Ancient Rome : from the earliest times down to 476 A. D Part 13

CHAPTER XXVIII. TROUBLES AT ROME.--CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE.

While Pompey was absent in the East, matters at Rome were daily becoming worse, and shaping themselves for the speedy overthrow of the Republic.

There were many who had suffered under Sulla, and who were anxious to regain what they had lost, and there were many who, enriched by the Dictator, had squandered their ill-gotten wealth, and now only waited a leader to renew the a.s.sault upon the state. The Senate was jealous of the power of the people, and the people distrusted the Senate.

Among the patricians who were aspiring to the consulship was LUCIUS SERGIUS CATILiNA, a villain steeped in every crime, but adroit, bold, and withal captivating. In 68 he had been Praetor, the next year Governor in Africa, where by his extortions he had obtained enough money, as he hoped, to purchase his election to the consulship. On his return home he was impeached for his misgovernment, but acquitted through Cicero's defence and the careful selection of a jury.

He then came forward as candidate for the consulship of the next year (63). There were two other candidates, Antonius, the uncle of Mark Antony, and Cicero himself. Antony was sure of an election, so the struggle was really between Catiline and Cicero. The latter was elected, owing to the popularity he had acquired by his prosecution of Verres and his defence of the Manilian Law. Thus Cicero reached the goal for which he had been so long striving.

Caesar was rising at the same time. The year previous (65) he had been Curule Aedile, had built a row of costly columns in front of the Capitol, and erected a temple to the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux). But what made him especially pleasing to the populace was his lavish display at the public games and exhibitions.

Caesar was now looked upon as a prominent democratic leader. In 63 the office of Pontifex Maximus, the head of the state religion, became vacant by the death of its occupant, Metellus Pius. Caesar became a candidate for the office, and was elected, receiving more votes than both the rival candidates combined. He also received further evidence of the popular favor by being chosen Praetor for the next year (62).

Cicero's consulship would have closed without adding anything to his fame had it not been for Catiline. The latter's failure to be elected caused him to enter into a plot to seize and burn the city. He had many followers, men of n.o.ble families, among whom were the former Consul Lentulus, who had been recently expelled from the Senate by the Censors, and Cethegus, a bankrupt spendthrift, who was anxious to regain a fortune by a change in government. There were veterans of Sulla, starving peasants who had been dispossessed of their farms, and outlaws of every description. The conspirators were divided into two parties; those outside of the city, headed by Marcus Manlius, whose head-quarters were at Faesulae (Fiesole), where was gathered an army of trained soldiers; and those inside of the city, headed by Catiline. Here secret meetings were held, the purpose of which was to excite an uprising, kill the magistrates, seize the government, and then unite with the army in Etruria. Cicero was informed of these meetings by spies, and just before the plans for the uprising were matured, he disclosed them to the Senate.

Catiline fled from Rome; but his accomplices, of whom Lentulus and Cethegus were the most prominent, were arrested in the city. A serious difficulty now arose as to the disposition of the prisoners. Lentulus was at that time Praetor, and the persons of public officers were sacred. The Semp.r.o.nian Law of Gracchus forbade the executing of any Roman citizen without giving him a right of appeal to the a.s.sembly. Too many were implicated in the conspiracy for this to be safe.

In the debate in the Senate, the princ.i.p.al speakers were Caesar, Cato, and Cicero.

Cato and Cicero advocated immediate death; Caesar, imprisonment for life. The motives of the men are so characteristic that they form a complete key to their several public careers. Cicero, vain and selfish, weak in council, and distrustful of the temper of the people and of his own ability to rule their factions, feared that they would become dangerous enemies to himself; Cato, desiring the reformation of the state, would make an example and warning for the future. The one, forgetful of the state, was overcome by personal fears; the other, unmindful of self, would have purity at any cost.

Caesar, on the other hand, wished everything done in strict accordance with the laws; as a bold and wise statesman, he urged that nothing was more impolitic than lawless violence on the part of the rulers. Cicero was the timid magistrate; Cato, the injudicious reformer; but Caesar, with his keener knowledge and stronger hand, was the safer guide.

A sentence of death was voted; and Cicero, with unseemly haste, caused the conspirators to be strangled that same night (December 5, 63). The suppression of the conspiracy in the city was followed by the defeat of the army in Etruria. Thither Catiline had fled, and there he fell fighting with desperate courage at the head of his motley force of soldiers near Pistoria.

The name of "Father of his Country" was given to Cicero for the vigilance shown in this affair.

The execution of Lentulus and Cethegus resulted as Caesar had expected.

It was a lawless act on the part of the Consul and the Senate, and it was felt that by it the const.i.tution was still more endangered. The people demanded that Pompey return. In him they thought to have a deliverer from internal strifes.

