Pompey's plans were formed with great skill, and were crowned with complete success. He stationed his lieutenants with different squadrons in various parts of the Mediterranean to prevent the pirates from uniting, and to hunt them out of the various bays and creeks in which they concealed themselves; while, at the same time, he swept the middle of the sea with the main body of his fleet, and chased them eastward. In forty days he drove the pirates out of the western seas, and restored communication between Spain, Africa, and Italy. After then remaining a short time in Italy, he sailed from Brundusium, cleared the seas as he went along, and forced the pirates to the Cilician coast. Here the decisive action was fought; the pirates were defeated, and more than 20,000 prisoners fell into his hands. Those on whom most reliance could be placed were distributed among the small and depopulated cities of Cilicia, and a large number were settled at Soli, which was henceforward called Pompeiopolis. The second part of this campaign occupied only forty-nine days, and the whole war was brought to a conclusion in the course of three months. Pompey remained in Cilicia during the remainder of this year and the beginning of the one following. Meantime the Tribune C. Manilius brought forward a bill (B.C. 66) giving to Pompey the command of the war against Mithridates, with unlimited power over the army and the fleet in the East, and with the rights of a Proconsul in the whole of Asia as far as Armenia. As his Proconsular power already extended over all the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean in virtue of the Gabinian law, this new measure virtually placed almost the whole of the Roman dominions in his hands. But there was no power, however excessive, which the people were not ready to intrust to their favorite hero; and the bill was accordingly passed, notwithstanding the opposition of Hortensius, Catulus, and the aristocratical party. Cicero advocated the measure in an oration which has come down to us (Pro Lege Manilia), and Caesar likewise supported it with his growing popularity and influence.

On receiving intelligence of this new appointment, Pompey immediately crossed the Taurus, and took the command of the army from Lucullus.

The power of Mithridates had been broken by the previous victories of Lucullus, and the successes which the king had gained lately were only of a temporary nature, mainly owing to the disorganization of the Roman army. In the plan of the campaign Pompey displayed great military skill. One of his first measures was to secure the alliance of the Parthian king, which not only deprived Mithridates of all hopes of succor from that quarter, but likewise cut him off from all assistance from the Armenian king Tigranes, who was now obliged to look to the safety of his own dominions. Pompey next stationed his fleet in different squadrons along the coasts of Asia Minor, in order to deprive Mithridates of all communication from the sea, and he then proceeded in person at the head of his land-forces against the king. Thus thrown back upon his own resources, Mithridates sued for peace, but, as Pompey would hear of nothing but unqualified submission, the negotiation was broken off. The king was still at the head of 30,000 foot and 2000 horse; but he knew too well the strength of a Roman army to venture an engagement with these forces, and accordingly withdrew gradually to the frontiers of Armenia. For a long time he succeeded in avoiding a battle, but he was at length surprised by Pompey in Lesser Armenia, as he was marching through a narrow pass. The battle was soon decided; the king lost the greater number of his troops, and escaped with only a few horsemen to the fortress of Synorium, on the borders of the Greater Armenia. Here he again collected a considerable force; but as Tigranes refused to admit him into his dominions, because he suspected him of fomenting the intrigues of his son against him, Mithridates had no alternative but to take refuge in his own distant dominions in the Cimmerian Bosporus. To reach them he had to march through Colchis, and to fight his way through the wild and barbarous tribes that occupied the country between the Caucasus and the Euxine. He succeeded, however, in this arduous enterprise, and reached the Bosporus in safety in the course of next year. Pompey abandoned at present all thoughts of following the fugitive king, and resolved at once to attack Tigranes, who was now the more formidable of the two monarchs.

On entering Armenia Pompey met with no opposition. He was joined by the young Tigranes, who had revolted against his father, and all the cities submitted to them on their approach. When the Romans drew near to Artaxata, the king, deserted by his army and his court, went out to meet Pompey, and threw himself before him as a suppliant. Pompey received him with kindness, acknowledged him as King of Armenia, and demanded only the payment of 6000 talents. His foreign possessions, however, in Syria, Phoenicia, Cilicia, Galatia, and Cappadocia, which had been conquered by Lucullus, were to belong to the Romans. To his son Tigranes, Sophene and Gordyene were given as an independent kingdom; but as the young prince was discontented with this arrangement, and even ventured to utter threats, Pompey had him arrested, and kept him in chains to grace his triumph.

After thus settling the affairs of Armenia, Pompey proceeded northward in pursuit of Mithridates. But the season was so far advanced that he took up his winter quarters on the banks of the River Cyrus. Early in the spring (B.C. 65) he resumed his march northward, and advanced as far as the River Phasis, but, obtaining here more certain information of the movements of Mithridates, and of the wild and inaccessible nature of the country through which he would have to march in order to reach the king, he retraced his steps, and led his troops into winter quarters at Amisus, on the Euxine. He now reduced Pontus to the form of a Roman province.

In B.C. 64 Pompey marched into Syria, where he deposed Antiochus Asiaticus, and made the country a Roman province. He likewise compelled the neighboring princes, who had established independent kingdoms on the ruins of the Syrian empire, to submit to the Roman dominion. The whole of this year was occupied with the settlement of Syria and the adjacent countries.

Next year (B.C. 63) Pompey advanced farther south, in order to establish the Roman supremacy in Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, and Palestine. The latter country was at this time distracted by a civil war between Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. Pompey espoused the side of Hyrcanus, and Aristobulus surrendered himself to Pompey when the latter had advanced near to Jerusalem. But the Jews refused to follow the example of their king, and it was not till after a siege of three months that the city was taken. Pompey entered the Holy of Holies, the first time that any human being, except the high-priest, had penetrated into this sacred spot. He reinstated Hyrcanus in the high-priesthood, but compelled him to pay an annual tribute to Rome; Aristobulus accompanied him as a prisoner. It was during this war in Palestine that Pompey received intelligence of the death of Mithridates.

During the last two years Mithridates had been making the most extensive preparations for a renewal of the contest. He had conceived the daring project of marching round the north and west coasts of the Euxine, and penetrating even into Italy. With these views, he was busily engaged in assembling such a fleet and array as would be sufficient for an enterprise of this magnitude; but his proceedings were delayed by a long and painful illness, which incapacitated him for any personal exertion. At length, however, his preparations were completed, and he found himself at the head of an army of 36,000 men and a considerable fleet. But during his illness disaffection had made rapid progress among his followers. The full extent of his schemes was probably communicated to few; but enough had transpired to alarm the multitude, and a formidable conspiracy was organized by Pharnaces, the favorite son of Mithridates. He was quickly joined both by the whole army and the citizens of Panticapaeum, who unanimously proclaimed him king, and Mithridates saw that no choice remained to him but death or captivity. Hereupon he took poison, which he constantly carried with him; but his constitution had been so long inured to antidotes that it did not produce the desired effect, and he was compelled to call in the assistance of one of his Gaulish mercenaries to dispatch him with his sword.

Pompey now devoted his attention to the settlement of affairs in Asia. He confirmed Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, in the possession of the kingdom of Bosporus; Deiotarus, tetrarch of Galatia, was rewarded with an extension of territory; and Ariobarzanes, king of Cappadocia, was restored to his kingdom. After an absence of seven years, Pompey arrived in Italy toward the end of B.C. 62. His arrival had been long looked for by all parties with various feelings of hope and fear. It was felt that at the head of his victorious troops he could easily play the part of Sulla, and become the ruler of the state. Important events had taken place at Rome during the absence of Pompey, of which it is necessary to give an account before following him to the city.



CHAPTER XXXI.

INTERNAL HISTORY, FROM THE CONSULSHIP OF POMPEY AND CRASSUS TO THE RETURN OF POMPEY FROM THE EAST.—THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. B.C. 69-61.

Notwithstanding the restoration of the Tribunate and the alteration in the judicial power in Pompey's Consulship, the popular party had received such a severe blow during Sulla's supremacy, that the aristocracy still retained the chief political influence during Pompey's absence in the East. But meantime a new leader of the popular party had been rapidly rising into notice, who was destined not only to crush the aristocracy, but to overthrow the Republic and become the undisputed master of the Roman world.

C. JULIUS CAESAR, who was descended from an old Patrician family, was six years younger than Pompey, having been born in B.C. 100. He was closely connected with the popular party by the marriage of his aunt Julia with the great Marius, and he himself married, at an early age, Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, the most distinguished of the Marian leaders. Sulla commanded him to divorce his wife, and on his refusal he was included in the list of the proscription. The Vestal virgins and his friends with difficulty obtained his pardon from the Dictator, who observed, when they pleaded his youth and insignificance, "that that boy would some day or another be the ruin of the aristocracy, for that there were many Mariuses in him."

This was the first proof which Caesar gave of the resolution and decision of character which distinguished him throughout life. He went to Asia in B.C. 81, where he served his first campaign under M. Minucius Thermus, and was rewarded, at the siege of Mitylene, with a civic crown for saving the life of a fellow-soldier. On his return to Rome he accused (B.C. 77) Cn. Dolabella of extortion in his province of Macedonia. Dolabella was acquitted by the senatorial judges; but Caesar gained great reputation by this prosecution, and showed that he possessed powers of oratory which bade fair to place him among the foremost speakers at Rome. To render himself still more perfect in oratory, he went to Rhodes, which was then celebrated for its school of rhetoric, but in his voyage thither he was captured by pirates, with whom the seas of the Mediterranean then swarmed. In this island he was detained by them till he could obtain fifty talents from the neighboring cities for his ransom. Immediately on obtaining his liberty, he manned some Milesian vessels, overpowered the pirates, and conducted them as prisoners to Pergamus, where he shortly afterward crucified them—a punishment he had frequently threatened them with in sport when he was their prisoner. He then repaired to Rhodes, where he studied under Apollonius for a short time, but soon afterward crossed over into Asia, on the outbreak of the Mithridatic war in B.C. 74. Here, although he held no public office, he collected troops on his own authority, and repulsed the commander of the king, and then returned to Rome in the same year, in consequence of having been elected Pontiff during his absence. His affable manners, and, still more, his unbounded liberality, won the hearts of the people.

