He is the most formidable man in Rome. He now manipulates everything and everyone in the city. He is loved by the people because he is a libertine, like them, and a lover of life, like them also, and despoiler like themselves, and has, in short, all their vices. Men adore their vices; they hide their virtues, if any, as if they were shameful secrets. They also adore the politician and the soldier who has their vices in larger measure, for in him they see themselves. Rome, in Caesar’s face, sees her own image.
