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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6386.txt b/6386.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f74f38 --- /dev/null +++ b/6386.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3345 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Caius Julius Caesar, +by C. Suetonius Tranquillus + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Caius Julius Caesar + The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars, Volume 1. + +Author: C. Suetonius Tranquillus + +Release Date: December 13, 2004 [EBook #6386] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JULIUS CAESAR *** + + + + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger + + + + + + THE LIVES + OF + THE TWELVE CAESARS + + By + C. Suetonius Tranquillus; + + To which are added, + + HIS LIVES OF THE GRAMMARIANS, RHETORICIANS, AND POETS. + + + The Translation of + Alexander Thomson, M.D. + + revised and corrected by + T.Forester, Esq., A.M. + + + + +PREFACE + + +C. Suetonius Tranquillus was the son of a Roman knight who commanded a +legion, on the side of Otho, at the battle which decided the fate of the +empire in favour of Vitellius. From incidental notices in the following +History, we learn that he was born towards the close of the reign of +Vespasian, who died in the year 79 of the Christian era. He lived till +the time of Hadrian, under whose administration he filled the office of +secretary; until, with several others, he was dismissed for presuming on +familiarities with the empress Sabina, of which we have no further +account than that they were unbecoming his position in the imperial +court. How long he survived this disgrace, which appears to have +befallen him in the year 121, we are not informed; but we find that the +leisure afforded him by his retirement, was employed in the composition +of numerous works, of which the only portions now extant are collected in +the present volume. + +Several of the younger Pliny's letters are addressed to Suetonius, with +whom he lived in the closest friendship. They afford some brief, but +generally pleasant, glimpses of his habits and career; and in a letter, +in which Pliny makes application on behalf of his friend to the emperor +Trajan, for a mark of favour, he speaks of him as "a most excellent, +honourable, and learned man, whom he had the pleasure of entertaining +under his own roof, and with whom the nearer he was brought into +communion, the more he loved him." [1] + +The plan adopted by Suetonius in his Lives of the Twelve Caesars, led him +to be more diffuse on their personal conduct and habits than on public +events. He writes Memoirs rather than History. He neither dwells on the +civil wars which sealed the fall of the Republic, nor on the military +expeditions which extended the frontiers of the empire; nor does he +attempt to develop the causes of the great political changes which marked +the period of which he treats. + +When we stop to gaze in a museum or gallery on the antique busts of the +Caesars, we perhaps endeavour to trace in their sculptured physiognomy +the characteristics of those princes, who, for good or evil, were in +their times masters of the destinies of a large portion of the human +race. The pages of Suetonius will amply gratify this natural curiosity. +In them we find a series of individual portraits sketched to the life, +with perfect truth and rigorous impartiality. La Harpe remarks of +Suetonius, "He is scrupulously exact, and strictly methodical. He omits +nothing which concerns the person whose life he is writing; he relates +everything, but paints nothing. His work is, in some sense, a collection +of anecdotes, but it is very curious to read and consult." [2] + +Combining as it does amusement and information, Suetonius's "Lives of the +Caesars" was held in such estimation, that, so soon after the invention +of printing as the year 1500, no fewer than eighteen editions had been +published, and nearly one hundred have since been added to the number. +Critics of the highest rank have devoted themselves to the task of +correcting and commenting on the text, and the work has been translated +into most European languages. Of the English translations, that of Dr. +Alexander Thomson, published in 1796, has been made the basis of the +present. He informs us in his Preface, that a version of Suetonius was +with him only a secondary object, his principal design being to form a +just estimate of Roman literature, and to elucidate the state of +government, and the manners of the times; for which the work of Suetonius +seemed a fitting vehicle. Dr. Thomson's remarks appended to each +successive reign, are reprinted nearly verbatim in the present edition. +His translation, however, was very diffuse, and retained most of the +inaccuracies of that of Clarke, on which it was founded; considerable +care therefore has been bestowed in correcting it, with the view of +producing, as far as possible, a literal and faithful version. + +To render the works of Suetonius, as far as they are extant, complete, +his Lives of eminent Grammarians, Rhetoricians, and Poets, of which a +translation has not before appeared in English, are added. These Lives +abound with anecdote and curious information connected with learning and +literary men during the period of which the author treats. + T. F. + + +CONTENTS + + I. LIVES OF THE TWELVE CAESARS + 1. Julius Caesar + 2. Augustus + 3. Tiberius + 4. Caligula + 5. Claudius + 6. Nero + 7. Galba + 8. Otho + 9. Vitellius + 10. Vespasian + 11. Titus + 12. Domitian + II. LIVES OF THE GRAMMARIANS AND THE HISTORIANS + III. LIVES OF THE POETS + Terence + Juvenal + Persius + Horace + Lucan + Pliny + FOOTNOTES + INDEX + + + + +(1) + +THE TWELVE CAESARS. + + + + +CAIUS JULIUS CAESAR. + + +I. Julius Caesar, the Divine [3], lost his father [4] when he was in the +sixteenth year of his age [5]; and the year following, being nominated to +the office of high-priest of Jupiter [6], he repudiated Cossutia, who was +very wealthy, although her family belonged only to the equestrian order, +and to whom he had been contracted when he was a mere boy. He then +married (2) Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, who was four times consul; +and had by her, shortly afterwards, a daughter named Julia. Resisting +all the efforts of the dictator Sylla to induce him to divorce Cornelia, +he suffered the penalty of being stripped of his sacerdotal office, his +wife's dowry, and his own patrimonial estates; and, being identified with +the adverse faction [7], was compelled to withdraw from Rome. After +changing his place of concealment nearly every night [8], although he was +suffering from a quartan ague, and having effected his release by bribing +the officers who had tracked his footsteps, he at length obtained a +pardon through the intercession of the vestal virgins, and of Mamercus +Aemilius and Aurelius Cotta, his near relatives. We are assured that +when Sylla, having withstood for a while the entreaties of his own best +friends, persons of distinguished rank, at last yielded to their +importunity, he exclaimed--either by a divine impulse, or from a shrewd +conjecture: "Your suit is granted, and you may take him among you; but +know," he added, "that this man, for whose safety you are so extremely +anxious, will, some day or other, be the ruin of the party of the nobles, +in defence of which you are leagued with me; for in this one Caesar, you +will find many a Marius." + +II. His first campaign was served in Asia, on the staff of the praetor, +M. Thermus; and being dispatched into Bithynia [9], to bring thence a +fleet, he loitered so long at the court of Nicomedes, as to give occasion +to reports of a criminal intercourse between him and that prince; which +received additional credit from his hasty return to Bithynia, under the +pretext of recovering a debt due to a freed-man, his client. The rest of +his service was more favourable to his reputation; and (3) when Mitylene +[10] was taken by storm, he was presented by Thermus with the civic +crown. [11] + +III. He served also in Cilicia [12], under Servilius Isauricus, but only +for a short time; as upon receiving intelligence of Sylla's death, he +returned with all speed to Rome, in expectation of what might follow from +a fresh agitation set on foot by Marcus Lepidus. Distrusting, however, +the abilities of this leader, and finding the times less favourable for +the execution of this project than he had at first imagined, he abandoned +all thoughts of joining Lepidus, although he received the most tempting +offers. + +IV. Soon after this civil discord was composed, he preferred a charge of +extortion against Cornelius Dolabella, a man of consular dignity, who had +obtained the honour of a triumph. On the acquittal of the accused, he +resolved to retire to Rhodes [13], with the view not only of avoiding the +public odium (4) which he had incurred, but of prosecuting his studies +with leisure and tranquillity, under Apollonius, the son of Molon, at +that time the most celebrated master of rhetoric. While on his voyage +thither, in the winter season, he was taken by pirates near the island of +Pharmacusa [14], and detained by them, burning with indignation, for +nearly forty days; his only attendants being a physician and two +chamberlains. For he had instantly dispatched his other servants and the +friends who accompanied him, to raise money for his ransom [15]. Fifty +talents having been paid down, he was landed on the coast, when, having +collected some ships [16], he lost no time in putting to sea in pursuit +of the pirates, and having captured them, inflicted upon them the +punishment with which he had often threatened them in jest. At that time +Mithridates was ravaging the neighbouring districts, and on Caesar's +arrival at Rhodes, that he might not appear to lie idle while danger +threatened the allies of Rome, he passed over into Asia, and having +collected some auxiliary forces, and driven the king's governor out of +the province, retained in their allegiance the cities which were +wavering, and ready to revolt. + +V. Having been elected military tribune, the first honour he received +from the suffrages of the people after his return to Rome, he zealously +assisted those who took measures for restoring the tribunitian authority, +which had been greatly diminished during the usurpation of Sylla. He +likewise, by an act, which Plotius at his suggestion propounded to the +people, obtained the recall of Lucius Cinna, his wife's brother, and +others with him, who having been the adherents of Lepidus in the civil +disturbances, had after that consul's death fled to Sertorius [17]; which +law he supported by a speech. + +VI. During his quaestorship he pronounced funeral orations from the +rostra, according to custom, in praise of his aunt (5) Julia, and his +wife Cornelia. In the panegyric on his aunt, he gives the following +account of her own and his father's genealogy, on both sides: "My aunt +Julia derived her descent, by the mother, from a race of kings, and by +her father, from the Immortal Gods. For the Marcii Reges [18], her +mother's family, deduce their pedigree from Ancus Marcius, and the Julii, +her father's, from Venus; of which stock we are a branch. We therefore +unite in our descent the sacred majesty of kings, the chiefest among men, +and the divine majesty of Gods, to whom kings themselves are subject." +To supply the place of Cornelia, he married Pompeia, the daughter of +Quintus Pompeius, and grand-daughter of Lucius Sylla; but he afterwards +divorced her, upon suspicion of her having been debauched by Publius +Clodius. For so current was the report, that Clodius had found access to +her disguised as a woman, during the celebration of a religious solemnity +[19], that the senate instituted an enquiry respecting the profanation of +the sacred rites. + +VII. Farther-Spain [20] fell to his lot as quaestor; when there, as he +was going the circuit of the province, by commission from the praetor, +for the administration of justice, and had reached Gades, seeing a statue +of Alexander the Great in the temple of Hercules, he sighed deeply, as if +weary of his sluggish life, for having performed no memorable actions at +an age [21] at which Alexander had already conquered the world. He, +therefore, immediately sued for his discharge, with the view of embracing +the first opportunity, which might present itself in The City, of +entering upon a more exalted career. In the stillness of the night +following, he dreamt that he lay with his own mother; but his confusion +was relieved, and his hopes were raised to the highest pitch, by the +interpreters of his dream, who expounded it as an omen that he should +possess universal empire; for (6) that the mother who in his sleep he had +found submissive to his embraces, was no other than the earth, the common +parent of all mankind. + +VIII. Quitting therefore the province before the expiration of the usual +term, he betook himself to the Latin colonies, which were then eagerly +agitating the design of obtaining the freedom of Rome; and he would have +stirred them up to some bold attempt, had not the consuls, to prevent any +commotion, detained for some time the legions which had been raised for +service in Cilicia. But this did not deter him from making, soon +afterwards, a still greater effort within the precincts of the city +itself. + +IX. For, only a few days before he entered upon the aedileship, he +incurred a suspicion of having engaged in a conspiracy with Marcus +Crassus, a man of consular rank; to whom were joined Publius Sylla and +Lucius Autronius, who, after they had been chosen consuls, were convicted +of bribery. The plan of the conspirators was to fall upon the senate at +the opening of the new year, and murder as many of them as should be +thought necessary; upon which, Crassus was to assume the office of +dictator, and appoint Caesar his master of the horse [22]. When the +commonwealth had been thus ordered according to their pleasure, the +consulship was to have been restored to Sylla and Autronius. Mention is +made of this plot by Tanusius Geminus [23] in his history, by Marcus +Bibulus in his edicts [24], and by Curio, the father, in his orations +[25]. Cicero likewise seems to hint at this in a letter to Axius, where +he says, that Caesar (7) had in his consulship secured to himself that +arbitrary power [26] to which he had aspired when he was edile. Tanusius +adds, that Crassus, from remorse or fear, did not appear upon the day +appointed for the massacre of the senate; for which reason Caesar omitted +to give the signal, which, according to the plan concerted between them, +he was to have made. The agreement, Curio says, was that he should shake +off the toga from his shoulder. We have the authority of the same Curio, +and of M. Actorius Naso, for his having been likewise concerned in +another conspiracy with young Cneius Piso; to whom, upon a suspicion of +some mischief being meditated in the city, the province of Spain was +decreed out of the regular course [27]. It is said to have been agreed +between them, that Piso should head a revolt in the provinces, whilst the +other should attempt to stir up an insurrection at Rome, using as their +instruments the Lambrani, and the tribes beyond the Po. But the +execution of this design was frustrated in both quarters by the death of +Piso. + +X. In his aedileship, he not only embellished the Comitium, and the rest +of the Forum [28], with the adjoining halls [29], but adorned the Capitol +also, with temporary piazzas, constructed for the purpose of displaying +some part of the superabundant collections (8) he had made for the +amusement of the people [30]. He entertained them with the hunting of +wild beasts, and with games, both alone and in conjunction with his +colleague. On this account, he obtained the whole credit of the expense +to which they had jointly contributed; insomuch that his colleague, +Marcus Bibulus, could not forbear remarking, that he was served in the +manner of Pollux. For as the temple [31] erected in the Forum to the two +brothers, went by the name of Castor alone, so his and Caesar's joint +munificence was imputed to the latter only. To the other public +spectacles exhibited to the people, Caesar added a fight of gladiators, +but with fewer pairs of combatants than he had intended. For he had +collected from all parts so great a company of them, that his enemies +became alarmed; and a decree was made, restricting the number of +gladiators which any one was allowed to retain at Rome. + +XI. Having thus conciliated popular favour, he endeavoured, through his +interest with some of the tribunes, to get Egypt assigned to him as a +province, by an act of the people. The pretext alleged for the creation +of this extraordinary government, was, that the Alexandrians had +violently expelled their king [32], whom the senate had complimented with +the title of an ally and friend of the Roman people. This was generally +resented; but, notwithstanding, there was so much opposition from the +faction of the nobles, that he could not carry his point. In order, +therefore, to diminish their influence by every means in his power, he +restored the trophies erected in honour of Caius Marius, on account of +his victories over Jugurtha, the Cimbri, and the Teutoni, which had been +demolished by Sylla; and when sitting in judgment upon murderers, he +treated those as assassins, who, in the late proscription, had received +money from the treasury, for bringing in the heads of Roman citizens, +although they were expressly excepted in the Cornelian laws. + +XII. He likewise suborned some one to prefer an impeachment (9) for +treason against Caius Rabirius, by whose especial assistance the senate +had, a few years before, put down Lucius Saturninus, the seditious +tribune; and being drawn by lot a judge on the trial, he condemned him +with so much animosity, that upon his appealing to the people, no +circumstance availed him so much as the extraordinary bitterness of his +judge. + +XIII. Having renounced all hope of obtaining Egypt for his province, he +stood candidate for the office of chief pontiff, to secure which, he had +recourse to the most profuse bribery. Calculating, on this occasion, the +enormous amount of the debts he had contracted, he is reported to have +said to his mother, when she kissed him at his going out in the morning +to the assembly of the people, "I will never return home unless I am +elected pontiff." In effect, he left so far behind him two most powerful +competitors, who were much his superiors both in age and rank, that he +had more votes in their own tribes, than they both had in all the tribes +together. + +XIV. After he was chosen praetor, the conspiracy of Catiline was +discovered; and while every other member of the senate voted for +inflicting capital punishment on the accomplices in that crime [33], he +alone proposed that the delinquents should be distributed for safe +custody among the towns of Italy, their property being confiscated. He +even struck such terror into those who were advocates for greater +severity, by representing to them what universal odium would be attached +to their memories by the Roman people, that Decius Silanus, consul elect, +did not hesitate to qualify his proposal, it not being very honourable to +change it, by a lenient interpretation; as if it had been understood in a +harsher sense than he intended, and Caesar would certainly have carried +his point, having brought over to his side a great number of the +senators, among whom was Cicero, the consul's brother, had not a speech +by Marcus Cato infused new vigour into the resolutions of the senate. He +persisted, however, in obstructing the measure, until a body of the Roman +knights, who stood under arms as a guard, threatened him with instant +death, if he continued his determined opposition. They even thrust at +him with their drawn swords, so that those who sat next him moved away; +(10) and a few friends, with no small difficulty, protected him, by +throwing their arms round him, and covering him with their togas. At +last, deterred by this violence, he not only gave way, but absented +himself from the senate-house during the remainder of that year. + +XV. Upon the first day of his praetorship, he summoned Quintus Catulus +to render an account to the people respecting the repairs of the Capitol +[34]; proposing a decree for transferring the office of curator to +another person [35]. But being unable to withstand the strong opposition +made by the aristocratical party, whom he perceived quitting, in great +numbers, their attendance upon the new consuls [36], and fully resolved +to resist his proposal, he dropped the design. + +XVI. He afterwards approved himself a most resolute supporter of +Caecilius Metullus, tribune of the people, who, in spite of all +opposition from his colleagues, had proposed some laws of a violent +tendency [37], until they were both dismissed from office by a vote of +the senate. He ventured, notwithstanding, to retain his post and +continue in the administration of justice; but finding that preparations +were made to obstruct him by force of arms, he dismissed the lictors, +threw off his gown, and betook himself privately to his own house, with +the resolution of being quiet, in a time so unfavourable to his +interests. He likewise pacified the mob, which two days afterwards +flocked about him, and in a riotous manner made a voluntary tender of +their assistance in the vindication of his (11) honour. This happening +contrary to expectation, the senate, who met in haste, on account of the +tumult, gave him their thanks by some of the leading members of the +house, and sending for him, after high commendation of his conduct, +cancelled their former vote, and restored him to his office. + +XVII. But he soon got into fresh trouble, being named amongst the +accomplices of Catiline, both before Novius Niger the quaestor, by Lucius +Vettius the informer, and in the senate by Quintus Curius; to whom a +reward had been voted, for having first discovered the designs of the +conspirators. Curius affirmed that he had received his information from +Catiline. Vettius even engaged to produce in evidence against him his +own hand-writing, given to Catiline. Caesar, feeling that this treatment +was not to be borne, appealed to Cicero himself, whether he had not +voluntarily made a discovery to him of some particulars of the +conspiracy; and so baulked Curius of his expected reward. He, therefore, +obliged Vettius to give pledges for his behaviour, seized his goods, and +after heavily fining him, and seeing him almost torn in pieces before the +rostra, threw him into prison; to which he likewise sent Novius the +quaestor, for having presumed to take an information against a magistrate +of superior authority. + +XVIII. At the expiration of his praetorship he obtained by lot the +Farther-Spain [38], and pacified his creditors, who were for detaining +him, by finding sureties for his debts [39]. Contrary, however, to both +law and custom, he took his departure before the usual equipage and +outfit were prepared. It is uncertain whether this precipitancy arose +from the apprehension of an impeachment, with which he was threatened on +the expiration of his former office, or from his anxiety to lose no time +in relieving the allies, who implored him to come to their aid. He had +no (12) sooner established tranquillity in the province, than, without +waiting for the arrival of his successor, he returned to Rome, with equal +haste, to sue for a triumph [40], and the consulship. The day of +election, however, being already fixed by proclamation, he could not +legally be admitted a candidate, unless he entered the city as a private +person [41]. On this emergency he solicited a suspension of the laws in +his favour; but such an indulgence being strongly opposed, he found +himself under the necessity of abandoning all thoughts of a triumph, lest +he should be disappointed of the consulship. + +XIX. Of the two other competitors for the consulship, Lucius Luceius and +Marcus Bibulus, he joined with the former, upon condition that Luceius, +being a man of less interest but greater affluence, should promise money +to the electors, in their joint names. Upon which the party of the +nobles, dreading how far he might carry matters in that high office, with +a colleague disposed to concur in and second his measures, advised +Bibulus to promise the voters as much as the other; and most of them +contributed towards the expense, Cato himself admitting that bribery; +under such circumstances, was for the public good [42]. He was +accordingly elected consul jointly with Bibulus. Actuated still by the +same motives, the prevailing party took care to assign provinces of small +importance to the new consuls, such as the care of the woods and roads. +Caesar, incensed at this indignity, endeavoured by the most assiduous and +flattering attentions to gain to his side Cneius Pompey, at that time +dissatisfied with the senate for the backwardness they shewed to confirm +his acts, after his victories over Mithridates. He likewise brought +about a reconciliation between Pompey and Marcus Crassus, who had been at +variance from (13) the time of their joint consulship, in which office +they were continually clashing; and he entered into an agreement with +both, that nothing should be transacted in the government, which was +displeasing to any of the three. + +XX. Having entered upon his office [43], he introduced a new regulation, +that the daily acts both of the senate and people should be committed to +writing, and published [44]. He also revived an old custom, that an +officer [45] should precede him, and his lictors follow him, on the +alternate months when the fasces were not carried before him. Upon +preferring a bill to the people for the division of some public lands, he +was opposed by his colleague, whom he violently drove out of the forum. +Next day the insulted consul made a complaint in the senate of this +treatment; but such was the consternation, that no one having the courage +to bring the matter forward or move a censure, which had been often done +under outrages of less importance, he was so much dispirited, that until +the expiration of his office he never stirred from home, and did nothing +but issue edicts to obstruct his colleague's proceedings. From that +time, therefore, Caesar had the sole management of public affairs; +insomuch that some wags, when they signed any instrument as witnesses, +did not add "in the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus," but, "of Julius +and Caesar;" putting the same person down twice, under his name and +surname. The following verses likewise were currently repeated on this +occasion: + + Non Bibulo quidquam nuper, sed Caesare factum est; + Nam Bibulo fieri consule nil memini. + + Nothing was done in Bibulus's year: + No; Caesar only then was consul here. + +(14) The land of Stellas, consecrated by our ancestors to the gods, with +some other lands in Campania left subject to tribute, for the support of +the expenses of the government, he divided, but not by lot, among upwards +of twenty thousand freemen, who had each of them three or more children. +He eased the publicans, upon their petition, of a third part of the sum +which they had engaged to pay into the public treasury; and openly +admonished them not to bid so extravagantly upon the next occasion. He +made various profuse grants to meet the wishes of others, no one opposing +him; or if any such attempt was made, it was soon suppressed. Marcus +Cato, who interrupted him in his proceedings, he ordered to be dragged +out of the senate-house by a lictor, and carried to prison. Lucius +Lucullus, likewise, for opposing him with some warmth, he so terrified +with the apprehension of being criminated, that, to deprecate the +consul's resentment, he fell on his knees. And upon Cicero's lamenting +in some trial the miserable condition of the times, he the very same day, +by nine o'clock, transferred his enemy, Publius Clodius, from a patrician +to a plebeian family; a change which he had long solicited in vain [46]. +At last, effectually to intimidate all those of the opposite party, he by +great rewards prevailed upon Vettius to declare, that he had been +solicited by certain persons to assassinate Pompey; and when he was +brought before the rostra to name those who had been concerted between +them, after naming one or two to no purpose, not without great suspicion +of subornation, Caesar, despairing of success in this rash stratagem, is +supposed to have taken off his informer by poison. + +XXI. About the same time he married Calpurnia, the daughter of Lucius +Piso, who was to succeed him in the consulship, and gave his own daughter +Julia to Cneius Pompey; rejecting Servilius Caepio, to whom she had been +contracted, and by whose means chiefly he had but a little before baffled +Bibulus. After this new alliance, he began, upon any debates in the +senate, to ask Pompey's opinion first, whereas he used before to give +that distinction to Marcus Crassus; and it was (15) the usual practice +for the consul to observe throughout the year the method of consulting +the senate which he had adopted on the calends (the first) of January. + +XXII. Being, therefore, now supported by the interest of his +father-in-law and son-in-law, of all the provinces he made choice of Gaul, +as most likely to furnish him with matter and occasion for triumphs. At +first indeed he received only Cisalpine-Gaul, with the addition of +Illyricum, by a decree proposed by Vatinius to the people; but soon +afterwards obtained from the senate Gallia-Comata [47] also, the senators +being apprehensive, that if they should refuse it him, that province, +also, would be granted him by the people. Elated now with his success, he +could not refrain from boasting, a few days afterwards, in a full +senate-house, that he had, in spite of his enemies, and to their great +mortification, obtained all he desired, and that for the future he would +make them, to their shame, submissive to his pleasure. One of the +senators observing, sarcastically: "That will not be very easy for a woman +[48] to do," he jocosely replied, "Semiramis formerly reigned in Assyria, +and the Amazons possessed great part of Asia." + +XXIII. When the term of his consulship had expired, upon a motion being +made in the senate by Caius Memmius and Lucius Domitius, the praetors, +respecting the transactions of the year past, he offered to refer himself +to the house; but (16) they declining the business, after three days +spent in vain altercation, he set out for his province. Immediately, +however, his quaestor was charged with several misdemeanors, for the +purpose of implicating Caesar himself. Indeed, an accusation was soon +after preferred against him by Lucius Antistius, tribune of the people; +but by making an appeal to the tribune's colleagues, he succeeded in +having the prosecution suspended during his absence in the service of the +state. To secure himself, therefore, for the time to come, he was +particularly careful to secure the good-will of the magistrates at the +annual elections, assisting none of the candidates with his interest, nor +suffering any persons to be advanced to any office, who would not +positively undertake to defend him in his absence for which purpose he +made no scruple to require of some of them an oath, and even a written +obligation. + +XXIV. But when Lucius Domitius became a candidate for the consulship, +and openly threatened that, upon his being elected consul, he would +effect that which he could not accomplish when he was praetor, and divest +him of the command of the armies, he sent for Crassus and Pompey to +Lucca, a city in his province, and pressed them, for the purpose of +disappointing Domitius, to sue again for the consulship, and to continue +him in his command for five years longer; with both which requisitions +they complied. Presumptuous now from his success, he added, at his own +private charge, more legions to those which he had received from the +republic; among the former of which was one levied in Transalpine Gaul, +and called by a Gallic name, Alauda [49], which he trained and armed in +the Roman fashion, and afterwards conferred on it the freedom of the +city. From this period he declined no occasion of war, however unjust +and dangerous; attacking, without any provocation, as well the allies of +Rome as the barbarous nations which were its enemies: insomuch, that the +senate passed a decree for sending commissioners to examine into the +condition of Gaul; and some members even proposed that he should be +delivered up to the enemy. But so great had been the success of his +enterprises, that he had the honour of obtaining more days [50] (17) of +supplication, and those more frequently, than had ever before been +decreed to any commander. + +XXV. During nine years in which he held the government of the province, +his achievements were as follows: he reduced all Gaul, bounded by the +Pyrenean forest, the Alps, mount Gebenna, and the two rivers, the Rhine +and the Rhone, and being about three thousand two hundred miles in +compass, into the form of a province, excepting only the nations in +alliance with the republic, and such as had merited his favour; imposing +upon this new acquisition an annual tribute of forty millions of +sesterces. He was the first of the Romans who, crossing the Rhine by a +bridge, attacked the Germanic tribes inhabiting the country beyond that +river, whom he defeated in several engagements. He also invaded the +Britons, a people formerly unknown, and having vanquished them, exacted +from them contributions and hostages. Amidst such a series of successes, +he experienced thrice only any signal disaster; once in Britain, when his +fleet was nearly wrecked in a storm; in Gaul, at Gergovia, where one of +his legions was put to the rout; and in the territory of the Germans, his +lieutenants Titurius and Aurunculeius were cut off by an ambuscade. + +XXVI. During this period [51] he lost his mother [52], whose death was +followed by that of his daughter [53], and, not long afterwards, of his +granddaughter. Meanwhile, the republic being in consternation at the +murder of Publius Clodius, and the senate passing a vote that only one +consul, namely, Cneius Pompeius, should be chosen for the ensuing year, +he prevailed with the tribunes of the people, who intended joining him in +nomination with Pompey, to propose to the people a bill, enabling him, +though absent, to become a candidate for his second consulship, when the +term of his command should be near expiring, that he might not be obliged +on that account to quit his province too soon, and before the conclusion +of the war. Having attained this object, carrying his views still +higher, and animated with the hopes of success, he omitted no (18) +opportunity of gaining universal favour, by acts of liberality and +kindness to individuals, both in public and private. With money raised +from the spoils of the war, he began to construct a new forum, the +ground-plot of which cost him above a hundred millions of sesterces [54]. +He promised the people a public entertainment of gladiators, and a feast +in memory of his daughter, such as no one before him had ever given. The +more to raise their expectations on this occasion, although he had agreed +with victuallers of all denominations for his feast, he made yet farther +preparations in private houses. He issued an order, that the most +celebrated gladiators, if at any time during the combat they incurred the +displeasure of the public, should be immediately carried off by force, +and reserved for some future occasion. Young gladiators he trained up, +not in the school, and by the masters, of defence, but in the houses of +Roman knights, and even senators, skilled in the use of arms, earnestly +requesting them, as appears from his letters, to undertake the discipline +of those novitiates, and to give them the word during their exercises. +He doubled the pay of the legions in perpetuity; allowing them likewise +corn, when it was in plenty, without any restriction; and sometimes +distributing to every soldier in his army a slave, and a portion of land. + +XXVII. To maintain his alliance and good understanding with Pompey, he +offered him in marriage his sister's grand-daughter Octavia, who had been +married to Caius Marcellus; and requested for himself his daughter, +lately contracted to Faustus Sylla. Every person about him, and a great +part likewise of the senate, he secured by loans of money at low +interest, or none at all; and to all others who came to wait upon him, +either by invitation or of their own accord, he made liberal presents; +not neglecting even the freed-men and slaves, who were favourites with +their masters and patrons. He offered also singular and ready aid to all +who were under prosecution, or in debt, and to prodigal youths; excluding +from (19) his bounty those only who were so deeply plunged in guilt, +poverty, or luxury, that it was impossible effectually to relieve them. +These, he openly declared, could derive no benefit from any other means +than a civil war. + +XXVIII. He endeavoured with equal assiduity to engage in his interest +princes and provinces in every part of the world; presenting some with +thousands of captives, and sending to others the assistance of troops, at +whatever time and place they desired, without any authority from either +the senate or people of Rome. He likewise embellished with magnificent +public buildings the most powerful cities not only of Italy, Gaul, and +Spain, but of Greece and Asia; until all people being now astonished, and +speculating on the obvious tendency of these proceedings, Claudius +Marcellus, the consul, declaring first by proclamation, that he intended +to propose a measure of the utmost importance to the state, made a motion +in the senate that some person should be appointed to succeed Caesar in +his province, before the term of his command was expired; because the war +being brought to a conclusion, peace was restored, and the victorious +army ought to be disbanded. He further moved, that Caesar being absent, +his claims to be a candidate at the next election of consuls should not +be admitted, as Pompey himself had afterwards abrogated that privilege by +a decree of the people. The fact was, that Pompey, in his law relating +to the choice of chief magistrates, had forgot to except Caesar, in the +article in which he declared all such as were not present incapable of +being candidates for any office; but soon afterwards, when the law was +inscribed on brass, and deposited in the treasury, he corrected his +mistake. Marcellus, not content with depriving Caesar of his provinces, +and the privilege intended him by Pompey, likewise moved the senate, that +the freedom of the city should be taken from those colonists whom, by the +Vatinian law, he had settled at New Como [55]; because it had been +conferred upon them with ambitious views, and by a stretch of the laws. + +(20) XXIX. Roused by these proceedings, and thinking, as he was often +heard to say, that it would be a more difficult enterprise to reduce him, +now that he was the chief man in the state, from the first rank of +citizens to the second, than from the second to the lowest of all, Caesar +made a vigorous opposition to the measure, partly by means of the +tribunes, who interposed in his behalf, and partly through Servius +Sulpicius, the other consul. The following year likewise, when Caius +Marcellus, who succeeded his cousin Marcus in the consulship, pursued the +same course, Caesar, by means of an immense bribe, engaged in his defence +Aemilius Paulus, the other consul, and Caius Curio, the most violent of +the tribunes. But finding the opposition obstinately bent against him, +and that the consuls-elect were also of that party, he wrote a letter to +the senate, requesting that they would not deprive him of the privilege +kindly granted him by the people; or else that the other generals should +resign the command of their armies as well as himself; fully persuaded, +as it is thought, that he could more easily collect his veteran soldiers, +whenever he pleased, than Pompey could his new-raised troops. At the +same time, he made his adversaries an offer to disband eight of his +legions and give up Transalpine-Gaul, upon condition that he might retain +two legions, with the Cisalpine province, or but one legion with +Illyricum, until he should be elected consul. + +XXX. But as the senate declined to interpose in the business, and his +enemies declared that they would enter into no compromise where the +safety of the republic was at stake, he advanced into Hither-Gaul [56], +and, having gone the circuit for the administration of justice, made a +halt at Ravenna, resolved to have recourse to arms if the senate should +proceed to extremity against the tribunes of the people who had espoused +his cause. This was indeed his pretext for the civil war; but it is +supposed that there were other motives for his conduct. Cneius Pompey +used frequently to say, that he sought to throw every thing into +confusion, because he was unable, with all his private wealth, to +complete the works he had begun, and answer, at his return, the vast +expectations which he had excited in the people. Others pretend that he +was apprehensive of being (21) called to account for what he had done in +his first consulship, contrary to the auspices, laws, and the protests of +the tribunes; Marcus Cato having sometimes declared, and that, too, with +an oath, that he would prefer an impeachment against him, as soon as he +disbanded his army. A report likewise prevailed, that if he returned as +a private person, he would, like Milo, have to plead his cause before the +judges, surrounded by armed men. This conjecture is rendered highly +probable by Asinius Pollio, who informs us that Caesar, upon viewing the +vanquished and slaughtered enemy in the field of Pharsalia, expressed +himself in these very words: "This was their intention: I, Caius Caesar, +after all the great achievements I had performed, must have been +condemned, had I not summoned the army to my aid!" Some think, that +having contracted from long habit an extraordinary love of power, and +having weighed his own and his enemies' strength, he embraced that +occasion of usurping the supreme power; which indeed he had coveted from +the time of his youth. This seems to have been the opinion entertained +by Cicero, who tells us, in the third book of his Offices, that Caesar +used to have frequently in his mouth two verses of Euripides, which he +thus translates: + + Nam si violandum est jus, regnandi gratia + Violandum est: aliis rebus pietatem colas. + + Be just, unless a kingdom tempts to break the laws, + For sovereign power alone can justify the cause. [57] + +XXXI. When intelligence, therefore, was received, that the interposition +of the tribunes in his favour had been utterly rejected, and that they +themselves had fled from the city, he immediately sent forward some +cohorts, but privately, to prevent any suspicion of his design; and, to +keep up appearances, attended at a public spectacle, examined the model +of a fencing-school which he proposed to build, and, as usual, sat down +to table with a numerous party of his friends. But after sun-set, mules +being put to his carriage from a neighbouring mill, he set forward on his +journey with all possible privacy, and a small retinue. The lights going +out, he lost his way, and (22) wandered about a long time, until at +length, by the help of a guide, whom he found towards day-break, he +proceeded on foot through some narrow paths, and again reached the road. +Coming up with his troops on the banks of the Rubicon, which was the +boundary of his province [58], he halted for a while, and, revolving in +his mind the importance of the step he was on the point of taking, he +turned to those about him, and said: "We may still retreat; but if we +pass this little bridge, nothing is left for us but to fight it out in +arms." + +XXXII. While he was thus hesitating, the following incident occurred. A +person remarkable for his noble mien and graceful aspect, appeared close +at hand, sitting and playing upon a pipe. When, not only the shepherds, +but a number of soldiers also flocked from their posts to listen to him, +and some trumpeters among them, he snatched a trumpet from one of them, +ran to the river with it, and sounding the advance with a piercing blast, +crossed to the other side. Upon this, Caesar exclaimed, "Let us go +whither the omens of the Gods and the iniquity of our enemies call us. +The die