Caesar obtained the Quaestorship in B.C. 68. In this year he lost his aunt Julia, the widow of Marius, and his own wife Cornelia. He pronounced orations over both of them in the forum, in which he took the opportunity of passing a panegyric upon the former leaders of the popular party. At the funeral of his aunt he caused the images of Marius to be carried in the procession: they were welcomed with loud acclamations by the people, who were delighted to see their former favorite brought, as it were, into public again.

Caesar warmly supported the Gabinian and Manilian Laws, which bestowed upon Pompey the command against the pirates and Mithridates. These measures, as we have already seen, were opposed by the aristocracy, and widened still farther the breach between them and Pompey. In B.C. 65 Caesar was Curule AEdile along with M. Bibulus, and still farther increased his popularity by the splendid games which he exhibited. He now took a step which openly proclaimed him the leader of the Marian party. He caused the statues of Marius and the Cimbrian trophies, which had been all destroyed by Sulla, to be privately restored and placed at night in the Capitol. In the morning the city was in the highest state of excitement; the veterans of Marius cried with joy at beholding his countenance once more, and greeted Caesar with shouts of applause. Q. Catulus brought the conduct of Caesar before the notice of the Senate, but the popular excitement was so great that they thought it better to let the matter drop.

In Caesar's AEdileship the first Catilinarian conspiracy occurred, and from this time his history forms a portion of that of the times. But before passing on, the early life of another distinguished man, the greatest of Roman orators, also claims our notice.

M. TULLIUS CICERO was born at Arpinum in B.C. 106, and consequently in the same year as Pompey. His father was of the Equestrian order, and lived upon his hereditary estate near Arpinum, but none of his ancestors had ever held any of the offices of state. Cicero was therefore, according to the Roman phraseology, a New Man (see p. 128)(Fourth paragraph of Chapter XVIII.—Transcriber). He served his first and only campaign in the Social War (B.C. 89), and in the troubled times which followed he gave himself up with indefatigable perseverance to those studies which were essential to his success as a lawyer and orator. When tranquillity was restored by the final discomfiture of the Marian party, he came forward as a pleader at the age of twenty-five. The first of his extant speeches in a civil suit is that for P. Quintius (B.C. 81); the first delivered upon a criminal trial was that in defense of Sex. Roscius of Ameria, who was charged with parricide by Chrysogonus, a freedman of Sulla, supported, as it was understood, by the influence of his patron. In consequence of the failure of his health, Cicero quitted Rome in B.C. 79, and spent two years in study in the philosophical and rhetorical schools of Athens and Asia Minor. On his return to the city he forthwith took his station in the foremost rank of judicial orators, and ere long stood alone in acknowledged pre-eminence; his most formidable rivals—Hortensius, eight years his senior, and C. Aurelius Cotta, who had long been kings of the bar—having been forced, after a short but sharp contest for supremacy, to yield.

Cicero's reputation and popularity already stood so high that he was elected Quaestor (B.C. 76), although, comparatively speaking, a stranger, and certainly unsupported by any powerful family interest. He served in Sicily under Sex. Peducaeus, Praetor of Lilybaeum. In B.C. 70 he gained great renown by his impeachment of Verres for his oppression of the Sicilians, whom he had ruled as Praetor of Syracuse for the space of three years (B.C. 73-71). The most strenuous exertions were made by Verres, backed by some of the most powerful families, to wrest the case out of the hands of Cicero, who, however, defeated the attempt, and having demanded and been allowed 110 days for the purpose of collecting evidence, he instantly set out for Sicily, which he traversed in less than two months, and returned attended by all the necessary witnesses. Another desperate effort was made by Hortensius, now Consul elect, who was counsel for the defendant, to raise up obstacles which might have the effect of delaying the trial until the commencement of the following year; but here again he was defeated by the promptitude and decision of his opponent, who opened the case very briefly, proceeded at once to the examination of the witnesses and the production of the depositions and other papers, which, taken together, constituted a mass of testimony so decisive that Verres gave up the contest as hopeless, and retired at once into exile without attempting any defense. The full pleadings, however, which were to have been delivered had the trial been permitted to run its ordinary course, were subsequently published by Cicero.

In B.C. 69 Cicero was AEdile, and in 66 Praetor. In the latter year he delivered his celebrated address to the people in favor of the Manilian Law. Having now the Consulship in view, and knowing that, as a new man, he must expect the most determined opposition from the Nobles, he resolved to throw himself into the arms of the popular party, and to secure the friendship of Pompey, now certainly the most important person in the Republic.

In the following year (B.C. 65) the first conspiracy of Catiline occurred. The circumstances of the times were favorable to a bold and unprincipled adventurer. A widespread feeling of disaffection extended over the whole of Italy. The veterans of Sulla had already squandered their ill-gotten wealth, and longed for a renewal of those scenes of blood which they had found so profitable. The multitudes whose estates had been confiscated and whose relations had been proscribed were eagerly watching for any movement which might give them a chance of becoming robbers and murderers in their turn. The younger nobility, as a class, were thoroughly demoralized, for the most part bankrupts in fortune as well as in fame, and eager for any change which might relieve them from their embarrassments. The rabble were restless and discontented, filled with envy and hatred against the rich and powerful. Never was the executive weaker. The Senate and Magistrates were wasting their energies in petty disputes, indifferent to the interests of the Republic. Pompey, at the head of all the best troops of the Republic, was prosecuting a long-protracted war in the East; there was no army in Italy, where all was hushed in a treacherous calm.

Of the profligate nobles at this time none was more profligate than L. SERGIUS CATILINA. He was the descendant of an ancient patrician family which had sunk into poverty, and he first appears in history as a zealous partisan of Sulla. During the horrors of the proscription he killed his brother-in-law, Q. Caecilius, and is said to have murdered even his own brother. His youth was spent in the open indulgence of every vice, and it was believed that he had made away with his first wife, and afterward with his son, in order that he might marry the profligate Aurelia Orestilla, who objected to the presence of a grown-up step-child. Notwithstanding these crimes, he acquired great popularity among the younger nobles by his agreeable address and his zeal in ministering to their pleasures. He possessed extraordinary powers of mind and body, and all who came in contact with him submitted more or less to the ascendency of his genius. He was Praetor in B.C. 68; was Governor of Africa during the following year; and returned to Rome in B.C. 66, in order to press his suit for the Consulship. The election for B.C. 65 was carried by P. Autronius Paetus and P. Cornelius Sulla, both of whom were soon after convicted of bribery, and their places supplied by their competitors and accusers, L. Aurelius Cotta and L. Manlius Torquatus. Catiline, who was desirous of becoming a candidate, had been disqualified in consequence of an impeachment for oppression in his province preferred by P. Clodius Pulcher. Exasperated by their disappointment, Autronius and Catiline formed a project, along with Cn. Calpurnius Piso, another profligate young nobleman, to murder the new Consuls upon the first of January, when offering up their vows in the Capitol, after which Autronius and Catiline were to seize the fasces, and Piso was to be dispatched with an army to occupy the Spains. This extraordinary design is said to have been frustrated solely by the impatience of Catiline, who gave the signal prematurely before the whole of the armed agents had assembled.

Encouraged rather than disheartened by a failure which had so nearly proved a triumph, Catiline was soon after left completely unfettered by his acquittal upon trial for extortion, a result secured by the liberal bribes administered to the accuser as well as to the jury. From this time he proceeded more systematically, and enlisted a more numerous body of supporters. In the course of B.C. 64 he had enrolled several Senators in his ranks, among others P. Cornelius Lentulus Sura, who had been Consul in B.C. 71, and C. Cornelius Cethegus, distinguished throughout by his impetuosity and sanguinary violence. He proposed that all debts should be canceled, that the most wealthy citizens should be proscribed, and that all offices of honor and emolument should be divided among his associates. He confidently anticipated that he should be elected Consul for the next year along with C. Antonius, having formed a coalition with him for the purpose of excluding Cicero. The orator, however, was supported, not only by the Equites and Pompey's friends, but even by the Senate, who, though disliking a New Man, were compelled to give him their support in order to exclude Catiline. The consequence was that Cicero and Antonius were returned, the former nearly unanimously, the latter by a small majority over Catiline. As soon as Cicero entered upon his Consulship he renounced his connection with the popular party, and became a stanch supporter of the aristocracy. He successfully opposed an agrarian law proposed by the Tribune Rullus, and defended C. Rabirius, who was now accused by the Tribune Labienus of having been concerned in the death of Saturninus nearly forty years before. Caesar took an active part in both these proceedings. But the attention of Cicero was mainly directed to Catiline's conspiracy. He gained over his colleague Antonius by resigning to him the province of Macedonia. Meantime he became acquainted with every detail of the plot through Fulvia, the mistress of Q. Curius, one of Catiline's intimate associates. Thus informed, Cicero called a meeting of the Senate on the 21st of October, when he openly denounced Catiline, charged him broadly with treason, and asserted that the 28th was the period fixed for the murder of the leading men in the Republic. The Senate thereupon invested the Consuls with dictatorial power. The Comitia for the election of the Consuls was now held. Catiline, again a candidate, was again rejected. Driven to despair by this fresh disappointment, he resolved at once to bring matters to a crisis. On the night of the 6th of November he summoned a meeting of the ringleaders at the house of M. Porcius Laeca, and made arrangements for an immediate outbreak. Cicero, being immediately informed of what took place, summoned, on the 8th of November, a meeting of the Senate in the Temple of Jupiter Stator, and there delivered the first of his celebrated orations against Catiline. Catiline, who upon his entrance had been avoided by all, and was sitting alone upon a bench from which every one had shrunk, rose to reply, but had scarcely commenced when his words were drowned by the shouts of "enemy" and "parricide" which burst from the whole assembly, and he rushed forth with threats and curses on his lips. He now resolved to strike some decisive blow before troops could be levied to oppose him, and accordingly, leaving the chief control of affairs at Rome in the hands of Lentulus and Cethegus, he set forth in the dead of night, and proceeded to join Manlius at Faesulae.

