History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2

L. Domitius Ahenobarbus and Appius Claudius Pulcher, Consuls.

III. During this time, the struggle of parties continued at Rome, and Pompey, charged with the supplying of provisions, having under his orders lieutenants and legions, posted himself at the gates of the town; his presence in Italy, a pledge of order and tranquillity, was accepted by all good citizens.684 His influence was, as Cæsar thought, to paralyse that of L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, who had obtained the consulship. In fact, when on the preceding occasion Crassus and Pompey placed themselves on the ranks as candidates for the consulship, the opposite party, hopeless of defeating both, had sought the admission of at least one of their candidates. They tried again the manœuvre they had employed in 695, by which they succeeded in the nomination of Bibulus as the colleague of Cæsar. The attempt had failed; but, at the moment when the question of the election of consuls for the year 700 was agitated, the aristocratic party, having no longer to contend against persons of such eminence as Crassus and Pompey, obtained without difficulty the election of Ahenobarbus. This latter represented alone, in that high magistracy, the passions hostile to the triumvirs, since his colleague Appius Claudius Pulcher was still, at that epoch, favourable to Cæsar.

The authority of the consuls, whoever they might be, was powerless for remedying the demoralisation of the upper classes, which was revealed by numerous symptoms at Rome as well as in the provinces. Cicero himself, as the following event proves, treated legality with contempt when it interfered with his affections or political opinions.

Re-establishment of Ptolemy in Egypt.

IV. The Sibylline oracle, it will be remembered, had forbidden recourse to arms for the purpose of restoring Ptolemy, King of Egypt, to his states. In spite of this prohibition, Cicero, as early as the year 698, had engaged P. Lentulus, proconsul in Cilicia and in Cyprus, to re-establish him by force, and, to encourage this enterprise, he had suggested to him the prospect of impunity in success, without, however, concealing from him that, in case of reverse, the legal question, as well, as the religious question, would assume a threatening form.685 Lentulus had thought it prudent to abstain; but Gabinius, proconsul in Syria in the following year, had not shown the same degree of scruple. Bribed by the king, some said, but, as others said, having received orders from Pompey, he had left his son in Syria with a few troops, and had marched with his legions towards Egypt.

After having, on his way, plundered Judæa, and sent prisoner to Rome its king Aristobulus, he crossed the desert, and arrived before Pelusium. A certain Archelaus, who was looked upon as a good general, and had served under Mithridates, was detained in Syria. Gabinius, informed that Queen Berenice wished to place him at the head of her army, and that she offered a large sum of money for his ransom, immediately set him at liberty, showing thereby as much avidity for riches as contempt for the Egyptians. He defeated them in several battles, slew Archelaus, and entered Alexandria, where he re-established Ptolemy on the throne, and the latter, it is said, gave him 10,000 talents.686 In this expedition, Mark Antony, who was soon to be Cæsar’s quæstor, commanded the cavalry; he distinguished himself by his intrepidity and by his military talent.687 This was the commencement of his fortune.

Gabinius, if we believe Dio Cassius, took good care not to send an account of his conduct, but it was not long in becoming known, and he was compelled to return to Rome, where serious accusations awaited him. Unfortunately for him, when the period of his trial came on, Pompey, his protector, was no longer consul.

Gabinius had to undergo in succession two accusations: he was acquitted of the first, on the double head of sacrilege and high treason, because he paid heavy bribes to his judges.688 As to the second accusation, relating to acts of extortion, he experienced more difficulties. Pompey, who had been obliged to absent himself, in order to provide for the provisioning with which he was charged, hastened to the gates of Rome, which his office of proconsul did not allow him to enter, convoked an assembly of the people outside the Pomœrium, employed all his authority, and even read letters from Cæsar, in favour of the accused. Still more, he begged Cicero to undertake his defence, and Cicero accepted the task, forgetting the invectives with which he had overwhelmed Gabinius before the Senate. All these efforts failed: it was necessary to yield to the rage of the public opinion, skilfully excited by the enemies of Gabinius; and the latter, condemned, went into exile, where he remained until Cæsar’s dictatorship.689

Corruption of the Elections.

