Among those who at Cicero's period dealt with politics in Rome--all of whom, no doubt, spoke of the Republic as the vessel of State which was to be defended by all persons--there were four classes.

These were they who simply desired the plunder of the State--the Catilines, the Sullas of the day, and the Antonys; men such as Verres had been, and Fonteius, and Autronius.

The other three can be best typified each by one man.

There was Caesar, who knew that the Republic was gone, past all hope.

There was Cato--"the dogmatical fool Cato" as Mommsen calls him, perhaps with some lack of the historian's dignity--who was true to the Republic, who could not bend an inch, and was thus as detrimental to any hope of reconstruction as a Catiline or a Caesar.