Cicero was wrapped up in his own conceit, imagining himself a second Romulus. On the last day of the year (63), as was the custom of the retiring Consuls, he arose in the Forum to deliver a speech, reviewing the acts of his year of consulship. Metellus Nepos, a Tribune, forbade his speaking, on the ground that one who had put to death Roman citizens without a hearing did not deserve to be heard. Amid the uproar Cicero could only shout that he had saved his country. Metellus threatened to impeach him, and excitement in the city was at fever heat. The Tribune moved before the a.s.sembly that Pompey be recalled. The Senate feared his coming. Caesar, who was now Praetor (judge), favored it, and earnestly seconded the proposal of Metellus. Cato, who was also Tribune, ordered Metellus to stop speaking, and s.n.a.t.c.hed his ma.n.u.script from his hand. The aristocrats drew their swords, and broke up the meeting.

Const.i.tutional law was trampled under foot on all sides. The Senate was riding rough-shod over all opponents. Metellus and Caesar were declared deposed from their offices. The people, however, believed in Caesar. He was followed to his home by crowds, who begged him to be their leader, and make an example of the law-breakers in the Senate. But Caesar refused. He would have nothing to do with lawlessness; he let his opponents play that _role_, and awaited the results. The Senate soon saw its mistake, and requested him to resume his official duties.

The next year (61) Caesar was sent to Farther Spain as Propraetor. He had already left a favorable impression there as Quaestor. Portions of the country were still unsubdued. Many of the mountain pa.s.ses were held by robbers, whose depredations caused much trouble. He completed the subjugation of the peninsula, put down the brigands, reorganized the government, and sent large sums of money to the treasury at Rome. His administration was thorough and complete, and a just reward for it would, he hoped, be the consulship.

Meanwhile Pompey had returned from the East. He landed at Brundisium in December, 62, and proceeded with a large band of captured princes and immense treasures to Rome, which he entered in triumph amidst the greatest enthusiasm. By a special vote of the Senate he was permitted to wear his triumphal robe in that body whenever he pleased.

Caesar returned from Spain in 60, with wealth and military fame. Though feared and detested by the Senate, he was the favorite of the people, and could depend upon their support. Pompey had the army behind him.

He received Caesar with pleasure, for he had been a friend in all his career.

Caesar felt that, with the people and the army through Pompey on his side, he only needed the capitalists to make his success sure. CRa.s.sUS was counted as the richest man at Rome. He was won over. These three then formed what is known as the FIRST TRIUMVIRATE,--"a union of shrewdness, renown, and riches," by which Caesar expected to rise to great power, Pompey to retain his power, and Cra.s.sus to gain greater wealth.

CHAPTER XXIX. THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE.

Pompey was ostensibly at the head of the first Triumvirate, and in return supported Caesar in his candidacy for the consulship. Cra.s.sus was to contribute his wealth to influence the election. Caesar was elected without opposition (59); his colleague, the Senate's tool, was Marcus Bibulus.

Caesar had now reached the highest round in the ladder of political offices. He had shown himself in all his course to be careful in keeping within the bounds of the const.i.tution, never exerting himself in political quarrels except to defend the law against lawlessness. Now he was in a position to push his ideas of reform, and to show the aristocracy of what stuff he was made.

It would have been well for Cicero, and better for the state, had the orator been willing to join hands with Caesar and Pompey; but he was too vain of his own glory to join hands with those who were his superiors, and he clung to the Senate, feeling that his talents would shine there more, and be more likely to redound to his own personal fame.

Caesar's consulship increased his popularity among all except the aristocrats. His AGRARIAN LAW, carefully framed and worded, was bitterly opposed by the Senate, especially by his colleague, Bibulus, and by Cato. The law provided that large tracts of the _ager publicus_, then held on easy terms by the rich patricians, be distributed among the veterans of Pompey. Caesar proposed to pay the holders a reasonable sum for their loss, though legally they had no claim whatever on the land.

Although Bibulus interfered, Cato raved, and the Tribunes vetoed, still the a.s.sembly pa.s.sed the law, and voted in addition that the Senate be obliged to take an oath to observe it.

The LEGES JULIAE were a code of laws which Caesar drew up during his year of office. They mark an era in Roman law, for they cover many crimes the commission of which had been for a long time undermining the state.

The most important of these was the LEX DE REPETUNDIS, aimed at the abuses of governors of provinces. It required all governors to make a double return of their accounts, one to be left in the province open for inspection, the other to be kept at Rome.

When Caesar's term of office was nearly ended, he obtained from the reluctant Senate his appointment as Proconsul of Gaul for five years.

He must leave the city, however, in safe hands, otherwise all his work would be undone. He managed the consular elections for the next year (58) so adroitly, that Piso and Gabinius, on whose friendship he could rely, were elected.

There were in Rome, however, two men whom it would be dangerous for Caesar to leave behind. Cato, the ultra aristocrat, hated him bitterly.