V. We are astonished to see personages such as Pompey and Cæsar protecting men who seem to have borne such bad character as Gabinius; but, to judge with impartiality the men of that period, we must not forget, in the first place, that there were very few without blemish, and, further, that the political parties never hesitated in throwing upon their adversaries the most odious calumnies. Gabinius, belonging to the popular faction, and the partisan of Pompey, had incurred the hatred of the aristocracy and of the farmers of the revenues. The nobles never pardoned him for being the author of the law which had entrusted to Pompey the command of the expedition against the pirates, and for having shown, during his proconsulship in Syria, want of deference in regard to the Senate. So that assembly refused, in 698, to order thanksgivings for his victories.690 The farmers of the revenues bore ill-will towards him on account of his decrees against usury,691 and his solicitude for the interests of his province.692 This proconsul, who is represented as an adventurer pillaging those under his administration, appears to have governed Judæa with justice, and to have restored with skill, on his return from Egypt, the order which had been disturbed during his absence. His military capacity cannot be called in doubt. In speaking of him, the historian Josephus closes with these words his account of the battle against the Nabathæi: “This great captain, after so many exploits, returned to Rome, and Crassus succeeded him in the government of Syria.”693 Nevertheless, it is very probable that Gabinius was not more scrupulous than the other proconsuls in matter of probity; for, if corruption then displayed itself with impudence in the provinces, it was perhaps still more shameless in Rome. The following is a striking example. Two candidates for the consulship, Domitius Calvinus and Memmius Gemellus, united their clients and resources of all kinds to obtain the first magistracy. In their desire to procure the support of Ahenobarbus and Claudius Pulcher, the consuls in office, they engaged by writing to secure for them, on their quitting office, the provinces they desired, and that by a double fraud: they promised first to bring three augurs to affirm the existence of a supposititious curiate law, and then to find two consulars who would declare that they had assisted at the regulation relative to the distribution of the provinces; in case of non-performance, there was stipulated, for the profit of the consuls, 400,000 sestertii.694 This shameless traffic and others of the same kind, in which were compromised Æmilius Scaurus and Valerius Messala, had caused the interest of money to be doubled.695 The bargain would probably have been carried out, if, in consequence of a quarrel between the two consuls, Memmius had not denounced the convention in full Senate, and produced the contract. The scandal was enormous, but it remained unpunished as regarded the consuls.

Memmius, formerly Cæsar’s enemy, had recently joined his party; nevertheless, the latter, incensed at his impudence, blamed his conduct, and abandoned him; Memmius was exiled.696 As to Domitius, he was, it is true, accused of solicitation, and the Senate intended absolutely to close the consulship against him by deciding that the consular comitia should not be held until after judgment had been given on his trial.

All these facts bear witness to the decay of society, for the moral degradation of the individuals must infallibly bring with it the abasement of the institutions.

Death of Cæsar’s Daughter.

VI. Towards the month of August of the year 700, Cæsar lost his mother Aurelia, and, a few days afterwards, his daughter Julia. The latter, whose health had been declining since the troubles of the preceding year, had become pregnant; she died in giving birth to a son, which did not survive. Cæsar was painfully affected by this misfortune,697 of which he received the news during his expedition to Britain.698 Pompey was desirous of burying his wife in his estate of Alba; but the populace opposed it, carried the body to the Campus Martius, and insisted on its being buried there. By that rare privilege reserved to illustrious men, the people sought, according to Plutarch, to honour rather the daughter of Cæsar than the wife of Pompey.699 This death broke one of the ties which united the two most important men of the Republic. To create new ties, Cæsar proposed his niece Octavia in marriage to Pompey, whose daughter he offered to espouse, although she was already married to Faustus Sylla.700

Cæsar’s Buildings at Rome.

VII. At the same period, the proconsul of Gaul was, with the produce of his booty, rebuilding at Rome a magnificent edifice, the old basilica of the Forum, which was extended as far as to the Temple of Liberty. “It will be the most beautiful thing in the world,” says Cicero; “there will be in the Campus Martius seven electoral enclosures and galleries of marble which will be surrounded with great porticoes of a thousand paces. Near it will be a public villa.” Paulus was charged with the execution of the works; Cicero and Oppius considered that 60,000,000 sestertii was a small sum for such an undertaking.701 According to Pliny, the mere purchase of the site in the Forum cost Cæsar the sum of 100,000,000 sestertii.702 This building, interrupted by events, was only finished after the African war.703

His Relations with Cicero.

