Consuls, Praetors, Quaestors, AEdiles, even Tribunes, were still there.

Perhaps it might be given to him, to Cicero, to strengthen the hands of such officers.

At any rate, there was no better course open to him by which he could serve his country.
The heaviest accusation brought against Cicero charges him with being insincere to the various men with whom he was brought in contact in carrying out the purpose of his life, and he has also been accused of having changed his purpose.

It has been alleged that, having begun life as a democrat, he went over to the aristocracy as soon as he had secured his high office of State.

As we go on, it will be my object to show that he was altogether sincere in his purpose, that he never changed his political idea, and that, in these deviations as to men and as to means, whether, for instance, he was ready to serve Caesar or to oppose him, he was guided, even in the insincerity of his utterances, by the sincerity of his purpose.