Of the forces that lay behind or beyond it, next to the noble families the knights were the most important. […] But the feud was not bitter or beyond remedy: the Metelli were too politic for that. […] In the imminence of civil war, Rome feared from Caesar’s side an irruption of barbarians from beyond the Alps. […] Though able beyond expectation as a politician, he now became bewildered, impatient and tactless. […] It was in truth what in defamation the most admirable causes had often been called a faction: its activity lay beyond the constitution and beyond the laws.