1This young man, when the money left him by his father from that kind of trade had raised his hopes of a more gentlemanly station, and the toga and the forum took his fancy, by bawling on behalf of low men and low causes against the interests and good name of respectable men came first to the notice of the people, then to office; and having held the quaestorship and two aedileships, plebeian and curule, and finally the praetorship too, now that he was lifting his ambitions to the hope of the consulship, he quite cleverly sought the breeze of popular favour from the dictator's unpopularity, and alone won the credit for the plebiscite.
5Everyone, both at Rome and in the army, friend and foe alike, except the dictator himself, took that bill as having been passed to insult him; 6he himself bore the injustice of the people raging against him with the same dignity of spirit with which he had borne his enemies when they accused him before the multitude; 6and having received a letter on the road itself about the equalising of the command, quite confident that the art of command had by no means been made equal along with the right of command, he returned to the army with a spirit unconquered by citizens and enemies alike.