History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2

It had been decided, in the preceding month of October, that the question of the consular provinces should be brought under consideration on the 1st of March, 704, the period at which Pompey had declared that he would throw no obstacle in the way of the discussion. It was opened then, as appears from a letter of Cicero, and the Senate showed an inclination to recall Cæsar for the Ides of November, 704. Nevertheless, there was no decisive result. People were afraid yet to engage in a struggle for life: Curio, singly, made the Senate tremble by his opposition.856

When, in the bosom of that assembly, C. Marcellus was declaiming against Cæsar, Curio began to speak, praised the consul’s prudence, approved much of the proposal that the conqueror of Gaul should be summoned to disband his army; but he insinuated that it would not be less desirable to see Pompey disband his. “Those great generals,” said he, “were objects of suspicion to him, and there would be no tranquillity for the Republic until both of them should become private men.”857 This speech pleased the people, who, moreover, began to lose much of their esteem for Pompey since the time that, by his law on bribery, a great number of citizens were condemned to exile. On all sides they praised Curio; they admired his courage in braving two such powerful men, and on several occasions an immense crowd escorted him to his house, throwing flowers over him “like an athlete,” says Appian, “who had just sustained a severe and dangerous combat.”858

The clever manœuvres of Cicero had such success that, when Marcellus proposed to concert with the tribunes of the people on the means of opposing the candidature of Cæsar, the majority of the Senate gave their opinion to the contrary. On this subject, M. Cœlius wrote to Cæsar: “The opinions have changed so much that now they are ready to reckon as a candidate for the consulship a man who will give up neither his army nor his province.”859 Pompey gave no sign of life, and let the Senate have its way.

He always seemed to disdain what he desired most. Thus, at this time, he affected an entire carelessness, and retrenched himself in his legality, taking care to avoid all appearance of personal hostility towards Cæsar. At the same time, either in order to avoid being pressed too soon, or to appear indifferent to the question which agitated the Republic, he left his gardens near Rome to visit Campania. Thence he sent a letter to the Senate, in which, while he praised Cæsar and himself, he reminded them that he never had solicited a third consulship, nor yet the command of the armies; that he had received it in spite of himself, in order to save the Republic, and that he was ready to renounce it without waiting the term fixed by the law.860 This letter, studied and artful, was intended to bring out the contrast between his disinterested conduct and that of Cæsar, who refused to surrender his government; but Curio baffled this manœuvre. “If Pompey were sincere,” he said, “he ought not to promise to give his resignation, but to give it at once; so long as he should not have retired into private life, the command could not be taken from Cæsar. Besides, the interest of the State required the presence of two rivals constantly opposed to each other; and, in his eyes, it was Pompey who openly aspired to absolute power.”861 This accusation was not without ground; for during the last nineteen years – that is to say, since 684, the time of his first consulship – Pompey had nearly always been in possession of the imperium, either as consul, or as general in the wars against the pirates and against Mithridates, or, finally, as charged with the victualling of Italy. “To take Cæsar’s army from him,” says Plutarch, “and to leave his army to Pompey, was, by accusing the one of aspiring to the tyranny, to give the other the means of obtaining it.”862

Pompey receives Ovations, and asks Cæsar to return his Two Legions.

III. About this time Pompey fell dangerously ill, and on his recovery the Neapolitans and the peoples of all Italy showed such joy, that “every town, great or small,” says Plutarch, “celebrated festivals for several days. When he returned to Rome, there was no place spacious enough to contain the crowd which came to meet him; the roads, the villages, and the ports were full of people offering sacrifices and making banquets, in order to show their joy at his recovery. A great number of citizens, crowned with leaves, went to receive him with torches, and threw flowers on him as they accompanied him; the procession which followed him in his progress offered the most agreeable and most magnificent spectacle.”863 Although these ovations had given Pompey an exaggerated opinion of his influence, on his return to Rome he observed in public the same reserve, though in secret he supported the measures calculated to diminish Cæsar’s power. Thus, taking for pretext the demands for re-enforcements renewed incessantly by Bibulus and Cicero, proconsuls of Syria and Cilicia, who sought to place their provinces in safety against an invasion of the Parthians, he represented that the levies ordered by the Senate were insufficient, and that it was necessary to send experienced troops to the East. It was thereupon decided that Pompey and Cæsar, who were at the head of considerable armies, should each of them detach one legion for the defence of the threatened provinces. A senatus-consultus at once summoned Cæsar to send his legion, and ordered him, besides, to return the legion which Pompey had lent him shortly after the conference of Lucca. Perhaps they hoped for resistance on his part, for this last legion had been raised, like all those of his army, in Cisalpine Gaul; but he obeyed without hesitation, so that he alone had to furnish the re-enforcements required for the East. Before parting with his soldiers, who had so long fought under his orders, he caused 250 drachmas (225 francs) to be distributed to each legionary.864