is now cast." + +XXXIII. Accordingly, having marched his army over the river, he shewed +them the tribunes of the people, who, upon their being driven from the +city, had come to meet him; and, in the presence of that assembly, called +upon the troops to pledge him their fidelity, with tears in his eyes, and +his garment rent from his bosom. It has been supposed, that upon this +occasion he promised to every soldier a knight's estate; but that opinion +is founded on a mistake. For when, in his harangue to them, he +frequently held out a finger of his left hand, and declared, that to +recompense those who should support him in the defence of his honour, he +would willingly part even with his ring; the soldiers at a distance, who +could more easily see than hear him while he spoke, formed their +conception of what he said, by the eye, not by the ear; and accordingly +gave out, that he had promised to each of them the privilege (23) of +wearing the gold ring, and an estate of four hundred thousand sesterces. +[60] + +XXXIV. Of his subsequent proceedings I shall give a cursory detail, in +the order in which they occurred [61]. He took possession of Picenum, +Umbria, and Etruria; and having obliged Lucius Domitius, who had been +tumultuously nominated his successor, and held Corsinium with a garrison, +to surrender, and dismissed him, he marched along the coast of the Upper +Sea, to Brundusium, to which place the consuls and Pompey were fled with +the intention of crossing the sea as soon as possible. After vain +attempts, by all the obstacles he could oppose, to prevent their leaving +the harbour, he turned his steps towards Rome, where he appealed to the +senate on the present state of public affairs; and then set out for +Spain, in which province Pompey had a numerous army, under the command of +three lieutenants, Marcus Petreius, Lucius Afranius, and Marcus Varro; +declaring amongst his friends, before he set forward, "That he was going +against an army without a general, and should return thence against a +general without an army." Though his progress was retarded both by the +siege of Marseilles, which shut her gates against him, and a very great +scarcity of corn, yet in a short time he bore down all before him. + +XXXV. Thence he returned to Rome, and crossing the sea to Macedonia, +blocked up Pompey during almost four months, within a line of ramparts of +prodigious extent; and at last defeated him in the battle of Pharsalia. +Pursuing him in his flight to Alexandria, where he was informed of his +murder, he presently found himself also engaged, under all the +disadvantages of time and place, in a very dangerous war, with king +Ptolemy, who, he saw, had treacherous designs upon his life. It was +winter, and he, within the walls of a well-provided and subtle enemy, was +destitute of every thing, and wholly unprepared (24) for such a conflict. +He succeeded, however, in his enterprise, and put the kingdom of Egypt +into the hands of Cleopatra and her younger brother; being afraid to make +it a province, lest, under an aspiring prefect, it might become the +centre of revolt. From Alexandria he went into Syria, and thence to +Pontus, induced by intelligence which he had received respecting +Pharnaces. This prince, who was son of the great Mithridates, had seized +the opportunity which the distraction of the times offered for making war +upon his neighbours, and his insolence and fierceness had grown with his +success. Caesar, however, within five days after entering his country, +and four hours after coming in sight of him, overthrew him in one +decisive battle. Upon which, he frequently remarked to those about him +the good fortune of Pompey, who had obtained his military reputation, +chiefly, by victory over so feeble an enemy. He afterwards defeated +Scipio and Juba, who were rallying the remains of the party in Africa, +and Pompey's sons in Spain. + +XXXVI. During the whole course of the civil war, he never once suffered +any defeat, except in the case of his lieutenants; of whom Caius Curio +fell in Africa, Caius Antonius was made prisoner in Illyricum, Publius +Dolabella lost a fleet in the same Illyricum, and Cneius Domitius +Culvinus, an army in Pontus. In every encounter with the enemy where he +himself commanded, he came off with complete success; nor was the issue +ever doubtful, except on two occasions: once at Dyrrachium, when, being +obliged to give ground, and Pompey not pursuing his advantage, he said +that "Pompey knew not how to conquer;" the other instance occurred in his +last battle in Spain, when, despairing of the event, he even had thoughts +of killing himself. + +XXXVII. For the victories obtained in the several wars, he triumphed +five different times; after the defeat of Scipio: four times in one +month, each triumph succeeding the former by an interval of a few days; +and once again after the conquest of Pompey's sons. His first and most +glorious triumph was for the victories he gained in Gaul; the next for +that of Alexandria, the third for the reduction of Pontus, the fourth for +his African victory, and the last for that in Spain; and (25) they all +differed from each other in their varied pomp and pageantry. On the day +of the Gallic triumph, as he was proceeding along the street called +Velabrum, after narrowly escaping a fall from his chariot by the breaking +of the axle-tree, he ascended the Capitol by torch-light, forty elephants +[62] carrying torches on his right and left. Amongst the pageantry of +the Pontic triumph, a tablet with this inscription was carried before +him: I CAME, I SAW, I CONQUERED [63]; not signifying, as other mottos on +the like occasion, what was done, so much as the dispatch with which it +was done. + +XXXVIII. To every foot-soldier in his veteran legions, besides the two +thousand sesterces paid him in the beginning of the civil war, he gave +twenty thousand more, in the shape of prize-money. He likewise allotted +them lands, but not in contiguity, that the former owners might not be +entirely dispossessed. To the people of Rome, besides ten modii of corn, +and as many pounds of oil, he gave three hundred sesterces a man, which +he had formerly promised them, and a hundred more to each for the delay +in fulfilling his engagement. He likewise remitted a year's rent due to +the treasury, for such houses in Rome as did not pay above two thousand +sesterces a year; and through the rest of Italy, for all such as did not +exceed in yearly rent five hundred sesterces. To all this he added a +public entertainment, and a distribution of meat, and, after his Spanish +victory [64], two public dinners. For, considering the first he had +given as too sparing, and unsuited to his profuse liberality, he, five +days afterwards, added another, which was most plentiful. + +XXXIX. The spectacles he exhibited to the people were of various kinds; +namely, a combat of gladiators [65], and stage-plays in the several wards +of the city, and in different languages; likewise Circensian games [66], +wrestlers, and the representation of a sea-fight. In the conflict of +gladiators presented in the Forum, Furius Leptinus, a man of praetorian +family, entered the lists as a combatant, as did also Quintus Calpenus, +formerly a senator, and a pleader of causes. The Pyrrhic dance was +performed by some youths, who were sons to persons of the first +distinction in Asia and Bithynia. In the plays, Decimus Laberius, who +had been a Roman knight, acted in his own piece; and being presented on +the spot with five hundred thousand sesterces, and a gold ring, he went +from the stage, through the orchestra, and resumed his place in the seats +(27) allotted for the equestrian order. In the Circensisn games; the +circus being enlarged at each end, and a canal sunk round it, several of +the young nobility drove chariots, drawn, some by four, and others by two +horses, and likewise rode races on single horses. The Trojan game was +acted by two distinct companies of boys, one differing from the other in +age and rank. The hunting of wild beasts was presented for five days +successively; and on the last day a battle was fought by five hundred +foot, twenty elephants, and thirty horse on each side. To afford room +for this engagement, the goals were removed, and in their space two camps +were pitched, directly opposite to each other. Wrestlers likewise +performed for three days successively, in a stadium provided for the +purpose in the Campus Martius. A lake having been dug in the little +Codeta [67], ships of the Tyrian and Egyptian fleets, containing two, +three, and four banks of oars, with a number of men on board, afforded an +animated representation of a sea-fight. To these various diversions +there flocked such crowds of spectators from all parts, that most of the +strangers were obliged to lodge in tents erected in the streets, or along +the roads near the city. Several in the throng were squeezed to death, +amongst whom were two senators. + +XL. Turning afterwards his attention to the regulation of the +commonwealth, he corrected the calendar [68], which had for (28) some +time become extremely confused, through the unwarrantable liberty which +the pontiffs had taken in the article of intercalation. To such a height +had this abuse proceeded, that neither the festivals designed for the +harvest fell in summer, nor those for the vintage in autumn. He +accommodated the year to the course of the sun, ordaining that in future +it should consist of three hundred and sixty-five days without any +intercalary month; and that every fourth year an intercalary day should +be inserted. That the year might thenceforth commence regularly with the +calends, or first of January, he inserted two months between November and +December; so that the year in which this regulation was made consisted of +fifteen months, including the month of intercalation, which, according to +the division of time then in use, happened that year. + +XLI. He filled up the vacancies in the senate, by advancing several +plebeians to the rank of patricians, and also increased the number of +praetors, aediles, quaestors, and inferior magistrates; restoring, at the +same time, such as had been degraded by the censors, or convicted of +bribery at elections. The choice of magistrates he so divided with the +people, that, excepting only the candidates for the consulship, they +nominated one half of them, and he the other. The method which he +practised in those cases was, to recommend such persons as he had pitched +upon, by bills dispersed through the several tribes to this effect: +"Caesar the dictator to such a tribe (naming it). I recommend to you +(naming likewise the persons), that by the favour of your votes they may +attain to the honours for which they sue." He likewise admitted to +offices the sons of those who had been proscribed. The trial of causes +he restricted to two orders of judges, the equestrian and senatorial; +excluding the tribunes of the treasury who had before made a third class. +The revised census of the people he ordered to be taken neither in the +usual manner or place, but street by street, by the principal inhabitants +of the several quarters of the city; and he reduced the number of those +who received corn at the public cost, from three hundred and twenty, to a +hundred and fifty, thousand. To prevent any tumults on account of the +census, he ordered that the praetor should every year fill up by lot the +vacancies occasioned by death, from those who were not enrolled for the +receipt of corn. + +(29) XLII. Eighty thousand citizens having been distributed into foreign +colonies [69], he enacted, in order to stop the drain on the population, +that no freeman of the city above twenty, and under forty, years of age, +who was not in the military service, should absent himself from Italy for +more than three years at a time; that no senator's son should go abroad, +unless in the retinue of some high officer; and as to those whose pursuit +was tending flocks and herds, that no less than a third of the number of +their shepherds free-born should be youths. He likewise made all those +who practised physic in Rome, and all teachers of the liberal arts, free +of the city, in order to fix them in it, and induce others to settle +there. With respect to debts, he disappointed the expectation which was +generally entertained, that they would be totally cancelled; and ordered +that the debtors should satisfy their creditors, according to the +valuation of their estates, at the rate at which they were purchased +before the commencement of the civil war; deducting from the debt what +had been paid for interest either in money or by bonds; by virtue of +which provision about a fourth part of the debt was lost. He dissolved +all the guilds, except such as were of ancient foundation. Crimes were +punished with greater severity; and the rich being more easily induced to +commit them because they were only liable to banishment, without the +forfeiture of their property, he stripped murderers, as Cicero observes, +of their whole estates, and other offenders of one half. + +XLIII. He was extremely assiduous and strict in the administration of +justice. He expelled from the senate such members as were convicted of +bribery; and he dissolved the marriage of a man of pretorian rank, who +had married a lady two days after her divorce from a former husband, +although there was no suspicion that they had been guilty of any illicit +connection. He imposed duties on the importation of foreign goods. The +use of litters for travelling, purple robes, and jewels, he permitted +only to persons of a certain age and station, and on particular days. He +enforced a rigid execution of the sumptuary laws; placing officers about +the markets, to seize upon all meats exposed to sale contrary to the +rules, and bring them to him; sometimes sending his lictors and soldiers +to (30) carry away such victuals as had escaped the notice of the +officers, even when they were upon the table. + +XLIV. His thoughts were now fully employed from day to day on a variety +of great projects for the embellishment and improvement of the city, as +well as for guarding and extending the bounds of the empire. In the +first place, he meditated the construction of a temple to Mars, which +should exceed in grandeur every thing of that kind in the world. For +this purpose, he intended to fill up the lake on which he had entertained +the people with the spectacle of a sea-fight. He also projected a most +spacious theatre adjacent to the Tarpeian mount; and also proposed to +reduce the civil law to a reasonable compass, and out of that immense and +undigested mass of statutes to extract the best and most necessary parts +into a few books; to make as large a collection as possible of works in +the Greek and Latin languages, for the public use; the province of +providing and putting them in proper order being assigned to Marcus +Varro. He intended likewise to drain the Pomptine marshes, to cut a +channel for the discharge of the waters of the lake Fucinus, to form a +road from the Upper Sea through the ridge of the Appenine to the Tiber; +to make a cut through the isthmus of Corinth, to reduce the Dacians, who +had over-run Pontus and Thrace, within their proper limits, and then to +make war upon the Parthians, through the Lesser Armenia, but not to risk +a general engagement with them, until he had made some trial of their +prowess in war. But in the midst of all his undertakings and projects, +he was carried off by death; before I speak of which, it may not be +improper to give an account of his person, dress, and manners; together +with what relates to his pursuits, both civil and military. + +XLV. It is said that he was tall, of a fair complexion, round limbed, +rather full faced, with eyes black and piercing; and that he enjoyed +excellent health, except towards the close of his life, when he was +subject to sudden fainting-fits, and disturbance in his sleep. He was +likewise twice seized with the falling sickness while engaged in active +service. He was so nice in the care of his person, that he not only kept +the hair of his head closely cut and had his face smoothly shaved, but +(31) even caused the hair on other parts of the body to be plucked out by +the roots, a practice for which some persons rallied him. His baldness +gave him much uneasiness, having often found himself upon that account +exposed to the jibes of his enemies. He therefore used to bring forward +the hair from the crown of his head; and of all the honours conferred +upon him by the senate and people, there was none which he either +accepted or used with greater pleasure, than the right of wearing +constantly a laurel crown. It is said that he was particular in his +dress. For he used the Latus Clavus [70] with fringes about the wrists, +and always had it girded about him, but rather loosely. This +circumstance gave origin to the expression of Sylla, who often advised +the nobles to beware of "the ill-girt boy." + +XLVI. He first inhabited a small house in the Suburra [71], but after +his advancement to the pontificate, he occupied a palace belonging to the +state in the Via Sacra. Many writers say that he liked his residence to +be elegant, and his entertainments sumptuous; and that he entirely took +down a villa near the grove of Aricia, which he had built from the +foundation and finished at a vast expense, because it did not exactly +suit his taste, although he had at that time but slender means, and was +in debt; and that he carried about in his expeditions tesselated and +marble slabs for the floor of his tent. + +XLVII. They likewise report that he invaded Britain in hopes of finding +pearls [72], the size of which he would compare together, and ascertain +the weight by poising them in his hand; that he would purchase, at any +cost, gems, carved works, statues, and pictures, executed by the eminent +masters of antiquity; and that he would give for young and handy slaves a +price so extravagant, that he forbad its being entered in the diary of +his expenses. + +XLVIII. We are also told, that in the provinces he constantly maintained +two tables, one for the officers of the army, and the gentry of the +country, and the other for Romans of the highest rank, and provincials of +the first distinction. He was so very exact in the management of his +domestic affairs, both little and great, that he once threw a baker into +prison, for serving him with a finer sort of bread than his guests; and +put to death a freed-man, who was a particular favourite, for debauching +the lady of a Roman knight, although no complaint had been made to him of +the affair. + +XLIX. The only stain upon his chastity was his having cohabited with +Nicomedes; and that indeed stuck to him all the days of his life, and +exposed him to much bitter raillery. I will not dwell upon those +well-known verses of Calvus Licinius: + + Whate'er Bithynia and her lord possess'd, + Her lord who Caesar in his lust caress'd. [73] + +I pass over the speeches of Dolabella, and Curio, the father, in which +the former calls him "the queen's rival, and the inner-side of the royal +couch," and the latter, "the brothel of Nicomedes, and the Bithynian +stew." I would likewise say nothing of the edicts of Bibulus, in which +he proclaimed his colleague under the name of "the queen of Bithynia;" +adding, that "he had formerly been in love with a king, but now coveted a +kingdom." At which time, as Marcus Brutus relates, one Octavius, a man +of a crazy brain, and therefore the more free in his raillery, after he +had in a crowded assembly saluted Pompey by the title of king, addressed +Caesar by that of queen. Caius Memmius likewise upbraided him with +serving the king at table, among the rest of his catamites, in the +presence of a large company, in which were some merchants from Rome, the +names of whom he mentions. But Cicero was not content with writing in +some of his letters, that he was conducted by the royal attendants into +the king's bed-chamber, lay upon a bed of gold with a covering of purple, +and that the youthful bloom of this scion of Venus had been tainted in +Bithynia--but upon Caesar's pleading the cause of Nysa, the daughter of +(32) Nicomedes before the senate, and recounting the king's kindnesses to +him, replied, "Pray tell us no more of that; for it is well known what he +gave you, and you gave him." To conclude, his soldiers in the Gallic +triumph, amongst other verses, such as they jocularly sung on those +occasions, following the general's chariot, recited these, which since +that time have become extremely common: + + The Gauls to Caesar yield, Caesar to Nicomede, + Lo! Caesar triumphs for his glorious deed, + But Caesar's conqueror gains no victor's meed. [74] + +L. It is admitted by all that he was much addicted to women, as well as +very expensive in his intrigues with them, and that he debauched many +ladies of the highest quality; among whom were Posthumia, the wife of +Servius Sulpicius; Lollia, the wife of Aulus Gabinius; Tertulla, the wife +of Marcus Crassus; and Mucia, the wife of Cneius Pompey. For it is +certain that the Curios, both father and son, and many others, made it a +reproach to Pompey, "That to gratify his ambition, he married the +daughter of a man, upon whose account he had divorced his wife, after +having had three children by her; and whom he used, with a deep sigh, to +call Aegisthus." [75] But the mistress he most loved, was Servilia, the +mother of Marcus Brutus, for whom he purchased, in his first consulship +after the commencement of their intrigue, a pearl which cost him six +millions of sesterces; and in the civil war, besides other presents, +assigned to her, for a trifling consideration, some valuable farms when +they were exposed to public auction. Many persons expressing their +surprise at the lowness of the price, Cicero wittily remarked, "To let +you know the real value of the purchase, between ourselves, Tertia was +deducted:" for Servilia was supposed to have prostituted her daughter +Tertia to Caesar. [76] + +(34) LI. That he had intrigues likewise with married women in the +provinces, appears from this distich, which was as much repeated in the +Gallic Triumph as the former:-- + + Watch well your wives, ye cits, we bring a blade, + A bald-pate master of the wenching trade. + Thy gold was spent on many a Gallic w---e; + Exhausted now, thou com'st to borrow more. [77] + +LII. In the number of his mistresses were also some queens; such as +Eunoe, a Moor, the wife of Bogudes, to whom and her husband he made, as +Naso reports, many large presents. But his greatest favourite was +Cleopatra, with whom he often revelled all night until the dawn of day, +and would have gone with her through Egypt in dalliance, as far as +Aethiopia, in her luxurious yacht, had not the army refused to follow +him. He afterwards invited her to Rome, whence he sent her back loaded +with honours and presents, and gave her permission to call by his name a +son, who, according to the testimony of some Greek historians, resembled +Caesar both in person and gait. Mark Antony declared in the senate, that +Caesar had acknowledged the child as his own; and that Caius Matias, +Caius Oppius, and the rest of Caesar's friends knew it to be true. On +which occasion, Oppius, as if it had been an imputation which he was +called upon to refute, published a book to shew, "that the child which +Cleopatra fathered upon Caesar, was not his." Helvius Cinna, tribune of +the people, admitted to several persons the fact, that he had a bill +ready drawn, which Caesar had ordered him to get enacted in his absence, +allowing him, with the hope of leaving issue, to take any wife he chose, +and as many of them as he pleased; and to leave no room for doubt of his +infamous character for unnatural lewdness and adultery, Curio, the +father, says, in one of his speeches, "He was every woman's man, and +every man's woman." + +LIII. It is acknowledged even by his enemies, that in regard to wine, he +was abstemious. A remark is ascribed to Marcus Cato, "that Caesar was +the only sober man amongst all those who were engaged in the design to +subvert (35) the government." In the matter of diet, Caius Oppius +informs us, "that he was so indifferent, that when a person in whose +house he was entertained, had served him with stale, instead of fresh, +oil [78], and the rest of the company would not touch it, he alone ate +very heartily of it, that he might not seem to tax the master of the +house with rusticity or want of attention." + +LIV. But his abstinence did not extend to pecuniary advantages, either +in his military commands, or civil offices; for we have the testimony of +some writers, that he took money from the proconsul, who was his +predecessor in Spain, and from the Roman allies in that quarter, for the +discharge of his debts; and plundered at the point of the sword some +towns of the Lusitanians, notwithstanding they attempted no resistance, +and opened their gates to him upon his arrival before them. In Gaul, he +rifled the chapels and temples of the gods, which were filled with rich +offerings, and demolished cities oftener for the sake of their spoil, +than for any ill they had done. By this means gold became so plentiful +with him, that he exchanged it through Italy and the provinces of the +empire for three thousand sesterces the pound. In his first consulship +he purloined from the Capitol three thousand pounds' weight of gold, and +substituted for it the same quantity of gilt brass. He bartered likewise +to foreign nations and princes, for gold, the titles of allies and kings; +and squeezed out of Ptolemy alone near six thousand talents, in the name +of himself and Pompey. He afterwards supported the expense of the civil +wars, and of his triumphs and public spectacles, by the most flagrant +rapine and sacrilege. + +LV. In eloquence and warlike achievements, he equalled at least, if he +did not surpass, the greatest of men. After his prosecution of +Dolabella, he was indisputably reckoned one of the most distinguished +advocates. Cicero, in recounting to Brutus the famous orators, declares, +"that he does not see that Caesar was inferior to any one of them;" and +says, "that he (36) had an elegant, splendid, noble, and magnificent vein +of eloquence." And in a letter to Cornelius Nepos, he writes of him in +the following terms: "What! Of all the orators, who, during the whole +course of their lives, have done nothing else, which can you prefer to +him? Which of them is more pointed or terse in his periods, or employs +more polished and elegant language?" In his youth, he seems to have +chosen Strabo Caesar for his model; from whose oration in behalf of the +Sardinians he has transcribed some passages literally into his +Divination. In his delivery he is said to have had a shrill voice, and +his action was animated, but not ungraceful. He has left behind him some +speeches, among which are ranked a few that are not genuine, such as that +on behalf of Quintus Metellus. These Augustus supposes, with reason, to +be rather the production of blundering short-hand writers, who were not +able to keep pace with him in the delivery, than publications of his own. +For I find in some copies that the title is not "For Metellus," but "What +he wrote to Metellus;" whereas the speech is delivered in the name of +Caesar, vindicating Metellus and himself from the aspersions cast upon +them by their common defamers. The speech addressed "To his soldiers in +Spain," Augustus considers likewise as spurious. We meet with two under +this title; one made, as is pretended, in the first battle, and the other +in the last; at which time, Asinius Pollio says, he had not leisure to +address the soldiers, on account of the suddenness of the enemy's attack. + +LVI. He has likewise left Commentaries of his own actions both in the +war in Gaul, and in the civil war with Pompey; for the author of the +Alexandrian, African, and Spanish wars is not known with any certainty. +Some think they are the production of Oppius, and some of Hirtius; the +latter of whom composed the last book, which is imperfect, of the Gallic +war. Of Caesar's Commentaries, Cicero, in his Brutus, speaks thus: "He +wrote his Commentaries in a manner deserving of great approbation: they +are plain, precise, and elegant, without any affectation of rhetorical +ornament. In having thus prepared materials for others who might be +inclined to write his history, he may perhaps have encouraged some silly +creatures to enter upon such a work, who will needs be dressing up his +actions in all the extravagance a (37) bombast; but he has discouraged +wise men from ever attempting the subject." Hirtius delivers his opinion +of these Commentaries in the following terms: "So great is the +approbation with which they are universally perused, that, instead of +rousing, he seems to have precluded, the efforts of any future historian. +Yet, with respect to this work, we have more reason to admire him than +others; for they only know how well and correctly he has written, but we +know, likewise, how easily and quickly he did it." Pollio Asinius thinks +that they were not drawn up with much care, or with a due regard to +truth; for he insinuates that Caesar was too hasty of belief in regard to +what was performed by others under his orders; and that, he has not given +a very faithful account of his own acts, either by design, or through +defect of memory; expressing at the same time an opinion that Caesar +intended a new and more correct edition. He has left behind him likewise +two books on Analogy, with the same number under the title of Anti-Cato, +and a poem entitled The Itinerary. Of these books, he composed the first +two in his passage over the Alps, as he was returning to the army after +making his circuit in Hither-Gaul; the second work about the time of the +battle of Munda; and the last during the four-and-twenty days he employed +in his journey from Rome to Farther-Spain. There are extant some letters +of his to the senate, written in a manner never practised by any before +him; for they are distinguished into pages in the form of a memorandum +book whereas the consuls and commanders till then, used constantly in +their letters to continue the line quite across the sheet, without any +folding or distinction of pages. There are extant likewise some letters +from him to Cicero, and others to his friends, concerning his domestic +affairs; in which, if there was occasion for secrecy, he wrote in +cyphers; that is, he used the alphabet in such a manner, that not a +single word could be made out. The way to decipher those epistles was to +substitute the fourth for the first letter, as d for a, and so for the +other letters respectively. Some things likewise pass under his name, +said to have been written by him when a boy, or a very young man; as the +Encomium of Hercules, a tragedy entitled Oedipus, and a collection of +Apophthegms; all which Augustus forbad to be published, in a short and +plain letter to Pompeius Macer, who was employed by him in the +arrangement of his libraries. + +(38) LVII. He was perfect in the use of arms, an accomplished rider, and +able to endure fatigue beyond all belief. On a march, he used to go at +the head of his troops, sometimes on horseback, but oftener on foot, with +his head bare in all kinds of weather. He would travel post in a light +carriage [79] without baggage, at the rate of a hundred miles a day; and +if he was stopped by floods in the rivers, he swam across, or floated on +skins inflated with wind, so that he often anticipated intelligence of +his movements. [80] + +LVIII. In his expeditions, it is difficult to say whether his caution or +his daring was most conspicuous. He never marched his army by roads +which were exposed to ambuscades, without having previously examined the +nature of the ground by his scouts. Nor did he cross over to Britain, +before he had carefully examined, in person [81], the navigation, the +harbours, and the most convenient point of landing in the island. When +intelligence was brought to him of the siege of his camp in Germany, he +made his way to his troops, through the enemy's stations, in a Gaulish +dress. He crossed the sea from Brundisium and Dyrrachium, in the winter, +through the midst of the enemy's fleets; and the troops, under orders to +join him, being slow in their movements, notwithstanding repeated +messages to hurry them, but to no purpose, he at last went privately, and +alone, aboard a small vessel in the night time, with his head muffled up; +nor did he make himself known, or suffer the master to put about, +although the wind blew strong against them, until they were ready to +sink. + +LIX. He was never deterred from any enterprise, nor retarded in the +prosecution of it, by superstition [82]. When a victim, which he was +about to offer in sacrifice, made its (39) escape, he did not therefore +defer his expedition against Scipio and Juba. And happening to fall, +upon stepping out of the ship, he gave a lucky turn to the omen, by +exclaiming, "I hold thee fast, Africa." To chide the prophecies which +were spread abroad, that the name of the Scipios was, by the decrees of +fate, fortunate and invincible in that province, he retained in the camp +a profligate wretch, of the family of the Cornelii, who, on account of +his scandalous life, was surnamed Salutio. + +LX. He not only fought pitched battles, but made sudden attacks when an +opportunity offered; often at the end of a march, and sometimes during +the most violent storms, when nobody could imagine he would stir. Nor +was he ever backward in fighting, until towards the end of his life. He +then was of opinion, that the oftener he had been crowned with success, +the less he ought to expose himself to new hazards; and that nothing he +could gain by a victory would compensate for what he might lose by a +miscarriage. He never defeated the enemy without driving them from their +camp; and giving them no time to rally their forces. When the issue of a +battle was doubtful, he sent away all the horses, and his own first, that +having no means of flight, they might be under the greater necessity of +standing their ground. + +LXI. He rode a very remarkable horse, with feet almost like those of a +man, the hoofs being divided in such a manner as to have some resemblance +to toes. This horse he had bred himself, and the soothsayers having +interpreted these circumstances into an omen that its owner would be +master of the world, he brought him up with particular care, and broke +him in himself, as the horse would suffer no one else to mount him. A +statue of this horse was afterwards erected by Caesar's order before the +temple of Venus Genitrix. + +LXII. He often rallied his troops, when they were giving way, by his +personal efforts; stopping those who fled, keeping others in their ranks, +and seizing them by their throat turned them towards the enemy; although +numbers were so terrified, that an eagle-bearer [83], thus stopped, made +a thrust at him with (40) the spear-head; and another, upon a similar +occasion, left the standard in his hand. + +LXIII. The following instances of his resolution are equally, and even +more remarkable. After the battle of Pharsalia, having sent his troops +before him into Asia, as he was passing the straits of the Hellespont in +a ferry-boat, he met with Lucius Cassius, one of the opposite party, with +ten ships of war; and so far from endeavouring to escape, he went +alongside his ship, and calling upon him to surrender, Cassius humbly +gave him his submission. + +LXIV. At Alexandria, in the attack of a bridge, being forced by a sudden +sally of the enemy into a boat, and several others hurrying in with him, +he leaped into the sea, and saved himself by swimming to the next ship, +which lay at the distance of two hundred paces; holding up his left hand +out of the water, for fear of wetting some papers which he held in it; +and pulling his general's cloak after him with his teeth, lest it should +fall into the hands of the enemy. + +LXV. He never valued a soldier for his moral conduct or his means, but +for his courage only; and treated his troops with a mixture of severity +and indulgence; for he did not always keep a strict hand over them, but +only when the enemy was near. Then indeed he was so strict a +disciplinarian, that he would give no notice of a march or a battle until +the moment of action, in order that the troops might hold themselves in +readiness for any sudden movement; and he would frequently draw them out +of the camp without any necessity for it, especially in rainy weather, +and upon holy-days. Sometimes, giving them orders not to lose sight of +him, he would suddenly depart by day or by night, and lengthen the +marches in order to tire them out, as they followed him at a distance. + +LXVI. When at any time his troops were dispirited by reports of the +great force of the enemy, he rallied their courage; not by denying the +truth of what was said, or by diminishing the facts, but, on the +contrary, by exaggerating every particular. (41) Accordingly, when his +troops were in great alarm at the expected arrival of king Juba, he +called them together, and said, "I have to inform you that in a very few +days the king will be here, with ten legions, thirty thousand horse, a +hundred thousand light-armed foot, and three hundred elephants. Let none +of you, therefore, presume to make further enquiry, or indulge in +conjectures, but take my word for what I tell you, which I have from +undoubted intelligence; otherwise I shall put them aboard an old crazy +vessel, and leave them exposed to the mercy of the winds, to be +transported to some other country." + +LXVII. He neither noticed all their transgressions, nor punished them +according to strict rule. But for deserters and mutineers he made the +most diligent enquiry, and their punishment was most severe: other +delinquencies he would connive at. Sometimes, after a great battle +ending in victory, he would grant them a relaxation from all kinds of +duty, and leave them to revel at pleasure; being used to boast, "that his +soldiers fought nothing the worse for being well oiled." In his +speeches, he never addressed them by the title of "Soldiers," but by the +kinder phrase of "Fellow-soldiers;" and kept them in such splendid order, +that their arms were ornamented with silver and gold, not merely for +parade, but to render the soldiers more resolute to save them in battle, +and fearful of losing them. He loved his troops to such a degree, that +when he heard of the defeat of those under Titurius, he neither cut his +hair nor shaved his beard, until he had revenged it upon the enemy; by +which means he engaged their devoted affection, and raised their valour +to the highest pitch. + +LXVIII. Upon his entering on the civil war, the centurions of every +legion offered, each of them, to maintain a horseman at his own expense, +and the whole army agreed to serve gratis, without either corn or pay; +those amongst them who were rich, charging themselves with the +maintenance of the poor. No one of them, during the whole course of the +war, deserted to the enemy; and many of those who were made prisoners, +though they were offered their lives, upon condition of bearing arms +against him, refused to accept the terms. They endured want, and other +hardships, not only (42) when they were besieged themselves, but when +they besieged others, to such a degree, that Pompey, when blocked up in +the neighbourhood of Dyrrachium, upon seeing a sort of bread made of an +herb, which they lived upon, said, "I have to do with wild beasts," and +ordered it immediately to be taken away; because, if his troops should +see it, their spirit might be broken by perceiving the endurance and +determined resolution of the enemy. With what bravery they fought, one +instance affords sufficient proof; which is, that after an unsuccessful +engagement at Dyrrachium, they called for punishment; insomuch that their +general found it more necessary to comfort than to punish them. In other +battles, in different quarters, they defeated with ease immense armies of +the enemy, although they were much inferior to them in number. In short, +one cohort of the sixth legion held out a fort against four legions +belonging to Pompey, during several hours; being almost every one of them +wounded by the vast number of arrows discharged against them, and of +which there were found within the ramparts a hundred and thirty thousand. +This is no way surprising, when we consider the conduct of some +individuals amongst them; such as that of Cassius Scaeva, a centurion, or +Caius Acilius, a common soldier, not to speak of others. Scaeva, after +having an eye struck out, being run through the thigh and the shoulder, +and having his shield pierced in an hundred and twenty places, maintained +obstinately the guard of the gate of a fort, with the command of which he +was intrusted. Acilius, in the sea-fight at Marseilles, having seized a +ship of the enemy's with his right hand, and that being cut off, in +imitation of that memorable instance of resolution in Cynaegirus amongst +the Greeks, boarded the enemy's ship, bearing down all before him with +the boss of his shield. + +LXIX. They never once mutinied during all the ten years of the Gallic +war, but were sometimes refractory in the course of the civil war. +However, they always returned quickly to their duty, and that not through +the indulgence, but in submission to the authority, of their general; for +he never yielded to them when they were insubordinate, but constantly +resisted their demands. He disbanded the whole ninth legion with +ignominy at Placentia, although Pompey was still in arms, and would (43) +not receive them again into his service, until they had not only made +repeated and humble entreaties, but until the ringleaders in the mutiny +were punished. + +LXX. When the soldiers of the tenth legion at Rome demanded their +discharge and rewards for their service, with violent threats and no +small danger to the city, although the war was then raging in Africa, he +did not hesitate, contrary to the advice of his friends, to meet the +legion, and disband it. But addressing them by the title of "Quirites," +instead of "Soldiers," he by this single word so thoroughly brought them +round and changed their determination, that they immediately cried out, +they were his "soldiers," and followed him to Africa, although he had +refused their service. He nevertheless punished the most mutinous among +them, with the loss of a third of their share in the plunder, and the +land destined for them. + +LXXI. In the service of his clients, while yet a young man, he evinced +great zeal and fidelity. He defended the cause of a noble youth, +Masintha, against king Hiempsal, so strenuously, that in a scuffle which +took place upon the occasion, he seized by the beard the son of king +Juba; and upon Masintha's being declared tributary to Hiempsal, while the +friends of the adverse party were violently carrying him off, he +immediately rescued him by force, kept him concealed in his house a long +time, and when, at the expiration of his praetorship, he went to Spain, +he took him away in his litter, in the midst of his lictors bearing the +fasces, and others who had come to attend and take leave of him. + +LXXII. He always treated his friends with such kindness and good-nature, +that when Caius Oppius, in travelling with him through a forest, was +suddenly taken ill, he resigned to him the only place there was to +shelter them at night, and lay upon the ground in the open air. When he +had placed himself at the head of affairs, he advanced some of his +faithful adherents, though of mean extraction, to the highest offices; +and when he was censured for this partiality, he openly said, "Had I been +assisted by robbers and cut-throats in the defence of my honour, I should +have made them the same recompense." + +(44) LXXIII. The resentment he entertained against any one was never so +implacable that he did not very willingly renounce it when opportunity +offered. Although Caius Memmius had published some extremely virulent +speeches against him, and he had answered him with equal acrimony, yet he +afterwards assisted him with his vote and interest, when he stood +candidate for the consulship. When C. Calvus, after publishing some +scandalous epigrams upon him, endeavoured to effect a reconciliation by +the intercession of friends, he wrote to him, of his own accord, the +first letter. And when Valerius Catullus, who had, as he himself +observed, fixed such a stain upon his character in his verses upon +Mamurra as never could be obliterated, he begged his pardon, invited him +to supper the same day; and continued to