Cassius Dio
Roman History
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Book XLIII
The following is contained in the Forty-third of Dio's Rome:—
1. How Caesar conquered Scipio and Juba (chaps. 1-8).
2. How the Romans got possession of Numidia (chap. 9).
3. How Cato slew himself (chaps. 10-13).
4. How Caesar returned to Rome and celebrated his triumph and settled
other matters (chaps. 14-21).
5. How the Forum of Caesar and the Temple of Venus were consecrated
(chaps. 22-24).
6. How Caesar arranged the year in its present fashion (chap. 26).
7. How Caesar conquered Gnaeus Pompey, the son of Pompey, in Spain
(chaps. 28-41).
8. How for the first time consuls were appointed for less than an
entire year (chap. 46).
9. How Carthage and Corinth received colonies (chap. 50).
10. How the Aediles Cereales were appointed (chap. 51).
Duration of time, three years, in which there were the magistrates here
enumerated:—
B.C.
46
C. Iulius C. F. Caesar, dictator (III), with
Aemilius Lepidus, master of horse, and consul (III) with Aemilius
Lepidus.
45
C. Iulius C. F. Caesar, dictator (IV), with Aemilius
Lepidus, master of horse, and consul (IV) alone.
44
C. Iulius C. F. Caesar, dictator (V), with Aemilius
Lepidus, master of horse, and consul (V) with M. Antonius.
Such were Caesar's experiences at that time. The following year he
became both dictator and consul at once, holding each of the offices
for the third time, and with Lepidus as his colleague in both
instances. For when he had been named dictator by Lepidus the first
time, he had sent him immediately after his praetorship into Hither
Spain; and upon his return he had honoured him with a triumph, although
Lepidus had conquered no foes nor so much as fought with any, the
pretext being that he had been present at the exploits of Longinus and
of Marcellus. Accordingly, he sent home nothing, as a matter of fact,
except the money he had plundered from the allies. Caesar besides
exalting Lepidus with these honours chose him later as his colleague in
both the positions mentioned.
When now they were in office, the people of Rome were disturbed by
prodigies; for a wolf was seen in the city, and a pig was born
resembling an elephant save its feet. In Africa, Petreius and Labienus,
after waiting until Caesar had gone out to villages after grain, drove
his cavalry, which had not yet thoroughly recovered its strength after
the sea-voyage, back upon the infantry with the aid of the Numidians;
and while the latter as a result was in great confusion, they killed
many of the soldiers in hand-to-hand fighting. Indeed, they would also
have cut down all the others, who had crowded together on some high
ground, had they not received grievous wounds themselves. Even so, they
alarmed Caesar not a little by this deed. For considering how he had
been checked by a few, and expecting, too, that Scipio and Juba would
arrive directly with all their forces, as it was reported they would,
he was greatly embarrassed and did not know what course to adopt. For
he was not yet able to carry through the war to a satisfactory
conclusion; and he saw that to stay in the same place was difficult
because of the lack of substance, even if the foe should leave his
troops alone, and that to retire was impossible, with the enemy
pressing upon him both by land and by sea. Consequently he was
dispirited.
He was still in this position when one Publius Sittius (if, indeed, we
ought to say it was he, and not rather Providence) brought to him at
one stroke salvation and victory. This man had been exiled from Italy,
and taking with him some fellow-exiles and crossing over into
Mauretania, he had collected a force and served as general under
Bocchus; and although he had previously received no benefit from
Caesar, and was not known to him at all, in fact, he undertook to
assist him in the war and help him overcome his present difficulties.
In pursuance of this plan he did not go to the aid of Caesar himself,
for he heard that he was at a distance and thought that his own
assistance would prove of small value to him, since he had as yet no
large body of troops, but waited, instead, until Juba set out on his
expedition, and then he invaded Numidia, harrying it and Gaetulia (a
part of Juba's dominion) so completely that the king gave up the matter
in hand and turned back in the midst of his march with most of his
army; for he also sent a part of it to Scipio at the same time. This
fact made it very clear that if Juba had also come up, Caesar could
never have withstood the two. Indeed, he did not so much as venture to
join issue with Scipio alone at first, because he stood in great dread
of the elephants, among other things, partly on account of their
fighting abilities, but still more because they kept throwing his
cavalry into confusion. Therefore, while keeping as strict guard over
the camp as he could, he sent to Italy for soldiers and elephants. He
did not count on the latter, to be sure, for any considerable military
achievement, but desired that the horses, by becoming accustomed to the
sight and sound of them, should learn to have no further fear of those
belonging to the enemy
Meanwhile the Gaetulians came over to his side, and also some of their
neighbours, partly on account of the Gaetulians, since they heard these
had been highly honoured, and partly through remembrance of Marius,
since Caesar was a relative of his. When this had occurred, and his
reinforcements from Italy, in spite of delay and danger due to the
winter and the enemy, had at length crossed over, he no longer remained
quiet, but, on the contrary, hastened forward to battle, in order to
overpower Scipio before Juba's arrival. He moved forward against him in
the direction of a city called Uzitta, where he took up his quarters on
a crest overlooking both the city and the enemy's camp, having first
dislodged those who were holding it. Later, when Scipio attacked him,
he drove him away also from the higher ground, and by charging down
after him with his cavalry did him some injury. So he held this
position and fortified it; and he also took another hill on the other
side of the city by defeating Labienus on it, after which he walled off
the entire place. For Scipio, fearing his own power might be spent too
soon, would no longer risk a battle with Caesar, but kept sending for
Juba; when the latter would not obey his summons, Scipio promised to
make him a present of all the territory that the Romans had in Africa.
Juba then appointed others to take charge of the operations against
Sittius and in person once more set out against Caesar.
While this was going on Caesar tried in every way to draw Scipio into
conflict. Baffled in this, he made friendly overtures to the latter's
soldiers, and distributed among them pamphlets, in which he promised to
the native that he would preserve his possessions unharmed and to the
Roman that he would grant him pardon and the same prizes that he had
offered to his followers. In this way he gained over a goodly number.
Scipio in like manner undertook to circulate both pamphlets and verbal
offers among his opponents, with a view to winning some to himself; but
he was unable to induce them to change sides. This was not because some
of them would not have chosen his cause by preference, if any offers
similar to Caesar's had been made; it was due rather to the fact that
he did not promise them any prize, but merely urged them to liberate
the Roman people and the senate. And so, inasmuch as he chose the
course that was more becoming to acknowledge rather than the one that
was more expedient for the situation in which he found himself, he
failed to gain over any of them.