On the 9th, when the flight of Catiline was known, Cicero delivered his second speech, which was addressed to the people in the forum. The Senate proceeded to declare Catiline and Manlius public enemies, and decreed that Antonius should go forth to the war, while Cicero should remain to guard the city. Cicero was now anxious to obtain other evidence, besides that of Fulvia, which would warrant him in apprehending the conspirators within the walls. This was fortunately supplied by the embassadors of the Allobroges, who were now at Rome, having been sent to seek relief from certain real or alleged grievances. Their suit, however, had not prospered, and Lentulus, conceiving that their discontent might be made available for his own purposes, opened a negotiation with them and disclosed to them the nature of the plot. But they thought it more prudent to reveal all to Q. Fabius Sanga, the patron of their state, who in his turn acquainted Cicero. By the instructions of the latter the embassadors affected great zeal in the undertaking, and obtained a written agreement signed by Lentulus, Cethegus, and others. They quitted Rome soon after midnight on the 3d of December, accompanied by one T. Volturcius, who was charged with dispatches for Catiline. The embassadors were seized, as they were crossing the Mulvian bridge, by two of the Praetors, who had been stationed in ambush to intercept them.

Cicero instantly summoned Lentulus, Cethegus, and the other conspirators to his presence. Lentulus being Praetor, the Consul led him by the hand to the Temple of Concord, where the Senate was already met; the rest of the accused followed closely guarded. Volturcius, finding escape impossible, agreed, upon his own personal safety being insured, to make a full confession. His statements were confirmed by the Allobroges, and the testimony was rendered conclusive by the signatures of the ringleaders, which they were unable to deny. The guilt of Lentulus, Cethegus, and seven others being thus established, Lentulus was forced to abdicate his office, and then, with the rest, was consigned to the charge of certain Senators, who became responsible for their appearance.

These circumstances, as they had occurred, were then narrated by Cicero in his Third Oration, delivered in the forum. On the nones (5th) of December the Senate was again summoned to determine upon the fate of the conspirators. Caesar, in an elaborate speech, proposed that they should be kept in confinement in the different towns of Italy, but Cato and Cicero strongly advocated that they should be instantly put to death. Their views were adopted by a majority of the Senate, and a decree passed to that effect. On the same night Lentulus and his associates were strangled by the common executioner in the Tullianum, a loathsome dungeon on the slope of the Capitol.

While these things were going on at Rome, Catiline had collected a force amounting to two legions, although not above one fourth part were fully equipped. When the news of the failure of the plot at Rome reached his camp many deserted. He thereupon attempted to cross the Apennines and take refuge in Cisalpine Gaul, but the passes were strictly guarded by Metellus Celer with three legions. Finding, therefore, that escape was cut off in front, while Antonius was pressing on his rear, Catiline determined, as a last resource, to hazard an engagement. Antonius, in consequence of real or pretended illness, resigned the command to M. Petreius, a skillful soldier. The battle was obstinate and bloody. The rebels fought with the fury of despair; and when Catiline saw that all was lost, he charged headlong into the thickest of the fight and fell sword in hand (B.C. 62).

Cicero had rendered important services to the state, and enjoyed for a time unbounded popularity. Catulus in the Senate and Cato in the forum hailed him as the "Father of his Country;" thanksgivings in his name were voted to the gods; and all Italy joined in testifying enthusiastic admiration and gratitude. Cicero's elation knew no bounds; he fancied that his political influence was now supreme, and looked upon himself as a match even for Pompey. But his splendid achievement contained the germ of his humiliation and downfall. There could be no doubt that the punishment inflicted by the Senate upon Lentulus and his associates was a violation of the fundamental principles of the Roman Constitution, which declared that no citizen could be put to death until sentenced by the whole body of the people assembled in their Comitia, and for this act Cicero, as the presiding magistrate, was held responsible. It was in vain to urge that the Consuls had been armed with dictatorial power; the Senate, in the present instance, assuming to themselves judicial functions which they had no right to exercise, gave orders for the execution of a sentence which they had no right to pronounce. Nor were his enemies long in discovering this vulnerable point. On the last day of the year, when, according to established custom, he ascended the Rostra to give an account to the people of the events of his Consulship, Metellus Celer, one of the new Tribunes, forbade him to speak, exclaiming that the man who had put Roman citizens to death without granting them a hearing was himself unworthy to be heard. But this attack was premature. The audience had not yet forgotten their recent escape; so that, when Cicero swore with a loud voice that "he had saved the Republic and the city from ruin," the crowd with one voice responded that he had sworn truly.

It was rumored that many other eminent men had been privy to Catiline's conspiracy. Among others, the names of Crassus and Caesar were most frequently mentioned; but the participation of either of these men in such an enterprise seems most improbable. The interests of Crassus were opposed to such an adventure; his vast wealth was employed in a variety of speculations which would have been ruined in a general overthrow, while he had not the energy or ability to seize and retain the helm in the confusion that would have ensued. Of Caesar's guilt there is no satisfactory evidence, and it is improbable that so keen-sighted a man would have leagued with such a desperate adventurer as Catiline. Cato, in his speech respecting the fate of the conspirators, hinted that Caesar wished to spare them because he was a partner of their guilt; and in the following year (B.C. 62), when Caesar was Praetor, L. Vettius, who had been one of Cicero's informers, openly charged him with being a party to the plot. Thereupon Caesar called upon Cicero to testify that he had of his own accord given the Consul evidence respecting the conspiracy; and so complete was his vindication that Vettius was thrown into prison.



CHAPTER XXXII.

FROM POMPEY'S RETURN FROM THE EAST TO CICERO'S BANISHMENT AND RECALL. B.C. 62-57.

Pompey, as we have already seen, reached Italy in B.C. 62. It was generally feared that he would seize the supreme power, but he soon calmed these apprehensions by disbanding his army immediately after landing at Brundusium. He did not, however, enter Rome in triumph till the 30th of September, B.C. 61. The triumph lasted two days, and surpassed in splendor every spectacle that Rome had yet seen. The tablets carried in the procession, on which his victories were emblazoned, declared that he had taken 1000 strong fortresses, 900 towns, and 800 ships; that he had founded 39 cities; that he had raised the revenue of the Roman people from 59 millions to 85 millions; and that he had brought into the public treasury 20,000 talents. Before his triumphal car walked 324 captive princes.

With this triumph the first and most glorious part of Pompey's life may be said to have ended. Hitherto he had been employed almost exclusively in war; but now he was called upon to play a prominent part in the civil commotions of the Republic—a part for which neither his natural talents nor his previous habits had in the least fitted him. From the death of Sulla to the present time, a period of nearly twenty years, he had been unquestionably the first man in the Roman world, but he did not retain much longer this proud position, and soon discovered that the genius of Caesar had reduced him to a second place in the state. It would seem as if Pompey, on his return to Rome, hardly knew to which party to attach himself. He had been appointed to the command against the pirates and Mithridates in opposition to the aristocracy, and they still regarded him with jealousy and distrust. He could not, therefore, ally himself to them, especially too as some of their most influential leaders, such as M. Crassus and L. Lucullus, were his personal enemies. At the same time he seems to have been indisposed to unite himself to the popular party, which had risen into importance during his absence in the East, and over which Caesar possessed unbounded influence. But the object which engaged the immediate attention of Pompey was to obtain from the Senate a ratification of his acts in Asia, and an assignment of lands which he had promised to his veterans. In order to secure this object, he had purchased the Consulship for one of his officers, L. Afranius, who was elected with Q. Metellus for B.C. 60. But L. Afranius was a man of slender ability; and the Senate, glad of an opportunity to put an affront upon a person whom they both feared and hated, resolutely refused to sanction Pompey's measures in Asia. This was the unwisest thing they could have done. If they had known their real interests, they would have yielded to all Pompey's wishes, and have sought by every means to win him over to their side, as a counterpoise to the growing and more dangerous influence of Caesar. But their short-sighted policy threw Pompey into Caesar's arms, and thus sealed the downfall of their party. Pompey was resolved to fulfill the promises he had made to his Asiatic clients and his veteran troops.

Caesar had returned from Spain in the middle of this year. He had been in that province for one year as Propraetor, during which time he displayed that military ability which was soon to be exhibited on a still more conspicuous field. He subdued the mountainous tribes of Lusitania, took the town of Brigantium in the country of the Gallaeci, and gained many other advantages over the enemy. His troops saluted him as Imperator, and the Senate honored him by a public thanksgiving. He now laid claim to a triumph, and at the same time wished to become a candidate for the Consulship. For the latter purpose his presence in the city was necessary; but, as he could not enter the city without relinquishing his triumph, he applied to the Senate to be exempted from the usual law, and to become a candidate in his absence. As this was refused, he at once relinquished his triumph, entered the city, and became a candidate for the Consulship. He was elected without difficulty, but the aristocracy succeeded in associating with him in the Consulship M. Bibulus, who belonged to the opposite party, and who had likewise been his colleague in the AEdileship and Praetorship.

Caesar now represented to Pompey the importance of detaching from the aristocracy M. Crassus, who, by his connections and immense wealth, possessed great political influence. Pompey and Crassus had for a long time past been deadly enemies, but they were now reconciled, and the three entered into an agreement to divide the power between themselves. This first Triumvirate, as it is called, was therefore merely a private arrangement between the three most powerful men at Rome, which remained a secret till the proceedings of Caesar in his Consulship showed that he was supported by a power against which it was in vain for his enemies to struggle.

As soon as Caesar had entered upon his Consulship he proposed an agrarian law for the division of the rich Campanian land. The execution of the law was to be intrusted to a board of twenty commissioners. The opposition of the aristocratical party was in vain. Porapey and Crassus spoke in favor of the law; and the former declared that he would bring both sword and buckler against those who used the sword. On the day on which it was put to the vote, Bibulus and the other members of the aristocracy were driven out of the forum by force of arms: the law was carried, the commissioners appointed, and about 20,000 citizens, comprising, of course, a great number of Pompey's veterans, received allotments subsequently. Bibulus, despairing of being able to offer any farther resistance to Caesar, shut himself up in his own house, and did not appear again in public till the expiration of his Consulship.

