Dio's Rome Volume II Part 14

"Let none of you, Conscript Fathers, expect that I shall make any harsh proclamation or perform any cruel act merely because I have conquered and am able to say whatever I may please without being called to account, and to do with authority whatever I may choose. It is true that Marius and Cinna and Sulla and all the rest, so to speak, who ever subdued their adversaries, in their initial undertakings said and did much that was humane, princ.i.p.ally as a result of which they converted to their side some whose alliance, or at least whose refraining from hostilities, they enjoyed; and then after conquering and becoming masters of the ends they sought, they adopted a course of behavior diametrically opposed to their former stand both in word and in deed.

Let no one, however, for any such reason a.s.sume that this same policy will be mine. I have not a.s.sociated with you in former time under a disguise, possessing in reality some different nature, only to become emboldened in security now because that is possible: nor have I been so excited or beclouded by my great good fortune as to desire also to play the tyrant over you. Both of these afflictions, or rather the second, seems to have befallen those men whom I mentioned. No, I am in nature the same sort of a man as you have always found me:--why should I go into details and become burdensome by a praise of self?--I should not think of treating Fortune so shabbily, but the more I have enjoyed her favors, the better will I use her in every respect. I have been anxious to secure so great power and to rise to such a height as to chastise all active foes and admonish all those disaffected for no other reason than that I might be able to play a brave part without danger, and to obtain prosperity with fame. [-16-] It is not, besides, in general either n.o.ble or just for a man to be convicted of adopting that course for which he had rebuked those who differed from him in opinion: nor should I ever be satisfied to be compared with them through my imitation of their deeds, and to differ merely by the reputation of my complete victory. For who ought to benefit people more and more abundantly than he who has the greatest power. Who ought to err less than he who is the strongest? Who should use the gifts of Heaven more sensibly than he who has received the greatest from that source? Who ought to handle present blessings more uprightly than he who has the most of them and is most afraid of their being lost? Good fortune, joined with temperance, continues: and authority, if it maintains moderation, preserves all that has been gained. Above all, as is seldom the case with those persons that succeed without virtue, they make it possible for rulers while alive to be loved unfeignedly, and when, dead to receive genuine praise. But the man who without restraint absolutely applies his power to everything finds for himself neither real good-will nor certain safety, but though accorded a false flattery in public [is secretly cursed][86]. For the whole world, besides those who a.s.sociate with him most, both suspect and fear a ruler who is not master of his own authority.

[-17-] "Again, these words that I have spoken are no mere quibbles, and I have tried to make you understand that they have not fallen into my head for ostentation or by mere chance on the present occasion: on the contrary, from the outset I realized that this course was both suitable and advantageous for me; that is why I both think and speak thus.

Consequently you may be not only of good courage with reference to the present, but hopeful as regards the future, reflecting (if you think I used any pretence), that I would not be deferring my projects, but would have made them known this very day.

"However, I was never otherwise minded in times past, as my works themselves, indeed, doubtless prove and now I shall feel far more eagerness with all order and decency not,--forbid it, Jupiter!--not to be your master, but your head man, not your tyrant, but your leader. In the matter of accomplishing for you everything else that must be done, I will be both consul and dictator, but in the matter of injuring any one, a private citizen. That possibility I do not think should be even mentioned. Why should I put any one of you to death, who have done me no harm, when I destroyed none of my adversaries, even if with the utmost zeal they had taken[87] part with various enemies against me, but I took pity on all those that had withstood me but once, saving many alive of those that fought on the opposing side a second time? How should I bear malice toward any, seeing that without reading or making excerpts I immediately burned all the doc.u.ments that were found among the private papers both in Pompey's and in Scipio's tents? So then, let us, Conscript Fathers, boldly unite our interests, forgetting all past events as brought to pa.s.s simply by some supernatural Force, and beginning to love each the other without suspicion as though we were some new citizens. In this way you may behave yourselves toward me as toward a father, enjoying the fore-thought and solicitude which I shall give you and fearing no vexation, and I may have charge of you as of children, praying that all n.o.blest deeds may be ever! accomplished by your exertions, and enduring perforce human limitations, exalting the excellent by fitting honors and correcting the rest so far as is feasible.

[-18-] "Another point--do not fear the soldiers nor regard them in any other light than as guardians of my dominion, which is at the same time yours: that they should be maintained is inevitable, for many reasons, but they will be maintained for your benefit, not against you; they will be content with what is given them and think well of the givers. For this reason larger taxes than is customary have been levied, in order that the opposition might be made submissive and the victorious element, receiving sufficient support, might not become an opposition. Of course I have received no private gain from these funds, seeing that I have expended for you all that I possessed, including much that I had borrowed. No, you can see that a part has been expended on the wars, and the rest has been kept safe for you: it will serve to adorn the city and administer the other governmental departments. I have, then, taken upon my own shoulders the odium of the levy, whereas you will all enjoy its advantages in common, in the campaigns as well as elsewhere. We are in need of arms, at every moment, since without them it is impossible for us, who inhabit so great a city and hold so extensive an empire, to live safely: now the surplus of money will be a mighty a.s.sistance in this matter. However, let none of you suspect that I shall hara.s.s any man who is rich or establish any new taxes: I shall be satisfied with the present collections and be anxious to help make some contribution to you than to wrong any one for his money."

