as it did on the acquittal of Vatinius. Pompey had failed, where Cæsar had succeeded, in saving from ruin a partisan, whose sole virtue was that he had been a zealous and useful servant to his chief. Gabinius judged that so ineffective a master had best be deserted, and when the Civil War came, he no less than Vatinius was to be found on the side of Cæsar. Cicero never really forgave himself for his pliancy on this occasion. "Why," he writes in the bitterness of his heart five years later—"why should I take account of my enemies? there are friends of mine, men whom I have defended at the bar, whom I cannot see in the Senate-house without pain, or associate with them without disgrace."[1]
During the years following the conference of Luca, Cæsar was untiring in his efforts to win the regard of Cicero, and to unite him to himself by every bond of personal and political friendship. There was no fear lest Cicero should forget that Cæsar could deal heavy blows, if he were so minded; and now no opportunity was lost to impress him with the conviction, that Cæsar had been driven to strike against his will, and that his earnest desire was for cordial and intimate alliance. Cæsar never failed where good breeding was required, and he courted the restored exile with a delicacy and a geniality which strongly affected him. "Never does the slightest word of mine pass Cæsar's cause, to say nothing of acts, without his acknowledging it with such a distinguished courtesy that I cannot but feel myself bound to him."[2] Cæsar