Caesar obtained from the people a ratification of all Pompey's acts in Asia, and, to cement their union more closely, gave his only daughter Julia in marriage to Pompey. His next step was to gain over the Equites, who had rendered efficient service to Cicero in his Consulship, and had hitherto supported the aristocratical party. An excellent opportunity now occurred for accomplishing this object. In their eagerness to obtain the farming of the public taxes in Asia, the Equites had agreed to pay too large a sum, and accordingly petitioned the Senate for more favorable terms. This, however, had been opposed by Metellus Celer, Cato, and others of the aristocracy; and Caesar, therefore, now carried a law to relieve the Equites from one third of the sum which they had agreed to pay. Having thus gratified the people, the Equites, and Pompey, he was easily able to obtain for himself the provinces which he wished.

It is not attributing any extraordinary foresight to Caesar to suppose that he already saw that the struggle between the different parties at Rome must eventually be terminated by the sword. The same causes were still in operation which had led to the civil wars between Marius and Sulla; and he was well aware that the aristocracy would not hesitate to call in the assistance of force if they should ever succeed in detaching Pompey from his interests. It was therefore of the first importance for him to obtain an army which he might attach to himself by victories and rewards. Accordingly, he induced the Tribune Vatinius to propose a bill to the people granting him the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum for five years (B.C. 58-54). Transalpine Gaul was shortly afterward added. Caesar chose the Gallic provinces, as he would thus be able to pass the winter in Italy and keep up his communication with the city, while the disturbed state of Farther Gaul promised him sufficient materials for engaging in a series of wars in which he might employ an army that would afterward be devoted to his purposes. In addition to these considerations, Caesar was also actuated by the ambition of subduing forever that nation which had once sacked Rome, and which had been, from the earliest times, more or less an object of dread to the Roman state.

The Consuls of the following year (B.C. 58) were L. Calpurnius Piso and A. Gabinius. Piso was Caesar's father-in-law, and Gabinius in his Tribunate had proposed the law conferring upon Pompey the command against the pirates. Caesar saw that it was evident they would support whatever the Triumvirs might wish. Cicero was now threatened with destruction.

In B.C. 62, while the wife of Caesar was celebrating in the house of her husband, then Praetor and Pontifex Maximus, the rites of the Bona Dea, from which all male creatures were excluded, it was discovered that P. Clodius Pulcher, a profligate noble, whom we have seen inciting the army of Lucullus to insurrection, had found his way into the mansion disguised in woman's apparel, and, having been detected, had made his escape by the help of a female slave. The matter was laid before the Senate, and by them referred to the members of the Pontifical College, who passed a resolution that sacrilege had been committed. Caesar forthwith divorced his wife. Clodius was impeached and brought to trial. In defense he pleaded an alibi, offering to prove that he was at Interamna at the very time when the crime was said to have been committed; but Cicero came forward as a witness, and swore that he had met and spoken to Clodius in Rome on the day in question. In spite of this decisive testimony, and the evident guilt of the accused, the Judices pronounced him innocent by a majority of voices (B.C. 61). Clodius now vowed deadly vengeance against Cicero. To accomplish his purpose more readily, he determined to become a candidate for the Tribunate, but for this it was necessary, in the first place, that he should be adopted into a plebeian family by means of a special law. This, after protracted opposition, was at length accomplished through the interference of the Triumvirs, and he was elected Tribune for B.C. 58.

One of the first acts of Clodius, after entering upon office, was to propose a bill interdicting from fire and water any one who should be found to have put a Roman citizen to death untried. Cicero changed his attire, and, assuming the garb of one accused, went round the Forum soliciting the compassion of all whom he met. For a brief period public sympathy was awakened. A large number of the Senate and the Equites appeared also in mourning, and the better portion of the citizens seemed resolved to espouse his cause. But all demonstrations of such feelings were promptly repressed by Piso and Gabinius. Caesar had previously made overtures to Cicero, which the orator, overrating his influence and relying upon the support of Pompey, had rejected. The Triumvirs now left him to his fate, and Cicero, giving way to despair, quitted Rome at the beginning of April (B.C. 68), and reached Brundusium about the middle of the month. From thence he crossed over to Greece. The instant that the departure of Cicero became known, a law was passed pronouncing his banishment, forbidding any one to entertain or harbor him, and denouncing as a public enemy whosoever should take any steps toward procuring his recall. His mansion on the Palatine, and his villas at Tusculum and Formiae, were at the same time given over to plunder and destruction. Clodius, having thus gratified his hatred, did not care to consult any longer the views of the Triumvirs. He restored Tigranes to liberty, whom Pompey had kept in confinement, ridiculed the great Imperator before the people, and was accused of making an attempt upon his life. Pompey, in revenge, resolved to procure the recall of Cicero from banishment, and was thus brought again into some friendly connections with the aristocratical party. The new Consuls (B.C. 57) were favorable to Cicero; but, though Clodius was no longer in office, he had several partisans among the Tribunes who offered the most vehement opposition to the restoration of his great enemy. One of the chief supporters of Cicero was the Tribune T. Annius Milo, a man as unprincipled and violent as Clodius himself. He opposed force to force, and at the head of a band of gladiators attacked the hired ruffians of Clodius. The streets of Rome were the scenes of almost daily conflicts between the leaders of these assassins. At length the Senate, with the full approbation of Pompey, determined to invite the voters from the different parts of Italy to repair to Rome and assist in carrying a law for the recall of Cicero. Accordingly, on the 4th of August, the bill was passed by an overwhelming majority. On the same day Cicero quitted Dyrrhachium, and crossed over to Brundusium. He received deputations and congratulatory addresses from all the towns on the line of the Appian Way; and having arrived at Rome on the 4th of September, a vast multitude poured forth to meet him, while the crowd rent the air with acclamations as he passed through the Forum and ascended the Capitol to render thanks to Jupiter (B.C. 57).



CHAPTER XXXIII.

CAESAR'S CAMPAIGNS IN GAUL. B.C. 58-50.

Caesar set out for his province immediately after Cicero had gone into exile (B.C. 58). During the next nine years he was occupied with the subjugation of Gaul. In this time he conquered the whole of Transalpine Gaul, which had hitherto been independent of the Romans, with the exception of the part called Provincia. Twice he crossed the Rhine, and carried the terror of the Roman arms beyond that river. Twice he landed in Britain, which had been hitherto unknown to the Romans. We can only offer a very brief sketch of the principal events of each year.

First Campaign, B.C. 58.—Caesar left Rome toward the latter end of April, and arrived in Geneva in eight days. His first campaign was against the Helvetii, a Gallic people situated to the north of the Lake of Geneva, and between the Rhine and Mount Jura. This people, quitting their homes, had passed through the country of the Sequani, and were plundering the territories of the AEdui. Three out of their four clans had already crossed the Arar (Saone); but the fourth, which was still on the other side of the river, was surprised by Caesar and cut to pieces. He then threw a bridge across the Arar, followed them cautiously for some days, and at length fought a pitched battle with them near the town of Bibracte (Autun). The Helvetii were defeated with great slaughter, and the remnant compelled to return to their former homes.

This great victory raised Caesar's fame among the various tribes of Gauls, and the AEdui solicited his assistance against Ariovistus, a German king who had invaded Gaul, and was constantly bringing over the Rhine fresh swarms of Germans. Caesar commanded Ariovistus to abstain from introducing any more Germans into Gaul, to restore the hostages to the AEdui, and not to attack the latter or their allies. A haughty answer was returned to these commands, and both parties prepared for war. Caesar advanced northward through the country of the Sequani, took possession of Vesontio (Besancon), an important town on the Dubis (Doubs), and some days afterward fought a decisive battle with Ariovistus, who suffered a total defeat, and fled with the remains of his army to the Rhine, a distance of fifty miles. Only a very few, and, among the rest, Ariovistus himself, crossed the river; the rest were cut to pieces by the Roman cavalry.

Second Campaign, B.C. 57.—The following year was occupied with the Belgic war. Alarmed at Caesar's success, the various Belgic tribes which dwelt between the Sequana (Seine) and the Rhine, and were the most warlike of all the Gauls, had entered into a confederacy to oppose him, and had raised an army of 300,000 men. Caesar opened the campaign by marching into the country of the Remi, who submitted at his approach. He then crossed the Axona (Aisne), and pitched his camp in a strong position on the right bank. The enemy soon began to suffer from want of provisions, and they came to the resolution of breaking up their vast army, and retiring to their own territories. Hitherto Caesar had remained in his intrenchments, but he now broke up from his quarters and resumed the offensive. The Suessiones, the Bellovaci, and Ambiani were subdued in succession, or surrendered of their own accord; but a more formidable task awaited him when he came to the Nervii, the most warlike of all the Belgic tribes. In their country, near the River Sabis (Sambre), the Roman army was surprised by the enemy while engaged in fortifying the camp. The attack of the Nervii was so unexpected, that before the Romans could form in rank the enemy was in their midst: the Roman soldiers began to give way, and the battle seemed entirely lost. Caesar freely exposed his own person in the first line of the battle, and discharged alike the duties of a brave soldier and an able general. His exertions and the discipline of the Roman troops at length triumphed, and the Nervii were defeated with such immense slaughter, that out of 60,000 fighting men only 500 remained in the state. When the Senate received the dispatches of Caesar announcing this victory, they decreed a public thanksgiving of fifteen days—a distinction which had never yet been granted to any one.

Third Campaign, B.C. 56.—In the third campaign Caesar completed the subjugation of Gaul. He conducted in person a naval war against the Veneti, the inhabitants of the modern Brittany, and, by means of his lieutenants, conquered the remaining tribes who still held out. In the later part of the summer Caesar marched against the Morini and Menapii (in the neighborhood of Calais and Boulogne). Thus all Gaul had been apparently reduced to subjection in three years; but the spirit of the people was yet unbroken, and they only waited for an opportunity to rise against their conquerors.