By such, statements in the senate and afterward before the people Caesar relieved them to some extent of their fears, but was not able to persuade them entirely to be of good courage until he corroborated his declarations by his deeds.

[-19-] After this he conducted subsequent proceedings in a brilliant manner, as was fitting in honor of so many and such decisive victories.

He celebrated triumphs over the Gauls, for Egypt, for Pharnaces and for Juba, in four sections, on four separate days. Most of it doubtless delighted the spectators, but the sight of Arsinoe of Egypt--he had brought her along among the captives--and the horde of lictors and the symbols of triumph taken from citizens who had fallen in Africa displeased them exceedingly. The lictors, on account of their numbers, appeared to them a most outrageous mult.i.tude, since never before had they beheld so many at one time: and the sight of Arsinoe, a woman and once called queen, in chains (a spectacle which had never yet been offered, in Rome at least), aroused very great pity, and in consequence on this excuse they incidentally lamented their personal misfortunes.

She, to be sure, was released out of consideration for her brothers, but others including Vercingetorix were put to death.

[-20-] The people, accordingly, were disagreeably affected by these sights that I have mentioned, and yet they deemed them very few considering the mult.i.tude of the captives and the magnitude of Caesar's accomplishments. This, as well as the fact that he endured very goodnaturedly the army's outspoken comments,[88] led them to admire him extremely. For they made sport of those of their own number appointed to the senate by him and all the other failings of which he was accused:[89] most of all they jested about his love for Cleopatra and his sojourn at the court of Nicomedes, ruler of Bithynia, inasmuch as he had once been at his court when a lad; indeed, they even declared that Caesar had enslaved[90] the Gauls, but Nicomedes Caesar. Finally, on the top of all the rest they all together with a shout declared that if you do well, you will be punished, but if ill you shall rule.[91] This was meant by them to signify that if Caesar should restore self-government to the people--which they regarded as just--and stand trial for the acts he had committed outside the laws, he would even undergo punishment; whereas, if he should cleave to his power,--which they deemed the course of an unjust person,--he would continue sole ruler. As for him, however, he was not displeased at their saying this: on the contrary he was quite delighted that by such frankness toward him they showed a belief that he would never be angry at it,--except in so far as their abuse concerned his a.s.sociation with Nicomedes. At this he was decidedly irritated and evidently pained: he attempted to defend himself, denying with an oath that the case was such, and after that he incurred the further penalty of laughter.

[-21-] Now on the first day of the festival of victory a portent far from good fell to his lot. The axle of the triumphal chariot was crushed just opposite the very temple of Fortune built by Lucullus, so that he had to complete the rest of the course in another. On this occasion, too, he climbed up the stairs of the Capitol on his knees, without noticing at all either the chariot which he had dedicated to Jupiter, or the image of the inhabited world lying beneath his feet, or the inscription upon it: later on, however, he erased from that inscription the name demi-G.o.d.

After this triumphal celebration he entertained the populace splendidly, giving them grain beyond the regular measure and olive oil. Also, to the mult.i.tude which received the present of grain he a.s.signed the seventy-five denarii which he had promised in advance, and twenty-five more, but to the soldiers five hundred in one sum. Yet he was not merely ostentatious: in most respects he was very exact; for instance, since the throng receiving doles of grain had for a very long period been growing not by lawful methods of increase but in such ways as are common in popular tumults, he investigated the matter and erased half of their names at one time.

[-22-] The first days of the fete he pa.s.sed as was customary: on the last day, after they had finished dinner, he entered his own forum wearing fancy sandals and garlanded with all sorts of flowers; thence he proceeded homeward with the entire populace, so to speak, alongside escorting him, while many elephants carried torches. He had himself adorned the forum called after him, and it is distinctly more beautiful than the Roman (Forum); yet it had increased the reputation of the other so that that was called the Great Forum. This forum which he had constructed and the temple of Venus, looked upon as the founder of his race, he dedicated at this very time. In honor of them he inst.i.tuted many contests of all kinds. He furnished with benches a kind of hunting-theatre, which from the fact that it had seats all around without a canopy was called an amphitheatre. Here in honor of his daughter he had animals killed and contests between men in armor; but whoever should care to write down their number would doubtless render his narrative tedious besides falling into errors; for all such things are regularly exaggerated by boasting. [-23-] I shall accordingly pa.s.s over this, and be silent on the other like events that subsequently took place--unless, of course, it should seem to me thoroughly necessary to mention some particular point,--but I will give an account of the so-called camelopard, because it was then for the first time introduced into Rome by Caesar and exhibited to all. This animal is in general a camel, except that it has sets of legs not of equal length. That is, its hind legs are shorter. Beginning from the rump its back grows gradually higher, appearing as if it would ascend indefinitely, until the most of its body reaching its loftiest point is supported on the front legs, while the neck stretches up to an unusual height. It has skin spotted like a leopard, and for this reason bears the name common to both animals. Such is the appearance of this beast.

