The contestants were the nobiles among themselves, as individuals or in groups, open in the elections and in the courts of law, or masked by secret intrigue. […] Pompeius, threatened in his dignitas, with his acta needing ratification and loyal veterans clamorous for recompense, was constrained to a secret compact. […] Cato’s confidence in his own rectitude and insight derived secret strength from the antipathy which he felt for the person and character of Caesar. […] Foreseeing trouble with Antonius about the disposal of the Dictator’s property, however, he must have rejoiced in secret. 5 Then Octavianus called on Cicero. […] Balbus could keep his counsel,4 and time has respected his secrets.