Fourth Campaign, B.C. 55.—In the following year Caesar determined to attack the Germans. The Gauls had suffered too much in the last three campaigns to make any farther attempt against the Romans at present; but Caesar's ambition would not allow him to be idle. Fresh wars must be undertaken to employ his troops in active service. Two German tribes, the Usipetes and the Tenchtheri, had been driven out of their own country by the Suevi, and had crossed the Rhine with the intention of settling in Gaul. This, however, Caesar was resolved to prevent, and accordingly prepared to attack them. The Germans opened negotiations with him, but, while these were going on, a body of their cavalry defeated Caesar's Gallic horse. On the next day all the German chiefs came into Caesar's camp to apologize for what they had done; but Caesar detained them, and straightway led his troops to attack the enemy. Deprived of their leaders and taken by surprise, the Germans, after a feeble resistance, took to flight, and were almost all destroyed by the Roman cavalry. After this victory Caesar resolved to cross the Rhine, in order to strike terror into the Germans. In ten days he built a bridge of boats across the river, probably in the neighborhood of Cologne; and after spending eighteen days on the eastern side of the Rhine, and ravaging the country of the Sigambri, he returned to Gaul and broke down the bridge.

Although the greater part of the summer was now gone, Caesar resolved to invade Britain. His object in undertaking this expedition at such a late period of the year was more to obtain some knowledge of the island from personal observation than with any view to permanent conquest at present. He accordingly took with him only two legions, with which he sailed from the port Itius (probably Witsand, between Calais and Boulogne), and effected a landing somewhere near the South Foreland, after a severe struggle with the natives. Several of the British tribes hereupon sent offers of submission to Caesar; but, in consequence of the loss of a great part of the Roman fleet a few days afterward, they took up arms again. Being, however, defeated, they again sent offers of submission to Caesar, who simply demanded double the number of hostages he had originally required, as he was anxious to return to Gaul before the autumnal equinox.

The news of these victories over the Germans and far-distant Britons was received at Rome with the greatest enthusiasm. The Senate voted a public thanksgiving of twenty days, notwithstanding the opposition of Cato, who declared that Caesar ought to be delivered up to the Usipetes and Tenchtheri, to atone for his treachery in seizing the sacred persons of embassadors.

Fifth Campaign, B.C. 54.—The greater part of Caesar's fifth campaign was occupied with his second invasion of Britain. He sailed from the port Itius with an army of five legions, and landed, without opposition, at the same place as in the former year. The British states had intrusted the supreme command to Cassivellaunus, a chief whose territories were divided from the maritime states by the River Tamesis (Thames). The Britons bravely opposed the progress of the invaders, but were defeated in a series of engagements. Caesar crossed the Thames above London, probably in the neighborhood of Kingston, took the town of Cassivellaunus, and conquered great part of the counties of Essex and Middlesex. In consequence of these disasters, Cassivellaunus sued for peace; and after demanding hostages, and settling the tribute which Britain should pay yearly to the Roman people, Caesar returned to Gaul toward the latter part of the summer. He gained no more by his second invasion of Britain than by his first. He had penetrated, it is true, farther into the country, but had left no garrisons or military establishments behind him, and the people obeyed the Romans as little afterward as they had done before.

In consequence of the great scarcity of corn in Gaul, Caesar was obliged to divide his forces, and station his legions for the winter in different parts. This seemed to the Gauls a favorable opportunity for recovering their lost independence and destroying their conquerors. The Eburones, a Gallic people between the Meuse and the Rhine, near the modern Tongres, destroyed the detachment under the command of T. Titurius Sabinus and L. Aurunculeius Cotta. They next attacked the camp of Q. Cicero, the brother of the orator, who was stationed among the Nervii. Cicero repulsed the enemy in all their attempts, till he was at length relieved by Caesar in person, who came to his assistance with two legions as soon as he heard of the dangerous position of his legate. The forces of the enemy, which amounted to 60,000, were defeated by Caesar, who then joined Cicero, and praised him and his men for the bravery they had shown.

Sixth Campaign, B.C. 63.—In the next year the Gauls again took up arms, and entered into a most formidable conspiracy to recover their independence. The destruction of the Roman troops under Sabinus and Cotta, and the unsettled state of Gaul during the winter, had led Caesar to apprehend a general rising of the natives; and he had accordingly levied two new legions in Cisalpine Gaul, and obtained one from Pompey, who was remaining in the neighborhood of Rome as Proconsul with the imperium. Being thus at the head of a powerful army, he was able to subdue the tribes that revolted, and soon compelled the Nervii, Senones, Carnutes, Menapii, and Treviri to return to obedience. But as the Treviri had been supported by the Germans, he crossed the Rhine again a little above the spot where he had passed over two years before, and, after receiving the submission of the Ubii, ravaged the country of the Suevi. On his return to Gaul he laid waste the country of the Eburones with fire and sword. At the conclusion of the campaign he prosecuted a strict inquiry into the revolt of the Senones and Carautes, and caused Acco, who had been the chief ringleader in the conspiracy, to be put to death.

Seventh Campaign, B.C. 52.—The unsuccessful issue of last year's revolt had not yet damped the spirits of the Gauls. The execution of Acco had frightened all the chiefs, as every one feared that his turn might come next; the hatred of the Roman yoke was intense; and thus all the materials were ready for a general conflagration. It was first kindled by the Carnutes, and in a short time it spread from district to district till almost the whole of Gaul was in flames. Even the AEdui, who had been hitherto the faithful allies of the Romans, and had assisted them in all their wars, subsequently joined the general revolt. At the head of the insurrection was Vercingetorix, a young man of noble family belonging to the Arverni, and by far the ablest general that Caesar had yet encountered. Never before had the Gauls been so united: Caesar's conquests of the last six years seemed to be now entirely lost. The campaign of this year, therefore, was by far the most arduous that Caesar had yet carried on; but his genius triumphed over every obstacle, and rendered it the most brilliant of all. He concentrated his forces with incredible rapidity, and lost no time in attacking the chief towns in the hands of the enemy. Vellaunodunum (in the country of Chateau-Landon), Genabum (Orleans), and Noviodunum (Nouan, between Orleans and Bourges), fell into his hands without difficulty. Alarmed at his rapid progress, Vercingetorix persuaded his countrymen to lay waste their country and destroy their towns. This plan was accordingly carried into effect; but, contrary to the wishes of Vercingetorix, Avaricum (Bourges), the chief town of the Bituriges, and a strongly-fortified place, was spared from the general destruction. This town Caesar accordingly besieged, and, notwithstanding the heroic resistance of the Gauls, it was at length taken, and all the inhabitants, men, women, and children, were indiscriminately butchered.

Caesar now divided his army into two parts: one division, consisting of four legions, he sent, under the command of T. Labienus, against the Senones and Parisii; the other, comprising six legions, he led in person into the country of the Arverni, and with them laid siege to Gergovia (near Clermont). The revolt of the AEdui shortly afterward compelled him to raise the siege, and inspired the Gauls with fresh courage. Vercingetorix retired to Alesia (Alise, in Burgundy), which was considered impregnable, and resolved to wait for succors from his countrymen. Caesar immediately laid siege to the place, and drew lines of circumvallation around it. The Romans, however, were in their turn soon surrounded by a vast Gallic army which had assembled to raise the siege. Caesar's army was thus placed in imminent peril, and on no occasion in his whole life was his military genius so conspicuous. He was between two great armies. Vercingetorix had 70,000 men in Alesia, and the Gallic army without consisted of between 250,000 and 300,000 men. Still he would not raise the siege. He prevented Vercingetorix from breaking through the lines, entirely routed the Gallic army without, and finally compelled Alesia to surrender. Vercingetorix himself fell into his hands. The fall of Alesia was followed by the submission of the AEdui and Arvemi. Caesar then led his troops into winter quarters. After receiving his dispatches, the Senate voted him a public thanksgiving of twenty days, as in the year B.C. 55.

Eighth Campaign, B.C. 51.—The victories of the preceding year had determined the fate of Gaul; but many states still remained in arms, and entered into fresh conspiracies during the winter. This year was occupied in the reduction of these states, into the particulars of which we need not enter. During the winter Caesar employed himself in the pacification of Gaul, and, as he already saw that his presence would soon be necessary in Italy, he was anxious to remove all causes for future wars. He accordingly imposed no new taxes, treated the states with honor and respect, and bestowed great presents upon the chiefs. The experience of the last two years had taught the Gauls that they had no hope of contending successfully against Caesar, and, as he now treated them with mildness, they were the more readily induced to submit patiently to the Roman yoke.



CHAPTER XXXIV.

INTERNAL HISTORY, FROM THE RETURN OF CICERO FROM BANISHMENT TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CIVIL WAR.—EXPEDITION AND DEATH OF CRASSUS. B.C. 57-50.

Cicero returned from banishment an altered man. Though his return had been glorious, he saw that his position was entirely changed, and he was forced to yield to a power which he no longer dared to resist. He even lent his support to the Triumvirs, and praised in public those proceedings which he had once openly and loudly condemned. Meantime the power of Pompey had been shaken at Rome. A misunderstanding had sprung up between him and Crassus, and Cato and the other leaders of the aristocracy attacked him with the utmost vehemence. The Senate began to entertain hopes of recovering their power. They determined to support L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, who, in B.C. 56, had become a candidate for the Consulship for the following year, and who threatened to deprive Caesar of his provinces and armies. Under these circumstances Caesar invited Pompey and Crassus to meet him at Luca (Lucca) in the spring of B.C. 56. He reconciled them to each other, and arranged that they were to be Consuls for the next year, and obtain provinces and armies, while he himself was to have his government prolonged for another five years, and to receive pay for his troops. On their return to Rome, Pompey and Crassus became candidates for the Consulship; but Domitius Ahenobarbus, supported by Cato and the aristocracy, offered a most determined opposition. The Consul Lentulus Marcellinus likewise was resolved to use every means to prevent their election; and, finding it impossible to carry their election while Marcellinus was in office, they availed themselves of the veto of two of the Tribunes to prevent the Consular Comitia from being held this year. The elections, therefore, did not take place till the beginning of B.C. 55, under the presidency of an interrex. Even then Ahenobarbus and Cato did not relax in their opposition; and it was not till the armed bands of Pompey and Crassus had cleared the Campus Martius of their adversaries that they were declared Consuls for the second time (B.C. 55).