As for the men, he not only pitted one against another in the Forum, as had been customary, but he also in the hippodrome brought them together in companies, hors.e.m.e.n against hors.e.m.e.n, fighters on foot against similar contestants, and others that were a match for one another indiscriminately. Some even, forty in number, fought from elephants.

Finally he produced a naval battle, not on the sea nor on the lake but on land. He hollowed out a certain tract on the Campus Martius and by letting water into it introduced ships. In all the contests the captives and those condemned to death took part. Some even of the knights, and,--not to mention others,--a son of a man who had been praetor fought in single combat. Indeed, a senator named Fulvius Sepinus[92] desired to contend in full armor, but was prevented; for Caesar had expressed a fervent wish that that should never take place, though he did permit the knights to contend. The patrician children went through the so-called Troy equestrian exercise according to ancient custom, and the young men who were their peers vied with one another in chariots.

[-24-] Still, it must be said he was blamed for the great number of those who were slain, on the ground that he had not himself become satiated with slaughter and was further exhibiting to the populace symbols of their own miseries; and much more so because he had expended on all that array countless sums. A clamor in consequence was raised against him for two reasons,--that he had collected most of the funds unjustly, and that he had used them up for such purposes.

And by mentioning one feature of his extravagance of that time I shall thereby give an inkling of all the rest. In order that the sun might not annoy any of the spectators he had curtains stretched over them made of silk, according to some accounts. Now this product of the loom is a device of barbarian luxury and from them has come down even to us to satisfy the excessive daintiness of veritable women. The civilians perforce held their peace at such acts, but the soldiers raised an outcry, not because they cared about the money recklessly squandered but because they did not themselves get what was appropriated to those displays. In fact they did not cease from confusion till Caesar suddenly coming upon them with his own hand seized one man and delivered him up to punishment. This person was executed for the reasons stated, and two other men were slaughtered as a kind of piece of ritual. The true cause I am unable to state, inasmuch as the Sibyl made no utterance and there was no other similar oracle, but at any rate they were sacrificed in the Campus Martius by the pontifices and the priest of Mars, and their heads were set up near the palace.

[-25-] While Caesar was thus engaged he was also enacting many laws, pa.s.sing over most of which I shall mention only those most deserving attention. The courts he entrusted to the senators and the knights alone so that the purest element of the population, so far as was possible, might always preside: formerly some of the common people had also joined with them in rendering decisions. The expenditures, moreover, of men of means which had been rendered enormous by their licentiousness he not only controlled by law but put a strong check upon them by practical measures. There was, on account of the numbers of warriors that had perished, a dangerous scarcity of population, as was proved both from the censuses (which he attended to, among other things, as if he were censor) and from actual observation, consequently he offered prizes for large families of children. Again, because he himself as a result of ruling the Gauls many years in succession had been attracted into a desire for dominion and had by it increased the equipment of his force, he limited by law the term of ex-praetors to one year, and that of ex-consuls to two consecutive years, and enacted in general that no one should be allowed to hold any office for a longer time.

[-26-] After the pa.s.sage of these laws he also established in their present fashion the days of the year (which were not definitely settled among the people, since even at that time they regulated their months according to the movements of the moon) by adding sixty-seven days, all that were necessary to bring the year out even. In the past some have declared that even more were interpolated, but the truth is as I have stated it. He got this improvement from his stay in Alexandria, save in so far as those people calculate their months as of thirty days each, afterward annexing the five days to the entire year as a whole, whereas Caesar distributed among seven months these five along with two other days that he took away from one month.[93] The one day, however, which is made up of four parts Caesar introduced every fourth year, so as to have the annual seasons no longer differ at all except in the slightest degree. In fourteen hundred and sixty-one years there is need of only one (additional) intercalary day.[94]

[-27-] All these and other undertakings which he was planning for the common weal he accomplished not by independent declaration nor by independent cogitation, but he communicated everything in every instance to the heads of the senate, sometimes even to the entire body And to this practice most of all was due the fact that even when he pa.s.sed some rather harsh measures, he still succeeded in pleasing them. For these actions he received praise; but inasmuch as he had some of the tribunes bring back many of those that stayed away from court, and allowed those who were convicted of bribery in office on actual proof to live in Italy, and furthermore numbered once more among the senate some who were not worthy of it, many murmurings of all sorts arose against him. Yet the greatest censure he incurred from all through his pa.s.sion for Cleopatra,--not the pa.s.sion he had displayed in Egypt (that was mere hearsay), but in Rome itself. For she had come to the city with her husband and settled in Caesar's own house, so that he too derived an ill repute from both of them. It caused him no anxiety, however; on the contrary he enrolled them among the friends and allies of the Roman people.