Appius Claudius, nephew of the censor of the same name, who had left Rome with the mission of bringing those troops from the Cisalpine into Italy, reported on his return that the soldiers of Cæsar, weary of their long campaigns, sighed for repose, and that it would be impossible to draw them into a civil war; he pretended even that the legions in winter quarters in Transalpine Gaul would no sooner have passed the Alps than they would rally to Pompey’s flag.865 Events in the sequel proved the falsity of this information, for not only, as will appear hereafter, did the troops which had remained under Cæsar’s command continue faithful to him, but those which had been withdrawn from him preserved the remembrance of their ancient general. In fact, Pompey himself had not the least confidence in the two legions he had received, and his letter to Domitius, proconsul at the commencement of the civil war, explains his inaction by the danger of bringing them into the presence of the army of Cæsar, so much he fears to see them pass over to the opposite camp.866 At Rome, nevertheless, they believed in the reports which flattered the pretensions of Pompey, although they were contradicted by other more certain information, which showed Italy, the Cisalpine provinces, and Gaul itself, equally devoted to Cæsar. Pompey, deaf to these last warnings, affected the greatest contempt for the forces of which his adversary could dispose. According to him, Cæsar was ruining himself, and had no other chance of safety but in a prompt and complete submission. When he was asked with what troops he would resist the conqueror of Gaul, in case he were to march upon Rome, he replied, with an air of confidence, that he had only to strike the soil of Italy with his foot to make legions start up out of it.867

It was natural that his vanity should make him interpret favourably all that was passing under his eyes. At Rome, the greatest personages were devoted to him. Italy had shuddered at the news of his illness, and celebrated his recovery as if it had been a triumph. The army of Gaul, it was said, was ready to answer to his call.

With less blindness, Pompey might have discerned the true reason of the enthusiasm of which he had been the object. He would have understood that this enthusiasm was much less addressed to his person than to the depositary of an authority which alone then seemed capable of saving the Republic: he would have understood that, the day another general should appear under the same conditions of fame and power as himself, the people, with its admirable discernment, would at once side with him who should best identify himself with their interests.

To understand the public opinion correctly, he ought not, though this might have been a difficult thing to the chief of the aristocratic cause, to have confined himself solely to the judgment of the official world, but he should have interrogated the sentiments of those whose position brought them nearest to the people. Instead of believing the reports of Appius Claudius, and reckoning on the discontent of certain of Cæsar’s lieutenants, who, like Labienus, already showed hostile tendencies, Pompey ought to have meditated upon that exclamation of a centurion, who, placed at the door of the Senate, when that assembly rejected the just reclamations of the conqueror of Gaul, exclaimed, putting his hand to his sword, “This will give him what he asks.”868

The fact is that, in civil commotions, each class of society divines, as by instinct, the cause which responds to its aspirations, and feels itself attracted to it by a secret affinity. Men born in the superior classes, or brought to their level by honours and riches, are always drawn towards the aristocracy, whilst men kept by fortune in the inferior ranks remain the firm supports of the popular cause. Thus, at the return from the isle of Elba, most of the generals of the Emperor Napoleon, loaded with wealth like the lieutenants of Cæsar,869 marched openly against him; but in the army all up to the rank of colonel said, after the example of the Roman centurion, pointing to their weapons, “This will place him on the throne again!”

