History of Julius Caesar Vol. 1 of 2

779

Plutarch, Cæsar, 5.

780

Velleius Paterculus, II. 41.

781

“What an infamy to introduce into his house a pregnant woman, with her husband still living; and to thrust from it, ignominiously and cruelly, Antistia, whose father had just perished for the husband who repudiated her!” (Plutarch, Pompey, 8.)

782

Suetonius, Cæsar, 1.

783

Plutarch, Cæsar, 1. – Suetonius, Cæsar, 74.

784

Suetonius, Cæsar, 74.

785

Suetonius, Cæsar, 1.

786

The vestals enjoyed great privileges: if they met by chance a criminal on his way to execution, he was set at liberty. (Plutarch, Numa, 14.) – Valerius Maximus (V. iv. 6) reports the following fact: “The vestal Claudia, seeing that a tribune of the people was about to drag her father, Appius Claudius Pulcher, with violence from his triumphal car, interfered between the tribune and him, by virtue of her right to oppose violence.” – Cicero (Oration for Cœlius, 14) likewise alludes to this celebrated anecdote.

787

Suetonius, Cæsar, 1.

788

Suetonius, Cæsar, 2.

789

Suetonius, Cæsar, 2. – Pliny, XVI. 4. – Aulus Gellius, V. 6.

790

C. Cæsar, grand pontiff, in his discourse for the Bithynians, thus expresses himself in his exordium: – “The hospitality which I have received from King Nicomedes, and the bond of friendship which unites me to those whose cause is under debate, do not permit me, Marcus Juncus, to decline this office (that of being the advocate of the Bithynians); for death ought not to efface from the memory of their kindred the recollection of those who have lived, and we could not, without the last degree of disgrace, abandon our clients, those to whom, after our kindred, we owe our support.” (Aulus Gellius, V. xiii. 1.)

791

“Nothing damaged his reputation for chastity,” says Suetonius, “except his sojourn with Nicomedes; but the opprobrium which resulted from it was grave and lasting; it exposed him to the sneers of all. I will say nothing of those well-known verses of Calvus Licinius —

… ‘Bithynia quidquidEt pedicator Cæsaris unquam habuit.’

I will be silent on the speeches of Dolabella and Curio the father, … neither will I linger over the edicts in which Bibulus publicly exposed his colleague by speaking of him as the queen of Bithynia… M. Brutus informs us that a certain Octavius, whose craziness allowed him to say what he would, being one day in a numerous assembly, called Pompey king, then saluted Cæsar by the name of queen. C. Memmius also reproaches him for having mixed himself up with other debauchees to present Nicomedes with cups and wine at table, and he quotes the names of several Roman merchants who were among the guests… Cicero apostrophised him once in full Senate. Cæsar was defending there the cause of Nysa, daughter of Nicomedes; he recalled the obligations which he owed to this king. ‘Let us pass by all that, I beg you,’ cried Cicero: ‘we know only too well what he has given thee, and what he has received from thee.’ On his triumph over the Gauls, the soldiers, among other satirical verses which it was their custom to sing as they followed the car of the general, repeated these, which are well known: —

‘Gallias Cæsar subegit, Nicomedes Cæsarem.Ecce Cæsar nunc triumphat, qui subegit Gallias;Nicomedes non triumphat, qui subegit Cæsarem.’”(Suetonius, Cæsar, 40.)

792

Cicero, Letters to Atticus, II. 19.

793

These reports, like other calumnies, were propagated by Cæsar’s enemies, such as Curio and Bibulus, and repeated in the ridiculous annals of Tanusius Geminus (Suetonius, Cæsar, 9), the authority of which Seneca despised. “Thou knowest that not much account is made of these annals of Tanusius, and how they are designated.” (Seneca, Epistle 93.) – Catullus (xxxvi. 1) gives us that term of contempt to which Seneca alludes (cacata charta).