So long, then, as Scipio alone was in his camp, matters went on thus,
but when Juba also came up, the situation was changed. For they both
tried to provoke their opponents to battle and harassed them when they
were unwilling to contend; moreover with their cavalry they inflicted
serious injuries upon any of them who were scattered to a distance. But
Caesar was not disposed to come to close quarters with them if he could
help it. He prevented their walling him in, secured a bare subsistence
for his troops, and kept sending for other forces from home. These
reached him only after much delay and difficulty, for they had not all
been together, but were collected gradually and lacked boats in which
to cross in a body. When at length they did reach him and he had added
them to his army, he took courage once more and leading out his forces
against the foe, arrayed them in front of the intrenchments. Seeing
this, his opponents marshalled themselves in turn, but did not join
issue with them. This continued for several days. For apart from brief
cavalry skirmishes, after which they would retire, neither side risked
any movement worth speaking of.
Accordingly, when Caesar perceived that because of the nature of the
land he could not force them to engage in conflict unless they chose,
he set out for Thapsus, in order that he might either engage them, if
they came to the help of the city, or might at least capture the place,
if they left it to its fate. Now Thapsus is situated on a kind of
peninsula, with the sea stretching along on one side and a lake on the
other; the isthmus between them is so narrow and marshy that one
reaches the town by two roads, only a little way apart, running along
either side of the marsh close to the shore. On his way toward this
city Caesar, when he had got inside the narrowest point, proceeded to
dig a ditch and to erect a palisade. The townspeople caused him no
trouble, as they were no match for him; but Scipio and Juba undertook
in their turn to wall off the neck of the isthmus, where it comes to an
end at the mainland, by running palisades and ditches across from both
sides. They were engaged in this work and were making great progress
every day (for in order that they might build the walls across more
quietly they had stationed the elephants along the portion not yet
protected by a ditch and hence easy for the enemy to attack, while on
the remaining portions all were working), when Caesar suddenly attacked
the men who were with Scipio, and by using slings and arrows from a
distance threw the elephants into great confusion. Then as they
retreated he not only followed them up, but fell upon the workers
unexpectedly and routed them, too; and when they fled into their camp,
he dashed in with them and captured it without a blow. Juba, upon
seeing this, was so startled and terrified that he ventured neither to
come to close quarters with any one nor even to keep the camp under
guard; so he fled and hastened homeward. And then, when no one received
him, especially since Sittius had already overpowered all opposition,
Juba, despairing of safety, fought in single combat with Petreius, who
likewise had no hope of pardon, and together they died. Caesar,
immediately after Juba's flight, captured the palisade and caused great
slaughter among all who came in the way of his troops, sparing not even
those who came over to his side. Next he brought the rest of the cities
to terms, meeting with no opposition; and taking over the Numidians, he
reduced them to the status of subjects, and delivered them to Sallust,
nominally to rule, but really to harry and plunder. At all events this
officer took many bribes and confiscated much property, so that he was
not only accused but incurred the deepest disgrace, inasmuch as after
writing such treatises as he had, and making many bitter remarks about
those who fleeced others, he did not practice what he preached.
Therefore, even if he was completely exonerated by Caesar, yet in his
history, as upon a tablet, the man himself has chiselled his own
condemnation all too well.
This affair, then, turned out thus. As for these districts in Libya,
the region surrounding Carthage, which we also call Africa, was called
the old province, because it had long ago been subjugated, whereas the
region of the Numidians was called the new province, because it had
been newly captured. Scipio, who had fled from the battle, chanced upon
a ship and set sail for Spain to go to Pompey. But he was cast ashore
in Mauretania, and through fear of Sittius made away with himself.
Cato, since many had sought refuge with him, was at first preparing to
take a hand in affairs and to resist Caesar as best he might. But the
people of Utica had not been hostile to Caesar in the first place, and
now, seeing him victorious, would not listen to Cato; and the members
of the senate and the knights who were present were afraid of being
arrested by them, and so meditated flight. Cato himself, therefore,
decided neither to war against Caesar, being unable to do so anyhow,
nor yet to go over to his side. This was not because of any fear, since
he understood well enough that Caesar would be very eager to spare him
for the sake of his reputation for humanity; but it was because he
passionately loved freedom, and would not brook defeat at the hands of
anybody, and regarded Caesar's pity as far more hateful than death. So
he called together the citizens who were present, enquired where each
one of them was intending to go, sent them forth with supplies for
their journey, and bade his son go to Caesar. To the youth's inquiry,
"Why, then, do you also not do so?" he replied: "I, who have been
brought up in freedom, with the right of free speech, cannot in my old
age change and learn slavery instead; but for you, who were both born
and brought up amid such a condition, it is proper to serve the
divinity that presides over your fortunes."
When he had done this and had given to the people of Utica an account
of his administration and returned to them the surplus funds, as well
as whatever else of theirs he had, he wished to be rid of life before
Caesar's arrival. He did not undertake to do this by day, inasmuch as
his son and others surrounding him kept him under surveillance; but
when evening was come, he secretly slipped a dagger under his pillow,
and asked for Plato's book on the Soul. This was either in the
endeavour to divert those present from the suspicion that he had any
such purpose in mind, in order to be observed as little as possible, or
else in the desire to obtain some consolation in respect to death from
the reading of it. When he had read the work through and it was now
near midnight, he drew forth the dagger, and smote himself upon the
belly. He would have died immediately from loss of blood, had he not in
falling from the low couch made a noise and roused those who were
keeping guard before his door. Thereupon his son and some others who
rushed in put his bowels back into his belly again, and brought medical
attendance for him. Then they took away the dagger and locked the
doors, that he might obtain sleep; for they had no idea of his
perishing in any other way. But he thrust his hands into the wound and
broke the stitches of it, and so expired.
Thus Cato, who had proved himself at once the most democratic and the
strongest-minded of all the men of his time, acquired great glory even
from his very death and obtained the title of Uticensis, both because
he had died in Utica, as described, and because he was publicly buried
by the inhabitants. Caesar declared that he was angry with him, because
Cato had begrudged him the distinction of saving such a man, and he
released his son and most of the others, as was his custom; for they
came over to him of their own accord, some at once, and others later,
so as to approach him after time should have blunted his anger. So
these were spared; but Afranius and Faustus would not come to him of
their own free will, feeling sure of being put to death, but fled to
Mauretania, where they were captured by Sittius. Caesar put them to
death, as captives, without a trial; but in the case of Lucius Caesar,
though the man was related to him and came as a voluntary suppliant,
nevertheless, since he had fought against him throughout, he at first
bade him stand trial, so that he might seem to have condemned him with
some show of legality, and then, as he shrank from putting him to death
by his own vote, he postponed the trial for the time being, but
afterward killed him secretly. Indeed, even in the case of those of his
own followers who did not suit him he willingly lost some at the hands
of the enemy and deliberately caused others to perish in the midst of
the fighting at the hands of their own comrades. For, as I have said,
he did not attack openly all who had injured him, but any whom he could
not prosecute on a plausible charge he quietly put out of the way in
some obscure fashion. And yet on this occasion he burned unread all the
papers that were found in the private chests of Scipio, while of the
men who had fought against him he spared many for their own sake, and
many also for the sake of their friends. For, as I have stated, he
always allowed each of his soldiers and companions to ask the life of
one man. In fact he would have spared Cato, too; for he had conceived
such an admiration for him that when Cicero subsequently wrote an
encomium of Cato he was not at all vexed, although Cicero had likewise
warred against him, but merely wrote a short treatise which he entitled
"Anticato."
