throne: Pompey declared for the former. Aristobulus was made prisoner, and led a captive in his triumph; the town of Jerusalem fell into the power of the Romans; the temple was held against them for nearly three months, and then it was taken and pillaged, but not destroyed. The death of Mithridates happened in the year of Cicero’s consulship, the conquest of Syria in the following one: it is not certain whether Pompey’s triumph was at the end of the year 690, or in the beginning of 691. Pompey’s behaviour after the conclusion of the war was praiseworthy. He showed an _animus civilis_, and dismissed the whole of his army: he might have tried to do just what Sylla did, and made himself the tyrant of the republic. Of the extravagantly flattering honours bestowed upon him, he only once took advantage, and that was at the Circensian games. Thus far he behaved sensibly enough; but in other respects, his conduct in peace was soon such as to belie the name of Magnus, which had been conferred upon him by Sylla in war. His triumph was magnificent: among the trophies, there was a list of the tributes which the commonwealth had gained from the conquered countries. The numbers of these, however, as given in Plutarch, seem to me rather too small than too great: if we bear in mind the immense land-taxes which in the time of the Maccabees came in from Judæa and other districts in Syria, we cannot believe that these numbers can have been correct. It is true that the amount of the new revenue was larger than the sum total of all that had been levied until then; but it is also to be taken into account, that Syria was one of the finest and richest countries in the world. CATILINE; CICERO. We now come to Catiline, who, as an English writer says of Cromwell, is “damned to everlasting fame;” a saying which is far more applicable to him, as even Cromwell was an angel when compared with Catiline. In Italian tales (in Malespini, for instance), he is so much the hero of crime, and become such a popular character, that the vulgar corruption of his name, which indeed is but a slight one (_Catellina_), has found its way into the Latin manuscripts. I refer you for his history to Sallust, who has written it with great truthfulness, giving every one his due, and doing full justice even to Cicero, without heeding the silly gossip of the people. He was himself, at that time, already a young man and capable of observation; and he also became very soon afterwards acquainted with the first men, such as Cæsar and Crassus.