estimate of Middleton as a biographer. I regard him as a laborer who spared himself no trouble, who was enabled by his nature to throw himself with enthusiasm into his subject, who knew his work as a writer of English, and who, by a combination of erudition, intelligence, and industry, has left us one of those books of which it may truly be said that no English library should be without it. The last letter written by Cicero in Asia was sent to Atticus from Ephesus the day before he started--on the last day, namely, of September. He had been delayed by winds and by want of vessels large enough to carry him and his suite. News here reached him from Rome--news which was not true in its details, but true enough in its spirit. In a letter to Atticus he speaks of "miros terrores Caesarianos"[115]--"dreadful reports as to outrages by Caesar;" that he would by no means dismiss his army; that he had with him the Praetors elect, one of the Tribunes, and even one of the Consuls; and that Pompey had resolved to leave the city. Such were the first tidings presaging Pharsalia. Then he adds a word about his triumph. "Tell me what you think about this triumph, which my friends desire me to seek. I should not care about it if Bibulus were not also asking for a triumph--Bibulus, who never put a foot outside his own doors as long as there was an enemy in Syria!" Thus Cicero had to suffer untold misery because Bibulus was asking for a triumph! CHAPTER V. _THE WAR BETWEEN CAESAR AND POMPEY._