VIII. While Cæsar was gaining, by these works destined for the public, the general admiration, he neglected none of those attentions which were of a nature to ensure him the alliance of men of importance. Cicero, as we have seen, was already reconciled with him, and Cæsar had done all in his power to gain his attachment still further. He flattered his self-love, listened to all his recommendations,704 treating with great friendship Quintus Cicero, whom he had made one of his lieutenants; he went so far as to place at the disposal of the great orator his credit and fortune,705 and accordingly Cicero was in continual correspondence with him. He composed, as we have seen, poems in his honour, and he wrote to Quintus “that he placed above everything the friendship of such a man, whose affection he prized as much as that of his brother and children.”706 Elsewhere he said: “The memorable and truly divine behaviour of Cæsar towards me and towards my brother has imposed upon me the duty of seconding him in all his designs.”707 And he had kept his word. It was at Cæsar’s request that Cicero had consented to resume his old friendly relations with Crassus,708 and to defend Gabinius and Rabirius. This last, compromised in the affairs of Egypt, was accused of having received great sums of money from King Ptolemy; but Cicero proved that he was poor, and reduced to live upon Cæsar’s generosity, and, in the course of the trial, he expressed himself as follows: —

“Will you, judges, know the truth? If the generosity of C. Cæsar, extreme towards everybody, had not, in regard to Rabirius, passed all belief, we should have ceased long ago to see him in the Forum. Cæsar singly performs towards Postumus the duty of his numerous friends; and the services which these rendered to his prosperity, Cæsar lavishes them upon his adversity. Postumus is no longer more than the shadow of a Roman knight; if he preserves this title, it is by the protection, by the devotedness of a single friend. This phantom of his old rank, which Cæsar alone has preserved for him and assists him in sustaining, is the only wealth that we can now take from him. And this is a reason why we ought the more to maintain him in it in his distress. It cannot be the effect of a mean merit, to inspire, absent and in misfortune, so much interest in such a man, who, in so lofty a fortune, does not disdain to cast down his looks on the affairs of others. In that pre-occupation with the great things which he is doing or has done, we should not be astonished if we saw him forget his friends, and, if he forgot them, he would easily obtain forgiveness.

“I have recognised in Cæsar very eminent and wonderful qualities; but his other virtues are, as on a vast theatre, exposed to the gaze of nations. To choose with skill the place for a camp, to marshal an army, to take fortresses, break through enemies’ lines, face the rigour of winter and those frosts which we support with difficulty in the bosom of our towns and houses, to pursue the enemy in that same season when the wild beasts hide in the depth of their retreats, and where everywhere the law of nations gives a truce to combats: these are great things; who denies it? but they have for their motive the most magnificent of recompenses, the hope of living for ever in men’s memory. Such efforts cause us no surprise in the man who aspires to immortality.

“But this is the glory which I admire in Cæsar, a glory which is neither celebrated by the verses of poets nor by the monuments of history, but which is weighed in the balance of the sage: a Roman knight, his old friend, attached, devoted, affectioned to his person, had been ruined, not by his excesses, not by shameful extravagance and the losses brought on by indulgence of the passions, but by a speculation which had for its object to augment his patrimony: Cæsar has arrested him in his descent; he has not suffered him to fall, he has held out his hand to him, has sustained him with his wealth, with his credit, and he still sustains him at the present time; he holds back his friend on the edge of the precipice, and the calm of his mind is no more disturbed by the brightness of his own name, than his eyes are dazzled by the blaze of his glory. May the actions of which I have spoken be as great in our esteem as they are in reality! Let people think what they will of my opinion in this respect; but when I see, in the bosom of such a power and of such a prodigious fortune, this generosity towards others, this unforgetfulness of friendship, I prefer them to all the other virtues. And you, judges, far from this character of goodness, so new and so rare among considerable and illustrious men, being disdained or repulsed by you, you should wrap it up in your favour, and seek to encourage it; you should do this the more, since this moment seems to have been chosen for attacking Cæsar’s consideration, although, in this respect, we could do nothing but he supports it with constancy or repairs it without difficulty. But if he hears that one of his best friends has been struck in his honour, it will be with the deepest pain, and to him an irreparable misfortune.”709