794

“Marius had in his army a nephew, called Caius Lucius, who, overcome by a shameful passion for one of his subordinates, offered him an act of violence. The man drew his sword and killed him. Cited before the tribunal of Marius, instead of being punished he was loaded with praises by the consul, who gave him one of the crowns which were the usual reward of courage.” (Plutarch, Marius, 15.)

795

“Cæsar was not vexed at being accused of loving Cleopatra; but he could not bear that they should say he had been loved by Nicomedes. He swore it was a calumny.” (Xiphilinus, Julius Cæsar, p. 30, Paris edition, 1678.)

796

Orosius, V. 23.

797

Suetonius, Cæsar, 3.

798

Florus, III. 23.

799

Appian, I. 107.

800

Suetonius, Cæsar, 3.

801

Sallust, Fragments, I., p. 363.

802

Florus, III. 23.

803

Suetonius, Cæsar, 3.

804

“The Romans regarded as honourable accusations which had no private enmity as their motive, and they liked to see young men attach themselves to the pursuit of the guilty, as generous dogs attack wild beasts.” (Plutarch, Lucullus, 1.)

805

Plutarch, Cæsar, 4. – Asconius, Discourse for Scaurus, XVI. ii. 245, edit. Schütz.

806

Valerius Maximus, VIII. ix. § 3. – “Cæsar was twenty-one years of age when he attacked Dolabella, in a speech which we still read to-day with admiration.” (Tacitus, Dialogue on the Orators, 34.) – According to the chronological order which we have adopted, Cæsar, instead of twenty-one, would have been twenty-three years old; but as Tacitus, in the same citation, also errs, by two years, in making Crassus, who had accused Carbo, nineteen instead of twenty-one, we may suppose that he has committed the same mistake with Cæsar. In fact, Crassus tells his own age in Cicero (On the Orators, III. 20, § 74): “Quippe qui omnium maturrime ad publicas causas accesserim, annosque natus unum et viginti nobilissimum hominem in judicium vocarim.” – Crassus, the orator, was born in 614; he accused Carbo in 635, the date given by Cicero.

807

Plutarch, Cæsar, 3. – Asconius, Commentaries on the Oration, “In Toga Candida,” pp. 84, 89, edit. Orelli.

808

Dialogue on the Orators, 21.

809

Cicero, Oration for Cluentius, 59. The manuscripts of Cicero bear Cn. Decitius.

810

This island, now called Fermaco, is at the entrance of the Gulf of Assem-Kalessi. Pliny and Stephen of Byzantium are the only geographers who mention it, and the last tells us further, that it was here that Attalus, the famous lieutenant of Philip of Macedon, was slain by Alexander’s order.

811

Polyænus, Stratagems, VII. 23.

812

Suetonius, Cæsar, 4.

813

Velleius Paterculus, II. 41.

814

Plutarch, Cæsar, 2.

815

Plutarch, Crassus, 8.

816

Suetonius mentions, as an act of humanity, that their corpses alone were nailed to the cross, Cæsar having had them strangled beforehand to shorten their agony. (Suetonius, Cæsar, 74. – Velleius Paterculus, II. 42.)

817

Suetonius, Cæsar, 4.

818

Velleius Paterculus, II. 43. – Asconius, On the Oration of Cicero against Pisa; edit. Orelli.

819

Velleius Paterculus, II. 53.

820

Suetonius, Cæsar, 5. – Plutarch, Cæsar, 5.

821

The tribunes by the nomination of the general were usually called rufuli, because they were established by the law of Rutilius Rufus; the military tribunes elected by the people were called comitati; they were held as veritable magistrates. (Pseudo-Asconius, Commentary on the First Speech of Cicero against Verres, p. 142, edit. Orelli; and Festus under Rufuli, p. 261, edit. Müller.)

822

Plutarch, Sertorius, 15, 16.

823

“The enemy was already master of the passes which lead to Italy; from the foot of the Alps, he (Pompey) drove him back to Spain.” (Sallust, Letter from Pompey to the Senate.)

824

Velleius Paterculus, II. 30. – 100,000 according to Appian (Civil Wars, I. 117).