They forthwith proceeded to carry into effect the compact that had been made at Luca. They induced the Tribune C. Trebonius to bring forward two bills, one of which gave the province of the two Spains to Pompey, and that of Syria to Crassus; the other prolonged Caesar's government for five years more, namely, from the 1st of January, B.C. 53, to the end of the year 49. Pompey was now at the head of the state; and at the expiration of his year of office would no longer be a private man, but with the command of an army and in possession of the imperium. With an army he felt sure of regaining his former influence. He had now completed the theatre which he had been some time building, and, as a means of regaining the popular favor, he resolved to open it with an exhibition of games of unparalleled splendor and magnificence. The building itself was worthy of the conqueror of the East. It was the first stone theatre that had been erected at Rome, and was sufficiently large to accommodate 40,000 spectators. The games exhibited lasted many days. Five hundred African lions and eighteen elephants were killed. A rhinoceros was likewise exhibited on this occasion for the first time. Pompey sent an army into Spain under the command of his lieutenants, L. Afranius and M. Petreius, while he himself remained in the neighborhood of Rome as Proconsul.

Before the end of the year Crassus set out for Syria, with the intention of attacking the Parthians. He was anxious to distinguish himself in war, like Pompey and Caesar, and, though upward of sixty years of age, he chose rather to enter upon an undertaking for which he had no genius than to continue the pursuit of wealth and influence at home. He crossed the Euphrates in B.C. 54, but, hesitating to proceed at once against Parthia, he gave the enemy time to assemble his forces, and returned to Syria without accomplishing any thing of importance. He spent the winter in Syria, where, instead of exercising his troops and preparing for the ensuing campaign, he plundered the temples, and employed his time in collecting money from every quarter. In the following spring (B.C. 53) he again crossed the Euphrates, and plunged into the sandy deserts of Mesopotamia. He trusted to the guidance of an Arabian chieftain, who promised to lead him by the shortest way to the enemy. But this man was in the pay of Surenas, the Parthian general; and when he had brought the Romans into the open plains of Mesopotamia, he seized a frivolous pretext, and rode off to inform Surenas that the Roman army was delivered into his hands. The Parthians soon appeared. They worried the densely-marshaled Romans with showers of arrows; and by feigned retreats, during which they continued to discharge their arrows, they led the Romans into disadvantageous positions. The son of Crassus, who had distinguished himself as one of Caesar's lieutenants in Gaul, was slain, and the Romans, after suffering great loss, retreated to Carrhae, the Haran of Scripture. On the following day they continued their retreat; and Surenas, fearing that Crassus might after all make his escape, invited him to an interview. He was treacherously seized, and, in the scuffle which ensued, was slain by some unknown hand. His head was carried to the Parthian king Orodes, who caused melted gold to be poured into the mouth, saying, "Sate thyself now with that metal of which in life thou wert so greedy." Twenty thousand Roman troops were slain, and ten thousand taken prisoners, in this expedition, one of the most disastrous in which the Romans were ever engaged. Only a small portion of the Roman army escaped to Syria under the command of L. Cassius Longinus, afterward one of Caesar's assassins, who had displayed considerable ability during the war, but whose advice Crassus had constantly refused to follow.

The death of Crassus left Pompey and Caesar alone at the head of the state, and it became evident that sooner or later a struggle would take place between them for the supremacy. The death of Julia, in B.C. 54, to whom both her father and husband were strongly attached, broke a link which might have united them much longer. Pompey considered that he had been the chief means of raising Caesar to power, and he appeared long to have deemed it impossible that the conqueror of Mithridates could be thrown into the shade by any popular leader. Such a result, however, was now imminent. Caesar's brilliant victories in Gaul were in every body's mouth, and Pompey saw with ill-disguised mortification that he was becoming the second person in the state. Though this did not lead him to break with Caesar at once, it made him anxious to increase his power and influence, and he therefore now resolved, if possible, to obtain the Dictatorship. He accordingly used no effort to put an end to the disturbances at Rome between Milo and Clodius in this year, in hopes that all parties would be willing to accede to his wishes in order to restore peace to the city. Milo was a candidate for the Consulship and Clodius for the Praetorship. Each was attended by a band of hired ruffians; battles took place between them daily in the Forum and the streets; all order and government were at an end. In such a state of things no elections could be held, and the confusion at length became downright anarchy, when Milo murdered Clodius on the 20th of January in the following year (B.C. 52). The two rivals had met near Bovillae, accompanied, as usual, by their armed followers. A fray ensued. The party of Milo proved the stronger, and Clodius took refuge in a house. But Milo attacked the house, dragged out Clodius, and having dispatched him, left him dead upon the road. His body was found by a Senator, carried to Rome, and exposed naked to the people. They were violently excited at the sight, and their feelings were still farther inflamed by the harangues of the Tribunes. The benches and tables of the Senate-house were seized to make a funeral pile for their favorite; and not only the Senate-house, but several other public buildings, were reduced to ashes. As the riots still continued, the Senate had no longer any choice but to call in the assistance of Pompey. They therefore commissioned him to collect troops and put an end to the disturbances. Pompey, who had obtained the great object of his desires, obeyed with alacrity; he was invested with the supreme power of the state by being elected sole Consul on the 25th of February; and, in order to deliver the city from Milo and his myrmidons, he brought forward laws against violence and bribery at elections. Milo was put upon his trial; the court was surrounded with soldiers; Cicero, who defended him, was intimidated, and Milo was condemned, and went into exile at Massilia.[67] Others shared the same fate, and peace was once more restored to the state.

Pompey's jealousy of Caesar brought him into connection with the aristocratical party. After Julia's death he had married Cornelia, the daughter of Metellus Scipio, whom he made his colleague on the first of August. His next step was to strike a blow at Caesar. He brought forward an old law that no one should become a candidate for a public office while absent, in order that Caesar might be obliged to resign his command, and to place himself in the power of his enemies at Rome, if he wished to obtain the Consulship a second time.[68] But the renewal of this enactment was so manifestly aimed at Caesar that his friends insisted he should be specially exempted from it; and as Pompey was not yet prepared to break openly with him, he thought it more expedient to yield. At the same time, Pompey provided that he himself should remain in command of an army after his rival had ceased to have one, by obtaining a senatus consultum, by which his government of the Spains was prolonged for another five years. And, in case Caesar should obtain the Consulship, he caused a law to be enacted, in virtue of which no one could have a province till five years had elapsed from the time of his holding a public office. Such were the precautions adopted against Caesar, the uselessness of which time soon showed.

In the following year (B.C. 51) Pompey declared himself still more openly on the side of the Senate; but still he shrank from supporting all the violent measures of the Consul M. Claudius Marcellus, who proposed to send a successor to Caesar, on the plea that the war in Gaul was finished, and to deprive him of the privilege of becoming a candidate for the Consulship in his absence. The Consuls for the next year (B.C. 50), L. AEmilius Paullus and C. Claudius Marcellus, and the powerful Tribune C. Curio, were all reckoned devoted partisans of Pompey and the Senate. Caesar, however, gained over Paullus and Curio by large bribes, and with a lavish hand distributed immense sums of money among the leading men of Rome. It was proposed in the Senate by the Consul C. Marcellus that Caesar should lay down his command by the 13th of November. But this was an unreasonable demand; Caesar's government had upward of another year to run; and if he had come to Rome as a private man to sue for the Consulship, there can be no doubt that his life would have been sacrificed. Cato had declared that he would bring Caesar to trial as soon as he laid down his command; but the trial would have been only a mockery, for Pompey was in the neighborhood of the city at the head of an army, and would have overawed the judges by his soldiery as at Milo's trial. The Tribune Curio consequently interposed his veto upon the proposition of Marcellus. The Senate, anxious to diminish the number of his troops, had, under pretext of a war with the Parthians, ordered that Pompey and Caesar should each furnish a legion to be sent into the East. The legion which Pompey intended to devote to this service was one he had lent to Caesar in B.C. 53, and which he now accordingly demanded back; and, although Caesar saw that he should thus be deprived of two legions, which would probably be employed against himself, he complied with the request. Upon their arrival in Italy, they were not sent to the East, but were ordered to pass the winter at Capua. Caesar took up his quarters at Ravenna, the last town in his province bordering upon Italy.

Though war seemed inevitable, Caesar still showed himself willing to enter into negotiations with the aristocracy, and accordingly sent Curio with a letter addressed to the Senate, in which he expressed his readiness to resign his command if Pompey would do the same. Curio arrived at Rome on the 1st of January, B.C. 49, the day on which the new Consuls, L. Cornelius Lentulus and C. Claudius Marcellus, entered upon their office. It was with great difficulty that the Tribunes, M. Antonius, afterward the well-known Triumvir, and Q. Cassius Longinus, forced the Senate to allow the letter to be read. After a violent debate, the motion of Scipio, Pompey's father-in-law, was carried, "that Caesar should disband his army by a certain day, and that if he did not do so he should be regarded as an enemy of the state." On the 6th of January the Senate passed the decree investing the Consuls with dictatorial power. Antonius and Cassius, considering their lives no longer safe, fled from the city in disguise to Caesar's army, and called upon him to protect the inviolable persons of the Tribunes. This was the crisis. The Senate intrusted the management of the war to Pompey, determined that fresh levies of troops should be held, and voted a sum of money from the public treasury to Pompey. Pompey all along had no apprehensions as to the war; he thought it impossible that Caesar should ever march against him; he was convinced that his great fame would cause a multitude of troops to flock around him whenever he wished. In addition to this, he had been deceived as to the disposition of Caesar's troops: he had been led to believe that they were ready to desert their general at the first opportunity. Consequently, when the war broke out, Pompey had scarcely any troops except the two legions which he had obtained from Caesar, and on the fidelity of which he could by no means rely.