[-28-] Meanwhile he was learning in detail all that Pompey was doing in Spain. Thinking him not hard to vanquish, he at first despatched his fleet from Sardinia against him, but later sent on also the army that was available by list, evidently intending to conduct the entire war through his representatives. But when be ascertained that Pompey was progressing mightily and that those sent were not sufficient to fight against him, he finally himself went out to join the expedition, entrusting the city to Lepidus and certain aediles,--eight as some think, or six as is more commonly believed.

[-29-] The legions in Spain had rebelled during the period of command of Longinus and Marcellus and some of the cities had revolted; upon the removal of Longinus (Trebonius becoming his successor) they kept quiet for a few days: after that through fear of vengeance from Caesar they secretly sent amba.s.sadors to Scipio expressing a wish to transfer their allegiance. He despatched to them among others Gnaeus Pompey. The latter being close to the Gymnasian[95] islands took possession of them without a battle, save Ebusus: this one he brought over with difficulty, and then falling sick delayed there together with his soldiers. As he was late in returning, the soldiers in Spain, who had learned that Scipio was dead and Didius had set sail against them, in their fear of being annihilated before Pompey came failed to wait for him; but putting at their head t.i.tus Quintius Scapula and Quintus Aponius, Roman knights, they drove out Trebonius and led the whole Baetic nation to revolt at the same time. They had gone [-30-] thus far when Pompey, recovering from his illness, arrived by sea at the mainland opposite. He immediately won over several cities without resistance, for they were vexed at the commands of their rulers and besides had no little hope in him because of the memory of his father: Carthage,[96] which was unwilling to come to terms, he besieged. The followers of Scapula on hearing this went there and chose him general with full powers, after which they adhered most closely to him and showed the most violent zeal, regarding his successes as the successes of each individual and his disasters as their own. Consequently they were strong for both reasons, striving to obtain the successes and to avoid the disasters.

For Pompey, too, did what all are accustomed to do in the midst of such tumults and revolutions and especially after some of the Allobroges had deserted, whom Juba had taken alive in a war against Curio and had given him, there was nothing that he did not grant the rest both by word and deed.

They accordingly became more zealous in his behalf, and a number of the opposing side, particularly all who had served under Afranius, came over to him. Then there were those who came to him from Africa, among others his brother s.e.xtus, and Varus, and Labienus with his fleet. Therefore, elated by the mult.i.tude of his army and their zeal he proceeded fearlessly through the country, gaining some cities of their own accord, some against their will, and seemed to surpa.s.s even his father in power.

[-31-] For though Caesar had generals in Spain,--Quintus Fabius Maximus and Quintus Pedius, they did not think themselves a match for him, but remained quiet themselves, while they sent in haste for their chief.

For a time matters went on so: but when a few of the men sent in advance from Rome had reached there, and Caesar's arrival was looked for, Pompey became frightened; and thinking that he was not strong enough to gain the mastery of all Spain, he did not wait for a reverse before changing his mind, but immediately, before testing the temper of his adversaries, retired into Baetica. The sea, moreover, straightway became hostile to him, and Varus was beaten in a naval battle near Carteia by Didius: indeed, had he not escaped to the land and sunk anchors side by side at the mouth of the harbor, upon which the foremost pursuers struck as on a reef, the whole fleet would have perished. All the country at that point except the city Ulia was an ally of Pompey's: this town, which had refused to submit to him, he proceeded to besiege.

[-32-] Meanwhile Caesar, too, with a few men suddenly came up unexpectedly not only to Pompey's followers, but even to his own soldiers. He had employed such speed in the pa.s.sage that he was seen both by his adherents and by his opponents before news was brought that he was actually in Spain. Now Caesar hoped from this very fact and his mere presence to alarm Pompey in general, and to draw him from the siege; that was why most of the army had been left behind on the road.

But Pompey, thinking that one man was not much superior to another and quite confident in his own strength, was not seriously startled at the other's arrival, but continued to besiege the city and kept making a.s.saults just as before. Hence Caesar stationed there a few soldiers from among the first-comers and himself started for Corduba, partly because he hoped to take it by treachery, but chiefly because he expected to attract Pompey through fear for it away from Ulia. And so it turned out.

For at first Pompey left a portion of his army in position, went to Corduba and strengthened it, and as Caesar did not withstand his troops, put his brother s.e.xtus in charge of it. However, he failed to accomplish anything at Ulia: on the contrary, when a certain tower had fallen, and that not shaken down by his own men but broken down by the crowd that was making a defence from it, some few who rushed in did not come off well; and Caesar approaching lent a.s.sistance secretly by night to the citizens, and himself again made an expedition against Corduba, putting it under siege in turn: then at last did Pompey withdraw entirely from Ulia and hastened to the other town with his entire army,--a movement not dest.i.tute of results. For Caesar, learning of this in advance, had retired, as he happened to be sick. Afterward when he had recovered and had taken charge of the additional troops who accompanied him he was compelled to carry on warfare even in the winter. [-33-] Housed in miserable little tents they were suffering distress and running short of food. Caesar was at that time serving as dictator, and some time late, near the close of the war, he was appointed consul, when Lepidus, who was master of the horse, convoked the people for this purpose. He, Lepidus, had become master of the horse at that time, having given himself, while still in the consulship, that additional t.i.tle contrary to ancestral traditions.

