158 A COMPARISON. 



crisp, curly locks, denoted a temper 

 perhaps more vehement than ductile; in 

 a word, he had all the fortiter in re, 

 without that admixture of the suaviter 

 in modo, necessary to make what is called 

 an amiable man. 



" I do not know what this young man 

 means," said Sylla, putting his hand upon 

 the head of Caesar ; " but what he means 

 he does with vehemence."* 



And this characteristic, if small men 

 may be compared with great, may justly 

 be applied to my friend. His manners 

 were not so engaging as they were open 

 and ingenuous. In conversation, he was 

 more dictatorial than agreeable; in argu- 

 ment, more dogmatic than convincing ; 

 and yet was not impatient of contra- 

 diction, and would yield like a lamb to 

 what he had contested for like a lion, 

 when he found his position no longer 

 tenable ; and, generally speaking, his in- 



* Plutarch's " Life of Julius Caesar." 