Immediately after these events before he crossed into Italy Caesar got
rid of the older men among his soldiers for fear that they might mutiny
again. He arranged other matters in Africa just as rapidly as was
feasible and sailed as far as Sardinia with his whole fleet. From that
point he sent the dismissed troops along with Gaius Didius into Spain
against Pompey, and he himself returned to Rome, priding himself
particularly upon the brilliance of his achievements, but also upon the
decrees of the senate as well. For they had voted that sacrifices
should be offered for his victory during forty days, and had granted
him permission to ride, in the triumph already voted him, in a chariot
drawn by white horses and to be accompanied by all the lictors who were
then with him, and by as many others as he had employed in his first
dictatorship, together with as many more as he had in his second.
Furthermore, they elected him overseer of every man's conduct (for some
such name was given him, as if the title of censor were not worthy of
him) for three years, and dictator for ten in succession. They moreover
voted that he should sit in the senate upon the curule chair with the
successive consuls, and should always state his opinion first, that he
should give the signal at all the games in the Circus, and that he
should have the appointment of the magistrates and whatever honours the
people were previously accustomed to assign. And they decreed that a
chariot of his should be placed on the Capitol facing the statue of
Jupiter, that his statue in bronze should be mounted upon a likeness of
the inhabited world, with an inscription to the effect that he was a
demigod, and that his name should be inscribed upon the Capitol in
place of that of Catulus on the ground that he had completed this
temple after undertaking to call Catulus to account for the building of
it. These are the only measures I have recorded, not because they were
the only ones voted,— for a great many measures were proposed and of
course passed,— but because he declined the rest, whereas he accepted
these.
When these decrees had now been passed, he entered Rome, and perceiving
that the people were afraid of his power and suspicious of his proud
bearing and consequently expected to suffer many terrible evils such as
had taken place before, and realizing that it was on this account that
they had voted him extravagant honours, through flattery and not
through good-will, he endeavoured to encourage them and to inspire them
with hope by the following speech delivered in the senate:
"Let none of you, Conscript Fathers, suppose that I shall make any
harsh proclamation or do any cruel deed merely because I have conquered
and am able to say whatever I please without being called to account,
and to do with full liberty whatever I choose. It is true that Marius
and Cinna and Sulla and practically all the others who ever triumphed
over the factions opposed to them said and did many benevolent things
in the beginning of their undertakings, largely as the result of which
they attracted men to their side, thus securing, if not their active
support, at least their abstention from opposition; and then, after
conquering and becoming masters of the ends they sought, adopted a
course diametrically opposed to their former stand both in word and in
deed. Let no one, however, assume that I shall act in this same way.
For I have not associated with you in former time under a disguise,
while possessing in reality some different nature, only to become
emboldened in security now that that is possible; nor have I become so
elated or puffed up by my great good fortune as to desire also to play
the tyrant over you — both of which experiences, or at least one of
them, seem to me to have come to those men whom I mentioned. No, I am
in nature the same sort of man as you have always found me — but why go
into details and become offensive as praising myself? — and I would not
think of insulting Fortune, but the more I have enjoyed her favours,
the more moderately will I use her in every way. For I have had no
other motive in striving to secure so great power and to rise to such a
height that I might punish all active foes and admonish all those of
the other faction, than that I might be able to play a man's part
without danger and to obtain prosperity with honour. For in general it
is neither noble nor just for a man to be convicted of doing the things
which he has rebuked in those who have differed from him in opinion;
nor will I ever think it proper to be likened to such men through my
imitation of their deeds, and to differ merely by the reputation of my
complete victory. For who ought to confer more and greater benefits
upon people 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 ones from that source?
Who ought to use present blessings more uprightly than he who has the
most of them and is most afraid of losing them? For good fortune, if
joined to self-control, is enduring, and authority, if it maintains
moderation, preserves all that has been acquired; and, greatest of all,
and also rarest with those who gain success without virtue, these
things make it possible for their possessors to be loved unfeignedly
while living and to receive genuine praise when dead. But the man who
recklessly abuses his power on absolutely all occasions finds for
himself neither genuine good-will nor certain safety, but, though
accorded a false flattery in public, is secretly plotted against (?).
For the whole world, including his nearest associates, both suspects
and fears a ruler who is not master of his own power.
"These statements that I have made are no mere sophistries, but are
intended to convince you that what I think and say is not for effect
nor yet thoughts that have just chanced to occur to me on the spur of
the moment, but rather are convictions regarding what at the outset I
decided was both suitable and advantageous for me. Consequently you may
not only be of good courage with reference to the present, but also
hopeful as regards the future, when you reflect that, if I had really
been using any pretence, I should not now be deferring my projects, but
would have made them known this very day. However, I was never
otherwise minded in times past, as, indeed, my acts themselves prove,
and now I shall be far more eager than ever with all reasonableness to
be, not your master,— Jupiter forbid!— but your champion, not your
tyrant, but your leader. When it comes to accomplishing everything else
that must be done on your behalf, I will be both consul and dictator,
but when it comes to injuring any one of you, a private citizen. That,
in fact, is the one thing which I think should not even be mentioned.
For why should I put any one of you to death, who have done me no harm,
when I have destroyed none of those who were the arrayed against me, no
matter how zealously in general they had joined with some of my enemies
against me, and when I have taken pity on all those who withstood me
but once and in many cases have spared even those who fought against me
a second time? Why should I bear malice toward any, seeing that I
immediately burned all the documents that were found among the private
papers both in Pompey's and in Scipio's tents, and that without reading
or copying them? Let us, therefore, Conscript Fathers, confidently
unite our interests, forgetting all past events as if they had been
brought to pass by some supernatural force, and beginning to love each
other without suspicion as if we were in some sort new citizens. In
this way you will conduct yourselves toward me as toward a father,
enjoying the forethought and solicitude which I shall give you and
fearing nothing unpleasant, and I will take thought for you as for my
children, praying that only the noblest deeds may ever be accomplished
by your exertions, and yet enduring perforce the limitations of human
nature, exalting the good citizens by fitting honours and correcting
the rest so far as that is possible.
"And do not fear the soldiers, either, or regard them in any other
light than as guardians of my empire, which is at the same time yours.
That they should be supported is necessary, for many reasons, but they
will be supported for your benefit, not against you; and they will be
content with what is given them and will think well of the givers. This
is the reason why the taxies now levied are higher than usual, in order
that the seditious element may be made submissive and the victorious
element, by receiving sufficient support, may not become seditious. Of
course I have received no private gain from these funds, seeing that I
have expended for you all that I possessed, and also much that was
borrowed. No, you can see a part of the taxes has been expended on the
wars and that the rest has been kept safe for you; it will serve to
adorn the city and carry on the government in general. I have, then,
taken upon my own shoulders the odium of the levy, whereas you will
enjoy its advantages in common, in the campaigns as well as elsewhere.