Caesar, accordingly, compelled as I have said to carry on warfare even in winter did not try to attack Corduba--it was strongly guarded--but turned his attention to Ategua, a city in which he had learned that there was an abundance of grain. Although it was strong, he hoped by the size of his army and the sudden terror of his appearance to alarm the inhabitants and capture it. In a short time he had palisaded it off and dug a ditch round about. Pompey, encouraged by the nature of the country and thinking that Caesar because of the winter would not besiege the place to any great extent, paid no heed and did not try at first to repel the a.s.sailants, since he was unwilling to injure his own soldiers in the cold. Later on, when the town had been walled off and Caesar was in position before it, he grew afraid and came with a.s.sistance. He fell in with the pickets suddenly one misty night and killed a number of them. The ungeneraled condition of the inhabitants he ameliorated by sending to them Munatius Flaccus. The latter [-34-] had contrived the following scheme to get inside. He went alone by night to some of the guards as if appointed by Caesar to visit the sentries, asked and learned the pa.s.s-word:--he was not known, of course, and would never have been suspected by the separate contingents of being anything but a friend when he acted in this manner:--then he left these men and went around to the other side of the circ.u.mvallation where he met some other guards and gave them the pa.s.s-word: after that he pretended that his mission was to betray the city, and so went inside through the midst of the soldiers with their consent and actually under their escort. He could not, however, save the place. In addition to other setbacks there was one occasion when the citizens hurled fire upon the engines and palisades of the Romans, yet did no damage to them worth mentioning; but they themselves by reason of a violent wind which just then began to blow toward them from the opposite side fared ill: for their buildings were set afire and many persons perished from the stones and missiles, not being able to see any distance ahead of them for the smoke. After this disaster, as their land was continually ravaged, and every now and then a portion of their wall would fall, undermined, they began to riot.

Flaccus first conferred with Caesar by herald on the basis of pardon for himself and followers: later he failed of this owing to his resolution not to surrender his arms, but the rest of the natives subsequently sent amba.s.sadors and submitted to the terms imposed upon each.

[-35-] The capture of that city did not fail of its influence upon the other peoples, but many themselves after sending envoys espoused Caesar's cause, and many received him on his approach or his lieutenants. Pompey, in consequence, at a loss which way to turn, at first made frequent changes of base, wandering about now in one and now in another part of the country: later on he became afraid that as a result of this very behavior the rest of his adherents would also leave him in the lurch, and chose to hazard all, although Heaven beforehand indicated his defeat very clearly. To be sure, the drops of sweat that fell from sacred statues and the confused noises of the legions, and the many animals born which proved to be perversions of the proper type, and the torches darting from sunrise to the sunset region--(all these signs then met together in Spain at one time)--gave no clear manifestation to which of the two combatants they were revealing the future. But the eagles of his legions shook their wings and cast forth the golden thunderbolts which some of them held in their talons: thus they would hurl disaster directly at Pompey before flying off to Caesar.... For a different force ... Heaven, and he held it in slight esteem, and so into war ... settled down to battle.[97]

[-36-] Both had in addition to their citizen and mercenary troops many of the natives and many Moors. For Bocchus[98] had sent his sons to Pompey and Bogud in person accompanied Caesar's force. Still, the contest turned out to be like a struggle of the Romans themselves, not of any other nations. Caesar's soldiers derived courage from their numbers and experience and above all from their leader's presence and so were anxious to be done with the war and its attendant miseries. Pompey's men were inferior in these respects, but, strong through their despair of safety, should they fail to conquer, continued zealous.[99] Inasmuch as the majority of them had been captured with Afranius and Varro, had been spared, and delivered afterward to Longinus, from whom they had revolted, they had no hope of safety if they were beaten, and as a result of this were drawn toward desperation, feeling that they needed to be of good cheer at that particular time or else perish utterly. So the armies came together and began the battle. They had no longer any dread of each other, since they had been so many times opposed in arms, and for that reason required no urging. [-37-] In the course of the engagement the allied forces on both sides quickly were routed and fled; but the main bodies struggled in close combat to the utmost in their resistance of each other. Not a man of them would yield. They remained in position, wreaking slaughter and being slain, as if each separate man was to be responsible to all the rest as well for the outcome of victory or defeat. Consequently they were not concerned to see how their allies were battling but set to work as if they alone were engaged. Neither sound of paean nor groan was to be heard from any one of them: both sides limited their shouts to "Strike! Kill!", while their acts easily outran their speech. Caesar and Pompey, who saw this from horseback on certain elevated positions, felt little inclination to either hope or despair, but torn with doubts were equally distressed by confidence and fear. The battle was so nearly balanced that they suffered tortures at the sight, straining to spy out some advantage, and quivering lest they descry some setback. Their souls were filled with prayers for success and against misfortune, and with alternating strength and fear. In fact, not being able to endure it long, they leaped from their horses and joined the combat. Apparently they preferred a partic.i.p.ation involving personal exertion and danger rather than tension of spirit, and each hoped by a.s.sociating in the fight to turn the scale somehow in favor of his own soldiers. Or, if they failed of that, they were content to meet death, side by side with them.