take up his lodging with his +father occasionally, as he had been accustomed to do. + +LXXIV. His temper was also naturally averse to severity in retaliation. +After he had captured the pirates, by whom he had been taken, having +sworn that he would crucify them, he did so indeed; but he first ordered +their throats to be cut [84]. He could never bear the thought of doing +any harm to Cornelius Phagitas, who had dogged him in the night when he +was sick and a fugitive, with the design of carrying him to Sylla, and +from whose hands he had escaped with some difficulty by giving him a +bribe. Philemon, his amanuensis, who had promised his enemies to poison +him, he put to death without torture. When he was summoned as a witness +against Publicus Clodius, his wife Pompeia's gallant, who was prosecuted +for the profanation of religious ceremonies, he declared he knew nothing +of the affair, although his mother Aurelia, and his sister Julia, gave +the court an exact and full account of the circumstances. And being +asked why then he had divorced his wife? "Because," he said, "my family +should not only be free from guilt, but even from the suspicion of it." + +LXXV. Both in his administration and his conduct towards the vanquished +party in the civil war, he showed a wonderful moderation and clemency. +For while Pompey declared that he would consider those as enemies who did +not take arms in defence of the republic, he desired it to be understood, +that he (45) should regard those who remained neuter as his friends. +With regard to all those to whom he had, on Pompey's recommendation, +given any command in the army, he left them at perfect liberty to go over +to him, if they pleased. When some proposals were made at Ileria [85] +for a surrender, which gave rise to a free communication between the two +camps, and Afranius and Petreius, upon a sudden change of resolution, had +put to the sword all Caesar's men who were found in the camp, he scorned +to imitate the base treachery which they had practised against himself. +On the field of Pharsalia, he called out to the soldiers "to spare their +fellow-citizens," and afterwards gave permission to every man in his army +to save an enemy. None of them, so far as appears, lost their lives but +in battle, excepting only Afranius, Faustus, and young Lucius Caesar; and +it is thought that even they were put to death without his consent. +Afranius and Faustus had borne arms against him, after obtaining their +pardon; and Lucius Caesar had not only in the most cruel manner destroyed +with fire and sword his freed-men and slaves, but cut to pieces the wild +beasts which he had prepared for the entertainment of the people. And +finally, a little before his death, he permitted all whom he had not +before pardoned, to return into Italy, and to bear offices both civil and +military. He even replaced the statues of Sylla and Pompey, which had +been thrown down by the populace. And after this, whatever was devised +or uttered, he chose rather to check than to punish it. Accordingly, +having detected certain conspiracies and nocturnal assemblies, he went no +farther than to intimate by a proclamation that he knew of them; and as +to those who indulged themselves in the liberty of reflecting severely +upon him, he only warned them in a public speech not to persist in their +offence. He bore with great moderation a virulent libel written against +him by Aulus Caecinna, and the abusive lampoons of Pitholaus, most highly +reflecting on his reputation. + +LXXVI. His other words and actions, however, so far outweigh all his +good qualities, that it is thought he abused his power, and was justly +cut off. For he not only obtained excessive honours, such as the +consulship every year, the dictatorship for life, and the censorship, but +also the title of emperor [86], (46) and the surname of FATHER OF HIS +COUNTRY [87], besides having his statue amongst the kings [88], and a +lofty couch in the theatre. He even suffered some honours to be decreed +to him, which were unbefitting the most exalted of mankind; such as a +gilded chair of state in the senate-house and on his tribunal, a +consecrated chariot, and banners in the Circensian procession, temples, +altars, statues among the gods, a bed of state in the temples, a priest, +and a college of priests dedicated to himself, like those of Pan; and +that one of the months should be called by his name. There were, indeed, +no honours which he did not either assume himself, or grant to others, at +his will and pleasure. In his third and fourth consulship, he used only +the title of the office, being content with the power of dictator, which +was conferred upon him with the consulship; and in both years he +substituted other consuls in his room, during the three last months; so +that in the intervals he held no assemblies of the people, for the +election of magistrates, excepting only tribunes and ediles of the +people; and appointed officers, under the name of praefects, instead of +the praetors, to administer the affairs of the city during his absence. +The office of consul having become vacant, by the sudden death of one of +the consuls the day before the calends of January [the 1st Jan.], he +conferred it on a person who requested it of him, for a few hours. +Assuming the same licence, and regardless of the customs of his country, +he appointed magistrates to hold their offices for terms of years. He +granted the insignia of the consular dignity to ten persons of pretorian +rank. He admitted into the senate some men who had been made free of the +city, and even natives of Gaul, who were semi-barbarians. (47) He +likewise appointed to the management of the mint, and the public revenue +of the state, some servants of his own household; and entrusted the +command of three legions, which he left at Alexandria, to an old catamite +of his, the son of his freed-man Rufinus. + +LXXVII. He was guilty of the same extravagance in the language he +publicly used, as Titus Ampius informs us; according to whom he said, +"The republic is nothing but a name, without substance or reality. Sylla +was an ignorant fellow to abdicate the dictatorship. Men ought to +consider what is becoming when they talk with me, and look upon what I +say as a law." To such a pitch of arrogance did he proceed, that when a +soothsayer announced to him the unfavourable omen, that the entrails of a +victim offered for sacrifice were without a heart, he said, "The entrails +will be more favourable when I please; and it ought not to be regarded as +a prodigy that a beast should be found wanting a heart." + +LXXVIII. But what brought upon him the greatest odium, and was thought +an unpardonable insult, was his receiving the whole body of the conscript +fathers sitting, before the temple of Venus Genitrix, when they waited +upon him with a number of decrees, conferring on him the highest +dignities. Some say that, on his attempting to rise, he was held down by +Cornelius Balbus; others, that he did not attempt to rise at all, but +frowned on Caius Trebatius, who suggested to him that he should stand up +to receive the senate. This behaviour appeared the more intolerable in +him, because, when one of the tribunes of the people, Pontius Aquila, +would not rise up to him, as he passed by the tribunes' seat during his +triumph, he was so much offended, that he cried out, "Well then, you +tribune, Aquila, oust me from the government." And for some days +afterwards, he never promised a favour to any person, without this +proviso, "if Pontus Aquila will give me leave." + +LXXIX. To this extraordinary mark of contempt for the senate, he added +another affront still more outrageous. For when, after the sacred rites +of the Latin festival, he was returning home, amidst the immoderate and +unusual acclamations (48) of the people, a man in the crowd put a laurel +crown, encircled with a white fillet [89], on one of his statues; upon +which, the tribunes of the people, Epidius Marullus, and Caesetius +Flavus, ordered the fillet to be removed from the crown, and the man to +be taken to prison. Caesar, being much concerned either that the idea of +royalty had been suggested to so little purpose, or, as was said, that he +was thus deprived of the merit of refusing it, reprimanded the tribunes +very severely, and dismissed them from their office. From that day +forward, he was never able to wipe off the scandal of affecting the name +of king, although he replied to the populace, when they saluted him by +that title, "I am Caesar, and no king." And at the feast of the +Lupercalia [90], when the consul Antony placed a crown upon his head in +the rostra several times, he as often put it away, and sent it to the +Capitol for Jupiter, the Best and the Greatest. A report was very +current, that he had a design of withdrawing to Alexandria or Ilium, +whither he proposed to transfer the imperial power, to drain Italy by new +levies, and to leave the government of the city to be administered by his +friends. To this report it was added, that in the next meeting of the +senate, Lucius Cotta, one of the fifteen [91], would make a motion, that +as there was in the Sibylline books a prophecy, that the Parthians would +never be subdued but by a king, Caesar should have that title conferred +upon him. + +LXXX. For this reason the conspirators precipitated the execution of +their design [92], that they might not be obliged to give their assent to +the proposal. Instead, therefore, of caballing any longer separately, in +small parties, they now united their counsels; the people themselves +being dissatisfied with the present state of affairs, both privately and +publicly (49) condemning the tyranny under which they lived, and calling +on patriots to assert their cause against the usurper. Upon the +admission of foreigners into the senate, a hand-bill was posted up in +these words: "A good deed! let no one shew a new senator the way to the +house." These verses were likewise currently repeated: + + The Gauls he dragged in triumph through the town, + Caesar has brought into the senate-house, + And changed their plaids [93] for the patrician gown. + + Gallos Caesar in triumphum ducit: iidem in curiam + Galli braccas deposuerunt, latum clavum sumpserunt. + +When Quintus Maximus, who had been his deputy in the consulship for the +last three months, entered the theatre, and the lictor, according to +custom, bid the people take notice who was coming, they all cried out, +"He is no consul." After the removal of Caesetius and Marullus from +their office, they were found to have a great many votes at the next +election of consuls. Some one wrote under the statue of Lucius Brutus, +"Would you were now alive!" and under the statue of Caesar himself these +lines: + + Because he drove from Rome the royal race, + Brutus was first made consul in their place. + This man, because he put the consuls down, + Has been rewarded with a royal crown. + + Brutus, quia reges ejecit, consul primus factus est: + Hic, quia consules ejecit, rex postremo factus est. + +About sixty persons were engaged in the conspiracy against him, of whom +Caius Cassius, and Marcus and Decimus Brutus were the chief. It was at +first debated amongst them, whether they should attack him in the Campus +Martius when he was taking the votes of the tribes, and some of them +should throw him off the bridge, whilst others should be ready to stab +him upon his fall; or else in the Via Sacra, or at the entrance of the +theatre. But after public notice had been given by proclamation for the +senate to assemble upon the ides of March [15th March], in the +senate-house built by Pompey, they approved both of the time and place, +as most fitting for their purpose. + +LXXXI. Caesar had warning given him of his fate by indubitable (50) +omens. A few months before, when the colonists settled at Capua, by +virtue of the Julian law, were demolishing some old sepulchres, in +building country-houses, and were the more eager at the work, because +they discovered certain vessels of antique workmanship, a tablet of brass +was found in a tomb, in which Capys, the founder of Capua, was said to +have been buried, with an inscription in the Greek language to this +effect "Whenever the bones of Capys come to be discovered, a descendant +of Iulus will be slain by the hands of his kinsmen, and his death +revenged by fearful disasters throughout Italy." Lest any person should +regard this anecdote as a fabulous or silly invention, it was circulated +upon the authority of Caius Balbus, an intimate friend of Caesar's. A +few days likewise before his death, he was informed that the horses, +which, upon his crossing the Rubicon, he had consecrated, and turned +loose to graze without a keeper, abstained entirely from eating, and shed +floods of tears. The soothsayer Spurinna, observing certain ominous +appearances in a sacrifice which he was offering, advised him to beware +of some danger, which threatened to befall him before the ides of March +were past. The day before the ides, birds of various kinds from a +neighbouring grove, pursuing a wren which flew into Pompey's senate-house +[94], with a sprig of laurel in its beak, tore it in pieces. Also, in +the night on which the day of his murder dawned, he dreamt at one time +that he was soaring above the clouds, and, at another, that he had joined +hands with Jupiter. His wife Calpurnia fancied in her sleep that the +pediment of the house was falling down, and her husband stabbed on her +bosom; immediately upon which the chamber doors flew open. On account of +these omens, as well as his infirm health, he was in some doubt whether +he should not remain at home, and defer to some other opportunity the +business which he intended to propose to the senate; but Decimus Brutus +advising him not to disappoint the senators, who were numerously +assembled, and waited his coming, he was prevailed upon to go, and +accordingly (51) set forward about the fifth hour. In his way, some +person having thrust into his hand a paper, warning him against the plot, +he mixed it with some other documents which he held in his left hand, +intending to read it at leisure. Victim after victim was slain, without +any favourable appearances in the entrails; but still, disregarding all +omens, he entered the senate-house, laughing at Spurinna as a false +prophet, because the ides of March were come, without any mischief having +befallen him. To which the soothsayer replied, "They are come, indeed, +but not past." + +LXXXII. When he had taken his seat, the conspirators stood round him, +under colour of paying their compliments; and immediately Tullius Cimber, +who had engaged to commence the assault, advancing nearer than the rest, +as if he had some favour to request, Caesar made signs that he should +defer his petition to some other time. Tullius immediately seized him by +the toga, on both shoulders; at which Caesar crying out, "Violence is +meant!" one of the Cassii wounded him a little below the throat. Caesar +seized him by the arm, and ran it through with his style [95]; and +endeavouring to rush forward was stopped by another wound. Finding +himself now attacked on all hands with naked poniards, he wrapped the +toga [96] about his head, and at the same moment drew the skirt round his +legs with his left hand, that he might fall more decently with the lower +part of his body covered. He was stabbed with three and twenty wounds, +uttering a groan only, but no cry, at the first wound; although some +authors relate, that when Marcus Brutus fell upon him, he exclaimed, +"What! art thou, too, one of them? Thou, my son!" [97] The whole +assembly instantly (52) dispersing, he lay for some time after he +expired, until three of his slaves laid the body on a litter, and carried +it home, with one arm hanging down over the side. Among so many wounds, +there was none that was mortal, in the opinion of the surgeon Antistius, +except the second, which he received in the breast. The conspirators +meant to drag his body into the Tiber as soon as they had killed him; to +confiscate his estate, and rescind all his enactments; but they were +deterred by fear of Mark Antony, and Lepidus, Caesar's master of the +horse, and abandoned their intentions. + +LXXXIII. At the instance of Lucius Piso, his father-in-law, his will was +opened and read in Mark Antony's house. He had made it on the ides +[13th] of the preceding September, at his Lavican villa, and committed it +to the custody of the chief of the Vestal Virgins. Quintus Tubero +informs us, that in all the wills he had signed, from the time of his +first consulship to the breaking out of the civil war, Cneius Pompey was +appointed his heir, and that this had been publicly notified to the army. +But in his last will, he named three heirs, the grandsons of his sisters; +namely, Caius Octavius for three fourths of his estate, and Lucius +Pinarius and Quintus Pedius for the remaining fourth. Other heirs [in +remainder] were named at the close of the will, in which he also adopted +Caius Octavius, who was to assume his name, into his family; and +nominated most of those who were concerned in his death among the +guardians of his son, if he should have any; as well as Decimus Brutus +amongst his heirs of the second order. Be bequeathed to the Roman people +his gardens near the Tiber, and three hundred sesterces each man. + +LXXXIV. Notice of his funeral having been solemnly proclaimed, a pile +was erected in the Campus Martius, near the tomb of his daughter Julia; +and before the Rostra was placed a gilded tabernacle, on the model of the +temple of Venus Genitrix; within which was an ivory bed, covered with +purple and cloth of gold. At the head was a trophy, with the +[bloodstained] robe in which he was slain. It being considered that the +whole day would not suffice for carrying the funeral oblations in solemn +procession before the corpse, directions were given for every one, +without regard to order, to carry them from the city into the Campus +Martius, by what way they pleased. To raise pity and indignation for his +murder, in the plays acted at the funeral, a passage was sung from +Pacuvius's tragedy, entitled, "The Trial for Arms:" + + That ever I, unhappy man, should save + Wretches, who thus have brought me to the grave! [98] + +And some lines also from Attilius's tragedy of "Electra," to the same +effect. Instead of a funeral panegyric, the consul Antony ordered a +herald to proclaim to the people the decree of the senate, in which they +had bestowed upon him all honours, divine and human; with the oath by +which they had engaged themselves for the defence of his person; and to +these he added only a few words of his own. The magistrates and others +who had formerly filled the highest offices, carried the bier from the +Rostra into the Forum. While some proposed that the body should be burnt +in the sanctuary of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and others in +Pompey's senate-house; on a sudden, two men, with swords by their sides, +and spears in their hands, set fire to the bier with lighted torches. +The throng around immediately heaped upon it dry faggots, the tribunals +and benches of the adjoining courts, and whatever else came to hand. +Then the musicians and players stripped off the dresses they wore on the +present occasion, taken from the wardrobe of his triumph at spectacles, +rent them, and threw them into the flames. The legionaries, also, of his +(54) veteran bands, cast in their armour, which they had put on in honour +of his funeral. Most of the ladies did the same by their ornaments, with +the bullae [99], and mantles of their children. In this public mourning +there joined a multitude of foreigners, expressing their sorrow according +to the fashion of their respective countries; but especially the Jews +[100], who for several nights together frequented the spot where the body +was burnt. + +LXXXV. The populace ran from the funeral, with torches in their hands, +to the houses of Brutus and Cassius, and were repelled with difficulty. +Going in quest of Cornelius Cinna, who had in a speech, the day before, +reflected severely upon Caesar, and mistaking for him Helvius Cinna, who +happened to fall into their hands, they murdered the latter, and carried +his head about the city on the point of a spear. They afterwards erected +in the Forum a column of Numidian marble, formed of one stone nearly +twenty feet high, and inscribed upon it these words, TO THE FATHER OF HIS +COUNTRY. At this column they continued for a long time to offer +sacrifices, make vows, and decide controversies, in which they swore by +Caesar. + +LXXXVI. Some of Caesar's friends entertained a suspicion, that he +neither desired nor cared to live any longer, on account of his declining +health; and for that reason slighted all the omens of religion, and the +warnings of his friends. Others are of opinion, that thinking himself +secure in the late decree of the senate, and their oaths, he dismissed +his Spanish guards who attended him with drawn swords. Others again +suppose, that he chose rather to face at once the dangers which +threatened him on all sides, than to be for ever on the watch against +them. Some tell us that he used to say, the commonwealth was more +interested in the safety of his person than himself: for that he had for +some time been satiated with power and glory; but that the commonwealth, +if any thing should befall him, would have no rest, and, involved in +another civil war, would be in a worse state than before. + +(55) LXXXVII. This, however, was generally admitted, that his death was +in many respects such as he would have chosen. For, upon reading the +account delivered by Xenophon, how Cyrus in his last illness gave +instructions respecting his funeral, Caesar deprecated a lingering death, +and wished that his own might be sudden and speedy. And the day before +he died, the conversation at supper, in the house of Marcus Lepidus, +turning upon what was the most eligible way of dying, he gave his opinion +in favour of a death that is sudden and unexpected. + +LXXXVIII. He died in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and was ranked +amongst the Gods, not only by a formal decree, but in the belief of the +vulgar. For during the first games which Augustus, his heir, consecrated +to his memory, a comet blazed for seven days together, rising always +about eleven o'clock; and it was supposed to be the soul of Caesar, now +received into heaven: for which reason, likewise, he is represented on +his statue with a star on his brow. The senate-house in which he was +slain, was ordered to be shut up [101], and a decree made that the ides +of March should be called parricidal, and the senate should never more +assemble on that day. + +LXXXIX. Scarcely any of those who were accessary to his murder, survived +him more than three years, or died a natural death [102]. They were all +condemned by the senate: some were taken off by one accident, some by +another. Part of them perished at sea, others fell in battle; and some +slew themselves with the same poniard with which they had stabbed Caesar +[103]. + +(56) [104] The termination of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey +forms a new epoch in the Roman History, at which a Republic, which had +subsisted with unrivalled glory during a period of about four hundred and +sixty years, relapsed into a state of despotism, whence it never more +could emerge. So sudden a transition from prosperity to the ruin of +public freedom, without the intervention of any foreign enemy, excites a +reasonable conjecture, that the constitution in which it could take +place, however vigorous in appearance, must have lost that soundness of +political health which had enabled it to endure through so many ages. A +short view of its preceding state, and of that in which it was at the +time of the revolution now mentioned, will best ascertain the foundation +of such a conjecture. + +Though the Romans, upon the expulsion of Tarquin, made an essential +change in the political form of the state, they did not carry their +detestation of regal authority so far as to abolish the religious +institutions of Numa Pompilius, the second of their kings, according to +which, the priesthood, with all the influence annexed to that order, was +placed in the hands of the aristocracy. By this wise policy a restraint +was put upon the fickleness and violence of the people in matters of +government, and a decided superiority given to the Senate both in the +deliberative and executive parts of administration. This advantage was +afterwards indeed diminished by the creation of Tribunes of the people; a +set of men whose ambition often embroiled the Republic in civil +dissensions, and who at last abused their authority to such a degree, +that they became instruments of aggrandizement to any leading men in the +state who could purchase their friendship. In general, however, the +majority of the Tribunes being actuated by views which comprehended the +interests of the multitude, rather than those of individuals, they did +not so much endanger the liberty, as they interrupted the tranquillity, +of the public; and when the occasional commotions subsided, there +remained no permanent ground for the establishment of personal +usurpation. + +In every government, an object of the last importance to the peace and +welfare of society is the morals of the people; and in proportion as a +community is enlarged by propagation, or the accession of a multitude of +new members, a more strict attention is requisite to guard against that +dissolution of manners to which a crowded and extensive capital has a +natural tendency. Of this (57) the Romans became sensible in the growing +state of the Republic. In the year of the City 312, two magistrates were +first created for taking an account of the number of the people, and the +value of their estates; and soon after, they were invested with the +authority not only of inspecting the morals of individuals, but of +inflicting public censure for any licentiousness of conduct, or violation +of decency. Thus both the civil and religious institutions concurred to +restrain the people within the bounds of good order and obedience to the +laws; at the same time that the frugal life of the ancient Romans proved +a strong security against those vices which operate most effectually +towards sapping the foundations of a state. + +But in the time of Julius Caesar the barriers of public liberty were +become too weak to restrain the audacious efforts of ambitious and +desperate men. The veneration for the constitution, usually a powerful +check to treasonable designs, had been lately violated by the usurpations +of Marius and Sylla. The salutary terrors of religion no longer +predominated over the consciences of men. The shame of public censure +was extinguished in general depravity. An eminent historian, who lived +at that time, informs us, that venality universally prevailed amongst the +Romans; and a writer who flourished soon after, observes, that luxury and +dissipation had encumbered almost all so much with debt, that they beheld +with a degree of complacency the prospect of civil war and confusion. + +The extreme degree of profligacy at which the Romans were now arrived is +in nothing more evident, than that this age gave birth to the most +horrible conspiracy which occurs in the annals of humankind, viz. that of +Catiline. This was not the project of a few desperate and abandoned +individuals, but of a number of men of the most illustrious rank in the +state; and it appears beyond doubt, that Julius Caesar was accessary to +the design, which was no less than to extirpate the Senate, divide +amongst themselves both the public and private treasures, and set Rome on +fire. The causes which prompted to this tremendous project, it is +generally admitted, were luxury, prodigality, irreligion, a total +corruption of manners, and above all, as the immediate cause, the +pressing necessity in which the conspirators were involved by their +extreme dissipation. + +The enormous debt in which Caesar himself was early involved, +countenances an opinion that his anxiety to procure the province of Gaul +proceeded chiefly from this cause. But during nine years in which he +held that province, he acquired such riches as must have rendered him, +without competition, the most opulent person in the state. If nothing +more, therefore, than a (58) splendid establishment had been the object +of his pursuit, he had attained to the summit of his wishes. But when we +find him persevering in a plan of aggrandizement beyond this period of +his fortunes, we can ascribe his conduct to no other motive than that of +outrageous ambition. He projected the building of a new Forum at Rome, +for the ground only of which he was to pay 800,000 pounds; he raised +legions in Gaul at his own charges: he promised such entertainments to +the people as had never been known at Rome from the foundation of the +city. All these circumstances evince some latent design of procuring +such a popularity as might give him an uncontrolled influence in the +management of public affairs. Pompey, we are told, was wont to say, that +Caesar not being able, with all his riches, to fulfil the promises which +he had made, wished to throw everything into confusion. There may have +been some foundation for this remark: but the opinion of Cicero is more +probable, that Caesar's mind was seduced with the temptations of +chimerical glory. It is observable that neither Cicero nor Pompey +intimates any suspicion that Caesar was apprehensive of being impeached +for his conduct, had he returned to Rome in a private station. Yet, that +there was reason for such an apprehension, the positive declaration of L. +Domitius leaves little room to doubt: especially when we consider the +number of enemies that Caesar had in the Senate, and the coolness of his +former friend Pompey ever after the death of Julia. The proposed +impeachment was founded upon a notorious charge of prosecuting measures +destructive of the interests of the commonwealth, and tending ultimately +to an object incompatible with public freedom. Indeed, considering the +extreme corruption which prevailed amongst the Romans at this time, it is +more than probable that Caesar would have been acquitted of the charge, +but at such an expense as must have stripped him of all his riches, and +placed him again in a situation ready to attempt a disturbance of the +public tranquillity. For it is said, that he purchased the friendship of +Curio, at the commencement of the civil war, with a bribe little short of +half a million sterling. + +Whatever Caesar's private motive may have been for taking arms against +his country, he embarked in an enterprise of a nature the most dangerous: +and had Pompey conducted himself in any degree suitable to the reputation +which he had formerly acquired, the contest would in all probability have +terminated in favour of public freedom. But by dilatory measures in the +beginning, by imprudently withdrawing his army from Italy into a distant +province, and by not pursuing the advantage he had gained by the vigorous +repulse of Caesar's troops in their attack upon his camp, this commander +lost every opportunity of extinguishing a war which was to determine the +fate, and even the existence, of the Republic. It was accordingly +determined on the plains of Pharsalia, where Caesar obtained a victory +which was not more decisive than unexpected. He was now no longer +amenable either to the tribunal of the Senate or the power of the laws, +but triumphed at once over his enemies and the constitution of his +country. + +It is to the honour of Caesar, that when he had obtained the supreme +power, he exercised it with a degree of moderation beyond what was +generally expected by those who had fought on the side of the Republic. +Of his private life either before or after this period, little is +transmitted in history. Henceforth, however, he seems to have lived +chiefly at Rome, near which he had a small villa, upon an eminence, +commanding a beautiful prospect. His time was almost entirely occupied +with public affairs, in the management of which, though he employed many +agents, he appears to have had none in the character of actual minister. +He was in general easy of access: but Cicero, in a letter to a friend, +complains of having been treated with the indignity of waiting a +considerable time amongst a crowd in an anti-chamber, before he could +have an audience. The elevation of Caesar placed him not above +discharging reciprocally the social duties in the intercourse of life. +He returned the visits of those who waited upon him, and would sup at +their houses. At table, and in the use of wine, he was habitually +temperate. Upon the whole, he added nothing to his own happiness by all +the dangers, the fatigues, and the perpetual anxiety which he had +incurred in the pursuit of unlimited power. His health was greatly +impaired: his former cheerfulness of temper, though not his magnanimity, +appears to have forsaken him; and we behold in his fate a memorable +example of illustrious talents rendered, by inordinate ambition, +destructive to himself, and irretrievably pernicious to his country. + +From beholding the ruin of the Roman Republic, after intestine divisions, +and the distractions of civil war, it will afford some relief to take a +view of the progress of literature, which flourished even during those +calamities. + +The commencement of literature in Rome is to be dated from the reduction +of the Grecian States, when the conquerors imported into their own +country the valuable productions of the Greek language, and the first +essay of Roman genius was in dramatic composition. Livius Andronicus, +who flourished about 240 years before the Christian aera, formed the +Fescennine verses into a kind of regular drama, upon the model of the +Greeks. He was followed some time after by Ennius, who, besides dramatic +and other compositions, (60) wrote the annals of the Roman Republic in +heroic verse. His style, like that of Andronicus, was rough and +unpolished, in conformity to the language of those times; but for +grandeur of sentiment and energy of expression, he was admired by the +greatest poets in the subsequent ages. Other writers of distinguished +reputation in the dramatic department were Naevius, Pacuvius, Plautus, +Afranius, Caecilius, Terence, Accius, etc. Accius and Pacuvius are +mentioned by Quintilian as writers of extraordinary merit. Of +twenty-five comedies written by Plautus, the number transmitted to +posterity is nineteen; and of a hundred and eight which Terence is said to +have translated from Menander, there now remain only six. Excepting a few +inconsiderable fragments, the writings of all the other authors have +perished. The early period of Roman literature was distinguished for the +introduction of satire by Lucilius, an author celebrated for writing with +remarkable ease, but whose compositions, in the opinion of Horace, though +Quintilian thinks otherwise, were debased with a mixture of feculency. +Whatever may have been their merit, they also have perished, with the +works of a number of orators, who adorned the advancing state of letters +in the Roman Republic. It is observable, that during this whole period, +of near two centuries and a half, there appeared not one historian of +eminence sufficient to preserve his name from oblivion. + +Julius Caesar himself is one of the most eminent writers of the age in +which he lived. His commentaries on the Gallic and Civil Wars are +written with a purity, precision, and perspicuity, which command +approbation. They are elegant without affectation, and beautiful without +ornament. Of the two books which he composed on Analogy, and those under +the title of Anti-Cato, scarcely any fragment is preserved; but we may be +assured of the justness of the observations on language, which were made +by an author so much distinguished by the excellence of his own +compositions. His poem entitled The Journey, which was probably an +entertaining narrative, is likewise totally lost. + +The most illustrious prose writer of this or any other age is M. Tullius +Cicero; and as his life is copiously related in biographical works, it +will be sufficient to mention his writings. From his earliest years, he +applied himself with unremitting assiduity to the cultivation of +literature, and, whilst he was yet a boy, wrote a poem, called Glaucus +Pontius, which was extant in Plutarch's time. Amongst his juvenile +productions was a translation into Latin verse, of Aratus on the +Phaenomena of the Heavens; of which many fragments are still extant. He +also published a poem of the heroic kind, in honour of his countryman C. +Marius, who was born at Arpinum, the birth-place of Cicero. (61) This +production was greatly admired by Atticus; and old Scaevola was so much +pleased with it, that in an epigram written on the subject, he declares +that it would live as long as the Roman name and learning subsisted. +From a little specimen which remains of it, describing a memorable omen +given to Marina from an oak at Arpinum, there is reason to believe that +his poetical genius was scarcely inferior to his oratorical, had it been +cultivated with equal industry. He published another poem called Limon, +of which Donatus has preserved four lines in the life of Terence, in +praise of the elegance and purity of that poet's style. He composed in +the Greek language, and in the style and manner of Isocrates, a +Commentary or Memoirs of the Transactions of his Consulship. This he +sent to Atticus, with a desire, if he approved it, to publish it in +Athens and the cities of Greece. He sent a copy of it likewise to +Posidonius of Rhodes, and requested of him to undertake the same subject +in a more elegant and masterly manner. But the latter returned for +answer, that, instead of being encouraged to write by the perusal of his +tract, he was quite deterred from attempting it. + +Upon the plan of those Memoirs, he afterwards composed a Latin poem in +three books, in which he carried down the history to the end of his +exile, but did not publish it for several years, from motives of +delicacy. The three books were severally inscribed to the three Muses; +but of this work there now remain only a few fragments, scattered in +different parts of his other writings. He published, about the same +time, a collection of the principal speeches which he had made in his +consulship, under the title of his Consular Orations. They consisted +originally of twelve; but four are entirely lost, and some of the rest +are imperfect. He now published also, in Latin verse, a translation of +the Prognostics of Aratus, of which work no more than two or three small +fragments now remain. A few years after, he put the last hand to his +Dialogues upon the Character and Idea of the perfect Orator. This +admirable work remains entire; a monument both of the astonishing +industry and transcendent abilities of its author. At his Cuman villa, +he next began a Treatise on Politics, or on the best State of a City, and +the Duties of a Citizen. He calls it a great and a laborious work, yet +worthy of his pains, if he could succeed in it. This likewise was +written in the form of a dialogue, in which the speakers were Scipio, +Laelius, Philus, Manilius, and other great persons in the former times of +the Republic. It was comprised in six books, and survived him for +several ages, though it is now unfortunately lost. From the fragments +which remain, it appears to have been a masterly production, in which all +the important questions in politics and morality were discussed with +elegance and accuracy. + +(62) Amidst all the anxiety for the interests of the Republic, which +occupied the thoughts of this celebrated personage, he yet found leisure +to write several philosophical tracts, which still subsist, to the +gratification of the literary world. He composed a treatise on the +Nature of the Gods, in three books, containing a comprehensive view of +religion, faith, oaths, ceremonies, etc. In elucidating this important +subject, he not only delivers the opinions of all the philosophers who +had written anything concerning it, but weighs and compares attentively +all the arguments with each other; forming upon the whole such a rational +and perfect system of natural religion, as never before was presented to +the consideration of mankind, and approaching nearly to revelation. He +now likewise composed in two books, a discourse on Divination, in which +he discusses at large all the arguments that may be advanced for and +against the actual existence of such a species of knowledge. Like the +preceding works, it is written in the form of dialogue, and in which the +chief speaker is Laelius. The same period gave birth to his treatise on +Old Age, called Cato Major; and to that on Friendship, written also in +dialogue, and in which the chief speaker is Laelius. This book, +considered merely as an essay, is one of the most entertaining +productions of ancient times; but, beheld as a picture drawn from life, +exhibiting the real characters and sentiments of men of the first +distinction for virtue and wisdom in the Roman Republic, it becomes +doubly interesting to every reader of observation and taste. Cicero now +also wrote his discourse on Fate, which was the subject of a conversation +with Hirtius, in his villa near Puteoli; and he executed about the same +time a translation of Plato's celebrated Dialogue, called Timaeus, on the +nature and origin of the universe. He was employing himself also on a +history of his own times, or rather of his own conduct; full of free and +severe reflections on those who had abused their power to the oppression +of the Republic. Dion Cassius says, that he delivered this book sealed +up to his son, with strict orders not to read or publish it till after +his death; but from this time he never saw his son, and it is probable +that he left the work unfinished. Afterwards, however, some copies of it +were circulated; from which his commentator, Asconius, has quoted several +particulars. + +During a voyage which he undertook to Sicily, he wrote his treatise on +Topics, or the Art of finding Arguments on any Question. This was an +abstract from Aristotle's treatise on the same subject; and though he had +neither Aristotle nor any other book to assist him, he drew it up from +his memory, and finished it as he sailed along the coast of Calabria. +The last (63) work composed by Cicero appears to have been his Offices, +written for the use of his son, to whom it is addressed. This treatise +contains a system of moral conduct, founded upon the noblest principles +of human action, and recommended by arguments drawn from the purest +sources of philosophy. + +Such are the literary productions of this extraordinary man, whose +comprehensive understanding enabled him to conduct with superior ability +the most abstruse disquisitions into moral and metaphysical science. +Born in an age posterior to Socrates and Plato, he could not anticipate +the principles inculcated by those divine philosophers, but he is justly +entitled to the praise, not only of having prosecuted with unerring +judgment the steps which they trod before him, but of carrying his +researches to greater extent into the most difficult regions of +philosophy. This too he had the merit to perform, neither in the station +of a private citizen, nor in the leisure of academic retirement, but in +the bustle of public life, amidst the almost constant exertions of the +bar, the employment of the magistrate, the duty of the senator, and the +incessant cares of the statesman; through a period likewise chequered +with domestic afflictions and fatal commotions in the Republic. As a +philosopher, his mind appears to have been clear, capacious, penetrating, +and insatiable of knowledge. As a writer, he was endowed with every +talent that could captivate either the judgment or taste. His researches +were continually employed on subjects of the greatest utility to mankind, +and those often such as extended beyond the narrow bounds of temporal +existence. The being of a God, the immortality of the soul, a future +state of rewards and punishments, and the eternal distinction of good and +evil; these were in general the great objects of his philosophical +enquiries, and he has placed them in a more convincing point of view than +they ever were before exhibited to the pagan world. The variety and +force of the arguments which he advances, the splendour of his diction, +and the zeal with which he endeavours to excite the love and admiration +of virtue, all conspire to place his character, as a philosophical +writer, including likewise his incomparable