For we are always in need of arms, since without them it is impossible
for us, who live in so great a city and hold so extensive an empire, to
live in safety; and an abundance of money is a great help in this
matter as well as elsewhere. However, let none of you suspect that I
shall harass any man who is rich or establish new taxes; I shall be
satisfied with the present revenues and shall be more anxious to help
make some contribution to your prosperity 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 altogether to be of good courage until he confirmed his
promises by his deeds.
After this he conducted the whole festival in a brilliant manner, as
was fitting in honour of victories so many and so decisive. He
celebrated triumphs for the Gauls, for Egypt, for Pharnaces, and for
Juba, in four sections, on four separate days. Most of it, of course,
delighted the spectators, but the sight of Arsinoë of Egypt, whom
he led among the captives, and the host of lictors and the symbols of
triumph taken from the citizens who had fallen in Africa displeased
them exceedingly. The lictors, on account of their numbers, appeared to
them a most offensive multitude, since never before had they beheld so
many at one time; and the sight of Arsinoë, a woman and one
considered a queen, in chains,— a spectacle which had never yet been
seen, at least in Rome,— aroused very great pity, and with this as an
excuse they lamented their private misfortunes. She, to be sure, was
released out of consideration for her brothers; but others, including
Vercingetorix, were put to death.
The people, accordingly, were disagreeably affected by those sights
that I have mentioned, and yet they considered them of very slight
importance in view of the multitude of captives and the magnitude of
Caesar's accomplishments. This led them to admire him extremely, as did
likewise the good nature with which he bore the army's outspoken
comments. For the soldiers jeered at those of their own number who had
been appointed by him to the senate and at all the other failings of
which he was accused, and in particular jested about his love for
Cleopatra and his sojourn at the court of Nicomedes, the ruler of
Bithynia, inasmuch as he had once been at his court when a lad; indeed,
they even declared that the Gauls had been enslaved by Caesar, but
Caesar by Nicomedes. Finally, on top of all this, they all shouted
together that if you do right, you will be punished, but if wrong, you
will be king. This was meant by them to signify that if Caesar should
restore self-government to the people, which they of course regarded as
just, he would have to stand trial for the deeds he had committed in
violation of the laws and would suffer punishment; whereas, if he
should hold on to his power, which was naturally the course of an
unjust person, he would continue to be sole ruler. As for him, however,
he was not displeased at their saying this, but was quite delighted
that by such frankness toward him they showed their confidence that he
would never be angry at it — except in so afar as their abuse concerned
his intercourse with Nicomedes. At this he was greatly vexed and
manifestly pained; he attempted to defend himself, denying the affair
upon oath, whereupon he incurred all the more ridicule.
Now on the first day of the triumph a portent far from good fell to his
lot: the axle of the triumphal car broke down directly opposite the
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 had been dedicated to Jupiter in his honour, or the image
of the inhabited world lying beneath his feet, or the inscription upon
it; but later he erased from the inscription the term "demigod."
After the triumph he entertained the populace splendidly, giving them
grain beyond the regular amount and olive oil. Also to the multitude
which received doles of corn he assigned the three hundred sesterces
which he had already promised and a hundred more, but to the soldiers
twenty thousand in one sum. Yet he was not uniformly munificent, but in
most respects was very strict; for instance, since the multitude
receiving doles of corn had increased enormously, not by lawful methods
but in such ways as are common in times of strife, he caused the matter
to be investigated and struck out half of their names at one time
before the distribution.
The first days of the triumph he passed as customary, but on the last
day, after they had finished dinner, he entered his own forum wearing
slippers and garlanded with all kinds of flowers; thence he proceeded
homeward with practically the entire populace escorting him, while many
elephants carried torches. For he had himself constructed 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. So after completing this new forum and the
temple to Venus, as the founder of his family, he dedicated them at
this very time, and in their honour instituted many contests of all
kinds. He built a kind of hunting-theatre of wood, which was called an
amphitheatre from the fact that it had seats all around without any
stage. In honour of this and of his daughter he exhibited combats of
wild beasts and gladiators; but anyone who cared to record their number
would find his task a burden without being able, in all probability, to
present the truth; for all such matters are regularly exaggerated in a
spirit of boastfulness. I shall accordingly pass over this and other
like events that took place later, except, of course, where it may seem
to me quite essential to mention some particular point, but I will give
an account of the so-called camelopard, because it was then introduced
into Rome by Caesar for the first time and exhibited to all. This
animal is like a camel in all respects except that its legs are not all
of the same length, the hind legs being the shorter. Beginning from the
rump it grows gradually higher, which gives it the appearance of
mounting some elevation; and towering high aloft, it supports the rest
of its body on its front legs and lifts its neck in turn to an unusual
height. Its skin is spotted like a leopard, and for this reason it
bears the joint name of both animals. Such is the appearance of this
beast. As for the men, he not only pitted them one against another
singly in the Forum, as was customary, but he also made them fight
together in companies in the Circus, horsemen against horsemen, men on
foot against others on foot, and sometimes both kinds together in equal
numbers. There was even a fight between men seated on elephants, forty
in number. Finally he produced a naval battle, not on the sea nor on a
lake, but on land; for he hollowed out a certain tract on the Campus
Martius and after flooding it introduced ships into it. In all the
contests the captives and those condemned to death took part; yet some
of the knights, and, not to mention others, the son of one who had been
praetor fought in single combat. Indeed a senator named Fulvius Sepinus
desired to contend in full armour, but was prevented; for Caesar
deprecated that spectacle at any time, though he did permit the knights
to contend. The patrician boys went through the equestrian exercise
called "Troy" according to ancient custom, and the young men of the
same rank contended in chariots.
He was blamed, indeed, for the great number of those slain, on the
ground that he himself had not become sated with bloodshed and was
further exhibiting to the populace symbols of their own miseries; but
much more fault was found because he had expended countless sums on all
that array. In consequence a clamour was raised against him for two
reasons — first, that he had collected most of the funds unjustly, and,
again, that he had squandered them for such purposes. If I mention one
feature of his extravagance at that time, I shall thereby give an idea
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 fabric is a device of barbarian luxury, and
has come down from them even to us to gratify the fastidious taste of
fine ladies. The citizens perforce held their peace at such acts, but
the soldiers raised a disturbance, not because they cared about the
reckless squandering of the money, but because they themselves did not
receive the citizens' wealth too. In fact they did not cease their
rioting until Caesar suddenly came upon them, and seizing one man with
his own hands, delivered him up to punishment. So this man was executed
for the reason given, and two others were slain as a sort of ritual
observance. 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 Regia.