In another circumstance, Cicero explained as follows the reason of his attachment for the conqueror of Gaul: “Should I refuse my praises to Cæsar, when I know that the people, and, after its example, the Senate, from which my heart has never been severed, have shown their esteem for him by loud and multiplied testimonies? Then, without doubt, it must be confessed that the general interest has no influence on my sentiments, and that individuals alone are the objects of my hatred or of my friendship! What then? Should I see my vessel float with full sails towards a port which, without being the same which I preferred formerly, is neither less sure nor less tranquil, and, at the risk of my life, wrestle against the tempest rather than trust myself to the skill of the pilot who promises to save me? No, there is no inconstancy in following the movements which storms impress on the vessel of the state. For me, I have learned, I have recognized, I have read a truth, and the writers of our nation, as well as those of other peoples, have consecrated it in their works by the example of the wisest and most illustrious of men; it is, that we ought not to persist irrevocably in our opinions, but that we ought to accept the sentiments which are required by the situation of the state, the diversity of conjunctures, and the interests of peace.”710

In his Oration against Piso, he exclaims: “It would be impossible for me, in contemplation of the great things which Cæsar has done, and which he is doing every day, not to be his friend. Since he has the command of your armies, it is no longer the rampart of the Alps which I seek to oppose to the invasion of the Gauls; it is no longer by means of the barrier of the Rhine, with all its gurges, that I seek to arrest the fierce Germanic nations. Cæsar has done so much that, if the mountains should be levelled, and the rivers dried, our Italy, deprived of her natural fortifications, would find, in the result of his victories and exploits, a safe defence.”711

The warm expansion of such sentiments must have touched Cæsar, and inspired him with confidence; therefore he earnestly engaged Cicero not to quit Rome.712

The influence of Cæsar continued to increase, as the letters and orations of Cicero sufficiently testify. If it was required to raise citizens such as C. Messius, M. Orfius, M. Curtius, C. Trebatius,713 to elevated positions, or to excite the interest of the judges in favour of an accused, as in the trials of Balbus, Rabirius, and Gabinius, it was always the same support which was invoked.714

CHAPTER VI.

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 701

Expedition to the North of Gaul. Second Passage of the Rhine.

I. THE disturbed state of Gaul and the loss of fifteen cohorts at Tongres obliged Cæsar to augment his army; he raised two legions in the Cisalpine, and asked for a third from Pompey. Again at the head of ten legions, Cæsar, with his usual activity, hastened to repress the incipient insurrections. From the Scheldt to the Rhine, from the Seine to the Loire, most of the peoples were in arms. Those of Trèves had called the Suevi to their assistance.

Without waiting for the end of winter, Cæsar brought together four legions at Amiens, and, falling unexpectedly upon the peoples of Hainault, forced from them a speedy submission. Then he convoked in this latter town the general assembly of Gaul; but the peoples of Sens, Orleans, and Trèves did not repair to it. He then transferred the assembly to Paris, and afterwards marched upon Sens, where his appearance sufficed to pacify not only that country, but also that of Orleans. Having thus appeased in a short time the troubles of the north and centre of Gaul, he directed all his attention towards the countries situated between the Rhine and the Meuse, where Ambiorix continued to excite revolt. He was impatient to avenge upon him the defeat of Sabinus; but, to make more sure of overtaking him, he resolved first to make two expeditions, one into Brabant, the other into the country of Trèves, and in this manner to cut off that chieftain from all retreat, either on the side of the north, or on the side of the east, where the Germans were.

He advanced in person towards Brabant, which he soon reduced to obedience. During this time, Labienus gained, on the banks of the Ourthe, a great victory over the inhabitants of the country of Trèves. At the news of this defeat, the Germans, who had already crossed the Rhine, returned home. Cæsar rejoined Labienus on the territory of Trèves, and, determined to chastise the Suevi, he a second time crossed the Rhine, near Bonn, a little above the place where he had built a bridge two years before. After compelling the Suevi to take refuge in the interior of their territory, he returned to Gaul, caused a part of the bridge to be cut, and left a strong garrison on the left bank.