825

Plutarch, Lucullus, 8.

826

Sallust, Fragments, III. 258.

827

Appian, Civil Wars, I. xiv. 121.

828

“The Republic, wounded and sick, so to say, had need of repose, no matter at what price.” (Sallust, Fragments, I. 68.)

829

“We see how far are carried the jealousy and animosity which the virtue and activity of the new men light up in the heart of certain nobles. If we turn away our eyes never so little, what snares do they not lay for us! One would say that they were of another nature, another kind, so much are their feelings and wishes opposed to ours.” (Cicero, Second Prosecution of Verres, v. 71.) – “The nobility transmitted from hand to hand this supreme dignity (the consulship), of which they were in exclusive possession. Every new man, whatever his renown and the glory of his deeds, appeared unworthy of this honour; he was as if sullied by the stain of his birth.” (Sallust, Jugurtha, 63.)

830

Sallust, Catilina, 52.

831

Plutarch, Lucullus, 9.

832

Cicero, First Prosecution of Verres, 8, 9, 12; Second Prosecution, i. 29. – Pseudo-Asconius, On the first Prosecution of Verres, page 145, edit. Orelli. The orations of Cicero are full of allusions to these agents for the purchase of votes and judges.

833

“In these later years, the men who make a trade of intriguing in elections have been enabled, by diligence and address, to obtain from the citizens of their tribes all that they chose to demand. Endeavour, by any means you will, to make these men serve you sincerely and with the steadfast will to succeed. You would obtain it if men were as grateful as they ought to be; and you will obtain it, I am afraid, since, for two years, four societies of those most influential in elections – those of Marcus Fundanius, Quintas Gallius, Gaius Cornelius, and Gaius Orcivius – have engaged themselves for you. I was present when the causes of these men were entrusted to you, and I know what was promised to you, and what guarantees have been given to you by their associates.” (On the Petition for the Consulship addressed to Cicero by his brother Quintus, 5.)

834

Cicero, First Prosecution of Verres, 13.

835

“Each city of the conquered peoples has a patron at Rome.” (Appian, Civil Wars, II. 4.)

836

Cicero, Second Prosecution of Verres, III. 89. Cicero adds in a letter, “We may judge, by the sufferings of our own fellow-citizens, of what the inhabitants of the provinces have to endure from the public farmers (publicani). When several tolls were suppressed in Italy, remonstrances were made not so much against the principle of taxation as against abuses in levying it, and the cries of the Romans on the soil of the country tell only too plainly what must be the fate of the allies at the extremity of the empire.” (Letters to Quintus, I. 1, § 33.)

837

Dio Cassius, 86; Fragments, CCCI. edit. Gros.

838

Cicero, On Duties, II. 17; Letters to Quintus, II. 6, § 4. – Plutarch, Brutus, 14.

839

Florus, III. 21.

840

“The name of C. Marius – of that great man who we may justly call the father of the country, the regenerator of our liberty, the saviour of the Republic.” (Cicero, Speech for Rabirius, 10.) – “I have, as your guarantee, your indignation against Sylla.” (Dio Cassius, XXXVI. 17, Oration of Catulus to the Senate.) – “Where can we find a personage (Marius) more serious, more firm, more distinguished by courage, circumspection, conscience?” (Cicero, Speech for Balbus, 25.) – “Not only do we suffer his acts (Sylla’s), but to prevent worse disasters, greater ills, we give them the sanction of public authority.” (Cicero, Second Prosecution of Verres, III. 35.)

841

Plutarch, Cæsar, 6.

842

Plutarch, Pompey, 12.

843

Pompey slew Carbo, Perpenna, and Brutus, the father of the assassin of Cæsar, who had yielded themselves to him: the first had protected his youth and saved his patrimony. (Valerius Maximus, V. iii. v.)

844

Count Franz de Champagny, Les Cæsars, I. p. 50.