Cicero, whose ambition was to lead the Senate, a body only too willing to crush Caesar, might do him great harm. It was Caesar's good fortune, or, as some believe, the result of his own scheming, that both these men were put temporarily out of the way.

CLODIUS PULCHER was a young aristocrat, notorious for his wildness. At one time, by a.s.suming the dress of a woman, he had gained admittance to the festival of _Bona Dea_, which was celebrated only by women. He was discovered and brought to trial before the Senate, but acquitted by means of open bribery. Cicero had been instrumental in bringing him to trial, and Clodius never forgot it. He got adopted into a plebeian family in order to be a candidate for the tribuneship, and was successful. He then proposed to the a.s.sembly that any person who had put to death a Roman citizen without allowing him to appeal to the people be considered a violator of the const.i.tution. The proposal was carried.

All knew that Cicero was meant, and he fled at once to Macedonia. His property was confiscated, his houses were destroyed, and his palace in the city was dedicated to the G.o.ddess of Liberty.

The kingdom of Cyprus, which had long been attached to that of Egypt, had been bequeathed to Rome at the death of Ptolemy Alexander in 80. The Senate had delayed to accept the bequest, and meanwhile the island was ruled by Ptolemy of Cyprus, one of the heirs of the dead king.

Clodius, on the plea that this king harbored pirates, persuaded the a.s.sembly to annex the island, and to send Cato to take charge of it.

He accepted the mission, and was absent two years. His duties were satisfactorily performed, and he returned with about $7,000,000 to increase the Roman treasury. Thus, Cicero and Cato being out of the city, the Senate was without a leader who could work injury in Caesar's absence.

CHAPTER x.x.x. CAESAR'S CAMPAIGNS IN GAUL. Caesar was now in the prime of manhood, in the full vigor of mind and body. His previous experience in camp life had been comparatively small. His early service in Asia, and his more recent campaigns in Spain, however, had shown his apt.i.tude for military life.

The Romans had already obtained a foothold in Gaul. Since 118, the southern part of the country along the seaboard had been a Roman province, called GALLIA NARBONENSIS, from the colony of Narbo which the Romans had founded. The rest of Gaul included all modern France, and a part of Switzerland, Holland, and Belgium. The inhabitants were all of the Celtic race, except a few Germans who had crossed the Rhine and settled in the North, and the AQUITaNI, who lived in the Southwest and who are represented by the Basques of to-day.

The Gauls were more or less civilized since they had come into contact with the Romans, but they still had the tribal form of government, like the early Romans. There were more than fifty of these tribes, which were mostly hostile to one another, as well as divided into factions among themselves. This condition favored a conquest, for the factions were frequently Roman and non-Roman. Two of the chief tribes were the AEDUI and SEQUANI. The former had been taken under the protection of Rome; the latter, impatient of control and Roman influence, had invited a tribe of Germans under Ariovistus to come into Gaul and settle, and be their allies. These Germans had attacked and conquered the Aeduans, taken from them hostages, and with the Sequanians were in the ascendency.

In Switzerland lived the HELVETII. They had so increased in numbers that their country was too small for them. They therefore proposed to emigrate farther into Gaul, and the Sequanians, whose lands bordered on those of the Helvetians, gave them permission to march through their country.

Such was the state of affairs when Caesar arrived in Gaul. Feeling that the pa.s.sage of such a large body of emigrants (368,000) through Gaul would be dangerous to the province (Gallia Narbonensis), he determined to interfere. The Helvetians were met at BIBRACTE, near Autun, and after a terrible battle, which raged from noon until night, were defeated with great slaughter (58). The survivors, about one third, were treated kindly, and most of them sent back to Switzerland.

Caesar now turned his attention to the Germans who had settled west of the Rhine. After several fruitless attempts at negotiation, during which the bad faith of Ariovistus became conspicuous, the forces came together. Though the Germans were brave, they were no match for the drilled legionaries, who fought with the regularity of a machine. Few of the barbarians escaped, but among these was Ariovistus.

The campaigns of this year being ended, the legions were sent into winter quarters among the Sequanians under Labienus, the lieutenant of Caesar. He himself went into Cisalpine Gaul to attend to his duties as administrator, and to have communication with his friends at Rome.

THE WAR WITH THE BELGAE.

While Caesar was in Hither Gaul, he learned from Labienus that the BELGAE were forming a league to resist the Romans. This people occupied the northeastern part of Gaul, and embraced several tribes, of which the princ.i.p.al were the REMI, BELLOVACI, SUESSIoNES, and NERVII. The last were the fiercest and least civilized.

Caesar raised two new legions, making eight in all, and marched against the Belgae as soon as the spring opened. His sudden approach alarmed the Remi, who lived nearest to Central Gaul, and they immediately put themselves under his protection. From them he learned that the Belgae could muster about 300,000 men.