While Caesar was thus engaged he was also enacting many laws, most of
which I shall omit, mentioning only those most worthy of record. The
courts he entrusted to the senators and the knights alone, in order
that the purest element of the population, so far as was possible,
might always preside; for formerly some of the common people had also
joined with them in rendering decisions. The expenditures moreover, of
men of means, which had grown to an enormous extent by reason of their
prodigality, he not only regulated by law but also practically checked
by stern measures. Moreover, since, on account of the multitude of
those who had perished there was a serious falling off in population,
as was shown both by the censuses (which he attended to, among other
things, as if he were censor) and, indeed, by mere observation, he
offered prizes for large families of children. Again, since it was by
ruling the Gauls for many years in succession that he himself had
conceived a greater desire for dominion and had increased the equipment
of his force, he limited by law the term of propraetors to one year,
and that of proconsuls to two consecutive years, and enacted that no
one whatever should be allowed to hold any command for a longer time.
After the passage of these laws he also established in their present
fashion the days of the year, which had got somewhat out of order,
since they still at that time measured their months by the moon's
revolutions; he did this by adding sixty-seven days, the number
necessary to bring the year out even. Some, indeed, have declared that
even more were intercalated, but the truth is as I have stated it. He
got this improvement from his stay in Alexandria, save in so far as the
people there reckon their months as of thirty days each, and afterwards
add the five days to the year as a whole, whereas Caesar distributed
among seven months these five along with two other days that he took
away from one month. The one day, however, which results from the
fourths he introduced into every fourth year, so as to make the annual
seasons no longer differ at all except in the slightest degree; at any
rate in fourteen hundred and sixty-one years there is need of only one
additional intercalary day.
All these and the other undertakings which he was planning for the
common weal he accomplished not on his own authority nor by his own
counsel, but communicated everything in every instance to the leaders
of the senate, and sometimes even to that entire body. And to this
practice most of all was due the fact that, even after he passed some
rather harsh measures, he still succeeded in pleasing them. For these
acts, then, he received praise; but when he induced some of the
tribunes to restore many of those who had been exiled after due trial,
and allowed those who had been convicted of bribery in canvassing for
office to live in Italy, and furthermore enrolled once more in the
senate some who were unworthy of it, many murmurings of all sorts arose
against him. But he incurred the greatest censure from all because of
his passion for Cleopatra — not now the passion he had displayed in
Egypt (for that was a matter of hearsay), but that which was displayed
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 on
account of both of them. He was not at all concerned, however, about
this, but actually enrolled them among the friends and allies of the
Roman people.
Meanwhile he was learning in detail all that Pompey was doing in Spain;
but thinking him easy to vanquish, he at first despatched the fleet
from Sardinia against him, and later sent on also the armies that had
been enrolled, intending to conduct the whole war through others. But
when he ascertained that Pompey was gaining great headway and that the
men he had sent were not sufficient to fight against him, he finally
set out himself to join the expedition, after entrusting the city to
Lepidus and a number of prefects — eight as some think, or six as is
more commonly believed.
The legions in Spain under Longinus and Marcellus had rebelled and some
of the cities had revolted. When Longinus had been removed and
Trebonius had become his successor, they kept quiet for a few days;
then, through fear of vengeance on Caesar's part, they secretly sent
ambassadors to Scipio, expressing a desire to transfer their
allegiance, and he sent to them Gnaeus Pompey among others. Pompey put
in at the Balearic Isles and took these islands without a battle,
except Ebusus, which he gained with difficulty; then, falling sick, he
tarried there with his troops. As a result of his delay, the soldiers
in Spain, who had learned that Scipio was dead and that Didius was
setting sail against them, feared that they would be annihilated before
Pompey could arrive, and so failed to wait for him; but putting at
their head Titus Quintius Scapula and Quintus Aponius, both knights,
they drove out Trebonius and led the whole Baetic nation to revolt at
the same time.
They had gone thus far when Pompey, recovering from his illness, sailed
across to the mainland opposite. He immediately won over several cities
without resistance, for, being vexed at the commands of their rulers
and also reposing no little hope in him because of the memory of his
father, they readily received him; and Carthage, which was unwilling to
come to terms, he besieged. The followers of Scapula, on learning of
this, went there and chose him general with full powers, after which
they were most devoted to him and showed the greatest zeal, regarding
his successes as the successes of each one of them and his disasters as
their own. Consequently their resolution was confirmed by their double
purpose of obtaining the successes and avoiding the disasters. For
Pompey, too, did what all are accustomed to do in the midst of such
turbulent conditions, especially after the desertion of some of the
Allobroges whom Juba had taken alive in the war against Curio and had
given to him: that is, he granted to the rest every possible favour
both in word and in deed. Not only these men, therefore, became more
zealous in his behalf, but a number of the opposing side, also,
particularly all who had once served under Afranius, came over to him.
Then there were those who came to him from Africa, among others his
brother Sextus, and Varus, and Labienus with his fleet. Elated,
therefore, by the multitude of his army and by its zeal, he proceeded
fearlessly through the country, gaining some cities of their own
accord, and others against their will, and seemed to surpass even his
father in power. For though Caesar also had generals in Spain, namely
Quintus Fabius Maximus and Quintus Pedius, yet they did not regard
themselves as a match for Pompey, but remained quiet themselves and
kept sending urgently for Caesar.
For a time matters went on thus; but when a few of the men sent in
advance from Rome had reached there, and Caesar's arrival was also
expected, 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 making trial of his
adversaries, retired into Baetica. The sea, moreover, straightway
became hostile to him, and Varus was defeated in a naval battle near
Carteia by Didius; indeed, had he not escaped to the land and sunk a
row of anchors upon which the foremost pursuers were wrecked as upon a
reef, he would have lost his whole fleet. All that region of the
mainland except the city of Ulia was in alliance with Pompey; and this
town, which had refused to submit to him, he proceeded to besiege.
Meanwhile Caesar, to, with a few men suddenly came up unexpectedly, not
only to Pompey's followers, but even to his own soldiers. For he had
employed such speed in crossing over that he appeared to both his
adherents and his opponents before they had even heard that he was in
Spain at all. He hoped by this very circumstance and by his mere
presence to alarm Pompey and in particular to lure him from the siege;
for most of his army had been left behind on the road. But Pompey,
thinking that one man was not much superior to another and feeling full
confidence in his own strength, was not seriously alarmed at the
other's arrival, but continued to besiege the city and kept making
assaults upon it just as before. Hence Caesar left there a few troops
from among those who had arrived first and set out himself for Corduba,
partly, to be sure, in the hope of taking it by betrayal, but chiefly
in the expectation of drawing Pompey away from Ulia through fear for
this place. And so it turned out in the end. At first Pompey left a
part of his army in position, and going to Corduba, strengthened it,
and then, as Caesar did not resist his troops, put his brother Sextus
in charge there. After this 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 either, but broken down by the crowd that was
making a defence from it, a few who rushed in fared badly; and Caesar,
approaching, lent assistance secretly by night to the citizens, and
marched against Corduba himself, putting it under siege in turn. Then
at last Pompey withdrew entirely from Ulia and hastened to the other
town with his entire army, accomplishing the desired result. For
Caesar, learning of it in time, retired, as he happened to be ill.
