writing the _De Republica_ in 54-1, Cicero could hardly have supposed that his day of influence would return so long as Caesar or Pompey continued in power. Another possibility is that when Caesar appeared to be aiming at some form of autocracy, Cicero entertained the hope of converting that powerful man by his monograph on government to accept a constitution of good old traditions and to assume under that constitution a legal and dignified position such as Scipio had for a while enjoyed. There is at any rate a significant passage in the _De Provinciis Consularibus_,[13] written in the year 56 (two years before he began to write the _De Republica_) in which, after much flattering of Caesar, he suggested that since Caesar was as moderate as he was wise he would be willing to accept a constitutional position and act in harmony with the senate, if the senate would act in a conciliatory manner. That passage may be the safest clue to follow in trying to fathom the intentions of the _De Republica_.