[-38-] The generals, then, took part in the battle themselves. This movement, however, resulted in no advantage to either army. On the contrary,--when the men saw their chiefs sharing their danger, a far greater disregard for their own death and eagerness for the destruction of their opponents seized both alike. Accordingly neither side for the moment turned to flight: matched in determination, they found their persons matched in power. All would have perished, or else at nightfall they would have parted with honors even, had not Bogud, who was somewhere outside the press, made an advance upon Pompey's camp, whereupon Labienus, seeing it, left his station to proceed against him.

Pompey's men, interpreting this as flight, lost heart. Later they doubtless learned the truth but could no longer retrieve their position.

Some escaped to the city, some to the fortification. The latter body vigorously fought off attacks and fell only when surrounded, while the former for a long time kept the wall safe, so that it was not captured till all of them had perished in sallies. So great was the total loss of Romans on both sides that the victors, at a loss how to wall in the city to prevent any running away in the night, actually heaped up the bodies of the dead around it.

[-39-] Caesar, having thus conquered, took Corduba at once. s.e.xtus had retired from his path, and the natives, although their slaves, who had purposely been made free, offered resistance, came over to his side. He slew those under arms and obtained money by the sale of the rest. The same course he adopted with those that held Hispalis, who at first, pretending to be willing, had accepted a garrison from him, but later ma.s.sacred the soldiers that had come there, and entered upon a course of warfare. In his expedition against them his rather careless conduct of the siege caused them some hope of being able to escape. So then he allowed them to come outside the wall, where he ambushed and destroyed them, and in this way captured the town, which was soon dest.i.tute of male defenders. Next he acquired and levied money upon Munda and the other places, some that were unwilling with great slaughter and others of their own accord. He did not even spare the offerings to Hercules, consecrated in Gades, and he detached special precincts from some towns and laid an added tribute upon others. This was his course toward those who had opposed him; but to those who displayed any good-will toward him he granted lands and freedom from taxation, to some, moreover, citizenship, and to others the right to be considered Roman colonies; he did not, however, grant these favors for nothing.

[-40-] While Caesar was thus occupied, Pompey, who had escaped in the rout, reached the sea, intending to use the fleet that lay at anchor in Carteia, but found that it had espoused the victor's cause. He endeavored to embark in a boat, expecting to obtain safety thereby. In the course of the attempt, however, he was roughly handled and in dejection came to land again, where, taking some men that had a.s.sembled, he set out for the interior. Pompey himself met defeat at the hands, of Caesennius[100] Lento, with whom he fell in: he took refuge in a wood, and was there killed. Didius, ignorant of the event, while wandering about to join him met some other enemies and perished.

[-41-] Caesar, too, would doubtless have chosen to fall there, at the hands of those who were still resisting and in the glory of war, in preference to the fate he met not long after, to be cut down in his own land and in the senate, at the hands of his best friends. For this was the last war he carried through successfully, and this the last victory that he won in spite of the fact that there was no project so great that he did not hope to accomplish it. In this belief he was strengthened not only by other reasons but most of all because from a palm that stood on the site of the battle a shoot grew out immediately after the victory.

And I will not a.s.sert that this had no bearing in some direction; it was, however, no longer for him, but for his sister's grandson, Octavius: the latter made the expedition with him, and was destined to shine forth brightly from his toils and dangers. As Caesar did not know this, hoping that many great additional successes would fall to his own lot he acted in no moderate fashion, but was filled with loftiness as if immortal. [-42-] Though it was no foreign nation he had conquered, but a great ma.s.s of citizens that he had destroyed, he not only personally directed the triumph, incidentally regaling the entire populace again, as if in honor of some common blessing, but also allowed Quintus Fabius and Quintus Pedius to hold a festival. [101] Yet they had merely been his lieutenants and had achieved no individual success. Naturally some laughter was caused by this, as well as by the fact that he used wooden instead of ivory instruments, and representations of certain actions, and other such triumphal apparatus. Nevertheless, most brilliant triple fetes and triple processions of the Romans were held in connection with those very things, and furthermore a hallowed period of fifty days was observed. The Parilia[102] was honored by a perpetual horse-race, yet not at all because the city had been founded on that day, but because the news of Caesar's victory had arrived the day before, toward evening.