Pursuit of Ambiorix.

II. Having thus rendered all retreat impossible to Ambiorix, he advanced with his army towards the country of Liége by way of Zulpich and Eupen, across the forest of the Ardennes. Having arrived on the Meuse, he divided his troops into three corps, and sent all his baggage with the 14th legion, under the command of Cicero, into the fortress of Tongres, the scene of the disaster of Sabinus. Of these three corps, the first was sent towards the north, near the southern frontiers of Brabant; the second towards the west, between the Meuse and the Demer; and the third marched towards the Scheldt, under the command of Cæsar, whose intention was to gain the extremity of the forest of the Ardennes between Brussels and Antwerp, where Ambiorix was said to have taken refuge. When he quitted Tongres, he announced that he should return in seven days. But, unwilling to risk his troops on difficult ground, against men who, scattered, carried on a war of partisans, he sent messengers to invite the neighbouring peoples to go and ravage the country of Liége, and, at his call, all hurried to take part in the pillage. Among them 2,000 Sicambrian cavalry, attracted from beyond the Rhine, conceived the idea of falling upon Cicero’s camp in order to carry off the riches it contained. They arrived at the moment when a part of the garrison had gone to forage. It was with great difficulty, and with the loss of two cohorts, that the Romans repulsed this attack. The devastation of the country of Liége was completed, but Ambiorix escaped.

The defeat of Sabinus at Tongres thus cruelly avenged, Cæsar returned to Rheims, convoked there the assembly of Gaul, and caused judgment to be passed on the conspiracy of the peoples of Sens and Orleans. Acco, the head of the revolt, was condemned to death and executed, and Cæsar, after placing his legions in winter quarters in the countries watered by the Moselle, the Marne, and the Yonne, repaired to Italy.

C. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala, Consuls.

III. At Rome, the legal working of the institutions was incessantly clogged by the ambitions of individuals. The year 700 had closed without the holding of the consular comitia. Sometimes the tribunes of the people, the only magistrates whose elections took place on a fixed day, opposed the holding of the comitia; sometimes the interreges themselves failed to obtain favourable auspices, or, in moments of trouble, dared not assemble the people.715 The boldness of the agitators of all parties explains this anarchy.

Weary of intrigues and disorder, the public opinion looked for the end of it only from a new power, which wrests from Cicero this painful confession: “The Republic is without force; Pompey alone is powerful.”716 Already people even spoke of the dictatorship.717 Several men, according to Plutarch, ventured to say openly “that the power of a single person was the only remedy for the evils of the Republic, and that this remedy must be sought from the mildest physician, which clearly indicated Pompey.”718 Accordingly, the tribune Lucceius brought forward the formal motion to elect Pompey dictator. Cato rose energetically against this ill-timed motion. Several of Pompey’s friends considered it prudent to justify him by affirming that he never asked or desired the dictatorship. Cato’s reproaches had none the less produced their effect; and, to put an end to suspicions, Pompey permitted the consular comitia to be held.719 In fact, he had never the courage equal to his ambition, and “although he affected in his speeches,” says Plutarch, “to refuse absolute power, all his actions showed a desire to arrive at it.”720

The comitia opened in the month of Sextilis of the year 701; the consuls named were Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala. The first had been placed under accusation, as we have seen above; but the pre-occupations of the moment had caused his trial to drag out in length; and it is unknown whether he was acquitted, or whether all judicial action had been paralysed on account of the absence of magistrates during the first months of the year 701. Moreover, Calvinus was protected by Pompey, and his colleague, Messala, was favoured by Cæsar, at the recommendation of Cicero.

Expedition of Crassus against the Parthians, and his Death.

IV. Crassus had left for Syria about eighteen months before, full of ambitious hopes, and flattering himself with the prospect of immense conquests. He intended not only to subjugate the Parthians, but even to renew the campaigns of Alexander, penetrate into Bactriana, and reach India; unfortunately, he was not equal to such a task. Forgetting the first rules of a general-in-chief, which consist in never despising his enemies, and in placing on his side all the chances of success, he had no care for the army he was going to combat, had made no inquiries either as to the roads, or as to the countries he had to cross, and neglected the alliances and succours which the peoples who were neighbours and enemies to the Parthians might have offered him.