Cato rose and spoke in favour of the proposal, which
nobody could have expected, and recommended any government as better
than no government; and he added, that he expected that Pompeius would
manage present affairs best, and would protect the state with which he
was intrusted.
XLVIII. Pompeius[731] being thus declared consul prayed Cato to come
to him to the suburbs: and on his arrival Pompeius received him in a
friendly manner with salutations and pressing of hands, and after
acknowledging his obligations he entreated Cato to be his adviser and
his assessor in the consulship. But Cato replied, that neither had he
said what he first said out of evil disposition towards Pompeius, nor
had he said what he last said in order to win his favour, but
everything for the interest of the state; accordingly he observed that
he would give Pompeius his advice when he was privately invited, but
that in public, even if he should not be invited, he would certainly
say what he thought. And he did as he said. In the first place, when
Pompeius was proposing laws with new penalties and severe proceedings
against those who had already bribed the people, Cato advised him not
to care about the past, but to attend to the future, for he said, it
was not easy to determine at what point the inquiry into past offences
should stop, and if penalties be imposed after the offences, those
would be hardly dealt with who were punished by a law which they were
not breaking at the time of their wrong-doing.
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