"All the candidates have bribed," wrote Cicero; "but they will be all
acquitted, and no one will ever be found guilty again. The two consuls are
branded with infamy." Memmius, the popular competitor, at Pompey's
instance, exposed in the Senate an arrangement which the consuls had
entered into to secure the returns. The names and signatures were
produced. The scandal was monstrous, and could not be denied. The better
kind of men began to speak of a dictatorship as the only remedy; and
although the two conservative candidates were declared elected for 53, and
were allowed to enter on their offices, there was a general feeling that a
crisis had arrived, and that a great catastrophe could not be very far
off. The form which it might assume was the problem of the hour.
Cicero, speaking two years before on the broad conditions of his time, had
used these remarkable words: "No issue can be anticipated from discords
among the leading men, except either universal ruin, or the rule of a
conqueror, or a monarchy. There exists at present an unconcealed hatred
implanted and fastened into the minds of our leading politicians. They are
at issue among themselves. Opportunities are caught for mutual injury.
Those who are in the second rank watch for the chances of the time. Those
who might do better are afraid of the words and designs of their
enemies.
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