Tenchteri was shocking, and towards Vercingetorix deplorable, it was dictated by an unhallowed ambition; yet he never did anything of the kind against his fellow-citizens. His behaviour to the Gauls may indeed be accounted for by what we know of the manners of the times. The ruling party at Rome behaved towards Cæsar, not only foolishly, but with utter injustice: they ought never to have hindered his offering himself from Gaul as a candidate for the consular dignity. If they had allowed him quietly to get it, matters would not only have gone on better than in Pompey’s second and third consulships, but all would very likely have passed off peaceably, and even perhaps beneficially for the republic. Had it in any way been possible to find a remedy for the disorders of the state, Cæsar was the only man to devise it, and to carry it out. In his behaviour to Cicero, who during his consulship had offended him, he shows himself to be a very different person from Pompey, though Pompey’s vanity only had been wounded, whereas Cicero had everywhere leagued himself with the enemies of Cæsar. Yet the latter did not bear him the least grudge; but would gladly have taken him with him to Gaul, and there protected him. As to Cæesar’s style, everybody knows that there is no greater master among prose writers in the γένος ἀφελές. The highest acknowledgment is what Cicero says of his eloquence: it is _sermoni proprior_, the most finished conversation of a highly educated man. Posterity has indeed been more just to Cæsar’s genius, than his contemporaries have been; Tacitus, however, discerned it.[7] Cæsar was as a man possessed by fate, who rushed on with a headlong impulse of passions, though always benevolent and amiable: he thus got entangled in most unfortunate embarrassments. To this feature in his character belongs his extravagant prodigality; not for his own pleasures, but for the people, which made him dependent upon the rich, especially upon Crassus, who advanced him immense sums. If during Cæsar’s consulship, there had been a party which had wished honestly to attach itself to him, and to rid itself of Pompey’s influence, his year of office would have passed without a stain. It was in fact rather a loss of time for him; as his real object was the province, which, according to the custom of those times, he could only obtain at the end of the year. Vatinius, who was then _tribunus plebis_, with a violation of the laws which was become common in those days, caused Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum to be given for five years as a province to Cæsar; and to this was afterwards added Transalpine Gaul, which at that time was not yet a province. Pompey until now had had his province only for an indefinite period.