(When Caesar had spoken to this effect he still wished to go on talking, but Alexander, who had with difficulty restrained himself hitherto, now lost patience, and with some agitation and combativeness: “But _I_,” said he, “O Jupiter and ye other gods, how long must I endure in silence the insolence of this man? There is, as you see, no limit to his praise of himself or his abuse of me. It would have better become him perhaps to refrain from both, since both are alike insupportable, but especially from disparaging my conduct, the more since he imitated it. But he has arrived at such a pitch of impudence that he dares to ridicule the model of his own exploits. Nay, Caesar, you ought to have remembered those tears you shed on hearing of the monuments that had been consecrated to my glorious deeds.(621) But since then Pompey has inflated you with pride, Pompey who though he was the idol of his countrymen was in fact wholly insignificant. Take his African triumph: that was no great exploit, but the feebleness of the consuls in office made it seem glorious. Then the famous Servile War(622) was waged not against men but the vilest of slaves, and its successful issue was due to others, I mean Crassus and Lucius,(623) though Pompey gained the reputation and the credit for it. Again, Armenia and the neighbouring provinces were conquered by Lucullus,(624) yet for these also Pompey triumphed. Then he became the idol of the citizens and they called him ‘the Great.’ Greater, I ask, than whom of his predecessors? What achievement of his can be compared with those of Marius(625) or of the two Scipios or of Furius,(626) who sits over there by Quirinus because he rebuilt his city when it was almost in ruins? Those men did not make their reputation at the expense of others, as happens with public buildings built at the public expense; I mean that one man lays the foundation, another finishes the work, while the last man who is in office though he has only whitewashed the walls has his name inscribed on the building.(627) Not thus, I repeat, did those men gain credit for the deeds of others. They were themselves the creators and artificers of their schemes and deserved their illustrious titles. Well then, it is no wonder that you vanquished Pompey, who used to scratch his head with his finger‐ tip(628) and in all respects was more of a fox than a lion. When he was deserted by Fortune who had so long favoured him, you easily overcame him, thus unaided. And it is evident that it was not to any superior ability of yours that you owed your victory, since after running short of provisions(629)—no small blunder for a general to make, as I need not tell you—you fought a battle and were beaten. And if from imprudence or lack of judgment or inability to control his countrymen Pompey neither postponed a battle when it was his interest to protract the war, nor followed up a victory when he had won,(630) it was due to his own errors that he failed,