[-43-] Such was his gift to Rome. For himself he wore the triumphal garb, by decree, in all a.s.semblages and was adorned with the laurel crown always and every-where alike. The excuse that he gave for it was that his forehead was bald; and this had some show of reason from the very fact that at the time, though well past youth, he still bestowed attention on his appearance. He showed among all men his pride in rather foppish clothing, and the footwear which he used later on was sometimes high and of a reddish color, after the style of the kings who had once lived in Alba, for he a.s.sumed that he was related to them on account of Iulus. To Venus he was, in general, devoted body and soul and he was anxious to persuade everybody that he had received from her a kind of bloom of youth. Accordingly he used also to carry about a carven image of her in full armor and he made her name his watchword in almost all the greatest dangers. The looseness of his girdle[103] Sulla had looked askance at, insomuch that he wished to kill him, and declared to those who begged him off: "Well, I will grant him to you, but do you be on your guard, without fail, against this ill-girt fellow." Cicero could not comprehend it, but even in the moment of defeat said: "I should never have expected one so ill-girt to conquer Pompey."

[-44-] This I have written by way of digression from story, so that no one might be ignorant of the stories about Caesar.--In honor of the victory the senate pa.s.sed all of those decrees that I have mentioned, and further called him "liberator", inscribed it in the records, and publicly voted for a temple of Liberty. To him first and for the first time, they then, applied, as a term of special significance, the t.i.tle "imperator,"--not merely according to ancient custom any longer, as others besides Caesar had often been saluted as a result of wars, nor even as those who have received some independent command or other authority were called, but, in short, it was this t.i.tle which is now granted to those who hold successively the supreme power. And so great an excess of flattery did they employ as even to vote that his children and grandchildren should be so called, though he had no child and was already an old man. From him this t.i.tle has come down to all subsequent imperatores, as something peculiar to their office, even as in Caesar's case. The ancient custom has not, however, been thereby overthrown. Each of the two t.i.tles exists. Consequently they are invested with it a second time, when they gain some such victory as has been mentioned.

Those who are imperatores in the limited sense use the appellation once, as they do others, and indeed before others: whatever rulers in addition accomplish in war any deed worthy of it acquire also the name handed down by ancient custom, so that a man is termed imperator a second and a third time, and oftener, as frequently as he can bestow it upon himself.

These privileges they granted then to Caesar, as well as a house, so that he might live in state-property, and a special period of festival whenever any victory took place and whenever there were sacrifices for it, even if he had not been with the expedition nor in general had any hand in the achievement.[104] [-45-] Still, those measures, even if they seemed to them immoderate and out of the usual order, were not, so far, undemocratic. But they pa.s.sed the following decrees besides, by which they declared him sovereign out and out. They offered him the magistracies, even those belonging to the people, and elected him consul for ten years, as they previously had dictator. They ordered that he alone should have soldiers, and alone administer the public funds, so that no one else was allowed to employ either of them, save whom he might permit. And they commanded at that time that an ivory statue of him, but later that a whole chariot should be escorted at the horse-races along with the likenesses of the G.o.ds. Another image they set up in the temple of Quirinus with the inscription: "to the invincible G.o.d", and another on the Capitol beside the former kings of Rome. It occurs to me really to marvel at the coincidence: there were eight such images--seven to the kings, and an eighth to the Brutus that overthrew the Tarquins--besides this one, when they set up the statue of Caesar; and it was from this cause chiefly that Marcus Brutus was stirred to conspire against him.

[-46-] These were the measures that were ratified because of victory,--I am not mentioning all, but as many as I have seemed to me notable,--not on one day, but just as it happened, one at one time, another at another. Some of them Caesar began to render operative, and of others he intended to make use in the future, no matter how much he put aside some of them. Now the office of consul he took up immediately, even before entering the city, but did not hold it continuously.

[B.C. 45 (_a.u._ 709)]

When he got to Rome he renounced it, delivering it to Quintus Fabius and Graius Trebonius. When Fabius on the last day of his consulship died, he straightway chose instead of him another, Gaius Caninius Rebilus for the remaining hours. Then for the first time, contrary to precedent, it became possible for the same man to hold that office neither annually, nor for all the time left in the same year, but while living to withdraw from it without compulsion from either ancestral custom or any accusation, and for another one to take his place. In the second place the circ.u.mstances were unique, because Caninius at once was appointed consul, and ceased to serve. On this, Cicero jestingly said that the consul had displayed so great bravery and prudence in office, as never to fall asleep in it for the briefest moment. So from that period on the same persons no longer (save a few in olden times), served as consul through the entire year, but just as it happened,--some for more time, some for less, some for months, others for days--since now no one serves with any one else, as a rule, for a whole year or for a longer period than two months. In general we do not differ from our ancestors, but the naming of the years for purposes of enumeration falls to those who are consuls at the start. Accordingly I shall in most cases name those officials closely connected with events, but to secure perfect clearness with regard to what is done from time to time I shall mention also those first to serve, even if they make no contribution to the undertakings in question.

[-47-] Whereas the consuls were thus disposed of, the remaining magistrates were nominally elected by the plebs and by the populace, in accord with ancient customs (for Caesar would not accept the appointment of them), but really by him, and without the casting of lots they were sent out among the provinces. As for number, all were the same as before, except that thirteen praetors and forty quaestors were appointed.

