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Cicero, a public-spirited lawyer, had discovered the plot, had warned the Senate, and had forced Catiline to flee. But there were other young men with similar ambitions and it was no time for idle talk.
一個頗具公眾精神的律師西塞羅察覺了卡梯林的陰謀，及時向元老院告發他。卡梯林被迫逃亡。可危機依然存在，羅馬城到處是野心勃勃的年輕人，隨時準備著向政府發難。
Pompey organised a triumvirate which was to take charge of affairs. He became the leader of this Vigilante Committee. Gaius Julius Caesar, who had made a reputation for himself as governor of Spain, was the second in command. The third was an indifferent sort of person by the name of Crassus. He had been elected because he was incredibly rich, having been a successful contractor of war supplies. He soon went upon an expedition against the Parthians and was killed.
于是由功勛卓著的龐培將軍出面，組織了一個三人同盟來負責處理政府事務。他本人則擔任這個三人委員會的領袖。其次是裘利斯·愷撒，因為在做西班牙總督期間獲得了良好聲望，他坐上了第二把交 椅。排在第三位的克拉蘇是無足輕重的角色，他的當選完全是因其擁有的驚人財富。因為成功承辦羅馬軍隊的戰爭給養與物資裝備，克拉蘇大發其財。可還沒來得及充分享受他的財富和地位，他便被派遣遠征帕提亞，迅速陣亡了。
As for Caesar, who was by far the ablest of the three, he decided that he needed a little more military glory to become a popular hero. He crossed the Alps and conquered that part of the world which is now called France. Then he hammered a solid wooden bridge across the Rhine and invaded the land of the wild Teutons. Finally he took ship and visited England. Heaven knows where he might have ended if he had not been forced to return to Italy. Pompey, so he was informed, had been appointed dictator for life. This of course meant that Caesar was to be placed on the list of the"retired officers," and the idea did not appeal to him. He remembered that he had begun life as a follower of Marius. He decided to teach the Senators and their "dictator" another lesson.
至于愷撒，他屬于三人之中最有能力的一個。他斷定，為實現自己更宏大的目標，他需要建立一些輝煌的戰功，使自己成為大眾崇拜的英雄。于是愷撒出發去征服世界。他越過阿爾卑斯山，征服了現在被稱為法國的歐洲荒野。接著，他在萊茵河上架設了一座堅實的木橋，侵人條頓人的土地。最后他搜羅船只，造訪英格蘭。若不是因為國內局勢使他被迫返回意大利，天知道愷撒的遠征會打到什么地方。在征途中，愷撒突然接到國內的消息，告之龐培已被任命為"終身獨裁 官"。這意味著悄撒的名字只能被列人"退休軍官"的名單，他將失去通向更顯赫位置的可能性。雄心勃勃的悄撒當然不喜歡這種情形。想當年，他是跟隨馬略開始他的軍事生涯的。他決定要給元老院和他們的"終身獨裁 官"一個教訓。