eloquence, on the summit of +human celebrity. + +The form of dialogue, so much used by Cicero, he doubtless adopted in +imitation of Plato, who probably took the hint of it from the colloquial +method of instruction practised by Socrates. In the early stage of +philosophical enquiry, this mode of composition was well adapted, if not +to the discovery, at least to the confirmation of moral truth; especially +as the practice was then not uncommon, for speculative men to converse +together on important subjects, for mutual information. In treating of +any subject respecting which the different sects of philosophers differed +(64) from each other in point of sentiment, no kind of composition could +be more happily suited than dialogue, as it gave alternately full scope +to the arguments of the various disputants. It required, however, that +the writer should exert his understanding with equal impartiality and +acuteness on the different sides of the question; as otherwise he might +betray a cause under the appearance of defending it. In all the +dialogues of Cicero, he manages the arguments of the several disputants +in a manner not only the most fair and interesting, but also such as +leads to the most probable and rational conclusion. + +After enumerating the various tracts composed and published by Cicero, we +have now to mention his Letters, which, though not written for +publication, deserve to be ranked among the most interesting remains of +Roman literature. The number of such as are addressed to different +correspondents is considerable, but those to Atticus alone, his +confidential friend, amount to upwards of four hundred; among which are +many of great length. They are all written in the genuine spirit of the +most approved epistolary composition; uniting familiarity with elevation, +and ease with elegance. They display in a beautiful light the author's +character in the social relations of life; as a warm friend, a zealous +patron, a tender husband, an affectionate brother, an indulgent father, +and a kind master. Beholding them in a more extensive view, they exhibit +an ardent love of liberty and the constitution of his country: they +discover a mind strongly actuated with the principles of virtue and +reason; and while they abound in sentiments the most judicious and +philosophical, they are occasionally blended with the charms of wit, and +agreeable effusions of pleasantry. What is likewise no small addition to +their merit, they contain much interesting description of private life, +with a variety of information relative to public transactions and +characters of that age. It appears from Cicero's correspondence, that +there was at that time such a number of illustrious Romans, as never +before existed in any one period of the Republic. If ever, therefore, +the authority of men the most respectable for virtue, rank, and +abilities, could have availed to overawe the first attempts at a +violation of public liberty, it must have been at this period; for the +dignity of the Roman senate was now in the zenith of its splendour. + +Cicero has been accused of excessive vanity, and of arrogating to himself +an invidious superiority, from his extraordinary talents but whoever +peruses his letters to Atticus, must readily acknowledge, that this +imputation appears to be destitute of truth. In those excellent +productions, though he adduces the strongest arguments for and against +any object of consideration, that the (65) most penetrating understanding +can suggest, weighs them with each other, and draws from them the most +rational conclusions, he yet discovers such a diffidence in his own +opinion, that he resigns himself implicitly to the judgment and direction +of his friend; a modesty not very compatible with the disposition of the +arrogant, who are commonly tenacious of their own opinion, particularly +in what relates to any decision of the understanding. + +It is difficult to say, whether Cicero appears in his letters more great +or amiable: but that he was regarded by his contemporaries in both these +lights, and that too in the highest degree, is sufficiently evident. We +may thence infer, that the great poets in the subsequent age must have +done violence to their own liberality and discernment, when, in +compliment to Augustus, whose sensibility would have been wounded by the +praises of Cicero, and even by the mention of his name, they have so +industriously avoided the subject, as not to afford the most distant +intimation that this immortal orator and philosopher had ever existed. +Livy however, there is reason to think, did some justice to his memory: +but it was not until the race of the Caesars had become extinct, that he +received the free and unanimous applause of impartial posterity. Such +was the admiration which Quintilian entertained of his writings, that he +considered the circumstance or being delighted with them, as an +indubitable proof of judgment and taste in literature. Ille se +profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valde placebit. [105] + +In this period is likewise to be placed M. Terentius Varro, the +celebrated Roman grammarian, and the Nestor of ancient learning. The +first mention made of him is, that he was lieutenant to Pompey in his +piratical wars, and obtained in that service a naval crown. In the civil +wars he joined the side of the Republic, and was taken by Caesar; by whom +he was likewise proscribed, but obtained a remission of the sentence. Of +all the ancients, he has acquired the greatest fame for his extensive +erudition; and we may add, that he displayed the same industry in +communicating, as he had done in collecting it. His works originally +amounted to no less than five hundred volumes, which have all perished, +except a treatise De Lingua Latina, and one De Re Rustica. Of the former +of these, which is addressed to Cicero, three books at the beginning are +also lost. It appears from the introduction of the fourth book, that +they all related to etymology. The first contained such observations as +might be made against it; the second, such as might be made in its +favour; and the third, observations upon it. He next proceeds to +investigate the origin of (66) Latin words. In the fourth book, he +traces those which relate to place; in the fifth, those connected with +the idea of time; and in the sixth, the origin of both these classes, as +they appear in the writings of the poets. The seventh book is employed +on declension; in which the author enters upon a minute and extensive +enquiry, comprehending a variety of acute and profound observations on +the formation of Latin nouns, and their respective natural declinations +from the nominative case. In the eighth, he examines the nature and +limits of usage and analogy in language; and in the ninth and last book +on the subject, takes a general view of what is the reverse of analogy, +viz. anomaly. The precision and perspicuity which Varro displays in this +work merit the highest encomiums, and justify the character given him in +his own time, of being the most learned of the Latin grammarians. To the +loss of the first three books, are to be added several chasms in the +others; but fortunately they happen in such places as not to affect the +coherency of the author's doctrine, though they interrupt the +illustration of it. It is observable that this great grammarian makes +use of quom for quum, heis for his, and generally queis for quibus. This +practice having become rather obsolete at the time in which he wrote, we +must impute his continuance of it to his opinion of its propriety, upon +its established principles of grammar, and not to any prejudice of +education, or an affectation of singularity. As Varro makes no mention +of Caesar's treatise on Analogy, and had commenced author long before +him, it is probable that Caesar's production was of a much later date; +and thence we may infer, that those two writers differed from each other, +at least with respect to some particulars on that subject. + +This author's treatise De Re Rustica was undertaken at the desire of a +friend, who, having purchased some lands, requested of Varro the favour +of his instructions relative to farming, and the economy of a country +life, in its various departments. Though Varro was at this time in his +eightieth year, he writes with all the vivacity, though without the +levity, of youth, and sets out with invoking, not the Muses, like Homer +and Ennius, as he observes, but the twelve deities supposed to be chiefly +concerned in the operations of agriculture. It appears from the account +which he gives, that upwards of fifty Greek authors had treated of this +subject in prose, besides Hesiod and Menecrates the Ephesian, who both +wrote in verse; exclusive likewise of many Roman writers, and of Mago the +Carthaginian, who wrote in the Punic language. Varro's work is divided +into three books, the first of which treats of agriculture; the second, +of rearing of cattle; and the third, of feeding animals for the use of +the table. (67) In the last of these, we meet with a remarkable instance +of the prevalence of habit and fashion over human sentiment, where the +author delivers instructions relative to the best method of fattening +rats. + +We find from Quintilian, that Varro likewise composed satires in various +kinds of verse. It is impossible to behold the numerous fragments of +this venerable author without feeling the strongest regret for the loss +of that vast collection of information which he had compiled, and of +judicious observations which he had made on a variety of subjects, during +a life of eighty-eight years, almost entirely devoted to literature. The +remark of St. Augustine is well founded, That it is astonishing how +Varro, who read such a number of books, could find time to compose so +many volumes; and how he who composed so many volumes, could be at +leisure to peruse such a variety of books, and to gain so much literary +information. + +Catullus is said to have been born at Verona, of respectable parents; his +father and himself being in the habit of intimacy with Julius Caesar. He +was brought to Rome by Mallius, to whom several of his epigrams are +addressed. The gentleness of his manners, and his application to study, +we are told, recommended him to general esteem; and he had the good +fortune to obtain the patronage of Cicero. When he came to be known as a +poet, all these circumstances would naturally contribute to increase his +reputation for ingenuity; and accordingly we find his genius applauded by +several of his contemporaries. It appears that his works are not +transmitted entire to posterity; but there remain sufficient specimens by +which we may be enabled to appreciate his poetical talents. + +Quintilian, and Diomed the grammarian, have ranked Catullus amongst the +iambic writers, while others have placed him amongst the lyric. He has +properly a claim to each of these stations; but his versification being +chiefly iambic, the former of the arrangements seems to be the most +suitable. The principal merit of Catullus's Iambics consists in a +simplicity of thought and expression. The thoughts, however, are often +frivolous, and, what is yet more reprehensible, the author gives way to +gross obscenity: in vindication of which, he produces the following +couplet, declaring that a good poet ought to be chaste in his own person, +but that his verses need not be so. + + Nam castum esse decet pium poetam + Ipsum: versiculos nihil necesse est. + +This sentiment has been frequently cited by those who were inclined to +follow the example of Catullus; but if such a practice be in any case +admissible, it is only where the poet personates (68) a profligate +character; and the instances in which it is adopted by Catullus are not +of that description. It had perhaps been a better apology, to have +pleaded the manners of the times; for even Horace, who wrote only a few +years after, has suffered his compositions to be occasionally debased by +the same kind of blemish. + +Much has been said of this poet's invective against Caesar, which +produced no other effect than an invitation to sup at the dictator's +house. It was indeed scarcely entitled to the honour of the smallest +resentment. If any could be shewn, it must have been for the freedom +used by the author, and not for any novelty in his lampoon. There are +two poems on this subject, viz. the twenty-ninth and fifty-seventh, in +each of which Caesar is joined with Mamurra, a Roman knight, who had +acquired great riches in the Gallic war. For the honour of Catullus's +gratitude, we should suppose that the latter is the one to which +historians allude: but, as poetical compositions, they are equally +unworthy of regard. The fifty seventh is nothing more than a broad +repetition of the raillery, whether well or ill founded, with which +Caesar was attacked on various occasions, and even in the senate, after +his return from Bithynia. Caesar had been taunted with this subject for +upwards of thirty years; and after so long a familiarity with reproach, +his sensibility to the scandalous imputation must now have been much +diminished, if not entirely extinguished. The other poem is partly in +the same strain, but extended to greater length, by a mixture of common +jocular ribaldry of the Roman soldiers, expressed nearly in the same +terms which Caesar's legions, though strongly attached to his person, +scrupled not to sport publicly in the streets of Rome, against their +general, during the celebration of his triumph. In a word, it deserves +to be regarded as an effusion of Saturnalian licentiousness, rather than +of poetry. With respect to the Iambics of Catullus, we may observe in +general, that the sarcasm is indebted for its force, not so much to +ingenuity of sentiment, as to the indelicate nature of the subject, or +coarseness of expression. + +The descriptive poems of Catullus are superior to the others, and +discover a lively imagination. Amongst the best of his productions, is a +translation of the celebrated ode of Sappho: + + Ille mi par esse Deo videtur, + me, etc. + +This ode is executed both with spirit and elegance; it is, however, +imperfect; and the last stanza seems to be spurious. Catullus's epigrams +are entitled to little praise, with regard either to sentiment or point; +and on the whole, his merit, as a poet, appears to have been magnified +beyond its real extent. He is said to have died about the thirtieth year +of his age. + +(69) Lucretius is the author of a celebrated poem, in six books, De Rerum +Natura; a subject which had been treated many ages before by Empedocles, +a philosopher and poet of Agrigentum. Lucretius was a zealous partizan +of Democritus, and the sect of Epicurus, whose principles concerning the +eternity of matter, the materiality of the soul, and the non-existence of +a future state of rewards and punishments, he affects to maintain with a +certainty equal to that of mathematical demonstration. Strongly +prepossessed with the hypothetical doctrines of his master, and ignorant +of the physical system of the universe, he endeavours to deduce from the +phenomena of the material world conclusions not only unsupported by +legitimate theory, but repugnant to the principles of the highest +authority in metaphysical disquisition. But while we condemn his +speculative notions as degrading to human nature, and subversive of the +most important interests of mankind, we must admit that he has prosecuted +his visionary hypothesis with uncommon ingenuity. Abstracting from it +the rhapsodical nature of this production, and its obscurity in some +parts, it has great merit as a poem. The style is elevated, and the +versification in general harmonious. By the mixture of obsolete words, +it possesses an air of solemnity well adapted to abstruse researches; at +the same time that by the frequent resolution of diphthongs, it instils +into the Latin the sonorous and melodious powers of the Greek language. + +While Lucretius was engaged in this work, he fell into a state of +insanity, occasioned, as is supposed, by a philtre, or love-potion, given +him by his wife Lucilia. The complaint, however, having lucid intervals, +he employed them in the execution of his plan, and, soon after it was +finished, laid violent hands upon himself, in the forty-third year of his +age. This fatal termination of his life, which perhaps proceeded from +insanity, was ascribed by his friends and admirers to his concern for the +banishment of one Memmius, with whom he was intimately connected, and for +the distracted state of the republic. It was, however, a catastrophe +which the principles of Epicurus, equally erroneous and irreconcilable to +resignation and fortitude, authorized in particular circumstances. Even +Atticus, the celebrated correspondent of Cicero, a few years after this +period, had recourse to the same desperate expedient, by refusing all +sustenance, while he laboured under a lingering disease. + +It is said that Cicero revised the poem of Lucretius after the death of +the author, and this circumstance is urged by the abettors of atheism, as +a proof that the principles contained in the work had the sanction of his +authority. But no inference in favour of Lucretius's doctrine can justly +be drawn from this circumstance. (70) Cicero, though already +sufficiently acquainted with the principles of the Epicurean sect, might +not be averse to the perusal of a production, which collected and +enforced them in a nervous strain of poetry; especially as the work was +likely to prove interesting to his friend Atticus, and would perhaps +afford subject for some letters or conversation between them. It can +have been only with reference to composition that the poem was submitted +to Cicero's revisal: for had he been required to exercise his judgment +upon its principles, he must undoubtedly have so much mutilated the work, +as to destroy the coherency of the system. He might be gratified with +the shew of elaborate research, and confident declamation, which it +exhibited, but he must have utterly disapproved of the conclusions which +the author endeavoured to establish. According to the best information, +Lucretius died in the year from the building of Rome 701, when Pompey was +the third time consul. Cicero lived several years beyond this period, +and in the two last years of his life, he composed those valuable works +which contain sentiments diametrically repugnant to the visionary system +of Epicurus. The argument, therefore, drawn from Cicero's revisal, so +far from confirming the principle of Lucretius, affords the strongest +tacit declaration against their validity; because a period sufficient for +mature consideration had elapsed, before Cicero published his own +admirable system of philosophy. The poem of Lucretius, nevertheless, has +been regarded as the bulwark of atheism--of atheism, which, while it +impiously arrogates the support of reason, both reason and nature +disclaim. + +Many more writers flourished in this period, but their works have totally +perished. Sallust was now engaged in historical productions; but as they +were not yet completed, they will be noticed in the next division of the +review. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[1] Plin. Epist. i. 18, 24, iii. 8, v. 11, ix. 34, x. 95. + +[2] Lycee, part I. liv. III. c. i. + +[3] Julius Caesar Divus. Romulus, the founder of Rome, had the honour +of an apotheosis conferred on him by the senate, under the title of +Quirinus, to obviate the people's suspicion of his having been taken off +by a conspiracy of the patrician order. Political circumstances again +concurred with popular superstition to revive this posthumous adulation +in favour of Julius Caesar, the founder of the empire, who also fell by +the hands of conspirators. It is remarkable in the history of a nation +so jealous of public liberty, that, in both instances, they bestowed the +highest mark of human homage upon men who owed their fate to the +introduction of arbitrary power. + +[4] Pliny informs us that Caius Julius, the father of Julius Caesar, a +man of pretorian rank, died suddenly at Pisa. + +[5] A.U.C. (in the year from the foundation of Rome) 670; A.C. (before +Christ) about 92. + +[6] Flamen Dialis. This was an office of great dignity, but subjected +the holder to many restrictions. He was not allowed to ride on +horseback, nor to absent himself from the city for a single night. His +wife was also under particular restraints, and could not be divorced. If +she died, the flamen resigned his office, because there were certain +sacred rites which he could not perform without her assistance. Besides +other marks of distinction, he wore a purple robe called laena, and a +conical mitre called apex. + +[7] Two powerful parties were contending at Rome for the supremacy; +Sylla being at the head of the faction of the nobles, while Marius +espoused the cause of the people. Sylla suspected Julius Caesar of +belonging to the Marian party, because Marius had married his aunt Julia. + +[8] He wandered about for some time in the Sabine territory. + +[9] Bithynia, in Asia Minor, was bounded on the south by Phrygia, on the +west by the Bosphorus and Propontis; and on the north by the Euxine sea. +Its boundaries towards the east are not clearly ascertained, Strabo, +Pliny, and Ptolemy differing from each other on the subject. + +[10] Mitylene was a city in the island of Lesbos, famous for the study +of philosophy and eloquence. According to Pliny, it remained a free city +and in power one thousand five hundred years. It suffered much in the +Peloponnesian war from the Athenians, and in the Mithridatic from the +Romans, by whom it was taken and destroyed. But it soon rose again, +having recovered its ancient liberty by the favour of Pomnpey; and was +afterwards much embellished by Trajan, who added to it the splendour of +his own name. This was the country of Pittacus, one of the seven wise +men of Greece, as well as of Alcaeus and Sappho. The natives showed a +particular taste for poetry, and had, as Plutarch informs us, stated +times for the celebration of poetical contests. + +[11] The civic crown was made of oak-leaves, and given to him who had +saved the life of a citizen. The person thus decorated, wore it at +public spectacles, and sat next the senators. When he entered, the +audience rose up, as a mark of respect. + +[12] A very extensive country of Hither Asia; lying between Pamphylia to +the west, Mount Taurus and Amanus to the north, Syria to the east, and +the Mediterranean to the south. It was anciently famous for saffron; and +hair-cloth, called by the Romans ciliciun, was the manufacture of this +country. + +[13] A city and an island, near the coast of Caria famous for the huge +statue of the Sun, called the Colossus. The Rhodians were celebrated not +only for skill in naval affairs, but for learning, philosophy, and +eloquence. During the latter periods of the Roman republic, and under +some of the emperors, numbers resorted there to prosecute their studies; +and it also became a place of retreat to discontented Romans. + +[14] Pharmacusa, an island lying off the coast of Asia, near Miletus. +It is now called Parmosa. + +[15] The ransom, too large for Caesar's private means, was raised by the +voluntary contributions of the cities in the Asiatic province, who were +equally liberal from their public funds in the case of other Romans who +fell into the hands of pirates at that period. + +[16] From Miletus, as we are informed by Plutarch. + +[17] Who commanded in Spain. + +[18] Rex, it will be easily understood, was not a title of dignity in a +Roman family, but the surname of the Marcii. + +[19] The rites of the Bona Dea, called also Fauna, which were performed +in the night, and by women only. + +[20] Hispania Boetica; the Hither province being called Hispania +Tarraconensis. + +[21] Alexander the Great was only thirty-three years at the time of his +death. + +[22] The proper office of the master of the horse was to command the +knights, and execute the orders of the dictator. He was usually +nominated from amongst persons of consular and praetorian dignity; and +had the use of a horse, which the dictator had not, without the order of +the people. + +[23] Seneca compares the annals of Tanusius to the life of a fool, +which, though it may he long, is worthless; while that of a wise man, +like a good book, is valuable, however short.--Epist. 94. + +[24] Bibulus was Caesar's colleague, both as edile and consul. Cicero +calls his edicts "Archilochian," that is, as full of spite as the verses +of Archilochus.--Ad. Attic. b. 7. ep. 24. + +[25] A.U.C. 689. Cicero holds both the Curio's, father and son, very +cheap.--Brut. c. 60. + +[26] Regnum, the kingly power, which the Roman people considered an +insupportable tyranny. + +[27] An honourable banishment. + +[28] The assemblies of the people were at first held in the open Forum. +Afterwards, a covered building, called the Comitium, was erected for that +purpose. There are no remains of it, but Lumisden thinks that it +probably stood on the south side of the Forum, on the site of the present +church of The Consolation.--Antiq. of Rome, p. 357. + +[29] Basilicas, from Basileus; a king. They were, indeed, the palaces +of the sovereign people; stately and spacious buildings, with halls, +which served the purpose of exchanges, council chambers, and courts of +justice. Some of the Basilicas were afterwards converted into Christian +churches. "The form was oblong; the middle was an open space to walk in, +called Testudo, and which we now call the nave. On each side of this +were rows of pillars, which formed what we should call the side-aisles, +and which the ancients called Porticus. The end of the Testudo was +curved, like the apse of some of our churches, and was called Tribunal, +from causes being heard there. Hence the term Tribune is applied to that +part of the Roman churches which is behind the high altar."--Burton's +Antiq. of Rome, p. 204. + +[30] Such as statues and pictures, the works of Greek artists. + +[31] It appears to have stood at the foot of the Capitoline hill. +Piranesi thinks that the two beautiful columns of white marble, which are +commonly described as belonging to the portico of the temple of Jupiter +Stator, are the remains of the temple of Castor and Pollux. + +[32] Ptolemy Auletes, the son of Cleopatra. + +[33] Lentulus, Cethegus, and others. + +[34] The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was commenced and completed by +the Tarquins, kings of Rome, but not dedicated till the year after their +expulsion, when that honour devolved on M. Horatius Fulvillus, the first +of the consuls. Having been burnt down during the civil wars, A.U.C. +670, Sylla restored it on the same foundations, but did not live to +consecrate it. + +[35] Meaning Pompey; not so much for the sake of the office, as having +his name inserted in the inscription recording the repairs of the +Capitol, instead of Catulus. The latter, however, secured the honour, +and his name is still seen inscribed in an apartment at the Capitol, as +its restorer. + +[36] It being the calends of January, the first day of the year, on +which the magistrates solemnly entered on their offices, surrounded by +their friends. + +[37] Among others, one for recalling Pompey from Asia, under the pretext +that the commonwealth was in danger. Cato was one of the colleagues who +saw through the design and opposed the decree. + +[38] See before, p. 5. This was in A.U.C. 693. + +[39] Plutarch informs us, that Caesar, before he came into office, owed +his creditors 1300 talents, somewhat more than 565,000 pounds of our +money. But his debts increased so much after this period, if we may +believe Appian, that upon his departure for Spain, at the expiration of +his praetorship, he is reported to have said, Bis millies et quingenties +centena minis sibi adesse oportere, ut nihil haberet: i. e. That he was +2,000,000 and nearly 20,000 sesterces worse than penniless. Crassus +became his security for 830 talents, about 871,500 pounds. + +[40] For his victories in Gallicia and Lusitania, having led his army to +the shores of the ocean, which had not before been reduced to submission. + +[41] Caesar was placed in this dilemma, that if he aspired to a triumph, +he must remain outside the walls until it took place, while as a +candidate for the consulship, he must be resident in the city. + +[42] Even the severe censor was biassed by political expediency to +sanction a system, under which what little remained of public virtue, and +the love of liberty at Rome, were fast decaying. The strict laws against +bribery at elections were disregarded, and it was practised openly, and +accepted without a blush. Sallust says that everything was venal, and +that Rome itself might be bought, if any one was rich enough to purchase +it. Jugurth, viii. 20, 3. + +[43] A.U.C. 695. + +[44] The proceedings of the senate were reported in short notes taken by +one of their own order, "strangers" not being admitted at their sittings. +These notes included speeches as well as acts. These and the proceedings +of the assemblies of the people, were daily published in journals +[diurna] which contained also accounts of the trials at law, with +miscellaneous intelligence of births and deaths, marriages and divorces. +The practice of publishing the proceedings of the senate, introduced by +Julius Caesar, was discontinued by Augustus. + +[45] Within the city, the lictors walked before only one of the consuls, +and that commonly for a month alternately. A public officer, called +Accensus, preceded the other consul, and the lictors followed. This +custom had long been disused, but was now restored by Caesar. + +[46] In order that he might be a candidate for the tribuneship of the +people; it was done late in the evening, at an unusual hour for public +business. + +[47] Gaul was divided into two provinces, Transalpine, or Gallia +Ulterior, and Cisalpina, or Citerior. The Citerior, having nearly the +same limits as Lombardy in after times, was properly a part of Italy, +occupied by colonists from Gaul, and, having the Rubicon, the ancient +boundary of Italy, on the south. It was also called Gallia Togata, from +the use of the Roman toga; the inhabitants being, after the social war, +admitted to the right of citizens. The Gallia Transalpina, or Ulterior, +was called Comata, from the people wearing their hair long, while the +Romans wore it short; and the southern part, afterwards called +Narbonensis, came to have the epithet Braccata, from the use of the +braccae, which were no part of the Roman dress. Some writers suppose the +braccae to have been breeches, but Aldus, in a short disquisition on the +subject, affirms that they were a kind of upper dress. And this opinion +seems to be countenanced by the name braccan being applied by the modern +Celtic nations, the descendants of the Gallic Celts, to signify their +upper garment, or plaid. + +[48] Alluding, probably, to certain scandals of a gross character +which were rife against Caesar. See before, c. ii. (p. 2) and see also +c. xlix. + +[49] So called from the feathers on their helmets, resembling the crest +of a lark; Alauda, Fr. Alouette. + +[50] Days appointed by the senate for public thanksgiving in the temples +in the name of a victorious general, who had in the decrees the title of +emperor, by which they were saluted by the legions. + +[51] A.U.C. 702. + +[52] Aurelia. + +[53] Julia, the wife of Pompey, who died in childbirth. + +[54] Conquest had so multiplied business at Rome, that the Roman Forum +became too little for transacting it, and could not be enlarged without +clearing away the buildings with which it was surrounded. Hence the +enormous sum which its site is said to have cost, amounting, it is +calculated, to 809,291 pounds of our money. It stood near the old forum, +behind the temple of Romulus and Remus, but not a vestige of it remains. + +[55] Comum was a town of the Orobii, of ancient standing, and formerly +powerful. Julius Caesar added to it five thousand new colonists; whence +it was generally called Novocomum. But in time it recovered its ancient +name, Comum; Pliny the younger, who was a native of this place, calling +it by no other name. + +[56] A.U.C. 705. + +[57] Eiper gar adikein chrae, tyrannidos peri + Kalliston adikein talla de eusebein chreon. +--Eurip. Phoeniss. Act II, where Eteocles aspires to become the tyrant of +Thebes. + +[58] Now the Pisatello; near Rimini. There was a very ancient law of +the republic, forbidding any general, returning from the wars, to cross +the Rubicon with his troops under arms. + +[59] The ring was worn on the finger next to the little finger of the +left hand. + +[60] Suetonius here accounts for the mistake of the soldiers with great +probability. The class to which they imagined they were to be promoted, +was that of the equites, or knights, who wore a gold ring, and were +possessed of property to the amount stated in the text. Great as was the +liberality of Caesar to his legions, the performance of this imaginary +promise was beyond all reasonable expectation. + +[61] A.U.C. 706. + +[62] Elephants were first introduced at Rome by Pompey the Great, in his +African triumph. + +[63] VENI, VIDI, VICI. + +[64] A.U.C. 708. + +[65] Gladiators were first publicly exhibited at Rome by two brothers +called Bruti, at the funeral of their father, A.U.C. 490; and for some +time they were exhibited only on such occasions. But afterwards they +were also employed by the magistrates, to entertain the people, +particularly at the Saturnalia, and feasts of Minerva. These cruel +spectacles were prohibited by Constantine, but not entirely suppressed +until the time of Honorius. + +[66] The Circensian games were shews exhibited in the Circus Maximus, +and consisted of various kinds: first, chariot and horse-races, of which. +the Romans were extravagantly fond. The charioteers were distributed +into four parties, distinguished by the colour of their dress. The +spectators, without regarding the speed of the horses, or the skill of +the men, were attracted merely by one or the other of the colours, as +caprice inclined them. In the time of Justinian, no less than thirty +thousand men lost their lives at Constantinople, in a tumult raised by a +contention amongst the partizans of the several colours. Secondly, +contests of agility and strength; of which there were five kinds, hence +called Pentathlum. These were, running, leaping, boxing, wrestling, and +throwing the discus or quoit. Thirdly, Ludus Trojae, a mock-fight, +performed by young noblemen on horseback, revived by Julius Caesar, and +frequently celebrated by the succeeding emperors. We meet with a +description of it in the fifth book of the Aeneid, beginning with the +following lines: + + Incedunt pueri, pariterque ante ora parentum + Fraenatis lucent in equis: quos omnis euntes + Trinacriae mirata fremit Trojaeque juventus. + +Fourthly, Venatio, which was the fighting of wild beasts with one +another, or with men called Bestiarii, who were either forced to the +combat by way of punishment, as the primitive Christians were, or fought +voluntarily, either from a natural ferocity of disposition, or induced by +hire. An incredible number of animals of various kinds were brought from +all quarters, at a prodigious expense, for the entertainment of the +people. Pompey, in his second consulship, exhibited at once five hundred +lions, which were all dispatched in five days; also eighteen elephants. +Fifthly the representation of a horse and foot battle, with that of an +encampment or a siege. Sixthly, the representation of a sea-fight +(Naumachia), which was at first made in the Circus Maximus, but +afterwards elsewhere. The combatants were usually captives or condemned +malefactors, who fought to death, unless saved by the clemency of the +emperor. If any thing unlucky happened at the games, they were renewed, +and often more than once. + +[67] A meadow beyond the Tiber, in which an excavation was made, +supplied with water from the river. + +[68] Julius Caesar was assisted by Sosigenes, an Egyptian philosopher, +in correcting the calendar. For this purpose he introduced an additional +day every fourth year, making February to consist of twenty-nine days +instead of twenty-eight, and, of course, the whole year to consist of +three hundred and sixty-six days. The fourth year was denominated +Bissextile, or leap year, because the sixth day before the calends, or +first of March, was reckoned twice. + +The Julian year was introduced throughout the Roman empire, and continued +in general use till the year 1582. But the true correction was not six +hours, but five hours, forty-nine minutes; hence the addition was too +great by eleven minutes. This small fraction would amount in one hundred +years to three-fourths of a day, and in a thousand years to more than +seven days. It had, in fact, amounted, since the Julian correction, in +1582, to more than seven days. Pope Gregory XIII., therefore, again +reformed the calendar, first bringing forward the year ten days, by +reckoning the 5th of October the 15th, and then prescribing the rule +which has gradually been adopted throughout Christendom, except in +Russia, and the Greek church generally. + +[69] Principally Carthage and Corinth. + +[70] The Latus Clavus was a broad stripe of purple, on the front of the +toga. Its width distinguished it from that of the knights, who wore it +narrow. + +[71] The Suburra lay between the Celian and Esquiline hills. It was one +of the most frequented quarters of Rome. + +[72] Bede, quoting Solinus, we believe, says that excellent pearls were +found in the British seas, and that they were of all colours, but +principally white. Eccl. Hist. b. i. c. 1. + +[73] --------Bithynia quicquid + Et predicator Caesaris unquam habuit. + +[74] Gallias Caesar subegit, Nicomedes Caesarem; + Ecce Caesar nunc triumphat, qui subegit Gallias: + Nicomedes non triumphat, qui subegit Caesarem. + +[75] Aegisthus, who, like Caesar, was a pontiff, debauched Clytemnestra +while Agamemnon was engaged in the Trojan war, as Caesar did Mucia, the +wife of Pompey, while absent in the war against Mithridates. + +[76] A double entendre; Tertia signifying the third [of the value of the +farm], as well as being the name of the girl, for whose favours the +deduction was made. + +[77] Urbani, servate uxores; moechum calvum adducimus: + Aurum in Gallia effutuisti, hic sumpsisti mutuum. + +[78] Plutarch tells us that the oil was used in a dish of asparagus. +Every traveller knows that in those climates oil takes the place of +butter as an ingredient in cookery, and it needs no experience to fancy +what it is when rancid. + +[79] Meritoria rheda; a light four-wheeled carriage, apparently hired +either for the journey or from town to town. They were tolerably +commodious, for Cicero writes to Atticus, (v. 17.) Hanc epistolam dictavi +sedens in rheda, cum in castra proficiscerer. + +[80] Plutarch informs us that Caesar travelled with such expedition, +that he reached the Rhone on the eighth day after he left Rome. + +[81] Caesar tells us himself that he employed C. Volusenus to +reconnoitre the coast of Britain, sending him forward in a long ship, +with orders to return and make his report before the expedition sailed. + +[82] Religione; that is, the omens being unfavourable. + +[83] The standard of the Roman legions was an eagle fixed on the head of +a spear. It was silver, small in size, with expanded wings, and +clutching a golden thunderbolt in its claw. + +[84] To save them from the torture of a lingering death. + +[85] Now Lerida, in Catalonia. + +[86] The title of emperor was not new in Roman history; 1. It was +sometimes given by the acclamations of the soldiers to those who +commanded them. 2. It was synonymous with conqueror, and the troops +hailed him by that title after a victory. In both these cases it was +merely titular, and not permanent, and was generally written after the +proper name, as Cicero imperator, Lentulo imperatore. 3. It assumed a +permanent and royal character first in the person of Julius Caesar, and +was then generally prefixed to the emperor's name in inscriptions, as +IMP. CAESAR. DIVI. etc. + +[87] Cicero was the first who received the honour of being called "Pater +patriae." + +[88] Statues were placed in the Capitol of each of the seven kings of +Rome, to which an eighth was added in honour of Brutus, who expelled the +last. The statue of Julius Caesar was afterwards raised near them. + +[89] The white fillet was one of the insignia of royalty. Plutarch, on +this occasion, uses the expression, diadaemati basiliko, a royal diadem. + +[90] The Lupercalia was a festival, celebrated in a place called the +Lupercal, in the month of February, in honour of Pan. During the +solemnity, the Luperci, or priests of that god, ran up and down the city +naked, with only a girdle of goat's skin round their waist, and thongs of +the same in their hands; with which they struck those they met, +particularly married women, who were thence supposed to be rendered +prolific. + +[91] Persons appointed to inspect and expound the Sibylline books. + +[92] A.U.C. 709. + +[93] See before, c. xxii. + +[94] This senate-house stood in that part of the Campus Martius which is +now the Campo di Fiore, and was attached by Pompey, "spoliis Orientis +Onustus," to the magnificent theatre, which he built A.U.C. 698, in his +second consulship. His statue, at the foot of which Caesar fell, as +Plutarch tells us, was placed in it. We shall find that Augustus caused +it to be removed. + +[95] The stylus, or graphium, was an iron pen, broad at one end, with a +sharp point at the other, used for writing upon waxen tables, the leaves +or bark of trees, plates of brass, or lead, etc. For writing upon paper +or parchment, the Romans employed a reed, sharpened and split in the +point like our pens, called calamus, arundo, or canna. This they dipped +in the black liquor emitted by the cuttle fish, which served for ink. + +[96] It was customary among the ancients, in great extremities to shroud +the face, in order to conceal any symptoms of horror or alarm which the +countenance might express. The skirt of the toga was drawn round the +lower extremities, that there might be no exposure in falling, as the +Romans, at this period, wore no covering for the thighs and legs. + +[97] Caesar's dying apostrophe to Brutus is represented in all the +editions of Suetonius as uttered in Greek, but with some variations. The +words, as here translated, are Kai su ei ekeinon; kai su teknon. The +Salmasian manuscript omits the latter clause. Some commentators suppose +that the words "my son," were not merely expressive of the difference of +age, or former familiarity between them, but an avowal that Brutus was +the fruit of the connection between Julius and Servilia, mentioned before +[see p. 33]. But it appears very improbable that Caesar, who had never +before acknowledged Brutus to be his son, should make so unnecessary an +avowal, at the moment of his death. Exclusively of this objection, the +apostrophe seems too verbose, both for the suddenness and urgency of the +occasion. But this is not all. Can we suppose that Caesar, though a +perfect master of Greek, would at such a time have expressed himself in +that language, rather than in Latin, his familiar tongue, and in which he +spoke with peculiar elegance? Upon the whole, the probability is, that +the words uttered by Caesar were, Et tu Brute! which, while equally +expressive of astonishment with the other version, and even of +tenderness, are both more natural, and more emphatic. + +[98] Men' me servasse, ut essent qui me perderent? + +[99] The Bulla, generally made of gold, was a hollow globe, which boys +wore upon their breast, pendant from a string or ribbon put round the +neck. The sons of freedmen and poor citizens used globes of leather. + +[100] Josephus frequently mentions the benefits conferred on his +countrymen by Julius Caesar. Antiq. Jud. xiv. 14, 15, 16. + +[101] Appian informs us that it was burnt by the people in their fury, +B. c. xi. p. 521. + +[102] Suetonius particularly refers to the conspirators, who perished at +the battle of Philippi, or in the three years which intervened. The +survivors were included in the reconciliation of Augustus, Antony, and +Pompey, A.U.C. 715. + +[103] Suetonius alludes to Brutus and Cassius, of whom this is related +by Plutarch and Dio. + +[104] For observations on Dr. Thomson's Essays appended to Suetonius's +History of Julius Caesar, and the succeeding Emperors, see the Preface to +this volume. + +[105] He who has a devoted admiration of Cicero, may be sure that he has +made no slight proficiency himself. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Caius Julius Caesar, by C. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars, Volume 1. + [JULIUS CAESAR] + +Author: C. Suetonius Tranquillus + +Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6386] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on December 3, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE CAESARS, SUETONIUS, V1 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + + THE LIVES + OF + THE TWELVE CAESARS + + By + C. Suetonius Tranquillus; + + To which are added, + + HIS LIVES OF THE GRAMMARIANS, RHETORICIANS, AND POETS. + + + The Translation of + Alexander Thomson, M.D. + + revised and corrected by + T.Forester, Esq., A.M. + + + + +PREFACE + + +C. Suetonius Tranquillus was the son of a Roman knight who commanded a +legion, on the side of Otho, at the battle which decided the fate of the +empire in favour of Vitellius. From incidental notices in the following +History, we learn that he was born towards the close of the reign of +Vespasian, who died in the year 79 of the Christian era. He lived till +the time of Hadrian, under whose administration he filled the office of +secretary; until, with several others, he was dismissed for presuming on +familiarities with the empress Sabina, of which we have no further +account than that they were unbecoming his position in the imperial +court. How long he survived this disgrace, which appears to have +befallen him in the year 121, we are not informed; but we find that the +leisure afforded him by his retirement, was employed in the composition +of numerous works, of which the only portions now extant are collected in +the present volume. + +Several of the younger Pliny's letters are addressed to Suetonius, with +whom he lived in the closest friendship. They afford some brief, but +generally pleasant, glimpses of his habits and career; and in a letter, +in which Pliny makes application on behalf of his friend to the emperor +Trajan, for a mark of favour, he speaks of him as "a most excellent, +honourable, and learned man, whom he had the pleasure of entertaining +under his own roof, and with whom the nearer he was brought into +communion, the more he loved him." [1] + +The plan adopted by Suetonius in his Lives of the Twelve Caesars, led him +to be more diffuse on their personal conduct and habits than on public +events. He writes Memoirs rather than History. He neither dwells on the +civil wars which sealed the fall of the Republic, nor on the military +expeditions which extended the frontiers of the empire; nor does he +attempt to develop the causes of the great political changes which marked +the period of which he treats. + +When we stop to gaze in a museum or gallery on the antique busts of the +Caesars, we perhaps endeavour to trace in their sculptured physiognomy +the characteristics of those princes, who, for good or evil, were in +their times masters of the destinies of a large portion of the human +race. The pages of Suetonius will amply gratify this natural curiosity. +In them we find a series of individual portraits sketched to the life, +with perfect truth and rigorous impartiality. La Harpe remarks of +Suetonius, "He is scrupulously exact, and strictly methodical. He omits +nothing which concerns the person whose life he is writing; he relates +everything, but paints nothing. His work is, in some sense, a collection +of anecdotes, but it is very curious to read and consult." [2] + +Combining as it does amusement and information, Suetonius's "Lives of the +Caesars" was held in such estimation, that, so soon after the invention +of printing as the year 1500, no fewer than eighteen editions had been +published, and nearly one hundred have since been added to the number. +Critics of the highest rank have devoted themselves to the task of +correcting and commenting on the text, and the work has been translated +into most European languages. Of the English translations, that of Dr. +Alexander Thomson, published in 1796, has been made the basis of the +present. He informs us in his Preface, that a version of Suetonius was +with him only a secondary object, his principal design being to form a +just estimate of Roman literature, and to elucidate the state of +government, and the manners of the times; for which the work of Suetonius +seemed a fitting vehicle. Dr. Thomson's remarks appended to each +successive reign, are reprinted nearly verbatim in the present edition. +His translation, however, was very diffuse, and retained most of the +inaccuracies of that of Clarke, on which it was founded; considerable +care therefore has been bestowed in correcting it, with the view of +producing, as far as possible, a literal and faithful version. + +To render the works of Suetonius, as far as they are extant, complete, +his Lives of eminent Grammarians, Rhetoricians, and Poets, of which a +translation has not before appeared in English, are added. These Lives +abound with anecdote and curious information connected with learning and +literary men during the period of which the author treats. + T. F. + + +CONTENTS + + I. LIVES OF THE TWELVE CAESARS + 1. Julius Caesar + 2. Augustus + 3. Tiberius + 4. Caligula + 5. Claudius + 6. Nero + 7. Galba + 8. Otho + 9. Vitellius + 10. Vespasian + 11. Titus + 12. Domitian + II. LIVES OF THE GRAMMARIANS AND THE HISTORIANS + III. LIVES OF THE POETS + Terence + Juvenal + Persius + Horace + Lucan + Pliny + FOOTNOTES + INDEX + + + + +(1) + + THE TWELVE CAESARS. + + + CAIUS JULIUS CAESAR. + + +I. Julius Caesar, the Divine [3], lost his father [4] when he was in the +sixteenth year of his age [5]; and the year following, being nominated to +the office of high-priest of Jupiter [6], he repudiated Cossutia, who was +very wealthy, although her family belonged only to the equestrian order, +and to whom he had been contracted when he was a mere boy. He then +married (2) Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, who was four times consul; +and had by her, shortly afterwards, a daughter named Julia. Resisting +all the efforts of the dictator Sylla to induce him to divorce Cornelia, +he suffered the penalty of being stripped of his sacerdotal office, his +wife's dowry, and his own patrimonial estates; and, being identified with +the adverse faction [7], was compelled to withdraw from Rome. After +changing his place of concealment nearly every night [8], although he was +suffering from a quartan ague, and having effected his release by bribing +the officers who had tracked his footsteps, he at length obtained a +pardon through the intercession of the vestal virgins, and of Mamercus +Aemilius and Aurelius Cotta, his near relatives. We are assured that +when Sylla, having withstood for a while the entreaties of his own best +friends, persons of distinguished rank, at last yielded to their +importunity, he exclaimed--either by a divine impulse, or from a shrewd +conjecture: "Your suit is granted, and you may take him among you; but +know," he added, "that this man, for whose safety you are so extremely +anxious, will, some day or other, be the ruin of the party of the nobles, +in defence of which you are leagued with me; for in this one Caesar, you +will find many a Marius." + +II. His first campaign was served in Asia, on the staff of the praetor, +M. Thermus; and being dispatched into Bithynia [9], to bring thence a +fleet, he loitered so long at the court of Nicomedes, as to give occasion +to reports of a criminal intercourse between him and that prince; which +received additional credit from his hasty return to Bithynia, under the +pretext of recovering a debt due to a freed-man, his client. The rest of +his service was more favourable to his reputation; and (3) when Mitylene +[10] was taken by storm, he was presented by Thermus with the civic +crown. [11] + +III. He served also in Cilicia [12], under Servilius Isauricus, but only +for a short time; as upon receiving intelligence of Sylla's death, he +returned with all speed to Rome, in expectation of what might follow from +a fresh agitation set on foot by Marcus Lepidus. Distrusting, however, +the abilities of this leader, and finding the times less favourable for +the execution of this project than he had at first imagined, he abandoned +all thoughts of joining Lepidus, although he received the most tempting +offers. + +IV. Soon after this civil discord was composed, he preferred a charge of +extortion against Cornelius Dolabella, a man of consular dignity, who had +obtained the honour of a triumph. On the acquittal of the accused, he +resolved to retire to Rhodes [13], with the view not only of avoiding the +public odium (4) which he had incurred, but of prosecuting his studies +with leisure and tranquillity, under Apollonius, the son of Molon, at +that time the most celebrated master of rhetoric. While on his voyage +thither, in the winter season, he was taken by pirates near the island of +Pharmacusa [14], and detained by them, burning with indignation, for +nearly forty days; his only attendants being a physician and two +chamberlains. For he had instantly dispatched his other servants and the +friends who accompanied him, to raise money for his ransom [15]. Fifty +talents having been paid down, he was landed on the coast, when, having +collected some ships [16], he lost no time in putting to sea in pursuit +of the pirates, and having captured them, inflicted upon them the +punishment with which he had often threatened them in jest. At that time +Mithridates was ravaging the neighbouring districts, and on Caesar's +arrival at Rhodes, that he might not appear to lie idle while danger +threatened the allies of Rome, he passed over into Asia, and having +collected some auxiliary forces, and driven the king's governor out of +the province, retained in their allegiance the cities which were +wavering, and ready to revolt. + +V. Having been elected military tribune, the first honour he received +from the suffrages of the people after his return to Rome, he zealously +assisted those who took measures for restoring the tribunitian authority, +which had been greatly diminished during the usurpation of Sylla. He +likewise, by an act, which Plotius at his suggestion propounded to the +people, obtained the recall of Lucius Cinna, his wife's brother, and +others with him, who having been the adherents of Lepidus in the civil +disturbances, had after that consul's death fled to Sertorius [17]; which +law he supported by a speech. + +VI. During his quaestorship he pronounced funeral orations from the +rostra, according to custom, in praise of his aunt (5) Julia, and his +wife Cornelia. In the panegyric on his aunt, he gives the following +account of her own and his father's genealogy, on both sides: "My aunt +Julia derived her descent, by the mother, from a race of kings, and by +her father, from the Immortal Gods. For the Marcii Reges [18], her +mother's family, deduce their pedigree from Ancus Marcius, and the Julii, +her father's, from Venus; of which stock we are a branch. We therefore +unite in our descent the sacred majesty of kings, the chiefest among men, +and the divine majesty of Gods, to whom kings themselves are subject." +To supply the place of Cornelia, he married Pompeia, the daughter of +Quintus Pompeius, and grand-daughter of Lucius Sylla; but he afterwards +divorced her, upon suspicion of her having been debauched by Publius +Clodius. For so current was the report, that Clodius had found access to +her disguised as a woman, during the celebration of a religious solemnity +[19], that the senate instituted an enquiry respecting the profanation of +the sacred rites. + +VII. Farther-Spain [20] fell to his lot as quaestor; when there, as he +was going the circuit of the province, by commission from the praetor, +for the administration of justice, and had reached Gades, seeing a statue +of Alexander the Great in the temple of Hercules, he sighed deeply, as if +weary of his sluggish life, for having performed no memorable actions at +an age [21] at which Alexander had already conquered the world. He, +therefore, immediately sued for his discharge, with the view of embracing +the first opportunity, which might present itself in The City, of +entering upon a more exalted career. In the stillness of the night +following, he dreamt that he lay with his own mother; but his confusion +was relieved, and his hopes were raised to the highest pitch, by the +interpreters of his dream, who expounded it as an omen that he should +possess universal empire; for (6) that the mother who in his sleep he had +found submissive to his embraces, was no other than the earth, the common +parent of all mankind. + +VIII. Quitting therefore the province before the expiration of the usual +term, he betook himself to the Latin colonies, which were then eagerly +agitating the design of obtaining the freedom of Rome; and he would have +stirred them up to some bold attempt, had not the consuls, to prevent any +commotion, detained for some time the legions which had been raised for +service in Cilicia. But this did not deter him from making, soon +afterwards, a still greater effort within the precincts of the city +itself. + +IX. For, only a few days before he entered upon the aedileship, he +incurred a suspicion of having engaged in a conspiracy with Marcus +Crassus, a man of consular rank; to whom were joined Publius Sylla and +Lucius Autronius, who, after they had been chosen consuls, were convicted +of bribery. The plan of the conspirators was to fall upon the senate at +the opening of the new year, and murder as many of them as should be +thought necessary; upon which, Crassus was to assume the office of +dictator, and appoint Caesar his master of the horse [22]. When the +commonwealth had been thus ordered according to their pleasure, the +consulship was to have been restored to Sylla and Autronius. Mention is +made of this plot by Tanusius Geminus [23] in his history, by Marcus +Bibulus in his edicts [24], and by Curio, the father, in his orations +[25]. Cicero likewise seems to hint at this in a letter to Axius, where +he says, that Caesar (7) had in his consulship secured to himself that +arbitrary power [26] to which he had aspired when he was edile. Tanusius +adds, that Crassus, from remorse or fear, did not appear upon the day +appointed for the massacre of the senate; for which reason Caesar omitted +to give the signal, which, according to the plan concerted between them, +he was to have made. The agreement, Curio says, was that he should shake +off the toga from his shoulder. We have the authority of the same Curio, +and of M. Actorius Naso, for his having been likewise concerned in +another conspiracy with young Cneius Piso; to whom, upon a suspicion of +some mischief being meditated in the city, the province of Spain was +decreed out of the regular course [27]. It is said to have been agreed +between them, that Piso should head a revolt in the provinces, whilst the +other should attempt to stir up an insurrection at Rome, using as their +instruments the Lambrani, and the tribes beyond the Po. But the +execution of this design was frustrated in both quarters by the death of +Piso. + +X. In his aedileship, he not only embellished the Comitium, and the rest +of the Forum [28], with the adjoining halls [29], but adorned the Capitol +also, with temporary piazzas, constructed for the purpose of displaying +some part of the superabundant collections (8) he had made for the +amusement of the people [30]. He entertained them with the hunting of +wild beasts, and with games, both alone and in conjunction with his +colleague. On this account, he obtained the whole credit of the expense +to which they had jointly contributed; insomuch that his colleague, +Marcus Bibulus, could not forbear remarking, that he was served in the +manner of Pollux. For as the temple [31] erected in the Forum to the two +brothers, went by the name of Castor alone, so his and Caesar's joint +munificence was imputed to the latter only. To the other public +spectacles exhibited to the people, Caesar added a fight of gladiators, +but with fewer pairs of combatants than he had intended. For he had +collected from all parts so great a company of them, that his enemies +became alarmed; and a decree was made, restricting the number of +gladiators which any one was allowed to retain at Rome. + +XI. Having thus conciliated popular favour, he endeavoured, through his +interest with some of the tribunes, to get Egypt assigned to him as a +province, by an act of the people. The pretext alleged for the creation +of this extraordinary government, was, that the Alexandrians had +violently expelled their king [32], whom the senate had complimented with +the title of an ally and friend of the Roman people. This was generally +resented; but, notwithstanding, there was so much opposition from the +faction of the nobles, that he could not carry his point. In order, +therefore, to diminish their influence by every means in his power, he +restored the trophies erected in honour of Caius Marius, on account of +his victories over Jugurtha, the Cimbri, and the Teutoni, which had been +demolished by Sylla; and when sitting in judgment upon murderers, he +treated those as assassins, who, in the late proscription, had received +money from the treasury, for bringing in the heads of Roman citizens, +although they were expressly excepted in the Cornelian laws. + +XII. He likewise suborned some one to prefer an impeachment (9) for +treason against Caius Rabirius, by whose especial assistance the senate +had, a few years before, put down Lucius Saturninus, the seditious +tribune; and being drawn by lot a judge on the trial, he condemned him +with so much animosity, that upon his appealing to the people, no +circumstance availed him so much as the extraordinary bitterness of his +judge. + +XIII. Having renounced all hope of obtaining Egypt for his province, he +stood candidate for the office of chief pontiff, to secure which, he had +recourse to the most profuse bribery. Calculating, on this occasion, the +enormous amount of the debts he had contracted, he is reported to have +said to his mother, when she kissed him at his going out in the morning +to the assembly of the people, "I will never return home unless I am +elected pontiff." In effect, he left so far behind him two most powerful +competitors, who were much his superiors both in age and rank, that he +had more votes in their own tribes, than they both had in all the tribes +together. + +XIV. After he was chosen praetor, the conspiracy of Catiline was +discovered; and while every other member of the senate voted for +inflicting capital punishment on the accomplices in that crime [33], he +alone proposed that the delinquents should be distributed for safe +custody among the towns of Italy, their property being confiscated. He +even struck such terror into those who were advocates for greater +severity, by representing to them what universal odium would be attached +to their memories by the Roman people, that Decius Silanus, consul elect, +did not hesitate to qualify his proposal, it not being very honourable to +change it, by a lenient interpretation; as if it had been understood in a +harsher sense than he intended, and Caesar would certainly have carried +his point, having brought over to his side a great number of the +senators, among whom was Cicero, the consul's brother, had not a speech +by Marcus Cato infused new vigour into the resolutions of the senate. He +persisted, however, in obstructing the measure, until a body of the Roman +knights, who stood under arms as a guard, threatened him with instant +death, if he continued his determined opposition. They even thrust at +him with their drawn swords, so that those who sat next him moved away; +(10) and a few friends, with no small difficulty, protected him, by +throwing their arms round him, and covering him with their togas. At +last, deterred by this violence, he not only gave way, but absented +himself from the senate-house during the remainder of that year. + +XV. Upon the first day of his praetorship, he summoned Quintus Catulus +to render an account to the people respecting the repairs of the Capitol +[34]; proposing a decree for transferring the office of curator to +another person [35]. But being unable to withstand the strong opposition +made by the aristocratical party, whom he perceived quitting, in great +numbers, their attendance upon the new consuls [36], and fully resolved +to resist his proposal, he dropped the design. + +XVI. He afterwards approved himself a most resolute supporter of +Caecilius Metullus, tribune of the people, who, in spite of all +opposition from his colleagues, had proposed some laws of a violent +tendency [37], until they were both dismissed from office by a vote of +the senate. He ventured, notwithstanding, to retain his post and +continue in the administration of justice; but finding that preparations +were made to obstruct him by force of arms, he dismissed the lictors, +threw off his gown, and betook himself privately to his own house, with +the resolution of being quiet, in a time so unfavourable to his +interests. He likewise pacified the mob, which two days afterwards +flocked about him, and in a riotous manner made a voluntary tender of +their assistance in the vindication of his (11) honour. This happening +contrary to expectation, the senate, who met in haste, on account of the +tumult, gave him their thanks by some of the leading members of the +house, and sending for him, after high commendation of his conduct, +cancelled their former vote, and restored him to his office. + +XVII. But he soon got into fresh trouble, being named amongst the +accomplices of Catiline, both before Novius Niger the quaestor, by Lucius +Vettius the informer, and in the senate by Quintus Curius; to whom a +reward had been voted, for having first discovered the designs of the +conspirators. Curius affirmed that he had received his information from +Catiline. Vettius even engaged to produce in evidence against him his +own hand-writing, given to Catiline. Caesar, feeling that this treatment +was not to be borne, appealed to Cicero himself, whether he had not +voluntarily made a discovery to him of some particulars of the +conspiracy; and so baulked Curius of his expected reward. He, therefore, +obliged Vettius to give pledges for his behaviour, seized his goods, and +after heavily fining him, and seeing him almost torn in pieces before the +rostra, threw him into prison; to which he likewise sent Novius the +quaestor, for having presumed to take an information against a magistrate +of superior authority. + +XVIII. At the expiration of his praetorship he obtained by lot the +Farther-Spain [38], and pacified his creditors, who were for detaining +him, by finding sureties for his debts [39]. Contrary, however, to both +law and custom, he took his departure before the usual equipage and +outfit were prepared. It is uncertain whether this precipitancy arose +from the apprehension of an impeachment, with which he was threatened on +the expiration of his former office, or from his anxiety to lose no time +in relieving the allies, who implored him to come to their aid. He had +no (12) sooner established tranquillity in the province, than, without +waiting for the arrival of his successor, he returned to Rome, with equal +haste, to sue for a triumph [40], and the consulship. The day of +election, however, being already fixed by proclamation, he could not +legally be admitted a candidate, unless he entered the city as a private +person [41]. On this emergency he solicited a suspension of the laws in +his favour; but such an indulgence being strongly opposed, he found +himself under the necessity of abandoning all thoughts of a triumph, lest +he should be disappointed of the consulship. + +XIX. Of the two other competitors for the consulship, Lucius Luceius and +Marcus Bibulus, he joined with the former, upon condition that Luceius, +being a man of less interest but greater affluence, should promise money +to the electors, in their joint names. Upon which the party of the +nobles, dreading how far he might carry matters in that high office, with +a colleague disposed to concur in and second his measures, advised +Bibulus to promise the voters as much as the other; and most of them +contributed towards the expense, Cato himself admitting that bribery; +under such circumstances, was for the public good [42]. He was +accordingly elected consul jointly with Bibulus. Actuated still by the +same motives, the prevailing party took care to assign provinces of small +importance to the new consuls, such as the care of the woods and roads. +Caesar, incensed at this indignity, endeavoured by the most assiduous and +flattering attentions to gain to his side Cneius Pompey, at that time +dissatisfied with the senate for the backwardness they shewed to confirm +his acts, after his victories over Mithridates. He likewise brought +about a reconciliation between Pompey and Marcus Crassus, who had been at +variance from (13) the time of their joint consulship, in which office +they were continually clashing; and he entered into an agreement with +both, that nothing should be transacted in the government, which was +displeasing to any of the three. + +XX. Having entered upon his office [43], he introduced a new regulation, +that the daily acts both of the senate and people should be committed to +writing, and published [44]. He also revived an old custom, that an +officer [45] should precede him, and his lictors follow him, on the +alternate months when the fasces were not carried before him. Upon +preferring a bill to the people for the division of some public lands, he +was opposed by his colleague, whom he violently drove out of the forum. +Next day the insulted consul made a complaint in the senate of this +treatment; but such was the consternation, that no one having the courage +to bring the matter forward or move a censure, which had been often done +under outrages of less importance, he was so much dispirited, that until +the expiration of his office he never stirred from home, and did nothing +but issue edicts to obstruct his colleague's proceedings. From that +time, therefore, Caesar had the sole management of public affairs; +insomuch that some wags, when they signed any instrument as witnesses, +did not add "in the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus," but, "of Julius +and Caesar;" putting the same person down twice, under his name and +surname. The following verses likewise were currently repeated on this +occasion: + + Non Bibulo quidquam nuper, sed Caesare factum est; + Nam Bibulo fieri consule nil memini. + + Nothing was done in Bibulus's year: + No; Caesar only then was consul here. + +(14) The land of Stellas, consecrated by our ancestors to the gods, with +some other lands in Campania left subject to tribute, for the support of +the expenses of the government, he divided, but not by lot, among upwards +of twenty thousand freemen, who had each of them three or more children. +He eased the publicans, upon their petition, of a third part of the sum +which they had engaged to pay into the public treasury; and openly +admonished them not to bid so extravagantly upon the next occasion. He +made various profuse grants to meet the wishes of others, no one opposing +him; or if any such attempt was made, it was soon suppressed. Marcus +Cato, who interrupted him in his proceedings, he ordered to be dragged +out of the senate-house by a lictor, and carried to prison. Lucius +Lucullus, likewise, for opposing him with some warmth, he so terrified +with the apprehension of being criminated, that, to deprecate the +consul's resentment, he fell on his knees. And upon Cicero's lamenting +in some trial the miserable condition of the times, he the very same day, +by nine o'clock, transferred his enemy, Publius Clodius, from a patrician +to a plebeian family; a change which he had long solicited in vain [46]. +At last, effectually to intimidate all those of the opposite party, he by +great rewards prevailed upon Vettius to declare, that he had been +solicited by certain persons to assassinate Pompey; and when he was +brought before the rostra to name those who had been concerted between +them, after naming one or two to no purpose, not without great suspicion +of subornation, Caesar, despairing of success in this rash stratagem, is +supposed to have taken off his informer by poison. + +XXI. About the same time he married Calpurnia, the daughter of Lucius +Piso, who was to succeed him in the consulship, and gave his own daughter +Julia to Cneius Pompey; rejecting Servilius Caepio, to whom she had been +contracted, and by whose means chiefly he had but a little before baffled +Bibulus. After this new alliance, he began, upon any debates in the +senate, to ask Pompey's opinion first, whereas he used before to give +that distinction to Marcus Crassus; and it was (15) the usual practice +for the consul to observe throughout the year the method of consulting +the senate which he had adopted on the calends (the first) of January. + +XXII. Being, therefore, now supported by the interest of his father-in- +law and son-in-law, of all the provinces he made choice of Gaul, as most +likely to furnish him with matter and occasion for triumphs. At first +indeed he received only Cisalpine-Gaul, with the addition of Illyricum, +by a decree proposed by Vatinius to the people; but soon afterwards +obtained from the senate Gallia-Comata [47] also, the senators being +apprehensive, that if they should refuse it him, that province, also, +would be granted him by the people. Elated now with his success, he +could not refrain from boasting, a few days afterwards, in a full senate- +house, that he had, in spite of his enemies, and to their great +mortification, obtained all he desired, and that for the future he would +make them, to their shame, submissive to his pleasure. One of the +senators observing, sarcastically: "That will not be very easy for a +woman [48] to do," he jocosely replied, "Semiramis formerly reigned in +Assyria, and the Amazons possessed great part of Asia." + +XXIII. When the term of his consulship had expired, upon a motion being +made in the senate by Caius Memmius and Lucius Domitius, the praetors, +respecting the transactions of the year past, he offered to refer himself +to the house; but (16) they declining the business, after three days +spent in vain altercation, he set out for his province. Immediately, +however, his quaestor was charged with several misdemeanors, for the +purpose of implicating Caesar himself. Indeed, an accusation was soon +after preferred against him by Lucius Antistius, tribune of the people; +but by making an appeal to the tribune's colleagues, he succeeded in +having the prosecution suspended during his absence in the service of the +state. To secure himself, therefore, for the time to come, he was +particularly careful to secure the good-will of the magistrates at the +annual elections, assisting none of the candidates with his interest, nor +suffering any persons to be advanced to any office, who would not +positively undertake to defend him in his absence for which purpose he +made no scruple to require of some of them an oath, and even a written +obligation. + +XXIV. But when Lucius Domitius became a candidate for the consulship, +and openly threatened that, upon his being elected consul, he would +effect that which he could not accomplish when he was praetor, and divest +him of the command of the armies, he sent for Crassus and Pompey to +Lucca, a city in his province, and pressed them, for the purpose of +disappointing Domitius, to sue again for the consulship, and to continue +him in his command for five years longer; with both which requisitions +they complied. Presumptuous now from his success, he added, at his own +private charge, more legions to those which he had received from the +republic; among the former of which was one levied in Transalpine Gaul, +and called by a Gallic name, Alauda [49], which he trained and armed in +the Roman fashion, and afterwards conferred on it the freedom of the +city. From this period he declined no occasion of war, however unjust +and dangerous; attacking, without any provocation, as well the allies of +Rome as the barbarous nations which were its enemies: insomuch, that the +senate passed a decree for sending commissioners to examine into the +condition of Gaul; and some members even proposed that he should be +delivered up to the enemy. But so great had been the success of his +enterprises, that he had the honour of obtaining more days [50] (17) of +supplication, and those more frequently, than had ever before been +decreed to any commander. + +XXV. During nine years in which he held the government of the province, +his achievements were as follows: he reduced all Gaul, bounded by the +Pyrenean forest, the Alps, mount Gebenna, and the two rivers, the Rhine +and the Rhone, and being about three thousand two hundred miles in +compass, into the form of a province, excepting only the nations in +alliance with the republic, and such as had merited his favour; imposing +upon this new acquisition an annual tribute of forty millions of +sesterces. He was the first of the Romans who, crossing the Rhine by a +bridge, attacked the Germanic tribes inhabiting the country beyond that +river, whom he defeated in several engagements. He also invaded the +Britons, a people formerly unknown, and having vanquished them, exacted +from them contributions and hostages. Amidst such a series of successes, +he experienced thrice only any signal disaster; once in Britain, when his +fleet was nearly wrecked in a storm; in Gaul, at Gergovia, where one of +his legions was put to the rout; and in the territory of the Germans, his +lieutenants Titurius and Aurunculeius were cut off by an ambuscade. + +XXVI. During this period [51] he lost his mother [52], whose death was +followed by that of his daughter [53], and, not long afterwards, of his +granddaughter. Meanwhile, the republic being in consternation at the +murder of Publius Clodius, and the senate passing a vote that only one +consul, namely, Cneius Pompeius, should be chosen for the ensuing year, +he prevailed with the tribunes of the people, who intended joining him in +nomination with Pompey, to propose to the people a bill, enabling him, +though absent, to become a candidate for his second consulship, when the +term of his command should be near expiring, that he might not be obliged +on that account to quit his province too soon, and before the conclusion +of the war. Having attained this object, carrying his views still +higher, and animated with the hopes of success, he omitted no (18) +opportunity of gaining universal favour, by acts of liberality and +kindness to individuals, both in public and private. With money raised +from the spoils of the war, he began to construct a new forum, the +ground-plot of which cost him above a hundred millions of sesterces [54]. +He promised the people a public entertainment of gladiators, and a feast +in memory of his daughter, such as no one before him had ever given. The +more to raise their expectations on this occasion, although he had agreed +with victuallers of all denominations for his feast, he made yet farther +preparations in private houses. He issued an order, that the most +celebrated gladiators, if at any time during the combat they incurred the +displeasure of the public, should be immediately carried off by force, +and reserved for some future occasion. Young gladiators he trained up, +not in the school, and by the masters, of defence, but in the houses of +Roman knights, and even senators, skilled in the use of arms, earnestly +requesting them, as appears from his letters, to undertake the discipline +of those novitiates, and to give them the word during their exercises. +He doubled the pay of the legions in perpetuity; allowing them likewise +corn, when it was in plenty, without any restriction; and sometimes +distributing to every soldier in his army a slave, and a portion of land. + +XXVII. To maintain his alliance and good understanding with Pompey, he +offered him in marriage his sister's grand-daughter Octavia, who had been +married to Caius Marcellus; and requested for himself his daughter, +lately contracted to Faustus Sylla. Every person about him, and a great +part likewise of the senate, he secured by loans of money at low +interest, or none at all; and to all others who came to wait upon him, +either by invitation or of their own accord, he made liberal presents; +not neglecting even the freed-men and slaves, who were favourites with +their masters and patrons. He offered also singular and ready aid to all +who were under prosecution, or in debt, and to prodigal youths; excluding +from (19) his bounty those only who were so deeply plunged in guilt, +poverty, or luxury, that it was impossible effectually to relieve them. +These, he openly declared, could derive no benefit from any other means +than a civil war. + +XXVIII. He endeavoured with equal assiduity to engage in his interest +princes and provinces in every part of the world; presenting some with +thousands of captives, and sending to others the assistance of troops, at +whatever time and place they desired, without any authority from either +the senate or people of Rome. He likewise embellished with magnificent +public buildings the most powerful cities not only of Italy, Gaul, and +Spain, but of Greece and Asia; until all people being now astonished, and +speculating on the obvious tendency of these proceedings, Claudius +Marcellus, the consul, declaring first by proclamation, that he intended +to propose a measure of the utmost importance to the state, made a motion +in the senate that some person should be appointed to succeed Caesar in +his province, before the term of his command was expired; because the war +being brought to a conclusion, peace was restored, and the victorious +army ought to be disbanded. He further moved, that Caesar being absent, +his claims to be a candidate at the next election of consuls should not +be admitted, as Pompey himself had afterwards abrogated that privilege by +a decree of the people. The fact was, that Pompey, in his law relating +to the choice of chief magistrates, had forgot to except Caesar, in the +article in which he declared all such as were not present incapable of +being candidates for any office; but soon afterwards, when the law was +inscribed on brass, and deposited in the treasury, he corrected his +mistake. Marcellus, not content with depriving Caesar of his provinces, +and the privilege intended him by Pompey, likewise moved the senate, that +the freedom of the city should be taken from those colonists whom, by the +Vatinian law, he had settled at New Como [55]; because it had been +conferred upon them with ambitious views, and by a stretch of the laws. + +(20) XXIX. Roused by these proceedings, and thinking, as he was often +heard to say, that it would be a more difficult enterprise to reduce him, +now that he was the chief man in the state, from the first rank of +citizens to the second, than from the second to the lowest of all, Caesar +made a vigorous opposition to the measure, partly by means of the +tribunes, who interposed in his behalf, and partly through Servius +Sulpicius, the other consul. The following year likewise, when Caius +Marcellus, who succeeded his cousin Marcus in the consulship, pursued the +same course, Caesar, by means of an immense bribe, engaged in his defence +Aemilius Paulus, the other consul, and Caius Curio, the most violent of +the tribunes. But finding the opposition obstinately bent against him, +and that the consuls-elect were also of that party, he wrote a letter to +the senate, requesting that they would not deprive him of the privilege +kindly granted him by the people; or else that the other generals should +resign the command of their armies as well as himself; fully persuaded, +as it is thought, that he could more easily collect his veteran soldiers, +whenever he pleased, than Pompey could his new-raised troops. At the +same time, he made his adversaries an offer to disband eight of his +legions and give up Transalpine-Gaul, upon condition that he might retain +two legions, with the Cisalpine province, or but one legion with +Illyricum, until he should be elected consul. + +XXX. But as the senate declined to interpose in the business, and his +enemies declared that they would enter into no compromise where the +safety of the republic was at stake, he advanced into Hither-Gaul [56], +and, having gone the circuit for the administration of justice, made a +halt at Ravenna, resolved to have recourse to arms if the senate should +proceed to extremity against the tribunes of the people who had espoused +his cause. This was indeed his pretext for the civil war; but it is +supposed that there were other motives for his conduct. Cneius Pompey +used frequently to say, that he sought to throw every thing into +confusion, because he was unable, with all his private wealth, to +complete the works he had begun, and answer, at his return, the vast +expectations which he had excited in the people. Others pretend that he +was apprehensive of being (21) called to account for what he had done in +his first consulship, contrary to the auspices, laws, and the protests of +the tribunes; Marcus Cato having sometimes declared, and that, too, with +an oath, that he would prefer an impeachment against him, as soon as he +disbanded his army. A report likewise prevailed, that if he returned as +a private person, he would, like Milo, have to plead his cause before the +judges, surrounded by armed men. This conjecture is rendered highly +probable by Asinius Pollio, who informs us that Caesar, upon viewing the +vanquished and slaughtered enemy in the field of Pharsalia, expressed +himself in these very words: "This was their intention: I, Caius Caesar, +after all the great achievements I had performed, must have been +condemned, had I not summoned the army to my aid!" Some think, that +having contracted from long habit an extraordinary love of power, and +having weighed his own and his enemies' strength, he embraced that +occasion of usurping the supreme power; which indeed he had coveted from +the time of his youth. This seems to have been the opinion entertained +by Cicero, who tells us, in the third book of his Offices, that Caesar +used to have frequently in his mouth two verses of Euripides, which he +thus translates: + + Nam si violandum est jus, regnandi gratia + Violandum est: aliis rebus pietatem colas. + + Be just, unless a kingdom tempts to break the laws, + For sovereign power alone can justify the cause. [57] + +XXXI. When intelligence, therefore, was received, that the interposition +of the tribunes in his favour had been utterly rejected, and that they +themselves had fled from the city, he immediately sent forward some +cohorts, but privately, to prevent any suspicion of his design; and, to +keep up appearances, attended at a public spectacle, examined the model +of a fencing-school which he proposed to build, and, as usual, sat down +to table with a numerous party of his friends. But after sun-set, mules +being put to his carriage from a neighbouring mill, he set forward on his +journey with all possible privacy, and a small retinue. The lights going +out, he lost his way, and (22) wandered about a long time, until at +length, by the help of a guide, whom he found towards day-break, he +proceeded on foot through some narrow paths, and again reached the road. +Coming up with his troops on the banks of the Rubicon, which was the +boundary of his province [58], he halted for a while, and, revolving in +his mind the importance of the step he was on the point of taking, he +turned to those about him, and said: "We may still retreat; but if we +pass this little bridge, nothing is left for us but to fight it out in +arms." + +XXXII. While he was thus hesitating, the following incident occurred. A +person remarkable for his noble mien and graceful aspect, appeared close +at hand, sitting and playing upon a pipe. When, not only the shepherds, +but a number of soldiers also flocked from their posts to listen to him, +and some trumpeters among them, he snatched a trumpet from one of them, +ran to the river with it, and sounding the advance with a piercing blast, +crossed to the other side. Upon this, Caesar exclaimed, "Let us go +whither the omens of the Gods and the iniquity of our enemies call us. +The die is now cast." + +XXXIII. Accordingly, having marched his army over the river, he shewed +them the tribunes of the people, who, upon their being driven from the +city, had come to meet him; and, in the presence of that assembly, called +upon the troops to pledge him their fidelity, with tears in his eyes, and +his garment rent from his