He may occasionally interpose a mild hint of remonstrance against Marcius’ vehemence, but it is solely on the ground of expediency, not at all on the ground of principle; and on the whole he belongs to that not very edifying class of devotees who can say of a friend,
Whate’er he does seems well done to me.
Of which he himself is not altogether unaware. He tells the Volscian sentinel:
I tell thee, fellow,
Thy general is my lover: I have been
The book of his good acts, whence men have read
His fame unparallel’d, haply amplified:
For I have ever verified my friends,
Of whom he’s chief, with all the size that verity
Would without lapsing suffer: nay, sometimes,