For, since he had made many promises to many people, he had no other way to redeem them, and that accounts for his actions. Furthermore he enrolled a vast number in the senate, making no distinction, whether a man were a soldier, or a child of one enslaved, so that the sum of them grew to nine hundred: and he enrolled many among the patricians and among the ex-consuls or such as had held some office. When some were tried for bribery and convicted he released them, so that he was charged with bribe-taking himself. This report was strengthened by the fact that he also exposed[105] in the market all the public lands, not only the profane, but also the consecrated lots, and auctioned off the majority of them. Nevertheless to some persons he granted ample gifts in the form of money or the sale of lands; and to a certain Lucius Basilus[106] he allowed no rulership of a province, though the latter was praetor, but bestowed a large amount of money in place of it, so that Basilus became notorious both in this matter and because when insulted in the course of his praetorship by Caesar he stood his ground.[107]

All this suited those citizens who were making or expecting to make corrupt gain, since they reverenced no element of the public weal in comparison with bettering themselves by such acts. But all the rest took it greatly to heart, and had much to say about it to intimates and also (as many as felt safe in so doing) in outspoken public conversation and the publication of anonymous pamphlets.

[-48-] Not only were those measures carried out that year, but two of the aediles took charge of the munic.i.p.al government, since no quaestor had been elected. For just as once formerly, so now in the absence of Caesar, the aediles managed all the city affairs, in conjunction with Lepidus as master of the horse. Although they were censured for employing lictors and magisterial garb and chair precisely like the master of the horse, they got off by citing a certain law, which allowed all those receiving any office from a dictator to make use of such things. The business of administration, changed from that time for the reasons I have mentioned, was no longer invariably laid upon the quaestors, but was finally a.s.signed to ex-praetors. Two of the aediles managed at that time the public treasures, and one of them, by provision of Caesar, superintended the Ludi Apollinares. The aediles of the populace directed the Megalesia, by decree. A certain prefect, appointed during the Feriae, himself chose a successor on the last day, and the latter another: this had never happened before, nor did it happen again.

[B.C. 44 (_a.u._ 710)]

[-49-] The next year after these events during which Caesar was at once dictator for the fifth time, taking Lepidus as master of the horse, and consul for the fifth time, choosing Antony as colleague, sixteen praetors were in power--this custom indeed has remained[108] for many years--and the rostra, which was formerly in the center of the Forum, was moved back to its present position: also the images of Sulla and of Pompey were restored to it. For this Caesar received praise, and again because he put upon Antony both the glory of the deed and credit for the inscription on the image. Being anxious to build a theatre, as Pompey had done, he laid the first foundations, but did not finish it. Augustus later completed it and named it for his nephew, Marcus Marcellus. But Caesar was blamed for tearing down the dwellings and temples on the site, and likewise because he burned up the statues,--all of wood, save a few,--and because on finding considerable treasures of money he appropriated them all.

[-50-] In addition, he introduced laws and extended the pomerium, his behavior in these and other matters resembling that of Sulla. Caesar, however, removed the ban from the survivors of those that had warred against him, granting them immunity with fair and equal terms; he promoted them to office; to the wives of the slain he restored their dowries, and to their children granted a share in the property, thus putting mightily to shame Sulla's blood-guiltiness; so that he himself enjoyed a great repute not alone for bravery, but also for uprightness, though it is generally difficult for the same man to be eminent in peace as well as in war. This was a source of pride to him, as was the fact that he had raised again Carthage and Corinth. To be sure, there were many other cities in and outside of Italy, some of which he had built afresh, and some which he had newly founded. Others, however, had done that: it remained for him to restore, in memory of their former inhabitants, Corinth and Carthage, ancient, brilliant, conspicuous, ruined cities: one of them he declared a Roman colony, and colonized, and the other he honored with its ancient t.i.tles, bearing no grudge for the enmity of their peoples toward places that had never harmed them.

[-51-] And they, even as they had once been demolished together, now revived together and bade fair to flourish once again. But while Caesar was so engaged, a longing came over all the Romans alike to avenge Cra.s.sus and those that perished with him: there was some hope then, if ever, of subjugating the Parthians. The command of the war they unanimously voted to Caesar, and made ample provision for it. They arranged, among other details, that he should have a larger number of a.s.sistants, and that the city should neither be without officials in his absence, nor by attempting to choose some on its own responsibility fall into factions: also that such magistrates should be appointed in advance for three years (this was the length of time they thought necessary for the campaign). However, they did not designate them all beforehand.

Nominally Caesar was to choose half of them, having a certain legal right to do this, but really he chose the whole number. For the first year, as previously, forty quaestors were elected, and then for the first time two patrician aediles and four from the people. Of the latter two have their t.i.tle from Ceres,--a custom which, then introduced, has remained to the present day. Praetors were nominated to the number of eleven. It is not on this, however, that I desire to lay emphasis (for they had formerly been as many), but on the fact that among them was chosen Publius Ventidius. He was originally from Picenum, as has been remarked, and fought against Rome when her allies were alienated. He was captured by Pompeius Strabo,[109] and in the latter's triumph marched in chains.