[25]
It occurred to him that his praetorship
would be crippled and powerless, if Milo was consul; and, moreover, he saw
that he was being made consul with the greatest unanimity of the Roman
people. He betook himself to his competitors, but in such a manner that he
alone managed the whole election, even against their will,—that he
supported on his own shoulders, as he used to say, the whole comitia,—he convoked the
tribes,—he interposed,—he erected a new Colline tribe by
the enrolment of the most worthless of the citizens. In proportion as the
one caused greater confusion, so did the other acquire additional power
every day. When the fellow, prepared for every atrocity, saw that a most
brave man, his greatest enemy, was a most certain consul, and that that was
declared, not only by the conversation of the Roman
people, but also by their votes, he began to act openly, and to say without
disguise that Milo must be slain.