845

“It was in his character to show little regard for what he was ambitious to obtain.” (Dio Cassius, XXXVI. 7.) – “Pompey, with a heart as depraved as his face was pure.” (Sallust, Fragments, II. 176.)

846

“At last, when Pompey, haranguing the people for the first time at the gates of the city, in his capacity of consul-designate, came to treat of the matter which seemed to have been most ardently expected, and let it be understood that he would re-establish the power of the tribunes, he was received with applause, and a slight murmur of assent; but when he added that the provinces were devastated and oppressed, the tribunals disgraced, the judges without shame, and that he wished to be watchful of these abuses, and to restore good order, then it was not by a simple murmur, but by unanimous acclamations, that the people testified their desires.” (Cicero, First Prosecution of Verres, 15.)

847

Catulus, when asked his opinion on the re-establishment of the tribunary power, began in these authoritative words: – “The conscript fathers administer justice evilly and scandalously; and if, in the tribunals, they had but answered the expectations of the Roman people, the power of the tribunes would not have been so warmly regretted.” (Cicero, First Prosecution of Verres, 15.)

848

“His enemies had nothing else to reproach him with than the preference which he gave to the people over the Senate.” (Plutarch, Pompey, 20.)

849

“He seconded with all his might those who wished to restore the power of the tribunes.” (Suetonius, Cæsar, 5.)

850

7,100 talents. (Plutarch, Crassus, 1.)

851

Plutarch, Crassus, 2. – Cicero, On Duties, I. 8.

852

Plutarch, Crassus, 7.

853

Plutarch, Crassus, 8.

854

Plutarch, Crassus, 8.

855

Plutarch, Crassus, 1, 16.

856

“Cotta judicandi munus, quod C. Gracchus ereptum Senatui, ad equites, Sylla ab illis ad Senatum transtulerat, æqualiter inter utrumque ordinem partitus est.” (Velleius Paterculus, II. 32.)

857

“Equidem mihi videor pro nostra necessitate, non labore, non opera, non industria defuisse.” (Certainly, I believe I have displayed all the zeal, all the endeavour, all the ability which our kinship demands.) Cæsar, quoted by Aulus Gellius, XIII. 3. – Nonius Marcellus, “On the different significations of words,” under the word Necessitas.

858

Sallust, Fragments, I. 68.

859

Plutarch, Pompey, 21.

860

Plutarch, Cæsar, 5. – Suetonius, Cæsar, 6.

861

Plutarch, Cæsar, 5.

862

The images of Æneas, of Romulus, and of the Kings of Alba Longa also figured in the funeral canopy of the Julia family. (Tacitus, Annales, IV. 9.)

863

Plutarch, Cæsar, 5. – Velleius Paterculus, II. 43.

864

Cicero, Oration on the Manilian Law, 12; For Fonteius, 2.

865

Cæsar, Civil War, I. 37.

866

“Sextus Pompeius Cordubam tenebat, quod ejus provinciæ caput esse existimabatur.” (Cæsar, The War in Spain, III. – Plutarch, Cæsar, 17.)

867

Cicero, Second Prosecution of Verres, II. 13. – Paulus Diaconus, under the word Conventus. – Müller, p. 41.

868

Cicero, Second Prosecution of Verres, II. 20, 24, 30; IV. 29. —Familiar Letters, XV. iv.

869

Pliny, Natural History, III. i., and IV. xxxv. The three conventus of Lusitania were held at Emerita, Pax Julia (Béja), and at Scalabis: the four of Bætica were, Gades, Corduba, Astijo, Hispalis (Cadiz, Cordova, Ecija, and Seville).

870

Dio Cassius, XLIV. 39, 41.

871

“From the beginning of my questorship, I have shown a special affection for the province.” (Speech of Cæsar to the Spaniards, at Hispalis, Commentaries, The War in Spain, 43.)

872

Plutarch, Cæsar, 5.

873

Titus Livius, XXI. 21. – Florus, II. 17.

874

Plutarch, Parallel between Alexander and Cæsar, 6. – Suetonius, Cæsar, 7.