[Footnote 67: Cicero sent to Milo at Massilia the oration which he meant to have delivered, the one which we still have. Milo, after reading it, remarked, "I am glad it was not delivered, for I should then have been acquitted, and never have known the delicate flavor of these Massilian mullets."]

[Footnote 68: Caesar's government would expire at the end of B.C. 49, and he had therefore determined to obtain the Consulship for B.C. 48, since otherwise he would become a private person.]



CHAPTER XXXV.

FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND CIVIL WAR TO CAESAR'S DEATH. B.C. 49-44.

As soon as Caesar learned at Ravenna the last resolution of the Senate, he assembled his soldiers, informed them of the wrongs he had sustained, and called upon them to support him. Finding them quite willing to support him, he crossed the Rubicon,[69] which separated his province from Italy, and occupied Ariminum, where he met with the Tribunes. He commenced his enterprise with only one legion, consisting of 5000 foot-soldiers and 300 horse; but others had orders to follow him from Transalpine Gaul, and he was well aware of the importance of expedition, that the enemy might have no time to complete their preparations. Though it was the middle of winter, he pushed on with the utmost rapidity, and such was the popularity of his cause in Italy, that city after city opened its gates to him, and his march was like a triumphal progress. Arretium, Pisaurum, Fanum, Ancona, Iguvium, and Auximum fell into his hands. These successes caused the utmost consternation at Rome; it was reported that Caesar's cavalry were already at the gates; a general panic seized the Senate, and they fled from the city without even taking with them the money from the public treasury. Caesar continued his victorious march through Picenum till he came to Corfinium, which M. Domitius Ahenobarbus held with a strong force; but, as Pompey did not march to his assistance, Domitius was unable to maintain the place, and fell himself into Caesar's hands, together with several other Senators and distinguished men. Caesar, with the same clemency which he displayed throughout the whole of the Civil War, dismissed them all uninjured. He then hastened southward in pursuit of Pompey, who had now resolved to abandon Italy. He reached Brundusium before Caesar, but had not sailed when the latter arrived before the town. Caesar straightway laid siege to the place, but Pompey abandoned it on the 17th of March, and embarked for Greece. Caesar was unable to follow him for want of ships. He accordingly marched back from Brundusium, and repaired to Rome, having thus in three months become the master of the whole of Italy.

The only opposition which Caesar met with in Rome was from L. Metellus the Tribune, who attempted to prevent him from entering the public treasury, though the people had given him permission to take from it as much money as he pleased. "Stand aside, young man," said Caesar; "it is easier for me to do than to say." After remaining in the neighborhood of Rome for a short time, he set out for Spain, leaving M. Lepidus in charge of the city, and M. Antonius in command of the troops in Italy. He sent Curio to drive Cato out of Sicily, Q. Valerius to take possession of Sardinia, and C. Antonius to occupy Illyricum. Curio and Valerius obtained possession of Sicily and Sardinia without opposition; and the former then passed over into Africa, which was in possession of the Pompeian party. Here, however, he encountered strong opposition, and at length was defeated, and lost his life in a battle with Juba, king of Mauretania, who supported P. Atius Varus, the Pompeian commander. C. Antonius also met with ill success in Illyricum, for his army was defeated, and he himself taken prisoner. These disasters were more than counterbalanced by Caesar's victories in the mean time in Spain. Leaving Rome about the middle of April, he found, on his arrival in Gaul, that Massilia refused to submit to him. He besieged the place forthwith, but, unable to take it immediately, he left C. Trebonius and D. Brutus, with part of his troops, to prosecute the siege, and continued his march to Spain. On the approach of Caesar, L. Afranius and M. Petreius, the lieutenants of Pompey in Spain, united their forces, and took up a strong position near the town of Ilerda (Lerida, in Catalonia), on the right bank of the Sicoris (Segre). After experiencing great difficulties at first and some reverses, Caesar at length reduced Afranius and Petreius to such straits that they were obliged to surrender. They themselves were dismissed uninjured, part of their troops disbanded, and the remainder incorporated among Caesar's troops. The conqueror then proceeded to march against Varro, who commanded two legions in the Farther Province; but, after the victory over Afranius and Petreius, there was no army in Spain capable of offering resistance, and Varro accordingly surrendered to Caesar on his arrival at Corduba (Cordova). Having thus subdued all Spain in forty days, he returned to Gaul. Massilia had not yet yielded; but the siege had been prosecuted with so much vigor, that the inhabitants were compelled to surrender the town soon after he appeared before the walls.

During his absence in Spain Caesar was appointed Dictator by the Praetor M. Lepidus, who had been empowered to do so by a law passed for the purpose. On his return to Rome Caesar assumed the new dignity, but laid it down again at the end of eleven days, after holding the Consular Comitia, in which he himself and P. Servilius Vatia were elected Consuls for the next year. But during these eleven days he caused some very important laws to be passed. The first was intended to relieve debtors, but at the same time to protect, to a great extent, the rights of creditors. He next restored all exiles; and, finally, he conferred the full citizenship upon the Transpadani, who had hitherto held only the Latin franchise.

After laying down the Dictatorship, Caesar went in December to Brundusium, where he had previously ordered his troops to assemble. He had lost many men in the long march from Spain, and also from sickness arising from their passing the autumn in the south of Italy. Pompey during the summer had raised a large force in Greece, Egypt, and the East, the scene of his former glory. He had collected an army consisting of nine legions of Roman citizens, and an auxiliary force of cavalry and infantry; and his forces far surpassed in number those which Caesar had assembled at Brundusium. Moreover, Pompey's fleet, under the command of Bibulus, Caesar's colleague in his first Consulship, completely commanded the sea. Still Caesar ventured to set sail from Brundusium on the 4th of January, and he arrived the next day in safety on the coast of Epirus. In consequence, however, of the small number of his ships, he was able to carry over only seven legions, which, from the causes previously mentioned, had been so thinned as to amount only to 15,000 foot and 500 horse. After landing this force he sent back his ships to bring over the remainder; but part of the fleet was intercepted in its return by M. Bibulus, who kept up such a strict watch along the coast that the rest of Caesar's army was obliged for the present to remain at Brundusium. Caesar was thus in a critical position, in the midst of the enemy's country, and cut off from the rest of his army; but he knew that he could thoroughly rely on his men, and therefore immediately commenced acting on the offensive. After gaining possession of Oricum and Apollonia, he hastened northward, in hopes of surprising Dyrrhachium, where all Pompey's stores were deposited; but Pompey, by rapid marches, reached this town before him, and both armies then encamped opposite to each other, Pompey on the right, and Caesar on the left bank of the River Apsus. Caesar was now greatly in want of re-enforcements, and such was his impatience that he attempted to sail across the Adriatic in a small boat. The waves ran so high that the sailors wanted to turn back, till Caesar discovered himself, telling them that they earned Caesar and his fortunes. They then toiled on, but the storm at length compelled them to return, and with difficulty they reached again the coast of Greece. Shortly afterward M. Antonius succeeded in bringing over the remainder of the army. Pompey meantime had retired to some high ground near Dyrrhachium, and, as he would not venture a battle with Caesar's veterans, Caesar began to blockade him in his position, and to draw lines of circumvallation of an extraordinary extent. They were nearly completed when Pompey forced a passage through them, and drove back Caesar's legions with considerable loss. Caesar thus found himself compelled to retreat from his present position, and accordingly commenced his march for Thessaly. Pompey's policy of avoiding a general engagement with Caesar's veterans till he could place more reliance upon his own troops was undoubtedly a wise one, and had been hitherto crowned with success; but he was prevented from carrying out the prudent plan which he had formed for conducting the campaign. His camp was filled with a multitude of Roman nobles, unacquainted with war, and anxious to return to their estates in Italy and to the luxuries of the capital. His unwillingness to fight was set down to love of power and anxiety to keep the Senate in subjection. Stung with the reproaches with which he was assailed, and elated in some degree by his victory at Dyrrhachium, he resolved to bring the contest to an issue. Accordingly, he offered battle to Caesar in the plain of Pharsalus, or Pharsalia, in Thessaly. The numbers on either side were very unequal: Pompey had 45,000 foot-soldiers and 7000 horse, Caesar 22,000 foot-soldiers and 1000 horse. The battle, which was fought on the 9th of August, B.C. 48, according to the old calendar,[70] ended in the total defeat of Pompey's army.

The battle of Pharsalia decided the fate of Pompey and the Republic. Pompey was at once driven to despair. He made no attempt to rally his forces, though he might still have collected a considerable army; but, regarding every thing as lost, he hurried to the sea-coast with a few friends. He embarked on board a merchant-ship at the mouth of the River Peneus, and first sailed to Lesbos, where he took on board his wife Cornelia, and from thence made for Cyprus. He now determined to seek refuge in Egypt, as he had been the means of restoring to his kingdom Ptolemy Auletes, the father of the young Egyptian monarch. On his death in B.C. 51 Ptolemy Auletes had left directions that his son should reign jointly with his elder sister Cleopatra. But their joint reign did not last long, for Ptolemy, or, rather, Pothinus and Achillas, his chief advisers, expelled his sister from the throne. Cleopatra collected a force in Syria, with which she invaded Egypt. The generals of Ptolemy were encamped opposite her, near Alexandria, when Pompey arrived off the coast and craved the protection of the young king. This request threw Pothinus and Achillas into great difficulty, for there were many of Pompey's old soldiers in the Egyptian army, and they feared he would become master of Egypt. They therefore determined to put him to death. Accordingly, they sent out a small boat, took Pompey on board with three or four attendants, and rowed for the shore. His wife and friends watched him from the ship, anxious to see in what manner he would be received by the king, who was standing on the edge of the sea with his troops. Just as the boat reached the shore, and Pompey was in the act of rising from his seat in order to step on land, he was stabbed in the back by Septimius, who had formerly been one of his centurions. Achillas and the rest then drew their swords; whereupon Pompey, without uttering a word, covered his face with his toga, and calmly submitted to his fate. He had just completed his 58th year. His head was cut off, and his body, which was cast naked upon the shore, was buried by his freedman Philippus, who had accompanied him from the ship. The head was brought to Caesar when he arrived in Egypt soon afterward, but he turned away from the sight, shed tears at the untimely end of his rival, and put his murderers to death.