Afterwards, when he had recovered and had taken charge of the
additional troops who had followed on after him, he was compelled to
carry on warfare even in the winter; for, being housed in miserable
little huts, they were suffering distress and running short of food.
Caesar was at that time dictator, and at length, near the close of the
year, he was appointed consul, after Lepidus, who was master of the
horse, had convoked the people for this purpose; for Lepidus had become
master of the horse at that time also, having given himself, while
still in the consulship, that additional title contrary to precedent.
Caesar, accordingly, being compelled, as I have said, to carry on
warfare even in the winter, did not attack Corduba, which was strongly
guarded, but turned his attention to Ategua, a city in which he had
learned there was an abundance of grain. Although it was a strong
place, he hoped by the size of his army and the sudden terror of his
appearance to alarm the inhabitants and capture it. And in a short time
he had cut it off by a palisade and surrounded it by a ditch. For
Pompey, encouraged by the nature of the place and thinking that Caesar
because of the winter would not besiege it very long, paid no heed and
did not try at first to repel the assailants, since he was unwilling to
distress his own soldiers by the cold. Later, to be sure, when the town
had been walled off and Caesar was encamped before it, he grew afraid
and came with assistance. Falling in with pickets suddenly on a misty
night, he killed a number of them; and since the inhabitants were
without a general, he sent in to them Munatius Flaccus. For this man
contrived in the following way to get inside. He went alone by night to
some of the guards, as if appointed by Caesar to visit the sentries,
and asked and learned the watchword; for he was not known, and inasmuch
as he was alone, would never have been suspected 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 circumvallation where he met some other
guards and gave them the watchword; after this he pretended that he was
there 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
ramparts of the Romans, although without doing them any damage worth
mentioning, while they themselves fared ill by reason of a violent wind
which just then began to blow toward them from the opposite direction;
for their houses were set on fire 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 being ravaged,
and portions of their wall were collapsing as the result of mines, they
began to riot. Flaccus first made overtures to Caesar on the basis of
pardon for himself and his followers; but afterwards, when he failed of
this owing to his refusal to surrender his arms, the natives sent
envoys and submitted to the terms imposed upon them.
Upon the capture of this city the other tribes also no longer held
back, but many of their own accord sent envoys and espoused Caesar's
cause, and many received him or his lieutenants on their approach.
Pompey, in consequence, being at a loss what to do, at first moved
about and wandered from place to place through the country; later on he
became afraid that as a result of this very course the rest of his
adherents would also leave him in the lurch, and he chose to risk a
decisive battle, although Heaven had beforehand indicated his defeat
very clearly. To be sure, the drops of sweat that fell from the sacred
statues, and the rumbling noises of legions, and the many creatures
that were outside their own species, and the torches darting from the
east to the west, all of which signs occurred in Spain at that one
time, did not make it clear to which of the two leaders they were
revealing the future. But the eagles of Pompey's legions shook their
wings and let fall the thunderbolts which they held in their talons, in
some cases of gold; thus they seemed to be hurling the threatened
disaster directly at Pompey and to be flying off of their own accord to
Caesar. But he made light of it, for Destiny was leading him on; thus
he established himself in the city of Munda in order to give battle.
Both leaders had in addition to their citizen and mercenary troops many
of the natives and many Moors. For Bocchus had sent his sons to Pompey
and Bogud in person made the campaign with Caesar. Still, the contest
turned out to be like one between the Romans themselves, not between
them and 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, becoming strong
through their despair of safety, should they fail to conquer, they were
full of eagerness. For inasmuch as the majority of them had been
captured with Afranius and Varro, had been spared, and afterwards
delivered to Longinus, and had revolted from him, they had no hope of
safety if they were beaten, and hence were reduced to desperation,
feeling that they must now win or else perish utterly. So the armies
came together and began the battle; for they no longer felt any
compunction at killing each other, since they had been so many times
opposed in arms, and hence required no urging. Thereupon the allies on
both sides were quietly routed and fled; but the legions themselves
struggled in close combat to the utmost in their resistance of each
other. Not a man of them would yield; they remained in their places
slaying and perishing, as if each individual were to be responsible to
all the rest as well for the issue of victory or defeat. Consequently
they were not concerned to see how their allies were battling, but
fought as eagerly as if they alone were struggling. Neither sound of
paean nor groan was to be heard from any one of them, but both sides
merely shouted "Strike! Kill!", while their deeds easily outran their
words. Caesar and Pompey, who witnessed these struggles from horseback
from certain elevated positions, had no ground for either hope or
despair, but, with their minds torn by doubts, were equally distressed
by confidence and by fear. The battle was so evenly balanced that they
suffered tortures at the sight as they strained to spy out some
advantage, and shrank from discovering some setback. In mind, too, they
suffered tortures, as they prayed for success and against misfortune,
alternating between strength and fear. Therefore they were unable to
endure it long, but leaped from their horses and joined in the
conflict. Thus they preferred to share in it by personal exertion and
danger rather than by tension of spirit, and each hoped by his
participation in the fight to turn the scale somehow in favour of his
own troops; or, failing that, they wished to die with them.
The leaders, then, took part in the battle themselves; yet no advantage
came of this 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, but,
matched in determination, they proved also to be matched in physical
strength. All would have perished or at nightfall they would have
parted with honours even, had not Bogud, who was somewhere outside the
conflict, set out for Pompey's camp, whereupon Labienus, observing
this, left his station and proceeded against him. Pompey's men, then,
supposing him to be in flight, lost heart; and though later, of course,
they learned the truth, they could no longer recover themselves. Some
fled to the city, some to the rampart. The latter body vigorously
fought off their assailants and fell only when attacked from all sides,
while the former long held the wall safe, so that it was not captured
till all 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 from running away in the night, actually heaped up the
bodies of the dead around it.
Caesar, having thus conquered, straightway took Corduba also. For
Sextus had retired out of his way and the natives came over to his
side, although their slaves, since they had been made free, resisted
them. He slew the slaves under arms and sold the rest. And he adopted
the same course also with those who held Hispalis; for they had at
first pretended to accept a garrison from him willingly, but afterwards
destroyed the soldiers who came there, and entered upon war. So he made
a campaign against them, and by appearing to conduct the siege in a
rather careless fashion he gave them some hope of being able to escape.
After this he would allow them to come outside the wall, where he would
ambush and destroy them in this way he captured the town, which had
been gradually stripped of its men. Later he acquired Munda and the
other places, some against their will and others of their own accord.