The Senate votes impartially.

IV. An attentive examination of the correspondence between M. Cœlius and Cicero, as well as the relations of the various authors, leads to the conviction that at that period it required great efforts on the part of the turbulent fraction of the aristocratic party to drag the Senate into hostility towards Cæsar. The censor Appius, reviewing the list of that body, noted Curio, that is, wished to strike him from the list; but at the instances of his colleague and of the Consul Paulus, he confined himself to expressing a formal reproof, and his regret that he could not do justice. On hearing him, Curio tore his toga, and protested with the utmost passion against a disloyal attack. The Consul Marcellus, who suspected the good understanding between Curio and Cæsar, and who reckoned on the feelings of the Senate, which were very unfavourable to both, brought the conduct of the tribune under discussion. While he protested against this illegal proceeding, Curio accepted the debate, and declared that, strong in his conscience, and certain of having always acted in the interests of the Republic, he placed with confidence his honour and his life in the hands of the Senate. This scene could have no other result but an honourable vote for Curio;870 but this incident was soon left, and the discussion passed to the political situation. Marcellus proposed at first this question: Ought Cæsar to be superseded in his province? He urged the Senate to a vote. The senators having formed themselves into two groups in the curia, an immense majority declared for the affirmative. The same majority pronounced for the negative on a second question of Marcellus: Ought Pompey to be superseded? But Curio, resuming the arguments which he had used so many times on the danger of favouring Pompey at the expense of Cæsar, demanded a vote upon a third question: Ought Pompey and Cæsar both to disarm? To the surprise of the consul, this unexpected motion passed by a majority of 370 against 22. Then Marcellus dismissed the Senate, saying with bitterness, “You carry the day! you will have Cæsar for master.”871 He did not imagine that he foretold the future so well. Thus the almost unanimity of the assembly had, by its vote, justified Curio, who, in this instance, was only the representative of Cæsar; and if Pompey and his party had submitted to this decision, there would no longer have been a pretext for the struggle which honest men feared: Cæsar and Pompey would have resumed their place in ordinary life, each with his partisans and his renown, but without army, and consequently without the means of disturbing the Republic.

Violent Measures adopted against Cæsar.

V. This was not what these restless men wanted, who masked their petty passions under the great words of public safety and liberty. In order to destroy the effect of this vote of the Senate, the rumour was spread in Rome that Cæsar had entered Italy; Marcellus demanded that troops should be raised, and that the two legions destined for the war in the East should be brought from Capua, where they were in garrison. Curio protested against the falsehood of this news, and interceded, in his quality of tribune, to oppose all extraordinary arming. Then Marcellus exclaimed, “Since I can do nothing here with the consent of all, I alone take charge of the public welfare on my own responsibility!” He then hurried to the suburb where Pompey had his quarters, and, presenting him with a sword, addressed him in these words: “I summon you to take the command of the troops which are at Capua, to raise others, and to take the measures necessary for the safety of the Republic.” Pompey accepted this mission, but with reserves: he said that he would obey the orders of the consuls, “if, at least, there was nothing better to do.” This prudent reflection, at a moment so critical, pictures the character of the man.872 M. Marcellus understood all the irregularity of his conduct, and brought with him the consuls nominated for the following year (705); even before they entered upon office,873 which was to take place in a few days, they had the right to render edicts which indicated the principles upon which they intended to act during the time of their magistracy. They were L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus and C. Claudius Marcellus, the last a kinsman of the preceding consul of the same name, both enemies to Cæsar. They entered into an engagement with Pompey to support with all their efforts the measure which their predecessor had taken at his own risk and peril. We see, they are the consuls and Pompey who revolt against the decisions of the Senate.

Curio could not oppose these measures regularly, the tribunes not having the right of exercising their powers outside Rome; but he attacked before the people what had just been done, and recommended them not to obey the levy of troops which had been ordered by Pompey, in contempt of the law.874

State of Public Opinion.