bosom. It has been supposed, that upon this +occasion he promised to every soldier a knight's estate; but that opinion +is founded on a mistake. For when, in his harangue to them, he +frequently held out a finger of his left hand, and declared, that to +recompense those who should support him in the defence of his honour, he +would willingly part even with his ring; the soldiers at a distance, who +could more easily see than hear him while he spoke, formed their +conception of what he said, by the eye, not by the ear; and accordingly +gave out, that he had promised to each of them the privilege (23) of +wearing the gold ring, and an estate of four hundred thousand sesterces. +[60] + +XXXIV. Of his subsequent proceedings I shall give a cursory detail, in +the order in which they occurred [61]. He took possession of Picenum, +Umbria, and Etruria; and having obliged Lucius Domitius, who had been +tumultuously nominated his successor, and held Corsinium with a garrison, +to surrender, and dismissed him, he marched along the coast of the Upper +Sea, to Brundusium, to which place the consuls and Pompey were fled with +the intention of crossing the sea as soon as possible. After vain +attempts, by all the obstacles he could oppose, to prevent their leaving +the harbour, he turned his steps towards Rome, where he appealed to the +senate on the present state of public affairs; and then set out for +Spain, in which province Pompey had a numerous army, under the command of +three lieutenants, Marcus Petreius, Lucius Afranius, and Marcus Varro; +declaring amongst his friends, before he set forward, "That he was going +against an army without a general, and should return thence against a +general without an army." Though his progress was retarded both by the +siege of Marseilles, which shut her gates against him, and a very great +scarcity of corn, yet in a short time he bore down all before him. + +XXXV. Thence he returned to Rome, and crossing the sea to Macedonia, +blocked up Pompey during almost four months, within a line of ramparts of +prodigious extent; and at last defeated him in the battle of Pharsalia. +Pursuing him in his flight to Alexandria, where he was informed of his +murder, he presently found himself also engaged, under all the +disadvantages of time and place, in a very dangerous war, with king +Ptolemy, who, he saw, had treacherous designs upon his life. It was +winter, and he, within the walls of a well-provided and subtle enemy, was +destitute of every thing, and wholly unprepared (24) for such a conflict. +He succeeded, however, in his enterprise, and put the kingdom of Egypt +into the hands of Cleopatra and her younger brother; being afraid to make +it a province, lest, under an aspiring prefect, it might become the +centre of revolt. From Alexandria he went into Syria, and thence to +Pontus, induced by intelligence which be had received respecting +Pharnaces. This prince, who was son of the great Mithridates, had seized +the opportunity which the distraction of the times offered for making war +upon his neighbours, and his insolence and fierceness had grown with his +success. Caesar, however, within five days after entering his country, +and four hours after coming in sight of him, overthrew him in one +decisive battle. Upon which, he frequently remarked to those about him +the good fortune of Pompey, who had obtained his military reputation, +chiefly, by victory over so feeble an enemy. He afterwards defeated +Scipio and Juba, who were rallying the remains of the party in Africa, +and Pompey's sons in Spain. + +XXXVI. During the whole course of the civil war, he never once suffered +any defeat, except in the case of his lieutenants; of whom Caius Curio +fell in Africa, Caius Antonius was made prisoner in Illyricum, Publius +Dolabella lost a fleet in the same Illyricum, and Cneius Domitius +Culvinus, an army in Pontus. In every encounter with the enemy where he +himself commanded, he came off with complete success; nor was the issue +ever doubtful, except on two occasions: once at Dyrrachium, when, being +obliged to give ground, and Pompey not pursuing his advantage, he said +that "Pompey knew not how to conquer;" the other instance occurred in his +last battle in Spain, when, despairing of the event, he even had thoughts +of killing himself. + +XXXVII. For the victories obtained in the several wars, he triumphed +five different times; after the defeat of Scipio: four times in one +month, each triumph succeeding the former by an interval of a few days; +and once again after the conquest of Pompey's sons. His first and most +glorious triumph was for the victories he gained in Gaul; the next for +that of Alexandria, the third for the reduction of Pontus, the fourth for +his African victory, and the last for that in Spain; and (25) they all +differed from each other in their varied pomp and pageantry. On the day +of the Gallic triumph, as he was proceeding along the street called +Velabrum, after narrowly escaping a fall from his chariot by the breaking +of the axle-tree, he ascended the Capitol by torch-light, forty elephants +[62] carrying torches on his right and left. Amongst the pageantry of +the Pontic triumph, a tablet with this inscription was carried before +him: I CAME, I SAW, I CONQUERED [63]; not signifying, as other mottos on +the like occasion, what was done, so much as the dispatch with which it +was done. + +XXXVIII. To every foot-soldier in his veteran legions, besides the two +thousand sesterces paid him in the beginning of the civil war, he gave +twenty thousand more, in the shape of prize-money. He likewise allotted +them lands, but not in contiguity, that the former owners might not be +entirely dispossessed. To the people of Rome, besides ten modii of corn, +and as many pounds of oil, he gave three hundred sesterces a man, which +he had formerly promised them, and a hundred more to each for the delay +in fulfilling his engagement. He likewise remitted a year's rent due to +the treasury, for such houses in Rome as did not pay above two thousand +sesterces a year; and through the rest of Italy, for all such as did not +exceed in yearly rent five hundred sesterces. To all this he added a +public entertainment, and a distribution of meat, and, after his Spanish +victory [64], two public dinners. For, considering the first he had +given as too sparing, and unsuited to his profuse liberality, he, five +days afterwards, added another, which was most plentiful. + +XXXIX. The spectacles he exhibited to the people were of various kinds; +namely, a combat of gladiators [65], and stage-plays in the several wards +of the city, and in different languages; likewise Circensian games [66], +wrestlers, and the representation of a sea-fight. In the conflict of +gladiators presented in the Forum, Furius Leptinus, a man of praetorian +family, entered the lists as a combatant, as did also Quintus Calpenus, +formerly a senator, and a pleader of causes. The Pyrrhic dance was +performed by some youths, who were sons to persons of the first +distinction in Asia and Bithynia. In the plays, Decimus Laberius, who +had been a Roman knight, acted in his own piece; and being presented on +the spot with five hundred thousand sesterces, and a gold ring, he went +from the stage, through the orchestra, and resumed his place in the seats +(27) allotted for the equestrian order. In the Circensisn games; the +circus being enlarged at each end, and a canal sunk round it, several of +the young nobility drove chariots, drawn, some by four, and others by two +horses, and likewise rode races on single horses. The Trojan game was +acted by two distinct companies of boys, one differing from the other in +age and rank. The hunting of wild beasts was presented for five days +successively; and on the last day a battle was fought by five hundred +foot, twenty elephants, and thirty horse on each side. To afford room +for this engagement, the goals were removed, and in their space two camps +were pitched, directly opposite to each other. Wrestlers likewise +performed for three days successively, in a stadium provided for the +purpose in the Campus Martius. A lake having been dug in the little +Codeta [67], ships of the Tyrian and Egyptian fleets, containing two, +three, and four banks of oars, with a number of men on board, afforded an +animated representation of a sea-fight. To these various diversions +there flocked such crowds of spectators from all parts, that most of the +strangers were obliged to lodge in tents erected in the streets, or along +the roads near the city. Several in the throng were squeezed to death, +amongst whom were two senators. + +XL. Turning afterwards his attention to the regulation of the +commonwealth, he corrected the calendar [68], which had for (28) some +time become extremely confused, through the unwarrantable liberty which +the pontiffs had taken in the article of intercalation. To such a height +had this abuse proceeded, that neither the festivals designed for the +harvest fell in summer, nor those for the vintage in autumn. He +accommodated the year to the course of the sun, ordaining that in future +it should consist of three hundred and sixty-five days without any +intercalary month; and that every fourth year an intercalary day should +be inserted. That the year might thenceforth commence regularly with the +calends, or first of January, he inserted two months between November and +December; so that the year in which this regulation was made consisted of +fifteen months, including the month of intercalation, which, according to +the division of time then in use, happened that year. + +XLI. He filled up the vacancies in the senate, by advancing several +plebeians to the rank of patricians, and also increased the number of +praetors, aediles, quaestors, and inferior magistrates; restoring, at the +same time, such as had been degraded by the censors, or convicted of +bribery at elections. The choice of magistrates he so divided with the +people, that, excepting only the candidates for the consulship, they +nominated one half of them, and he the other. The method which he +practised in those cases was, to recommend such persons as he had pitched +upon, by bills dispersed through the several tribes to this effect: +"Caesar the dictator to such a tribe (naming it). I recommend to you +(naming likewise the persons), that by the favour of your votes they may +attain to the honours for which they sue." He likewise admitted to +offices the sons of those who had been proscribed. The trial of causes +he restricted to two orders of judges, the equestrian and senatorial; +excluding the tribunes of the treasury who had before made a third class. +The revised census of the people he ordered to be taken neither in the +usual manner or place, but street by street, by the principal inhabitants +of the several quarters of the city; and he reduced the number of those +who received corn at the public cost, from three hundred and twenty, to a +hundred and fifty, thousand. To prevent any tumults on account of the +census, he ordered that the praetor should every year fill up by lot the +vacancies occasioned by death, from those who were not enrolled for the +receipt of corn. + +(29) XLII. Eighty thousand citizens having been distributed into foreign +colonies [69], he enacted, in order to stop the drain on the population, +that no freeman of the city above twenty, and under forty, years of age, +who was not in the military service, should absent himself from Italy for +more than three years at a time; that no senator's son should go abroad, +unless in the retinue of some high officer; and as to those whose pursuit +was tending flocks and herds, that no less than a third of the number of +their shepherds free-born should be youths. He likewise made all those +who practised physic in Rome, and all teachers of the liberal arts, free +of the city, in order to fix them in it, and induce others to settle +there. With respect to debts, he disappointed the expectation which was +generally entertained, that they would be totally cancelled; and ordered +that the debtors should satisfy their creditors, according to the +valuation of their estates, at the rate at which they were purchased +before the commencement of the civil war; deducting from the debt what +had been paid for interest either in money or by bonds; by virtue of +which provision about a fourth part of the debt was lost. He dissolved +all the guilds, except such as were of ancient foundation. Crimes were +punished with greater severity; and the rich being more easily induced to +commit them because they were only liable to banishment, without the +forfeiture of their property, he stripped murderers, as Cicero observes, +of their whole estates, and other offenders of one half. + +XLIII. He was extremely assiduous and strict in the administration of +justice. He expelled from the senate such members as were convicted of +bribery; and he dissolved the marriage of a man of pretorian rank, who +had married a lady two days after her divorce from a former husband, +although there was no suspicion that they had been guilty of any illicit +connection. He imposed duties on the importation of foreign goods. The +use of litters for travelling, purple robes, and jewels, he permitted +only to persons of a certain age and station, and on particular days. He +enforced a rigid execution of the sumptuary laws; placing officers about +the markets, to seize upon all meats exposed to sale contrary to the +rules, and bring them to him; sometimes sending his lictors and soldiers +to (30) carry away such victuals as had escaped the notice of the +officers, even when they were upon the table. + +XLIV. His thoughts were now fully employed from day to day on a variety +of great projects for the embellishment and improvement of the city, as +well as for guarding and extending the bounds of the empire. In the +first place, he meditated the construction of a temple to Mars, which +should exceed in grandeur every thing of that kind in the world. For +this purpose, he intended to fill up the lake on which he had entertained +the people with the spectacle of a sea-fight. He also projected a most +spacious theatre adjacent to the Tarpeian mount; and also proposed to +reduce the civil law to a reasonable compass, and out of that immense and +undigested mass of statutes to extract the best and most necessary parts +into a few books; to make as large a collection as possible of works in +the Greek and Latin languages, for the public use; the province of +providing and putting them in proper order being assigned to Marcus +Varro. He intended likewise to drain the Pomptine marshes, to cut a +channel for the discharge of the waters of the lake Fucinus, to form a +road from the Upper Sea through the ridge of the Appenine to the Tiber; +to make a cut through the isthmus of Corinth, to reduce the Dacians, who +had over-run Pontus and Thrace, within their proper limits, and then to +make war upon the Parthians, through the Lesser Armenia, but not to risk +a general engagement with them, until he had made some trial of their +prowess in war. But in the midst of all his undertakings and projects, +he was carried off by death; before I speak of which, it may not be +improper to give an account of his person, dress, and manners; together +with what relates to his pursuits, both civil and military. + +XLV. It is said that he was tall, of a fair complexion, round limbed, +rather full faced, with eyes black and piercing; and that he enjoyed +excellent health, except towards the close of his life, when he was +subject to sudden fainting-fits, and disturbance in his sleep. He was +likewise twice seized with the falling sickness while engaged in active +service. He was so nice in the care of his person, that he not only kept +the hair of his head closely cut and had his face smoothly shaved, but +(31) even caused the hair on other parts of the body to be plucked out by +the roots, a practice for which some persons rallied him. His baldness +gave him much uneasiness, having often found himself upon that account +exposed to the jibes of his enemies. He therefore used to bring forward +the hair from the crown of his head; and of all the honours conferred +upon him by the senate and people, there was none which he either +accepted or used with greater pleasure, than the right of wearing +constantly a laurel crown. It is said that he was particular in his +dress. For he used the Latus Clavus [70] with fringes about the wrists, +and always had it girded about him, but rather loosely. This +circumstance gave origin to the expression of Sylla, who often advised +the nobles to beware of "the ill-girt boy." + +XLVI. He first inhabited a small house in the Suburra [71], but after +his advancement to the pontificate, he occupied a palace belonging to the +state in the Via Sacra. Many writers say that he liked his residence to +be elegant, and his entertainments sumptuous; and that he entirely took +down a villa near the grove of Aricia, which he had built from the +foundation and finished at a vast expense, because it did not exactly +suit his taste, although he had at that time but slender means, and was +in debt; and that he carried about in his expeditions tesselated and +marble slabs for the floor of his tent. + +XLVII. They likewise report that he invaded Britain in hopes of finding +pearls [72], the size of which he would compare together, and ascertain +the weight by poising them in his hand; that he would purchase, at any +cost, gems, carved works, statues, and pictures, executed by the eminent +masters of antiquity; and that he would give for young and handy slaves a +price so extravagant, that he forbad its being entered in the diary of +his expenses. + +XLVIII. We are also told, that in the provinces he constantly maintained +two tables, one for the officers of the army, and the gentry of the +country, and the other for Romans of the highest rank, and provincials of +the first distinction. He was so very exact in the management of his +domestic affairs, both little and great, that he once threw a baker into +prison, for serving him with a finer sort of bread than his guests; and +put to death a freed-man, who was a particular favourite, for debauching +the lady of a Roman knight, although no complaint had been made to him of +the affair. + +XLIX. The only stain upon his chastity was his having cohabited with +Nicomedes; and that indeed stuck to him all the days of his life, and +exposed him to much bitter raillery. I will not dwell upon those well- +known verses of Calvus Licinius: + + Whate'er Bithynia and her lord possess'd, + Her lord who Caesar in his lust caress'd. [73] + +I pass over the speeches of Dolabella, and Curio, the father, in which +the former calls him "the queen's rival, and the inner-side of the royal +couch," and the latter, "the brothel of Nicomedes, and the Bithynian +stew." I would likewise say nothing of the edicts of Bibulus, in which +he proclaimed his colleague under the name of "the queen of Bithynia;" +adding, that "he had formerly been in love with a king, but now coveted a +kingdom." At which time, as Marcus Brutus relates, one Octavius, a man +of a crazy brain, and therefore the more free in his raillery, after he +had in a crowded assembly saluted Pompey by the title of king, addressed +Caesar by that of queen. Caius Memmius likewise upbraided him with +serving the king at table, among the rest of his catamites, in the +presence of a large company, in which were some merchants from Rome, the +names of whom he mentions. But Cicero was not content with writing in +some of his letters, that he was conducted by the royal attendants into +the king's bed-chamber, lay upon a bed of gold with a covering of purple, +and that the youthful bloom of this scion of Venus had been tainted in +Bithynia--but upon Caesar's pleading the cause of Nysa, the daughter of +(32) Nicomedes before the senate, and recounting the king's kindnesses to +him, replied, "Pray tell us no more of that; for it is well known what he +gave you, and you gave him." To conclude, his soldiers in the Gallic +triumph, amongst other verses, such as they jocularly sung on those +occasions, following the general's chariot, recited these, which since +that time have become extremely common: + + The Gauls to Caesar yield, Caesar to Nicomede, + Lo! Caesar triumphs for his glorious deed, + But Caesar's conqueror gains no victor's meed. [74] + +L. It is admitted by all that he was much addicted to women, as well as +very expensive in his intrigues with them, and that he debauched many +ladies of the highest quality; among whom were Posthumia, the wife of +Servius Sulpicius; Lollia, the wife of Aulus Gabinius; Tertulla, the wife +of Marcus Crassus; and Mucia, the wife of Cneius Pompey. For it is +certain that the Curios, both father and son, and many others, made it a +reproach to Pompey, "That to gratify his ambition, he married the +daughter of a man, upon whose account he had divorced his wife, after +having had three children by her; and whom he used, with a deep sigh, to +call Aegisthus." [75] But the mistress he most loved, was Servilia, the +mother of Marcus Brutus, for whom he purchased, in his first consulship +after the commencement of their intrigue, a pearl which cost him six +millions of sesterces; and in the civil war, besides other presents, +assigned to her, for a trifling consideration, some valuable farms when +they were exposed to public auction. Many persons expressing their +surprise at the lowness of the price, Cicero wittily remarked, "To let +you know the real value of the purchase, between ourselves, Tertia was +deducted:" for Servilia was supposed to have prostituted her daughter +Tertia to Caesar. [76] + +(34) LI. That he had intrigues likewise with married women in the +provinces, appears from this distich, which was as much repeated in the +Gallic Triumph as the former:-- + + Watch well your wives, ye cits, we bring a blade, + A bald-pate master of the wenching trade. + Thy gold was spent on many a Gallic w---e; + Exhausted now, thou com'st to borrow more. [77] + +LII. In the number of his mistresses were also some queens; such as +Eunoe, a Moor, the wife of Bogudes, to whom and her husband he made, as +Naso reports, many large presents. But his greatest favourite was +Cleopatra, with whom he often revelled all night until the dawn of day, +and would have gone with her through Egypt in dalliance, as far as +Aethiopia, in her luxurious yacht, had not the army refused to follow +him. He afterwards invited her to Rome, whence he sent her back loaded +with honours and presents, and gave her permission to call by his name a +son, who, according to the testimony of some Greek historians, resembled +Caesar both in person and gait. Mark Antony declared in the senate, that +Caesar had acknowledged the child as his own; and that Caius Matias, +Caius Oppius, and the rest of Caesar's friends knew it to be true. On +which occasion, Oppius, as if it had been an imputation which he was +called upon to refute, published a book to shew, "that the child which +Cleopatra fathered upon Caesar, was not his." Helvius Cinna, tribune of +the people, admitted to several persons the fact, that he had a bill +ready drawn, which Caesar had ordered him to get enacted in his absence, +allowing him, with the hope of leaving issue, to take any wife he chose, +and as many of them as he pleased; and to leave no room for doubt of his +infamous character for unnatural lewdness and adultery, Curio, the +father, says, in one of his speeches, "He was every woman's man, and +every man's woman." + +LIII. It is acknowledged even by his enemies, that in regard to wine, he +was abstemious. A remark is ascribed to Marcus Cato, "that Caesar was +the only sober man amongst all those who were engaged in the design to +subvert (35) the government." In the matter of diet, Caius Oppius +informs us, "that he was so indifferent, that when a person in whose +house he was entertained, had served him with stale, instead of fresh, +oil [78], and the rest of the company would not touch it, he alone ate +very heartily of it, that he might not seem to tax the master of the +house with rusticity or want of attention." + +LIV. But his abstinence did not extend to pecuniary advantages, either +in his military commands, or civil offices; for we have the testimony of +some writers, that he took money from the proconsul, who was his +predecessor in Spain, and from the Roman allies in that quarter, for the +discharge of his debts; and plundered at the point of the sword some +towns of the Lusitanians, notwithstanding they attempted no resistance, +and opened their gates to him upon his arrival before them. In Gaul, he +rifled the chapels and temples of the gods, which were filled with rich +offerings, and demolished cities oftener for the sake of their spoil, +than for any ill they had done. By this means gold became so plentiful +with him, that he exchanged it through Italy and the provinces of the +empire for three thousand sesterces the pound. In his first consulship +he purloined from the Capitol three thousand pounds' weight of gold, and +substituted for it the same quantity of gilt brass. He bartered likewise +to foreign nations and princes, for gold, the titles of allies and kings; +and squeezed out of Ptolemy alone near six thousand talents, in the name +of himself and Pompey. He afterwards supported the expense of the civil +wars, and of his triumphs and public spectacles, by the most flagrant +rapine and sacrilege. + +LV. In eloquence and warlike achievements, he equalled at least, if he +did not surpass, the greatest of men. After his prosecution of +Dolabella, he was indisputably reckoned one of the most distinguished +advocates. Cicero, in recounting to Brutus the famous orators, declares, +"that he does not see that Caesar was inferior to any one of them;" and +says, "that he (36) had an elegant, splendid, noble, and magnificent vein +of eloquence." And in a letter to Cornelius Nepos, he writes of him in +the following terms: "What! Of all the orators, who, during the whole +course of their lives, have done nothing else, which can you prefer to +him? Which of them is more pointed or terse in his periods, or employs +more polished and elegant language?" In his youth, he seems to have +chosen Strabo Caesar for his model; from whose oration in behalf of the +Sardinians he has transcribed some passages literally into his +Divination. In his delivery he is said to have had a shrill voice, and +his action was animated, but not ungraceful. He has left behind him some +speeches, among which are ranked a few that are not genuine, such as that +on behalf of Quintus Metellus. These Augustus supposes, with reason, to +be rather the production of blundering short-hand writers, who were not +able to keep pace with him in the delivery, than publications of his own. +For I find in some copies that the title is not "For Metellus," but "What +he wrote to Metellus;" whereas the speech is delivered in the name of +Caesar, vindicating Metellus and himself from the aspersions cast upon +them by their common defamers. The speech addressed "To his soldiers in +Spain," Augustus considers likewise as spurious. We meet with two under +this title; one made, as is pretended, in the first battle, and the other +in the last; at which time, Asinius Pollio says, he had not leisure to +address the soldiers, on account of the suddenness of the enemy's attack. + +LVI. He has likewise left Commentaries of his own actions both in the +war in Gaul, and in the civil war with Pompey; for the author of the +Alexandrian, African, and Spanish wars is not known with any certainty. +Some think they are the production of Oppius, and some of Hirtius; the +latter of whom composed the last book, which is imperfect, of the Gallic +war. Of Caesar's Commentaries, Cicero, in his Brutus, speaks thus: "He +wrote his Commentaries in a manner deserving of great approbation: they +are plain, precise, and elegant, without any affectation of rhetorical +ornament. In having thus prepared materials for others who might be +inclined to write his history, he may perhaps have encouraged some silly +creatures to enter upon such a work, who will needs be dressing up his +actions in all the extravagance a (37) bombast; but he has discouraged +wise men from ever attempting the subject." Hirtius delivers his opinion +of these Commentaries in the following terms: "So great is the +approbation with which they are universally perused, that, instead of +rousing, he seems to have precluded, the efforts of any future historian. +Yet, with respect to this work, we have more reason to admire him than +others; for they only know how well and correctly he has written, but we +know, likewise, how easily and quickly he did it." Pollio Asinius thinks +that they were not drawn up with much care, or with a due regard to +truth; for he insinuates that Caesar was too hasty of belief in regard to +what was performed by others under his orders; and that, he has not given +a very faithful account of his own acts, either by design, or through +defect of memory; expressing at the same time an opinion that Caesar +intended a new and more correct edition. He has left behind him likewise +two books on Analogy, with the same number under the title of Anti-Cato, +and a poem entitled The Itinerary. Of these books, he composed the first +two in his passage over the Alps, as he was returning to the army after +making his circuit in Hither-Gaul; the second work about the time of the +battle of Munda; and the last during the four-and-twenty days he employed +in his journey from Rome to Farther-Spain. There are extant some letters +of his to the senate, written in a manner never practised by any before +him; for they are distinguished into pages in the form of a memorandum +book whereas the consuls and commanders till then, used constantly in +their letters to continue the line quite across the sheet, without any +folding or distinction of pages. There are extant likewise some letters +from him to Cicero, and others to his friends, concerning his domestic +affairs; in which, if there was occasion for secrecy, he wrote in +cyphers; that is, he used the alphabet in such a manner, that not a +single word could be made out. The way to decipher those epistles was to +substitute the fourth for the first letter, as d for a, and so for the +other letters respectively. Some things likewise pass under his name, +said to have been written by him when a boy, or a very young man; as the +Encomium of Hercules, a tragedy entitled Oedipus, and a collection of +Apophthegms; all which Augustus forbad to be published, in a short and +plain letter to Pompeius Macer, who was employed by him in the +arrangement of his libraries. + +(38) LVII. He was perfect in the use of arms, an accomplished rider, and +able to endure fatigue beyond all belief. On a march, he used to go at +the head of his troops, sometimes on horseback, but oftener on foot, with +his head bare in all kinds of weather. He would travel post in a light +carriage [79] without baggage, at the rate of a hundred miles a day; and +if he was stopped by floods in the rivers, he swam across, or floated on +skins inflated with wind, so that he often anticipated intelligence of +his movements. [80] + +LVIII. In his expeditions, it is difficult to say whether his caution or +his daring was most conspicuous. He never marched his army by roads +which were exposed to ambuscades, without having previously examined the +nature of the ground by his scouts. Nor did he cross over to Britain, +before he had carefully examined, in person [81], the navigation, the +harbours, and the most convenient point of landing in the island. When +intelligence was brought to him of the siege of his camp in Germany, he +made his way to his troops, through the enemy's stations, in a Gaulish +dress. He crossed the sea from Brundisium and Dyrrachium, in the winter, +through the midst of the enemy's fleets; and the troops, under orders to +join him, being slow in their movements, notwithstanding repeated +messages to hurry them, but to no purpose, he at last went privately, and +alone, aboard a small vessel in the night time, with his head muffled up; +nor did he make himself known, or suffer the master to put about, +although the wind blew strong against them, until they were ready to +sink. + +LIX. He was never deterred from any enterprise, nor retarded in the +prosecution of it, by superstition [82]. When a victim, which he was +about to offer in sacrifice, made its (39) escape, he did not therefore +defer his expedition against Scipio and Juba. And happening to fall, +upon stepping out of the ship, he gave a lucky turn to the omen, by +exclaiming, "I hold thee fast, Africa." To chide the prophecies which +were spread abroad, that the name of the Scipios was, by the decrees of +fate, fortunate and invincible in that province, he retained in the camp +a profligate wretch, of the family of the Cornelii, who, on account of +his scandalous life, was surnamed Salutio. + +LX. He not only fought pitched battles, but made sudden attacks when an +opportunity offered; often at the end of a march, and sometimes during +the most violent storms, when nobody could imagine he would stir. Nor +was he ever backward in fighting, until towards the end of his life. He +then was of opinion, that the oftener he had been crowned with success, +the less he ought to expose himself to new hazards; and that nothing he +could gain by a victory would compensate for what he might lose by a +miscarriage. He never defeated the enemy without driving them from their +camp; and giving them no time to rally their forces. When the issue of a +battle was doubtful, he sent away all the horses, and his own first, that +having no means of flight, they might be under the greater necessity of +standing their ground. + +LXI. He rode a very remarkable horse, with feet almost like those of a +man, the hoofs being divided in such a manner as to have some resemblance +to toes. This horse he had bred himself, and the soothsayers having +interpreted these circumstances into an omen that its owner would be +master of the world, he brought him up with particular care, and broke +him in himself, as the horse would suffer no one else to mount him. A +statue of this horse was afterwards erected by Caesar's order before the +temple of Venus Genitrix. + +LXII. He often rallied his troops, when they were giving way, by his +personal efforts; stopping those who fled, keeping others in their ranks, +and seizing them by their throat turned them towards the enemy; although +numbers were so terrified, that an eagle-bearer [83], thus stopped, made +a thrust at him with (40) the spear-head; and another, upon a similar +occasion, left the standard in his hand. + +LXIII. The following instances of his resolution are equally, and even +more remarkable. After the battle of Pharsalia, having sent his troops +before him into Asia, as he was passing the straits of the Hellespont in +a ferry-boat, he met with Lucius Cassius, one of the opposite party, with +ten ships of war; and so far from endeavouring to escape, he went +alongside his ship, and calling upon him to surrender, Cassius humbly +gave him his submission. + +LXIV. At Alexandria, in the attack of a bridge, being forced by a sudden +sally of the enemy into a boat, and several others hurrying in with him, +he leaped into the sea, and saved himself by swimming to the next ship, +which lay at the distance of two hundred paces; holding up his left hand +out of the water, for fear of wetting some papers which he held in it; +and pulling his general's cloak after him with his teeth, lest it should +fall into the hands of the enemy. + +LXV. He never valued a soldier for his moral conduct or his means, but +for his courage only; and treated his troops with a mixture of severity +and indulgence; for he did not always keep a strict hand over them, but +only when the enemy was near. Then indeed he was so strict a +disciplinarian, that he would give no notice of a march or a battle until +the moment of action, in order that the troops might hold themselves in +readiness for any sudden movement; and he would frequently draw them out +of the camp without any necessity for it, especially in rainy weather, +and upon holy-days. Sometimes, giving them orders not to lose sight of +him, he would suddenly depart by day or by night, and lengthen the +marches in order to tire them out, as they followed him at a distance. + +LXVI. When at any time his troops were dispirited by reports of the +great force of the enemy, he rallied their courage; not by denying the +truth of what was said, or by diminishing the facts, but, on the +contrary, by exaggerating every particular. (41) Accordingly, when his +troops were in great alarm at the expected arrival of king Juba, he +called them together, and said, "I have to inform you that in a very few +days the king will be here, with ten legions, thirty thousand horse, a +hundred thousand light-armed foot, and three hundred elephants. Let none +of you, therefore, presume to make further enquiry, or indulge in +conjectures, but take my word for what I tell you, which I have from +undoubted intelligence; otherwise I shall put them aboard an old crazy +vessel, and leave them exposed to the mercy of the winds, to be +transported to some other country." + +LXVII. He neither noticed all their transgressions, nor punished them +according to strict rule. But for deserters and mutineers he made the +most diligent enquiry, and their punishment was most severe: other +delinquencies he would connive at. Sometimes, after a great battle +ending in victory, he would grant them a relaxation from all kinds of +duty, and leave them to revel at pleasure; being used to boast, "that his +soldiers fought nothing the worse for being well oiled." In his +speeches, he never addressed them by the title of "Soldiers," but by the +kinder phrase of "Fellow-soldiers;" and kept them in such splendid order, +that their arms were ornamented with silver and gold, not merely for +parade, but to render the soldiers more resolute to save them in battle, +and fearful of losing them. He loved his troops to such a degree, that +when he heard of the defeat of those under Titurius, he neither cut his +hair nor shaved his beard, until he had revenged it upon the enemy; by +which means he engaged their devoted affection, and raised their valour +to the highest pitch. + +LXVIII. Upon his entering on the civil war, the centurions of every +legion offered, each of them, to maintain a horseman at his own expense, +and the whole army agreed to serve gratis, without either corn or pay; +those amongst them who were rich, charging themselves with the +maintenance of the poor. No one of them, during the whole course of the +war, deserted to the enemy; and many of those who were made prisoners, +though they were offered their lives, upon condition of bearing arms +against him, refused to accept the terms. They endured want, and other +hardships, not only (42) when they were besieged themselves, but when +they besieged others, to such a degree, that Pompey, when blocked up in +the neighbourhood of Dyrrachium, upon seeing a sort of bread made of an +herb, which they lived upon, said, "I have to do with wild beasts," and +ordered it immediately to be taken away; because, if his troops should +see it, their spirit might be broken by perceiving the endurance and +determined resolution of the enemy. With what bravery they fought, one +instance affords sufficient proof; which is, that after an unsuccessful +engagement at Dyrrachium, they called for punishment; insomuch that their +general found it more necessary to comfort than to punish them. In other +battles, in different quarters, they defeated with ease immense armies of +the enemy, although they were much inferior to them in number. In short, +one cohort of the sixth legion held out a fort against four legions +belonging to Pompey, during several hours; being almost every one of them +wounded by the vast number of arrows discharged against them, and of +which there were found within the ramparts a hundred and thirty thousand. +This is no way surprising, when we consider the conduct of some +individuals amongst them; such as that of Cassius Scaeva, a centurion, or +Caius Acilius, a common soldier, not to speak of others. Scaeva, after +having an eye struck out, being run through the thigh and the shoulder, +and having his shield pierced in an hundred and twenty places, maintained +obstinately the guard of the gate of a fort, with the command of which he +was intrusted. Acilius, in the sea-fight at Marseilles, having seized a +ship of the enemy's with his right hand, and that being cut off, in +imitation of that memorable instance of resolution in Cynaegirus amongst +the Greeks, boarded the enemy's ship, bearing down all before him with +the boss of his shield. + +LXIX. They never once mutinied during all the ten years of the Gallic +war, but were sometimes refractory in the course of the civil war. +However, they always returned quickly to their duty, and that not through +the indulgence, but in submission to the authority, of their general; for +he never yielded to them when they were insubordinate, but constantly +resisted their demands. He disbanded the whole ninth legion with +ignominy at Placentia, although Pompey was still in arms, and would (43) +not receive them again into his service, until they had not only made +repeated and humble entreaties, but until the ringleaders in the mutiny +were punished. + +LXX. When the soldiers of the tenth legion at Rome demanded their +discharge and rewards for their service, with violent threats and no +small danger to the city, although the war was then raging in Africa, he +did not hesitate, contrary to the advice of his friends, to meet the +legion, and disband it. But addressing them by the title of "Quirites," +instead of "Soldiers," he by this single word so thoroughly brought them +round and changed their determination, that they immediately cried out, +they were his "soldiers," and followed him to Africa, although he had +refused their service. He nevertheless punished the most mutinous among +them, with the loss of a third of their share in the plunder, and the +land destined for them. + +LXXI. In the service of his clients, while yet a young man, he evinced +great zeal and fidelity. He defended the cause of a noble youth, +Masintha, against king Hiempsal, so strenuously, that in a scuffle which +took place upon the occasion, he seized by the beard the son of king +Juba; and upon Masintha's being declared tributary to Hiempsal, while the +friends of the adverse party were violently carrying him off, he +immediately rescued him by force, kept him concealed in his house a long +time, and when, at the expiration of his praetorship, he went to Spain, +he took him away in his litter, in the midst of his lictors bearing the +fasces, and others who had come to attend and take leave of him. + +LXXII. He always treated his friends with such kindness and good-nature, +that when Caius Oppius, in travelling with him through a forest, was +suddenly taken ill, he resigned to him the only place there was to +shelter them at night, and lay upon the ground in the open air. When he +had placed himself at the head of affairs, he advanced some of his +faithful adherents, though of mean extraction, to the highest offices; +and when he was censured for this partiality, he openly said, "Had I been +assisted by robbers and cut-throats in the defence of my honour, I should +have made them the same recompense." + +(44) LXXIII. The resentment he entertained against any one was never so +implacable that he did not very willingly renounce it when opportunity +offered. Although Caius Memmius had published some extremely virulent +speeches against him, and he had answered him with equal acrimony, yet he +afterwards assisted him with his vote and interest, when he stood +candidate for the consulship. When C. Calvus, after publishing some +scandalous epigrams upon him, endeavoured to effect a reconciliation by +the intercession of friends, he wrote to him, of his own accord, the +first letter. And when Valerius Catullus, who had, as he himself +observed, fixed such a stain upon his character in his verses upon +Mamurra as never could be obliterated, he begged his pardon, invited him +to supper the same day; and continued to take up his lodging with his +father occasionally, as he had been accustomed to do. + +LXXIV. His temper was also naturally averse to severity in retaliation. +After he had captured the pirates, by whom he had been taken, having +sworn that he would crucify them, he did so indeed; but he first ordered +their throats to be cut [84]. He