He levied tribute so rigorously that he did not even spare the
offerings consecrated to Hercules in Gades; and he also took land from
some cities and laid an added tribute upon others. This was his course
toward those who had opposed him; but to those who had displayed any
good-will toward him he granted lands and exemption from taxation, to
some also citizenship, and to others the status of Roman colonists; he
did not, however, grant these favours for nothing.
While Caesar was thus occupied, Pompey, who had escaped in the rout,
reached the sea, intending to use the fleet that lay at anchor at
Carteia, but found that the men had gone over to the victor's side. He
then embarked on a vessel, expecting to escape in this manner; but
being wounded in the course of the attempt, he lost heart and put back
to land, and then, taking with him some men who had assembled, set out
for the interior. He met Caesennius Lento and was defeated; and taking
refuge in a wood, perished there. Didius, ignorant of his fate, while
wandering about in the hope of meeting him somewhere, met some other
troops and perished.
Caesar, too, would doubtless have chosen to fall there, at the hands of
those who were still resisting and amid the glory of war, in preference
to the fate he met not long afterward of being murdered in his own land
and in the senate at the hands of his dearest friends.For this was the
last war that he carried through successfully, and this the last
victory that he won, in spite of the fact that there was no other
project so great that he did not hope to accomplish it. In this hope he
was confirmed especially by the circumstance that from a palm that
stood on the site of the battle a shoot grew out immediately after the
victory. Now I do not assert that this had no bearing in some
direction, yet it was no longer for him, but for his sister's grandson,
Octavius; for the latter was making the campaign with him, and was
destined to gain great lustre from his toils and dangers. As Caesar did
not know this, and hoped that many successes would still fall to his
own lot, he showed no moderation, but was filled with arrogance, as if
immortal. For, although he had conquered no foreign nation, but had
destroyed a vast number of citizens, he not only celebrated the triumph
himself, incidentally feasting the entire populace once more, as if in
honour of some common blessing, but also allowed Quintus Fabius and
Quintus Pedius to hold a celebration, although they had merely been his
lieutenants and had achieved no individual success. Naturally this
occasioned ridicule, as did also the fact that they used wooden instead
of ivory representations of certain achievements together with other
similar triumphal apparatus. Nevertheless, most brilliant triple
triumphs and triple processions of the Romans were held in honour of
those very events, and furthermore a thanksgiving of fifty days was
observed. The Parilia was honoured by permanent annual games in the
Circus, yet not at all because the city had been founded on that very
day, but because the news of Caesar's victory had arrived the day
before, toward evening.
Such was his gift to Rome. For himself, he wore the triumphal garb, by
decree, at all the games, and was adorned with the laurel crown always
and everywhere alike. The excuse that he gave for it was that his
forehead was bald; yet he gave occasion for talk by this very
circumstance that at that time, though well past youth, he still
bestowed attention upon his appearance. He used to show among all men
his pride in rather loose clothing, and the footwear which he used
later on was sometimes high and of a reddish colour, after the style of
the kings who had once reign edition Alba, for he claimed that he was
related to them through Iulus. In general he was absolutely devoted to
Venus, and was anxious to persuade everybody that he had received from
her a kind of bloom of youth. Accordingly he used also to wear a carven
image of her in full armour on his ring and he made her name his
watchword in almost all the greatest dangers. Sulla had looked askance
at the looseness of his girdle, so much so that he had wished to kill
him, and declared to those who begged him off: "Well, I will grant him
to you; but be thoroughly on your guard against this ill-girt fellow."
And Cicero could not comprehend it, but even in the moment of defeat
said: "I should never have expected one so ill-girt to have conquered
Pompey."
This I have written by way of digression from my history, so that no
one might be ignorant of any of the stories told about Caesar. In
honour of his victory the senate passed all those decrees that I have
mentioned, and further called him "Liberator," entering it also in the
records, and voted for a public temple of Liberty. Moreover, they now
applied to him first and for the first time, as a kind of proper name,
the title of imperator, no longer merely following the ancient custom
by which others as well as Caesar had often been saluted as a result of
their wars, nor even as those who received some independent command or
other authority were called by this name, but giving him once for all
the same title that is now granted to those who hold successively the
supreme power. And such excessive flattery did they employ as even to
vote that his sons and grandsons should be given the same title, though
he had no child and was already an old man. From him this title has
come down to all subsequent emperors, as one peculiar to their office,
just like the title "Caesar." The ancient custom has not, however, been
thereby overthrown, but both usages exist side by side. Consequently
the emperors are invested with it a second time when they gain some
such victory as has been mentioned. For those who are imperatores in
the special sense use this title once, as they do the other titles, and
place it before the others; but those of them who also accomplish in
war some deed worthy of it acquire also the title handed down by
ancient custom, so that a man is termed imperator a second or a third
time, or as many more times as the occasion may arise.
These privileges they granted then to Caesar, as well as a house, so
that he might live in state property, and a special thanksgiving
whenever any victory should occur and sacrifices should be offered for
it, even if he had not been on the campaign or had any hand at all in
the achievements. Nevertheless, these measures, even though they seemed
to some immoderate and contrary to precedent, were not thus far
undemocratic. But the senate passed the following decrees besides, by
which they declared him a monarch out and out. For they offered him the
magistracies, even those belonging to the plebs, and elected him consul
for ten years, as they previously made him dictator. They ordered that
he alone should have soldiers, and alone administer the public funds,
so that no one else should be allowed to employ either of them, save
whom he permitted. And they decreed at this time that an ivory statue
of him, and later that a whole chariot, should appear in the procession
at the games in the Circus, together with the statues of the gods.
Another likeness they set up in the temple of Quirinus with the
inscription, "To the Invincible God," and another on the Capitol beside
the former kings of Rome. Now it occurs to me to marvel at the
coincidence: there were eight such statues,— seven to the kings, and an
eighth to the Brutus who overthrew the Tarquins,— and they set up the
statue of Caesar beside the last of these; and it was from this cause
chiefly that the other Brutus, Marcus, was roused to plot against him.
These were the measures that were passed in honour of his victory (I do
not mention all, but as many as have seemed to me notable), not in one
day, to be sure, but just as it happened, at different times. Caesar
began to avail himself of some, and was intending to use others in the
future, however emphatically he declined some of them. Thus he took the
office of consul immediately, even before entering the city, but did
not hold it through the whole year; instead, when he got to Rome he
renounced it, turning it over to Quintus Fabius and Gaius Trebonius.
When Fabius died on the last day of his consulship, he straightway
named another man, Gaius Caninius Rebilus, in his place for the
remaining hours. This was the first violation of precedent at this
time, that one and the same man did not hold that office for a year or
even for all the rest of the same year, but while living withdrew from
it without compulsion from either ancestral custom or any accusation,
and another took his place. Again, there was the fact that Caninius was
appointed consul, served, and ceased to serve all at the same time.