VI. The following letter from M. Cœlius to Cicero shows what was the judgment of impartial Romans upon the public situation in September, 704: —

“The nearer we approach the inevitable struggle, the more we are struck with the greatness of the danger. This is the ground on which the two men of power of the day are going to encounter each other. Cn. Pompey is decided not to suffer Cæsar to be consul until he has resigned his army and his provinces, and Cæsar is convinced that there is no safety for him unless he keep his army; he consents, nevertheless, if the condition of giving up the commandment be reciprocal. Thus those effusions of tenderness and this so dreaded alliance will end, not in hidden animosity, but in open war. As far as I am concerned, I do not know which side to take in this conjuncture, and I doubt not but this perplexity is common to us. In one of the parties, I have obligations of gratitude and friendship; in the other, it is the cause, not the men, I hate. My principles, which no doubt you share, are these: in domestic dissensions, so long as things pass between unarmed citizens, to prefer the most honest party; but when war breaks out, and two camps are in presence, to side with the strongest, and seek reason where there is safety. Now, what do I see here? On one side, Pompey, with the Senate and the magistracy; on the other, Cæsar, with all who have anything to fear or to covet. No comparison possible, as far as the armies are concerned. May it please the gods to give us time to weigh the respective forces, and to make our choice.”875 Cœlius was not long in making his; he embraced the party of Cæsar.876

This appreciation of a contemporary was certainly shared by a great number of persons, who, without well-defined convictions, were ready to side with the strongest. Cicero, who was returning to Italy,877 had the same tendency, yet he felt an extreme embarrassment. Not only was he on friendly terms with the two adversaries, but Cæsar had lent him a considerable sum, and this debt weighed upon him like a remorse.878 After having ardently desired to leave his command for fear of the war against the Parthians, he fell into the midst of preparations for a civil war which presented a much greater danger. Hence, when on his arrival in Greece he believed, on false reports, that Cæsar had sent four legions into Piacenza, his first thought was to shut himself up in the citadel of Athens.879 When at last he had returned to Italy, he congratulated himself on being in a condition to obtain the honours of a triumph, because then the obligation of remaining outside Rome dispensed him from declaring for either of the two rivals.

He wished above all for the triumph, and in his letters he pressed the influential personages to prevail upon the Senate to consent to it; but Cato considered, like many others, that the exploits of the proconsul in Cilicia did not deserve so much honour, and he refused to give him his support, whilst, at the same time, he greatly praised his character. Cæsar, less rigid on principles, forgetting nothing which could flatter the self-love of important men, had written to Cicero to promise him his assistance, and blame Cato’s severity.880

Meanwhile, the celebrated orator did not deceive himself as to the resources of the two parties. When he talked with Pompey, the assurance of that warrior tranquillised him; but when abandoned to his own meditations, he saw well that all the chances were on the side of Cæsar.

“To-day,” he wrote, “Cæsar is at the head of eleven legions (he forgot the two legions given to Pompey), without counting the cavalry, of which he can have as many as he likes; he has in his favour the Transpadan towns, the populace of Rome, the entire order of the knights, nearly all the tribunes, all the disorderly youth, the ascendant of his glorious name, and his extreme boldness. This is the man they have to combat.881 This party only wants a good cause; the rest they have in abundance. Consequently, there is nothing which they must not do rather than come to war; the result of which is always uncertain, and how much the more is it not to be feared for us!”882

As for his own party, he defined it in the following manner: “What do you mean by these men of the good side? I know none that I could name. I know some, if we mean to speak of the whole class of honest men; for individually, in the true sense of the word, they are rare; but in civil strife you must seek the cause of honourable men where it is. Is it the Senate which is that good party; the Senate, which leaves provinces without governors? Curio would never have resisted if they had made up their minds to oppose him; but the Senate has done nothing of the kind, and they have not been able to give Cæsar a successor. Is it the knights who have never shown a very firm patriotism, and who now are entirely devoted to Cæsar? Are they the merchants or the country people who only ask to live in repose? Shall we believe that they fear much to see one single man in power, they who are content with any government, so long as they are quiet?”883

The more the situation became serious, the more wise men inclined towards the party of peace. Pompey had again absented himself from Rome for a few days; he showed great irritation at the arrogance of the tribune Mark Antony, who, in a speech before the people, had attacked him with violence. He seemed also much hurt at the want of regard of Hirtius, that friend of Cæsar, who had come to Rome without paying him a visit.884 The absence of Pompey in such critical moments had been generally blamed,885 but he soon returned; his resolution was taken.