could never bear the thought of doing +any harm to Cornelius Phagitas, who had dogged him in the night when he +was sick and a fugitive, with the design of carrying him to Sylla, and +from whose hands he had escaped with some difficulty by giving him a +bribe. Philemon, his amanuensis, who had promised his enemies to poison +him, he put to death without torture. When he was summoned as a witness +against Publicus Clodius, his wife Pompeia's gallant, who was prosecuted +for the profanation of religious ceremonies, he declared he knew nothing +of the affair, although his mother Aurelia, and his sister Julia, gave +the court an exact and full account of the circumstances. And being +asked why then he had divorced his wife? "Because," he said, "my family +should not only be free from guilt, but even from the suspicion of it." + +LXXV. Both in his administration and his conduct towards the vanquished +party in the civil war, he showed a wonderful moderation and clemency. +For while Pompey declared that he would consider those as enemies who did +not take arms in defence of the republic, he desired it to be understood, +that he (45) should regard those who remained neuter as his friends. +With regard to all those to whom he had, on Pompey's recommendation, +given any command in the army, he left them at perfect liberty to go over +to him, if they pleased. When some proposals were made at Ileria [85] +for a surrender, which gave rise to a free communication between the two +camps, and Afranius and Petreius, upon a sudden change of resolution, had +put to the sword all Caesar's men who were found in the camp, he scorned +to imitate the base treachery which they had practised against himself. +On the field of Pharsalia, he called out to the soldiers "to spare their +fellow-citizens," and afterwards gave permission to every man in his army +to save an enemy. None of them, so far as appears, lost their lives but +in battle, excepting only Afranius, Faustus, and young Lucius Caesar; and +it is thought that even they were put to death without his consent. +Afranius and Faustus had borne arms against him, after obtaining their +pardon; and Lucius Caesar had not only in the most cruel manner destroyed +with fire and sword his freed-men and slaves, but cut to pieces the wild +beasts which he had prepared for the entertainment of the people. And +finally, a little before his death, he permitted all whom he had not +before pardoned, to return into Italy, and to bear offices both civil and +military. He even replaced the statues of Sylla and Pompey, which had +been thrown down by the populace. And after this, whatever was devised +or uttered, he chose rather to check than to punish it. Accordingly, +having detected certain conspiracies and nocturnal assemblies, he went no +farther than to intimate by a proclamation that he knew of them; and as +to those who indulged themselves in the liberty of reflecting severely +upon him, he only warned them in a public speech not to persist in their +offence. He bore with great moderation a virulent libel written against +him by Aulus Caecinna, and the abusive lampoons of Pitholaus, most highly +reflecting on his reputation. + +LXXVI. His other words and actions, however, so far outweigh all his +good qualities, that it is thought he abused his power, and was justly +cut off. For he not only obtained excessive honours, such as the +consulship every year, the dictatorship for life, and the censorship, but +also the title of emperor [86], (46) and the surname of FATHER OF HIS +COUNTRY [87], besides having his statue amongst the kings [88], and a +lofty couch in the theatre. He even suffered some honours to be decreed +to him, which were unbefitting the most exalted of mankind; such as a +gilded chair of state in the senate-house and on his tribunal, a +consecrated chariot, and banners in the Circensian procession, temples, +altars, statues among the gods, a bed of state in the temples, a priest, +and a college of priests dedicated to himself, like those of Pan; and +that one of the months should be called by his name. There were, indeed, +no honours which he did not either assume himself, or grant to others, at +his will and pleasure. In his third and fourth consulship, he used only +the title of the office, being content with the power of dictator, which +was conferred upon him with the consulship; and in both years he +substituted other consuls in his room, during the three last months; so +that in the intervals he held no assemblies of the people, for the +election of magistrates, excepting only tribunes and ediles of the +people; and appointed officers, under the name of praefects, instead of +the praetors, to administer the affairs of the city during his absence. +The office of consul having become vacant, by the sudden death of one of +the consuls the day before the calends of January [the 1st Jan.], he +conferred it on a person who requested it of him, for a few hours. +Assuming the same licence, and regardless of the customs of his country, +he appointed magistrates to hold their offices for terms of years. He +granted the insignia of the consular dignity to ten persons of pretorian +rank. He admitted into the senate some men who had been made free of the +city, and even natives of Gaul, who were semi-barbarians. (47) He +likewise appointed to the management of the mint, and the public revenue +of the state, some servants of his own household; and entrusted the +command of three legions, which he left at Alexandria, to an old catamite +of his, the son of his freed-man Rufinus. + +LXXVII. He was guilty of the same extravagance in the language he +publicly used, as Titus Ampius informs us; according to whom he said, +"The republic is nothing but a name, without substance or reality. Sylla +was an ignorant fellow to abdicate the dictatorship. Men ought to +consider what is becoming when they talk with me, and look upon what I +say as a law." To such a pitch of arrogance did he proceed, that when a +soothsayer announced to him the unfavourable omen, that the entrails of a +victim offered for sacrifice were without a heart, he said, "The entrails +will be more favourable when I please; and it ought not to be regarded as +a prodigy that a beast should be found wanting a heart." + +LXXVIII. But what brought upon him the greatest odium, and was thought +an unpardonable insult, was his receiving the whole body of the conscript +fathers sitting, before the temple of Venus Genitrix, when they waited +upon him with a number of decrees, conferring on him the highest +dignities. Some say that, on his attempting to rise, he was held down by +Cornelius Balbus; others, that he did not attempt to rise at all, but +frowned on Caius Trebatius, who suggested to him that he should stand up +to receive the senate. This behaviour appeared the more intolerable in +him, because, when one of the tribunes of the people, Pontius Aquila, +would not rise up to him, as he passed by the tribunes' seat during his +triumph, he was so much offended, that he cried out, "Well then, you +tribune, Aquila, oust me from the government." And for some days +afterwards, he never promised a favour to any person, without this +proviso, "if Pontus Aquila will give me leave." + +LXXIX. To this extraordinary mark of contempt for the senate, he added +another affront still more outrageous. For when, after the sacred rites +of the Latin festival, he was returning home, amidst the immoderate and +unusual acclamations (48) of the people, a man in the crowd put a laurel +crown, encircled with a white fillet [89], on one of his statues; upon +which, the tribunes of the people, Epidius Marullus, and Caesetius +Flavus, ordered the fillet to be removed from the crown, and the man to +be taken to prison. Caesar, being much concerned either that the idea of +royalty had been suggested to so little purpose, or, as was said, that he +was thus deprived of the merit of refusing it, reprimanded the tribunes +very severely, and dismissed them from their office. From that day +forward, he was never able to wipe off the scandal of affecting the name +of king, although he replied to the populace, when they saluted him by +that title, "I am Caesar, and no king." And at the feast of the +Lupercalia [90], when the consul Antony placed a crown upon his head in +the rostra several times, he as often put it away, and sent it to the +Capitol for Jupiter, the Best and the Greatest. A report was very +current, that he had a design of withdrawing to Alexandria or Ilium, +whither he proposed to transfer the imperial power, to drain Italy by new +levies, and to leave the government of the city to be administered by his +friends. To this report it was added, that in the next meeting of the +senate, Lucius Cotta, one of the fifteen [91], would make a motion, that +as there was in the Sibylline books a prophecy, that the Parthians would +never be subdued but by a king, Caesar should have that title conferred +upon him. + +LXXX. For this reason the conspirators precipitated the execution of +their design [92], that they might not be obliged to give their assent to +the proposal. Instead, therefore, of caballing any longer separately, in +small parties, they now united their counsels; the people themselves +being dissatisfied with the present state of affairs, both privately and +publicly (49) condemning the tyranny under which they lived, and calling +on patriots to assert their cause against the usurper. Upon the +admission of foreigners into the senate, a hand-bill was posted up in +these words: "A good deed! let no one shew a new senator the way to the +house." These verses were likewise currently repeated: + + The Gauls he dragged in triumph through the town, + Caesar has brought into the senate-house, + And changed their plaids [93] for the patrician gown. + + Gallos Caesar in triumphum ducit: iidem in curiam + Galli braccas deposuerunt, latum clavum sumpserunt. + +When Quintus Maximus, who had been his deputy in the consulship for the +last three months, entered the theatre, and the lictor, according to +custom, bid the people take notice who was coming, they all cried out, +"He is no consul." After the removal of Caesetius and Marullus from +their office, they were found to have a great many votes at the next +election of consuls. Some one wrote under the statue of Lucius Brutus, +"Would you were now alive!" and under the statue of Caesar himself these +lines: + + Because he drove from Rome the royal race, + Brutus was first made consul in their place. + This man, because he put the consuls down, + Has been rewarded with a royal crown. + + Brutus, quia reges ejecit, consul primus factus est: + Hic, quia consules ejecit, rex postremo factus est. + +About sixty persons were engaged in the conspiracy against him, of whom +Caius Cassius, and Marcus and Decimus Brutus were the chief. It was at +first debated amongst them, whether they should attack him in the Campus +Martius when he was taking the votes of the tribes, and some of them +should throw him off the bridge, whilst others should be ready to stab +him upon his fall; or else in the Via Sacra, or at the entrance of the +theatre. But after public notice had been given by proclamation for the +senate to assemble upon the ides of March [15th March], in the senate- +house built by Pompey, they approved both of the time and place, as most +fitting for their purpose. + +LXXXI. Caesar had warning given him of his fate by indubitable (50) +omens. A few months before, when the colonists settled at Capua, by +virtue of the Julian law, were demolishing some old sepulchres, in +building country-houses, and were the more eager at the work, because +they discovered certain vessels of antique workmanship, a tablet of brass +was found in a tomb, in which Capys, the founder of Capua, was said to +have been buried, with an inscription in the Greek language to this +effect "Whenever the bones of Capys come to be discovered, a descendant +of Iulus will be slain by the hands of his kinsmen, and his death +revenged by fearful disasters throughout Italy." Lest any person should +regard this anecdote as a fabulous or silly invention, it was circulated +upon the authority of Caius Balbus, an intimate friend of Caesar's. A +few days likewise before his death, he was informed that the horses, +which, upon his crossing the Rubicon, he had consecrated, and turned +loose to graze without a keeper, abstained entirely from eating, and shed +floods of tears. The soothsayer Spurinna, observing certain ominous +appearances in a sacrifice which he was offering, advised him to beware +of some danger, which threatened to befall him before the ides of March +were past. The day before the ides, birds of various kinds from a +neighbouring grove, pursuing a wren which flew into Pompey's senate-house +[94], with a sprig of laurel in its beak, tore it in pieces. Also, in +the night on which the day of his murder dawned, he dreamt at one time +that he was soaring above the clouds, and, at another, that he had joined +hands with Jupiter. His wife Calpurnia fancied in her sleep that the +pediment of the house was falling down, and her husband stabbed on her +bosom; immediately upon which the chamber doors flew open. On account of +these omens, as well as his infirm health, he was in some doubt whether +he should not remain at home, and defer to some other opportunity the +business which he intended to propose to the senate; but Decimus Brutus +advising him not to disappoint the senators, who were numerously +assembled, and waited his coming, he was prevailed upon to go, and +accordingly (51) set forward about the fifth hour. In his way, some +person having thrust into his hand a paper, warning him against the plot, +he mixed it with some other documents which he held in his left hand, +intending to read it at leisure. Victim after victim was slain, without +any favourable appearances in the entrails; but still, disregarding all +omens, he entered the senate-house, laughing at Spurinna as a false +prophet, because the ides of March were come, without any mischief having +befallen him. To which the soothsayer replied, "They are come, indeed, +but not past." + +LXXXII. When he had taken his seat, the conspirators stood round him, +under colour of paying their compliments; and immediately Tullius Cimber, +who had engaged to commence the assault, advancing nearer than the rest, +as if he had some favour to request, Caesar made signs that he should +defer his petition to some other time. Tullius immediately seized him by +the toga, on both shoulders; at which Caesar crying out, "Violence is +meant!" one of the Cassii wounded him a little below the throat. Caesar +seized him by the arm, and ran it through with his style [95]; and +endeavouring to rush forward was stopped by another wound. Finding +himself now attacked on all hands with naked poniards, he wrapped the +toga [96] about his head, and at the same moment drew the skirt round his +legs with his left hand, that he might fall more decently with the lower +part of his body covered. He was stabbed with three and twenty wounds, +uttering a groan only, but no cry, at the first wound; although some +authors relate, that when Marcus Brutus fell upon him, he exclaimed, +"What! art thou, too, one of them? Thou, my son!" [97] The whole +assembly instantly (52) dispersing, he lay for some time after he +expired, until three of his slaves laid the body on a litter, and carried +it home, with one arm hanging down over the side. Among so many wounds, +there was none that was mortal, in the opinion of the surgeon Antistius, +except the second, which he received in the breast. The conspirators +meant to drag his body into the Tiber as soon as they had killed him; to +confiscate his estate, and rescind all his enactments; but they were +deterred by fear of Mark Antony, and Lepidus, Caesar's master of the +horse, and abandoned their intentions. + +LXXXIII. At the instance of Lucius Piso, his father-in-law, his will was +opened and read in Mark Antony's house. He had made it on the ides +[13th] of the preceding September, at his Lavican villa, and committed it +to the custody of the chief of the Vestal Virgins. Quintus Tubero +informs us, that in all the wills he had signed, from the time of his +first consulship to the breaking out of the civil war, Cneius Pompey was +appointed his heir, and that this had been publicly notified to the army. +But in his last will, he named three heirs, the grandsons of his sisters; +namely, Caius Octavius for three fourths of his estate, and Lucius +Pinarius and Quintus Pedius for the remaining fourth. Other heirs [in +remainder] were named at the close of the will, in which he also adopted +Caius Octavius, who was to assume his name, into his family; and +nominated most of those who were concerned in his death among the +guardians of his son, if he should have any; as well as Decimus Brutus +amongst his heirs of the second order. Be bequeathed to the Roman people +his gardens near the Tiber, and three hundred sesterces each man. + +LXXXIV. Notice of his funeral having been solemnly proclaimed, a pile +was erected in the Campus Martius, near the tomb of his daughter Julia; +and before the Rostra was placed a gilded tabernacle, on the model of the +temple of Venus Genitrix; within which was an ivory bed, covered with +purple and cloth of gold. At the head was a trophy, with the +[bloodstained] robe in which he was slain. It being considered that the +whole day would not suffice for carrying the funeral oblations in solemn +procession before the corpse, directions were given for every one, +without regard to order, to carry them from the city into the Campus +Martius, by what way they pleased. To raise pity and indignation for his +murder, in the plays acted at the funeral, a passage was sung from +Pacuvius's tragedy, entitled, "The Trial for Arms:" + + That ever I, unhappy man, should save + Wretches, who thus have brought me to the grave! [98] + +And some lines also from Attilius's tragedy of "Electra," to the same +effect. Instead of a funeral panegyric, the consul Antony ordered a +herald to proclaim to the people the decree of the senate, in which they +had bestowed upon him all honours, divine and human; with the oath by +which they had engaged themselves for the defence of his person; and to +these he added only a few words of his own. The magistrates and others +who had formerly filled the highest offices, carried the bier from the +Rostra into the Forum. While some proposed that the body should be burnt +in the sanctuary of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and others in +Pompey's senate-house; on a sudden, two men, with swords by their sides, +and spears in their hands, set fire to the bier with lighted torches. +The throng around immediately heaped upon it dry faggots, the tribunals +and benches of the adjoining courts, and whatever else came to hand. +Then the musicians and players stripped off the dresses they wore on the +present occasion, taken from the wardrobe of his triumph at spectacles, +rent them, and threw them into the flames. The legionaries, also, of his +(54) veteran bands, cast in their armour, which they had put on in honour +of his funeral. Most of the ladies did the same by their ornaments, with +the bullae [99], and mantles of their children. In this public mourning +there joined a multitude of foreigners, expressing their sorrow according +to the fashion of their respective countries; but especially the Jews +[100], who for several nights together frequented the spot where the body +was burnt. + +LXXXV. The populace ran from the funeral, with torches in their hands, +to the houses of Brutus and Cassius, and were repelled with difficulty. +Going in quest of Cornelius Cinna, who had in a speech, the day before, +reflected severely upon Caesar, and mistaking for him Helvius Cinna, who +happened to fall into their hands, they murdered the latter, and carried +his head about the city on the point of a spear. They afterwards erected +in the Forum a column of Numidian marble, formed of one stone nearly +twenty feet high, and inscribed upon it these words, TO THE FATHER OF HIS +COUNTRY. At this column they continued for a long time to offer +sacrifices, make vows, and decide controversies, in which they swore by +Caesar. + +LXXXVI. Some of Caesar's friends entertained a suspicion, that he +neither desired nor cared to live any longer, on account of his declining +health; and for that reason slighted all the omens of religion, and the +warnings of his friends. Others are of opinion, that thinking himself +secure in the late decree of the senate, and their oaths, he dismissed +his Spanish guards who attended him with drawn swords. Others again +suppose, that he chose rather to face at once the dangers which +threatened him on all sides, than to be for ever on the watch against +them. Some tell us that he used to say, the commonwealth was more +interested in the safety of his person than himself: for that he had for +some time been satiated with power and glory; but that the commonwealth, +if any thing should befall him, would have no rest, and, involved in +another civil war, would be in a worse state than before. + +(55) LXXXVII. This, however, was generally admitted, that his death was +in many respects such as he would have chosen. For, upon reading the +account delivered by Xenophon, how Cyrus in his last illness gave +instructions respecting his funeral, Caesar deprecated a lingering death, +and wished that his own might be sudden and speedy. And the day before +he died, the conversation at supper, in the house of Marcus Lepidus, +turning upon what was the most eligible way of dying, he gave his opinion +in favour of a death that is sudden and unexpected. + +LXXXVIII. He died in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and was ranked +amongst the Gods, not only by a formal decree, but in the belief of the +vulgar. For during the first games which Augustus, his heir, consecrated +to his memory, a comet blazed for seven days together, rising always +about eleven o'clock; and it was supposed to be the soul of Caesar, now +received into heaven: for which reason, likewise, he is represented on +his statue with a star on his brow. The senate-house in which he was +slain, was ordered to be shut up [101], and a decree made that the ides +of March should be called parricidal, and the senate should never more +assemble on that day. + +LXXXIX. Scarcely any of those who were accessary to his murder, survived +him more than three years, or died a natural death [102]. They were all +condemned by the senate: some were taken off by one accident, some by +another. Part of them perished at sea, others fell in battle; and some +slew themselves with the same poniard with which they had stabbed Caesar +[103]. + +(56) [104] The termination of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey +forms a new epoch in the Roman History, at which a Republic, which had +subsisted with unrivalled glory during a period of about four hundred and +sixty years, relapsed into a state of despotism, whence it never more +could emerge. So sudden a transition from prosperity to the ruin of +public freedom, without the intervention of any foreign enemy, excites a +reasonable conjecture, that the constitution in which it could take +place, however vigorous in appearance, must have lost that soundness of +political health which had enabled it to endure through so many ages. A +short view of its preceding state, and of that in which it was at the +time of the revolution now mentioned, will best ascertain the foundation +of such a conjecture. + +Though the Romans, upon the expulsion of Tarquin, made an essential +change in the political form of the state, they did not carry their +detestation of regal authority so far as to abolish the religious +institutions of Numa Pompilius, the second of their kings, according to +which, the priesthood, with all the influence annexed to that order, was +placed in the hands of the aristocracy. By this wise policy a restraint +was put upon the fickleness and violence of the people in matters of +government, and a decided superiority given to the Senate both in the +deliberative and executive parts of administration. This advantage was +afterwards indeed diminished by the creation of Tribunes of the people; a +set of men whose ambition often embroiled the Republic in civil +dissensions, and who at last abused their authority to such a degree, +that they became instruments of aggrandizement to any leading men in the +state who could purchase their friendship. In general, however, the +majority of the Tribunes being actuated by views which comprehended the +interests of the multitude, rather than those of individuals, they did +not so much endanger the liberty, as they interrupted the tranquillity, +of the public; and when the occasional commotions subsided, there +remained no permanent ground for the establishment of personal +usurpation. + +In every government, an object of the last importance to the peace and +welfare of society is the morals of the people; and in proportion as a +community is enlarged by propagation, or the accession of a multitude of +new members, a more strict attention is requisite to guard against that +dissolution of manners to which a crowded and extensive capital has a +natural tendency. Of this (57) the Romans became sensible in the growing +state of the Republic. In the year of the City 312, two magistrates were +first created for taking an account of the number of the people, and the +value of their estates; and soon after, they were invested with the +authority not only of inspecting the morals of individuals, but of +inflicting public censure for any licentiousness of conduct, or violation +of decency. Thus both the civil and religious institutions concurred to +restrain the people within the bounds of good order and obedience to the +laws; at the same time that the frugal life of the ancient Romans proved +a strong security against those vices which operate most effectually +towards sapping the foundations of a state. + +But in the time of Julius Caesar the barriers of public liberty were +become too weak to restrain the audacious efforts of ambitious and +desperate men. The veneration for the constitution, usually a powerful +check to treasonable designs, had been lately violated by the usurpations +of Marius and Sylla. The salutary terrors of religion no longer +predominated over the consciences of men. The shame of public censure +was extinguished in general depravity. An eminent historian, who lived +at that time, informs us, that venality universally prevailed amongst the +Romans; and a writer who flourished soon after, observes, that luxury and +dissipation had encumbered almost all so much with debt, that they beheld +with a degree of complacency the prospect of civil war and confusion. + +The extreme degree of profligacy at which the Romans were now arrived is +in nothing more evident, than that this age gave birth to the most +horrible conspiracy which occurs in the annals of humankind, viz. that of +Catiline. This was not the project of a few desperate and abandoned +individuals, but of a number of men of the most illustrious rank in the +state; and it appears beyond doubt, that Julius Caesar was accessary to +the design, which was no less than to extirpate the Senate, divide +amongst themselves both the public and private treasures, and set Rome on +fire. The causes which prompted to this tremendous project, it is +generally admitted, were luxury, prodigality, irreligion, a total +corruption of manners, and above all, as the immediate cause, the +pressing necessity in which the conspirators were involved by their +extreme dissipation. + +The enormous debt in which Caesar himself was early involved, +countenances an opinion that his anxiety to procure the province of Gaul +proceeded chiefly from this cause. But during nine years in which he +held that province, he acquired such riches as must have rendered him, +without competition, the most opulent person in the state. If nothing +more, therefore, than a (58) splendid establishment had been the object +of his pursuit, he had attained to the summit of his wishes. But when we +find him persevering in a plan of aggrandizement beyond this period of +his fortunes, we can ascribe his conduct to no other motive than that of +outrageous ambition. He projected the building of a new Forum at Rome, +for the ground only of which he was to pay 800,000 pounds; he raised +legions in Gaul at his own charges: he promised such entertainments to +the people as had never been known at Rome from the foundation of the +city. All these circumstances evince some latent design of procuring +such a popularity as might give him an uncontrolled influence in the +management of public affairs. Pompey, we are told, was wont to say, that +Caesar not being able, with all his riches, to fulfil the promises which +he had made, wished to throw everything into confusion. There may have +been some foundation for this remark: but the opinion of Cicero is more +probable, that Caesar's mind was seduced with the temptations of +chimerical glory. It is observable that neither Cicero nor Pompey +intimates any suspicion that Caesar was apprehensive of being impeached +for his conduct, had he returned to Rome in a private station. Yet, that +there was reason for such an apprehension, the positive declaration of L. +Domitius leaves little room to doubt: especially when we consider the +number of enemies that Caesar had in the Senate, and the coolness of his +former friend Pompey ever after the death of Julia. The proposed +impeachment was founded upon a notorious charge of prosecuting measures +destructive of the interests of the commonwealth, and tending ultimately +to an object incompatible with public freedom. Indeed, considering the +extreme corruption which prevailed amongst the Romans at this time, it is +more than probable that Caesar would have been acquitted of the charge, +but at such an expense as must have stripped him of all his riches, and +placed him again in a situation ready to attempt a disturbance of the +public tranquillity. For it is said, that he purchased the friendship of +Curio, at the commencement of the civil war, with a bribe little short of +half a million sterling. + +Whatever Caesar's private motive may have been for taking arms against +his country, he embarked in an enterprise of a nature the most dangerous: +and had Pompey conducted himself in any degree suitable to the reputation +which he had formerly acquired, the contest would in all probability have +terminated in favour of public freedom. But by dilatory measures in the +beginning, by imprudently withdrawing his army from Italy into a distant +province, and by not pursuing the advantage he had gained by the vigorous +repulse of Caesar's troops in their attack upon his camp, this commander +lost every opportunity of extinguishing a war which was to determine the +fate, and even the existence, of the Republic. It was accordingly +determined on the plains of Pharsalia, where Caesar obtained a victory +which was not more decisive than unexpected. He was now no longer +amenable either to the tribunal of the Senate or the power of the laws, +but triumphed at once over his enemies and the constitution of his +country. + +It is to the honour of Caesar, that when he had obtained the supreme +power, he exercised it with a degree of moderation beyond what was +generally expected by those who had fought on the side of the Republic. +Of his private life either before or after this period, little is +transmitted in history. Henceforth, however, he seems to have lived +chiefly at Rome, near which he had a small villa, upon an eminence, +commanding a beautiful prospect. His time was almost entirely occupied +with public affairs, in the management of which, though he employed many +agents, he appears to have had none in the character of actual minister. +He was in general easy of access: but Cicero, in a letter to a friend, +complains of having been treated with the indignity of waiting a +considerable time amongst a crowd in an anti-chamber, before he could +have an audience. The elevation of Caesar placed him not above +discharging reciprocally the social duties in the intercourse of life. +He returned the visits of those who waited upon him, and would sup at +their houses. At table, and in the use of wine, he was habitually +temperate. Upon the whole, he added nothing to his own happiness by all +the dangers, the fatigues, and the perpetual anxiety which he had +incurred in the pursuit of unlimited power. His health was greatly +impaired: his former cheerfulness of temper, though not his magnanimity, +appears to have forsaken him; and we behold in his fate a memorable +example of illustrious talents rendered, by inordinate ambition, +destructive to himself, and irretrievably pernicious to his country. + +From beholding the ruin of the Roman Republic, after intestine divisions, +and the distractions of civil war, it will afford some relief to take a +view of the progress of literature, which flourished even during those +calamities. + +The commencement of literature in Rome is to be dated from the reduction +of the Grecian States, when the conquerors imported into their own +country the valuable productions of the Greek language, and the first +essay of Roman genius was in dramatic composition. Livius Andronicus, +who flourished about 240 years before the Christian aera, formed the +Fescennine verses into a kind of regular drama, upon the model of the +Greeks. He was followed some time after by Ennius, who, besides dramatic +and other compositions, (60) wrote the annals of the Roman Republic in +heroic verse. His style, like that of Andronicus, was rough and +unpolished, in conformity to the language of those times; but for +grandeur of sentiment and energy of expression, he was admired by the +greatest poets in the subsequent ages. Other writers of distinguished +reputation in the dramatic department were Naevius, Pacuvius, Plautus, +Afranius, Caecilius, Terence, Accius, etc. Accius and Pacuvius are +mentioned by Quintilian as writers of extraordinary merit. Of twenty- +five comedies written by Plautus, the number transmitted to posterity is +nineteen; and of a hundred and eight which Terence is said to have +translated from Menander, there now remain only six. Excepting a few +inconsiderable fragments, the writings of all the other authors have +perished. The early period of Roman literature was distinguished for the +introduction of satire by Lucilius, an author celebrated for writing with +remarkable ease, but whose compositions, in the opinion of Horace, though +Quintilian thinks otherwise, were debased with a mixture of feculency. +Whatever may have been their merit, they also have perished, with the +works of a number of orators, who adorned the advancing state of letters +in the Roman Republic. It is observable, that during this whole period, +of near two centuries and a half, there appeared not one historian of +eminence sufficient to preserve his name from oblivion. + +Julius Caesar himself is one of the most eminent writers of the age in +which he lived. His commentaries on the Gallic and Civil Wars are +written with a purity, precision, and perspicuity, which command +approbation. They are elegant without affectation, and beautiful without +ornament. Of the two books which he composed on Analogy, and those under +the title of Anti-Cato, scarcely any fragment is preserved; but we may be +assured of the justness of the observations on language, which were made +by an author so much distinguished by the excellence of his own +compositions. His poem entitled The Journey, which was probably an +entertaining narrative, is likewise totally lost. + +The most illustrious prose writer of this or any other age is M. Tullius +Cicero; and as his life is copiously related in biographical works, it +will be sufficient to mention his writings. From his earliest years, he +applied himself with unremitting assiduity to the cultivation of +literature, and, whilst he was yet a boy, wrote a poem, called Glaucus +Pontius, which was extant in Plutarch's time. Amongst his juvenile +productions was a translation into Latin verse, of Aratus on the +Phaenomena of the Heavens; of which many fragments are still extant. He +also published a poem of the heroic kind, in honour of his countryman C. +Marius, who was born at Arpinum, the birth-place of Cicero. (61) This +production was greatly admired by Atticus; and old Scaevola was so much +pleased with it, that in an epigram written on the subject, he declares +that it would live as long as the Roman name and learning subsisted. +From a little specimen which remains of it, describing a memorable omen +given to Marina from an oak at Arpinum, there is reason to believe that +his poetical genius was scarcely inferior to his oratorical, had it been +cultivated with equal industry. He published another poem called Limon, +of which Donatus has preserved four lines in the life of Terence, in +praise of the elegance and purity of that poet's style. He composed in +the Greek language, and in the style and manner of Isocrates, a +Commentary or Memoirs of the Transactions of his Consulship. This he +sent to Atticus, with a desire, if he approved it, to publish it in +Athens and the cities of Greece. He sent a copy of it likewise to +Posidonius of Rhodes, and requested of him to undertake the same subject +in a more elegant and masterly manner. But the latter returned for +answer, that, instead of being encouraged to write by the perusal of his +tract, he was quite deterred from attempting it. + +Upon the plan of those Memoirs, he afterwards composed a Latin poem in +three books, in which he carried down the history to the end of his +exile, but did not publish it for several years, from motives of +delicacy. The three books were severally inscribed to the three Muses; +but of this work there now remain only a few fragments, scattered in +different parts of his other writings. He published, about the same +time, a collection of the principal speeches which he had made in his +consulship, under the title of his Consular Orations. They consisted +originally of twelve; but four are entirely lost, and some of the rest +are imperfect. He now published also, in Latin verse, a translation of +the Prognostics of Aratus, of which work no more than two or three small +fragments now remain. A few years after, he put the last hand to his +Dialogues upon the Character and Idea of the perfect Orator. This +admirable work remains entire; a monument both of the astonishing +industry and transcendent abilities of its author. At his Cuman villa, +he next began a Treatise on Politics, or on the best State of a City, and +the Duties of a Citizen. He calls it a great and a laborious work, yet +worthy of his pains, if he could succeed in it. This likewise was +written in the form of a dialogue, in which the speakers were Scipio, +Laelius, Philus, Manilius, and other great persons in the former times of +the Republic. It was comprised in six books, and survived him for +several ages, though it is now unfortunately lost. From the fragments +which remain, it appears to have been a masterly production, in which all +the important questions in politics and morality were discussed with +elegance and accuracy. + +(62) Amidst all the anxiety for the interests of the Republic, which +occupied the thoughts of this celebrated personage, he yet found leisure +to write several philosophical tracts, which still subsist, to the +gratification of the literary world. He composed a treatise on the +Nature of the Gods, in three books, containing a comprehensive view of +religion, faith, oaths, ceremonies, etc. In elucidating this important +subject, he not only delivers the opinions of all the philosophers who +had written anything concerning it, but weighs and compares attentively +all the arguments with each other; forming upon the whole such a rational +and perfect system of natural religion, as never before was presented to +the consideration of mankind, and approaching nearly to revelation. He +now likewise composed in two books, a discourse on Divination, in which +he discusses at large all the arguments that may be advanced for and +against the actual existence of such a species of knowledge. Like the +preceding works, it is written in the form of dialogue, and in which the +chief speaker is Laelius. The same period gave birth to his treatise on +Old Age, called Cato Major; and to that on Friendship, written also in +dialogue, and in which the chief speaker is Laelius. This book, +considered merely as an essay, is one of the most entertaining +productions of ancient times; but, beheld as a picture drawn from life, +exhibiting the real characters and sentiments of men of the first +distinction for virtue and wisdom in the Roman Republic, it becomes +doubly interesting to every reader of observation and taste. Cicero now +also wrote his discourse on Fate, which was the subject of a conversation +with Hirtius, in his villa near Puteoli; and he executed about the same +time a translation of Plato's celebrated Dialogue, called Timaeus, on the +nature and origin of the universe. He was employing himself also on a +history of his own times, or rather of his own conduct; full of free and +severe reflections on those who had abused their power to the oppression +of the Republic. Dion Cassius says, that he delivered this book sealed +up to his son, with strict orders not to read or publish it till after +his death; but from this time he never saw his son, and it is probable +that he left the work unfinished. Afterwards, however, some copies of it +were circulated; from which his commentator, Asconius, has quoted several +particulars. + +During a voyage which he undertook to Sicily, he wrote his treatise on +Topics, or the Art of finding Arguments on any Question. This was an +abstract from Aristotle's treatise on the same subject; and though he had +neither Aristotle nor any other book to assist him, he drew it up from +his memory, and finished it as he sailed along the coast of Calabria. +The last (63) work composed by Cicero appears to have been his Offices, +written for the use of his son, to whom it is addressed. This treatise +contains a system of moral conduct, founded upon the noblest principles +of human action, and recommended by arguments drawn from the purest +sources of philosophy. + +Such are the literary productions of this extraordinary man, whose +comprehensive understanding enabled him to conduct with superior ability +the most abstruse disquisitions into moral and metaphysical science. +Born in an age posterior to Socrates and Plato, he could not anticipate +the principles inculcated by those divine philosophers, but he is justly +entitled to the praise, not only of having prosecuted with unerring +judgment the steps which they trod before him, but of carrying his +researches to greater extent into the most difficult regions of +philosophy. This too he had the merit to perform, neither in the station +of a private citizen, nor in the leisure of academic retirement, but in +the bustle of public life, amidst the almost constant exertions of the +bar, the employment of the magistrate, the duty of the senator, and the +incessant cares of the statesman; through a period likewise chequered +with domestic afflictions and fatal commotions in the Republic. As a +philosopher, his mind appears to have been clear, capacious, penetrating, +and insatiable of knowledge. As a writer, he was endowed with every +talent that could captivate either the judgment or taste. His researches +were continually employed on subjects of the greatest utility to mankind, +and those often such as extended beyond the narrow bounds of temporal +existence. The being of a God, the immortality of the soul, a future +state of rewards and punishments, and the eternal distinction of good and +evil; these were in general the great objects of his philosophical +enquiries, and he has placed them in a more convincing point of view than +they ever were before exhibited to the pagan world. The variety and +force of the arguments which he advances, the splendour of his diction, +and the zeal with which he endeavours to excite the love and admiration +of virtue, all conspire to place his character, as a philosophical +writer, including likewise his incomparable eloquence, on the summit of +human celebrity. + +The form of dialogue, so much used by Cicero, he doubtless adopted in +imitation of Plato, who probably took the hint of it from the colloquial +method of instruction practised by Socrates. In the early stage of +philosophical enquiry, this mode of composition was well adapted, if not +to