875

Suetonius, Cæsar, 8.

876

Suetonius, Cæsar, 8.

877

Velleius Paterculus, II. 31.

878

Daughter of Q. Pompeius Rufus, and Fausta, daughter of Sylla. (Plutarch, Cæsar, 5. – Suetonius, Cæsar, 6.)

879

The ships of the corsairs amounted to more than a thousand, and the towns which they took to four hundred. (Plutarch, Pompey, 23.)

880

Plutarch, Pompey, 24.

881

Cicero, Speech on the Manilian Law, 12.

882

“Aulus Gabinius was a very bad citizen, in no wise inspired by love of the public good.” (Dio Cassius, XXXVI. 6.)

883

Dio Cassius, XXXVI. 7.

884

Plutarch, Pompey, 26.

885

Dio Cassius, XXXVI. 20. – Appian, War of Mithridates, 94.

886

Plutarch, Pompey, 27. – “The very day on which you placed your naval armies under his orders, the price of corn, until then excessive, fell at once so low that the richest harvest, in the midst of a long peace, would have scarcely produced so happy an abundance.” (Cicero, Oration for the Manilian Law, 15.)

887

Florus and Appian do not quite agree on the division of these commands. (Appian, War of Mithridates, 95. – Florus, III. 6.)

888

Velleius Paterculus, II. 32. – Plutarch, Pompey, 29.

889

Dio Cassius, XXXV. 14 and 15.

890

Plutarch, Pompey, 31.

891

Cicero, Oration for the Manilian Law, 16.

892

Plutarch, Pompey, 31.

893

Cicero, Oration for the Manilian Law, 23.

894

Dio Cassius, XXXVI. 26. – Plutarch, Lucullus, 50, 52.

895

“The tribune Manilius, a venal soul, and the debased instrument of the ambition of others.” (Velleius Paterculus, II. 33.)

896

“As to the Valerians, informed that the magistrates at Rome had given them their discharge, they immediately abandoned their flags.” (Dio Cassius, XXXV. 15.)

897

“They called Valerians the soldiers of Valerius Flaccus, who, having passed into the command of Fimbria, had left their general in Asia to join themselves to Sylla.” “These same soldiers, under the orders of Pompey (for he enrolled the Valerians anew), did not dream even of revolt, so much does one man carry it over another.” (Dio Cassius, XXXV. 16.)

898

“There was no shame,” he said, “in submitting to him whom fortune raised above all the others.” (Velleius Paterculus, II. 37.)

899

Dio Cassius, XXXV. 16.

900

This is taken from a passage of Cicero compared with another of Sallust. In fact, Cicero, in his Oration for Murena (23), thus expresses himself Confusionem suffragiorum flagitasti, prorogationem legis Maniliæ, æquationem gratiæ, dignitatis, suffragiorum.” It is clear that Cicero could not allude to the Manilian law on the freedmen, but to that of Caius Gracchus, since Sallust employs nearly the same words concerning this law, saying: “Sed de magistratibus creandis haud mihi quidem absurde placet lex, quam C. Gracchus in tribunatu promulgaverat: ut ex confusis quinque classibus sorte centuriæ vocarentur. Ita coæquali dignitate pecunia, virtute anteire alius alium properabit.” (Sallust, Letters to Cæsar, vii.)

901

Dio Cassius, III. 36, 40.

902

Plutarch, Cæsar, 5.

903

Suetonius, Cæsar, 10. – Plutarch, Cæsar, 10.

904

Titus Livius, IX. 40.

905

Dio Cassius, XXXVII. 8.

906

“The gladiators whom you have bought are a very fine acquisition. It is said that they are well trained, and if you had wished to let them out on the last occasion, you would have regained what they have cost you.” (Cicero, Letters to Atticus, IV. 4.)

907

Servius, Commentary on Book III. verse 67 of the Æneid. – Tertullian, On the Shows, V. – Titus Livius, XXIII. 30; XXIX. 46. – Valerius Maximus, II. iv. § 7.