“I have seen Pompey,” wrote Cicero to his friend, on the 6th of the Calends of December. “We went together to Formiæ, and we conversed alone from two o’clock till evening. You ask me if there is any hope of agreement. As far as I have been able to judge from what he told me in a lengthy conversation full of details, there is even no desire for it. He pretends that, if Cæsar obtains the consulship, even after having dismissed his army, there will be a revolution in the state. He is, moreover, convinced that, when Cæsar knows that they take measures against him, he will abandon the consulship for this year, and that he will prefer keeping his army and his province; he added that his anger would not frighten him, and that Rome and he would know how to defend themselves. What shall I say? Although the great phrase, Mars has equal chances for everybody, recurred often to my mind, I felt reassured, in hearing a valiant man, so able and so powerful, reasoning like a politician upon the dangers of a false peace. We read together the speech of Antony, of the 10th of the Calends of January, which is, from beginning to end, an accusation against Pompey, whom he takes up from his infantile toga. He reproaches him with condemnations by thousands; he threatens us with war. Upon which Pompey said to me, ‘What will Cæsar not do, once master of the Republic, if his quæstor, a man without wealth, without support, dare to speak in this manner?’ In short, far from desiring such a peace, he appeared to me to fear it, perhaps because then he would be obliged to go to Spain. What annoys me most is, that I shall be obliged to reimburse Cæsar, and to apply to that use all the money which I intended for my triumph, for it would be disgraceful to remain the debtor of a political adversary.”886 By this declaration Cicero proves in the most positive manner that Pompey desired war, and rejected all reconciliation; he repeats it elsewhere with still more precision.

Pompey, led by the inevitable march of events to oppose Cæsar’s just demands, which he had favoured at first, was reduced to desire civil war.

He and his party had not arrived at this extremity without in most cases overruling the will of the Senate, without wounding the public feeling, and without overstepping the bonds of legality. In the beginning of 703, when Marcellus had proposed to recall Cæsar before the legal period, the Senate, assembled in great number, had passed to the order of the day,887 and during the rest of the year they had shown a determination not to undertake anything against the proconsul of Gaul. They had rejected a second time the motion of Marcellus, renewed on the 1st of March, 704, and afterwards the Senate had shown dispositions favourable to Cæsar. However, the law which permitted him to keep his command until the consular comitia of 705 is soon treated with contempt; after many hesitations the Senate decides that Cæsar and Pompey shall disband their armies at the same time, but the decree is not executed; passions become inflamed, the most arbitrary measures are proposed, the tribunes intercede: their veto is considered as not existing. Then, without obtaining a senatus-consultus, without appealing to the people, the consuls charge Pompey to raise troops, and to watch over the welfare of the Republic. It is the aristocratic party which places itself above the law, and places right on the side of Cæsar.

CHAPTER X.

EVENTS OF THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE YEAR 705

C. Claudius Marcellus and L. Cornelius Lentulus, Consuls.

I. IN the course of the summer, it will be remembered, Cæsar had returned to Arras, to the middle of his army, which was encamped in the north of Gaul. He was informed of the plots going on at Rome; he knew that his enemies would agree to no arrangement, but he still hoped that the Senate would maintain the equal balance between him and his rival, for that assembly had already shown its pacific tendencies, and did not even seem inclined to interfere in the quarrel.888 In the winter between 704 and 705 he returned to Cisalpine Gaul; presided there, according to his custom, over the provincial assemblies, and stopped at Ravenna, the last town in his command.889 He had only the 13th legion at his disposal, which was 5,000 men strong, with 300 cavalry;890 nearly his whole army, to the number of eight legions, had remained in winter quarters in Belgium and Burgundy.891