the discovery, at least to the confirmation of moral truth; especially +as the practice was then not uncommon, for speculative men to converse +together on important subjects, for mutual information. In treating of +any subject respecting which the different sects of philosophers differed +(64) from each other in point of sentiment, no kind of composition could +be more happily suited than dialogue, as it gave alternately full scope +to the arguments of the various disputants. It required, however, that +the writer should exert his understanding with equal impartiality and +acuteness on the different sides of the question; as otherwise he might +betray a cause under the appearance of defending it. In all the +dialogues of Cicero, he manages the arguments of the several disputants +in a manner not only the most fair and interesting, but also such as +leads to the most probable and rational conclusion. + +After enumerating the various tracts composed and published by Cicero, we +have now to mention his Letters, which, though not written for +publication, deserve to be ranked among the most interesting remains of +Roman literature. The number of such as are addressed to different +correspondents is considerable, but those to Atticus alone, his +confidential friend, amount to upwards of four hundred; among which are +many of great length. They are all written in the genuine spirit of the +most approved epistolary composition; uniting familiarity with elevation, +and ease with elegance. They display in a beautiful light the author's +character in the social relations of life; as a warm friend, a zealous +patron, a tender husband, an affectionate brother, an indulgent father, +and a kind master. Beholding them in a more extensive view, they exhibit +an ardent love of liberty and the constitution of his country: they +discover a mind strongly actuated with the principles of virtue and +reason; and while they abound in sentiments the most judicious and +philosophical, they are occasionally blended with the charms of wit, and +agreeable effusions of pleasantry. What is likewise no small addition to +their merit, they contain much interesting description of private life, +with a variety of information relative to public transactions and +characters of that age. It appears from Cicero's correspondence, that +there was at that time such a number of illustrious Romans, as never +before existed in any one period of the Republic. If ever, therefore, +the authority of men the most respectable for virtue, rank, and +abilities, could have availed to overawe the first attempts at a +violation of public liberty, it must have been at this period; for the +dignity of the Roman senate was now in the zenith of its splendour. + +Cicero has been accused of excessive vanity, and of arrogating to himself +an invidious superiority, from his extraordinary talents but whoever +peruses his letters to Atticus, must readily acknowledge, that this +imputation appears to be destitute of truth. In those excellent +productions, though he adduces the strongest arguments for and against +any object of consideration, that the (65) most penetrating understanding +can suggest, weighs them with each other, and draws from them the most +rational conclusions, he yet discovers such a diffidence in his own +opinion, that he resigns himself implicitly to the judgment and direction +of his friend; a modesty not very compatible with the disposition of the +arrogant, who are commonly tenacious of their own opinion, particularly +in what relates to any decision of the understanding. + +It is difficult to say, whether Cicero appears in his letters more great +or amiable: but that he was regarded by his contemporaries in both these +lights, and that too in the highest degree, is sufficiently evident. We +may thence infer, that the great poets in the subsequent age must have +done violence to their own liberality and discernment, when, in +compliment to Augustus, whose sensibility would have been wounded by the +praises of Cicero, and even by the mention of his name, they have so +industriously avoided the subject, as not to afford the most distant +intimation that this immortal orator and philosopher had ever existed. +Livy however, there is reason to think, did some justice to his memory: +but it was not until the race of the Caesars had become extinct, that he +received the free and unanimous applause of impartial posterity. Such +was the admiration which Quintilian entertained of his writings, that he +considered the circumstance or being delighted with them, as an +indubitable proof of judgment and taste in literature. Ille se +profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valde placebit. [105] + +In this period is likewise to be placed M. Terentius Varro, the +celebrated Roman grammarian, and the Nestor of ancient learning. The +first mention made of him is, that he was lieutenant to Pompey in his +piratical wars, and obtained in that service a naval crown. In the civil +wars he joined the side of the Republic, and was taken by Caesar; by whom +he was likewise proscribed, but obtained a remission of the sentence. Of +all the ancients, he has acquired the greatest fame for his extensive +erudition; and we may add, that he displayed the same industry in +communicating, as he had done in collecting it. His works originally +amounted to no less than five hundred volumes, which have all perished, +except a treatise De Lingua Latina, and one De Re Rustica. Of the former +of these, which is addressed to Cicero, three books at the beginning are +also lost. It appears from the introduction of the fourth book, that +they all related to etymology. The first contained such observations as +might be made against it; the second, such as might be made in its +favour; and the third, observations upon it. He next proceeds to +investigate the origin of (66) Latin words. In the fourth book, he +traces those which relate to place; in the fifth, those connected with +the idea of time; and in the sixth, the origin of both these classes, as +they appear in the writings of the poets. The seventh book is employed +on declension; in which the author enters upon a minute and extensive +enquiry, comprehending a variety of acute and profound observations on +the formation of Latin nouns, and their respective natural declinations +from the nominative case. In the eighth, he examines the nature and +limits of usage and analogy in language; and in the ninth and last book +on the subject, takes a general view of what is the reverse of analogy, +viz. anomaly. The precision and perspicuity which Varro displays in this +work merit the highest encomiums, and justify the character given him in +his own time, of being the most learned of the Latin grammarians. To the +loss of the first three books, are to be added several chasms in the +others; but fortunately they happen in such places as not to affect the +coherency of the author's doctrine, though they interrupt the +illustration of it. It is observable that this great grammarian makes +use of quom for quum, heis for his, and generally queis for quibus. This +practice having become rather obsolete at the time in which he wrote, we +must impute his continuance of it to his opinion of its propriety, upon +its established principles of grammar, and not to any prejudice of +education, or an affectation of singularity. As Varro makes no mention +of Caesar's treatise on Analogy, and had commenced author long before +him, it is probable that Caesar's production was of a much later date; +and thence we may infer, that those two writers differed from each other, +at least with respect to some particulars on that subject. + +This author's treatise De Re Rustica was undertaken at the desire of a +friend, who, having purchased some lands, requested of Varro the favour +of his instructions relative to farming, and the economy of a country +life, in its various departments. Though Varro was at this time in his +eightieth year, he writes with all the vivacity, though without the +levity, of youth, and sets out with invoking, not the Muses, like Homer +and Ennius, as he observes, but the twelve deities supposed to be chiefly +concerned in the operations of agriculture. It appears from the account +which he gives, that upwards of fifty Greek authors had treated of this +subject in prose, besides Hesiod and Menecrates the Ephesian, who both +wrote in verse; exclusive likewise of many Roman writers, and of Mago the +Carthaginian, who wrote in the Punic language. Varro's work is divided +into three books, the first of which treats of agriculture; the second, +of rearing of cattle; and the third, of feeding animals for the use of +the table. (67) In the last of these, we meet with a remarkable instance +of the prevalence of habit and fashion over human sentiment, where the +author delivers instructions relative to the best method of fattening +rats. + +We find from Quintilian, that Varro likewise composed satires in various +kinds of verse. It is impossible to behold the numerous fragments of +this venerable author without feeling the strongest regret for the loss +of that vast collection of information which he had compiled, and of +judicious observations which he had made on a variety of subjects, during +a life of eighty-eight years, almost entirely devoted to literature. The +remark of St. Augustine is well founded, That it is astonishing how +Varro, who read such a number of books, could find time to compose so +many volumes; and how he who composed so many volumes, could be at +leisure to peruse such a variety of books, and to gain so much literary +information. + +Catullus is said to have been born at Verona, of respectable parents; his +father and himself being in the habit of intimacy with Julius Caesar. He +was brought to Rome by Mallius, to whom several of his epigrams are +addressed. The gentleness of his manners, and his application to study, +we are told, recommended him to general esteem; and he had the good +fortune to obtain the patronage of Cicero. When he came to be known as a +poet, all these circumstances would naturally contribute to increase his +reputation for ingenuity; and accordingly we find his genius applauded by +several of his contemporaries. It appears that his works are not +transmitted entire to posterity; but there remain sufficient specimens by +which we may be enabled to appreciate his poetical talents. + +Quintilian, and Diomed the grammarian, have ranked Catullus amongst the +iambic writers, while others have placed him amongst the lyric. He has +properly a claim to each of these stations; but his versification being +chiefly iambic, the former of the arrangements seems to be the most +suitable. The principal merit of Catullus's Iambics consists in a +simplicity of thought and expression. The thoughts, however, are often +frivolous, and, what is yet more reprehensible, the author gives way to +gross obscenity: in vindication of which, he produces the following +couplet, declaring that a good poet ought to be chaste in his own person, +but that his verses need not be so. + + Nam castum esse decet pium poetam + Ipsum: versiculos nihil necesse est. + +This sentiment has been frequently cited by those who were inclined to +follow the example of Catullus; but if such a practice be in any case +admissible, it is only where the poet personates (68) a profligate +character; and the instances in which it is adopted by Catullus are not +of that description. It had perhaps been a better apology, to have +pleaded the manners of the times; for even Horace, who wrote only a few +years after, has suffered his compositions to be occasionally debased by +the same kind of blemish. + +Much has been said of this poet's invective against Caesar, which +produced no other effect than an invitation to sup at the dictator's +house. It was indeed scarcely entitled to the honour of the smallest +resentment. If any could be shewn, it must have been for the freedom +used by the author, and not for any novelty in his lampoon. There are +two poems on this subject, viz. the twenty-ninth and fifty-seventh, in +each of which Caesar is joined with Mamurra, a Roman knight, who had +acquired great riches in the Gallic war. For the honour of Catullus's +gratitude, we should suppose that the latter is the one to which +historians allude: but, as poetical compositions, they are equally +unworthy of regard. The fifty seventh is nothing more than a broad +repetition of the raillery, whether well or ill founded, with which +Caesar was attacked on various occasions, and even in the senate, after +his return from Bithynia. Caesar had been taunted with this subject for +upwards of thirty years; and after so long a familiarity with reproach, +his sensibility to the scandalous imputation must now have been much +diminished, if not entirely extinguished. The other poem is partly in +the same strain, but extended to greater length, by a mixture of common +jocular ribaldry of the Roman soldiers, expressed nearly in the same +terms which Caesar's legions, though strongly attached to his person, +scrupled not to sport publicly in the streets of Rome, against their +general, during the celebration of his triumph. In a word, it deserves +to be regarded as an effusion of Saturnalian licentiousness, rather than +of poetry. With respect to the Iambics of Catullus, we may observe in +general, that the sarcasm is indebted for its force, not so much to +ingenuity of sentiment, as to the indelicate nature of the subject, or +coarseness of expression. + +The descriptive poems of Catullus are superior to the others, and +discover a lively imagination. Amongst the best of his productions, is a +translation of the celebrated ode of Sappho: + + Ille mi par esse Deo videtur, + me, etc. + +This ode is executed both with spirit and elegance; it is, however, +imperfect; and the last stanza seems to be spurious. Catullus's epigrams +are entitled to little praise, with regard either to sentiment or point; +and on the whole, his merit, as a poet, appears to have been magnified +beyond its real extent. He is said to have died about the thirtieth year +of his age. + +(69) Lucretius is the author of a celebrated poem, in six books, De Rerum +Natura; a subject which had been treated many ages before by Empedocles, +a philosopher and poet of Agrigentum. Lucretius was a zealous partizan +of Democritus, and the sect of Epicurus, whose principles concerning the +eternity of matter, the materiality of the soul, and the non-existence of +a future state of rewards and punishments, he affects to maintain with a +certainty equal to that of mathematical demonstration. Strongly +prepossessed with the hypothetical doctrines of his master, and ignorant +of the physical system of the universe, he endeavours to deduce from the +phenomena of the material world conclusions not only unsupported by +legitimate theory, but repugnant to the principles of the highest +authority in metaphysical disquisition. But while we condemn his +speculative notions as degrading to human nature, and subversive of the +most important interests of mankind, we must admit that he has prosecuted +his visionary hypothesis with uncommon ingenuity. Abstracting from it +the rhapsodical nature of this production, and its obscurity in some +parts, it has great merit as a poem. The style is elevated, and the +versification in general harmonious. By the mixture of obsolete words, +it possesses an air of solemnity well adapted to abstruse researches; at +the same time that by the frequent resolution of diphthongs, it instils +into the Latin the sonorous and melodious powers of the Greek language. + +While Lucretius was engaged in this work, he fell into a state of +insanity, occasioned, as is supposed, by a philtre, or love-potion, given +him by his wife Lucilia. The complaint, however, having lucid intervals, +he employed them in the execution of his plan, and, soon after it was +finished, laid violent hands upon himself, in the forty-third year of his +age. This fatal termination of his life, which perhaps proceeded from +insanity, was ascribed by his friends and admirers to his concern for the +banishment of one Memmius, with whom he was intimately connected, and for +the distracted state of the republic. It was, however, a catastrophe +which the principles of Epicurus, equally erroneous and irreconcilable to +resignation and fortitude, authorized in particular circumstances. Even +Atticus, the celebrated correspondent of Cicero, a few years after this +period, had recourse to the same desperate expedient, by refusing all +sustenance, while he laboured under a lingering disease. + +It is said that Cicero revised the poem of Lucretius after the death of +the author, and this circumstance is urged by the abettors of atheism, as +a proof that the principles contained in the work had the sanction of his +authority. But no inference in favour of Lucretius's doctrine can justly +be drawn from this circumstance. (70) Cicero, though already +sufficiently acquainted with the principles of the Epicurean sect, might +not be averse to the perusal of a production, which collected and +enforced them in a nervous strain of poetry; especially as the work was +likely to prove interesting to his friend Atticus, and would perhaps +afford subject for some letters or conversation between them. It can +have been only with reference to composition that the poem was submitted +to Cicero's revisal: for had he been required to exercise his judgment +upon its principles, he must undoubtedly have so much mutilated the work, +as to destroy the coherency of the system. He might be gratified with +the shew of elaborate research, and confident declamation, which it +exhibited, but he must have utterly disapproved of the conclusions which +the author endeavoured to establish. According to the best information, +Lucretius died in the year from the building of Rome 701, when Pompey was +the third time consul. Cicero lived several years beyond this period, +and in the two last years of his life, he composed those valuable works +which contain sentiments diametrically repugnant to the visionary system +of Epicurus. The argument, therefore, drawn from Cicero's revisal, so +far from confirming the principle of Lucretius, affords the strongest +tacit declaration against their validity; because a period sufficient for +mature consideration had elapsed, before Cicero published his own +admirable system of philosophy. The poem of Lucretius, nevertheless, has +been regarded as the bulwark of atheism--of atheism, which, while it +impiously arrogates the support of reason, both reason and nature +disclaim. + +Many more writers flourished in this period, but their works have totally +perished. Sallust was now engaged in historical productions; but as they +were not yet completed, they will be noticed in the next division of the +review. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[1] Plin. Epist. i. 18, 24, iii. 8, v. 11, ix. 34, x. 95. + +[2] Lycee, part I. liv. III. c. i. + +[3] Julius Caesar Divus. Romulus, the founder of Rome, had the honour +of an apotheosis conferred on him by the senate, under the title of +Quirinus, to obviate the people's suspicion of his having been taken off +by a conspiracy of the patrician order. Political circumstances again +concurred with popular superstition to revive this posthumous adulation +in favour of Julius Caesar, the founder of the empire, who also fell by +the hands of conspirators. It is remarkable in the history of a nation +so jealous of public liberty, that, in both instances, they bestowed the +highest mark of human homage upon men who owed their fate to the +introduction of arbitrary power. + +[4] Pliny informs us that Caius Julius, the father of Julius Caesar, a +man of pretorian rank, died suddenly at Pisa. + +[5] A.U.C. (in the year from the foundation of Rome) 670; A.C. (before +Christ) about 92. + +[6] Flamen Dialis. This was an office of great dignity, but subjected +the holder to many restrictions. He was not allowed to ride on +horseback, nor to absent himself from the city for a single night. His +wife was also under particular restraints, and could not be divorced. If +she died, the flamen resigned his office, because there were certain +sacred rites which he could not perform without her assistance. Besides +other marks of distinction, he wore a purple robe called laena, and a +conical mitre called apex. + +[7] Two powerful parties were contending at Rome for the supremacy; +Sylla being at the head of the faction of the nobles, while Marius +espoused the cause of the people. Sylla suspected Julius Caesar of +belonging to the Marian party, because Marius had married his aunt Julia. + +[8] He wandered about for some time in the Sabine territory. + +[9] Bithynia, in Asia Minor, was bounded on the south by Phrygia, on the +west by the Bosphorus and Propontis; and on the north by the Euxine sea. +Its boundaries towards the east are not clearly ascertained, Strabo, +Pliny, and Ptolemy differing from each other on the subject. + +[10] Mitylene was a city in the island of Lesbos, famous for the study +of philosophy and eloquence. According to Pliny, it remained a free city +and in power one thousand five hundred years. It suffered much in the +Peloponnesian war from the Athenians, and in the Mithridatic from the +Romans, by whom it was taken and destroyed. But it soon rose again, +having recovered its ancient liberty by the favour of Pomnpey; and was +afterwards much embellished by Trajan, who added to it the splendour of +his own name. This was the country of Pittacus, one of the seven wise +men of Greece, as well as of Alcaeus and Sappho. The natives showed a +particular taste for poetry, and had, as Plutarch informs us, stated +times for the celebration of poetical contests. + +[11] The civic crown was made of oak-leaves, and given to him who had +saved the life of a citizen. The person thus decorated, wore it at +public spectacles, and sat next the senators. When he entered, the +audience rose up, as a mark of respect. + +[12] A very extensive country of Hither Asia; lying between Pamphylia to +the west, Mount Taurus and Amanus to the north, Syria to the east, and +the Mediterranean to the south. It was anciently famous for saffron; and +hair-cloth, called by the Romans ciliciun, was the manufacture of this +country. + +[13] A city and an island, near the coast of Caria famous for the huge +statue of the Sun, called the Colossus. The Rhodians were celebrated not +only for skill in naval affairs, but for learning, philosophy, and +eloquence. During the latter periods of the Roman republic, and under +some of the emperors, numbers resorted there to prosecute their studies; +and it also became a place of retreat to discontented Romans. + +[14] Pharmacusa, an island lying off the coast of Asia, near Miletus. +It is now called Parmosa. + +[15] The ransom, too large for Caesar's private means, was raised by the +voluntary contributions of the cities in the Asiatic province, who were +equally liberal from their public funds in the case of other Romans who +fell into the hands of pirates at that period. + +[16] From Miletus, as we are informed by Plutarch. + +[17] Who commanded in Spain. + +[18] Rex, it will be easily understood, was not a title of dignity in a +Roman family, but the surname of the Marcii. + +[19] The rites of the Bona Dea, called also Fauna, which were performed +in the night, and by women only. + +[20] Hispania Boetica; the Hither province being called Hispania +Tarraconensis. + +[21] Alexander the Great was only thirty-three years at the time of his +death. + +[22] The proper office of the master of the horse was to command the +knights, and execute the orders of the dictator. He was usually +nominated from amongst persons of consular and praetorian dignity; and +had the use of a horse, which the dictator had not, without the order of +the people. + +[23] Seneca compares the annals of Tanusius to the life of a fool, +which, though it may he long, is worthless; while that of a wise man, +like a good book, is valuable, however short.--Epist. 94. + +[24] Bibulus was Caesar's colleague, both as edile and consul. Cicero +calls his edicts "Archilochian," that is, as full of spite as the verses +of Archilochus.--Ad. Attic. b. 7. ep. 24. + +[25] A.U.C. 689. Cicero holds both the Curio's, father and son, very +cheap.--Brut. c. 60. + +[26] Regnum, the kingly power, which the Roman people considered an +insupportable tyranny. + +[27] An honourable banishment. + +[28] The assemblies of the people were at first held in the open Forum. +Afterwards, a covered building, called the Comitium, was erected for that +purpose. There are no remains of it, but Lumisden thinks that it +probably stood on the south side of the Forum, on the site of the present +church of The Consolation.--Antiq. of Rome, p. 357. + +[29] Basilicas, from Basileus; a king. They were, indeed, the palaces +of the sovereign people; stately and spacious buildings, with halls, +which served the purpose of exchanges, council chambers, and courts of +justice. Some of the Basilicas were afterwards converted into Christian +churches. "The form was oblong; the middle was an open space to walk in, +called Testudo, and which we now call the nave. On each side of this +were rows of pillars, which formed what we should call the side-aisles, +and which the ancients called Porticus. The end of the Testudo was +curved, like the apse of some of our churches, and was called Tribunal, +from causes being heard there. Hence the term Tribune is applied to that +part of the Roman churches which is behind the high altar."--Burton's +Antiq. of Rome, p. 204. + +[30] Such as statues and pictures, the works of Greek artists. + +[31] It appears to have stood at the foot of the Capitoline hill. +Piranesi thinks that the two beautiful columns of white marble, which are +commonly described as belonging to the portico of the temple of Jupiter +Stator, are the remains of the temple of Castor and Pollux. + +[32] Ptolemy Auletes, the son of Cleopatra. + +[33] Lentulus, Cethegus, and others. + +[34] The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was commenced and completed by +the Tarquins, kings of Rome, but not dedicated till the year after their +expulsion, when that honour devolved on M. Horatius Fulvillus, the first +of the consuls. Having been burnt down during the civil wars, A.U.C. +670, Sylla restored it on the same foundations, but did not live to +consecrate it. + +[35] Meaning Pompey; not so much for the sake of the office, as having +his name inserted in the inscription recording the repairs of the +Capitol, instead of Catulus. The latter, however, secured the honour, +and his name is still seen inscribed in an apartment at the Capitol, as +its restorer. + +[36] It being the calends of January, the first day of the year, on +which the magistrates solemnly entered on their offices, surrounded by +their friends. + +[37] Among others, one for recalling Pompey from Asia, under the pretext +that the commonwealth was in danger. Cato was one of the colleagues who +saw through the design and opposed the decree. + +[38] See before, p. 5. This was in A.U.C. 693. + +[39] Plutarch informs us, that Caesar, before he came into office, owed +his creditors 1300 talents, somewhat more than 565,000 pounds of our +money. But his debts increased so much after this period, if we may +believe Appian, that upon his departure for Spain, at the expiration of +his praetorship, he is reported to have said, Bis millies et quingenties +centena minis sibi adesse oportere, ut nihil haberet: i. e. That he was +2,000,000 and nearly 20,000 sesterces worse than penniless. Crassus +became his security for 830 talents, about 871,500 pounds. + +[40] For his victories in Gallicia and Lusitania, having led his army to +the shores of the ocean, which had not before been reduced to submission. + +[41] Caesar was placed in this dilemma, that if he aspired to a triumph, +he must remain outside the walls until it took place, while as a +candidate for the consulship, he must be resident in the city. + +[42] Even the severe censor was biassed by political expediency to +sanction a system, under which what little remained of public virtue, and +the love of liberty at Rome, were fast decaying. The strict laws against +bribery at elections were disregarded, and it was practised openly, and +accepted without a blush. Sallust says that everything was venal, and +that Rome itself might be bought, if any one was rich enough to purchase +it. Jugurth, viii. 20, 3. + +[43] A.U.C. 695. + +[44] The proceedings of the senate were reported in short notes taken by +one of their own order, "strangers" not being admitted at their sittings. +These notes included speeches as well as acts. These and the proceedings +of the assemblies of the people, were daily published in journals +[diurna] which contained also accounts of the trials at law, with +miscellaneous intelligence of births and deaths, marriages and divorces. +The practice of publishing the proceedings of the senate, introduced by +Julius Caesar, was discontinued by Augustus. + +[45] Within the city, the lictors walked before only one of the consuls, +and that commonly for a month alternately. A public officer, called +Accensus, preceded the other consul, and the lictors followed. This +custom had long been disused, but was now restored by Caesar. + +[46] In order that he might be a candidate for the tribuneship of the +people; it was done late in the evening, at an unusual hour for public +business. + +[47] Gaul was divided into two provinces, Transalpine, or Gallia +Ulterior, and Cisalpina, or Citerior. The Citerior, having nearly the +same limits as Lombardy in after times, was properly a part of Italy, +occupied by colonists from Gaul, and, having the Rubicon, the ancient +boundary of Italy, on the south. It was also called Gallia Togata, from +the use of the Roman toga; the inhabitants being, after the social war, +admitted to the right of citizens. The Gallia Transalpina, or Ulterior, +was called Comata, from the people wearing their hair long, while the +Romans wore it short; and the southern part, afterwards called +Narbonensis, came to have the epithet Braccata, from the use of the +braccae, which were no part of the Roman dress. Some writers suppose the +braccae to have been breeches, but Aldus, in a short disquisition on the +subject, affirms that they were a kind of upper dress. And this opinion +seems to be countenanced by the name braccan being applied by the modern +Celtic nations, the descendants of the Gallic Celts, to signify their +upper garment, or plaid. + +[48] Alluding, probably, to certain scandals of a gross character +which were rife against Caesar. See before, c. ii. (p. 2) and see also +c. xlix. + +[49] So called from the feathers on their helmets, resembling the crest +of a lark; Alauda, Fr. Alouette. + +[50] Days appointed by the senate for public thanksgiving in the temples +in the name of a victorious general, who had in the decrees the title of +emperor, by which they were saluted by the legions. + +[51] A.U.C. 702. + +[52] Aurelia. + +[53] Julia, the wife of Pompey, who died in childbirth. + +[54] Conquest had so multiplied business at Rome, that the Roman Forum +became too little for transacting it, and could not be enlarged without +clearing away the buildings with which it was surrounded. Hence the +enormous sum which its site is said to have cost, amounting, it is +calculated, to 809,291 pounds of our money. It stood near the old forum, +behind the temple of Romulus and Remus, but not a vestige of it remains. + +[55] Comum was a town of the Orobii, of ancient standing, and formerly +powerful. Julius Caesar added to it five thousand new colonists; whence +it was generally called Novocomum. But in time it recovered its ancient +name, Comum; Pliny the younger, who was a native of this place, calling +it by no other name. + +[56] A.U.C. 705. + +[57] Eiper gar adikein chrae, tyrannidos peri + Kalliston adikein talla de eusebein chreon. +--Eurip. Phoeniss. Act II, where Eteocles aspires to become the tyrant of +Thebes. + +[58] Now the Pisatello; near Rimini. There was a very ancient law of +the republic, forbidding any general, returning from the wars, to cross +the Rubicon with his troops under arms. + +[59] The ring was worn on the finger next to the little finger of the +left hand. + +[60] Suetonius here accounts for the mistake of the soldiers with great +probability. The class to which they imagined they were to be promoted, +was that of the equites, or knights, who wore a gold ring, and were +possessed of property to the amount stated in the text. Great as was the +liberality of Caesar to his legions, the performance of this imaginary +promise was beyond all reasonable expectation. + +[61] A.U.C. 706. + +[62] Elephants were first introduced at Rome by Pompey the Great, in his +African triumph. + +[63] VENI, VIDI, VICI. + +[64] A.U.C. 708. + +[65] Gladiators were first publicly exhibited at Rome by two brothers +called Bruti, at the funeral of their father, A.U.C. 490; and for some +time they were exhibited only on such occasions. But afterwards they +were also employed by the magistrates, to entertain the people, +particularly at the Saturnalia, and feasts of Minerva. These cruel +spectacles were prohibited by Constantine, but not entirely suppressed +until the time of Honorius. + +[66] The Circensian games were shews exhibited in the Circus Maximus, +and consisted of various kinds: first, chariot and horse-races, of which. +the Romans were extravagantly fond. The charioteers were distributed +into four parties, distinguished by the colour of their dress. The +spectators, without regarding the speed of the horses, or the skill of +the men, were attracted merely by one or the other of the colours, as +caprice inclined them. In the time of Justinian, no less than thirty +thousand men lost their lives at Constantinople, in a tumult raised by a +contention amongst the partizans of the several colours. Secondly, +contests of agility and strength; of which there were five kinds, hence +called Pentathlum. These were, running, leaping, boxing, wrestling, and +throwing the discus or quoit. Thirdly, Ludus Trojae, a mock-fight, +performed by young noblemen on horseback, revived by Julius Caesar, and +frequently celebrated by the succeeding emperors. We meet with a +description of it in the fifth book of the Aeneid, beginning with the +following lines: + + Incedunt pueri, pariterque ante ora parentum + Fraenatis lucent in equis: quos omnis euntes + Trinacriae mirata fremit Trojaeque juventus. + +Fourthly, Venatio, which was the fighting of wild beasts with one +another, or with men called Bestiarii, who were either forced to the +combat by way of punishment, as the primitive Christians were, or fought +voluntarily, either from a natural ferocity of disposition, or induced by +hire. An incredible number of animals of various kinds were brought from +all quarters, at a prodigious expense, for the entertainment of the +people. Pompey, in his second consulship, exhibited at once five hundred +lions, which were all dispatched in five days; also eighteen elephants. +Fifthly the representation of a horse and foot battle, with that of an +encampment or a siege. Sixthly, the representation of a sea-fight +(Naumachia), which was at first made in the Circus Maximus, but +afterwards elsewhere. The combatants were usually captives or condemned +malefactors, who fought to death, unless saved by the clemency of the +emperor. If any thing unlucky happened at the games, they were renewed, +and often more than once. + +[67] A meadow beyond the Tiber, in which an excavation was made, +supplied with water from the river. + +[68] Julius Caesar was assisted by Sosigenes, an Egyptian philosopher, +in correcting the calendar. For this purpose he introduced an additional +day every fourth year, making February to consist of twenty-nine days +instead of twenty-eight, and, of course, the whole year to consist of +three hundred and sixty-six days. The fourth year was denominated +Bissextile, or leap year, because the sixth day before the calends, or +first of March, was reckoned twice. + +The Julian year was introduced throughout the Roman empire, and continued +in general use till the year 1582. But the true correction was not six +hours, but five hours, forty-nine minutes; hence the addition was too +great by eleven minutes. This small fraction would amount in one hundred +years to three-fourths of a day, and in a thousand years to more than +seven days. It had, in fact, amounted, since the Julian correction, in +1582, to more than seven days. Pope Gregory XIII., therefore, again +reformed the calendar, first bringing forward the year ten days, by +reckoning the 5th of October the 15th, and then prescribing the rule +which has gradually been adopted throughout Christendom, except in +Russia, and the Greek church generally. + +[69] Principally Carthage and Corinth. + +[70] The Latus Clavus was a broad stripe of purple, on the front of the +toga. Its width distinguished it from that of the knights, who wore it +narrow. + +[71] The Suburra lay between the Celian and Esquiline hills. It was one +of the most frequented quarters of Rome. + +[72] Bede, quoting Solinus, we believe, says that excellent pearls were +found in the British seas, and that they were of all colours, but +principally white. Eccl. Hist. b. i. c. 1. + +[73] --------Bithynia quicquid + Et predicator Caesaris unquam habuit. + +[74] Gallias Caesar subegit, Nicomedes Caesarem; + Ecce Caesar nunc triumphat, qui subegit Gallias: + Nicomedes non triumphat, qui subegit Caesarem. + +[75] Aegisthus, who, like Caesar, was a pontiff, debauched Clytemnestra +while Agamemnon was engaged in the Trojan war, as Caesar did Mucia, the +wife of Pompey, while absent in the war against Mithridates. + +[76] A double entendre; Tertia signifying the third [of the value of the +farm], as well as being the name of the girl, for whose favours the +deduction was made. + +[77] Urbani, servate uxores; moechum calvum adducimus: + Aurum in Gallia effutuisti, hic sumpsisti mutuum. + +[78] Plutarch tells us that the oil was used in a dish of asparagus. +Every traveller knows that in those climates oil takes the place of +butter as an ingredient in cookery, and it needs no experience to fancy +what it is when rancid. + +[79] Meritoria rheda; a light four-wheeled carriage, apparently hired +either for the journey or from town to town. They were tolerably +commodious, for Cicero writes to Atticus, (v. 17.) Hanc epistolam dictavi +sedens in rheda, cum in castra proficiscerer. + +[80] Plutarch informs us that Caesar travelled with such expedition, +that he reached the Rhone on the eighth day after he left Rome. + +[81] Caesar tells us himself that he employed C. Volusenus to +reconnoitre the coast of Britain, sending him forward in a long ship, +with orders to return and make his report before the expedition sailed. + +[82] Religione; that is, the omens being unfavourable. + +[83] The standard of the Roman legions was an eagle fixed on the head of +a spear. It was silver, small in size, with expanded wings, and +clutching a golden thunderbolt in its claw. + +[84] To save them from the torture of a lingering death. + +[85] Now Lerida, in Catalonia. + +[86] The title of emperor was not new in Roman history; 1. It was +sometimes given by the acclamations of the soldiers to those who +commanded them. 2. It was synonymous with conqueror, and the troops +hailed him by that title after a victory. In both these cases it was +merely titular, and not permanent, and was generally written after the +proper name, as Cicero imperator, Lentulo imperatore. 3. It assumed a +permanent and royal character first in the person of Julius Caesar, and +was then generally prefixed to the emperor's name in inscriptions, as +IMP. CAESAR. DIVI. etc. + +[87] Cicero was the first who received the honour of being called "Pater +patriae." + +[88] Statues were placed in the Capitol of each of the seven kings of +Rome, to which an eighth was added in honour of Brutus, who expelled the +last. The statue of Julius Caesar was afterwards raised near them. + +[89] The white fillet was one of the insignia of royalty. Plutarch, on +this occasion, uses the expression, diadaemati basiliko, a royal diadem. + +[90] The Lupercalia was a festival, celebrated in a place called the +Lupercal, in the month of February, in honour of Pan. During the +solemnity, the Luperci, or priests of that god, ran up and down the city +naked, with only a girdle of goat's skin round their waist, and thongs of +the same in their hands; with which they struck those they met, +particularly married women, who were thence supposed to be rendered +prolific. + +[91] Persons appointed to inspect and expound the Sibylline books. + +[92] A.U.C. 709. + +[93] See before, c. xxii. + +[94] This senate-house stood in that part of the Campus Martius which is +now the Campo di Fiore, and was attached by Pompey, "spoliis Orientis +Onustus," to the magnificent theatre, which he built A.U.C. 698, in his +second consulship. His statue, at the foot of which Caesar fell, as +Plutarch tells us, was placed in it. We shall find that Augustus caused +it to be removed. + +[95] The stylus, or graphium, was an iron pen, broad at one end, with a +sharp point at the other, used for writing upon waxen tables, the leaves +or bark of trees, plates of brass, or lead, etc. For writing upon paper +or parchment, the Romans employed a reed, sharpened and split in the +point like our pens, called calamus, arundo, or canna. This they dipped +in the black liquor emitted by the cuttle fish, which served for ink. + +[96] It was customary among the ancients, in great extremities to shroud +the face, in order to conceal any symptoms of horror or alarm which the +countenance might express. The skirt of the toga was drawn round the +lower extremities, that there might be no exposure in falling, as the +Romans, at this period, wore no covering for the thighs and legs. + +[97] Caesar's dying apostrophe to Brutus is represented in all the +editions of Suetonius as uttered in Greek, but with some variations. The +words, as here translated, are Kai su ei ekeinon; kai su teknon. The +Salmasian manuscript omits the latter clause. Some commentators suppose +that the words "my son," were not merely expressive of the difference of +age, or former familiarity between them, but an avowal that Brutus was +the fruit of the connection between Julius and Servilia, mentioned before +[see p. 33]. But it appears very improbable that Caesar, who had never +before acknowledged Brutus to be his son, should make so unnecessary an +avowal, at the moment of his death. Exclusively of this objection, the +apostrophe seems too verbose, both for the suddenness and urgency of the +occasion. But this is not all. Can we suppose that Caesar, though a +perfect master of Greek, would at such a time have expressed himself in +that language, rather than in Latin, his familiar tongue, and in which he +spoke with peculiar elegance? Upon the whole, the probability is, that +the words uttered by Caesar were, Et tu Brute! which, while equally +expressive of astonishment with the other version, and even of +tenderness, are both more natural, and more emphatic. + +[98] Men' me servasse, ut essent qui me perderent? + +[99] The Bulla, generally made of gold, was a hollow globe, which boys +wore upon their breast, pendant from a string or ribbon put round the +neck. The sons of freedmen and poor citizens used globes of leather. + +[100] Josephus frequently mentions the benefits conferred on his +countrymen by Julius Caesar. Antiq. Jud. xiv. 14, 15, 16. + +[101] Appian informs us that it was burnt by the people in their fury, +B. c. xi. p. 521. + +[102] Suetonius particularly refers to the conspirators, who perished at +the battle of Philippi, or in the three years which intervened. The +survivors were included in the reconciliation of Augustus, Antony, and +Pompey, A.U.C. 715. + +[103] Suetonius alludes to Brutus and Cassius, of whom this is related +by Plutarch and Dio. + +[104] For observations on Dr. Thomson's Essays appended to Suetonius's +History of Julius Caesar, and the succeeding Emperors, see the Preface to +this volume. + +[105] He who has a devoted admiration of Cicero, may be sure that he has +made no slight proficiency himself. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE CAESARS, SUETONIUS, V1 *** + +************ This file should be named st01w10.txt or st01w10.zip ************ + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, st01w11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, st01w10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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