When news of the battle of Pharsalia reached Rome, various laws were passed which conferred supreme power upon Caesar. Though absent, he was nominated Dictator a second time, and for a whole year. He appointed M. Antonius his master of the Horse; and entered upon the office in September of this year (B.C. 48). He was also nominated to the Consulship for the next five years, though he did not avail himself of this privilege; and he was invested with the tribunicial power for life.

Caesar went to Egypt in pursuit of Pompey, and upon his arrival there he became involved in a war, which detained him several months, and gave the remains of the Pompeian party time to rally and to make fresh preparations for continuing the struggle. The war in Egypt, usually called the Alexandrine War, arose from Caesar's resolving to settle the disputes respecting the succession to the kingdom. He determined that Cleopatra, whose fascinations completely won his heart, and her brother Ptolemy, should reign in common, according to the provisions of their father's will; but as this decision was opposed by the guardians of the young king, a war broke out between them and Caesar, in which he was for some time exposed to great danger on account of the small number of his troops. But, having received re-enforcements, he finally prevailed, and placed Cleopatra and her younger brother on the throne, the elder having perished in the course of the contest. Cleopatra afterward joined Caesar at Rome, and bore him a son named Caesarion.

After bringing the Alexandrine War to a close, toward the end of March, B.C. 47, Caesar marched through Syria into Pontus in order to attack Pharnaces, the son of the celebrated Mithridates, who had defeated Cn. Domitius Calvinus, one of Caesar's lieutenants. This war, however, did not detain him long; for Pharnaces, venturing to come to an open battle with the Dictator, was utterly defeated on the 2d of August near Zela. It was in reference to this victory that Caesar sent the celebrated laconic dispatch to the Senate, Veni, vidi, vici, "I came, I saw, I conquered." He then proceeded to Rome, caused himself to be appointed Dictator for another year, and nominated M. AEmilius Lepidus his Master of the Horse. At the same time he quelled a formidable mutiny of his troops which had broken out in Campania.

Caesar did not remain in Rome more than two or three months. With his usual activity and energy he set out to Africa before the end of the year (B.C. 47), in order to carry on the war against Scipio and Cato, who had collected a large army in that country. Their forces were far greater than those which Caesar could bring against them; but he had too much reliance on his own genius to be alarmed by mere disparity of numbers. At first he was in considerable difficulties; but, having been joined by some of his other legions, he was able to prosecute the campaign with more vigor, and finally brought it to a close by the battle of Thapsus, on the 6th of April, B.C. 46, in which the Pompeian army was completely defeated. All Africa now submitted to Caesar with the exception of Utica, which Cato commanded. The inhabitants saw that resistance was hopeless; and Cato, who was a sincere Republican, resolved to die rather than submit to Caesar's despotism. After spending the greater part of the night in perusing Plato's Phaedo, a dialogue on the immortality of the soul, he stabbed himself. His friends, hearing him fall, ran up, found him bathed in blood, and, while he was fainting, dressed his wounds. When, however, he recovered feeling, he tore off the bandages, and so died.

Caesar returned to Rome by the end of July. He was now undisputed master of the Roman world. Great apprehensions were entertained by his enemies lest, notwithstanding his former clemency, he should imitate Marius and Sulla, and proscribe all his opponents. But these fears were perfectly groundless. A love of cruelty was no part of Caesar's nature; and, with a magnanimity which victors rarely show, and least of all those in civil wars, he freely forgave all who had borne arms against him, and declared that he should make no difference between Pompeians and Caesarians. His object was now to allay animosities, and to secure the lives and property of all the citizens of his empire. As soon as the news of his African victory reached Rome a public thanksgiving of forty days was decreed in his honor; the Dictatorship was bestowed upon him for ten years; and the Censorship, under the new title of "Praefectus Morum," for three years. Caesar had never yet enjoyed a triumph; and, as he had now no farther enemies to meet, he availed himself of the opportunity of celebrating his victories in Gaul, Egypt, Pontus, and Africa, by four magnificent triumphs. None of these, however, were in honor of his successes in the civil war; and consequently his African triumph was to commemorate his victory over Juba, and not over Scipio and Cato. These triumphs were followed by largesses of corn and money to the people and the soldiers, by public banquets, and all sorts of entertainments.

Caesar now proceeded to correct the various evils which had crept into the state, and to obtain the enactment of several laws suitable to the altered condition of the commonwealth. He attempted, by severe sumptuary laws, to restrain the extravagance which pervaded all classes of society. But the most important of his changes this year (B.C. 40) was the reformation of the Calendar, which was a real benefit to his country and the civilized world, and which he accomplished in his character as Pontifex Maximus. The regulation of the Roman calendar had always been intrusted to the College of Pontiffs, who had been accustomed to lengthen or shorten the year at their pleasure for political purposes; and the confusion had at length become so great that the Roman year was three months behind the real time. To remedy this serious evil, Caesar added 90 days to the current year, and thus made it consist of 445 days; and he guarded against a repetition of similar errors for the future by adapting the year to the sun's course.

In the midst of these labors Caesar was interrupted by intelligence of a formidable insurrection which had broken out in Spain, where the remains of the Pompeian party had again collected a large army under the command of Pompey's sons, Cneius and Sextus. Caesar set out for Spain at the end of B.C. 46. With his usual activity he arrived at Obulco, near Corduba, in 27 days from the time of his leaving Rome. He found the enemy able to offer stronger opposition than he had anticipated; but he brought the war to a close by the battle of Munda, on the 17th of March, B.C. 46, in which he entirely defeated the enemy. It was, however, a hard-fought battle: Caesar's troops were at first driven back, and were only rallied by their general's exposing his own person, like a common soldier, in the front line of the battle. Cn. Pompeius was killed shortly afterward, but Sextus made good his escape. The settlement of the affairs in Spain detained Caesar in the province some months longer, and he consequently did not reach Rome till September. At the beginning of October he entered the city in triumph on account of his victories in Spain, although the victory had been gained over Roman citizens. The Senate received him with the most servile flattery. They had in his absence voted a public thanksgiving of fifty days, and they now vied with each other in paying him every kind of adulation and homage. He was to wear, on all public occasions, the triumphal robe; he was to receive the title of "Father of his Country;" statues of him were to be placed in all the temples; his portrait was to be struck on coins; the month of Quintilis was to receive the name of Julius in his honor, and he was to be raised to a rank among the gods. But there were still more important decrees than these, which were intended to legalize his power, and confer upon him the whole government of the Roman world. He received the title of Imperator for life; he was nominated Consul for the next ten years, and both Dictator and Praefectus Morum for life; his person was declared sacred; a guard of Senators and Knights was appointed to protect him, and the whole Senate took an oath to watch over his safety.

If we now look at the way in which Caesar exerted his sovereign power, it can not be denied that he used it in the main for the good of his country. He still pursued his former merciful course: no proscriptions or executions took place; and he began to revolve vast schemes for the benefit of the Roman world. At the same time he was obliged to reward his followers, and for that reason he greatly increased the number of senators and magistrates, so that there were 16 Praetors, 40 Quaestors, and 6 AEdiles, and new members were added to the priestly colleges. Among other plans of internal improvement, he proposed to frame a digest of all the Roman laws, to establish public libraries, to drain the Pomptine marshes, to enlarge the harbor of Ostia and to dig a canal through the isthmus of Corinth. To protect the boundaries of the Roman Empire, he meditated expeditions against the Parthians and the barbarous tribes on the Danube, and had already begun to make preparations for his departure to the East. In the midst of these vast projects he entered upon the last year of his life, B.C. 44, and his fifth Consulship and Dictatorship. He had made M. Antonius his colleague in the Consulship, and M. Lepidus the Master of the Horse. He had for some time past resolved to preserve the supreme power in his family; and, as he had no legitimate children, he had fixed upon his great-nephew Octavius (afterward the Emperor Augustus) as his successor. Possessing royal power, he now wished to obtain the title of king, and accordingly prevailed upon his colleague Antonius to offer him the diadem in public on the festival of the Lupercalia (the 15th of February). But the very name of king had long been hateful at Rome; and the people displayed such an evident dislike to the proposal that it was dropped for the present.

The conspiracy against Caesar's life had been formed as early as the beginning of the year. It had been set on foot by C. Cassius Longinus, a personal enemy of Caesar's, and more than sixty persons were privy to it. Private hatred alone seems to have been the motive of Cassius, and probably of several others. Many of them had taken an active part in the war against Caesar, and had not only been forgiven by him, but raised to offices of rank and honor. Among others was M. Junius Brutus, who had been pardoned by Caesar after the battle of Pharsalia, and had since been treated almost as his son. In this very year Caesar had made him Praetor, and held out to him the prospect of the Consulship. Brutus, like Cato, seems to have been a sincere Republican, and Cassius persuaded him to join the conspiracy, and imitate his great ancestor who freed them from the Tarquins. It was now arranged to assassinate the Dictator in the Senate-house on the Ides or 15th of March. Rumors of the plot got abroad, and Caesar was strongly urged not to attend the Senate. But he disregarded the warnings which were given him. As he entered, the Senate rose to do him honor; and when he had taken his seat, the conspirators pressed around him as if to support the prayer of Tillius Cimber, who entreated the Dictator to recall his brother from banishment. When Caesar began to show displeasure at their importunity, Tillius seized him by his toga, which was the signal for attack. Casca struck the first blow, and the other conspirators bared their weapons. Caesar defended himself till he saw Brutus had drawn his sword, and then exclaiming, "And thou, too, Brutus!" he drew his toga over his head, and fell pierced with three-and-twenty wounds at the foot of Pompey's statue.