Hence Cicero jestingly remarked that the consul had displayed such
great bravery and prudence in office as never to fall asleep in it for
the briefest moment. So after that period the same persons no longer
(except a few in the beginning) acted as consuls through the whole
year, but according to circumstances, some for a longer time, some for
a shorter, some for months, others for days; indeed, at the present
time 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 consuls to-day do
not differ from one another, but the naming of the years is the
privilege of those who are consuls at the beginning. Accordingly, in
the case of the other consuls I shall name only those who were closely
connected with the events mentioned, but in order to secure perfect
clearness with regard to the succession of events, I shall mention also
those who first held office in each year, even if they make no
contribution to its events.
While the consuls were appointed in this manner, the remaining
magistrates were nominally elected by the plebs and by the whole
people, in accordance with ancestral custom, since Caesar would not
accept the appointment of them; yet really they were appointed by him,
and were sent out to the provinces without casting lots. As for their
number, all were the same as before, except that fourteen praetors and
forty quaestors were appointed. For, since he had made many promises to
many people, he had no other way to reward them, and hence took this
method. Furthermore, he enrolled a vast number in the senate, making no
distinction whether a man was a soldier or the son of a freedman, so
that the sum of them grew to nine hundred; and he enrolled many also
among the patricians and among the ex-consuls and such as had held some
other office. He released some who were on trial for bribery and were
being proved guilty, so that he was charged with bribe-taking himself.
This report was strengthened by the fact that he also put up at auction
all the public lands, not only the profane, but also the consecrated
lots, and sold most of them. Nevertheless, he granted ample gifts to
some persons in the form of money or the sale of lands; and in the case
of a certain Lucius Basilius, who was praetor, instead of assigning him
a province he bestowed a large amount of money upon him, so that
Basilius became notorious both on this account as well as because, when
insulted during his praetorship by Caesar, he had held out against him.
All this suited those citizens who were receiving or even expecting to
receive something, since they had no regard for the public weal in
comparison with the chance of the moment for their own advancement by
such means. But all the rest took it greatly to heart and had much to
say about it to each other and also — as many as felt safe in so doing
— in outspoken utterances and the publication of anonymous pamphlets.
In addition to these measures carried out that year, two of the city
prefects took charge of the finances, since no quaestor had been
elected. For just as on former occasions, so now in the absence of
Caesar, the prefects managed all the affairs of the city, in
conjunction with Lepidus as master of the horse. And although they were
censured for employing lictors and the magisterial garb and chair
precisely like the master of the horse, they got off by citing a
certain law which allowed all those with receiving any office from a
dictator to make use of such trappings. The administration of the
finances, after being diverted at this time for the reasons I have
mentioned, was no longer invariably assigned to the quaestors, but was
finally assigned to ex-praetors. Two of the city prefects then managed
the public treasuries, and one of them celebrated the Ludi Apollinares
at Caesar's cost. The plebeian aediles conducted the Ludi Megalenses in
accordance with a decree. A certain prefect, appointed during the
Feriae, himself chose a successor on the following day, and the latter
a third; this had never happened before, nor did it happen again.
These were the events at this time. The next year, during which Caesar
was at once dictator for the fifth time, with Lepidus as the master of
the horse, and consul for the fifth time, choosing Antony as his
colleague, sixteen praetors were in power,— a custom, indeed, that was
continued for many years,— and the rostra, which was formerly in the
centre of the Forum, was moved back to its present position; also the
statues of Sulla and of Pompey were restored to it. For this Caesar
received praise, and also because he yielded to Antony both the glory
of the work and the inscription on it. Being anxious to build a
theatre, as Pompey had done, he laid the foundations, but did not
finish it; it was Augustus who 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, which were almost all of wood, and because on finding
large hoards of money he appropriated them all.
Besides this, he introduced laws and extended the pomerium; in these
and other matters his course was thought to resemble that of Sulla.
Caesar, however, removed the ban from the survivors of those who had
warred against him, granting them immunity on fair and uniform terms;
he promoted them to office; to the wives of the slain he restored their
dowries, and to their children he granted a share of the property, thus
putting Sulla's cruelty mightily to shame and gaining for himself a
great reputation not alone for bravery but also for goodness, although
it is generally a difficult thing for the same man to excel both in war
and in peace. This was a source of pride to him, as was also the fact
that he had restored again Carthage and Corinth. To be sure, there were
many other cities in and outside of Italy which he had either rebuilt
or founded anew; still, other men had done as much. But in the case of
Corinth and Carthage, those ancient, brilliant, and distinguished
cities which had been laid in ruins, he not only colonized them, in
that he regarded them as colonies of the Romans, but also restored them
in memory of their former inhabitants, in that he honoured them with
their ancient names; for he bore no grudge, on account of the hostility
of those peoples, towards places that had never harmed the Romans.
So these cities, even as they had once been demolished together, now
began to revive together and bade fair to flourish once more. But while
Caesar was thus engaged, a longing came over all the Romans alike to
avenge Crassus and those who had perished with him, and they felt some
hope of subjugating the Parthians then, if ever. They unanimously voted
the command of the war to Caesar, and made ample provision for it.
Among other details, they decided that he should have a generous number
of assistants, and also, in order that the city should neither be
without officials in his absence nor, again, by attempting to choose
some on its own responsibility, fall into strife, that the magistrates
should be appointed in advance for three years, this being the length
of time they thought necessary for the campaign. Nevertheless, they did
not designate them all beforehand. Nominally Caesar chose half of them,
having a certain legal right to do this, but in reality he chose the
whole number. For the first year, as previously, forty quaestors were
elected, and now for the first time two patrician aediles as well as
four from the plebs. Of the latter two have their title from Ceres, a
custom which, then introduced, has remained to the present day. And
praetors were appointed to the number of sixteen; it is not of this,
however, that I would write, since there had formerly been just as
many, but of the fact that among those chosen was Publius Ventidius. He
was originally from Picenum, as has been remarked, and fought against
Rome when her allies were at war with her. He was captured by Pompeius
Strabo, and marched in chains in that general's triumph. Later he was
released and subsequently was enrolled in the senate, and now was
appointed praetor by Caesar; and he went on advancing until he finally
conquered the Parthians and held a triumph over them. All were thus
appointed in advance who were to hold office the first year after that,
but for the second year only the consuls and tribunes; so far were they
from appointing anybody for the third year. Caesar himself intended to
be dictator both years, and designated as masters of the horse another
man and Octavius, though the latter was at that time a mere lad. For
the time being, while this was going on, Caesar appointed Dolabella
consul in his own stead, leaving Antony to finish out his year in
office. To Lepidus he assigned Gallia Narbonensis and Hither Spain, and
appointed two men masters of horse in his place, each to act
separately. For owing favours, as he did, to many persons, he repaid
them by such appointments as these and by priesthoods, adding one man
to the Quindecemviri, and three others to the Septemviri, as they were
called.
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