The letter of the law likewise knew no distinction between rich and poor. […] For the kinship between these two families, above, p. 44, n. 1. […] Upon Caesar they had thrust the choice between civil war and political extinction. […] A necessary veil was cast over the earlier and private preliminaries in the anomalous alliance between oratory and arms, between the venerable consular and the revolutionary adventurer. […] By the beginning of November daily letters passed between them.